Filed under: Internet, Security, Utilities, Windows, Freeware
Use Secunia PSI to find your PC's Achilles heel
by Lee Mathews Nov 14th 2008 at 4:00PM
I'm sure our loyal DS readers are intelligent enough that their Windows install is likely riddled with security risks. Even if you've got Windows fully patched, any one of the applications on your system could be a potential
Secunia PSI scans your system for vulnerabilities and reports its findings. The overview provides an overall score (given as a percentage) as well as basic information about your programs, displaying the total number that are patched, insecure, and no longer supported (EOL). There's also a simple pie chart for visual reference.
The scan did an excellent job of locating flaws on my test system, finding 19 programs that required patching. It's also smart enough to detect programs that have been installed or changed since the last scan. To no one's surprise, several Adobe apps, Java, and Office 2003 topped my list of risks.
Apart from providing an exhaustive listing of potential threats, Secunia does an excellent job of linking to the downloads needed to correct them. You'll have to download and install each file individually, but at least they're all accessible from a single page.
Secunia PSI is a free download for Windows only.
Secunia PSI scans your system for vulnerabilities and reports its findings. The overview provides an overall score (given as a percentage) as well as basic information about your programs, displaying the total number that are patched, insecure, and no longer supported (EOL). There's also a simple pie chart for visual reference.
The scan did an excellent job of locating flaws on my test system, finding 19 programs that required patching. It's also smart enough to detect programs that have been installed or changed since the last scan. To no one's surprise, several Adobe apps, Java, and Office 2003 topped my list of risks.
Apart from providing an exhaustive listing of potential threats, Secunia does an excellent job of linking to the downloads needed to correct them. You'll have to download and install each file individually, but at least they're all accessible from a single page.
Secunia PSI is a free download for Windows only.
Get a WordPress.com Blog
With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet.
They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rick said 7:32PM on 11-14-2008
Secunia works great with just about anything EXCEPT JAVA.......it does not take you directly to the correct download..............what it does is it takes you to SUN's Java downloads.....................you try and figure out the right one
Reply
Napalm said 7:04AM on 11-15-2008
This is telling me I need to patch prorgrams that arent even installed on my PC such as skype and vlc. Its also telling me to patch Firefox with 3.0.4 which I already have installed. Providing links to these programs that arent from third party locations not from the original creators.
This program has potential, or rather a program like this has potential but this one smells fishy!
Reply
blogward said 11:18AM on 11-15-2008
Agree with Napalm. this is a bit like installing nagware without the ware.
Reply
Evenio said 12:00PM on 11-15-2008
Hmm...if this covers third-party software, too, I'd like to see something like it for OS X (without the above-mentioned annoyances, naturally). Everybody throws up a fuss when a security report dings OS X for a hole in Safari while dutifully ignoring those in IE, but nobody really talks about the risks that third-party apps may expose your system to.
Reply
StayOn said 4:21PM on 2-03-2009
Another such program UpdateChecker from http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/. But it doesn't find many of the open source softwares. Maybe this one will do better.
http://43vents.com
Reply