BrickR Ransomware Virus - How to remove

BrickR Ransomware is a really dangerous malware infection that can cause you a lot of trouble. It is targeted to infect computers, encrypt files stored on a hard drive and then ask for a ransom in order to unlock it. So actually there are two problems – you have to remove the virus itself and retrieve your files. First things first, let’s talk about removing this ransomware virus. There are two most common methods to do that – it can be performed either manually or automatically, so it’s up to you which one to choose. Since it’s much easier to do it automatically, we recommend to go for this removal method. All you have to do is to download reliable anti-malware application, such as SpyHunter Scan your computer with either one of them and it should be able to eliminate this ransomware for you. It will also protect your computer from similar infections in the future, so it’s worth to keep it installed. You can use other anti-malware software of your choice as well.

However, if for some reasons you do not want to download any additional anti-malware software, you can eliminate BrickR Ransomware manually. This process might look complicated to you and that’s why we have developed a step-by-step BrickR Ransomware manual removal guide – scroll down below this article and take a look at it. Try to complete all steps correctly and you should be able to eliminate this virus manually by your own.

To learn more about specific features of this ransomware, please continue reading the article. If you have some questions regarding this topic, feel free to ask them in the comments section below and we will do our best to answer them all.

About BrickR Ransomware virus

This ransomware works the same way as most of other ransomware – it aims to lock your files and then ask for a ransom to unlock them. So if it happens so that your computer is infected with this virus, the very first thing it is going to do is to run a full scan of files stored on your hard drive. It will detect files that can be encrypted and basically that’s any files that you use on a daily basis, such as photos, videos, text files and other documents. Now, when the scan is over, BrickR infection will lock most of your personal files by adding .brickr extension to every one of them. From now on, you will be unable to open or use them in any other way.

After the encryption process is over, you will notice a .txt file on your desktop named “READ_DECRYPT_FILES.txt”. It’s so-called ransom note – instructions how to pay the ransom and unlock your files. It contains this information:

Personal files have been encrypted
Read this text carefully
All your personal files (documents, photos, videos, archives and other files) were locked and are not usable at the moment. To verify this fact, try to open some of your files and use them.
To get your files back, you need to buy a secret key. We are the only people who have the secret key. Nobody but us can restore your files. Not even antiviruses or IT experts. To verify this fact, we can decrypt 1 of your files for free. Send us the file to email shown below (Contact Email:) and we will send it unlocked back to you for free.

<How do I buy the key and get my files back?>

To buy the decryption key and get your files back:

As you can see, you are asked to pay 55 USD. However, we do not recommend to do that. First of all, there are no guarantees that your files will be unlocked even if you do pay the ransom and secondly, this way you would be supporting cyber criminals and that’s not a good thing to do.

Unfortunately, there are no ways to decrypt files with .brickr extension at the moment, but as soon as a special decryptor is developed we will update this post. Now the only way to unlock your files is to restore your system to a date that is previous of the infection date. Here’s our tutorial how to do that: https://www.2-viruses.com/how-to-do-a-system-restore

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

 

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

Step 3. Restore BrickR Ransomware 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 BrickR 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 BrickR Ransomware 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.

Manual removal