TO THE PEOPLE WHO ARE CASTING DOUBTS ON WINPATROL, either your research, or the advice you received is seriously lacking!
I have owned Winpatrol for several years, and installed it on many friends and associates systems which use a variety of Anti-virus-trojan-malware application.
You missed out on a real deal to get Winpatrol at .99 cents. I didn't check out the deal but read about it. The only place you should download
Winpatrol is here.
Winpatrol does something most AV apps won't do, it stops programs trying to write themselves into your windows startup and catches programs trying to run as a process. Most other AV apps tell you after malicious programs have already inserted into Windows Startup or auto run as a process, and then you have to rely on the AV app to clean them out. Winpatrol does NO CLEANING, you have only two options when Winpatrol activates Allow/Deny. Winpatrol tells you the location of the file trying get into your startup. You can research that file later and manually delete. Winpatrol's main function isn't even Security, it is a Utility app to monitor Windows Startup, and Windows Processes, including:
• Windows startup, • Programs that are set for Delayed Start • Windows Services, • Active Tasks (not just the ones you see in Task Manager, WP shows hidden tasks), • Hidden Files, • Active X, • Cookies, • IE Helpers (an area where many malicious scripts try to work out of).
Winpatrol doesn't just show you all the files running in these areas, it allows you to delete, disable, get info on each file. Winpatrol is a great tool for cleaning up your system and eliminating programs that are running in the background that are not needed. When I say cleaning, I'm not talking about eliminating active virus/trojans/malware. If you have malicious programs already running, you need serious AV program to do that kind of cleaning.
BUT many malicious programs start by trying to add themselves to your Windows Startup, and Winpatrol stops them and ask you what you want to do, I doubt there is a better app for this than Winpatrol.
Yesterday, my wife is browsing checking on some movie star bio. Most of the websites supporting that kind of glitzy stuff are loaded with pop ads and some have malware scripts. The wife gets a popup saying your system needs virus protection or (something like that), click here, to keep your system safe. She foolishly hit CLICKED.... Winpatrol instantly popped up and announced something was trying to install itself in Windows startup. The wife knew to call me at this point (she thought the malware was one of my security programs and mistakenly clicked. we had a little refresher course on internet AV security.) So Winpatrol stopped that program before it got started. AVAST, Superantispyware didn't catch this malicious startup attempt. This was a low grade adware type attack, easily defeated, easily cured. I did a reboot to Safe Mode and ran Superantispyware, and Malwarebytes, rebooted then ran Avast in pre-boot mode. None of them found a problem. Why? Because it was a script that required insertion in Startup to get initiated and Winpatrol stopped that.
Scenario, brand new low grade malicious program just going viral on the internet, the AV companies haven't caught it yet in the Wild, so they haven't got an update to cure it or catch it. Like the example above the first requirement is the malicious program wants to get into Windows startup and when you reboot next it is initiated. None of the AV software that I have tried prevents that, they all need something to trigger action meaning they have that bug in their AV database, (AV see bug in DB then go into action). Winpatrol doesn't need a bug D/B it just plain tells you when any program is trying to either join the Windows Startup, add itself as either ActiveX or IE helper, and in some cases initiate as a process. This includes legit new programs that you are trying to install, almost every new program wants to add itself to windows startup, Winpatrol stops that and asks you first, you can Allow/Deny.
Some people are mentioning well know AV programs that haven't been in the top AV software for years. Check out this
* Nov 2009 report from
Non Profit AV comparative website. Just because you haven't been attacked does NOT mean your AV software is working. Just like in the photobucket thread people are either defending their AV apps or photobucket because they haven't been attacked. Yet there are about a half dozen SMF members recently attacked. I emailed Photobucket and they know there is a problem, yet they are coy enough to not say that, they instead ask for your help in identifying the problem. Recently one of my sons who didn't follow my recommendations for his new Laptop went with the security setup that was included, which consisted of a well known AV program loaded on almost every new computer and Microsoft version of Defender. He never had a warning for a year. Finally something stopped working and he asked for help, 1st we booted in safe mode (no internet access), eliminated the well known AV program, turned off Defender, install Avast, ran it, there were over 100 malicious flags (not including cookies), we deleted them. Rebooted again in Safe mode, installed Superantispyware, another amazingly high number of malicious flags came up, deleted them. Recently we did a scan with both Avast and Superantispyware found no infections, rebooted in Safe Mode installed Malwarebytes and scanned, another half dozen infections were found.
Between your AV setup and Winpatrol if you don't get warnings every week, your AV setup is NOT doing its job.
*After reading the report mentioned above I may finally switch to AVira, I have been reluctant because there are reports of update issues and some stability issues. I have been using Avast for years, without any issues. I know it misses some stuff, but Superantispyware usually pulls up the slack, and finally I have started using Malwarebytes to get what Superantispyware misses. It is my current opinion that you need one Main Antivirus App like Avast or AVira like those in the report (with resident "always on" protection), and two "Adware/Malware/Scumware" removal tools like Superantispyware and Malwarebytes (one setup as resident, the other as a backup scanner). I am using Superantispyware as the resident, and keep Malwarebytes uninstalled in two locations (flash drive, and external drive) in case a serious threat with AV blocking capabilities is encountered. I can then just boot to safe mode, install malwarebytes and run.
PS you can try Winpatrol for Free, and most of the capabilities are there. The free version doesn't have the on demand file info, where you can right click on the file name and get info on that file. Some of the real time infiltration capabilities are not there, the Plus version has some performance enhanced capabilities. I ran winpatrol for about 2 or 3 years before I finally purchased it.
