How to remove Privacy Commander (Uninstall Instructions)

Posted by Grinler on December 3, 2008 @ 02:37 PM · Views: 2,220

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What this programs does:

Privacy Commander is a rogue privacy program that uses exaggerated scan results into scaring you into thinking your computer is insecure. When installed, Privacy Commander will be configured to start automatically when you log into Windows. Once running, the program will scan your computer and list a great deal of privacy risks that cannot be removed until you purchase the program. In reality, these privacy risks are all false or highly exaggerated. Privacy Commander will label normal files as Dangerous risks, and any files it finds in your Temporary Internet Files folder, it will label as a risk as well. It provides these false reports in order to scare you into thinking you have a problem and therefore purchase the program. Please ignore any alerts and scan reports from this program and instead use the removal guide below in order to remove the program for free.

Privacy Commander screen shot
For more screen shots of this infection click on the image above.
There are a total of 3 images you can view.

This guide will walk you through removing PrivacyCommander program and any associated malware that may have been installed with it.

Threat Classification:

• Information on Rogue Programs & Scareware

Advanced information:

View Privacy Commander files.
View Privacy Commander Registry Information.

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

Privacy Commander

Tools Needed for this fix:

• Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

Symptoms that may be in a HijackThis Log:

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [tipguard.exe] C:\program files\Privacy Commander\tipguard.exe

Guide Updates:

12/03/08 - Initial guide creation.

Automated Removal Instructions for Privacy Commander using Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware:

1. Print out these instructions as we will need to close every window that is open later in the fix.
   
   
2. Download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, or MBAM, from the following location and save it to your desktop:
   
   Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Download Link
   
   


3. Once downloaded, close all programs and Windows on your computer, including this one.
   
   
4. Double-click on the icon on your desktop named mbam-setup.exe. This will start the installation of MBAM onto your computer.
   
   
5. 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, make sure you leave both the Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware checked. Then click on the Finish button.
   
   
6. MBAM will now automatically start and you will see a message stating that you should update the program before performing a scan. As MBAM will automatically update itself after the install, you can press the OK button to close that box and you will now be at the main program as shown below.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. On the Scanner tab, make sure the the Perform quick scan option is selected and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer for Privacy Commander related files.
   
   
8. 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.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. 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 PrivacyCommander removal process.
   
   
10. You will now be back at the main Scanner screen. At this point you should click on the Show Results button.
    
    
11. 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.
    
    
12. 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.
    
    
13. You can now exit the MBAM program.
    

Your computer should now be free of the PrivacyCommander 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 Posting A Hijackthis Log

Associated Privacy Commander Files:

c:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Desktop\Privacy Commander.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Start Menu\Programs\Privacy Commander
c:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Start Menu\Programs\Privacy Commander\Privacy Commander.lnk
c:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping\Start Menu\Programs\Privacy Commander\Uninstall.lnk
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\settings.ini
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\sysguard.exe
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\tipguard.exe
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\uninstall.exe
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bg_fixed_de.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bg_fixed_en.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bg_fixed_es.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bg_fixed_it.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bg_licence_de.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bg_licence_en.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bg_licence_es.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bg_licence_it.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bg_main_de.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bg_main_en.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bg_main_es.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bg_main_it.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bg_warning_de.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bg_warning_en.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bg_warning_es.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bg_warning_it.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_activate_de.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_activate_en.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_activate_es.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_activate_it.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_cancel_de.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_cancel_en.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_cancel_es.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_cancel_it.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_fix_de.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_fix_en.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_fix_es.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_fix_it.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_ok_de.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_ok_en.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_ok_es.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_ok_it.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_silent_de.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_silent_en.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_silent_es.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_silent_it.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_upd_de.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_upd_en.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_upd_es.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_upd_it.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_update_de.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_update_en.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_update_es.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\img\bt_update_it.jpg
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\lang
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\lang\de.lng
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\lang\en.lng
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\lang\es.lng
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\lang\it.lng
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\sounds
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\sounds\1.mp3
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\sounds\2.mp3
c:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\sounds\3.mp3

Associated Privacy Commander Windows Registry Information:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\sysguard
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\sysguard
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "tipguard.exe"
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon "Shell"=> C:\Program Files\Privacy Commander\sysguard.exe