I have updated two of my most popular free utilities, LockRattler and SystHist. Although these updates are primarily so that they should work better with macOS 12 Monterey when it’s released, in both cases there are minor improvements for those remaining with earlier versions of macOS too.

LockRattler 4.31, which checks the installed versions of security data files and firmware, etc., now has a linked page of information for Monterey users, which will be updated when the first full version is released. I’m hoping that this will avoid glitches and a later update, but that’s unpredictable. This version also tries to parse macOS and its Security Update information better. Several users have reported that some stray app updates can appear listed instead of official updates: hopefully this will address that bug.

SystHist 1.15, which details the history of macOS, security and other system installations on that Mac, also has tweaks which should enable it to cope better with the first full release of Monterey. It too has minor improvements to help it recognise real system updates, so it should now work better with earlier versions of macOS too.

I am aware that, when run on M1 Macs, SystHist can report multiple installations of the same version of macOS, but at the moment I’m not sure why that’s happening. So if you do use it on an M1, please bear with me while I try to work out why that’s happening. The other problem is with macOS updates in Big Sur and later. As these use a different type of installer, the information provided in the right-hand pane doesn’t appear to be as complete as with earlier versions of macOS. I think this is because of limited production of BoMs, which list details of each update or install, and I will be looking in more detail at that once Monterey has been released.

LockRattler 4.31 is now available from here: lockrattler431
from Updates above, from its Product Page, and through its auto-update mechanism.

SystHist 1.15 is now available from here: systhist115
from Updates above, from its Product Page, and through its auto-update mechanism.

I’m very grateful to all of you who have been kind enough to let me know about these problems. I hope that you find these changes an improvement.