Alias: HDD Tools, HDD Tools Fake Tool, HDD Tools Virus, HDD Tools Trojan, HDD Fake Tools, HDD Rescue, Win HDD, Hard Drive Diagnostic, HDD Diagnostic, HDD Plus, Smart HDD, Win Defragmenter

Description: Posted on: Dec 15, 2010 9:44am

HDD Tools is a fake hard disk protection tool belonging to the rogue HDD Fake Tools family. HDD Tools 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 Tools is very good at eluding detection. In order for HDD Tools 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. It can also disable Task Manager so that you don't shut it down manually.

If you try to run an application, HDD Tools 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 Tools was installed by a trojan or mistakenly downloaded from one of many fraudulent Fake Scanner Sites.

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









If you are unable to run programs, this is because HDD Tools has disabled them.

HDD Tools Special Removal Instructions

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

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 Antivirus Studio 2010 to its presence at which point HDD Tools 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 HDD Tools is present, SNM will detect it and you will be able to see either HDD Tools or Win Defragmenter in the scan results. These two are the same product. 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 HDD Tools in the free version scan results.

Step 4: After the scan is complete and you are able to see HDD Tools 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 HDD Tools and restore your internet connection. 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 Tools. 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.

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 Tools: Yes

Threat risk: High Risk

Very dangerous malware. Can log user's keyboard activity and take snapshots of the user's screen. Uses stealth installation and removal is very difficult. Category includes spyware programs, adware programs and trojans.

Symptoms:

Inability to run programs.

Error messages such as:

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

Critical Error! Damaged hard drive clusters detected. Private data is at risk.

System Restore - The system has been restored after a critical error. Data integrity and hard drive integrity verification required.

HDD Tools 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 Tools, you can clean your computer by downloading SpyNoMore now.

Running Process Signatures:
N/A

File Signatures:
N/A

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

Folder Signatures:
N/A

Registry Signatures:
N/A

SpyNoMore Collected Residual File Signatures:
N/A

See Also:
Win HDD
Hard Drive Diagnostic
HDD Diagnostic
HDD Plus
Smart HDD
Defragmenter
Scour.com
Shopcompareus.com
Info.com
Disk Repair