Documents folder icons and content changed

After running Windows 7 Professional A-OK for over a year, suddenly the main Documents folder (My Computer, Documents, under Libraries) has icons and folder names I do not recognize. The folder names are foreign to me, but resemble names as in an address book. When one of the folders is opened, it contains a few files from my original Documents folder, but there is no correlation to the folder name. The folder icon looks like three blank pages, rather than the original manila folder icon. Interestingly, if I click on the plus sign next to Documents, I get a drop down folder named My Documents, and the contents of it is normal and contains all my documents. ????

This began after some regular updates, so I did a restore prior to the updates, but the problem persists. I am working around it by creating a shortcut to the desktop from the My Documents folder (within Documents) that appears to be normal.

Has anyone seen this and if so, what is suggested to correct? I can post a screenshot of what it looks like if needed. Any help appreciated.
Thanks.

Thanks for the reply. This is the strangest thing I have seen working on computer issues. Attached is the screenshot showing some of the contents of the DOCUMENTS folder. As I stated, the MY DOCUMENTS folder (underneath DOCUMENTS) appears OK.

The My Documents folder in the C:\Users\(user-name) folder location appears OK.

I'm not sure I understand the question about "check to see what folders you have included in your Documents library to see if one of them may be this folder instead." I'm working on this problem for a friend remotely, so don't have immediate access. Will follow up.

Thanks again for your reply.

Ok, thanks again for the replies. I am doing this troubleshooting remotely to a friend's computer, so please pardon the time lapse in my responses. I will take another look at the areas you suggest and also re-read the posting rules...I thought I did it correctly, but will try again. Thanks for your patience.

Well, it appears I hit the wrong button in my last reply, as the thread was marked Solved, but my closing comments were not posted. It's not easy being a newbie. (-:

Thanks to Slartybark and Brink, I have discovered the source of the strange looking folders. Somehow, the Arrange By option was changed from Folder to Author, which explains why everything looked the way it did. Simply changing the option back to Folder solved the mystery. Thank you so much for the help and for your patience.