AVG Reports “WinPatrol 2012” as a virus

If you’re a AVG customer you may see the following screen when installing WinPatrol 2012.   Fear not.  This is what we commonly call a “false positive”.  I have contacted our friends at AVG and await their response. Most companies will fix this kind of error quickly.

WinPatrol will run along with AVG but this screen incorrectly identifies one of our programs as a virus.  I can assure you WinPatrolEx.exe is not a virus. To verify our safety I tested our program against other Anti-Virus programs using a great service called VirusTotal.com.  Ironically, we found one other little known security program also mistaking WinPatrol as a trojan but the other 41 respectable programs acknowledge that WinPatrol is safe.

It appears a large group of users run both WinPatrol and AVG so hopefully we’ll hear back soon from AVG and they’ll offer a solution.

 

UPDATE: Fri 12/30/2011 3:03 AM

WinPatrol 2012 – Long Time Coming

 
It’s been a while but I’m pleased to finally release a brand new version of WinPatrol to all our friends and fans.  Over the past year malware has gotten very clever but what’s worse is that legitimate programs have become more controlling and obnoxious.  Some of the most popular applications have decided they know what’s best for you and try to take control of simple functions on your computer.

New and Improved

While I’ve continued to work keeping your computer safe from malware I’ve spent as much time giving you control over what legitimate programs can do.  If you notice your computer is slow it may not be malware. In many cases it will be a popular program that thinks it needs to run all the time just in case you need to use it.

Click to download

Upgrade to PLUS at Introductory Price $19.95

Performance - You’ll Love it
First and foremost I’ve been working on making WinPatrol robust and hidden away so under normal circumstances you’ll never know its running. Based on your feedback, I’ve concentrated on making sure WinPatrol works with other security programs. Our research shows that most of you tend to run at least two anti-Virus/Malware programs along with WinPatrol.  Many experts will recommend against more than one program but WinPatrol doesn’t work like other malware monitors.  It runs great along with other programs.  Many Anti-Virus companies may disagree and their support reps will recommend you remove WinPatrol. They haven’t tested with WinPatrol, we have.  If a program removes or quarantines WinPatrol just reinstall our setup program. It’s still a quick, easy download.

Cookies – Filter out Bad Cookies Automatically.
Earlier this year Microsoft updated how they name cookie files.  They now use random file names but they’re still just unencrypted text files. You can “click here” to read why they decided to make this change. Its makes some sense but broke how WinPatrol manages and filters bad cookies.
If you’ve received the update from Microsoft the WinPatrol cookie manager for Internet Explorer will be broken and look like this.

WinPatrol 2011 – Internet Explorer

Now WinPatrol 2012 will provide a fix and provides even better information about your cookies.

WinPatrol 2012 – Internet Explorer

Ultimately this change by Microsoft makes managing and filtering cookies even easier using WinPatrol. To be honest I never worried about cookies and turned WinPatrol cookie filtering off.  Now I use this feature.

Localization Fix – 64 bit versions
I’m not a big fan of Windows 64 bit OS and our language service packs broke using Windows 64 bit.  I’ve fixed this bug and look forward to showing our international friends how much we respect them by releasing new versions of our local versions. Our language packs are created by volunteers and I couldn’t thank them enough.

 

WinPatrol Enterprise – Now Available for Small Business
Most users don’t realize there is a version of WinPatrol designed for large companies with over 100 employees. One of the main features of Enterprise is centralized administration. When a change is detected instead of the user being notified, an Email is generated and sent to a main administrator.

WinPatrol 2012 Small Business is a special partnership now available for 10 systems and one administrator for $179 USD. You can order via our online store and your small business key will be sent within 2-3 business days.

Draft of message send to Small Business administrator. This screen will mostly change based on user feedback.  More details to be published this weekend.

End of Year Sale and Gift Suggestions

SAVE $10 USD

It may not be a $2 or $5 sale but the folks at BillP Studios have decided on a discount on WinPatrol 2011 that will last until the end of the year.  We know it’s been a tough financial year for everyone including our own friends and family.

From now until the end of 2011 we’ll take $10 off our popular items.  This includes WinPatrol PLUS upgrades ( regularly $29.95 ),  the Super WinPatrol Family Pack ( regularly $49.95 ) and even the WinPatrol 1 GB Wristband ( regularly $24.95 ).

  
A great stocking stuffer now for only $14.95 USD.
Order soon for shipment by December 24th.

This is a great time to order.  WinPatrol is a lifetime purchase so when we release WinPatrol 2012 next year it will be a free upgrade so no additional payment will be required.  As always WinPatrol is not restricted to a single computer.

For our EURO friends the USD is doing better than expected so it may also be a good time to order before conversion rates get crazy.

WinPatrol PLUS as a Gift
It’s easy to share WinPatrol as a holiday gift. Just order WinPatrol PLUS like you originally did. At the end when you’re asked for a PLUS name just enter your friend or family member. The results will be a new code along with instructions on how to download and activate WinPatrol PLUS. Just copy and paste these instructions to your friend and they’ll soon be up and running. You may save them hours of frustration from future malware threats.

Clean & Improve Your Computer for only $5.

I recently read yet another article on how brand new computers arrive loaded with so much unneeded software it that it takes twice the time to turn on and run.

"12 ways hardware makers screw up a perfectly good Windows PC"
This article created by Ed Bott is part of the motivation behind plans for having a INCREDIBLE sale on upgrades to WinPatrol PLUS. Starting Friday we’ll allow upgrading to WinPatrol PLUS as low as $5 USD. Yes, I wrote $5!This unbelievable price will be available for three full days. The sale starts midnight, Friday morning EST time zone.

 

Soon many of our friends and family will be turning on brand new computers. Many will turn to folks like us asking for help. If you've been a long time reader of Bits from Bill you'll know my first recommendation would be to install the free WinPatrol program. Using WinPatrol will allow users to remove unwanted programs so their new computer will load quickly and run as fast as it should. If you decide you might want some of the programs that come preinstalled you can always change your mind. This isn't a new trend. My first article “Christmas Computers“ was written six years ago when I opened up my brand new computer to find many of the following useless programs.

A few years back I tried an research experiment by lowering the price of a WinPatrol PLUS upgrade to something similar to the iTunes store.  Given all the new computers under the Christmas tree this seemed like another good time to experiment.  The last test was only 99 cents which was mainly successful for the credit card companies and PayPal.

Our experimental sale this year begins on my wife Cindi’s 55th birthday, December 9th, so she suggested $5 was a nice round number that might make all our friends and fans happy.  Even folks using an illegal keygen versions can afford this upgrade and have a safe version of WinPatrol PLUS for life. WinPatrol has a history of being Birthdayware so you can also wish Cindi’s a Happy Birthday by upgrading this weekend. I know it will help make her birthday a good good.

Instead of a $29.95 upgrade to WinPatrol PLUS this weekend upgrading will only for $5. Like our everyday pricing you can use your single license on every personal computer you own and use it for your lifetime including any new versions we release.  Our Family Pack license normally $49.95 can be had for only $25.

For our friends in Europe $5 USD currently converts to about €3.73 so it’s even a better deal. $25 USD converts to about €18.7 at least by today’s rate.

More on Crapware

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Five Tips on Getting Rid of Crapware

Scotty will take good care of our computer and you won’t have to do a thing.