It is a quite annoying matter that a USB flash drive is virus infected. In this article, we will expose 8 most common phenomena indicating an infected USB flash drive.
Due to its portability and auto run capacity, USB flash drive can easily get infected by virus. You must have known the harm which virus can lead to. At best, the files on an infected drive will only get hidden. At worst, all files will become corrupt and even lost permanently. Hence, so as to avert such data loss, you had better do regular data backups for your USB flash drive. For instance, to protect your PST data, you can back up the file on another external hard drive, such that even if the USB flash fails thoroughly, you still can recover PST data from the backups.
Many users complain that they don’t know how to identify if a USB flash drive is virus infected. So here we will unveil 8 most common strange matters indicating a virus infected USB flash drive.
1. Unknown Shortcut Files
Shortcut virus is the most common kind of viruses for USB flash drive. Many have suffered it before. In short, if you find that your original files are converted into shortcut files, or some unknown shortcut files appear, or the drive is shown in the form of shortcut, there are great chances that the USB flash drive is attacked by virus.
2. Auto Execute autorun.inf File
Apart from shortcut virus, autorun virus is another common virus for USB flash drive. If you insert your USB drive to a USB port, USB flash drive auto starts by executing a file called autorun.inf, which is housing the autorun virus, the virus will spread to your PC immediately. Your operating system will be no longer able to open the USB drive as usual. Thus, if you find the autorun.inf file in your USB drive, you can confirm your USB drive is infected.
3. New Unrelated Options in Drive’s Right Clicking Menu
In normal situation, when you right click on the USB flash drive, there are many common and fixed options in the context menu. If one day when you right click on it as usual but find many unfamiliar and unrelated new options, you should become vigilant right away.
4. Disk Icon Becomes a Folder Icon
You must have been familiar with the disk icon. In general, when you insert your USB flash drive, it will display in your Windows Explorer in a disk icon. But if one day you see that the disk icon becomes a folder icon, it is probable that your USB flash drive is virus infected.
5. No Icon Is Assigned to the Disk
Apart from a folder icon, in worse scenario, your USB flash drive may display without an exact icon. If you come across such a case, do not hesitate any longer. It’s unquestioned fact that the USB drive is surely virus infected.
6. Cannot Open & Access the Drive as Normal
After plugging your USB flash drive into your computer, when you try to open it, if you receive any error messages mentioning that you cannot access it alike, the virus in the USB drive may be the culprit.
7. Unusual Popup “Open With” when Opening Common Files on the Drive
Your computer must have assigned the default programs to the corresponding files, for instance, use MS Word to open the .doc file. Thus, the same holds true for the USB flash drive. When you double click on a file in common file type, such as a .doc file, the file will be opened in MS Word. But if the file doesn’t open, instead, the “Open with” dialog box pops up, you can suspect if your USB flash drive is virus infected.
8. Drive Opens in New Window Instead of the Current Window
Generally speaking, when you double click on the drive icon, the drive will open in the current window. However, if it opens in a new window, you should beware and scan your USB drive by antivirus software right now.
Author Introduction:
Shirley Zhang is a data recovery expert in DataNumen, Inc., which is the world leader in data recovery technologies, including corrupt mdf and outlook repair software products. For more information visit www.datanumen.com
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