Less than two weeks after it rolled out Snow Leopard, Apple released the first update to its new OS. Included in the OS X 10.6.1 update are a number of stability and compatibility improvements as well as patches for security issues, among them including the more recent version of the Flash plug-in for Safari.
The Flash issue is notable as the Snow Leopard installer was criticised for installing an older version of the plug-in that contained security vulnerabilities even if the user already had a more recent version installed. The 10.6.1 update deploys the most recent version of the Flash plug-in, 10.0.32.18.
In addition, 10.6.1 makes some updates to device compatibility, specifically involving some models of Sierra Wireless 3G modems as well a situation in which Snow Leopard might not correctly display display printer drivers in the Add Printer browser.
It also fixes an an issue that could cause DVD playback to stop unexpectedly and one that could make it difficult to remove something from the Dock. It also irons out a problem where Motion 4 might become unresponsive.
A couple of bugs in Mail were fixed as well, including an instance in which the program’s auto account setup might not work, a problem experienced when sending mail with some SMTP servers, and an issue where the Command-Option-T shortcut unexpectedly brought up the special characters menu in both Mail and TextEdit.
The 75.1MB update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and is presently available via Software Update.
Apple also released Mac OS X Server 10.6.1 on Thursday, which fixes the reliability of services using Grand Central Dispatch and duplicate serial number alerts on servers with multiple network interfaces, as well as including assorted security patches. The 71.57MB update is recommended for all users of Snow Leopard Server and is available via Software Update and Apple's Support Downloads page.
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