For finding updates to all your installed applications, you can go with an annual subscription to VersionTracker Pro or MacUpdate Desktop, or try the free alternative: metaquark's in-development AppFresh (first reviewed here in March). With tight integration to the iusethis application info repository, AppFresh does a spot-on job finding updates to mainstream and indie apps alike, and it's getting better with each release.

Earlier in November, the first preview release with full Leopard compatibility popped up on metaquark's site. I've been using it for a couple of weeks and it works like a charm -- downloading and optionally installing updates found via iusethis' appcasts or Sparkle updates without fuss or complication. If you're a serious update maven, you probably already have one of the pro apps, but if not you ought to check out AppFresh.

Jason Swadley of InsanelyMac.com let us know about his posting of the Ten Commandments of Mac Optimization (I especially enjoyed the HotWp1 joke). The list is an interesting one, because it's a good mix of actual software tips, and what you might call mindset suggestions. On the practical tips side, Swadley recommends apps like Onyx and AppFresh, to keep your Mac running so fresh and so clean clean. I agree, too, with his tip about periodically taking stock of installed apps, and pruning the tree, so to speak. Like him, I tend to download and try out lots of stuff, and so it's worth it, maybe once every two weeks, to run back through the Applications folder and clear out (with AppZapper, of course) what I'm not using anymore.

But Swadley's other tips are for a much more holistic form of Mac optimization. He talks about removing peripherals that aren't used, buying every piece of software you find useful, and even not coveting your neighbor's Mac (because upgrading your own older machine might be more optimal than carting around a brand new release that you won't use half of).

I like it-- it's definitely a more widespread version of these kinds of lists than I'm normally used to, and all the tips are certainly good ones, even if you've heard them all before.

Apple's Software Update is great and all, but unless you've purchased a membership to MacUpdate or VersionTracker for their software management clients, it might be tough to stay on top of new versions of all your non-Apple software. Sure, more and more developers are building in support for Sparkle, the auto-update framework from Andy Matuschak, but that's on a per-app basis and it simply isn't a development standard yet. Luckily, for the rest of us, there is AppFresh, a new utility that is perhaps best described as 'Software Update for the rest of us.' It can scan your Applications (though, for now, we suspect only apps in your main directory; not any that might be in ~/Applications if you've created it), AppleScripts, widgets and even Preference Panes to see if any updates are available. We don't know how and where AppFresh is checking for new versions, though Apple's own Downloads section and possibly MacUpdate and VersionTracker are the likely candidates.

Since AppFresh is truly brand new (only at v0.2 so far), its developers warn that it is certainly a work in progress. Still, this looks like a great tool with a lot of potential. AppFresh actually does seem to use Sparkle to help you stay on top of its own updates, and you can also read up at the development blog for more info on just where AppFresh is headed.

Thanks, Nathan