Photo Gallery Not Showing Photos??????????????????????????????????

[has]

With reference to my question yesterday....
I had a 'virus' that locked my laptop but got it removed. However, I now can't view any of my photos. It states;
"Photo Gallery can't open this picture or video. This file format is not supported or you don't have the latest updates to Photo Gallery."

How can I view my photos once again? Are they lost/deleted?

I have seen something new on laptop which states..."Your personal files are encrypted" & to decrypt I need to open the stated website...However, when I open this site, it talks about Bitcoins as payment????????????????????????

HELP.....................How do I get my photos back? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

[Buenchico]

Aaaagh!

You seem to have been hit by the dreaded Cryptolocker:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25506020
To the best of my knowledge, nobody has found a cure for it yet (and many people have reported that paying the ransom money hasn't resulted in the problem being fixed either). Sorry!

You'll probably need to get the laptop's hard drive completely wiped and then reinstall Windows, all of your drivers and all of the software but, regrettably, files such as documents and pictures will be lost forever.

For future reference (as it will be absolutely no use to you at the moment) please read this:
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/oct/19/10-ways-beat-cryptolocker-protect-files
The most important bit is, of course, where it says that up should BACK UP all of your files onto external media. Even without the problems caused by cyber-criminals, hard drives will fail and people will lose vital data.

[has]

Thanks for your answer Buenchico. Very sad but annoyed to hear this.

Another question, please bare with ! ! !

I have put some photos on my external hard-drive & I thought these were safe, but when I open this, the same happens again. There are 3 HOWDECRYPT docs now in with the piccys (GIF Image / Chrome HTML Document / Text Document).
Also, am I able to put further photos in my folder, direct from my camera, will I be able to view these?
Does this mean these are no longer available?
Really sorry but my computer knowledge is almost zero!!

Can the shop that 'removed' the laptops' virus(s) do anything about this?

[Buenchico]

Thanks for your reply.

The file encryption software that criminals have remotely installed and run on your computer is similar to the encryption software that is widely available to anyone. (There are many legitimate uses for such software, such as businessmen or government officials making sure that sensitive data doesn't fall into the wrong hands or simply for keeping a list of all your passwords secure). With the best of such software (and when you use a complex and lengthy password) even the best hackers in the world (such as the US National Security Agency or MI5) can't decrypt your files, so (regrettably in this case) the chances of the guy in your local computer shop being able to do so are totally zero.

Cryptolocker operates on all drives attached to the computer onto which it's installed. So if your external drive was attached to your laptop when Cryptolocker was running, all of the vulnerable files on it will have been encrypted. The presence of those extra files definitely suggests that's already happened but it might be worth getting a computer repair shop to take a look at the drive to check. (Please don't just attach the drive to a friend's computer; you might infect his/her computer with Cryptolocker as well!).

Until your laptop has been completely cleaned (i.e, the hard drive has been wiped and Windows reinstalled) please don't attempt to do anything at all with it. Any files added to it might also end up encrypted if Cryptolocker is set to run more than once. Similarly, don't use the external drive (even with another computer) until the PC repair shop has checked to see if any files can be salvaged and then wiped and reformatted it, as that could result in Cryptolocker being passed on as well.

Lastly, definitely DON'T attach your camera to the laptop at the moment. Your laptop sees the camera's memory simply as another external drive. If Cryptolocker runs while the camera is attached to it, all of the files on the camera will also become encrypted!

[has]

Thank you once again Buenchico. Your answers have been a great help.