Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Mountain Lion Edition

Software Update

Whenever Apple improves or fixes some piece of OS X or some Apple-branded program, the Software Update program can notify you, download the update, and install it into your system automatically. These updates may include new versions of programs like iPhoto and iMovie; drivers for newly released printers, scanners, cameras, and such; bug fixes and security patches; and so on.

In Mountain Lion, most of the actual downloading duties have been handed off to the Mac App Store app. All that’s left of this preference pane are four checkboxes that govern the process:

• Automatically check for updates. This is where you grant permission to your Mac to ping the mother ship periodically to see if there are updates available. Turn it off, and you’re stuck with today’s software versions forever.

• Download newly available updates in the background. If you leave this option turned on, you’ll still be notified before anything gets installed, but you won’t have to wait for the downloading—the deed will already be done.

• Install system data files and security updates. If you turn this off, you won’t get OS X updates as they come along—only updates to your apps.

  It’s hard to think of a reason why you wouldn’t want the latest, most refined versions of OS X. But maybe you rely on some obscure piece of software that really, really likes your Mac the way you have it today. You don’t want to risk “breaking” that app when some new system patch comes along.

  Or maybe you want to read about Apple’s ...