Marlboro Ransomware - How to remove

Marlboro Ransomware is yet another ransomware infection that can lock files on infected computers. It is dangerous threat to cyber security and you should take care of this situation.

If this ransomware is operating on your system, first thing you need to do is to remove the virus itself. It can be done easily with a little bit of help from reliable anti-malware application, such as SpyHunter Simply download one of these applications, install it and then run a full scan of all files stored on your hard drive. Either one of these apps should detect and eliminate Marlboro Ransomware automatically. 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, in case you don’t want to download any additional anti-malware software, you can perform this removal manually too – scroll down below this article and take a look at our step-by-step Marlboro Ransomware manual removal guide. We have developed it to assist you through this complicated process of virus removal. Try to complete all steps correctly and you will be able to eliminate Marlboro Ransomware manually by your own.

To learn more about specific features of Marlboro Ransomware please continue reading this 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 Marlboro Ransomware

This ransomware is similar to other ransomware infections, yet a little bit different. Once inside of your system, Marlboro Ransomware will run a scan of all files stored on your hard drive. It detects files that can be encrypted and encrypts them. Basically any personal file is vulnerable – Marlboro Ransomware can encrypt .docx, .gif, .xlsm, .zip, .tif, .dif, .ibd, .java, .bmp, .mdb, .txt, .mp3, .ms11, .bak, .bat, .class, .paq, .asc, .stw, .pdf, .pem, .jpeg and other most popular file types.

After the encryption is done, all encrypted files will have .oops extension. From now on, you can not open them – they are locked. You should notice a file called _HELP_Recover_Files_.html on your desktop. It’s detailed instructions how to pay the ransom and retrieve locked files. Hackers are asking you to pay 0.2 BTC (around 170 dollars at a current rate) in order to receive decrypter and retrieve your files. Don’t do that – paying the ransom is supporting cyber criminals and that’s not something you would want to do. Moreover, there are no guarantees that your files will be unlocked even after the payment – you can never trust them. Finally, cyber security experts developed a valid decrypter for this ransomware and it can be downloaded for free from here: https://decrypter.emsisoft.com/marlboro.

Usually ransomware infections drop a lot of various files on computer that can be malicious or lead to other infections. In this case, Marlboro Ransomware is not one of them, so you should not worry about additional infections that much. However, it’s still recommended to scan your computer with anti-malware software after you remove Marlboro Ransomware from your system because if it managed to sneak into your system, there is a chance that other viruses will be able to do the same.

Distribution Methods of Marlboro Ransomware and How to Avoid It

As most of other malware nowadays, Marlboro Ransomware is traveling via spam emails. Once you receive spam email with a word document attached to it and open the attachment, Marlboro Ransomware will enter the computer and start encrypting files. So the easiest and best solution to this problem – do not open emails that dropped into the spam category.

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

 

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

Step 3. Restore Marlboro 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 Marlboro 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 Marlboro 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.