Hi, how can I recover my documents after system recovery?

Hi, my Iqon pc's XP was corrupted by the Conflikr virus, and I had to resort to a system recovery. I tried the simple option first which said it would repair the operating system and leave everything else, but it was little better. So, I tried the next option which it said would restore back to factory settings but would keep all my files intact in a folder marked 'my old disc structure'. Sure enough this file is there, but when I try to access the docs inside it, it just says access is denied. Does anyone have any ideas?