Virus?

Hi, I hope someone can help!

Most programs and documents have disappeared off my computer, I can't even save photos or pictures which is a real nuisance. My Mcafee security says everything's fine but it's not.

I don't want to take my computer to a repairer - last time I did they charged me and nothing got fixed.

Is there perhaps something I can do to get the disappeared documents etc? Thanks!

did you try system restore

This won't help your current problem, but I have learned to prevent it buy keeping an external backup hard drive. If it somehow is lost or my computer crashes, I have everything on the external drive.

Torito

The documents and programs might actually still be there but are being hidden by the virus. It depends on what virus you've got.

Other than trying to clean your computer with another program and hoping the missing stuff is still there I don't know of any real solution to your problem.

If you want to try cleaning the virus off the computer try Trend's Housecall which is a free on demand virus scanner that is pretty good. Depending on what you've got the virus may try to block you from downloading other anti-virus programs or even going to their websites.

Chloe, the virus has hidden your folders and shortcuts most likely. Go into folder view and check and see what is checked as far as hide my folders, desktop, know files etc. if you are unsure of how to do that, post here what operating system you have and I will post screen shots of what you need to check. Once that's done you need to remove the virus. Let me know or you can pm me as well.

You may need to boot up in Safe Mode with networking to start to clean your PC. there are several ways to go about getting rid of the virus, but all take some degree of technical expertise or at least access to the Web and the ability to download and follow instructions exactly. There are a lot of idiots and jerk in PC repair but that is not a good reason to find someone good and have them fix your PC. It is a lot like looking for your ATF provider here in the hobby, but not near as much fun (though it can be as expensive). Good luck! PM me if you need more help.

Malware could be the culprit, considering McAfee isnt finding anything.

This problem happened to me once. All the desktop items were gone, and nothing was showing up under "Start - All Programs".

Try this:

1) Click "Start" (lower left corner of the screen), and then click "Run". In the small window that appears, type "explorer" and press enter. This should start windows explorer.

2) In the menu of explorer, click on "Tools", and then in the drop-down menu that appears, click "Folder Options".

3) In the window that appears when you click "Folder Options", there will be two tabs: "General", and "View". Click on the "View" tab. A list of items should appear with checkboxes beside them.

4) Scroll down in this list until you find "Show Hidden Files and Folders". Make sure the button beside this item is turned on, and then click "Okay".

5) In the left-side pane of Windows Explorer, click on "Desktop". Then, in the right-side pane of explorer, you should see all of your desktop items that are not showing up on the desktop.

If you can see your desktop items in Explorer but not on the desktop itself, then they have been set to "Hidden" status. If that is the case, you most probably have the same type virus I had (I am running McAfee as well).

I called McAfee tech support, and for a reasonable fee (I think it was around $90.00), they removed the virus using remote desktop. I haven't had any more problems since then. I don't remember the name of the virus.

Hope this helps!