I moved shortcut for My Documents folder. Now many files are gone.

[jackedel]

Yesterday I moved the My Documents shortcut on my desktop. Today I clicked on that shortcut, and lmost all the Word and PDF files no longer show. I'm am using Window 7.
Have these files been deleted?

 

[kenrivers]

When you say you moved the "My Documents shortcut on my desktop" do you mean you moved the shortcut you had on the desktop to another location on the desktop or you moved the shortcut from Windows Explorer to your desktop?
To see if you can locate the missing files try this:
Click on Start
Click on Computer
Look to the right and look for and click on Documents (under Libraries)
Do you see the folders/files that you think are missing?
You can also do a search for one of the missing files to see if it is still there.

 

[jackedel]

When you say you moved the "My Documents shortcut on my desktop" do you mean you moved the shortcut you had on the desktop to another location on the desktop or you moved the shortcut from Windows Explorer to your desktop?
To see if you can locate the missing files try this:
Click on Start
Click on Computer
Look to the right and look for and click on Documents (under Libraries)
Do you see the folders/files that you think are missing?
You can also do a search for one of the missing files to see if it is still there.

Ken: Thank you for responding to my problem. I meant that I moved the shortcut I had on the desktop to another location on the desktop.
I did click on Start, Computer, and then Documents (under libraries). I did see a My Documents folder, and followed it's path. It eventually led me to the same shortcut that I describe below, and I got that same message as below. I have been tied up with some family situations for the past week, and have not revisited Tom's website. I have done a search for a particular file, after clicking on Start. It showed the file I searched for, but when I clicked on the various items in the path, it brought me to a Shortcut entitled "My Documents". When I clicked on that, I got following message: "The item that this shortcut refers to has been changed or moved, so this shortcut will no longer work properly." Then it asked me if I wanted to delete the shortcut - Yes or No. I chose "No".
This makes me think that the files in that were in the My Documents folder are "out there" on my hard drive, but I'm unable to figure out how to get to them. My son suggested I call a friend of his (who is quite knowledgeable about PC's and how they work. So that's what I will do - - and I will let you know the results.
Thanks again for your help. Jack

 

[jackedel]

Ken:

Sorry for the delay - - I have been preoccupied with some problem situations in my family. As I indicated on 1/25, I will get in touch with the person my son recommended, and I will let you know the results.

Jack

 

[jackedel]

Ken:

As you may have heard, we had a huge blizzard here in Connecticut, about 40 inches of snow in the city where I live. So, there has been a delay in my getting my "person" to come to my place and figure this out. Hopefully, I 'll have some good news to share soon!

Jack

 

[hedwar2011]

It really sounds like you have a bug on your computer (virus or malware). I mention this because simply moving the shortcut from one location to the other on the desktop does not remove the contents unless its moved to the Recycle Bin.

I would recommend running either MalwareBytes Anti-Malwarehttp://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free/http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free/ or Super Anti-Spywarehttp://www.superantispyware.com/http://www.superantispyware.com/ or even both.

 

[jackedel]

Hi Hedwar2011:

Thanks for the info - - I downloaded both MalwareBytes Anti-Malware and Super Anti-Spyware, then ran the "complete" versions of both. The MalwareBytes Anti-Malware came up with "No malicious items detected", while the Super Anti-Spyware detected over 150 Adware items, which I elected to remove. So that clears up those areas.

Thanks again, Jack

 

[drmary]

When you say you moved the "My Documents shortcut on my desktop" do you mean you moved the shortcut you had on the desktop to another location on the desktop or you moved the shortcut from Windows Explorer to your desktop?
To see if you can locate the missing files try this:
Click on Start
Click on Computer
Look to the right and look for and click on Documents (under Libraries)
Do you see the folders/files that you think are missing?
You can also do a search for one of the missing files to see if it is still there.

Ken: Thank you for responding to my problem. I meant that I moved the shortcut I had on the desktop to another location on the desktop.
I did click on Start, Computer, and then Documents (under libraries). I did see a My Documents folder, and followed it's path. It eventually led me to the same shortcut that I describe below, and I got that same message as below. I have been tied up with some family situations for the past week, and have not revisited Tom's website. I have done a search for a particular file, after clicking on Start. It showed the file I searched for, but when I clicked on the various items in the path, it brought me to a Shortcut entitled "My Documents". When I clicked on that, I got following message: "The item that this shortcut refers to has been changed or moved, so this shortcut will no longer work properly." Then it asked me if I wanted to delete the shortcut - Yes or No. I chose "No".
This makes me think that the files in that were in the My Documents folder are "out there" on my hard drive, but I'm unable to figure out how to get to them. My son suggested I call a friend of his (who is quite knowledgeable about PC's and how they work. So that's what I will do - - and I will let you know the results.
Thanks again for your help. Jack

 

[kenrivers]

This link gives instructions on how to restore My Documents to its original location: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18583-user-folders-restore-default-location.html