How To Remove Virus From USB Without Losing Data?

You should be worried if your USB device turns out to be infected, particularly if it contains important information and papers. Good news is that you can remove the malware without destroying your valuable data.

This article will walk you through the steps to effectively and safely remove viruses from your USB device without compromising your files.

What Causes a Virus on My USB Device?

Because USB devices are movable and often used on several computers, viruses and malware can infect them.

Plugging in your USB drive into an infected machine can swiftly allow the virus to propagate to it.

Principal sources of USB viruses are:

Hacker networks

Files obtained from shaky sources

Giving over USB drives to other people

How to Remove the Virus?

Step 1: Unplug the USB drive.

Before going any farther, make sure the USB device is not linked to any computers. Thus, the virus is prevented from proliferating.

Step 2: Scavenge using antiviral program

Incorporate Current Antivirus Programs: Verify if your PC's antivirus software is up to current. For reliable free antivirus software, download Bitdefender, Avast, or AVG if you don't already have any installed.

Check the USB drive: Connect the PC and USB drive. Start your antivirus software and scan your computer—including the USB disk. Malware or viruses found on the drive will be quarantined by this scan.

Step 3: Remove or confine any malware discovered

Look at Scan Results: After the scan is over, look over the findings. An antivirus application will list any risks it finds.

Most antiviral programs include a "quarantine" feature. In doing this, the harmful files are isolated from the rest of your system and are unable to do more harm.

Remove Infected Files: Should you be positive that a file is harmful, you can remove it. Use care and watch out that you don't delete any important files.

Optional Step 4: Use the Command Prompt

Starting the Command Prompt: Expert users can also remove infections with Command Prompt.

Browse to the USB disk by: Once you've entered E: or the drive letter that matches your USB drive, hit Return. This command has made the directory your USB drive.

Take out the virus: Typing it, enter attrib -s -h -r /s /d *.*. Using this command removes the system, hidden, and read-only properties from every file on the USB drive.

Removing the properties allows you to manually delete suspicious files. Utilise the del command together with the filename to delete a specific file. Del virus.exe, for example, eliminates the "virus.exe" file.

Safety remove the USB drive.

Carefully take the USB drive out of your computer after the viruses have been removed or put in quarantine. To "Eject" or "Safely Remove Hardware," right-click the system tray icon for the USB drive.

Safeguarding Your USB Drive

Regular Scans: To find and remove any potential dangers, do routine antivirus scans on your USB drives.

Avert unidentified sources: Share and use USB disks that you are not sure who sent you carefully.

Back Up Your Information: Make sure your critical files are always duplicated on a different device or on the cloud.

In Brief

No data is lost when you remove a virus from your USB device with the right equipment and precautions.

By doing as follows, you can safely remove viruses from your USB drive and maintain the security of your contents. utilize the most recent antivirus software at all times, consider using Command Prompt for more advanced cleanup, and utilize safe USB drive procedures to prevent infections in the future.

These steps will return your USB drive to clean and working order!