Malware Removal - HijackThis
Hi jack This is a tool used to detect malwares and adwares on Windows Operating Systems. Now it is a property of Trend Micro. This is not a classic antivirus software, but it quickly scans the user's computer to display the most common locations of malware, rather than relying on a database of any known spyware.
This tool is used primarily for diagnosis of malware, not to remove or detect spyware as uninformed use of its removal facilities can cause significant software damage to a computer. Browser hijacking can cause malware to be installed on a computer. It does not determine what is good or bad, but it lists registry keys and files system of the scanned system where unwanted programs could potentially reside.
Some of its key features are −
Lists the contents of key areas of the Registry and hard drive.
Generate reports and presents them in an organized fashion.
Does not target specific programs and URLs.
Detects only the methods used by hijackers to force you onto their sites.
Download and Install HijackThis
To download and install HijackThis, we should follow the steps given below.
Step 1 − To download HijackThis, you can click on the following link − https://sourceforge.net/projects/hjt/ and then click on the download button.
Step 2 − Then click on the EXE file that is downloaded and then Click on I accept.
Step 3 − The following screenshot will open.
Step 4 − To do the scanning of the registry and to create a log file, we should click on the first option as highlighted in the screenshot below.
Step 5 − Then the results of the registries found with problems will be as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 6 − If we suspect two registries, we can click on Analyze This as shown in the screenshot below.
Step 7 − If we want to view and restore the deleted registries, then click on the View list of backups as you highlighted in the following screenshot. There are two registries deleted and on the left, we can Restore them.
Step 8 − If we want more utilities like uninstalling programs, list of open processes, delete files, we should go to Open the Misc Tools section.
