S.M.A.R.T. Check and S.M.A.R.T. Repair
S.M.A.R.T. Check and S.M.A.R.T. Repair are Two Components of Smart HDD
Smart HDD is a bogus defragmenter and drive optimization application that belongs to the FakeHDD family of rogue defragmenters. The Smart HDD family of malware has been everywhere for a considerable amount of time. Recent versions of Smart HDD indicate that spammers have started to update their fake defragmenters with new interfaces and supposed "features" in order to make their scam more effective. ESG security researchers have observed that some versions of Smart HDD, mostly found in the wild after 2011, now include two modules marked as S.M.A.R.T. Check and S.M.A.R.T. Repair. These simply new names for what Smart HDD has always done, that is, pretend to check your computer system for malware and then attempt to scare you with alarming messages. S.M.A.R.T. Check runs the supposed scan of your computer system, and S.M.A.R.T. Repair will supposedly claim to fix these problems... for a price. ESG security analysts firmly recommend that you oversight any claims made by S.M.A.R.T. Check and S.M.A.R.T. Repair; even with these supposed updates, Smart HDD is still part of a scam which is intended to rob your money and infect your PC with malware. Do what is really smart and remove Smart HDD (along with both of its S.M.A.R.T. Modules) with a reliable anti-malware application.
How Smart HDD Uses S.M.A.R.T. Check and S.M.A.R.T. Repair to Steal Your Money
Smart HDD will usually be installed on the victim's computer through a Trojan infection, or as a result of visiting an attack website. As part of its installation process, Smart HDD makes changes to the Windows Registry that allows Smart HDD to start up automatically when the victim logs into Windows. After seeing the Smart HDD splash screen, Smart HDD will claim to start up the S.M.A.R.T. Check routine. This fake module claims to check your hard drive for any kinds of errors and problems. The results will invariably be extremely negative. These supposed problems on your hard drive will be reported in the S.M.A.R.T. Repair routine, which loads after the supposed scan of your hard drive ends. S.M.A.R.T. Repair gives a percentage score to the victim's hard drive in several categories. However, this is all a scam, with these percentages being low just for show. S.M.A.R.T. Repair will also claim to have found numerous critical problems. To anyone with some experience with computers, many of these errors will be ridiculous since they are often impossibly bad! In fact, a computer system containing all the errors that S.M.A.R.T. Repair claims are present should not be able to start up, let alone load the Windows operating system and Smart HDD!
