HELP! Virus is hiding all my content

[kiril.zh]

My mom got this virus from the computer she uses at her school. She gave me her USB drive to download some exams she had worked on but apperantly the virus has hidden all the information.

 

. 

 

I tried to see if they were hidden but they are not. Then I ran Kaspersky Antivirus scan twice to make sure that there are no viruses left but there is this one file that I cannot open and I think is a backup of the USB drive. 

 

 

Do you have any ideas how to get my information back?

[simtransporter]

You could try using Recuva. It can sometimes recover deleted files that haven't been overwritten.
You can download it from here: http://www.piriform.com/recuva

 

I don't know what the virus did to the drive, it may not be able to recover everything but it's worth a try.

[ttam]

1) Go to Start -> Run-> Type CMD and Enter

2) In command prompt, type k: (this is the drive of the usb)

    and Hit enter. Command Prompt will show I:/

3) Then type in: attrib -s -h /s /d *.* 

     then press enter and check the drive. (remember to add spaces if you type the string out above)

 

Alternatively; http://jinux.co/fixxy/ you can download this and run it to see if it recovers anything.

[TheArium]

What would happen if you take your system back in time before the virus with Windows System Restore? Perhaps it would do the trick.

[Guest Gazzer96]

What would happen if you take your system back in time before the virus with Windows System Restore? Perhaps it would do the trick.

that usally works for me when ever I get a damaging virus.

[kiril.zh]

ttam

 

Thanks man it worked. All the data is now restored and my mom thanks you sincerely :D

[TheArium]

that usally works for me when ever I get a damaging virus.

 

Yes, that was my thought as I used it myself recently. I'm just curious how it will affect a virus that messes with your personal files as system restore won't touch your personal stuff. But in theory it should just take the system back to the day you choose and leave your system clean with all of your files intact.

[kiril.zh]

Thank you all for the quick responses and great suggestions. 

[ttam]

No problem man. Glad to see that it worked.

[Guest Gazzer96]

Yes, that was my thought as I used it myself recently. I'm just curious how it will affect a virus that messes with your personal files as system restore won't touch your personal stuff. But in theory it should just take the system back to the day you choose and leave your system clean with all of your files intact.

well it does effect your personal stuff, but the loss of personal data is minmal (depending on how far back you had to send it). Thing it though, this feature was introduced when Windows Vista was out, so with any older OS you would have to format all the hard drives and then find a copy of Windows to reinstall. This is one of the reasons why I prefer Windows Vista compared to Windows XP.