PUP.Optional.SpywareClear
ThreatDown is now the name of the Malwarebytes line of business products. References to Malwarebytes below reflect the amazing technology used to first identify the threat.
Short bio
PUP.Optional.SpywareClear is Malwarebytes’ detection name for a system optimizer called Spyware Clear issued by the Crawler Group, LLC and aimed at Windows systems.
Type of infection
website Spyware Clear
Malicious behavior
Spyware Cleaner GUI
You will find these icons in your taskbar, your startmenu, and on your desktop:
icons Spyware Clear
and see this warning during install:
Install screen PUP.Optional.SpywareClear
and these screens during “operations”:
issues found by PUP.Optional.SpywareClear
activation Spyware Clear
You may see this entry in your list of installed programs:
Spyware Clear listed installed Programs and Features
and this Browser Helper Object in Internet Explorer:
BHO details PUP.Optional.SpywareClear
Protection
Malwarebytes blocks PUP.Optional.SpywareClear
and by blocking their domain:
Malwarebytes blocks the domain spywareclear.com
Home remediation
Malwarebytes can detect and remove PUP.Optional.SpywareClear without further user interaction.
- Please download Malwarebytes to your desktop.
- Double-click MBSetup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
- When your Malwarebytes for Windows installation completes, the program opens to the Welcome to Malwarebytes screen.
- Click on the Get started button.
- Click Scan to start a Threat Scan.
- Click Quarantine to remove the found threats.
- Reboot the system if prompted to complete the removal process.
Add an exclusion
Should users wish to keep this program and exclude it from being detected in future scans, they can add the program to the exclusions list. Here’s how to do it.
- Open Malwarebytes for Windows.
- Click the Detection History
- Click the Allow List
- To add an item to the Allow List, click Add.
- Select the exclusion type Allow a file or folder and use the Select a folder button to select the main folder for the software that you wish to keep.
- Repeat this for any secondary files or folder(s) that belong to the software.
If you want to allow the program to connect to the Internet, for example to fetch updates, also add an exclusion of the type Allow an application to connect to the internet and use the Browse button to select the file you wish to grant access.