Trying not too panic

[rtbaum]

Just returned from a lovely trip to BWCA, took many photos. I downloaded them into my laptop and reformatted the cards. I then attempted to open the internet and noted that my search engine had been changed to google chrome. I went into control panel and uninstalled the program that launched google chrome, apparently now I have lost the ability to access the internet from my computer. Making matters worse, I then did a recovery to 6 months ago to attempt to regain access to my search engine and now have lost access to Lightroom, bridge, and photoshop cc.

HELP!!!!!!

[Shadowman]

Just returned from a lovely trip to BWCA, took many photos. I downloaded them into my laptop and reformatted the cards. I then attempted to open the internet and noted that my search engine had been changed to google chrome. I went into control panel and uninstalled the program that launched google chrome, apparently now I have lost the ability to access the internet from my computer. Making matters worse, I then did a recovery to 6 months ago to attempt to regain access to my search engine and now have lost access to Lightroom, bridge, and photoshop cc.

HELP!!!!!!

Hi Randy,

All can be regained I think, I know Bridge takes awhile to search your system for photos, Lightroom has a backup function that if you already set as a preference should re-populate the catalog/library.

[chauncey]

Can we assume that you are using a Windows based OS...I don't understand how Google Chrome
would enter into the equation.

If your using Windows...go into your computer>open your hard drive>run a search for the appropriate files with the designation .jpeg/.cr2/or whatever your camera designates them to be.

[inkista]

First off, Google Chrome is a browser, not a search engine. Are you saying you're used to using Bing or something else and now you're forced to use Google? Or that your default browser got changed to Google Chrome, and you wanted to use Firefox or IE instead? That's simply a preference you can set.

Also, for issues like these, it helps if you tell us what OS you're running and which version of said OS.

Secondly, what do you mean by "did a recovery to 6 months ago"? Do you mean you thought that six months ago would be old enough to get you back what you wanted, and you just restored a few apps/files from that far back (e.g., using OSX's Time Machine)? Or that that was the most recent completely backup you had, and you restored the entire hard drive image to your backup image, and thus lost the applications and photos you'd added to the hard drive in the meantime?

[Adrian]

You have posted here, so clearly you can still use the internet.

You browser should have zero effect on your photo library (and they don't change by magic all of a sudden), but if you have wiped your hard drive and restored to a back up, then you have lost everything downloaded since that backup.

NEVER format any disk drive or card until you are sure you have copied it and backed it up at least once.

To get further help, as others have said we need much more information. As you seem quite challenged by computers, I might be inclined to take it to a specialist recovery person before you lose any more files.

[rtbaum]

I want to use IE, not google. I deleted the google app from control panel, went to preferences and changed to http//www. bing.com

OS is windows 8 on a Dell Inspiron 15" 7000 series which has an utility called Backup and Recovery; I restored the entire hard drive image to my backup image, and thus lost the applications and photos I'd added to the hard drive in the meantime?

[rtbaum]

You have posted here, so clearly you can still use the internet.

You browser should have zero effect on your photo library (and they don't change by magic all of a sudden), but if you have wiped your hard drive and restored to a back up, then you have lost everything downloaded since that backup.

NEVER format any disk drive or card until you are sure you have copied it and backed it up at least once.

To get further help, as others have said we need much more information. As you seem quite challenged by computers, I might be inclined to take it to a specialist recovery person before you lose any more files.

I fear that is what has happened, I do have backup stored on my hard drive and I am thinking that photos are floating around in the "cloud" on Creative Suite CC if that makes sense

[chauncey]

Unless you have thoroughly screwed things up and, assuming System Restore acts the same in
Windows 8 as it does in Windows 7, the files/pictures are still there...simply Restore things back
to where they were at your precise images upload time.

At this point...don't concern yourself with your Chrome Browser...no bearing on this problem.

[DanK]

I then attempted to open the internet and noted that my search engine had been changed to google chrome. I

I want to use IE, not google. I deleted the google app from control panel, went to preferences and changed to http//www. bing.com

I think you are confusing browsers (IE, Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera) with search engines (Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo). YOu can use any search engine with any browser. Neither the choice of browser nor the choice of search engine should have any effect on Lightroom, Photoshop, or Bridge.

This leaves me unclear what actually went wrong. Can you check this:

-- check which browsers you have on your computer, and see if they work.
-- try executing Lightroom and Photoshop from the start menu or the creative cloud menu and see what happens.
--As Chauncey suggested, make sure that your photos are still where they should be. If you don't know where they were stored, you can search using the relevant extension: cr2 if you shoot Canon raw, jpg if you shoot jpeg, etc.

A number of benign things can change your default search engine and your default browser, and none of these should have any effect on photoshop and lightroom. If those programs don't work, it's possible that you have some malware on your computer. You might consider downloading the free version of Malwarebytes and do a complete scan.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Dan,

A number of benign things can change your default search engine and your default browser, and none of these should have any effect on photoshop and lightroom. If those programs don't work, it's possible that you have some malware on your computer. You might consider downloading the free version of Malwarebytes and do a complete scan.

To clarify, Randy's situation (as I read it).

Either the browser or (more likely) the default Search Engine was changed by some thing.

Panic and a complete over-reaction to the situation led him to first start deleting apps, then restore back to (apparently) a point in time before he had installed PS and LR, making things 10 times worse.

Although what you say might also be partly a cause too.

I won't add to other's advice to Randy, just say that ....


I can sympathise; I had something unexpected happen to me only yesterday and in the course of trying to fix it quickly, wrote off almost the whole day, when my initial knee-jerk actions led me to need to restore thousands of deleted e-mails.

So my advice to anyone reading this thread - if something unexpected happens on a computer - walk away, think about it, perhaps while you have a beverage of choice (though not alcohol, I suggest)

Don't panic, this is even more important if you're in a rush or working to a deadline:-
Investigate thoroughly
Don't make rushed assumptions
Find out exactly what has happened and its extent
Don't rush it
If you need to, consult now, before you do anything that might make things worse

Only after considered and fully understood review of what has actually happened should you attempt to do anything, and when alerts pop-up that you normally click 'yes' to without thinking, STOP. Think hard; do you really, under these new circumstances, want to follow your normal behaviour, or is it prudent to first check (in my case) how much is in the bin before emptying it! The phrase 'more haste, less speed' certainly applies.

I hope you get sorted Randy, good luck, Dave

[IzzieK]

Randy...my home page is google chrome. And I don't panic...I don't have any cloud access I need to pay for. And I like google chrome than IE. Stay with google chrome...so you do not panic.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Randy,

One last thing - DO NOT use the memory cards again until this is fully resolved - just in case you need to recover the image files from them.

I know you reformatted them, but until you start shooting again, overwriting what was there before, you may stand a good chance of getting most back by that route, if necessary.

As others have said though; what you've done on computer so far should not have affected the files unless you were storing them in a 'daft' place.

Hope it all ends well, Dave

[rtbaum]

I clearly did over react, I have restored functionality of my computer by reloading creative suite cc and am now working with google chrome (grrr!), I will bring laptop and cards to someone who knows what they are doing to attempt to restore last weekends session. I took Dan's advice and loaded Malwarebytes, not surprisingly it did not find any real problems as I had cleared it out pretty well with the restore (there is always a silver lining), also loaded Malwarebytes to wife's computer, eliminating 3400 PUP's. Methinks she needs to be a little more selective about what sites she visits, apparently she was using my computer over the weekend and likely clicked the wrong icon, loading the google chrone. Dave is correct in his read of the situation. Fingers are crossed that I can recover the shots as I was pretty happy with a number of them: if not, what the hell, I will just have to go back

[IzzieK]

Now you can panic, Randy... Stop blaming Chrome. I love using it...

I clearly did over react, I have restored functionality of my computer by reloading creative suite cc and am now working with google chrome (grrr!), I will bring laptop and cards to someone who knows what they are doing to attempt to restore last weekends session. I took Dan's advice and loaded Malwarebytes, not surprisingly it did not find any real problems as I had cleared it out pretty well with the restore (there is always a silver lining), also loaded Malwarebytes to wife's computer, eliminating 3400 PUP's. Methinks she needs to be a little more selective about what sites she visits, apparently she was using my computer over the weekend and likely clicked the wrong icon, loading the google chrone. Dave is correct in his read of the situation. Fingers are crossed that I can recover the shots as I was pretty happy with a number of them: if not, what the hell, I will just have to go back

[Mike Buckley]

NEVER format any disk drive or card until you are sure you have copied it and backed it up at least once.

Amen to that! I don't format my memory cards until I have backed up all the downloaded image files, culled them, post-processed the keepers and cataloged them.

[xpatUSA]

I can sympathise; I had something unexpected happen to me . . .

Me too, Dave. Twice in the past couple of months on the better of my two XP machines. Not just the 'blue screen of death', oh no, I got the black screen of death. Both times, my fixer lady had to re-format the HD - goodbye everything. The second time my Seagate back-up was more up-to-date but still, reloading all your beloved photo apps, not to mention over 40GB of music, etc is a PITA.

Turned out to be a hardware problem, so we scrapped the trusty XP machine and I now have a Windows 7 Dell 4-Core i5 with 6GB of RAM. RawTherapee now runs like hot snot!!

FWIW, my fixer is not impressed by Windows 8.

As for me: come back, Fat Mac OS 5.3, all is forgiven

[IzzieK]

........As for me: come back, Fat Mac OS 5.3, all is forgiven

Thanks for the laugh on this sooooooooo rainy Summer we are having right now...

[rpcrowe]

Thanks for the laugh on this sooooooooo rainy Summer we are having right now...

Izzie... Please send some of that rain to us here in California

[IzzieK]

Izzie... Please send some of that rain to us here in California

If I know how to do it, I'd surely will...I bet you this year will be:

Spring rain
Summer rain
Autumn sunshine and
Falling leaves in Winter and so the cycle goes...
Snow in Spring next year...???

[Cantab]

If I know how to do it, I'd surely will...I bet you this year will be:

Spring rain
Summer rain
Autumn sunshine and
Falling leaves in Winter and so the cycle goes...
Snow in Spring next year...???

I'm glad someone is having rain. We've been much drier than usual. A few days ago, I woke up to an orange sun - smoke from a forest fire probably more than a 100 miles away.