Keeping track of the versions and updates all your programs,games,and codecs (i.e. Flash,Shockwave,etc) can be a huge hassle and you are bound to miss something or another. While most applications these days include an Update check when you open them,there are enough things out there that don’t automatically update versions (I’m looking at you Adobe Flash) that it can cause issues ‘unexpectedly’. Running both a Mac and a PC I have more than enough applications on hand that I find the below two programs quite useful.
Windows –Update Notifier by Cleansoft is a simple interface that will check the versions of most of your applications that you have,and check to see if you have the latest version. It’s quite easy to use,and is able to pick up most of my applications. You have the ability to filter which applications it checks for updates against it’s servers and also control what updates you want to know about (major releases or minor releases).
Mac OS X –AppFresh by metaquark is the equivalent program I use on my Mac. Not only will it include Apple Software Updates,but it will include Microsoft Office Updates,updates to any plugins or PrefPanes that you have installed, and even your Widgets. It’s got a great user interface,and allows you to download the update within the application itself.
