QUICK GUIDE

Browser Sentinel targets experienced users who understand the way Windows functions. The program lets a user edit very "sensitive" (or critical) zones of Windows. On one hand, this allows you to get complete control over these zones, accepting or denying any changes there. On the other hand, rough/casual/unskilled handling of these zones can lead to serious consequences for your system (e.g. data loss or a need for Windows to reinstall).

Please BE VERY CAREFUL when using Browser Sentinel. If you don't feel you are sufficiently experienced, please consult an IT professional before taking any actions using Browser Sentinel.

The critical zones are divided into two groups: Internet Explorer and System. The zones from the Internet Explorer group affect only Internet Explorer and won't harm your system even if you do something wrong. The worst thing that can happen is that a third-party software re-installation may be required, in case you deleted a legitimate item. You can freely make changes in these zones even if you're a novice user.

The zones from the System group directly affect crucial parts of Windows and thus must be handled very carefully. Unless you are a highly skilled programmer, it is highly recommended that you read the corresponding help topic before making changes to the System group zones.

Browser Sentinel displays information about critical zones of Windows, which can be abused by malicious software (malware: adware, spyware, trojans, etc.) with the purpose of watching your activity, displaying popup ads or spamming your computer. Having these zones monitored by Browser Sentinel lets you always be informed of malware activity on your computer. Browser Sentinel also lets you counteract malware by editing these critical zones.

Browser Sentinel does NOT have a malware database. It won't tell you what program is legitimate and what program is not. It is up to you to decide what is malware and what is not. Browser Sentinel displays exhaustive information about every item in the zone. Armed with your intuition and a good search engine you should have no problem finding and destroying the parasites!

Generally, Browser Sentinel lets you take one of the two actions: Disable or Delete. The Disable action temporary deactivates an item, but lets you activate it again later. The Delete action permanently removes an item from your system. When possible try to always disable an item before permanently deleting it.

Please note that sometimes you may need to reboot Windows or restart Internet Explorer to enable/disable certain items.

Browser Sentinel contains a small built-in database of system items, i.e. the items that ship with Windows and are a part of it. Having system items hidden lets you find third-party items more easily.

Please note that the database includes only the most frequently used system items and cannot be considered as a complete system items database. The chances are that some valid system items of some version of Windows will be detected by the program as non-system items. This can be the case after installing an update, a service pack or an addition. Special versions of Windows can also include system items not included in the program database.

This means that you should not take as gospel the system items database. Use it only as a helper function, not as the ultimate authority.

There are legitimate programs that regularly change the contents of the critical zones. For example, a program adds and removes itself to/from the startup programs list in the registry. Another program regularly adds/removes its items to/from the Internet Explorer context menu. Since Browser Sentinel alerts you every time the contents of a zone is changed, it can become very annoying having to accept such changes each time they occur. The safe item lists let you designate items that you fully trust (so Browser Sentinel will not warn you when an item from a safe list is added to a zone.)

But there are cases when you might want to delete items every time a program adds them to a critical zone. Blocked item lists let you designate items that you want to be deleted or disabled every time they're added to a zone.

If you want to mark an item or a group of items with a custom description you can use tags. A tag is displayed in the item properties and can be searched for.

A tag can be entered when the alert window is show. You can also add or edit a tag by right-clicking an item and selecting Edit Tag.

It takes time for Browser Sentinel to gather information about all critical zones of your system. During this time, the title of the program's main window changes to "Updating data. Please wait...". You should not take any actions while the data update is in progress.

If you want to force the data update, hit the F5 key or use the tray icon menu or the Options tab.