Seems I'm not the first to say this...
...but +1 for Secunia PSI! Although it doesn't avoid having to reboot it does a reasonable job of automatically identifying obselete applications and managing their updating on Windows PCs for personal use (I believe there are non-free corporate suitable versions too) so that likely everytime you DO reboot something gets updated. It has become the first thing I install on anyone's "...it seems a bit slow and it's asking me to do things, would you mind having a look at it?" computer. You can also set it up to update everything and keep out of the way. This generally significantly reduces the frequency of this question being asked.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
