Help!

I am usually very good with organizing my files. At work I have Windows
XP and I have no problem with that, but at home I have Windows Vista and
it is driving me crazy! For one, I have like 2 or 3 document and
desktop folder, don't know why, and I tried to combine them into only
one. When I did, they were still there and also where I moved them.
Also when I deleted stuff that I thought I didn't use, bad idea, most of
my desktop items got deleted, all of my pictures got deleted from my
pics folder, and all my music from my itunes got deleted (over 1,000
songs). I had already emptied my recycling bin, and I tried to
restore the computer to a earlier date and it did no good. I am really
scared to even try to move things around on my computer and it shouldn't
be like that! I should be able to organize my files without worrying
about losing information or my stuff. I did, however, do a search and
found all my pics and music, but don't know how to put them back where
they are supposed to be. Please help me


--
tracy

Hi, tracy ... one thing about System Restore ... I am not an expert, but I
think System Restore covers only operating system files. I am not even sure
that it includes program files. But I am almost positive that it does not
include your personal data files.

All your personal data files should be backed up to CD, DVD or another hard
drive or USB flash drive regularly and you must initiate this yourself using
simple drag and drop in Windows Explorer or by using a backup program. There
is a simple backup program in Vista, I think, but I have not used it nor
even looked for it yet.

When you found your missing files, did you do it through a search or did you
just look through folders?

If you used the search function, the location of the found files should be
in the search results window, showing where they were found. Once you find
out where they are now, you can use Windows Explorer to go to those folders
and then copy them back to where you want them to be.

Good luck ... I hope you get it all restored ... vanilla


"tracy" <tracy.2x4jdz@no-mx.forums.net> wrote in message
news:tracy.2x4jdz@no-mx.forums.net...
>
> I am usually very good with organizing my files. At work I have Windows
> XP and I have no problem with that, but at home I have Windows Vista and
> it is driving me crazy! For one, I have like 2 or 3 document and
> desktop folder, don't know why, and I tried to combine them into only
> one. When I did, they were still there and also where I moved them.
> Also when I deleted stuff that I thought I didn't use, bad idea, most of
> my desktop items got deleted, all of my pictures got deleted from my
> pics folder, and all my music from my itunes got deleted (over 1,000
> songs). I had already emptied my recycling bin, and I tried to
> restore the computer to a earlier date and it did no good. I am really
> scared to even try to move things around on my computer and it shouldn't
> be like that! I should be able to organize my files without worrying
> about losing information or my stuff. I did, however, do a search and
> found all my pics and music, but don't know how to put them back where
> they are supposed to be. Please help me
>
>
> --
> tracy

tracy wrote:
> I am usually very good with organizing my files. At work I have Windows
> XP and I have no problem with that, but at home I have Windows Vista and
> it is driving me crazy! For one, I have like 2 or 3 document and
> desktop folder, don't know why, and I tried to combine them into only
> one. When I did, they were still there and also where I moved them.
> Also when I deleted stuff that I thought I didn't use, bad idea, most of
> my desktop items got deleted, all of my pictures got deleted from my
> pics folder, and all my music from my itunes got deleted (over 1,000
> songs). I had already emptied my recycling bin, and I tried to
> restore the computer to a earlier date and it did no good. I am really
> scared to even try to move things around on my computer and it shouldn't
> be like that! I should be able to organize my files without worrying
> about losing information or my stuff. I did, however, do a search and
> found all my pics and music, but don't know how to put them back where
> they are supposed to be. Please help me
>
>

It sounds like instead of learning about the new file hierarchy in
Windows Vista you just started deleting stuff. Here is a brief
description of the file hierarchy and junctions in Vista:

*****
From MVP Keith Miller - With Vista, you have a UserName folder as you
did on XP. It is now found under 'C:\Users' rather than 'C:\Documents
and Settings' (quite an improvement, I think). It has subfolders named
AppData (normally hidden), Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Favorites,
Links, Music, Pictures, Saved Games, Searches and Videos.

Open a command prompt & issue a plain 'dir' command. You will see the
folders I just mentioned. Now use the command 'dir /al'.

You will see a listing of a file-system level shortcuts known as a
Junctions. These are the icons with shortcut arrows that you are
seeing. Their names correspond to the the old XP user folder structure.
They "point' to the corresponding new user folder in Vista. They are
created so that software that was coded with the XP folder structure in
mind would be less likely to 'break'
*****
So you deleted all those system folders, yes? Try recreating the special
folders as follows:

Click on the Start Orb>Search box and type:

shellersonal [enter]

A new Documents folder will be created, with the hidden system
desktop.ini file inside it (which enables the special icon). The
default location for the folder is C:\Users\(Username)\Documents. This
works for Favorites and other system User folders such as Music. For
example, you would type shell:music to get the music folder back.

Hopefully that will work for you.

Then to organize your stuff in the future, simply save your work in
either existing special folders (Music, Pictures, Documents, etc.) in
your User account - C:\Users\Your-user-name - or make new folders as you
like, but keep them in your User account. Back up your files regularly
so if you decide to do "housekeeping" again you will be able to restore
your data easily.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User