Remove LAO ransomware

What is LAO ransomware

LAO ransomware is believed to be a very severe malware infection, categorized as ransomware, which might do severe harm to your device. You You possibly never came across it before, and to find out what it does may be particularly shocking. Once files are encrypted using a strong encryption algorithm, they’ll be locked, which means you won’t be able to open them. This is what makes data encrypting malware such a harmful threat, since it may lead to your data being encrypted permanently. Criminals will give you an option to decrypt files via their decryption tool, you would just have to pay a certain amount of money, but that isn’t a recommended option for a few of reasons. Before anything else, paying won’t ensure data decryption. We would be surprised if criminals didn’t just take your money and feel obligation to decrypt your data. Furthermore, that money would go into supporting their future activities, which will certainly involve more file encoding malware or some other type of malicious software. Data encoding malicious program already costs millions to businesses, do you really want to be supporting that. When victims pay, data encrypting malware gradually becomes more profitable, thus attracting more crooks who wish to earn easy money. Buying backup with the demanded money would be a much better choice because if you are ever put in this kind of situation again, you could just unlock LAO ransomware files from backup and not worry about their loss. You could simply proceed to eliminate LAO ransomware without issues. If you haven’t come across data encrypting malware before, it’s also possible you do not know how it managed to infect your computer, which is why you ought to cautiously read the below paragraph.
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Ransomware distribution methods

Commonly, file encrypting malicious software spreads through spam emails, exploit kits and malicious downloads. Seeing as these methods are still used, that means that users are pretty careless when they use email and download files. However, some ransomware do use more elaborate methods. Crooks don’t need to do much, just write a generic email that less careful people could fall for, attach the infected file to the email and send it to hundreds of users, who might believe the sender is someone trustworthy. You’ll often encounter topics about money in those emails, because people are more likely to fall for those types of topics. If hackers used the name of a company like Amazon, users lower down their defense and may open the attachment without thinking if cyber crooks simply say dubious activity was noticed in the account or a purchase was made and the receipt is added. There a couple of things you ought to take into account when opening files attached to emails if you want to keep your computer secure. See if the sender is known to you before opening the file added to the email, and if you don’t know them, check them carefully. You’ll still need to investigate the email address, even if you know the sender. Also, be on the look out for grammatical errors, which can be rather evident. Another typical characteristic is the lack of your name in the greeting, if a real company/sender were to email you, they would definitely know your name and use it instead of a general greeting, referring to you as Customer or Member. Weak spots on your system Vulnerable software might also be used as a pathway to you device. All programs have vulnerabilities but usually, software authors patch them when they’re discovered so that malware cannot take advantage of it to enter. As WannaCry has proven, however, not everyone is that quick to install those updates for their programs. It is recommended that you install an update whenever it becomes available. Updates could install automatically, if you find those notifications bothersome.

What does LAO ransomware do

Your data will be encrypted by ransomware as soon as it infects your computer. If you did not realize the encryption process, you will definitely know when you cannot open your files. Files that have been encrypted will have a weird file extension, which usually helps people identify which ransomware they’re dealing with. If a powerful encryption algorithm was used, it might make data restoring very difficult, if not impossible. In a note, criminals will explain that they have encrypted your files, and offer you a method to decrypt them. According to the criminals, the only way to recover your data would be through their decryptor, which will clearly not come for free. If the amount you have to pay isn’t displayed in the note, you’ll be asked to email them to set the price, so what you pay depends on how much you value your files. As you have probably guessed, we do not encourage complying with the requests. Try out every other likely option, before you even think about buying what they offer. It is possible you have just forgotten that you’ve backed up your files. Or maybe a free decryptor has been developed. Security specialists can sometimes develop decryptors for free, if they are capable of decrypting the ransomware. Keep this in mind before you even think about paying the ransom. If you use some of that sum on backup, you wouldn’t face likely file loss again because you may always access copies of those files. In case you had made backup before the contamination took place, you can unlock LAO ransomware files after you erase LAO ransomware fully. Now that you realize how much damage this kind of infection may cause, try to avoid it as much as possible. You primarily have to always update your software, only download from safe/legitimate sources and stop randomly opening email attachments.

LAO ransomware removal

If the ransomware remains on your system, we recommend downloading a malware removal software to get rid of it. To manually fix LAO ransomware virus is not an easy process and if you’re not careful, you could end up bringing about more harm. Instead, using a malware removal program wouldn’t put your device in danger. These types of programs exist for the purpose of protecting your device from damage this kind of threat could do and, depending on the utility, even preventing them from infecting in the first place. Choose a trustworthy program, and once it’s installed, scan your computer to find the infection. Bear in mind that, a malware removal software unlock LAO ransomware files. After you eliminate the data encrypting malicious software, ensure you routinely make backup for all your files.
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Learn how to remove LAO ransomware from your computer

• Step 1. Remove LAO ransomware using Safe Mode with Networking.
• Step 2. Remove LAO ransomware using System Restore
• Step 3. Recover your data

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

• a) Step 1. Access Safe Mode with Networking.
• b) Step 2. Remove LAO ransomware.

a) Step 1. Access Safe Mode with Networking.

For Windows 7/Vista/XP

1. Start → Shutdown → Restart → OK.
2. Press and keep pressing F8 until Advanced Boot Options appears.
3. Choose Safe Mode with Networking

For Windows 8/10 users

1. Press the power button that appears at the Windows login screen. Press and hold Shift. Click Restart.
2. Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart.
3. Choose Enable Safe Mode with Networking.

b) Step 2. Remove LAO 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 LAO ransomware using System Restore

• a) Step 1. Access Safe Mode with Command Prompt.
• b) Step 2. Restore files and settings.

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

For Windows 7/Vista/XP

1. Start → Shutdown → Restart → OK.
2. Press and keep pressing F8 until Advanced Boot Options appears.
3. Select Safe Mode with Command Prompt.

For Windows 8/10 users

1. Press the power button that appears at the Windows login screen. Press and hold Shift. Click Restart.
2. Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart.
3. Choose Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt.

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.
3. A window will pop-up and you should press Next. Choose a restore point and press Next again.
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

• a) Using Data Recovery Pro to recover encrypted files.
• b) Restore files through Windows Previous Versions
• c) Using Shadow Explorer to recover files

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.
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.
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.
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.