How to remove PayDOS ransomware virus

PayDOS ransomware looks retro – can it actually encrypt your files?

PayDOS virus is an in-development ransomware and how we see it now is likely to change in the nearest future. The malicious program reaches the target computer in the form of a .exe file, which saves a batch file into %Temp% folder. If you do not know what a batch file means, you should know that it is a file that contains instructions that the computer system needs to carry out. This particular batch file commands to search for specific file extensions and rename (not encrypt!) them. However, the virus does not rename the file entirely – it only changes one letter of the file extension. Of course, files remain recognizable, and what is best, just like its subsequent version Serpent virus, it does not damage them, which means victims can fully recover all of them. You can find detailed instructions how to do it below PayDOS removal guidelines presented at the end of this post.

After “encrypting” victim’s files, PayDOS ransomware launches Administrator: PayDOS program, which displays the ransom note starting with lines “I am so sorry you can see me. If you can, I have bad news. It seems all your data has been encrypted and there is nothing that you can do about this.” The malefactor asks the victim to pay 0.33 BTC (approximately $234) if he/she wants to get data back, but we are about to kill criminals’ dreams now. You can fix your files without paying the ransom by entering AES1014DW256 password. After doing this, remove PayDOS virus entirely using the FortectIntego software. You can also find detailed PayDOS removal guide below the article. 

Ransomware distribution tricks

Ransomware authors are hideous criminals who know what is the main spot of human beings. It’s curiosity; people tend to click on content that they clearly have no relation with and even when they realize that such click can get their fingers burnt. Criminals craft up emails that seem legitimate at first sight. You can see examples of typical titles that cyber criminals use for their malicious spam campaigns:

1. Your Amazon Order No.#[random digits] has been dispatched;
2. Invoice No. [random numbers];
3. Your Account PayPal Has Been Limited;
4. Medical Test Results.

Beware of hideous letters – they seem to be legitimate at first sight. Before opening an email, check what is the email address of the sender. Clearly, a sender who sends out “official” letters from an email address like JohnSmith2917@protonmail.ru is not an employee of a legitimate company like PayPal or Amazon. Therefore, you should never open attachments that come with such letters!

How to remove PayDOS ransomware?

Now that the system has already been contaminated, you should take actions to clean it up and make sure that the same or a different malicious program never gets in the system again. Users who are willing to remove PayDOS virus should not only enter the code above into the malicious program but also scan the entire system with a trustworthy malware remover for full PayDOS removal. We highly recommend you to start your PC in a Safe Mode with Networking to successfully remove malware from the computer.