Laptop got wiped? Without me doing it?

[Ikith]

Ok so I just installed FFXI on my laptop ran it! Works fucking perfect. I do a disk clean using the windows disk cleaner I then defragment that finishes. I go to firefox starts up like its a fresh install (Bad) so I configure it again... I go to start up aim from the start menu... My recently opened programs are gone... I look in the start menu all of the folders are there so I open the AIM folder... Empty! I check all of my other folders... Empty! I then get an error "Explorer.exe cannot be found" ok wtf! So I'm hosed! All of my pictures were gone as well (3 months worth of pictures) fuck seriously shit sucks ass! I restarted and it wouldn't even show the fucking login screen! So now I'm dbaning my drive and I'm pretty fucking pissed off!

[kuronosan]

You obviously downloaded some sort of malware that executed a deltree command.

[Ikith]

See thats the thing I have never downloaded anything of that sort and I have some damn good virus protection that would have caught it (avg)... All I did today that would have caused it would be the disk cleanup thats comes with windows (I knew you were up to something Microsoft) installed FFXI ran FFXI, Played ffxi, defragmented... And thats it !

[Exoduso]

I don't think you would've downloaded a malware on purpose lol..

[Kaylia]

Can't help you much, but when something is deleted, only the adress pointing toward that file is reseted. The file itself remain intact until something overwrite it. I know there is some program out there to recuperate what was deleted, so you might want to try this before formating. Might be wrong tho, never really had to deal with something like that

[Ikith]

I don't think you would've downloaded a malware on purpose lol..

I meant I never visit sites that would give me that shit and the only thing that would have deleted anything or caused anything would be disk cleanup.

[Exoduso]

I don't think you would've downloaded a malware on purpose lol..

I meant I never visit sites that would give me that shit and the only thing that would have deleted anything or caused anything would be disk cleanup.

Because you know for sure you never visited a site that could've given you a malware mirite?

Something caused your hard drive to get swiped clean, and obviously you didn't do it. So unless you have a cat with keyboard capabilities, I doubt it's not a virus.

[Day]

So let me get this straight. You were browsing through folders, then it all of a sudden popped up and said "explorer.exe not found" ?? That's pretty freaking weird dude... Not much we can help you with at this point... I've never heard of explorer.exe getting deleted in the middle of browsing through files... I mean, it doesn't make a lot of sense really. You can try the lolwindows repair, if you still have your CD. I've seen that work about 1/10 times on corrupt OS.

Edit: Meh, stop jumping all over the dude about the damn malware shit... it's past that point now, I'm pretty sure he's frustrated enough without arguing over how it happened.

[Ikith]

I don't think you would've downloaded a malware on purpose lol..

I meant I never visit sites that would give me that shit and the only thing that would have deleted anything or caused anything would be disk cleanup.

Because you know for sure you never visited a site that could've given you a malware mirite?

Something caused your hard drive to get swiped clean, and obviously you didn't do it. So unless you have a cat with keyboard capabilities, I doubt it's not a virus.

The fact that I only browse gamefaqs, bluegartr, myspace, and google (Home page) says a lot... Hm unless one of those websites has malware I'd say its not my browsing that cause this!

[Tristam]

Didn't myspace just get in trouble for having some artist's page completely full of malware that resulted in identity thefts? I think I read about it on CNN or Time or something. Not saying that's your problem, I just think that browsing anything these days is dangerous.

[Ikith]

Didn't myspace just get in trouble for having some artist's page completely full of malware that resulted in identity thefts? I think I read about it on CNN or Time or something. Not saying that's your problem, I just think that browsing anything these days is dangerous.

I understand this and I'm not counting it out I usually keep tabs on my level of protection when I'm browsing. I use myspace gfaqs and bg as well as ubuntu forums and some ffxi lookup places (not including somepage) and thats pretty much it.

[SephYuyX]

Not to sound harsh, but just because you only view 'secure' websites and 'know what to look out for' doesnt mean shit now a days. You dont use email, or an IM? You could have gotten it from that, even if it was from a friend or family member. Also, security programs do little anymore, sure they can stop some of the older hacks n stuff, but really all they are is a placebo. My laptop and one of my work PCs dont have one security program on them (cept windows firewall) and they have never been infected or been problematic. My main PC has minimal security and has never had problems, but the two PCs I do use with as much security as possible are always getting fucked with.

If you are hooked up to the internet, any other PC or on any wireless netowrk, youre fucked. Sure maybe some security might prolong your problem, but it wont stop it. But yeah, unless your computer is never turned on and unplugged from everything, you should be backing up your things weekly. The second youre connect to the internet or some sort of wireless device, you should be prepared to reinstall windows.

[Saga]

can you system restore to a date before this happened or did i just say something totally retarded?

[Kaylia]

Can be faulty hardrive too or something. It's not necessary malware.

[Day]

He probably can't do a sys restore bc it's not booting to the login screen, however if he had the original OS disk he may be able to run a repair... which sometimes works. Sometimes.

[Isiolia]

Check to see if your old user account is actually gone or not.

With certain types of account corruption, Windows will actually dump you into a temporary user profile because your real account can't be opened. Of course, that account won't have any of your stuff in it, but it doesn't mean your data is actually gone from the drive. Open up the C:\Documents and Settings folder and double check to make sure.

It could be malware. It could be your HDD is dying. Or it could just be that your laptop got shut down abruptly and some essential files got pooched. Could try to restore with a Windows CD. Or install to a new Windows directory without formatting (Windows is kinda stupid about not overwriting corrupt files on install).

Or ask to see if anyone you know has an external HDD enclosure or something. If it's a newer laptop with an SATA drive, you can hook it up to a desktop. Or a Preinstall Environment CD (BartPE is common for tech support people). Run Scandisk if you can.

I've seen quite a number of hosed laptops as part of my job is supporting student athletes and the machines we assign to them...sometimes this stuff is as simple as a corrupt file or two.

[Ikith]

Yeah everything is gone. I was thinking "Hm I wonder if I can get my stuff" grabbed my ubuntu live disc and booted into it. It found the drive folders are there files are not... This shit is freaky because now I'm afraid the shits gonna spread !

[Isiolia]

Well, if you want to try un-deleting files, you could try this disc http://www.e-fense.com/helix/ if you don't have something to try already. We used it in my computer forensics course.

[Cautery]

Maybe OT, but its a laptop+ffxi problem either.

I have an Ati X1250 mobile on it and I can run the game very good (I need it only for 2box) but when I'm in POL, it lag a lot. Why?

[Haruk]

are you on vista? last week the same thing happened to me on my vista drive, no clue wtf caused it