9.22. Sound

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9.21. Software Update

Few operating-system ideas are simpler or better than this one: whenever Apple improves or fixes one of the innumerable software pieces that make up Mac OS X, the Software Update program can notify you, download the update, and install it into your system automatically. These updates may include new versions of programs like iPhoto and iMovie; drivers for newly released printers, scanners , cameras , and such; bug fixes and security patches; and so on.

Figure 9-13. When Software Update finds an appropriate software morsel, it offers to install it automatically by presenting this dialog box. Apple has always created updated and bug-fixing versions of its software components, but they don't do you any good if you don't know about them. You no longer have to scour Mac news Web sites to discover that one of these components has been released and then hunt down the software itself.


Software Update doesn't run rampant through your system software, however. It's quietly respectful. For example, Software Update doesn't download the new software without asking your permission first and explicitly telling you what it plans to install, as shown in Figure 9-13.

9.21.1. Update Software Tab

For maximum effortlessness, turn on the "Check for updates" checkbox and then select a frequency from the pop-up menu ”daily, weekly, or monthly. If you also turn on "Download important updates in the background," you'll still be notified before anything gets installed, but you won't have to wait for the downloading ”the deed will already be done.

(If you've had "Check for updates" turned off, you can always click the Check Now button to force Mac OS X to report in to Apple to see if new patches are available.)

9.21.2. Installed Updates Tab

Software Update also keeps a meticulous log of everything it drops into your system. On this tab, you see them listed, for your reference pleasure .


Tip: In your hard drive Library Receipts folder, youll find a liberal handful of .pkg files that have been downloaded by Software Update.Most of these are nothing more than receipts that help Mac OS X understand which updaters you've already downloaded and installed. They make intriguing reading, but their primary practical use is finding whether or not you've installed, for example, the 10.4.2 update.
POWER USERS' CLINIC
Storing Apple Software Updates

The great unspoken migraine of Software Update is this: If you ever reinstall Mac OS X from its original CD or DVD (when you install a new hard drive or move to a new computer, for example), you'll have to download and install all relevant updates again. That is, if your Mac came with Mac OS X 10.4 and iPhoto 5.0.1, you'll have to download and install the 10.4.1 updater, the iPhoto 5.0.2 updater , and so on.

Fortunately, although you can't skip the reinstallation process, you can skip the download step ”by preserving the update installers as they arrive .

Each time Software Update finds updates to install, turn on the ones you wish to install and then choose Update Install and Keep Package.

Later, you can reinstall your downloaded updates at any time by just double-clicking each installer. (They wind up in your Macintosh HD Library Packages folder.)

The sole downside: When there are multiple updates that require restarting your Mac, you have to restart after each one you install. On its own, Software Update would save up its one restart until all of the updates are installed.


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Mac OS X. The Missing Manual
Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual (Missing Manuals)
ISBN: 0596153287
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 506
Authors: David Pogue

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