Expert: Brian Benosky - 1/7/2009

Question
QUESTION: Dear brian,
I have a USB flash disc which refuses to get rid of its worms,& viruses, despite the fact i also tried to format it, "Windows is unable complete the format", was the message i got.
Is there a way to have my 1 GB flash disc formatted, i do not want any files on it. Or should i just throw away my USB flash disc ?
Thanks.



ANSWER: Hello Shritesh

Try right clicking on My Computer. Select Manage. Under Computer Management select Disk Management. Choose your 1 GB drive from the list, delete the partition then make a new one and format it as FAT.  That should work.

Brian

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Brian,
I tried that ,but in my computer & also another, the delete partition option was not active on the menu, so i am back to square one. I also tried to use the format option which was active on the menu. But this failed me, too. There is a virus called zpharoah.exe & 1 winzip 0 kb file in it called taz in the flash disc. But i just want all files out of the flash disc.
Any further suggestions from you ?

Thanks.
S.Lakhani  

Answer
Hello Shritesh

Please download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware to your desktop from here:
http://www.besttechie.net/tools/mbam-setup.exe
Double-click mbam-setup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
  * At the end, be sure a checkmark is placed next to
        o Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
        o and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
  * then click Finish.
  * If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.
  * Once the program has loaded, insert the USB drive, select to Perform full scan on that drive, then click Scan.
  * When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results.
  * Be sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
  * When completed, a log will open in Notepad.  Copy that log to me.


Brian