Closing security holes in outdated software - PSI

Skybird · 03-01-11, 05:27 PM

I found a very nice, free tool that helps you to identify security breaches hackers could abuse. It is Secunia'S PSI (Personal Software Inspector), and it is a quick and comfortable way to see which of your software is outdated and has newer versions available, for it scans all installed software and compares to the web's sources whether or not updates, patches or newer versions are available. From the results, you can easily trigger according update action.

This is especially helpful for software that is more or less hidden, has no icons, and that you have forgotten. For me it was an Excel viewer, and various versions of flash players. Also, lacking Windows security updates will trigger alarms.

I had to do several updates, and manually delete some things, to silence all alarms in repeated scans. Deal with all alrms one by opne, and after you are done, use PSI again to scan. Updates or deinstallatrions sometimes can cause subsequent security breaches. I thus had several runs before I got a 100% score.

Try it, it is very nice! But check the settings, and understand the options there. Especially if you run several partitions, you need to activated the others for scanning, too, because by default just c: is activated.

http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal

03-01-11, 05:27 PM	#1
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 42,614 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	Closing security holes in outdated software - PSI I found a very nice, free tool that helps you to identify security breaches hackers could abuse. It is Secunia'S PSI (Personal Software Inspector), and it is a quick and comfortable way to see which of your software is outdated and has newer versions available, for it scans all installed software and compares to the web's sources whether or not updates, patches or newer versions are available. From the results, you can easily trigger according update action. This is especially helpful for software that is more or less hidden, has no icons, and that you have forgotten. For me it was an Excel viewer, and various versions of flash players. Also, lacking Windows security updates will trigger alarms. I had to do several updates, and manually delete some things, to silence all alarms in repeated scans. Deal with all alrms one by opne, and after you are done, use PSI again to scan. Updates or deinstallatrions sometimes can cause subsequent security breaches. I thus had several runs before I got a 100% score. Try it, it is very nice! But check the settings, and understand the options there. Especially if you run several partitions, you need to activated the others for scanning, too, because by default just c: is activated. http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.