What Is It?

Apple Computer, Inc. has issued two critical updates for the Macintosh OS X operating system.

• Security Update 2007-002 is a set of critical updates for the operating system and the iChat client.
• February, 2007 Daylight Saving Time Update is similar to the update for Microsoft Windows, which I covered in a previous newsletter, "2007 Time Zone Update for Microsoft Windows Operating Systems," which is posted at http://www.viruswarn.com/Forums/tabid/53/forumid/5/tpage/1/view/topic/postid/216/Default.aspx#216.
• Microsoft Office 2004 for Macintosh, including the following individual Office products.
  • Word 2004
  • Excel 2004
  • PowerPoint 2004
  • Entourage 2004

What Should You Do?

If you run any Apple operating system, you should obtain and install both updates.

• Visit the general updates page, at http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/, and select the appropriate version of Security Update 2007-002 for your system.
  • If you have any doubts about which version of the package is the right one for you, choose Security Update 2007-002 (Universal), at http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/securityupdate2007002universal.html.
  • If you are sure of your operating system and platform, you may choose Security Update 2007-002 (PPC) or Security Update 2007-002 (Panther).
• Further down the list on the main download page, there are two updates listed for Daylight Saving Time Update. You must choose the update that corresponds to your system software version.
  • Daylight Saving Time Update (Tiger) is at http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/daylightsavingtimeupdatetiger.html.
  • Daylight Saving Time Update (Panther) is at http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/daylightsavingtimeupdatepanther.html.
• Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.4 Update is posted at http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/mac/download/Office2004/Office2004_1134.xml&secid=4&ssid=33&flgnosysreq=True.

Because many of the bugs fixed in Security Update 2007-002 were reported as part of the "Apple Month of Bugs" project, they have been publicly disclosed, which means the risk of one or more of them being exploited by malicious programmers is high.

Apple urges all users to install the time zone update, regardless of the time zone in which you, and your computer, are located. By installing the update now, the machine will operate correctly in any time zone, so you won't have any surprises if you move to a location that is in an affected time zone.

References

• http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/mac/download/Office2004/Office2004_1134.xml&secid=4&ssid=33&flgnosysreq=True is the download page for Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.4 Update.
• http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/ is the general downloads index for all Apple software.
• http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305102 is the page that lists the major reported bugs fixed by Apple Security Update 2007-002.
• http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305056 is an article, "About Daylight Saving Time changes in 2007," which discusses the reason for the time zone updates.

David Gray, MBA, Chief Wizard WizardWrx, formerly P6 Consulting
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