How to Remove the Shortcut Virus from A USB

Are you a Windows user? If yes, you probably know the issue of shortcut viruses. It has widespread and often annoy the regular Windows users. As USB drives are the most crucial and fastest way to exchange the data with ease, these are used by most of us. But in most of the cases, the hidden viruses are frequently ignored. Just imagine the conditions – Trying to install something from the web, inserting your friend’s pen drive in your system or inserting your pen drive in your friend’s system. If any one of the entities in these situations is affected by a virus, the possibilities that the whole system may crash is quite high. Nowadays, it is observed that shortcut virus is found to have concerned many and if you too are an affected victim, then this post can help you out. Well, before that I want to describe you the something about shortcut virus. Take an overview of the shortcut virus with us:

The shortcut virus is majorly responsible for making a shortcut for all files and folders present in the system and blocks the original ones. This sort of malware later flushes of the original data and makes them completely unavailable. There are also some occasions when the user’s credentials were exposed to the virus. Such virus attacks the system in two ways; either attack the system internally by affecting the drives and folders or the second way it can affect the external storage devices attached to the system. But fortunately, you can recover your data completely and easily remove the virus from your drive and computer just with the help of few commands and tools.

Table of Contents
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- Method No 1: By Making Use Of Windows Commands
- Method No 2: Applying Batch Files To Remove Shortcut Virus
Method No 1: By Making Use Of Windows Commands

As we all know, the shortcut viruses work on the characteristics of files and modify them. They move the original folders or files to a location which cannot be readily detected. So, what you need to do there? Follow the certain windows commands. These will help you to delete such viruses easily.

Insert your pen drive into the slot given and check if it is recognized on your PC. Along with this, also check the drive letter. Perhaps, it is detected in the F: drive or D: drive or any other.
Now Press the Windows Key + X and select the option Command Prompt( Admin) to open the Command Prompt in the Administrator mode.
Once the window opens up, write the below-mentioned command carefully.

Command – ATTRIB ‐H ‐R ‐S /S /D F:*.*

So, the features in the command represent:

R: You have to recreate the original files from its shortcut.
S: Re-include the recent files or folders in the USB drive to the system.

So, now your Shortcut files will be again gets converted to the original files. Delete unknown files from your pen drive after the command process done. After that it’s suggested to copy all essential; files from USB to any other folder on your PC and then format the USB.

Now open the affected folder to get the virus removed.
The normal files are now retrieved perfectly.

Method No 2: Applying Batch Files To Remove Shortcut Virus

Batch files have a pre-written agenda accessible in it that can assist greatly in removing shortcut viruses when they are performed.

Insert your USB Flash drive or pen drive into it’s slot and check if it is recognized in your computer.
After that, open up the Notepad by looking for it in the Search s bar at the bottom of your desktop.
Then write the below mentioned command carefully.
Command – @echo off
attrib ‐h ‐s ‐r ‐a /s /d F:*.*
@echo complete
bat: Finally, save the files as shortcutvirusremover.bat and change the file type as All files.
Administrator mode: Now next what you need to do; right click on the file that you just save and run it in Administrator
This can automatically delete all the shortcut viruses discovered on the external devices.

That is whole you need to perform in order to remove the shortcut virus from the USB. So, try the above mentioned methods carefully to solve the Shortcut virus problem. After fixing this issue, maybe you ought to scan your computer by following the simple steps.

Download and run UsbFix: It is an absolutely free program that can scan your PC and remove most common USB infections.
Click the “Research” button after operating UsbFix. This will start scanning your USB drive quickly.