Sometimes, whenever you click on any of the drives (C, D, E or F), they do not open. But when it opens, a message showing ‘resycled/boot.com is not a valid Windows32 application’ pops up. If you are facing this situation, Follow these steps to troubleshoot the problem.
The error is being caused by a virus. Please download the latest definitions for your antivirus program and clean your hard drives and any other removable drives. Also do the following steps,
-
Delete any hidden ‘autorun.inf’ files from all the drives. These files will be present in the root folder.
-
Scan the registry and find the words ‘resycled’ and ‘boot.com’ and delete the keys. Take a backup of the registry before doing so.
-
Scan and delete all files that state boot.com in the folder ‘C:\Windows\system32\dllcache’
-
Scan and delete all files that state boot.com in the folder ‘C:\Windows\prefetch’ or clear the folder.
-
Clear the temp folder, cookies, and Internet cache.
-
Disable the Autorun feature before accessing any external drives (USB flash drives, cameras, etc.) and CD/DVDs or just hold down [Shift] for 15 seconds when plugging in the drives. This will prevent the ‘autorun.inf’ file from executing the virus.
-
Do not double click on the drive letter, instead right-click and select ‘Explore’ to open it.
-
Delete all files and folders with names ‘autorun.inf’ and ‘resycled’ from all drives and folders.
Always keep your antivirus program up to date when using shared external media or if you download unknown software often. Keep Windows updated using the automatic update feature.