Blog - Archived Entries - September 2020

September 30, 2020:
Apple has officially withdrawn the following update packages because they cause significant technical defects in macOS 10.14.6 Mojave:

Security Update 2020-005 for macOS Mojave (Update Product ID: 001-48327)
Safari 14 for macOS Mojave (Update Product ID: 001-50026)

Among other issues, our product TinkerTool System 6 is indirectly affected by the defects as well: If you have installed Safari 14.0 (Build 14610.1.28.1.9) on macOS 10.14.6, the maintenance feature to repeat system optimization will no longer complete successfully, but end with error code 11. TinkerTool System detects correctly that this maintenance function of macOS is no longer working. We expect that Apple will publish updates for macOS Mojave that fix this problem.

September 24, 2020:
Apple releases new software via macOS Software Update:

macOS 10.15.7 Catalina Update (Update Product ID: 001-51032)
macOS 10.15.7 Catalina Combo Update (Update Product ID: 001-51037)
macOS 10.15.7 Catalina Update for OS X El Capitan and later (Update Product ID: 001-51042)
BridgeOS Customer Update 10.5.6 (Update Product ID: 001-48424)
BridgeOS Customer Update 10.5.7 (Update Product ID: 001-51038)
Security Update 2020-005 for macOS High Sierra (Update Product ID: 001-48382)
Security Update 2020-005 for macOS Mojave (Update Product ID: 001-48327)
Pro Video Formats version 2.1.3 (Update Product ID: 001-39950)

The new versions provide important security updates and bug fixes.

September 23, 2020:
We are releasing Battery Monitor version 3.7 through the Mac App Store:

Added new feature to merge the capacity logs of two batteries if their time intervals are compatible.
The width of the menu-bar display was further optimized for some versions of macOS.
The battery capacity log has been made more robust against system or window server crashes.
Added preparations for future operating system upgrades.
Fixed a problem where the German translation was incomplete for error messages of the feature to split capacity logs.

Battery Monitor is a powerful App to display the charge state of portable Macs in the Dock, to display internal battery information, to capture charge and discharge curves, to keep logs of the aging process of the battery, and to add notifications via Notification Center or speech output.

September 17, 2020:
Apple releases new software via macOS Software Update:

Apple XProtect Configuration Data for macOS Catalina or later, version 2131 (Update Product ID: 001-48374)
Apple XProtect Configuration Data for OS X El Capitan or later, version 2131 (Update Product ID: 001-48373)

XProtect is part of the built-in antivirus software of macOS. The package does not appear in the Software Update section of System Preferences (or App Store in older versions of the operating system). macOS is updating the software automatically in the background if you have granted the system permission to download system data files and security-related files.

September 16, 2020:
Apple releases new software via macOS Software Update:

Safari 14 for macOS Mojave (Update Product ID: 061-96797)
Safari 14 for macOS Catalina (Update Product ID: 001-50026)
Command Line Tools for Xcode 12 (Update Product ID: 061-81979)

Safari 14.0 introduces new features, faster performance, and improved security.

New tab bar design shows more tabs on screen and displays favicons by default
Customizable start page allows you to set a background image and add new sections
Privacy Report shows cross-site trackers that are being blocked by Intelligent Tracking Prevention
Removes support for Adobe Flash for improved security

September 15, 2020:
Apple releases new software via macOS Software Update:

Mobile Device Update (Update Product ID: 001-48233)

This software update adds support for the latest iPad and iPad Air model series to all versions of macOS. It contains the necessary device definitions and icons.

Such “on demand” packages do not appear in the Software Update section of System Preferences (or App Store in older versions of the operating system). macOS is updating the software automatically in the background if you have granted the system permission to download system data files and security-related files.

September 10, 2020:
We are releasing TinkerTool System 6 version 6.92:

Added SIP-protected startup option to control how a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) can be triggered. The settings and their description regarding start of the macOS remote kernel debugger have been clarified.
The startup option to control how kernel panic messages should be shown was removed, because the underlying feature is no longer implemented in modern versions of macOS.
Fixes a problem where network-based backups of Time Machine could not be selected for re-association with a volume if macOS Catalina was used.
Fixes a packaging issue which could cause the quick help page for the ACL ID-Finder feature not to be shown.
Includes the “build 200813 hotfix” which corrected minor issues with the user interface of version 6.91 for product activation. This affects remembering the position of the registration window, double-clicking a registration file, and the processing of manually entered prerequisite data for upgrade licenses.

TinkerTool System 6 is a collection of system utility features helping you in performing advanced administration tasks on Apple Macintosh computers.

September 9, 2020:
Apple releases new software via macOS Software Update:

Safari Technology Preview version 113 (Update Product ID: 001-46218)

Safari Technology Preview allows users to get a sneak peek at upcoming web technologies in macOS and experiment with these technologies in websites and extensions.

September 9, 2020:
We are releasing Sync Checker version 3.5:

The built-in ignore list for unique macOS installation files has been updated.
The preferred mismatch limit is now evaluated after processing a possible ignore list set by the user, not before, which could have caused confusion.
Fixed a problem specific to macOS Catalina where checking file system hierarchies that included the /System/Volumes folder could cause duplicate processing.
Fixed a problem where the stop button may not have worked as expected when creating offline scans.
Parts of the user interface for product activation and registration management have been redesigned.

Sync Checker is a diagnostic application which can check if two folders or disks are perfectly synchronized, i.e. if they have exactly the same contents. When creating backup copies of valuable files, or when making sure that two computers or mobile devices work on the same set of data, the status of being “in perfect sync” can be very important. In order to be safe and to prevent loss of data, you can let Sync Checker verify whether a pair of file collections are matching exactly or not.

September 8, 2020:
Apple releases new software via macOS Software Update:

Apple XProtect Configuration Data version 2130 (Update Product ID: 001-45882)
Apple XProtect Configuration Data for OS X El Capitan or later, version 2130 (Update Product ID: 001-45885)

XProtect is part of the built-in antivirus software of macOS. The package does not appear in the Software Update section of System Preferences (or App Store in older versions of the operating system). macOS is updating the software automatically in the background if you have granted the system permission to download system data files and security-related files.

September 8, 2020:
We are releasing TinkerTool version 7.6:

Added new option to disable animation when scrolling between document pages.
The option to block the feature for burning optical media with the Finder was reinstated for macOS Catalina.

TinkerTool is an application that gives you access to additional preference settings Apple has built into macOS. This allows to activate hidden features in the operating system and in some of the applications delivered with the system.