okeefed.....You never mentioned which folders have disappeared or what was in them ....that might be a clue .
how many user accounts are on that pc ?

dl65
SORRY DL, I couldn't HELP myself.

BTW okeefed, is your computer free of viruses & malware?We have 5 users and one of the users has completely lost his 'my documents' folder. from my area I have lost a couple of folders, they appear to be random. I have McAfee and I run the windows newest anti virus which didn't reveal anything. I am suffering popups though which leads me to believe I have an invader SOMEWHERE. What can I do ? I've run SPYWARE, antivirus, both of which are McAfee, and are udated daily. Could these folders and all their contents been deleted forever?

V grateful

Diokeefed......Lets confirm that we don't have pests in residence. Do you have xp as the operating system. If you do I would like you to download ......antispyware beta ... http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=321cd7a2-6a57-4c57-a8bd-dbf62eda9671&displaylang=en

and Ewido Security .....
http://www.download.com/Ewido-Security-Suite/3000-8022_4-10326287.html

and CCleaner......
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4191.html

Make sure your user account has all the admin privledges .

Now ......the first thing to do is turn off system restore .....( pests like to hide in there )

Reboot the pc into the Safe mode.

Run a full scan with CCleaner ......(both CLEANER and ISSUES)

Run a full scan with your anti virus.

Run a full scan with M/S antispyware beta.

Run a full scan with Ewido

Remove anything which was found by any of these programs.
Then we can say that the pc is clean.

let us know how you make out .

dl65