RensenWare virus - How to remove

There is nothing ordinary about RensenWare crypto-virus. The creator of this sample chose a unique strategy: instead of demanding a ransom, infection obliges victims to pursue a different goal. Victims are expected to play a video game, called TH12 – Undefined Fantastic Object. However, it won’t be enough to merely play the game, the players have to master it and reach a score of 0.2 billion or over in the LUNATIC level. Right, so the creator anticipates that people will play non-stop, until the moment they reach the aimed number? What’s the point of doing this? Truth be told, RensenWare crypto-virus probably was not designed for the wider distribution. Ironically, the hacker himself got infected with his/her infection and was forced to create a RensenWare_forcer which will decrypt files even though the required score has not been reached.

Peculiarities of RensenWare virus

RensemWare.exe file is referred to as the payload of this infection, but you can already tell that this ransomware is not a vicious infection that would demand steep fees and block access to devices. As it appears, the hacker simply wanted to endorse the game he or she adored but as it turns out, the objective that was set out for the victims was too hard for the author. Accidentally, the creator of RensenWare got infected and this person turned out to be incapable of completing the task. Therefore, a forcer application was developed, with apologies from the hacker.

Once the earlier mentioned executable would start running in devices, it searchers for files to encrypt and it appears to be targeting from a short list of file-types. As soon as they are affected by AES-256 cipher for information encoding, the damage will be irreversible unless TH12 – Undefined Fantastic Object game is mastered. It appears that if victims will close the main process of RensenWare virus, then the private decryption key won’t be saved. However, if victims successfully reach the set score, they will decryption tool will automatically begin decrypting files. However, if some files remain locked, the author provides a specific tool to restore executables in a manual way.

The rensemWare_forcer.exe pas published in GitHub. If you are infected and cannot restore files that have been marked with .RENSEMWARE extension, you can download the forcer from this link. RensenWare virus is a much simpler infection to treat if users get infected. Many should prefer playing video games instead of wasting money on bitcoins.

Recommendations to prevent ransomware infections

Ransomware is probably the nastiest infection users can encounter. It encrypts files completely out of the blue and starts making demands that people wouldn’t have imagined in their dizziest daydreams. There is a method to become completely untouchable by ransomware. Of course, these viruses will encrypt files, but it won’t be an issue if you will have your data in multiple locations. Store valuable information in backup storages to avoid inconveniences that would derive if you were to only keep files in a hard drive. By having it in another location, you are ensuring to have a source to retrieve them from.

RensenWare virus: how is it spread?

RensenWare crypto-virus should be delivered thanks to the most notable techniques that are set to spread malware. One of them: malicious email letters. We are going on and on and warning our visitors that they should not not open email letters that are sent from unknown sources. If your email accounts from spam, you will be much more likely to remain ransomware-free. In addition to this, always be careful when downloading programs from file-sharing domains. Millions of peoples were tricked into downloading malicious programs instead of the legitimate ones they were promised.

Spyhunter, Plumbytes and Hitman can efficiently remove malware and users won’t have to stress out. Additionally, read the tips we have provided below to discover what options you have for file-recovery. Suprisingly, RensenWare virus does not delete Shadow Volume Copies. Check out the part where we explain how these copies can be restored.

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

 

Step 2. Complete removal of RensenWare 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 RensemWare ransomware. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore RensenWare 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 RensemWare 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 RensenWare 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.