.Micro Virus

This page aims to help you remove .Micro File Virus. These .Micro File Virus removal instructions work for all versions of Windows.

Important information. Read before doing anything else.

The .Micro File Virus is a computer virus of the very dangerous Ransomware variety. It can also be encountered as “fichier .micro” as evidenced by our readers. This particular strain of ransomware has hit Italy pretty hard and chances are that our Italian readers are looking for a way to decriptare file .micro.

.Micro File is actually a successor of the TeslaCrypt 3.0 ransomware virus. The name of the virus is drawn from the text file it uses to deliver the ransomware note – a file that actually ends with the .micro extension. It is easily recognizable – your files can’t be opened or accessed in any other way, they have a strange file extension and you have a note on your desktop explaining the details of your dire situation.

We believe it is important to fully understand exactly what you will be facing, how it operates and how you were infected in the first place. You’ll need this knowledge before even trying to remove .Micro File Virus or “fichier .micro” and restore your files. So be patient and read this article carefully.

The first and most important thing to do is to remain calm – if your files have already been encrypted and the file .micro has revealed itself, then it is already too late for quick and decisive action. TeslaCrypt 3.0, on which .Micro file is built upon, is a ransomware with fearsome reputation. So far no known method exists to decrypt the files targeted by the virus, but they are alternative methods that can recover them. We’ll provide you with more details later in the article.

  • WARNING! Formatting your hard drive and reinstalling windows are excellent methods to surely get rid of some really nasty viruses, but they will not get your files back – in fact these actions will make it even worse to recover them. Attempt them only if you really don’t need the files that were encrypted by the virus.
The .Micro File Virus Extension

The .Micro File Virus Extension

This is how .Micro File Virus works

Once .Micro File Virus aka fichier .micro have accessed your computer (for how that may have happened you can read below), it will start compiling a list of your most often used personal files. Note that no system files will be targeted. When the list’s done the encryption process begins and very soon your files will be encrypted and replaced by unreadable and inaccessible copies. Once that happens you are left with limited options. You can follow the instructions contained in the note and pay the ransom in the hope that you will receive a decryption key. We strongly advise against doing that. We will explain why in the sections below. Another possibility is to wait and hope that someone in the online community will eventually crack the encryption. You are entirely at the mercy of other people and no one really knows if this will ever happen. The third option is to try and get things back under your control and try the method we will describe. While we can’t guarantee success, at least you will not have done anything to worsen your situation.

  • A work of caution – there are circulating some programs that claim to be able to decrypt the .Micro virus encrypted files and even files affected by other ransomware. Do not fall for this nasty scam – it was created by online vultures who prey on the misfortune of people who had become victims of this ransomware. Of course, it is always possible that someone really did make a breakthrough and figured out a way to reverse the virus. If you believe this may be the case try to ask for proof before paying any money for such a software – preferably send one of your encrypted files to get restored.

To pay or not to pay?

This is not a simple question to answer and frankly no one can answer it for you. We can only provide our point of view and let you decide – you should not pay the ransom in almost any case. We leave the odd 1% for some really strange scenarios. But in the other 99% you should definitely exhaust completely all other options and then some. There are two major reasons why you should be taking this approach in our honest opinion:

  • You will be trying to conduct a business transaction of sorts with cyber criminals. Let’s not try to sugarcoat this – there are absolutely no guarantees or even reasons to believe that you will receive a decryption key once you send the ransom payment. You will be relying on some blind hope that the criminals who have resorted to extortion will keep their “word” and you will get your files back. But just as likely outcome unfortunately would be that you are left with nothing but additional ransom demands.
  • Another thing to consider – the Ransomware extortion has rapidly turned into a massive industry. The hackers or criminals are making millions of dollars. They have absolutely no intention or incentive to stop doing what they are doing since it’s a massive revenue stream. The only way for that to change? Stop paying them for something that is rightfully yours. The first step in the fight against Ransomware is to hamper the criminals’ income source.

How were your defenses breached?

Almost always Ransomware applications find their way to the victims’ systems by way of using other malware as a “backdoor”. In most cases the culprit is some form of a Trojan horse malware. In fact we advise you to thoroughly check your system for a possible Trojan infection (in addition to the Ransomware), but only after you’ve dealt with the bigger threat that is .Micro File Virus, also known as “fichier .micro”. Now, it is possible that this information may raise even more questions, like “how did I end up with a Trojan virus then?” for example. We will try to answer that one as well.

  • The oldest and still widely used method for malware spreading – email attachments. You have probably heard of this one, yet here are some pointers for you. Always be wary when opening files attached to e-mails, even if they have been sent to you from seemingly reputable companies and organizations. Phishing e-mail are a popular practice, so you can’t let your guard down. Perform the necessary checks and scans before opening any downloaded attachment.
  • Compromised executable files (.exe) downloaded from torrent or file-sharing websites. There’s questionable control over what gets uploaded and by whom at such sites, so if you are using any form of p2p you should definitely scan all files before executing them, especially if they end with an .exe extension.
  • If you are missing a certain .DLL file, or you’re looking to fix a particular system error, look for a solution online. But never download such files from the internet – you are just inviting trouble and almost in all cases you end up with a Trojan horse or worse.

SUMMARY:

Name .Micro
Type Ransomware
Detection Tool

 .Micro File Virus Removal

You are dealing with a ransomware infection that can restore itself unless you remove its core files. We are sending you to another page with a removal guide that gets regularly updated. It covers in-depth instructions on how to:
1. Locate and scan malicious processes in your task manager.
2. Identify in your Control panel any programs installed with the malware, and how to remove them. Search Marquis is a high-profile hijacker that gets installed with a lot of malware.
3. How to decrypt and recover your encrypted files (if it is currently possible).
You can find the removal guide here.


About the author

Bert L. Jackson

Bert L. Jackson has more then 13 years in the Cyber Security Industry consulting and collaborating. Distinguished for an entrepreneurial mindset, creative problem solving, cross-functional teams and a bottom-line orientation.

35 Comments

  • Hello Lex,

    Delete this line from the Hosts file and you should be OK.

    Get back to me if you have any problems.

  • Hello Ketan,

    Please follow the removal guide. I cannot help you unless you ask me something specific.

    If you see this IP address in the Hosts file delete it, then save the changes to the file.

    Please let me know if you need help with some of the steps.

  • Hi Jack,

    I couldn’t find anything on searchlike, but my guess is that it is some type of useless program you accidentally installed at some point. If you are worried that the ransomware is still there you can try clicking on some of the banners in our site to download SpyHunter4. In my experience its better than Malwarebytes and you can still use it (for free) to search your computer for any remaining traces of the virus. Perhaps it will shine some light on Searchlike as well.

    Please let me know how that goes.

  • Hi Nitin,

    Download the Shadow Volume Copies program as per the guide, open the Shadow Explorer and navigate to the affected drives. Hopefully you’ll be able to recover the originals from there.

    If that doesn’t work I am afraid that the files are lost.

    Please get back to me with the outcome – regardless of success or failure.

      • Hello Nitin,

        Unfortunately, this means too much time has passed since the original files were erased and the shadow explorer is unable to index them. Obtaining the encryption key is your only option at the moment – .Micro virus encryption pattern has not yet been discovered by anyone.

  • Hi Billy,

    Just do a google search and grab it from there. We cannot host it ourselves, sorry for the inconvenience.

  • Hi zurin,

    Open the task manager and look for any unfamiliar or duplicate processes. Virus processes usually use up a big amount of CPU power and memory.

    Let me know how it goes.

  • My problem is on restoring. There no System Restore point and there is no backup on Shadow Volume Copies. Any free/alternative software to decrypt?

    • Hi Page,

      Unfortunately no one has reverse engineered a solution yet, as far as we are aware. Be careful though – there are some programs in circulation that claim to do that, but they are scams.

      Please let me know if you find a solution so i can add it to the guide.

  • Hi Miguel,

    Unfortunately I cannot help you with that, but I doubt it will work like you think it would.

    Did you try the Shadow Clone program already?

  • Hi again Miguel,

    If you format the hard drive you’ll make it very hard for the program to help you. It basically searches your HDD for files that have been flagged to be erased, but that hasn’t happened just yet. Run the program first and recover anything you are able, then move the files to another HDD/Flash stick before formatting.

  • Pease hel me all of my important files are affected I cannot oen tat all files. how to get back my files again which are corrupted with tis virus?? please

  • Hi, my computer is infected with this virus, I have micro extension on my files, I install windows 10 on my computer and then I tried with restore, but there is no system restore point, please help me, I have very important picture, how to open my picture again????

    • Hi Fidelija,

      Did you install Win 10 AFTER you files were encrypted? Try the Shadow Clone program as well, it might belp.

  • hi …my computer also infected with tis virus i had already format with windows 8. only c drive. but i cant open my file in D drive how can i open my files?
    Please help me

    • Hi Diriya,

      If you’ve already formatted C your only hope remains the Shadow Explorer program. Download it from the official site, run the program and navigate to the folders with your files and hopefully you can see and restore them.

  • Hi Jonathan,

    The files will remain encrypted regardless of how you access them.

    I am not familiar with Linux myself, but your best bet is to use some software for restoring deleted files. You can always use a virtual machine with the windows OS and install&use Recuva as per the guide.

  • Hi,

    It is a bad idea to do windows reinstall after you have been infected with ransomware. Unfortunately at this point nothing will help you.

  • Hi George,

    If you copied them and formatted the Drive the only way to restore them is to pay the ransom or hope for someone to break the code of the virus.

  • Hi diriya, if you are only able to recover files with the .micro extension, then the virus has overwritten your original files and nothing can be done about it.

  • Hi Lisa,

    It appears this is an IP related to the iTunes service. So no need to worry about it.

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