hijackthis.exe is a process belonging to Merijn. The software created by Merijin goes by the same name as its main process. It monitors your browsers’ configurations and plug-ins. This program is not a windows critical process, but should not be terminated unless suspected to be the cause of problems.
HijackThis, sometimes abbreviated as HJT on forums and blogs, is a freeware spyware-removal tool for Microsoft Windows originally created by Merijn, and later sold to Trend Micro. The program is notable for taking a heuristic approach to detecting malware rather than relying on a fixed database of known spyware files. Heuristic approach is more flexible because it involves the use of Artificial Intelligence and mathematical statistical analysis of files to detect discrepancies from a known spyware-free environment and allows the user to decide what needs to be removed from the user’s system. HijackThis is used primarily for diagnosis of spyware, as blind use of its removal facilities can cause significant damage to a computer. That’s why several forums have put up a section only for HJT users to post their log files, and get help from other users who can understand the log files and interpret where there can be malware in your system or where seems to be a spyware-free environment.
HijackThis does a quick scan of your computer, then it generates a plain log file detailing all the entries that it finds. Apart from being a diagnosis tools HJT allows you to remove or disable most entries, however inexperienced users are often advised to exercise caution, or to seek help when using the latter option, as HJT does not discriminate between legitimate and unwanted items, and leaves it up to the user to decide what to remove. What this means, is that it allows a user to unintentionally prevent important programs from functioning correctly or even running, which may cause their system or its peripherals to stop working. HijackThis will, however, create backups of the files and registry entries it removes, which can be used to restore the system in the event of a failure the next time you try to use some application.
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