SUMo v5.9

SUMo (Software Update Monitor) is a great free software updater with lots of useful features.

Unfortunately, instead of actually updating your software for you, or even providing you with download links, SUMo just tells you which programs are outdated.

• Works in all recent versions of Windows, including Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP
• Displays every program installed to your computer, but separates the up-to-date programs, ones that require minor updates, and ones that require major updates using an icon to the left of each program
• An update can be skipped for one day, one week, one month, or forever so you will no longer see that it requires an update (they can be restored from the Tools menu)
• If you're not sure what one of the detected programs is, you can right-click on it for options, where you can then open it and/or view its installed location
• An alternate folder can be added to SUMo to be scanned for outdated software, which is useful if you have portable software on another hard drive; you can also check for updates by dragging and dropping an EXE file into the program
• The results of a scan can be exported to a spreadsheet or text file

SUMo has some major disadvantages, but it's also really great at finding nearly all of your outdated software.

Pros:

• Detects lots of programs
• Easy to use and read
• Shows version numbers for updates
• Can check for beta updates
• New SUMo versions come out often
• Portable version is available

Cons:

• Doesn't take you directly to the download page (in the free version)
• Searching for outdated software can be slow if you have lots of programs
• Doesn't check for updates on a schedule

I like using SUMo because it finds more outdated programs on my computer than any other software updater I've ever used. Sadly, it's also my least favorite because unless you have the pro version, it doesn't give you the download link but instead makes you search for it.

For some programs, SUMo was able to give me the developer's website so I could get the download but it didn't give me the exact download page, which meant I had to search around the site to find it. However, for other updates, I wasn't even give that much. Instead, SUMo gave me links to search for the download on Google, FileForum, Download.com, Softonic, Softpedia, and other website that host software downloads.

All in all, SUMo isn't the best program for giving you good, official sources for downloads, but it's awesome at telling you which of your programs need updates.

Something worth mentioning that I like about software updaters like SUMo is that a program's name as well as the outdated and updated version number are displayed on a single line for easy reading. This way, you can easily see how outdated (or updated) your programs are.