FeedBeater is an online service that can create RSS feeds or email alerts for any webpage on the Internet (that does not require login or is otherwise protected).

In the best case, all you need to do is to visit the FeedBeater website, enter the domain name or page url that you want to receive updates for, and select if you want RSS feed updates or email alerts.

Sometimes though this may not work sufficiently well, for instance if changes are detected that are not of interest or if changes are not detected by the site’s script. You can make use of the advanced options in this case.

Advanced options load a view of the website in the browser. You have two options to configure custom notifications. The first allows you to add keywords that the page should have or not have. The second to specify an area on the web page that is of importance to you. Changes in that area will then be reported while changes to other areas of the site won’t.

Both options can be used to fine tune the notification settings of the RSS feed creation and email alert option.

The advanced option needs to be selected in most cases to make sure that updates are reported correctly. The default parser for instance displayed old posts as RSS feed updates on Ghacks.net. The advanced options allowed me to customize the selection and correct that issue. Users need to be aware that they need to supply an email address to the service if they use the advanced configuration options.

Interested users can check out FeedBeater here. Alternatives are Dapper, Feed43 or Feedity to create RSS feeds.

Are you using another service to create RSS feeds for pages that do not offer one by default?

Update: The FeedBeater service is no longer available. Please use one of the alternatives listed at the end of the article.

Chance is that Chrome users have never seen a prompt that extension updates are available, even if updates of installed extensions have been released by extension developers.

How Google Chrome Handles Extension Updates

The reason for the absence of update notifications is this: Google Chrome handles most extension updates automatically in the background. That’s a big difference to Firefox, where the user is notified of updates, with an option to install or block them.

Chrome does not offer that feature. Google Chrome checks every few hours if extension updates are available. All extensions offered at the official Extensions Gallery, and most that are offered at third party websites, include update information. These information are used by the browser to check if updates are available.

From what we were able to gather, all extensions offered at the official Chrome Extensions Gallery include an update url. This however may not be the case for extensions that have been installed from other sources. They may contain the update url and information, but it seems as if they do not have to. The only option to update those is to visit the homepage regularly to check for updates.

Chrome users running the Dev build can force Chrome to check for extension updates manually. This is done by typing chrome://extensions/ in the Chrome address bar, or by clicking on the wrench icon, then Tools > Extensions.

A click on Developer Mode on the right side of the window opens developer options, among them the option to Update extensions now.

google chrome extensions auto update

A click on that button performs a manual extension update check.

Extensions that automatically update whenever a new version becomes available are controversial. On the positive side, they improve the user experience by handling everything in the background. Advanced users on the other hand may prefer to have control over updates on their system, considering that updates may break features or other extensions that are installed on the system.

What’s your updating preference? Do you like the automatic background updates, or the semi-automatic updates of Firefox with options to block updates?

Outdated software programs will automatically be listed at the top of the list followed by all other programs that are currently up to date. Each entry in the table will list the version on the local computer system and the latest version of the software program. A download link is provided which will immediately initiate the download from the Cnet servers (in a new tab).

The only other options provided in this table are to configure email alerts which are unfortunately not explained anywhere on that page. It most likely will trigger email messages whenever the software gets updated. At least two false positive were detected by Cnet’s Techtracker. It identified the Firefox version as 3.5.2 where in fact it was already the latest 3.5.3 version of Firefox. A similar detection error was found in the Mozilla Thunderbird entry. It was listed as Thunderbird version 1.9.1.1 where in fact it was the latest Thunderbird 2.0.0.23.

A click on the more info link beneath each software title will display quick information about the software including editor and user ratings with links pointing to those reviews, the file size and download statistics.

Nothing that’s really necessary considering that the software is already installed on the system but still nice to have. It would have been better if the download size of each software was displayed more prominently in the table.

Cnet’s Techtracker is an interesting addition to the list of software updaters. It is backed by one of the largest software portals on the Internet which means that it can offer a good software detection rate. The forced registration and false positives are the two negative aspects of the program. While the developers can surely work on the latter the former will most likely not change in the near future. Users who want to give it a shot can download the software after logging into the website with their Cnet or Facebook account.

It also did feel strange that Google needed a process to update their programs while other companies like Mozilla did not. Especially if the only software by Google was their web browser Google Chrome.

Google has announced changes yesterday that will please many computer users. They basically changed Google Update from running in the background permanently to a process that would check for updates periodically which basically eliminates the googleupdate.exe process in the background as it will terminate after the check for updates.

Users can check the Task Scheduler in the Windows Control Panel to change the frequency of the update checks. The Google team points out that the process might be running continuously on some computer systems if problems are encountered with the task scheduler and Windows Services.

Update Notifier is an alternative software updates checker which can be installed or run as a portable application. The program uses a clean interface that displays the installed version of scanned software programs, the latest known version in the database and a link to a website from where the application can be downloaded in case a newer version is available. The results were correct for all tested applications which is something that several of the previously tested software updater failed in.

A click on the download button will open the website of the software developer that contains information about the application. It takes another two clicks to start the download that is available directly from the same website. There is unfortunately no direct link to the website of the software developer itself to verify the findings or to download the software from there.

Update Notifier can be configured to filter the results list. Filters include the listing of only commercial or free software as well as listings based on the type of update available. The program can also be pointed at a folder on the local computer system containing portable applications to check those for updates as well.

RSS FWD (discovered at Donation Coder) is a service that can turn RSS news into emails. The service provides an easy to use interface. It works by entering the main url of the website in the form on the main page which is convenient for many users who do not like to search for the RSS news link on a website or do not know what RSS actually is.

The service will automatically discover the RSS news feed – if there is any – and display a preview of the latest items. The user has to sign up afterwards by providing an email address and password which will be used to login to the service and manage the subscriptions.

The interval of the updates can be selected during the subscription. It is possible to select real-time, daily or weekly updates in the inbox. Users with many RSS news feeds can import an opml file so that all feeds contained within will be automatically added to it.

Webmasters can make use of small pieces of code they can place on their websites to allow email subscriptions. Each email send out will contain an unsubscribe link which can be accessed to unsubscribe from the website. It is also possible to manage subscriptions directly on the RSS FWD website.

SUMO will scan the applications listed in the Windows Start Menu by default but the user can let it scan specific drives or folders on the system and add executables manually. Users will be surprised that SUMO will recognize most of the applications that are added manually. A test with MWSnap and Newsbin Pro was successful. SUMO recognized the two applications and was able to check their version in the database.

One interesting option is to include beta versions in the update notifications which can be enabled in the program’s settings. Including beta versions raised the update count from 6 to 26 applications. Some like an update of Firefox 3.03 to Firefox 3.1 would require some research while others are no brainers.

The interesting feature is to add executables manually to SUMO. Not all executables will be recognized though because some developers do not include version information in their files. That’s however not a problem of SUMO but of all software updater.

SUMO will display the applications that need an update including the new version that is available. A click on Get Update will load a website with download links to the latest version. There is no option to download the files directly from within Sumo. The advantage is that the websites contain usually between 2-5 locations that contain the latest version of the software.

Users can propose a link on the websites, perform a Google Search and Report Errors or Beta versions. The latest version and the version of the user is shown on the page as well.

SUMO is missing a few features that would make it an universal software. An option to download all software updates automatically would be more than welcome. As would be a feature to add links to software applications manually to the software. It is possible to add applications but if SUMO does not have them in their database there is no way to update them. The only option is to click the Get Update link and propose a link.

A third possibility came to light recently with the introduction of the Windows Update Catalog. Like the Windows Updates website the Windows Update Catalog only loads properly in Internet Explorer. It does offer however a nice and convenient way of downloading all updates for Windows in one go from the official Microsoft server.

The website features a search form that searches the entire Windows database of patches, updates and applications. Entering a generic name like Windows XP returns more than 1000 results which means that it makes sense to reduce the results by narrowing down the search.

Instead of searching for Windows XP a user could search for Windows XP Security Updates or Windows XP KB. Items can be added to the basket from where they can be downloaded at once. The updates will be stored in a selected folder from where they can be installed.

The Windows Update Catalog offers an enhancement by introducing the basket which makes it possible to add all files to it before downloading them in one go. This is a great way of downloading all updates for Windows in short time.

It is missing a few features like filtering search results by operating system or language which would greatly reduce the hits and time spent on the site.

Update: The website is more for the professional user who know exactly what they are looking for. The easiest way to work your way through the site is to know the unique patch numbers to display them directly and without noise in the interface.

Lots of Microsoft applications have seen updates as well like DirectX Redistributable August 2008 and Microsoft .NET Framework (v3.5) 3.5 Service Pack 1 including those from August’s patch day.

Application of the week award goes to Amazon Watcher which is a really nice application if you regularly buy items at Amazon.

µTorrent 1.8 Build 11758 – Fast lightweight Bittorrent client.

AIMP 2.5 Build 276 RC3 – Great looking music player which resembles Winamp.

AmazonWatcher 0.4.1 – Can monitor items on various Amazon stores, inform the user about availability and even order the items.

Blender 2.47 RC2 – A free multi-plattform 3D content creation suite.

CDBurnerXP Pro 4.2.1.864 – A CD and DVD writing application that supports HD media as well.

DirectX Redistributable August 2008 – Updated version of DirectX.

DVD Flick 1.3.0.0 Build 674 Beta – A powerful DVD authoring software. Can take movies from the hard disk and create a playable DVD out of them.

DVDFab HD Decrypter 5.0.8.2 Beta – Copies entire DVD movies to the hard drive and removes their protection.

FileZilla 3.1.1.1 – Open Source ftp client.

FinalBurner FREE 2.2.0.132 – A free CD and DVD burning software supporting the most popular image formats.

Fresh Diagnose 7.88 – A tool to analyze and benchmark a computer system.

GrabIt 1.7.2 Build 988 Beta – A download application for the Usenet finally supporting SSL.

IcoFX 1.6.2 – An icon editor that offers a quick and easy way to create new icons.

Launchy 2.1.2 – Windows application, file and services launcher.

MediaCoder 0.6.1.4166 – A free universal audio and video transcoder.

Microsoft .NET Framework (v3.5) 3.5 Service Pack 1 – Service pack 1 for Microsoft .net Framework 3.5.

Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool 2.1 – The official Microsoft tool to scan a computer for popular malicious software. It will only help remove specific malicious software.

Mozilla Thunderbird 3.0 Alpha 2 – A new alpha of the upcoming Thunderbird 3.0 email client.

Opera 9.52 Build 10103 Beta – A new version of the upcoming Opera 9.52 web browser.

PeaZip 2.2 – Open-Source cross plattform archiver that supports many different formats including the most popular zip and rar.

Pismo File Mount Audit Package Build 046 – Mounts supported file formats, like zip and iso, as folders in the Windows file system.

Process Explorer 11.21 – Process Explorer displays information about processes that are currently running on the system.

Process Monitor 1.37 – monitors system activities like processes and Registry access in real time.

ShellBagsView v1.00 – Displays all folder configurations saved in the Registry.

Songbird 0.7 RC2 – Songbird is an Open-Source music web player.

SpeedFan 4.35 Beta 27 – Checks computer component temperatures, can regulate computer fans and monitor hard disk temperatures.

Soundbase 2008.08.08 – A Mp3 music player.

Sumatra PDF 0.9 – A lightweight basic PDF Reader.

SUMo 2.3.0.56 – Software Updates Monitor which scans the system for installed software programs and checks online if a new version is available.

Sysinternals Suite Build 08/08/08 – Contains all Sysinternal applications like Autoruns, Process Explorer and Process Monitor.

System Explorer 1.5 RC2 – A software that provides the user with detailed information about the computer system including processes, hardware and software information.

VirtualDub 1.8.4 Build 29958 – Video capturing and processing software program.

WildBit Viewer 5.3 Alpha 1.0 – Fast image viewer with lots of functions.

WirelessNetView v1.10 – Monitors the activity of wireless networks around the current position.

Xfire 1.96 – Instant Messenger aimed at gamers who can see if and where their buddies are playing games.

If you know of an application that has been updated in the last week and is missing in the list let me know and I add them to the list.

Some applications that check for software updates on a Windows system have already been mentioned in the past here at Ghacks but none of them did check the installed drivers for updates. Radar Sync, discovered at the Download Squad website, checks both the installed applications and drivers for updates.

Radar Sync relies on a database that contains information about applications and drivers which means that it will not detect all programs and devices on a system. The scan itself is well done and catapults Radar Sync to the top of the programs that check for updates. The scan is quick and the button to download all listed updates comes in very handy.

The updates can be installed right from the application after downloading them. A click on Actions > Install Update is normally sufficient to install the update. Radar Sync recommends to create a system restore point before installing applications which can be initiated right from the recommendation dialog.

One download failed on my system and a click on the Actions > Get More Info link allowed me to report a bad download link. Downloads are directly from the manufacturers and developers websites which reduces the chance that a download contains malicious files.

I cannot really say much about the detection database because of my new computer. Six updates does not look like much but I do not have that many applications installed yet. One last thing that bothered me was that it told me that there was a new version of Opera. I have the latest Opera 9.5 beta installed and it told me that the version 9.27 was the latest. This means that it did not detect that my Opera version was newer than the one recommended.

It seems that one needed a special Registry key from Microsoft to download this new Service Pack Release Candidate for Windows XP. This is not necessary anymore, at least not on my end. The Service Pack 3 was offered to me even though I did not make the changes to the Registry.

The Service Pack 3 is also available right from the Microsoft website with a size of roughly 315 Megabytes. Only the English, German and Japanese updates are available right now but it surely will not take long until the two other languages (French and Spanish) are added as well.

The same website also contains the Registry key that needs to be added to Windows XP to download the Service Pack 3 in Windows Updates.

This means only quality software. New software that I have not mentioned before will get their own articles which means that you will never miss interesting software if you visit my site regularly.

Please let me know if anything is missing in the list. I would also like to know if you want me to extend the description of every software or link to the original article that I have written at Ghacks.

AVG Anti-Virus Free 7.5.503a1171 – Anti-Virus software
Defraggler 1.00.031 Beta – Defragmentation tool
FileZilla 3.0.2.1 – Ftp client
FileZilla Server 0.9.24 – FTP Server software
foobar2000 0.9.5 Beta 1 – Windows audio player
Hamachi for Windows 1.0.2.3 – Great VPN service, useful to play LAN games over the Internet.
Joost 1.0.2 Beta – Streams TV Shows over Internet
LAME 3.98 Beta 6 – Probably the most popular mp3 encoder
MediaCoder 0.6.0.3905 beta – Batch Media Transcoder
RetroShare for Windows 0.3.51a – Secure Instant Messenger and P2P Client
SpeedBit Video Accelerator 2.1.9.5 Beta – Downloads videos from sites like Youtube faster
SpeedFan 4.34 Beta 33 – Regulate Fans, check temperatures
Vista Codec Package 4.5.2 Beta 1 – Add the most used codecs to Windows Vista
Vize 0.7 Beta – GUI enhancer for Windows Vista
VMware Player 2.0.2.59824 – Desktop virtualization software
XnView 1.91.6 – Image viewer that I use

Updatestar us currently able to detect more than 80000 softwares (Secunia detected 4000). The scan on my system took less than a minute and detected 115 installed applications which is way more than the other softwares were able to detect. Thirteen updates were found for the 115 installed applications. Those 115 are still not all the softwares that are installed on my system. For instance, all those softwares that don’t require an installation at all have not been detected.

The product list lists all installed softwares that have been found with information about the installed version, the current version, news and a download link. If you left-click an entry you will see a detailed description of the product below the product list with additional information such as publisher, a possibility to uninstall the software and a link to the website of the software.

Updatestar is by far the most complete program in the category of softwares that automatically scan your system and check for updates on the Internet. It is by no means perfect but since this is a beta it could very well improve in the coming months.

Read More:

Updatestar
via Genbeta

Versions for Vista and Windows Server 2003 64-bit will follow shortly thereafter. Let me explain the Autopatcher concept with just a few words. Instead of connecting to Microsoft to either use the automatic updates or to download the patches manually you can download Autopatcher instead which contains all official patches released by Microsoft.

The advantages are of course that you can apply all relevant patches at once, have total control over which patches are applied and do not have to connect to a Microsoft server at all to download and apply the patches. This is also a great way for admins or users with more than one operating system to download the files once and execute it on as many computers as needed.

The difference between core and update patches are that the core files contain all patches from the beginning to the current month while the updates only contain the patches that were released by Microsoft since the last Autopatcher version, which usually means patches of the last 30 days.

source: Autopatcher Homepage

The FileHippo Update Checker scans your computer for installed applications and compares their version to the latest version hosted at the FileHoppo servers.

It then displays a list of all updates that it found on a website divided into full and beta updates. The version on the local computer and the latest version are mentioned in the list and a link to download the update is next to every entry.

Downloads start immediately if you click on the green download icons next to each application. Great that you do not have to navigate through endless webpages to reach the download.

FileHippo does not scan applications that they do not have in their database or do not provide version information that FileHippo can access.

Many useful free applications are not processed but a test scan on my system found 9 updates for applications and 2 for beta applications. Most have been standard applications like Flash Player, Java Runtime Environment or Nero Burning Rom. Great for a quick lookup. Works on Windows 98+