Everything got deleted and sysyem restore doesn't work right

Hi. I went to add or remove programs to remove a game i no longer play. When it was done i found that everything was gone. All my music and messengers and everything. All that was left is what was on the computer when i bought it. I tried a system restore and it only partially worked. It only let me choose one restore point, which was about a day before this happened. After the restore only some files were there. My pictures and music are there, and all the folders. But the files in the folders aren't there. Like with yahoo, the icon is on the desktop and the folder is there, but nothing happens when i click on the icon to open it. And all my folders are like that and have very small sizes now compared to before all this happened. Does anyone know how i can fix this? Thank you.

 

Hi and welcome to the BBS,

Some files came back, but others didn't? Seems strange

What sort of computer do you have? You can use this
http://www.windowsbbs.com/adding_system_specifications.html
to add to your "My System" information.

I would do a full scan of an antivirus and there are online antivirus scans if you need a second opinion.

You could try making a new user. Control Panel -> User Accounts. Make a new administrator account, then, from there, see if you can see the files you want in your normal user account (C:\Documents and Settings\ "your user name "\Documents).

Could you have "drag and dropped" the folder you are looking for into another place or folder? Try doing a search of the hard drive for the name of some of the files.

I would consider doing a "repair" reinstall of Windows, but some brand manufacturers don't offer that option, that's why I asked what sort of computer you have.

Note: in the meantime, don't do a defragmentation (not that you might be considering it), if Windows does not recognise the files as "good ", it might overwrite them.

If you are really stuck, do a websearch for file recovery programs. There are freeware types, but may not be user (beginner) friendly. If you have a computer knowledgeable friend, they could possibly help you.

Any files you find, and you haven't backed them up, do so.

Matt

 

Ok well i use AVG for antivirus. It scans every 24 hours and i haven't had any viruses since i installed it. And it's not actual files that are missing. I guess it's like empty icons. Like the icons for all my programs are there still, but when i try to open them nothing happens. And When i clicked on properties it said those files are only a few kb. It's weird, it's like it left the icons in the filders but deleted all the programs they're supposed to run. But only with some things, mostly my games and messengers

 

One more thing, i just added my system information. And i guess it's not too big of a deal. I've found removing the folders and redownloading things seems to work. Do i need an external harddrive to back up my computer? Sorry, i don't really know much about computers.

 

It seems you mean the icons on the desktop. Have you tried going to Start -> All Programs and starting the programs there?

Do you have lots of files on the desktop? If so, I recommend moving them to your My Documents folder. I don't consider the desktop a good place to store files (it's like leaving files on your desk, rather than putting them into a filing cabinet). The desktop has some "system activity ", like themes, backgrounds etc. It is really where you have your connections to programs and places (icons and shortcuts).

I doubt anything has been deleted, it is probably that the icons or the desktop itself is having problems.

Try this...
Right-click on the Start button. Select Explore. That opens Windows Explorer. In the left-hand pane, you will see Start Menu highlighted. Just above Start Menu, you will see My Documents, Favorites and Desktop. Those are the folders where the data is kept. Read about files and folders in Help and Support.

Also try this...
Right-click on a program icon, choose Properties. Go to the Shortcut tab if it is not open. Click the Find Target... button. Try double-clicking on that file. See if the program opens.

Matt

 

I've tried that. They still don't open. And even in the folders it's like they're just icons. Files that used to be a few Mb are just a few bytes now.

 

It appears to me that all your program files were resized, meaning that all the bytes that were theirs was disallocated, leaving the file's internal headers. I believe you'll need to reinstall everything, but before you do go to Start\Run type in 'chkdsk /f'. You'll get a dos window appear telling you your hard drive will be checked for errors after you reboot. Just type a Y and press Enter, then reboot.
BTW, what game was this?

 

Actually i tried that. I tried defragmenting first and it said to run 'chkdsk /f' so i did. But it was still the same after lol. I'm just reinstalling everything. And there were a few games. I never play DOMO and that's the one i deleted that took my computer with it. The ones i play are flyff and perfect world