How to Remove Disk Doctor (Virus Removal Guide) – Free PC Guides
Posted on 26. Dec, 2010 by Lawrence Martin in Virus Removal Guides
Disk Doctor is a fake program that shows false optimization and analysis information in order to fake a malfunction of the computer and make the user think that the purchase of the program is needed in order to fix the errors. Disk Doctor is installed using Trojans and it will be configured automatically when logging in to Windows and then it will display various error messages and prompt users to scan the computer with the program. The result of the scan will contain numerous errors that can’t be fixed unless you purchase the program.
Disk Doctor will block your attempts to launch programs, to delete files or to use the defragment tool outside the Safe Mode and it will offer a fake Safe Mode background for you in order to be able to use the defragmenter. Another problem with infected computers is that they won’t be able to display contents of certain folders, like C:\Windows\System32\ which will either be empty or contain files of another folder. This will enforce the idea that the hard drives are indeed in danger and malfunctioning. Disk Doctor is also able to protect itself from anti-virus programs by blocking the user’s attempts to run programs on the computer and displaying messages like:
Windows detected a hard drive problem.
A hard drive error occurred while starting the application.
Or
Windows cannot find notepad. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button, and then click Search.
Disk Doctor fake errors
After closing these alerts, you’ll be prompted with another message stating there is something wrong with your disk and a program will attempt to scan and identify the performance problems:
Fix Disk
Windows Disk Diagnostics will scan the system to identify performance problems.
Start or Cancel
At this step, if you choose Start, the program will perform a fake scan and deliver yet another message:
Windows Disk Diagnostics
Windows detected a hard disk error.
A problem with the hard drive sectors has been detected. It is recommended to download the following certified software to fix the detected hard drive problems. Do you want to download recommended software?
You need to remember that these are all merely false alerts from Disk Doctor which are meant to scare users into purchasing the program. It’s also important to know that programs will eventually work if you try to run them enough times. The list of fake errors continues, as the program includes some „Critical error messages” as well.
With all these in mind, you need to remember that Disk Doctor won’t really affect your computer’s performance and that you mustn’t actually purchase the license for this program, as we will further help you get rid of this infection.
Instructions for Disk Doctor removal using Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware
In order to uninstall Disk Doctor you’ll need Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware tool, which you can download from Bleepingcomputer.
1. First and foremost you should print out the following instructions as you may be asked to close all open windows later on in the cleaning process.
2. You might encounter downloading issues if your computer is infected with Disk Doctor, so it’s possible you won’t be able to download anything on your own computer. If this is the case, you’ll need to download the specific files for the removal procedure on another computer and then transfer them using a CD/DVD, a flash drive or an external drive.
3. In order to proceed with the cleaning, you must first close any active processes that belong to Disk Doctor so they won’t interfere. You can do that by downloading RKill from this link. Remember to use the iExplore.exe download link, and save the program on your desktop.
4. Next, open the iExplore.exe file, and the program will begin to automatically close all processes associated with Disk Doctor and other Rogue programs as well. It’s important that you let RKill finish running, even if at some point it will display a message that RKill itself is an infection. Again, this is another fake message from Disk Doctor that might even stop the process and close RKill. In case this happens, the first method of tricking Disk Doctor is by not closing the warning window, instead leaving it on the screen and running RKill once more. If RKill still hasn’t managed to run all the way to the finish point, try running it a couple more times, until the malware is no longer running on your computer. If after all this, you still encounter problems in running RKill all the way, try downloading a renamed version of RKill here, which is in fact simply a renamed copy of RKill. After RKill will eventually finish its job, do not reboot you computer as the malware programs will pop out again.
5. After you get rid of all Disk Doctor associated processes, download Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware (MBAM) from the link provided above and, once again, save it on your Desktop.
6. After the download has finished, close all programs and windows on your computer (including this one).
7. Open the file mbam-setup.exe from your desktop to start installing MBAM on your computer.
8. In order to complete the installations you just need to follow the prompts and you must remember not to make any settings changes along the way. When the installation process finishes, keep in mind to leave both the Update Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware checked. After you hit the Finish button be very careful not to reboot your computer even if Malwarebytes’ asks you to.
9. After you finish the installation, MBAM will automatically start with a message that advises you to update the program before performing any scan. Once you hit the OK button a new window with the main program will appear as shown below:
10. On the Scanner tab choose Perform full scan and click the Scan button.
11. The scanning process can take quite a while, so be patient while you’re staring at a window like the one below:
12. When MBAM has finished scanning your computer, hit the OK button from the message window that will appear.
13. You’ll now be sent back to the main Scanner screen where you should select Show Results.
14. A window with all the malware that MBAM discovered will be seen, like the one provided below. You must now press the Remove Selected button and MBAM will start deleting all files and registry keys and will add them to the programs quarantine. MBAM might require you to reboot the computer at some point in order to remove some files and you must allow the program to do that.
15. When MBAM has finished removing the malware, a Notepad scan log will be displayed. After you close the Notepad Window, you can exit the MBAM program.
16. Disk Doctor should now be completely removed from your computer, but we strongly recommend that you also scan the computer for vulnerable programs (you can use Secunia PSI to that end), as many rogues and malware are installed through out-dated and vulnerable programs. Hope this guide turns out helpful. Please let us know if you successfully removed Disk Doctor.
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