YAST Update

Hi i'm very much a linux newbie and just installed suse 9. in trying to update my system i noticed that it does not retrieve or list for update a lot of packages that are otherwise available for update via ftp from the suse download page. for example, i've been trying to update my gnome packages to v2.4 from the v2.2 installed. v2.4 is available in ftp yet does not come up in the yast online update file list. is there some setting i'm missing in updateing all packages perhaps?? how do i set yast to perform the update or at least list everything that is available?? any suggestions would be most appreciated. thanks heaps. Takis