cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Am getting messages from Winpatrol

penneck
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 1,089
Thanks: 79
Registered: ‎03-08-2007

Am getting messages from Winpatrol

In the last few days, I have been having problems with my pc. First of all, Realplayer stopped working - it couldn't find some file (I never made a note of which file), so I tried to uninstall and reinstall. However, for some reason 'Control Panel/Add or Remove Programs' said the Real Unistall software wasnt available, so I went on the web and downloaded the free version of Realplayer. After I installed this, I was able to uninstall it. Hopefully that got rid of anything from the old Realplayer load, as well as the new load. I then reinstalled the new load.
I then started getting messages feom Winpatrol about a new startup - Realplayer. Did I want it? No I dont want it at startup, so I answered No. Back came the same message - I answered No. It kept this up until I said Yes.
Now Winpatrol is coming back with two messages about changing the association of .Doc and .RTF files - they were trying to change the directory structure apparently (I have Office 2007 by the way).
For example, one of them says:-
Scotty the Windows Watchdog is on patrol and has detected a change to one of your file type associations .DOC
The program currently associated with this file type is:
2007 Microsoft Office System
Microsoft Corporation
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office 12\WINWORD.EXE /n /dde
A change was made to use the following program for this file type
Name
Company Name
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Winword.exe /n
Is this change ok?
Has anyone any idea what is going on? Have I a bug that AVG, Spybot and Ad-aware cannot find? Should I just say Yes to both? Why are they changing?
My OS is Win XP with latest updates
Thanks
6 REPLIES 6
shutter
Community Veteran
Posts: 22,206
Thanks: 3,769
Fixes: 65
Registered: ‎06-11-2007

Re: Am getting messages from Winpatrol

Nowhere near an expert on Windows, but these two seem to me to be "not microsoft windows" programs.... If you did not "install" them personally, then you have been "got at" and they have downloaded themselves to your computer....
see this page
Quote

How to remove WatchDog error
The free file information forum can help you find out if WatchDog.exe is a virus, trojan, spyware, adware which you can remove, or a file belonging to a Windows system or an application you can trust.
http://www.file.net/process/watchdog.exe.html

another page.......
Quote

http://www.neuber.com/taskmanager/process/watchdog.exe.html
If you want a detailed security rating about your WatchDog.exe (and all other running background processes) read the following user opinions, and download the free trial version of Security Task Manager.
Note: Any malware can be named anything - so you should check where the files of the running processes are located on your disk. If a "non-Microsoft" .exe file is located in the C:\Windows or C:\Windows\System32 folder, then there is a high risk for a virus, spyware, trojan or worm infection! Check it out!

Click to Run a Free Scan for WatchDog.exe related registry errors


and this
Quote

http://www.winpatrol.com/
WinPatrol takes snapshot of your critical system resources and alerts you to any changes that may occur without your knowledge. WinPatrol was the pioneer in using a heuristic behavioral approach to detecting attacks and violations of your computing environment. It continues to be one of the most powerful system monitors while staying a single small program.
Update to WinPatrol PLUS so you'll always know what programs are running and why. High Performance and a small memory footprint?
Supports Windows 98 - Windows 7 including x64 systems
Scotty PLUS Lifetime License $29.95 USD - Single User/Multiple Computers
Family Pack         $49.95 USD
Unlimted Immediate Family/Unlimited Computers

hth
ReedRichards
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 4,927
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎14-07-2009

Re: Am getting messages from Winpatrol

Penneck, when it comes to security software you can definitely have too much of a good thing.  At some point in the past you have installed a piece of software called WinPatrol which is now bothering you with fairly pointless questions you don't understand.  If you can't cope with these simple issues, it isn't going to be much help if something you wanted it to stop ever got past your array of other security software.  So I recommend you uninstall WinPatrol. 
penneck
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 1,089
Thanks: 79
Registered: ‎03-08-2007

Re: Am getting messages from Winpatrol

I was after guidance about whether Microsoft was supposed to be changing these .DOC and .RTF file associations, or whether something dubious was getting at my PC.
As it turns out, I have solved the problem without accepting those changes. I uninstalled Office 2007, then re-installed it, plus added Office 2007 updates from Microsoft. Since then (at least 24 hours), I haven't had one WinPatrol message.
Thanks for your help
ReedRichards
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 4,927
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎14-07-2009

Re: Am getting messages from Winpatrol

Quote from: penneck
I was after guidance about whether Microsoft was supposed to be changing these .DOC and .RTF file associations, or whether something dubious was getting at my PC.

But the change was from Winword.exe (the executable for Word) to Winword.exe!
Lurker
Grafter
Posts: 1,867
Registered: ‎23-10-2008

Re: Am getting messages from Winpatrol

From one version to another though...
ReedRichards
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 4,927
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎14-07-2009

Re: Am getting messages from Winpatrol

Certainly from one location to another, so probably a change of version; which would be strange if Penneck wasn't  messing around with Word/Office at the time.  My point is that if Penneck cannot associate the actions of WinPatrol with changes he made himself, then it isn't going to do him any good when something malign comes along and tries to make changes.