PowerPDF Malware

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*Source of claim SH can remove it.

PowerPDF

PowerPDF is a Trojan horse virus and is therefore among the most common infections you can land. PowerPDF can enter your system by exploiting certain vulnerabilities. For instance, if your computer lacks a competent antivirus program or has one that hasn’t been updated recently, that could pose as the weakness necessary for a Trojan like PowerPDF to infect your PC.

PowerPDF
The PowerPDF malware setup

In addition, an overall outdated OS can also compromise your security. But as for the action itself that may have landed you this infection, it was probably your interaction with contaminated web content. Typically, Trojans like PowerPDF, PDFMagic, PDFpower.exe are distributed via spam email and you can get infected by following a link or downloading an attached file (even one as seemingly harmless as a Word or PDF file).

With that said, we should stress that Trojans are incredibly versatile and very dangerous. So for that reason we recommend getting down to the removal process as soon as you’re done reading this post. Below you can find a detailed removal guide with instructions on how to do that. But if you’re afraid of deleting the wrong files and messing up your system, you can also make use of our professional malware removal tool also available below.

Stay safe

With all this terrifying information in mind, you might be wondering what you can do to shield yourself from future Trojan horse attacks. Cyber security is a complex matter with multiple components. But it all boils down to a few basic principles. One of them is to use your common sense when browsing the web and avoid interacting with anything that could be unsafe. In addition, we recommend getting ahold of some high-quality antimalware software and keeping it up-to-date, as well as allowing OS updates to be installed as soon as those become available.

SUMMARY:

NamePowerPDF
TypeTrojan
Detection Tool

*Source of claim SH can remove it.

Please follow all the steps below in order to remove PowerPDF!

How to remove PowerPDF

  1. First, click the Start Menu on your Windows PC.
  2. Type Programs and Settings in the Start Menu, click the first item, and find PowerPDF in the programs list that would show up.
  3. Select PowerPDF from the list and click on Uninstall.
  4. Follow the steps in the removal wizard.

If you have a Mac virus, please use our How to remove Ads on Mac guide.

If you have an Android virus, please use our Android Malware Removal guide.

If you have an iPhone virus, please use our iPhone Virus Removal guide.

What we suggest you do first is, check the list of programs that are presently installed on the infected device and uninstall any rogue software that you find there:

  • From the Start Menu, navigate to Control Panel ->>> Programs and Features ->>> Uninstall a Program.
  • Next, carefully search for unfamiliar programs or programs that have been installed recently and could be related to PowerPDF.
  • If you find any of the programs suspicious then uninstall them if they turn out to be linked to PowerPDF.
  • If a notification appears on your screen when you try to uninstall a specific questionable program prompting you to just alter it or repair it, make sure you choose NO and complete the steps from the removal wizard.

Remove PowerPDF from Chrome

  1. Click on the three dots in the right upper corner
  2. Go to more tools
  3. Now select extensions
  4. Remove the PowerPDF extension
  • Once you open Chrome, click on the three-dots icon to open the browser’s menu, go to More Tools/ More Options, and then to Extensions.
  • Again, find the items on that page that could be linked to PowerPDF and/or that might be causing problems in the browser and delete them.
  • Afterwards, go to this folder: Computer > C: > Users > *Your User Account* > App Data > Local > Google > Chrome > User Data. In there, you will find a folder named Default – you should change its name to Backup Default and restart the PC.
  • Note that the App Data folder is normally hidden so you’d have to first make the hidden files and folders on your PC visible before you can access it.

How to get rid of PowerPDF on FF/Edge/etc.

  1. Open the browser and select the menu icon.
  2. From the menu, click on the Add-ons button.
  3. Look for the PowerPDF extension
  4. Get rid of PowerPDF by removing it from extensions

If using Firefox:

  • Open Firefox
  • Select the three parallel lines menu and go to Add-ons.
  • Find the unwanted add-on and delete it from the browser – if there is more than one unwanted extension, remove all of them.
  • Go to the browser menu again, select Options, and then click on Home from the sidebar to the left.
  • Check the current addresses for the browser’s homepage and new-tab page and change them if they are currently set to address(es) you don’t know or trust.

If using MS Edge/IE:

  • Start Edge
  • Select the browser menu and go to Extensions.
  • Find and uninstall any Edge extensions that look undesirable and unwanted.
  • Select Settings from the browser menu and click on Appearance.
  • Check the new-tab page address of the browser and if it has been modified by “PowerPDF” or another unwanted app, change it to an address that you’d want to be the browser’s new-tab page.

How to Delete PowerPDF

  1. Open task manager
  2. Look for the PowerPDF process
  3. Select it and click on End task
  4. Open the file location to delete PowerPDF
  • Access the Task Manager by pressing together the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys and then selecting Task Manager.
  • Open Processes and there try to find a process with the name of the unwanted software. If you find it, select it with the right button of the mouse and click on the Open File Location option.
  • If you don’t see a “PowerPDF” process in the Task Manager, look for another suspicious process with an unusual name. It is likely that the unwanted process would be using lots of RAM and CPU so pay attention to the number of resources each process is using.
  • Tip: If you think you have singled out the unwanted process but are not sure, it’s always a good idea to search for information about it on the Internet – this should give you a general idea if the process is a legitimate one from a regular program or from your OS or if it is indeed likely linked to the adware.
  • If you find another suspicious process, open its File Location too.
  • Once in the File Location folder for the suspicious process, start testing all of the files that are stored there by dragging them to our free online scanner available below.
  • Each file will be scanned with up to 64 antivirus programs to ensure maximum accuracy
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    • If the scanner finds malware in any of the files, return to the Processes tab in the Task Manager, select the suspected process, and then select the End Process option to quit it.
    • Go back to the folder where the files of that process are located and delete all of the files that you are allowed to delete. If all files get deleted normally, exit the folder and delete that folder too. If one or more of the files showed an error message when you tried to delete them, leave them for now and return to try to delete them again once you’ve completed the rest of the guide.

    How to Uninstall PowerPDF

    1. Click on the home button
    2. Search for Startup Apps
    3. Look for PowerPDF in there
    4. Uninstall PowerPDF from Startup Apps by turning it off
    • Now you need to carefully search for and uninstall any PowerPDF-related entries from the Registry. The easiest way to do this is to open the Registry Editor app (type Regedit in the windows search field and press Enter) and then open a Find dialog (CTRL+F key combination) where you have to type the name of the threat. 
    • Perform a search by clicking on the Find Next button and delete any detected results. Do this as many times as needed until no more results are found. 
    • After that, to ensure that there are no remaining entries lined to PowerPDF in the Registry, go manually to the following directories and delete them:
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Random Directory. 
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run/Random
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/Main/Random

    What is PowerPDF?

    As mentioned, Trojans are very versatile. This means they can be programmed to complete a wide variety of malicious tasks, so one can never know for sure what the Trojan in their computer is up to exactly. Here are some examples of what a variant like PowerPDF can be capable of:
    Spying. Trojan horse viruses can tap into your computer’s microphone and webcam to enable hackers to spy on you.
    Theft. Once a Trojan has been embedded in your system, it can record what type on your keyboard (keystroke logging) and use it to obtain sensitive information like account logins and passwords. This information can then be used by the hackers to, for instance, drain your bank accounts.
    Aiding other malware. It’s not uncommon for Trojans like PowerPDF to serve as backdoors for other nasty threats, such as ransomware. Since Trojans are masters of stealth, they can infiltrate your computer without being noticed and then equally stealthily download some other type of virus.
    Cryptocurrency mining. A Trojan horse could be programmed to exploit your computer’s resources for the purpose of mining cryptocurrencies right under your nose! Of course, the mined cryptos are then sent to the hackers behind the virus, and all you’re left with is a higher electricity bill.


    About the author

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    Violet George

    Violet is an active writer with a passion for all things cyber security. She enjoys helping victims of computer virus infections remove them and successfully deal with the aftermath of the attacks. But most importantly, Violet makes it her priority to spend time educating people on privacy issues and maintaining the safety of their computers. It is her firm belief that by spreading this information, she can empower web users to effectively protect their personal data and their devices from hackers and cybercriminals.

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