Late Sunday night I saw a message in my “Notifications” that my Windows 11 needed an update, in that the “Security” was old or some damn thing.
I’d missed it because I’d ported a whole bunch of files onto my new laptop from the old, and over the past week or so I’ve been updating many, many files — deleting old ones, refreshing others, downloading newer iterations, you know the drill. For ease of access, I’d stored most of the files on my Desktop
So I clicked on the “UPDATE” button, and seeing as the thing as going to take ages to complete the task, I went to bed.
When I logged on this morning, my Desktop was completely empty except for the Recycle bin, and I cannot find those files anywhere.
RCOB
All that work… vanished into the ether.
I actually don’t know what to do now.
Try to imagine that you have done a whole lot of research (back in the day before computers), and all your stuff is stored on bits of paper, some filed away, some properly typed out and filed properly — you know, the way we used to do stuff.
Then some cleaning service offers to tidy up your room, and when you come back the next day, all the stuff you’d not yet filed away has been shredded.
I’m going to take a day or two to process what’s happened, and maybe try to re-create some of the work. But if this is going to happen each time I subject myself to a Win11 upgrade, I’m just not going to do it, ever again.
I am so angry I could bite the head off a puppy.
Oh, and by the way: OneDrive was re-installed.
Also, posting will be light for a couple of days. Sorry, but that’s where I am right now.
windows 10 & 11 has a system called Restore Point that allows you to reset the system to a point it was before the you hit that “Update Button”. Enter Restore Point in the search window on the Bar and follow the instructions. It works like apples Time Machine.
NEVER click on some random button that asks you to “Update” your system. Either allow the automatic update to take place over night or go into settings and ask the system to check for the latest Update.
Tried that. The files still didn’t reappear.
If the files were on One Drive then restore point won’t recover them since OneDrive is not actually on the Local System it’s “cloud Based”. I’m not up to speed one one drive But I suspect that there is a separate procedure to recover “One Drive” files. I’ve just never had a need to research it.
Co pilot has the following answer;
To recover deleted files from OneDrive, you need to:
Go to the OneDrive website, and sign in with either your Microsoft account or your work or school account.
In the navigation pane, select Recycle bin.
Select the files or folders you want to restore by pointing to each item and clicking the circle check box that appears, and then click Restore.
The selected files will be restored to their original location.
Gee, that sounds like the computer hell I went through. I got so frustrated, trying to recover things and files that should never have been lost, or that should have been safe up in the cloud. I ended up buying a new computer and starting over. Dumping my coffee all over everything and kicking my boot through the magic box probably didn’t help, either.
Later, in my paranoia, this thought came to me. What is all this is a plot by Microswish to force people to change over to One Drive, even if we don’t want to? Think about it. Oh, no, you cranky old man. They’d NEVER do that!
Never? Do you REALLY think that?
I HATE Google and am selective in exactly what I put up there, but GMAIL comes with 15 GB of cloud storage free (you can buy more).
I know Google isn’t really “free” (Google sells the shit out of all of our data).
At any rate, my backup plan (not saying it is right or wrong, just what I do)
– I have a few external hard drives with data I backup to them
– Google Drive for some stuff
– On my cell phone I have pictures I mark as favorites, drivers license, carry permit, registration for vehicle, insurance etc.
Somewhere I have a copy of what I need as I have multiples of everything. 2 is 1 and 1 is none.
My rule is “Documents, etc on three drives on two machines, NO documents, etc. on the system drive ever.”
A backup/synchronization program like FreeFile Synch is your friend.
I tried Windows 10 3 separate times and every time one of Windows mandatory updates broke my machines.
You won’t have these problems with Linux. I have two Windows 7 machines remaining, and only because I will Ay Gad get my moneys’s worth out of Office 2013.
Linux and Android OS (Chromebook, Chomebox and Chrome flex os) are good but require some tinkering from time to time
Windows 11 is alright. Nothing special. Microsoft makes things that work but not always well
I use a Mac. Got the Mini. M1 mini right now. Works great. Never had a blue screen. Never crashed. Updates work flawlessly.
I use my own keyboard mouse and monitor (Samsung monitor, Logitech keyboard and mouse). This is my 2nd Mac mini. This one is 3 years old previous one was 7 years old was slow but still working
This M1 is fast as hell. Now they have M4 available.
Mac for me. And they don’t cost much more than shitty pc’s
For work use windows.
For home. Apple all the way.
I haven’t had that much go wrong with windows 11. Course my box had 10 and then went to 11. Still would be frustrating to say the least. My problems of late seem to be made by Apple but that is left brain trying to make sense of farther left brained minds. Hopefully the old box is still working. I have taken the drive out of an old box and used an enclosure to make a USB drive. That makes it easier to get stuff from. Or at least that is my story and I’m sticking to that. Got the device from Best Buy.
Try this
easeus
www EASE US DOT COM
You can download and scan for free, (Leave it going overnight it can take HOURS to scan, i’ve had these scans take 8 to 12 hours).
Any file not totally overwritten will show up.
If the free scan finds stuff you want, you can purchase a license and then recover the files.
(Yes, I know that installing this program could overwrite SOME files with the space this app takes up, but it shouldn’t overwrite anywhere near all of them.)
Basically, when you delete something, it is NOT really deleted, there is a space still there with data until it is overwritten again.
And I usually will NOT do IT work out of work hours, but for the BEST blog on the web, let me know. IF you want help, no charge. ONLY for Mr du Toit. NO ONE ELSE.
Also, worth a QUICK check to see if the files MIGHT be on Onedrive.
Go to the web version –
H Tee Tee PEE eS : / / onedrive DOT live DOT com / login
Login and then check there. See if the files might be there. Worth the 3 min to login and check. Might NOT be but what the hell, worth a try.
Your site wont let me post web links so I had to get creative in posting a link.
As I noted in a previous post, Microsoft reinstalls & reenables OneDrive with its’ monthly security patches. It then copies your files to the Microsoft OneDrive cloud, and replaces the files with URL pointers to the cloud. They will then use your data for AI training and customer lead sales (like a supermarket card). The intent is to force you to use the Microsoft OneDrive cloud, with Microsoft analyzing every bit of your data.
[My guess was they saw Amazon, Google & supermarkets, and asked, why not us?]
I’m guessing if you sign up for a Microsoft account connected to your laptop and then log in, the OneDrive activation from your Microsoft account might show your files there and then the links on your desktop; and you can the copy them back to your local storage. It’s worth a shot.
More and more I’m convinced that staying away from Win11 is a proper course of action.
I (nightly) automatically backup everything to an external drive (they are relatively cheap). In case of fire/earthquake/whatever I can just grab the external and have everything in an easy to carry place.
Note: I prefer desktop computers (easier to upgrade – I’m still using the one I bought in 1993, though it has had different motherboards, cases, drives, video cards, etc – though I did have to install Win7 fresh as I waited too long to upgrade XP) than a laptop. I’m retired so don’t need a computer to drag around with me.
Remember, backups are your friend.
I’m not as regimented as you but I too move almost all files to an external drive. That reminds me, I need to do that today as my C drive has accumulated a lot of stuff lately.
Your ’93 computer sounds like Lincoln’s axe– all original, except the head has been replaced 3 times and the handle 5 times.
I only use OneDrive to access select files while I’m out and about (ie: accessing recipes while I’m out shopping for groceries). Local backup I use a NAS. Off-site backup I use backblaze (unlimited for $99/yr).
Sounds to me like it may have created a new desktop for you.
Go to file explorer, ->this PC – > local disk c: . Under users you should only have one user – you. There should be default and public. All with have ‘desktop’. Look there first. There are two desktops – yours, and onedrives. they should be the same.
Second is to search onedrive. All you have to do is remember one filename you had.
I can’t stand how MS thinks it needs to do stuff for you. It takes forever to find each little pocket where they have settings to stop something you didn’t know it was going to do and didn’t want.
Remember when computers were designed for those that knew what they were doing? and not scatter brained gen-Z that needs it’s life managed?
“More and more I’m convinced that staying away from Win11 is a proper course of action.”
Nope. More and more I’m convinced that staying away from Microsoft is a proper course of action. I made that decision about 1995, chose OS/2, moved to linux about 2002. I have only ever lost files since then *once*. A bare metal install of Fedora 6(??) unexpectedly formatted the /var partition. Pre-install backup saved the day. Since then everything supposedly permanent on /var is a link to somewhere else.
Does microsoft even *have* links yet?
Kim, I know you don’t want to play with linux, but after some learning, you *will* be much happier. You are in control, not MS.
PS. I hope my old laptop went to a good home. I fully understand why you did not want to face learning about linux. Sometimes, the prospect of the extent of the change is overwhelming. (Cf. the DNC!).
Just a couple of thoughts,
First, I started tinkering ( earning a living ! ) with these infernal things in 1969.
Over 40+ years with them you learn a few things.
First, in this case, this is why we do backups. Yes they are a pain but they can and will save your sanity, to say nothing of untold hours trying to rebuild what you already had.
There are some rules for backups –
Do them yourself ! Do them on media ( disk drive, tape, yellow legal pad, whatever ) that YOU CONTROL. When it comes to ‘clouds’,
one drive etc – no thanks. Ask yourself this – where is the cloud, physically ?
Where is your data ? Who has access to your data ? And above all, HOW do you know ? Oh, ‘they’ told you your stuff is secure and encrypted and not accessible by anyone else’. Fine, if you have that much faith, I don’t and I still have that bridge for sale !!
When you do your backup(s), DO NOT have the computer connected to the internet ! And if you have your computers linked together in your own little LAN, disconnect them, at least while you’re doing backups. Disconnect them PHYSICALLY, sever the connections. NO I do NOT trust anyone and I learned a long time ago that NOTHING is secure on computers.
I think we’re headed to machines ( PC’s ) that have almost no storage on them at all and all of everyone’s data will be stored on ‘clouds’ or ‘One Drives’ that are so generously provided by ‘suppliers’ in return for allowing your data to be used for mining or sales or ??. Sounds great doesn’t it. And it might be great until,
oh, let’s see, YOUR data get corrupted and mixed and confused with someone else’s data ( the scenarios are endless ) and you have to try to recover your data or have to prove that you ARE NOT a career felon, again, the scenarios are endless.
If I continue my BP will be off the scale so, bye for now and good luck.
YMMV
Windows XP Service Pack 2 was a huge pain in the ass when I updated XP, and I finally learned my lesson when yet another update of Windows Explorer came along and seemed to be all about plugging security vulnerabilities. At that time I looked at Firefox and saw that the entire Firefox download was 1/3 the size of the Explorer update. Goodbye Explorer! Now Firefox is looking pretty bloated and asking me to update it too often, making me look at Brave as a new browser. We’ll see.
Since then I’ve avoided ANY Windows updates and gotten along fine, updating only when I’ve updated computers. I’ve looked at the various flavors of Linux, and just might go that way when I get off my old duff and build a computer of my own.
Oh shit! I ready this this morning, and just reread it at lunch. Everyone is assuming this is a Microsoft 11 problem. It may have not been Microsoft at all.
Nobody has brought up the possibility this may have been a scam. Could it be? I’m wondering about the possibility of this being malicious. Could it be?
I don’t know that it is, but generally I don’t get update notices from Microsoft. I have to go looking for updates. My iPhone? Yes, pushes updates all the time. But I don’t ever remember an update being pushed to me by Microsoft.
Not saying they don’t do it, and I do run my Dell update program about monthly, but is it normal for Microsoft to reach out like this to announce a “Security” issue? Anyone know?
As a PSA, if y’all aren’t aware yet, Windows 10 End Of Life (i.e. M$ won’t support it anymore ) is 14 October of this year. So that means you’ve got just over 230 days to sort out some alternate solution before your computer becomes increasingly susceptible to zero-day attacks, as “ain’t nobody got time for” patching outdated operating system software. Found that out from work, as my current work laptop is due for a life-cycle upgrade, and they’re pushing the Win11 upgrade out at nearly (but not exactly) the same time this summer. While I’m supposed to be traveling. Yeah, I’ll jump on the ‘bite that bullet early’ bandwagon so I can do both ‘upgrades’ simultaneously BEFORE I’m out of office for 2-1/2 weeks.
Seriously looking at Macbook Pros. Not that Apple is really any better, they’re just more consistent in their application. Plus the hardware / OS integration being what it is, I’ll be able to push laptop upgrades out to the 10-year timeframe instead of every 4-5.
Apple is way better
Fuck the Apple laptops though. The screens are super delicate. Break easy
On the go almost anything mobile I can do on my iPhone. Works fantastic
For home. Mac mini. I use a Logitech mouse and keyboard. And a Samsung monitor.
Apple blows Microsoft out of the water. Reliability and usability is way better than win blows for home use. It’s not even close.