Solved Newly Bought Flash Drive Has Shortcut Virus

[iNiffy]

Recently I bought a brand new PNY 32GB Flash Drive, It looked beautiful that I didn't worry there isn't going to be any errors gonna show up (by the way this is my first flash drive) but then when I tested it on my pc, it shows these folders and shortcuts. When I try to delete them, they kept showing up again and again, these are so annoying and tried to search solutions on the internet but has no luck. This forum is my only hope, please help me. I have the picture of the shortcut files here in the attachments

 

[billmcct]

Format the drive.

 

[iNiffy]

I forgot to add this but I already tried formatting it many times, I even tried changing the file system (FAT32 to NTFS) and allocation size but still doesn't kill it

 

[billmcct]

I think i would return it to where ever it came from. Personally, i only use Sandisk drives.

 

[johnhoh]

your system is probably creating these folders. Check here, post #3....

Odd folders created automatically once USB device is connected

 

[iNiffy]

Hello johnhoh,


I tried your solution on that thread but it only redirects me to the user libraries (C:\Users\*\My Documents / C:\Users\*\My Music) I'm thinking, is it a virus? can you guys provide a guide on how to clean this virus and what's the name of it?


I downloaded USBFix and tried cleaning and revealed a hidden folder in my pendrive named "autorun.inf". Anyone know what it is?

 

[SnakeFist]

Hello johnhoh,


I tried your solution on that thread but it only redirects me to the user libraries (C:\Users\*\My Documents / C:\Users\*\My Music) I'm thinking, is it a virus? can you guys provide a guide on how to clean this virus and what's the name of it?


I downloaded USBFix and tried cleaning and revealed a hidden folder in my pendrive named "autorun.inf". Anyone know what it is?

The autorun.inf is used to give the flash drive a custom icon. Also it is used for auto run where a dialog pops up asking what you want to do with the newly inserted flash drive.

 

[wither 2]

I don't see it as a virus but, if you want to check it out, download the free Malwarebytes and run a full system scan (with your flash drive connected).

 

[remm]

This is not a virus. The drive has proprietary crap on it... when you reformat you have to first delete all the partitions on the pen drive. The folders that persisted through the format you did, persisted b/c they are in a separate partition on the pen drive. A very small 'boot' partition.

Use a tool like Mini Tool Partition Wizard (free), AOMEI Partition Assistant Home Ed (free), or EASUS Partition Mgr (free).

1. Copy off any of your data you might have put on it.
2. Use one of the tools above to delete all partitions on the pen drive.
3. Create one large partition.
4. Format that partition.

Problem s/b fixed.

 

[Snick]

Try EaseUS Partition Master Free
Windows Disk Management isn't as easy to use in my opinion.
You can delete, resize partitions and many format choices.

FYI: Mini-Tool Partition Wizard is fine for resizing the drive. I've had issues with it formatting to exFat and Fat32, when formatting USB to either (USB works on computers not on Ford Sync and other players). Don't know about NTFS or the others.

 

[iNiffy]

SnakeFist, Wither 2, Remm and Snick


Thank you very much for the answers, I greatly appreciate it but I solved my own problem by running TronScript
for about 10 hours. If you guys don't know about that, It's a powerful cleanup tool for windows, It scans for viruses and optimises your pc.