suddenly can't access anything on macbook

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hello , my macbook suddenly acting strangely yesterday . when I turn it on , I realized the desktop appearance changed. all files on the desktop disappear and also change the desktop background , back like buying a new macbook, with you-know-galaxy-picture on the desktop.

then I realized , everything changes , even the setting of the trackpad . My macbook trackpad settings changed to be like a new macbook, and the dock also changed . everything back like it is a new macbook . But strangely , when I change the settings , when I turn off my macbook , then I turn it back on , the settings will be lost and returned back to the settings as the new macbook .

When I try to access my documents , always appear a warning : The folder ?Downloads? can?t be opened because you don?t have permission to see its contents.

not only the downloads folder , but all the folders.

Status on the list under the finder is written : 0 items , 23.87 GB available. I guess this means that all of my documents are still stored somewhere.

almost all of the application can not open . only a few games , but even then did not save my game memory. games that can be accessed should start from the beginning level. I can not even watch Youtube, because "adobe flash player is required for video playback". but actually I have a flash player. it's just that for some reason does not work.

When I tried updating the software , a warning appears : Software Update does not have any new software for your computer at this time .

it's like buy a new empty macbook with 23.87 GB of memory.

I bought my macbook around in 2007 . so there is no warranty . My macbook version 10.6.8

I would appreciate any help. Thank you soooo much!
 

Just_Me_D

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from what I gather, it appears the following *might* have occurred:

1. Someone erased your data and apps
2. Someone reinstalled the OS
3. Your device was compromised either directly or indirectly.

What can you do? From what I can tell, nothing. I'd erase EVERYTHING on the device, and then reinstall the operating system, the apps & programs and then make sure you passlock the device. After that, get a cloud storage account of some sort and keep a backup of your docs & other important data in the cloud or at least on an external hard drive.
 

Ipheuria

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Jul 21, 2009
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A few things could have happened.
You may have logged in to a different account which is why everything looks different and you have no access.
Due to some issue you may be logging in to the guest account instead of your own account again why you have limited access

Do you use time machine or any other form of backup on the laptop? A screenshot would really help? Like JustMe'd said your machine may have been compromised. If you do use Time Machine then you can reload the OS and restore from Time Machine in the case that the OS got screwed up somehow. Even though it doesn't have warranty you might want to take it in to the Apple store to a genius bar and they can tell you if it's a hardware issue. Your hard drive might need to be replaced. If you don't use Time Machine then buy an external drive and when you take it in to an Apple store they will be able to tell you if the system is capable of either making a backup that you can restore from or whether you need to send the drive out for data recovery. Whatever the case once the machine is back up and running you need an external drive and to run time machine whether manually or automatically. Also keeping an external copy of data like was suggested is a great idea.
 

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