folders showing as shortcuts. files contained within are inaccessible

Anonymous
2010-07-10T17:00:20+00:00

Original title: All my folders have turned into shortcuts and I cannot access files within

Hi there. I wonder if someone can help me with a problem.

An my computer every folder has now turned into a shortcut and I cannot access the files that are located within. Once I click the folder I jts get a message saying 'The item 266986688.vbs that this shortcut refers to has been changed or moved...' and then it asks if I want to delete. On right-clicking the drives I can see that the files are still there and they also show up being scanned with Kaspersky Antivirus, but I cannot access them in any other way. I have scanned it with several virus programs and it didnt find much, even tried the scan in safe mode. I also have an external hard drive connected and that is also affected in this way.

I really dont know what happened, I didnt download anything today and didnt alter any settings, it was just fine one min and then went all strange. Can anyone offer any ideas at all?

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

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Anonymous
2010-07-21T06:27:20+00:00

·        I had the a variation of this problem, which was caused by the program CIEUHU.EXE. it sucked.... basically what it did was change all folders on my flashdrive to shortcuts, but the drive still showed that it had data. The fix for this is was relatively easy for me and I hope it works for you.

  1. Go to control Panel, Folder Options -- select VIEW--- select Show hidden files and folders and uncheck Hide protected operating system files (recommended) now click APPLY
  2. go to your folders and it should show you all your folders hidden including the virus----- delete the virus and all the shortcut folders that have no data in them. create new folders and copy the data from YOUR hidden folders into them. once that is done delete the old hidden folders.
  3. enter task manager--- find the program that is still running which will have the same name as the one you just deleted off the hard drive---- right click it and select open file location---- this should show you the virus location---- delete it!
  4. return back to control panel, Folder options select view----- select DO NOT show hidden files and folders and recheck Hide protected operating system files (recommended)
  5. Restart computer---- open task manager and ensure that the program is no longer running

This worked for me and I hope it works for you. As I said mine affected external media. Good Luck

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-03-16T20:41:05+00:00

    Worked like a charm for me.  Thanks.

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-02-28T13:41:16+00:00

    All of this is good information.  However, in the second part of step two, this is not necessary.  

    There are several shareware and freeware apps that will allow you to change the file attributes back to normal.  The one I used was "File Properties Changer 1.59".  This will keep you from having to 'copy them all, delete the originals and re-copy'.  You can skip that all together and use this little 200kb program to change the properties back.  It's shareware 30 day trial, but that's long enough to fix your thumb drive/SD card etc... I tried doing it through CMD.EXE 'attrib' command, but it wouldn't allow it.  FPC 1.59 worked awesome.

    Don't forget to delete the bogus shortcuts and 'autorun.ini'

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-01-31T15:26:32+00:00

    Thanks friend....it worked....thanks a lot..

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-01-16T18:27:13+00:00

    go to folder option in the menu bar

    click tools

    after clicking go to view sub menu

    click on the sho hidden files and un mark the hide protected system files,

    apply the changes, click ok then return to your folder.

    then after that delete every thing you see with the question mark and the files you do not kno. dont worry about system files because they will not be deleted,

    after that change all the folder to not hidden format and then go back to your folder options and undo all the changes you made earlier or click restore folder to default.

    from there you are good to go.

    for further assistance contact me on <removed phone #>

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