How to remove Win Defrag (Uninstall instructions)

Win Defrag is a fake defragmenter and system optimization software that states your computer has numerous critical problems and displays various fake errors alerts. The rogue from the same family of malware as Win HDD. It is promoted mostly through the use of trojans, infected websites and other malicious software. Moreover, the authors of Win Defrag also use various other misleading methods to distribute their bogus software, e.g. Twitter, Facebook and spam emails. Do not fall victim to this fake defragmenter tool because it is nothing more but a scam. If you got WinDefrag on the system then please follow the removal guide below to remove Win Defrag and any associated malware from your PC for free using legitimate antimalware software.

Once the rogue program is installed, it will simulate a scan computer`s hard disks, Windows registry and computer memory for errors. Win Defrag will detect numerous critical problems, e.g. “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, the program will ask you for pay its full version to fix supposedly found system errors. Of course, all of these errors are a fake. Most important, don`t pay for WinDefrag and just ignore the false scan results.

When Win Defrag is running, it will display various fake warnings and notifications from your Windows taskbar. The text of some of the alerts are:

Critical Error
RAM memory usage is critically high. RAM memory failure.

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.

Last but not least, Win Defrag will block all Windows legitimate applications from running. Important to note, if you attempt to run a program enough times it will eventually work. The following warning will be shown when you attempt to run a program:

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

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! You can safely ignore all of them.

As you can see, WinDefrag is a scam which created with one purpose to to trick you into purchasing the full version of the program. If your computer is infected with this malware, then most importantly, do not purchase it! Uninstall the rogue from your PC as soon as possible. Use the removal instructions below to remove Win Defrag and any associated malware from your computer for free.

Automated Removal Instructions for Win Defrag

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.

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 Defrag 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 Defrag and 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 Anti-Malware Window

Select Perform Quick Scan, then click Scan, it will start scanning your computer for Win Defrag 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.

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 Defrag. MalwareBytes Anti-malware will now remove all of associated Win Defrag 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 Defrag 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 Defrag creates the following files and folders

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

Win Defrag creates the following registry keys and values

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