Remove .Jack File Ransomware (+File Recovery)

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About .Jack File Ransomware

If you’ve had the misfortune of having your software documents sealed by a malware named .Jack, we advise you to examine the following page for it might provide you with some vital information and hints concerning this nasty piece of malware.

These are infected files by the newest strain of the Dharma Ransomware, modifying the extension of files with .Jack

Once that’s finished .Jack Ransomware would drop a “_readme.txt” file to ensure the victim is well informed on how to pay a ransom (which we would strongly advice against).

The fact that this malicious program falls under the Ransomware category is the very first thing you need to learn with regards to this noxious virus. Ransomware viruses are labeled that way mainly because they are well known for requesting a ransom transaction from the users after they lock up their files and thus render them inaccessible. This malware type is actually one of the worst software threats that people could confront which is why learning how to defend against it is of utmost importance. The thing that makes Ransomware infections (like .Jack,.Bufas, .Codnat , .Fordan) even more dangerous is the fact that even IT security professionals often find themselves unable to do much against a Ransomware infection. However, you really should not lose hope – everyday software security experts are doing their best to create new methods of handling Ransomware contaminations and, furthermore, there are a couple of methods that might end up being helpful. We have done our best in order to develop a possible solution for this issue and we have explained it all in a Removal Guide that you can access down below. The measures and practices demonstrated in the guide might have the potential of eliminating the Ransomware and removing the encoding from your software documents.

How Ransomware like .Jack Works

These malicious malware programs are substantially different from any other malware form and that’s a key fact to remember when attempting to fight them. Due to the unique way Ransomware viruses work, a lot of users are unable to stop such a virus which, in turn, makes this malware kind especially favored by hackers.

Something that is almost certainly a result of the unique characteristics of the Ransomware category as a whole is the fact that this sort of malicious viruses are generally capable of staying undetected and unnoticed not just by the targeted victim but also by the anti-malware program that the machine may have.

Can I Remove Myself .Jack File?

Unfortunately, the Ransomware viruses are very often not viewed as potential threats by most regular computer protection programs since a typical Ransomware virus doesn’t aim to harm anything on the contaminated machine. Instead, those malware programs are known to adopt a more sneaky approach by encrypting the data of the targeted malware victim. An essential thing which should be said with regards to the file encryption which Ransomware uses in order to render inaccessible the documents is that it isn’t a damaging type of process and even when it’s utilized to lock-up your files, there’s a high likelihood that your antivirus tool will not see it as something hazardous and will let it proceed until it has been completed. Moreover, there are only a handful of sings during an ongoing encryption that may allow the user to notice such an infection. Even so, some of the potential virus invasion signs or symptoms are abnormally high consumption of Cpu time and RAM memory, in addition to a sluggish overall performance of the entire PC. What you ought to do if perhaps you do detect something abnormal and strange happening with the performance of your PC is to entirely disconnect it from from the internet and turn it off ASAP and afterwards have it checked out by an expert.

.Jack SUMMARY:

Name	.Jack
Type	Ransomware
Danger Level	High (.Jack Ransomware encrypts all types of files)
Symptoms	.Jack Ransomware is hard to detect and aside from increased use of RAM and CPU, there would barely be any other visible red flags.
Distribution Method	Most of the time, Trojans get distributed through spam e-mails and social network messages, malicious ads, shady and pirated downloads, questionable torrents and other similar methods.

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Remove .Jack File Ransomware

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 .Jack

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.

hosts_opt (1)

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

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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 .Jack , 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 – .Jack

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 .Jack 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: .Jack Decryption

The previous steps were all aimed at removing the .Jack 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.