How to see files that are Hidden by Virus on Windows

Hey everyone... there are times when a virus attacks your data and there are so many viruses who makes your data invisible that is hidden but not just hidden it is super hidden. After facing that attack from virus many of us thinks like our data is been completely destroyed or the virus ate our data and now it is also eating our space of the hard drive or our external devices. But there are sometimes that your data is still there and not been completely destroyed by the virus and the space is taken by your data not by the virus. I was facing the same problem with my SD Card but thankfully i was able to see my data in my Android device since Windows viruses does not work on Android devices. So i did some research on it and found the solution. So don't format the disk until you are fully sure that your data is not there and is not super hidden by the virus.

How to check that your data is still There!!

So, in order to check that your data is still there and super hidden you can do couple of thinks. I'm gonna show you the easiest one. I am using Widows 7 here but you can do this on any version of Windows. 

STEP 1: Open "Folder and Search Options":

For Windows 7 go to :

Organize>Folder and Search Options

For Windows 8 or 8.1:

Open Explorer and click on the View tab and click on "Options" under the View Tab

For Windows 10:

Click on File and select "Change folder and search options"

STEP 2: Show the System Protected Files

Check "Show hidden files, folders, and drives" and uncheck "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)" under the View tab and Apply the settings.

Now go to the location where your data is affected by the Virus and you should be able to see your hidden files if they exist. So, if you are lucky and you finds all of your data hidden by the Virus then you can easily get it back by following the below guide.

How to get back the Hidden/Protected Data

STEP 1: Click on Start and type "cmd". Right Click on it and Select "Run as administrator"

STEP 2: Type the following attribute command in cmd:  attrib -H -S "D:\Your Folder Name\*.*" /S /D

The above command will unhide every file and folder inside the folder. Enter the following command if only some documents are hidden: 

attrib -H -S "D:\Your Folder Name\File.doc" /S /D

Now your data should be Visible and back to its original state. Now go ahead and recheck the "System Protected files" in the "View" tab of "Folder and search options" so that you don't end up messing with any system's internal files. Also make sure that you don't enter the C: path or any direct path of your drive in the attribute command for example:

Ex: attrib -H -S "C:\*.*" /S /D

This will make the System files unprotected which should be Protected. So only enter the path of your folder or external drive so that it doesn't affect the System's internal files.

If you face any issues or problems while following the above guide please feel free to comment below ;)