By AppleInsider Staff

Published: 03:00 PM EST

Apple Computer on Friday afternoon released the eighth maintenance and stability upgrade to its Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger operating system in just 18 months -- Mac OS X 10.4.8.

Mac OS X 10.4.8 Client

The Cupertino, Calif-based company said the update is recommended for all users and includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes for connecting to wireless networks using the EAP-FAST protocol, using OpenType fonts in Microsoft Word and connecting with 3rd party USB hubs.

Mac OS X 10.4.8 also improves broadband network performance, RAW camera support, scanner performance and Apple USB modem reliability.

Other enhancements in the release include improved performance of the Translation widget and better support for printing documents with Asian language names.

Mac OS X 10.4.8 also bundles previous security updates. It's available as 149MB Combo update or 31MB Delta update for PowerPC Macs. For Intel Macs, Apple offers a 294MB Combo update or 206MB Delta package.

Mac OS X 10.4.8 Server

Mac OS X 10.4.8 was also accompanied by the release of Mac OS X 10.4.8 Server.

The PowerPC version includes over a half-dozen fixes and is available as a 62MB Delta upgrade. A Universal version of the update weighs in at 202MB. Meanwhile, Apple has also posted a 196MB Combo update for the PowerPC version of Mac OS X Server.

Security Update 2006-006

Also on Friday, Apple issued Security Update 2006-006 for Mac OS X 10.3.9 Panther Client and Server. This update improves security for CFNetwork, Cyrus SASL, Flash Player Plug-in, QuickDraw and WebKit. The client version weighs in as a 30MB update and the server version a 43MB download.