There's someone I know at my school (let's call her Laura) who ran into a case of bad luck a few weeks ago. To put keep it brief, someone she thought was a friend framed her for plagiarism (we'll call her Katie). What happened was while Laura was away from her computer, Katie, who was taking a class with Laura, overwrote one of her assignments with someone else's, and then accused her of plagiarism. In this particular circumstance, the assignment was originally done a long time ago, so Laura hadn't remembered what she originally wrote, and didn't realize she was turning in a copy of someone else's work until she was slapped with an honor court hearing.

Laura took the computer to the computer guys at my school, but they were unable to find a way to show the file had been overwritten and recover the old version. However, it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't give the problem the amount of attention they should have. Now Laura has been found guilty and is on academic probation.

Laura is not very computer literate. She doesn't remember if she wrote the document in Word or Notepad, and is either using Windows Vista or XP. Anyway, I know Laura and her "friend" well enough to believe her story, and I want to help clear her name. Does anyone know of a way to track file changes in Windows, even if they happened a month ago? In a best-case scenario, it would be great if the original document could be recovered, even it had been recovered. Does anyone know of a way to do this? There must be some amazing free tool or Windows hack that can do this.

I'm counting on the great minds here at PC Apex. Someone here must have a solution.

Look at the last modified date, or Date Created. If it was recent, shouldnt this be a clue? Also, If it was in M$ Office, Doesnt office make back ups of the document in question?

Quote: Originally Posted by Nerdz Look at the last modified date, or Date Created. If it was recent, shouldnt this be a clue? Also, If it was in M$ Office, Doesnt office make back ups of the document in question?

Last modified was my first idea, but since the document itself was typed several months, the girl didn't remember what it looked like and assumed the copy was hers. She went on to edit the document for grammar errors! The document itself was the answers to some questions asked in a textbook, so everyone in my class had pretty much the same answers.

Please tell me more about the Office backup feature. I have never heard of it. Does it automatically backup documents to some out-of-the-way folder on the computer?

I think u might have to get something on "katie" to make her confess she did it.

I'm not sure how windows handles over writing files, but I know that you can recover files that have been recycled. If "Katie" put the original file in the Recycle bin and emptied it you should be able to find a program online to recover it. If she just copied the new file over the top of the old one it might be a different story.

I think musclecars&computers has the best idea.
does she have a romantic other?
is it legal to record conversations in your area without letting the other person know? maybe you could try to get some one to get her to admit to it and get it on tape. like in Old School, only less comical.

try checking out this link: How To: Recover a Microsoft Word document

if Laura hadn't used her computer much since the file was over written or changed, there's a small chance the file is still on her computer.

when a file is deleted on a NTFS or FAT16 or FAT32 partition (and others, too), the first character of the file's name in the partition's file allocation table is replaced with a sigma. this tells the OS not to display the file. the actual file is still kept on the partition, but the clusters it is on are marked as unused, so they could be overwritten by another file, or they might still be there.
in this case, this might only be useful if the original file was deleted and then another was created or copied. but there's a chance the new file overwrote the old one anyway. if text was copied and pasted into the file with an editor, then saved, you would most likely not be able to recover the original this way.

another thing, if the computer has something like the Norton trash bin protector and it hasn't been emptied (or "purged") in a while, the original file might still be in there. In most cases the files seem to be given ridiculous names with all sorts of symbols and numbers in them. I don't think Norton still has that feature in newer versions.

if Laura's computer had a service that automatically backs up files to a server on the Internet - the file might be backed up some where. I suppose that's worth looking into if you haven't already.

If using Microsoft Word 2003+(I assume on the plus)

Quote: Originally Posted by Microsoft Help File Open an earlier version of a document On the File menu, click Versions. Click the version of the document you want to open. Click Open. This version contains all the previously saved versions.

Quote: Originally Posted by Sleepy_Sentry Please tell me more about the Office backup feature. I have never heard of it. Does it automatically backup documents to some out-of-the-way folder on the computer?

See Firehawks Post, This is what I was talking about.

I'm guessing "Katie" simply opened Explorer, dragged "answers.doc" to "Laura's" subdirectory and answered yes to the "Do you wish to overwrite" question.

In this scenario there will be no way to recover the original document that I am aware of.

I'll do some experimenting though and edit this post if I find a tool.

-MF

EDIT: If "Katie" did as I suggested then the OS overwrote the original file and it is not recoverable by any means.

If "Katie" deleted file1, copied in file2 and then renamed file2 to "file1" then it is POSSIBLE BUT HIGHLY UNLIKELY that the original file1 can be recovered.

My nontechnical two-cents:
Although it is unlikely that the 'powers-that-be' [namely "Laura's" adults] would agree, the solution is lawyers. Hire the nastiest excuse for a human being with a legal degree you can find, sue "Katie" and her parents for irreparable harm for BIG BIG bucks and start the discovery process. Pound the "Katies" unmercifully but legally. "Katie" will fold - her parents will order her to whether she did something wrong or not. Then use the discovery to get "Laura" off-hook with honors court.

Although given the asses that tend to run honors court, even that won't exonerate "Laura". They will simply babble something like "She turned it in therefore she did wrong." They may or may not punish "Katie" - depends on the weather.

Quote: Originally Posted by Monsignor Funkibut My nontechnical two-cents: Although it is unlikely that the 'powers-that-be' [namely "Laura's" adults] would agree, the solution is lawyers. Hire the nastiest excuse for a human being with a legal degree you can find, sue "Katie" and her parents for irreparable harm for BIG BIG bucks and start the discovery process. Pound the "Katies" unmercifully but legally. "Katie" will fold - her parents will order her to whether she did something wrong or not. Then use the discovery to get "Laura" off-hook with honors court. Although given the asses that tend to run honors court, even that won't exonerate "Laura". They will simply babble something like "She turned it in therefore she did wrong." They may or may not punish "Katie" - depends on the weather.

This plan has One Flaw. What if Katie's parents are just the same as Katie (ie, ass hats in the worse manner), then they will fight back with the same strength.

Just have Laura kick Katie's ass and everything will be even. Chicks make things so difficult.

If you've seen the movie "In the name of the father (http://imdb.com/title/tt0107207/)". Than you probably remember the interrogation scene in it.... 'nuff said

EDIT:
YouTube - In the Name of the Father
Its a remake of the same scene