Curious loss of programs and settings

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Can’t work out what happened to this Win 7 SP1 laptop. I was using it Dublin (Ireland), used it on the flight to SFO yesterday, there was WiFi on board which I didn’t use. Everything was normal when I shut the laptop down.

Today, when I started Word for Windows (2002) there was a pop-up saying the “feature you want to use in on a CD ROM. Please insert the CD”, or words to that effect. I was puzzled, but put the disk in the drive, when it fired up there was a window asking for User name and initials, then the program started. But, it was an all new installation, none of the customizations, no macros, no Auto correct, all default settings.

Then I clicked on a Web link in an e-mail. Instead of Firefox starting I was invited to install IE 11, which is, was, installed already. And almost immediately Roboform wanted to be installed. I use xplorer2 instead of File Explorer, but it too had lost all its settings, all the customizing, layout etc. And it is looking for the license file.

Adobe Bridge, which always opens at the last folder used, now wanted to know where the folder was located, but I had been using it to tweak images on C drive just 2 days ago. Photoshop CS 6, in the same “Program Files > Adobe” folder has not lost any customization, thank Gawd because I have a lot of tweaks.

I don’t know how many other programs will have been reset to default, or simply not run. I have Malwarebytes Premium installed, and running. Did a scan today, no threats found.

And I just found an icon, “Flicks”, on the hidden part of the Toolbar. I have no idea what that’s for. I may have some bad habits, but I don’t do flicks whatever they may be.

Any ideas as to what could trash such an eclectic selection of programs?

David

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Another clue???? The Time and Date have been re-set to the US mm-dd-yy and the absurd am/pm format. I have always had the 24 hour format. I have used Control Panel > Clock… to re-set it, however, as soon as I try to Apply the change it reverts to the US format. How do I get this change to stick? I am using an Administrator account, do I have to log-in as a Top Secret Uber Administrator?

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And I just found an icon, “Flicks”, on the hidden part of the Toolbar

You don’t happen to have a touchscreen do you? http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/what-are-flicks

Sounds like your laptop reset somehow, I wonder if W10 tried to install?

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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I do have a touch-screen laptop, not that I’ve ever used it that way, I’d break the wrist of anyone who poked at with a grubby finger. So that “feature” has been disabled since new. I do use a Wacom tablet and have found that all its settings have been set to default so I think that caused the Flicks icon to appear..

Also the Date was set to month/day/year, and Time set to the ridiculous AM/PM instead of 24 hour. I tried to re-set those in Control Panel, I could change the selected settings, but as soon as I clicked on Apply the boxes all reverted to the US system. So I shut down and re-booted into the Uber Admin mode, then I could change them. Re-booted into “normal” Admin and the US settings were back, and the Desktop icons were all pushed over to the left of the screen. However, I could now re-re-set Time and Date, and they stayed the way I want them. So far!

Can’t open Devices and Printers to change the Wacom settings.

GWX is still installed, no sign of the Win 10 infection. I’m sure there will be other programs that have been messed up. Each time I boot-up the icons that are visible in the Toolbar are different, a sort of lottery I do have a recent image to restore, but I’d really like to know what screwed up the machine.

David

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It sounds as though something has changed your profile and you may have to restore with that image, but check your restore points using the Scan for affected programs for each.

In C:WindowsUsers are there any additional user accounts that you don’t recognise ?

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As Sudo15 say’s, it sounds like you are on a new user account since everything want’s to be re-installed after your trip to Ireland.

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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Thanks guys. There are no new profiles, created in the past year. I tried System Restore, have never once managed to make it work, and so was unsurprised when it failed yet again:-

“System restore did not complete successfully. Your computer’s system files and settings have not been changed.
“An unspecified error occurred during system restore (0xc0000022).”

However, some system file must have been changed because I can now open Devices and Printers.

So still no idea as to what got screwed up. Back to the image I suppose.

David

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Although probably obvious, be sure to save any new data (to a flash drive or whatever) before restoring your image.

Image or Clone often! Backup, backup, backup, backup......
- - - - -
Home Built: Windows 10 Home 64-bit, AMD Athlon II X3 435 CPU, 16GB RAM, ASUSTeK M4A89GTD-PRO/USB3 (AM3) motherboard, 512GB SanDisk SSD, 3 TB WD HDD, 1024MB ATI AMD RADEON HD 6450 video, ASUS VE278 (1920x1080) display, ATAPI iHAS224 Optical Drive, integrated Realtek HD Audio

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When a restore point reports as failed, it’s usually because of a 3rd party AV program interfering.

The workaround to that is to try the restore point again in Safe Mode where the 3rd party AV and any other 3rd party programs are isolated.

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Ah yes! Avast seems to be well adapted to getting in the way. Will try Safe Mode.

Thanks Sudo15

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And the plot thickens…. Can’t get it to start in Safe Mode, F8, which I’ve used in the past does nothing, just continues to boot up to Windows log-in.

And RockE, I did remember to backup all data since the image was created, but thanks for the reminder.

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There are a couple of other ways to boot to Safe Mode – 1. is via msconfig where you go Start – type msconfig and press enter, then under the Boot tab check the box for Safe boot then add Network if you wanted Safe Mode with Networking – but not in this case.

For it to boot normally after, you would need to go back into msconfig and uncheck the boxes in the reverse order.

Another method is to boot up with a System Repair disk – there is also an elevated cmd you can use, but at this stage I think you should use the system image as some corruption would still appear to exist.

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I am inclined to agree with you, restoring the image is the easiest way out of the hole “When you’re in a hole…stop digging!” comes to mind.

I might even go the whole hog and re-install Win 7 because there were a few niggles with this machine even before this last debacle. Am presently struggling to get the hang of WSUS Offline. It’s about as clear as mud at the moment, but hope springs eternal.

David

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You never know your luck – you may not need WSUS Offline

Depending upon what the niggles were, you could boot up with the install disk provided it includes SP1 and perform an offboot sfc /scannow.

When you boot up with it and you press any key to boot up from CD/DVD when prompted, it may present you with an inverse window with Windows Setup (EMS Enabled) highlighted – just press enter then when you get the splash screen select Repair your Computer and navigate to the Recovery Environment, noting on the way which partition it locates the OS in as may not always be C:

Should you forget that, when you select Command Prompt enter bcdedit |find “osdevice” then using whichever partition letter, enter (assuming c) –

sfc /scannow /offbootdir=C: /offwindir=C:Windows

For clarity, that’s a Pipe symbol before find and there’s a space before each forward /

This may/not negate the need to reinstall, but perform it after you have restored with the system image.

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You are a mine of information…

“Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around,
And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew
That one small head could carry all he knew.”

Oliver Goldsmith never foresaw Win7, but he knew a thing or two!!! Will keep your post in mind.

David

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