safari

Accompanying today's updates for OS X Lion client and server, Apple has released a number of other updates for its supported operating systems and OS X software.

The first is a security update for Snow Leopard, which applies similar security updates for its components that were applied to Lion in the OS X 10.7.4 update. Apple has a knowledgebase page on the security details of this update, but as of this writing the page is not loading from the Apple support site.

In addition to the Operating System updates, Apple has made available updates to its popular … Read more

Apple today released 10.7.4, the fourth minor update to Lion, and one that squashes a number of bugs and patches a security hole.

Among the fixes is one for Apple's FileVault data encryption technology, which cropped up in an earlier update. That issue kept user passwords in a log file that was stored in plain text if a user had upgraded from past versions of OS X.

Other notable changes include a new version of Safari (version 5.1.6), which Apple says is more stable. Once users install the OS X update, they can get Safari … Read more

The reversal of Internet Explorer's ill fortunes appears less likely to be a fluke with the release of April statistics for Web browser usage.

Net Applications' global browser statistics, updated today, showed the top browser reclaiming a sliver of usage from its rivals, growing from 53.8 percent in March to 54.1 percent of usage in April on personal computers.

The top rivals kept their rankings overall. No. 2. Firefox held dropped from 20.6 percent to 20.2 percent; Chrome rose from 18.6 percent to 18.9 percent; Safari dropped from 5.1 percent to 4.… Read more

Web surfing on the iPad got a lot better when Safari added tabs. If multiple windows is what you're after, however, give Dual Browser a spin. This free iPad app lets you view two browser windows side by side.

When you first launch Dual Browser, it opens two windows, one on top of the other. You can switch it so that the windows open along side each other, which I'll get to shortly. Each window has a small URL bar at the top with forward and back buttons and buttons for accessing bookmarks and settings. There is also … Read more

At CNET, we spend a lot of time with our phones -- probably more than any human should. We know that there's nothing as frustrating as a hard-to-navigate mobile Web site. There's so little space on a phone screen that every pixel has to earn its keep. So when we redesigned our m.cnet.com site from the ground up, we took cues from something everyone knows and loves: mobile apps.

First, we simplified the layout of our mobile site and made its navigation familiar to anyone who uses Facebook, Path, or any other common mobile app. When … Read more

Google may soon find itself paying another fine for privacy violations.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is expected to decide during the next 30 days whether to fine the Web giant for bypassing user privacy settings in Apple's Safari Web browser, according to a report in the San Jose Mercury News that cited sources familiar with negotiations between Google and the agency.

In a practice it has since ceased, Google used special code to get around Safari's privacy controls in order to track users on computers and mobile devices. Google has previously told CNET that the company … Read more

To tackle the recent Flashback malware for OS X, Apple issued an update for Java that closes the exploited vulnerability in its runtime. Apple also issued a couple of additional tools and tweaks to tackle other potential problems in Java. The first of these is Apple's updated "MRT" (malware removal tool) utility that will scan for and remove the malware from affected systems. The second is a change to how OS X handles Java, in which the system will now keep the Java plug-in disabled until it is needed.

The idea here is to only allow the … Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week people wrote in with questions on external hard drives appearing as read-only, Apple's USB modem not working after upgrading to OS X Lion, whether triple-booting OS X and Windows will work properly, and Safari's menu bar disappearing after zooming the window. We welcome alternative approaches and views from readers, so if you have any suggestions, post them in the comments!

Question: External hard drive appearing as read-only MacFixIt reader Orlando asks:

When multitasking in OS X it is not uncommon to have a Web browser open, such as Safari or Firefox, and have multiple tabs open in multiple windows. Sometimes this results in clutter that is quickly managed by pressing Command-W multiple times to rapidly close the tabs, which can lead to the inadvertent closing of needed windows.

While you can use the browser's history menu to quickly open recently visited pages, in some instances the page that was closed had been open for a while, and as such be harder to find or even remember what it was.

If … Read more