Windows attempting to delete contents of HDD upon boot

iptsoe · 23 May 2019

Morning all,

I've had this issue on two different machines now, both Dell one Latitude E5430 and the other a Latitude E7270

upon sign in i get a folder access denied box, requesting permission to delete files. If you press continue, there is a prompt for the UAC requesting permission for the Alps pointing device, from there it then brings up the calculating results window which is calculating the amount of data to be delete from the This PC location as though it is looking to delete all data from the drive. Can anybody shed any light?

Both machines are 10 Pro with Bitdefender

thomaseg1 · 23 May 2019

Does this happen every boot?
Open task scheduler and see if there is anything strange there.
Run a malware scan and a virus scan.
The Alps device check the device manager to see if it working properly. Or not there at all.
Check to see if the software for it is in Program and features.
Do you run third party uninstaller?
run sfc /scannow and DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth.

thomaseg1 · 23 May 2019

while the box is on screen try to open The Task manager Processes tab , it might give you a hint at the culprit.

iptsoe · 23 May 2019

thomaseg1 said:

Does this happen every boot?

Yes it was happening every boot. I've since done some playing this morning, I've uninstalled the Alps driver, reinstalled then searched for newer versions via device manager. I then downloaded the Dell Command update utility and have ran all available.

Rebooted several times and fingers crossed we have cleared the issue!

Both systems were clean on virus scans

thomaseg1 · 23 May 2019

Might have been the result of a faulty uninstaller.