Remove Recycler Virus – What it is and How to Conduct a Recycler Virus Removal

Recycler virus is a virus that exploits the autorun feature of Windows. It copies the autorun.inf files on each drive of the computer, be it permanent or a removable media such as DVDs, CD ROMs, USB Devices, or Memory Sticks. The recycler virus originated from the W32.Lecna.H worm that spreads itself by copying itself to all the active drives.

The virus creates a hidden folder in each active drive. Each time you insert a removable media, it will execute itself. It uses a batch file to modify the system registry and executes itself each time the system starts up. You cannot remove the virus even after formatting your removable media. The anti-virus software may detect it but cannot remove it.

The recycler virus is very destructive. Once it infects your computer, it will connect itself to malicious websites and download the malicious code to your computer. The malicious code will then steal your personal information such as credit card information, social security, account numbers, usernames, and passwords stored on your computer.

Conduct a Recycler Virus Removal

You can remove the recycler virus both manually and by using any recycler virus removal tool. To remove the virus manually, you need to:

1. Search for the process called CTFMON.EXE and kill it through Task Manager.

2. Search CTFMON.EXE file in the Startup menu and delete it.

3. Boot the system in safe mode and open the command prompt.

4. Disable hidden, system, and read only attributes for autorun.inf and recycled folder delete them.

5. Clean the recycle bin.

6. Repeat these steps for all the drives on your computer.

7. Open registry editor and modify the NoDriveTypeAutoRun entry with 03ffffff value after searching it in following registry folders: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARE HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWARE

8. Reboot and scan your system with latest antivirus software.

The manual removal of the infection is not recommended because it requires an expertise to edit windows registry. In case you remove/modify a wrong registry entry, you may cause severe damage to your system. Therefore, it is always better to remove Recycler Virus with a specialized removal tool.