# replacement for hijackthis?



## bradpark22 (Jun 11, 2011)

Hi hijackthis dont work on win 7. Is there someting on the net that replaced it?

thx


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## Cheeseball81 (Mar 3, 2004)

I take it you have 64 bit?


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## Phantom010 (Mar 9, 2009)

As mentioned by *Cheeseball81*, HijackThis doesn't support 64-bit operating systems. However, you can still use it if you know how to interprete the logs. Just ignore the *O23* entries with "*@*" signs. They are Microsoft services not normally showing in a HijackThis log.

Also, HijackThis will only show running processes for one user (Windows 7 and Vista).

If Windows is denying access to the Hosts file, run HijackThis as Administrator or *disable the UAC* first.


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## Phantom010 (Mar 9, 2009)

You can replace HijackThis with the following free programs from Sysinternals:

*Process Explorer* (for running processes)

*Autoruns*


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

Make sure you have version *2.0.4* and not an older version.

Also follow Phantom010's instructions for UAC.

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## Phantom010 (Mar 9, 2009)

Version 2.0.4 has never worked correctly on my computer with Windows XP. I'm still using version 2.0.2, which is just about the same.

Version 2.0.4 doesn't feature any major improvement over 2.0.2, other than showing Windows 7 instead of Unknown, or showing *O22 *entries in every log, no matter if they have been altered or not (which would show in version 2.0.2, only if they had been altered), there's nothing new or better, nor any real reason to upgrade.

Unfortunately, Trend Micro has abandoned development for HijackThis.

But, I normally agree with flavallee on this. You should generally make sure you have the latest software versions. This is especially true for security applications.


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

Version 2.0.4 works fine in my XP computers. 

I'm saddened to hear that Trend Micro has dropped development of HiJackThis. I was hoping to see version 2.0.5 or 2.0.6 in the near future.

What's the best and most user-friendly alternative to HiJackThis?

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## Phantom010 (Mar 9, 2009)

flavallee said:


> Version 2.0.4 works fine in my XP computers.
> 
> What's the best and most user-friendly alternative to HiJackThis?
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------


I'm still recommending HijackThis 'cause it's quite simple to use and helps me analyze many problems on the forum. It shows a lot more than malware. HijackThis doesn't show much when it comes to malware anyway.

There are other programs, like Process Explorer and Autoruns which will give you basically the same thing and a lot more.

There are also other tools I'd definitely like to use here on TSG but only malware removal experts are allowed to use them on the forums.


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

I focus more on threads with Windows XP and Windows Vista/7(32-bit) than on threads with Windows Vista/7(64-bit), so I guess I'll keep using HiJackThis for now.

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## Phantom010 (Mar 9, 2009)

flavallee said:


> I was hoping to see version 2.0.5 or 2.0.6 in the near future.


On Trend Micro's website, they're still showing version *2.0.5 (Beta)*, which is really *2.0.4*. I've sent them multiple messages about it, along with many bug reports about 2.0.4, and they will not reply, ever! Quite frankly, I would never buy anything from Trend, with that poor excuse of a customer support...


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## flavallee (May 12, 2002)

Yep, I noticed.

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bradpark22, you still with us?

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## Phantom010 (Mar 9, 2009)

flavallee said:


> I'm saddened to hear that Trend Micro has dropped development of HiJackThis. I was hoping to see version 2.0.5 or 2.0.6 in the near future.


Well, actually, I have never seen any official release about HijackThis development being abandoned. However, since Trend Micro isn't commenting in any way or have never bothered fixing the mix up between 2.0.5 (Beta) and 2.0.4, nor coming up with 64-bit operating system support, I can only assume they have abandoned HijackThis a long while ago. They will not answer my emails nor care to give us explanations. :down:

When a company cannot afford to develop free software, they could at least consider charging a fee for it? Why not make helpers pay a reasonable fee for the program's license, which in turn they could make available to members for free? Members could download the program and run it for a maximal number of times, like maybe 10 for instance, or whatever it takes to solve a problem on the forums?


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