if the old windows 98 thingy came up its because someone changed the system configuration, they set it so that no system files load up in the beggining, to change that once you get your computer booted up go to start-run-type msconfig, push enter go to services go to enable all, and BAM

but as for all your files, take out your hard drive, put it in another computer and back up all your shit on a flash drive or an iPod(thats what i use)