Program and all files vanished

[Guest]

I was moving a program selection on the ALL PROGRAMS listing when my finger
slipped off the left mouse button. There was an error message which
disappered before I could read it. Now, the program file and all associated
files are gone. Can't find the in Windows explorer, don't show up on the ALL
PROGRAMS menu, application does not show up as an installed program on the
Add/Remove Software listing, file search can't find anything.

I've never had this happen before...would appreciate assistance from someone
who had and resolved this type of problem.

 

[Shel]

I was moving a program selection on the ALL PROGRAMS listing when my finger
slipped off the left mouse button. There was an error message which
disappered before I could read it. Now, the program file and all associated
files are gone. Can't find the in Windows explorer, don't show up on the ALL
PROGRAMS menu, application does not show up as an installed program on the
Add/Remove Software listing, file search can't find anything.

I've never had this happen before...would appreciate assistance from someone
who had and resolved this type of problem.

I haven't had this happen, but you might check the Recycle Bin.

 

[Guest]

That was one of the first places I looked. Even ran Norton Utilities to see
if there was a Windows "error" that may have reflected what happened to the
files. I've also checked all the entries on the ALL PROGRAMS menu to see if
the program and its files had become a subordinate folder to one of the other
selections.

I appreciate your reply.

hfr

 

[John A]

Do a System Restore to a date prior to when your finger slipped.

John Allen

 

[Guest]

John A,

Appreciate your help. I've never had to use that capability so I really
didn't know that using the system restore wasn't the same as restoring the
computer to its factory setting.

Unfortunately, for some reason it couldn't restore to a date before I lost
the files. There's an error message the flashes to fast to read as the
system restore begins to shut down Windows. When the computer restarts it
gives an error message saying the system couldn't restored and no changes
were made. No explanation is provided about why system restore wouldn't work.

Thanx for your help.

hfr

 

[John A]

Try starting Windows in Safe Mode and try doing a system restore again
from there.

It is not clear what exactly is missing. Can you see the All Programs
button when you click on Start? If so, are any programs showing or
are all missing?

John A

 

[Guest]

John A,

The program was 2006 Turbo Tax Deluxe and I had some spreadsheets also in
the same folder. I was moving the location on the START, ALL PROGRAMS menu
when my finger slipped of the mouse button as I was changing the shortcut
location on that menu. There was an error message the flashed too quickly to
read and the program files, my spreadsheet files, and the entire folder were
gone.

I've checked all the selections on the PROGRAMS menu, used Explorer to check
all of the folders on my computer, tried SEARCH to locate one of the file
name of one of the spreadsheets that I know was in that folder, checked
intalled programs in the CONTROL PANEL; and can't find any trace.

I've worked with computers since the TI994A with cassette tape data feed was
the leading edge and have never seen anything like this happen. I have
printed copies of the data so I can reinstall and fill in the data again, but
I want to figure out what happened and why.

hfr

 

[John A]

hfr

The Start menu should only contain shortcuts so I would have thought
that if a batch of shortcuts were accidently deleted or whatever, the
actual program and associated data files would still be present on the
disk. You say that the actual files have disappeared as well. It is
as if they had been uninstalled.

One possibility is that one of the shortcuts for your Turbo Tax
program may have been to uninstall it and you may have inadvertantly
activated this, although I would have thought that you would receive
appropriate messages during the uninstall process - you did say that
there was a message but you missed what it said???

Have you got multiple user accounts? another possibility is that
somehow you messed up the settings and your system lost track of who
owned what and your account no longer has access to these files. Have
you searched all files/disks as administrator in safe mode?

Did Turbo tax or you make backups of the data files so you could
restore the data if anything went wrong?

John A

 

[Guest]

John A,

The selection on the ALL PROGRAMS menu opens into a shortcut to the program
file and to the uninstall. All of the programs files and the spreadsheets in
the main subdirectory have disappeared. I've gone through all of the
directories and subdirectories on my hard drive looking to see if the missing
files were moved somewhere else. The error message was just a quick blip
that I couldn't read. I woul think that if the unistall had been activated
that I would have gotten one of those "are you really sure" before the
uninstall was initiated. Even though that didn't happen, the uninstall must
have occurred. Nothing else makes sense.

My account is the administer account. I have one "guest" account set up but
no one else uses my computer. I may try opening in safe mode but I don't
think that it will make a difference. Unfortunately, I didn't make backups
of the files.

hfr

 

[Gil Baron]

nything like this happen. I have
printed copies of the data so I can reinstall and fill in the data again, but
I want to figure out what happened and why.

And why don't you have a backup of such critical data, Bet you do from now on,

 

[John A]

I can't think of any other suggestions. I think that you should try to
get your system restore operative for future issues - see
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302796/en-us

Good luck

John A

 

[Guest]

Have a similar problem, new motherboard, and on reloading programs etc, I
decided to make the Start up menu shorter, so removed all programs except
ones that obviously have to do with safety, and starting up a computer. Found
that the START menue has nothing but those obvious programs in it. [AV, Fwall
Skype etc]
Found the other programs, like MS world, pub. etc in explorer, and have a
short cut to desktop with them all in, but HOW do I get them back into the
Start menu [left side bottom]

 

[Joe Wright]

Have a similar problem, new motherboard, and on reloading programs etc, I
decided to make the Start up menu shorter, so removed all programs except
ones that obviously have to do with safety, and starting up a computer. Found
that the START menue has nothing but those obvious programs in it. [AV, Fwall
Skype etc]
Found the other programs, like MS world, pub. etc in explorer, and have a
short cut to desktop with them all in, but HOW do I get them back into the
Start menu [left side bottom]

This might help:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
309. Restore Accessories - Start Menu/All Prog

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=891893

 

[Guest]

The site you recommended lead me to Ramesh's site, which has is amazing. So
thank you again.
--
Regards,

PétaK..

Have a similar problem, new motherboard, and on reloading programs etc, I
decided to make the Start up menu shorter, so removed all programs except
ones that obviously have to do with safety, and starting up a computer. Found
that the START menue has nothing but those obvious programs in it. [AV, Fwall
Skype etc]
Found the other programs, like MS world, pub. etc in explorer, and have a
short cut to desktop with them all in, but HOW do I get them back into the
Start menu [left side bottom]

This might help:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
309. Restore Accessories - Start Menu/All Prog

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=891893