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Download of the Week: Secunia PSI

Discussion in 'TechSpot News and Comments' started by Jos, Oct 29, 2009.

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  1. Jos TechSpot Staff

    Keeping your operating system up to date is vital to having a malware-free computer. But even if you've got Windows fully patched, any one of your installed applications can be a potential point of entry for attackers should you forget or are just too lazy to grab the latest version. Enter Secunia PSI, a freeware security tool that makes it easy to find and fix old programs on your PC, even those that lack automatic update features.

    Read the whole story
  2. Obakemono Newcomer, in training

    I'll give it a try this weekend. I love finding these freeware programs that are useful on TS.
  3. Darth Shiv TechSpot Enthusiast

    Interesting idea. Wonder how well supported it is?
  4. Zedster Newcomer, in training

    Interesting little program. It found 4 Flash player problems - versions 7 - 10 (I didn't even know that I had version 7!) and Quicktime. Once I applied the solution, all was OK. Cool.
  5. kimsland Ex-TechSpotter

    Secunia PSI > Advanced > Settings > PSI Settings
    Remove the tick: "Start the Secunia PSI on boot"
    Mine was running at a whopping 40+Meg of Ram
    Generally the program is quite good though :)
  6. This software has been around for a while now..

    It's paranoid BTW
  7. treeski TechSpot Enthusiast

    I feel tempted to give this software a try, but ultimately... it's just another bit of security that bogs down my machine. I haven't had any serious or even minor security problems (that I am aware of) in ages, so I think I'm doing a pretty good job taking care of my machine by myself.
  8. zaidpirwani Newcomer, in training

    I just want to say, Been there, Done that.....and then un-installed it, I don't think I need to install another software on my computer just so that it may alert me to install more
    No need for this in any actual home or office environment, too many nags, memory usage and the update process isn't as smooth as it may look, in my opinion the most simple such utility is the FileHippo.com's Program Update Checker, which does the same, is portable and you can download and run it any time on any pc, its size is on 155kb and it does a very decent job of finding old software and giving links to downloads on one single webpage.

    FileHippo.com Program Update Checker:
    http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/
    Download the stand-alone version without the installer, sun it, update your system and then forget about it..... :)
  9. kimsland Ex-TechSpotter

    Thanks zaidpirwani
    That program actually worked better (faster) than "Secunia PSI" and it found more things to update
    Obviously its better :grinthumb
  10. ceejay949 Newcomer, in training

    A very nice and helpful software indeed.
  11. GACrabill Newcomer, in training

    Thanks zaidoirwani.

    Another free tool for the toolbox is always a good thing if its a manual tool and not a constantly-running tool.
  12. viperpfl TechSpot Member

    I downloaded the program on my Vista 64bit laptop. The program was fast and takes up very little system resources when scanning. If you x out of the program, the program will still be running in the system tray.

    How well it works is another question. I had my laptop scanned and it didn't find any threats.
  13. mattfrompa TechSpot Enthusiast

    I love trying out these neat freeware programs. Even though I lack knowledge of Linux, I still love the idea of open source and freeware, and am excited to give this a try.
  14. BlindObject Newcomer, in training

    The more free tools, the better. Have you guys featured UltraMon yet? Great tool if you have dual screens.
  15. Whiffen Newcomer, in training

    Sweet, I'm going to get this right away. I've been looking for something just like this for awhile now.
  16. r3claimer Newcomer, in training

    I like these weekly downloads, but I find that I end up using them about once, think "this is awesome", then forget they exist. lol
  17. lynxon Newcomer, in training

    You know, whenever it comes to all these neat little freeware apps, I'll always just download it and find it awesome for like a week. After that it's normally just another app that I realize I never use so I remove it, but sometimes I end up keeping them; stuff like VistaSwitcher and RM-Clock, those things are pretty awesome.
  18. WinXPert Newcomer, in training

    I'll give it a try and see if it really worth installing.

    Ok been there done that. Nice apps. This is what I got

    Your Secunia System Score of 100% is 5% HIGHER than the average user from -, Philippines.
  19. Per Hansson TechSpot Server Guru

    I used to use an online service like this very long ago to scan manually
    It is in my opinion very nice when you have many apps installed and want to find updates to them, granted I usually keep my system updated manually tho, I just prefer it that way

    Oh,and another vote for UltraMon, I actually covered it here in TS long ago in our news but it deserves another mention
    http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic7610.html
  20. limpangel Newcomer, in training

    Then first thing you should learn is that freeware is not necessarily open source, and open source is not necessarily free software (read GPL).

    Little apps like this should make Microsoft consider stealing some ideas from the Ubuntu camp. The software updater more precisely. I like how Ubuntu updates almost 90% of all your installed software and this feature is definetly needed in Windows.
    Windows made some progress with the third party drivers update feature in Windows Update for Vista/7, but Adobe, Apple and other Windows software are often more dangerous if not kept up to date. Of course some of the apps come with their own automatic update manager, but most not so knowledgeable people ignore those. And other updaters, like the silent Google Chrome Updater, are just scary.

    One solution would be to implement a Ubuntu like third-party software system. When you install an app you get the option to add its repository address to your Windows Software Updater. Then the software updater works like the normal Windows Update and checks the repos of theese apps for updates at a chosen time interval.
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