Gingerbread Ransomware Removal Guide

Sometimes even old computer infections might still threaten users once in a while. Gingerbread Ransomware is one of those programs that could enter your computer if you happen to visit some suspicious website. The program can successfully block you from accessing your files, and then force you to pay the ransom fee. We would like to point out that you should never spend a single cent on this application. It is necessary to remove Gingerbread Ransomware from your computer right now because while the application is on-board, you will not be able to transfer healthy files onto your computer.

According to the research carried out by our lab team, there have been several other versions of the same program, too. For instance, there are also ZANZIBAR@umpire.com, byaki_buki@aol.com, evromaidan2014@aol.com, and many others. However, our researchers point out that most of these programs were also released in 2014, just like the Gingerbread Ransomware infection itself. Therefore, it is very likely that it is no longer possible to contact the criminals behind this program, and they cannot issue the decryption key. Hence, there is no use to try and pay the ransom fee, as you would not get your files back either way.

For instance, you will see a message on your screen once the encryption is complete. And this message will say that you can find more information about the situation you are in via filesencoded.com. However, this website is dead, for lack of a better word, and there is no way to let the criminals know you have been infected with this ancient ransomware. This means that you have to deal with Gingerbread Ransomware on your own, and for that, it would be wise to invest in a licensed security tool. It is not just about this one infection, you might need to protect your PC from many other intruders, so having a powerful antispyware program would increase your chances of protecting your system from harm.

Since the program was released three years ago, there should be a public decryption tool available, especially if Gingerbread Ransomware was prominent in 2014. If not, you may need to delete your infected files and then look for the healthy copies in your external hard drive or anywhere else where you keep copies of your files. Restoring the files yourself would not work because the infection encrypts your data with the XOR and RSA algorithms, and only the person who has the private decryption key can do something. Needless to say, the criminals, who should be in the possession of the key, are out of reach.

The thing is that users often keep copies of their files in various places without even realizing it, so you will probably find a lot of files even in your outbox. However, before you transfer those files into your computer, you need to remove Gingerbread Ransomware for good, and delete the locked files.

You will find the manual removal instructions below, but if you think that it might be too much of a task for you, you can always delete Gingerbread Ransomware via an automated antispyware tool. Should you have more questions about this ransomware infection or your computer’s security in general, feel free to contact us by leaving a comment.

How to Delete Gingerbread Ransomware

1. Press Win+R and the Run prompt will open.
2. Enter %AppData% into the Open box. Press OK.
3. Navigate to Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.
4. Remove the ie_updater.exe file. Press Win+R once more.
5. Type %AppData% and hit the Enter key.
6. If present, delete the ie_updater.exe from the directory.
7. Open your Downloads folder.
8. Delete the recently downloaded files.
9. Scan your computer with the SpyHunter free scanner.