Restored my PC to factory settings, media files are "missing" yet occupy space.

Here is the story:

I clicked on a Web site and right then my computer was hacked with dozens of spyware programs which deleted all my Restore Points, so I used Microsoft Antispyware and it supposedly got rid of them yet it took 10 minutes for my computer to boot after I was prompted to shut down. I was forced to restore the PC to its original factory settings, and it said that media files such as JPG's and MP3's would still be left over after the restoration, so . . .

Where are they?

Before the restoration, my C drive was 75% full, and it still is, but I can't find any of the old files (such as movies, family pictures, music, etc). I've tried using the search function and it found nothing. Where should I be looking?

Someone please tell me there is a way.

 

Just on the off chance that they have become "hidden ", bring up the drive > tools > folder options > view tab and un-tick "Do not show hidden files and folders ", not much chance of that being the case though.

A better possibility is that these got corrupted either by the problems you had or by the restore not working as advertised. Another possibile action to take would be to do a chkdisk with the repair option turned on.

From what you write, these files were not backed up; don't you have either a CD or DVD burner? XP has built in burning software for CD, not elaborate, but does the job.

Another insurance policy is drive imaging, that way you can dispense with "Factory Restores ".

Regards - Charles

 

Okay, thanks for the advice

 

Lets keep the problem and solutions to a single thread. Less confusing that way.

I'm locking this one.