The Woodman Virus is a dangerous lockscreen malware that can be removed from infected computers by following our complete removal guide.
Manual Removal Guide
Recover WoodMan virus Files
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How Does WoodMan virus Infiltrate the System?
The Woodman virus infects computer users worldwide using several methods. The campaigns are coordinated by the malware developers depending on the intended targets. As the ttacks have been spotted recently not enough information has been gathered on them to judge which is the primary spread method. This leads us to believe that the criminals are using the most widely used ways to spread the Woodman virus.
Email spam campaigns are one of the most widely used ways of distributing computer malware of all kinds. The hackers behind the Woodman virus attempt to infect the intended targets by coordinating sppam messages that can be of different types. In most cases social engineering tricks are used to attempt and persuade the targets into infecting themselves with the malware code.
The messages can deliver file attachments that contain the Woodman virus code. Based on the hacker strategy this can lead to infections caused by documents, software installers or the woodman virus binary file itself. When documents are delivered usually the infection is caused by scripts that are activated once the document is launched and the user agrees to run the code as directed by a notification prompt. Infected software installers are hacker-modified instances of legitimate popular applications. The installers are free or trial versions and are spread on download portals and BitTorrent trackers as well.
Other means of spreading the Woodman virus code is by creating counterfeit portals. The hackers upload the files there and attempt to deceive the site visitors to interact with them. Ads and Internet scripts operated or leased by the criminals are used to redirect to them.
In the past several years browser hijackers have become one of the leading causes for several virus strains. They are malicious extensions made for the popular web browsers: Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Safari, Opera and Internet Explorer. Upon infection with them several settings are modified to redirect the users to a malicious site serving the Woodman virus instances. The changes include the default home page, new tabs page and search engine. In addition the malware can be installed directly by the extensions as part of their behavior pattern.
Infection Flow of WoodMan virus
The Woodman virus is a dangerous ransomware that has been created by an unknown hacker or criminal collective. At this moment the identity of its developers is not known. According to the preliminary analysis it follows the usual infection patterns by first modifying essential Windows settings. This can include any of the following changes:
- Registry Modifications ‒ The Woodman virus can change sensitive settings in the Windows registry. Consequences can include performance issues, startup problems or configuration changes.
- Security Software Bypass ‒ Advanced strains of the Woodman virus can disable anti-virus software. Only a quality anti-spyware utility can effectively defend against such a threat and remove active infections.
- Persistent Installation ‒ Certain versions of the Woodman virus are able to install the malware deep into the system. It may feature a persistent installation component that is able to monitor the users actions and actively defend against user removal attempts. Such samples can be removed only by a quality anti-spyware solution.
Once the Woodman virus is deployed a ransomware engine can be activated on the host computers. Depending on its configuration it can encrypt sensitive files according to a built-in list of target file type extensions. They are configured according to the intended victims and usually seek to process as many popular data as possible: documents, music, videos, backups, configuration files, databases and etc.
Once all actions are complete the Woodman virus executes lockscreen instance on the target computers. It effectively blocks ordinary computer interaction until the malware is completely removed.
The following message is displayed:
Your Computer have been infected by a meme!
[Make my computer nice again!]
To unlock your computer you must put in a nice lol password
get it wrong YOUR FIRED!
The hackers have been able to extract the hardcoded string that unlocks the computes: “mm2wood.mid”.
Beware that this does not remove the virus from the computer. To effectively recover your machine from the Woodman virus infection follow our removal guide below.
Remove WoodMan virus and Restore Data
WARNING! Manual removal of WoodMan virus requires being familiar with system files and registries. Removing important data accidentally can lead to permanent system damage. If you don’t feel comfortable with manual instructions, download a powerful anti-malware tool that will scan your system for malware and clean it safely for you.
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WoodMan virus- Manual Removal Steps
Start the PC in Safe Mode with Network
This will isolate all files and objects created by the ransomware so they will be removed efficiently. The steps bellow are applicable to all Windows versions.
1. Hit the WIN Key + R
2. A Run window will appear. In it, write msconfig and then press Enter
3. A Configuration box shall appear. In it Choose the tab named Boot
4. Mark Safe Boot option and then go to Network under it to tick it too
5. Apply -> OK
Show Hidden Files
Some ransomware threats are designed to hide their malicious files in the Windows so all files stored on the system should be visible.
1. Open My Computer/This PC
2. Windows 7
- – Click on Organize button
– Select Folder and search options
– Select the View tab
– Go under Hidden files and folders and mark Show hidden files and folders option
3. Windows 8/ 10
- – Open View tab
– Mark Hidden items option
4. Click Apply and then OK button
Enter Windows Task Manager and Stop Malicious Processes
1. Hit the following key combination: CTRL+SHIFT+ESC
2. Get over to Processes
3. When you find suspicious process right click on it and select Open File Location
4. Go back to Task Manager and end the malicious process. Right click on it again and choose End Process
5. Next, you should go folder where the malicious file is located and delete it
Repair Windows Registry
1. Again type simultaneously the WIN Key + R key combination
2. In the box, write regedit and hit Enter
3. Type the CTRL+ F and then write the malicious name in the search type field to locate the malicious executable
4. In case you have discovered registry keys and values related to the name, you should delete them, but be careful not to delete legitimate keys
Click for more information about Windows Registry and further repair help
Recover .WoodMan virus Files
WARNING! All files and objects associated with WoodMan virus should be removed from the infected PC before any data recovery attempts. Otherwise the virus may encrypt restored files. Furthermore, a backup of all encrypted files stored on external media is highly recommendable.
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1. Use present backups
2. Use professional data recovery software
Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery – a specialist tool that can restore partitions, data, documents, photos, and 300 more file types lost during various types of incidents and corruption.
3. Using System Restore Point
- – Hit WIN Key
– Select “Open System Restore” and follow the steps
4. Restore your personal files using File History
- – Hit WIN Key
– Type restore your files in the search box
– Select Restore your files with File History
– Choose a folder or type the name of the file in the search bar
– Hit the “Restore” button
