by Martin Brinkmann on March 14, 2019 in Software – Last Update: March 14, 2019 – 15 comments
The most recent version of CCleaner Professional comes with a new Software Updater tool designed to inform the user about outdated program installations.
Software updates are a complicated thing on Windows as there is no central repository available. Some programs come with custom build updating routines, others come without them.
Keeping software up to date is essential (most of the time) as updates may patch security vulnerabilities, incompatibilities, and other issues.
Programs that scan for outdated programs on Windows are anything but new. Programs like SUMO or UpdateStar have been around for over a decade. Developers of security solutions, for example Avira and Kaspersky, introduced options to check for software updates as well.
CCleaner Software Updater
Piriform, an Avast company, introduced the Software Updater in version 5.55 of the application released in March 2019. The tool is included in the Professional version of CCleaner only at this point in time.
You may access it with a click on Tools > Software Updater after you have made sure that you run at least CCleaner Professional 5.55.
The application lists outdated programs in its interface when you select the tool. It lists the program name, size, the installed version and the new version that is available.
The Software Updater detected fewer out of date programs than comparable software updaters such as Sumo. CCleaner Professional detected 18 programs with updates, Sumo 35.
Note: The tool may hang if you hit the “update all” button without selecting at least one program first.
What you can do currently
The only options provided at the time are to select programs and to update the selection. There is no option to visit the developer website to find out more about an update, nor are there options to ignore updates or minor updates, include beta versions, or uninstall a program.
The updating happens in CCleaner; that is comfortable and probably preferred by the majority of users (Sumo redirects to its own website from where you may download the updates).
CCleaner Professional does not indicate from where the updates are downloaded, however. It would be great if the program would indicate that to the user.
CCleaner downloads the installer and runs it automatically. It is still necessary to complete the installation manually at this point; silent installations don’t seem to be supported.
The application displays a “completed” message in the end and buttons to restart the PC or ignore the restart option for the moment.
Closing Words
CCleaner Professional’s software updater is a useful but limited tool. The Software Updater makes it easy to update software that CCleaner has in its database. The database of supported applications could be larger though, and it would certainly benefit from improved functionality on top of that.
No false positives were detected during tests; this worked properly.
Now You: Do you use Software Updaters? If so which? If not, why not?