How do I recover my data in Windows 8?

12/1/2012 Is the date of which the incident happened. I was searching for some free classic books that could be downloaded and/or read as a PDF file. It was an .exe file, and I should have known before I clicked on it to do some research about the shady sight that I was downloading Huckleberry Finn from. Moments later, indications in the top right of screen read: Malicious Virus has affected you computer. Instead of acting rationally, I went into "OH MY GOD, WANTS HAPPENING"? mode, and chose the final resort of "Refreshing" my PC. Mind you, I am working with Windows 8, and this is a new feature. I didn't know what to expect really. I thought it was going to rid me of all my problems. That's where I was wrong. A message shown on the screen read: "We need to get a few things ready", and I thought okay, it's going to work. It did it's thing and then I rebooted. The start up process was exactly the same as when I first booted up my Windows 8 PC, with minor differences. My settings were not changed, but as it finally went to the start menu, ALL OF MY APPS WERE GONE. I then preceded to my desktop, all my icons were gone. All of my programs that I had such as Microsoft Word, and games that I had downloaded were not there. Everything, GONE.

This was all very weird. Why didn't Windows ask me what I wanted to keep and what I didn't? That seems like it would be a logical idea, Doesn't It? I then called Microsoft and they hooked me up with one of their Techs. and I explained to them what happened. They said, "NO PROBLEM, we will help you to your satisfaction". I thought, "Yes! I wont lose all my stuff!". Again, I was wrong. I was in a LogMeIn chat box for 3 HOURS.3 hours to find out that the only way to fix my problem and recover my data was to pay $90 for a program that would help me get back my data, and would prevent future problems with my machine. While I was chatting with the tech. They controlled my desktop remotely, and they sifted through my system and tried to diagnose the issue (Which I had already informed them of) I didn't need a diagnostic, I needed an answer (and still do) I would like to know if anyone else has clicked the "REFRESH" button in Windows 8, and if they lost data, how they got it back. I know that there has to be an alternative to paying money to fix this problem. If anyone has an answer I would love to hear it.