How to remove PUA: Win32/Presenoker Malware (Quick Guide!)

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Have you found that your computer is running more slowly than usual, or have you tried to open an application, only to receive the error code “PUA: Win32/Presenoker”? In the post you’ll read today, we’ll take a closer look at the malware in question and offer a solution for removing it from your computer.

If you want to remove the PUA: Win32/Presenoker malware from your computer as soon as possible, we have good news for you: SpyHunter can do this task in only a few minutes. Spy Hunter can identify malicious software, delete it, and protect your computer from other potential security risks.

Is PUA: Win32/Presenoker Malware or False Positive? 

PUA: Win32 Presenoker is malware utilized to describe browser hijackers, torrents, and certain forms of adware. 

Potentially Unwanted Applications, or PUAs, are a form of grayware that can cause your PC to run slowly. However, PUA is not a virus but rather a false positive, even though it can affect the system’s performance or the user’s experience in general. 

“The Presenoker” refers to a murky gray area between malicious software and legitimate applications. The following is a description of how this malware will damage your computer:

• Reduce your computer’s performance.
  
• Unexpectedly bombard users with advertisements; which compromise their privacy and security.
  
• Creates room for the possible presence of adware that alters browser settings or other mystery files.
  

The Win32 Presnoker can be located within an executable file with an unusual name in the vast majority of instances. The executable file can be found by Windows Defender Security either in the directory that is used for downloads by default, which is C: Users[username]AppData, or in a subfolder of AppData.

Automatic Way to Remove PUA: Win32/Presenoker Malware

SpyHunter can quickly and automatically remove the PUA: Win32/Presenoker malware from your computer. Here’s how to remove this adware with SpyHunter. 

Step 1: Go to the SpyHunter download page and download the software. Then, open the downloaded file once the download is finished.

Step 2: Select “Yes” on the “User Account Control” dialog box and select your preferred language on the next page.

Step 3: Read and accept the “License Agreement.” Then, press the “Next” button “and then follow the setup wizard until you reach the “Finish” button to complete the installation.

Step 4: You should see the program on your homepage. If you don’t see it, search for “Spy Hunter” in the Windows search box. 

Step 5: Click “Start Computer Scan Now” to start scanning your computer. Then, click “Remove” to delete the malware.

The Most Advanced Guide to Remove PUA: Win32/Presenoker Malware Manually (Proceed with Caution!)

If you decide to remove malware manually, follow our step-by-step guide below. Note that this process takes 20-30 minutes and requires some technical skills. If you do not follow our steps carefully, this may damage or corrupt your Windows system, and you will end up paying more to reinstall the system and recover your data than getting malware removal software in the first place.

Before Proceeding to Solutions, You Need to Enter a Safe Mode

Step 1. Search for ‘Recovery Options‘ > Recovery > Advanced start-up > Restart now

Step 2. Then in Choose an option menu go to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart

Step 3. Once restarted, select Safe Mode with Networking and press Enter

Now let’s proceed to malware removal steps… Please follow our exact order of solutions to have a higher chance of success.

Solution #1 – Delete Suspicious Tasks in Task Scheduler

Step 1. Go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Task Scheduler

Step 2. Open the Task Scheduler Library folder and delete suspicious tasks

TIP: if you don’t recognize suspicious tasks, filter by ‘Created’ date and check the latest created tasks. Also, suspicious tasks might have a missing Author.

Solution #2 – Delete Suspicious Programs in Programs and Features

Step 1. Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features

Step 2. Sort by ‘Installed On‘ date and delete suspicious programs

TIP: Think about what programs were installed just before your PC got infected.

Solution #3 – Delete Suspicious Files from Task Manager

Step 1. Open Task Manager and go to the Details tab

Step 2. Search for suspicious processes

Step 3. Right-click on suspicious process > Open file location, and delete the file or whole folder

Step 4. Get back to Task Manager and end the suspicious process

Step 5. Then search the Startup tab for suspicious processes > Open the file location, and delete the file or whole folder

TIP: If ‘Access is denied’ and you’re unable to delete files, search for Resource Monitor (run as administrator), open and end the process in the Overview tab, then try to delete a file.

Solution #4 – Delete Suspicious Registries from Registry Editor

Step 1. Open Registry Editor (Run as administrator)

Step 2. Delete suspicious registries from: 

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce locations

Step 3. Then select Computer and go to Edit > Find, and search Registry by names of suspicious files you remember from previous steps

TIP: You can easily delete suspicious registries from Run and RunOnce folders, however, be careful with deleting registries from other folders. This can break your system.

Solution #5 – Disable Suspicious Services in System Configuration

Step 1. Search for Run and type msconfig, then open the Services tab

Step 2. Tick ‘Hide all Microsoft services‘

Step 3. Then search a list for suspicious services and untick them

TIP: Missing or unknown Manufacturer can be a good sign of suspicious service

Solution #6 – Delete Temporarily Files

Step 1. Search for Run and type %temp%

Step 2. Delete everything in the Temp folder

Step 3. Empty Recycle Bin

TIP: all temporary files can be deleted without hesitation. It will not damage your system.

Solution #7 – Check Hosts File

Step 1. Go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc, and open the hosts file as Notepad

Step 2. Delete everything below ‘# ::1 localhost‘

TIP: If a record doesn’t have ‘#’, this is definitely a suspicious record that should be deleted.

Solution #8 – Clean Browsers

Step 1. Search for your browser, right-click and open file location

Step 2. Then right-click on the browser icon and open Properties

Step 3. Delete everything after exe” in Target (for example, Google Chrome’s target should end with chrome.exe”)

Then you need to open your browser, delete suspicious extensions, notifications, and reset settings to defaults.

• Google Chrome:

Delete suspicious extensions: Settings > Extensions

Remove suspicious notifications: Settings > Privacy and security > Notifications, then remove suspicious notifications under ‘Allowed to send notifications‘

Reset settings to defaults: Settings > Reset and clean up > Restore settings to their original defaults > Reset settings

• Mozilla Firefox:

Delete suspicious add-ons: Menu > Add-ons and themes

Remove suspicious notifications: Menu > Privacy & Security > Notifications > Settings…, then remove websites you do not want to receive notifications from

Reset settings to defaults: Menu > Help > More troubleshooting information > Refresh Firefox > Refresh Firefox

• Opera:

Delete suspicious extensions: Click on Opera icon > Extensions > Extensions

Remove suspicious notifications: Click on Opera icon > Settings > Advanced > Privacy & security > Site Settings > Notifications, then under ‘Allowed to send notifications’ remove websites you do not want to receive notifications from

Reset settings to defaults: Click on Opera icon > Update and recovery > Recover

• Microsoft Edge:

Delete suspicious extensions: Menu > Extensions

Remove suspicious notifications: Menu > Settings > Cookies and site permissions > Notifications, then under ‘Allow‘ remove websites you do not want to receive notifications from

Reset settings to defaults: Menu > Settings > Reset settings > Restore settings to their default values > Reset

Solution #9 (Optional) – Follow This Solution if Your Browser Does Not Open Any Websites

If your browsers do not open any websites while other software can connect to the internet properly, you need to check internet properties:

Step 1. Go to Control Panel > Internet Options > Connections > LAN settings

Step 2. Tick ‘Automatically detect settings’ and untick ‘Use a proxy server for your LAN’

Step 3. Then disable proxy servers in the browser if connection wasn’t restored yet

• Check AppInit_DLL in Registry

Step 1. Open Registry Editor (Run as administrator)

Step 2. Go to Edit > Find, search for AppInit_DLLs

Step 3. Open the AppInit_DLLs file and make sure Value Data is empty (don’t remove records starting with “SYS:”)

Step 4. If Value Data contains a path to any DLL file, follow that path, find and delete that DLL file, and clean Value Data in AppInit_DLLs file.

TIP: DLL file may be hidden in the destination folder. In that case, change the folder setting by going to View > Options > Change folder and search options > View, then select ‘Show hidden files, folders and drives’

• Check DNS servers

Step 1. Go to Control Panel > All Control Panel Items > Network and Sharing Centre, then click on your Connection

Step 2. Open Properties > Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)

Step 3. Select ‘Use the following DNS server addresses’ and enter 8.8.8.8 to Preferred DNS server and 8.8.4.4 to Alternative DNS server

Step 4. Then open Command Prompt and enter the following commands: ipconfig /flushdns then route –f (these commands will clean DNS cache)

Solution #10 (Optional) – Restore the Windows

If the steps above do not remove malware, you can restore your Windows to the earlier point. This will not affect your pictures, documents or personal data, but some programs or drivers might be uninstalled.

Search for Create a restore point > System Restore… > Next > Select a date you want to restore your system to > Next > Finish

You may also need to decrypt or recover your personal files.

Conclusion

We hope that the information in this post will be of use to you in removing the malicious software known as PUA: Win32/Presenoker from your machine. It is essential to remember that SpyHunter can swiftly and automatically remove this malware.

FAQs