My system decided to completely purge itself over night and I found most of my stuff gone this morning - software, pics and documents, not to mention my Internet Explorer and email. Anyway, I spent the entire day redownloading all my CC software and then turned the computer off as the weather was hot and my computer was struggling! Turned it back on tonight and again all my stuff is gone including all my CC software that I know I downloaded successfully. Any ideas of what I should do? I'm at my wits end!!!

First thing to do is get that computer checked for viruses and malware. Download Malwarebytes (google it and it shouldn't be too hard to find) and also download and use ccleaner which you can find at http://www.piriform.com which will clean up a lot of stuff that is broken links, leftover program traces when things get uninstalled and of course any and all temporary files.

How old is the computer by the way? If it's not too old (less than 3 years) then this should not be a meltdown and is most likely a piece of hardware frying, such as your harddrive.

If you're unsure how to proceed for any of this, take it in to a shop and let someone do it for you, don't replace the computer just for this, first find out what is wrong as it could be just a part needs replacing. Shop charges are a lot less than the cost of replacing the whole machine is, so it's worth the cost there.

Define gone? Nothing in c:\windows\program files? Or are the shortcuts missing?

Assuming you are talking of a desktop computer:

CPU fans may have their antics, since you say the computer is hot. An idea would be to open the cabinet and check if there is a lot of dust inside. If it looks like you have a woollen blanket in there, removing it may fix it. A spray box with air is very handy. While the cover is off the cabinet, start the machine and check if the cooler fan of the CPU, and the one sitting at the power are working.

Programs are not in program files in my C drive and coming to think of it, yes it struggles and whirs away with use. I'll give it a blowout either way and do the shop thing. Not sure I'm brilliant enough to diagnose and fix this myself!! Thank you for the input - it's a start.

Good luck on it Miniboo, come let us know what the trouble was

Clutching at straws BUT before going to the shop for a bill

Have you considered opening a new user account, from the control panel

and then re installing your programs if it works you can delete the old user account

Seems unlikely cure but it just occured to me that some sort of upset in your user account can do some strange things, might prevent you from seing what is actually still there

Usually, overheating doesn't just make things disappear from storage. It will cause your system to power off or cause memory issues. You may have a HD issue. Blow out the case and install some fans.