Shortcut viruses are sometimes inevitable if you use removable devices such as flash drive, MicroSD, Pendrive, etc on your computer without using the best Anti-virus program to help fight against viruses.
Your computer can contact viruses such as Trojan when you make use of public drives and plug it directly into your computer without scanning for virus.
But if you use Anti-virus then, this anti-virus program will stand as the shortcut removal tool and you will have little or nothing to worry about the drive creating viruses shortcut on your system.
However, and whichever way, here in this post you will learn how to remove shortcut viruses from your computer permanently.
There are different ways to remove shortcut viruses from laptop or desktop computer. The less common way to remove shortcut viruses from either laptop or desktop computer permanently is using cmd. When you enter certain cmd on your computer you can simply find your way around your computer command prompt and run a command to identify and remove shortcut malware on your system.
Also, without using cmd to tackle viruses that create shortcuts on your computer or laptop you can also use removal tools to search and remove these unwanted programs. The only limitation attached to using this shortcut viruses removal tool is that most removal tools are paid.
However, if you would love to remove any unwanted shortcuts programs from your computer that you observed to be virus or viruses here is a post to tackle such. And here in this post, you will learn how to remove shortcut viruses from Windows 7/ Windows 8/ Windows 10 and Windows 10.1.
Whats is Shortcut Viruses and How Does it Spread Out
Shortcut viruses are common virus among Pendrive or USB or flash drive users. It’s a program developed by programmers to create shortcuts of folders on your drive once contacted. While your whole folder will still be available but it most times covered by this shortcut created and rendering your drive as if you don’t have any folder on it.
This type of virus is common to mobile storage cards like MicroSD, Pendrive, flash drive, and other forms of drives. The best way to fight these unwanted programs is using Anti-virus or enabling your computer windows defender. However, if your device has contacted shortcut viruses before installing anti-virus of your choice you may still not be able to scan and remove it. However, the method shared in this article should provide the best solution to help you remove shortcut viruses from your computer running Windows operating system.
A typical example of shortcut viruses is seen in the attachment below. So, if you have things like that on your computer you should start assuming that your device is battling with shortcut viruses which you probably don’t know about.
How to Remove Shortcut Viruses on Laptop/Desktop without Removal Tools
Here in this post, we will offer a universal means of dealing with viruses that turn most files to shortcuts either on laptop or desktop computer. And mostly, on devices running Windows OS.
Warning: Once you discovered that your flash drive, Pendrive, MicroSD etc has virus make sure you remove it before you connect it to your computer else it will create another shortcut viruses on your computer except there is updated antivirus on your system.
If you are using Windows 8/8.1/10/10.1 OS press Windows + X simultaneously. A new window will populate, from the list scan through and select task manager.
Or hover your mouse pointer to your windows quick button access and right click on it. From the windows that pop softly click on task manager. This approach works on Windows 7.
Once the task manager is opened, navigate to process tab and scan for Wscript.exe. If any file with such name exists click on it and click on end task below the page.
Now, navigate above from task manager and press Windows + R to go to cmd prompt and search for “regedit”. This will open your Windows OS Registry Editor. Then find your way to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run.
Note: You must have an administrative right to do this
From the list of registry keys look for odwcamszas. If found right click on it and delete it. There is a possibility that you won’t find this registry key but anything similar is worthy of delete.
This procedure will delete shortcut viruses from your computer. However, if this procedure does not work for you or you couldn’t find a trace of these files that do create shortcut viruses then consider trying the next method. Meanwhile, this is an exact procedure to remove shortcut viruses from a computer using cmd.
How to Remove Shortcut Viruses using CMD
This other method also works with the use of cmd but following a different approach. If after the above steps you still can not remove disturbing malware or trojan creating virus shortcut on your computer you should consider trying this new cmd approach I recently discovered.
Press Windows + R simultaneously whether on Windows 7 or Windows 8. The Windows cmd prompt will pop up. The type this %temp% cmd or copy and paste it into the search box and hits OK.
Note: This short cmd will open up your desired temp folder.
Then go through C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup. In the startup folder search for nkvasyoxww.vbs and delete it if found.
Note: Username is the name of your computer (e.g Gadgetswright).
Finally, you need to delete nkvasyoxww.vbs also using the cmd prompt on your computer. The press Windows + R simultaneously and search for “msconfig” without quotes.
This cmd will open up your computer configuration menu. Then navigate the page and go to the startup option. If you find nkvasyoxww.vbs then uncheck it. But if you don’t have any then you are good and you no longer have shortcut viruses on your computer.
It’s advisable you don’t have any usual terms on this page as this might be the programs causing shortcut viruses on your computer.
How to Remove Virus from a Pen Drive
If you have a pen drive which has contacted virus, this section will help you with how to remove it. Your pen drive can contact virus when connected to a virus infected computer or a portable device like a wristwatch, smartphone with OTG, and other accessories that allow you to use your pen drive as a way of transferring files from one gadget to another.
The procedure we’ll consider below will share with you everything you need to do to remove a virus from your pen drive without formatting it.
Press Win + R simultaneously to open run command prompt on your computer. This works for all Windows [Windows 7/8/8.1/10/10.1] and type cmd in the search box and click OK button.
This will popup your Windows command prompt interface. Now navigate to the pen drive directory you want to remove a virus from. Pen drive name change often depending on the number of drives you have on your computer. It could be H or G or any other alphabet.
On your command prompt interface type “del *.lnk ” without the quotes and hit the enter button on your computer.
Again type “attrib -s -r -h *.* /s /d /l ” accordingly without the quotes and click on enter button on your computer keyboard.
The command will scan through your pen drive and wipe off all viruses on your drive. You can now go ahead to launch your pen drive on your computer directly without fear of losing files to computer viruses.
Remove Virus Shortcut from Flash by Formatting it
While this is not recommended when you want to remove shortcut virus from your flash drive it’s the only reliable way to clear all forms of viruses from a flash drive. So many at times, it is not a shortcut virus that is rendering your drive useless alone, some other viruses like Trojan and the likes are also contributing. However, formatting it will rebrand it back to factory settings BUT you will lose all files on it if you don’t have the backup.
There different ways to format a flash drive and remove virus or viruses from it. You can format it directly from “my computer” and also, you can format it using a command prompt. Both procedures formatted your flash drive and get rid of all forms of viruses.
Now the deal….
Plug the USB flash drive you to want to format to your computer via the USB port or using a cable connected to your computer.
Right click on the flash drive name and select Format from the list of options
Another option will pop up asking for an administrative right. Click OK and select NFTS under the file system. After that, click on start button to start to format your flash.
Note: For thorough formatting untick quick format.
This make takes a while though depending on the capacity of the flash drive you are formatting but be rest assured that once formatted all virus will be removed and you flash is back to normal.
After the drive has been successfully formatted, you should see the image below for a 1GB flash drive. It’s the same for all flash drive but here 1GB is used as a case study.
Bonus:
This is the most crucial part of it all if you don’t want to have a bad experience with virus shortcut again. Ensure to scan all your removable devices before connecting them back to your computer and also make sure to install an antivirus to help combat viruses whenever they attempt to corrupt your files and create another form of shortcut viruses again.
Were you able to remove shortcut viruses on your computer using this approach? Please state the problem you encounter while using this post to remove unwanted shortcut malware or trojan or viruses on your device.