Help!!!

[Guest]

Hello, I am a writer by occupation and currently use Microsoft Word 2002. My computer recently crashed and when I got it up and running again, all of my word documents had disappeared. I finally found some of them in the "Help" folder (why there?) but all of the text was encoded into symbols so it's not even readable.

I really need these documents for work and I am freaking out. I have no idea where some of them even disappeared to and if they are lost forever?? I took my computer to Comp USA where I bought it, they charged me $100 but did nothing to help me solve the problem. Can anyone PLEASE help me?????

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Comp USA would probably be the last place you should take it.

What did you do to get it up and running again?

As a professional writer, I just can't imagine that you would not back-up
all your documents.

--
Please post any further questions or followup to the newsgroups for the
benefit of others who may be interested. Unsolicited questions forwarded
directly to me will only be answered on a paid consulting basis.

Hope this helps
Doug Robbins - Word MVP

Hello, I am a writer by occupation and currently use Microsoft Word 2002.

My computer recently crashed and when I got it up and running again, all of
my word documents had disappeared. I finally found some of them in the
"Help" folder (why there?) but all of the text was encoded into symbols so
it's not even readable.

I really need these documents for work and I am freaking out. I have no

idea where some of them even disappeared to and if they are lost forever??
I took my computer to Comp USA where I bought it, they charged me $100 but
did nothing to help me solve the problem. Can anyone PLEASE help me?????

 

[Guest]

Sorry, I'm completely computer illiterate, which is why I'm here looking for help. I have no idea if the computer technically even crashed. I got it running again just by turning it back on. First it prompted me to start in safe mode, which I did, but that wouldn't work, so finally it prompted me to do a system restore (or something) which I did for a later time/date. After I did that ithe computer started working again. However, all of my saved documents, PDFs and photos were gone. At first I thought it was because I changed the system restore time/date so I set it back at an earlier date again, but that did not bring back my documents.

All I ever hear is that you can't break computers by pushing the wrong buttons and that nothing ever gets erased from the hard drive even if you delete it, so I wasn't really too concerned about it, although now I realize that was a mistake.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Have you tried searching for your documents using Windows Explorer?

--
Please post any further questions or followup to the newsgroups for the
benefit of others who may be interested. Unsolicited questions forwarded
directly to me will only be answered on a paid consulting basis.

Hope this helps
Doug Robbins - Word MVP

Sorry, I'm completely computer illiterate, which is why I'm here looking

for help. I have no idea if the computer technically even crashed. I got it
running again just by turning it back on. First it prompted me to start in
safe mode, which I did, but that wouldn't work, so finally it prompted me to
do a system restore (or something) which I did for a later time/date. After
I did that ithe computer started working again. However, all of my saved
documents, PDFs and photos were gone. At first I thought it was because I
changed the system restore time/date so I set it back at an earlier date
again, but that did not bring back my documents.

All I ever hear is that you can't break computers by pushing the wrong

buttons and that nothing ever gets erased from the hard drive even if you
delete it, so I wasn't really too concerned about it, although now I realize
that was a mistake.

 

[Guest]

Hi
Thanks...I'm not sure what windows explorer is? I have done multiple searches using the general search function with the stupid dog that reads the book. That is how I found out some of my documents. But regardless, even if I find them, the text has been converted so they aren't readable, just box symbols. They are all the same size too -- 1 kb. Can you please tell me what windows explorer is? Also, do you think a data recovery expert can get my documents back (they charge like $1000 and I'm a very poor writer). Thanks.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

If you have had the dog out looking for you, you are using Windows Explorer.
From this distance, it sounds like a bit of a lost cause, though I am
surprised that the documents have disappeared. Are you sure that you have
told the dog to look in the right place? For example the whole of the
C:\drive and not just in one particular folder.

--
Please post any further questions or followup to the newsgroups for the
benefit of others who may be interested. Unsolicited questions forwarded
directly to me will only be answered on a paid consulting basis.

Hope this helps
Doug Robbins - Word MVP

Hi
Thanks...I'm not sure what windows explorer is? I have done multiple

searches using the general search function with the stupid dog that reads
the book. That is how I found out some of my documents. But regardless, even
if I find them, the text has been converted so they aren't readable, just
box symbols. They are all the same size too -- 1 kb. Can you please tell me
what windows explorer is? Also, do you think a data recovery expert can get
my documents back (they charge like $1000 and I'm a very poor writer).
Thanks.

 

[Graham Mayor]

1k files sound like links rather than the documents themselves. If the
documents have been deleted, file recovery software will find them - Easy
Recovery Pro is very good - but the longer you work on the PC, the more
chance you will have to write over the space the files occupied on the disc.
Use another machine to locate the software.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

Web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site www.mvps.org/word
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[Guest]

Dou
Thanks. Yes I have told the dog to look in every location, not just one folder--I have also tried searching by .pdf, .doc etc...The only thing I have discovered that seems unusual are word documents in a folder under program files called common files --they are all named with numbers (for example 11453.gbd3.) If I try to open them, the file converter box pops up but I can't seem to change it into text that is readable. I did some research and found out this might be the GAIN virus, as I also had gator crap on my computer as well. Could this be the problem??

 

[Guest]

Thanks Graha
I tried downloading a trial of Word Recovery (is that the same thing?) It didn't work, but I'm also not sure how to use it. Can you download Easy Recovery Pro somewhere for a free trial? I will try anything. It seems like I have all the shortcuts or links (esp. for the PDFs), but I can't find the real documents. I have searched extensively on windows explorer.

Also, I mentioned this already, but in case you didn't read it: The only thing I have discovered that seems unusual are word documents in a folder under program files called common files --they are all named with numbers (for example 11453.gbd3.) If I try to open them, the file converter box pops up but I can't seem to change it into text that is readable. I did some research and found out this might be the GAIN virus, as I also had gator crap on my computer as well. Could this be the problem?? If so, what do I do

Also, what will help covert the documents I can find into readable text, if the file converter box doesn't work?

 

[Graham Mayor]

There is a trial of Easy Recovery Pro -
http://www.ontrack.com/easyrecoveryprofessional/ Word Recovery is not the
same. However File Recovery is another possibility http://www.lc-tech.com/
The Gain and Gator references are to the same nuisance. Not really a virus,
but spyware. I wouldn't have though this would have destroyed your
documents, but you need to be rid of it. The filenames you quote seem more
concerned with Gator than your documents. Spybot should shift it
http://www.safer-networking.org/

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

Web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site www.mvps.org/word
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