Few days ago I was looking for an update on HiJackThis tool. HijackThis is a free utility that generates an in depth report of registry and file settings from your computer. HiJackThis makes no separation between safe and unsafe settings in its scan results giving you the ability to selectively remove items from your machine. In addition to this scan and remove capability HijackThis comes with several tools useful in manually removing malware from a computer.

Merijn Bellekom is the author of this fantastic tool. While browsing at Merjin’s website for an update, I read the news that Merjin has sold HiJackThis to TrendMicro. TrendMicro has acquired CWShredder before from Merjin and now HiJackThis. I guess sooner or later they are going to acquire everything that Merjin has develop.

After Merjin sold HijackThis to Trend Micro, a newer version of HiJackThis has been made available. It is in Beta and that is the only version you can download. I wonder why don’t they provide download of the stable old version since Beta is for testing?

What’s new in HijackThis v2:
* AnalyzeThis added for log file statistics
* Recognizes Windows Vista and IE7
* Fixed a few bugs in the O23 method
* Fixed a bug in the O22 method (SharedTaskScheduler)
* Did a few tweaks on the log format
* Fixed and improved ADS Spy
* Improved Itty Bitty Procman (processes are frozen before they are killed)
* Added listing of O4 autoruns from other users
* Added listing of the Policies Run items in O4 method, used by SmitFraud trojan
* Added /silentautolog parameter for system admins
* Added /deleteonreboot [file] parameter for system admins
* Added O24 – ActiveX Desktop Components enumeration
* Added Enhanced Security Configuration (ESC) Zones to O15 Trusted Sites check

TrendMicro does not officially support HijackThis yet, but I expect they will once it goes final. HiJackThis is not any simple tool for beginners. It requires you to know what files is dangerous and what’s not. So if you’re unsure, you can always ask in SpywareInfo forum. Simply run HiJackThis and generate a log file. Submit the log file to the forum and within hours you’ll have people helping you.

It’s a very simple yet powerful tool! I would like to stress out that IF you’re unsure what to fix after running the scan, please request for help from SpywareInfo. Simply removing any startup programs would result in an unbootable Windows.

[ Download Trend Micro HiJackThis v2 Beta ]

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