Has my system lost its trustworthiness?

[Antipodal]

My system was working flawlessly and I had no doubts about its safety until recently when, leaving aside my usual Internet browsing, I did he following unusual (and perhaps foolish) things:

1) I used it to make a very slow pdf download (2.65 kilobytes/sec) from a university located ftp server
2) I used it to open the individual .png .gif .jpeg files (of the folder that is saved together with the HTML file) of a Web Page I had just saved but which I could not view using the usual procedure of opening the HTML file.
3)I used it to screen capture copyrighted images of a fwe pages describing the contents of a book that was promoted on the aforementioned Web Page.
4)I used it to test a 7 1/2 year old member of my family to verify if he was able to log into a Twitter account by himself (as he claimed he could do with his parent's computer).

The test proved he was truthful and because I don't use Twitter but have heard of its dangers, I got quite uneasy to see him fascinated reading tweets of his favorite sports celebrities.

After deciding it was time for me to change my conduct regarding Internet child protection, and having heard that "mouse-over flaws" and other malware had been spread through Twitter some years ago I thought that, at least, it would be wise to unmount and unplug the USB flash drive I usually use to store my personal stuff.

In trying to do that I discovered the following strange things :
1)The text displayed under the USB flash drive icon I was about to unplug had changed!!
2)I couldn't close the browser's tabs and the browser (Seamonkey 2.9.1) or quit it as usually!!During that process a strange flicker of the images on the screen occurred!!
3)I couldn't power off my computer as usually!! I couldn't get it to respond to the usual commands.
4)When I finally powered it of an restarted it:

• 4a)My PS/2 keyboard didn't work correctly but after replacing it for about 40 minutes with a USB keyboard which worked correctly its problems disappeared and I am now using it again.
  
  4b)After plugging my "personal stuff" USB flash drive into its socket the text displayed under its icon returned to what was expected.
  
  4c)At least one .gnumeric file I had been using that day, vanished from the flash drive.
  
  4d)A couple of .gnumeric files I had been using that day couldn't be opened by the procedure I usually use (clicking on their icons). I tried to open them inputing "gnumeric pathandnameofthefileIcouldn'topen.gnumeric" after the urxvt console prompt and the only output I got was "Bus error".
  
  4e)The icon of the folder where I had saved some of the .png .gif and .jpeg files and the screen captures of the copyrighted images I have described in point 2) and 3) changed into a orange triangle with an exclamation mark and it's impossible for me to access the aforementioned files.
  
  4f)If I ask for the Properties and Permissions of the folder mentioned at 4e), I get a "input/output error" message.
  
  4g)In the parent directory of the directory mentioned in 4e), a new file has appeared. (GOUTPU~1)For the sake of accuracy I'm attaching a snapshot of its "Properties" window. The contents of GOUTPU~1' resemble an older version of a file that's also in the aforementioned parent directory. but has a completely different name.

Since these things occurred I have been wondering on how should I interpret the meaning of such bizarre events.

Do they mean that the security of my system has been broken?

Is my system now lodging some sort of malware?

Is there any way of ruling out these possibilities?

The opinion and/or questions of those who are experienced in security will be very much welcomed.

Thank you in advance.

[rokytnji]

Just jaw jacking here.

I have got into the practice lately of having 2 places to keep a backup personal save on my frugal installs.

That way when in doubt. I format one and use the other. After formatting I copy over and no harm no foul.

If you have a doubt. Time to start over. I am sure other more knowledgeable
members than me can answer your query better. Even putting your secondary personal saves in the cloud (I have done that also) is better than no secondary backup at all.

[Antipodal]

Thank you for your comments. rokitnji.

They have encouraged me to try to improve a method that I'm using that has certain similarities with the one you seem to be using.

I would like to dwell upon my method (and upon some of the disadvantages I have found it has for me) starting another thread on some of Puppy's forums or topic screens.

Any suggestions on which?

rokitnji:
I would also be very pleased if, after I have posted it, you could share your ideas about my method and about the way you have solved (or would solve) its drawbacks.

[mikeb]

You have simply corupted the save file as you might have guessed by now.
Its a common puppy occurance so don't worry about 'security' being compromised.
The only 'security' you need to bother about is the quality of your data storage methods in use.

mike

[puppyluvr]

Hello,
You need to fsck your save file and your Puppy partition.
That generally solves those input/output and bus errors.

[mikeb]

is it fscked?


mike

[jpeps]

You can fsck it, but it's not uncommon for flash drives to screw up. That's why you typically don't want to use them for backup. The triangles, etc., just mean that the desktop can't find the indicated files.

I highly recommend including fsck in your startup boot parameters

If you do it manually, make sure the disk is unmounted first.

[Antipodal]

Thank you mikeb, puppylvr and jpeps.

I hope that as soon as overcome some problems I'm currently having I will be able to make some comments on your posts.

Sorry for having had to delay thanks.& comments.