Is Winzip Driver Updater Malware? Spyware? Really good?

[jim6149]

Anyone had experience of the Winzip Driver Updater? I just noticed it on a PC in my home which is used by everyone, not sure how it got there or if it is malign nagware, sales scam or a nasty malware? No-one will admit to dowloading it...they fear the wrath of Daddy, who is the mug that cleans up the messes.

[AdvancedSetup]

Difficult to say without more information. But by name alone it appears to be legit.

http://www.winzip.com/win/en/driver-updater.htm

https://store.winzip.com/852/purl-wzhome_dumn

WinZip Driver Updater is a powerful utility that makes the task of managing your PC's device driver updates quick and easy!

• Instantly scans your PC for out-of-date drivers on a regular basis
  
• Locates and downloads device drivers for you
  
• Automatically creates a backup of your original driver system before making any changes
  

I'm not familiar with it myself but seems to be similar to Secunia Personal Software Inspector

http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/

So it sounds like it's legit but you may want to update Malwarebytes and do a Quick Scan as well as a Scan with your Anti-Virus just to make sure.

[jim6149]

Sound advice - thanks

[stephen_schachter]

It this paranoid?:

Driver updater programs (eg. WinZip driver updater) finds lots of outdated drivers while in the scan only mode. Then, when you purchase the program, the new drivers are "found" immediately, and no new drivers are needed again for a long time. Or worse, when the program is purchased, all drivers are miraculously up to date. I come to this conclusion because when running WinZip driver free scan version updater, it sometimes finds no drivers out of date, and sometimes finds 22 drivers out of date. It makes me suspicous. When I contacted their tech support, the only answer I got was to buy the program!!?

This could be the case with MalwareBytes malware finder as well I guess. Why buy a program that looks for bad stuff if it never finds anything? These guys couldn't all be that bad could they?

[DarkSnakeKobra]

My personal experience is to stay away from driver updating software. The problem with these are that they often provide inaccurate information on your drivers and could potentially cause serious issues with your pc if you install an incorrect driver. The best place to get updated drivers is from your manufacture.

[0s1r1s]

Anyone had experience of the Winzip Driver Updater? I just noticed it on a PC in my home which is used by everyone, not sure how it got there or if it is malign nagware, sales scam or a nasty malware? No-one will admit to dowloading it...they fear the wrath of Daddy, who is the mug that cleans up the messes.

It loads even if the startup group items have been disabled - classic crapware. Anything downloaded off download.com or cnet.com should now be considered dodgy in my opinion.

[wolong]

WinZip Driver updater is a great application. BUT don't buy the paid version.  The paid version will only install on one computer.  (The EULA led me to believe I could install it on all my household computers).  The free version will tell you enough to enable you to find and install updated drivers yourself.

[daledoc1]

Hello and , @wolong:

 

This topic is 3 years old and the last reply was in March 2013.

It's unlikely that the Topic Starter is following it or needs assistance at this time.

 

But thank you for your helpful input.