AVCrypt ransomware: what it is and how to remove it

Not before you have tried everything else. Identify the family from HOW_TO_UNLOCK.txt and one encrypted file, check No More Ransom for a free decryptor, and look for clean copies in OneDrive, backups and Previous Versions.

Paying funds further attacks, may be illegal if the group is sanctioned, and is no promise of a working key: many victims get partial or broken decryption. If you consider paying for business-critical data, involve the police and a professional incident responder first, and never pay through intermediaries who promise their own decryption.

Nobody can promise a date. When we last checked, on 7 October 2026, no free decryptor is known. Decryptors usually appear after one of three events:

• police seize the attackers' servers and keys
• the authors leak or publish the master keys
• researchers find a mistake in how the ransomware generates keys

Some families got a tool within weeks, others never. Keep the encrypted files and the note on an external drive, check No More Ransom every few months, and follow news about the AVCrypt ransomware family. A decryptor may need an original file, so keep any unencrypted copies too.

We do not know yet. Nothing published so far shows data theft by AVCrypt ransomware, but the only confirmed sign is ransom notes called HOW_TO_UNLOCK.txt in every folder, which says nothing about what happened before. Many current ransomware attacks copy files or run a password stealer first, so it is wise to act as if they did.

From a clean device, change the passwords that were saved in the browsers on this PC, starting with e-mail and banking, sign out of all sessions and turn on two-step verification. Watch bank statements and account activity for the next few weeks.

Only if a decryptor already exists or the company pays the attackers for you. Some "ransomware recovery" services advertise that they can decrypt families with no known flaw; in practice they negotiate with the attackers and add their own fee. Others use the same free tools listed on No More Ransom.

Before you hire anyone, ask in writing how they will recover the files, whether they will contact the attackers and what happens if they fail. A legitimate service answers clearly. If a free decryptor exists for your family, you can run it yourself.

The way AVCrypt ransomware spreads has not been documented yet, so look at your own recent activity. On home PCs, ransomware most often comes with cracked programs, game cheats, key generators and fake updates, or with an e-mail attachment that was opened.

On business networks, attackers usually log in through Remote Desktop with a stolen or guessed password. Think back to what was downloaded or installed in the days before ransom notes called HOW_TO_UNLOCK.txt in every folder, and check the Downloads folder and Installed apps sorted by date. Keep anything suspicious for your report, but do not run it again.

Not necessarily. Ransomware names come from the file extension, the note or a word in the code, so unrelated families often end up with similar names, and one family can appear under several names. The difference matters: a decryptor or advice for one family does not fit another and can damage files.

Compare the ending added to your files and the exact name of the note with the summary table at the top of this guide, then upload the note and one encrypted file to ID Ransomware from a clean device. If the result names another family, follow the guide for that family instead.

Yes, the note itself is harmless text and deleting it does not affect your files. Keep at least one copy first, outside the infected PC. HOW_TO_UNLOCK.txt contains your personal ID and the attackers' contact details, which identification services use to tell which family encrypted your files, and which a decryptor may need later.

Police reports also ask for it. Once you have saved a copy, you can remove the notes from every folder after the ransomware program has been removed and your files are restored or backed up.

Microsoft builds names in a fixed order:

• category
• then platform
• then family
• sometimes followed by a variant letter
• a suffix

The category is the most useful part for you. Trojan, Backdoor and PWS mean real malware that can download more, give remote access or steal passwords. PUA means unwanted software.

Ransom means ransomware. Suffixes such as !ml or !MTB mean the detection came from machine learning or behaviour analysis. Search for the family part of Ransom:Win32/Pactelung.A together with the word Microsoft to find its entry in Microsoft's security encyclopedia.

You cannot open locked files normally while they stay encrypted, and renaming them will not help. Our earlier report did not record the extension that AVCrypt adds, so check one locked file name and the ransom note for it.

No free decryptor is known for this variant; check No More Ransom (nomoreransom.org) for updates. Do not rename the files, change the extension or edit them, because that can make recovery harder. Copy the locked files to an external drive before you clean the system, so a decryptor released later still has them.

Fortect scans Windows for malware and unwanted programs and repairs the system files and settings they change, and its free scan shows what it finds on your PC before you decide anything.

For AVCrypt ransomware, follow the plan above as well: the browser steps take back permissions and settings that no scanner treats as a threat, and uninstalling the program that brought it removes the source.

Run Microsoft Defender's full scan and, if anything was found, its offline scan as a second opinion. If the symptoms are gone after the plan and both scans are clean, there is nothing more to do.