Apple updates Snow Leopard, breaks hackintoshes

Jake Widman
Wednesday, 11 November 2009 00:15

IT Industry - Development

Apple has released an update and security patch, OS X 10.6.2, which fixes several bugs and patches numerous security vulnerabilities. Reports are that it also disables at least some "hackintoshes," or PCs modified to run OS X.

The upgrade, formally known as Mac OS X v10.6.2/Security Update 2009-006, weighs in at a hefty 473 MB.

It contains 38 bug and system fixes, including one for the well-publicized guest account data loss phenomenon, in which logging into and out of a Guest account could in some instances make data disappear from a primary account. Apple quietly notes that this update addresses "an issue that caused data to be deleted when using a guest account."

Other fixes range from the trivial (a fix to the shutter-click sound you hear when taking a screen shot) to the potentially significant ("an issue with some PostScript Type 1 fonts not working properly").

They are in the categories of

- general OS fixes, including issues with gestures, problems with adding images to Address Book, and iMac video playback problems;

- font fixes;

- graphics fixes, including issues with specific monitors and applications;

- Mail fixes, such as the return of deleted RSS feeds and occasional freezes;

- MobileMe fixes, such as syncing problems;

- network file systems fixes, including compatibility with AFP servers;

- printing and faxing fixes, such as the ability to enter more than one fax recipient in the print dialog box;

- and Safari fixes, including enhanced plug-in reliability.

The complete list can be found here.

For the 10.6.2 security fixes, see Page 2.