Manual Removal Guide for PU.PCTechHotline

The following instructions have been created to help you to get rid of "PU.PCTechHotline" manually.
Use this guide at your own risk; software should usually be better suited to remove malware, since it is able to look deeper.

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Threat Details:

Categories:

• pups

Description:

PU.PCTechHotline installs a personal support assistant on the users desktop which offers links to technical telephone or technical online support. A symbolic picture of the supporter is attached to the top of every desktop window. The annual plan for this remote service costs $220 (in April 2015).

Privacy Statement:

http://www.pctechhotline.com/privacy

Links (be careful!):

: ttp://www.pctechhotline.com/scopeofservice
: ttp://www.pctechhotline.com/serviceoverview

Removal Instructions:

Quicklaunch area:

Please remove the following items from your start quick launch area text to the "Start" button in the taskbar at the bottom.
To check where they are pointing to, right-click them and choose "Properties" from the context menu appearing.

• Quicklaunch symbols named "PC Tech Hotline.lnk" and pointing to "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCTechHotline\PCTechHotline.exe".

Autorun:

Please use Spybot-S&D, RunAlyzer or msconfig.exe to remove the following autorun entries.

• Entries named "PCTechHotline" and pointing to "*.exe*".
• Entries named "PCTechHotline" and pointing to "?<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCTechHotline\PCTechHotline.exe? /STARTUP".

Files:

Please use Windows Explorer or another file manager of your choice to locate and delete these files.

• The file at "<$COMMONDESKTOP>\PC Tech Hotline.lnk".
• The file at "<$COMMONPROGRAMS>\PC Tech Hotline\PCTechHotline.com.url".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCTechHotline\PCTechHotline.exe".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCTechHotline\PCTechHotlineSvc.exe".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCTechHotline\PCTHdesk.64.dll".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCTechHotline\PCTHdesk.dll".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCTechHotline\PCTHHook.dll".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCTechHotline\PCTHHook.exe".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCTechHotline\unins000.dat".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCTechHotline\unins000.exe".
• The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCTechHotline\unins000.msg".

Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If PU.PCTechHotline uses rootkit technologies, use the rootkit scanner integrated into Spybot-S&D 2.x or our Total Commander anti-rootkit plugins.
You will have to use a global search for files without a name specified. Be extra careful, because just the name might not be enough to identify files!

Important: There are more files that cannot be safely described in simple words. Please use Spybot-S&D to remove them.

Folders:

Please use Windows Explorer or another file manager of your choice to locate and delete these folders.

• The directory at "<$APPDATA>\PC Tech Hotline\skin".
• The directory at "<$APPDATA>\PC Tech Hotline".
• The directory at "<$COMMONPROGRAMS>\PC Tech Hotline".
• The directory at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCTechHotline\Update".
• The directory at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\PCTechHotline".

Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If PU.PCTechHotline uses rootkit technologies, use our RootAlyzer or our Total Commander anti-rootkit plugins.
You will have to use a global search for files without a name specified. Be extra careful, because just the name might not be enough to identify folders!

Registry:

You can use regedit.exe (included in Windows) to locate and delete these registry entries.

• Delete the registry key "{6E30A318-C2A8-4874-9C44-30EB821658BA}" at "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\".
• Delete the registry key "{A0B0DA25-DD15-4739-92A3-62D3424F043A}_is1" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\".
• Delete the registry key "PCTechHotline" at "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\".
• Delete the registry key "PCTechHotline" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\".
• Delete the registry key "PCTechHotlineSvc" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\".
• Delete the registry key "PCTechHotlineSvc" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Services\".
• Delete the registry key "PCTechHotlineSvc" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet003\Services\".

If PU.PCTechHotline uses rootkit technologies, use our RegAlyzer, RootAlyzer or our Total Commander anti-rootkit plugins.

Final Words:

If neither Spybot-S&D nor self help did resolve the issue or you would prefer one on one help,

1. Please read these instructions before requesting assistance,
2. Then start your own thread in the Malware Removal Forum where a volunteer analyst will advise you as soon as available.