Lost Files in "My Documents"

[LewB]

For some reason all of the individual files in "My Documents" is gone. All
of the folders are there but I have a number of individuals files that have
information I use frequently. I have done a system restore to an earlier day
this week but the files are still not seen. I am running XP professional
SP2. I have no idea why his occured. Appreciate help. Thanks.

LJ Brown

 

[Don Phillipson]

For some reason all of the individual files in "My Documents" is gone. All
of the folders are there but I have a number of individuals files that have
information I use frequently. I have done a system restore to an earlier day
this week but the files are still not seen. I am running XP professional
SP2. I have no idea why his occured. Appreciate help. Thanks.

Several (old) viruses did this. What is your AV procedure?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

For some reason all of the individual files in "My Documents" is
gone. All of the folders are there but I have a number of
individuals files that have information I use frequently. I have
done a system restore to an earlier day this week but the files are
still not seen. I am running XP professional SP2. I have no idea
why his occured. Appreciate help. Thanks.

Neither do we - but I know that System Restore would have been of no
assistance to you in this situation. System Restore is not a backup
program - it only protects the *system* files - your files are not system
files - you must protect them.

If you do not have a backup plan - best to get one now that you have lost
your files and do not want it to happen again. ;-)

You might have moved the files on accident (search for them) or you might be
able to recover them with something like the utility "Recuva"...

 

[nass]

For some reason all of the individual files in "My Documents" is gone. All
of the folders are there but I have a number of individuals files that have
information I use frequently. I have done a system restore to an earlier day
this week but the files are still not seen. I am running XP professional
SP2. I have no idea why his occured. Appreciate help. Thanks.

LJ Brown

PC INSPECTORâ„¢ File Recovery
http://www.pcinspector.de/Sites/file_recovery/info.htm?language=1

I'm not comfortable with you suddenly losing your Files, it could be an
infection or some or a member of your family deleted it unintentionally!
Malwarebytes© Corporation - Anti-Malware
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam/program/mbam-setup.exe

HTH,
nass

 

[dave]

For some reason all of the individual files in "My Documents" is gone. All
of the folders are there but I have a number of individuals files that have
information I use frequently. I have done a system restore to an earlier day
this week but the files are still not seen. I am running XP professional
SP2. I have no idea why his occured. Appreciate help. Thanks.

LJ Brown

This my seem like a dumb question, but are your files in the recycle bin?

 

[Al Falfa]

... System Restore ... only protects the *system* files
- your files are not system files ...

There is more to the 'Smoke and Mirrors' of System Restore than meets
the eye.

System Restore *does* affect some 'non-(XP Operating )System' files.

I had some 'non-system' files that I *stored* (not installed) on my
hard drive. I restored to a previous restore-point before those files
had been *stored*, but those 'non-system' files disappeared. I then
restored to the later restore-point after those files had been *stored*,
and those 'non-system' files reappeared. I then copied those files to a
flash drive, restored back to the previous restore-point, and then
*stored* those files again.

These files were some portable executables and data files, but they
were not stored under %ProgramFiles%, nor %userProfile%, nor %winDir%.

System Restore also affects the 'Documents and Settings' folder tree.

When I uninstalled $big-name-suite, the entire 'Docs & Sets' tree
became a sub-folder of some pre-existing, manually-created, unrelated
folder under C:\, with only some of the original top-level folders of
'Docs & Sets' still also in the original location. That relocated
'Docs & Sets' had become *the* 'Docs & Sets' tree.

Restoring back to when $big-name-suite was still installed, restored
the 'Docs & Sets' tree back to where it should have been. I then
manually deleted all files and 1000 registry entries obviously related
to $big-name-suite.

 

[Daave]

There is more to the 'Smoke and Mirrors' of System Restore than meets
the eye.

System Restore *does* affect some 'non-(XP Operating )System' files.

Not if those files are in the My Documents folder, which is what the OP
stated.

 

[LewB]

I checked that first....nothing was in there.
LJB

 

[LewB]

I use Avast Home.....and ran a scan that did detect a Win32 Trojan-gen
virus/worm. I'm trying to remove it (to the chest) but it keeps popping up
on repeat virus scans. I don't know if this is a real virus/worm or a false
positive.
LJB

 

[LewB]

You may be right. I ran a full virus scan (Avast Home) and a virus/worm
with the name of Win32 Trojan-gen keeps coming up despite my attempt to put
it into the chest and quarantine it. I don't know if this is a false
positive and is responsible for everything??
LJB

 

[LewB]

I do have this data backed up and was able to recover the files but am
concerned about why this happened. And the possibility of a virus, etc has
been suggested by HTH. Perhaps this is the culprit......or a false
positive??
LB

 

[nass]

Install MalwareBytes and update it then run a full scan. I think this not a
flase positive from Avast!

If you need further help and your machine infected download the Hijackthis
and send the report to one of many forums for analysis and troubleshooting or
you can send it to me on my email provided at the bottom:
When all else fails, download HijackThis v2.0.2
(http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/threat_analytics/hijackthis.php)

Can you please send me a copy at (e-mail address removed),
remove the obvious to email me.
HTH,
nass