WinPatrol

Dealing with Repeating Alerts

If you've reached this page you may have some kind of malware installed although some legitimate programs sometimes think they are so important they continue to add themselves to the Startup Program list. WinPatrol can help.
You may notice or be experiencing a Startup Program or IE Helper entry which keeps coming back after you have asked WinPatrol to remove it.

The instructions below may be easier than you think.

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Why this is happening?
Frequently, unwanted mystery programs come in groups which are designed to protect and reactivate each other. Even if you tell Scotty to remove and kill a Startup Program, another partner program will replace the data removed by WinPatrol.
If WinPatrol detects the same program repeating itself, Scotty will automatically mark this program as Disabled. While "Disabled", WinPatrol will continue to remove the Startup Program but if other programs are actively replacing it more action is recommended.

What can be done?
The most important step is to stop the programs which are currently active causing you the problems.
WinPatrol can help you!

  1. Close down or Exit all the applications that you know about running on your computer. This will help you narrow down the offending program.

  2. Open the main WinPatrol tabbed interface. Click the Active Tasks tab to check what programs are still listed.

    You may see multiple suspicious programs.
    Some may appear to have randomly created filenames.
    Frequently, malicious programs will not have a company name or copyright information.
    Sort the Active Task list by "Date Detected". Files that have the same "Date Detected" were installed on the same day and may be working together to replicate each other.

    WinPatrol allows you to Kill multiple tasks with one action.
    Hold down the CTRL key to select several tasks at once and click on each suspicious task.

  3. Click on the Kill Task button.

  4. Once the programs are no longer active you should be able to remove them from the Startup Programs list. Once removed we recommend rebooting and use WinPatrol to verify no unwanted Startup Programs are still around.

"Delete File on Reboot"
If after trying to remove a suspicious or dangerous program you find it still will not go away, right-click on the title of the program and select "Delete File on Reboot." This action will not take place until the next time you re-boot. The file will be deleted before Windows starts and any other programs that may attempt to prevent its deletion.
There is no way to recover the file once it is deleted, so use this feature only when you are absolutely sure you want to remove the file.




"...a must-have tool." - Steve Bass, PC World April 2006 (page 41)

    The free version is good, but I strongly urge you to spend $ for the Pro version. Its comprehensive database gives you more details and specific recommendations for which programs to keep and which to remove. I promise you'll get that money back by eliminating your system tray headaches.

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