well, try this.
click the astart button, then on the popup menu click on 'search' and then to files or fiolders.
Now, what kind of photos do you have? JPG files?
Assuming they were saved as JPG files, type into search box ".jpg" without the quotes and see if windows finds anything. If not jpg, then type whatever type the files were saved as or perhaps type the file name of a photo if you can remember that.
I wonder if your computer's just rearranged your photos so they're not in original place which normally I wouldn't expect happen or you have a virus or malware that got rid of your photos.
To speed up your computer, get more memory, use cCleaner or reinstall windows completely. At least, I'm sure those won't cause catastrophic problems if you take it slowly, one step at a time.
