macOS Ventura

After updating to Ventura 13.6.5, my utilities folder has disappeared. Instead, there is a utilities folder. My directory was in a location with restricted rights (read only). In addition, some less important programs were missing, but I don't want to do without them. Back to 13.6.4, which ran great. Thanks to the backup.

AGAIN: macOS 13.6 is out. It has a PILE of security updates. - -> ***** AND! ***** macOS 14.0 Sonoma was released to the public September 26th. It's ~6.44 GB in size, depending upon your hardware. Expect to play catch up with some applications as they update to become Sonoma compatible. - -> Apple has put up its Sonoma feature page: https://www.apple.com/macos/sonoma/

v13.6 is yet-another-update-mess. IASSOTS Apple! After running the outrageously stupid update, here is my advice: (1) Don't panic. The DEAD SCREEN is temporary, albeit the worst possible of user hostility, profoundly anti-Apple of Jobs' day. *grr!* (2) Despite the wisdom of shutting down immediately after an update, then restarting... Let your Mac log into your account after the update. You DON'T want to attempt to shutdown. It's a nightmare to avoid. (3) After you're logged in and all the background processes have finished loading, THEN SHUTDOWN your Mac. (4) Then RESTART your Mac. - - As usual, odd apps attempt to load with the new system. In my case it's the Keka app. It tried to load 6 times, forcing me to cancel it loading 6 times. Eventually, it gave up. *rolling eyes* - - Can I hardly wait for macOS 14 Sonoma? NO. I'll expect it to be another mess. - - Oh, Apple. You make me sad. Take pity we users. (0_o)

Apple, when will your Software get reliable again!? Steve: "On more thing…" Tim: "One more bug…"

v13.5 is out. Apple has put out release notes. HOWEVER! DON'T UPDATE YET! - - That's IMHO advice, anyway. Apple has managed to damage the Location Services under Privacy and Security System Settings. The BUG has been repeatedly reported to Apple. There is a long discussion of the BUG at MacRumors with no solution. Certain 'moderators' at Apple Support forums think it's a "feature". No, It is NOT a feature. The ramifications of the BUG are all negative. WAIT for v13.5.1, which we can hope repairs this BUG. (yes, bug)

Frankly, I can't see the point of changing the name of the OS every year, it only creates confusion. I guess that if you automatically update in real time, you don't care how it's called — in fact, when I have to help a non-savvy friend, they generally can't say what version they have... Well, there's a lot to say about Apple's policy: after 3 years, your OS won't get updated any more, after 4/5 years, your machine can't install the current version... In clear terms, it means: buy a Mac, let it autoupdate (hoping it goes well every time), only run software that Apple can control, and after a few years buy a new Mac, hoping that your old software still runs. Moreover, current Macs are now unable to boot from an external drive if their internal drive dies, WTF? :-D For me, all this is a deterrent from buying a new Mac.

v13.4.1 is out. As usual, the startup after the update screwed up the system. In my case, the indicator was that WindowMizer wouldn't windowshade my Finder windows. Oh surprise. So I Shut Down the system, clean booted, and all is well again. Apple's Mac software division needs a sharp POKE with a sharp STICK, daily. Wake up!

Always Restart after a new OS update. Count on the OS being unstable otherwise. But this oddity persisted after installation and Restart of 13.4 on my M1 MBA, 16GB RAM: The Finder randomly went into seemingly permanent sit-&-spin mode. While in this lockup, Force Quitting the Finder resulted in it NOT restarting again no matter what. I Restarted. The Finder did it again! This time I just waited for the thing to see what happened. It eventually stopped. All was then well. I didn't dig into the logs to see what was screwing with it. - - Also unfortunate is that Apple still refuses to support animated WebP images. That's sheer laziness if not spite against Google. Sometimes Apple deserves a good kick...

Viewing animated Gifs with 13.3 will cause QuickLook to become unresponsive. Force quit is then your only option.

v13.2.1 update is out. On my M1 MacBook Air the update ended on a black screen with cursor and nothing else. IOW, from my experience this is another Apple Blunder. AVOID This until Apple get their act together on this one. IASSOTS.

OH AND: It turns out that Ventura fixed one part of Recovery Mode while severely damaging another. This is outright UNACCEPTABLE. Details: When you get through to Options in Recovery Mode to the "Language" window, I've experienced what I can only call Super-Slow-Motion mode with an almost unresponsive cursor. A very kind techy at Apple had to help me BYPASS that broken window via a Terminal command. WTH. With that near-lockup avoided, Recover Mode works fine. - - How The Frack does Apple let idiot bugs like this get through? ESPECIALLY in CRUCIAL Recovery Mode. - - I hope you don't run into this stupid bug. If you do: CALL APPLE!!! Bother them to fix it for YOU and for ETERNITY hereafter. Sheesh. (o_0)

Echoing gosocial2 below, and adding nightmares of my own, I have to advise NOT updating or even installing Ventura as of yet. (1) It damaged my critical sparse bundle encrypted file to the point of only being readable. Several files had been damaged to the point of unreadability. This is unheard of on my Macs. Shameful! (2) The OS is literally BOMBARDED with extension demands and errors, many of which have not-a-clue as to how to fix them. Some extension error message was outright wrong with its advice. I'm a Mac security specialist and proponent. But the way Apple has stupefied macOS security to the point of MADNESS is again, shameful. (3) I've interacted via both phone and Feedback regarding what are now old and persistent bugs and blunders in their software. Not-a-one has been repaired in this update. THREE shamefuls, you're OUT Apple! Consider me disgusted. Apple Does Not Care. Apple Is Out Of Control. The streak of Apple Blunders since 2016 continues apace. VERY SAD.

Freezes my Mac, reminds me frequently that kernel panics do still happen, and corrupts connected hard drives and SSDs, and built-in Bootcamp partitions. Plug'n'play? Try at your own risk as plugging in additional displays may and probably will freeze and crash your Mac.

The systems preferences are such an abomination that I will NOT install this onto any machines I own. My computer is not an iPhone and I find the IOS preferences labyrinthine compared to the (old ?) OSX . Looks like Monterey is my last version of OSX.

DO NOT UPGRADE TO VENTURA 13.0.0. WAIT for a repair patch! --> Apple introduced a giant security hole in the final beta, which was passed along into the release version. As such, for the moment, Ventura gets a bit fat F for FAIL. (o_O) Apple's own integrated malware protection system is literally DEAD until they fix it. So, I suggest waiting until Apple gets around to repairing the damage they did. Waiting ~~ zzzzz ~~ Still waiting ~~ zzzzz ~~ Hurry up Apple! ~~ zzzzz...