Hijackthis Freezes Up During Scan

OK, so I'm not the brightest crayon in the box, but I've usually been able to resolve most of my system's problems; this one has me stymied. I have used previous versions of HijackThis without much difficulty, and currently have 1.98.2 installed. The problem is that at about 95% through the scan it freezes up solid. Using ctrl+alt+delete shuts the app down OK without a system crash. The title bar reads "015 Trusted zone enumeration…" Unfortunately, I can't get a log file because of the freeze. I've uninstalled and reinstalled 3 times now, with thorough registry cleanings each time. Using RegSeeker and the Windows Search utility both, I've searched for "free.aol.com," as the HJT tutorial from "bleepingcomputer.com" suggests that to be a very common autoloading piece of malware in the Trusted Zone. I have run CWShredder several times, I've run AdAware, Spybot S&D, Spy Sweeper, AVG, Avast!, AntiVir, BitDefender & PC-cillin, all without snagging any malware. I've used Filemap by BB for ages without ever seeing any unexpected files appearing. Neither WinPatrol, WinSonar2004 nor Metaproducts StartupOrganizer show any evidence of strange apps at startup or in memory. My Internet security settings Trusted Zone has only 4 (visible) site entries: MS Update, MS Office, MS generally (Isn't that crazy? Well, ya gotta take some risks, eh?) and Zonelabs. I'm running WIN ME with all OS, IE and Office updates current. I've searched the HJT forums I know of but seem to be alone in this bizarre phenomenon. Other than running my Frankensystem up to the roof during a lightning storm, does anyone have any suggestions (this's gotta be embarassingly simple, I just know it)?

Do you have IE-Spyad installed? I have a relatively "fast" machine, and it takes 10-20 seconds or more on my machine because IE-Spyad adds many items to "015 Trusted zone enumeration" (actually it's a "distrusted" zone). If you don't have IE-Spyad installed, then I'm not real sure what the problem may be. Have you just let it run and see if it will continue? I would think 10-15 minutes would be plenty of time to see if it will actually finish or just "hang".

Thanks, Micah 6:8. I feel really stupid. I never thought IESpyad was the problem, but it seems so. I recently discovered it and installed it, and gave it no further thought (as there's no icon needed in my Security folder, so none to get my attention). HijackThis took it's time - about four minutes - but it completed the scan. I was used to the previous versions being so quick. Thanks so much for the heads up on this. Well, back to preschool for me…Man, are those tiny desks gonna hurt.

I think you're being way too hard on yourself.

I had the same thoughts after I installed IE-Spyad, then ran Hijack This! for the first time afterwards.

So, be sure to save a tiny desk for me….

This topic is now closed.

If you need this topic reopened, please request this by sending an email to us at the following link
(Click for address)
Include your post user name and detail why you need it reopened with a valid link to your post.
Any bad links or emails that are not from the original poster will be deleted without response.
Any emails without the subject "Reopen" will be deleted without being looked at.

If this is not your thread please start a New Topic.