{"id":22360,"date":"2020-11-21T10:13:48","date_gmt":"2020-11-21T18:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/?p=22360"},"modified":"2020-11-22T17:19:29","modified_gmt":"2020-11-23T01:19:29","slug":"update-not-upgrade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/update-not-upgrade\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Update macOS Catalina and Not Upgrade to Big Sur"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all know that it\u2019s important to \u201cstay patched, so you stay secure.\u201d But macOS is making that a bit harder these days. Apple really wants you to upgrade to macOS Big Sur, but if you\u2019re not ready for that big jump, it may be hard to notice that you have macOS Catalina and Safari updates to apply.<\/p>\n

macOS Big Sur is a huge change and it\u2019s usually a good idea to let the bleeding edge folks work out the kinks. It’s also not a bad idea to wait for Apple to make at least its first update before jumping on the new hotness. You may have applications that are not yet macOS Big Sur-compatible so be cautious with a big upgrade like this. I’m not a proponent of waiting a long time to upgrade to the latest OS but caution, especially on such a big change, is definitely warranted. While you’re waiting for the OS to stabilize, you want to keep macOS Catalina up to date, but Apple makes it difficult to see just how to do that.<\/p>\n

While you’re still on macOS Catalina, if you open System Preferences and select Software Update, you\u2019ll see the icon for macOS Big Sur with an obvious \u201cUpgrade Now\u201d button. But we don’t want<\/em> to upgrade to macOS Big Sur just yet.<\/p>\n

\"01
Software Update macOS Big Sur<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I took the screenshot for this post, I actually had updates to macOS Catalina and Safari waiting for me, but it sure wasn\u2019t obvious they were there.<\/p>\n

Under the icon for macOS Big Sur, there was some smaller text that said, \u201cOther updates are available\u201d and blue link text that said \u201cMore info\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\"02
Other Updates are Available Under More Info<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Click on that tiny More info link to reveal the updates you really need to apply. In my example, I had macOS Catalina 10.15.7 Supplemental Update waiting, and the notes below clearly say that this update \u201cimproves the security of macOS.\u201d There was also a Safari update to 14.0.1 which had some speed enhancements but also security fixes, including the removal of support for Adobe Flash. You really want this update!<\/p>\n

\"03
Software Update Showing Catalina and Safari Security Updates<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After you apply any Safari or macOS Catalina updates, the Software Update Preference Pane will still say “More info…” As shown below:<\/p>\n

\"04
Software Update after Catalina Safari Updates<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But if you click the link now, it will take you to the Apple web page telling you about all the awesome features of macOS Big Sur. I presume this “More info…” link will change back to showing you security updates for macOS Catalina and Safari when new ones are available, so you’ll have to be vigilant and pay attention in looking for the updates.<\/p>\n

\"05
macOS Big Sur Web Page Triggered by “More Info…” Link in System Preferences<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I don\u2019t like that Apple has made it so undiscoverable that security updates are awaiting us. I would really prefer that they had made two equally-obvious buttons, one to upgrade<\/em> to macOS Big Sur and one to update<\/em> macOS Catalina and Safari. They\u2019re doing a disservice to the community by making it this hidden. As I said up front, I’m a big proponent of getting on a new OS when it’s practical to do so, but it is the user’s decision when to do it and shouldn’t be tricked into what could be a catastrophic upgrade.<\/p>\n

Since you\u2019re probably the family nerd if you\u2019re reading or hearing this, please pass this post along to your friends and family so they stay patched so they stay secure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all know that it\u2019s important to \u201cstay patched, so you stay secure.\u201d But macOS is making that a bit harder these days. Apple really wants you to upgrade to macOS Big Sur, but if you\u2019re not ready for that big jump, it may be hard to notice that you have macOS Catalina and Safari […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[1104,4397,3588,2079,50,2388],"class_list":["post-22360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-posts","tag-macos","tag-macos-big-sur","tag-macos-catalina","tag-patch","tag-security","tag-updates"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/02-Software-Update-other-updates-More-info.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22360"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22378,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22360\/revisions\/22378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}