Birdforum, we have a problem. (2 Viewers)

[Andy Adcock]

I got up yesterday to find that every Word and Excel file on my PC is corrupted and cannot be accessed.

On top of this, when I open Youtube, whatever I open, I initially get video but then it goes to a blank white, page but audio stays on.

The computer shop locally says I either have a virus or my PC's hard drive is packing up, what does our esteemed community think?

 

[Strontium Dog]

It does sound like a failing hardware problem to me.

Have you tried scanning for viruses?

 

[Andy Adcock]

It does sound like a failing hardware problem to me.

Have you tried scanning for viruses?

I have, nothing picked up, my system is a good ten years old so maybe time for an upgrade?

 

[SanAngelo]

I have, nothing picked up, my system is a good ten years old so maybe time for an upgrade?

Anything I say would be a guess. However, for now, I'd cloned the hard drive while you have access.

I've used EaseUS dozens of times; very easy to work with.

Good Luck.

 

[njlarsen]

You can hope that the actual corruption is with the program files for Word and Excel on your system. However, recently going through a similar problem with a PC that was purchased probably in 2016, I would think it best to purchase a new PC (rather than try to salvage the current one with a new HD). Thereafter, add the programs (apps if you call them that), and transfer your current files to the new system. Preferably from a backup, but if that is not available, try a piece of hardware that can read your current HD without it being installed into the new PC.

If you are not currently using dropbox or some similar utility: install it and allow it to back up everything on your current PC that it can get its hand on. Then when having a new one, you can connect to the same dropbox and use that to populate the new pc with as much as still is functional.

Niels

 

[Ted Y.]

I strongly suggest to do a backup of the files you want to / must keep, if not already done.
I would buy a new computer and brag () a lot about the ten years of functionality of the old one (if the audience exist)

 

[etudiant]

I got up yesterday to find that every Word and Excel file on my PC is corrupted and cannot be accessed.

On top of this, when I open Youtube, whatever I open, I initially get video but then it goes to a blank white, page but audio stays on.

The computer shop locally says I either have a virus or my PC's hard drive is packing up, what does our esteemed community think?

Not good, I've also had that sinking feeling when my digital life suddenly evaporates.
Doubt it is a virus, they are rarely purely malicious and it is not ransomware by your account.
Hopefully you've not been targeted by someone who just wants to harass specific individuals, although such people do exist.

More likely it is a hardware problem, possibly something as simple as your power supply failing.
If not that, it gets more tricky. Fact that your video works briefly and then dies suggests that your graphics card is having problems. for some possibly external reason. Hence my power supply suggestion.
Corrupted files in Word and Excel may hopefully be because the graphics are not shown properly, rather than that your data is lost.
Do you have any backup? Also, do you have any anti virus installed? Windows Defender is free and works pretty well.
I use Malwarebytes and it has served me well for more than a decade.
In any case, you can verify whether your data is ok by moving the disk to another computer to have it read there.
If that fails, you have to rebuild what you had, not a fun project.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Not good, I've also had that sinking feeling when my digital life suddenly evaporates.
Doubt it is a virus, they are rarely purely malicious and it is not ransomware by your account.
Hopefully you've not been targeted by someone who just wants to harass specific individuals, although such people do exist.

More likely it is a hardware problem, possibly something as simple as your power supply failing.
If not that, it gets more tricky. Fact that your video works briefly and then dies suggests that your graphics card is having problems. for some possibly external reason. Hence my power supply suggestion.
Corrupted files in Word and Excel may hopefully be because the graphics are not shown properly, rather than that your data is lost.
Do you have any backup? Also, do you have any anti virus installed? Windows Defender is free and works pretty well.
I use Malwarebytes and it has served me well for more than a decade.
In any case, you can verify whether your data is ok by moving the disk to another computer to have it read there.
If that fails, you have to rebuild what you had, not a fun project.

Thanks for this, thankfully, I have everything backed up onan external drive and a laptop.

 

[njlarsen]

Thanks for this, thankfully, I have everything backed up onan external drive and a laptop.

so that means recovery of the files should be easy and that only the pain in paying again remains

 

[Andy Adcock]

so that means recovery of the files should be easy and that only the pain in paying again remains

Could have been a real disaster, twenty five years worth of trip reports, all my moths records and thousands of photos would have been gone if not backed up.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Scythebill has just become inaccessible, presumably for the same reason.

 

[Andy Hurley]

Don't know if this is still ongoing, Andy. I have a tower style PC and tend to use external hard drives for all my data; photos, lists and programmes. I run programmes from the hard drive, especially birding software, spreadsheets, games, etc. A bit slower may be, but modern computers are very fast and with the new one, you won't miss that extra speed you would have had if you installed it all on the internal hard drive.

You just need to ensure you have plently of power to run all the hard drives at once for back up purposes, or one set if you want to back them up seperately. I leave them all plugged in, as it easier than moving my desk to get to the access panel. It is far cheaper to buy a new hdd and takes far less time when you don't need to load it all onto your new computer, if it will all fit on the new C:/ drive. Some hard drives have their own power supply, some use the computer's power to function. My drives are 4TB, so still room for expansion, but I'll need to split them up sooner rather than later.

I have one drive for lists of Birds Animals and Plants etc, which is every life form I come across and photograph. I also use that drive for any Opus work I do and store bookmarks. Nothing worse than trying to find all those useful websites that I bookmarked to an old computer. Another is for eBooks Photos Games and Music, where all that stuff my personnal correspondence also goes along with lyrics or book writing and corresponding notes and research etc.

I have seperate folders for all the photos weve ever taken and leave them unsorted in folders for each holiday/local patch visit etc with a written warning, COPY ONLY DO NOT DELETE. I then copy them to the Birds Animals, Plants Fungi hard drive to sort them. My wife copies the photos to her system and does her thing with them.

I also have a back up drive for each of those which are copies, rather than back ups that I redo regularly in case a hard drive fails. I hasn't happened yet, touch wood!

I have recently bought a new PC and the change over was fairly straight forward. A newer version on windows meant learning how to use it caused a few problems, but all my data was fine. I had no problems with reorganising my stuff as it was already sorted on my external hard drives.