Mac OS X 10.4.3 Special Report: Release notes (client and server editions), update recommendations

CNET staff

Sept. 2, 2009 8:20 a.m. PT

9 min read

On October 31st, 2005, Apple released Mac OS X 10.4.3, in both client and server editions, through Software Update and as standalone Web downloads.

We recommend the following procedure when installing Mac OS X 10.4.3.

First, avoid performing any other operations (in Mac OS X or third-party applications) while the update process is occurring. In addition, before installing this security update, make sure all Apple-installed applications and utilities are in their original locations. Moving one of these applications to a different location on your hard drive can lead to an incomplete update. Also, disconnect any FireWire/USB devices before applying Mac OS X 10.4.3, then re-connect the devices one by one after the update process is complete and the system has restarted.

Also, repair permissions before and after applying the update (using Apple's Disk Utility, located in Applications/Utilities). If you'd like to go one step further, you can use the following process to more effectively repair permissions on your startup volume:

First create a backup of your startup volume.
Drag the folder com.apple.SoftwareUpdate located in /Library/Caches (the Library folder at the root level of your hard drive) to the trash.
Download the standalone version of Mac OS X 10.4.3 and save it for later.
Startup (restart) your Mac using a drive other than your usual startup drive as the boot volume. This can include an eDrive created by TechTool Pro, or better, an external FireWire. Make sure that this drive includes a copy of Disk Utility (which can simply be copied from your normal startup volume).
Launch Disk Utility from the temporary startup drive. Perform a "Repair Disk" operation on your normal startup drive (which should now appear as another mounted volume in the Finder)
Again restart, this time booting from your normal startup volume, while holding the "Shift" key to boot in Safe Mode.
Apply Mac OS X 10.4.3 and restart when prompted, this time without holding the "Shift" key.
Again, repair permissions using Disk Utility

The client edition of Mac OS X 10.4.3 (available as a 93 MB download) makes enhancements in the following areas, resolving a number of issues reported in our Mac OS X 10.4.0, 10.4.1 and 10.4.2 special reports.

Finder and Spotlight

Improves responsiveness during Spotlight searches in the Finder.
Spotlight comments entered in the Finder are now preserved when using iDisk syncing.
Get Info windows correctly display non-Roman language versions and copyright strings.
Improves the alert that appears when replacing an item during a copy when the capitalization of the items' names is the only difference.
Permissions for items inside packages are now correctly set when applying permission changes to enclosed items in the Finder Info window.
Items copied into a Drop Box have permissions set correctly.
Addresses an issue in which Spotlight cannot find a file after using iPhoto to rename it if the filename originally contained an ampersand (&).
The Spotlight image indexer now uses the "Software" TIFF property to support graphics rendering and image editing applications that use this property.

Safari, Internet, and networking

Safari can now pass the "Acid2" test.
Improves compatibility of Safari with many webcams.
Improves the handling of Hebrew and Arabic text in Safari and Mail.
Improves compatibility for OpenGL-accelerated Macromedia Shockwave 3D webpage content when using Safari.
Addresses an issue in which an SMB volume might not mount again after it's unmounted.
Addresses some issues in which the Finder might not be able to connect to an SMB volume.
Bluetooth Setup Assistant now lets you toggle the Modem menu extra on or off (you can also use System Preferences).
Resolves an issue in which Internet Connect wouldn't connect to a dial-up ISP if the account password contained a double-quote (") character.
Improves compatibility with Squid proxy servers.

Syncing

With this update, you no longer need to store Address Book contact URLs in the Notes field when syncing with .Mac.
Mac sync error alerts now provide a better description of the issue (for more details about a .Mac sync error, see the dotmacsync.log file).
Allows your Address Book contacts that are organized in subgroups to be synced to an iPod using iTunes.

Mail

Addresses an issue in which Mail might prompt you to download items attached to an IMAP email message more than once.
In the Fonts & Colors preferences in Mail, you can now customize the font used in the list of Mailbox names.
Smart Mailboxes that use "Entire Message Contains" and another criteria with the "any" qualifier now work as expected.
Smart Groups of addresses can now be dragged from Address Book to a message's To, Cc, or Bcc field.
The number of messages in a Smart Mailbox are now displayed in the title bar.
Pressing Tab while composing a Mail message now inserts a tab character, instead of four spaces.
Accounts created in Mail after installing this update will avoid an issue in which .Mac mail could not be sent if the Internet Service Provider blocks port 25.
Reduces the amount of blank lines Mail might insert into a message when forwarding or replying to it.
Addresses an issue in which some Mail rules could be lost or duplicated after a .Mac sync.
Addresses in the "To:", "Cc:", "Bcc:" fields, as well as the Accounts pop-up menu, no longer appear in red if the address is in a different lettercase than what is entered in the "Mark addresses not in the domain" field; for example, "Mac@MAC.Com" will no longer be marked in red if the "Mark addresses not in the domain" field contains "mac.com."
Searches of "All Mailboxes" can now, optionally, include items from Junk and Trash.
Resolves an issue in which meeting requests sent from Microsoft Outlook to an Exchange account in Mail might not appear.

iChat

iChat preferences now allow you to display emoticons (such as a smiley face) as text (such as " :-) ") instead of as a graphic.
Resolves an issue in Activity Monitor in which you might see "iChatAgent (Not Responding)" in red text, even though iChat works just fine.
Addresses a "No data has been received for the last 10 seconds" alert that could often appear when participating in a video chat in iChat with someone using AIM on a PC.
.Mac members can enable encrypted chat sessions after installing this update.
Further addresses potential causes of persistent "insufficient bandwidth" alerts.

Other applications

Disk Utility can verify the Mac OS X 10.4 startup volume with this update.
Many improvements for Calculator are included, such as: A black triangle icon no longer appears below "Infinity." Calculator now filters out unusable characters when pasting from the Clipboard, certain "rounding error" issues are addressed, and other issues.
Addresses an issue in which iCal could not publish or subscribe to a secure URL if your password contained a question mark (?).
Addresses an issue in which Preview might only print the first page of a multipage TIFF document.
Keychain Access searching is no longer case-sensitive after installing this update.
This update allows Keychain Access to directly import .pkcs12 files.
X11 windows no longer stay in the background after selecting the X11 application from the Dock or with Application Switcher.

Other

Software Update now lets you know when only ignored (hidden) updates are available for installation.
Addresses an issue in which incoming faxes are saved as "from unknown" PDF files.
Addresses an issue in which some Traditional Chinese input methods, such as Pinyin, limit the number of candidate characters presented in the candidate window.
Resolves an issue for Palm Desktop software in which the Command-Q keyboard shortcut would sometimes not quit the application unless it was pressed a second time.
Improves compatibility with Microsoft IntelliPoint mouse modifier clicking; that is, mouse buttons configured to act as a Control-click or Command-click, for example.
Improves window scrolling when dragging an item into a window that's viewed as a list, where not all of the list is visible.
Improves compatibility with Microsoft Word and Excel 2004, addressing an issue in which the application could stop responding for several seconds.
Addresses an issue in which cases and/or specific user conversion dictionaries could be disabled after upgrading to Tiger.
Addresses performance issues affecting three AppleScript commands: do shell script, system info, and delay.
The Core Data framework has been updated to improve relationship management issues, resolve issues with data migration, improve Undo and Redo commands, and improve insertion performance.
Resolves a potential redraw issue in which an application window's scroll bars could appear in the wrong place.
Allows Apple Wireless Keyboards to work in single-user mode.
Addresses an issue in which high ASCII characters in a password could lead to a blue screen at startup, or prevent log in.
MS-DOS-formatted volumes, including the iPod Shuffle, perform better and consistently mount (become available) in the Finder.
Improves results when printing to an optional envelope feeder on some printers.
Disables Quartz 2D Extreme?Quartz 2D Extreme is not a supported feature in Tiger, and re-enabling it may lead to video redraw issues or kernel panics.

The server edition of Mac OS X 10.4.3, available as a 118 MB download, offers fixes in the following areas:

AFP, SMB/CIFS, NFS and FTP file sharing protocols
file system permissions and group membership updates
NIS, Active Directory integration and home directory creation
mail services when hosting thousands of user accounts
Weblog authentication and RSS2 compatibility
Software Update server notifications and package synchronization
serving files larger than 64k with Apache 2
reliably starting MySQL at system startup
software RAID reliability during creation and rebuilding
Workgroup Manager, System Image Utility applications
compatibility with third party applications and devices
previous standalone security updates

Problems after installing Mac OS X 10.4.3? Please let us know.

Developers: Mac OS X 10.4.3 pre-release builds do not fix PowerMac G5 single-processor 1.8 GHz issues

We've extensively covered an issue where single-processor 1.8 GHz Power Mac G5 exhibit a number of strange issues, including an inability to fall asleep, sudden lack of system responsiveness -- especially when running full screen video or processor intensive applications -- or constant fan running while asleep ((see articles 1, 2 and 3 or search for "single processor G5").

Apple subsequently addressed in the issue in Knowledge Base article #302212, stating:

"These symptoms only occur with the 1.8 GHz model of Power Mac G5 (Late 2004) computers. Apple Engineering has identified the cause of these symptoms and is developing an update to address the issue. At this time we can not provide a specific date when the update will be available, but this document will be updated as more information becomes available.

Early speculation held that this statement indicated a software-based fix would be incorporated into the upcoming Mac OS X 10.4.3 release.

However, we've now received word from developers (who wish to remain anonymous) that Mac OS X 10.4.3 does not include a fix for this issue, and that a separate firmware update will likely be required.

One developer tells us:

"Mac OS X 10.4.3(8F46) although loaded with over 550 fixes, has not resolved even one of the numerous freeze-ups and Energy Saver related problems reported on the 1.8GHz Power Mac G5 (late 2004) systems."

In the meantime, the only viable workarounds, as previously published on MacFixIt, are as follows:

Under the Sleep tab: Drag the slider under "Put the computer to sleep when it is inactive for:" to Never; Drag the slider under "Put the display to sleep when the computer is inactive for:" to Never
Under the Options tab: Set Processor Performance to the "Highest" setting instead of "Automatic".

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