Thanks, yes, I do have the actual updating on manual. It’s the constant checking and reminding that
drives me (and many others) crazy. I’ve tried a few setting changes “under the hood” that were
suggested, but so far nothing has turned off this irritating behavior! Fortunately the frequency of
updates seems to have slowed down.
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Well, except for TidBITS, where we always give the version number for the first mention of a macOS version before falling back on just the name for brevity. 
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My response to the first item in the poll would more accurately be “It depends.” I am now much more cautious with any system running Monterey. I use Silent Knight to “Install named update” and keep everything off in the system preference. I have older Macs running older OS versiions and with those I still enable checking for updates and installing security responses and system files.
One thing that has long frustrated me since Apple began annual operating system updates is the company’s effort to force me to adopt a new OS, even when it is not in my best interest (legacy software requirements being the biggest peeve, and I still haven’t forgotten the early OS X version that forced me to buy a new printer and scanner) – and its refusal, generally, to support those of us who have to keep using the older ones (the rare exception being an embarrassing security issue).
And when you do update an older machine “too far,” expect problems. Because a job change meant I no longer was hamstrung by certain older software, I upgraded my 2020 Intel iMac 27" to Sonoma – and it has more glitches than it ever did with Catalina (its “native” version) and Monterey.
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You can still back out Sonoma (gets harder all the time), but got I around Apple earlier this month by making a bootable thumb drive Monterey installer.
But is it worth the effort? And I was almost a victim of the “don’t upgrade me auto upgrade,” which is what prompted me to go ahead and do it – on my terms, of course.
Based on information compiled here and on Howard Oakley’s site, ‘None checked’ did not prevent the erroneous Sonoma auto update, so there really isn’t a benefit to not letting MacOS install Xprotect updates automatically.
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Would have been great if this survey included an extra question
“Do you avoid upgrades because your Mac doesn’t have sufficient disk space and it’s a pain freeing enough space”
I’m using Mac Mini and despite trying to minimise use of the internal drive it never has enough space to install major system updates without an hour of hunt,copy and delete…
Rod
DaisyDisk makes finding and freeing space much, much quicker. It’s been a life saver over the years.
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Lightroom Classic is my key application. Therefore I will only install a new major version of macOS when I can be sure that all problems with Lightroom have been sorted out.
I’m generally not fussed about any new features in macOS itself. In fact I will often wait to upgrade to a newer version until the next one is about to be released in the hopes I will get a reasonably mature system.
I had this exact conversation with a colleague today. I have a bookmark to the Wikipedia page for MacOS Version History because I simply can’t remember in which order they were released. It was so much easier when they were simply 10.6, 10.7, 10.8 etc.
To be fair, they were always cats with no obvious distinction (though the occasional Lion then Mountain Lion) and now they’re California locations with little obvious distinction (though the occasional Sierra then High Sierra), and instead of 10.7, 10.8, 10.9 they’re now 11, 12, 13. I like that more.
If I had a gripe it’s that iOS and macOS and not in sync. I’d love for Apple to do something like choosing 2026 for the time to make everything 20 at the same time.
I usually take more than a week but less than a month to install a security update. I will always wait two or three days so the early adapters can tell me if there is a problem. I also READ all I can about what the fix is and then ponder on its applicability to me. In EVERY case, I do a full backup before installing any update. And, I keep two USB sticks with the last two system softwares around JUST in case I have to back step. Right now, I am CONTEMPLATING going fro 13.6.4 to 14.3.1 Still deciding. I use Quicken2017 to keep my check book and want to continue using it in 14.3.1 I abhor the idea that I have to pay an annual fee just to keep my check book digitally and to be frank, I am just too old to learn a new checkbook application. That is just me………
Have you considered doing it the other way around? There seems to be consensus that using version numbers would make it easier, like on iOS. So what if you stuck to version numbers and used the name only once just to remind the crowd of what it is Apple likes to market that number as?
This is apparently off-topic, since it deals with App Store rather than Software Update, but it does build on the vagaries of the Mac App Store.
Even after refreshing, MAS update section tells me I should update Numbers and Pages to 12.0. I’m running 12.1 of each. I told MAS to update Pages, hoping that would clear the nonsense. MAS gave me five consecutive, identical dialog boxes with the following text.
Download an older version of Pages?
The current version requires macOS 13.0 or later, but you can download the last compatible version.
My options were to Cancel or Download. Each time, I chose Download, and after the fifth dialog box, nothing happened. Any ideas on how to clear the Update notification?
FWIW, my MacBook Air M1 is running 11.7.10 Big Sur, and the 12.1 versions of Numbers and Pages were installed in an Admin account while the notifications are in a non-Admin account. Thanks for any help.
Using the version number would lead to less confusion on my part, so I’m in favor of this.
For articles about macOS updates, I do that sometimes because the number version is all that matters. So I’ll say macOS 14.3.1 Sonoma once, but then just say macOS 14.3.1 afterward.
Normally, however, my sense is that people mostly use the macOS name and are less likely to know what number it is.
Ideally, Apple would drop the names, but they seem to like picking new ones.
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I finally took my Mac Mini to 14.4 from the last supported release of Monterrey. It took about 50 minutes. The only glitch is a message regarding some syncing not working.
Back in the day I would wait for the .1 release of a major update, but in the past few years I find I feel I have to wait for at least the .3 before even the most obvious bugs are shaken out by apple. Which is disappointing. You can tell, therefore, that I do updates quite manually. Though I do take the xprotect updates automatically.
But I’ve outsmarted them on this ‘auto sonoma’ update bug… my mac won’t do sonoma. So apple’s unstoppable force has met with my immovable object. Ha.
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