How to Remove Spyware from an External Hard Drive: An Easy Tips Guide
How to Remove Spyware from an External Hard Drive: An Easy Tips Guide
An external hard drive as the name implies is the type of additional hard drive attached to the computer to store bulk data. External hard drive has gained extreme popularity due to the growing need of mass data storage (which cannot be met by a PC's internal hard drive) coupled with the greater risk of data loss caused by malicious threats such as viruses, worms, spyware, or Trojan horses etc. Among other reasons of data loss include system malfunctioning/crash, hard drive failure, and Firmware corruption etc.
Moving from the importance to security point, an external hard drive is as defenseless to spyware attacks as a PC or its internal hard drive. Spyware is a small malicious program that spies on you by sneaking into your privacy and staying hidden from your reach. Spyware usually hides itself from detection and prevents you from deleting it.
Step By Step Procedure
Below are the easy steps that will help you clean your external hard drive from spyware and other infections on your own:
Update your anti-virus/anti-spyware program, if you do not have one then download and install it, you can choose any free version from an available range of anti-virus programs such as Microsoft Security Essentials, AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 2011, Avira AntiVir Personal 10, and McAfee AntiVirus Plus 2011 among others.
Update Microsoft's Windows Defender' and Malicious Software Removal Tool' if you already have them installed on your PC, if not then download them from http://www.scanwith.com/Microsoft_Windows_AntiSpyware_download.htm, and http://www.scanwith.com/Malicious_Software_Removal_Tool_download.htm respectively.
Ensure that the PC you are using is not infected with spyware; you can do so by running full scans successively from both the programs. If these programs bring up anything suspected, follow the instructions to delete the infected items. You can also run scan from your antivirus/anti-spyware program to disinfect the PC.
Once you are done cleaning your PC, plug in your external hard drive back to your PC, power it on and wait until your PC detects it. Ignore or close any popup saying a new device/hardware has been found or do you want to open the device'.
Open Windows Defender first and click on the Scan' tab at the top. If you can't find Windows Defender anywhere then click on the Start' menu and click on Search', type Windows Defender' (without quotes) in the Search' box and click on OK' or hit Enter' on the keyboard.
From the drop-down list of the Scan' tab, select Custom Scan', click on Scan selected drives and folders' and then click on Select'. Ensure that all the check boxes are checked, specifically the external hard drive's check box, click on OK' and thereafter click on Scan Now' to start the scan. If the tool finds anything malicious, it will prompt you to remove that, follow the instructions and delete it.
Open Malicious Software Removal Tool, click on Next' to reach the Scan Type' option. If you can't find Malicious Software Removal Tool anywhere on the desktop then click on the Start' menu and click on Search', type MRT' (without quotes) in the Search' box and click on OK' or hit Enter' on the keyboard.
From the Scan Type' screen, select Customized Scan' and click on Next' to run the scan. Ensure that before running the scan, all the items in the list have check marks in their check boxes, specifically for external hard drive. Click on Scan' to start the scan. Wait for the scan to finish. If the tool finds anything malicious, it will prompt you to remove that, follow the instructions and delete it.
Finally open your antivirus/anti-spyware program, select Custom Scan' (whatever the option you have customized or custom scan), and again ensure all the items including external hard drive have check marks in their check boxes. Run the scan; wait for it to finish and follow the instructions to remove any detected malicious items.
Now that your external hard drive is completely cleaned, you can check it again by running another scan. You should scan your external hard drive/internal hard drive regularly to keep it clean from virus/spyware or other malicious programs etc.
Additional Tips:
If your PC does not let you log on due to infection, then first clean your PC by booting it into Safe Mode' or Safe Mode with Networking'. To access Safe Mode option, you need to restart your PC and start tapping F8' key on the keyboard before the Windows logo appears. Connect to the internet, update your antivirus/anti-spyware program, run a scan and clean the PC. Do not plug in your external hard drive until you have performed these steps.
Download Microsoft's abovementioned tools and start running scans one after another. Also ensure that you double check whether the spyware has actually been removed by running further scans from these tools and your antivirus. Remember, these tools can never be replaced for what your anti-virus/anti-spyware (any security software) does to protect your PC from malicious tools. You need to have a security software protection on no matter how many effective tools you download and run. The tools will be of no help if you don't have a permanent/updated security program on your PC.
You can also try other free tools such as spybot S&D, Malwarebytes etc.
The article is associated with How to Remove Spyware from an External Hard Drive: An Easy Tips Guide' available on www.vtechsquad.com.
V tech-squad, Inc. is the leading third-party service provider of certified online technical support services. Our Microsoft-certified technicians not only resolve virus/spyware removal issues but also educate you how to avoid your PC from future interaction with any type of worm, virus, or Trojan etc. Our top-class services include Microsoft product support, antivirus issues, malware issues, spyware issues, wireless router issues, printer issues , and non-computer devices etc.
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