hello.

I have often looked for fixes to spyware, adware and browser hijacker problems, and almost always come up with countless Google results to links leading to highjackthis logs. I'm posting this thread as a place for the experts to offer and add tips and resources to using highjackthis to do manual removal of hard to remove adware/spyware/malware problems.

To start, here's the link to what I believe JrzyCrim recently posted as being a current highjackthis version:

https://ssl.perfora.net/tools.radiospla ... ckThis.exe

I usually just download it from here because I like the instructions that are included:

http://tomcoyote.com/hjt/

His forums are another great place to get help with your highjack this logs.

Some definitions:

Running Processes: Processes that are active and running in the background and/or foreground on your computer. Some start automatically when you start you your computer and others start when you have applications running.

BHO: Browser helper objects. Some are good some are not. Often times you will find a lot of your problems related to one of these.

DPF: Downloaded Program Files. Basically same as above. Some are good and necessary, but others may be what are causing your problems.

A lot of things can be identified by searching Google.

Your running processes, for example can usually be searched by typing the executable file name into Google.

A quick resource to identify running processes is here and it's the one I use the most :
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist ... sklist.htm

Click the letter of the first letter of the filename and scroll 'til you find it.

To date the best resource I have found for BHO's (Browser Helper Objects) is here:

http://www.spywaredata.com/spyware/bho. ... ent_page=0

Unforunately this page is not indexed in a completely user friendly manner, but the list is exhaustive and I use it religiously. Basically, BHO's have a unique code similar to this format: {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000} and include a path to a .dll (dynamic link library) file associated with it . At this particular resource, the files are indexed first numerically, then alphabetically by the unique code and unfortunately, you may need to search through several of the page links to get to where you can find yours. Once you do, you can find the .dll file listed in your log and it will be identified as either a parasite (in which case delete it), pending ( probably OK to delete, but might want to ask for advice) or good, in which case leave it alone.

I'm hoping that JrzyCrim will also shortly add his tips on using command prompts for taskill as that is a very handy tool to stop tasks when you can't access taskmanager. I've seen him use a dozen other tricks as well as labrego and MOC lately and hope others will contribute to this thread so people can better learn to understand how their computers work and how to fix them without having to reformat and start from scratch.

//added note: please do not post logs in this thread. Use this thread for tips and resources only - thanks

I have never used highjackthis for manual removals, but I used the software here http://www.registrycleanergeeks.com/spyware/ and its always removed the spyware that plagued my machine.

Luke

Thanks for the references. I'm using AVS, SpyBot Search & Destroy and MalwareBytes Anti-Malware. Together they still don't find everything.

Hrmm...Gunna have to check out some of these software. Would you recommend them steve?

I absolutely endorse highjackthis, but use caution when deleting items, so you don't delete what you really need.

Thanks for the warning.

HiJackThis is a great software, but again becareful when using.

MalwareBytes free edition is fantastic. Used along with HijackThis and a good antivirus program, you can catch most evil that's out there.

HijackThis is a terrific program, but I would NOT advice it to those who are not sure what they are doing because they can end up hurting their system.

I've used Spybot for year, but I recently discovered SpywareDoctor due to Conor's tip and had some really good results with the program. Successfully got rid of a couple of serious threats that Spybot didn't identify. So I upgraded to a paid version.

I'm an avid fan of Spyware Doctor. I still run AVG and other utilities here on my systems, but Spyware Doctor keeps everything clean for me - haven't had a problem as of yet (thankfully).