Smart or Dumb: The OSX update saga

Have you ever logged into OSX at gotten a message about needing updates although you are sure you have applied them already? How about a message saying that you need to accept certain packages like iPhoto in the update manager but when you try you are told they have been purchased with another account and you need to login with that one to install them? Looking at the Apple OSX support forums across a number of sites I can tell you don't bother answering, I know it is a rhetorical question. These errors happen to a lot of people and all the time. Eventually some other forum user will suggest some bit of command line trickery that has nothing to do with the problem and the errors go away.