I get confused when I read all these "the first program I install on a new pc"-praises, because I will automatically ask (myself) if they don't have proper security programs. I believe that various security suites are promising to handle the exact same items that WP+ is handling, and then some. Or am I not seeing an important difference?
-Curt
Hi, Curt. Please note that I said WinPatrol PLUS was ONE of the first programs I put on any computer, not THE first. Indeed, the first programs I put on any computer are an anti-virus program and a firewall. After that, WP PLUS and Malwarebytes Pro. I use Malwarebytes Pro because it is designed to pick up baddies that many of the AV programs miss. And WP PLUS too performs services that neither my AV nor my firewall offer or perform as well.
I too have a key for WP+, but don't have the progam installed. If you care to, please tell what good I can use WinPatrol+ for, when I already have Outpost Security Suite (and AnVir Task Manager Pro and Chameleon Startup Manager) running? I am not sure if I even can have them running at the same time.
-Curt
MilesAhead has already noted two of the features I like about WP. One is the warning it provides any time a program tries to put itself into the startup menu, or tries to add a service, a BHO, or whatever. Sometimes I'm perfectly happy to let the program do so, but often I say NO, I don't want that, and WinPatrol will prevent it from doing so. I'm astonished at the number of programs that put themselves into the startup menu without asking. In the majority of cases, it's absolutely unnecessary that the program start when Windows does. IIRC, AnVir Task Manager does this too, but I prefer WinPatrol. Though there were things I liked about AnVir, I eventually stopped using it, in part because some of the assessments it offered about the safety of specific programs were way off base.
Also like MilesAhead, I have used WP to put things in the delayed start menu. I know that there are other ways to do this, but WP makes it very easy and provides a good deal of flexibility about how much of a delay there should be.
Another thing that I like about WinPatrol PLUS is that if I see a program or service that I don't know running on my machine, I can seek information about it by clicking on WP's PLUS button. Sometimes the program is not in WP's database, but often it is, and WP will tell me what the program is, what it does, whether it's needed, whether it's safe to leave on the computer, etc. I think the PLUS version offers considerably more extensive information than the free version.
