Encryption Confusion - Accessed denied - Yes, I Googled HELP PLEASE

Hi people, Boy did I do the wrong thing...XP Pro SR2:

I got curious about file/folder encryption so I did a little reading at
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/223316/en-us before attempting it.

Started to encrypt My Documents folder per the above kb article and then
canceled (turned chicken-I kept remembering the posts from unfortunate souls
who tried encryption and realized I needed to learn more before proceeding).
Noticed that some of the file/folder names were now "green" in color.
Assuming they were encrypted, I did the steps for decrypting the My
Documents folder. The folders' names now appeared in "black" text. I assumed
ALL (including files in the folders) had been decrypted.

Exported the cert with its private key to a CD, JUST IN CASE, and "removed"
the cert from the Personal window in Internet Explorer (because I read this
protects the encrypted files from physical theft of the computer).

Got brave (I mean stupid) again and tried encrypting the My Docs folder, but
again canceled.

THEN, I noticed that certain FILES were still encrypted so I attempted to
decrypt them by importing the cert from the CD. My file decryption attempts
on the individual files failed. I tried decrypting them from the folder
level but this had no effect. I see there are now TWO nearly identical certs
in the Personal window (each has a different serial number). Apparently, my
second attempt at encryption created another certificate(?). And how did the
original cert get listed again even though I "removed" it? :-/

I "viewed" the original cert for clues to what I was doing wrong and read:
"This CA Root Certificate is not trusted, etc." So, thinking I needed to put
it in the trusted cert area, I imported it there, too. Still could not
decrypt the files and now have two certs in the Personal and one in the
Trusted area.

Followed the instructions here http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/encrypt.htm to
take ownership. Turned off file sharing so I could see the security tab,
etc. Several attempts. I am still unable to decrypt the files. And not only
are there 3 certs, but now I have three names in the name list? Because
there are so many certs and names everywhere, I am thoroughly confused.
(aargh!)

Tried going back-in-time (I love this) to a restoration point, but that
didn't work, (of course). Undid the restoration and am back where I was (in
the present). :-)

Have spent hours on this. Just want to get my system back to where it was
before I added all this stuff to it. Can someone *please* tell me how to
clean up this mess? If you need more detailed info, please let me know.
Thanks for reading this!
--
Summer (no valid email)


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