An overwhelming majority of all browser plug-in vulnerabilities are due to problems discovered in ActiveX controls. It seems like every week more problems are reported in Quicktime, RealPlayer, Adobe Flash, Sun’s Java or other 3rd party controls. Once the vulnerability is known the risk increases exponentially until a patch is available.

WinPatrol takes the worry out of waiting for a patch to become available. When a vulnerability is found Scotty will let you disable or set the “kill-bit” on the appropriate control until a new one is made available.

Managing ActiveX

WinPatrol lists the existing ActiveX controls used by Internet Explorer. Using WinPatrol you can learn more about what controls are installed and why.

"Monitor"
This button allows you to configure how frequently Scotty checks the list of installed ActiveX controls for changes. You can set this frequency in minutes, and even set it to 0 minutes to disable checking of the ActiveX list entirely.

"Filtering ActiveX"
Many if not most of the ActiveX controls will be  Microsoft operating system controls. You can just list;non-Microsoft controls. To filter out normal Microsoft control from the list, check 
               [ ] List non-Microsoft Services only

By default only those controls used by Internet Explorer are displayed.  To view all controls installed on your system check the box
               [ ] List all ActiveX controls including those not used by Internet Explorer.

"Info..."
The Info... button provides more information about the selected file, including the company responsible and the version.

As it is often difficult to tell just from a file name or company name whether a file is legitimate . PLUS members can click the PLUS Info... button to search the online WinPatrol database for more information on the specific service program itself.

"Disable"
WinPatrol allows you to disable ActiveX controls by setting the "Kill-bit" found in the Windows registry. Disabling a control will not delete any files from your system. You can Enable a killed control at any time in the future.

"Close"
To close or Exit the WinPatrol tab interface click the X in the upper right hand corner or the Close button. WinPatrol will continue monitor changes but the main interface will be removed from memory.

More WinPatrol Features