IS YOUR COMPUTER SLOW? RUN LIKE NEW
If they are not maintained, computers lose performance over time. Norton Utilities Ultimate can help significantly improve the performance of your Windows computers.
Applicable for: Windows
Update your programs with Norton Software Updater
Introduction and prerequisites
The Software Updater feature in your Norton protection is designed to keep your third-party programs up-to-date to help eliminate security vulnerabilities. For comprehensive protection, it is important to ensure that all your programs are of the latest version. A program that is not up-to-date can lack the latest security measures making it easier for cybercriminals to exploit that program and gain access to your PC and data.
You need to have a Windows user account with administrator privileges to access this feature.
If you are a trial user and your Norton protection came preinstalled on your Windows device, you cannot automatically update your programs to the latest version.
Step-by-step instructions
Not all programs are supported by Software Updater. To know the supported list of programs, see List of programs supported by Software Updater.
Run Software Updater to update your programs to the latest version
-
Open your Norton device security app.
-
On the left pane, click Performance.
-
In the Performance dashboard, in the Software Updater tile, click Open.
-
In the Software Updater window, in the Applications tab, click Check Now.
If an earlier scan result is shown, click Check Again.
Wait for the Software Updater scan to complete.
-
Based on the scan results, review the states and take appropriate action.
-
If you do not want to update a specific program, click the more option icon next to Update and select Ignore app. This adds the app to the Ignored list so that Software Updater no longer checks it for updates until you stop ignoring it.
-
Select the programs that you want to update and click Update Selected/Update All.
To update the program individually, click Update next to each listed program.
: You need not wait for Software Updater to complete the update process. You can minimize the Norton app window and continue with your other tasks.
-
After all outdated programs are updated, click Done.
Learn about the different program update states
|
State |
Description |
Advice |
|---|---|---|
|
Update available |
New version available. The current version of the program that is installed in your computer is not the latest. Program with this state gets updated to the latest version when you click Update. |
Select the program and click Update. |
|
Up to date |
Your computer has the latest version of the program installed. |
No action needed. The current version of the program that is installed in your computer is the latest. If you do not want the program to get listed in the subsequent Software Updater scan results, add it to the exclusion list. |
|
Completed |
Update has been downloaded and installed. |
No action required. |
|
Failed |
Updates failed to download. |
Try running Software Updater after some time. |
|
Skipped |
You may have intentionally skipped the update in the last scan. |
If you want to update the program to the latest version, select the program and click Update. If you do not want to update the program, add it to the exclusion list. |
|
Canceled |
You may have clicked Stop when the Software Updater scan was in progress. |
Click Rescan. |
|
Need to close program |
Update has been downloaded. However, the program needs to be closed for the updates to be installed. |
Close the specific program. 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 |
A system restart required to install the downloaded updates. |
Save your work and click Restart Now. It is recommended to restart your computer to complete the update. |
The following states appear if you have turned on the Include programs not supported by Auto-Update option in the Software Updater settings window:
|
State |
Description |
Advice |
|---|---|---|
|
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. If the link is not available, you must manually visit the program's website and check if any update is available. |
|
Manual check required |
Software Updater cannot detect if an update is available for 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. You can add such programs to the exclusion list so that Software Updater skips the programs in the next scan. |
|
Update not supported |
Program with this state requires your manual intervention to get updated to the latest version. |
The current version of the program that is installed in your computer is not the latest. You must manually update the program to the latest version. After you click Update, the state changes to Manual update required or Manual check required depending on the program. |
Programs that are no longer supported by the respective vendors display an EOL (end of life) badge. These programs have reached their end of life and may not receive any updates in future. By default, EOL programs appear in the Software Updater scan results after each scan even if the programs are up to date. If you do not want to see the EOL programs, add those programs to the exclusion list. To avoid any potential risks, we recommend that you check for alternative programs and uninstall the EOL programs.
List of programs supported by Software Updater
Productivity
|
Vendor |
Product(s) |
|
Apple Inc. |
Apple Mobile Device Support, Apple Software Update, QuickTime, ICloud, ICloud Outlook, ITunes |
|
Adobe Systems Inc. |
Adobe AIR, Adobe Acrobat DC Classic , Adobe Acrobat DC Continuous, Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Classic, Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Continuous, Adobe Bridge, Adobe Flash Player (ActiveX/NPAPI), Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Reader, Adobe Shockwave Player |
|
Dropbox, Inc. |
Dropbox |
|
Foxit Software |
Foxit PDF Reader, Foxit PhantomPDF, Foxit Reader |
|
Google Inc. |
Google Drive, Google Drive File Stream, Google Talk, Picasa |
|
Microsoft Corporation |
Microsoft .NET Core Runtime, Microsoft ASP.NET Core , Microsoft Forefront Client Security, Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection, Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft Power BI Desktop , Microsoft Security Essentials, Microsoft SharePoint Designer, Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable, Microsoft Visual Studio, Silverlight, System Center Endpoint Protection, Visual Studio Community, Visual Studio Professional, Windows Virtual PC |
|
PlotSoft L.L.C. |
PDFill PDF Editor |
|
TechSmith Corporation |
Camtasia Studio, Snagit |
|
Evernote Corp. |
Evernote |
|
Dom Lachowicz |
AbiWord |
|
Inkscape.Org |
Inkscape |
Browsers
|
Vendor |
Product(s) |
|
Apple Inc. |
Safari |
|
Avant Force |
Avant Browser, Orca Browser |
|
Baidu Inc. |
Spark Browser |
|
Fenrir Inc. |
Sleipnir |
|
FlashPeak Inc. |
SlimBrowser |
|
Flock, Inc. |
Flock |
|
Google Inc. |
Google Chrome |
|
Lunascape Corporation |
Lunascape |
|
Kmeleon.Sf.Net |
K-Meleon |
|
MoreQuick.Com |
GreenBrowser |
|
Maxthon International Ltd. |
Maxthon Cloud Browser |
|
Mozilla Corporation |
Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Firefox ESR, SeaMonkey, Thunderbird |
|
Netscape |
Netscape Navigator |
|
Nimbuzz |
Nimbuzz Messenger |
|
Opera Software |
Opera |
|
YANDEX |
Yandex Browser |
Communication and meetings
|
Vendor |
Product(s) |
|
AOL Inc. |
AOL Instant Messenger |
|
Cerulean Studios, LLC |
Trillian |
|
Cisco Systems, Inc |
Webex Teams |
|
LogMeIn, Inc. |
GoToMeeting |
|
OoVoo LLC |
OoVoo |
|
Telegram Messenger LLP |
Telegram |
|
Yahoo! Inc. |
Yahoo! Messenger |
|
Zoom Video Communications, Inc. |
Zoom |
|
Edgewall Software |
Pidgin |
|
Jabber.Org |
Exodus |
|
Gajim Development Team |
Gajim |
Media and streaming
|
Vendor |
Product(s) |
|
ALLPlayer Group Ltd. |
ALLPlayer |
|
Blender Foundation |
Blender |
|
Gretech Corporation |
GOM Player |
|
JetAudio, Inc. |
JetAudio |
|
KMP Media Co.,Ltd |
The KMPlayer |
|
RealNetworks, Inc. |
RealPlayer |
|
Nullsoft, Inc. |
Winamp |
|
Next Generation Software, Inc. |
Virtual DJ Studio |
|
Participatory Culture Foundation |
Miro |
|
PeerCast |
PeerCast |
|
The Audacity Team |
Audacity |
|
VideoLAN |
VLC Media Player |
|
Www.Sopcast.Com |
SopCast |
|
DsNET |
ATube Catcher |
|
GN Audio A/S |
Jabra Direct |
|
Spotify Ltd |
Spotify |
File sharing and archiving
|
Vendor |
Product(s) |
|
Alexander Roshal |
WinRAR |
|
EFS Software, Inc. |
Easy File Sharing Web Server |
|
ESTsoft Corp. |
ALFTP, ALSee, ALZip |
|
FileZilla Project |
FileZilla |
|
Ghisler Software GmbH |
Total Commander |
|
Globalscape, Inc. |
CuteFTP |
|
Igor Pavlov |
7-Zip |
|
IMesh, Inc |
IMesh |
|
IN MEDIA KG |
FilterFTP |
|
PuTTY |
PuTTY |
|
WinZip Computing, S.L. |
WinZip |
|
Giorgio Tani |
PeaZip |
|
E-Merge GmbH |
WinAce Archiver |
|
AMule Team |
AMule |
|
EMule |
EMule |
Gaming
|
Vendor |
Product(s) |
|
Valve Corporation |
Steam |
|
Xfire Inc. |
Xfire |
|
Electronic Arts |
Origin |
Other programs
|
Vendor |
Product(s) |
|
2BrightSparks Pte Ltd |
SyncBackFree, SyncBackPro, SyncBackSE |
|
ActiveState |
ActivePerl |
|
Almico Software |
SpeedFan |
|
Amazon.Com |
Amazon Corretto |
|
Angus Johnson |
Resource Hacker |
|
Apache Software Foundation |
Apache HTTP Server, Open Office |
|
Ask Partner Network |
Ask Toolbar |
|
Atlassian |
HipChat, SourceTree |
|
Azureus Software, Inc |
Vuze |
|
Babylon Ltd. |
Babylon Client |
|
Bandoo Media Inc. |
Shareaza |
|
BitComet |
BitComet |
|
BitTorrent Inc. |
BitTorrent, ΜTorrent |
|
CPUID |
CPU-Z |
|
Canneverbe Limited |
CDBurnerXP |
|
Carbon Black, Inc. |
Carbon Black Defense Sensor, Carbon Black Response |
|
Cisco Systems, Inc |
Cisco Advanced Malware Protection For Endpoints |
|
Citrix Systems, Inc. |
Citrix Receiver, Citrix Workspace |
|
Code42 Software |
CrashPlan |
|
Core FTP |
Core FTP LE |
|
CounterPath |
X-Lite |
|
CyberGhost S.R.L. |
CyberGhost VNP |
|
Cyberduck |
Cyberduck |
|
Cylance Inc. |
CylancePROTECT |
|
DESlock Limited |
DESlock+ |
|
Dell Inc. |
Dell Data Protection | Encryption |
|
Deluge Team |
Deluge |
|
Disc Soft Ltd |
DAEMON Tools Lite, DAEMON Tools Pro, DAEMON Tools Ultra |
|
Dominik Reichl |
KeePass Password Safe 1 |
|
Emesene |
Emesene |
|
Firebird Project |
Firebird SQL Server |
|
Fortinet Inc. |
FortiClient |
|
Free Time |
FormatFactory |
|
FreeDownloadManager.ORG |
Free Download Manager |
|
FrostWire |
FrostWire |
|
Glarysoft Ltd |
Glary Utilities |
|
Gobierno De España |
AutoFirma |
|
Hauri, Inc. |
ViRobot |
|
IBM Corp. |
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager FastBack |
|
ICQ |
ICQ |
|
Image-Line |
FL Studio |
|
Irfan Skiljan |
IrfanView |
|
JetBrains |
IntelliJ IDEA, TeamCity |
|
Jetico, Inc. |
BCWipe, BestCrypt |
|
Joyent, Inc. |
Node.Js Current, Node.Js LTS |
|
Kovid Goyal |
Calibre |
|
LIGHTNING UK! |
ImgBurn |
|
LINE Corporation |
LINE |
|
Martin Prikryl |
WinSCP |
|
MetaMachine |
EDonkey2000 |
|
NCP Engineering GmbH |
NCP Secure Entry Client |
|
Nero AG |
Nero |
|
New Softwares.Net |
Folder Lock |
|
Nitro PDF Pty. Ltd. |
Nitro Reader |
|
Nitro Software, Inc. |
Nitro Pro |
|
Nomadesk NV |
Nomadesk |
|
Notepad++ Team |
Notepad++ |
|
OpenSight Software, LLC |
FlashFXP |
|
Oracle Corporation |
Java, Java 8, Java SE Development Kit, MySQL Server, MySQL Workbench, VirtualBox |
|
PPLive Corporation |
PPTV |
|
PY Software |
Active WebCam |
|
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. |
Traps |
|
Phex Development Team |
Phex |
|
Photodex |
ProShow Gold |
|
Piriform Ltd |
CCleaner, Recuva |
|
Power Software Ltd |
PowerISO |
|
QIP.Ru |
QIP 2012 |
|
RealVNC Ltd |
VNC Viewer |
|
Rebrand Software, LLC |
P2P Share Spy |
|
Retrospect, Inc. |
Retrospect, Retrospect Client |
|
Riverbed Technology, Inc. |
WinPcap |
|
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. |
Kies |
|
Scooter Software |
Beyond Compare 1 |
|
SecurStar GmbH |
DriveCrypt, DriveCrypt Plus Pack |
|
Skype Technologies S.A. |
Skype |
|
SoulSeek |
SoulSeek, SoulseekQt |
|
Speedbit Ltd. |
Download Accelerator Plus |
|
Spencer Kimball, Peter Mattis And The GIMP Development Team |
GIMP |
|
Sublime HQ Pty Ltd |
Sublime Text 2 |
|
SurfRight B.V. |
HitmanPro, HitmanPro.Alert |
|
Symantec Corporation |
Symantec Data Loss Prevention Enforce Server, Symantec Encryption Desktop, Symantec Endpoint Protection Cloud |
|
TeamViewer GmbH |
TeamViewer |
|
TeraTerm Project T. Teranishi |
Tera Term |
|
The Dia Developers |
Dia |
|
The Document Foundation |
LibreOffice |
|
The Git Development Community |
Git |
|
The Psi Team |
Psi |
|
The R Foundation |
R (X64) |
|
The Transmission Project |
Transmission |
|
The Wireshark Developer Community |
Wireshark |
|
The PgAdmin Development Team |
PgAdmin 4 V4 |
|
The QBittorrent Project |
QBittorrent |
|
Thingamahoochie Software |
WinMerge |
|
Tonec Inc. |
Internet Download Manager |
|
TortoiseSVN |
TortoiseSVN |
|
Tracker Software Products Ltd. |
PDF-XChange Viewer |
|
Trend Media Corporation Limited |
FlashGet |
|
Trend Micro, Inc. |
OfficeScan monthly version |
|
Trimble Navigation Limited |
SketchUp |
|
TrueCrypt Foundation |
TrueCrypt |
|
UltraVNC |
UltraVNC Server, UltraVNC Viewer |
|
Utimaco Safeware AG |
SafeGuard PrivateCrypto |
|
VMware, Inc. |
VMware Identity Manager Connector, VMware Player, VMware Tools, VMware Workstation |
|
WeFi |
WeFi |
|
XnSoft |
XnView |
|
Yukihiro Matsumoto |
Ruby |
|
Zimbra, Inc. |
Zimbra Desktop |
|
AMSN Team |
AMSN |
|
Gtk-Gnutella Developers |
Gtk-Gnutella |
|
Http://Tortoisegit.Org/ |
TortoiseGit |
|
Iolo Technologies, LLC |
Iolo System Shield |
|
MIRC Co. Ltd. |
MIRC |
|
Ntldr |
DiskCryptor |
|
OwnCloud |
OwnCloud |
|
Pdfforge GmbH |
PDFCreator |
|
UZoft Ltd. |
VDesk |
Exclude a specific program from Software Updater scans
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. The Ignore app option adds a program to the Ignored list (exclusion list) and prevents Software Updater from checking it for new updates in future scans until you select Ignored > Stop Ignoring.
-
Open your Norton device security app.
-
On the left pane, click Performance.
-
In the Performance dashboard, in the Software Updater tile, click Open.
-
In the Software Updater window, select the program that you want to exclude.
-
On the far-right side, click
(three dots icon) > More > Ignore app.
The selected program is added to the Ignored list.
Software Updater no longer checks the program for new updates.
If you want Software Updater to scan an excluded program, click Ignored > Stop Ignoring. Software Updater starts checking for new updates for the specific program from the next scan.
Last modified: 10/18/2026
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