AppFresh is a handy application that keeps all your applications, widgets, plugins and preferance panes up to date. Overall, the application is very easy to use and provides version comparison to all your installed applications. Be careful though, if you have paid for software such as 1Password version 2.x, and it offers you to upgrade to version 3.x you might be set back to a beta since there is a upgrade fee for these two versions. This is no a problem if you are only using open source or free software, but be careful when upgrading paid software for main version changes.

One of the main benefits of using AppFresh is their integration with iUseThis [link]. If you format you computer often or you have multiple computers you can simply add the software to you free iUseThis account and then one click download and install all of your software. This is a really great feature that will save you a lot of time getting you system set up.

Notes: AppFresh is still under heavy development and their current version is very stable. However, there are some installs that it doesn’t work very well with. It has issues when there is an actual installer instead of just the normal drag and drop. It will download these applications and notify you that the installer needs to be run.

If you’re looking for a more professional way to keep your applications up to date, then you should try MacUpdate Desktop. MacUpdate Desktop offers a lot of the same functionality as AppFresh, but adds watch list and a much better installer process. At $20/year it’s not going to break the bank, but it’s a hard stretch to purchase this over the Free AppFresh. There is however a free trail available on the macupdate website [link].

If you’re not looking for a full application there is also a widget that checks for updated versions of your software. The App Update widget is very easy to use, but will not download and install these applications for you. If you’re a fan of widgets you can get it here for free.