As Mart pointed out, from an administrative standpoint, WSUS is your best option.
However if you want to check things manually, or scriptable check out MSBA

Oh and if you run a single WSUS server (meaning no upstream or downstream WSUS server, you can also check out Local Update Publisher
Here you can add 3rd party stuff, like Adobe Flash, Java Sun etc. also driver packages if they are packaged. But keep in mind, this requires some expertise and messes up your environment if you are running upstream and downstream WSUS servers.

Edited by Arend_ (2013-05-18 01:15 PM)
Edit Reason: Added Local Update Publisher info