WinPatrol

WinPatrol is a free system monitoring utility that watches the places where viruses, trojans, keyloggers, adware and other unwanted software try to settle, such as startup programs, services and scheduled tasks. WinPatrol also protects against dangerous and critical changes that occur in the system without your knowledge.

Instead of scanning your hard drive for known viruses like traditional computer security software, WinPatrol takes a snapshot of critical system resources and alerts you to any changes. When Scotty, the WinPatrol watch dog, detects a new startup entry or service, it asks whether to accept or reject the change.

WinPatrol helps you better understand the programs that are installed and run on your computer. Its tabs list startup programs, services, active tasks, scheduled tasks, IE helpers, file types, hidden files and cookies, and Delayed Start launches selected programs later.

WinPatrol alerts users to critical system changes, providing real-time protection against potential threats.

The free version of WinPatrol covers monitoring and alerts, while the paid WinPatrol PLUS adds extras such as detailed program information, 64-bit process details and ending tasks by name. The program was created by Bill Pytlovany (BillP Studios) and sold to Ruiware in 2014; it has not been updated since 2017.