Since not all Windows applications notify you when a free update is available, there are third-party applications that will scan all your software, and let you know when updates are available. LifeHacker polled readers to come up with a list of the five most recommended software update tools. Learn more at Five Best Software Update Tools.

Attention Hotmail and MSN users: itt’s time to change your password. According to Neowin, an anonymous hacker posted thousands of Microsoft’s Windows Live Hotmail usernames and passwords. The first list of over 10,000 accounts only includes account names that start with the letters A and B, but there was a hint that there could be more lists.

Microsoft recently unveiled their newest search engine, Bing as a replacement for Live.com. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says that Bing is focusing on helping users with four common search tasks: shopping, travel, health and local. Here is a video tour of Bing, produced by Microsoft.

Tired of buying Microsoft Office for each computer you use? OpenOffice is an open-source (i.e. free) software suite for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. It stores all your data in file formats that are compatible with Microsoft Office, and works on many computer platforms including Windows, Mac and Unix. The newest release, OpenOffice 3.1 is now available for download.

The Creative Commons Add-In for Office is a free utility that licenses your Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents in just a few clicks. The drop-down menu sits on a tab (on the Ribbon menu for Office 2007) and uses a wizard to guide you through choosing the appropriate license. Unfortunately, it’s Windows only, no Mac. The free download is available from Microsoft for Office 2007 and Office 2003/XP.

An official release date for Windows 7 has not been announced, but several guides to Vista’s successor are now available from Gizmodo, Arstechnica and Microsoft.

Track Changes is a great Microsoft Word feature that gives an editor final control over changes made by collaborators. But in order to prevent others from turning off the Track Changes option, the document needs to be locked so only the original editor can turn it off. Allen Wyatt of Word.Tips.net shows you how.