Remove MyCleanID (Easy Removal Guide)

MyCleanID is a potentially unwanted application that claims to protect your privacy

MyCleanID

MyCleanID is an application that you could have downloaded from its official website or found it on your computer seemingly out of nowhere. In case you belong to the latter group of people, it is highly likely that you installed the app unintentionally with a freeware app from a third-party website. Deceptive distribution tactics are just one of the reasons why this app is considered to be a potentially unwanted program.

MyCleanID is presented as a program capable of protecting you from cyberattacks by letting you delete all the online traces. However, there are plenty of red flags when it comes to it, and the main problem is scan results and the way they are presented to users. The results are presented in a way to make users worried about their online safety due to hundreds of entries that are shown. The truth is, most of the presented entries are OK to have on a secure machine, as there is no need to delete them. In other words, MyCleanID might exaggerate scan results in order to make users purchase its full version.

Name	MyCleanID
Type	Potentially unwanted program, system optimizer
Distribution	Software bundles, official website, advertisements on various websites
Concerns	The app shows exaggerated scan results and misleads users about their online privacy and security status. If the computer would be breached by data-stealing malware, it would not stop personal data compromise
Elimination	To get rid of unwanted apps manually, you can follow our removal guide below
Further steps	If you need tools to repair system after a malware infection or random stability issues, you can employ Fortect Intego

If you are wondering why MyCleanID is considered to be a PUP despite being a seemingly useful application capable of preventing identity theft and similar privacy issues, there are a few things you should understand.

As soon as it is installed on the machine, it begins to act suspiciously. Just as similar apps, it performs a full system scan immediately. During this time, users can also see a popup that asks users to enter their personal information such as Email and Name – this information is meant to help them to contact some type of support (which nobody asked for).

During the scan, MyCleanID shows thousands of entries that apparently need to be deleted due to privacy issues. They are divided into the following categories:

Login Credentials
Personal Information
Browsing Tracks
Tracking Records
Documents

While the categories look good, what's shown in the scan results is not. The app seemingly implies that all the account information used to login to Microsoft, Google, or other account is not secure to have on your machine. Additionally, even “browsing records” that are essentially your browsing history are presented as something that needs to be deleted due to alleged privacy risks. In other words, MyCleanID treats every record on the PC as a potential privacy concern or compromise, which is not a correct approach to take.

MyCleanID PUP

MyCleanID also creates a scheduled task that allows the app to deliver intrusive popups – these show misleading information about user account security and reminds that a full license should be purchased in order to secure this data from alleged cyberattacks.

Some users also reported that MyCleanID operated a suspicious scam attempt when an online helpline was called. According to the user, the support asked him to connect to his computer remotely and then asked to provide payments of $200 for an alleged “protection plan.”^[1]

To sum up, securing your information is extremely important, and there are plenty of steps that should help you with that. However, this program is not it – you should simply remove MyCleanID. If malware manages to access your computer, this app will not be able to stop the intrusion, and, even if it reports about the unauthorized access, the damage will be done already. Thus, rely on security tools such as SpyHunter Combo Cleaner or Malwarebytes Malwarebytes for your online security and privacy protection.

When it comes to MyCleanID removal, you can easily eliminate the app by accessing the Control Panel. If you need a complementary tool to your security software to delete all the unwanted program leftovers and fix malware damage, experts^[2] recommend trusting Fortect Intego.

Protect your online security and privacy without installing PUPs on your device

It is true that data breaches have been plaguing companies along with its users for a few years now. To make matters worse, ransomware developers of such strains such Maze can now steal sensitive data and publish it online if the institution or the company does not agree to pay the ransom. In a recent event, a hacker published sensitive information of Las Vegas students after the school district refused to pay the ransom.^[3]

MyCleanID popups

In suchlike events, users can suffer a major negative impact on their privacy and can also be targeted by a future phishing attempt. Unfortunately, there is little that can be done to protect such information if the company responsible for it leaks it online due to a cyberattack or a similar event.

As explained above, the app is not sufficient to help one to protect their online data from cybercriminals. Instead, you should employ the following protection measures that should be sufficient to protect your privacy:

Do not install potentially unwanted or malicious programs on your machine (avoid torrents, software cracks, etc.);
Employ powerful anti-malware software that could prevent the infiltration of Trojans, ransomware, and other malicious software that could affect your personal files;
Clean the web browser cache and data from time to time;
Employ a reputable password manager that would encrypt your data;
Never reuse your passwords if you are not using a password manager;
Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on all accounts.

Remove MyCleanID from your computer

As a general rule, you should not install apps on your system you are not certain of. However, since more and more users are concerned about their privacy due to the increased number of data breaches and malware infections, seemingly privacy-focused PUPs can get the momentum and be downloaded by millions of people, despite providing only a false sense of security in return for its license. This is why MyCleanID removal is something that security experts recommend – potentially unwanted programs are generally useless.

MyCleanID scam

You should not encounter too many difficulties when trying to remove MyCleanID from your machine. Simply access the list of the installed applications, as explained below, and uninstall it fully. Alternatively, some security programs could delete the program for you automatically.

Uninstall from Windows

Uninstall from Windows 10/8:

Type Control Panel into the Windows search box and open the result.
Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.

Uninstall from Windows 7/XP:

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

Remove the unwanted program:

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

Reset Internet Explorer

Remove dangerous add-ons:

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

Change your homepage if it was altered:

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

Delete temporary files:

Press on the Gear icon and select Internet Options.
Under Browsing history, click Delete...
Select relevant fields and press Delete.

Reset Internet Explorer:

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

Remove from Microsoft Edge

Delete unwanted extensions from MS Edge:

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

Clear cookies and other browser data:

Click on the Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and select Settings > Privacy, search, and services..
Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
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.

Restore new tab and homepage settings:

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

Reset MS Edge if the above steps did not work:

Press on Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
Click on More details arrow at the bottom of the window.
Select Details tab.
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.

Instructions for Chromium-based Edge

Delete extensions from MS Edge (Chromium):

Open Edge and click select Settings > Extensions.
Delete unwanted extensions by clicking Remove.

Clear cache and site data:

Click on Menu and go to Settings.
Select Privacy, search and services.
Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
Under Time range, pick All time.
Select Clear now.

Reset Chromium-based MS Edge:

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

Remove from Mozilla Firefox (FF)

Remove dangerous extensions:

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

Reset the homepage:

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

Clear cookies and site data:

Click Menu and pick Settings.
Go to Privacy & Security section.
Scroll down to locate Cookies and Site Data.
Click on Clear Data...
Select Cookies and Site Data and Temporary cached files and pages, then click Clear.

Reset Mozilla Firefox

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

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

Remove from Google Chrome

Delete malicious extensions from Google Chrome:

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

Clear cache and web data from Chrome:

Click on Menu and pick Settings.
Under Privacy and security, select Clear browsing data.
Select Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, as well as Cached images and files.
Click Clear data.

Change your homepage:

Click menu and choose Settings.
Look for a suspicious site in the On startup section.
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:

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

Delete from Safari

Remove dangerous extensions:

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

Clear history and website data:

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

Reset Safari:

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

How to remove MyCleanID

MyCleanID is a potentially unwanted application that claims to protect your privacy

Protect your online security and privacy without installing PUPs on your device