All files disappeared from my PC!

[dave]

Im very technical, I removed McAfee, removed all
instances of mcafee in registry - rebooted and then all
hell broke loose.

1. All files and folders my cousin created in the past
just disappeared!
2. I double click on IE icon on the desktop, it pops up
a box CANT FIND EXE asks for you to browse to find it
3. On START -- to PROGRAMS all installed programs no
longer are listed here - only the default like
Accessories and Startup are listed - if you go to
Accessories there is nothing - it says Empty on every
single thing!
4. I looked through the hard drive, under program files
and found all the folders are there, but for example the
Internet Explorer folder has nothing in it except a
CONNECTION WIZARD folder - with nothing in it!
5. I searched for *.doc - found none except a couple
templates included with word

Since all icons were gone/missing off the start menu, I
found the path to SYSTEM RESTORE - i rolled back two days
ago - this recreated all the icons, and recreated all the
self made folders that had word document, etc - but none
of the folder have any of the data! What is going on??

One thing in the event viewer log showed something about
Windows File Protection like 50 times in a row which did
show IEXPLORER.EXE in one of them -- but didn't mention
anything about the actual data. Also, all programs that
were installed other than the default apps are prompting
for the CD that was used to install them.

Obviously something happened, I just need to figure out
why all the data files like DOCS and XLS's that she
created simply disappeared, no trace anywhere, no recycle
bin, etc.

Help please!? Anyone heard of such a thing? The system
is virus free - have you ever heard of someone losing all
their word docs, excel docs, pictures after deleting a
registry key?? (again, ive worked with registry many
times, am very carefull)

Sorry for the novel.

Dave

 

[luminos]

If you are very technical, then you no doubt have and image backup and can
restore and work from there.

 

[Richard Urban]

I "guess" you're very technical - just not technical enough to do what you
tried to do, which is mess around in the registry!

--
Regards:

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

 

[Kelly]

Sounds as though you removed more than just McAfee files via the registry.
Beings you stated that you are technical, then either you went overboard or
this can't be the case.

 

[Ron Sommer]

exe, doc and xls files would have been scanned by McAfee.
If you have worked with the Registry, then you know the first thing to do
before making changes is to make a backup.

Are you showing hidden files?

 

[Jone Doe]

Im very technical, I removed McAfee, removed all
instances of mcafee in registry - rebooted and then all
hell broke loose.

1. All files and folders my cousin created in the past
just disappeared!
2. I double click on IE icon on the desktop, it pops up
a box CANT FIND EXE asks for you to browse to find it
3. On START -- to PROGRAMS all installed programs no
longer are listed here - only the default like
Accessories and Startup are listed - if you go to
Accessories there is nothing - it says Empty on every
single thing!
4. I looked through the hard drive, under program files
and found all the folders are there, but for example the
Internet Explorer folder has nothing in it except a
CONNECTION WIZARD folder - with nothing in it!
5. I searched for *.doc - found none except a couple
templates included with word

Since all icons were gone/missing off the start menu, I
found the path to SYSTEM RESTORE - i rolled back two days
ago - this recreated all the icons, and recreated all the
self made folders that had word document, etc - but none
of the folder have any of the data! What is going on??

One thing in the event viewer log showed something about
Windows File Protection like 50 times in a row which did
show IEXPLORER.EXE in one of them -- but didn't mention
anything about the actual data. Also, all programs that
were installed other than the default apps are prompting
for the CD that was used to install them.

Obviously something happened, I just need to figure out
why all the data files like DOCS and XLS's that she
created simply disappeared, no trace anywhere, no recycle
bin, etc.

Help please!? Anyone heard of such a thing? The system
is virus free - have you ever heard of someone losing all
their word docs, excel docs, pictures after deleting a
registry key?? (again, ive worked with registry many
times, am very carefull)

Sorry for the novel.

Dave

And to answer the final question, regarding system restore and your
data--Why do you think they call it SYSTEM RESTORE and not DATA RESTORE?

Of course, being as careful and technical as you are, no problem. Just pop
in the CD with the back up of all your data and begin anew.

 

[Peter Hutchison]

Im very technical, I removed McAfee, removed all
instances of mcafee in registry - rebooted and then all
hell broke loose.

1. All files and folders my cousin created in the past
just disappeared!
2. I double click on IE icon on the desktop, it pops up
a box CANT FIND EXE asks for you to browse to find it
3. On START -- to PROGRAMS all installed programs no
longer are listed here - only the default like
Accessories and Startup are listed - if you go to
Accessories there is nothing - it says Empty on every
single thing!
4. I looked through the hard drive, under program files
and found all the folders are there, but for example the
Internet Explorer folder has nothing in it except a
CONNECTION WIZARD folder - with nothing in it!
5. I searched for *.doc - found none except a couple
templates included with word

It sounds as if someones deleted loads of files from c:\documents and
settings\ including the All Users folder which contains the menu
shortcuts etc. I would do either a Inplace Repair or a REstore of the
folder from a backup. I assume you DO do backups!!!! Otherwise you
will have to recreate the shortcuts manually.

Peter Hutchison