How To Fix Wrong Created, Modified, Accessed Dates On Files/folders
Oct 29, 2012
Cleaning up the friend of a friend's completely virus infested, badly working computer.
Windows 7x64 HP Pavilion g6 Notebook PC
The Basics:While I was beginning to install and manually offline-update various anti-malware tools so that I could begin to determine what I needed to do to get this thing clean and properly operable, I noticed while looking at Programs and Features that many of the install dates for various software were dated in various months in 2013. My installations were 1 year, 2 days ahead of the current date. Windows Explorer shows this to be consistent throughout the files and folders installed.
Looking at the install dates for some of the HP proprietary software/bloatware, I can tell this behavior started some point after the computer was purchased and used (the bloatware installation date was one day after the warranty start date listed in the BIOS). I am presuming dates on files and folders created, modified, or accessed from the point of the initial occurrence of what caused these particular incorrect future timestamps are the only ones affected.
The clock and date were wrong by the exact amount forward as were the install dates for the files I installed, so, as expected, the files were taking their timestamp from the computer's time. I assume whenever the computer date and time were maladjusted is when the problem started. I fixed the time and date, but the files and folders did not adjust their timestamps, again as expected.
1. Are there any particular problems I am not considering which could be caused by the incorrect dates, other than some particular searching and arrangement issues, which in this case I think would be superficial? This type of date information is just descriptive metadata for files and folders, correct?
2. Is there any way to fix this? I cannot think of any, but maybe there is something I am missing, hashing it out in my mind. If the BIOS clock and the Windows date and time settings were separate and the date metadata were generated based on a timer referencing the BIOS clock, then I could see a way to repair this. But, at least on this notebook, a change in one is reflected in the other--I think this is how Windows OSes operate in general. Anyway, any ideas?
3. Finally, after I finish cleaning and repairing the notebook, is there any way to globally reset all of the date metadata on all files/folders to reflect the present? So long as having incorrect future timestamps does not affect operation, then this is superficial, but it is irrationally driving me crazy. If it were my computer, I could not stand it--barely can stand it as it is. I have found a program that lets you reset all of the dates of all files in a folder, or the dates of all folders visible when opening a directory or subdirectory, but not both simultaneously, and so of course not anything that would change the dates of all the files and folders nested within one another from root.
I would [almost] swear that I used to be able to click on a file in Windows Explorer and then add or change it's details such as the dates. I may be "misremembering" but I think I could do it at the bottom of the Explorer screen or by rick-clicking, selecting properties and the Details tab.If it was ever true it is no longer so. I can't get any of the fields for a file, from Explorer or file properties/details, to open up for entry or modification.After looking at similar posts here, I went through the Take Ownership process just to make sure there were no security issues but that didn't make any difference.
One directory (Directory A) containing the same files as Directory B but with the wrong Date created / modified attributes.how to make all the files in Directory A have the same date created/modified attributes as Directory B.
Today when I loaded windows 7 I clicked on my account and after a slight delay a message appeared "preparing your desktop". When it appeared it was a new desktop and a message on the task bar stated "you can not access you files and folders". I have followed a few steps about unlocking locked accounts but my account wasn't locked. A few other things have been happening over the last week so I am worried I might have a virus.
I'm trying to create a set of directories that show art from various eras. I want them to appear in chronological order. Thus, I want the BC years to proceed backward to 0 and then forward again after AD. I've tried putting negative numbers in front of the dates but this doesn't seem to help.
I understand that by right clicking on the sorting bar you can choose and add dozens of ways to sort your files. How do I apply one (Date Accessed) not just for one folder, but for on the folders on my drive?
It seems that the copy and replace only checks names, but I would want the older files to be replaced by the newer ones, and to be ignored if they have the same names and dates. ouadad has chosen the best answer to his/her question.Click here to view the answer that was selected.
I have problem, recently all new folder are created optimized for video content with big pictures and such. How can I fix that so they are created as normal folders, because this is driving me nuts having to change this for every new folder.
How can I preserve my files' create dates, after copying and pasting to another drive?I back my system up regularly but not with one of the commercially available programs; I just copy and paste all the files/libraries I want to a HDD. I have a couple and alternate them each time I do a backup, so if the one disk fails, I always have at least the penultimate backup. When I build a new system, I just copy and paste again. Now here is my problem, when I set up a new system all my dates, except for "photo date taken" all reset to the current date. I have tried all the date options from the View menu but none show the date created. How can I preserve my dates? And is there a way to prevent this from happening again? System Window 7 64BIT Pro.
Public folders are available on original administrator account. Not other accounts (standard or administrator) Originally this was vista oem. Got win7 pro update from university. Installed, activated, verified, got windows updates including SP1. Have done the drive c: - properties - tools - check now - yes - restart and they are still missing.
I have most of my games & Steam on this particular SSD & every time I access the drive to add a mod etc there is always at least 50 empty locked .tmp folders (lost count of the number of times I've deleted them) they are all variously named but all start with MSI.. what are they & how can I prevent them from being continuously created.
I have recently updated our office computers to Windows 7 Professional. Before we used Windows XP Pro that made use of roaming profiles that was stored on a Win 2003 server. Now with Windows 7 running it is creating new username.V2 folders in the roaming profile folder. Myself as administrator has no access to these newly created folders on the server, unless I take ownership of the folder. If I do this then the userprofile cannot be accessed by the user logging on at the workstation. A temporary profile is loaded and I get a message that all changes will be deleted when the user logs off. This still happens even if I give the user full permission to his folder. The only way that I have found around this is to logon as the user, so that the .V2 folder is created. Log off and log on again as the user. I then go to the network share where the roamingprofiles is stored and give the administrator full access to the folder, will I am logged on as the user. Only then can I access the folder as the administrator on the server.
certain programs always open on the 2nd monitor which i dont always have switched on. For example I double click the program to run and it always opens on the 2nd monitor even if I drag it to my main monitor it always defaults back to monitor 2. Also why when I run programs in full screen (games mainly) when I exit out the folders that were open are a difeerent size to what I set them at before running the game sometimes even the folder will move to the 2nd monitor upon exit.
I've set up a back up batch file to copy my Documents, Pictures, Music, and Videos folders from my computer to an external hard drive. However, while running the Documents backup, it seems to find, the pictures, music, and videos folders all inside the documents folders labelled "My Music", etc. However, these folders do not exist. When I navigate in explorer to C:UsersusernameDocuments I cannot find a folder labelled "My Music". When I try to navigate to C:UsersusernameDocumentsMy Music it tells me that "access is denied". I cannot find them through command line either. As well, when I try and find the folders on the backup drive, they do not seem to be there either.
I have 5 Windows 7 computers connected to the same homegroup/workgroup via a Cisco Linksys E1200. All four computers are HPs of various makes, 3 laptops (one of them is a $600 brick) and 2 desktops. Any computer that is awake and online, shows up (with its name) in Network on the other machinesHowever, double-clicking to view files on these computers returns the following message:Code: Windows cannot access \COMPNAMECheck the spelling of the name. Otherwise, there might be a problem with your network. Totry to identify and resolve network problems, click Diagnose.Details: Error code: 0x80070035 - The network path was not found.Diagnose, as expected, did nothing. However, here's the fun bit - when I try to access files on other computers by browsing their IP address, everything works perfectlyFor now, anyway. I'm expecting a sudden degradation any day now.
I've just recently realized that copying folders to a backup hard drive resets their "created" date. Should my computer ever crash, all my backup files will state to have just been created on that certain date. Me, being the organize-freak I am, have been looking for a solution so my backed up files can have the same time stamps as on my computer right now. I've done a little searching, and have found that people always recommend Robocopy. Problem is, I can't understand a word of the tutorials. How to run Robocopy to carry out what I want? And also just for the heck of it, is Robocopy the only solution? Is there some sort of back up program on Windows 7 that can do that?
i use BitLord to download random stuff anyways the Downloads Folder Shows up like this : Now when i open Nero up it shows this Weird thing is if i hover over the folder from normal window it says the Downloads folder is only 800mb (as it is only showing me one item) yet from Nero it says the folder is over 9 Gigs. Im set as Owner of the folder and i have all permissions set for me however i am still unable to see these files outside of nero and i don't know why.When i go and try to change the permissions on the folders (the locked ones) windows says the files/folders doesn't exist...
So Ive now been getting random BSODs on my desktop for a month now, and was troubleshooting the problem all this time. Finally, to out rule any corrupt/conflicting drivers I freshly reinstalled windows (which didnt help though).
Since this reinstall, however, no more dump files are created during the BSODs. It just shows:
Collecting data for crash dump ... Initializing disk for crash dump ...
And it stays at this, no usual data dumping, even after letting the screen sit for about an hour. It recorded the dump files normally before the re-installation.
I already checked system properties, under the advanced tab, to ensure that the dump file creation was enabled. It is.
Also, does anyone know what could cause this bsod? From the dumpfiles before the reinstallation, i know that Hal.dll is the driver causing the problems. Could it be my OC? ( I doubt it as returning the CPU to factory settings resulted in the same BSODs)
So this is my second distinct BSOD in the last while. I turned on driver verifier to investigate the first BSOD problem because minidump files arent being created even after turning on small memory dumps (kernel dumps dont show up either). So this new BSOD appears immediately when the starting windows screen appears.
Ive attached the ntbtlog.txt file which was created through the enable boot logging option.
I have a 300GB hard drive that I am trying to attach. After attaching the VHD file and selecting the backup files on the hard drive the device apparently attaches but no drive is created with the next available drive letter so that I can explore the contents of the drive.
I have graphic files created through Corel x4 on an Xp computer. When I try to open them in Corel X4 on my new win 7 comp they won't open. There's now error message. I click on the file and nothing happens. Files created on the win 7 computer in Corel are fine.
A few thousand of my pictures could not be accessed anymore after I had to re-install my whole computer after a crash. They all got the error message: "Access is Denied". Also copying and deleting is impossible.With the great free tool UNLOCKER I could still delete them.Then, searching for an explanation, I found forum posts trying to explain that the error message had to do with older Windows versions, different folder systems, links instead of real files. I didnt understand at all, but wanted to follow up the advice 'take ownership an change permissions'. So I went to the Reccle Bin and restored the unaccessible files. Surprise!After restoring their behavior was completely normal.
1. Install UNLOCKER
2. Rightclick on the unaccessible files (group selection possible) and select DELETE.
3. Go to the recycle bin, select the same files, right click and select RESTORE.
I try to search them but nothing is coming up and then I saved/created again but the computer tells me "another file with that name already existed..." but I don't seem them anywhere in the folder.
I have used the SF Diagnostic tool and attached the files, but there are not memory dump files as i have tried several times to enable them but the system never creates them. The crash happens randomly and is not associated with Game or any specific application. I am using Kaspersky Pure as antivirus and i am sure its not causing any problem as i have been using it on other systems and laptops.
I plan to record PC gameplay using Fraps, which creates very large files. In order for me to do so whilst still maintaining high FPS in game, I have to record to my SSD. However, this fills up very quickly.make a program that automatically moves the recordings over to the HDD as they are created. Fraps has an option to split the recording up into 4GB segments, so what the program will need to do is detect when the second section has been created, then move the first across, then detect when the third has been created and move the second across etc.
I made a work group between 1 window seven PC and 2 window XP PC.In Window7 PC I shared folders and can see them in the 2 window XP all files and subfolders that are already in the folders before were shared. But all the files and subfolders that add after were shared I can't see.I found the subfolders that add after the shared folder was created were not shared and if I shared the subfolder I can see; but with the files nothing.How can I see all files and subfolders added to the shared folder after created?
I have a system which installed some boot files (i.e. Boot manager, Memory Tester and Windows Legacy OS loader) on the lowest numbered drive D: (the rest of course on C: which is the RAID partition where I want everything). I now know I should have disconnected the "D:" drive when I set the RAID up.
Anyone know of a sure-fire way of moving these files over without risk from D: to C: and then I can demote D: and remove the drive?
