Meka File Virus - How to remove

Your files being renamed to have “.meka” at the ends of their names is, unfortunately, a symptom of a Meka infection. This is ransomware, a type of virus that locks files by encrypting them and then asks money to be sent to its creator who will unlock the files. This extortion scheme is used to rob people of their money and is a persistent problem for Windows users, with Meka being only the latest ransomware example.

Meka is more than just a file locker

Losing your files isn’t the only threatening thing that Meka does: this virus might also install another infection, a spyware trojan. It can steal small files and data saved in the browser, such as passwords. The developer responsible for the Meka virus is trying to find more ways to profit from this infection, for example, the trojan might be used to steal your money from a crypto-wallet.

The renamed files might look like this:

picture.jpg.meka

Besides the files being renamed, Meka’s symptoms include a _readme.txt file being placed in various folders. This file holds the ransom note by its creator to the victims of the virus. This note asks you to pay $490 and promises to fix the files. Contacting criminals is a bad idea because then they might get your personal information and manipulate you, but that decision is ultimately up for each victim.

Meka’s features and solutions in short:

How the infection starts	A fake Windows Update pop-up displayed Cybersecurity sites blocked The installed antivirus program is broken Multiple unique encryption keys used to lock files
Meka’s distribution	Free software and file download sites Activators, key generators, cracks
Clean your computer from infections	Unblock security websites Download an antivirus scanner (like SpyHunter) and remove the infections
Restore Meka files	Recover the lock files from a backup Decrypt the files with the free decrypter Use shadow volume copies Use data recovery software

The _readme.txt ransom note starts with this text:

ATTENTION!

Don’t worry, you can return all your files!
All your files like photos, databases, documents and other important are encrypted with strongest encryption and unique key.
The only method of recovering files is to purchase decrypt tool and unique key for you.
…

The note also mentions the email addresses for talking to the developer of the ransomware: [email protected] and [email protected].

How to avoid Meka infection

Ways for ransomware to be distributed include:

• Pirated files and software.
• Drive-by downloads.
• Malicious emails with infected links ad attachments.
• Remote Desktop Access.

The first option is what’s used by Meka’s developer. For example, cracked Office and Adobe software seems to be one common way for Djvu ransomware to infect victims. Files and programs that are uploaded online for free might be infected with Meka or another file virus, as well as various activators and cracks. Pirate sites are the Wild West of the software sharing world: with no authority to be accountable to, malicious actors can use them to spread malware. Meka’s developer has used these sites to distribute this ransomware and reach an impressive number of victims.

This might have been avoided if each downloaded file was scanned using a virus scanner, such as SpyHunter. Infected files aren’t always detected in time, but an up-to-date security program should be able to warn you if the file is suspicious.

Antivirus programs are never able to protect you 100%, though, so other precautions need to be taken, too. For example, ransomware can be completely defeated by you simply having all your files saved on a backup drive or in cloud storage. There are various file backup solutions that work well. No matter how good Meka is at securely locking your files, if it can’t get to your backup files (like if the backup drive is disconnected from the computer), its impact is limited to wasting some of your time.

How to recover Meka files

The creator of Meka is undoubtedly experienced – they’ve been releasing ransomware for many months. Djvu is the name of the family of file lockers that Meka belongs to together with Nakw, Coot, and others. And though some older members of this family are almost completely defeated by the decrypters released by Emsisoft, Meka is new and, unfortunately, improved.

The way that Djvu ransomware locks your files requires the virus to communicate with the developer’s server and receive some information. If Meka is forced to run without access to that server, there is a chance that some of your files are decryptable. Ransomware researchers might analyze Meka and update the free decrypter based on that, however, it won’t work for most files.

Some people think that only the decrypter from the developer of the ransomware is needed to unlock the files, but unfortunately, this is not true. Meka is a cryptovirus – it uses cryptography to lock the files and a unique key is used for each instance. Each victim might have multiple encryption keys. Using the wrong key to try to decrypt the files can corrupt those files even further.

Many ransomware victims lose their files and never get them back. Even those who contact the criminals and pay the ransom might end up losing some of their files. But whether or not you do try to write to Meka’s creators, remove the infection first, or else it will continue to cause problems. Move the encrypted files to somewhere safe where they won’t be deleted from or edited if you still hope to decrypt them. Then, check out the below guide on how to remove the virus and, possibly, get some of the locked files back.

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 Meka File 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 Meka File Virus has infiltrated to your system and then click “Next”.
• To start System restore click “Yes”.

 

Step 2. Complete removal of Meka File 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 Meka File Virus. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore Meka File 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 Meka File 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 Meka File 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.