Nasty Virus

Hello,

Unfortunately there isn't a way of decrypting the files that I am aware of without paying the fee.

I had one of these last week. Fortunately I had a backup and was able to remove the infected machine off the network and then restore the files.

Your options are:

1) Pay the fee and hope that it decrypts the files
2) Restore from a backup.

The following article is helpful at preventing this in the future:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/cryptolocker-ransomware-information

Also, stress how important the backup is to the individual that was meant to be checking it.  I do strongly suggest applying the software restrictions policy's on PCs which is explained in the article.

As Scorpeo says: Without a backup you are out of luck. You may reinstall, but you will lose all your data. Sorry. :-(

Check this out - I don't have experience with procedures but the article is good.

http://www.one-tab.com/page/qQd-mP19ROmXPpUf1by3sg

Note by removing the infection, you remove the option of paying for the decryption.  I haven't found anything that will decrypt it.

This being said, there is no guarantee that paying the ransom will decrypt the files.  Although from what I have read, it does.

I have also read that the only way is to pay - but don't pay by credit card!  This is particularly nasty and it is my understanding that by taking the steps outlined in the article in the link I posted you can prevent this from happening on other machines.