One of the biggest fears of Internet users is contracting viruses and having their computer infected by them. But well, although the word “is usually generalized”virus” referring to all kinds of computer threats, actually there are several types of these of which a person can be a victim on the network.
In this way, they are from small “virus” even the most complex threats that are basically trojans, worms, spyware and ransomware. Thus, each one has its own characteristics and makes use of different tactics to infect the user.
In this post, we will focus specifically on the “shortcut virus” Apart from infecting a PC, it is also capable of infecting a USB memory. Next, we let you know the main methods you can use to remove this type of virusas well as to avoid it.
What is the “shortcut” virus and how does it really work?
While it is true, shortcut viruses are a type of computer threat that mix a trojan and a worm in a single warning that focuses on infect the computer from some malicious program and as a result, all the files and folders on the computer become shortcut files, thus the originals are disguised.
In this sense, basically what the shortcut virus does is hide all the icons and folders that the user has on his system and right away, it replaces them with shortcuts that look the same as the original ones, but aren’t. In this way, he begins to infect the computer.
Regarding its operation, it can be noted that it spreads from one PC to another through flash memories, pen drives, memory cards And till Internet or Bluetooth connection exchanges.
In addition, it is worth noting that the most common virus of this type that is found on removable drives is identified as “autorun.inf” and takes care of infecting the system and multiplying the virus through the creation of unlimited shortcuts.
Steps and methods to remove a virus that creates shortcut folders on my PC
Once the user knows that the shortcut virus has invaded his computer, the most important question of all is “How to remove shortcut virus from my PC or USB stick?”; Luckily, there are several methods that can be used for this and best of all, they do not require a lot of work.
So, if you want to recover your files that have been disguised as shortcuts again, here are the methods you can use:
Using CMD without using programs
In case you didn’t know, the shortcut virus is a malicious program that only runs on Windows computers. Which means that users of Mac OS and Linux can rest easy with this, since they are not affected by such a breakdown.
In view of this, Windows has a useful tool that allows you to get rid of such a virus in no time.I mean, very easily. Said tool basically makes use of the command console that the operating system contains, which is opened from the same Start menu.
However, please note that you must be extremely careful when using this CMD command line, as misuse can bring serious results.
Once this is clarified, know the step by step to follow to eliminate the virus with CMD from Windows:
- To get started, make sure that the infected disk or memory is connected to the computer.
- Then, click on the Start icon of your PC and type the command “CMD” inside the search box.
- Now, to be able to open said command, press enter.
- It’s time to type the drive letter of your hard drive partition or USB flash drive on PC. Sometimes it can be /:D,E,Getc.
- After that, write “attrib g:*.* /d /s -h -r –s” and press again Enter. In this way, you will be able to recover your files from the PC or from the USB.
Using an antivirus program
Another of the most used alternatives is to resort to antivirus programs that facilitate these procedures and allow you to eliminate the direct access virus from your PC or flash drive. However, despite the fact that there are many antivirus software, it is necessary that you use one that managed to detect the shortcut virus and in such a way, it also allows you scan usb stick.
Thus, one of the most recommended programs for this in Windows is . Which makes use of various detection methods with powerful tools that find practically all existing viruses.
These methods are:
- scanner: The antivirus has a powerful engine that is responsible for prohibiting the entry of computer viruses, malware, spyware and any program that causes damage to the computer. Also, it can scan ZIP, 7-ZIP, CHM, CAB, MIME files, among others.
- anti-rootkit: Basically, it is a feature of Avast Antivirus capable of preventing attacks “root kit”, making use of Gmer technology.
- Anti Spyware: As its name indicates, it does not allow spyware to install on your computer and proceed to steal all your information to use it illegally.
- Heuritic (engine): It is an engine with the ability to detect known viruses and offer you this information in advance.
- code simulation: Tool that allows a code simulation to avoid damage to the system, after performing a manual or automatic scan.
As an additional solution, we also advise you to use the program “Trojan Remover” on your Windows computer. Since it is an antivirus that has tools with which you can keep your computer clean and thus, prevent any type of Trojan from accessing it.
In other words, it is based on an ideal anti-Trojan program to detect and eliminate direct access viruses, since these are a combination between a Trojan and a worm, as we indicated at the beginning.
With Shortcut virus remover
If you prefer to leave the use of the Windows command line aside and have another program as an alternative, the best option for you is to use “Shortcut virus remover” which refers to free software with the ability to remove the annoying shortcut virus in a very simple way.
Since, it deletes all the files automatically, as well as the shortcut folders and so on, manage to recover your original folders.
As for the process that you have to follow to do this with the help of Shortcut virus remover, it is as follows:
- Once you download the program in question, access it and there you will see two options: Pendrive and Computer. Among them, click on “flash drive”, if you want to erase the virus from a USB drive. On the other hand, select “computers” if you want to remove the virus from your computer.
- As in this case we will focus on removing the USB virus, we have chosen “flash drive” and after that, you must click on the corresponding letter of the USB drive.
- Then press the button “scan” for the program to start the search and detection of the virus.
- After completing the previous process, the shortcuts will be found and there, it is time to click on “delete” in order to suppress the virus.
- Lastly, you will now be able to have the original files or documents that the program recovered on your Pendrive or Disk.
as you will see, this program is more effective than the others that we recommend, since it focuses solely and exclusively on eliminating the shortcut virus and, in the same way, recovering the original folders.
How to prevent our Windows or Mac hard drive or an external USB memory from being infected with a computer virus?
Faced with so much latent computer insecurity today, it is valuable to know some ways that allow you to prevent the computer hard drive or external USB memory that you use constantly, can be infected by any type of computer virusthat is, from the simplest to the most powerful.
To do this, here are some recommendations that you should follow:
- It is necessary to prevent it from running potentially dangerous programs, automatically. Since, in general, this type of software is found on any website that you visit next. Which is recommended for both Windows and Mac.
- As much as possible, take care of uninstall programs that you no longer use on your computer. In view of the fact that, on many occasions, obsolete software can generate security problems and infect the computer without any consideration, since you have an outdated tool installed.
- We recommend that you be very careful when opening files that are shared with you via email, whether through download links or by any other means. For this, it is best do not open files from unknown sources that may be malware.
- In case you need to open or insert third-party files or external media very frequently, it is best to have a compartmentalized system (such as Tails), in order to prevent the virus from infecting your PC and accessing personal files.
- It is very important that you install the updates of the programs hosted on the computer, as soon as they are available. Typically on Windows and Mac computers you are required to download and run a new installer for this.
- You should not insert the input and output devices of pen drives, USB memories, CD-ROOMs and DVDs, when the boot of the legal operating system is starting. In addition, we also recommend create a virus free boot disk.
- It is valuable that use a firewall (Internet, USB, operating system) in order to prevent access by any unknown operation, whether internal or external.
All these and many more recommendations are necessary to take into account to keep a computer free of any kind of virus and that, in this way, it does not infect a USB memory when inserting it into it.
Likewise, it is significant that scan any external memory before committing it to the computerto avoid any problem in case it presents errors (For example, you can do it in ).
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