New iPhone 4S user looking to sync Outlook email

If they enable IMAP on the Exchange Server (which may have been done already), you can add it as an IMAP mail server on your phone. You won't have push email (as iOS doesn't support IMAP IDLE), but it'll work just fine.


Why do I still see my manually-deleted photos in Photos in OS X El Capitan

I was facing the same problem.  Not only were the pictures still being displayed within the Photos app, the pictures (and their folders) that I have deleted manually in the Masters folder, have reappeared in that folder again after when I clicked on a few images within the Photos app.  The best way apparently to permanently delete the pictures would be to do so within the Photos app (see http://www.imore.com/how-delete-images-and-videos-photos-os-x#delete-permanent).


Duplicate the volume where macOS is installed and make it bootable

The easiest way to do this is with a commercial tool like Carbon Copy Cloner, which, as you can guess from the name, will do this easily. It is primarily targeted at making backups, but it can definitely do what you want in one step if you have the empty volume ready.
The free way to do this is to make a complete Time Machine backup, install macOS on a new, empty partition, and when setting up the new OS installation, you will have the option to restore from a Time Machine backup, and you restore from the one you just made. This is a lot slower, as it involves making 2 copies of your current drive and the macOS install takes time, but it is free and leaves you with a Time Machine backup.
Note that you do not want to make an exact copy of your current drive the way a low-level utility like dd would. You want the new drive to have its own UUID, for example, so that tools can tell the 2 drives apart. Also, macOS now (Catalina) is actually 2 partitions, a read-only one with System files and a read-write one with User files, and you need to set that up properly. Plus the Recovery Partition is a third partition. You want to use specialized tools that know about and handle these kinds of special needs for creating a bootable macOS drive.


My shuffle began to give me difficulty with charging as well. I use it frequently when I exercise but often when I would try to connect it to the charger, the charge light would not turn on. Repeated attempts, rotating the iPod so that it was engaging the cable in various orientations, would sometimes result in success. I figured the internal connectors were to blame. Had the same problem on multiple shuffles. Then I noticed a bit of green discoloration at the base of the connector cable & wondered if the problem might be with the cable, not the iPod. I sprayed the connector with contact cleaner & sanded it with fine grit sandpaper until the green was gone & the contact areas had been roughed up a bit. Sprayed with contact cleaner again & went to try it out. Now all seems well, even with old shuffles I had thought were permanently unusable. Now I have 4 shuffles, all charged & working. Examine the connector on your charging cable & make sure it looks clean!


Can I install 10.6 on a macbook 4,1 using a USB optical drive

Yes, you can.

Holding Option on boot, will show you all the bootable possibilities.

Making a bootable USB is as easy as making a clean installation. Format the USB with the correct Mac Os X format, and then install as usual. Here is a step-by-step guide, with lots of useful tips.


I got a mail from Apple a time ago where they said that I could use x@icloud.com, x@me.com and x@mac.com with no difference. However, I can't find it right now.

Try send a mail to your @me.com and login to icloud.com with your @mac.com. Did you get the mail? Then, they're all the same account (and have the same passwords)! Else, I hope you did put in an alternative email when setting up your @me.com. Use iforgot and select 'send to alt email'. If you didn't, then you're probably a bit out of luck.

Good luck!


Safe to delete the pictures from the camera roll, without them being deleted from iCloud drive?

iCloud Drive is just a way to sync photos and other files between all your iOS devices and computers (both Mac and PC). iCloud does not function as a standalone Cloud storage service, hence if you delete photos from your iPhone they will also be deleted from iCloud Drive.

You can however upload your photos to other Cloud services like Dropbox, or simply transfer the photos to your computer (i.e. into another folder or import them into photo management software such as the Photos app on macOS), and then delete them from your phone and these photos will still remain on your computer or Dropbox.


No wi-fi detected in Windows 7 in boot camp partition

Sorry about this but I've solved the issue. I went back to the external hard drive I had onto which Boot Camp had downloaded the Windows 7 drivers during the installation process. I had to manually activate the application found in Bootcamp/Drivers/Broadcom/BroadcomWirelessWin7x64. Hopefully this will be helpful to someone else.


Upgraded iPad 2 to iOS 5 : no device summary pane

Well I found a solution to my problem : I connected my iPad to another Mac, to check if I would face the same problem. It worked fine on the other machine.

Then, I tried to connect it again to my own Mac and to my great surprise, it was working perfectly !

So basically, connecting my iPad to another Mac solved the problem !


Applescript - wait for window/dialog to appear/disappear

The reason you're getting "Syntax Error Expected end of line but found “"”." when using repeat until window "Print" of process "Evernote" exists is because you're using it out of context of the calling application. You might say meaning, within the context of the calling application, it doesn't understand the command and the AppleScript Editor is not that well written to express what the error really means.

Anyway, the example code below when run in ScriptEditor, by itself, will wait to display the "Your wait is over!" dialog box until iTunes is open and you press ⌘O or click File > Add to Library… on the iTunes menu.

tell current application
    tell application "System Events"
        repeat until (exists window "Add To Library" of application process "iTunes")
            delay 1
        end repeat
    end tell
    activate
    display dialog "Your wait is over!"
end tell

Note the use of the delay command within the repeat loop. Obviously the value can be set to something else, even fractions of a second, however you should alway use a delay to avoid System Events from needlessly triggering the loop hundreds of time a second until the condition is meet.

As a general rule I've found that anytime I'm using code that has ... process ... or ... application process ... it's a call being made to or by System Events and as such in this use case, the repeat loop has to be within a tell statement or block of System Events in order to not get the error mentioned in your OP.


Click the down arrow on the column header and select Sort Ascending or Sort Decending.


Gonna say if you take it to Apple, they will confirm the audio processing chip on the mobo has maybe become faulty. Seen this before, took it to Apple, the chip responsible for audio processing had fried itself (not sure how). They replaced my iPhone.


Downgrade from iOS7(Final) to iOS 6.1.3?

You can downgrade by following the steps here (it's for iOS 7 beta, but will work for the release version too).

Keep in mind that Apple usually stops signing the older version of iOS shortly after the release of a new version. Until the time Apple continues signing iOS 6, you will be able to downgrade the OS. Nobody can predict when Apple would stop signing iOS 6.

Once Apple stops signing iOS 6, it wouldn't be possible to downgrade (unless you look or wait for jailbreaks, hacks and such solutions, which would depend on the iPhone model you have).


Battery certainly could be bad, but there are some other common areas of failure.

If you shine a light into the 30-pin connector, check for any physical obstructions such as pocket lint, scraps of paper, I've even seen staples and gum. If you spot it, try to use compressed air to get it out.

Also look for any burnt (blackened) pins which could explain it.

Lastly look for signs of liquid. Liquid LOVED getting into those docks. Signs of liquid include corroded (green) pins, or tripped (red or pink) liquid contact indicator. The liquid indicator is in the center, under the connector plate.

Barring any of those things, it's most likely either the battery or the charging circuitry.


Maybe the right question to ask is: is current featureset of the gadget worth the money over the expected period (6-18 months) until the new version arrives ? If yes, go ahead. Waiting for better improved version may also mean you never get one as there is always going to be better version.

What works for me is skip-one, buy-one approach, getting every second update. You can decide whether you start with version one or two: I had same dilema with iPhone: I skipped the version one, bought 3G, skipped 3GS and now considering getting iPhone 4 when it arrives to Canada.

With iPad, I bought one right away as I waited for eBook reader that works for me and iPad is definitely one. I will very likey skip iPad 2 and likely get iPad 3 2-3 years from now.


I was encountering a 5-second lag (!) between Terminal window creation and receiving a bash prompt.  (This was on a fresh install of Mavericks on which I had copied user profiles from another machine.)  I removed all the *.asl files in /private/var/log/asl/ as mentioned here, and it completely solved my lag issue.  Thanks.


A couple of shortcut keys have stopped working

In trying to debug this issue I assumed that some other program had taken control of these keys. After force-quitting all open applications it did not help.

I then went to Activity Monitor and noticed one of my task bar apps was non-responsive. The app happened to be a clipboard manager (PasteBox). After quitting this app, all lost functionality has returned.


How to enable/disable Do Not Disturb from shell on Mavericks?

You can simplify the answer that razvanz provided by using the -currentHost argument to the defaults command.

Enable Do Not Disturb:

defaults -currentHost write ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.notificationcenterui doNotDisturb -boolean true
defaults -currentHost write ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.notificationcenterui doNotDisturbDate -date "`date -u +\"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S +0000\"`"
killall NotificationCenter

(via https://heyfocus.com/blog/enabling-do-not-disturb-mode/)

Disable Do Not Disturb:

defaults -currentHost write ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.notificationcenterui doNotDisturb -boolean false
killall NotificationCenter

Now you could easily wrap this up as a script to enable or disable "Do Not Disturb" as a script that would work on anybody's machine regardless of system preferences. Here is an example of how to do that:

#!/bin/bash

set -eou pipefail

# From https://heyfocus.com/enabling-do-not-disturb-mode and
# https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/145487

if [[ $(defaults -currentHost read ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.notificationcenterui doNotDisturb) -eq 0 ]]; then
  defaults -currentHost write ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.notificationcenterui doNotDisturb -boolean true
  defaults -currentHost write ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.notificationcenterui doNotDisturbDate -date "`date -u +\"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S +000\"`"
  killall NotificationCenter
  echo "Do Not Disturb is enabled. Run $0 to turn it off (OS X will turn it off automatically tomorrow)."
else
  defaults -currentHost write ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.notificationcenterui doNotDisturb -boolean false
  killall NotificationCenter
  echo "Do Not Disturb is disabled. Run $0 to turn it on again."
fi

Source: https://gist.github.com/ryangreenberg/5267f68a8e7b07ea66370b4eb5580ab9


iCloud Music Library and Apple Music subscriber - mass delete all local music files from iPhone

Open settings
Tap general
Tap Storage and iCloud Storage
Under Storage, find music.
Swipe left where it says "All Songs"
Press delete.


Is it possible to use a 21" iMac as an external monitor from a MacBook Pro via Thunderbolt?

The answer is sometimes yes. I found a list of iMacs that support "Target Display Mode" here ...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3924#1

... and it includes "iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011)" and "iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012)".

That would imply that any iMac with a Thunderbolt port can be used in Target Display Mode.


Here, according to iFixit Tutorial for a MBP 13" Late 2011, for the case, you'll need:

Three 14.4 mm Phillips #00 screws
Three 3.5 mm Phillips #00 screws
Four 3.5 mm shouldered Phillips #00 screws

If you need more information about others screws, please refers to others tutorials on this website about what you wanna change.


Looking for a black/white only terminal emulator on Mac

I use iTerm, which allows you to set styles, including black and white.


How to change the default which columns are shown in Finder, but *only* when I switch to list view?

From Finder - View Menu > Show View Options or  Cmd ⌘   J
Uncheck 'Kind' & optionally 'Always open in' then click Use as Defaults.
Note this will only affect windows that don't already have a pref set.


Why does OSX use 6GB of RAM after restart?

Memory being used doesn’t mean the memory can’t be used for anything else. Mavericks will put idle memory to work if it can.

For instance, 2.5G is being used for file cache — storing files in memory so it doesn’t have to hit the disk for them. As you consume more memory, that will go away.

Now, if it crashed on you due to swap pressure, you may not have enough memory for the work you’re doing with the machine (Or maybe not enough free disk.), but there’s no indication you have a problem right away.

I have 4GB on a non-retina MBP. It’s been up for four days, I run a fair amount of crap. It’s using 3.96GB of that memory, and hasn’t touched swap at all. (It’s also compressed about a gig of memory.)


I have an iphone 4 with ios7 and I don't have any camera filters or different camera options

It's perfectly normal. The iPhone 4 version of ios7 is lacking many features seen on the newer devices, including parallax, panorama, Siri and yes, live filters. However the filters can be applied in the photos app.


Unable to create a partition to install Mac OS X

How are you doing this? What are you booted to? You can not partition a drive which you are running.

Try inserting the install DVD which came with your computer and see if you can repartition or erase that way. If you still get the error message, select the drive you want to erase on the right side and then in the top toolbox select 'Eject'. If it ejects, rock on. Otherwise you might have an issue where the drive is damaged and can not be unmounted as the active OS is attempting to read the Volume Header and getting an error kicked backed.


iMac 12,2 - Likely hardware problem: How to properly diagnose?

Although your times seem too long, this could be due to your HDD. You said it was replaced, any idea on the specs?  A slow drive can be indicated by the problem you describe. Loading an app may be very slow since it is being read off the HDD. Once loaded the speed will be determined by your RAM unless you output a lot of data to disk.


iMac Internal Hard Drive Not Visible, Won't Mount; Currently running off External Drive

It does sound like your hard drive has failed.

Have you tried booting up and using Apple Hardware Test? To do this hold the D key down while booting up.

If AHT doesn't load, you can also trying running it from the internet by holding down the Option D keys while booting up.

Give this a try and let us know how you go.


Try creating a .img or .smi file.

To get from a dmg to an img try the following:

hdiutil convert /path/to/file.dmg -format RdWr -o /destination/of/file.img


Does iOS Health app send your health data to Apple?

Unless you choose to backup your data to iCloud, none of your data will be sent to Apple. Even if you do choose to backup your data to iCloud, that data is encrypted - meaning only you can access it.

Apple’s privacy policy is here and you can request Apple send you all the data they have and inspect the health data yourself to know how / when / what was collected based on how you set up your accounts and sync options combined with how iOS is programmed.

https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/ (Read about policies and related links)
http://privacy.apple.com/ (Sign in and get your data)

However, you also decide what 3rd party apps, if any, you want to have access to your health data. These can be set via the Health app directly or via Settings > Privacy > Health. So make sure you check their privacy policy if this concerns you!

To quote Apple directly:

  The Health app lets you keep all your health and fitness information under your control and in one place on your device. You decide which information is placed in Health and which apps can access your data through the Health app. When your phone is locked with a passcode or Touch ID, all of your health and fitness data in the Health app — other than what you’ve added to your Medical ID emergency card — is encrypted with your passcode. You can back up data stored in the Health app to iCloud, where it is encrypted while in transit and at rest. Apps that access HealthKit are required to have a privacy policy, so make sure you review these policies before providing apps with access to your health and fitness data.

Source: Apple

In a nutshell, only you (or anyone who knows your passcode or has a fingerprint set on your iPhone) have control of your health data.


Yes, the latest version of XQuartz works just fine on my macOS Mojave machine with absolutely zero issues.


How to quickly switch between two versions of a file

It sounds like you need to have the files open in an editor that will display both files at once or have windows for each file. 2 editors I know of are Atom and Visual Studio Code. These editors allow you to display 2 files side-by-side and you can edit whichever one you want.


How to get a notification when my commands are done

(svn update . && ant clean build start && say done) || say error


OS X Finder: Why does it take less time to copy files in succession than to do so all at once?

I think in your example you are copying all files to the same disk. If the finder is trying to write to multiple places (or reading from multiple places) on the same hard drive, it will be slowed down by drive access times. It is easier (faster) to read (or write) one whole file at a time rather than ten files at the same time.

You can observe similar behavior if you are compressing video to a smaller codec. If you choose to export to the same disk that you are reading your source file from, your export will go much slower than exporting to another drive.

You could re-do your test using 3 separate disks (provided those disks were not being accessed across the same bus (USB3/Thunderbolt, etc.). That might be interesting to test.


What are the reasons that an imessage would send as a text message instead?

iMessage will use sms/text messaging if the data link to the Apple servers are non-functional. You can configure the phone to send as text by default.

Note that all text messages on the phone are stored in a sqlite3 database file, so if you are concerned and want to access that information, performing an unencrypted backup of the phone will give you a copy of the sqlite3 database file. Though you would need to isolate it from the thousands of other files, all identified with a hash filename. Not that hard, actually.

The other option would be to jailbreak the phone and cd into the app folder for iMessage and access the messages database.

In either case, in answer to your original question, if access to the iMessage servers at Apple are inaccessible, then the phone will default to sms/text messaging.

Note, if someone wants to communicate secretly, there are plenty of apps for that. Plenty of Visual/Audio chat programs out there that completely bypasses the phone log systems.

If they are using FaceTime, then there is no need to use sms/text. Ie, the communication is all happening through the Apple servers.

If they delete it from their logs, then, depending on whether the log entry was purged or just flagged as not displayed, the entry may be recoverable. However, chances are, it's not recoverable.

IF your intention is to find out/keep track of someone's communication, then the only real practical way is to gain additional access to their phone. Ie, jailbreak and then installation of additional code.

One way to say retain the call logs, be they via sms/text or imessage, or factime, would be to:

Have a script or program continually locate the sqlite3 database for the iMessage app as well as the sqlite3 database for the Addressbook. The location changes in the event of iMessage being updated. Or an OS update.
Periodically backup the sqlite3 database and the addressbook database.
Have those copied to your private server somewhere.
Perform SQL queries against the databases to correlate which imessage goes with which addressbook entry, then generate a report based on the timestamps and correlated information.

If you want to do this without Jailbreaking the phone, you can write and publish an iOS app, which requests and accesses the Addressbook and the iMessage interfaces to achieve the same thing.


Does a deactivated iPhone 4 still have GPS capability?

Yes, the GPS does not need cellular data or cellular service to work. It will get better results when GPS is offline if it can poll the location database and trilateralate from both Wi-Fi and cellular towers, but GPS is generally better than the these secondary sources of location data.

The phone should connect to Wi-Fi regularly to keep the location database up to date - perhaps while tethered to your iPhone 5 for optimal results.

For most situations it will work almost as if it were connected to cellular data and the cellular data switch was off.


OSX Network: "could not save because write access was not granted"

There are Apple-created bugs in OS X 10.5 "Leopard" client & server when copying files to/from AFP shared volumes.

See more detail in this answer:

No right to open file once copied on the desktop


How do proceed if I get "Verification failed" errors from iCloud?

Did you try using this ID and password on any other device or sign into your iCloud from any computer. Also you can go to your iTunes connect your phone to the computer  go to the top menu and check how many computers or devices you have authorized on that ID as far as I know you can only authorize five devices on  One Apple ID if nothing works out for you then you should back up your phone with computer using iTunes latest version of iTunes and then remove everything on your phone I mean  reset or restore your phone then set it up all over as a new phone then restore it from the back up you just made you should be able to get everything back that you had on your phone and your problem should be solved.


MacBook Air headphone jack causing mac to go into sleep mode

Generally speaking, the MacBook Air has a MagSafe DC In board that also has an audio connector.

It's very conceivable that there is a broken connection on this board that "fixes" itself when you put pressure on the headphone jack.  Technically you could fix this, but it's probably simpler to just change this board out.

If you provide me with your specific make and model, I will provide you with a more accurate PN# and a link to the repair documents.


Ambient light sensor not working when moving from light to dark rooms with an iPhone or iPad

I have noticed that Auto-Brightness works much better on my iPhone then it does my iPad 2, but here are a few things you can check...

Go to settings > Brightness & Wallpaper

Slide the brightness slider to the left... Doesn't really matter where as long as it isn't all the way to the right (max brightness) mine is about in the middle, make sure the toggle for Auto-Brightness is set to on.

You can test it by:

Press the "Home" button and then lock your iPhone by pressing the "Sleep/Wake" button. Move into an area with bright ambient light and use your hand to cover the top third of your iPhone screen. Press the "Home" button and move the slider to unlock your phone. The screen should appear dimmed. Remove your hand from the top third of the display. If auto-brightness is working properly, your screen will get brighter.

You can read more about it here: http://techtips.salon.com/iphone-auto-brightness-works-3626.html


Open Terminal Window with Predefined Environment Variables (Including `PATH`)

You need to explicitly start an interactive bash shell at the end of your script in order to keep the window open when you open the .command file from Finder.

The following revision of your script demonstrates that and also streamlines other aspects of your code:

#!/bin/bash

# Note: $PATH already exists as an exported variable, assigning to it
#       again preserves that status, so there's no need to call `export` below.

# Adding CMake to Path
PATH+=:/Users/Shared/CMake/CMake.app/Contents/bin/

# Adding Ninja to Path
PATH+=:/Users/Shared/Ninja/

# Adding GCC to Path
PATH+=:/usr/local/gcc-8.2/bin/

cat <<EOF
Path updated to:

  $PATH

Starting interactive Bash shell...
EOF

# Start an interactive Bash shell that inherits this script's environment
# and keeps the window open.
# Using -l makes the interactive shell a login shell, which makes it
# load the same initialization files as shells created by Terminal.app,
# notably, ~/.bash_profile
# Be sure that ~/.bash_profile doesn't override $PATH.
exec bash -l

This .command file will also from an existing terminal window, but note that you will enter an interactive child shell -  exiting from that child shell will return to you to the original one.

It is possible to amend your script so that if you invoke it from an existing terminal window (shell), it modifies that shell's environment directly, but you then have to source / . the script on invocation (e.g., . ./script.command):

#!/bin/bash

# Note: $PATH already exists as an exported variable, assigning to it
#       again preserves that status, so there's no need to call `export` below.

# Adding CMake to Path
PATH+=:/Users/Shared/CMake/CMake.app/Contents/bin/

# Adding Ninja to Path
PATH+=:/Users/Shared/Ninja/

# Adding GCC to Path
PATH+=:/usr/local/gcc-8.2/bin/

# Determine if this script is being sourced.
[[ $0 != "$BASH_SOURCE" ]] && sourced=1 || sourced=0

cat <<EOF
Path updated to:

  $PATH

EOF

if (( sourced )); then # sourced from the calling shell.
  # The calling shell's environment has been modified - nothing more to do.
  :
else # otherwise: launched from Finder or from a terminal without sourcing
  # A new interactive shell must be launched for the environment modifications
  # to take effect and, if launched from Finder, to keep the terminal window
  # open.
  echo "Starting new interactive Bash shell with modified environment..."
  # Using -l makes the interactive shell a login shell, which makes it
  # load the same initialization files as shells created by Terminal.app,
  # notably, ~/.bash_profile
  # Be sure that ~/.bash_profile doesn't override $PATH.
  exec bash -l
fi


Finder asks for password to move file to trash

Ah, I found the answer elsewhere among many suggestions for fixing trash issues: just delete the .Trash folder.  I ran sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash and restarted.  The .Trash folder was recreated, and now it seems to work just fine.  Odd.  I'm glad it's fixed, but I wish I knew why the fix worked.


Using an iMac 27 inch (2009) as a monitor for a mac mini with Lion

You may have already figured this out, but yes. You can buy that cable or the Apple Thunderbolt cable which is backwards compatible with Mini DisplayPort.

Good luck!


Can't hear WhatsApp voicenotes on my ear; only on loudspeaker

Ok just open any voice message and take your phone close to ear, now press volume button to make the sound high. Actually you removed the voice totally when you was hearing the message before as some times it’s very loud and we trying sometimes to make the voice less for privacy for sourrondings.


Search through terminal history with up and down keys in OS X Lion

The up/down history scrolling in Terminal only works in bash, not sh. Try typing bash in Terminal, and see whether the arrow keys work. If this is the case, you can go to preferences and set your default login shell to /bin/bash.


Is it okay to use the cord from a Magsafe adapter with a different wattage?

If I'm reading your description correctly, then the replacement cord has a higher rating (60W) than the 45W that is drawn by the 2011 Macbook Air. This is fine because all it means is that the cord has a thicker gauge to handle a higher wattage (than what you are are actually using).

The replacement cord would not affect the voltage, so your adapter would still be delivering what it is specified for, namely the 14.5 V.


I had the same issue but I finally found out how to fix it. Bluetooth actually stays on the whole time even if in the control center the bluetooth button isn’t even blue.
Go open “settings”, and you’ll see that bluetooth is switched on (and maybe you thought it was off like in my case). If you turn it off in the settings, the bluetooth icon from the control center will get crossed, and from there it doesn’t get switched on automatically every time you disable airplane mode.

Good Luck :)


Protect data while laptop is at repair shop

If you have FileVault enabled there is no need to do anything else to secure the boot volume of your hard drive.

So if there is only one volume on the drive you are fine. Just shutdown the Mac from the Apple menu before handing it in to be repaired. They will not be able to open the drive (or boot the Mac of it).


Wi-Fi connection timeouts on a specific MacBook

The issue was Discoveryd component in Yosemite which was causing the problem. Apple replaced the component with mDNSResponder in 10.10.4 which solved the issue. If you are running 10.10 to 10.10.3, you should upgrade immediately to 10.10.5 which is more stable with plenty of bug fixes.


Local Items keychain and server-based accounts?

We were encountering the same issue. Although we did not have any SSH payloads for the users, we do have Apple Mail setup for them.

After having a panic attack over the confusion wrought by this keychain change, I decided to use Profile Manager on the OD Server (ours is OSX) to configure the Apple Mail payloads (for individual users/ user-groups).

I believe it's possible to configure SSH Payloads in this manner as well. Apple seems to be relegating more and more functionality into PM akin to Group Policy on Windows.


You need to assign the icon to the original folder of the alias. Then recreate it and it should have the same icon.


Extend wireless network from DSL router with Airport Express

Here are set up instructions that should work for you:

Connect your express (LAN port) directly to your Mac ethernet and fire up Airport  Utility (you may want to do a factory reset first).
Discover it (you may have to click on "Other Base stations" and pick LAN).
Select Create New Network, rather than Extend, when configuring.
Select a separate password and enter the same password as the DSL router for the Wireless Password (and something you'll remember for the Base Station password).
Let Airport setup finish.
Edit the settings and under Wireless, enter the identical NAME, Security Type (for example; WPA2-Personal), and Password as your DSL router (the password will already be filled in from above of course).
Under Network, select; Off (Bridge Mode).
Unplug your Airport from the Mac and plug it in to the ethernet
connection to the DSL router and the WAN connection on the Airport.


Running DiskWarrior from Boot Recovery Terminal for encrypted disks does not work

It would appear that the instructions for are somewhat lacking and there are some missed steps and incorrect ones. After some trial and error here's how I got it running.

Drive is not encrypted

You can either run the USB as a bootable drive by holding Alt on boot. Or if you really need to run it from the boot recovery terminal you can skip steps 5-7

If drive is encrypted using FileVault 2

Install DiskWarrior on a working Mac & enter key
Use the Bootable disk wizard to create a bootable USB
Rename the USB drive to DW & eject
Insert USB into mac that needs to be repaired and power up mac while holding Apple + R
Open Disk Utility
Select drive and then select 'Unlock' & enter password to unlock
Close Disk Utility
Open Terminal
Run command: /Volumes/DW/Applications/DiskWarrior.app/Contents/MacOS/DiskWarrior

DiskWarrior should now start and you can repair your drive.


Server connection error message for inactive server reappears regularly

You issue is most likely a problem with login items.

Take note of your current login items
Try removing all login items and test.

3 . Add them back one by one until you find the one causing the problem.


There seem to be different issues at work here (judging by the comments.)

Preview is getting buggier. Using an alternative way to display PDFs might be the only option to get a proper display of text, at least for now. Sometimes just using QuickLook will get you better results than Preview.app. To get around this "fubar'ed bugginess", some even go to lengths: "opening the same PDF in the Snow Leopard VM (running on Sierra) is actually the fastest of the three! What did Apple do to the Preview app in Sierra?"
When scrolling macOS now uses an intermediate rendering to conserve CPU cycles that gets updated to its final representation only when no more scrolling action occurs. That behaviour started at least in Sierra and actually that got a bit better (quicker, less noticeable) in High Sierra.
Also already in Sierra the default FontSmoothing settings were altered to a different default. That should not have changed in High Sierra (new OS bugs excluded). If the font display is not to your liking then there are the two checkbox settings in System Preferences to play with.

Solutions

Issue No.1 will only be fixed by faith and prayer and hope in a better future.
Issue No.2 usually should 'fix' itself, once scrolling stops (you may to to release the touch from any touchpad you might use). In all those numerous instances that it doesn't: file more bug-reports (= not with the Feedback.app) (The example in the comments trigger a bug retained from Sierra: slightly substandard PDFs that were assembled including graphics or PDF-files with suboptimal page attributes; might be fixed by reflowing the PDF; has to be done for every PDF triggering that bug, upgrading from Siera-Preview to Adobe Reader is one way to spare the hassle, downgrading to Yosemite the other.) Once the blurriness-stays-after-scrolling-bug is triggered your only workaround option is to quit Preview (really quit: check in Activity Monitor that the process is actually gone) and work with another PDF or use a different Reader.
Issue No. 3 lists the options you have to customise the settings to your liking. If both options from System Preferences are unsatisfactory you might get a more fine grained control with entering the following in Terminal.app:
defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing -int 2
Where y might experiment with the values for int between 0 and 3. The higher the number the more smoothing (some call it blurring) should be applied.


A single shortcut that changes text color in Notes?

This isn't exactly what you were asking for, but perhaps it is close enough.

Just below the menu place where you bring up the color picker (Format->Font->Show Colors) are two other menu items: Copy Style and Paste Style. This is what worked for me:

Select some text in your note
Manually set the color, like you do now (via Show Colors)
Set the cursor anywhere inside the colored text (don't select any text, just put the cursor there)
Choose Format->Font->Copy Style
From now on (including across relaunches of the Notes app) you can select the text you want to color and simply use the keyboard shortcut for Paste Style!

Hope this works well enough for you.


What application uses the rstf://scheduleState=1 URL scheme?

You can use the RCDefaultApp preference pane to see a list of all URL schemes provided by applications on your system.

These supported URL schemes are defined in the Info.plist of an app, and registered collectively by macOS.

Sadly, I do not have any apps installed that handle rstf:// but please let us know when you find out what it is!


Traceroute Terminal vs Network Utility different?

IP traffic does not necessarily follow the same path. Leaving your system, each router will choose the path that it sees fit for each packet, and this path may change depending on availability/congestion. It won't care how they got there.

So in the case of traceroute that is sending ICMP packets they don't always necessarily follow the same path too, ICMP runs on top of IP.


Simply use Finder to drag a copy of the folders you want to maintain out of the Backup.backupdb hierarchy and then delete the copies left in Time Machine or delete all backups.

How can I manually delete old backups to free space for Time Machine?
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427 - You can also enter the Time Machine restore interface and find files that can be removed from the backup drive itself to conserve space. To do this, select the file(s) and from the Action pop-up menu (gear icon) in the Time Machine Finder window choose "Delete All Backups of...". Be sure to only delete files you are sure you won't need or want to restore later.


How can I upload HD video from iPhone 4 directly to web?

Pixelpipe
From https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/3486/is-there-a-way-to-upload-higher-resolution-videos-to-youtube-or-any-video-sharin

This free app allows iPhone 4 users to
directly upload their 720P videos to
YouTube, as well as Flickr, Facebook,
MobileMe, Viddler, Posterous and a
whole slew of other video sharing
sites. The app evens works via email
and FTP. The only caveat is that the
videos cannot be over 200 MB in size.

Regarding with how to use it, check out this post:
http://islandinthenet.com/2010/07/06/pixelpipe-upload-720p-hd-video-from-iphone-4-to-youtube/
I recommend that post, it gives some great information on the app and how it is used.
For example:

A “pipe” is the
connector between the PixelPipe app
and one or more destination sites
where you want your content to be
uploaded. For example, I set up pipes
for flickr, picasa, and Dropbox and
many others.
I setup some of my pipes as default
routes. This means that any media I
select to upload will automatically go
to these default pipes.
For each pipe
I created, PixelPipe created a routing
tag. The routing tag explicitly tells
PixelPipe where to upload the content
overriding any default routes. If you
want your content routed to different
photo sets you can create a routing
pipe and tag for each one.

Also, given this:

since other developers are sure to create a similar product now that they know it is possible to upload 720p videos.

If you don't like the PixelPipe app, it shouldn't be too long before another solution pops up :)
According to this page, an app called SmugMug is also 720p uploading enabled, however I couldn't find much in reference to that on their site.
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/07/01/want-to-upload-720p-from-iphone-4-try-pixelpipe/


I'm not sure it would be as good as you need for business finance but you should give a try to Mint.com.


Path bar High Sierra doesn't work with search results on SMB fileserver

Either this was a bug that is fixed in 10.13.4 or the upgrade and restart has fixed this.

If you can run a reinstall of your OS in cases like this, it might help.


How to find un-synced content on my iPhone

Try going to File -> Transfer Purchases.

That way you know for sure the purchases have been transferred over.


Macbook Pro 15" vs 13" - Performance vs portability

Here's the way it goes in our household:

I own the 15" Model you describe above (albeit a slightly earlier version with the GTX750M GFX card) and my other half has the 13" you describe above (again, albeit 6 months old at this point)

Now, she does a lot of graphical work on it in Adobe CC - Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc - much the same as you want to. She says it never skips a beat for her, even when she's running it on external displays in the office and driving the graphics side of things hard. She sometimes gets frustrated with the lack of screen real estate compared to mine (when she does use it) but it's generally not a problem for her. The battery also performs a bit better, which helps if you're on the move a lot. Sure, a bit of extra power would help her but the portability and price trade offs aren't worth it.

Based on what you've said, I'd recommend the 13". It's plenty powerful for what you want, but I would use the left over cash to buy a couple of nice 24" external displays if you have the space to set up a small office. I love having 3 displays running (1 on the MacBook + 2 external.) Better on so many levels!

Another note - it used to be possible to upgrade MacBooks (more RAM, swap out the HDD for an SSD, etc) so I used to recommend buying less and adding to it when you need it. Can't do that anymore, so buy as high spec as you can afford.


Can I run a virtual machine from my iPad?

Running a virtual machine on an iPad requires a kernel and sufficient CPU support, which is not available on iPads at this time.
I would recommend having a virtualbox system running somewhere else with VNC-server enabled for that virtual host, which you can then connect to from the iPad and see/use the graphical Windows UI.


Why has AirPlay to Apple TV stopped working from 3rd-party apps?

The recent 5.1 software update to Apple TV seems to have fixed it.


There could be a couple of things happening here. OS X support SOCKS v5 but your SOCKS server might still be on v4. The difference is that v5 also routes UDP through the proxy but v4 doesn't

Try traceroute -I destination which will make traceroute use ICMP echo instead of UDP and see if you get a different route.

curl should be using the proxy if you specify it. Try curl --proxy socks5://proxyhost.examplecom:portnumber


Would it be possible to create a folder action that can push timed Notifications?

Enable at:

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.atrun.plist

Add a Run Shell Script action that uses terminal-notifier to display a notification:

at 2 months <<< 'terminal-notifier -message "some message" -title "title"'

Replace terminal-notifier with /Applications/terminal-notifier.app/Contents/MacOS/terminal-notifier if you've installed it by downloading the application bundle.

now+5 <<< 'say a' would run a command in five seconds. You can list scheduled commands with atq and remove them with atrm. See man at for more information.


Delete a specific key value using the defaults delete command line tool

The output of the defaults command, in your OP, shows a single key, DisabledPreferencePanes, as an array with two elements. Unfortunately defaults cannot explicitly delete a single element in an array containing multiple elements, in this case com.apple.preference.mouse.
Since the target com.apple.systempreferences.plist file in /Library/Preferences only has the single key as an array, the entire file and thus the array can be overwritten without the target element in the array, e.g.:
    NOTE: This form of the command overwrites the entire target file.
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist '{ DisabledPreferencePanes = ("com.apple.preference.general"); }'

If the target .plist file had other keys, you could overwrite just the target key, e.g:
    NOTE: This form of the command overwrites just the target array.
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist DisabledPreferencePanes -array com.apple.preference.general

That said, I prefer to use PlistBuddy because a single element of the array can be deleted, e.g.:
sudo /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Delete :DisabledPreferencePanes:1" /Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist

In PlistBuddy, array items are specified by a zero-based integer index.

PlistBuddy can also be easier to use in a shell script where one could code it to find a target element of an array and delete it. This could not be done with defaults as it can only write (or overwrite) an array without the target element in it.

Notes:

System Preferences should be closed when modifying its releated .plist files.

Immediately after modifying the target file, in this use case, you need to terminate all occurrences of cfprefsd.

As one is owned by root you'll need to use sudo in Terminal, e.g.:
sudo killall cfprefsd

If you do not do this, the edited file may/will be overwriten by its original copy in memory, thus making the changes null and void.

cfprefsd will reload on its own afterwards.


Spoofing MAC address in a persistent fashion

Run EDITOR=nano sudo crontab -e and add a line like this:

@reboot ifconfig en0 ether $(printf \%02x $(($RANDOM\%128*2)))$(head -c4 /dev/random|hexdump -v -e '/1 ":\%02x"')

Commands scheduled by @reboot are run after you restart or turn the computer on but not after you log out and back in. % has to be escaped as \% in crontab.

From a comment at http://osxdaily.com/2010/11/10/random-mac-address-generator/:

  You need to be careful that this does not generate multicast mac addresses, as these are technically illegal as source macs. The strict definition of a multicast mac address is one where the least significant bit of the first byte is set to 1. So if the first octet’s LSB is 1 (01, 03,05, a1, etc) you technically have a multicast mac source. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address.

  Using multicast src macs might not cause immediate connectivity problems, but certainly has implications for switches learning the mac address preventing unicast flooding, and routers allowing arp to resolve.

  Cisco, for example, will not allow mac learning if the source is non-unicast, and Cisco routers will not install arp entries for multicast macs to unicast ip addresses.


Duplicate launchpad icons where can I find the apps ?

When I was having duplicates on my Launchpad, I used Launchpad-Control to remove them. It says it has serious issues on Mountain Lion, but I used it without any problems at all.


How to run Apple Hardware Test on older Mac

I followed 'Drew Reece' instructions below which was given in apple discussion forum. https://discussions.apple.com/message/27529118#27529118
and it worked fine for me without messing my machine. even AHT test passed in loop mode, still sometimes I get freeze while using safari and only option to recover is to restart the machine.
Not sure whether AHT test is through and I have no hardware issue or its El Capitan issue on my mid 2007 24" iMac.

Grab the AHT disk image from Apple.com, github has a list be sure you have the correct model.
https://github.com/upekkha/AppleHardwareTest
In Terminal view the output of these two lines…
sysctl hw.model | awk '{ print $2 }'
ioreg -l | grep board-id | awk -F\" '{ print $4 }'
… and compare to the github list

Inside an admin account (it needs to use sudo for 'blessing' the system).
Grab my script, open the ZIP file. In the folder that is created (probably called 2e5eed7dbfbd5dd7e929-6ddeffa80174801842f729c8657e3c460e0ed540 !) drag that script onto Terminal. Then drag the AHT disk image onto Terminal & finally drag the destination disk (a USB disk formatted to Macintosh OS Extended).

It should look a bit like…

[~/]$ /Users/USERNAME/Downloads/2e5eed7dbfbd5dd7e929-6ddeffa80174801842f729c8657e3c460e0ed540/AHT-my- disk.sh /Users/USERNAME/Downloads/AHTdiskimage.dmg /Volumes/path-to-USB

NB: The bold parts will be specific to your system, there are spaces between the file paths.
If you are unsure paste the command here & we can try to confirm it is correct, Terminal correctly escapes spaces & other special characters in file paths if you use drag & drop, so it should complete them correctly for you.

Hit return & it should ask for confirmation and then copy over the AHT disk & offer to bless the tool for use on next boot.

I haven't tested this on 10.11 & I cannot do so at present, sorry. If it fails it is possible to copy over by hand, but that takes a lot of describing. The script just uses the cp command to copy the relevant files over after mounting the disk image. The USB destination is not erased, but avoid copying it to a disk that has valuable data (just in case, have a backup).

It may also appear as a bootable disk in the 'boot picker' (hold alt at startup), this seems to vary on some models.


OS X 10.6.8 App Store "Get" Button Does Nothing

@rogerdpack answered this in a comment at Mac OS X 10.6.8 App Store not working:

To get around this problem, manually go to "software update", install all available updates, reboot, and then the app store GET button should work again.

If this still fails, try to reboot again, and/or to log in to the App Store before clicking the GET button.


Yosemite 10.10.1 - ssh - no connection (time-out) and strange redirect

opentracker.net is a service provider that offers analytics. My guess is that your redirection happens when you are connected to a network provider that internally uses opentracker.net.

I suggest you try again from another network provider.


Sorry to give you such a short answer, but: no.


Is there a way to make have Safari run some javascript load after each loaded page?

Yes, Greasemonkey or "User scripts" were the ones that popularized this.

For one option on Mac/Safari, please see http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/20718/greasekit


Is there a way to run the Apple Hardware Test without an optical drive?

This answer Diagnosis or Hardware Test on a mid 2009 Macbook Pro with MacOS 10.9.2 discusses a GitHub page https://github.com/upekkha/AppleHardwareTest which has assembled various versions of the AppleHardwareTest which you can download and install in a specific place on your harddisk. This allows you to run the test without a working CRROM.

It worked for me on a Mid 2009 Macpook Pro.


Why is the partition button in Disk Utility disabled for my new SSD?

There are multiple parts to the question.  This answer is mostly advice (with a few facts).
Disk Utility is not able to modify the partition scheme on a disk which is using the Master Boot record (MBR) partitioning scheme. Hence the Partition button is not available for a previously partitioned MBR disk.  Disk Utility can only erase the disk.  There are command line tools to modify MBR partitions, but I will treat them as out of scope.
That answers the title question.  But there is more worth saying.
For macOS it is best to use the GUID Partition Map scheme (as Disk Utility calls it).  This requires erasing the disk, creating a single partition.
With a GUID partition scheme, the Partition button in Disk Utility becomes active.  This allows the creation of more partitions.  That allows duplication on the Samsung T5 of the partitioning of the old disk with one HFS+ formatted partition and one exFAT formatted partition.
But, unless there are pressing reasons (e.g. compatibility with a Windows computer) it is best not to use exFAT format with macOS.
Further, and assuming this is just for use on a Mac, there are advantages to using the APFS format with recent versions of macOS rather than the HFS format.
My recommendation is to use Disk Utility to erase the new Samsung T5 to have a GUID partition scheme and the APFS format.  This creates an APFS formatted container with a single volume inside.
If additional volumes are required they can be added to the APFS container. The volumes will share the container.  New partitions do not need to be created.
Folders and their files can be copied from the old volumes to the new volume on the T5 using Finder.
From experience, I have found that Disk Utility's Restore is tricky to use for disk to disk transfers.  Better to limit its use to restoring a disk from an image file.


Bulk remove provisioning profiles on iPhone

Turns out that using the Organizer in Xcode allows you to do this.


How can I apply tags in Mavericks recursively?

There's a CLI tag tool available via Macports/Homebrew: https://github.com/jdberry/tag

It doesn't seem to have a recursion option, however, I would imagine you could use this in conjunction with the standard UNIX 'find'.

e.g.,
(from inside the directory you want to tag files in)

find . -exec tag --add tagname {} \;  -print


Security implications of user owned directory in /Applications

On macOS, root doesn’t play much role as any user that is an administrator functions with the same power. When you type any admin user and that admin password in a permission dialog, that makes any user  (even a non-admin user) root.
Some apps have a script or framework to change ownership to root, others don’t change it (like when you copy an app from Downloads or a disk image)
The information you show makes no difference security wise. This is just permissions on a folder and package that anyone can read and execute. Other mechanisms check for known bad software and validate that parts of the application have not been tampered with.


Unable to use auto layout (ctrl + drag) on xcode after some time of using

Another person, had this same problem where performance plummeted on an external display.

What I ended up discovering was that the external monitor issue was indicating that there was a UIView that interface builder couldn't quite figure out properly for auto-layout.

In his case it was a UIToolbarBarItem that contained a UIView that contained a UILabel. Once I removed the offending UIToolbarBarItem the performance issue resolved itself. It went from being completely unusable to smooth scrolling.

You should check if you have a UIView inside something that might cause auto-layout to perform poorly.


App Store iOS binary rejected: Your app includes non-iOS device images in the app

Consider removing references (links, images) to other platforms in the text, screenshots from your app to make it past the review process.

You may find this discussion helpful:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31688956/3-1-details-we-noticed-that-your-app-contains-irrelevant-platform-information-r

The screenshots would get displayed on the App Store page for the app on Web and App Store app, and Apple doesn't allow reference to other platforms as part of the app metadata.

It appears you are in violation of the following App Store review guideline:

https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#performance

  2.3.10 Make sure your app is focused on the iOS, Mac, Apple TV or Apple Watch experience, and don’t include names, icons, or imagery of other mobile platforms in your app or metadata, unless there is specific, approved interactive functionality. Make sure your app metadata is focused on the app itself and its experience. Don’t include irrelevant information, including but not limited to information about Apple or the development process.


Is there a way to delete something off your computer but not your itunes account?

There are several ways.

Easiest, but most costly is to subscribe to iTunes Match service which will let you download your entire library on another device and keep it in the cloud for you.

Harder, but relatively cheaper is to migrate your iTunes library to another computer.

Migrating iTunes library when replacing the hard disk

Middle-ground is to enable home sharing which is a simple way to transfer.

transferring itunes

Then afterwards delete songs from old comp. easiest thing to do for that is delete it from iTunes and agree to also remove the file and remove from library (on this computer). Old files will be in the trash bin until you empty it.


Sounds like a bad cable / USB adapter / power outlet. Maybe lint on the Lightning socket.

Does the battery icon alternate between charging / standby or anything else on the screen change with the tempo of the sounds?

Three things are needed to charge:

USB power adapter
USB to lightning cable
Phone internals / charge circuitry working correctly

It's probably easiest to plug the cable and phone into any other USB charger or USB hub or USB computer. If the problem follows the cable or the phone - you'll need a different phone or a different cable to know what's faulty.

Worst case, put the phone in airplane mode (or power it off) and you'll hardly lose any change over night. It won't top off, but you can take it to another charger/cable in the morning or find another phone to test with your charger and cable.


Problem syncing book downloaded using iBooks

Authorize your Computer

I'm fairly certain that your issue is that your computer is not authorized with the Apple ID used to buy the iBook.  Therefore when you synced, the book was not transferred and then the iPad was synced. (Book basically deleted, sorry)

The fix is fairly simple, I believe you should be able to redownload your iBook for free, per Apple's new rules with previous purchases.  Then authorize your computer. From the Store menu in the iTunes menu bar, choose "Authorize This Computer".  Type in your account info, and then sync your computer/iPad.

Hope that works! :)


The Heroku CLI is available to install via Homebrew. Homebrew is a 3rd party, community supported package manager for macOS.

If you have Homebrew installed, simply run the following command-line to install Heroku CLI (instructions here):

brew tap heroku/brew && brew install heroku

If you do not already have Homebrew installed, install it by running the following command-line (instructions here):

/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Using Homebrew provides a seamless and hassle-free experience for installing supported 3rd party packages such as the one in question.


Unable to sign out of iCloud on OSX Yosemite or disable Keychain

Signing in in my iPhone and enable iCloud Keychain did the trick to me. So I restored the keychain in my iPhone and then the keychain switch in my Mac changed to  off state as magic


Compiling LaTeX in Apple products: is something like pdflatex around?

Have them download http://www.tug.org/mactex/. It contains all they need to edit (via TeXShop) and typeset (via a complete LaTeX distribution) LaTeX documents.

For the iPad, have a look at http://itunes.apple.com/de/app/tex-touch/id377627321?mt=8 and http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tex-equation/id390366359?mt=8.


What is the relation between water damage and a cracked iPhone screen?

Just like an automotive repair service, some damage costs more to repair than it would cost to make a new vehicle. In car terms, your phone is "totaled" and the physical damage to the screen alone lies outside the warranty.

You could buy a new phone from the vendor and then submit that cost to your insurance company if it covers the accidental (or not) damage to your property for reimbursement.
You could ask Apple why they aren't offering you a "partial repair" - where you acknowledge that some damage is present and want a limited repair and then forgo the warranty on the repaired phone. My guess is they decided that all Apple repaired phones need to pass all tests and they literally can't even know how much liquid damage has spread without entirely reworking the phone.
You could seek repair from a company or person other than Apple.

Liquid damage is expensive to even diagnose since the small cracks in an iPhone ensure that water can and will go everywhere. If corrosive salts are coating the electronics you now have a safety and reliability concern. The cost to inspect and test every single part is akin to painstakingly refurbishing a 1971 Hemi 'Cuda convertible that you found rusting in a field. In that case, there were external factors that made the cost to refurbish the product economically or socially pleasing.


Why does the combination fn+⌘+delete doesn't work?

I don't know why it gives that shortcut, but try control-k.

See https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201236


How to install Windows 7 onto MacOS Sierra without downgrading using BootCamp?

Windows 7 is not supported by Apple with your hardware.
The latest MacBook Air compatible with Windows 7 64 Bits is the Early 2014 Macbook Air.

You can install Windows 8.1 or Windows 10.

Check your system compatibility on this Apple Support Page.


Show all applications using keyboard shortcut

As I understand the question, the shortcut is built-in to OSX:

Switch to Finder (clicking on the desktop is quick)
cmd+shift+A

This brings up the Applications folder in the Finder. (Or were you asking for something else?)


How can I disable color management on OS X?

There are two problems.

Firstly: color management is an integral part of MacOS's graphics engine.

  "Active color management is a dynamic process, applied to every pixel
  in real time on every frame. For each pixel, a color match is performed
  from the source content's profile space to the destination space,
  possibly with an intermediate space or working space (requiring an
  additional color match) in between."

It cannot be turned off: every color value exists within a color profile space.

To complicate matters further, Adobe applications such as Photoshop and Illustrator have their own color management 'on top' of MacOS. They can define their own source profile spaces, and specify how color is handled from documents using the same or different working spaces.

It used to be possible to turn off Adobe's Color management in old versions, but this has not been the case for some time.

Using Creative Suite 6, I can save an RGB .psd file from Photoshop (with profile embedded) and open it in Illustrator, and the colors will be identical (both to my eye and using Digital Color Meter.app).

It's possible you may want to try trashing the pref files for these apps, and see if that helps.

However, if you are just getting different colors when viewing the same document on different displays, then you just need to calibrate the displays to be more similar.


On find my iphone, if my 'pending: Lock Mac' is not there, does that mean it has been locked?

I think your mac is just out of juice and all those things like locking/erasing/locating will happen when your mac gets power or when someone turns your mac on.

So normally no one will be able to access your information.


Cannot reinstall macOS on corrupted drive

This question is one we get often. If your Mac can’t boot itself to internet recovery, you need to bring a bootable external OS to your Mac to fix it.
Your Mac could run in target mode and you download the installer from another Mac or use another Mac or person to make you a new installer.
Apple documents these steps very well. All you have to do is choose what OS you want to reinstall over your existing to see if the data is still intact or if you just want to erase and set up new.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204267

You will have to know how to examine the install logs or make a second installer. Either your drive is broken and needs erase and repair or your installer is broken. Hard to tell without hands on and experience. It’s easy to repeat the install with a known good installer. Then the chances both installers fail is low and you’ll know your Mac needs extra steps and attention.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210905 (has steps to repair a disk)
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904 (has steps to erase the disk and reinstall)


Following this discussion on Apple.com :

You'll have to delete the following preference files :

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.spaces.plist (if you have multiple space.plist delete each of them.
~/Library/Preferences/dock.plist


This is called "Handoff" and is a feature that Apple introduced with OS X Yosemite and iOS. It is designed to allow you to quickly switch from your Mac to your iOS device but can also work between different Macs.

In this case, it would allow you to switch over to the exact environment that is running on the other Mac. This could be useful if one was working on an iMac, and then picked up their MacBook Air to continue their efforts on a Pages document, for example. Obviously the functionality extends to a number of programs.

To disable, open System Preferences and click General. Uncheck the "Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud Devices" option.

For more information: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18754?locale=en_US


Unless you've changed it, the default Bash prompt is

computer-name:directory username$

Therefore it's correct.

Suman:~ beautifulmind$

…means your computer is called Suman, you're in your home folder ~ and your account is beautifulmind.


How to access the equalizer in iTunes 11?


Cannot install 64-bit iTunes (v10.5) on Vista

Did some digging because I knew I have seen this error before. It looks like it is not a direct issue with iTunes but with your Microsoft Virtual C++ redistributable. I resolved it by following the steps in http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-windows_programs/microsoftvc80crtversion80507274053typewin32publick/c1359ee5-e18d-4512-8bff-890936db2810

You are clearly not the only one having this issue, and the steps can be generalized to:

Run windows update
Download and update your Microsoft C++ redistributable http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=766a6af7-ec73-40ff-b072-9112bab119c2&displaylang=en#filelist

That has worked for me for a couple of different people's problems, and I hope it fixes yours.

There are additional steps in the thread such as some registry fixes for the windows installer service, however I would give these steps a try first, especially since they cant really cause any harm.


How to select multiple cells on Mac when using Microsoft Remote Desktop?

Windows uses Ctrl for operations of this type, not Command

Just Ctrl-Click to make non-contiguous selections.

Use Shift-Click to make contiguous selections.


Startup Manager not showing Bootable USB drive

The USB drive should have an EFI partition, which contains files needed to make the drive bootable, in addition to the MacOS formatted partition containing the actual system to boot. The below command should handle all of that for you though.

I have formatted the USB to Mac OS (Extended Journal) and made 1 Partition in the GUID format. I used the file command in Terminal from APPLE (for Yosemite) which all appears to be working. I tested the USB on my 2011 iMAC and can view it on that 'Startup Manager'. However on the MBP 2009 running 'EL Capitan'I am not given the option to boot from.

I'm not sure if the below command is what you refer to here. Running the command in Terminal where you have "Install OS X Yosemite.app" in your applications folder should create a bootable USB drive.
sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume '/Volumes/MyVolume' --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app
Be sure to replace /Volumes/MyVolume with your USB drive which you can find with ls /Volumes
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372
If you've already tried the above solutions which I assume to have, try resetting the PRAM:

You can reset the pram by doing the following:

Shut down the Mac.
Locate the following four keys: option, command, p and r. You'll need them in the next step.
Power on the Mac, then immediately hold option, command, p and r. You need to do this before the grey screen appears.
Hold down the keys until you hear the startup sound twice, then release them.
Plug in the bootable USB stick, restart the Mac, and hold option.

https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/163327/383607


No, there's no way to downgrade Apple Watch software to earlier releases.


How to disable Facebook push notifications in iPad 2

There were some bugs in the FB app for notifications, but you should be able to disable the notifications on an app-by-app basis in at the iOS level from Settings -> General -> Notifications (or Settings -> Notifications ... I don't have an iOS 4 device handy to double-check).


MacBook not starting / booting after change done in user permissions with sudo

Problem: Unable to reboot the Mac due to issue listed above.
Solution: Backup and Reinstall MacOS
Problem: Unable to solve the problem because reinstalling MacOS doesn't happen correctly and completely
Solution: Erase your disk (Ensure backup before you erase the disk)
Problem: Need to Backup Data before erasing disk
Solution: https://tanishqdhangar.medium.com/reinstalling-macos-but-need-to-backup-to-google-drive-before-clearing-your-disk-824530101203
Problem: Unable to erase disk; Couldn't unmount disk
Solution: Create a new partition (not volume) and reinstall MacOS on the newly created partition. (Please do not do it if you are not sure what you are doing!!)
Disclaimer: Author does not claim the method and is not responsible for any ill happenings. Do it at your own risk. ;)


The integer in the key SockPathMode is the decimal presentation of the octal POSIX permissions of the UNIX socket.

Converter: 438 > 0666 > file permissions: rw-rw-rw- (owner, group and anyone is allowed to read and write from/to the socket.


3D movies or videogames from MacBook Pro to 3D projector

No - according to the specifications for that projector - they support set top boxes only and not computer playing DVD.

The player they provide runs on Windows and basically draws sequence of frames at double refresh rate so that each eye sees every other frame (they call it side by side) to create the illusion of a 3D scene. There is also reference to 60 Hz refresh rate for over/under (the side by side calls for 120 Hz refresh on the video source)

Your mac can certainly run windows in emulation or in Boot Camp and make use of the provided software. It's not clear if there isn't Mac equivalent software or it's just not linked from this manufacturer's web page, but your display's Dual Link DVI horsepower is certainly fast enough to drive the display in question fast enough to meet the hardware requirements listed for 3D projection.


Can I change the font systemwide (10.8.3)

Here are the corresponding hidden preferences:

defaults write -g NSSystemFont LucidaGrande
defaults write -g NSSystemFontSize -int 13
defaults write -g NSBoldSystemFont LucidaGrande-Bold
defaults write -g NSBoldSystemFontSize -int 13
defaults write -g NSFont Helvetica
defaults write -g NSFontSize -int 12
defaults write -g NSFixedPitchFont Menlo-Regular
defaults write -g NSFixedPitchFontSize -int 11
defaults write -g NSMessageFont LucidaGrande
defaults write -g NSMessageFontSize -int 13
defaults write -g NSLabelFont LucidaGrande
defaults write -g NSLabelFontSize -int 10
defaults write -g NSToolTipsFont LucidaGrande
defaults write -g NSToolTipsFontSize -int 11
defaults write -g NSTitleBarFont LucidaGrande
defaults write -g NSTitleBarFontSize -int 13
defaults write -g NSPaletteFont LucidaGrande
defaults write -g NSPaletteFontSize -int 10

They don't affect windows shown by processes owned by root, like the force quit window. sudo defaults write -g (which modifies /var/root/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist) affects only them.

There is no way to change many fonts (like the font used on the menu bar) and text elements are not aligned correctly when using different fonts. You can also replace Lucida Grande.ttc with some other font.


The maximum number of apps for free development profiles has been reached

The easiest way to solve this is delete these unfinished apps from your devices. Just delete them like you would any other app - directly on the phone.

You can also use the "Devices & Simulators" window in Xcode to delete them. If you have a lot, it is perhaps a bit faster.

If you have deleted the apps, but still get the error, then you need to remove the profiles themselves also. You can do that from the same "Devices & Simulators" window by right-clicking on the name of your iOS device, selecting "View Provisioning Profiles" and then removing them.

You can also do that on the device in Settings > General > Profile. Choose each no longer used profile and then "Remove".


Why is my Mac able to write to my NTFS hard drive?

Over the network it does not matter what file system is used on the hardware drive, because the computer hosting the drive (making it available through the network) will access it.  Your Mac will just make generalized requests over the network for files, folders, etc. and the host will access the file system and serve the files. Network requests are standardized and the host answers them and converts between those and the actual file system on the hardware.

What you were reading about not being able to write to NTFS, was people who either had a partition with NTFS on their native HD in the Mac computer or who were attaching USB drives.  In both these cases, the Mac has to access (and possibly modify) the file system on drive directly (without an intermediate agent) and needs to be able to deal with the specifics of the file system directly.

And no, there is no danger of damage (well, not unless you or the Mac intentionally delete files or move folders that are needed otherwise).


Is there a way to see which contacts are "VIPs" outside of Mail.app?

Seems to be listed here.

~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/VIPSenders.plist

defaults read ~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/VIPSenders.plist Senders

I only know how to narrow it down to the nested names in applescript. But you can use the applescript from terminal.

/usr/bin/osascript -e "tell app \"System Events\" to (get value of property list item \"Name\" of property list items of property list item \"Senders\" of property list file  \"~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/VIPSenders.plist\") "


Why is my Mountain Lion download freezing at 53.25 MB?

There have been lots of discussion over the past few days on this, but these two threads seem to have the best details:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4135141?start=45&tstart=0
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1410290

The solution boils down to two main causes:

BT routers are known to have some kind of limit or cap on them. You'll need to find another source.
Some ISPs seem to not like the kind of traffic that is going through directly to the appstore. The solution is to pause your download, sign into a VPN or download Hotspot Shield, and start up the download process again. Once you've completed the download, you can disconnect/uninstall the VPN access.

For the record, option 2 was what I needed.


Wiping Entire SSD for clean install of OS X

yup! boot off of your installation usb drive and instead of going straight into the install run 'Disk Utility' and remove all your partitions.


How do I temporarily enable package installation without any permission prompt

You'll want to go into your System Preferences, and into Security & Privacy

Then unlock - if needed - the lock on bottom left, and select "Anywhere".
The computer might ask you for your password.

When you're done, you should be able to open and install many .DMG installers without being prompted for a password.

When you are done, you can revert these settings as they are a good security to prevent third party apps from installing automatically on your computer.


Simcity 5 on the new Macbook 12" 2016 Model

Intel Core i5 is a significantly more powerful processor than Intel Core m3. I can't say for sure that it strictly won't work, but it will likely not be very smooth performance at all, unless perhaps you turn all the settings down to their minimum. I've heard even on MacBook Pro's without dedicated graphics (just intel HD) Simcity 5 performance is poor (lots of stuttering), and to the best of my knowledge the MacBook's graphics are not as strong as MacBook Pro's.

All that to say, I would not expect Simcity 5 to work very well on a Macbook at all.


Does Apple's Out-of-Warranty Replacement cover iPhones regardless of condition?

No, it does not. Out-of-warranty service is provided for phones which have not suffered what is defined as "catastrophic damage" and additional fees on top of the OOW service fee may be charged up to the replacement value of the product.

Please review Section 3 of the ERS/OOW Terms page: Source

Note that in this response, I am not qualifying your repair as either OOW or beyond that and needing to pay replacement fees. That is just a potential outcome, and is meant to highlight that not all OOW damage is covered.


I can't delete this question anymore, so I provide the solution: I had 2 different accounts.

The problem is that I've used my email for one account, instead of using my nickname, and this generated the second account. I think they should recognize emails, and warn you, you already have an account with this email, to avoid issues like mine.


How to link gcc? gcc-7.1.0 already installed, it's just not linked

When you install gcc with :

brew install gcc

it should be automatically linked. But, if for some reasons, it's not. You can link it manually with :

brew link gcc

The command :

brew link --help

gives also some valuable information :

brew ln, link [--overwrite] [--dry-run] [--force] formula:
    Symlink all of formula's installed files into the Homebrew prefix. This
    is done automatically when you install formulae but can be useful for DIY
    installations.

    If --overwrite is passed, Homebrew will delete files which already exist in
    the prefix while linking.

    If --dry-run or -n is passed, Homebrew will list all files which would
    be linked or which would be deleted by brew link --overwrite, but will not
    actually link or delete any files.

    If --force (or -f) is passed, Homebrew will allow keg-only formulae to be linked.


Speakers of Macbook Air 2010 model not working

Lets do some problem hunting, and hopefully repairing (without replacing the logic board).

Since the speakers work for System Sound, and the BT headset works.

Open Audio Midi set up app in your utility folder.

In the check for settings on the left window.

Normally it would only have this setting

If you have any other profiles showing or been active disable them.


You say you "enabled full disk encryption" -- what exactly do you mean by that? If you mean FileVault, it's not truly full disk encryption (as ecnepsnai said), it's full volume encryption for the startup volume, and your second partition is not encrypted. If you did something other than turning on FileVault, it'll depend on what you used.

If you used FileVault, it is possible to separately encrypt your secondary volume in Finder by right-clicking on it, and choosing "Encrypt" from the shortcut menu. This is based on the same "Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted)" volume format that FileVault uses, but rather than automatically using your login password to unlock the volume it'll need a plain password just for the volume.

You can record this volume password in your keychain so it'll be able to unlock and mount the second volume after you log in, or optionally use Keychain Access to move the volume password from your login keychain (available only after you log in) to the System keychain (accessible anytime OS X is running) so it can mount the volume even before you've logged in.

And a technical note: even with both volumes encrypted, you still don't quite have full disk encryption. There's an invisible partition named Recovery HD that holds (among other things) the booter file that asks for your account password at startup, and uses that to get access to the main volume. That must be available before the "disk" is unlocked, and therefore cannot be encrypted. There's also a (also hidden) EFI partition used for firmware updates, which also aren't encrypted.


My AppleScript-fu isn't up to the task of providing you with the necessary code, but I think you're most likely to find the solution by leveraging the Keychain.


Can't get Safenote to open; freezes on loading screen

If Lizzan's suggestion doesn't work try rebooting your phone by holding down the power button and sliding to power off. That can free up additional memory that may allow you to run it again.


How can I add funds to Apple Pay Cash without a debit card?

The linked post is almost 4 years old - a credit card  is not accepted currently. There is also currently no way to add money from your Apple balance or other external sources.
Apple Support:

You can only add money from a supported United States debit card or prepaid card that's in Apple Pay.


How does a program modify /usr but I am unable to even with admin privileges?

SIP disables everything (including the kernel) from modifying the specified directories. Disable it if you want to modify /usr.


Headphones with inline mic mute button hangs up the call Any way to mute instead?

No, there's no way to change this.  I really don't like that Apple has decided the single-click on the headphone switch will disconnect the call instead of muting the microphone.

You can do what I have and go here to provide iPhone feedback to Apple to make this change.


MacBook keyboard error, only letters not working

I had some similar issues with USB keyboards attached to an iMac. I solved this issue by deleting the contents of the Library/Caches folder from my user session (the Home icon) and rebooting the Mac.


How can I connect 2 non apple screens to my 13" mac book pro?

I believe the answer is yes:

This should do it: http://www.iogear.com/product/GUC2015V/

As should this:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6939907&SRCCODE=WEBGOOPA&cm_mmc_o=mH4CjC7BBTkwCjCV1-CjCE&gclid=CJyRgoSVp7MCFQ-f4AodtFAAHg


Command + Tab sometimes does not switch to maximized window of app in another Space

On your Mac, go to System Preferences → Mission Control and see if When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application setting is enabled.


localhost/phpmyadmin - 404 error on macOS High Sierra

Phpmyadmin should be inside your DocumentRoot. ‘localhost/phpmyadmin’ stands for phpmyadmin inside localhost DocumentRoot. Change either the path for your DocumentRoot inside your httpd.conf or move the phpmyadmin folder inside the folder you have already configured.

VirtualHost or DNSmasq only make certain folders accessible via a specific address. If I am not mistaken they should still reside inside your DocumentRoot.

You should also edit permissions for user and group inside httpd.conf or set permissions on the DocumentRoot accordingly.

Remember to restart Apache after you change settings.

$ sudo apachectl -k restart

Update:

Web applications are placed in a particular folder on your machine. A web server such as Apache serves them to the web or your browser. You will have to configure apache and DNS for each project. Usually all application directories reside in the document root. In any case the connection between the application directory (in this case your phpmyadmin, which is just a web app) and your web server is made in a configuration file such as httpd.conf for apache. Depending from how you installed apache you will have to configure:

the port where to listen
set DocumentRoot /usr/local/var/www to your document root
change the  tag reference below and set AllowOverride All
enable mod_rewrite
depending on how you would like to manage permissions either keep _www and apply corresponding permissione to your web app folder or better set in the config file user YourName + Group staff
set the server name to ServerName localhost
set up your site folder (edit permissions if necessary)
restart apache

This will serve everything on your development machine starting from localhost, which coincides with your document root.

localhost/phpinfo.php will open the phpinfo.php file placed in your document root
localhost/phpmyadmin will open the index inside the phpmyadmin directory

In case you have multiple web projects they will be available through the same procedure: localhost/webapp1 or localhost/webapp1/index.html etc.

The translation to another address available to your system is made through virtual hosts, dns server, etc. Which translates/connects a URL to the root of your web app.

To do this:

uncomment LoadModule vhost_alias_module lib/httpd/modules/mod_vhost_alias.so in /usr/local/etc/httpd/httpd.conf
include /usr/local/etc/httpd/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf
edit the /usr/local/etc/httpd/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf

Be aware that when configuring virtual host you will loose your document root so the first thing is to add it back or you will loose the ability to use localhost/phpinfo:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "Users/zaina-alyahya/Sites"
    ServerName localhost
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "Users/zaina-alyahya/Sites/webapp"
    ServerName webapp.test
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
    DocumentRoot "Users/zaina-alyahya/Sites/PHPmyadmin"
    ServerName phpmyadmin
</VirtualHost>

The ServerName for the web app has to be chosen by you. You will have to add it to your host file /etc/hosts, use a DNS server, which I would prefer. Since OSX server is going to loose DNS functionality you should take a look at dnsmasq (simple) or better BIND (full functionality). These programmes resolve an URL to your machine.

Certain areas could create trouble:

in case Apache is used: is Apple's version used? Which one? System or macOS server's? In case you have macOS server installed deactivate the web server part. You will loose it anyway this year in case you decide to upgrade to the next version of macOS. It is better to configure everything manually, much more educative anyway!
DNS setup
Permissions!!!!!!!! In case they are not set correctly you will get a 404.
restart the web server after you changed its configuration.


Finding old versions of iOS apps (for 5.1.1 on a 1st Generation iPad)

my daughter showed me an easy way to install the older Apple store apps. you simply log onto the apple store using a computer (without the iPad connected). find & download the software to the library on that computer. once it is added to your library, goto the app store on the iPad & install the software...
since the newest version won't work for the iPad, it will ask you if you would like to install the latest compatible version.
this seems to work for 85% of the apps out there (as long as there was a prior compatible version).
:)


Are there any risk of bricking the macbook by cloning to a partition?

Certainly it is not safe (in my opinion) to resize without deleting the partition, which is the core part of your plan.

  Clone the partition to a 32GB USB Flash drive using Clonezilla

I personally would clone from OSX to a Sata external drive.

So your plan appears okay, alebit I would do it differently: if you are happy consigning an operating system to USB. I think you have omitted one important point: to make sure you have a full Timemachine backup before deleting all other partitions except your Mac OSX. If your accidentally trash you Mac compartment, it is easily restored.

Timemachine is essential for this operation. If you don't have a TM backup, simply click Apple icon->System Preferences->Timemachine, then assign your backup disk. The backup will take hours for the first time, but is quick thereafter. It will only backup your OSX.

Resizing without deleting a disk
iPartition could perform resizing without deleting a disk, but its unsafe (definitely not recommended). If anything goes wrong my experience was you lose your entire harddrive. So yes you can do a resize without "bricking" (deleting) your Linux, personally I wouldn't risk it. You definitely need all drives backedup to do this. Note the company that does iPartition is no longer trading but the app is available free from July. However it does not work with Mojave (10.13 and below).

I don't know Clonezilla, but have used CCC (Carbon Copy cloner) which is good, but I think you pay for it now. I presume Clonzilla is free.

I would do point 4. differently.

Once you have cloned the disk you can use Go->Utilities->DiskUtilities and  "Restore" option to clone the Linux versions back onto their respective disks.
DiskUtilities use to have a cloning option (as well as a Restore option), I assume its still there somewhere, perhaps when you login via Recovery mode it 'appears'.


Need help deciphering TestDisk results to fix HDD

The TestDisk results for OS X disks are often misleading or even wrong because the algorithm misinterprets special hidden volume content. AFAIK it tries to detect special empty blocks (2) followed by the occurrence of the string HFSJ in the third block - which marks the beginning of a HFSJ volume. A similar sequence is used to detect the last blocks of a volume. Such 1536 Byte "blocks" are more frequent than TestDisk can handle.

I prefer a different approach:

External disks partitioned by Disk Utility to one (visible) HFS+ volume usually have a typical partition scheme:

depending on the the Device Block Size (either 512 B or 4096 B) and the total size of the disk they either contain a 200 MiB or 300 MiB EFI partition as first partition after the partition table, then the main volume and finally a 134.2 MiB partition or free space of the same size. The last blocks are occupied by the second ("backup") partition table.

The standard Apple GUID partition scheme of a 512 B disk looks like this:

                0           1         PMBR
                1           1         Pri GPT header
                2          32         Pri GPT table
               34           6
               40      409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
           409640  part2-size      2  GPT part - partition type
part2-size+409640      262144      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
    total_size-40           7
    total_size-33          32         Sec GPT table
     total_size-1           1         Sec GPT header

part2-size usually is: total-size - 671824 in 512 B-blocks. If partition 3 is missing the last three lines look like this:

total_size-262190      262151
    total_size-33          32         Sec GPT table
     total_size-1           1         Sec GPT header

The standard Apple GUID partition scheme of a 4096 B disk looks like this:

               0           1         PMBR
               1           1         Pri GPT header
               2           4         Pri GPT table
               6       76800      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
           76806  part2-size      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
total_size-32773       32768
    total_size-5           4         Sec GPT table
    total_size-1           1         Sec GPT header

part2-size usually is: total-size - 109579 in 4096 B-blocks.

512 B disks may also have a 614400 blocks(512) EFI partiton (partition 1) or 4096 B disks may have a 51200 blocks(4096) EFI partition - both can be found less frequently than the other way round though. The size of the main partition is reduced or enlarged respectively.

Since gpt only writes in the first and the second partition table (and doesn't overwrite volume content!) you may test now which partition sizes may fit.

The basic gpt commands are the following:

show the partition table:

sudo gpt -r show diskX

add a partition:

sudo gpt add -i (i) -b (block-nr) -s (blocks) -t (GUID) diskX

with i: index number, b: start block, s: size, t: partition type
remove a partition:

sudo gpt remove -i (i) diskX

destroy partition table:

sudo gpt destroy diskX

create a new partition table:

sudo gpt create -f diskX

Repairing your disk:

detach any external disk, thumb drive etc except the corrupted one.
Open Terminal.app and enter diskutil list to get an overview. In the output you will get the disk identifier of the external disk (e.g. disk2; below I assume it's disk2, your disk identifier may differ!)
get the device block size:

diskutil info disk2 | grep "Device Block Size"

get the partition table of the disk:

sudo gpt -r show disk2

Unmount the disk:

diskutil umountDisk disk2

if you find partitions remove them all with e.g. sudo gpt remove -i 2 disk2, sudo gpt remove -i 3 disk2 and  sudo gpt remove -i 1 disk2. If no partition table is found create a new one.
examining your disk's properties (probably a 4096 B disk) I would try the following now:

sudo gpt add -i 1 -b 6 -s 51200 -t C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B disk2
sudo gpt add -i 2 -b 51206 -s 732482666 -t 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC disk2

then verify a potential volume with

diskutil verifyVolume disk2s2

or if this fails remove the partitions again with sudo gpt remove -i 2 disk2 and sudo gpt remove -i 1 disk2 and choose a different EFI partition size:

sudo gpt add -i 1 -b 6 -s 76800 -t C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B disk2
sudo gpt add -i 2 -b 76806 -s 732457066 -t 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC disk2

then verify a potential volume with

diskutil verifyVolume disk2s2

A different method to find relevant partition boundaries are outlined in this answer: how to fix GUID hard drive corrupted to MBR and several other answers.

In principle, it's similar to the TestDisk method but with some (human) interpretation of detectable/detected characteristic volume structures. Therefore it's not automated and slower.

If your asr task has overwritten important parts of the previous main volume, it can't be salvaged.


Calendar.app extremely slow in El Capitan. Rebuild cache? Other solution?

I guess I had the same problem and just found a solution - at least in my case it helped a lot. Not as fast as it was in the past but much faster than it was after updating to El Capitan. And no more spinning balls ;)

Close Calendar.app, go to ~/Library/Preferences/ in your home folder and delete com.apple.iCal.plist.

Good luck!


Is there a good application for Mac to manage subscriptions billings?

It’s not 100% clear what is the meaning of “automatize the payment process” but a very popular Mac application for billings is called… Billings.

There are a few “comparison” reviews out there and you will not have a hard time finding there. Some are more extense (and outdated) and others are short and concise. There are also some round-ups about invoicing apps (which are usually married with billings apps).

I personally use GrandTotal ($) because I needed an Invoicing app for my little company. You can try most if not all of the applications for a few days before deciding which one is for you (or usually which one is “the closest” to what you want, because they all have stuff you don’t need and lack something you wish they had…).


iCloud account locked for security reasons

It looks like you have to work with Apple to recover your account. Start here and when you get to the two-factor authentication steps, there will be a button with text along the line of "I don't have access to my authentication device" and by clicking this you can start a process which will allow Apple to manually verify your identity and restore control of the account to you.


Location of hashed password for Notes app in macOS or iOS

Notes' notes' password can be reset using iCloud password in Notes Preferences. Rest is Keychain.

It can be done on iOS in Settings → Notes → Password.


Turns out most of the issue is due to mac books having a weak bluetooth chip.  In order to free some bandwidth I have used wireless receivers for mouse and keyboard rather than connecting to laptop directly. Now the only device connected to my laptop via Bluetooth are the headphones.
For users of Logitech, the Unifying receiver operates on the frequency similar to that of the USB 3.0 so mouse movements where delayed, sometimes quite a lot. Not having a dedicated port for USB 2.0 only I used a MALE/FEMALE USB extender which is plugged to the USB hub so that the Unifying receiver does not sit close to the USB 3.0 cables.
This has pretty much fixed the Bluetooth issue. Though sometimes when reconnecting headphones appear on the list of devices but not on the list of audio outputs.
To fix that:

kill bluetoothd process from the activity monitor or run sudo launchctl stop com.apple.bluetoothd
followed by sudo launchctl start com.apple.bluetoothd (though this is done automatically after some time)

Few times I'm pretty sure I have had some sort of interference between phone and mac fighting for access, turning off Bluetooth on my phone stopped mac connection from cutting out so I tend to keep it off too.


Sound card (Audionengine D1) not working on new MacBook Pro Retina

Never got this working in the end, but instead I fixed it with a neat workaround. All MacBook Pros come with inbuilt optical out. Using a small adapter I could use that to digitally send the sound (just like USB) to the D1.


The easiest way would be do a Time Machine backup of your 10.9 Home and Applications folders only.

Then do a clean install of 10.8.5 and boot up in recovery mode and restore your 10.9 Home folder, and pick which applications you wish to restore from your 10.9 Applications folder.

I've had to do this rolling back to previous OS X versions and have rarely had too many problems.


Apple's DVD Player won't run (and why is hidden)

It sounds like those discs might be corrupted and therefore might not be able to be read by any application.

However, if you wanted to try one more thing before throwing it away, I would recommend either Handbrake or MakeMKV to "rip" the contents to your hard drive.

If they don't work, I would consider the data lost unless it contains something extremely precious or valuable.


Can I hide software updates in Mavericks?

Just uncheck Automatically check for updates in System Preferences > App Store

Though you might consider leaving "Automatically check for updates" and "Install system data files and security updates" checked but unchecking the rest.


Behaviour of development certificate in apple developer portal and keychain

First part of your question:
No, this does not have to do with the developer portal at all. The private key is on your local computer in advance, and "linked up" with the certificate when you download that. The private key is not stored in the developer portal, and it is not generated by the developer portal either.
You generate the private key on your local computer as part of generating the initial CSR.
Second part:
Keychain assigns certificates for which you have the private key to the "My Certificates" group. It has nothing to do with your Apple-ID.
If the private key is on your computer, the corresponding certificate is listed under "My Certificates".