When you try to download information from a flash memory, sometimes it is found that there are shortcuts on the flash drive instead of folders. At the same time, these shortcuts take up as much space on removable media as regular folders with information. It becomes clear that the information from the flash card did not disappear, just the virus made it inaccessible to the user. And the user sees shortcuts instead of folders on his flash drive. How to fix this situation, which causes such a problem as it is necessary and not necessary for the user to act in this situation?
Problem prevention
Naturally, in order to avoid infection of your own computer and flash cards, you should not write files and folders from suspicious sources to removable media. All new files should be scanned by the antivirus utility.
But if, despite all the precautions, labels appeared instead of folders on the USB flash drive, the user can congratulate himself. Removable media is infected with one of the viruses - a trojan. The user is feverishly trying to open the disappeared folders by clicking on the shortcuts. It’s just not worth it to open suspicious shortcuts on a flash drive. The fact is that these icons hide in themselves not one program, but two. One of them launches a file that was originally recorded, and the second is a malicious program that launches a virus from an infected external device on a user's PC. It is this software that offers the user shortcuts instead of folders. What to do in such a situation? The procedure is described below.
Turn off autorun
In order to protect your computer from viruses and avoid the problems associated with turning folders into shortcuts on a USB flash drive, as a preventive measure you need to scan all external media connected to your PC with an antivirus program. By default, all external devices run on a computer or laptop in autorun mode, and the user simply does not have time to "enlighten" the suspicious flash drive. And when shortcuts appear on the flash drive instead of folders, it is too late to scan the infected computer. Therefore, if external storage media is often connected to a computer or laptop, the autorun function should be turned off to prevent infection of the computer.
You can block the autorun function in the Windows operating system using the method described below.
We go to the "Start" menu, then - "Control Panel", look for the option "Autostart". Uncheck the "Use autorun for all devices and media" function.
After that, when connecting an external drive, the operating system will ask for permission to start it. In this case, the user can always scan external devices before starting the antivirus program and avoid infection of his own personal computer.
If the virus is already running and the user watches shortcuts instead of folders on the USB flash drive, then a set of work is required to remove malware and restore their own files and folders. This work is carried out in several stages.
Show hidden folders and files
If your computer is running Windows XP, then in order to get to the desired option, you need to go this way:
“Start” - “My Computer” - “Menu” - “Service” - “Folder Options” - “Tab” - “View”. The opened tab “View” offers two parameters with which you need to perform the following actions:
- The option “Hide protected systems. files (recommended) ”- you need to uncheck.
- The option "Show hidden folders and files" - accept the display of hidden folders and files.
If the operating system Windows 7 is installed, we find the necessary options this way:
“Start” - “Control Panel” - “Appearance” - “Personalization” - “Folder Options” - “Tab” - “View”.
After that, all hidden and system files will become visible to the user.
Analysis of files and folders on a flash drive
Now you need to go to the menu of flash cards and do a full analysis of all hidden files stored on removable media. To do this, go to the "Object" option in the properties of each shortcut. Usually, all available shortcuts, instead of folders appearing on a USB flash drive, start the same program. In order to neutralize the virus, you need to find out which of the folders contains the malicious code. The line of executable code looks something like this:
As you can see, the RECYCLER folder contains extraneous files - viruses that are responsible for the fact that on the USB flash drive there are shortcuts instead of folders. The RECYCLER folder on removable media will need to be deleted. After removal, launching shortcuts will no longer pose a threat to the user's operating system. To finally check the removal of the virus that causes the shortcuts on the USB flash drive, you need to do this.
For the Win7 operating system, the path will be as follows:
- C: \ user \ username \ appdata \ roaming \.
For Win XP OS, choose the following path:
- C: \ document & setting \ username \ local setting \ application data \.
Sometimes a path with the extension .exe is found at the specified path. This application is the desired virus. Shortcuts instead of folders appear precisely because of it. Therefore, all applications with this extension found in the specified path should be deleted.
Flash drive treatment
After the malware that offers the user shortcuts instead of folders is deleted, the flash drive should be disinfected using one of the following methods. After all, folders stored on removable media are still invisible, and it is not yet possible to use them. First you need to delete all the shortcuts saved in the folder. They no longer carry any useful information, so they can be removed from the flash drive completely painlessly. The information stored in the folders remained on the flash drive. You can extract it by the following methods.
A method using the command line
Open the command line. To do this, click "Start." In the search bar that opens, type the combination of letters cmd and press Enter. In the window that opens on the monitor, enter the following command:
In this expression, f denotes a flash drive with files. If in your case flash memory is indicated by another Latin letter, you should enter it in the string.
Then press Enter and then enter the following command:
and press Enter.
After executing this command, the attributes will be reset and folders will appear in the user's visibility area.
A method using a text file
We go through “My computer” to our removable storage medium, click on the empty space with the right mouse button. Through the option "Create" we give birth to a text document with the extension * .txt. Let's name the file, for example, 123. Open the created file and write the following line in it:
Then you need to close the text file, and save the changes in it. The next step is to rename the file extension: instead of * .txt, you need to do * .bat.
For example, the file can be called 123.bat. After renaming, we double-click on this file with the mouse. A blank black window appears, as when invoking the command line. Now you need to wait until the file does its job. The time depends on how much information was on the flash drive. It took fifteen minutes for a fully loaded flash drive with a capacity of 8 GB to completely recover the information. After the file does its job, the black window will disappear by itself.
After this procedure, all the necessary files that previously disappeared user folders appear on the flash card. Carefully looking at the contents of the flash drive, you can notice that another additional folder appeared in the menu. Most often it is called RECYCLER. This new folder contains the very virus that turned the data from the flash drive into shortcuts. Naturally, the folder should be deleted immediately.
What to do after data recovery
After the data on the flash card is restored, you should transfer it to your computer or laptop. This is done in order to finish the treatment of flash cards and completely eliminate the possibility of damage or infection of files. For this, experienced users recommend formatting the USB flash drive. You can do this in one of the following ways.
Methods for formatting flash cards
- The first way . We go to “My computer”, move the cursor to the USB flash drive, click on the right mouse button and in the presented menu we find the option “Format”. This method is the fastest and most convenient.
- The second way . Use special utilities to format external storage media. One of the most popular free utilities is the HP USB Disk Format Tool. The program interface is very simple, the procedure is clear even to the most inexperienced users.
- The third method involves formatting the flash drive using the command line. To do this, click "Start", then "Run."
In the line that opens, type the combination of letters CMD and press Enter. After that, the command line opens, in which you should type the following command:
- Convert f: / fs: ntfs / nosecurity / x.
The first f denotes the letter of the flash drive. If in your case the flash drive is indicated by a different letter, you should put it before the colon. After executing the command, your drive will be formatted and converted to NTFS.
After formatting the USB flash drive, you can transfer the necessary data to it again. For the future, of course, only verified data should be recorded on removable media, having previously checked the files with an antivirus program, not giving a flash card to strangers, and independently monitoring the health of your own personal computer or laptop.