Drive.bat is a malicious backdoor Trojan that is typically deployed by cybercriminals for system destruction, espionage, and data theft. Once it infects a computer, it gives hackers’ unprecedented control on a victim’s computer or network of computers including access to the files and folders that are contained on the device.
Unlike most modern viruses that are transmitted via phishing campaigns or drive-by downloads, Drive.bat still relies on external hard drives for transmission. A striking feature of Drive.bat is that despite being a very old virus, it is still able to bypass many anti-malware defenses and even disable them.
What Does Drive.bat Virus Do?
Once it has successfully lodged itself on a computer, the Drive.bat virus turns all files to 1 kb shortcuts. If you click on these files, they do not lead anywhere, and if you have no prior experience with the Drive.bat virus, you are likely to think that they have been deleted or permanently damaged. But the thing is, the Drive.bat virus just makes them undetectable.
Under no circumstances should you click on the Drive.bat generated shortcuts as this gives the malware the impetus it needs to spread and perform a system-wide infection. Also, don’t insert any hard drives or physical storage devices on your computer as Drive.bat will attach itself to them.
How to Remove the Drive.bat Virus
Although, the Drive.bat virus is capable of disabling anti-malware defenses, not all anti-malware software succumb to this capability. Some including Outbyte Antivirus are perfectly capable of deleting the virus from your computer. For this to happen without any hitches, you will have to run your device on Safe Mode with Networking.
The Safe Mode option curtails the power of the Drive.bat to interfere with anti-malware defenses while the network option will give you access to network resources including the internet.
Here is how to get to Safe Mode with Networking on a Windows 7 or 10 device:
- Open the Run utility app by going pressing the Windows + R keys on your keyboard.
- On Run, type msconfig and run this command by pressing the Enter key.
- Go to the Boot tab and tick Safe boot and Network options.
- Restart your device.
Now that you are in Safe Mode with networking, use the internet to download Outbyte Antivirus if you don’t have it on your PC and use it to perform a comprehensive scan.
After you are done deleting the Drive.bat malware from your computer, go back to the Run utility app and uncheck the boot options. Otherwise, your computer will always start on Safe Mode with Networking if you don’t.
Another piece of software that you should deploy against the Drive.bat virus is a PC repair tool. It plays the role of cleaning any junk files, such as browsing histories, and temp files. It also clears away the many fake shortcuts that are created by the Drive.bat malware.
Supposing that you have successfully dealt the Drive.bat virus a heavy blow and managed to remove it from your computer, how to you make sure that you never get infected again?
How to Protect Your Computer from Drive.Bat Virus
The Drive.bat virus is mostly spread through USB drives and knowing this makes it very easy to stop the virus. All you have to do is limit your interaction with flash drives from untrusted sources. Not everyone should insert a drive on your PC. If it has to happen, they should have it checked with an anti-malware first.
You should also format the drives that you suspect to be infected as that way, they will not be a cause for concern in the future.