Best Free Software Update Monitor

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Introduction

Developers usually release new versions of software after improving its features, GUI, removing some bugs or when security weaknesses in earlier versions were fixed. If you would like to keep the software on your computer up-to-date, you may find it difficult and time-consuming if you have many programs installed. Sometimes software will automatically check for updates (such as Adobe Reader, Mozilla's Firefox and Thunderbird, Skype, iTunes, etc.), or it will update itself (e.g. Google Chrome) 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

There are different types of users that may wish to use update monitors, so I have separated them into four categories. The first is for the security concious. I recommend that everyone install this excellent application. The second category is for people that want an easy way of keeping their software updated, the third is for intermediate/advanced users that don't mind taking some time to set up their software, while the final category is for Mac users.

Security

[2]Secunia's Personal Software Inspector (PSI) is an incredible software updater that all Windows users should have installed. It may not keep your software updated when there are no known security issued related to the software, but it will ensure that your software is at the most secure it can be. It will let you know which programs are patched, which are insecure and which are no longer maintained.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". If it detects software that requires patching, it will provide a link to the download page, or update the software itself. 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.

Easy-To-Use

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 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 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.

Intermediate/Advanced Users

[3]My favourite software update monitor 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 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 usage 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 (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 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.

[4]WARNING: Should you decide to download SUMo, please ensure that you download the "Lite" or ZIP/7z versions (find the ZIP/7z versions on the download page - the links with the 7z and ZIP icons - the "Lite" version is below that, where it says "Free of all sponsors download links", as indicated in the 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 [5]. A user pointed out [6] that they found OpenCandy [7] registry items after installing the NoRK version (I can confirm this). The "Lite" version is identical to the full version, only without the spyware, and therefore deserves to be on this list. The safest to use would be the compressed versions as they do not have installers that can add any unwanted software/keys to your system/registry.

Mac

[8]The application AppFresh by metaquark is a very useful software updater for Macs. It keeps applications, widgets and Apple components updated (you can select which ones you wish to include), making use of i use this [9] to check which updates are available, and to supply direct download links. Unfortunately, this means it sometimes informs me of updates that are not stable releases, even though one may choose to be informed of either stable or nightly builds. It also reports that the update status of some software is unknown, even though it can detect the version correctly and find the correct entry in the online database. Strange. However, it is generally good and easy to use. It is the only software update monitor I am aware of for Macs (I tried the Mac version of Software Informer, but it did not work), so if you are aware of others, please let me know.

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Other Software Update Monitors

Ketarin [10] 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.

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 [11] used to be my top pick, but it was a victim of its own success when the team was unable to scale their venture accordingly. The project may be started again and I will keep you updated.

UpdateStar [12] is a SUM that I find annoying to use. It keeps asking if you wish to upgrade to a premium service and the user interface is quite cluttered. The updates generally appear quite reliable, though it is not perfect. It does not add anything that would make me want to use it over those listed in the review.

Software Informer [13] has improved a lot. It is very thorough, with the side-effect that it often 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. Probably the best of the updaters not discussed in the main discussion. The Mac version is terrible. I can't even get it to work.

TechTracker [14] by CNET gives me a few concerns. Their privacy policy [15] states that they collect information about you and share it with other companies. It also comes bundled with OpenCandy [7]. That should be enough to stay far away from it. But, I decided to test it anyway so that you don't need to. Seemed quite good since it has the might of CNET's database behind it. Still, I'm not sure if it is worth it over UDC because of the privacy concerns. I signed up with an email account that I created especially for it and have been getting spam (approximately once a week) from CNET since (GMail detects it as such).

DownloadPlex.com's Software Update [16] is slow with updates, does not make it clear which applications have updates and sometimes informs of updates that do not exist, or suggests updates that are not stable releases.

Software-UpToDate [17] has recently been updated. I will need to test it before making comments on it. It seems that it does not support all software though.

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 [18], Appupdater [19] and FreewareUpdater [20]. 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 [21] has a great feed that list updates very quickly after they have been released, while Freeware-Guide [22] gathers a list of software updated in a day and displays the list in an RSS feed the following day. FileHippo [23] and Softpedia [24] also have RSS feeds for the latest additions to their databases. Here are the five feeds: