Upset

[101st]

Hi all.....I have been using CCleaner on my computer for some time and I decided to download it on my wifes machine today and it removed just about everything on her computer. I mean all e-mail, all of her contact files, family pictures and family contacts, business contacts of 25 years....I/we are sick and she didn't have anything backed up either.....I do of course. Is there anyway to "restore" what was removed? Does CCleaner have the information that was removed? Is there any way to have someone come in and find it somewhere on the hard drive? HELP!!!.....and thanks too.

[hazelnut]

Are you using xp or vista?

 

Did you just do an ordinary clean or did you do a registry clean as well?

 

If you did a registry clean (issues) did you say yes to saving a backup when it asked so you can restore it?

 

Ordinary use of ccleaner does not have this sort of result, are there any other user profiles on her computer?

 

Any more info you can give on what you did and what happened?

[101st]

Are you using xp or vista?

 

Did you just do an ordinary clean or did you do a registry clean as well?

 

If you did a registry clean (issues) did you say yes to saving a backup when it asked so you can restore it?

 

Ordinary use of ccleaner does not have this sort of result, are there any other user profiles on her computer?

 

Any more info you can give on what you did and what happened?

 

 

I must have hit "clean everything off of the computer." Like I said I've been using it for quite a while and never had a problem. Sorry, I don't know what I did.....as far as I know I did nothing out of the ordinary

[Andavari]

There's only been a handful of people that have ever reported CCleaner butchering their system. Don't know why it happened, unless some system variables were messed up mapping stuff to the wrong location, or if files were stored in a temp folder location.

 

You could try Recuva to recover the files, and it may require a deep scan to get some things back if you didn't use any of CCleaner's secure delete modes.

[ident]

I can't see how ccleaner could do any of this. It just isn't designed that way. Cant you just go direct to your smtp to restore the email backups? as there is no way ccleaner could even access your email.

 

as admin have said download recova,

[Alan_B]

I must have hit "clean everything off of the computer." Like I said I've been using it for quite a while and never had a problem. Sorry, I don't know what I did.....as far as I know I did nothing out of the ordinary

 

That tells me nothing. Your answer appears totally wrong.

 

You were asked

"Did you just do an ordinary clean or did you do a registry clean as well?"

That is two different options.

I just cannot see on my system your choice of "clean everything off of the computer".

 

I suspect you made a foolish mistake and downloaded the wrong CCleaner from a bad web-site,

and it is an imitation malware ridden version that offers "clean everything off of the computer".

and that is intended as a GOTCHA for the unwary.

 

I get 9,850,000 results for a Google search of "CCleaner",

and top of the list are legitimate sites such as www.ccleaner.com, www.filehippo.com, and download.cnet.com.

There are alternative NON-legitimate sites that may do you harm.

 

I get 938,000 for a Google search of "CCleaner.net", about which I have misgivings ! ! !

 

I found very interesting the site http://fileshunt.com/rapidshare.php?file=ccleaner+v2

Amongst the goodies (baddies ? ?) on offer were "CCleaner.v2.17.853 dellopos.rar"

Is that a peek into the future ! !

 

I believe that unless you slaved your wife's hard drive to your P.C. or ran a BOOT CD,

it is only because you still have a bootable operating system that you know that you have lost

"all e-mail, all of her contact files, family pictures and family contacts, business contacts of 25 years."

You should count yourself fortunate indeed that you can still boot the computer.

 

If in fact you Downloaded a good legitimate version of CCleaner that is free of errors,

then you need to be much more accurate in the understanding of questions and the giving of answers,

or you may soon kill the operating system and have to re-install Windows.

 

Regards

Alan

[snowdrift]

I don't believe this man's story.

[Andavari]

Chill out guys.

 

Over the years there actually have been a handful (albeit a very small handful) of users that have had CCleaner act unusually on their system. It isn't our place whatsoever to flame a bug reporter that may have a legitimate issue with the software.

[Alan_B]

Chill out guys.

 

Over the years there actually have been a handful (albeit a very small handful) of users that have had CCleaner act unusually on their system. It isn't our place whatsoever to flame a bug reporter that may have a legitimate issue with the software.

 

Sorry, I did not intend to flame him.

 

I certainly did not intend to imply that he had willingly gone to an "illegal" site to get for free what is always free from this site.

BUT there are counterfeit sites that also claim to offer CCleaner.

 

I accept that some "users have had CCleaner act unusually on their system";

but I think this forum has also been visited by people with such problems which were eventually determined to be caused by their being fooled into downloading a CCleaner that never originated from Piriform, and sometimes they were additionally fooled into paying for the privilege.

 

From the beginning I have wondered if the problem might just be that some shortcuts had been lost,

hence Open Office "recent documents" would show nothing - but the documents would be there if he knew where to look.

That is a very small problem that is easily corrected,

but the lack of understanding communication shown so far causes me to fear that a simple instruction might be wrongly interpreted,

and a bootable computer become unbootable - and if he has no installation CD that is another expense.

 

I believe the safest and cheapest way for him to cure this problem is what he suggested in the first post, i.e.

"Is there any way to have someone come in and find it somewhere on the hard drive?"

I think most locations that have internet access will also have a local computer repair shop that will help for a fee.

This forum is free and probably has more skill and experience than many such repair shops,

BUT misunderstandings within this topic could result in drastic loss of data that may still be available.

 

The cost of the repair shop could be considered as insurance against loss of important files.

e.g. the repair shop man probably has Recuva or an equivalent on his own flash drive,

and he will understand that he must NOT download any file recovery utility to the drive with lost files,

and that he must not restore any recovered files to the drive that had lost files.

Without such understanding any lost files will be additionally mutilated.

 

Regards

Alan

[fireryone]

Allan this poster has a possible legitimate issue, all be it unlikely and has never affected us, but still its a users plea for help.

 

If you posts aren't flames or trolling it is certainly fear mongering

 

"you need to be much more accurate in the understanding of questions and the giving of answers,

or you may soon kill the operating system and have to re-install Windows."

 

We don't know the users full situation yet and they probably aren't PC gurus and have come here for help

Until an admin/mod condemns a user I think we should leave them be, and back off with the scare tactics!

[Alan_B]

Allan this poster has a possible legitimate issue, all be it unlikely and has never affected us, but still its a users plea for help.

 

If you posts aren't flames or trolling it is certainly fear mongering

 

 

 

We don't know the users full situation yet and they probably aren't PC gurus and have come here for help

Until an admin/mod condemns a user I think we should leave them be, and back off with the scare tactics!

 

fireryone

 

Your motto is "Lets Get Dangerous" - perhaps that is also your life style.

 

I have a different ethos, and generally have two or more disaster recovery plans in hand.

 

I think he should be scared - if he does the wrong thing he will do more damage.

 

As you yourself admit, "We don't know the users full situation yet".

How do you know that he is not on the verge of a big mistake ?

If he has downloaded any file recovery utility onto C:\ that action will destroy any deleted files that occupied "empty" space, and if he recovers a deleted file onto C:\ that action will overwrite more "empty" space in which were further deleted files.

 

I sincerely believe that if the poster wants to get a lot more experience of fixing a P.C. then he should accept any advice you (or others) may offer.

But if loss of "all e-mail, all of her contact files, family pictures and family contacts, business contacts of 25 years" would damage domestic bliss, his idea "to have someone come in and find it somewhere on the hard drive?" is definitely the safer way to go.

 

Alan