Member Avatar for Ghost

Hi,

I have an EXTREMELLY STUPID question about HijackThis logs. What exactly are they, how do they work, and is there a decent tutorial on them. Thanks in advanced.

Thanks again,
Ian

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Short, practical summary and up‑to‑date notes (for readers landing here years later)

— good question; it isn’t stupid. was right that HijackThis is a small diagnostic utility, but it’s not just a process list: it scans common autostart points, browser add‑ons (BHOs), hosts and INI entries and then produces a plain‑text logfile that experienced helpers use to decide what to remove. The tool is diagnostic only — it does not automatically know what is “bad” — so logs are meant to be reviewed, not blindly fixed. HijackThis (Wikipedia). (en.wikipedia.org)

How to run and view the log (quick)

  • Download a trusted copy (official preserved project or a maintained fork).
  • Run HijackThis.exe, click Do a system scan only. Close browsers/other apps first.
  • When the scan finishes, click Save log (or copy the displayed text), open it in Notepad and paste the entire contents if you need help.
    Always create a System Restore point or backup before making changes. (Official project and notes are on SourceForge.) HiJackThis on SourceForge. (sourceforge.net)

What to include when posting a log for help — and what to avoid
Paste the whole log and add: OS + service pack, browser/version, current antivirus, symptoms, recent installs/updates, and whether you ran any cleaners. Do not click “Fix checked” unless an expert tells you which specific lines to remove — removing the wrong startup or registry entry can break Windows. If you want a safer modern workflow, use current autostart/diagnostic tools (for example Autoruns) and check unknown binaries on VirusTotal before deleting anything. Autoruns (Sysinternals). (learn.microsoft.com)

Legacy status and alternatives
HijackThis was released as open source and is effectively legacy software; maintained forks exist if you need compatibility updates. For most modern investigations, combine a current autoruns-style scan, up‑to‑date antimalware, and human review of the HijackThis-style log rather than relying on old online analyzers or automated “fix” scripts. See the preserved project and forks on SourceForge/GitHub for downloads. (sourceforge.net)

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Member Avatar for dlh6213

Hi,

I have an EXTREMELLY STUPID question about HijackThis logs. What exactly are they, how do they work, and is there a decent tutorial on them. Thanks in advanced.

Thanks again,
Ian

That's not a stupid question :)

What it is: a utility that shows (most) of the processes running on a computer -- good and bad.

How it works: I haven't a clue :confused:

There are many tutorials on it, just use Google to do a search. I personally like this one the best:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/index.php?showtutorial=42

Member Avatar for Ghost

how do u view ur HijackThis log?

Member Avatar for dlh6213

I'm not sure what you mean... when you scan with HijackThis, the log comes up as soon as it's finished scanning. Or you can save the log and view it from there, or copy it and paste it here if you would like some help with it.

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