Malware

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Is this a serious infection

Horizon ransomware is categorized as file-locking ransomware. Ransomware is categorized as one the most damaging malicious software you could get because of how seriously it could affect your data. As soon as it launches, it’ll start its process of encryption. Your most valued files, such as photos and documents, will become targets. A special key is required to unlock the files but only the people responsible for this malware have it. If the ransomware is decryptable, researchers specializing in malware might be able to develop a free decryption tool. If you have not made backup, waiting for that free decryption tool is your only choice.

Once file encryption is finished, if you look on your desktop or in folders containing encrypted files, you ought to find a ransom note. The ransom note will give information about your file encryption, and criminals will request that you pay money in order to get your files back. Our next statement won’t shock you but it isn’t recommended to pay the hackers anything. Hackers taking your money while not helping you with file recovery is not an unlikely scenario. To believe that you will receive a decryption utility means you need to trust crooks, and doing that is quite naive. Seeing as you are thinking about paying criminals, perhaps purchasing backup would be a better decision. If copies of files have been made, you do not have to worry about file loss and could just remove Horizon ransomware.

Download Removal Toolto remove Horizon ransomware

If you recently opened a weird email attachment or downloaded some kind of update, that’s how it might have gotten into your OS. These are two of the most frequent methods used for ransomware distribution.

How does ransomware spread

You can acquire ransomware in a couple of different ways, but as we have mentioned previously, spam email and false updates are possibly how you got the contamination. Since dangerous spam campaigns are pretty common, you need to learn what dangerous spam look like. If you get an email from an unknown sender, carefully check the contents before you open the attachment. It is also not strange to see hackers pretending to be from legitimate companies, as a well-known company names would make users lose their guard. For example, senders pretend to be from Amazon or eBay, with the email saying that a receipt for a purchase has been added as an attachment. You can check whether the sender is who they say they are pretty easily. Research the company the sender claims to be from, check the email addresses that belong to their employees and see if your sender’s is among them. If you are unsure scan the added file with a malware scanner, just to be on the safe side.

Fake program updates may also be responsible if you do not think you’ve opened any dubious emails. The bogus program updates might be encountered when visiting pages with suspicious reputation. Those fake update offers may also appear in adverts and banners. It is very doubtful anyone familiar with how updates work will ever engage with them, however. If you want to have a malware-free computer, never download anything from dubious sources. If a program needs to be updated, the software will notify you itself or it’ll happen without you having to do anything.

How does this malware behave

It’s probably unnecessary to explain that your files have been encrypted. Soon after you opened the infected file, the encryption process, which you could have missed, began. All files that have been affected will now have a weird extension. Files have been locked via a complicated encryption algorithm so do not waste your time attempting to open them. A ransom note ought to also be visible and it should explain what happened to your files, and how you could recover them. The ransom notes generally tend to threaten users with deleted files and strongly encourage victims to pay the ransom. Paying cyber criminals isn’t a good idea, even if cyber criminals are in the possession of the decryptor. The people responsible for locking your files won’t feel obliged to help you after you make a payment. If you make a payment one time, you might be willing to pay again, or that is what hackers are likely to believe.

Instead of giving into the requests, try to recall whether your files are being kept somewhere but you just can’t remember. Or you can backup your encrypted files and hope a malware researcher releases a free decryption utility, which does happen sometimes. It is very critical to remove Horizon ransomware from your system as quickly as possible, whatever the case may be.

It is essential that you start doing regular backups, and we expect you will learn from this experience. There is always a risk that you may lose your files, so having backup is critical. In order to keep your files secure, you’ll need to invest in backup, and there are several options available, some more costly than others.

Ways to remove Horizon ransomware

If you’re not knowledgeable about computers, manually eliminating the ransomware is not the best idea. Download anti-malware program to deal with the infection, because otherwise you are risking further harming to your device. Sometimes, users need to boot their computers in Safe Mode so as to successfully run malware removal program. As soon as your system boots in Safe Mode, permit the malicious software removal program to eliminate Horizon ransomware. Sadly anti-malware program won’t help with file recovery, it will only uninstall the malware.

Download Removal Toolto remove Horizon ransomware

Learn how to remove Horizon ransomware from your computer

Step 1. Remove Horizon ransomware using Safe Mode with Networking.

a) Step 1. Access Safe Mode with Networking.

For Windows 7/Vista/XP
  1. Start → Shutdown → Restart → OK. win-xp-restart How to remove Horizon ransomware
  2. Press and keep pressing F8 until Advanced Boot Options appears.
  3. Choose Safe Mode with Networking win-xp-safe-mode How to remove Horizon ransomware
For Windows 8/10 users
  1. Press the power button that appears at the Windows login screen. Press and hold Shift. Click Restart. win-10-restart How to remove Horizon ransomware
  2. Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart. win-10-options How to remove Horizon ransomware
  3. Choose Enable Safe Mode with Networking. win-10-boot-menu How to remove Horizon ransomware

b) Step 2. Remove Horizon ransomware.

You will now need to open your browser and download some kind of anti-malware software. Choose a trustworthy one, install it and have it scan your computer for malicious threats. When the ransomware is found, remove it. If, for some reason, you can't access Safe Mode with Networking, go with another option.

Step 2. Remove Horizon ransomware using System Restore

a) Step 1. Access Safe Mode with Command Prompt.

For Windows 7/Vista/XP
  1. Start → Shutdown → Restart → OK. win-xp-restart How to remove Horizon ransomware
  2. Press and keep pressing F8 until Advanced Boot Options appears.
  3. Select Safe Mode with Command Prompt. win-xp-safe-mode How to remove Horizon ransomware
For Windows 8/10 users
  1. Press the power button that appears at the Windows login screen. Press and hold Shift. Click Restart. win-10-restart How to remove Horizon ransomware
  2. Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart. win-10-options How to remove Horizon ransomware
  3. Choose Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt. win-10-boot-menu How to remove Horizon ransomware

b) Step 2. Restore files and settings.

  1. You will need to type in cd restore in the window that appears. Press Enter.
  2. Type in rstrui.exe and again, press Enter. command-promt-restore How to remove Horizon ransomware
  3. A window will pop-up and you should press Next. Choose a restore point and press Next again. windows-restore-point How to remove Horizon ransomware
  4. Press Yes.
While this should have taken care of the ransomware, you might want to download anti-malware just to be sure no other threats are lurking.  

Step 3. Recover your data

While backup is essential, there is still quite a few users who do not have it. If you are one of them, you can try the below provided methods and you just might be able to recover files.

a) Using Data Recovery Pro to recover encrypted files.

  1. Download Data Recovery Pro, preferably from a trustworthy website.
  2. Scan your device for recoverable files. data-recovery-pro How to remove Horizon ransomware
  3. Recover them.

b) Restore files through Windows Previous Versions

If you had System Restore enabled, you can recover files through Windows Previous Versions.
  1. Find a file you want to recover.
  2. Right-click on it.
  3. Select Properties and then Previous versions. windows-previous-version How to remove Horizon ransomware
  4. Pick the version of the file you want to recover and press Restore.

c) Using Shadow Explorer to recover files

If you are lucky, the ransomware did not delete your shadow copies. They are made by your system automatically for when system crashes.
  1. Go to the official website (shadowexplorer.com) and acquire the Shadow Explorer application.
  2. Set up and open it.
  3. Press on the drop down menu and pick the disk you want. shadow-explorer How to remove Horizon ransomware
  4. If folders are recoverable, they will appear there. Press on the folder and then Export.

* SpyHunter scanner, published on this site, is intended to be used only as a detection tool. More info on SpyHunter. To use the removal functionality, you will need to purchase the full version of SpyHunter. If you wish to uninstall SpyHunter, click here.

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