Computer Issues

I know we have a few computer literate people on this forum, so I thought I would ask here. A few days ago I was installing some tax software on my computer and had to reboot. When it came back on, things had obviously changed. I was missing a few icons on the screen and everything had been moved around. The screen had a photo of what looked like sunshine shining in through a window. In looking closer, I was missing Word, Excel, my time and billing program. As it was time to do my billing, I installed my backup, keyed in my last few weeks of time, and did my billing. Came back in on Monday. Decided I would reboot and see if anything would miraculously come back. When I rebooted, I lost my time and billing again.

I initially thought maybe a new Windows download had installed, but in looking into that, no updates in over 10 days. I did a "system restore" from the day it all happened. The tax program I downloaded was there, as well as everything else. Problem is, I'm now afraid to turn my computer off. Anyone have any ideas as to what could be going on? I'm on Windows 10, if that matters.

Maybe you're accidentally logging in as a different user after it reboots.

Rebooting has always worked for me.

Most tax software installation programs require you to be logged in with ADMIN rights so check that first. See how are you logged in with your usual user name or ADIM in Windows.

If all fails do a selective restore to a date prior to installation of the tax software and see if you can restore it back to the way things were. Then you have to figure out how you are going to reinstall the tax software.

What you described sounds like you signed in with a different Windows account than intended. Each user has their own icons and configuration, including Office applications.

Atsman, the tax software is there and working fine. Nothing was ever incorrect there.

I am the only user on the computer, and as far as I know, only have one password. When I have to turn off or reboot again, I will definitely look more closely at any passwords I use. As far as I know, I didn't reboot any differently than I ever have.

Thanks for the feedback!

Did you figure out what happened? Are you back to your usual desktop display?

Once I did the system restore, it went back to the usual display with all of my programs. I then had to install the new backup of the time and billing that I had changed to get it current. Never did determine what happened. Don't think I logged in with another Windows account since, to my knowledge, I only have one account. It's really strange!