Files keep deleting

[razorpax]

So my friends brother just told me about a problem with his pc

Apparently every time he shuts it down it wipes every file and program he installed

For instance when you log into your email and you have it set to remember you or stuff like that for auto fill it just goes poof on restart.

My first guess was a virus or even the hard drive malfunction but apparently it’s been scanned and they even had Microsoft (I actually freaked a bit when they told me this because scammers) use remote access to try and fix it.

What do you folks think the problem is and short of reformatting or replacing the HDD what is the solution?




This is just for a 13 year old honestly not asked beyond the fact I don’t want my friend going outta pocket for the brat

[Stormspark]

Microsoft does not use remote access to "fix" things, ever, with one possible exception (if you are a large company paying them a LOT of money for a support contract - they certainly aren't going to do that for an average home user). My bet is virus installed by the "support" people. Most virus scanners are also worthless. Windows Defender is worthless. The only one I've ever used that I trust is Malwarebytes, although even it is only 60-80% detection rate (that's about as high as it gets). Honestly I would completely wipe, reformat, and reinstall.

[Krothar]

Its actually deleting all files or just not remembering passwords etc. Quite a big difference.

My first thought is that its reverting to an old system state but you'd assume they would get some kind of notification if it was doing that.

Honestly it probably is some kind of virus and the "Remote Access" was probably exactly what you think it is. If at any point they're asked to pay money to fix it, please advise them against it.

[Temp name]

Microsoft doesn't remote into your computer. Wipe the whole thing and tell him not to let people remote into his system again

[chazus]

Humor me: Create a notepad file (or anything) on the desktop. Right click, properties, and see where the location of the file is. Is the file located in "C:\users\TEMP\Desktop\FileYouJustMade"?

[Blackmist]

Microsoft does not use remote access to "fix" things, ever, with one possible exception (if you are a large company paying them a LOT of money for a support contract - they certainly aren't going to do that for an average home user).

Well that's not actually true. If you have a licensing problem (as I had when upgrading a PC), they will indeed remote into your PC to fix it.

They won't fix "viruses" though. God alone knows what's up with OPs PC. Wiping all your stuff every time you shutdown doesn't sound like something a scammer would do though. They're more likely to steal all your passwords and shit from your browser, credit card details etc. Sounds like Windows repair is running automatically and deleting everything.

[Chaoslux]

Check to make sure your friend didn't get stuck with a Temporary User Profile: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...dows-10-a.html

Temporary profiles are very useful for public or shared computers in libraries, schools, etc. Any files created by a temporary user will be deleted after you reboot your computer. If your user profile is corrupted, Windows might fail to log in to your user account and will defaults to logging to a temporary profile instead.

[razorpax]

Thanks for the help I’m going to do these things in person to see if they are just dumb

The remote access thing never sounded right and that kid is dumb enough to get a virus or to go on a temp profile

[javierdsv]

Microsoft does not use remote access to "fix" things

As someone said above, you're wrong. I worked for Microsoft some time ago (an outsourcing company running an account for Microsoft support through their official site). And half of our job included offering remote access for hard to deal problems or elder people not knowing what to do.

The solution for this kind fo problem would be a virus scan, removal of temporary files, updating Windows, checking the task manager for unusual programs running in the background, performing a clean start through msconfig while disabling non-default services on services.msc, and if nothing works, a Windows Refresh/Reset after suggesting to backup important files.

OP, those are my suggestions ↑.

[Yunru]

Probaly the best solution i can think of is to check every process on pc and see information on internet for them. Lots of viruses hide under same name as system process and you can check the file location. If its not in windows map, its 100% a virus.

[Gouca]

Virtual machine?

[moviesapk]

Thank you for some other informative blog. Where else could I get that type of information written in such an ideal means? I have a mission that I’m just now working on, and I have been at the lookout for such information.

[StayTuned]

seriously, format every machine in the household and change all passwords to every online portal the family frequents, especially banking.

Brat just let some Indian remote access scammer on his network.

[chazus]

seriously, format every machine in the household and change all passwords to every online portal the family frequents, especially banking.

Brat just let some Indian remote access scammer on his network.

Yeah don't do this. Find out what the actual problem is before going nuclear.

Besides, 9 out of 10 scammers aren't looking for that stuff.

[svenmk]

@OP
Can you check if there is an icon of a polar bear's head in the system tray?
https://imgur.com/a/fOTBNAF

[kranur]

Is Deep Freeze or something similar installed?

[StayTuned]

Yeah don't do this. Find out what the actual problem is before going nuclear.

Besides, 9 out of 10 scammers aren't looking for that stuff.

He should just format his PC. If the problem shows on even just one more PC in the household, I'd actually consider going nuclear, as you describe it.

There is no point in finding out what the actual problem is, when the ramifications for a quick format nowadays are that you have to reinstall some steam games. Pictures, etc. all that kind of stuff is mostly on the cloud anyway.

The formatting process + installations are done in half a day tops. Good luck finding out what the issue is here on a 13 years old's PC in that time frame. Might as well check the browser history to get some nightmares while you're on it. Should give you enough hints as to where his problems might be coming from.

[chazus]

He should just format his PC. If the problem shows on even just one more PC in the household, I'd actually consider going nuclear, as you describe it.

Except there's no indication that is the case. That's like seeing you have a flat tire and thinking "Someone is slitting everyone's tires!" without... checking a single other car.

There is no point in finding out what the actual problem is, when the ramifications for a quick format nowadays are that you have to reinstall some steam games. Pictures, etc. all that kind of stuff is mostly on the cloud anyway.

There's plenty point, because the issue could be easily fixed in a handful of minutes (if the OP responds with some info)

Good luck finding out what the issue is here on a 13 years old's PC in that time frame. Might as well check the browser history to get some nightmares while you're on it. Should give you enough hints as to where his problems might be coming from.

Again, it might be super simple. If it's a temp profile thing, it takes 45 seconds to fix, and not have to do all that junk. Answers are better than going 'hgbrblrblgrg' and reformatting at a moments twitch.

Sure, if you spend several days diagnosing it, that might not be worth it.

Then again, given its been a week OP may have already solved it, or reformatted.

[Kagthul]

Is Deep Freeze or something similar installed?

This.

This sounds like exactly what the problem is.

There's a way to do it within Windows itself, but i dont recall how at the moment, but we had to do it when i worked with my friend who provided tournament hardware.

It resets to the frozen state every time you restart.

It was the only way to prevent event goers from installing random shit on every machine.

[Levogames]

So my friends brother just told me about a problem with his pc

Apparently every time he shuts it down it wipes every file and program he installed

For instance when you log into your email and you have it set to remember you or stuff like that for auto fill it just goes poof on restart.

My first guess was a virus or even the hard drive malfunction but apparently it’s been scanned and they even had Microsoft (I actually freaked a bit when they told me this because scammers) use remote access to try and fix it.

What do you folks think the problem is and short of reformatting or replacing the HDD what is the solution?




This is just for a 13 year old honestly not asked beyond the fact I don’t want my friend going outta pocket for the brat

You have to create a different type of user I mean, your user is being treated like if you were on the public school's pc. Just have a user with all privileges