PCMate - How to remove

PCMate Free System Care is a Windows utility program that offers a variety of functions, mostly redundant ones, to help you manage your PC. It also bundles unwanted programs and is itself almost useless. PCMate can thus be classified as a potentially unwanted program (PUP) or adware.

What PCMate promises

PCMate offers a One-stop solution for Windows, which allows doing a lot of things from one environment:

• program uninstalling,
• WiFi hotspot managing,
• cleaning the disk,
• setting up auto shutdowns,
• managing startup programs,
• clearing & fixing the registry,
• encrypting files to protect them,
• managing user access to applications.

However, all these are functions and more are already available in Windows settings easily (for example, Disk cleanup). So PCMate is largely redundant and only clogs up your system when it promised to free it.

Trying out PCMate

First, PCMate installs two programs without my knowledge or agreement. I always tell people to be careful when installing free programs — to look at all the settings and avoid bundled apps, but this time I didn’t even notice any options to refuse the additional software (it was a window that I assumed to be an agreement to terms and conditions and did not look closely at). Learn from me and be very careful when installing anything. Opera browser, as well as RelevantKnowledge, were installed together with PCMate without me agreeing to it.

After it’s installed, PCMate displays an alert with only one button — “Update”. A few minutes later it needs an update again. This is just disrupting, especially with no obvious way to dismiss it other than to click on the single “Update” button.

After “updating” PCMate I scan the registry, only for it to find 157 problems on a new installation of Windows. Editing the registry is allowed on Windows, and you can do it on your own, but it is unnecessary and “clearing” the registry is risky (because third-party software might make mistakes) and does not offer benefits.

I also go to PCMate’s uninstall manager. It does not look different from Windows’ own “Uninstall or change a program” window, but with fewer options. Interestingly, PCMate does not offer to option to remove the Opera browser with which it came.

The other bundled program, RelevantKnowledge, seems to be some marketing company, one that collects info about my browsing habits to tailor ads more effectively. After running the program, it generates a readme.txt file, which advises me that it put files somewhere on my PC “…to facilitate the operation of our market research software.”.

Then the PCMate website pops up without me opening it. A few minutes later the freesystemsoftware.com page opens again. This is quite disruptive.

I go to check out the Opera browser since it’s already installed. There’s a Yahoo tab leads to a search bar that I’ve seen many other adware programs direct users to, one that takes the search results from Yahoo, and then injects ads into them. Sometimes as many ads as results.

To be clear, neither Yahoo, nor Opera are any sort of malware. They are only being used in this specific case to deliver advertisements for PCMate. Free software does need to be monetised somehow: whether it is software bundling (taking money in exchange for including an additional application in a program’s installation), directing users to click on ads, or both. It would be nice if the developers were more transparent, though. The behaviour so far does not inspire trust.

Time to test PCMate’s uninstall function. I notice that Opera is not listed among the programs, which means that I cannot use PCMate to uninstall it. Opera is still visible in the Windows default uninstalling environment.

I try to use PCMate to uninstall itself. For some reason, it works — normally a program would need to close before it can be removed.

After uninstalling PCMate, I am told that some elements were not removed and will need to be removed manually. Indeed, all the files and folders of PCMate’s are still there, scattered in the various folders in the C disk. The keylogger application is still there, which is a little concerning, considering I will do online shopping and banking on this computer.

After a reboot, a popup on my desktop asks me to update PCMate. Even though PCMate has been uninstalled. That is quite suspicious.

Conclusion

PCMate is not useful, as it only serves as a middleman between the user and Windows settings. PCMate is, though, disruptive with its popups and suspicious because of how difficult it is to uninstall, how it bundles unwanted programs with the installation, and how it isn’t honest about using ads to make money. I believe that PCMate should be avoided.

How to remove PCMate

I recommend using a professional antivirus with a good reputation ( Spyhunter, or another application — research it before you install it if you want to be certain). Some antivirus programs recognise not only viruses but also potentially unwanted programs. Scan your system and remove the detected files, either manually, or have the antivirus program do it.

Automatic Malware removal tools

How to remove PCMate using Windows Control Panel

Many hijackers and adware like PCMate 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 PCMate . You can click on "Name" or "Installed On" to reorder your programs and make PCMate 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.