Smart HDD - How to remove

Smart HDD

Smart HDD (you can also find it named as S.M.A.R.T. HDD) is another version of fake system optimizers and focusing on simulating hardware failures instead malware attacks or registry issues. A clone of HDD Rescue and Smart Defragmenter, and many other disk defragmenters, this malware was released only a few days after the last one. The internals of Smart HDD are not that different from its predecessors and the way it behaves is about the same. There are several versions of this parasite, the first one launched in late 2010, the second one during April 2012.

SmartHDD enters system through various browser vulnerabilities, trojans and exploits. When in system, it creates several files, typically in %Temp% directory and makes them launch on start. These executables are responsible for various Popups and Alerts that start annoying user.

Smart HDD popups state, that your PC is malfunctioning. Typically, hard drive is blamed, but it can be “bad RAM” or some problems in registry. The popups look like this :

Smart HDD
S.M.A.R.T. Repair
Fix issues reported during the in-depth of S.M.A.R.T. attributes

Hard drives diagnostic report
Your computer is in critical state. Hard disk error detected.
As a result it can lead to hard disk failure and potential loss of data.
It is highly recommended to repair all found errors to prevent loss of files, applications and documents stored on your computer.

Windows detected a hard drive problem.
A hard drive error occurred while starting the application.

Windows cannot find notepad. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button, and then click Search.

Requested registry access is not allowed. Registry defragmentation required

Surely, all of the popups are fake, but if you click on them, the main window of SmartHDD will be shown and system “Scan” will start. It is way too fast for a real system scan and it will detect about same collection of problems. Each of these problems can be “fixed” for modest price of 60-80 USD. Beware that it is a scam and the system will not be fixed if you pay. They will likely resell your credit card details and continue scam innocent people.

As you can see, you must remove Smart HDD. Removal procedure of this malware might be a bit complicated, as it will stop many programs from launching. Sometimes programs can be started, sometimes not. Typically, Smart HDD blames hard disk failure for this problem, but the fact is that the trojan is responsible for it. To get rid of SmartHDD follow one of our instructions.

First, Security researcher Siri reported, that old code for this family of rogues still work : 0973467457475070215340537432225 or 15801587234612645205224631045976 (updated). If you press on Help and support and register the program with this code, popups are likely to stop. In this case, do a full scan with Spyhunter, Spyhunter, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and other tools. Update before scan.
Secondly, a more complex way is following :

  • Open c:\windows\system32 in explorer. Find cmd.exe and create a desktop link to it.
  • Launch cmd from desk. Type: “runas /user:cceng cmd” without quotes and press enter . A second command window will launch.
  • In new window launch taskmgr
  • Kill Smart HDD processes (random letters/numbers, you will know when you see it )
  • In the same cmd, launch regedit
  • Go to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\run and delete all the reg values that are from the same location like processes you killed
  • Delete any desktop + startmenu icons to it.
  • Download and run TDSS killer, Spyhunter, spyhunter. Run a full system scan with each of them in that order. This is to detect remaining infections to Smart HDD
  • If S.M.A.R.T. HDD virus hides files and folders, you can see them after changing folder view settings. To make them permanently visible, press Start->Run->Cmd, then cd to your document folder and run ATTRIB -h -s *.*.

Video tutorial on Smart HDD virus removal


You would be much less likely to be infected with Smart HDD and similar malware if you had a malware real time protection like full version of Spyhunter or Malwarebytes Anti-Malware offer.

NOTE: There is a legitimate program with the same or similar name.

Automatic Malware removal tools

Download Spyhunter for Malware detection
(Win)

Note: Spyhunter trial provides detection of parasites and assists in their removal for free. limited trial available, Terms of use, Privacy Policy, Uninstall Instructions,

Download Combo Cleaner for Malware detection
(Mac)

Note: Combo Cleaner trial provides detection of parasites and assists in their removal for free. limited trial available, Terms of use, Privacy Policy, Uninstall Instructions, Refund Policy ,

Manual removal

Removal guides in other languages

12 responses to “Smart HDD

  1. I cant find the run program link on my window xp infected with smart hdd. everything is being hidden.

  2. Yeah, I know I have this virus, but it must be a more powerful version than before, last night it started and it has rendered my laptop completely useless. I can’t even start it, when I power on it goes straight to a blue screen then restarts itself only to go to a blue screen again then restart. I think I need professional help, this is def not something I can handle myself.

  3. I had the smart hdd download onto my computer yesterday, it appears to have been through a video attached to facebook of the Westminster kennel show. After following your instructions and downloading Spyware Doctor, Spyhunter Malwarebytes Anti-Malware it appears to have gone away. I had to restore my computer from an earlier backup and all appeared well until this am. On going to the computer, it said there are updates and windows must restart now. It gave no choice but to restart, than gave a grey screen and 1 of 51 downloads do not restart. It completed this action about an hour later. On restart, it had problems with the intel program and required an additional download for that. I’ve purchased Spyware Doctor as my protector.

    Can I trust this computer now that all of this has occured?

  4. Aaron: First, Make sure you run single AV only (SD 8 counts as AV, mbam and Spyware hunter does not). Disable SD real time protection if you use other antivirus.
    Secondly, you might want to talk with PC Tools support in your case. There might be another malware as well.

  5. I am unable to get cmd.exe on my desktop. Is this because of the virus? I launched it from explorer, but when I typed in everything, instead of opening a new window, it asked for a password. I used my administrative password, but was told it was unable to run cmd.

  6. This is the second time this happens to me somehow I got rid of it now I can’t. I’m currently downloading SpuHunter hoping it works.None of my programs are there all my applications are gone. Basically a couple programs are left like my internet browser which is the one I’m using Firefox. I just want to remove this Smart hdd from my computer!!

  7. Came across a version of this (on my daughter’s computer) that included Russian messages five days ago. It took over the user account management system and locked out all the existing admin accounts (Including a backdoor account I setup to get into Win to disable other admin accounts that were maliciously added by trojans). It also re-wrote the entire Win7 OS along with the entire contents of the C: drive into new folders. I only got rid of this by doing a low-level reformat of the entire hard disk drive and completely re-install of Win7 using the recovery tool.

  8. Also, a lot of the newer laptops (Like my Daughter’s Compaq CQ57 with 1GB memory) won’t support Spyware Doctor as the memory and storage requirements of SD are too great. Sooo… install Malware Bytes (Mbam) for the win here!

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