Post by thread:[OT]: Win95 deleting files ?

After patiently spending time I didn't have setting up my nephew's PC, it is now behaving very oddly. After a few days anything with a Desktop shortcut has been deleted (completely - not to the Recycle Bin) and free HDD space seems to fluctuate every time you look. He's a little vague about the timeline (in fact he's a little vague full stop but he's family and you accept that) but it's definitely happened. One of the first things I tried was msconfig but that's gone too, although Win95B seems to work. Autoexc.bat and Config.bat look OK. No "delete programs with shortcuts" line). It appears to me like a virus (although he's got no web access it could have come in a program or game) but I've scanned with an up-to-date AVS and found nowt. A full media scan reports nothing funny about the drive. So - 1) is it possible for a virus to act in this way and then delete itself 2) has anyone ever seen this happen on a Win95 machine ? I certainly haven't and it's got me stumped for sure Tomorrow, taking more time I haven't got, sigh, I'll re-format and start again, but if anyone's got suggestions for somewhere to look for a possible problem before that.......... -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email spam_OUTlistservTakeThisOuTmitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

Disappearing Icons could be due to something playing with registry. Check to see if MS Power Tools have been loaded on - these are basically the short cut method instead of manual registry hacking. Icons can be restored using this tool Windows fluctuating in drive space reporting - sounds more major . Is the harddrive being reported in BIOS correctly, I take it that it is not free space that is the problem. Have you got the file view setting to include system files and hidden files - . Now 95 is dimming in my brain - I've got the resource book, so I could delve deeper, but for now I can't recall if 95 has System File Checker - or whether that appeared in 98. However you'll soon find out, you could try typing in the run box off of the start menu SFC and see what happens, if it works you'll need to have the Windows CD in the drive. It is also available via a program off the system tools menu, I just forget which, but if it is with 95, you have to choose it from the tools menu from this other program. Re-Loading windows over the top of itself will almost certainly fail to solve the problem. Programs can be re-installed using the Win95 extract utility - the problem is you have to know which cabinet files the required file lives in. There is a MS newsgroup for these problems and a number of Microsoft whatchamacallits lurk there. Failing that I could look up the Tome for you. Colin -- cdb, .....bodgy1KILLspam@spam@optusnet.com.au on 15/01/2003 I have always been a few Dendrites short of an Axon and believe me it shows. Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until they speak! -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email listservKILLspammitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

> Disappearing Icons could be due to something playing with registry. > > Check to see if MS Power Tools have been loaded on - these are > basically the short cut method instead of manual registry hacking. > Icons can be restored using this tool It's not just the icons Colin - the actual targets and folders have been deleted too. Completely. And now I've double-checked, even programs in the Programs folder have gone. For example, he had just two games - Red Alert and Quake - now both gone. RA did not have a Desktop shortcut but Quake did. The Program folder has not been cleaned out though, there are still some sub- folders left. I'll check if there are any remnants anywhere, for example in the registry, but so far it looks as cleaned out as if you'd done it manually (which I know he hasn't). Paint Shop Pro has lost its icon but the program itself is still there in a folder, so whatever's going on doesn't seem consistent I'll have to check your other suggestions in the morning, as well as check all the floppies and CDs he got from his friends for viruses or anything that looks dodgy -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email .....listservKILLspam.....mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

It looks like a corrupt FAT, which could degenerate itself. If that's the case, it's only a miracle the OS itself is still alive. Second guess would be a harddisk failure, but that's an even longer stretch. Claudio -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- It's not just the icons Colin - the actual targets and folders have been deleted too. Completely. And now I've double-checked, even programs in the Programs folder have gone. -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email EraseMElistservspam_OUTTakeThisOuTmitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

On Thu, 16 Jan 2003 01:00:28 +1300, Jinx wrote: he Program folder has not been cleaned out though, there are still some sub- folders left. I'll check if there are any remnants anywhere, for example in the registry, but so far it looks as cleaned out as if you'd done it manually (which I know he hasn't). Paint Shop Pro has lost its icon but the program itself is still there in a folder, so whatever's going on doesn't seem consistent If you feel happy looking in registry, START button\RUN\REGEDIT On the left hand pane goto HKEY LOCALUSER zap down to SOFTWARE and just see if the entries for the program still exist. Also have a look in RUNONCE and RUN under HKEYLOCALMACHINE RUNONCE should have nothing in it and RUN should have the programs that run in the background such as A/V etc. This really does sound as though a rogue program of some kind has got itself into the system. It is unlikely as it is not crashing at the moment, for there to be a memory problem, but check to see how much of free system resources are being reported. Anything below 50% is suspicious and anything less than 35% it's a wonder Windows is still running. If you have a DOS boot disk, boot into DOS and physically see if these programs are still there. Remember it will be C:\Progra~f or 1 to manoeuvre to program files. Which reminds me a neat trick I once played on my tutor was to run a batch file that automatically made all files both hidden and system. He spent ages trying to work out why Win3.11 wouldn't boot and why no commands worked at all at the DOS prompt. Needless to say when I was dropped in it by some scaredy cat, the tutor was not amused. Colin -- cdb, bodgy1spam_OUToptusnet.com.au on 1/15/2003 I have always been a few Dendrites short of an Axon and believe me it shows. Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until they speak! -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email @spam@listservKILLspammitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

On Wed, 15 Jan 2003 13:05:22 +0100, Claudio Tagliola wrote: t looks like a corrupt FAT, which could degenerate itself. If that's the case, it's only a miracle the OS itself is still alive. Second guess would be a harddisk failure, but that's an even longer stretch. Claudio, Well yes it could, but I would have expected booting problems and BOD's as windows tried to load programs if the FAT or its copy were mush. Though this could also happen if the BIOS has changed the method it uses to read the HDrives CHS or LBA info. Colin -- cdb, KILLspambodgy1KILLspamoptusnet.com.au on 1/15/2003 I have always been a few Dendrites short of an Axon and believe me it shows. Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until they speak! -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email RemoveMElistservTakeThisOuTmitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

Jinx, Are you sure that it's not just "finger trouble" with you nephew experimenting with the delete function? I know that when I was first exposed to PCs some important files managed to go missing when I attempted to generate some spare disk space. I learnt a lot about installing software in a big hurry! The same thing "happened" to my brother in law. Richard P After patiently spending time I didn't have setting up my nephew's PC, it is now behaving very oddly. After a few days anything with a Desktop shortcut has been deleted snip.......... -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email spamBeGonelistservspamBeGonemitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

> Are you sure that it's not just "finger trouble" with your nephew > experimenting with the delete function? That's in the back of my mind, because this is too strange. IF it's sabotage or some sibling squabble I doubt if it's my nephew himself as he's pretty peed off that stuff has gone, maybe someone else is doing it. But trust me, I don't believe there's anyone in my brother's family capable of such a thorough delete job. I can find absolutely no trace of the missing s/w on the computer. Reformat it is............bugger, another day lost -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email TakeThisOuTlistservEraseMEspam_OUTmitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

What about making a large percentage of the files write protected? This should prevent deletion most of the time and may bring up a warning message when a deletion is attempted - however it is initiated. Richard P > Are you sure that it's not just "finger trouble" with your nephew > experimenting with the delete function? That's in the back of my mind, because this is too strange. IF it's sabotage or some sibling squabble I doubt if it's my nephew himself as he's pretty peed off that stuff has gone, maybe someone else is doing it. But trust me, I don't believe there's anyone in my brother's family capable of such a thorough delete job. I can find absolutely no trace of the missing s/w on the computer. Reformat it is............bugger, another day lost -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email RemoveMElistservTakeThisOuTmitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email listservEraseME.....mitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

1. Do "shutdown" before power off. 2. Log in as yourself, don't hit 'Esc' just because you can get around the login that way. Better yet, don't enable separate personalities. 3. How about something better than shortcuts on the desktop? Put 'em on Start/Programs, perhaps 4. Be sure nephew doesn't own a cat... Barry -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email EraseMElistservmitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body