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With the introduction of Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard, you can use MS-DOS (FAT32)-formatted disks, including USB flash drives or external hard drives, to store external accounts or home directories. However, you should be aware of some things if you use a home directory on an MS-DOS formatted disk.

Just like a Mac and AirPort base station, network modems and routers use built-in software (called firmware) in conjunction with hardware to provide network services, such as Internet or email access. In order to function properly, you should make sure that the firmware installed on your modem or router is up-to-date. If it isn't up-to-date, you may encounter issues when trying to connect to the device, or when connecting to the Internet via the device.

The 802.1X standard is designed to enhance the security of local area networks by preventing unauthorized devices from gaining access to the network. It supports a wide range of authentication methods, including TLS, EAP–FAST, TTLS, LEAP, MD5, and PEAP (MSCHAPv2, MD5, GTC). You may need to connect to a wireless (IEEE 802.11) or Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) network that is protected by the 802.1X standard if you are in an education or business environment. In an 802.1X secured environment, a computer will not be able to gain access to network services, such as email or the Internet, until it has been authenticated.  

After entering your username and password at the login window in Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard, you may see this alert: "The system was unable to unlock your login keychain" (With three buttons: "Continue login", "Create New Keychain", "Update Keychain Password".)   This may happen if you changed your login keychain password or user password (so they are now different passwords), while started from the Mac OS X v10.6 Install DVD.

The iSync application lets you automatically transfer information from iCal calendars and Address Book contacts on a Mac to your third-party mobile device.  For example, your third-party mobile phone device can be synchronized using iSync to display your latest events, and your contact list can always be up-to-date with your Mac. Note: iPhone and iPods use iTunes to synchronize information and digital content from your Mac or PC computer (running Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later).  To learn more, click here.

Back to My Mac is a feature in Mac OS X v10.5 and later that makes it easy to automatically connect to your other computers over the Internet. Once you've signed into MobileMe on your computer and enabled Back to My Mac, you may securely reach other computers via the Internet. The other computer(s) also must be signed into the same MobileMe account, be using Mac OS X v10.5 or later, and have Back to My Mac enabled on them. After completing a new installation of Mac OS X v10.5 or later, Back to My Mac is enabled by default, however, the computer cannot be reached until sharing services (such as File Sharing or Screen Sharing) have been enabled in Sharing preferences (in System Preferences). To ensure network connections between your computers are secure over the Internet, Back to My Mac uses a technology called IPSec to encrypt data. To provide secure and trusted authentication, Back to My Mac uses Kerberos with Digital Certificates. Kerberos provides an additional convenience; it eliminates the need for you to enter your username and password each time you wish to reach another computer in your Back to My Mac network. To learn more about Kerberos, see this article.

This document applies to iTunes 8.1 or later and Macintosh computers managed by Mac OS X Server v10.5 via Workgroup Manager only. Workgroup Manager is an administrative tool included with Mac OS X Server. For information about administrative management of iTunes Control Features in Mac OS Server v10.4 or earlier, refer to Managed Client: How to manage iTunes Control Features for iTunes 7.1 or later. For information about administrative management of iTunes Control Features for Windows, refer to Windows OS Managed Client: How to manage iTunes control features . For information about the use of the iTunes Parental controls via iTunes preferences, refer to  iTunes: Using Parental Controls. iTunes offers parental, enterprise, and education controls which give system administrators the ability to set content restrictions. The following information is for customers who want to pre-configure parental and/or other controls in iTunes for Mac OS X.

If you export CMYK images as JPEG from the Mac OS X Preview application, colors in the JPEG image may appear inverted when displayed in third-party applications.

Learn about build versions, such as "Build 10B504", which appear in the About This Mac window and System Profiler.

This document describes the security content of iTunes 9.0.1. For the protection of our customers, Apple does not disclose, discuss, or confirm security issues until a full investigation has occurred and any necessary patches or releases are available. To learn more about Apple Product Security, see the Apple Product Security website. For information about the Apple Product Security PGP Key, see "How to use the Apple Product Security PGP Key." Where possible, CVE IDs are used to reference the vulnerabilities for further information. To learn about other Security Updates, see "Apple Security Updates."

Learn how to back up and restore your files in Mac OS X v10.5 or later. You should perform regular backups of your system and keep multiple backups of important, irreplaceable files. Without multiple backup copies of your files, your files do not exist anywhere except on your Mac. Tip: You should also keep at least one backup copy of your important files in a different physical location (that is, an "offsite" location). An easy backup method is to copy important files to a MobileMe iDisk, or via iWork.com for iWork '09 documents. 

This document outlines security updates for Apple products. For the protection of our customers, Apple does not disclose, discuss or confirm security issues until a full investigation has occurred and any necessary patches or releases are available. To learn more about Apple Product Security, see the Apple Product Security website. Important: This document describes updates and releases for January 15, 2008 and later, such as Security Update 2008-001. For information about earlier security updates, see these documents: Apple security updates (25-Jan-2005 to 21-Dec-2007) Apple security updates (03-Oct-2003 to 11-Jan-2005) Apple security updates (August, 2003 and earlier) Obtaining Mac OS X Information about obtaining Mac OS X (client) can be found here. Information about obtaining Mac OS X Server can be found here. Software updates for Mac OS X are available via: Software Update preferences Apple Downloads Apple Product Security PGP Key For information, see "How to use the Apple Product Security PGP Key".

With Mac OS X, the Shared folder is required to authorize your iTunes Store purchases. With Windows the iTunes folder is required. If either of these folders are missing or have incorrect folder permissions, you may notice one of the following symptoms: You are unable to complete a purchase from the iTunes Store. You cannot play music you purchased from the iTunes Store. An alert appears with the following text:"There was an error storing your authorization information on this computer. The required directory was not found or has a permission error."

Learn how you can share your Mac with other people by setting up different accounts. This article applies to Mac OS X v10.5 and later. Several people can share a single Mac by logging in to their individual user accounts. Each user can select their own customized settings, such as Safari bookmarks and Finder view preferences, and access their own private storage space, called a Home folder. You can create as many user accounts as you want. Users sharing the computer also have access to a common Shared folder. The first user account created on your computer is designated as an administrator account. Administrators are users with special privileges: They can give new users access to the computer, allow for the installation of software, and change some computer settings that non-administrators cannot. Note: If you forget the administrator password, you can reset it using the Mac OS X Install disc. Start up from the disc and choose Reset Password from the Utilities menu. Because a user with the Mac OS X Install disc can gain unrestricted access to the computer, you should keep the disc in a safe place. Guest user account If you want others to be able to temporarily use your computer and you don’t want to create a user account for each user, you can create a guest account. When a guest account has been created a guest may log in to the computer without a password. When the log in window is appears the user can just click Guest Account, if names are listed, or type “guest” for the name. For more information, see this article.

Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard includes software for many printer and scanner models.  This software can be installed from the Snow Leopard Install DVD, and installed or updated by using Software Update (some models have software available through Software Update only).  This article lists software provided for printers and scanners as of 21 Sept. 2009. To view the complete list of printers and scanners that are supplied with Snow Leopard Install DVD and by Software Update, see below or use your browser's Find feature to look for a specific name or model number. If you cannot find a driver for your specific model, check the list to see if a driver is available for a series of printers that may include your model.  For example, a printer with the model number 5070 might use the driver for the "5000 Series". For more information about setting up and using printers in Snow Leopard, see this article. Click here if your printer or scanner model is not listed below If your printer or scanner does not appear in the list below, visit the device manufacturer's web site or contact the manufacturer to find out if software is available for Mac OS X v10.6. If software for your printer is not available and your printer supports a common printer language such as PostScript or PCL, you may be able to perform basic printing functions using the Generic PostScript or PCL drivers available from the "Print Using" pop-up menu while adding a printer.

An Active Directory user may not be able to log in to Mac OS X v10.6 client. This can happen when the Active Directory connector in Directory Utility is configured to "Create mobile account at login," and a Home folder is specified in Active Directory for the user.

Learn how to start up in Safe Mode.

Learn how to gather information about a kernel panic.

The sizes of software updates may vary. This is a feature of Software Update, which automatically detects the best update for your computer.

Safe Boot is a special way to start up in Mac OS X 10.2 or later when troubleshooting. Safe Mode is the state Mac OS X is in after a Safe Boot. To perform a Safe Boot, hold the Shift key as your Mac starts up.