This is the third post in a seven-part series titled, “The Security Guy recommends.” In the previous post, I recommended Malwarebytes Free and Microsoft Safety Scanners, which are two alternative malware scanners that you should run periodically.
In this edition we’re going to switch gears and focus on keeping all your PC’s software up to date. You’re probably heard that your computer can be compromised by a malicious PDF document or even a malicious web page. Besides the traditional advice of: 1) don’t open email from strangers and 2) don’t surf to unfamiliar websites, what else can you do to protect your PC? The answer lies in patching! Patch early and patch often.
I strongly recommend adopting some method for fast, automated patching. Windows Update (also sometimes called Microsoft Update) will update Windows, Internet Explorer, and many Microsoft applications like Outlook and Excel. But it won’t update any other critical software like Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Flash, Java, etc. It won’t even tell you that those applications are old or vulnerable.
Enter Secunia PSI 2.0. PSI stands for personal software inspector and it fills the gap left by Windows Update. PSI constantly compares your installed software against a list of old and vulnerable software and it keeps you informed by turning yellow (for notices) and red (for warnings). PSI even automatically updates many common installed applications for you; saving you time and reducing your risk of PC compromise.
I think of PSI as a game. I want to keep all of my PCs “Green.” So when PSI goes yellow I want to know why and I want to update my vulnerable applications right away. PSI is also useful for reminding you about old, unused applications that you no longer need to have installed. In summary, PSI is the best general housekeeping aid that I know for maintaining your PCs applications.
Secunia PSI is free for home use. There is a paid version available for businesses.
Recommendation #3: Secunia PSI
Malwarebytes Free and Microsoft Safety Scanner (also free) are both very strong alternative scanners that I recommend you use periodically in a batch scan mode.
Download here: http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/