If I delete photos/files why aren't they actually deleted? How come they can be recovered?

Short answer

By moving a file to Trash and then emptying the trash, or by doing a quick format of a traditional hard drive (i.e. not a solid state drive), you're actually not deleting files. Instead, all you are doing is deleting the information about those files. This means the operating system has absolutely no idea those files exist, let alone where on the drive they exist.

Long answer

Okay, let me explain this by using an analogy.

Imagine you’re at a library and this particular library contains 100,000 books. All these books are indexed in the library’s catalog. This catalogue is accessible via a computer that allows you to search by title, author, date, etc. Most importantly, each index tells you exactly where that book is located. This makes it easy to find what you’re looking for when you need to. You simply conduct a search of the catalog and it’ll tell you exactly where that book is (i.e. what section, row, and shelf it’s sitting in).

One day, someone accidentally deletes the record of a particular book from the library’s catalogue. The book itself is still there, sitting in exactly the same spot. But no-one knows it’s there and/or where it is!

The next day, someone breaks in and steals the computer containing the library’s catalogue. All of the books are still there, but if you walked in and wanted to find a particular book about Steve Jobs, you’d have no idea if that book is in the library and, if so, where to find it!

Now imagine that your hard drive is that library. It contains 100,000 files (documents, photos, videos, music, etc).

When you move a file to the Trash and then empty it, it’s akin to someone accidentally deleting the record of a particular book from the library’s catalog.
When you erase a hard drive, that’s akin to someone stealing the library’s entire catalog.

So, using our analogy, the books are still on the shelves. They haven’t gone anywhere! But if you wanted to find that one book you’re looking for, well, you’d have absolutely no idea where to look.

Likewise when deleting files or erasing a hard drive. Your computer has no idea whatsoever what data is on that hard, or where it is. So, as a user, if you navigate around the hard drive you won’t see those files because your Mac isn’t aware of them and therefore isn’t displaying them. They effectively don’t exist.

But, if you were to use data recovery software, then that’s akin to a library hiring someone to go in and walk up and down every row of bookshelves and opening each and every book and taking notes of their titles, authors, location, etc. The data recovery software has no idea what’s on your hard drive initially, but it will interrogate every block of space to actually see what’s there and can then recover it. In other words, it’s making what’s already there visible again.

When you empty the trash or erase a hard drive and then start saving new files to your computer, over time macOS will just overwrite the previous data because it just doesn’t know there’s any data there. It just sees it as free space and therefore available to write new data over. That’s why recovering data is always more successful soon after you’ve deleted something, because there’s less chance it’s already been overwritten.

If you want to be fairly certain those intimate photos aren’t recoverable, you can:

Secure erase the hard drive (since you’re on El Capitan, read this question and its answers How to get the "securely erase" function of Disk Utility on El Capitan & Sierra)
Manually fill the empty space of the hard drive with other data, preferably large files (e.g. a whole heap videos) and then when it’s full, delete this files. In this way, the blocks containing the previous photos should be overwritten with other data.

IMPORTANT: If your daughter has Time Machine backups, then all those intimate photos will almost certainly be in those backups as well.

A final word...

Another option users can take is to encrypt their Mac startup drive. This will secure your data because everything on the disk is encrypted. If you delete files, these will be unrecoverable or, more to the point, they can be recovered, but they're encrypted and therefore inaccessible to anyone who doesn't have the right credentials (e.g. login password, recovery key).

For more info on how to use FileVault refer to: Use FileVault to encrypt the startup disk on your Mac.


Don't see messages from one specific sender any longer

I am guessing the original poster does not need this answer any longer, but I found the answer after having this same problem for months, so perhaps posting here will help others resolve it more quickly. Open your text stream to the sender for whom you are not getting alerts. In the upper right hand corner, you will see a "Details" Link. Click that, and then look for the Do Not Disturb Switch. If that is green (switched on), then you will not receive alerts from that user. The killer thing about this is that you are most likely to accidentally switch this on for someone whom you text often. It is no fun when the only person for whom you don't receive text notifications is the person you most need to hear from, like perhaps a spouse . . .. Glad I got this corrected.


How can I use Keyboard Maestro to select all content in an Excel cell?

Well I got the work around. it's actually self-explanatory. search "Type a Keystroke" action and add it as your action!


Can I receive messages sent and received from another iphone on my account?

Yes, with iMessage signed into the same Apple ID, messages both sent and received appear on both devices. This will not include any SMS, only iMessages. Go to Settings > Messages > Send & Receive to sign in with an Apple ID.


How do I export photos from my iPhone 6 to my Western Digital external hard drive for backup copies?

Open /Applications/Image Capture.app, select your iPhone, then select your WD as the destination.

Then use Image Capture's delete button to erase all the photos from your phone.


iPhone -- shutting off cell service, but not gps

With my experience, being 30,000 feet above earth and traveling at around 500mph, the GPS has a very hard time finding my location. Even if it does find my location, the map itself doesn't load due to a lack of cellular data.

However, you can always manually turn off wifi, bluetooth, cellular data, and leave location services on.


Submit update to app without original certificates generated by prior developer

Revoke the certificates of the old developer and start fresh with your own new certificates.

You must generate a new one if you want to be able to compile your app, to commit an update or submit an app from scratch. Apps already published in the store are not affected. For new apps you use your new generated certificates.

When revoking a distribution certificate the below scenarios will occur for your users:

When you revoke a certificate that means that any app that is not deployed onto a device (not hosted by AppStore) will no longer be valid. Existing users can continue to use the app.
When you revoke a certificate and your App is being hosted on the AppStore; users that have already installed the app will not be affected. New users that go to install the app will not be affected.
When you revoke a certificate and your App is being hosted in-house (internally) and users download it via OTA; users that have already installed the app will not be affected. New users that go to install the app will not be able to install it. Please note this is based off of behavior we have experienced from Apple.
Revoking a certificate will not affect the ability to update existing apps regardless of whether they are AppStore or in-house apps.

Please note that this has been the behavior observed from working with Apple recently and if any updates were made on Apple's end than this is subject to change.


How do I identify if my EarPods lightning are original?

The screenshots you have are identical to ones I have seen before with third party (non-original) minijack-to-Lightning adapters.
The EarPods that comes with an iPhone matches the iPhone. Therefore if you have an iPhone with just a Lightning connector, then your EarPods should have had a Lightning plug and not require an adapter.
This seems to indicate that the EarPods you have did not originally come with that iPhone. Whether they are are original or not is hard to say from the information given - it might be original EarPods with a non-original minijack to Lightning converter.


Apple's Parental Controls can restrict many things.

If that's not enough you can create profiles with Apple Configurator that allow additional restrictions.

You could also teach your family members how to fix the settings they changed accidentally. Give one of them the messed up iPad and tell them the steps to do. If they don't remember next time, make them write down the things to check. Print out the checklist and stick it to the back of the iPad.


Export MOV to MP4 with Quicktime on Yosemite

If you have ffmpeg installed, it is quite easy to do it

ffmpeg -i input.mov output.mp4

If you don't, install it as follows:

Press Command + Space, type "Terminal" and press enter/return key.
Run this command in the Terminal app:

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

and press enter/return key.

If the screen prompts you to enter a password, enter your Mac's user password to continue. When you type the password, it won't be displayed on the screen, but the system would accept it. So just type your password and press ENTER/RETURN key. Then wait for the command to finish.
After that, run:

brew install ffmpeg

Done! You can now run ffmpeg -i input.mov output.mp4.

(For more information, you can refer to this site, or you can go directly to the official FFmpeg website: ffmpeg.org.)


Is it possible to use a Google Voice Number for Apple Two Factor Authentication

Unlocking your computer when using 2-factor authentication for iCloud does not require being able to receive a text message at all.
When you enable 2-factor authentication for the very first time, you'll be asked to enter a phone number where you receive a confirmation code via either text or voice (your choice).
Now in the future when you want to login to for example www.icloud.com, the 2-factor code will popup on your computer automatically. It will not require receiving a text message or voice call.
This works using a similar technique as app based authenticators like the Google Authenticator app and the Microsoft Authenticator app, namely that a secret is stored on your device and that enables you to generate 2-factor codes on this particular device. It does not however follow the TOTP standard like those two authenticator apps.
Only when that secret is lost (for example by wiping your hard drive), and you haven't got access to any other device that can generate the 2-factor code for you - you'll need to request a new confirmation code by text or voice.
If you want to guard against that (rare) situation, you can definitely use a Google Voice number to receive the voice delivered code.


What's the best way to share Mac Apps downloaded via Mac App Store?

If you are running Yosemite, then you can enable Family Sharing so that others can download the same app purchased by you.


System Prefs > Spotlight
I'm guessing 'Bing Web Searches' might be the one you want rid of… or perhaps Spotlight Suggestions...

It may also be somewhat interactive with Safari Prefs - Search [though I've not tested this, I've switched mine all off anyway]


The default ls program on Mavericks is BSD ls, and ls -G is the magic incantation. The ls program included in GNU Core Utilities lists with color when using the --color=auto flag, ls --color=auto. If you've possibly installed Core Utilities and neither of these work, try firing up a default Terminal.app profile (Basic, for example) and see if that works.


iPod touch activation lock 3 years after

If it was somehow still registered to their Apple ID, yes. Without knowing specifically how they handed over the iPod, it's impossible to tell. Always follow the official Apple guide when trading equipment, especially turning off Find My iPhone.

Unfortunately, there's probably nothing you can do. Apple will remove activation lock only under the following conditions, which you don't meet:

  Officially Remove Activation Lock steps are documented by Apple at
  https://www.icloud.com/activationlock/

  In a nutshell, the various ways to remove iCloud Activation Lock
  include:

  Apple will remove the lock if they can verify the original purchaser is requesting the action.
  Self-service removal if you can authenticate as the iCloud account that placed the lock on that device.
  Business using DEP can often use their MDM to remove the lock as a self-service action without needing Apple to be involved.

  For consumers, you will likely need to make an appointment at an Apple
  Store and provide the Genius on-hand proof of purchase (to show you're
  the authorized owner) along with proof of identity and they will reset
  Activation Lock, giving you access to the device.

  For businesses, it depends if you are enrolled in DEP - Apple's
  Device Enrollment Program or just want to provide copies of the
  original purchase listing serial numbers to verify ownership.

  If you bought the device second hand, stole it, found it or came to
  possess the device by some means other than buying it from Apple
  directly, then you will probably need the original owner to show proof
  of purchase, etc. They will then transfer the device to your account
  or simply disable Activation Lock.

  The only self-service way to remove the lock if you can't type your
  password into the device itself is to authenticate at
  https://icloud.com and remove the activation lock when the device is
  not connected to the internet.


It sounds as if you created an empty disk image. To create an ISO/disk image of your disk you have to select the volume (selecting the drive may work too) in the left pane of "Disk Utility" and then click the icon "New Image" or «File» → «New» → «Disk Image from "XYZ your volume name"»

For CD/DVD-ISOs make sure to select "DVD/CD master" as Image Format in the upcoming dialogue and no encryption.

Now your CD or DVD will be saved as an ISO-image with the extension .cdr - you can rename it to .iso if needed.


Apple's Airplay uses a mirroring model. This is different than Google Chromecast's redirect model.

When you play Hulu on your iPhone, the iPhone supplies the video to your Apple TV.  As you noticed, it's the iPhone doing the work. That's why you can't quit the app on your iPhone.

Apple can play video itself from just about all the same sources as your iPhone. The apps need to stay active on your iPhone when using Airplay because they don't hand-off that job to the Apple TV. To get around this, just use the apps in your Apple TV instead.

Google's use of redirecting the task to the Chromecast also allows Google the ability to insert itself as the 'man in the middle' and see your viewing habits and shows so it can sell more advertising and monitize your use. Apple doesn't do this with Airplay.


Want download of entire Photo Stream and or Camera Roll from iPhone4S running iOS 5.1.1 to Win 7 Enterprise SP1?

In a nutshell...

Connect iPhone to iCloud.
Configure PC to connect to same iCloud account.
Select Photo Stream and click the Options button.
Configure your Upload and Download Folder, and Select the Photo Streams you want to sync.
Your photos should start to sync at this point; check My Computer | Libraries | Pictures.

This setup works for me on Windows 7.


What was the link to the iOS App Store story on selected apps from WWDC18 Scholars?

Congratulations to the WWDC18 Scholarship Winners
WWDC18 Scholarships reward talented students and active members of organisations that promote science, technology, engineering or maths, with the opportunity to attend Apple's […]

https://itunes.apple.com/us/story/id1384637708


MacBook Pro battery rapidly loses charge

Apple has better diagnostics than third party plug in, so I would seek a quote / evaluation from AppleCare online or a store if that’s more convenient.

The shutdown at 50% should be logged well enough for them to diagnose if you need another battery since that’s exactly what happens when one cell is failing or behaving like the other cells and the predictive model of how much charge is left doesn’t accurately tell you how much run time is left.

Over time, I would expect the battery status to go to check battery or replace battery if it’s the battery that’s failing.

It could be the logic board, too but that’s far less likely. Only swapping one and not the other will let you test which item is causing the discontinuity.


Can I install Windows 7 on a MacBook Air without a SuperDrive?

The most straight forward method to actually getting this done is to get your hands on an external DVD drive that connects via USB but is not the point of your question.

Yes it is possible; you'll need to get your copy of Windows 7 DVD put onto a USB thumb drive. (There are several guides available online - I've not done it myself so I can't recommend one)

Another alternative requires a lot of extra work and is really designed if you're planning to image or install on multiple MacBook Airs; it's possible to NetBoot your MacBook Air using the USB Ethernet adapter. (Source) This requires either a rigged out version of Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server handy. With DeployStudio you can install a pre-made image of Windows 7 that way.


Incredibly slow and laggy Macbook Pro, every click lags

I have no reputation to comment, so I will give my answer:

While it's hard to believe, the logic board thing in the Apple Store may have something to do with your lag. If I was you, I'd definitively go on the Apple Store that made the process and ask for some re-check. However, as you said it's been some time, the problem should not appear now, but when you first turned it on. I'd still go on the Apple Store.
Do you have secondary disks, like  a Bootcamp one for Windows? I'd check them, maybe repair them.
Run MalwareBytes for macOS: https://malwarebytes.com/mac-download/
Erasing your Mac to the originals seems like the best option if the answer is not viruses or disk bugs. I'd go for this one after going to the Apple Store


Hard Drive Space Eaten Up Daily. Think Crashplan may be a reason. Need Help

For others with similar problems, you don't need a special utility to find out where all your GB have gone on a Mac.

First, turn on invisible files. On newer Macs, you can do that with Command Shift Period. On older Macs, you do need a quick defaults terminal command.

Once you've done that, open your hard drive, and put it in to List View

Then go to the View menu and choose Show View Options
Check Calculate all Sizes

Now wait. It can take a while because there are lots of sizes to add up, but eventually it will show you the sizes of every folder. You can use the disclosure triangles to open more and more folders and drill down to where all of your data is being used. I also usually sorts by the Size column so the big stuff is right at the top.

As a professional Mac consultant, this is the method I use to find people's data, I don't bother with any 3rd party utilities for this.


Java won't work in Chrome/Safari/Firefox, but does in Terminal

My solution was to purchase and install Mountain Lion. It works now. Really wish I knew what the actual problem was though...


Battery life decreased after upgraded to Lion

Rather than looking at the estimated time remaining, use your machine to determine if there is an actual difference or if it's just a change in the battery-life-remaining algorithm


While it won't satisfy the hierarchical feature you'd like, the Grouping (or even the Comment) field in iTunes could be used to hold tags. Ideally you would want to do something to make the tag always unique by separating by a comma or say <> around the word. You can then use a Smart Playlist to filter for this tag. (Grouping contains).

There is an unfinished program called QuickTag that leverages that ability and makes it easier to tag.

There is also a hint on MacOSXHints.com that shows how you can grab Last.FM's tags and apply them to the current playing track. You'll need to modify their script slightly - namely to use the grouping or comment field (and match anything special you've done, eg. <>s around the word) instead of the genre. The alternative Perl version worked faster than the original script for me.


Batch rename files replacing non-alphanumeric characters with underscore

When you're talking about "recursively" then find comes into play.

cd /path/to/parent_folder
find . -depth -exec do_stuff_here +

I'm using -depth so that files in a subdirectory get renamed before the subdirectory itself,
and -exec program {} + so that the program receives many filenames at once, reducing startup overhead.

Since there's no builtin rename utility that ships with the mac, I'll wrote do_stuff_here as a bash script

bash -c '
  for file; do
    tail=${file##*/}                         # part after the last slash
    alnum_only=${tail//[^[:alnum:]]/_}       # replace characters
    mv -v "$file" "${file%/*}/$alnum_only"
  done
' sh file ...

That trailing "sh" is required for bash -c '...' one-liners -- the first argument is taken as $0 and the rest of the arguments are $1 etc

Putting it all together:

find . -depth -exec bash -c '
  for file; do
    tail=${file##*/}
    alnum_only=${tail//[^[:alnum:]]/_}
    mv -v "$file" "${file%/*}/$alnum_only"
  done
' sh {} +

Other notes:

this solution does not take care of file extensions: file.txt will turn into file_txt.

if this is a problem, change ${tail//[^[:alnum:]]/_} to ${tail//[^[:alnum:].]/_} -- adding a dot to the characters to keep.

Have you thought about what should happen if two different files_with_special_chars both map to the same destination file?

./subdir/file_1
./subdir/file-1

With my solution, only the contents of the last file will remain.


Converting string to int doesn't work properly in terminal

You can't use > to compare numbers in bash (> is used to redirect output to a file), you need to run the comparison as part of a test/[ command. Also the call to bc doesn't seem to do anything, echo "iOS/i" | grep -o iOS | wc -l already outputs 1.

The updated snippet looks like this (split on several lines for easier readability):

if [ $(echo "iOS/i" | grep -o iOS/ | wc -l) -gt 2 ]; then
    echo "ThreeOrMore"
else
    echo "TwoOrLess"
fi


ETA: while the guesses below all stand, here’s a better one from Marceil Weiher:

@rentzsch Have you checked with "df" vs. looking in Finder?  I think 10.9 subtracts the space for mobile Time Machine from used in latter.
Marcel Weiher (@mpweiher) on Twitter

I’ve done some poking around on the machines I have lying around, and I think this is plausible and probably correct.
If you use Time Machine, that’s probably your answer.

Without seeing your system, it’s hard to know, but here are some suggestions:

The Mavericks installer is ~5GB in size, but it gets deleted once you’ve finished upgrading. When did you take the first reading? Perhaps you’ve lost the 5GB installer file (which replaces a lot of existing system files, so it doesn’t add 5GB to the system files), which would contribute to the difference.

Caches (temporary files) often get purged during an OS update. I have ~3GB of caches on my Mac, which would significantly free up space if that happened. Perhaps you had a lot of cache files to begin with?

Do you use Time Machine? Starting with Mountain Lion, Apple started keeping backups on your local disk, and writing them to an external drive when you plug it in. Assuming you plugged in your backup drive before you did the update1, it might just have purged all those local backup files and saved some space.

1 You did, right?


Apple watch always displays the wrong high temperature

I've found that this happens because of the delay introduced by the network and retrieving the temperature for your location.

Many things have to happen to show you the temperatures. I see this same thing on my iPhone but I think it's more noticeable on the Watch because you're staring at it, waiting for the data.   You can be looking at the old data while the app gets the latest updates and then the numbers will change as the new data rolls in.

In addition, some apps, such as Weather Underground, take an extremely long time to do their updates. I've even given-up using some weather apps because of this delay.


iPhone/iPad unable to see iMac/Apple TV until router reboot (affects AirPlay, Remote app, Wi-Fi sync)

Sounds like a router problem.  Bonjour/Zeroconf uses multicast to reach all hosts on the network - if the router treats these incorrectly you have the problem.

If the rest of the network works correctly, then the simplest thing might simply be to replace the master router of your network with an Apple router (they tend to work well with Apple units) and set the current router to be just the internet uplink.


When ever i open the Messenger app or the Facebook app, it instantly crashes my iPhone. What can I do to fix this? (iOS 11.3)

If it immediately crashes your system there are a couple of things you could do, starting with just powering the phone off and on again.

Failing that I would delete the app, reboot and reinstall it.


What's the best way to use SuperDuper to back up multiple hard drives to partitions on a single drive?

Actually this is quite possible to store the backups, all different drives on one volume with little effort. The magic words here are "back up to a disk image."

When you select the destination in SuperDuper one of the options is Disk Image. Just give the disk image a name and point it at your backup drive and all files will go into the disk image, completely accessible and completely separate from everything else on that drive.

If you like you can also encrypt the disk image for added security but you would have to create an encrypted sparseimage DMG from within Disk Utility first. I think that would work, never tried it but it makes sense it would.


The 40gb of space being used isn't actually applications there just files on your mac not applications. This has happened to me before, apparently its an indexing problem.
You Can reindex spotlight by going into terminal and typing : sudo mdutil -E /

I also would recommend downloading OmniDiskSweeper like mcmahoniel said.
Hope this helps good luck!


An interesting idea, but I don't think such a service exists for OS X. There would have to be a complementary service on the other side of the internet connection to uncompress the data, which is what the Opera Max service does for Android users.

If you read the Opera Max FAQ, they write that... "We're working hard to bring Opera Max to new regions. To ensure a high-quality experience, we have to buy, ship, and set up new servers all over the world."


iPhone 5 (iOS 10.3.3) getting pretty hot within brief usage of 5-10 minutes

While there could be a variety of reasons for an iPhone to warm up, the common ones include using it while it's charging, using a bad (cheap, 3rd party) charger, bad battery (can be ruled out as you mentioned you got the battery replaced), one or the other component failure due to ageing (iPhone 5 was released in 2012 and were last produced in 2013 before being discontinued), using a rouge app (a non-performant app which may cause device heat up on slower devices, usually happens with some 3rd party apps and certain resource intensive games) etc.

Luckily, you iPhone has a built-in heat sensor and if it gets warm beyond a point, it will show a warning sign and shut down automatically. So, while heat up could be a concern, there should be no real threat of serious damage (again, it is preferable to use Apple original charging equipment).

While there could be no concrete answer for the issue, I'd experiment with tweaking with various parameters mentioned above.


How to disable Developer and Web Searches in Spotlight?

Spotlight thinks you are a 'Developer', if you have Xcode installed, or happened to install it at any time in the past, and hence shows you search results that maybe relevant to a developer.

When Xcode is actually installed and present on the computer, a check-box called 'Developer' appears in the System Preferences > Spotlight > Search Results panel giving us the option to disable 'Developer' results from appearing in our searches. When Xcode is not detected, the check-box disappears from the Preferences Panel, but Spotlight continues to show results from the 'Developer' category.

I am currently on Yosemite, and had installed and un-installed Xcode way back on Mountain-Lion or Lion, opting to use the 'Command Line Tools' instead. I also had Spotlight disabled until recently, and started getting hundreds of Search Results under the Developer category, once I re-enabled it. The clutter was making spotlight unusable.

Unable to find a solution anywhere on the Web, this is what I finally tried, and it worked:

I created an empty file called Xcode.app in the Applications folder, and the missing 'Developer' check-box showed up in Spotlight Preferences, which I could then un-check to solve my problem.

Open Applications > Utilities > Terminal.app then type and press Enter after each of the following lines to create the dummy Xcode app

cd /Applications
touch Xcode.app

then head to Spotlight Preferences and uncheck 'Developer' (you might need to restart the System Preferences app to see the missing check-box appear).

Notes:

You need to keep the dummy Xcode.app even after changing the
setting, deleting it will cause the setting to revert back.
Another solution would be to install Xcode itself


How can I get iTunes Library to stay pointed to my NAS?

I can answer the second part of your question. Since you just updated the MacBook's iTunes settings to point to the NAS, it's iTunes library file still resides on the MacBook. This is a .itl file in your ~/Music/iTunes folder.

iTunes relies on this database to tell it what's in the media folder. If you add stuff to the media folder without adding it through iTunes (i.e. just dropping files in Finder, or using another copy of iTunes on another machine) then that .itl database does not get updated.

So when you add files through iTunes on your Mac Pro, it updates the .itl database on your Mac Pro, but not your MacBook, so the MB can't see those files. If you add anything through iTunes on the MB, the Mac Pro database won't have it, since the copy of iTunes that connects to that database did not process the files.

I have a similar setup to what you're doing: iTunes media on an external drive connected to my iMac, and a MacBook which I use ONLY Home Sharing on.

You might get the idea to move one .itl file to the NAS and open it in iTunes on both machines, and this will work, but you can/should never have it open in both at the same time. That .itl file is really just an SQLite database, and they don't allow simultaneous access, so I've never even attempted this.

With respect to your first question, check ~/Music/iTunes and see if there are any old library (.itl) files. It's most likely that iTunes is opening an old copy or a backup of the database. If you duplicated the database or started a new one before moving your media, this might be the cause.

Start iTunes and make sure the media folder is set correctly or make some other change in iTunes. Now go to ~/Music/iTunes and look for the .itl file that has most recently been modified. Move all the others out of the folder.

Quit iTunes and restart it while holding the Option/Alt key. This will bring up a dialog that lets you select which database to use. Select the .itl file you left alone and it will continue using that as the default library.


How to run a non-brew app on startup in macOS Sierra

Elasticsearch mustn't be run as root. So remove the plist from the launchd database, move the plist to /Library/LaunchAgents (or ~/Library/LaunchAgents), create /opt/local/var and modify it slightly:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
    <dict>
        <key>VAR</key>
        <string>VAL</string>
    </dict>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <false/>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>org.elasticsearch</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/opt/local/elasticsearch-2.3.3/bin/elasticsearch</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/org.elasticsearch.stderr</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/org.elasticsearch.stdout</string>
    <key>WorkingDirectory</key>
    <string>/opt/local/var</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Then check /opt/local/elasticsearch-2.3.3 and its subdirs for proper permissions, add EnvironmentVariables if necessary (or remove the key & dict) and load the plist.

If everything works properly you may remove StandardErrorPath and StandardOutPath and their strings.

You may also run it as daemon but with a different user then (i.e. your user name) - depends on your needs/environment.


Unfortunately, Apple hasn't relegated any control of auto-correct functions to the user (natively), and it isn't possible to add or remove words that it auto-corrects - other then using the shortcuts like you mentioned, which don't work for everything.


How can I get my email messages to sync between my iPhone, iPad, and PC?

I haven't seen iCloud fail like this other than when there is an outage for the server hosting my mail. You could check for this by disabling mail on all devices and then re-enabling it so that whatever is present on the iCloud mail server syncs down to each device in turn. You might also power off each device when iCloud mail is off to ensure any cleanup scripts run at boot to clear any caches, but I've not seen this to be needed in experience so far.

Worst case, you would need to open a ticket with iCloud support if the things you can control (like enabling / disabling / rebooting and if needed, restoring the devices) fails to remedy this sync issue.


how to use terminal to remove item from dock

Try to run the script with launchd instead. Save a property list like this as ~/Library/LaunchAgents/some.label.plist:

<?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>some.label</string>
  <key>Program</key>
  <string>/path/to/script</string>
  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
  <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

It should run the script the next time you log in. Make sure the script is executable (chmod +x /path/to/script) and starts with a hashbang line (like #!/usr/bin/env bash).


A5 Printing on A4 with custom flips and unique layout / flow direction

This looks like a specialized booklet output that you could assemble and then staple in the middle.

That usually requires either a printer with that function built-in (we have these at work) or a specialized "Imposition" program that will send a document like this to a printer that does not have this feature built in.

This is referred to as "imposition." Since your printer does not support imposition  you need to get an application that will impose this particular layout for you and then send it to your printer. Sorry, but I have no idea what form such an app would take, but I do know that such add-ons are available for the likes Adobe InDesign or Quark Express.

Taking a PDF to a printing service provider would work. Office Supply stores often also offer these services.


El Capitan: How do I use my Apple ID password to log in after a temporary password change?

Run the following command in Terminal, then restart your Mac. The iCloud password will appear again.

sudo dscl . append /Users/`users` AuthenticationAuthority ";AppleID;ID@APPLE.COM"

And do NOT forget to change ID@APPLE.COM yo your real Apple ID.


Macbook finder copy changes permissions to 777

After some experimentation, I figured out that the USB drive was formatted FAT, and when Finder copies to a disk formatted FAT, the permissions get changed to 777.  When I reformatted the USB drive to MAC OS, then finder copied the files with permissions correctly preserved.

Side Note: Someone suggested the permissions don't really change to 777, but rather FAT simply does not support unix permissions.  HOWEVER, I would point out that I first noticed this not when I initially copied my files to the usb drive, but when I copied them back to my macbook from the usb drive, and then I saw that on my macbook the permissions were now 777.  So, in effect, FAT's non-support of unix permissions actually did change the permissions to 777.


Try clicking on "Scaled" while holding the ⌥  key.

Regular click:

⌥ + click:


Hold down the main centre button. Should put it to sleep after a couple of seconds.

Hit it again to wake it up.


What is the difference between Interval and ThrottleInterval in launchd.plist

The difference between StartInterval and ThrottleInterval is that StartInterval means that the program should be started after x seconds (more or less precisely), whereas ThrottleInterval means that the program should NOT be started again less than x seconds after it was last started.

So StartInterval is used to schedule something to run every X seconds, where ThrottleInterval is used when you schedule something to run based on other criteria, but don't want it to run too often.

"Interval" does not seem to be a valid key - it is not in the man page, as you describe, but nor is it in the source code released by Apple. Either it is a mistype for "StartInterval", or it seems Apple has included "Interval" as an alias for "StartInterval" in their own builds.


How can I retrieve picture files from the Photos App on Mac OS X (Yosemite)?

When you choose to export from Photo (File>Export), choose TIFF, 16-bit and you should get a full quality, uncompressed, but edited image out of Photo. This is what the settings in the export dialog box will look like:

The reason you haven't found the folder with the edits are that image editing programs such as Photo or Adobe Lightroom perform non-destructive edits as an instruction set that sits in a database that references the original image. Basically your edits just create a recipe that the software then can use to create an output file. If you choose to print, it will give the instructions on how to render the edited image to the printer. The only time you will get an edited file is if you export to a file format such as JPEG or TIFF.

TIFF gives you an uncompressed file, and by choosing 16 bits, the software is actually interpolating to add pixels to your photos as most digital camera sensors produce a 12 or 14 bit image. There isn't much of a point for more, as the human eye has a hard time distinguishing the available gradations of a 16-bit dynamic range.

JPEG is a Lossy compression format, but for even a 5K iMac, if you go for the highest quality, largest file size, you will likely not be able to see a difference between the TIFF and the JPEG version of the file, and you will have a file that is probably 80% smaller, depending on the subject matter.

You also have the option of exporting the Unedited originals (Raw files) using this option as well. There is an option to export IPTC data as an XMP sidecar file.


Ipad 10.2 screen has deeper color than my other hardware

Unless you have accurately calibrated all your screens with a hardware colorimeter, then the chances are the iPad is the most accurate "out of the box".

Most devices' screens tend to be 'punched up' by the manufacturers to look good on the shop floor. If uncorrected after purchase, this can lead to very misleading colour workflows. Apple tends to do this less and instead relies on the deep colour capabilities of the screen itself - which can handle P3 colour, not just the sRGB common to most devices.

There's a good blog on how this can be perceived visually on IconFactory - Looking at the Future with some good imagery to test & some hints as to how to manage colour across platforms - something about which entire books have been written.


QuickTime Player claims to open AMR files.  I don't have any AMR files to test it, though.


Is there a way to delete related but undeleted files of removed applications?

I use a nice little free app called App Cleaner for the same reason/purpose. (I am not affiliated with AppCleaner. Note: I was asked by Dan to insert a disclaimer when suggesting a product I am not affiliated with.)

It has been very effective in finding and deleting all associated files and gives you the option to view and deselect certain files, if needed, prior to deletion.

The App Cleaner is available on the App Store.

From the developer:

  Main Advantage: App Cleaner deletes Remains (or leftovers) - files of
  previously removed apps. Thus, you uninstall applications completely.

  Main Features:

  Scan the system and preview installed applications
  Remove all types of service files
  Remove remains of previously uninstalled apps
  Reset application to a first-launch state
  Easy-to-use shortcuts
  Any file or app quick preview
  Specific app-associated file formats preview
  In-app help assistance
  Show unused applications
  Skip list option

  How to Uninstall an application using App Cleaner:

  Launch App Cleaner.
  Scan all applications for service files.
  Choose unneeded application (left view). In-app purchase required.
  Select all its service files on right view.
  Click Remove.
  If some apps were not removed, due to access rights, switch to Finder and move them manually to Trash.


Removing an app should disable all of the Push Notifications. Try rebooting your iPod, and making sure that iTunes did not re-install it.

Also, you can try disabling all Notifications, then -re-enabling them.

Maybe post a screenshot of the message. You may have another app installed (mBox for example) that displays messages from apps that send emails as well. (of course this is just a far fetched scenario).


Mountain Lion: Not joining preferred WPA2 Wifi network

Well, now i can answer my question self.

Go to Keychain Access and remove all airport passwords for this network from Login and System keychains.

Then create a new password in System. Enter as password the network password. Item Name and account name: name of the network. Click add. Then double click the new item in list. Change kind to 'airport password'. Then click Access Control and select Allow all applications to access this item.

Restart your computer if it doesn't joins automatically join it manual, next startup it will works fine again.


How would I connect the thunderbolt 3 Macbook pro with a Thunderbolt 2 monitor?

You could use something like the also newly-launched Apple Thunderbolt 3 USB-C to Thunderbolt 2 adapter. Apple's 12" MacBook has a USB-C port but does not integrate Thunderbolt into it, so Apple did not make a product which needed a Thunderbolt 3 to 2 adapter until now.


Where is the Volume Control in an iPod Touch?

You first have to turn on Parental Control and then you can enforce a maximum volume limit.

Apple's article on parental controls and guided tutorial should let you configure your son's device.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4213
http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/


Can I keep 1 specific backup on an external hard drive as it fills up and deletes older backups?

Some advice. I always back up my photos separately from Time Machine. You can save your images in a separate folder on the Time Machine drive and Time Machine will not overwrite them (used to do this with Apertures backup vault).

Also, depending on the space on your Time Machine drive, you could use time machine to backup your external Photos drive as as well.

I would recommend that you have your photo's in at least two locations (which you currently have; however, Time Machine will eventually overwrite old data that is no longer on you hard drive if it needs the space).


Black MacBook WiFi drops when fan starts blowing

That's quite an odd issue.  I would suggest re-installing OS X Lion and seeing if that rectifies the situation.  If that doesn't fix it, I'd take it to an Apple Authorised Service Provider (AASP) or an Apple Store - sounds like either the AirPort card or the Main Logic Board in that unit is faulty.  I wish I could look at that unit personally, I'd love to find the root of that issue.

Good Luck!


Books on Mac won't download epubs from iCloud

Updating Mac OS fixed the issue for me. I'm a little confused because I thought I was on 11.2.3 and after update I'm still on 11.2.3, but alas—it now works.


Elgato Eve is connected on Home app of iPhone but not on iPad

It turns out that the iPad should have Bluetooth enabled. I hope at least that some kind of info or hint is displayed.


Time machine stuck on cleaning up/ Error -47

I had the same problem after I got a new iMac, did a transfer from Snow Leopard to Lion and it just go stuck. I did everything but to no avail.

If you are on the same boat as me, I fixed it upgrading to Mountain Lion.


Why does my Mac slow down when the volume/brightness indicator fades out?

What kind of OS X version that you are running? (Yosemite or El Capitan? I see in screenshot posted a volume/brightness indicator)

It sounds LIKE a good idea when you talking about Mac slow down when volume/brightness indicator fades out.

Here to fix this:

Go to System Preferences > Accessibility and then check "Increase Contrast" Option.

Also you can watch this video to fix about Slow Macs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi5VJsbRxzk

Same problem on my 2008 Mac Pro too, But i'm sorry that for didn't answer for a long, I am a first user using this forum, But People who don't know what problem this is.


Removing, or minimizing, scratches on the top of a Magic Mouse

Ok, so this is based on my experience as a hobbyist woodworker and from fixing up scratches and orange peels on my car. You will need:

Fine sand paper with grits 600, 800 and a 1000. If your scratches are deeper, you might have to go down to 400, but it would be better if you didn't (don't go below that — will be too hard to recover on plastic). If you'd like a much smoother finish, go up to 2000, but it isn't necessary.
Buffing compound.
Buffing cloth with microfibers.
A can of clear coat spray.
A steady hand.

You can easily get the first 4 from an auto parts store (e.g., AutoZone in the US).

  Caution: This will generate fine dust and the fumes from the spray can cause irritation, so use a dust/vapour mask.

Start with the lowest grit sandpaper and gently sand the roughed up area. Be steady in your strokes and use long strokes instead of short, rapid and jerky motions. Of course, "long strokes" is kind of ambiguous in a mouse that's only 4" long and with a scratch length much smaller than that, but the important thing is to be steady.

Don't take too much material and don't apply pressure. Let the grit work on the scratch; not your strength. Once it starts getting smoother and you don't see any visible improvement, move higher up in grit. Repeat the same till you finish the highest grit. Remember that the plastic layer isn't very thick and possibly contains sensitive piezos underneath, so do not dwell on each grit for too long.

When you're done, you should see a smooth, matty finish on the surface. If all you want is smoothness and don't care about gloss, I'd say stop here and move to the next paragraph. Else, spray about 2 light coats of clear spray. Sand gently with the highest grit in between coats (allow each coat to dry completely) and wipe with a microfiber cloth before the next coat. If you're worried that an additional film layer might affect the touch sensitiveness, by all means, skip this step.

Finally, apply the buffing compound and work into the area with a buffing cloth. The compound serves to fill in the ultra fine scratches that the grits won't get and brings out a nice finish to the piece. Use an orbital buffer if you have one, but hand should be sufficient.

Good luck, and hope that works for you.

  Disclaimer: I haven't done this to my Magic Mouse, but I have experience finishing stuff in wood, plastic and metal.


The spinning beachball doesn't indicate a truly 'hung' app, it indicates a pending transaction that the app is still waiting for time to process. It ought to only occur when the cursor is hovering directly over the app responsible. If you click anywhere except inside your currently-frontmost app, it will bring another to the front & then you will have to switch back.
Having said all that, my prime suspect on a 4GB RAM Mac would be it is paging to virtual memory & having to wait for the swap to finish. Clicking another app will make it have to swap out & then back again, doubling the time it takes.
This may explain a beach ball that doesn't appear directly related to one given app, but the overall machine is struggling to keep up.
You could test this by keeping Activity Monitor visible on-screen, set to the Memory tab, & see what apps seem to be using the most [browsers get complicated because each tab has its own memory, not just the browser itself] & see what colour the Memory Pressure graph at the bottom of the window shows. Green is fine, orange is starting to become an issue & red will surely start to show problems.
The value for Swap Used may also be indicative of the issue.


The problem is that the Yo volume is inside a CoreStorage logical volume group. You can manipulate them from the command line, but the easiest thing to do is just revert it to a normal partition (in the terminal):

diskutil coreStorage revert /dev/disk1

This shouldn't cause data loss, but as always when working with partitions, back up anything you can't afford to lose. Once it's a normal partition, you should be able to manipulate it in Disk Utility again.

See man diskutil for more information.


How can I boost the performance of my MacBook?

Upgrade your HDD with a SSD
The hard drive is a common bottleneck in computing these days. This is due to the fact, that processors have become faster at computing. The hard drive cannot keep up with the CPU. Because it's slow, the CPU is not stressed as much as it could be: bottleneck effect.
See these videos for a comparsion of a SDD to a HDD in a Macbook Pro.
Upgrade RAM
If your amount of RAM is insufficient, you will see lots of page-outs. Data which should be written to the RAM will be written to the hard drive instead. Because the hard drive's input/output operations are much slower than the RAM's, this slows down your computer.
However, if your amount of RAM is sufficient already, you will not notice a benefit from a RAM upgrade.
You can check how much page-outs there are using the Activity Monitor.app which is located in /Applications/Utilities/. There are no official recommendations I know of as to what the ratio of page-ins to page-outs should be. Generally, you need to know that the more page-outs you have, the better your system could perform if you were to upgrade your RAM. I myself aim for a ratio of no more than 5 to 1 (20%, page-in vs page-out)
Activity Monitor → System Memory:

Clean install
If you installed the upgrade 'over the top' this will be like a 'software factory reset'. Mostly you'll notice a better performance because no other software has been installed yet.
Still, a clean install helps in removing remains of uninstalled software but should be an ultimate measure for tackling problems that do not want to be solved otherwise.


How do i customize the "title" on the first page of Wiki Server 4 on OS X Server Mountain Lion?

Ok... i did some digging around... and struck gold.
The digging part is not for the "faint of heart" since the Terminal is your best friend and some coding knowledge is involved. Suffice to say my trip in Wiki Server 4 land led me through Ruby on Rails code.
I was surprised to find that i'm able to read ruby code, and i don't know Ruby at all.
After looking through Model Views and Controllers i figured out the solution was simpler than i anticipated.
To modify the title on the first page you need to edit a .strings file.
You need to use the download version (not the mac app store app) of TextWrangler or some other editor that allows Authenticated Saves (save files as other users).
Make sure the Wiki service is off... the slider in the server app is off.
The location of the file depends on your language locale that you use:
/Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/share/collabd/coreclient/locales/en.lproj
where "en" can be either de, es, fr, it, ja, ko, nl, zh_CN, zh_TW depending on your wiki language.

First()
you need to right click on the file and "Get Info" and adjust the permissions temporarily for "Everyone" to "Read and Write".

Open the file in TextWrangler and find the key general.os_x_server and under it you can modify the string "OS X Server" to anything you want "My own company Wiki".

Save()
the file.

Second()
you need to right click on the file and "Get Info" and adjust the permissions temporarily for "Everyone" back to just "Read".

Move()
the slider in the Server App to On again for the wiki.

Enjoy!!!


Easier than messing up with Homebrew is to use asdf package manager. With that you can have multiple version of Node.js (as well as many other development tools) installed and configured running different versions in different directories. It looks like you can have it installed using Homebrew:

$ brew install asdf

Then you can install Node.js plugin using

$ asdf plugin-add nodejs

You can list versions of available Node.js versions by

$ asdf list-all nodejs

and choose the desirable versions to install, e.g.

$ asdf install nodejs 8.17.0
$ asdf install nodejs 14.4.0

You need to have asdf in your $PATH before anything else; I am not sure where these are if using Homebrew installed asdf, but Homebrew should tell you how to configure your shell profiles during installation.

You can activate a version of Node.js (and associated NPM) as a global default by

$ asdf global nodejs 14.4.0

or locally in the given directory (and subdirectories) with

$ asdf local nodejs 8.17.0

(which will just write .tools file in the directory specifying the desired version).

Each of the Node.js environment have their own global packets.


Can I remove out-dated coloring from Apple Mail "Rules" settings?

The simples to way to do that for the OSX 10.7.5 - Mail 5.3

I believe it is done in Fonts.


Is there a way for locking the screen and putting it to sleep/activating the screen saver to be two different events on a MBP?

There are a number of posts (here and here) on superuser.sx.

To lock the screen (actually invoking the "Login Window…" action from the User menu, and a direct analog to the Win+L shortcut in Windows):

/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu\ Extras/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession -suspend

To sleep the display (I use this all the time as part of my last command before bedtime on my home machine):

pmset displaysleepnow

Either of these options can be invoked through a keyboard shortcut by tying a shell script to a shortcut (using Automator (like this), Quicksilver, LaunchBar, Alfred, etc., see this post).

It's worth noting that BetterTouchTool can also perform these actions (directly mapping shortcuts to actions like this), as noted in this answer to one of the prior questions). The developer has been giving the app some love recently, which has been wonderful to see.


The "equivalent" of iptables on macOS is pf (packet filter). Refer to the manual page for the configuration file here:

https://developer.apple.com/legacy/library/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man5/pf.conf.5.html

In this case you want to use the "tos" option, as this is the way you set the QoS parameters similar to your --set-dscp option for iptables.

The configuration line could look something like this:

scrub out on $WAN proto tcp set-tos 0x10


OS X 10.8.6 installed on USB Flash Drive using most of drive space

As Zigg has mentioned this isnt a great idea for a long term solution. However if you do want to do this for any sort of drive it can be done using Daisy Disk app to remove any sleep image files. However these will be recreated when your machine goes into sleep mode again.


My guess is if you put 10 or 30 apps in for review, you might [and probably should] have a hold or slowdown, but for only two apps, I doubt there is any meaningful delay by having more than one app in the queue.

See the published app submission guide on Apple's developer web site. It also mattes if you are submitting an update as opposed to initial submission of an app for initial review and first sale.


Problem in installing X11/XQuartz in Mac 10.8.5

You may be able to install the software using installer on the command line. You will need to make sure that you have the XQuartz disk image mounted before performing this command:

sudo installer -pkg /Volumes/XQuartz-2.7.4/XQuartz.pkg -target /

Edit

Apparently, the XQuartz installer is not allowing installation on the boot drive because it is failing some pre-installation checks. This is based on the following error message that occurred when attempting to use installer in Terminal:

installer: Cannot install on volume / because it is disabled.
 installer: This update requires you to first update your system to OS-X 10.6.3

The installer is not recognizing the system as the correct version. Although the contents of /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist shows that the value of ProductVersion is set to '10.8.5', the installer does not see it this way.

It may be possible to modify the package's Distribution file to allow it to install correctly:

Mount the XQuartz-2.7.4.dmg disk image (assuming that it's on the Desktop):

hdiutil mount ~/Desktop/XQuartz-2.7.4.dmg
Expand the package into a folder name XQuartz on the Desktop:

sudo pkgutil --expand /Volumes/XQuartz-2.7.4/XQuartz.pkg ~/Desktop/XQuartz
Modify the Distribution file inside of the expanded package, to allow installation to occur (regardless of the system version):

cat ~/Desktop/XQuartz/Distribution | sed s/false/true/g > ~/Desktop/Distribution
Move the new Distribution file into the expanded package

sudo mv ~/Desktop/Distribution ~/Desktop/XQuartz
Flatten the modified package:

sudo pkgutil --flatten ~/Desktop/XQuartz ~/Desktop/XQuartz.pkg
Cleanup the XQuartz folder that was expanded from the original package

sudo rm -rf ~/Desktop/XQuartz

After creating the modified package on the Desktop, you may be able to double-click on the file to get it to install normally. Alternately, installing using the Terminal may also work at this point.


.zshrc is a file run when you start an interactive zsh shell, found in your home directory. The error message says you have an export command which is written incorrectly on line 48. not valid in this context means you're trying to export something that's not a variable. It looks like you're trying to add stuff to your PATH, but are substituting the current path inside the zshrc file. Check that line in the file, there's probably a line along the lines of:

export $PATH=/some/directory/to/add/to/path/:$PATH

You just need to remove the first $ because it's substituting the current path there instead of assigning the PATH variable:

export PATH=/some/directory/to/add/to/path/:$PATH

See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/22394367/zsh-error-export54-not-valid-in-this-context


How to connect to FTP from Finder with '@' in the credentials?

I personally am not surprised this is broken, but then again, I have larger faults with Finder's ftp implementation than this problem. From someone that's used to ftp on the command line, it's second nature to think of the @ as reserved to delineate the user part of the string with the host name part of the string, so perhaps that's a bug that the author of the code introduced.

Just as you're finding it hard to believe this is broken, I find it hard to believe Apple hasn't removed ftp from finder entirely and just pointed people to the Mac App store for a ftp client of their choosing at this point. Here's to hoping they do that for 10.9.

Assuming you are in need of a solution today, here are suggestions to work around it:

Try using ftp from the command line
Try to escape the @ with \ or otherwise trick the finder into getting past it as a delimiter
Use another program like Transmit that has more robust handling of any valid strings.
Searching the Mac App store in April 2013 yields no less than 56 choices for FTP.


Final Cut Express 3.5 project to Final Cut Express 4

Well, now that I have FCE 4, I can answer this. Yes, you can open an FCE 3.5 project in FCE 4. But when you open the FCE 3.5 project, you will be asked to save it in an FCE 4 compatible project. This means that you will be left with two files, an older file that can be opened in FCe 3.5, and a newer one that only can be opened in FCE 4.


Can the iPod touch work without a battery?

Probably not - In general, iPod & iPhone devices won't be usable when connected to a computer because they are trying to sync with the computer.

Instead, try getting an external speaker dock of some sort and drop the iPod into that. It's designed to power the iPod while playing.

I'm certain that this will work in the case of a dead battery. In the case of the battery actually being removed, there's a small chance that the iPod's on-board electronics will not work correctly, even if externally powered. This isn't likely, but it's possible that without a battery, the charging circuit will cause something else to go wrong. Again, not likely, but not impossible.

If you have a device with a dead battery, and you don't want to replace the battery, just leave it in there, drop it in a dock and play on.


How to recover files "emptied" from trash

There is not an official Apple product or command-line tool to undelete / recover in place these files short of Time Machine having made a copy to another volume or to a snapshot.

I have used Data Rescue in the past and would recommend it. There are many questions here covering how that works and their free support is amazing.

The most important thing is to stop using that computer as soon as possible once you verify if Time Machine has you covered, because all disk activity risks over-writing deleted files, reducing your chance to recover intact data from the free space.

This doesn't help your situation now because the data is already lost, but in the future you can use Time Machine.

Time Machine will backup files, even when the drive is not connected, so be sure to check in case you have a local snapshot you can recover.


Why can’t one develop apps on a mobile platform?

I suspect this will be considered off-topic for the site, but nevertheless…

As it currently exists, Xcode is completely incompatible with iOS. Presumably at some in the future there will be some way to develop at least with Swift on iOS.

The only real answer is, of course, that no one who knows the answer to this can or will say, so there can be no real answer to this other than "Xcode doesn't run on iOS" which doesn't explain why Apple hasn't made it possible to develop for iOS on iOS before now.


Bad Mac Mini 2012 passes AHT, but ASD shows several errors/failures. Logic board failure?

This machine is toast. Short of putting it on a test bench, it’ll be hard for you to figure out what’s wrong with it, and from where I sit somewhere on the planet, even harder. This computer deserves a final resting place in an electronics recycling bin.


print option lost after Mountain Lion upgrade

Do you mean the Presets drop-down in the Print window that comes up when you select Print (Command-P) in any app?

In this Print window, click on Show Details. There you can build your own Presets -- Draft, Fast, Slow, Color, Paper, whatever combination of variables you like -- by selecting from the choices shown and saving for future use.

BTW, to see this expanded Print window by default, enter in Terminal:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain PMPrintingExpandedStateForPrint -bool true


My terminal keeps printing "emergency" messages

Ok, this is what I did.

Like Brian Mc said, I checked my logs at /var/log/system.log. I found a little extra information. This is what the full line in the system log reads:

Mar 12 04:43:29 10242-MacBook-Air ddnsd[60]: [03/12/2016 04:43:29] [Emergency] [update thread] uncaught exception: easyDNS Runtime Exception

So I was like, huh! What's this "ddnsd" thing? So I looked through my processes for any process with a name like ddns.

I ran

ps aux|grep ddns

The command came back with:

abudu_h          1142   0.0  0.2  2538864   6496   ??  S     7:24AM   0:01.27 /Users/abudu_h/Library/Application Support/easyDNS/ddnsa.app/Contents/MacOS/ddnsa

I thought, I don't really need this program running, why not turn it off. So rather than delete it, what I did was make it non-executable.

cd /Users/abudu_h/Library/Application\ Support/easyDNS/
chmod -x ddnsa.app/

And hooray! The messages stopped.


Can I connect my Macbook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2016) to my Macbook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011)?

As long as both Macs are in the same network this can be easily done.

To set it up do the following on both Macs

Open System Preferences -> Sharing
Enable Screen Sharing and File Sharing

Afterwards the remote Mac should get listed in any Finder window in the side bar (in the Network part). Click on it and either attach the drive or start screensharing.


Can you charge a 2018 Macbook Air through a USB-Hub?

if I go out and buy say the Apple 87W USB-C Power Adaptor and plug it in to the hub will in finally start charging through the hub?

Answer: Yes, I went to the Apple store, plugged on the Apple 60W USB-C Power Adaptor and System Info shows the Macbook Air was charging.

So I guess the 60W Anker is not 60W for a single port


After deleting my system python, how can I restore it?

Go to the App Store and re-download and re-install High Sierra.
OR
Extract the files you deleted from a Mac that still has them.


iTunes refuses to authorise with my UK iTunes account now that I'm in Ireland

You can have multiple iTunes Store Accounts across different countries or regions. That's not causing the issue for you.

In iTunes, go to the "Store > Authorize This Computer..." menu option and sign in with the UK account to authorize the computer to play content from that store.

If it still does not work (or you have already authorized the computer), then it's likely a temporary error with connecting to the Apple iTunes server.

For more information, see:
iTunes 11 for Windows: Authorize a computer to play iTunes Store purchases


Google Chrome doesn't import Keychain credidentials after update

Actually, after restarting Chrome two times the issue resolved itself.


The system over estimates the amount of space needed when large changes are detected (say if an entire folder changed in a way that it can't easily tell the files inside are the same). Also, minor file system corruption can wreak havoc on the algorithms. Have you rebooted the mac in safe mode to force a fsck file system check to rule out that error?

That will usually force a full filesystem traversal and may let the system go back to not over-estimating the space needed by such a large amount.

With Lion - you have the excellent tmutil command. You could turn off automatic backups and use the tmutil compare command to see what has changed since the last backup. It's a very powerful tool and you can get a much better feel for what has changed - either between specific instances in time or overall.

Furthermore, to get out of the situation, you can often "nurse" the backupd process along by adding most of the large folders on the drive to the Time Machine exclusion list. Most of the time, adding /Users and /Library is enough. You can also let Time Machine skip backing up the system and try that to get a partial backup. By not changing files and letting it process parts of the drive and not assuming that it needs to do the entire drive in one hit lets you relax the exclusions list progressively until the whole drive is again backing up without complaint.


Delete key doesn't work in vim on iTerm2

This is a feature of vim, although IIRC it wouldn't be enabled by default.

backspace is a setting in vim, and you can set three different parameters: indent, eol, and start

If you run :help backspace, it will tell you:

Influences the working of `<BS>`, `<Del>`, `CTRL-W` and `CTRL-U` in Insert
mode.  This is a list of items, separated by commas.  Each item allows
a way to backspace over something:

value     effect
indent    allow backspacing over autoindent
eol       allow backspacing over line breaks (join lines)
start     allow backspacing over the start of insert; CTRL-W and CTRL-U
          stop once at the start of insert.

The one that isn't set for you is start.

If you add set backspace=indent,eol,start to your .vimrc, you'll be able to backspace over anything in insert mode.


Can I remove original music file after imported into iTunes w/ copy enabled

Yes - unless there is something wrong with iTunes and it didn't copy the song, you can delete these second copies of songs.

I would use spotlight to check before you delete things until you gain confidence that the copy is working as designed. In the long run, it will be faster to let iTunes move the files so you don't need to clean things up.

Also, a good Time Machine backup can help if you accidentally delete too much.


Closing the gap to iOS, they ditched Lucida for Helvetica Neue all the way.


URL-encode the server name:

Προκρούστης > %CE%A0%CF%81%CE%BF%CE%BA%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%8D%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82

The quotes aren't required here, so the following should work:

mount -t smbfs //%CE%A0%CF%81%CE%BF%CE%BA%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%8D%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82/DiningRoom /Volumes/DiningRoom


Where do I change the default iTunes U download settings?

Go into the settings dialog for one of your courses.

You will see a drop-down menu next to "Settings for:"

Click on that, and at the top of that menu you will see "iTunes U Default"

You can change settings there.


How can I make allow users with older versions of iOS to download an older version of my app

The feature has been around for a number of years. It's enabled for every app by default and an opt-out for developers per app version. You can remove an older app version from download through iTunes Connect → My Apps → app → App Store → Pricing & Availability → Last-Compatible Version Settings → Available Versions.
The key information as to why you are seeing the feature not working is mentioned in this page:

Some of your customers may not have a device that's compatible with your latest app version. To allow them to continue using your app, we make the last-compatible version of your app available to them.
If one or more of your app versions have significant usability or legal issues, such as infringement, deselect it below. This isn't recommended for any other reason. Any version you deselect won't be available for redownload from iTunes in the Cloud. You can't deselect your current App Store version.

iTunes Connect Last-Compatible Version Settings, emphasis mine
Downloading a previous version of an app requires the app be downloaded from iTunes in the Cloud, i.e. the app must be in the user's purchase history. This means it does not apply to new downloads, but rather re-downloads.
For a user to download an app which requires a later version of iOS, they must first either:

purchase/get the app on a compatible device
purchase/get the app in iTunes

This adds the app to the user's purchase history and is now eligible for last-compatible version download through the feature popup as you mention.
sample:


What are the differences between an iMac Display and a Thunderbolt 27" display

Thunderbolt Display:

  This huge 27-inch glossy widescreen display features a cinematic 16:9 aspect ratio and an astonishing 2560-by-1440 resolution.

iMac 27-inches:

  27-inch (viewable) LED-backlit glossy widescreen TFT display with support for millions of colors. Resolution: 2560 by 1440 pixels

You won't notice any difference between them. Therefore, if the concern is just with the Display, the Thunderbolt's should be your choice. If, in the other hand, you are feeling that your Mac Mini is not powerful enough for you, getting an iMac could be a good idea.


Trying to install nasm-2.1108 but getting permission deny

User-provided binaries should get installed to /usr/local/ (or more specifically /usr/local/bin) to avoid any versioning conflicts with standard applications/binaries. There should be an option to set the install directory to /usr/local when you run ./configure in your build directory.

PS: In OS X before El Capitan, it was rather easy to install to /usr/bin nevertheless. With El Capitan, Apple has introduced SIP to prevent these kind of modifications. There are ways to disable SIP, but I recommend to install to /usr/local instead.


Error: "Failure to find application" on launch

OK, seams that I have resolved it myself.

I have installed Mountain Duck, but forgot to move it to the applications folder. So the helper app for the launch on login was not able to find it and showed up this unspecific error message.


measuring data exchange over external network

You can see the total number of bytes transferred per network interface using:

netstat -ib

or for an individual network interface (e.g., en1) using:

netstat -b -I en1

You can monitor the amount of data per program using:

nettop -P -t external

The "-t external" includes only external traffic.

You may be interested in the amount of traffic per web page.  If you are using Safari, then select >Develop >Open Web Inspector, and select the "Network" tab.  This will show which files are transferred and the total size of the web site.  Unfortunately, it counts cached files in the page size, so it does not truly reflect the amount of data transferred.  Firefox and Chrome have similar tools.


How to color code individual data points in line chart

Welcome to Ask Different!
Unfortunately, I am not aware of an easy way to do what you are asking for in Numbers. Below is how it could be done in case you wish to do it no matter how:

In the example above, the data for both high and low blood pressures are shown in three separate columns, assuming there are three time zones in a day to be highlighted. I used the formula shown in the picture to separate the readings by time zone (you can do all of the separation manually if you like but doing it all manually might turn out to be extra tedious and it might be cumbersome to apply new time zone limits if you change your mind). Of course, the formula is slightly changed for each column so that it refers to the correct cells. In addition, the first non-zero reading in each second and third columns is overwritten manually with the number to its left to get continuity in chart lines (the second 73, 72, 143 and 142).
I used the Format -> Style sidebar menu option to set the high and low lines with the same color after selecting the respective part of each line as shown in the picture below:

I used a relatively old version of Numbers (6.1) to produce the table and the chart above but I reckon you would have no trouble producing them as well in case you have a newer version.
Hope these help!


OS X Yosemite - My wired keyboard does not work anymore

I experienced the exact same issue when I downloaded Yosemite.  I spent well over an hour with Applecare troubleshooting, PRAM resets, everything.  Tried all the different ports -- it was a mystery and they said I had to bring it to the store.  So I shut the computer down and brought it to the store a few days later, and miraculously the keyboard worked on the first start.  I felt like an ass.  Just this morning I downloaded the latest Yosemite update, and the exact same thing happened.  I tried all the proper troubleshooting as last time with the same non-results.  This time I said, let me shut my computer down for a few hours, unplug the keyboard, and basically simulate what I did last time at the store, but without the hassle.  Sure enough, I just restarted and re-plugged the keyboard in and it works again.


How to upgrade a jailbreak iOS without loosing Cydia applications?

You can use AptBackup or PkgBackup to backup your Cydia downloads before restoring, then reinstall after the restore and run again to reinstall all the Cydia stuff that you had.


How to fix mounting problem with external drive?

The answer to your questions is in the "Disk Utilities" application: just type this in the search box on the top-right corner of your screen, and launch the application.

For every device connected, you will see much information. Relevant to analyse your problem is the "format" information: HDFS, Mac OS Extended, ExFAT, FAT32, ext3, ext4...

I guess because your harddisk comes from Ubuntu, it must be ext3 or ext4. If that is the case, please read the following answer for further help: https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/29914/44080


How to make iPhone turned on after charging

In a word: Yes.

To the best of my knowledge, the mere act of plugging-in the dead iPhone to a recognized charger will cause the phone to initiate the boot sequence once the battery has charged sufficiently to allow for running the phone and charging simultaneously.

You can check this behavior by turning your phone off and then plugging it into a known-good charging system.  You should see the apple appear shortly and the phone will proceed to boot-up.


How to access environment variables in Javascript for Automation on OS X?

I do not have Alfred installed however I would think the following method should work.

For example, using the Script Editor set to JavaScript the following code returned my login name.

ObjC.import('stdlib')
$.getenv('LOGNAME')

So, I'd assume that if "alfred_version" is the actual environment variable, then the following might work as well.

ObjC.import('stdlib')
$.getenv('alfred_version')


Should in-app purchases transfer between devices?

Most apps with in-app purchases have the ability to redownload those purchases if, for instance, you delete the app & need to reinstall it, or if you are loading the app on another device with the same AppleID. Below, the Restore Purchase button in GarageBand which allows me to download loops I have purchased:


Command and Option keys not working on one keyboard (not hardware)

I opened "Keyboard Preferences" and clicked on the Modifier keys. Clicked on "Restore to defaults". And the modified keys started working again. After that I switched the modifier keys back to my preferred set. And things are still working. Feel quite good. It saved me an avoidable reboot.

I am in such a similar issue often. The problem used to get fixed after restart (probably will also work, after logout/login -- did not check). Today it happened again. I tried the defaults method above and it worked.


The features you mentioned, "task manager & background wallpaper" are not available on the iPhone 3G.  In order to have access to all the features of iOS 4 you need to have it installed on an iPhone 3GS or later.


How do I free up space on iCloud when I have already deleted many photos and turned off iCloud photos but not "my photo stream"?

To remove Photos (Photo Library) from iCloud backup:

Please open Settings/ your name iCloud
Open Storage/Manage Storage
Open Backups (iOS12) / select the backup for your iPhone
Switch off the Photo Library - this will exclude the Photo Library from the backup (you can do it while backup in progress)
Tap Turn Off & Delete (if already exists)


Bash script to run command with prompt for input

In your script you can put :

echo "Input subnet"
read subnet

to get user input and store it in a variable called subnet.

Obviously there is no check to see if you entered a valid subnet.


How do I keep an application running after logout?

If you need to logout so that another user can use the computer, you can enable Fast User Switching. The other user will be able to use the Mac, while your program still runs.


Removing purchased ringtones from iPhone

Backing up and restoring your iPhone would restore the ringtones again, and thus is a pointless exercise.

Connect your iPhone to a Mac/PC with iTunes installed. Select you iPhone in the toolbar, locate your iPhone under Devices in the sidebar and click on Tones. You'll should be able to locate the purchased and custom ringtones.

Select the desired ringtones to remove, right click and select Delete from Library option in the context menu.

You'll be prompted to confirm your action. Click on Delete button to complete deleting downloaded and custom ringtones that were installed on you iPhone.


How to turn off autoplay for watch later playlist in Youtube App for iOS

One trick.

Click share button. Choose "message" option to get a link. Open safari and paste the link. Then. Enter. Now the youtube app pops again. And no more hassle. Play only one vid.


Using automator and handbrake cli to convert videos automatically

Process in the background

Ideally, your script needs to complete as quickly as possible. The easiest way is to spin off the processing of the movies into background processes. You can do this by adding a space and an ampersand & to the end of your HandBrakeCLI line.

Move before processing

However, this does not solve the problem of new files being ignored. In fact, your files could now be processed twice if the processing is not finished before the next new file appears.

Your script should move each new file to another unmonitored folder before processing begins. Consider adding a mv command before your HandBrakeCLI line. Alternatively, you could have Automator perform the move.

The destination folder should ideally be on the same drive, so it completes quickly and does not delay the script.


Macbook Pro vs Macbook Air for IPad development

The answer depends on the types of apps you are developing. Apps that require some of the specialized hardware on the iPad (accelerometer, GPS, compass, etc…) you won't be able to effectively test in the simulator, so the size of the MBA screen may be fine. However for simple apps that do not require any specialized hardware you may find running in the simulator at 50% a bit too cramped, so you may want to opt for a MacBook Pro with Retina display. Running in the simulator has a much faster turn around than running on a device, especially on a Retina MacBook Pro which is as fast as my 2007 Mac Pro.

Personally, I bought a tricked out MacBook Air for my hobby iOS development. I feel I can get away with it because most of my iPad development is on the device. If I used the simulator more I'd move up to a Retina MacBook Pro. I also get more time to play with my stuff because I am willing to take the MacBook Air with me almost anywhere, as opposed to my 15" MacBook Pro which pretty much sat on my desk.


How to get OSX Yosemite outside the Mac App Store

It's on usenet already & no doubt torrents [though I don't go there]
The Release build is 14A389

  the release version of Yosemite is build 14A389—the last developer seed was build 14a388, also known as GMC3. The last public beta version was build 14A388b. That makes the MAS release newer than all other released builds

Up to you, of course, to decide whether you trust the source.

SHA1 hash for OSX 10.10 Yosemite public release? Has the SHA1 so you can check whichever version you get...

Extract...
run this command in Terminal:

shasum /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg

response should be

eebf02a20ac27665a966957eec6f5e6fe3228a19  /Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg


Duplicate PDF pages without blowing up the file size

You can duplicate pages in preview by opening up the sidebar to display thumbnails (View->Thumbnails), click on the page you want to duplicate, and then hold down Option and drag the thumbnail to the new location.  That will create a duplicate of the page and leave it at the new location.  When you do it this way, it does NOT duplicate the internal images and assets, but will reference them on the new page.  I just confirmed with a one-page PDF which had a 400k scanned image: I turned it into a 6-page document which was still around 400k.

If you instead add the page you wish to duplicate with Edit->Insert->Page From File... it loads all the assets again and does not reference the ones you'd already loaded, causing the file size to balloon.  It would certainly be nice if it could recognize that the assets are the same, but alas.


error -36 on a brand new samsung 850 ssd drive

Judging from the symptoms, I would test the following:

Check macOS. For instance, boot from the Recovery partition or create a second partition with a virgin system and try to copy the files causing issues.
Check the SSD.

Check SMART info of the SSD.
Best remove the SSD and place it either in an external (USB) enclosure or into a different machine. Then test your drive from there. You can also boot from an external drive by pressing alt during boot.
Also try to get hold of a Windows PC or boot from Bootcamp and use the Samsung your SSD with the Samsung Magician. However, keep in mind your SATA cable may be the culprit (see next step).

Check SATA cable: The SATA cables of the unibody MacBook Pros are known to cause all kinds of issues. In case your SSD proves to be ok, consider replacing the cable.


How do I get a lone missing app to appear in Spotlight searches?

While this does not directly answer as to why that particular app does not appear in Spotlight, nonetheless as a workaround, try the following:

Explicitly exclude the App, via drag and drop from Finder, into System Preferences > Spotlight > Privacy, and then close/reopen Spotlight preferences and remove the App by selecting it, then click the minus button [-] at the bottom left of the list window.

The App should now appear in Spotlight, however it may disappear again if the root cause is triggered again.


Fast External DNS Servers and My Intranet

Stub resolvers only try a different DNS server in the list of available servers if they fail to get a response after trying one server. If they do get a response, then they don't go down the list querying other servers just to make sure the other servers agree with this response. (And if they found conflicting responses, which one should they trust?) So it's normal that when Google's DNS server claims your intranet host doesn't exist, it doesn't check any other servers to make sure.

What you would need to do if your local resolvers are garbage is provide one or more alternative servers that do the same job and use those. Basically: reimplement the slow servers except... not slow.

You will need a list of all domains that belong to your intranet, and the corresponding authoritative nameserver set that serves each one. The problem is that your IT department may not furnish you with this list and it may receive additions and changes over time, so you will need to constantly maintain it up to date. Your IT department maintains this list in the resolvers that it provides, but they may not support a third party maintaining another copy in their own resolver.

You will need a caching DNS server such as bin or unbound. I would normally recommend unbound for this, but if you want to run the software on your local machine you will find bind easier because it comes preinstalled on MacOS. If you run it on your local machine then you can configure 127.0.0.1 as your resolver.

Set up each of the intranet domains as a "forward" zone, and set the forwarders to the authoritative nameservers for that domain. For both BIND and Unbound, you can use mostly the default config, with additions of one forward zone for each intranet domain. For BIND:

zone "yourdomain" {
    type forward;
    forwarders ip.add.ress ip.add.ress;
}

For unbound:

forward-zone:
    name: "yourdomain"
    forward-addr: ip.add.ress
    forward-addr: ip.add.ress


Adding The Delete Option To The Right Click Contextual Menu?

The simplest way is to create your own Service and call it whatever you want to name it.

I created a service simply called Delete Now and put it in my context menu like I have done here:

Make Your Own Delete Service

Open up Automator (/Applications/Utilities/Automator) and create a new Service

At the top right pane, select files or folders in Finder

On the left most pane, select Utilities and drag the Run Shell Script option to the workflow

Change the "Pass input" field to arguments

Pase the following into the shell script body

for f in "$@"
do
rm -rf "$f"
done
afplay "/System/Library/Components/CoreAudio.component/Contents/SharedSupport/SystemSounds/finder/empty trash.aif"

6. Click File > Save on the menubar and give you service a name. Whatever you name it, is what it will be called

This will enable it immediately on your system. If you ever decide you don't want it, and need to replace this item, navigate to ~/Library/Services/ and you will see a list of folders called {servicename}.workflow. To remove the one you don't want, just delete it then in Terminal type

killall Finder

This will restart the Finder and remove it from the context menu straight away. Otherwise, it will clear up on next restart.

Add Keyboard Shortcut

To make a keyboard shortcut for the Service you created, follow these steps:

From the Desktop, click the word Finder in the top left hand corner of the screen, then go to Services > Services Preferences

Scroll down the list on the right until you find the service you created by name. In this example, you can see Delete All that I made earlier. Highlight it, and click on add shortcut.

This will bring up a box. Make sure your mouse cursor is in there and depress the keys that you want to use to set the shortcut. In my example, I have used the combination Control+Shift+L.

Press Show All to save your settings.

Keyboard Symbols

To help anyone new to Apple keyboard symbols, here they are as follows:

^ = Control
⇧ = Shift
⌘ = Command
⌥ = Alt/Option


It turns out that holding shift while pressing space will input a normal space character if you have the Shift key action set to Enter Romaji mode.


Create a font for use with the Japanese keyboard

The conversion of letters into glyphs is done by the keyboard, not by the font.  So there is no need to create a font, unless you want to generate glyphs not in Unicode.  If you want to type two letters and have it turned into an already existing glyph, there are lots of ways, including:

use the US keyboard and make entries in the replacement grid of system prefs/keyboard/text.
create a custom keyboard layout with the Ukelele or Karabiner apps.
create a custom input method as mentioned in OS X: Create and use your own input source

If you want to duplicate the mechanism of the Japanese keyboard, you will need to examine the workings of system/library/input methods/JapaneseIM.app

If you want to create a font with custom glyphs, there are various apps for that like Fontlab, Fontforge, Robofont, Type, and Glyphs.  Whether or not you can make the Japanese IM use a custom font to generate your custom glyphs you would have to test -- I have not seen this done by anyone before.


Continuing troubleshioting with the link above, in the Network > Advanced > Hardware tab

click on the Hardware tab and change Configuration from Automatically to Manual.

Then click on MTU, and select Manual. Enter 1453 as the MTU Number.

This fixed things, does anyone know what might have caused this?


How do I check the memory usage from a certain time in macOs?

No, Activity Monitor does not store historic information about memory usages anywhere.
The system also do not by standard log such information into log files or databases or anything like that. So the information you seek is gone now, I'm afraid.


Mirror my iPad 2 screen on my Windows PC?

Try out Reflector by Air Squirrels.

It works very well on the Mac, has a windows version and also appears to have a trial version. You can make sure it works before spending money on a license.


The two common problems are that the permissions are wrong or the file is somehow corrupt.

You can add execute permission (or list them) with the two commands:

chmod a+x ./bclock
ls -l ./bclock

You can check the file format as well to see if it's really executable or if it's a script or other type.

file ./bclock


Enlarging APFS OS Volume - Unknown partition scheme

You need to boot to macOS Recovery. Instructions for booting to macOS Recovery over the internet can be found here. Once booted to macOS Recovery, open a Terminal application window and enter the following commands.

diskutil unmountdisk disk0
gpt remove -i 2 /dev/disk0
diskutil unmountdisk disk0
gpt add -i 2 -b 409640 -s 101021416 -t 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC /dev/disk0

After booting back to macOS, the commands given below will add the space formally used by linux to the partition where macOS is installed.

diskutil eraseVolume free none disk0s3
diskutil apfs resizecontainer disk0s2 0


I don't believe that there is any spinning pinwheels in iOS. What your users are likely reporting is a UIActivityView spinning round and round and don't understand the difference between the two (you know how some users are...).


Not able to clear History in Safari using AppleScript in OS X El Capitan

In OS X El Capitan, when clicking Clear History… on the History menu, it causes Clear History to appear either as a modal Dialog Box or as a focused Sheet on a window, as illustrated in the images at the bottom of this answer, and the AppleScript code below handles it in either case scenario.

The code is written with the assumption it appears as a Dialog Box and if it fails to process as a Dialog Box, then the on error handler processes it as a Sheet.

This code, directly below, essentially replicates what your code did in OS X Yosemite, although adjusted for use in OS X El Capitan, sans the delay command which you can add if you want.

tell application "Safari" to activate
tell application "System Events"
    click menu item "Clear History…" of menu 1 of menu bar item "History" of menu bar 1 of process "Safari"
    try
        click button "Clear History" of front window of process "Safari"
    on error
        try
            click button "Clear History" of sheet 1 of window 1 of process "Safari"
        end try
    end try
end tell

To interact with the list on the Clear pop up button, for how much of the History to clear, the following code example address it.

Because it can appear two different ways, it unfortunately requires two separate sets of similar code and both sections of code surrounding the "Clear ..." list must be manually maintained and in sync if/when using that code segment.

Note: There are 10 lines of code commented out, preceded by --, pertaining to the "Clear ..." list, 5 lines in each grouping of code. You can change the current value for one of 4 choices by uncommenting the click pop up button 1 of window 1 of process "Safari" and click pop up button 1 of sheet 1 of window 1 of process "Safari" lines of code, the one in each section, and then only 1 of the other 4 at a time, the similar one in each section. This means only 4 lines total are to be uncommented, 2 in each section, 1 to click the popup button and the other for how much of the History you want cleared. The comments I've added, preceded by -- #, within the code should be self-explanatory.

tell application "Safari"
    activate
end tell

tell application "System Events"

    click menu item "Clear History…" of menu 1 of menu bar item "History" of menu bar 1 of process "Safari"

    try
        -- #
        -- # NOTE: Keep this block of commented out code in sync with the similar block below!
        -- #
        -- # If you want to change the value of the "Clear ..." list, then uncomment the line of code directly below this comment.
        -- #
        -- click pop up button 1 of window 1 of process "Safari"
        -- #
        -- # If you've uncommented the line of code directly above this comment, then uncomment only 1 of the 4 lines of code below.
        -- #
        -- click menu item "the last hour" of menu 1 of pop up button 1 of window 1 of process "Safari"
        -- click menu item "today" of menu 1 of pop up button 1 of window 1 of process "Safari"
        -- click menu item "today and yesterday" of menu 1 of pop up button 1 of window 1 of process "Safari"
        -- click menu item "all history" of menu 1 of pop up button 1 of window 1 of process "Safari"
        -- #

        click button "Clear History" of front window of process "Safari"

    on error
        try
            -- #
            -- # NOTE: Keep this block of commented out code in sync with the similar block above!
            -- #
            -- # If you want to change the value of the "Clear ..." list, then uncomment the line of code directly below this comment.
            -- #
            -- click pop up button 1 of sheet 1 of window 1 of process "Safari"
            -- #
            -- # If you've uncommented the line of code directly above this comment, then uncomment only 1 of the 4 lines of code below.
            -- #
            -- click menu item "the last hour" of menu 1 of pop up button 1 of sheet 1 of window 1 of process "Safari"
            -- click menu item "today" of menu 1 of pop up button 1 of sheet 1 of window 1 of process "Safari"
            -- click menu item "today and yesterday" of menu 1 of pop up button 1 of sheet 1 of window 1 of process "Safari"
            -- click menu item "all history" of menu 1 of pop up button 1 of sheet 1 of window 1 of process "Safari"
            -- #

            click button "Clear History" of sheet 1 of window 1 of process "Safari"

        end try
    end try
end tell

This as coded runs very fast, however, you can insert some delay commands, where appropriate, if you want to see better what's happening as the History is being cleared.

In the images below, one with the red arrow is pointing at what the 10 lines of code commented out, preceded by --, pertaining to the "Clear ..." list is about. To change e.g., "the last hour" to one of the other values, this is where you uncomment the appropriate commented lines of code.

As a Sheet:

As a Dialog Box: