Hi, this is Primaflora’s SO. I have a techy problem. Suddenly (isn’t it always ‘suddenly’) I go and look into my folder-of-all-my-work, and lo, all my thirty-odd sub-folders are there, but open any one of them and…NOTHING. Blank. Zip. Nada. “0 files” Should be, like, 308 Word files in there altogether.
Panic!
So straight into Windows Explorer. Same thing. Run FIND using the name of one particular file I know (and care about). RELIEF! All this stuff with similar names starts showing up again. So it’s still in the system! Phew.
Try various things. VIEW. No joy. DISPLAY. Hah!
hMM.
I had just been doing lots of odd new things - creating three diffent personalised desktops and themes, One for me, and one each for the two boys. Password protected, as in LOG ON / LOG OFF stuff as per a Network. (Reason, BTW: to prevent the 3 year old from trashing all my work!) Okay. so they the ol’ shut down and reboot.
Same. No, worse! FIND now doesn’t bring up all those files. All gone there too! All I have left is what I could access through the DOCUMENTS button off START. I’m sure all my doc’s are still in there somewhere! (sob) I want them back! (sob, shudder, whimper)
Please suggest useful sites or lists.
Please don’t suggest dropping it in the swimming pool.
HELP!
thanks to anyone who read all this and can think of what to do. wE can’t get into a tech for about a week…
DON’T PANIC
It sounds like the files are in there but not showing up. Yet.
Sounds like you have been playing with setting up different users?
Each user has a different startmenu etc. and can also have a different
private folder which will appear as the “My Documents” folder when that
user logs on. If you stash all your docs in “My Documents” they could
appear and disappear depending who you log in as.
You don’t give enough clear info for me to supply an exact recipe.
There are several things to try.
First, log on as each of the users you have setup, one at a time, and
also try the default logon which you get if you don’t enter any name/password
but just press Enter.
As each of these “personalities”, check your documents folder.
If you find the stuff, you can move it all to some new folder
(NOT under \My Documents) in which case any user can now access it.
Now if you want to keep the stuff safe from the children:
Log on as the password-protected persona you created for your own use.
Move the stuff back into \My Documents
Now it will show up for you but not for the kids.
Their “My Documents” folder should start empty and only contain what
they save into it.
If the above doesn’t work, let me know in this thread.
You may need to use a shareware (non-Microsoft) replacement for Explorer.
Some of these show a more complete, less virtual, view of your hard disk.
DON’T PANIC
And don’t forget your towel!
Sorry to ask what may seem obvious, but when you searched for the files the second time, are you sure you were searching from the highest possible level? That is, if you searched under C:\win\painintheneck\profile than only documents saved there will show up. If your old docs are still under C:\win\don’tmesswithme you need to back up a level or two. To make sure you find it, I’d just put C:\ (the root directory) in the where box, and make sure that the check subfolders box is marked. Simple, yes, but sometimes it’s worth it to ask.
Next thing I’d do (while I’m waiting for the real techs to answer) is go to start>programs>command and poke around my system in DOS. What may be hidden in Winders may be visible in DOS. That’s all I have to say right now, sorry I couldn’t be more help. I really just wanted to make a HGTTG reference. Good luck!
Post Script
Have you been into the realm of “Policies”?
It’s ages since I’ve messed around with Users and Policies so I’m
not too sure about the details but, as I remember it, under Policies you
can give different users different amounts of control and access.
I think you could enable the “user” who represents yourself to access all
folders including the kids’ stuff and also limit their ability to make
accidental system changes or access your files.
All rather complicated (and hopefully unnecessary) and takes a while to
get on top of. Extra software to setup Policies is on your Windows 95 CD.
On my Windows98 CD it’s in the folder: Tools\reskit
etadmin\poledit
(Poledit.exe is the Policy editor.)
Sorry I can only give you such generalised pointers. Even if I were more
familiar with the Users/Policies minefield, it would all be too complicated
for a SDMB thread.
Ah! Ah hah! Yes of course! This is, after all, WIN95 we’re talking about. Thanks guys! Very useful. And the good news is I did find all my stuff (I knew it was in there somewhere) lurking under WINDOWS/MYSTUFF instead of under DESKTOP/MYSTUFF. oF COURSE!
A special thanks to UNNAMEABLE for useful detailed stuff. Drama over.
- PRIMAFLORA’S S.O.