Blog

The latest news are listed first.

Apple Software Update

December 17, 2024:
Apple releases new software via macOS Software Update:

  • Apple XProtect Configuration Data version 5284 for OS X 10.11 to macOS 10.14 (Update Product ID: 072-45609)
  • Apple XProtect Configuration Data version 5284 for macOS Catalina (Update Product ID: 072-45610)
  • Apple XProtect Payloads version 149 (Update Product ID: 072-50026)

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.

Apple Software Update

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

  • Allow List for Macintosh firmware security checks (“EFI Check”), version 153 (Update Product ID: 062-77385)

The updated security information allows users of preview operating systems to update their Macintosh firmware to future versions which are currently in beta test. This 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.

Apple Software Update

December 11, 2024:
Apple releases new software via macOS Software Update:

  • macOS 15.2 Sequoia
  • macOS 15.2 Sequoia Update for macOS 10.12 and later (Update Product ID: 072-44286)
  • macOS 14.7.2 Sonoma (Update Product ID: 072-36705)
  • macOS 13.7.2 Ventura (Update Product ID: 072-36728)
  • Safari 18.2 for macOS Sonoma (Update Product ID: 062-54032)
  • Safari 18.2 for macOS Ventura (Update Product ID: 062-54036)
  • BridgeOS Customer Update 15.2 (Update Product ID: 072-44267)
  • Command Line Tools for Xcode 16.2 (Update Product ID: 072-44426)

The updates address critical security issues in the operating systems and web browsers.

The update for macOS 15.2 adds features for Apple Intelligence worldwide. Using it will require that Siri and the primary language for a user account are set to English with the possible variants for Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa or USA.

Safari 18.2 adds the following features:

  • New background images to customize your Safari Start Page
  • HTTPS upgrade tries to use secure HTTPS on all websites
  • Simplified import and export for history, bookmarks, and passwords

Sync Checker 4

December 11, 2024:
We are releasing Sync Checker version 4.4:

  • Added new category of mismatch entries to indicate errors in the file name encoding of objects that resulted in invisible rename operations. Such effects can occur with incorrectly implemented third-party file systems or with NFS servers where the mount options are not set appropriately. Previous versions of Sync Checker presented these deviations as pairs of mutually missing objects.
  • New report sheet to analyze file name encoding mismatches on a character-by-character basis.
  • Added new user guidance in cases where a privileged sync check cannot be performed due to a “root squash” option for files on an NFS server.
  • Added new dialog for cases where a user had mistakenly chosen a wrong pair of objects which are not synchronous at all.
  • It is no longer necessary to switch off the Finder option to ignore ownership on a checked volume if a degree of match is chosen for the check that does not include permission settings.

Sync Checker is a diagnostic application which can check if two folders or volumes are perfectly synchronized, i.e. if they have exactly the same contents. When creating backup copies of valuable files, or when making sure that two computers or mobile devices work on the same set of data, the status of being “in perfect sync” can be very important. In order to be safe and to prevent loss of data, you can let Sync Checker verify whether a pair of file collections is matching exactly or not.

Battery Monitor

December 3, 2024:
We are releasing Battery Monitor version 5.3 through the Mac App Store:

  • The window for monitoring batteries of connected Bluetooth devices now shows a USB indicator when an Apple input device is disconnected from Bluetooth but charged via USB on the same computer.
  • The notification feature to show a warning when an AC adaptor is connected for a long time has been removed. With new systems that support optimized charging, enforced PowerNap, and third-party applications with a smart “charge inhibit” feature, it can no longer be estimated reliably whether prolonged charging in an operating computer would actually harm the battery, so the warning no longer makes sense.
  • Added new feature to avoid a technical defect of specific versions of macOS where a monitored battery of a connected Bluetooth device from Apple can be shown with changing representations for the device’s serial number, sometimes being replaced by a Bluetooth address. Battery Monitor will try to show the correct data as soon as it could learn the relationship between address and number for the affected device.
  • Fixed a problem where adding or removing specific Apple Bluetooth input devices could not be tracked live. A restart of the app may have been needed to update the Bluetooth window for the affected devices.

Battery Monitor is a powerful App to display the charge state of portable Macs in the Dock, to display internal battery information, to capture charge and discharge curves, to keep logs of the aging process of the battery, and to add notifications via Notification Center or speech output.

Older entries…