WinPatrol Defunct?

Joe,

Unfortunately, it seems that Bret Lowry (who, as you noted, purchased WinPatrol from BillP), has dropped out of sight    The WinPatrol home page is no longer responsive.   So yes, I would concur with your assessment of WinPatrol as "abandonware".

However, I don't believe that WinPatrol itself has been rendered worthless.  FWIW, I am still running version 32.0.2014.5 (from 2014) on my three systems [including Win10 and Win8.1] --- this was the last version that BillP still "had his hands in".   Keep in mind that, unlike most other security programs, WinPatrol did NOT EVER require updating signatures/definitions to perform its functions.   So it's still a great Startup Manager, to disable/remove [or arrange for a delayed start] of programs that insist on pushing themselves into the startup sequence.   The popup alerts, of programs added to [or removed from] startup still function as they always have.   It still work well with displaying [and controlling] services.   On XP, it still alerts me whenever I update my HOSTS file.   So I realize what it does, which I feel still has value to me [at minimal use of resources], and don't expect anything more from it.

Yes, certain aspects have been minimized, if not made obsolete.   Monitoring of IE Helpers is pointless.   Scheduled tasks only monitors those BillP classified as "1.0" --- so most newer/current tasks are not covered.

Bottom line:   I find that WinPatrol still performs some useful/valuable functions for me (taking up minimal resources to do so).   And I've never found it to cause me any issues/problems/grief, in terms of false-positives nor crashing my system.   Scotty may be a senior puppy at this stage of his life, but he's still my reliable companion.

Thanks ky331.

I agree with all of your observations.

All of my WP+ installations continue to function without problems, even if I lack access to Plus information. This includes several Windows 10 Pro systems using V.35.5.2017.8, an offline Win XP system using V31.0.2014.0.31.0, and even an offline Win 98SE system using V.9.5.0.0. from 2005. I have not uninstalled WP from any of my systems.

It is interesting to note that WP+ on the Plus tab notes a Ruiware Copyright from 2014-2021. Hopefully this might mean that WP is currently "neglectware" rather than "abandonware" that might yet be rehabilitated.

@joe53thanks for posting this. I agree with your comments - " trusted part of my layered security for longer than any other program I currently use. It never gave me any grief, and always alerted me to any attempts to delete or add programs". Me too as a purchased product. I was just checking to see if there were updates and discovered your post. It is still working as expected (as others have noted) but I'll have to rethink. Something this far out of date is not good.

FYI: https://www.comparitech.com/net-admin/winpatrol-alternatives/

Thanks for your reply, and links to alternatives. I still find WinPatrol  useful, even after no updates for some years, and have not deleted it.