HijackThis 

Life of a computer technical support guy is hard, you know. Every time I had a problem with any PC, like suspicious behavior, unknown processes in memory or performance slowdowns, I have used Google to do some research. After a few clicks, in most of the cases I found the solution in a forum.

I also noticed that forum members often mentioned "HijackThis" as a support tool, "HijackThis, Hijack That"...but what is it about after all??

First, I have to clarify something. In March 2007, the author of HijackThis (http://www.merijn.org) sold HijackThis to TrendMicro, so they provide the support now.

Well, HijackThis is virtually a standard tool to identify and troubleshoot various problems in a PC, like virus infections, trojans, spywares, and almost any Internet threat. It's very, very lightweight (is intended to run in a 'hostile' environment, supposing an infection or slowdown), fast and simple to use:

1) You start a system analysis

2) The program returns a list of possible fixes to apply

3) If you need more information about a specific item, you select it and click on the 'Info on selected item...' button

4) You save a log file to upload it to any forum, requesting help.

5) After you are sure, you select the fix(es) from the list and apply them.

The information given by the utility is very detailed and useful, and it's freeware...

But beware, it's only for experienced users!