Detection Details

PUP.Optional.DriverTonic

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Short bio

PUP.Optional.DriverTonic is Malwarebytes’ detection name for a potentially unwanted program, a so-called “driver updater and system optimizer” called Driver Tonic. Driver Tonic is published by PC Tonics and aimed at Windows systems.

Type of infection

PUP.Optional.DriverTonic is a driver updater and system optimizer. These so-called “system optimizers” use intentional false positives to convince users that their systems have problems. Then they try to sell you their software, claiming it will remove these problems. PUP.Optional.DriverTonic is often installed by users themselves. Driver Tonic can be delivered as part of a bundler or can be downloaded from their website.

Malicious behavior

Users of affected systems may have seen these warnings during install:

and may see these warnings when Driver Tonic is active:

Driver Tonic uses a Scheduled Task to gain persistence:

You may see this entry in the list of installed Programs and Features:

Protection

Malwarebytes blocks Driver Tonic

Home remediation

Malwarebytes can detect and remove PUP.Optional.DriverTonic without further user interaction.

  • Please download Malwarebytes to your desktop.
  • Double-click MBSetup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
  • When your Malwarebytes for Windows installation completes, the program opens to the Welcome to Malwarebytes screen.
  • Click on the Get started button.
  • Click Scan to start a Threat Scan.
  • Click Quarantine to remove the found threats.
  • Reboot the system if prompted to complete the removal process.

Add an exclusion

Should users wish to keep this program and exclude it from being detected in future scans, they can add the program to the exclusions list. Here’s how to do it.

  • Open Malwarebytes for Windows.
  • Click the Detection History
  • Click the Allow List
  • To add an item to the Allow List, click Add.
  • Select the exclusion type Allow a file or folder and use the Select a folder button to select the main folder for the software that you wish to keep.
  • Repeat this for any secondary files or folder(s) that belong to the software.

If you want to allow the program to connect to the Internet, for example to fetch updates, also add an exclusion of the type Allow an application to connect to the internet and use the Browse button to select the file you wish to grant access.

Associated threats