UpdateStar

[Zero3K]

Description from the SnapFiles listing:

UpdateStar scans your computer for installed software products and produces a list of your inventory and available updates, along with download link and additional information. The program not only works with widely used commercial products, but also with many freeware and shareware programs available from the web. UpdateStar runs in the system tray and can automatically check for updates on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. You can customize the list of products and choose to ignore updates from certain products. The update database is maintained by the developer and accepts input from users to help improve the accuracy. The current version recognized about half of the 50 products we had installed, so there is definitely room for improvement. Overall, however, this is a very promising product.

Screenshot:



Homepage - http://www.updatestar.com
Download - http://www.updatestar.com/en/download/

[mouser]

ooh, another updater.. looks nice too.

[lanux128]

haha.. i didn't see this one earlier, i also posted one here but it's for Gothic 3..

[justice]

++ Good looks, also allows you to uninstall software quick
++ not intuitive, overly complicated, doesn't recognise most of my software and relying on software partnerships as explained on their website.

A lot of these tools actually add in unnessecary information. Why make a program that is meant to make things simple so complex? all the different options of showing or not showing certain kinds of software, vague labels such as "more information" and a badly layed out results screen (after a scan) don't help anyone.

It's not intuitive, for example some software have multiple download links, only when they're downloading you notice they're different versions -- but both the buttons are called download.

I like the piechart as it gives a visual overview of how much software is out of date. Also the purchase option could be something to look into for DcUpdater as they could perhaps link to the DC discounts (try and buy the software on discount this month directly via DcUpdater)

I like how DcUpdater focuses on the new instead of the old. It's not just about what software is out of date, also what addons are out there or what's new in softwareland.

And Updatestar sits in your systemtray 24 hours a day even if you choose only to update once a month (this can be disabled but is a bad default). We've got a capable Task Scheduler in modern OSes that hardly gets used. Come'on.

And yes I really need to sit down soon to do the reviews of all these similar software for Mouser (sorry man).

[hpearce]

I have tried this program twice ...the first time it refused to recognize an internet connection, the 2nd time it couldn't access the online data base.

[OldElmerFudd]

Tried it, found the database it created was faulty. It didn't recognize that I had newer versions of s/w installed than what it claimed was the "Current" version. updates something minor, and uninstalled it with Revo Uninstaller. Didn't leave much garbage behind.

my 2 pennies
OEF