Make sure your system is patched up to date.

Conor_3

Following a report that fewer than 1 in 50 PCs are fully patched and up to date , Secunia have released a free tool which you can use to check the state of your software and whether there are new patches to address security issues available.

http://secunia.com/PSISetup.exe

It scans your PC, lists the out of date programs and has a link to the right of each entry to resolve the issue which 9/10 times usually means just downloading an updated version or patch.

GunJack

useful little tool....updated my java and adobe stuff after running this....use them so rarely I'd not bothered with looking for updates for a while, a handy reminder

HUFCsteve

Is this kind of similar to filehippo?

Also, it's suggested that Media Player Classic 6.x and PowerDVD 4.x are end-of-life and potentially exposing my system to security threats!

Q1 - Are they? Q2 - Is it safe to simply uninstall these programs? Q3 - If so, how - can't find Media Player referenced in CCleaner uninstall.

Thanks!

Mobeer

If those programs work ok for your needs then they are not end of life, they are useful, hence don't get rid of them. It's naive of the software to think it can call an application end-of-life without knowing anything about the user's needs.

f1charlie

I think when it says 'end of life' it means that the manufacturer no longer supports that version of the product, i.e. no more updates will be available.

superscaper

f1charlie wrote: »

I think when it says 'end of life' it means that the manufacturer no longer supports that version of the product, i.e. no more updates will be available.

Yep, it's just standard terminology for manufacturing/retail and applies to any product, not just software.

Mobeer, the software isn't "naive" in the slightest but accurately describing the state of the found software. The term "end of life" is nothing to do with the "user's needs".

Conor_3

HUFCsteve wrote: »

Is this kind of similar to filehippo?

Also, it's suggested that Media Player Classic 6.x and PowerDVD 4.x are end-of-life and potentially exposing my system to security threats!

Q1 - Are they? Q2 - Is it safe to simply uninstall these programs? Q3 - If so, how - can't find Media Player referenced in CCleaner uninstall.

Thanks!

Sort of similar to Filehippo but this is purely security biased. For example, Filehippo would report new drivers, Secunia won't unless there's a security risk such as with a wifi driver. Secunia are a company that specialise in virus and vulnerability research.

Q1, yes they are end of life. There are no new updates for them. What that means is that if a security flaw is found, it'll not be fixed. BUT SEE Q2.
Q2, yes but TBH, I'd not bother. Neither connect to the internet. Now if it was Windows Media Player 9, then that's a different story as it does have internet connectivity, but MPC doesn't and neither does PowerDVD 4 AFAIK.
Q3. Media Player Classic comes as part of an XP install. It's basically a windows component and cannot be uninstalled without the use of a third party app such as XP Lite. But see Q2.

The main things to concentrate on are Office and Windows updates, media players with internet connectivity such as Quicktime, Realplayer and DivX, browser updates and browser plugins such as flash, shockwave, java etc as these are the most likely to be exploited.