Windows 10: Folder has disappeared and now showing as shortcut file that cannot be opened.

I have thousands of files in that folder. I need it!!

:)

 

File explorer slow opening folder containing shortcuts

I have a folder (lets call it folder AP) that contains approximately 30 shortcuts to other folders located in a separate folder (call it folder CJ; all of these folders are located on the same drive). The folder AP has a few files in it but it primarily contains shortcuts to other folders.

When I try to open folder AP, windows explorer takes a looong time to display the contents. The green progress bar shows up near the top of the window and it may take a minute or so to display the contents.

I do not have any problems with any other folders I access. For example, folder CJ is much larger (at least 20 times larger but with far few shortcuts) than folder AP, but I can open folder CJ almost instantly. No other folders have this same issue.

To troubleshoot, I have attempted several tasks:

• I moved the shortcuts to a newly created folder, opened folder AP, and the remaining files showed up pretty much instantly. I then tried to open the newly created folder and that one was slow to open, similar to the performance of folder AP prior to moving the shortcuts.
  
  • To me, this indicates that the shortcuts are causing the delay.
    
• I changed the folder advanced properties for folder AP to unselect "Allow files in this folder to have contents indexed in addition to file properties" and selected for this to apply to all subfolders and subfiles
  
  • This had little to no effect.
    
• I've cleared temporary files, performed disk cleanup, scanning for viruses and malware. No benefits.
  
• Restarted computer and router. No benefits.
  

Internet speeds are good, well above 200 Mbps upload and download.

The folders I am accessing (folder AP and folder CJ) are located on our company's network, accessed through a VPN. Most files/folders I access via the VPN are accessible quickly and without issue, but folder AP opens significantly slower than others.

Is it a known issue for folder shortcuts to slow down processes? Is there a solution to make the folder shortcuts display faster?

 

Disappearing folder

I've encountered a strange problem in windows 10 where I tried to delete a file in a folder, but ended up deleting the whole directory. It did so without the usual pop-up to confirm delete or say it was too big for the recycle bin. It was my Videos folder, so pretty big, but the disk allocation has also remained the same.

I've always had a problem with 'double icons' for the different user folders, including videos, and so I'm thinking it could have something to do with the whole thing, especially as now one of the two video folders has disappeared from the users folders.

The first thing i tried was 'Undo delete', but it just bought the folder back with non of the contents. Then, I went straight to Recuva, but it came up blank (there must have been over 50 videos in the folder)

I'm at a little bit of a loss as where to start looking for this disappeared folder and was hoping someone might have some suggestions?

Screenshots below:

 

Desktop shortcuts disappearing

One of the computers i maintain has a few of the desktop shortcuts disappearing now and then. It runs windows 7, and has a shitload of shortcuts on the desktop.

Any idea what might cause this?