October 20th, 2005

Today marks the public release of the newest program from BillP Studios. Scotty's feline friend, Lady the Task Catcher is now available for review at http://www.taskcatcher.com.

You can be the first to see Task Catcher and set up your Watch and Black lists. Full functionality will be available soon. Registration codes will be available for select users and for low price of $12.95.

Why add Task Catcher?

* Even notice that one of your favorite programs have shut down and you don't know why? Task Catcher can restart it or alert you to any changes.

* Want to be sure Spyware doesn't shut down Zone Alarm or WinPatrol?
Malware doesn't know about Task Catcher so they won't bother!

* Want to be sure certain programs won't run? Black list it and Task Catcher will stop it in its tracks.

* Multiple users on your computer? Black list certain programs so other family members won't run them without your permission.

* WinPatrol PLUS user? PLUS access has been integrated into the application.

* Using R.I.D. technology Task Catcher provides functionality beyond a typical version 1.0 release.

Thanks!

Great news Bill, thanks so much for all your efforts in putting out what I'm sure to will be another good program to compliment Scotty and further give users a little more control over thier machines.

I'll be DLing the app soon and will report back how things go.

Wow that great Bill. Later I bet there will be pup programs fro these two.

OK, I'm confused.

I've got WinPatrol Plus yet Taskcatcher includes RID as well.

So would have been cheaper to buy Taskcatcher with RID and also get the benefit of stopping programmes being hijacked? This way I get anti-spyware and real-time intrusion detection?

Ian

Where should we write to report any issues with the new program. Here or start a new thread.

Iangh,

Good question! The magic of R.I.D. is in the detection of changes without using any system resources. While it detects the change, its still up to the individual application to decide that the change indicates. R.I.D works at a very low level and doesn't make any determination on what has changed.

When WinPatrol is alerted to a change Scotty will compare Startup Programs, IE Helpers, Scheduled Task, File Type changes, etc... and determine if something new has been added that isn't on the approved list of programs. Part of WinPatrol's validation includes changes that occur within the Windows registry.

Task Catcher specializes on just programs or tasks which are active or trying to start up. Task Catcher also specializes in restarting, killing or alerting you to programs which you're especially interested in.

Scotty sniffs all around for changes where Lady the Task Catcher pounces.


Cel,
Any reports should be sent to support@taskcatcher.com. The role of our forum here is allow WinPatrol users to talk to each other not so much as a primary support forum.

Thanks!
Bill

Bill

I'm sold.

Can I have a special price for being a Plus customer .

If you don't ask you don't get.

By the way I don't see the point of the downloading Lady (eval) as it doesn't do anything? I'm not missing anything, am I?

That is, until I get registered version it does nothing.

Thanks,
Ian

Task Catcher Regular Price: $12.95

Preview Price Now Only: $ 9.95

You get free upgrades for life like with WinPatrol?

So what with the two prices?

At this time it hasn't been decided but I plan on keeping WinPatrol as our free application which I will continue to work on myself.

There may be some updates to Task Catcher but I expect version 2.0 to be an additional or upgrade fee because we'll be hiring third party programmers to continue development.


Bill

Will this new program take away from any of the current processes that Scotty monitors (i.e. - will any current items covered eventually be "phased out" in WP?)? Also, will WinPatrol continue to be the primary product that BillP Studios proudly endorses and promotes as it's "baby" of sorts?

Hey JR,

WinPatrol and Scotty the Windows Watchdog will remain our flagship product. Nothing in Task Catcher is designed to take away from WinPatrol and both program work well together and even share some the little resources used by R.I.D.

WinPatrol will continue to grow with the goal of providing as much protection as required. WinPatrol will still be our solution for spyware, Adware and anything else that wanders on to your system.

TaskCatcher provides some unique features that aren't typically found in other program. Like WinPatrol, TC was something I designed and created for my own use because I couldn't find anything else around to provide what I needed. I'm anxious to hear what other folks use it for. One of my main uses is to keep programs running that have been known to be shut down by malware and other programs that I want restarted if they crash. I use the BlackList mostly to block my grandson from running the big Blue E.

Thanks,
Bill

Bill,

Task Catcher Questions:

1) When Task Catcher detects that a program has been shutdown (or crashed), does it Re-Start the Program using all the Switches and Parameters that the Pgm was originally started with, as per its entry in the Auto Run Registry Key string for it ?? .... Of course, I am referring to watching a pgm that is a pgm that runs by an Auto Run key in the Registry.

2) Will you be setting up a new Task Catcher Talk Forum on castlecops or will discussions for Task Catcher continue under the WinPatrol Talk forum ?

I would like to see it be able to stop all unneeded tasks when I want to install a program and then restart everything after the install. Like an on/off switch. I've never seen an easy way to do this.

Anon, I doubt that Task Catcher would do this. I have the same requirement as you and have been using a small program for this purpose, which is called StartStop. Unfortunately it is no longer available on the internet but I am attaching a zipped setup file to this post in case you find it useful. It does not allow switching all applications on and off in a one-click operation during a windows session though but only on startup. Maybe this suits your purpose as it does for me.

In order to give you an idea of what it can do for you I am quoting below from an e-mail which I had sent to BillP two years ago:


"I have a lot of startup programs in my internet partition where I use to
test many new programs.

In order to install new software I have to close all windows
applications before. This is a very lengthy process if you have many
autostart programs running. With StartStop I am offered during the
windows start (shortly after Login) an opportunity to intercept
StartStop.exe (press ESC during a pre-definable period of say 2 seconds)
and prevent the loading of all autostart programs by means of just
clicking one single (context) menu item. The autostart items thus
disabled will remain in the off position as long as I do not take the
reverse action during windows startup (right click on the StartStop
window and choosing the pop-up context menu item "Set all > Off/On"
or do it via the respective menu item). If I just close windows instead of
re-booting, the "Off" setting for all items will be disregarded and all
autostart programs are loaded after login..

Apart from using the "Set all" (context) menu item I can select the
startup options "Always", "Never" and "Ask" for each of the startup
programs in the list individually. All of this can be done during a
windows session in preparation for the next session or by intercepting
StartStop.exe during the startup process.

During a windows session I can override the "Off" setting for any
program by a "Run now" (context) menu action."

STRTST10.zip
Description:		Download
Filename:	STRTST10.zip
Filesize:	117.53 KB
Downloaded:	96 Time(s)

Far out! Thanks raffnixpert.

I'm going to go get a cup of coffee and try it out.