How to Remove MASetupCleaner.exe by Samsung Kies

Windows users often encounter various suspicious files while using their computers for their personal purposes and they are often unsure about how that specific file made its way to their computer. It’s good to be careful and to keep yourself from opening or downloading files and programs which have an unknown origin.

Your best bet is to simply google each file you may be curious about because a lot of them can be malicious if you downloaded them from a sketchy website. Some files are not recognized as malicious even by the best of antivirus programs, especially if they are not updated regularly. Let’s check out this file and find out whether it is malicious or not!

Should Your Remove MASetupCleaner.exe File?

This particular file was reported to be of unknown origin by plenty of Windows users because they don’t know where it came from.

It turns out that this file belongs to a program called Samsung Kies which is basically a program which makes it easy for you to sync your Samsung Android phone with your computer. Users were alarmed by the fact that Windows Firewall reported this program for trying to establish an Internet connection.

If you have Samsung Kies installed on your computer, you have nothing to worry about but the file may become annoying if these pop-up messages keep appearing. However, if you don’t have Samsung Kies installed, this may be a virus presenting itself under the same name. Find out how to fix these issues below.

Solution 1: Uninstall Samsung Kies

If you installed Samsung Kies in order to fix your phone by downloading the latest firmware or to sync your files once, you may not need it on a regular basis which means you can delete it freely. Try this method of uninstalling it before doing anything else.

1. Disconnect the USB cable from the device before continuing.
2. Download the correct version of Kies by visiting https://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/app/smart-switch and selecting your version at the top of the page.
3. Run the file you just downloaded by locating it in the Downloads folder
4. Click Remove when prompted with Kies Reinstall or Remove.
5. Click the checkbox next to Delete temporary save file, and click Yes.
6. The application will then be removed from the computer.

If you currently don’t have access to an Internet connection, you can also uninstall Kies from the Control Panel or the Settings app and remove it from there.

We are sure that you tried this as soon as you thought of uninstalling Samsung Kies but let’s go through the process once more for users who struggle with uninstalling apps at all.

1. Open Control Panel by searching for it in your Search bar. Alternatively, you can open Settings by clicking on the Windows logo located in the bottom left corner and clicking on the gear icon.
2. Switch to the Category view in Control Panel and click on Uninstall a Program under Programs and Features.
3. If you are using Settings, simply click on Apps section located as soon as you enter Settings.
4. After you take a look at the entire list of installed apps, locate Samsung Kies and click on Uninstall.
5. Follow the instructions on screen.
6. Restart your computer and see whether the program has been removed.
7. Wait to see if the MASetupCleaner.exe error keeps appearing.

Solution 2: What To Do if the Conventional Method Doesn’t Work?

If the conventional method of uninstalling Samsung Kies and MASetupCleaner does not work, you can try this particular method of uninstalling it using Windows PowerShell.

1. Launch Windows PowerShell with administrator permissions. In order to do do this, click on Start > All apps > Windows PowerShell or right-click on the Start Menu logo and choose Windows PowerShell (Admin). You can also search for it by using the search button located at the taskbar.
2. Right-click Windows PowerShell and click More > Run as Administrator.
3. In the Windows PowerShell screen, copy and paste the following command in order to receive the full list of the apps you have installed along with detailed info regarding every single one. Make sure you click Enter after pasting the text in order to run the command.
4. Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Select Name, PackageFullName
5. The output of the above command will be a list with two columns. Under the first column the full name of the App (Name) is displayed and at the second column the Full Package Name (PackageFullName) is displayed.
6. Wait for the list to load and try to search for Samsung Kies. This might take a while but be patient while you look through the installed apps.
7. When you find it, copy everything next to the PackageFullName line by selecting the entire text and using the Ctrl + C key combination.
8. Use the following command in order to uninstall Samsung Kies from your PC. Replace the bolded PackageFullName with the actual name you just copied and click Enter.
9. Remove-AppxPackage -package PackageFullName
10. Restart your computer so that the changes can take effect. Make sure that you save and close any apps that you have opened before you restart.

Solution 3: Removing MASetupCleaner.exe From Startup

If you are using Samsung Kies on a regular basis, you may not want to uninstall it from your computer because there are few other alternatives for syncing Android phones with your PC. However, what you can do is that you can disable it from startup completely by following the instructions below.

1. In order to remove the file from Startup using the Registry editor navigate to Start >>Run and type in the following text: “regedit.exe”. Click Enter or OK in order to open the Registry Editor.
2. Click on the File menu located at the top left part of the window and select the Export option.
3. Choose where you want to save the changes to your registry.
4. In case you cause some damage to the registry by editing it, simply open Registry Editor again, click File >> Import and locate the .reg file you exported beforehand.
5. Alternatively, if you fail to Import the changes made to the registry, you can restore your system to a previous working state by using System Restore.

After we have successfully backed up the changes to our registry, we can proceed with the solution to our problem.

1. Navigate to the following key in Registry Editor: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE >> Software >> Microsoft >> Windows >> Current Version
2. Open the Run OR/AND RunOnce OR/AND RunServices OR/AND RunServicesOnce keys and deleted anything you find related to MASetupCleaner.
3. Follow the same steps for HKEY_CURRENT_USER location with the same keys and deleting the same files.
4. Restart your computer and check to see if MASetupCleaner.exe related messages are appearing.

If you feel like editing the registry in order to remove the file from startup is too complicated, you can do it in another way more easily.

Alternatively, you can simply prevent the software from loading during startup without disabling it.

1. If you are using Windows OS older than Windows 10, type “msconfig” in either the Search bar or the Run dialog box, and navigate to the “Startup” tab.
2. If you are using Windows 10, click CTRL + SHIFT + ESC to open Task Manager and navigate to the “Startup” tab.
3. Uncheck the MASetupCLeaner from starting and your Windows Firewall issues should seize to appear.
4. If you don’t see the MASetupCleaner, you can disable Kies from starting easily by unchecking it in the same window.

Solution 4: Restoring Your PC to a Previous State Using System Restore

Some users claim that they were unable to get rid of their MASetupCleaner.exe problems even after they uninstalled Samsung Kies successfully. These instances are rare but they to happen so we recommend you try this option if everything else fails.

System Restore option can bring your computer in the stage before this unwanted program was installed as long as you have a system restore point located somewhere in there. This will fix your issue but know that you might lose some installed apps or files so make sure you back everything up.

1. Navigate to the Windows login screen and click on the Power icon
2. Hold the Shift key while clicking Restart.
3. Open Troubleshoot >> Advanced options >> Startup Settings and click Restart.
4. As soon as you are prompted with a numbered list of different options, click the number located next to Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt.
5. As soon as Command Prompt opens, use the following commands in this order in order to bring up the System Restore screen. Click Enter after each one and wait for it to finish before doing anything.
6. cd restore
7. rstrui.exe
8. Follow the instructions when the System Restore window opens and choose a restore point before you installed Samsung Kies.
9. Keep on proceeding through the wizard and click Yes to start System Restore.
10. Don’t end this process and wait for everything to finish.

Solution 5: If You Suspect MASetupCleaner.exe is a Virus

If you never installed Samsung Kies on your PC and if you haven’t plugged in Samsung phones at all, you probably shouldn’t see this program on your computer and it may be a virus disguised as the file.

Malwarebytes usually produces free security tools which can definitely help you keep your PC protected. This particular Anti-Rootkit tool is designed to get rid of rootkits like this one and a lot of people have reported that this software actually managed to get rid of the issue.

1. Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware tool from here.
2. Close everything you can close on your computer and open the file you just downloaded.
3. Install MBAM to a convenient location and open it after the installation ends.
4. Update the database as soon as you open the program.
5. Locate Settings on the left side of the screen and go to the Protection tab.
6. Toggle the Scan for rootkits option on in order to locate this malware.
7. Scan your computer with a Threat Scan.
8. After the scan finishes, keep the Create Restore point option checked and click on Cleanup.
9. Your computer will reboot so check to see whether the same issue remains when you try to open your antivirus software.

If something interferes with either the MBAM installation, opening, or the malware removal process, you will need to use a tool called Rkill which will help your terminate processes which are causing the issue so that you can remove them promptly.

1. Download Rkill from here.
2. After you download it, locate it in the Downloads folder and rename it in order to “fool” the rootkit.
3. Run it and wait until the process is over. DON’T restart your computer now. Simply run the MBAM tool again and get rid of this malware.

If Malwarebytes Anti-Rootkit wasn’t able to get rid of the rootkit or if you want to run a couple of additional scans there are several high-quality tools you can use.

1. Download Zemana AntiMalware from here.
2. Rename the file you just downloaded to something else.
3. Run the installation and choose the folder you want to install Zemana to.
4. The app should run automatically but if it doesn’t, open the folder where you chose to install Zemana and rename the the ZAM.exe file to something else and double-click on it.
5. Scan your computer with a Deep Scan option.