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I've heard lots of talk recently about hijack this, but what is it and how do you read its results? any help would be highly appreciated.

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asked what HijackThis is; posted a tutorial link (useful), and described it in a way that can be misleading. Briefly: HijackThis is a diagnostic scanner that enumerates a wide set of Windows startup and browser-related settings and writes a plain-text log for manual analysis. It reports entries—toolbars, browser helper objects, start-page settings, run keys, services, Winsock/LSP changes, hosts file edits, scheduled tasks and similar locations—but it does not automatically decide what is malicious. Wikipedia

Important clarification: HijackThis is not primarily a live process viewer. For inspecting running processes use Microsoft Sysinternals Process Explorer and for a deeper, safer startup view use Autoruns. Those tools give context that helps decide whether an entry in an HJT log is benign or harmful. Process Explorer Autoruns

Practical, safer workflow:

  1. Get HijackThis from a trusted distribution (official/SourceForge builds) and run it as Administrator.
  2. Before making changes create a System Restore point and back up the registry.
  3. Use the scanner to save the log (do not use Fix checked unless an experienced person confirms the items).
  4. Cross-check suspicious entries with Autoruns and inspect related running processes with Process Explorer.
  5. Follow removal advice from reputable malware-removal communities or use an on-demand scanner (for example, Malwarebytes) after confirmation. SourceForge Malwarebytes

Cautions: novices removing entries blind can break browsers or services. When in doubt, post the HJT log to a specialist forum for analysis rather than using the automatic fix.

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Member Avatar for Cliven

It's process detector and logger that allows you to choose to perma-kill unwanted processes. You see ALL running procs, not just those the Task Mgr would show you, shows their respective paths, offers to make a log, and gives you the ability to choose to permanently remove individual apps from running on the system. Very, very handy app.

Edited by Cliven because: n/a
Member Avatar for candaceusa

Thanks crunchie. Link was very useful.

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