How to Recover a Bricked Windows Phone

Bricked your Lumia,Don't worry you are at the right place??

You are here,probably because somehow you messed up with your Windows Phone and now you want to recover your phone.Sometimes the phone gets bricked due to uneven power supply,bad usb port or while upgrading to the latest firmware and sometimes even due to some software related issues.Whatever reason it might be,you would be welcomed with the not-so-happy screen as in the below image that will eventually turn off after a while.If this is the case you have undoubtedly bricked your phone.Don't worry there is a way to recover your windows phone,just read on :-)

Before you proceed further you can try your luck by Resetting your phone,it might solve your problem without having to play with the Recovery Tool.

Warning

Be careful. Resetting your phone will erase all content stored on your phone, including apps and games (along with app data and game progress), text messages, call history, music, photos and more.

• To reset your phone if its in working condition

  

1. In the App list, tap Settings 
2. Tap About, then tap Reset your phone.
3. You'll receive two warnings. If you're absolutely sure you want to restore your phone to its factory settings, tap Yes, then tap Yes again.

• To reset an unresponsive phone

If your phone is unresponsive and you can't reach Settings , you may be able to reset your phone using the hardware buttons. On Nokia Lumia phones (and some others), do the following to reset your phone:

1. Press and hold the Volume down  and Power buttons at the same time until you feel a vibration (about 10-15 seconds).
2. When you feel the vibration, immediately press and hold the Volume down  button until you see a large exclamation mark.
3. Once the exclamation mark appears, press the following four buttons in this order: Volume up , Volume down , Power , Volume down . Your phone should now reset and restart itself. (It might take a while for the reset to finish.)

If Resetting dosen't solve your problem no worries just read on.
Now you have got two options,either drop your phone to the nearby Lumia service center for repairing and you will have to wait for a week or two until they callback.

OR

You can opt to repair your phone by yourself using the Windows Recovery Tool and instantly get back your recovered Lumia in no time.I would recommend going with this method only if you have unlimited data plan,because the Recovery tool is around 100-200 MB and further more it will download the System files for your phone depending on your phone model.The O.S. files will be around 1.5 GB,so proceed further only if you have unlimited data access or else you might prefer to drop your phone at the Service Center.

Now lets dive into the Software Recovery Tool

Software Recovery Tool can help you to reset and recover your phone software at home, if your phone is experiencing software related or software update problems. With Windows Phone 8 models, you can also recover your phone in case your phone is not responding, it appears to be stuck, or it is not starting.

Prerequisites for your computer (PC):

• Microsoft Windows 7 or newer.
• USB cable to connect your phone to the computer.
• Minimum 4 GB free storage space. 

Use the Windows Device Recovery Tool for the HTC One and all Lumia phones running Windows Phone 8 or newer. For all other Nokia branded phones use the Nokia Software Recovery Tool. To see which Windows Phone operating system (OS) version is currently installed on your phone, go to Settings > about.

1. Download and install Windows Device Recovery Tool to your computer. If possible, make sure that your phone's battery is fully charged.
2. When installation is finished start the application.

3.  If your phone is not automatically detected,disconnect all phones from your computer
     and press My phone was not detected at the bottom of the main screen.
4.  If prompted, select the phone manufacturer.
5.  Connect your phone to your computer with a compatible USB cable.
6.  Wait for your computer to detect the connected phone and follow the screen instructions.If the phone is not connected within one minute you can try to restart your phone: Keep USB connected, press and hold the Power and Volume down keys simultaneously.Release the pressed keys when phone vibrates.
7.  Press Install software to start installing the software to your phone.And that should definitely solve your problem ;-)

For all other Nokia branded phones use the Nokia Software Recovery Tool and follow the same steps.Good Luck...

Get Rid of the Shotcut Virus

   
Shotcut Virus !!! So what exactly is it ? Ok let me tell you ,this Virus will usually affect your pendrives and other removable storage devices.This has become one of the most common virus today as we frequently use our pendrives for giving and taking of files and information.Even my pendrive became a victim of this virus and believe me or not this virus stayed with me for a long time,probably it was one of the worst virus I ever came across.So what harm does it causes?Well to say in short the Shotcut virus  infects the files in your pendrive,hides them and makes them inaccessible until at  some point  the files becomes corrupted and unusable.Actually it's not a big deal we can still access our files,all we have to do is Click on the shortcut link and it open a new window where we get our files.

But the virus gets active once we click on the shotcut link and starts duplicating itself and spreads to the other parts of our system until we are done with the copying of files from our PD(henceforth for pendrive).Now if you format your PD and plug it again you will be surprised to see it again,this is because the first time you inserted your PD,the Shortcut virus had already made its way into your PC.

So firstly if you are aleady affected by the Shotcut Virus,lets see how you can recover your infected files.This method involves use of cmd i.e Command Prompt utility of Windows.I assume you have basic technical knowledge about Drives and Dirve Letters.For example C: drive or D: drive of your PC.Don't worry you just need to know the drive letter of your PD.Follow the instructions below and don’t worry if you don’t understand the technical jargons. Do this using the admin account on your computer.Press the Window key and “R” key on your keyboard simultaneously. It will open the “Run” prompt. 

So once you have opened the Run prompt, type CMD. Then hit the Enter key. CMD will open Command Prompt – a black window where you can type DOS commands.

 Once you are in command prompt, type in below command.

attrib -h -r -s /s /d F:

                    Here make sure you replace F: with whatever Drive letter your pendrive represents.Don't change it, if F: drive itself represents your PD,and hit Enter.That’s it. Just go back to your USB drive and you will see the data back.Take back-up of your original data files on your PC and then format the problematic USB. The shortcut virus should be gone.You can verify it by copying some files into your PD removing, it and pluging it again.If the shotcut link dosen't appear that means you are free from the Shotcut Virus.Enjoy....;-)

BUT if the shotcut link appears again then probably the Shotcut virus has entered your PC.Dont worry you can get rid of it.Just follow the steps below :-

Click Here :  Malwarebytes Antivirus

Download the appropriate version of this antivirus.Open it ,let it download some update files,then goto the scan section in Custom Scan,make sure to tick all your Drives.And click scan now. 

          After the scanning is finished,you will be free from the Shotcut Virus.You can verify it again.If your System/PD are still infected then try some other paid antivirus softwares like Quick Heal or Norton Antivirus.Another option is you can format your system because sometime the viruses comes pre-installed in the non-genuine/pirated versions of Windows.In that case the virus files are usually hidden somewhere in the system files and even antivirus can't detect them.So its a good idea to format your PC and install a fresh copy of Windows.Good luck,hope I helped.