21 replies to this topic

[Sputnik]

Don't think I'm going to use it myself but some people might be interested. Filehippo has developed an update checker:

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The Update Checker will scan your computer for installed software, check the versions and then send this information to filehippo.com to see if there are any newer releases. These are then neatly displayed in your browser for you to download.

The client is FREE, only 100kb to download and only takes seconds to run! In fact on our test machines the process is complete in under 2 seconds!

What are the requirements?
The Update Checker works on any Windows PC running Vista, XP, 2003, 2000 or 98.
It requires that the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 is installed, which you may download directly from filehippo.com/download_dotnet_framework_2.

[rridgely]

Wow, I go to that site every day and never noticed it.
Its actually pretty cool. Its just a small stand alone .exe program and it only took like 3 seconds for it to tell me what wasn't updated(only firefox and paint.net since I didn't get the new one from today yet)

[mfenech]

I just subscribe to this http://www.filehippo.com/rss.html and keep it visible on my FF's Bookmarks toolbar. No big difference to using the checker, I guess.

[rridgely]

Not a huge difference, but where the update checker would come in handy is say you go to a friends house to fix their pc, and you notice that they have a ton of old software installed. With this program you would know exactly what needs updating without hunting around.

I'm pretty good about keeping my stuff up dated, but I don't think the checker is for me or you since we probably check file hippo daily to see whats new.

[Sputnik]

rridgely, on Mar 30 2007, 06:10 PM, said:

I'm pretty good about keeping my stuff up dated, but I don't think the checker is for me or you since we probably check file hippo daily to see whats new.

You're right. I guess we would also visit filehippo.com to see whether there are updates for the update checker

[JDPower]

I like it, found a couple of things that needed updating that I wasn't aware of (irfanview, process explorer). Several mistakes though - ATI Catalyst drivers (wrong drivers for my system), nVidia Forceware (nothing at all nvidia on my comp), RealPlayer (no update available) and Windows Live Messenger (I don't have any version of messenger installed).

Still useful though, and it is still beta so should improve.

[Andavari]

I noticed the Filehippo.com update checker a few days ago, however for me it's really of no use because I visit their site each and every day therefore I won't miss something.

JDPower, on Mar 30 2007, 12:02 PM, said:

Several mistakes though - ATI Catalyst drivers (wrong drivers for my system), nVidia Forceware (nothing at all nvidia on my comp), RealPlayer (no update available) and Windows Live Messenger (I don't have any version of messenger installed).

I've used update checkers before in the past and I've noticed that they sometimes will show incorrect downloads. It's no different for instance when visiting a PC manufacturer website that requires the inputting of a customer number which supposedly has updates configured just for your PC, and they too list some incorrect updates. It's all up to the user to know exactly what's needed and what isn't.

[JDPower]

Well I updated Irfanview, ran the FileHippo update checker again and its still saying it needs updating despite me having installed the version it says I need to update to. So its useful but far from reliable it seems.

[Andavari]

JDPower, on Mar 30 2007, 06:34 PM, said:

So its useful but far from reliable it seems.

Yeah but it's still in the beta phase of development.

[fireryone]

It quite good, I found a ton of programs needing updating lol

though I've noticed this bug

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Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.15a
Installed Version: 6.6.1.4
Latest Version: 6.6.1.15

and my favorite zip program has an update:

WinAce 2.6.0 to 2.6.5

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The latest version of WinAce now expires after 30 days and gives you the option of paying for a license or installing adware.

I think I'll stick to my old 30 day trial (doesn't expire, just like old WinZip it keeps going) exceeded by 150 days.... probably should move to a freeware alternative....

It even lists Beta Updates!

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You have the following 1 beta updates:
Skype 3.2.0.53 Beta
Installed Version: 2.5.0.141
Latest Version: 3.2.0.53

[Andavari]

fireryone, on Mar 30 2007, 08:34 PM, said:

WinAce 2.6.0 to 2.6.5
I think I'll stick to my old 30 day trial (doesn't expire, just like old WinZip it keeps going) exceeded by 150 days.... probably should move to a freeware

I urge you to check out 7-Zip then. I haven't used WinAce since the 2.2 version era and I even have a legal license for it however I won't be using it again for the simple fact there's adware in the installer a no go even though I have a valid license. I remember it being a tad bit clunkly which is why I switched to WinRAR back then, although WinAce wasn't buggy in anyway I could find.

I recently (just two days ago) switched to 7-Zip because the old non-upgradeable WinRAR 3.51 which was a special PSA Offer legally for free some months ago has a bug in it that causes it to stall when making some large archives and the only way to get it to moving again is to click it's active window (I've noticed this on three different Windows installations), I couldn't deal with that bug thus the switch to 7-Zip. WinRAR 3.51 also has a security exploit in one of the archive modules, I'm thinking it's LHA however it could be a different one. Of course I had to make my My Backups.bat file more thoroughly to cover all the files I was using WinRAR profiles to backup, and after doing so I wish I had switched a long time ago because my single batch files does everything at least 50% faster.

[fireryone]

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I urge you to check out 7-Zip then.

Thanks Andavari, I'll give it a go.
Only disappointment so far is it does not support un-Ace-ing (.ace) archives,
I know I have a few of those lying around...

[rridgely]

I'm not sure if its the same format, but zip genius has ace listed:
http://www.zipgenius.it/eng/?page_id=3

Never encountered a .ace myself.

[Andavari]

rridgely, on Mar 31 2007, 11:03 PM, said:

Never encountered a .ace myself.

It's similar in features to a WinRAR's RAR archive format in that it has an impressive compression ratio and a recovery record. Now if only the 7-Zip's 7z format could get a recovery record and ability to update existing archives, because although tighter in compression compared to RAR and ACE it takes longer because there's no updating of an archive.

[1984]

I use winrar on my desktop and zipgenius on my laptop, and love both programs. I actually prefer the look of winrar, but zipgenius has been user friendly as well, so I would recommend both programs if you are looking for a commercial and/or freeware product.

I wish I had known more about freeware before I went out and purchased all the software that I did a few years ago.

[Andavari]

1984, on Apr 1 2007, 10:53 AM, said:

I wish I had known more about freeware before I went out and purchased all the software that I did a few years ago.

Some payware is actually worth it in my opinion. It just matters though how it stacks up against the freeware/open source variants which are also available.

Most of the freeware/open source software I use have more features than that of their commercial counterpart but at the same time they can also have more open and unresolved bugs. Such a case of more features would be some audio software which can use LAME MP3 and OGG for encoding audio, whereas most commercial software comes with some built-in FhG MP3 encoder with no means of switching to LAME MP3 and OGG.

[Matt_]

As far that I am concerned, I only bought Winrar, Adobe Photoshop CS, Guitar Pro, Fraps, Nero 7 Ultimate (won that one in a contest though) and X-Setup. Never found freeware alternatives that did a better job.

[rridgely]

I pretty much use all freeware and a few programs I got from vnunet when they were giving away software. If there was something I needed that couldn't be gotten for free than I would buy it, but currently their isn't.

[JDPower]

rridgely, on Apr 2 2007, 09:19 PM, said:

I pretty much use all freeware and a few programs I got from vnunet when they were giving away software.

Shame they seem to have dried up lately though. I got Reg Mechanic through them and got to say, after using it for a few months, its by far the best reg cleaner I've used.

[rridgely]

Yeah, I got that too. Its a nice program and seems to do a good job.(hasn't caused any problems on any machine of mine yet, so I'm happy. )

The other ones I use is Ashampoo Burning Studio 5, Paragon Partition Manager, and True Image 7.
They are all very good programs, but I could live without them.