14 DAY TRIAL // Apple’s January 27 resembled Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday quite a bit, as the Cupertino-based Mac maker released no less than five individual software updates for mobile and desktop users, followed by several other new releases in the following days.
This roundup serves as a reminder for everyone using a Mac and / or an iDevice that several new updates are available to be downloaded and installed. The security side of these updates, as usual, is the primary reason why you should apply them ASAP.
iOS 8.1.3
Apple greeted customers with iOS 8.1.3 on Tuesday, delivering tweaks and code corrections that reduce the amount of storage required to perform these updates from now on, fixes issues with Apple ID passwords failing to work on Messages and FaceTime, fixes Spotlight and multitasking, and adds new configuration options for education standardized testing.
Security-wise, the California-based company patched more than two dozen individual vulnerabilities, some more serious than others. The download is free for all iPhone and iPad users. Initially, we were led to believe that iPod touch owners were skipped by this release. Upon further inspection, we discovered that the update had indeed been planted for iTouch owners as well.
OS X Yosemite 10.10.2
Alongside the mobile OS update, Apple also deployed OS X 10.10.2 for desktop customers. Targeted solely at users of the latest Mac OS, this update promised to patch Wi-Fi connectivity woes, Safari page-loading kinks, Spotlight vulnerabilities that caused the system-wide search mechanism to load emails with sensitive information in them, and to add Time Machine iCloud Drive integration, VoiceOver speech improvements, and more.
Version 10.10.2 is also targeted at Enterprise users with some specific tweaks and enhancements, such as increased performance for browsing DFS shares in the Finder, Calendar fixes, tweaks for Microsoft Exchange accounts, and several others. OS X 10.10.2 is also free for all compatible systems (Macs from 2007 onwards).
Security Update 2015-001
The first of many security patches to come this year, Security Update 2015-001 delivered more than three dozen individual fixes for newly-found vulnerabilities across three OS X versions: Mountain Lion, Mavericks, and Yosemite.
Users can download this update as a standalone package and remain on their current Mac OS version if they wish. Yosemite users updating to OS X 10.10.2 will have automatically installed all these patches.
iTunes 12.1 for Mac and Windows
Both Mac and Windows users received a new version of iTunes this week, one that introduced an iTunes Widget for Notification Center in OS X Yosemite, allowing them to “see what’s playing, skip ahead, and even buy songs while listening to iTunes Radio — right from Notification Center.” Apple also included performance improvements for iDevice syncing.
The new version for 64-bit Windows systems allows the player component of the application to support video playback requirements on older video cards. Apple tells users running iTunes on a Windows PC to only install this update if they were prompted to do so by an alert message from iTunes 12.1 or later.
Lexmark Printer Driver 3.0
Owners of a Lexmark printer or scanner have a new driver package to download as well. This fairly large update weighs in at approximately 180MB and “installs the latest software for your Lexmark printer or scanner,” according to the people at 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California.
OS X currently supports hundreds of Lexmark devices alone. Several other vendors – like Canon, Epson, HP, Samsung, and Xerox – also work with Apple to offer these standalone compatibility updates to Mac users on a regular basis.