FJV said in news:
[email protected]:
PC World magazine recommends WinPatrol 7 for malware protection. I
already have Spybot S&D, AdAware, Browser Hijack Blaster and Spyware
Blaster installed on my computer. Is it a good idea to add WinPatrol
7 ?
I would appreciate other opinions in this regard.
Thanks, FJV
I had looked at using WinPatrol but decided it duplicated a lot of functionality already available in Windows or duplicated other anti-spy/malware products that I use. Below is their list of features for WinPatrol with my comments added in braces:
WinPatrol Features
* Startup Program Alerts
- Shorten your initial boot up time.
{Same effect as using msconfig.exe to reduce startup programs.}
- Approve any programs set to AutoRun.
{That did sound interesting.}
- Temporarily disable startup programs.
{msconfig.exe again.}
- Display any additional information about Startup Programs.
{Huh? More than what msconfig.exe shows? More than what using regedit.exe and looking at the Run keys would show?}
* Services
- Learn more about internal programs used by Windows.
{Use the services.msc applet already included in Windows.}
- Disable or Stop running Services.
{services.msc again.}
- Display any additional details about running Services.
{services.msc again; just look at the service's properties.}
* IE Helpers or Browser Helper Objects
- Display Information on any Browser Helper Objects which exist.
{Spybot reports BHOs. Or use BHO Demon which will let you disable them without having to uninstall them.}
- Monitor if new Browser Helper Objects have been added without your permission
{SpywareGuard does this, too.}
- Display additional information on Browser Helper Objects.
{More than BHO Demon or Spybot?}
- Remove malicious Adware and Spyware Browser Helper Objects.
{Ad-Aware & Spybot will detect them. BHO Demon can show and disable them.}
* Scheduled Task Monitoring
- Display Information on any Tasks scheduled to run on your system.
{I really need more than the Task Scheduler applet for this?}
- Monitor new tasks added without your permission
{That does sound interesting if indeed it works on a pre-approved list.}
- Display additional information on scheduled tasks.
{Again back to the Task Scheduler applet.}
- View Active Tasks
{Sounds like another variation of Task Manager already available in Windows.}
* Display Information on currently active Programs and Services.
- Kill Unwanted or Frozen Tasks.
{Never heard of Task Manager?}
- Display additional information on individual Programs, Tasks and Services.
{Use SysInternals' Process Explorer.}
* Cookie Management
- Be Alerted when new Cookies are added to you system. (optional)
{You can configure for prompting in IE. A real pain in the ass to allow all of them.}
- See what information is being stored in your cookies.
{I use PopUp Cop. Besides blocking popups, gives me cookie management, too. There are other cookie managers.}
- Manage required and unwanted Cookies.
{PopUp Cop, which only runs when IE is loaded, and some cookie managers that run continously, have whitelists for cookie domains. If it is not whitelisted, it gets purged when IE is exited. This forces all non-whitelisted cookies to effectively become per-session cookies.}
- Automatically reject Cookies using WinPatrol Nuts
{So how is this different than "managing" them noted above?}
* Options
- Easily Customize for Maximum Performance.
{What? By turning off WinPatrol?}
- Detect if your default Home Page has been hijacked.
{SpywareGuard does that.}
- Have Scotty passively monitor your computer everyday or every minute.
{Running a scan every minute is passive meaning it won't impact your system? I guess we're supposed to know what "Scotty" does as opposed to "WinPatrol".}
- Assign unique Sounds to WinPatrol Alerts.
{Can't think of many products that make noise that don't let you configure them somehow. They needed to waste space listing this option?}
- Lock or monitor changes to the HOSTS file.
{SpywareBlaster lets you create backup copies of the hosts file since locking it can cause problems for your own use or good utilities. Still, probably good to alert the user if something other than the user modified the hosts file.}
