Do you ever feel like figuring how how to keep your computer updated is too much of a hassle? You already know why it’s good to run the latest security patches and updates, but it just takes too much time and isn’t simple enough. I agree – updating software on Windows should be much easier, but unfortunately Microsoft hasn’t done much to allow its users to easily update 3rd party software.

OUTDATEfighter, created by FIGHTERtools, is a new program that allows you to scan for software and Windows updates, without leaving the program’s window. That means no need to open a browser and manually download each program, like some other programs do.

The Interface

The interface for OUTDATEfighter is simple to use and relatively clean. On the left side, there are five tabs for various functions. In the top right corner, icons of the other programs by FIGHTERtools are displayed and include links to view the product’s webpages.

At the bottom left corner, the program version number is displayed, as well as help and support links. And on the bottom right corner there are links for the company Facebook page, About page, User ID (for the Pro version) and a software update link.

The Home Screen

The Home tab on the left simply gives an overview of the last scan, a summary of total scans versus total programs updated, and some device information, such as computer name, operating system, processor model, etc. It also includes an easily accessible red button to start a new update scan with.

Viewing Scanning Status and Updates

To start a new scan, view the status of a current one, or see what updates were found, click Last Scan, the second tab down on the left. When a scan is in progress, the window will appear like the one below.

After updates are found, they’ll be displayed in the same window. You can then select which ones you want to download and install, by checking the check boxes and downloading/installing them all at once, by clicking the big red button in the bottom right corner.

Of course, you can download and install each one manually by clicking the download/install buttons as well.

You might notice a few icons in the row of each software update. The “army helmet” icon in the Check column shows the status of the virus check (you can click it to see what the symbols mean).

The “folder” icon in the Info column opens the file location of the download. And the icon with an “I” in a speech bubble provides additional software details such as the version, size and link to software page.

Uninstall Unneeded Programs

The third tab down in the let panel, titled Uninstall, allows you to view all the programs installed on your computer and includes information such as the software publisher, install date and program size. You can easily uninstall any program by clicking the red Uninstall button. Unfortunately there is no “bulk uninstall” option at this point.

Update Windows From The Same Window

OUTDATEfighter conveniently allows you to update Windows as well. On the left side, click the Update Windows tab. The main screen is separated into two tabs: Important updates and Optional updates – just like the standard Windows Updater. In each row for an update, there are three columns: Name, Size and Info. The Info column has an icon you can click that provides more information about the update.

In the bottom right corner, there’s a link to view Windows update history.

Exploring Some Settings

The Settings tab contains the General Settings, Windows update history and the Ignore List.

Here, there are a variety of languages you’re able to choose from: Czech, Danish, German, Dutch, Thai, and of course English. Other settings include auto scanning upon launching the program, running the program when Windows starts up and manually checking for software updates for OUTDATEfighter.

Conclusion

Overall, OUTDATEfighter is a great piece of software created by a reputable company. OUTDATEfighter isn’t the first program to solve the problem of out-of-date software – there are other programs out there, such as File Hippo’s Update Checker and SUMo, but OUTDATEfighter is a solid alternative.

So now we turn to you – how do you keep your computer updated? Or do you even bother? If you don’t check for updates regularly, do you think you would if it was easier? I encourage you to look into OUTDATEfighter as a viable solution. However, if you found something else that works better, by all means, use that instead – the end goal is to have up-to-date software, no matter what method you use. So now it’s your turn to share with us your thoughts on OUTDATEfighter or even other solutions that you have used in the past.

Download: OUTDATEfighter

The post OUTDATEfighter: Keep Your Computer Updated And Bloatware-Free With This Fantastic Tool [Windows] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

iOS and other platforms come built around automatic updates to core functionality and additional software that you should install. That’s one huge benefit of having the App Store. Windows isn’t quite there yet. However, that hasn’t kept certain third-party developers from molding that sort of a feature for you. As mentioned before, Ninite makes that easy on you. Soft2Base makes it even easier, and I’ll show you how today.

Click here to check out Soft2Base!

Soft2Base is a software manager for Windows that scans for over 60 of the most popular applications and ensures that your computer is running the very latest version. If not, Soft2Base can silently download and automatically install them for you.

On launch, Soft2Base makes it easy for you by displaying all of their supported software. As you can see at the bottom left, there are display filters that will allow you to narrow down the listed software by installed or not, need to be updated, already up to date, and more recent than listed. In the next screenshot, you’ll see that I’ve filtered to only see software on my system that needs to be updated.

You can then check off the software you’d like to update and click Next. Here, you’ll notice more important options at the bottom left of the screen. You’re able to choose if you’d like to install without comparing, install silently, or download without installing. I never recommend running through silent installs, as that is how you can get toolbars and other bloatware stuffed onto your system.

Soft2Base will automatically begin downloading your software and the installation prompts will automatically pop up if you’ve chosen to install them manually.

I’ve yet to run into any issues on Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) and it’s worked like a charm thus far. Additional features include the ability to create and save a profile that consists of only certain software that you’d like to monitor and keep up to date. The software supports English, Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Turkish, and is completely portable. You’re also able to view logs and downloaded files, all within the interface.

Simply put, Soft2Base does everything that we’d be doing manually in an automatic way. Running Soft2Base also means that you’ll be able to disable annoying system services, like iTunes’ auto-updater, Google Update, Java’s update process, and more. This could mean, if you’re on a less beefy system, a faster computer.

As Soft2Base grows, look forward to a larger base of software being supported. From what I’ve read, there are no plans to support Linux and Mac versions of applications yet. Let me know what you think of this neat little tool in the comments!

The post Soft2Base Automatically Updates 61 Popular Windows Applications appeared first on MakeUseOf.

LoL has done a great service to the world of online gaming by being a gold-standard example of how an online game can be completely free, yet incredibly sustainable (like when I play Shen in the top lane). In the next patch, several improvements are made to the game. Let’s look over them.

Update To Summoner’s Rift

What you’re looking at above is a zoomed-out view of something we’ve all run through so often – Summoner’s Rift. Many LoL addicts would probably not argue that Summoner’s Rift needs a facelift. It looks nice and I’m used to it. While the next patch won’t completely change the appearance and shape of Summoner’s Rift, pretty much every aspect of the map will be touched up just a bit.

The main goal that Riot has pinpointed here is the desire to improve frustrates. I personally don’t have worry about my framerate on the highest settings (as I have one beast of a PC), but a lot of players are being forced to use lower display preferences. If you’re not a visual person and prefer optimal performance, the new Summoner’s Rift could show as much as double your old framerate.

On medium-level settings, you should see a vast improvement as well. It’s great that Riot has addressed this issue, because I’ve been on a computer that gets a low FPS on LoL, and it’s a very hopeless feeling. Playing with 25 FPS is a drag.

Other than strict visual differences, the shop will now be right beside the summoner’s platform. It’ll be complemented with new animations for the shopkeeper. I’m not sure if that’s strictly visual or or if the shop function, as a hotkey, has been completely removed. We’ll see (or you could let us all know in the comments, as I’ve not found that information anywhere).

HUD Overhaul

Not only is the map getting improved, but the UI should be seeing improvements as well. The main goal here is, again, a better FPS for players.

The new HUD will offer a few new icons, text that is easier to read, and you’ll finally be able to see your minion kills without peeking at the scoreboard. They’ll be displayed at the top right of your screen, near your kills, deaths, and assists.

A New Ashe

Isn’t it about time? Ashe is one of the oldest champions in the game, and she desperately needs a makeover.

In the new patch, Ashe will see visual improvements to the champion model itself, animations, particles, splash art, and voiceover.

Turret Improvements

This is a big change, especially for those of you who frequently play champions with a health/shield buff.

In this new patch, an icon will be displayed above your champion when a turret has you targeted. You’ll also hear a sound.

Queue & Draft Changes

In ranked solo/duo queue, say goodbye to the free-to-play champion rotation. You’ll only be able to summon champions that you’ve purchased from the shop. At ranked level though, you should probably have most champions that you intend to play.

Riot describes this change as motivated because they want a more competitive atmosphere in ranked games. Players have apparently “tested out” champions in ranked games during the free rotations. It makes a lot of sense that this will help Riot sustain the free-to-play game model, so I can see this change working progressively both ways.

As for normal draft games, there will now be a 20% chance for every player to be the captain of their team, regardless if some players on the team are pre-made or not.

New Item: Athene’s Unholy Grail

Chalice of Harmony has been getting pushed to the side by far too many players, so Riot has decided to add a new item for champions that desperately require mana regeneration. Chalice of Harmony builds into Athene’s Unholy Grail, so this is a huge endgame item that we’ll inevitably be seeing a lot it.

Let me know what you think about Riot’s changes to League of Legends in the comments, and check out the full patch notes here! If there’s one thing I love to chat about, it’s gaming.

The post League Of Legends Darius Patch Overview [MUO Gaming] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

After reading reading Tina’s article on why you should keep Windows updated, and Justin’s article on why you should keep Ubuntu updated, I think it’s fairly obvious how important it is to keep everything on your PC up to date and completely patched.

The problem remains – it takes time, and time is something that I really don’t have a lot of these days. Thankfully, there’s a really cool application called Patch My PC that helps you manage and schedule patches of not only your Windows OS, but also a whole list of other commonly used applications you likely have on your PC.

Letting Patch My PC Manage Your Updates

Everyone knows that having old versions of anything from Firefox or Chrome to MS Word or Flash can introduce security holes in your system, because you don’t have the latest patches that developers have issued to “patch up” issues that hackers have exploited with that software.

The thing is, how is a person supposed to realistically go through everything you’ve got installed to upload and install updates? Just think of the time that would consume. However, with Patch My PC, you can have a tool to check whether you need updates, and that can automatically install all of those updates for you in one click.

When you first launch Patch My PC, you’ll see a full list of all of the most common applications that the software can check and update for you.

You’ll find programs like Skype, various popular browsers, plugins like Quicktime or Flash, or other apps like iTunes and CCleaner.  If you want to see whether your own software installations are out of date, click on the “Re-Check Software” button.

There are also other programs in addition to the most common ones on the default list. To see them, just click on the “Other” tab and browse through the additional apps that Patch My PC can update for you. I added Audacity to my list, but if you scroll down you’ll see a whole lot of other applications available.

Patch My PC will also deal with Windows Updates for you. Unlike your standard automatic Windows Update that you can enable with Windows, Patch My PC provides convenient visibility to a description of all of the critical patches your system doesn’t have. Rather than just blindly updating your PC, it’s nice to see exactly what updates are needed so you know exactly what’s getting installed on your PC.

You can customize how the software scans your PC and updates software  by clicking on the “Options” tab in the right pane. Here you can have the software not update some of the programs, and you can configure exactly how you want the software to behave – like auto-update on PC start or auto-restart after applying updates – with the check boxes in the right pane.

Another useful feature built into this software that’s similar to other PC Startup configuration apps we’ve covered here at MUO, is the “Startup Items” tab. This is where you will see all of the programs that are configured to launch when your PC boots. You can quickly enable, disable or delete items by right clicking and making your selection.

The Uninstaller tab also gives you quick access to the sort of Add/Delete Programs items that you’d find in your control panel. This makes it pretty convenient to quickly remove troublesome or old software – all you have to do is right-click and uninstall. Do you have a pesky app that is uninstalled but won’t delete from your list? Just click “Remove Program Entry” and Patch My PC will take care of it for you.

All of those special features aside – the core of this software is really all about keeping your OS and programs all up to date and patched with one click. When you do click on the “Perform Updates” button, you can watch in the status area as the software works through your selected software list and updates each of them, one at a time.

If there are any problems or errors, the software will pause the process and wait for you to fix the problem – like closing windows for example.

Once the updates are done, you can sleep better at night knowing that your OS and every common app (the ones that hackers are most likely to target) is completely patched and up to date – meaning that your PC is better protected.

How do you keep your PC and software up to date and patched? Do you think Patch My PC would help you save time and energy? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Time to Upgrade via Shutterstock,

The post Conveniently Patch Windows & All Programs With Patch My PC [Windows] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

In case you are still not convinced, let me elaborate a little more on the three main reasons why you should install the latest Windows security patches and updates.

1. Protect Your System From Malicious Software

Hardly any code is perfect and sooner or later weaknesses will be identified. Security issues are the worst possible errors, as they may be exploited by malware to access and potentially damage your system. Here is a description of a cumulative security update published in December 2011:

Security issues have been identified in ActiveX controls that could allow an attacker to compromise a system running Microsoft Internet Explorer and gain control over it. You can help protect your system by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you ay have to restart your computer.

Security issues are regularly identified in various parts of the Windows operating system, including ActiveX, Internet Explorer, .NET Framework, or the main platform. Even if you do not run the respective software, it is a risk not to patch it, simply because it is installed on your system. Note that these updates are required, even if you are running anti-malware or anti-virus software, as that software may not sufficiently protect you from Windows security issues.

Potential consequences of not installing security updates are damaged software, loss of data, or identity theft. Every year, malware causes damage of millions of dollars worldwide. The main reason is that users don’t install critical software or Windows updates, allowing malware to exploit loopholes that have long been patched. Vulnerabilities can potentially be exploited within hours of them becoming publicly known. So once a security update is available, you should immediately install the fix to protect your system from malware attacks.

2. Resolve General Windows Issues and Bugs

The second type of update addresses more general bugs and issues of the Windows operating system. These updates typically contain several fixes in one go. Below is the generic description of an update published in February 2012:

Install this update to resolve issues in Windows. For a complete listing of the issues that are included in this update, see the associated Microsoft Knowledge Base article for more information. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

While these non critical errors are not responsible for security-relevant vulnerabilities, they may still be very annoying as they potentially impact the performance and stability of Windows. So the main reason for installing general updates is to avoid or resolve Windows issues and hopefully have a smooth and pleasant Windows user experience.

3. Access New Windows & Software Features

Finally, Windows updates often introduce new features, while also fixing some known issues. A good example is Internet Explorer. Even if you don’t plan on using the respective software, you should still run these updates, considering they often come with significant improvements and you may end up being forced to use the software after all. Moreover, Microsoft will eventually cease support for outdated software, e.g. old versions of Internet Explorer. This means that if new vulnerabilities are discovered, they will not be patched, as users are expected to run the latest version of the program.

Conclusion

It is critical to install security updates to protect your computer from malicious attacks. In the long run, it is also important to install software updates, not only to access new features, but also to be on the safe side in terms of security loop holes being discovered in outdated programs. And it is in your own best interest to install all other updates, which may potentially cause your system to be buggy.

I recommend to download Windows updates automatically, but choose whether and when to install them. Do, however, make an effort to install them as soon as possible. Rebooting really isn’t that bad!

How do you handle Windows updates? Have you ever had to roll back an update or did you ever suffer the consequences of not installing an update? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments.

The post 3 Reasons Why You Should Be Running The Latest Windows Security Patches & Updates appeared first on MakeUseOf.

The breach, which was not fully disclosed until January of this year, included the source code of Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition, Norton Internet Security and Norton SystemWorks. These, however, have been changed significantly since the leak. Symantec pcAnywhere has had fewer revisions, and so remains vulnerable.

Remote control of a vulnerable computer is the main concern. A hacker with access to the source code could use it to launch unauthorized remote sessions against the software, resulting in potential data theft.

Symantec claims that it did not know at the time of the breach that source code had been taken. The issue came to public light only when a hacker group posted it to the web. It was then jumped on by Anonymous. One member publicly tweeted All your NU+PCAnywhere base are belong to us.

The solution? For now, the only guaranteed solution is to stop using the software entirely. A hotfix has been released, but Symantec is continuing to investigate and plans to release several more patches. Companies that can’t afford to disable pcAnywhere are advised to practice best security practices until all issues are resolved – a nice way of saying that they’ll simply have to be patient and wait.

Sources: PC World, Tom’s Guide

The post Symantec Recommends Disabling pcAnywhere Pending Patch [News] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

The patch is designed to protect against 8 specific vulnerabilities discovered in Microsoft’s web browser. While the details of each are not revealed, the company did state on its Security TechCenter blog that the worst vulnerabilities allowed for remote code execution. If a user with administrative rights visited a site that takes advantage of this exploit, an attack could do significant damage before the user realizes something is wrong.

Solving this threat required that Microsoft modify “the way that Internet Explorer handles objects in memory and the way that Internet Explorer allocates and accesses memory.” Thus, the patch.

If your computer is set up for automatic updates, the patch should be downloaded and installed to your computer automatically. You can check to see if the update was installed by opening Windows Update and then clicking on “View Update History.” The update will likely be listed as a “Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 9.”

Users who have for some reason turned off automatic updates can install it by opening Windows Update and browsing to the Important Updates. Select the update related to this threat and then click the install button. This will install the IE9 related update only.

Source: CNET

The post Microsoft Releases IE9 Security Update, Guards Against 8 Vulnerabilities [News] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Another important and largely overlooked issue related to security and performance of your computer involves keeping the installed software updated. Contrary to popular belief, most of the free software is also constantly being developed and software version updates are available every now and then. So how do you keep track when a newer version for one of your installed software is available? Well you can manually keep checking sites like FileHippo, Softpedia, Download.com or you can use a tool like Techtracker.

Techtracker does all the heavy lifting for you when it comes to making sure the installed software is up to date. CNET requires you to register before you can download Techtracker, which is a bit annoying but comes in handy later in the form of software version update alerts and reports.

Once installed, Techtracker will scan your computer for installed software, check the version you have installed on your computer and the latest version that is available. In about a minute or two you can view the findings. It will list the software version updates that are available. Clicking on any one of them will take you to a detailed report of the scan.

The report lists all the software that Techtracker is tracking. The ones that need updating are displayed towards the top of the list. It lists the version you have installed on your computer and the latest version that is available. You can also find the download link for the latest version. Keep in mind that the download link would be to the latest version, if you are looking for a specific version you might have to hunt around.

The more info links display useful information like ratings, downloads and the file size. You can also customize the alert preferences from this page. By default the alerts are off. You can turn on alerts for all software which means that you will get an email when a newer version of any of your installed software is available, or you can turn off alerts on selected software that you want to be excluded from this feature.

What if you have more than one computer? Does Techtracker support multiple computers? Short answer: NO, Long answer: by the looks of it, they might support multiple computers in the future with a Techtracker pro application and some bucks (hmm..). Right now you would have to uninstall Techtracker from your computer, unlink the computer from your CNET account and then install Techtracker on the second computer.

Phew! That is some work, creating another account seems easier. How do you keep your computer software versions updated? We would love to hear about it in the comments.

The post Find Newer Versions Of Installed Software with Techtracker appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Surely updating all of your applications manually one by one is not an option. The process should be done as automatically as it can. That’s what computer and technology is all about, right?

Mac OS X comes with its own software update application, but it is limited only to its native applications. That leaves the 3rd-party applications on the stone-age manual-updating world. There are applications that has automatic update features but you still have to open the application to activate it. So much for an automation, huh?

There are several alternatives for Windows; while for Mac there’s AppFresh, the app that will help Mac users to keep all installed applications, widgets, preference panes and application plugins always up to date.

How to keep the rest fresh

The idea behind this app is to provide an easy to use central place – which is fully integrated with Mac OS X – to update all of the 3rd party apps. No more “always updating just before using” thing (or worst: “go online and find the updates yourself”). AppFresh will keep your apps in the latest top notch condition and have them ready to use everytime you open them.

To ensure the “freshness” of its performance, AppFresh integrates the most popular and most common update checking technologies into itself such as Apple Software Update, Sparkle, Microsoft AutoUpdate, Adobe Updater, OSX.IUseThis and more.

However, as with every other beta version application out there, please note that there might be glitches with this one also. So, it’s better to backup than be sorry.

Freshen Up the List

After downloading and unarchiving the 1.4 Mb small zip file, you can directly put AppFresh to use.

The first window that you’ll see upon using the app for the first time is the warning window telling the users that the preview 8 version of the app is still under development process and that the users should always do backup.

There’s also an optional offer to integrate AppFresh with the IUseThis service.

Then AppFresh will scan your system for all of the installed apps,

followed by the process of finding updates to all of those apps.

The result will be listed and grouped into several main categories: Status (Updated, Unknown, Update Available), Type (Applications, Plugins, Widgets, PrefPanes), Vendors (Apple, Third Party), and My Categories (which you can customize to fit your needs).

Here’s the scan result from my Mac: There are 391 applications inside my system (I know there are many, but I’ve never guessed there were that many).  117 of them are updated while the other 109 can be updated with the available newer version. The status of the remaining 165 are unknown.

Select one of the apps and you will get some information about it on the right pane. Right click on the app and you will have several choices of action from the pop-up menu. To update the app, choose “Install”.

You can also update many apps all at once by selecting several (or all) apps on the list, right click and choose Install.

After the updating process is finished, a Growl notification will pop up.

I also found another useful usage of AppFresh: to delete apps. From the list of installed apps populated by AppFresh, I found many apps that I’ve never used and totally forgotten about. So I just right click on them and choose “Send To Trash”. Spring cleaning comes early this year :).

Have you tried AppFresh to update your mac software? Do you know other alternatives? Share your thoughts and opinions using the comments below.

The post How To Automatically Update 3′rd Party Apps on Your Mac appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Google Updater is a part of the Google Pack (Google’s own apps and a few third party tools like Firefox, Norton Security Scan etc.). Google Updater is the small itsy bitsy “installer” that downloads and installs the software. But its brevity goes beyond that as it also monitors the apps for updates and manages their run. In short, it’s a meta-installer and auto-updater.

The two hitches “¦

Being a package management app also means that Google Updater continues to run behind the scenes though in the new version it is controlled by the Windows Task Manager to run once every hour. You can see it running in the background by doing a Ctrl + Alt + Del and going down the Task Manager entries. Some users feel that apps should give the option of self-timed updates rather than the auto-updater butting in. (It is especially annoying when the firewall catches it while auto-updating). Also, a separate service running in the computer (and consuming resources) for update checking is the exception rather than the rule.

Then according to Google,

When Google Update communicates with Google servers, it sends IDs of Google Update-managed applications on your computer and general usage information for these applications. Google Update also uses its own, randomly-generated unique ID number to accurately count total users. This information includes version numbers, languages, operating system, and other install or update-related details, such as whether or not the applications have been run. This information is not associated with you or your Google Account. Additional information may be sent if you choose to send your usage statistics for Google Chrome.

It is this point where a lot of brow wrinkling has come about. Though the information is sent using random IDs, any user might feel a bit ill at ease with his usage information being uploaded however benign the intention. While Google has tried to ease the issues by open sourcing the Google Updater code (the Omaha project), a lot of us will still have a go at blocking it.

The 2 ways to disable Google Updater

A. Remove from startup

1. Click on Start ““ Run. Type in msconfig in the Open field and click OK.
2. The System Configuration Utility opens up. Select the Startup tab. Go down to the GoogleUpdate startup item and deselect it.
3. Restart the computer.

B. Stop the Google Update service from running

1. Click on Start ““ Run. Type in services.msc in the Open field and click OK.
2. In Services, scroll down to GoogleUpdate Service. Double click on it to open the Properties box (or right click and select Properties).  The Startup Type drop-down lists three options ““ select Disabled.
3. Click on Apply and OK.

The 2 ways to manage Google Updater

Manage Updates using the Task Scheduler

Spurred by the concerns of an automatic updater as a background process, Google now has added the option ““ Let me check for updates myself under the Preferences tab. Also, the Updater runs only periodically as per the Windows Task Scheduler.

To run the task scheduler, click Start – All Programs – Accessories – System Tools – Scheduled Tasks.

The default interval for Updates is to connect to Google’s servers once an hour. It will stop running after it checks for updates. You can change the schedule double clicking on the Google Software Updater and setting a new time in the Schedule Tab.

But as Google says, if the Updater or the Task scheduler is seen to be not working properly then Google Update resumes its automatic behavior. I am also not sure whether a new install of a Google app affect the user set update time.

The Google Updater can also be configured to update either all software in the Google Pack or only software developed by Google. And if you no longer use any Google apps, it uninstalls itself.

Manage Updates using the Group Policy Editor

In mid-May, Google explained how the Google Update could be customized (set update periods or disable it) for enterprise users using the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) using an imported administrative template. Power users can check out the detailed instructions given in the help.

Most software these days feature automatic updates. The need to keep applications updated is vital to plug malware attacks and remove bugs. But many users voice that there is no need to check for updates so frequently. If your voice is one of them then these methods would help in “˜caging the little beast’.

Do you agree with the concerns or do you feel that automatic updates are the way to go? Let us know in the comments.

The post Manage Application Updates With The ‘Google Updater’ Service [Windows] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

I’m sure you’ve had to deal with this; It pops up every ten minutes after a major system update. Fortunately, it can be turned off. I’m going to help you to create a shortcut that will turn this nag off when double-clicked.

So, how to stop automatic updates from restarting your PC

Step 1

Your first step is to open Notepad. (Start > Run > “Notepad” > OK)

In Notepad, just type the command “net stop wuauserv” (no quotes, as in above). Then close the window, and select “Yes” to save changes.

Step 2

What we’re doing is creating an executable batch file which will run a command when double-clicked, to stop the Windows Automatic Updates Service. Make sure that your “Save as type” is set to “All Files“ so that you don’t accidently create a text file. Save your file with an extension of “.bat“

Step 3

This cute little batch file is what you’re left with.

When Windows starts nagging you to restart, just double click this to run it and stop the service. You won’t be bothered again. The service will restart when you reboot, which is needed to install the updates in the first place.

Is there anything that Windows does that annoys you? Maybe we can find a fix for it. Are yu awrae of any easier way to stop automatic updates from restarting your Windows. Please give us some ideas in the comments.

Think it’s time to update your PC? Varun will teach you 5 Ways To Update Your Windows Operating System.

The post How to Stop Annoying “Restart” Prompt after Windows Updates appeared first on MakeUseOf.

Keeping up with the constant updates is an art in itself. Not everybody has the time nor the willingness to do that. That’s why most modern software and operating systems have the automatic-updates feature built in.

Mac OS X is no exception.

Software Update Settings

Mac OS X uses an application called Software Update to help keep users up to date with all Apple-related updates. This app is located in the Apple Menu.

By default, Software Update will regularly check the updates in the background. But the settings can be changed via System Preferences –> Software Updates

After the Software Updates Preferences window opens, choose the “Scheduled Check” tab.

Users can also check all the updates that have been installed in the past from the “Installed Updates” tab.

Everything is set to run automatically, from checking to the installing. With user’s permission, Software Updates will acquire the files, install them, and get out of the sight. But the minimal user participation might not fit everyone’s preference.

The Missing Updates

From my low-speed internet connection point of view, most of the updates downloaded from Apple are enormously huge. Some files could go above a hundred megabytes. The thought of having to re-downloading them again gives me major goosebumps.

But it seems that after the installation process, all the downloaded files are nowhere to be found. It means that under this condition, if a person who owns (or manages) several Macs wants update OS X, he/she has to download all of the updates in each and every machine. Wow.

Editor’s note: You may also find some software update packages in /Library/Receipts/

I’m sure that there are a lot of Mac users who would like to backup the updates to be reused later – or to be installed on other machine(s) – but don’t know how.

There’s an easy way to do just that.

Saving the Updates

In the updating process, right after the Software Update window has opened, do not click the “Install X Item(s)” below. Instead, click on the Update menu and choose “Download Only”. Then, continue with the updating process.

After the download is done, you can choose to install the update packages or just close the Software Update window.

Either way, the downloaded packages are stored in the Download folder.

Using this method, me and my fellow Mac users with crawling internet connections could collect and share updates. We can save time, bandwidth, and money; while strengthening the bonds among members of the community.

As always, share your thoughts, opinions and experiences in the comment below. And don’t forget to check out other MakeUseOf articles about software updates.

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