Possible ransomware attack?

rob1951

One of my PCs is behaving very oddly. I've disconnected it from the internet for now. The problem is that all browsers refuse to connect to most but not all web sites.

I saw lots of references to a file called the-real-index (in notepad it's full of garbage), made me wonder if its ransomware in progress.

Any ideas where to go next

Gjoksi

Hello.

After reading this article:

https://filext.com/file-extension/THE-REAL-INDEX

it seems that "the-real-index" file is a legitimate file from Chrome.

But, since you suspect your PC acts like that because it might be infected, please follow the next steps:

First, do a System Scan with Bitdefender and see if Bitdefender will find any malware on your system.

If Bitdefender will find any malware, before doing any actions after the scan is done (like quarantine/delete the malware sample), do the following steps:

Take screenshot(s) of the issue,

create a log file on your Windows device using Bitdefender Support Tool, by following these steps:

https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/1733/

and

create a log file on your Windows device using BDsysLog, by following these steps:

https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/1922/

Next, contact Bitdefender Consumer Support by e-mail:

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/91918/bitdefender-websites-and-bitdefender-consumer-support-contacts

with short description of the issue.

After that, you will get an automated reply by the Bitdefender Customer Care Team, with your ticket number.

Now, in reply to that automated reply, you can send the screenshot(s) you already took and the log files you already created in the first step.

Since you are all done, just wait for the support engineers to investigate your issue and find a solution to fix the issue.

Remember that the screenshot(s) and the log files will help a lot to the support engineers for better and faster investigation on your issue and finding a solution.

Also, you could perform a scan with these FREE malware removal tools:

Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool 2020

https://www.kaspersky.com/downloads/free-virus-removal-tool

ESET Online Scanner

https://download.eset.com/com/eset/tools/online_scanner/latest/esetonlinescanner.exe

F-Secure Online Scanner

https://download.sp.f-secure.com/tools/F-SecureOnlineScanner.exe

Malwarebytes AdwCleaner

https://adwcleaner.malwarebytes.com/adwcleaner?channel=release

Regards.