# After the Malware Attack: How To Restore the Directory Structure? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 20, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-malware-attack-how-to-restore-the-directory-structure/586181 "2011-06-20T18:10:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-malware-attack-how-to-restore-the-directory-structure/586181/1 "2011-06-20T18:10:54Z")
I got hit by one of those malware programs that pretends to be Microsoft’s antivirus program, and tells you that you need to shell out money RIGHT NOW to rescue your computer. Didn’t shell out the dough, but did get hit pretty bad. I’ve run SUPERAntiSpyware as the first cleanup step, and think I caught the rogue program. Haven’t re-hooked the computer up to our home network yet, let alone the Web, so haven’t done any followup steps yet. But when I boot up the computer, all I see is the toolbar at the bottom, and a black screen. My main directories (which do show up in Windows Explorer) don’t show any subdirectories. However, the directories (and the files in them) clearly ARE there. First of all, as SUPERAntiSpyware was cleaning everything, it showed the filenames of what it was cleaning. Maybe a few files have been killed somewhere, but by and large, everything I’d expect to find is still there. Second, while I can’t find any of my files or directories through the directory structure, I can find them through the Search function if I know part of the filename, and I can open them and view them at that point, and the Search function shows their location in the file structure. So everything’s still there, and the computer knows in some ways where everything is. If there’s a file on my desktop and can remember part of the name, I can do a search and find it, and it’ll tell me it’s still on the desktop. But if I think, “there’s this file on my desktop, but I can’t remember what I called it…” I’m SOL. Because I can’t see the desktop, and if I could find the ‘Desktop’ folder, it would tell me it’s empty. So is there a straightforward way to get Windows to reassociate files with their directories, and directories with their subdirectories and vice versa, given that it has that knowledge in parts of its brain? Or do I have to do a reinstall of Windows? (Vista, in this case.) Thanks in advance for your suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-malware-attack-how-to-restore-the-directory-structure/586181/2 "2011-06-20T19:13:28Z")
I don’t have any experience with this particular issue, but just throwing it out there - have you run a check on the disk? Because, in general terms, if I had a disk that was behaving like you described, I’d assume file system corruption or something like that. > **[Update a driver for hardware that isn't working properly - Microsoft Support](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/update-a-driver-for-hardware-that-isn-t-working-properly-5c4da477-59fb-355b-45d6-1aa742268c9b)** > > Learn about various ways to update driver software for your hardware devices, including Windows Update and manual installation. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-malware-attack-how-to-restore-the-directory-structure/586181/3 "2011-06-20T20:52:28Z")
In the last thread about this virus, **[Fear Itself](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13868599&postcount=9)** explains that the virus makes the files hidden, and links to a program that unhides them. You can see them yourself if you change your file options to “show hidden files”, but they’ll be grayed out. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-malware-attack-how-to-restore-the-directory-structure/586181/4 "2011-06-20T21:00:58Z")
Yeah my friend had this happen to her on a Vista machine. She just had to go dig through options to figure out how to re-show the files, but I’m sure **Fear Itself** ’s app works too. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-malware-attack-how-to-restore-the-directory-structure/586181/5 "2011-06-21T12:38:09Z")
Thanks, y’all - I’ll try the unhide.exe program (the one that **Fear Itself** linked to in the other thread) tonight! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/after-the-malware-attack-how-to-restore-the-directory-structure/586181/6 "2011-06-24T17:51:20Z")
Forgot to step back in here and say THANKS! I ran the unhide.exe program, and can once again see all my files. Still need to do some followup cleanup and protection, but the kid’s at the babysitter for 5 hours tomorrow, so I’ve got some time to attend to that, thank goodness.