.good extension virus - How to remove

.good extension virus is a ransomware infection and it is not good at all. It can get into your system, encrypt all personal files that are stored there and then ask for a ransom to be paid in order to provide you with decryptor.

They encrypt data using strong encryption algorithm and as a result, you won’t be able to open. That can be really frustrating because your access to all personal files will be blocked and the use of your system really limited. That’s what forces a lot of the users to pay the ransom – they feel like it’s the only way to solve this problem and retrieve locked files. However, that is not true – there are alternative methods that can help you to remove .good extension virus and restore your files without actually paying a dime.

This post is dedicated to helping you effectively deal with .good extension virus and restoring your personal files that have been lost due to it. We will provide you with detailed instructions on how to remove this ransomware, so keep reading.

.good Extension Virus – Hidden Tear Project

Hidden Tear is a well-known open-source ransomware project. It’s the first ransomware trojan project of this kind that targets computers with Windows operating system. The first ransomware based on this project appeared back in August of 2015 and those infections just keep coming. Some of the notorious viruses based on Hidden Tear – File-Locker, WannaDie, Jhash, and ABCLocker.

The same as all mentioned ransomware viruses, .good extension virus employs symmetric AES encryption algorithm to lock personal files that are stored on your hard drive. A unique ’decryption is then generated and automatically sent to the remote server that is controlled by cyber criminals. So basically, you won’t be purchasing some kind of software that can decrypt files – in exchange of a ransom you will receive just that decryption key that technically should reverse the encryption process and unlock your files.

At least that’s how this thing is supposed to work, but there are no guarantees that cyber criminals will provide you with that key after you pay the ransom. That’s why we highly recommend not to do that.

They disclose all information in the file “HOW_TO_RECOVER_FILES.txt” which will be placed on your desktop after successful encryption. However, the amount of the ransom is not disclosed.

Your personal identifier: –
Your important files are now encrypted due to a security problem with your PC!
Now you should send us email with your personal identifier.
This email will be as confirmation you are ready to pay for decryption key.
You have to pay for decryption in Bitcoins. The price depends on how fast you write to us.
After payment we will send you the decryption tool that will decrypt all your files.
Contact us using this email address: [email protected]
Free decryption as guarantee!
Before paying you can send us up to 3 files for free decryption.
The total size of files must be less than 10Mb (non archived), and files should not contain valuable information (databases, backups, large excel sheets, etc.).
How to obtain Bitcoins?
* The easiest way to buy bitcoins is LocalBitcoins site. You have to register, click’Buy bitcoins’, and select the seller by payment method and price:
hxxps://localbitcoins.com/buy_bitcoins
* Also you can find other places to buy Bitcoins and beginners guide here:
hxxp://www.coindesk.com/information/how-can-i-buy-bitcoins
Attention!
* Do not rename encrypted files.
* Do not try to decrypt your data using third party software, it may cause permanent data loss.
* Decryption of your files with the help of third parties may cause increased price
(they add their fee to our) or you can become a victim of a scam.

All encrypted files will be renamed with .good extension added at the end. So if you had a file named “file.txt”, now it will be named as “file.txt.good” and you won’t be able to open it anymore. Now it is clear why this ransomware infection is named like this.

How .good Ransomware Infected Your Computer

In case you are wondering how this extremely dangerous virus was able to get into your system, there are a couple of possible scenarios. Most likely it came as an attachment to the spammy email. It is enough to open such attachment to get your computer infected – malicious files then are automatically downloaded and extracted on the computer. At this point, it’s extremely difficult to stop the virus from encrypting your personal files.

That leads to the conclusion, that you should not allow an infection like this one to get into your system in a first place. To do that, you should protect it with a decent anti-malware program that features real-time protection. Such application will monitor your online traffic and stop any attempts to infiltrate malicious files into your computer. There are plenty of free programs that can do that, but we especially recommend to try Plumbytes or IObit Malware Fighter. Actually, we even have a dedicated guide on how to protect your computer using Plumbytes.

Removal of .good Extension Virus

There are two things that need to be done in order to solve this problem. First of all, you need to completely remove .good extension ransomware virus from your computer and then you will have to decrypt or restore your files.

Removing .good extension virus is not that difficult – download and scan your computer with Spyhunter and it will automatically detect and remove all malicious files associated with this infection. This needs to be done because if you do not remove the infection itself before restoring your files, the virus can encrypt them once again.

Now, when the virus is removed, you need to get your encrypted files back. Unfortunately, there is no free decryption tool available at the moment, so you will have to perform a system restore to recover your files. If this doesn’t help, try to use alternative file recovery tool – there are various free options available online. Also, you can ask us for assistance in the comments section below.

Automatic Malware removal tools

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

 

Step 2. Complete removal of .good extension 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 .good extension virus. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore .good extension 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 .good extension virus 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 .good extension 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.