for the menu bar, there is a workaround that you can start from the top bar of your finder window. it's almost as good as with the right-click context menu.

http://scplugin.tigris.org/ds/viewMessage.do?dsForumId=1525&dsMessageId=2441924

Because of the invisible icons I am also searching for help.


How do you use Google Voice instead of built-in text message with Siri on iPhone4S?

No, it is currently not possible for Siri to use other apps than the ones it already integrates with.

Source: Daring Fireball (paragraph 9, or ⌘F “there are parallels”).


How do I obtain iPhoto for a second-hand Mac Air?

The only legal way to transfer the iLife applications from him to you would be if he had the original iLife installation DVD that used to ship with new Macs. Being that it's an Air, and doesn't have a DVD slot on it, it's unlikely he still has that media.

Unfortunately, you're stuck with re-buying the iLife applications from the App Store using your own Apple ID. Using his App Store ID to put the software on your Mac and then switching the ID to your account would definitely be on the wrong side of Apple's terms of service.


How to scan for duplicate files / images in one direction only?

It looks like you're into photography and you haven't been keen for best practices for managing files. You have two options now.

1) You'd have to create (bash OR python script) which would look for MD5 checksum of the files and would delete only it finds duplicate with later date. Keep in mind, one careless step can delete the files you didn't want to delete.

2) (Suggested) There are several free and paid utilities that should be used to cleanup the duplicates. If it provides duplicates with date comparison. As you already mentioned (Gemini). I tested it few months ago and found it very useful.

There are several proven practices to manage the photo library. This is a good time to adapt one.

As you requested, here is a script which find duplicates in one folder.

#!/usr/bin/env python
# Syntax: duplicates.py DIRECTORY
import os, sys
top = sys.argv[1]
d = {}

for root, dirs, files in os.walk(top, topdown=False):
  for name in files:
    fn = os.path.join(root, name)
    basename, extension = os.path.splitext(name)

    basename = basename.lower() # ignore case

    if basename in d:
        print(d[basename])
        print(fn)
    else:
        d[basename] = fn

Save this file as duplicates.py and give it rights and then execute it on the folder.

./duplicates.py Images

It requires you to have an understanding for the osx terminal.


Using a Ukelele-created keyboard doesn't work in Chrome

Try rebooting.

This helped me to globally apply a new keyboard layout - often logging out and back in helps, sometimes you need a reboot.


How do I correctly set strictly only one desktop?

That is amazing.

You have created so many desktops that macOS can only display them as a dot.

That line of dots represents your desktops. I did not count but it must be more than 50.

How to delete them.

Press F3

Hold Option Key and keep clicking on the X showing to delete them.


How do I restore Desktop to my favorites list in Finder?

Use Finder Prefs -  Cmd ⌘   ,  & check the box next to Desktop


Customise voicemail message based on caller

Voicemail is a carrier feature and currently, there are no carriers as far as I am aware that permit you to store multiple greetings.

Reference: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3841850?answerId=3841850021#3841850021

  Voicemail is a carrier feature & your greeting is stored on their servers. I'm not aware of any carrier, anywhere, that permits multiple greetings.


Is it possible to recover current texts after restoring from an old backup?

Only if you have a more recent backup.

Do you have iCloud Backup set up on the phone? If so, you most likely have a more recent backup on iCloud.


How do I remove Outlook mail from Spotlight?

You need to tell Spotlight not to search the Outlook Database on your local machine.
Assuming you're using MS Office 2016 or later
Here's how,

Open System Preferences > Spotlight
Click the Privacy Tab
Locate your Outlook Database which can be found in the Library folder within you home folder. So /Users/userfolder/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/
Drag the Outlook folder into the privacy tab you opened earlier within System Preferences.


Is there something stronger than "Force Quit"?

If you know the name of the app, you can check in Activity Monitor to see if it's still running there and try its Force Quit. If that doesn't work, take note of the app's process ID (pid). Go to the Terminal and type kill [pid], replacing "[pid]" with the number you noted earlier. If that doesn't work, try kill -3 [pid] and if that doesn't work kill -9 [pid]. If the process is owned by a different user (this is not likely), you may need to replace kill with sudo kill and type your password when prompted.

If the app doesn't show up in Activity Monitor or you couldn't kill it, the window may be a left-over stuck someplace else and the app simply isn't running anymore. In this case, sometimes (not always) it can work to killall SystemUIServer or killall Dock.

If none of this works, you'll have to log out and back in or reboot. The few times I've gotten to this point, the app was so stuck it prevented logging out or shutting down, so I had to hard reboot.


How do I reset to default window sizes in MacOS Safari's Responsive Design Mode?

.This setting is written to Safari's preferences, that are located in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist in dictionary by ResponsiveDesignCustomPresetConfigurations key. So if you need to reset all responsive mode settings - just close Safari and delete that dictionary from prefs .plist file with following terminal command:

defaults delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist ResponsiveDesignCustomPresetConfigurations


Mac Mini Insists on Shutting Down When I Unplug Mouse and Keyboard

In support of this, next time it happens, make a note of the time you pull the plugs out, and then when you are rebooted, run the Console application, and check your logs for the same timescale.  This should provide a handy clue.

Also, do you have any other devices on your USB hub that provide any more than just mouse/keyboard services?  Any card readers, storage devices etc?  These may need umounting properly before just pulling the plug and may be a part of it if you have them.


How to restrict changing desktop wallpaper?

I didn't find any way to prevent changing the desktop picture, but you could just change it back to the default every few seconds.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC -//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST
1.0//EN http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd>
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.stackexchange.apple.65938</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>osascript</string>
        <string>-e</string>
        <string>tell application "Finder"
set f to POSIX file "/Library/Desktop Pictures/Galaxy.jpg"
if desktop picture is not file f then set desktop picture to f
end tell</string>
    </array>
    <key>StartInterval</key>
    <integer>10</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

Save the file above as /Library/LaunchAgents/com.stackexchange.apple.65938.plist, change the owner, and load the plist:

sudo chown root /Library/LaunchAgents/com.stackexchange.apple.65938.plist
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchAgents/com.stackexchange.apple.65938.plist

The property list is loaded automatically when users log in.


How can I troubleshoot R and tk on macOS?

Try installing tk from the ActiveState ActiveTcl binaries. If you're on Mavericks, make sure that you install ActiveTcl 8.5.15.0 or greater, as there are some problems with earlier versions on Mavericks. Also, please note that ActiveTcl is not open-source software.


On your old phone, go to Settings > Messages and disable iMessage.

On your new phone, go to Settings > Messages and check if text message forwarding is enabled; check what devices are selected as recipients and remove the old phone if it is there.

Better yet, reset the old iPhone:

Go to Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings
Set up your iPhone as new.
Create a new Apple ID to your grand child.

She will have her own Apple ID to set up iCloud and other services independently (for instance, saving and migrating game progress with her account).
You will have separate iCloud accounts and passwords; photos and other personal information that may end up mixed is now on different accounts.

The only disadvantage is that she will have to download the games again and start from scratch.

Optional: Set up Family Sharing.

Go to Settings > iCloud.
Tap Set Up Family Sharing, then tap Get Started.
Confirm that you want to be the family organizer and that you're signed in with your personal Apple ID.
Follow the onscreen instructions.

You can then invite her to your Family:

Go to Settings > iCloud > Family > Add Family Member.
Enter your family member's name or email address.
Follow the onscreen instructions.

If she is younger than 13, follow the instructions described here: Family Sharing and Apple ID for your child

Setting up Family Sharing will allow you to share games and other apps with her (you don't have to buy them again).
You can also set up restrictions if you need to.


How to debug child's El Capitan login hanging?

Known to be broken in El Capitan up through .3.  Apple is supposed to be 'on it'...we'll see.

Referenced in https://discussions.apple.com/message/29704747#29704747


One solution would be to not download a copy of OS X from a torrent, you never know what you are getting.

Obtain a legal, trusted copy of OS X. If your Mac supports it you can get Mountain Lion for $19.99 USD from the App Store, if not you can order OS X Lion from apple for probably around $29.99.

Borrow a friends Mac, visit a Mac at an Apple Store, etc., log in to Mac App Store using your Apple ID.
Buy and download OS X.
Make a boot-able USB OS X installer
Log out of app store
Delete the installer you downloaded.

Boot from that copy, by holding down the option key while booting your mac.
Run Disk Utility from the OS X install media, erase the entire hard drive.
Install OS X
Enjoy...


Notification centre in Lion and Facebook

OK, go to your Facebook

open your settings and go to the the Notifications

Make sure the app request and activity for OSX is checked

In Notification on your Mac click on the facebook and a window should open where you can post directly to facebook from your mac.


You can disable or change the shortcut for Dashboard in System Preferences -  Mission Control for Mac OS X 10.7+. In older versions of Mac OS X the appropriate preference pane should be called Exposé.

After you changed the shortcut, it should correctly activate Firebug instead when Firefox is active.


Sign out iCloud - can't keep a copy of data. Download never ends

You should resolve the pending transfers issue first. Move files to non-synced areas of your computer until the size of your iCloud Drive-synced folders is small enough the sync completes. Once it has completed, then you can disable it.


Does LibreOffice work on OS X 10.9 Mavericks?

It did not crash with OS X Mavericks, but it does not work at all. I received a message that this OS is not compatible with Libre Office.


"Specks" on photos - possible to repair?

As far as iPhone replacement parts go, the usually the only ones that cost more than a few dollars are the digitizer assembly (touchscreen), logic board, battery, and (for the iPhone 5 and later) the rear case of the iPhone. Cameras usual cost less than $5.

Replacing the camera in the iPhone 5 is more complicated than it needs to be, but definitely possible. Here's the iFixit guide.


15" rMBP (mid 2012) - screen won't turn on, fans full speed

Apple has launched MacBook Pro Repair Extension Program for Video Issues which can be found here

Apple has determined that a small percentage of MacBook Pro systems may exhibit distorted video, no video, or unexpected system restarts. These MacBook Pro systems were sold between February 2011 and December 2013.
Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider will repair affected MacBook Pro systems, free of charge.


Is there any way to automatically set outgoing email address based on recipient's email or domain in mail.app?

Unfortunately, there is no way to do this in Apple Mail. It only works for messages which you are replying to (they automatically use the same outgoing address which received the original message). There is no hook in AppleScript, nor an option in Automator by which to make this happen. If it were possible, as of right now, it would still require a third-party plugin, which I have not been able to find either. So unfortunately, the answer is now.

Note: Also, if you select the inbox of the account from which you want to send the message, then compose, Mail will automatically use that account's email address for sending, unless you change it. Not quite as helpful as what you were hoping for, but at least something worth considering.

Good luck and happy mailing!


What version of OS X originally shipped on my mac?

I use the program Mactracker when I want to know about specific machines throughout Apple's History.  With your model number you can identify all there is to know about that mac you have.

It is available form the App Store for both Mac and iOS devices.


How to figure out how a process auto started itself after login?

This is not actually scary - it is intended, well defined and documented behavior.
Applications on macOS can come with a helper application that is run in the background. The helper app is stored within the application bundle of the main app and managed through the Service Management framework.
When you add an app to a macOS computer, the system will look into the application bundle to determine how this app relates to the system. In particular things such as:

which types of files can this program open
which icon should be displayed
does this program require a background helper application

As you can install applications in any folder on a Mac, this detection and inspection happens everywhere. In particular, you do not have to install apps in the /Applications folder. It does not involve the system "searching the entire hard drive", as application bundles are already specially marked. When an application bundle is added to the file system (or moved around), the system knows about it and keeps note of the above mentioned information.
Registering helper applications by including them in the application bundle is actually the recommended method for apps that are sandboxed (i.e. for example coming from the Mac App Store), as these apps are not allowed themselves to create files outside the sandbox.
If the application does not itself include an option to disable the helper application, it is because the app developer has decided that their application cannot function with the helper. The correct way to uninstall the helper application is to uninstall the main app.
In order to manually inactivate the login item, the least "aggressive" method is to change the Info.plist file inside the application bundle. Using the Property List Editor find the key SMLoginItemSetEnabled and change the associated boolean value to false.
You could also be more aggressive and manually delete the contents of the <app>.bundle/Contents/Library/LoginItems folder.
In any case, you risk the app itself not working - and you will have to be wary of application updates that reverse this change.


loookup server IPs the website runs on with nslookup error - Got recursion not available from 192.168.1.1, trying next server

The answer you got was correct.

www.cnn.com canonical name = turner.map.fastly.net.

A canonical name, or CNAME record is a record in DNS servers that define an alias for another domain.  In this case "www.cnn.com" points to the domain "turner.map.fastly.net".

As for your 192.168.1.1 server, that's most likely your router that is configured as a DNS cache or DNSMasq server.  The error message is fine, it's just telling you that the DNS server that you have listed first in the list of DNS servers doesn't support recursion.  It's not an issue.

My personal router is configured as a DNS relay and I don't get the error because it passes all DNS requests except for anything with my defined domain out to the public DNS servers.


How many external monitors does the iMac 27" with 5k display support?

The Late 2015 iMac 5K with AMD 395X can support two external 4K (UHD) displays (at the full 3840x2160 res) with the builtin iMac display set to 5120x2880 FYI. This is the configuration that I am currently running (with 10.11.2), using two LG 27MU67 displays attached via DisplayPort-to-miniDP cables on each of the iMac's thunderbolt ports.


Mac OS Mojave: How to rename my keychain?

This is easy to do, happened to me a lot of time after reinstall or migrations, but it hard to find information on the internet about how to do this simple procedure.

You should not delete the new keychain.

You just have to open the old keychain and copy the itens on it to the new keychain

Open KeyChain Utility
Go to menu File -> Add Keychain (and locate the old keychain on the open dialog)
Your old keychain will be included on the list of keychains, just below your 'login' keychain [you need to know the password of it, to be able to add it]

Once added, you will see your passwords on it, and can copy/paste the itens you want to your new keychain.

You can choose to always keep the old keychain showing on the application, or you can remove it, and keep it as a backup, or delete if everything was copied to the new keychain, it is up to you.

To remove it, select it, goto File -> Delete keychain.

It will ask if you want to delete the real keychain 'file', or just 'Delete References`

Don't select "Delete References & Files" !

Select Delete References, and it will be remove from the keychain listing. Only removed. The keychain file will be on your disk, intact, and you can reopen it anytime if you need.

Second way:

After adding it, right click on it, select UNLOCK.

Then select all itens of it, and Drag and Drop to the new Keychain, they will be copied (without asking for the password of each one)

Third way: (at least exists on Catalina)

After adding it, right click and unlock it, right click again and select "Make Keychain Default"


iPhone 4s asking for old Apple ID but nowhere to type code

You can type in that code immediately after your password in the password field.

  What if I use two-factor authentication on a device running older software?

  If you use two-factor authentication with devices running
  older OS versions, you might be asked to add your six-digit
  verification code to the end of your password when signing in. Get
  your verification code from a trusted device running iOS 9 and later
  or OS X El Capitan and later, or have it sent to your trusted phone
  number. Then type your password followed by the six-digit verification
  code directly into the password field.

Source: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204915


Accidentally ran partitionDisk command on disk1

Your real (physical) disk is your SSD/disk0. Disk1 is a virtual ("synthesized") disk based on the APFS physical store disk0s2.

Disk1 doesn't have a partition scheme. Additionally it contains your boot volume disk1s1.

Therefore the command diskutil partitionDisk ... run booted from your main boot volume (Macintosh HD) shouldn't be able to completely repartition and reformat neither disk0 nor disk1.

You can verify the disk and the APFS container/volumes with:

diskutil verifyDisk disk0 # verify physical disk
diskutil verifyVolume disk0s2 # verify APFS container
diskutil verifyVolume disk1s1 # verify APFS boot volume

The second command may yield something like:

warning: Overallocation Detected on Main device: (626695+1) bitmap address (28278)

which seems to be normal.

The third command usually checks all available APFS volumes despite passing on only one slice (disk1s1).

Therefore you will/should see the output:

Checking the APFS volume superblock
Checking the object map
Checking the fsroot tree
Checking the snapshot metadata tree
Checking the extent ref tree
Checking the snapshots

several times.

"The partition map appears to be OK" or "exit code is 0" indicates that everything is OK.


If you deleted the WhatsApp backup in iCloud and the backup you had in iTunes is corrupted, then your WhatsApp history is gone.

PS: Unless you have made a Windows backup between the moment you made the last good backup in iTunes and the moment it got corrupted, but based on your description this seems unlikely.


Testflight or coupon codes for review websites

There's no rules on iTunes Connect help to say who you can give TestFlight access to.

Giving access to TestFlight to reviewers might be an advantage, besides the promotional code limit, as the app doesn't need to be live for reviewing to take place (or the review can be of a new, unreleased app version).


Disclaimer: I have an iPhone SE on iOS 10, but my music is solely synced from iTunes, so I can’t speak for Apple Music playlists.

It should be relatively easy, Playlists is the very first option upon opening the Music app to your library:

And you can easily have the playlist open while you listen to a song so you’re ready to hit play at a later time:

As long as you don’t force quit the app its state will go unchanged and it'll show whichever part of the app you were on before hitting the home button when you reopen it.


Best practices for mounting Linux filesystems on OS X over the Internet

First, set up a VPN connection between the VPS and your Mac. Something like OpenVPN is fine (the TunnelBlick Mac client works well, at least up through Snow Leopard).

Second, set up the VPS as an AFP server using the "netatalk" package.  Something like sudo apt-get install netatalk.  AFP is the native Mac network filesystem.  Configure it to your situation.

At this point, you can establish the VPN connection between the VPS and the Mac, and then find and mount the AFP volumes from the VPS in your Finder.

An alternative would be to use something like MacFUSE and SSHFS, but using AFP is more "native" and will show up better in Finder.


Problem with exchange email account aliases in Mail for Mac OS X Mavericks

chflags nohidden ~/library
go to drive>users>XXXX>library>MAIL>V2>ACCOUNTS.plist
edit the email address and save.


If you tagged them correctly using the "Total Tracks" tag, then they should all be "Track 1 of 1".

Another option might be something along the lines of "Album contains 'Single of the Week'", but that does not cover any single tracks you bought.

Other than that there is no way to do it except manually.


How do I use `log stream` to search ALL existent logs on macOS for strings?

No support for --start

The usage guidances for log stream give no indications that a --start argument is supported, I wonder if they were talking about log show instead.

log stream usage

$ log stream --source --start
log: unrecognized option `--start'
usage: log stream [options]
   or: log stream [options] --process <pid> | <process>

description:
    Stream events from the system or a given process.

options:
    --color <mode>                  Control color output (valid: auto, always, none)
    --level default | info | debug  Include events at, and below, the given level
    --predicate <predicate>         Filter events using the given predicate
    --process <pid> | <process>     Stream events from the specified process
    --source                        Annotate output with source file and line-number
    --style <style>                 Output format (valid: syslog, json, compact)
    --timeout <num>[m|h|d]          Terminate streaming after timeout has elapsed
    --type activity | log | trace   Limit streaming to a given event type
    --mach-continuous-time          Print mach continuous time timestamps rather than walltime

predicate usage:
    Filter predicates follow the NSPredicate format described at:
    https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/Predicates/AdditionalChapters/Introduction.html

    For predicate field/type details, see `log help predicates`.

Using log show

log show has a --start switch which you can use as follows:

$ log show --source --start '2019-01-01' | egrep -i "some regex string"

NOTE: This can be a very expensive command to run since it'll be going through all the logs on your system from that --start time, but will return all the matches to your egrep.

Streaming logs

The use of log show will stop once it encounters the end of the logs. If you truly want to analyze/filter the stream of logs as they occur then you'll want to use log stream like this:

$ log stream --source | grep -iE "some regex string"

-or-

$ log stream --source --predicate 'processImagePath contains "some bit of text"'

References

How to filter logs via processImagePath?
log man page


You're going to have to upgrade to Parallels 10 or Parallels 11. See this Parallels knowledgeable article: Parallels Desktop and Mac OS (Host) compatibility

There is a free trial demo of Parallels 11. So you may be able to convert your old Parallels 7 file in advance of paying for it.

Next time you update OS X be sure to check its compatibility with the version of Parallels you're running. Parallels is a program that often breaks with an OS X update.


How can I set my mouse to click whenever it stops moving?

This is not a direct solution to your question but, I hope some of these suggestions will make your life a little bit easier.

Mac accessibility features are awesome.  Once you identify what your needs are and what the computer can actually do for you, You can virtually set up custom dictation commands, and use other accessibility features to control your entire computer.

The first thing I would suggest is enabling enhanced dictation commands in your accessibility preferences.  You can create custom voice commands to make your life much easier.  For example, I have set up custom commands to open up any webpage I frequent by simply saying “open Facebook“ or “open youtube“ etc..  Once I realized how easy it was to automate tasks on the computer,  I started reading about AppleScript and learning how to create scripts and applications that I could control with my voice and create custom commands for those also. For example, I created Applescripts that would insert my username and passwords into what ever fields I needed to insert them in.  Now for those scripts, which I made speakable, all I have to say is “insert username” or “insert password”  and my computer does everything for me.

Also using the dictation commands, there is a command that you could say “show numbers” in any open application (see image…)

Then all I have to do is say "14" If I wanted to click on the highlighted "Dictation".  Making life even easier, you can even just select or highlight something, while enhanced dictation is active, and say "make this speakable" and your computer will launch the dictation commands set up dialogue for you:

You may also want to look into these items in the Accessibility preferences:

Here is an auto clicking solution you may be interested in.

Activate “Enable Mouse Keys” in System Preferences/Accessibility/Mouse & Trackpad.

You can paste this following script in a new Script Editor document then export it as an application (naming it something like “Auto Click”).

tell application "System Events"
    delay 1  -- this line is optional
    key code 87
end tell

You can then locate and select that new Auto Click.app in Finder, and once that file is highlighted, you can simply speak the command “Make This Speakable” (assuming you have advanced dictation commands enabled in your system preferences).  You can then configure this new Dictation Command to run the Auto Click.app (which will click immediately wherever your mouse cursor is located) whenever you speak your new command.

Be sure to add Auto Click.app to the list of applications allowed to control your computer.


How to disable WIFI extender in Airport Express but leave ethernet working?

Yes you can do this in Airport Utility. Unfortunately I don’t have it open in front of me so I can’t show you a screenshot of where in the settings to do it but if you were able to configure it  in the first place then just go back to the same place and there should be an option to disable wireless entirely.

If you have an older Airport Express then you’ll need Airport Utility 5.6 running on an older version of OS X. If you don’t have that handy, you’ll have to make it happen by installing an older version of OS X in a virtual machine.

Hope this helps.


There are occasionally programs that exploit a bug in the OS to infect your macOS without typing an admin password, and those generally are patched quickly and depend on you not having the current latest security updates installed.

Most run of the mill software won’t cause any harm, run any code, make any changes just because you downloaded a DMG.

If you are super at risk of harm due to malware (human rights worker, journalist (especially one critical of the following powerful groups),  a potential target of a nation state or large corporation, or just a public figure - think globally recognized celebrity like Beyoncé) you should assume you’re compromised and seek professional help to be sure you’re secure or educated about your risk tolerance and operational security practices.

Most people like me and my family, relatives, work colleagues that aren’t involved in super secret work - I would say if you didn’t install anything and you don’t see anything going crazy like browser redirects then you could safely trash the file and perhaps be sure Safari doesn’t open “safe” attachments and be sure your backups are set.

If a regular security posture user wants to check that malware was installed, I like both a scanner for known attacks and something that looks for persistent processes being hidden.

https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download/
https://objective-see.com/products/knockknock.html

So to summarize, just clicking is enough to compromise a Mac with the right malware and the right version of macOS. Even if you have a fully patched Mac - the term “zero-day” acknowledges that there are exploits that have no warning and nothing you can do to prevent them from escalating their privileges and changing your Mac without a password entered. They are rare, but do exist in practice as well as in theory.


What files should I delete before giving my MacBook to someone else?

Since you are not giving it to some unknown 3d person there is no need to completely erase the drive and reinstall operating system.

You can use the

mdfind in Terminal

for example mdfind user will list all files for the current user

It will even show the deleted files

mdfind user youroldusername

will show your files if any are left.


I've had the same thing happen to me.  Just create a new location with appropriate preferred settings and have that one connect.  You can delete the old one if necessary.


Mac book pro 10.13.6 clean install on a year or two old machine

First, I'd be wary of removing it. I know that "no one uses CDs/DVDs any more" but every once in a while, someone breaks one out, like at a conference or a gift shop, etc.

So, Remote Disc allows you - using a laptop with no internal optical drive - to use a nearby computer (Windows or Mac) that does have an optical drive as your optical drive. Very practical. (You have to install CD or DVD Sharing for Windows 1.0)

But, if you really want to remove it from the sidebar, it's quite simple. Very Mac-like.

Just right-click the Remote disc and select "remove from sidebar."


Command+Tab doesn't switch between full-screen apps

Yes - Go to System Preferences / Mission Control and tick "When switching to an application ..."


Have you tried doing this via the Manage Apple ID page?

If you use two-step verification or two-factor authentication, you have a notification email address, not a rescue email address.

For more info about additional emails and rescue emails with your Apple ID read this. This page also provides step-by-step instructions on how to add/edit these emails.


I had to go in to single-user mode, how I can restore my data back?

Let's see if I understood correctly: you had admin account A but you couldn't log in; you created admin account B and logged in with that, and changed account A's password, then you logged back in with account A but you found what seems the default "new account" environment (no data at all); BUT you can search your files and when they're found those icons will actually appear on their respective locations...?
I can't see where "single user mode" (shift pressed at boot time) fits in this description: there's no need for single user mode to create a new admin account (even if you had self-login enabled on your only user account - bad idea! - you could boot with cmd-S and do "/sbin/mount -uw /" and then "rm /var/db/.applesetupdone" and then reboot to create a new admin account).
I think that your SSD is
1. too full,
2. too small, and
3. has a (hopefully) lightly damaged structure...
so boot with cmd-R and use Disk Utility to repair it. If this fails, try using DiskWarrior to rebuild the directory.
Otherwise (if Disk Utility fails and you have no access to DiskWarrior) you could do this:
1. Log in with you B account
2. Download Carbon Copy Cloner (one month trial) and clone the internal SSD on an external disk, then disconnect it (do it now, seriously. Later you'll use it for a Time Machine automated backup).
3. Now you can format the internal SSD and install OS X from scratch, just boot with cmd-R and follow the on screen instructions.
4. Use Migration Assistant to import back your user A account from the external disk
I hope this helps.


My MacBook Pro freezes if nothing is moving on the screen

From your Console log, the last event before reboot was the

Sep 26 03:35:00 Ashleys-MacBook-Pro com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.bsd.dirhelper[379]): Endpoint has been activated through legacy launch(3) APIs. Please switch to XPC or bootstrap_check_in(): com.apple.bsd.dirhelper

What is Dirhelper

http://www.manpagez.com/man/8/dirhelper/osx-10.6.5.php

Possible solution..

Copy Dirhelper Plist as safety precaution  located in

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.bsd.dirhelper.plist

Then delete it.

Restart

You can also try Safe mode to isolate the issue..

What safe mode does...

Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed
Loads only required kernel extensions
Prevents startup items and login items from opening automatically
Disables user-installed fonts
Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files


There's not many.

Here are a couple.

Cog - http://cogx.org/
Songbird - http://getsongbird.com/


How to get list of played pdocasts in Itunes so that I select which to delete?

Create a smart playlist with the criteria “Media kind is Podcast” and ”Plays is larger than 0”. Looks like this:


PHP Version 7.3.22 to be removed in future macOS

php -v gives the following response:
WARNING: PHP is not recommended
PHP is included in macOS for compatibility with legacy software.
Future versions of macOS will not include PHP.

The release notes for Catalina contain the following remark:
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/macos-release-notes/macos-catalina-10_15-release-notes

Scripting Language Runtimes
Deprecations
Scripting language runtimes such as Python, Ruby, and Perl are included in macOS for
compatibility with legacy software. Future versions of macOS won’t
include scripting language runtimes by default, and might require you
to install additional packages. If your software depends on scripting
languages, it’s recommended that you bundle the runtime within the
app.

In short: macOS continues to include 'legacy' versions of things like Python, Ruby, Perl, and indeed PHP, so that existing code won't break, but Apple is leaving it to the user to install the versions that they want to use.
At the time of writing, 10.16 ('macOS 11') continues to include these languages.


The launchd GUI LaunchControl will give you a list of services along with their respective status. You can see if a job has been disabled by looking at the check box next to the job name. A colored check box indicates that the Disabled key has been overridden: a red checkbox stands for a permanently disabled job, a green one for a permanently enabled job.


Simple video management and processing tool for Mac?

One option is DaVinci Resolve, it is free, but requires 16 GB of RAM and the largest GPU available for the machine.

Requirements:

if you're looking for something on the simpler side, and free I may add, GoPro Studio is also available for free, but with some limitations, such as with filters and effects that must be rendered in another software before being imported into the software itself.


Turns out the problem was that Safari doesn't (by default) fire the onLoad even when the "back action" is performed (using the back button or the two finger swipe) but I couldn't reproduce the bug on my machine because apparently the 1password extension causes the onLoad event even when you go back.

Further explications at Render's request:
So let's assume this code on all pages:
$(document).ready(function () {
    alert('test');
}

And this sequence of actions:

open page-1.html
open page-2.html
Go back
Go forward

Safari won't show the alert after step 3 and 4, so I the onLoad event is not fired and the page .js continues the execution from where it left off when you navigated away from the page.
Also in the current version 6.0.3, having 1password extension (3.9.14) seems to have no effect over this behavior.
Hope that helps. This shouldn't matter in most cases, it's only when you write bad code (like it did) it will bit you in the arse :)


Google and Spotify are most likely showing you Netherlands information because they are associating your IP address to a location in the Netherlands.

This isn't a setting that is controlled from your browser, but is a component of your internet connection that services use for various reasons to personalize the experience to the user, without knowing much (yet) about the user themselves.

For example, if I VPN (tunnel my internet connection to make it look like I'm from a server physically located elsewhere) from the US to the UK, Google automatically directs me to the UK Google page, and I can watch Al Jazerra English and BBC. (both unavailable-ish in the US) Similarly, those services think you are physically in the Netherlands, and they behave accordingly; Google directs you to it's .nl service, and Spotify likely doesn't have streaming agreements in the country, so it cannot legally service those in the Netherlands.

Now, you don't mention where you are physically, so it is possible that you are not physically in the Netherlands, but whatever service Google and Spotify use to associate an IP with a general location says that you are, likely because (some time in the past) that IP address was associated with a location in the Netherlands. If that's the case ... you may need to contact your ISP to see if they have a remedy for this kind of problem.


Seeing the event is unnerving but, thankfully, it is unlikely to be a virus or current problem with your MacBook.
Instead it is possible this event came from an unwanted e-mail; Mail.app on macOS and on iOS has the ability to add events discovered in your e-mails.
You can disable this feature using the steps from How to disable suggested events in Calendar on iOS and Mac:

How to disable Mail event suggestions on OS X
Do the following on your Mac with OS X 10.11 El Capitan or later:

Launch Mail.
Choose Preferences from the Mail menu.
Click the General tab.
Select Never in the drop-down menu labeled “Add invitations to Calendar”.


Creating a keyboard shortcut to pause Youtube video in a Google Chrome tab

You could assign a shortcut to a script like this:

tell application "Google Chrome"
    repeat with t in tabs of windows
        tell t
            if URL starts with "http://www.youtube.com" then
                execute javascript "player = document.querySelectorAll('#watch7-player embed')[0]
if (player) {
    player.getPlayerState() == 1 ? player.pauseVideo() : player.playVideo()
} else { // if youtube.com/html5 is enabled
    document.querySelectorAll('.html5-player-chrome > button:first-child')[0].click()
}"
                exit repeat
            end if
        end tell
    end repeat
end tell

For Safari, replace execute javascript with do JavaScript.


Why does OS X use swap memory when memory pressure remains low?

This is one of the all-too-few times where the answer is officially documented by Apple.
The short answer is that the system tries to keep a certain amount of memory free so it can quickly provide memory to an application when the application requests it. When there is not enough free memory, then memory that has not been "touched" in a while gets swapped out. Often this is memory that the application "leaked", which is to say allocated, used for a while (maybe just once), and will never use again, but forgot to tell the OS it was done with.
In Yosemite and other versions of OS X, SystemUIServer was notorious for leaking lots of memory. This would be a prime candidate for getting swapped out, because it was not needed by the app, but could not be reclaimed by the OS. Swapping this memory out to disk is all upside for performance; the only downside is a relatively tiny amount of disk space used.


QuickTime can't play 4k video while VLC can

Let's be honest : appart of the UI, Quicktime X a crapy software in term of compatibility. And it became crappier since the development of Perian has stopped. And on Mavericks it's even worse (Perian doesn't work anymore ...). The cause : QuickTime X is based on the AV Foundation Framework which is only powerful with H.264 stuff (yeah the file format sold on iTunes).

VLC is powered by a different video library than QuickTime and it's know to be one of the most compatible player yet.

TLDR: So no there is no there is no solution yet. Let's hope the situation will evolve.


Windows 7 on Bootcamp doesn't want to boot. Can't copy files from Bootcamp to Osx mavericks

Since the problem followed the hard drive when connected to a new computer, you have a clear case where the problem is disk based. The slowness, the error, and that it seems to be getting worse would make me think that you may only have a short amount of time to finish your recovery efforts.

Worst case, the drive itself is failing and you can only get files off while it cooperates. Best case, the file system is corrupt and once you zero the drive entirely, it will work properly. The test that determines which of the two is the case involves erasing the entire drive, so plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Consider stopping your recovery attempts if the data is of value such that you would pay a professional. If it is hardware, time may run out and running the drive could make things worse.
Prioritize and get the most important files off that drive entirely considering both the Mac side and the Windows side.
Use PC file recovery tools on the Boot Camp side, use Mac recovery tools like Data Rescue 3 on the Mac side. Also, don't overlook tools like rsync that can ignore errors and keep trying to copy other files after running into the initial error - 36.

Good luck. It seems like you have a good handle on various options for getting files off the drive so I wanted to offer some other options. Also, you made no mention of backups whatsoever - depending on how recent your last windows backup and last Mac backup are, you could reduce the scope of your efforts accordingly.


Can I release Swift implementation of an application over the Xamarin implementation in Apple store?

Sure - the store delivers binary content that it code signs as complete so it doesn’t matter how you got the submission to Apple.

Now, the end user experience could still be a mess if you don’t have a smooth migration plan for app data, settings and what happens when someone restores a backup from 6 months ago onto the new version of the app. Those things are hard to test, possibly difficult to program and not something that was designed into your data model currently.


How can I save a vertical (not horizontal) multiple display arrangement?

Stay is a pretty cheap app who's primary purpose is to save default positions for applications of screen, and automatically be able to rearrange them to this default state.

However, it has multiple display support, and as a side effect, it can be used to restore previously used display arrangements.


Is there anything more secure than a password protected SparseImage against state actors?

Encrypted disk images are secure. The issue that you referenced is a user interface bug in Disk Utility, not a problem with the encryption. You can also create disk images without using Disk Utility, e.g. using hdiutil on the command-line or a utility such as DropDMG.


if "Speak" was used, following Select All, in iOS notes, is that audio stored anywhere on iPhone or in iCloud?

I don’t think there’s a global undo buffer for iOS notes like there is for macOS notes with versions of documents being stored like TextEdit.

There is a “deleted notes” section you can reference from the notes web app, but it’s not like Time Machine for going to an earlier version.

I think you might need to change how you listen. Is it possible to speak from an insert point and not speak from a selection? That might lessen the chance of losing data you can’t restore.


LSUIPresentationMode no longer works in Yosemite

You can run

lsappinfo setinfo -app Firefox ApplicationType=UIElement

but you have to run it every time you open Firefox, it removes the menu bar completely, and it removes Firefox from the Dock. Commands like lsappinfo setinfo -app Firefox PresentationMode=Suppressed or lsappinfo setinfo -app Firefox UIPresentationMode=4 didn't seem to work.

(You can make the full screen mode actually usable in iTerm 2 by unchecking "Use Lion-style Fullscreen windows" and setting "Profiles > Window > Style" to "Fullscreen". Skim, Sequential, Movist, and Emacs also have an option to use a custom implementation for full screen windows.)


Make iTunes Treat my iPhone Like A New Phone

Once you have selected that you want to encrypt the backup of an iPhone, it is not possible to uncheck without the password, or by erasing the content of the iPhone.
The information about the encryption status is saved on the iPhone, not in iTunes, so erasing all your backups wont do much in this situation.

This may seem weird to many people, but it's basically a safety measure.
Let's assume that someone broke in to your house and got away with both your computer and iPhone, got access to the computer because you had no Filevault enabled, and now wanted to move your data from your iPhone to your computer, and would be able to do so, just by erasing your old backups first. This would be somewhat of a security flaw in my opinion.

So to say it short, you need to erase your iPhone to disable the encrypted backup setting, if you do not know the password.


How to insert a vector notation in Keynote/Pages?

You can hunt for things like this in the [badly renamed] Emoji & Symbols [Character] viewer.
System Prefs > Keyboard > Keyboard & enable it in the Menu Bar; it will then be more easily accessible.

This type of mark is always going to be under 'Combining Diacriticals' though in this case it's even further down, in 'Combining Diacritical Marks for Symbols'

The trick to being able to see the whole list is to enable Unicode, which is less obvious than you'd think.
Top left there is a Settings button, which looks to be permanently greyed out. Click it, it works.

Unicode is way down the bottom, in Code Tables.
Once enabled, you can see it added to the list on the left.
Enabling it also then displays Unicode information under any selected character on the right.

You can also use the search, top right, for 'combining' which will find them.

In your case, the one you need is Unicode U+20D7
This, on it's own  ⃗

Entered after any letter it will combine above, as in A⃗ B⃗ C⃗ etc

Entering it as a one-off is simply done by double clicking the symbol in the Characters pane.

If it's something you're going to be using frequently, I'd be inclined to add it to your text replacements in System Prefs > Keyboard > Text,

I just tested it as a replacement for _> so typing A_> will generate A⃗
Italics/Bold can be done before or after the fact, same as any other text.

A⃗


AppleScript: How to open a file in TextEdit, without bringing the other TextEdit windows to front?

I think the problem you're having is that you've misunderstood what is actually going on. Let me try to explain...

The first question to answer is why were the windows missing from your first screenshot not visible? Obviously, the My Fruit Log.txt file was not visible because it wasn't open yet (i.e. your script hadn't run yet). But what about the other windows? There's only three possibilities:

TextEdit wasn't actually running (therefore no windows exist). This would be obvious - so no more discussion needed.
TextEdit was running, but it was hidden (therefore all windows are hidden). This just means you hid TextEdit from view. Running your script simply makes it visible again (along with all its windows except for any that may be minimised).
TextEdit was running but all windows were minimised. This just means TextEdit is running but no windows are visible because they've been miminimed. Running your script makes the app itself visible and in the foreground again, but all minimised windows remain minimised.

In your scenario, it's almost certain that Option 2 applies.  So, while it's not what you want to hear, your script is actually working the way it's supposed to in macOS. The only way I can think of at present to achieve what you want in a practical way is to ensure that your script minimises all other windows except for the one it's just opened. For example, you could achieve this with the following code:

set targetFilepath to "/Users/Me/Desktop/My Fruit Log.txt"
tell application "TextEdit"
    activate
    open targetFilepath
    tell (windows whose id is not (get id of front window) and visible is true)
        set miniaturized to true
    end tell
    set bounds of front window to {279, 111, 1180, 719}
end tell

As you can see, I've just added two lines of code. I think they're fairly self-explanatory - They just tell TextEdit to minimise any window that meets these two conditions (1. it's not the front window and 2. it is visible).

Hopefully this works for you - but if not maybe someone else comes up with a better solution.


Took me a while to figure this out so I'll share it if it helps someone else:

Instead of tapping on the Notes icon, search for a specific note in spotlight then open that note.

After that Notes will work normally again.

(Apple knows about the bug but they didn't fix it in time for the release.)


Should I get a SATA 3Gb/s or 6Gb/s hard drive for my MBP?

As a conventional hard drive wouldn't come close to 3GB/s, I say save some money and go for the cheaper 3GB/s one. If you have money to splash then instead I suggest you go for a SSD, because that would really lift your MBP's performance. It doesn't have to be as large and your current drive, because you can use your current drive as a external one by getting a SATA to USB casing somewhere to take some of the load off.


Sounds like either a bug or the update didn't work properly.

That said, you should re-apply the update using these instructions from Apple support.


Login - Screen Flashes and Returns to Login Screen - Terminal Explanation

To rename the folders you listed in Terminal you would use the move command or "mv". Like this: (I will use an account called "userx" for this example)

sudo mv /Users/userx/Library/Preferences /Users/userx/Library/PreferencesOLD
sudo mv /Users/userx/Library/LaunchAgents /Users/userx/Library/LaunchAgentsOLD

To create directories in Terminal use "mkdir"

sudo mkdir /Users/userx/Library/Preferences

Lastly, the step they skip is allowing "userx" to use the new directory you need to make userx the owner of any new folders you create in this manner.

sudo chown userx /Users/userx/Library/Preferences


Activation lock when I'm the only owner that my iPhone ever had, asking for my AppleID

Activation lock being on is a good thing; it means that your device cannot be activated on a different account or carrier until it's disabled, usually at the time you sell or otherwise dispose of your device.

I'm not sure what would cause it to randomly pop up like it did - the first (and really only) thing that comes to mind is your carrier making some adjustments on their end that caused your phone to need to be reactivated, but as you saw, no data is lost during this type of activation. It's also possible that something was corrupted on the device that required reactivation with the carrier to resolve. You would also see this screen if you put in a new SIM card.

You should change your password for your Apple ID to be on the safe side, but it's unlikely that any third-party, aside from your carrier, was involved in this incident.


How to see the phone numbers a message was sent to?

No.

The iMessage function will send delivered and read receipts for messages delivered by Apple's Push Notification Service, but not through the carrier's SMS network.

You would have to send each message individually if you wanted to know if each message is received, but that also depends on the recipient opting in to share read receipts. If their devices are not configured to send back that confirmation, you need a mechanism that is outside the band of Messages to know a message was received. (like calling them, asking, sending a link that tracks cookies and they identify themselves in this interaction, etc...)


How to disable the "locate" command in Mac OS?

You can disable it like this:
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.locate.plist

Keep in mind, this process only runs periodically to make the database that caches the results, so your locate results will be static and not change from the time you unload the "refresh task".


Privacy: what personal data does Apple share with an app developer, when I buy an app?

No personal data is shared with an app developer on app purchase.

The aggregate information available for app units in iTunes Connect App Analytics is:

Purchase date (no more granularity available than cumulative over 24h period)
Device type (e.g. "iPhone" or "iPad")
Platform version (e.g. "iOS 10.3", x.x is the most detail available)
Region (e.g. "Europe" or "Asia Pacific")
Territory (e.g. "United Kingdom")
Source type (e.g. "App Store Search", "App Store Browse")
App referrer (e.g. "Google Chrome", given where a third-party app linked to product page)
Web referrer (e.g. "georgegarside.com")
Campaign (custom string linked to by iTunes product link URL parameter)

When you run the app:

the app can ask you to agree to share your Contacts, which would allow the app to access your ‘me card’ for your name.
the app can ask you to enable Location Services for the app, so the app can obtain your location.

In both of these cases, the app will ask for permission at OS level and you can accept or reject the permission. These permissions are only asked for if the app requests it — it's uncommon to request such information unless the app needs it for your benefit.


Spilt one huge PDF into separate .txt files

Try to first use pdftotext or ebook-convert to convert the PDF to text:

brew install poppler;pdftotext file.pdf

/Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS/ebook-convert file.pdf file.txt

Then if for example the text file has a format like this:

2012-12-31
paragraph 1
paragraph 2

2013-01-01
paragraph 1
paragraph 2

Try running a command like this:

awk -v RS= -F'\n' '{print $0>($1".txt")}' file.txt

Or if the text file has a format like this:

2012-12-31

paragraph 1

paragraph 2

2013-01-01

paragraph 1

paragraph 2

Try running a command like this:

ruby -e '$<.read.split("\n\n\n").each{|s|title,content=s.split("\n\n",2)
File.open(title+".txt","w"){|f|f.puts content}}' input.txt


Can anyone explain to me the difference between terminal apps, CLI, CLT and Prompt?

CLI (Command Line Interface) is a general description of an interface that you interact with by typing commands. On the Mac your primary CLI is Terminal.app. On Windows it is PowerShell or Command Prompt. On the old Amiga OS it is simply called "CLI".
Terminal is the program or application ("app") that is used to access the Command Line Interface. On macOS terminal is located in the /Applications/Utility folder and called Terminal.app. There are alternate terminal applications (on macOS and Linux/Unix) that provide other features in the same way that Apple's Pages app offers word processing features presented in and implemented in different way that Microsoft Word.
Command Line Tools Are indeed shipped with and easily accessible in macOS using the Terminal.app. Since macOS is based (originally) on the Berkeley Standard Distribution Unix (usually called BSD Unix, or just BSD), it comes with (pretty much) the standard suite of Unix command line tools. This will be similar (with some significant differences) to the command line tools shipped with most Linux distributions.
Shell Though you did not mention this it is important to understand that macOS (and many Unix and Linux distributions) ship with a number of shell programs. Until recently macOS shipped with BASH as the default shell, more recently changed to ZSH, though BASH is still available. The differences in shells are subtle (to casual users) but define, in (slightly) different ways, the environment we use to run the command line tools. For most people the actual shell you use is unimportant. For programmers and system administrators the shell they use is vitally important to provide a customizable environment suitable to their specific needs.
Prompt is the character or characters that the shell presents in the terminal.app to indicate it is waiting for input. EG it is prompting you to type something. I have modified my prompt from the default so yours will look different than mine (below) where the prompt character is %:

TDLR
You have the command line tools built-into macOS. They are accessed using the Terminal.app (that then uses the ZSH shell).
You can download other standard Unix versions of these commands if the current ones don't do the job you want, the way you want them to, or are just plain missing. One of the more popular repositories of open source commands is Homebrew.
Homebrew is by no means necessary to the functioning of macOS but depending on your needs and desires in an operating system, they may provide good (or just familiar) alternatives to what Apple ships with its operating systems.


Control arrow key to jump to the next word

To disable the shortcut for switching to spaces go to the keyboard shortcuts tab of the keyboard preferences pane. Select Mission Control on the left and then un-check the 'Move left/right a space' options.


Macbook Pro camera still not working (green light on) - tried heaps of suggested solutions to no avail

No, you have exhausted the typical steps and if you can send it in for repair or feel you won’t break it worse by opening it yourself, a repair is in order.

Before a repair, make a backup of everything and wipe and reinstall the OS. You need that to start the repair and if it fixes things, you’ll save the cost and time of the repair.


2009 iMac as 2nd Monitor – Can't adjust brightness

Sadly this problem still exists. My work around is as follows

1) Apple F2 to share displays. The screen is usually quite dark.
2) Apple F2 to switch back to iMAC display.
3) I can now adjust the brightness on the iMac, I set it to my desired level.
4) I Apple F2 back to the shared display I initially wanted.

It is indeed quite annoying and generally a bad experience.


MacBook Pro 13" 2015 CPU and GPU temperatures

The high temps are mostly because of flash. Had a simmilar problem with my 15" macbook. I bought a fitting screw driver from amazon for 3€ opened and cleaned my mac and the temps went down by about 10°. Try it out it could help.


Mail.app: Moving Emails from local folder to imap folder -> HDD space decreases temorarily

My hypothesis is that what you observe is happening because you are setting your IMAP account not to have all the message for offline consumption, but only headers. If you had it set to full messages, you would be decreasing your space even more, because the IMAP metadata needs to be kept in a database, apart from the full messages.


May I register with ©copyright my songs made mixed with just apple loops or must be copyleft, creative commons, royalty free, etc...?

Royalty free means you can release music that incorporates the loops without paying or crediting anyone. The only thing you can't do is sell the loops separately.


Downcast is a 3rd party podcast player you should try out.

Downcast has native apps for macOS, iOS, watchOS and also include CarPlay support. It include support for host of features along with iCloud syncing across various platforms.


How to sort photos inside a shared album in the Photos app in macOS, iOS, or iPadOS?

After sharing multiple photos and videos in a shared album, each user with access to the shared album can independently sort the order of the media as they wish on their own device.
The procedure to sort the photos is slightly different between iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. See below
Sorting in iOS (similarly in iPadOS with the difference of how to navigate to the shared album)

Open the Photos app
Go to albums
Go to the shared album in question
Tap on the "More" icon on the top right corner. The icon is three horizontal dots
Tap Sort (up and down arrows icon)
Choose one of the three available sorting orders

Sorting in macOS

Launch the Photos app
Go to the shared album in question located on the left navigation bar
Choose view on the menu bar (bar above all applications starting usually with "File")
Go to Sort
Choose one of the three available sorting orders


iPhone sends iMessage, but doesn't show that it was "delivered", even though it is

iMessage lets you send free text, photo, and video messages to other
  iOS and OS X users anywhere in the world . Read receipts allow your
  contacts to see whether or not you've viewed a message. While some
  people may consider read receipts to be a bit stalker-ish, others may
  find them useful for work and business situations. Regardless of why
  you need them, we can help you turn them on or off no matter what iOS
  device or Mac you're using.

http://www.imore.com/how-turn-and-read-receipts-imessage

Just ask to your friends if they have disabled this feature ;)


How to resolve freezes when pressing caps lock on external keyboard

This has happened to me on two different Macs with 3 different bluetooth keyboards. Two Apple keyboards and one Logitech. The symptom is always the same, intermittently the keyboard will freeze for about 5 seconds after hitting the caps lock key.
Restarting the computer will often resolve the issue for a short time but an SMC reset normally resolves the issue more long term.
I have had this experience over the last 5 years and have found documentation of others having the exact same issue for over a decade. It's obviously a larger underlying issue and I'm not sure why it persists.


From your report it looks like the Wondershare is a problem maker and slowing down the Spotlight.

/Users/username/Library/Group Containers/QA2G25RMZ4.com.wunderkinder/Wunderlist/.DS_Store

Shut the Wunderlist down.

You might want to consider giving the Spotlight a break so it can start over.

Turn it off

sudo mdutil -a -i off

this turns off indexing of files,

To turn indexing back on, run

sudo mdutil -a -i on

After this you could run the complete re-indexing of your hard drive (be aware this could be an over night job), it will delete your Spotlight data base forcing it to start over.

sudo rm -rf /.Spotlight-V100/*


Spotlight on Mac doesn't accept keyboard input

This seems to have worked. I'd still be interested in other answers people might have, in case there's something better.

Run Activity Monitor
Type "spotlight" in the search field.
Several items will be remain. Select the one just named "Spotlight". Use the "x" button at the upper left corner of the window to kill it.

Spotlight automatically re-launches, and now works.


How to write to a Windows formatted disk from OS X?

Paragon NTFS or Tuxera NTFS

Paragon NTFS and Tuxera NTFS will let you read/write NTFS partitions on OS X. They integrate with Disk Utility as well, letting you erase and partition such disks.


Is it possible to prevent Magic Keyboards from pairing without disabling Bluetooth entirely?

No. (Not that we’ve found)

These devices are designed to pair like rabbits. Rapidly, without delay and as often as possible.

People prank each other at our work as well by taking a keyboard and plugging it into all the iMac down the row. (Or shuffling up the mice)

The best you can do is set a name for each keyboard and laugh when a charge turns into a pairing event.


Does iPhoto copy all photos from Photo Stream, or just make references?

Unlike your iOS device(s) that have a smaller more finite amount of memory, your desktop/notebook systems are more than capable of storing the photos, as they're found in your Photo Stream, they're also automatically imported to your iPhoto Library (same source as the question above):

  But since your Mac has more storage than your iOS device, it
  automatically imports every picture from your Photo Stream into your
  photo library so you can edit, delete, and share the ones you want.

Take note, however, that there is a difference between your Photo Stream collection and your iPhoto Library. Attempting to interact with any photo being viewed while Photo Stream is selected will prompt you to view the copy in your Library.


How do I prevent Terminal.app from capturing Cmd/Ctrl/L?

The trick, really, is to avoid common key-commands - which is why the article you refer to uses  Ctrl ⌃   Opt ⌥   L , as no OS X command would normally use only  Ctrl ⌃  &  Opt ⌥  - they would always add  Cmd ⌘  too, leaving you free to use  Ctrl ⌃   Opt ⌥  for anything you like.

If you insist on using  Cmd ⌘   Ctrl ⌃   L  then you would have to add, for each application that already uses it, a new custom command so it will no longer trigger in preference to your own.

For example, for Terminal, where  Cmd ⌘   Ctrl ⌃   L  is Clear Screen

you would need to replace that in System Prefs > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts

and add a different, non-conflicting shortcut.


When I check for update in macOS, are the software from other sources checked for updates as well?

The Mac App Store will only check for updates for system applications or those installed from the Mac App Store.

Though I have not used Gimp in particular, most apps distributed outside of the Mac App Store will have an option in the menu bar under either the app name or help menus. That option will usually be titled something along the lines of Check for Updates.

You can download the latest version of Gimp here: Gimp - Downloads.


What is memory pressure, and how do I relieve it?

Memory Pressure is a better indicator of the health of the virtual memory system than the traditional UNIX measure of free, inactive and active pages.

For a brush up on the previous measure, have a read at:

Isn't Inactive memory a waste of resources?

Now, the caching of files is drawn as a good thing (green memory pressure) and you will only see the pressure raise in the main window of Activity Monitor when you have a large proportion of wired memory or the system starts swapping RAM to storage and evicting too many cache pages.

The image from your window looks perfectly fine - so I wouldn't worry about reducing the pressure. If you want to reduce the pressure, you can do so by quitting apps and then letting the system manage that memory. If your Mac can accommodate more RAM, adding RAM would reduce the pressure for the same line up of programs running and using memory.


From the results you posted, I can see the GUID for the Recovery partition is wrong. This is partition number 3 in the tables. The correct value in the GPT would be 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC. The fdisk command also shows the value to be wrong in the MBR table. Here, the correct value should be AB. If you can not boot to your Recovery partition after repairing these tables, then I would assume the contents of the partition is corrupted.

As far as I know, there is no utility in OS X for this type of repair. (Technically, you could use the dd command, but no sane person would attempt using dd to fix this problem.) I would recommend downloading and installing the gdisk command from here. To install, you may have to modify the setting on the "Security & Privacy" pane of the "System Preferences".

To use the gdisk command, you will need to disable System Integrity Protection (SIP). Normally, this can be done while in Recovery mode. Since you can not boot to Recovery mode, you can use a product called "rEFInd". Many Linux users already have this product installed on their Mac computer. If you do not, you can create a USB flash drive version which can be used to disable/enable SIP. The instructions are given here.

  Note: Since you have Debian Linux already installed, you may be able to execute gdisk from this operating system. Since I do not have this operating system installed, I am not going to pursue this further. You can obtain more information from this site. Also, gdisk may be available by booting from an external Emergency Disk. If available under Linux or from an Emergency Disk, you will not have to disable SIP.

Once gdisk is installed and SIP is disabled, you will need to make three changes. These changes involve modifying both the GUID Partition Table (GPT) and the Master Boot Record (MBR) partition table. The changes are listed below.

Change the type GUID for partition 3 in the GPT from
48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC to
426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC. Note: gdisk uses a value of
AB00 to represent the value 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC.
Make sure the attribute for partition 3 is 0002000000000000. In
the example below, I assume the current value for the attribute is
0000000000000000. If not, make the appropriate corrections.
Change the id for partition 3 in the MBR table from AF to AB.

In the example below, I create and mounted a sparse image as /dev/disk1. I then used this image as input to the gdisk command. This was done to simulate the conditions on your computer. You will be making changes to your /dev/disk0.

Steelhead:~ davidanderson$ sudo gdisk /dev/disk1
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.1

Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their
partition table automatically reloaded!
Partition table scan:
  MBR: hybrid
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with hybrid MBR; using GPT.

Command (? for help): t
Partition number (1-5): 3
Current type is 'Apple HFS/HFS+'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = AF00): ab00
Changed type of partition to 'Recovery HD'

Command (? for help): x

Expert command (? for help): a
Partition number (1-5): 3
Known attributes are:
0: system partition
1: hide from EFI
2: legacy BIOS bootable
60: read-only
62: hidden
63: do not automount

Attribute value is 0000000000000000. Set fields are:
  No fields set

Toggle which attribute field (0-63, 64 or <Enter> to exit): 49
Have enabled the 'Undefined bit #49' attribute.
Attribute value is 0002000000000000. Set fields are:
49 (Undefined bit #49)

Toggle which attribute field (0-63, 64 or <Enter> to exit):

Expert command (? for help): r

Recovery/transformation command (? for help): h

WARNING! Hybrid MBRs are flaky and dangerous! If you decide not to use one,
just hit the Enter key at the below prompt and your MBR partition table will
be untouched.

Type from one to three GPT partition numbers, separated by spaces, to be
added to the hybrid MBR, in sequence: 2 3 4
Place EFI GPT (0xEE) partition first in MBR (good for GRUB)? (Y/N): y

Creating entry for GPT partition #2 (MBR partition #2)
Enter an MBR hex code (default AF): af
Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): y

Creating entry for GPT partition #3 (MBR partition #3)
Enter an MBR hex code (default AB): ab
Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): n

Creating entry for GPT partition #4 (MBR partition #4)
Enter an MBR hex code (default 83): 83
Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): n

Recovery/transformation command (? for help): w

Final checks complete. About to write GPT data. THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING
PARTITIONS!!

Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): y
OK; writing new GUID partition table (GPT) to /dev/disk1.
Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their
partition table automatically reloaded!
Warning: The kernel may continue to use old or deleted partitions.
You should reboot or remove the drive.
The operation has completed successfully.
Steelhead:~ davidanderson$

At this point, I would restart your Mac.


How reliable and trustworthy are the Objective-See Security tools (KnockKnock (UI), Dynamic Hijack Scanner and BlockBlock)?

I use many of their tools and this is probably not a false-positive. The only currently known false positives stated on their Dynamic Hijack Scanner webpage (at the bottom) ia Microsoft Messenger (mbukernel) and Microsoft Messenger Daemon (mbuinstrument).

About your scan results, I also have BitTorrent Sync installed on my Mac and I get the same message (tested on 2 other Macs). If I do a full system scan with DHS, I get many other applications that have the rpath vulnerability and the weak vulnerability, including iMovie and many Xcode tools. Please note that this is not something to be too worried about, as none of your Applications are "Hijacked" and dylib hijacking is quite a newly discovered vulnerability in OS X, and therefore your probably not going to see any in-the-wild attacks yet. If you are of the more technical sort, you can read their slides presented on this at CanSecWest here and the technical paper here.

I do trust the tools from this company and the person behind this (Patrick Wardle) is clearly stated on their About page. He has published more of his OS X research papers that are available at the bottom of that webpage. He has also done many presentations at security conferences including DefCon, and is the Director of R&D at Synack.

KnockKnock is a tool that scans for persistently installed items on your Mac, including Kernel Extensions, Launch Items, and Login Items and lists them on the screen.

Lastly, BlockBlock is simply a tool that watches for anything that becomes persistently installed (executed at boot every time your mac boots up), such as malware - the tool is still in beta as of this writing.

At the end, they are all great Mac security tools to check-up your mac :).


Will Apple service an iPhone previously repaired by a third-party?

Apple has always reserved the right to only cover under warranty (and their service plans like AppleCare) authorized repairs that use certified parts. I’ve seen this language in the legal agreements since the 90s and can’t source earlier documents to see when it actually started.

https://www.apple.com/legal/sales-support/terms/repair/

1.11.6 Disclosure of Unauthorized Modifications. During the service ordering process, you must notify Apple of any unauthorized modifications, or any repairs or replacements not performed by Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (“AASP”), that have been made to your product. Apple will not be responsible for any damage to the product that occurs during the repair process that is a result of any unauthorized modifications or repairs or replacements not performed by Apple or an AASP. If damage results, Apple will seek your authorization for any additional costs for completing service even if the product is covered by warranty or an AppleCare service plan. If you decline authorization, Apple may return your product unrepaired in the damaged condition without any responsibility.

In practice, the worst that happens is you get a call mid-repair and an explanation why the repair will cost more or why the repair isn’t being completed. So yes, Apple typically does all it can to cover a repair even when it has the clear right to not perform service in my experience.
With batteries and hardware, as long as there’s not case or connector damage and the part is scrapped, there’s little benefit to Apple not doing the repair. The technician is on the hook for a limited warranty so the only time when Apple or a certified center rejects a repair is when they can’t guarantee the repair for the time Apple specifies or they can’t complete the repair with the parts budgeted for that repair. Also, if Apple subsidizes the cost of the repair parts since they can rework a portion of the failed ones and then certify them for repair use later, it seems fair to not pass that cost savings off to someone that isn’t returning same quality parts back into the “repair pool”. The source of those quotes is likely service bulletins that leaked on how Apple trains their staff to qualify repairs and label parts for return and inspection. Apple engineers analyze all manner of failed parts and if the technicians send back non OEM parts, that wastes time and resources on the quality team and also needs to be tracked for failure rate analysis.
But the official stance is they may not service any gear they can’t verify has correct parts and a properly documented service history if the original parts are missing when the repair starts. Apple doesn’t usually grill customers “Did you have any unauthorized repairs?” but it’s in the terms you sign before you hand off your gear if you read all the words.


How to save chat logs in Messages for Mountain Lion?

In Preferences, select Messages and check "Save history when conversations are closed." Now when you quit Messages, it will create a collection of chat transcripts. You can easily access these in your Library folder. From Finder, select Go>Go to Folder and type: ~/Library/Messages/Archive. If you are on Mavericks or Yosemite, the location is ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iChat/Data/Library/Messages. This will take you directly to the appropriate folder.


How can I turn ~/Documents into a symlink?

All of the default subfolders of your home have an ACL set to "everyone deny delete" (ACLs can be viewed with ls -le and stripped with chmod -N)

ACLs still don't affect a command run as the superuser.


Why does Automator not see new files in subdirectories on a Flash Drive?

"The Filter Finder Items action uses Spotlight. Having success after using an item with Numbers.app would suggest that the (newer) external files have not been indexed (yet)."

Thanks!!  I modified the Automator app to remove the "Filter Finder Items" action (I put this functionality into the Shell Script)
so now I have:
   “Get Folder Contents” (‘Repeat for each subfolder found’ is checked),
    followed by a Shell Script (which compares the names of the files on the flash drive to the names of the files in the destination directory, and acts on those files that do not exist in the destination directory).

And this works just fine, no files are left out.


Not without modifying the installer and dealing with any issues / drivers / recompiling some of the code as needed.

The list of Macs that Apple checks before installing is on the requirements page:

http://www.apple.com/osx/specs/

As that link could easily change within a year's time, here for posterity are the models listed as supported on Mountain Lion:

iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
Xserve (Early 2009)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)


I didn't manage to solve the problem with the current setup. It seems like Apple still has some work to do regarding HDMI 2.0 @ 60hz. It simply doesn't work out of the box, at least not with this monitor.
For the sceptics:

Safe mode reveals the option to change the refresh rate, but still doesn't allow more than 30hz.
Resetting NVRAM and/or SMC did not help.
I tried using another monitor (same brand), another late 2016 MBP, another Apple USB-C to HDMI adapter and several different HDMI cables.

However:
Using a USB-C to Displayport cable immediately solved the problem. I used this one: https://store.google.com/product/usb_type_c_to_displayport_cable


How can I disable any external traffic to my port 80?

You'll want to be sure you have an allow rule with a lower number than the deny rule.

So perhaps:

00100 allow ip from any to any via lo0
90100 deny tcp from any to any dst-port 80 in

This puts the allow very low (make sure you don't have any deny rules in the 0-99 rule number range) and puts the general deny rule at a very high number (presumably you won't be allowing anything on port 80 higher than 90101).

If you are not defining a rule file to load all the commands in one shot, have a look at this answer for a slightly different take on restricting ports: How do I use ipfw to allow LAN access but deny Internet access?


Can Recovery Mode install OS X onto a blank SSD?

The answer is "yes."

I want to install a new Solid State Drive (SSD) into the Mac. Can I just build in the SSD, start the MacBook in Recovery Mode and install OS X from there on?

It's called Internet Recovery.  You basically hold ⌘ Command⌥ Option R to launch an installer sourced from Apple over the Internet.

OS X Daily has a good write-up about it.

I have done this personally on several MBPs.  One caveat to keep in mind is that it will install the latest version of OS X that is linked to the account/machine.  If it was Mavericks or Yosemite, that's what you will get.  If you didn't have El Capitan, you will have to upgrade to it once the install is finished.

Internet Recovery is also a bit slow (dependent on your Internet speed/bandwidth).  What I have done is create a USB installer of my image and then put it away for safe keeping.  When I have to fix someone's Mac and reinstall, instead of going though the hassle of installing an out-of-date OS X then upgrading to the latest, I just install the latest from scratch via USB.

Create a USB Installer

After downloading the Installer Application, Using a blank USB flash drive (8GB or larger for El Capitan, 16GB or larger for Sierra/High Sierra), issue the following command (replace "Untitled" with the name of the volume that gets mounted if different):

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app

The example above uses Sierra as the Installer.  The instructions are the same for El Capitan and High Sierra with the only exception being the path; modify accordingly.


IF statement doesn't work properly in osascript

This way works:

#!/bin/bash
osascript -e do shell script \"

COUNT=0

while true;
do
    if (ps aux | grep Skype | grep -v grep > /dev/null)
    then
        echo 'RUNNING' > /Users/someuser/Desktop/RUNNING.txt
    else
        echo 'STOPPED' > /Users/someuser/Desktop/STOPPED.txt
    fi

    sleep 1
    COUNT=$((COUNT+1))

    if (($COUNT > 60))
    then
        exit 0
    fi

done
\" with administrator privileges

You don't need the quotes before do shell script, as this is an applescript sentence.
Avoid unnecessary double quotes to prevent errors.


First, please edit your post to reflect the question (Setting up HP 4520, or some such) rather than the version of macOS you have.

HP has downloadable drivers for your printer here. With HP printers just Google the make and model of the printer along with "driver" or "download" to find what you need.

There is a problem though as the earliest macOS version supported is 10.8. You might be able to hack the installer to run and install on your version of macOS but I would bet that you still wouldn't be able to print.

You may be out of luck with this printer and your current version of macOS.


How do I turn my optibay hard drive into a slave storage?

Can you boot into the laptop from the SSD OS while both drives are in your laptop?

If so, just open disk utility, select your old HDD drive, and select the erase tab.

From there you can reformat your hard drive.


Toggling between chunk of input in iterm2 with "Alt + arrow left/right" writes "[D" instead jumping from chunk to chunk

Go to Iterm2 Preferences Profile Keys. Click on "load Preset..." drop down-menu Natural text editing and chose "Natural Text Editing"

after that, the command "alt + arrow left/right" should function properly


How to release mouse capture in VirtualBox?

You need to press "host key" which is written in right bottom corner of  VirtualBox window.

Looking at your screenshot its Right Ctrl.

Its not default Mac Command ⌘ because you are running VirtualBox on Windows host, which you are accessing using TeamViewer.

See virtualBox manual: link


I'm assuming you're taking about either the grid or fan-out folder on the doc (e.g. documents)? I don't believe you can use the keyboard to select files on the fan-out display (haven't tried it) and thus you'd be limited to the mouse drag method you mention.

For the grid display, you can select files with the arrow keys. However, I would imagine that if it was supported, it would be Command-Backspace (the delete key at the top right of the main keyboard region, not the individual one under the 'insert' key). At least, that would be consistent with the keyboard shortcut for the Finder.


Private keys are used for decrypting your data (message, email, picture, website, whatever you imagine). Anyone with public key can send you securely message because only you (the private key) can decrypt encrypted message. If you expose private key you will lose those privilege. Anyone on the route with private key can read what someone sent to you. But I don't have any experience with Keychain API so I can't answer your last question.


Can you transfer iPhone backups made on Windows to a Mac?

The backup format is the same for Mac and Windows, so you can copy your backup from the C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup folder on your Windows computer to ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup on your Mac yes. If you need instructions for various versions of Mac and Windows to access these folders, here's a blog post I wrote with them.
If you have a USB thumb drive, that may be better to copy the 50GB backup. :) You could also right-click on the folder for the backup and select Send To > Compressed Folder first to zip it.


Can I pair an iPhone6 running 9.3.5 with an iMac using 10.9.5?

It is not supported to pair an iPhone and a Mac via Bluetooth and use the either of one as a Bluetooth speaker/receiver. Both are in simple terms in the wrong device class

But you could use a third party tool to make your Mac an Airplay receiver. The one solution I found was AirServer. Start this tool on your Mac and it should show up on your iPhone as an Airplay destination.


Mavericks Server Open Directory behind AirPort Extreme

Open Directory insists that the host name it lives on resolves to that host for both "forward" (e.g. normal) DNS lookups and "reverse" (e.g. PTR record) lookups. If this is not the case, it will insist that the "problem" be fixed or that the host name be changed to one that meets both these criteria.

In many cases, the simplest way to make that happen is to also turn on the DNS service and populate it with the appropriate zones and host entries for your LAN. Of course, you also have to configure your server and your client machines to point to your new name server, and the DNS service to forward requests to your ISP's name servers, etc.

This sounds tricky and error-prone, but so long as you make all the client changes in a new Location in System Preferences > Network it's really not bad.

An alternative approach would be to set the Open Directory server's host name to whatever.local… (At least, I think that is allowed.) I don't really recommend this route, though, unless you only want machines to be able to bind to the directory when they're on your LAN.


Shortcut used by another action/reboot breaks shortcut

As I thought about it this morning, I realized I could get this functionality pretty simply - with a macro.  An automator script, as a service, was bound to the ctrl-1.  The spaces were moved to option-1.  The service takes no input, and here is the script:

on run
    tell application "System Events"
        key code 18 using {option down}
        key code 23 using {option down}
    end tell
    return "success"
end run

A list of key codes can be found here: How do I automate a key press in AppleScript?


The App Store found in iTunes is only for iPhone/iPod/iPad apps. Mac apps can be found on the Mac App Store. Angry Birds is available for Mac for $5.
You can also play for free online at http://chrome.angrybirds.com/.

Note that iPhone and iPad apps are not linked to desktop Mac apps, so when you buy an app for an iPhone or iPad, it does not come with a Mac version and there is no guarantee that a Mac version is even available.
Sometimes apps are available on both the iOS (iPhone/iPad) App Store and the separate Mac App Store, as is the case for Angry Birds.


How would enabling FileVault alter my system and TM performance?

CPU load
Filevault 2 supports Intel® Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). It's important to know if your Mac has an Intel processor which supports this, as it significantly reduces the CPU overhead. Search for you CPU here an look if is supports the New AES instructions.
My Macbook Pro 2011 got this feature enabled via a firmware update (Apple did not enable this with the newly shipped MBP). With AES encryption acceleration, the performance drop with Filevault 2 enabled is almost unnoticeable during normal usage. The maximum read speeds of my SSD only dropped from 510MB/s to 490MB/s.
Ars Technica, published an extended review on Filvault 2 in Lion. They say:

Apple also leverages the special-purpose AES instructions and hardware on Intel's newest CPUs, further reducing the CPU overhead. The end result is that regular users will be hard-pressed to notice any reduction in performance with encryption enabled.

As the overall CPU load is nearly unchanged, the battery life is not affected significantly.
Time Machine Backups
If you backup up wirelessly (unencrypted) or locally (encrypted, USB) the performance of Time Machine will not be affected significantly.

First, because the of the AES acceleration mentioned earlier.
Secondly because Time Machine creates local backups (snapshots). OS X Lion compensates for the potentially unavailable external disk by keeping an additional backup locally on the primary hard drive. This has its obvious advantages, since you can restore to past Time Machine backups right away from anywhere.

I've been using Filevault 2 encryption on a MBP 8,2 for three months.


Downgrade iTunes to 12.6.3 (which will install over 12.7) and use it to download and install the app.

If you already had the app downloaded from iTunes or a backup, you can also reinstall apps that are no longer available for download.


Automator workflow fails to run on terminal, but runs from within automator. Why?

I made an Automator workflow, using the Actions shown in your screenshot, and saved it as an application named CopyFiles.app in the /Applications folder.  In Terminal I typed open -a CopyFiles then pressed enter and it ran as expected creating a copy of the files to the designated location.

Next, using Lingon X, I created a new Launch Agent to run the open -a CopyFiles command at a set date and time, so I could test that it works, and it triggered at the set date and time and copied the files to the designated location, as expected.


How to remove configuration profile ios 10?

The profile's removal setting is set to ‘Never’, so the profile cannot be removed by the user from settings once installed.

If you have a backup of your device made before you installed the profile, you can restore the backup. Profiles are restored from a backup so if you make a backup now that will be no use.

You may be able to use Apple Configurator to remove the profile (available on the Mac App Store). Connect your device over USB and open the device in Configurator, then go to Actions → Remove → Profiles… and select the profile to remove.


How do I seamlessly share a window from Mac OS X El Capitan to Windows 10?

I think that 'seamlessly share/remote access on window on my Mac' would benefit from some clarification about specific user scenario (is somebody at remote machine etc).
There is professional grade TeamViewer which is free for personal use which includes option to share whole screen or specific application window.
There is possibility to use Microsoft Teams to share from chat or meeting desktop, window or file.


Can the new 2016 MacBook Pro 13" without Touch Bar drive a 4K display?

From the Video Support section of the Tech Specs for the 2016 13" MacBook Pro:

  Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at millions of colors and:

  One display with 5120-by-2880 resolution at 60Hz at over a billion
  colors

  Up to two displays with 4096-by-2304 resolution at 60Hz at over a
  billion colors

  Thunderbolt 3 digital video output

  Native DisplayPort output over USB‑C

  VGA, HDMI, and Thunderbolt 2 output supported using adapters (sold
  separately)


Log out after X minutes turning itself back on

It was a bug in McAffee

Updating to version 10.2 fixes the problem


New 2.5" SSD won't fit - my MacBook pro says it's a mid 2012 15" model

That definitely looks like a Mid-2012 MacBook Pro Retina.

From iFixit.com:


MacBook Pro not booting after update to Mavericks

Most likely a hardware failure. See here: http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/10/14/apples-2011-macbook-pro-lineup-suffering-from-sporadic-gpu-failures


To preview files, you need a QuickLook plugin. Special thanks to Jason Salaz for providing this list:

QuickLook Plugins List
QLPLugins.com
And Jason's specially crafted Google search.

It looks like there is support for the Drupal .module via this plugin.


How to disable that “Guest User” from appearing at the OS X 10.8.5 login screen

How to disable that “Guest User” from appearing at the OS X login screen

For modern versions of OS X, disabling Guest account is done as follows:    (I have provided a screenshot from El Capitan, but Yosemite is very similar)

Open System Preferences
Go to “Users & Groups” and click the unlock icon
Click on “Guest User”
Uncheck the box for ‘Allow guests to log in to this computer’

The key here is everything must be disabled.  Once you completely disable the account, it will no longer show up on the login screen.

If you have older versions of OS X, follow the instructions below:

Disabling Guest User in OS X Lion, Mountain Lion

Click on “Security & Privacy”
Click the lock in the lower corner and type in your administrative
password to unlock the control panel
Check the box next to “Disable restarting to Safari when screen is
locked”


What is the best way to install Node js on OS X?

I find the best way to install Node.js is to use nvm, which allows you to install and manage multiple versions of Node.

I use Homebrew for pretty much everything else, but Node is easier to use through nvm, since it doesn't use global folders - everything is in your home directory, and you can easily switch between Node versions.

To install (check the website for the latest version):

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.31.0/install.sh | bash

There are some specific notes about OS X on the web site, please make sure to read through those, e.g. regarding the use of the ~/.bash_profile file.

After that, the nvm function will allow you to specify which version of node to install and use. In the simplest case, you run

nvm install node

which will install the stable version of Node.js.


What apps for OS X exists to ease the writing of emoticons?

Emoji is the one that's gained the most notoriety.


How to Remove iOS dev/IDE/... from Xcode?

Delete the Xcode app from /Applications, then delete ~/Library/Developer/Xcode.

You can then install the command line tools separately, by downloading them from Apple's Developer Downloads page (you'll need to log in with your Apple ID). The proper package is listed as "Command Line Tools (OS X version) for Xcode version". Obviously grab the one that applies to your current version of OS X.


Can't change kext file ownership from _unknown to root

You might try running the chown command on the whole /System/Library/Extensions/ directory from single-user-mode (hold Command-S on boot, or use -s as a bootflag if using Clover/Enoch/Chameleon), or doing the same thing from the Terminal app in your recovery partition. Also make sure you include su or sudo in front of the command, or are logged in to a fully root shell before doing so.