Contents of My Documents folder disappeared!

[SBO]

Last night my girlfriend informed me that her My Documents folder was empty.
It also no longer appears on My Computer. She does have a My Documents
folder but it appears the same as when you start Windows for the very first
time or adda new user. She is computer savvy enough not to simply delete the
folder and all contents! At the moment I am using a free recovery program to
try and recove files (about 16000 which I'll ave to sort through). Her
wallpaper has remained though and I am fairly certain it is from a Jpeg that
was in her My Documents folder. Does that mean it is still there somewhere?
I've tried the view hidden files/folders and in the c:/documents and
settings/ there are two folders with her name (slight variations, one has
her surname) and neither contains all her files. She desperately needs the
data. Any help will be much appreciated!

 

[Bob Lucas]

Last night my girlfriend informed me that her My Documents folder was
empty. It also no longer appears on My Computer. She does have a My
Documents folder but it appears the same as when you start Windows for
the very first time or adda new user. She is computer savvy enough not
to simply delete the folder and all contents! At the moment I am using
a free recovery program to try and recove files (about 16000 which
I'll ave to sort through). Her wallpaper has remained though and I am
fairly certain it is from a Jpeg that was in her My Documents folder.
Does that mean it is still there somewhere? I've tried the view hidden
files/folders and in the c:/documents and settings/ there are two
folders with her name (slight variations, one has her surname) and
neither contains all her files. She desperately needs the data. Any
help will be much appreciated!

There are at least three aspects to be considered:

a) What has happened to the contents of the My Documents folder?

b) Are the "missing" files still on the computer - in a different
location?

c) How did this happen?

Each User on a Windows XP computer has a separate "My Documents" folder.
Could your girlfriend have created, or switched to a different User
Name - with an empty "My Documents" folder?

If she is definitely using her own User Name, she should check that she
has administrator privileges. Then, run Windows Explorer and click on
the show folders option. Select the main drive (probably C:\) and
expand the folder tree. Finally, she should also click on Tools |
Folder Options ... | View - and select "Show hidden files and folders".

Scroll down the folder tree to Documents and Settings - and look for the
missing files under all of the user names?

If she can't see the missing files, try using the search utility from
Windows Explorer. If she can remember the precise name of a "missing"
file, search for that file name. Search from the root directory and
include sub-folders and hidden files & folders in the search parameters.
If the file is still on the computer, the search might identify its
location. If she can't remember any of the precise file names, search
for *.doc, *.xls, or *.jpg, or any other file extension that should
definitely be in her "My Documents" folder.

If her files are definitely missing, she could try a file recovery
utility. This is more likely to be successful, if she restricts disk
activity as much as possible, to prevent files from being overwritten.

So how could this happen? Upon the assumption that she has not deleted
any files inadvertently, a virus infection is a potential suspect. She
should run an immediate virus scan and then, run a different on-line
virus scan (such as Kapersky).

 

[DL]

And, maybe after the horse has bolted, review the non existant data backup
options

 

[Leonard Grey]

"She is computer savvy enough not to simply delete the folder and all
contents..."

but, unfortunately, not savvy enough to do regular backups.

Malicious software ("malware") could be installed on her computer.

Make sure that her anti-malware software is running, then download the
latest signatures and run a full scan.

If she doesn't have comprehensive anti-malware software, I'm officially
out of suggestions for you. Except for this: Install comprehensive
anti-malware software and learn how to use its features.

Try scanning her system with /several/ of the better online scanners,
such as:
Kaspersky Antivirus (http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner)
Panda ActiveScan (http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan)

Download HijackThis from www.trendsecure.com. Run it, save a log, and
post the log at one of the many sites that support HJT, such as
spywarewarrior.com, bleepingcomputer.com, and temerc.com. Within a day,
sometimes within an hour, you'll have one-on-one step-by-step advice
from a security expert on cleaning up any infestations—or you'll have a
clean bill of health from the volunteer expert.

Even the best detection and removal software can't fix every malware
infection. If none of the above remove the infection, you may want to
show the computer to a professional.

 

[SBO]

I'm actually running Kaspersky Internet Security Suite 2009, so I'd be
pretty surprised if it is a virus as they seem to be pretty good. I'll try
the HJT option and see what happens, thanks. It's only a week's worth of
data, as we do back-up, its just been an important week!