PC Cleaner

Threat Scorecard

Ranking: 7,034
Threat Level: 60 % (Medium)
Infected Computers: 5,716
First Seen: July 24, 2009
Last Seen: September 4, 2023
OS(es) Affected: Windows

Do not be fooled! PC Cleaner is a fake security program, which is part of a well-known computer scam. Applications like PC Cleaner are known as rogues, rogue security application or rogue defragmenters. Basically, programs like PC Cleaner pretend to be legitimate security programs, while actually causing a large number of problems on the infected computer system. While they advertise that they clean, or speed up your computer, in reality they do the complete opposite of what they promise. Rather than cleaning your computer system, PC Cleaner is a malware infection that will almost certainly cause your computer system to become slower, more unstable, and infected with other malware threats. PC Cleaner has a browser hijacking component that will force the victim to visit the PC Cleaner website constantly. Because of these characteristics, ESG malware researchers consider PC Cleaner a malware infection that should be dealt with as soon as possible.

Removing a PC Cleaner Infection from Your Computer

PC Cleaner cannot be removed through normal means. While other programs have a convenient uninstall button or can be removed through the Control Panel, it is nearly impossible to remove PC Cleaner through normal means. To remove PC Cleaner, it is necessary to undo the harmful changes PC Cleaner makes to your system settings and to the Windows Registry. Since PC Cleaner cannot be removed through normal means, an actual anti-malware program will be necessary to remove PC Cleaner. However, it is important to first bypass PC Cleaner's self-defense features. PC Cleaner can block legitimate security applications from launching and can also block certain websites associated with security programs. To prevent PC Cleaner from doing so, ESG PC security analysts recommend starting up Windows in Safe Mode. Safe Mode prevents PC Cleaner from launching, starting and stopping processes in the background.

PC Cleaner Seldom Attacks Alone

It is important to take into account that a malware like PC Cleaner seldom attacks alone. The presence of PC Cleaner on your computer is a sure sign of other Trojan infections being present. One particularly worrying situation is the association of PC Cleaner with several dangerous rootkits. Rootkits associated with PC Cleaner include the ZeroAccess rootkits. In these cases, ESG PC security researchers recommend using a specialized anti-rootkit tool to remove any rootkit infections, before attempting the removal of PC Cleaner. It is often almost impossible to remove PC Cleaner, unless its associated rootkit is removed.

SpyHunter Detects & Remove PC Cleaner

File System Details

PC Cleaner may create the following file(s):
# File Name MD5 Detections
1. PC-Cleaner.exe 3fb985e61ad88b31285ce853655f16ad 1
2. PCCleaner_Installer_eng[1].exe 50478a80b8540703db578bcde804c28f 0
3. PCCleaner_Installer_eng[1].exe 505c221c63f4cd5b5eb7f3d1a59ff41d 0
4. pcsd.dll 1c9d7d4da0b74ccbb8945cff5aa6bfcc 0
5. PC-Cleaner.exe db2d8f444d471d3db75ffc5908087ff7 0
6. pcsd.dll a6bb07748951ddd733cf18c6980dc513 0
7. PC-Cleaner.exe 55672dc912f0cd8692b67790cad5e71d 0

Registry Details

PC Cleaner may create the following registry entry or registry entries:
File name without path
PC-Cleaner.lnk

Directories

PC Cleaner may create the following directory or directories:

%AppData%\PC-Cleaner
%ProgramFiles%\PC-Cleaner

Cookies

The following cookies were found:

pc-cleaner

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