Unsolicited Installation of Microsoft PC Guard via Edge: Causes, Paths, and Removal Steps

The piece, originally republished from 蓝点网 (ID: landianwx) by author 山外的鸭子哥, reports that many users in China have found Microsoft PC Guard pre‑installed on their Windows machines without explicit consent.

Microsoft PC Guard, a security suite developed by the Microsoft China team, is bundled with Microsoft Defender and can be installed either silently via system updates or through a pop‑up prompt that appears after Microsoft Edge downloads the installer.

Two main user experiences are described: (1) some users see the software installed automatically without any pop‑up, and a portion of them had the installation blocked by the Huorong security product; (2) other users encounter a pop‑up titled “Use Microsoft PC Guard, one‑click accelerate your Windows,” and clicking “Enable now” triggers the installation.

The installer is always downloaded by Microsoft Edge, not through Windows Update, and the downloaded package is stored in either C:\Users\ \AppData\Local\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate\ . The actual executable, FeatureLoader.exe , resides in C:\ProgramData\Windows Master Setup\ .

Both Microsoft PC Guard and the previously pushed Office Plus add‑on are “China‑only” builds; users whose system locale is set outside mainland China will not receive these bundles.

To verify installation, users in mainland China should open the Start menu’s All Apps list and look for Office Plus and Microsoft PC Guard. If present, they can be removed via Windows 11 Settings → Apps → Installed apps.

Currently there is no known method to permanently block these bundled installations, and it is unclear whether Microsoft will continue to push them after removal.

Despite recent improvements in user experience, the forced distribution has raised concerns reminiscent of earlier Edge‑related controversies.