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In the June 2008 newsletter I introduced two pieces of software …

My first suggestion is a Hippo!

Specifically the FileHippo Update Checker from http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/

This is just one of a number of freebies from http://www.filehippo.com/ - this one checks the installed version of all sorts of things and tells you if there is a later version available. Download it and try it! You don’t have to take any action on the list it delivers, nothing is compulsory - the choice is yours in every case.

Just to prove I don’t have everything whizz-bang up-to-date on my own system, here [FileHippo Update Screen Shot] is the result from running it on my laptop while writing this. You will note that as well as the initial list of new releases, there is a second list [FileHippo Beta Versions Screen Shot] telling you which software has a beta next-release on offer.

And then Secunia PSI

This is free too (of course!) from - https://psi.secunia.com - note the P is for personal, there is also a business version. This is more thorough than the FileHippo checker but has a slightly different intention. It specifially looks for software that is known to have a security risk attached to it and it scans your entire system for software (FileHippo only looks at things that show in Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs). It will find portable software on USB drives and loose executables in obscure directories.

If you try this, head straight into the ’settings’ tab and turn off the default settings to start up every time you start your computer. While there you will note that by default, results that are judged ‘hard to deal with’ are left out - uncheck the box if you want to while away some time!

I was particularly pleased with the thoroughness of the scan - it picked up the ‘PortableApps’ setup on my USB hard drive which may be the subject of a future Chairman’s Choice piece. I’ve shown [Secunia Screen Shot] the result of the ‘easy-to-fix’ scan of my laptop. I should point out that there may be reasons for not upgrading - I am retaining Acrobat version 7 until a current Oxfordshire FHS project is out of the door and I have Java 1.5 installed because because I have been using some software (FreeMind, that may be another future write-up) that does not work with the later Java versions.

So, check your system and don’t get too alarmed about the results, if you just update one piece of software your system will be a better and safer place to compute!

This entry was posted on Friday, February 27th, 2009 at 10:21 pm and is filed under Chairman's Choice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.