M
Michael S.
I help a computer-phobic friend by installing software and hardware, making
sure virus software is up-to-date and other odd bits, in exchange for a good
meal and conversation. Two months ago I installed iTunes and showed her how
to load music onto her new iPod.
She called over the weekend with a bunch of questions about things going
wrong. The whole desktop had changed, her quicklaunch icons had disappeared,
and she could find any of her documents.I went over Sunday night and found
her reports correct.
Her user id was still there (the only one on the system XP-home, sorry). The
desktop had reverted to the default "bliss" picture, all quicklaunch icons
I'd placed on the bar were gone. ZoneAlarm was popping up an update request
whenever rebooting, even though I'd previously set it for manual updates.
And her "my documents" folder was empty.
I found the documents by doing a search. The path to the documents appeared
correct (c:\documents and settings\username\My Documents) I selected them
all, and moved them to the "correct" folder (which had the same path.) I
reset the quicklaunch and desktop icons and background to the way she wanted
it, rebooted. No changes took. I've taken the box to the shop to try to
recover the documents, but I'm puzzled at the behaviour.
I ran the virus check - NAV2004 - and found nothing. I'm thoroughly confused
at how this could have happened in the first place, and why the changes I
made didn't "take." The only way I can figure the condition I found could
have occurred was if someone deleted her userid, then added it back again.
During the time she was away, dogsitters and housekeepers may have logged
onto the computer, but I can't see them doing that (a decided
career-limiting move).
Sorry for the length. I've searched through knowledge base, but am not sure
what really to ask. Thanks for any tips.
sure virus software is up-to-date and other odd bits, in exchange for a good
meal and conversation. Two months ago I installed iTunes and showed her how
to load music onto her new iPod.
She called over the weekend with a bunch of questions about things going
wrong. The whole desktop had changed, her quicklaunch icons had disappeared,
and she could find any of her documents.I went over Sunday night and found
her reports correct.
Her user id was still there (the only one on the system XP-home, sorry). The
desktop had reverted to the default "bliss" picture, all quicklaunch icons
I'd placed on the bar were gone. ZoneAlarm was popping up an update request
whenever rebooting, even though I'd previously set it for manual updates.
And her "my documents" folder was empty.
I found the documents by doing a search. The path to the documents appeared
correct (c:\documents and settings\username\My Documents) I selected them
all, and moved them to the "correct" folder (which had the same path.) I
reset the quicklaunch and desktop icons and background to the way she wanted
it, rebooted. No changes took. I've taken the box to the shop to try to
recover the documents, but I'm puzzled at the behaviour.
I ran the virus check - NAV2004 - and found nothing. I'm thoroughly confused
at how this could have happened in the first place, and why the changes I
made didn't "take." The only way I can figure the condition I found could
have occurred was if someone deleted her userid, then added it back again.
During the time she was away, dogsitters and housekeepers may have logged
onto the computer, but I can't see them doing that (a decided
career-limiting move).
Sorry for the length. I've searched through knowledge base, but am not sure
what really to ask. Thanks for any tips.