Rather than wait around for your software to notify you of updates (let's face it, a lot of applications never will), these five handy tools keep an eye on your apps, alert you when an update's available, and streamline the updating process.

Photo by Wesley Fryer.

Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite software update tools, and now we're back with the five most popular nominees. Read on for an overview of each, then cast your vote for the one you like best in the poll below.

Note: Clicking on the screenshots below will enlarge the screenshots to their original size.

FileHippo.com is a software download site that hosts tons of both freeware and shareware, so the FileHippo Update Checker is a natural extension of their web site—only better. The lightweight application (the download is 155kb) scans your computer for installed apps in seconds, compares your installed version with the FileHippo.com database to check for new releases, then lists all detected updates in a list in your browser along with links to do