Help -can't access photos

[fudge]

Hi there

 

I am really not technically minded so bear with me.  I am trying to access all data and photos but can't.  Clicked on "start button and administator comes up with  - pictures, documents, my documents but when I click on them nothing happens.  I am panicing - has some thing awful happened?

 

All advice gratefully recieved.

Thanks

Fudge

[Cat]

Fudge, you may get more help in the Satellite TV, Internet and Telephone section of the forum, so will move your post there (I'm assuming it is a computer related question).

This section, Forum Technical support, is for technical problems with the forum itself.

[Martin963]

No-one else has answered this and I'm no expert,   but I'd try looking at the folders on your hard disk by using Windows Explorer (available via all programs -> accessories if you don't have a short cut on the desk top).

If you can get to Windows Explorer you should be able to click on Drive C (normally that's the hard disk) and then look at the sub folders within.    If you've allowed your computer to store everything in My Documents (which I expressly prevent,  I like my own organisation!) then Explorer may let you look within My Docs to see what is still there.   Otherwise you may be able to search for *.jpg via the search button - that should unearth a list of photos,  along -  usefully - with their folder locations.

I'm afraid it's probably not the best way of starting - as I say I'm not a geek - but maybe someone else will now come along and tell us that mine's the idiotic way and offer something better.

Either way,  good luck,   everything is probably still there.

[AnOther]

Something sounds wrong here, why are you logged in as Administrator. Are you sure it isn't USER NAME logged in as administrator (or word to that effect )?

Being logged in as Administrator is not normal and as you have confessed to being 'non technical' it seems unlikely you have deliberately set up your system to log you in as such but then nor would it happen by accident.

Has this changed and do you have another user name in the C:\Documents and Settings folder which you normally use instead. As Administrator you should be able to access all files and folders and you might find your files there.

Once you have sorted this actual problem you should find out why you are Administrator and look at creating another account in another name. By default XP gives all users administrative priviledges but neverthless it is still a very bad practice to be habitually logged on as Administrator.

 

[Alex H]

[quote user="ErnieY"]

neverthless it is still a very bad practice to be habitually logged on as Administrator.

 

[/quote]

Why is that then?

[DerekJ]

I don't know aht operating system you are using but with Vista try this... (it will be much the same with XP)

Go to START >>SEARCH>>FILES OR FOLDERS

Then enter .jpg in the Search box.  This should find any files which have a jpeg extension which is the most likely format you will have stored the photos in. It will also show you where they are stored.

HTH

[AnOther]

[quote user="Tandem_Pilot"]Why is that then?[/quote]Because the Administrator can do anything and if someone get's into your machine via a Trojan or keyloggter or some such they can wreak havoc. IMO it was an act of lunacy on the part of MS to make all users Admin as default, it's hard to imagine a bigger security hole [:'(]

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/tips/advanced/adminaccount.mspx