Update Notifier

Occasionally we'll be in the middle of doing something with a seldom-used program and will be interrupted--always when we're in a hurry, of course--by a software update that must be downloaded before we can proceed. We love the idea of a program that will let us check for and download updates for all our programs at once, and that's what Update Notifier attempts to do. Unfortunately, this program works better in theory than in practice.

Update Notifier's interface is pretty easy to understand; there are three tabs that list up-to-date programs, programs on the watch list (which users must register for), and recommended programs (which seems like a sneaky way to slip some advertising into the program). The first thing that we noticed was that the list of up-to-date programs did not include everything that we have installed. Of what was displayed, we were pretty sure that we had the latest versions, so we decided to put the program through its paces by deliberately downloading outdated versions of Chrome, Opera, and Yahoo Messenger. Yahoo Messenger was the only program that Update Notifier caught. When we clicked the button to download the latest version of Yahoo Messenger we were taken to the publisher's Web site, where the download was available. Unfortunately, the version of the program that was available there was also out of date, and not just a little bit; there have been five new versions since that one. So although we love the idea of Update Notifier, it just isn't effective; its out-of-date database defeats the entire purpose of the program.

Update Notifier installs politely but leaves a folder behind upon removal. We do not recommend this program.