How do I tell Software Update to ignore programs?

I know exactly what you're talking about as I encounter this same problem sometimes myself. For example, I have an SMC wireless hub hooked up to my G5 Mac, but Software Update constantly reminds me that there are updates for "Airport": but I don't run Airport and don't care about the updates.

It turns out that there is a way to teach Software Update to permanently skip update notices for specific applications, fortunately, and it's not even that difficult.

When you're in Software Update, looking at the window, select the item you'd like to ignore, then choose Update --> Ignore Update...:

The program will prompt to confirm that you really want to do this, then you'll be free of annoying updates for programs you don't use forever!

However, let me say that I rarely use this feature, because it's painless to keep applications up-to-date with the slick Mac Software Update utility, and you just never know, you might find yourself using that uninteresting application down the road after all...

If you do get into that situation, you can always reinstate all the programs you've previously been ignoring by selecting Software Update --> Reset Ignored Updates.