How to switch input in split panel terminal?

The idea behind splitting is that it allows you to keep a certain part of the shell buffer displayed while continuing to enter new commands. So only the lowest split does allow keyboard input. To position the view on the shell buffer use the scroll bar.

How to switch or close the new split Terminal pane?


Is there a iOS player app that display composer id3 info and play Apple Music songs?

You can try MyAudioStream audio application for iPhone and iPod. A nice music player and audio streamer to playback or beam music that you have stored on PC, MAC any UPnP/DLNA server wirelessly and transfer to any wireless speakers, AV receivers. I have at home PC with Serviio installed, like a server and stream the songs to my device from there wirelessly.


Downgrading OS X version from Mavericks to last OS upgrade?

The last Mac OS which supported Power PC emulator (Rosetta) on x86 was Snow Leopard. You can back up your data using Time Machine, find distributive on your CD and install it.

UPDATE

As people said, you should copy your data directly without using Time Machine.


Destination of merged PDFs in Automator?

It is placed in a temporary file, with some random name, such as:

/var/folders/mt/k2_g0s2x3dl9jpx009p14nmw0000gm/T/JbtgKP.pdf

In general they are placed somewhere under /var/fodlers directory.

If you want to find where it is, you can open a Terminal and type something like:

sudo find /var/folders/ -name "*.pdf"

But probably, you'll want to rename and move it where you need, adding Rename Finder Items and Move Finder Items steps.


Only hibernate when closing the lid, display sleep otherwise?

Hibernate only (not sleep) when closing the lid:

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 25

And to go back to "normal" behavior:

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 3

As for the sleep behavior with an open lid, just slide the Computer sleep timer to Neverin System Preferences > Energy Saver. Alternatively do

sudo pmset -a sleep 0


Is there a PDF annotation application for OS X that doesn't suck?

Maybe you could try PDFPen. It's a bit expensive thought. A trial is available
https://smilesoftware.com/PDFpen/index.html

For me Foxit Reader does the job.


Try deleting the ~/Library/Preferences/com.macromates.TextMate.preview.plist file while TextMate is closed and then reopen it.

Note: You might want to backup the file first before deleting it.


How can I make the up arrow work in Terminal's nslookup command?

Nslookup on OS X does not seem to use readline, so it does not support the arrow keys.

You can install rlwrap, which is available in MacPorts and presumably other package managers.  Then you can run

rlwrap nslookup

To get arrow key support.

Many thanks to this thread on the MacRumors forums.


How to type a blank password in terminal in Mac sierra

sudo in macOS requires a password, see https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202035
So it is not about typing it, it is sudo not accepting it.


Directing specific apps to use different network connections than other apps

No, this is not possible at the application level.


undelete (-W) with rm (BSD General Commands) - Operation not supported

From man rm:
 -W    Attempt to undelete the named files.  Currently, this option can only be
       used to recover files covered by whiteouts.

So it can't be used to recover files deleted by the usual means.
For a (rather short) explanation of whiteout see https://askubuntu.com/questions/39826/what-does-whiteout-mean-in-a-copy-on-write-filesystem. A slightly better explanation I found on discussions.apple.com:

A whiteout node is used are part of a union file system mount, where a 2nd file system is mounted over a base file system, and the files in both file systems appear to be merged.
When you delete a file in the union file system which happens to be in the bottom layer (which is effectively read-only), the top layer gets a whiteout node created to indicate that the bottom layer file should not be returned on a directory lookup.
So while I did not find anything about deleting a whiteout node, my theory is that maybe if you create a real file or directory with the exact same name as the whiteout node you created, the file system will automatically remove the whiteout node. Or try renaming a file to the same name as the whiteout node.


Is hibernation possible on a T2 iMac / Catalina?

I suspect that some power is still required to maintain hibernation, as distinct from 'off'. So you may be able to hibernate an iMac, but only while it's still plugged in.
The 'Resume' feature of macOS is designed so that desktops can relaunch apps and open documents and windows that were up at shutdown, 'resuming' where the user left off.
sleepimage does exist on my 2018 Mini, over 2GB in size: though the Creation and Modification date are both 8 November 2018, which was probably when I first turned it on.


You can still use ogg123 through the The Ogg Vorbis CODEC tools, installed through the MacPorts Project.


You need to reset Safari's preferences.

Click on “Safari” located in the menu bar in the top left hand
corner of the screen
Click on “Reset Safari...”
Place a checkmark beside all available options
Press the “Reset” button

If you arent able to reset Safari then you'll have to manually remove some files.

Click on the Hard Drive icon located on the desktop
Browse to “Users > (Users Home) > Library > Safari folder”
Drag every file except “Bookmarks.plist” into the Trash
Browse to “User > (Users Home) > Library > Preferences”
Locate “com.apple.Safari.plist”,
“com.apple.internetconfigpriv.plist” and
“com.apple.internetconfig.plist” and drag them to the trash.
NOTE: If “com.apple.internetconfigpriv.plist” does not exist,
ignore it and just trash the other two files
Restart Safari


Is It Possible to Have the iPhone Speak the Name of the Caller?

If you enable VoiceOver (in Settings → General → Accessibility), your phone will speak the numbers (or names for contact entries) of incoming calls. However it changes the user experience of the phone substantially (it will read everything on screen for you). I'm not aware of any way to enable VoiceOver just for phone calls unfortunately.

Another option would be to record custom ringtones reading the number/name for some of your contacts (you can assign custom ringtones in the Contacts app). This is obviously time consuming (although if you have  a Mac, you could speed it up with some scripting of Address Book and the system reader), and only useful for the contacts you set custom ringtones for—any incoming call not in your address book is out of luck.

There's very little integration with the Phone app available for third party apps—not much more than sending a number to call, so it's unlikely this could be solved by an app without jail breaking (and possibly not even then, I don't know).


i'm guessing this is what you are looking for  =NOW()


Where can I get highly technical documentation of Macintosh hardware?

As far as repair of hardware http://ifixit.com is actually pretty awesome, more visual than you may be looking for however.


network preferences shows self-assigned ip but macbook pro connects to internet

removing these files and rebooting solved the problem

com.apple.airport.preferences.plist
com.apple.wifi.message-tracer.plist
NetworkInterfaces.plist
preferences.plist


How can I open a specific port on OS X 10.11.13

You can use the terminal command nc -l 4444 to create a server that listens on port 4444.  However, I think your question really is about opening a port on your router.  If someone else out on the internet somewhere is trying to connect to you on port 4444, the router you have acts as a boundary between you and them, and most often all incoming ports by default are closed.  So even if you run a server on your Mac and it's listening on port 4444, traffic on that port needs to be allowed through at the router level.

Please give us more info so we can help you.


Cant allow app to control computer anymore

According to this answer I made a select query to Tcc.db, and I see myApp there, despite that I don't see them in window. Actually, I have tried to delete database before writing my question, but still problems have been occured, so I desided then app has no access to mac.

But, when I delete from DB myApp, then select query - all gone, OK.
Then drag again, then select query execute - myApp appeared with same settings as other apps, but still invisible in in privacy.


Can I tell whether "Erase data" is enabled from the lock screen?

Are any warnings about this options shown while the wrong codes are being entered?

No, there is no way to tell. The reason being for this is so that thieves treat all iPhones as if they might wipe themselves after 10 tries.

Is any notification or progress bar shown while the data is being erased?

Yes, while data is being erased, the iPhone will switch into the Apple Logo with the progress bar. If Find My iPhone is enabled and you are on iOS 7+, you will not be able to use the iPhone until the owner enters his or her Apple ID and password due to activation lock.
Here's a picture of the screen I'm talking about:

Is it possible to tell whether the data were erased when the phone shows "iPhone is disabled - connect to iTunes" screen?

When an iPhone is erased due to incorrect passcode entries (iOS 7+ at least), the device will revert to the "Hello" screen and will prompt you to set it up again. Most users have Find My iPhone enabled so in order to use the device you will have to enter the owner's Apple ID and password.
Here's the activation lock interface for those of you not familiar with it:


Mount CD disk on mac as if it was mounted on windows

This happens because you mount CD in mixed format that has separate files for Mac and for PC. You need to edit image with utility like Ultraiso/Toast to make it Win only.

For old Mac games I suggest you to using virtual machine with Mac version that can handle classic applications instead of running Wine port. (Actually this is not my idea, it is Apple's decision. After removing Rosetta this is all that we have)


How to upload the full-resolution pictures taken by Instagram to Flickr?

I use the Posterous Spaces app to save full resolution photos from the roll to the web and have that linked to push to flickr. You could also use the native flickr app to pick them from the roll.


Why is my Photos application showing over 47GB of space used when my photos library is empty?

There's not enough information here for a definitive answer (no fault on you, if you had that "definitive information" you wouldn't be asking the question :). That said, I'll guess that there is an "orphaned" photo library somewhere on your HD that's fallen into a crack. I say this because of something that happened to me after Apple "upgraded" iPhoto to Photos not too long ago. In my case this happened after I "migrated" user accounts from an older Mac to a newer one. You may recall that iPhoto allowed you to create as many libraries as you wanted, and over time, I lost track of some of them. This is just a guess, but hope it helps.
It seems that Apple may have been a bit ambiguous as to how to handle removal of data stores containing pictures. There doesn't seem to be a single method that works across all of the different apps, devices and storage scenarios. If you've not migrated a user account (or "upgraded" from iPhoto to Photos to your 2017 Mac, or the "orphaned iPhoto library" theory doesn't hold up, perhaps one of the following will give you some leads to discover which method will work for you.
This thread might be worth a read
And from Apple's support forum: this might be worth reviewing:

Deleted photos and videos are placed in the Recently Deleted album on your device, where they remain for 30 days. After that, items are permanently removed from all your devices set up for iCloud Photo Library.
You can remove items from your devices before the 30-day time period is up. On your iOS device, in the Recently Deleted album, tap Select, tap to select one or more items, tap Delete, then tap Delete [items]. To remove photos on your Mac, see Access your photos and videos everywhere with iCloud Photo Library in Photos Help for Mac.

And from yet another post on the subject:

Launch the Photos app on your Mac.
Click the Recently Deleted folder in your sidebar.
Click on the pictures or videos you want to permanently delete.
Click on the Delete button at the top right. A prompt will appear on screen: just hit delete, and you're good to go!


Intermittent Static / Garbage External Display On Wake and Boot? Picture included

If you look in the Console log you will find that the WindowServer is having a hard time finding the right protocol for your monitor.

Usually that happens when the hardware (cable/converter) connection are not stable, to long or near interference source.

From your picture it does look like your cable is to long and to close to the external monitor screen, and the Apple adapter is pulling its weight on to the plug.


Adding a MAC to a Windows Domain - well not quite

First off, Macs will happily bind to Active Directory domains - there's some variation between versions of AD and OS X, but if you're on AD 2008 or newer and OS X 10.8.3 or newer you won't have any problems.  Use the Accounts preference pane, open Directory Utility for more control, or use dsconfigad from the Terminal.  Once a Mac is bound, you will see it in your AD domain's Computers, just like anything else.

The UUIDs will be different, based on the order of account creation, but there is no functional difference between any two accounts that have been granted administrative rights.  You can also specify AD groups when binding to grant admin rights (typically AD domain and enterprise admins).

Accessing the SMB share will be based upon that share's owner and permissions.  If the user logs in to the Mac with his AD credentials, they should be able to easily connect to the share; with a small amount of effort you can easily add the share to auto-mount at login.

You might want to check out AFP548 for more resources on Macs and AD.


What does this ribbon on the iPhone 5s LCD shield plate do?

It's the grounding plane.  Basically it reduces electrical noise and interference. Replacing it would be ideal but, if it's a very small rip, you should be okay.  Very small being 1mm or less.  It may function with a bigger rip but I'm not sure how that will affect the performance of your device.


How can I fix intermittently not being able to switch between the same application windows via shortcuts?

Quoting form Apple's Human Interface Guidelines for developers:

  Users can view all of an app’s open windows by activating App Exposé. In App Exposé view, users can choose one of the open windows on the current desktop or scroll to find an open window on a different desktop. Users can also cycle forward or backward through an app’s open windows on the current desktop by using Command-Backquote and Command-Shift-Backquote. If full keyboard access is on, they can cycle through all windows by using Control-F4 and Shift-Control-F4.

As it relates to your question, it is important to point out that the above quote from the HIG talks about cycling through "open windows on the current desktop". I presume that excludes windows that have been minimized to the dock. That may explain some of the inconsistencies that you see.

The takeaway here is that while the OS may try to standardize certain keyboard shortcuts, this only work if each app developer  implements their app using standard AppKit controls. The less standard the controls look (like Chrome), it is likely that the standard keyboard shortcuts will not function as you expect.

As a side note, even within apps that do use AppKit, they may implement certain shortchuts like tab-switching in a different way. Hope this helps.


How to reset Mac OS X text substitution?

Try running these commands:

defaults delete -g NSUserReplacementItems
defaults delete -g NSUserDictionaryReplacementItems

Then quit and reopen some application and test if it worked.

NSUserDictionaryReplacementItems is used in 10.9 and NSUserReplacementItems is used in 10.8 and earlier.


How to disable Full Screen Animation on OS X 10.9

macOS Sierra (10.12) introduced "reduce motion".
Go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Display and check the box labeled Reduce motion.
I find this makes things much more pleasant ;)


Why does iOS insist on using my Facebook email address?

Go to account settings in Facebook (web) -> general -> email

Untick "use your Facebook email"

You may need to then re sync your Facebook contacts.

Hey presto... It's sorted!!


How to convert photos from heic into jpg?

Preview.app

Open the HEIC with Preview.app
File > Export...
Format: JPEG

In batch:

Select all the desired HEIC files in Finder at once (using shift + click or dragging)
Right-click > Open with > Preview
Use shift + click (or dragging) in Preview to select all the files in the sidebar
File > Export Selected Images...
Click options in the bottom-left of the dialog
Set the format to JPEG
Navigate to the location you want to save the new JPEGs
Click "Choose" in the bottom-right of the dialog

Command line (ImageMagick)
brew install imagemagick
convert IMG_1234.HEIC image.jpg

In batch:
for file in *.HEIC ; do convert "$file" "${file%.HEIC}.jpg" ; done


2010 Macbook pro makes intermitten beeping sound

Put a stethoscope next to where the hard drive is inside the case. It's highly likely you're hearing the servos and motors from the drive responding at the same time as you  interact with the system.


How to force a new app to be placed on the main home screen section (iPad 6)

You cannot force that to happen.

However, you can move the app after installation. You do this by pressing and holding on the app icon on the home screen. After a few seconds, the icons will start "wiggling" - and you then press and hold to pick the icon up, and then move it to the place you want. If you hold the icon on the side of the screen, you will flip to the previous/next section of the home screen.


What can I do if my MacBook isn’t charging but already ran out?

If you saw the power light flash when you reset the SMC, that indicates the reset is done and successful and you can move on to the rest of the steps in the guide.

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

I would let it charge up for 1 hour and then run through the steps above before getting on with Apple Support to see what the cost for battery service with mail in so you can then decide to go with Apple or look locally for an authorized or non-authorized repair. Apple will be able to refer you to their consultants that are certified / local (or as remote as you are if that’s the case).

I’ve had them overnight a box, get it in the mail, send out the machine and get it back a day later. I’m in a big city, though but mail-in is almost always faster than the Genius Bar for me these days. Even for battery service. Getting the machine to the parts is easier and cheaper than making an appointment and the stores often just send these out so you don’t save time for this repair.

Good luck - be sure to make an answer with what you do - the above is general advice and might or might not be the best for you.

There is almost always enough residual power a day or two after the machine shuts off for a SMC reset and if the battery goes completely flat, that too resets the SMC in a way since it cold starts when the trickle charge returns. Also, be sure you can’t try a different charger if it’s just that.


Your best option is to replace the battery. They are $129 at apple. My wife's 17in MBP had the same problem, noticed that her battery was swollen as well. As soon as we changed the battery, the laptop behaved properly again.


Easiest fix is to launch notes and compose a bogus note with the Apple keyboard, then change keyboard back.


OS X Yosemite freezes randomly, absolutely everything hangs (screen, trackpad, keyboard, sound, applications, rtc.)

As you can see in this snippet, it is stuck with the

/Library/LaunchAgents/com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist, error = 2: No such file or directory

Try to repair it by running Java Update.

If that does not help you need to repair your installation using the Command R.


To stop the notifications, go to System Preferences > App Store and disable 'check automatically for updates.' This will stop the notifications. This was from http://lifehacker.com/how-to-fix-os-x-mavericks-biggest-annoyances-1450220339


What can be done to use iMessage when it is stuck on "Waiting for Activation"

A few of the things that are under your control are as follows:

Undo the iMessage settings, power off the device and try again in 5 minutes.
Check that iCloud isn't having system-wide problems
Same as step one, but wait 20 to 200 minutes. (sometimes the problem is in the network or the activation servers or the SMS network to tie your phone to the Apple system with the one time activation message and waiting is easier than working with all of the above parties)
Rather than wait - work through the steps to Troubleshoot iMessage and FaceTime Activation
Contact Apple for support

It's hard to guess what exactly is wrong, but you also can edit your question to list what steps you have done to troubleshoot this and perhaps someone can guess or point out a missed step.


Can Bluetooth be disabled on the Apple Watch?

Apparently Apple Watch has Airplane Mode, which turns off both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

  [To] Turn on Airplane Mode. Swipe up on the watch face, swipe to the Settings glance, then tap the Airplane Mode button. The Connected status at the top of the screen changes to Disconnected. Or open the Settings app settings icon, then tap Airplane Mode. When Airplane Mode is on, you’ll see [Airplane mode icon] at the top of the screen.

Source: Apple Watch User Guide.


Does MBP and anti-glare MBP use the same top case?

The single difference between the Glossy and the anti glare MBP is the presence of a glass panel on the glossy one.

So yes they use the same body.


Resizing a window to a specific size, for screen recording?

You could try an AppleScript like this:

  set the_application to (path to frontmost application as Unicode text)

  tell application the_application
      activate
      set bounds of window 1 to {1, 1, 1281, 721}
  end tell


Deleted Macintosh HD. Need to create a new partition/ partition table

Boot to Recovery HD (or Internet Recovery) and then use Disk Utility to format the drive(s) as part of this documented process to erase and install the OS.

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21973

Booting from recovery is what makes the partition map writeable. You were very close to the solution. If erasing doesn't work, you may have to repartition the volume per https://support.apple.com/kb/PH22240

As a last resort, boot to single user mode and/or Recovery and start terminal and get a screen capture/picture/verbatim listing of the output of:

diskutil list


Try rebuilding the Launch Services database.

Open the Terminal and run the following command:

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user


Quick switching between language keyboards

In iOS, tap(or hold) the globe key.

In macOS, try control+space bar. Press and  hold control and then press space to get a list of languages.

If menu bar has input sources shortcut enabled in keyboard settings, one can use it too.


How to add startup program using Terminal?

LaunchDaemons – Run at Boot

LaunchAgents – Run at Login

So... you need a daemon

suggest you to cat /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.pfctl.plist or any other in the same dir and use it as reference.

Just remove unnecessary. It will be something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Disabled</key>
    <false/>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>shell.sh</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/path/to/shell.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

save the file in the same dir, but named shell.sh.plist and run

sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/shell.sh.plist

to remove script from the load list:

sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/shell.sh.plist

this is not linux so things are done Mac way.

man launchd & man launchd.plist will provide all needed info

OR

you can use an approach described here

Creating .plist just once and pointing it to your startup script which in turn will start anything you add there without need to write new .plist every time you want to start something new.


How do I delete apache from OS X Yosemite?

In this case you don't need to delete apache as you should not touch any executable under /usr/bin as Apple controls updating of this (i.e. could install it again). apt-get etc are not OS X or Unix commands but one packaging system for Linux.

Any install of apache will put it in a different place to where Apple puts it.

To install Apache if you want to use a packaging system look at Macports, Homebrew or Fink. (if deb is the packaging you know then look at Fink)

Otherwise the easiest installs are using MAMP, or use Apple's configuration in OS X Server

What you use depends on your knowledge and what you want to use it for and to use the correct tutorials i.e. not that that assume Linux


Accessing other user’s files/browser cookies and logins on Mac with root access?

In OS X your login credentials will be stored in Keychain by default. This can be accessed by the admin only.
For more reference you can refer this.

`


Sierra stuck at login screen - password doesn't work

Try to reset your login password at first:

macOS Sierra: Reset a login password.

If the above didn't help, try to reset Nonvolatile Random-Access Memory and System Management Controller:

How to reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac.

How to reset the SMC on your Mac.

P.S. I experienced the same issue on Mac Mini with El Capital. Resetting PRAM and SMC helped me to fix it.


Macbook Pro think 60W adapter is a 12W one, and won't charge anymore

When charging my MacBook Pro (mid 2017, macOS Catalina 10.15.7) with the 61W USB-C Power Adapter from Apple, sometimes the "battery is not charging" warning start appearing from nowhere draining the battery.

There are a couple of possibilities that can be attributed to this:
Battery Health Management
This could be expected behavior. With the release of Catalina (10.15.5), there is a feature called Battery Health Management that will actually stop the charging of the battery at a certain battery charge range.  This "battery not charging" message is perfectly normal when this function/feature is enabled.
Faulty USB Mux Chip
There have been reports that the USB Mux chip (TI CB3215) is faulty.  This chip is what negotiates the charging power to be delivered from the USB-C (USB-PD compliant) power adapter.  It starts off with a 5V nominal voltage, but then can go as high as 20V at about 3A (≅ 61W).  The full spec calls for up to 20V @ 5A or 100W, but (obviously) can be lower due to a lower overall wattage rating.
This is expected given that the correct charger for the 2017 MacBook Pro is the 87W charger.  See the Apple Support document Find the right power adapter and cable for your Mac notebook.  If you use a power adapter with less than the required wattage, your MacBook will not be able to supply enough power for all of it's functions - charging and powering the computer.  In this case, it was using all available power to run the laptop and there wasn't any left to charge the battery.
Your charger is likely good

When using the power adapter from Apple and the USB-C cable on another device (unfortunately a phone and not another MacBook), it's charging normally.

"Normally" is relative here. If it's from a MacBook and USB-C PD compliant (which Apple chargers are) it would be sufficient enough to charge the phone at what appears to be a "normal rate."  Being that it's USB-C, it would conform to the USB Power Delivery Specification (USB-PD) where the current is negotiated to the highest possible.  As mentioned earlier, it would start off at 5V then negotiate from there.  As most phones use a 5V and a 2-2.5A charger anyway, even without negotiating power, the adapter is delivering the maximum (what the phone will draw) to charge the phone.  This means your charger is likely working as it should.  However, a proper test would be to try that charger on a different MacBook.  If you see that it negotiates anywhere near it's full 61W, then you've confirmed it's viability.

When using another power adapter on the MacBook, it's charging slowly (but coming from a 12W power adapter and a USB-A to USB-C cable that seems fair enough).

This is also expected.  Most USB-A chargers only supply up to 12 watts of power. There is no power negotiation with these chargers.  When connected to your MacBook, it will receive the 5V from the adapter, the Mac will attempt to ask for more but since it will not get a response, it will just continue to draw the 12W available.
TL;DR
Some of this, as described is normal behavior if Battery Health Management is enabled.  If you suspect your adapter, you can use aftermarket USB-C chargers with confidence but I always recommend getting quality adapters and cables from well known vendors like Anker, Belkin, StarTech, etc.  However, there is the possibility that the USB mux chip that regulates the charging is failing or has failed.  Apple will require a replacement of the logic board, but there are board repair facilities that can replace that single component.

60w charger only delivering 5.5w to battery?
Is the Macbook 12 inch's USB-C charger interchangeable with other USB-C chargers or devices?
Danger of damaging 13" macbook pro by charging it with 85w charger?


Most likely you have another port installed that depends on gnutar, so the uninstall command didn't remove it. Run

port dependents gnutar

to see if this is the case (sudo is not required for some port actions like list, installed, dependents, etc.). If you want to uninstall everyone,

sudo port uninstall --follow-dependents gnutar

will do the trick, but obviously could lead to unintended consequences, as all the dependents of all the dependents will be uninstalled, recursively, and you could end up decimating your port collection. Only do this if you know exactly what you're doing. gnutar is fairly small and unobtrusive, so if you can't easily get rid of it you won't be that bad off in terms of disk space.


Solved: Put mouse cursor on the book and it should highlight cloud symbol on top right corner. Download the book and it works.


Only alphanumerics and some other keys work on magic keyboard

Likely the keyboard is physically damaged by my child or water damaged. I just tried it with my iPad and same symptoms.
Sounds like a good opportunity to do a keyboard teardown


Sound Gone on Macbook Pro Retina 15" late 2014 running MacOS Big Sur 11.3 Beta

Did you try to run the Mac in Safe Mode? Were the results the same?
What about setting up a new user profile (make sure its an admin)? Is the sound still not working with the new user?
If safe mode and a new user are not showing any results that are different from what you currently experience then do the following:

Run Diagnostics Test
Reset the PRAM

Option-Command-P-R: Reset NVRAM or PRAM. If your Mac is using a firmware password, it ignores this key combination or starts up from macOS Recovery.

Reset the System Management Controller (SMC)

The last resort should be to contact Apple Support for any further testing and then they can determine if repair is necessary. Before calling Apple Support, make sure you have an external hard drive (only for your Mac) and back it up so that you can secure your contents and files safely before repairs are done.


Built-in iSight not working after migrating OS X from Mac Mini to MacBook Pro

[Adding update for posterity and closing this question]

Pleased to report my iSight was working in my MBP with a new logic board.


No you cannot overcharge it because careful account is made of the charge in the cells by internal circuitry which will not charge the battery when it is fully charged. Many of the technologies involved in modern, power dense batteries react very badly indeed to overcharging, so much so that a little circuit, usually built into the battery itself, acts as a kind of charge "accountant" to ensure it's impossible for things to get out-of-hand.


Convert single unicode character to png image

Using ImageMagick:

convert -pointsize 64 -font /System/Library/Fonts/Apple\ Symbols.ttf label:⦿ output.png

convert -background transparent -fill 'hsb(0%,0%,0%)' -font /System/Library/Fonts/Apple\ Symbols.ttf -pointsize 64 -size 200x200 -gravity center label:⦿ output.png


I've seen this too.  Emacs 24.3.1, Mavericks 10.9.

I've found that the distnoted process calms down within seconds after I quit out of Emacs.

I've filed an Emacs bug here: http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.bugs/80836


The way I interpret the "Requires 10.6.6" requirement is that any of the 10.6 releases (currently 10.6.6, 10.6.7, 10.6.8) are supported, along with any of the 10.7 releases (currently 10.7, 10.7.1, 10.7.2, 10.7.3). It doesn't matter which version you start or end with; just end up with 10.6.6 or newer.

Apple only sells SnowLeopard (10.6) on DVD. I'm not aware of a legal download for SnowLeopard. I recently bought the DVD for a relative and it had an older version, like 10.6.3. I installed from the DVD, then updated to 10.6.8 with Software Update. (My assumption is that Apple only updates the OS on the packaged media when they deem it necessary.)


Macbook pro wont update format or shut down and hangs everytime

Even if you have an SSD MacBook Pro, I would immediately make a backup at the first signs of stalling. It’s almost always software and the fastest way to test that is to reboot to recovery, erase your Mac and then install a clean, new OS from internet. You will know immediately that the OS is clean and fast and then can move files back with Migration Assistant.

You need to trust your backup / restore though. You can also mess around with trying to eliminate things like user settings by making a new user account - see if it freezes, uninstall all old kernel extension and intrusive apps like AntiVirus or other things like Adobe that are heavy handed, but that takes a lot of time and most people have dozens to a hundred apps to triage that way. Much more efficient to just test a new user account, reboot and erase in my experience.

Also, it could be the storage failing, which also means it’s much better to get your backup solid - so good you know you can use it. All the time you spend triaging when hardware is failing, means you lose time to get your backup complete.


How can I read full song title on my iPod touch or iPhone?

As of iOS 5, this problem is even simpler. Many views will scroll overflowing information, but you can also simply tap and hold on many sources of text in order to view them in a significantly smaller font size in a back pop-up tooltip, which greatly expands the amount of text that can be fit in the width of the iPhone's screen size.

Note that my previous answer still applies (below), but this tooltip is usually quite a bit faster and much more direct.

For all iOS versions before iOS 5:

My answer on the View Full Podcast Title Question covers this as well. You can use Cover Flow view (rotate your device to Landscape while in the iPod/Music app after selecting a song) in order to greatly increase the amount of room used to display song information.

Your title is particularly large, I don't know what the landscape/Cover Flow view limit is. I don't have any songs that exceed it yet :).


How to activate root using the Single-User Mode in Catalina

With the slightly different volume scheme in Catalina - compared to pre-Cataline systems - you have to mount /System/Volumes/Data to prevent the read-only mount point /:

/sbin/mount -uw /System/Volumes/Data

Then the usual commands:

launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.opendirectoryd.plist
passwd root

and enter the password.

On T2-chip Macs you have to boot to Recovery Mode and use dscl to enable root:

dscl -f /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD\ -\ Data/private/var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default localhost -passwd /Local/Default/Users/root

If your main volume has another name than Macintosh HD, replace Macintosh\ HD with this name (e.g SystemCat):

dscl -f /Volumes/SystemCat\ -\ Data/private/var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default localhost -passwd /Local/Default/Users/root


Attach one .dmg file on different computers at the same time (hdiutil attach)

Is it possible to attach the same file on multiple Computers at the same time?

This is possible if -- AND ONLY IF -- the disk image is read-only.

Most filesystems -- including HFS+ -- are designed with the assumption that the system mounting the filesystem has exclusive access to the filesystem. Attempting to mount a HFS+ filesystem as read/write from multiple systems will likely result in multiple systems trying to update data in the same locations on disk, causing catastrophic filesystem corruption.

The safest way to ensure that the image is always mounted read-only will be to create it as a compressed disk image, or write-protect it directly on the server. If these options are not available, use

hdiutil attach -readonly ...

to mount it on the client.


The solution is to set ChimeOnNoHardware to true instead of setting ChimeOnAllHardware to false (note, No instead of All):

defaults write com.apple.PowerChime ChimeOnNoHardware -bool true
killall PowerChime


You'd have to do some very serious data forensics on the partition and even then, you're not guaranteed to get all your data back, as some of it will likely have been overwritten already. If it's important, you're probably best off paying for a professional data recovery company to get the data back. If it's not important, just reinstall bootcamp from scratch.

You could try to do this yourself, though you'd risk making things worse, so don't do this unless you don't really care about losing all the data. Basically, you would need to re-shrink your OSX partition to its original size, create the bootcamp partition in the exact same position and size (e.g. "80GB" is not good enough - this needs to be precise down to the sector) as before without initialising/formatting it (just adding the partition table entry - NOT via Disk Utility). Then, you can run an NTFS data rescue utility on this partition and see what it finds. You probably don't know the exact size and start of the old bootcamp partition, so you either need to see if it's recorded in any log or backed up files, otherwise you'll have to scan the drive for the NTFS header, if it's still there. Again, there are tools that can automate this.

I can't overstate how easy this is to mess up though, so unless you're prepared to lose the whole lot forever, let a professional handle it.


How to boot Macbook Pro when in closed clamshell mode without the windows getting resized

With my 2007 MBP I can get it out of sleep by clicking a mouse button or key on my external keyboard with the lid closed. No problem.

On a cold boot, I press the power button and then close the lid as fast as I can, and then it boots up on the external monitor with no ill effects.

Should work that way for any MBP!


Updating it did the trick, like @fsb suggested.


In non-native applications, in the Open File dialog, I can see hidden files but I can't select them

You can often alt/option click on files to force open them.


Can Macs connect to VPNs with MS-CHAPv2?

I found an answer over on Superuser that seems to involve some work in the terminal. Certainly not an ideal solution...


After upgrading to Mavericks, two-finger right-clicking in Chrome doesn't work

I had the same issue. The solution for me was to uninstall Chrome extension Smooth Gestures.

Which is a shame, because I love that extension, because it makes managing tabs a lot easier if you use a mouse.


Why does it take a long time to upload photos to Flickr using iPhoto '11?

Maybe try an export plugin and see if it's any faster? Otherwise, it might be a limitation of your connection.

FlickrExport
FFXporter


Why does iPhone text not suggest an American flag emoji?

Apple is just being strict about America not being a country, but a continent. If you type USA or United States, predictive text will suggest the American flag:


How can I always show my user's 'library' folder in macOS Sierra?

Yes. Probably the easiest way is:

Click on the Finder icon in your Dock (usually the very first icon)
In the Finder window that appears, click on your username in the Sidebar (see note at end if it's not listed)
Now go to View > Show View Options (or press commandJ)
Now tick the Checkbox next to the Show Library Folder option (it's the bottom checkbox - see screenshot below)

Now your Library folder will remain visible as you were previously used to.

NOTE: If your username is not visible in the Sidebar, then go to Finder > Preferences, select the Sidebar tab and then select the checkbox next to your username at the bottom of the Favourites list.


SD CARD saying read only after I tried to delete files from the card

Are these cards NTFS formatted and have you only had this problem since updating to Mavericks?  Are you using the free NTFS-3G and/or MacFuse NTFS driver? If you answer yes to all, then that is the cause.  I'm having the same issue and may have to buy Paragon's NTFS driver.

Maybe try uninstalling and reinstalling NTFS-3G and MacFuse


How do I get EyeTV to work on my 2007 iMac?

My best guess is that you have an unmounted volume set in the EyeTV settings under Recording / "EyeTV Archive" Location.


How to use SoundFonts in GarageBand 10.2?

Ah yes, this is something Apple's been sent feedback about in terms of their user interface design for GarageBand 10. It's actually a quick fix that will hopefully get addressed in an upcoming update (changing the default setting on installation will probably do the trick for most people).

Using SoundFont (SF2) files in GarageBand v10

To get your SoundFont files to work in GarageBand 10, follow these steps:

Launch GarageBand and open your project
Go to GarageBand > Preferences
Select the Audio/MIDI tab
Within the Effects section, tick the Enable Audio Units checkbox
Exit Preferences
If it's not already, open the Smart Controls window
Now click on the Plug-ins drop down menu and select Instrument > AU Instruments > Apple > DLSMusicDevice > Stereo (see screenshot below):

A DSLMusicDevice window will open (this may take a little while)
Now click on the Sound Bank drop-down menu to select your SF2 file (see image below):

Once you've selected your file, close the DSLMusicDevice window
Now press commandK to open the Musical Typing keyboard (or you can just go to Window > Show Musical Typing).

Now you can play the sounds from the SoundFont (SF2) file you selected.

Installing SoundFont files on macOS

The steps above show how to use SoundFont files within GarageBand 10. However, if you want to download/install additional SoundFont files in macOS to make them available to GarageBand and other apps, follow these steps:

Download  the SoundFont files you want
Within the Finder, press and hold the option key
Keep the option key down and click on Go > Library
This will open your user's Library folder (you can let go of the option key now)
Within the Library folder navigate to Audio > Sounds > Banks
Press shiftcommandN to create a new folder
Move your SoundFont (SF2) files into this folder

Now your SoundFont files will be available to any apps that support them.


Chrome on macOS Sierra automatically jumps to desktop with fullscreen video

This isn't typical Chrome behavior.  Try resetting Chrome, by clicking on the vertical ellipse (three dots) at the right-most edge of the address bar, then Settings, then (at the bottom) Show Advanced Settings..., then at the bottom "Reset settings" to restore settings to their original defaults.

Failing that, remove then re-install Chrome.


Mac App Store: Downloads just don't start (Mojave)

I believe there can be multiple reasons for this behavior and various solutions. Too bad that app store simply does not give any indication of what is wrong with it.
The problem happened to me too. Nothing from this topic helped me, including restarting the App Store, logging in and out of the App Store, doing the above after opening a new connection with a VPN, much closer to California (I'm in Europe).
The only thing that worked is going to Activity Monitor and force-killing appstoreagent process. The app started to download at once. After force-killing appstoreagent, there was no need to log out and log in again in the App Store. Updates and downloads just work again.


How to prevent Mail creating a local Sent Messages folder

Select Gmail's Sent folder, then go to Mailbox > Use This Mailbox For > Sent.


Why doesn't the Apple Watch activity app count the activity recorded on the iPhone?

The activity recorded on the Apple Watch is separate from the activity recorded on the iPhone. As such each is recorded as a separate source in health.app. Also only activity recorded on the Apple Watch is reflected in activity.app.

Source: @pbur - Apple Software Engineer

https://twitter.com/wahoo/status/591749264956461058


iphone 5c bluetooth pairing with Mac: "the device does not have the necessary services"

from what I've gathered, the "services" can be related to filesharing or simply because either one of the devices refuses to understand the other...

based on the following

  iOs devices will not pair to computers except for Personal Hotspot. For AirDrop, you need to have bluetooth and Wifi on, and simply turn on Airdrop on each device. Pairing is not necessary.

source: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6795203?start=0&tstart=0

it seems to use airdrop, the personal hotspot needs to be disabled

and also

  Instead of connect to the devices using the "Browse device" where I have the same error than you, I went to "Set Up Bluetooth Device" and it works
  went to preference- sharing- turned bluetooth sharing on
  bottom of options where you'll see "Send File To Bluetooth Device". The device may show as "Disconnected" but click on it anyway

from https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4207524?start=15&tstart=0

see also  macworld co uk /how-to/mac-software/how-use-airdrop-on-macs-wirelessly-share-files-update-3500407/
which basically says airdrop can be buggy - turn on wifi and bluetooth, open airdrop on mac and "be patient"

in my case I got the same error message, but pairing/connecting wasn't working as I was using an iPhone 4s (and it needs 5 or later).


Without knowing what macOS version you're running, have you ensured that you have the latest version of the Logitech Control Centre installed?

The most recent update was only released a few weeks ago. You can read more or download it from here.

If the update and info doesn't help, report back with the version of macOS you're running and the model of your Mac.

[EDIT]

Since we've established your Mac supports Bluetooth Smart technology, which the MX Master needs if connecting via Bluetooth instead of USB, I see you have three options open to you:

contact Logitech Support directly;
connect the MX Master via USB cable instead; and,
resolve the issue preventing your upgrade to macOS Sierra.

On the 3rd point, according to this you should be fine to upgrade to macOS Sierra if using Airwatch. Perhaps it would be worth you asking a separate question about this? You may find resolving that also resolves your MX Master issue, since you'd be able to install the latest version of the Logitech Control Centre.


How do I get my Mac to do nothing when I insert a cd?

You can do this in your Mac's system preferences:

Go to Apple > System Preferences > CDs & DVDs
You'll see a menu for When you insert a music CD
Change that menu from "Open iTunes" to "Ignore".

Notes:

You may also want to check the options for Blank CD and Blank DVD as they also include built-in options to open iTunes.
The other menus also provide the ability to run a script, so if you got the MacBook from someone and you're using their old account, these may be worth checking as well in case they're launching iTunes or another application.


El Capitan Remove Finder from Application Switcher (cmd tab)

The file is protected by System Integrity Protection as outlined here.

By disabling SIP you will be able to edit the info.plist again.

So boot to Recovery Mode by pressing cmdR while booting.

Open Terminal.app (menubar -> Utilites -> Terminal)
Enter csrutil disable
Reboot your Mac
Edit the file /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Info.plist
Reboot again to Recovery Mode and enable SIP again: csrutil enable
Reboot your Mac

You should also be able to edit the file directly after booting to Recovery Mode without disabling SIP:

/Volumes/name_of_main_volume/usr/bin/nano /Volumes/name_of_main_volume/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Info.plist

You may have codesign Finder.app afterwards:

sudo codesign -fs - /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/


How to disable or remove the YaraScanService (MRT.app)?

As mentioned in this article YaraScanService is part of the MRT.app (Malware Removal Tool). If you are sure your system is not infected with malware and you don't want Apple to do automatic malware protection for you without asking your consent, then you can disable and/or remove the MRT service using these commands:

sudo launchctl stop com.apple.mrt
sudo launchctl remove com.apple.mrt

The corresponding .plist files are apparently located at:

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.MRTd.plist
/System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.MRTa.plist

If the above method does not work for you (apparently the daemon can re-enable itself), then a more radical approach would be to disable SIP with csrutil disable from recovery mode, and remove executable permissions on the MRT and YaraScanService files with:

chmod -R -x+X /System/Library/CoreServices/MRT.app

Once you have changed the permissions it is recommended to re-enable SIP again with csrutil enable (from recovery mode).


How to get GPS Coordinates on Google Maps?

Don't know what it has to do with Apple…

… but the coordinates are in both the info drop-down & the URL


Time Machine: Backing up the local drive onto an external AND a partition of that external to another external

Sounds like you have an external SSD drive that is partitioned for Time Machine and a different partition for Photos and you want to backup the Photos partition to a second external drive. This really has nothing to do with Time Machine.
There's a variety of ways to deal with this scenario.  You can clone the Photos partition to the second external drive using Disk Utility (restore function), command line dd tool, or a 3rd party tool such as SuperDuper! or CarbonCopyCloner. Some of which depends on the version of macOS you are running as the 3rd party software may only support Catalina or Big Sur on their latest versions.
If this is something you need to regularly run as a backup, I would recommend the commercial software such as CarbonCopyCloner to make it point and click easy.
In Disk Utility, attach both external drives, select the 2nd external drive where you will be copying the Photos partition to and click on Restore and then select the Photos partition on the first drive.  This will effectively clone the partition.
If you wish to do it from the command line in Terminal you need to first determine the drives identification.  /dev/disk3/disk3s2, etc. Use the command diskutil list to list all the drives and volumes (partitions) and be absolutely sure you understand which disk is which and that you make zero typos or you could clone the wrong thing or worse clone in the wrong direction effectively wiping out your data.  This is very powerful, rather straightforward but it is very unforgiving if you make a tragic mistake.
sudo dd if=/dev/disk1/disk1s2 of=/dev/disk2/disk2s1 bs=100M

Assuming you have 3 disks attached, /dev/disk0 would be your macOS Macintosh HD drive and supporting volumes (partitions).  /dev/disk1 would be the first Time Machine drive with the Photos volume (partition). The photos partition is likely the second partition /dev/disk1/disk1s2. The destination is /dev/disk2/disk2s1 creating a clone of /dev/disk1/disk1s2 on the first partition on the second disk /dev/disk2/disk2s1.

This is ONLY AN EXAMPLE, you need to determine what the correct disk identifiers are for your particular setup as they will likely vary.
For the technical people, cloning a drive from the command line for free allows for scripting and a DIY attitude.  But using software such as CarbonCopyCloner is far easier, less error prone, and worth every penny if you do this all the time. The latest version of CCC was recently updated and one of the main features was increased performance with a new multi-threaded file-copier. It may be a better choice over Time Machine as well. Depends on your particular needs.


Does macOS keep a log of all access to the keychain?

Yes, on MacOS Sierra or newer you can monitor every access to the Keychain, using the Unified Logging system in two operation modes:

Realtime
Query the database log to get past access events

Use this command on a Terminal window for Realtime monitoring:

log stream --predicate 'subsystem == "com.apple.securityd" AND message CONTAINS[cd] "Keychain Access"' --info --debug --signpost --style compact

Here is the output of the above command, in realtime, while some keychain items were being accessed:

You can also query past events by specifying some date range, and changing stream to show. Like the example below:

log show --start "2019-08-11 14:21:45" --end "2019-08-11 14:22:00" --predicate 'subsystem == "com.apple.securityd" AND message CONTAINS[cd] "Keychain Access"' --info --debug --signpost --style compact

More detailed information can be obtained by modifying the command line and grouping other process interactions. See man log for more options, or just ask here :)


Can I attach a .dmg without mounting the drive that it is sitting in?

If you mount a drive one of the things which happens is that the file system type gets identified so macOS afterwards knows how to access the content of the drive (and find the DMG for instance). So operating systems can't access files on a drive without mounting it first.

Your actual problem seems to come from the fact that TestDisk is a tool to recover data from physical drives. So it could be used to work with the original disk your DMG represents, but it won't be able to recover data from a DMG.


Can't stream iTunes purchased movie from Mac to Apple TV

I had something similar happen with a rented film.

The only thing that I can recommend that you try is that you contact the iTunes store customer support and explain your issue, they will most likely give you a refund and you can delete the movie and try re-purchasing it.


iPhone USB adapter - draws current when not charging?

If the USB cord is not plugged into anything on the other end it should not be drawing any power that would be worth speaking of.

However if you are talking about the USB charger box that converts a normal power outlet to USB power to charge your iPhone then yes, those do draw power as long as they are plugged in. You can tell as they get very warm even when not charging.

It is recommended to unplug any electronics when they are not in use to save power, however I do not do this unless I am not using it for a few days.


Alert time discrepancies when synchronizing calendars between iOS 6 and OS X 10.8

Assuming you can still reproduce this on the current version of iOS and OS X, this would be a great bug report to get engineering to fix whatever is causing the data to not sync.

You only need a free developer account to submit the bug report:

https://developer.apple.com/bugreporter/

It looks from your description that you're not making any configuration mistakes, but I'd re-do both account setup steps before filing a bug to be sure your case is reproducible.


I forgot my local backup password to unlock the iPhone backup file

Try using your iTunes password that you use to log into the iTunes store worked for me, after iTunes decided that my backup was encrypted even though I didn't select it.


Interference on external VGA monitor (intermittent ripple) only when booted into MacOS X but OK on Windows Bootcamp, why? and how to fix?

Under OS X, open Terminal.app and enter the following command:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleFontSmoothing -int 2

Then, reboot your Mac.

This will enable subpixel font rendering on non-Apple LCDs. This simple tweak solved a lot of display issues for me back when I was using an external Dell display at work. I hope it helps you, too!


How can I get Mail to open .ics invites with my Google Calendar?

I am researching this problem with how iPhones handle calendar invites defaulting to iCal instead of using my Google Calendar and found this easy fix.


Can I remove the page breaks (or re-flow postscript documents) in PDF files?

Alternatively, if there's a program that can convert a PostScript file into a single-page PDF by calculating the necessary page size, that would work for me too.

Any PostScript to PDF converter would convert a valid one-page postscript file into a one-page PDF file. You can for example use OS X’s own pstopdf or Ghostscript’s ps2pdf script. If you need to tighten the bounding box, pdfcrop will do the trick.


Does Apple's Open Source License permit static linking of a library?

According to APSL you are allowed to modify and use their library for profit uses as long as you A)Leave the apple copyright code intact and B)you include the modified code. You don't have to make your entire project open-source but the modified library does have to be open-source. Hope this helps!


Why is lsof on OS X so ridiculously slow?

As my experience, from Mac OS X 10.7(Lion) to 10.11.5（EI Capitan), the lsof always hang.

To solve to problem, append -n option.

lsof -n

According to manual of lsof, the -n option:

inhibits the conversion of network numbers to host names for network files.
Inhibiting conversion may make  lsof  run faster.  It is also useful when host
name lookup is not working properly

EDIT 2018-04-25: If it is still slow, you can try

-O to bypass  the  strategy it uses to avoid being blocked by some kernel operations
-P to inhibits the conversion of port numbers to port names for network files
-l to inhibits  the  conversion of user ID numbers to login names

The ultimate way to find out why so slow is to run "Instruments" tool (from upper right corner Spotlight Search icon) to do a "System Trace" on /usr/sbin/lsof then see graph and sys calls.


iPhone plays/pauses/skips songs and activates siri only when connected to earphones

You need a new headset.

The symptoms you are describing is because the "controller" assembly of your headset (the part that has the buttons and the microphone) is failing; most likely due to moisture (or some other contaminant) getting in and interfering with the circuitry.

I have had this happen to me on several occasions and not just limited to Apple headsets.    Get a good quality headset that is also water resistant like the Bose SoundSport and you shouldn't have this problem again.  (Going on 4 years with my Bose where I wouldn't last a year with the regular ones).


This works for me using the latest version of Sierra and 15 inch MBP (non-touch bar)

Using Automator, create a new file and choose “New Service” as your option

Add A “Run AppleScript command” to your workflow, and insert the following AppleScript code

tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal anchor "keyboardTab" of pane "com.apple.preference.keyboard"
end tell
tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences" to tell window 1
    click checkbox "Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys" of tab group 1
end tell
quit application "System Preferences"

Save your new Automator service, naming it something like... "Toggle Function Keys"

Next, just open System Preferences/Keyboard/Shortcuts/Services And you should see your new "Toggle Function Keys" service Located in the "General" sub-menu And assign it a Keyboard shortcut.

Your new service can now be activated using the keyboard shortcut you created and in the "Services" menu while using any application.

You also have another option.

You own a Mac! It's a very powerful tool which is supposed to make your life easier.  So make your life easier and let your Mac do your work for you.

If you are crazy lazy like I am, you can save that AppleScript code in my answer, in the script editor app as a script and name it something like “Toggle Function Keys.scpt”.  You can make the action of toggling your function keys on and off “speakable”.  Meaning you can run the script with a dictation command.

Here’s the process...

Enable enhanced dictation and dictation commands in your system preferences.

As you can see in my next image, I set “computer” as my keyword phrase...

Now with enhanced dictation ready to rock'n roll, I selected the “Toggle Function Keys.scpt” file in Finder and spoke the phrase “computer make this speakable”

Speaking that command opened up this dialog box

Now any time I want to toggle my function keys, I simply say the command “Computer Toggle Function Keys” and it runs  “Toggle Function Keys.scpt” and performs all the actions in that script file


Lion (10.7.2) -- CPU heats to 90-degrees and Java apps crash -- why?

For the CPU temperature to get those sorts of levels something needs to be hammering the processor pretty hard. I'd start by looking at Activity Monitor to spot which particular process has decided it wants a supercomputer cooling system.

If it turns out to be Java (which is likely), trash Java from your system and then reinstall it from there. It could be a damaged cache file, the application might have corrupt preferences, or some other combination.


Where can someone buy a refurbished iPhone?

If you live in the UK (and presumably Europe), SmartFoneStore is a very good place to start looking for refurbished smartphones including iPhones. I believe the refurbs are classified as Grade A, B and C and are priced accordingly.


Can I use outlook web access with mail app on iphone 4?

I don't believe the mail app can work with OWA. If you cannot build the exchange account in the normal fashion do to the vpn being required then the server that hosts the exchange mail app on the iPhone is likely out of the picture.

Can you not use the safari browser to access the web location for your companies mail service? The company I work for has the Outlook web access page available mail.company.edu for example. When I go to the page it loads up and allows access. Sadly this is the only way I can think of.

Maybe someone else will have a work around for you but in the IT field I deal with Exchange accounts a lot and the best option would be to have a mail service that can be reached without a vpn required. Perhaps your companies IT can provide more information on accessing the exchange mail server.


find my apple store password by keychain

It is not an encrypted password and as such it cannot be decrypted to give you your App Store password.

The value you see is a token that allows programs to authenticate directly for the App Store, so in some sense it can be thought of as a password - but it is not derived from your actual password.


MacOS High Sierra VSCode "Writing login information to the keychain failed with error 'UNIX[No such file or directory]'."

This is a keychain error which look similar to some others upon Google search, but I didn't find this exact error... so, adding the solution here...
SOLUTION

Attempt to "Sync Settings" by logging into Microsoft or Github
this will fail as OP states... but
close ALL instances/windows of VSCode
RESTART VSCode
You should be prompted for Apple KeyChain permissions like this image shows:

Type in your MacOS root password
You will either immediately login without error(s) ... or....
RESTART VSCode AGAIN
"Sync Settings" / login once more


Assuming by "MacBookPro5", you mean one with a model identifier starting with "MacBookPro5" (they run from 5,1 through 5,5), it's one of several models released in 2008 and 2009. They all support operating systems from Leopard (10.5.x) through the current version of Mountain Lion (10.8.2).

If you want to verify exactly what model you have (a good idea just in case something got mixed up or I misunderstood you), read EveryMac's identification guide.

You will be fine upgrading to 10.6.8 (the newest release of Snow Leopard), but if you want you can go right up to Mountain Lion.

However if you haven't already, you should upgrade the RAM in your system. All of these machines support 8 GB, which is actually fairly cheap these days. 4 GB should be fine for casual usage, 2 GB is getting a bit tight, particularly if you want to run 10.8.


Has El Capitan Disk Utility Removed Encryption Options?

No, just moved them.

Method 1:
Disk Utility > Menu > File > Unlock
(Embarrassingly I found this item after posting the question and using command line option to unlock the drive)

Method 2:
Command line, open "Terminal"
hdiutil attach /dev/diskXsY
Where X,Y are system specific numbers like 1,2,3.


Setting up iCloud results in cloudd error messages

I too am experiencing this problem. It seems to be user-specific; i.e., not related to the iCloud account as the same iCloud account used under a different (system) user will not experience the problem and a different iCloud account used under the same (system) user will experience the problem.

I'm getting slightly different console messages, but yeah, they're all about PCS identity creation failures, keyset decoding failures & blah blah blah.

I had a bit of a brain-wave & just checked under ~/Library/Logs in Console and lo & behold, there are a heap of ProtectedCloudStorage-SignIn logs. Here's the contents of the latest of them with redacted hostname & AppleID values:

Oct 17 00:38:17 hostname.local com.apple.iCloudHelper[1284] <Debug>: PCSIdentityCollectionSetup: <CFBasicHash 0x7f86a17330c0 [0x7fff7953fed0]>{type = mutable dict, count = 3,
    entries =>
        0 : <CFString 0x7fff77f7e1e0 [0x7fff7953fed0]>{contents = "kPCSSetupUsername"} = <CFString 0x7f86a1461cf0 [0x7fff7953fed0]>{contents = "appleID"}
        1 : <CFString 0x7fff77f7e2c0 [0x7fff7953fed0]>{contents = "kPCSSetupDSID"} = <CFString 0x7fff77f7e800 [0x7fff7953fed0]>{contents = "<<VALUE>>"}
        2 : <CFString 0x7fff77f7e240 [0x7fff7953fed0]>{contents = "kPCSSetupPassword"} = <CFString 0x7fff77f7e800 [0x7fff7953fed0]>{contents = "<<VALUE>>"}
    }
Oct 17 00:38:17 hostname.local com.apple.iCloudHelper[1284] <Debug>: __PCSAccountHasStingrayIdentities
Oct 17 00:38:19 hostname.local com.apple.iCloudHelper[1284] <Error>: PCSHasStingrayIdentities: YES
Oct 17 00:38:21 hostname.local com.apple.iCloudHelper[1284] <Error>: PCSCopyStingrayIdentity: <CFData 0x7f86a300c000 [0x7fff7953fed0]>{length = 1845, capacity = 1845, bytes = 0x628207313082072d0c0f67616d63616c ... ab42b25d58020101} (error: (null))
Oct 17 00:38:21 hostname.local com.apple.iCloudHelper[1284] <Error>: PCSIdentityCollectionSetup failed The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error -25244 - SecItem failed to delete on private identity)

It looks like iCloudHelper is having trouble with the PCS Identity for some reason. Hopefully someone who knows a bit more about these things may shed some more light on this.


What is hiutil and why is it sucking up my cpu?

It's indexing your computer drive(s).

Per the man page hiutil (help index utility) is used for creating and examining .helpindex files (Help Viewer.app indices) & is used for the Help menu searches as well as for Spotlight. You can use sudo find / -name "*.helpindex" to display all of them. See here for some description from the developers site about Apple Help concepts.

Per this answer on Apple's discussion forum hiutil is indexing your hard drive to make using the Help and Spotlight features snappier. You may also have a process running called mdutil (meta data utility).

You can kill the process - it may run for a half hour depending on system changes (note the Activity Monitor syntax for time is d:h:5m:17.85s and it is reporting accumulated time with the processor actually used - not total time since the process first started). If you want it to not run at all, you could also remove the executable file from /usr/bin/ and restart - tho I'd suggest moving it somewhere so you can restore it to that location instead of deleting it.

If the process is running in conjunction with mdutil then you can check the status of the volume being scanned with mdutil -s <volumename>. You may want to open Activity Monitor as root so you can see everything going on (along with - as i see in your picture -selecting "All Processes" from the View menu):

sudo "/Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor.app/Contents/MacOS/Activity Monitor"

...double click or select and Cmd+i on a process to get more info about it and related processes.

When this process is running, you might - depending on your OS - see an index progression bar in your spotlight window if you start to enter text (or enter "indexing").

You can adjust your System Preferences >> Spotlight::Search Results and ::Privacy panes to alter the scanning behaviour. As changes are made to actively scanned directories, the indexer is invoked.

If your computer is continually indexing and won't stop, you could add your internal drive to the "Private" list and see if it the indexing finishes.

Another option if you determine that the hdutil process is working with mdutil is to enter sudo mdutil -E / . to force Spotlight to create a new index file.


Safari on iPhone shows "iMac | Access Restricted" after the opened tabs

This is due to an iCloud feature called iCloud Tabs. From the Apple Support document, Set up and use iCloud Tabs:

  iCloud keeps the tabs you have open in Safari up to date on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac. That means you can go from one device to the next and pick up browsing wherever you left off.

To enable iCloud Tabs, you need to enable Safari under iCloud in Settings app on your iOS device(s) and iCloud System Preference pane in System Preferences on your Mac(s).

iCloud for Safari is enabled by default when setting up a new iOS/macOS device.

With iCloud for Safari enabled, the browsing history (along with other data such as history, bookmarks etc.) are automatically kept in sync across all the devices setup with same iCloud Apple ID.

You can see open tabs on other iOS/macOS devices on any of your iOS/macOS devices. As an example this is what a web-page open on an iPhone/Mac looks like on a Mac/iPhone and vice versa.

In Safari on your iPhone, tap on the show all tabs button (shown towards bottom right corner), scroll down past all open tabs to see the tabs open on other devices:

In Safari on your Mac, invoke the Menu bar command View → Show Tab Overview or use the keyboard shortcut, Shift + Command + \, and scroll down past all open tabs to see the tabs open on other devices:

The name above the line (iMac in your case) is the name of the device, and just below is a list of all the open web-pages on the device showing the title of the web-page.

Thus, Access Restricted is the title of the web-page shown on your iMac whose name is apparently iMac. Tapping on it opens it on your iPhone.

To change the machine name to something else (instead of iMac), go to System Preferences app → Sharing on your iMac and set the value for Computer Name.


Can I transfer photos from iPhone 4 to a MacBook via Bluetooth?

I know you asked if it was possible over Bluetooth and although my research didn't turn up anything for non-jailbroken phones, here is a WiFi solution which you could use on an Ad-hoc network that would work effectively the same way.

Non Jailbroken

WiFi: WiFi Photo Transfer (App Store)
iPhone to iPhone: Bluetooth Photo Share (App Store)

Jailbroken

iBlueNova (Cydia)


How can I get Safari to save passwords for a logged in Facebook account?

No, there is no possibility to retrieve the password at this stage. The session state (i.e. the fact that "the account is logged") is stored by the browser in a cookie. The password used to login is not stored anywhere (unless the user explicitly permitted the password to be saved, which is not the case you asked about).

This is a basic security feature protecting anyone from having their password compromised if they left the device unattended for a moment. For the same reason you cannot change the password using Facebook account settings without providing the old one.


I understand this problem is often caused by Karabiner Elements.


Late 2012 iMac not seeing Bootcamp 6 update

According to this thread on Apple Support Communities, the version number "6" only shows up in Windows, or in XML files on the Mac, if you go digging.

From what I understand, you should be able to, without any problems, use a Windows 10 ISO with the 5.1.4 version of Bootcamp Assistant, and it'll be smart enough to download the version 6 drivers behind the scenes.


Disk Utility Image from "BOOTCAMP" creating empty dmg

Disk Utility's ability to do block-copy was never very good, and was further hamstrung when APFS entered the scene and the job of handling DMGs was handed over to the Finder. It has always had troubles dealing with non-Apple file-systems, which is the main reason Winclone was born.

You're dealing with a container-ised NTFS volume, there aren't any tools in macOS that can do more than send files back & forth. Tim Perffitt's method was to give Winclone its own APFS-and-NTFS-savvy rsync framework, and to the best of my knowledge is unique.

One thought does occur though: You could pop one of Microsoft's free Windows 10 VM images into VMware Fusion or Oracle's VirtualBox (instead of running the Boot Camp install through a VM engine), mount your big NTFS partition into the VM and then use a Windows file-transfer method (e.g. Macrium Reflect or something rsync-based) to shuttle your stuff from the internal partition to an external target.


Options for getting into passcode-locked iPad 2 / iOS 5.1.1 (JB'd)?

The canonical way to fix this is to erase and restore the device.

See http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT1212 for more details and options.


Go to Settings > Date > Mobile Data and change to Off. This will stop you using the 3G / LTE network, while letting you download data over WiFi.


Can I restore from a Time Machine backup without booting to the Recovery HD?

You can restore from a Time machine backup with the Migration Assistant app. You can find it at /Applications/Utilities/

I have never used it with networked Time Machine drives.


I had the same issue, trying to run a script on an interval using LaunchControl (great app, check it out). Will copy and paste straight from the source that helped me:

  For GUI programs the default shell environment scripts are ignored, and therefore
  RVM managed ruby versions.

  The workaround is to define them via launchctl. Those values are gone
  though after a reboot, so I put them in .bash_profile since I open a shell anyhow all the time, see below.

  launchctl setenv GEM_HOME ~/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.1
  launchctl setenv GEM_PATH ~/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.1:/Users/markus/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.1@global

  All more permanent solutions (e.g. launchd.conf) don't work anymore in 10.10.
  Hope that helps anyone who ran into a similar issue.

In my case I just set it up the correct GEM_HOME and PATH in LaunchControl.


How can I get back a system file after deleting it from my Mac?

If you have a recent Mac then it has a recovery partition.

Power on your Mac and hold down Command+R until the Apple logo appears. This will cause your Mac to boot using the recovery partition.

Once you are in the recovery partition, you can then reinstall the operating system.

This Apple technical note, OS X: About OS X Recovery, gives more details.

You can reinstall the OS and leave your files intact. Apple removed the erase/install option so you don't have to worry about the Recovery Installer erasing your files. You now have to explicitly launch the Disk Utility tool to erase or reformat/repartition a drive when booted from recovery OS.


Why is my MBP not detecting my HDD/Optical Drive?

A quick check I would suggest is to launch the terminal and check if the OS can see the HDD.

$ diskutil list

This will list the HDD's and their partitions. This should bypass any finder issues.


Podcasts showing twice in the "My Podcasts tab" on iTunes

A day later it managed to fix itself. Looks like the problem may be caused by some cache that is cleared when reboot.


Is there any iPhone app that will sync .txt files locally or be able to decrypt files stored in dropbox

My solution was to use simpletext.ws, since the source is available I can use my own server to sync notes in my local network without having to worry about encryption. And on the iPhone I use the WriteRoom app to search and edit notes.

(As this is my first time using any stackexchange site I'm not sure if I should include this in the original question or answer it myself... apologies in case I'm not following the proper way of using the site.)


I second that. No problems. I am sending you this post from my iPod touch 2nd generation with iOS 4.2.1.


Is it okay to run two instances of SuperDuper! at once?

A better question is "can I back up two different drives at the same time?"

If you have 4 drives total, on 4 different connections, then yes. To be clear, there must be 4 physically separate storage devices involved, not just separate volumes. And "4 connections" does not include daisy-chained firewire devices or plugged into the same usb hub (those count as one connection).

Running 2 copy jobs on the same volume is a huge performance hit - drives have but one read/write head so the absolute best you can do is 2x sequential-copy speed. In reality it will be much worse as the heads are constantly going back and forth between the two copy jobs.

Running data down the same wire will similarly eliminate any advantage you gain by running two processes.

The one exception to the rule is network copies - downloading several files over the internet (different servers) works because your external network connection is so much slower than the internal connections that they never get saturated.


The built-in Mail app should use the Telegraph tone that you've set for New Mail.

The Twitter client and the GMail app have their own alert tones, and if those apps don't let you change the sound I'm afraid the OS can't either.


It won't play lossless 8k video file, and you graphic card has nothing to do with that. However, i7 3***k generation processors desktop version will do the job.The video has to be loaded by your CPU to GPU and if your processor can't handle it, it won't play 24 fps+


If the hidden purchase are on a compilation/various artists album, this is unfortunately a known bug.


Can I pipe the output of a command to the current cursor?

If you don't mind two keys, you could do this trivially with sending the output of the script to the pasteboard:

script | pbpaste

Then Command-V as a second key shortcut to follow the first would work well.

What you'd need to make this all one shot is an application that registers with the OS to actually take over the keyboard and input text. I use LaunchBar for that but AppleScript/Automator and the gold standard for scripting input - TextExpander - would be worth investigating if you want more advanced options. The steps to configure each of these depends on which app you select to control your Mac.

You can see the apps you have that are able to control (enter text at the insertion point in your case) by opening the Security & Privacy preference pane and selecting Privacy and then selecting Accessibility.


The Mac in question is a Power Macintosh G4 800 (QuickSilver 2002) model built in June 2002. In your case, it has the 800 MHz PowerPC 7455 G4 processor (as opposed to the PowerPC 7450 variant). This processor had a single core, but also had what Apple called an AltiVec Velocity Engine.

The specific model details are: M8493 (EMC 1896) with model identifier PowerMac3,5.

In your question you mentioned Mac OS 9. This model is only officially capable of booting into Mac OS 9.2.2 (not an earlier version).

You can check your serial number!

Since posting this answer I remembered that everymac.com has a lookup function on their site that allows users to enter a serial number to identify their hardware. You can access this at: http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/


Removing pictures transferred from PC to iPhone

If you are using an iPhone 3GS, then you may still be on iOS 4.  At this OS level, the ability to delete synced photos was not available, and you would only remove photos that you took with your camera in the camera roll.  The only way to remove them, is to remove it from your sync list, and sync again.


Xcode GUI adjusting location of Navigator-Menu

It's called the Navigation Area and you can't change it's position, but you can hide the menu with ⌘+0.

To unhide it, just type ⌘ plus a number from 1 to 8 depending the tab you want to show.


I also use netatalk/afpd, backing to a USB-mounted drive.  If I partition the drive on OSX first (hfsplus, no journaling), then mount it under Linux, chmod & chgrp it to the TimeMachine userID, and share with netatalk, then I get the same error you report (after "preparing backup", error is "Setting security information: Operation not permitted"), and backup fails every time.

However, if I stop netatalk, repartition the USB drive to a single EXT4 partition, mkfs.ext4, remount and chmod, chgrp, and share with netatalk, then I do not see this error and TimeMachine backups work fine.

I expect that the problem is userID/permission related, but since ETX4 is working for me, I have not pursued it.


How can I install large Apps from App Store on and external disk

No. Move other files to the external drive to free up space. Then once you have installed the app, move it after it’s done downloading and installing.

You need free space on the system drive for many reasons and one is App Store and installing apps.


Weird behaviour with external USB3 enclosure

So far, it seems that my MacBook doesn't recognize USB3 before login. If I plug either my Time Machine or clone which are both USB3 into a USB2 hub, both are recognized at boot using either option or command+r. You could also use a regular USB2 cable to force to USB2. This is not unusual as my Windows desktop I built is the same because the BIOS doesn't support USB3 yet. The USB3 functionality is implemented through a separate chip from the Processor or Chipset. I wonder if this is the same for MacBooks....


Although System Integrity Protection will prohibit even the superuser from modifying system files, opt isn't included in that list. The issue is that all applications are fenced off from "important" bits of the filesystem by default and Terminal.app is no exception. In Mojave (OS X 10.14):

System Preferences
Security & Privacy
Privacy tab
Choose "Full Disk Access" from list on left
Click on "padlock" bottom-left and provide superuser password to elevate privileges and allow additions
Click on the "+" sign and navigate in file chooser to Terminal.app

Screenshots are available in http://osxdaily.com/2018/10/09/fix-operation-not-permitted-terminal-error-macos/.

You'll need to restart Terminal for the changes to take effect. The MacPorts uninstall command at https://guide.macports.org/chunked/installing.macports.uninstalling.html - at the time of writing, this:

sudo rm -rf \
        /opt/local \
        /Applications/DarwinPorts \
        /Applications/MacPorts \
        /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.* \
        /Library/Receipts/DarwinPorts*.pkg \
        /Library/Receipts/MacPorts*.pkg \
        /Library/StartupItems/DarwinPortsStartup \
        /Library/Tcl/darwinports1.0 \
        /Library/Tcl/macports1.0 \
        ~/.macports

...should now work.

As a side-note, current versions of iTerm request this permission when first installed and run, so if you have iTerm kicking around and don't want to restart Terminal, add it to the "Full Disk Access" list (if it isn't added already) and run the command there.


Is it possible to bypass a proxy when the proxy settings are set to Auto Proxy Config?

Just ran into this as well and it doesn't seem to apply the "bypass" sites when using the auto proxy settings. I suppose that is the intended behavior, otherwise it wouldn't be very "automatic".

I just entered the proxy settings  manually and it worked for me.


Can I remove user's home directory folders?

Finder will prevent you from deleting the default directories, but Terminal won't. You can use rm -rf /path/to/directory to delete the folder then create the symlink normally.


MacBook Pro erratic keyboard and trackpad detection

To close this up:

I went to an Apple Store had the logic board replaced. Afterwards, I reinstalled from a backup and everything seemed fine...

But yesterday I noticed that I forgot to re-enable disk encryption (using File Vault). After enabling it and rebooting I got the exact same problem again. This time I also experienced the problem described here: Password incorrect after enabling FileVault

But unlike last time the problem disappeared (so far) after disabling encryption again.

If you wind up here looking for answers: Try disabling File Vault and check this for more details: MacBook startup problems - mouse and keyboard not working at login / stuck on apple logo


How big is your hard-drive? It's entirely possible that it would be normal for zeroing out the sectors to take that long. I'm only extrapolating here, but I've had secure-deletions of the trash take an hour or more for a few gigabytes, so if the hard-drive is large, I could see it taking quite some time.

The other thought is that there is some problem with the drive that prevents the format from completing. You might want to check the drive for errors and/or bad sectors. It is possible that you would have eventually encountered the error on the hard drive yourself (potentially causing instability, data loss, etc.).

Finally, if you look at Activity Monitor, does it look like the disk utility is doing anything? Check your disk I/O statistics there as well and see if anything is still going on with the disk in question.


Since it is set for all users it should be in the

/System/Library/StartupItems

or in the /System/Library/LaunchDaemons

Correction thanks to @maximus that would be in the /Library/LaunchAgents

Copy one of the above and paste it in the Finders "Go to Folder"

Alternatively hover the mouse pointer over it (while it is highlighted) and there should be a pop up with the location of that file.


Can I search for something on Google directly from Spotlight?

Not sure if the feature exists for Spotlight.
However, Alfred is a replacement for Spotlight which does what you need and much more:


Why do I have two OS X Catalina volumes?

No, this is perfectly normal for Catalina; it is for security reasons. Macintosh HD has the OS. It is a read-only volume separate from other files on your Mac. Your personal files and data are stored in the Macintosh HD - Data. See this Apple support page for more details.


how do i restore my wiped erased imac OS X

Unfortunately if this would be so simple, the whole feature would be useless.
If you have a time machine backup, you could get it back online. The other possibility is to use forensic software to restore the disk like http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php.

As long as you are not using FileFault, there is at least a chance.


Apple Watch never checks for heart attacks

Basically, this is really just a disclaimer that Apple Watch cannot detect heart attacks.

According to Apple:

    Things you should know

  Apple Watch cannot detect heart attacks. If you ever experience chest
  pain, pressure, tightness, or what you think is a heart attack, call
  emergency services immediately.
  Apple Watch is not constantly looking for AFib. This means Apple Watch
  cannot detect all instances of AFib, and people with AFib may not get
  a notification.
  If you’re not feeling well, you should talk to your doctor even if you
  don’t get a notification. Symptoms such as a rapid, pounding, or
  fluttering heartbeat, dizziness, or fainting, can indicate a serious
  condition.
  Do not change your medication without talking to your
  doctor.
  In some instances, the notification may indicate the presence of an
  irregular heart rhythm other than AFib.

Source: Heart rate notifications on your Apple Watch, Apple.


Google Quick Scroll extension for Safari

Not quite the Google Quick Scroll but it works as well.

The cmd + F will open the search window, type or copy the text in it.


Please check the region your iPhone and your Apple Watch are set to. This is a quote from Apple.com, emphasis mine:

  Make sure that you're in a supported region.

  For your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > General > Language & Region, then scroll to Region.
  For your Apple Watch, open the Watch app on your iPhone, go to the My Watch tab, tap General > Language & Region, and check the region
  format.

I had a similar issue in the past and was able to solve it after setting the correct region and restarting both devices.

Let me know if it worked for you as well.


Copying over the time machine backups folder, "backups.backupdb" to a new drive results in "V100 Spotlight" permissions issues

Please don’t tamper with the permissions of your Time Machine backup as this could indeed get you into trouble.

One of the problems you have trying to copy your Time Machine backup is the fact that Time Machine uses a feature called “hard links” which lets a single file show up in different folders multiple times. I. e., the file (precisely: its inode) is stored only once but it can have an arbitrary number of associated directory entries. If you copied these files using a tool unaware of hard links you would probably create unnecessary duplicates of these hard-linked files.

You should use Disk Utility (found in /Applications/Utilities) to clone the whole backup partition to the new drive or partition. Doing so will get you around the hard link problem as a block-level copy will be made instead of a file-level copy.


How do I search ??_doc.xml file in a specified folder in Finder?

The Finder search box does not support wildcards. You can add additional criteria to narrow down your search, though.

Enter _doc in the search field to start a search.
In the bar that appears (showing "Search: This Mac" etc) click the plus sign button all the way to the right.
In the new row that appears, in the first combobox, select Name, then in the next one select Contains, then in the empty text box type _doc (without wildcards or the file extension).
Click the plus sign button all the way to the right of this new row.
In the first combobox of the second row, choose Kind. In the second combobox, choose Other. In the empty text box type xml (without the leading period).

This will narrow down your search to files whose names contain _doc and whose extensions are xml.


Exclude Time Machine backup from "Open With" menu

You should be able to exclude Spotlight from adding the apps on the Time machine drive to the "Open With..." menu by opening System Preferences -> Spotlight -> Privacy. Then drag the icon of the Time Machine drive into the "Prevent spotlight..." window. This adds that drive to list of drives that Spotlight should ignore for searching operations.

Note that you can't prevent Spotlight from indexing that dive as Time Machine depends on Spotlight to keep a catalog of files, but if you do this and then rebuild the Spotlight index it should prevent Spotlight from adding apps on that drive to your "Open With..." menu.


Shell variable PROMPT_COMMAND not working as intended?

Your date call got evaluated when you set PROMPT_COMMAND so it is forever stuck at the  time that you ran:

export PROMPT_COMMAND="echo -n ┏━━━[$(date +%H:%M)]"

Try defining a function instead and assigning that to PROMPT_COMMAND:

function prompt_command() {
    PS1="┏━━━[$(date +%H:%M)]━━[\t]━━━┓\n\$ "
}
export PROMPT_COMMAND=prompt_command

You can also use \@ for the current time in 12-hour AM/PM format in your prompt. So:

function prompt_command() {
    PS1="┏━━━[\@]━━[\t]━━━┓\n\$ "
}
export PROMPT_COMMAND=prompt_command

Would give you:

┏━━━[06:17 PM]━━[18:17:57]━━━┓
$

And while we're talking bash customizations let me put in a plug for the excellent bash-it project -- it's a bash equivalent to oh-my-zsh and it comes with a bunch of helper functions for theme creation. You might find it makes this sort of thing a little easier.


Networking tools and troubleshooting strategies

Apple has great triage tools to get you to isolate what is failing:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202663
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-network-utility-on-mac-ntutl001/mac

One valid item is to use tethering and WiFi as listed in HT202663 - that makes sure your Mac is working with other network connections. That will help guide you in making use of the main Network Utility (the second link)

You’ll just need to make sure DNS works and then see how far your traffic goes from the mac.

Can it ping the router.
Does the router see your Mac?
Does your traffic get past the router to the internet?

In fact, why not start with if you have a green dot in network settings. See the screen shot below and you can click the circle with the ? In it to be guided in help on how to set up your Ethernet.

I would start with that and then post a follow on question showing how far you got and what one step you can’t move forward until you learn something. You don’t need to go through all the networking theory and terms - just enough to get you past one item once you have narrowed down what is failing you.


Remove expansion triangle in list view in Finder?

Set up the Finder window with your desired settings, then press ⌘J and click Use as Defaults.


Problems reinstalling OS X Mavericks on Macbook Pro (hard drive displays "locked" and I get "live file system repair is not supported" when repairing)

I recently had a similar issue. OS X has a "safety" feature where, if the system detects a problem with a volume, it can then set a flag in that drive's partition table that forces OS X to run "fsck" (a unix disk utility) on the volume before it can be mounted.

What I have observed is that if you are booted into the Recovery partition of that machine (or also I would guess, an OS X install drive), the corrupted volume will appear as "locked", as you are seeing. I have even had OS X Disk Utility tell me that the volume had a "hardware error" when, in fact, it did not.

Note that if you boot in target disk mode and attempt to mount the corrupt volume on another Mac, then what will happen (on 10.8.x or newer) is that instead of mounting the volume, OS X will run fsck in the background, although the user has no indication that is happening unless you look in Activity Monitor, and view All Processes (sort by CPU % for best results). Fsck can take its sweet time, 30-45 minutes on my 750 GB MacBook Pro! If you run Disk Utility or similar utilities like Disk Warrior during this time, since fsck is already running on that drive, then the other disk utility will report a hardware error, even though the hardware is fine.

However if you wait until fsck stops running silently in the background, OS X will eventually mount the drive in read-only mode, which is what you have observed as the volume being "locked".

What I did to fix it was boot the MacBook in target disk mode and connect it to my desktop Mac, then wait until fsck failed and the disk mounted as read-only. Then run TechTool Pro utility and scan for bad blocks, none found, hardware is perfect. Next run DiskWarrior and rebuild and replace the corrupt directory. Fixed.

You could also boot from a DiskWarrior recovery disk if you don't have another Mac. The TechTool Pro surface scan may be considered optional, unless you really want to rule out hardware failure.

I have had two drives recently where the Console logs showed i/o errors and other issues that you would think meant hardware failure, but at the end of the day it was caused by old, incompatible 3rd-party software. In one case, it was Google Drive that caused it, in another, an outdated copy Symantec PGP WDE. I would check all your Library/LaunchDaemons and LaunchAgents and any StartupItems and Extensions and Spotlight Plugins on all systems and make sure there are no outdated things lurking around. Apple's last three major OS X releases have ever-tightening security and sandboxing that has wreaked absolute havok on low-level hardware-related third-party stuff.


iMac very slow wifi while macbook is fine

Here is a general plan to start debugging this problem.  Post your results and we'll help you figure this out.  I'm running an iMac with Snow Leopard and these steps have helped me.

Write down key data for each machine for each wifi connection.  I've included my data below.

Go to the iMac and hold down the option key while clicking the Airport icon in the menu bar.  Write down the PHY, BSSID, Channel, RSSI and Transmit Rate.

Move over to the MBP and gather the same information.

Phy Mode this tells you if you joined the network as a B, G or N connection.  I'm on an Airport Extreme N network using the 2.4 Ghz frequency.

BSSID - This is the access point you are logged into.  They are likely the same on each machine.  If they are different, your machines are logged into different access points.

Channel - This is the channel each machine is using.  In my case, my neighbor and I were both on channel 1.  I changed over to 11 and my speed improved since I was no longer fighting his interference.

RSSI - Received signal strength.  Mine is -43 while my neighbor's is -88.

Transmit Rate - The higher the better.  Mine is 130.  I can't view the neighbor's rate but it's like less due to his lower RSSI.

If you see other nearby networks, you can view some information about their signal by moving your cursor over the other network and a small dialog box will pop up with their PHY, BSSID, Channel, and RSSI.  This is how I found my neighbor was using the same channel as me.

You can also view this data in System Profiler under Network>Airport.


Mail crashes on attempts to display message contents in Mavericks

Open Terminal.app (under /Applications/Utilities) and run

defaults delete com.apple.mail ColorQuoterColorList