WIndows XP- Help! Whenever I log on, it resets all files!
Every time I log on to my admin account on my laptop (the only account), it boots up as if it were an entirely new account. The background and icons are as they were when the computer was brand new, and it deletes the files from the My Documents, Favorites, and My Music files.
Every time I log on to my admin account on my laptop (the only account), it boots up as if it were an entirely new account. The background and icons are as they were when the computer was brand new, and it deletes the files from the "My Documents," "Favorites," and "My Music" files. I can still access things that aren't saved to a particular account, and all of my programs are still there. Up until this morning I could still access the files in other 'My Documents' folders, but this morning I can't find them anymore, and there is no record of them in my computer. I've scanned with Norton, McAfee, Spybot, and Adaware and none of them have found any viruses. What should I do? Is this a virus or just some weird option I've accidentally turned on? Like the moron I am, I didn't have System Restore on, so I can't restore it that way. There's nothing terribly important on this computer, it's still pretty new, but at this rate I'm going to lose everything whenever I shut the computer off. Please help, if you can!
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Open up "My Computer", click on the "C" hard drive, and open the folder named "Documents and Settings".
Do you see multiple entries of your username?
For example:
Adam
Adam.000
Adam.001
Adam.002
Adam.ComputerName
Adam.ComputerName.000
Etc, etc. If so, most likely your "My documents" haven't actually been deleted, but reside in one of the folders below "Documents and Settings".
Most likely, however, you have a corrupt user profile. First, however, post what you find below the "Documents and Settings" folder.
Do you see multiple entries of your username?
For example:
Adam
Adam.000
Adam.001
Adam.002
Adam.ComputerName
Adam.ComputerName.000
Etc, etc. If so, most likely your "My documents" haven't actually been deleted, but reside in one of the folders below "Documents and Settings".
Most likely, however, you have a corrupt user profile. First, however, post what you find below the "Documents and Settings" folder.
I've been in the "documents and settings" folder, and it does have extras of the same name. The "My Documents" etc folders are empty, though. I was able to access the other files this way until this morning. It was a pain, but it was still doable. Now they've been mostly wiped.
It's got folders titled:
Administrator
All Users
Default User (this one is hidden)
larelle
larelle.Sketch (Sketch is the name of my computer. Long story.)
The larelle one still has the Favorites and desktop shortcuts, as well as "Application Data" (hidden) and "Cookies," but that's it. The .Sketch one has all the normal files- "My documents," "Favorites," "Desktop," "Cookies," and "Start Menu."
The following folders are all hidden: "Application Data," "Local Settings," "My Recent Documents," "NetHood," "PrintHood," "SendTo," and "Templates." There are also two hidden files called "NTUSER.Dat" and "ntuser.dat.txt"
If I have a corrupt user profile, do I just create a new one? This one seems to be shot. Or would the new one just be corrupt too?
Thank you so much for your help!
It's got folders titled:
Administrator
All Users
Default User (this one is hidden)
larelle
larelle.Sketch (Sketch is the name of my computer. Long story.)
The larelle one still has the Favorites and desktop shortcuts, as well as "Application Data" (hidden) and "Cookies," but that's it. The .Sketch one has all the normal files- "My documents," "Favorites," "Desktop," "Cookies," and "Start Menu."
The following folders are all hidden: "Application Data," "Local Settings," "My Recent Documents," "NetHood," "PrintHood," "SendTo," and "Templates." There are also two hidden files called "NTUSER.Dat" and "ntuser.dat.txt"
If I have a corrupt user profile, do I just create a new one? This one seems to be shot. Or would the new one just be corrupt too?
Thank you so much for your help!
To create a new profile, basically what you would do would be to log in with the Administrator account (or any account other than your own with Admin rights) and delete the "documents and Settings" folder that referred to your account.
