update programs installed by other user (other appleID)

I had the same problem, and it worked: Apple App Store: Grayed out Aapple Id Explained - Valiant:

  Go to the app listed in the App Store as needing an update (usually in the /Applications folder).
  Right click the app then click “Show Package Contents”.
  Go into the “Contents” folder, then into the “_MASReceipt” folder.
  Delete the “receipt” file (you may need to enter a local administrator 5. username and password).
  Please note that the app will still work as intended.


OS X 10.9.x failed login attempts previous days

As the logs is rotating, you could find the info you need on previos files. After some predefined size, the logs files are moved and compressed. See example image.

So, you have to look after files that suits your dates requirements and uncompress it using gunzip filename.gz command.

Then you can grep your pattern on those files.


How do I prevent widgets from moving around on the dashboard?

In Finder, press ⌘ShiftG and type ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dashboard.plist and press Enter. Press ⌘I to bring up the file information pane. Click the Locked checkbox.

This will not prevent you from moving widgets around,opening new widgets, etc., but will preserve the arranged state of widgets at the time of locking such that any future time you launch Dashboard (rebooting, logging in, restarting Dock, etc), they will be preserved in their state at the time you locked the Dashboard.


Copying start volume contents with SuperDuper without copying filesystem

If you are familiar at all with Terminal you could try reading up on rsync and using that to copy stuff selectively over from your backup drive.


How can I recover from a "AMD-Action:downloadProduct:SP" during installation of macOS?

I had the same problem with my Macbook Pro mid 2010. I tried everything, but Sierra installation allways crashed with AMD-Action:downloadProduct:SP error. Then I created install USB with OSX Mountain Lion and it worked flawlessly. I upgraded to Sierra later via App Store.


Apple charger port magnet has lost it's pull

That internal MagSafe port is fairly inexpensive and rapid to exchange. The likelihood is that either part of the internal magnet has shifted or the entire unit has moved internally.

If the magnets inside are loose they could short a more expensive part or be a fire hazard. Best to get it in the shop.

The strong rare earth magnets won't demagnetize from a physical shock so it's likely there is internal dislocation or damage.


Reset your advertising identifier.

Settings -> Privacy -> Advertising -> Reset Advertising Identifier

This will force iAd to regenerate your advertising profile.


WSJ website now behaves normal
WSJ must have updated their website. I can't reproduce the huge RAM usage on the website and have not done any Safari or macOS updates. Therefore it was not an issue with Safari but with the WSJ website itself.

This is not a very technical answer but WSJ customer support is sort of correct.
I just loaded WSJ website myself and after a few seconds the RAM usage was way too high:

This will be too much for any iOS device and even for lower-speced Macs.

I can't tell you if the WSJ has made significant changes to their website the last days or if it is Apples fault. Either way I would - if its that important to you - write to both Apple and WSJ about this.


How do you separate superimposed folders on desktop page?

Right-click on the Desktop. Go down to "Sort by" and change it to "none." That should allow you to move the files wherever you want.


Is there a way to switch between two folders for iTunes Media, especially for Macbook Air or Macbook Pro for limited storage?

Hold the Option Key (alt) and then open iTunes and it will ask which iTunes library you would like to use.

I use one as my main library and another on a NAS as an archive for stuff I hardly ever listen to but can't bring myself to delete.


With the addressbook preventing the sleep I used the following procedure to fix it on my MBA 10.9.2

As always it is recommended to Back up all data.

Triple-click anywhere in the line of text below on this page to select it:

~/Library/Caches/com.apple.AddressBookSourceSync

Right-click or control-click the highlighted line and select

Services ▹ Reveal

from the contextual menu.* A folder should open with an item selected. Move the selected item to the Trash.

Log out, log back in, and test. If there's no change, go to the next step.

*If you don't see the contextual menu item, copy the selected text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. In the Finder, select

Go ▹ Go to Folder...

from the menu bar, paste into the box that opens (command-V). You won't see what you pasted because a line break is included. Press return.

Step 2

If you use iCloud, uncheck the box marked Contacts in the iCloud preference pane. Press return to confirm, or click Keep on Mac in the dialog that opens.

Step 3

From the list of groups on the left side of the Contacts window, select All On My Mac. If that group doesn't exist or is empty, skip this step. Otherwise, from the menu bar, select

File ▹ Export ▹ Export vCard

Save the exported contacts to the Desktop.

Step 4

Quit Contacts. Reveal the following item in the Finder as you did in Step 1:

~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook
Move the selected folder to the Desktop, leaving the window open for now.

Step 5

Launch Contacts. Your contacts will be gone. If you took Step 3, then double-click the file you created in that step and confirm that you want to import from it. Your contacts will reappear.

Step 6

If you took Step 2, reverse it. Test. If the issue is resolved, delete the AddressBook folder and the vCard file on the Desktop and close the open folder window.

Otherwise, quit Contacts again and put the AddressBook folder back where it was, overwriting the newer one that will have been created in its place.

Courtesy. https://discussions.apple.com/people/Linc%20Davis


Clock won't keep time after Mavericks installation

Ok, the solution has been identified:

Here are the steps

Replace Mavericks' buggy usr/sbin/ntpd executable with the one from your backups or other Mac with the previous version of OS X.
Delete var/db/ntp.drift
Restart the ntpd process using the new executable

I can verify that the clock now stays in sync. It's an absolutely ridiculous solution to a simple problem but it works. Thanks Gary at the Apple forum for the solution and emailing me the new executable. Also thanks to input from bmike above.


Based on the window icons, it appears you are using OS X Yosemite or later. The directories you see with icons (TextEdit) are equivalent to the Mountain Lion directories com~apple~Textedit. The additional directories belong to non-Apple software. What version of OS X/macOS are you using?


Vimperator Style Extension for Safari 5?

Not really. I've been hoping for a good one, but I keep coming back to Firefox and Pentadactyl, a Vimperator fork.

Safari does have Vimlike and Vim Keybindings, but Vimperator and Pentadactyl are miles ahead in terms of features. If all you're looking for is Vim-style movement and the ability to follow links from the keyboard, those should do the trick, but I miss a lot of the deeper features that Pentadactyl offers: javascript evaluation, quicklinks, ability to yank links from the keyboard, and much, much more.


It also happened to me,i deleted it and made a knew one ,with the same bundle id,,resubmit my app with a different build or version after changing provisioning profile,
It didn’t change anything in iTunes connect as far for my app
But,be better be sure send the support an email,or call them
If you are in a hurry,call them they will help you right away ,rather than waiting days for a reply


Should I change my MBP 13" early 2014 battery

I have a MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2010) and the battery cycles counts more that 1100. Maybe I'm lucky, but I never change the battery and I think is working very well. (The System Information report a Condition that is Normal!)

After the 1000 cycles the battery probably start and continue to decrease a bit the Full Charge Capacity but you can still use it. The decreasing of the total capacity result in a small duration time of the battery, but anyway you'll not have any negative effects in any system components.


Try something like this:

set mydisks to list disks
set newdisks to {} as list
repeat with currentdisk in mydisks
    if ((currentdisk as string) is not equal to "net") and ((currentdisk as string) is not equal to "home") and ((currentdisk as string) is not equal to "Macintosh HD") and ((currentdisk as string) is not equal to "MobileBackups") then
        set newdisks to newdisks & currentdisk
    end if
end repeat

You will have your desired list on newdisks.


How do I record a weightlifting exercise on an Apple Watch?

As far as I can tell, your best bet is to go through this process:

On your Apple Watch open the Workout app
Use the crown to navigate to the Other option
Tap on this to begin your weightlifting exercise workout
After completing the workout, swipe right and tap on the red END cross
When the summary appears you'll see a grey Name Workout button - tap on that
Now you'll see a list of categories, initially grouped by Popular categories and then listed in alphabetical order
Use the crown to scroll through the choices and tap the one that best fits (I see that Strength Training is listed as a popular choice - perhaps that's a suitable option)
Now the label will appear on the Summary screen
Use the crown to scroll to the bottom of the summary screen and tap on the Done button

Now you'll find that whatever category you selected will be available in your list of main Workout options when you launch the Workout app. It also means this option can be used by the Activity app on your iPhone so that your workout history is more informative/applicable to what you're doing.


Single click behaves like double click. Mousedown behaves like single click

The misbehaving mouse is surely having hardware issues. This behaviour is very likely not caused by software. Plug in the mouse to another computer to confirm. If the mouse is indeed having hardware issues, you should get it replaced replaced under warranty.


Restrict ssh access to selected IP on macOS

hosts.allow and hosts.deny are only used when you run the service (sshd) through TCP wrappers. The default macOS install does not do that, so they will not have any effect.

As recommended by other answers, you could use a firewall to restrict access to SSH. This could be a hardware (i.e. "external") firewall or a software firewall such as the built-in pf firewall.

However, I wouldn't recommend using a firewall only. The best is to limit the sshd service itself - and if you want, you can add the firewall protection to that. The reasoning behind that is that if for some reason your firewall gets disabled, outside users would suddenly be allowed access to communicate with sshd - you really do not want that.

In order to configure sshd to limit access, you will need to edit the file /etc/ssh/sshd_config, and add the following:

AllowUsers username@192.168.1.32 username@192.168.1.33

where you replace "username" with your actual username.

If you want you can replace parts with * to denote a wildcard, such as for example username@192.168.1.* or *@192.168.1.32. You can read more about the options in the man page for sshd_config.


Auto rotate photos and save them afterwards (perhaps using Preview?)

I came across a binary called "nconvert". I copied these to /usr/local/bin. I then created a simple recursive shell script to go through the folder and subfolders and convert any photo that needs converting.

#!/bin/sh

function recursion {
    if [ $(find . \( -iname "*jpeg" -or -iname "*jpg" \) -maxdepth 1 -type f | wc -l) -gt 0 ]; then
        _fullpath=`pwd`
        echo "Processing $_fullpath"
        echo "Processing $_fullpath" > $HOME/logs/recursive-autorotate-photos.log
        nconvert -jpegtrans exif -overwrite *.jpg
    fi

    for _item in *; do
        if [ -d "$_item" ]; then
            (cd "$_item"; recursion)
        fi
    done
}

if [ ! -z "$1" ]; then
    if [ ! -d "$HOME/logs" ]; then
        mkdir "$HOME"/logs
    fi
    echo "" > $HOME/logs/recursive-autorotate-photos.log

    cd "$1"

    recursion
else
    echo "Usage: recursive-autorotate-photos.sh path-here"
fi

sample: # recursive-autorotate-photos.sh "/Volumes/my-external-disk/photos"

take note of the quotes in the path. if there's a space in the path, there you need to enclosed it in double quotes. I always use double quotes now out of habit.


The homebrew syntax would be "brew pin skype", unfortunately, there is no "pinning" in "brew cask" - so, no.


What has changed in Terminal.app in OS X 10.8?

The new feature is that it works with mountain lion. Apple updates to a new minor release version number of terminal with every new edition of osx


I feel your pain. I am also an RR client. Don't know if you are a native Apple person or if you are straddling the Windows-Apple barbed wire saddle. I wanted to share this with you, in case you ever look for an answer again (I see it was June when you posted). I found several "tips" about deleting lots of emails, but never like a "select all" and then deselecting a few you want to keep. [Ed: Duh. Why not build in a feature that consumers have led the market to KNOW is expected for maybe 2 decades now .... duh again, sorry for the redundancy)

Recently (viz. tonite) I deleted over 5000 emails from the iPad "mail" app. Took me almost 2 hours. It was much easier (and obviously successful) than following the exact steps in the online tips.

I open the native "mail" app. I select an inbox. I select "edit" so I can delete emails. I spend a lot of time [over and over] selecting one email at a time [this is where they could really help us out if they "allowed" some kind of a batch feature]. After selecting between 70-100 emails, I carefully select "move" - I say "carefully" because if you accidentally (I say this from repeated experience) get in a hurry, and select "move" as a single touch, nothing you do next will apply to all those dozens of hateful emails you want to delete.

So let's say you now have selected 86 emails, within the email app, in one inbox. Carefully SELECT-AND-HOLD-DOWN-FOR-SEVERAL-SECONDS "move" – you will see images of the group of emails layering on the right. You will next be taken to a screen listing WHERE to move these emails. Carefully select "trash". Boom - there they go, into the "trash", but they are not yet deleted. That is a separate step (see B below).

So, I did this repeatedly until I had about 300-400 emails in the trash. STEP B: Then you go back to the main menu for mail: select "trash". Select "edit" on the next page. At the bottom of the iPad screen, carefully select "delete" then VERY carefully select "delete all". I say again - carefully - because a hurried and careless "selection" (i.e., touch of the screen) will leave you nowhere you want to be - in short, undoing some aspect of all your efforts.

So - you delete individual emails by selecting them one at a time within the inbox [you will need to do this in the "sent" folder etc. if you want to remove other accumulations] - then you carefully move them to trash. Then after a little clutch of them are in the trash, open "trash" and select them and delete all of them.

Do this from 1 to 145,567 ... util all those dumb emails are gone.

What I want to know, is how to get rid of these 108 emails that “seem” to be in one inbox but they are nowhere to be found.

I have researched this for over a year, maybe close to 2 years now without success.

Good luck to us both.


How can I discover the source of an alert chime on OS X

I figured it out.

It was MS Outlook client.

Outlook ignores OS X notification center. Alert config is in Outlook application preferences.


Use the OS X GCC Installer. Download it here, since you have a brand new Mac you'll want GCC-10.7-v2.pkg. This will get you GCC, LLVM, clang, the Developer CLI tools, and the DevSDK headers.


I cannot connect to iTunes and the App Store from my iPad in iOS6

I would suggest taking a look at this:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1398

And if that doesn't work, try this (under Troubleshooting on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch):

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1368


Can you really upgrade the RAM in the M1 2020 Mac Mini to 64 Gigs?

Memory on the Apple Silicon M1 chips is part of the chip. There is no slot to add memory on the M1 based Air, Pro or mini.
I would not mistake an 8 GB RAM Air, Pro or Mini for anything but a beast of a workstation for many tasks. Real world benchmarks are showing them doing tasks dramatically faster than 12 core Mac Pro with 32 GB of RAM.

https://twitter.com/cocoalabs/status/1330199233090244615

Pick any ten apps you want to start and race the entry level Air with any Mac of your choosing - iMac Pro, Mac Pro, or an 8 core MacBook Pro - there are only few specialized tasks where the Air is slower.


I use iMazing fro Mac. It allows you to backup & restore individual iOS apps along with your custom saved data. You do that without going through iTunes.


How can I program my iPhone so it opens an app automatically when it connects to CarPlay or my car’s Bluetooth

You need to create a Personal Automation in the Shortcuts app.
When you initially create the automation, it will ask you for the condition that will cause it to launch.  There are several options like time of day, when you arrive or leave somewhere and even when something gets connected.  Select "Bluetooth." (If your car supports CarPlay and you have it configured, you can select "CarPlay" instead)
Once you choose Bluetooth, you will how have the option to choose the specific device.  Select your car.
Then you can choose your action.  If you want to open a particular app, simply click on "Add Action," select "Scripting" and then select "Open App."  Tap on the "Choose" link to select your app.   When finished adding your action(s), tap next to see the summary.  Tap "Done" when finished.
When your iPhone connects to your car's Bluetooth, it will execute that action.  Keep in mind it can't differentiate when you disconnect and reconnect so if you happen to disconnect Bluetooth while driving and then reconnect it, it will launch the app again so you might want to add a simple confirmation dialog (yes/no) confirming you want to launch the app; this too can be done in "Scripting."


Where do files go when you AirDrop them on iOS?

On iOS, AirDropped files open immediately and automatically in the app registered to handle them via AirDrop. If no such app exists, those files simply disappear.

Typically, if you AirDrop a document using one app, you’ll want to have the same app installed on the receiving iOS device.


Emacsify OSX throughout: word-forward (⌥ + F) and word-backward (⌥ + B) instead of 'special characters'?

DefaultKeyBinding.dict

Create ~/Library/KeyBindings/ and save a property list like this as ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict:

{
  "^ " = setMark:;
  "^/" = undo:;
  "^l" = selectParagraph:;
  "^u" = deleteToBeginningOfParagraph:;
  "^w" = deleteToMark:;
  "^x" = {
    "^x" = swapWithMark:;
    "^m" = selectToMark:;
  };
  "^V" = pageDownAndModifySelection:;
  "~@" = selectWord:;
  "~b" = moveWordBackward:;
  "~c" = (capitalizeWord:, moveForward:, moveForward:);
  "~d" = deleteWordForward:;
  "~f" = moveWordForward:;
  "~l" = (lowercaseWord:, moveForward:, moveForward:);
  "~r" = centerSelectionInVisibleArea:;
  "~u" = (uppercaseWord:, moveForward:, moveForward:);
  "~v" = pageUp:;
  "~w" = (deleteToMark:, setMark:, yank:, swapWithMark:);
  "~B" = moveWordForwardAndModifySelection:;
  "~F" = moveWordForwardAndModifySelection:;
  "~V" = pageUpAndModifySelection:;
}

DefaultKeyBinding.dict doesn't work in some applications like Xcode or Firefox. Methods that use the kill ring remove formatting from rich text. Key combinations that enter dead key states (like option-u in the U.S. keyboard layout) cannot be reassigned.

See also http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/KeyBindings/Emacs%20Opt%20Bindings.dict. transposeWords: doesn't work in most applications. openDocument: and saveDocument: don't work in applications that use auto-save, and performClose: doesn't work everywhere either.

See http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/cocoa-text.html or http://osxnotes.net/keybindings.html for more information.

KeyRemap4MacBook

One option is to enable settings in the predefined Emacs mode group:

Another option is to save a file like this as ~/Library/Application Support/KeyRemap4MacBook/private.xml:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <appdef>
    <appname>EMACSMODEIGNORE</appname>
    <equal>com.gnu.Emacs</equal>
    <equal>com.apple.Terminal</equal>
    <equal>com.googlecode.iterm2</equal>
    <equal>com.vmware.fusion</equal>
    <prefix>com.vmware.proxyApp.</prefix>
  </appdef>
  <item>
    <name>emacs</name>
    <identifier>private.emacs</identifier>
    <not>EMACSMODEIGNORE</not>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::P, VK_CONTROL | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::CURSOR_UP</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::N, VK_CONTROL | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::CURSOR_DOWN</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::B, VK_CONTROL | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::CURSOR_LEFT</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F, VK_CONTROL | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::CURSOR_RIGHT</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::P, VK_CONTROL | VK_SHIFT | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::CURSOR_UP, VK_SHIFT</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::N, VK_CONTROL | VK_SHIFT | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::CURSOR_DOWN, VK_SHIFT</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::B, VK_CONTROL | VK_SHIFT | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::CURSOR_LEFT, VK_SHIFT</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F, VK_CONTROL | VK_SHIFT | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::CURSOR_RIGHT, VK_SHIFT</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::B, VK_OPTION | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::CURSOR_LEFT, VK_OPTION</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F, VK_OPTION | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::CURSOR_RIGHT, VK_OPTION</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::B, VK_OPTION | VK_SHIFT | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::CURSOR_LEFT, VK_OPTION | VK_SHIFT</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F, VK_OPTION | VK_SHIFT | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::CURSOR_RIGHT, VK_OPTION | VK_SHIFT</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::D, VK_OPTION | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::FORWARD_DELETE, VK_OPTION</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::V, VK_OPTION | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::PAGEUP</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::V, VK_OPTION | VK_SHIFT | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::PAGEUP, VK_SHIFT</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::V, VK_CONTROL | VK_SHIFT | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::PAGEDOWN, VK_SHIFT</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::U, VK_CONTROL | ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::DELETE, VK_COMMAND</autogen>
  </item>
</root>

Then open the KeyRemap4MacBook application, press the ReloadXML button, and enable the setting.

Change the key codes if you use a keyboard layout like Dvorak or Colemak.

See https://pqrs.org/macosx/keyremap4macbook/xml.html.en or http://osxnotes.net/keyremap4macbook.html for more information.


How can I synchronize my two Mac Computers?

If you are just looking to sync your files and document, give dropbox a try.


Can I be reached on FaceTime on Mac using my non-iPhone phone number?

No. You need an iPhone to do that.

  I've added my phone number to my Apple ID

What you have done is associated your mobile number with your Apple ID. The mobile number can be used to receive verification code when logging in with your Apple ID (if you do not have an active trusted device).

Using FaceTime with your mobile number requires the mobile number to be registered with the FaceTime service. You are prompted to register the mobile number when you use your mobile number with an iPhone.

P.S.

There's a workaround that you can attempt. You can temporarily insert the SIM card in an iPhone. The iPhone will prompt you to register the number with FaceTime service (which it does by sending an MMS). Note that your service operator may charge for the MMS.

Once the number is registered with the FaceTime service, you can configure the FaceTime app on your Mac such that you can be reached on FaceTime via your mobile number. Do note that if the iPhone is set up with a different or someone else's Apple ID, make sure you ignore any alert to associate the mobile number with that Apple ID.

Once setup, you can remove the SIM card from the iPhone and continue to use it normally. Note that this isn't a full-proof, official or recommended approach. You are advised to proceed with caution.

Such workarounds aren't recommended and you can best experience all the service offerings by Apple if you stick to the platform.


Is anybody else experiencing disappearing source files when using Xcode 4?

I'm having the same issue.  At first I thought it was me doing something wrong, then it hit me again last night.

I am using a corporate macbook pro I7 (which seems to run slower than my personal 2009 macbook core-2 duo, but i regress...)  I was vpn'd into work with Cisco Any connect.

I got to a stopping point, went to commit the files, added my comment and before I hit the commit button, I lost the vpn.  No problem I thought as the commit is only to the local repository, but when I hit commit, I got an error saying this is not a git repository.  I flipped back to my project and half the files were gone.  Luckily the 4 files I had been working in were still there, but I had another project open at the same time, and I lost everything there but the project file.  Luckily I had pushed to our git server twice that day, but did lose a little work.

The computer is running McAffee AV.

I'm wondering if it's something to do with the mobile account on the mac.

None of the source code files are in the trash, they just vanish.

I'm storing my projects in ~/Projects/Mobile/Project1... but I have also lost source code in ~/Documents/Projects before.

Zip files in the ~/Projects/Mobile folder are unaffected.
All source code files in MOST all project folders disappear, even projects that were not open in XCode.


With the slim details you have provided, your best bet would be to seek professional data recovery assistance.

Most reputable companies will ask you what you have, what you need recovered and give you an estimate on the costs for recovery without needing to charge you for their time to understand the scope of the problem.

See:

Kroll Ontrack
Drive Savers

Both are highly capable at recovering Mac formatted media and filesystems. Additionally, they are fully professional in their skill at all other forms and format of data recovery. I've never regretted choosing either for recovery from personal up to enterprise needs.


Macbook Pro Mid-2010 15" is not charging with dim green light

Yes - the SMC reset should resolve any temporary issues with the hardware not sensing the charge adapter. It's even called out in this KB article by Apple as something SMC reset can potentially address:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964

Once you ruled out SMC needing to be reset, you should get the Mac in to a repair shop or do what they would do to isolate the hardware failure:

test your adapter with another computer
test your computer with another adapter
test your computer with another OS (last resort - SMC and the charging behavior you report can be tested with the OS powered off and only the firmware / SMC regulating the LED color and charge state based on the data it can collect which is faulty in your case)

Once they have isolated the failure (likely to your computer), they would open it and inspect for any corrosion or damage on the logic board and charging circuitry and the either swap and test the magsafe board or the battery or the logic board itself based on experience and the hardware service manual for your model.


How can I send logs to the main screen of OSX Console?

As I'm not actively coding under macOS, I would say with some reservation: This might be worth reading:
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/os/logging


Font Case is the app you are looking for. It has activation/deactivation, web preview mode, glyph overviews, collections etc.


Making Favorites in Finder collapse according to number of items in it

This is currently not possible. You can provide feedback to Apple here:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html


This is a well documented problem with using a full screen app with multiple screens.

Essentially when you start any app into fullscreen, it starts a new desktop.  Depending on your OS and keyboard you can hit F3 (for example) to get Mission Control to show you your active desktops.

The thing you need to understand is that both screens when you use an external display display the same desktop at the same time.  You may have different windows open on each display, but the desktop layer remains the same.  When you go full screen, it falls inbetween the cracks of showing the same desktop across all available monitors, and going full screen, which by definition can only be one screen.

A lot of people would like to keep desktop 1 (for example) on one screen, and have the other screen hold a full screen app, but this would be simultaneously displaying 2 desktops at the same time, or rather 1.5 desktops...

It's an odd situation, but basically full screen and multiple monitors just doesn't work nice.

As a workaround, I would suggest using one of the many Window Management tools you can use to make your app as large as possible in a single click without actually using the full screen button that OS X provides.

I like an app called Moom for this, check out the website for various things it may be able to do to help you workaround this issue.  Many other similar apps (better, worse, cheaper or just different!) are also available.


Is there a way to know which Program sent some files to the trash bin?

No, that info isn't tracked by macOS, HFS+ or APFS.


Has Apple hidden any tributes to Steve Jobs?

The Reading List icon in Safari is a tribute to the glasses.

Didn't know the story behind the iconic glasses - see this Wall Street Journal article talking about it.


How do I stop sharing bookmarks and browsing history between my MacBook and my dad's Mac mini?

Bookmarks etc are synced via iCloud. To ensure that your two devices aren't syncing in this way you will need to make sure you're not both signed into the same iCloud account.

To do this:

Go to Apple > System Preferences
Click the iCloud preference pane
You should now see the account you're currently logged into.
Assuming you're logged into your dad's account, click on the Sign out button at bottom left

NOTES:

Depending on the arrangement between you and your dad, you could continue using the same account and opt instead to untick the Safari checkbox as this is the setting that is sharing your bookmarks, history, etc.
If at Step 3 you see that you're actually logged into your account, then you will need to access your dad's Mac mini to follow these steps to sign him out of your account.
Note that if you also have an iPhone, iPad, etc you may also want to check your iCloud configuration on those devices as well to make sure you're not using your dad's account etc.

You may also want to read Apple's iCloud page to familiarise yourself with all of its functions etc.


My Macbook Air won't update from 10.6.8 to anything

Unless you have the very earliest (Jan 2008) model you should be able to upgrade to Yosemite. Check your Mac model, click the Apple icon at the top left of your screen, choose About This Mac, then choose More Info.

You can't upgrade to an older version (unless you have a copy of the installer for that version).


What are some iOS5-only and/or iPhone 4S-only Hidden Tips/Tricks?

iOS5 Camera Tip: To keep your auto exposure & focus fixed at where you want it, just tap the screen & hold it until the box pulses.

via @Photojojo


Why does my MacBook use more energy when idle when plugged in?

When you disregard things such as dimming the display on battery and CPU-throttling - you're left with a quite obvious difference: charging the battery.
Even at 100% charge, you'll spend some extra energy keeping the battery charged while using the computer.


How do I get rid of the clock in the menu-bar in Mac OSX?

Hold ⌘ and drag it out of the menu. If date and weekday are shown, they will also be removed.

Alternatively, you can disable and customize the clock in: System Preferences → Date & Time → Clock.


Is there a way to show the calendar on iPhone lock screen?

Swipe down the screen from the top, it will show events you have set to show at the lock-screen.

You can decide what to show in Settings > Notifications
& whether to allow it at all in Settings > TouchID & Passcode


This is the my solution: http://www.thesafemac.com/arg-spigot/

After removing spigot all works fine!


How do I turn on color syntax highlighting in the macOS terminal app?

Just have a look at this
https://superuser.com/questions/400360/syntax-highlighting-in-terminal-mac-os-x post. In my view, it comes with a lot of useful hints.


Does Silverlight for macOS support 64 bit?

Development of Silverlight ended back in 2013 except for security and bugfixes. It's been dropped from the major browsers starting in 2015 and will be discontinued entirely by Microsoft in 2021.

So the answer to your first question is "no".


iMac is mysteriously unable to use WiFi that works for all other systems

It's not unknown for there to be incompatibilities between two things that are supposedly using the same WiFi standards especially since so many manufacturers departed from or anticipated the standards bodies in producing MIMO, draft-N (or even draft-G devices if you're dealing with something completely ancient). Is there an update available for your device?

What you didn't say was what kind of access point you have in the house and what kind of wireless radios are in the PCs that work. You mentioned Airport but you might have meant the WiFi settings on the menu bar, or if you did mean it is an Apple Airport then it might be an original graphite UFO, a white UFO, an Express or an Extreme. I switched to a current model Airport Extreme (square) in the past year and found speeds and signal strength far better than my previous white UFO Airport Extreme.

Another thing to look at is what channel the AP is on. Are there any other access points visible from your house? You might be suffering from collision with a nearby radio and switching the channel in use in your house could help. This old blog fro New Zealand has a good illustration of how various channels overlap, so switching might be worth a try, even if the diagram doesn't seem to suggest you have a conflict.

Finally - can you just try moving the AP or the machine to see if things improve? It might look like there aren't any wireless obstacles between the AP and your machine, but you might find a thin wall houses a whole lot of copper pipes or foil insulation, and can be a fairly effective wireless shield.


Batch copy time creation and modification date from files using OSX

Since this is not working for you I'm going to suggest you do as fd0 suggested and use SetFile.  This will be used in conjunction with GetFileInfo, both of which are a part of Command Line Tools for Xcode.

You do not need to install the Xcode.app which is ~3.80 GB, just ~160 MB for Command Line Tools for Xcode.

In Terminal: xcode-select --install

See How to Install Command Line Tools in OS X Mavericks & Yosemite (Without Xcode), which is also for OS X El Capitan.

Here is a bash script to use with SetFile and GetFileInfo:

#!/bin/bash

for f in *; do

    if [[ -f $f ]] && [[ ${f##*.} == MXF ]] && [[ -f ${f%.*}.mov ]]; then

        cDate="$(GetFileInfo -d "$f")"
        mDate="$(GetFileInfo -m "$f")"

        SetFile -d "$cDate" -m "$mDate" "${f%.*}.mov"

    fi

done


It should work in TextEdit and 10.7 / 10.8. Did you reopen applications after saving the plist? It looks valid, but you can check for syntax errors with plutil ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict.

DefaultKeyBinding.dict does not work in other applications like Xcode, Firefox, or Photoshop though. Another option would be to use KeyRemap4MacBook:

You can customize the setting group by copying it from the source to private.xml.


Want to create smart playlist where song titles match names in another playlist, but w/ diff. bitrate

For a portable device using headphones in a non-analytical environment, I'd just sync them at 128 kbps AAC.
You're really unlikely to notice.

You can do that in iTunes/[device]/summary in the last section, Options. It does that on the fly at sync [so takes a long time, first time] & keeps your iTunes at full rez, using copies to send to the portable device. You can set this separately for each device you sync, the low-bitrate dupes are kept in your iTunes Library once converted, but iTunes always plays the highest rate available.

It's effectively seamless

As a more generalised comment, & speaking as a professional sound engineer, I don't think tracks ripped from CD are worth saving at anything higher than 320kbps AAC*. Much as they were vaunted as being the 'perfect solution' for audio... in the 80's... they really don't have all that much data in them to benefit from anything above 320.

*or FLAC, but as iTunes doesn't handle FLAC, that point is moot.


Mail, Contacts & Calendars crashes System Preferences; iCal and Mail also affected

Nailed it! In my case, I resolved this by deleting:

/Users/simon/Library/Preferences/MobileMeAccounts.plist
/Users/simon/Library/Preferences/MobileMeAccounts.plist.7gmTk7L
/Users/simon/Library/Preferences/MobileMeAccounts.plist.lockfile


Lost APFS partition after resizing partition in windows

Your partition table seems screwed:

Your first partition on disk1 is a Windows Recovery partition, the second is an EFI partition. Then either Microsoft Reserved (E3C9E316-0B5C-4DB8-817D-F92DF00215AE), Basic data (EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7) or Windows Recovery (DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC) partitions.

But the hexdump of block 335874048 (the first block of the 6th partition) looks promising:

...
0000020 4e 58 53 42 00 10 00 00 29 ea 22 01 00 00 00 00
...

4e 58 53 42: magic string of an APFS container
00 10 00 00: APFS block size: 4096
29 ea 22 01 00 00 00 00 APFS container size in APFS blocks: 19065385 (=152523080 512-blocks)

After re-arranging the Bytes 29 ea 22 01 00 00 00 00 > 00 00 00 00 29 ea 22 01 > 00 00 00 00 01 22 ea 29, you can get the decimal value here:

The sixth partition obviously has the wrong type!

The partition type has to be modified with gpt then:

Disable SIP in Recovery Mode (the recovery system version has to be 10.11 or newer)
Boot to your external drive or Internet Recovery Mode.
Open Terminal and get some details:

diskutil list
sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk1

remove the 6th partition:

sudo gpt remove -i 6 /dev/disk1

restore the same partition with the proper type:

sudo gpt add -i 6 -b 335874048 -s 152523080 -t 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC /dev/disk1

check the APFS container

diskutil verifyVolume disk1s6

Enable SIP in Recovery Mode

The partition layout is still uncommon since macOS usually requires an EFI partition as first partition.

The non-default layout may prevent firmware updates in the future!


Login Script for deleting contents of /private/var/folders

It's a simple way. You can use the getconf DARWIN_USER_CACHE_DIR command to get the per-user temporary files and caches directory. and remove it. edit the '/etc/profile' file, add the following codes in it(not test yet):

userTempDir=`/usr/bin/getconf DARWIN_USER_CACHE_DIR`
rm -fr $userTempDir*


Why is my approved iOS app, distributed "privately as a custom app for business," not visible to my organization in Apple Business Manager?

I had a similar issue. It turned out that even though I was offering my app for free, I still had to fill out the 'Paid Apps' agreement in App Store Connect.


Will a buyer be able to recover my files if I format my mac HD and sell it?

The accepted procedure these days is that you already have FileVault enabled, right from the first time you use the Mac.

If you do, then the simple format & reinstall in Apple's instructions is totally adequate to prevent any recovery.

If you don't use FileVault, then there is no proven * method to make your data absolutely * irrecoverable.

Therefore, if you don't already use FileVault, enable it first across the entire drive. Wait until it finishes encrypting your data [may be days], then follow the simple format/install instructions.
This is not as quite * as secure as if the drive had always been encrypted, but as good as any "secure erase" procedure.
For practical purposes SSDs are safer * than HDs.

*words in italics would take 20 pages to fully explain.


Safari: "JavaScript error detected! Error: TypeError: 'null' is not an object"

It's more likely their problem. Their JavaScript programmer didn't do a good job in handling stuff.


How do I sum up specific things in Numbers?

You are correct in that you need to use the SUMIF function.
This is the specification from the Function Browser:

SUMIF(test-values, condition, sum-values)

Try this in your cell:

=SUMIF(CATEGORY; "=HW"; POINTS)


Looks like a someone had this issue as well and accept the answer here : Fix invisible cursor? :

  If your mouse cursor has mysteriously disappeared in OS X, try the
  following tricks in descending order to bring it back:

  Hit Command+Tab to switch back to the Finder or to another app, then switch back to the active app
  Summon the Force Quit menu by hitting Command+Option+Escape, there is often no need to actually force quit anything as just summoning the
  menu is often enough to make the cursor return
  Quit and relaunch the app, or quit all apps if the cursor is gone everywhere
  Adjust the size of the cursor, found in System Preferences > Accessibility > Display to make it reappear

  Reboot

Also, he commented that :

  Slightly increasing the cursor size in system preferences seems to have fixed the issue entirely.


Can I put out a cigarette on aluminum Mac Books?

Yes, your cigarette will be irreparably damaged. You will have to replace it with a new one.


Time Machine won't backup a folder that was previously excluded

I had the same issue. The workaround was that adding the folder to exclusion once and then start the backup. When backup is done, remove it from exclusion list. I am still using Mac OS 10.9.5. So, I don't know if this bug has been fixed on 10.10???


Delete picture from photos view, keep in albums

This is (sort of) possible in iOS 9.

Go to albums
Find your picture(s)
Tap the share button in the bottom left
Tap "hide"
It will ask if you want to hide the picture, stating "it will be hidden from moments but still visible in albums"
Tap "Hide Photo"

The picture will not be visible in the Photos tab but it will be visible in your albums.

To unhide the picture, go to Albums > Hidden, select your pictures, tap the Share icon and tap "Unhide"


Whitelist available in Apple Mail for automatic Load Remote Content when this option is deselected in settings?

You can try using Mail's built-in Rules.

It is located here:

Mail -> Preferences... -> Rules -> Add Rule

Then you can fill up the info.
Like for example, let's say there is Facebook sending you an email every day. You can add a rule to maybe send it to the inbox or you can archive it etc.


Mission Control Won't Open and How Do you set up control + up arrow to make it work

Does it display the correct keyboard shortcut in Mission Control Settings? Try changing the shortcut to something else and then changing it back to your desired shortcut.


Each new tab is unresponsive in Chrome (stable/canary)

have you tried to deleting the chrome folder in your user's application support? I had a similar problem on my sister's computer the other day and this fixed it


What software for video editing should a G5 Tower Use?

iMovie, part of Apple's iLife suite, is an affordable video editing solution for a hobbyist.


Encrypting sensitive data on Mac + Windows

Consider using Wuala instead of Dropbox. It's the same service as Dropbox but has integrated encryption. Then you don't have to worry about encrypting before upload and decrypting after download anymore.

Disadvantages of Wuala are (in my opinion): a worse user experience, and user interface (which may be due to the fact that there are less interface designers and more encryption engineers at Wuala); and a higher memory usage (which is due to the fact that Wuala is Java based, and the encryption algorithms come at a price).


Change how many 'recent' files are shown in Preview's "Open Recent..." menu

You can find the option at the bottom of System Preferences > General:


Opensource software versions by OS X distribution

Apple lists all open-source files grouped by OS version on their site: http://opensource.apple.com


iCloud email bounce message: "user is overquota"

What does user is over quota mean in reference to Apple's email software?

The user's storage, including the mailbox, is full.

Each iCloud account is allocated a certain amount of space, much like a drive on your computer.  Once that space is filled up, there's no more room to accept any more, including email.

The solution to this is for the user to "clean up" their mailbox and/or files they've stored on their account.  Most of the time, this is caused by someone never deleting email.  It can be remedied by deleting old obsolete mail.

Unfortunately, you as the sender can't do anything, but contact the recipient by other means (phone call, text message, etc.) and let them know of the issue.


What does it mean if the phone does half a ring before going straight to voicemail?

Half a ring means that the phone received the call, but instantly declined it. I've only seen this behaviour with the caller blacklist, or the do not disturb mode ☽...  In your case, as the person you called seen your call,  it means that it's the do not disturb mode that caused this


check out the app "Narrator" (Mariner Software) - I've just bought the app for a different purpose (correct pronunciation) - but regarding to the description of the app it should solve you're problem too


Change region or language or both. (I solved the same problem by updating of the iOS to 9.3.4 and then changing region or language or both (i change both and get references to download all dictionaries)


bug with rsync changing modification dates even with the -a option

Let me correct my comment: A 64bit timestamp consist of access-modification-change-birthtime.

From man 2 stat the following system calls change the respective times.

The time-related fields of struct stat are as follows:

 st_atime         Time when file data last accessed.  Changed by the mknod(2), utimes(2) and read(2) system calls.

 st_mtime         Time when file data last modified.  Changed by the mknod(2), utimes(2) and write(2) system calls.

 st_ctime         Time when file status was last changed (inode data modification).  Changed by the chmod(2), chown(2), link(2), mknod(2), rename(2),
                  unlink(2), utimes(2) and write(2) system calls.

 st_birthtime     Time of file creation. Only set once when the file is created. This field is only available in the 64 bit inode variants. On filesys-
                  tems where birthtime is not available, this field holds the ctime instead.

Tools such as cp,ditto, and pax can preserve OS X metadata when they are called to copy files. These tools will not preserve birthtime if the modification time is newer than the original file's birthtime. Birthtime of the new file is set to the modification time of the original file.

If you compile rsync with the patches fileflags, crtimes, hfs-compression then rsync can handle OS X metadata and preserve the original file's birthtime on the new file.

So, you would call rsync like this.

rsync -avXN --delete SOURCE DESTINATION

I suggest that you have a long read of the rsync manual and understand the options that I have suggested before you attempt to apply them.


Splicing lighnting connector in place of 30pin to achieve video

No, it will not function properly. The Lightning connector is quite complicated and dynamically "rewires" the cables, so you can plug it in in either orientation and it still works. This makes it practically impossible to do a DIY rewiring.

You can get a Lightning to 30 pin adapter to use your iPhone in the car instead.


How to restore iPhone contacts lost after an app crash?

I found how to make iTunes restore only contacts, while preserving the rest intact:

run iTunes before connecting iPhone
disable auto-syncing in preferences: Edit > Preferences > Devices > Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically should be switched On
connect iPhone to PC. In iTunes:
on the Sidebar, select your iPhone (press Ctrl-S if Sidebar is hidden)
on the top central menu (Summary | Info | Apps | Music | ...), click Info
scroll the page to bottom, there's Advanced section
switch on: Replace information on this phone > Contacts
click Apply in the bottom right of iTunes window (or right click on iPhone and choose Sync)

These steps wipe the local contact store on iPhone (leaving cloud contact sync alone, if applicable) and injects all the contacts stored in the PC-side data source that iTunes has selected (from Windows Contacts in my case; Outlook on Windows / Contacts on Mac in other setups) and pushes those contacts to the device. It does not load contacts from an iOS backup.


The IMEI is kind of like a MAC address for the cellular network only. It is nearly impossible to change it, you can only spoof it on a software level. So the answer is, No, your IMEI will never change unless you really really want it to. Removing the SIM card shouldn't change the IMEI either...


How to recover from 'An error occurred' in iTunes?

I had the same problem the other day.

I signed out from my account (go to Account -> Sign out...) and then I quit iTunes. I signed in after relaunching and everything seems to be working. It has been working fine for the last two days.


How to prevent scrolling while entering text in a text entry box in a Fluid app?

I have had this too. It is caused due the live spell checking service responding late while you are typing.

Apparently, while replacing a mistyped word, the service takes focus of the text box. Usually, this happens so quickly that you don't notice it. But sometimes, the service takes too much time (relatively) to process a word while you are still typing. And if you press Spacebar* when this happens, the page moves up/down.

When this first happened, I thought it  was totally dependent on the performance of your computer and there was no specific way to solve it.

Safe Reboot - try this first:

One day, I accidentally activated Safe Boot. For me, this stopped the problem from happening, even after I rebooted normally. Aside from its normal uses, Safe Boot also clears out caches, repairs permissions, and performs other maintenance tasks. That is why you see a progress bar on a Safe Boot.  But that method doesn't work for everyone.

Turn off AutoCorrect - here's a solution that should work if that doesn't solve it:

This solution requires you to turn off auto-correct for the app. You can still keep spell-check on, so it will still highlight misspellings; it just won't automatically change them.

Go to the affected app.
Click in the box where you're having trouble when you enter text, to put the cursor there.
In the menu bar, select Edit > Spelling and Grammar > Uncheck Correct spelling automatically.  You can leave Check spelling when typing checked, so it will continue to show you misspellings as you type.

* Pressing the Spacebar when a text box isn't in focus sends a scroll down action to the current page. And pressing Shift + Spacebar sends a scroll up.


This symbol appears during the process of syncing between an iPhone, iPad or iPod with iTunes on a Mac or PC. I can't recall the official name of this iTunes symbol, but I can tell you what it does.

While iTunes is performing a sync it works through a number of steps. This symbol appears when the "Backup up" step commences (usually Step 2). By clicking on this symbol iTunes will skip this step and move on to the next step. In a nutshell it is a skip backup symbol, although I can't recall if that's the offical name.

This is a great option if you just want to quickly sync some purchases etc without waiting for iTunes to first do the backup, especially if you've recently done a backup or are in a real hurry.


On macOS, if there are multiple notifications showing, how to dismiss them all at once?

You should be able to show the notification center (top-right icon, looks like a list), which shows you your historic notifications grouped by day.  There's a little x at the top right of each group, which dismisses the entire day's notifications.

[


Enable calculation history on OS X Calculator app?

Can't believe that I didn't see this:

Window | Show Paper Tape (⌘T)


need for 1000 dpi non PDF image from powerpoint

Journals ask for esoteric and often silly image requirements all the time*. Unfortunately you're starting with an image in PowerPoint. It isn't a graphics program though, it's a slide deck program and your options are limited. This time, you will need to export as a vector (PDF), open in Preview, and then export as the DPI desired by the journal.

Start here for help: Changing the target DPI when saving slides as images in PowerPoint 2011

Note that if your image is just that - an image, NOT a chart or graph or text, but literally a photo - exporting at higher DPI will just give you a blurrily-enlarged version of your current image, NOT a crisp, clear, high-resolution file. In that case, you'd need to re-create your image at a higher resolution starting from the original source files, which (if they are not at or above 1000 dpi) might literally be not possible.

...and next time, use a proper graphics program to create your images. If cost is an issue, open source ones exist, such as Inkscape or GIMP, that will get you closer to what a journal wants when it comes time to publish. The MS Office suite is ubiquitous but that doesn't mean it's the proper tool for the job.

(*The journal requirement is silly, really, because PDF is a vector format - which means it's resolution-independent, and looks good at any size. Most journals prefer vector images. Some refuse them, for no good reason. The ONLY time a vector isn't superior is where the original artwork is something other than lines and curves, such as photographs/photomicrographs. For graphs and charts, vector is much superior.)


iOS Enrollment of device with a PIN code sent by e-mail

Mountain Lion may not support this feature, but MDM providers like AirWatch have token/PIN based enrollment for just this purpose. Users are not requirement to input user information (although you can configure it that way if you like) and they are sent their token via email or SMS.


Why is Safari displaying scrambled graphics?

This isn't so much a Safari problem as it is an OS X / hardware one. I'm going to guess that you have Intel or Nvidia graphics on a MacBook (Pro).

It's well-documented; there are lots of people with these issues (including myself). As far as I've found, you can't fix it. Just restart or wait it out.

Sorry I can't be more useful.


I cannot see a particular USB printer from AirPort Extreme

Plug it in via Ethernet, not USB.

Any printer with built-in networking support (Ethernet or Wi-Fi) is best connected to the network via its network port. That's the most natural, best-supported, most reliable, most fully-featured way for your devices to discover and print to it.

When base stations first supported USB printer sharing in 2003, it was kind of a hacky workaround for the printers of that time, which were often USB-only. It's still a hacky workaround today, but luckily most people don't need to use it anymore as most printers (even the free-after-rebate consumer models) added networking by about 2005.


What is the difference between an "aggregate" and a "multi-output" device?

A multi-output device allows you to mirror audio output to multiple devices at the same time.

An aggregate device allows you to tie multiple devices together to appear as one, single, device with more I/O than any one single device has.

Aggregation has a lot of applications in music production where you might want to use more than one audio capture device at the same time from Logic Audio or GarageBand. To do this, you aggregate devices in to one new, virtual device and access the single device from within Logic.

Some examples might help illustrate the difference.

Example 1: Multi-Output Device

Let's say I wanted to play music in iTunes and have the audio go to my iMac's built-in speakers and my AppleTV via AirPlay at the same time. How would I do this? I would create a new, multi-output device. Assign both my Built-In Output and AirPlay sources to this device and then select it as my output device for audio on my iMac.

Now audio played in iTunes goes to both my iMac's speakers and my AppleTV at the same time -- it's mirrored.

Example 1: Aggregate Device

Let's say I wanted to record 4 streams of mono audio at the same time but all I have are two audio input devices that each have 2 mono streams on them (they're basically stereo capture devices). I could create an aggregate device out of the two devices (assuming their drivers support aggregation in OS X) and use this new, aggregate device in GarageBand or Logic and now, instead of seeing 2 channels of input, I'd see 4 channels of input and the devices would function as one, bigger "virtual device".

It works in a similar fashion for their outputs. They all act as independent outputs on one virtual device.


rMBP high battery drain, doesn't seem to sleep after HS upgrade

With power issues, you should first try an SMC reset.

Shutdown your MacBook Pro,
Connect the power adapter to the Mac,
On the MacBook Pro’s keyboard, hold down the Shift+Control+Option keys and the Power button at the same time,
Release all keys and the power button at the same time – the little light on the MagSafe adapter may change colors briefly to indicate the SMC has reset
Boot your Mac as usual.


Is there anyway to access web version of app store?

You can actually access the app store through a web URL.

It is referred to as iTunes Preview.
It is mostly text links until you land on the product page.

The web addresses are as follows.

All Itunes Selections and Cetegories: https://itunes.apple.com/us/genre/

Just Apps (AppStore): https://itunes.apple.com/us/genre/ios/id36?mt=8


ps on OS X takes different options than ps on Linux. Please have a look at man ps to see the detailed list of supported keywords. For threads I found the following (but I don't know whether this is the information you are looking for):

 wq         total number of workqueue threads
 wqb        number of blocked workqueue threads
 wqr        number of running workqueue threads

PS: I would recommend to first test any unix level commands in Terminal/bash and only move to AppleScript once they are working as expected. You are far more flexible in bash and also may get better/more helpful error messages back.


How to set MacBook Pro to turn off when closing lid?

There doesn't seem to be a good way to do this as explained by @asmeurer in his answer

  a shutdown in general may require user action (e.g., from an application that doesn't use the auto save model, or from an application that is frozen or becomes frozen when the OS tries to quit it).

maybe your best bet would be an app that closes everything for you every time you close your lid. However such an app would not be that much quicker than manual shut down.


Which application is this icon? it looks like a paw

This is for Growl a popular notification system before Apple created the Notification Center. You will find a panel in the System Preferences that controls it.


Windows on Parallels 10 with 2 out of 3 monitors only

Using UltraMon seems to work fine for me, I've found it in a post on the Parallels Forum:

  I will start the VM with 3 screens, then I use a 3rd party software (UltraMon) and disable the one display so that my VM uses two screens running Windows 7 and my MacOS uses the one.


Quick entry for Google Translate via MacOS?

There are dashboard widgets that offer translation. https://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/travel/languagetranslator.html
Then I use a hot corner to quickly launch dashboard. It can also be done by a keyboard shortcut.


CPU speed of the Macbook Pro Retina downclocked

MacBooks do indeed tend to have some issues with their thermals. What I'd try to do in your case would be downloading an App to control your fan speed like Macs fan control. It's free, you don't have to buy the paid (donate) version. You can set your fans to spin up higher than the stock values Apple implements.

Just for testing, you could set the fan to 100% at a CPU temperature of over 70°C and see if it does make a difference in performance.

I also do have a MacBook that's 5 years old now and while I don't do rendering or video conversion like you do on it, I had very high temps aswell just compiling code or browsing some heavy webpages with loads of JS. What I did was open up the laptop and replace the thermal paste. The stock paste that was applied was very badly (see this example from a MacBook Pro 2015). Sadly this seems to be fairly common and while these CPUs do sustain temperatures under 100°C pretty well, the OS often throttles it instead of running the fans on maximum.

Using TG Pro (just a personal preference, the tool linked above does the same thing) and reapplying my thermal paste I went from 60°C in idle to around 38°C and from 90-95°C to 80-85°C under heavy load.

That being said, the computer does get pretty noisy on maximum fan speed and reapplying thermal paste is not something everyone should just try. But the former should be worth a try.


Can I attach a Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adapter and a Mini DisplayPort monitor to the same computer?

You need a Thunderbolt Dock with a Firewire port

Thunderbolt is not like video or USB where you can get an inexpensive splitter and just multiply or split the signals.   So, to use two devices simultaneously, you need a dock.


Recommendation for minimal Mac to run iOS Simulator

All current Mac models are capable of running the iOS simulator (and yes, you need Xcode for that, but you'll need Xcode anyway for development).

Apple has a website for developers at https://developer.apple.com, where you should be able to find more or less anything required to get started.


Is there a way to access the "Recent Items" list from the terminal?

You can read the recent items plist file.

    defaults read $HOME/Library/Preferences/com.apple.recentitems

There's a lot of "noise" in the output. You can filter the "noise" with grep and list the last entry with tail which should be the last file opened (but not always the case).

    defaults read $HOME/Library/Preferences/com.apple.recentitems | grep "Name" | tail -n 1


Keyboard shortcut to sleep a Mac's touchbar

tl;dr: You can get a shortcut/script/service to revert Touch Bar to work as normal F keys. This is very close to a normal keyboard, with backlight on, in the night.

I used this answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/18752770/10063119 to get the code from the Automator’s “watch me do“.

Open Automator, choose a new “workflow” and keep System Preferences in the dock. Hit the red record button and use System Preferences to disable the fancy Touch Bar and set it to the normal F keys.

Select all steps in the workflow and paste in Script Editor app. Then you can edit it to your need, bind it to keyboard shortcut in System Preferences → Keyboard → Shortcuts. You can also do some modifications to see which mode is active and then decide what action to take. Set the scope of shortcut to “all apps“.

How do I assign a keyboard shortcut to an AppleScript I wrote?

The (unverified, I don't have that model) code is given. You can check and modify as required.

http://osxdaily.com/2018/08/30/disable-touch-bar-macbook-pro/

-- Click “System Preferences” in the Dock.
delay 1
set timeoutSeconds to 2.0
set uiScript to "click UI Element \"System Preferences\" of list 1 of application process \"Dock\""
my doWithTimeout(uiScript, timeoutSeconds)

-- Click the “Keyboard” button.
delay 1
set timeoutSeconds to 2.0
set uiScript to "click UI Element \"Keyboard\" of scroll area 1 of window \"System Preferences\" of application process \"System Preferences\""
my doWithTimeout(uiScript, timeoutSeconds)

-- Click the “Keyboard” tab.
delay 1
set timeoutSeconds to 2.0
set uiScript to "click radio button \"Keyboard\" of tab group 1 of window \"Keyboard\" of application process \"System Preferences\""
my doWithTimeout(uiScript, timeoutSeconds)

-- Make a selection from the popupbutton.
delay 1
set timeoutSeconds to 2.0
set uiScript to "click pop up button 1 of tab group 1 of window \"Keyboard\" of application process \"System Preferences\""
my doWithTimeout(uiScript, timeoutSeconds)

-- 10 secs
delay 1
set timeoutSeconds to 2.0
set uiScript to "click menu item \"Expanded Control Strip\" of menu 1 of pop up button 2 of tab group 1 of window \"Keyboard\" of application process \"System Preferences\""
my doWithTimeout(uiScript, timeoutSeconds)

- Click the “System Preferences” menu.
delay 1
set timeoutSeconds to 2.000000
set uiScript to "click menu bar item \"System Preferences\" of menu bar 1 of application process \"System Preferences\""
my doWithTimeout( uiScript, timeoutSeconds )

-- Quit System Preferences
delay 1
set timeoutSeconds to 2.000000
set uiScript to "click menu item \"Quit System Preferences\" of menu 1 of menu bar item \"System Preferences\" of menu bar 1 of application process \"System Preferences\""
my doWithTimeout( uiScript, timeoutSeconds )

on doWithTimeout(uiScript, timeoutSeconds)
    set endDate to (current date) + timeoutSeconds
    repeat
        try
            run script "tell application \"System Events\"
" & uiScript & "
end tell"
            exit repeat
        on error errorMessage
            if ((current date) > endDate) then
                error "Can not " & uiScript
            end if
        end try
    end repeat
end doWithTimeout


Is there an app that shows iPhone call alerts on iPad?

As you figured out yourself, apps allowed on the AppStore can't do that.

Worst, I'm not even sure something like that exist for jailbroken iDevices, since I did not find things like that.

Also related : iPhone ring notification on the computer.


How to change key mapping behavior of macvim

I am an idiot...

I can just map the special characters...

imap Å <ESC><S-a>
imap ˆ <ESC><S-i>

Problem solved.

That said, apparently if you have macvim gui, you can use set macmeta in your vimrc and then do things like imap <S-M-a> <ESC><S-a> which will work in theory, but I prefer to work in terminal and unfortunately macmeta is not available in terminal macvim


Installing a SSD, should I or should I not disconnect the battery (MacBook Pro)?

You don't need to disconnect the battery, but it's a good idea.

The only reason you disconnect they battery is to ensure that there is no power on any of the circuits which could inadvertently be shorted.

If people fry their logic board while disconnecting the battery, it's most likely they used a metallic tool (like a screw driver) to pry up the battery connector; use a plastic spudger tool.


Delete partition and restore to mac without bootcamp

To convert a Microsoft partition to free space requires a single command. For example, disk0s3 is a Microsoft partition. To convert to free space, you would need to enter the following command.

sudo diskutil eraseVolume free none disk0s3

Free space can be added to a container, if the free space reside immediately after the container. In your case, if you converted disk0s3 to free space, then you probably would be able add this free space to disk0s2, by entering the command given below.

sudo diskutil apfs resizeContainer disk0s2 0


Using security keys similar to the use of TouchID for removing need of passwords

It is not currently possible to get the system dialogs for TouchID to also work with a security key, such as for example the popular Yubikey product. Third party applications can however provide support for products such as the Yubikey through similar popups windows.

One method of using security keys in a manner that resembles TouchID is to set your system up to them as a kind of "virtual smart card". This allows you to use for example a Yubikey as a means of logging in to your Mac, and for authenticating with Keychain, etc.

The specific method of achieving that depends on the type of security key you have. In general you need to configure the system and/or install drivers to let the security key function as a "smart card".

For the Yubikey product you can follow this guide from the manufacturer:

https://support.yubico.com/support/solutions/articles/15000006468-using-your-yubikey-as-a-smart-card-in-macos


Blacklist wireless access point in macOS

Unfortunately macOS does not provide a way to blacklist a specific access point. On some other operating system you can do this via the BSSID (basic service set identifier) of the access point.

You were referring to a MAC, but it is not really a MAC - but rather a BSSID. The BSSID is usually derived from the actual MAC of the access point though, but it is not the same.

I would look at two ways to solve the problem:

The first would be to try and find the rogue access point by connecting to your Macs remotely and issuing the following command:

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport -s

This command gives you a list of the access points in range - including the BSSID. If you automate this command to be run on all computers, you should be able to narrow down which computers can detect that access point, and with which signal strength. Hopefully this will allow you to find the rogue access point.

The second way to try and solve the problem is to work the other way around - namely by specifying which access point your desktops connect to. I.e. do not block a specific access point, but instead specify which to connect to (a kind of white list).

You can connect to a specific access point using this command:

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport --associate=<SSID> --bssid=<BSSID>

You must replace "" and "" with their corresponding values.

If you have multiple access points of your own, you'll need to create a small scirpt to select the known-good BSSID with the best signal strength obtained from running the previously mentioned command.

There's also a third party utility that supposedly makes it easier to associate to a specific access point:

https://github.com/qpSHiNqp/airport-bssid

However it seems it hasn't been updated since 2016, so it might be out of date.

It is used like this:

airport-bssid <interface> <bssid> <password>

where you need to replace ,  and  accordingly. Interface could be for example "en1".


Yes - it's trivial to partition and takes a negligible amount of space away from the drive for the second partition's overhead.

Since that model is supported on Snow Leopard - the installer will run happily to install to any partition that's larger than 6G.

Since the mac stores the default boot volume in NVRAM - there's really no delay in booting unless you hold the option key to get the boot manager and ignore the stored default.

Lion and BootCamp can be a little fussy, but most times you can just resize your current OS to make room for the new one, make a new partition and run the installer.

Windows doesn't like more than 3 partitions on the drive and the BootCamp assistant doesn't want to deal with two mac partitions, so you have to know enough about Disk Utility to do that setup by hand. For SL + Lion - you'll end up with two large partitions and a small Recovery HD at the end of the drive

Here's what one of my macs with a copy of Lion and Lion server looks like. You'll have one less Recovery HD with Snow Leopard.

mac:~ mike$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *160.0 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS mac                     94.3 GB    disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:                  Apple_HFS server                  64.2 GB    disk0s4
   5:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s5


From the CUPS website:

  CUPS is the standards-based, open source printing system developed by Apple Inc. for OS X and other UNIX®-like operating systems.

On OS X it provides local printer services as well as shared printer services for other Macs to access your printer via the service if the printer doesn't have its own sharing capabilities. CUPS has become fairly ubiquitous across the Linux/UNIX contingent of OSes as the print server if choice.

That open port you found is because printer sharing is turned on on your machine. You can close port via System Preferences > Sharing and uncheck Printer Sharing.


Selecting which apps are allowed to cancel shutdown

An app will always cancel shutdown if it has an open unsaved document which needs your decision as to whether to save or not.

Also, if an app goes unresponsive, the shutdown will time out.

I'm not sure that behaviour can be changed, but I'm open to ideas.


Applescript to type text, followed by a modifier key combo?

I'm not sure what the TextExpander application name and process name is so I will guess what it is.

activate application "TextExpander"
    tell application "System Events"
        tell process "TextExpander"
            keystroke "attached"
            delay 0.5
            keystroke "z" using {command down}
        end tell
    end tell


Cannot make or receive calls on my Mac from my iPhone

On your Mac, open FaceTime, go to Preferences > Settings tab and ensure "Calls from iPhone" is checked. This should cause your MacBook to appear in the list of devices on your iPhone.


13'' MacBook Pro 2010 stuck at blank gray screen, no boot option working

Since you are talking data recovery now, until you get all your data back DO NOT WRITE TO THE DRIVE YOU ARE RECOVERING UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, EVER, OR YOU WILL LOSE ANY AND ALL DATA ON THE DRIVE WITH ABSOLUTELY ZERO CHANCE OF RECOVERY!!!

If you really want to play it safe you should send your drive to a data recovery service. Those are expensive but you have a better chance at getting your data back. A good data recovery service can not only get data out of a drive with messed up metadata, but also a drive suffered from mild to medium damage.

The best bet without contacting a data recovery service is to boot from another device and image your drive off to another storage media. Then you can try to mount the disk image and fish your data out of it. Some Linux-based tools can be very useful.

I would suggest against using that drive ever even after you have recovered all your data. That puppy have suffered from some damage and will have a shortened lifespan. For laptops since physical movement is a daily occurrence I suggest you get an SSD for it. Not only will your laptop load faster the SSD is virtually immune to most physical trauma that can damage a hard drive so it will survive longer. By the way you can force TRIM under El Capitan so there will be no long-term speed and lifespan penalty.


How to take full-resolution screenshots on iPhone? (Getting reduced from 1242 x 2208 to 674 x 1200)

Screenshots should be in full resolution, but the way you send it to yourself may cause the resolution to be reduced. In particular, Google Inbox reduces the resolution of photos by default when emailing them.

You should be okay sending it to yourself using Apple Mail, and selecting full resolution.


Using my iMac in a country with a different power supply standard

Building on @penguinrob's answer, the specs for the 2007 iMac can be found on the Apple Support KB:

  Electrical and environmental requirements

  Meets ENERGY STAR requirements

  Line voltage: 100-240V
  AC Frequency:
  50Hz to 60Hz, single phase
  Maximum continuous power: 200W (20-inch
  models); 280W (24-inch model)
  Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10°
  to 35° C)
  Storage temperature: -40° to 185° F (-40° to 85° C)
  Relative
  humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
  Maximum altitude: 10,000 feet

It looks like you should be able to get by with the IEC cable/adapter; the transformer can handle 100-240V, so you likely do not need an additional transformer.


Are there any keyboard shortcuts for using El Capitan Split View for Mac?

No shortcuts for Split Screen in El Capitan as far as I am aware.

However ShiftIt (completely free!) is amazing for this! Like just unbelievably brilliant.

Been using it since Mountain Lion.

https://github.com/fikovnik/ShiftIt/releases

Can also be installed via HomeBrew:

$ brew cask install ShiftIt

FYI I am in no way associated with this software's development.


What programs have trouble with case-sensitive (HFSX) filesystems, and how to fix them?

According to this question, Photoshop CS5 won't work on HFSX.

Convert a partition from case-sensitive to case-insensitive


join works for me here:

pse@Mithos:~/t$ join -1 1 -2 1 t1 t2
Model Decreasing Constant Increasing Decreasing Constant Increasing
2025 75.5 82.5 89.5 2.5 2.5 2.5
2035 65.5 82.5 102 2.5 2.5 5
2050 49.5 82.5 112 7.5 7.5 7.5

In case there are non-matching header lines in each file you need to get rid of them first, otherwise the joining will fail.

pse@Mithos:~/t$ join -1 1 -2 1 <(grep -v Year t1) <(grep -v Model t2)
2025 75.5 82.5 89.5 2.5 2.5 2.5
2035 65.5 82.5 102 2.5 2.5 5
2050 49.5 82.5 112 7.5 7.5 7.5


How to set up identical/similar keybindings in a virtualized Windows 10 (VMware Fusion) and OS X?

In most cases the keyboards should behave similarly with the exception of the Command key.

Go to your Virtual Machine settings and click on Keyboard & Mouse, in there you can pick a profile, the default works pretty well. You can do Shift + 2 and it will give you the @ symbol.

Your Command key on Mac is equivalent to the Control key on Windows, you can change this if required in the key mapping area.


Can't create alias for 'nano ~/.bash_profile'

Remove the space between ebp= and 'nano ~/.bash_profile' and the alias will work.


Unable to do Time Machine backups from MacBook Pro on Mavericks

Troubleshooting Time Machine against a Time Capsule is a very slow process.

I like to just get a new USB drive and let Time Machine back up there and you can know if the problem is the Mac or the destination.

Doing that will help isolate what is causing the delay. I would also use a second machine to go into the Time Capsule and delete any "in progress" backups while your "problem Mac" is doing it's first backup to the USB drive.


Why can't I mount a Samsung SSD 850 EVO?

I have the exact same problem and to the best I can tell, it's the chipset used in the OWC Mercury Elite Pro minis. Very disappointing.

My 500GB 840 EVO works fine in these enclosures, but I've bought and returned two 850 EVOs thinking they were DOA. Suspicious after the second one, I spoke with Samsung support on 5/12/15. The rep immediately acknowledged my problem, said the Pro series does not have this problem, and that they're working on a firmware update to fix the 850 EVOs for use in external enclosures. He had no idea when that update would come though. I called back today (7/29/15) for an update, rep was mildly rude, said there will never be an update, and that our only option was Samsung's new USB3 external drives (which are 850 EVOs internally).

OWC support (7/29/15) says they do not test Samsung SSDs in any of their enclosures. Their own Mercury SSDs will work, but are not tested above the 480GB capacity.

In short, try a different enclosure.


How to connect 2 external non Apple monitors with 13" MacBook Pro 2017

To get two external monitors on your 13" MacBook Pro, you need

a video adapter that supports pass-through charging
a Type C DisplayPort cable

Both displays can support 4K at 60Hz.  From Apple's technical specifications page:

Video Support
Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at millions of colors and:

One display with 5120-by-2880 resolution at 60Hz at over a billion colors

Up to two displays with 4096-by-2304 resolution at 60Hz at millions of colors

Up to two displays with 3840-by-2160 resolution at 60Hz at over a billion colors


How to edit shared iCloud note in native app?

Solution: Upgrade to a macOS version which introduced the support to do so. According to the About collaboration for Pages, Numbers, and Keynote article on the Apple Support pages "A Mac with macOS Sierra and Pages 6.3.1, Numbers 4.3.1, or Keynote 7.3.1 or later" is required.

In my case the macOS upgrade from El Capitan to High Sierra provided the desired feature. I simply did not think about the only recently introduced software support.


Can older iPhones receive Animojis created and sent from iPhone X?

Short answer:  Yes.

According to Apple:

  You can create your own Animoji and share it with anyone using an iOS
  device, Mac, or smartphone.

The iPhone X can create the Animoji which can then share the animation to anyone running iOS, macOS, or a smartphone - ANY smartphone.  See this article for more details

The Animoji is saved as a .mov file which is sent via MMS and can be viewed by virtually any smartphone (not just iPhones).


Safari on OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 CPU problem

I found a way to reset my Safari installation this way:

1) I created a backup of my bookmarks:

cp ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist ~/Desktop/

2) I deleted some Safari specific files:

rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari \
       ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari.SearchHelper \
       ~/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari \
       ~/Library/Cookies/Cookies.binarycookies \
       ~/Library/Cookies/Cookies.plist \
       ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist \
       ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.Extensions.plist \
       ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.LSSharedFileList.plist \
       ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.RSS.plist \
       ~/Library/PubSub/Database \
       ~/Library/Safari

3) Then I restored my bookmarks:

mkdir ~/Library/Safari && mv ~/Desktop/Bookmarks.plist ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist

Now the CPU and the fan stay calm.


How to automate right clicking Finder's dock icon and choosing action?

First a word about global keyboard shortcuts... It should stand to reason that any user assigned global keyboard shortcut has to be unique to both the OS and any application that has focus when the keys are pressed, otherwise it will not function as desired. While one would like to have to press as few keys as possible, nonetheless using a four key sequence is probably going to be the best bet to avoid stepping on a default keyboard shortcut that is already assigned to the OS and or any app that has focus when the keys are pressed. Also making the fourth key something other then the typical alpha keys may be more beneficial in avoiding something already assigned.

Keep in mind though that the default, developer assigned, keyboard shortcuts of most any given application can be modified in order to free up a particular combination that one may want to use. Personally I try to avoid doing this, however to make changes, the target menu command can be added to: System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts

As an example, Go to Folder…  of the Go menu in Finder can be added and its default ⇧⌘G can be modified to e.g. ⌃⇧⌘G so the default keyboard shortcut can be used in this case to trigger the example AppleScript code used in this answer with e.g. FastScripts.

Apple has made it increasingly more difficult to use an Automator Service in particular cases and as such, this particular use case, I personally use and recommend FastScripts. Note that I have no affiliation with the developer of FastScripts and am just a satisfied user of the product.

The following example AppleScript code used in conjunction with FastScripts will do as you asked under the expressed conditions in your OP and you will only need to add FastScripts to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility in order to have this script function. In other words, if FastScripts is the only app in Accessibility for Security & Privacy this script will function as intended.

That said, if you want to test the example AppleScript code before saving it, you do need to add Script Editor, but it's not required for the actual functioning under FastScripts. I mention this because when going the Automator Service route it can require adding two or more apps to get this same script just to run, however it will still not function as desired as an Automator Service and why FastScripts is being recommended.

Example AppleScript code:

tell application "System Events"
    tell UI element "Finder" of list 1 of application process "Dock"
        perform action "AXShowMenu"
        click menu item "Go to Folder…" of menu 1
    end
end tell

Using Script Editor, I saved the code above as Go to Folder.scpt in ~/Library/Scripts and in FastScripts assigned it the keyboard shortcut ⌃⇧⌘G until such time I find it conflicts with any other app I use.

Noted that this was tested and works as stated on my system running macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 regardless of what app had focus when the keys were pressed.

I also did not need to use a delay command between perform action ... and click menu item ... however note that the value of any delay command will need to be adjusted for your system, and or additional delay commands may or may not be needed. Adjust the value(s) of and or add/remove the delay command(s) as appropriate.

Note: The example AppleScript code is just that and does not employ any error handling and is meant only to show one of many ways to accomplish a task. The onus is always upon the User to add/use appropriate error handling as needed/wanted.


MacBook Pro with two external monitors : one is flickering

This problem is not due to the computer not being able to serve the necessary amount of "fps". Instead this is a hardware problem.

VGA is an analog signal. If the signal is distorted or interfered with, it could problems such as flickering. The flickering stops when you disconnect the first monitor - which indicates that this monitor (and cable) is the source of interference.

I would suggest replacing the VGA cable with one with a ferrite bead instead. Another option is to replace the VGA adapter with a DVI adapter and connect to the monitor using a DVI cable.

If possible you could also try to the cables seperate from each other physically (i.e. get distance between them) - but it is difficult as they need to plug in to the computer very near each other.


How to ensure that spotlight indexes my entire drive?

From a great deal of research, and looking around, I have some data on this issue:

By default, spotlight will not index certain folders:

/System
/usr
hidden files or directories.
Other user files.

To add a file path to spotlight you can run

mdimport -r /path

man mdimport

has the information on that.

Now, since I am aiming for a poor mans IDS out of all this stuff, this desire being driven by the knowledge that Spotlight indexes my drive all  the time, which is what would happen anyway with other host based IDS there were some  considerations and other tools to involve.

Considerations:

Spotlight will only show you what your user should see

That's what the documentation says. I can  see stuff I installed as root, but I can't see my other user.  However,I can see /usr /usr/libexec and the /System tree.  That'll do.

Hidden files and folders do not show up in the search

This will be good when the RIAA remotely scans your drives for music without proper credentials ( Trust your feelings you know this to be true. ) but is not the greatest news in this case.

To conclude, there is a lot of stuff to do to use this tool effectively.  The secret is that Apple signs everything digitally.

man codesign

will tell you about

codesign -v file

which should return nothing if the file is unmodified.  Note that this is not a checksum but a digital certificate from Apple, so only big money will allow this to be faked.

I of course meant to say that it will be quite secure, and easily detectable if a binary program is changed.

Won't stop everything, but it will allow me to periodically bark

"Did anything just change?" , run a spotlight search on the "kMDItemKind" attribute , pipe it through codesign -v and see if something did change, or search on modification time or whatever.

To address the userland statement above, I can check to see I have the same spotlight ( I have copied codesign to my recovery media. ) intact spotlight means that I can trust it to do it's ordinary tasks. Using the mdimport -r /path is indeed a better idea, since that will exit if run as root.

Certainly there is a question of security here, but as mentioned above, spotlight indexes a bunch of things, and shows you what you should see.  Your little sister will not be able to find your collection of late 1990 artistic nudes, nor will you be able to find her secrets, but root should be able to see everything.  There is a straightforward system of authorizations in OS X that govern which right a program can have, but since this is virtually unknown to most, they simply type in a password when a box comes up to authenticate something they have downloaded, and it installs as root.  A certain search engines software does exactly this.  Hell, the system is actually more secure than before, I ran the old python importer, and it failed, because it asked for my admin password and tried to run mdimport -r as root!  I had to run it myself.

(Oh it's very nice with the python files, lovely really)

Hope this helps somebody else.


Am I able to partition my internal SSD safely without loss of data?

I am wondering if it's safely guaranteed

No.  Period.

Nothing is "safely guaranteed." Generally speaking (as at the time of this answer your question is lacking in detail), you can (re)partition without corruption of your data.  That's not to say the process is infallible.  Problems happen, mistakes can be made.  This is why is so important to have a backup of your data.


If you want to remove all photos, documents, data or disable iCloud library for your account.  Proceed like follow:

On iOS10:
Go to Settings > [your_name] > iCloud > Storage > Manage Storage from there you can disable, delete everything you want.

For iCloud Photo library, you'll have 30 days to download everything stored there.

Update:
To download your photos and videos on your iOS device, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos and select Download and Keep Originals. On your Mac, open Photos, choose Photos > Preferences, then select Download Originals to this Mac.
You can also select the photos and videos that you want to download from iCloud.com.

Further informations can be found here.


DNS Suffix on two network Interfaces on MacBook Pro

The problem that you are having is that you have two separate networks with their own DNS that don't know about each other - .intern and .home.

The problem comes in when you try to ping a host on a network (whichever is primary; let's assume .home) to another network (.intern).  It will fail because the DNS for .home knows nothing about the .intern domain.  It will assume the request needs to be forwarded to the ISP's DNS; and they don't know about that domain either.

You can fix this by enabling Unbound DNS resolver on your Mac so it can query itself. You will need to configure it to perform a split-horizon DNS service.  Then, set your Mac to query only itself for DNS lookups.

Basically, your Mac becomes a DNS server that's aware of both networks and will respond to its DNS queries accordingly.


Google Calendar not syncing with iOS 7 (tried deleting account, creating Google or CalDAV, nothing worked)

Go to https://www.google.com/calendar/syncselect and make sure that you have all of the calendars enabled.

See https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/151674 for more information --- However!  Be sure to ignore the part about Google Apps unless you have a paid Google Apps account. Specifically do not use https://m.google.com/sync/settings/ unless you are using a paid Google Apps account.)

http://productforums.google.com/d/msg/calendar/G4ClHD46kP4/LekDrZoyCo0J is also helpful to understand the changes that happened when Google switched from Exchange ActiveSync to CalDAV. The author of that posts suggests https://www.google.com/calendar/iphoneselect and/or
https://www.google.com/calendar/hosted/YOUR.DOMAIN.HERE/iphoneselect
(the latter being for Google Apps hosted accounts). In my experience they all seem to lead to the same place, but YMMV.

If you have more than one Google Apps/Gmail account, but sure to log into the right one before you try any of this.

Last but not least, you may need to 'force quit' the calendar app on the iOS device (in iOS7, double-press the 'Home' button, then 'flick' the app off the top of the screen). My suggestion would be to start by deleting the Google account from your iOS device, then go and enable the CalDAV settings, and then re-enable the Google Account. That should give everything enough time to re-sync and notice the changes.


Can I use any Apple power adapter with my MacBook?

You can use it, but how much actual charging goes on may be minimal. It depends how much power your MBP is drawing (i.e. if you're doing CPU or graphics intensive tasks, you'll draw more power, thus less charging), but I suspect the 45W won't do much more than slow the rate of battery drain. If your MBP is asleep or turned off, it should charge the battery, just slower than the standard charger.


Can I install and use Windows on an external USB 3 drive in Boot Camp

You can install windows via BootCamp on an external drive. However to install a newer version of windows that BootCamp doesn't support you need to first install a supported version then upgrade inside of windows to a newer version. My best suggestion though is to install via a virtual machine.


How to add some additional DNS search domains without ignoring the DHCP ones?

Just put a file in /etc/resolver/ with a name such as "searchappend" with these contents:
search example.com

Just don't name the file "com" or some other valid TLD. This works because of OSX's resolver magic.  For more info, read through the documentation on your mac with this command:
man 5 resolver

I have a file there called "consul" that looks like this:
nameserver 127.0.0.1
port 8600
search consul

That magically makes it so .consul is appended to the search path, and any resolving for .consul TLDs uses my local nameserver.


Dragging selected text using the Three Finger gesture

After selecting the text, place your three fingers on the trackpad and don't drag for a half-second or so. Then, slowly drag your fingers until you see the I-beam cursor turn into the mouse pointer. Then you can three-finger drag normally.

When using click and drag for text, you need to hold the click for a half-second or so before the system realizes you want to drag the text instead of selecting it. This procedure replicates that with the three-finger drag gesture. (As you get better at this place-hold-slow-fast gesture, you can speed it up to a point where you're comfortable with the speed and it still works.)


Yes. According to MacTracker.app:

External Resolution Up to 2560 by 1600 pixels.

Personally, I would connect the MBA to the Dell over HDMI, and get the highest quality MDP dongle. Apple used to sell its own, but now sells a Moshi Adaptor.

At my school, we use Belkin Adaptors sold  on Amazon (at this particular point in time) with a 66% discount price.


FireWire support, in general, has not been removed from macOS Big Sur or Apple Silicon.
This video demonstrates daisy-chaining 3 FireWire peripherals to an M1 MacBook Pro running macOS 11 Big Sur:

FireWire Hard Disk
FireWire Audio Interface
FireWire Video Camera

So all-in-all I'm really surprised all this equipment still works, or at least it works the same way as it did in the previous versions of Macs with Intel processors.
I honestly expected Apple would have dropped FireWire support on these newer Macs but, surprisingly, it's still possible as long as you have the right adapters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5ISyI3VcWo


Not seeing help content of Windows apps in Parallels

Installation of version 6.0.11992, the newest release of parallels desktop, fixed the problem. Installing a new release also reinstalled the parallels desktop tool and relinked the shared folders.

It took about 5 days for the release to be visible for the parallels updater after it was available. But once it was, all worked like a charm.

My problem took place over Christmas, and I was helped wonderfully through these days. I want to thank the people of Parallels support team. (I have to blame myself for spending my time with this problem instead of taking time to worship the king.)

What the problem was never really became clear. But thanks for your help.


Exchange old MacBook keyboard with newer

No, it is not possible. The keyboards are not compatible.


Should I Do Anything Extra to Protect IPhone After Going to Beach?

I think your friend is confusing sea shanties with reality.  What old mariners call "salt air" is really just the smell of decaying seaweed and dead fish.

Salt, being a solid crystal, can't evaporate, so if there's any "salt in the air" it would be in the form of salt rocks flying around.  I imagine that's probably a lot less likely than "sand in the air", since there's typically not a lot of unsequestered salt at the beach.  Also, I put salt crystals in glass all the time (e.g., measuring cups), and have yet to see the salt scratch the glass at all, so I think the chances of this hypothetical "salt in the air" causing damage to an iPhone are practically nonexistent.

I would worry more about a seagull pooping on it.


When woken up from sleep, some Chrome windows are blurry

Not 100% sure, but It looks like the latest stable release (39.0.2171.71, released 11/25), may have fixed this.