How to create a white background to a jpg/png?

I don't know how to do that with Preview.app or iPhoto, but for this purpose you could use an online photo editor. First hit on google here is http://pixlr.com/editor/ - and it does the trick.

(upload the image and you can make it white in several ways, e.g. by pressing B or G after you have set the main color to white, though there wil be more intelligent ways)


Change maximum size of picture-in-picture window in Sierra

The file with settings is located at ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.pipagent.plist

You can use http://www.nightproductions.net/prefsetter.html to edit this file and set the new dimensions.

I tried changing the values, however those got reset to 0.25 / 0.225 once I restart picture in picture.

Hope this helps.


VLC update download gives an error "while extracting the archive"

I had similar issues with multiple software updates, and it turned out Disk Arbitrator tool was causing them. Fix was to disabling it temporarily until finishing the update.


Exporting a Logic Pro 9 Project to FCPX/Premiere Pro with all files kept the same

There are two major formats for exporting audio files en masse: OMF and AAF. Logic can do both, but it would appear - http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/8/1127487 - that FCP doesn't natively support either one. For a one-time project, the free trial of Boris Transfer FCP should be able to handle AAF. For long-term though, unless you have Boris or Automatic Duck already, you'd probably be better off exporting All Tracks as Audio Files, and bringing in them one-by-one. This video walks you through the process of AAF, OMF, or Audio File export.


How do I convert an .mkv video to iPad format with subtitles?

I know relatively easy and free way that I will share

Subtitles have to be converted to SRT format. You may do that with Jubler.
Then I'm using Handbrake to convert to h.264 with soft subtitles. Here is the guide.
Alternatively you may use MKVTools to convert video without reencoding (in case it's already in h.264) to save time and after that add subtitles with Subler. You may try to import SSA subtitles (I don't have such on hand now to check if SSA will work with Subler so please report back if it will)


Add Library folder to Spotlight privacy folder except Mail/MailData

Another workaround..
move Mail folder out of Library and use symbolic link
then I can just add ~/Library into spotlight privacy part

$ mv ~/Library/Mail ~/Mail
$ ln -s ~/Mail ~/Library/Mail

index/search in Mail app will work.


Rebuild APFS Container Scheme using Terminal

Too much for a comment, so I'm dropping this in the answer space - be kind ;)

GUID isn't the partition format, it's the underlying 'low level' format, as opposed to MBR. Previously, Macs used HFS+ for the file system, but that will have been automatically updated to APFS perhaps when you upgraded to Mojave [ iirc.. SSDs would have changed at High Sierra, HDs at Mojave]. As you rightly say, DiskWarrior cannot yet handle APFS, only HFS+.

I'm not sure you should be thinking about rebuilding the partition table, or writing anything at all to a disk with signs of corruption until you can safely rescue the data you have on there.

If you have a solid backup then you could always just reformat, which would take any bad blocks out of service.

Without a backup, then you ought to be using another Mac to download & create a rescue boot drive; avoiding writes to the suspect drive.
There are several apps which may be able to recover your data, Recovering an accidentally deleted  folder in OSX - no Time Machine or backup available  has some options.


How do I use say command creatively to prank my coworkers/friends?

You could always get the volume, change the volume, say your line, and then restore the volume within the AppleScript:

#!/usr/bin/osascript
set currentVolume to output volume of (get volume settings)
set volume output volume 1
say "Hello" using "Deranged"
set volume output volume currentVolume


Is there a difference between a 'mini-DisplayPort to HDMI cable' and a 'mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort' cable for a MacBook Pro?

Officially, your model MacBook Pro will support up to 3840 by 2160 pixels at 30Hz or 4096 by 2160 pixels at 24Hz if using a HDMI connection, which explains your experience of 30Hz with your mini-DisplayPort to HDMI cable.

Your model MacBook Pro also supports up to 3840 by 2160 pixels at 60Hz using a Thunderbolt connection. Since your display supports both a 60Hz refresh rate and a DisplayPort connection, then using a mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable of sufficient quality should achieve what you want.


Is my unsaved Quicktime player movie recording still on the hard drive somewhere?

I was able to recover a recording after QuickTime Player crashed because I disconnected the projector which was in full-screen. I found my recording up until the point of crash in this location: /Users/AB/Library/Containers/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX/Data/Library/Autosave Information/Unsaved QuickTime Player Document.qtpxcomposition

More info here: https://www.macstories.net/news/recovering-a-lost-quicktime-recording/, which in summary said to:

Right-click the qtpx file we found
Select "Show Package Contents"
Find the movie or audio we were looking for and copy it to where we want


It's a bug with Win7 as well.
A bit of a show stopper for a developer...

If it's still a problem, then perhaps this can help:

I used Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator 1.4 to load the original 'Dansk (Apple)' layout, and alter the keys. It's pretty straight forward (load the keymap you want to alter, and when all done (remember shift+keys) click 'Project' => 'Build DLL and Setup Package'. Then install the new keyboard, and switch to it under 'Region and Language'). If it's fixed at some point you can just switch back to the original.

BTW: The keys will look like they are in the right spots in Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator, even though they aren't.

If Win7 and Win8 uses the same layouts, you can try the one I made. Download it here. Happy new year!


The base model of 21" iMac only has one drive bay. So, a 20GB SSD wouldn't be very useful there. If you want an SSD, you have to get one big enough to hold all your data.

As for the 27" iMac and the upper model of the 21" (which have two drive bays):
Performance. Yes, you can fit the OS on a small SSD, but that's not the only thing that will benefit from being on a faster drive. Any operations that involve a lot of reading/writing will be faster if they're working with files on an SSD.
Convenience. Unless you set up your apps and Finder especially well, it will take a little more time to get to stuff on a secondary disk.
Quietness: SSDs don't chatter like HDDs. If you have both an HDD and SSD, you'll still hear the noise. Silent computers are nice, IMO.
Apple-ness: One of the things many people like about Apple computers is that things are mostly seamless ('Just Work'). Having one big, fast, quiet drive is more seamless and Apple-y than one small, fast, quiet drive and one big, slow, loud one.

One more reason Apple does it: Because they can: Add SSD. People buy SSD. Profit!


work-around for the absense of "save-as" in OS X 10.7

I'm afraid not. You could, though, add a shortcut to the Duplicate command, to make it more like the Save as. To do so just:

Go to System Preferences / Keyboard / Keyboard Shortcuts.
Select Application Shortcuts and click the add button.
Set it to All Applications and enter Duplicate as Menu Title. It's case sensitive, so make sure it's written with a capital D.
Choose a keyboard shortcut and hit Add.

Mountain Lion, by the way, has the Save As command back. Holding down Option while clicking the File menu, will turn the Duplicate command into Save as....


What user behavior is necessary to make Filevault 2 maximally secure?

Your question contains the most important thing needed to secure a computer against a motivated attack to compromise a FileVault 2 protected Mac volume.

Don't connect FireWire to a device you don't or can't trust while you are logged in to an account that has file vault keys active.
Pick good single use passwords to reduce the chance of other compromises degrading the security of your FileVault password.
Update to 10.7.3 and verify sudo pmset -a destroyfvkeyonstandby 1 hibernatemode 25 power management settings that force hibernate mode to secure your keys from compromise when the device would normally "sleep"

I do follow Rich Trouton to keep up to date on his blog for nice commentary on securing macs. The mix of up to date topics seasoned with experience as a real world system administrator make his writing very valuable to me.

The crux of the issue is your parsing What user behavior is necessary to have security. I always like to think of security as a mindset and ongoing attempt to plan, implement, measure and adapt. Security isn't something you buy or something you "set up" and training users to actually not divulge the passcode they have used to store their unlock phrase is the weakest part of FileVault's security layer. Not reusing that passcode - having a system where you get your users to understand why their keychain password needs to be unique and secure is far, far harder and takes far longer than just setting up a plan for implementing file vault initially. Best of luck in your quest for security!


Gave up last night and reinstalled OS X, everything seems to work fine now.


If in the Xcode the filename turns red, that means that Xcode is missing reference to the file, which can mean that the file is either deleted or renamed.


How to know which app is playing a sound?

I was going to suggest WireTap products from Ambrosia

They had the ability to differentiate sounds from different applications, however due to the nature of Lion these products no longer do that and Apples sand boxing requirement is going to make it worse.


"after reset my device 'view saved wifi passwords on the iPhone' " answers your question I think? Do you have a mac that's connected to the same network? Then you can retrieve the password in the Keychain of the computer. (analogue for Windows systems)


Is there a free analogue clock that displays in the dock?

Andrew Choi's SimpleDockClock does this, although it is not straightforward to change the style.

It looks like this:

The source code and a binary are available.


Safari doesn't use the HTML of the current page when obtaining the apple-touch-icon. Safari makes a separate HTTP request to the page when you add it as a favourite, and then at regular intervals later on to keep the icon updated.

You might find success replacing the icon in the Safari cache, then locking the file so Safari can't overwrite it. You can find the icons at:

~/Library/Safari/Touch Icons Cache/Images/

Once you've found the image you wish to change and replaced it, use Get Info to lock the file.


Can I playback Voice Memos recordings using a different app?

Have you tried sending the recording using the export button as an email attachment - goes as an m4a file so should be easy to play on quite a few apps.

Export button icon:


Apple ID: How to avoid changing password?

This message is part of the security measures of iCloud. The only way to get rid of it is to actually set a new password adhering to the rules listed.


Why doesn't Airport reconnect after sleep or shutdown?

The problem got partially better on its own, and it's not clear why.  There were also a lot of old networks in the list of previous wifi networks in System Preferences, and it helped to delete them.

The complete fix, however, ended up being to go into the list of wireless networks (in System Preferences > Networks > Airport, Advanced) and move the desired network up to the top of the list so it was joined first.  There was one called "linksys" on top that was matching a neighbor's network, and then failing to get internet access for some reason; I think it was added a long time ago for a different network of the same name.

I thought I had tried this before, but either something changed or I didn't actually try it.  I'm asking this question to help me troubleshoot someone else's computer, so I'm not aware of everything that might have changed since I originally posted the question.


How do I make a terminal alias that edits root owned files in a GUI text editor?

sudo and open provide all the functionality already for editing files of other users so you can just run

SUDO_EDITOR="open -FWne" sudo -e /etc/hosts

to edit /etc/hosts. Make sure to quit Textedit at the end (Cmd-Q) because otherwise sudo won't notice that you're done with editing.

To make life easier add the following to your .bashrc (or .alias if you have it)

alias sudoedit='SUDO_EDITOR="open -FWne" sudo -e'


What control / access does the exchange team have over my iphone when using the exchange connector?

From a quick glance at http://www.apple.com/iphone/business/integration/ -- Exchange can set password policies, network access (including VPN), restrictions on use of YouTube and iTunes, prohibit app installs and use of the camera.

More information at: http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/Enterprise_Deployment_Guide.pdf

I don't see anything about viewing web history, etc. -- but if you are on a company WiFi they could theoretically see what websites you are viewing.


How to get calendar invites to come in as iCal when i use a gmail address as my appleID?

I believe the solution is to force iCloud to send you invitations by email. Most people complain when they are inviting Gmail users from iCloud calendars, but I believe you're having the same problem.

Log into iCloud.com
Select Calendar
Click Gear Icon, elect
Select Advanced Tab
Select radio button for "send email to [your primary iCloud email]"

iCloud tries to handle invites "behind the scenes" when the invited email address is connected to an iCloud account. Does this work for you?


Enabling Intel VT on Macbook Pro 9,2 (Mid 2012)

Apple says VT-x technology is enabled on Intel-based Macs.

It seems to be (after this page) that only first Intel-based Macs may have some problem with VT-x so it should not be your case.


Calendar reminder freezes and requires reboot to get rid of

Found a Fix, although it's not a definitive solution:

"
I've been seeing this for some time now and getting quite sick of it. It happens when I've been away at work for the day and come home to find frozen notifications.

You can fix this temporarily by quitting Notification Centre from Activity Monitor but it keeps happening to me every week or so.
"


Prevent iPhone charger from capturing audio

For a solution that doesn't require jailbreaking and modifying your phone's OS, I would suggest a USB charge-only dongle, like this one or this.

Insert that on the USB end of your cable, and it will only connect the charging pins, not the data pins, preventing any audio or other data from transferring.


Is there a way to change iPhone’s User Agent Info?

You need to use a different web browser.  The paid web browser iCab lets you change the user agent string.

Whether or not your access to the website is blocked because of the namespace issue mentioned by poster grg is beyond the scope of my answer.

It is not uncommon for education sites to have Windows dependencies built in the site.  You may try some of these browsers to get around Windows dependencies.

Puffin

"Puffin Web Browser is a wicked fast Mobile Flash Browser. Once users experience the thrilling speed of Puffin, regular mobile Internet feels like torture. Puffin Free is the free version of the Puffin family and supports Adobe Flash over cloud during "off-peak hours" from 8AM to 4PM (subject to change without prior notice)"
Free:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/puffin-web-browser-free/id472937654?mt=8
Paid:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/puffin-web-browser/id406239138?mt=8

VirtualBrowser for Firefox with Flash-browser, Java Player and Add-ons - iPhone Edition
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/virtualbrowser-for-firefox/id609289360?mt=8

Photon Flash Player for iPad - Flash Video & Games plus Private Web Browser
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/photon-flash-player-for-ipad/id430200224?mt=8

"java for iPad is now a reality!
If you were ever wondering how to use java for iPad, now you can! With the Virtual-Browser for Firefox App, java for iPad is possible with one simple app download! Virtual-Browser for Firefox App opens up a wide variety of apps and games – like java for iPad – that you can use from your iPad"
http://www.virtualfirefox.com/java-for-ipad

By Splashtop Inc.
Flash Video Web Browser – Full Chrome, IE, Firefox, Safari Compatible
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flash-video-web-browser-full/id431331485?mt=8

iPad web browsers set to IE:
http://www.macsinlaw.com/make-your-iphone-ipad-surf-like-internet-explorer-or-fi refox/


iOS how to read bluetoothd service logs in the console?

Apple does a good job in my opinion with bluetooth and debugging.

https://developer.apple.com/bluetooth/

Specifically, you can use the diagnostic profile to get excellent details and a step by step guide to setting things up to make it easier to understand what the codes mean.

https://developer.apple.com/bug-reporting/profiles-and-logs/?name=bluetooth

The bluetooth explorer is also far superior to trying to decode raw hex values in my experience. I try to avoid getting into the raw bytes / physical interface unless there’s no other option.


Is there any reason why Time Machine only finds my NAS over wifi?

I believe the issue you are referring to is the fact that the only drives that you are allowed to use as a time machine are ones that are internal to a Apple router, the only way for this to work is if you had an Airport Time Capsule which has a built in hard-drive. That is the only drive Time Machine supports connected to your router.

Basically you CANNOT use a drive hooked-up via ethernet to your router for Time Machine. You have to have a Airport Time Capsule and use the internal hard drive. That is why when you connect your NAS Time Machine does not recognize the drive.


You can use Photo Gallery [freeware - part of Microsoft Essentials] to import pictures from an iPhone/Pad to a Windows PC.

  To import photos from a camera, phone or other device, CD, or DVD

  Make sure that your device is turned on and connected to your PC, or that the disc is inserted into your PC's CD or DVD drive.
  Open Photo Gallery.
  Click the Home tab, and then click Import.
  In the Import Photos and Videos dialog box, click the device that you want to use, and then click Import. If you're importing from a CD or DVD, select the CD or DVD drive.
  Click More options to select the options that you want to use, such as where to save the files and what format to use for the folder and file names.
  Click one of the following two options: Review, organize and group items to import or Import all new items now.

  Review, organize, and group items to import

  Click Review, organize and group items to import, and then click Next.
  Define, select, and name the groups that you want to import:

  Photos are automatically grouped according to when they were taken. To change the time interval used to define the groups, at the bottom of the window, move the Adjust groups slider.
  To choose which groups of photos to import, next to each group, select the check box.
  To see all of the photos in a group, next to the group, click View all items. If you don't want to import all of the photos in the group, clear the check boxes for the photos that you don't want to import.
  For each group of photos that you want to import, click Enter a name, and then type a name for the group.
  To assign tags to a group, next to the group, click Add tags, type one or more tags separated by semicolons, and then press Enter.

  Click Import. Each group of photos is saved to a different folder.

  Import all new items now

  Click Import all new items now, and then type a name for the photos or videos.
  To assign tags to the group of photos that you're importing, click Add tags, type one or more tags separated by semicolons, and then press Enter.
  Click Import.

  To add other folders of photos into Photo Gallery (for example, from OneDrive or from another location on your PC)

  Click File, and then click Include folder.
  Click Add, and then select the folder you want to add to Photo Gallery.
  Click Include folder, and then click OK.


GoodReader may well be just what you are looking for. However it does not unarchive .rars. But it has great File Management, opens most files, and is just amazing. I use it on my iPad for reading journal articles from JSTOR at uni. Great markup tools too.

Also, if you use iCloud Drive and your iPad supports iOS 11, you can upgrade and one of the new features is the built in files app.
You can look in .zip files on it, but I don’t know if it supports .rar archives


Why am I told to "Connect to a power source" for best results when installing/updating software?

It is recommended so that your MacBook battery does not die while installing updates, which may cause certain programs to break/become corrupted.


MacOS install USB not listed in boot manager on startup

I finally was able to borrow a friends Macbook and created the installation drive there. It turns out that was the issue, and it booted fine my next attempt. I suppose the error in recovery was independent to my Macbook Air and just needed a reinstall. Because TransMac did not work on different computers, MacOS's, and TransMac versions, I can conclude that creating MacOS installation media via this method does not work.]

Update:
I received a second Macbook Air and got the same error in the OSX Lion recovery. This might be an internet problem and it wouldn't due harm to check try a different connection.


How can I restore the previous system state after formatting my Macintosh HD?

First, recovering your files may be impossible. You should immediately stop using the disk. The data may still be there, but marked as free for storing other files, so the longer you use the disk, the more likely it is that something will get overwritten by chance. There are services you can buy that will try to recover what's on your disk.

Once you get that sorted out, regarding the boot problem:

According to this Apple Support article, it means the computer couldn't find a valid system folder to boot from. Try starting in Recovery Mode by holding ⌘R.


Provisioning Profiles are not being deleted

On you iPhone go to "Settings" > "General" > "Profiles & Device Management". That should bring up a list of the installed profiles.

Tap on the profile you would like to delete.

At the bottom of the profile is a button "Delete Profile". Tap that button and follow the prompts to delete the profile.


Delete Yosemite? Find Mountain Lion? Post-Stroke Explanations, Please

Sorry to hear about your stroke. To answer your question, downgrading operating system installs are pretty tricky. This is further complicated by Apple's switch to exclusively distribute OS X via the App Store - if you don't already have access to the Mavericks installer, you're out of luck given that you can't even get the installer on the App Store anymore.

If you do have access to the Mavericks installer, you'll need to back up your documents somewhere as you will need to completely erase the hard drive in your Mini before installing Mavericks. If you use Time Machine to backup, this could be an option - but I couldn't be certain as I've never downgraded from Yosemite to Mavericks and I know that Time Machine backs up the OS as well, so there could be some issues involved.

Once that's done, you can then bring over your documents and reconfigure your apps (if you have iCloud and sync your Apple app settings, that should be effortless - but I can't confirm as, again, I've never done the downgrade).

If this sounds like a royal pain in the butt … you're right. Yosemite is a pretty big change from OS X, but if you can stand to stick with it that will probably be your best option.


icloud notes not fully loading on ios 8.1, OSX Yosemite & icloud.com

OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 have changed the way iCloud syncing works. With the introduction of iCloud Drive the file structure has been thrown open, but devices running iOS 7 or below and OS X Mavericks or below will not sync successfully once you have 'upgraded' to iCloud Drive. Have you done this? If so, the iPad won't sync.

To solve:
First I would try what tubedogg suggested above, and then I would recommend emailing your critical notes to yourself and putting them in the Notes app in iOS 8 or iCloud.com. See if it syncs, and then I would say it is safe to upgrade to Yosemite.
If it still doesn't work you could always have a go at using an alternative notes service like Evernote or any other which features syncing.

I learned this from personal experience when upgrading to Yosemite iOS 8 and iCloud Drive. Hope it helped! ;)


How can I stop Calendar auto-complete from suggesting my ex?

Create a new calendar, delete the old one?


Can't upgrade to Lion with error "can't be installed because a recovery system can't be created"

when installing Snow Leopard did you delete and create partitions on the disk using the Disk Utilities as part of the installer, or did you install direct onto the pre formatted SSD?

If the answer to the second question is yes, then a new install of Snow Leopard on the SSD, but this time delete all existing partition data and allow SL to create the partitioning and install onto the SSD from there will allow you to update to Lion without that error.


Command+C (copy) not working in Finder (Sierra)

The problem was in Office: mac 2011.
Total shut-down and switch-on TWICE solved the problem.


Wikipedia to the rescue, they even have an article dedicated to System 1:

  System 1, also known as Macintosh System Software was the original Macintosh operating system. It is a part of the Classic Mac OS family, and ran on the Motorola 68000 microprocessor. It was released on January 24, 1984 along with the original Macintosh and was replaced by System 1.1 on May 5, 1984.

and a lot more about all other releases.


How can I hide my texts when my screen is locked?

In iOS 5, go to Settings > Notifications > Messages. Turn off 'View in Lock Screen'. It makes it so that iMessage/text message notifications don't show up on the lock screen.


I've had multiple Mac computers and iOS devices and when I get a new device I get a pop up similar to what you mention (it just appears on the screen, as shown in the image below -- so I don't have to "do" anything). I have 2-factor authentication enabled, and you may check if you do as well. This site has more details.

You write that you are asked to "enter a password for my macbook AIR". That may be true, but also be careful to distinguish between the verification code they send and your MacBook Air login -- two very different things, and if you confuse one for the other I could imagine the frustration.

You may also find this page helpful as it specifically deals with Apple ID sign-in on different types of devices and (at the very bottom of the page) gives links to help in the situation you describe regarding forgetting your Apple ID.


I just recently has the same issue on my Macbook Pro 13" (late 2011). To fix the problem, I first reset my PRAM, and then my NVRAM. To reset your PRAM, shutdown your computer, press the power button, then immediately hold command-option-p-r until you hear the startup chime. To reset your NVRAM, keep the four buttons pressed in until your computer restarts again and you hear the chime one more time.

At this point, you won't see any difference; the audio will still be grayed out or not in your preferences window. Plug a headset, earbuds, or anything into the audio jack. Take them back out again, and your audio should be back to normal!


Any app on mac os x can hide icons on menu bar?

There is an app called Bartender, it's paid through.
As far as I remember it has a full functional trial and a lot of useful functions, so you should try it.


Does an actual insurance policy exist to cover multiple MacBook Pros used by school students?

One of the companies I used in the past and still recommend today is Safeware.

They have solutions specifically for edu customers covering both in house staff and the student population at large.  Their claim service is pretty good - having done quite a few myself.


Tony Tran's answer is almost correct — it is in fact the Italian set of keycaps, but the keycaps have been moved around to a custom AZERTY layout!

The combination of characters present in the five keys just to the left of the ↩ key (and indeed, even any one of those keys) is not found in any other Mac keyboard layout.


Go to Systems Preferences - Mouse and activate Secondary Click. This allows you to right click on your mouse.

After that, highlight the call you want to delete and right click your mouse. You will then be able to delete one or all calls.


Is encrypting an external hard drive prior to Time Machine equally secure as TM encryption?

I'm not sure I understand what you are trying to do. A drive is encrypted only by virtue of receiving encrypted data, it does not encrypt anything itself. So if you write from your unencrypted disk to your encrypted one (via Time Machine), all data still has to be encrypted by your mac prior to being written to the external medium.
So I don't see why encrypting an empty drive before writing to it should change anything.

The reason why encryption does not noticeably impact performance is that the speed bottleneck in this business is the disk access, which is waaay costlier in terms of runtime than the encryption of the data. Modern processors even have specialised instructions to speed up e.g. AES which is used for Time Machine I think. So even if it worked the way you seem to think, it would probably not gain you much.


How do I tighten the screen hinge on my Macbook Pro (2010)?

Try calling Apple Care, and or taking your MacBook Pro to a  Apple Authorized Service Provider, they may offer a much higher level of services satisfaction than a "really busy" Apple Retail Store in my experiences (East Cost, USA).


Select All shortcut key Command+A no longer works

Reboot in Safe Mode and see if it works.

Here and here are some Apple support documents on Safe Boot Mode.


How to get Time Machine disk to backup itself?

It sounds like you're trying to recreate something Time Machine already does via its "Local Snapshots" feature (see here and here for info).  Basically, all you need to do is configure your Mac to back up to an external drive, and then whenever that drive isn't available it'll make local snapshots instead (as long as there's disk space available).


This is a "feature" of AirPlay. There is a 2-3 second buffer that makes sure the audio playback is smooth. This only applies to starting/pausing playback, because the volume adjustment is done on the source device, before the audio is even sent to the AirPlay speaker. You will experience this on all devices that support AirPlay.


Try resetting the NVRAM and the SMC on your Mac then see if it can come on or if you detect any noises or lights detailing some form of life.

NVRAM aka PRAM
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

  How to reset NVRAM

  Shut down your Mac, then turn it on and immediately press and hold
  these four keys together: Option, Command, P, and R. You can release
  the keys after about 20 seconds, during which your Mac might appear to
  restart.

  On Mac computers that play a startup sound, you can release the keys
  after the second startup sound. On iMac Pro, you can release the keys
  after the Apple logo appears and disappears for the second time.

SMC (System Management Controller)
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

  How to reset the SMC on Mac notebooks

  First, determine whether the battery is removable. Most older Mac
  notebooks have removable batteries. Mac notebooks that have
  nonremovable batteries include MacBook Pro (Early 2009 and later), all
  models of MacBook Air, MacBook (Late 2009), and MacBook (Retina,
  12-inch, Early 2015 and later). Learn more about Mac notebook
  batteries.

  If the battery is nonremovable:

  Choose Apple menu > Shut Down.
  After your Mac shuts down, press Shift-Control-Option on the left side of the built-in keyboard, then press the power button at the same
  time. Hold these keys and the power button for 10 seconds. If you have
  a MacBook Pro with Touch ID, the Touch ID button is also the power
  button.
  Release all keys.
  Press the power button again to turn on your Mac.

  If the battery is removable:

  Shut down your Mac.
  Remove the battery. If you need help removing the battery, contact
  an Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple Retail Store.
  Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
  Reinstall the battery.
  Press the power button again to turn on your Mac.


"Look Up in Dictionary" stopped working in Chrome on Mac OS X 10.10.2

I also went to the trackpad part of preferences and unchecked and checked the force click look-up option and it worked again.


Persistent Ubuntu boot USB: macOS Sierra

This following method installed a persistent boot USB with Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS on my mid 2012 2GHz i7 MacBook Air running macOS Sierra:

They offer it for like $5US, but I am a cheap S.O.B., so from their GitHub repo...

Download Mac Linux USB Loader from the good folks at SevenBits.
Install Cocoapods (gem install cocoapods).
cd into the GitHub directory and pod install.
Launch "Mac Linux USB Loader.xcworkspace" in XCode (require XCode 8+ and registration as a Developer) and run the app. in the sandbox.
Insert and mount a USB drive & use Disk Utility to Erase to MS-DOS(FAT) and GUID Partition Map Master Boot Record.
In the "Persistence Manager" set the allocation of storage for the persistent memory (this creates the casper-rw file).

(source: sevenbits.io)

In the "Create Live USB" menu, point the "Create Live USB" to the Ubuntu ISO...

Deselect the "Skip the boot selection menu" option and let 'er rip!
Once finished, restart and hold the alt/option button, then select the EFI boot disk. Note the boot procedure here: https://github.com/SevenBits/Mac-Linux-USB-Loader/wiki/Using-Persistence-with-Mac-Linux-USB-Loader and after the drive is selected, boot to persistent by selecting from the menu options: 2, then 1, then 0.
Of note: once booted into Ubuntu, I created an admin user account, changed the desktop, then ran touch test.txt and sudo apt install valgrind to see if the changes would stick. When I logged out and logged back in, the b.g. reset to default, but the user account, text.txt file and valgrind install remained. When I rebooted, the changed desktop picture had stuck... A little funky, and it might not be a "dual boot OSX & Linux" lappy, but so far it's persistent Ubuntu on a stick!

NOTE: I reconfigured the persistent USB by formatting the USB using Master Boot Record instead of GUID. It feels like the startup is snappier. Both USB drive formats result in the console displaying the the command "applesetos" is not found. Not sure what this means. Per the maker, "The applesetos message is an oversight from me, but won’t affect the boot process." Similarly, with Master Boot Record I had to first create an admin account, and restart before system changes started taking hold.


iPhone 6 iOS 9 how to fix blank screen - no apps visible

Tap on any one of the toolbar buttons (Featured, Search, Updates, etc.) on the bottom of the screen rapidly 10 times. It sounds counter-intuitive, but it will refresh the App Store and should solve your problem.


I upgraded several Macbooks with Samsung SSDs. But they were EVO 840. Here is what I noted for myself:

SDD had to be plugged instead of the original HDD. Plugging in instead of DVD gives issues.
The connector is very hard to plug and unplug to Samsung SSDs. It is much easier with Apple HDD. So you have to press firm to plug in the SSD. To unplug, gently use a small flat screwdriver to separate the SSD from the connector. This "hard" connector could be reason why you do not see the SSD.

I doubt that installing SSD in the dock station will work if you try to put it in without that dock station. OS X knows where you plug what. You need a proper device path, which means it has to be connected properly during the installation.


How to automatically copy new photos from an iPhone to a Windows PC when plugged in?

The Windows Photos App solution will be the most efficient for you. It'll offer exactly what you requested and you can be assured that it'll not mix up photos or have duplicated copies since its intelligent enough to label these photos.

Or you can use the file explorer.
iMore has a great breakdown of the steps you should take if you want to save your photos. As well as other options.

https://www.imore.com/how-transfer-your-iphone-and-ipad-photos-windows-10#app


I can't seem to open this .jar file. Can someone make sense out of my error message?

It works, I just have to update my java. sigh.


how to set up multiple caller ID for imessaging

Settings > Messages > Send & Receive

Add Another Email won't let you add any address associated with another Apple ID


What version of Dovecot comes bundled with Lion Server?

Dovecot 239 is how it's listed by Apple as open source that was shipped with Lion 10.7 Build 11A511.

You can see lots of nice version and source code information at http://www.opensource.apple.com/release/mac-os-x-107/ in case the 239 doesn't match the real version of the package.

If you want to compare the current with past versions, many versions of OS X are listed at http://www.opensource.apple.com/


Toad for Mac has data and schema compare features. You can download for free in the link provided.

UPDATE: In the latest version (1.2.1), does not have data and schema compare features.


Why does Cmd-I in Preview do something other than advertised?

This is not a bug, although I can certainly see why it looks like one. That little symbol is a pipe ( | ), not the letter I. The pipe is the upper character on the backslash ( \ ) key.

So to type ⌘-|, the physical keys you need to press are: ⌘-Shift-\.

The difference between "|" and "I" was more pronounced back when Lucida Grande was the system font (in fact, this very post is set in Lucida Grande; you can see how the pipe is taller and thinner than the uppercase I). But OS X Yosemite switched the system font to Helvetica, and unfortunately the "|" and "I" now look basically identical.


osx mavericks update deleted all my files and apps from osx lion

I ran into the same thing. Here is what I had to do to get everything back.

I had to create a new dummy account.
While logged into the dummy account I found my old user home folder and renamed it something else.
I then created another user account named my original account name.
I proceeded to delete that account's home folder.
Then I renamed my old user home folder to the name of the newly created account
I logged into the newly made user account.
After that I went to the users folder and make my new account the owner of my home folder (it will still think your old account is the owner).
I applied the ownership to all enclosed items.

You should see all your desktop and documents return.
You may have to log out and back in to have everything come back.

As for your apps. I found a Recovered Items folder in the root Macintosh HD directory. In this folder you should have an applications folder. You can drag your applications back into the Mavericks applications folder. Most of the applications should come over properly. I had to re-activate my MS office for mac. Everything else seemed to work fine.


When the beep sounds you can ask:

"What song is this?"

It will speak the title, and artist. There isn't a way to turn this off sadly.


OWC's thermal sensor connects only to power - but sends data?

How can this sensor communicate with the iMac when it is only plugged into power?

Because it's not only plugged into power; look at the number of connectors on the logic board side compared to the number of leads on the drive side.

You are also working on the assumption that the power connector is "power out only."  This is not the case.  The SMC can read changes in expected voltages across a circuit as well as send/receive signaling embedded within the power


Windows are not showing when using cmd+tab

I was going to add post as comment but i don't have the privilege

When does this happen to you?
if it happens in Parallels Desktop Coherence mode, try Alt+Tab


folder copy in Finder labels it as incomplete, though copying is completed

Try clicking 'Get Info' and see if it works for you. I know its stupid but it should work.


How to prevent Finder from waking up the second hdd?

The files are being accessed in read-only mode - the r in the fourth column, the file descriptor column, indicates this.

Is this a media and/or backup drive of some sort?

In any case, I believe Finder is opening those directories because the volume is mounted. Even seemingly innocuous actions may call Finder to wake and read the drive, such as opening a file browsing dialogue in another application.

You may try removing from the Sidebar of Finder any folders on that drive. Also go into Finder's preferences, go to the 'Sidebar' tab, and uncheck either 'Hard Disks' or 'External Disks' under Devices, depending on whatever drive this is. That might prevent Finder from calling the drive.

Barring that, you may try try checking off Put hard disk(s) to sleep when possible in the Energy Saver's preference pane, which will keep the drive awake perpetually, and avoid pauses while it wakes.

You may also want to run ps -ef to check and see if there are any background processes that may be indexing or calling the drive.


Replace text with predefined value in browser

I believe you are looking for TextExpander.

From their site:

  Type more with less effort! TextExpander saves your fingers and your keyboard, expanding custom keyboard shortcuts into frequently-used text and pictures...


partitionDisk wants the entire drive as its target, because it's about to erase all partitions & replace with your new parameters.

/dev/disk2s1 is your existing 1st partition on that drive, disk2 is what it's looking for. I'm not actually certain why dev/disk2 wouldn't work, but it doesn't.
That would make your command
$ diskutil partitionDisk disk2 1 MBRFormat "MS-DOS FAT32" UDOO 1024M

You can also simplify the command if you like, as far as
$ diskutil partitionDisk disk2 1 MBR fat32 UDOO 1024M
& it will still work.

As pointed out in comments, the volume name only needs to be in quotes if there's a space. I'd missed that, my bad.

Ref: http://ss64.com/osx/diskutil.html


How to efficiently mark mail as spam before reviewing it in Mac OS X Mail.app?

One solution would be select all those messages and mark them as Junk using an iOS device, which would not load/preview emails until they’re opened.

You can also run the following AppleScript:
tell application "Mail" to set junk mail status of (messages of mailbox "QUARANTINE" of account "NAME" whose junk mail status is false) to true

Replace NAME with the name of your account, as defined under Mail → Preferences → Accounts.

You can then run that script anytime you want to mark all those messages as junk.

You could even setup a rule under Mail → Preferences → Rules:

If any of the following conditions are met: Every Message
Perform the following actions: Run AppleScript
In the dropdown click Open in Finder.
Drop your .scpt file into the window that opens up.
Select that script in the action’s dropdown menu.
Set this rule as your topmost rule, so that it runs before any rule that ends with Stop evaluating rules.


How to uninstall Corel Painter Internal Audio Driver in OS X Yosemite

I found a post about uninstallation of this audio driver. There is a kernel extension named PainterAudioDriver.kext in /System/Library/Extensions/ that adds the audio driver to the kernel space. To ensure that the kernel extension is loaded I used kextstat:

kextstat | grep corel

The result was:

  131    0 0xffffff7f80fde000 0x4000     0x4000     com.corel.painter.PainterAudioDriver (1) <96 5 4 3>

Then to unload the kernel extension I used kextunload that is explained here:

sudo kextunload -b com.corel.painter.PainterAudioDriver

After that the Internal Audio Driver (Corel Painter) is removed from both Sound menu bar and Audio MIDI Setup. To prevent the driver from loading again while rebooting the system, the kernel extension file must be removed from /System/Library/Extensions/ with this command:

sudo rm -r /System/Library/Extensions/PainterAudioDriver.kext

The Corel Painter Internal Audio Driver is uninstalled now.


Time Machine monitoring app using data from the "tmutil status" command

I have made a shell script to output of 'BackupPhase' from tmutil status to the menu bar, and then I have the rest of the information available if you click on the menu bar item.

To display the output of this script in the menu bar, you will need the excellent TextBar app, which costs $5 (IIRC) and is well worth it.

Here's what it looks like right now (the "ThinningPostBackup" part is what is shown in the menu bar. The rest only appears when the menu bar item is clicked.)

You'll notice the top 3 sections are formatted, and then I just include all of the tmutil status information below (everything from "Backup session status" and below), because sometimes it might have interesting stuff in it, and I'm nerdy like that.

I have put my TextBar / Time Machine script up on GitHub for anyone who would like to use or adapt it.


I upgraded to High Sierra (iMac 27″ late 2013). I worked without problems for 5 days. Then the disaster: progress bar that gets to ~75% progress slowly (very very slowly) and then freezes.

I tried:

restart in safety Mode
reset PRAM
check HD with Disk Utility (no problems detected)
restart in recovery Mode and reinstall High Sierra from partition

but there was the same problem (progress bar that gets to ~75% progress and then freezes)

Yesterday I boot my iMac from an external HD (with Sierra OS) and now I'm working with this (I reinstalled only Adobe Suite).

I think that the solution is reinstall Sierra.


Ghost-Imaging the BOOTCAMP partition for later restore?

I would say you're not on the right track doing an update before you test if your backup works on Windows 7 to Windows 7 first.

Without knowing what version of OS X and Boot Camp, people might hesitate to report success or failure, but since Apple doesn't "support" Boot Camp you might check with Symantec to make sure you are able to use their support if you need it.

Are you locked into Boot Camp? It seems you would benefit from having virtual machines you could snapshot and test and co-exist so you don't need to depend on a restore to bare metal scenario.


How can I make an AppleScript activate upon logging in?

If you save the Apple Script as an application, then go to  System Preferences -> Users -> Login Items, you can add the application there, and it will run on login.


Secure traffic before connecting to wifi/VPN?

According to an article by How-To Geek How to Connect Your Mac to Any VPN (and Automatically Reconnect), there is an app that can do this for you, but first:

  The “Advanced” button allows you to configure the VPN connection in other ways. For example, the default settings automatically disconnect from the VPN when you log out or switch users. You could uncheck these boxes to prevent the Mac from automatically disconnecting. Click Apply to save your settings. Before you do, you can enable the “Show VPN status in menu bar” option to get a menu bar icon for managing your VPN connection. Use this menu to connect to your VPN and disconnect from it as necessary.

However, the article also says:

  By default, your Mac won’t automatically reconnect to the VPN if the connection dies.

 VPN AutoConnect by Nova-box is the app the article talks about, but it does not have a very good rating, so I am not sure if it would benefit you.

I use a VPN, but I am not using Apple's client for this. I use the VPN's client. I did download it from the App Store, and it has been great thus far—there is a feature that allows you to prevent any traffic from running until the VPN is up and running.

The VPN I have is  VPN Unlimited - WiFi Proxy. I purchased a lifetime subscription for around $20 from Cult Of Mac when they had a special on it.

There could be Terminal commands for this as well. I have found this other Ask Different question for you to take a look at: Where is the "Send all traffic over VPN connection" setting in OSX 10.9 Mavericks?

This last link to a Tuts+ article How to Use VPN on Your Mac is basically what you said you already did, from my understanding, but I thought it might be useful in case you wanted to double check your steps (since I haven't used the Apple client, I can't speak for it, hence this link).

Good luck!


Dimmed screen that is locked by password

The screen dim controls on the side of the device won't dim the display that much. It might be a backlight failure and the device could need a repair.

You can take the device into a room with a table lamp and usually shine the light on the side to see enough to operate a screen even with the backlight totally failed.

You can unlock the device by connecting it to the computer that it normally syncs to in some cases as well.


This approach is quite okay and generally sane. You should verify that Time Machine is still backing up your home directory, following the symlink to the new drive, and not just backing up a reference to your directory.


Is there anyway to lock an iphone to avoid my toddler from leaving his video?

You can use Guided Access to restrict access to a single app, and even ignore touch on certain (or all) parts of the screen.

To enable, first go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Guided Access. Then once you're in the app, just triple tap the home button.

See iOS: About Guided Access for more information or check out this short video.


Two things.

The spotlight process that catalogs files has stopped (perhaps due to low disk space) so they yellow information is incorrect. It should show you a warning IMO that the catalog process failed or needs to update. The "Other" is a catch-all so you're seeing that.
Copy 20 GB of files to an external drive (photo library, movies, virtual machines are easy targets) and then delete them. You can use Finder to show folder sizes and locate some targets. At that point, restart into Recovery and repair the drive and volume using Disk Utility.

Then boot the system normally and let the system run for several hours to see what really is using space. Once you have a good reading, you can add files back from the backup. Your wipe and start over is fine too. Maybe let the system stabilize and show realistic data before restoring your user account and settings/files.

See these for more details:

Why is it important to keep lots of freespace on OSX? What is the impact?
Finder Reports Disk is Full, Other Tools Don't Account for it


2.7GHz Intel Core i7 vs 2.6GHz 6‑core 9th‑gen Intel Core i7

What will be the difference in speed between the two MacBook Pros? They have almost identical clock frequency and both have Intel Core i7 processor.

Both the processors belong to different generation. While 2016 MacBook Pro features 6th-generation Skylake processor, 2019 models feature 9th generation Caby Lake processor.

Table of fourth generation MacBook Pro models

Branding and clock speed aside, there's a lot of under the hood performance, fabrication, architectural and energy management improvements which happen in newer generation processors leading to improved overall system performance, battery life and thermal management.

  I don't do any graphics processing, so I don't see that all of those Cores will be used. Is that wasted CPU resources?

It's a broad question and whether CPU resource gets utilized fully depends on specific use cases. If you have an Apple Retail store around, I assume you can use advise of one of the store personnels in choosing the configuration that best suits your workflow.


Can I install 10.9 over 10.8 and maintain windows xp boot camp functionality?

When I recently installed OS X 10.9.1 over 10.8.5 on my mid-2010 Mac Mini running Windows XP in Boot Camp, XP continued to work fine in Boot Camp.  I don't run Parallels, and I don't have your exact configuration, so I can't guarantee results.  Additional information: I had originally installed XP in Boot Camp when my Mac was running Snow Leopard, and I subsequently upgraded to Lion, then Mountain Lion, then Mavericks.  Microsoft is stopping security patches for XP in April 2014, so if you use XP on the network, you may want to install a newer version of Windows.


PHP not working after upgrading to OS Mojave

I had the same problem - it's based on mod_userdir exclusion after updating to Mac OS X Mojave. There are a few steps to repair that:

Load the module mod_userdir in /etc/apache2/httpd.conf
At the end of the httpd.conf make sure to load httpd-userdir.conf
In httpd-userdir.conf include a local file in /etc/apache2/users/<username>.conf
Put a directory section into that file, containing the rules for the directory where your webserver files are located:

<Directory "/Users/<myusername>/Sites/">
    AllowOverride All
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
    Require all granted
</Directory>

This should set you up.


How to pair Bluetooth device with MacBook Pro after forgetting it?

Using "System Preferences" -> "Bluetooth" you should be able to add or "pair" the device in question as long as the device is in range and broadcasting a signal. You might need to turn the device off then on again, or tell it to "pair" or "repair" before it is visible from the MacBook.


How to "repair" a PDF that opens in Acrobat Reader but not Preview

I just had exactly the same problem. A filled-in PDF form from our tax service displays as follows in almost all PDF readers except Adobe's:

Not one of the normal solutions works. Every single macOS-native save-to-pdf or print-to-pdf option from within Acrobat Reader fails with "Saving a PDF file when printing is not supported."

I ended up having to use PDF-XChange Editor in one of my VMWare Windows guest images to open the offending PDF 1.7 form and then to print to the "Microsoft Print to PDF" printer driver.

A similar driver for macOS which could trick Adobe Reader into thinking that it was just a printer could also work, but I did not have more time to investigate other options.

There's NO reason for Adobe to make it this difficult to export a PDF form to read-only rendered version. Well, it could be because Reader has a truly subpar UI on macOS, so the company has to make use of alternative techniques to retain users.


Can I filter multiple columns at the same time in Excel?

Unless I'm missing something from your question, you've actually already worked out how to do this.

That is, if you first filter by one column the way you want, and then filter by the second column the way you want, you've effectively filtered both columns.

So, using your example, say you filter the location column so that only people in location X are showing. Then if you proceed to filter that list so that only those with rating Y are still showing, then the end result is you only have people of X location and Y rating listed.


iPhoto not launching after upgrading to OS X 10.10, Yosemite

I found a proper solution to this problem:

I had used the Migration Assistant to migrate my old Mac System (10.8 or so) to a newly bought Mac Mini with 10.10 (Yosemite). After a few day I found out that iPhoto wasn’t starting — with the described symptoms.

Fortunately I still have the old system running, so I could compare them and copying the old NyxAudioAnalysis directory did the job.

Everything could be fine here, but I wondered why when reparing my access rights the disk utility kept telling me there was a problem with the directory. It said it was a directory, but was expected to be a symbolic link:

Abweichende Zugriffsrechte für „Library/Frameworks/NyxAudioAnalysis.framework“, Soll-Wert: lrwxr-xr-x , Ist-Wert: drwxr-xr-x .

(German version here, sorry.)

Since I have another box running under Yosemite I could compare the systems and I found out that Apple had moved the location of the NyxAudioAnalysis framework at some time. In 10.10 (Yosemite) it is located in /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks, whereas in older systems it was in /Library/Frameworks. To ensure compatibility, Apple inserted a symlink at the old location: NyxAudioAnalysis.framework → /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/NyxAudioAnalysis.framework. The migration assistant seems to have messed that up somehow.

So to fix it you can use Terminal.app:

cd /Library/Frameworks
sudo mv NyxAudioAnalysis.framework NyxAudioAnalysis.framework.copy
sudo ln -s /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/NyxAudioAnalysis.framework NyxAudioAnalysis.framework

which does the job.

Conclusion: Copying the directory from some source is working, but it may not last. The potential problem with it is that if Apple should update their library some time you won’t get the changes. This could cause some problems with iPhoto (or other programs) any time in the future. Therefore I suggest to insert the original symbolic link.


Is it impossible to listen to podcasts on iOS 6 now?

If you had downloaded the podcasts app while iOS6 was the most recent, then you would have a version of the podcasts app that was compatible with it.  Unfortunately the current version of the podcasts app is written using iOS7 APIs, including ones to automatically download content for  you without you having to manually open the app etc, which are not backwards compatible.

As such, you will have to use a 3rd party app to listen to podcasts, or upgrade to iOS7.


Yes, Since a lot of providers have bandwidth caps, Netflix has put in a downgrade quality option to manage video quality.

Login to netflix first, then go to
https://account.netflix.com/HdToggle

Select from

Good Quality.  up to 0.3 GB per hour.
Better Quality.  Up to 0.7 GB per hour.
Best Quality.  Up to 1 GB per hour, or 2.3 GB per hour for
HD.


How does Time Machine handle an external drive shared between two Macs?

Time Machine allows you to backup multiple macs to one drive.  You just plug it in, set it up, and you're good.  If you look at the file system, you can see separate backups for both computers.  At our home we currently do this with a Mac Mini and a MacBook.  The Mac Mini is always plugged in, and the MacBook gets updated every couple weeks.  We use a 1.5 TB drive from Western Digital.  Given your description, I think this solution with your 2TB drive should work well for you.

The data backed up by both macs will not be the same, as no matter how hard you try, both computers will wind up having subtile differences, so the data won't be "exactly" the same.  Backing up only one system doesn't seem ideal to me, but you can restore a MacBook from a Mac Mini backup.  It works fine.

Also, you realize that the drive must be connected for you to access the photos and music that you have stored there.  You'll have to factor that into your storage solution.


How can I make my Terminal login as my mac account and now bootcamp partition?

Look's like somehow your computer has had it's name changed.

Changing your Mac’s computer name:

Launch System Preferences
Click the Sharing icon
Type in what you want your Mac’s new computer name to be
Close System Preferences


What happens if you restore your keychain from a TM backup?

Answering my own question -- because I simply ran out of time: my need for my secure notes outweighed the risks.

I restored an earlier copy of my entire ~/Library/Keychains folder from a pre-corruption Time Machine backup. This did not restore the "iCloud" option in my Keychain Access "Keychains" panel, but the secure notes all reappeared under "Local Items". After restoring the items, I was able to lock and unlock things in System Preferences, and I was able to log-out and log-in to my computer (after making copies of all the secure notes, and so far I can't say I see any obvious problems.

So in my case, the answer to my question is: it didn't do anything bad, though it will (of course) reset any passwords you may have changed since the backup.


You need to use a scatter graph for value-value graphs. Other graph types use category-value, shown at the top of your screenshot. To replace your graph with a scatter graph, choose Chart → Chart Type and select 2D Scatter. Now, under Axis the tabs will show ‘Value (Y)’ and ‘Value (X)’ instead of ‘Category (X)’, such that Logarithmic is available for both.


Split csv file using Automator Service (Finder Context Menu)

I'd write the code a bit differently, and here is an example of how I'd do it:

#!/bin/bash

for f in "$@"; do
    if [[ -f $f ]]; then
        d="$(dirname "$f")"
        n="$(basename "$f")"
        t='/tmp'
        if [[ ${n##*.} =~ [cC][sS][vV] ]]; then
            head -1 "$f" > $t/h.tmp
            tail -n +2 "$f" | split -a 3 -l 50 - $t/tmp.
            i=1
            for s in $t/tmp.a??; do
                fn="$d/${n%.*}.$(printf '%03d' $i).csv"
                if [[ ! -f $fn ]]; then
                    cat $t/h.tmp $s > "$fn"
                    ((i++))
                else
                    rm $t/h.tmp $t/tmp.a??
                    echo "The file '"$fn"' already exists!"
                    exit
                fi
            done
            rm $t/h.tmp $t/tmp.a??
            echo ''
        fi
    fi
done

As presently coded, it handles one or more files passed to the service.
Makes sure the object being acted upon is a file, not a directory.
Makes sure the file has a .csv extension (regardless of the case of the extension).
Creates the temporary files in: /tmp
Checks to see that the output filename doesn't already exist, and if it does, it cleans up and exits.
Writes to a file with a numerically incremented filename, e.g. file.001.csv, file.002.csv, etc., in the same directory as the file(s) passed to the service.
Removes the temporary files created in: /tmp
As presently coded, it handles files with a line count of up to 49,950 split to 50 line files, not counting the header.

Note that no error handling is coded for the total line count of the source file, however, could be easily added.
Or easily modified to handle files with a line count of up to 499,950 split to 50 line files, not counting the header, by changing -a 3 of the split command to -a 4 and '%03d' of the printf command to '%04d'. You'd also change $t/tmp.a?? in  for s in $t/tmp.a??; do and rm $t/h.tmp $t/tmp.a?? to: $t/tmp.a???

I'd also add a Run Apple Script action to the service, with the following code:

on run {input, parameters}
    if (item 1 of input) is "" then
        display notification "Splitting of the target file(s) is finished!" with title "Split CSV File(s)"
    else
        display notification (item 1 of input as string) with title "Split CSV File(s)"
    end if
end run

This enables the output of the echo commands in the Run Shell Script action to display a notification if a output file already exists or when the splitting is finished.

Note that while notification could be done from within the Run Shell Script action using osascript, nonetheless, I did it this way as it was easier to code.

This was tested on a file named file.csv in Finder, which has 200 lines in it, and the images below show what was created by the Run Shell Script action portion of the Automator service when run on the file.


Right side of Earpod dead but the buttons are functioning. How to troubleshoot?

If you're still in your first year or have Applecare on your device you got the earpods with, call Applecare, they will set you up with a replacement pair.


I solved the problem by setting FXSidebarUpgradedToTenTen to No (in com.apple.finder.plist) and then installing the security update, although I don't think that the security update had any impact here. I then rebooted my mac and it went trough the usual update process, which fixed my sidebar problem.


Siri can't text someone even though it can call them, email them, and show me their contact information

Okay. I fixed the problem — at least so far.
Deleting the entry did nothing. I recreated the entry, it initially worked, and then failed five minutes later with the same problem.
On my iPhone, entries are "unified". For example, my wife has an entry for someone, and I have an entry for someone, it shows up on my iPhone as a single entry. On my iPad, these show up as multiple entries. If Facebook creates an entry, a third one shows up.
I want to my iPad, and there were three entries for this name — two had email and phone numbers and one did not.
Deleting that mysterious third entry worked for about two minutes, but it reappeared a minute later, and I had the same issue again. I ended up editing that third entry and added a phone number and email addresses. That allowed me to text John Smith through Siri. It so far has held for two days. I can once again text John Smith through Siri. However, other people who have Facebook profiles and are in my phone book aren't an issue. It was just this one.

Addendum
The problem was tracked down to Facebook being allowed to munge my address book. This user didn't have phone or email information in Facebook, so Siri must have seen the Facebook info, and tried to use that. On my iPhone, the contact entries are unified, so I see both what Facebook puts in and my entry.
Turning off Settings->Facebook->Contacts solved the issue.
There maybe similar issues with other contact applications like Twitter and Outlook which might cause Siri not to see the information you have for a contact. Turning off these app's ability to update your contacts may solve the issue.


How to move files between Ubuntu and iPhone

On recent iOS - you can just share out the files over SMB and use the files app to mount the share / move files and folders.
For doing it without a network or file share, here are the older steps using open source libraries to do this without needing to jailbreak the device.

http://www.libimobiledevice.org/

If you don’t see this included, consider using homebrew to install that package and the http://askubuntu.com people are amazing resources if you run into issues.

https://askubuntu.com/a/704677/21224


iOS 9 alarm icon in status bar behaviour change?

This is not new behaviour. The alarm icon shows in the status bar if you have an alarm scheduled at any time, regardless if it is on the same day or not.


I too get the same results as you are getting. Works on my 2017 27" iMac but no audio.
This video indicates that the iSight camera needs to be updated to Firmware 1.0.3 for the audio to work properly.
For the updater you would need an older Mac. I have an old PowerPC G5 but have not hook it up to see if the updater would work on it but I plan to try it soon.

How to update external iSight firmware?
External iSight microphone audio not working

I did see on one of Apple's pages that it indicated an external iSight will work with Big Sur. No confirmation if it includes Big Sur.
It doesn't work at all on my M1 Mini but system info can see it so that to me indicates the connection is good.
When I called to ask Apple about it the person wasn't of any help. They actually had not heard of an iSight camera, internal or external, before. The best they could do was get provide the link to the updater.


sync

I forgot to run the command "sync" after :P

sudo dd bs=1m if=Cubian-base-r1-arm-a20.img of=/dev/rdisk1;sync

Also works perfectly


Is it possible to convert window into tab?

You need to drag a tab - Safari won't let you drag an entire window into another one.  You can hit ⌘T to create a new empty tab (thus making the tab interface visible), then drag your original tab to the other window.


FileVault and TimeMachine restoration - Unable to turn on FileVault again

After some investigation, the problem has something to do with nix, which I have installed on my old MBP.

To make FileVault work again, I have to remove all the nix users and nix user group.


Can't enable Apple Two Step Authentication

I missed it the first time. It should be at the top.
of the the Security page.


Bootable usb stick created in windows won`t show in startup manager in mac

I haven't heard of any possible way to create a bootable USB drive on Windows, but if you have access to a Mac you can use Install Disk Creator to easily create the boot device.

Download Install Disk Creator
Download MacOS High Sierra from App Store
Open Install Disk Creator
Select your USB drive
Select the MacOS installer
Click Create installer


Alcatraz - Xcode command line tools are not currently installed

After installing git-2.5.3-intel-universal-mavericks you have at least three git executables on your Mac:

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin/git (v2.3.8 (Apple Git-58))
/usr/local/git/bin/git (v2.5.3)
/usr/bin/git (which is a stub only)

If you've followed the instructions in the README.txt inside the git-2.5.3-intel-universal-mavericks.dmg you probably renamed the original git stub:

sudo mv /usr/bin/git /usr/bin/git-system

Renaming or removing the stub already breaks Alcatraz.

You may now whether rename git-system:

sudo mv /usr/bin/git-system /usr/bin/git

or reinstall git-2.5.3-intel-universal-mavericks and link the GIT-git to /usr/bin:

sudo ln -s /usr/local/git/bin/git /usr/bin

to fix your issue.


How to run a shell script upon user authentication (e.g. screen unlock)?

From https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/159510/76470 :

I found SleepWatcher, a free tool that allows to run a script when the screen goes to sleep or wakes up.

After installing it, you can link a shell script that is run on one of the available events (which include dim screen, wake up screen, computer sleep, wake up computer and some more). From the shell script, I can run a command, or call an AppleScript that I want to run on these events.

Since my screen goes to sleep when I lock my computer, this is exactly what I was looking for.


Removing all traces of Java, cleanly, from OS X Lion

Uninstalling Java for Lion is simple. Remove the following directory (which contains the file 1.6.0.jdk):

/System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/

Then (for completeness), clean up the installer records by removing them from /private/var/db/receipts/:

com.apple.pkg.JavaForMacOSX107.bom
com.apple.pkg.JavaForMacOSX107.plist

And lastly, we clear out any traces of the product installation from Software Update by editing the following plist file: InstallHistory.plist, located in:

/Library/Receipts/

Note: Editing the install history plist file is better done by copying the plist to your desktop (as it owned by root and won't let you modify it), but make sure you restore the default ownership by running the following command:

sudo chown root:admin InstallHistory.plist

You can open the file up in Text Edit and remove the following lines:

<dict>
    <key>date</key>
    <date>2011-09-06T14:43:35Z</date>
    <key>displayName</key>
    <string>Java for Mac OS X 10.7</string>
    <key>displayVersion</key>
    <string>1.0</string>
    <key>packageIdentifiers</key>
    <array>
        <string>com.apple.pkg.JavaEssentials</string>
        <string>com.apple.pkg.JavaForMacOSX107</string>
    </array>
    <key>processName</key>
    <string>Software Update</string>
</dict>

Additional information

There are two packages that are found in the Java for Mac OS X 10.7 dmg, JavaEssentials and JavaForMacOSX107. The former does not install anything. I have compared the files found on a clean OS X 10.7 install (that does not include Java) and those found in that package, and they are all present and moreover, are identical in every way (v14.0.3). Thus, the only package that needs to be removed is the SDK. Additionally, you can remove the receipts and the install record, but those are more cleanliness than anything. Remove the SDK is sufficient (try running a program that requires Java after the removal of that file, and you will once again be greeted with the notice to install Java).


Is there an app I can use to automatically track screen time for each desktop on my MacBook?

I don't know about a solution that tracks time per desktop but what I use is Observe (https://qotoqot.com/qbserve/). It tracks the time you spend in any application and you can add filters so screen time in one app is allocated to a specific project. You can even define working paths. So every time you work on a file in specific directory it also gets allocated to a specific project.


Can iPod touch 5th gen use older versions of apps?

Yes, all updates to iOS so far have been backwards-compatible with older versions of apps, so the apps should work fine.


Spotlight does not seem to work in finding apps

A recent article on MacIssues suggests rebuilding the spotlight index in situations like this.

Briefly, the proposed solution is to go to the Spotlight preference pane (in System preferences) and add your disk drive to the privacy list, then remove it again.

The article also makes oblique reference to certain “Terminal-based approaches”. The obvious candidate is called mdutil. You can use the -E flag to erase the local metadata store for the named drive(s), or -i off followed by -i on to turn indexing off, then on. (Disclaimer: I have not tried this. Check the manual page.)


How to find cause for iTunes not exporting library XML?

I've seen these libraries get a bit corrupted many times even though they'll still work perfectly in iTunes.

I think that's probably what's going on here so I don't have a lot of faith in my first three suggestions but they're a lot less dangerous / serious & could definitely fix the issue. The 'nuclear' option I've listed last is safe to do but it involves rebuilding your entire iTunes database which if you're a DJ might be more than you'd like to jump to. If you have backups though it will always be fine to take the riskier route first.

Just in case you haven't tried, uncheck 'Share iTunes Library XML with other applications' hit ok, open up preferences and check it again. Try to export.
We can test this on a clean slate with a new user. Copy (move if there's not enough space) the entire iTunes folder over to the shared area of your computer, and then create a new administrator over in System Preferences > Users & Groups. Restart & log in to that one, add your iTunes library by selecting it in the same advanced tab of iTunes preferences shown in your screenshot. This might take a little bit of time. Then try out an export.
If that still doesn't work, the last thing I would recommend to try is to replace the 'System' folder where iTunes & other system functions are kept in case there's an issue there. You can do this by booting into recovery mode by holding CMD + R while the Mac is starting, and install onto your disk. This won't affect your data or users at all - in only replaces the System folder where OS stuff only is at.

When none of those work take the nuclear option and rebuild your iTunes library using these instructions. Backing up before this is a good idea.


Why Does My Dock Background Sometimes Exclude the Leftmost Icon?

It turns out the Continuity feature Handoff is to blame: If I open mobile Safari on my nearby iPhone, this happens:

When I close the mobile app, the left-most segment disappears and Finder is "kicked out" of the Dock, like in the question.

Perhaps I sould file a bug report with Apple, but can not check if this has been fixed in the upcoming High Sierra or not...


The checkbox is to hide the application:

Remove it from the list by clicking the "-" button while it is selected.


On the current version of macOS (10.12.6 at the time of this writing), this will not work from the shell either:

$ sudo /Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit
Password:
Illegal instruction: 4

And if you check the crash logs, you'll find the following:

Sandbox registration internal error: Incoming message euid:0 does not match secinitd uid:501.

This is by design; TextEdit is a sandboxed app, and running it as root would defeat much of the purpose of sandboxing. I don't think you will be able to find a way to get it to run as root. This isn't a bad thing, though, as running a GUI app as root is generally a terrible idea for security, as there are many ways to surreptitiously inject code into a Cocoa app, and if that app runs as root, you can open up some pretty serious security vulnerabilities this way.

To edit files like /etc/hosts, I recommend finding another way:

Use a command-line editor such as emacs, pico, or vi.
Use a GUI-based text editor that has the feature to prompt for your admin password when needed (I believe BBEdit can do this, for example)
Simply copy the /etc/hosts file to another location, edit it there, and then use sudo to copy the modified file back to /etc.


iMac software causing I phone messages to appear up on older iMac

Open the "Messages" App on the iMac, go to settings and remove the iMessage account.


Images are "Faded" Emailed from Outlook 2011 for Mac

I've been trying to figure this out at work and here is what I've learned.

Some PCs are prone to see a faded image when others don't, so be sure to test on a number of PCs (try to find the weakest link).

When a Mac user copies a PNG and paste it into his email signature or the body of an email, this error occurs.

I have to send out a company wide email signature, so here's what we do.

Have a PC user draft the email signature, placing the actual JPEG images. When that email is sent out, a Mac user can copy and paste it and it should work.


Enable grep to exactly match the regular expression

Use awk.

This command will "extract" a bulk list of words assuming it's in the format you specified above:

awk '/\*\*/,/\*\*/ {print substr($0, 3, length($0)-4)}' <filename>

Example:

For this example, assume we have a text file called words.txt with the following content:

**test**
1. Definition:
2. Usage
3. Others

**foo**
1. Definition:
2. Usage
3. Others

**bar**
1. Definition:
2. Usage
3. Others

$ awk '/\*\*/,/\*\*/ {print substr($0, 3, length($0)-4)}' words.txt

test
foo
bar

What it's Doing

/\*\*/,/\*\*/ This is the pattern range.  I could have done this by looking for the first set of asterisks (/\*\*) and been done, but I used a full range for completeness.  One method is no more "right" than the other.
{print substr($0, 3, length($0)-4)}' This prints the subsring (of the string **word**) starting at the 3rd character, with a length of the whole string (length($0)) minus four characters (the four asterisks).
<filename> This is the input file to process the awk command


How do I connect the location of a calendar event with the iPad maps app?

Sadly, (as of iOS 4), this cannot be done. The location field of an event does not recognise an address, no matter how perfectly you enter it.

[UPDATE] In iOS 5, the location field in any calendar event will (if properly formatted) hyperlink to the Maps app.


"Too many open files" - how can I set the ulimit -n value for emacs on Lion?

Before

Edit:

sudo vi /etc/launchd.conf

Append:

limit maxproc   100000  200000
limit maxfiles  100000  200000

Reboot


Unlike Outlook for Windows, neither Outlook:Mac 2011 nor Outlook:Mac 2016 support plug-ins.  The closest thing that Outlook:Mac supports is AppleScript, which won't get you to the CardDAV or CalDAV support that you desire.

For my personal usage, I use a combination of Apple Mail (IMAP), BusyCal (CalDAV, which covers both calendar and tasks), and Apple Contacts (CardDAV) in place of Outlook.  I'm not really happy with this combination.  I haven't found a better solution.


App Store buttons in the ios7 world: still shiny?

No change has been pre-announced (and that would be a surprise).

Furthermore, Apple's marketing guidelines have not changed the design of the badge and buttons in conjunction with iOS 7's release.

https://developer.apple.com/app-store/marketing/guidelines/


Change Vendor/Product Id of a USB Dongle

Full disclosure: this is purely speculation, worth a try but not intended to be the final word.

It would make sense that you can't change the VID/PID after the device is connected. Your idea of editing the kext may be along the right path, but from what I gather, OS X generally does not like to load modified drivers (because their signatures will no longer be correct.)

First, try disabling Gatekeeper (it's the option that stops you from running non-signed apps.) It's under Security & Privacy in SysPrefs.

If that doesn't work, this may be worth a try, but I don't know if it'll do anything. Some versions of OS X apparently have a switch that allows loading modified drivers (normally you can't). The command is:

sudo nvram boot-args="kext-dev-mode=1"

Then edit your kext, and rebuilt the kext cache:

sudo kextcache -m /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/Extensions.mkext /System/Library/Extensions

(Source: http://www.cindori.org/enabling-trim-on-os-x-yosemite/ - modifying kexts on the new OS X Beta causes them to fail to load, maybe this is still happening on older OS versions - it'd make sense, given Apple's strong security sense.)


I deleted partition and now I don't see the free space in Disk Utility

Have you try these steps to fix your issue:

$ diskutil list

It will list your physical drive detail. Note the drive name for unallocated space.

sudo diskutil eraseVolume "Free Space" %noformat% /dev/disk0s3

Assuming your volume is named disk0s3

Next, resize your APFS Container

diskutil apfs resizeContainer disk0s2 0

With value zero at the end, diskutil will automatically claim all available free space.

It should be fine and then you can re-setup macOS from Recovery mode.


Checking the obvious - you can connect to WiFi on another computer right? The iPhone frequently over-reports the strength of the WiFi connection, so you can see 2 or 3 bars but not actually connect because it times out.

Try holding the iPhone vertically with your fingers at the top and bottom - the WiFi receiver is in the side, so when you hold it with your hands at the sides, it reduces WiFi reception.


Able to answer—but not make—iPhone calls on Mac

Try completely logging out of your Apple ID/Account, everywhere (every setting/option where you can do so), on both of your devices.

For example, on iOS, you should try signing out from iCloud, iMessage and FaceTime:

Settings → iClound → Sign Out
Settings → Messages → Send & Receive → Apple ID: ... → Sign Out
Settings → FaceTime → Apple ID: ... → Sign Out

Then try logging back into your Apple ID/Account on them and setting it up again.

Hope this helps :)

-James


How can I sync movies from iTunes to my iPad?

The problem is that when you buy a movie it is not immediately downloaded to your machine. You have to explicitly tell iTunes to downloading by going to your "Library", selecting Movies from the left panel, right-clicking on the new movie and selecting "Download". Once the download starts you will see a screen like this:

The button next to the search box in the upper right will show the download status. Once the download is complete, click sync button which is the small rectangle next to the media type combo box in the upper left. (This button is right below the "Account" menu in the screen shot above.) Your new movie should appear grayed out (as shown in the screenshot below). Then, select "Movies" from the left hand navigation pane (iPad submenu), make sure that the checkbox for syncing your movies is selected, and press the Sync button to start the transfer to the iPad.


How can I pair my Magic Trackpad with multiple Macs?

No, it can only be paired to one computer at at time according to Magic Trackpad Manual. You would need to un pair and then re pair it to another computer in order to use it on both computers.

Here's the extract from the manual:

  After you pair your Apple Magic Trackpad with a Mac, you can pair it again with a different Mac. To do this, you first remove the existing pairing and then pair the trackpad again.


How to customise rEFInd theme on High Sierra?

I could be wrong, but isn't

echo "include rEFInd-minimal/theme.conf" >> refind.conf

suppose to be the following.

echo "include themes/rEFInd-minimal/theme.conf" >> refind.conf

You omitted the themes folder, but there are many references to a themes folder in the theme.conf file.

I would suggest the following.

  From OSX, do the following

  Start by mounting your EFI partition.

  sudo mount -t msdos /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes

  Then cd to the rEFInd directory on that partition cd
  /Volumes/EFI/rEFInd

  mkdir themes

  cd themes

  Download the theme with Git

  git clone https://github.com/EvanPurkhiser/rEFInd-minimal

  Now add the theme info to refind.conf

  cd ..
  echo "include themes/rEFInd-minimal/theme.conf" >> refind.conf

  Reboot with sudo reboot


Install python pyqt4 on macOS 10.12 Sierra?

Anaconda python (https://www.continuum.io/) provides binaries for a wide variety of packages including pyqt and all required support libraries.  Similar to virtualenv, conda allows separate environments to be created with different versions of the packages; in your case, various versions of qt 4 and qt 5.

Download the 20MB bash installer for Python 2.7 http://conda.pydata.org/miniconda.html

install with bash Miniconda2-latest-MacOSX-x86_64.sh

The following packages are required for electrum:

conda create -n electrum python=2.7 pyqt=4.11.4 dnspython ecdsa pbkdf2 protobuf requests six
source activate electrum

Additional dependencies not available in anaconda can be installed via pip:

pip install dnspython jsonrpclib qrcode slowaes

You can then install electrum as usual:

git clone https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum.git
cd electrum
pyrcc4 icons.qrc -o gui/qt/icons_rc.py
python setup.py install

The resulting command will be in the bin directory of the electrum environment.  This can be symlinked into ~/bin as follows:

ln -s ~/anaconda/envs/electrum/bin/electrum ~/bin

You can now run electrum from the terminal even when the anaconda environment is not loaded.

electrum


How do I insert a picture into the Notes app?

The iOS Notes app is not able to insert pictures. At best it will paste a url to an image.

I suggest you use another note app such as Evernote or Notability.


What type of storage does an iPod classic use?

The specs page for the iPod Classic says "hard drive". That's a mechanical drive with a set of spinning platters and read/write heads.

And here's a replacement part for the drive in the unit. The compatibility list on that page lists:

iPod 6th Gen 160GB
iPod 7th Gen 160GB

And here's a video that gives some details on the Samsung drive in the unit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mB3xjIIKcU


How can I move through words when typing a command in iTerm2?

I finally found the solution to this problem here: https://coderwall.com/p/h6yfda. The necessary steps are shown below:

Go to Preferences, Profile, Keys.
Set your left ⌥ key to act as an escape character.
Locate the current shortcut for ⌥ ← or create a new one, with the following settings:

Keyboard Shortcut: ⌥←
Action: Send Escape Sequence
Esc+: b

repeat for the ⌥→ keyboard shortcut with the following settings:

Keyboard Shortcut: ⌥→
Action: Send Escape Sequence
Esc+: f


What tools exist to rename (truncate) batches of files in OS X?

Try running something like this in Terminal:

cd ~/Some\ folder
for f in *; do mv "$f" "${f/ *./-z.}"; done


Can I find a driver or something to make the EarPod buttons work on Windows 10?

It shouldn't need any drivers, controls are standardized across systems. It's probable that the computer you're trying to use it with doesn't have the four pole mic/control combo you need.


Although it's not directly related to the Xcode app size. There are multiple places where you can delete files to free up some space.

1. Derived Data
Xcode keeps data about your projects which includes index, build output and logs. Go to ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/ and delete the folders for projects that you no longer need to keep this data around for.

2. iOS Device Support
Xcode is storing information about the devices you have used for development. Delete the data no longer needed in ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/iOS DeviceSupport/.

3. Archives
Delete the one’s you don’t need in the Organizer, or go to ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/Archives/ to delete them in bulk. Be careful not to delete archives for which you still need the dSYM data for debugging.

4. Simulators
Simulators are stored under ~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices. For each version of iOS you are building for.

5. Documentation Browse and delete unnecessary data under ~/Library/Developer/Shared/Documentation/DocSets.


This should work on most versions

#!/bin/bash

PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/bin

"/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession" -suspend

sleep 5

pmset sleepnow

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to sleep'

exit 0

The -suspend line will switch to the login screen (which takes a few seconds, hence the sleep 5 before the next command).

The pmset line will sleep the display.

The osascript line will sleep the computer.

Only the -suspend line is necessary to require the password, so you can choose to include the other lines, or not, as you wish.


Using regex in Mac OS X: why I have to add \ in {3, 5} ==> \{3, 5\} ...?

If I understand your question correctly, you do not need to escape the curly-braces with a backslash if you form the command properly.

In other words, when using a RegRx with grep, let it know the search pattern is a RegEx by using the -E option.

If you want an inverse match then use the -v option as well.

Example:

ls | grep -E -v '\.[A-Za-z]{0,5}$'

Note I used {0,5}$ instead of {3,5}$ to account for any extension up to 5 characters. If you want to include files that might have a 1 or 2 character extensions, then use {3,5}$ instead.

You can also use the following example:

ls | grep -E -v '\.[[:alpha:]]{0,5}$'

Sometimes a file extension can have numbers in them, so to account for that, use as an example:

ls | grep -E -v '\.[A-Za-z0-9]{0,5}$'

Or:

ls | grep -E -v '\.[[:alnum:]]{0,5}$'

Note: Some commands require the options to be passed individually, while others can be combined. In this case, grep does allow options to be concatenated. So in the example commands, -E -v can be expressed as -Ev or -vE, if you wish.


My mac's UI is randomly freezing for 5-10 seconds throughout the day. How can I figure out what's going wrong?

I have discovered how to determine the cause of the freezes. The trick is to take a sample of the system WindowServer process while it is frozen.
Of course, since I can't interact with the system while it's frozen, I used a separate computer to ssh into my mac, switch that session to the root account with sudo -s, and then execute the following command the moment the system freezes: sample WindowServer 5
That creates a sample that shows what the window server was stuck doing while it was frozen, and it consistently showed it locked in the following functions:
4613 Thread_1658: Main Thread   DispatchQueue_<multiple>
+ 4613 start  (in libdyld.dylib) + 1  [0x7fff71e563d5]
+   4613 ???  (in WindowServer)  load address 0x107900000 + 0x150d  [0x10790150d]
+     4613 SLXServer  (in SkyLight) + 1349  [0x7fff6b2b7af1]
+       4613 server_loop  (in SkyLight) + 602  [0x7fff6b2b7d52]
+         2238 CGXRunOneServicesPass  (in SkyLight) + 731  [0x7fff6b2b6df9]
+         ! 2236 mach_msg  (in libsystem_kernel.dylib) + 60  [0x7fff71f8b76c]
+         ! : 2236 mach_msg_trap  (in libsystem_kernel.dylib) + 10  [0x7fff71f8b22a]
+         ! 2 mach_msg  (in libsystem_kernel.dylib) + 60,68  [0x7fff71f8b76c,0x7fff71f8b774]
+         2087 CGXRunOneServicesPass  (in SkyLight) + 1761  [0x7fff6b2b71ff]
+         ! 2086 post_port_data  (in SkyLight) + 237  [0x7fff6b2b7551]
+         ! : 1986 rendezvousHandler(unsigned int, mach_msg_header_t*, void*)  (in SkyLight) + 29  [0x7fff6b138bd1]
+         ! : | 1984 CGXHandleMessage  (in SkyLight) + 101  [0x7fff6b2738bc]
+         ! : | + 1984 invocation function for block in rendezvousHandler(unsigned int, mach_msg_header_t*, void*)  (in SkyLight) + 125  [0x7fff6b138c5f]
+         ! : | +   1979 _XGetEventShmem  (in SkyLight) + 310  [0x7fff6b0837bd]
+         ! : | +   ! 1979 WSEventSourceCreateGraphShmemForAuditToken  (in SkyLight) + 82  [0x7fff6b1bccb5]
+         ! : | +   !   1978 WSAuditTokenCanMonitorEvents  (in SkyLight) + 171  [0x7fff6b2bab0d]
+         ! : | +   !   : 1978 WSAuditTokenIsPostEventTCCApprovedCachingFailure  (in SkyLight) + 320  [0x7fff6b2ba977]
+         ! : | +   !   :   1978 TCCAccessCheckAuditToken  (in TCC) + 269  [0x7fff6c788a9e]
+         ! : | +   !   :     1978 TCCAccessRequest  (in TCC) + 345  [0x7fff6c783e5d]
+         ! : | +   !   :       1978 _os_activity_initiate_impl  (in libsystem_trace.dylib) + 53  [0x7fff7206889c]
+         ! : | +   !   :         1978 _dispatch_lane_barrier_sync_invoke_and_complete  (in libdispatch.dylib) + 60  [0x7fff71e15129]
+         ! : | +   !   :           1978 _dispatch_client_callout  (in libdispatch.dylib) + 8  [0x7fff71e0963d]
+         ! : | +   !   :             1978 __TCCAccessRequest_block_invoke.68  (in TCC) + 862  [0x7fff6c784549]
+         ! : | +   !   :               1978 tccd_send_message  (in TCC) + 656  [0x7fff6c784c25]
+         ! : | +   !   :                 1978 xpc_connection_send_message_with_reply_sync  (in libxpc.dylib) + 178  [0x7fff72088647]
+         ! : | +   !   :                   1978 dispatch_mach_send_with_result_and_wait_for_reply  (in libdispatch.dylib) + 50  [0x7fff71e1d882]
+         ! : | +   !   :                     1978 _dispatch_mach_send_and_wait_for_reply  (in libdispatch.dylib) + 609  [0x7fff71e1d3e7]
+         ! : | +   !   :                       1978 mach_msg  (in libsystem_kernel.dylib) + 60  [0x7fff71f8b76c]
+         ! : | +   !   :                         1978 mach_msg_trap  (in libsystem_kernel.dylib) + 10  [0x7fff71f8b22a]

This is taken from a sample that caught two seconds of a freeze.
This pretty clearly shows that TCC is the culprit. Now that I know that, the next question is figuring out how to fix the freezes.


Watching any video in Chrome has red boxes


There's not much out there!  Those that are work on 10.5 and 10.6 but not 10.4

This one is $4.99 and works on 10.4

Might be your only hope.


Can't enter recovery on 2008 MacBook Pro 17"

When you are running 10.11 and you need to restore the Recovery partition, read here how to do that:
http://osxdaily.com/2016/07/03/recreate-recovery-partition-mac/
do not try to install Windows without Bootcamp !!
You do not need to disable SiP when you install Windows correctly.


How do I re-add "free space" partition back into a single drive?

Welcome to SE.
With "Disk Utility.app" you should have the ability to shrink and to enlarge volumes. After doing so, the empty unassigned space can be used as before.


Mac book Pro to Dell E2414H monitor issue

Adapters can be finicky things.  I have had mixed results even with genuine Apple display adapters.  You would think something this simple would be a no-brainier; just buy, plug in and go to work.  It may be the adapter itself that is giving you problems so you will want to return it and get another.

However, as has been previously stated, you should be using the DVI port.  The VGA is analog and while not "bad" per se, you are not getting the full performance of your monitor by using VGA and you may be introducing issues like what you are experiencing because the the DP to VGA adapter has to convert digital video signals to analog.  Then, interestingly enough, the monitor has to convert the analog signal back to digital.

Why not just go digital end-to-end?

I personally used this cable with great results  Mini Display Port to DVI.  This one is Thunderbolt compatible as well.

Why this and not an adapter and a separate DVI cable?  I prefer having a single connection end-to-end as the more connections you make means more points-of-failure.  That cable above has worked for me on several MacBooks, an iMac27 and a Surface Pro 3 tablet.

I hope that helps.


I had the same issue once. I solved it by running AppFresh and scan to check if all apps are updated. When you find the one that gives you trouble, you can right-click and choose Reveal in Finder, and delete it.


Is there a way to set multiple passwords for a single account on macOS?

No, one password per account. You can authenticate as another user anytime the GUI asks for authorization, overriding the current user as the default choice, but there’s one correct password per account.


It is not a GPU issue.
With OS X 10.11, this can be corrected by turning Dashboard off or setting it as an overlay (System Preferences>Mission Control).


Using the Seagate FreeAgent Desk for Mac on PCs

If it's formated FAT-32 with MBR based partition scheme, pretty much every OS out there should be able to read it without any trouble or 3rd party drivers.

The only downside is FAT-32 does not support files over ~4.2GB. If that's a problem, I would suggest NTFS. This requires a additional driver (NTFS3G) to write files (NTFS works read-only on OS X only), but is supported on pretty much every platform out there as well (Windows, Linux, Android, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenSolaris, QNX, Haiku, and more...).

The GUID partition scheme is much more recent then MBR based partition maps, so it is not as widely supported. Everything should support MBR. If you're Ok with just Win Vista/7, OS X, and any recent Linux Distro, the GUID partition scheme should also work.

It's worth noting that the issue with listing files you mention in the question is very strange. It sounds to me like a corrupt volume on the drive (E.g. a bad drive, or someone yanked the power in the midst of a write, and something got corrupted). I have had many external drives (15+), and never had any issues with the underlying USB system that weren't fixed by just disconnecting/reconnecting the cable.

The USB Mass-Storage device class protocol is extremely well understood, documented and tested, and having a device implement it improperly (Particularly from a company as large as Seagate) at this point is vanishingly unlikely.


Some native keyboard accent shortcuts not working since OS X 10.11.3 Update

Go to system preferences/keyboard/input sources and make sure that only the item called "US International PC" is on the list, or the item called "ABC Extended" (known as "US Extended" prior to OS X 10.11).

(The standard US layout does not use Option 6 for circumflex, it uses Option i. The US International PC layout uses Shift 6, while ABC Extended uses Option 6. I suspect you were using one of these layouts rather than "US".)