Prog Similar To Filehippo Application Manager ?

[Mike]

I had been using Filehippo Application Manager for some months and all was
fine but today after Windows updates have been installed I am getting the
Filehippo results page with no programs shown. I have several computers and
all are showing this .

I am wondering if it is down to any other extensions I have,I even tried
Internet Explorer which I don't install any extensions,hardly use and get
the same results

http://filehippo.com/download_app_manager

Is their a similar application manager I could try ?
Thanks

Mike.





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[Count Bernadotte]

The short answer is they are all fubar. However, I provisionally SUMO and also Secunia--with a salt mine added in. Procedure: find the application which Sumo or Secunia indict as being in need of updating, and find its specifics (example): it is IE #12-350 etc. Check, do I have that? Check, what is the latest IE (hypothetical)? Maybe you need to get the latter rendition--or, maybe not!! It's as bad as quibbling with Hummingbird. Better, sure, scads of them, and they all are worse!! Go figure!!
Hint: go and see what Ian Richards, Tech Support Alert, says.

[Count Bernadotte]

On Thursday, 11 June 2015 09:04:05 UTC-6, Count Bernadotte wrote:
> On Thursday, 11 June 2015 08:45:21 UTC-6, Mike wrote:
> > I had been using Filehippo Application Manager for some months and all was
> > fine but today after Windows updates have been installed I am getting the
> > Filehippo results page with no programs shown. I have several computers and
> > all are showing this .
> >
> > I am wondering if it is down to any other extensions I have,I even tried
> > Internet Explorer which I don't install any extensions,hardly use and get
> > the same results
> >
> > http://filehippo.com/download_app_manager
> >
> > Is their a similar application manager I could try ?
> > Thanks
> >
> > Mike.

Mike, this is the best guide to your choices that I am aware of:
<<http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-software-update-monitor.htm>>
Best Free Software Update Monitor
Submitted by MidnightCowboy | Last update on 21st April, 2015 - 5:33am


In a Hurry?
Go straight to the Quick Selection Guide
Introduction
Developers usually release new versions of software after improving its features, GUI, removing some bugs or when security weaknesses in earlier versions were fixed. If you would like to keep the software on your computer up-to-date, you may find it difficult and time-consuming if you have many programs installed. Sometimes software will automatically check for updates (such as Adobe Reader, Mozilla's Firefox and Thunderbird, Skype, iTunes, etc.), or it will update itself (e.g. Google Chrome) but this isn't true of all software. That's where Software Update Monitors (SUMs) are useful. A (sometimes) quick scan of your computer by one of these products will reveal which software is old and needs to be updated.

So, if you would like to know which tools I recommend to keep your software updated (and which I use to keep my software updated), read on. Just a word of warning though, updated software may behave in a manner that is different to the version you have installed. Very rarely updates may have a bug that makes it unsafe to upgrade. If you have any doubts, please do an internet search for any problems related to the upgrade.

Discussion
There are different types of users that may wish to use update monitors, so I have separated them into four categories. The first is for the security concious. I recommend that everyone install this excellent application. The second category is for people that want an easy way of keeping their software updated, the third is for intermediate/advanced users that don't mind taking some time to set up their software, while the final category is for Mac users.

Security
Picture of Personal Software Inspector (PSI)Secunia's Personal Software Inspector (PSI) is an incredible software updater that all Windows users should have installed. It may not keep your software updated when there are no known security issued related to the software, but it will ensure that your software is at the most secure it can be. It will let you know which programs are patched, which are insecure and which are no longer maintained. It even gives the installed software a rating related to its impact on the security of your computer. After it has scanned your PC, it can remain open in the background to keep an eye on any changes you make. It lists all your programs, and provides links to the vendor's homepage, technical details, the installation folder and "Add/Remove Programs". If it detects software that requires patching, it will provide a link to the download page, or update the software itself. Unfortunately, it's not perfect and does not support as much software as SUMo, but it works well and I would suggest using it occasionally to ensure your computer has no security flaws due to out-of-date software.

Easy-To-Use
Screen shot of UDN scan resultsFileHippo's Update Checker (UDC) is fast and very easy to use, but detects only a limited number of programs (probably adequate for most users). It scans quickly and takes you to a webpage that provides a list of the programs it detected and links to the FileHippo download page for the new software. It also allows you to decide whether or not to view Beta software. In order to detect portable software, you have to add the folder in which the program resides to the custom search space. This makes it slower, and it still doesn't detect all software. Instead it detects only the software that's available on the FileHippo website. However, UDC does allow multiple folders of portable software to be added to the custom search space, thereby potentially reducing the search space and speeding up the search. Beware though, there have been unconfirmed reports of UDC presenting problems to those users that have a non-English version of Windows installed. Further feedback regarding this problem would be appreciated.

Intermediate/Advanced Users
Picture of Software Update Monitor (SUMo)My favourite software update monitor is KC Softwares' Software Update Monitor Lite (SUMo) and it may be the best software update monitor for expert users. It's faster than Secunia's PSI, but slower than UDC and requires more bandwidth to check for updates than UDC. During a normal scan SUMo will search your start menu for a list of programs, while a complete scan checks your "Program Files" folder, yielding more results that may require some selective elimination. SUMo also let's you decide whether or not you want to be notified about Beta software. Another feature that you may or may not like about SUMo is the result you obtain by clicking on the "Update" link for new software. Whereas PSI and Update Checker take you directly to a download page, SUMo takes you to a webpage with usage statistics about recent versions of the program, and displays the number of users who use each version. Although that may be interesting, there is no direct link to a download page. SUMo's page gives you links to five major download sites' search pages (which sometimes do not work with the information supplied by SUMo) and a link to a Google search for the software. However, by not being restricted to a database of downloadable software, the SUMo database can support any software its users' SUMo report.

The advantage of SUMo is that it informs you of updates to software that is not limited to security updates (such as PSI) or availablity on FileHippo (UDC). It also lets you add or remove programs to the list it scans for updates by simply dragging the executable into SUMo's open window; a feature not available on any other software update monitor (UDC allows one to add folders to the search space). Unfortunately, some developers do not include version information in their binaries which makes it impossible for SUMo to detect updates for them. This is a problem for most software update monitors. Unfortunately, when SUMo performs its first thorough scan it detects executable files that may not be the main executable files of your installed software. Experienced PC users should therefore take care to add the executable files that should not be checked for updates to the ignore list. Once this has been done, the unwanted executables will not appear in future scans.

SUMo Install LinkWARNING: Should you decide to download SUMo, please ensure that you download the "Lite" or ZIP/7z versions (find the ZIP/7z versions on the download page - the links with the 7z and ZIP icons - the "Lite" version is below that, where it says "Free of all sponsors download links", as indicated in the screen shot below). The full version comes with a program called Relevant Knowledge, which is detected by most security software as spyware. I agree with many that have contacted me that the developer is (at best) damaging his reputation by bundling SUMo with RK. There is a link to this sponsor on the product download page but be aware that the RK site is red-rated by WOT (Web Of Trust) for obvious reasons. The NoRK version comes bundled with a SUMo toolbar. The "Lite" version is identical to the full version, only without the spyware, and therefore deserves to be on this list. The safest to use would be the compressed versions as they do not have installers that can add any unwanted software/keys to your system/registry.

Mac
Picture of AppFreshThe application AppFresh by metaquark is a very useful software updater for Macs. It keeps applications, widgets and Apple components updated (you can select which ones you wish to include), making use of i use this to check which updates are available, and to supply direct download links. Unfortunately, this means it sometimes informs me of updates that are not stable releases, even though one may choose to be informed of either stable or nightly builds. It also reports that the update status of some software is unknown, even though it can detect the version correctly and find the correct entry in the online database. Strange. However, it is generally good and easy to use. It is the only software update monitor I am aware of for Macs (I tried the Mac version of Software Informer, but it did not work), so if you are aware of others, please let me know.

Please help us by rating this review

Related Products and Links
Other Software Update Monitors
Ketarin takes another approach at software updating. It keeps your install files up-to-date. Once installed, you have to point it to the download link of the software you wish to keep updated (or give it its FileHippo ID). This is quite nifty if you have to keep a database of install files updated for software you may not have installed on your own machine.

Many users have posted other SUMs since this article was first published. I will briefly cover some of them and tell you why I did not like them.

Update Notifier used to be my top pick, but it was a victim of its own success when the team was unable to scale their venture accordingly. The project may be started again and I will keep you updated.

UpdateStar is a SUM that I find annoying to use. It keeps asking if you wish to upgrade to a premium service and the user interface is quite cluttered. The updates generally appear quite reliable, though it is not perfect. It does not add anything that would make me want to use it over those listed in the review.

Software Informer has improved a lot. It is very thorough, with the side-effect that it often informed me of updates that are not available, or it would inform me of an update for version I have installed because it interpreted the version incorrectly. Probably the best of the updaters not discussed in the main discussion. The Mac version is terrible. I can't even get it to work.

TechTracker by CNET gives me a few concerns. Their privacy policy states that they collect information about you and share it with other companies. It also comes bundled with OpenCandy. That should be enough to stay far away from it. But, I decided to test it anyway so that you don't need to. Seemed quite good since it has the might of CNET's database behind it. Still, I'm not sure if it is worth it over UDC because of the privacy concerns. I signed up with an email account that I created especially for it and have been getting spam (approximately once a week) from CNET since (GMail detects it as such).

DownloadPlex.com's Software Update is slow with updates, does not make it clear which applications have updates and sometimes informs of updates that do not exist, or suggests updates that are not stable releases.

Software-UpToDate has recently been updated. I will need to test it before making comments on it. It seems that it does not support all software though.

There is a similar group of software that acts like a software manager, similar to the Synaptic Package Manager used by Ubuntu. They give you access to a selected group of programs, install them and keep them up-to-date. There are examples such as Appsnap, Appupdater and FreewareUpdater. I could not get Appupdater to work and Appsnap and FreewareUpdater only supported a limited amount of software (and could not detect software that was already installed). I feel these three programs belong in a different category and will not review them here.

RSS Feeds
There are some website RSS feeds I like to check for updates. FreewareFiles has a great feed that list updates very quickly after they have been released, while Freeware-Guide gathers a list of software updated in a day and displays the list in an RSS feed the following day. FileHippo and Softpedia also have RSS feeds for the latest additions to their databases. Here are the five feeds:

http://www.freewarefiles.com/rss/newfiles.xml
http://www.freeware-guide.com/html/updates.xml
http://feeds.feedburner.com/filehippo
http://www.softpedia.com/backend.xml (Windows)
http://mac.softpedia.com/backend.xml (Mac)
If you would prefer the RSS feed of individual programs without using that program's homepage, FileHippo offers individual RSS feeds.

Related Topics
Best Free PC Tune-up Utility
Best Free Program Un-installer
Best Free Process Viewer
Best Free Program Scheduler
Best Free Startup Manager
Have Your Say
Please visit our freeware forum to share and discuss your views and get advice on software update monitors. To post in the forum you need to register first but that's quick and immediate.

Related Forums:

General
Software Update Monitor (SUMo)
Update Notifier (UDN)
Update Checker (UDC)
Personal Software Inspector (PSI)
Quick Selection Guide
Personal Software Inspector (PSI)
5

Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer

Points out insecure software (including Windows updates), easy to use

Slow scan, only security updates, limited database

http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/

http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/

3.0.0.9016

5.08 MB

32 bit but 64 bit compatible

Free for private use only

There is no portable version of this product available.

Windows XP (SP3) to Windows 8
Software Update Monitor Lite (SUMo)
4

Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer

Ignore list, easily add portable software, less restricted than others

No direct download links, for more experienced user, too many results from in-depth scan, non-lite version bundled with spyware

http://www.kcsoftwares.com/index.php?sumo

http://www.kcsoftwares.com/index.php?download

3.12.1.253

1.55 MB

32 bit but 64 bit compatible

Unrestricted freeware

A portable version of this product is available from the developer.

Install the "Lite", 7z or ZIP versions Alternate download link: http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/SUMo.shtml

Windows XP/Vista/7
Update Checker (UDC)
4

Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer

Easy to use, direct download links, customize search space

Database limited to software on FileHippo.com, sometimes poor software detection

http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/

http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/

1.040

258 KB

32 bit but 64 bit compatible

Unrestricted freeware

A portable version of this product is available from the developer.

Windows 98/ ME/ 2000/ 2003/ XP/ Vista/ 7/ 8
AppFresh
4

Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer

Easy to use, checks Apple and third-party software, direct download links, slick interface

Some false positives, newest versions are commercial products

http://metaquark.de/appfresh/

http://metaquark.de/appfresh/

0.9/892

2.1 MB

32 and 64 bit versions available

There is no portable version of this product available.

Mac OS X 10.5 - 10.8

Editor
This software review is copy-edited by Glyn Burgess. Please help edit and improve this article by clicking here.



Tags
Software updater, software update monitor, software update notifier, software monitor, software update checker, software update searcher, Personal Software Inspector, Update Notifier, Update Checker, PSI, UDC, SUMo, AppFresh


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Comments
Submitted by bromberg on 22. May 2015 - 5:34
(122274)
PSi used to work on my Vista PC and then suddenly didn't; Pecunia support is aware of the problem and says they cannot re-produce it (version 3 is in a state of forever loading) and says to wait for a new release.

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Submitted by emil.sekula on 17. January 2014 - 14:46
(113669)
Talking about software webpages I would like to recommend http://www.filehorse.com/. Something similar to filehippo.com but it has larger software base and updates are more regularly.

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Submitted by AJNorth on 1. January 2014 - 21:06
(113322)
KC Softwares have updated SUMo to version 3.10.1.226 (2013.12.30).

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Submitted by AJNorth on 18. December 2013 - 19:27
(111503)
Secunia have updated their Personal Software Inspector (PSI) to v3.0.0.9016 (2013.12.18; 5.08 MB); support for Win 8 has been added -- https://secunia.com/products/consumer/PSI/sys_req/ .

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Submitted by AJNorth on 6. October 2013 - 20:41
(111282)
Patch My PC has been updated to version 2.3.5.1 -- http://patchmypc.net/ .

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Submitted by emil.sekula on 13. July 2013 - 15:57
(109199)
Update Detector 2.6.0.703 is available: http://www.filepuma.com/updatedetector/

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Submitted by AJNorth on 11. July 2013 - 8:43
(109120)
As a possible addition to the list above, I should like to suggest another free update utility, the Belarc Advisor. It has the ability to check not only for the presence of all necessary Windows patches, but also whether they are fully integrated and functioning -- even if Windows Update should report that none are required, in which case Belarc provides direct download links so that the patch (or patches) may be manually reinstalled (then the system rescanned).

Additionally, Belarc provides an enormous amount of system information for the machine it's run on (one word of caution: this is a professional application especially aimed at System Administrators; one result that will almost certainly cause alarm because of its low numerical value is the "Security Benchmark Score," which can safely be ignored).

The vendor's site is http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html (a review by Softpedia may be found at http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/Belarc-Advisor.shtml).

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Submitted by Chrissylicious on 7. May 2013 - 9:20
(107513)
I think this list needs some updating.

Some of the related programs no longer exist and the new OUTDATEfighter (spamfighter.com/outdatefighter) is not on there.
Another issue is Secunia's lack of updates which have declined rapidly the last few months.

I still love SUMo's updater and would definately still recommend this like you do as wel..

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Submitted by MidnightCowboy on 7. May 2013 - 10:07
(107515)
Currently, OUTDATEfighter only has a small database of programs so it's scope is limited. Maybe when the program matures it might be worthy of consideration. MC - Site Manager.
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Submitted by emil.sekula on 7. May 2013 - 16:38
(107527)
Small database ? There is comment they have like more than 1.2 millions software updates.

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Submitted by gzmhanu on 16. February 2013 - 23:27
(105474)
there is a portable version of SUMo. as you described how to select the lite version, the portable version is beside it.

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Submitted by Paxmilitaris on 19. February 2013 - 3:20
(105532)
but the Alternate link is for an EXE, not 7z or ZIP
Also last update was Feb 17th

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Submitted by emil.sekula on 8. January 2013 - 20:35
(104332)
Hello,

I think Update Detector:

http://www.filepuma.com/updatedetector/

is worth to mention here. It is something similar to Update Checker but works better and Filepuma has larger base of programs.

Regards,

Emil

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Submitted by FrankO on 24. February 2013 - 19:26
(105717)
Thanks Emil, it will form part of an updated version of the article I am working on.

[Mike]

Thanks Count ! I'll print off the article and study it carefully before
deciding what to instal.
(File Hippo Application Manager is still giving blank page today (Friday))

Michael

[Shadow]

On Thu, 11 Jun 2015 15:44:45 +0100, "Mike" <notmeathere.com> wrote:

>I had been using Filehippo Application Manager for some months and all was
>fine but today after Windows updates have been installed I am getting the
>Filehippo results page with no programs shown. I have several computers and
>all are showing this .
>
>I am wondering if it is down to any other extensions I have,I even tried
>Internet Explorer which I don't install any extensions,hardly use and get
>the same results
>
>http://filehippo.com/download_app_manager
>
>Is their a similar application manager I could try ?
>Thanks
>

Seriously, you let a site known to be pushing adware

http://www.davescomputertips.com/beware-filehippo-now-pushing-adware/

scan your computer, and phone home ?
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antivirus software, because text does not carry malware.
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[King Alfred the Confessor]

Quoth Shahdow: "http://www.davescomputertips.com/beware-filehippo-now-pushing-adware/ " Dave is fine. If you go into the grocery hardware dept., buy draino and make draiano pudding, and die, that is because you are an idiot. Dave presents what Dave presents--use some brains Linux Shit.