Inside Apple Software Update for Windows

I was wondering whether Apple Software Update might search for and upgrade the various Boot Camp supplied tools and possibly drivers.

I did a little digging and couldn’t find the answer but did spot that the Software Update sends a few interesting machine details to Apple’s web server….

<key>ClientConfig</key>
<dict>
    <key>HW_Platform</key>
    <string>Windows</string>
    <key>HW_Make</key>
    <string>Apple Computer, Inc.</string>
    <key>HW_Model_String</key>
    <string>MacBookPro1,1</string>
    <key>HW_CPU</key>
    <string>Genuine Intel(R) CPU           T2500  @ 2.00GHz</string>
    <key>HW_Video</key>
    <string>ATI Mobility Radeon X1600</string>
    <key>HW_Ram</key>
    <string>2081088</string>
    <key>HW_Battery</key>
    <string>1</string>
    <key>SYS_Lang</key>
    <string>1033</string>
    <key>SYS_VERSION</key>
    <string>5.1.2600</string>
    <key>SYS_VERSION_STR</key>
    <string>Microsoft Win32s</string>
    <key>SYS_WMI_DISABLED</key>
    <string>0</string>
    <key>SW_QT_VERSION</key>
    <string>7.1.3.100</string>
    <key>SW_iTunes_VERSION</key>
    <string>7.0.0.70</string>
    <key>SWU_VERSION</key>
    <string>1.0.0.7</string>
    <key>SWU_CHECK_FREQ</key>
    <string>2</string>
</dict>

The software versions are fair enough but why it needs to report the Apple model, amount of RAM, video card, CPU details and whether you are running on battery is another matter.

It also adds a task to Scheduled Tasks to be able to check for updates at regular intervals – much preferred over a permanent background process.

[)amien

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