Welcome to our Crypt0L0cker removal instructions. This article intends to help you remove Crypt0L0cker from your system and is designed to work for all Windows versions.

Crypt0L0cker is a type of what’s known as one of the nastiest, most harmful and dangerous kind of malware – ransomware. After receiving lots and lots of questions in different languages, for example – “crypt0l0cker odszyfrowanie”, “crypt0l0cker jak odszyfrować pliki”, “crypt0l0cker çözüm”, “crypt0l0cker entfernen”, we decided it is high time to make an article about this.

You’ve probably guessed, where the name derives from, especially if you have already seen that disturbing message on your screen. The one that clearly states that your files have been encrypted and offers you to regain access to them for a ‘humble’ price, or ransom. If you’ve run into Crypt0L0cker already, then this no doubt sounds all too familiar to you.

What makes Crypt0L0cker and other viruses of this category so awful is the fact that they are so stealthy, they’re practically unnoticeable and therefore unstoppable. You might be able to freeze their dirty work, before they are able to complete it, but we will discuss that further in the article. This guide has been created to help you remove Crypt0L0cker from your system, as well as help potentially get your files back, because deleting the virus alone won’t do the trick. We should say, however, that at this point there is no guarantee that the steps described below will work 100% and this is unfortunately true for any other method you’ll find online. This is, in fact, even true for the decryption key, which the hackers expect ransom for – that too might not succeed in decrypting all of your files.

Alright, you’ve scared the heck out of me – now what?

No need to be pessimistic – we are only mentioning all the possible outcomes. Our method might very well help completely solve the problem, and if you choose to pay ransom – maybe the hackers will send you the key and it will work like a charm. This is all very possible. But first, let’s talk a little about how Crypt0L0cker works, how it travels and what signs might give it away before it’s already too late. Also this section will answer at least some of your “crypt0l0cker odszyfrowanie”, “crypt0l0cker jak odszyfrować pliki”, “crypt0l0cker çözüm”, “crypt0l0cker entfernen” questions.

In the majority of cases ransomware is distributed via email with the assistance of a little helper – a Trojan horse virus. The email you receive might include an attachment of some sort or perhaps a hyperlink, leading to some strange website. Whichever the case, by clicking and opening the file or link, you will be enabling the Trojan to smuggle Crypt0L0cker into your computer. From then on it’s only a matter of time before the ransomware has encrypted all of the files it can and posts the aforementioned ransom note on your desktop or somewhere else that’s visible to you. You might notice before this even, if you try to access an already coded file and fail to do so.

As we said earlier, you might even be lucky enough to detect Crypt0L0cker as it works through your files but hasn’t finished with all of them. This will of course depend on both the amount of data you have and the power of your processor, but your computer might become extremely slow all of a sudden and this should already raise a red flag for you. Should this be the case and you suspect something might be wrong, go to your Task Manager and sort the processes by memory used. If among the top processes you notice one, which arouses questions and doesn’t seem to belong there – turn off your computer immediately and turn to a professional for help.

Why we don’t recommend paying ransom

Naturally, we cannot tell you what to do and this decision is only yours to make. However, consider the following drawbacks to sending money to these people, who would under better circumstances be facing court and jail time:

• There’s no guarantee they will send you the key;
• If they do send it, there’s no guarantee it will work and all your files will be decrypted;
• You will actually be parting with your hard-earned money for the benefit of some cyber-criminals, who’ve found a dishonest way to make easy cash;
• Paying them will actually encourage them to continue;
• Paying them will also ensure that they won’t be caught, if they demand being paid in Bitcoins, because those are untraceable.

As pointed out, the choice is yours, but you always have the option of going back to paying the ransom after you’ve tried the below instructions first. Aside from this, it’s our duty to keep users educated about simple cyber security measures all of us can and should afford to take:

• Good anti-malware running at all times;
• Frequent virus checks;
• Avoiding obscure websites like open-source download platforms;
• Avoiding downloading anything from above websites.

Crypt0L0cker 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 Crypt0L0cker. 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!