Blog - Archived Entries - September 2024

September 27, 2024:
Apple releases new software via macOS Software Update:

SF Symbols 6.0 (Update Product ID: 042-53422)

Version 6.0 of the developer application to work with symbols of the San Francisco system font brings more than 800 new symbols, updated annotation tools, and new and enhanced configurable animations that make symbols more expressive.

September 24, 2024:
Apple releases new software via macOS Software Update:

Apple SafeView version 10.2.2 (Update Product ID: 062-59158)

The following changes and notes have been documented:

macOS Sequoia compatibility update
Apple Account rebrand
General bug fixes
Eliminated screen recording notification prompt

SafeView is an internal utility that macOS customers can use to share their screens via Internet with service representatives from Apple or AppleCare. It allows remote access for support purposes. This software is not available to the general public.

September 19, 2024:
We are introducing the new app PropEdit:

PropEdit is is a viewer and editor for Apple property list files (“plist”) and strict JSON files (JavaScript Object Notation). It is aimed to both software developers and end-users who want easy access to these standard file types. XML-based and binary plist files are supported. When writing JSON files, you can choose to either create easily readable, or very compact files. If technically possible, both file types can be converted back and forth in both directions. PropEdit can be considered a simplified version of PrefEdit, optimized for the technical limitations of the Mac App Store.

PropEdit is available via Apple in the Mac App Store.

September 18, 2024:
Apple releases new software via macOS Software Update:

Apple XProtect Configuration Data version 5274 for OS X 10.11 to macOS 10.14 (Update Product ID: 062-84791)
Apple XProtect Configuration Data version 5274 for macOS Catalina (Update Product ID: 062-84792)

XProtect is part of the built-in antivirus software of macOS. The package does not appear in the Software Update section of System Settings. macOS is updating the software automatically in the background if you have granted the system permission to download system data files and security-related files.

September 16, 2024:
We are releasing TinkerTool System 9 version 9.0:

Added full support for macOS 15 Sequoia.
More than 1,000 internal changes to optimize for macOS 15.
The timing behavior when accessing values from the Open Directory database has been changed. The ensures better performance and avoids possible deadlocks with slow database connections.
Fixed a problem where some state designations for certain configuration settings could be shown in English instead of the language selected by the user.
Fixed a problem where changing the default user name for network logins did not work as expected.
The features to modify the permissions filter for new file system objects and to rebuild the Launch Services database have been made invisible at the moment, because the first versions of macOS Sequoia don’t run stable enough to support this. These items can hopefully re-appear at a later time.
The features to compute change statistics, local file deletion and log retrieval for old Time Machine backups created on HFS+ volumes have been removed, because they are no longer supported by macOS 15.
The diagnostic feature to test for specific defects of copy operations via the macOS Finder have been removed because new defects can have an impact on old ones, making the results less meaningful. Apple did not fix these issues in the last 14 years.
The feature to reset a hanging macOS software update request had to be removed because it was blocked by Apple.
The following features have been removed because they no longer make sense with macOS 15, or the necessary system components are no longer present in Sequoia:

Removing invalid keychain entries created by Xcode
Repairing the color tags feature for objects on network file servers
Firmware integrity checks for EFI and for Broadcom Ethernet chips
Unlocking outdated AFP authentication methods for old AppleShare servers
Catalina security guidelines for execution of Remote Apple Events
Resetting or repairing the startup language setting
Showing computer-related info on the login screen
Enforcing rerun of the macOS Setup Assistant via TinkerTool System for Recovery Mode.

TinkerTool System 9 is a collection of system utility features helping you in performing advanced administration tasks on Apple Macintosh computers.

September 16, 2024:
We are re-releasing TinkerTool version 10.0:

Added full support for macOS 15 Sequoia.
Added new Finder setting to let the widths of columns in column display mode automatically adapt to the listed file names.

TinkerTool is an application that gives you access to additional preference settings Apple has built into macOS. This allows to activate hidden features in the operating system and in some of the applications delivered with the system.

September 16, 2024:
We are releasing TinkerTool System 8 version 8.96:

Fixed a problem where some state designations for certain configuration settings could be shown in English instead of the language selected by the user.
Fixed a problem where changing the default user name for network logins did not work as expected.
Fixed a problem where the feature to diagnose Finder Copy operations could not get permission from macOS to control the Finder.
Fixed a problem where some tables did not remember their user-selected column widths between restarts of the application.
This version takes into account the availability of macOS 15 Sequoia and TinkerTool System 9.

TinkerTool System 8 is a collection of system utility features helping you in performing advanced administration tasks on Apple Macintosh computers.

September 16, 2024:
We are re-releasing NFS Manager version 5.95:

Added full support for macOS 15 Sequoia.
The timing behavior when accessing values from the Open Directory database has been changed. The ensures better performance and avoids possible deadlocks with slow database connections.

NFS Manager is an application to control the NFS features built into macOS via a comfortable graphical user interface. The application uses Apple’s technologies like Bonjour or Open Directory to make management as easy as possible. When using directory services, NFS Manager can configure NFS features not only for a single computer but for a whole network of thousands of Macintosh systems, with a few mouse clicks only.

September 16, 2024:
We are releasing Backup Server Control version 3.2:

Added full support for macOS 15 Sequoia.
The timing behavior when accessing values from the Open Directory database has been changed. The ensures better performance and avoids possible deadlocks with slow database connections.

Backup Server Control provides a graphical user interface to setup and administer a server for network-based Time Machine® backups with a few mouse clicks on a Macintosh®. Other Macs running macOS Sierra or later can perform backups on the Time Machine server. The current status of network backups can be reviewed any time.

September 16, 2024:
Apple releases new software via macOS Software Update:

macOS 15.0 Sequoia
macOS 15.0 Sequoia Update for macOS 10.12 and later (Update Product ID: 062-78429)
macOS 14.7 Sonoma (Update Product ID: 062-78824)
macOS 13.7 Ventura (Update Product ID: 062-78643)
Safari 18.0 for macOS Sonoma (Update Product ID: 052-58397)
Safari 18.0 for macOS Ventura (Update Product ID: 052-59851)
BridgeOS Customer Update 15.0 (Update Product ID: 062-78511)

The updates address many critical security issues in the operating systems and web browsers.
According to Apple, Safari 18 has even faster performance, improved security, and new features, including the following:

Viewer lets you watch videos without distractions, and automatically moves videos into Picture-in-Picture when you click away from the page
Distraction Control helps you hide items on a webpage that you find disruptive to your browsing
Relaxed password requirements let you save a password in Settings for apps that you don’t know the website for, or items that don’t have a website, like a locker combination

September 16, 2024:
We are re-releasing TinkerTool version 9.81:

This version is aware of TinkerTool 10 for macOS 15 Sequoia.

TinkerTool is an application that gives you access to additional preference settings Apple has built into macOS. This allows to activate hidden features in the operating system and in some of the applications delivered with the system.

September 10, 2024:
Apple releases new software via macOS Software Update:

Apple Mobile Device Update (Update Product ID: 052-42558)

The update provides macOS support and icons for new Apple devices released in September 2024.

September 3, 2024:
Apple releases new software via macOS Software Update:

Apple XProtect Payloads version 145 (Update Product ID: 062-74597)

XProtect is part of the built-in antivirus software of macOS. The package does not appear in the Software Update section of System Preferences (or App Store in older versions of the operating system). macOS is updating the software automatically in the background if you have granted the system permission to download system data files and security-related files.