Suddenly it appears that all SF2 titles I have are reset to appear like they were just installed. Control Options, game settings, missions, dumb music, aircraft, all back to ground zero!! I can see all the right files in respective game folders but they do not appear in game.
Due to an odd Vista problem I had to reestablish my account ON MY OWN Computer!!! In the process of resetting my desktop I had to recover Shortcuts to various versions of game. I did not see game exe icons in Users/Saved games/ Thirwire area so I went to Thirdwire exe files in Strike Fighters folder under Programs ( I just love Vista don't we all!)I created shortcuts for those. Could it be that as a result I'm activating a basic install version of the game not us modded under Saved Games. If that's the case where do I recover correct exes?

Number one, if you have User Account Control turned on (I think you do), turn it OFF! I have Vista and have never had a problem since I turned off UAC. Look in the Games folder, see if you have exe. icons in there. Try those; see what happens. When you ran the exe.s from the main game folder, did they create new, vanilla mod folders in SavedGames?

Topcat,
Disabling UAC did not fix problem.(Background Detail : Vista would not let me download recent patch without creating an Administrator account. The patch was applied directly to the North Atlantic Version only. (Keep that in mind for later)I did that but did not want to have to go through account selection on PC start up so I deleted the original "Cris" account with option to keep "Cris" user files.Good thing I did that.)I copied game files ,yes copied, all files under Cris to Sections under Cris Admin Users Saved games. I suspect that's when things went South.

Here's what I can see.In the files associated with my defunct user account "Cris"I can see al the things I added with individual game folders inside Thirdwire folder. So ,for example,path to "SF2NATO" would be C/Users/Saved Games/ThirdWire/StrikeFighters2NATO.
But longer any exe files.

As I recall ,when I installed North Atlantic and NATO a couple of months ago I created exe short cuts from exe files that were under Users/Cris/Saved Games.I Placed those shortcuts on desktop Quick Launch bar. They disappeared,of course, when the old "Cris" account was dumped. That's when I went to create new exe shortcuts but exe.s were no longer under Saved Games they were in
Program Files (x86) /ThiredWire/strikeFighters2, the only place Vista would permit patch installl (!!??) Note that the exe.s in there have dates assoicated with original SF2 installs to this computer.Even the NATO exe shows date of 2011 eventhough I installed it in 2012. A bit of evidence. When I Launch NATO using the new exe the opening screen is the generic main screen not the NATO screen

Lastly the most recent addition ,North Atlantic, shows up in Programs/SF2 as the original install .The version with all the stuff I added shows up under the old Cris User /Saved Games/ Third Wire

I didn't mean disabling UAC would solve the current problem, but that it would prevent this kind of BS in the future. UAC is intended for a multi-user (office) enviorenment to keep other users from messin' with your stuff. Unfortunately it sometimes keeps you from messin' with your stuff. Disable it. Forever. When you restart your 'puter and the UAC is disabled there is a problem message comes up, just sit there laughing, it ain't a problem.
OK, let's se if we can solve the rest of this evil sh*t. SF2 installs, by default, into ProgramFiles(x86)/ThirdWire/StrikeFighters2, unless you changed the install path, that is where the exe.s will always be located. When you say SF2NATO I'm assuming you mean the CombatAce mod NATO Fighters4 (or now, 5). Correct? If so, what you need to do is copy and rename the SF2Europe exe in ProgramFiles(x86) to match the name of the mod file in Cris/Admin/Users/blahblah exactly . Also copy and rename the Europe ini. file. Now run the new exe. and it will create a new folder in SavedGames WITH THAT NAME. Delete that folder and copy/paste the folder of the same name from Cris/Admin to SavedGames. When you run it again, you should have access to the full mod. Let me know how this works out, by the way, the dates just refer to the version (patch level) of SF2.

Vista pushes compom\nents to Saved Games

Okay but from where should the copied and renamed exe file be run? And where would the target
Europe ini. file be located? I don't see it

The exe. can be run from anywhere; the parent (x86) folder or a shortcut on your desktop. The Europe ini. file is in the parent (x86) folder; it's not the target folder, just copy and rename to match the new exe.

I tried to run new renamed exe with new renamed ini on desk top and in Thirdwire file. Get error mesage. Guess I'm going to reinstall everything.
Thanks,

Topcat.
Once again,many thanks for all your advice. I'm going to give it another shot.Worst case ,I reinstall and move mods back in.