How do I turn off Dropbox on the free account?

Hi ang133, let's jump right into this!

Based on everything that you mentioned, it's not entirely clear to me what your end goal here is. 

Do you wish to fix the syncing issue, in order for you to be able to locate your files, or uninstall Dropbox, and delete the local content successfully? 

I'll be happy to guide you, I just need some more info. 

Also, are you able to locate your files online? Any additional context, regarding this "will I be safe from deletions if I don't include dropbox in the transfer?" would be more than appreciated, in order for me to entirely grasp what you're trying to achieve, before I guide you.

Thanks a bunch!

I can't locate my files online. The online version has 2 files--photos and public. My computer has multiple files. So all the deleted files are not discoverable in the online app. They disappeared from my computer.  I would like to delete dropbox but if I do that I would have to get a large thumbdrive and copy my computer files entirely. I just think dropbox is annoying. It's like a virus on my computer.

Also, I paid for a program to find the deleted files on my harddrive, but that was unsuccessful because they found file titles but they were damaged when I tried to open them or the content was too mixed up to read.

Thanks for the speedy reply ang133!

If you can't locate your files online, then are you certain that you've accessed the correct Dropbox account, and that you didn't open a new account?

What do you see when visiting your events page? The Events page at www.dropbox.com/events gives you an overview of all activity in your account including files events (adds/edits/deletes), as well as adding or removing shared folders. 

What about your deleted files page?

You can uninstall Dropbox using these steps, and then delete any of the files you might not need.

There is nothing in the deleted files page--online. Here's what I have on my computer (Windows): the June date is when I lost the files. When I click on these they're empty.

All I have on my desktop is the dropbox "book" like picture. When I click on that it has all the files that are in my computer and my downloads. I don't have a way to see an icon.

Hey ang133, are you perhaps referring to files that you had in the Desktop, Downloads, Documents folders of your computer?

If so, you might have enabled our computer backup feature.

Do you see your desktop files on this page?

The files I see when I open the desktop icon on my desktop are downloads and files that also appear in my PC under documents and downloads--they first go through the desktop icon. There is nothing on that link you gave me for "backup files." It's empty.

If I delete any files on the desktop icon, they are deleted from my computer and are gone. They don't appear in the recycle icon.

Thanks for getting back to me.

The folder in your second screenshot is a folder named "Dropbox", but it doesn't look like it's syncing with your Dropbox account.

Was this perhaps copied over to your desktop from a different location?

Also, when you open this folder, do you see the files in your first screenshot or do you see different files in there?