Help! RECYCLER (virus/trojan) Removal
 

Apparently I have this thumbdrive virus which creates a hidden folder on all drives named "RECYCLER" which I can't delete even after AVG and Anti-Malware scanned my pc and removed malicious items.

At first I had errors after booting Windows XP. An error occurs with Explorer which leaves Windows frozen. After scanning and removing the items, the errors disappeared but the folder remains in my drives. It then re-activates after I insert any removable drive in my laptop. It even infected my camera's SD card and my NDS' microSD card.

I can't seem to remove the folder from C:\ (which I think is the source).

Any help is very much appreciated.

I don't think the RECYCLER folders are indicative of any computer problems. I'm fairly sure Windows XP creates these hidden folders by default on all rewritable media as part of the recycle bin system.

Aside from that, are you having any other noticeable computer problems?

The system time changes to Sept. 2020, and the RECYCLER folder appears on every drive I plug in to my laptop (including my camera's SD card and the microSD I use for my NDSlite's M3real). The RECYCLER folder appears along with an autorun.inf file, which I can delete. But the RECYCLER remains undeletable even after I scan with AVG and Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware.

I'm still skeptical that the appearance of a Recycler folder on these drives is at all indicative of anything more than a functioning Recycle Bin system. Now if there were any fishy files in them, then that might be a cause for concern.
What is the content of the autorun file? (open in notepad)

Vemp, is this page relevant?

Also, try booting into safe mode and running Flash Disinfector...

I was browsing the interwebs about this virus, and the Flash Disinfector suggestion popped up. I read that it only places a temporary fix and adds a file that prevents the autorun.inf file from functioning. So it doesn't really remove the virus, just stops it from working.

I'm going to try deleting the CTFMON.EXE file method, isn't it a system file? I read it's something to do with MS Office, so deleting won't hurt Windows. I'll try to look for other stuff.

CTFMON.exe deals with the Windows language bar, so deleting this will make you unable to use the various IMEs that come with Windows. For example, you won't be able to input in 日本語.

So, do a backup of this file before deleting it.

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If you ever wish to delete obstinate files, boot into Safe Mode Command Prompt, and use ATTRIB to unset any system, hidden, or read-only attributes first. Then delete away.

If you wish to delete the contents of \RECYCLER, disable the Recycle Bin in Windows beforehand. Then feel free to remove any folders inside it. Deleting the \Recycler folder is not recommended however, so do so at your own risk.