files lost

[BhatAsh]

Only couple of months I have been using Windows Vista, In the last two days
some files with file extensions xlsx, wav and mp3 have been deleted without
any hint. I did not deleted these files. I am at a loss why this has
happened. Has it happened to anybody else? Please help.

 

[Malke]

Only couple of months I have been using Windows Vista, In the last two
days some files with file extensions xlsx, wav and mp3 have been deleted
without any hint. I did not deleted these files. I am at a loss why this
has happened. Has it happened to anybody else? Please help.

The First Question Of Troubleshooting: what changed between the time things
worked and the time they didn't?

The Second Question of Windows Troubleshooting: what is the malware/virus
status of the machine? If you think it is clean, what programs (and
versions) did you use to determine this?

Be sure the computer is clean:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

In your case I would answer the Second Question first since the symptoms you
are describing are often found when a computer is infected.

Malke

 

[BhatAsh]

Thanks for the reply. Regarding your first question: Nothing changed much in
between. I recorded a couple of sound bites using the program "Total
Recorder" thru a microphone. Basically I changed the setting in the program.
Also I had worked on some of the documents using MS Word 2007, and one
document with the Excel 2007. The Excel document was saved previously as xls
document earlier from my old computer using Office Professional 2002.
Regarding your second question: I have Norton's Internet Security" installed
in my computer. It did not show any virus, malware infection or for that
matter no unusual activity in my computer. Hope I have answered your
questions clearly. Thanks again.

BhatAsh

 

[Malke]

Thanks for the reply. Regarding your first question: Nothing changed much
in between. I recorded a couple of sound bites using the program "Total
Recorder" thru a microphone. Basically I changed the setting in the
program. Also I had worked on some of the documents using MS Word 2007,
and one document with the Excel 2007. The Excel document was saved
previously as xls document earlier from my old computer using Office
Professional 2002. Regarding your second question: I have Norton's
Internet Security" installed in my computer. It did not show any virus,
malware infection or for that matter no unusual activity in my computer.
Hope I have answered your questions clearly. Thanks again.

Having NIS is no guarantee that your computer is clean. Since accurate
troubleshooting depends on being systematic and not guessing, please go
through at least some of the malware scanning steps at the link I already
gave you (Second Question).

After you do that, if the computer is truly clean, post back with the full
path of where you thought these files were saved; i.e. C
\Users\YourUser\Documents.

Malke

 

[BhatAsh]

I checked my computer with 1)Norton Internet Security 2) Windows Deferdser 3)
Ad-Aware 2007 (Free Version). All programs were updated first. All 3 programs
indicated that my computer was clean.
The files lost were saved in 1)C:\Ashim\Documents
2)C:\Ashim\Documents\Manuscripts and 3)C:\Ashim\Music
I forgot to mention earlier that your site was quite helpful, full with
useful informations. Thanks much.

 

[Malke]

I checked my computer with 1)Norton Internet Security 2) Windows Deferdser
3) Ad-Aware 2007 (Free Version). All programs were updated first. All 3
programs indicated that my computer was clean.
The files lost were saved in 1)C:\Ashim\Documents
2)C:\Ashim\Documents\Manuscripts and 3)C:\Ashim\Music
I forgot to mention earlier that your site was quite helpful, full with
useful informations. Thanks much.

Thank you for the compliment and also for the very thorough post. The one
thing I see wrong in the path is that the correct path for these folders
is:

C:\Users\Ashim\Documents\
C:\Users\Ashim\Documents\Manuscripts

While I haven't heard of files just disappearing randomly on a virus-free
computer, Vista is different in the way it protects certain directories.
The root of a drive is protected, for instance. Vista also virtualizes
certain directories, which can cause some surprises.

So I'm wondering if you possibly redirected or otherwise moved your user
folders to the root of C: instead of leaving them in the C
\Users\Ashim\[various directories].

Take a look at this MS Knowledge Base article and see if any of it applies
to you:

Common file and registry virtualization issues in Windows Vista
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927387

Malke

 

[BhatAsh]

I never had this type of experience before. I lost not one file but a bunch
like one in Excel, 3 in Word and nearly 10 in mp3. I have searched in all
possible places in many ways that I know. Not only that I used the "File
Recover" v6.2 from PC Tools.com to trace the files. But no luck. This was a
clean sweep. Just for learning I will keep searching the MS Knowledge Base.
If I find anything I will post again. In any case I appreciate very much your
interest and replies. Thank you very much.
--
BhatAsh

I checked my computer with 1)Norton Internet Security 2) Windows Deferdser
3) Ad-Aware 2007 (Free Version). All programs were updated first. All 3
programs indicated that my computer was clean.
The files lost were saved in 1)C:\Ashim\Documents
2)C:\Ashim\Documents\Manuscripts and 3)C:\Ashim\Music
I forgot to mention earlier that your site was quite helpful, full with
useful informations. Thanks much.

Thank you for the compliment and also for the very thorough post. The one
thing I see wrong in the path is that the correct path for these folders
is:

C:\Users\Ashim\Documents\
C:\Users\Ashim\Documents\Manuscripts

While I haven't heard of files just disappearing randomly on a virus-free
computer, Vista is different in the way it protects certain directories.
The root of a drive is protected, for instance. Vista also virtualizes
certain directories, which can cause some surprises.

So I'm wondering if you possibly redirected or otherwise moved your user
folders to the root of C: instead of leaving them in the C
\Users\Ashim\[various directories].

Take a look at this MS Knowledge Base article and see if any of it applies
to you:

Common file and registry virtualization issues in Windows Vista
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927387

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!

 

[Malke]

I never had this type of experience before. I lost not one file but a
bunch like one in Excel, 3 in Word and nearly 10 in mp3. I have searched
in all possible places in many ways that I know. Not only that I used the
"File Recover" v6.2 from PC Tools.com to trace the files. But no luck.
This was a clean sweep. Just for learning I will keep searching the MS
Knowledge Base. If I find anything I will post again. In any case I
appreciate very much your interest and replies. Thank you very much.

Did you read the Knowledge Base article I linked you to? It sounds just like
your situation. Other than that, I'm out of ideas. Sorry.

Malke