Different viruses cause different types of damage on your computer. Most of the time, the viruses are programmed to disable Windows Task Manager, Regedit, Command Prompt, folder options and etc. These restrictions are meant to prevent a normal computer user from using these built-in Windows diagnostic tools such as MSCONFIG to disable the virus from starting up on your computer.
There are some viruses that will cause destruction such as encrypting recently used files so you are forced to buy the decryption key from the virus programmer. Then there’s another type of virus such as BDS.Mirc.Backdoor that will hide your document files by setting the hidden and system attributes to the file. You can still see the files if you set to show hidden files and folders plus disabling hide operating system files. Another trick is to use Google Chrome, Firefox or Opera to reveal the hidden files. If the virus is capable of restricting Folder Options, the chances are you think that your files have been wiped out by the virus but in fact they are perfectly safe and have just been hidden in your system.
There’s still hope if you think that your files are gone because of a virus. Here’s how to check if the files are still around, and if they are, you can reset the attributes of the files to view them normally in Windows Explorer again.
How to show hidden files and folders or system files
1. Go to Control Panel and open Folder Options.
2. Go to the View tab and select “Show hidden files and folders”. Then uncheck “Hide protected operating system files”. Do take note that some viruses that are still active on the computer will revert the changes that you made. So make sure your computer is clean from viruses first by scanning with an antivirus program.
3. Try to look for your missing files on your hard drive. There is a tool called Random’s System Information Tool that is able to help you find files or folders created or modified in the last 1 to 3 months.
4. If you have managed to locate your files which are hidden but visible because you’ve configured the Folder Options to show them, then you’ll need to unhide the hidden files. Here are 4 methods to reset the system and hidden attributes.
Unhide using the Windows attrib command
This is the old school method of doing it without using any software. Just run command prompt (Start -> Run -> CMD for XP, or for Vista and 7 Start -> type CMD in search box, right click and run as Admin), type the following command:
attrib -H -S C:\path\to\your\file.doc /S /D
You can also use the asterisk character to define multiple extensions. For example:
attrib -H -S C:\raymond\*.* /S /D
This would remove the Hidden and System attribute of all files in the raymond folder on the C drive. The /S and /D arguments are optional. /S will recurse down into all sub folders and /D will unhide the folders themselves if they have the System or Hidden attribute set.
Just to point out, it’s probably not the best idea to use something like “C:\*.*” as this will unhide the whole drive including files which Windows has set as hidden or system by design.
On the next page we’ll show you how to unhide/unsystem your files using even easier methods with the help software.
thanks a lot
The information was great
Thank you for this helpful post. Really appreciated Free Commander.
that was awesum..i searched alot to reset my folders..ireset did it soo fast..easy to use..great softwaare..thanks aloot
Great, Working like a charm. FreeCommander is the best one.
Well, Nice information Passed, working fine, Thanks
many many thx :D
Best Tool ever……….. keep it up .. IT works fine…
10x bro..really worked for me.
Yes it solved the problem.
Works like a charm. Thanks.
tnx
Simply Superb!!!!!!!!
So I have done this….and everything reappears.
It’s cool, it worked fast, and easy. like A B C. keep it up.
Thanks mate. It worked out well….
Thank you so much.. it was very useful
Thank you!!
Hvala!!
Thank you very much for providing the software to change the attribute it has worked..
worked thank you so much. i almost formatted haha
cool thanku
THANK YOU THANK YOU MATE, where will I send my USD 1,000 donation ;) thanks a lot and more power
Thank you :-) Helped me a lot
Thank You so much! I used iReset and it WORKED!!! Thank you!!! :-D
exactly what i was looking for!!!!
thanxxx………….very helpful tools
hey this is helping about. I still have no idea where the virus came from. relatively speaking, I’m really careful with what I download online.
:) works great for me…
thnx man…
Thank a lot for this…..
Thank you for your post and very useful information.
:-)
thanks mate!
thanks for this software this is great tool and may Jehovah bless you with much knowledge to continue to develop such nice and simple software.
cool 1 thanks ……………….! <3
thanks so much…problem solved
Thanks a lot… very useful…
Love yah!
Thanks, man! It helps~
I used the IReset software and it worked perfectly.
Screw the virus!
Have a nice day!
Malaysia
Thanks a lot man!
You are a life saver!
very informative, easy to follow and 100% working – it helped me reset files that has been tampered by virus to a working file, /no1
works fine, perfect…thanx a lot!
Thanks a ton.
Thank u raymond. u r handy
Thank U
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Thanks yaa…it was most useful for me…
once again Thank You very much…
oh u r great . thnx for the stuff.well this de bst solution i had ever find for my problm.
this one helps…thank you
Thanks for the help.
just perfect, huuuuuuh can now breath.
thanks it help me the cmd line
Thanks yaa…it was most useful for me…
once again Thank You very much…
thanks very useful tools
thankyou…..
this article is very usefull for IT people
thank you :)
this article is very useful
SUPERB HATS OFFF
ITS WORKING
thanX man 100/100 working
Thanx a lot man.
I was searching for this everywhere on net.
Love u.
Thanks alot! im having this problem for months now. Such a saver… Many thanks again
thamks u realy a good ray
Its Works ………….Thanks Dear……………………
Thanks……..for the post……
Man ur so amazing!!!
U rocks. U help me solve my issue due to virus. thanks
hey thank you very much. It’s working…… :D
Best Work ! I found this page as the first result while googling. Thanks
thanks
Thank you. Thank you.
This has really helped me a lot. Thanks for sharing! May you be blessed.
That is a great knowledge. God bless u
thank you so much for your information.it really helped me
thanks for the tip. really working and it helps us a lot.
Thank you for the Command Prompt version, it works excellent and it finished my 8GB USB pendrive in 10 seconds!
Thank you very much once again!
thanks from the deep part of my heart.
its really working well.
i used this dos command, its very nice.
once again thanks.
Thanks for this great solution. Its really amazing!!!!!!!!!
great job ray! they just fooling us with those viruses and make money for it “anti-virus program”. You did a good job!
thanks from Mongolia
Hi !
I have to try this tip then I will say something . . .
very nice Artical. My girl friend missed her project file because virus infected . she thought i deleted that files. now i can show that project files using this .Thank uuuuu
SOLVED
thanx ray…u r d man…problem solved with i reset…
Thanks alot! im having this problem for months now. Such a saver… Many thanks again.
hi five ray.. you are good hahah
Thank you so much! the virus is really a headache… thanks for the tip… i thought my files were all gone… (Relief) :)
amaizing solution!!!!!!!!!!!! its so g888888888888!!!!!i have tried it for year and u solved it just in second!!!!!!!!!!!!so gr8fulllllllllllll to uuuuuuuuuuuuu
thanks u verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry much
WOW! this is the best tutorial ive seen regarding hidden folders. thank you so much ray!
Thanks a lot , u made it a lot easy and removed my headache. Its really good information.
Thanks much for sharing such useful info. i-Reset worked just fine for me :-)
Thank u my friend Attribute Changer is worked fine for me
So great. . and now my problem with my phone is solve. . thank you. . i have my folder shown again! ehehehe. . tnx
HI ray this is good,
thanx ray.this is very useful tutorial
Great write up Raymond. I never can read enough new ways to repair the damage done by malware :)
nice tip
thanx alot Ray.
thanks for the info..
Another useful tip and a good soft.
Raymond, thank you soooooo much, i encounter this problem since few month ago and never find any solution, once again thank you so much, i only could wish you best of luck with your life. :)
Thanks for the tip mate, cheers!
thanx for d info !!!
Nice Post!
great tutorial ray and thanks for the info :)
a excellent tip ray!!!