Department of Justice virus

It is not a correct way of speaking of the United States Department of Justice as a virus, but this is exactly how users tend to name the ransomware that bears the good name of DOJ for reaching its many malicious purposes. This is a special type of computer infection that locks the infected computer with its scary warning supposedly coming from the Department of Justice. The warning also condemns users of performing various crimes online through use of their infected computer, thus supposedly explaining the reason for the system to be locked. The fact, however, is that it is indeed locked, but this is the result of hackers’ malicious activities and not the measure taken by the US Department of Justice. The primary scary message of this ransomware says “Your computer has been blocked”.

The purpose of the Department of Justice virus is to make users really scared with the bunch of faulty and deceitful information expressed by this malware. If your system has been infected with such a scam you should immediately take the necessary actions to remove it successfully. But first, of course, you must ignore the scary alert contained in the text of the ransomware. Remember that it has nothing to do with the US Department of Justice. This is a typical scam elaborated by the pack of cyber hackers.

In order to get rid of the Department of Justice warning on your computer you first should ignore this scary notification. Then you will need to undertake some manual steps to get rid of it. In the majority of the cases this scam can be removed by running some security software that is powerful enough in safe mode with networking. So, you will need to restart your computer into safe mode with networking, and then download our recommended anti-malware program GridinSoft Trojan Killer to remove all sources of infection. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us immediately if you require our assistance on any issues associated with malware (ransomware) removal.

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Removal steps:

Important! This tutorial is effective for all GreenDot MoneyPak, Ukash and Paysafecard ransomwares.

1. Restart your system and press F8 while it is restarting.
2. Select Safe Mode with Networking.

3. Press Start menu and choose Run, or press [Win]+R hotkey combination on keyboard.

4. Type msconfig

5. Disable all startup items rundll32 that launch any application from Application Data.
6. Reboot your system once again.
7. Scan your computer with GridinSoft Trojan Killer immediately to identify the infected file and delete it.

Important! Certain versions of these viruses disable all safe modes, but give a short gap that you can use to run antivirus tools. If this is the case, do following:

1. Restart normally.
2. Click Start and select Run.
3. Enter the text specified in the quotation below. If malware is loaded, just press Alt+Tab once and keep entering the string blindly; then press Enter.

http://trojan-killer.net/download.php

4. Press Alt+tab and then R (letter) a couple of times. The process of ransomware virus should be killed after you succeed to download, install our recommended software and scan your system with it.

Recommended software for DOJ (Department of Justice) virus removal:

Alternative automatic removal solution:

1. Go to your friend, relative or anybody else who has computer with Internet connection.
2. Take your USB flash drive / Memory Stick with you.
3. Download GridinSoft Trojan Killer installation file from this site http://trojan-killer.net/download.php and save it to your USB flash drive / Memory Stick.
4. Get back to your infected PC and insert the USB Drive / Memory Stick into the respective USB slot.
5. Perform hard reset (press reset button on your computer) if your infected PC has been on with ransomware's background. If not, then simply turn your PC on.
6. Before the very boot process begins keep repeatedly hitting “F8” button on your keyboard.
7. In the window that appeared select “Safe mode with command prompt” option and press Enter.

8. Choose your operating system and user account which was infected with ransomware virus.
9. In the cmd.exe window type “explorer” and press “Enter” button on your keyboard.
10. Select “My Computer” and choose your USB flash drive / Memory Stick.
11. Run the installation file of GridinSoft Trojan Killer. Install the program and run scan with it. (update of the program will not work for “Safe mode with command prompt” option)
12. When the hijackers are successfully disabled (fixed) by GridinSoft Trojan Killer you may close GridinSoft Trojan Killer application.
13. In the cmd.exe window type “shutdown /r /t 0” and press “Enter” button on your keyboard.
14. Upon system reboot your PC will be unlocked and you will be able to use it just as before the infection took pace.
15. However, it is recommended that you now update GridinSoft Trojan Killer and run the scan with it again to remove the source of the infections causing ransomware virus to infect your PC.

Similar automatic removal video:

Alternative manual removal milestones (optional and might not be effective):

1. Restart your system into "Safe Mode with Command Prompt". While the PC is booting press the "F8 key" continuously, which should present the "Windows Advanced Options Menu" as presented in the image below. Apply the arrow keys in order to move to "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" and hit Enter key of your keyboard. Login as the same user you were previously logged in under the normal Windows mode.
2. Once Windows boots successfully, the Windows command prompt would appear as described at the screenshot below. At the command prompt, type-in the word "explorer", and press Enter. Windows Explorer should open. Please do not yet close it. You can minimize it for a while.
3. Afterwards open the Registry editor by applying the same Windows command prompt. Type-in the word "regedit" and hit Enter button of your keyboard. The Registry Editor should open.
4. Find the following registry entry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\
5. In the right-side panel select the registry entry named Shell. Right click on this registry key and select "Modify" option. Its default value should be "Explorer.exe". However, ransomware virus did its job, and so after you click "Modify" you would see totally different value of this registry entry.
6. Copy the location of the modified value of the above-mentioned registry entry to the piece of paper or memorize its location. It shows where exactly the main executable of ransomware virus is located.
7. Modify the value of the registry entry back to "explorer.exe" and save the settings of the Registry Editor.
8. Go to the location indicated in the value of modified registry entry. Remove the malicous file. Use the file location you copied into the piece of paper or otherwise noted in step in previous step.
9. Get back to "Normal Mode". In order to reboot your PC, when at the command prompt, type-in the following phrase "shutdown /r /t 0" (without the quotation marks) and hit Enter button.
10. The virus should be gone. However, in order to clean your PC from other possible virus threats and malware remnants, make sure to download and run GridinSoft Trojan Killer downloadable through the button below.

Similar manual removal video:

Associated virus files to be removed:

[random].exe

Associated virus registry entries to be removed:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\"Shell" = "[random].exe"