We need some more specs. Is the operating system XP Home/Professional, 2000, win98, etc? What antivirus are you using? Are you using any type of malware remover? Is your ISP AOL? Are you on DSL, cable, or dialup? Can you suspect a person doing manual deleting?

If your operating system is XP or 2000+, I totally suspect malware. I can recommend a fantastic malware remover that has helped me revive systems that have been severely infected with trojans, iworms, etc. I can tell you it is a miracle worker big time. The software is called Ewido. It can be downloaded at http://www.ewido.com. I recommend downloading its seed program on another pc. You also need to download the recent signatures. Place your downloads on a cd or thumb/flash drive. Boot your pc to safemode without networking. Copy the cd program and signatures to your pc. Then install Ewido, then the signatures. Have the Ewido program scan your system completely. It will find and clean quite safely. After scanning in safe mode, reboot and have it scan again in normal mode.

Then keep Ewido enabled and get online. Go to Trend Housecall and have it scan for viruses and clean there.

I have seen certain trojans change files attributes to make them hidden. And they can delete. After you have cleaned the system of malware and your files still have not appeared, I recommend finding a program that undeletes. Just because the files appear to be deleted can only mean that a 0 has been placed in its address place. A good undelete program can place a 1 to get the file back. I cannot guarantee that you will be able to undelete everything. It all depends on how much has been written on the drive since the deletion. I cannot name a certain undelete program. Can anyone recommend a good one?

Another thing that can cause missing files is bad sectors on the hard drive, but first rule out malware. I hope this helps you.

Mars