Start Up Icons Missing From Preferences

[007abysswriter]

Hello team, I am on OS X vers. 10.3.9 After attempting to download a program to recover some deleted picture files I noticed the startup icons in system preferences missing. Now I cannot install ANYTHING because all 4 drives in the install window show a red warning exclamation! Can you suggest a remedy?

 

[Veljo]

Start with the basics: open Disk Utility, repair permissions then do a disk repair on all of the drives.

 

[007abysswriter]

Start with the basics: open Disk Utility, repair permissions then do a disk repair on all of the drives.

I tried that, no change to the problem. Is there a way to restore my system withour wiping out all the software and files? Like a restore to an earlier date, say 2 weeks ago, like you can in Windows?

 

[007abysswriter]

System Preferences, once again, shows the startup disc. After downloading software updates, back to 10.3.9, one of the few problems left is QuickTime not running properly. Downloading a new QT 6.5, my HD grays out, won't allow install. I've had to move to QT 7, which means another $30 to cough up for QT Pro. De ja vu. Twice this year.