determining which patches to apply...

["Jeremy Choy" <jchoy@manlab.com>]

first off, is there a way to check what's installed/running for packages
besides ps aux ( so I can check if the vulnerability will affect my
machines )

and how do I know which 'fix' I should apply? I'm generally good, when it's
something like apache, php, mysql as I know I have it installed. But for
things like vulnerabilities in glibc. (or other library's) how do you tell
if you have it or not?

any references or sites that will help me out, please forward them on.
sorry for the 'newbie' question..
2.2 potato

Thank you for your time and patience with this matter.

Jeremy