.Cool
.Cool is a form of malware responsible for the encryption of important user data. The .Cool encryption applied to the targeted files makes them inaccessible and the user is asked to send a ransom payment to the hackers in order to unlock the files.
The computer threats know as Ransomware are probably the most difficult form of malware to deal with. The lockdown under which they put your data is nearly impenetrable and if the locked-up files are important to your work, education, or if they simply hold high personal value to you, you’d be forced to pay a big amount of money to the hackers behind the virus in order to get your files back.
Money extortion is the primary goal of hackers who use Ransomware to attack their victims’ computers. By locking their victims’ most important files, they gain leverage that can be used for blackmailing. Of course, if you don’t really have any highly-important or valuable data in your computer, the problem isn’t that big. All you’d need to do in such an instance is remove the malware. Removing a Ransomware is, in fact, quite manageable in most cases. The problem comes from the fact that the files would stay locked even after the virus gets eliminated. So, if you are one of those unlucky users who have had their system attacked by .Cool, Rugj and some highly important data has gotten locked by the virus, you need to find the best way to counteract this.
The .Cool virus
The .Cool virus is a malware program that will attack your most important files and lock them with its encryption. The purpose of the file lockdown caused by the .Cool virus is to allow the hackers behind it to blackmail you for a ransom payment.
An option that many users may consider is to pay the money. The problem here is that the files may still remain in their inaccessible state even after you send your money to the blackmailing criminals. After all, you simply cannot trust those people – any promise they’ve made you about the future of your files and about their restoration could simply be a lie. Those people only want to get your money and it doesn’t matter to them what happens to your data afterwards.
The .Cool file encryption
The .Cool file encryption is a process that .Cool secretly launches in your computer in order to lock-up your data. The .Cool file encryption lacks visible symptoms and would normally not get noticed until it has locked all data targeted by the virus.
The other possible thing you could do to try to fix things and maybe restore some of the ransomware-encrypted files is to remove the virus and then opt for some of the alternatives suggested in the data-recovery portion of our guide. Follow the removal steps from below to make sure the virus gets removed and then move on to the next section that will give you some ideas on how you may get some of your files restored. We can’t promise anything, but it’s still worth to try the guide instead of directly sending your money.
SUMMARY:
OFFER.Cool Ransomware Removal
Ransomware-based malware like .Cool is notoriously difficult to remove. In order to make things as simple as possible, in this first step, you should save this page as a bookmark in your browser so you can have immediate access to it.
Next, restart your computer in Safe Mode (follow this link with instructions if you need assistance). It will be simpler to notice ransomware-related background activities when your computer is in Safe Mode and just the bare minimum of apps are running.
WARNING! READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING!
*Read more details in the first ad on this page, EULA, Privacy Policy, and full terms for Free Remover.
The only way to fully get rid of .Cool’s malicious activity is by stopping everything that’s connected to it.
Open the Processes tab in the Task Manager (CTRL+SHIFT+ESC) for a comprehensive look at the present condition of the system.
The first thing you should do is search for processes that are associated with the ransomware. If you find a potentially harmful process, right-click on it to open a menu with the option Open File Location.
If you have any reason to believe the files of that process are malicious, you should have a virus scanner check them out.
If the files come as malicious after the scan, you may end the process by right-clicking on it and selecting End Process from the list of options that pops up. After that, delete all of the dangerous files associated with it and their folders.
Keep in mind that the ransomware may run more than one malicious process. So, pay attention and check the files of any program that raise a red flag for you.
If your computer has been infected with a dangerous software such as the .Cool ransomware, you should definitely look for signs of a hack. Copying and pasting the following into the Windows search bar should work:
notepad %windir%/system32/Drivers/etc/hosts
As soon as you’ve pressed Enter, a Notepad file named Hosts will open. Go to Localhost in the text and look for suspicious IP addresses:
If nothing unusual catches your attention, you may safely close the file.
If you detect any malicious IP addresses, such as the ones shown above, report them to us in the comments below this article. Then, please bear with us while we look at them and get back to you as soon as possible.
Many harmful programs may operate invisibly by altering the system’s startup options or the options in other important system settings. As a result, it’s critical that you search your System Configuration and open the Startup tab to check what is going on there.
Type msconfig in the Windows search field and hit enter to open System Configuration.
Next, click on the Startup tab and check if there are startup items that are not legitimate.
There are several ways to detect apps that don’t seem to belong in any of the default startup programs. For instance, an item with an “Unknown” Manufacturer should catch your attention. The same is valid for items with random names.
If you find anything unusual, carefully disable it (remove its checkmark), after that click the OK button at the bottom of the screen to save your changes.
To remove parasite on your own, you may have to meddle with system files and registries. If you were to do this, you need to be extremely careful, because you may damage your system. If you want to avoid the risk, we recommend downloading SpyHunter More information on SpyHunter, steps to uninstall, EULA, Threat Assessment Criteria, and Privacy Policy.
a professional malware removal tool.
The majority of malware infestations might add potentially harmful registry entries to the system. Therefore, in order to remove .Cool, you need to open the Registry Editor (type Regedit in Windows search bar and press Enter) and search it to see if there are any ransomware-related files or folders that need to be deleted.
You can save time by entering the malware’s name into a Find box (press CTRL+F on the keyboard) and start a search by clicking on the Find Next button. Then remove any ransomware-related entries that have been found.
However, if you’re not familiar with registry files, you should proceed with caution when deleting any discovered entries. If you delete them without actually knowing what are you doing, you risk removing genuine data from other apps that aren’t linked to the infection, and this might damage your system.
In order to get the best results, we recommend that you use a ransomware removal tool like the one linked in this post and do a thorough system scan with it. As a result, the registry will be clear of harmful files you’re unaware of, and you’ll be protected against unintended system damage caused by deleting valid files by accident.
If you can’t find anything related to the ransomware’s name with the Find function, then you may need to manually go to each of the following five locations:
- %AppData%
- %LocalAppData%
- %ProgramData%
- %WinDir%
- %Temp%
Simply copy each of them in the Windows search field and press Enter to open it. Then, search for any recently added files and folders that look suspicious.
Finally, open the Temp (Temporary Files) folder and select everything that is inside. You should remove these temporary files if you want to get rid of all traces of .Cool from your computer
How to Decrypt .Cool files
Once you have completed all the steps in this guide and you are sure that .Cool has been removed, you may move to our free file-recovery instructions to try to recover encrypted data.
If you’re unable to remove .Cool manually, we suggest that you use the anti-virus software we’ve linked in the guide. Any suspicious-looking files should be scanned for viruses by using the free online virus scanner.
.Cool is a stealthy and highly-problematic piece of malware that can apply military-grade encryption to your files and thus make them unavailable to you. The goal of .Cool isn’t to damage the files, but to force you to pay a ransom to decrypt them.
Malware programs like this one are very common and if you have been attacked by one such as .Cool, and it has already completed its task of locking up your data, you’ve likely found out that you are no longer able to open any of the encrypted files. The good news is that if you have backups of those files or if the locked files are not very valuable, there’s usually no other danger that could come from a Ransomware virus. However, if the malicious program has managed to encrypt any files that are valuable to you and there are no backups of those files, then you might be in trouble.
The Ransomware hackers obviously give their victims the option to pay a certain amount of money and get a decryption key for the locked-up files, but this begs the question of whether it’s a good idea to trust such people to keep tier promise.
.Cool is a virus that is used for blackmailing and money extortion – it first locks the user’s files via encryption and then demands a ransom payment to unlock them. For this reason, the .Cool virus falls in the infamous Ransomware cryptovirus category of malware.
If you have been attacked by this malicious program, and it has indeed managed to target and encrypt any highly-valuable files, you must not allow panic to set it and cloud your rational judgment. First and foremost, think about whether there are any other devices or any cloud storage where you may be able to find safe and accessible copies of the files that the virus has encrypted. Also, see what alternatives to the ransom payment may be available to you at the moment, and maybe give them a try. Furthermore, even if nothing else works and paying the ransom seems like the only option, you should think about whether the locked files, as important as they may be, are worth the ransom sum. Here it’s also the palace to consider the possibility of never actually getting a decryption key from the hackers even if you pay them the ransom.
To decrypt .Cool files, the recommended course of action is to first exhaust all alternative methods of file recovery before you try with the ransom payment. Note that paying the demanded sum to decrypt .Cool files doesn’t guarantee that you’d actually get those files back.
Oftentimes, Ransomware hackers simply refuse to keep their promise of providing their victims with the needed decryption key. In other cases, the key received by them may have errors in its code that would make it utterly useless for decrypting anything. Additionally, if you’ve been attacked by an older Ransomware version, the payment details specified in the ransom note may be outdated and so it’s possible that you may end up sending the ransom sum to a virtual wallet that is no longer benign used by the blackmailers. In none of those instances could there be any hope of getting your money back, which is why it’s important to be aware of those risks before you take your chances with the ransom payment, and it’s also the reason we recommend the use of alternative methods.
Wow! Your video is a life saver. Thank u