I upgraded my company laptop to Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Internet
Explorer 8. When I did this, all the files on my desktop and My
Documents folder "disappeared." I rolled back the install with System
Restore, but this only resulted in restoring some folders to my
desktop, but no documents. Nothing was restored to My Documents. I've
tried looking for missing and deleted files with freeware data
recovery tools like Pandora Recovery and PC Inspector, with no luck.
My IT person seems at a loss. Anyone have any suggestions?

That was nothing to do with either the sp or IE8, if docs are truly missing
something else went on
Presumably this Company laptop has no data backups

"aaron95133" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:cd1537c4-eaaa-4f70-b812-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I upgraded my company laptop to Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Internet
> Explorer 8. When I did this, all the files on my desktop and My
> Documents folder "disappeared." I rolled back the install with System
> Restore, but this only resulted in restoring some folders to my
> desktop, but no documents. Nothing was restored to My Documents. I've
> tried looking for missing and deleted files with freeware data
> recovery tools like Pandora Recovery and PC Inspector, with no luck.
> My IT person seems at a loss. Anyone have any suggestions?

Those are two major updates to the OS...Before you restart the pc after
installing you should have had a "check disk" scheduled..For now,install xp
cd,
boot pc to xp cd,at menu,press r For recovery console,select 1 for C:
Press enter for password,type: Fixboot Agree,type: CHKDSK C: /R Once its
thru,type:EXIT Let xp start,remove cd.

"aaron95133" wrote:

> I upgraded my company laptop to Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Internet
> Explorer 8. When I did this, all the files on my desktop and My
> Documents folder "disappeared." I rolled back the install with System
> Restore, but this only resulted in restoring some folders to my
> desktop, but no documents. Nothing was restored to My Documents. I've
> tried looking for missing and deleted files with freeware data
> recovery tools like Pandora Recovery and PC Inspector, with no luck.
> My IT person seems at a loss. Anyone have any suggestions?
>

Never, EVER use System Restore to "undo" a Windows Service Pack, IE upgrade,
and/or Windows Update! Uninstall them via Add/Remove Programs.

If you can "undo" the System Restore, do so then reply to this post for
further instrux.
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002
www.banthecheck.com


aaron95133 wrote:
> I upgraded my company laptop to Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Internet
> Explorer 8. When I did this, all the files on my desktop and My
> Documents folder "disappeared." I rolled back the install with System
> Restore, but this only resulted in restoring some folders to my
> desktop, but no documents. Nothing was restored to My Documents. I've
> tried looking for missing and deleted files with freeware data
> recovery tools like Pandora Recovery and PC Inspector, with no luck.
> My IT person seems at a loss. Anyone have any suggestions?

I'm a little better at remembering reasons than rules. What is there about
Windows Service Packs, IE upgrades, and Windows Updates that makes System
Restore so useless or dangerous?

-Paul Randall

"PA Bear [MS MVP]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Never, EVER use System Restore to "undo" a Windows Service Pack, IE
> upgrade, and/or Windows Update! Uninstall them via Add/Remove Programs.
>
> If you can "undo" the System Restore, do so then reply to this post for
> further instrux.
> --
> ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
> MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002
> www.banthecheck.com
>
>
> aaron95133 wrote:
>> I upgraded my company laptop to Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Internet
>> Explorer 8. When I did this, all the files on my desktop and My
>> Documents folder "disappeared." I rolled back the install with System
>> Restore, but this only resulted in restoring some folders to my
>> desktop, but no documents. Nothing was restored to My Documents. I've
>> tried looking for missing and deleted files with freeware data
>> recovery tools like Pandora Recovery and PC Inspector, with no luck.
>> My IT person seems at a loss. Anyone have any suggestions?
>

So I should use System Restore to put the computer back to the point
where IE8 and SP3 have just been installed? I'm pretty sure I can do
that.

On Aug 20, 12:01*am, "PA Bear [MS MVP]" <PABear...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Never, EVER use System Restore to "undo" a Windows Service Pack, IE upgrade,
> and/or Windows Update! *Uninstall them via Add/Remove Programs.
>
> If you can "undo" the System Restore, do so then reply to this post for
> further instrux.
> --
> ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
> MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002www.banthecheck.com
>
> aaron95133 wrote:
> > I upgraded my company laptop to Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Internet
> > Explorer 8. When I did this, all the files on my desktop and My
> > Documents folder "disappeared." I rolled back the install with System
> > Restore, but this only resulted in restoring some folders to my
> > desktop, but no documents. Nothing was restored to My Documents. I've
> > tried looking for missing and deleted files with freeware data
> >recoverytools likePandoraRecoveryand PC Inspector, with no luck.
> > My IT person seems at a loss. Anyone have any suggestions?

Yes, give that (i.e., undoing the last System Restore) a whirl, please.

Which was installed first, WinXP SP3 or IE8?

WinXP SP3 was released over a year ago. Any reason in particular that you
waited so long to install it?

What anti-virus application or security suite is installed and is your
subscription current? What anti-spyware applications (other than Defender)?
What third-party firewall (if any)? Were any of these applications running
in the background when you installed SP3 and/or IE8?

Has a(another) Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on this
machine (e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when you bought
it)?
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002
www.banthecheck.com

aaron95133 wrote:
> So I should use System Restore to put the computer back to the point
> where IE8 and SP3 have just been installed? I'm pretty sure I can do
> that.
>
>> Never, EVER use System Restore to "undo" a Windows Service Pack, IE
>> upgrade, and/or Windows Update! Uninstall them via Add/Remove Programs.
>>
>> If you can "undo" the System Restore, do so then reply to this post for
>> further instrux.
>>
>> aaron95133 wrote:
>>> I upgraded my company laptop to Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Internet
>>> Explorer 8. When I did this, all the files on my desktop and My
>>> Documents folder "disappeared." I rolled back the install with System
>>> Restore, but this only resulted in restoring some folders to my
>>> desktop, but no documents. Nothing was restored to My Documents. I've
>>> tried looking for missing and deleted files with freeware data
>>> recoverytools likePandoraRecoveryand PC Inspector, with no luck.
>>> My IT person seems at a loss. Anyone have any suggestions?

The date and time was Thursday, August 20, 2009 9:35:40 AM , and on a
whim, aaron95133 pounded out on the keyboard:

> So I should use System Restore to put the computer back to the point
> where IE8 and SP3 have just been installed? I'm pretty sure I can do
> that.
>
> On Aug 20, 12:01 am, "PA Bear [MS MVP]" <PABear...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Never, EVER use System Restore to "undo" a Windows Service Pack, IE upgrade,
>> and/or Windows Update! Uninstall them via Add/Remove Programs.
>>
>> If you can "undo" the System Restore, do so then reply to this post for
>> further instrux.
>> --
>> ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
>> MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002www.banthecheck.com
>>
>> aaron95133 wrote:
>>> I upgraded my company laptop to Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Internet
>>> Explorer 8. When I did this, all the files on my desktop and My
>>> Documents folder "disappeared." I rolled back the install with System
>>> Restore, but this only resulted in restoring some folders to my
>>> desktop, but no documents. Nothing was restored to My Documents. I've
>>> tried looking for missing and deleted files with freeware data
>>> recoverytools likePandoraRecoveryand PC Inspector, with no luck.
>>> My IT person seems at a loss. Anyone have any suggestions?
>

Hi Aaron,

If this is a company laptop, are you on a domain? If so, could you now
be logging into a local account rather than the domain profile? Maybe
your My Documents is located on a network drive? If you have
Administrator rights, look in the Documents and Settings folder and
check the users listed. You might be able to look into each accounts My
Documents folder and see if your data is in one of them.

Report back,

Terry R.
--
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

On Aug 19, 7:45*pm, aaron95133 <aaron95...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I upgraded my company laptop to Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Internet
> Explorer 8. When I did this, all the files on my desktop and My
> Documents folder "disappeared." I rolled back the install with System
> Restore, but this only resulted in restoring some folders to my
> desktop, but no documents. Nothing was restored to My Documents. I've
> tried looking for missing and deleted files with freeware data
> recovery tools like Pandora Recovery and PC Inspector, with no luck.
> My IT person seems at a loss. Anyone have any suggestions?

Disappeared can have many interpretations.

Your recover programs are designed to recover items that have been
deleted. They are not useful to locate things that are missing.

If your file recovery programs did not discover any deleted items to
recover I would venture that the items have not been deleted but
instead are not where you think they should be or where they were
before.

If installed properly following the well documented installation
procedures, there is no reason installing SP3 or IE8 would delete user
created files. If either did, people would be screaming about it all
over the world.

SR is not the method to uninstall things or recover from an
installation that went wrong (as has been noted). SR is not useless
and dangerous if used properly. It only does what it is designed to
do. It is not a time machine.

Perhaps seeing a list of folders that System Restore does *not* monitor will
make things clearer: http://bertk.mvps.org/html/filesfolders.html

In the bottom section of the page, also notice that System Restore does not
monitor any executables (i.e., EXE files).

Since System Restore does *not* monitor the contents of
%windir%\SoftwareDistribution <=this folder or
%windir%\$NtServicePackUninstall$ <=this folder or any executables and since
it *does* monitor DLL files, using System Restore to "undo" such updates
usually leaves Windows in a very "confused" and unreliable state (e.g., Is
SP3 and/or IE8 installed or not?).


Paul Randall wrote:
> I'm a little better at remembering reasons than rules. What is there
> about
> Windows Service Packs, IE upgrades, and Windows Updates that makes System
> Restore so useless or dangerous?
>
> "PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote:
>> Never, EVER use System Restore to "undo" a Windows Service Pack, IE
>> upgrade, and/or Windows Update! Uninstall them via Add/Remove Programs.
>>
>> If you can "undo" the System Restore, do so then reply to this post for
>> further instrux.
>> --
>> ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
>> MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002
>> www.banthecheck.com
>>
>>
>> aaron95133 wrote:
>>> I upgraded my company laptop to Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Internet
>>> Explorer 8. When I did this, all the files on my desktop and My
>>> Documents folder "disappeared." I rolled back the install with System
>>> Restore, but this only resulted in restoring some folders to my
>>> desktop, but no documents. Nothing was restored to My Documents. I've
>>> tried looking for missing and deleted files with freeware data
>>> recovery tools like Pandora Recovery and PC Inspector, with no luck.
>>> My IT person seems at a loss. Anyone have any suggestions?