Keep Software Up-to-date in Windows 7 Using Free SUMo

SUMo is an acronym for Software Update Monitor - a free software which can help your keep all your installed programs up-to-date. SUMo scans your computer for all the installed programs and checks on the internet if they are the latest versions available. You are also given an option to visit the download link for the latest version directly. SUMo does not automatically update any installed program and gives you more control on how and when you want to update which program.

Here are some of the salient features of SUMo :

• Automatic detection of installed software on your computer.
• Detects required updates or patches for your software.
• Filters beta versions if user wants.
• Gives freedom to selectively choose programs to update
• Has support for many languages.

You can download SUMo from http://www.kcsoftwares.com/?sumo. The download is a ZIP archive containing the portable executable SUMo.exe. You do not need to install it and can run it by just double-clicking on it. SUMo requires internet connection to check for program updates.

When you run SUMo for the first time, it scans your computer for all the installed programs. You can also force it to scan for installed programs later by clicking on the Scan button. Soon the listview in the SUMo will be populated by the programs installed on your computer, their versions and their company names as shown.

At this point, you can select a program in the list and click on the Remove or Ignore button to remove or ignore that program from being checked for any updates. Then you can click on the Check button, to check for updates for the programs. This would check the SUMo server for any updates or patches for those programs and populate the listbox with the received information as shown.

The major updates are marked with an alert icon, the minor updates are marked with a yellow star icon and already up-to-date programs are marked with a green check icon. If you see that an update is available for a program, you can select it by clicking on it in the list and then click on the Get Update button. This would open a web browser window and take you the SUMo page for the update link.

The software update monitor - SUMo, is a free and portable software which you can put on a portable USB pen drive and use on any computer you want. It can help you update your installed software - specially those which themselves have no auto-updating modules.