HitmanPro

ApplicationSophos

Also called hitman pro, hitmanpro.alert, sophos hitmanpro

SophosSecurity

A second-opinion scanner Sophos owns. The window is HitmanPro.exe. It is not Malwarebytes and not Sophos Home.

What you need to know

HitmanPro.exe is an on-demand second opinion. It is not Malwarebytes.

Sophos owns HitmanPro. The usual job is a scan beside an existing engine. Malwarebytes is another vendor. Sophos Home is the resident household SKU. Two live realtime products is still a fight if you turn Alert into a resident.

What is it?: Sophos second-opinion scanner
Same as Malwarebytes?: No. Different vendor
Resident AV?: On-demand by default. Alert can add extras

Feex says

If you already have Defender, HitmanPro is a scan you run, not a second resident. Malwarebytes Premium is the product that tries to take the slot. I would not run Alert realtime plus Defender plus Sophos Home.

What is HitmanPro?

HitmanPro is a Sophos-owned on-demand scanner. HitmanPro.exe is the Windows process. Malwarebytes is a different second-opinion vendor.

If you have never used it

If you want a second opinion Sophos owns, this is HitmanPro, not Malwarebytes. Download it from hitmanpro.com. HitmanPro.exe is an on-demand scanner you run and close. It is designed to sit beside an existing antivirus, not to replace Windows Security as a second resident engine. Sophos Home is the household resident SKU. Alert is a different HitmanPro product with realtime.

What is it used for?

On-demand second opinion

Run a scan while Defender or another AV stays resident. That is the intended job. Malwarebytes Free is the other common second opinion.

Cloud reputation look-ups

HitmanPro asks its cloud about files. That is not ekrn.exe and not MsMpEng.exe.

Alert extras

HitmanPro.Alert adds exploit and crypto extras. That SKU is easier to confuse with a resident AV. The base HitmanPro.exe scan is still on-demand.

Who is it for?

People who already have an AV and want another scan
Users who should not install Sophos Home as a second resident on top of Defender plus this
Anyone who mixed this with Malwarebytes Premium realtime

Current status

Actively offered under Sophos. This article is the on-demand scanner, not Sophos Central.

How old is it?

Surfright shipped HitmanPro in 2008. Sophos bought it. Current on-demand builds are still the second-opinion tool. HitmanPro.Alert is the extra product with exploit extras. A 2010 portable scan is the same idea.

Versions

Major channels first. Exact build numbers are not all verified here.

HitmanPro on-demand

HitmanPro.Alert

System requirements

Values follow the publisher's public guidance. Workload still changes the real need.

Minimum

Minimum system requirements
Operating system	Windows 10 or Windows 11, per HitmanPro support
RAM	Light when closed. A scan follows the disk

Resource profile

CPU demand: During the scan
Network demand: Cloud look-ups while scanning

Installed processes

These executables belong to this product when it is installed.

Installed processes
HitmanPro.exe	On-demand scanner. Not MBAMService.exe

Startup components

On-demand HitmanPro should not need to start with Windows. Alert extras can add a resident. That is the SKU to watch.

File locations

Common HitmanPro locations
Typical install	C:\Program Files\HitmanPro\

Common problems

Alert realtime plus live Defender

The on-demand scanner is safe beside Defender. Turning on a second resident layer is the two-engine case.

People treat it as Sophos Home

Home is the household suite from home.sophos.com. HitmanPro is the second-opinion exe.

Getting unstuck

Install from hitmanpro.com

malwarebytes.com is the other second opinion. home.sophos.com is the resident Home SKU.

Run the scan, then close it if you only wanted on-demand

A leftover Alert resident plus Defender is the fight to avoid.

Check Windows Security if you enabled Alert protection

The owner page should still make sense. Two live engines is the warning.

Alternatives

Malwarebytes Free for another on-demand scan. AdwCleaner for PUPs only. Windows Security as the resident engine.

Official help and downloads

Start with the vendor. Random exe sites are not a support channel.

Official contacts
Download	www.hitmanpro.com/ Official installer or vendor page
Help	support.hitmanpro.com/ Vendor support
Official site	www.hitmanpro.com/ Start here, not a random exe host

Related hardware

A scan is disk-heavy. That is the job. It should not stay as a second resident on a small laptop.

Technical details

Vendor version numbers change. This article does not pin a build.

Sources and verification

Reviewed by Feex editorial. Last verified August 2026 Status: Feex Reviewed. How we research.

HitmanPro official site · Vendor product page
HitmanPro help · Vendor support
Foxhole process map · First-party samples on Windows PCs. Not a lab benchmark.

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