Yes, there is a way to effectively remove all cookies from Safari via the terminal as well, preventing the auto-restore phenomenon you described. I wrote a simple shell script some time ago to achieve this.

I tested this on macOS 10.12.3 and Safari 10.0.3 and it works.

Warning: The tests I did weren't as thorough, meaning: some of the files deleted by this script might not actually be necessary in order to achieve the removal of the cookies, you should trial-and-error your way around it to narrow it down if you like. I personally use the script 'as is', but in your personal situation that might mean you'll lose some data that you actually wanted to keep.

Copy this into a simple shell script and run it (be sure to also copy the 'killall' command):

rm -rf ~/Library/Safari/History*
rm -rf ~/Library/Safari/Auto*
rm -rf ~/Library/Safari/LocalStorage
rm -rf ~/Library/Safari/Downloads.*
rm -rf ~/Library/Safari/Databases
rm -rf ~/Library/Safari/SearchDescriptions.plist
rm -rf ~/Library/Safari/WebFeedSources.plist
rm -rf ~/Library/Safari/Last*
rm -rf ~/Library/Safari/Recently*
rm -rf ~/Library/WebKit/com.apple.Safari
rm -rf /Library/Cookies
rm -rf ~/Library/Cookies
rm -rf ~/Library/Caches
rm -rf /Library/Caches
rm -rf ~/Library/Application Support/Oracle/Java/Deployment/cache
rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/*
rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Safari.*
rm -rf ~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.sharedfilelist/*
rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.coreservices.useractivityd.dynamicuseractivites
rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/*SpotlightNetHelper*
rm -rf ~/.oracle_jre_usage
rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sharekit.recents.plist
rm -rf ~/Library/Saved*

killall -KILL nsurlstoraged


I don't have the same issue, but before you try to remove the vlc 3.0.4 and try installing an older version, do you have any errors in the doctor output:

brew doctor
brew cask doctor

If not, then an upgrade, reinstall of the VLC and then force linking the app again might help. Also - if you open the console log when you open the VLC app - can you see any interesting or relevant errors right around when you launch the app?

brew upgrade
brew cleanup
brew cask reinstall vlc
brew link -f

Feel free to @ me in the comments if you make a substantial edit or ask a follow on question to review the output of the above if it's not clear how to fix this once you dig in a bit.


Will upgrading to Mavericks break my Macports?

Macports provides a guide to migration to a new OS.

Basically you need to uninstall all the ports, install a new Macports and Xcode (although only the command line tools are needed for most ports), then reinstall the ports. If you don;t do this then you might well have issues which Macports community can't help you with.

If you put your configurations in new files rather than directly edit files installed by macports these files will not be overwritten. If you directly edited the config files then you will need to copy them from a backup after the reinstall.

Note on the upgrade. Xcode does not provide a gcc compiler for OSX 10.9 and Macports is now using the corresponding C++ standard library. This means that any C++ based port could well have problems if you just kept your old Macports and did not go through the migration. I suspect that other code is likely to carry on running but when you upgrade a port or add a new one things will get confused.


SSH into LAN from outside through Airport Extreme

There are three options I am aware of
Port Forwarding
You can set up port forwarding for each device you want to be be able to connect to externally.

This assumes you know your external IP address.

For each device you could assign an arbitrary external port that forwards to that device on port 22. (Or you can do this for one device, and then connect to the others through it)
VPN
Were you to make a VPN with your local network, and then connect to said VPN, it would give you access to everything on on the network.
Reverse SSH
With reverse SSH you make use of an external server, and set up a listening ssh session. Then, on the external server you can connect to the device behind the router without being bothered by firewalls/port forwarding/etc...
This is what I prefer (as I haven't set up a VPN yet), but I have access to an external server.
You could do this with:
Device on home network ssh -f -N -R 1234:localhost:22 remote_user@remote.server.example

Where 1234 is the port that remote would use forward to the device
remote.server.example is the remote's address

Then, on the remote server ssh -p 1234 -t device_user@localhost


What does "plays" really count in iTunes?

I believe that you just have to listen to the last few seconds of a song. You can skip all of the beginning part, and it will increment the Plays if you listen to the end.


What is the method transferring an old Clash of clans on account to new device if the old device can't switch on already due to hardware problem

From last year, Clash of Clans doesn't support old iOS devices run iOS 6 and below. You can't transfer your Clash of Clans account to a new device by using Game Center. Here is the method:

Download iExplore on your computer.
Connect your old iOS device to your computer, browse to /private/var/mobile/Containers folder then copy the Clash of Clans folder to somewhere in your computer.
Connect the new device then copy that folder to /private/var/mobile/Containers (iOS7) or /var/mobile/Containers/Bundle/Application (iOS8).
Login with your related Game Center ID.
It will ask you if you want to play that Clash of Clans account or not.
Enjoy!

Source: http://cocland.com/tutorials/transfer-clash-of-clans-from-old-ios-devices


Is there a way to take a screenshot gif (screenvideo) of an iPhone interaction?

If you use a Mac, you can connect your device to the computer and use Quicktime to capture the screen as a video. After selecting 'New Movie Recording' your device will be offered as a source.

https://www.tekrevue.com/tip/record-iphone-screen-quicktime/


Find my iPhone app won't install on iPhone 6s

I'm using iOS 10 Developer Beta 7. Find my iPhone is already installed. Just out of curiosity, I went to the App Store, and did a search for the app. Interestingly, the little "cloud" icon would seem to indicate that, although I have downloaded it in the past, it is NOT installed. This is not actually the case - it IS installed.

Try going to your main page and swiping down - this will enable the search feature. Then search for "Find iPhone." Just in case it's hidden in a folder, this will tell you if it is already installed.


Turns out, My answer was simple

I added a delay function

set myTime to (time of (current date))
set waitTime to 86400 - myTime
delay (waitTime)
tell application "Messages"
    activate
end tell
tell application "System Events"
    keystroke "Good Morning"
    keystroke return
    log {"checked at % seconds since midnight", myTime}
end tell
delay (3600)


recover a deleted file while the filevault is turned on

The disk is what's encrypted, not the individual files.  So no, and no.
But if they knew a password that could unlock the FileVault, they don't need to decrypt the recovered file.


When an iPhone is backing up to iCloud, iTunes doesn't automatically do a backup of the phone when it syncs.

You can, however, manually tell iTunes to back up the iPhone. When you connect the iPhone to iTunes, and you click on it and it opens to the summary page (where it tells you the name of the phone, and gives you the option to restore it and see home much space on it is used), there is a Backup button in the right side of that page.

Check out Apple's "HT5262: Choosing an iOS backup method" on Apple Knowledgebase. It talks about the benefits of iCloud backup, the benefits of iTunes backup, and then it talks about how to do both together.


Why Retina screenshots are twice as large as chosen area?

Yes - that's the way it's coded/engineered
No - you'll need to post process the images using a tool that's designed to automate this or use Automator to make a service to resample the images.

I like Skitch and Napkin for processing retina images, but there are many others.


Repair Bent Unibody Case Mac Book Pro 15"

I could not recommend you any service, but here is my story.

I was almost the same situation about a year ago. I decided to replace the "top-case" which is the keyboard actually. I've got the old bended part and later it was easy to bend it back to it's original shape (it's really elastic aluminum) by myself.

The sad thing that the whole inside should be screwed out and back to replace the "top-case". So it's not an easy job, they even shortcut something at first time at the Apple service.

The bottom part which is just an aluminum plate can be easily bended back at home.


Restored my iPhone from backup, now cannot recover purchased ringtone

Have you tried removing it from your phone and adding it again (all via iTunes)? Can't think of anything else, and I don't think the iTunes in the cloud re-download everything for free applies to ringtones.


Can I do anything to have my iPod Touch (2nd gen) louder?

Directly on the iPod, I don't think so, if your sound settings are maxed.

Try

  Settings > iPod > Volume Limit : Off

and

  Settings > iPod > Sound Check : Off

On iTunes, go to the "Info" window of the podcast audio file, and in the Option tab, try to see if you can set the audio volume to 200%. I know it works on music, but it should also be available for the podcasts.


Notifications for Messages keep turning back on in Yosemite

The above step 4 has run together and lost its formatting.  You need to run it like this:
Copy and paste each line of these commands into the Terminal window, in order. Press return after each line.  IN ADDITION, IN LINE 1 BELOW, YOU MUST ADD BACKQUOTES (`) (like ', but in reverse) BEFORE "getconf" and after "DARWIN_USER_DIR", so after "cd" it reads "backquote" getconf DARWIN_USER_DIR "backquote".  The backquote is edited out of the lines here due to a rendering bug in the stackexchange comment system.

cd getconf DARWIN_USER_DIR
rm -rf com.apple.notificationcenter
killall usernoted; killall NotificationCenter


If you want to control the amount of data that zsh stores in its history files the look at the zsh user guide section 2.5.4 and set HISTSIZE and SAVEHIST

As for the .asl logs they are written to be any application, they are the database of Apple's logging mechanism. zsh will not read or even know of these files unless you run command to look at them. Thus I do not see how their size would affect zsh's startup time.

However doing some googling (it helps to show in the question what you have found) It appears that there might be an issue with the login command (which is not zsh but used by the mechanism to start shells). See this thread for some comments - starting from your idea of deleting all .asl files to what seems a more reasonable explanation. login without the -q flag  seems to do an ASL query for last login and that causes a slowdown. The suggestion given there and elsewhere is

  The correct way to bypass the ASL query is to set Terminal to open shells with /bin/bash (or your shell of choice) instead of the default login shell. Terminal will still use /usr/bin/login to launch the shell, but it passes the -q switch to prevent the ASL query.

Note that deleting the .asl files removes all information logged by applications and so doing this removes all chance of seeing what happened on your machine. I think that losing this data is not worth saving a few seconds on startup of terminal, just leave terminal open or try the fix suggested.


How can i put selected images from photos app on macbook to the camera roll on iPhone 5?

As long as both devices are in the same WiFi network and have Bluetooth enabled you can use AirDrop to send pictures between devices:

select the photos to share
tap/click on the sharing icon (and select AirDrop)
wait for the target device to appear
send it over


A key combination inserts invisible and festy character in Xcode

I don't think this is possible in Xcode.

This happens because ctrl+x indicates to Xcode that you want to type one of the ASCII control characters. The next thing you type tells it which one. Pressing ctrl+s inserts an ASCII 19, "device control 3". Different letters insert different control characters-- see the chart at that link for a full list. Control characters are not printable, so it's invisible. Unfortunately Xcode's option to show invisibles (Edit menu --> Invisibles) doesn't show ASCII control characters, so you end up with something Xcode doesn't like but that you can't see.

You might be able to use Karabiner to deal with this, I'm not sure though.


How to enable curse words voice recognition in Google Keep app?

Short of getting Google to allow you to transcribe words (check if you are in a school or work google account setting) you will need to use Apple's dictation if Google's doesn't let you curse.


The only way I could resolve this was to do a complete reinstall. I restored all data from my Time Machine backup using Migration Assistant, so I'm assuming an archive and install would work as well.


How to "Optimize for" an external monitor, downscale resolution but supersample for clear text?

I think you're misusing the term supersampling.

  Supersampling is a spatial anti-aliasing method, i.e. a method used to remove aliasing (jagged and pixelated edges, colloquially known as "jaggies") from images rendered in computer games or other computer programs that generate imagery.

macOS has always had support for TrueType, so any issues shouldn't be a result of poor antialiasing in any case.

What you really want to do is change the scaling of your external monitor while keeping the native resolution. You should be able to accomplish this using SwitchResX with a HiDPI profile.


The file names within the DMG are also encrypted, so unless they break the encryption in general, the filenames are protected (i.e. as protected as the file contents).
A DMG file is essentially just a raw disk image, similar to what you would get if you read out a normal block device (such as a hard drive or SSD) to a character file.
An encrypted DMG file is just the encrypted version of that raw disk image with an extra header at the beginning of the file. Note: On very old Mac OS X versions (10.5 and earlier) a slightly different layout were used where the header is at the end of file.
The header contains, amongst other things, the so called "salt" for key derivation. In simple terms, the salt is combined with the password you enter to decrypt, and run through a key derivation function (PBKDF2) to produce the actual encryption key. The use of this key derivation function makes it harder to brute-force the password, as key derivation is relatively costly in terms of CPU usage.


There are some variations in the drives supplied in Apple's products. For example, often Apple will have multiple suppliers for a part, and products often have hardware options. As such there will be other drives that are supported.

I find sites such as iFixIt or Other World Computing that are targeting DIY repair and upgrades are helpful as they provide a guide to which parts are compatible with various Mac and MacBook models.

Here are some results for your MacBook Pro:

15" MacBook Pro optical drives at iFixIt
15" MacBook Pro SuperDrives at OWC


In my experience, there are two major culprits for this unexplained disk usage:

Time machine
Swap

One possibility is time machine. If you open Disk Utility, you may see a section labelled "Other Volumes", these are likely to be time machine backups. If you do see this, then you can open a command shell and enter:

df -h

On my machine, I get output similar to:

Filesystem                                                             Size   Used  Avail Capacity   iused               ifree %iused  Mounted on
/dev/disk1s1                                                          465Gi  442Gi   18Gi    97%   5512606 9223372036849263201    0%   /
devfs                                                                 196Ki  196Ki    0Bi   100%       678                   0  100%   /dev
/dev/disk1s4                                                          465Gi  5.0Gi   18Gi    23%         5 9223372036854775802    0%   /private/var/vm
map -hosts                                                              0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%         0                   0  100%   /net
map auto_home                                                           0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%         0                   0  100%   /home
map -fstab                                                              0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%         0                   0  100%   /Network/Servers
com.apple.TimeMachine.2017-10-19-174031@/dev/disk1s1                  465Gi  428Gi   18Gi    97%   5078237 9223372036849697570    0%   /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/Smakolyk/2017-10-19-174031/Smakolyk
com.apple.TimeMachine.2017-10-19-072101@/dev/disk1s1                  465Gi  423Gi   18Gi    97%   3858374 9223372036850917433    0%   /Volumes/com.apple.TimeMachine.localsnapshots/Backups.backupdb/Smakolyk/2017-10-19-072101/Smakolyk

Here you can see that I have local two time machine backups, and these will be using space. Apple have more information about local time machine backups.

You can disable local snapshots with:

sudo tmutil disablelocal

This should turn off the feature and free up the space. You can turn it back on with

sudo tmutil enablelocal

The second option is swap, this you can most easily see in /var/vm:

$ ls -lh /var/vm
total 10485760
-rw------T  1 root  wheel   1.0G  9 Oct 08:30 sleepimage
-rw-------  1 root  wheel   1.0G 18 Oct 14:00 swapfile0
-rw-------  1 root  wheel   1.0G 18 Oct 15:09 swapfile1
-rw-------  1 root  wheel   1.0G 19 Oct 21:25 swapfile2
-rw-------  1 root  wheel   1.0G 19 Oct 09:11 swapfile4

As you can see, I have 4GB in swap on my machine, and this is also taking up space on the disk.


Can I upgrade the SSD on late 2013 retina Mac Book Pro?

The current OWC PCIe SSD's for Macbook Pro Retina's 10,1/2 work for the 2012/early2013 models. Not the Late 2013 models (11,1 (13-inch models) & 11,2 (2.0 GHz 15-inch model) & 11,3 (2.3 GHz 15-inch model) ID#'s).

They claim they will release compatible upgrades "for next year". So, I guess, not until 2014. Could be sooner, I don't know the history of their estimates->outcomes of SSD releases for pre-announced/expected products.


Can I install or update Mac App Store apps through a command line using terminal?

Until recently, the answer was no but there are open source efforts to replicate the Mac App Store in a command-line based tool:

https://github.com/mas-cli/mas

To install:

brew install mas

Once it's in, you could update all the apps that are available with:

mas upgrade

If you don't like this tool, you could also use MDM tools to package an already downloaded application and distribute it internally. Examples are Casper Suite, sftp, rsync, etc... and side load these apps. You do need to use the GUI or the mas tool to get the first copy of the application, however. So, if you already have the app, you can file share it over, but you can't get the App updated or installed solely from the terminal.

In a nutshell - you would set up an MDM server (there are now open source options) like:

https://github.com/project-imas/mdm-server

Then you would make your own App Store app that's amenable to command line updates. For that munki is a nice open-source choice:

https://www.munki.org

From there you could package the app updates and server them side loaded or use the InstallApplication MDM command to trigger an app install or update. Do note, that if you are pulling the app or the update from Apple's servers - you still need the user to enter their Apple ID and password in the prompt that OS X provides for the update. This does bypass opening the App Store app so it's a partial win, I suppose.

http://enterprisemac.bruienne.com/2015/11/17/installing-os-x-pkgs-using-an-mdm-service/

At present, the command line can only list software updates that come through the App Store the same as the previous Software Update server was used to download system updates and updates to apps that came on physical media. Terminal is not able to update apps that were bought electronically through the Mac App Store. Only some Apple apps are included in the updates using the softwareupdate command.


When the device is plugged into iTunes, look under the info tab, you will see an option to sync calendars, you can turn this off by unchecking the sync calendars box.


Import movies already on computer into iTunes

This is from the Apple Support site:

  What video content works with iTunes and mobile devices?

  iTunes:

  Video content purchased from the iTunes Store.
  QuickTime and MPEG-4 movie files that end in ".mov", ".m4v", or ".mp4" and are playable in QuickTime Player.
  Video podcasts.
  iTunes Digital Copies.
  iTunes Store Movie Rentals (Requires iTunes 9 or later).

I've had luck converting non-compatible video for iTunes and i devices with Handbrake, a multi platform, open source video converter.


How can the internal SSD be cloned onto an external 1 TB SSD (for swapping)?

I am currently typing this from the system on the cloned 1 TB SSD, my solution was:

Clone internal 500 GB SSD with Carbon Copy Cloner 5 to the 1 TB SSD (using QNINE NVMe enclosure)
Swap 500 GB internal with 1 TB Sabrent Rocket NVMe
Directly boot into Recovery Mode
Added the missing VM container with the command: diskutil apfs addVolume disk1 APFS VM -role V I was not afraid of doing this because I found an Acronis script for cloning APFS volumes https://kb.acronis.com/content/60425 which executes the command pre restore. Interestingly the size of VM after the command was only some KB.
After booting Mojave the size of VM was 1.1 GB like before

Sadly we won't know if dd and afterwards diskutil repairDisk disk1 would also have worked.

Thanks and I hope this post will help people with a MacBook Pro up to mid 2015 to upgrade the internal storage. (After mid 2015 Apple started to solder the storage onto the mainboard).


You have two distinct problems with your iMac that you’re unfortunately conflating with the most obvious damage - the broken display.

The display is most likely broken and will need to be replaced.  I can be tested, but not in a typical home or office environment.
The cable connectors on the logic board may be damaged as a fall like that will literally rip them off the board.  A visual inspection should be enough to verify if they are good or not
The fan spin is likely because you replaced your hard disk with a non-Apple one that doesn’t have a temp sensor.  A missing sensor will cause the fans to spin at full speed
The slow performance is likely due to the erroneous temp readings (from the missing sensor) and the Mac thermal throttling in response.

To fix the fan and speed issue, you simply need an inline temp sensor to send the correct data to the SMC.  However, the screen is quite expensive and you should get a quote on a replacement prior to doing this - it may be much more cost effective purchase a replacement iMac of the same vintage and sell that one for “parts.”

Also, if you’re going to replace a HDD and go through all the trouble on an iMac, you should spring for an SSD.  The performance gains are well worth it.


If you are being directed to enter a recovery key, your Apple ID uses Two-Step authentication, and not Two-Factor which doesn't require a recovery key.

If you lose your recovery key, you can create another one if you have a trusted device that is already signed into the account.  Without access to another trusted device, and without knowing your recovery key, you will be unable to sign in and generate a replacement key. See the FAQs at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204152.

If you use your Apple ID to log into your computer (as it sounds like the OP does), in some cases you can remove the link between the local macOS account and the Apple ID so that you can sign into the Mac and regain access to all of your data.  If you have a second Admin account, or if you are able to force the system to create a new one, then you will be able to manipulate your account to disconnect from Apple ID, and potentially create a new one, however your access to the existing Apple ID is lost if you can't provide the recovery key, and any data associated with the account will also remain unavailable.  This is a particular problem if you have been using iCloud Drive to store your Desktop and Documents.

In this case, you will be better off contacting your local AppleCare support line to assist you to regain access to your system, as they are likely to have either tools or process which can assist you in this case.


Use Goal0 Nomad 7m Solar Panel to charge MacBook Air?

If you look at the page for the Goal0 Nomad 7M (click "Tech Specs") It's rated for 7 Watts.

I don't where you got the "~7 amps @ <22V DC on a regular day."

So the sort answer is - That panel won't even keep the MacBook Air running at idle, let alone charge the battery.

Your post got me curious, so I broke out a Kill-A-Watt power meter.
11" MacBook Air Power Draw, battery already fully charged, measured at the wall:

Idle, screen backlight completely off: ~4.7W
Idle, Minimum Screen Brightness: ~4.9W
Idle, Half Screen Brightness: ~5.4W
Idle, Maximum Screen Brightness: ~8.0W

For the active tests, I have the screen set to half-brightness, where I usually use it:

Moving the mouse in circles with the trackpad: ~6.5W
Scrubbing the Dock (with magnification): ~11.2W
HD Video Decoding, GPU accelerated: ~15.6W
SD Video Decoding, GPU Accelerated: ~11.2W
Flash SD Decoding (not sure if it's accelerated): ~12.7W

Ok, these figures are VERY approximate (the Kill-A-Watt is not a high precision instrument), but they do put things in the ballpark.

The theoretical approach -

Insolation is the term for the amount of energy that falls on a set area per set time.
Basically, we can calculate the amount of solar energy which falls on a specific area.
The Photovoltaic array wikipedia page gives us a ballpark figure of ~1Kw/M².

Then, you have to take the efficiency of the Photovoltaic Panel into account.

Wikipedia gives us a best-case mono crystalline panel efficiency of ~25%, shich means that only 25% of the light which falls on the panel is converted to electrical energy, while the rest is dissipated as heat, reflected away, etc...

Therefore, a 1m² panel will, at the equator and with a mechanism that points it directly at the sun, manage ~250 W.

From this, we can tell that a 154W panel would have to be ~0.616 m² (154/250 = 0.616), far larger than what you have.

Examining the 7W panel you have - How big does a panel have to be to produce 7W?

7/250 = 0.028 m², or 280 cm² or about 14*20 cm, which seems pretty accurate, judging from the pictures on the product page.

Anyways, I went of on a bit of a tangent here, because you mentioned you're an EE, which is one of my main interests.


Prevent iPad from charging while connected to MacBook Pro

I don't think you can. USB includes 5v power, and I think it happens on a hardware level. As in, it can't be turned off without modifying the connectors or the hardware in some way. Not worth while.


How can I delete photos from the photo library in iOS 8?

The only way that I have been able to delete photos that didn't have the trash can icon is with an app called Cleen.  Available from the Apple app store. I don't remember if it was free or not.  Once downloaded, pull the app up and you will see all your photo albums listed.  Click on the album that contains the photos you want to delete, which is probably the All Photos album.  When the next screen pops up, you will see the first photo in that album in the center of the screen.  Then you will see a little row of blank squares going across the top and bottom.  All you have to do is swipe the photo shown up, if you want to keep it, or swipe it down, if you want to trash it.  Keep going through the album until you get to the photos that you want to delete.  (Just in case you have some photos that you are not sure if you want to keep or delete, you can swipe them to the left and decide on them later)  Once you get those photos that you want deleted in the bottom row, hit the trash can.  The next screen will show you all the photos that are being deleted and if all is okay, hit Delete at top right.  Then a message will pop up saying "Allow Cleen to delete photo from album" and then you click Delete All.  It sounds like a lot, but it is really easy.  Doesn't take hardly no time.  I hope this helps you.  This is the only way that I have been able to delete photos when there was no trash can option available.


It seems you set up some sort of git info function to be included in your bash shell. This function now can not be found. Did you update your profile / shell?


Recycle a Macbook Pro into an external monitor

Use target display mode and a hook the two together using your Thunderbolt port (on new Retina) and mini-displayport on old macbook.

See more here: Target Display Mode


Try creating a new password and pasting it into the master.passwd:

 openssl passwd -crypt -salt /s your_new_password

you will get somthing like:

$ /szArB7q9UBNg

replace the text, so it would look like this:

root:/szArB7q9UBNg:0:0::0:0:System Administrator:/var/root:/bin/sh

After that you may want to try logging in again via SSH with the new password.


How can I get back the old split screen behavior from Mojave in Catalina?

There might be a better solution to enable the old functionality through the OS, but I would be surprised if so. But I've found the free, open-source application Amethyst has been great for my usage.
To make sure you're getting the exact functionality you want, I suggest going into Amethyst's Mouse Preferences and ensuring "resize windows using mouse" is enabled.


How to change all Folder Icons to Show the content/Preview Image?

This cannot be done automatically across the computer, but there is a way to do this quickly to a group of directories:

Select the files/folders you want to change the icon of
Open the Inspector (Right Click -> Get Info) or Command + I
Drag a new icon

Using inspector will be best because you can select multiple files to change the icons of at once.

Also, as stated in this link, Apple will display file previews for some items by default.

Dynamic Previews Documentation: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201067

How to change file icons, as described above: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH13922?locale=en_US


How to connect regular iPad (6th Gen) to external monitor?

This is an excellent question as converting in this direction (Lighting/HDMI to DisplayPort) very rarely comes up.  Offhand, I don't know of any Lightning to DisplayPort adapters and I don't suspect that you'll see any as the market for that type of adapter is very small.
So, to do this, you will need the following:

The Apple Lightning to Digital AV Adapter (HDMI output)
An active (powered) HDMI to DisplayPort Converter
A USB power source.  Either on the monitor or via a USB power adapter plugged into the wall.  A regular phone charger (12W) adapter is more than sufficient.
The HDMI and DisplayPort cables to make the connections

Why is this so convoluted?  Unfortunately, going from HDMI to DisplayPort isn't very easy.  There are HDMI monitors and televisions everywhere, so manufacturers build for that.  DisplayPort monitors are designed for use with higher end computers (like Macs) and not for "consumer grade" displays.

Display converters are one way, meaning the descriptor tells you which direction the conversion goes (i.e. "DisplayPort to HDMI" or "HDMI to VGA").
DisplayPort is most prevalent on high end computers (like Mac) whereas HDMI is ubiquitous.
It's easier to convert DisplayPort to HDMI.  As such, you can get both active and passive adapters.  Going from HDMI to DP,however is not as easy so an active adapter is required.
Because it's active, power is required, thus the USB-A connector on these adapters.  If the monitor has downstream USB ports, it will be able to supply the necessary power.  If not, a simple USB phone charger that plugs into the wall will do
DisplayPort has power on it's bus, so it can "self power" an active adapter.  HDMI doesn't, this is why it needs additional power.

An alternate solution would be to connect a Mac to that monitor and Airplay your video to it.


Any risks in creating custom OS X extended attributes?

So far the only risk I've found is that some applications will overwrite the custom extended attributes.  TextEdit is one such example.  It will remove the attribute and add a quarantined attribute in its place, which will cause the Finder to give you a warning (that it was downloaded from the internet) when you open it.

So if you don't want to lose the metadata you've added to your custom attributes, don't open in unsafe applications like TextEdit.  TextMate and SublimeText 2 and vim don't damage your data, however.

(And as for name collisions, just follow the reverse DNS naming that Java uses.  For example 'com.yourdomain.yourcustomname'.)


It seems there is a workaround for this. One can buy an external Thunderbolt SSD, and set up a Fusion Drive. Since Thunderbolt is extremely fast, this is a low cost, low work solution that is very suitable for desktop machines like the iMac.

There are a lot of guides online on how to set up the disks.

It boils down to

Backing up your machine using Time Machine
Install OS X onto a third external drive.
Boot from said drive.
Create fusion drive over external SSD and internal HD.
Reboot from fusion drive and re-install OS X, restore from Time Machine

Maybe one can skip the install to external HD, since newer Macs come with Internet Recovery. This would save quite a bit of work.

Once in recovery, you can see your disks using diskutil list. Let's say you see the disks disk1s2 (internal HD, OS X partition) and disk2 (clean SDD).

Now you can create the Fusion Drive:

sudo diskutil cs create [ArbitraryName] disk2 disk1s2
sudo diskutil cs createVolume [UUID] jhfs+ [ArbitraryName] 100%

The output of the first command results in a UUID which you use in the second command.

After this, you should be able re-install or restore OS X onto the Fusion Drive.

I haven't tried this yet, it is merely a summary of the linked article! So be careful and make backups!


Numbers: How do I make it display the full year

Select the cell(s) you wish to format and open the Format sidebar > Cell section. Here, choose "Date & Time" and configure the Date entry to an option with full years.
Read more in this Apple Support document: https://support.apple.com/guide/numbers/format-dates-currency-and-more-tan23393f3a/mac


Gatkeeper prevents Photos from importing Aperture Libary

The library was on an external diksdrive.
I set the "Ignore Permissions" option with Command-I for that drive.
Restartet the Mac and opened the library with Photos and the import was done in several minutes.


Catalina partition turns into type FFFFFFF/unbootable and unmountable "disk0s2" after Mavericks install

Boot to the Catalina installer and enter the commands shown below.

Note: The values 409640 and 349609376 were taken from the output posted in the question.

gpt -f remove -i 2 disk0
gpt -f add -i 2 -b 409640 -s 349609376 -t apfs disk0


How to lock MacBook with a keyboard shortcut?

If it helps, on 10.7 Lion, I just use a global two-key shortcut in BetterTouchTool (free/donationware) to start the screen saver and lock my Mac. You'll also need "Require password for sleep and screen saver" set to "immediately" in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General. The shortcut shown here is ⌘ + L which I prefer to other solutions as its virtually the same key positions for my Windows and Mac machines!

Alternatively, you can also use Ctrl + ⇧ + ⏏/⌽ (eject key, or power key on Macbook Air) to put the display to sleep immediately (this also requires "Require password for sleep and screen saver" set to "immediately" in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General).


What is the easiest way to have Apple's Mail send an email at a specific time/date?

The easiest is to simply set the time in iCal and set the alert to email the details.

If that's not exactly what you want, you could have iCal launch an Apple Script to send a specific draft, but there isn't a built-in feature to handle everything from email.

I suppose you could use the scheduled wake event to wake a sleeping mac and have things ready to go, but this seems more likely to backfire and send it earlier if something else wakes up your mac or you open mail and have an internet connection before the appointed time to send arrives.


Although I don't actually suggest an app to sync the local keychains, I provide you with an alternative solution: you can sync the passwords between the different users in your Mac if you sync Chrome with the same Google account in both users:

Why sign in to Chrome - Chrome Help


How to format an SD card to fat32 with custom Allocation Block Size

To format a disk with custom (FAT) allocation block sizes use the -c option with e.g. sudo newfs_msdos -F 12|16|32 diskXsY. -F is the FAT type (usually FAT32 here).

First get the disk identifier with diskutil list and the block size of the disk with diskutil info diskYsX | grep "Device Block Size".

To get the -c factor divide the wanted allocation block size by the device block size: e.g. 65536/4096 = 16. Acceptable values are powers of 2 in the range 1 through 128.

Assuming the device block size is 512 Bytes in your case, the factor is 65536/512 = 128 and the resulting command is:

diskutil umount disXsY
sudo newfs_msdos -F 32 -c 128 diskXsY

An additional -v name option will also add a name for the volume.


No, you can’t make it more aggressive.

nfsd is the NFS server daemon and enabling it,  you’ve effective turned your Mac into a server.  Servers don’t go to sleep because you’ll “kill” services your network clients rely on.  Having this daemon prevent sleep is by design.

If its that important to have file sharing (NFS, SMB, iSCSI, etc.), get a NAS like a Synology Diskstation.  The “entry level” 2 disk models are affordable and extremely reliable.  This will allow you remove your Mac from doing double duty as your daily driver and as a workgroup file server.  It even has power saving settings that will allow it to spin down the drives and even go to sleep after a period of inactivity.


How to find connected Device ID through iTunes

Click on your phone in the top-left corner to show phone details.

From here, you can choose Summary in the sidebar, then click on your serial to show the UDID.


How can I copy and paste multiple texts?

Check this: http://jumpcut.sourceforge.net/

Cited from the above:

  Jumpcut is an application that provides "clipboard buffering" — that
  is, access to text that you've cut or copied, even if you've
  subsequently cut or copied something else. The goal of Jumpcut's
  interface is to provide quick, natural, intuitive access to your
  clipboard's history.


Cleaning up birth years 2000 in my Address Book

Try:

set targetYear to "2000"
set targetGroup to {}

tell application "Address Book"
    set thePeople to every person whose birth date ≠ missing value
    repeat with aPerson in thePeople
        set birthYear to (aPerson's birth date)
        if my yearCheck(birthYear, targetYear) then set end of targetGroup to (contents of aPerson)
    end repeat
    if targetGroup ≠ {} then set selection to targetGroup
    activate
end tell

on yearCheck(theDate, theYear)
    if theYear = (year of theDate as text) then return true
    return false
end yearCheck

Added by the OP for novices like him. This works. What I did: Open Address Book, click All Contacts, close Address Book, close the Internet connection (just to be sure), copy-paste the above script into AppleScript Editor, press Compile, press Run, wait until "Running..." disappears. Address Book is now open with the cards with 2000 selected. Put those in a Group for further work...


How to make SSD Drive bootable from a disk utilies restore

Steps I followed to solve:
Downloaded El Capitan to Ssd drive
Removed old drive replaced with SSD drive
Ran migration utility from time machine backup
Rebooted and working great. Thanks for the help!


Show Active Connections to "Internet Sharing"

You can try arp on the command-line:

NAME
arp -- address resolution display and control
DESCRIPTION
The arp utility displays and modifies the Internet-to-Ethernet address translation tables used by the address resolution protocol (arp(4)).  With no flags, the program displays the current ARP entry for hostname.  The host may be specified by name or by number, using Internet dot notation.

E.g. for internet-sharing from Ethernet to Airport I use:
arp -i en1 -a
This will list all clients connected via WLAN.


There many styluses in the market now a days with some good and innovative ideas.

There are even ways to create a home made stylus. Which usually uses you hands static energy. There are some good How To Guides on internet which can help you.

Some marketed styluses use some kind of rubber. To get phone recognize the touch like Ten One Design Pogo Stylus.

One most advanced stylus would be Studio Pen from by-zero. According to there website they use patented technology combining ultrasound and infrared technologies with sophisticated algorithms. In short (according to them) they type of ditch this touch sensitivity all together and use some "ultrasound and infrared technologies" to get the position of the pen tip and that is then feed to the iDevice using Receiver which is connected to the charging Port.

Hope that helps:).


Activity Monitor shows java process, jps shows only JPS

In System Monitor select the process, go to the "i" icon and press it.

It should appear a new window with some informations, see process group.

If you could not understand what's going on, go to "Open files and ports" and you should see all the files, try to reach what application is using it and the job is done!


How do I recover Game Center password if it's different then my Apple ID password?

This is a common confusion point.

All apple accounts are AppleID and you can/should first go try to reset or recover the password for each account at https://iforgot.apple.com

Any use of Apple accounts on iOS (messages, FaceTime, game center, app store, iCloud) are necessarily first AppleID accounts - so mixing several of these on one device can cause a little confusion on which password belongs to which.

There is no Game Center account or password retrieval (nor any other account) other than the main iforgot page. You can go in and check your AppleID and learn more at https://appleid.apple.com


Unable to fully maximize Terminal window

Terminal windows are always sized to show full text lines (you can check this by resizing the window manually to see that it resizes in steps), so for example if your text height in Terminal is 10pt and your screen height is 1275pt there will be a 5pt gap at the bottom (numbers not real and ignoring menu bar, window title etc, just to show the principle).


Selectively disable iCloud keychain syncing for WiFi passwords

I was able to stop my MacBook from using a wifi password that should only be used on the iPhone by going into KeyChain Access -> System -> UNWANTED_WIFI_NETWORK -> Access Control and then removing airport and airportd from the list "Always allow access by these applications". Seems to be still connecting on the iPhone but not the MacBook.


Unable to read object properties with AppleScript: "Music got an error: Can’t get properties of current track."

I'll summarize the discussion here:

current track for streaming songs is broken in big sur, refer here
current track only works for local files, refer to @user3439894 and here

And I had verify that if you download the songs in Music and then play it, you can successfully get the info.


I'd suggest you look at your RAM usage in Activity Monitor first. 16 Gb is plenty for most tasks. If you're seeing low memory pressure (Green on the graph), then you might be better off with the SSD first.

Here's an example of very low RAM usage: tiny amount of Green; no Swap, no Compressed memory. If you've been running for a long time, you can expect some swap.

Here's a similar setup using 8Gb of RAM, which is coping, but could benefit from more RAM:

Pressure is still green, but higher. It's not Yellow or Red, though; but it's having to compress some memory to cope.

Don't forget that MacOS tries to use as much memory as possible, so simply using lots of RAM is not an indicator that you need more.

An SSD will be a much more noticeable improvement, with app launches, document loading and other disk-related activities all being orders of magnitude faster.


How can I type a backtick using a German keyboard?

It can be found at the top-right corner of the keyboard while holding down shift.  Type a space afterwards to exit dead key status.


Is iphone 5 apps scale down on ipad mini retina display?

They're not scaled down. They're displayed in their original resolution, which is obviously less than the iPad Mini Retina resolution.


APFS Container Resize error code is 49153 in High Sierra

This is how I sorted the error

Reboot the machine
Go into the 'Time Machine' pane of the System Preferences
Right/Ctrl click the Time Machine drive icon
Click 'Don't use {drive name} for Time Machine'
Run tmutil thinlocalsnapshots / 9999999999999999 for the last time in Terminal
Resize the disk.


For me upgrading to macOS Sierra resolved the issue. I tried resetting NVRAM and SMC but that didn't help.

Update 8/2/2018: turns out this issue is still happening to me now, just much less frequently, about once every few months.


Mail.app in Sierra accumulating Gmail drafts

I had just fixed this problem in El Cap when I updated to Sierra, and it came back in full force. The solution is simple though. In this version of the Mail app there's no more checkbox for saving drafts on the server, but you can manually select where Mail stores your drafts for you.

As before, go to Settings > Mailbox settings and in the Drafts drop-down menu select either [Gmail]/Drafts or [On my mac]/Drafts.

Selecting the latter option will prevent Mail from sending your drafts to the Gmail server, resolving the problem with leftover drafts.

Obviously, this does mean that you can't work on your Mail drafts in the Gmail web version.


I'm assuming that you tried to connect the USB enclosure directly to your Mac to eliminate the USB hub as a point of failure.  If you haven't give that a shot as your hub may have taken the brunt of the surge

If it still doesn't work, there's a good chance that your drive may be fine but the USB to SATA interface of the enclosure got fried.

For a "quick and dirty" fix, get a USB to SATA adapter.  I keep one of these handy for doing all sorts of diagnostic work exactly for exactly the scenario you are experiencing.

This is basically a USB enclosure for your SSD without the "enclosure" part.   You will just need to open up your existing enclosure and remove the drive.  Don't worry about damaging the enclosure, right now it's dead and you're dead in the water if you can't get your data.  Just be careful not to damage the drive or the drive's SATA/power connectors.

Once you have the drive extracted and connected, you should be able to access it like you did before.

This bring us to the points that bears repeating...

Always make backups of your Lightroom catalog.  If on assignment, do it daily.  I am totally an amateur photographer and I back up my LR catalogs every time I open LR.
You learned (unfortunately) the hard way about power surges.  When that generator kicked on it probably sent a surge of current down the line.  A backup generator doesn't provide the nice, clean power you've come to expect from the utility company.  Get a quality surge protector (like APC) or better yet, get a battery backup (again, like APC) to sit between your outlet and your expensive equipment.  It's much more cost effective to have a $100 UPS die than all your equipment and work.


Is there any way to delete the Personal (Web) notebook and create new notebooks from OneNote for iOS?

Yeah I have had the same issue and for the same reason.

I think the OneNote app is pretty limited in that area and you are dependent on the web interface alot.

I am not sure if you also use Windows desktop app - but they seem to sync together.

There is an app called MobileNoter that also syncs with OneNote, only the PC version though.

In Short there are and you will need to think of some work arounds unless you are able to live with the limitations of the app.

Guess MS really wants you to buy the software on the PC:-)


Restart needed to reconnect Thunderbolt Display?

That only applies to using the Thunderbolt device under Windows 7. It's not the case when you're using OS X — you should be able to plug and unplug at will, without needing to restart.

It's not clear from that quote, but if you note, the index of Apple's Thunderbolt FAQ (from which this nugget came), items 21 through 27 relate only to using Thunderbolt devices under Boot Camp and Windows 7.


How can I use my iPad with a Bluetooth headset or hands-free?

See iPad: Using Bluetooth headsets and keyboards in Apple’s Knowledge Base:

  Bluetooth car kit functionality is limited to audio output. Additional car kit features are not supported on iPad.

The article on supported Bluetooth profiles on iOS might also be of interest. As you can see, the first-generation iPad doesn’t support the Hands-Free Profile (HFP 1.5), but the iPad 2 and the third-generation iPad do, although the Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP) still isn’t supported.

There’s also this thread on the support forums where a lot of people can’t seem to get a bluetooth headset working with their iPad. As user Dave Lucente says:

  The iPad is not a phone, so it should not be a surprise that cell phone head sets will not work with it.


history of version / price changes for itunes apps

AppShopper does this.  I don't know the answer but you could ask them if there's a way!


Can I have two mac users share one iTunes library on the same mac?

It is a tiny bit ugly - but there are formal steps to accomplish exactly what you wish. Home Sharing doesn't work so well when both accounts have completely separate libraries - each in the usual home folder - so that's not a good thing to try.

The best workaround is to agree to store the media in a shared folder. It's more work to add the same music to both libraries - but you both have totally independent backups, playlists, play counts, ratings and apps.

This works really well and you can easily recombine later or split her or your account to another mac or PC any time you choose by taking a copy of the reference files as well as the library organization files.


App crash after a long time loading iOS12?

I had the same problem a few days ago. What fixed it was uninstalling the app and reinstalling it.

Make sure that you save all your data first.

From this article:

  Press and hold the Top (or Side) button until the slider appears.

  Drag the slider to turn your device completely off.

  After your device turns off, press and hold the Top (or Side) button
  again until you see the Apple logo.


Company Mac OS laptop must connect to Cisco AnyConnect VPN in order to access to the Internet

I found the solution.  We use mandatory proxy for http and https.  So if the laptop is NOT connected to the VPN (meaning cannot hit the proxy server IP address) it cannot route traffic.


Dealing with filename extensions - bash vs oascript

As your shell variable $file will always have a file extension in tact, you need to use the path property for Preview's document, which contains the full file path of the open file, including file extension:

cd somedir
for file in * ; do
  echo file name is $file

osascript<<EOF
  tell application "Preview"
    close (every document whose path ends with "$file")
  end tell
EOF
  sleep 1
done

This is slow, however, even without the sleep delay.  Another way you could do it is to enumerate the files in AppleScript instead:

osascript<<EOF
  use sys : application "System Events"
  use Preview : application "Preview"

  script
    property list : displayed name of every file ¬
                    in sys's folder "$somedir"
  end script

  repeat with f in result's list
    tell Preview's document named f to if exists ¬
    then close
  end repeat
EOF

This is almost instantaneous, and the displayed name property specifically uses the name as it's displayed in Finder, with or without its extension.  Therefore, it matches the name property of the Preview document.


Install OS X 10.8 from bootable USB on empty Mac HDD

Insert the USB and hold alt on boot, then select the USB drive.


What is the difference between the original Apple watch, and the 2016 announcement of "Series 1"

The Apple Watch Series 1 has all the same features that shipped with the original Apple Watch. The only differences are that Series 1 models:

include the new dual-core processor
come pre-installed with watchOS 3.


Is there any way to record video on an iPhone 3G?

Correct, and yes.

Here's one you can try: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/record-video-for-free-iphone/id376582359?mt=8

You can probably find others by searching 'free video recorder iphone 3g'.

You will also find some extra options on Cydia if your phone is jailbroken.


How can I set a keyboard shortcut that includes the backspace key?

To change the shortcut of a service, run plutil -convert xml1 ~/Library/Preferences/pbs.plist, open the plist, and change for example

<key>(null) - Some Service - runWorkflowAsService</key>
<dict>
    <key>key_equivalent</key>
    <string>@~a</string>
</dict>

to

<key>(null) - Some Service - runWorkflowAsService</key>
<dict>
    <key>key_equivalent</key>
    <string>@~&#x8;</string>
</dict>

Then restart to apply the changes.

@ is command, ~ is option, and &#x8; is delete (Windows backspace). Forward delete (Windows delete) would be &#x7f;. The shortcut strings use the same format as in DefaultKeyBinding.dict.

To change a global shortcut set in the App Shortcuts section, run plutil -convert xml1 ~/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist, open the plist, and change for example

<key>Some Menu Name</key>
<string>~@a</string>

to

<key>Some Menu Name</key>
<string>~@&#x8;</string>

Then quit and reopen applications to apply the changes.

Application-specific shortcuts are stored in ~/Library/Preferences/*.plist and ~/Library/Containers/*/Data/Library/Preferences/*.plist.


Have you tried using other mice, either the same make and model or another brand altogether, and do they exhibit the same problem? If not, then you probably have a hardware failure with your mouse.

Beyond that, what have you changed or upgraded or installed on the Mac side just before this problem appeared? What have you changed or upgraded or installed on the Windows XP side just before the problem appeared? There must be something. This is the key to troubleshooting.

Reset the PRAM.

If that does not help, report back.


MacBook Pro RAM upgrade causes endless reboot

Well, it turns out that after I RMA'd the RAM that I got from Memorystock.com, the replacement RAM works fine.

Problem solved. I just thought that I'd pass that along...


Save open applications and tabs state to file and be able to restore

NOTE: Answer still under construction...

One more section to write, detailing the scripts that will sync the running state of the applications.  I have to write these scripts first.

The Objective

  Broadly, to devise a means for two Macs to save and share information on the user environment, including application states/properties, loaded documents, and actively running applications.

Your initial request was to seamlessly move from one [machine] to the other and recreate the state of open applications I had in the previous one with a command.  You've since relaxed your expectations a little, and clarified that "hot-reloading" applications is not sought, and minutiae such as window sizes and positions are not a concern.

Conceptual Methodology

1. Two scripts + a shared data file

My initial idea was to have a copy of a script (probably an AppleScript) on each machine that would have a handler that was responsible for getting information about the application environments and storing it in a shared file to which both machines would have access (e.g. via Dropbox, iCloud, ...).  The script would have a separate handler that would retrieve the contents of this shared file, and apply the settings to the local environment.  This would require the user to run the script once upon arriving at a machine in order to apply the settings; and once just before departing the machine in order to update the shared data file with new settings.

2. .savedState synchronisation

My second thought was inspired from another person's notion of synchronising the file located at ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.loginwindow.*.  Whilst doing so would not be helpful, it raises the question of whether synchronising .savedState files found in the folder ~/Library/Saved Application State would be the solution.

Admittedly, I can't claim to know what the full ramifications of attempting to sync these files across two different systems would be.  That's not to say that anything bad would happen, but it's unknown territory, so the potential for undesirable results is there.  However, my feeling is that it would largely be safe, and probably quite innocuous, given that, if anything were to go awry from a bad .savedState file, the solution is pretty much always to just delete the .savedState file, and allow the application in question to generate a new one.

I suspect a combination of these two methods will be needed.

Syncing

Syncing the ~/ folder via Dropbox

Syncing the home folder would likely only provide you with a means to make documents available on each machine, but possibly not allow you to sync the ~/Library folder if its location cannot be changed.  Also, this folder is 26GB in size on my system, so it would involve paying a subscription for extra cloud storage space.

Ultimately, if syncing the home folder is limited to Downloads, Documents, Music, and Movies, it isn't much of a benefit over having the Documents and Desktop folders synced through iCloud.

However, having documents synced is a good idea, as it will be important to have access to the same files on both computers, and for changes on one to be reflected on the other.  iCloud, whilst quite slow, is fine for this job.

Syncing the ~/Library folder

The ~/Library folder, or at least specific subfolders of it, would be a crucial goal if contemplating using .savedState files to map application states from one system to another.  A home cloud storage solution would be ideal for this task, as it doesn't levy any subscription fees; your sensitive data would be safe in your possession and not owned by Dropbox or Apple; and there'd be no speed throttling outside of that imposed by your ISP if syncing across the internet.

I already use Resilio Sync, which is free for individual use, and uses peer-to-peer transfers to keep selected folders in sync between any machines or devices on which you install the application.  It would be a simple case of selecting the ~/Library folder or the ~/Library/Saved Application State folder to be monitored and synced in real-time.  The folders can remain where they are, and if you choose to pay for additional features (one-off payment), you can selectively sync individual files within a folder, and encrypt them for data security.  I really recommend this application, and it seems ideal for this specific situation.

Scripting

If synchronising the .savedState files is successful, what might be needed is a script to open (or reopen) the applications that were running on the other machine.  Reopening will hopefully get the application to read its updated .savedState files and replicate the state it was in on the other system.  I think this will have partial success, but perhaps not total.

Retrieving a list of running applications

This is trickier than it sounds because there are various ways to test if an application is running, and no one test is perfect.  There are the applications in the foreground that are visible with windows; there are menu bar applications, some with no windows, running as background processes; and there could be hidden applications minimised in the dock, with no visible windows.

After experimenting with a few different methods in AppleScript, this line of code seems to produce a good, exhaustive list of running applications, including menu bar applications:

    tell application "System Events" to set OpenApps to the ¬
        name of every application process whose ¬
        class of its menu bar contains menu bar and ¬
        POSIX path of the application file does not start with "/System" and ¬
        POSIX path of the application file does not start with "/Library"

It takes a couple of seconds to return a result, but I don't think that speed will matter too much if the scripts are implemented in a sensible way.

A Bash method of getting a list of running applications is this:

    IFS=$'\r\n'; basename $( \
    egrep -i -e '^/Applications/.*\.app/Contents/MacOS/[^/]+$' \
    <<<"$(ps -U 501 -o 'comm')" ) | sort -u

It's fast (instantaneous), but does miss a couple of menu bar and background applications.

I think either method will ultimately be fine for what's needed, as the most important applications to capture are the ones you're interacting with in the foreground, and those ones are caught by most methods.

Storing information in a shared settings file

Writing the settings that need to be saved can be done to a .plist file, which stores key/value pairs of data along with the data types.  This allows any value to be saved and retrieved by its name.  They're also relatively simply to read and edit programmatically using either AppleScript or the command line utility plutil.

Let's assume the shared settings file will be saved at ~/Example/savedState.plist where ~/Example/ is some sort of shared folder (e.g. a cloud storage folder) to which both computers have access.

Using AppleScript, this is how one might save a list of applications that are currently open:

    property plist : "~/Example/SavedState.plist"

    tell application "System Events"
        if not (the file plist exists) then make new property list file ¬
            with properties {name:plist}

        set plistf to the property list file named plist

        tell plistf to make new property list item with properties ¬
            {name:"OpenApps", kind:list, value:OpenApps}
    end tell

where the variable OpenApps is taken from the AppleScript snippet above.  Cleverly, the make new property list command will overwrite any existing key/value item that already has the name "OpenApps", so it won't be duplicated.

Next, we need a way to quit applications on a system:

    to kill(A as list, X as list)
        local A, X

        if A = {} then return

        script jury
            property A0 : item 1 of A
            property An : rest of A
            property OK : A0 is not in X
        end script

        tell the jury
            ignoring application responses
                if its OK then quit the application named (its A0)
                kill(its An, X)
            end ignoring
        end tell
    end kill

This is a recursive handler that is passed a list of applications to quit (parameter A) and a list of applications that are to be excluded (parameter X).  It then goes through the list one by one and checks the application isn't one of the ones in X before quitting it and moving onto the rest of the list.

Re-opening documents

By employing the use of synchronised .savedState files, the hope is that, once an application on one system re-initialises (say, by closing and opening it again), it will re-open documents that were open on the other.

However, it may be prudent store our own list of documents that we can detect (to the best of our abilities) are open and active.

[NOTES FOR ME TO INTEGRATE INTO ANSWER]

I Noticed that some .savedState files are stored in ~/Library/Saved Application State as aliases (symbolic links) instead of the actual file itself.  These typically link to ~/Library/Containers/%bundle-id%/Data/Library/Saved Application State/%file% where %bundle-id% is, for example, com.apple.Preview, and its corresponding %file% is com.apple.Preview.savedState.

This means that ~/Library/Containers will likely have to be synchronised between the two machines as well.

.savedState files are deleted whenever an application exits cleanly.  Therefore, bear in mind that closing applications on one system will delete those data files, then potentially synchronise these deletions with the other machine.


If the photos were put by syncing with iTunes you can't delete them using iPhone.

To delete photos and/or albums that were copied to your iPhone by syncing with your computer are deleted by doing another sync.

Start iTunes on the computer and connect your phone.
Select your phone in iTunes and select the Photos tab.
Then DESELECT the items you no long want on the Phone.
Then click on Apply or sync.

The photos or albums will be removed from your iPhone but they will remain on your computer.


How can I prevent having to restart Safari when blocking sites via /etc/hosts file?

I've discovered that if I disconnect from wifi for about 10 seconds and then reconnect, that will force safari to read the hosts file correctly. Anyone know what type of data gets cleared when you disconnect and reconnect to wifi? Maybe that can guide me to a workaround.


Scroll lock on USB keyboard does not enable scroll lock

Take a look at Karabiner.  It isn't very user friendly for this level of customization but it has amazing power and flexibility.

The PrintScreen, Scroll Lock, and PauseBreak buttons are actually F13, F14, and F15.  You would have to configure the custom private.xml with something like this.  In this example, it will remap F14 (the Scroll Lock key) to nothing but only on a Microsoft Sculpt keyboard.  It will continue to be the same on the MacBook's keyboard.

<deviceproductdef>
  <productname>SCULPT_ERGONOMIC_DESKTOP</productname>
  <productid>0x07a5</productid>
</deviceproductdef>
<item>
  <device_only>DeviceVendor::MICROSOFT,DeviceProduct::SCULPT_ERGONOMIC_DESKTOP</device_only>
  <name>Disable F14 on external keyboard</name>
  <identifier>private.external.disable.f14</identifier>
  <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F14, KeyCode::VK_NONE</autogen>
</item>

Read thru the docs regarding the device definitions and how to add your own if it isn't in the predefined list, as I've done in the example above.

The KVM switch will still detect the double Scroll Lock keypress and switch between systems.


How can I change the VoiceOver language for a song on my 6th gen iPod Nano?

Right click on the song (you can select more than one), select "Get Info", choose the Options tab, and pick English for the voice over language.

If you don't see this in your info panel it means that the VoiceOver Kit is not installed: Follow the instructions on this KB Article to download and install it.

However those instructions do work on the Shuffle and the 5th generation Nano, but I just tried my daugther's 6th generation Nano and the check box is not there. Sorry.


It appears that the sound volumes are closely related, but you can change the tones you have selected (at least for text messages and alerts).

You can also make sure that you are adjusting the ringer/alert volume and not the media volume.

Navigate to Settings Then open Sounds & Haptics Then  under RINGER AND ALERTS enable "Change with Buttons"

Once you've done this, you can increase the ringer/alert volume from the side buttons. This alert/ringer volume is also the one that controls the the sound of the keypad. (I confirmed on an iPhone 11)

You can also confirm that your "Text Tone" is the alert you want.

An alternate troubleshooting option would be to switch the "Ringtone" and "Text Tone" pattern to see if it is an issue with the alert tone you have selected.


Symlink TO dropbox folder in different user account

If your wife's account has read/write access to your Dropbox folder, then a symlink should work. You might need to give special permission to your Dropbox folder to your wife's account, and apply those permissions to enclosed items…


Is it possible to send a text file from terminal to the Notes App on MacOS?

The following might do or at least get you started:

#!/usr/bin/osascript

on run argv
    set unixPath to item 1 of argv
    do shell script "sed 's/$/<br>/' '" & unixPath & "' > /tmp/tmp"
    set bodytext to read POSIX file "/tmp/tmp"
    do shell script "rm -f /tmp/tmp"

    tell application "Notes"
        tell account "iCloud"
            make new note at folder "Notes" with properties {name:unixPath, body:bodytext}
        end tell
    end tell
end run

Save in a convenient place, make it executable and pass the name of the file to be converted into a note as the first parameter.

PS: I didn't do a lot of testing on this, so handle with care. It has no error handling at all, so running it without an argument, or with the name of an non existing file will fail in interesting ways. Also, the HTML "conversion" is rather rudimentary, any leading spaces or tabs at the beginning of a line will be lost for instance. If a full HTML conversion is needed it might be easier to do this within a shell script first and only use Applescript for the note creation at the end.


No script is needed to accomplish that. Simply use mdfind 'kMDItemUserTags=<tag>'to find all items with the tag <tag>.

In your case that's mdfind 'kMDItemUserTags=Music'.

If you want to restrict the search to a special directory use:

mdfind 'kMDItemUserTags=Music' -onlyin /path/to/folder

e.g.

mdfind 'kMDItemUserTags=Music' -onlyin ~/Music/Classical\ Music/Сергей\ Сергеевич\ Прокофьев


Configure QuickLook to open particular files

You might be able to open them with QLStephen which opens all kinds of files that are plain text.

I am hesitant to recommend it since it will try to open every file for which you don't have another plugin as plain text which is not helpful. It has a blacklist but I found myself constantly adding things to said list which makes it kind of bothersome to use.


What you are seeing are QuickLook preview thumbnails: if you look closely at your screenshot, you will notice each “icon” shows the start of the file’s content. You are correct this is due to you installing TextMate 2, which provides a powerful QuickLook extension for source code files (try selecting one of the files in Finder and hitting space). The original file icon is unchanged by this, hence the fact it appears in “Get Info”.

As to the fact some files still display the original file icon: in my observation, there seems to be a bug in Yosemite’s Finder’s way of handling QuickLook thumbnail generation – some files will be missed at times.

If you want to disable TextMate’s QuickLook plug-in, this answer should help.


How to return the device on MacBook Air on Bluetooth?

Make sure to be more clear next time. We can't really figure out what you mean by 'I tried everything' ;)
On your Mac :

Go to Apple () menu > System Preferences > Bluetooth

On your headphones :

Press the power button for 5 seconds
Wait for the led to flash
Go back to your Mac's bluetooth settings, at the bottom of the devices list you should now see a Connect button next to the headphones icon / name (as shown on the example below)

Source: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207108


How Do I Change The Colour Of The Apple Icon In The Menu Bar

Here's a youtube video that covers how to do this in Mountain Lion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8wqOkrlX5Q

It appears to be the same in mavericks.  The easier way to get to the folders in Finder is click Go > Go to Folder, or hit Shift-Command-G and in the window type /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/LoginUIKit.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LoginUICore.framework/Versions/A/Resources and the other folder is /System/Library/CoreServices.

The files in Mavericks seemed to be named apple_s1.png, apple_s1@2x.png, apple.png and apple@2x.png.

Good luck


If you only want the latest backup, then yes - it is enough to just dump the latest folder to your extra backup drive.

Each of those folders (the dates) contains the full backup as it looks on that day.

Note that Time Machines saves space on the drive by using hard links to "deduplicate" the backup. This means that if you want to copy multiple dates to your extra backup drive, you'll probably want to handle hard links - otherwise the size of the backup will normally double for two days, triple for three days, etc.

Remember: If you're only copying the latest date folder to your extra backup, you will not be able to restore files that were recently deleted, but stored in the folders representing earlier dates.


How long will FileVault encryption take? Can I stop it?

There is no way to stop the initial encryption process once it hat started. But the good news is that you don't need to have your computer running until the process has completed. You can sleep or reboot it anytime you like, the encryption will continue afterwards.


Manually update carrier settings after dismissing prompt

Going to Settings > General > About should trigger a manual check for carrier settings updates.


Most suitable Mac OS X version for Power Mac G5?

You may want to give Mac OS X 10.4.11 a try.

Reference: http://lowendmac.com/ed/royal/08sr/tiger-or-leopard.html


Is something on the IO logic board burnt or..?

Reset your System Management Controller, based on Apple's instructions, to see if that kickstarts your charging subsystem.


May I bind Mission Control's next and previous space to ctrl+mousewheel?

Check out BetterTouchTool. It's a free app that allows you to bind a large number of system actions to the controls on your mouse, including Mission Control and changing spaces. I have a Magic Mouse, so I'm not 100% sure that it will work with a normal mouse scroll wheel, but I'm fairly certain that it will.


Can i download soundfiles directly into itunes on my iPad/iphone

No. The built in player doesn't do downloads (which would also bypass the parental controls and ratings the app is intended to enforce if set). You only get the App Store to pick apps that do this (there are numerous that do this) but they store the downloads in their own "sandbox" - not the iTunes music store.

The only non-jailbroken App I know of that injects music or movies into the main "sandboxes" is the iTunes App Store app which doesn't really go for arbitrary movies or mp3.

If, however, you are jailbroken there are numerous apps that can inject music into your library.

MewSeek allows for downloading music, editing tags, and injecting music.
iFile now also includes an option to add music to your library if you also have Celeste.


iPhone Outlook app still fetches mail when in Low Power Mode, while the default Mail app doesn't

If you turn off cellular data (open 'Settings' and select 'Cellular' then turn off 'Cellular Data' option which controls all the apps) this will prevent Outlook from fetching mail.  Yes, it will disable all other cellular data to all other apps, but there doesn't seem to be any other way to disable/change Outlook behavior.


Apple Mail: Mailboxes with different IMAP path prefixes

Yes, the IMAP prefix can be set in Mail Preferences > Accounts > mail@example.com > Server Settings > Choose Advanced IMAP settings. Type in your "IMAP Path prefix" e.g. INBOX

Note: In previous macOS versions (e.g. El Capitan, Yosemite) you will find "IMAP Path prefix" setting below the Mail Preferences > Accounts > mail@example.com >  Advanced tab instead.


Is there an easy way to unsubscribe from a "Sign in with Apple" login

This is documented in https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210426
On an iPhone, in the Settings app, under Apple ID -> Password & Security -> Apps Using Apple ID, you can find this menu, which will allow you to disable forwarding from the private relay service.
On a computer, you can access these same settings at the Apple ID website.

Click on "Manage apps & websites" within the Securtity part
Click on the website/app you want to disable
Click on "Turn Off" (to prevent mails) or "Stop using AppleID" (to delete it)


Converting an APFS volume (and it's partitions) to HFS+(non-J) without needing to migrate data

Paragon Software has a product called APFS for Linux. This would allow read/writing to APFS without have to convert to HFS+. Evidently, you have to build and install the driver. So this would in theory work with any current Linux distribution. The only drawback is the APFS container would have to be pre Big Sur. In other words, the APFS container would have to never had Big Sur installed. Currently, Paragon Software is working to overcome this limitation.
Update: In a comment, the OP posted there exists a read-only FUSE driver (apfs-fuse) available that might be Big Sur compatible.


Can more than 10 devices be associated with one Apple iTunes account?

More than 10 Apple devices can not be associated to a single Apple ID.

A single Apple ID can be used to log into upto a maximum of 10 Apple devices where no more than 5 of them can be macOS devices.

A Family sharing group can consist of upto 5 members (apart from the organizer). Each of the 5 members setup their devices using their own Apple ID.

The original limit of being able to use an Apple ID on upto a maximum of 10 Apple devices apply to each family member.


How to clean up emails when replying in plain text?

I haven't seen a good universal solution, but have found that by selecting only the bare minimum text I need to reply to, I can often get a clean, clear reply that doesn't need substantial (or even any) clean up when replying in plain text.

Sadly, the best solution for presenting these emails cleanly is a powerful email client like elm. BBedit, Safari's reader and Coda 2 are all in my toolchain for taking a complicated HTML document and thinning it down but it's awkward to send the text to a second program, operate on the document and then get it back into a reply using Mail.

I wish I could serve you up a delicious cake of a plug in, but sadly, the Mail plug in scene isn't lucrative and this use case doesn't have a champion that's programming a better converter than the one Apple has provided.

Of the reviews of plug-ins, these are the best:

http://www.tikouka.net/mailapp/
http://www.macworld.com/product/collection/6866/mailaddons.html

And if QuoteFix won't work for you, you may have to program this yourself. It might do the trick by deleting trailing spaces, but without a sample of your mail in question, it's hard to tell.


How can I get an external display that is mirrored to have a smaller resolution than what I see on my Macbook Pro?

No, what you're asking for doesn't even make sense. If you want the display to be mirrored, then what's on the external display has to be exactly the same as what's on the internal display. What you need is a new external display with a larger physical screen size.


What are some best practices for a family sharing a single Apple ID?

Here is what I do, where I share one appleid for purchases among 3 family members. Number one, only use the appleid for purchases just for purchases. then, each member should have a separate iCloud account with a unique appleid for mail, contacts, iCal, etc syncing.  Then, on all devices set the appleid for the store to the purchase id and on the individual devices set the iCloud id to the appleid for each individual separately. Works great for me.


Did iTunes 12.7 drop support for older iPods like 2nd Gen iPod Nano?

No, iTunes 12.7 works just fine with older iPods.

I have just synchronized an iPod mini 1G (2004) with iTunes without any issues.


This is a known issue with Thunderbolt displays, which can be commonly solved by resetting the System Management Controller and NVRAM.


Selecting Default Playlist Columns in iTunes

New playlists use the current columns in the main music list. If you want to remove those columns, just remove them from the main browsing window (Music under LIBRARY). Then create a new playlist and you should see the new columns appear.


How to make sure macports only upgrades to ports that are at least a month old?

You could potentially monitor the SVN repo that all the Portfiles are distributed in to determine when last each port was changed.

Take a look here: http://guide.macports.org/#development.local-repositories, and set up a local copy of the macports trunk. Once in a while go see what revision number (#####) was committed about a month ago, and svn upgrade -r #####

Make sure you remove the default macports source, though:

#rsync://rsync.macports.org/release/ports [default]

Clearly a different approach to where you were heading with the port command, but it would work.


Not able to access localhost via local IP

As far as I can tell the behavior is correct. A basic node web server uses dns.js to resolve any hostname – which itself uses the system's DNS resolution method.

A hostname "127.0.0.1" as well as "localhost" can't be resolved by OS X's mDNS responder (neither non-reverse nor reverse).

So either use your Mac's IP (i.e. 192.168.0.13) or its hostname (e.g. tims-macbook-pro) as hostname. To advertise the service in Bonjour you have to use dns-sd.

Or create several listening IPs like in this q&a.


How can I download macOS High Sierra's full installation file?

For what it's worth: I have encountered a similar issue: a very small download file (14,5 MB), that launched automatically after a few seconds... tried it twice (both times the installation failed giving me some error about corrupted information on the server - I'm not sure what it meant but it might have been related to the fact that I was logged onto the MAS with a different account than the one I signed up for the public beta with). Anyway I just retried again and just on a whim before clicking download I pressed alt on the keyboard... now it's downloading the full thing.
This all happened in the space of 10 minutes.


How to dual boot Ubuntu and macOS without rEFInd?

If you employ all the security offered by the T2 chip, then you can not boot Ubuntu. Also, you can not boot the Ubuntu Live USB flash drive to install Ubuntu. So with secure boot enabled, you can not install Ubuntu.
If you lower the security, then you can install and boot with or without using rEFInd. Installing Ubuntu to the internal drive of the newest Macs may not yet be possible.
With rEFInd, the following happens:

The firmware boots rEFInd.
The user chooses Ubuntu from the rEFInd menu.
rEFInd instructs the firmware to boot Grub.
The firmware boots GRUB from the EFI partition.
Grub boots Ubuntu from a linux formatted partition.

Without rEFInd, the following happens:

The user holds down the option key at startup until the firmware boots to the Mac Startup Manager.
The user chooses Ubuntu from the Startup Manager. (By default, the label is EFI Boot.)
The shim boot loader is booted from the EFI partition by the firmware.
The shim boot loader boots Grub from the EFI partition. Ubuntu is also made the default operating system to boot.
Grub boots Ubuntu from a linux formatted partition.

There is also option with rEFInd to do a Grubless boot of Ubuntu. In this case, the following happens.

The firmware boots rEFInd.
A driver is installed by rEFInd that allows the firmware (and thus rEFInd) to read linux formatted partitions.
The user chooses Ubuntu from the rEFInd menu.
rEFInd instructs the firmware to boot Ubuntu from a linux formatted partition.
The firmware boots Ubuntu.

There are other scenarios for booting Ubuntu. The three given are fairly common.


I had exactly the same issue and it seems to have been solved in the latest iTerm2. But if your profile was created before the fix like mine, a little configuration is needed:

Go to Preferences -> Profiles -> <Your Profile> -> Terminal, make sure 'Report terminal type' is set to xterm-256color (or xterm)
Go to Preferences -> Profiles -> <Your Profile> -> Keys, click Presets -> xterm Defaults

And then you can see ^F1 ... ^F12 being correctly mapped:


Is it possible to download Snow Leopard?

Unless you're part of the Apple Developer Program, or you have access to a server running in an enterprise environment that is licensed to distribute copies of OS X, no.

Since OS X Lion is newly released, you will likely find less and less support for Snow Leopard from this point forward.  Lion is, as of now, distributed ONLY via download, so you may want to consider just getting Lion unless you need Snow Leopard for a spec


Try to rearrange the apps the way you want them directly on iTunes before you sync, and then click Apply instead of Sync...

Plus...is your iPhone jailbroken? In this case, if you hid some apps on the iPhone, when you sync with iTunes it could rearrange them oddly...


How can I search through all mail folders on my iPad?

You can search through the All Mail folder instead.


How do I stop email addresses from spam autocompleting in Apple Mail?

One possible option is to delete the file that stores all that data. That file is stored on:

/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/

There is a file called:  MailRecents-v4.abcdmr

Seems like that file stores all the autocomplete address.

If you delete that file you will lose all others previous recipents address. So I'll follow the following steps:

In Mail.app: Menu Window > Previous Recipents. There copy all address that you don't have stored in your contacts and you want to keep
Close Mail.app
Backup MailRecents-v4.abcdmr file by copying it to desktop (for example)
Delete all files called MailRecents-v4.abcdmr stored on /Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/ folder. You will see another MailRecents-v4.abcdmr-* files. They store other info of the autocomplete address.
Open Mail.app and try to create an email.

PS: If something goes wrong opening the Mail.app on the step 5., restore the backup files that you copy to the desktop.


How to get rid of the stocks app from spotlight?

If you do not want an app showing in Spotlight you can add it to the Privacy tab in: System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy

You can add by clicking [+], or drag a folder, disk or app into the list section.


The only way to avoid a user being able to access your data is to remove your data from the machine. This is due to the fact that a user could enable the root user via Single User mode on boot and can then have unfettered access to the system. You can put up blocks to hinder this as well, but that depends on your desire to keep all information secure.

A standard user account is the easiest option and is somewhat effective. However, your friend will not be able to do certain things on the machine since they won't have admin rights. The level of access necessary would hinge on how much the friend would need to do while they have the machine.


How can I get explicit versions of songs from iCloud?

I know this is not what you want to hear, but there is currently no workaround for this problem, and Apple has supposedly been working on this since February.

When you say

  Just to clarify, I'm what has happened is that my iTunes match version of a song is the clean version. What was uploaded was not.

it makes it seem (from my understanding of the question) that you have a misconception of the iTunes Match service.  iTunes Match identifies your songs (and the explicit ones) and ties them to your Apple ID so that every device on that Apple ID can have streaming and downloading rights to higher-quality DRM-free (256kbps) songs it matched it to, not the songs that you "uploaded".

Although, the fact that it probably isn't really fully uploaded may contribute to your problem.  Apple's "uploading" process most likely fingerprints the song by taking a short sample of it rather than the full song.  This means that it is difficult to tell whether the song is clean or explicit, and Apple has acknowledged this.  Some users have even reported iTunes Match giving them the instrumental version of an album.

This is a bug in iTunes Match that will require a new method to match songs.  Currently there are no workarounds, but you may phone Apple to fix the songs that you want explicit or complain on their feedback page.


First of all, the direct answer - yes, you can wipe data without loosing your apps. This will not give significant if any at all improvement in mac's performance, though.

To do it, just clean your home folder, but be careful not to remove the following folders:

~/Applications
~/Desktop
~/Documents
~/Downloads
~/Movies
~/Music
~/Pictures
~/Public

Also, you can remove all contents of all folders except ~/Applications to keep applications intact.

Now let's move to actions which will actually help to improve the performance.
Macs get slow for a reason. What's good about OS X is that you can always see this reason.

Open ActivityMonitor application which is within Utilities folder and sort the list by "% cpu" in descending order (two clicks onto column header). Now you see which applications consume most of CPU power. Probably the violator will be there. It is up to you whether to uninstall these apps or to keep them.

Next, open Console, which is still within Utilities and look in All Logs section. If you see some king of logs dropping constantly with high speed that's another possible violator.

Next, open Disk Utility and perform Check Disk and Check/Repair permissions. Sometimes helps.


How do I prevent duplicate doc icons when using a manually created .app file for a Unix executable on macOS?

No, the launched application will always have a separate Dock Tile. This is because the AppleScript app is just a launcher, not the launched application itself.


Why is VLC verified every time I open a file that is supposed to open with it?

If your Applications folder doesn't contain VLC.app, you probably didn't install it properly. The verifying process (trying to start VLC) indicates that a dmg containing the app has to be opened.

Since VLC is a self-containing app you don't have to initiate an installation. Instead open the downloaded VLC.dmg, drag and drop the VLC.app inside the mounted dmg to the folder /Applications. Then unmount the dmg and start VLC.


Cable that supports stereo line in for the 30 pin connector on old iPhones/iPods?

Seems like this might be it:
http://www.ikmultimedia.com/mobile/products/irighd/
But it's not cheap.


How can I print e-mails landscape from Outlook 2010?

This works in Entourage 2007 so I'm assuming that it work on Outlook 2010.

Try File > Page Setup then select Landscape. Or File > Print... > then select "Layout" > and change it Landscape.


How play a YouTube video in the background on an iPad?

Follow these steps:

Open Safari on your iPad
Go to www.youtube.com and search for a video
When the video you choose is playing, press the home button
The music will stop playing
Slide from the button to the top (Control Center)
Press the play button

Normally, you can now hear the audio from your YouTube video..


Command Line - Enable Remote Login and Remote Management

Modifying remote login and remote management settings is done with two different commands - both executed as root:

systemsetup
kickstart

To enable remote login for members of the admin group enter:

sudo systemsetup -setremotelogin on

To restrict access use dseditgroup. First check if it exists and add it if necessary:

dseditgroup com.apple.access_ssh
dseditgroup -o create -q com.apple.access_ssh

and add a user group:

sudo dseditgroup -o edit -a admin -t group com.apple.access_ssh

To enable remote management for admin users enter:

sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart -activate -configure -access -on -users admin -privs -all -restart -agent -menu

To check other options enter:

sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart --help


It probably tries to look up the weather to answer that question and fails to find the weather at your location.


I have fixed the issue by using Karabiner-Elements to disable my built-in keyboard when an external one is connected. Gotta love those mechanical keyboards.

I will also consider getting my keyboard fixed when I can afford it (in terms of both time & money).


iPhone 5S Personal Hotspot sometimes automatically turns on

It seems you're seeing the "Instant Hotspot" feature available on the devices running iOS 8 or later. It's a part of Apple's continuity features that lets you share the data connection from your iPhone or iPad (cellular) to your WiFi only Apple device. It uses your Apple ID for authentification, BT LE for connection and Wi-Fi for data transfer. Thus, it's different from a personal hotspot, which required a password. You can read about it here: https://support.apple.com/en-in/HT204681#hotspot

As of iOS 9.3, you cannot disable the Instant Hostspot. Only way is to call your carrier and have them remove the feature from your account.


Can I sidestep a red line spelling checker in words other than English?

Language and Region doesn't really have anything to do with spelling in MacOS.  Instead go to System Preferences/Keyboard/Text/Spelling and set the language there, plus maybe in Edit > Spelling and Grammar > Show Spelling and Grammar if necessary.

Some non-Apple apps like Word have their own independent spelling settings.

If you need to do both languages at once, you can try the Automatic setting in Spelling, after going to the Setup item and checking the boxes for just those two languages.  How well this works in practice you will have to determine by testing with your particular text.

A better solution would be to use a more advanced app like Pages or Word, where you should be able to set the language of individual text runs so that the right spell check is used for each.

I think it may work better in iOS.  If you have such a device, activate the French and English keyboards and dictionaries.  My initial test indicates it handles a text like yours correctly.


Send notifications to users that app is being discontinued

I'd address this question to StackOverflow.com. Basically you'll need to create a UIAlert or a UIAlertController and yes, you will need an update to the app.


How do I get iTunes to take my security update info?

Eventually, I gave the same answers but left the backup email blank. That was accepted by iTunes and I was able to finish up and continue downloading new apps.

Next, I went to https://appleid.apple.com and chose "Password and Security" where I entered answers to 2 of the 3 questions I just generated. Then I was able to update all the 3 answers and add a "Rescue Email Address".

I'm not 100% sure if omitting the email was what got it to work or if it was just a matter of timing but I wanted to post this in case it helps anyone else get past the issue.


If it most often hangs during fsck then I would lean pretty hard towards it being a drive failure. Also, resetting the PMU could be worth a shot. Does the battery hold a charge?

If so, shut down, unplug from charger, wait 5 minutes, seriously wait 5 minutes, then boot from the battery. shut down after boot, reconnect your power adapter. Boot. Notice I wrote shut down specifically and not re-boot. Give that a try.

As far as the fans going full blast- this is normal for safe mode boot.


How to change/customize mail signature in Mountain Lion?

Quit Mail, edit the .mailsignature file with a text editor changing the HTML to whatever you like then right click the file in Finder and select "Get Info" then tick the "Locked" checkbox.  This prevents Mail from resetting the file to the original version and it uses your version.


Need help using AirDrop between iPhone 8 Plus and MacBook Air

I'm now 100% sure, but because of the old operating system on the computer, there could be some compatibility issues. If your able to I would suggest upgrading to El Captain, macOS Sierra or if your computer can support it, macOS High Sierra. You can upgrade it via the App Store.


How many 27" Thunderbolt Displays does the 2020 M1 Mac mini support?

Neither of those two suggested display configurations are possible, I'm afraid. You can only connect 1 of the 27" Thunderbolt displays to the Thunderbolt 3 ports on the M1 Mac Mini. It doesn't matter if you daisy chain two monitors or plug them into each of their own Thunderbolt 3 ports - it still won't work.
The only way to natively hook up 2 displays to the M1 Mac Mini is to drive one display (and one display only) through the Thunderbolt 3 port and the other through the HDMI port. Obviously the 27" Thunderbolt Display does not connect with the HDMI port.
When I say natively, I mean that it is ofcourse possible to use non-native display options - most popular would be a variety of DisplayLink products.
Adapters such as this do exist that converts the HDMI output to a USB-C style DisplayPort output. I guess you could plug a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter into that, but I doubt that it would work.


Cannot Remove Configuration Profile On iPhone

I believe you will have to wipe your phone and not restore from backup. Some configuration profiles allow the creator to prevent removal of the profile.

Apple's configuration reference lists the following key the creator of the profile probably used:

  PayloadRemovalDisallowed -
  Optional. Supervised only. If present and set to true, the user cannot delete the profile (unless the profile has a removal password and the user provides it).


How can I view a list of system and application keyboard shortcuts?

Try the utility CheatSheet.

It appears that after downloading the utility, press the Command key a little longer than usual and you are then presented with the currently active keyboard shortcuts. Check out the software below

https://www.mediaatelier.com/CheatSheet/


Why is my "New Zealand" bookmarks folder not appearing on my iPhone?

I followed the troubleshooting steps in TS4001 (linked in the question), and now the errant folder is on my iPhone with what appears to be the correct list of bookmarks.


How to remove special character from a folder name?

FWIW. Below is a simple script to rename a file(or directory).

> cat rename-file
#!/bin/bash
source=$1
target=`echo "$source" | sed -e 's/[^A-Za-z0-9._-]/_/g'`
if [ "$source" != "$target" ]; then
    mv "$source" "$target"
fi

For example (go to the directory, write the command and tab-expand the filename)

> ls -1
'a\b(c#d@e'
> rename-file a\\b\(c#d@e
> ls -1
a_b_c_d_e

You might want to fit the translation to your needs.

s/[^A-Za-z0-9._-]/_/g