Shortcut virus is an easily spreadable and annoying combination of Worm and Trojan that hides all of your files and folders and then replaces them with shortcuts that look identical to replaced files and folders.
Once disguised it will wait patiently for a user's click and once that happens it will replicate itself and further infect the system. This rapid spread can lead to stolen personal data, some system hick-ups, and other system-related issues.
This malware mainly affects physical file transfer devices like for example and most USB drives, hard drives, and SD memory cards and it can easily transfer itself to the computer.
The advantage of this shortcut virus comparing it to others is that it is mostly undetected by a vast variety of antivirus software. So running just anti-virus software maybe not be enough to remove it from your system. Luckily for all unfortunate users that have caught this annoyance, it can be easily removed fully manually in a short time.
How to Remove Virus from USB and other removable media
Firstly plugin USB, SD, or removable drive. The infection will transfer to your computer when the infected drive is plugged in so before we go to clean the computer itself, clean each removable drive that you have. Also know that infection will spread from computers into removable devices as well if it is not cleaned.
Open the File Explorer and remember under which letter is removable drive registered. Open
Command prompt but with administrator privileges and go to infected rive by typing its letter followed with “
:” (for example
D:) and press
ENTER
Once you have successfully gone to infected drive type in command prompt:
Attrib -s -r -h /s /d *.*
This will unlock all original files back into removable storage, next copy all files to your computer, and format the removable drive. Once the format is complete, unplug the removable device. Continue to clean all devices with the same method.
How to Permanently Remove a Shortcut Virus from Your PC
Now once we have cleaned all removable devices it is time to fully clean the PC
Firstly open the
task manager (
CTRL +
SHIFT +
ESC ), in the process tab find
wscript.exe or
wscript.vbs, right-click on it (or both if present), and select
End Task. Now close the task manager and press
Start. Inside start typing in
registry editor to search for it and once found open it.
Find the following key inside the registry editor:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run
In the right panel, look for any strange-looking key names, such as
odwcamszas, WXCKYz, OUzzckky, etc. For each one, run a
Google search to see if it's related to shortcut viruses.
If any returns a positive match, right-click on them and select
Delete.
!!! Accidentally deleting an important key can cause Windows to become unstable, so double-check everything !!!.
Close the Registry Editor
Now press
⊞ WINDOWS +
R to open the run dialog and type in it
Msconfig followed by
ENTER. Once the
System Configuration window opens go to the
Startup tab. In the Startup tab, look for any strange-looking .EXE or .VBS programs, select each one and click
Disable. Close the Window.
Once again
open the run dialog and type inside
%TEMP% and press
ENTER in order to open the
Windows temp folder. Inside this folder
delete everything.
Next in the
File explorer go to
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Look for any strange-looking
.EXE or .VBS files and delete them.
History of Commodore
With sales booming and the early reliability issues with the hardware addressed, software for the C64 began to grow in size and ambition during 1984. This growth shifted to the primary focus of most US game developers. The two holdouts were Sierra, who largely skipped over the C64 in favor of Apple and PC compatible machines, and Broderbund, who was heavily invested in educational software and developed primarily around the Apple II. In the North American market, the disk format had become nearly universal while cassette and cartridge-based software all but disappeared. So most US-developed games by this point grew large enough to require multi-loading.
At a mid-1984 conference of game developers and experts at Origins Game Fair, Dan Bunten, Sid Meier, and a representative of Avalon Hill said that they were developing games for the C64 first as the most promising market. By 1985, games were an estimated 60 to 70% of Commodore 64 software. Over 35% of SSI's 1986 sales were for the C64, ten points higher than for the Apple II.
Everything was great for Commodore but the industry was moving forward and by the year 1988, PC compatible computers were stated to be the largest and fastest-growing home entertainment systems pushing C64 on to second place. Also, Nintendo’s gaming system has started to take hold in the world with amazing 7 million systems sold in 1988 only.
By the year 1991, many developers exited the gaming market for Commodore 64 home computer system and its popularity started to fall due to lack of software and not so many hardware changes.
Commodore announced that the C64 would be finally discontinued in 1995.
However, only one month later in April 1994, the company filed for bankruptcy. When Commodore went bankrupt, all production on their inventory, including the C64, was discontinued, thus ending the C64's 11 and a half year production.
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
If you are not keen on spending money for reliving and checking games or software of C64 here are some links to help you to at least experience part of it completely free.
Commodore 64 Emulator
C64 Game ROMs
in the menu, on the bottom choose taskbar settings. Once the settings dialog opens, on the right side locate the taskbar location on screen.
Click on the dropdown menu and choose the desired location for the taskbar. 