https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r30802711-Winpatrol-RIP
Also Corrine how is Bill?
Regardless of whether or not WinPatrol continues further development, the program continues to function now as it always had... without requiring any updates.
In fact, I personally opted to "freeze" my WinPatrol at version 32.0.2014.5 --- the last build with which BillP was still (at least partially) involved. I had tried some newer versions, but always found myself reverting back to this one.
Bill is dealing ok.
As to WinPatrol, as ky331 said, WinPatrol is still working fine. Sure long-time users would love an update but Bret et al are concentrating on WinAntiRansom in particular due to the tremendous upsurge in ransomware. As shown in this MBAM blog post (https://blog.malwarebytes.org/cybercrime/2016/06/ransomware-dominates-the-threat-landscape/), 65% of the exploid for May, 2016 was ransomware and that figure does not include malicious phishing emails and Droppers/Downloaders are another statistic entirely!
I'm also using WinPatrol on four Win 7 computers and don't need updates for it to work properly. I'm running v 33.6.2015.1 from June 28th 2015.
I had problems with later versions and had to restore one or two computers so that's why I stuck with this version.
CCleaner updates monthly. I haven't updated that in a few years and it also works fine for my needs.
Thank you Corrine
I agree. There's no need to stop using a program just because there have not been any recent updates - as long as it is still fulfilling its intended purpose, and WinPatrol is.
I am using the latest version (V33.6.2015.18) that came out July 27, 2015 with no problems. I will continue to use and recommend it until it no longer serves its purpose.
I certainly am not looking for any new features and definitely don't want any changes just for the sake of change (or aesthetics!). But there are a few reported bugs (http://www.landzdown.com/winpatrol-help-information/winpatrol-bug-reports/) that have been around for awhile that I would like to see fixed. Just fixing the known bugs would be comforting enough for me to believe the program is alive and well, and the developers/company still cares about it, and it's users. I think that would give significant reassurance WinPatrol users have not been forgotten, especially for those of us who paid for the PLUS version.
I'm convinced that the WinPatrol buy-out was done for the sole purpose of acquiring a "reputation by inference" for Ruiware products. As such WinPatrol has been left to languish while feeble attempts to solve WinPrivacy and WinAntiRansom deficiencies seem to lead only to greater issues.
As a lifetime owner of multiple copies of WinPatrol and WinPrivacy, and a former user of WinAntiRansom, I have now removed ALL instances of these products from ALL of my machines (thank you Revo). I'm particularly troubled that Ruiware continues to promote and sell licenses for the latter two, both of which are no better than beta works (WinAntiMalware barely qualifies as alpha).
So yes, RIP WinPatrol, and condolences to Bill P who has seen his baby neglected, and left to starve from inattention. :-\
To comment on this thread, WinPatrol's current version is a solid stable product that isn't needing attention right now.
If there are folks that believe WinPatrol is being neglected, we will point out that WinPatrol is the least in terms of incoming support tickets and posts to forums regarding issues. So from a development stand-point, WinPatrol is a product that doesn't need (Priority 1 or 2) bug fixes but will get attention for feature requests.
We are a small company and have 4 products currently available, we will continue to support and release updates, but it may not be at a pace that is comparable to larger software companies.
Hope that helps.
I guess that I do not understand what all the fuss is about. So what if WinPatrol has not been updated in a year. It works very well as is. Outside of fixing a few minor bugs the program has been doing its job for years. Kudos to Bill P.
As I understand it Bill wanted to design a slim, resource friendly program that would help with certain security and convenience issues, and he provided it mostly for free. He acheived his goals and then some.
Could the currently existing product be upgraded with more features, etc? Of course! But then would it still be that slim resourceful product that we all use and appreciate, or would it turn into another case of bloatware?
From what I can tell WinPatrol still works well on Windows 10 and shows no signs of being ineffective. What is there not to like?
[ Scott posted while I was writing. His words, "WinPatrol's current version is a solid stable product that isn't needing attention right now," seem to sum up the situation well!]
v_v
I have pretty much used Winpatrol since it's creation and do not see a problem at all with the software. It does it's job and does it well. If it's not broke don't fix it, if it does what it is intended to do, then what is the problem? As previously stated works well even with Win 10.
Quote from: Scott on June 09, 2016, 02:54:04 PM
To comment on this thread, WinPatrol's current version is a solid stable product that isn't needing attention right now.
If there are folks that believe WinPatrol is being neglected, we will point out that WinPatrol is the least in terms of incoming support tickets and posts to forums regarding issues. So from a development stand-point, WinPatrol is a product that doesn't need (Priority 1 or 2) bug fixes but will get attention for feature requests.
We are a small company and have 4 products currently available, we will continue to support and release updates, but it may not be at a pace that is comparable to larger software companies.
Hope that helps.
Scott, thank you for clearing up the questions I needed answered!
When we purchased WinPatrol, we were a one person company and the sales of WinPatrol were not even enough to allow me to quit my fulltime job and run WinPatrol as a business.
Since that time we've released WinPrivacy and WinAntiRansom into the consumer market, the increased revenue allowed me to work fulltime in the company and bring on a couple of people. One of which, Scott is 100% dedicated to support of the products, including responding for forums like LandzDown. He doesn't let any post sit unattended.
Please understand that a lifetime license generates revenue only once, each subsequent support email and forum response eats away at that revenue. That is a dangerous business model, which is why we've branched out into an annual renewal based business product as well.
We inherited millions of customers when we purchased WinPatrol but none of the revenue those licenses generated. Debacles like Adobe creating a bogus start-up program in Dec 2014 right after release of Beta-1 for WinPrivacy and the initial Windows 10 upgrades last September that removed the WinPatrol Registration code generated many thousands of emails that all had to be handled and we handled them all.
Yes, we have not released an update to WinPatrol since 2015 and that is unfortunate, but prior to this hiatus we took the time to ensure WinPatrol was stable and worked well on all systems from Windows XP through Windows 10 and included support for Microsoft Edge.
WinPatrol is not dead, if it was, why would we have named our product for business "WinPatrol Enterprise" and why would I have recently hired Scott to answer emails and forum posts?
Please have a little patience, that patience will be rewarded with updates to WinPatrol PLUS.
Thank You,
Bret Lowry.
@ Scott and Bret - first and foremost, thanks so much for stepping in with your comments. It is very reassuring to know that you are indeed, listening. :D
Quote from: ScottSo from a development stand-point, WinPatrol is a product that doesn't need (Priority 1 or 2) bug fixes but will get attention for feature requests.
Well, IMHO, the feature set it has now is fine and personally, I would like to see the reported bugs fixed (even if priority 3 or 4) get the attention before any new features (that may introduce new bugs) are added. As I noted above, I truly believe WinPatrol is still an excellent, effective program that I use on all my systems and still, without reservations, recommend others use it too. I don't need changes or new features, just for the sake of change.
Quote from: BretPlease understand that a lifetime license generates revenue only once... .That is a dangerous business model... .
We inherited millions of customers when we purchased WinPatrol but none of the revenue those licenses generated.
From a business owner's standpoint, I fully understand and appreciate the position (predicament?) that "lifetime" business model put you in.
But from a consumer standpoint, frankly and with no disrespect intended, what you "inherited" is what you "bought into" - hopefully with eyes wide open. So those concerns are not our concerns (at least for those of us grandfathered in with lifetime licenses).
So you folks responding here is a truly great step in showing us "
WinPatrol is alive and well". Perhaps another reassuring step would be to at least acknowledge the reported bugs as they are submitted in this thread (http://www.landzdown.com/winpatrol-help-information/winpatrol-bug-reports/), letting us know (in a timely fashion!) that they have been logged and are on your to-do list. I say this not just as longtime, loyal user, but as someone who has done beta testing professionally as part of my real job for many many years.
Let us help you help us! If you keep us in the know, we can keep your customers in the know!
WinPatrol does what it's supposed to do but the versions on both computers here have ongoing problems with multiple copies running that I tried to get addressed in early 2015 without any response beyond Corrine's much-appreciated attempts to help (links below). I won't mess with it or update it further at this point because the program is functional, but you ignored my requests for assistance at this site and by email. So sorry our lifetime Plus licenses didn't generate any income for you.
Some links to those posts now display the message: "403 - Forbidden Access to this resource on the server is denied!" in a huge font.
Links to a few other posts are below.
http://www.landzdown.com/winpatrol-help-information/problem-installing-version-33-1-2015-0/ (http://www.landzdown.com/winpatrol-help-information/problem-installing-version-33-1-2015-0/)
http://www.landzdown.com/winpatrol-help-information/too-many-winpatrol-plus-entries-in-startup-programs/ (http://www.landzdown.com/winpatrol-help-information/too-many-winpatrol-plus-entries-in-startup-programs/)
I feel as Digerati does, "... from a consumer standpoint, frankly and with no disrespect intended, what you "inherited" is what you "bought into" - hopefully with eyes wide open. So those concerns are not our concerns (at least for those of us grandfathered in with lifetime licenses). ... "
Apparently the posts with relevant screen snapshots are on those inaccessible servers.
Just FYI, I did find a screen snapshot from April, 2015, showing how the Vista PC's tray usually looks when it boots. Sometimes there are only two Scotties. Occasionally, one. The gray box to the left of the Scotties is always there until clicked to exit. Hovering displays "Blocked startup programs," and the program it's blocking is yet another version of WinPatrol Explorer.
onDvine...that is a lot of version two to many ;)
hopefully that gets finally worked out!
@ Digerati, your link in your thread above goes no where!
@Bret, thank you for that explanation and your dedication to the whole cause.
Quote from: hayc59 on June 09, 2016, 07:48:03 PM
@ Digerati, your link in your thread above goes no where!
Works for me :-\
Quote from: winchester73 on June 09, 2016, 08:25:01 PM
Quote from: hayc59 on June 09, 2016, 07:48:03 PM
@ Digerati, your link in your thread above goes no where!
Works for me :-\
Me too. Must have been a hiccough. Try again.
Quote from: hayc59 on June 09, 2016, 07:48:03 PM
onDvine...that is a lot of version two to many ;)
hopefully that gets finally worked out! ...
Thanks, G. :) I don't expect it to get worked out and would prefer exiting a few instances of the program in Vista to not having it at all. Corrine and I tried every trick she knew; uninstall/reinstall wasn't possible on either computer here.
Because posts about our efforts are inaccessible it seemed appropriate to add the snapshot...and one more with this post from my Win 7/64 today. WinPatrol PLUS is running 4 times in Startup, 3 of which say the file does not exist. However if any one is disabled, all are and they refuse to be removed. Still preferable to not having WinPatrol at all.
If the problem link is the one about 'reported bugs,' it's working fine here, too.
I think it is important to remember that if a problem is unique to a single machine, it probably is not a fault with WinPatrol, but some fault or setting in that system.
A bug is not really a bug unless it happens on many systems. And it will likely never get fixed unless it can be duplicated at will. That is not the fault of the developers, it is just how bug fixing works in the world of software development. This is why I specifically noted in that Bug Reports thread that the problems I reported were found and verified on at least two systems. And the links Corrine added reported more than one person having the same problems.
Quote from: Digerati on June 09, 2016, 09:25:47 PM
I think it is important to remember that if a problem is unique to a single machine, it probably is not a fault with WinPatrol, but some fault or setting in that system. ...
Thanks. I agree. :)
To be clear, the problems here are on separate machines with different operating systems. They manifest differently on each (for example, Win 7/64 never displays multiple Scotty icons in the tray). Corrine concluded that everything a user could do had been tried on both computers to no avail and fault remains a mystery.
I'm grateful to Bill for creating a program that works despite these issues...whoever's issues they are.
WinPatrol is one of the last remaining programs of the wonderful classical HIPS era, which as long as it doesn't break by some OS change, it simply works. WinPatrol was never made to be something to stop malware dead on its tracks, it was made to alert people about something odd going on and it continues to do that just fine. I only recently update to the newest version. Before that, i was happily running a "golden" version from 2012. I am actually very happy with Ruiware's version (i was afraid i would end up with the dreaded Win8/10 flat tile theme) and Scotty keeps doing its thing lightweight as ever.
I am sorry to read that Bill has health problems. I wish him to recover. While i was in Wilders, i had Scotty as my avatar, even though WinPatrol was the weakest program protection wise. It was always a superlight companion, suitable for any setup and i will never forget the moral integrity of Bill Pytlovany, when he refused to bundle the Ask Toolbar (as well as others) to WinPatrol free and he preferred to go the hard way. Like i had written at the time in Wilders', "Bill Pytlovany, my hero!".
I have bought 3 WinPatrol licenses and they were amazing value. I never expected Scotty to halt any malware worth of that name, but the knowledge alone that much of the "ordinary" malware will cause Scotty to alert, was useful enough for me.
WinPatrol, as long as it works with the OS, is worth its money, for the alerting bonus alone. Even if it was to be officially anounced that no further updates will come.
Again, i wish the best to Bill Pytlovany.
Quote from: Fuzzfas on June 14, 2016, 08:38:23 AM... WinPatrol, as long as it works with the OS, is worth its money, for the alerting bonus alone. Even if it was to be officially anounced that no further updates will come.
Again, i wish the best to Bill Pytlovany.
Bravo! :) :)
Quote from: onDvine on June 09, 2016, 06:37:22 PM
Apparently the posts with relevant screen snapshots are on those inaccessible servers.
Just FYI, I did find a screen snapshot from April, 2015, showing how the Vista PC's tray usually looks when it boots. Sometimes there are only two Scotties. Occasionally, one. The gray box to the left of the Scotties is always there until clicked to exit. Hovering displays "Blocked startup programs," and the program it's blocking is yet another version of WinPatrol Explorer.
So you run Vista? It probably went unnoticed, because it's the OS that very few run. I *may* have a workaround solution for you. No guarantee.
Install this:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx
Run it with administrator rights. Go to "logon" section. If you have multiple Winpatrol instances, uncheck them all except for the WinPatrol instance that is located in C:\program filesx86\ruiware\winpatrol.exe. Then reboot. If this makes things worse, go back and tick the boxes again. But there is a chance that this will solve your issue.
Thank you. My husband chose to run Vista on his computer and I try to keep it secure for him.
Will give your suggestion a shot later (it's 3:45 a.m. here and I hope to get more sleep) unless Corrine posts saying that's one of the things we failed with last spring.
Quote from: v_v on June 09, 2016, 02:57:48 PM
Could the currently existing product be upgraded with more features, etc? Of course! But then would it still be that slim resourceful product that we all use and appreciate, or would it turn into another case of bloatware?
I agree 100%. My worst nightmare, is if WinPatrols starts becoming heavier and heavier in CPU usage and i/o activity. In Win7, my only "bug" is that i have a custom made task, which doesn't appear in the "Scheduled Tasks" tab. But i really don't care about that. It runs very light and that's what i care the most about.
Like i wrote in the Winantiransom forum, for me, the best addition to WinPatrol, would be a simple outbound application control, togglable on/off (as to not scare users that don't understand it), to complement the fact that Windows firewall doesn't alert for outbound, but this is a very useful function, that helps you alert on infections that you were unaware about. I don't mean that WinPatrol should have full network analysis and such, only outbound control. I would gladly pay for new license, just to get that, although i already have 2 licenses for Winpatrol Plus (plus i had bought one for a friend). But if this was to make Scotty slow and heavy, then 'd rather stay as it is. But i think outbound application control, would be in the general spirit of WinPatrol, which is basically a monitoring and alerting application and outbound control can reveal many infections that pass unnoticed or adware/spyware.
The current version, as well as a version from 2012 that i have, are what i call "golden versions", for Win7x64. No serious bugs and very lightweight versions. There was a period where Scotty had become heavier, under Bill Pytlovany and this is why i was stuck with the 2012 version. So i am keeping both the installers, no matter what WinPatrol brings in the future, cause you never know when a software goes bloatware. It's also the reason that i reverted to using MSE as antivirus, as the antivirus industry has gone mad, trying to put 10 functions, 8 services, in a product, as well as registry cleaner, performance optimizer etc. I mean please! They slow down your browsing, they slow down your navigation through folders and they want to be paid too. I much prefer the less features of the free versions, than the paid ones! I 'd gladly pay them to have just file scanner and a light behaviour blocker, but nobody does that anymore! They all have webscanners, identity theft, domain blacklist, email scanner, bla bla bla. So i end up with MSE... At least i don't have to wrestle with incompatibilities and it's light.
Quote from: onDvineThank you. My husband chose to run Vista on his computer and I try to keep it secure for him.
Will give your suggestion a shot later (it's 3:45 a.m. here and I hope to get more sleep) unless Corrine posts saying that's one of the things we failed with last spring.
Well, i 've never ran Vista, but in the past i 've seen multiple entries from WinPatrol in Autoruns, so it may help. The good thing with Autoruns, is that as long as you only check or uncheck a box, you can revert the change later and nothing bad can happen. Only if you choose to delete entire the entry, you may cause enough trouble to require for you reinstallation from scratch of the program.
I 've no idea what you attempted to do with Corrine, but, just saying, it doesn't hurt trying and it can be reverted.
Quote from: onDvine on June 09, 2016, 08:42:30 PM
Quote from: hayc59 on June 09, 2016, 07:48:03 PM
onDvine...that is a lot of version two to many ;)
hopefully that gets finally worked out! ...
Thanks, G. :) I don't expect it to get worked out and would prefer exiting a few instances of the program in Vista to not having it at all. Corrine and I tried every trick she knew; uninstall/reinstall wasn't possible on either computer here.
Because posts about our efforts are inaccessible it seemed appropriate to add the snapshot...and one more with this post from my Win 7/64 today. WinPatrol PLUS is running 4 times in Startup, 3 of which say the file does not exist. However if any one is disabled, all are and they refuse to be removed. Still preferable to not having WinPatrol at all.
If the problem link is the one about 'reported bugs,' it's working fine here, too.
If you right click on the three that says file does not exist, one at a time and left click delete file on the next reboot, only the current version and one instance should load after a restart.
Quote from: techie on June 14, 2016, 01:49:23 PM... If you right click on the three that says file does not exist, one at a time and left click delete file on the next reboot, only the current version and one instance should load after a restart.
Thank you, techie. The key word above is "should." I tried it again as it had been over a year since last time but all instances are still as they were after restarting on my Win 7/64.
Quote from: Fuzzfas on June 14, 2016, 10:06:01 AM... So you run Vista? It probably went unnoticed, because it's the OS that very few run. I *may* have a workaround solution for you. No guarantee.
Install this:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx (https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx)
Run it with administrator rights. ...
I checked Startup programs in the Vista computer and they all exist and are Running, unlike the entries in Win7. Appreciate your suggestion but decided not to mess with what is currently functioning, albeit with a few extra clicks. Thanks again!