Apple Releases Mac OS X 10.6.8 Ahead of Lion Debut

As hinted at earlier this week, Apple has now released Mac OS X 10.6.8, the eighth maintenance update for Snow Leopard, via Software Update. The update offers a number of fixes implemented since the release of Mac OS X 10.6.7 in late March.

The 10.6.8 update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes that: 

- Enhance the Mac App Store to get your Mac ready to upgrade to Mac OS X Lion 
- Resolve an issue that may cause Preview to unexpectedly quit 
- Improve support for IPv6 
- Improve VPN reliability 
- Identify and remove known variants of Mac Defender 

For detailed information on this update, please visit this website:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4561. 
For information on the security content of this update, please visit:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

The public release is the same Build 10K540 that was seeded to developers one week ago. 

Direct links for the various downloads on Apple's support pages include: 

- Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update (474.2 MB) 
- Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo (1.09 GB) 

- Mac OS X Server v10.6.8 Update (542 MB) 
- Mac OS X Server v10.6.8 Update Combo (1.27 GB) 

- Security Update 2011-004 (Leopard) (256.4 MB) 
- Security Update 2011-004 (Leopard Server) (499.8 MB) 

- Server Admin Tools 10.6.8 (255.9 MB) 
Thanks to MacUpdate for the heads-up!