Thanks so much snowmonkey (I love animals!)
You have interpreted accurately my problem. All went well until the system refused "Desktop" where the backed up folder is (don't know if I have a "Backup Directory?"). So I copied and pasted the folder into My Documents and clicked on all + signs. Found a folder called "Identities" showing 4 original identities and 4 duplicates) each with its long numbers/letters, and this is what it showed:
C:\Documents and settings\Adelamain\Application data\Identities
Hope I didnt skip one, but I stopped for fear that ALL identities will get imported at the same time. How can I import the files from one identity only, at a time, into its original? I mentioned in my post only one identity for clarity purposes, as once I learn how to do one, I'll do the other 3.
What do you think? Meantime, I can't thank you enough for putting me so much closer to maybe fix this weird thing after all. Adela