Does PG prevent formatting my computer ?

I'm quite happy with PG, however I decided that I would reformat my computer so that I could be guaranteed of installing it, and my other security products on a clean environment.

However once I try to format from the command prompt I get the following message "Format cannot be run because the volume is in use by another process. Format may run if this volume is dismounted first. ALL OPENED HANDLES TO THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID. Would you like to force a dismount on this volume? <Y/N>
I then type in 'y' and get this message :
Cannot lock the drive. The volume is still in use.

Now I'm fairly certain that PG is the cause of this (probably as a security measure?). The only other one that may be repsonsible is PrevX, but I doubt that. I tried uninstalling PG and got the same message, however, when I reinstalled PG, I got a little popup box when PG loaded saying "Process Guard already loaded' or some such....so obviously I didn't uninstall it properly.

Anyone able to offer any insights ?

 

Hi Vikorr,

You have to boot from another OS (Windows 98 boot floppy, Windows 2000/XP CDs, etc) in order to format your active drive. You cannot do it from within Windows. Windows itself is preventing it, not PG or PrevX.

You also have to disable PG (via the tray icon or the main PG tab) before you can uninstall it. I never tried it, but if you try to reinstall PG while PG is still active, you will probably get an "already loaded" error of some kind.

Nick

 

I've formatted my comp before, when I was using windows 98, just not when I've been using XP. I take it there is a difference between the two ? Can't remember exactly how I did it, thought I had just gone to the command prompt

Wasn't really interested in uninstalling PG, just wanted to format my comp. Thanks for the tip to do it from a disk

 

Windows 98 is uses DOS to boot up, so if you try to format from command prompt it'll work

Windows XP on the other hand uses NTFS style booting, the command prompt in Windows XP isn't really MS-DOS but just a emulator allowing you do to do basic commands.

As one suggested, you can not delete a partition that is in use (sort of like in Linux were you can't delete a mounted partition).

Follow what nick_s said, what he said is the correct way.

 

At first I thought this was going to be a question about how good PG is, and if it will stop malware frequently enough - in well trained hands it does ! read the help file to get the best out of PG, read here, and ask questions. Once you grasp the concept (if you haven't already), you might not format again for a long time..

Glad to see you are going this way. The very widespread, opensource BOTS like Agobot, SDBot, rBot etc are becoming more and more dangerous, and including rootkit drivers to stealth themselves. As we have said all along, you can not expect software like Rootkit revealer, Blacklight, Unhackme etc to work. They will find older rootkits, but they will always be at a huge disadvantage. They are all already defeated so rootkits are still the huge threat they always have been.

Just be very careful about when you come online first - dont just format and come online. FIREWALL everything off, dont allow any unexpected inbound at all. If you do come online without a firewall, the format could be for nothing. PG will of course stop executions, but you will need Windows Updates and to get offline and have PG re-learn all your software once you have everything on the machine.

 

yup, thanks.

Had the windows firewall up when I came online, and first thing I did was download zonealarm (and then unplugged internet, switched off windows firewall, ran ZA) . Then went through and reinstalled all my security apps before installing PG...then switched it on in learning mode, ran everything once (including scan and update exe's) ...then turned off learning mode...taken a while, but worth it I think.

Heheh, if I'd been thinking, I would have bought myself a hardware firewall before I did the format (been thinking about getting one for a while now).

Thanks for all the help.

Oh, and one of the biggest reasons I like PG is how well it combines with application based firewalls....I secure all my internet applications with PG. Also like how it protects from RAT installation, and from Keyloggers.

Keep up the good work