Smart HDD (SmartHDD) Virus Removal Guide
Virus Type: Rogue Security Application
Threat Level: 8 / 10
Smart HDD (SmartHDD) is a fake defragmenter program. The program attempts to mimic other real defragmenter programs to make it seem like a defragmentation program; however, it is fake program. Smart HDD is part of a line of fake defragmenter programs; other fake defragmenter programs include HDD Rescue and HDD Diagnostic. Smart HDD is generally installed through the use of a trojan horse, which is generally downloaded without user consent while browsing the internet. Smart HDD will display many alerts to scare the user into purchasing Smart HDD, which include the following:
Hard drive doesn’t respond to system commands – Critical Error
Bad sectors on hard drive or damaged file allocation table – Critical Error
37% of HDD space is unreadable – Critical Error
Boot sector of the hard drive disk is damaged – Critical Error
Files placement on hard drive is not optimized. Defragmentation is required – Performance Issue
Critical Error – Hard drive not found. Missing hard drive.
Below is our recommended removal tool for Smart HDD. The removal tool has been rated 5 cows out of 5 by Tucows and was previously CNET’s Editor’s Choice. Feel free to download it below.
If you are unable to run the removal tool, or are unable to run any programs in general, you may need to stop the processes associated with Smart HDD with task manager. If task manager has been blocked by Smart HDD, try using Process Explorer.
When attepting to open a program, Smart HDD will generally display “a hard drive error occurred while starting the application” and block the application from starting. Generally, if you repetitively attempt to open the program, Smart HDD will be unable to block the program and it will eventually open.
It is recommended to use safe mode when removing the virus because Smart HDD will generally not be able to load in safe mode. To enter safe mode, restart the computer and press F8 multiple times before the Windows screen to bring up the boot options.
The safe mode with networking option will allow the user to be able to use the internet in safe mode. Smart HDD can be removed by using the
View Smart HDD Files
View Smart HDD Keys
Manual Smart HDD Removal – In order to manually remove Smart HDD, the processes associated with Smart HDD must be stopped, the files associated with the processes must be removed, and the registry entries must be corrected to the previous state before Smart HDD entered the computer.
Important: Before attempting to manually remove Smart HDD, we recommend that the user read through comments posted by other users on how they removed specific fake antivirus programs since many fake antivirus programs are similar. These comments can be found by clicking here. These comments may provide additional information which may be useful in removing Smart HDD. However, please use discretion since these specific comments pertain to other fake antivirus programs.
Stop Smart HDD Processes (Learn How To Do This)
[random].exe
Remove Smart HDD Files (Learn How To Do This)
C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\temp\[random].exe
Remove Smart HDD Startup Entry (Learn How To Do This)
[random].exe
Common Questions -
1. What is a computer virus? (Click Here To View)
2. How did I get this computer virus? (Click Here To View)
3. What common symptoms show that my computer may be infected? (Click Here To View)
4. What are some antivirus and antispyware programs which I can use to remove viruses and spyware? (Click Here To View)
If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to comment below. If you need any help with any of the steps, please don’t hesitate to comment below. We recommend that you follow our safety tips so that you can keep your computer clean Please Click Here to View Our Safety Tips.
Your feedback is very highly valued by others so please feel free to comment below. Please feel free to share a solution that you may have used to remove Smart HDD.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 14th, 2023 at 1:51 am and is filed under Malware Removal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
