Bits from Bill

Technology thoughts leaking from the brain of "Bill Pytlovany"

Friday, October 09, 2009

Super Optimized WinPatrol 2010 Coming Monday

Thanks to continued support and encouragement I’ve been hard at work at making my WinPatrol program the best it can be. For almost 12 years, WinPatrol has consistently been one of the least intrusive programs out there but I thought it was about time to optimize Scotty even more. Even though WinPatrol is written in the programming language “C” I’ve found some monitoring functions were even quicker when written directly in machine code or what we call Assembly language.

The new super optimized version will be available to the public on Monday, October 12th. To show my appreciation to everyone who has supported WinPatrol I've made the new version available early but just to PLUS members. Just go to http://www.winpatrol.com/upgrade.html. You’ll need your name and plus code which are available on the PLUS tab in the WinPatrol software. Fans of our free version will have access on Monday.

What's New

  • Additional Support for Firefox 3 and Google Chrome
    Since Firefox 3 changed from cookie.txt to SQLite database format Scotty hasn't been hungry for Firefox cookies. Support for Firefox 3 has been the single most requested features. Turns out I was able to include support for the SQLite format without increasing the size of WinPatrol.exe. While I was at it I also included support for Google Chrome which also uses SQLite to store their cookies.

  • Reduced Memory Footprint
    The monitor component of WinPatrol has been optimized and shrunk so WinPatrol.exe is now only 314 KB instead of its previous 336 KB size. I’m confident you won't find a smaller Windows system monitor as powerful as WinPatrol.

  • Up to 30% Faster Performance (Sorry PLUS Only)
    Real-time scanning uses 30% less CPU than the polling provided by the free version. The real-time component has been optimized using more direct machine language then its original C coding.

  • Conflict reduction with other security applications.
    Contrary to the warnings by AV suites, Scotty has always worked and play well with others. WinPatrol.exe has been optimized to handle the results of any Windows hooks in its own code space reducing any conflicts created by other security programs.

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15 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks Bill - Great Job - Super Slick :-)

6:37 PM  
Anonymous Frank said...

Thanks again for another great update to a product that it would seem is hard to keep improving.

7:08 PM  
Blogger tylerchill said...

Just downloaded. Don't see Firefox 3.5 cookies. Pointing here:

C:\Users\Tyler\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\oh27qhx3.default\cookies.sqlite

7:11 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Tyler,

Send a note to support@winpatrol.com. Let me know if you clicked on the folder to select a cookie folder or allowed Scotty to find it himself.
Also which version of OS and Firefox.

I have had a couple reported quirks but nothing that couldn't be addressed.

Thanks!
Bill

10:50 PM  
Anonymous srtools1980y said...

Thanks

6:17 AM  
Anonymous Dave A. said...

Regarding seeing Firefox 3.5 cookies: First make sure Firefox is completely closed (the firefox.exe is gone from Task Manager), and *then* view the cookies.

Also, thank you Bill P for you time and effort on this program. It's a great tool.

8:23 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Thank you Bill for your continuous efforts.

Written in machine language !? Not the easiest thing for most of us.
Super well done.

When uninstalling previous version I came across the fact that I had TWO instances of the "Uninstall" in the submenu of Start\Programs\WinPatrol\

One uninstall removed previous WinPatrol, while the second ...seemed to scan the system just a little, but it didn't anything more.

Maybe I installed previous version WinPatrol "over" the 2nd. previous in the row ?

10:59 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bill: Thanks once again for a new version. Your efforts are truly appreciated!

11:40 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I am using Minefield (FireFox Prerelease) 3.7a1pre (about the fourth late night revision).

Love your adaption of tighter code as I started with assembly language in the earliest of 1980s.

George

2:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great job as always, Bill. Thank you so much.

I should mention I too don't see Firefox in the cookies tab. I tried Dave A's suggestion to no avail. I uninstalled WinPatrol and reinstalled with FF closed, still no change.

As I don't use FF for cookie control it really isn't an issue for me, but thought you should know I have the same issue as others.

I am using FF 3.5.3 and have SP SP3.

Thanks again.

Brian (AKA The Dean)

9:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Make that XP SP3

D'Oh!

-Brian

10:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks Bill for your continued support/upgrading of WinPatrol.
I also noticed Scotty couldn't show me FireFox 3.5.3 cookies using XP SP3.
Everything else I use (most everything!) is working better than ever!
I'll drop a quick line to support@winpatrol.com as you suggested.

11:51 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Unfortunately as Dave pointed out Firefox needs to be closed to view your cookies and using the checkbox removal method in WinPatrol.

Firefox locks the cookies file so other applications can open it. I obviously could have documented this better in this release. I'm still learning more about using SQLite but my efforts Firefox users happy will continue.

Thanks again,
Bill

10:03 AM  
Blogger Hardhead said...

Thanks Bill for a fabulous program. I love WinPatrol and Scotty and have been using it for years. It's a must have app on all my systems and all that I work on too. Regards, Hardhead

4:47 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good show, Bill. Sorry I missed this note on Friday, but found it @ Majorgeeks. Lookin' goooooooood. I run FF3.5.3 and the new cookies works for me.

A.Gray

10:36 AM  

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