computer went to an Earlier Setting after

System : WinME 333Mhz Intel Celeron : Can someone explain what my computer has just done, please ? (in Laymans terms, as i aint too familiar with my computer) Right..After months of Outlook Express running perfectly OK, Yesterday, it kept reporting that 'Unable to connect to the Server' ... And I was not allowed to view any news messages, or send email, or even view my Hotmail inbox,junkmail box, and personal msn folder. SO...After scratchin' me head, i rebooted about 10 times, and THEN suddenly a report that my Computer had to 'fix' the registry, and would then restart ? I don't know why it decided this upon the 10th BOOT, but it did...AND when it Re-Booted....It came back on, with a Setting from about a Month ago..The good thing is that I CAN now connect to Usenet, and all the things i used to be able to... I Just want to know WHY it has done this ? I never set it up any different, Would it be an unwise move now to use SYSTEM RESTORE to go to the usual settings(Colour,text size,fonts etc.), after all, I downloaded some programs off the Internet, only 2 days ago. And They are still there in Windows Explorer, so it hasn't taken anything from me. It has just puzzled me thats all, So, just to Re-Cap...WHY would it suddenly take me back to a setting from ages ago.My Background picture was from a month ago, at least! All the Best - Fred - Morph P.S. Do i have to change anything, in keeping with this new look ?