You can't be me, I'm a rock star

In the wake of sites like Wilders Security halting their Hijack This security analysis, new sites are rising in popularity that perform the same task but with one important difference -

They're totally automated.

Automatic HJT log checkers are now all the rage, and more and more are springing up on a daily basis, although they produce very mixed results. The databases these tools use are totally open to debate - who creates them? Who keeps them up to date? - and who is responsible for developing new fixes? - along with the fact that you couldn't be sure the creator was aiming their tool at the newest version of HJT (which includes startup services), for example.

This cloak and dagger air is unsettling enough, but there is the slightly alarming prospect that this path will lead us to an ultimate conclusion - paid for HJT fixing, either through dedicated websites and / or commercial tools.

There's already one tool out there - X-RayPc. Though currently free, things could change - and you'd have to pay to use that tool for commercial purposes, which goes against the grain of sites like this that will clean any PC, for free.

Do I sound vaguely suspicious of automated tools?

Probably because I don't think an automated answer for a manual tool is the solution. Although some of these programs work quite well, there's no 100% guarantee that the answers given are totally accurate - and most of the more advanced infections (such as CWS and many new strains of VX2) can't be removed by dedicated tools, never mind an automated database cruncher.

I'm not saying we can solve every infection, though there's a lot more chance of me finding a solution by simply asking someone, than firing up a hit-it-and-hope approach to infection diagnostics. What I'm saying is that someone, somewhere, seems to have decided that these tools are the future and free support forums offering help have had their day.

While sites like this won't offer support for infection fixing forever, it's not going to be because of automatic HJT fixers. It will be because Microsoft will finally get to grips with their browser flaws (even if we do have to wait a while longer..!), and corporate AV and Anti-Spyware manufacturers will finally get a grip and start producing more bulletproof apps.

You may still have to pay, though I'd rather stump up for a respected brand where Spyware's concerned than a wild stab in the dark for a site that could be here today, gone tomorrow.

It's almost over now.