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El Capitan Preferences Software Update panel missing

My friend has an iMac (9,1 24-inch, early 2009) running 10.11.6. In the Preferences pane, there is no icon for "Software Update", but his App Store "Updates" tab says "No updates available."


Problems:


1) His "Mail.app" loads, shows a window, begins to populate a window, then Quits unexpectedly. A short while later, a crash report window appears. This scenario is repeatable.


2) Using Safari to access his Earthlink account, the WebMail webpage says that his browser is obsolete. Earthlink says that they need Safari 11 or later. His Safari is Version 11.1.2. His WebMail works fine on my machine running Safari 14.0.1.


I'm kinda stumped and looking for ideas. What would you suggest I try next?


--Gil

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Dec 12, 2020 11:03 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 12, 2020 11:29 AM

The System Preferences : Software Update panel made its debut in macOS Mojave. In El Capitan, you still need to check the Updates panel in the Mac App Store application. Any prior updates (e.g. third-party applications acquired through the Mac App Store, or operating system updates (point and security releases) would appear in the updates panel.


However, El Capitan is now well past receiving any updates from Apple, and it may be old enough that vendors no longer provide updates because their applications may now require a newer upgrade of macOS than El Capitan.


Nothing to fix, and that 2009 Mac cannot be upgraded further.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 12, 2020 11:29 AM in response to Gil Dawson

The System Preferences : Software Update panel made its debut in macOS Mojave. In El Capitan, you still need to check the Updates panel in the Mac App Store application. Any prior updates (e.g. third-party applications acquired through the Mac App Store, or operating system updates (point and security releases) would appear in the updates panel.


However, El Capitan is now well past receiving any updates from Apple, and it may be old enough that vendors no longer provide updates because their applications may now require a newer upgrade of macOS than El Capitan.


Nothing to fix, and that 2009 Mac cannot be upgraded further.

Dec 13, 2020 5:39 AM in response to Gil Dawson

I would submit a new post about Mail crashing on that 2009 iMac running El Capitan. Uncertain how to resolve that issue in this reply.


For his Earthlink Webmail browser obsolete issue, it is basically telling him that the security protocols used by that 5-year old Safari 11.1.2 are too old for the sites current security requirements. Earthlink can get the specific browser version from its user agent header that the site receives, and may only be checking the 11 integer value.


The only current browser that works on OS X 10.11.* (El Capitan) is Google Chrome, as it currently supports OS X 10.10 and later. Firefox v83 now requires macOS 10.12. The Earthlink webmail browsing issue should go away with the Chrome browser.

El Capitan Preferences Software Update panel missing

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