Hi--
I was just recently trying to solve a virus/trojan/whatever problem with my computer and came across what is literally an invisible file to Windows. SpyBot Search & Destroy apparently calls "SpyBotSD.exe" through Program Files\Spy Bot Search & Destroy\, which my Trojan friend apparently is blocking, but when I go to the folder, there is no file there.
When I enable Windows XP's "Show Hidden Files" option, nothing appears.
When I go to the command prompt ("Run" -> "cmd"), I go to the directory and type "SpyBotSD.exe", it runs the program (on my other computer that is not infected--my infected computer does nothing, but it doesn't tell me the file doesn't exist--so it must exist and gets killed by the virus).
When I try to "type SpyBotSD.exe", it types out some coded binary garbage. The file exists.
When I try to copy the file, it doesn't exist. At least DOS claims to not find it.
When I try to rename the file, it doesn't exist. At least DOS claims to not find it.
When I try to zip up the entire directory, the file exists and shows up in WinRAR's listing of the files in the ZIP archive.
When I unzip just the single file, "SpyBotSD.exe", the directory appears, has mass (i.e. takes up space), but there are no files in it.
Only when I extract it twice to the same place does it prompt me to finally "RENAME" the file, which I do, and then I have another copy of the file, which is also invisible. I then compress the resulting directory/folder, which still has positive mass, and then I am able to email the file, and unzip it back on my computer, and suddenly the dirty little file exists and is no longer invisible.
What is up with this invisible file stuff, and why doesn't anybody else on the net appear to know about them???
--LasikPrices
http://lasikprices.frihost.net/ -- Under development...
I was just recently trying to solve a virus/trojan/whatever problem with my computer and came across what is literally an invisible file to Windows. SpyBot Search & Destroy apparently calls "SpyBotSD.exe" through Program Files\Spy Bot Search & Destroy\, which my Trojan friend apparently is blocking, but when I go to the folder, there is no file there.
When I enable Windows XP's "Show Hidden Files" option, nothing appears.
When I go to the command prompt ("Run" -> "cmd"), I go to the directory and type "SpyBotSD.exe", it runs the program (on my other computer that is not infected--my infected computer does nothing, but it doesn't tell me the file doesn't exist--so it must exist and gets killed by the virus).
When I try to "type SpyBotSD.exe", it types out some coded binary garbage. The file exists.
When I try to copy the file, it doesn't exist. At least DOS claims to not find it.
When I try to rename the file, it doesn't exist. At least DOS claims to not find it.
When I try to zip up the entire directory, the file exists and shows up in WinRAR's listing of the files in the ZIP archive.
When I unzip just the single file, "SpyBotSD.exe", the directory appears, has mass (i.e. takes up space), but there are no files in it.
Only when I extract it twice to the same place does it prompt me to finally "RENAME" the file, which I do, and then I have another copy of the file, which is also invisible. I then compress the resulting directory/folder, which still has positive mass, and then I am able to email the file, and unzip it back on my computer, and suddenly the dirty little file exists and is no longer invisible.
What is up with this invisible file stuff, and why doesn't anybody else on the net appear to know about them???
--LasikPrices
http://lasikprices.frihost.net/ -- Under development...
