"Why are some topics answered before mine, shouldn't we be helped on a first come first serve basis?"
Although this would be the ideal way to do things, and even though in most instances it does progress this way, there are some times your topic will sometimes have to wait longer for a reply than others. Let me explain. Every helper has different strengths and weaknesses, if somebody sees a topic that is particularly difficult, or an infection they aren't too familiar with, they may leave it for somebody else to take who is more familiar with the issues your are having.
"Who is able to help me with my issues?"
Hijackthis Log Helpers
When receiving help in the hijackthis log section of the forum please wait for assistance from one of the following members. If any other member posts as a reply please disregard the post and PM any moderator for it to be removed. This is the only way to ensure helpful, and safe advice. If you would like to be added to this list please PM rridgely or myself.
What is HijackThis?
HijackThis examines certain key areas of the Registry and Hard Drive and lists their contents. These are areas which are used by both legitimate programmers and hijackers. It's up to you to decide what should be removed. Some items are perfectly fine. You should not remove them. Never remove everything. Doing that could leave you with missing items needed to run legitimate programs and add-ins. This Page will help you work with the Experts to clean up your system. For those of you needing instructions on how to Copy and Paste the contents of a text file into a Forum Post, please look at the Table of Contents. A link to the instructions is included.
Getting Started
Also, make sure that you actually extract HijackThis to its own folder. DO NOT run it from within a zip manager (Winzip), as no backups will be saved.
This is what HijackThis looks like.
Do a system scan and save logfile - Will automatically Scan and save the logfile
Do a system scan only - Will automatically Scan, but not save a logfile
View the list of backups - You can view the backups that HijackThis has made
Open the Misc Tools Section - Will open Misc Tools Section
Open online HijackThis QuickStart - Will open the quickstart guide for HijackThis
None of the above, just start the progam - Will just start the program, you will be able to do what you want
Show this window when I start HijackThis - I recommend having this checked
Click on either Do a system scan and save logfile or Do a system scan only. If you click on Do a system scan only, the Scan Button has a new Caption. Save Log. Click the Save Log button to create a file named Hijackthis.log. A dialog box will pop up. Use it to select the location where you will save the log. Close the program. Return to the Forum and reply to your original post. Open the Log in Notepad. Highlight the entire contents. Copy and paste the contents of the HijackThis log into your post. Wait for help.
This is what HijackThis looks like after Scan.
Scan & fix stuff
Scan/Save log - Scan or save the log
Fix checked - Will fix the checked items
Info on selected item - Will give you detail on the selected item
AnalyzeThis - Will upload the logfile to TrendSecure
Main Menu - Will go back to the Main Menu
Other stuff
Info... - What the letters mean, command-line parameters, and version history
Config... - Configuration, Ignorelist, Backups, and Misc Tools
Added checked to ignorelist - Add checked item to the ignorelist
Once you have received advice on what should be removed, reopen HijackThis. Scan again. You have changed nothing and this scan result will be the same as the first. Place a checkmark in the box in front of each item you plan to remove. Then click Fix checked.
Config...
This is the Configuration screen.
Main - The main options of HijackThis
Ignorelist - This is the ignorelist of the checked items
Backups - Backups of HijackThis
Misc Tools - Misc Tools of HijackThis
The main thing you need to worry about in Misc Tools is StartupList.
StartupList
StartupList is a utility which creates a list of everything which starts up when you boot your computer plus a few other items. Click on Generate StartupList log, it creates a file named StartupList.txt and immediately opens this text file in Notepad. A StartupList will not be needed with every forum posting, but if it is needed it will be asked for, so please refrain from posting one unless asked.
"Is it possible for me to help with HijackThis logs?"
While volunteers are always sought after, most forums require you to go through some type of training, because with the tools that we use one small error could render a computer unbootable and force a user to reformat. These training programs are by no means easy, I have never seen anybody finish such a program in less than one months time. I can assure you, however, if you can and do finish one of these programs it will be an amazing experience to look back on how much you've learned since you started, and the appreciation most people give after you've helped them is what continuously drives most of us to do this kind of work.
If you have gotten this far down and are still interested in helping with malware removal, please take a look at any of these forums for further information on the best training programs out there:
GeekU University
WhatTheTech Classroom
Malware Removal Univeristy
Bleeping Computer Study Hall