How to scan removable drives without using an anti-virus and yet be able to detect viruses in it.

You could also use this step in scanning you computer's hard drives, it's just a matter of changing the location path.

First step, run command prompt.exe "cmd". Click Start then from the list of items in the start menu, click command prompt.





You should be able to see a
DOS window.





To change path, type: cd\ at the end of the 1st line of command.
After typing this, a new path, but still in drive C:, will be available.

C:\> , is the new path. Now, from this path type: E: or F: or G: or want ever drive letter you want to scan. Typing this will lead you to the drive letter you wish to go.

The new path will be: (drive letter):\>

Now, to check for viruses type: attrib

Then press enter. The list of hidden files in the drive will be shown. Viruses usually take form inside a drive with a hidden ATTRIBUTE. Look for any suspicious filename and extension. The most common virus, to date, is the autorun.inf. Once you have seen this in your drive, your drive is infected. Now you know that you are infected, how will you delete the virus?

Check if the virus have the attribute of a(archive), s(system), h(hidden), r(read-only). If the virus have one of these properties, it is impossible to delete them without using an anti-virus. They are physically present but can't be accessed easily. To negate these attribute type: attrib -a (or -s; -h; -r). But somtimes, viruses have more than 1 properties. So to negate this, you can have a different combination of the above sample, like: attrib -a -h -r.

To check if you are successful, type: attrib. If you done it perfectly, proceed immediately to deletion process. Viruses have the ability to regain their original attributes. So you need to do this as fast as you can. Type: del (full filename of the virus.extension), it will look like this: G:\>del autorun.inf

Before opening the drive, check if the virus was deleted by typing attrib.

PERFORM THIS BEFORE OPENING THE DRIVE. OPENING IT WILL CAUSE TRANSFER OF VIRUS TO YOUR MOTHER DRIVE. ONCE THAT'S THE CASE, YOU WILL HAVE DIFFICULTY REMOVING THE VIRUS. VIRUSES CAN NOW HIDE IN ALL YOUR FOLDERS MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO TERMINATE THEM ALL IN A SHORT TIME. REMEMBER, VIRUSES CAN REGAIN THEIR ATTRIBUTES.