Go to http://www.filehippo.com for a useful new program. It's called Update Checker. It checks all the freeware on your computer to see if you have the latest version. If not, you're offered a download.

Most of you probably know Filehippo as a leading source of freeware downloads. I did have a reservation about privacy, but you're assured there's no problem - an assurance I'm willing to accept.

Anyway, it works well - fast and easy. On the first pass, I got updates of Adobe Reader, Flashplayer, and CCleaner.

There is another program that does that sort of thing, and I believe it's the best of the lot. It's Secunia's "Personal Software Inspector," and I've used it for quite some time, with no problems, except for many fruitless attempts to update Java. For everything else, though, it has worked flawlessly.

You can find the software, which is free for home use, at this URL:

http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/

The bottom-center of the page has the download link.

Thanks, Shortie. Maybe this sort of software has been around for years, and I just didn't know about it.

For what it's worth, Update Checker has already given me a successful Java update. U.C. is new, so it may have some improvements.