Information for anyone that emails me ....................

[dark_castle1]

I am having problems with my computer as my account has been corrupted and is only logging me in on a temporary profile. I cannot receive emails, in fact I have nothing as such. 

I am hoping to get my computer into the repair shop on Tuesday of next week and get it repaired so it will be next week (I hope) before I have any email facility.

Not that I am expecting anyone from here to email me but thought I would let you all know just in case.

Thank you for reading this post.

[dark_castle1]

 A further twist has no unearthed itself !

I have lost all my contacts so any of you that had given me your email address can rest easy ! you will not hear from me again other than when I visit here.

[rell6534]

Re the temporary profile problem, have you tried restarting your computer 2 or 3 times?

[dark_castle1]

Hello, yes I did but no difference and tried a restore but again no difference. Thank you for your suggestion.

The way things are financially at the moment I may not even bother trying to get it repaired and do away with it completely. I do not get any emails really except from ebay and getting fed up with that.

[peteryola]

All the data should still be somewhere on the hard drive and should be recoverable, but it may be a very expensive professional job to do so.

[dark_castle1]

Thank you for your reply peter. 

If that turns out to be the case I will be computer less as I cannot afford a big outlay at this time. My car is due its MOT, then tax, insurance among other things.

Not having a computer is the least of my worries and in all honesty something I can do without as I only visit here occassionaly and would not be a great loss here or anywhere else.

[peteryola]

The cost would obviously depend on exactly what has gone wrong; they should be able to give you an idea when they look at it at least.  With luck it's something simple that's just preventing it from being read - but whatever you do, don't try re-formatting, defragging or loading anything at all onto it as that might result in some of what you need to recover being over-written.

One thing to remember is that when you delete something, all that happens is it's still there and is simply marked to be over-written.

That means that as long as the hard drive has not been wiped somehow, everything that was on it at the point of failure will still be there.  The big unknown is what needs to be done to recover it.

[rell6534]

I have two accounts on my computer – administrator and standard. When I had the temporary profile problem, it was only on my standard account and a couple of restarts fixed it.

I take it that you just had the one account (administrator) so it may be a bit more serious, but before you pay out to retrieve your data you could always try and create another account from the temporary profile.

Assuming you are using Windows 7, go to Control Panel > User Accounts > Manage another account > Create a new account.
Give the new account a different name than the previous one and if the previous account was an administrator account, give this one admin. privileges too.

Then if that is successful, log in to the new account and click on Computer > Local Disc C > Users > ‘Name of missing account’ and your files should be there to copy to the new account or to back up elsewhere.

[dark_castle1]

Thank you. Yes I only have one account and running XP. 

In all honesty I am a complete computer numpty and would have no idea where to start even with your information.

Hopefully once the computer guy has a look it will be an easy fix. Had actually looked in Ebay and saw some really cheap computers but have no idea what is a good buy or if another operating system in it would I be able to work it and find my way around as well as set up email account.

[rell6534]

Fair enough, I hope you get it all sorted out soon.

[mustavaquid]

This sounds like it's a software only problem and no need for a new PC.  Rather than pay a 'pro' to fix it, I would ask around family and friends to find a 'geek' for help. Geeks are usually youngers who live and sleep all things computer and are normally extremely capable of fixing both software & hardware problems.  They are mostly very friendly and willing to help, sometimes for little or no reward as they like to help.  Many are now on holiday from university.

If, just if, you did need a 'new' PC, ask around family and friends and look at local auction rooms. Just a couple of weeks ago I was asked if I wanted to by one from a friend of a friend. I didn't really need it but had a look and bought it for £30.   Spec:-  PC tower, DVD burner,  Intel 2 . 8 GHz CPU,  2 GB RAM,  160 GB harddrive, Windows XP Professional - with the proper COA sticker, speakers, keybord, wireless mouse, 16" LCD monitor, proper metal desk + swivel chair.

Even a 'totally trashed' PC can have some value. With Windows XP, both Home and Pro., the COA sticker alone is worth a few quid so DO NOT give anything away, especially to a dealer / repairer.

Over the past two or three years I've had two PCs fail with power supply and motherboard failures. When either one of those 'goes' it will likely kill the other so not really worth fixing. What I've done in those cases is moved the harddrive ( C ) in to another PC linked as a 'slave'. That way the HDD, still working - not failed - becomes ( usually )  drive 'E' and has all files available.   This PC I'm using now has THREE harddrives in it. I got it at the local auction room last year for £25, very similar spec to above, and moved the two HDDs into it as slaves so I have LOADS of space.

Good luck.

[dark_castle1]

Thanks mustava, your thought about it being software has given me a bit of encouragement that it could be a reasonably cheap fix.

The crux of the problem is I have no friends or family I can ask around ! It is only my wife who only knows how to switch the computer on  and play one game that is on it, myself who is a little better and our dog who just knows he has a captive audience if I am on the computer so he can get petted.

Sorry but you lost me at PC Tower  , that is why I have no idea about buying a secondhand one if I ever needed to. All the figures etc about what is in it are way over my head. Maybe being such a computer numpty means it would be the right thing not to have one at all.

Fancy moving to Scotland near me mustava ?    

[mustavaquid]

To see your PC spec., click on START > Settings > Control Panel > System. That'll show the CPU ( Processor )  and RAM ( Memory ) details.

Click on 'My Computer' and 'mouse over' 'Local Drive C' to see the size of your harddrive and the free / used capacity.