In hopes of making my two computers as safe as can be I went ahead and removed the various files that AdwCleaner detected in a scan. However, because I had issues with my computer's hardrive becoming corrupt recently, I'm worried that some of the registry files that were deleted might in fact be necessary ones. Can someone please let me know if this is the case? I've posted the content of the log below. Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I just want to make sure I won't encounter such costly problems again.

 

Computer 1:

# AdwCleaner 7.0.1.0 - Logfile created on Wed Aug 30 22:23:24 2017 # Updated on 2017/05/08 by Malwarebytes  # Database: 08-30-2017.1 # Running on Windows 10 Home (X64) # Mode: scan # Support: https://www.malwarebytes.com/support

***** [ Services ] *****

No malicious services found.

***** [ Folders ] *****

PUP.Optional.Legacy, C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Software Update Utility

***** [ Files ] *****

No malicious files found.

***** [ DLL ] *****

No malicious DLLs found.

***** [ WMI ] *****

No malicious WMI found.

***** [ Shortcuts ] *****

No malicious shortcuts found.

***** [ Tasks ] *****

No malicious tasks found.

***** [ Registry ] *****

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\SoftwareUpdUtility

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Interface\{660E6F4F-840D-436D-B668-433D9591BAC5}

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\AppID\{6C259840-5BA8-46E6-8ED1-EF3BA47D8BA1}

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{7B089B94-D1DC-4C6B-87E1-8156E22C1D96}

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\PreApproved\{7B089B94-D1DC-4C6B-87E1-8156E22C1D96}

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\TypeLib\{92380354-381A-471F-BE2E-DD9ACD9777EA}

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{E15A9BFD-D16D-496D-8222-44CADF316E70}

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Interface\{E7435878-65B9-44D1-A443-81754E5DFC90}

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\AppID\dnu.EXE

***** [ Firefox (and derivatives) ] *****

No malicious Firefox entries.

***** [ Chromium (and derivatives) ] *****

No malicious Chromium entries.

*************************

C:/AdwCleaner/AdwCleaner[S0].txt - [2555 B] - [2017/6/17 17:38:22] C:/AdwCleaner/AdwCleaner[S10].txt - [2533 B] - [2017/8/28 22:48:53] C:/AdwCleaner/AdwCleaner[S1].txt - [2628 B] - [2017/6/24 14:17:58] C:/AdwCleaner/AdwCleaner[S2].txt - [2701 B] - [2017/6/29 18:28:33] C:/AdwCleaner/AdwCleaner[S3].txt - [3166 B] - [2017/6/30 20:4:27] C:/AdwCleaner/AdwCleaner[S4].txt - [2846 B] - [2017/7/1 18:11:29] C:/AdwCleaner/AdwCleaner[S5].txt - [2919 B] - [2017/7/1 19:19:8] C:/AdwCleaner/AdwCleaner[S6].txt - [2993 B] - [2017/7/12 2:39:52] C:/AdwCleaner/AdwCleaner[S7].txt - [3065 B] - [2017/7/13 0:35:19] C:/AdwCleaner/AdwCleaner[S8].txt - [2398 B] - [2017/8/4 1:47:33] C:/AdwCleaner/AdwCleaner[S9].txt - [2464 B] - [2017/8/26 23:29:43]

########## EOF - C:\AdwCleaner\AdwCleaner[S11].txt ##########

Re: Did AdwCleaner Remove Required Registry Files?

As far as the logs go, no drivers/registry keys that are crucial to the functionality of any hardware have been removed. Just some PUPs that are malicious and have nothing to do with it. For future reference, make sure you update your Windows to the latest version, update your drivers to the latest and do an additional scan both with Adwcleaner and Malwarebytes.

Re: Did AdwCleaner Remove Required Registry Files?

Thanks John! That is reassuring. Do you think you could check about the files for another computer of mine? I just want to be sure that the registry will be okay.

 

# AdwCleaner 7.0.1.0 - Logfile created on Sat Aug 26 17:28:02 2017 # Updated on 2017/05/08 by Malwarebytes  # Database: 08-25-2017.1 # Running on Windows 10 Home (X64) # Mode: scan # Support: https://www.malwarebytes.com/support

***** [ Services ] *****

No malicious services found.

***** [ Folders ] *****

No malicious folders found.

***** [ Files ] *****

No malicious files found.

***** [ DLL ] *****

No malicious DLLs found.

***** [ WMI ] *****

No malicious WMI found.

***** [ Shortcuts ] *****

No malicious shortcuts found.

***** [ Tasks ] *****

No malicious tasks found.

***** [ Registry ] *****

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKU\S-1-5-21-1745523471-2157326767-3355521870-1000-{ED1FC765-E35E-4C3D-BF15-2C2B11260CE4}-08242017182843671\Software\Host App Service

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKU\S-1-5-21-1745523471-2157326767-3355521870-1000-{ED1FC765-E35E-4C3D-BF15-2C2B11260CE4}-08242017182843671\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Host App Service

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKU\S-1-5-21-1745523471-2157326767-3355521870-1000-{ED1FC765-E35E-4C3D-BF15-2C2B11260CE4}-08262017132059319\Software\Host App Service

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKU\S-1-5-21-1745523471-2157326767-3355521870-1000-{ED1FC765-E35E-4C3D-BF15-2C2B11260CE4}-08262017132059319\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Host App Service

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKU\S-1-5-21-1745523471-2157326767-3355521870-1001\Software\Host App Service

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKU\S-1-5-21-1745523471-2157326767-3355521870-1001\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Host App Service

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKU\S-1-5-21-1745523471-2157326767-3355521870-1001-{ED1FC765-E35E-4C3D-BF15-2C2B11260CE4}-08242017182843787\Software\Host App Service

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKU\S-1-5-21-1745523471-2157326767-3355521870-1001-{ED1FC765-E35E-4C3D-BF15-2C2B11260CE4}-08242017182843787\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Host App Service

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKU\S-1-5-21-1745523471-2157326767-3355521870-1001-{ED1FC765-E35E-4C3D-BF15-2C2B11260CE4}-08262017132059423\Software\Host App Service

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKU\S-1-5-21-1745523471-2157326767-3355521870-1001-{ED1FC765-E35E-4C3D-BF15-2C2B11260CE4}-08262017132059423\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Host App Service

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKCU\Software\Host App Service

PUP.Optional.Legacy, [Key] - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Host App Service

PUP.Adware.Heuristic, [Key] - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\HostAppService_322460fb8f47d8cb14cd883b17b5e0dd233a7768

***** [ Firefox (and derivatives) ] *****

No malicious Firefox entries.

***** [ Chromium (and derivatives) ] *****

No malicious Chromium entries.

*************************

C:/AdwCleaner/AdwCleaner[C0].txt - [3329 B] - [2017/7/15 21:49:6] C:/AdwCleaner/AdwCleaner[S0].txt - [3377 B] - [2017/6/10 19:19:57] C:/AdwCleaner/AdwCleaner[S1].txt - [3449 B] - [2017/6/11 4:6:36] C:/AdwCleaner/AdwCleaner[S2].txt - [3523 B] - [2017/7/15 21:46:58]

########## EOF - C:\AdwCleaner\AdwCleaner[S3].txt ##########

Re: Did AdwCleaner Remove Required Registry Files?

Josh ;) Considering my uninstall folder is empty and none of the mentioned file registries are crucial, I don't see any problems that might come from removing those. It could be a malicious registry added to alter your search or download malware, but other than that, you should be good to go. (I am not an expert at registries, just slightly knowledgeable)