$ucyLocker Ransomware

$ucyLocker Ransomware is another severe malicious program that can cause devastation on your system if you are not well-prepared and do not have a backup of your files. This ransomware infection can crawl onto your system without your knowledge and encrypt your precious files. This malicious program is a new variant of Hidden Tear that was originally an educational project and thus, an open source program, which has been used as a base for a number of new threats, including Fabsyscrypto Ransomware, APT Ransomware, and Uyari Ransomware. Although you can risk paying these criminals for the decryption key to recover your files, our experience shows that there is little chance that such crooks would send you anything. Even if you get something for your money, it could simply be yet another malicious attack that could cause even more security issues if this one was not enough. We advise you not to hesitate to act and remove $ucyLocker Ransomware immediately.

We have found that this ransomware infection is mainly distributed through two frequently applied channels: spam e-mail and corrupt downloads. You may believe that your spam filter can weed out all spam mails and you have nothing to worry about, you can open any mail. Well, this is the perfect example that you may be wrong. This spam can be very misleading and not only for your filter but for you, too. As the second line of defense, you can easily fail if you consider this mail important by the look of it. However, this is exactly what happens to all victims. Unfortunately, it is quite easy to fall for this spam because it will always strike you as important to check because of its senders and its subject as well. But this should teach you to be more cautious with opening mails and downloading attachments. It is important that you do not open mails that you doubt or question their origins. But most importantly, never open an attached file sent by someone you do not know or doubt that you have anything to do with the subject. Remember that deleting $ucyLocker Ransomware will not give your files back and that is why you need to prevent such attacks from happening in the first place.

You may also use questionable file-sharing pages from time to time to download free programs or other files. However, you should know that suspicious torrent and freeware pages can promote malicious software bundles and infected files. Therefore, it is possible that when you want to download a targeted file, instead, you will download an infected version and end up with this ransomware encrypting your files. We suggest that you always download updates and software from official pages. As you can see, it is very easy to cause the biggest nightmare you have ever had in your virtual world and it starts with one single click on the wrong content. If you cannot protect your PC and your files by becoming a more cautious user and web surfer, we advise you to find a reliable anti-malware program to remove $ucyLocker Ransomware and all other potential threats as well as to protect your computer from future attacks.

The original malicious executable is called "VapeHacksLoader.exe," which could be the program that you launched before your files got encrypted. This infection can encrypt most of your personal files, i.e., those files that you may consider important. These include your videos, audio files, documents, photos, archives, and possible databases as well. The affected files get a “.WINDOWS” extension added to the original file name, so your files will look like this: “Test.txt.WINDOWS.” You may also find a new text file on your desktop called “READ_IT.txt,” which contains the ransom note text.

Once done with the encryption, this infection displays its ransom note “program” on your screen, which first informs you about the fact of the encryption and then, when you click Next, you will find more information. You have to pay 0.16 BTC, which is around 405 USD, to get your decryption key to a given Bitcoin address. We do not recommend that you contact or send money to these criminals because you cannot be sure that you will really get the key. If you want order on your PC again, we suggest that you remove $ucyLocker Ransomware right now.

This malicious program does not lock your screen but, instead, it disables your Task Manager. Therefore, it is not that easy to delete $ucyLocker Ransomware and the related files. First of all, you need to kill the malicious process but when you have no Task Manager, it is quite difficult to do. So we suggest that you follow our instructions below how you can enable your Task Manager. Then, if you restart your computer and the malicious process is still operating, you can end it and delete the files. If this is more than your IT skills can cover, we recommend that you protect your system with an authentic anti-malware program, such as SpyHunter.

How to enable your Task Manager

1. Press Win+R and type gpedit.msc to open the Local Group Policy Editor window.
2. In the left panel, locate the following settings: User Configuration>Administrative Templates>System>Ctrl+Alt+Del Options.
3. Double-click the Remove Task Manager option.
4. Choose either “Disable” or “Not configured” in the top-left corner.
5. Press OK.
6. Close the editor.
7. Restart your computer to apply the change.

How to remove $ucyLocker Ransomware from Windows

1. Open your Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc.
2. Locate the malicious process (if it is still running) and press End task.
3. Close the Task Manager.
4. Press Win+E.
5. Delete all suspicious files you have recently downloaded, including "VapeHacksLoader.exe"
6. Delete the ransom note from your desktop.
7. Empty your Recycle Bin.
8. Restart your computer.