The PC Cleaner TSS app has been identified as a tech support scam by some malware experts. You typically want to stay away from tech support scams because they try to trick you into paying them money to solve problems that don’t exist. Similar to a false positive in a System Optimizer, a tech support scam will completely make up a list of problems so you will feel insecure about your computer and rush to get them solved. Of course, since the problems never existed, the tech support scams will have little trouble in then removing them for you.
You should always remove tech support scams with reliable antimalware tools. Such tools will run real antimalware scans and always detect anything that has been identified s a tech support scam so it is no longer on your computer. An advantage of using an antimalware tool for ridding your computer of such scams is that they will also attempt to clean up any leftover remnants of the virus so it won’t come back and no associated files will be bad for your computer in the future unless you were to download it all over again by accident.
The following tutorial demonstrates how to remove the PC Cleaner TSS malware from your computer.
Method One: How to Remove PC Cleaner TSS Tech Support Scam by Manually Scanning Files, Folders, and Drives with Windows Defender in Windows 10
Windows 10’s default antivirus program, Windows Defender, doubles as very good antivirus and antimalware protection. The term “antimalware” is a more modern version of the term “antivirus” because a multitude of malicious programs exist today rather than computer viruses alone. Windows Defender finds all sorts of malware and is antimalware that keeps the traditional antivirus name to avoid confusion. That said, Windows Defender still might not remove a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP) on your computer until you enable the PUP protection first. If you tried an antivirus/antimalware scan with Windows Defender and the malware was not found, you can try enabling the PUP protection and try again before installing third-party software on your computer.
Note: The terms “Potentially Unwanted Programs” (PUPs) and “Potentially Unwanted Applications” (PUAs) are interchangeable. When referring to misleading software installed as a bundle or without users’ consent, common antimalware programs use the term “PUP;” however, Microsoft prefers “PUA” in Windows 10.
Part One: How to Enable or Disable Windows Defender PUP Protection in Windows 10
When removing Potentially Unwanted Programs from your computer with the default Windows Defender antivirus, you should enable PUP protection first. Here is how to do that:
Option One: How to Enable or Disable Windows Defender PUP Protection in Windows PowerShell
1. Open an elevated Windows PowerShell.
2. If you are prompted by User Account Control, click on the Yes button.
3. Type one of the following commands into the Windows PowerShell window, depending on what you want to achieve, and then press the Enter key on your keyboard to execute it:
To Enable Windows Defender PUA Protection:
Set-MpPreference -PUAProtection 1
or
Set-MpPreference -PUAProtection Enabled
To Disable Windows Defender PUA Protection (Default):
Set-MpPreference -PUAProtection 0
or
Set-MpPreference -PUAProtection Disabled
Audit Mode – detects PUPs, but does not block them:
Set-MpPreference -PUAProtection 2
or
Set-MpPreference -PUAProtection AuditMode
4. Restart the computer before attempting to run a new Windows Defender antivirus scan that searched for extra PUPs.
You can now close the Windows PowerShell window and continue using your computer if you like.
Option Two: How to Enable or Disable Windows Defender PUP Protection in Local Group Policy Editor
Notes:
- You can only use this option from the Local Group Policy Editor starting from Windows 10 version 1809.
- The Local Group Policy Editor is only available in Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions of Windows 10.
1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor.
2. Using the Local Group Policy Editor’s left pane, navigate through to the following location:
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Defender Antivirus
3. With Windows Defender Antivirus selected, click on Configure detection for potentially unwanted applications from the right pane.
4. From the Configure detection for potentially unwanted applications policy, select either Not Configured (to turn off Windows Defender PUP protection), Enabled (to turn on Windows Defender PUP protection), or Disabled (to turn off Windows Defender PUP protection).
Note: If selecting Enabled, a drop-down menu appears in the Options window that offers additional options to configure the group policy if you like. For example, from the drop-down menu, you can select Blocked which means the Configure detection for potentially unwanted applications policy will be enabled, and the potentially unwanted programs will be blocked from being downloaded onto your computer. It is suitable for most people to select Blocked from the drop-down menu in the Options window to stop PUPs getting onto your computer in future.
You can now close the Local Group Policy Editor and continue using your computer if you like.
Part Two: How to Manually Scan Files, Folders, and Drives with Windows Defender in Windows 10
Windows 10 provides the latest antivirus protection with Windows Security. Your device will be actively protected from the moment you start Windows 10. Windows Security continually scans for malware (all types of malicious software), viruses, and security threats. In addition to this real-time protection, updates are downloaded automatically to help keep your device safe and protected from threats.
Some features differ if you are running Windows 10 in S mode. Because this mode is streamlined for tighter security, the Virus & threat protection area has fewer options. However, that does not mean it is less secure—the built-in security of this mode automatically prevents viruses and other threats from running on your device, and you will receive security updates automatically.
Windows Defender automatically scans your system periodically, so it should pick up and remove any malware on your computer by itself over time. If you need a quick solution, Windows Defender also allows for manual scans so that you can scan any location on the operating system immediately.
Note: The Windows Defender antivirus application shown below comes out of the box on all versions of Windows 10, the latest version of Windows operating system. If you are running an older version of Windows, such as Windows 7, then you can skip to one of the next parts that shows you how to install a third-party antimalware application instead.
Option One: How to Scan with Windows Defender Using Context Menu
Here is how you can run an antivirus scan with the built-in Windows Defender antivirus program from the context menu of a file or folder:
1. From File Explorer, select the drive, folder, or file that you suspect may contain the potential malicious program.
2. Right-click on Scan with Windows Defender from the context menu.
3. When the scan completes, Windows Defender Security Center will open and show you the results. The total time for the scan to complete will vary. Scanning drives will take the longest, while scanning individual files the quickest.
Note: The Windows Defender Security Center has been renamed to Windows Security in newer versions of Windows 10. All the settings within the app remain the same.
4. If the scan did find threats, you can Start actions or See threat details.
Note: Clicking on Start actions will result in Windows Defender removing the threat immediately whereas choosing See threat details allows you to see the threat and also choose what you want to do with it more specifically.
You can now close the Windows Security app and continue using your computer if you like.
Option Two: Scan with Windows Defender in Windows Security
Here is how you can run an antivirus scan with the built-in Windows Defender antivirus program from the Windows Security app:
2. Click on the Virus & threat protection icon in Windows Security’s Security at a glance page.
3. To Run a Quick Scan with Windows Defender
a. Click on the Scan now button.
4. To Run a Full Scan with Windows Defender
a. Select Full scan and then click on the Scan now button.
5. To Run a Custom Scan with Windows Defender
a. Select Custom scan and then click on the Scan now button.
6. Select the file, folder, or drive that you want to scan and then click Select Folder.
7. Windows Defender starts scanning the option that you chose.
8. When the scan completes, you get the results in numbers.
9. If Windows Defender did find threats during the scan, you can Start actions or See threat details.
Note: Clicking on Start actions will result in Windows Defender removing the threat immediately whereas choosing See threat details allows you to see the threat and also choose what you want to do with it more specifically.
You can now close the Windows Security app and continue using your computer if you like.
Option Three: How to Scan with Windows Defender from Windows PowerShell
Here is how you can run an antivirus scan with Windows Defender from the Windows PowerShell:
1. Open the Windows PowerShell.
2. Type the command below that best suits your needs and then press the Enter key on your keyboard to execute it.
Update and Quick scan:
Update-MpSignature; Start-MpScan -ScanType QuickScan
Quick scan:
Start-MpScan -ScanType QuickScan
Full scan:
Start-MpScan -ScanType FullScan
You can now close the Windows PowerShell window and continue using your computer if you like.
Option Four: How to Scan with Windows Defender from Command Prompt
Here is how you can run an antivirus scan with Windows Defender from the command line:
2. Type the command below that best suits your needs and then press the Enter key on your keyboard to execute it.
Update and Quick scan:
"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe" -SignatureUpdate & "%ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe" -Scan -ScanType 1
Quick scan:
"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe" -Scan -ScanType 1
Full scan:
"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MpCmdRun.exe" -Scan -ScanType 2
You can now close the Command Prompt window and continue using your computer if you like.
Method Two: How to Remove PC Cleaner TSS Tech Support Scam Using Malwarebytes
If scanning with the Windows Security antimalware protection doesn’t remove the PC Cleaner tech support scam, you can try installing third-party antimalware tools, such as Malwarebytes, and see if that removes the tech support scam instead. You can also use an antimalware program such as Malwarebytes to remove the extensions and all other related files remaining on your computer, so you don’t have to do any of it manually.
Note: Malwarebytes also has an application for smartphones that run on Android and iOS. Here is a tutorial for how to install Malwarebytes on Android:
The iOS version will be very similar, apart from needing to use the Apple App Store in place of the Google Play Store. You will not have any problems finding it because your iOS software only comes with the Apple App Store.
1. Download the Malwarebytes for Windows from the Malwarebytes website.
2. If prompted by your web browser with a message that says “This type of file can harm your computer. Do you want to keep the executable (.exe) file anyway?,” click on the Keep button.
3. If you are prompted by User Account Control asking “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device,” click on the Yes button.
4. Click on the Scan Now button to begin scanning the computer for malware and other potentially unwanted programs. (click to enlarge screenshot below)
5. Wait for the scan to complete. (click to enlarge screenshot below)
6. Select all of the malware and potentially unwanted programs that you want to be removed from the computer and then click on the Quarantine Selected button. (click to enlarge screenshot below)
7. You may get a message from Malwarebytes letting you know that all selected items have been removed successfully, but the computer must be restarted before the removal process can be completed. Select the Yes button to reboot your computer now. (click to enlarge screenshot below)
8. Upon signing back in to your computer, the Malwarebytes interface will open and let you know that the scan and quarantine are complete. (click to enlarge screenshot below)
Note: You can also export the scan results by clicking on Export summary from the main Malwarebytes results page and then clicking on the Export button from the scan report. (click to enlarge screenshot below)
You can now close the Malwarebytes interface and continue using your computer if you like.
That’s all.