No Record Of Files In Quarantine

[Guest]

I installed Defender(Beta2) on Xp. It ran a scan. It identified four areas
of concern. (Not paying enough attention) I elected to instruct Defender to
quarantine the four areas. One of these areas is 8 GB’s of music files.
Read Carefully: The files were quarantined, but the quarantine was not
recorded in the Defender/Tools/Quarantine Items. That is to say that via
Defender, I cannot either remove or restore these files. I may not have even
realized all of this, but I have the following notation appearing when I
defrag my computer. To no avail, I have tried to find these files on my
computer. Any ideas as to what I can do about this matter. The music files
are secondary, I just want the 8 GB’s of space back. Incidentally, when I
first became aware of all of this, I attempted a System Restore. Defender
knocked out all of my previous restoration points as well. What follows is
the notation which appears on the defrag report. Any help would be
appreciated . . . . .
………………………………....................................
Fragments File Size Files that cannot be defragmenter
24 2.00 GB \Documents and Settings\All Users\Application
Data\Microsoft\Windows
Defender\Quarantine\{00001DCF-0000-0000-34F6-9064F2B8E636}\DATA.CAB
26 2.00 GB \Documents and Settings\All Users\Application
Data\Microsoft\Windows
Defender\Quarantine\{00001DCF-0000-0000-34F6-9064F2B8E636}\DATA_2.CAB
21 2.00 GB \Documents and Settings\All Users\Application
Data\Microsoft\Windows
Defender\Quarantine\{00001DCF-0000-0000-34F6-9064F2B8E636}\DATA_3.CAB
2,294 2.00 GB \Documents and Settings\All Users\Application
Data\Microsoft\Windows
Defender\Quarantine\{00001DCF-0000-0000-34F6-9064F2B8E636}\DATA_4.CAB

 

[Bill Sanderson MVP]

The defrag report is a good pointer to the location of the quarantined
items, and the way you can recover your disk space.

Windows Defender's quarantine is located in the "all users" profile
area--i.e.:

\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows
Defender\Quarantine\

As I recall, Application Data may be a hidden folder, so you'll need to turn
on "show hidden files and folders" in Explorer, tools, folder options, view
tab.

I'm quite dismayed at these files not being visible in the Defender UI,
however--can you confirm that the action to quarantine them appeared to
complete without some sort of crash or manual intervention on your part?
This functionality is pretty important--there can certainly be crucial user
data in those cab files.

The other thing I'd be interested in seeing is whether you can open those
cab files and do any form of manual retrieval. I suspect the answer may
well be no--but I haven't had a chance to look at such files yet--so I'm not
sure what the process is. I believe I've heard that there is some
encryption involved, though.

--

 

[Guest]

There is no need to be dismayed Bill. As I wrote, I was “not paying enough
attention.†I instructed Defender to quarantine the concern (without fully
realizing the scope of the instructions). I had instructed Defender to
quarantine 10 -12 GB’s of files AND my computer did not have the available
space to execute the function … and I noticed … and I panicked … and I
manually interfered. Had I not interfered, perhaps Defender would simply
have pointed out that it could not execute the task. Anyway … in my opinion
… my fault.
I found the files of interest. There is no visible “restore†option. The
delete option is looking very attractive. As I said, the files were both
quarantined and not quarantined, meaning I still have the music files, but
they are taking up almost twice the original space on my computer. My plan
is to transfer the music files first. Then use your directions and delete
the quarantined Cab Files. Hopefully, I still have the music on my computer,
but if I don’t, it has been backed up on disc. Thank you Bill and no need
for you to be dismayed. lawthor

 

[Bill Sanderson MVP]

This is an excellent outcome--the reason I was worried is that there have
been countless messages in these groups from beta1 users who have, in fact,
lost all the music.

I'm very pleased to hear how this worked for you--it looks as though the
developers have done an excellent job of safeguarding user data in the
quarantine process.

Yes--I'd just delete the content of the quarantine folder--if you have any
trouble, let me know.

--

 

[Guest]

Hi Bill
I will make a point of dropping in late next week to give you an update on
how all of this turned out. Once again, thanks for all of your assistance.
lawthor

 

[Guest]

Hi Bill
I am getting back to you sooner than initially expected ... I copied all of
my music files onto disc ... then I created a restoration point ... then, per
your directions, I deleted that 8 GB's in quarantine ... then I created
another restoration point ... then I checked my music files and they are
still there ... I now have the original space back on my computer ... IT ALL
WORKED OUT PERFECTLY ... live and learn ... thanks again for your assistance.
lawthor

 

[Bill Sanderson MVP]

Thanks for taking the time to describe this so well--I'm very pleased to
have this insight into how this function works under beta2.

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