Hi all,

I recently switched my Dell Studio laptop on to find that all documents were missing from the machine. The computer appears to be blank, as if it were new.

I googled the issue and it suggested that I try a system restore, which I did. This did not work. Now all I can restore to is yesterday (20.8.14)?

Old programs seem to still be installed (Blender, AVG etc...) but none of my files or folders exist. I can still access "My Documents" ect, but they are empty and contain no files or folders that I have created.

The laptop has always run with an watermark in the corner of the screen saying "This copy of windows is not genuine" - It is genuine, but I've never gotten round to registering it, the previous owner still has the number required for this.

Any ideas on what this might be. My first assumption is some kind of virus - but I'm not too tech savvy with this sort of thing?

Thanks.

Why dont you just boot with an ubuntu USB and see if the files are there or not?

As whatever user you are, go to your C drive, open up the Users folder, and look for the user folder that you are looking for. It does sound like a corrupt user profile.

Firstly, thanks for all the advice - it's much appreciated.

Dragonsoulj - your suggestion worked. All of my original files are present in the Users folder that you described.

Could a virus cause the corruption or is it just a systemic glitch?

If you can, try to start backing up your files.

Warning: Backing up your files doesn't give you any more peace of mind. Infact, it makes you more paranoid, but it's probably a good idea anyway.