Hello.
I'm writing this, because it is very easy to ruin your system with HijackThis. I'm going to cover several points in this mini tutorial, such as what HijackThis is, what it isn't, and how to get the best help you can when posting a HijackThis log.
First, HJT is not a virus scanner. It is a scanner that provides detailed information about your system that assists helpers in removing malware or other unwanted programs from your computer. Some of the things that it lists are startup programs, currently running programs, and more. 90% of what is listed in your HJT log will be genuine.
There're sites such as hijackthis.de which automatically analyze your log by comparing each line against the information stored in their database. Many HJT lines are determined "good", "neutral", or "bad" by hijackthis.de's users. As such, you should automatically assume that their ratings are 100% accurate. Programs' necessities change with each user.
When requesting assistance in the HJT section, you should do the following:
1. Download HijackThis 2.0.2.
2. Install HijackThis.
3. Click "Do a system scan and save a logfile" (the first option).
4. Let it run; it should only take abount a minute max, even on the most cluttered systems.
5. A notepad file called "hijackthis.log" will open up. Copy its contents into your new post (use as many posts needed in that thread). Do NOT upload its contents to pastebin or otherwise; this is to prevent misidentified logs and more. Be SURE that you put [HJT] somewhere in your topic title. Also, make sure that the first thing you do is explain your problem. Example: My computer is running very slowly, and I think I might be infected with a RAT. Here's my log:
6. Wait for responses. Some people may request that you run MalwareBytes or an online virus scan; simply follow their instructions if you trust them.
I'm writing this, because it is very easy to ruin your system with HijackThis. I'm going to cover several points in this mini tutorial, such as what HijackThis is, what it isn't, and how to get the best help you can when posting a HijackThis log.
First, HJT is not a virus scanner. It is a scanner that provides detailed information about your system that assists helpers in removing malware or other unwanted programs from your computer. Some of the things that it lists are startup programs, currently running programs, and more. 90% of what is listed in your HJT log will be genuine.
There're sites such as hijackthis.de which automatically analyze your log by comparing each line against the information stored in their database. Many HJT lines are determined "good", "neutral", or "bad" by hijackthis.de's users. As such, you should automatically assume that their ratings are 100% accurate. Programs' necessities change with each user.
When requesting assistance in the HJT section, you should do the following:
1. Download HijackThis 2.0.2.
2. Install HijackThis.
3. Click "Do a system scan and save a logfile" (the first option).
4. Let it run; it should only take abount a minute max, even on the most cluttered systems.
5. A notepad file called "hijackthis.log" will open up. Copy its contents into your new post (use as many posts needed in that thread). Do NOT upload its contents to pastebin or otherwise; this is to prevent misidentified logs and more. Be SURE that you put [HJT] somewhere in your topic title. Also, make sure that the first thing you do is explain your problem. Example: My computer is running very slowly, and I think I might be infected with a RAT. Here's my log:
6. Wait for responses. Some people may request that you run MalwareBytes or an online virus scan; simply follow their instructions if you trust them.
NOTE: No matter what someone says, you should ALWAYS be wary before fixing a line in HJT. If you do not trust your gut when doing something, you probably shouldn't do it! If you have doubts, research the line yourself on Google.