Can you remove ransomware? If you start getting alerts that your computer will lock down if you don’t pay a fee or call a number, you're infected. Try these steps to get rid of it before calling a pro:

1. Research restarting your computer in safe mode. If you use Windows 8 or Windows 10 this article will help you: www.howtogeek.com/107511/how-to-boot-into-safe-mode-on-windows-8-the-easy-way/ - If your computer won't open a web browser as a result of the virus, have a friend print off the instructions for you.

2. Disconnect from the internet. Don’t cut it back on until you’re ready to clean your machine.

3. Restart your computer in safe mode. How you’ll do this varies based on the type of computer you have.

4. Delete temporary files. Once you’re in safe mode, before doing anything else, delete your temporary files. You can do this with the Windows Disk Cleanup utility.

5. Download and run a malware scanner. The good news is that running a scanner is enough to remove most infections. If you had an antivirus program on your computer, you should use a different one. That’s because your original antivirus didn’t detect the problem, so it might not be able to remove it. Malwarebytes is one of my favorite on-demand malware prevention tools. It's available for all types of computers and phones. Once you reconnect the internet, you can download it for free here: www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download/ . Download, install and update your selected malware scanner. Then disconnect from the internet, again before you run the scan. When the scan completes, remove or quarantine files which are problems.

6. Run your regular antivirus program. Although it didn’t detect the malware, it might pick up something the malware checker did not.

7. Run the malware scan, again.

​​​​​​​Once you get a clean bill of health from your antivirus and malware checkers, you should ready to resume normal computing. If your device is still giving you trouble, it might be time for professional help.