Filehippo Update Checker Beta

Filehippo is a great site for downloading the latest as well as older versions of our favorite applications. They’ve released a nifty piece of software called Filehippo Update Checker which scans for the installed apps in your computer and sends the information back to their server to check if any updates are available. Finally, it opens your browser to show the available updates.

The ultra light Filehippo update checker weighs only around 108kb. It’s a standalone app, which means you can run it without installing. You could even carry it in your portable storage devices. I’ll rate this application as a “must have”. Hardly few of us have the habit of checking for updates manually. I’m sure people who are concerned regarding privacy won’t love this app because it transmits the data over to their server. However, they promise not to keep any of your data.

via Lifehacker

This post was published by on April 5, 2007

About the Author: Thilak Rao works as a Social Media Expert. He is one of the first professional bloggers from India, and he loves to write, travel and click photos. Follow him on Twitter @thilak

  • http://www.avirtualexit.com Gili

    Thilak, you are spot on witht he privacy issue.
    I would add also the fact that applications might not work correctly if required components are upgraded. Take for example the Java Runtime environment. Applications using it are not automatically certified to run on 1.6, and end-users are not capable to determine what to upgrade and what not.

  • http://anirudhsanjeev.org Anirudh

    nothing…NOTHING comes even close to apt on debian(or ubuntu)

  • http://www.technospot.net/blogs/ Ashish Mohta

    Sounds like a pretty good tool, But Can it be trusted.Its can access all my application information….?

  • http://shankarthetechie.blogspot.com Shankar Ganesh

    Unlike the apps on linux, to update the windows apps, I ve to download the ENTIRE SETUP FILE again. That’s bad :(

  • http://shankarthetechie.blogspot.com/2007/04/speed-links-things-i-missed-this-week.html Shankar’s Tech Blog 2.0>>Speed Links for April 7, 2007

    [...]Filehippo Update Checker Beta – Tech-Buzz[...]

  • http://www.zath.co.uk Zath

    I tried this out the other day, it does seem rather useful and I ended up wwith about 15 programs that were out of date, most of which I would never normally check, so it’s definitely does a good job!

    For this this kind of convenience, you are sacrificing some privacy, depends whether you feel it’s worthwhile?

  • http://mainstream-guides.com eisenworks

    I researched FileHippo Update Checker, as well as Secunia Personal Software Inspector, and found no privacy-related issues with either one. Also, neither automatically updates anything. Rather, you are simply given a list, along with download links, to newer versions of the software you are using. If you want to actually see how these programs operate, you can look at screencasts on them here:

    http://mainstream-guides.com/secunia-psi
    http://mainstream-guides.com/filehippo

  • http://tech-buzz.net/2007/10/09/batch-update-outdated-software-with-appsnap/ Batch Update Outdated Software with AppSnap

    [...] that frequently updating them is a serious time killer. Of course, there are tools like Filehippo Update Checker, Secunia Software Inspector or more recently, UpdateStar. But the problem is that these tools only [...]

  • emil.sekula

    The problem is Update Checker doesn’t recognize in my computer next programs:
    1. BitDefender
    2. VLC
    3. Foxit Reader
    4. Google Web Accelerator
    5. .NET Framework
    6. DirectX
    Somebody know how to configurate it ?

  • http://na tzar

    i found something similar… and it doesn’t require .net framework to be installed

    it’s called update notifier from cleansofts.org ( http://cleansofts.org/view/update-notifier.html)

    it’s also beta… but i think it’s pretty good for now

  • emil.sekula

    Well. Maybe it doesn’t require .net framework but it doesn’t analyze most of the popular programs, for example:
    1. Power Defragmenter
    2. RegSeeker
    3. KeePass
    4. Revo Uninstaller
    5. Rainlendar
    6. Notepad++
    7. FastStone Image Viewer
    8. Miranda
    9. Feed Demon

  • http://mainstream-guides.com eisenworks

    tzar:

    > and it doesn’t require .net framework to be installed

    I find it curious that this has become a virtue in and of itself. .Net is simply a runtime library that an increasing number of software developers are relying on. I don’t think it’s a communist conspiracy.

  • http://shankarthetechie.blogspot.com/ Shankar Ganesh

    Unlike the apps on linux, to update the windows apps, I ve to download the ENTIRE SETUP FILE again. That's bad :(