Update your programs with Norton Software Updater

The Software Updater feature in your Norton product helps keep supported third party programs up-to-date to eliminate security vulnerabilities. With Software Updater, you can manage all your program updates and do not have to wait to know if a program update is available.

Any outdated program can be a security risk. A program that is not up-to-date lacks the latest security measures making it easy for cybercriminals to exploit that program and gain access to your PC and data. For total protection, it is important to ensure that all your programs are of the latest version.

Not all programs are supported by Software Updater. To know the supported list of programs, see List of programs supported by Software Updater.

Note: You need to have a Windows user account with administrator privileges to access this feature.
If you are trial user and your Norton product came preinstalled on your Windows device, you cannot automatically update your programs to the latest version.

Run Software Updater to update your programs to the latest version

1. Open your Norton device security product.
2. In the My Norton window, next to Device Security, click the drop-down arrow and select Software Updater.
   
3. In the Software Updater window, wait for the scan to complete.

   If an earlier scan result is shown, click Rescan.
   

4. In the Apps Requiring Attention tab, select the programs that you want to update and click Update.

   Certain programs may require your manual intervention to get updated to the latest version.
   

5. Based on the scan results, review the statuses and take appropriate action:
   • Manual update required: Software Updater cannot update the specific program. Your intervention is required.
     Click the Manual update required link to visit the program's website to download and install the update.
   • Manual check required: Software Updater cannot update the specific program. Your intervention is required.
     You must manually visit the program's website and check if any update is available. For some programs, latest version may not be available.
   • Completed: Update has been downloaded and installed. No action required.
   • Failed: Updates failed to download. Manually run Software Updater after some time.
   • Skipped: You may have intentionally skipped the update.
   • Canceled: You may have clicked Stop when the Software Updater scan was in progress. Click Rescan.
   • Need to close app: Update has been downloaded. The program is running and needs to be closed for the updates to be installed. 
     Some programs may still run in the background even after you close them. You must terminate the background processes too in such cases.
   • Restart required: Restart required to install the downloaded updates. Click Restart Now.
     
6. If you do not want to update a specific program, select the program and click Exclude.
   
7. On the Other Apps tab, review the programs that got updated to the latest version.
8. Click Finish.

Turn on Auto-Update
 

With the Auto-Update option turned on, Software Updater runs in the background once in every 7 days and checks if the latest version is available for any of your installed programs. If an update is available for a specific program, the program is automatically updated to the latest version.

Not all programs are supported by Auto-Update. Certain programs may require you to manually update to the latest version.

1. Open your Norton device security product.
2. In the My Norton window, in the center pane, click the Settings  icon > Software Updater.
3. In the Software Updater settings window, turn on the Auto-Update switch.

Configure Software Updater to add or remove programs from exclusion list
 

If the program that you want to add or remove from the exclusion list has a pending user action (for example, a restart is required), the program gets added or removed from the exclusion list only from the next scan.

1. Open your Norton device security product.
2. In the My Norton window, in the center pane, click the settings  icon > Software Updater > Excluded Apps.
3. In the Excluded Apps window, do the following:
   • To add a program, click Add > select the program that you want to exclude > click Add.

     Software Updater no longer checks the program for new updates.

   • To remove a program, select the program that you want to remove from the exclusion list and click the remove (X) icon.

     Software Updater starts checking for new updates for the specific program from the next scan.