Just like with updating Windows itself, it can be important to update installed software to the latest versions. Updates fix bugs, improve stability, or bring new features. They can also make sure the software is more secure and any discovered vulnerabilities are removed.
These days, a lot of software updates itself automatically or at least checks if an update is available. Not all software does this though. It’s useful if you have something around that can fill in the gaps and check and update your installed software in case the software doesn’t or can’t by itself.
Here’s a selection of seven free tools that can help you keep installed software up to date (excluding games).
1. Patch My PC
Patch My PC is possibly the most well known software updating tool. It started out as more of an updater for software prone to security vulnerabilities. In recent times, Patch My PC has branched out to include a few general tools and applications, with over 300 programs now on its list.
A plus point is Patch My PC is portable and no installer versions are available. Launch the executable and it will tell you which programs are outdated in red text on the right. Green text items are up to date. It will check red items for updating in the list on the left, uncheck the item if you don’t want to update it.
The software list will also allow you to install new software, just check the box to add it to the updates list. You can also stop scanning for a specific program, disable silent installs (bring up the install dialog), disable auto updates, or uninstall the program altogether from the right-click context menu.
Then just press “Perform xx updates” and the process will begin. Patch My PC tries to install software silently so you shouldn’t see much in the way of popups or dialogs. There is a basic uninstaller for installed software and a scheduler that sets up a Windows scheduled task to run at timed intervals.
In addition to installed software, Patch My PC has a portable software section in the list with 30+ apps available. Download portable tools to a base folder and keep them updated the same way. Patch My PC has a download only mode, a caching mode, and an auto install mode to install selected software on a new PC.
2. WingetUI
What makes WingetUI interesting is it supports a number of command line based software package managers. These include Chocolatey, Scoop, Pip, NPM, and the software it’s named after, Microsoft’s Winget (Windows Package Manager). You can enable all package managers at once but most of your updates will likely be via Winget.
After installation and launch, WingetUI will start on the “Discover Packages” tab. This tab allows you to search for and install software not currently installed. Click on the “Software Updates” tab and any available updates to your software will automatically appear here.
All packages are selected for update by default. Simply uncheck anything to skip its update and press the “Update selected packages” button. Selected updates can be skipped for the current version only or all updates for that software in the future. You can also run an update as administrator or an interactive update (prompts during installation).
WingetUI is pretty much an all-in-one software installer, updater, and uninstaller in a single program. Microsoft Store apps are also supported for uninstall. More advanced users have the option to enable the other package managers although Winget and Choclatey are enabled by default and should be enough for most users.
3. UpdateHub
UpdateHub is a new tool on my radar. I’d heard of all the other software listed here, but not this one. It’s not totally surprising though as UpdateHub was only released in April 2023. What might be a surprise to some is that it’s actually a modified Chromium web browser underneath.
The way UpdateHub gets its update information is through the Microsoft Windows Package Manager (Winget), similar to WingetUI. Winget recognizes over 5,000 tools and applications, so the chances are good it will find the majority of your installed programs.
A scan for updates needs to be run first. Just click Apps on the left to start scanning. A list of possible updates will appear and you can click to ignore or update each update individually. Clicking on an entry will show details about the software, including download size and rating (via Software Informer), enable those options in Settings.
A potentially valuable feature is the rollback option that allows you to reinstall the old version of an updated program. However, I tried it twice and it failed twice. UpdateHub was unusable after each attempt and I had to delete the Updatehub folder in the user’s Roaming folder. The issue relates to Winget not having the correct version available to reinstall.
4. UCheck
UCheck is from Adlice Software, the same people behind the RogueKiller malware remover. Despite the lack of automatic updating in the free version of UCheck, you can still download and install updates manually. It may be a bit of a bind at first, but once you have used UCheck once, there should be fewer subsequent updates required.
A portable version of UCheck is available, so I would recommend trying that first (select ‘Other Downloads’ on the website). Run the program and press the Scan button. On my system, it found 166 installed programs, 8 updates, and 36 community updates (these require manual download and installation). Click Pending Updates to see what it found.
Bulk updating is possible if you run UCheck as administrator, which should make things easier. Either check the selected boxes or use the “Select all” box, then press “Update Selected”. The Actions button allows you to download the update and install it manually now or later, skip this update, or exclude the software from update checking.
UCheck also includes a basic software uninstaller but some things like software download/installer, caching, and PUP Protection are disabled in the free version. An annoyance is the upgrade nag in the main window and frequent upgrade/discount notifications on the desktop while the program is running.
5. Glarysoft Software Update / Glary Utilities / Filepuma Update Detector
Despite the name differences, these three updating tools are in fact all the same. The first two are available on Glarysoft.com while the third is available on Glarysoft’s software download portal, Filepuma. I would recommend using the Glary Utilities version as you can use the portable Glary Utilities to run the updater.
A drawback about these tools is the found updates for your software are all tied to the Filepuma portal. If they do not list the software on Filepuma, it’s not supported. The number of entries on Filepuma looks to run into the thousands, so the detection rate for your installed applications should be reasonably good.
All you have to do is run the updater tool and it will perform a scan for outdated software. On completion, a Filepuma.com webpage opens in your browser with the list of updateable software. Download any of the newer installers for your software using the Download buttons.
There are a couple of useful options in all three iterations of the tool and on the webpage they open. You can tell the program to ignore beta versions, ignore a specific update, or ignore all updates for that software going forward.
Download Glarysoft Software Update | Glary Utilities | Filepuma Update Detector
6. Software Informer
The Software Informer updating tool runs along similar lines to the Glarysoft programs above. It also relies on its own download portal for update checking and downloads, this time it’s software.informer.com. Software Informer seems to host thousands of applications so there’s a fair chance it detects several of your programs.
Once you install the updater software, it will automatically start on the Discover tab. This tab essentially just advertises downloads from the Software Informer portal. For updating, you need to switch to the Apps tab. Any updates found will appear top of the list with up to date software listed below.
On my system, it found 113 programs that were up to date and 11 that had an update available. Press Download to open a webpage on Software Informer with the download link for the selected program. Other information like previous versions, the software’s homepage, reviews, and comments might also be available.
If you wish to ignore an update, just press the little X button at the top right of the entry in the main window. Options to delete unused files, alter the update check interval, show beta versions, integrate into Windows, and turn on/off notifications are in the Settings window.
Note: You can also create a Software Informer account through the updater tool. However, it doesn’t really offer anything different in terms of updating your software, so is best avoided.
7. Windows Package Manager (Winget)
As I mentioned earlier, Microsoft’s Winget has a sizeable list of supported software. The good news is it’s already installed on Windows 11 and recent versions of Windows 10. In essence, you can auto update installed software by using nothing more than a few simple commands in Command Prompt or PowerShell.
Here, I’ll show you just the very basics of checking for updates and updating software. You can do even more with Winget such as downloading the installers, installing new software, reinstalling old versions, or uninstalling applications.
Open a Command Prompt and type the following:
Winget Upgrade
The command will generate a list of software installed on your system that has updates along with the latest version numbers.
To perform some updates.
Winget Upgrade –all [–include-unknown]
With this command, all software found in the first command gets updated to the latest versions. The “–include-unknown” argument is optional and will force update programs that don’t have a valid current version number.
If you want to update selected programs but not all, just use the Name or Id from the update list instead of “–all”.
Winget Upgrade MediaArea.MediaInfo.GUI
Winget Upgrade Notepad++.Notepad++
Winget will update the MediaInfo tool and Notepad++ to the latest versions.
Although you can use either the name or the Id in the command, the Id is unique so you won’t get duplicate choices.
Tip: If you are updating several applications at once, run Winget from an administrative Command Prompt. That way, it won’t keep popping up a UAC prompt during installs that require elevated access.
Free Updater Tools That Did Not Make The List
There are several other tools that claim to update installed software. However, they were not included for various reasons. You are free to try any of these out as they might work better for your software setup.
SUMO – In terms of actually detecting updates for installed software, SUMO was excellent. Sadly, SUMO’s developer, KC Softwares, shut down in October 2023 so they will no longer maintain the update lists.
Heimdal Thor Agent – Heimdal specializes in updating software prone to security vulnerabilities. A big negative is the inability to quit the program at all once installed. It also blue screened my computer when attempting to uninstall.
Software Updater (eSupport.com) – This software only found two updates, and both were false. One wasn’t installed on my PC and the other didn’t need an update.
Systweak Software Updater – This program detected three software updates but only found eight installed applications. It’s very likely to leave software outdated as a result.
UpdateStar – UpdateStar detected 178 installed applications but found not a single update. It also failed to connect to the update server regularly so is too unreliable to be of value.
IObit Software updater – IObit detected 5 updates but only 15 installed programs. The main drawback is the free version only updates two programs per day. That’s a potential security risk.
Final Note
Even though updating your software is good practice, some programs might not require an update. For instance, if you have purchased a specific version of an application, you might not want to update it because you don’t own a license for the newer version. In that case, skip/disable updates for the program.