WinPatrol 19.3 Issues and Solutions

Regular readers know that one of my all-time favorite programs is WinPatrol.  Scotty has been patrolling my computers for many, many years.  Scotty was very comfortable with 32-bit operating systems but has been snarling a bit with the increased migration to 64-bit systems.  As a result, providing updated support for 64-bit operating systems has spurred a couple of strange issues.  Until my friend and Scotty's "handler", Bill Pytlovany, gets to the bottom of the causes, they are easily overcome.

Phantom IE Helper

If, when starting WinPatrol, you receive a WinPatrol alert about a new IE Helper with no description, company name or other information, it is likely you have a faulty installation of WinPatrol.  Continue with the instructions below to solve this issue.

Check the version.

Start first by checking what version of WinPatrol is installed.  Launch WinPatrol and click the PLUS/Update tab.  It should show v 19.3.2010.0:19.3.2010.0:

If, like a number of WinPatrol users have discovered, you have WinPatrol 2010 v 19.1.2010.1:19.3.2010.0, you will likely discover that the upgrade to version 19.3 did not fully uninstall the earlier version.  As shown in Add/Remove Programs:

Uninstall Duplicate WinPatrol

As is my usual procedure, I right-clicked the WinPatrol icon in the System Tray and selected Exit Program and then proceeded to uninstall the 10/4/2010 version 19.0.2010.0.  Nonetheless, I received the following message:

 

After restart, although version 19.3.2010.0 still showed in Add/Remove Programs, it was not in the WinPatrol folder:

After repeating the uninstall process of the second WinPatrol, I reinstalled WinPatrol 19.3 and everything is working as expected now.

WinPatrol UAC Prompt at Restart

Although I have not received a WinPatrol UAC prompt at restart, others have.  The only time Windows Vista and Windows 7 should provide a UAC prompt for WinPatrol is when launching the GUI for WinPatrol Explorer (WinPatrolEx.exe).

If you are seeing the UAC prompt at start up, there are two copies of WinPatrol trying to start. Bill Pytlovany implemented a quick fix in the new versions of WinPatrol.

•   Open up the main WinPatrol tabbed Interface.
•   Click on the Options tab.
•   You should see a check box that says, “Automatically run WinPatrol when computer starts”
•   Just un-click the box in front of this message.
•   Now click it again so the check box remains.

This action will remove the multiple copies of WinPatrol in the Start up List and initialize the correct start up setting.

As a bit of additional explanation provided by Bill:  

"WinPatrol is split into two components to provide the best possible performance.

WinPatrol.exe is the small component which monitors for changes on your system. This is the program which displays the little Scotty in the taskbar and remains running in the background at all times. This component doesn't require UAC access and should not bring up the UAC prompt.

When you double click on the little Scotty icon it launches our main tabbed interface or WinPatrol Explorer (WinPatrolEx.exe). The program provides the main interface and allows you to review all your various programs. This component will bring up the UAC prompt because it's the power house that is allowed to change your system configuration values. The tabbed interface is also launched if WinPatrol.exe is launched a 2nd time. When you click on "Close", this program is removed from memory so only the smallest required portion of WinPatrol is running."

WinPatrol Not Seeing Cookies

In earlier versions of WinPatrol, it was possible to manage cookies with the browser open.  Changes in the manner in which cookies are handled by Internet Explorer and Firefox now means that in order to manage cookies with WinPatrol, it is necessary to first close the browser.

Download WinPatrol 19.3.2010.0   (Free & PLUS)
WinPatrol Info 
(Window XP, Vista, Windows 7 including x64 support)
Release Date: November 4th, 2010  
Setup updated November 5th

Clubhouse Tags: Clubhouse, Security, Family Safety, Updates, WinPatrol, Information,

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