[news.eclipse.newcomer] Project disappeared

[garyl@xxxxxxxxxx (Garyl Erickson)]

I've been using Eclipse 3.1 & EPIC as an IDE for Perl development (on 
Windows) for a couple years, but I admit to not understanding much about 
how to use Eclipse itself and where it stores preferences or setup info. 
When I opened up Eclipse this morning, I got nothing but a welcome to 
Eclipse view. What happened to the previous view of my project? How do I 
get it back? I've tried changing workspaces, but I get the same thing.

Open Project on the project menu is greyed out. Why? Do I have to open 
something else first?

Where was the information stored that allowed Eclipse (or was it EPIC?) to 
open the same set of prespectives or views or projects or workspaces or 
whichever it was when it starts up?

I'd be glad to read a manual, but after looking for hours, all I can seem 
to find is info on Eclipse internals or programming Eclipse. Can someone 
at least point me to a manual or FAQ that might help me figure out how to 
find and restore my setup?

Thanks,
Completely perplexed