Scan Disk or ScanDisk is a malicious program that pretends to be a computer defragmenter software, but in reality it uses various misleading methods such fake critical error alerts and false scan results in order to scare you into thinking your computer have a lot of problems. However, it won’t fix these problems unless you purchase its full version. Important to note, Scan Disk is a scam, which is unable to detect or fix any problems. So, if you have found that your computer is infected with this malware, then ignore all that it shows you! Read below what you’ll want to know though is what does the program do and how to remove ScanDisk for free.
Scan Disk is installed on your computer without your permission and knowledge through trojans. During installation, this malware configures itself to run automatically when your computer loads. Once started, it will simulate a scan of your computer`s hard disks, memory, etc and detect numerous critical system errors such “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. Of course, all of these errors are a fake. The misleading application only imitates functions of computer defragmenter software and unable to detect any problems. ScanDisk hopes to trick you into purchasing its full version. Most important, don`t pay for the bogus program and just ignore the false scan results.
While Scan Disk is running, it will block all legitimate Windows applications from running. The following warning will be shown when you try to run a program:
Windows detected a hard drive problem.
A hard drive error occurred while starting the application.
Moreover, ScanDisk will flood your computer with nag screens and fake alerts. Some of the alerts are:
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.
System Restore
The system has been restored after a critical error. Data integrity and hard drive integrity verification required.
Of course, like false scan results above, all of these alerts are just a fake. This is an attempt to make you think your computer in danger. Like false scan results you can safely ignore them.
As you can see, ScanDisk is a scam. Most importantly, do not purchase it! Instead of doing so, follow the removal instructions below in order to remove Scan Disk and any associated malware from your computer for free.
Automated Removal Instructions for ScanDisk
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
Scan Disk 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 ScanDisk 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 Scan Disk 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 Scan Disk. MalwareBytes Anti-malware will now remove all of associated ScanDisk 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.
Scan Disk 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.
ScanDisk creates the following files and folders
%UserProfile%\Desktop\Scan Disk.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Scan Disk\Scan Disk.lnk
%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Scan Disk\Uninstall Scan Disk.lnk
%Temp%\{RANDOM}.exe
%Temp%\{RANDOM}
%Temp%\{RANDOM}.dat
Scan Disk creates the following registry keys and values
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run | {RANDOM}
