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HijackThis 101

Discussion in 'Windows - Virus and spyware problems' started by 2oldGeek, Sep 11, 2013.

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  1. 2oldGeek

    2oldGeek Active member

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    [​IMG] HijackThis 101 – A comprehensive Tutorial for using HijackThis when cleaning a computer.

    ATTENTION: This tutorial is under construction! Please do not post to it!

    If you wish to comment, query or just put in your 2 cents, start a new thread with: 2oG/HJT added to your subject line. That way I’ll pick it up quicker.

    ddp informs me that anyone posting to this sticky will be banned from AfterDawn until AfterMidnight, ostracized, chastised and beaten severely about the head and shoulders with a wet noodle! Got the picture?




    What is HijackThis?

    A now legendary program written by Merijn Bellekom, initially based on the article Hijacked!, HijackThis (you've got to love the attitude in the name) was a general homepage hijack detector and removal tool for the methods used by browser hijackers to force you onto their sites. Later it was expanded with other checks to inspect malware hiding places.

    For some time, HijackThis was the preferred tool used by helpers to interrogate a computer system to get an understanding of what files or programs were being run and how they were being launched. The log produced by HijackThis displayed entries by various categories - R3, O4, and O23 are three examples. Though HijackThis is not used as widely now, newer tools and helpers still refer to these categories...

    HijackThis makes no separation between safe and unsafe settings in its scan results, leaving you or your helper to analyze, find and selectively Fix the “Bad” items in your machine. The vast majorities of the items HijackThis displays are harmless, and in many cases necessary for the proper functioning of something legitimate. In other words, you can do a lot of damage with HijackThis if you start deleting items willy-nilly.

    Fixing lines in a HijackThis scan removes the registry key that points to the file or program in that line, disabling it from starting and running. It does not remove the file or program (Malware) itself which must be removed manually.

    You should attempt to clean Malware with all other methods before using HijackThis! If you allow HijackThis to fix entries before another removal tool scans your computer the files from the Malware will still be there with their registry keys removed and future removal tools will not be able to find them.


    Unfortunately, diagnosing the scan results of a HijackThis log can be complicated.
    Hopefully my recommendations and explanations will ease the way.

    INDEX

    This is Merjin’s original Tutorial that I will be updating:

    For practical information, click the section name you need help with:

    R0, R1, R2, R3 - Internet Explorer Start/Search pages URLs
    F0, F1, F2, F3 - Autoloading programs
    N1, N2, N3, N4 - Netscape/Mozilla Start/Search pages URLs
    O1 - Hosts file redirection
    O2 - Browser Helper Objects
    O3 - Internet Explorer toolbars
    O4 - Autoloading programs from Registry
    O5 - IE Options icon not visible in Control Panel
    O6 - IE Options access restricted by Administrator
    O7 - Regedit access restricted by Administrator
    O8 - Extra items in IE right-click menu
    O9 - Extra buttons on main IE button toolbar, or extra items in IE 'Tools' menu
    O10 - Winsock hijacker
    O11 - Extra group in IE 'Advanced Options' window
    O12 - IE plugins
    O13 - IE DefaultPrefix hijack
    O14 - 'Reset Web Settings' hijack
    O15 - Unwanted site in Trusted Zone
    O16 - ActiveX Objects (aka Downloaded Program Files)
    O17 - Lop.com domain hijackers
    O18 - Extra protocols and protocol hijackers
    O19 - User style sheet hijack
    O20 - AppInit_DLLs Registry value autorun
    O21 - ShellServiceObjectDelayLoad Registry key autorun
    O22 - SharedTaskScheduler Registry key autorun
    O23 - Windows NT Services024 - ActiveX Desktop Components
    O24 – ActiceX Desktop Components


     
    Last edited: Sep 28, 2013
  2. aldan

    aldan Active member

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    well,if you go by the date,this is an old post about a program that has little,if any relevance today.in other words,dead thread.
     
  3. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    & closed because somebody didn't read the date code & not you aldan.
     
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