Recover deleted user account

[nontechspert]

Please Help! Last night I noticed an icon (GetIE* now!) which would allow me
to upgrade to Internet Explorer8 (so that I could supposedly experience
better/ faster service when emailing etc.) However, after attempting to
download, I rec'd an error mess'g contained inside of a box, indicating that
the download attempt had failed & that I should access troubleshooting
instructions from my computer. Basically one of the suggestions which was
provided, indicated that I reset the computer to its "default" settings (and
a link was even provided for me to click on, so that this process could be
done AUTOMATICALLY). However, even after trying the suggestion and
reattempting to download Internet Explorer 8, I was still unsuccessful (I
rec'd the same original error mess'g). So I gave up (because I din't have the
patience anymore to try to figure it out) and figured that because the
download never went through, everything with my computer was still the same.
However, I rec'd a major shock this morning, when my 12 yr old son (who is
the only other user on my computer), tried to log on... basically, he
immediately discovered after turning on the computer, that his user account,
had suddenly become non-existant (only MY picture & username was visible...
normally, HIS would appear adjacent to mine). My son ofcourse was in
hysterics because now all of his photos, videos, etc. are all gone (and I
feel so terrible about it). Is there ANY way that I can recover his deleted
account? (P.S. I'm the administrator by the way) - Thanks in advance!!

 

[DL]

I received no such notification on any of my PC's
Suggest you scan for malaware/Trojans, using several free tools, eg Adaware,
SpyBot Search & Destroy, Windows Defender.
MS certainly doesnt give a link to reset your PC

Open Explorer, enable view of hidden files, navigate to Documents &
Settings, what users are shown?

 

[DL]

Whoops should have said navigate to Users

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Please Help! Last night I noticed an icon (GetIE* now!) which would allow me
to upgrade to Internet Explorer8 (so that I could supposedly experience
better/ faster service when emailing etc.) However, after attempting to
download, I rec'd an error mess'g contained inside of a box, indicating that
the download attempt had failed & that I should access troubleshooting
instructions from my computer. Basically one of the suggestions which was
provided, indicated that I reset the computer to its "default" settings (and
a link was even provided for me to click on, so that this process could be
done AUTOMATICALLY). However, even after trying the suggestion and
reattempting to download Internet Explorer 8, I was still unsuccessful (I
rec'd the same original error mess'g). So I gave up (because I din't have the
patience anymore to try to figure it out) and figured that because the
download never went through, everything with my computer was still the same.
However, I rec'd a major shock this morning, when my 12 yr old son (who is
the only other user on my computer), tried to log on... basically, he
immediately discovered after turning on the computer, that his user account,
had suddenly become non-existant (only MY picture & username was visible...
normally, HIS would appear adjacent to mine). My son ofcourse was in
hysterics because now all of his photos, videos, etc. are all gone (and I
feel so terrible about it). Is there ANY way that I can recover his deleted
account? (P.S. I'm the administrator by the way) - Thanks in advance!!

As DL said, you have probably been victimized by malware (that was my
thought before reading his reply).

It is possible that your son's files are still there, but currently not
easily accessible because of the loss of his account. I don't know how to
access them, but with luck you'll get a response from someone who knows
more than I do (there are many such people here!).