Automate Software updates w/o Admin password entry?

[jyhash]

Hi Folks,

Just curious about something: I manage 40+ Apple computers at my job, and there are certain programs that I'd like to update on their own without the Admin Username and Password. We normally disallow our employees from having admin access, as we don't want a glut of nonessential programs bogging down their machine, as well as if there is a way to botch their system royally through admin level permissions, they'll find a way to do it.

But sometimes I do get rather busy, and rather than have to field 40+ phone calls, screensharings, or on-site calls when,say, iTunes needs to update, is there a program that I can use that stores the Admin Password, and when a program asks for an update, it can check a preset whitelist, and install the update if it is there? I know this can be somewhat dangerous for things like going from 10.6.3-10.6.4, as sometimes things can break between versions. But I'm more referring to being able to get M$ Office service packs when they constantly pop up and harass my co-workers with their "Critical Updates".

I've also heard that Remote Administration on "Remote Desktop 3" may have a feature that can solve this issue. Is this true?

Thanks for the help!

 

[chrfr]

I've also heard that Remote Administration on "Remote Desktop 3" may have a feature that can solve this issue. Is this true?

Apple Remote Desktop has lots of administrative functionality. It's a must have to manage any sort of quantity of Macs.
I should add though that it won't do exactly what you mention but you can run Software Update by command line through Remote Desktop and update only what you want. In my job, I use ARD in conjunction with my own Mac OS X Server which is running a Software Update server which only offers the updates I want enabled.

 

[GGJstudios]

I know this can be somewhat dangerous for things like going from 10.6.3-10.6.4, as sometimes things can break between versions. But I'm more referring to being able to get M$ Office service packs when they constantly pop up and harass my co-workers with their "Critical Updates".

MS Office updates would not come through Mac OS X's Software Update. That would be a separate process from MS. Only Apple software is updated through Software Update.

 

[chrfr]

MS Office updates would not come through Mac OS X's Software Update. That would be a separate process from MS. Only Apple software is updated through Software Update.

Fortunately Microsoft uses Apple's standard installer packages so it's a simple matter to distribute those updates via Remote Desktop.