PC Gold Optimizer - How to remove

PC Gold Optimizer is a PC “optimizer” that ought to be avoided. It is detected by some antivirus scanners because of a few problems with its behavior. Though PC Gold Optimizer is not malware, it might be best to avoid it. It can still cause problems by misrepresenting the severity of the issues it detects, making itself look more important and useful than it is. For example, PC Gold Optimizer may delete benign files and settings that it marks as “issues”, even though they’re harmless.

PC Gold Optimizer in short:

Classification	Scareware, potentially unwanted program.
Problems with PC Gold Optimizer	Misleading presentation, scaring users unnecessarily, broken links to important pages on the Thepcgold.com site.
How it’s installed	Downloaded from the programs’ site.
How to remove PC Gold Optimizer	Uninstall it manually, check your computer with an antivirus app (Spyhunter, others).

What’s wrong with PC Gold Optimizer?

PC optimizer

PC Gold Optimizer (also known as PC Gold Optimizer and system repair) is supposed to be a computer optimizer. According to its website, Thepcgold.com, it boosts the performance of a PC and protects it from malicious software.

More, PC Gold Optimizer is described on Thepcgold.com as the most efficient and powerful tool for optimizing your PC. Wow! I don’t know what that is based on.

Potentially unwanted program

However, PC Gold Optimizer gets detected by antivirus scanners as Adware, Malware, and Riskware. Virustotal.com – a few days ago, three scanners were flagging the installer; now it’s fifteen. Looks like some vendors of security programs want their users to be cautious of PC Gold Optimizer.

Also a few days ago, the Thepcgold.com website was down. Now it’s back up again, but the developers’ site, Thealliancetech.com, is not working at the moment.

What happened a few days ago is that a site monitoring deceptive practices of programs and websites (AppEsteem) called out PC Gold Optimizer.

Issues and problems

Some of the problems it highlighted include:

• Lack of information, such as the publisher of the app being Unknown, no easily accessible links to the Terms of Service and Refund Policy, unclear monetization model.
• Manipulative behavior when displaying scan results. PC Gold Optimizer detects a lot of things as “issues” and makes them out to be scarier than they should be. Like every single entry in your browsing history being a separate “issue”.
• After PC Gold Optimizer is uninstalled, it leaves some files behind. (That didn’t happen to me, but everyone’s situation might be different.)

PC Gold Optimizer is a paid (monthly subscription) program. So, it’s good to be able to make informed decisions when considering buying. But its refund policy, terms and conditions, disclaimer, and about us page links are broken. That’s a problem.

Another thing that’s worth mentioning is that PC Gold Optimizer is a registry cleaner. It detects benign things like unused and unnecessary registry entries and offers to “clean” them. Unless there’s a specific issue that needs to be fixed, Microsoft does not recommend using registry cleaners.

How PC Gold Optimizer gets installed

PC Gold Optimizer can be downloaded from its home website, Thepcgold.com. If you did not visit this site yourself, then check your computer for other potentially unwanted programs. Some programs (often it’s PC optimizers) use the help of affiliates to find new users, which means that when you install a bundler, you may accidentally allow a few potentially unwanted programs to be installed. For example, how Bravo PDF Converter installs a spyware program.

Luckily, PC Gold Optimizer doesn’t seem to be popular, so it’s unlikely that many people installed it.

How to remove PC Gold Optimizer

Thepcgold.com doesn’t offer removal instructions, but uninstalling PC Gold Optimizer is simple enough by using the Control Panel or the App Settings.

Once PC Gold Optimizer is uninstalled, it may leave behind some files. You should go through your C drive and look for folders named “PC Gold Optimizer” or “PC Gold Optimizer and system repair”. You can also use an anti-malware program, such as Spyhunter, to get a second pair of eyes to look at it.

If you bought PC Gold Optimizer, then remember that it’s a subscription that renews itself automatically until you cancel it. Write an email to [email protected] (since the Contact Us link on Thepcgold.com doesn’t work) and be short and firm. Avoid talking to support on the phone.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to remove PC Gold Optimizer using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like PC Gold Optimizer install some of their components as regular Windows programs as well as additional software. This part of malware can be uninstalled from the Control Panel. To access it, do the following.

• Start→Control Panel (older Windows) or press Windows Key→Search and enter Control Panel and then press Enter (Windows 8, Windows 10).
• Choose Uninstall Program (if you don't see it, click in the upper right next to "View by" and select Category).
• Go through the list of programs and select entries related to PC Gold Optimizer . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make PC Gold Optimizer easier to find.
• Click the Uninstall button. If you're asked if you really want to remove the program, click Yes.
• In many cases anti-malware programs are better at detecting related parasites, thus I recommend installing Spyhunter to identify other programs that might be a part of this infection.