Remove Dr. Guard (Uninstall Guide)

Posted by Grinler on February 28, 2010 @ 11:07 AM · Views: 49,776

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What this infection does:

Dr. Guard is a rogue anti-spyware program from the same family as Paladin Antivirus. This rogue is promoted and installed through the use of fake alert Trojans that advertise the program on your desktop. This rogue is also known to be bundled with the TDSS, or TDL3, rootkit. As MBAM is not capable of removing this rootkit, you may need to request further assistance in our Virus, Trojan, Spyware, and Malware Removal Logs forum to remove all of the malware on your computer.

Once downloaded and installed, Dr. Guard will attempt to uninstall various security applications in order to protect itself from being removed. The anti-malware programs that it tries to uninstall include:

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
• F-Secure
• NOD32
• Norton Internet Security
• Avira AntiVir
• Agnitum Outpost Security Suite
• AVG8
• avast!
• AntiVir

The program will then load and start to scan your computer for infections. Once the scan is finished it will state that there are numerous infections on your computer, but will not allow you to remove them until you purchase the program. In reality, the infections that it shows are all fake and do not actually exist on your computer. Therefore, please do not purchase this program based upon any of the scan results it shows.

Dr. Guard screen shot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 8 images you can view.

Dr. Guard also employs numerous methods where it tries to trick you into thinking you are infected. The first method is the display of a Window that impersonates the legitimate Windows Security Center. The difference is that this fake version suggests you purchase Dr. Guard to protect yourself. While the program is running you will also see a constant display of fake security alerts and warnings appear on your desktop and Windows taskbar. These alerts contain dire messages stating that your computer is under attack, all of your data is being deleted, or that personal information is being sent to a remote location. Some examples of the alerts you may see include:

ANTIVIRUS IS RUN IN DEMO MODE. ACTIVATE YOUR ANTIVIRUS OTHERWISE ALL THE DATA WILL BE LOST OR DAMAGED!

DANGEROUS! ANTIVIRUS DETECTED SOME HARMFUL PROGRAMS ON YOUR PC! THEY MAY CORRUPT YOUR INFORMATION OR SEND IT TO HACKERS.
PLEASE, OPTIMIZE YOUR PC. IT RUN ONLY 10%.
NEED HELP? PLEASE, CONTACT DR. GUARD CUSTOMER SUPPORT SERVICE.

Windows Firewall has detected unauthorized activity, but unfortunately it cannot help
you to remove viruses, keyloggers and other spyware threats that steal your personal
information from your computer

System files of your computer are damaged. Please, restart your system ASAP.
There are some serious security threats detected on your computer. Please, remove them ASAP.

There are some serious security threats detected on your computer: viruses, trojans, keyloggers, exploits etc.
Your computer and all your personal data are in serious danger.
Protection: Click the balloon to install antivirus software.

Defenseless OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista
Description: Spyware. Blocks access to computer. Attacks porn sites visitors.
Protection: Click the balloon to install antivirus software.

Just like the fake scan results, these fake alerts are just another tactic where Dr. Guard is trying to convince you that you have a security problem on your computer.

As you can see, Dr. Guard was created to trick you into thinking you are infected so that you will then purchase the program. It goes without saying that you should definitely not purchase this program, and if you already have, please contact your credit card company to dispute the charges. To remove this infection and any related malware, please use the removal guide below.

Threat Classification:

• Information on Rogue Programs & Scareware

Advanced information:

View Dr. Guard files.
View Dr. Guard Registry Information.

Entries for this program found in the Add or Remove Programs control panel:

Dr. Guard

Tools Needed for this fix:

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [asr64_ldm.exe] %Temp%\asr64_ldm.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Dr. Guard] "C:\Program Files\Dr. Guard\drguard.exe" -noscan

Guide Updates:

02/19/10 - Initial guide creation.

Automated Removal Instructions for Dr. Guard using Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:

1. Print out these instructions as we may need to close every window that is open later in the fix.
   
   
2. Before we can do anything we must first end the processes that belong to Dr. Guard so that it does not interfere with the cleaning procedure. To do this, download the following file to your desktop.
   
   rkill.com Download Link
   
   
3. Once it is downloaded, double-click on the rkill.com in order to automatically attempt to stop any processes associated with Dr. Guard and other Rogue programs. Please be patient while the program looks for various malware programs and ends them. When it has finished, the black window will automatically close and you can continue with the next step. If you get a message that rkill is an infection, do not be concerned. This message is just a fake warning given by Dr. Guard when it terminates programs that may potentially remove it. If you run into these infections warnings that close Rkill, a trick is to leave the warning on the screen and then run Rkill again. By not closing the warning, this typically will allow you to bypass the malware trying to protect itself so that rkill can terminate Dr. Guard . So, please try running Rkill until the malware is no longer running. You will then be able to proceed with the rest of the guide. If you continue having problems running rkill.com, you can download iExplore.exe or eXplorer.exe, which are renamed copies of rkill.com, and try them instead.
   
   Do not reboot your computer after running rkill as the malware programs will start again.
   
   
4. Now you should download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, or MBAM, from the following location and save it to your desktop:
   
   Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Download Link (Download page will open in a new window)
   
   


5. Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including this one.
   
   
6. Double-click on the icon on your desktop named mbam-setup.exe. This will start the installation of MBAM onto your computer.
   
   
7. When the installation begins, keep following the prompts in order to continue with the installation process. Do not make any changes to default settings and when the program has finished installing and is at the last screen, make sure you uncheck both of the Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware check boxes. Then click on the Finish button. If Malwarebytes' prompts you to reboot, please do not do so.
   
   If you receive a code 2 error while installing Malwarebytes's, please press the OK button to close these errors as we will resolve them in future steps. The code 2 error will look similar to the image below.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. As this infection deletes a core executable of Malwarebytes' we will need to download a new copy of it and put it in the C:\program files\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\ folder. To download the file please click on the following link:
   
   

   Malwarebytes' EXE Download

   When your browser prompts you where to save it to, please save it to the C:\program files\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\ folder. When downloading the file, it will have a random filename. Please leave the filename the way it is as it is important that it is not changed. You may want to write down the name of the file as you will need to know the name in the next step.
   
   
9. Once the file has been downloaded, open the C:\program files\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\ folder and double-click on the file you downloaded in step 8. MBAM will now start and you will be at the main program screen as shown below.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. Before you can perform a scan, you must first update the program. To do this click on the Update tab, and that at the new screen click on the Check for Updates button. Malwarebytes' will now check for new updates and download and install them as necessary. When the update is completed, you will be prompted with a message stating either that you already have the latest updates or that they have been updated. Either way, you should now click on the OK button to continue.
    
    
11. Now click on the Scanner tab and make sure the the Perform full scan option is selected. Then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for Dr. Guard related files.
    
    
12. MBAM will now start scanning your computer for malware. This process can take quite a while, so we suggest you go and do something else and periodically check on the status of the scan. When MBAM is scanning it will look like the image below.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
13. When the scan is finished a message box will appear as shown in the image below.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    You should click on the OK button to close the message box and continue with the Dr. Guard removal process.
    
    
14. You will now be back at the main Scanner screen. At this point you should click on the Show Results button.
    
    
15. A screen displaying all the malware that the program found will be shown as seen in the image below. Please note that the infections found may be different than what is shown in the image.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    You should now click on the Remove Selected button to remove all the listed malware. MBAM will now delete all of the files and registry keys and add them to the programs quarantine. When removing the files, MBAM may require a reboot in order to remove some of them. If it displays a message stating that it needs to reboot, please allow it to do so. Once your computer has rebooted, and you are logged in, please continue with the rest of the steps.
    
    
16. When MBAM has finished removing the malware, it will open the scan log and display it in Notepad. Review the log as desired, and then close the Notepad window.
    
    
17. You can now exit the MBAM program.
    
    
18. Due to the fact that this infection deletes certain MalwareBytes' files, and we had to work around this, if you wish to continue using MalwareBytes' Anti-Malware, which we suggest you do, then you should uninstall and then install it again so that the files are created properly.
    

Your computer should now be free of the Dr. Guard program. If your current anti-virus solution let this infection through, you may want to consider purchasing the PRO version of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware to protect against these types of threats in the future.

If you are still having problems with your computer after completing these instructions, then please follow the steps outlined in the topic linked below:

Preparation Guide For Use Before Using Malware Removal Tools and Requesting Help

Associated Dr. Guard Files:

c:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Desktop\Dr. Guard Support.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Desktop\Dr. Guard.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Start Menu\Programs\Dr. Guard
c:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Start Menu\Programs\Dr. Guard\About.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Start Menu\Programs\Dr. Guard\Activate.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Start Menu\Programs\Dr. Guard\Buy.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Start Menu\Programs\Dr. Guard\Dr. Guard Support.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Start Menu\Programs\Dr. Guard\Dr. Guard.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Start Menu\Programs\Dr. Guard\Scan.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Start Menu\Programs\Dr. Guard\Settings.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Start Menu\Programs\Dr. Guard\Update.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\Dr. Guard.lnk
c:\Program Files\Dr. Guard
c:\Program Files\Dr. Guard\about.ico
c:\Program Files\Dr. Guard\activate.ico
c:\Program Files\Dr. Guard\buy.ico
c:\Program Files\Dr. Guard\drg.db
c:\Program Files\Dr. Guard\drgext.dll
c:\Program Files\Dr. Guard\drghook.dll
c:\Program Files\Dr. Guard\drguard.exe
c:\Program Files\Dr. Guard\help.ico
c:\Program Files\Dr. Guard\scan.ico
c:\Program Files\Dr. Guard\settings.ico
c:\Program Files\Dr. Guard\splash.mp3
c:\Program Files\Dr. Guard\uninstall.exe
c:\Program Files\Dr. Guard\update.ico
c:\Program Files\Dr. Guard\virus.mp3
%Temp%\asr64_ldm.exe

Associated Dr. Guard Windows Registry Information:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\SimpleShlExt
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{5E2121EE-0300-11D4-8D3B-444553540000}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\SimpleShlExt
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Dr. Guard
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Dr. Guard
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System "DisableTaskMgr"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "Dr. Guard"
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{5E2121EE-0300-11D4-8D3B-444553540000}
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Approved "{5E2121EE-0300-11D4-8D3B-444553540000}"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System "DisableTaskMgr" = "1"