The Mac maker dropped the Java runtime from the default installation for OS X 10.7 Lion when the operating system update launched in 2010. Java vulnerabilities have been a common exploit used by malicious hackers looking to exploit the OS X platform.

According to Apple: Mac OS X Lion Java for Mac OS X 10.7 Update 1 delivers improved compatibility, security, and reliability by updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_29. Please quit any web browsers and Java applications before installing this update. See for more details about this update. See for information about the security content of this update. Mac OS X Snow Leopard Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 6 delivers improved compatibility, security, and reliability by updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_29. Please quit any web browsers and Java applications before installing this update. See for more details about this update.

See for information about the security content of this update. If you’d like to download the update directly to install on multiple computers you can get a copy of it for Mac OS X.

Note a few people in the comments question the validity of one of the updates. Here’s why I wrote about the two updates from — see the dates for the two Java updates. If you need either of these great if you don’t that is even better since these updates also include security updates.

We’d be remiss if we let Tuesday pass without noting that Apple has released a pair of Java updates for OS X 10.5 and 10.6. Is aimed at Snow Leopard users, while does the trick for those of us still using Leopard.

Some drives are even sold as “Mac-formatted drives” — this just means they come with the Mac HFS+ file system instead of NTFS or FAT32. Macs can read NTFS drives, and can read and write to FAT32 drives. I am trying to reformat an external seagate harddrive for use on my windows 7 running PC. The drive used to be used on a mac so is probably in the wrong format so isn't automatically.

Both updates promise, in Apple’s words, “improved compatibility, security, and reliability.” The specifics on how the updates do this are unclear, however, as the release notes for both the and updates are a little light on the details. Apple does tell us that the 122MB download for users of OS X 10.5.8 and later updates J2SE 5.0 to 1.5.0_24 and Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_20. As with the, J2SE 1.4.2 remains disabled by default, as it’s no longer being updated.

As for the 78MB Java for Mac OS X 10.6 download, it updates Java SE 6 to version 1.6.0_20. It’s aimed at Mac OS X 10.6.3 and later. Both downloads are available via Software Update as well as from.