.Sage File Virus Removal (File Recovery Methods)

Welcome reader to our .Sage File Virus removal guide. This page will also help you to recover any .Sage Virus files.

This article is for all of you, who have been affected by .Sage at some point of your lives. Most probably you have seen this horrible message on your computer screens: “Your files have been encrypted. To have them back, it’s necessary that you pay”. It is scary and disturbing. In the following paragraphs we are going to discuss the nature of the program causing you so much trouble – .Sage. Also, we are going to focus on some prevention steps as well as removal instructions. Read this article carefully to get an idea of what is going on with your machine and in what way it is possible to deal with the current problem.

What does .Sage do exactly?

.Sage is a computer virus. In fact, it is one of the nastiest malicious programs that have ever been created, a version of Ransomware. In general, Ransomware is a truly terrible thing. This software usually infiltrates your PC with the help of other malware – a Trojan horse virus. After that, the two buddies separate and start doing their own malicious deeds. What Ransomware loves doing is to scan all your memory (disk drives and flash drives) and to compile a list with all the addresses of files that you visit on a regular basis. After that this malware begins with its most disturbing activity – the encryption process. .Sage starts locking up your data and for that purpose it uses a double key. One of the components of that decryption, the public key, you get immediately after the process is finished. For the other one, though, you are obliged to pay ransom. That’s why those viruses are called Ransomware: you pay an amount of money to take control of your files again. When .Sage is done with the entire encoding process, there comes the most frightening part – you receive a notification stating that you need to pay an amount of money for your files.  There may be some requirements about the payment process and so on. When you check the aforementioned files, you find out that they have been encrypted for real and you can’t access them.  And this is when your nightmare begins as you may be really confused and you may have no idea about what to do next.

You may be considering paying the ransom…

The decision is all yours to make – the locked up files are yours and the money is yours. We would like just to mention a few things you should be aware of. First of all, you are dealing with criminals in this case. Hackers are often dishonest and all they can think about is money. How can you be sure that they will give you the private part of the decryption key in case you pay? You can’t be, no one can guarantee that for sure. Any business you have with a person who is committing a crime can also be considered a crime. So, our advice is, find someone who has experience dealing with such cyber issues and consult them before paying anything. Also, below we have provided a removal guide that may be useful to you. At least, you have options, try something before giving in to such blackmailing.

Will your files be recovered if you remove .Sage from your machine?

If only we could give you a positive answer. Unfortunately, even after uninstalling .Sage from your machine, you may still be unable to reach your encrypted data. Removing the virus is one thing, unlocking your files – a completely different story.  However, one more time, do not be in haste to complete any ransom payment, wait, consider your chances and then take actions. We have provided steps that may help you recover your files.

Do not forget to:

If your computer has been infected, consider it a useful experience. You learn all the time and this is just an unpleasant step to being prepared for all kinds of situations. No matter how you decide to proceed with the current situation, remember that you should get rid of the Trojan horse that comes with .Sage as well. If you forget about that, it may cause even more serious issues. Also, you should now know that you can catch any Ransomware everywhere on the Internet – it could be lurking inside web pages, torrents, shareware websites and software bundles. Be especially careful with the letters in your email coming from unknown or strange users as this is the most common way an infection with .Sage may come to you again. We don’t think it’s necessary to say that you should always have your antivirus tool ON, as well as your Firewall, and should regularly check for dangerous programs. Good luck!

.Sage File Virus Removal

 Here is what you need to do in order to remove a Ransomware virus from you computer.

I – Reveal Hidden files and folders and utilize the task manager

1. Use the Folder Options in order to reveal the hidden files and folders on your PC. If you do not know how to do that, follow this link.
2. Open the Start Menu and in the search field type Task Manager.
   
3. Open the first result and in the Processes tab, carefully look through the list of Processes.
4. If you notice with the virus name or any other suspicious-looking or that seems to consume large amounts of memory, right-click on it and open its file location. Delete everything in there.
   

• Make sure that the hidden files and folders on your PC are visible, else you might not be able to see everything.

5. Go back to the Task Manager and end the shady process.

II – Boot to Safe Mode

• Boot your PC into Safe Mode. If you do not know how to do it, use this guide/linked/.

III – Identify the threat

1. Go to the ID Ransomware website. Here is a direct link.
2. Follow there in order to identify the specific virus you are dealing with.

IV – Decrypt your files

1. Once you have identified the virus that has encrypted your files, you must acquire the respective tool to unlock your data.
2. Open your browser and search for how to decrypt ransomware, look for the name of the one that has infected your system.
3. With any luck, you’d be able to find a decryptor tool for your ransomware. If that doesn’t happen try Step V as a last ditch effort to save your files.

V – Use Recuva to restore files deleted by the virus

1. Download the Recuva tool. This will help you restore your original files so that you won’t need to actually decrypt the locked ones.
2. Once you’ve downloaded the program, open it and select Next.
   
3. Now choose the type of files you are seeking to restore and continue to the next page.
4. When asked where your files were, before they got deleted, either use the option In a specific location and provide that location or choose the opt for the I am not sure alternative – this will make the program look everywhere on your PC.
   
5. Click on Next and for best results, enable the Deep Scan option (note that this might take some time).
   
6. Wait for the search to finish and then select which of the listed files you want to restore.

• Keep in mind it is possible that not all files might be fully recovered. You can check in what condition the files are from the State column in the list of deleted files.