I lost everything

Schuyler Colfax · Post by **Schuyler Colfax** » 2007-09-30 10:27am

I made a vent about this about 30 minutes ago, but it turns out it's a lot worse than I thought. I lost everything on my account, all of my documents. In June right after my MP3 was stolen I was able to memorize every single song on it and put on a Word account. Every time I one came to me I added it on that list, even new songs that I liked. I can't do that again. 200 motherfucking songs man, 200.

Another document had all my passwords to everything I was signed up for, I remember a lot of them but not all. I have no folders for anything, no music, no picture folder, nothing. The only thing that I installed on the computer that's still there is Guild Wars and Wimamp which I can't even get on.

I'm sure it's not a virus because I haven't downloaded anything since the beginning of June. My computer was always bugging sometimes it froze when I clicked on links. I worked around that by opening a new window. Sometimes it froze when I was entering passwords onto the virus protection. (yes the irony) Other times it froze just when I got online.

I can't even get online on that account and my windows bar shrunk down to the size of an ant. I can't even use any of my programs because they stop working before they finish even loading. I can go on and on about fucked up this is, trust me complaining is something that I'm good at. I understand that there nothing I can do about this and I know that I have to delete the account and make a new one. My question is what the fuck happened? One final note when someone gives you a flash drive, save your shit on it even of you don't have to move it around to other computers. Also if there is something that could be done to save my stuff please tell me.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-09-30 10:30am

Sorry to hear about your problem, but you should have made backups. You shouldn't have to learn that the hard way; it's kind of obvious.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2007-09-30 10:36am

My question is what the fuck happened?

Sounds like either a serious malware infestation or a corrupted install. Random freezes and data loss don't just pop out of nowhere.

Also if there is something that could be done to save my stuff please tell me.

Stop using the affected hard drive, hook it up to another computer and run a data recovery utility. However, if someone's used the computer since, chances are the data has already been overwritten.

And now that you've learned the painful way, make backups. I know I'm parroting here but it's something you really can't recommend enough.

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2007-09-30 10:36am

The is so much which is potentially wrong, from hardware failure to software it really isnt posible to determine what is wrong over the net from that description. But I will say onething; no modern OS should just "hang" when following simple links in a browser. That means something is damn wrong.

Most people get thier car services or at least take it in for servicing when it stops working. But they dont apply that to computers. Computers are not an household application, they are infact some of the most complex pieces of machinary and human effort on the planet.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2007-09-30 10:38am

He mentioned in Venting that it's just his account, so I doubt it's hardware. Unless the other accounts are just waiting to die, too.

Schuyler Colfax · Post by **Schuyler Colfax** » 2007-09-30 10:39am

The other accounts do freeze though. And I'm currently performing a virus scan.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2007-09-30 10:44am

Whatever is on those accounts, back it up to CD's or something now. Not after the scan, not tomorrow, but right now.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-09-30 10:46am

The act of accessing a file may cause the virus to corrupt it, so I don't know if backing the files up right now is a good idea. The best idea is to boot up the HD in another computer, which will ensure that the virus is not active and you are just reading data.

Schuyler Colfax · Post by **Schuyler Colfax** » 2007-09-30 12:58pm

Okay that was the longest virus scan ever. But, it turns out that there was just one thing in my C Drive.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2007-09-30 03:01pm

Elite Pwnage wrote:Okay that was the longest virus scan ever. But, it turns out that there was just one thing in my C Drive.

SCAN FOR SPYWARE FFS!

Ritterin Sophia · Post by **Ritterin Sophia** » 2007-09-30 03:43pm

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:
Elite Pwnage wrote:Okay that was the longest virus scan ever. But, it turns out that there was just one thing in my C Drive.
SCAN FOR SPYWARE FFS!

Seriously, more people need to be aware of spyware and adware.

Schuyler Colfax · Post by **Schuyler Colfax** » 2007-09-30 05:00pm

I did the deed, I deleted the account and made a new one. I guess I can slowly make up those files that I lost. I'm just glad that didn't start that American History paper. But, I'm still looking into it.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-09-30 05:08pm

I've always wanted to say this on SDN.

Are you using safe mode? If you boot normally and pull a virus scanner out, many viruses will simply break the virus scanner and you won't get any results. If you -suspect- you have malware, boot to safemode and run your scans from there. The number of broken virus scanners that happily report all clear on systems crippled by viruses I've encountered is significant.