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Thursday, August 5, 2010

Best Free Software Update Monitor

Updated Wed, 08/04/2010 - 06:40 by FrankO

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Introduction

Developers usually release new versions of software after improving its features, GUI, removing some bugs or security weaknesses in earlier versions or for some other reasons. If you always trust developers in their products and like to keep all the software on your computer updated to the latest versions, you might find it difficult and time-consuming if you have many programs installed. Sometimes software will have automatic updates (such as Adobe Reader, Mozilla's Firefox and Thunderbird, Skype, iTunes, etc.), but this isn't true of all software. That's where Software Update Monitors (SUMs) are useful. A (sometimes) quick scan of your computer by one of these products will reveal which software is old and needs to be updated.

So, if you would like to know which tools I recommend to keep your software updated (and which I use to keep my software updated), read on. Just a word of warning though, updated software may behave in a manner that is different to the version you have installed. Very rarely updates may have a bug that makes it unsafe to upgrade. If you have any doubts, please do an internet search for any problems related to the upgrade.

Discussion

Ever since CleanSofts (UDN) appears to have stopped updating their database, my favourite updater is KC Softwares' Software Update Monitor Lite (SUMo) and it may be the best software update monitor for expert users. It's faster than Secunia's PSI, but slower than FileHippo.com's Update Checker (UDC) and requires more bandwidth to check for updates than UDC. During a normal scan SUMo will search your start menu for a list of programs, while a complete scan checks your "Program Files" folder, yielding more results that may require some selective elimination. SUMo also let's you decide whether or not you want to be notified about Beta software. Another feature that you may or may not like about SUMo is the result you obtain by clicking on the "Update" link for new software. Whereas PSI and Update Checker take you directly to a download page, SUMo takes you to a webpage with useage statistics about recent versions of the program, and displays the number of users who use each version. Although that may be interesting, there is no direct link to a download page. SUMo's page gives you links to five major download sites' search pages (which sometimes do not work with the information supplied by SUMo) and a link to a Google search for the software. However, by not being restricted to a database of downloadable software, the SUMo database can support any software its users' SUMo report.

The advantage of SUMo is that it informs you of updates to software that is not limited to security updates (such as PSI) or availablity on FileHippo.com (UDC). It also lets you add or remove programs to the list it scans for updates by simply dragging the executable into SUMo's open window; a feature not available on any other software update monitor (UDC allows one to add folders to the search space). Unfortunately, some developers do not include version information in their binaries (for example Dia, LaTeX Editor and Sumatra PDF) which makes it impossible for SUMo to detect updates for them. This is a problem for most software update monitors. Unfortunately, when SUMo performs its first thorough scan it detects executable files that may not be the main executable files of your installed software. Experienced PC users should therefore take care to add the executable files that should not be checked for updates to the ignore list. Once this has been done, the unwanted executables will not appear in future scans.

WARNING: Should you decide to download SUMo, please ensure that you download the lite version (find it on the download page, it is the link with the letters "RK" crossed out - see screen shot below). The full version comes with a program called Relevant Knowledge, which is detected by most security software as spyware. While I agree with many that have contacted me that the developer is (at best) damaging his reputation by bundling SUMo with RK, you may read his explanation here. The lite version is identical to the full version, only without the spyware, and therefore deserves to be on this list.

Download link for SUMo

Screen shot of UDN scan results FileHippo's Update Checker (UDC) is fast and very easy to use, but detects only a limited number of programs (probably adequate for most users). It scans quickly and takes you to a webpage that provides a list of the programs it detected and links to the FileHippo.com download page for the new software. It also allows you to decide whether or not to view Beta software. In order to detect portable software, you have to add the folder in which the program resides to the custom search space. This makes it slower, and it still doesn't detect all software. Instead it detects only the software that's available on the FileHippo.com website. However, UDC does allow multiple folders of portable software to be added to the custom search space, thereby potentially reducing the search space and speeding up the search. Beware though, there have been unconfirmed reports of UDC presenting problems to those users that have a non-English version of Windows installed. Further feedback regarding this problem would be appreciated.

Secunia's Personal Software Inspector (PSI) is the best update monitor for the users that are very security concious but do not require the updates that are not security related. It will let you know which programs are patched, which are insecure and which are no longer maintained. It even gives the installed software a rating related to its impact on the security of your computer. After it has scanned your PC, it can remain open in the background to keep an eye on any changes you make. It lists all your programs, and provides links to the vendor's homepage, technical details, the installation folder and "Add/Remove Programs". It also allows you to choose between informing you of easy-to-patch program updates only, or all updates. If it detects software that requires patching, it will provide a link to the download page. Unfortunately, it's not perfect and does not support as much software as SUMo, but it works well and I would suggest using it occasionally to ensure your computer has no security flaws due to out-of-date software.

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Related Products and Links

Other Softwate Update Monitors:

Many users have posted other SUMs since this article was first published. I will briefly cover some of them and tell you why I did not like them.

Update Notifier used to be my top pick, but the database no longer appears to be updated.

UpdateStar is a SUM that I did not like at all when I tried it in July. It was very bad at detecting software's version numbers and its database was out-of-date, much of the software I had installed was newer than the software in its database. However, since they have added a premium service and, perhaps, more people have started using it (and updating its database), it seems to be up-to-date for most software I have installed. Annoyingly some of the updates it informs me of are not available. The interface must be the most impressive of all the SUMs I have tested, but some of the download links do not work (UDC and UDN have the edge on it there) and it does not detect portable software. I will have to keep a close eye on the free version over the next few months and see how it performs.

Software Informer was annoying to use. It informed me of updates that are not available, or it would inform me of an update for version I have installed because it interpreted the version incorrectly. Software-UpToDate does not support some very common programs (e.g. CCleaner, FeedDemon, Notepad++, Foxit Reader) and often does not have links to any page that could yield a file you can download.

Ketarin takes another approach at software updating. It keeps your install files up-to-date. Once installed, you have to point it to the download link of the software you wish to keep updated (or give it its FileHippo ID). This is quite nifty if you have to keep a database of install files updated for software you may not have installed on your own machine.

There is a similar group of software that acts like a software manager, similar to the Synaptic Package Manager used by Ubuntu. They give you access to a selected group of programs, install them and keep them up-to-date. There are examples such as Appsnap, Appupdater and FreewareUpdater. I could not get Appupdater to work and Appsnap and FreewareUpdater only supported a limited amount of software (and could not detect software that was already installed). I feel these three programs belong in a different category and will not review them here.

RSS Feeds:

There are some website RSS feeds I like to check for updates. FreewareFiles and Kaldata has a great feeds that list updates very quickly after they have been released, while Freeware-Guide gathers a list of software updated in a day and displays the list in an RSS feed the following day. FileHippo and Softpedia also have RSS feeds for the latest additions to their databases. Here are the five feeds:

If you would prefer the RSS feed of individual programs without using that program's homepage, FileHippo offers individual RSS feeds.

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Have Your Say

Please visit our freeware forum to share and discuss your views and get advice on software update monitors. To post in the forum you need to register first but that's quick and immediate.

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Quick Selection Guide

Software Update Monitor Lite (SUMo)
		Ignore list, easily add portable software, less restricted than others
		No direct download links, for more experienced user, no portable version, too many results from in-depth scan, non-lite version bundled with spyware
		http://www.kcsoftwares.com/index.php?sumo
		http://www.kcsoftwares.com/index.php?download (click on the image for the download link)
		1.26 MB 2.9.0.92 Unrestricted Freeware Install the "lite" version
		Last update: 1 August 2010

Update Checker (UDC)
		Easy to use, direct download links, customize search space
		Database limited to software on FileHippo.com, sometimes poor software detection
		http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/
		http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/
		152 KB 1.037 Unrestricted Freeware Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0
		Portable version available
		Last update: 30 April 2010

Personal Software Inspector (PSI)
		Points out insecure software (including Windows updates), easy to use
		Slow scan, database not always accurate, only security updates, limited database
		http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/
		http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/
		699 KB 1.5.0.1 Private Freeware (not free for commercial use)
		Requires latest version of Microsoft Windows Update Agent (WUA) Requries access to Secunia servers (encrypted) via SSL (https://psi.secunia.com:443/) Requires access to Microsoft Windows Update servers
		Last update: 24 August 2009