You are working on a huge proposal, all day and something happens... A glitch in the lights, the power running out of the laptop, or trying to ignore that MSN message you accidentally click close.
Here is a free tip.. You are really gonna thank me later.
Your office document that you were just working on is gone or corrupted. You're not about to run out and find a data recovery place and spend huge bills for one document but it sure does suck loosing all that you worked on all morning.
Here's a couple quick tips to remember when this happens.
1) Unhide all system files and hidden files.
If you are in Vista you need to do this:
Seeing your hidden files and system files in Vista is not much different than in XP. Here are the step-by-step directions. Remember that system files are hidden for a reason. Be careful!
1. Click the round blue Start thing in the left corner
2. Click Control Panel
3. Click Folder Options
4. Click the View tab
5. Click Show hidden files and folders
6. If you want to see system files as well, unclick Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)
7. Click OK
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial130.html
2) Microsoft Office always has a default saving location. You open this location, your document is now named something else or ending with a .tmp and see if you can open these files using word.
3) Another trick is find where the original document resided, and open up those tmp files or wpd files in notepad. Right-click open -> choose program -> notepad.
4) Lastly, something else that has worked tonnes of times as if by magic has been to open the Microsoft word document or tmp file with OpenOffice.. A free alternative to Microsoft Office
http://www.openoffice.org/.
Recovering your documents is a bit more involved that 4 simple steps so I've enclosed a few technical links here that I'm sure you'll read when this does happen but just remember .. All is not lost!
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316951
http://www.amset.info/tips/office-recovery.asp
Cheers,
Rommel
info@recovermypc.com
www.recovermypc.com
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Microsoft lost stuff and Sidekick Users See Their Data Vanish Into a Cloud
THis isn't the post I planned for this week, but it's a biggie.. in a bad way.
Sidekick Microsoft Users See Their Data Vanish Into a Cloud
Regrettably, based on Microsoft/Danger's latest recovery assessment of their systems, we must now inform you that personal information stored on your device -- such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or photos -- that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger.
T-Mobile's Official Statement
http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=46451
And I like what this guy comments about cloud being only as good as it's backup.
http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=46451
What can be learned from this.. Don't trust any single media nor the cloud... Make your own backups.
it's 1 AM and I'm thinking to go back up my gmail accounts...
-Rommel
Sidekick Microsoft Users See Their Data Vanish Into a Cloud
Regrettably, based on Microsoft/Danger's latest recovery assessment of their systems, we must now inform you that personal information stored on your device -- such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or photos -- that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger.
T-Mobile's Official Statement
http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=46451
And I like what this guy comments about cloud being only as good as it's backup.
http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=46451
What can be learned from this.. Don't trust any single media nor the cloud... Make your own backups.
it's 1 AM and I'm thinking to go back up my gmail accounts...
-Rommel
Monday, October 5, 2009
I know a guy that knows a guy that does computers...
What a loaded statement. You don't know how many times I've heard horror starting with this.
I was at a networking event when I met a woman who took my card and wished she had met me before. She proceeded to tell me the story of getting someone that she knew that fiddled with computers to migrate the data from her old machine to the new one she just purchased. It looks like after she was assured that the job was done and the person was long gone (who she thought did her a favour and for cheap!) that she noticed that entire folders of data that pertained to her home business that she was running were missing on the new machine and gone forever.
As much as she tried, she called him back, to see if he can correct the problem but the files were gone. She now has to start over.
Other times I hear of customers taking their drives to larger Retail shops that offer some computer repair for customers as a service. Machines were formatted according to company policy with no regards to backing up and transferring data.
The latest one, which was actually yesterday had paid for service to backup her data, but after all was said and done, she was only able to find 3 folders of the hundreds that contained family and baby photos.
I'm not saying the computer skills aren't there. I'm sure the techs know enough short-cut keys to never have to touch the mouse. I'm just saying too many times I've heard scary stories where technicians are there to do a job, fix a machine, reload windows... and missing the subtle point where they also must preserve the personal and confidential data of the the person that owns the hardware.
At RecoverMyPc, some of the many difficult tasks we do on a regular basis are saving the email servers of companies, recovering data when other can't, and moving the actual platters of disks in order to recover disk drives (We don't recommend you try this at home).
I think it's safe to say we know a thing or two about computers.
We can help with common problems when your computers or servers don't behave. When it comes to your data, we know how important your information is. Anyone that's dealt with us before knows that we'll do our very best to help where we can.
Call us first, advice is free, especially to friends which you all are, and we'd love to hear from you.
Rommel
info@recovermypc.com
www.recovermypc.com
I was at a networking event when I met a woman who took my card and wished she had met me before. She proceeded to tell me the story of getting someone that she knew that fiddled with computers to migrate the data from her old machine to the new one she just purchased. It looks like after she was assured that the job was done and the person was long gone (who she thought did her a favour and for cheap!) that she noticed that entire folders of data that pertained to her home business that she was running were missing on the new machine and gone forever.
As much as she tried, she called him back, to see if he can correct the problem but the files were gone. She now has to start over.
Other times I hear of customers taking their drives to larger Retail shops that offer some computer repair for customers as a service. Machines were formatted according to company policy with no regards to backing up and transferring data.
The latest one, which was actually yesterday had paid for service to backup her data, but after all was said and done, she was only able to find 3 folders of the hundreds that contained family and baby photos.
I'm not saying the computer skills aren't there. I'm sure the techs know enough short-cut keys to never have to touch the mouse. I'm just saying too many times I've heard scary stories where technicians are there to do a job, fix a machine, reload windows... and missing the subtle point where they also must preserve the personal and confidential data of the the person that owns the hardware.
At RecoverMyPc, some of the many difficult tasks we do on a regular basis are saving the email servers of companies, recovering data when other can't, and moving the actual platters of disks in order to recover disk drives (We don't recommend you try this at home).
I think it's safe to say we know a thing or two about computers.
We can help with common problems when your computers or servers don't behave. When it comes to your data, we know how important your information is. Anyone that's dealt with us before knows that we'll do our very best to help where we can.
Call us first, advice is free, especially to friends which you all are, and we'd love to hear from you.
Rommel
info@recovermypc.com
www.recovermypc.com
Monday, August 17, 2009
2008 Internet Fraud, Scam and Online Crime Statistics!
Quick Tip : Protect Yourself Online!
2008 Internet Fraud, Scam and Crime Statistics
Check out the charts and graphs of the top hitters last year be wary of these happening to you.
You can find out last years stats here
Remember, The the majority of crimes can be prevented by practicing the following three simple measures:
• Scrutinizing emails and messages that arrive in your inbox or even instant messaged to you. Do the subject lines, titles, senders and links inside seem suspect?
• Proper identification of the URL of the site before logging into the site.
• Use of updated versions of firewall, spyware, browsers and the operating system.
Safe Surfing!
2008 Internet Fraud, Scam and Crime Statistics
Check out the charts and graphs of the top hitters last year be wary of these happening to you.
You can find out last years stats here
Remember, The the majority of crimes can be prevented by practicing the following three simple measures:
• Scrutinizing emails and messages that arrive in your inbox or even instant messaged to you. Do the subject lines, titles, senders and links inside seem suspect?
• Proper identification of the URL of the site before logging into the site.
• Use of updated versions of firewall, spyware, browsers and the operating system.
Safe Surfing!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Your Computer Slow, Protect Yourself Online And Here Are 5 Free Tips!
Here is note number 2 about locking down your machine, protecting it with a password and perhaps cleaning it up if it's been on for a while and you see things slowing down a little bit.
Ok, where to start..
Your computer has the capability to take you where ever you want to go on the internet, but like an automobie, it needs maintenance. To safely keep a well maintained machine on the internet these days requires installing some programs to keep a close eye on a few things.
** Caution: If you already have a seriously problematic computer, critical system files could already be infected, and by installing these items after the fact they could make things worse. In anycase, please consult your local Techie guru before attempting! We all know one, but just in case you don't, contact us at:
info (at) recovermypc (dot) com
or phone us at
1 888 778 0367 anytime,
we'd love to help out!
Moving on, The 5 Tips to keeping your machine protected and keeping things running smooth on your PC are:
1) Window update.
This one is easy, just open up your IE (internet explorer) and click on tools -> windows update
This process will take you to a windows validation then show you the downloads that you need for your machine.. at this point choose all except internet explorer 8 (I found this to be buggy and hopefully it will be fixed in future releases).
2) Antivirus
Free antivirus programs are all around. Just to name a few popular ones, AVAST, AVIRA and AVG, and that's just the A's. But for now, I would recommend just registering with avast and downloading their antivirus software. It hasn't let me down yet.
http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html
3) Firewall
For Firewall programs there's a free one that's pretty good on top of the built in one in window.
Just to double check you have windows protecting you, click on start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Windows Firewall. Make sure this is on.
Just for added protection you could download a free version of Zone Alarm Free Edition. THis is a major player in software that helps protect your machines from intrusion.
http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/zonealarm-pc-security-free-firewall.htm
4) Spyware and Malware protection
Your machine gets slow over time from doing nothing but surfing on the internet. Cookies, temp files, all these things contribute to slowing your machine down a little at a time. Spybot Search and Destroy work really well and all you have to do is is scan your machine, and remove all the links it finds as malware or spyware.
Just in case you didn't know what malware/spyware could do is once it's installed on your machine, is install malicious code that is intentionally trying to make you click on banner pop-ups, lead you to other sites, some are even as bad as transmitting your personal data from your machine to some other location. Oh yeah, don't be mislead here, files folders, hard-drive content, keystrokes, passwords, the works!
The fastest way you can get this is if you are not careful with Peer-to-Peer software and download alot of torrents! .. I'm just saying be careful!
Anyway, the link for this is here!
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/home/index.html
5) And lastly, what you need is a clean registry.
Sometime you install trial version of programs and find out you don't fancy them anymore so you uninstall them.. they may not be entirely cleaned out.
Your registry in windows is like the road map for your operating system. Windows knows where to go at any given time given the command, but sometimes, there is so much junk in the registry that windows gets lost finding out what to load and where to go for a program that was un-installed months ago.
CCleaner is a great tool for this. Finds out
http://www.ccleaner.com/
*** Again.. Installing these tools on a drive that you already know is infected could make it worse. If you suspect that's the case, I would recommend finding a technican near you and consulting them before you go crazy protecting your machine with tools that you just now heard of.
**Want a consult? Questions? Concerns? Feedback? Send us a mail at:
info (at) recovermypc (dot) com
or check out our site for great articles, coupons and alot more!
www.recovermypc.com
Anyway, that's our set of free tips for now.
Thanks and Safe Surfing!!!!
Ok, where to start..
Your computer has the capability to take you where ever you want to go on the internet, but like an automobie, it needs maintenance. To safely keep a well maintained machine on the internet these days requires installing some programs to keep a close eye on a few things.
** Caution: If you already have a seriously problematic computer, critical system files could already be infected, and by installing these items after the fact they could make things worse. In anycase, please consult your local Techie guru before attempting! We all know one, but just in case you don't, contact us at:
info (at) recovermypc (dot) com
or phone us at
1 888 778 0367 anytime,
we'd love to help out!
Moving on, The 5 Tips to keeping your machine protected and keeping things running smooth on your PC are:
1) Window update.
This one is easy, just open up your IE (internet explorer) and click on tools -> windows update
This process will take you to a windows validation then show you the downloads that you need for your machine.. at this point choose all except internet explorer 8 (I found this to be buggy and hopefully it will be fixed in future releases).
2) Antivirus
Free antivirus programs are all around. Just to name a few popular ones, AVAST, AVIRA and AVG, and that's just the A's. But for now, I would recommend just registering with avast and downloading their antivirus software. It hasn't let me down yet.
http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html
3) Firewall
For Firewall programs there's a free one that's pretty good on top of the built in one in window.
Just to double check you have windows protecting you, click on start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Windows Firewall. Make sure this is on.
Just for added protection you could download a free version of Zone Alarm Free Edition. THis is a major player in software that helps protect your machines from intrusion.
http://www.zonealarm.com/security/en-us/zonealarm-pc-security-free-firewall.htm
4) Spyware and Malware protection
Your machine gets slow over time from doing nothing but surfing on the internet. Cookies, temp files, all these things contribute to slowing your machine down a little at a time. Spybot Search and Destroy work really well and all you have to do is is scan your machine, and remove all the links it finds as malware or spyware.
Just in case you didn't know what malware/spyware could do is once it's installed on your machine, is install malicious code that is intentionally trying to make you click on banner pop-ups, lead you to other sites, some are even as bad as transmitting your personal data from your machine to some other location. Oh yeah, don't be mislead here, files folders, hard-drive content, keystrokes, passwords, the works!
The fastest way you can get this is if you are not careful with Peer-to-Peer software and download alot of torrents! .. I'm just saying be careful!
Anyway, the link for this is here!
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/home/index.html
5) And lastly, what you need is a clean registry.
Sometime you install trial version of programs and find out you don't fancy them anymore so you uninstall them.. they may not be entirely cleaned out.
Your registry in windows is like the road map for your operating system. Windows knows where to go at any given time given the command, but sometimes, there is so much junk in the registry that windows gets lost finding out what to load and where to go for a program that was un-installed months ago.
CCleaner is a great tool for this. Finds out
http://www.ccleaner.com/
*** Again.. Installing these tools on a drive that you already know is infected could make it worse. If you suspect that's the case, I would recommend finding a technican near you and consulting them before you go crazy protecting your machine with tools that you just now heard of.
**Want a consult? Questions? Concerns? Feedback? Send us a mail at:
info (at) recovermypc (dot) com
or check out our site for great articles, coupons and alot more!
www.recovermypc.com
Anyway, that's our set of free tips for now.
Thanks and Safe Surfing!!!!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Don’t run Chkdsk!
Data Recovery Tech Tip # 1
Don’t run Chkdsk!!!
There are tonnes of myths about data recovery techniques and tips. Like the freezer trick or my personal favorite: the bang-your-hard-drive-as-hard-as-you-can-on-a-desk trick! Go ahead, Google those, you’ve find them and tones of other weird ones. I’d like to just write an article to debunk yet another data recovery statement everyone seems to make when they are trying to do-it-yourself recovery.
Chkdsk (Pronounced check disk)
Myth - Look, It's a failed hard drive, let’s run Chkdsk! It will recover the data!!!
My Answer - No Don’t!
Chkdsk is a windows utility that creates and displays a status report for the disk. The chkdsk command also lists and corrects errors on the disk.
I can’t count the number of drives that come in for data recovery that has been chkdsk’d. This windows application will check file system integrity but not care about user data. And how do I know that a drive has been chkdsk’d?
You know right away when you see this.
Why write down all the reasons when I’ve found a great technical article and I couldn’t say it better my self.
Chkdsk: Life-Saver or Disk-Drive Killer?
http://www.interdatarecovery.com/index.php/chkdsk-life-saver-or-disk-killer
I did get verification from Microsoft TechNet as to exactly what it does. You can read it below, basically what it says is that user data is not prioritized, the stability of the file system is! Using this application to logically fix what sometimes is a physically damaged hard drive can result in what's most important being lost, your data! (Caution: Below I’ve included some facts about Chkdsk but it gets seriously technical).
So Basically, My point is this.. For all you Do-it-Yourself-ers, technical dabblers or even tech shops that are running chkdsk in the hopes of saving your clients data! Think twice! On an already failed disk, you may make more problems than you fix. In most cases I’ve seen chkdsk ruin any chance of recovering some of your client’s most important files (like the outlook mail .pst or .dbx files).
Know your facts about Data Recovery!!!
Save those files!!!
Call us first!!!
RecoverMyPC.com
As Promised, Below is my technical findings on why Chkdsk is bad for you!
Chkdsk is a windows utility that creates and displays a status report for the disk. The chkdsk command also lists and corrects errors on the disk.
Source: Mircosoft.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb491051.aspx
CHKDSK's activity is split into three major "stages" during which it examines all the "metadata" on the volume and an optional fourth stage. Metadata is "data about data." It is the file system overhead, so to speak, that is used to keep track of everything about all of the files on the volume. Metadata tells what allocation units make up the data for a given file, what allocation units are free, what allocation units contain bad sectors, and so on. The "contents" of a file, on the other hand, is termed "user data." NTFS protects its metadata through the use of a transaction log. User data is not so protected.
…
CHKDSK examines each file record segment (FRS) in the volume's master file table (MFT). Every file and directory on an NTFS volume is uniquely identified by a specific FRS in the MFT.
…
During its second stage, CHKDSK displays a message on the screen saying that it is verifying indexes and counts from 0 to 100 percent complete a second time. During this phase, CHKDSK examines each of the indexes on the volume. Indexes are essentially NTFS directories and the percent complete that CHKDSK displays during this phase is the percent of the total number of directories on the volume that have to be checked. During this stage, CHKDSK examines each directory on the volume for internal consistency and also verifies that every file and directory represented by an FRS in the MFT is referenced by at least one directory. It also confirms that every file or subdirectory referenced in each directory actually exists as a valid FRS in the MFT and checks for circular directory references. Finally, it confirms that the various time stamps and file size information associated with files are all up-to-date in the directory listings for those files. At the end of this phase, CHKDSK has ensured that there are no "orphaned" files and that all the directory listings are for legitimate files. An orphaned file is one for which a legitimate FRS exists, but which is not listed in any directory. When an orphaned file is found, it can often be restored to its rightful directory, provided that directory is still around. If the directory that should hold the file no longer exists, CHKDSK will create a directory in the root directory and place the file there. If directory listings are found that reference FRSs that are no longer in use or that are in use but do not correspond to the file listed in the directory, the directory entry is simply removed.
…
It should be pointed out that NTFS does not guarantee the integrity of user data following an instance of disk corruption -- even when a full CHKDSK is run immediately after corruption has been detected. Thus, there may be files that CHKDSK cannot recover. Also, files that are recovered may be internally corrupted even after CHKDSK has been run. It, therefore, remains vitally important that mission critical data be protected by means of a regimen of periodic backups or other robust disaster recovery methodology.
Source: Microsoft
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/187941
Have any computer related questions, you can use our facebook page, our website which has tonnes more articles and content www.recovermypc.com or contact us directly at info (at) recovermypc (dot) com
Don’t run Chkdsk!!!
There are tonnes of myths about data recovery techniques and tips. Like the freezer trick or my personal favorite: the bang-your-hard-drive-as-hard-as-you-can-on-a-desk trick! Go ahead, Google those, you’ve find them and tones of other weird ones. I’d like to just write an article to debunk yet another data recovery statement everyone seems to make when they are trying to do-it-yourself recovery.
Chkdsk (Pronounced check disk)
Myth - Look, It's a failed hard drive, let’s run Chkdsk! It will recover the data!!!
My Answer - No Don’t!
Chkdsk is a windows utility that creates and displays a status report for the disk. The chkdsk command also lists and corrects errors on the disk.
I can’t count the number of drives that come in for data recovery that has been chkdsk’d. This windows application will check file system integrity but not care about user data. And how do I know that a drive has been chkdsk’d?
You know right away when you see this.
Why write down all the reasons when I’ve found a great technical article and I couldn’t say it better my self.
Chkdsk: Life-Saver or Disk-Drive Killer?
http://www.interdatarecovery.com/index.php/chkdsk-life-saver-or-disk-killer
I did get verification from Microsoft TechNet as to exactly what it does. You can read it below, basically what it says is that user data is not prioritized, the stability of the file system is! Using this application to logically fix what sometimes is a physically damaged hard drive can result in what's most important being lost, your data! (Caution: Below I’ve included some facts about Chkdsk but it gets seriously technical).
So Basically, My point is this.. For all you Do-it-Yourself-ers, technical dabblers or even tech shops that are running chkdsk in the hopes of saving your clients data! Think twice! On an already failed disk, you may make more problems than you fix. In most cases I’ve seen chkdsk ruin any chance of recovering some of your client’s most important files (like the outlook mail .pst or .dbx files).
Know your facts about Data Recovery!!!
Save those files!!!
Call us first!!!
RecoverMyPC.com
As Promised, Below is my technical findings on why Chkdsk is bad for you!
Chkdsk is a windows utility that creates and displays a status report for the disk. The chkdsk command also lists and corrects errors on the disk.
Source: Mircosoft.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb491051.aspx
CHKDSK's activity is split into three major "stages" during which it examines all the "metadata" on the volume and an optional fourth stage. Metadata is "data about data." It is the file system overhead, so to speak, that is used to keep track of everything about all of the files on the volume. Metadata tells what allocation units make up the data for a given file, what allocation units are free, what allocation units contain bad sectors, and so on. The "contents" of a file, on the other hand, is termed "user data." NTFS protects its metadata through the use of a transaction log. User data is not so protected.
…
CHKDSK examines each file record segment (FRS) in the volume's master file table (MFT). Every file and directory on an NTFS volume is uniquely identified by a specific FRS in the MFT.
…
During its second stage, CHKDSK displays a message on the screen saying that it is verifying indexes and counts from 0 to 100 percent complete a second time. During this phase, CHKDSK examines each of the indexes on the volume. Indexes are essentially NTFS directories and the percent complete that CHKDSK displays during this phase is the percent of the total number of directories on the volume that have to be checked. During this stage, CHKDSK examines each directory on the volume for internal consistency and also verifies that every file and directory represented by an FRS in the MFT is referenced by at least one directory. It also confirms that every file or subdirectory referenced in each directory actually exists as a valid FRS in the MFT and checks for circular directory references. Finally, it confirms that the various time stamps and file size information associated with files are all up-to-date in the directory listings for those files. At the end of this phase, CHKDSK has ensured that there are no "orphaned" files and that all the directory listings are for legitimate files. An orphaned file is one for which a legitimate FRS exists, but which is not listed in any directory. When an orphaned file is found, it can often be restored to its rightful directory, provided that directory is still around. If the directory that should hold the file no longer exists, CHKDSK will create a directory in the root directory and place the file there. If directory listings are found that reference FRSs that are no longer in use or that are in use but do not correspond to the file listed in the directory, the directory entry is simply removed.
…
It should be pointed out that NTFS does not guarantee the integrity of user data following an instance of disk corruption -- even when a full CHKDSK is run immediately after corruption has been detected. Thus, there may be files that CHKDSK cannot recover. Also, files that are recovered may be internally corrupted even after CHKDSK has been run. It, therefore, remains vitally important that mission critical data be protected by means of a regimen of periodic backups or other robust disaster recovery methodology.
Source: Microsoft
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/187941
Have any computer related questions, you can use our facebook page, our website which has tonnes more articles and content www.recovermypc.com or contact us directly at info (at) recovermypc (dot) com
Recovermypc.com is posting Notes!
As promised we're going to start regularly posting tips for all things data recovery and computer related! There are a few notes on our notes/blog page already but keep tuned in for even more.
Have any computer related questions, you can use our facebook page, our website which has tonnes more articles and content www.recovermypc.com or contact us directly at info@recovermypc.com
Cheers and Thanks!
Have any computer related questions, you can use our facebook page, our website which has tonnes more articles and content www.recovermypc.com or contact us directly at info@recovermypc.com
Cheers and Thanks!
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