Patent ID: 8321499

Claim:
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, in response to being executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising: upon occurrence of a scheduled time, polling an update distribution server to determine that an update for a first computer executable software application is available and that an update for a second computer executable software application is available, wherein the first and second computer executable software applications are configured to operate on the computing device; and in response to determining that the update for the first computer executable software application and the update for the second computer executable software application are available, selecting whether to obtain the update over the Internet from the update distribution server for the first computer executable software application and the update for the second computer executable software application at a first time by selecting the update for at least one of the first and second computer executable software applications from a computer-generated list based at least in part on an update status for the respective computer executable software application, the update status determined without requiring any user input regarding the update status or to defer obtaining the update over the Internet from the update distribution server for the first computer executable software application and the update for the second computer executable software application until a second time that is later than the first time, wherein information stored at the computing device includes a product identification for the respective computer executable software application, wherein the product identification is sent to the update distribution server without requiring a user to input the product identification into the computing device, and wherein the computer-generated list is based on a list generated by the update distribution server upon receiving the information from the computing device.