[SOLVED] how did recover find things NOT on my pc

Anyone who has read my postings knows I use a spare pc to test software before I put it on my games rig. I tried recuva on that pc and found the word file that I wanted. I then used it on the recover pictures tab to see what happened , I was both shocked and alarmed at what it found , they all had png gf or jpg prefixes.

This is a brief description of some of the items found , somehow amazon and other shop site logos were found , pictures of news stories that have been on the edges opening page seem to have been lifted , my google account picture was found but NEVER used chrome or google account on that pc , the most worrying thing however were about 100 xxx rated photos that would get me in trouble if I got a "knock on the door". Even if I did look at xxx which I don't , I would never be daft enough to put them on my pc.

So , now you have read what recuva found my question is HOW did it find these things because I can say 100% that these items have NEVER been put on my pc so should not have been recovered.
 
Solution
many browsers also have a setting to load the "next" pages from a site. it will follow available links from the page you are on and can pre-load those pages so when/if you click on it, it will load faster since it is already pre-fetched. if i recall right, at one point some would even go 2 links deep. so a marginally risque page can easily link through to just about anything.

that's my guess as to how they may have gotten there. you got within a click or 2 of the pics and they pre-loaded for you. they got deleted of course but the recovery software will find anything left on the drive whether it was shown to you or not.

for instance, i once had a hustler magazine hit on my log file. after looking it turned out that a funny page i ran...
So a few questions:

Has this PC always belonged to you?
Have the storage devices always belonged to you?
Where did you get Recuva from?
Any other software from less than reputable sources
Can anyone else use this machine?
Any signs of Malware?

Assuming these images are just dirty and not actually illegal:
Any commonality on the time and dates stamps?

However if they are illegal then don't investigate further, and I have no idea what you should do next. The logo's and stuff will be in temp files probably from websites.
 
build for me owned it from new and not used by anyone else.
got program of the piniform website , I never use a third party downloader.
no viruses or malware.
only use reputable software.
seeing as you ask they porn , no animals etc or children.
saw a photo of a famous comedian this morning on part of a web site , I never touched or the story but recuva found it.
looks like something is lifting things to my pc just as if I had downloaded them to my pc.
 
The machine was soak tested before it was delivered to me and the date marks on the items found indicate nothing underhand was done on it before I took delivery of it.
I have never visited a lesbian porn site but recuva had found loads of pictures ready to give back to me.
Because of the boom in fake news I never click on stories or photos on the news page of the edge browser but again recuva has photos from their ready to give to me.

Even if I had been up to know good I would never have put the found items on my pc as this would incriminate me so that puzzles me even more.
If I had been doing something wrong I would not be asking the question.
 

Math Geek

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many browsers also have a setting to load the "next" pages from a site. it will follow available links from the page you are on and can pre-load those pages so when/if you click on it, it will load faster since it is already pre-fetched. if i recall right, at one point some would even go 2 links deep. so a marginally risque page can easily link through to just about anything.

that's my guess as to how they may have gotten there. you got within a click or 2 of the pics and they pre-loaded for you. they got deleted of course but the recovery software will find anything left on the drive whether it was shown to you or not.

for instance, i once had a hustler magazine hit on my log file. after looking it turned out that a funny page i ran across had a map of the US with each state's "most loved bbq" or some such silliness on it. the map was hosted on hustler's site. would not be hard to imagine it linking back to the site and then to just about anything they hosted from there. totally innocent but in the end can lead well away from where you started.

also seen many p2p sharing software upload data to your pc to then share with the network. this was a long time ago and not sure folks even use such things anymore, but happened a lot back when they were popular. no clue if you use such things but it's another way random stuff can end up on your system without you putting it there explicitly.
 
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Solution
Thanks to everyone and especially math geek who took the time to write the long explanation , I am sure that a lot of people will , just like me not know about this , and the worse case scenario is that IF you got a knock on the door from the authorities you would have a hard time convincing them you not done anything wrong if they seized your pc and used some recovery software.