My document files / folders dissappeared!

[amazemart]

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

[amazemart]

A little relief?

 

Ok so interestingly, I have just watched the scanner check the files that are missing. Although my documents is empty, c:users/myusername/document is still full, I just searched the location (whilst scanning) and everything appears to be there! Not sure what this means?

[RandyL]

Hi.

 

This sounds like your user profile got corrupted and Windows has created a temporary profile. You could try creating a new user profile then copy everything over to it. Have a look at this Microsoft article. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/fix-a-corrupted-user-profile

[amazemart]

Hi RandyL,

 

I needed to sleep so have come back to the finished scan this morning. There was one file which flagged up which I have removed. It was a free ebook download, which I downloaded a few months back. Is it likely that this could have been a corrupt file? It was a pdf file.

 

Here is the Malwarebytes Anti Malware log:

 

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.65.0.1400

http://www.malwarebytes.org

 

Database version: v2012.09.17.08

 

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 x64 NTFS

Internet Explorer 9.0.8112.16421

Martin Turner :: 660HOSTINGCO1 [administrator]

 

17/09/2012 22:12:17

mbam-log-2012-09-17 (22-12-17).txt

 

Scan type: Full scan (C:\|D:\|)

Scan options enabled: Memory | Startup | Registry | File System | Heuristics/Extra | Heuristics/Shuriken | PUP | PUM

Scan options disabled: P2P

Objects scanned: 384723

Time elapsed: 1 hour(s), 40 minute(s), 48 second(s)

 

Memory Processes Detected: 0

(No malicious items detected)

 

Memory Modules Detected: 0

(No malicious items detected)

 

Registry Keys Detected: 0

(No malicious items detected)

 

Registry Values Detected: 0

(No malicious items detected)

 

Registry Data Items Detected: 0

(No malicious items detected)

 

Folders Detected: 0

(No malicious items detected)

 

Files Detected: 1

C:\Users\Martin Turner\Downloads\free_ebook_download_eisenstein_film_form.pdf.exe (PUP.Adware.Agent) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

 

(end)

 

I am taking a look at the mocrosoft article now, i'll let you klnow how I get on. Thanks for your help.

 

Regards

Amazemart

[amazemart]

I have just looked over the above microsoft link, it looks like a good fix but does not seem to explain why it happened in the first place. Do you know why this happens, and if I create a new profile what is stopping it from happening again?

[RandyL]

It's not uncommon for any file or data to become corrupted. Hard drives can get bad sectors for instance. A user profile may contain millions of bytes. If one little byte goes missing Windows may or may not be able to recover it.

 

Yes it could be a failing drive. More likely though is that you just got unlucky.

[Plastic Nev]

That free ebook that Malwarebytes kicked out may explain what that 2GB of vanished data is, providing of course the whole thing was that big, which being linked to unwanted adware, it just might have been.

 

It pays to be careful with any download, be it software, documents or anything else, especially when advertised as being free. ( not saying the ebook was responsible for your problem, it may, or may not have been)

 

Now that you have Malwarebytes, and we always recommend keeping it, for any download and before actually opening the download, if you right click on the downloaded file, you should now see an option to scan it with Malwarebytes, good practice to do so before opening it.

 

Nev.