Unhiding of Hidden Folders (caused by viruses) on your flash drive or PC

One of the viruses to hit my flash drive created a sort of problem for me to access the folders i had created on the drive by making them super hidden.
The data was of great importance and so i thought of getting to the root of the problem.

Initially i thought that i had lost the data forever, but later it appeared that the flash drive was showing that it was not empty but still was carrying the data(I saw the capacity of the drive and made this out.)


This issue was also related to a virus. So i would advise anyone facing a similar problem to perform several full system scans.

Here is a free on-line scan offered by BitDefender: http://tinyurl.com/aauh5 .
And another by TrendMicro: : http://tinyurl.com/2xis .

using AVG Free (http://tinyurl.com/2mlwm7) or your own anti-virus program, with the latest virus definitions, perform a full system scan in Safe Mode. You can also use McAfee Stinger (http://tinyurl.com/1x4v).

If you determine that there is indeed a virus involved,
I recommend you go here:
http://tinyurl.com/hnsvd .
TrendMicro has always been my favorite source for virus information and removal.

My second choice would be BitDefender. Here's a link to their extensive library of free removal tools:
http://tinyurl.com/y6opnp

NOW... to fix the problem with un-hiding hidden files...

Open My Computer or Windows Explorer.
Open the Tools menu and select Folder Options.
Click on the View tab.
Put a dot in front of 'Show hidden files and folders.'
You can also remove the check in front of 'Hide protected operating system files' if you want. Be sure you click on the Apply button and then the OK buttons to save your changes.

If that does not correct the issue, the next step involves making a change in the system registry.

***Warning: Performing manual changes to the Windows Registry incorrectly can make Windows inoperable. It is always advised to perform a Registry backup and setting an XP Restore point prior to making changes to the Registry.***

That being said...

Go to Start - Run (type) regedit - (right click on the little my computer icon, and export the whole thing.)

find this key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Explorer \Advanced. Go to the rightside of the window, where the values are. Find the value "Hidden" . Rightclick it and modify it to 1.

The bold text below is from my own registry (Windows XP). Copy all of the text between the dashed lines and paste it into Notepad, next rename the notepad file's extension (.txt), so it has the extension .reg ,and then doubleclick it.
(NOTE: if you do not see the file's three letter extension, go to My Computer - Tools - Folder Options and remove the check in front of 'Hide extensions for known file types' and click Apply):

--------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Explorer \Advanced \Folder \Hidden ]
"Text"="@shell32.dll,-30499"
"Type"="group"
"Bitmap"
=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,\
00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,53,00,\
48,00,45,00,4c,00,4c,00,33,00,32,00,2e,00,64,00,6c,00,6c,00,2c,00,34,00,00,\
00
"HelpID"="shell.hlp#51131"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Explorer \Advanced \Folder \Hidden \NOHIDDEN]
"RegPath"="Software \\Microsoft \\Windows \\CurrentVersion \\Explorer \\Advanced"
"Text"="@shell32.dll,-30501"
"Type"="radio"
"CheckedValue"=dword:00000002
"ValueName"="Hidden"
"DefaultValue"=dword:00000002
"HKeyRoot"=dword:80000001
"HelpID"="shell.hlp#51104"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Explorer \Advanced \Folder \Hidden \SHOWALL]
"RegPath"="Software \\Microsoft \\Windows \\CurrentVersion \\Explorer \\Advanced"
"Text"="@shell32.dll,-30500"
"Type"="radio"
"CheckedValue"=dword:00000001
"ValueName"="Hidden"
"DefaultValue"=dword:00000002
"HKeyRoot"=dword:80000001
"HelpID"="shell.hlp#51105"

--------------------------
You may also want to try this Registry change:
[Start] [Run] [Regedit]
Registry Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Explorer \Advanced
Data Type: REG_DWORD [Dword Value] // Value Name: ShowSuperHidden
Modify/Create the Value Name [ShowSuperHidden] according to the Value Data listed below.
Value Data: [0 = ShowSuperHidden Disabled / 1 = ShowSuperHidden Enabled]
Exit Registry and Reboot

.
I hope this helps.