Spyware Techie

What is HijackThis and a HijackThis Log?

HijackThis is an essential program developed for the aid in removal of spyware from your computer. HijackThis was created by a Dutch student, Merijn Bellokom, who studied chemistry and computer science. Many people are familiar with HijackThis Logs and the purpose they serve. In many circumstances a HijackThis Log is used to identify spyware files running on your computer or registry entries that may be infected by various spyware.

HijackThis Logs are usually used by persons who are proficient and knowledgeable about the inner workings of computer and operating system files. A knowledgeable person should be the one to decipher which specific files to remove in a HijackThis Log.

What are cookies? Cookies are files that contain customized information for a web page that you have visited. Usually a cookie file contains information such as login names or passwords. In some cases people wish to delete the stored cookies especially when you use a shared computer. Deleting the cookies every so often is a good practice to protect your privacy when your computer is used by other people who access the internet.

PC Tip: Deleting the temporary internet files along with the cookie files may free up hard drive space speeding up the performance of your PC.

Everyone has been surprised by a computer crash and has lost all data. Even though you try to prevent this from happening, there is no powerful way to protect you. However, there is a way that ensures your files’ safety. Your computer can crash, or be infected by viruses, but if you have a […]

The Registry is a database used to store settings and options of your machine. Whenever you change a control panel setting, or file associations, system policies, or installed software, the changes are stored in the Registry. The Registry is common to several Windows operating systems and plays an important role in the machine’s operating […]

A process, or task, is a program that is being executed. When you start a program, its executable code will load into the computer’s memory. If a process, or code, is terminated, the program will not run. Windows Task Manager allows you to terminate almost all processes; however, some can remain on your computer […]

DLL, Dynamic Link Library, is a type of file that is stored either locally or remotely, which permits programs to share code in order to perform one or more predefined functions. DLL is a collection of commands and can be used by several programs at the same time. Since DLL files don’t get loaded […]

Safe Mode is a diagnostic mode that evades Windows startup files, allowing you to fix problems that are keeping your computer from functioning normally. Only the keyboard, mouse, and VGA display drivers are loaded when running in Safe Mode.
For each version of Windows, there are two ways to boot the computer to Safe Mode. […]

How do you tell if your computer has been hacked?

Many computer users go about each day not realizing their computer was compromised by a hacker. Maybe your computer has a certain file running on it that allows hackers to access your personal information at will. Either way there are steps you can take to do some spying on your own system to make sure your computer was not hacked.

In most cases of hacking a computer, an unwanted file or files of some type are left behind. These files come in various forms such as spyware and viruses. Sometimes a virus protection program is not enough to keep you safe. The footsteps that hackers leave behind on your system are the suspicious and unwanted files. You can check for these files or programs by simply observing your computers activity and locating additional running processes.