WinPatrol 2007 Review

If I would live in a house and have a dog, that would surely make my nights peaceful. After all, I wouldn't have to wonder "what's that noise" often, because Rex (or another dog name) would be on alert in case somebody unwanted gets on my territory. Since I am living in a 2 bedroom on the 4th floor and the area is pretty calm, I don't have to worry about burglers, but I have enough worries with my computer...

Well, since we can't actually place a dog next to our computer to stop intruders, a software solution for this security problem is the best choice. Even better, today's found is a "software watch dog", called Scotty, but the program that uses it as "computer guardian" is called WinPatrol.

Setup

The last version of this program is 12, build 5, and despite the fact that the current version is known as WinPatrol 2007 version 12, build 5, I'll only call it WinPatrol, to make things easier. WinPatrol is available to try for as long as you like, but the version you can get for free has disabled some really useful features, so if you like what you get for free, you should grab the PLUS version, for a one time payment of 29.95$.












To my amazement, the setup package is really small, having less than 700KB in size. Considering this fact, the installation of the program couldn't have been something hard to do either. In fact, installing WinPatrol is even easier than I expected. Just look at the screenshots above and you'll see that I'm right!

Interface

While you don't get a watch dog because it's a beautiful animal or not, it's always nice to get a good looking software on your computer, no matter its purpose. I remember that last time I tried WinPatrol, less than 2 years ago, its interface didn't look too good in my eyes, but now things have changed. Despite the fact you don't have to spend much time using the main window of this application, WinPatrol has nice graphics, and its options are well organized. A contextual help system seems to be missing, but this can be solved, in time...

Features

Because I usually like to find out the interesting news first and leave the non-essential ones at the end, I'll tell you about the best new feature of WinPatrol 2007, called Delayed Start.

We all have lots of programs loading with Windows, and that adds to the time we need to wait until our system becomes available. I know it sounds incredible, but I've seen computers that need up to 10-15 minutes to finish loading all those dozens of applications that are completely useless, in most cases. Of course that, for most computers, some programs need to be loaded at startup (the antivirus and firewall, for example), while others can wait (Skype, YM or Daemon Tools). With Delayed Start, you can delay the startup of this programs up to an hour, so your system will be all yours faster.











Since Delayed Start sounds great, but doesn't do much for your protection, hear this: WinPatrol can detect the creation of new auto-startup items, as well as registry changes and show all the hidden files, so you can easily find malware trying to hide.The areas that allow you to take care of the tasks mentioned above have names that should say it all - Active Tasks, Cookies, Startup Programs, IE Helpers or Schedules Tasks.At last, inside the Options area you get rewarded with access to the Hosts file, the ability to quickly create a Hijack log (a file that contains all the data needed by a security expert to tell you if your computer is infected or not). One useful feature that is often forgot by software producers is the possibility to backup the settings of the program to a registry (REG) file, so you can quickly restore them or use same settings on another computer.

The Good

WinPatrol is a very powerful tool that's not really hard to use, looks good and can save you from a plethora of problems. The price of the PLUS version is pretty good, considering that you get real-time infiltration detection and instant detection of newly created undocumented or hidden registry startup keys.
If you are worried about compatibility, it's my pleasure to inform you that WinPatrol works with all Windows versions, from Windows 1995 to Vista.

The Bad

To make this program easy to use by beginners, a better built in help system would be great.

Conclusion

When working with lots of applications, you system files are modified frequently, so malicious software can invade you unseen any time. With Scotty on guard, you'll have less to worry about, so click the download link below, install this excellent program and don't forget to share with us your thoughts!

Developer: BillP Studios
Price: 29.95$
Trial Link: Download