Locked-in Ransomware

Locked-in Ransomware could be a dangerous threat to your computer as it can encrypt your important files. However, malware hunters proved to be very fast this time and soon after this ransomware program started to appear and "lock users in" -- or rather, out -- a free file recovery tool emerged on the web. This is obviously a major headache for the authors of this vicious program because now only uninformed and inexperienced computer users would fall for its ransom note and pay the ransom fee in the hope of getting their files back. Unfortunately, transferring the fee is never a guarantee that you will get anything in return. In fact, most of the time it is unlikely that cyber criminals will bother to send you the decryption key or a tool. The good news is that in this case you do not even need to worry about this. You can quite easily remove Locked-in Ransomware from your system and use the free tool to recover your files. However, if you are not a techie, we do not recommend that you do this all alone. Please read our full article to know more about this relatively dangerous ransomware infection.

You need to know that this malware belongs to one of the most vicious groups of malware infections. Ransomware programs are very tricky and can slither onto your system without your knowledge. Yet, it is possible to prevent them from attacking you if you understand how they are spread over the net. This malware infection has been found distributed via spam e-mails. This is actually how a lot of similar threats are spread. And, this is why you need to become more alert whenever you scan through your mails. The spam mails of today can be very convincing and they might even avoid detection by your spam filter. No matter where such a spam may end up, either in your spam folder or in your inbox, there is a good chance that you would consider it an important and urgent mail. The usual trick criminals use is authentic-looking senders, including the e-mail addresses, as well as important subjects that you could not say no to. This subject can be anything relating to invoices, fines, bookings, and credit card details. These are used because most users could not resist the temptation of at least opening such a mail.

But when you open this spam, you will not be any smarter because the message therein is only an instruction that asks you to save and view the attached file that is supposed to be an image of the problematic invoice in question or a document to prove something. The problem is that this is usually an executable file that initiates the attack itself. This is why prevention is always emphasized. If an infection such as this ransomware finds a way to your system, your files could be encrypted and lost forever even if you delete Locked-in Ransomware after you notice it on board. Nevertheless, in this particular case you could be in the luck as it may be possible to use a free tool to recover your files after you remove Locked-in Ransomware. Most of the time you would not be this fortunate and you could easily lose your beloved and most important files if you do not have a backup copy kept on a removable drive.

After you double-click the downloaded file, instead of viewing the questionable invoice or anything else, this malicious attack is set up in the background. A registry key is created to make sure that this ransomware is automatically run anytime you log in to your Windows system. Then, your targeted files are encrypted with the most widely used AES-256 algorithm. These are the affected file extensions:.pxf, .dst, .eps, .cdr, .pmd, .ai, .txt, .qbw, .QBB, .qbb, .QBW, .TLG, .JPG, .tlg, .ecw, .pdf, .DBF, .PDF, .frm, .pix, .accdb, .mdb, .cdr, .eps, .tif, .msg, .asmx, .rpt, .arw, .qbo, .qbw, .sldprt, .dwf, .doc, .adi, .adt, .docx, .altr, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx, .odt, .jpg, .png, .csv, .sql, sln, .php, .asp, .aspx, .html, .xml, .psd, .bat, .js, .css, .sqlite, .dwg, and .jpeg. As you can see, your images, documents, program files, and databases are the main target here. The encrypted files get a new extension that could be totally random, such as "mypicture.jpg.dK6kNIbYnmZD" but other versions could also have ".novalid" as an extension, which has been seen here and there.

After the encryption is over, this ransomware creates an .html file on your desktop with the name of either "RESTORE_CORUPTED_FILES.HTML" or "RESTORE_NOVALID_FILES.HTML," which is the ransom note. You may also find this file in seemingly random folders. This malware infection is quite unique in the sense that it gives the victim as many as 15 days to transfer the demanded 1 BTC, which is around 792 US dollars right now. However, you should not worry about paying this amount because, as we have said, there is a free tool on the web that you could use to recover your files after you remove Locked-in Ransomware from your system.

As a matter of fact, it is not even too complicated to delete Locked-in Ransomware since all you need to do is locate the downloaded malicious file and bin it. It is also possible that you will find a registry key that needs removal, but that is all there is to it. Please follow our instructions below if you want to manually eliminate this malware infection. You may have understood by now why prevention is so important when it comes to ransomware threats. If you are looking for a decent way to protect your computer, we advise you to install a reliable anti-malware program, such as SpyHunter.

Remove Locked-in Ransomware from Windows

1. Press Win+E.
2. Locate the downloaded malicious file and bin it.
3. Empty your Recycle Bin.
4. Press Win+R and type regedit. Press OK.
5. Locate and delete "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\LegalNoticeText" registry key.
6. Exit the editor.
7. Restart your computer.