Good evening (at least for you I hope!)
I was wondering if you can help. I have just noticed that all of my documents, files, folders, music, videos, photos e.t.c have gone from the my documents folder, and I am unsure why.
Everythig on the computer is acting as if it has just been turned on for the first time (except for the initial start up you get when you first install windows e.t.c). The computer starts as normal but when looking at the desktop, I have none of my shortcuts to folders / files. When I click on start none of my usual programmes are there, it has basic applications like calculator, magnifier, get online, e.t.c, programes I never use. However when I go to All Programmes, I think all of the programmes I use are there and working. Although I opened Microsoft Word to see if there were files in my recent list, there where none, and word asked me for my name and title, as if I had never opened it before!
Now I have not used the computer for a couple of weeks as I have been completing work on another pc with different software to that installed on the PC with issues, but the computer has been on on occasions and used for general browsing, shopping and the kids have been playing games. I noticed about a week ago that my printer was no longer on the list, my daughter tried to print something. I noticed a couple of days ago that safari was no longer pinned to my taskbar. My wife likes to use it and was upset that it was not there, its not my prefered choice of browsers I must say. The last night my wife again went to upload some pictures to send to a family member and noticed there were no pictures. She assumed I had removed everything from the computer and stored it somewhere else (I wish I had). I was told this evening that the pictures where not there and noticed that all files / folders were gone.
I have read through a couple of post which are similar but as I am unsure why this has happened or when I am unsure of what to do. I was tempted to restore to a previous point but was concerned this might cause further issues! I am currently running the Malwarebutes Anti-Malware scanner and will post the results. I just felt I needed to post before it finished to get things going. Half an hour ago I checked my hard drive space and noticed the used space was just over 91GB, this gives me a little confidence that there is something there but I just can not see it. I am sure my selection of software alone does not take up this much space. A little more concerning, I have just checked the space again to give an accurate size and it now says 88.8GB!! Not sure where 2GB of data has just dissappeared to?
Any help you can give is much appreciated. I am trying to remain calm but am panicking inside:(
Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this.
Regards
Amazemart