Return to Security Checklist

Rootkits are a special kind of malware that are specifically designed to hide the activities of other viruses and worms, and compromise the operating system so that it may not be repaired. If your machine is infected with a rootkit, you will very likely not be able to regain complete control of the system. Reinstallation is highly recommended.

However, there are exceptional cases when you absolutely need to attempt to repair the system. Although no tool can guarantee results for rootkit identification and removal, there is at least one program which has show limited success from time to time in this area. It's called UnHackMe.

Before You Continue:

If your computer is unable to access the internet, then you must perform the downloads on a functional computer (such as a friend's, a neighbor's, or a functional campus machine), save the respective downloaded files onto a CD-RW or a USB Flash Drive and transfer them to your computer.

1. Installation

   Download UnHackMe and save it to the desktop.

   Open the compressed folder on your desktop named unhackme.zip and double click unhackme250.exe to begin the installation. When asked if you wish to continue, click Yes.

   

   Select all the default installation options by clicking Next for every step in the installation. When prompted, choose Yes to create a directory.

2. Step 2: Check for infections

   Select the Check tab at the top of the window and then click on the Check Me Now! button. UnHackMe will begin scanning your operating system for rootkits.

   

3. Step 3: Remove the infected files

   Click on the key that you want to remove

   

   After selecting the key, click on the Delete Key button. A window will appear asking you to verify the deletion.

   

   Click "Yes" to delete the infected key. Do this for all the infected keys in the list. When you're finished deleting all the keys in the list, you may close down UnHackMe.

Remember that in computer security there's no such thing as a silver bullet, and that you can't be certain which files were compromised by the viruses, worms and trojans on your machine. If you've been infected, you could still have "backdoors" riddled throughout your computer's operating system, and you should think very hard about reinstalling your operating system, and starting over from scratch. Safe computing is a habit, not a toolkit.

Top of Page