files become coruppted, renamed and wont scan

Hi There,

I think I have a virus and I'm not sure what to do.

i transferred files to USB and when I went to reopen them they all (in one folder) have been renamed mixed up characters and unkown file types and will not open. When I run Avast it alerts me they cannot be scanned. Some files in another folder on the same USb which were there previously have the same problem which seems to have occurred at the same time also.

I have tried numerous online scanners at least 3 focused at the USb storage device and all are reporting no viruses....

Would appreciate some guidance.

 

Have you run a virus scan on the original source that the files came from?

Is the USB device a memory drive (jump drive or thumb drive) or does it have a Hard Drive in it (an external hard drive)?

USB memory drives do go bad from time to time and so do Hard Drives. It's possible that a virus is the problem but also possible that the drive is bad. It's also possible that the data was corrupted while being transferred to the drive.

 

Yeah the first lot of files I noticed corrupted came from the hard drive(to back up), and I was editing them continuously from the master. They are intact and the hard drive has had numerous scans but nothing has been picked up.

Storage is just an 8Gb Usb pen.

If it is a virus; can you recommend any appropriate software?

I am target of the state and there is a distinct possibility that the info was intentionally corrupted using a virus or otherwise. I have been told that the powers that be have free pass through most antivirus software because they liase with the companies.

Are there any Russian products which might pick up a virus?

If the files are corrupted, what should I do there? Is there any comeback? As mentioned the files wont scan and will not delete (certainly not in the normal method anyway).

 

Happy new year fellow , you would create a rescue cd from another clean computer , checking your machine entirely !! :wave

http://forum.avira.com/wbb/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=82163
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4lTAgDH9pw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r1DKUU8VRM