Unfortunately CryptoPrevent is only designed for malware prevention, and cannot help if you are already infected, at which point you should seek help from your local or remote PC repair specialists.

If you don’t know where to turn for help, consult our new Tech Directory!  

Background:  We at Foolish IT have been seeking a way to help our customers when they need local or remote repair/malware removal services, because frequently customers end up here after they are already infected.  As this site hosts a lot of PC Technician related software, also frequently people will land on this website searching for answers in fixing other PC issues.

In order to stock the database, we’ve recently reached out to our technician clients who use our flagship d7II:  PC Productivity Software, the best tool in the industry for PC Repair, Malware Removal, and workflow automation, to invite them to sign up for approval to appear in our Tech Directory.

All PC Repair shops, Technicians, MSPs, and other IT Service Providers who use the best tools in the industry also receive current and regular or on-demand training from our staff.  While our training is first provided to ensure the tools are used accurately and efficiently, to produce the best and most consistent results, we also provide continuing education courses in malware removal and other repair tactics as well.  We want to ensure our technician customers are getting the best possible result, and that means ensuring that their customers (you) are happy with the work!

While it is just getting started, so there may be very few entries in the list especially for someone local to your area, some of our listed businesses will provide Remote Support services and can possibly remotely assist you with your issues right now!  So visit the Tech Directory today!

Yes!  ALL installed editions of CryptoPrevent provide the same protection features, including the Free Edition!  (The Portable Edition cannot apply on-demand or real-time protection, and is limited to Software Restriction Policy based protections.)

The Free Edition can receive updates through the program itself, although operation is entirely manual (meaning you have to remember to check for updates regularly by using the manual update function inside the program.)  

The Premium Edition and Bulk/Resale Edition are capable of automated updating features, which schedule a daily silent update check for program and definition updates.

YES!  You should periodically check for and update to the latest version using the program’s update function to stay current with the latest methodology in preventing current malware.

After update it is then necessary to re-apply the protection to your system. It is not necessary to undo the previous protection in place before doing this, or even to uninstall the app before updating. If you have an older version of the app before the update functionality was introduced, simply download and install the latest version, then re-apply protection.

This process is entirely automatic for users of the Premium edition (which includes automatic updating functionality.)

YES!  A LOT of trojan based malware out there utilizes the same infection tactics and launch point locations as CryptoLocker, therefore CryptoPrevent will protect against all malware that fits the same or similar profile and behavior. Additionally new SRP rules to the existing protection system, plus new protection types (and definition updates) integrated into CryptoPrevent v6/v7 (and another coming soon in v8) will stop far more malware than just ‘crypto’ style ransomware!

We cannot answer that. Your existing Anti-Virus protection is only as good as the latest definition files, and I can’t tell you which products on the market are confirmed to protect against this threat.

What I can tell you is that there is NO Anti-Virus software on the market today that provides the same type of protection that CryptoPrevent provides, it works in an entirely different manner.

Since the two can co-exist on the same PC peacefully, and CryptoPrevent’s protections do not utilize any system resources, why not utilize both methods of protection?

Yes!  CryptoPrevent should co-exist peacefully with your existing security software. There may from time to time be some minor issues, and they will be outlined on the Troubleshooting page.

Yes it is compatible, just like a workstation OS. We would highly recommend installing it on a terminal server.

Otherwise it is actually pointless to install CryptoPrevent or other CryptoLocker prevention rules on a server OS, as it is usually company policy that employees do not check their email from the server, or browse the internet, etc.  There is no other reason that malicious files would be executed from the server itself, if no one uses it as if it were a workstation.  What then would be the purpose of installing the protection on the server?

The best way to protect a server from CryptoLocker is to protect the workstations.  Even with CryptoPrevent installed on the server, if a workstation with a mapped drive gets infected, any data on an open network share is still compromised!

Short answer is “No, there is nothing that will protect you in all cases.” Malware is forever evolving and it is always a cat and mouse game of catch up no matter which side of the situation you are on. CryptoPrevent will protect against a large amount of cryptowares, other malware, and is a great supplement to traditional antivirus that many times do not block cryptowares.  There are still more steps you can take to even further protect yourself and easily recover when something does slip through various defenses:

1. Backups – This is one of the most important steps you can take and the most often overlooked or done incorrectly. There are several options and variations out there.  Research will need to be done to find what best suits your needs, lifestyle and price point. Windows includes backup utilities and there are several 3rd party vendors offering solutions. If you would like more assistance choosing a solution, we would recommend contacting one of the qualified technicians in our Tech Directory. Also a major point in doing backups is verifying that they work periodically. Doing this will ensure your backups are working correctly and you will have experience restoring from them so it will be easier in a time of crisis.  It is also important to multiple backups and backup locations.  If you have your backups stored on your system, there are some variations of cryptowares that will try to encrypt these as well, so disconnecting and/or having offsite backups is highly recommended.

2. Active and up to date Antivirus – CryptoPrevent will add a large number of protections for your system but it is not a replacement for having an active antivirus scanner on your system! It was designed as and is a supplement to antivirus. CryptoPrevent uses other methods than most all Antivirus on the market, so it has a chance to catch items that may slip past their highly refined and proven systems. Again consult our qualified technicians in the Tech Directory for additional support on choosing the best option for you.

3. Network and System Level Firewalls – Having firewalls at both the point of entry/exit to the internet as well as on the local systems themselves greatly increases your chances of preventing malicious attacks. Most routers and Windows itself have firewalls built in and turned on by default and should be left on! There are also 3rd party options for firewalls at both the network and local system level that will greatly improve beyond the default protections provided by most home routers and local Windows firewall abilities. Again consult our qualified technicians in the Tech Directory for additional support on choosing the best option for you.

4. Network Share Permissions – Since cryptowares will try to encrypt network shares you can limit their damages here with proper network permissions.  Only providing write access to users who absolutely need to write in group folders.  An even better option is to have any group share folders only writable from the server level and providing individual shares that are only write access for the specific individual user.  The administrator can update items directly on the server if things need to be moved from individual shares to a group share or updating the group share directly.

5. User Education and Safe Internet Practices – When it comes down to it this is by far the best protection against malicious infections of most all types. Especially when combined with CryptoPrevent and the above items, this knowledge will prevent a large majority of all infections. If you manage a group of users it is very important and in some cases a requirement to make sure they are aware of this information as well.
There are many items this encompasses and we can only cover a few in this FAQ but some of the most important ones are:
-Don’t open attachments unless you are expecting to receive one via email. If you do receive an attachment you are unsure of, reply to the address for further information before downloading or opening the attachment. Even if it is from a trusted source, it is always a possibility that they have been infected and were not aware of the message being sent out on their behalf. This is actually the most common means of system infection to this day.
-Don’t open suspicious links in social media or on the web in general. This is similar to email but instead of attachments, links are used to direct towards malicious files that will infect your system. This is the second most common means of infection.
-Don’t download/stream pirated media. Theses items are normally provided by criminals and they have no reason not to have criminal intents along side of providing you with the media you are after. As the saying in life goes, the same applies online “Nothing is for free”, if it’s not supported by advertisements then it will normally have another means of revenue that may include infecting your system.
There are many more safe practices and again consult our qualified technicians in the Tech Directory for additional information on ways to stay safe on the internet and protect yourself.

We recommend our Tech Directory so highly because these are technicians or shops that subscribe to our flagship product d7II. By using this product they are in our eyes highly qualified technicians already and should be able to assist you easily in any of the above items. We are also more than happy to help where we can but please remember we are mainly available to support our products and not to provide end user tech support. We feel this is best left to the professionals in our Tech Directory!