Help keep programs on your computer up-to-date with Software Informer - Tutorial 1 - Install Software Informer

Last updated May 19, 2010 4:22 PM

Software Informer is a handy tool for helping to keep your PC's software up-to-date. By making sure you are using the latest version of all your programs, you can protect yourself against security vulnerabilities and known bugs (mistakes in the programming code) that older versions of the software may have.

Installing Software Informer is really easy. Firstly, download the latest version of the software from the Software Informer Webpage. Save the file to your desktop or somewhere you can easily access it. When the download is complete, double click on the file or choose "Open" in your browsers download manager.

Windows Vista/Windows 7 users running standard accounts

Running a standard account on your Vista/Windows 7 machine (i.e, you have to enter your administrator password each time a User Account Control window appears) ? Good for you, that's very prudent. For some reason we noticed that Software Informer will not install correctly under a standard user account unless it is explicitly run with administrator privileges.

To do this, simply find the Software Informer installer program (it is called siinst or siinst.exe) and right click on it, then choose "Run as Administrator" as per the picture on the left. User Account Control will then prompt you for your administrator password. Enter it and the installation will now proceed in exactly the same way.

The following window will then appear:-

Click "Next". The following window will then appear:-

Scroll down to read the license agreement and if you agree, choose "I accept the agreement" and then click on "Next >". The following window will then be displayed:-

Here we can choose where to install the files on our PC. The default location is fine for most users, so simply click on "Next >". The following window will then be displayed:-

On this window, we can choose where to create the program shortcuts. Again, the default location is fine for most users, so simply click on "Next >". The following window will then appear:-

On this window you can optionally create desktop and quick launch icons. Pay careful attention to the third option from the top. If you select this option, Software Informer will report usage statistics back to Informer Technologies. If you consider this to be intrusive, disable this option.

You can also choose to start Software Informer when Windows starts. If you do this, Software Informer will notify you instantly whenever it detects a new version of a program on your computer, though it will consume a tiny amount of computer resources as it runs in the background. When you have made your decisions, click on "Next >". The following window will then be displayed:-

The installer now gives you the opportunity to review your settings. If you are happy with your selections, click on "Install". There will then be a short pause while files are copied. When the copy is complete, the following window will appear:-

Installation is now complete. Click on "Finish" and the software will start automatically. You can now proceed directly to our next tutorial.

Back From Install Software Informer to Windows Upates
Click here to read or leave comments on this tutorial

Next Tutorial >>

Back to Home Page