Traditionally there has not been programs to stop ransom ware. There have been a few techniques to slow down at firewall or catch time bomb versions with anti-malware such as anti-virus programs.

However there is now at least one program out there that claims will stop ransom ware, Malwarebytes which has been a leading anti-virus program for a long time has come out with an anti-ransom software program (my only problem with it is that the free version requires people to run a manual scan regularly, which most people will forget) I do not know if works as I do not have ransom ware to try against it but some leading publications have tested it and claim it catches 98% of ransom ware.

The program is still beta software (although up to version 0.9.xxx currently which means the ninth version of beta) which means they are still testing it and not gotten to the first release they see as fully reliable. However, some software tends now to stay in beat phase. Google kept the tem on Gmail as beta software for a extra long time as it became very popular to let people know it is continually improving.

Malwarebytes anti-ransom ware is available at https://forums.malwarebytes.org/topic/177751-introducing-malwarebytes-anti-ransomware-beta/ the link to the program is on that page. If you decide to search via Google or another search engine make sure you spell malwarebytes.org correctly or you may instead get ransom ware appearing as the program.

I have it running on my computer and a coupe others and will se what happens. Since malwarebytes has found a way to prevent I assume other anti-virus companies will come out with soon similar products and some build in the anti-virus program as when anti-spyware programs appeared. However even if you have this or another program be careful clicking on links in emails and in ads as remember the ratings are only 95% effective and not 100% and you don’t want to be in 5%.