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I wanted to share two of my new favorite ways to easily maintain my Windows machine’s software patches. I’ve been using FileHippo’s Update Checker for a while with great results and a few days ago I discovered another new program from Secunia called Personal Software Inspector that will appeal to the IT pro types as well. Both are freeware, and run the scan pretty quickly, though they are clearly targeted toward different audiences.

Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI) is a new piece of freeware software by the reputable security firm Secunia which will assess your installed software’s patch state and help you with the often tedious task of keeping everything up to date. Here is the description from the official PSI site:

The Secunia PSI is an invaluable tool for you to use when assessing the security patch state of software installed on your system. It constantly monitors your system for insecure software installations, notifies you when an insecure application is installed, and even provides you with detailed instructions for updating the application when available.

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Release version: 1.0.0.1 (Final)
Last release: 25th Nov. 2008
File size: 532,688 bytes
Download

While PSI is a great tool, it’s not meant to be the end all update app. It’s primary target is the IT pro type who doesn’t want to risk updating unless it is a security risk to keep old software. For those who are willing to take that (admittedly marginal) risk, there is another excellent software updater from FileHippo called Update Checker. Despite it’s generic name, Update Checker provides a fast way to check for updates for a vast collection of both free and paid software, and it provides a ton of information such as version number, file size, and beta status all on one easy to read web page.

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Update Checker v1.029 Beta
FHSetup.exe (153kb)
Download Installer
Download Standalone
Both versions require dot net 2.0.

As you can see from the screens above I have a ton of expired trial/nagware that needs to be updated or uninstalled. Huge RAID arrays are an enabler… I tend to just leave this crap laying around and forget about it after installing an open source alternative. Anyway, both software are free and fairly cool about your statistics collection:

PSI Privacy Policy (TL;DR Edition)

Communication between your system and Secunia is encrypted (SSL) and treated as confidential. They collect non personal data and delete it automatically within 12 months after you quit using PSI or immediately after you cancel your registration. That said, they will share aggregate non personal info with third parties during that time. Basically, they’ll probably put the stats in a whitepaper for their non-free software :)

Update Checker (TL;DR Edition)

Non personal data is sent to their server and logs are deleted after processing.