How to use Recuva to recover deleted files

Q I have used Recuva to recover accidentally deleted files, including a book in Word format last year. One of these books was about a clipboard manager called Yankee Clipper III, which I have used to store some short stories.

The Yankee Clipper III icon has disappeared from the Taskbar, presumably taking my books with it. I have looked in the Start Menu and found it, but clicking on it just tells me that the program is already working.

The Recycle Bin does not have anything in it, and a search of all my files didn’t find anything either. I have tried Recuva again but still without success. Have I lost my work?

Audrey Atkinson

A Windows can hide icons in the area of the Taskbar next to the clock called the Notification Area to save space and reduce clutter. Windows can be set to always hide or always show icons rather than rely on its own judgement.

Right-click on the Start Button and left-click on Properties. Left-click on the Taskbar tab and then on the Customize button at the bottom. A window will appear showing all the icons that can be shown in the Notification Area and whether Windows will display them or not.

Click on the line for the Yankee Clipper III and select Always Show in the dropdown menu. Click on OK and the icon should reappear.

With regards to Recuva, this utility is used to recover deleted files, but you need to know what kind of file you are looking for.

This is quite easy in the case of Word or Excel because they have a well-known file extension, the three letters after the full stop that tell Windows what the file is and the software used to edit it.

The problem with lesser-known software like Yankee Clipper III is knowing what the files are called and where they are kept. Or rather where they were kept if they have been deleted.

Yankee Clipper III files are kept in C:\Program Files\YCIII\Default.ycb. Look for files with the extension .ycf in Recuva. Restoring these files will hopefully restore lost files in the clipboard.

We recommend using a traditional word processor such as Microsoft Word or Open Office Writer for writing important long documents. The latter can be downloaded and installed at no cost as part of the Open Office suite. Editing important files with these programs will reduce the risk of losing them.

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