Hello,
I have a suggestion for Norton Internet Security that can make Norton Internet Security much more powerful and my system much safer.
Many computers are infected, because the installed applications are not up to date and malicious software can break into the system through such an unpatched application.
Here one unpatched application can be enough to make the system vulnerable.
So it would be very useful if Norton Internet Security checks my installed software for available updates and reports them to me.
Here especially security updates for vulnerabilities (like Adobe Flash, Java, etc.) should be reported, but also normal updates of installed applications and games (like Microsoft Office, Mozilla Firefox or Mozilla Thunderbird).
If there are available updates, the user can install the updates with one mouse click (very easy for the user and a good usability).
This would make the system safer, because up-to-date applications are normally less vulnerable than older versions that have known security issues.
There are some applications on the market providing updates, but none of them is really working well:
⦁ Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI)
⦁ Software Update Monitor (SUMo)
⦁ UpdateStar (US)
⦁ Software Informer (SI)
I really tested all of them.
Secunia PSI reports only security updates, normal feature updates are not reported.
The update-database is up-to date and updates can be installed with one click (or automatically) but the fact that updates are not shown if they just contain new features makes Secunia PSI not usable for me.
The update databases of SI and US are updated by users (they report updates).
Both applications don't recognize all installed applications, for both it can take some weeks until available updates are reported and sometimes updates that I already have installed are reported.
Absolutely not unusable because it is not sure that your PC is up to date.
And SI collects all data of your PC and uses this information.
US is too expensive for the offered (bad) service.
SUMo is programmed by one guy.
The database is rather small but it detects more installed applications then SI and US.
The updates sometimes report beta-versions (although I selected not te see beta versions) or invalid versions.
The reason for that is that the database is updates by the SUMo clients (if any user installs an new version of an application, this is reported to the database).
Unfortunately the GUI is not very user friendly and it requires many click so scan for updates.
If there are updates available you have to download and install them manually.
I think Norton Internet Security already knows what applications I have installed on my system.
So this information can be used to check it against an update database.
You should offer a normal system scan that just checks the list of installed applications.
But you should also offer a deep scan, where all drives are scanned for applications (many applications are portable applications that don't need an installation).
I think this service could also be very useful for companies that use Symantec products.
Companies get informed if there is any security patch available and they can install a new version of an application on all managed PCs with one click.
It really would be very useful when Norton Internet Security lists updates for my computers (and smart phones) and allows to install them with one click.
A feature I would be willing to pay money for (even if I just have 3 computers and 2 Android devices to manage at home).
Please implement such a feature in Norton Internet Security (or in a separate application).
Thank you!
Greetings
OLLI