Stump the PC Club is a free tech-advice column written by members of the North Orange County Computer Club, which has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org.
QUESTION: Your column recommended Secunia to keep your computer updated with the latest patches. On my computer with Vista it does not work very well, the drag is horrible. When I tried to delete the program it shows it is gone but returns at the start up. Is this as bad as Norton to get rid of?
PC CLUB: According to the Secunia Web site at www.secunia.com, here is a description of their Personal Security Inspector (PSI) – “The Secunia PSI is a FREE security tool designed to detect vulnerable and out-dated programs and plug-ins which expose your PC to attacks. There are actually two versions, the Online Software Inspector (OSI) which requires no installation and the PSI. The PSI has to be downloaded to your PC and run from there but the OSI can be run from their Web site. It does require that you have Java Runtime installed (available at http://bit.ly/getjavahere ). The OSI does require that Java is installed on your PC.
The Secunia program reports which programs on your PC are vulnerable to hacker attacks and require updating. The typical programs that get outdated include QuickTime, Adobe Flash Player and Adobe Reader to name a few. The Secunia program also offers you the links where you can get the latest versions to update your PC.
As far is removing OSI is concerned you can remove it through the Control Panel using the Add/Remove feature in Windows XP and Programs and Features in Windows 7. When installing the PSI software make sure to choose the Personal option, not the Corporate.
I used the Control Panel to uninstall the software and it took just a few seconds. I didn’t have to uninstall it but I did it to confirm how easy it was.
In addition to using Secunia to make sure certain applications are updated, it’s also important to keep Windows up to date by making sure your automatic updates are turned on. Also, you must be sure that your antivirus software is updated regularly.
Ed Schwartz is a member of the North Orange County Computer Club. To send in a question, go to edwardns.com and click the Contact Me menu. Archives of previous columns are also on the website.