Everything is missing, Programs, Files, Directories

[thornh]

Here's what's going on:

Had several programs open last night, Word, Firefox, iTunes. I had just downloaded some new music from amazon.com. Went to iTunes to "add a new folder" to search for music. When the dialog box opened to select the folder I noticed about half of my sub-directories under My Music were not showing up. So, I closed the dialog box and tried again only to find only four subdirectories showing up. Time to re-boot! When the computer restarted everything was missing, all programs, all files and almost all of my sub-directories.

What I did:

Well, Norton AntiVirus still worked (hmmm, virus anyone?) so I did a scan and it came up with nothing. Checked my C drive properties and found it still showed 67.2GB in use which makes me feel a little better. Tried a System Restore twice to no avail. Everything is still missing. Did a CHKDSK and Memory Check and everything passed. No errors found. CHKDSK did show 31188 files on the disk. Went to bed.

Now what?:

Currently at work so just seeking advice for when I get home. A friend at work gave me AVG Rescue to try. Don't know if I should do this first or check into the "too many programs in the start menu" issue I've read about. All I really care about are my photos and my music. If I can get those back and back them up I'll just do a System Recovery (after I run AVG) and reload everything.

Anyone have any advice? Thanks.

 

[richc46]

Download and run malwarebytes, updated and at full scan
If negative, type the name of the program in search, if still on your system it will show.

System restore will not get personal documents back.
Go back a week with back up and restore and all your stuff will be back like before the problem.

 

[thornh]

thanks richc46. one question about back up. is this a fuction of windows 7 like System Restore? what is the procedure?

 

[richc46]

Check back here in a few minutes, Ill get the information. You wil like this.

As promised, here you go. Question 4
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Back-up-and-restore-frequently-asked-questions

 

[boohbah]

edit; you posted b4 me rich , good link!

 

[richc46]

If you have problems with Back up and restore, post before doing anything else. As a last resort this will help get the files back
Recuva - Undelete, Unerase, File and Disk Recovery - Free Download

LOL boohbah I like that

 

[thornh]

thanks for the help. won't get home until 5 pm EST. I'll post back here with results tonight. thanks again.

 

[richc46]

Heres the good news and the bad news
Since you did not know about back up and restore you did not make any back ups

The good news, by defaualt it should have backed up once a week. If it did, you will be all set.

You are very welcome.

 

[thornh]

one more question. should i run malwarebytes in safe mode or does it not matter? thanks again.

 

[richc46]

They say safe mode is ok, but Im doubtful. Safe mode does not load everything on start up, so everything may not be checked.
Check in regular mode.

 

[thornh]

performed malwarebytes full scan. no malware found.

all of my programs do exist and work. just none of the shortcuts work. no shortcuts displayed on desktop. start program directory is empty. don't show up in all programs.

system restore will not work. keeps giving me an error saying a virus protection program is running.

there is no back up data. all files under libraries (documents, pictures, music) still missing. checked if there were hidden folders and there don't appear to be.

what next? do i run recuva or is there a registry issue i need to address?

 

[kenC]

****system restore will not work. keeps giving me an error saying a virus protection program is running.****

You could try going off-line,closing your virus protection and then trying System Restore.

Remember to start it again after.

 

[whs]

System restore or any other system manipulation will not help. Since you apparently lost user files that the restore does not touch.

What you can do though is try to find the files in the restore points (shadows). Shadow Explorer is an excellent program for that. I made a little video tutorial some time ago which you may want to watch in case the SE operation is not obvious.

It does essentially the same as "Previous version". But since you have no current version, that Win7 feature does not help.

 

[drevel2]

Show hidden files


Follow these steps to display hidden files and folders.

1. Open Folder Options by clicking the Start button
   
   , clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Folder Options.
2. Click the View tab.
3. Under Advanced settings, click Show hidden files and folders, and then click OK.