Every once in a while you buy a piece of software to satisfy a specific function only to discover an unknown feature that is immensely useful and exceeds your expectations.  As noted in a previous article I still see value in traditional Anti-Virus on personal computers, PC’s and Servers.  AV should be included in every Defense in Depth approach to Information Security.   With that in mind, most every Security Professionals will point to keeping your software up to date as being the number one thing you can do to protect your computer.  Microsoft and Apple are diligent about publishing updates and have built-in mechanisms for installing them.  Unfortunately, third party software is rarely updated unless there is a desirable new feature or you have an Enterprise IT team (even then it’s a challenge).

This brings me to the latest version of Norton 360, one of the “OG” Anti-Virus providers dating back to the early 1990’s.  Norton has a very nice feature, that I found no mention of in their marketing brochure, called Software Updater.  This handy tool is essentially a light weight vulnerability scanner for your PC.  It catalogs the software on your PC and compares it to a database of known software vulnerabilities, if it finds a match it gives you the option of updating the offending software.  Kudo’s for Symantec taking this initiative, simply identifying these issues is impressive, correcting them is a tremendous value for home users and small businesses.  Is it replacement for a full fledged vulnerability scanner and CMDB? No but it is a feature that will improve the security posture of all those who use it.