Hey, an update’s an update.

Late Tuesday, Google released version 23.0.1271.97 of its Chrome web browser. The update, a 56.5 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:

- Some texts in a Website Settings popup are trimmed (Issue: 159156).

- Some plugins stopped working (Issue: 159896).

- Fixed a known crash (Issue:161854).

Google Chrome 23.0.1271.97 requires an Intel-based Mac with Mac OS X 10.6 or later to install and run. If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

Prosoft Engineering has released Drive Genius 3.2.2, an updated version of its drive repair and recovery program for Mac OS X.

The new version, a 15.2 megabyte download” target=”_blank”>download, offers the following fixes and changes:

- When purchasing the full version from within Drive Genius, Drive Genius will automatically detect the purchase and register itself.

- Bug fix: potential stability issues with Defrag, Repair and DriveSlim.

- Bug fix: stability issue on certain Mac Pro systems.

Drive Genius retails for US$99 and requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.6.7 or later installed to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, let us know in the comments.

A useful update’s a useful update.

Late Thursday, Apple released version 10.0.7 of its Final Cut Pro X video editing software.

The update, a 1.41 gigabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:
- The Letterbox effect “Offset” slider has been restored.

- Fixes an issue when creating a single layer DVD.

- Fixes an issue where some third-party effects could cause Final Cut Pro to hang during background rendering.

- Fixes an issue where some third-party transitions would incorrectly use black instead of source media.

- Adds support for editing MXF files that are still ingesting.

- Fixes an issue rendering Motion Templates containing Image Units.

Final Cut Pro X 10.0.7 requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later to install and run and retails for US$299.99

If you’ve tried version 10.0.7 of Final Cut Pro X and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

On Thursday, Parallels released version 8.0.18354 of its Parallels Desktop virtualization software. The new update, a 333.8 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:

- Resolves an issue with the built-in camera not working with Windows.

- Resolves an issue with some USB devices not working in virtual machines.

Parallels Desktop 8 retails for US$79.99 and requires a 64-bit Intel-based processor, Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later, 2GB of RAM (4GB recommended to run Windows 7), at least 700 MB of space available on the boot volume for Parallels Desktop installation and 15 GB of available disk space for Windows.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, let us know in the comments.

Ok, this shouldn’t be happening again.

Per F-Secure, a new piece of malware that takes advantage of a well-documented Java vulnerability has been found on a website dedicated to the Dalai Lama, with the trojan able to install itself on an unwitting Mac user’s computer to capture keystrokes and other sensitive data.

Dubbed “Dockster,” the malware was first found by antivirus and security firm Intego to have been uploaded to the VirusTotal detection service on Nov. 30. At the time of its discovery, the remote address associated with trojan was not active, possibly indicating that the code’s creators were testing whether it would be detected, but as of this writing the malicious code is now “in the wild.”

Similar to the Flashback exploit from September 2011, Dockster leverages the same Java vulnerability to drop the backdoor onto a Mac, which then executes code to create an agent that feeds keylogs and other sensitive information to an off-site server.

In the case of Flashback, which was also discovered by Intego, a reported 600,000 Macs were affected before both Apple and Oracle released a Java patches to remove the malware and protect against future attacks.

Although the newly-found Dockster takes advantage of an already fixed weakness, users who haven’t yet updated their Macs or are running older software may still be at risk.

In which case, try to ensure that your friends and family with older, pre-OS X 10.6 software are up to date and be careful out there.

Hey, you can’t knock improvements on useful software.

Early Tuesday, Dropbox released version 1.6.3 of its cloud-based storage client for Mac OS X. The new version, a 23.1 megabyte download, which adds the following fixes and changes:

- Fixes rare issue with sync not working on 10.4.

- Other small fixes.

Dropbox 1.6.3 requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new beta and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

Hey, an update’s an update…

Over the weekend, Mozilla.org released version 17.0.1 of its Firefox web browser. The new version, a 34.1 megabyte download and adds the following fixes and changes:

Fixed:
- Font rendering issue in Firefox 17.0 (bug 814101).

- 17.0.1: Reverted user agent change causing some website incompatibilities.

- Over twenty performance improvements, including fixes around the New Tab page.

- 17.0.1: Leaving Private Browsing with Social API enabled should reset social components (814554).

- Pointer lock doesn’t work in web apps (769150).

- Page scrolling on sites with fixed headers (780345).

- Known Issues Unresolved If you try to start Firefox using a locked profile, it will crash (see 573369).

Unresolved:
- For some users, scrolling in the main GMail window will be slower than usual (see 579260).

- Unresolved Windows: The use of Microsoft’s System Restore functionality shortly after updating Firefox may prevent future updates (see 730285).

New:
- First revision of the Social API and support for Facebook Messenger.

- Click-to-play blocklisting implemented to prevent vulnerable plugin versions from running without the user’s permission (see blog post)

Changed:
- Updated Awesome Bar experience with larger icons.

- Mac OS X 10.5 is no longer supported.

Developer:
- JavaScript Maps and Sets are now iterable.

- SVG FillPaint and StrokePaint implemented.

- Improvements that make the Web Console, Debugger and Developer Toolbar faster and easier to use.

- New Markup panel in the Page Inspector allows easy editing of the DOM.

HTML 5:
- Sandbox attribute for iframes implemented, enabling increased security.

Firefox 17.0.1 requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.6 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

On Thursday, software developer Quark released version 9.5 of its QuarkXPress design application. The 816 megabyte update, which can be downloaded here, adds the following change:

- Beginning with version 9.5, App Studio is switching from the proprietary AVE format to the industry-standard HTML5 format. For an in-depth description of the new App Studio, see A Guide to App Studio 9.5.

QuarkXPress 9.5 requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.5.8 later to install and retails for US$799.00 for the full version.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

On Tuesday, Apple posted its Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 4.02, an update designed to extend RAW image compatibility for the Aperture 3 and iPhoto ’11 applications.

The update, a 5.3 megabyte download, adds support for the following cameras:
- Nikon COOLPIX P7700

- Olympus PEN E-PL5

- Olympus PEN E-PM2

- Olympus STYLUS XZ-2

- Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GH3

- Sony Alpha NEX-5R

- Sony Alpha NEX-6

- Sony Alpha SLT-A99

The update requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.7.5 or later to install and run and is also available via Mac OS X’s built-in Software Update feature.

If you’ve tried the new Digital Camera RAW update and noticed any changes, please let us know how it went.

You can’t knock a bug fix.

Late Monday, Google released a beta of version Google Chrome updated to 23.0.1271.95 of its Chrome web browser. The update, a 56.5 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:

- [161564] High CVE-2012-5138: Incorrect file path handling. Credit to Google Chrome Security Team (Jüri Aedla).

- [$7331] [162835] High CVE-2012-5137: Use-after-free in media source handling. Credit to Pinkie Pie.

Google Chrome 23.0.1271.95 requires an Intel-based Mac with Mac OS X 10.5 or later to install and run. If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.