CryptoKill Ransomware - How to remove

CryptoKill Ransomware is a very dangerous ransomware virus. It might infect your system and lock files stored on a hard drive. You will be asked to pay the ransom in order to retrieve your locked files. Viruses like this are very aggressive and cost a lot of money to casual users every year. If you are a victim of this infection, you have come to the right place. In this article we will provide you with detailed instructions how to eliminate CryptoKill Ransomware either manually or automatically and restore your locked files. So if you are interested in it, just proceed reading the article.

As we have mentioned above, there are two most common methods to get rid of infection like this – it can be done either manually or automatically, so it’s completely up to you which removal method to choose. If you want to perform it fast and effortless, you should go for automatic removal. All you have to do is to download reliable anti-malware application, such as Spyhunter, install it on your computer and then run a full scan of all files stored on your hard drive. Either one of these applications should immediately detect and eliminate the virus automatically. It will also protect your computer from similar infections in the future, so it’s worth to keep it installed.

However, if for some reasons you don’t want to download any additional anti-malware software, you can remove CryptoKill Ransomware manually as well. However, this process might be complicated so we have developed a step-by-step CryptoKill Ransomware manual removal guide to assist you – scroll down below this article and take a look at our step-by-step CryptoKill Ransomware manual removal guide. Try to complete all steps correctly and you will be able to eliminate CryptoKill Ransomware manually by your own.

To learn more about specific features of CryptoKill Ransomware please continue reading this article. If you have some questions regarding this topic, feel free to ask them in the comments section below and we will do our best to answer them all.

About CryptoKill Ransomware browser hijacker

CryptoKill Ransomware is a typical ransomware infection that attacks users and demands money. Once inside of your computer it will run a full scan of all files stored on your hard drive to detect files that could be locked. This ransomware can lock almost any type of files that users use, i.e. photos, video or audio files, text documents and so no.

When the scan is over, CryptoKill Ransomware will lock those files adding ‘.crypto’ extension to all of those files. From now on you can’t send, open or use them in any other way. Immediately after that you will notice a file on your desktop, named ‘CRYPTOKILL_README.txt’. It is like a ransom note for you – all instructions regarding paying the ransom can be found inside of it.

You will be suggested to pay a certain amount of money in Bitcoins in order to retrieve decrypter and unlock encrypted files. However, we do not recommend to do that. First of all, there are no guarantees that you will retrieve your files even if you pay the ransom. Moreover, you would support cyber criminals by paying the ransom, so it’s not a good thing to do.

Unfortunately, there are no legitimate decryption tool right now, but cyber security experts are working on it and we will keep you updated. There is a way to retrieve locked files by restoring your system. However, in order to do that, you have to have a legitimate copy of your hard drive that was made before CryptoKill Ransomware attacked your computer. If you have one, take a look at our instructions how to perform system restore: https://www.2-viruses.com/how-to-do-a-system-restore

How to recover CryptoKill Ransomware encrypted files and remove the virus

Step 1. Restore system into last known good state using system restore

1. Reboot your computer to Safe Mode with Command Prompt:

for Windows 7 / Vista/ XP

• Start → Shutdown → Restart → OK.
• Press F8 key repeatedly until Advanced Boot Options window appears.
• Choose Safe Mode with Command Prompt.

for Windows 8 / 10

• Press Power at Windows login screen. Then press and hold Shift key and click Restart.
• Choose Troubleshoot → Advanced Options → Startup Settings and click Restart.
• When it loads, select Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt from the list of Startup Settings.

 

2.Restore System files and settings.

• When Command Prompt mode loads, enter cd restore and press Enter.
• Then enter rstrui.exe and press Enter again.
• Click “Next” in the windows that appeared.
• Select one of the Restore Points that are available before CryptoKill Ransomware has infiltrated to your system and then click “Next”.
• To start System restore click “Yes”.

 

Step 2. Complete removal of CryptoKill Ransomware

After restoring your system, it is recommended to scan your computer with an anti-malware program, like Spyhunter and remove all malicious files related to CryptoKill Ransomware. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore CryptoKill Ransomware affected files using Shadow Volume Copies

If you do not use System Restore option on your operating system, there is a chance to use shadow copy snapshots. They store copies of your files that point of time when the system restore snapshot was created. Usually CryptoKill Ransomware tries to delete all possible Shadow Volume Copies, so this methods may not work on all computers. However, it may fail to do so. Shadow Volume Copies are only available with Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. There are two ways to retrieve your files via Shadow Volume Copy. You can do it using native Windows Previous Versions or via Shadow Explorer. a) Native Windows Previous Versions Right-click on an encrypted file and select Properties → Previous versions tab. Now you will see all available copies of that particular file and the time when it was stored in a Shadow Volume Copy. Choose the version of the file you want to retrieve and click Copy if you want to save it to some directory of your own, or Restore if you want to replace existing, encrypted file. If you want to see the content of file first, just click Open.

b) Shadow Explorer It is a program that can be found online for free. You can download either a full or a portable version of Shadow Explorer. Open the program. On the left top corner select the drive where the file you are looking for is a stored. You will see all folders on that drive. To retrieve a whole folder, right-click on it and select “Export”. Then choose where you want it to be stored.

Step 4. Use Data Recovery programs to recover CryptoKill Ransomware encrypted files

There are several data recovery programs that might recover encrypted files as well. This does not work in all cases but you can try this:

• We suggest using another PC and connect the infected hard drive as slave. It is still possible to do this on infected PC though.
• Download a data recovery program.
• Install and scan for recently deleted files.

Note: In many cases it is impossible to restore data files affected by modern ransomware. Thus I recommend using decent cloud backup software as precaution. We recommend checking out Carbonite, BackBlaze, CrashPlan or Mozy Home.

Manual removal