Read this article about recovering files removed after a virus attack and how to do it with Windows integrated tools or third-party programs. How to recover computer files encrypted by ransomware? Has your computer been attacked by viruses? Do you want to recover files deleted by malware? In today’s article, we will try to help you deal with such emergency situations and suggest a few methods of recovering deleted files.
Introduction
With the universal transition to using data in a digital format, the overwhelming majority of user data (personal, social, public and business-related) is now stored, processed, transferred and serviced with all kinds of computer devices. In this connection, one of the most important requirements for all such devices is the mandatory established high standards of ensuring data safety and protecting it from unauthorized third-party actions.
Virus attacks by malware belong to one of the most widespread types of harmful influences affecting user data.
The range of possible effects and functionality of such applications is extremely wide, and their uncontrolled expansion via the Internet makes this problem a global challenge.
Infecting a personal computer device with a virus can result in all kinds of adverse consequences, one of the most widespread effects being removal of user files. Our article will focus on restoring files after such virus attacks.
Dangerous Virus Effects
Most computer users have heard – and too many of them have experienced negative effects of malware, both in terms of possible file issues, and in terms of reducing the computer’s performance in general. Deliberately deleted or damaged user files, blocked access to certain elements of the operating system of the computer itself, selectively encrypted or modified files, erased or removed partition tables, getting your computer under control of outside hackers, involving it in remote illegal transactions or hacking other computers, personal data theft, spam sending and other nasty things are only a minor share of all those activities your computer may become involved in or subject to after it becomes infected by a virus.
Modern antivirus programs have learned to recognize and disable, isolate or eliminate malware and therefore protect computer devices from such risks. However, computer viruses are also evolving rapidly to implement varied algorithms and remote actions intended to enable their harmful effects. Too often, they succeed in removing user files completely or partially – and the situation becomes critical when such files exist in a single copy without any backups available.
Creating user file backups is a good element of your data protection strategy to withstand data loss that may come as a result of virus attacks. If you back up important files regularly, you can secure them against many types of data loss – caused by both malware effects and physical issues like a storage device suddenly breaking down.
However, the volume of data that we are using – and hoping to keep in safety – is growing constantly. It requires having several storage devices which means more extra expenses. It is no wonder then that many users prefer to keep all their backups on a single drive. As a result, getting it accidentally infected by a virus means losing or damaging both original copies and backups alike. That is why the question of restoring files lost after a virus attack becomes crucial for many users – especially when it appears as the first reaction after discovering such loss.
You can learn more about various malware effects by visiting our YouTube channel and watching this video: “A virus replaced files and folders with shortcuts in a USB drive: how to restore data and remove the virus”
YouTube:
How Viruses Infect Computer Devices and Delete Data
A computer virus is a kind of autonomous and harmful executable code that can use certain vulnerabilities within the operating system to infiltrate into the code of other programs and system management files, reproduce itself and send such copies through various channels of communication to infect other computers. A virus or a medium for its propagation can appear in the form of either particular programs containing computer code or in the form of various data with attachments containing automatically executed commands that trigger the infestation process.
One of the main tasks for viruses is to spread themselves as widely as possible to achieve the goals of their developer (author). Most viruses are developed for one of the following reasons:
- As a joke without any negative or destructive effects indented.
- As a way to revenge an offence or unfair treatment.
- As a tool to enrich the author by stealing confidential data and selling it or withdrawing other people’s funds in an illegal way.
As viruses are developed for various purposes, so the extent of the damage they can cause to people’s computers also varies. Some viruses initially designed as a joke may show an pop-up picture, video or webpage that splash onto your screen unexpectedly and for a second only, which certainly creates some inconveniences for your work but cannot damage or remove your data. On the contrary, other viruses meant to inflict some damage are in fact designed to steal or remove important user files. Often such viruses cause problems in the work of hardware and software systems which then result in certain files or the entire operating system being deleted, disruptions in the structure of data allocation, preventing users from work by blocking their files completely or partially, increasing the number of system errors, starting resource-intensive processes and so on.
The main channels for spreading viruses and infecting computer devices are the Internet as the global informational network, local networks and removable media. Initially, most viruses were spread through the use of removable media when using a drive containing viruses could eventually infect many computers. Nowadays, though, the primary source of infestation is getting a virus from the network – for example, by clicking on a link received from unreliable or suspicious websites, an email etc. There is a number of threat-provoking actions that may potentially open the door to your operating system for a tricky virus:
- Using unknown software from doubtful sources.
- Connecting a storage medium (USB drive, memory card, external hard disk) to a personal computer or another device without checking it with an antivirus program.
- Visiting websites known to be involved in suspicious activities or containing viruses.
- Automatic or accidental downloading files from anonymous sources or questionable websites.
Actually, there are just too many ways for a virus to get inside your computer, and the harsh reality of life is that they are getting more numerous and sophisticated every day. That is why an important limiting factor to help prevent virus infestation is to always use trustworthy antivirus software especially when you have just bought a new computer or completed a scheduled reinstallation of your operating system.
In theory, viruses share a similar algorithm of action. Being attached to a kind of carrier – be it a drive or just a piece of data circulating throughout a network – the virus makes its way into a computer device and infects it. After successful infiltration, the virus may lie dormant until certain circumstances trigger its execution. This way, a virus remains invisible for a user and the computer shows no signs of virus infestation. When certain conditions are present, the virus begins its harmful activity by attacking system and user files, especially in computers within a certain network. As a result, its harmful activities damage the file system and operating system, change file names and even erase data which can be a terrible loss.
Summing up, it is evident that a computer virus can provoke major issues for proper operation of the computer and system services and result in loss of important data which may eventually lead to unwanted expenses. That is why recovering files deleted by a virus attack becomes a significant task that requires special attention.
Recovering Files Removed After a Virus Attack with Integrated Tools of the Windows operating system
This operating system features several built-in tools based on the backup approach which save user files in accordance with the user-defined settings. The Windows operating system cannot directly scan the computer for deleted or erased files and recover them. However, the functionality of its integrated tools makes it possible to back up a selective list of files and folders and restore them at your command if the original data is lost. The operating system offers several methods to try that give users good chances to detect and recover copies that can be used successfully instead of the lost files. An obligatory requirement for using these backup tools is to have them configured and enabled in the Windows operating system.
Recovery from a Backup
If the Windows backup settings have been enabled previously, then you can restore date from such backup with the integrated system tools.
There are different ways to access the tool for data recovery from backup. For example, click on the Start button in the lower left corner of your desktop on the Taskbar, and open the main Windows menu. In the list of all installed applications, drag the slider down and find the section Windows System. Open the nested menu and select Control Panel from the list of available apps.
In the Control Panel window that opens, find and open the section Backup and Restore (Windows 7).
In the next window, scroll down to the Restore section and click on Restore my files.
It will start a system-integrated file recovery tool working with a backup copy. In the new window, click on Search, Browse for files or Browse for folders and add the files you are going to recover from the corresponding archive.
Then click Next to continue with the settings.
Choose a directory where to recover the selected files (a new location or the original one) and click Restore to accomplish the process.
In the end, all selected files and folders will be restored according to the active settings.
Recovery from Previous Versions
This method of file recovery is quite simple and can be used to restore a single file or folder as well as an entire logical disk. To start it, use Windows File Explorer. Open it in any way you prefer, for example, by clicking on the folder-shaped icon in the Taskbar.
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