carried away while deleting

[Akelley]

I started deleting caches and fonts that messed up Finder.

The menu words display only the first couple of letters. The same with the names that pop up on the menu bar programs. Also, all the pull down menus are blank.

I pulled the cache files from the Trash back to the Desktop, but don't know where they go.

All of my other programs are fine. It is just Finder that has been affected.

I do remember deleting from the following folders:
HD<System<Library<Caches
HD<System<Library<Fonts
HD<Library<Caches

[MisterMe]

You did not delete System fonts?!

[JeffCGD]

Option 1:
If you know that the only non-cache folder you deleted is the System fonts folder, you can reinstall just that folder and it's contents using a tool called Pacifist (see the macupdate.com page a http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/6812/pacifist ), and your system install discs. It has clear instructions included with it for its use.

Option 2:
The more drastic option is to (after backing up your personal data), find your installation discs, boot from them, and do an 'Archive and Install' on your existing system. Then run all your system updates. this should replace all the missing System files that you may have deleted.