Guest Jean Posted August 10, 2007 Posted August 10, 2007 CUSTOMER PROVIDED SYSTEM PROPERTIES O/S: Win XP Prof. version 5 Br: Internet Explorer version 6 Country/Region: Philippines CONTACT INFORMATION First Name: Jean Last Name: Morano PRODUCT Windows XP Professional QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS Message: Our computer runs in Windows XP Professional and several of us use it everyday. The last time I used it, it was running normally but the next day, the environment was different—the start menu looked different (the Tour Windows XP was at the menu), some programs were gone, when I clicked on the My Documents folder, my files are gone. I ran the search command and found my files at C:\Documents and Settings\admin\My Documents. I moved it to the My Documents folder for easy clicking the next time I need my files. The next day, it was back to Windows XP environment again but my files are no longer at both directory (My Documents & C:\Documents and Settings\admin\My Documents). I ran the search command again and found them at C:\Documents and Settings\admin\Recent and I could not open them anymore; the message states that it was either moved or deleted. If they are deleted, can I still recover the files? Please no technical terms on your reply. Thanks.
Guest Malke Posted August 10, 2007 Posted August 10, 2007 Re: recovering deleted or lost files in Win XP Prof. Jean wrote: > CUSTOMER PROVIDED SYSTEM PROPERTIES > O/S: Win XP Prof. version 5 > Br: Internet Explorer version 6 > Country/Region: Philippines > > CONTACT INFORMATION > First Name: Jean > Last Name: Morano > > PRODUCT > Windows XP Professional > > QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS > Message: Our computer runs in Windows XP Professional and several of us use > it everyday. > > The last time I used it, it was running normally but the next day, the > environment was different—the start menu looked different (the Tour Windows > XP was at the menu), some programs were gone, when I clicked on the My > Documents folder, my files are gone. I ran the search command and found my > files at C:\Documents and Settings\admin\My Documents. I moved it to the My > Documents folder for easy clicking the next time I need my files. > > The next day, it was back to Windows XP environment again but my files are > no longer at both directory (My Documents & C:\Documents and > Settings\admin\My Documents). I ran the search command again and found them > at C:\Documents and Settings\admin\Recent and I could not open them anymore; > the message states that it was either moved or deleted. > > If they are deleted, can I still recover the files? Please no technical > terms on your reply. Thanks. It sounds as though your profile was corrupted but it is very difficult to say exactly what happened without seeing the machine. It doesn't sound as though your files were deleted. One can almost always retrieve deleted files but since you say you want no technical terms, I can't help you. Be practical and sensible - if you aren't technically proficient you should have a qualified computer professional come on-site to sort you out. Malke -- Elephant Boy Computers http://www.elephantboycomputers.com "Don't Panic!" MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Guest Jean Posted August 11, 2007 Posted August 11, 2007 Re: recovering deleted or lost files in Win XP Prof. OK, maybe I can understand some of the technical terms you'll provide, just please help me recover my files. Then I'll try to contact a specialist if I can't understand it. Thanks! "Malke" wrote: > Jean wrote: > > CUSTOMER PROVIDED SYSTEM PROPERTIES > > O/S: Win XP Prof. version 5 > > Br: Internet Explorer version 6 > > Country/Region: Philippines > > > > CONTACT INFORMATION > > First Name: Jean > > Last Name: Morano > > > > PRODUCT > > Windows XP Professional > > > > QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS > > Message: Our computer runs in Windows XP Professional and several of us use > > it everyday. > > > > The last time I used it, it was running normally but the next day, the > > environment was different�the start menu looked different (the Tour Windows > > XP was at the menu), some programs were gone, when I clicked on the My > > Documents folder, my files are gone. I ran the search command and found my > > files at C:\Documents and Settings\admin\My Documents. I moved it to the My > > Documents folder for easy clicking the next time I need my files. > > > > The next day, it was back to Windows XP environment again but my files are > > no longer at both directory (My Documents & C:\Documents and > > Settings\admin\My Documents). I ran the search command again and found them > > at C:\Documents and Settings\admin\Recent and I could not open them anymore; > > the message states that it was either moved or deleted. > > > > If they are deleted, can I still recover the files? Please no technical > > terms on your reply. Thanks. > > > It sounds as though your profile was corrupted but it is very difficult > to say exactly what happened without seeing the machine. It doesn't > sound as though your files were deleted. One can almost always retrieve > deleted files but since you say you want no technical terms, I can't > help you. > > Be practical and sensible - if you aren't technically proficient you > should have a qualified computer professional come on-site to sort you out. > > > Malke > -- > Elephant Boy Computers > http://www.elephantboycomputers.com > "Don't Panic!" > MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User >
Guest Malke Posted August 11, 2007 Posted August 11, 2007 Re: recovering deleted or lost files in Win XP Prof. Jean wrote: > OK, maybe I can understand some of the technical terms you'll provide, just > please help me recover my files. Then I'll try to contact a specialist if I > can't understand it. Thanks! It sounds as though your computer is experiencing hardware problems or perhaps is heavily infected with a virus. There is no way for me to tell from your post. I would first try to find your files by manually looking at everything on the hard drive, starting under C:\Documents and Settings rather than by using Search. Make sure you can see all hidden files first. Here's how: Go to Control Panel>Folder Options>View tab. In XP, there are four checkboxes to deal with: a. Check "Display the contents of system folders". b. Check "Show hidden files and folders". c. Uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types". d. Uncheck "Hide protected operating system files" and click "OK" to the dialog box. If you find your files, copy them to a USB flash drive or burn them to CD-R or copy to an external hard drive. It doesn't matter which you use as long as you get the files off that machine. Then do virus and hardware testing as follows: http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Hardware_Tshoot Your next steps on this machine will depend on what you find through the testing. If you truly can't find your files, then if the hard drive is not physically damaged you can try data recovery software. If you use data recovery software, install it on another machine and either use it from that operating system or create a bootable cd/floppy and work with that. If you don't have the skill and/or equipment to do these procedures and the data is crucial, take the machine to a professional computer repair shop that has experience in doing data recovery. This will not be your local version of BigStoreUSA. In-shop data recovery is usually not exactly cheap (for ex., my charges are generally $150-350 USD), but it normally costs less than sending the drive to a company like Drive Savers (see below). Here are some links to various data recovery programs. I use Easy Recovery Pro, but it is expensive. People whom I respect have recommended R-Studio and Restoration. YMMV. http://www3.telus.net/mikebike/RESTORATION.html PCInspector File Recovery - http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/welcome.htm Executive Software “Undelete” - http://www.execsoft.com/undelete/undelete.asp R-Studio - http://www.r-tt.com/ File Scavenger - http://www.quetek.com/prod02.htm Ontrack's EasyRecovery - http://www.ontrack.com/software/ If the hard drive is physically damaged or you can't get the files with data recovery software, they may still be retrievable by a professional data recovery company. I like Drive Savers (http://www.drivesavers.com) but there are others. Professional data recovery is always expensive, usually starting at around $500 with an average of $1,500-$3,000 USD. Only you can decide what your data is worth. After you get all this sorted out, create and use a backup strategy whereby you regularly back up your data to another hard drive (external or internal) and/or burn to CD/DVD-R. Malke -- Elephant Boy Computers http://www.elephantboycomputers.com "Don't Panic!" MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Guest HddRecovery Posted August 13, 2007 Posted August 13, 2007 Re: recovering deleted or lost files in Win XP Prof. What it seems to me that because of the virus you have lost your files. To recover your files try Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Software, it is a file recovery software which provides recovery from viruses, or data lost occur due to software malfunction, file/ directory deletion or even sabotage. Download the demo version of the software (http://www.stellarinfo.com/ partition-recovery.htm ) scan your hard drive and your data will be shown marked as deleted. If you can see your data through then it means you can get back your data by getting full version.
Guest HddRecovery Posted August 13, 2007 Posted August 13, 2007 Re: recovering deleted or lost files in Win XP Prof. What it seems to me that because of the virus you have lost your files. To recover your files try Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Software, it is a file recovery software which provides recovery from viruses, or data lost occur due to software malfunction, file/ directory deletion or even sabotage. Download the demo version of the software (http://www.stellarinfo.com/ partition-recovery.htm ) scan your hard drive and your data will be shown marked as deleted. If you can see your data through then it means you can get back your data by getting full version.
Guest Malke Posted August 13, 2007 Posted August 13, 2007 Re: recovering deleted or lost files in Win XP Prof. HddRecovery wrote: die, spammer Malke -- Elephant Boy Computers http://www.elephantboycomputers.com "Don't Panic!" MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Guest Malke Posted August 13, 2007 Posted August 13, 2007 Re: recovering deleted or lost files in Win XP Prof. HddRecovery wrote: In case you didn't hear me the first time - die, spammer. Malke -- Elephant Boy Computers http://www.elephantboycomputers.com "Don't Panic!" MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Guest wutanghax0r Posted August 14, 2007 Posted August 14, 2007 Re: recovering deleted or lost files in Win XP Prof. On Aug 13, 5:45 am, Malke <notrea...@invalid.invalid> wrote: > HddRecovery wrote: > > In case you didn't hear me the first time - die, spammer. > > Malke > -- > Elephant Boy Computerswww.elephantboycomputers.com > "Don't Panic!" > MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User It will be difficult to locate a deleted file since you don't know for sure where the file is. The user account you were in when you moved your files was not your standard admin user account and that account may no longer exist. I've had luck with Pandora Recovery. Its a free software: http://www.pandorarecovery.com You can use it's search feature to locate files by size, date, type, etc.
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