Serious Problem - SL Deletes files in my documents as it loads

I tried to clear the cache and move it into my external hard drive, but then for some reason it stopped at C:\My Documents. Now it deletes every file that just sits around in the My Documents folder, and I've already lost a great deal of stuff. I've tried uninstalling SL and reinstalling it to see if that would fix the problem, but it didn't work. How can I run SL again without it deleting all of my files?

I'm sorry you've lost things.

Can't you just change the cache location is Prefs again?
The ApplicationData folder for SL doesn't get deleted on a reinstall.

I would if I could log into SL. If I wait for it to log in all the way, it might delete everything in my documents, and in turn everything on my HD other than my programs

Uninstall SL again. Then do a search of your hard drive for anything related to Second Life and manually delete all files found. Download a fresh copy of the viewer you want to use and reinstall.

The manually deleting of the files left from the uninstall process is important.

You don't have to log in to change your cache folder. You can "Edit... Preferences" from the login screen for local stuff like this.

It doesn't need to log in to start deleting things either. When that little "Loading second life" bar appears in the middle of the desktop screen, files just started disappearing from my documents.

Delete the folder in Application data - it's in different places according to your OS, but on XP it's Doc/Settings-User-AppData-SecondLife. Remove your chat logs if you need them.

That would scare me.

I'd move everything, then reset Prefs, most likely.

This all started when you tried to move your SL cache location to an external HD? I don't know why you would want to do that but why can't you move it back to the default location for your OS? Or do the uninstall and manually delete everything related to SL after you uninstall?

Are you sure files in your document folder are being deleted or are they being moved to your external HD? It sounds like you set your entire cache to your external drive. If you did that you will need to undo whatever it was that you did.

Do you get to the log in splash screen? If you do then what Argent is saying is the go to your preferrences before you hit the "log in" button. It's under the "Edit" menu at the top left of your screen.

Ah, then you need to remove "Application Data\SecondLife" from your profile directory (under "C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\", on XP, somewhere else on Vista), that's where all the settings are stored.

I forgot to mention two things ^^;

Second life was installed on my external hard drive in the first place, and I also set the command to clear my cache as well as move it at the same time.