XP-Guard

Remove XP-Guard Automatically, with SmitFraud

Don’t have a lot of time? What with YouPorn.com reading The Guardian, my charity work, and more, neither do I. If you don’t know how to manually delete XP-Guard files, and don’t want to learn, here’s how you automatically remove XP-Guard.

Before you start, print out these instructions—you’re going to have to restart your computer in Safe Mode. Also, back up your PC in case you make a mistake.

1. Download SmitFraudFix for free, and save it to your desktop.
2. Reboot your PC in Safe Mode.
   • To reboot in Safe Mode using Windows XP, restart your PC, and when a progress bar appears at the bottom of the screen, hit F8 once every second. When you see the Windows Start-up menu, highlight Safe Mode and hit Enter. Your desktop will show up, and make whatever repairs necessary. Then reboot your system and allow it to start up as normal.
   • To reboot in Safe Mode using Windows Vista, go Start > Run. Type “MSCONFIG” into the Open field, and click OK. From the BOOT.INI tab, check /SAFEBOOT and click Restart).
3. Once your desktop loads, double-click SmitfraudFix.exe.
4. After the credits roll, you’ll see a menu. Click option number two, “Clean (safe mode recommended)“. Click Enter and delete your files infected with XP-Guard.
5. SmitFraudFix will clean your PC. When SmitFraudFix is finished, its Disk Cleanup automatically starts.
6. Once Disk Cleanup is done, it’ll ask you, “Registry cleaning – Do you want to clean the registry?” Type in “Y” (yes), and click “Enter“. When Disk Cleanup finishes, restart your PC.
7. If your system’s wininet.dll is infected, SmitFraudFix asks you if you want to replace the file. If SmitFraud asks, “Replace infected file?” Type “Y” (yes) to answer and click “Enter“.
8. Once that’s finished, restart your system.
9. After restarting, a Notepad file might popup with a log of the files SmitFraudFix deleted. If it doesn’t popup, you can find the log as a file rapport.txt in Local Disk C:, the root of your hard drive.
10. Restart your system again, in Safe Mode. Once it boots up, go to C:\Windows\Temp. Select “Edit“, select “Select All“, and click “DELETE“. Click “Yes” to confirm you want all these files to get trashed in the Recycle Bin.
11. Restart your system one more time, in normal mode. Go to Windows Update and download any critical updates for your computer. You’re done.

Remove XP-Guard with Your Bare Hands

You dig a work out. Manually removing XP-Guard can be hard and time consuming, but apparently you’re into that. Obviously, I can’t guarantee these instructions will completely remove XP-Guard from your system, but it’s worth a try. Just make sure you backup your system before you try to remove XP-Guard manually.

Before you start, print out these manual XP-Guard removal instructions and close all applications, including your web browser.

1. Uninstall XP-Guard: Select Start menu > Settings > Control Panel. Double-click “Add/Remove Programs“, and search for “XP-Guard”. If you find XP-Guard, uninstall XP-Guard.
2. Stop XP-Guard processes: Select Start menu > Run. Type taskmgr, then click on the Processes tab for a list of running processes. Search for XP-Guard processes, like “XP-Guard.exe“, or any XP-Guard processes I list below. Right-click “XP-Guard.exe“, and click “End task“.
   
   
   

   c:\Program Files\XPGuard\XP-Guard.exe
   c:\Program Files\XPGuard\UNWISE.EXE

3. Delete XP-Guard files in Windows Vista and XP: Select Start menu > Settings > Search. Click For Files and Folders…. You’ll see a speech bubble asking you, “What do you want to search for?” Select All files and folders. Type the names of XP-Guard files into the search box, including any XP-Guard file I’ve listed below. Now select Local Hard Drives, and click Search. As soon as you see a bastard XP-Guard file, just delete it.

   
   

   c:\Program Files\XPGuard\INSTALL.LOG
   %UserProfile%\Desktop\XP-Guard.lnk
   %UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\XPGuard\XP-Guard Web Site.lnk
   c:\Program Files\XPGuard\XP-Guard Web Site.url
   %UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\XPGuard\XP-Guard.lnk

4. Unregister XP-Guard DLL files: Select Start menu > Settings > Run. Type “cmd” in Run’s box, and click OK. To switch directories, type “cd” in the command box, hit the Space key, and type the directory where the XP-Guard DLL file is located. If you don’t know which directory the XP-Guard DLL file is located in, enter “dir” into the command box to see a directory’s contents. To go back one directory, enter “cd ..” in the command box and hit Enter. Once you find the XP-Guard DLL file you want to remove, including any of the DLLs I list below, type “regsvr32 /u MadeUpDLLName.dll” (e.g., “regsvr32 /u XP-Guard.dll”) and hit Enter. If you delete a DLL by mistake, type “regsvr32 MadeUpWhoopsName.dll” (e.g., “regsvr32 XP-Guard.dll”) into your command box, and hit Enter.
   
   
   
   

5. Unregister XP-Guard registry keys: Select Start menu > Run. Type regedit, and click OK. Search for any XP-Guard registry keys I list below. To delete these XP-Guard registry keys, right-click the XP-Guard registry key, select “Modify”, and click “Delete“.
   
   
   

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\XPGuard
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\XP-Guard
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “XPGuard”

6. Delete XP-Guard directories: Select Start menu > My Computer > Local Disk (C:) > Program Files > Show the contents of this folder. Search for “C:\ProgramFiles\XP-Guard“, or any XP-Guard directories I list below. Right-click these XP-Guard directories. Click “Delete“, “Yes“, and “Yes” again to confirm you want to move the XP-Guard folder into the Recycle Bin.
   

   c:\Program Files\XPGuard
   %UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\XPGuard

7. Remove XP-Guard desktop icons: Drag and drop any XP-Guard icons into your Recycle Bin.
8. Change your home page: If XP-Guard hijacked your home page, select Start menu > Control Panel > Internet Options > General. Under “Home Page” select Use Default. Enter the URL you want as your home page (for example, “http://www.damntrojan.co.uk”), and select “Apply” and “OK“. Open a new browser window to make sure your home page has changed.

You’re done. Hopefully these XP-Guard removal instructions got rid of XP-Guard for you. Just so we’re clear on things, I can’t guarantee these instructions will completely remove XP-Guard from your computer.

If you tried these instructions to get rid of XP-Guard and they didn’t work, throw your computer out the window.

Or consult professionals.

XP-Guard Might Be Rogue Anti-Spyware

WTF is Rogue Anti-Spyware?

Rogue anti-spyware is a nice way of saying some anti-spyware software may be a fake. Rogue anti-spyware, at best, is anti-spyware software not proven to protect your PC. Rogue anti-spyware, at worst, is installed by a Trojan or browser security holes, gives you false positives in scans, and pops up fake security alerts to scare you into buying it.

Some rogue anti-spyware even is created by spyware and adware folk, or installs spyware onto your PC.

Sound like a scam?

It is.

If you’re infected with fake anti-spyware like XP-Guard, you could see a XP-Guard popup posing as a security alert. Maybe it looks like this:

Why Rogue Anti-Spyware Sucks

Rogue anti-spyware, like XP-Guard, has a few qualities that make it faker than a chest on a Trump chick.

• Fake alerts and false positives: Rogue anti-spyware can drive you crazy with fake security alerts popping up, telling you you’re infected with spyware threats that don’t even exist.
• Copycat images: Rogue anti-spyware sometimes copies the look of real anti-spyware (think of that knock-off Fucci bag you bought your girl friend). More often though, rogue anti-spyware just looks like other fakes.
• High-pressure sales: Rogue anti-spyware will sell you harder than Crazy Gideon pimps an old tape cassette player. Think scare tactics, like fake alerts, and exaggerated “security” scans of your system.
• Poor detection: Besides rogue anti-spyware often plugging in fake threats in security scans, rogue anti-spyware can be sloppy about telling you what you’re really infected with. For instance, rogue anti-spyware might say you’ve got 13 threats, but not what kind of “threats.” Or maybe the rogue says you’re infected with MadeUpParasite, but it doesn’t tell you which files are actually on your computer.
• Weak scans: Rogue anti-spyware might scan your system, but skim over important folders. Though, really, I’d be surprised if it did any scanning at all.

Did XP-Guard use these moves to try to get you to buy XP-Guard?

WTF? XP-Guard?

Yep. Read more:

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