Decrypt .EXTE Files Encrypted by CryptoMix for Free

This article aims to help you by showing how to remove CryptoMix ransomware and decrypt .EXTE encrypted files without paying the ransom.

Yet another variant of the notorious CryptoMix ransomware virus has appeared in the wild. The virus aims to encrypt the files on the infected computers, adding the .EXTE file extension and changing their names. In addition to this, the ransomware also adds a ransom note, named “_HELP_INSTRUCTION.TXT” which has multiple different e-mails to which the victim must send a unique decrypt id. Fortunately, the virus is part of the CryptoMix ransomware variants which have all been decrypted so far and if you keep reading this article, you will understand how to remove .EXTE ransomware and decrypt your files without having to pay the ransom.

Threat Summary

Name	.EXTE Virus
Type	Ransomware, Cryptovirus
Short Description	Encrypts the files on the computers infected by it in order to demand ransom from victims.
Symptoms	Adds the .EXTE file extension and changes the names of the encrypted files.
Distribution Method	Spam Emails, Email Attachments, Executable files
Detection Tool	See If Your System Has Been Affected by .EXTE Virus Download Malware Removal Tool
User Experience	Join Our Forum to Discuss .EXTE Virus.
Data Recovery Tool	Windows Data Recovery by Stellar Phoenix Notice! This product scans your drive sectors to recover lost files and it may not recover 100% of the encrypted files, but only few of them, depending on the situation and whether or not you have reformatted your drive.

.EXTE File Virus – More Information

Being a variant of the CryptoMix ransomware infections, this virus aims to perform multiple different types of activities on the computers infected by it. It all starts with it’s malicious loader type of file, whose primary purpose is to extract the payload of the .EXTE ransomware virus. Such loader may pretend to be:

• Legitimate setup, uploaded online.
• Legitimate document sent to you over the web (Word, .PDF, Excel).
• A game crack or any other activation software uploaded on suspicious websites.
• A web link or a button which causes a drive-by download when you click on it. Such are often spammed as comments or other suspicious messages. Sometimes they are featured in spam e-mails as well.

Once the victim opens the loader file of .EXTE ransomware, the virus does not waste any time and downloads it’s payload from the C2 sever of the cyber-criminals it connects to. The payload may be under different names and be located in the commonly targeted folders of Windows:

After the malicious files are dropped, the virus begins encrypting the files on the infected computer. It targets mainly files with the following file types:

→ .sql, .mp4, .7z, .rar, .m4a, .wma, .avi, .wmv, .csv, .d3dbsp, .zip, .sie, .sum, .ibank, .t13, .t12, .qdf, .gdb, .tax, .pkpass, .bc6, .bc7, .bkp, .qic, .bkf, .sidn, .sidd, .mddata, .itl, .itdb, .icxs, .hvpl, .hplg, .hkdb, .mdbackup, .syncdb, .gho, .cas, .svg, .map, .wmo, .itm, .sb, .fos, .mov, .vdf, .ztmp, .sis, .sid, .ncf, .menu, .layout, .dmp, .blob, .esm, .vcf, .vtf, .dazip, .fpk, .mlx, .kf, .iwd, .vpk, .tor, .psk, .rim, .w3x, .fsh, .ntl, .arch00, .lvl, .snx, .cfr, .ff, .vpp_pc, .lrf, .m2, .mcmeta, .vfs0, .mpqge, .kdb, .db0, .dba, .rofl, .hkx, .bar, .upk, .das, .iwi, .litemod, .asset, .forge, .ltx, .bsa, .apk, .re4, .sav, .lbf, .slm, .bik, .epk, .rgss3a, .pak, .big, wallet, .wotreplay, .xxx, .desc, .py, .m3u, .flv, .js, .css, .rb, .png, .jpeg, .txt, .p7c, .p7b, .p12, .pfx, .pem, .crt, .cer, .der, .x3f, .srw, .pef, .ptx, .r3d, .rw2, .rwl, .raw, .raf, .orf, .nrw, .mrwref, .mef, .erf, .kdc, .dcr, .cr2, .crw, .bay, .sr2, .srf, .arw, .3fr, .dng, .jpe, .jpg, .cdr, .indd, .ai, .eps, .pdf, .pdd, .psd, .dbf, .mdf, .wb2, .rtf, .wpd, .dxg, .xf, .dwg, .pst, .accdb, .mdb, .pptm, .pptx, .ppt, .xlk, .xlsb, .xlsm, .xlsx, .xls, .wps, .docm, .docx, .doc, .odb, .odc, .odm, .odp, .ods, .odt.

After encryption has completed, the EXTE virus adds it’s distinctive file extension and completely changes the names of your important files, so that they become no longer recognizable. This results in the following appearance of the files:

After doing so, the virus also drops it’s ransom note, which has the following content:

Hello!
Attention! All Your data was encrypted!
For specific information, please send us an email with Your ID number:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
We will help You as soon as possible.
DECRYPT-ID-{unique ID}

Fortunately, you do not have to do any of these activities as the Exte ransomware may as well be decryptable, mainly because it is a CryptoMix variant and most of those are decryptable. Keep reading this article, to first remove .EXTE file virus and then decrypt your files without paying a dime.

Remove .EXTE CryptoMix from Your PC

Before actually beginning the removal process, we would advise to backup all your files, even though they are encrypted. Then, we recommend you to follow the instructions below. You can try to find and remove the malicious files of the .EXTE ransomware manually, but for maximum effectiveness, a ransomware-specific anti-malware programs should be used to scan for and remove all traces of the .EXTE file virus automatically.

Manually delete .EXTE Virus from your computer

Note! Substantial notification about the .EXTE Virus threat: Manual removal of .EXTE Virus requires interference with system files and registries. Thus, it can cause damage to your PC. Even if your computer skills are not at a professional level, don’t worry. You can do the removal yourself just in 5 minutes, using a malware removal tool.

1. Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove .EXTE Virus files and objects

Boot Your PC Into Safe Mode

1. For Windows 7,XP and Vista. 2. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. Fix registry entries created by .EXTE Virus on your PC.

For Windows XP, Vista, 7 systems:

1. Remove all CDs and DVDs, and then Restart your PC from the “Start” menu.
2. Select one of the two options provided below:

– For PCs with a single operating system: Press “F8” repeatedly after the first boot screen shows up during the restart of your computer. In case the Windows logo appears on the screen, you have to repeat the same task again.

– For PCs with multiple operating systems: Тhe arrow keys will help you select the operating system you prefer to start in Safe Mode. Press “F8” just as described for a single operating system.

3. As the “Advanced Boot Options” screen appears, select the Safe Mode option you want using the arrow keys. As you make your selection, press “Enter“.

4. Log on to your computer using your administrator account

While your computer is in Safe Mode, the words “Safe Mode” will appear in all four corners of your screen.

Step 1: Open the Start Menu

Step 2: Whilst holding down Shift button, click on Power and then click on Restart.
Step 3: After reboot, the aftermentioned menu will appear. From there you should choose Troubleshoot.

Step 4: You will see the Troubleshoot menu. From this menu you can choose Advanced Options.

Step 5: After the Advanced Options menu appears, click on Startup Settings.

Step 6: Click on Restart.

Step 7: A menu will appear upon reboot. You should choose Safe Mode by pressing its corresponding number and the machine will restart.

Some malicious scripts may modify the registry entries of your computer to change different settings. This is why manual clean up of your Windows Registry Database is strongly recommended. Since the tutorial on how to do this is a bit lenghty, we recommend following our instructive article about fixing registry entries.

2.Find malicious files created by .EXTE Virus on your PC

Find malicious files created by .EXTE Virus

1. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. 2. For Windows 7,XP and Vista.

For Newer Windows Operating Systems

Step 1:

On your keyboard press  + R and write explorer.exe in the Run text box and then click on the Ok button.

Step 2:

Click on your PC from the quick access bar. This is usually an icon with a monitor and its name is either “My Computer”, “My PC” or “This PC” or whatever you have named it.

Step 3:

Navigate to the search box in the top-right of your PC’s screen and type “fileextension:” and after which type the file extension. If you are looking for malicious executables, an example may be “fileextension:exe”. After doing that, leave a space and type the file name you believe the malware has created. Here is how it may appear if your file has been found:

N.B. We recommend to wait for the green loading bar in the navination box to fill up in case the PC is looking for the file and hasn’t found it yet.

For Older Windows Operating Systems

In older Windows OS’s the conventional approach should be the effective one:

Step 1:

Click on the Start Menu icon (usually on your bottom-left) and then choose the Search preference.

Step 2:

After the search window appears, choose More Advanced Options from the search assistant box. Another way is by clicking on All Files and Folders.

Step 3:

After that type the name of the file you are looking for and click on the Search button. This might take some time after which results will appear. If you have found the malicious file, you may copy or open its location by right-clicking on it.

Now you should be able to discover any file on Windows as long as it is on your hard drive and is not concealed via special software.

Automatically remove .EXTE Virus by downloading an advanced anti-malware program

1. Remove .EXTE Virus with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool and back up your data

Remove .EXTE Virus with SpyHunter Anti-Malware Tool

1. Install SpyHunter to scan for and remove .EXTE Virus.2. Scan with SpyHunter to Detect and Remove .EXTE Virus. Back up your data to secure it against infections and file encryption by .EXTE Virus in the future.

Step 1:Click on the “Download” button to proceed to SpyHunter’s download page.

Download

Malware Removal Tool

It is highly recommended to run a scan before purchasing the full version of the software to make sure that the current version of the malware can be detected by SpyHunter.

Step 2: Guide yourself by the download instructions provided for each browser.
Step 3: After you have installed SpyHunter, wait for it to automatically update.

Step1: After the update process has finished, click on the ‘Scan Computer Now’ button.

Step2: After SpyHunter has finished scanning your PC for any .EXTE Virus files, click on the ‘Fix Threats’ button to remove them automatically and permanently.

Step3: Once the intrusions on your PC have been removed, it is highly recommended to restart it.

Back up your data to secure it against attacks in the future

IMPORTANT! Before reading the Windows backup instructions, we highly recommend to back up your data automatically with cloud backup and insure it against any type of data loss on your device, even the most severe. We recommend reading more about and downloading SOS Online Backup .

SOS Online Backup

.EXTE Ransomware – Decryption Process

Before any decryption process by this virus begins, recommendations are to use an advanced anti-malware tool to remove the infection and then to back-up the encrypted files by creating several copies of them on different removable drives or in the cloud.

Then, we advise you to follow these steps:

Step #1: Download “CryptoMix Fix” tool from Avast’s website. Link to the download page, you can locate below:

https://www.avast.com/ransomware-decryption-tools#cryptomix

Make sure to save the file somewhere where you can easily find it:

Step #2: Run the program and click on the “Next” button.

Step #3: Choose the drive which you want to be scanned for encrypted files and click on “Next” once more. You can also add a folder that has important files, by clicking on the “Add Folder” button on the bottom-right:

Step #4: Find an original file and it’s encrypted analogue. If you struggle finding an original file, please check the default Windows folders of a non-infected PC with the same version of Windows as yours:

→ For newer Windows (8, 8.1, 10):
C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper
For Windows 7 and earlier:
C:\Users\Public\Pictures
C:\Users\{Username}\Pictures

Step #5: Upload the files in the blank fields of the next step of the Avast CryptoMix Fix decryptor:

Step #6: Paste the password from your version of CryptoMix in the next field in case you know it:

And now all that is left is to run the decryptor and it will begin to do it’s magic.

.EXTE CryptoMix Decryption – The Bottom Line

As a conclusion, it is vital to know that if you have decrypted your files successfully, you are in great luck, because there are many ransomware victims who still haven’t. This is why we at SensorsTechForum are committed to educating users how to avoid such infections before they even happen. To learn how to prevent ransomware viruses and other malware infections from infecting your computer via e-mail, please read the related article below:

Vencislav Krustev

A network administrator and malware researcher at SensorsTechForum with passion for discovery of new shifts and innovations in cyber security. Strong believer in basic education of every user towards online safety.

More Posts - Website