Windows 10: DISK CLEANUP WIPED out my entire "DOCUMENTS" FOLDER

I had no idea 'DISK CLEANUP" on my ROOT DISK would totally wipe my "DOCUMENTS" Folder and some extremely important files, all it left was a 'desktop'ini'. It did not touch my DOWNLOADS folder. Does anyone know why it would do this? Can I not trust it any more? AND why would it do this? Also, I have tried to compare two DISKS and put them 'side by side' with 'Window Explorer' windows. It refused by constantly making one FULL windows when I tried to move it in position. I have tried to find out if there is any way to remove or disable the "artificial intelligence" in Windows to make it stop anticipation doing what IT THINKS I WANT TO DO AND DO WHAT I TELL IT TO DO like making windows FULL if I touch them with a Mouse. WINDOWS VERSION 20H2 [OS BUILD 19042.1110] DELL version on a DELL Inspiron 5593

:)

 

Windows 10 Disk CleanUp wiped my entire Download folder

I ran disk clean up last night, and noticed that the Downloads folder were an option. On account that I’ve used this tool for decades, and that it says that it removes «unnecessary files», I thought that I would clean up some leftovers from various updates.
But instead it wiped the entire folder clean! It contained everything from photos, documents, programs etc!

How do I recover these files?!

 

DISK CLEANUP

Hello,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

1. Which files are you trying to delete using disk clean up?
2. Which version of Windows are you currently using?

Please reply back with the information to the above questions in order to provide you with appropriate troubleshooting steps:



I understand that you are trying to free up memory using Disk Cleanup. If you are trying to delete files using disk cleanup on Windows 10, I suggest you to refer the following article on

Disk cleanup in Windows 10 for steps to perform disk clean up on your PC.



Hope it helps.



Sandeep Kumar M

Microsoft Community – Moderator

 

Files in disk cleanup

Hi Lynne

Rest assured, it is totally safe to delete everything suggested by the Disk Cleanup Process, please tun the Disk Cleanup twice as explained below, please remember to untick your Downloads folder if you actually store files in that folder . . .

Open File Explorer

Click on your hard drive

On the Manage Tab, click Cleanup

Let Disk Cleanup do its initial scan

Select Everything in the list and choose Delete

Start Disk Cleanup again

Let Disk Cleanup do its initial scan

This time in the resulting dialog, click 'Cleanup System Files'

Let Disk Cleanup run another scan

Select Everything in the list and choose Delete