HitmanPro.Alert

HitmanPro.Alert is a lightweight application able to monitor your browser activity and detect potential threats that may comprise system security.
The tool was specifically built to add an extra layer of security to your system, in order to protect you whenever you shop on the Internet or perform online banking operations. It offers real-time PC protection against software exploits, drive-by downloads, crypto-ransomware, online fraud, and identity theft.

Intuitive interface and malware scans

The tool sports an attractive and clear-cut interface, and offers to perform a malware scan right after installation, in order to get the security assessment of your computer.
Scan results show the name, full path of infected file and type of each threat. You can either delete files or ignore threats, as well as apply an action to the current file or all of them. These log details can be saved to file for later examination.

Safe browsing and exploit mitigation

When it comes to safe browsing, HitmanPro.Alert protects your activities surrounding online banking, shopping or web mail. It offers support for many browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Maxthon, Comodo Dragon, Pale Moon, Tor Browser Bundle, Avant Browser, Spark Browser, SRWare Iron and Yandex Browser.
The feature dedicated to exploit mitigation prevents several third-party applications from current and future vulnerability attacks, like Java, VLC Media Player, Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center, Wordpad and Adobe Flash Player. Currently running processes that aren't supported by HitmanPro.Alert are shown in another panel, so you can at least be aware of risks.

Vaccination, CryptoGuard and webcam notifier

The software application sports additional tools to reduce the risk of malware infections. For instance, it can stop sandbox-aware malware by making the computer look like it belongs to a virus researcher, block crypto-ransomware (like CryptoLocker) by keeping local and shared files safe, or warn you when your webcam was silently turned on to watch you.

Keystroke encryption, process protection, network lockdown and USB blocker

Moreover, the program is able to encrypt all keystrokes to prevent keyloggers from hijacking your passwords, private messages and other sensitive information, prevent malware from infecting the main executable of a trusted process (e.g. antivirus), stop backdoor traffic by locking down the network, and block malicious USB devices that pose as a keyboard.
Any of these modules can be quickly enabled or disabled with one click. On the other hand, although HitmanPro.Alert offers an advanced interface mode for experienced users, it doesn't provide customization preferences for each protection component (perhaps for the sake of simplicity).

Evaluation and conclusion

It supports multiple UI languages, carries out malware scan jobs rapidly, and identifies threats just as quickly. No error dialogs popped up in our tests, and the tool didn't hang or crash. Surprisingly, it had minimal impact on computer performance, using low CPU and RAM. It silently runs in the background and it's compatible with antivirus applications.
To sum it up, HitmanPro.Alert offers an effective extra security measure against online threats. Thanks to its overall simplicity yet advanced functions, it should meet the requirements of most users.