Apple's OS X 10.5.2 update available

Fixes, fixes and more fixes

If you're desperately in need of a software update and can't make sense of Microsoft's rollout of Vista Service Pack 1, don't worry, fire up you Mac today and you'll find a brand spanking new update for Mac OS X Leopard.

The update, weighing in at over 180MB (could be over 300MB depending on how much of the update you need), contains a myriad of fixes and in addition to squashing various bugs, it'll also give you improved performance. There's little to no reason for you not to update immediately - that is, we don't think Apple is suffering compatability problems with any third party drivers.

The 10.5.2 update for Mac OS X, available now via Apple Software Update or as a standalone installer, includes the following improvements:

Active Directory

Addresses issues which could hinder or prevent binding Mac OS X 10.5.x clients to Active Directory domains.

AirPort

Improves connection reliability and stability
Includes 802.1X improvements.
Resolves certain kernel panics.

Back to my Mac

Adds support for more third-party routers, as detailed in this article.

Dashboard

Improves performance of certain Apple Dashboard widgets (such as Dictionary).
Addresses an issue in which Dashboard widgets may no longer be accessible after switching to or from an account that has Parental Controls enabled.

Dock

Updates Stacks with a List view option, a Folder view option, and an updated background for Grid view.

Desktop

Addresses legibility issues with the menu bar with an option to turn off transparency in Desktop & Screen Saver preferences.
Adjusts menus to be slightly-less translucent overall.

iCal

Improves iCal so that it accurately reflects responses to recurring meetings.
Addresses an issue in which a meeting may remain on the calendar after being cancelled.
Addresses stability issues related to .Mac syncing of iCal calendars.
Resolves an intermittent issue in which editing an event with attendees would cause the event to shrink and not register that the event was updated.

iChat

Addresses an issue with simultaneously-logged in accounts in which iChat sounds generated from one account might be heard in another account.
Fixes an issue in which iChat idle time is affected by Time Machine backups.
Improves connectivity when running iChat behind a router that doesn’t preserve ports.
Enables logged chats from previous versions of iChat to open faster and more reliably.
Addresses an issue with text chats in which users may be unable to receive messages from the sender.
Addresses an issue that may prevent rejoining an AIM chat room without reopening iChat.
Addresses video chat compatibility issues with AIM 6 and third-party routers.
Fixes an issue with case-sensitivity of AIM handles.

iSync

Adds support for Samsung D600E and D900i phones.

Finder

Addresses an issue in which Finder could unexpectedly quit when displaying folder contents in Column view.
Addresses an issue in which Finder could unexpectedly quit when accessing Users and Groups in a Get Info pane.
Resolves an issue that prevented setting permissions on a folder alias.
Resolves an issue in which the Eject command could write to a disc in the optical drive.
Fixes an issue in which the scroll bar might disappear when deleting a file within a folder that includes files that are out of view.
Fixes an issue in the Sharing & Permissions section of Get Info windows, in which the gear icon appears to be gray/disabled after authentication.
Addresses an issue in which the Show Icon Preview preference might not be not saved when turning it off.
Fixes an issue that could occur when trying to print an image from the Finder.

Mail

Addresses an issue with Message menu's Mark > As Read choice.
Fixes an issue in which duplicate On My Mac folders may appear in the sidebar after upgrading to Leopard.
Improves the accuracy of the Data Detectors feature.
Resolves an issue with scrolling through a Note that is displayed using the split view in the message window.
Fixes an issue with deleting messages located in the Drafts folder.
Fixes an issue in which dragging the icon in the Safari URL field into a Mail message creates an attachment instead of a link.
Addresses an issue found when opening a item in the Notes folder that is not a Note.
Fixes an issue that may prevent RSS feeds from being delivered in Mail.
Resolves an issue in which a selected message could "flash" from blue to gray when in Organize by Thread mode.
Fixes an issue with scrolling between multiple To Dos in an email message.
Fixes an issue in which the body of email messages with certain MIME structures may not be displayed.
Improves performance with America Online (AOL) account-based messages in Mail.
Addresses issues with some ISPs during automatic set-up in Mail.
Addresses an issue in which Mail might not send mail on some networks to some SMTP servers.
Mail now automatically disables the (unsupported) third-party plugin GrowlMail version 1.1.2 or earlier to avoid issues.
Adds an option to view large icons in the Mailbox list.

Networking

Addresses a hanging issue that may occur when connecting to an AFP network volume.

Parental Controls

Improves stability when opening the Parental Controls System Preferences pane.
Fixes an issue that may prevent changes to the email address for permission requests.
Addresses an issue with printer administration for a guest account enabled with Parental Controls.
Addresses an issue with setting printer administration privileges from another Mac on the local network.
Fixes an issue that could prevent certain applications from being allowed.
Addresses accuracy issues with the web content filter.

Preview

Improves stability when scrolling through a PDF document.
Fixes an issue that prevents tabbing within a PDF document after clicking on the PDF.
Improves the Mail Document feature so that email attachments are more reliably created from Print Preview.

Printing

Addresses an issue in which remote printers may be deleted when the computer is put to sleep.
Improves printing performance when using some Microsoft Office applications.
Resolves an issue with some printing options, such as landscape orientation, number of copies, two-sided printing, and so forth that may not have functioned with some printers shared by Microsoft Windows.
Adds support for certain printers connected to the USB port of an AirPort Extreme or AirPort Express base station.
Resolves a stalling issue that could occur when installing certain Canon printing software from a disc.

RAW Image

Adds RAW image support for several cameras, as detailed in this article.

Safari

Addresses issues with Safari reliably resolving certain domains.

Login and Setup Assistant

Addresses an issue in which Setup Assistant could unexpectedly appear each time Mac OS X 10.5 starts up.
Improves stability and performance during log in.

System

Improves the accuracy of the grammar checker.
The computer will now shut down if an automatic disk repair does not succeed during startup.

Time Machine

Adds a menu bar option for accessing Time Machine features (the menu extra can be enabled in Time Machine preferences).
Improves backup reliability when computer name contains slash or non-ASCII characters.
Fixes an issue in which the backup disk displayed in the Finder may be out of sync with the disk chosen for Time Machine.
Addresses issues in which some external drives are not recognized by Time Machine.
The status menu now appears by default.

Other

Improves general stability when running third-party applications.
Addresses an issue in which the incorrect search results may be displayed for certain Automator Find/Filter actions.
Addresses an issue with the Latvian and Russian keyboard layouts.
Addresses an issue in which the backlight could turn off before Energy Saver's backlight setting.

Users who've already upgraded to 10.5.2 have stated that following the update, an additional update titled "Leopard Graphics Update" becomes available and weighs in at approximately 50MB, don't forget to catch that one too.

Source: Apple.com