lost everything

[tjw]

I  have a laptop upstairs which i  use for internet access via usb wireless connection and other work. I have not been connected to the internet for a over a week but have used it nearly everyday for other work. Today when I switched my laptop on every file had gone and it was as though it was a brand new computer being used for the first time. All that was left was office, my network connection icon and anti virus. I still have to type in the password for my user account to log  in. No one has touched my laptop and no new hardware has  been installed.  This has  happened before but  the next time I started the laptop up it went back to normal. Does anyone know what might have gone wrong  and how i can restore my work?

[xavier]

Can youdo a system restore?

[Laska]

Can Voodoo Restore System
Most Probably So, But only Patio
Would Know for Sure

[JJ 3000]

Every file was gone? Are you sure no one else has had access to that computer?

Sounds like your hard drive is on it's way out. If you can restart and get your files again, back them up asap. The easiest way to accomplish this, would be to share the files on a network and save them to the other computer.

What antivirus are you using?

[Geek-9pm]

This did happen before?
How was the issue resolved?
 Or was it?
On a number of laptops, maybe most, there is a rather simple way to wipe out all the work you have done and put the whole system back to the original factory load. A password may be preserved, but no documents or other work that the owner created. Does this fit in with what happened to you? Did you get a response from the manufacture of the laptop?
Hope we can be of some help.

[tjw]

system restore checkpoint doesnt go back far enough.
The files are not of major importance just miffed into why this happened.
It is an old laptop which i got given and I am the only person who uses the laptop as the rest of the family use the main pc. Thanks for the help from everyone learnt a few things.

[Geek-9pm]

Does there seem to be anything else wrong?  Is it possible that you had two user accounts and you loged in on the new one, no the old one?
Or here is a huynch I just thought of.
If it only has one account, try making  a new account. Log into the new account. Do a search for a partial file file name know will me part of the documents you created.  Example: Search for photos with the word "Disney" in them to find your photos you took at Disneyland. The search looks also into all user areas and should find the photos no matter where the are.

It is posible you have some kind of virus, Perhaps you need to u[date the AV and do a scan. But You likely already did that.

[tjw]

well your hunch worked.  i did a search for some pics and it was searching through  folders that i previously had so knew they were around somewhere. went through few folders on  my computer and they were hidden. thanks for the help! only have to add all my fav websites as they got deleted as well.

[richiehughes]

Possibly a virus which has hidden these files & folders?