Apple releases Mac OS X 10.6.7 update

Apple has released the final version of Mac OS X 10.6.7. This update for Snow Leopard is available to download from Apple's web site and is 475 MB if Mac OS X 10.6.6 has already been installed; the combo update, which includes earlier updates from Mac OS X 10.6, is considerably larger, at 1.12 GB. Apple lists three central points among the new additions: fixes that improve the reliability of the Back to My Mac remote desktop service, that resolve an issue when transferring files to certain SMB servers and that eliminate "various minor" bugs in the Mac App Store; the latter was introduced with Mac OS X 10.6.6.

In the software update notes, Apple also recommends the update "for all early 2011 MacBook Pro models". The company says that the update addresses "minor FaceTime performance issues" and improves "graphics stability and external display compatibility". Problems with the new combined DisplayPort/Thunderbolt connector causing display flickering in certain configurations had recently been reported in this context. Some users also reported problems when running their quad-core machines at full load – whether Apple has made changes to resolve these issues has yet to be confirmed.

The Mac OS X 10.6.7 release notes also state: that the update fixes problems with certain Wi-Fi devices (AirPort driver); that the owners of the current generation of MacBook Air computers can look forward to the removal of a potential kernel panic as well as the resolution of "various performance issues"; that the support of NFS file systems has been improved; that fonts missing in certain Mac Pro, iMac and MacBook Pro models have now been added; and, that the display brightness on external displays and projectors has been enhanced. Further bug fixes involve the X-Plane flight simulator in Macs with ATI graphics cards, a flaw in connection with AFP mounts, and a bug in the Mac App Store that caused the store to become unavailable under certain conditions.

Mac OS X 10.6.7 also offers various security fixes. Some of these are available for Mac OS X 10.5 in a separate Security Update 2011-01 (download, 241.35 MB). The more than three dozen closed holes include issues in numerous areas such as AirPort, Apache, AppleScript, CarbonCore, ClamAV (Mac OS X Server), CoreText, ImageIO, the kernel, QuickLook and QuickTime. It is, therefore, quite worthwhile to take a look at the full list and update as soon as possible.

In addition to the client version of Mac OS X 10.6.7, Apple has also made an update for Mac OS X Server 10.6.7 available to download. This is 541.21 MB in size (from Mac OS X Server 10.6.6) and also fixes other issues in connection with wikis, iChat Server and the Podcast Producer. Further details can be found on Apple's support page; more information about the security fixes is also available.

(crve)