Simple tool to check that Microsoft (and, optionally, Adobe) software is up-to-date on multiple PCs

Question

Every month, there's the usual batch of critical updates for Microsoft and Adobe products. Everything is configured to auto-update in our office, but to be extra sure, I'd like to see, on a single dashboard, whether everything is up-to-date or manual intervention is required.

Example output:

      Windows Updates             | Adobe Reader
      --------------------------------------------------
PC1   no pending updates            Version 2019.008.20074 (current)
PC2   no pending updates            Version 2019.008.20074 (current)
PC3   3 important updates pending   Version 2019.008.20036
DBSRV no pending updates            none installed

I know about WSUS, but I don't want to "manage and configure the distribution of Windows updates". The default policy of "download and install everything automatically" is perfectly fine for me, and I don't want to mess with that. I just want to monitor the current state.

My wishlist:

• The simpler, the better (I don't want to spend a day planning my WSUS deployment).
• Microsoft updates are my primary concern, support for Adobe Reader would be nice.

Nice to have (not mandatory):

• It would be nice to be able to use this not only to monitor my Office network but to monitor my customers' PCs as well (if they wish so). Thus,

  • the monitored PCs can be behind a firewall (i.e., the monitored PCs should connect to the monitoring machine, rather than the other way around) and
  • no active directory should required (as the customers' PCs are in a different domain or no domain at all).

Answer 1

Belarc Advisor is a free program which may serve your objective. It does periodic updates via internet definition database, but otherwise does not communicate specific information to the source.

It provides reference for Windows Updates, product keys and also lists installed software. With respect to the installed software, the user is provided with current version numbers as well as installed version numbers, along with information regarding updates for installed packages.

There's a plethora of other blocks of data presented. The easiest way to see all of it is to install and run the program.

There are links within the result report that might lead to commercial (paid) programs produced by Belarc, but that's optional.

I just fired up my installation, performed the database update and discovered one aspect that is slightly irritating; it opens the report in IE, rather than my default browser. It's not worth tracking down, in my estimation, and will simply continue to mildly annoy me when run. Your mileage may vary.

The links regarding the Belarc products would indicate that one can purchase a program which will perform these tasks in a commercial environment which is otherwise prohibited by the free license.