Apple on Thursday released the latest public build of its Mac OS X operating system, version 10.6.8. Release notes are as follows:

The 10.6.8 update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes that: – Enhance the Mac App Store to get your Mac ready to upgrade to Mac OS X Lion

– Resolve an issue that may cause Preview to unexpectedly quit

– Improve support for IPv6

– Improve VPN reliability

– Identify and remove known variants of Mac Defender For detailed information on this update, please visit this website:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4561.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

The new Snow Leopard build is available for all modern Apple PCs, and the highlight is clearly the first bullet item listed above: “Enhance the Mac App Store to get your Mac ready to upgrade to Mac OS X Lion.” Apple is expected to release OS X Lion next month.