PUP.Mr PC Cleaner

Posted: January 23, 2014

Threat Metric

The Threat Meter is a malware assessment that SpywareRemove.com's research team is able to give every identifiable malware threat. Our Threat Meter includes several criteria based off of specific malware threats to value their severity, reach and volume. The Threat Meter is able to give you a numerical breakdown of each threat's initial Threat Level, Detection Count, Volume Count, Trend Path and Percentage Impact. The overall ranking of each threat in the Threat Meter is a basic breakdown of how all threats are ranked within our own extensive malware database. The scoring for each specific malware threat can be easily compared to other emerging threats to draw a contrast in its particular severity. The Threat Meter is a useful tool in the endeavor of seeking a solution to remove a threat or pursue additional analytical research for all types of computer users.

The following fields listed on the Threat Meter containing a specific value, are explained in detail below:

Threat Level: The threat level scale goes from 1 to 10 where 10 is the highest level of severity and 1 is the lowest level of severity. Each specific level is relative to the threat's consistent assessed behaviors collected from SpyHunter's risk assessment model.

Detection Count: The collective number of confirmed and suspected cases of a particular malware threat. The detection count is calculated from infected PCs retrieved from diagnostic and scan log reports generated by SpyHunter.

Volume Count: Similar to the detection count, the Volume Count is specifically based on the number of confirmed and suspected threats infecting systems on a daily basis. High volume counts usually represent a popular threat but may or may not have infected a large number of systems. High detection count threats could lay dormant and have a low volume count. Criteria for Volume Count is relative to a daily detection count.

Trend Path: The Trend Path, utilizing an up arrow, down arrow or equal symbol, represents the level of recent movement of a particular threat. Up arrows represent an increase, down arrows represent a decline and the equal symbol represent no change to a threat's recent movement.

% Impact (Last 7 Days): This demonstrates a 7-day period change in the frequency of a malware threat infecting PCs. The percentage impact correlates directly to the current Trend Path to determine a rise or decline in the percentage.

Ranking:	4,027
Threat Level:	1/10
Infected PCs:	29,967

First Seen:	January 23, 2014
Last Seen:	October 17, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Mr. PC Cleaner is a system optimization utility whose marketing methodology bears a strong resemblance to the traditional tactics of rogue file cleaners. Mr. PC Cleaner's website sometimes is promoted through browser hijackers and adware products that modify your Web browser, seemingly in an effort to encourage you to purchase the Mr. PC Cleaner's software. Although malware experts currently identify Mr. PC Cleaner as a Potentially Unwanted Program, its classification easily could be moved to that of a threat once additional analyzes are completed. Until then, whenever you're provided system information from Mr. PC Cleaner or its site, you should act with all due caution, and remove Mr. PC Cleaner through traditional PC security strategies if Mr. PC Cleaner should be installed without your participation.

When Cleaning Your Computer is About Boasts More Than Hygiene

Although many invasive forms of fake system cleaners and security programs easily can be identified as misleading practices, the lines between unwanted and threatening software aren't always clear-cut. Mr. PC Cleaner is one case of a 'gray area' product that currently is considered a PUP, which is a result of its apparent lack of significant harmful features. However, this classification isn't an endorsement of Mr. PC Cleaner as a PC-cleaning product, and malware researchers recommend that you don't take Mr. PC Cleaner's advice, alone, for determining any system optimization issues that you might have.

While Mr. PC Cleaner's marketing points aren't entirely truthful, malware researchers haven't found Mr. PC Cleaner guilty of causing major security issues or attacks against PCs that have Mr. PC Cleaner installed. For now, Mr. PC Cleaner is categorized as a PUP, similar to adware or unwanted browser plugins, and its presence may be considered undesirable without being a security hazard that's equivalent to that of an infection by a backdoor Trojan, worm or rootkit.

The PC-Cleaning Man's Secretly Dirty Past

Even if you're willing to overlook the exaggerations and questionable features of Mr. PC Cleaner, you may want to look askance at some of the promotional efforts that separate PC threats have used to encourage Mr. PC Cleaner's purchase. Past attacks confirmed by malware experts have involved the installation of unrelated browser hijackers, adware and other Web browser-based PUPs that provide redirects to Mr. PC Cleaner's website. These redirects also may block access to legitimate PC security websites, which makes them likely sources of various security problems.

Browsers being redirected to the Mr. PC Cleaner website or the unwanted installation of the actual Mr. PC Cleaner-related software should be dealt with via anti-malware tools that are designed to uninstall all types of unasked for computer products. DingoDeals and SearchDeals by Injekt are two types of adware that often are noted being installed with browser hijackers for Mr. PC Cleaner, although other PC threats also may be identified. So far, only Chrome has been confirmed to be affected by this issue, although the recent identification of this campaign (as of late 2013) makes it entirely probable that other browsers also could be modified.

Technical Details

File System Modifications

Tutorials: If you wish to learn how to remove malware components manually, you can read the tutorials on how to find malware, kill unwanted processes, remove malicious DLLs and delete other harmful files. Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.

The following files were created in the system:

%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\Downloads\CLEANPC365_1.12.0Full.exe

File name: CLEANPC365_1.12.0Full.exe
Size: 22.72 MB (22721768 bytes)
MD5: a450a96eb019e2aeb409ae3144bbc9d2
Detection count: 61
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\Downloads
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: September 29, 2023

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

File name without pathCLEANPC365.lnkHKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}SOFTWARE\Classes\Applications\cleanpc365Tray.exeSOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Features\25D6927ADE625F24591CDD95E56D3619SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\Products\25D6927ADE625F24591CDD95E56D3619SOFTWARE\Classes\Installer\UpgradeCodes\EAD39CDD5C107C34E85684B2D0B6ACEF\25D6927ADE625F24591CDD95E56D3619Software\cleanpc365SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\CLEANPC365.exeSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UpgradeCodes\EAD39CDD5C107C34E85684B2D0B6ACEF\25D6927ADE625F24591CDD95E56D3619SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\CommonToolkitTray_cleanpc365SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\CLEANPC365SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{A7296D52-26ED-42F5-95C1-DD595ED66391}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\cleanpc365SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\CLEANPC365.exeSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\FileAssociation\NoStartPageAppUserModelIDs\Fighters.SLOW-PCfighter.EULASOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\FileAssociation\NoStartPageAppUserModelIDs\Fighters.SLOW-PCfighter.LogCollectorSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\FileAssociation\NoStartPageAppUserModelIDs\Fighters.SLOW-PCfighter.LogsSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\CommonToolkitTray_cleanpc365

Additional Information

The following directories were created:

%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\cleanpc365%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\cleanpc365%APPDATA%\cleanpc365%PROGRAMFILES%\cleanpc365%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\cleanpc365