App Discovery: UnigetUI, the almost-universal Windows Patcher

Windows 10 and 11 actually has multiple methods of self-updating ASIDE FROM Windows Update. However, they are reserved for powerusers, not regular users, as most rely on command-line interface (CLI). Such as Winget, Scoop, Chocolatey, Pip, Npm, and more. Though to be honest, NPM is more for Node.js, and PIP is more for Python, but they are there, and they are used on Windows quite a bit. 

One user, Marti Climent, decided to change that, and came up with UnigetUI, which is a graphical interface for all those different sources, combined into one app. 

Between this and Patch My PC's Home Updater, they should update just about EVERY app you have on your PC. 

Now you have NO excuse to NOT keep your PC's apps updated. 

App Discovery: Patch My PC Home Updater, keep your apps updated easily!

I've touted many times before the 3 simple cyberhygiene rules of Brian Krebs, one of which is keep apps updated. But some apps update themselves (but you have to run them), some have external updaters, some relies on Windows update... 

Now, there is Patch My PC's Home Updater. That's right, there's an app that will scan your home PC, find the apps, and update them for you, with minimal headaches. 

While this doesn't replace ALL updaters, this will do about 80% of the updates. Just run it periodically (say, once a week)... Start it up, and just hit "update" and walk away. Come back in half an hour, and it should be done. 

How easy is that? 

You can also use this to FIND new apps to install by browsing the library of apps they scan for. These scan for mostly free alternatives to famous apps, and thus, you may discover apps that does what you pay monthly or yearly for. 

And of course, it will UNinstall apps you no longer want to use, which is another one of Kreb's cyberhygiene rules. 

So give it a try. 

For the few apps this won't update, there's another app I will recommend... in the next post. 

App Discovery: Ninite -- Install or Update MANY Programs at Once

Ninite, available at Ninite.com, is a tremendous timesaver for people who need to keep PCs up to date or standardized on certain number of free or freemium programs, and it has a wide selection and is extremely easy to use. 

Basically, go to Ninite.com, and select which of the programs you want the installer to download and install by ticking its checkmark. 

Ninite Installer Config (as of 2024/06/16), bottom's cut off... Ninite.com

As you can see, it will install or update ANY of the programs on this list, from security tools to web browsers, from messaging and email apps to compression utilities, from media players (video, audio, etc.) to developer / programming tools, from image editor/viewer to system utilities, PDF viewers, and other commonly installed toolsand apps. Once you chose all you wanted, click on the Ninite button to download the installer. 

Then you can run this installer on any Windows computer, and it will download and install EVERY program you chose from the list, WITHOUT ASKING you to confirm anything. EVERYTHING will be done automatically, no user prompting, no confirmation, completely automated install like systeadmin magic powers... And it's all free. 

So if you need to keep 10 computers on the latest version of various apps, just make 1 Ninite installer, and run it on all 10 computers (probably with some sort of USB drive). Run it, and walk away to do something else. It'll be done when it's done. You'll probably still have to run each app to config it, but that's easy enough, right? 

For individual users, this is easier than running X programs one at a time to engage the auto-update for each one. 

So give it a try, eh?