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Let's forget about the permissions for a second. You told me that you performed the restoration, got to the final page, deleted the installation directory and now, whenever you try to access your site, you get a 403 error. Correct? If this is so, you have to follow our post restoration troubleshooting instructions first.

What is the "hpc" directory? Is it your site's root? Is it another site under your site's root? Also note that eXtract Wizard extracts the files, by default in a subdirectory of wherever your archive file is. It's your responsibility to change the extraction directory to be the same as the restored site's root. Also note that if you do not see any files in your restored site's root, then you couldn't have performed a restoration or see any files, which contradicts your earlier message.

My suggestion:
- Delete the whole lot of what you did on your local site
- Create a directory named hpc in your XAMPP root directory. The hpc directory shall be referred to as "restored site's root" hereafter.
- Download the backup archive to your restored site's root using FileZilla in binary mode
- Open Akeeba eXtract Wizard
- Select the backup archive located in your restored site's root
- Use the browse button to the right of the extraction directory edit box and select your restored site's root
- Extract the archive
- Visit http://localhost/hpc/installation/index.php
- Perform the restoration
- Remove the installation directory

If the restored site doesn't work, follow the post-restoration instructions I linked you to above.

Hm, I believe that you are missing something in the extraction. According to your log file, everything got backed up. Can you try extracting your backup archive (using Akeeba eXtract Wizard) to your Document's directory? Are there any files/folders missing? If anything is missing, can you please list the names of the files and directories in the site's root which are missing?

Ah, damn, I know what's going wrong:

DEBUG   |120226 15:12:57|Adding symlink to folder as file: includes
DEBUG   |120226 15:12:57|Adding symlink to folder as file: libraries
DEBUG   |120226 15:12:57|Adding symlink to folder as file: xmlrpc

and their permissions are lrwxrwxrwx.
See the first digit in permissions? It tells us this is a symlink. Same goes for the log file, it tells us that these are symlinks, not real folders.

There are two alternatives:
a. You are using a multisite solution, e.g. JMS multisites. In this case you have to backup the main site, all linked sites and all databases in one go. This means that you can not backup and restore one specific site, let alone transfer it to a Windows server.
b. For an arcane reason only you can shed light, you are using symlinks to move around directories. In this case you have to tick the "Dereference symlinks" configuration option as stated in our documentation.

Which now leads me to the million dollar question: why are you using symlinks for these folders?!

OK, STOP. Your host's control panel has modified Joomla!'s core files. Whoever wrote that control panel application must be skinned, tarred, feathered, hung and burnt in the stake. Never, ever, under not circumstances should Joomla! core files be modified for any reason at all. What you host did was to (excuse my language) completely fuck up your Joomla! installation. Not only do they have an ancient Joomla! version (1.5.15 is way too easy to hack!), they made it impossible to update and extremely hard to back it up. What a bunch of utter morons! Please tell me who they are. I have a "name and shame" policy for hosts screwing their clients.

OK, we will now try to fix your hosts's stupid deeds. Download the latest Joomla! 1.5.25 installation package (yes, your host made sure you are ten versions behind...). Extract all files and put them inside your restored site's root, overwriting all existing files. Remove the installation directory (it was included in the extracted Joomla! 1.5.25 files). Now your site should work.

Next thing to do, write an angry letter to your host, telling them that their idiotic script resulted in a vulnerable site which can not be upgraded, then find a new host. I strongly recommend one of CloudAccess.net, Rochen and iRedHost. They're not the cheapest among hosts, but they are the best Joomla!-optimised hosts I've used.

You're welcome!