In the the modern times when we have to deal with malware, attack sites, phishing sites, rogueware, social engineering and so many other threats, our best bet to stay safe is to keep our software up-to-date. By using the latest updated software, we make it sure that we are protected with all the known vulnerabilities or security holes in the older versions of the software. We can keep Windows operating system updated using the automatic updates, but some of the third party software programs do not offer such auto-update features. Using the free SecPod Scanner you can scan your Windows PC for missing security updates, known vulnerabilities and security compliance problems.
After the installation, it automatically activates itself when you enter the captcha code which is followed by the definitions database update. Once the definitions have been updated, you can click on the Scan button to start the scanning of your Windows PC.
It takes a long time to go through all the software installed on your computer and after a thorough investigation presents you with a list of vulnerabilities found on your system. Each software that has a vulnerability is listed along with the number of risks it poses. You can click on any of the software listed to see the details of the vulnerabilities and can even open a CVE article link for it. You can click on the Fix button to automatically download the patch or new version for the selected software and install it. You can also click on Remediate All button to fix all the vulnerabilities.
The Compliance tab shows you a list of all the Windows configuration settings that can pause security risk to your system. For example, it listed that a minimum password length was not set on my Windows PC which could allow users to use smaller and weaker passwords. Similar to the list of vulnerabilities, these settings are also displayed along with a CCE article link and a Fix button. You can fix them all by clicking on the Remediate All button.
By default all the new patches and latest versions of the software is downloaded and installed by SecPod Saner in the interactive mode i.e., you have to go through the installation process for each new version of the software. But you can change this setting from the SecPod Saner settings. Under the Remediation section of the settings, you can choose to automatically remediate any problems found on your system and choose silent modes of installation for Microsoft and non-Microsoft software.
Verdict: The SecPod Saner Personal is an excellent free security tool that can analyze your Windows PC and tell you about all the vulnerabilities and security issues present on your system. It can also fix the problems found and update the Microsoft or third-party software automatically.
You can download SecPod Saner Personal from http://www.secpod.com/.