That was a smart thing to do, but you were still lucky because the 'properties' screen isn't the place that will give you the answer to the question whether your files are still there or not. I will just show that in the FAT - a register that keeps track of the use of the memory-, a certain amount of memory is allocated as 'used'. If your files would have been overwritten by a random series of zeros and ones, or your files would have been secured with a password, the properties screen would have given you the same info.vladimir wrote:Thanks, Kachang.Kachang wrote:And one addition: there's no 'law' your method will work if you can't find your files on your USB stick / memory, you were just plain lucky. If, for instance, the malware didn't just change the attribute but actually deleted the files in the FAT your method will prevent a full recovery and do harm without any positive effects whatsoever.
I did check before running the remedy, by clicking on properties. The amount used on the disk showed me that the files still existed but could not be read.
I then ran the remedy.
Also, it's not that your files could not be read, they could, they were just not shown because Windows doesn't show files with the attribute 'hidden'. This is to prevent users from accidentally deleting certain (system)files and the malware on your school's computer (ab)used this feature.