How to remove “recycler” from computer?

How to remove “recycler” from computer?

There could already be more substantial damage to your computer than you realize. The "recycler" virus, is caused by removable devices such as iPods, pen drives, flash drives, etc. It utilizes the autorun feature in Windows, to jump onto your hard drive. It will allow others to steal personal information. So please, be careful what you are accessing on this computer, until you have time to resolve the issue. 

Most damage takes place in key system components, like your registry files. It is a time consuming process to repair this on your own, but it can be done. Microsoft has included tools within Windows that will allow you to successfully remove this virus. You need to also determine what device has caused the issue and remove the virus, so that it does not continue to execute itself over and over again. This virus causes your computer to relay strange error messages, as well as restarting itself shortly after startup. Here are a few methods, that are proven to work, to safely remove this virus from your computer.

This method allows you to use the tools that are included in Windows, to safely remove the virus. You must restart your computer in safe mode, to complete these steps.

Plug all your external devices in first, if you do not have the USB ports or a hub to support this at one time, repeat the steps until you have completed the steps with all devices that could be affected.

1. To start the computer in safe mode press F8, repeatedly while the computer starts its boot sequence. This should stop the virus from starting itself while the repair tool is running.
2. Run the "Malware Removal Tool", this has been installed on all Windows computers since the launch of Windows 2000. Select run from the start menu. Type MRT, once you have a flashing cursor press enter. If you have any problems attempt to download the latest version of the tool from Microsoft Support.
3. Click the next button, and run a full scan, this is going to offer the greatest chance of removing the virus successfully. 
4. Follow the onscreen directions to complete the removal of the virus.
5. Click finish and restart the computer. Any instances of the virus should have been removed at this time.

You can also remove this virus using other free, as well as paid programs. The steps are very similar to the ones listed above. 

1. Restart you computer in safe mode, using the F8 key during the boot sequence.
2. Run the anti-spyware check on the system. You can use Ad-Aware which has a free version, or Spy-Bot Search and Destroy, is another user friendly program.
3. Run a full virus scan using programs like AVG Antivirus which is also free or Norton and McAfee work well also.
4. Delete the autorun.inf file from the device and the local drive. To do this you may have to right click on the drive within My Computer and select explore.
5. The next step is going to be to clean up the registry files. You can use a free program called RegSeeker to scan and remove bad and old obsolete files.
6. Restart the system all traces of the virus should have been removed and the system running normally.

This is the manual method, it does work but be careful. If you remove/modify a wrong entry, you can cause severe damage to your system.

1. In the task manager look for the CTFMON.EXE and end it.
2. In the startup menu, search for the CTFMON.EXE file and delete it.
3. Reboot the computer into safe mode and open the command prompt.
4. Search for autorun.inf, disable hidden, system and read only attributes. Delete them.
5. Clean out the recycling bin.
6. Repeat the steps above for all drives on your computer. Open the registry editor and search for the following folder: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARE HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWARE. Modify the NoDriveTypeAutoRun entry with 03ffffff.
7. Restart your computer and scan with the latest Antivirus software.

The virus should be removed from your computer. I really do caution you against using this method, unless you have some advanced skills with Windows. The damage that can be created if there is a significant error made in a registry file can render you computer completely useless.

If these steps do not resolve the problem, you maybe having more than one virus affecting your computer or the damage to the registry files may be more significant than expected. This is a very destructive virus.

It may require having the computer serviced professionally to repair the problem. I would also recommend completing a backup of your system, before you begin working on any of these solutions. You can never regret the decision to be cautious and take the extra time to create your backup. This will be extremely important in the event you need to have you computer serviced. Most service and repair centers are going to reformat the hard drive and reinstall the operating system. This will result in all of your data being lost.