In today’s Internet connected world, having strong antivirus and anti-malware protection installed on your computer is crucial for data security and privacy. In this article we do a full UnHackMe review to uncover its protection capabilities.
About UnHackMe
UnHackMe was released in 2005 by Greatis Software, a maker of computer security, database, utility, and development tools. Initially, UnHackMe was designed as an anti-rootkit tool, but since then has been updated to remove all types of dangerous software. These include:
- Rootkits
- Trojans
- Backdoors
- Viruses
- Worms
- Spyware
- Adware
- And more
The strength of UnHackMe lies in its ability to remove malware that sneak past your other antivirus software.
How does UnHackMe work?
UnHackMe uses a method of precision double-checking to detect and eliminate all types of dangerous software threats.
It works in both normal Windows mode and off-line with the help of a second part, called Warrior. These two work together using shared databases, modules and settings.
UnHackMe GUI / Interface
UnHackMe has a main menu with these selection tabs:
- Scan
- Options
- Register
- Scanning (shows after a scan)
- Logs
It also has a menu on top with these selections:
- File
- View
- Tools
- Help
UnHackMe Scan
The UnHackMe Scan Window includes these selections:
- Scan and Fix!
- Help in Removal
- A “System state” menu is listed below that allows you to:
- Clean after last scanning: day and time of last scan
- Anti malware monitoring is ON! Or OFF!
- Network Shield is ON! Or OFF!
Clicking on the “Anti-malware monitoring is ON!” will take you to the “Options” tab of the main screen menu. See “Options” tab later in this post.
UnHackMe Scan and Fix!
The Scan and Fix! Selection provides a menu with the following options:
- On-line Multi-Antivirus + Anti-malware – 5 Minutes
- Anti-Malware- 1 minute
- Scan in Safe Mode
- Scan before Windows Starts
- Scan in Inspection Mode
If any problems are found during the scan, it will stop and a provide you a prompt to fix the issue.
The scan window has a circle which shows the percentage progress of the scan on the left.
Scan Before Windows Starts
If you click this, it will ask to restart your system. Once restarted, it will start scanning your system. This will take around 2 minutes and provide a scan results page after it finishes.
Scan in Inspection Mode
All UnHackMe scans have 8 core steps to complete the system scan. In Inspection Mode, you can see the details of each step and start from whichever you choose. It will give details about any threats found and the names of the files in question.
The 8 steps of UnHackMe’s inspection scan include:
- Processes
- PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs)
- Unwanted / Malicious Files
- Startup Programs
- System Services/Programs
- Browser Plugins / Addons
- Browser Search Settings
- Unblock Antivirus
Our Inspection Mode scan gave us a notice after step 1: computer processes. This step scanned all our computer processes and then listed those that could be malicious. There is a key on the left side of the window that describes the threat level in color codes. The processes that were flagged in our test were marked as “Probably Harmless,” so we continued with the scan.
No other steps gave any signs of infection or detected threats, and the scan finished. This took 3 minutes.
UnHackMe Options
The Options tab in the main program window has the following:
- Monitoring
- Network Shield
- Boot-time Scan
- Notifications
- Advanced
- Exclusions
Monitoring
This covers the continuous monitoring of your system and allows for changing the time frame for scanning rootkits in memory, and running anti-malware scans.
Network Shield
Network Shield helps to block dangerous sites using the Windows hosts file.
You can choose to have your system protected against malware and unwanted programs, web crypto miners, and crypto coin miners. You can also edit your site block list and choose automatic antivirus updates.
Boot-time Scan
This checks for rootkits during Windows boot using the Partizan tool. You can choose to keep it active and scan at Windows startup. You can select “More..” to access more details of the Partizan tool also.
Notifications
This allows the user to choose which notification options they want.
The selection includes:
- “Gaming Mode” – No popups, only notifications
- Hide Tray Icon
- Disable Mouse Hover Tips in the Notification Area
- Notify About “Unknown” Issues
The default option is set at “Disable Mouse Hover Tips in the Notification Area”. We elected to leave the choices set at default.
Advanced
The advanced options are limited, only having two selections to make changes to:
- Check for Updates
- Disable Recommended Offers
The default is set at “Check for Updates”.
Exclusions
This option tab provides the Exclusion List of programs and files that you do not want false alarms for.
There are two types of scanned items:
- Drivers/Services names
- Process Names
During or after a scan, if you get a false positive you can always add that file or program to the exclusions list.
Register
This menu tab includes offers to purchase UnHackMe for 1, 2, or 5 computers. If you have already purchased UnHackMe, you can enter your registration code in this tab. When you buy the program, it includes Warrior Rescue, a special boot CD/USB that can detect and remove rootkits, viruses, and malware from your computer.
Scanning
This menu tab only appears after a scan has been completed since opening the program. You can see the total threats removed since the last scan and installation. Once you hit “Get Back”, this tab disappears.
UnHackMe Tools
The top menu of the main program window has a selection that includes File, View, Tools, and Help.
Tools include:
- Reanimator
- Clean / Backup / Protect
- Create Browsers Shortcuts on Desktop
- Reset Edge (browser) Home Page
- Block Website
Reanimator
RegRun Reanimator is a program for removing Trojans, Adware, Spyware, Malware, and rootkits.
It is a limited version of the RegRun Reanimator commercial software, and operates remotely.
Clean / Backup / Protect
This uses the RegRun Reanimator. This will clean your computer settings after a virus attack. A computer reboot is required.
The rest of the tools create browser shortcuts, reset the MS Edge browser homepage, and block websites using the Block List.
UnHackMe Help Menu
Use this to see the help information for the program. This includes a contents, index, and search tab to find any topic you need assistance with.
This includes:
- Contents
- Language ( English, Russian, German Translations)
- Support
- Check Updates
- About
Contents
The Contents selection brings up an HTML help index, where you can search for information about the product to help resolve issues.
UnHackMe Support
You contact UnHackMe support by connecting to the Greatis Software website. Here you can enter your question along with your email and name, and the Greatis team will contact you with an answer.
UnHackMe Live Updates
UnHackMe is set by default to check for updates automatically. You can change this by using the Options -> Advanced tab among the main menu tabs.
You can also check manually for updates at any time by using the the “Help” drop down menu in the top of the main window. This contains a “Check Updates…” selection. This will add any current updates to your UnHackMe software.
Our UnHackMe Test
We tested the performance of UnHackMe on our standard mid-range antivirus desktop test PC. It has the following specifications:
- Desktop PC Model: HP Pavilion 595
- Processor: 8th generation Intel Core I5-8400
- RAM: 12 GB DDR4-2666 SDRAM Memory
- Hard Drive: 1 TB 7200 RPM HD, 128 GB PCIe Solid State Drive
- Video Card: Intel UHD Graphics 630
- Operating System: Windows 10
- Software: Microsoft Office, Google Chrome, other included pre-installed system software.
- File types: xls, txt, doc, mp3, mp4, jpeg, jpg, bmp, png, pdf, docx, exe, wav, wma, bat
- Average file size: 4.4 MB
Our UnHackMe Scan Test Results
Multi-Antivirus + Anti-malware scan took just over 3 minutes and found 1 unknown issue.
Anti Malware Scan took 1 minute to complete and returned 1 unknown issue.
Scan in Safe Mode took about 2 minutes to complete and returned 1 unknown issue.
The unknown issue was a bit disconcerting. We did some research on the issue and discovered it could be due to a program UnHackMe is not aware of, thus returning a false positive. UnHackMe provided no information on which program that might be.
Scanning your PC in Safe Mode speeds things up by reducing the number of files scanned, focusing on the core system files.
When we ran a scan in Safe Mode UnHackMe asked “are you sure you want to restart into safe mode?” and displayed a warning about remembering our system password before it restarted our computer.
Our computer restarted, which took about 2 minutes and ran the scan for another 1 minute and returned 1 unknown issue.
A button then appeared to restart windows back in normal mode. We clicked that and returned our system back to normal Windows mode with no issues.
UnHackMe FAQs
For frequently asked questions and answers about UnHackMe see our UnHackMe FAQs page here.
UnHackMe Review in Summary
UnHackMe by Greatis Software is a value-priced antivirus and anti-malware software with some great features. It’s well worth considering as a basic security tool, or in conjunction with other software.
