Topic: Somehow managed to "break" my computer?

[Red Beret]

Because Canon printer/scanners are stupid, they scan to some obscure folder that I can never find.  in searing for them I thought there might have been a hidden folder (AppData) in my user profile.  I clicked hide/unhide, but I guess the folders were all unhidden, as now they are hidden.  I checked it again, and then EVERYTHING vanished.

All shortcuts on my desktop have disappeared; all user profiles are gone.  Whenever I try to select control panel or system explore from the windows key, nothing initiates. I can't even access system restore.

Have I just managed to screw my entire laptop, just because I was searching for an image file, and how do I get things back?

Help needed, as I'm starting to panic.

[naYoRHa2b]

Have you tried booting into safe mode and restoring to an earlier point?

[Red Beret]

Have you tried booting into safe mode and restoring to an earlier point?

Well I couldn't access system restore from regular W10, and I'm not even sure how to access safe mode in W10.  Fortunately I was able to regain the directories by right clicking the Windows Folder and go for the unhidden option.  This reveals the user profiles again and I was able to go through each one individually to remove the hidden as a default.

Everything seems to be working again now, which is an effing relief.

The whole desktop has been odd for months.  It nullified my games' shortcuts, leaving them blank, and my Canon Manual.  I don't even know if the image software for the printer is still on the computer, although I can still scan and print from it. In any case, I'm breathing a bit easier now!!

[naYoRHa2b]

Well that's something!

Here's a few ways to boot into safe mode if you ever need to https://www.techradar.com/how-to/how-to-start-windows-10-in-safe-mode

Also might be worth backing everything up and doing a clean install if things haven't been right for a while.

You can also use the system file checker, if any files are corrupted or damaged this will check and replace them
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-system-file-checker-in-windows-10-365e0031-36b1-6031-f804-8fd86e0ef4ca

[Andy @ Allerton!]

Because Canon printer/scanners are stupid, they scan to some obscure folder that I can never find.  in searing for them I thought there might have been a hidden folder (AppData) in my user profile.  I clicked hide/unhide, but I guess the folders were all unhidden, as now they are hidden.  I checked it again, and then EVERYTHING vanished.

All shortcuts on my desktop have disappeared; all user profiles are gone.  Whenever I try to select control panel or system explore from the windows key, nothing initiates. I can't even access system restore.

Have I just managed to screw my entire laptop, just because I was searching for an image file, and how do I get things back?

Help needed, as I'm starting to panic.

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

[Red Beret]

Well that's something!

Here's a few ways to boot into safe mode if you ever need to https://www.techradar.com/how-to/how-to-start-windows-10-in-safe-mode

Also might be worth backing everything up and doing a clean install if things haven't been right for a while.

You can also use the system file checker, if any files are corrupted or damaged this will check and replace them
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/using-system-file-checker-in-windows-10-365e0031-36b1-6031-f804-8fd86e0ef4ca

Cheers for the links! Fortunately everything is on the drive and accessible. I've never really bothered with backups, especially stuff like the cloud, but maybe I should look into it.

[Snail]

Put it in rice.

[afc tukrish]

Put it in rice.

Does that remove all the porn?

[Pheeny]

Do you have any bonjela in the house...
 

[Red Beret]

Does that remove all the porn?

I don't keep porn on my computer. But if I ever get hit by a car it will be a toss up over whether I dial 999 or hit factory reset on my phone.

[afc tukrish]

I don't keep porn on my computer. But if I ever get hit by a car it will be a toss up over whether I dial 999 or hit factory reset on my phone.