slick, well you did not use system restore than because that does not erase any of your personal files, it just uninstalls recently added programs and restores (SYSTEM) files. You used something else...

dumbass

DUH i'm a 16 year old girl and I know that =P and i'm not a technology freak. YDI big time!!!

So basically, you decided that it was a good idea to try to fix your computer yourself, even though you have absolutely no idea about them. And then you found out your deleted files are gone forever. This is quite possible the biggest YDI I've seen on this site yet. Next time, go to Best Buy and pay them 300 dollars so you don't mess it up yourself.

sounds like you did it wrong. what's worse it's the most simple way to fix a system. system restore should only target main system files and remove major changes to said files. this does not include you personal files, they have been moved to a different directory, that could and has happened before.

what's happening? u all living in an information technology era and u don't know how to maintain a PC??? that's just crazy, isnt it? don't pay 300$ to best buy, go to any computer courses. i've recovered data from formatted and unreadable drives and that's not too complicated i must say. there's plenty software, even free that can help.

YDI for knowing you are technologically challenged and still attempting to fix the computer by yourself. It does say that it does delete files, you know.

tough luck but its no big deal really.there is tons of very good recovery tools that will bring back everything you lost anyway.most are pretty idiotproof and easy to use.dont know why you are getting so much grief over it-some people are naturally good with computers and some arent.but the advice on doing course to help you out rather then keep forking out a lot of dough for your pc problems....thats good advice!even formatting wont wipe out the stuff you have on the hard drive (unless you format multiple times b4 recovering files!)so so far so good.try download.com for file recovery tools -a few decent free ones and some good pay for ones.there are plenty of other sites with simular stuff too.read the fine print next time and you will avoid minor disasters!

duh! don't do something you don't know the consequences to.

Oh, and here's a precaution that shouldn't be too hard for the computer illiterate. In fact, I think the Mac users might even be able to handle it. BACK UP YOUR FILES ONLINE. Just search for "free file storage" or free file hosting". One site I like to use is Drop.io, but note that the files you upload there will delete themselves after a specified period of time (Ex. 1 year after upload, 1 week after last time files were viewed, etc) There's plenty of other websites as well, although most will share your files with other users.