[SoothingDave]

Maybe your hard drive is failing and you should back up your important files.

[Nita Nupress]

If it gives you an official-looking pop-up that promises to solve the problem, DO NOT CLICK.

[andy58-in-nh]

It’s almost certainly a Trojan virus.

[OrangeHoof]

More than likely, this is malware. If you click on it, it will download some crap you don’t want. If you really think your hard drive has some problems, buy a program that can do some diagnostics or take it to a service shop. More than likely, though, you are being conned and you should have run your anti-virus stuff to try to detect any infections.

[cripplecreek]

Sounds like you might have a hard drive failure in your future. Back up your files and shop around for a good hard drive.

Mine did the same thing last year and yes it did eventually fail.

[Gay State Conservative]

Hard drives fail...even when the Rats aren’t in power.You’d be wise to try to save your data...now.Just in case.

[big bad easter bunny]

Definitely back up, then find out what your situation is. You should be able to research the error message to see if it is legit

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I don't believe that there is any reliable way to tell a hard drive "is in imminent danger of failing" unless it's emitting smoke or screeching like a banshee.

You have your important stuff backed up as a matter of routing anyway, right?

If you don't, get free 50-GB of storage at https://mega.co.nz/ and copy it up there right now.

[rarestia]

It's entirely possible your HDD is failing. These warnings come from the SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) system in your BIOS. It monitors read/write, cyclical rate, performs low-impact tests like CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Checks) and sector scans. If it's telling you that you HDD is failing, you really should get it backed up. If it's less than a year old, it's likely under warranty. Get Dell on the phone.

They'll often do an advance RMA and get you a new HDD. You replace the HDD, and you can hook up your old HDD with a SATA-to-USB adapter and boot into a utility like Ultimate Boot CD which has utilities to clone your HDD to the new one, and you'll be back online in no time.

I recently had a solid state hard drive fail on me after only 9 months. Newer tech CAN fail. Never put 100% trust on any hardware.

[MrB]

Use some sort of online backup service and you will be a lot less worried, whether this is a malware hoax or not.

[Future Snake Eater]

Could it be gubmint boys causing this or just normal failure.

Yes. This. This is exactly what it is. Get out. Get out now!

[SengirV]

Yes, it is 100% the ‘gubment spooks doing it.

[JRios1968]

[Focault's Pendulum]

It’s a Trojan. Make sure your firewall is up.

[mountainlion]

Run all your antivirus programs and get free antivirus form Downloads.com. I had the same thing and later I got a windows page that wanted me to restore my commuter. It was virus called the Windows Restore Virus. Run antivirus software before trying to restore. My computer is still not right but is running.

[deport]

Take a little time and peruse the following for info:

Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology [SMART]

[ThunderSleeps]

If it doesn't say "click here and we'll fix everything" it is probably legit. If it does offer to fix everything, it is probably a virus/trojan that wants to do even more damage.

If it is a real warning, it is probably because the drive management subsystem has noticed and mapped around ever increasing numbers of bad sectors on your hard drive. A few are expected on every drive. A lot is bad, or if the few starts growing steadily that's bad. That means flaws in the surface have come apart and have introduced debris inside the drive that is slowing grinding up the surface...

Backup early, backup often.

[Yosemitest]

Dump Windows and buy Apple.
After 30 years of using, updating, and cursing Windows, it's the best thing I've ever done.
Check the properties of your hard drive and see how much usable space is available.
If it's 90 percent full, you've got a problem.

[don-o]

http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=25

I have had great success using this help forum. You resister than post your problem. They will walk you through needed steps to find and fix malware problems. Highly recommended.

[schm0e]

fwiw, Dell used to replace hard drives with “refurbished” ones when fulfilling warranty claims. At least they did on mine — roughly twice a year until the warranty expired and I went out and bought a new Seagate which never gave me a moment’s trouble since.