Removing Personal Guard

Removing Personal Guard

I have successfully removed PersonalGuard from an infected computer with all the files saved. This will be quick and dirty because I want to get it out there.

First bring up task manager, go to processes and end PersonalGuard. Next go to services. In the first 20 listings you’ll find the PersonalGuard service, it wasn’t PG, I forgot to write down the name, but it’s rather obvious which one it is. Disable it, then go to Logon tab and disable the hardware profile. You’ve now severely handicapped PG, it’ll keep popping up but it won’t be able to stop you from getting onto the Internet.

Here’s the key piece, PG has made itself the official Windows Virus Protection service so everytime Windows wakes up with it’s annoying and totally unnecessary security warnings, PG gets to run. End the process (not application, if you end the application then the process is still running) immediately and every time Windows starts it up. We need to replace PG as the Windows Virus Protection Program by downloading and installing another program. I used the free version of AVG.

I also downloaded two other programs, CCleaner & Revo uninstaller. Start CCleaner and go to the startup screen, you’ll see the entry for PG. Then start Revo, and find the PG program. Then wait for the next time Windows brings up PG. this is what you need to do QUICKLY, before PG can start up again and put everything back.
1. End the PG process
2. Uninstall PG with Revo, use Advanced mode and delete everything Revo shows you.
3. While Revo is running (We need to be fast) do a search for any file or folder named “Personal Guard” and delete it.
4. Delete the startup entry
Shutdown!

If you did everything properly then when you turn the computer back on, a new program should be the Official Windows Virus Protection Program. Now that PG is no longer active you can run all of your scans. I did an AVG scan followed by a Malwarebytes scan and it was totally gone. I did a few more for insurance.