A software update feature is included that goes to a Web site to locate new or updated software. You can then select which features to download. Name, description, size and version number, but not date, are shown. With OS 9, Apple finally brings multiple users and groups to the Mac. All users get their own preferences, choices and access rights.
Normal users have unlimited access to applications and the other two get limited access.
An improvement to the Choosers feature for opening file servers now allows it to open all volumes and resources selected, not just the one highlighted. Notification dialogues are now handled by the Notification Manager. Dialogue boxes are modeless, popping up without stopping other processes. System performance felt slower, partly due to the increased OS memory footprint going from a tuned 15 megabytes to more than 22 megabytes. Turning off unnecessary or unwanted extensions and control panels decreased that by only 1.2 megabytes.