UCheck is a software updates checker for Windows. It is a freemium product, which means that it is available as a free, limited version, and a commercial version. The price of the commercial version starts at $12 per year.
Earlier this week, I reviewed WingetUI, an open source program to install, uninstall and update software programs on Windows. UCheck promises similar functionality, but the free version is limited to updating and uninstalling software on the system.
The Premium version, available for $12 per year, adds the installation of software, scheduled scans, email support and Enterprise use to the mix. There is also a Technician’s version, which adds scripting, portable configs and license.
The free version of UCheck was used for this review.
UCheck Free overview
The program is available as a portable and setup version. The interface displays the three main sections, updates, installed, and download, on start. Free version users see several “upgrade” links and offers there as well.
You may want to visit the program settings before you run a scan. The General section reveals that Telemetry data is send by default and that the program is configured to run on startup. You may disable both options there. There is also an option to scan apps that start on Windows automatically, which is an interesting feature.
The settings are also home to exclusions, which accepts folders and files, and custom locations, which can be used to include portable software programs in the scanning.
Activate the Scan button in the main interface to find out which installed (and portable) programs have updates.
The program lists the number of programs with updates, as well as the number of installed programs after the scan.
Select “pending updates” to take a look at the list of outdated programs UCheck discovered during its scan.
Programs are listed with their name, company / developer, location on the local system, and the current and latest version. Filters and a search are supported to display only some results.
The Action menu lists options to update individual programs, to skip this update, and to add them to the list of exclusions. The free version supports batch updates, but you need to start UCheck Free with elevated rights for that. There is a button in the interface that does that.
You may now check one or multiple programs and activate the “update selected” button to download and install updates for the selected applications in one operation. Note that there is no “select all” checkbox, which would make things comfortable.
It is unclear where the downloads come from, as this is not revealed by the application. The database is community powered, which explains why it is large and well maintained.
Comparison to winget and WingetUI
When you compare UCheck to winget, you will notice that UCheck supports more programs than the default winget database. Winget detected about 20 programs with updates on a test system while UCheck over 140.
One reason for that is that UCheck includes the Downloads folder of Windows by default. Depending on use, it may store a large number of applications.
WingetUI is easier to use, there is no doubt about that. It suffers from the same lack of a larger software database though. Another difference is that both “wingets” support the installation of portable programs, which is reserved to paid versions of UCheck.
UCheck does include information about available Windows Updates though.
Closing Words
The end of SUMO, probably the best software updates monitor for Windows, has left a hole. UCheck comes close to what SUMO offered, but you may need the commercial version to really take advantage of some of its features.
The program could use a few usability features, such as an option to check all / uncheck all programs in the updates listing. Nothing major, but these would improve usability for some users.
All in all, UCheck is a well designed program that delivers exactly what it promises. The Premium version is worth a subscription, as it adds scheduled scans and some other features to the app.
Now You: do you use software updaters?