How can I find my lost tax files on my desktop

[Carlos67]

How can I find my lost tax files on my desktop

[WAWood]

@Carlos67 

That depends critically on what actually happened to these so-called "lost" files.

The Windows desktop is just a special folder and any files on that have either file entries or shortcuts to another location.

If the shortcut got deleted, you would have to hunt down the original file and recreate the shortcut.  Sorry, but there is no software out there than can find "lost" files -- you would have to use File Manger to go through the various folders looking for the files.

If the file actually go deleted, you would have to use data recovery software to see if you can recover the file.  And in that case, since you can't recovery a file to the same drive, you would need a USB stick large enough to hold all the recovered fiels and restore them to the USB stick.

You need to do the following:
1) Download and install this utility http://www.majorgeeks.com/news/story/recover_data_in_3_steps_with_minitool_power_data_recovery_free_...
2) Run the data recovery utility to see what can be retrieved from the drive.

If that tool does not find what you need, an alternative is Recuva http://www.piriform.com/recuva

And, if that does not work well, the best tool out there is this one, but only the demo version is free https://www.runtime.org/data-recovery-software.htm