WinPatrol
Apr 25, 2014 9:41:45 GMT -5
Post by Wingman on Apr 25, 2014 9:41:45 GMT -5
WinPatrol is available in a free version, which offers a handful of ways to monitor just what's going on on your PC.
You can see a list of startup programs, which you can choose to disable or delay.
You also can see a list of recently used programs, hidden files, file types by associated program, active tasks and services, and much more.
In addition to handling startup programs, WinPatrol lets you control and uninstall "IE Helpers" (also known as "Browser Helper Objects"). These are sometimes-useful extensions to Internet Explorer that add functionality to I.E. Unfortunately, there seem to be a whole lot more adware BHO’s than helpful BHO’s. If you get popups every time you start Internet Explorer, no matter where you go on the Internet, that is a sign of a BHO. Some of them are trojan downloaders – they download programs you haven’t requested onto your computer automatically.
WinPatrol also shows you Scheduled Tasks and lets you remove them. It shows you details of all the "Services" that are part of or added to Windows XP and lets you stop or start them. You can also change whether they start automatically or not. You can control your cookies in IE and Firefox. You can change file assocations, e.g., ".xls files open in Word" can be changed to ".xls files open in OpenOffice." There are several more neat functions in WinPatrol.
WinPatrol is also a system protection utility. WinPatrol operates by scanning every few minutes for changes. If it finds certain changes, e.g. a program that is now set to start automatically, WinPatrol’s Scotty dog (it’s logo, who sits in the Windows Status bar) barks and a window opens to ask you if you want to allow the program to start automatically. It similarly protects the Windows “Hosts” file, Internet Explorer browser helper objects, and other components.
Winpatrol