File recovery

TokenWhite

Recently got a rootkit virus (not sure if that's the exact name) on my laptop when i stupidly clicked a link on facebook and it's causing a few problems to say the least i.e. installing other viruses, trojans worms etc. I've since downloaded Panda Cloud Antivirus and it seems to be containg the problem until I get a system reset.

The problem I'm having at the minute is that I can't seem to access the files on my hard drive. Stupidly clicked on a link about 10 days ago and have had a virus on my system since. Shortly after finding out I had the virus, I noticed that the file/folder symbols on the hard drive had changed appearance (essentially the same icons but they appeared as shortcuts to files/folders rather than direct links to the files/folders themselves) as well as there being a few new files and folders that I hadnt seen on it before (Video, Music, RecycleBin$$$$ icons and a Passwords file). Also when I hooked the HD up to another device I could see the folder icons but I couldnt open them although I was still able to on my laptop.

I'm thinking that the virus somehow moved my files to an infected area on my laptop and created shortcuts within the hard drive to fool me. This would explain why I could access the files/folders on my laptop but not on my home PC. Now I think my Anti Virus software has found and deleted/neutralised the folder/area containg all the videos/files/music/games I had stored on the HD.

Here's the message that appears now when I try to access any of the folders/files on the HD

--The item 'ywhoasx.exe' that this shortcut refers to has been changed or moved, so this shortcut will no longer work properly.--

I've seen from the virus scan logs that PandaCloud has deleted the .exe above

Any ideas on how I might restore these files? Any good recovery tools I can use and if so, where would I have it search? on the HD, C drive etc etc?

Sorry about the long winded post, just trying to give as much detail as possible

stuff.hunter

well... didn't hear about 'external' software which can do what you asking for (can be wrong ) ..but windows restore can..just rid off the virus and do system restore from point (date) before you got it

hearny

Download Ubuntu from here: http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download
burn it to CD and run the liveCD to see if you can access files / folders.
Dont copy or create any files or folders on the infected hard drive as putting more data on there will reduce the chance of recovering files.

If you can access files and have an external hard drive you can copy files onto it, be careful not to copy any autorun files etc.

Also post any logs from Panda

TokenWhite

Thanks for the replies guys, appreciate it. I've spoken to someone that knows a bit more than me about it, he's going to have a look at it. Hopefully he can sort it out