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First, let me say I was an idiot for even thinking I should attempt this, given my computer skills. (Edited for clarity of the past tense, ...what I did, rather than the attempt to fix it now.)
I had a pdf file that I wanted to be able to use and print, rather than have to fill it out by hand. (It was a form for my bio lab subjects, needed for final submission.) I found a (free) conversion tool online, and ran the file through it. It didn't turn out a functional word document, but rather a bunch of "gibberish". So, I took the time to recreate the overall pdf page using word tools, and used it instead.
Sometime later, I went to open a file that I had on my laptop, and realized that I had the same gibberish that I was presented with in that conversion attempt. After perusing my files, I realized that I no longer had any pdf icons in my files, but rather a "modified" looking word icon, which I figured was in place in any location that had originally housed a pdf file. Of course, now they are all useless to me. It also appears that I can't download pdf files anymore without it trying to convert them in the same format.
Can anyone tell me what I can do about this? I tried to go through system restore, and unless I just didn't go back far enough, it didn't work. So I thought that I should ask for advice before I try to do anything else.
ETA, I am using the 2010 office suite with Windows 7
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