Why do files become hidden

You aren't going to learn these skills overnight if you don't already possess them. The best option would be to entirely erase and reformat both your computer and your external drive, and restore from a clean backup. If you don't have a clean backup, you have probably lost your data permanently, I'm sorry to say. The malware would have to be addressed with a program like MalwareBytes or Avast and check all drives on your system.

I see that you may be trying a recovery via Linux, but I figured a Windows option wouldn't hurt in the event someone else has something similar. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.

Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Ask Question. Asked 9 years, 7 months ago. Active 9 years, 7 months ago. Viewed 3k times. Improve this question. HackToHell 6, 3 3 gold badges 36 36 silver badges 62 62 bronze badges. HackToHell So what , is there any way to get it back — echolab. Scan the drive and open it in Linux and locate your files.

HackToHell sorry is there any way so i can run linux in windows , virtually i am not and expert , any linux already virtualized so i can run it in machine — echolab. File , Hidden share , Operating system terms , System file. Home Dictionary H - Definitions. Tip Hidden files should not be used to hide confidential information as any user may view them.

Note It is important to realize that files can also be hidden using a software program or other commands. Related pages How do I view hidden files and folders in Windows?

How do I stop viewing hidden files in Windows? On the left choose Software Enviroment, then Startup Programs.

Regards eddie. EXE Ad-aware pretty much deleted all the unwanted files and then initialized the following. Also, it went through all my cookies and deleted a bunch of site counter cookies.

EXE, I hope this means I didn't have any spyware loaded. Oh, here is the msinfo32 startup. I am running Windows Me. Okay You have Web and Gator. Go to AddRemove and uninstall Gator. Now, to uninstall Web you need to find the software that has installed it. Now, I have a link at home, but I don't have my bookmarks here at work.

So, go here and see if you have any of the programs listed. When the program has been found, we can uninstall it and then go on.

Hello, Good news The hidden property on my personal folders can now be changed. They are no longer grayed-out. Most were converted to READ only from hidden Your suggestions to run Ad-aware and remove the WEB seemed to make this possible. I checked some webpages on how to remove Web and took care the rest. Ad-aware finds no suspicious files currently. It does occasionally remove some double-click cookies. All my folders-files have been changed to normal attributes I will have to see which ones I will hide and make read-only later.

Especially my winsock. Thanks again, Mike. As Seen On. Welcome to Tech Support Guy! Latest posts. How to reduce ping for smartphone? Android Mobile Devices. Change verification email 8 Viewers Latest: lochlomonder 21 minutes ago. Windows