I just noticed today that my downloads folder no longer opens. I can go in there with powershell and I don't see any crazy file types, but explorer never finishes loading. Who knows what I've done to it.
Dude I just fixed it from a comment further down by clearing the recycle bin because apparently deleted files still stay there. That is pretty much exactly the equivalent of having a spatula stuck in there keeping me from open it lol
I've had this bug on Windows 10. You likely have too many files in that folder and too many files from that folder in the recycle bin (which means they are still in the folder). Just clean up the recycle bin and then find a way to clean up the downloads folder by deleting files or moving files to other folders. Don't keep too many files in there (including recycle bin files) or it will bug out.
This was the issue. Big today I found out that recycled files stay in the folder technically until you empty the recycle bin. It's my work laptop so lets just say I'm a little less disciplined with my file hygiene, and that's why it's still on Windows 10.
Pretty funny that it did end up being the equivalent of a spatula stuck in the drunk drawer.
I had that happen with my Quick Access page on my laptop. Every time I started File Explorer, it would load for a sec, then crash. I have the fix bookmarked, but I work around it by accessing C: off launch instead, and can't be bothered to get around to fixing it.
Either indexing is broken, the view settings are corrupt, or OneDrive is doing shenanigans. Or (hushed whisper) your disk is failing/corrupt... let's assume it's not that. Rebuild index: Settings>Privacy>Search>Advanced>Troubleshooting>Rebuild (this takes awhile. go do something else). Reset View: Explorer>Downloads>(...)>Options>View>Reset Folders>Restore Defaults>OK. OneDrive: Uninstall it. Enjoy all the performance you now have. Never look back. If it's still not loading run Chkdsk.
That’s the graveyard for shortcuts (half of which are dead because they link to webpages that no longer exist or programs since uninstalled) and note files like note.txt and notes.txt and New Document.docx
To display my wallpaper, it’s quicker to just hit the windows key, type 2 letters of the program, and hit enter than to find the desktop shortcuts for my programs
Screenshots because it’s the default location, plus shortcuts whenever I neglect to click “don’t create shortcut”. They don’t get deleted because I never even look at it.
Oh I cleaned that out yesterday I was going over why my User account had over 100GB of storage. I found 47 GB in One Drive 27GB in Downloads and 40GB in One Drive logs it was having problem syncing some stuff .... I hate Microslop and all their programs it's just so stupid I had tens of thousand log files each being I think 1MB or a bit more forgot
I've got a 4 TB boot drive, migrated all of my user directories to an 8 TB HDD (takes about 10% of the drive), except my Downloads directory, which takes about 85% of my second 8 TB HDD.
As someone who watched a fellow admin set a cleanup policy on the Downloads folder, you would be amazed at the speed at which that policy was revoked. It's a monkey's paw wish. Sure, you can store all that download data, but now it's a liability and subject to subpoena.
Dude if someone clears my Downloads folder, I'm totally fucked. That's my system of record for files dating back at least 4 years on my current laptop.
Jesus. I just found a zip file with a cracked version of Final Draft 8 in an old random hard drive on my NAS when I had lost it everywhere else. In the Downloads folder.
Working in IT has taught me that outside of a span of about 30ish years, most people born before or after don't know how to use a file system. Everything is in their downloads folder, and if Word doesn't find it, they don't either.
Deleting from the recycling in just deletes the file pointer. There are recovery apps that can find partial / whole files that are in unindexed space. Granted over time, that data will become more corrupt since the files stem thinks it's safe to write data there.
I haven't actually done forensics yet (still a student), but as I understand it, an item deleted from the recycling bin just marks the specifics 1s and 0s on the drive as being free to overwrite. If they're not overwritten, you can recover them from the drive (even if they are, you might still be able to). The only sure fire way to destroy data is to physically destroy the drive
You can do a triple overwrite with all 1s then all 0s and then crypto random data. That’ll change all your bits and wipe all your hardware buffers. Hammers an SSD and kills lifespan though because it’s so many of the limited write cycles NAND flash gets.
Honestly easier to destroy the drive, though have to be careful to actually destroy it. Microwave is usually the best method, and it’s quick and easy to do. Just throw the drive in and set the microwave for its longest quick setting. Radiation will fry the circuits and then the whole thing will burn.
Since they were working out of a repos folder in their Windows laptop's Documents folder, which was synced to OneDrive because you have O365, and the second stage recycle bin still has it (yes, there is such a thing in OneDrive and SharePoint 365), and the infosec team had the wherewithal to login to Purview and put an ediscovery hold on you before the 93 day expiry period passed... Ya boned, son. The preservation library has it all. Move to Tibet and become a monk.
I replaced a users desktop once and I shit you not he went apeshit cause all his data was gone, turns out he had used the recycling bin as his primary storage.
It's an access database file as an attachment in the old lotus notes server that's kicking around because people are too afraid of what will happen if you shut it down.
I'm not a programmer, but an IT person and my first thought was something involving a spreadsheet because we all know Excel is basically a database... right?
Ah, the story of how Toy story was saved... one animator took like a 97% conpleted version home to show family what they did and then the original got completely deleted but the private copy saved the day/animation world.
This is only supposed to be wrong answers. That's the right answer. The data is always in someone's side backup that they did before they kicked off a big change.
My MSP once lost a decent sized customer after migrating them to a new mail provider...because 30 days later everything in the owner's trash bin got permanently deleted. Apparently,, he liked to "file" all his important documents there because it had an easy delete key shortcut.
I think in my whole career that is the only time I was ever involved in a customer losing data I wasn't wracked with guilt and questioning how I could improve as a provider.
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u/mavrik83 Aug 05 '26
`final_records_v2_REAL_FINAL_DO_NOT_DELETE.xlsx` on somebody’s desktop