I posted this on another forum but I just thought I'd stick it here too in case anyone can help.
I wonder if anyone could help me. My desktop is acting up. It's got MS Window Vista Home Premium, Dell Vostro_400, Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 3gig RAM. Hadn't recently presented any problems until this morning. I started the computer and it said there were a couple of corrupted files that needed to be scanned. The scan went ahead. Since then whenever I try to access the PC the usual way it takes ages and ages and all I get is a blue screen with a cursor. I can start Task Manager but nothing I've tried so far has had any effect. This is whether I log in under my own account or as a guest.
To add to my confusion there seem to be two versions of Vista installed.
When I'm booting up I get the option of Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows Vista. When I select the latter the PC boots up, apparently as normal, except it's all files and software from 2010 and prior. It's in this version I'm writing this post. I can't seem to access any of my work, photos, music etc. from the past 3 years. Any help with this would be appreciated. I don't have the original Vista disc unfortunately, it seems several of the proposed solutions online depend on using it.
I'd like to salvage this PC if possible as I'm not exactly flush at the minute. If I did however purchase a new PC would it be difficult to retrieve the files off the old hard drive? Most of my work is backed up online but many of the photos aren't and there's some of my own recorded files that I'd find hard (but not impossible) to get copies of again.
Again, any and all help is much appreciated.
I wonder if anyone could help me. My desktop is acting up. It's got MS Window Vista Home Premium, Dell Vostro_400, Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 3gig RAM. Hadn't recently presented any problems until this morning. I started the computer and it said there were a couple of corrupted files that needed to be scanned. The scan went ahead. Since then whenever I try to access the PC the usual way it takes ages and ages and all I get is a blue screen with a cursor. I can start Task Manager but nothing I've tried so far has had any effect. This is whether I log in under my own account or as a guest.
To add to my confusion there seem to be two versions of Vista installed.
When I'm booting up I get the option of Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows Vista. When I select the latter the PC boots up, apparently as normal, except it's all files and software from 2010 and prior. It's in this version I'm writing this post. I can't seem to access any of my work, photos, music etc. from the past 3 years. Any help with this would be appreciated. I don't have the original Vista disc unfortunately, it seems several of the proposed solutions online depend on using it.
I'd like to salvage this PC if possible as I'm not exactly flush at the minute. If I did however purchase a new PC would it be difficult to retrieve the files off the old hard drive? Most of my work is backed up online but many of the photos aren't and there's some of my own recorded files that I'd find hard (but not impossible) to get copies of again.
Again, any and all help is much appreciated.