My wife just booted up her Win8 computer with Start8 to find that the desktop looks completely different (personal photo gone, generic Windows photo now), files she was working on yesterday (TextEase) seemed to have disappeared but were in the Recycle bin, and the metro interface only has about 4 tiles on it now rather than a screenful. All her photos have gone from the MyPhotos folder, and her music has also disappeared. As she has to get her work done tonight, we have decided not to do a System Restore or Last Known Good Configuration and I will try that tomorrow morning. We are with Virgin Media and their virus protection software does not work with Windows 8, so she only has Windows Defender and AEG Free running. Chrome has asked her to reregister, and IE has reverted to msn home page. It's as if someone had completely reset her computer and moved files around, which cannot have happened, as we've been here since the machine was last switched off. Thank God we're paranoid backers up, but still it's a major hassle. Anyone have any idea what can have happened?
almost sounds like it booted to a different user ,
dose start8 still function ,never used start8 myself ,but i do know that 3rd party programs can cause problems
Windows 8.1 will be released in a couple weeks, it's supposed to contain the start button because everyone complaints. It will be a free upgrade for all current 8.0 owners.
it's supposed to contain the start button because everyone complaints. It will be a free upgrade for all current 8.0 owners
im using the full early realease [msdn],and to say it has the start button is missleading ,it has the option to set it to boot to the [default is still to the start screen ] desktop ,and yes there is a start button ,but it just takes you to the metro start screen ,where you have the option to have it show all apps or metro/store apps when you go to it
Well, that's just crappy! I was under the impression it would be more like the Windows 7 start button. Sounds useless to me.
Yes, I agree caperjack, that's what it sounds like to me too. She was totally spooked but had to get on with her work so I'll check it out tomorrow morning. Problem is, it still has her programs and files (even if in the recycling bin), so that doesn't make sense. Apparently, she now also has the choice of opening photos in Windows photo viewer and not only in the media player - something she feels is an improvement (even if she has still to find her old photos).
Start8 would not have changed the behavior of windows. Sounds like something else has happened. Start8 is for booting into the desktop, not for changing the metro interface.
As for the Windows 8.1, played with the beta for a few days, and yes it is more hype then anything. All it is, is a Service Pack, that really does nothing to the current Windows 8 OS.
Microsoft would have been better to just do a Service Pack on Windows 7, then release the garbage OS, known as Windows 8. It gets even worse with Windows 9, unless with Blamer leaving, it hopefully will never see the day of light.
I understand what Start8 is for, the question was: what can have caused the entire profile to have changed, apparently spontaneously. I obviously have to consider all options, and Start8 has to be a candidate. All that is left is the possibility that Windows itself made the changes, or that malware of some kind has infiltrated Windows Defender. Windows 8.1 does not belong in this discussion as it has not yet been released and we do not have the beta version.
If she is using the Windows Live login, most likely it could not connect, so it set up a standard Windows login. Or she changed from the standard Windows login and setup a Windows Live account, and logged in with that, which gave the new profile.
Only you and her know. Defender is not going to change the login profile, neither will malware or Start8.
a) She didn't change her login, b) she has never used Windows Live login, c) the changes did happen, d) I just booted it up and everything is back to the way it was before this happened. We don't know that the login profile was changed, but what we do know is that the configuration of the machine was fundamentally changed and is now back to the way it was. I don't think anyone can necessarily rule any one of the possible culprits in or out; it did happen and something must have caused it. Anyway, all's well that ends well. Matter closed and will remain a mystery.
chalk it up to gremlins
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