Alias: HDD Doctor, HDD Doctor Fake Disk Repair, HDD Doctor Uninstall, softwarefoundation.org/hdddoctor

Description: Posted on: Dec 23, 2010 10:09am

HDD Doctor is a fake disk utility tool from the HDD Fake Tools Family. HDD Doctor hijacks your computer and starts claiming that your computer is experiencing hard disk failure and that you are about to lose your data. They use this as a scare tactic to get you to purchase the full version. HDD Doctor is very good at eluding detection. In order for HDD Doctor to stop you from removing it, it disables your existing antivirus and antispyware programs and blocks access to help forums and to major name brand antispyware and antivirus vendor websites.

If you try to run an application, HDD Doctor will give a warning message saying "A hard drive error occurred while starting the application" (a sample message is shown below). In most cases we have seen, HDD Doctor was installed by a trojan or mistakenly downloaded from one of many fraudulent Fake Scanner Sites.

HDD Doctor displays exaggerated fake scan results similar to those shown below:

There are two methods to remove HDD Doctor. If your desktop has been replaced with a blank screen or a black screen, please use 'method 2' below, otherwise use 'method 1'.

Please make sure to bookmark this page as you may need to refer back to it to complete the removal steps.

HDD Doctor Special Removal Instructions (method 1)

Use 'method 1' if your screen is not blank and you are still able to see icons on your desktop.

Step 1: Download SpyNoMore onto the infected computer. If you are unable to download SpyNoMore directly onto the infected computer, you can download it to a clean computer and transfer it to the infected computer (by using a network or a flash drive). NOTE: This version of the installer will be named iexplore.exe.

Step 2: Double-click the downloaded file to install SpyNoMore on the infected computer. When the installation is completed, SpyNoMore will check for and download available updates which may alert HDD Doctor to its presence at which point the HDD Doctor may shut down SpyNoMore. If SpyNoMore is shut down by the infection, simply restart SpyNoMore from the desktop shortcut.

Step 3: SNM will scan your computer and if an HDD Doctor is present, SNM will detect it and you will be able to see either Fake Tool or one of the names it goes by (see above) in the scan results. Please note that the free version of SpyNoMore will only show you the detections but will not remove them. In order to remove the infection you need to purchase a 1-year license which costs $29 (or $39 for 3 computers). In all cases, you will be able to see the HDD Doctor in the free version scan results.

Step 4: After the scan is complete and you are able to see the HDD Doctor in the scan results, you can purchase the activation key and proceed to remove the infection. If you are unable to purchase the activation key from the infected computer, you can do so from a clean computer by clicking on our Purchase link on spynomore.com. Simply write down the activation key and use it to activate SNM on the infected computer. This will remove the intruder HDD Doctor and restore your program. You will again be able to run your programs and applications without trouble.

Step 5 (optional): It would be a good idea to check your computer for rootkits (which are basically hidden trojans) which may have tagged along with HDD Doctor. To do so, download and run TDSSKiller by Kaspersky Labs.

Step 6 (optional): If TDSSKiller does find a rootkit, it will ask you to restart your computer so that it can remove the rootkit(s). After your computer restart, scan your computer once more with SpyNoMore to make sure everthing is OK.

HDD Doctor Special Removal Instructions (method 2)

Use 'method 2' if your screen is blank and you can no longer see icons on your desktop.

Step 1: On your keyboard, hit the 3 buttons Ctrl+Alt+Del at the same time. This will bring up your Task Manager.

Step 2: In Task Manager, click on 'New Task' (on the Applications tab). Click on the 'Browse' button and navigate to c:\Program Files\Internet Explorer.

Step 3: In the Internet Explorer folder that opens, double-click on IEXPLORE.EXE and then choose 'OK'. This will open up your IE Browser.

Step 4: Download SpyNoMore and install it on the infected computer. When the installation is completed, SpyNoMore will check for and download available updates, download any available updates.

Step 5: SNM will scan your computer and if an HDD Doctor is present, SNM will detect it and you will be able to see either Fake Tool or one of the names it goes by (see above) in the scan results. Please note that the free version of SpyNoMore will only show you the detections but will not remove them. In order to remove the infection you need to purchase a 1-year license which costs $29 (or $39 for 3 computers). In all cases, you will be able to see the HDD Doctor in the free version scan results.

Step 6: After the scan is complete and you are able to see the HDD Doctor in the scan results, you can purchase the activation key and proceed to remove the infection. If you are unable to purchase the activation key from the infected computer, you can do so from a clean computer by clicking on our Purchase link on spynomore.com. Simply write down the activation key and use it to activate SNM on the infected computer. This will remove the intruder HDD Doctor and restore your program. You will again be able to run your programs and applications without trouble.

Step 7 (optional): It would be a good idea to check your computer for rootkits (which are basically hidden trojans) which may have tagged along with HDD Doctor. To do so, download and run TDSSKiller by Kaspersky Labs.

Step 8 (optional): If TDSSKiller does find a rootkit, it will ask you to restart your computer so that it can remove the rootkit(s). After your computer restart, scan your computer once more with SpyNoMore to make sure everthing is OK.

Hint: If SpyNoMore is unable to download updates, click on SpyNoMore's 'Settings' button and uncheck the box that says 'Use Internet Explorer settings'.

Threat type:

Hijacker - A Hijacker is a software application that takes control of your browser's settings. Usually it changes your home page and redirects it to some unknown site or modifies your search settings. It prevents you from changing back your browser's settings. An infected browser usually operates much slower.

Ransomware - Ransomware is a software application that infects a computer and asks for money to have the infection removed.

Trojan - A Trojans or Trojan Horse is any programs that installs itself secretly normally via malware programs, quite often with sinister intent. Once installed, the trojan author (hacker) can gain complete control of the infected PC. Trojans are usually designed to steal sensitive information and/or destroy the system. Trojans can be distributed as unsolicited email attachments, or bundled with freeware and shareware programs.

Advice: Remove This is a very high risk threat and should be removed immediately as to prevent harm to your computer and / or to protect your privacy.

Detection:
SpyNoMore removes HDD Doctor: Yes

Threat risk: Very High Risk

Extremely dangerous malware. Uses stealth installation, randomly named entries and has the capability to self update or resurrect after incomplete removal. Almost impossible to remove manually. Category mostly consists of trojans and spyware.

Symptoms:

HDD Doctor Signature Details: The following information includes some of the standard signatures associated with this spyware threat. Please do not attempt to manually remove these items from your computer; Removing these items incorrectly or partially can cause your computer to experience critical errors, prevent your computer from restarting or cause loss of Internet connectivity. Should you be infected with HDD Doctor, you can clean your computer by downloading SpyNoMore now.

Running Process Signatures:
N/A

File Signatures:
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Registered Dll (Dynamic Link Library) Signatures:
N/A

Folder Signatures:
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Registry Signatures:
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SpyNoMore Collected Residual File Signatures:
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See Also:
Defragmenter
Scour.com
Shopcompareus.com
Info.com
Disk Repair
Antivirus Scan
Personal Internet Security 2011
FastDisk
DayKick.com
Palladium Pro