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Stop Right There!

If you value what's on your computer, heed this warning from Quora.

Question:

I don't know what happened to my laptop. My files are converted to a NUBH file. There is a warning notice in every folder, too. How do I fix this?

Answer:

You erase your hard drive, wipe all your files, reinstall Windows, and restore your files from your backups.

Don’t have backups? I’m very, very sorry. You may have just lost everything on that computer beyond all hope of recovery.

You are infected with ransomware. You most likely became infected in one of three ways:

* You received an email that tricked you into downloading a file attachment.

* You went to a Web site that tricked you into doing a phony “Adobe Flash update.” (Hint: Adobe Flash has been discontinued. If you ever see a web site telling you to update Flash, it is almost always a lie.)

* You were surfing the Web and you saw a sudden popup that said “WARNING! CRITICAL ERROR! You are infected with viruses! Click here to fix this problem.” These pop ups are always lies, trying to trick you into infecting yourself.

Now that you are infected, all your files have been encrypted. The people who rewrote the virus hope you will be desperate enough to send them money to get the keys to restore your files. If you do send them money, the odds are about 75% they will take your money and laugh at you, and about 25% they will take your money and give you a key or a password that might maybe restore your files.

Your best bet is wipe your system and restore your files from your backups. Don’t have backups? You’re screwed. Cry if you need to, scream if you need to, but consider your files gone. Buy a backup drive and back up your files in the future.

Also, the criminals who do this are extremely skilled at using psychological tricks to get you to infect yourself with this kind of virus.

Do not open file attachments in unexpected emails.

“But it says it’s from the IRS and I owe—”
No. That’s a lie. It’s a virus. The email is trying to trick you.

“But it says it’s a critical system update—”
No. That’s a lie. It’s a virus. The email is trying to trick you.

“But it says it’s an invoice I owe—”
No. That’s a lie. It’s a virus. The email is trying to trick you.

“But it says my credit card was used to buy a $1,200 smart TV that was sent—”
No. That’s a lie. It’s a virus. The email is trying to trick you.

“But it says I have money waiting at—”
No. That’s a lie. It’s a virus. The email is trying to trick you.

“But in order to see this movie I have to update Flash—”
No. That’s a lie. It’s a virus. The email is trying to trick you.

The main thing to remember is that if you feel alarm at reading such an email, you can bet it was intended to cause just that effect so that you'll drop your guard.

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