HijackThis is a powerful tool that’ll help you analyze your system if it’s been infected by malware you can’t remove with programs like Ad-Aware.  HijackThis examines your registry and hard drive and creates a list of their contents in a log file that can be saved as a text file, so you can identify and remove the malware piece by piece.  It’s highly rated by Download.com users and seems to be a helpful last resort.

WARNING: In most cases, the items listed in the HijackThis log are perfectly fine and should not be touched.  You can (and probably will) do serious damage unless you know what you’re doing.  If you don’t know what you’re doing, get help analyzing your log file, either from an online tool or from one of the many HijackThis forums.  Proceed with care.

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2 responses to “HijackThis”

  1. Alec Avatar
    Alec

    To keep spyware at a minimum, I run the combination of Spybot S&D, Spy Sweeper, and Ad-Aware (in that order) at least, in the central Jersey vernacular, oncest a week. If an infestation is particularly nasty, several cycles of this procedure is required. Repeat until no more traces are found. Also, in bad cases, it’s wise to temporarily disconnect from the ‘Net so the malware can’t “phone home.”

  2. Ed Avatar
    Ed

    I should practice what I preach and improve my own net hygiene. I’m using AA now, but I know you shouldn’t rely on just one sweeper. And HijackThis came to my attention because of rumors (not sure if they’re true) that LavaSoft has been taking payoffs to “white flag” some malware in AA. Scary, if true.
    I’ve also heard, thanks to David Schrag’s excellent newsletter (www.schrag.net) that Microsoft’s new anti-spyware program–bought, not developed in-house–is actually the best out there right now.

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