IT Queries: Computer problems answered

One of my kids has done a system recovery on the PC. We haven’t done a back up for some time. The last restore point is after the recovery. Is it possible to get info back from the hardrive?

This is one of the reasons we think system recovery disks are evil. It’s a cheap and nasty practice that causes problems like yours and we’d encourage consumers to avoid computers that don’t come with a proper operating system disk.

It is possible your data is still there. It depends on what the recovery disk did. Some will reformat the drive, while others will just overwrite the Windows and other critical folders but leave the data intact. Some give a choice of the two options.

If the drive has been reformatted, then there is little chance you’ll get the data back. However if only the Windows folder has been wiped then it’s quite likely the data is still there, just not visible.

In Windows XP, user data is saved in the C:\Documents and Settings folder and in Vista in the C:\users folder. In that folder you’ll find a number of sub-folders that contain the various user profiles and data.

Windows works hard to avoid overwriting these folders, for instance if Pete creates a new profile and Windows finds there’s already a Pete profile, it will name the new profile pete.000 to protect the data that might be in the pete folder.

To see if any might be the data you’ve lost, right click on the folder open Properties and look at the date the file was created or last modified. If either of these dates are before the recovery disk was run then you’ve probably found the profile.

Inside the profile you’ll find a Desktop, My Documents and other folders which will contain the users data.

It is possible to reset a stray profile so the computer looks the same as it did before the trouble, but this is something you would need to get a tech in to do.

Hi

After working on a document (University paper) for 8 hours that same document was saved without the final changes although it was saved at various stages along the way. All we have is the document opened at the starting point.

Our question is, is there a way to access the document at a point prior to the last save, the save icon was pressed to save the work to C: drive, and also e: Flash drive, but the search with the filter, ‘date modified ‘failed to locate the finished document in either place.

I have Windows XP.

It sounds like the document hasn’t saved to where you think it did. The first thing we’d suggest to search all your drives to see if it isn’t hiding in a different location.

Another possibility is the name is wrong, try searching for all files modified in that time. It might be under a different name or file type.

If you still can’t find it, Microsoft Word (which is what we’ll assume you’re using) saves the file you’re working on as a tmp file. Often, Word doesn’t clean these up so there’s a working copy of your document still on the system.

Often temp files are hidden, so in the Windows search panel choose the More Advanced Options heading and tick the Search hidden files and folders option and repeat your search on all files modified during that time.

Unfortunately in this case it does sound like you’ve done everything right. So if you can’t find it there might be a problem with your computer and we’d recommend getting a tech out to check it.

Hi,

Can you please tell me to name of the programme that you can buy/download that is used to return digital dictation that you have accidently deleted from your computer.

Julie

Hi Julie,

Losing any file is a serious pain. The best free tool we’ve come across is Restoration.

When you’ve lost a file, the most important thing is to stop using that computer. The more you use the computer, the more likely you are to overwrite the deleted file.

We recommend you download the program to another computer, then copy the program to a USB drive or CD (Restoration will actually fit on a floppy disk which you can use if you have spare disks and both machines have floppy drives).

When you run it, choose the drive (usually c: drive) where the file was lost from, type part of the lost file’s name (leave blank if you don’t remember what it was called) and click Search Deleted Files.

The search might take some time, several hours if you’ve left the file name blank and it’s a big drive. Be patient and let it run.

Once its finished and the list of found files appears, highlight the file you want and click the Restore by copying button. You’ll be asked to save the file somewhere, make sure you choose a place and name you’ll remember.

Losing data is always a big worry and this is why we always recommend having a backup drive and good backup software.

I’m using Windows XP Pro Service Pack 1. The system is often very slow changing from one page to another, especially on Ebay.

I can select a favourite search in MyEbay and the new page sits there blank white with an hourglass and no activity on the data in & out meter. Hit refresh and it comes up immediately for a second and then goes blank again. This has lost us a few good buys on Ebay cause it wouldn’t go to the next page quickly.

Progressively getting worse, used to be perfect. Now on 1500k/sec connection.

Ta Geoff

Hi Geoff, we assume you are using Internet Explorer. It’s possible the phishing filter is interfering with the site. We’ve discussed this previously where it’s caused problems and we’d suggest turning it off.

You may want to check you aren’t infected with spyware. One favourite trick of spyware writers is to redirect web browsers so it looks like they are coming from somewhere else and this is exactly the sort of problem they can create. Try the XCleaner online scan tool.

Other things that could be causing it are toolbars with various phishing and malware filters. The Google and Yahoo! toolbars are quite capable of this. You can either uninstall them or disable them.

I don’t seem to have any temporary internet files. When I go into disc cleanup no files are shown. I used to have many folders with these files in them.

I have windows XP.

Regards Caryl

Hi Caryl,

Given your web browser is working you almost certainly will have some temporary Internet files. It may be that you’re not using Internet Explorer, programs like Firefox, Opera and Safari save their temporary files to another location.

If you are using IE, then it might be that someone has set it to delete temporary files when you close it.

You can check all of this by going into the Internet Explorer and clicking Tools, options and Advanced. The setting to clear temporary files is under the Security heading.

I have Windows XP Professional with Windows Media Player version 11.0.5721.5230 and all the current updates. I am having trouble burning CDs…it may burn 2 out of 12 songs and then just says it can’t burn and finalises the CD so its wasted. It doesn’t do this all the time, just sometimes but I am wasting far too many CDs. I like making compilation CDs from my own collection and I am getting very frustrated. I have slowed the speed right down, tried different brands of CD. Is there another music program which would do this for me more consistently?

Burning CDs is a bit of a black art. There are a lot of variables and results can be unpredictable.

The first thing we do when confronted with a CD burning problem is to turn the burning speed down to the bare minimum.

In Windows Media Player 11 you can turn the burning speed down the following way, click the Tools menu, select Options then under the Burn tab change the burning speed to “slow”.

If this doesn’t work, we’d suggest getting another CD burning program such as Nero. You may find your computer has a copy of Nero Express or a similar program already on it as part of the package.

 I have a new computer running Vista Home with 512 ram. The slowness of the system is really getting to me, is upgrading RAM going to make things better, and if so, how much RAM should I go for?

Simply put, you can never have enough RAM, of course there are limitations on how much you can afford and exactly what will fit into the motherboard.

For Vista, we like to see a minimum of 1Gb and ideally 4. Given you already have 512Mb, we’d suggest putting in another 1 or 2Gb depending on how much your motherboard and budget can fit.

With memory upgrades there’s a billion different combinations of memory and motherboards out there, it’s one of the reasons our PC Rescue techs stopped carrying memory to jobs. The wrong memory can cause all manner of strange problems.

We’d recommend you go to the supplier of your computer or the local computer shop and get them to install the correct memory for your system.

I have been a McAfee user for a year, but my subscription has run out and when I tried to renew nothing happened, they took the money and I did not get renewed. They have repaid me the money , but I need to have virus protection, can you help me with my problem please.

Unfortunately McAfee and Symantec don’t make it easy for customers to renew their subscriptions and it’s one of the reasons why we recommend other products.

For antivirus, we’d recommend something like Kaspersky, F-Secure and AVG Professional. These are paid-for programs which give you support.

If you want to save money, there are free programs like AVG Free and Anti-Vir. Be aware that free software comes with no support. So if you hit problems you are on your own.

Another criticism we have of the bigger anti-virus programs is they have convoluted and unreliable removal programs. We’d strongly recommend going to the Add/Remove programs section of the Control Panel and removing anything with McAfee in its name.

I have a new Vista computer, how do I remove the Office 2007 trial program?

It’s a very good idea to remove the trial program before installing any other software as we’ve seen a few problems, particularly after installing another version of Office.

To remove it, click the Start button, go to Settings, click Control Panel and then select Programs.

Once you are in the Programs applet uninstall anything that refers to Office 2007.

Reboot the computer when you’re finished and proceed with installing your other software.

I’ve bought a new Vista machine, can I run my old Office XP software on it?

The short answer is yes. Office XP is listed as being compatible with Microsoft Vista.

There are a few provisos to this. We’ve found Office XP hates running as a Limited User unless you’ve run it first with the user being an Administrator, this is common with most versions of Office on Windows XP and Vista.

Instructions on setting up XP for a Limited User are here. The procedure is similar for Vista.

One thing we would strongly suggest before installing any software is to remove the Office 2007 trial if it has been included on your system. We’ve found a number of machines running terribly because it wasn’t removed before installing another version of Office.