Apple releases latest Leopard, 10.5.2
The latest update to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard dropped Monday afternoon, with fixes for several different issues.
Apple posted a support document on its Web site and began informing Leopard users through the Software Update mechanism that Mac OS X 10.5.2 is now ready for public consumption. A combo update that includes some security patches is 343MB and can be downloaded immediately. The first update to Leopard, version 10.5.1, was released in November.
The latest version of Leopard, Mac OS X 10.5.2, has arrived.
(Credit: Apple)This time around, Apple has fixed some issues with Time Machine, the automatic backup software available in Leopard, as well as Finder. Time Machine now works with a wider variety of external hard drives, and you can now access the application through the menu bar like you would a list of Wi-Fi networks. There's no support for wireless backups, however, unless you pick up Apple's new Time Capsule external hard drive.
Finder now seems more stable, with fixes that should prevent it from crashing in certain situations. And Airport is said to work more reliably with improved stability and security.
Apple also released two separate patches for Leopard users that improve graphics performance and update WebObjects to 5.4.1. It's not clear whether those are included in the combo update; they aren't included in the list of new things in version 10.5.2 on Apple's site.
Tiger users also have some work to do, with new security updates released for both Tiger and Leopard. The Leopard combo update does include the security update released Monday for that OS. About 19 percent of the Mac installed base has upgraded to Leopard, Apple executives said on their earnings conference call last month.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
again and then the graphics update is available, and of course
requires another restart after installation.