Many modern PCs include a hidden system partition that contains recovery information to be used in the event of catastrophic PC failure (such as a corrupt Windows installation). Recguard.exe is a process that monitors system activity and attempts to block any effort (deliberate or accidental) by other programs to remove or damage the recovery partition. 

If you want a detailed security rating about your recguard.exe (and all other running background processes) read the following user opinions, and download the free trial version of Security Task Manager.

Note: Any malware can be named anything - so you should check where the files of the running processes are located on your disk. If a "non-Microsoft" .exe file is located in the C:\Windows or C:\Windows\System32 folder, then there is a high risk for a virus, spyware, trojan or worm infection! Check it out!

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Users Opinions

2824 users ask for this file. 28 users rated it as not dangerous. 4 users rated it as not so dangerous. 6 users rated it as neutral. 1 user rated it as little bit dangerous. 1 user rated it as dangerous. 11 users didn't rate it ("don't know").

All comments about recguard.exe: recguard.exe is a process from HP that prevents a user from deleting or corrupting the WinXP Recovery Partition on Hewlett Packard computers.   beowulf Used by the HP Application Recovery Program. Located in "C:\WINDOWS\SMINST\" on Windows XP.   Ari Keep your backup partition protected! Do not allow any changes to be made if your computer is online! Changes can still be made while this process is running. Click-- Start/control Panel/Performance & Maintenance/system Click Tab-- System Restore/checkmark 'Turn off system Restore on all drives' Only turn this on after you have run several virus/spy/ad scans with several products, and erase beyond recovery (3+7+3) temp files from all apps and OS(s) ONLY then turn on system recovery and do not leave it on while your online!   Urn Part of HP package for SP 2.0   Why is this on a Gateway computer with a HP deskjet   V Curtis Also on a Gateway PC which has never had an HP printer installed   madman Never seems to Cause a Problem   Michael Gaconnet Also on my new (eMachine) Gateway computer, for recovery partition D:\, it displays a splash screen when you try to access the partition to warn you not to mess with it.   As Curtis said, why is it on a Gateway PC? And mine doesn't have a printer or anything (that I know of) by HP...   N/A Got mine on an emachine. But my emachine has the same MSI motherboard used in HP computers. Weird world isn't it   Jonmik i have it on my compaq with a hp printer   Matt I have this file on an eMachine. Is eMachine made by HP?   abby recguard.exe can be easily disabled from starting up... on windows XP by going to Start. Run: Enter "msconfig". Click the fifth tab labeled "startup". Uncheck any start up processes you wish, including recguard.exe. Restart computer. This file doesnt isn malicious at all. Only do this if you want to free up computer memory.   Seven of Nine its also on all e-machines which of course are now Gateway   Just bought a new E machine ( T6532) and is also listed on the startup tab for partitioning   Ray i own a gateway and also a HP PRINTER ALL IN ONE   Prevents you from modifying or deleting the Recovery Partition.   Andy It seems to be standard on HP computers. I have a Gateway, so I'm not sure why it is on my computer.   DrBB I think it's there to prevent users from destroying the files kept on a seperate partition for backup purposes - most commonly on preloaded machines bought with WinXp (and some software and branding items) already installed.   Sonny this file must be on all HP machines, mine is a compaq but everything is basically HP, must be partnership i dont think this is a dangerous file in that case, why would the company you buy your pc from want to mess your pc up?   steve Used by Hp   RAYTHEMASTER HP notebook recovery partition guard   W. It defaults to my msconfig Startup Options, comes with Gateway computers, but I don't know why.   Cybot99 File recguard.exe can be found on some Hewlett-Packard computers. It is used to protect Windows XP Recovery Partition from modifying or accidental removal. HP software depend on this partition and does not work without it. Do not delete recguard.exe executable   No one Special It's found on most computers with a recovery partition (HP, Compaq, Gateway, eMachine, Some others)   Steve Is a utility of HP computers   Mudito It didn't stop me from deleting my recovery partition   Jackie A simple executable which is supposed to prevent users from accidentally writing to the recovery partition. It's not limited to HP products.   N/A Protects Hidden Partition from corruption on Gateways & Emachines (it's actually the same company now). If your Recguard is corrupted, or disabled, you may not be able to burn a copy of your apps & drivers, or do a system Recovery with Backup.   Cashub Does seem to be HP's system recovery partition protection task. In an online chat with an HP tech, I ran SFC /SCANNOW, and it did not come up with any system/windows component file errors. Looking in C/Windows/SMINST, all the INI files are associated with HP. While the absence of signature etc. seems distressing, Windows verified the file as a legitimate component.   capnvideo I have this file set to start up on my Advent laptop?!?   Alex it is part of pc angel (used by gateway and hp and ..?) to protect the recovery partition...   chris There are only a few major manufacturers of motherboards and even less for notebook computers. As such, ALL of the major manufacturers have shared technology. Quanta, for instance, makes most of the notebook computers (Apple, HP/Compaq, Dell's, Gateway's and others).   Kevin Comes with E Machines, HP and Compaq   Andy Mcf Seems to just keep you from deleting things from the Recovery Partition just like everyone else said.... If you have a printer from HP you most likely have this or if its an HP computer.... and maybe gateway   Jameson This process is to protect uses from accessing the angel tools recovery partitions, which is what emachine/gateway and hp/compaq use   RecGuard.exe is a process that protects the recovery partition from damage. If should you disable or permanently delete this startup process, you may loose or have a corrupted recovery partition! To get a re-image of the recovery partition may be at the owner’s expense. The process takes very little system resources, so your system will not be slowed down in anyway. Remember that this process is located in the (C:\windows\SMINST\recguard.exe) directory. If this process name is located elsewhere, then it is more than likely to be spyware or a virus with the same name as the legit process.   Lindor Found on Advent laptop, too.   Seikku Kaita I have an hp product, but it hasn't been in my windows HKLM..Win.Run file til justrecently. My antivirus file found it, show it to be in a file that doesn't exist: SMINST. I began checking over my system last night, after I was in Version Tracker, and it showed an 'upgreade' for the WinXP zip. When i went to download it[not run it], it just did a fast blip on my screen. now when I go to Run, type in the proper edit for registry, it auto opens at the HKLM Run file showing it. in the HKEYs B4 had 2 choose HKEY to open, and so on.   Judith Meives I'm wondering why this is on Gateway computers??? But my laptop is abnormal in everyway possible so I can probably see why.   Demache this just appeared on my computer today. It just happened to be after I was updating some drivers, one was for my HP printer. I'm assuming it has something to do with that.   Rachel It's on many types of computers as part of a protective recovery suite called Angelware. Do not tamper with it unless you are not concerned about your operating systems ability to recovery shoud you experience a problem.   rain_makers nothing found it on start up of comp has a questionmark about its validity   Just a bit of info, Gateway owns eMachine, so that might be why it is showing up on multiple different pre-built PCs.   If you know more about recguard.exe, share your knowledge and help other users. Security Rating:  --- don't know ---  1 (not dangerous)  2  3 (neutral)  4  5 (dangerous) What do you know about this file: Link for more details: Your Name:

More process information

Is recguard.exe spyware or a virus, trojans, adware or worm? Is there a known recguard.exe error?

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