What happens if your antivirus or antispyware software does not detect a malicious application? One of the things that will most likely happen is that the malicious application will add itself to the system startup most likely in the Registry to make sure it is always executed when the system starts.
WinPatrol offers a new layer of defense against malware that was not detected by your security software. It monitors the different Startup possibilities, File Associations, IE Helpers, Scheduled Tasks and Services giving you full control over what is being added to your system and what is not.
While designed with malicious software in mind, it is also an excellent tool to prevent that adware and other unwanted applications make changes to the system in this regard.
WinPatrol displays all entries that already exist on the system giving you the opportunity to manage everything from within the program window. The best thing to do would probably be to take a look at all menus that WinPatrol offers to make sure that only applications and services are started that you trust. You can remove everything else and let WinPatrol do the rest to make sure that they or other elements are not added again.
It may take you some time to go through all menus though, as there are quite a few that the software makes available.
The freeware has a size of roughly 700 K and has to run in the background to be able to work correctly.
Update: WinPatrol is available as a free version, plus edition with additional features and an enterprise edition. The program displays a list of startup programs on start. Each item is listed with its title, file name and command, company, location, and when it was first detected. You can right-click any item to block it from being run on start up.
The following tabs are available in addition to that:
As you can see, there is lots to explore in the free version of WinPatrol. Probably the best feature of WinPatrol is its "patrol mode" which basically warns you whenever programs try to make changes to your system. This can be something as mundane as a new browser homepage, new startup items or new browser helper objects in Internet Explorer. With WinPatrol running, you can be sure to catch those before they are written to the system.
A selection of features of interest:
Difference between WinPatral Free and Plus:
WinPatrol Plus supports all features that the free version supports plus the following ones on top of it:
WinPatrol protects your system effectively even if you are using the free edition. Some users may find its dialogs irritating depending on how often they popup to inform about programs trying to make changes to the system. While irritating at times, it also ensures that your computer stays clean from threats and adware that might otherwise sneak onto it.
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Ghacks is a technology news blog that was founded in 2005 by Martin Brinkmann. It has since then become one of the most popular tech news sites on the Internet with five authors and regular contributions from freelance writers.
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