Vista User Profile Disappears [BIG Problem]

From time to time I help neighbors with their computer problems, and sometimes they have MS Vista systems. I have, so far, avoided Vista myself mostly because I see no reason to abandon XP and because of the bad press Vista has received. I have, or have had, a generally favorable impression of Microsoft; and my first instinct has been to blame the bad press on user ineptitude and/or extreme corner cases.

I got a call several weeks ago from a woman who couldn't log on to her system. She got a message like, "The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded." I didn't actually know what the message was until I got there myself. This woman is an unsophisticated, minimalist user of her system, and her telephone description of the problem was also minimalist. The system is a Vista system. She was the only user account shown on the startup screen. I couldn't log on either.

Maybe I tried some other stuff, but I eventually discovered I could boot up in Safe Mode, and in Safe Mode I could log on to her account, or something that seemed like her account. I forget now exactly what I did but I was able to create a new user account for her and then boot Vista normally and log on to the account.

When I got home I did some searching on the internet; and I found out that this woman was hardly alone. There was information about how to retrieve the old user profile which Vista had renamed to a .bak. I called to let her know that I could do try this for her if she wanted me to.

Last week she called again to let me know that she couldn't find some file or other and I told her that I would be passing by her home and I would stop by and find her file.

I couldn't find it either. ALL OF THE FILES IN HER "MY DOCUMENTS" FOLDER WERE GONE ALONG WITH THE OLD USER PROFILE. I said I would find those instructions for restoring the old profile and come back at some mutually convenient time.

Today was the day. I turned on her computer and BOOM, I couldn't log on again. The new user I had created for her had disappeared too. And unfortunately that new user was her name just like the original one. So now when I went to retrieve the renamed profile I was retrieving the intermediate one. Her original was gone because when Vista renamed the second profile it renamed it to the same name as the original backup.

Maybe you followed this. Maybe you didn't. The bottom line is that Microsoft has either a BS explanation for why this happens or they admit they haven't a clue. This has to be a very common thing if it has happened twice in the past month to someone who basically uses her computer as an email machine. IT IS OBSCENE THAT MICROSOFT IS ALLOWING THIS PROBLEM TO PERSIST WITHOUT RECALLING VISTA ALTOGETHER.

My advice to anyone using Vista is to make sure that you do not store anything in any folder that is associated with your username such as the "My Documents" folder or your "Desktop." I also recommend that you find and print the instructions for modifying the Registry to retrieve the mysteriously renamed profile.

A virus doesn't care whether the connection is dial-up or high-speed. The reason why I mentioned spyware is because I frequent both the Geeks To Go and Bleeping Computer forums and remember a trojan/rootkit going around which renames (sometimes critical) files and creates BAKs of them.

Try running Norman Malware Cleaner in Safe Mode.

If that doesn't do the trick, here's option two:

Please download ATF Cleaner by Atribune & save it to your desktop. DO NOT use yet.
Please download and install SUPERAntiSpyware Free

Double-click SUPERAntiSypware.exe and use the default settings for installation.
An icon will be created on your desktop. Double-click that icon to launch the program.
If asked to update the program definitions, click "Yes". If not, update the definitions before scanning by selecting "Check for Updates". (If you encounter any problems while downloading the updates, manually download them from here and unzip into the program's folder.)
Under the "Configuration and Preferences", click the Preferences... button.
Click the "General and Startup" tab, and under Start-up Options, make sure "Start SUPERAntiSpyware when Windows starts" box is unchecked.
Click the "Scanning Control" tab, and under Scanner Options, make sure the following are checked (leave all others unchecked):
- Close browsers before scanning.
- Scan for tracking cookies.
- Terminate memory threats before quarantining.
Click the "Close" button to leave the control center screen and exit the program.
Do not run a scan just yet.

Reboot your computer in "Safe Mode" using the F8 method. To do this, restart your computer and after hearing your computer beep once during startup (but before the Windows icon appears) press the F8 key repeatedly. A menu will appear with several options. Use the arrow keys to navigate and select the option to run Windows in "Safe Mode".

Double-click ATF-Cleaner.exe to run the program.

Under Main "Select Files to Delete" choose: Select All.
Click the Empty Selected button.
If you use Firefox browser click Firefox at the top and choose: Select All
Click the Empty Selected button.
If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.
If you use Opera browser click Opera at the top and choose: Select All
Click the Empty Selected button.
If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.
Click Exit on the Main menu to close the program.

Note: On Vista, "Windows Temp" is disabled. To empty "Windows Temp" ATF-Cleaner must be "Run as an Administrator".

Scan with SUPERAntiSpyware as follows:

Launch the program and back on the main screen, under "Scan for Harmful Software" click Scan your computer.
On the left, make sure you check C:\Fixed Drive.
On the right, under "Complete Scan", choose Perform Complete Scan and click "Next".
After the scan is complete, a Scan Summary box will appear with potentially harmful items that were detected. Click "OK".
Make sure everything has a checkmark next to it and click "Next".
A notification will appear that "Quarantine and Removal is Complete". Click "OK" and then click the "Finish" button to return to the main menu.
If asked if you want to reboot, click "Yes" and reboot normally.
To retrieve the removal information after reboot, launch SUPERAntispyware again.
- Click Preferences, then click the Statistics/Logs tab.
- Under Scanner Logs, double-click SUPERAntiSpyware Scan Log.
- If there are several logs, click the current dated log and press View log. A text file will open in your default text editor.
Click Close to exit the program.

Language lifted from Bleeping Computer forum.

A virus doesn't care whether the connection is dial-up or high-speed.

Gee, thanks for the education Sherlock.

The reason dialup matters is that it limits the number of websites one can visit, it limits the amount of stuff that can be transferred to a computer, and the lifetime of the IP address is limited to the duration of the phone call. If you don't understand, try one of those "For Dummies," books.

BTW Spyware and Viruses are distinctly different animals.

I've read dozens of usenet threads about this and consulted Microsoft's posted information. Somehow all have missed attributing this to malware. I think I'll skip Geeks to Go.

ML/NJ

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