Software developers generally use one of three ways to alert and deliver version updates to users: a pop-up prompt when you launch the app, a systemwide refresh tool -- like the App Store for the iPhone and Firefox's add-on framework -- or nothing at all (they just hope the user checks their website at some point).

But then there's a fourth option -- one perhaps even worse than the "not tell you" approach. That's the standalone program, installed by a company, that looks for all updates to its suite of software.

We see this only in a few cases, when a development house has the audacity to assume you use so much of its software that you need an entirely separate program just to check for bug fixes. As Google's recent use of this shows, the execution can be anything but sweet.

For the record, I have no problem with Apple's Software Update app for the Mac or Microsoft's Windows Update on PCs. Obviously, if you're using a Mac, you have a great deal of Apple software and vice versa.

But Microsoft's AutoUpdate for Mac oversteps the operating system boundary. AutoUpdate latches on to a system after you install Microsoft Office and will periodically check for updates to those programs. Companies like this method because it keeps users informed about whatever tweaks the developer wants to throw at them. (Fortunately, AutoUpdate allows you to disable it in its preferences.)

Google has jumped on the bandwagon, too -- or rather, sneaked onto the wagon with ninja-like furtiveness. Like AutoUpdate, Google Software Update checks for new versions of Google software in the background, and it pops up a window when it finds something.

I saw it for the first time today. There I was, composing e-mails, and then, out of nowhere, an alert for ...