My interface has disappeared after resetting preferences

Question

iMac
CS5 Illustrator
Held down cmmd, shift, alt to delete preferences, after opening up a previous document all my tools are gone (unable to pull them out from the dropout menu), as well as options for effects, and well.....everything. How can I get it all back?

Answer 1

mhossey,
Cmd+Option+Shift should reset the preferences to the defaults rather than remove them, of course.
Ultimately, you may have to uninstall, run the Cleaner Tool, and reinstall, see 6) below, but you may try other things, such as 4) on the list below.
Less likely, everyone has escaped to the sides, in which case you may increase the screen resolution to see them and round them up in the middle and then decrease the resolution again.
The following is a general list of things you may try when the issue is not in a specific file (you may have tried/done some of them already); 1) and 2) are the easy ones for temporary strangenesses, and 3) and 4) are specifically aimed at possibly corrupt preferences); 5) is a list in itself, and 6) is the last resort.
1) Close down Illy and open again;
2) Restart the computer (you may do that up to 3 times);
3) Close down Illy and press Ctrl+Alt+Shift/Cmd+Option+Shift during startup (easy but irreversible);
4) Move the folder (follow the link with that name) with Illy closed (more tedious but also more thorough and reversible);
5) Look through and try out the relevant among the Other options (follow the link with that name, Item 7) is a list of usual suspects among other applications that may disturb and confuse Illy, Item 15) applies to CC, CS6, and maybe CS5);
Even more seriously, you may:
6) Uninstall, run the Cleaner Tool (if you have CS3/CS4/CS5/CS6/CC), and reinstall.
http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cscleanertool.html