CryptoLocker
- Thread starter KillerZebra
- Start date
That would likely get rid of the virus but it isn't going to fix your already encrypted files
I guess one could try doing the 'system restore point' and restore to a point before the virus happened but I don't know how effective that would be
hXcjedders
Australian Skial God
Formatting doesn't always wipe viruses, just a helpful hint. Also, zebra said it's easy to get rid of it, but reversing the file encryption is hard, which formatting does really nothing for other than delete the useless files.
hXcjedders
Australian Skial God
It's rare to have viruses like that because usually people who write them want to mine data, and not destroy your system files. Viruses like that are completely designed to make your computer unusable.
bluehawk
Legendary Skial King
Reformatting whipes the hard drive. So yes it will remove any virus on the hard drive.
hXcjedders
Australian Skial God
Not technically. It does what it says it does and re-formats your data into a different form. It isn't deleted. You have to use hard drive cleaning tools specifically designed to set values to zero to REALLY delete the data.
Not to mention if there's a deeper level virus like a rootkit. Simply reformatting does not remove all viruses.
This just serves as a reminder: back things up. Locally, and on the cloud. There are great services for online backup which won't break the bank. I don't know what I would do if I lost all my media files as a Media Arts major.
hXcjedders
Australian Skial God
I guess its important to determine what people mean by formatting. I am assuming most people mean formatting when you do initial OS setup since thats what most people are familiar with. There are different levels of formatting, one of which will erase absolutely everything on your hard drive.
What Oaky said, but also wanted to add:
Ransomware is a terrible thing (I know because sadly I work tech support, so lately this shit has popped up everywhere) and it really sucks that there really is nothing that can be done save pay them to get your shit back. As someone who gets a million calls a day about people losing shit to viruses, dead hard drives, and whatever other garbage..back your shit up. It is so easy now, there are even programs like carbonite that do it for you automatically (for a charge of course.)
There is no known way to get your shit back save paying them, take it from someone who (sadly) works in the industry of trying to fix people's fuck ups. The only protection against it is not to get it. The common sense should apply here though: Don't click on suspicious links, don't download attachments unless you are 100% positive what they are, be wary of clicking on recommended results on google, and be wary of clicking ads on any site in general.
I have had some luck getting some files recovered with shadow files and easus. I was able to get a few recent and important files back. But as far as the majority of my files go, no bueno :(
