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How to remove Win HDD (Uninstall instructions)

Myantispyware team November 27, 2010    

Win HDD is a fake computer optimization software that detects numerous false problems and displays various critical errors alerts on the computer. The rogue program from same malware family as HDD Cotrol, HDD Defragmenter, etc. It is promoted and installed itself on your computer without your permission and knowledge through the use of trojans or other malicious software. Moreover, the scammers may also distribute Win HDD on Twitter, My Space, Facebook, and other social networks. Please be careful when opening attachments and downloading files or otherwise you can end up with a rogue program on your PC.

When Win HDD is installed, it will state that your computer has some critical problems. It will imitate a scan computer`s hard disks, Windows registry and computer memory for errors. The rogue will report that “Read time of hard drive clusters less than 500 ms”, “32% of HDD space is unreadable”, “Bad sectors on hard drive or damaged file allocation table”, etc. Next, Win HDD will prompt you to purchase a full version of the program to fix supposedly found system errors. Of course, all of these errors are a fake. Most important, don`t pay for the bogus program and just ignore the false scan results.

Win HDD will block legitimate Windows applcations on your computer and won’t let you download anything from the Internet. Last, but not least, the rogue will display numerous fake warnings and nag screens. Some of the warnings are:

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

Windows – No Disk
Exception Processing Message 0×0000013

Critical Error
A critical error has occurred while indexing data stored on hard drive. System restart required.

Of course, like false scan results above, all of these warnings are a fake. This is an attempt to make you think your computer in danger!

As you can see, Win HDD is a totally scam, which created with one purpose to scare you into purchasing so-called “full” version of the program. Most important do not purchase it! Please use the removal guide below in order to remove Win HDD and any associated malware from your computer for free. If you have already purchase the program, contact your credit card company and tell them what has happened.

Automated Removal Instructions for Win HDD

Step 1. Reboot your computer in Safe mode with networking

Restart your computer.

After hearing your computer beep once during startup, start pressing the F8 key on your keyboard. On a computer that is configured for booting to multiple operating systems, you can press the F8 key when the Boot Menu appears.

Instead of Windows loading as normal, Windows Advanced Options menu appears similar to the one below.

safe-mode-how-to
Windows Advanced Options menu

When the Windows Advanced Options menu appears, select Safe mode with networking and then press ENTER.

Step 2. Clean temp folder

Win HDD stores its files in Windows temp foder. You need to clean it.

Please download ATF Cleaner by Atribune from here, saving it to your desktop. It is used to cleanout temporary files & temp areas used by internet browsers.

Start ATF-Cleaner.exe to run the program. Under Main choose: Select All and click the Empty Selected button.

Step 3. Remove Win HDD associated malware

Download MalwareBytes Anti-malware (MBAM). Close all programs and Windows on your computer.

Double Click mbam-setup.exe to install the application. When the installation begins, keep following the prompts in order to continue with the installation process. Do not make any changes to default settings and when the program has finished installing, make sure a checkmark is placed next to Update Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware, then click Finish.

If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.

Once the program has loaded you will see window similar to the one below.

malwarebytes-antimalware1
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Window

Select Perform Quick Scan, then click Scan, it will start scanning your computer for Win HDD infection. This procedure can take some time, so please be patient.

When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results. You will see a list of infected items similar as shown below. Note: list of infected items may be different than what is shown in the image below.

Win HDD remover
Malwarebytes Anti-malware, list of infected items

Make sure all entries have a checkmark at their far left and click “Remove Selected” button to remove Win HDD. MalwareBytes Anti-malware will now remove all of associated Win HDD files and registry keys and add them to the programs’ quarantine. When MalwareBytes Anti-malware has finished removing the infection, a log will open in Notepad and you may be prompted to Restart.

Win HDD removal notes

Note 1: if you can not download, install, run or update Malwarebytes Anti-malware, then follow the steps: Malwarebytes won`t install, run or update – How to fix it.

Note 2: if you need help with the instructions, then post your questions in our Spyware Removal forum.

Note 3: your current antispyware and antivirus software let the infection through ? Then you may want to consider purchasing the FULL version of MalwareBytes Anti-malware to protect your computer in the future.

Win HDD creates the following files and folders

%UserProfile%\Desktop\Win HDD.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Win HDD\Win HDD.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Win HDD\Uninstall Win HDD.lnk
%Temp%\{RANDOM}.exe
%Temp%\{RANDOM}
%Temp%\{RANDOM}.dat

Win HDD creates the following registry keys and values

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run | {RANDOM}

Malware Malware removal

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How to remove HDD Control malware

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How to remove Win Defrag (Uninstall instructions)

Author: Myantispyware team

Myantispyware is an information security website created in 2004. Our content is written in collaboration with Cyber Security specialists, IT experts, under the direction of Patrik Holder and Valeri Tchmych, founders of Myantispyware.com.

25 Comments

  1. James
    ― November 28, 2010 - 3:46 am  Reply

    Hi,

    Its worked really?

    Thanks

  2. Patrik
    ― November 28, 2010 - 8:52 am  Reply

    It works.

  3. Keely
    ― November 28, 2010 - 4:12 pm  Reply

    Malware bytes won’t work.
    Ive done the scan several times and it wont recognise any of the Win hdd files.
    Please help.

  4. Patrik
    ― November 29, 2010 - 11:24 am  Reply

    Keely, you have completed the step 2 ?

  5. gary
    ― November 29, 2010 - 12:57 pm  Reply

    I followed the steps. Malwarebytes removed a couple trojans. But Win Hdd has not been removed. Help!

  6. JS
    ― November 29, 2010 - 1:43 pm  Reply

    I find it a little shady that the Google search said “Use the step-by-step removal instructions to remove Win HDD from your computer for free.” And yet the only thing I can do for free is to restart my computer in safe mode using F8 – the rest of the tutorial is designed to steer people towards Malwarebytes which, of course, is NOT free.

    I’m cool with paying for stuff, but don’t say “remove the virus for free!” when you’re intending to sell me something.

  7. Dess
    ― November 29, 2010 - 2:20 pm  Reply

    that did not work for me. i have done it several times and the win hdd files are still there.

  8. gary
    ― November 29, 2010 - 2:40 pm  Reply

    I did the steps and Win Hdd is still installed. This is a nightmare.

  9. Fion
    ― November 29, 2010 - 5:00 pm  Reply

    I’ve followed all of the steps and it doesnt work. The same critical error messages come up!
    Help please!

  10. sohel
    ― November 29, 2010 - 6:06 pm  Reply

    Excellent!!! It successfully REMOVED WIN HDD malware from my PC. Thanks.c

  11. Kevin
    ― November 29, 2010 - 6:06 pm  Reply

    Works great for me.
    Thanks for the guide!

  12. Glyn
    ― November 29, 2010 - 6:17 pm  Reply

    Hi
    It worked first time even on a really badly affected computer.
    Many thanks!
    Glyn

  13. ferni
    ― November 29, 2010 - 7:46 pm  Reply

    ok it worked i did all the steps! THANKS SO MUCH

  14. Clor
    ― November 29, 2010 - 11:10 pm  Reply

    I’m trying to remove Win DeFrag, which I think is the same program (asks for payment, tells me I have critical errors). I’ve done all the steps listed but the program is still there everything I reboot. Help?

  15. JonnyA
    ― November 29, 2010 - 11:23 pm  Reply

    Thanks! my friend got this today on her laptop out of the blue and this really helped me remove it, although I also used Hijackthis. Gotta love MBAM and Hijackthis!!

  16. Ashley
    ― November 30, 2010 - 4:17 am  Reply

    Hello, Malware was unable to work due to the fact that I probably had things I needed to update. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to update java in safe mode. I decided to do a system restore which got me back to normal mode, and ran the Malware. It detected something in the registry and I deleted it. I should be free from Winhdd, right?

  17. kitty
    ― November 30, 2010 - 4:29 am  Reply

    hey MBAM really works.. it removed winHDD from my PC.. Thank you very much

  18. chloe
    ― November 30, 2010 - 4:53 am  Reply

    Hi, is this done using the free mbam or paid?
    thanks

  19. Patrik
    ― November 30, 2010 - 10:47 am  Reply

    gary, repeat the 2-3 steps once again. Please update Malwarebytes before scan.

  20. Patrik
    ― November 30, 2010 - 10:49 am  Reply

    JS, you can use Malwarebytes to remove malware and spyware absolutely for free.

  21. Dustin
    ― November 30, 2010 - 4:00 pm  Reply

    What a horrible virus – this took me hours to figure out how to fix. This was the only website that gave perfect instructions on how to do it.

    It didn’t work for me the first time; however, after talking with a friend I was told to click into my computer – then right click and go to the system restore menu. At that point i was told to click “turn off system restore.”

    After I did that and ran Malware again – it fixed my problem. I ran malware 3 times and nothing and after following that step it worked for me.

  22. Neen
    ― November 30, 2010 - 8:25 pm  Reply

    Found all affected files, quarantined them, then said to reboot. Once rebooted Win HDD popped right back up 🙁

  23. Patrik
    ― December 1, 2010 - 7:07 am  Reply

    chloe, use free version.

  24. Patrik
    ― December 1, 2010 - 7:13 am  Reply

    Neen, probably your computer is infected with a trojan that reinstalls the rogue. Start a new topic in our Spyware removal forum. I wil help you to remove this malware.

  25. rick
    ― December 4, 2010 - 11:14 am  Reply

    Here is what worked for me. You will need CCleaner, Malwarebytes, and MS Security Essentials. If you don’t have these on your computer already and can’t download them because of the virus, download the installers on another PC and put them on a Flash Memory stick to transfer them to the infected PC.

    Restart the infected PC in safe mode (F8 during startup) and then run CCleaner to remove all the temp files. Just run it with all of the defaults checked. Then run a full scan of Malwarebytes and Microsoft Security Essentials. This will take about an hour, and you may not need to run both, but I did just to be safe.

    Then, you are going to have to remove the files that are listed above in this article at the end of Step 3. They are the HDD files in the Temp folder (may already be removed by CCleaner), in the Start menu, and on the Desktop. You also have to get in the Registry and find:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “random characters” and or “random characters”.exe

    If you don’t know how the edit the registry, find someone that does as you can totally screw up your PC if you delete something important to Windows.

    If you don’t remove these files, the HDD trojan will reload the next time that you start your computer! And then you will have to repeat all of these steps again! Remove the files! Good luck!

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