Do you know what Pottieq Ransomware is?
Pottieq Ransomware has been classified as a ransomware infection, but it is not exactly an ordinary malicious application. As research conducted by our experienced specialists has clearly shown, this threat is a variation of Aura Ransomware, which was spotted by malware researchers some time ago. Also, it is almost identical to JohnyCrypter Ransomware, an extremely harmful malicious application. Luckily, Pottieq Ransomware is not as dangerous as the aforementioned ransomware infection; however, it will still lock files on your computer if it successfully enters your system. The ransomware infection tries to obtain money from users, and it does not even hide that – you will find the following sentence in the ransom note it drops: “Our assistance is not free, so expect to pay a reasonable price for our decrypting services.” We know users want their files back, but we cannot let them send money to cyber criminals. You cannot know whether you will get the decryption key for unlocking your files with. In other words, there is a huge possibility that you will spend your money on nothing. Additionally, nobody knows whether the tool crooks have really works as it should. In other words, you might get a useless piece of software after transferring money. We leave the final decision in your hands, but do not forget that the Pottieq Ransomware removal is your responsibility no matter what you decide to do.
Pottieq Ransomware tries not to get removed too soon. Once executed, it copies itself to %ALLUSERSPROFILE%. Also, it drops an image in the .bmp format to %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup. As a consequence, the ransom note is opened to users automatically. It will be dropped immediately after the ransomware infection encrypts files on the affected computer. Pottieq Ransomware should target the most valuable personal files as well, specialists say. They will all be marked by appending the lengthy extension .id-{numbers}-[shivamana@seznam.cz].bip, so you will definitely not need to inspect all your files to find out which of them have been affected by the ransomware infection. You need to have both the unique key and decryption software to unlock them. Of course, only cyber criminals can give them to you. Do not expect that the decryption procedure will be cheap. Usually, decryptors are quite expensive. Is it worth investing in it? We believe that it is not, but you must make the final decision yourself. No free tools that can unlock encrypted files are available, but it is still possible to retrieve files from a backup. In fact, this is the only free way to fix files we know about.
Pottieq Ransomware screenshot
Scroll down for full removal instructions
Specialists say that Pottieq Ransomware is spread in the usual ways. In other words, it is mainly distributed via spam emails. Some users already know well how dangerous it might be to open attachments spam emails hold, whereas others still open them out of curiosity. This is a huge mistake they make. Such users might end up with all kinds of threats, including Trojans, ransomware infections, and worms. Speaking about Pottieq Ransomware, users might also encounter this infection if cyber criminals manage to crack the insecure RDP connection. Last but not least, users might download it by mistake from a P2P website. It is quite common for malicious software to pose as reliable applications. Do not worry; you can still prevent malware from entering your computer. You will be safe if you spend a minute on installing a reputable security tool on your computer.
Remove Pottieq Ransomware without consideration if you have detected it on your system because this malicious application might lock other important files on your PC again. You will get rid of it by deleting its copy from %ALLUSERSPROFILE% and erasing the ransom note dropped from the Startup folder. Last but not least, to leave no chances for the ransomware infection to revive, you should also delete all suspicious files downloaded recently. If this sounds quite complicated, you should follow our instructions (see below).
Pottieq Ransomware removal guide
- Tap Win+E.
- Open %ALLUSERSPROFILE%.
- Delete the malicious executable file.
- Go to %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.
- Locate the .bmp file named in the CLSID format (e.g. {I39SN97D-D73M-YLR9-1I59-EW9R799VKF}.bmp).
- Delete all suspicious files from the directory all your downloads are stored in.
- Empty Recycle Bin.
In non-techie terms:
There is nothing pleasant about the successful entrance of Pottieq Ransomware. Once this malicious application enters computers, it encrypts users’ files immediately. It does not touch any system files, but you will surely lose all your media files if you encounter it. Just like similar threats, Pottieq Ransomware has been developed to obtain money from users, but we would not send a ransom to crooks if we were you. Cyber criminals might decide not to give the decryptor to you and you could not do anything about that.