[Win10] Halp! Secret desktop is making Save\Load dialogue boxes break!

that girl

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Halp×0.png

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Halp×1.png

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I don't know how, but I ended up with a secret desktop, which was very difficult to find.
This desktop frigs up with various programs. Some programs ignore it, but most others start doubling folders next to each other, and if I open any normally all-lowercase folder, the app crashes.

and it's not just the desktop affected. Because Windows 7 onward (I have Win 10), the desktop is the root, the other drives held inside of This PC, which is in turn on the Desktop.

It's really convoluted. I liked it better when "My Computer" and such things were shortcuts, and not subdirectories looping the folder system on itself.
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Is there anyway to fix this? It's preventing me from doing things I promised people I'd do.
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I should mention that finding this secret desktop was not easy. I still don't know where the data is from. Especially since the USB Drive is a phantom drive. Clicking it asks me to insert a USB into drive E:\, and insirt a USB drive generates E:\ in This PC, and the Secret desktop E:\ still asks for a USB.
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I also don't know how this happened. But's it's really annoying.
 

that girl

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And now my PC is mostly bricked…
Disabled:
Web browsers
Most tast panels
Start menu
Pretty much the important stuff…

I just paid to fix it in January… What a waste of $750…

Anyone have ideas for manual restoration?
I wanted a new laptop that was just under $1000, and they decided that it'd be better to just fix my current one in Janurary, (Even though it no longer has the specs to run anything worthwhile very well, and that's if anything worthwhile runs at all) I don't think they'll want to pay to fix it again, nor buy me a new laptop…
 

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If anybody reading this thread has issues finding the images in the OP, the links are http://screenshots.social-networking.me/windows/Halp×0.png and http://screenshots.social-networking.me/windows/Halp×1.png?ckattempt=1

Now personally, I'm having a difficult time trying to work out what exactly is wrong. Folders doubling up could be malware/greyware, but it could also be ghosting from double entries in the indexing tables (I haven't seen this happen since Windows ME). That said, I'm not too sure what you mean by doubling folders other than the extra shortcuts in your Desktop folder that you don't see on your actual desktop. You should be able to delete them without issue. FYI, the Desktop folder itself usually contains any items/shortcuts located in the "X:\Users\<user>\Desktop\" and X:\Users\Public\Desktop\ folders, where X is your OS drive letter (there's also a hidden Default\Desktop\ folder but it's usually empty anyway).

The first thing I would suggest is getting an anti-malware suite like malwarebytes and running a scan, just to rule out malware/greyware. After that, if you can try and be a bit more detailed with your issues (e.g. what you mean by web browsers are disabled), we can try and give more specific advice.
If all else fails, there are still two methods of last resort. You can refresh Windows 10 to a "clean state" and reinstall your applications. Or, if you need a more certain fix (but lose any data on the OS drive), you can get a Windows 10 installation media (either USB or DVD) to format the drive and install a fresh clean version of Windows 10. You won't need to worry about product keys or activation because it will do that automatically.
 
Last edited by Originality,

that girl

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That said, I'm not too sure what you mean by doubling folders other than the extra shortcuts in your Desktop folder that you don't see on your actual desktop. You should be able to delete them without issue.
I didn't have permission to delete them. And I mean every folder had each folder listed twice, like Desktop, desktop, AppData appdata, and so on. In somecases, the names were identical; backup, backup, tax records, tax records.

if you can try and be a bit more detailed with your issues (e.g. what you mean by web browsers are disabled), we can try and give more specific advice.
The browsers are disabled, that's what I mean. IE, FF, and chrom won't even open. Disabled.

If all else fails, there are still two methods of last resort. You can refresh Windows 10 to a "clean state" and reinstall your applications. Or, if you need a more certain fix (but lose any data on the OS drive), you can get a Windows 10 installation media (either USB or DVD) to format the drive and install a fresh clean version of Windows 10. You won't need to worry about product keys or activation because it will do that automatically.
I'm probably doing this, borrowing a friend's computer to get the installation media, since I can't run it off my phone.
 

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Re-installing windows did not work, BUT, I did manage to fix it.
Thank you to everyone who offered helped.
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EDIT:
Okay, seems not completely fixed, some applications still aren't running properly.
 
Last edited by that girl,

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