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But if the files really are gone, Steam didn't do it and you may have bigger issues.
Now it really deleted all the files and only in the GAMES folder.
The HDD is fine and I only had Firefox open with one YouTube tab while Steam updated, I don't know what happened.
Using a restoration point only brought back very few files and it was all still broken.
I'll really have to redownload almost 200GB of games just cause.
The most common causes of this problem are covered there.
EDIT.............
CCleaner is one big red flag to this problem. It can have a "monitoring mode" setting that automatically "cleans" your PC, and is a known direct conflict with Steam and games.
Stop it from launching at boot, make the settings to "not monitor", or uninstall it and stop using it.
It's just one possibility of this problem you keep having.
EDIT 2...........
On the bottom of the support page linked above, there is another support page linked, which goes to here :
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9828-SFLZ-9289
There used to be a list of programs on an older version of that page, and CCleaner was on that old list. The page was updated to cover possibilities, and the lists removed, as some programs may not have caused problems anymore, and/or there are just too many possibilities to cover in a list.
My CCleaner doesn't monitor, doesn't clean automatically and doesn't even look for updates automatically.
I know how to use it, I've been using it for years, it never caused any problem and it doesn't fit with the things on that current list.
Even the AV's active monitoring is turned off, there is basically nothing active on the PC unless I open it myself.
I did read that page, I looked for solutions before asking here and found none. It it seems like there is no way to fix this since the files are all gone. The only solution is to redownload.
It's often software related, yes, even if you have used such software for years with no problems. Software updates all the time, and can present new issues that were never seen before.
Or, it can be the hard drive is having issues. Did you check it's health and make sure ?
Go to msconfig from Windows Start, and look at the services tabs and startup tabs there to see what is actually running on boot of your PC. Unless you are manually running a program at a later time, and then that is causing the files to become missing.
I always turn off software updates, even the automatic *search* for updates.
The only software updated was Steam...
When it happened I was watching a YouTube video on Firefox, opened Steam to play CSGO, but it started downloading a about 150MB update. When it finished the images that appear behind the games were in a smaller size so I closed and opened Steam again hoping to fix that, then I noticed I only had 2 non-Steam shortcuts on my INSTALLED list.
Are you saying that the shortcuts are the only thing missing ?
Don't use any shortcuts while troubleshooting issues just like this. Only use your Steam library and "play" buttons. Shortcuts can become broken or missing due to other issues.
There is still a problem, of course, so just saying that in case.
Go to the folder or drive where the games were installed. Right click and go to "properties", then "previous versions" tab on top.
Since you said you got some of the files from a restore point, see if you can manually get them this way using the previous versions tab instead, if possible.
However, that still does not address the actual issue, of course, but only maybe gets the files back so you hopefully don't have to redownload them. Therefore, I would suggest finding and fixing the actual problem and just saving the files for now, if you can get any of them at all using this method or other.
EDIT...Sorry for the long post. Going to add this here in case it might help and I miss your reply :
After doing a restore point, you have to also now reupdate Windows and any drivers also, if that applies. Your OS might depend on this here, but as far as I can tell, you have not posted your specs (including OS) here as of yet.
You said you disable software updates, so I have to guess what you mean when you say that. That's why I am covering this here. I am guessing you mean third party software updates, but we can't know for sure if you reupdated everything essential since that restore point, including the OS and/or drivers.
Also, restoring was maybe only going to get the files back (and not that fully in this case), not fix the actual issue causing this, unless that previous version somehow removed the actual cause, which it seems it did not. That needs to be done first. Steam did not remove your games, as well as your common folder. That's something else that did that. Especially since you said Origin games and others :
Not even sure how anyone can think Steam would uninstall/delete your Origin games. You said "GAMES folder", so apparently you mean in the Windows menu. Does that mean you have Steam installed to that folder also ? Because the normal installed path to Steam game folders is ProgramFiles/Steam/steamapps/common. That's why I was talking about shortcuts above. If you meant that you are missing the shortcuts in that GAMES folder, that's another issue.
Also, just because an issue presents itself right at the moment you do a certain action, that does not necessarily mean that action was the cause of the issue. It just presented itsef at that moment. Opening Steam and seeing problems like this does not mean Steam was the cause of the problems.
We need more details :
Have you actually ran a disk check and checked the hard drive for errors ? All I see is you said "the hard drive is fine". How do you know it is fine ?
Exact path to where you have Steam installed on your computer.
Operating system (including if 32 or 64 bit)
Hard drive(s) configuration (external, internal, USB, SATA, etc.)
Computer model and model number, or motherboard if custom built.
Anything else you think might help. I often ask for screenshots of msconfig services and startup tabs, too.
They're shortcuts from non-Steam games you can put on Steam. They always appear under INSTALLED.
No available previous versions. The files that reappered in the whole GAMES folder formed only 700MB. So all the games didn't open and showed errors.
I think the problem was just Steam.
Core 2 Quad Q8400 2.66Ghz @ 2,74Ghz
6GB RAM DDR3
GeForce GTX 750 Ti
Windows 7 Ultimate Editoin x64
HDD is ST500DM002-1BD142 SATA, 500GB paritioned in 266GB and 198GB.
S.M.A.R.T. shows no problems with the HDD and no other problem appeared on the PC, nothing else was deleted.
I already told about the services and start applications.
I disable updates on everything but I manually update things in around 2 months, only Steam and Origin update automatically when I open them.
The restore point was of 2 days before, from the installation of The Walking Dead: The Final Season, nothing changed except that game was back.. I unmade the restoration and started redownloading the games.
I have a folder on C: named GAMES where I install Steam games, Origins games and others. It deleted all that, except the files of Steam itself I guess, since it worked normally but there was no longer a steamapps folder inside of it.
Steam games are C:\GAMES\Steam\steamapps\common
Origin itself also works, but it's installed somewhere else, only the games are put on the GAMES folder.
So that means you surely need to check it for updated drivers, as we can't know what is up to date from what you said here :
https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/G41M-VS3/#Download
Make sure ALL of those are fully up to date, except any GPU drivers of course. You get those from Nvidia only. Don't use Windows Update to update drivers for Windows 7.
So Steam is installed to your internal drive and it is C and Steam is installed under the GAMES folder. Thanks. In the OP you said the common folder was missing. Now you seem to say the steamapps folder is also missing.
The steamapps folder contains the .acf files for all your Steam installed games, as well as the common folder with the game folders, of course. If that folder is missing, then all those files as well as the games are gone also. Just making sure you understand how the file structure works in Steam.
https://neosmart.net/wiki/chkdsk/
Run a disk check.
That is my suggestion as of now, to make sure the OS and all drivers are now up to date, and run a disk check and reply as to what was found, if anything.
Also, have you scanned for any malware lately, using something much better than Avast ?
Malwarebytes, would be my suggestion.
GPU is using the driver 419.35, one before the latest.
In this year I did scanned with BitDefender, then changed it for Avast and scanned with it and also scanned with Malwarebytes, nothing found.
Also did a chkdsk /f /r, before this happened, no problems.
I really don't think there is anything wrong on my side and this was just Steam causing problems
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/
There are millions of Steam accounts and therefore, millions of Steam users. What do you think that forum would look like at any time, if Steam was doing this to people's installed games ?
It would be destroyed, and probably crash the servers. In about 6 more days, I will have 11 years here. Never had any of these issues at all.
It's something on your system, we/you just have not figured it out yet.