There's no Windows 2003. There's only an Office 2003. The Windows versions are 2000, XP, Vista, 7. Which one to do you have?
Favorites should not disappear when defragmenting. In fact, nothing should disappear when defragmenting. So maybe your son did something more? Did you already look in the recycle bin?
Favorites (in Internet Explorer, I assume you use that) are stored in a folder in your Windows account/profile. It's conveniently named Favorites. Mine, here in Windows 7, is called: C:\Users\<mylogonname>\Favorites. In XP it's a folder in C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>. It might be a hidden folder, I don't know and I can't check that.
If that favorites that are gone are no longer in that folder, they are gone. That's why it makes sense to include that folder in your regular backup. The alternative to backing up that folder is to use File>Import and Export in Internet Explorer to export the whole set of favorites to one file (called bookmarks.htm), that you can put anywhere you like (for example in your My Documents) and can import again if necessary. I assume you DO regularly backup your My Documents folder. But if they really are gone, it's too late for that now.
Do I have to tell you about backup?
Kees
Okay, I'm an old lady who doesn't do much on the computer but email. My son "defragmented" my computer and now most of my Favorites are gone. Some were important, not just "how to buy a bra."
Help in old lady terms is needed.
Thanks

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