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I have a folder on my PC which is empty, but when I view its properties, it shows that it contains 3000 files of 577 MB. I made sure that there are no hidden files. When I copy this folder to a different location, it takes 3 minutes. Is there a way that I can view the contents of this folder? (I copied it to a memory stick and tried to view the contents on 3 differents PCs with different versions of Windows, but each time it shows that the folder is empty.)
Using the command prompt might help, you will need to Google how to show hidden files etc
Have you tried opening the Explorer, and selecting the Menu: Tools > Folder Options then the View Tab? You can choose the Show hidden files and folders.
in folder options un check "hide protected operating system files" by default its enabled
I tried all the above advice, but still nothing.
But were you able to tick the Show hidden files and folders?
Yes, that was the first thing I tried.
It's a Worm/Trojan infection. Download this vbscript and run them.
The best would be to scan your pc with NOD32. Seems the trojan is easily caught with NOD32. You may try other antivirus as well if you want...
Thanks for the advice. The folder was indeed once on a memory stick which was infected.
So did it help?
I had to download the trial version of WinRAR and then it did the trick; it recovered my 3000 files. However, all the files are kept in the WinRAR folder; I can't copy anyone of them to another location - then they disappear again. If I open the files one by one, I can save them in another location without losing sight of them (but 3000??). I don't mind to keep them in the WinRAR folder, but what will happen if the trial period expires?
Thanks a lot anyway for getting me out of trouble.
Seems like your pc is still infected.
did you try the vbscript that I attached above?
Yes, I did. I also scanned the PC for virusses but there's nothing.
winrar doesn't lose functionality when the trial expires. it just nags you. It sounds to me like you are opening a zipped folder since winrar shows them. Right click the folder and choose "extract" Winrar is real funny about the user interface as well. If you've clicked on any files in the file list and click the extract button it will only extract the last clicked file. You can click the up arrow in the list though and highlight the entire folder and click extract that way.
If you know DOS, the first thing I would do is create a boot disk or CD then navigate to directory and see if you can view the files.
You didn't say whether you are running FAT32 or NTFS, but sounds more like the partition table is corrupted.