Downloads gone, need help.

M

mpic92

New Member
I recently removed Compuserve which is an AOL type program from my computer. I used Compuserve for many years but then upgraded to DSL and no longer had a need for it. When I uninstalled the program off my computer, all of the things I had downloaded all went away with it since the downloads folder was part of Compuserve (downloads folder inside Compusevrew folder in Prgram Files).

I accessed my downloads from a shortcut folder on my desktop and when I went to remove Compuserve, the fact of my downloads also going never crossed my mind.

So now they are all gone and I'm wondering how I can possibly get them back. I had maany system restore points but I ran into an issue when doing that. I restored my computer to an earlier time and Compuserve came back as well as my downloads folder. However, there were no files in the downloads folder. All of the folders that used to be there came back but the things inside (mostly microsoft word/excel file) were gone. I find it bizarre that the folders all came back but theres no sign of the files.

Some of these download files are very important and I'm wondering what I possibly can do to try to get them back onto my computer.
 
Did you notice a significant change in your hard drive usage? If not, I bet your desktop icon was just a shortcut to a folder that is still somewhere on your hard drive, most likely in the Program Files>Compuserve folder, or something similar.
 
Thats exactly right. The downloads folder was inside the Compuserve folder which was in Program Files but that whole folder is gone now. Now that it's back, all the folders are there as I said but the actual files are gone.
 
If you use Windows XP (NTSF/HPFS Filesystem), use this:
http://www.download.com/Smart-NTFS-...ecovery/3000-2094_4-10541749.html?tag=lst-0-5

For older Windows versions (FAT32 Filesystem), use this:
http://www.download.com/Smart-Fat-Recovery/3000-2094_4-10552882.html?tag=lst-0-7

These should help you recover deleted files IF you haven't put new data on your disk since this happened. (The comp's hard dive just deletes the path to the file, so it can be overwritten. It's then going to be placed in the "line" for files to be overwritten)
 
Well it recovered most of the files... the only issue is I can't read any of them. When I open them in Microsoft Word/Open Office, the thing pops up where it asks for some kind of File conversion and when I open the files, they are all in that weird code kind of form that looks like a bunch of squares and other weird figures. Any ideas?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top