How to Remove Shortcut Virus Permanently from USB Flash Drive and Windows Computer ?

 

Is there any shortcut virus remover in the web world? The question is big today. If you are a Windows computer user and love to use flash drive/usb pen drive to exchange files (games, movies, software etc.) from friend’s PC, then you might become the victim of shortcut virus any time. Recently, the activities of such shortcut viruses increase at a high rate. I got so many emails asking questions about “how to remove shortcut virus from my computer?” or “can you help me to remove virus that creates shortcut of every file, folder and drive?”. So, it is my essential duty to give you a perfect solution so that you will get rid of such annoying shortcut creator virus on your Windows PC because in all sense formatting is not the solution to remove any virus. You need to remove the virus keeping all the data intact. Reading this tutorial a user can be aware about such viruses and can protect himself from getting infected.
Info: My laptop was also affected by shortcut virus a month before. However, I successfully managed to remove it manually. My antivirus failed to detect it. Before discussing the method of removing shortcut virus permanently from USB flash drive and from PC, you have to know in details about it.

What is Shortcut Virus?
Shortcut virus is a kind of malware which creates a shortcut (with original icon) of every file, folder and drive and hides the original one in the hardware device in such a way so that the files/folders/drives can’t be accessed. In later stage of the infection, the virus deletes all the originals files or makes all the files and folders inaccessible. Sometimes, in advance stages, the virus tries to steal the personal information from your PC and usb device, but that may vary depending upon the category of the shortcut virus.
This virus can affect and infect external devices mainly. External storage like USB flash drive, pen drive, external hard disk, memory card etc. are the primary target of this shortcut virus. However, sometimes, shortcut virus infects the files, folders and drives of a Windows PC.
Types of Shortcut Virus: Baically, there are two types of shortcut virus available in the market. One creates shortcut of every files in the external storage. Second one affects the PC and it’s drives, files, folders and creates shortcut each of them, later makes those inaccessible.
How does the Shortcut virus spread?
Possible reasons of spreading shortcut virus are as follows:

1. Online infection: If you download and install an executable file to your computer which contains the trojan/malware or which contains the malicious script.
2. You have connected the removable drive (like USB flash drive, pen drive, portable hard drive) into your friend’s PC or in your workplace to exchange some data which have already been an infected one. The virus has spread to your external drive from there if autorun is turned on.
3. You have inserted someone’s flash drive to your computer from where the PC has been infected. Later, it has infected your external drive as soon as you have connected it to your PC.

Preventions and precautions from getting infected with Windows Shortcut virus:
If you just hear about the virus or if you yet to get shortcut virus infection on your external usb flash drive or if have already been affected with this shortcut virus, then you should be alert enough and take necessary actions so that you can protect yourself against further spreading of this annoying virus.

• Stop auto play of external drive: Open group-policy editor and navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > AutoPlay Policies to configure auto-play off.
• Don’t use double click to open pen drive on your computer. Right click on drive letter and choose explore option to open USB drive. Thus, you can avoid shortcut virus infection in your PC.
• Scan the pen drive or any external drive first with antivirus in your PC. Only then open it.
• Don’t insert personal USB flash drive to public PC.
• Always keep your antivirus database up-to-date.

So far, I have described about the shortcut virus and it’s prevention procedure. Now, I am going to tell how to remove usb shortcut virus from pendrive and from the PC by using and without using shortcut virus remover. There are many USB shortcut virus removal tool which will help you to free up your Windows PC and USB flash drive from annoying shortcut virus.

Best Ways to Delete, Clean and Remove Shortcut Virus from USB Flash Drive, Pendrive, Laptop, Mobile, Tablet, Notebook and Windows PC

It is very hard to guess which type of shortcut virus affects your computer. It is not difficult to delete it completely once it enters in your PC. Most of the anti-virus software even can not detect it. So, I want to mention some possible solutions to remove shortcut virus from usb flash drive and Windows PC. As, this virus continuously injects scripts to multiple files and folders, so, it will be the best practice not to rely upon single method, otherwise, the virus may come back again.

1. Use Windows Command as a Shortcut Virus Removal Method:
The main strategy of infection of the shortcut virus is the virus changes the file attribute and makes the original file or folder hidden to an unknown place. By changing it using command, you can remove the effect of the virus. Steps to remove shortcut virus using Windows command are as follows.

1. Insert the USB drive into PC.
2. In search box, type cmd.exe. In the search result, right click on it and select “Run as Administrator” to open command prompt window. A windows 8.1 and 10 user can open command prompt as administrator by right clicking on start button and choose the right option.
3. Write the below code in command prompt and press Enter.

   ATTRIB ‐H ‐R ‐S /S /D G:*.*

   
4. Note: Change the letter ‘G’ with the drive letter of your pen drive or flash drive.

The explanation of the above command:
[ATTRIB]: denotes attribute.
[-R]: recreate the original files by removing the shortcut.
[-S]: makes all the existing files of the USB drive re-include in the system again.
[G:] It is the drive letter of the external USB drive.

2. Use Batch File to Permanently Remove USB Shortcut Virus:
Batch file is an executable Windows file that contains some previously written program in it. You can use notepad to create a batch file. Let’s see how to create and use .bat file as usb shortcut virus removal tool.

1. Open notepad.
2. Paste the below code in it.

   @echo off
   attrib ‐h ‐s ‐r ‐a /s /d G:*.*
   @echo complete
   

   Note: Change the drive letter G according to the original drive letter of your pen drive
3. Rename the file as shortcutvirusremover.bat and change the file save as type to ‘All Files’. Now, save the file to your PC.
4. Insert the pen drive to your PC.
5. Double click on the batch file to run it. You can right click on the batch file and select “Run as Administrator” option to execute the command of the file with admin privilege.
6. Thus, (there might be a chance ) all the shortcut virus will be deleted automatically from the USB pen drive.

3. Use Windows Registry Editor to Delete USB Shortcut Virus
If you are an advanced user of a Windows computer and have enough knowledge on handling Windows registry, then you don’t need to download any third-party shortcut antivirus remover tool to permanently remove shortcut virus.

1. Right-click on Windows taskbar and choose Task Manager. Alternatively press Alt+Shift+Esc to open task manager in your Windows PC.
2. Navigate to process tab and end the process wscript.exe.
3. Press  Windows+R together to open Run dialogue box, type regedit there and press the Enter button to open Windows registry editor.
4. Navigate to the following registry key:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run

5. Delete the odwcamszas registry key from there.

Sometimes, you may not find the above mentioned registry key if the method of attack is different. For that situation, skip this step and try to follow the rest techniques.

4. Disinfect USB Shortcut Virus with VBScript
Shortcut viruses have a capability of multiply themselves. Thus the viruses spread all over the PC. If such shortcut virus infects your PC, it may affect the installation drive and the system files get corrupted. To prevent Windows installation drive (C drive) from shortcut-virus infection, you need to run a VBScript file which can run over all the files, folders and drives of your PC and find & delete all the viruses from your computer. Thus it prevents your PC and pendrive from future shortcut virus attack.

• Download the vbscript from this link.
• Double click on the .vbs file to run it. Alternatively, right-click on the file and open the file with ‘Microsoft Windows Based Script Host’.
• Click OK for confirmation. The script takes 30 seconds to complete the virus removal.

5. Use 7-Zip or WinRAR to Retrieve the Original Files Behind Shortcut and Format the External Drive to Remove the Virus
Download, install and run the 7-zip (http://www.7-zip.org/download.html) software in your PC.
Using the software, go to the location of your external usb drive which is infected by short cut virus.
You will find all the original files there (if you use 7-zip).
Select all the files and right click on it and choose 7 zip >> Add to Archive.
Select the archive saving location to a safe place of your PC.
Format the flash drive and it will be free from shortcut viruses.

6. Search, Find and Remove Shortcut Virus Manually from Your PC:
This kind of virus injects a script file in your PC that continuously runs and create problems to users. If you manage to find such malicious scripts in your PC, you can delete them manually to get rid of the virus.
Steps are as follows.
Press Windows+R to open the Run dialogue box.
Type %temp% there and press Enter to open the list of temporary files.
Search for nkvasyoxww.vbs file there. Remove the file.
In the run dialogue box type msconfig and press Enter to open Windows System configuration.
Go to Startup tab and disable nkvasyoxww.vbs from there. Windows 8 and later version users can find the option direct from the Task manager.
By following this method, you can minimize the chances of spreading shortcut virus infection in usb drive and in your PC.

7. ‘Shortcut Virus Remover’ Tool to Remove Shortcut Virus from PC
You can use ‘Shortcut Virus Remover’ tool to clean the virus. Just install the virus and run it. In the drive letter section type the drive letter you want to remove virus. Press ‘Clean Virus’ button to delete Windows shortcut virus. You will be asked three to four times for confirmation.



Download URL:

http://download.cnet.com/Shortcut-Virus-Remover/3000-2239_4-76253723.html

Caution: Don’t use this software for your Windows installation drive. Only use it for USB flash drive. Otherwise, it can corrupt your Windows system files and it removes all the shortcut files from desktop area of your PC.

8. Remove autorun.inf from All the drive: Run the Autorun Exterminator and this software automatically deletes all the existing atorun.inf files from every drive. Thus, it prevents the shortcut virus from spreading.
Download link:

http://ccm.net/download/download-11613-autorun-exterminator

9. Use Hidden Folder Virus Cleaner to Remove Shortcut Virus
Paste the Hidden folder virus cleaner pro (https://sourceforge.net/projects/hfv/) software in the infected directory and click the delete virus button to get rid of shortcut virus. You can use Browse option if you use the software from any other part of your PC.



10. Use UsbFix to Remove Shortcut Malware from External drive
UsbFix (fosshub.com/UsbFix.html) is one of my favourite malware removal tool which helps you to detect all the existing malware (like Windows shortcut virus) from the pen-drive or memory card of any mobile phone, digital camera and delete them.



Insert the flash drive in the external USB port. Use ‘Clean’ button to scan and delete all the existing shortcut viruses from the flash drive.

11. Use AntiBAK to Remove Usb Shortcut Virus
Most of the time, all the antivirus fails to detect virus that creates shortcut. AntiBAK (https://sourceforge.net/projects/antibak/) is a brilliant software that can fix all the shortcut virus related issue and delete it permanently and completely from usb.



If you notice the interface of you will find all the possible options which are directly related to shortcut virus removal. The above picture describes you it more clearly.

Final Words:

Shortcut virus of usb flash drive is a common virus and it is not so hard to remove permanently. Though, the method of removal of shortcut virus from PC and from pendrive is time-taking. Sometimes, one has to go through more than one method to delete the virus completely. It is better to have a good and updated internet security (along with Antivirus) in a PC so that it can minimize the chances of attack. I have described all the best methods of shortcut virus removal. If you find any more useful way, definitely inform us.