Free Computer Software Downloads 10 Best Free Software Updater Programs
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free computer software downloads 10 Best Free Software Updater Programs. Update your outdated software with one of these free tools. Tim Fisher has 30+ years' professional technology experience. He focuses on support and Microsoft topics but is an expert in all areas of tech. He's also the VP and General Manager of Lifewire. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn. Tweet Share Email. A software updater is a program you install on your computer to help you keep all your other software updated to their latest versions. Install one of these freeware software updaters and it will first automatically identify all of your software and then determine if an update is available. Then, depending on the updater, it will either point you to the newer download on the developer's site or maybe even do the downloading and updating for you! By no means do you have to use a software updater to update your outdated software. Checking for a new version yourself, and then downloading and updating manually, is certainly an option. However, a software updater makes the process really easy. The fact that all of these excellent ones are completely free is even better. Patch My PC Updater. It's easy to see what's outdated. Installs updates for you. Can run on a schedule. Supports hundreds of software programs. The interface isn't as clean as most software updater tools. Patch My PC is another free software updater that we like, not only because it's completely portable, but also because it will install software patches—no clicking and no manual update checks! It's easy to quickly tell the difference between applications that are already updated and ones that are outdated because the green titles indicate up- to-date software, while the red ones show outdated programs. You can update all of them at once, or uncheck the ones you don't want to patch (or, of course, let the scheduled auto-updates do it for you automatically). There are lots of optional settings you can enable, like disabling silent installs, enabling beta updates, forcing programs to shut down before updating them and many others. Patch My PC can also work as a simple software uninstaller. The only thing we don't like about Patch My PC is that the user interface isn't quite as friendly but don't skip trying this tool just on those grounds. We really like the fact that it works so quickly, can be run from a flash drive, and supports truly automatic updates. These are certainly the most important things we look for in a software updater. It should work with all versions of Windows. We tried it out in Windows 10 and Windows 8 and it worked great. IObit Software Updater. Very easy to use. In-program updates (no browser needed) Bulk downloading and updating. Recommends other software. Shows features that are only available if you pay. Limits updates to two per day. IObit has this really simple and easy to use software updater that has nearly all the features you need in one of these programs. As you can see in the screenshot above, the current and new program version number is clearly stated so that you know how outdated the program is. Maybe you'll want to skip a version or two if it isn't a huge deal, but either way, you can very obviously see on this screen how much newer the update really is. The program supports single updates and bulk updates. Automatic updating and updating more than two programs per day are available only if you pay. In the settings are options for when IObit Software Updater should check for new updates to itself; it can update automatically or just notify you when updates are available. You can also control whether restore points are made automatically before every installation and if installer files should be deleted after setup finishes. Heimdal Free. Fully automatic (scanning, downloading, and updating) Settings can be tweaked to your preference. Recommends new program downloads. Supports only a few dozen programs. Shows several things that only upgraded users can take advantage of. Heimdal Free (also called Thor Free) is useful if you want to keep your security-critical programs up-to-date without having to think about it. This program will automatically and silently download and install patches when necessary. It can work in automatic mode to keep all compatible programs updated automatically or you can choose a custom setup. A custom configuration lets you choose which installed programs should be monitored for updates and which ones should be auto-updated. This means you can have Heimdal Free monitor some but not update them, or not monitor or update others—it's totally up to you. It checks for updates every few hours by default. It also includes recommended programs and makes them just one click away. This program has the unique feature of checking for and updating programs automatically, but it's not very user-friendly. Then again, you shouldn't really need to have the program open often because it will do everything in the background, so you can really just install it and forget about it. Since this is the free version, you don't get the features that are only in the pro edition, like malware detection and website blocking. These are the programs it's capable of auto-updating. Heimdal Free runs on Windows 7 and newer versions of Windows. During installation, choose the free option and then enter your email address to activate the free edition. OUTDATEfighter. Automatically performs a virus scan on all updates. Updates can be found for lots of programs. Also works as a third-party Windows Update tool and software uninstaller. Didn't seem to locate as many outdated programs as similar tools. Can't set up an auto-scan schedule to find outdated programs automatically. OUTDATEfighter does just as the name suggests—it protects your computer from outdated software by acting as a free program updater. It just takes one click to batch download or installs updates in OUTDATEfighter. This means you can place a check next to all the programs that need to be updated to have OUTDATEfighter download them all one after the other and then start launching the setup files. Before downloading updates, the setup files are even scanned for viruses, which is really helpful. At any time, you can open OUTDATEfighter to check for software that requires updates. You can also ignore any update to prevent update notifications for that particular program. We really like the fact that you don't need to open a web browser or search for the updated setup file on the internet. Everything is done from inside the program, and you can clearly see the old and updated version numbers (and sometimes release dates) for comparison. There's also a program uninstaller and a Windows Update utility included in OUTDATEfighter. OUTDATEfighter can be used on Windows operating systems from Windows XP up through Windows 10. Windows Server 2008 and 2003 are also supported. UCheck. Portable version available. Download and install updates in bulk. Includes other useful tools. Some features you see aren't free to use. Around 200 programs are supported in this free software updater. UCheck scans quickly, is easy to use, and doesn't make you open your web browser even once to get updates. Just scan for outdated software, check the box at the top to select all the outdated programs, and then hit Update Selected . All updates will download one after the other and then install on their own. You can also download and install updates individually if you want to not update a particular program for whatever reason. In the settings is a Windows Update option you can enable to see updates for the Windows OS in UCheck, too. A program uninstaller is built-in as well. Exclusions, scheduled scans, changing the cache directory, and some other features are available if you pay. Update Notifier. Gets updates from the program's original source. Set up a scan schedule. Check for updates in custom program installation folders. Portable version is available. You have to download the updates manually from your web browser. Updates aren't installed automatically. Update Notifier installs in seconds and can monitor software installations in the background to notify you when a program needs to be updated. A schedule can be setup to check for updates every so many days and hours, like every 3 hours or every 7 days, for example. Updates must be downloaded via a browser because Update Notifier does not let you download files directly through its program. However, the files from Update Notifier's website are pulled directly from the official websites of the applications, which help guarantee clean, up-to-date, original downloads. You can also configure Update Notifier to scan a particular folder outside the regular program files location. This would be ideal for finding updates to portable programs. Like some of the other program updaters from this list, Update Notifier also lets you ignore updates. A Watch List can be built if you sign up with Update Notifier so you can get alerts by email when new software updates are available. Update Notifier can also be run as a portable program if you choose that option during setup. You can use this program on Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP, and 2000. Software Updater. Downloads updates without leaving the application. Lets you auto-scan for outdated programs. It's easy to see what needs updated and what's already updated.