Recently I blogged about using Acronis True Image 2020 to backup and restore your Windows computer after a friend had to manually reinstall her Windows PC.

Her Windows PC died and she could not recover Windows with a System Restore snapshot or via the retailers systems image recovery process.

I use Back Blaze software to automatically backup my computer but I do not have an up to date collection of needed installation files in case I need to perform a Clean Installation of Windows 10.

I found SUMo in the process of assisting my friend.

SUMo to the Rescue

I found SUMo (Software Update Monitor) from KC Softwares that allows me to analyse my existing installed software and their versions, find and download new versions (installers or setup files) for my software.

I am using the Pro version of SUMo (buy here).

Tip: The trial version will inform you of an update but it will not show you links to obtain the updates easily.

SUMo Trial Limitations

The best feature of SUMo is I can find apps on my PC that need updating.

Also in one click (Right click) you will be directed to the applications official site (official site (or App page on SUMo)) and be able to download the app installer to the new version of the app.

The Trial version is limited to informing you that an update is available.

Also updating SUMo to the PRO version streamlines it’s own updates too. You can update SUMo in the PRO version with one click. 🙂

SUMo Pro Scan

After I opening SUMo PRO (I waited for it to find installed apps) then I clicked “Check” to scan all my apps for updates.

SUMo happily went through the list of my installed apps and gathered the applications versions (and checked online if newer versions existed).

SUMo found 239 installed applications on my PC, 188 were up to date, 53 needed minor (recent updates) and 2 needed major (old) updates.

Its awesome that in one click and I can see what software needs updating. In the process I was able to see what applications I don’t use (they were old versions) and I uninstalled them

SUMo Settings

I will update my software and to ensure my software does not get out of date I enabled “Load at startup” and “Check for new software at startup” (SUMo).

I did not enable “Scan for new software at startup” but seeing SUMo Start and update will remind me to check for updates if I have time.

I also enabled “Show file path” in the SUMo Application list so I can see where the programs are.  I found multiple instances of Python installed all over my PC.

Getting Application Updates

I right clicked on each of my applications (that needed updating) and clicked “Get Update from…” then “.. from developer’s Site (Direct)“.

If you don’t want to right click you can click the “Get Update” button in the tool bar to get selected applications update. 

This will open a web browser page to the software vendors website.

SUMo also has a page available with stats on the application’s known statistics (nice table of versions, beta or stable status and numbers of users).

Updating Software

I was able to right click “Get Update from…” – “.. from developer’s Site (Direct)” for each application in the list that needed an update. I was directed to the software vendors page for each software where I could download the app updates.

Within minutes I had dozens of vendor pages open with links to new versions of my outdated software.

Within a short period I had amasses gigabytes of new application installs.

I installed each of the new updates and then moved the new installs to my B:\Installs folder (in case I have to manually reinstall Windows in the future).

Checking Application Update Status

After I updated my out of date applications I then right clicked on the apps in SUMo and clicked Check to re check the status of the applications 

SUMo Right Click Actions

Fyi: SUMo has a number of actions in the right click menu (on an installed Application).

• Delete: Removes item from list. Will appear again on next scan or manually addition
• Ignore: Blacklist : this Software/company pair will never appear again, whatever the version, file path, …
• Skip: Items remains listed but a SPECIFIC version gets no longer notified as update for a given time (1 day / week / month) or forever.

(snip from here)

I had a few items I Deleted from the list or Ignored.

My Visual Studio (development) software was reporting an older version of Python (2.7). I updated Visual Studio to the latest version but Python 2.7 remained. I deleted Visual Studio from the list and was prompted  (this is not deleting the application from the hard disk just from the generated list.

After a few hours updating apps

I whittled down the list of my applications that needed updating 

I could sort applications in the list by OK status or apps that needed Minor or Major updates applied.

All Apps Updated

I can now say that all of my Applications are all up to date.

Export

I used the export feature in SUMo to build an excel file listing all my applications.

Fyi: SUMo exported this list as a “;” separated file, I opened the file in Sublime Text Editor and replaced “;” with TAB and then pasted this list back into  Excel.

Conclusion

SUMo allowed me to update my installed applications and update my aged cache of application installs I was keeping in case I needed to manually rebuild Windows.

SUMo made this an absolute pleasure to do.

Pros

• Price: 19.99 Euros (about $33.27 AUD) is a bargain.
• Simplicity (it just works so well, why does Windows not do this)
• Saves me time finding out of date apps and update files for an emergency and inevitable manual Windows reinstall.
• My apps are more secure after updating them

Cons

• I needed this in my life 10 years ago
• Would be nice to have an inbuilt help file (instead of email support)

Try the free version here

v 1.0 Initial Post