[email protected] Virus Removal (+File Recovery)

[email protected]

[email protected] is a malicious program, representative of the Stop Ransomware cryptovirus category ( Kvag, Meds. The main ability of [email protected] is to lock the important files of its victims, and then keep the inaccessible until a ransom is paid. Even paying the requested ransom, however, isn’t guaranteed to result in the release of the locked data. The hackers could just take the money you send to them and give you nothing that may allow you to restore your files to their accessible state. Usually, in order to decrypt any given file, you’d need to have and use a special decryption access key, which is unique for each computer. The hackers offer to send it to you after their ransom demands are fulfilled. As we said, however, trusting such promises may oftentimes result in nothing but disappointment and meaningless loss of money. Besides, not every user has the option to issue such a payment – after all, the ransom sum demanded by the hackers could be quite sizeable, and not everyone can afford to make such a payment, even if the locked files are of very high importance.

The [email protected] virus

The [email protected] virus is likely to show no visible symptoms while locking up your files. Only after it has finished the encryption process, would such a threat reveal its presence through a ransom-demanding note. This note gets displayed on the screen as soon as the files get encrypted, and also pops-up every time the user tries to open an encrypted piece of data. The contents of the note are usually instructions on how to make the money transfer so that it reaches the blackmailers. In most cases, the required payment currency is BitCoin – the reason for the preference for BitCoins stems from the fact that BitCoin transactions are nearly untraceable, and there’s no risk for the hackers to lose their anonymity.

As we pointed out earlier, paying really isn’t the perfect option in such cases. At the very least you should first check your other devices to see if there aren’t any accidental or deliberate backup copies of your files there. Just make sure to not connect any of your other devices to your infected computer if the Ransomware is still there. Instructions on how to remove the virus are available in our guide down below.

The [email protected] file encryption

The [email protected] file encryption is the thing that makes a cryptovirus such a dreadful malware threat. The [email protected] file encryption stays on the files even after the malware itself is no longer present in the system. And without a decryption key to allow your software to read through the encryption, accessing the sealed data may sometimes be impossible. However, we may have some potential alternative suggestions on file recovery in the second part of our guide. We advise you to check them out once you’ve finished eliminating the cryptovirus. The said alternatives may vary in effectiveness for different Ransomware infections, but they are still worth the try, and will also cost you nothing.

[email protected] SUMMARY:

Remove [email protected] Ransomware Guide

1: Preparations

Note: Before you go any further, we advise you to bookmark this page or have it open on a separate device such as your smartphone or another PC. Some of the steps might require you to exit your browser on this PC.

2: Task Manager

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to enter the Task Manager. Go to the Tab labeled Processes (Details for Win 8/10). Carefully look through the list of processes that are currently active on you PC.

If any of them seems shady, consumes too much RAM/CPU or has some strange description or no description at all, right-click on it, select Open File Location and delete everything there.

Also, even if you do not delete the files, be sure to stop the process by right-clicking on it and selecting End Process.

3: IP related to [email protected]

Go to c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts. Open the hosts file with notepad.

Find where it says Localhost and take a look below that. 

If you see any IP addresses there (below Localhost) send them to us here, in the comments since they might be coming from the [email protected] .

[add_forth_banner]

4: Disable Startup programs

Re-open the Start Menu and type msconfig.

Click on the first search result. In the next window, go to the Startup tab. If you are on Win 10,  it will send you to the Startup part of the task manager instead, as in the picture:

If you see any sketchy/shady looking entries in the list with an unknown manufacturer or a manufacturer name that looks suspicious as there could be a link between them and [email protected] , disable those programs and select OK.

5: Registry Editor

Press Windows key + R and in the resulting window type regedit.

Now, press Ctrl + F and type the name of the virus.

Delete everything that gets found. If you are not sure about whether to delete something, do not hesitate to ask us in the comments. Keep in mind that if you delete the wrong thing, you might cause all sorts of issues to your PC.

6: Deleting potentially malicious data – [email protected]

Type each of the following locations in the Windows search box and hit enter to open the locations:

%AppData%

%LocalAppData%

%ProgramData%

%WinDir%

%Temp%

Delete everything you see in Temp linked to [email protected] Ransomware. About the other folders, sort their contents by date and delete only the most recent entries. As always, if you are not sure about something, write to us in the comment section.

7: [email protected] Decryption

The previous steps were all aimed at removing the [email protected] Ransomware from your PC. However, in order to regain access to your files, you will also need to decrypt them or restore them. For that, we have a separate article with detailed instructions on what you have to do in order to unlock your data. Here is a link to that guide.