10.4.2 update released

Written by Philip Roy | 13 July 2005
Posted in Apple

UPDATE Available at a software updates control panel near you (to Mac OS X Tiger users obviously) or for download from the Apple site, the long rumoured and long awaited update for 10.4 is now out.

The 10.4.2 Update delivers overall improved reliability and compatibility for Mac OS X v10.4 and is recommended for all users. It includes the much discussed enhancements for managing Dashboard widgets.

Perhaps one of the most noticeable changes to come with this update is how widgets are now dealt with. Responding to the criticism of security issues and difficulties, there is now changes to the way in which widgets are added and removed.

	As well as the standard download warning that appears for all files in Safari, you'll be prompted with a more specific warning. Note the icon of the widget is neatly displayed.
	When the widget is installed, it will then be displayed and highlighted by a nicely designed window asking you if you really do want to keep the widget. This is a great way to quickly download a widget, try it out and say yes or no.
	Once installed, the widget bar has a widget and a small window/button that you can click. Both effectively achieve the same thing...which is....
	..to launch a widget that is in fact a widget manager. All installed widgets are displayed and you can activate or disable them from here. Widgets that are not default Apple widgets (such as the NZMac.com, although Apple should make it a deafult..ha!) have a minus symbol next to them.
	Click on the minus symbol and you're asked one more time if you really do want to move this widget to the trash. Very nicely done.

This update offers many reliability and compatibility improvements. Here are just a few of the enhancements and improvements included:

AirPort

With this update, logging out of Mac OS X automatically disconnects the computer from an AirPort network if it is using WPA Enterprise security settings (this does not affect WPA Personal WEP-secured networks).
The AirPort menu extra displays more information when you enable a Software Access Point with this update installed.
Adds support for AES encryption of WPA-PSK networks, which are supported by many wireless access points.

Mail

In Mail, if you retrieve and sort IMAP mail using multiple email clients, the counts of unread IMAP messages in mailboxes other than what's in your Inbox are more accurate with this update.
Addresses an issue in which IMAP messages deleted in Mail could unexpectedly "reappear" after a few seconds.
In some situations, a Mail message's attached graphic displayed as a small blue box with a question mark inside the message window, even though the attached file was just fine; this update addresses the issue.
Mail no longer tries to print an HTML message's remote images if the "Display remote images in HTML messages" option is deselected??the message is printed without the graphics instead??after this update is installed.
This update addresses an issue for Mail in which signatures with graphics were not appearing as expected.

iChat

With this update, you can successfully send and receive AIM messages using iChat after changing network locations (without having to log out and back in)??from wireless to Ethernet, for example.
Improves video framerate for iChat when certain kinds of background processes or applications are running.
Resolves a situation in which iChat could incorrectly report "insufficient bandwidth to maintain conference," even though enough bandwidth was available.

Finder

Addresses an issue in which the Finder could unexpectedly quit if Show Package Contents was chosen several times from the shortcut menu for the same package.
The Finder slideshow feature should now always work as expected.
Addresses an issue in which a supported burning device could unexpectedly be seen as "unsupported" by the Finder.

Other applications

With this update, many applications, including Safari, work better with proxy servers that require authentication.
Safari pages scroll better with this update when scrolling with a scroll wheel (such as one on a third-party mouse or keyboard).
Addresses an issue for Adobe Premiere 6.5 in which the application could unexpectedly quit when exporting a file.
With this update, the Reduce File Size option in Preview works as expected when saving a file as a PDF from the File menu.
Addresses a Keychain Scripting issue in which the "password" property of a key often could not be retrieved.

iDisk, WebDAV

Improves .Mac iDisk syncing after changing network locations??an iDisk could incorrectly appear to be offline after switching networks, causing syncing to stop working.
With this update, you can access iDisk or other WebDAV servers through HTTP and HTTPS proxies.
HTTP/HTTPS proxy account and password settings defined in Network preferences are now used by the WebDAV file system as expected.

Networking

Adds improvements to Active Directory support.
Includes other enhancements related to connecting to and using Windows-based file servers (SMB/CIFS).
Allows Active Directory users with Mobile Accounts to authenticate without being connected to the Active Directory network.
Resolves an issue that prevented Active Directory users from accessing certain Kerberized services, such as ssh, on a Windows 2003 server.
Active Directory users can be given local admin privileges on a client computer, with this update.

Other enhancements

With this update installed, Disk Utility (and fsck) can better resolve "Overlapped Extent Allocation" issues that could appear when verifying or repairing a disk.
The Dashboard widget Unit Converter requires much less CPU usage after installing this update.
This update ensures that periodic background maintenance tasks run as scheduled in launchd.conf.
Addresses an issue in which custom installations from a Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Install disc that don't require starting up from the disc could cause Installer to stop responding ("hang") for a couple of minutes if the destination volume was write-protected (eventually, a "There is not enough space for this item" message would appear).
External disks no longer unmount unexpectedly when switching users, if Fast User Switching is enabled.
Addresses an issue in which the computer might wake from sleep with a black screen if it went to sleep while prompting you for a keychain password.
These Automator actions are updated in this update: Add Files to Playlist, Add Songs to Playlist, Import Photos into iPhoto, New Mail Message, Run Shell Script.

For more info, see:
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n301722

[Update 1]
Widget information and more specific details of the 10.4.2 update added