Purge virus - How to remove

The latest version of a ransom note is not a letter, constructed from cropped out characters and symbols. Nowadays, blackmailing has evolved and managed to become a problem for a number of Internet users. Criminals unleash their scams to haunt society more frequently then it was spotted before. IT specialists are not concealing information and trying to inform about every new variant of ransomware viruses. These infections take bizarre hostages into their captivity: victims’ files. Purge ransomware is another addition to this family of aggressive viruses. Everything begins unexpectedly and people might have no idea when exactly this Purge virus managed to corrupt their computers and ruin all of their files with encryption.

About Purge Virus

Purge virus is hoping that its plan is going to be played out perfectly and the demanded nominal (or not) fee for the decryption key will be placed into their hands without major resistances. The first steps that this ransomware makes are probably the most crucial: it has to find gaps in users’ security systems and drop its payload in one of the folders. IT specialists forewarn people that such executable is very hard to find manually because it will most probably be disguised as an ordinary and random file. After not getting detected, Purge virus has to modify Windows Registry Keys. Why? This alteration is done so the payload would be ran every time victims’ computers are launched. In this way, without participation of the user, Purge virus gets a free pass to proceed with the next objective in its agenda: the encryption. Ransomware searchers for all sorts of files (video, audio, documents, photos and etc.) and encrypts them while exploiting AES-256 algorithm for encryption and appends the .purge extension to the corrupted files (even though the creators of Purge ransomware indicate that they use a RSA encryption). After this procedure is successful, users’ files are no longer able to be ran. However, Purge virus upgrades itself to a next level and uses CBC-mode (Cipher Block Chaining). After this, all of the encrypted files become connected with one another and are stored in blocks. If victims attempt to restore their files via one way or another, they might disrupt these arrangements. Then Purge virus permanently ruins files and there is no chance of getting them back. Of course, as we began our article with the concept of ransom notes, we cannot afford to forget that ransomware leaves “How to restore files.hta” file and explains the situation at hand. After receiving this letter, you will only have a week to respond to their demands. If you do not, the fee will only increase.

“YOUR FILES HAVE BEEN ENCRYPTED!
You personal ID
Your files have been encrypted with a powerfull strain of a virus called ransomware.
Your files are encrypted using RSA encryption, the same standard used by the military and banks. It is currently impossible to decrypt files encrypted with rsa encryption.
Lucky for you, we can help. We are willing to sell you a decryptor UNIQUELY made for your computer (meaning someone else’s decryptor will not work for you). Once you pay a small fee, we will instantly send you the software/info neccessary to decrypt all your files, quickly and easily.
To get in touch with us email us at [email protected] your email write your personal ID (its located at the up of the page, it is a string of random characters). Once we receive your personal ID, we will send you payment instructions.
As proof we can decrypt you files, we may decrypt one small file for the test.
If you dont get answer from [email protected] in 10 hours
Register here: http://bitmsg.me (online sending message service Bitmessage)
Write to address BM-2cUrKsazEKiamN9cZ17xQq9c5JpRpokca5 with you email and personal ID
When you payment will bee confirmed, You will get decrypter of files on you computer.
After you run decrypter software, all you files will be decrypted and restored.
IMPORTANT!
Do not try restore files without our help; this is useless and you may lose data permanently
Decrypters of others clients are unique and work only on PC with they personal ID.
We can not keep your decryption keys forever, meaning after one week after you have been infected, if you have not paid, we will not be able to decrypt your files. Email us as soon as you see this message; we know exactly when everyone has been encrypted and the longer you wait, the higher the payment gets. “

How to Decrypt Files Encrypted by Purge Virus?

Purge virus is a recently discovered variant: there is no way strong encryption is cracked that fast. As we cannot give you better news, we can enumerate the prevention methods so no ransomware viruses would come to influence your system. First of all, there is an easy trick to make devices immune to such pests: store valuable data in backup storages. At a time of infection, you can simply eliminate the virus and retrieve your files from the storing facilities. However, if you put your files in USBs, do not keep them connected to the device. Ransomware viruses are noticed to ruin the content, connected to the computer. Furthermore, you can try to restore files with the already released decryption tools: be careful as Purge virus can permanently corrupt files if the attempts are not successful. No matter how desperate situation looks, do not pay the demanded ransom (which probably depends on the amount of encrypted data). Since Purge virus offers to decrypt one file, exploit this opportunity: this can help to decrypt the rest of your files without further cooperation with crooks.

How is Purge Virus Distributed?

Purge virus is probably spread using the most basic techniques. It might be that email accounts are filled with infectious letters, offering to download some sort of attachment. This suggested executable might actually be a payload of a ransomware virus. If you value your device, make sure not to open letters that seem to be suspicious. However, users are noting that sometimes email messages look credible and seemingly originate from reliable sources. Pre-check if the sender has actually sent you such letter.

It is recommended to remove Purge ransomware from your system with the help from antivirus programs. Spyhunter or Hitman will efficiently satisfy your security needs and continue to do so for the future.

How to recover Purge virus 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 Purge ransomware has infiltrated to your system and then click “Next”.
• To start System restore click “Yes”.

 

Step 2. Complete removal of Purge virus

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 Purge ransomware. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore Purge virus 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 Purge 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 Purge virus 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.