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Question

Files disappeared from Desktop,Desktop Icons are still ther

Oct 5, 2018 8:35PM PDT

I was sorting files for a backup and made the mistake of putting them all on my desktop. Then i opened a movie with VLC and tried to add a subtitle file from my desktop. This failed for some reason without VLC giving an error so i tried again. I dragged the file from my desktop to the VLC Window and as soon as i dropped it I saw all the files vanishing from my desktop in less than a millisecond. Way faster than it would take to delete them manually (i have a potato from 2005 so I noticed the difference). The only thing left on the desktop was the recycle bin. I already tried everything i could think of.

Here is what i did:
- disabled network connection
- checked recycle bin, Empty
- refreshed / sorted desktop, nothing
- checked Windows Defender and Eset for quarantined/deleted files, not the case
- ran chkdsk, no errors
- searched the whole disk for the files, no results
- rebooted pc, everything seems to work fine
- ran full in depth scan with Eset, everything fine
- Put new files on desktop, rebooted, searched the internet for clues, rebooted again. Files are still there
- tried recovery with EaseUs, found all sorts of deleted files, even files from long before formatting my hdd but not the disappeared ones.

I really have no idea what the problem is. The subtitle file may have been corrupted or something but why and where would the rest of the files go? It could be malware but that seems very unlikely as well. I was not browsing or installing anything. Also 2 weeks ago i formatted my disk and did a clean windows install. Windows is always updated. I have Eset Smartsecurity always up to date and I am serious about practicing safe internet behavior.

Some of the files were important and some of them contain sensitive and personal data so if anyone has any idea what could have happened to them, even if it's a long shot I'd be very happy to hear it.

The disk is a Seagate barracuda 2tb and i'm running windows 10 home 64bit.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Re: files disappeared
Oct 6, 2018 12:59AM PDT

Strange. Places to look at if they are still gone after a reboot
1. The desktop folder in your Windows profile (that's where they should be)
2. In the recycle bin (you did)
3. Elsewhere on the hard disk (search on filename, you did)
4. On your backup

Can you recreate the issue by doing exactly the same in VLC? Make a backup of your desktop content first!
If it happens again, you know how it happened. Then it's a question for the makers of VLC.

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Answer
Use EaseUs recovery method
Oct 8, 2018 2:39AM PDT

This is due to active spy wear. Normally if any files missing without doing anything some spy wear may entered your system. It is advisable to format and use EaseUs recovery tool to recover the lost files.