By AppleInsider Staff

Published: 04:00 PM EST

Apple on Monday afternoon released Mac OS X 10.5.2, the second maintenance and security update to its relatively new Leopard operating system that delivers a plethora of improvements for both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs.

As of press time, the update was available solely via the Mac OS X Software Update mechanism accessible from under the Apple menu. Once the 10.5.2 Update is applied, Software Update will then offer to download an install a separate graphics driver updated labeled "Leopard Graphics Update 1.0" (48.9MB) that upgrades certain unspecified Macs for compatibility with certain programs and overall stability. A list of bug fixes and enhancements delivered with the 10.5.2 update are as follows:

Active Directory

• Addresses issues which could hinder or prevent binding Mac OS X 10.5.x clients to Active Directory domains.

AirPort

• Improves connection reliability and stability
• Includes 802.1X improvements
• Resolves certain kernel panics

Back to my Mac

• Adds support for more third-party routers, as detailed in this article

Dashboard

• Improves performance of certain Apple Dashboard widgets (such as Dictionary)
• Addresses an issue in which Dashboard widgets may no longer be accessible after switching to or from an account that has Parental Controls enabled

Dock

• Updates Stacks with a List view option, a Folder view option, and an updated background for Grid view

Desktop

• Addresses legibility issues with the menu bar with an option to turn off transparency in Desktop & Screen Saver preferences
• Adjusts menus to be slightly-less translucent overall

iCal

• Improves iCal so that it accurately reflects responses to recurring meetings
• Addresses an issue in which a meeting may remain on the calendar after being cancelled
• Addresses stability issues related to .Mac syncing of iCal calendars
• Resolves an intermittent issue in which editing an event with attendees would cause the event to shrink and not register that the event was updated

iChat

• Addresses an issue with simultaneously-logged in accounts in which iChat sounds generated from one account might be heard in another account
• Fixes an issue in which iChat idle time is affected by Time Machine backups
• Improves connectivity when running iChat behind a router that doesn’t preserve ports
• Enables logged chats from previous versions of iChat to open faster and more reliably
• Addresses an issue with text chats in which users may be unable to receive messages from the sender
• Addresses an issue that may prevent rejoining an AIM chat room without reopening iChat
• Addresses video chat compatibility issues with AIM 6 and third-party routers
• Fixes an issue with case-sensitivity of AIM handles

iSync

• Adds support for Samsung D600E and D900i phones

Finder

• Addresses an issue in which Finder could unexpectedly quit when displaying folder contents in Column view
• Addresses an issue in which Finder could unexpectedly quit when accessing Users and Groups in a Get Info pane
• Resolves an issue that prevented setting permissions on a folder alias
• Resolves an issue in which the Eject command could write to a disc in the optical drive
• Fixes an issue in which the scroll bar might disappear when deleting a file within a folder that includes files that are out of view
• Fixes an issue in the Sharing & Permissions section of Get Info windows, in which the gear icon appears to be gray/disabled after authentication
• Addresses an issue in which the Show Icon Preview preference might not be not saved when turning it off
• Fixes an issue that could occur when trying to print an image from the Finder

Mail

• Addresses an issue with Message menu's Mark > As Read choice
• Fixes an issue in which duplicate On My Mac folders may appear in the sidebar after upgrading to Leopard
• Improves the accuracy of the Data Detectors feature
• Resolves an issue with scrolling through a Note that is displayed using the split view in the message window
• Fixes an issue with deleting messages located in the Drafts folder
• Fixes an issue in which dragging the icon in the Safari URL field into a Mail message creates an attachment instead of a link
• Addresses an issue found when opening a item in the Notes folder that is not a Note
• Fixes an issue that may prevent RSS feeds from being delivered in Mail
• Resolves an issue in which a selected message could "flash" from blue to gray when in Organize by Thread mode
• Fixes an issue with scrolling between multiple To Dos in an email message
• Fixes an issue in which the body of email messages with certain MIME structures may not be displayed
• Improves performance with America Online (AOL) account-based messages in Mail
• Addresses issues with some ISPs during automatic set-up in Mail
• Addresses an issue in which Mail might not send mail on some networks to some SMTP servers
• Mail now automatically disables the (unsupported) third-party plugin GrowlMail version 1.1.2 or earlier to avoid issues
• Adds an option to view large icons in the Mailbox list

Networking

• Addresses a hanging issue that may occur when connecting to an AFP network volume

Parental Controls

• Improves stability when opening the Parental Controls System Preferences pane
• Fixes an issue that may prevent changes to the email address for permission requests
• Addresses an issue with printer administration for a guest account enabled with Parental Controls
• Addresses an issue with setting printer administration privileges from another Mac on the local network
• Fixes an issue that could prevent certain applications from being allowed
• Addresses accuracy issues with the web content filter

Preview

• Improves stability when scrolling through a PDF document
• Fixes an issue that prevents tabbing within a PDF document after clicking on the PDF
• Improves the Mail Document feature so that email attachments are more reliably created from Print Preview

Printing

• Addresses an issue in which remote printers may be deleted when the computer is put to sleep
• Improves printing performance when using some Microsoft Office applications
• Resolves an issue with some printing options, such as landscape orientation, number of copies, two-sided printing, and so forth that may not have functioned with some printers shared by Microsoft Windows
• Adds support for certain printers connected to the USB port of an AirPort Extreme or AirPort Express base station
• Resolves a stalling issue that could occur when installing certain Canon printing software from a disc

RAW Image

• Adds RAW image support for newer Canon, Hasselblad, Leaf, Nikon, and Sony digital SLR cameras, as detailed in this article

Safari

• Addresses issues with Safari reliably resolving certain domains

Login and Setup Assistant

• Addresses an issue in which Setup Assistant could unexpectedly appear each time Mac OS X 10.5 starts up
• Improves stability and performance during log in

System

• Improves the accuracy of the grammar checker
• The computer will now shut down if an automatic disk repair does not succeed during startup

Time Machine

• Adds a menu bar option for accessing Time Machine features (the menu extra can be enabled in Time Machine preferences)
• Improves backup reliability when computer name contains slash or non-ASCII characters
• Fixes an issue in which the backup disk displayed in the Finder may be out of sync with the disk chosen for Time Machine
• Addresses issues in which some external drives are not recognized by Time Machine
• The status menu now appears by default

Other

• Improves general stability when running third-party applications
• Addresses an issue in which the incorrect search results may be displayed for certain Automator Find/Filter actions
• Addresses an issue with the Latvian and Russian keyboard layouts
• Addresses an issue in which the backlight could turn off before Energy Saver's backlight setting

Users are discussing the update here.