One of the key challenges facing us in protecting our systems is ensuring they are patched to the latest levels to prevent exploitation using new vulnerabilities.  While the Microsoft Update Service will keep you abreast of the latest patches available for Microsoft products, there are still many other applications, services and packages we install on our PCs that are not automatically checked.  This can potentially leave you exposed as your security will only be as strong as the weakest link. 

Well this may be about to be changed.  For the past few weeks I have been using the Personal Software Inspector tool provided by Secunia to ensure the applications on my test system are up to date.  When I first installed the tool I was pretty confident that I would get a clean bill of health.  However, I was surprised to see that my test PC was not as clean as I had thought.  Some applications I had previously tested and then removed had left some pieces behind which Secunia PSI advised on how I should deal with them. 

I have to say I am impressed with the tool and how it works.  It is a bit cumbersome to use and it is not yet user friendly enough for me to give to my silver surfer dad, but it gets the job done. All in all not a bad tool and I would recommend you having a look at it.

Hat tip to Gary Hinson for pointing me in the direction of Secunia PSI.