Apple releases Mac OS X, Safari updates

Apple on Monday released its Mac OS X 10.5.6 Update and a security update for Safari. The updates improve security as well as improving gaming performance and reliability of various system-level componnents, according to Apple documentation. In addition, the security portion of the v10.5.6 update is also available as Security Update 2008-008. These are big files so perhaps you might want to hold off a bit and wait for the rush of early upgraders to do their thing. Apple's support servers can get jammed. Here are a couple of improvements that caught my eye:

Mail

Includes overall performance and reliability fixes. Improves Connection Doctor accuracy. Fixes an issue that could cause messages identified as junk to remain in the inbox. Fixes an issue that could cause Mail to append a character to the file extension of an attachment. Addresses an issue that could prevent Mail from quitting. Improves reliability when printing PDF attachments.

Networking

Improves Apple File Service performance, especially when using a home directory hosted on an AFP server. Important: If you are using Mac OS X 10.5.6 (client) to connect to a Mac OS X Server 10.4-based server, it is strongly recommended that you update the server to Mac OS X Server version 10.4.11. Improves the performance and reliability of TCP connections. Improves reliability and performance for AT&T 3G cards. Updates the ssh Terminal command for compatibility with more ssh servers.

Chat

Addresses an issue that could cause an encryption alert to appear in the chat window. Setting your iChat status to "invisible" via AppleScript no longer logs you out of iChat. Resolves an issue in which pasting text from a Microsoft Office document could insert an image rather than text.

General

Includes Mac OS X security improvements. See this website for more information. Addresses inaccuracies with Calculator when the Mac OS X language is set to German or Swiss German. Improves the performance and reliability of Chess. Improves DVD Player performance and reliability. Performance improvements for iCal are included. Fixes an issue when running the New iCal Events Automator action as an applet. Adds a Trackpad System Preference pane for portable Macs. Improves compatibility with smart cards such as the U.S. Department of Defense Common Access Card. Updates time zone data and Daylight Saving Time rules for several countries.