There are so many viruses today that you can’t count. Some of them can be quite dangerous, in particular those that settle on removable devices, blocking access to them, and then penetrating the operating system itself. So, for example, the Recycler virus on a flash drive in hidden form works in this way. Removing it using standard methods is often impossible. Next, we’ll look at how to get rid of this threat if it is present on a USB stick. The main emphasis will be on the manual method, since anti-virus protective agents can sometimes not neutralize it.
The Recycler threat: what is it?
If we consider this threat in the sense of its initial presence on USB-drives, we can immediately note that the first sign of infection is precisely blocking access to the device. When using the same double-click, the system starts to display messages that an access error has occurred.
Sometimes files and folders stored on the media can be displayed in the file manager , but when you try to open them or even simply select them, a notification is displayed that the object you are looking for was not found.
In the system startup and the “Task Manager”, incomprehensible processes like cbtww.exe or fpewkqk.exe appear among the active elements, which ultimately leads to an incredible increase in the load on system resources (even the system often crashes completely, and after that it needs to be completely reinstalled).
Sometimes, however, a virus can also be disguised as a trusted program process like Opera.exe or a svchost.exe system process. In this case, you need to look at the CPU load, and also to determine the location of the components responsible for these processes through the PCM menu, and then complete them if it turns out that they are in doubt.
Here we have the Recycler virus. What is it, I hope, is a little clear. Now he will move on to practical steps to rid the system of this threat.
How to remove Recycler virus: preliminary steps
Since the threat is activated just at the moment of trying to access removable media, installing its executable elements in the above sections of the system, you must first get rid of them.
To begin with, we complete in the "Task Manager" all active processes in which instead of the name there is a meaningless set of characters.
After that, you must enter the auto start section and uncheck all suspicious services. In Windows 10, the startup tab is located directly in the "Task Manager", and in the versions below it is located in the system configurator, which is called by the msconfig command in the "Run" menu. Upon completion of all the described actions, the system must be rebooted without fail.
File Display Attribute Changes
This is an unusual Recycler virus. What is it, sorted out. Now let's see how to get rid of it completely and completely. It’s just not possible to find the threat components on USB drives, because they all have attributes of hidden objects.
Thus, first in the "Explorer" you must use the view menu, which indicates the display of hidden files and directories. However, it is too early to rejoice. Yes, the virus components are visible (the RECYCLER folder and the Autorun.inf auto-start file), but deleting them just doesn’t work, because they have the appropriate protection.
Manual removal of virus components
But how then to remove all threat components? The Recycler file on the device may be missing, and you need to get rid of it only from the main directory and the auto start component.
Here you can use the standard Notepad, enter the line attrib –s –h / d / s into it and save the created document under any name with manual installation of the BAT extension. Now you should run this file. After starting, a command console window will appear, which, after executing the command entered in the document, will be closed automatically. And only now from the flash drive you can safely remove the above elements.
To simplify the actions you can use the small NexusFile utility in the form of a file manager, which is able to show virus components and automatically remove protection from them. To display files and directories, the combination Alt + Z is used, and to completely remove virus elements after their selection, Shift + Ctrl + D.
Portable Tool Scan
Here is a brief summary of the Recycler virus. What is this threat? This is a very dangerous applet that can affect the system in the most critical way. To be completely sure that the threat is neutralized, just in case, after carrying out all the above actions, the USB flash drive should be checked with some portable scanner program like Dr. Web CureIt !, although you can use it at the very first stage if you wish. However, if you do not complete all the virus processes in at least the same “Task Manager” and do not disable the virus components in the system’s auto start, you don’t always have to rely on complete removal. Therefore, it is better to use the manual neutralization technique. At least it is she who guarantees the complete and irrevocable removal of this dangerous threat once and for all.