Spywares, virus and trojans that has infected a computer must have an autostartup entry somewhere either on the registry, Windows services, startup folder and etc… There are far too many places that a malware can plant on so that it can be ran whenever Windows is starting up. Manually analyzing all startup methods is nearly impossible. That’s why there is HiJackThis and also HiJackFree, both with similar powerful capabilities for analyzing, detecting and removing malwares.
What if I tell you there’s an even better tool that covers everything that HiJackFree, HiJackThis, Autoruns and Silentrunners has to offer? That’s why it’s being rated as TOP free malware cleaner!
RunScanner is a completely free windows system utility which scans your system for all configured running programs.
You can use RunScanner to detect autostart programs, spyware, adware, homepage hijackers, unverified drivers and other problems.
RunScanner Features
1. Scanning of 80+ hijack locations
2. HOSTS file editor
3. Process Killer
4. Online Malware/Whitelist Analysis.
5. FREE
I know that startup analyzer utilities are hard to use for novice computer users but this one is easier because it has online malware analysis, MD5 hash calculation of files + online file rating and online lookup of scanned entries. All this makes RunScanner easier to determine which entries are likely to be malicious. Unlike HiJackThis, when I newly used it, I accidentally removed an important file and I wasn’t able to boot in to Windows the next time.
RunScanner can be used in Beginner or Expert mode. Expert mode is for advanced users for tweaking startups, scanning, reporting, filtering and delete features are made available. As for Beginner mode, it is for users with little computer knowledge that want to do scan and upload their results to a forum or send their results to a malware specialist.
If you don’t know which forum to go to, RunScanner has round up a list of English, Français, Nederlands and Deutch forums that is able to help you analyze your results.
Another great feature that can be found in RunScanner is, you can scan your computer, export it to .run file and then send it to a malware specialist. The specialist can MARK certain items that need review and send the .run file back to the user. Marking of files does not fix the items, it only changes the color in the .run file.
In my opinion, RunScanner is the most powerful startup analyzer compared to the rest. Use it with care and do not simply uncheck and remove anything you don’t know.