From: Archer <iam@here.com.invalid>

Hi all

I encounter a strange problem with anything connected to the USB. I
know there are many files and folders but when I open it I find only a
link and when I click the link the files appear. I surmise that all
the files are set in a hidden folder and the link is created by a
malware. This not only happens in the pen drives but also to a spare
hard disk connected to the USB using an external enclosure.

Though the files are not lost the action results in inconvenience and
copying files makes them corrupt.

Have any one of you encounter this problem - is there a cure for this?
Will be glad to receive help.
--
TIA
Archer
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)

From: Shadow <Sh@dow.br>

On Tue, 10 Jan 2017 17:54:23 +0530, Archer <iam@here.com.invalid>
wrote:

Hi all

I encounter a strange problem with anything connected to the USB. I
know there are many files and folders but when I open it I find only a
link and when I click the link the files appear. I surmise that all
the files are set in a hidden folder and the link is created by a
malware. This not only happens in the pen drives but also to a spare
hard disk connected to the USB using an external enclosure.

Though the files are not lost the action results in inconvenience and
copying files makes them corrupt.

Have any one of you encounter this problem - is there a cure for this?
Will be glad to receive help.

Right click on the "link" and post here what it's "properties"
are. If it points to an executable, upload that executable to
Virustotal or Jotti and post results.
[]'s
--
Don't be evil - Google 2004
We have a new policy - Google 2012
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)

From: FromTheRafters <erratic@nomail.afraid.org>

Archer wrote on 1/10/2017 :

Hi all

I encounter a strange problem with anything connected to the USB. I
know there are many files and folders but when I open it I find only a
link and when I click the link the files appear. I surmise that all
the files are set in a hidden folder and the link is created by a
malware. This not only happens in the pen drives but also to a spare
hard disk connected to the USB using an external enclosure.

Though the files are not lost the action results in inconvenience and
copying files makes them corrupt.

Have any one of you encounter this problem - is there a cure for this?
Will be glad to receive help.

It could be a feature of the device and support software installed on
the computer. I formatted a drive to 'get rid of' the 'convenient
feature' on a recently obtained WD Passport USB drive.
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)

From: Thane <m741@ix.netcom.com>

On Tue, 10 Jan 2017 10:43:48 -0500, FromTheRafters wrote:

It could be a feature of the device and support software installed on
the computer. I formatted a drive to 'get rid of' the 'convenient
feature' on a recently obtained WD Passport USB drive.

FTR, following your comment, if the USB is a Western Digital, it may have installed Smartware by default on the computer when the user first
inserted the drive. This takes over permission of the USB drive and the
user can only read and write it when Smartware is active. WD has a
removal page for this *feature* which activates without any user
permission at least on my old XP system. Removal is fairly straight
forward.

Details for removal are at support dot wdc dot com /knowledgebase/answer
dot aspx?ID=5373

Thane
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)