The article sheds light on why ProductUpdater was running on Windows startup automatically. From where it came and how it was installed. Has it been added by malware? How to disable and remove it.
What you need to know about ProductUpdater:
- ProductUpdater.exe on your computer was possibly installed by Freemake App(s)
- Windows notifies this process startup impact as high
- You can disable or remove it without any issues.
What is Product Updater?
Developers get revenue by bundling adware or malware with their Software or applications. Even popular apps, including antivirus vendors, follow this practice.
If you’ve noticed ProductUpdater is set to autorun on Startup, a Program you installed perhaps has done this.
Here the culprit is Freemake Software.
The purpose of it could be to update Freemake Products such as Freemake Video Converter, Freemake Video Downloader, and others.
Freemake company which claims it provides “True Next Level Freeware” integrates adware into their product installers.
The Product Updater itself is not malicious, but it gets added to Windows when you install one of Freemake Products, we observed.
Here are the free apps that Freemake offers on their website
- Freemake Video Downloader
- Freemake Video converter
- Freemake Audio Converter
- Free DVD Burner and more.
When a need arises to convert one video/audio to another format or download video streaming sites, you end up searching on the Internet and installing apps that add unnecessary processes to startup.
Finding the Freemake Product Updater’s location
Use Windows Search or Everything to find Product Updater’s location on your hard drive.
Or you can open Task Manager >Startup, right-click on Product Updater, and select “Open file location” to reach its folder.
The above steps take you to C:Program Files (x86)Common FilesFreemake SharedProductUpdater
The path reveals it has been added by the Freemake application.
Disable or remove Freemake Software’s ProductUpdater
Now, all you need to do is open Control Panel or Programs and Features, and remove the Freemake product(s).
If the application was already uninstalled or if you don’t want to remove Freemake software, disable it, for that,
- Open Task Manager
- Click on Startup Tab
- Find and select ProductUpdater
- Click on Disable
ProductUpdater in Startup tab of Task Manager
Uninstall Freemake Video Converter to remove Product Updater, for that,
- Open Settings > Apps > Apps & features
- Select Freemake Video Converter or Freemake Video Downloader
- Click Uninstall and follow the instructions on the screen.
