WanaCry Ransomware Virus Removal (and File Recovery)

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Welcome to our WanaCry Ransomware Virus removal guide. The following instructions will aid you in removing the unwanted software from your PC for free.

The following article discusses one very harassing and harmful virus. Its name is WanaCry Ransomware Virus. This piece of malware belongs to the Ransomware-based malware type and can be blamed for the encrypting of your commonly accessed data, as well as for blackmailing you for ransom at a later point. Indeed, such horrible threats are perhaps the most malicious ones you will ever encounter on the Internet.

What makes Ransomware so awfully dangerous?

The malware category called Ransomware comprises the most harmful viruses, which could be very diverse in nature, however all of them are truly hard to remove or deal with. Even the majority of experts in this field may find it awfully difficult to fight the infection caused by such a virus. Generally, there are several subgroups of Ransomware-likes viruses with different manners of functioning. The one feature they all share is the fact that they are all set to require ransom in exchange for reversing the harmful encryption process they are responsible for. The following paragraph will give you better insight into the known Ransomware subcategories.

Ransomware divides into several smaller malware subgroups:

1. The specific virus we are talking about here – WanaCry Ransomware Virus, falls into the the file-encryption subcategory of Ransomware. Its member programs tend to make your most used files inaccessible by blocking them with a complicated double-key encoding procedure. It is very shocking to realize the threats in the notification, which have appeared on your screen, are in fact real, as the files marked as blocked are indeed inaccessible to you. Hackers then will ask you to believe that the single possible way of getting your encrypted data back is to pay them the demanded ransom by threatening you even further.
2. Another subgroup is the one of the screen-locking Ransomware. It can further be divided into two smaller malicious subfamilies. The products from the 1^st one are usually designed to lock your computer monitor by putting an enormous ransom-requiring notification on the desktop, in this way making you completely unable to use any of your system’s features, icons and apps. You might catch the mobile-oriented versions of this malware type. They represent the 2^nd subgroup. The difference is that they represent programs affecting a mobile device – for instance, a phone or a tablet. This Ransomware type again makes the screen of the affected device totally inaccessible to you by displaying a very big ransom alert. The procedure is again the same – you are warned you will never access your blocked device ever again in case you don’t complete the required ransom payment.

Potential Ransomware sources:

Such malware products may be found in numerous different places on the web. Nothing is really safe and no concrete source can be pointed out. Nevertheless, according to the reports about the recorded contaminations so far, the majority of them have occurred because of some accidental click on a fake malicious pop-up ad while browsing, or taking a look at a spam letter and loading its attachments inside your email. Please, note that WanaCry Ransomware Virus could be assisted by a Trojan horse virus and these two horrible fellows may be hiding inside such a suspicious email. But there are other possible sources as well, such as contagious websites and shareware as well as infected torrents. More precisely, anything on the web might be a Ransomware source.

Normally, an infection process occurs in the following manner:

Usually, the real contamination process happens in the manner explained here, no matter how exactly you have caught WanaCry Ransomware Virus. Once this Ransomware is inside your PC, it gains full access to your storage spaces. First of all, the malicious program fully scans them, determining which ones you have used and may want to access in the future. Then all of the data enlisted as such becomes a victim of encryption with a difficult-to-remove key. Eventually, a harassing notification pops up on your desktop and you get informed about all of the above.

In case of a contamination, you should proceed in the following way:

To our mutual misfortune, nothing is fully capable of fighting Ransomware. You might succeed in removing the virus, but your data might remain encrypted whatever you proceed with. Our recommendation is NOT to pay the money the hackers are trying to extort from you, but to try to deal with WanaCry Ransomware Virus yourself. For that purpose we have assembled the GUIDE in the end of this article. We cannot promise it will definitely decrypt your files and remove the virus. Despite the uncertainty, it will at least still be worth a try to counteract this cyber threat and set everything right.

SUMMARY:

Name	WanaCry Ransomware Virus
Type	Ransomware
Danger Level	High (Ransomware is by far the worst threat you can encounter)
Symptoms	No visible ones, usually just the generation of the ransom alert notifies you about the infection.
Distribution Method	Many possible ones, among which the most common are malvertising, contagious torrents and web pages, as well as emails.

WanaCry Ransomware 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

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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.
   

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• 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.