Welcome to our AES-128 Virus Encryption removal instructions. This article intends to help you remove AES-128 Virus from your system and is designed to work for all Windows versions.
If you are reading this then you have probably seen the following text displayed on your desktop: “all of your files are encrypted with rsa-2048 and aes-128 ciphers”. If your computer has indeed been infected by AES-128 Virus then you are in trouble. AES-128 Virus is using a very dangerous encryption and is indicative for a computer virus called ransomware. It specializes in encrypting the files of its victim, thus making them unusable. A recent representative of this ransomware encryption is the .Locky Virus. A ransom is demanded for the key that is needed to revert the process. If the ransomware has already revealed its presence to you, then probably at least some of your files are already encrypted. Look through your computer – the ransomware will target all kinds of data files, like documents, music, pictures, videos etc. An extra extension is added at the end of the file’s name and all such files are already encrypted. Also a note gets posted to your desktop and to the folders where encrypted files are being stored, thus “all of your files are encrypted with rsa-2048 and aes-128 ciphers” has probably led you here.
In the unlikely scenario that not all of your files are encrypted you should immediately open the Task manager and shut down the process that takes up the most CPU power and memory. Don’t worry if it appears to be important, required by Windows or the like. Nothing you can do here can damage your computer and ransomware often duplicates the name of windows processes in order to hide itself.
What are your options when dealing with AES-128 Virus?
It is far more likely that all of your files have already been encrypted. If that is the case, you need to work on removing the virus and recovering your files.
- IMPORTANT! Don’t try changing the name or deleting the encrypted files – that will not fix your documents or restore them in any way. It might actually make it harder for you when you try to do it properly!
Naturally, the blackmailers have already presented you with one method to get your files back – by paying the ransom. That, as you probably think, is not really a good idea for several reasons:
- You are dealing with cyber criminals. They are already hunted by the law and they are under no obligation to really help you. Many people have tried to pay and got nothing in return.
- Any money paid will be an encouragement for them and they’ll use it to improve the ransomware and infect more people – possibly even you – in the future.
- Despite what the ransomware note may claim trying alternative methods will neither ruin your data, nor disallow you from the option to pay the ransom. The virus is not smart enough to know what you are doing on your computer – as long as you don’t delete or rename the files you are OK!
You’ll find the two recovery options in our guide and you can try both of them. They are not guaranteed to work 100%, but many people have had success with them. If you have encrypted files afterwards decide if it’s worth the money and the risk to pay the ransom. In most cases it isn’t.
What can you do to protect your computer from viruses like AES-128 Virus?
It is much easier to prevent your computer from becoming infected, than it is to fix it afterwards. You should always follow some simple rules such as never open email attachments from unfamiliar senders, never visit known attack and malicious sites and never download virus infected files from torrents and online storage sites.
You should also check your computer for the presence of Trojan Horse viruses, because many of these are specifically designed to deliver ransomware to computers infected by them. Unfortunately, there is no specific advice that can be given – Trojan horses vary greatly in the weaknesses they exploit and how they can be removed. Your best bet would be getting a good anti-malware program and running a system wide scan for possible Trojans. If you don’t have such a program installed or if the one you had didn’t detect the ransomware consider getting the program we’ve found to work best in this field – simply click on one of our banners.
| Threat | AES-128 Virus |
| Classification | Ransomware |
| Security Alert |
High. Extremely dangerous and hard to deal with. |
| Negative Effects | This is a very hard to crack encryption used in Ransomware applications like .Locky. |
AES-128 Virus Removal
Step 1
Reveal Hidden Files. If you don’t know how to do this, ask us in the comments.
Step 2
=> Search=> Copy/Paste “notepad %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/hosts” => Enter.
If you notice other IPs different from the localhost IPs – you might be in danger!
Ask for additional help in the comments.
Step 3
Right click on the Taskbar => Start Task Manager.
Navigate to Processes.
Locate any suspicious processes associated with AES-128 Virus. Right click on the process = > Open File Location => End Process = > Delete the directories with the suspicious files.
Step 4
=> Search => Type:
- %AppData%
- %LocalAppData%
- %ProgramData%
- %WinDir%
- %Temp%
Hit Enter after each new search. Check each Folder and delete recent entries.
Step 5
Get Your Files Back!
The only way you can do that is by backpedaling to a moment when you were not infected. You can achieve this in one of two ways:
- System Restore. => Search field => Type System Restore=>Enter.
Choose a Restore Point.
Click Next until the process has been completed. - Google and Download a Program called ShadowExplorer. Install and open it => Choose the Drive letter (C:, D:, F:, etc.) and date you want to restore information from => Right click on the files you want restored => Export.
If you run into any trouble – ask us for help in the comments section!
