Got myself another virus, can I get a little help? !!Think I fixed it!!

[crashwg]

A friend gave me a .wmv of Chuck S02E12 (the 3D one) and when I tried to play it, some license acquisition thing popped up.  Being the idiot I am, I clicked on it. 

Now what I've got is when I click on any of my hard drives in windows explorer it tells me there's some file missing in "recycler".  Everywhere I look on the interwebs people argue over whether this "recycler" is a system folder or a virus.  I always have "show hidden files and folders" checked though and I've never seen it before.

I've tried Norton AV, McAfee, CCcleaner...  Nothing sees it.  I even traded out the system drive for another I had all set up from a little while ago and it must have caught the virus from my storage drive because it was the same deal.

Any ideas on what I've got to do would be greatly appreciated! 

[SavannahLion]

I always have "show hidden files and folders" checked though and I've never seen it before.

Recycler isn't visible when "show hidden files and folders" is checked. Recycler is visible when "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)" is unchecked.

Any ideas on what I've got to do would be greatly appreciated! 

What's the exact error message? The words "file" and "recycler" go together like "dirty" and "whore" so it makes it kind of difficult to figure out exactly what the problem is. Unfortunately, Recycler is also one of those idiot files, things go wrong and you see all kinds of crap advice about it. Someone even advises someone to go through registry edits and a reboot so they can purge those nasty "hidden" files in the Recycler. 

[Xiaou2]

Try "Malwarebytes".  Install, update, clean house.

 Then install the trial of  Kaspersky.   Update. Update. Scan. clean up.

 Should you not be able to install... or they are finding nothing.. then the
Virus has already caused your system to be compromised to the point where
it runs the antivirus programs incorrectly.. or wont allow proper/install.

 Best bet then is to use another HD with brand new windows install on it... loaded with updated Kaspersky & updated malwarebytes with all the latest windows
updates.   Once thats done.. boot down, stick on the virus drive, and boot up.
Scan and clean.

 Once cleaned, turn pc off, pop in original drive, and try.  Virus should be disabled
and removed.. but OS still may have holes in it.   May have to do an over-install
of windows to refresh corrupted and missing files.

 If OS is still corrupted to where its not functioning well.. . transfer your now cleaned data to the New OS HD.

 Todays new viruses/root kits are very smart.  Ive had them disable Regedit. Disable the Command prompt. Start up running completely in tact in safe mode!  Etc.  You try to remove them makes them angry and they get 10 times worse.
They remove Dlls.  They make it so you cant uninstall programs (so you cant install new antivirus progs)   They create Random names and entries, always changing
itself on the fly - so they are never the same each boot.  I could go on... but I think
you get the drift   heh  >.<

 Best of luck.

[RayB]

Heh. Thank you for reminding me why I stopped using Media Player. (Until recently). I just got a fresh install of Windows all up to date and most recent software... and I started using Media Player again. I'll start a new thread to answer this question: What media player do you recommend? (don't answer here!!!)

[gonzo90017]

Malware Bytes should get rid of it. Make sure it reboots when it tells you to. If you have any usb sticks or external hard drives make sure you scan them also. You should also install USB Firewall to clean your partitions of any autoron.inf files and the files it tries to launch. Make sure any external hd's or usb sticks are inserted when you clean use USB Firewall.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

Ditto the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware recommendation:
http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html?part=dl-10804572&subj=dl&tag=button

I love this program.

[Mauzy]

I recently had a bout with a few viruses, including the recycler thing you're talking about. I had to install on a second disk, to be able to run MalwareBytes. It cleaned everything up first shot with no real data loss. I can't give enough praise to this program!

[crashwg]

Thanks for the advice on Malewarebytes Xiaou2, and to all those who seconded the suggestion.  I installed it on a PC that I would be less frustrated with if it were to be infected and scanned the sickly ones.  Found all sorts of stuff that sounded real bad and removed it without an issue.  All seems to be fine at the moment.