How To Recover Files Deleted By Virus Attacks

Have you ever faced data loss on your PC due to a virus attack?

Besides human error, viruses are the second most common culprit for unintended data loss. The worst part about such an incident is that you have no option but to delete the data, as keeping the infected files may expose existing files. But if you remove these files, you will be at a loss.

So what do you do? Is there a way to recover files deleted by virus attacks? Well, we will discuss that in this post. We will not only identify a method to recover the files but also take a closer look at the type of viruses that cause the issue and how you can avoid them for good.

Without further ado, let’s begin by understanding the types of viruses that may result in data loss.

Types of Virus On Windows: All of Them Aren’t the Same

When we think of a virus in particular, we think about degraded performance and slow speeds on a PC. However, we need to realize that there are different types of viruses, and they all function differently. Some viruses may affect the performance of your PC, while some are purely dedicated to corrupting the files on your hard drive. Let’s look at some of the files that affect your data.

File-Infector Viruses

These viruses target executable files, such as .exe, .com, etc, and these infected executables make the operating system unstable, causing the BSOD error. In some cases, the file-infecting virus can make accessing saved data impossible.

What to Do: When you suspect a file-infecting virus has infected your system, detach the virus-infected storage drive and connect it to a remote PC as a drive without the operating system installed. Then, you can try recovering data using recovery software.

Macro Viruses

Found embedded in documents & spreadsheets, micro viruses spread when the user accesses the infected document.

What to do: To eliminate micro viruses, disable Visual Basic support in Office applications. However, you can fix the corrupted files using recovery software.

Read in detail about microviruses

Web Scripting Viruses

These viruses can bypass browser security. They get installed on the system through a downloaded infected file or a malicious website. Moreover, web scripting viruses can upload data to a remote server.

What to do: Disconnect the PC from the network to stop the infection caused by web scripting viruses. Now, to restore the data, use a recovery tool. Also, format the infected drive before using the drive again.

Resident Viruses

This virus hides in RAM, allowing it to spread to other parts of the PC and infect data.

What to do: Data lost due to a resident virus is not always recoverable. However, if the resident virus has only blocked logical access to files by changing them, you can recover them.

Encrypt Viruses

This family of viruses consists of ransomware, which aims to encrypt data and block access.

What to do: Some encrypted viruses use weak algorithms, making decrypting and recovering data possible. However, if the encryption is flawless, you cannot decrypt it, meaning data recovery won’t be possible.

How To Recover Deleted Files Lost Due to Virus Infection

Knowing about the types of viruses you may encounter and the preliminary steps you can take to eliminate their effects, the biggest question that comes to mind is how to regain files that have already been lost due to virus infection.

The thing about viruses and virus protection is that it often is too late to reverse the damage done. While an antivirus might help you resolve the virus situation, you might not recover your files without a proper data recovery tool.

To help you recover the files you have lost, we recommend you use the Advanced Disk Recovery tool. This tool not only recovers the file but also ensures that no shreds are left behind, so you do not have to worry about the quality of recovered files.

Check out the following steps to learn how you can recover files deleted by virus attacks using Advanced Disk Recovery –

Step 1: Install Advanced Disk Recovery, the data recovery software.

Different recovery software is available on the market, but we recommend Advanced Disk Recovery.

The recovery tool is a simple and powerful way to recover different file formats. It also helps recover almost all popular formats.

When installing Advanced Disk Recovery, ensure you install it on a drive separate from the one where you want to restore data.

Step 2: Scan the infected drive

Now that Advanced Disk Recovery is installed, select the infected drive and scan mode. After that, run the scan to search for the data lost due to a virus attack. The tool will run recovery algorithms to detect recoverable data.

Step 3: Recover files

Depending on drive size, Advanced Disk Recovery might take a while to finish scanning, so be patient and wait for the scan to complete. Once done, select the files you want to restore and click the Recovery button.

Step 4: Save selected files

Next, Advanced Disk Recovery will ask you to select the location to restore files. You must choose an alternate location to save the files to avoid overwriting the data you can recover.

If you are looking for manual or default ways to recover data on Windows, nothing may help. However, if you have taken a backup of the files that were attacked, you can restore them directly from the backup. Sometimes, even the backups contain infected files, making it difficult for a user to recover and restore them.

Related: How to Recover Files from a Corrupt USB Flash Drive

How to Prevent Files From Being Infected by Viruses?

One of the most important things to remember here is that while it may become difficult to recover files after a virus has attacked your PC, it is easy to avoid such situations in the first place. All you have to do is take a few practical measures, and you should be fine –

• Be watchful of your online activities and the sites you visit.
• Create a backup of essential data.
• Keep Windows up to date and run antivirus software.
• Create strong passwords.
• Use firewalls

Keep the above points in mind; there’s no chance you will ever lose your files to a virus attack. However, just in case you do, you have Advanced Disk Recovery to help you recover deleted files!

We hope you performed file recovery after a virus attack. Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

Must Read: How to Recover Data from a Wiped Hard Drive on Windows