Tags - best practice for using tags to replace hierarchical folder structure

Experts recommend that you should set up the minimal hierarchical folder structure that is logical for you, and use tags for all other categories.
For example, Kerry Gleeson's classic book The Personal Efficiency Program (1994, 4th edition 2009) recommends the following three folders: 1. Working, 2. Reference, 3. Archives. "Working" would contain files related to projects you have not yet finished (organized into subfolders by project); "Archives" would contain finished projects (perhaps organized into subfolders by year or month); "Reference" would contain files that are unrelated to particular projects. David Allen's classic book Getting Things Done (2001) recommends similar categories.
But Gleeson and Allen's recommendations are just examples; use whatever folder structure seems right for you. That's one of the lessons of the book The Science of Managing Our Digital Stuff (2016) by human–computer interaction researchers Ofer Bergman and Steve Whittaker. Bergman and Whittaker describe "the user-subjective approach to personal information management" which has three principles:

Organize stuff by project, just like Gleeson and Allen recommended, as I mentioned above (and in addition to creating a project folder in your folder hierarchy, you can also create a tag for the project, and create a Smart Folder to retrieve all items tagged with that project tag, including email and calendar events, as described below);
Organize stuff by its importance to you, which means that stuff you think is important should be highly visible and accessible, and stuff you think is less important should be less visible, so as not to distract you with clutter (part of the purpose of the "Archives" folder mentioned above is to make older, closed projects less visible, and hierarchical folders in general are great for hiding stuff that is less important);
Organize stuff by context, which means in connection to related attributes: internal context includes your thoughts while you were interacting with an item (these thoughts can be put into tags, as Brett Terpstra describes in a quotation below), external context includes the place where you were or the other items that you were using while you were using an item (these contexts can be put into tags or links); social context includes other people related to the item, such as other people who have edited the item; and temporal context includes when you last edited an item, why, and what state you left it in (this information is put in, for example, a file's date modified and date created, and in the file versioning system available in macOS since Lion (10.7), and more explicitly in the "commit" messages used in version control systems such as Git).

You can manage tags in many ways, which I will describe in detail below:

in the Finder,
in Spotlight searches and Smart Folders,
in third-party apps,
on the command line,
in scripts,
in Save dialog boxes, and
in many apps, by clicking on the title bar of a document window to see and edit a list of tags for that document.

In the Finder, make sure you have the Edit Tags button enabled in the toolbar of Finder windows (it is enabled by default, but if you disabled it you can enable it again from the Finder menu View > Customize Toolbar...) and the Tags list enabled in the sidebar of Finder windows (it too is enabled by default, but if you disabled it you can enable it again from the Finder menu Finder > Preferences... > Sidebar). You can customize the list of tags in the sidebar from the Finder menu Finder > Preferences... > Tags. In the Finder, you can select file(s) and then add or remove tags by using the Edit Tags button (add a keyboard shortcut in the Keyboard system preference pane if you wish) or the Get Info window (command + I) or the Inspector modal window (option + command + I).
You can search by tags in the search field in the toolbar of Finder windows: just start typing the name of a tag, and a menu will drop down with a list of tags: click on the desired tag to finish the search. (Then click on the Save button if you want to save the search as a Smart Folder.) You can search for tags in Spotlight searches by typing the prefix tag: and then the tag name. In both of these search fields, you can also search for multiple tags at once and use the Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT (or the minus sign –, which means NOT) to narrow search results: for example, tag:trip NOT tag:france is equivalent to tag:trip -tag:france. If you search your entire computer with Spotlight, you can also edit the tags of any email (from Mail.app), calendar events (from local or iCloud calendars in Calendar.app), or reminders (from Reminders.app) that appear in the search results; this is a great way to tag items from multiple apps for inclusion in a single tag search result or Smart Folder.
The Finder is not always the best way to browse by tags. Some people have called tags "Finder tags"—but this phrase is a misnomer because tags are an extended attribute in the filesystem and are not limited only to the Finder! You can also tag files and browse by tags in third-party apps such as Fresh and Leap from Ironic Software. I find Leap to be an especially excellent way to manage tags, thanks to its tag cloud and many ways of viewing files that are not available in the Finder. You can also index your files in the information-management app DEVONthink, which reads and writes standard tags but also allows you to organize tags into a hierarchy, which allows for what librarians call faceted classification.
The easiest way to use tags on the command line is to install James Berry's command-line tool tag, which can be installed with either of two package managers: Homebrew (brew install tag) or MacPorts (sudo port install tag). After installing tag, you can use it to search for tags and to tag files on the command line; for more information, consult tag --help or man tag. You can also use tag in scripts, either stand-alone shell scripts or as part of an Automator workflow.
Here is the tagging philosophy of software developer and tag enthusiast Brett Terpstra:

The beauty of tagging, as you may know, is that you can easily assign multiple categorizations and topics to each item, rather than just having them exist at one location which defines it as a type or part of a static collection. I still use the shallow hierarchy of folders that drill down to individual projects and topics, so it's not a "one pile" deal. I couldn't function like that; it's difficult to weed, and if metadata is lost, so is the file, essentially. I use folders to maintain filesystem sanity. I use tags and other metadata to maintain my sanity.
I also use tags on iCal events, emails, web sites and other elements of my system. They're easy to filter in searches and allow me to make a project "folder" that contains more types of data than Finder would normally make convenient.
[...]
The secret, which I've learned from a few years of doing this, is to tag intelligently, sparingly and consistently. Being liberal with tags like "important" or "flagged" just means more upkeep and reviews that have to be done to keep the tags relevant. While tags like "neat" or "supercool" seem silly to me, I use one "inspiration" tag on anything that I'm saving just because it's, well, inspirational. I have a Smart Folder in Finder that pulls up everything with that tag, and then I can filter the files based on date, type, etc. If I add additional tags, they are pretty general, such as "color," "webdesign," or "productivity." These are big buckets I can dive into when I need an idea, or a kick in the pants. The tags on project and research files tend to be more specific, and I can drill down to precise sets of files by typing a few words in Tags or HoudahSpot.
To keep the cruft down, I use tags which aren't already defined by other metadata like the creation or modified date, the filetype, the filename, etc. I do tag files with the name of their parent project or topic, even though it's often redundant to the folder hierarchy. This allows me to tie projects together across multiple folders, disks or even servers. Sometimes a file is more strongly tied to a topic than it is to an individual project. Say it's a general reference item or a stock photo that I gathered while working on a specific project, but that I know I'll need again. I put it into a reference folder or photo collection, and tag it with the related project. It's easy to view it in the context of the project with a tag search, but part of a larger collection of similar items at the same time.
When in doubt, I usually choose tags based on the first thought that pops into my head. Chances are, when I'm looking for it again in a year, I'll have the same thought. It doesn't always work, but I've had a pretty good success rate over the last couple of years. As often as possible I try to reuse tags; a tag that reveals one or two files is a useless tag. My "Yearly Review" includes weeding out tags that have very few associated files, or that could be merged into more common tags.

Keep in mind that you may lose your tags if you transfer files to a filesystem that does not support tags, or if you use a version control system like Git that does not support tags. Some important reading on this topic includes:

Brett Terpstra's blog post "How to lose your tags"
The Ask Different question "Are tags portable, and if so how?"


How to create an option in the Print menu with Automator

Solution
Kept playing around after asking and found the right set of actions to add to the workflow to get the result I want. In case anyone has a similar question/requirement in the future, the way to do this is:

Create new Automator flow and select 'print plug-in' - This will add the option to the bottom left button when in the print dialog.
(In Automator) - 'Open finder items' - There is a dropdown there to specify the application you wish to open the newly created PDF to. E.g. Evernote (which I used to test to make sure this flow is working) will create a new note with the output PDF within it.


How to allow install of non app store or identified developers on MacOS Sierra

From: How to Allow Apps from Anywhere in macOS Sierra Gatekeeper

Quit  out of System Preferences

Open the Terminal app from the /Applications/Utilities/ folder and then enter the following command syntax:
sudo spctl --master-disable

Hit return and authenticate with an admin password

Relaunch System Preferences and go to “Security & Privacy” and the “General” tab

You will now see the “Anywhere” option under ‘Allow apps downloaded from:’ Gatekeeper options


Unable to login with Apple ID in iBooks Author

The error message is misleading. The real issue is that you need a separate Apple ID to publish ebooks.
Here's what you should do:

Go to https://appleid.apple.com and create a new Apple ID. When
asked for an email address, don't re-use the one you entered for
your primary iTunes account. I made that mistake and my account
became inaccessible. I had to call Apple support to finally fix the
problem.
Download iTunes Producer. Install and start it. Log in using your newly created Apple ID to your iTC account.
Create a new project in iTunes Producer. Add the cover image, the screenshots, and your ebook. Set the price and finally submit the book.


MS Remote Desktop on MacBook running Yosemite

There is no Macbook "Early 2014". There's a Macbook Air Early 2014, which is perfectly capable of running Catalina 10.15 & is not 'stuck' with Yosemite.
Microsoft have removed RDC v8 from the app store so your best chance  if their support won’t help you is from a 3rd party site - google "microsoft remote desktop 8 mac" for a few sources… however, whether or not these can be trusted is another thing entirely.
As your OS is so far out of date that it's already insecure, I wouldn't be rushing to download other potentially insecure things to it.


External HD with a Filevault 1 home directory, readable from Lion?

Yes you can. I've used this to recover data from an old Macbook Pro hard disk when I couldn't boot the computer itself using a SATA-to-USB caddy.

Once the old drive is attached, first you need to locate the .sparsebundle file containing your encrypted home directory on your old hard disk. This lives in a hidden folder

/Users/.<username>/<username>.sparsebundle

in my case this would be

/Users/.binarybob/binarybob.sparsebundle

Once you've found this, you can mount it using the terminal with

hdiutil attach binarybob.sparsebundle

You will be prompted for your password. Once you've entered it correctly, your home directory will be mounted and visible as a drive from the Finder (and rooted  at /Volumes/binarybob)


Just upgraded to Mountain Lion and I have to buy iPhoto again?

You can always re-run the disc based installer and avoid re-purchaing the app from the App Store. Eventually you will buy a new Mac which will then allow you to claim the App Store licenses for iLife without paying additional fees.

I'm stuck in the same boat with Aperture. The convenience of the App Store isn't enough to make me want to re-pay for the software I have a DVD based install.


Bootcamp Assistant thinks SSD I'm booting from is an External Drive — help?

Apple does not support running Windows from USB drives. This does not mean you can not, just that Apple does not provide a way to do so. This also does not mean you can run Windows from an USB drive. I lot depends on which Mac you own. For sure, the Boot Camp Assistant is not going to help install Windows on a USB drive.

After installing Windows (internally) using the aid of the Boot Camp Assistant application, Windows boots and executes exactly the same as if you installed on a PC. In fact, you can install Windows on your Mac without OS X installed. One user posted where the Boot Camp Assistant was used to create the USB Windows Installer. Once booted from this installer, the internal disk was wiped clean of OS X and Windows was installed as the only operating system.

The company twocanoes offer a product called WinClone. They claim it can be used to migrate Windows to an USB drive and then booted using a Mac. See the link Migrate Windows 8 or higher to an External Drive . The key word here is migration. Windows was installed somewhere else, then migrated (copied) to the USB drive.

Instructions for installing Windows 10 on an external drive can be found as several answers to the question: Is it possible to use Boot Camp with Windows 10 from an external HDD?

Personally, I prefer my answer which only requires the external drive and the Windows 10 ISO file.


How to create a new partition on FileVault disk on MacOS

Your 500 GB disk has about 250 GB of unallocated disk space (starting at block 490620296 and ending at block 977105026).

To create a new partition in the unallocated disk space you have to boot to another boot disk.

Preparation:

Attach a backup drive and backup your drive.
Detach the backup drive
Restart to Internet Recovery Mode by pressing alt cmd R at startup.

The prerequisites are the latest firmware update installed, either ethernet or WLAN (WPA/WPA2) and a router with DHCP activated.
On a 50 Mbps-line it takes about 4 min (presenting a small animated globe) to boot into a recovery netboot image which usually is loaded from an Apple/Akamai server.

I recommend ethernet because it's more reliable. If you are restricted to WIFI and the boot process fails, just restart your Mac until you succeed booting.

Alternatively you may start from a bootable installer thumb drive (preferably Yosemite or El Capitan) or a thumb drive containing a full system (preferably Yosemite or El Capitan). If you boot to a full system and login as admin you have to prepend sudo to execute some commands like gpt ... or newfs_hfs ...!

Modify the GUID partition table and add a new partition

Enter diskutil list and gpt -r show /dev/diskX (with diskX: the disk identifier of your internal disk (probably disk0)) to get an overview. In the commands below I assume the disk identifier is disk0.
Now add a new partition with:

gpt add -b StartBlock -i IndexNumber -s size -t type disk #size has to be dividable through 8!

In your case:

diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk2 #unmount the FileVault2 volume if unlocked
diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk0
gpt add -b 490620296 -i 4 -s 486484728 -t 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC /dev/disk0

Get the disk identifier of the new partition

diskutil list #probably disk0s4

Format the new partition:

newfs_hfs -v "Volume Name" -J /dev/disk0s4

To quit Terminal enter:

exit

and quit Terminal
Open Disk Utility to verify the new volume
Reboot

In case you want to move the recovery partition to the end of the disk first

This is not recommended if your first main volume is encrypted with FileVault2. The first Recovery HD contains some encryption keys to unlock the FileVault2 volume. Moving/changing the Recovery HD may render your FileVault2 volume unaccessible and useless.

Create a new recovery partition and clone the old one:

diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk2 #unmount the FileVault2 volume if unlocked
diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk0
gpt add -b 975835264 -i 4 -s 1269760 -t 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC /dev/disk0
dd if=/dev/disk0s3 of=/dev/disk0s4

remove the old recovery partition and add a new normal partition

diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk0
gpt remove -i 3 /dev/disk0
gpt add -b 489350536 -i 3 -s 486484728 -t 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC /dev/disk0

Get the disk identifier of the new partition

diskutil list #probably disk0s3

Format the new partition:

newfs_hfs -v "Volume Name" -J /dev/disk0s3

To quit Terminal enter:

exit

Open Disk Utility to verify the new volume
Reboot


Deleted Safari and now I cannot get it back. Mavericks

Safari gets reinstalled:

Sometimes when you download and install a Combo Updater.
Always when you reinstall the OS.

You could also use a tool like Pacifist to get the app from the install package (or Time Machine from your backup), but it depends on how you lost the app whether you want to go in like a surgeon or have the deluxe treatment. Unless you are sure you can use Pacifist, I'd start with the Combo and then move to the normal installer.


This is normal and something that Apple clears up most of the time and is almost always harmless when it’s Apple code dropping two versions of the library.

See this other example - How to fix the error: "AppleSpell" tried to hijack endpoint "it (Apple)_OpenStep" from owner?

XPC is an inter-process call where one part of a program calls out to another to do something, so these frameworks have a default location - see the actual warning that the same “name” is defined in two places, so Apple would patch that up going forward when you apply updates.

I’d focus on anything actually not working and then we can dig into it - you could get breakage if older code calls a newer version, so perhaps Apple shipped this during a transition period from older usage to a newer implementation.


Reinstalling OSX is blocked with unreviewed Apple ID

AppleCare often will provide help for locating a manual that will have the installation steps for free, so you could start there.

If you wanted to DIY - here are some items to check:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204319 - lists the versions for OS shipped with various Mac
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201300 - how to identify MacBook pro models

From there, you could see if you need to reorder physical media or if the App Store should let you boot to internet recovery or a recovery HD for reinstallation or if you need to get a bootable installer made on another Mac.

https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/16560/5472
Reinstalling Lion


How to make a bootable partition from scratch?

What makes it bootable? This has change slightly over time. I will assume you are not going to use encryption. Below are some basic examples. This is not a complete list.

The original OS X operating system.

The partition should be type 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC.
The partition should be JHFS+ formatted. If you are using the Disk Utility, you would select Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
The boot file boot.efi needs to be in the System/Library/CoreServices folder.
There used to be a requirement that a file named mach_kernal exist in the root folder. The file can be empty.

The macOS operating system stored in an APFS volume. This became available starting with High Sierra. This volume resides in a APFS container. The container can be comprised of a single APFS partition or two APFS partitions on separate drives.

The partition(s) should be type 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC.
The container should be APFS formatted. If you are using the Disk Utility, you would select APFS.
The boot file boot.efi needs to be in the System/Library/CoreServices folder in a APFS volume with no specific role.
The mach_kernal file can be omitted.

A generic operating system stored in a FAT or ExFAT formatted volume. This works on Macs where High Sierra or a newer version of macOS has been installed.

The partition(s) should be type EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7.
The container should be FAT32 or ExFAT formatted. If you are using the Disk Utility, you would select MS-DOS (FAT) or ExFAT.
The boot file BOOTX64.EFI needs to be in the EFI/BOOT folder.

Operating system stored in partitions not recognized by the firmware. For example, partitions with NTFS (Windows) or EXT4 (Linux) volumes. Basically, the boot files go in a small EFI partition. The boot files are responsible for transferring control to the partition(s) containing the operating system.

The partition(s) should be type C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B.
The container should be FAT32 formatted. If you are using the Disk Utility, you would select MS-DOS (FAT).
The boot file BOOTX64.EFI needs to be in the EFI/BOOT folder.


Every do shell script command starts a new shell, so the cd doesn't have any impact on the following command. So you would be better of with running

tell application "Terminal"
    activate
    do shell script "cd ~/Desktop/Quake3ISO && hdiutil mount ~/Desktop/Quake3ISO/Quake\\ 3\\ Arena.iso"
    delay 5
    do shell script "cd ~/Desktop/Quake3ISO/quake3 && wine ~/Desktop/Quake3ISO/quake3/quake3.exe"
end tell


What is the voltage output of an Apple 85W MagSafe 2 model A1424 without a load?

I believe these are smart chargers, and initially only supply about 3 volts in order to power a power management chip inside the device to be charged.  Once powered by the 3 volts, the power management chip inside the device then communicates with the charger verifying that the device is compatible to be charged, and if that fact is verified, only then will the charger output full charge voltage.

Additional info provided by @MarcWilson.


Browse another encrypted time machine backup that's on a NAS

If OS X detects the NAS as a possible backup destination, you should be able to option-right-click (hold option while right-clicking) the Time Machine icon in the menu bar, and select "Browse Other Backup Disks". The AFP mount should show up there and you should be able to browse it.

Alternately, just mount the sparsebundle. It works just like a .dmg. If double-clicking doesn't give you the option to type in the password and mount it, you can drag it into Disk Utility and mount it from there.


Is it normal for bluetooth devices to stop responding when CPU is too busy?

Since I can not pinpoint your BT problem ...
I suggest you try this great tool provided by Apple.

You have to download Bluetooth Explorer as part of the 'Additional Tools for Xcode' package that's available (registration required) at https://developer.apple.com/download/more/.

Go to that link, then search for 'Additional', and find the Additional Tools package for the latest version of Xcode (you don't actually need Xcode installed to use the Bluetooth Explorer app!).

Among other tools available, Open the Hardware Folder and select the BT Explorer.

Use it to determine your BT performance while you are running the IntelliJ IDEA.


Importing songs from folder, ignoring existing ones

If you have to start over, and you might, http://www.tuneupmedia.com/ might be worthwhile to avoid retagging your whole collection.  Good luck.


Where are my emails stored and how can I mark them as read from commandline?

I suspect that your answer here will be mail rules, and AppleScript. Rather than relying on parsing out the raw messages, you can create a rule to filter on the bad status messages and then run an AppleScript, and another on the Ok.

To learn about AppleScript and the Mail dictionary: enter Introduction to Scripting Mail

Mail rules are set in Preferences on the Rules tab.

AppleScripts for mail are installed in $HOME/Library/Application Scripts/com.apple.mail/ Helpfully, when you choose AppleScript from the rules dropdown it'll give you the option to open that folder.

You can probably accomplish this with a single script, run when an OK message is received, to check the inbox for bad messages and mark them as read, along with the current message.

Assuming you mean shell scripting by command line, which is comparable to AppleScript - if anything AppleScript is easier, being designed to be English-like and quite readable.

To view the available commands in AS for Mail.app you can open Script Editor (Applications/Utilities), then File->Open Dictionary. Open the Mail dictionary for the command reference guide.

Alternatively, you can try this the *nix way here, but, on a Mac, the Mac way is often easier.


Having Remote Desktop in Full screen view

In 3.3.2 you can have it running full screen by clicking the fullscreen icon; but the client will only appear in full screen mode if it has the same resolution. Smaller resolutions will be surrounded by a black box.

I haven't tried this: but clients with higher resolutions will probably full the screen if they have the same aspect ratio, but they might look a bit funky.


Solution was editing registry: https://github.com/StreisandEffect/streisand/issues/291


Simple answer: no.

I tried, and failed, to adjust the font size for a visually challenged client, but was unable to find any way to do it.


You can use PyInstaller, which is a free program that does the exact thing you want. As the official website says:

  PyInstaller is a program that freezes (packages) Python programs into stand-alone executables, under Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, Solaris and AIX. Its main advantages over similar tools are that PyInstaller works with Python 2.7 and 3.3—3.5, it builds smaller executables thanks to transparent compression, it is fully multi-platform, and use the OS support to load the dynamic libraries, thus ensuring full compatibility.

I should also mention that you can make a .py file executable just like other Linux(Unix) executable file, like this:

This command lets the file to be executed(see this)

user@linux~>chmod 0755 myProg.py

and then run it like this:

 user@linux~>./myProg.py


iTunes on iOS shows song genre instead of a title for random albums (the same album on Mac shows everything correctly)

I actually had the same issue for a specific album. I fixed it by going to the Album's info, checking the box titled "Use Work and Movement" and deleting the text in the "Work" field, and syncing the phone.


OneNote has full pen support and provides a canvas to type or draw on.


Is it possible to automatically show apps which are installed to "~/Applications" in the system's "Applications" folder?

Here is what I would do:

Create aliases for the apps already in: ~/Applications

Select the apps in ~/Applications and drag an drop into /Applications while holding down: option command

Create an Automator Folder action that will create an alias for any new app placed in ~/Applications into: /Applications

In Automator, File > New, then select: Folder Action
Set Folder Action receives files and folders added to ~/Applications
Add a New Aliases action setting In: to: /Applications
Save as, e.g.,: Alias My Apps to Apps

To work with Folder Actions afterwards, you can bring up Folder Actions Setup using Spotlight by typing in e.g. Folder Actions Setup until it shows, and then press: Enter Or, right-click on any folder in Finder and select Folder Actions Setup… from the Services section of the pop-up menu.


How to install OS X Mavericks in VirtualBox?

If your host system is OS X, you can follow the instructions on: http://ntk.me/2012/09/07/os-x-on-os-x/

Requirement:
- Install OS X.app purchased in Mac App Store
- iesd

VirtualBox Settings:
- Operating System Version: Mac OS X (64 bit)
- Base Memory: 2048 MB (larger is better)
- Enable EFI

In the lastest VirtualBox, all the default settings work well. Some people encountered black screen upon booting the virtual machine. They reported that changing the default chipset ICH9 to PIIX3 fixes this issue.

Prepare Install Disk

gem install iesd

iESD requires ruby-1.9.2 or later.
Yosemite & Mavericks:
The the new InstallESD.dmg is not bootable. Therefore, we need to create a bootable install disk with BaseSystem.dmg.

iesd -i /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app -o Mavericks.dmg -t BaseSystem

All Macs using Intel Haswell CPU (Macs after 2013) need to fake their CPU as Ivy Bridge in order to boot the virtual machine. Thank @danmccombs for this tip.

VBoxManage modifyvm <vmname> --cpuidset 00000001 000306a9 00020800 80000201 178bfbff

On Mac Pro Early 2009 and other Macs that have ECC memory, AppleTyMCEDriver.kext will cause a kernel panic during the boot. Thus we need to remove it.

iesd -i /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app -o Mavericks.dmg -t BaseSystem --uninstall-extension AppleTyMCEDriver.kext

Mountain Lion & Lion:
The lastest VirtualBox does not require modifying InstallESD.dmg any more.
However, if your virtual machine was freezed during the boot process due to AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.kext, you need to install NullCPUPowerManagement.kext.

iesd -i /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mountain\ Lion.app -o Mountain\ Lion.dmg --install-extension NullCPUPowerManagement.kext

The install process is same as normal OS X install on Mac


2015 MacBook Pro 13" screen on a 2015 MacBook Air 13"

It may work, but at the least, you won't be able to close it properly. The LVDS cable is similar, but not identical, so you may have some extra cable parts floating around inside the enclosure. Short answer: it may work, but it is definitely not recommended. The way the top case (display) connects is slightly different. The screws would fit in the correct spots, but because the display is of different depths, it would not close properly.


Does the iPad 3/4 charger use a standard C7/C8 interface?

I happen to have a C8 plug from my PS Vita charger, and my iPad (3rd gen) charger here.  I plugged them into each other, and plugged in my iPhone.  Sure enough, it started charging my phone.

So yes, this does work fine.  C8 plugs will plug into the iPad 3 chargers.


Can the display casing from a 13" MBP be used as a replacement on a 13" Aluminum Unibody?

No - the cable routing for the pro comes to the left side and the MacBook on the right. Check fixit.com for the details - it matters if you have a 2009/2010/2011 MacBook pro - each part is slightly different.


A friend of mine had a similar problem. After trying the usual fixes (restarting, removing wi-fi networks, removing wi-fi network interface, resetting PRAM and SMC, deleting login keychain from ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain), I was able to solve the Keychain Access crashing (and wi-fi issues) using a solution from here: http://www.unsanity.org/archives/security/love_tropicana.php

In short, remove the wi-fi network (from System Preferences > Network > Advanced > Preferred Networks), then open Terminal and type in these two lines:

$ sudo mv /var/db/CodeEquivalenceDatabase
$ /var/db/CodeEquivalenceDatabase.old

(For more information, read the page I linked to above.)

Then restart, and see if Keychain Access opens - it did for me. You can then delete any passwords or certificates related to your school's wi-fi. Then try connecting to the network again.


List of (activated) fonts with shell command in os x

I know that this is quite an old post, but I just stumbled upon it from Google while searching for something similar (mostly just wanting to list active fonts via Terminal.) I ended up remembering that activated fonts are listed in System Information which can be pulled from the system_profiler command.
That being said here's the command to pull font information from system_profiler:

system_profiler SPFontsDataType

That's it. It should return a huge list of font data in the format of:

Fonts:

Arial Narrow.ttf:

  Kind: TrueType
  Valid: Yes
  Enabled: Yes
  Location: /Library/Fonts/Arial Narrow.ttf
  Typefaces:
    ArialNarrow:
      Full Name: Arial Narrow
      Family: Arial Narrow
      Style: Regular
      Version: Version 2.38.1x
      Vendor: The Monotype Corporation
      Unique Name: Arial Narrow Regular : 2007
      Designer: Robin Nicholas, Patricia Saunders
      Copyright: © 2007 The Monotype Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
      Trademark: Arial is a trademark of The Monotype Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
      Description: Monotype Drawing Office 1982. A contemporary sans serif design, Arial contains more humanist characteristics than many of its predecessors and as such is more in tune with the mood of the last decades of the twentieth century. The overall treatment of curves is softer and fuller than in most industrial-style sans serif faces. Terminal strokes are cut on the diagonal which helps to give the face a less mechanical appearance. Arial is an extremely versatile family of typefaces which can be used with equal success for text setting in reports, presentations, magazines etc, and for display use in newspapers, advertising and promotions.
      Outline: Yes
      Valid: Yes
      Enabled: Yes
      Duplicate: No
      Copy Protected: No
      Embeddable: Yes

which you should be able to grep and manipulate as you'd like.


Home Sharing not working with iPhone 5 iOS 6

It's finally working. I quit all the services syncing over the air such as dropbox, evernote, wunderlist and bitTorrent Sync and restart my computer. It's working fine.
I've still no idea why it was not working before.
Thanks to you anyway


My iPod will not work, trying disk utility but now stuck

To restore the files did you back up your iPod, or possibly do you have iCloud? This  program might help


You don't - without SHSH2 blobs you won't be able to.


Direct download link for iTunes for Microsoft Windows (not from Microsoft Store)

You can download iTunes 12.9.1.4 for Microsoft Windows using the following direct link(s) on Apple's website:

iTunes for Microsoft Windows (64-bit)
iTunes for Microsoft Windows (32-bit)

The links should work for the time being, however the same may change with subsequent updates to the software.


NAS Mounted as AFP mounts an SMB connection by itself

Clear your login credentials out of your keychain.

For instance, on my Synology Diskstation NAS, I have the following saved for SMB:

Once you delete it, OS X will no longer try to connect to the share.


How long should it take to charge up a new iPhone

No this is not normal.

An iPhone should not be using so much power overnight that a normal charge source cannot top it off in 4 hours.

The problems could be:

stuck process on the CPU of the phone.
faulty hardware on the iOS side
insufficient charge from the USB

You can rule out the first by connecting the phone to charge and then powering it off. It will charge safely when powered off as the charge circuitry doesn't need the phone to be running.

The second problem might be a used up battery, a prematurely failing battery, damage to the internal charging circuitry.

The third problem could be as simple as the Mac not charging during hibernation (it would charge during sleep at 500mA level) or a bad cable or faulty port power. You can rule that out by charging from a proper wall adapter.


Shortcut to boot into different startup disk

Boot to Macintosh HD 1, launch Keychain Access and create a new generic password item with the name boot_key in your login keychain with the following attributes (replace "klanomath" with your admin user name and "Passw0rd" with your admin user's password):

The password is self-evidently also klanomath's login password. security is always allowed to use the key! The exec security can be found in /usr/bin/.

Then open Automator and create a new service.

Set "Service receives" to "no input" in "any application"
Add the action "Run AppleScript" and paste the following code (replace klanomath with your admin's user name below):

on run {input, parameters}

    do shell script "security 2>&1 >/dev/null find-generic-password -gl \"boot_key\" | awk '{print $2}'"
    set myPass to (text 2 thru -2 of result) as text

    do shell script "systemsetup -setstartupdisk \"/Volumes/Macintosh HD 2/System/Library/CoreServices\"" user name "klanomath" password myPass with administrator privileges

    tell application "System Events"
        set appList to the name of every process whose background only is false
    end tell
    repeat with theApp in appList
        try
            tell application theApp to quit
        end try
    end repeat

    do shell script "shutdown -r now" user name "klanomath" password myPass with administrator privileges

    return input
end run

Screenshot of Automator:

The middle part of the AppleScript (tell application "System Events"... tries to quit all open apps gracefully.
Compile and save the service (in my example the name is change_bootdisk)
The service will be saved to ~/Library/Services
Open System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services, choose the service name and apply a shortcut (in my example altcmdB).

On your other boot volume you have to perform the same steps but replace the boot drive in the second do shell script:

do shell script "systemsetup -setstartupdisk \"/Volumes/Macintosh HD 1/System/Library/CoreServices\"" user name "klanomath" password myPass with administrator privileges


Not able to open DVD tray in brand new MacBook Pro

The SuperDrive is slot-loading. You don't open it, but rather slide the CD/DVD into the slog. When you press the eject key, the drive will eject the disc.


The shortcuts to Cut and Paste files or folders in Lion (or later) are:

Command-C to copy
Command-Option-V to paste


Freezes on MacBook w/ Lion with Intel 330 SSD

Turning off the FileVault seems to be fixing the problem with me. I also have TRIM enabled with Trim Enabler and "Put hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" in the Energy Saver setting unchecked.


How can I have a shortcut search for text in a note?

Still not sure I totally understood what you are looking for. So let me propose a solution below. If it doesn't work for your problem, please comment specifically on the proposed solution and explain where it doesn't meet your needs.

The shortcut

Its configuration

Make it accept text so we can pass Notes as input

Let's put it to work


Which font is used when I export formulas from Grapher?

I think the default font is Times.

If you want, you can also change the equation font in Grapher's preferences. Click on the example equation in the white box under 'Default Font & Size':


If you have another Mac, boot this one in target disk mode and check the disk / repair it. If you have another bootable OS - you can hold option and try booting another OS.

Lacking those tools, you my have to see if you can test the hardware itself

Run Apple Hardware Test

Your model MBP uses Apple Hardware Test. To use this, follow these steps:

Shut down your MacBook Pro
Restart your MacBook Pro
Press and hold the D key before the gray startup screen appears.
After a while, Apple Hardware Test (AHT) will start.
When prompted, select your language and click the right arrow.
When the AHT console appears, you can choose to run Basic tests by clicking the Test button. However, I suggest you select the "Perform extended testing" checkbox before you click the Test button.
Your test results will appear in the window in the bottom-right of the console.

Note 1: The extended test will take some time. Take a note of the results and report back.

Note 2: If pressing and holding the D key at Step 3 doesn't work, start again at Step 1 and, at Step 3 press and hold both the OptionD keys instead. This will try and run diagnostics from the internet instead, so you will need to allow more time for it to complete.


iPhone: Game app able to access Photos without permission

The app in question is presenting a system provided UIImagePickerController to choose image for setting as user's profile picture.

From the PhotoKit Apple Developer documentation, Requesting Authorization to Access Photos:

  When using the UIImagePickerController to bring up the user's photo library, your app doesn't need to request permission explicitly.

This behavior is by design since iOS 11. UIImagePickerController runs in a separate process from the app, and doesn't directly get to read the Photo gallery data. Thus, for read only access to photos, no special permission is required.

This explains why you don't get the see an alert seeking permission to Photos, and the same isn't displayed under app preferences in Settings app. The user is explicitly setting the picture and the app couldn't read the Photo gallery directly.


Home screen wallpaper not covering entire screen

This is the intended behavior and it cannot be changed. The bottom row takes on a color derived from the background itself (similar to iTunes when you expand an album).

Generally, that row will be filled with icons. Seeing it with a special background helps differentiate those apps which will show up on every page.


Any way to edit metadata of MKV files (without re-encoding)?

I have found a way to do this using mkvpropedit which is part of mkvtoolnix.

mkvpropedit "foo.mkv" -e info -s title="This Is The Title"

There is a GUI wrapper for this app and other Mac installation instructions available at the official website.


Writing to a samba share from Yosemite - v. weird

I'm not sure because i knever used the option, but maybe you can try "unix extensions = yes" ( Darwin is BSD )

I also suggest to use as less params as possible, it's easyer to find what went wrong that way. These are mine and it works.

   [sharename]
   comment = My Shared Volume
   browsable = yes
   read only = no
   writable = yes
   path = /home/dimitri
   guest ok = no
   create mask = 0750
   directory mask = 0755
   oplocks = no

keep it simple if you want to avoid a comples headache


"Hey Siri" also works for other persons than me

As 9to5Mac says in the article iOS 9 includes ‘Hey Siri’ voice training to help Siri better recognize your voice…

This makes the addition of voice training particularly relevant. In previous OS versions, Hey Siri would just work if you toggled a switch in Settings. With the GM, the OS now prompts you to go through a few training exercises before the feature will be enabled. Some readers have claimed that this feature is like Voice ID, so that Hey Siri function will only respond when the true owner of the phone speaks to it. Whilst this would be a nice feature, we cannot reproduce this and believe it is only meant to improve general detection accuracy.
It is true that the iOS screens describing the feature are ambiguous. It says “this helps Siri recognise your voice” which could be interpreted as meaning your voice only. However, the statement is vague enough such that it could also mean overall improvements to Siri voice detection on the device, not specifically the current user.

So it's not necessary trained to recognize your voice, rather, it improves voice detection. There's no real fix for this as far I can tell, voice technology just hasn't come that far yet.


Yes you can claim apple care service with out the paper work, all you need is the serial number of the MacBook to verify coverage.

Now if it's cosmetic and not causing any problems with your Mac Book it's  really a judge ment call on Apple if they want to replace it. Contact Apple and non demandingly ask about what they can do about the oxidation.


How to enable ssh proxy every time I resume desktop

SleepWatcher will let you run shell scripts when the computer goes to sleep and wakes up.

There are step-by-step instructions at http://theglenbot.com/sleep-and-wake-scripting-osx/ but the premise is pretty simple, there's one script which runs when the computer is going to sleep, and another one which runs when it is waking up.

However, I would also recommend checking out Keyboard Maestro which can trigger events off system wake and a lot of other criteria, and it's a lot easier and more fun to use.


Terminal has a setting to use the default shell or run any program.
I would make the election you wish:

If that's not it, you'll have to hunt down each of your initialization files. Before doing that, make a brand new user account to be sure you have a working zsh for that user and terminal overall.
It's probably the obvious item above, though.


Can not install xcode 7 from store, stuck on app intall

You can also download an Xcode .dmg installer file directly from the apple developer site, downloads. Xcode 7.2 is no longer available, at time of writing Xcode 7.3 can be downloaded, it is compatible with OS X 10.11 up.

EDIT: Looks like the XCode 7 link now just redirects to the AppStore. Perhaps the stuck on app install issue has been fixed? Anyone still getting it.

EDIT2: There's one more way to download xcode package direcly: in the bottom of /download page there's a link see more downloads which points to the /download/more page where you can download all necessary files.


This is not a solution, but a clarification of how entropy is gathered and used in Linux.

Linux actually has two different entropy pools:

/dev/random and /dev/urandom.

The former is a true random pool, fed by system entropy sources.
The latter is more of a PRNG such as those found on the BSD's and OS X.

However, even urandom requires a seed of 'real' random entropy in order to produce quality pseudo-random data. On recent kernels, a complete lack of entropy in /dev/random will still not block urandom, but urandom will re-use the last valid seed until more entropy becomes available. Because urandom is nonblocking, most services that require a steady stream of entropy use it rather than relying on /dev/random.

There are still some services however, such as various SSL suites, which can't make do with pseudo-random entropy, but require a truly unpredictable entropy source. In this case, urandom (or any other PRNG) can't be used, and /dev/random comes into play.


Got the solution. View -> Show Path Bar solves it.


How do I delete "Documents & Data" from iCloud?

From my understanding, once you migrate to iCloud Drive, your old 'Documents & Data' storage is converted & no longer exists in its old location.

Mavericks/iOS 7 can't see iCloud Drive & Yosemite/iOS 8 can't see the old Documents & Data, migrated or not.

Refs:

http://support.apple.com/en-la/HT201104
http://support.apple.com/en-la/HT201385
http://www.cultofmac.com/296334/psa-shouldnt-upgrade-icloud-drive-ios-8-yet/
http://www.howtogeek.com/203304/everything-you-need-to-know-about-using-icloud-drive-and-icloud-photo-library/


Why use Automator when you can stay in bash?

I found a really cool little script called appify that will instantly turn other scripts into actual applications. You can try it a few times to observe its behavior. Since you already use bash, I am hoping that this answer as an alternative to exactly what you are asking for is acceptable.

The idea is to split your script into 3 distinct scripts:

1: start ftp service on preferred network interface only

 #!/bin/bash
 #start ftp service
 #sudo="/usr/bin/sudo"
 #launchctl="/bin/launchctl"
 say="/usr/bin/say"
 networksetup="/usr/sbin/networksetup"
 tail="/usr/bin/tail"
 head="/usr/bin/head"
 cut="/usr/bin/cut"
 curl="/usr/bin/curl"
 currentInterface=$(networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder |tail +2 |head -n1 |cut -c5-12)
 getExternaladdress=$(curl ipecho.net/plain)
 SiriSays="say -v Samantha"
 #sudo -s launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist
 #your command will start ftp on all network interfaces
 if [ "$currentInterface" = "Airport" ];
      then
           networksetup -setpassiveftp Airport on
      else
           networksetup --setpassiveftp Ethernet on
 fi
 $SiriSays "ftp service has been initiated for the"
 echo $currentInterface |$SiriSays; $SiriSays "interface"
 $SiriSays "Your external IP address is"
 echo $getExternaladdress | $SiriSays
 exit

2: stop ftp service

 #!/bin/bash
 #stop ftp service
 #sudo="/usr/bin/sudo"
 #launchctl="/bin/launchctl"
 networksetup="/usr/sbin/networksetup"
 say="/usr/bin/say"
 tail="/usr/bin/tail"
 head="/usr/bin/head"
 cut="/usr/bin/cut"
 currentInterface=$(networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder |tail +2 |head -n1 |cut -c5-12)
 SiriSays="say -v Samantha"
 #sudo -s launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist
 #your command requires sudo
 if [ "$currentInterface" = "Airport" ];
      then
           networksetup -setpassiveftp Airport off
      else
           networksetup -setpassiveftp Ethernet off
 fi
 $SiriSays "ftp service has been terminated"
 exit

3: check ftp service status

 #!/bin/bash
 #check ftp service status
 networksetup="/usr/sbin/networksetup"
 say="/usr/bin/say"
 tail="/usr/bin/tail"
 head="/usr/bin/head"
 cut="/usr/bin/cut"
 currentInterface=$(networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder |tail +2 |head -n1 |cut -c5-12)
 SiriSays="say -v Samantha"
 if [ "$currentInterface" = "Airport" ];
      then
           networksetup -getpassiveftp Airport |$SiriSays
      else
           networksetup -getpassiveftp Ethernet |$SiriSays
 fi
 exit

Then apply the appify script to them

What you're left with is three little apps to put in your dock that, when launched, will start or stop the ftp service on your preferred network interface, or tell you what's up with ftp, respectively, and should not require any admin password. I only had time to test the first one, so if they don't work as I hope they do, then you can comment out or delete my logic and use your launchctl method.


Remote SSH access to sleeping MacBook Pro only works when 'Find my Mac' application is running - can I make this persist?


Every CC app has an uninstaller filed with the app.

These are repeated in the Utilities folder, in Adobe Installers.

The only one that doesn't is the Adobe Application Manager, for which there's an uninstaller here


View Time Machine backup drive on Windows 7

You can access an OSX formatted disk using 3d part applications such

HFSExplorer or Macdrive


Is it possible to change the default duration for a new event in Calendar from 60 min to 30 min

Hi and welcome to Ask Different.

Yep you can change the Mac's Calendar default duration for a new event using a terminal command.

Go to Applications>Utilities>Terminal and enter the following command in terminal:

defaults write com.apple.iCal 'Default duration in minutes for new event' 30

The default duration should then be 30 minutes. You can change it to another value by changing the number 30 to whatever you wish.

If you wish to revert back the default 60 minutes, you can enter the following command in terminal:

defaults delete com.apple.iCal 'Default duration in minutes for new event'

This works on macOS Mojave 10.14.6 and suspect it does for macOS Catalina too.

Hope this helps!


Is there a dial from Addres Book and tel:/sip: protocol handler script/application available for 10.7?

The source code of snomURLHandler is available at http://alastairs-place.net/hg/snomURLHandler/file/eb798e1a6dc8

Download that source code and compile this to an application using Xcode.


You can open separate instance of Terminal.app with

/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app/Contents/MacOS/Terminal &

You'll have separate icon on the Dock also. However You'll not be able to distinguish them in ⌘ cmd+⇥ tab because they are going to be called simply "Terminal" and have the same icons.


If you have a Mac you can connect your iPad to, it's fairly straightforward to record the iPad's video output in Quicktime -- although you might just as well use Quicktime to screen record from the Mac's copy of FaceTime in that case.

Last I checked, Apple still doesn't allow general-purpose screen recording apps in the app store (apps in the Games category can do it, but not elsewhere).

There are a few apps which claim to allow you to do screen recordings on the device without jailbreaking, but all the ones I've seen install via alternative mechanisms and so 'buyer beware', as it were. I haven't tested personally.

Edited to add:

@Allan To screen record your iOS device on a Mac is pretty straightforward, provided you have the necessary software versions (iOS 8 or later, macOS Yosemite/10.10 or later):

Connect your iOS device to your Mac using a Lightning cable
Open Quicktime (player) on your Mac and from the File menu, select
"New Movie Recording".
A window will appear, which will likely default to showing you the
live view from your webcam. Click the dropdown button by the red
record button, and in the list of sources you'll see the name of your
iOS device (e.g. Derek's iPhone) listed under both the Camera and
Microphone sections of the input sources list. Select it in both
places.
You should now see your iOS device screen mirrored on the Mac (you
may need to unlock your device and 'trust' the Mac if you've not
connected before).
Press the record button in Quicktime to get started.

Hope that helps.


Is there a way to make Siri play BBC radio stations?

Long story short I don't think there is an official way at the moment.

Third-party developers like the BBC can add support for Siri to their apps now, but that is only allowed for certain use cases, and streaming radio stations doesn't seem to fit into any of them. The closest option is the CarPlay option, but that would only be useful to you while you were in the car and if your car supported CarPlay. People have asked the BBC in the past whether they plan to support CarPlay, but the BBC didn't respond.

List of allowed use cases for SiriKit from Apple's Developer site:

VoIP Calling - Initiate calls and search the user's call history.
Messaging - Send messages and search the user's received messages.
Payments - Send payments between users or pay bills.
Lists and Notes - Create and manage notes and to-do list items.
Visual Codes - Convey contact and payment information using Quick Response (QR) codes.
Photos - Search for and display photos.
Workouts - Start, end, and manage fitness routines.
Ride Booking - Book rides and report their status.
Car Commands - Manage vehicle door locks and get the vehicle's status.
CarPlay - Interact with a vehicle's CarPlay system.
Restaurant Reservations - Create and manage restaurant reservations with help from the Maps app.


Easiest way to access localhost from iPhone

Other than Ngrok, ssh.localhost.run is excellent for that purpose. You need to have the Openssh Client. Use :-

ssh -R 80:localhost:port ssh.localhost.run

Replace "port" with the port your server is running on. You will receive a link,  just like Ngrok, you can use that link. Other than localhost.run there is also serveo.net, use it the same way as localhost.run, but it is currently down, so localhost.run.


Why won't my Time Capsule extend my wireless network?

If you are trying to extend a wireless network that is not an Apple Airport base station it cannot be done. You can join a network but this will not increase the range of your wireless network.

Unless you have a firmware that supports WDS on your 3rd party wireless router.


"Unable to load the Parallels driver" after upgrade to Lion

You don't have the Lion compatible version of Parallels installed! The current version is 6.0.12094.

You can download the latest version from Parallel's download page or use Check for Updates... in Parallels Desktop menu.


The, e.g., osxfuse-2.8.2.dmg disk image file uses a hidden .icns file named .VolumeIcon.icns in the root of the volume and has the Custom Icon attribute set, probably using /usr/bin/SetFile. E.g.: SetFile -a C /Volumes/FUSE\ for\ OS\ X

You can also change the icon of the mounted disk image from its Info sheet. Place the wanted icon on the Clipboard then select the disk image on the Desktop and press Command-I then click the icon in the upper-left corner of the Info sheet and paste the wanted image there.


Spaces and Expose Overview using the 2nd Monitor

As far as I know, it’s not possible to show the Spaces Overview on both screens. It will always be shown in the primary display and the other will fade to black. I haven’t come across any utility that does that. Hyperspaces is nice, but it doesn’t do that. Although if you really use spaces, I’d recommend you give it a look. Read their blog and possibly ask the author if such thing would be possible for future versions. He’s working on version 2.0 at the moment and you never know… :)


Late 2006 iMac Issue: Logic Board or Hard Drive?

If the hard drive replacement method has continued to fail, I'd guess that either: A) The hard drive is not actually broken, or B) The computer somehow makes the hard drive go bad. I've taken that model of iMac apart before, and the inside is fairly cramped for space. That leads me to think that your processor may overheat and "hang", causing it to go black, or stop doing whatever process it's on and spin the "beach ball". If you really want to keep using your 9 year old machine, I'd suggest taking it to a repair shop that can repair Macs. They may find that it has a faulty processor or cooling system for the processor, or something else. I'm not sure how much that would cost, but in my opinion, it may be time to upgrade. Since you don't want to spend the price of a new Mac, you could look into purchasing a used computer. It's hard to transition to a Windows or Linux machine for some people, so if you've gotten used to Mac OSX, stick with it. I've seen advertisements for aluminum iMacs from 2008 or so for as little as $400 at local computer stores. If you're comfortable with Craigslist, you could look for one there, and it may be cheaper. However Craigslist doesn't have warranties. Read a little about purchasing a used computer before you do so.


How can I switch Dock configurations when an external display is connected?

DockSpaces is nice and convenient, but annoyingly unscriptable. So, I wrote two little shell scripts, one to change to my desktop Dock and one to change to my mobile Dock.

The desktop script is triggered on arrival in my Home context in ControlPlane, and the mobile script is triggered by departure from it.
The desktop context is defined based on the presence of my external displays:

Here's how the scripts work:

I save a copy of both Docks in my Documents folder (the Dock configuration is stored in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist).

When I switch from one to the other, I replace the appropriate file in my Documents folder with the current file in my Preferences so that changes I've made to the Dock are saved. Then I copy the alternate Dock from my Documents to my Preferences. Finally, the Dock process is restarted so that the changes take effect.

The Scripts:

To Desktop:

#!/bin/bash

cp ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist ~/Documents/Docks/mobile.plist
cp ~/Documents/Docks/desktop.plist ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist
killall Dock

To Mobile:

#!/bin/bash

cp ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist ~/Documents/Docks/desktop.plist
cp ~/Documents/Docks/mobile.plist ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist
killall Dock


OSX is repeatedly asking for login keychain password

It sounds as an issue either with the Keychain App. Try repairing it. To do so just:

Locate the Keychain Access application, under /Applications/Utilities.
Choose Keychain Access > Keychain First Aid.
Enter your User name and Password.
Select Verify and click Start.
If any problems were found, select Repair and click Start again.

It could be, too, that you've changed your account password without using the Accounts Preferences pane. If that is the case, for your default keychain to be unlocked automatically when logged in, you'll have to Synchronize your Keychain Access and login passwords. To do so just:

Open Keychain Access.
From the Edit menu, choose Change Password for Keychain "login."
Type the former password of the account that you are currently logged in to, then click OK.
If you entered the correct password, a new window appears; enter the original password again in the Current Password field.
In the New Password field, type the password that matches your current account password.
Re-enter the newer password in the Verify field, then click OK.

This is needed because, as Apple explains it:

  If you change your account's password using your Mac OS X Install disc (or if your network-based account password is changed due to a network admin forcing a password change), your default keychain password (which uses the same initial password as your user account) does not change. Because of this, you will be prompted to enter a keychain password each time an application requires authentication that your keychain would normally provide.


Third Party Mini Display Port to VGA or DVI Cables

The cables from Monoprice.com have recently changed so they're not shaped as nicely as before, but the quality is still excellent for the price. 6ft cable for $10 shipped.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10246&cs_id=1024604&p_id=5999&seq=1&format=2

The picture isn't faithful to what you'll receive as the Mini Display Port male plug is now a bit bulkier. Still works flawlessly though.


How do I replace the hard drive in my circa 2008 iMac?

If you're talking about an aluminum iMac, getting to the HDD involves removing the built in display monitor to be able to get behind it. YouTube seems to have several video walk-throughs that show the process (including this one; the link is to the first part). Additionally, a quick search turned up a site with written, step by step instructions. The process seems too complex to provide here.

If you're comfortable with this level of complexity in hardware repair, then the video or text walk throughs should help you. I suspect, all things considered, if you're not confident enough to perform the upgrade yourself just by looking at videos of others who have done it, then this probably falls into the class of "take your iMac to your local Mac service centre and get them to do it": yes, it will cost you money, but they can also guarantee their workmanship...


Google Hangouts on Mavericks in Safari or Chrome: how to adjust audio settings?

AFIK it is only possible

(Hangouts On Air only) Audio setting:

Whether you’re performing your favorite song in a Hangout On Air or just talking with a few friends, you can optimize the audio by going to your settings and choosing the sound setting that works best for you.


Check out DisableMonitor. It is a tool that allows you to change the resolution of a monitor and/or enable and disable it. It works with multiple displays, and it should fix your problem.


I lost a MacBook Pro Retina 2013, What should I do to locate it?

The only way to locate it is via find my mac.

When it is a personal mac my advice is to lock it in iCloud.
When the mac is used for business, best thing to do is to erase the mac.


How can I get more keyboard software instruments for GarageBand?

There are many third-party virtual keyboard instruments. Do a search at the kvraudio.com virtual instrument news site. Anything that is in Audio Unit (AU) format will work with GarageBand. Here is a search result I have prepared for you.

Popular products you might consider:

Anything by Native Instruments

Pianoteq

Buying Apple Logic Express or Logic Studio will give you all the Apple Jam Pack sounds in one purchase, with many other features besides. Apple Logic Express and Logic Studio.

Finally, read Keyboard Magazine. They provide a lot of coverage and reviews of products in this category.


App to hold photos and word docs in ipad

If you want a file manager app that can create folders and import files from other apps, I think Documents by Readdle would be a good app for your use-case.
It's free, you can create folders, import from many Cloud-services (Dropbox, Google Drive, Box.com, OneDrive (Formerly SkyDrive)), it also has an iCloud integration.


Most efficient way to transfer data from a mid-2007 iMac to a 2017 iMac?

If the old iMac really has gigabit ethernet you can also connect both Macs to a gigabit switch (which is connected to a router of course) and use the migration assistant. Could be even faster than through USB 2.0 with the external HDD.


What causes the temporary loss of around 20GB of hard drive space while using XCode?

The issue is probably that the space is being taken up by swap files and possibly a hibernate sleep image. To see this do an ls -l /var/vm These files are deleted on a reboot and start increasing as you use more memory and Xcode takes a lot of memory.

You need to reduce the space used by the rest of the system. apps and data. Basically 120GB is too small unless you only use it for development and not any music or other media files. You can save a bit of disc space by removing unused applications and clearing out other languages (see other questions here) but getting a bigger or external hard disk is probably a better use of your time.

To see where the space goes see the applications in this question or from the command line du.


How do I copy a partition of an Image to a partition of a physical disk?

The proper command to dd a part of a raw file to a partition in your case is:

dd if=WINDOWS7.img of=/dev/disk0s4 skip=206848 bs=512 count=41527296

The bs in the dd command can be interpreted as an artificial block size of the input and the output "file". For historical and technical reasons the default block size of dd is 512 Byte.

The reason to use 512 (or an appropriate integer^2 multiple/divider) as bs is the block size of your image and the partition disk0s4 – which is either 512 or 4096.

The (logical) block size of disk0 can be calculated (even without knowing if fdisk works with 512 or 4096 Byte internally): 977105060 * 512 = 500 GB or 977105060 * 4096 = 4 TB. A 4 TB SSD still doesn't exist for MacBook Pro's therefore the block size has to be 512 byte. The same is valid for your img file.

Now you may take speed reasons into account: the bigger the bs is, the faster the image will be copied.

So one valid dd command in your case may be:

dd if=WINDOWS7.img of=/dev/disk0s4 skip=X bs=2 count=Y

Since bs is 2 Byte only, you have to modify skip (skips X blocks à bs of if) and count (Y blocks à bs are "written"). Since skip is 206848*512, X is 206848*512/2 and count is 41527296*512, Y is 41527296*512/2 and the above command is:

dd if=WINDOWS7.img of=/dev/disk0s4 skip=52953088 bs=2 count=10630987776

A quick test reveals:

dd if=/dev/zero of=~/Desktop/output.file bs=1 count=1048576
1048576 bytes transferred in 1.593527 secs (658022 bytes/sec)
dd if=/dev/zero of=~/Desktop/output.file bs=2 count=524288
1048576 bytes transferred in 0.800444 secs (1309993 bytes/sec)
dd if=/dev/zero of=~/Desktop/output.file bs=4 count=262144
1048576 bytes transferred in 0.384188 secs (2729331 bytes/sec)
dd if=/dev/zero of=~/Desktop/output.file bs=1024 count=1024
1048576 bytes transferred in 0.001932 secs (542700705 bytes/sec)

The larger bs is, the faster the dd command is executed.

BTW: The largest bs working for you is 1048576 (the greatest common divisor) because 105906176(=skip-size in Byte)/1048576=101 (and 21261975552(=count-size in Byte)/1048576=20277). 101 is prime!

So far all bs values are multiples of 2. If bs is uneven this may collide with the (block-)sizes of if/of. At least in your case if and of have even Byte sizes because they are multiples of 512.

Now it should be obvious why using bs=65535 fails: skip and count block numbers are determined by bs and not by the natural block size of your image or partition. A proper command may be

dd if=WINDOWS7.img of=/dev/disk0s4 skip=1616.024... bs=65535 count=324436.950...

At least for me this fails because 1616.024... is an illegal numeric value. So one may assume that all numbers have to be integer values!

A bs of 65535 only works if the total size of if/of and any skip or seek "boundaries" are multiples of 65535 Byte.

If your dd command doesn't contain any skip/seek/count part you may use arbitrary bs sizes though.

Though the dd command at the beginning of answer will work, you probably won't be able to boot to the Windows To Go (or Windows Installer Ready-To-Go?) partition. The MBR of disk0 won't contain the necessary boot entry.


Mountain Lion, EFI and Intel SSD Toolbox

Delete the EFI partition, do your secure erase, then don't partition or format the drive from Windows 7. Instead, boot from the OSX installer disk or recovery environment, and use its version of Disk Utility to partition the drive, using the GUID partition scheme. Disk Utility will create the EFI partition for you if done this way.

To be clear: the EFI partition doesn't contain any useful data - in fact it's generally completely empty - but it's used by OSX and the Mac's bootloader for installing firmware updates. This is why the installer complains if it doesn't exist.


If I see your screen correctly, it's a syntax error. Your problem was you had the DMG file as the 'command'.

If disk2 is your destination (the 4.2gb disk), then the following should work for you.

First, make sure your command prompt has nothing typed by you in it, either press Ctrl-C or Return a couple times then:

sudo dd if=/Users/rabika_1/Desktop/USB\ disk\ 4\ gb.dmg of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=1m conv=sync

That will erase disk2 (rdisk2) and replace it with whatever "USB disk 4 gb.dmg" is.

You will need to enter your administrator or root password when it prompts you for it. You won't see any feedback until it's done, you'll be at another command prompt.

After that you should be set.

Now there is another way of doing this where you can see the progress, if you want, then use this command instead of the prior one:

sudo dd if=/Users/rabika_1/Desktop/USB\ disk\ 4\ gb.dmg of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=1m status=progress conv=sync


I think the problem is that you installed the XAMPP VM version that executes a virtual machine on macOS. Check on the XAMPP website and download the normal version. Hope this is the case and that this info helps.


This is continually showing in the syslog. I know it's mail generated but what?

The problem is from a pam configuration that seems to be generated by Mail.app looking to login when it can't. It is a TLS/SASL problem, that I still haven't got to the bottom of. However - the message has gone away.


Why does macOS show ".local" domain name for TimeMachine server when my network is configured for ".lan"

This may be occurring due to accidental usage of Avahi/Bonjour. If you mount the Time Machine volume to your Mac and click 'Get Info' on a file stored on it, you may see something like smb://lunar._smb._tcp.local/Chrono/. This indicates that the server was automatically discovered because it offered an SMB service. If you were connecting via the hostname it would read smb://lunar.local. If this seems accurate, the solution is to either disable Avahi or Bonjour on your server, or to manually mount via the hostname and change your Time Machine disk.


Just found one software option - https://www.crystalidea.com/macs-fan-control - this can set a constant fan speed. I tested and was able to set a fan speed below the auto level. Still would be nice to find a Terminal command.


Sorry, no, it's impossible to run HDMI video out in the background while doing other tasks.  AirPlay, however, allows this with Apple TV, which you mentioned that you didn't have.  The HDMI out is strictly mirroring only.  Sorry I was unable to help you further...


Is it possible to stop the High Sierra Mail app from grouping messages?

Go to View and disable Organize by Conversation.


Adobe Creative Cloud: Mac App Alternatives?

For a Photoshop "equivalent", there is already Photoshop Element (80$) that is cheaper but has much less functionalities.

Of course there is also Gimp (Free), but IMHO it's horrible to use on OSX and not available on the Mac App Store.

If you're looking for a simple and quite powerful software for your money, there is Pixelmator (16$) or Acorn (currently on sale for 30$).


AirPods blinking orange as long as they are both in the case, one of the pods don’t work

Try wipe off the metal end of the problematic AirPod, and then used a Q-tip to clean the bottom of the case where the metal end of the AirPod made contact with the case. If this doesn’t work..well... contact Apple to advise that your product is not working properly upon receipt:

•   http://www.apple.com/contact/
•   Contact - Official Apple Support
•   https://twitter.com/applesupport
•   http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

:)


Site for checking so-dimm memory for MacBooks

Apple provide the technical specifications of all their machines since the mid 1990s

Various memory sellers include this information in an easier to access format e.g. Crucial


One idea that comes to mind is to use the command line tools to print the files. If the files are sent to the printer without any pre-processing - in other words raw - then the following command should do it...

lp  somefile.txt - if your printer is the default

or

lp -d MyPrinter somefile.txt - for non-default printer

Use lpstat -a to get a list of printers and their Unix names.

From applescript you would have to do it this way...

set pFile to POSIX path of txtFile
do shell script "lp " & quoted form of pFile


Cannot convert m4a files to m4b with AppleScript

mp4, m4a, and m4b are alternative filename extensions for the MPEG-4 Part 14 container format. To "convert" an m4a file to m4b, just rename the file. That's what the script you linked to also does.

The option to remember the previous playback position in iTunes is enabled by default for files with an m4b extension but not for files with an m4a extension, but it can just as well be enabled for files with an m4a extension, so they are not any less "bookmarkable". Just check the "Remember playback position" checkbox from the "Options" tab in the information window. (I think old versions of iTunes didn't have that checkbox, which is probably why the script you linked to was originally created.)

iTunes also displays m4b files under audiobooks by default, but an m4a file can be listed as an audiobook by setting "media kind" to "Audiobook" in the "Options" tab of an information window.

Edit: the script below renames the files of the tracks selected in iTunes and changes the bookmarkable and media kind properties.

tell application "iTunes"
    repeat with t in (get selection)
        set bookmarkable of t to true
        set media kind of t to audiobook
        set l to location of t
        tell application "Finder"
            set f to file l
            set name of f to (text 1 thru -2 of (get name of f)) & "b"
        end tell
    end repeat
end tell


MacBook Pro Retina (2015) only stays on with power key held down

My MacBook Pro Retina 2015 won’t stay on unless I hold down the power key and keep it held down for the entire time I’m using it.

Unfortunately, this is a hardware issue and not a software one.  This is very similar to the question/answer:  Keyboard key stuck or not being recognized; how to fix  but different in that we're dealing with the power button and not an individual key.

The keyboard is connected via USB and the power button functions through the USB as well.  If you disassemble your MBP and remove the top case assembly, you'll find there's only one cable connecting it to the logic board and that cable is a USB cable.

More than likely, it's a short and not a dirty contact because the power button isn't a latching switch; it's a momentary switch like your keyboard keys.  If the contact were dirty, you wouldn't be able to turn it on.  In this case, you can turn it on but you have to hold it because there's a short in the circuit somewhere.  How do we know this?

  The only clue I have is a very brief “Do you want to shut down/sleep” dialog that popped up once before the random shutdown but hasn’t since.

That pop up happens when you press the power button.  Thing is, it's happening too fast and acting like you're holding the power button for the "5 second power off no matter what."

We also know it's not a software issue because it happens from a powered off state.  The OS is not in the picture during the pre-boot process.


Alarm application using the maximum possible volume level

The Wake Alarm Clock app does exactly what you want. No jailbreak required, progressive increase of volume up to the maximum. But, I'm using it because there is a setting that forces you to shake your phone to stop the alarm, and you are awaken almost instantly.


If you have all the files in your iTunes library, then simply copy the library folder from its old location to ~/Music (the Music folder in your home folder) on your new account. Launch iTunes and it will detect the library.

If you wish to have your library elsewhere, place it somewhere else, then hold ⌥ as iTunes launches for the first time to let you select the library location.

With regard to the actual copying of the files, there are a number of ways you can do it. The easiest way may be to copy it over the network — AirDrop or AFP will let you copy the library, albeit pretty slowly. Alternatively, if you have an external drive big enough, you could copy it to that, then move it off onto the new Mac.


Prevent shutting down iPhone when passcode lock is on

This is currently exactly how the iPhone is designed. I agree with your issue.

My answer was about to be: "Perhaps if you Jailbroke your iPhone you could install some modification software that would prevent someone from shutting it down when locked". However, there's naturally yet another level of indirection.

One of the things that you will never be able to prevent, is the device being put into DFU mode. A phone is put into DFU mode by holding down both the Sleep and Home buttons for 10 seconds, then let go of only the Sleep button (continue holding the Home button) until the phone wakes with it's "connect to iTunes" notice.

DFU mode is one of the few pure hardware modes. After putting a phone into DFU mode, it cannot be used until restored against an instance of iTunes. Which also means that the data will invariably be lost because it will be wiped upon restore of new phone setup.

A few notes:

No computer is completely secure when physical access is allowed by an unauthorized user. No amount of BIOS passwords, login passwords, or anything extended authentication will be unable to be overcome. Physical access is total access.

What I'm saying is that you should spend less of your time attempting to thwart theft, and instead set up a mechanism for safeguarding your data.

Sync regularly, configure your iPhone to wipe itself after 10 failed pin attempts, set up Find My iPhone so you can issue a Remote Wipe command.

Note that I'm not saying not to not bother mitigating theft. Getting a K-Lock if you're in a display position, a secure case so it's harder to lift from your pockets (or don't put it in your pants pocket) are all worthwhile steps to take.


How to default UTF-8 encoding in Text Encoding in Mail.app?

Open Terminal.app and type:

defaults write com.apple.mail NSPreferredMailCharset "UTF-8"

If it does not work, you can revert by using

defaults delete com.apple.mail NSPreferredMailCharset


Quick answer, nothing happens.

If you delete it, .Trash will be created again once needed. You can delete it without issues, no matter if you delete from Finder or from command line (rm) will back again.


You can't. chmod +a adds one entry to the ACL, and each ACL entry refers to one user or group. From the man page:

  Each file has one ACL, containing an ordered list of entries. Each entry refers to a user or group, and grants or denies a set of permissions.

So you'll need something like

for g in test1 test2; do
    chmod -R +a "group:$g allow ... " /path/to/directory
done


4K Monitor and performance issues with MBP Late 2015

Scaling is your culprit. Anything different than 1080p or 4K is going to tax the GPU and cause lag. It's unfortunate. I think a solution which costs a lot more money would be to purchase a 5K monitor then run it at 1440p (the only acceptable resolution imho) This would be the default resolution since it's exactly half of 5K. 1080p is exactly half of 4K which is why the GPU doesn't struggle on a 4k monitor when run at that resolution. Of course 4k at it's natural resolution is far too tiny to be useable which I'm sure you found out. So 1080p and 4k are just not useable for a 27" monitor. Purchasing a blurry 1440p monitor or a 5K monitor run at retina 1440p are the only options to get a lag free experience imho on a 27" external display paired with a MacBook Pro.


How to print as PDF using Acrobat 10, when no printer is installed?

When you have a file that you want to print as a PDF, go to "Print.." (Command ⌘ + P) and select "PDF" in the left hand corner:

Then select "Save as PDF...":

Then, you'll be presented with a save dialog:

Using this method, you shouldn't need to have a printer installed.


Incorrect Terminal.app output for long lines with tabs

This has to do with line breaks. Terminal is looking for either a space, or a continuos string of characters to make a line break. In this case the first opportunity it sees to break the line is between the y and the o. The "y" is shown because the last character in an extended line is shown in the last place to hint the user that something is happening there.

Workarounds...

You could try:

echo -e "a \tb \tc \td \te \tf \tg \tyo"

and everything will appear as you'd expect it.

also something like

echo -e "ab\tcd\tef\tgh\tij\tkl\tmn\tyo"

should break between the "k" and "l"

Still this is odd behavior and defiantly worth a bug/radar report


How much RAM does the 4th Gen iPod Touch have?

According to iFixit, the 4th gen iPod Touch has 256MB, not 512MB like the iPhone 4.:

  Breaking news: the iPod Touch has only 256 MB RAM, same Samsung part markings as iPad.


How to prevent Numbers from changing currency automatically

I have a similar problem which may be related. In my case Numbers 4.3 allows me to specify the ratio of two currency cells as a number or a percentage but then immediately and automatically reverts the cell back to the currency format of one of the origin cells. I agree that Apple Developers are probably trying to 'help' (but don't realise that they don't yet have the competence to do so infallibly).

I have reported the problem via Apple's Feedback on:
 https://www.apple.com/feedback/numbers.html
and suggest you do likewise. The more of us that report it the more likely they'll sort it.
Meantime I have had to remove the currency format from my origin cells and added it to the description in the row/column headers. (Not ideal, I know.)


Cant copy because file is too large for format

Most non-Apple systems usually only are able to handle FAT32.
Many will handle NTFS or EXFAT as well.

FAT32 is limited to a file size of 4GB max per file. HFS+ (what you used) will hold the files, but it won't be recognized. You concluded this correctly.

Try either NTFS or EXFAT. For NTFS formatting you will need a Windows or a current Linux system which can write to NTFS. Another alternative would be to install NTFS drivers with write permissions in your OS X setup, but I'd consider this the least preferred option.

Long story cut short:

Try formatting the drive as EXFAT and see if that works
Try formatting the drive as NTFS and writing the file within Windows or a modern Linux setup
Try splitting the file without re-encoding with special software. You could Google some programs, as I must admit I cannot recommend any right now

3) wouldn't be a true solution but a workaround, so I'll not do a lot of research now, hoping option 1) or 2) do help.


How can I view HTTP only cookies in OSX?

In Chrome choose View->Developer->Developer tools (or key alt-cmd-I) and the choose the resources tab.

In Safari Develop->Show Page Resources (key alt-cmd-A) choose the storage view. To turn the developer tools on go to Preferences->Advanced and tick the bottom box "Show Develop menu in Menu bar" For more info see the Apple documentation.


Can you run Disk Utility from bootable lion disk?

Yes, you can.  plug in the disk, boot up in it by holding down option, select the disk, and and then run disk utility from the main window.

Why do this however, when you have the Restore partition available to do this without a disk?


As you are asking for any way:

select photo you wish to duplicate
Press "Share" and "Email Photo"
Send email to yourself using actual size of picture
Once email is back select picture and save to Photo Roll

PS: I tried to just cancel the email first and keeping a copy in Drafts. But it seems you can't select a picture out of a mail in the Drafts folder.


Shift+CapsLock to toggle caps lock functionality

As Seil only affects the CapS Lock key itself, it's not going to be listening for anything other than that.

I'm sure it would be easier overall to restore the Caps Lock key & just use Fn-Delete for forwards delete.

See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US for the full set of key commands.


Activating the Apple Thunderbolt Display speakers when Macbook Pro is docked

I've experienced this annoyance too. Rebooting can be very inconvenient when I have a lot of work open. Unplug/plugging the monitor doesn't seem to help. After reading the answer above, I started to log out, canceled it and for some reason the display audio option was restored. Woohoo! I'll repeat same procedure next time and see if this was just luck.


Poor mans answer - I use XMarks and do any management I need in their web interface. However Safari is close to getting the boot on my mac since I can only see 13 open tabs.


You are correct that OS X always idles a blower/fan if they are present.

I thought it was always 2k RPM on stock hardware, but you might be correct on the 1300 RPM number - I don't have data on that specific hardware.

I doubt it's bad since Apple selects the components and probably has really great data on what percentage of failures are due to manufacturing variations and which are excessive wear on the components.


via ars technica (http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2012/03/hands-on-and-questions-answered-third-gen-ipad-third-gen-apple-tv.ars):

The device looks the same as the second-generation device and, in fact, the new interface that Apple touted during the event will also be coming to the second-generation version via software update. The only thing new about the third-gen Apple TV is the ability to output 1080p (the second-gen can play 1080p movies but only outputs 720p) plus a more direct link into iCloud for photo syncing. If all you want is the new and improved interface (which I do like, as an Apple TV fan), you'll be able to get it from Apple on your second-gen device without having to pay anything.

We asked whether the third-gen Apple TV had the same A5X processor as that in the new iPad (as was previously rumored), but an Apple spokesperson told us that it has a "single-core version of the A5" and it's not the same as what's in the iPad. The CPU is capable of handling 1080p HD video. The spokesperson also claimed that users "only need an 8-10 megabit Internet connection" in order to take advantage of 1080p movies from iTunes, but speaking as someone with experience with the second-generation Apple TV at a mere 720p, this depends highly upon your individual ISP. (Insert grumbling about Comcast here.)

And despite rumors that Siri would come to the third-generation Apple TV (and continued insistence by some publications), there were no indications that Siri was anywhere on the new Apple TV interface. We are confident in saying that Siri is not currently available on the device, though that could certainly change with a software update.


That's odd -- maybe iTunes restored a backup when you plugged it in? The "setup as new or restore from backup" screen in iTunes when you first plug in an iPhone is confusing, so maybe you chose restore from backup?

If so, we should check to see if iTunes made an "emergency" backup before restoring the old backup. Open iTunes and select Preferences from the iTunes menu (Mac) or Edit menu (Windows).

Do you see a backup listed in there from about the time that this happened, maybe with a date stamp in the name? If so, you could either try restoring that backup (a little heavy handed) or use a third party tool to go look in the contents of the backup. (I work on a tool called Decipher Backup Browser -- the free trial will let you poke around and preview all of the camera roll photos to see if you have a backup with your photos. https://deciphertools.com/decipher-backup-browser.html)


The 21.5-inch, Late 2009, iMac has either a E7600 or E8600 Intel Core 2 Duo with a TCASE (Case Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor Integrated Heat Spreader (IHS).) temperature of 74.1°C and 72.4°C respectively.  So if the CPU is reading only 50°C, then it's not running hot at all.


It is very difficult to answer from your description. The most likely reasons are:

a) You forgot that you sent it.

b) You sent it without knowing that you did so.

c) Someone borrowed one of your devices and send it on your account.

d) You gave your iMessage password to someone, or they guessed it, and they sent the message on your account.

It is much more unlikely that it happened due to Apple employees manipulating your iMessages or NSA staff doing the same - and much more unlikely than bugs in the iMessage system letting other people's images appear as being sent from you.


macOS Sierra and QNAP SMB share - Disk does not support Time Machine backups. (error 45)


Displaying full screen video on only 1 monitor

Try to disable mirroring in System Preferences > Displays and move application which play video to the screen you want.


messages extension in the share menu does not work

I am using sierra as well I did what was suggest here:

I unchecked the contacts on icloud settings and then tried the share via imessage and it worked. Then I checked back on the contacts on icloud contacts and it worked again

I did this from safari, when I tried from a file folder it did not, so I went back to uncheck the contacts on icloud and repeated the sequence described above and it worked

It seems to me that from each place you want to share something via imessage you have to turn off contacts, try it, turn it back on again and this seems to correct whatever it is that was wrong

But after a little while it stops working again if you have contacts activate in icloud

I guess the next step is to try to loggoff from the icloud account and re login to see if this gets fixed


How to sync Keychain passwords between iOS and macOS?

Only passwords stored via Safari are synced between devices. Passwords manually added to Keychain App are not sent to iOS.


Brand new hard drive encryption taking too long on time machine

The amount of time it takes to encrypt a drive is a function of its size, not its contents.

Your brand-new hard drive full of zeroes still needs to be scrambled so that no one can figure out that it’s full of zeroes. That will take just as long as encrypting the same amount of arbitrary values.


Very slow performance under Yosemite on Mac mini caused by systemstatsd

The culprit was indeed systemstatsd. The way I understand it, that process both produces a number of system stats, dumps them into a file which it later analyzes. For some reason, that file never got reset, resulting in a giant stats file that took serious resources to analyze.

What I did was stop the analysis daemons,

sudo launchctl stop com.apple.systemstatsd
sudo launchctl stop com.apple.systemstatsd.analysis

remove the stats dump file (which was about 3 gigs in size at the time)

cd /private/var/db/systemstats/
sudo rm snapshots.db

relaunch the daemons

sudo launchctl start com.apple.systemstatsd
sudo launchctl start com.apple.systemstatsd.analysis

I never figured out why that dump file never got cleared, but suspect it'd something to do with the PRAM, so for good measure I finally reset it by rebooting and pressing CMD, ALT, P, R when the boot chime was heard until it was heard a second time.

The end result is a mac that is very much snappier than before. Here's hoping that zapping the PRAM did eliminate the root cause.

Further reading: What is the use of snapshot.db?


iOS 5 Upgrade: Massive Battery Drain and Crashing Phone App

Turn off Wi-Fi Sync.

I did it and voilá!

It seems that iPhone is constantly looking for an iTunes and tries to connect to it permanently. In fact If I had WI-FI Sync on, iPhone would appear on iTunes for a couple of seconds and then disappear.

To turn it off just plug your iPhone to your computer, open iTunes, click on your iPhone on the left bar and uncheck Wi-Fi Sync.

Good luck!


How to prevent macOS from putting icons on some areas of the desktop?

What about creating a smart folder “Desktop” and put it onto your sidebar. Try omitting parameters like show only files larger than 1kb. If you go to more options/show more from the query menu in finder... you can add a ton of parameters including “raw” query. Raw can be used to make some really complicated and effective searches. I think you can even extract the raw query from a saved smart folder.


TestFlight Internal Testers on iOS Individual Developer Program

Sure. This is an extract of iTunes Connect Developer Guide:

Enable internal testers in Users and Roles.
To be eligible to become an internal tester, a user must be part of your iTunes Connect team with the Admin, Legal, or Technical role. Adding iTunes Connect users and setting their roles is explained in Setting Up an iTunes Connect User. You can see users’ roles in the Users and Roles section.
Enabling an iTunes Connect user for TestFlight beta testing is explained in To enable a user as an internal tester.
Add internal testers to your app.
The Internal Testers pane in the Prerelease section lists the current users who are enabled as internal testers on your iTunes Connect account.
Select up to 25 of them to add as internal testers for the app and click Save.
To invite internal testers, select the Builds tab and set the TestFlight Beta Testing switch to the On (green) position. The users you selected will automatically receive an email inviting them to test. They will be directed to use the TestFlight app on their iOS devices to accept the invitation to test the latest build available.


I had the same exact error log, but with having admin access to vpn server and router, so I found out the problem quickly. For me it was dst-nat problem, on one  router that I forgot about being there and I found it via traceroute. I was playing with it and some testing vpn-servers 2 years ago.

So basically this log would show up if no packets on 500/udp or 4500/udp are able to reach the server or just end up redirected to non-existing address(like my case). There's most likely no problem with your colleague's mac. The log would just say something else if there was something like bad configurations, secret, cipher, outdated operating system etc. I recommend to contact your office if you haven't yet and tell them your IP.


To be able to create a multi-boot environment you have to revert from a CoreStorage partition layout to a standard partition layout.

Start to internet recovery mode by pressing altcmdR while booting.
Open Terminal.app in the menubar Utilities → Terminal
enter diskutil cs revert LVUUID and hit the ⏎ key.
(LVUUID is the Logical Volume UUID. You get it by entering diskutil cs list in Terminal.app)
In your case it's diskutil cs revert 36635140-167F-4638-BF3C-4477ADAA6B21.
If your CoreStorage Volume is tagged as 'revertible' this command should convert your CoreStorage volume to a standard volume non-destructively.
Enter 'exit' when the conversion is finished and quit Terminal.app.
Open Disk Utility and partition your SSD as you need.


EDM doesn't nearly give the same yield and precision compared to laser.

EDM skimming probably get the job done nice and accurately, but it will cost just too much time.

Obviously the internals of the iMac / Macbook unibody frame are being done by traditional mill-cut CNC.  It does take a while before a frame exits the machine, but Apple just has an awful lot of them in the factory. No rocket science here.

The Apple logos (front and back of the iMac, screen lid of the Macbooks) are probably done by laser cutting.  To get higher yield, they might use high pressure waterjets (possibly assisted with garnet and/or alox) for the middle, and laser for the outer edges.

Not your question but nonetheless interesting, the breathing light on MBP's, the LED non-hole next to the Macbook's iSight camera/external touchpad/keyboard are done by high precision laser technology (0.001" and below) with machinery sourced from an external company which owns the technology behind it.


Open Preference Pane from command line on El Capitan (Mac OS X 10.11)

You can open System Preferences using its URL scheme:

open "x-apple.systempreferences:"

You can jump to a specific anchor on a specific pane using:

open "x-apple.systempreferences:com.apple.preference.keyboard?Text"

You can get the list of panes and anchors using AppleScript:

tell application "System Preferences"
    set myIds to the id of every pane
    set myAnchors to anchors of current pane
end tell

Update: Apple has restricted use of the URL scheme in 10.11. As of this release only preference panes with NSPrefPaneAllowsXAppleSystemPreferencesURLScheme set in their Info.plist can be opened via the URL scheme.

Source: @Matt Stevens answer


MS Office 2011: Plugging Excel Data Into a Word Document

Yes, it is. I don't know exactly what you are doing, but doing a mail merge should link a Word document to an Excel spreadsheet. Let me know what you are using it for, and I can post further instructions.


I found a solution: in the iCal preferences ⌘ + ,

From the accounts Tab:

Select the caldav server
go to the "Delegation" Tab.

There, all delegate Calendars are listed. Select the check marked for all calendars to be shown.

I have no idea how this setting got disabled, though.


GUI written in python (with PyQT/PySide2) does not launch

I just found the answer in this stackoverflow question. For some weird reason, one has to add the following piece of code at the beginning of the script.
import os
os.environ['QT_MAC_WANTS_LAYER'] = '1'

And that worked for me