The "update status" module checks with drupal.org once a day to see if there 
are new versions of Drupal and any modules that you are running. It requires 
cron to do its thing, so make sure that you have cron correctly enabled or
it won't be able to know. 

You can always manually hit cron from the administer >> logs >> status report 
page.

This module can only check for modules that are installed from 
'official releases' via the tarball. It cannot check the status of
'development snapshots' or modules updated from CVS. You can tell what
type you are using by visiting administer >> site building >> modules.

If the version number is in the form of "5.x-1.0" (for example) that is
an official release. If the version number is in the form of "5.x-1.x-dev"
then you are running a dev version. If it looks like "$Name: DRUPAL-5--1-0 $" or is
blank, you are probably running a strange version or a version from CVS.

INSTALLING THIS MODULE
======================

Simply drop the entire directory into your 'modules' directory or your 
'sites/all/modules' directory. Then visit administer >> site building >> modules
and enable this module.

USING THIS MODULE
=================

After installing, you may visit administer >> logs >> update status. If cron
has not yet run (and it probably won't have right after installing) run cron manually
to get the system started. 

The module will check on the next cron run that is at least 24 hours since the
last time your module update status was checked.