Help, I was working on a term paper last night. I fell asleep with word open
and updates to a document unsaved.
Overnight my computer "automatically updated and restarted". My updated
work appears to be gone. Is there any way to get it back???

nope

Frank wrote:

> Help, I was working on a term paper last night. I fell asleep with word open
> and updates to a document unsaved.
> Overnight my computer "automatically updated and restarted". My updated
> work appears to be gone. Is there any way to get it back???

Updates do not automatically reboot the computer. You are presented with a
screen where you have to press a button "Reboot Now"". If you don't press
the button the computer will NOT reboot.

You likely had a power failure and the computer bios is set to restart upon
power outage.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

"Bob I" <birelan@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:e%23OxuoU6FHA.2192@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> nope
>
> Frank wrote:
>
>> Help, I was working on a term paper last night. I fell asleep with word
>> open and updates to a document unsaved.
>> Overnight my computer "automatically updated and restarted". My updated
>> work appears to be gone. Is there any way to get it back???
>

No. Your unsaved document's data is lost. Sorry.

Since this might happen again, I suggest you open MS Word
and go to Tools > Options > Save and check the
"Save AutoRecover info every" box. Also check the
save interval box to the right and set the automatic saves
for say, 5 or 10 minutes. If your system goes belly-up on
you again, launch MS Word and it will open the AutoRecover
fiel. You might still lose some data from your unsaved document,
but you'll likely get most of it back. Once you get the AutoRecover
file up, SAVE it as a file. Do this before doing anything else.

Nothing beats saving the document as a filename "example.doc"
before you drift off to sleep again. AutoRecover is the next best thing.

"Bob I" <birelan@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:e%23OxuoU6FHA.2192@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> nope
>
> Frank wrote:
>
>> Help, I was working on a term paper last night. I fell asleep with word open and updates to a document
>> unsaved.
>> Overnight my computer "automatically updated and restarted". My updated work appears to be gone. Is there
>> any way to get it back???
>

Thanks to all who replied. I went into the "restore" files and found a 3:00
am restore point on the date in question. I reset my pc to the restore point
and then reopened Word. I found my work intact and ready to continue. A
particular thanks to "Uncle Joe" for the excellent hint about setting up a
time interval.

"Frank" wrote:

> Help, I was working on a term paper last night. I fell asleep with word open
> and updates to a document unsaved.
> Overnight my computer "automatically updated and restarted". My updated
> work appears to be gone. Is there any way to get it back???

Congratulations on recovering your work. You were very lucky. (Smile.)

"Frank" <Frank@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0435DBBA-4865-4607-87FA-F5B37E9837E8@microsoft.com...
> Thanks to all who replied. I went into the "restore" files and found a 3:00
> am restore point on the date in question. I reset my pc to the restore point
> and then reopened Word. I found my work intact and ready to continue. A
> particular thanks to "Uncle Joe" for the excellent hint about setting up a
> time interval.
>
> "Frank" wrote:
>
>> Help, I was working on a term paper last night. I fell asleep with word open
>> and updates to a document unsaved.
>> Overnight my computer "automatically updated and restarted". My updated
>> work appears to be gone. Is there any way to get it back???

If the file is lost like you say, then why can forensic computer analysts
recover files from a computer that have not even been saved. They can also
recover any image that you have ever viewed on your computer regardless of if
it was saved or not? Also, I have saw on one of these threads that the lost
information is eventually "overwritten" if the computer is used many times
after the file was lost, so how is it possible that they can obtain documents
that were written but never saved and never printed?

"Uncle Joe" wrote:

> No. Your unsaved document's data is lost. Sorry.
>
> Since this might happen again, I suggest you open MS Word
> and go to Tools > Options > Save and check the
> "Save AutoRecover info every" box. Also check the
> save interval box to the right and set the automatic saves
> for say, 5 or 10 minutes. If your system goes belly-up on
> you again, launch MS Word and it will open the AutoRecover
> fiel. You might still lose some data from your unsaved document,
> but you'll likely get most of it back. Once you get the AutoRecover
> file up, SAVE it as a file. Do this before doing anything else.
>
> Nothing beats saving the document as a filename "example.doc"
> before you drift off to sleep again. AutoRecover is the next best thing.
>
> "Bob I" <birelan@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:e%23OxuoU6FHA.2192@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> > nope
> >
> > Frank wrote:
> >
> >> Help, I was working on a term paper last night. I fell asleep with word open and updates to a document
> >> unsaved.
> >> Overnight my computer "automatically updated and restarted". My updated work appears to be gone. Is there
> >> any way to get it back???
> >
>
>
>

You got me. That Sci-Fi forensic data recovery wizardry is
beyond this simple old goat's comprehension. From what
you say, they can recover data on hard drives based on
what you were thinking although you didn't hit one keystroke.
How? I dunno. The geniuses at the national Security Agency
have developed all type of techniques for breaking into
terrorists' and criminals' PCs and analyzing hard drives.

The moral: don't put anything on your hard drive that you
wouldn't mind others finding if you suddenly dropped dead
of a heart attack.

Another key thing to consider is the cost of forensic data
recovery. These folks are scientists and artists. They charge
corporate rates for data recovery. The individual usually has
no chance to avail themselves of data recovery technologies.
You certainly couldn't justify their services to recover a lost
Word file unless you had just won a big-time lottery.

"IcU812" <IcU812@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4105984A-6E17-4543-BE29-19A87F2D0950@microsoft.com...
> If the file is lost like you say, then why can forensic computer analysts
> recover files from a computer that have not even been saved. They can also
> recover any image that you have ever viewed on your computer regardless of if
> it was saved or not? Also, I have saw on one of these threads that the lost
> information is eventually "overwritten" if the computer is used many times
> after the file was lost, so how is it possible that they can obtain documents
> that were written but never saved and never printed?
>
> "Uncle Joe" wrote:
>
>> No. Your unsaved document's data is lost. Sorry.
>>
>> Since this might happen again, I suggest you open MS Word
>> and go to Tools > Options > Save and check the
>> "Save AutoRecover info every" box. Also check the
>> save interval box to the right and set the automatic saves
>> for say, 5 or 10 minutes. If your system goes belly-up on
>> you again, launch MS Word and it will open the AutoRecover
>> fiel. You might still lose some data from your unsaved document,
>> but you'll likely get most of it back. Once you get the AutoRecover
>> file up, SAVE it as a file. Do this before doing anything else.
>>
>> Nothing beats saving the document as a filename "example.doc"
>> before you drift off to sleep again. AutoRecover is the next best thing.
>>
>> "Bob I" <birelan@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:e%23OxuoU6FHA.2192@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
>> > nope
>> >
>> > Frank wrote:
>> >
>> >> Help, I was working on a term paper last night. I fell asleep with word open and updates to a document
>> >> unsaved.
>> >> Overnight my computer "automatically updated and restarted". My updated work appears to be gone. Is
>> >> there
>> >> any way to get it back???
>> >
>>
>>
>>

=?Utf-8?B?SWNVODEy?= wrote:
>
> If the file is lost like you say, then why can forensic computer analysts
> recover files from a computer that have not even been saved. They can also
> recover any image that you have ever viewed on your computer regardless of if
> it was saved or not? Also, I have saw on one of these threads that the lost

Not true. I sub contract to a data recovery firm that deals in
recovering illegal pics on pcs. It's often not possible to get the proof
you need to present in court.


> information is eventually "overwritten" if the computer is used many times
> after the file was lost, so how is it possible that they can obtain documents
> that were written but never saved and never printed?

Read two weeks ago about a guy who took his PC in for
service and the technician found over 1,000 kiddie porn
images on his hard disk. Cops were called, and the guy
was arrested when he returned to claim his PC. Justice
was served.

Made me wonder why the techie searched the hard drive
for porn in the first place instead of repairing the PC. Have
nothing to hide on my PC but it makes me nervous to think
of a technician snooping around in my Word or TaxCut files
instead of replacing a broken widget.


"Plato" <|@|.|> wrote in message news:438f3217$0$320$bb4e3ad8@newscene.com...
> =?Utf-8?B?SWNVODEy?= wrote:
>>
>> If the file is lost like you say, then why can forensic computer analysts
>> recover files from a computer that have not even been saved. They can also
>> recover any image that you have ever viewed on your computer regardless of if
>> it was saved or not? Also, I have saw on one of these threads that the lost
>
> Not true. I sub contract to a data recovery firm that deals in
> recovering illegal pics on pcs. It's often not possible to get the proof
> you need to present in court.
>
>
>> information is eventually "overwritten" if the computer is used many times
>> after the file was lost, so how is it possible that they can obtain documents
>> that were written but never saved and never printed?
>
>

Uncle Joe wrote:
>
> Read two weeks ago about a guy who took his PC in for
> service and the technician found over 1,000 kiddie porn
> images on his hard disk. Cops were called, and the guy
> was arrested when he returned to claim his PC. Justice
> was served.
>
> Made me wonder why the techie searched the hard drive
> for porn in the first place instead of repairing the PC. Have
> nothing to hide on my PC but it makes me nervous to think
> of a technician snooping around in my Word or TaxCut files
> instead of replacing a broken widget.

17 year old guys who have their first job repairing pcs. Seeing what's
on customers hard drives just passes the time.