My PC was hacked

BlueDimity · Apr 9, 2010

My PC was hacked, but only my personal password-protected profile on the family computer was hacked and all my files (my stories and such) were erased.

Life is over now. I don't feel safe at this computer. The anti-virus thing we have must have not done its job. I'm ready to go to court.

Isn't it weird that only my profile where all my important stuff was was hacked and erased?

I have no idea what I should do. This comp is old and my MS was deleted. *Curls up into a little ball and cries*

backslashbaby · Apr 9, 2010

Awwww! I'm so sorry!

Does your profile still show with your name and make you log on, etc? Hopefully you are looking at a new profile instead.

Log on as admin in Safe Mode and take a peek around. Good luck!!!

BlueDimity · Apr 9, 2010

Thanks. It still says my name.

BlueDimity · Apr 9, 2010

And I still need my password.

Cella · Apr 9, 2010

awww

I'm so sorry....

BlueDimity · Apr 9, 2010

Thank you. On the bright side, though, all I need is to save up and buy a new PC and then work, rewriting my MS. Hard work but I have no other choice.

Mac H. · Apr 9, 2010

It is possible that it wasn't 'hacked' but your profile just got corrupted.

This has exactly the symptoms you described. A local repair place might be able to help you.

---

Did you email your stories to anyone using a mail system like hotmail or gmail?

If so, they are all still available.

In the future, I suggest you use something like 'dropbox' as well. It is free.

I keep all my useful stuff in the 'dropbox' folder, then I just set up a new computer (or use my password on the web) and all the important files are magically there. It even does backups so you can see what your files looked like a few days ago before you shuffled chapters around.

It also keeps the files on all computers magically synchronised.

Good luck,

Mac

BlueDimity · Apr 9, 2010

Mac H. said:
It is possible that it wasn't 'hacked' but your profile just got corrupted.

This has exactly the symptoms you described. A local repair place might be able to help you.

---

Did you email your stories to anyone using a mail system like hotmail or gmail?

If so, they are all still available.

In the future, I suggest you use something like 'dropbox' as well. It is free.

I keep all my useful stuff in the 'dropbox' folder, then I just set up a new computer (or use my password on the web) and all the important files are magically there. It even does backups so you can see what your files looked like a few days ago before you shuffled chapters around.

It also keeps the files on all computers magically synchronised.

Good luck,

Mac

Thank you. I don't know how it could have gotten corrupted though.

thothguard51 · Apr 9, 2010

Sounds to me like someone was f*** around on the computer that only your profile got corrupted. A hacker would generally get all profiles...

If you are running Windows XP or Vista, you can try going back to before this happened, your settings should reappear. More than likely, your files are still on the hard drive, just inaccessable in your current settings.

I also use dropbox, but I also have an external storage device. I back up to this device once a week and never loose more than whatever I worked on that week.

Can't tell you the number of stories and files I have lost over the years due to corrupted files more than hacking.

BlueDimity · Apr 9, 2010

Oh, do you mean like the hardrive in the computer?

Yeshanu · Apr 9, 2010

Anonyouth, I understand why you posted this here, but you might get more help over in the tech forum. And if you have a Geek Squad in your area, they might be able to help you for less than the cost of a new computer.

Good luck to you!

Deleted member 42 · Apr 9, 2010

Anonyouth said:
Thank you. I don't know how it could have gotten corrupted though.

It can be a user error, a dust mote on the drive, or even an electrical hiccup.

The likelihood of being "hacked" is astronomically slim.

CACTUSWENDY · Apr 10, 2010

This does not sound like a hack. Log on and reset your computer for a few days ago. I think you will find your stuff is still there. This might be a good time, when you get your stuff back, to buy a flash drive and copy your WIPs on it. That is a great cheap way to save things in case your computer blows up or some neat thingy like that.

BlueDimity · Apr 10, 2010

Thank you. I will try to fix this problem.

kaitie · Apr 10, 2010

The harddrive on my laptop got corrupted once and I lost everything. I took it to a computer repair guy who managed to save most of it.

They couldn't make it work again completely, but they were able to transfer most of the files somewhere else. I'm betting you'll be able to get it back. Good luck, though, because this sucks big time.

Seams · Apr 10, 2010

there are a few ways to recover data on your own, even if erased, even if formated there are software programs that retrieve the files.

If it is, as someone mentioned, just a profile corruption, well then its just a matter of going in another way. If someone has admin rights, they just go through the 'My computer' then 'Users' and see if your file is there, visible through theirs.

I don't know which operating system you have, but since you say its an older version I am guessing it is XP...there are software programs you can use to crack the xp password, well basically resets it to 012345 until you get in to reset it to yours. this would allow you entrance at least.

If it is just yours that got erased, well, as someone else mentioned, it is very possible you weren't hacked, but simply deleted or corrupted. The Restore is an option, but sometimes that doesn't work.

this is a site with recovery tools...just take a look at what some do, see if they meet your needs.

http://www.ntfs.com/products.htm

Normally, even if deleted, the files are still there, basically in a format or deletion, they are just torn out of the 'table of contents' of the hardrive, so the computer doesn't see them, but they are still normally there..

Anyway, unsure if any of this helps, but thought I'd give a try.

icerose · Apr 10, 2010

Definitely don't give up yet. Happened to me all the time on an old computer and especially with floppies. *shudders* floppies

At that point I started printing out all my progress so I would at least have it somewhere. It gets very discouraging but take this as a lesson to back up, back up, back up at least that many times every week in that many places, and never have all your backups on your pc. Have one in like dropbox, one on a thumb drive, and one master disc burned every month at least.

shadowwalker · Apr 10, 2010

There are also places like Mozy - I use that for my writing, genealogy and photos. I don't even have to remember to do the backup - it's done automatically.

Kateness · Apr 10, 2010

My last laptop died on me completely without any backups. Fortunately, someone was able to talk me through booting it up from a CD so I could retrieve everything essential.

Nowadays, every time before I even put my computer to sleep, I put whatever I was writing both in my gmail documents (as its plaintext there), and save it in dropbox. At the end of every month, I make a backup of all my writing. If my computer were to die today, I'm reasonably certain I wouldn't lose a thing

backslashbaby · Apr 10, 2010

System Restore doesn't work on personal documents, etc, unfortunately. It's for program changes.

But do try to poke around as Admin, really

I'm crossing my fingers for you!

(If you need to break the password, PM me if you like. I don't like posting how.)

Deleted member 42 · Apr 10, 2010

Also, check the Trash to see if the missing files are there.

BlueDimity · Apr 10, 2010

"If someone has admin rights, they just go through the 'My computer' then 'Users' and see if your file is there, visible through theirs"
Yes, I have Admin rights and I can see that all the files in my profile have been deleted under something like "user documents" and I can still type my password and get into my profile, but everthing has been deleted. Like the Solitaire and everything that would pop up under "start."

I thank everyone who has tried to help me. You're all the best.

BlueDimity · Apr 10, 2010

Medievalist said:
Also, check the Trash to see if the missing files are there.

They are not in the trash on the profile I'm usng now because they were never on this profile. I went to mine and even the trash was cleared. Weird.

Bartholomew · Apr 10, 2010

My computer got hacked, once. The guy was looking for World of Warcraft account information and credit card numbers. He left my WIP folder alone. I suspect you've just got a corrupted account.

icerose · Apr 10, 2010

Take your harddrive or whole computer if you don't know what you're doing into a techie and see if they can pull the files. Deleted doesn't necessarily mean deleted.

My PC was hacked

BlueDimity

backslashbaby

*

BlueDimity

BlueDimity

Cella

Cella

BlueDimity

Mac H.

Board Visitor

BlueDimity

thothguard51

A Gentleman of a refined age...

BlueDimity

Yeshanu

Elf Queen

Deleted member 42

CACTUSWENDY

An old, sappy, and happy one.

BlueDimity

kaitie

With great power comes

Seams

○

icerose

Lost in School Work

shadowwalker

empty-nester!

Kateness

backslashbaby

*

Deleted member 42

BlueDimity

BlueDimity

Bartholomew

Comic guy

icerose

Lost in School Work

My PC was hacked

~~~~*~~~~

Cella

Board Visitor

A Gentleman of a refined age...

Elf Queen

Deleted member 42

An old, sappy, and happy one.

With great power comes

&#9675;

Lost in School Work

empty-nester!

~~~~*~~~~

Deleted member 42

Comic guy

Lost in School Work

*

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