How to Recover Missing Apps from a Windows 11 Laptop

It sounds like the Windows.old folder was created after an update, typically when Windows performs a major upgrade. You can likely reinstall your apps from there. Most user data and settings should have been carried over, but if not, you can check the C:Windows.oldUsers{username}AppData for any remaining files. Just a heads up, this folder will be deleted automatically after 10 days, so make sure to back up any important data soon! You could roll back the update, but just remember it'll come back automatically in a few days anyway.

It's worth noting that missing apps often happen after a Reset this PC operation. This action effectively performs a clean install of Windows but typically keeps personal files. It shouldn’t happen randomly, though, so maybe your daughter closing the lid instead of shutting down might have interrupted an update if one was in progress.

Don't worry too much! You can just reinstall the apps manually. For Office, just log in to reactivate it. Your Chrome bookmarks and extensions will sync back automatically once you're logged in to your Google account, and the same goes for Acrobat.

I really wouldn’t recommend messing with the Windows.old folder directly—renaming it could mess up the system. Have you checked if there's a recovery partition or tried accessing recovery mode? Without System Restore, you're probably looking at a reinstall for everything, but at least that might fix things.