It's impossible to guess what happened based on a description of "clicked on
some arrows in bottom right corner of tool bar at bottom comp."

If you want to see if the files are still accessible, do this: Search your
computer (Start > Search) for all files ending in .doc. To do this use *.doc
as the search term. You will be shown a list of all the documents on your
computer that were created in Microsoft Word. Similarly, searching for *.xls
will show you a list of all documents on your computer that were created in
Microsoft Excel. If your children's homework was created in a program other
than Word or Excel, post back with the name of the program(s) and we'll
supply the correct search term.

Is it possible that your children backed up their work, to recordable CDs or
diskettes? Hopefully, the backed up versions are recent enough to be
helpful.

For complete instructions on using Search, open the Help and Support Center
(Start > Help and Support) and in the Search box at the upper right hand
corner, type the word "search" (without the quotes) and click on the green
arrow. You can read an article called 'Search for a file or folder.'

Good luck.

Tom Swift

Pete;
A 3rd party application called Go-Back installed by some computer
manufacturers has arrows in the area you mention.
The Restore operation most likely erased all of Go-Backs restore
Points.
You may get help here to see if Go-Back is still an option:
http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/consumer.html