Ransomware Gero - How to remove

Gero (or .gero) is a typical ransomware virus: it locks your files and makes them unusable, plus it creates a file in which the developers of this virus ask you to pay them money, promising to fix your data in exchange for a few hundred dollars.

On top of locking your files, Gero installs a spyware trojan and deletes essential files of your antivirus program, and even blocks some websites from loading. It’s a very destructive and potentially dangerous virus that needs to be removed s soon as possible — which can be done with the help of some professional antivirus application.

However, that’s only part of the solution. Restoring the files that Gero broke is another bit. It depends on your preparation — you could fix all of your files, or some, or none at all. That’s not reassuring, but it’s the truth — there is a possibility that some of your files are completely lost to Gero ransomware.

Update: victims whose personal ID given by this virus ends in “t1” can use this decrypter developed by cybersecurity researchers.

How to remove Gero ransomware

The surest way to eliminate Gero, the password stealer, and whatever program possibly infected you in the first place is by performing a scan with an antivirus program, such as Spyhunter, or another application that you trust. Do this before you resume using your computer normally. Know that the locked files are not dangerous and don’t need to be removed.

Perform security updates, scan your system files to make sure they’re not corrupted, and don’t download anything risky for now so that you don’t accidentally reinfect your computer. Ransomware uses various methods to distribute, including:

• Pretending to be an attractive program (like a Fortnite cheat engine, or a “free” (pirated) version of Microsoft Office). Gero is most likely to have infected you this way.
• Disguised as a mundane file attached to an important-looking email or message, for example, a lie about an urgent invoice or bill.
• Downloaded by malicious ads online that exploit outdated browsers to get illegitimate access to your computer.
• Installed by the criminals manually by breaking into your computer using remote desktop, if you have it turned on and poorly secured.
• Downloaded by a trojan that had already infected your computer before this.

The way to avoid Gero and other ransomware in the future is by securing your device against all the possible ways that ransomware spreads — there is no shortage of malware online.

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 restore the files

Gero is not a completely new virus, even if it has only appeared a few days ago; it’s a part of the Djvu/STOP ransomware family. It’s very similar to Nasoh, Drume, Besub, and others. This family of ransomware has improved a lot over the months and, even though some of the earliest versions have been cracked, the newest ones are more secure.

Gero uses cryptography to lock your files: it edits the content of your files in a way that makes it appear random and meaningless — as if your files were replaced with random noise, which is why you can’t open them anymore, even if the “.gero” extension wasn’t attached. And the only ones who can undo this damage are the criminals responsible for Gero — the people asking you for those hundreds of dollars.

This is why the best way to get your files back is to restore them from a backup — some storage that had the copies of your documents, pictures, songs, etc. saved there before the Gero infection. File backups can be used to restore the data back to how it was, provided that the virus has been removed from the computer.

Try the guide below this article to recover your Gero-broken data from earlier copies or use data recovery.

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

 

Step 2. Complete removal of Ransomware Gero

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 Ransomware Gero. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore Ransomware Gero 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 Ransomware Gero 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 Ransomware Gero 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.