If your HDMI to VGA converter is not powered, that's your first problem - HDMI is digital only and VGA is analog - a pure cable solution won't work - you need actual electronics to convert the digital HDMI signal to VGA and that requires power.  If your converter is not plugged into a USB port it could be "converter".

If that's not it (and it sounds like your Mac does think it is connected to a second monitor so your converter may be just fine) you could just be suffering from the extremely dumbed down Display System Preferences in the recent versions of OSX.  The monitor is in power save mode because your Mac is sending it a resolution/refresh combo that the monitor can't deal with.  Unfortunately converters like HDMI to VGA often wipe out the EDID information which can cause wacky results like your seeing (often an out of bound signal and the monitor sleeping instead of showing you what you want to see).

There are many utilities that will give you more direct control over your displays and resolutions, but my favorite is this free little gem - Display Menu:  http://displaymenu.milchimgemuesefach.de

You may have to fool around with resolutions and refresh rates to find the best one - or just look in the manual for the Dell monitor and find it's native resolution and max refresh rate and set it to it.  That should do it!


Freeing up space on external hard drive after deleting time machine backups?

After comments - it's odd that it didn't appear in Trash, but generally, Trash won't empty itself so after you throw anything out you need to empty it to free up the space.

Apple did add a "Remove items from Trash after 30 days" Finder pref in [I think] Sierra, but that wouldn't have helped in this instance.


Can I place a picture in the email signature on an iPad Air?

You cannot put an image in your signature on iOS. If you use Macmaniman's strategy of pasting in an image, the image will show up in settings, but not in an email. (tested on iOS 7)

A workaround is to insert the company logo into each email as you are writing it. However, I don't see why you would want to do this. It's a lot of work and your recipients will probably be annoyed because your images are wasting space in their mail account.


How to disable profile tab/toolbelt when opening new window in iterm?

Finally, I was able to find what it's called.

 "Toolbelt"

And it can be disabled

Cheers


Windows 10 partition disappeared after resizing

The 4th partition got the wrong partition type. It's marked as an HFS+ partition, it should be Microsoft Basic Data though.

Boot to Internet Recovery Mode
Open Terminal in the menubar > Utilities > Terminal
Enter diskutil list and with the disk identifier of the internal disk found there: gpt -r show diskX. Usually it's disk0 - below I assume it's disk0. Use the disk identifier you have found in your environment in the commands below! You also have a CoreStorage volume (e.g. FileVault). Check its disk identifier also. Below I assume it's disk2. If you haven't mounted it (because you didn't unlock it - if it is encrypted), you don't have to unmount it below.
Unmount the logical volume and then the internal disk:

diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk2
diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk0

Remove the fourth partition:

gpt remove -i 4 /dev/disk0

Re-add the 4th partition with the same first block and size but with the proper type:

diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk2
diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk0
gpt add -b 133448880 -i 4 -s 356523688 -t EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7 /dev/disk0

Reboot


Is there a way to enable "Services" menu for an application?

It has to do with the way the application is created. More about Services in Apple Developer Documentation.

I suggest you direct HipChat Devs to this page.


WeTransfer email received without ever using the service

Or person C mistyped their email address and you're receiving their notifications.

Not at all unusual.


Limit the scope of tag search in Finder on Mavericks

You can't get there from the tag view accessed from the sidebar, but if you navigate to the directory you want to search, and type the tag you're looking for, it will find files in that directory.


Are OS X installs specific to a machine type?

Yes and no.

In regards to retail installation discs / upgrades "purchased" from the Mac App Store, no, they are typically not machine specific.  These are general builds that are meant to install on any supported hardware.

Machine specific builds DO exist although at this point of time they aren't an issue for most people.  When Macs shipped with physical restore media (multiple CDs/DVDs) that media was very specific to that particular generation/model of Mac.  What this meant was that you could have an early 2008 MacBook and an early 2008 MacBook Pro, the MacBook media would display an error when booting the MacBook Pro and vice versa.

In regards to the actual installed files, yes, these days the installations are pretty generic.  I don't want to say that the installed files on a MacBook Pro Retina are the exact same as those on a MacBook Air, but for the most part this will be true.  In the past (early/mid PowerPC days) there were some differences but even then you could usually use one Mac to boot another.  The main problem we used to run into was remotely installing Tiger or Leopard using a mix of Intel and PowerPC Macs.  In those situations it was best to use PowerPC to PowerPC or Intel to Intel.

The only time this may not hold true is if you're trying to boot a newer Mac using the disk of an older Mac that has an older (older than the system the newer Mac shipped with) system installed.  For instance, if a new iMac was released tomorrow and I tried to boot it using 10.9.1 installed on my MacBook Pro Retina there's a good chance that it wouldn't boot because the iMac requires 10.9.3 or above.


Local hostname is already in use on this network?

To analyze what might be this ghost network host, the command to use is a command line (which you have to run in Terminal or xterm):

dns-sd -G v4 ----Macbook-pro.local

If this name really exists within your accessible Wi-Fi network, then
you will get its IP address within the last column of output of this command as in this example:

DATE: ---Sat 09 Dec 2017---
 0:42:42.548  ...STARTING...
Timestamp     A/R Flags if Hostname                               Address                                      TTL
 0:42:42.856  Add     2  6 ----Macbook-pro.local                  10.0.2.23                                    120

If you just get one IP address, then this error message was probably an internal bug within the MacOS way to manage its DNS cache.

If you get two different IP addresses, then you have an uninvited host within your network and behind your firewall (i.e. directly on the Wi-Fi
part). This might be one of your neighbor. To continue on its correct
identification, you will have to use methods which are considered as direct attacks on someone's computer.

For example, you might use iStumbler to physically locate it and then have a chance to interview the owner of this new visitor of your network.


Ok, so after some trial and error, I found out how to do it.

When in list view you can just click the text fields and edit it. It's not that intuitive that the data only can be edited from one specific view, but glad there is an easy way to do it!


This is your computer not having a proper bootable partition on your disk. In simple terms.. It doesn't know where your operating system files are to properly boot.

Sadly, you don't have the network recovery like newer macs do according to several posts like below.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4420972?start=0&tstart=0

Your only option is to visit an Apple Store, unless you have a bootable volume (backup, time machine) that you can hold down the left alt-option at boot-up, and then select your time machine. These are configured to have an EFI partitioned on the disk.

Complex version:

A disk has a top-level GPT partition stating where "partitions" are on the disk. A partition is a slice of separated files from other partitions.
Following the GPT map, is the partitions. There should be an EFI partition to tell the system that OS X # is located at xyz on the disk.
The OS X partition.
Then there is a 650mb recovery partition that you boot to to save your system.

One of these partitions is missing. You didnt say if it would boot normally, only that it wouldn't boot into recovery.


Deleting all words in MS word file except bold and italic in the terminal command

None of the standard utilities serve this exact purpose.

You'll want to custom develop a small script/program to accomplish the task. You could use for example Python, Perl or similar to create the program.


Reading a Mac IICi and SE hard drive on another computer

Since the old drives aren't spinning up, don't worry about the SCSI card, data cable, or jumper settings; all they should need to spin up is power (i.e. that 4-pin connector). Since the 50MB drive is working off the G4's power connection, I'm pretty sure that's OK... Which leaves problems with the drives themselves.

Many of those older drives were prone to stiction and similar problems. Essentially, the main spindle and platters would get stuck in place, and the spindle motor wasn't strong enough to spin it up. There were a variety of tricks for breaking them free, most of which involved some risk of damaging the drive beyond repair (like tapping the drive juuuuust so, or opening the mechanism and forcing the spindle "by hand").

Probably the safest thing to try would be refrigerating the drives (be sure to keep them dry -- no condensation!), then spinning them up cold. I had the most luck with spinning the drive in my hand -- the trick here is that you want to spin it flat, that is, spin it around the axis of rotation of the platters. If you're having trouble picturing what I'm talking about, don't do it, because spinning it on the wrong axis could easily make things worse. Actually, even spinning it on the right axis could make things worse; I make no promises at all.

It might also help if you can figure out the manufacturer of the other drive. If it's a MiniScribe 8425SA, I recommend a stake through the heart.


What can be done to save an old macbook?

This is hard to guess, as you can imagine. If the machine had kernel panics the usual (but not only) suspects are RAM chips. You can probably try new RAM (google for OWC, CRUCIAL, etc.). The battery can be replaced at an Apple Store (of course you'll have to pay for it). The Hard Drive could be a problem too, so maybe if you had to replace it, adding an SSD instead would boost the performance.

In the end, there's little else you can replace without having to ditch the entire motherboard, and that's probably not worth the cost outside the warranty.

Running a Linux (more tolerant sometimes with dubious RAM/Hardware in general) is a decent alternative. Ubuntu (among others) is a decent OS for casual users.


Yep!

Go to 'Users & Groups' in System Preferences
Select the 'Guest User'
Tick 'Allow guests to connect to shared folders'

Done :)


I can't uninstall Homebrew. How can I find and remove all of my Homebrew files and re-install it again?

Uninstall Homebrew

From the Homebrew FAQ:

  To uninstall Homebrew, paste the command below in a terminal prompt.

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


Devices with different Apple IDs responding to the same FaceTime calls

Yes - this technology seems to be driven by your contact card info stored by calling party. If calling party has info for you and someone else in same contact card, then both phones will ring for FaceTime even if not same Apple ID.

In our case, we had friend who had stored my number and husband's number (not email) under my contact card. Both our phones would ring when friend tried to FaceTime me, even though husband and I have separate Apple IDs and caller never selected the other number.

Solved it by having calling friend remove the additional phone number from my contact card on his machine.


How to write the names "iPhone", "iPad", etc. in all capital letters?

As initially mentioned by Neil, the Apple Publications Style Guide is the place to look.

From page 34:

  What to capitalize: Follow these rules when you use title-style capitalization.
  Capitalize every word except:

  Articles (a, an, the), unless an article is the first word or follows a colon
  Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, yet, and so)
  The word to in infinitives (How to Start Your Printer)
  The word as, regardless of the part of speech
  Words that always begin with a lowercase letter, such as iPod and iTunes
  Prepositions of four letters or fewer (at, by, for, from, in, into, of, off, on, onto, out, over, to, up, and with), except when the word is part of a verb phrase or is used as another part of speech (such as an adverb, adjective, noun, or verb).
  Starting Up the Computer
  Logging In to the Server
  Getting Started with Your MacBook Pro

That is, the i in words like iPod and iTunes (and iMac, iPhone, iPad, etc.) are never capitalized.

I don't believe that, given a choice, Apple ever uses all caps, although the only specific rule I've found is on page 33:

  Don’t use all caps for emphasis.


Why is migration from Mac Thunderbird to Mac Mail not working properly?

A friend of mine had a similar problem when migrating local mails from a POP mail account from Windows XP (Thunderbird) to a Mac (Mail.app).

This is what we did:

Create an IMAP account (we chose aol.com, gmail.com is another good choice).
Configure the new IMAP mail account in Thunderbird.
Drag and drop all mails from the local account to the IMAP account. This may take a while.
Configure both your current mail account and the IMAP account in Mail.app.
Copy the files back to your current mail account (again, drag and drop).

(You may consider keeping the IMAP mail address...)

This may be easier than troubleshooting why the import doesn't work properly.


Finding out property list (plist) attributes and/or processes

Each application can choose what to store in their plist files. The names of the keys and the different possible values are determined by the application, which can be developed by Apple or by any third party, and there is no standard.
To find different combination of keys/values usable in a plist file, you can do the following:

Read the documentation. But often Apple doesn't provide full documentation.

Find existing plist file and modifiy them, by deducing and trying different keys/values.

Run the command strings on the executable to dump out all text. (Thanks to mmmmmm for this).

Look at the source code if the application is open source, reverse engineer it otherwise.


This is normal and the reason to it is so as to prolong the overall life of the battery. You can see more information here.


Why do I lose my USB speakers after reconnecting with VMWare Fusion 3 running?

When a USB device is hot-plugged while VMware is running, I often see a dialog from the VM instance asking if the device should be attached to the VM or to the host OS. It's quite easy to miss this dialog if you have other applications running or if the VM is in a separate workspace. And until the dialog gets its answer, the device isn't attached to either OS.

If you're not seeing this dialog, it's also possible that VMware has already been configured with a default answer for the device in question. For example, it might automatically be attaching the device to the guest OS running in your VM. Note that this is not normally what you'd want with USB speakers, as VMware already emulates a virtual audio output device for use by guest OS's that funnels audio output through the host OS.

Have a look at your VM settings under "Virtual Machine > USB & Bluetooth Settings…" where you should see a dialog similar to the following:

I expect you should see an entry corresponding to your USB speakers. If so, you should be able to configure how they're handled when hot-plugged from there.


Single-user mode, data recovery, mount usb

You may also want to consider the Recovery partition if it's accessible.  Use CMD+R at boot to launch into Recovery mode.  This would let you mount a USB stick or even a network connection to transfer files.

If you do have another computer available, you could boot this Mac into Target Disk Mode by holding the "T" key down at boot when you see the Apple logo.  This would allow you to then use the FireWire or Thunderbolt connection to plug your computer into another as a disk drive.


"This email address is not valid for use as an Apple ID"

If you use work e-mail and you just got the new e-mail account from work, it probably uses a work domain.

It extracts the MX records from the email address and connect to mail server (over SMTP and also simulates sending a message) to make sure the mailbox really exist for that user/address. Some mail servers do not co-operate in the process or have a delay, in such cases, the result of this email verification tool may not be as accurate as expected.

This technic of E-mail validation through the sending of an E-mail interrupted before the end is a technic used by criminals to perform stealth E-mail verification. This is the reason most serious companies will block these interrupted SMTP handshake. This is a bad method to check an E-mail.

Often with not recognized or newly registered domains Apple takes a few days and then it will magically accepts the e-mail.

You can see here https://verifalia.com/validate-email what a e-mail validator will check. And the results.

If it doesn't work after serveral days, you should contact Apple Support.


when syncing with my ipod touch, why does itunes say "optimizing photos" even if nothing has changed .

When you sync photos to an iPod or iOS device iTunes performs a set number of tasks, which include optimizing photos, if photos are selected to sync and to be optimized. iTunes doesn't cache the optimized photos, and if anything on the device has changed (like a contact, or some application data, basically anything) then it will sync all of the photos again, including optimizing them.

Basically, it will do this every single time you sync, and there really isn't much you can do to stop it. You could try to restore your device and NOT restore from backup, that might work, but is it really worth it?


Can't boot to macOS anymore after resizizing macOS partition

The type GUID for partition 2 of /dev/sda is wrong. The commands below will correct the problem. Enter the commands in an Ubuntu terminal window.
sudo gdisk /dev/sda
t
2
AF0A
w
y

Note: I realize the gdisk output shows hybrid partitioning. However, both macOS and Ubuntu should ignore the 2nd, 3rd and 4th entries in the MBR partition table.


Gio Valerio led me to the answer in his comment above.  Somehow, Folder Actions had been deselected in the Services preferences, thus they weren't showing up as an option.  By selecting it there, in Services Preferences, the option for folder actions shows up again in the menu when I right-click on a folder.  Problem solved.  Thanks Gio!


How to delete fonts that are erroneously »in use«?

You could force remove it using Terminal, if it really bothers you.

Example:
rm /Users/akiekintveld/.Trash/font.ttf
Would remove a file named "font.ttf" from your trash.


Creating aliases for iTerm 2 that work during ssh

If you use oh-my-zsh, you will want to place those in ~/.zshrc

vi ~/.zshrc

.
.
.
# Example aliases
# alias zshconfig="mate ~/.zshrc"
# alias ohmyzsh="mate ~/.oh-my-zsh"
alias work="cd ~/Lucas/local-sites/"


macOS updated to Beta despite opting out

Try using the following Terminal command to manually reset the Software Update catalog to the default end-user list:

sudo softwareupdate --clear-catalog

This won't remove the current beta build from your Mac, but it should reset to the correct release version next time one comes out.


Apps that access the internet crash when waking up from sleep

Starting up in “safe mode” performs some repairs:

  Shut down your Mac and wait 10 seconds. Press the power button.
  Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold down the Shift key.
  You should press the Shift key as soon as possible after you hear the
  startup tone, but not before.

  Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple logo and progress
  indicator (spinning gear). To leave safe mode, restart the computer
  normally without holding down any keys during startup.

Also, run Disk Utility, Repair Disk. Sounds like network problem, though, which could be as simple as trashing network settings (writing down any you won't remember,) Restarting and inputting afresh ...


Need to automate copy / paste graphic selection from Preview to Google Doc

The following is working for me in OS X 10.9:

In ~/bin/preview2chrome.scpt,

tell application "Preview" to activate
tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Preview"
        keystroke "c" using command down
    end tell
end tell
delay 0.5

tell application "Google Chrome" to activate
tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Chrome"
        keystroke "v" using command down
        keystroke return
        keystroke return
    end tell
end tell

delay 0.5
tell application "Preview" to activate

In ~/Library/Services, a Run Shell Script service named Preview2Chrome.workflow containing:

/usr/bin/osascript /Users/mellis/bin/preview2chrome.scpt

Option-V assigned as a shortcut key for Preview2Chrome.workflow .

This solution requires manually opening the destination Google Doc and making it the active tab in an active Chrome window with all other Chrome windows minimized. That's not much of a restriction for my purposes, but it would be nice to have an solution that knows how to paste to the destination doc no matter what tabs and windows are active.


Classic view is the view set in Preferences>Viewing>Use classic layout:

In this view, the message preview area is located below the message list.

The view may be minimized:

Just drag the separator at the bottom of the window to show the message area.


App suggestion for low-friction way to log regular text entries?

Whilst not being the intended purpose, the app "Day One" which is available on iOS and Mac OS is a journal/diary program that is focussed on hassle free text entry.  It will sit in the menu bar on Mac OS X, and you can configure reminders for how often you would like to enter something.  Th eexpection is more along the lines of twice a day etc, but you can tell it as many times as you want/need.

When the reminder is due, it will produce a small popup box under the menu bar icon that allows you to type a few words in (Markdown supported, but no fancy formatting toolbars etc) and then save them, you can postpone or ignore entries if you like.

It will collate all your entries together, sync them between other instances inc. the iOS app via Dropbox or iCloud, and you are then able to  search for entries specifically, or list by day/month/year all in a timeline style like a diary.  It won't do fancy stuff, like applying time or entries to specific codes etc, or produce reports and so on, but if you just need manuall adhoc review of contents it's a good fit.


There is a non-graphical setting you can try:

sudo pmset -a destroyfvkeyonstandby 1

That would mean that you need to re-authenticate after sleep transitions to standby. It isn't something that changes at logout, but it's the closest I think you can get at present.


Installing Windows 10 only on late 2009 Macbook with 32gb ssd?

If you have a windows 10 dvd use it instead and install bootcamp support from Apple's website later. Partition the drive with a bootable mac os installer (dvd or usb) to GUID partition map and Mac os Extended. Then format it as MS-DOS. Restart the computer with the windows 10 dvd if you have one (else use the usb drive, i guess). Delete the partition and then create a new partition with the windows installer. Proceed until installed. You may be able to install bootcamp support software from the USB Drive if you hunt for it. If not go to bootcamp 5: https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1721?locale=en_US
(Windows 10 not officially supported on late 09' macbook)


Speedest Installation macOS Sierra from Thunderbolt, MacBook Air

You can do a clean install easily:

Attach the USB installer
Reboot holding the Option key
Hold on until you see the "install Mac OS Sierra" volume
Choose "Disk utility" in the Mac OS utilities screen
Select you HD and erase it
Format it in hfs+, usually with the name "Macintosh HD"
And finally choose "Install Mac OS"

You may want to backup your data first.


The problem could be a huge amount of interferences produced by other Wi-Fi networks in the same band, 2.4Ghz band is shared by a lot of technologies (from DECT phones to Bluetooth and WiFi) and depending your area,neightbours and the way your building have been built, you can get a lot of issues like this.

In those situations i recommend switching to cable, it will always give you maximum performance if you are most of the time in the same place.

Another option will be to switch the band to 5GHz which is lot less crowded and much robust in terms of interferences, so if boh of your devices support that band give it a try! Your wifi will also reach some more distance


Keynote movie playback ignores start/stop times, only in presentation mode

Since you have set start and end on the clip, Keynote can permanently clip it after reducing file size to save space and improve performance.  The result is that the undesired parts of the clips are no longer even available to Keynote so they shouldn't play when looping.

Set your start and end points
Go to File > Advanced > Reduce File Size

Keynote will trim the excess footage from your video file.  You will note the change if you deselect the video then select again and view the Edit Movie in the inspector.  (Be sure you keep the original somewhere else as a backup.)

Before:

After:


Does anyone know what the file ~/Library/Preferences/com.npvdata.client is for?

If my Googling-fu is stronger than yours, this appears to be linked to the Viscosity VPN client.
According to Viscosity technical support, Viscosity stores registration and trial information in this file, however it can be safely deleted if needed.


How to make macOS archive RAR and unRAR files in Finder with automator and shell script?

The example shell script code used in this answer was tested under macOS Catalina 10.15.4.

As coded the location the RAR archive is to be created/extracted to must be readable/writable to you with normal privileges, otherwise the RAR archive is created/extracted on your Desktop. If a selected file/folder to be archived is not readable it will throw an error message and an incomplete RAR archive may be created.

The two Automator Quick Actions work as advertised with the settings as shown in the images of the workflows, further below, so use the same settings!

Workflow receives current [files or folders] in [Finder]
Run Shell Script action:

Shell: [/bin/bash]     Pass input: [as arguments]

NOTE: In order for these workflows to work, Finder must be given Full Disk Access in: System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy
NOTE: If rar and unrar are not properly signed it will throw an error message. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General, click the lock to make changes, enter your credentials, click the Allow button. You will still have to grant the permission the next time they run, but not there after.

Create RAR Archive

Using how by default in Finder a ZIP archive is created in macOS, only recursing the relative path from within the PWD, the same applies to the example shell script code used in the first Run Shell Script action of the Automator Quick Action shown below.

In this first Automator Quick Action, as coded, the example shell script code will:

Define RAR variables.
Change directory to the location of the selected file(s)/folder(s) within the same parent folder of the selected file(s)/folder(s).
Build an array of just the basenames of the selected file(s)/folder(s).
Verify the PWD is writable and if true, create the RAR archive in the PWD, else create it on your Desktop.
Create a RAR archive, named e.g.:

Archive 2020-04-25 at 10.56.00 PM.rar Containing the selected file(s)/folder(s).

rar_exe="/usr/local/bin/rar"
rar_args="a -r -idq"
rar_archive="Archive $(date '+%Y-%m-%d at %I.%M.%S %p').rar"

cd "$(dirname "$1")" || exit

declare -a my_files
for f in "$@"; do
    my_files+=( "$(basename "$f")" )
done

if [ -w "${PWD}" ]; then
    $("${rar_exe}" ${rar_args} "${rar_archive}" "${my_files[@]}")
else
    $("${rar_exe}" ${rar_args} "${HOME}/Desktop/${rar_archive}" "${my_files[@]}")
fi

Extract RAR Archive

Unlike how by default in Finder a ZIP archive is extracted in macOS, incrementing the name of the folder the archive is extracted to if it previously exists, the example shell script code used in this second Run Shell Script action of the Automator Quick Action shown below does not do that! If the folder named for the extracted RAR archive already exists, then it is not extracted a second time.

In you need to extract it again, rename or delete the existing extracted RAR archive, or copy the RAR archive to an alternate location, then extract it.

In this second Automator Quick Action, as coded, the example shell script code will:

Define UNRAR variables.
Change directory to the location of the selected RAR archive(s).
Verify the file extension of the selected file(s) is rar.
Verify the PWD is writable and if true, extract the RAR archive in the PWD, else extract it on your Desktop.
Verify a folder of the same name does not already exist, and if not, then extract the contents of the selected RAR archive(s) in a folder the name of the selected RAR archive(s).

unrar_exe="/usr/local/bin/unrar"
unrar_args="x -ad -idq"

cd "$(dirname "$1")" || exit

for f in "$@"; do
    [ "${f##*.}" == "rar" ] || continue
    d="${f##*/}"
    if [ -w "${PWD}" ]; then
        [ ! -d "${d%.*}" ] || continue
        $("${unrar_exe}" ${unrar_args} "$f")
    else
        cd "${HOME}/Desktop" || exit
        [ ! -d "${d%.*}" ] || continue
        $("${unrar_exe}" ${unrar_args} "$f")
    fi
done

Note: The example shell script code is just that and, sans existing error handling, does not contain any additional error handling as may be appropriate. The onus is upon the user to add any error handling as may be appropriate, needed or wanted.


Is it possible to disable Terminal's automatic tweaking of colors in Lion?

Here's the trick that you need to know: Values set via RGB get mangled, those set via HSB do not.

I had a similar problem using the (great) Solarized color scheme: MacVim had a darker (and correct) background color than Terminal, even though I was setting all of the correct RGB values per the Solarized spec. See here:

Basically you need to know what your color values are supposed to be for each of the Terminal ANSI, text, and Background (note this one is on the Window tab) colors and then set them via the HSB picker instead of RGB. See this example:

For whatever reason (I suspect some type of profile thing, or perhaps a contrast tweak as you suggest), the RGB color you enter is not what you get. You'll also notice that once you've set the values via HSB, switching to the RGB picker will show options different than you'd expect. The Solarized value conversions all agree according to Photoshop; it seems to be something that the Apple color picker is doing for you.


2007 macbook pro won't boot. What's the easiest way to diagnose the problem?

The mid 2007 MacBook Pros (MBPro 3,1) and the early 2008 models had defective NVidia GPUs that would cause failures similar to yours. The GPUs would fail at various times (6 months in for some, 3-4 years later for others). When that happened, Apple fixed them without charge.

If your MBPro still has its original NVidia GPU, then the problem could very well be that. Unfortunately, Apple's repair extension program for this program ended on Dec 7, 2012.

You might be able to find a replacement logic board on eBay or Craigslist.


WeChat doesn't generate notification sounds on my iphone

Make sure your ringer is on, as push notifications only sound if the ringer is on. To toggle the ringer, use your side switch.


As the above comment states, you do not need iOS 10 to download iBooks. However, given the info in your screenshot, it is possible that iBooks is not available in your country.

EDIT: iOS 10 is not out. I have no idea why it would require you have it.

Please review the following article and make sure your device is compatible.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201478

SEE ADDITIONAL EDIT BELOW

I just looked at the App Store, and it DOES appear you need iOS 10!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibooks/id364709193?mt=8


Refreshing Finder window view after sorting files

There doesn't appear to be a proper solution to this. Here is a workaround hack:

Applescripts not working in Finder since Mavericks


How do you compare the system resources used by two programs?

You can compare CPU utilisation and memory usage in Activity Monitor, in /Applications/Utilities. This lets you compare the statistics in real-time.

For a more averaged comparison, you can check the Average Energy Impact of an app in the Energy tab of the aforementioned app (requires ≥10.9).


How do I determine what Siri commands an app supports?

Invoke Siri, but don't ask her a question; instead, tap on the waveform so that she
stops listening and shows you suggested questions.
Next, scroll down to the app you're interested in and tap on it to see possible voice commands.


Transfer mp3 files from Mac to iPhone Music app using iTunes 12.0.1

Plug your iPhone and click the device icon in the iTunes bar.

Select Music on the left side bar.
From there you can select whatever music you want from you library (by artist, album, etc.).
Select what you want and hit Sync button in the bottom of the screen.


How to find out the wifi setting of a connected wifi network in MacBook Pro?

Use the following command in a Terminal (/Applications/Utilities):

system_profiler SPAirPortDataType

You can also see this information via the GUI app System Information.

System Information > Network > Wi-Fi

Just type System Information in Spotlight.


Have your tried backing it up to your computer, then restoring it? That might help. Make sure it's backed up.


How to test a Macbook Air battery hardware integrity

There are some apps on the app store that do similar things. Here's a free one I found: Battery Health, but it might not be the best (it was just at the top of the list and looked good).

But guessing from things I heard before, it was probably a part of computer circuitry that was damaged, and most likely the apps won't be able to tell if the problem is really the battery or the computer.

Three other suggestions that might help:

1) Carefully use a volt meter to check the battery (this probably won't work though, because computer batteries are really complicated with lots of different electric pins, and you may end up braking the battery even more).

2) Go to an Apple store and ask them if you can put the battery into one of their computers, or try one of their batteries in your's. If (like me) you don't live near on of those kind of stores, you can try asking around in your local computer repair stores.

3) Gently clean the electronic connections of the battery with a q-tip and 100% isopropyl alcohol. 100% is best, but it's really had to find. So some slightly lower percentages might be alright too. If possible, make sure the battery is completely drained before trying this as it can cause a short circuit if there's power to it. You can also clean your computer's connections with it just to be sure that there is no dried-on gunk preventing contact between the battery and the computer.

Hope this helps :)


The settings that control this are on her phone - not yours.


Difference between using ⌘ - space vs 'open -a' in terminal?

The problem you are having is a constant for Emacs. It's due to Emacs relying on a couple of things that are set in a bash shell that aren't available in the GUI.

The most notable of these is the PATH variable. That's why pdflatex isn't being found.

Check https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/EmacsApp for a better explanation and some things you can do to make it easier.


Is there a downside on using APFS on a conventional HDD when using macOS 10.13 or later?

Yes there are downsides to HDD formatted APFS instead of HFS+
The newer format is optimized for solid state characteristics.
The older format is optimized for HDD characteristics.
Unless you are sure you need the new features, stick with the format that’s best for your storage type. If you don’t care about long term performance or use the storage lightly, it can be fine and not even measurable but heavy use will cause you to wipe and reformat the HFS in my experience if you choose and use APFS for months of continuous use on HDD as the inefficiencies build up over time and the storage allocation cannot self-optimize like HFS does on HDD.
My advice: Use Time Machine if you only have HDD to back up or provide SSD storage to Super Duper.


How to sort column by numbers in Numbers?

I think by adding a word to each number you've forced it to sort strictly alphabetically, which does make 1, 1300, 16000 etc 'correct'. Removing the letters should revert to natural sorting.
Moving the words to a separate column should fix it. An easy way to split the numbers out for searching is to add a column between B and C and set =LEFT(B2, SEARCH(" ", B2) - 1) as a formula there.


How can I add movies to my iPad from both my home and work computers?

There used to a be a method where by you edited the iTunes Music Library.xml file on the second computer to make your device think the two computers are the same computer. I'm not sure if it works any more though. Explanation guide here
Alternatively the easier way of doing it is to take advantage of iTunes file sharing and use an application from the app store. The advantage of this is that most app store video playback applications support more file formats than would be supported though the default video playback app so you won't need to do any conversion before copying the videos across.
The application I would recommend, and use myself, is AVPlayerHD


User login password not working for sudo

The trust chain can be broken in thousands of ways, so picking apart the specific failure might need some back and forth.

The good news - you can easily reset a password or make a new admin account so you can su to that account, then sudo or just enter the other user/password combination to unlock system preferences since any account can be used in addition to the logged in account to authenticate in macOS

Here's the reset one, two official article and article here on just making a new admin account by re-running the out of box setup process:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202860
Reset the password for a user when Snow Leopard is running as a VM?

Also, use locale specific keys or emoji password with caution. You might retain one admin account and password with a long but boring standard locale typable password.


If I buy a new fan online will the genius bar install it for me?

No, they will not. They will only install equipment that you purchase at the Apple Store.


In Time Capsule go to "Disk" then "File Sharing".  Make sure "Share disk over the internet using Bonjour" is not checked. Don't know why but it caused this problem for me.


Are Time Machine backups to an external disk attached to a Time Capsule supported?

Yes. You can use Time Machine with a drive connected to a Time Capsule.

This Apple support doc - Backup disks you can use with Time Machine (as of Sept 2015) - says:

  Time Machine can back up the data on your Mac to these backup disks:

  An external USB, Thunderbolt, or FireWire drive connected to your Mac
  An AirPort Time Capsule's built-in drive (any model)
  An external USB drive connected to an AirPort Time Capsule (any model) or AirPort Extreme (802.11ac model only)
  Network volumes connected using Apple File Protocol (AFP)


Why do I keep getting this error message after updating to OS X 10.8.1?

The purge command is still executing correctly, but it looks like Apple forgot to update the file and it's kicking this error back.

The best temporary solution is the following:

Open Terminal
cd /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreProfile.framework/Versions/A/Resources/De vices/
sudo ln -s osx-12.0.0.xml osx-12.1.0.xml

This will add a non destructive symbolic link that is a reference to another file; in this case you're pointing the link 12.1.0 to the previous file, 12.0.0. Since this is only a link, if an update does roll out with this file it will just overwrite the link.

This is the best temp fix, and I'm sure it's been submitted a few times to their bug tracker. Hopefully it gets fixed soon! There is an Apple support communities thread about the same thing here.


is the iPod Touch less able to connect to Airport WDS wifi network repeaters than an iPad? Kindle also doesn't want to!

I've pretty much solved this problem. I do not FULLY understand why, but now I can have my iPod touch (and I am hoping my kindle) attach correctly to the satellite/repeater airport express.  Here is what I did:

I did two configuration changes to my central hub airport extreme router (i.e., the one that my other routers were merely configured to "extend.")  I realize now that these are both configurations that must be done at that central router, and the repeater routers then simply mimic or reflect accordingly.

-- First, I used the most recent Airport Utility (v6.0) and clicked on my main router (which, crucially, is an airport extreme that has dual band 802.11, both 2.4ghz and 5ghz.)

-- In the airport utility, I clicked on that Extreme router and then in its funky popup window, clicked Edit.

-- Clicked the tab called Wireless.

-- Clicked on Wireless Options button.

-- the first config change I made on that page was to change the Radio Mode setting to "802.11a/n - 802.11 b/g."
     What nobody really tells you is that that hyphenated choice means that the 5GHz band will use the first of those two (namely, a and n, in other words the strong modern N standard will be used on this band ONLY) ... while the 2.4GHZ band will use only the second of those two, b/g, in other words, the devices that only can use that older weaker standard.
     So, it's kind of a segregation. I'm telling it "No, don't let the 2.4 ghz band try to handle traffic using N. That band will just take care of the old crappy clients."

-- the second config change that I made on that page was to check the check box to make a totally separate wireless network name for the 5GHZ band.  Further segregating things.  When I tried my solution without this additional step, my problem did not fix itself, though I don't fully see why.

As I said, a few questions remain in my head, but the darn thing works, so I'm happy. Among many other questions... are those airport expresses dual-band too? I didn't think they were but somehow they are repeating this dual-band strategy?  Whatever. it works.

Wanted to say thanks to Richard, whose reply caused me to get off my butt and try more investigating into this.


Mid 2010 Mac Pro with no video card; will it run with new HDDs?

I have 2 mid 2010 MacPros and have been able to run both without a GPU. If you can load OSX with screensharing turned on onto a drive using another Mac in Target Disk mode you should be able to plug that drive in and boot it up.

I have this running as a media and file server and it works great. Also cuts back on the heat as I loaded my pro up with 6 HDDs (4 in the trays and 2 using the OWC 3.5 adaptor in the CD Drive space). Set up an SSD via a PCIe adaptor for OSx. It works perfectly.


How can I delete purchased songs from my iPhone4?

There is no need to use iTunes for this purpose as of iOS 5. It is now ridiculously easy to delete songs. Simply swipe horizontally on any track title and you are presented with an option to delete the song.


How is the battery level calculated in the magic mouse?

Generally the amount of energy left in a cell is related to its voltage at a given current draw, and the chemistry.  For instance, AA Alkaline cells are about 1.62V new, and drop to 0.9V near the end of their life as they are depleted.  Rechargeable cells often output 1.29V fully charged and will discharge to 0.9V.

Further, the voltage drops more with larger current draws, and this drop increases for cells that are near the end of their life.  So if you turn off the mouse and test the voltage, then turn the mouse on and test for voltage, the second test will have a lower voltage.  If that difference is small, the cell is near the beginning of its life.  If the difference is large, the cell is near the end of its life.

There are ways to determine the battery chemistry with some level of confidence by performing a few tests, but generally there's no reason to.  The majority of users merely need to have a little advance notice that their favorite iDevice is about to cease functioning so they can prepare.

So most such devices simply wait for the battery to drop below a specified voltage, before alerting the user.  Since most batteries can be considered dead at 0.9 volts, and few batteries go lower than 1.2 volts when new, the simplest solution is to alert the user to a low battery condition at 1.0 or 1.1 volts.

When a user expects a battery bar that gives a relative measurement (3 boxes for full, 0 boxes for nearly dead) then it will generally show full until it gets below 1.2 volts.

So an alkaline battery will often show full until very close to the end of its life, then appear to die quickly.  A rechargeable battery will show 3/4 full for most of its life, then die rapidly (due to the discharge curve being more flat than an alkaline, and being closer to the 1.0v cutoff).

The batteries you will have the most problem with are "heavy duty" which is code for "cheap, non-alkaline" batteries.  They have their uses, but not in electronic devices.  If you use the cheapest of the cheap AA batteries from the drugstore, or the "40 batteries for $6.99" pack from woot, amazon, or [insert favorite membership club here] then you're very likely getting non-alkaline, "heavy duty" batteries.  These cells have a very different, and much faster, discharge curve when used in most electronics, and you will see flakiness long before the battery is actually dead, and perhaps even before the mouse itself recognizes it's dead.  The issue is that they can't supply the sudden bursts of power the radio in the mouse requires, so some transmissions are lost.  When it's not transmitting, the voltage appears to be fine, but the difference between no load and an RF load causes the battery voltage to drop significantly simply because it wasn't designed to support those power draws.

This is why almost all electronic devices insist on "name brand alkaline" batteries.  Rechargeable batteries work well for this type of use as well.

This article, "Does the battery fuel gauge lie?" is relevant to this discussion, though it mostly focuses on larger rechargeable batteries used in the iPad and similar devices.  It discuses how smart battery electronics monitor and manage the charge and discharge of batteries in advanced electronic devices.


How to enter single user mode when rEFIt is installed?

"When you have rEFIt installed and you apply the shortcut to boot in single user mode (⌘+S), you actually land in the EFI shell.
In order to avoid that, boot as usual.
Then choose the Apple icon and press F2.
You will be presented with a series of alternate options to boot Mac OS X (e.g. single user mode, verbose mode, etc.)"

http://tateric.blogspot.com/2010/11/boot-in-single-user-mode-despite-refit.html

Note: After selecting the Apple icon with the cursor, do not press Enter. Right there, on the rEFIt screen, you hit F2. That will bring you to the alternate options, including "Boot Mac OS X in single user mode."


PDF software to read many documents side-by-side in iPad?

Side by Side allows you to read up to 4 different PDFs side by side on an iPad.


How can I determine what is causing my iPhone to buzz?

Go to Settings->Notifications on your iPhone and then look in the section Not In Notification Center. If there are any apps listed there, you can see if notification is turned on or off for them. If any are turned on, you can turn them off one by one to see which one is trying to get your attention.

You may also be able to see badge numbers changing on one of your apps which would be a clue that there might be a notification too.


I recently had the same problem, and fixed it by opening Terminal.app and entering killall Finder. This effectively resets the desktop icons.


Issues compiling GnuPG: ./configure: command not found

The issue command not found occurs because the script ./configure is not executable. I fixed it by setting the executable bit for the user with chmod.

While in the root directory, type the command in Terminal:

chmod u+x configure


Is there an easy way to add, modify, or remove what files or URLs are associated with Apps?

RCDefaultApp.

UPDATE

As of 2020, RCDefault App seems to have been abandoned.  There is another FOSS alternative - SwiftDefaultApps which is available on GitHub and via Homebrew.  It's described as a "Replacement for RCDefaultApps" and testing has shown that it functions pretty much the same way as the original.  It works on macOS 10.12.x (Sierra) through 10.15.x (Catalina).

There's a free (as in beer) application that you can use to change how macOS behaves with respect to application associations and URL, protocol, and media handling:  RCDefault App.

  RCDefaultApp is a Mac OS X 10.2 or higher preference pane that allows
  a user to set the default application used for various URL schemes,
  file extensions, file types, MIME types, and Uniform Type Identifiers

Set Default Apps

One of the most convenient uses of this application is to set your default app for common protocols like web browsing or email (setting your default browser or mail apps) or switching FTP from Finder to Firefox or Chrome.

File (Extensions) by Application

One of the more useful (and global) features is to find out what file extensions are "assigned" to a particular application.  For example, here we can see what's associated with Acrobat Pro.

Applications by Extension

The flip side to seeing what's assigned to a particular application is to see what application is assigned to a particular extension.  In this case PDF is assigned to Acrobat Pro.  From here, we can change its association to another application (like Preview).

Disable an App

One of the more useful tools (extremely useful in Lab or shared environments) is to disable certain apps, extensions, or protocols from ever being opened.  For example, in the example below, Spotify can be disabled and will not open.

Installation & Use

It's an older app and it hasn't been updated since 2009; however, I recently tested it on both El Capitan and High Sierra.
Tested still working on Mojave 10.14.1 at Oct 18.

After downloading and mounting the DMG, simply copy the file RCDefaultApp.prefPane to either of the following directories:

/Library/PreferencePanes/ - will be available systemwide for all users
~/Library/PreferencePanes/ - only availabe to your user profile

Open System Preferences and launch the utility

Pricing

It's FREE as in beer, but if you do find the utility useful, I encourage you to make a donation.  Please note that I am not in any way affiliated with the developers or the software referenced here in any way.


How can I run a command which will not survive terminal close?

Open a new terminal tab
Run your command without the trailing &
Switch back to the first tab and continue working

To cancel the notification just close the tab it's running in afterwards.


Migrate time machine data stored on external server (DROBO) onto new iMac 3.2Ghz

You might need to force Time Machine to browse for backups on unsupported volumes (ie Drobo)

Open Terminal
type the following command

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

In case you cannot access the terminal during the first startup, create a dummy user (you don't want to duplicate the username in you backup), then open terminal, do the magic trick and start Migration Assistant from Applications/Utilities/


How to create diacritical characters with the Dvorak keyboard on Mac?

Diacriticals for vowels and some consonants are created using the "dead key" system.

First you type the "dead key" by holding down two keys at the same time; for example, Option-E, which produces "´". Then immediately after that you let go of the two keys and then type the vowel that you want the accent to appear above. So in this example, to get "é", you type Option-E, let go, then type "e".

If you want "á", then you first type Option-E, then let go and type "a".

If you want "í", you first type Option-E, then let go and type "i".

Here are the dead keys in the Dvorak layout, highlighted in orange.


MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013) not recoginizing keyboard and trackpad

Since someone tried to contact me about this issue (he was having the same problem), I will answer my own question.

In the end I took the MacBook to an Apple Shop where they replaced a ribbon cable which solved the problem. Seems like it was a hardware problem after all.


Disable Java Auto Update Prompt for 1.7u25 on Mountain Lion

Open a Terminal and execute:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.oracle.java.Java-Updater JavaAutoUpdateEnabled -bool false

Source: https://jamfnation.jamfsoftware.com/discussion.html?id=6489

Update:  This answer has been confirmed to work on OS X 10.11.5 (El Capitan)


Can I use a time machine volume to store additional data?

Seeing that external storage is relatively inexpensive, I would leave the existing TM drive alone and purchase another external drive. That way, you can backup the additional data on the new drive to the TM disk, too. You wouldn't be able to do this if the additional data resides on the TM drive itself.

If you do choose to use the TM disk for non-TM data, I recommend partitioning the drive to separate the TM data from the non-TM data. If you ever need to reformat the TM partition, you won't need to move that additional data to another disk first, or visa versa.

All that being said, it is technically possible to use the TM disk to store additional data. I used to do it until #4 (below) happened and I lost ~10k .mp3 files I then needed to re-rip from CDs. (I did re-rip about 80% of the lost files to Apple Lossless format, so it wasn't a complete disaster, but I did lose thousands of files.)

There are several drawbacks you should keep in mind:

Time Machine will delete older backups more frequently when available space is low.
Performance on the drive will suffer when TM is running and you are accessing the additional data at the same time.
If you need to transport the additional data off-site, you'll also be taking your TM backup with you.
When (not if) the entire disk crashes hard, you will lose the additional data unless it is backed up somewhere.


OSX Lion 10.7.3 update has broken Safari

Update to Safari 6.0 has fixed the problem.


Firefox on MacOS: Default filename when downloading

My solution was to make an Automator workflow to run a shell script, and map it to a universal keyboard shortcut. This has been very useful to me, so here it is:

# echo `date +"%Y-%m-%d "` + " "
A=`date +%F`
echo "$A "

Open Automator and create new workflow.

Set workflow to receive text from any application, choose to replace the selected text and add Run Shell Script. Choose /bin/bash and pass input to stdin. Paste the script and save.

Go to System Preferences, choose Keyboard and Shortcuts. Choose Services, find yours on the list and map a shortcut.


If you're using an iPod (e.g. nano as I do), then the trainings won't be synced to Health App. Otherwise using Nike+ Running App your runs will be automatically synced with Health App as far as you added Running App as a source in the Health App.
What I personally find disappointing, that Nike doesn't take a use of a step counter of an iPod and leave all the data on the iPod.


In System Preferences → Keyboard → Shortcuts, under Function Keys, add apps to the list to show the function keys by default. The fn key will then be used for the inverse function, hiding the function row instead of showing it. You'll need to do this for every app where you would like this behaviour.

You can display function keys at all times and use Fn to display App Controls or Expand Control Strip in System Preferences → Keyboard → Keyboard.


Siri on my Apple Watch doesn't stop listening when I stop talking. Why?

Switch-it-off-and-on-again FTW!

Whilst typing the above question, I thought maybe I ought to at least try switching it off and on again, so I did: I held both buttons in for a few seconds to force a restart, and after that I found it worked perfectly again.

Hope this helps someone else!


iCloud keychain problems - asking passwords, can't change password, can't unsync

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I found this simple solution. At least in my experience, the password for the default keychain cannot be changed, so:

1) Create a new keychain (File→New Keychain… ⌥⌘N). I named it temp and gave it a simple password.

2) Right-click the temp keychain and select Make Keychain “temp” Default.

3) Select the original keychain.

4) Edit→Change Password for Keychain [name]… should now be accessible. Select it and change the password to your heart’s content.

5) Right-click the original keychain and select Make Keychain [name] Default.

6) Right-click the temp keychain and select Delete Keychain “temp”


Is there any way to restore only whatsapp data from encrypted itune backup?

There is a company called BackupTrans that promises to be able to recover lost data from backups. I didn't try what you are suggesting, but I successfully transfered WhatsApp data from an android phone to iPhones 3 times using their "android whatsapp to iphone transfer" programme. You could try to do some research on their products, maybe there is something useful for your case.


Using Turtle Beach XO Four Stealth Headset with Macbook Pro Retina 15", Mid-2012

Apple use the CTIA standard TRRS while most other companies use the OMTP standard.

These 2 pictures should short it out. Notice the Ground and microphones are switched.

OMTP
CTIA

Hope this answers your question.


MBPr with El Capitan freezes at or right after login

So it's two months later and I'm a little bit wiser and would like to summarise what I've already posted in the comments and expand on that little.

What my colleague forgot to tell me was that the computer had been freezing from time to time even when running Mavericks; he only mentioned freezing after upgrading to El Capitan, which led me to believe that software was probably to blame. It turned out that after upgrading the freezes started to happen more often.

The laptop was sent to a repair shop and the technician from there told me he discovered traces of liquid at the inside of the cover. Not enough to damage the humidity indicators which are placed inside Apple products but he said there were clear marks so the computer probably had something spilled on it - too little to wreck it immediately but too much not to have an impact on sensitive electronic parts.

Answering my own questions:

The MacBook was submitted to a repair shop where a technician diagnosed the problem as some kind of motherboard failure but he was unable to pinpoint which element was responsible for the issue. Since he wasn't sure which part he should target for replacement he suggested replacing the whole motherboard.
No known solutions to the problem came into evidence.
I was able to download Mavericks from AppStore by finding it in purchase history, as suggested by Tetsujin (thanks!). However, it turned out that software was not responsible here -- after installing Mavericks the computer hung just as willingly as it did under El Capitan.
There wasn't much more to be done before submitting the laptop to a repair shop beyond what I had done and described in the OP.

So if you're experiencing similar problems, it's likely to be a hardware failure, in which case you won't be able to easily diagnose it on your own and you're bound to visit a repair shop.


Is there a way to stream video to an Apple TV without iTunes?

Indeed there is. You can try AirFlick - it encodes video on the fly and sends it straight to your AppleTV. I've used it for a while now, and although it can be a little unstable from time to time, it really is very useful.

Of course, you could always install XBMC following this guide and control it, play all sorts of video, and make tons on neat customizations however you see fit.

Good luck.


There’s no way on iOS other than turning off the Apple Music and seeing what tracks remain. (doing that, You should retain all settings and be able to re-enable it as soon as you have your answer.)

You can easily see this on iOS and in iTunes, though with one smart playlist. That playlist syncs to iOS so you could go that route, too:

Match iCloud Status is Apple Music and you're done on the Mac. Then you will see your Apple Music Playlist on iOS under your Library - below the Apple Music curated playlists, under the genius playlists where the Smart Playlists are indicated with a multi colored gear.


What is the process „Tornit“? It wants to access Safari documents & passwords

Tornit seems to be located in ~/Library/UpdateMac, which one normally associates with where MacKeeper likes to hide its more shady tools. MacKeeper itself is a potentially unwanted program that one usually associates with malware-like behaviour and is something I would never want on a computer. Run a Malwarebytes scan to completely remove this application.


Default list of Quicklook Plugins for a fresh LION install? What QL plugins "should be" in /System/Library/Quicklook/?

I have Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4, and that file is present. The file is copyrighted by Apple ("3.2, Copyright Apple Inc. 2007-2011").

Looking at the content of its info.plist file, I see that its purpose is generating a preview for files with a content type UTI equal to com.apple.iconset, which (as far as I remember) is the type of files containing a set of icons.

The computer I am using is a Mac Mini middle 2011. I don't actually remember if It came with Mac OS X 10.7 already installed, or it came with Mac OS X 10.6, and then I installed Mac OS X 10.7. I have also installed Xcode.
Probably that can explain why some computers don't have that plugin, and some computers have it. It could also be the difference is caused from installed software, or an update of the operating system.

I would not say the plugin should not be there. It is not a file created from malware, or viruses to cause any issue with your computer.


Physical location of the jack:

The audio-in jack on a 13" MBP is a 3.5mm combination TRS port.

It will sense standard analog or fiber optic connectors. It also works with TRS jacks for stereo audio out as well as a TRRS jack which allows microphone input as well as control from iPhone/iPod compatible remotes.

It can work as a headphone out, line-in, or digital audio in/out depending what's plugged into it. It can also accept an iPhone-compatible headset with mic and use the mic (and remote functions for music). Some non-amplified microphone input requires further hardware to properly deliver the signal. According to the specs it doesn't, but it seems like if it takes an iPhone headset mic, the signal will be delivered, but in a less usable form.

A popular USB connector like the Griffin iMic works well with more diverse input sources and contains an external D/A converter. The iMic support FAQ discusses the many aspects of sound capture and is a great reference on the topic.

This instructables guide on making a combination headphone+mic adapter might also be of use.


How do you hide specific or certain calendars in the Mavericks Calendars (iCal) App?

Follow this procedure:

Launch the calendars app
The default view when first setup hides the calendar listing pane. I am not sure if previous versions hid it by default also.
Click View --> Show Calendar List
A list of all calendars tied to your accounts will appear. Each calendar name has a checkbox next to it.  Just uncheck the ones that you do not want to display.

Also you might see some duplicate entries - for example in holidays.  One way this can occur is if you have a Google Holidays calendar and you also have the Apple Holiday calendar checked - you will see both. Just uncheck one of them to fix this.


If you add any iTunes gift cards to his Apple ID (not yours) any purchases he makes (even via your approval) will first come off his balance, not yours.

If/when his balance runs out, then any purchases would be charged to your account balance. If you have no credit on your account, then it would get charged to your credit card (assuming you have entered one).

Perhaps you buy him a new gift card (as payment for the one he added to your account) and add the new one to his account. That should solve the problem.


Can anyone guide me in installing a driver for Epson Stylus C59 in Mac Lion?

You may want to look at the following

OSX Supported Epson complete list

The closest I found that was support by OS X was Epson Stylus C60.

Epson Stylus C60 Ink Jet Printer Download page


Do I need to upgrade my late 2011 Macbook Pro

TL;DR: upgrade your laptop with at least 8 GB RAM (2 x 4 GB) and a quality SSD.
I have the exact same 13" MacBook, same original specs and everything.  I got it used and immediately upgraded to 8GB RAM and a 128 GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD. It absolutely flies now!
I use various IDEs, Logic Pro for making music, VLC to watch videos, lots of MS Word and Excel, and sometimes have ~20 tabs open in Chromium, never have any problem with speed or system freezes. It runs like a clock, whatever I throw at it.
The cost of the upgrade was about $240 (at the time) and it gave this computer a new life. Absolutely worth it. Note:  I used an optical bay adapter to install a second hard drive and have the SSD paired with a 500 GB 7200 RPM Seagate HDD.
For your particular usage profile, the only thing you would likely notice in going from an upgraded 2011 MBP to a 2015 MBP of same specs is an increase in battery life.  Probably not worth the extra $1000, since you didn't list battery life as a problem.


Is there any service to rent cloud CPU power to increase my mac power?

I've ever used them, but Macminicolo might be of interest to you. It won't speed up your subjective Mac user experience, but it can provide computational and server-related services that you can offload.


Apple Developer Forum links broken after WWDC 2020 forum upgrade

I logged in to the new Apple Developer Forum.  Under my profile, I still have links to my old topics. They do still exist in the new Forum.
The URLs have changed. They now use /thread/ rather than /message/ and the thread/message ID has changed:
OLD: https://developer.apple.com/forums/message/335101
NEW: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/109652

and the same question posted to Ask Different: Why can I not set Safari keyboard shortcuts?
That's the details of the change. I don't know if there's a way to link the old and new IDs.


Text unselected when clicking to activate Terminal window (OS X Lion)

If you're perturbed every time you move the mouse (like me), you could alway try switching to keystrokes.

For example, to switch between open applications, use CMD+Tab, and then between windows using CMD+~

Another useful way to get around with the keyboard is to use Tab to move between all controls using the Keyboard control panel in System Preferences like so:


I found this thread on Apple's Support Communities: AU Lab Not working on MacOS Mojave .
There's an answer that states:

Update: I was able to make Au Lab show permission request, finally. I think the reason it didn't ask permission before was that it was somehow cached since I had Au Lab in my /Applications before updating to Mojave.
It did request permission when I downloaded new version from iTunes - Mastered for iTunes - Apple (CA), unzipped it right in my Downloads folder and launched it from there,  without moving to /Applications folder. That's when it said it's an app downloaded from the internet are you sure bla bla and then when I created document it asked for permission.
After that you can delete Au Lab copy from Downloads and continue launching from /Applications — it'll work.

Downloading it and replacing it with the new one from Apple also worked for me.


iCloud Drive in Finder sidebar shows incomplete circle segment

This sounds like an iCloud sync issue on the Mac end, not the iOS end. I know you said that you are signed into iCloud on each device, but make sure you are signed in with the same Apple ID. If you are signed in with the same Apple ID, then go to System Preferences -> iCloud -> iCloud Drive, and make sure Pages is selected on your Mac. For more information, see this help article from Apple.


GNU version of locate - gupdatedb fails with "gfind: failed to read file names from file system"

The problem here is that you are running GNU's updatedb with the macOS's find. gupdatedb is a shell script that expects to be running a GNU-compatible find. In particular, it converts --prunepaths to a GNU-compatible basic regular expression.
--prunepaths='/private/tmp /private/var/folders /private/var/tmp */Backups.backupdb /Volumes /System'

converts to
PRUNEREGEX="\(^/private/tmp$\)\|\(^/private/var/folders$\)\|\(^/private/var/tmp$\)\|\(^*/Backups.backupdb$\)\|\(^/System$\)\|\(^/Volumes$\)"

GNU BRE (basic regular expressions) treat \| as an "alternative" operator:

‘foo\|bar’ matches either ‘foo’ or ‘bar’

This is a GNU extension to the BRE syntax, and the macOS find operator does not accept it. So the whole prune string fails to match anything.
The macOS (and POSIX) BRE does not have an alternative operator, so it is not a super easy fix. The macOS updatedb script converts the alternative into explicit -or operators in the find command. You can modify the GNU script to do that. Or get gfind to work.
By the way, GNU's updatedb script builds a completely new database from scratch on every run, just like macOS's.
Your Debian installation is using mlocate which is a completely different implementation than GNU locate, not as widely ported, and not available on macOS AFAIK. And even though mlocate runs quickly on your Debian installation, that does not mean it runs a lot faster than GNU locate. Both run in under a second building the entire database from scratch on my Debian installation when all the disk metadata is in RAM (which is usually the case).
Apple provides mdfind, which uses the incremental database created by mds, which is largely triggered by file system events. This makes it (theoretically) much more efficient than even mlocate, which still has to traverse the entire directory structure looking for changed directories. The problem is that incremental builds accumulate errors. That is why locate, with its full rebuild every time, is still around and preferred by many.


Trouble with 13 inch MacBook Pro & about buying AppleCare

AppleCare is worldwide, and you can purchase it anytime within the first year warranty. It takes effect from the end of your warranty whenever you buy it as long as you register it at some point during that year, so just go ahead and buy it now.


How to quickly know the dimensions of an image?

Get Info
You can get the resolution from Get Info menu. Select the image and press ⌘ CMD+i, or right click on that image and choose Get Info menu item.

Image from cultofmac.com
QuickLook plugin
If you weren't on 10.9 - this lightweight QuickLook plugin called qlImageSize which can be found on GitHub lets You check the image size on the quicklook window title. I don't have any that work on 10.9, but perhaps this will help you if you wish to search for a similar one or report 10.9 compatibility to that project for improvement.


How can I export PDFs from a PC to a new iPad?

To copy pdfs to your device you should use iTunes like in this video  (just use iTunes for Windows).
You can use iBooks to read pdfs on your device.

Here is related question here.


How can I view PDF at two-pages and in the right-to-left order?

Preview cannot do this.

You can manually rearrange each two-page layout in the sidebar, but this is time consuming.

If you don't care about the exact layout, you can add a blank page to the PDF in Preview (Edit > Insert > Blank Page) before the first page. This will shift the right page into left spot of the next two-page spread. This does break right-to-left formats, like manga.

There may be other apps that can accomplish this for you. Like you said, you can do it with Adobe Acrobat, and this is likely how you'll have to do it.


How to cycle through recently *used* tabs in Safari?

From the tips on SnazzyLabs, ⇧-⌘-T  reopens last tab closed (N number of times) AND will restore the last session if all/Safari are closed.

In essence, it is going backwards through your recent history one step at a time.


how to get Time Machine backup overnight instead of every hour?

There's a nice looking piece of freeware worth trying called Time Machine Editor which looks like it'll do the trick.


Possibly installing the latest command line tools will help? xcode-select --install from terminal.


Is it preferable to buy two 8GB or one 16GB for iMac 27" 2017 memory upgrade?

Your model, like most Macs, supports memory interleaving, which means that paired memory may work better than single modules.

However, Apple's own guidelines for installing memory in iMacs make no mention of this, and the real-world effect may be minimal, (as mentioned in comments)


Can't eject Windows 7 install disk to get drivers from Snow Leopard Install Disk

Turn the machine off.  Turn it on again, and hold down the trackpad button. The disc should eject.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/mh1750.html

  Restart and hold down the mouse or trackpad button until the disc ejects.

(The other suggestions don't apply; you're not in MacOSX yet, you don't have an eject hole, and you have an Intel machine so the firmware thing won't work.)

The other Apple support page is here:-

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2801?viewlocale=en_UShttp://support.apple.com/kb/HT2801?viewlocale=en_US


A specific problem with altering the Mac command-key layout to behave like Windows

I don't think you can use alt + shift for anything by itself.  It is used for all kinds of special characters in combination with a letter key.

How Mac OS X lets you toggle between different international language keyboard layouts

How Mac OS X uses the "Option" key as a "dead key" to enable typing diacriticals for Western European languages in the US keyboard layout.

Here is where a conflict may arise.


Is Snow Leopard Server a good candidate for everyday use as a main OS?

To answer your question, you can work perfectly under Server (given the above machine) in fact, if you disable some of the services, the OS X will be very similar to the regular version. On the other hand, you can always rely on Google docs and calendars, Remote Desktop and even OpenVPN if you really need an internal network.

I mean, configuring the above (even on OS X Server) carries a lot of overhead, backup planning and maintenance.

Focus on your "startup" and leave the unrelated tasks to others. Will having a server at your place (with all the electricity costs associated) make your start up better? earn money faster?

Anyway, that's a topic for "startups". The answer is yes, that computer is more than capable to serve as a server for all those tasks and much more.


verizon iphone4: if it has access to wifi and 3G which will it use and what's best for battery life

iPhones will always use a wireless connection if one is available (and it is authorised to use it).  It will then use 3G (EV-DO).  And then 1xRTT as a last resort.  So it always prioritises wireless if available.

Wireless is generally better on battery life too.


Does Secure Empty Trash actually write random patterns of data?

tl;dr: I don’t know, but I have some interesting links.

An Apple security white paper from Oct 2012/Mountain Lion confirms that it’s only a single-pass erase:

  Users can also initiate sanitization while deleting files using the Secure Empty Trash command in the Finder. This command overwrites files as they are deleted using a single-pass erase.

but doesn’t say whether it’s a lot of zeroes, or random data.

In Disk Utility on Mavericks, the single-pass erase tool only uses a pass of zeroes:

  This option writes a single pass of zeros over the entire disk. It erases the information used to access your files and writes over the data 1 time.

It’s not clear if the two implementations are exactly the same.

It might be a little stronger than that. The tool underlying Secure Empty Trash is a command line tool called srm (Secure ReMove). According to the Wikipedia page:

  Mac OS X interfaces to srm, such as the "Secure Empty Trash" menu item in the Finder, use the DOD-recommended 7-pass algorithm, although srm uses the 35-pass version by default.

7-passes includes four passes of random data, and then there passes of repeating data. You can see the full list on the Wikipedia page about the Gutmann method, which is what srm uses. Unfortunately, that doesn’t come with a reference.

I have an old Mac OS X book (Mac OS X Power Tools, iirc) which also says that 7-pass overwrite is used for Secure Empty Trash, but again no mention of whether it’s zeroes or random data. It’s possible that the Wikipedia page is out-of-date, and that Apple has toned it back over the years.

Certainly, the most secure erasure option available in Disk Utility has been scaled back in the last few releases. A few versions ago, the full 35-pass option was available there:

In Mavericks, the best option only uses 7-passes:

However, the srm man page in Mavericks still makes reference to the 35-pass algorithm

  The -s option  overrides the -m option, if both are present. If neither is specified, the 35-pass Gutmann algorithm is used.

Presumably the option still exists, but you need to go to the command line to do it. (There’s more good discussion of this on the Security Stack Exchange site.)

  I find it odd because, as far as I'm concerned, writing a bunch of 0s is more than enough to make your data inaccessible.

It depends on how inaccessible you want your data to be. For a home user, that mine be fine. If you work for the military or the defence sector, perhaps less so. In theory, somebody with suitable equipment could read the original magnetic pattern from the disk if it’s not broken up properly. Using random data instead of zeroes makes it that much harder to read the original. (More information on the Wikipedia article on data remanence, or that Security.SE thread.)


Since you mention this has been going on for years, this is likely related to a longstanding bug in Mail.app and fetching mail with IMAP. Try the instructions here and see if it helps:

  In Mail, open Preferences and go to
  Accounts » Advanced in all your mail
  accounts and turn off the Use IDLE
  command feature. Next, go to the
  General section of Preferences, and
  set Check for New Mail to Every minute
  -- you can set a longer interval if you want, so long as you don't set it
  to Manual.

  Now your mail alerts should play for
  every incoming message, but you will
  see your messages up to one minute
  later than you would with the IDLE
  mechanism.


Is there an alternative to Find my iPhone to track a lost/stolen iPhone with SMS support?

If you lose your phone or it is stolen, it is likely to be miles away from your home and just knowing this allows you to use the 'Find My iPhone' feature on www.me.com to remotely wipe (and/or kill) the phone, or to make it bleep and put up a message if you realise you've left it at your friend/family-members' house.

An SMS-based app would require you to have another phone to find/lock/wipe your iPhone, plus there's always the chance that you forgot to run the app following a reboot, or that it crashed.

"Find My iPhone" is built into iOS, so you don't have to remember to run it.

Although 3G does use up more battery than 2.5G or 2G, this is not the primary cause of battery drain in a smart phone - try quitting some your apps to find out which one is draining the battery.

Also, read through the comments on the link you posted - there are some real unhappy users there who post about the problems. I wonder how many Android phones are out there that somebody could SMS-spam with the magic command to remotely-kill their phone....


Finder doesn't launch when a specific user logs in

First, make sure the user is the owner of their home directory.  In Terminal, sudo ls -lFad /Users/(username) and that the permissions are set at least "rwx" for the owner.  Likewise, for the /Users/(username)/Library/ folder.

There are temporary cache files in /var/folders/(two letters)/(more characters)/ for each user.  You can find the specific one for your user by doing sudo ls -lFad /var/folders/*/* and searching for the one which is owned by the user.  Moving this entire directory someplace else (like, /Users/Shared/temporary/) may allow the user to log in successfully; but, I doubt it.  A cache corruption should be fixed automatically.  But, in the interest of completeness, I'll list it here anyway.

There are some files in the user's Library/ folder which (if corrupted) might cause the login to hang.  This list is arbitrary and not guaranteed to be complete, but it is a list of the most likely suspects.  You could move these (or, even, all of the preference files) and systematically replace them to see what is causing the hangup, assuming the login works when the files are moved away.

Files in ~/Library/Preferences/

.GlobalPreferences.plist
com.apple.BezelServices.plist
com.apple.dock.plist
com.apple.dock.db
com.apple.finder.plist
com.apple.loginwindow.plist
com.apple.QuickLookDaemon.plist
com.apple.systemuiserver.plist
loginwindow.plist

Files in ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/

.GlobalPreferences.(long string).plist
com.apple.windowserver.(long string).plist

Files in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/

(could be anything)

Files in ~/Library/LaunchDaemons/

(could be anything)

Again, this may or may not solve your trouble; but, it is a good starting point.


Can AppleTV be used to display web page on TV?

As far as I'm aware, there is no web browser for the AppleTV as of today; perhaps this will be added as an app for the 4th generation model?

That being said, the only way that I'm aware of displaying web browser contents in the device is to use AirPlay mirroring. From what I understand, any Mac produced since ~2011 should have this ability as long as it is of the Core i5/i7 ilk (the Core 2 Duos can't do this natively).

There is no way for the Apple TV itself to control Safari or any other apps on your MacBook Pro, however there may be an app that could do that for you, I'd check the Mac App Store.


Can I delete Mailbox Folder in Snow Leopard

Yes, it's fine to delete this folder — the only repercussions will be that you won't be able to access the emails in Mail.app until you reinstate the account.


Can I disable transitions and animations system-wide?

I think your only option is to Reduce Motion, or perhaps turn off Transparency [which will speed things up but not affect transitions themselves.]

Jailbreak may give you more options, but I've never tried that.

Reduce Motion

Turning of Parallax on older devices can help improve performance, it stops motion effects in the home screen and in some other parts of the system. Switch this off in Settings>General>Accessibility>Reduce Motion. Tap to turn Reduce Motion on (green).

Transparency

Turning of transparency may help, though it the OS won't look as pretty. You can turn it off in Settings>General>Accessibility>Increase Contrast>Reduce Transparency>Switch to On.

Source: How to improve iOS 8 performance on your iPhone or iPad


I hooked up tcpdump to see if the sender side is in fact sending datagrams:

$ sudo tcpdump -i lo0 udp port 5555
tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode
listening on lo0, link-type NULL (BSD loopback), capture size 262144 bytes
13:53:29.964728 IP6 localhost.49781 > localhost.personal-agent: UDP, length 6

Datagrams are sent, but apparently as IPv6 packets.  If I force IPv4 operation, then everything works as expected:

$ nc -l -u 5555 &
[1] 25911
$ echo "Hello" | nc -4 -u localhost 5555
Hello

This leaves the question why does nc -lu open an IPv4 port by default whereas nc -u uses IPv6 by default, but my immediate issue is now fixed.


It could be that there are some files left on the time machine drive.  Try emptying the trash.  IF that doesnt work you can run Disk Utility in the Utilities folderin Applications.  Select the disk you want and partition it.  Then you should be able to do a full time machine backup.  Once that operation has completed select that drive as your time machine drive again.


How would I automate several delayed commands in AppleScript?

Not sure if you realize it but key stokes sent by System Events goes to the active front most window of the front most application and as such the target must remain front most and you basically cannot use the computer for anything else while the process is happening.
The example AppleScript code, shown below, was tested under macOS Catalina as an AppleScript stay open application, with Language & Region settings in System Preferences set to English (US) — Primary and worked for me without issue1.

1  Assumes necessary and appropriate setting in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy have been set/addressed as needed.

In Script Editor, copy and paste the example AppleScript code into a new document and change "TextEdit" and "Untitled" to the appropriate values for the target application and window you want the key stokes to go to. The existing values were for testing purposes.
When saving, on the Save As: sheet, change File Format: to [Application], and under Options: check the [√] Stay open after run handler checkbox.

Example AppleScript code:
property appName : "TextEdit"
property winName : "Untitled"

global theCounter

on run
    set theCounter to 0
    delay 60
end run

on idle
    my isItTimetoSendKeystroke()
    return 60
end idle

on isItTimetoSendKeystroke()
    set theCounter to theCounter + 1
    if (theCounter mod 2) = 0 then
        my sendKeystroke("a")
        my sendKeystroke("a")
    end if
    if (theCounter mod 30) = 0 then
        my sendKeystroke("b")
    end if
    if (theCounter mod 60) = 0 then
        my sendKeystroke("C")
    end if
end isItTimetoSendKeystroke

to sendKeystroke(thisKey)
    tell application "System Events"
        tell application process appName
            set frontmost to true
            perform action "AXRaise" of window winName
            keystroke thisKey
        end tell
    end tell
end sendKeystroke

on quit
    continue quit
end quit

Notes:
If you are just automating the typing of text into a text box or document, you can delete one of the my sendKeystroke("a") and change the other to my sendKeystroke("aa"), otherwise if simulating a key press for, say a game, then you would probably want it as it's currently coded.
UI Scripting can be kludgy and prone to failure.
Some applications will not respond to keystroke and or key code commands of System Events, as they are designed not to respond this type of event in this manner. Games are the typical type of application that may not respond.
Personally, I do not like this type of UI Scripting and have posted this more just as a proof of concept. It has been my experience that some AppleScript stay open applications can over time consume more memory and eventually crash. They can also cause the fans to spin up and maintain high RPMs. This probably has to do more so with some of the code being run, however, as a general rule I try to accomplish the task in a different way that does not become resource intensive, if possible.
Credit to Tetsujin for his comment to the OP, which was the basis for this answer.

Note: The example AppleScript code is just that and sans any included error handling does not contain any additional error handling as may be appropriate. The onus is upon the user to add any error handling as may be appropriate, needed or wanted. Have a look at the try statement and error statement in the AppleScript Language Guide. See also, Working with Errors. Additionally, the use of the delay command may be necessary between events where appropriate, e.g. delay 0.5, with the value of the delay set appropriately.


This sort of pain isn't practically avoidable. The solution is to unbind your macOS computers from the domain and use a product like Nomad or Apple Enterprise Connect to get the password sync, kerberos certificates that allow single sign on without all the pain of binding.

Jamf Connect is the best of both worlds now - https://www.jamf.com/products/jamf-connect/

Alternatives are the open source Nomad (which exists alongside with it's commercial version Jamf Connect) and Enterprise Connect that integrates a local password without needing to bind to AD.

https://www.jamf.com/jamf-nation/discussions/17757/about-enterprise-connect
https://nomad.menu


Adobe Premiere Pro 13.1.4 on Mojave, MacBook Pro 9.1

NVIDIA GPUs on macOS

This information only applies if you have an older iMac (2013 or older), an older MacBook Pro (2014 or older) or an older Mac Pro with an after-market NVIDIA GPU. Modern Apple computers use AMD GPUs and no separate driver updates are required.

For running CUDA with NVIDIA graphics:

You need to be running macOS 10.13.6 (most recent version of High Sierra).
mac0S 10.14 (Mojave) does not currently support CUDA
A current NVIDIA GPU with a minimum of 2 GB of memory
NVIDIA display driver version 387.10.10.10.40.105.

In this case if you don't want to buy new hardware, downgrading to High Sierra would be a better option.

Sad but True.


Why does unplugging a drive lead to data loss when moving files?

Moving by cut & paste is not really that different from copying and deleting, no.

The explanation for the data loss is buffering. When you ask Finder to cut & paste (or copy and delete - doesn't matter) - all that Finder does it ask the operating system to copy data to the external drive and delete the file from the internal drive.

The operating system then asks the external data to write data to disk. Unfortunately that is quite slow - so if this was done naively, you would have to be sitting waiting for a long time not being able to use your computer for other stuff.

This is why operating systems for decades have implemented buffering and asynchronous I/O. This means that the data from your SSD is really moved into memory (RAM), and then slowly transferred to the external drive as its speed allows. From the user interface perspective, the operation has completed and you're free to do other stuff.

The problem is that if you then disconnect the disk without unmounting, the data wasn't really saved to the disk yet. In practical what happens is that the data is simply lost.

To make matters worse this can also happen at other levels - i.e. the external disk itself might also have buffers and caches - and if power is unexpectedly cut before things are saved to permanent storage - it is lost.

This is why you always need to unmount disks from the Finder before unplugging them from the computer. Unmounting takes as long as it takes to write everything out to permanent storage and be certain that it is really stored as it should. So when the disk is unmounted, you're free to disconnect it.

There's really no way of recovering the data that was lost this way from the external drive - as it really never touched that drive. If you need to do recovery, you'll need to do it on the internal SSD.

The chances of recovery here are much better as usually when you delete a file, you're not overwriting or "deleting" the actual data - instead you're just "marking" it as deleted in the file system. However, if you kept using the SSD for other stuff, eventually your files will be overwritten and the data permanently lost.


Install older version of VirtualBox (4.3.6-91406) on OS X El Capitan

I had to do the following things:

Boot the image on Linux with VirtualBox 4.3.6 installed from a terminal using the following command:

$ VBoxSDL --startvm MINIX3 --norawr0 --norawr3 --nohwvirtex

Apply this patch which resolves the guru meditation problem.

Go to /usr/src/drivers/e1000 and in the e1000.c file you have to replace line

e1000_reg_write(e, E1000_REG_MTA + i, 0);

with

e1000_reg_write(e, E1000_REG_MTA + i * 4, 0);

Run make and make install in /usr/src/drivers/e1000.

Turn off your virtual machine.
Copy the whole directory of your virtual machine to OS X.
Install latest VirtualBox.
Download Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack and add this extension to your VirtualBox.
Done!


Applescript: Help with idle and hiding from finder?

I stumbled across this link that provides a step-by-step guide to implementing the solution to this problem using launchd.

For convenience, I've copied and formatted the relevant contents of the linked page below.

  How to fix QuickLookUIService memory/CPU issues in High Sierra

  If you're having issues with high memory (or CPU) usage on High Sierra, this is the result of a bug with the QuickLookUIService which appears to have been introduced in that version and which unfortunately has not yet been fixed. The only workaround right now is to repeatedly force quit the quicklookuiservice.

  Create a new file in your favourite text editor (if you use Apple's Text Edit, make sure the file is in plain text format)
  Paste the xml at the end of these steps into the file
  Rename the file to the same as what's within the <string> tags with a .plist extension (in my example, com.zerowidth.launched.killquicklook.plist)
  Copy the file to your library in the LaunchAgents folder (in Finder you can use Go > Go to folder > /Users/[yourusername]/Library/LaunchAgents. You may need to type an administrator password to authorize this action
  After your next login/restart, you should find the memory issues caused by this to be back to normal. If you ever want to remove the service, just delete the plist file

  Some explanation of what this does

  A launch agent is a service that helps manage applications in Mac OS. In this case, we've written our own small launch agent program that kills the quicklook service repeatedly at an interval (the killall -9 -v QuickLookUIService part). The name of the service is within the  tags (you can call it what you like) and the interval is within the <integer> tags (in my case, 5600 seconds). Feel free to change the interval to whatever works best for you (if you set it higher, it will interfere less with your normal use of preview, but also allow the service to use more memory). As a final note, bear in mind that if you are previewing a document when the service restarts, the preview will fail (you can just preview again immediately).

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>com.zerowidth.launched.killquicklook</string>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
            <string>sh</string>
            <string>-c</string>
            <string>killall -9 -v QuickLookUIService</string>
        </array>
        <key>StartInterval</key>
        <integer>5600</integer>
    </dict>
</plist>

Note: Expanded to answer from comment dated Dec 10 '18 at 20:29


Use TextEdit's AutoCorrect everywhere (especially in Google Chrome)

TextEdit's autocorrect is actually OS X's autocorrect, which is used in every system text box in the OS, in every application, including 3rd-party applications.

The problem comes when apps use their own text boxes—they then have to implement NSSpellChecker themselves. Whilst the Google Chrome issue relating to this seems to suggest that nothing has changed, my limited testing seems to suggest that it has been implemented in Canary.


How Mac OS Associate System Folder with Special folder Icon

The special folder .icns files, e.g for Applications, Library, System and User, etc. are stored in /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources and the info.plist file to control these is /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Info.plist.


Built-in display in MacBook 13 late 2011 non-retina looks weird

System Prefs > Accessibility > Display > Display contrast.

If this slider is set to anything other than Normal, this is the effect you will see - though it doesn't show on screenshots, except on the same machine, as it's a 'live' effect only.


Can't navigate to folder alias on server in the save window

I have the same problem and haven't found an answer yet.

The Problem: aliases and symlinks on the server are disabled in file dialogs for apps running from clients. Sole exception I've found is Apple's TextEdit on client, which can navigate through aliases that are on the server (with file dialog for open but not for save). Every other app, apple and otherwise, that I've tried on clients, including latest Apple Pages (version 7.1 (5683)) and Safari (Version 11.1.2 (13605.3.8)), find aliases on the server to be greyed out and disabled in file dialog windows, for both open and save. Aliases on the server work fine when double-clicked in Finder by clients.

This happens on server running macOS Sierra (10.12.6) with Server.app 5.3.1, and on server running macOS High Sierra (10.13.6) with Server.app 5.6.1.

Client macs are all running macOS High Sierra (10.13.6).

Things that work:

An alias that is ON the client can point to a file on the server: apps on the client such as pages can use that alias in a file dialog to get to the remote folder.
An alias that is on the server can be used in file dialogs by apps on the server.

My tests so far:

From client mac, make alias on the server for a folder on the server. Pages and Safari on client find that alias grey (unusable) in file dialog.
On server, make alias on the server for a folder on the server. Safari on server can follow the alias (which appears active, not grey) in a file dialog. Safari on a client can NOT follow the alias, which appears grey and unusable in file dialog.