i have a little problem (techies, anyone... HELP!)

While it was downloading off napster, i was fiddling around in my mp3 folder with the previous song i had downloaded. i was re-writing the file name so it would correspond with all the other tracks i had downloaded before. but as soon as i finished re-writing the file name and hit enter, a little message popped up saying that the FOLDER i was IN didnt exist… i thought that was a bit peculiar. so i clicked around for a bit, back-tracking through the folders to see what was going on. but each time i back-tracked, the folder i had just left, dissapeared. one after another the began to dissapear. i didnt understand. i was worried so i immediately turned off the computer hoping whatever potential damage that was caused wouldn’t be saved.

when i returned to windows and went back to my personal folder where i store EVERYTHING of mine, i noticed it was empty. all of the writing i had ever done in or outside of school had been erased. over 700 mb of mp3 files were deleted (downloaded using a 36.6 connection). pictures of friends, scenery, webpage material were all gone. many little programs i had aquired over the years and still used occasionally didnt exist…

what the hell? how did this happen? i did nothing, i repeat NOTHING out of the ordinary. even if i had ACCIDENTLY pressed delete on my main folder, the files would have been transfered to the recycle bin, which they had not been. i assume this may have been some sort of virus… but from napster? has anyone heard of a music file that could pose as a virus as well? could this have been a timmed virus sent to me at a later date? is there any way to get my files back?

oh please help… so many years were devoted to that folder… so many responsibilities remained in that folder… i desperately need it back.

“While it was downloading off napster,”

the ‘it’ is referring to a music file. sorry, i cut and pasted this post and must have accidently cropped the first sentence.

My only thought is that you might have changed what kind of files you were looking for. Like you were originally looking at all files, then you changed somehow to mp3s or wavs or something.

Best of luck.

Arthur,

First thought, has the free disk space on your hard drive changed? If not, they are somewhere, you just don’t know where.

Otherwise, are you running any anti-virus software, and when did you last update it?

Do you have access to any advanced disk diagnostic tools like norton utilities?

do you have any computer geek friends who can come and help if you ask them really nicely?

-Doug

You didnt accidently click to hide files and folders did you? Make sure there are no hidden files.

Try scandisk,
maybe the files became cross-linked in there