Remove .Locky Virus

Remove .Locky Virus  from your computer and restore your files.

If your computer has been infected by .Locky Virus , then you are in serious trouble. This is a dangerous virus of the worst variety – ransomware. It specializes in making all of your files unusable by encrypting them and blackmailing you for the key you need to revert the process.

.Locky Virus – how does it work?

This ransomware virus is no different than the rest of them – after it infects your computer it will lay low while it compiles a list of all of your files. .Locky Virus is programmed to target all types of files which may contain information valuable to you – documents, pictures, movies, archives etc. The ransomware can access all of your connected hard disks and media devices – including external HDDs and Flash sticks. The encryption process itself can take a while depending on how many files you have and how sneaky the virus tries to be. One of the symptoms you can spot is the fact that your computer is behaving poorly than usual – encryption is a cumbersome process that will heavily task your CPU and memory.

Once that’s done the ransomware will reveal itself – usually in the form of a ransom note that opens on your desktop. The blackmail money is usually asked in BitCoins – a virtual currency that is completely untraceable. The ransom note is usually accompanied by some sort of timer, whose only purpose is to put pressure on you and limit your options to get professional help.

How can you recover your files?

Recovering your encrypted files is your top priority action, but unfortunately it will not be easy. .Locky Virus has not yet been properly reverse engineered by major security companies and no effective decrypting solution exists. That is not to say paying the ransom is your only option – far from it. Paying the ransom should only ever be considered as a last resort act of desperation and you should only attempt it after you’ve tried everything else and still have important files encrypted. Paying the ransom carries one immediate and very obvious risk – even if you pay you may not get the key. There are multiple stories by people who decided to believe the criminals and found themselves scammed and robbed without any way to reverse their decision.

The ransomware may try to lie to you that using alternative ways to recover your data will render it useless, but that is false. The methods described in this guide will not touch the encrypted files in any way. The process of encryption did not really transform your files – it merely created the encrypted copies and then deleted the original files. We’ll attempt to recover these original files instead.

How was your PC infected by .Locky Virus?

While it is possible that you may have unknowingly installed the ransomware yourself by running a email attachment or a file downloaded from a malicious website or torrent, that is not always the case. Indeed, the recent rise in popularity in the ransomware family has created a new branch of Trojan Horse viruses that exist only to install ransomware on computers affected by them – a smart move from the cyber criminals that allows them to outsmart many security programs. If you have no recollection of recently opening an executable file downloaded from such an unsafe source, chances are you have a Trojan horse virus working in the background in addition to the ransomware. The only reasonably quick way to find it is to use a good anti-malware program.