Author Topic: What happened to my 'MY PHOTOS'? (Read 29873 times)

MomNEEDShelp · « **on:** November 06, 2008, 06:26:26 AM »

I did some kind of Windows Live clean-up last night. ( I was desperate since my PC is getting so slow) The scan took about 3 hours. I am not sure if, at the end, anything was actually fixed because I did not pay for anything or sign up for the trial offer. I then signed off/

Anyway... when I went to my email and tried to attach a photo from the MY PHOTOS folder in the morning, it had just a few things in it but none were photos.

Where did my photos go?

patio · « **Reply #1 on:** November 06, 2008, 06:33:42 AM »

The full Path to that folder is:

C:\Documents and Settings\Your User Name\My Documents\My Pictures

Use Windows Explorer to find this folder and see if your pictures are still there.

Check in here first for advice on whether a cleanup app is any good or not for future reference.

Good Luck and let us know...

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #2 on:** November 06, 2008, 06:45:12 AM »

Where do I enter that address? Sorry, I am not that PC smart.

Denise

ALAN_BR · « **Reply #3 on:** November 06, 2008, 06:58:54 AM »

Hi

Open Windows Explorer.

At the top left is "File"
Below this is the Back button
Below this is the Address Bar - enter the address in the space on the right.

The address you type can be as Patio suggested.

A convenient alternative which works for me,
and does not need me to know my UserName (which is NOT my log-in name) is :-

%HOMEPATH%\My Documents\My Pictures

Regards
Alan

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #4 on:** November 06, 2008, 09:29:54 AM »

Sorry, I still don't find what I am suppose to be doing. Can anyone help me get them back where I am comfortable finding them.

Thanks,
Denise

reddevilggg · « **Reply #5 on:** November 06, 2008, 12:39:25 PM »

Click on START then My Computer then click on your C:Hard Drive then Documents and Settings then click on Your user name then My Documents then My Pictures

This is the path to your My Pictures folder

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #6 on:** November 06, 2008, 12:55:12 PM »

No find!

How bout this....I only know about it cause I did it one before...Can someone tell me how to do a system restore back to Wednesday so I can go back to the way I was.

Then maybe some of you smarties can tell me what to do to make my PC a bit faster / clean it from all of it's acquired & not needed crap.

Dee

reddevilggg · « **Reply #7 on:** November 06, 2008, 01:37:53 PM »

For 'System Restore'

Click START then All Programs goto Accessories then System Tools then System Restore

It will show a calender, choose the closest date before the problem happened.

Have you got CCleaner

Have you tried Disk Dleanup and DeFragmenting?

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #8 on:** November 06, 2008, 03:06:08 PM »

Ok, first let me thank you for the easy explaination of the system restore.

Now...I still do NOT see my photos in MY PHOTOS folder.

?

I normally open my AOL mail and click on the ATTACH FILE button and then the BROWSE button. From there I would find MY PHOTOS in the drop down menu. (Look In:) I would click on that and the list of names photos would be there. I would click on the one I wanted, then click on ATTACH. Viola, my photo would attach.

Now, when I click to the drop down menu on MY PHOTOS, the list of them does not show.

Am I making sense?

Please help. I need those pics.

Dee

reddevilggg · « **Reply #9 on:** November 06, 2008, 03:29:57 PM »

Do you still have your photos in your mail?

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #10 on:** November 06, 2008, 03:32:04 PM »

Huh? I can't find them so I can't attach them. How do I get that folder MY PHOTOS back???

reddevilggg · « **Reply #11 on:** November 06, 2008, 03:52:51 PM »

They seem to be deleted you could try http://www.recuva.com/

What was the "Windows live clean-up". I dont understand!

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #12 on:** November 06, 2008, 03:57:00 PM »

I don't know. I went to google and asked something like... HOW CAN I CLEAN UP MY PC? or HOW CAN I SPEED UP MY PC? I got a link for "Windows Live". Figuring it was Windows and was safe, I ran it. It took like 3 hours and said I had some problems. At the end, I think it asked if I wanted the trial version and I said NO. I figured I would forget to cancel it and end up paying for something I won't use.

I did a system restore to yesterday. WHY AREN"T MY PHOTOS BACK WHERE THEY BELONG IF I RESTORED THE SYSTEM???

reddevilggg · « **Reply #13 on:** November 06, 2008, 04:09:17 PM »

If you go back to Google and type h or how, you might get a drop down menu showing what you typed.

If so, could you reply with exact wording so i can google the same to see what you did

reddevilggg · « **Reply #14 on:** November 06, 2008, 04:18:33 PM »

Is the folder called 'My Pictures' which is the default Windows folder or is it called 'My Photo's'. Have you created the folder yourself?

Have you tried http://www.recuva.com/?

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #15 on:** November 06, 2008, 04:21:53 PM »

http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/center/cleanup.htm

The page was above. I think all I did was click on the CLEAN UP SCAN. It took 3 hours.

?
Dee

PS: Still don't get why a system restore did not bring everything back to normal???

reddevilggg · « **Reply #16 on:** November 06, 2008, 04:34:33 PM »

It says it gives you the 'option' to delete files and gives a report at the end to show deleted files. Did you see this?

Have you tried http://www.recuva.com/yet, it recovers deleted files!

What operating system have you got?

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #17 on:** November 06, 2008, 05:21:29 PM »

I have XP.

I am scared to download anything on this PC since the memory is so low.

Can I do a restore to 2 days ago and will that make my pics show up again?

(SO MANY THANKS!)

patio · « **Reply #18 on:** November 06, 2008, 05:48:10 PM »

Do you know anyone who knows Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer ) that could follow the directions given ? ?

Fed · « **Reply #19 on:** November 06, 2008, 06:17:41 PM »

I'll give it a go.

Double click on My Computer
Double click on Local Disk (C:)
Double click on Documents and Settings
Double click on Your User Name
Double click on My Documents
Double click on My Pictures

Now do you see your pictures there?

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #20 on:** November 06, 2008, 06:21:44 PM »

Thanks for the easy directions....

I do not see MY PHOTOS folder or anything saying 'photos/pictures'.

Dee

Fed · « **Reply #21 on:** November 06, 2008, 06:26:41 PM »

Quote

Double click on My Pictures

So you didn't see the 'My Pictures' directory above and never got to double click on it?

Fed · « **Reply #22 on:** November 06, 2008, 06:38:18 PM »

A latent thought here...

Were your photos in the My Photos directory or the My Pictures directory?
There is a world of difference between them.
Remember you browsed to the directory when you tried to attach the photos.

patio · « **Reply #23 on:** November 06, 2008, 07:04:32 PM »

Quote from: patio on November 06, 2008, 05:48:10 PM

Do you know anyone who knows Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer ) that could follow the directions given ? ?

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #24 on:** November 07, 2008, 06:29:43 AM »

No guys... I am flying solo with the only help coming from you all.

All I remember is hat there was a yellow folder named MY PHOTOS that I would click on.

If I do a system restore back to Monday, will I fix this big mess??? Can I go back that far??

patio · « **Reply #25 on:** November 07, 2008, 07:21:13 AM »

Yes by all means...if you have a Restore point from that day...

I would also check that Programs Help files...if it's a 1/2 way decent program it should be able to undo any changes made when it was ran...

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #26 on:** November 07, 2008, 07:44:16 AM »

Quote from: patio on November 07, 2008, 07:21:13 AM

Yes by all means...if you have a Restore point from that day...

I would also check that Programs Help files...if it's a 1/2 way decent program it should be able to undo any changes made when it was ran...

I did a system restore yesterday but maybe I did not go far eough back??? I will try again.

I do not know about a Programs Help File? (Sorry)

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #27 on:** November 07, 2008, 08:38:54 AM »

GRRRRRRR!!

patio · « **Reply #28 on:** November 07, 2008, 08:57:30 AM »

The Cleanup program you ran...does it have a Help File ? ?

squall_01 · « **Reply #29 on:** November 07, 2008, 09:02:54 AM »

has anyone asked her if she knows what day that she has seem them last or told her to keep going back a few days at time.

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #30 on:** November 07, 2008, 09:37:01 AM »

Why can't I do a system restore?? I tried picking 4 different times/dates and I get a message stating it was incomplete and to pick a new date.

I erased some stuff (big mistake) Wednesday around 8:00PM to try to speed up my computer, then had the brilliant idea to do some kind of WINDOWS LIVE clean up at 10:04PM I need to get back to about Tuesday when I was NOT messing with my pc.

Please tell me what the heck I am doing wrong. I am NOT technical at all so go easy on the explaination & help.

MANY THANKS!!

squall_01 · « **Reply #31 on:** November 07, 2008, 09:43:31 AM »

Do you think it could be that it corrupted windows an is preventing this?

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #32 on:** November 07, 2008, 11:15:31 AM »

Quote from: squall_01 on November 07, 2008, 09:43:31 AM

Do you think it could be that it corrupted windows an is preventing this?

I am not technical. How would I know If it did?? All I know is that I can not get to photos I had in a MY PHOTOS folder and I can't restore back to an earlier date to get them back. Nothing else seems wrong with my normal usage.

HELP!!

reddevilggg · « **Reply #33 on:** November 07, 2008, 03:12:24 PM »

Quote from: reddevilggg on November 06, 2008, 04:18:33 PM

Have you tried http://www.recuva.com/?

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #34 on:** November 07, 2008, 03:16:18 PM »

Does Recuva take up much memory/space? My PC is slow as it is. When I see a download for anything, I get nervous.

reddevilggg · « **Reply #35 on:** November 07, 2008, 03:19:35 PM »

Memory (RAM) can increase speed in your PC

Your C: Hard Drive is where applications are stored

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #36 on:** November 07, 2008, 03:33:47 PM »

Does anyone know why I can do a system restore back to Monday?

I am doing the Recuva now. Wait time is about 1-2 hours for the advanced search.

mcxeb52! · « **Reply #37 on:** November 07, 2008, 03:41:43 PM »

well, try this.

click the astart button, then on the popup menu click on 'search' and then to files or fiolders.

Now, what kind of photos do you have? JPG files?

Assuming they were saved as JPG files, type into search box ".jpg" without the quotes and see if windows finds anything. If not jpg, then type whatever type the files were saved as or perhaps type the file name of a photo if you can remember that.

I wonder if your computer's just rearranged your photos so they're not in original place which normally I wouldn't expect happen or you have a virus or malware that got rid of your photos.

To speed up your computer, get more memory, use cCleaner or reinstall windows completely. At least, I'm sure those won't cause catastrophic problems if you take it slowly, one step at a time.

reddevilggg · « **Reply #38 on:** November 07, 2008, 03:45:14 PM »

System Restore only remembers dates when something has changed on that date, like an application being added or hardware being anabled.

It can be configured and you can go into system and create checkpoints.

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #39 on:** November 07, 2008, 03:54:48 PM »

How did I wipe out an entire file? (My Photos) Any way of finding that?

Fed · « **Reply #40 on:** November 07, 2008, 04:07:51 PM »

If you're sure the directory was named My Photos then do a searh for it.

Start--->Search--->For Files or Folders---> Type My Photos in the search field.

Have you checked your Recycle Bin?

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #41 on:** November 07, 2008, 04:22:21 PM »

Quote from: Fed on November 07, 2008, 04:07:51 PM

If you're sure the directory was named My Photos then do a searh for it.

Start--->Search--->For Files or Folders---> Type My Photos in the search field.

Have you checked your Recycle Bin?

Hi Fed. You have helped me in the past.

I did that and do see the file name but when I click on it, none of what I am looking for is in there. If you scroll up, you will see that I did a dumb thing and was playing around trying to clear up some room on this PC. It is so slow. I don't know what I did but my file named MY PHOTOS is gone.

I just want to undo the changes that I made around 8PM Wednesday night. Tried a system restore but no luck.

Dee

Fed · « **Reply #42 on:** November 07, 2008, 04:50:48 PM »

Quote from: MomNEEDShelp on November 07, 2008, 04:22:21 PM

Quote from: Fed on November 07, 2008, 04:07:51 PM
If you're sure the directory was named My Photos then do a searh for it.

Start--->Search--->For Files or Folders---> Type My Photos in the search field.

Have you checked your Recycle Bin?

Hi Fed. You have helped me in the past. I did that and do see the file name but when I click on it, none of what I am looking for is in there. If you scroll up, you will see that I did a dumb thing and was playing around trying to clear up some room on this PC. It is so slow. I don't know what I did but my file named MY PHOTOS is gone.

I just want to undo the changes that I made around 8PM Wednesday night. Tried a system restore but no luck.

Dee

It can't be there and not there at the same time?

Did you check your Recycle Bin?

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #43 on:** November 07, 2008, 07:19:21 PM »

I see the words MY PHOTOS but the photos I am looking for are not there.

I don't know how or why.

Where is my recycle bin? How can I look in it?

mcxeb52! · « **Reply #44 on:** November 07, 2008, 10:31:10 PM »

Quote from: MomNEEDShelp on November 07, 2008, 07:19:21 PM

Where is my recycle bin? How can I look in it?

Do you have a recycle bin icon on the desktop? It should look something lik this:

Double Click it to see what it contains. If you don't see the recycle bin on desktop, let us know.

Dias de verano · « **Reply #45 on:** November 08, 2008, 01:48:00 AM »

I think we are getting confused because MomNEEDShelp is mixing up files and folders. It sounds very much like MY PHOTOS is a folder, not a file. It is quite possible for a folder to be empty, that is, to not have any files in it. Because they have all been deleted somehow. So let's find that recycle bin!

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #46 on:** November 08, 2008, 09:01:44 AM »

Nope, not in the recycle bin. I would guess it's about 60 pictures. They were in a folder named MY PHOTOS.

Thanks for trying. Anything else??

reddevilggg · « **Reply #47 on:** November 08, 2008, 03:56:26 PM »

What happened with Recuva?

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #48 on:** November 08, 2008, 04:04:23 PM »

Quote from: reddevilggg on November 08, 2008, 03:56:26 PM

What happened with Recuva?

Recuva Found nothing.

I remember exactly what I did now. I went to START ---> SEARCH ---> PICTURES, MUSIC & VIDEO. I deleted everything in there because I thought it was all stuff I already deleted... not realizing they would be erased from the MY PHOTOS folder they were in.

I then went to WINDOWS LIVE (read above) and did some kind of clean up trying to make my PC faster.

A SYSTEM RESTORE will not work.

Now that you guys know what I did, can anyone help me get them back in the folder?

?

Fed · « **Reply #49 on:** November 08, 2008, 04:14:54 PM »

Because My Photos is not a standard Windows directory then I'm guessing it was installed by some camera software or photo editing software.

Could this be the case and you have since removed the software?
BTW it's looking like your photos have gone forever.

reddevilggg · « **Reply #50 on:** November 08, 2008, 04:15:30 PM »

In a word, no, What you've done is deleted your photos then cleaned up your hard drive. When you clean up the hard drive it writes over the files that you've deleted so that they are totally unrecoverable. Sorry.

Dias de verano · « **Reply #51 on:** November 08, 2008, 05:16:58 PM »

Quote from: MomNEEDShelp on November 08, 2008, 04:04:23 PM

I went to START ---> SEARCH ---> PICTURES, MUSIC & VIDEO. I deleted everything in there

They have gone.

MomNEEDShelp · « **Reply #52 on:** November 08, 2008, 05:21:22 PM »

LOL!! All this for a NO, huh? I was hoping that was not gonna be the outcome, but thanks ALL. It stinks to not know what the heck you are doing and then when you try, you mess things up permanantly.

You are all very lucky people. I am jealous. Well, thanks so much.

PS: If anyone knows how I can do something easy to free up some space on this relic (like maybe cookies or crap that gets into the pc without one wanting it there), feel free to let me know. PC is too filled with crap to do a sucessful DEFRAG.

Sony Vaio w/ XP pentium 4 (I believe 1GB) purchased in December 2003.

Dias de verano · « **Reply #53 on:** November 08, 2008, 05:28:20 PM »

It is possible your local community college will have free or cheap classes in basic information technology. It's never too late to learn.

reddevilggg · « **Reply #54 on:** November 09, 2008, 01:42:01 PM »

When was your last defrag?

mcxeb52! · « **Reply #55 on:** November 09, 2008, 09:45:17 PM »

get ccleaner and run it (after verifying that the settings are what you want), it's a good freeware program

Also .... you may want to read up on things, here's a link which has good information....

http://pcworld.about.com/news/Apr242002id96184.htm

Shynnie · « **Reply #56 on:** November 10, 2008, 06:55:13 AM »

Hi all

Non-helpful comments edited.

Dias de verano · « **Reply #57 on:** November 10, 2008, 10:24:02 AM »

I'm not sure if you're being rude or not, Shynnie, your English is somewhat eccentric, but if you are, maybe lose the attitude, huh?

squall_01 · « **Reply #58 on:** November 10, 2008, 10:26:43 AM »

I second that motion. We know what where doing we just dont asumme that what we know is what they do, its like saing you build your own machine but use a rig.

mcxeb52! · « **Reply #59 on:** November 10, 2008, 10:35:30 AM »

We're no super doctors. We can help diagnose what's going on and try to prescribe logical medications but there's still unknown mysteries now and then .... otherwise I'd be the happiest kid on the block ....

reddevilggg · « **Reply #60 on:** November 10, 2008, 11:51:42 AM »

Quote from: Shynnie on November 10, 2008, 06:55:13 AM

Hi all

Can't believe it that no one picked up MomNEEDShelp's question.
Hey young boy what you want to do is a system restore, a day in the past like 3 or so days backwards, neh.
------ How can you restore back to a date that you have no restore points, guy correct me if I'm
wrong, you can only restore back to your restore points that you have set them..

Next---- Your deleted items should all be in the recycle folder unless you empty that, or you little friend window live wiped everything from the bin..

Solution -- There are tools that can recover deleted items but some return RAW DATA, try to download a recovering tool and I'm sure you will find your PHOTOS my boy...

Happy computer Classes little boy

I dont usually reply to this type of 'immature' post, especially when Shynnie has taken 4 pages to place a post on this topic with out, seemingly, having read any of the other posts properly, but hey, here goes.

Firstly, System Restore (you can only restore back to your restore points that you have set them..) and also when installing applications etc. Have YOU asked if she has done this or not........Didnt think so

Secondly, (Next---- Your deleted items should all be in the recycle folder unless you empty that, or you little friend window live wiped everything from the bin..) This has already been answered, but having read the previous posts , you knew that...........Didn't think so!

Thirdly, (Solution -- There are tools that can recover deleted items but some return RAW DATA, try to download a recovering tool and I'm sure you will find your PHOTOS my boy...) She's tried that, eejit, but the Windows live cleanup writes over deleted files that are on the hard drive.

Maybe if you'd read any of the posts then your 'immature' response wouldn't sound so STUPID!!

Apologies to everyone else, I just needed to get that off my chest

Calum · « **Reply #61 on:** November 10, 2008, 11:59:15 AM »

OK, I think this topic's gone far enough.
Locked.
Any questions or issues, PM me or another moderator.
Please, if you want to criticize someone don't drag the forums down, PM them or a moderator.

Computer Hope Forum

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Author Topic: What happened to my 'MY PHOTOS'? (Read 29873 times)

MomNEEDShelp

patio

MomNEEDShelp

ALAN_BR

MomNEEDShelp

reddevilggg

MomNEEDShelp

reddevilggg

MomNEEDShelp

reddevilggg

MomNEEDShelp

reddevilggg

MomNEEDShelp

reddevilggg

reddevilggg

MomNEEDShelp

reddevilggg

MomNEEDShelp

patio

Fed

MomNEEDShelp

Fed

Fed

patio

MomNEEDShelp

patio

MomNEEDShelp

MomNEEDShelp

patio

squall_01

MomNEEDShelp

squall_01

MomNEEDShelp

reddevilggg

MomNEEDShelp

reddevilggg

MomNEEDShelp

mcxeb52!

reddevilggg

MomNEEDShelp

Fed

MomNEEDShelp

Fed

MomNEEDShelp

mcxeb52!

Dias de verano

MomNEEDShelp

reddevilggg

MomNEEDShelp

Fed

reddevilggg

Dias de verano

MomNEEDShelp

Dias de verano

reddevilggg

mcxeb52!

Shynnie

Dias de verano

squall_01

mcxeb52!

reddevilggg

Calum