Agho Ransomware - How to remove

Agho is ransomware and it is very dangerous – it can corrupt your data, as well as install data stealers and other malware. It needs to be deleted before your computer can be used normally again.

If Agho infected your device, it must have broken your files and changed their names to end with the extension “agho”.

Agho ransomware in short:

Threat type	Ransomware, trojan.
How Agho ransomware works	Downloaded from the internet, from pirating websites, changes PC settings, installs additional malware, encrypts files.
How to get your files back	Use the free decryptor, recover deleted files, repair the files.
How to remove Agho	Restore system settings, delete malicious files and programs with antivirus tools (Spyhunter, others), reset your passwords.

How Agho ransomware works

It uses encryption

It locks the files

Agho is file-encrypting ransomware. It locks your files, then it asks for money in exchange for fixing them.

When Agho is on your computer, it scans the data on your drives and uses cryptography to lock most of the files it finds. It sometimes only encrypts a portion of a file, but it’s enough to break the file anyway.

To mark the locked files to easily see which ones are encrypted, Agho changes their names by adding a new file extension, “.agho”. So, a file that was named “photos.zip” becomes “photos.zip.agho”.

It requires a unique decryption key

What Agho is doing is similar to password protecting files, which is a legitimate feature in Windows (Support.microsoft.com). The problem is, Agho does not give you the password to decrypt the files.

Even worse, there’s no real way to get around needing the password:

• Agho deletes backups, so if you had shadow volume copies or a backup saved on your computer, that can’t be used.
• The encryption method used by Agho is secure enough that it’s impossible to guess or compute the decryption key (password).
• The decryption key is unique to each victim (with a few exceptions), so you can’t use the password that someone else has.

It asks for money

The people behind Agho ask for up to $980 for a password, but even then, they don’t always provide it. Sometimes, they ask for more money. Other times they ignore the victim after receiving their payment.

There are people and companies who claim to be able to recover the locked files. Some of them are plain scammers who only rename the files but don’t fix them. Others pay the ransom to the criminals.

This is the same way that all Djvu ransomware infections work: Vpsh, Jdyi, Iiss, others.

It installs other malware

Likely, Agho ransomware comes embedded in pirated software, such as OInstall.exe. It’s not uncommon for such programs to bring a variety of malware.

It may install an adware virus on your device, which causes pop-up ads and redirects in your browser. It may also install an info stealer to steal your login credentials, crypto wallet data, clipboard contents (anything you copy), etc.

It may also break your Task Manager to make it harder to get rid of all this malware.

One way of dealing with Agho and other malware is to just turn off your computer and keep it off. Or at least disconnect it from the internet. That way, the malware can’t do too much harm.

How to remove Agho ransomware

How to restore the files

If you had backups of your files saved on a device separate from your computer, then you don’t need to worry about this. But if you did not have backups, here are a few ways you may be able to restore your data without having to deal with the criminals:

• Use data recovery software (described more at the bottom). Some programs restore data that’s been deleted – you may be able to get some of your files back.
• Scan your files with the free decryptor by Emsisoft (Emsisoft.com).
• Repair the files manually or with a tool (Youtube.com). This is only possible for relatively big files, such as media files.

If you plan on messing with the encrypted files, remember to always have a backup.

How to delete the malware

Use an antivirus program to find and delete all malware, but first, fix the hosts file to unblock websites.

In addition, once you’ve removed all the malicious software, reset the passwords that may have been stolen. If a malicious program stole your passwords, make sure no one can use them to hack your online accounts.

Important -- edit the hosts file to unblock security websites

TL DR : The hosts file is edited to block security sites Before the virus can be removed, it's necessary to fix the hosts file (the file which controls which addresses connect to which IPs). That is the reason the majority of security websites is inaccessible when infected with this particular parasite. This infection edits this file to stop certain websites, including anti-malware download sites, from being accessed from the infected computer, making browsers return the "This site can't be reached" error. Luckily, it's trivial to fix the file and remove the edits that were made to it.

Find and edit the hosts file

The hosts file can be found on C:/Windows/System32/Drivers/etc/hosts. If you don't see it, change the settings to see hidden files.

1. In the Start Menu, search for Control Panel.
2. In the Control Panel, find Appearance and Personalization.
3. Select Folder Options.
4. Open the View tab.
5. Open Advanced settings.
6. Select "Show hidden files...".
7. Select OK.

Open this file with administrator privileges.

1. Open the Start Menu and enter "notepad".
2. When Notepad shows up in the result, right-click on it.
3. In the menu, choose "Run as administrator"
4. File->Open and browse for the hosts file.

The hosts file should look like this: Delete additional lines that they connect various domain names to the wrong IP address. Save the file.

Download and run the antivirus program

After that, download antivirus programs and use them to remove the ransomware, the trojan, and other malware. Spyhunter (https://www.2-viruses.com/reviews/spyhunter/dwnld/).

Automatic Malware removal tools

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

 

Step 2. Complete removal of Agho 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 Agho Ransomware. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore Agho 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 Agho 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 Agho 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.