Now any computer user can easily remove ransomware from their PC.
Take back control, Kickstart your PC!

Introduction

HitmanPro.Kickstart is the solution against police ransomware and other persistent malware that has taken your computer hostage or prevents normal computer use.

When your PC has been infected with ransomware you see a message, supposedly from the police, FBI or other authorities, demanding that a fine must be paid in order to unlock the computer. Payment is done via prepaid cards from Ukash, MoneyPak or Paysafecard.

Some examples of ransomware:

Once ransomware has become active on your system, it pops up every time you restart your system and blocks access to your desktop. There is no way to start your antivirus program, or any other program, to try and remove this nasty piece of software.

So how do you get rid of this malware?

HitmanPro.Kickstart

All you need to do is boot up your system with the help of the HitmanPro.Kickstart USB flash drive. The programs on the flash drive will make sure that you boot into your own familiar Windows environment and start HitmanPro there. All the required drivers for your devices and all wireless network passwords (who can remember them?) will be readily available. There is no need to become familiar with the tools of other operating systems, like for instance Linux.

HitmanPro.Kickstart bypasses the ransomware and guides you through the process to remove the ransomware quickly and easily. No manual tasks are required, everyone can use HitmanPro.Kickstart. It only takes a few minutes to free your computer from ransomware.

Note: A live ransomed Windows environment provides lots of forensic information, like which processes have started and which processes run full screen (blocking access to the desktop). This information gives HitmanPro a solid lead on which files and registry keys belong to the ransomware. An obvious advantage over rescue CDs that boot into a different environment and rely on virus signatures.

Create HitmanPro.Kickstart USB flash drive 

The following video will show you how to turn any existing USB flash drive into a HitmanPro.Kickstart USB flash drive, using just a few clicks.

After the HitmanPro.Kickstart flash drive has been created you can put your own files on the stick.
See also chapter 6.1 of the User Manual.

Remove ransomware with HitmanPro.Kickstart 

Once you have created a HitmanPro.Kickstart USB flash drive you can use it to rescue a ransomed PC. For that you must first make sure that the ransomed PC is powered off.

Insert the HitmanPro.Kickstart USB flash drive into a USB port of the ransomed PC and turn on the power of the PC. During the startup of the PC, enter the Boot Menu of your BIOS (press either F8, F11 or F12 depending on the manufacturer of your BIOS) and select the HitmanPro.Kickstart USB flash drive.

The following video demonstrates the use of a HitmanPro.Kickstart USB flash drive to remove ransomware.

Product Comparison 

The following table lists a number of HitmanPro.Kickstart's features and compares them to currently available rescue CDs.

Feature	Rescue CD	HitmanPro.Kickstart
Free product
Easy to use by non-technical computer user
Bypasses Master Boot Record (Sector 0) bootkits
Uses multiple anti-virus engines1
Zero-day detection using behavioral scan
No need for virus definition updates
Fast scan takes less than 5 minutes (on average)
Access the internet without having to enter your Wi-Fi network credentials2
Uses the Windows drivers that are needed for your specific hardware3, no matter how old or exotic your system is
Creates restore point to revert changes
Replaces infected system files with clean versions
Sustainable – updatable medium
Full-fledged product instead of trimmed antivirus subset

Troubleshooting 

An error message "#5, lock" is shown when I try to create a HitmanPro.Kickstart flash drive

This message is shown whenever another process is holding a lock on the USB flash drive. Most times this is because there is a window open which shows the contents of the flash drive. Sometimes Windows is configured to show the contents of a flash drive whenever a new one is inserted into the PC. These windows must be closed before the flash drive can be written.
Also the failure can occur because of another AV program, inspecting the contents of the flash drive. In that case, waiting a few seconds and then trying to write again will succeed most of the times.

The computer does not continue to boot Windows after I select '1'or '2' from the Kickstart boot menu.

If you select boot option '1' or '2' from the Kickstart boot menu and you encounter one of the following problems:

• Black screen
• Blinking cursor
• A ‘hanging’ computer at the Windows screen that does not continue to boot Windows

then try the following:

1. Make sure that in your BIOS the boot order is configured so that the HDD has priority over the USB flash drive.
2. During power-up of your computer tap F12/F11/F8/ESC (or another key, depending on your BIOS) to get into the boot-override menu.
   Note that this boot-override menu is NOT the same menu as the boot-configuration menu in your BIOS.
   See also the three screenshots above for examples of how to get into the boot-override menu.
3. In the boot-override menu, select the USB flash drive to boot from.

Note: Make sure that the HitmanPro.Kickstart boot loader shows version 1.1 or higher, as shown below.

If version number is not 1.1 or higher, then recreate the Kickstart USB flash drive using the latest version of HitmanPro.