Stare Ransomware - How to remove

Stare is a cryptovirus and is a new version of the active Djvu (STOP) ransomware family. Stare’s developers make money by extorting the people whose computers they infect. This works because Stare targets what’s most precious to us — family photos, personal projects, schoolwork and job documents. When you think about your most important, months-long work just disappearing, it becomes very obvious how a file-encrypting virus is so dangerous.

Many cryptoviruses are currently active, such as Viagra, Help, and Stare’s sibling Nemty — in fact, ransomware is an active threat that infects numerous computers every day, holding for ransom people’s work and memories.

But Stare might be even more dangerous than that: its elder siblings are known to spread the AZORult password stealer. While this might not apply to all the victims of this cryptovirus, if you’re infected with this spyware, just remember to change your passwords after this is over, so that Stare doesn’t come back to haunt you in the form of hacked accounts and unauthorized online purchases.

Symptoms of a Stare infection

You will recognize Stare by the extension that it gives all the locked files. It takes the whole name of a file, including the old type, and adds the suffix “.stare”, so, “file.doc” will become “file.doc.stare”.

The virus also leaves ransom notes, called “_readme.txt”, lying around. In them, Stare’s developers declare that they’re willing to help you undo the damage that they did in exchange for $490, and they promise to decrypt a file for proof that they can actually do it (this is needed because many ransomware developers can’t decrypt the files they lock at all). They give their email addresses, [email protected] and [email protected].

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You might also be unable to load certain websites because Stare modified your settings to stop you from researching this infection, in which case, open your hosts file and remove the unneeded entries.

Remove Stare and restore the files

First of all, it’s not certain that the files can be recovered at all, even though there are a few methods that can be used. But first, Stare, AZORult, and any other threats should be removed — including the programs with which Stare may have arrived on your computer.

Recently, Djvu’s developers have been using cracks, activators, and unlocked commercial software to distribute their virus. If you try to download a key generator to activate your Windows, or maybe a Microsoft Office suite that’s free, then you risk accidentally infecting your computer with Stare. The infections don’t always happen this way — some people report being infected by a random browser that they downloaded, or by spam emails — but the vast majority report being infected thanks to pirating.

Remove the files that infected you as well as the virus — it can be difficult to find Stare manually, but you can employ the help of an automatic malware scanner, like Spyhunter. Safe mode might also be needed to remove the malware for sure like is described in the guide below this article.

Automatic Malware removal tools

As for restoring the files, nothing is for sure — except if you have good backups. If you have up-to-date backups that weren’t connected to the infected computer and remained untouched by the virus, then, once Stare is deleted, you can just restore your files.

If restoring from backups isn’t an option, then you should look into STOPDecrypter. It’s a program that is created by a cybersecurity researcher and a volunteer ransomware fighter to unlock Djvu-encrypted files if the decryption key is known. Of course, only the extortionists responsible for Stare know your specific keys, but if the stars aligned for you and Stare wasn’t able to connect to the criminals’ server and download the keys, then and only then can STOPDecrypter decrypt some of your files. Read more in this forum.

Finally, check out the below guide for file data recovery alternatives. Modern ransomware tries hard to make the files truly unrecoverable, such as deleting restore points, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

As for paying the criminals, that should be your last resort and only done if you’re willing to spend that money knowing that there’s a possibility that your files won’t be returned — criminals don’t always keep their promises, unsurprisingly. Don’t use the infected computer if you suspect the password stealer of still infecting it, and think about telling law enforcement about what happened so that the criminals might be caught.

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

 

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

Step 3. Restore Stare 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 Stare 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 Stare 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.