Essential Cleaner
Essential Cleaner is a fake anti-virus application that belongs to a large group of rogue software who have infected millions of computer users world-wide. Being in the category of rogue programs, expect that Essential Cleaner will pretend as a legitimate one by promoting itself through fake alert messages. It will also convince victims that computer is infected with Trojans, viruses and malware by providing a fabricated results after a local scan of the PC. Essential Cleaner will be installed on the computer with the help of a separate Trojan that will be able to dropped the executable file without being detected by an installed AV program. The rogue program will be configured to run automatically when Windows is started by providing an entry on the registry.
Its presence will declare a number of threats detected but will only provide an option to remove them by having the licensed version of Essential Cleaner. It is valuable to know that Essential Cleaner was designed to provide alarming scan results regardless of whether the computer is clean or infected with viruses. A continuous display of fake alert messages is also issued to mislead computer users even more. Some of the alerts are:
Essential Cleaner Warning
Your PC is infected with dangerous viruses. Activate antivirus protection to prevent data loss and avoid the theft of your credit card details.
Click here to activate protection.
Essential Cleaner Warning
Intercepting programs that may compromise your private and harm your system have been detected on your PC.
Click here to remove them immediately with Essential Cleaner.
Security Monitor: WARNING!
Attention: System detected a potential hazard (TrojanSPM/LX) on your computer that may infect executable files. Your private information and PC safety is at risk. To get rid of unwanted spyware and keep your computer safe you need to update your current security software.
Click Yes to download official intrusion detection system (IDS software).
Simply ignore these warnings. As stated earlier, these are false and was just trying to lure its victims. The only way to stop it from being displayed is to remove Essential Cleaner by scanning the computer with trusted anti-malware and anti-virus application.
| Type | Rogue |
| Sub-Type | FakeAV |
| Aliases | |
| OS Affected | Windows |
| Detected By | MalwareBytes |
What are the Symptoms of Essential Cleaner Infection?
It will modify Windows Registry and add the following entries:
KEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce “(random)”
The threat will drop the following malicious files:
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\(random)\
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\(random)\(random)
c:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\(random)\(random).exe
How to Remove Essential Cleaner Manually
1. Restart your computer in SafeMode
- Press F8 on keyboard as soon as you turn on the computer
- Select SafeMode to start the computer loading only minimal resources
2. Delete Windows registry entries the malware created. It is important to BACKUP YOUR REGISTRY FIRST.
- On Windows Start Menu, Click Start > Run
- Type in the field, regedit
- Find registry entries mentioned above and delete if necessary
3. Files related to Essential Cleaner must be deleted:
- Browse and delete malicious files detected above.
- Some files cannot be deleted instantly. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to open Windows Task Manager, look for any virus-related files mentioned on this page and highlight it, click End Process. Try to delete the file once more.
4. Run Antivirus Program
- You must be connected to Internet to be able to update your anti-virus program. This is needed to have the latest database available and detect newer threats.
- Thoroughly scan the computer and clean or delete all detected threats.
How to Easily Remove Essential Cleaner
1. Print this procedure as we need to close all running programs later.
2. Download AntiMalware Application here and save it to your Desktop.
3. Close all open applications.
4. Double-Click on the downloaded mbam-setup.exe to start the installation. If unable to execute, infections on computer is preventing it from running, rename the file mbam-setup.exe to anything (like myfile.exe)
5. Run the installation on the default settings. No changes are necessary.
6. Just before completing the installation, make sure that the following are marked check.
- Update the program
- Launch the program
7. The tool will run and update itself after installation. Close it after the update.
8. Restart your computer in SafeMode
- After Power-On the computer, just before Windows start, press F8
- From the selections, Select SafeMode
9. Click on the icon and start to Perform Full Scan to begin scanning your computer for Essential Cleaner related files.
10. After scanning, a message will appear stating that the scan is completed successfully. Click OK.
11. Click Show Results and detected threats will be displayed.
12. Make sure that all threats are marked check, then click Remove Selected to begin removal of the malicious files.
13. Exit AntiMalware Apps and restart your computer.
14. Essential Cleaner and all its files are now removed from your computer. To guard your computer from this threat and avoid future infections, you may want real-time protection from a full version of anti-malware program..
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