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  • Active
  • Severity: Medium
  • System tools
  • Windows, Mac
  • Verified · Oct 2016

How to remove PC TuneUp Maestro virus

A step-by-step removal guide for affected devices. Follow the verified procedure below — most readers complete it in under 10 minutes.

Olivia Morelli · Ransomware analyst

What is known about PC TuneUp Maestro?

PC TuneUp Maestro (developed by CompuClever Systems Inc.) is a suspicious PC optimization software that promotes itself as a tool that can “give your PC the performance of its lifetime.” However, for some reason, some users tend to entitle this tool as PC TuneUp Maestro virus, and we would like to make it clear that this tool is not a malicious, but rather a potentially unwanted program (PUP). There is a difference between these terms, and the main reason why this application shouldn’t be identified as a virus is that it does not initiate any malicious activities on the target computer. Instead, it poses as a useful PC optimization tool, which in reality hardly provides any beneficial features. Although it promises to enhance computer’s performance and stability, make the system and programs run faster, and even improve Windows Startup speed, we are afraid that it might not be able to fulfill these promises. These claims seem a little vague, and it appears that this PC optimizer can hardly provide useful services and should not be trusted.

Its free version imitates system scans and “reveals” hundreds of non-existent errors and problems that need to be fixed, and tries to convince the user to buy the full version of PC TuneUp Maestro. We highly recommend you not to do so, because scan results provided by this program can be filled with numerous false-positives, which can scare the computer user, while in reality the computer is safe and does not need no optimization. Therefore, we recommend you to ignore PC TuneUp Maestro ads and remove PC TuneUp Maestro. You believe that you should consider using a different computer maintenance tool. We highly recommend using FortectIntego, which is a malware/spyware remover and PC optimizer at once. You can complete PC TuneUp Maestro removal using our recommended program or manual removal instructions provided at the end of this post. Image of PC TuneUp Maestro tool

When did you install this program?

PC TuneUp Maestro hijack is a problem that can affect users who tend to install new software carelessly. Although it can be directly downloaded from its official website, which also offers tools like PC Clean Maestro, it seems that computer users rarely come across this site and download these programs by their choice because they often complain that they have appeared in the computer system without their knowledge. This can be easily explained. Free programs that are not popular are often promoted using software bundling technique, which allows suggesting additional software to the user whenever he/she downloads and installs a popular free program from the Internet. Some download sites should be avoided, but not all computer users are aware of that. Once you download a free program, please be careful and do not install it hastily. You must check Custom or Advanced settings and see if your download contains some hidden additional programs that you haven’t been notified about earlier. If you can find some, deselect them and proceed with the installation.

How to remove PC TuneUp Maestro?

If you have discovered “PC TuneUp Maestro virus” on your computer, do not panic. This program is not malicious and only wants you to purchase its full version. As you already know, its marketing techniques can be quite aggressive and ads it displays can be very annoying. Therefore, if you do not want to purchase the full version of it, just remove PC TuneUp Maestro together with all of its components for good. You can use these PC TuneUp Maestro removal guidelines or delete the program automatically with recommended anti-spyware software.

Uninstall from Windows

Uninstall from Windows 10/8:

  1. Type Control Panel into the Windows search box and open the result.
  2. Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.Uninstall from Windows 10/8

Uninstall from Windows 7/XP:

  1. Click on Windows Start > Control Panel (Windows XP users should click on Add/Remove Programs).
  2. In Control Panel, select Programs > Uninstall a program.Uninstall from Windows 7/XP

Remove the unwanted program:

  1. In the Programs and Features window, look for any recently installed suspicious entries, select them, and click Uninstall.
  2. If User Account Control appears, click Yes to confirm, then complete the removal.Uninstall the unwanted program from Windows

Reset Internet Explorer

Remove dangerous add-ons:

  1. Open Internet Explorer, click on the Gear icon (IE menu) on the top-right corner of the browser
  2. Pick Manage Add-ons.
  3. You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for suspicious plugins. Click on these entries and select Disable.Remove add-ons from Internet Explorer

Change your homepage if it was altered:

  1. Open IE and click on the Gear icon.
  2. Select Internet Options.
  3. In the General tab, delete the Home page address and replace it by your preferred one (for example, Google.com).
  4. Click Apply and then select OK.Reset IE homepage

Delete temporary files:

  1. Press on the Gear icon and select Internet Options.
  2. Under Browsing history, click Delete...
  3. Select relevant fields and press Delete.Clear temporary files from Internet Explorer

Reset Internet Explorer:

  1. Click on Gear icon > Internet options and select Advanced tab.
  2. Select Reset.
  3. In the new window, check Delete personal settings and select Reset.Reset Internet Explorer

Remove from Microsoft Edge

Delete unwanted extensions from MS Edge:

  1. Select Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and pick Extensions.
  2. From the list, pick the extension and click on the Gear icon.
  3. Click Remove.Remove extensions from Edge

Clear cookies and other browser data:

  1. Click on the Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and select Settings > Privacy, search, and services..
  2. Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
  3. Select Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files. (apart from passwords, although you might want to include Media licenses as well, if applicable) and click on Clear.Clear Edge browsing data

Restore new tab and homepage settings:

  1. Click the menu icon and choose Settings.
  2. Then find On startup section.
  3. Click Remove next to any suspicious startup page.

Reset MS Edge if the above steps did not work:

  1. Press on Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
  2. Click on More details arrow at the bottom of the window.
  3. Select Details tab.
  4. Now scroll down and locate every entry with Microsoft Edge name in it. Right-click on each of them and select End Task to stop MS Edge from running.Reset MS Edge

Instructions for Chromium-based Edge

Delete extensions from MS Edge (Chromium):

  1. Open Edge and click select Settings > Extensions.
  2. Delete unwanted extensions by clicking Remove.Remove extensions from Chromium Edge

Clear cache and site data:

  1. Click on Menu and go to Settings.
  2. Select Privacy, search and services.
  3. Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
  4. Under Time range, pick All time.
  5. Select Clear now.Clear browser data from Chroum Edge

Reset Chromium-based MS Edge:

  1. Click on Menu and select Settings.
  2. On the left side, pick Reset settings.
  3. Select Restore settings to their default values.
  4. Confirm with Reset.
  5. This will disable extensions and reset startup pages but will not delete bookmarks, saved passwords, or browsing history.Reset Chromium Edge

Remove from Mozilla Firefox (FF)

Remove dangerous extensions:

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click on the Menu (three horizontal lines at the top-right of the window).
  2. Select Add-ons.
  3. In here, select the unwanted extension and click Remove.Remove extensions from Firefox

Reset the homepage:

  1. Click three horizontal lines at the top right corner to open the menu.
  2. Choose Settings.
  3. Under Home, set your preferred homepage and new tab settings.

Clear cookies and site data:

  1. Click Menu and pick Settings.
  2. Go to Privacy & Security section.
  3. Scroll down to locate Cookies and Site Data.
  4. Click on Clear Data...
  5. Select Cookies and Site Data and Temporary cached files and pages, then click Clear.Clear cookies and site data from Firefox

Reset Mozilla Firefox

If clearing the browser as explained above did not help, reset Mozilla Firefox:

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click the Menu.
  2. Go to Help and then choose Troubleshooting Information.Reset Firefox 1
  3. Under Give Firefox a tune up section, click on Refresh Firefox...
  4. Once the pop-up shows up, confirm the action by pressing on Refresh Firefox.Reset Firefox 2

Remove from Google Chrome

Delete malicious extensions from Google Chrome:

  1. Open Google Chrome, click on the Menu (three vertical dots at the top-right corner) and select More tools > Extensions.
  2. In the newly opened window, you will see all the installed extensions. Uninstall all suspicious extensions related to the unwanted program by clicking Remove.Remove extensions from Chrome

Clear cache and web data from Chrome:

  1. Click on Menu and pick Settings.
  2. Under Privacy and security, select Clear browsing data.
  3. Select Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, as well as Cached images and files.
  4. Click Clear data.Clear cache and web data from Chrome

Change your homepage:

  1. Click menu and choose Settings.
  2. Look for a suspicious site in the On startup section.
  3. Click on Open a specific or set of pages and click on three dots to find the Remove option.

Reset Google Chrome:

If the previous methods did not help you, reset Google Chrome to eliminate all the unwanted components:

  1. Click on Menu and select Settings.
  2. In the Settings, scroll down and click Advanced.
  3. Scroll down and locate Reset and clean up section.
  4. Now click Restore settings to their original defaults.
  5. Confirm with Reset settings.Reset Chrome 2

Delete from Safari

Remove dangerous extensions:

  1. Open Safari, click Safari in the menu at the top-left of the screen, and select Preferences.
  2. Go to the Extensions tab, look for any suspicious entries, and click Uninstall to remove them.Remove extensions from Safari

Clear history and website data:

  1. Click Safari in the menu and pick Clear History.
  2. Set Clear to all history and confirm with Clear History.Clear history from Safari

Reset Safari:

  1. Click Safari in the menu and select Preferences > Advanced.
  2. Enable Show Develop menu in menu bar.
  3. From the menu bar, click Develop and select Empty Caches.Reset Safari

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