WinPatrol works in two ways. First, when you install a program and it tries to add an icon to the tray at boot-up, you'll get a WinPatrol warning--and a way to nip it in the bud (or kill and remove it afterward). That's important for programs such as AOL, Apple's QuickTime, and RealPlayer, all notorious for adding junk icons.

WinPatrol also enables you to stop programs such as Adobe Acrobat that insist on running useless, daily version-update checks; and it prevents programs from changing file extensions willy-nilly.

Second, WinPatrol gives you an easy way to comb through existing background-loading programs; its 'info' button provides basic details, including the company name, version, and startup location--enough to help you figure out which entries are removable.

The free version is good, but I strongly urge you to spend $25 for the Pro version. Its comprehensive database gives you more details and specific recommendations for which programs to keep and which to remove. I promise you'll get that money back by eliminating your system tray headaches.

Quick tip: Rather than remove an entry, I use WinPatrol's Disable feature until I am sure the entry is unnecessary.

WinPatrol also removes tracking cookies, monitors services, watches Internet Explorer helpers, and blocks Sony's annoying rootkit-like DRM scheme.

Download WinPatrol 9.8.1.0