Rule #1 don't assume anything
Rule #2 don't do anything critical while Windows is updating
Rule #3 don't allow Windows to auto-update anything. Set Windows to NOTIFY you of updates and do them at a time of your own choosing when you aren't doing anything critical.

"Should she stop doing any more work on that computer so that she doesn't get rid of any traces that may still be there? "

Given the info provided, I have no hope that the info could be recovered by the average user. I'd love to be proven wrong, however.

Azinoh - I agree with you completely,

I thought it was foolish of her to assumed it would be saved. It was actually set to autosave every ten minutes - so I guess she's used to that message popping up when she's typing. But she should have known better (she just reset it to autosave every minute).

To make things worse, she's on my husband's laptop. I have tried to set up the family's computers to not auto update anything. Last I checked, that was the setting on my husband's computer. But - I don't really know why it rebooted? He used to constantly lose work bc. windows was auto-updating in the background and would reboot - and he's be blindsided.

The lessons she should learn from this are:

1 - ave your work frequently

2 - if your own PC and laptop don't work well for you, instead of assuming (there's that word again) they are just not good computers, let your mother know bc. she might know how to get it operating well for you. Apparently she's using his laptop bc. she did not think her new pc was working (it's the old monitor - but she's had a new desktop for 2 months now - and doesn't seem to believe it. also hates the room it's in bc. stinkbugs get in to it). When she's typing on her laptop, her hands over the touchpad cause the cursor to jump all over the place. I wish she'd told me that before - bc. I'm pretty sure it can be set up to turn off the touchpad while typing - or change the sensitivity. Instead - in her teenage angst, she assume the whole laptop is no good (and hers is newer and faster than ours).

She did have the good thought to google retrieving unsaved word documents. Unfortunately, the suggestions either didn't work - or we could not find the Word options on my husband's 2007 Word program (I have Word 2003. Daughter has 2010. I can't find anything there.The 2007 is just set up awfully to me. Can't find a Tool option, and various buttons,tabs that I can reach on my Word. I'm sure it could be customized - but my husband isn't going to do it - and it seems a waste of my efforts when my daughter and I have versions that work for us.

I'd like to think that at least my daughter will learn from this mistake. Maybe so - but probably only learn to save as she goes.

Thanks.
Lynn.

Did you try searching for a *.docx using advanced search for today's date? I have been able to locate lost documents for customers that way.

Use the * for a wildcard search.

I think it is a lesson we all learn after the loss of an important document. It is very frustrating just to loose a post in the forums, I can't imagine how upset she must be.

PK - I did not try *.docx - with the date. I didn't try .docx at all.

At this point, she has begun the rewriting - but this is useful to know for future occurrences.

I did search for *.wbk, *.tmp (I think - and another with letters similar to adk, adsk?). I tried a few solutions that came up with google - but none yielded anything. The suggestions I tried seemed to be searching for some temporary form that the document might have been in since it was not saved.

Emma - she was verging on hysteria when it happened. But she's calmer now since she started re-writing it - and it came back to her pretty quicklym which she hadn't expected. Now she's almost done.

Thanks.
Lynn.

I don't know where my other post went, but I wanted to add that after this dramatic event have her backup the essay on her media of choice. You just never know.

DA

DA - that's great advice. She should back it up someplace other than just leaving it on that one computer. She has a flashdrive - and it makes great sense to routinely back up all her documents on it - whether she thinks she will need those documents in school or not.

I am also a fan of dropbox for these things. And I put dropbox on her computers and set up an account for her. But she has not ventured near it. And it wouldn't help if she's on my husband's laptop (although she'd be backing it up onto his dropbox - which he also hasn't mastered - but at least it's stored in the cloud).

Thanks.
Lynn.

Too many people (not just kids) want their PCs to act like a kitchen appliance - you put something into it, push a button, and it performs the desired task without the user needing to know anything about how, why, what, where, to what extent, etc. Even with Macs, it doesn't work that way yet.

#1 The discussion of the windows update being at fault or not at fault is entirely irrelevant. If the work was being saved every X minutes, that would have continued to happen up until a reboot. If it wasn't being saved, it wasn't being saved, and that's the cause of the problem. If a user doesn't take steps to ENSURE work is being saved, then it risks getting lost, and that's what happened.

#2 To think that it's better to have Windows updates not be done automatically is scary to me. I believe that approach is nothing short of foolish.

#3 To think that kids follow parental instructions concerning PC use and techniques is naive. Undesired problems from not following good advice ultimately lead to learning.

Everyone has their own style, but a 13 year old becoming hysterical over a PC problem is a bit too melodramatic for me. You can teach her good PC techniques and good judgement in conduct at the same time.

This post was edited by snidely on Sun, Mar 10, 13 at 18:39

I save stuff I am working on, photos, wallpaper or journals to my desktop. When I am finished I save them to my external hard drive and to a folder on my PC. That way I have two copies.

"#2 To think that it's better to have Windows updates not be done automatically is scary to me. I believe that approach is nothing short of foolish. "

Learning how to manage Windows is IMHO far better than allowing Windows to automatically manage the user. Some of us (me included) run critical persistent web apps that would be interrupted by auto-updates done at Windows whim (especially if they require a restart). See Rule #1 and don't assume that what works for you works for everyone.

The user that is willing to learn will usually be okay. The one that isn't willing to learn can't be helped.

".....don't assume that what works for you works for everyone."

Yup, I still to this day do manual updates. Just because I want it that way as I have never had an install or system concern with it.

I previously have never heard or read of any marching band promotion for selecting automatic. The repeated consensus has always been selecting notification.

DA

After reading her a few years I also set mine to notify me, then install the a few at a time.

This forum has a great core of (mostly) novice users who wish to know more about using their PCs. They learn loads by being active here. That's the audience I direct my comments to and you should too.

Novice users and 13 year old girls don't operate "critical persistent web apps". If you do, you know what works under those circumstances. Keep your suggestion for those circumstances.

DA, both you and azinoh would seem to be more knowledgeable users. This OP needed to do a google search (and good for her for doing that) to learn how to recover a saved file. My view is that less experienced users should do automatic updates for all software, especially on PCs used by kids.

You're welcome to disagree.

This post was edited by snidely on Sun, Mar 10, 13 at 20:49

I must take issue with snidely's item #2 re automatic Windows updates. A few years back there was a real problem with some HP computers that had AMD processors. This may have been the update for SP3, but my memory can't say for sure. The machines went into an endless reboot loop. My desktop was one of the affected ones, as was my friend's. There was finally a "fix" issued by HP which we were able to employ. My HP laptop, also with an AMD processor, although a different one, was not affected at all. I have also had minor problems with some of the .Net updates, so I always install those separately from other updates. Just my experiences, so one does learn from those not to just blithely set automatic updates.

Obviously snidely is not a mother, or he would know that 13 year olds can be very sensitive and sometimes overly dramatic. This has nothing to do with good parenting, so he would best keep remarks about such to himself. I am a great grandmother as well as a former school teacher (12, 13, 14 year olds), so I have seen it all.

I vaguely recall a session last fall in the middle of the night when my computer went into over ride update and restart despite my settings supposedly forbidding it without my ok. Never seen it do it since. Guess the only way to be completely protected from that is to work offline by selection and physical disconnection.

grandms, it sounds to me like your PC problem was an HP or remotely possibly an AMD problem and certainly not a Microsoft issue. The conclusion you've come to doesn't follow from the problem you had.

On the teenager issue, I said that others may have their own style. I have mine for the several teenagers I raised and numerous others I've mentored in various capacities. If you think displays of overly emotional behavior disproportionate to the problem don't warrant adult guidance, I'd say you missed that boat too.

You, sir, are really nasty.

I agree grandms, and I think he enjoys being nasty.

Easy Bonnie. We've seen GW recently pull posts and entire threads. Some of us even got an e-mail content "reminder" from them not too long ago.

Here's three on point quotes from the GW agreement cited in the e-mail:

1. ..... Differences of opinions are fine, condescending attitudes and sarcasm are not.

3. .....Postings using profanity or that we feel reflect badly on another user, or any class of users, are not allowed.

25. Users objecting to another user's posting should likewise address their concerns directly to our staff.

This may help you and others. Perhaps enough smoke and the fire will light.

Remember the leopard adage my friend.

DA

This post was edited by damccoy on Mon, Mar 11, 13 at 18:00

His remarks were always quite snide,
And most we could hardly abide,
Tho he spoke with aplumb,
And he sure wasn't dumb,
His dissention was spread very wide.

(edited version) :-)

Is it true it's just Moms that can slog
Through a kid's melodramatical fog?
Baloney I say
Any Dad any day
Does it well, it just takes lots of grog.

Lynn. Something else to consider seeing as how DD jumps from one computer to another.. Consider installing Dropbox on all computers/laptops/tablets...put the documents that you want in DB and through your wireless system they would be available on all of the devices..the more units you install it on, the more free storage space you are given..very handy