Since before the release of Windows 8 I’ve had more emails than you might think asking if WinPatrol was compatible with Windows 8. Like most existing programs, WinPatrol isn’t available for Windows 8 RT but it has been running smoothly since early preview versions of Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro. There has been some confusion about security related programs so many WinPatrol early adopters have written to be sure we’re compatible.
WinPatrol has never worked like a traditional security application so it has been running fine on Windows 8 machines. I’ve heard from folks with brand new computers saying Scotty has been very helpful removing unnecessary pre-installed crapware. Computer companies are paid to include software that runs on Startup. In many cases they are not full versions and often cause problems when they expire. These programs will appear in WinPatrol’s list of Startup Programs where PLUS members can verify their purpose. Once these programs are removed by WinPatrol your new computer will certainly start quicker and often run noticeably faster.
Naturally, we have tweaked a few things to make sure WinPatrol continues to work its best. Many changes are minor but required due to new Windows 8 conventions. One example is how cookies are stored by Internet Explorer 10. While Microsoft doesn’t support or encourage 3rd party cookie managers, WinPatrol has been successful in helping remove unwanted tracking files.The cookie folder used to contain a file index.dat which Microsoft renamed to be container.dat. This broke cookie handling but like other minor changes a little tweak and we’re back to normal.
WinPatrol 2013 works as you’d expect and with your support I’ll be adding some Windows 8 specific features as they are needed and/or suggested.