Lost my profile settings...

I did an Mac OS X update that required me to restart the computer. When the computer restarted I was given the intial start-up screen where you have to create a user name, etc. Everything that I installed on the computer was still installed, but not available on my account. Also, all my music, video, etc. files were still on my hard derive, in a folder called downloaded items that I created to store programs I downloaded from the internet. I was curious if anyone else experienced this problem or if anyone has any ideas why this happened.

Thanks,
Chris

P.S. If it were not already completely clear, I'm completely new to the Mac OS.

What folders are in the /Users directory?

There should be a Shared folder and a folder w/ a house icon. The folder w/ the house is,...you guessed it, your home folder. If there is another folder it may have the old user data from your previous users home. You may need to replace ownership of that folder with your account. I've never seen a version update envoke the setup screen app. Sounds more like an archive and install that went bad.

If there is no other folder in /Users download an app called Cocktail so you can enable hidden files. Then look for your stuff again.