Should I remove Privacy Essential?

Lifespan of installation (until removal)

Versions

Version	Distribution
3.1.2	4.76%
2.7.3	47.62%
2.6.5	9.52%
2.2.9	38.10%

Remove Privacy Essential

This is an ad Injector type of malware that is typically bundled with unwanted software offers for legitimate software and once installed is deceptive, difficult to remove as well as impacts the security of the user's computer by displaying intrusive advertisements in the web browser which promote and trick users into installing other unwanted adware or malware. Once installed, it runs as a startup process in the background works by injecting into the browser ads on web pages that either do not normally appear or by replacing existing ads that are part of the existing site with ads from different companies with low quality offerings as well as malware. It works by monitoring and intercepting the user's web browser connections and injecting new content before the browser serve it up. (This is a variant of the CMI/WinCheck family of adware.)

The most common release is 2.7.3, with over 98% of all installations currently using this version. It adds registry entry for the current user which will allow the program to automatically start each time it is rebooted. A scheduled task is added to Windows Task Scheduler in order to launch the program at various scheduled times (the schedule varies depending on the version). The primary executable is named PrivacyEssential.exe. A majority of users end up uninstalling this less than a week of it being installed. The setup package generally installs about 21 files and is usually about 9.06 MB (9,501,091 bytes). The installed file updater.exe is the auto-update component of the program which is designed to check for software updates and notify and apply them when new versions are discovered.

Installation folder: C:\Program Files\Privacy Essential\

Uninstaller: MsiExec.exe /X{3BB2564A-8280-49D4-B8AA-5E1EDC76D3FB}

Estimated size: 9.06 MB

Language: English (United States)

1. On the Start menu (for Windows 8, right-click the screen's bottom-left corner), click Control Panel, and then, under Programs, do one of the following:
• Windows Vista/7/8/10: Click Uninstall a Program.
• Windows XP: Click Add or Remove Programs.
2. When you find the program Privacy Essential, click it, and then do one of the following:
• Windows Vista/7/8/10: Click Uninstall.
• Windows XP: Click the Remove or Change/Remove tab (to the right of the program).
3. Follow the prompts. A progress bar shows you how long it will take to remove Privacy Essential.
4. If for some reason uninstallation fails, please install Microsoft's uninstall fixer utility which will help fix problems with programs that can't be uninstalled at support.microsoft.com.

OS VERSIONS Win 10 57% Win 7 (SP1) 43%

WHEN IT STARTS Auto-starting? Yes (Found in the run registry)

USER ACTIONS Uninstall it 83% Keep it 17%

Which Windows OS versions does it run on?

United States	78.13%
Canada	21.88%

What PC manufacturers (OEMs) have it installed?

---