14 DAY TRIAL // Apple customers who are still running OS X version 10.7 aka Lion will be greeted by an update when they boot their Macs today, namely OS X 10.7.5, which includes Apple’s new Gatekeeper (borrowed from OS X 10.8), as well as other tweaks and fixes.
Cupertino recommends the 10.7.5 update to all OS X Lion users as “[it] includes general operating system fixes that improve the stability, compatibility and security of your Mac.”
Nuff said, if you’re not interested in the specifics, but some customers will also be glad to learn that OS X 10.7.5 includes Gatekeeper, “a new security feature that helps you keep your Mac safe from malicious software by giving you more control over what apps are installed on your Mac.”
Gatekeeper lets you tweak settings that permit the installation of apps from different places, such as the Mac App Store, or third-party developers with signed apps.
There's also a setting to ignore all warning signs and just install the software, but Apple doesn't recommend it because Mac malware is beginning to poke its head out lately.
In addition to these enhancements, the 10.7.5 update includes fixes that resolve an issue where icons in Launchpad may get rearranged after a system reboot.
Wi-Fi reliability for iMac (Late 2009 and newer) should be improved, and connections to Active Directory servers should be more reliable now. OS X 10.7.5 also resolves an issue using Spotlight to search an SMB server.
But that’s only at first glance. A larger set of changes is documented on Apple’s Support site, where knowledge-base article HT5313 also mentions the improvements listed below.
- Address an issue playing audio when a MacBook Air (Mid 2012) is connected to a Thunderbolt display
- Improve Active Directory clients updating computer password and DNS records
- Correctly update the keychain when changing an 802.1X password Address an issue that could cause text input fields to appear black in some applications
- Preserve iCal events when migrating to Microsoft Exchange Server 2010
- Enforce managed preference based on a user's primary group
- Address an issue accessing secure websites when using a web proxy
- Improve compatibility with RSA token used to authenticate with 802.1X networks
- Improve compatibility with Centrify DirectControl authentication
- Enable automatically logging into an NIS account
- Support @icloud.com email addresses
- Resolve a video issue with some VGA projectors when connected to certain Mac notebooks
As with the 10.8.2 update, OS X 10.7.5 also includes some security patches too. We’ll take a look at those later on today. The link below takes you to the OS X 10.7.5 Client and Server downloads.