Apple released this week a long and exhaustive Leopard Security Configuration Guide consisting of recommended practices and tips on keeping your Macs, well, secure.

Strictly hardcore, it’s meant for the upper echelon of Mac geeks who are comfortable with Terminal and can understand the arcana of things like sandboxing, library randomization and modules with two-factor authentication systems.

I don’t think I’d try to try anything in it by myself, but it’s nice to know I have a copy. It’s like a rare library book from Hogwarts, and would be perfect if Harry was a Mac fanboy as well. Needless to say, tinkering with these spells is not recommended for ordinary wizards, not unless you know what you’re doing.

It’s a 3.4mb PDF download and you can get it here if you want to take a peek.

A quick look at the Table Of Contents after the jump:

[Read the rest of this entry »]

Let it be said that Mac-A-Doodle can sure call ‘em.

Mere hours after us predicting it’ll come soon, Mac OS X Update 10.5.3. arrives. We even got the size correct - it’s a big one, all right: 420mb.

As usual, Software Update is cryptic about what’s new. All it says of this near half-gig Leopard update is

The 10.5.3 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac.”

However, further digging uncovers the ff. (wordier) info about 10.5.3, which we reproduce here to save you the trouble of a click:

General

▪    Fixes a font issue that could result in Helvetica Narrow being used in applications instead of Helvetica.
▪    Addresses an issue with stuttering video and audio playback in certain USB devices.
▪    Resolves stability issues with Word of the Day, iTunes Artwork, and Slideshow screen savers.
▪    Fixes an issue in which certain attached hard drives may not show up in the Finder.
▪    Addresses an issue with .Mac syncing of Dashboard widgets over multiple Macs that use different screen resolutions.
▪    Includes additional RAW image support for several cameras.
▪    Improves the accuracy of the Software Update progress bar indicator.
▪    Addresses an issue in which Finder may not be available if the computer name is blank in Sharing preferences.
▪    Improves Active Directory binding and login.
▪    Eliminates a delay when logging in as an Active Directory user in a .local domain.
▪    Improves Spotlight searches on a AFP file server volumes.
▪    Clients can now change their password at the login window when bound to a Mac OS X 10.4 Open Directory server.
▪    Improves Safari reliability when connecting to the Internet through a Microsoft ISA proxy.

Address Book

▪    Addresses reliability issues when searching for contacts using built-in search.
▪    Resolves issues with mapping addresses that contain an ampersand character.

AirPort

▪    Improves 802.1X behavior and reliability.
▪    Improves reliability when using Time Capsule.

Automator

▪    Addresses an issue in which some actions may not work with the “Show When Run” option enabled.
▪    Resolves an issue in which the “New iCal Event” action may not work.
▪    Resolves an issue that prevents workflows from being saved in the Finder’s contextual menu.
▪    Fixes reliability issues for Automator scripts that search for files by date.
▪    Resolves an issue that prevents workflows from being saved in the Finder’s contextual menu.
▪    Addresses an issue in which Automator workflows as Finder plugins do not work when the workflow begins with the “Get Selected Finder Items” action.
▪    Fixes an issue in which the “Copy Files” action does not reliably work when added from Automator’s warning dialog.

iCal

▪    Addresses potential privacy issues by allowing events to be marked as private.
▪    Resolves an issue in which the inspector does not show capacity and availability info for conference rooms within a building.
▪    Addresses an issue in which the current day could appear in the left-most column of the weekly view.
▪    Addresses reliability issues with meeting alarms, invitations and attachments.
▪    Resolves issues with reliability when restoring from iCal backups.
▪    Fixes accuracy issues with auto-completion, availability data and location names.
▪    Resolves an issue in which iCal may send cancellation notices for events in the past after a calendar is deleted.
▪    Fixes reliability issues with iCal syncing.

iChat

▪    Addresses reliability issues with screen sharing.
▪    Resolves an issue in which saved chat transcripts may reported as “still in use” after opening and closing them in iChat.
▪    Resolves an issue with group chats not being indexed in Spotlight.
▪    Only the last 250 messages of an active chat are saved.  Fixed to save unlimited number of lines.
▪    Addresses issues with echo cancellation that may occur on portable Macs.

Mail

▪    Resolves an issue in which Mail may prevent idle sleep when set to automatically check for new messages every minute.
▪    Addresses stability issues that may be encountered when dragging large attachments into an email message.
▪    Fixes an issue that could occur if two compose windows are open when dragging a file to the Mail icon in the Dock.
▪    Addresses reliability issues when changes are made to a mailbox while offline.
▪    Resolves wrapping issues that may be found with consecutive spaces in plain text.
▪    Fixes issues with certain web pages appearing garbled when emailed from Safari.
▪    Fixes an issue in which the Sent, Drafts, and Outbox mailboxes incorrectly list the “cc” recipients in the “To” column.
▪    Addresses reliability issues with attachments added to plain text notes.
▪    Fixes reliability issues with authenticated RSS feeds.
▪    Resolves an issue in which attaching an alias to an email message may not send the actual file.

Parental Controls

▪    Addresses reliability issues with application logging and time limits.
▪    Resolves an issue in which Parental Controls may prevent forced sleep.
▪    Addresses performance issues with web content filters.
▪    Fixes an issue with managed accounts in which iChat transcripts may not be created.
▪    Addresses issues with 4-byte files and whitelist.

Spaces

▪    Resolves an issue in which switching to a different space and returning back to the original space may reorder the application windows with a different active window.
▪    Resolves an issue in which activating an application from the Dock switches to a different space, even if there is a window for that application in the current space.
▪    Fixes an issue in which Command-Tab may incorrectly switch to a new space.
▪    Addresses reliability issues with Spaces when syncing preferences over .Mac.

Time Machine

▪    Includes fixes for Time Machine compatibility with Time Capsule.
▪    Resolves certain issues when backing up a portable Mac that is on battery power.
▪    Addresses compatibility issues with Aperture 2.
▪    Addresses reliability issues when performing a full restore from a Time Machine backup.
▪    Fixes an issue in which certain function keys may be disabled after using Time Machine.
▪    Fixes a possible alert message that incorrectly states a backup volume does not have enough space.
▪    Updates Time Machine to reliably restore attachments and messages in Mail.

VoiceOver

▪    Includes Braille Update 1.0 which enables GW Micro, HandyTech, HIMS, Nippon, and Papenmeier Refreshable Braille displays.
▪    Addresses an issue with Braille dot 7 and 8 underlining.
▪    Fixes an issue in which HTML page anchors may be ignored by the VoiceOver cursor.
▪    Fixes an issue that prevented Hot Spots from being used in text areas.
▪    Resolves an issue with spell checking in which VoiceOver may only announce the first misspelled word if there are multiple words spelled incorrectly.”

Remember that it’s always a good idea to run RDP before and after the update, and an even better idea to backup your data before doing the update at all (if you’re not using Time Machine yet). For most users though, prudence dictates waiting a day or two to see if the foolhardy ones (like me) will run into trouble with the update. I’ll keep you posted.

As more builds for the 10.5.3 update for Mac OS X are seeded to developers (the latest is Build 9D34, released today) for final testing, the closer this thing comes to pop up via Software Update. And it seems to be a big one, with over 200 fixes (and some performance tweaks to the kernel - always appreciated) and likely to weigh in between 300mb to half a gig.

About time. Can’t let Psystar be the one to fix Leopard.

The last big update (10.5.2) was released in February. According to developers, this new one will focus on Time Machine and Back To My Mac, and on a great number of built-in features like Spaces, Installer, Mail and a lot of others. Granted, most of them have already been distributed piecemeal via smaller updates on many successive Tuesdays since Feb, but the whole shebang, along with the newest stuff, is coming out in Leopard 10.5.3.

I daresay it might pop-out before or just after Steve’s WWDC keynote early June, and it might have some goodies in it that would tie-in with whatever new stuff he’ll be announcing then. Oooh.

Psystar, that maker of those uber-controversial Mac clones, has created something else we never thought would see the light of day: Mac OS X Service Pack 1. Well, sorta.

Aside from its brazen hardware cloning, it installs Leopard onto these Frankenstein machines, in direct violation of provisions of the Leopard EULA that forbid 3rd party sales and installs of the operating system. Not cowed in the slightest by Steve & His Legal Eagles, now it even has the cheek to actually improve on Leopard by fixing some inherent problems in the OS, including glitches in Time Machine, Keyboard Viewer and various other niggles.

Beginning this Monday the various patches, bug fixes and workarounds will come preinstalled in shipping units, but existing users can download the bunch, which constitutes what is essentially Service Pack 1, from the Psystar website. Some fixes are specific to their hardware, like one that repairs conflicts between Apple’s Airport Extreme router and the Realtek network card that ships with the Psystar boxes, while some actually improve on Leopard, like support for new versions of Java and adding international standards for networked devices.

Oooh. Now we’ve seen everything. Whoever these guys are, they’ve got big ones, don’t they?

In the meantime, we wonder why Apple hasn’t lowered the boom on these cheeky bashi-bazouks. It’s gonna be fun when it finally happens, that’s for sure.

(Via InformationWeek)

Apple updated today Java for Mac OS X 10.5.2 (Update 1). What it does is it adds Java SE 6 Version 1.6.0_05, blah blah blah blah. Please note it just adds the new version and doesn’t change or replace the version you’re currently using (which should be Java SE Version 5). It’s for 64-bit Intel Macs only, so it won’t show up in Software Update if you don’t need the thing.

It’s available as a standalone 57mb download too (get it here), but eager-beaver-updaters (EBU) might make the mistake of installing it on non-qualified Macs like Power PCs and 32-bit Intels. In fact, the formal Apple blah-blah says:

This release is only for Mac OS X v10.5.2 and later, and should not be installed on earlier versions of Mac OS X. This release is for 64-bit Intel-based Macs only and cannot run on PowerPC-based or 32-bit Intel-based Macs.”

Like I said. So please don’t get carried away now.