Corrupted user profile (repeatedly), what can I do about it?

thomond2006

My laptop's (HP Windows 7) user profile is being corrupted every 2/3 weeks, which means I have to transfer my files/documents/favourites onto a new profile every time which is very annoying.

What is this usually caused by and is there anything I can do about it?

Cheers.

thomond2006

*Bump*

Anyone got advice?

Gone Drinking

I'd say there's something hidden doing the damage, be it a virus, malware or whatever.

My advice would be to back up all your stuff. If you hit F8 when your machine is booting, there should be a "repair your PC" option. Select it and hit enter.

There should be listed in there an option to restore your machines factory image. This will wipe your PC and install everything the way it was the first day you turned on your machine.

You can restore your stuff then.

rhonin

Have your tried scanning for viruses and malware?

thomond2006

rhonin wrote: »

Have your tried scanning for viruses and malware?

I have, nothing showing. AFAIK I have up to date software.

Is there a way of using data recovery or something similar to fix the problem?

lmimmfn

This happened me recently, i dont know if this is much good to you( at least it means you can keep the same account lol )
I created a new user account( new user id ). Backed up all my old user account data. Deleted the corrupt user account. Rebooted. Recreated it and copied everything across, worked a treat.

My guess is either Harddrive corruption or mem problems with that laptop causing corrupt info to be written to the harddrive. Run memtest on it.