Halloware Ransomware Removal Guide

Halloware Ransomware is a new threat that for a while could still cause a great devastation on your system by encrypting your most important files. However, it seems like this ransomware program was created by a less skillful hacker wannabe. In fact, our research indicates that this malware infection was coded and is sold on the dark web (for as little as $40) by an allegedly 17 year-old guy from India who calls himself Luc1F3R. Although, for the time being, this malicious program may cause serious devastation on your system, there is a good chance that malware hunters will come out with a free file decryption tool very soon. This means that by the time you read our article, you may be able to find this tool on the web and use it to restore your decrypted files. We do not advise you to pay the ransom fee. Instead, we recommend that you remove Halloware Ransomware from your PC immediately.

Since this vicious program is for sale on the dark web, that is one way to download it. This also means that there could be other variants emerging that may have slightly different behaviors. It is most likely that you infect your system via spamming campaigns because that is the most frequently used methods when it comes to such ransomware programs. This spam can be very tricky and you may even think that it is urgent for you to open it and check out its attachment. It is vital to understand that when you click to view such a malicious attachment, it will simply start up the ransomware infection and you will end up with all your important files encrypted. In other words, by the time you delete Halloware Ransomware from your computer, you can say goodbye to your files unless you have a working decryptor or a backup stored on a portable hard disk or in cloud storage.

Of course, there are other ways too for cyber crooks to infect your machine with such a beast. For example, they can set up a webpage with Exploit Kits that can take advantage of outdated browser or driver versions. If you land on such a malicious page using outdated software, you can drop such a dangerous infection the moment the page loads. You would not even know what just happened, only after the damage is done. But you may also drop a ransomware by clicking on unsafe third-party advertisements or by downloading software cracks or free movies from shady torrent sites. All in all, if you want to avoid having to remove Halloware Ransomware or any similar threats, you should keep all your programs up-to-date and give a wide berth to suspicious websites.

This new ransomware program uses the usual AES-256 algorithm to encrypt lots of file extensions on your system. In this attack you may lose all your photos, documents, databases, and more. After the encryption this infection adds a prefix, "(Lucifer)," as in "(Lucifer)my_image.jpg." Once the malicious operation is over, it may replace your desktop wallpaper with the attackers' own image file, which is in fact the ransom note itself, but it depends on the configuration. These notes and images can be different for all variants.

We do not think that in its current condition this program is capable of decryption at all. Our research shows that this ransomware does not store any data on a remote server, which means that your decryption key could be lost after the encryption. Obviously, this also means that it is completely useless to even think about paying the ransom fee. Speaking of which, apart from the ransom note that may appear as your wallpaper, there is also a pop-up window appearing that shows an image of a scary clown. You are told to pay $100 in Bitcoins. A Tor payment website link is provided for you; however, the ransom fee is $150 on this website, which is a bit confusing. In any case, we do not encourage you to pay any amount. Since the free decryption tool could be out soon, we suggest that you be patient a bit and remove Halloware Ransomware after a deep breath.

It is not too difficult to eliminate this presently dangerous threat. Please follow our instructions below and you should be just fine. If you do not feel comfortable enough doing this manually, you can always install a reliable malware remover like SpyHunter. What's more, this is what we recommend, too, since such security software can automatically take care of all possible potential and malicious threats as well while you can peacefully enjoy your experience in the virtual world.

How to remove Halloware Ransomware from Windows

1. Press Win+E.
2. Find the malicious file you downloaded from the spam and delete it.
3. Delete every other suspicious file from your default and preferred download directories, too.
4. Change your desktop background image, if it has been replaced.
5. Empty your Recycle Bin.
6. Reboot your PC.