Software update?

Sunnz

Sunnz

Who wants a stylus?
I have finally brought my MacBook, just about 2 hours ago!! :D

Now, this is running Tiger 10.4.6; I think the newest one is 10.4.7, right? I am wondering, just if it is important to do the Software Update thing from the Apple menu? Does it just updates Tiget to 10.4.7? Does it updates software that are already installed on the computer, like iLive, etc?

I assume it is just security updates, patches and stuff... please tell me if I got the idea completely wrong! :S

Thanks!
 
Software Update updates Mac OS X (Security updates, bug fixes, system updates, etc.) as well as any supported Apple-branded software like the iLife suite, Logic, Final Cut Studio, etc.

Applications not made by Apple (like PhotoShop by Adobe, Dreamweaver by Macromedia, and Office by Microsoft) are not updated through Software Update. Usually non-Apple software either has their own built-in software updater, or you must keep abreast of updates by visiting the manufacturer's website and checking for updates.
 
It depends some are as small a 1MB others exceed 100MB depending on what they are for. A rulle of thumb is security updates tend to be relatively small and Application updates are larger, the last Quicktime update was around 50MB if my memeory serves me correctly.

In general software update works well with security and application updates. For OS updates such as 10.4.6 to 10.4.7 I would recommend downloading the combo update from the Apple website and installing it that way rather than using software updates as it appears to be a more reliable method.
 
The general 'rule' is not to select 'Apple, Software Update' menu item [or 'System Preferences' 'Software Update' utility] to actually download any 'updates'; but, to obtain a list of needed updates - and then to go to Apple Downloads and obtain the 'Mac OS X Update 10.4.7 Combo Intel' (in your particular situation) and / or other update installer(s), as well.

With respect to MacOS X 10.4.7 itself; be aware that by installing such, your Mac will 'call home' to Apple multiple times [every eight hours] each and every day (until a law suit forces them to remove such 'feature') - passing some information of your Mac, including your ISP IP address, to a couple of Apple's servers.
 
No, you can turn it off via the terminal using the following command as a single line :

sudo mv /etc/mach_init.d/dashboardadvisoryd.plist /etc/mach_init.d/dashboardadvisoryd.plist.disabled

Enter your admin password and then reboot and it should be turned off.

Thanks to those at CultofMac for this.
 
barhar said:
...passing some information of your Mac, including your ISP IP address, to a couple of Apple's servers.
Click to expand...
Anytime you do anything on the internet your IP address is "passed" to some "server." Hell, just by posting that reply, your IP address was transmitted and is fully visible and traceable by the servers at macosx.com.

The "phoning home" feature of Dashboard in 10.4.7 shouldn't be anything to worry about, unless you pay your internet bill by the kilobyte. No personal information is transmitted, and none of the information "passed" to Apple's servers can be used to identify you personally. The only thing it's doing is checking to make sure one or two Apple-supplied Dashboard widgets are up-to-date and authentic.

I'd be willing to bet that 25% of the software people use on their machines "phone home" -- usually in the form of "version checking" and is simply a matter of making updates convenient for the user, not for tracking personal information or usage patterns of any sort.
 
Personally, I have no problems whatsoever with either Microsoft Windows or Apple 'calling home' via the software installed. I have absolutely nothing to hide, have you?
 
yea i wouldnt personally worry about it. Apple is too good of a company to try to screw people over. IF it wasnt legit jobs woulda never put it in there.

-Justin
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
I'd be willing to bet that 25% of the software people use on their machines "phone home" -- usually in the form of "version checking" and is simply a matter of making updates convenient for the user, not for tracking personal information or usage patterns of any sort.
Click to expand...

No kidding. Install Little Snitch and be amazed at how often and when apps phone home for one reason or another.

But after watching for a while and with a little understanding of why the apps do it you'll not be bothered by it. The only thing that ever really bugged me was Stuffit phoning home every time it was used. So I found an alternative.

Does anyone really want to go back to ordering updates by snail mail? This “innernet tube” stuff has made things all better.
 
StuffIt, AFAIK, doesn't phone home. I've stopped StuffIt Expander from doing 'net connections in LittleSnitch, but the other parts of StuffIt Deluxe apparently don't phone home.
 
barhar said:
The general 'rule' is not to select 'Apple, Software Update' menu item [or 'System Preferences' 'Software Update' utility] to actually download any 'updates'; but, to obtain a list of needed updates - and then to go to Apple Downloads and obtain the 'Mac OS X Update 10.4.7 Combo Intel' (in your particular situation) and / or other update installer(s), as well.

With respect to MacOS X 10.4.7 itself; be aware that by installing such, your Mac will 'call home' to Apple multiple times [every eight hours] each and every day (until a law suit forces them to remove such 'feature') - passing some information of your Mac, including your ISP IP address, to a couple of Apple's servers.
Click to expand...

I don't see any advantages to downloading the updates from the apple site unless you were going to use them on other machines. Why would this be a 'rule'? Surely it's personal preference and software update is accurate and very easy to use. I would ignore this comment if I were you.
 
This whole "don't use the delta update, get the combo updater" thing is just more mindless cargo cult BS. Once in days past Apple screwed up one of the delta updates you get from software update and that caused problems for some folks. The solution was to use the combo updater, but that does not mean that the next time it won't be the combo updater that has the "oops" in it.

It is just one of those Mac superstitions that float around out there. It is based in a little fact (that an error in one updater may not be in the the other) but for the most part is just mindless superstition.

So remember kids, cargo culting is bad mmmkay. ;-)
 
Mmh, sorry, lurk, it's a little more than that. I've done a _lot_ of Mac OS X support for a long time, and I've had _many_ Macs with troubles after applying the delta updaters - and not just for one little update. Applying the combo updater _afterwards_ has - in my experience - *ALWAYS* solved the problem. I've _very_ rarely heard of problems with the combo updaters on the other hand.

Also, we've had a few polls here on macosx.com which _also_ showed that problems generally only existed with the delta updaters. If you call all of this "mindless cargo cult BS", then you're directly offending my experience.
 
Fryke,

Think of the mechanisms involved and what the updaters do and what you are saying cannot make sense. Now, I do not disagree with the fact that someone might have had a problem that was noticed in correlation with a delta update, but it was not something caused by the update in and of itself. By always using the combo updater you are effectively doing a partial OS reinstall where you hit every component that has ever been updated. So, if it works, it works based on the fact that a "reformat and reinstall" would have also addressed the issue.

I guess that is what bugs me about this little bit of lore is that it is at one level a prescription of "reinstall everything at each point release" and that is very windows-esque. The combo-updater folklore represents a failure to address the actual root causes of a given problem, and sneak in a watered-down "reinstall and it will work". Now if you are giving tech support that may well be the thing to do to get the call off the line and make them quit bothering you. But it does nothing to help correct the problem in the long run and it does nothing to help learn/teach about the actual operation of the system in question.

So yeah, the combo updater works wonders, but they are effectively the same wonders "Archive & Install" also covers.

And we are left poorer for it.
 
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