how to get back files that have been removed

[william]

Mistakenly I have removed all of my music files with the MS
Anitspyware. I can't see them anywhere anymore (trash of
other places). Can I get them back and how?

william appelman,
Haarlem,
Netherlands

 

[plun]

william presented the following explanation :

Mistakenly I have removed all of my music files with the MS
Anitspyware. I can't see them anywhere anymore (trash of
other places). Can I get them back and how?

Hi

Try this, it can take a long time before you can see them Step 3.

IMPORTANT, if you manage to restore your files move them
to a new folder before you restart (step 5)

Please report back if it works.

--
plun

Restoring Quarantined Programs (from MSAS help file)
If you have accidentally quarantined a program, you can remove it from
quarantine and restore it to its original state.

How to restore a quarantined item

1. From the main screen, or any of the screens with the toolbar, click
Spyware Scan (this is the product icon).


2. On the top right of the screen under the Take me to... section,
select Spyware Quarantine.


3. A list of all items in your quarantine is displayed. Select the item
you would like to un-quarantine and when the item appears in the right
details window, select Un-quarantine Threat. This restores the item to
its original state before it was quarantined.


4. To un-quarantine multiple items in the quarantine, select each item
and click Un-quarantine All Checked Threats at the bottom of the
screen.


5. After you un-quarantine an item you should restart your computer to
make sure the restored application runs.

 

[Guest]

Plun, thanks for your suggestion. No this doesn't work. I
allowed the program to delete them, I did not put them in
quarantine. So where does the program leave them after
deletion? (they were in a kazaa folder, I had uninstalled
the Kazzaa program a year ago, yet I kept the Kazaa
folder). can I find them back in te registry or something?

william

 

[plun]

(e-mail address removed) presented the following explanation
:

Plun, thanks for your suggestion. No this doesn't work. I
allowed the program to delete them, I did not put them in
quarantine. So where does the program leave them after
deletion? (they were in a kazaa folder, I had uninstalled
the Kazzaa program a year ago, yet I kept the Kazaa
folder). can I find them back in te registry or something?

I am really sad about this but I believe you lost all your files.

And this behavior is a real shame for MS and Microsoft Antispyware.
They listen to RIAA and interfere with users privacy and removes
folders not containing spyware.

Urrrrk ............;(

 

[Guest]

On my pc, I see that there's a folder called "Quarantine"
under the MSAS folder. It seems all my mp3 files from
Kazaa is listed there with obscure file names. However,
the files do not show up as quarantined files. Any help on
this?

 

[Bill Sanderson]

If you are saying that when you go to Tools, Spyware Scan, Manage Spyware
quarantine, you don't see anything--does it say clearly "there are currently
no spyware threats in your spyware (sic!)"--or is it simply blank.

If blank, I would recommend leaving it sitting at that screen for an
extended period of time--hours, perhaps.

If the opportunity to un-quarantine does appear, do that. Immediately
following that operation, copy or move the files to a new location,
completely outside the program files folder--perhaps My Music. Do this
before you reboot. There have been reports here where files were apparently
retrieved from quarantine, and subsequently disappeared. It isn't easy to
tell from many newsgroup interactions exactly what is happening, but it is
better not to take the risk.

 

[Guest]

it says "there are currently no spyware threats in your
spyware".
And I just checked the file directory, it has a directory
called "Quarantine" (within MSAS) with over 3500 files that
I'm pretty sure are the files I'm missing. Each of these
files are name something like "BE891F24-1958-47E4-BB7D-2C7E42"

Thanks!

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Re-reading the thread, this is interesting. It would appear that they've
modified the code so that even when you choose delete for "kazaa" as a
threat, these files are quarantined, but without the ability to
un-quarantine them. Someone else this morning has observed that the files
themselves contain their original filenames (or perhaps it is titles or
something which could be turned into a filename) So the files can be
examined and renamed individually, but we need somebody with come coding
skills to create an app which can open and rename/rewrite the files in a
more automated way.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

I've been talking to some folks who do more work with MP3 files than I do,
and here's a suggestion:

This is from Mike Maltby, Microsoft MVP:
--------------------
There must be 10s if not 100s of mp3 tag editors most of which include the
ability to rename an mp3 file based on its tags. The biggest problem here
would be where the mp3 doesn't have tags or the tags are incomplete.

MP3Ext, which is the one I use, allows a user to choose the format of the
file name created and to customise this as required. For example for
albums I use "Artist - Album - Track # - Title.mp3" whereas for
compilations I use "Album - Track # - Artist - Title.mp3" and for
soundtracks and the like "Album - Track # - Title.mp3". So, assuming that
a user has decided on the format to be used the procedure might be as
follows.
a) Rename quarantined files blah.blah to blah.mp3
b) Either select Properties for the folder containing the renamed files
or, select a group of files and then select Properties,
c) Open the MP3 Info tab
d) Configure the rename button to use the appropriate format
e) Shift click the rename button and all the files in the folder (or
selected files) will be renamed according to the chosen format. (click
without shift and just the currently selected file will be renamed).

MP3Ext may well be too powerful for the purpose but there are plenty more
simple tag editors that can do the job and bulk rename mp3 files based on
their tags.

 

[plun]

Well, it must be easier to remove some rows programcode and
stop this vendetta against users with Kazaa and mp3 files.
Remove Kazaa but leave My Shared folder, really easy !

IMHO

 

[Bill Sanderson]

I don't think it is that easy--I'm reasonably sure that they are feeling the
users pain on this one--but I've got to admit that the changes that they've
made so far don't seem to have done the job.

 

[plun]

Bill Sanderson wrote on 2005-05-12 :

I don't think it is that easy--I'm reasonably sure that they are feeling the
users pain on this one--but I've got to admit that the changes that they've
made so far don't seem to have done the job.

Nope, I believe it is really easy.

But this is for sure a decision from someone higher up inside MS and
MSAS project
can probably do nothing to stop this vendetta.

IMHO again...........

 

[Bill Sanderson]

'think we'll ever get a public statement about this?

 

[plun]

Bill Sanderson used his keyboard to write :

'think we'll ever get a public statement about this?

Nope, but we will see it within tomorrow or next weeks
def files...........

I am sure that MS must change this, they changed fileblocking
within MSN Messenger 7 and they for sure must change this.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

My guess is that this is a product architectural issue, and that it might
change with the next beta--we'll see.