Apple released a new security update this week, Security Update 2012-001. It probably popped up in your Software Update window, which you can open from your Apple menu. As the trusting sort I am, I just installed it onto my iMac running Mac OSX 10.6.8 without question. WHOOPS! Various items on my iMac starting acting a bit wonky, most notably printing. These problems seem to crop up if you are using Rosetta to allow you to run PowerPC-based programs on your Intel Mac, which means that Lion OS X 10.7 users are not affected.

Well, today Adam Engst of TidBITS issued a tweet and released an article warning users about this security update. The article, “Security Update 2012-001 Kills Rosetta Apps,” warns users not to install this update.

The venerable site MacInTouch, a long-standing staple in the Mac troubleshooting community, has no less than 50 problem reports from users. A number of problem reports also appears in the Apple Support Communities.

These articles and posts detail problems with Quicken 2007, Microsoft Office 2004 applications, AppleWorks, older versions of Filemaker, and printing problems.

If, like me, you just installed the damn thing without checking, there is hope. Joseph Morris, an IT guy at a school in Nebraska, published a fix on his blog. “Rosetta Issue after Security Update 2012-001,” includes a downloadable file you can install to replace the files that Security Update 2012-001 “fixed.” He states:

This fix MAY NOT resolve your issue, if it doesn’t, let us know what application you are using and what the problem is using [their] “contact” link at the bottom of [their] page.

Use at your own risk. I have not tried this fix yet.

Update around 6:30 pm ET: According to MacInTouch: Apple has released Security Update 2012-001 Version 1.1 for Mac OS X 10.6.8, but it is only available through Software Update so far. No info. on how well it works yet either.

Related Resources

1. Apple security updates
2. Apple. “About the security content of OS X Lion v10.7.3 and Security Update 2012-001.” Feb. 1, 2012. (Don’t be fooled by the Lion title, there is also information on Snow Leopard Mac OS X 10.6.x here.)
3. Kuehl, Julie. “Apple Issues Security Update 2012-001 for Snow Leopard.” The Mac Observer, 2/1/12.
4. “Intel-based Macs: Forcing a Universal application to run with Rosetta.” Apple, 6/10/08.
5. “Mac OS X 10.6 Help: If you need to install Rosetta.” Apple, 2011.
6. “How to enable Entourage syncing to iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch” (Requires Rosetta).  Apple, 11/16/2010.