From time to time, Apple releases updates to the Mac OS X operating system and installed applications on your Mac.  Apple has provided a utility called Software Update to allow you to easily identify and install updates on your Mac.

If you want to manually check for Mac OS X and application updates you simply launch Software Update.

Instead of using Software Update Apple provides many updates via a standalone installer.  Many Mac users prefer to use the standalone installer instead of Software Update.

Apple provides two types of Standalone installers, Delta and Combo.  Standalone installers are an alternative to using Software Update.