Gaming My Computer restted itself?

[leonheart_a]

Okay so i turned my PC off this morning thinking nothing of it. I turn the Pc on later that day to see everything resetted, all my files and folders deleted etc. My accounts and installed programs are still on the PC but all my files are lost. I have no idea why this would even happen. I really am annoyed this has happened to since i have now lost everything Including my fucking bookmarks

Its as if i just reformatted or something. Do any of you know whats going on here? (I have XP)

Thanks

(And yeah i know i have a typo on the topic title)

 

[Commander]

I had a very similar problem to this about a week ago. I had to reset my PC because it froze.
Once it had rebooted all my system settings had reverted to its default, wallpapers, themes, icons etc
I couldn't change any of it either if I changed how I view folders for example it wouldn't retain the information and just reset back to what it was. However I didn't lose any data though.

Are you sure you have lost your bookmarks, open up the Run command window and type in: %appdata%
There will be a folder called Mozilla, in there under the firefox sub folder your bookmarks should be, sometimes firefox doesn't load them because they have been moved etc.

You PC didn't reformat itself else you would have lost all your information.

The only explanation I can think of is some form of malware.

Sorry I can't help anymore.

~ Commander

 

[leonheart_a]

Tried that %appdata% thing, Didnt work

And i know for sure it cant be malware.

 

[lewjay]

Tough luck, try Xp's system restore function.

 

[p1ngpong]

Could be a BSOD memory dump, and a system restore wont bring back deleted files Im afraid. But anyway what do I know? Im just a tiny child who, contrary to all the rumours circulating around this forum, has never even known the joys of self pleasure!

 

[Tigerstar]

Actually this sounds a lot like a corrupted local user profile issue. When you log on to a Windows PC for the first time it creates a folder in C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\ (which is actually a duplicate of a hidden folder at C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\). This folder contains all your files, user-specific registry entries, application data, and so on. Sometimes certain key files in this folder can get corrupted and unusable, and rather than lock you out entirely Windows creates a new local profile from scratch, normally by appending ".000" to the folder name. Naturally this folder will not contain any of your files, settings and the like - those are still stuck in your old, corrupted profile folder - but they're certainly not gone or unrecoverable.

So, first of all, go into My Computer and have a look in C:\Documents and Settings\ and see if there are two folders with your username on them (if so, one will have .000 appended). If so, you can just copy your files out of C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\ into C:\Documents and Settings\[username].000\My Documents\ and all will be well. Other stuff that might be useful to copy is the contents of Desktop, for any user-specific desktop icons and files that are missing, Start Menu for user-specific program shortcuts, Favorites for your bookmarks (if you use IE), and the contents of C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\ and \Local Settings\. These last two are normally hidden folders, so you may have to turn on display of hidden files in Folder Options to see them.

If this is what has happened, you shouldn't have lost any files and only a minimal amount of program settings and preferences.

 

[SavageWaffle]

If you want them back(i would) just system restore back to 1 day

 

[leonheart_a]

Okay i tried what Tigerstar said and yeah i got all my stuff back. However when i turned my PC off last night its as if i didnt even use it. Everything i downloaded, bookmarked(again) and even my settings have gone. So im guessing i have to now leave my PC on?