Safari 5.1? That would have been released in roughly 2011. Snow Leopard would have been about right but frankly I'm not sure that Safari 5.1 came with Snow Leopard nor do I know if you can update to a specific release of Safari (other than the latest/greatest that's compatible with that version of OS X). Might be something to inquire about first.

The upgrade should be pretty easy and straight forward, I don't recall any problems when I went from Leopard to Snow Leopard.

Apple ID would likely be whatever he uses to log into iTunes. User name in the form of an email address and a password. If he doesn't have one, he could create one. I think it's mostly for iTunes access and not necessarily essential for the operating system to run.

Frankly Safari seems like a very odd choice for a supported browser. At version 5 it was a pretty lousy browser even compared to Internet Explorer at the time. There isn't a current Windows version and I'm not sure that Apple even provides older versions for Windows. So if you buy a new Windows machine, you can't use the court's computer system? Are we sure we're understanding this correctly? I've seen some companies that will only support a certain browser or require at least a certain version to keep down the cost of site development and technical support/training. That doesn't mean other browsers won't work but if you have problem you won't get any technical support.

Safari 5.1 isn't the only browser approved by the court system; it also allows Explorer 11. It does not allow the newer Microsoft Edge, nor Firefox, nor Chrome. It's annoying.

Zep, I understand your point, and it's a good one. But I've been friends as well as an employee of this man for a lot of years, and I'm in no danger of losing my job or being held responsible. That said, I haven't offered to do this yet. He's trying to get his son (who promoted the switch from a PC to a Mac) to handle this task, but that doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Thanks for the link!

Mike, I'm sure he's never used iTunes. He probably never heard of iTunes. :-)

Then he probably doesn't have an Apple ID.

You don't happen to have an Apple Store nearby? Maybe let the folks at the Genius Bar handle this one.

Whatever you do, make sure you back up any critical data.

Whatever you do, make sure you back up any critical data.

That statement makes me rethink Zep's cautionary post. Clearly, I haven't thought this through very well. Maybe I can blame the brain fog that came with this cold I'm dealing with.

No Apple Store around here. Maybe I'll write up what I've learned so far and make my own appeal to his son.

Thanks very much, both of you, for clearing my head.

Apple has active forums and offers telephone support. There are also plenty of local businesses that can provide Apple support services.

I would never offer any advice that I didn't know of my own knowledge and experience to be useful and safe. I wouldn't touch this with a 10 foot pole, The lawyer is running a business and has to expect that a legal practice has periodic needs for various services that don't come free and IT support is one of them.

mike_kaiser_gw - Then he probably doesn't have an Apple ID.

I thought Apple required creation of an Apple account before using any of their stuff. I had to do this with my wife's I-Pad. I guess I'm mistaken.