With the application vulnerability threat landscape evolving more and more towards 3rd party application exploits (Flash, Adobe, Winamp,….) instead of the classic network worms based on Microsoft Windows exploits, it becomes more and more needed to keep this 3rd party software up to date as well.
In large managed environments this is done by a central system which updates the software on your PC to the latest (and secure) version as soon as the central administrator deploys it. It is the network administrator’s task to keep track of what software requires an update.
In small environments (or at home) where these kinds of systems are not in place, you have to do it for yourself! For Microsoft software, this is no problem as it is handled through Windows Update. But how do you know which of the software tools installed on your system urgently needs an update?
Well, F-Secure released a free online checkup tool which you can let loose on your system.
It reports for all software on your system whether it should be updated or if it is configured in an unsecure manner.
The tool itself runs only through an ActiveX control in Internet Explorer which is the only disadvantage of the tool. I would have preferred a stand-alone application but I am not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.