Mac OS X 10.4.4

Mac OS X 10.4.4 was released on January 10, 2006. It has the build number 8H14. The update delivers bugfixes and is the first Universal binary version of Mac OS X (not counting special builds of 10.4.3) to be able to run on the new Intel-based Macintosh computers as well as the older PowerPC-based Macs.

This update offers many improvements, including:

Safari

 * Safari now displays certain documents that have text/plain headers as plain text rather than treating them as HTML.
 * On certain websites, such as Telia Webmail, buttons on a page might overlap in Safari; this update resolves the issue.
 * Text within a nested HTML table's cells (such as a web-based form) no longer disappears when you click it.
 * Addresses an issue in which some websites, such as www.cbsnews.com, could cause CPU usage to spike unnecessarily, or cause Safari to stop responding, unless Safari's Enable JavaScript preference was deselected.
 * Resolves an issue in which Safari could unexpectedly quit if you tried to save a web page which includes an inline PDF file as a Web Archive.
 * Addresses an issue that could cause Safari to unexpectedly quit when filling out forms on some websites.


 * .Mac now syncs which RSS feed items you have and haven't read in Safari.

Dashboard

 * The following widgets are updated with this update:
 * Stocks - The stocks widget can now display price graphs for a week or a month; also, font size and spacing have been adjusted.
 * Address Book - Address Book widget now has three panes: Search, List, and Card.
 * Calendar - This widget's appearance has been adjusted.
 * PhoneBook - This widget is now named Business.
 * The following widgets are installed with this update:
 * People - This widget lets you look up residential phone numbers.
 * Google - Searches the Internet via www.google.com, then displays the results in your default web browser.
 * ESPN - Shows news and scores for the sports you choose.
 * Ski Report - Shows you ski conditions at popular skiing locations powered by AccuWeather.

iChat

 * iChat can now detect when you're using a Bluetooth headset as your audio device.
 * Allows iChat to initiate a video conference with an AOL Messenger (AIM) for Windows user whose name include spaces or uppercase characters.
 * Resolves an issue in which iChat could unexpectedly quit after experiencing a disconnection during a file transfer.
 * In an iChat multiperson chat (conference) with "Auto-reply with my away message" enabled, if your status changes to Away your away message no longer appears after every chat line.

Other applications

 * Addresses an issue in which Preview or other graphic applications might be able to open an EPS format file, but would unexpectedly quit soon afterwards.
 * Instead of Disk Utility reporting "ERROR: could not freeze volume (Operation not supported)," when trying to perform a Live Verification of a non-Journaled volume, the Verify button is dimmed when a non-Journaled volume is selected.
 * Improves the compression achieved when saving a TIFF file as a compressed TIFF.
 * Shadows within a PDF document created in Mac OS X 10.4.4 or later are visible in Adobe Reader as well.
 * Calculator widget now uses the number format set in International preferences format pane; for example, the Calculator widget's number separator is a comma when the Russian region is selected in the Region pop-up menu.
 * Resolves an issue in which some PDF files could appear with inverted colors in Preview or other applications.
 * Adobe Illustrator CS version 11.0 can now save files with 2-byte characters in their name.
 * Improves framerates in Blizzard World of Warcraft for GeForce 4Ti video cards.
 * T.C. Electronic Spark XL 2.8 no longer stops responding when quitting or when switching audio devices in the application's preferences.
 * Addresses an unexpected quitting issue that could occur when switching GarageBand to an aggregate audio hardware device.

Other improvements

 * Improves stability when third-party networking kernel extensions are installed, such as socket filters that implement a data filter.
 * iPhoto can now import and work with raw graphic files from several recent digital cameras.


 * Resolves an issue in which, under certain conditions, canceling a .Mac synchronization session could result in erroneous contacts being added to Address Book.
 * Addresses certain issues that could occur when performing a full sync or sync reset with .Mac.
 * Allows you to reinstall bundled software from Mac OS X 10.3.4 or later DVDs, instead of receiving an "Error Reading Package - The package is damaged and cannot be read" alert.


 * Addresses an issue for Mac OS X 10.4.3 in which you cannot unlock the System Keychain, or the System Keychain does not accept your authentication when authenticating for a wireless network.
 * Includes later versions of the Courier and Monaco system fonts that resolve certain Central European language and Cyrillic glyph display issues.
 * Turning Bluetooth on and off rapidly several times in Bluetooth preferences no longer causes Bluetooth to stop responding, nor causes the On/Off button to become dimmed.
 * Includes recent Security Updates.