Esmeralda Ransomware Removal Guide

Do not be misled by the name of Esmeralda Ransomware; just because it has a romantic-sounding South American women’s name from a television series, it does not mean it cannot strike you hard. As a matter of fact, it can hit you really bad as it encrypts almost all your files after it manages to sneak onto your computer. This could be a real nightmare for you if you have not saved your most important files recently to a removable hard disk because there seems to be no file recovery tools available on the net yet. This simply means that if you do not dare to risk losing your money by paying the ransom fee to these criminals, you will lose most of your files. Since there are no guarantees that you will get anything from these crooks, we recommend that you remove Esmeralda Ransomware as soon as possible. Keep in mind that this ransomware infection restarts every time you reboot your system. Therefore, there is no other way out of this attack but to act now.

It seems that this ransomware program is mostly spread through Remote Desktop Protocol. This means that your computer may have some kind of remote desktop software (e.g., TeamViewer) installed that could be used by cyber criminals to break into your system and install this vicious infection. This can happen, for example, when you use a very simple password that can be easily broken or criminals may trick you to reveal it through social engineering and so on. In this case, you will only realize that you have been hit when it is all over and your files are encrypted. If you delete Esmeralda Ransomware at this stage, obviously, this will not restore your files. If you want to protect your computer from such an attack, you should defend your machine with a proper security tool.

The other possibility is that you activate this malicious program through a spam e-mail by saving its file attachment and running it from your computer. This is actually how most ransomware threats infect their victims. This attached file could be an image (.jpg or .bmp) or a text document (.docm) with macro code. This spam mail is usually very tricky and makes you feel like you must open it right away, including its attachment as well. If you let yourself be fooled by this spam and you try to view this attachment, once again, removing Esmeralda Ransomware will be too late for you to save your files. Only proper prevention can help you avoid such a disaster.

This ransomware program targets all your files practically with a few exceptions and it does not touch your Windows folder either. Still, it can cause a major devastation. Once a file is encrypted with AES algorithm, it gets a new extension: “.encrypted.” Then a new file is created next to each infected file, which is a .txt file that contains the ransom note. This file looks something like “my_photo.bmp.How_To_Decrypt.txt.” The whole encryption process does not take more than a minute so this gives you an impossibly narrow time window to act even if you noticed that something is wrong. Even if you are an expert, you could not delete Esmeralda Ransomware in time to stop the encryption and save your files.

The worst moment comes when a gray screen appears on your screen that blocks your whole desktop. This window can be closed so it does not actually lock your screen. You are informed that there has been a critical error, which is obviously a fake background story, and your files have been encrypted for safety reasons. This is a ridiculous thing to claim; however, it is unfortunately true that your files have been encrypted. You are told to send an e-mail to esmeraldaencryption@mail.ru for further information regarding how you can restore your files. We have no information about the demanded amount but this could be anything from $20 up to $2,000 or even more, and, of course, most likely you have to transfer it in Bitcoins. Since it is quite possible that these cyber crooks will not bother to send you the password to unlock your files and the decryption software either, we suggest that you delete Esmeralda Ransomware ASAP.

Unfortunately, this ransomware blocks your Explorer (the main Windows process) and your Task Manager as well, which makes it more complicated to remove Esmeralda Ransomware. For this reason, you need to restart your system in Safe Mode and delete certain files and registry entries. You can find our instructions below if you feel up to this task and think you can manually handle this awful infection. Please do not forget about the possibility that this ransomware may not be the only malware infection on your computer even if this is most probably the most dangerous one. If you want to clean your system properly and keep it that way, we suggest that you purchase a decent anti-malware application, such as SpyHunter.

Reboot your system in Safe Mode

Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10

1. On the Metro UI screen click on the Power icon.
2. Press and hold the Shift key and choose Restart.
3. Go to Advanced options from the Troubleshooting menu.
4. Choose Startup Settings and click Restart.
5. Tap the F4 key to restart in Safe Mode.

Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7

1. Restart your PC and tap the F8 key a few times to bring up the boot menu.
2. Choose Safe Mode, and press the Enter key.

Remove Esmeralda Ransomware from Windows

1. Tap Win+Q and enter regedit. Hit Enter.
2. Remove the following registry keys:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Windows Explorer (value data: “C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows NT\explorer.exe”)
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Windows Explorer (value data: “C:\Program Files\Windows NT\explorer.exe”)
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\LegalNoticeText
3. Close the editor.
4. Tap Win+E to open File Explorer.
5. Delete the malicious file where you saved it from the spam, if this is how you got infected.
6. Bin every instance of the ransom note text files.
7. Find and bin "%PROGRAMFILES%\Windows NT\explorer.exe" and "%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Windows NT\explorer.exe"
8. Empty your Recycle Bin and reboot your system in Normal Mode.