PC Guard

[cider drinker]

Hi Guys

I'm new to this so please bear with me. Has anyone had problems with PC Guard?

A little while ago, Virgin upgraded their PC Guard and that's when the trouble started. First it slowed my PC down, then made it slower until eventually it was taking around 15 minutes to boot up.

Then it crashed. I kept getting a message saying that it could not open anti virus. I tried all sorts but, in the end, I contacted the helpline who were unable to help. They got their elite squad to to do it for me and wanted to do a remote, no internet connection. To cut a longer story short, I employed a professional IT consultant to have a look for me. He tried everything and in the end got around it by re-installing Windows XP and then uninstalling PC Guard with RPS files. Cost £85.00.

My gripe is, if Virgin installed it, they should have the wherewithall to get rid of it.

I have told Virgin that I hold them responsible, but no doubt it will be ignored.

Moan over,

Cider Drinker.

[Peter_]

They have the official removal tools available and if you had let them book a timeslot for a callback from a 2nd line agent then you would had your copy of PC Guard removed without the need to reinstall Windows for free and would not have charged you £85.

As you chose to get in your own professional to remove it for you and willingly paid his fee then I rather doubt you will receive any recompense.

You do know that you could have booted your machine into safe mode with networking to help with the removal.

[cider drinker]

Hello Moldova,

Nice to meet you. Although I indicated their second line of support as their elite squad, they tried to help, but couldn't. They gave RPS, etc, files, but had to send them to me via my laptop which had an internet connection.

I tried safe mode but that did not help one iota. These files I put on a flash drive, but although the PC recognised it, the PC could not open it up in any manner. I am now going round in circles, the second line of support called me back, tried all they could, but gave up.

Their advice to me if I could get it sorted out - don't use PC guard again on this machine. I now use another anti virus, etc.

Hope this clarifies,

Cider Drinker.

---------- Post added at 17:56 ---------- Previous post was at 17:53 ----------

Moldova,

By the way, I am happy with Vm, so I am not seeking recompense. I posted this in case anyone else ran into similar problems.

Cider Drinker.

[Peter_]

That issue is very unusual to say the least, as normally you go into safemode receive the files via email and run them and it removes PC Guard, I have not heard of it failing before you posted.

You could ask for a credit as you had to get a third party to remove the files from your machine.

[bonzoe]

Having read this, I wonder why VM do not make the removal tools available without having to go to tier 2. If it's so difficult to remove and requires help from VM to remove, I wish I had not used it on my daughter's PC.

Is this really the only way to remove it?

[caph]

Am I the only one who does not install anti-virus at all? Tried AVG for a while but gave up on it when it followed all the others in to bloatware. Never had a virus either (but then I don't have kids). Also never had any of the numerous problems that others have experienced with anti-virus.

I wonder what has caused more problems, viruses or anti-virus applications. Personal experience with numerous users indicates that it is anti-virus applications.

[Mick Fisher]

I wonder what has caused more problems, viruses or anti-virus applications. Personal experience with numerous users indicates that it is anti-virus applications.
Hmmm....about 50/50 I reckon. :D

[Peter_]

Having read this, I wonder why VM do not make the removal tools available without having to go to tier 2. If it's so difficult to remove and requires help from VM to remove, I wish I had not used it on my daughter's PC.

Is this really the only way to remove it?
The removal tool is only required in a few cases where the normal windows uninstall process does not work and the tool is not freely available due to it having to be ran with guidance from a 2nd line agent.