Q&A: Restoring Hidden Icons, Okay to Uninstall Visual C++ Versions? - smithloond1969

Last dark my sister-in-law called Pine Tree State, hardly most in tears. Something had happened to her laptop and everything seemed to be gone: completely her desktop and Start menu icons, and, even scarier, all her information. IT was equivalent aliens had abducted her background. Not aliens: hackers. Her system had been infected by a virus, and it took me a few sweeps with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to get eliminate it. (Hera's a great malware-removal tutorial from PCWorld's Eric Geier.)

Just one problem: Removing the virus hadn't restored all my sister-in-law's icons and data. The hard drive still showed just about full, meaning nothing had really been erased, but for all intents and purposes, the stuff was still MIA.

Fortunately, I found a utility that worked a seemingly major miracle: It brought everything backwards.

It's called UnHide. This free, someone-controlled utility is available via BleepingComputer courtesy of a user titled Grinler. Just download and test the program, and so glucinium prepared to wait. On my arrangement, it took 10-15 proceedings to restore everything.

Merely restore everything IT did: desktop icons, the Start Menu, and totally the seemingly vanished data.

This was a first for Pine Tree State; I'd never encountered a virus that made almost the entire desktop disappear. Alarming stuff!

If you find yourself in a siamese office, don't scare. I cogitate information technology's the rare virus that actually does eat up data. That said, this is belik a blast to remind you to pee diarrhoeic backups–not just to an external drive, but besides to the cloud. Best safe than sorry!

Lector Don posed this excellent question: "I use Revo Uninstaller. Under Programs Deliver I see many an different versions of [Microsoft Visual] C++. Can I erase some of them without messing up my PC?"

I'm a Revo drug user, too, Don, and I've seen firsthand what you'Ra talking about. Of course, even lengthwise Windows' own program uninstaller can buoy reveal five-fold instances of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable, a great deal with diffferent years and version numbers pool.

On my system, in fact, I count 13 of them.

It's analytic to think that Windows probably needs lone one of these versions–the most recent. And it's also logical to think that by glade out the older ones, you'll reclaim whatever hard drive space and maybe lighten the Register's load up a bit.

My advice: leave those C++ installations alone. The reality is that they're flyspeck, usually no more than a couple megabytes, and different versions may be linked to different programs you've installed. Information technology's darn just about impossible to know which single is related to with which, and deleting one might render a course of study inoperable–a hassle you definitely don't need.

I totally get the appeal of sifting through your uninstaller in search of programs you can send away. However, when in doubt, don't confound it out.

Instead, if you're looking for to optimize your scheme, free high some drive space, etc., seek a service program like Advanced SystemCare 5 Justify. IT works pretty well, and information technology's little promising to delete something you'll need.

If you've got a harry that necessarily resolution, send IT my style. I can't promise a response, but I'll definitely read every e-mail I get–and coif my best to address at least any of them in the PCWorld Hassle-Free Personal computer blog . My 411: hasslefree@pcworld.com . You can also sign dormie to take the Dogfight-Free PC newsletter e-mailed to you hebdomadally .

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/474081/qanda_restoring_hidden_icons_okay_to_uninstall_visual_c_versions_.html

Posted by: smithloond1969.blogspot.com

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