If none of your personal data which is stored in your computer’s hard-drives can be opened and an intimidating ransom-demanding message pops-up on your screen after every attempt to access any of the locked files, then you have likely yet another of the numerous victims of a nefarious and very problematic software infection called .Forasom.

This nasty virus is a representative of the Ransomware cryptovirus category and its main goal is to get your money by blackmailing you. The malware bases its blackmailing scheme on your inability to access your files – it tells you that you will be able to regain your access to them if you send a specific amount of money to the hacker’s cryptocurrency wallet by following the instructions provided in the ransom message. The way this virus manages to lock up the files of its victims is through file-encryption. The file-encryption is actually a very commonly used technique for keeping important files safe and secure from anybody who is not authorized to access them. Once the encryption code is applied to a given piece of data, only the person who has the special unique key for this specific encryption would be able to open the locked data.

However, viruses like .Forasom,  .Berost,  .Fedasot, .Dutan turn this method upside down and use it as means of extorting money from its victims. After .Forasom encrypts the data of its victims, the encryption key gets generated on the server of the hackers who are using the malware program and they are the only ones who have it. They promise their victims that the access key would be sent to them once the money transfer get executed but the problem here is (aside from the oftentimes rather sizeable amounts of money required) that you, as a user and victim of such a virus, could never be certain how truthful the statements of such hackers may be. What we mean by that is you may indeed make the payment following each and every instruction given to you by the cyber criminals and you may still be left with no way of opening your data. Those are, after all, anonymous and dishonest criminals who make a living out of such nefarious blackmailing schemes so trusting them really isn’t the best thing you could do in most of the cases.

Can I remove .Forasom File Virus myself?

Sadly, one of the biggest problems when talking about Ransomware cryptoviruses is that there aren’t many possible ways of handling such an infection an in many cases, many of the locked files may remain inaccessible no matter what you may try to recover them. Still, one thing you could do (and we are going to help you do it) is remove the infection from your machine. That way you will at least have a clean computer and would be able to safely connect any external devices where you may have some file backups. In case you have no backup copies whatsoever, you can opt for the alternative recovery suggestions from our guide below, but again, remember to first remove the malware (instructions on how to do it are also available in the guide).

.Forasom SUMMARY:

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Remove .Forasom File Virus 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 .Forasom

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 .Forasom.

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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 .Forasom , 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 – .Forasom

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 .Forasom 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: .Forasom Decryption

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

The post Remove .Forasom File Virus Ransomware (+File Recovery) appeared first on Malware Complaints.