It drives me crazy when I open a program I haven’t used in a while and it alerts me that an update is available. I’ve usually opened the product because I have something I need to do – now. I don’t have time to wait.
I’d really like to postpone the update. But, I worry that failing to update might present a problem and I figure if I don’t do it now I’ll forget to do it later so I sit there and let it download and install. Sometimes it requires a reboot which means I’ll be sitting for freaking ever.
Some software really needs to be updated, not because of the new features or bug fixes, but because it’s having a security issue. You need to install the patch or you might expose your data to the world in some unforeseen way.
Some software would be better if updated but the software itself doesn’t alert me of the availability of an update. If I don’t check it manually I might never know that some new, cool stuff has been added to the program.
It would be nice if I could be proactive and do the updates when I’m not busy. Wouldn’t it be great if I could automate the process, start it, go to Starbucks and come back when it’s done?
Here comes some software (which will probably need updating at some point) to the rescue.
I’m a Mac so lets get the Mac program out of the way first. I use AppFresh. It works well and it’s free. The key for me is to remember to run it periodically. Once it’s run, it identifies all the software on your machine with available updates. You can start downloading and installing a bunch of updates simultaneously. I like it.
Over in the PC world there are several well regarded options.
FileHippo gets good reviews. It’s a small application that installs in an instant. It then scans your system and checks the version information for each software package on your machine. It sends the version information to File Hippo and checks to see if there’s an update. If an update is available, it provides a list with a link to the download. Not ever product is supported but they have a bunch. It’s free and runs on every version of Windows through Vista. Windows 7 isn’t yet mentioned on their site.
Secunia PSI takes a security focused approach. Their alerts emphasize the products that require security patches. It isn’t the most user-friendly software package around, but it goes a long way toward making sure you don’t suffer a security breach. The company says that the average users of their product finds 12 unsecure programs on their computer when they run the scan.
Update Notifier is another Windows product that will get the job done. It’s also free. It does the scan and provides the links to the updates. You can even set up an account with Update Notifier and they’ll email you when updates are available for your sytem.
Download and install one of these applications and you’ll always be up to date and you can do it on your schedule rather than when you most need to be doing something else.
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Lee Rosen has practiced family law for more than twenty years. With three offices, 