Mac OS X updates are becoming a pain...

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I thought Windows was bad with the constant patches but now, every second week there is a new update for OS X.

My gripe is that the file size is so big (this is not something that internet users in first world countries understand as you don't get charged exorbitant rates for slooow bandwidth by a monopoly telecom company) and contains updates for things that are not even relevant to my OS.

Is there anywhere that one can download or check for updates that only pertain to my OS instead of having to download the one huge file?
 

rman


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I you select software update which is under the blue apple on the left top corner of your screen. I t will show up only the data sets you need to update your system. I you are 10.4.5 and moving to 10.4.11, then you will be downloading a large date file. In this case the combo updater. If you are moving from 10.4.10 to 10.4.11 then it will be a smaller data file. The size and number of data sets/files depends on what you are trying to do or accomplish.
 
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Endorsing what rman points out, may I also add that you don't need every update offered. For example, if you don't have an iPhone, don't bother with iTunes updates for it; if you're happy with your present version of iTunes, don't update it. If you don't use Safari, ignore the updates.

Security and Java updates are essential. I agree, it is a pain having them presented regularly, but the legendary MacOS security depends on them.
 
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I agree with hughvane, I simply download what I needed, not everything that appears on the software update checklist.
 
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Thanks for the feedback. I do only download those updates I feel are necessary or for software that I use. I'm on 10.4.11 and the update is Security Update 2008-006 which is 159MB. Not so long ago 2008-005 was released and that was also over 100MB.

When you look at what the security update includes, it has updates to software that is not even on my machine! Why can't I only download updates for 10.4.11?
 
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dtravis7


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What software have you removed from OSX and your Mac?
 
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What software have you removed from OSX and your Mac?

I haven't removed anything but if you look at the details for the patch at - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3137 - you will see that quite a lot of the issues addressed do not concern 10.4.11 but rather 10.5 and Server. My gripe is that those issues do not concern me so why does Apple bundle updates for all different versions of the OS in one big update file?

I realise that this is a rhetorical question as nobody in this forum makes that decision, it's just something that irritates me. I wonder if Apple SA will post me the updates on disc? How likely is that given the disregard of 'customer satisfaction' in this country!?!
 

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