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Apple Bakes 10.4.6 Update For OS X
David Utter
Staff Writer
2006-04-04
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
Several fixes arrived for the Mac OS X operating system, including a patch for a recently discovered flaw in Intel-based Macintoshes.
 | | Baking with Apple |  |
Before installing the latest update, Apple recommends doing a full sync with all of one's devices first. The update includes a later version of iSync than what is currently used in OS X.
Also, the update behaves differently on PowerPC machines than on the newer Intel-based models. Updating a PowerPC Mac to 10.4.6 will cause the system to restart twice instead of once.
The vulnerability in 10.4.5 could have allowed a malicious user to bypass the firmware password on new Macs. Doing so would have let someone with physical access to the Mac access single user mode, according to Apple.
"This update addresses the issue by enhancing the security provided by the firmware password," Apple said on its security site.
Apple included numerous other tweaks and fixes to the operating system with the update. One fix updated the internal clock to be aware of the new rules for Daylight Savings Time beginning in 2007.
Third-party programs like Microsoft Word, QuarkXpress, and World of Warcraft all benefited from the new update, with 10.4.6 correcting issues for those products.
One odd bug in Calculator has finally been killed. When pressing the % button, Calculator would sometimes divide instead of calculating a percentage as expected.
Apple also changed where 802.1X authentication configurations can be used, so users can access their wireless connection as soon as they sign on to the Mac. An administrator can use Internet Connect to set up automatic 802.1X authentication at login.
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Tags: Apple, Mac OS X, 10.4.6
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About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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