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The mysterious case of the unidentified missing files...
TetraNitroCubane
Not Angry...Just VERY Disappointed...Registered User regular
Not Angry...Just VERY Disappointed...Registered User regular
Before I begin, I'll just qualify by saying that I've noticed nothing 'wrong' with my computer lately. I do a weekly scan with Spybot, I defragment regularly, I try to keep the OS patched up to date, and I have a weekly virus scan that runs every night on Fridays.
Usually when I get home after Friday night, I check in on the scanner logs to make sure everything is okay. Over the last month, I've noticed something peculiar: My total file count has been steadily decreasing. The first time I noticed this, there were about 150 files missing and I hadn't uninstalled anything that week. No biggie, right? Probably just cache files. The next week it was 500 files. Fast forward to this evening, when I return home to find the total file count ten thousand files short of where it had been the previous week. I haven't deleted anything. I haven't uninstalled anything. I haven't run any maintenance programs, or purged my temp files folder. I haven't even purged my browser cache! But now I have ten thousand fewer files on my computer?
The thing is, I don't know what files were removed. All of the files I can think to care about (at the immediate moment) seem to be intact and in place where I would expect. Old games I haven't played in months still seem to work. Nothing seems wrong, but that's a hell of a lot of files to just vanish without a request.
Is that kind of file turnover regular? I'm running XP SP3 at this point, and I admit that I don't know to what extent swap files constitute behaviour the likes of which I might be observing. I'm not sure what's going on, but if this is abnormal I'd like to head it off before something actually valuable eats it next (Needless to say I'm backing up as soon as I can).
Thanks for any help.
Usually when I get home after Friday night, I check in on the scanner logs to make sure everything is okay. Over the last month, I've noticed something peculiar: My total file count has been steadily decreasing. The first time I noticed this, there were about 150 files missing and I hadn't uninstalled anything that week. No biggie, right? Probably just cache files. The next week it was 500 files. Fast forward to this evening, when I return home to find the total file count ten thousand files short of where it had been the previous week. I haven't deleted anything. I haven't uninstalled anything. I haven't run any maintenance programs, or purged my temp files folder. I haven't even purged my browser cache! But now I have ten thousand fewer files on my computer?
The thing is, I don't know what files were removed. All of the files I can think to care about (at the immediate moment) seem to be intact and in place where I would expect. Old games I haven't played in months still seem to work. Nothing seems wrong, but that's a hell of a lot of files to just vanish without a request.
Is that kind of file turnover regular? I'm running XP SP3 at this point, and I admit that I don't know to what extent swap files constitute behaviour the likes of which I might be observing. I'm not sure what's going on, but if this is abnormal I'd like to head it off before something actually valuable eats it next (Needless to say I'm backing up as soon as I can).
Thanks for any help.
TetraNitroCubane on
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