Disappearing files and folders

Discussion in 'Windows 7' started by archaeopteryx, Feb 8, 2011.

  1. archaeopteryx

    archaeopteryx MDL Junior Member

    Sep 15, 2010
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    Hi

    I've scoured the internet and been unable to find an answer which specifically addresses the problem I seem to have developed over the last couple of weeks.

    If I'm in an application and in the 'save as' dialogue box, when I have created a new folder and then saved my file I either cannot find the folder or, if I do, there are no contents in said folder. If I do try to save again however, I will be asked if I want to overwrite contents even though the folder appears to me to be empty. Very odd. As far as memory serves, I believe this only happens whilst in an application's 'save as' dialogue box (the last time this happened I was using Photoshop). I've done a thorough search for malware using 4 different applications but have found nothing.

    I would be really grateful if someone could help me with this - I haven't lost any information yet, but should this continue I feel that's highly likely to change.

    Many thanks in advance
     
  2. archaeopteryx

    archaeopteryx MDL Junior Member

    Sep 15, 2010
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    Thank you. I'll try that. I'm not too confident when it comes to the registry so I may come back in a bit and ask for further advice if you don't mind...
     
  3. NICK@NUMBER11

    NICK@NUMBER11 MDL Expert

    Mar 23, 2010
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    Copy thsi into notepad

    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management]
    "ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=dword:00000001

    save as mem.reg

    then click on it and accept the warning, re-boot
     
  4. archaeopteryx

    archaeopteryx MDL Junior Member

    Sep 15, 2010
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    Thank you NICK@NUMBER11. I've done that quite painlessly - very grateful for your help. Will let you know how it goes...;)
     
  5. dabits

    dabits Guest

    Thanks nick@number11, I hope this helps you, and I don't want to intrude, but some extra info FYI:
    ClearPageFileAtShutdown will/can cause Windows to take more time to shut down, because of the clearing of the pagefile.
    An extra thing is that personal information in the pagefile like unencrypted passwords and such are gone when you reboot.
    That's why I use it, it makes me feel a bit more safe.
     
  6. archaeopteryx

    archaeopteryx MDL Junior Member

    Sep 15, 2010
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    Cheers dabits. The more info the better as far as I'm concerned - I appreciate your comments :biggrin:
     
  7. JaguarXJ12

    JaguarXJ12 Guest

    Have you checked so the files saved isn't hidden, it's strange that it prompts to save over the file even though it's not there.
     
  8. subpsyke

    subpsyke MDL Junior Member

    Aug 14, 2009
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    My bet is that Explorer is not correctly refreshing the folder upon file creation.

    In other words, when you first save the file, it's really saved. You can right-click on empty space in the folder and choose "Refresh", and the file should appear.
     
  9. archaeopteryx

    archaeopteryx MDL Junior Member

    Sep 15, 2010
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    Hi JaguarXJ12. Yes - I did check and none were hidden.

    One strange thing. When I did a search for the 'lost folder', the folder was found - I could double click and open the 'invisible' folder listed in the search and see the folder's content. I could right click the folder and see its location but when I tried to find the very same folder myself in Windows Explorer, I could not.:confused:
     
  10. archaeopteryx

    archaeopteryx MDL Junior Member

    Sep 15, 2010
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    Hi subpsyke. I tried refreshing many, many times. Several restarts and refreshes still would not reveal the folder
     
  11. JaguarXJ12

    JaguarXJ12 Guest

    I was just looking through this thread once again and couldn't find any information where you were trying to save the files to.
    Maybe it has something to do with the destination?
     
  12. archaeopteryx

    archaeopteryx MDL Junior Member

    Sep 15, 2010
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    Hi JaguarXJ12. Thanks for your patience and perseverance!

    The folder is in a sub folder of 'My Documents'. I should also add that the main sub folder is included in a Library which I created some time ago for my design work. I have to say that the library has been working fine with no incident for at least 6 months. Do you think it could be related to that? As I say, this hasn't happened before though...
     
  13. JaguarXJ12

    JaguarXJ12 Guest

    Ok...hmmm
    So have you tried saving files through 'Save as' on other destinations on the disk?
    Example a folder directly under C:\
    If that works, then there might be a weird permission issue or some other strange bug.

    Which programs is affected besides PhotoShop?
     
  14. archaeopteryx

    archaeopteryx MDL Junior Member

    Sep 15, 2010
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    #15 archaeopteryx, Feb 9, 2011
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2011
    (OP)
    Hi - yes. I've 'saved as' directly on to C:/, so far without issue since discovering the problem. That's the concern really - I am worried that I could 'save as' without apparent incident, move on to my next piece of work only to discover at a later time that I cannot find the folder I saved previously. In other words, I may not have come across all of the 'lost' files and folders yet.

    So far it's occurred whilst using Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Word. Could it be malware?
     
  15. JaguarXJ12

    JaguarXJ12 Guest

    This is indeed a strange behavior, a normal clean Windows installation should not behave like this.
    You said that you had scan for malware but didn't find anything, this kind of behavior could be explained by malware but may not be the cause.
    Are you 100% it didn't find anything?

    What I find the most strange is that just this kind of type and function is affected.

    Have you noticed anything else strange with your installation/computer?
     
  16. archaeopteryx

    archaeopteryx MDL Junior Member

    Sep 15, 2010
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    100% certain I've found nothing - I'm fully Windows Updated - I've tried Malwarebytes, AVG, Hitman Pro and CounterSpy. Apart from a few flagged cookies (since deleted) not one has found a thing and I'm pretty careful to avoid any nasties that may be lurking around.

    The only other odd behaviour of late is one that reminds me of my old Windows 98 days, and that's the loss of icons on some of my software. That would be around about the same time as the main problem. I really am grateful for your help by the way - cheers :worthy:
     
  17. Heidegger

    Heidegger MDL Member

    Mar 17, 2008
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    I take it these aren't portable apps you're using. Are you using UAC? Get a program like UltraSearch or AvaFind to catalog the disk and find the files. AvaFind has a searchbot that shows all newly created files in realtime.
     
  18. archaeopteryx

    archaeopteryx MDL Junior Member

    Sep 15, 2010
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    Hi - no - none of them portable and I am using UAC.

    I'll have a look at AvaFind - sounds like it could be useful.
     
  19. JaguarXJ12

    JaguarXJ12 Guest

    I really hope it works out for you man, this is out of my league this time.

    +1 for Heidegger, AvaFind might help you on this one.