How to Remove locky file extension Virus.
Help! all my documents has changed from .doc into .locky file extension – as strange it may look like, this is unfortunate and means that a ransomware virus called Locky File Extension Virus took over your system. Do not panic – we will try our best to help you with this article. This is a brand new cryptoinfection. As soon as this ransomware infects the computer it immediately will start changing all the documents within your HDD and full access shared folders. When your computer was first infected with this ransomware it began immediatly encrypting all your personal. Depending on the size of your Hard Disk and number of files you had the process could have taken a couple of hours. The locky file extension ransomware will make your personal files unopenable and change their extension to *.locky. This malware belongs to the types of infections that are among the nastiest virus codes ever writen. Below, you can find an explaination how this particular virus operates. The ransomware viruses have existed for more than 20 years, however they only became widespread in the past few years. Experts estimate that the ransomware infections alone did damage for more than 20 million dollars and rising.
The criminals are hoping that the surprise of loosing all your files will shock you and you will pay them the ransom. However this is not a good idea, for a couple of reasons.
- Paying money to cyber criminals only encourages them to get better at their craft and extort even more people.
- You are not guaranteed in any way that your files will be decrypted successfully if you make the payment.
- There is absolutely no reason to pay until you’ve tried all the free methods first.
- Antimalware and Antivirus companies are constantly developing their products to fight the bad guys
Attention! You should be aware that all of your accounts and passwords were likely compromised. Viruses are designed to collect every piece of private information. We advise you to change all your passwords, once you clean your computer, especially if you make online banking or shopping.
How Can I Remove locky file extension ransomware virus?
Compatible with Microsoft
SpyHunter is the recommended removal tool for the locky file extension ransomware Virus. You can use the free scanner to detect the parasite, however if you want to delete it automatically you need to register the antimalware program.
What if SpyHunter failed to Detect or Remove the infection? – Find out here how to use the FREE Support.
How did I get infected?
The locky virus file encryption is currently distributed via email called ATTN: Invoice J-98223146 the message states “Please see the attached invoice (Microsoft Word Document) and remit payment according to the terms listed at the bottom of the invoice”.
When the document is opened, a text will be scrambled and will ask you a message to enable macros in order to read the invoice. Once you enable the macros the virus will execute from a remote server and your computer will get infected with Locky virus. Locky will create ransom notes called _Locky_recover_instructions.txt.
What can I do?
The first thing it to delete .locky file extension ransomware, because any new files you transfer will also get encrypted and you will loose them. Unfortunately, just getting rid of the virus will not bring your files back. What you can actually do is recover the originals. It depends on the empty space of your HDD at the time of deletion and also how many data was written on the drive before the infection.
Remove locky file extension ransomware infection Manually
- Open your task Manager by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+ESC keys simultaneously
- Locate the process of the Ransomware. Have in mind that this is usually a random generated file.
- Before you kill the process, type the name on a text document for later reference.
- Navigate to your %appdata%/roaming folder and delete the executable.
- Then open your Windows Registry Editor and navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Locky\id
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Locky\pubkey
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Locky\paytext
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Locky\completed
The virus temporary creates an “svchost.exe” process with the Description “svchost.exe”. When the encryption of your files finishes it deletes itself from the system.
How can I decrypt locky files?
Unfortunately, this virus cannot be easily decrypted unless you are able to capture the private part of the encryption key at the time of infection. This would have had to be done through a network sniffer that would have seen the private key being broadcasted to the Command & Control server. If you have been infected by this version, at this time the only way to recover your files is through a backup. It is reccomended to remove the locky file extension virus to prevent further damage and wait for a solution.