BillP has offered a blog to explain his inclusion of registration: It's important for the future of WinPatrol to know how many users are installing  new versions. I can now tell if an install was successful and how soon after an announcement or promotion most installations occur.  I have a better idea how many free versions are used versus PLUS memberships... Instead of knowing how many downloads we had, I can now know how many machines are protected...  When someone requires support it may be useful to know what version they last installed and especially if they recently undated... what if some kind of bug or compatibility in a new version turns out to be harmful to your computer? A proper [e-mail] registration will allow me to notify users of a recall. I won’t deny that registration also allows me the track down systems which are using WinPatrol PLUS illegally...   [URL]      Bottom line if you still fear this:  "you can always say you're Mickey Mouse and WinPatrol will continue to install".  
WinPatrol®2013 v27.0.2013 has been released. [URL] [URL]   On Tuesday, Feb 26th we started to receive reports of WinPatrol crashing anytime someone responded to a change alert message.  This failure was originally thought to be related to the Tuesday Windows Update or other companies updating their software.                 It turned out to be the result of a hacker trying to obtain WinPatrol data.    While our software failed when replying to changes, no data was lost and any changes will still be reported using this new version.  At no time was any personal information at risk. No Email,  passwords, credit card information was stolen or even available to any kind of attack.             Our new version includes a layer of protection that will discourage any future attacks and crash safely.  If an error occurs for any reason, Scotty will continue to be graceful in his behavior so other programs will never at risk of losing work currently in progress.   *New*  Automatic Update NotificationThe newest feature is one many users have asked about for years.  While I'm not a big fan of software that provides automatic updates, making sure everyone knows when a new version of WinPatrol was available makes sense. Our new version will provide notification within a reasonable time and allow users to read about the new version before deciding to install it.             [IMAGE] Once notified, WinPatrol won't continue to remind you but it will update the information found under the PLUS tab so when you do want to upgrade it will be an easy option.  Having the message on the PLUS tab/screen will also help remind you.   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   EDIT/Remark:   The new version of WinPatrol now requires users to "register" their name, country, and e-mail address.
Updates 3/5/13 - WinPatrol