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Reset System and Hidden Attributes for Files or Folders Caused by Virus

Posted By Raymond In Category: Computer

May
1
2009

Different virus causes different type of damage on your computer. Most of the time the virus 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 to remove the virus from computer.

There are some virus 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. If the virus is capable of restricting Folder Options, chances are you think that your files has been wiped out by the virus but in fact it is hidden in your system.
unhide virus hidden file
There’s still hope if you think that your files are gone because of virus. Here’s how to check if the file is still around, and if it is, you can reset the attributes of the file to view it normally in Windows Explorer.


Here’s how to show hidden files and folders or system files.

1. Go to Control Panel and open Folder Options.

2. Go to View tab and select “Show hidden files and folders”. Then uncheck “Hide protected operating system files”. Do take note that some virus that are still active in computer will revert the changes that you made. So make sure your computer is clean from virus first by scanning with an antivirus program.
show hide or hidden files and folders

3. Try to look for your missing files in your hard drive. There is a tool called RSIT is able to help you find files or folders created or modified in the last 1 to 3 months.

4. If you managed to locate your files which is hidden but visible because you’ve configured in Folder Options to show, then you’ll need to unhide the hidden file. Here are 3 methods to reset the system and hidden attributes.

i) attrib command
Unhide hidden files
- This is the old school method of doing it without using any software. Just run command prompt (Start > Run > CMD), type the command attrib -H -S C:\path\to\your\file.doc. You can also use the asterisk character to define multiple extensions. For example, attrib -H -S C:\raymond\*.* would remove the hidden and system attribute of all files in raymond folder at C drive.

ii) iReset
Unhide hidden folder
- This is a portable tool to reset your system or hidden files and folders so you can view or access them normally. You will need to drag and drop your files or folders into the cross sign and then click the reset button. This tool is free for personal use but if you want to use it for business purposes, then you’ll have to license the application.

iii) Attribute Changer
reset system or hidden file folder
- If a file has a hidden attribute, you can easily remove it by right clicking the file, go to Properties, and uncheck the Hidden checkbox. But if it also has system attribute, then the Hidden checkbox will be grayed out and you can’t change that. With Attribute Changer, you can now change all kind of file and folder attributes from the same area.

All 3 methods above should be able to help you reset your files and folders attributes. Depending on the situation, you can select which method works the best. I normally use the attrib command because it’s simple and straight forward. But if the command prompt has been disabled, I can still opt to use iReset or Attribute Changer.


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    • pooh

      a excellent tip ray!!!
      but just tell me if it is needed if we use a good security system?
      currently i use kis2009.

    • Coolkid

      This is the virus that infected my thumbdrive at my college library. It did one more thing though, it created an exe file with the same name and icon for you to double click and open. I suggest we untick the option for hide known file types extension so not to be fooled!

    • webcadre

      great tutorial ray and thanks for the info :)

    • mohan

      Nice Post!
      Is there any tool to block windows Registry?

    • riyaz

      thanx for d info !!!

    • roy raay

      Thanks for the tip mate, cheers!

    • Rekhyt

      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. :)

    • ha14

      Another useful tip and a good soft. Actually there are rather an impressive questions on the net how to recover reset files and folders attributes, and this infos can save them surely.

    • http://dawiecool.com dawiecool

      thanks for the info..

    • mk

      what a wonderful post and only 9 comments..looks like people post comments to get freebies like iphider etc only..

      my question ray is can this happen even while using a good ativirus like kis2009 for eg..?

      isthere a software to prevent viruses from making registry entries? like for eg lock registry?

    • dragonmly

      Want to unhide all folders and files.
      Example for Drive D.
      Just press -> key in “attrib -s -h -r d:\*.* /s /d” will show out all hidden folders and files.
      Easy then other method……..^_&

    • hanan

      nice tip
      thanx alot Ray.

    • http://evilfantasy.wordpress.com Kevin

      Great write up Raymond. I never can read enough new ways to repair the damage done by malware :)

    • 123vso

      thanx ray.this is very useful tutorial

    • http://dnewtech.blogspot.com shankar

      A better option is to use attrib command in MSDOS. i have removed extension of many files with this. Not just many its any

    • Aggrey

      Hi raymond,
      please help me crack pastel partner 2009.Thanks in advance

      Aggrey

    • vijay

      HI ray this is good,
      Please tell me how to crack the administrative password
      and how to hack the yahoo mail passwords.

    • http://Weeee.... JOHN VENTH

      So great. . and now my problem with my phone is solve. . thank you. . i have my folder shown again! ehehehe. . tnx

    • Sreechan

      Thank u my friend Attribute Changer is worked fine for me

    • Shafat

      Thanks much for sharing such useful info. i-Reset worked just fine for me :-)

    • Sniper

      Thanks a lot , u made it a lot easy and removed my headache. Its really good information.

    • Blunatix003

      WOW! this is the best tutorial ive seen regarding hidden folders. thank you so much ray!

    • saikat

      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

    • http://thanks! robert

      Thank you so much! the virus is really a headache… thanks for the tip… i thought my files were all gone… (Relief) :)

    • http://www.friendster.com/ramnama RamNhelgie

      hi five ray.. you are good hahah

    • jungard

      Thanks alot! im having this problem for months now. Such a saver… Many thanks again.

    • Bambang Puji

      Terimakasih informasinya mas Raymond, sangat berguna, ini yang saya cari selama ini.

    • http://thanx.. rashidha

      thanx ray…u r d man…problem solved with i reset…

    • hamzoo.com

      SOLVED

    • Jayakumar

      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

    • leobardo

      muchsisimas gracias me sirvio de mucho tu post… saludos desde la capital mundial de las cebollas…!!!

    • http://InformationOK!!! Gyan Singh

      Hi !

      I have to try this tip then I will say something . . .

    • http://thanks sodkhuu

      thanks from Mongolia

    • ivan enerlan

      great job ray! they just fooling us with those viruses and make money for it “anti-virus program”. You did a good job!

    • Hafiz

      Thanks for this great solution. Its really amazing!!!!!!!!!

    • rahmat nabi form kabul

      thanks from the deep part of my heart.
      its really working well.
      i used this dos command, its very nice.
      once again thanks.

    • Nikola

      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!

    • inkmho

      thanks for the tip. really working and it helps us a lot.

    • Bluestar

      thank you so much for your information.it really helped me

    • http://Ilovegoobrains Kwao Lazarus

      That is a great knowledge. God bless u

    • Loh Chuang Li

      This has really helped me a lot. Thanks for sharing! May you be blessed.

    • http://Thanks..... hee pit kuan

      Thank you. Thank you.

    • khan

      thanks

    • KingQuenJac

      Best Work ! I found this page as the first result while googling. Thanks

    • zex

      hey thank you very much. It’s working…… :D

    • syaiful

      U rocks. U help me solve my issue due to virus. thanks

    • abel

      Man ur so amazing!!!

    • Anupom

      Thanks……..for the post……

    • Swapnil

      Its Works ………….Thanks Dear……………………

    • http://sam Badsha

      Thanks alot! im having this problem for months now. Such a saver… Many thanks again
      thamks u realy a good ray

    • Anuj

      Thanx a lot man.
      I was searching for this everywhere on net.
      Love u.

    • Hani

      thanX man 100/100 working

    • Adee

      SUPERB HATS OFFF
      ITS WORKING

    • shachou

      thank you :)
      this article is very useful

    • Sivakumar

      thankyou…..
      this article is very usefull for IT people

    • dasnyvon21

      thanks very useful tools

    • Ramesh

      Thanks yaa…it was most useful for me…

      once again Thank You very much…

    • http://dntrknow irfan

      thanks it help me the cmd line

    • wesleyodenzo

      just perfect, huuuuuuh can now breath.

    • karthik

      i want download link

    • Carlos Padron

      Thanks for the help, muchisimas gracias me funciono muy bien, bien echo

    • marvin

      this one helps…thank you

    • rolex

      oh u r great . thnx for the stuff.well this de bst solution i had ever find for my problm.

    • Navaid

      Thanks yaa…it was most useful for me…

      once again Thank You very much…

    • izizree

      man i luuuvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv u very mucccccchhhh

    • Mhegaz

      Thank U

    • Geeva

      Thank u raymond. u r handy

    • anirban

      Thanks a ton. This is the best solution……
      attrib -H -S *.*

    • Rae Neul

      Thank you. But I encountered a problem with my friends XP. We tried to run it in safe mode but when we restarted the program it suddenly got a blue screen error and it will not start loading. I did everything choosing start window automatically,safe mode,safe mode with networking,safe mode with command prompt but non of them makes his computer start.

    • NA

      works fine, perfect…thanx a lot!

    • http://hyperiononline.co.cc Ukiya

      very informative, easy to follow and 100% working – it helped me reset files that has been tampered by virus to a working file, /no1

    • http://Thanks Brendan

      Thanks a lot man!
      You are a life saver!
      ps. if the file name is: “hello world”
      You will have to write it like this to change the folder attributes:
      attrib -H -S C:\”hello world”

    • Steward

      Thanks, man! It helps~
      I used the IReset software and it worked perfectly.
      Screw the virus!

      Have a nice day!

      Malaysia

    • venus

      Thanks a lot… very useful…
      Love yah!

    • john

      thanks so much…problem solved

    • dev dm

      cool 1 thanks ……………….! <3

    • TCN-WDESIGN

      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.

    • aau 83

      thanks mate!

    • http://www.google.com Genky

      Thank you for your post and very useful information.

      :-)

    • Odilon

      Thank a lot for this…..

    • DP

      :) works great for me…

      thnx man…

    • hojo

      hey this is helping about. i still have no idea where the virus came from. relatively speaking, im really careful with what i download online.

      my question here is that, while the old school method works, it only works for anything i type in that contain no spaces. how do u type in “attrib -H -S f:\” followed by a folder with spacing to undo the hidden problem? “misc_folder” does not work

    • soopa

      thanxxx………….very helpful tools

    • RDT

      exactly what i was looking for!!!!

    • Kavita Ann

      Thank You so much! I used iReset and it WORKED!!! Thank you!!! :-D

    • Uday Kumar B R

      Thank you :-) Helped me a lot

    • noel

      THANK YOU THANK YOU MATE, where will I send my USD 1,000 donation ;) thanks a lot and more power

    • rohit

      cool thanku

    • odd-1

      worked thank you so much. i almost fromatted haha

    • Neeraj D. Sharma

      Thank you very much for providing the software to change the attribute it has worked..

    • Filip

      Thank you!!
      Hvala!!

    • Pol Cabriana

      Thank you so much.. it was very useful

    • Pulkit

      Thanks mate. It worked out well….

    • sevha

      It’s cool, it worked fast, and easy. like A B C. keep it up.

    • zax

      With the /s it will change the attributes on files in the subdirectories too. With the /d it will change the attributes on the actual directory entries too.

    • zax

      Sorry, the command syntax got lost in my last post. Here it is.

      attrib -h -s C:\*.* /S /D

    • zax

      So I have done this….and everything reappears. But there is a problem. The virus came from an email and it is still active. It keeps a pop up on the screen that simulates a PC scan and shows a bunch of nasty errors. then it recommends that I pay Data-Recovery.com to fix my machine. Well, I won’t do that. But the virus keeps doing weird things now and then. How do I find it and kill it? It prevents me from starting my taskmanager. Help

    • Mahendra

      Simply Superb!!!!!!!!

    • http://www.facebook.com/Kemazu Clifton Martin

      How do you use the attrib command to work on file folders?

      • Alexandre Paiva

        attrib -s -h /s /d

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