Computer completely wiped.

Chives · 12 Sep 2010 at 19:44

Hi there,
just had a phone call from a mate saying that his computer has basically completely reset itself. His background has been reset to default. His my documents, my music, my videos and a lot of his desktop shortcuts are gone.
Strangely though his recycle bin and C\Local Disk\ Program Files are totally untouched.
For now I have told him to run a virus scan. Any ideas on how he can get all his lost data back?

Grimley · 12 Sep 2010 at 19:52

System restore?

Tealc · 12 Sep 2010 at 20:01

Could have somehow logged into a different user account.

Chives · 12 Sep 2010 at 21:03

Grimley said:
System restore?

All of the restore points have been deleted, By the virus I presume.
He has done a quick scan with Microsoft security essentials and it has detected this virus "BrowserModofier: Win32/Zwangi"

PermaBanned · 12 Sep 2010 at 21:10

PhotoRec?

tonycollinet · 12 Sep 2010 at 21:26

Tealc said:
Could have somehow logged into a different user account.

Check this - that would account for the missing files/folders.

blitzyuk · 12 Sep 2010 at 22:53

I had this with my computer running windows vista ultimate, it basically was reset to how it looks when you first install the OS. I did a virus scan but found nothing so just did a restart and all was back to normal. Was very strange like some sort of glitch or something.

Chives · 13 Sep 2010 at 16:44

Fixed in the end, I had him dig through the folders in C\Local Disk\Documents and settings . As it turns out all his documents where in there so no lost data.

Still doesn't explain the desktop background reset though.

Chives · 13 Sep 2010 at 17:00

He just phoned me up again, it has happened again same as OP, although this time his desktop background hasn't reset. He cannot find any of his data in the file path I posted above

Hagar · 13 Sep 2010 at 17:10

Spywareblaster

Chives · 13 Sep 2010 at 17:19

nkata said:
Spywareblaster

Will it just be spyware, to be honest it sounds more serious than that.

Chives · 13 Sep 2010 at 17:26

Also he has found that he basically no space left, 3MB at one point, I told him to clear his temporary internet files and that freed up about 3GB. He cannot find what is taking up all the space. Add/Remove programs tells him that their is hardly anything installed on the computer.

Ace Modder · 13 Sep 2010 at 17:27

Wipe HDD and start again.

Chives · 13 Sep 2010 at 17:30

Ace Modder said:
Wipe HDD and start again.

He doesn't have a windows disk to reinstall :/

Audigex · 13 Sep 2010 at 17:33

Use it to prop a door open.

Okay, that's not helpful - but at this point it's unlikely that he'll be able to fix windows without hours of painstaking arsing about. It would be much faster to just start over. Have you not got any copies of windows? As long as he's got a license key it doesn't matter if he uses your CD.

dazza13 · 13 Sep 2010 at 17:49

maybe try some thing like treesize free to work out where all the space is being taken up it's a tiny program that will scan his hdd and detail which folders are taking up the most space.

PermaBanned · 13 Sep 2010 at 18:33

Again, PhotoRec to get all his files and:

http://www.ubuntu.com/

Until they can get their hands on a Windows install disk. Then dual boot.