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I've got a ransom on my computer of $500 to get my files back. If I don't pay in 16 hours the ransom doubles to $1000. No joke.
Can anyone help? Point me to a removal tool? If it matters I'm running Windows 7 professional and Mcafee virus protection is useless.
Sue
Follow Ups:
This happening quite often. It has been
on the national and local news lately.
It usually happens when you open a link
in a suspicious email. It is usually in
a bogus package delivery email or credit
card account problem. I recently received
an email that said my American Express account
had a problem, I don't have an American Express
card. Do not open a link in a suspicious email.
This virus is spreading to cell phones, be cautious.
Jerry P
...Sue, let us know how it turns out.
Best of luck.
.
nt
Later Gator,
Dave
Why isn't such computer hijacking, and identity theft some kind of 'head on a stick' crime?
These aren't 12 year old script kiddies, but sophisticated scum.
Sorry, I just had the Catalytic Convertor stolen right OUT FROM UNDER MY CAR so I'm still a little sensitive to sociopaths.
Too much is never enough
pictureguy,
Sorry to hear that.
I guess they're getting some high prices for stolen cats these days.
I realize that this is like locking the barn door after the horse gets out, but there are several brands of anti theft cat conv kits available that make it next to impossible to steal your cat when your vehicle is sitting on the street or in a parking lot. The ones that I'm familiar with utilize hardened steel cables. Cat thieves know to come back several days after they steal your cat 'cause they figure that you'll have a new one for them to steal by then.
Cheers,
Al
My cat was stolen in a HOSPITAL parking lot OVER NITE in a location about 40 miles from where I live.
I JUST spoke with the cop who has the file and basically 2 things occur.
1. The thieves LIKE hospitals. Lots of traffic and somebody 'working' on there car might be ignored
2. Anti Theft devices just take longer to get thru. She didn't recommend them.
I'm going to get my BOLTS WELDED.
NO investigation will be done. I'm a statistic. When I mentioned SUING the Hospital, I was told they have NO responsibility. When I reminded the cop she was NOT a lawyer, I got silence. I also reminded her that if there is a PATTERN, then liability on the part of the lot owner changes.
A few other things: SUVs are easy since you can CRAWL UNDER the vehicle and the cops are 'helpless' or is that HOPELESS? Somebody will be arrestd if they, in doing a traffic stop, find TOOLS and CATS in the car. Even videos are questionable. While the lot I was tagged in had NO video except the entrances, nobody wants to LOOK at the videos available on the off-chance of SEEING SOMETHING.
Police Work? how about Paper Work?
Otherwise? Plenty of 'under the radar' places to SELL the Cat even though metals yards in California are REQUIRED to take fingerprint AND photograph for those selling nearly anything. I was photographed selling a BRASS SINK FAUCETT. 12$ worth.
We are also close to the BORDER, South of which, pretty much ANYTHING GOES.
Too much is never enough
Once I read California I understood...
How you can stomach all the nonsense is beyond me.
On the notion of Ransom and Scam ware. Its allot harder to catch the criminal who does such a crime from one of almost limitless location. The vast majority of these crimes come from far outside the US. Just look how long pirate bay lasted before rules got bent enough to shut it down. Also everyone hates having their privacy compromised (well not really, might want to look into what happens on your facebook app on your phone and computer, never mind google...). So goodluck getting folks to have software that tracks their network traffic to catch said perp. Not that it would do any good if you did get a mark on em. And sadly the truth is half the folks getting infected are living a less than squeaky clean life on the net. Sorry just the truth. Not necessarily criminal life like these jerks but yeah...
All the stuff I hear and read about CA just makes me wonder if they are trying to turn the place into a real life South Park??? Warning, if you eat this computer desk your about to purchase it contains chemicals that are known to cause cancer in some cases... OMG... I just recently learned you all have 208 volt power lines rather than 220??? What??? Why WTF... And I wont even begin to go into your problem (no prob for political reasons) with the border. Yea if your in southern CA Im pretty sure I know where it is. Wow pics taken for $12 sink. Yea there using real crime fighting prowess over there. Def focusing it in the right places too.
I found a security system I think youll like ;)
Paul Verhoeven RULES!!! The man knows satire and comedy.
MS Word won't function. And all the files got sucked off a memory card I forgot to take out of the slot.
Lucky I can still surf the web -- if you call that lucky. Where do these viruses come from? Do they just hang around in cyber space until they find some unfortunate idiot with McAfee?
Sue
Writer's block: When your imaginary friends stop talking to you.
Lots of good info and advice has been shown in this thread. Hopefully it helps others to avoid such a problem in the future.
Theres really no point asking where these viruses (geographically) come from. Its the internet, the physical location of viruses or anything is rarely of importance. Folks in a web crime organization can replicate their operation within a second if a web server is taken down. Not to get into tech heresay but its said AT&T has around 7 plus full blown internet mirroring facilities in place for gov needs. I wouldnt doubt it one bit. Personally, to some extent Im glad they do. Quite often viruses are coming from outside the USA. Therefor VERY difficult to stop. Also it wouldnt do much good. Take one down and its nothing more than a job opening. The real focus should be prevention of their damn handiwork.
One thing thats been brought up is Email virus attacks. Ive been beating my head against a wall for years trying to get any and all non business (and even then do it), computer novices more than any other, to give up whats known as POP3 style email accounts. Those would be programs like outlook express, live mail the program, windows mail, full blown outlook and Thunderbird for us Mozilla fans. All these are programs that by default will physically download an email onto your computer regardless of if you view or open it. Really bad idea IMO. Once upon a time as a computer kid nerd from the 90s it was the only way we knew how to do it. Those days have LONG since past and IMO that way of doing email is nothing more than a needless, complicated, risky and cumbersome way of handling email. Its one thing if your an MS Exchange admin or a hardcore control freak computer nerd. The rest of us that just want email easy and convenient should adopt a free or pay web mail service of your liking. Dont care which, whatever works for you and your habits. Yes in most cases it mean youll be getting a new email address. Yup thats the price of moving forward to greener pastures. And if youve been using a POP3 email address for years it also mean you have to give up those 225+ spam emails you probably get each day. I know it sucks... BTW anyone using a POP3 email program might want to consider the danger if that PST file or whatever database file your program uses, gets lost, corrupt, destroyed in a HD crash. Or the need to import it into a new computer or email program. Easier said than done in many cases. Just food for thought.
Also one thing allot of us nerd do is run virtual machines to operate within. To be honest I kinda hesitate to bring it up as its really not that practical for everyone. It is rather technical and complicated on the whole. MS is trying to integrate it into 7 Pro and certain versions of 8. Not sure how it will be handled in 10. In a very crude nut shell it creates a computer within a computer. Yup youve now entered Inception ;) Its just a software emulation of a physical computer. Business and servers of all kinds have been using them for many years now. They've been around for over a decade but only recently gotten crazy popular with these outfits. They make allot of sense vs the cost and danger of having actual computers for certain needs. It can be done on a consumer computer if it has a nice processor (ideally I5) and fair amount of ram (8gb or more). For someone with a decent amount of tech understanding and an OS that supports it or has 3rd party software to run it on. The beauty is you can have your "virtual" computer get infected and or dysfunctional. They often say, blast it away. Then just restart the VM machine from its build. You literally restart the computer like you just plugged it in brand new in a 5 min window. Now I openly admit Im WAY over simplifying this for many. I just think its something for the general public to be aware exists and maybe a few would look into it on some level. Ive seen the DIY efforts of many here. We have some crazy smart folks lurking around this place.
Lastly, and not trying to salt the wound. But always make backups of EVERYTHING you care about externally. Flash drive are cheap and abundant. No reason not to have a few around anymore. And also as you learned unplug em when done making that backup.
Id be interested to know what rlw came up with. If you care to email me or whatever if he is cool with it. Just wondering.
Yeah this sucks. I hate when folks learn the hard way about the underbelly of the computer world.
All the best
I really appreciate all your feedback, as well as all the inmates who responded. Thank you all so much.
I spoke to rlw several times. He was not familiar with the specific virus that infected my computer, but thinks it to be a copycat of the original ransom virus and just as nasty. He thought it best to do a re-install of the original software I agree. Start over. Almost all the files are trashed anyway. No way would I ever give a scumbag hacker any money.
There's suppose to be a partition in the hard drive of my computer containing the original software. I'll have to find the owner's manual and find out how I go about doing the re-install. Wish ne luck!
Sue
Writer's block: When your imaginary friends stop talking to you.
As you may have guessed I do this more than some. Ive seen these viruses appear to ruin data when in reality its far from the case.
Just worried you might be biasing this opinion on what your seeing on that computer and only this.
Whenever I encountered a computer infected with a bad case of ransom ware Id image the drive then examine the data by mounting the image and viewing it that way. Outside of relying on a computer booting off said infected drive. You often see 2 VERY different views of what was going on.
Your call. I dont wish to put you through more crap than your already dealing with. If you can afford to write off all the data that was on that drive and move on great. Nothing wrong with this. And yes a full reload of windows from a restore partition is a good idea if you can.
Just google and brand and model of your computer with "restore key" in the search you might find it quick to get the show on the road.
All the best.
My files are all still there -- reconfigured -- so they are no longer useable to me. I simply do not have the expertise required to fix them. What choice do I have other than start over? Not everyone is a computer geek like you. I'm guessing you probably fix computers in you sleep lol
If I had a spare computer to use I would send you this one to fix, but I don't.
I appreciate all your help more than you know.
Sue
Writer's block: When your imaginary friends stop talking to you.
Obviously without being there to see first hand and mess with Im just going off experience and a hunch :)
IMO thats really good you can still see your files. Hopefully they really are fine and just being shown as screwed up some how.
Ive seen many computers infected with crap like what you got. Allot of times what happens is the virus screws with the way windows sees files. Do you now see all your word docs (or whatever) as weird icons of a generic pic? Maybe they appear as BMP files now or whatever. This can be a result of two things. Again its just windows that got screwed up and its simply showing you something that isnt there. In extreme cases it really did convert the files somehow. And with varying levels of severity. This is what allot of the folks here were talking about with their links to Cryptolocker and other Crypto variations. This does happen. And when it does it sucks. Now one needs to find out just what the virus that did em in was and search for some computer nerd far smarter than I who wrote a fix for the damage. Ive done this too. As others pointed out, the site bleepingcomputer is awesome for finding info and tools to fix stuff.
If your capable of seeing and working with the files you want on a basic level. Id simply copy them to a cheap flash drive. Youve nothing to loose and everything to gain. Go ahead with the reload of your PC. Then pop the flash in and see if they look aok. Worst that can happen is they are totally bunk afterall and or they somehow reinfect the computer. Oh well you just have to reload it one more time. When you have few options what can you do right?
I know someone mentioned you might not be far from me. Im just north of Milwaukee. Ive no idea if I can help or not. Nor if your comfortable on whatever level. But feel free to shoot me an email if you like.
BTW on the notion of 2nd computers. You might want to look into a cheap chrome book. I dont use one so I cant speak from personal experience. But I do know they are nice easy to use computers. And much like a Mac are not a windows biased computer so they are far less susceptible to infection. But this also means you cant run PC programs on them. I dont see MS Word being on a chrome book in my lifetime for several reasons ;) But google docs isnt that bad. Also they are rather cumbersome if your any kind of power user. Also really nice ones are the same price as a lower end PC laptop. So the whole value thing can come into question. To each their own.
Again I wish you the best on this. Also for what its worth. I didnt begin knowing what I know now. Took years of fumbling through it all and allot of trial by fire. Plus Ive been lucky enough to work beside guys far smarter than I. I dont get jealous or defensive being around people brighter than I. I just try and learn all I can from them. Without getting them so mad and annoyed at me they poison my coffee :)
All the best and good luck
If your question is "who creates viruses and why do they do it," take a look at the article from Maximum PC linked below. If you're asking "how did this get on my PC," the answer is that computers usually get infected with ransomware and other malware because the owner essentially invited the bad program in. From bleepingcomputer.com's FAQ about TorrentLocker:
TorrentLocker is distributed via emails that pretend to be shipping notifications, driving or speeding violations, or other corporate/government correspondence. Some emails will contain the malware installer as ZIP attachments or Word documents, while others will contain a link that will bring you to the associated fake site that will prompt you to enter a 5 digit code in order to download the shipping notification or violation notice. When you enter the code it will download a ZIP file that contain an executable that are disguised as PDF files.
I sent 3 corrupted files from my computer to rlw. Hopefully he can shed some light as to what kind of virus I am dealing with.
Sue
Writer's block: When your imaginary friends stop talking to you.
Hi:
For $150 Microsoft offers unlimited online and phone support for one year. I recommend the service for anyone who spends much time online. (I prefer the online support.) Simply call them and describe the problem. At that point they will ask your permission to take control of your computer and make the necessary adjustments.
Microsoft also offers “Security Essentials” which is a free malware/virus protection service with auto updates and a firewall.
Again, not trying to argue. Your idea is fine.
But you may or may not be away of the notorious cold calls going on claiming this. Although they often want more than $150.
They claim to be MS but they are not.
And those screens that show up on your computer saying similar things, then you call the number on said screen shot. Talk to some often foreign fellow giving an aggressive sales pitch about cleaning your computer and support for a fee. TOTAL SCAM
Your idea of dealing with the real MS for this is fine. Just many folks cant tell the scammer from the real deal.
Just wanted to point this out as this scam with calls and screen shots is going on REALLY strong these days.
Good idea tho
...sounds like good advice to get them to help.
Security Essentials is ok but it's ironic they have a program to help protect you from their OS' holes.
I just wrote a fairly lengthy reply to 4everyoung's orginal post, and 2chJunkie's reply.
Now, it's lost, apparently because you moved her topic to another forum.
Please retrieve my lost post. I'm NOT typing it again.
It does look as though three files got corrupted in the move. Rod is still in the midst troubleshooting the servers updates, so that may have been a factor. In short, after poking around at the obvious, and looking around a few corners, your post does not appear to be immediately retrievable. And, with the server move and all, it's just not possible to dedicate possible hours to tracking it down.
Sorry!
Fax mentis incendium gloria cultum, et cetera, et cetera...
Memo bis punitor delicatum! It's all there, black and white,
clear as crystal! Blah, blah, and so on and so forth ...
Did you know you can revert your computer to an earlier time, therefore eliminating the virus?
----------------------
"Have you a water buffalo?"
Also once a computer has been thoroughly hijacked good luck making that happen.
Problem with that approach is, in reality your really not taking your system back in the true sense. Its simply rolling back your system registry overall. Also it can delete your personal data you created when doing so.
What this means is the virus is really still on your computer. It just got temporarily bypassed for the time being. When this works.
IMO this should only be used as a last resort to get your data you didnt back up before trouble of whatever kind started. Its no cure all by a long shot.
It also wreaks havoc on other programs other than windows. How well would you function in your expected world if you suddenly woke up 2 months into the past? Your computer becomes just as confused and dysfunctional all the same.
So far theres only been one good program that really does put a computer back in time Ive found. Deep Freeze. But careful what you wish for, say bye bye to any and all data / settings you create. But man it does what it says.
Again not trying to step on toes. I just see allot of folks misunderstanding what rolling back a system ultimately does.
Worth a try tho in a pinch.
Please check your email...
Hi Sue,
Sorry to read about your situation. I would follow 2chJunkie's recommendations. In fact, since he's in your general neck of the woods, you might contact him and have him do the work.
Meanwhile, don't pay any 'ransom' unless you set up a separate account for it and work with the local or state police or FBI to track down the a-holes. They don't really want the $500 - they want your credit card info and/or your bank account info.
Do you have a Windows CD? Have you been doing updates (manually or automatically)? You CAN re-install Windoze without wiping out your other stuff. If you have another computer, use it to go to the Microsoft knowledge base and see what they have to say.
Hope this helps!
Dave
1. backup
2. backup
3. backup
This wont help you but most encryption software is very secure. Which leaves very little recourse. But for the future everyone should follow these 3 rules.
Good luck!
Allot of the new forms of "viruses" are becoming grey ware. They mascaraed as system tools. Claiming to make your computer better. Or show you deals. Some call em adware or junkware. I still call them viruses. Because to me thats what they are. But many slip past antivirus programs and when they are flagged, it can become a legal battle of is the program legitimate.
I just helped an old ex's parents out as their new computer got infected, by them within a week. She wanted a solitaire program so she found a FREE one on the net. Well part of the EULA you agree to, which no one reads myself included, grants that FREE program to install other added bonuses (great job south park on the EULA Apple episode). If your computer ever gets bombed with adware just look in your add/remove programs icon in control panel. Its almost a given youll see a bunch of crap you have no idea what is, installed on the same date. Yup, more often than not theres no free lunch. And here in America we love and demand free anything. Enjoy.
The recent Sony hack brought mainstream attention to the world of hacking and viruses. Amongst other high profile cases. The idea the Asian regions are the source of much of it is a bit off. A bigger player is Russia. Over there rather than read tabloids about what some brain dead celeb is doing, theres a MAJOR interest and culture in tech and hacking. Youd find magazines everywhere bringing attention and tips to it. NPR did a great piece on it recently. Its also where that antivirus program I recommended to you was founded. ESET. They are deep in with Intel and other companies. Not the bad guys of Russia in other words.
For a look at how easy it is to exploit these companies. Check out this fellow, Adrian Lamo. He is one of the many good guy (debatable I know) hackers out there. Many great docus showcasing him and others teaching the masses what the dangers are and how were not doing much about it. Rather old news by tech standards but most still dont know of him and what he has tried to show folks. Yet we all live and die on our tech gadgets and find our lives entrenched in them.
Yeah Im into this stuff. Hard not to find it interesting IMO.
This is probably a stupid question but can't you just send all important documents to an external hard drive?Then in the even of a virus on your main computer - just reinstall back to when you first bought the computer.
Back in 1998 with Windows 98SE I opened an e-mail virus - screwed me - so I reinstalled all the start up discs and everything was fine. I had Norton which did nothing. Years later I bought Norton for another computer but it was SOOOOO slow that I had to uninstall it - I had no virus protection for 5 solid years with no issues. McCaffe was a disaster. AVG is free and I can't see it as any worse - indeed, it's the only thing that has ever popped up and gave me a warning about websites or attempting to open a file. It "seems" better than McAffe or Norton but man how are lay people supposed to know?
I figure if a hacker wants in - they're going to get in - and Norton is hardly going to stop them. Probably better to save the $100 you would pay for a Norton and put it aside for the future repair tech you'll need when Norton doesn't prevent the virus anyway.
No. The authors of ransomware anticipated that strategy. Typically it searches for all drives connected to the PC, including external and networked drives, and encrypts them all. This could be a catastrophe for a business with tens or hundreds of computers: a ransomware infection on just one machine could spread to all of them. Also, these things usually delete Windows Restore Points so you can't roll back to a point in time before the infection.
The best weapon against ransomeware is to block the Windows OS function that the malware exploits. There's a free program called CryptoPrevent from FoolishIT that will do that for you.
More information on TorrentLocker etc. can be read at bleepingcomputer.com's FAQ below.
Norton was completely rewritten a few years ago and now regularly wins or scores near the top of anti - virus utilities comparisons performed by magazines such as Maximum PC . Norton has almost no performance impact that you can notice unless you're looking at a stopwatch.
When I had Windows 95, I had Norton with Crash Protect which apparently CAUSED crashes.
Awful stuff.
Anybody today use Network ICE? For those still on MODEM, it was a great piece of software which told you when ANYBODY tried to ping your computer. Once I COUNTER PING'd a hacker the last connect I had was in Kaliningrad. BOY, they didn't like THAT!
Sorry, its been GONE for maybe 8 years or so! That's how current I am!
Too much is never enough
It's not the same Norton that you had in the days of Windows 95 or 98. Like Rob Doorack said, it was completely overhauled a few years ago. We've had Norton on our PC's for the past few years and it performs wonderfully in the background, trouble-free, and with no noticeable impact on system performance.
Great opening point with, why arnt you saving your stuff externally. We are lucky enough to live in an age where for $5 you can buy a 8gb flash drive almost anywhere. So if we are focusing on documents and pictures, an inexpensive 8-32gb flash drive will do you wonders. So long as its not some no name, flaky $2 one you found on the net sent from right to you from China. IMO they are a far more reliable and convenient option than an external HD. Never mind cloud if you arent already using it. Whatever works for you. I like in hand backups moreso when possible but love the access cloud brings on the go. The dangers of cloud are another topic all together.
On the notion of external HDs. I know LOTS of folks here have massive music libraries on HDs. So do I. BUT Id venture to guess allot of said folks have it on only one physical drive. Maybe a secondary backup. Major issue I see in this is the all too common HD failures of today. I just cringe when I hear about someone being all stoked they got a 4TB HD on sale somewhere for $140. Granted few will ever use all that space. But the notion you should put all those FLAC files you spents months / years on only one is just plain sad. Some might get lucky and never suffer a failure. Far more will have said failure. Nerd out and look into whats known as RAID arrays. If anyone here is going to spend loads of time, money on a big local music library it should be on a mirrored drive setup. That way if one drive fails theres a replica that should immediately be re-populated on a new drive. Theres loads of products out now that do this. Im a nerd so I used my home made server computer for this. Those willing to go this extra mile should look into a product like what I linked to. I personally think Synology make good stuff but to each their own. I dislike mainstream units from say WD or Seagate. They make good drives but NAS enclosures are often not their stong suit. Moreso internally there often proprietary and hard to work with when servicing is needed. Plus with a NAS you always have a backup thats up to date. No screwing around plugging in some external drive and horsing around trying to update it. Major plus IMO.
Norton sucked. Sucked being the key word. There not so bad now. And far faster. They actually have a really good virus removal option on their bootable CD if you buy the tangible version. Its actually pretty good at pulling junk off that takes over your computer. And can often go on the net for updates before doing so.
You mentioned opening an email. Case and point. The vast majority of the time its the user themselves that get their computer infected. Be it an email or a website. 99% of viruses more or less need you to click something or let them in in some way. Now Im not blaming all folks. These sites are great at mascarading as something there not. And dont believe all X / Close icons really close a window. Its often laced with code that lets itself in and does a number on your computer. This is why Apple computers often dont get infected. There a UNIX basied OS. They wisely made the OS demand you type in a password before a program gets installed or a system change is made. MS tried doing this with UAC in vista. Yup the hated vista. Its part of what made it hated. Once folks in the PC camp were told to start doing this they complained. And I get it. I dont use it but I know what not to click on. You can still turn on UAC in windows. Folks who dont know whats bad should do themselves a favor and do it. So yea, in the PC world you can lead a horse to water...
I would agree AVG isnt that bad anymore. They used to be a dog tho back in the day. And had loads of pop up messages. They learned. Use this if you want with Malwarebytes and play it safe. You should be fine.
BTW I didnt make it clear before. Theres free Malwarebytes and paid. Paid actively monitors your computers actions. This is one to use when you want solid protection. Once something takes over your computer good luck starting MBAM.
Yup there simply is no way to know it all. In the grand scheme of things I give myself a 5 out of 10. And thats being generous IMO. So dont feel bad. This crap moves so fast you have to be savant to know it all.
Good luck to all
If you try it, let us know if it works!
Contact your local computer expert.
That being said, in small circumstances it is.
If one knows what their doing, and clearly this isnt always the case with the resources.
You immediately shut down the computer. Try the F8 boot into safe mode. If the hijack screen still comes up then you need to start with the big guns.
Pull the HD out. Connect it to a working computer. Scan the drive with Malwarebytes. This program is phenomenal. All windows biased computers should be using it. Next scan with ESET to remove all the Java back doors prob on it. The REAL antivirus computers should also be using with malwarebytes. If any PC is running these two programs and still getting infected. CHANGE YOUR HABBITS! Plain and simple.
Another really good program is combofix to get rid of hijack programs. But this can be a bit more difficult to execute.
There many more programs folks may like to get rid of viruses. I find these two to be very useful. Id wager your tech does also.
In removing viruses the computer can become unstable. Some are real bastards and will create file associations that can mess with the way the computer works and or cause it not to boot properly. Again rare but it does happen. This is why I always pull the drive and "image" it. Its sort of a super backup of the drive. And Ill simply reload a computer with windows. Then dump the data back onto it minus programs as this is not possible (reasonably). Quite honestly any computer badly infected should have this done. Removal is usually only so successful.
If this is the computer you do your work you really should heed my advice. Yes I agree with you Mcaffe is a joke. Why intel bought em is a bit beyond me. BTW for an edgy laugh check out John Mcaffe vid on youtube how to uninstall mcaffee. The man has a sense of humor and as he jokes about has had nothing to do with the company since wisely selling it in the 90s.
If all this is beyond you just let your GUY earn his pay. Thats what we are all here for right? :)
The last thing Id do is pay the ransom. For practical reasons and or principal. But if it seems you have no choice after all this, your call. Hate to tell you but often it still does no good. Its not like these folks want any more a bread crumb trail than necessary. One of the few policies in this country I believe in.
Consider yourself lucky you live somewhere where knowledge like this is plentiful. Theres a sad story of a fellow from a 3rd world style place who didnt know as well. Many of these ransom screens guilt you into paying. He believed it hook line and sinker and didnt have the money. It didnt end well for him or his son. This stuff can have crazier results than we here would believe living with knowledge.
Good luck. Hope some of this helps.
Sorry to hear of your situation; can you please share how you came about this cyberlock?
I suppose it depends on which ransomware virus you have, but here is a link my company sent out about one called Cryptolocker:
I recently heard about a similar situation on my local radio station. They interviewed Alina Simone, the NYT writer of the linked article about how her mother's computer was hacked and held for ranson. She ended up paying to get the decrypt key to release the files. Unfortunately it sounds like your situation.
Really????
I'm reading otherwise but don't know which websites to trust right now. I'll have to call my computer guy in the morning.
Sue
I don't think there is anything you can do.
Getting rid of the virus will not decrypt your files.
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