How can I script the keyboard backlight settings?

Short answer, TLDR: No, a simple script will not suffice for what you are trying to do. But ...

You will have better luck using a third party like this one: https://github.com/pirate/mac-keyboard-brightness. His code can take user input and manipulate the keyboard for you. But I am not sure if this was tested in Mojave but you are welcome to try.

Long Answer, for the curious:

Certain system settings or running hardware tasks on a Mac are initiated and ran with kernel extensions and continue to run with the kextd daemon. What drivers are for Windows are how kernel extensions are for Mac OS. Without kernel extensions your Mac OS would not boot properly.

You can safely test with your sound on your Mac using information about removing kexts here, but be sure to back up your files: http://osxdaily.com/2012/05/30/how-to-completely-disable-audio-sound-in-mac-os-x/

Take a look the code written there by Pirate, in his code in keyboard-brightness.c he does a good job dissecting the Mac. You can see how a bit more complex your script would be if you tried to tackle this through code. A simple bash script would not suffice.

In Pirate's code you can see that he accesses the keyboard light with the Foundation framework and the IOKit framework, written in Objective C/C++. If you are comfortable with this language then you should try to dabble more with his code.

Why running defaults didn't catch anything?
The reason defaults doesn't show anything is because defaults is meant to edit plist files only.

How can I see my kernel extensions? You can see a full list of kernel extensions currently running in terminal with the following command:

kextstat

You can also see a list of all your installed kernel extensions under:

/System/Library/Extensions

In terminal you can see which keyboard kext file you have by running grep:

kextstat | grep "Keyboard"

I do not have a laptop, but I am safely assuming you will also have a keyboard kext file that will look similar to mine:

Where can I learn more about the IOFramework? https://developer.apple.com/documentation/iokit?language=objc. On Pirate's git page you can see he also wrote his code in swift4, which might be easier to understand. You can switch back and forth from ObjC and Swift language types on the Apple Developer Page.

I hope this answer was useful to you.


I would get A external hard drlve and install the software on that, then use target fish mode to transfer files. Then erase Mac and install macOS. Then you would transfer files over.


Set iPhone ringtone for filtered email messages

I don't believe there's a native way to do this, but you could set up server side rules (via Outlook Web Access, server side so they always process) to forward particular messages to a notification service, such as Boxcar (www.boxcar.io), then configure individual sounds using their iOS app.

Here's a page that shows how to setup forwarding rules in OWA (chosen randomly via Google):
http://programs.cocc.edu/OWA/FW/default.aspx

One catch with this is that, as far as I can tell, the Rules functionality is only available in Internet Explorer, at least with Exchange 2007. I tried this in Chrome and Safari on my Mac at home and the option isn't available.  I've heard non-IE browser support is better for Exchange 2010. If you don't have access to IE, Google a bit to see if you can find any tips for using IE 8 or 9 on OS X. I found one, but I'm not exactly sure of it's legitimacy, so I chose not to post a link.


Part1:

Maybe, you will need repair permissions - easily done with Finder.

press CMD-I on the top directory where are your files in the external HDD
click on the lock symbol (right bottom corner)
enter your password
and adjust the 1st line at the permission section (Me) for "Read & Write", and from the cogwheel select "Apply to enclosed items..."

The above should repair permissions - but - probably will not help (as you already told)

Part2:

If the part1 not helped, probably (and only maybe!) you have an broken ACL list. (because files are copied at another OS). OS X HFS has not only usual chmod modes, but maintain ACL (access control list) too.

Try this in the Terminal.app - DON'T copy&paste all at once, enter the commands one by one...

cd /Volumes/MOUNT_POINT/directory/with/the/backed/up/files
# where MOUNT_POINT is the drive name as appears in the Finder.

pwd
# DOUBLE CHECK the pwd
# if you do the next on the wrong place - you can corrupt your system
# YOURE WARNED!!!

#this will remove all ACL informations recursively from all files in your current dir
sudo chmod -RN ./*

#this will change recursively the ownership of the files -> to you.
sudo chown -R $(whoami) ./*    #change ownership of files to you

cd      # go home

now you can quit Terminal.app and check access to files via Finder and you should repeat the first part - changing permissions via Finder's -> CMD-I ...


Reformat exFat with specific Device Block Size and Cluster Size

The maximum allocation block (or cluster) count for exFAT is 2^32 = 4,294,967,296.

To get the minimal size of an allocation cluster on your partition divide the size of your partition through 2^32.

Examples:

for a 100 GB partition the minimal size is 100,000,000,000 bytes/4,294,967,296=~23.3 bytes. Since the smallest device block size is 512 bytes, the allocation block size can't be smaller.
For a 3 TB partition the minimal size is 3,000,000,000,000 bytes/4,294,967,296=~698.5 bytes. The minimal possible allocation block size is then 1024 bytes.

To format a partition use newfs_exfat [options] /dev/disk*s*

The following options regarding allocation block sizes are available:

 -b bytes-per-cluster
         File system block size (bytes per cluster).  Acceptable values
         are powers of 2 in the range 512 through 33554432.

 -c sectors-per-cluster
         Sectors per cluster.  Acceptable values are powers of 2 in the
         range 1 through 65536.

To reformat your exFAT volume first copy the content to another volume. Then enter:

diskutil list #to get the disk identifier of the exFAT partition
diskutil unmount /dev/disk0s6
sudo newfs_exfat -c 1 -v exFAT /dev/disk0s6
diskutil mount /dev/disk0s6

The command will create one allocation (or cluster) block/device block and rename the volume to exFAT.

Alternatively you may use

sudo newfs_exfat -b 512 -v exFAT /dev/disk0s6

Most modern HDDs or SSDs use device block sizes of 4096 bytes and the displayed device block size of 512 bytes is only a "logical" device block size probably for compatibility reasons. So a minimal allocation block size of at least 4096 bytes is recommended.

Also the default cluster block sizes of  various sized exFAT partitions in Windows "mention" at least 4 kb.

To get the current cluster block size (and other informations) of an exFAT volume do the following:

diskutil list #to get the disk identifier of the exFAT partition
diskutil unmount /dev/disk0s6
sudo newfs_exfat -N /dev/disk0s6
diskutil mount /dev/disk0s6


So it sounds like the music is on your iPhone and no other devices?  How does your daughter access music if it is not on her device?

If you have the music saved to your daughters device, then it should not matter if you delete it off of your phone.

For example, most of my music is on my MacBook Pro - I can add or delete music from my phone at will but that does not mean I lost my music because it is still on my MacBook.  I can listen to anything that is on my phone, or, with Internet connection, I can listen to anything I may have on the cloud as well.

This is my understanding, anyway.


AirDrop doesnt work on Macbook Air 2012 and iPhone 6S

Thanks to the development of Bluetooth 4.0 and BLE, it is not possible to airdrop between newer iOS devices and older (pre-retina, I believe) MacBooks.

This is because the standards are incompatible, while 'legacy airdrop' is still an option for MacBook-to-MacBook communication, it appears iOS devices do not have this functionality. A more in depth discussion can be found on Apple's forums, and a lengthy discussion on whether an upgrade is possible or should be attempted here.


How to set a custom dynamic wallpaper in Catalina?

There are 4 solutions to this problem.

Easiest

select Catalina wallpaper (System Preferences->Desktop & Screen Saver)
make sure the popup button has selected Dynamic item
close the System Preferences
locate your wallpaper, right click on it and select Services->Set As Wallpaper

Mid (requires tools) Remove Still images from dynamic wallpaper

recreate dynamic wallpaper without still images (remove appearance metadata)
dynamic wallpapers without still images will cause only one menu item to be present and it will automatically get selected
Dynaper has the Remove Still Images Helper tool

Hardest (but best). Place dynamic wallpaper into System/Library/Desktop Pictures/

disable SIP
reboot
open terminal and make System partition writable sudo mount -uw /
copy wallpaper with root sudo cp path/to/wallpaper System/Library/Desktop\ Pictures/
OPTIONAL: copy custom thumbnail (same name as wallpaper) with root sudo cp path/to/wallpaper System/Library/Desktop\ Pictures/.thumbnails/
enable SIP

Hardcore

use Xcode: attach to process com.apple.preference.desktopscreeneffect.desktop.remoteservice and Debug view hierarchy
find the incorrect popup button address
pause program execution
run command [0xaddress setHidden:YES]
resume program execution
modify wallpaper selection to Dynamic

Explanation:

Starting macOS Catalina the system prefers Dark still image on dark appearance. Due to bug 2 overlaping popup buttons are displayed. For images inside System/Library/Desktop Pictures/  the disableCustomPlacement is set to YES (this makes the other popup to be hidden) . All other locations will have this property set to NO (this causes 2 popups to be displayed).

 Derived Properties:
     pictureChangeIsActive:  0
     canSetBackgroundColor:  0
     disableCustomPlacement: 0 >


Where can I find system log information on OS X Lion 10.7.5 for System Preferences changes?

You can find that information in the ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist

They will open in TextEdit, but hard to read. So you might need to read this for help with Plist readers.

you can also see the plist changes in the:

Console (by typing pref in the search window)

While the Console is up to the moment reporting it will only report issues not the successful execution.


How do you disable the iOS Storage full alert?

Apple do not provide any way to stop what it perceives as important alerts.

That said, for those with jailbroken phones, popup blocker provides the required functionality

Edit: the original question is answered in the most part, but i think the real question should be 'Why am i getting the ios Stoage almost full" alert.

this is either a bug, or you've got a lot of mail stored on the phone...

There appears to be a few users with the same issue over on the Apple support forums here


Storability / shelf life of a newly bought iPad in unopened original packaging

will the battery be fine if the iPad remains in its unopened original packaging for 2-3 more months?

You should be fine.

The official advise from Apple when keeping an iPad device in long term storage without being used is:

Charge your iPad battery to about 50 percent.
Turn your iPad off to avoid additional battery use.

(Sharing the screenshot of the Apple support document webpage, as it is no longer accessible.)

New iPads come packaged in this state. So, you should be fine keeping the packaging unopened for 2-3 months.

When a product is discontinued by Apple, it typically doesn’t vanish overnight from store(s) and it should be easy to buy one (also from 3rd party resellers). You may also find discounted pricing from 3rd party sellers. So, general advise would be to hold on until any announcement is made by Apple.

I'd advise to wait till around Christmas (or delay the purchase as much as you can) to make the best decision regarding model to pick and pricing. It's likely you may end up picking a better option (newer model with upgraded specs, same model with more internal storage) for similar price. You may end up finding some holiday offers as well.

Keep watching for any release announcements from Apple. If you wish to receive an email instead, subscribe to the Apple product announcement newsletters as outlined here.


How to get started with interfacing USB devices to iPad?

You cannot directly interface with generic USB devices from a stock OS iPad unless you are a manufacturer in Apple's MFi (http://developer.apple.com/programs/mfi/) program.  There appears to be a ton of paperwork involved to just apply.  The external accessories API is of no help on stock OS devices, unless you are manufacturing your own custom MFi-compliant device.

Alternatives

If your USB device can pretend to be a MIDI instrument or controller, you might be able to interface with it over USB by sending/receiving MIDI messages from the iPad.
Another option is to use a small inexpensive board, such as a Raspberry Pi Zero W, and use it to programmatically transfer USB data via WiFi to an iOS device.


⌘ Command+ C doesnt work and I cant do an "E" by holding ⇧ Shift

Go to System Preferences and click on the keyboard. A panel opens with 5 tabs at the top.  Click on the Keyboard Tab and a new panel appears.

In this panel click on the button at the bottom which says "Modifier Keys". This brings up a menu on the previous panel. See image below.

you can define what the command key actually is. Make sure the command key is defined as the Command key.


There is a downloads page with all past versions of all of the developer tools on it, try https://developer.apple.com/download/more/

Click on the "+" button to the left of "Xcode 10.2"
Click on the "Xcode 10.2.xip" link to download Xcode.


How do I resolve duplicate "in the cloud" songs in iTunes 11?

Like Harry reported, the problem can be dealt with by disabling "Show iTunes in the Cloud purchases". But then you don't see your Cloud-based music if you haven't downloaded everything.

I found that re-enabling this option seemed to reconnect with Cloud and resolve the duplicates problem without losing any history.


With regard to speaking notifications, this does not appear to be possible in OS X 10.9, Mavericks. Please take the opportunity ask for this feature via Apple's feedback page.

You can however have the time announced at regular intervals. The setting is in the Date & Time panel of System Preferences:


How can I ensure only "whitelisted" applications run on OS X

You can do this using the Allowed Apps settings in the Parental Controls System Preferences Control Panel:


How do I reset/recover my superuser password without the boot disk?

sudo passwd root

Enter YOUR password and you're in.


MacBook Air crashes, restarts and gives this error

Your drive is failing.
The key to this diagnosis is this error message in the panic report:
> Root disk errors: "Could not recover SATA HDD after 5 attempts.
> Terminating."

To fully diagnose this, install macOS to an external drive.  If your MBA starts to function normally, you've narrowed it down to your drive.  (It can be a USB flash disk - it's only for testing purposes).
Luckily (as "lucky" as one can get in this scenario) the drive isn't soldered to the logic board so you do have the opportunity to replace it with another (128GB: PN# 656-0021A or 256GB PN# 661-02396).  It's not too difficult a fix, you just have to remove the back cover and disconnect the SSD.  ifixit.com has a good walk through.
Now, you DO have a backup, right?
If not, the good news is you can buy a sled or cable and attempt data transfer after you put a new drive in. Since reading data often works after writes to a failing drive are not happening. Sooner you power off and start data transfer the better.


Run

sudo mkdir /usr/local/sbin
sudo chown $(whoami) /usr/local/sbin
brew link mosquitto


Show history of IP addresses assigned to iMac for a period of time?

By default your mac won't keep a history of DHCP address and times.  I put together a launchd and script that should do the trick if you must have client side records for DHCP times and ips.

launcd plist called com.local.DHCP-History.plist that needs to be placed in /Library/LaunchDaemons/

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Disabled</key>
    <false/>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>DHCP_History</string>
    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/usr/bin/DHCPhistoryLog.sh</string>
    <key>WatchPaths</key>
    <array>
        <string>/private/var/db/dhcpclient/leases/*</string>
    </array>
    <key>WorkingDirectory</key>
    <string>/usr/bin/</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Here is the script it will run, I put it in /usr/bin/ but you can put where you want just make sure to change the environment path in the launch daemon.  You will have to create a folder called DHCP_History in /private/var/log/ to create the log files in.

DHCP_History.sh

#!/bin/bash
#
# tron_jones 09-10-14

# Create a log for DHCP changes and put in new folder with date
dateVar=`date`
mkdir /private/var/log/DHCP_History/"$dateVar"
path="/private/var/db/dhcpclient/leases/"
logPath="/private/var/log/DHCP_History/"
for i in `ls /private/var/db/dhcpclient/leases/`
do
    cp "${path}${i}" "${logPath}${dateVar}"/DHCP_ChangeHistory_"${i}".log
done

Make sure that the script is executable and owned by root:wheel.  Run these commands to do that:

sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/DHCP_History.sh

sudo chown root:wheel /usr/bin/DHCP_History.sh

Now every time DHCP gets renewed or changes it will create a file called DHCP_ChangeHistory.log inside /private/var/log/DHCP_History/thedate/


How do I pause the installation of iOS apps?

To pause the download or installation of an app you need to tap once on the icon of the app in question. To resume the installation you need to tap once again on the same icon.
To completely cancel the installation of an app you need to tap and hold any application icon on your home screen/springboard until all the app icons start to wiggle. Then you can delete the apps you want. (The ability to delete apps that aren't completely installed yet is only available since iOS 5)


"Backup Disk Not Available", Time Machine can't find Time Capsule any more

I had a similar effect a few days ago.
I was able to select the disk (see your last printscreen) again and from then on it worked flawlessly... Can you select your disk again?


How to view all iTunes backups and respective devices?

Preferences > Devices will show all backups, from which you can delete specific versions.
On Windows, hit  Alt  to show the menu bar at the top.

This pic from Mac, but should be very similar...


Can I submit an app to the App Store that needs a hardware device not available in the market(yet)?

Yes, you can submit such apps! I have done so before and got them approved.

You’ll probably be asked to provide more information about your setup, or be asked to provide a video of you actually using an iOS device to control the hardware.


What happened to the Finder window 'jellybean' in OS X Lion?

The jellybean was removed completely in Lion. However, keystroke Opt-Cmd-T or menu option View - Show Toolbar will achieve the same thing.

I miss the jellybean too!


How do I force OSX to use IGMP version 2?

There is a beginning of an answer here :

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3328862


Problems when trying to delete/uninstall Xcode

I just want to confirm that this won't cause any issues with my existing Xcode projects.

It won't.

As long as you don't delete any project files and data you'll be fine. Also make sure to keep you projects backed on.


Yes - copying any of the folders will use the hard link to make a full copy of that moment in time. The hard links only work on the same filesystem, so you can test things if you are copying to the same volume but most instances where I do this, I'm copying to another volume (compressed disk image or physical/logical volume).

In a nutshell - using Finder (or rsync/ditto) to make a copy of any of the folders will result in a functional full copy of the system at that point in time with all the files intact.


MacOS partition shows up as FFFFFFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFFFFFFFFFF (Mojave)

This solution will work because you already have System Integrity Protection (SIP) disabled.

  Note: The current version of gdisk is version 1.0.4. This is the only version that will recognize Apple's new APFS format. So, if you already have an older version of gdisk already installed, then you will need to download and reinstall before proceeding.

The gdisk package can be downloaded by clicking on this link.
This should place the file gdisk-1.0.4.pkg in your Downloads folder. Before installing this package, enter the command given below in a Terminal application window to remove the quarantine attribute.

xattr -d com.apple.quarantine ~/Downloads/gdisk-1.0.4.pkg

Once gdisk is installed, you will need to enter the commands given below.

  Note: The sudo gdisk /dev/disk0 command may ask for your password.

sudo gdisk /dev/disk0
t
2
AF0A
w
y

An example is given below.

Marlin:startup davidanderson$ sudo gdisk /dev/disk0
Password:
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.4

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

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.

Command (? for help): t
Partition number (1-3): 2
Current type is 'Unknown'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = AF00): AF0A
Changed type of partition to 'Apple APFS'

Command (? for help): w

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

Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): y
OK; writing new GUID partition table (GPT) to /dev/disk0.
Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their
partition table automatically reloaded!
Warning: The kernel may continue to use old or deleted partitions.
You should reboot or remove the drive.
The operation has completed successfully.
Marlin:startup davidanderson$

After restarting your Mac, you will need to enter the following command to reclaim the free space back to macOS.

sudo diskutil apfs resizeContainer disk0s2 0

When finished, you should enter the following command to enable SIP on your next restart.

sudo csrutil clear


Verification failed on ipod 6th generation

I Would start with restoring the iPod using Device Firmware Update (DFU). You can put your iPod in DFU-mode using these steps (source):

Connect your iPod to iTunes
Hold the power button (the one on the top) and the home button (the one under the screen) for approx. 10 seconds
The iPod will be turned off, release the power button but keep holding the home button for another 13-15 seconds.
iTunes will say it has found an device that needs to be restored.

You can now follow the steps in iTunes to restore the iPod. After the iPod is restored, configure it again and see the problem is solved.

If the problem is not solved, it's likely an hardware issue. You can visit a local apple store to send it in for repairs. It's probably good to make an appointment with Apple Care. Apple Care numbers for your country can be found on this page


Managed Software Center - update not updating

Managed Software Center would only be installed if this is your work computer. A lot of organisations would have things set up so you can only install updates when you are either at your workplace, or connected to their network via VPN.


Why is my wired keyboard's Eject key no longer working after OS upgrade?

In response to Allan's comments on the original question, I attempted safe mode and found that the eject key still worked and also realized that it worked before I logged in to my account. Obviously, it was something my profile was loading at login time.

While I'm not sure which item specifically helped, I did notice that I had an older "iTunes Helper" and also quitting iTunes (which is normally loaded all the time) did seem to correspond with the eject key working again, but I'm not 100% convinced that it was the precise culprit. While iTunes has always had a helper, I think this particular one might have been an artifact of an older installation that got carried over in the upgrade and caused the problem.


They are stored on your iPhone. You can find them in the Photos app.
It's a smart album filled with photos taken in the last 30 days.

Comment by Jaberg: (thanks!)

  The Photo Stream smart album on an iOS device will contain the 1000
  latest photos. The main "cloud store"will contain the photos from the
  last 30 days and those photos will all be viewable/downloadable from a
  computer.


How can I change a filetype’s “Kind” value in the Finder?

/path/to/default/app/Contents/Info.plist → CFBundleDocumentTypes → CFBundleTypeName:

<key>CFBundleTypeExtensions</key>
<array>
    <string>adb</string>
    <string>ads</string>
</array>
<key>CFBundleTypeIconFile</key>
<string>ADA</string>
<key>CFBundleTypeName</key>
<string>ADA source</string>

Modifying files inside application bundles invalidates the code signature and changes aren't necessarily respected by updates.


Getting high ping when MacBook Air is connected to Wi-Fi

I was frustrated with a symptom which was :

High and spiking ping between 1ms to 9000ms
full bar signal but 50%++ loss ping packet
RSSI < -70db with 5-7 m distance from wifi router
Conflicting country code
Safari loading time takes forever, slow loading website (maybe due to loss packet)

What I have done was :

Restarting, reconfigure network setting, reconfigure router, diagnose network, deleting lot of plist ---> the symptom still there.
resolving COUNTRY CODE CONFLICT --- I was thinking that those symptom occur because CC conflict, thus I was editing the country code to be X2 by changing airportbrcm4331 (my case MacBook Air 2011) --> success but the ping still high. lot of article discuss how to do it.
So I think that there was a something wrong with antenna not the modem because there are no indication of wifi failure. so I did a DIY open MBA, check the modem, and find out that the antenna connector loose and not plugged  properly. plug it... put back things...

and voila everything works like charm. low ping, fast Safari response and works like it suppose to be :D


How to get the path of the selected Image in Adobe Bridge via Applescript?

I think you would have to go via Photoshop using BridgeTalk to get the path.

function getPathFromBridge(){
    function script(){
        var Path = new File(encodeURI(app.document.selections[0].spec.parent));
        return Path.toSource();
    }
    var filePath='';
    var bt = new BridgeTalk();
    bt.target = "bridge";
    bt.body ="var ftn = " + script.toSource() + "; ftn();";
    bt.onResult = function( inBT ) { filePath = decodeURI(eval( inBT.body));}
    bt.onError = function( inBT ) { filePath = '';}
    bt.send(4);
    if ( undefined == filePath ) filePath = '';
    return decodeURI(filePath);
}


You will need an adapter for your charger as Australia uses type I plug/socket but UK uses type G


Repeated kernel panic: anyone able to decipher report?

After contacting Sonuus, the software vendor has confirmed problem is with the app and is currently working on a bug fix.


If my App gets approved, can I set a specific "Release Date"?

You can set the release date through iTunes Connect.
The App Distribution Guide in the iOS Developer Documentation has a page titled Managing Your App in iTunes Connect, where the section Changing the Availability Date of Your App states:

Use iTunes Connect to set a date when the app is available on the store. For example, you can choose a date that immediately releases the app to the store after it’s approved, or you can set a later date. Using a later availability date allows you to arrange other marketing activities around the launch of your app.

Sign in to iTunes Connect.

Select Manage Your Apps.

Select your app in the Recent Activity section.

Click Rights and Pricing.

Choose a date from the Availability Date pop-up menus.

Optionally, edit the other fields in this form.

Click Save.

Changes you make to Rights and Pricing go live immediately (expect 24 hours for a full refresh of the changes on the store).

Read the App Distribution Guide for more information on managing your app on the App Store.


Will App Store programs download when I'm on a different user than the one that started?

The App Store saves its files to a temporary folder until it is completely downloaded.  This temporary download location is different for each user of the Mac.  So, it's possible (likely) that you could have two partially downloaded copies of the same application.  For Yosemite, and its multi-gb package size, this is not trivial.

You can see if the file is currently downloading in a number of ways.  2 & 3 require some familiarity with Terminal.app.

Check the incoming data bandwidth with Activity Monitor
Search for any open files held by the AppStore agent via sudo lsof | grep storeage
Check to see if the file size of anything in /var/folders/XX/XXXXXXXX/C/com.apple.appstore/* is changing.  You can find the exact path (up to the C) via getconf DARWIN_USER_CACHE_DIR for the currently logged-in user.
If the app is downloading, mouse-over the Launchpad icon in the dock should show a %done status.  (I've seen this behave erratically; so, although it's the simplest, I'm listing it last)


It's doable with a reboot proxy, i.e. you'd rename /sbin/reboot, e.g. sudo mv /sbin/reboot /sbin/reboot.ori, and then create a reboot symlink to the /sbin/reboot_proxy bash script that has the command(s) you what to execute before the reboot and then lastly it executes /sbin/reboot.ori.  I actually have this setup on my Mac running OS X 10.8.5 and it works well.  I'm trapping both reboot and shutdown commands. Which are what's run when clicking the Apple menu > Reboot... and or Shut Down... commands.

Note: It's best to have a second bash script to toggle the state of the original file and the proxy bash script as it has to be set back before OS X updates are done that will touch the file(s).

This is the code in my shutdown_proxy bash script that has a symbolic link for both the reboot and shutdown commands after the original were renamed with a .ori extension.  Feel free to adapt it for your use.

Contents of reboot_proxy

#!/bin/bash

_name="$0";
echo "Reboot Proxy Executing..."

# Place command(s) to execute before reboot directly below this comment:

_command="$_name.ori"
echo "Executing $_command $@..."

"$_command" "$@"

Let me add that from a security standpoint there are those that would argue this is a bad thing to do and I'd say to some extent that's true under the right conditions however since I'm the only one that has ever and will ever touch my Mac and I have several layers of security running beyond the built-ins, I personally have no issue using such a method.


How to reduce the number of bits in the programmer calculator on MacOSX?

There don't seem to be any options to limit the display to only show 8 bits.
Sorry.


Is there a single user mode or safe mode on a Mac?

If you don't want to load some items that usually start on bootup or login, you can startup your machine in safe mode. From Apple document HT201262:

Follow these steps to start up into safe mode.

Start or restart your Mac.
Immediately after you hear the startup sound, press and hold the Shift key.
Release the Shift key when you see the Apple logo appear on the screen.

If that doesn't prevent your startup items from loading (which it won't if they're kernel extensions), you can boot in single user mode. To do that, hold down ⌘ + s while your machine is booting. You will find your machine boots to a console prompt rather than the graphical interface. Once there, you can move the kext files out the way, etc. Once you're done, type reboot to restart in multi-user mode (and your machine will again boot to the graphical interface). You can find out more about single user mode in  Apple document HT201573.


Please please make sure that you type in the correct partitions. Double-check and triple check before running the merge command. It’s really important that you backup all of your data. I’m not taking any responsibility if you manage to erase anything. You will not want to lose data if there’s a sudden loss of power mid-operation.

In Disk Utility, create a new partition from the unused space.
Open terminal.app, and from there you’ll run diskutil mergePartitions

First you need to find out which partitions you’ll want to merge:

disktuil list

And hopefully you’ll see something like this:

/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            499.2 GB   disk0s2
   3:                  Apple_HFS Untitled                 50.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s4

You’ll want to merge disk0s2 with disk0s3. So you’d run something like this:

diskutil mergePartitions JHFS+ DiskName disk0s2 disk0s3

Beware that the above will merge partitions between disk0s2 and disk0s3. Data on disk0s2 is preserved, data on all the partitions in-between is erased. In my example the two partitions are contiguous so there’s no problem. But if your recovery partition is in between it will be erased.

If you need help with the mergePartitions command:

  Usage:  diskutil mergePartitions [force] format name
          DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode

  Merge two or more pre-existing partitions into one.  The first disk
  parameter is the starting partition; the second disk parameter is the
  ending partition; this given range of two or more partitions will be
  merged into one.

  All partitions in the range, except for the first one, must be
  unmountable.

  All data on merged partitions other than the first will be lost; data
  on the first partition will be lost as well if the "force" argument is
  given.

  If "force" is not given, and the first partition has a resizable file
  system (e.g. JHFS+), it will be grown in a data-preserving manner,
  even if a different file system is specified (in fact, your file
  system and volume name parameters are both ignored in this case). If
  "force" is not given, and the first partition is not resizable, you
  will be prompted if you want to erase.

  If "force" is given, the first partition is always formatted. You
  should do this if you wish to reformat to a new file system type.

  Merged partitions are required to be ordered sequentially on disk. See
  diskutil list for the actual on-disk ordering; BSD slice identifiers
  may in certain circumstances not always be in numerical order but the
  top-to-bottom order given by diskutil list is always the on-disk
  order.

  Ownership of the affected disk is required.

  Example: diskutil mergePartitions JHFS+ NewName disk3s4 disk3s7
           This example will merge all partitions BETWEEN disk3s4 and disk3s7,
           preserving data on disk3s4 but destroying data on disk3s5, disk3s6,
           disk3s7 and any invisible free space partitions between those disks;
           disk3s4 will be grown to cover the full space if possible.


Comparing performance between the 2012/2013 MBA 13' baseline model

Have a look at the CPU die micrographs and reviews in the press and all are singing the same tune:

modest CPU performance gains
significant overall power reductions
dramatically better GPU - competes with mid-range dedicated GPU where the 4000 level graphics were adequate at best and lagged behind it's era of mid-range GPU substantially in many cases.

I would say the 2013 Air are a significant step up from the 2010/2012 models - enough so that I'll be selling and upgrading as soon as I can find a buyer for my current Air.

Although you mentioned only the CPU and GPU, the flash storage is benchmarked at 45% faster than 2012 (and now 9x as fast as 5400 RPM drives) and they have the 802.11ac wireless chipsets so it's quite the improvement overall.

The reviews are coming in and they seem to confirm my thoughts that the "slower" CPU in the 2013 models get more work done than the "faster" CPU from the 2012 models. Clearly the clock rate isn't the bottleneck for these tests.

The full article is the source of this image above: http://www.macworld.com/article/2041698/review-latest-intel-chip-boosts-speed-and-endurance-in-new-macbook-air.html


Apple Watch no longer displays temperature

I've had this issue and I did the following:

Restarting by holding down both the Digital Crown and Friends button.
Erasing and restoring the Apple Watch from backup.
Erasing and setting Apple Watch up as new

I hope 1 or 2 works for you, because I unfortunately had to set it up as new.


Mac Mini 2018 which memory bank is which?

after opening it for checking/fixing issue: bank0is the one closer to the middle of the mainboard, bank2 is the one more outside.


To flip cursor movement you can use a third party tool: Karabiner. Karabiner isn't compatible with Sierra at the time of writing (January 2017).

Download, install and open Karabiner
Open in the menulet Karabiner -> Preferences
Open the tab Misc & Uninstall
Hit the button Open private.xml
Open the file private.xml with an appropriate editor
Enter the customized keycode

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
    <item>
    <name>3rd-Party Pointing Device</name>
    <item>
        <name>Reverse Vertical &amp; Horizontal Cursor Movement</name>
        <identifier>reverse.mouse.movement</identifier>
        <autogen>
          __FlipPointingRelative__
          Option::FLIPPOINTINGRELATIVE_HORIZONTAL,
          Option::FLIPPOINTINGRELATIVE_VERTICAL,
        </autogen>
    </item>
    </item>
</root>

If you already have other items in private.xml omit the first two and the last line of the above code.
Save the file
Open in the menulet Karabiner -> Preferences the tab Change Key
Hit the ReloadXML button
Enable the remapping. It should be listed at the beginning.

If you have a second pointing device (i.e. an Apple mouse or a trackpad) and want to use it normally, you have to restrict the mod to your trackball mouse by adding a devicevendordef/deviceproductdef somewhere and a device tag after the identifier tag in your private.xml. Example (sorry, only an Apple external keyboard):

<devicevendordef>
    <vendorname>Apple</vendorname>
    <vendorid>0x05ac</vendorid>
</devicevendordef>
<deviceproductdef>
    <productname>ExternalKeyboard</productname>
    <productid>0x0256</productid>
</deviceproductdef>
...
<device_only>DeviceVendor::Apple, DeviceProduct::ExternalKeyboard</device_only>

You get the various device IDs by opening Karabiner > Misc. & Uninstall > EventViewer > Devices


I ended up hooking up the old drive again, and used iPhoto Library Manager to rebuild the library. It pulled the photos off the old drive and built a new library that appears to be working correctly. I'm not sure why I had to get the old drive involved, but it appears to have worked.


How do I display a hyperlink with an AppleScript?

AppleScript itself cannot display rich text (HTML) in a popup dialog. So your options are:

Display a normal text dialog with AppleScript, showing the URL and asking the user if she wants to go there. If user clicks "OK", open that URL (that's exactly 1 click, so pretty much equivalent to a clickable link).

-- tested with Safari 5.1.7 on Mac OS X 10.6.8
set theUrl to "http://j.mp/LgHoEB"
try
    display dialog theUrl & "\nClick OK to open this URL in Safari." with title "Open URL?" with icon caution
    if button returned of result is "OK" then
        tell application "Safari" to make new document with properties {URL:theUrl}
    end if
on error number -128 -- user cancelled
    -- do something else
end try

Use the Safari AppleScript command do JavaScript to make a JavaScript popup with the desired URL as a clickable link (and possibly some more custom HTML):

-- tested with Safari 5.1.7 on Mac OS X 10.6.8
set theUrl to "http://j.mp/LgHoEB"
set JSPopup to "(function() {" & ¬
    "var w = window.open('', 'Clickable link');" & ¬
    "w.document.write(" & ¬
    "'
" & ¬
    "" & theUrl & "" & ¬
    "
'" & ¬
    ");})()"
tell application "Safari"
    do JavaScript JSPopup in current tab of window 1
end tell

Of course, this will only work if your Safari allows popup windows (with my settings, for instance, a new tab is opened instead).


How to view progress when encrypting a disk?

Open up the Terminal and enter the command:

diskutil cs list

Or with APFS starting with 10.13

diskutil apfs list

With APFS the FileVault setup utility also shows health and this status:

fdesetup status

You will see an output listing at least one Logical Volume Group, with a Logical Volume Family and Logical Volume nested below.

There is be a Conversion Status item in the Volume Family entry that will tell you if it's converting to an encrypted volume or not, and for a progress indicator, look under the Logical Volume entry for Size (Total) and Size (Converted) entries, to see how many GB have been converted so far.

For an APFS volume, the output is simpler: there will be an Encryption Progress entry with a percentage as a value (such as 16.0%). This entry will turn into an Encrypted entry, with values Yes or No. As a complement to the value of either field, (Unlocked) may be present if the volume encryption is currently unlocked.

During encryption:

Encryption Status:           Unlocked
    Encryption Type:         AES-XTS
    Conversion Status:       Converting
    Conversion Direction:    forward
    Has Encrypted Extents:   Yes
    Fully Secure:            No
    Passphrase Required:     Yes
 Disk:                       disk6
    Status:                  Online
    Size (Total):            569869340672 B (569.9 GB)
    Size (Converted):        231454277632 B (231.5 GB)
    Revertible:              Yes (unlock and decryption required)
    LV Name:                 Heap
    Volume Name:             Heap
    Content Hint:            Apple_HFS

Encryption completed:

Encryption Status:           Unlocked
    Encryption Type:         AES-XTS
    Conversion Status:       Complete
    Conversion Direction:    -none-
    Has Encrypted Extents:   Yes
    Fully Secure:            Yes
    Passphrase Required:     Yes
 Disk:                       disk6
    Status:                  Online
    Size (Total):            569869340672 B (569.9 GB)
    Size (Converted):        -none-
    Revertible:              Yes (unlock and decryption required)
    LV Name:                 Heap
    Volume Name:             Heap
    Content Hint:            Apple_HFS

The actual Terminal output is nested and longer. Here, only the most important information is listed.

Apparently decrypting an external disk is very slow (or even paused) if you use a laptop which is running on batteries. So always make sure to plug it into mains power when performing this operation.


What is a good, inexpensive HTML editor with FTP support?

Aptana Studio, based on Eclipse, has support for additional protocols, not just FTP. It's free.


How to connect to MacBook to a Windows 7 machine that is connected to a Ubuntu machine via VPN?

This might work by using putty as a tunnel on the Windows machine, and allowing remote hosts to connect to the tunnel. If the cisco vpn connection is set to disable local network traffic (which is quite common) then it almost certainly won't work. Also Cisco VPN client doesn't support Internet Connection Sharing. It seems like a complicated way of doing things - why not just enable the VPN directly from the Mac - the client is built-in to the OS and takes way quicker to connect than Cisco's own client.


Time Machine on a local drive, then make that drive a network drive (via Server.app) on a different computer

This MacSales article covers how to do this very well:

http://blog.macsales.com/18406-speed-time-machine-past-88mph-over-your-local-network

Essentially, you start with a fresh Time Machine backup. Start it on Wifi, then stop it, as it begins to backup files. This basically establishes the Time Machine archive. Then you attach your hard drive (or laptop) to the wired network, and resume backup. Once you have the initial backup done over the much faster wired network, subsequent backups will be much faster, as the are much smaller.

You establish the initial Backup over wifi because Time Machine does things differently over wifi vs directly connected.

In any case, best of luck to you: I have never managed to get Time Machine to work reliably over wifi, and especially if you tend allow your Mac to go to sleep during a Time Machine backup (shut the lid for example)


PowerPoint 2011 for Mac: How to Save As PDF and Hide Hidden slides?

Instead of Save As... PDF, Print->"Save as PDF".  You can get around the print margins by setting up a printer/presentation that has no margins, "full bleed".

A few important steps:

First, go to File -> Page Setup and make sure that you've got the dimensions there identical for the default paper size in the printer.  In my case, it's 8.5 x 11 inches for Letter size paper.  Read the dialog box carefully, and select the option that lets you set a size larger than the printer will allow.
In the print dialog, make sure you do NOT have "scale to fit paper" checked.

You should now see that the print preview in the print dialog is edge to edge.


How do I use ls command with a variable for a directory in zsh?

You don't show how you assign the variable in the first place, but usually issues with ~ in variables come from the way you quote (or don't quote) during assignment. To make it work you need to omit quotes when assigning ~ to a variable.

$ foo=~
$ echo $foo
/Users/pse
$ foo="~"
$ echo $foo
~
$ ls $foo
ls: ~: No such file or directory


iPhone: is it possible to route calls to speaker only if answering via smartwatch?

No, that's unfortunately not currently possible.
As you indicate, you can use the Call Audio Routing functionality in Accessibility to always route any call to speaker. However, you cannot do that just for calls answered through a Bluetooth-enabled smart watch.


Can I customize the OSX screen saver to show the Day of the Week?

This can't be done with any of Apple's screen savers that ship with OS X.

My favorite screen saver is the Marine Aquarium ($20) screen saver which has a customizable crystal that can display the time (analog or digital), date, or a calendar.

If you Google "os x screen saver with date" you'll come up with many free or inexpensive alternatives. My favorite among these is the Pong Saver, but that doesn't provide the date.


OS X Calendar email alerts — send via Outlook?

Either you dummy configure Mail so you can access Preferences from the Mail menu and set in the General" pane your default email reader (if not working from Outlook preferences).
Or you may type in the following in Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.LaunchServices LSHandlers -array-add '{ LSHandlerURLScheme = "mailto"; LSHandlerRoleAll = "com.microsoft.Outlook"; }'

This should add an entry to the "~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist"

Using Xcode you add a dictionary item with the two following items:

<key>LSHandlerURLScheme</key>
<string>mailto</string>

<key>LSHandlerRoleAll</key>
<string>com.microsoft.Outlook</string>

Using RCDefaultApp could do the trick but since it hasn't been update since 2009 I'm not sure it's still working.


Go to your album view, then use View -> Sort By -> Title.


Unknown Calendar: where does it come from?

Looking at the directories:

~/Library/Calendars/*.calendar

where all calendars are stored, the command:

grep string ~/Library/Calendars/*.calendar

let me identify among the 4 strings found, which one of these directories
was the one containing my Calendar ghost calendar:

    [...]
    <string>#0E61B9FF</string>
    <string>22228888-4444-6666-AFAF-AAFF00005555</string>
    <string>Calendar</string>
    <string>Local</string>
    [...]

From the date of modification of directory:

% ls -l 22228888-4444-6666-AFAF-AAFF00005555.calendar
drwx------  4 hal  hal  170 Sep 21 17:10 22228888-4444-6666-AFAF-AAFF00005555.calendar
%

I diagnosed that this Calendar was imported through my first
synchronisation from a new iPhone containing just its default calendar
named Calendar.

Even with all my calendars more fresh on my Mac, this unexistent default
Calendar was imported.

I removed it on my Mac and made one more synchronisation to get rid of it on my iPhone and my Mac.


Disable iPhoto auto launch when connecting an iPhone or iPad

With iPhone plugged in.

Open application "Image capture"
Select your iPhone
Press the triangle in square symbol in the lower left corner.
Choose "No application" in the droplist under "Connecting this iPhone opens:"


What does the Auto Hotspot setting do on the Apple Watch?

A hot spot is when another device with cellular data broadcasts Wi-Fi connectivity.

This setting allows you to automatically join those Wi-Fi, prompt you to join them or disables joining them.


Installed PC 16gb Ram into Macbook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011) - Errors happening

If the problem started occurring after installing the RAM, it is most probably caused by the RAM. Issues with RAM can be "spotty", meaning that it doesn't necessarily fail all the time - but just randomly or when the system is hot or similar. Therefore the RAM might be flawed even though the system passes the hardware test.

The error message in the screen shot shows a page fault within the kernel. This is typically caused by either a bug in the kernel, or a hardware error - usually faulty RAM or bus/CPU errors, but the latter is less likely.

As this happens during boot-up and a laptop is usually comprised of only expected hardware components - it is likely to be a hardware error.

If you have any external devices plugged into the laptop, for example Thunderbolt or USB devices - try unplugging to see if that solves the problem. Then the cause could be a buggy kernel extension.

You can try downgrading to an earlier version of macOS if you're certain it is not a hardware error. If it is a kernel bug, the bug might not exist in earlier versions of macOS.


Are there any simple, zippered "sleeve" cases for the iPod Touch?

You might look at this one.

http://www.sfbags.com/products/iphone-cases/travelcase-iphone.php

I have a sleevecase from that same vendor for my MBP, and it's been great.


Is it possible to delete or lower the permissions of the current account?

No - admin users or not, you can't delete the logged in user using the system preferences panel.

You can remove admin permissions, but until all processes get killed (logging out will also work), the running processes are still privileged.


Can't boot mac or fix it with disk utility

If you have a backup I'd recommend formatting the drive, reinstalling macOS and restoring from backup.
If you don't have a backup you could try 3rd party tools like Alsoft DiskWarrior or Micromat TechTool to repair the volume. Alternatively you could manually back up data via Terminal or by booting from an external drive (and using Finder) if the volume still mounts.


Is there a way to set the dock height in fixed pixels?

The Dock height is delineated by the size of the icons on the Dock, called the tilesize.

To calculate the tilesize for a Dock height of 40 pixels (80 pixels on my Retina display):

You can set the tilesize with the following command, replacing '29' with the size of icon you desire.

defaults write com.apple.Dock tilesize -int 29 && killall -HUP Dock


Unable to run/upgrade iPhoto after upgrading to OS X Yosemite

The error message is likely because you have an old version of iPhoto installed, from your previous version of OS X. It may be too old and does not support Yosemite (the latest version, iPhoto 9.6.1, should still run).

iPhoto is no longer supported and has been replaced by the new Photos app as of OS X 10.10.3. Correspondingly, the iPhoto app is longer available on the Mac App Store (along with Aperture).

If you are on OS X 10.10.3 or newer, opening the new Photos app will migrate your iPhoto library, along with all included photos, albums/events, and metadata. You can then delete the iPhoto app from your Applications folder, move it to an external hard drive if you want to keep it for whatever reason, or just leave it there if you do not have disk space concerns.

It may be ideal to make a backup/copy of the iPhoto Library.photolibrary file in your users' Pictures folder onto an external hard drive or USB flash drive before using the Photos app to migrate your library. This will ensure you have a way to fix things if there are problems.


Type checkmark emoji without variant form

Follow these steps:

macOS: Type the character in Notes.app on your Mac.
iOS: On your iPhone open the created note with the character. Select and copy it.
iOS: go to settings > general > keyboard > text replacement
Tap '+', paste the character to the first text field (Phrase) and an abbreviation for the small check mark in the second field (Shortcut).

To insert the small check mark in iOS just type the text shortcut you assigned in text replacement followed by a space.

——-

Please note:

If this should not work it is not an issue with the Unicode symbol but with the way the word processor adjusts for symbol characters. Please let us know what application on the Mac you are experiencing this issue with.

iOS check mark: ✔


At first glance it isn't possible in a stock installation of iOS 6 and using the default mail app. If you jailbreak your phone, it appears that at least one tweak, Mail Enhancer Pro, will allow you to have rules on your iPhone itself.

However, there are a number of good options, other then jailbreaking, that may work.

First, if you use an IMAP email account, then you may be able to use your computer to route the mail. The changes will obviously reflect on the device. For example, if you have a Mac, then you can use Mail.app to create a rule to forward particular emails to the address you desire.

Second, depending on who provides your email, you may be able to route the mail there. I would say Gmail is an example of that. If you go to your Gmail account and navigate to settings, you can set up rules in there.

iCloud mail provides rules as well. If you go to www.iCloud.com -> Mail -> Settings (icon in the upper left corner). You can select the Rules tab and set up actions that would work apply to the mail you receive to your @me.com, @icloud.com, or @mac.com account.


Clean install- erasing disk vs erasing volume

A discrepancy between the drive size and the size of the boot partition is not unusual. Some of this missing space is consumed by the following:

The hidden Recovery partition
The hidden EFI partition
Space used by the file system on the OS X partition
Space used by Core Storage (This is optional depending on your Macs
hardware)

When you have booted from the flash drive, you can erase your disk to maximize the OS X boot partition space by repartitioning the drive. You should create a single "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" partition. The required hidden partitions will be created automatically. If you have single SSD drive, then you are not required to use Core Storage unless you need encryption.


What makes OSX say that it's low free space on the boot volume for the program memory?

First off, "system memory" does not necessarily refer to available hard disk space. It sounds like you don't have enough free hard disk space on your system disk to rebuild Mail's index. One thing to note is that an index rebuild is usually done by making a clean copy of the index, keeping the old file around until the rebuild is complete. Even if you've symlinked the file to the external drive, the index may be a separate hidden file on the SSD.

If the message truly did refer to "system memory," it's also possible that you ran out of swap space, which can only reside on the system disk.

Move as much as you can off the SSD and try one more time. You may also want to look around for the files caused by the failed index rebuilds and delete them (making sure, of course, you do not delete the real one).


Like the spotlight search icon, the notification centre icon cannot be removed from the status bar using OS X. You should use the bartender program to hide that icon.

It works with Yosemite and has the feature you seek:

  With Bartender you can hide or move the Notification Center menu bar item, but still use Notification Center.


Using an early 2009 15" macbook pro as a display for new, 13" retina macbook pro

You can use the program ScreenRecycler to use another Mac (or even a PC) as a second monitor.

http://www.screenrecycler.com/ScreenRecycler.html


How to get iTunes to stop encrypting iPhone backups without the password?

Things you can try (that I haven't tried myself), other than hoping it's not an Apple bug:

If you have a 4 digit lockcode on the iPhone, the encryption on iTunes might share the same password. Try the same pin. Also try older pins, if you change it. It could be an old one.
Get iPhone Explorer, delete /var/Keychains/Keychains-2.db (may need to jailbreak the phone to be able to see it) on it and restart. Be aware this will clear all your passwords. Now delete your iTunes encrypted backups and re-sync.
Enter DFU mode, wipe your phone, and sync back - this is an easy way to remove the lock code, not sure about the encrypt iphone check tho. Probably.
Use some mysterious magic tool, enter in recovery mode to begin with a lot more of hacking. I won't get into much detail here because this isn't a simple procedure. You're on your own. Just wanted to cite it's possible and that maybe even today the "encryption" is quite fake.
Restore from an old unencrypted backup. Yes, this is the closest step to "wipe".
As you already suggested, wipe your phone (just for the sake of completeness).

Good luck!


They run as normal apps. No extra effort is required on your part.


iPod dock with amplified line out and charging?

actually you do not need amplification. Simply use an adapter like the FiiO L11 (or another cheap 30-Pin > Line-Out + USB-Power-In) an you´ll be amazed: The sound will be way louder and way, way better than the one from the headphone-out. Trust me, I made an A/B-comparison with A=adapter and B=Headphone-Out, both connected to the Line-Ins of an DJ-Mixer and hardly could believe, how much better the sound was!
Cheers from Germany!


How to capture still frame from video on iOS?

No, there is no option in the photos app to extract a single frame.

Depending on the video resolution you may or may not end up with a lower resolution screenshot. If your video resolution is higher than the screenshots' resolution, you end up with a lower resolution image in the end. Read more about video resolution on iPhones and screenshot sizes.

The easiest way though would be to either use a third party app or - if you import the videos to a computer anyway - do it on a Mac/PC.

More about this: different methods, Apple Community


iPhone 3GS switches off randomly after update to 5.0.1

I tried jailbreaking and installing iOS 4.2, and the issue persisted so I concluded it's a hardware problem. After four months, I finally got the battery replaced, and the service guys told me there was a problem with the old battery's circuit.

The new battery works just fine.


How to install OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) on VirtualBox 4.3?

First, you need to buy Mountain Lion (if you haven't bought it already).  Go to Apple's web store (not the App Store app), and search for "Mountain Lion", and pay $20 for it.
Wait 3 days.  Even though they're just emailing you a PDF with a license code, it's done manually (so I'm told), so it really does take 1-3 business days to get to you.
In the App Store app, click "Redeem" (top right on the main page), and paste in the code.  Download the Mountain Lion Installer.  On OS X 10.9, you'll get a warning that you can't downgrade, which is fine.
Install VirtualBox 4.3.12, or whatever the latest version is.
Make a new VM image.  You can use either "Mac OS X (64 bit)" or the 10.8-specific one -- they both seem to work.  Turn the video memory up to 128 MB -- at the default of 10 MB, it'll boot but you won't be able to see anything.  (I also suggest giving it more than 2 GB of RAM, and more than 1 CPU.)
To SATA port 1 (the first free one), attach "InstallESD.dmg" from inside the Mountain Lion Installer package (right-click in the finder to show the package contents, and drag the .dmg to the file-picker dialog in VirtualBox).  VirtualBox 4 supports DMG files natively, and InstallESD.dmg is bootable.  Check "Live CD/DVD".
Boot the image.  When the first menu appears, open Disk Utility and "Erase" your virtual hard disk.  Quit Disk Utility.
Install OS X on the virtual hard disk.  (Note: don't bother entering your AppleID during the installation process -- it doesn't seem to accept it there.  But once you're done installing, you can run the App Store app and enter your AppleID to download your purchased apps just fine.)
Be sure to detach InstallESD.dmg before rebooting.  (Simply moving it lower than the hard disk in the boot order setting doesn't seem to do anything.)
To increase the screen resolution to 1440x900, this answer was very helpful.  (Setting <key>Graphics Mode</key> did not work for me.)


How can I fix my Mac-Router-Mac network?

Looks closer to 802.11b than 802.11g, the speed advertised for wireless networks is confusingly not equivalent to an Ethernet cable of equivalent speed.

This guide will be informative for you:

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-basics/31083-smallnetbuilders-wireless-faq-the-essentials

Basically buy an Apple Airport Extreme to replace your current system, and try to use the 5Ghz frequencies instead of 2.4Ghz as you are probably suffering from a lot of interference.

Example setting up with existing router:


Is it the Mac or the Headphones that Have the Weak Signal?

I have a Macbook Pro 15" 2011 and an IPhone 6 plus.

These headphones worked perfectly with the iphone 6 but would stutter with the macbook which has an older bluetooth adapter.

I had a spare usb bluetooth 4.0 adapter lying around the house which I bought for very little money off amazon and with that connected the headphones work flawlessly again.

Some have said that its either the mac or headphones and it may be a combination of both but in my case it was the mac.

Hope that helps.


Sounds like a reinstall to me.

Every time you get a power-cut or you have to force-shut the power on the computer, you should run Repair Disk in the Disk Manager afterwards, because the HFS+ filesystem really is not very robust. Leave it for too long, with too many power cuts, and you could end up with an un-repairable partition.

So I sincerely hope that you had a backup, and it looks like you get to go through the OS X install procedure.

Oh - and go out and buy a replacement battery! It will be worth it in the long run, if only for providing enough power to allow you to shut down the machine properly in case of an extended power outage.


Go to System Preferences app → Keyboard → Keyboard and check Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys.


Easy way to upload images with shortcut or command line or drag drop

Droplr can be used upload images right from the desktop by drag and drop to the menu bar icon.  The uploaded images can be embedded anywhere on the web and can be shared on social media.
 There are some handy features like auto copy of uploaded links to clipboard and system wide sharing extension on Yosemite.


How do you turn off the iOS 11 feature of AUTOMATICALLY sending confetti?

You can’t turn it off universally for sending and receiving, but you can block it along with other motion on your device.

Open Settings app > General > Accessibility - turn on "Reduce Motion" and turn off "Auto-Play Message Effects"

If the receiver has a device running iOS 9 for example he/she won’t be able to see it and won’t receive any readable text that a special effect was used.


Turning off Smart Punctuation (in Settings → General → Keyboard) allows me to type multiple hyphens without them being converted to em-dashes.

(Side note: here's a post by the creator of Markdown about this feature.)

As far as I can tell, this setting has two effects:

Change repeated hyphens to dashes
Change quotes and apostrophes to smart, locale-aware quotes (e.g., "" will become «» when the language is set to French).

These can't be toggled independently. The Apple help article for Numbers on iPad explicitly says:

  Numbers automatically converts double hyphens (--) to dashes (—) and
  converts straight quotation marks to curly quotation marks as you
  type. You can turn this setting off or on at any time.

  Note: The setting affects both hyphens and quotation marks—they’re
  both either off or on.

  [...]

  Tip: To use different formatting for specific text, change the
  setting, type the text, then change the setting back.

(Even though it says "Numbers automatically converts [...]," the setting is the same: Settings → General → Keyboard → Smart Punctuation. It's not specific to Numbers.)

This blog post suggests developers can turn this off selectively:

  A first step, if using a UITextInputTraits conforming control, would
  be to set smartQuotesType to UITextSmartQuotesTypeNo, and set
  smartDashesType to UITextSmartDashesTypeNo.

If it's only about Markdown, you don't need to change any settings. Alternate syntax is available for both headers and horizontal rules:

# Header 1
## Header 2

- - -
***
____

Gives:

  Header 1

  Header 2

That last uses underscores (_).


This link here should help you with what you want right now:
https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/change-macs-default-screenshot-directory


Question: Will an Apple Watch 4 work/pair with an iPhone 6 that has IOS 12.4. but IS NOT an activated phone?

The answer is...yes, but you need to activate it first.

From a hardware perspective, if you have an Apple Watch 4 with watchOS 5 and an iPhone 6 running 12.x, you meet the bare minimum of requirements.

The short answer is you need a SIM card to activate and upgrade the phone.  However, you don't need cellular service (well, maybe for a month).  If your phone is "free and clear" meaning you don't have a carrier obligation on it, you are free to take it to whatever carrier you want.

In this case, to activate your iPhone, it needs to communicate over the cellular network once.  After it's been activated you can disconnect your cellular plan and use it as an iPod Touch.  Everything on with iPhone with the exception of both cellular and WiFi calling will be functional.  In other words, you can use it to browse the web, but you can't make calls (including Skype).  However as long as you have WiFi, the rest of the functionality that requires data will work; including your Apple Watch.

Can you do this without activating?

Sure.  If the person giving you the phone doesn't restore it to factory defaults and you don't upgrade it at all, you possibly can use it without activating it but this seems like more trouble than it's worth.  You basically need a SIM to operate the phone.


Connect from Macbook Air 2012 (thunderbolt port) to dell monitor (displayport)

Yes, that looks correct. If you want some other examples, then take a look at the newegg site.


Download SleepWatcher (free, source code included).
Install it using the instructions included in the download.
Have your 'sleep' script call osascript (AppleScript)

/usr/bin/osascript -e 'set volume with output muted'

Now your Mac will be muted anytime your computer goes to sleep.

If you want to make extra sure that it is muted when it wakes from sleep, add

/usr/bin/osascript -e 'set volume with output muted'

to your 'wake' script as well.


Publishing app with iAd but no completed contract

You can submit your app and use the waiting period to complete meta-data and surrounding materials.

Try submitting your app. If the app passes the automated checks, then you have a few days to sort out the contract.

As @jherran mentions, you will need the iAd contract completed before the app review takes place.


Finally fixed this. All the settings on my iPhone were correct, but my iMac kept thinking my phone had a different name (my son's). Took me a while, but figured out that my iMac was using my iCloud contacts, which I don't sync to my phone. I tracked down a stray listing for my son and deleted it, and now my iMac recognizes my phone correctly. So double check all your contact listings, both on your phone/iPad and in iCloud!


How to record the sound also in a screen recording if the headphones are connected?

You need to create a virtual audio output and use it as input. Try using Soundflower or similar software.
Hope it helps.


Is it normal for the iMac 5K's GPU to be at 90℃ with fan on constantly?

Powering that many pixels will be a stretch. You're powering a 5K display internally to your iMac and a 2560×1440 external display. Having your GPU at 90℃ is standard for powering that many pixels.

If you don't wish for the GPU to be that hot, disconnect the external display. It's still well within the thermal limits of the GPU, so I don't think it's something to worry about particularly. Apple always seem to run components hot for the sake of keeping the fans quiet, but you can override the fan speed to cool the GPU further using an app like iStat Menus.

There's a nice discussion about that GPU in the 5K iMac over at MacRumors forum:

AMD Radeon R9 M295X Core Clock Throttling, Heat, and Performance (page 34)


Right-to-Left in Yiddish in Pages for Mac

Pages 5 does have paragraph direction controls. See

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH15331

Regarding 4, you can make text replacement sequences in system prefs/keyboard/text

Regarding 1 and 2, you might ask in the group devoted to Ukelele

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/ukelele-users

In that group they suggested opening the layout with the latest version of Ukelele and setting the Language to Hebrew.  I tried that and saved as a bundle and it did the trick:  The layout appears under Hebrew instead of Others and periods go in the right place.


As per this Apple support question:

  You cannot dynamically resize an ExFAT partition, like you can an HFS+ partition on a GPT volume.  It's a limitation of the ExFAT file system, I believe.  You'll have to destructively repartition and reformat.

So, you have to reformat the entire drive. Remember THIS WILL DELETE ALL OF THE DATA ON THAT DRIVE, so make sure you move all of your files off before you do this. Let me know if this answer wasn't clear or you want help walking through the steps to do this.


Is there a way to reduce the swappiness of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard?

I'm not sure that a swap file of 2MB to 25MB is really something to worry about. It might be more useful to look at the values for Page In and Page Out to determine how often data is being written to the swap. The number of page events can be found using the System Memory tab of the Activity Monitor application.

There are a couple of other options that you could try but I think you're probably way out of warranty if you try:

Disabling dynamic pager
Creating a new paging system

I would just suggest putting up with the existing system since the wear on your SSD is probably minimal especially since SSD wear is a bit of a myth anyway or maybe it's not.


Why has sound stopped outputting with VLC?

This has happened to me before. I discovered that if you start VLC before you plug the HDMI cable in, it won't play sound out the correct output. This works consistently for me:

Plug MacBook Air in via HDMI
Verify proper output is selected in System Preferences
Start VLC up

Hope it helps.


Get ambient light sensor value from ioreg

Read the current setting

  defaults read com.apple.BezelServices dAuto

Write

  defaults write com.apple.BezelServices dAuto -boolean true/false


Applescript to drop down Script Editor in Menu Bar

The AppleScript code you're looking for is:

tell application "System Events" to ¬
    click (every menu bar item of menu bar 1 ¬
        of application process "SystemUIServer" whose description is "AppleScript")

As to assigning F15 to that, well you'll probably need a third-party utility to do that, as I do not believe an Automator service supports using just a single function key, (or any function key), as its keyboard shortcut.

I use a utility called FastScripts for many of my scripts and it will support a single function key.

Note: I am not affiliated with Red Sweater Software, the developer of FastScripts, just a satisfied user.


Centrally Managed Apps/Home Folders on Mac OS X Lion Server

Well... You will need to run Open Directory, and set up network home folders within there.

Then, when yous OD clients log into yous Macs, they will be given access to their home folder from the server.

For mobile users, you will want to set up a Mobile Home Folder, perhaps with HomeSync.

Check out these documents from Apple:
https://help.apple.com/advancedserveradmin/mac/10.7/

For your installing of software and configs, you will probably want to use Apple Remote Desktop


No SIM Card installed error in iPhone 3g

Consider the possibility for your SIM card to have failed. It happened to me and I had to go to a phone store and get a duplication of it. Here in Europe it costed me 6€ to have a duplicated SIM. It took about an "hour" to be activated, but after that, it started working.

Try using your SIM card on another phone if you have one around or go to an Apple Store and see if you can test the SIM there.


How to fix app store Mountain Lion download that stops at 45%?

I spoke to the Apple Store, and it had to do with a faulty harddrive which came out in my model. I went through the Hard Drive Replacement Program, and all went well, with Mountain Lion installed.


Strange keyboard shortcut icons in Mac OS 10.6.7

Those look like the placeholder glyphs from the LastResort font. Check your fonts folders and their permissions. Is that the case in every menu all over the system, in every app?


How setup Mail.app IMAP to migrate Mail Server

You can

copy the whole content of the old IMAP account into a local archive
enable/configure the new IMAP account
copy the local copy into the new IMAP account

You can probably also do this directly (old IMAP to new IMAP) but I run into IMAP implementations in the past which weren't too stable during batch copying. So keeping a local copy (at least for a short time) is recommended.

If a local copy is not possible due to mailbox size, you can alternatively try to copy old IMAP to new iMAP folder by folder. Be sure to verify each step at least visually.


How to upgrade my login shell from bash version 3 to 4?

I needed to fully quit the terminal application in order for the changes to take effect.  osx is different in this way as it leaves applications 'open' even when all current window occurrences of it are closed.


Connect your phone.
Open Image Capture from your Applications folder.
In the bottom-left corner of the Image Capture window, select "Preview" where it says "Connecting this iPhone opens:"
Repeat while your Nikon SD card is connected.


How to stop audio from "warbling" when using SoundFlower

Apparently the issue may lie in SoundFlowerBed, not SoundFlower itself.  But since SFB is an abandoned project... it is unlikely to ever be made more robust.

Fortunately I think I've found a solution, which is Sound Siphon.  I'm using it exactly as I would have with SoundFlower - routing my system sound and AirFoil to Sound Siphon, and sending Sound Siphon out to my audio interface.

Seems to be working perfectly, no audio warbling, and I can still adjust my overall system volume with the usual OS controls.  Plus, the demo version allows unlimited use of System Audio, which is all I was after... so this solution is even free!


iTunes tracks are not playing or downloading from Purchased

This might be an Authorization issue since this is a new computer.

Open iTunes> In the menu bar select, "Authorize This Computer"> Enter your Apple ID credentials (linked with the purchases you are attempting to download) and click "Authorize".


MacOS bluetooth audio drops out whenever the audio stream goes silent

I'm confident at this point that it is the speaker's fault. Buggy design.

Why it worked with one audio source device and not the Macbook I don't know, but it's been reproduced with another audio source since then.

I can't explain how I reproduced it with two different Bluetooth speaker models though. That has not happened since. The two speaker models are by the same brand but can't even play nice with eachother and coexist (selecting one of them connects to the other) so I'm just going to write the whole problem off as cheap hardware/firmware design.


I guess I could use the Activity Window and keep it on top to see what mail is doing as best solution for now.


Automatic text replacement [substitution], space to replace

It depends on how you have the global pref & also the prefs in each app...

Bear in mind there are 2 ways to trigger it - whether you have "Correct spelling automatically" set or not

Of course, you need Text replacement on, in for instance, Safari > Edit > Substitutions

but then if you also have
Edit Menu > Spelling & Grammar > Check Spelling While Typing and also Check Spelling Automatically

then as you start to type a substitution, it will first auto-suggest underneath

As soon as it auto-suggests, you have 2 options...

Hit  Enter ⌅  & it will auto-fill & add a space, or
Hit  ↓  then  Enter ⌅  & it will not leave a space

The real down-side of having it set like this is if you're not expecting it to correct something & it does, without you noticing.
Any slightly unusual word or spelling can get auto-corrected to a simpler... yet wrong one, if you don't proof-read.

Your friend Anny quickly becomes Any, for instance


Chrome 79: https sites don't load while http works fine

The bug, which apparently affected 10.10 (Yosemite) and 10.11 (El Capitan) only, has been fixed in Google Chrome 79.0.3945.88.

The changelog doesn't mention it though.

So download the latest installer, install it, remove any method to block Google updates¹ and be happy again with a working Google Chrome browser.

¹: I disabled access of ksfetch/Google Updater to gvt1.com and google.com with a packet filter


How to convert to millions in Mac:Numbers?

In Custom Format,  Number…

Keep the default [#,###] it will auto-add
Drag in a decimal [.##]
Drag in a Scale [K] & use the drop menu to change to millions


Already tried NVRAM reset?
I've been surprised by how many problems this "fixes":
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

Turn on your Mac.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys immediately after you hear the startup sound.
Hold these keys until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for a second time.
Release the keys.


How to mute notifications on macOS Sierra?

⌥-clicking on  works fine for me in macOS Sierra, but you can also enable Do Not Disturb by opening Notification Center, scrolling up and sliding the switch to On.


Boot from CD, make backup, reinstall snow leopard. Good idea?

Booting from an install media such as a Snow Leopard install DVD will not boot to your desktop. Instead, it will boot to the OS installed on the disc and whilst this is OS X, there's no Finder for you to move files around.

However, the disc does come with Terminal and you can use it to copy your files to somewhere else, another disk, etc. There are numerous tools that you can use in Terminal to copy files, but for individual files/folders as mentioned in your question you can simply cd /path/to/original /path/to/location to copy them.

Then, using the disc, reinstall Snow Leopard and copy your files back once booted back (using the now-available Finder).


Why can't I download apps on my iPhone 6s

Sounds like this may be an issue with your AppleID. You do have an AppleID already? If not create one, you don't have to use an iCloud.com email address you can use whatever you currently use as your AppleID.

I would log into iCloud.com and check your account settings, security and most importantly, the security questions. Maybe even change your password. Once that is done, sign out of iCloud on your iPhone and sign back in with your new credentials.

Once you have signed in again, try downloading an app. It will likely ask you for a password but should not prompt for anything else.


OS X El Capitan different behaviours at start

It might be that in the first case the boot partition is encrypted with FileVault. You then need to login to be able to read the boot partition.


Disk I/O errors while reading journal during boot

An io error during fsck / single user mode means inventory your backups, perform data recovery if needed, format and erase the drive.

At that point, you will either have a stable volume to reinstall the OS or continuing hardware errors meaning a repair or drive swap.

You could also buy time by installing the OS on to an external drive and postpone the data recovery / backup decision point. Often failing drives work well for read operations for far longer than any write operations.


First step would be to try a safe boot per Apple's support pages:

  If you're using Mac OS X 10.2 or later, you can start up your computer
  in Safe Mode, which includes an automatic disk check and repair. A
  Safe Boot, which starts up your computer into Safe Mode, may allow you
  to start up your computer successfully using a reduced version of the
  system software. To do this, follow these steps:

  Start up in Safe Mode. Instructions on how to do so are located here.
  After the system has fully started up, restart your computer normally.

Additionally, you may reference this page of Apple's support pages for other trouble shooting measures to resolve common startup and performance problems.


Partially copy a folder, preserving the invisible system files contained, but only some of the remaining content

First create a new folder where you will copy the data to: mkdir <dest_folder>. Then use:

# "First level" hidden files
find <source_folder> -d 1 -name ".*" -print0 | xargs -0 -J % cp -R % <dest_folder>
# Normal folders
cp -R <source_folder>/<folder1> <source_folder>/<folder2> ... <dest_folder>


how to route traffic to other computer via firewire, everything else via wifi

You will need to control this using network routing.

If you assign an IP address on a different subnet as the WiFi to both computers on the FireWire link - you will ensure that traffic between the two computers will be restricted to the wired network.

You can see the network routing tables by opening the Network Utility and you can control the IP address of both firewire interfaces using the normal network preference pane.


Can't boot High Sierra from my SanDisk SSD

Solution to my problem was to buy a new internal Sata
cable. I could have spared myself a whole lot of trouble if I had done that at the start.


See this code snippet in src/kqueue.c:
  /* Check available file descriptors.  */
#ifdef HAVE_GETRLIMIT
  if (! getrlimit (RLIMIT_NOFILE, &rlim))
    maxfd = rlim.rlim_cur;
  else
#endif /* HAVE_GETRLIMIT  */
    maxfd = 256;

  /* We assume 50 file descriptors are sufficient for the rest of Emacs.  */
  ptrdiff_t watch_list_len = list_length (watch_list);
  if (maxfd - 50 < watch_list_len)
    xsignal2
      (Qfile_notify_error,
       build_string ("File watching not possible, no file descriptor left"),
       make_fixnum (watch_list_len));

I would say that you have registered 975 file notifications in Emacs, which exceeds the maximum number of file descriptors on your system: (975 + 50) > 1024
I have no idea whether you can change this upper limit. However, I believe 975 file notification requests are, hmm, quite high.


What should I do when the menu bar seems frozen/unresponsive?

SystemUIServer is the process responsible for the menu bar and any menu extras. You can restart it in Terminal using:

killall SystemUIServer


Why does my early 2011 MBP hibernate instead of sleep?

First, try disabling hibernation (safe sleep) entirely:

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0

Then, to remove any trace of other previous hibernations, run:

rm /private/var/vm/sleepimage to free ~4 GB (in my iMac's case)

Should you ever want to turn Safe Sleep back on, run
sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 3

If you want to manage all of this with a simple System Preferences pane and it's worth four dollars for you, there's always SmartSleep.


OK for those with the same problem here is the solution I used.

I set the router to use the lion server as the primary DNS and also used the secondary DNS as my ISP DNS.  and it worked.

For the VPN connection I added the lion server as the DNS also but to date I don't have it working perfectly over VPN.


How to view Silverlight traffic in Safari Web Developer?

I can't understand if your app do a XmlHTTPRequest.

Anyway... in the resource section (red circle in the image) you can find all the information about a request, even its response.

Hope this will help you! :)

PS: Sorry, my GUI is in italian, but you will understand as well


This appears to be a problem across any number of BlueTooth keyboards designed for iOS when you use them on a Mac. I tested three and all have the same problem.

Attempting to fix it is difficult if not impossible since some testing with my favourite key code tool, Key Codes, shows that the OS is intercepting the keypresses before it gets to the keyboard system.

It's not a BlueTooth problem as two different BlueTooth keyboards designed for a PC allowed the setting to work. For example, the Shintaro Mini I use with my Mini media centre works fine.


Does choosing "Reset All Settings" on an iPhone 5 cause re-activation that requires a sim card to be present?

Reset all settings will not. Erase all content and settings, though, will need a SIM.


Upon boot up why is there usage in Inactive and Page In for memory?

The Inactive memory is probably the result of the boot process itself. Any of the files the boot process used, and then no longer needed are still cached for retrieval until something else needs the space.

I believe the page-outs have to do with the way OS X handles loading of dynamically linked libraries and files. Say you load an app called ReallyComplexApplication. This may point to a number of different libraries of code, but don't all need to be loaded into RAM when the app first loads. So OS X loads the core program into memory, and sets up RAM in such a way that if ReallyComplexApplication tries to grab code or data from BigLibraryOfCode it is automatically loaded from disk to memory.

That would be a page in. The OS expects data to be in RAM, but it isn't really there. This isn't really a problem, per say, because it is designed that way. But it is still considered a "page fault"

[EDIT]
Source: https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Performance/Conceptual/ManagingMemory/Articles/AboutMemory.html

In that article they actually differentiate, so what you're probably seeing is what they call "Soft fault."

On my machine that has been up for 2 days, I have 16GB of RAM, 0 page-outs but 22,288,514 page ins.


Issue with Siri suddenly misunderstanding what I say

Try resetting her database again, but then force restart (hold lock button and home button together until an Apple logo appears) afterwards.


Simplest way to transfer photos from PC to iPad (not sync-all)?

The easiest way to get photos from a PC to an iOS device would be backing up certain photos to a cloud service like Google Photos or Dropbox. There is no way to get photos from PC into the iOS Camera Roll that I am aware of. Check out Google Photos. It would be the most seamless solution.


Make animated GIF from a movie created in iMovie.app on Mac

You can do it using the Keynote app which is preinstalled on every Mac:

Create a basic Keynote project
Remove all unnecessary text elements from the first slide
Drag and drop your video from the Finder into your first slide
If needed, edit Document's size to the required size of the final gif image
If needed, trim video in Format->Movie tab
Export Using File->Export to->Animated Gif

Here is the detailed instruction: https://macmost.com/create-an-animated-gif-from-video-on-a-mac.html


If you specify DNS entries in your router's configuration, then any DHCP client of that router will receive those DNS addresses and perform lookups against them.

If you only specify DNS entries on your own Mac, then your lookup requests will be handled in the order listed.

You might want to consider running the excellent and free namebench to find the best DNS entries for your location and Internet connection.


macOS windows requiring an explicit click to make active, before UI elements inside can be clicked

The answer, in general, is "no". There are some exceptions/workarounds though, for example:

You can click through to any control in an unfocused window using Cmd-Click. This will directly operate that control without focusing the window, which might save you a click in your side-by-side browser window scenario. Unfortunately it's up to each application developer to make this work sensibly, and some unfocused applications will still perform any special action assigned to Cmd-Click, rather than treating it as a simple click.
In Terminal.app, Cmd-Right Click will paste the contents of the primary selection (the last text you highlighted in any terminal window) into the same or another terminal, whether that terminal is focused or not.
Specifically for X11 applications running under XQuartz.app (which isn't very many these days), you can specify the "focus follow mouse" option so that X11 windows are focused as you mouse over them. (There also used be a hidden focus-follows-mouse option for Terminal.app windows, don't know if it still works in El Capitan or Sierra.)


Change default contact picture for iphone

for themes there is PBcontact Photo, which makes contact photos a playboy icon

so it can be done, but there is no app that can help you customize this easily without building your own theme to make default contact photo set to what you want


Space Occupied By Other Files And Folders On Hard Drive

Have you attempted to empty the trash after removing the VM? Alternately, I believe that VirtualBox keeps its data at "~/VirtualBox VMs". Removing that folder may help you to reclaim drive space.

Here's more info on TimeMachine's local snapshots. If you'd like to disable that feature, you can use these commands to perform that action:

sudo tmutil disablelocal

Here's how you can re-enable local snapshots:

sudo tmutil enablelocal

Here's how to take a snapshot:

tmutil snapshot


i finally figured it out. my situation without a recovery HD i had to either partition my internal HD in half for linux and macos or just by a external HD do i bought an external HD because i didn't want to mess with partitions and i also bought an installation usb of macOS el capitan. I formatted the external HD to macOS extended (journed) and installed os el capitan. i am now upgrading to high sierra because i have an old imac i cant get mojave. hopefully this helps! :)


How do I connect to a VPN through a HTTP/HTTPS proxy?

I solved this question by Viscosity a commercial VPN client. It lets me chose the protocol and the proxy server before connecting to the vpn.


How to debug AppleScript error: "Expected “*)” but found end of script."

There's a syntax highlighting package for AppleScript for the text editor Atom. It works better than the one provided with Script Editor, as it will correctly identify multiline comments, even if the script itself doesn't compile:

From there, it should be easy to identify the missing *).


MacOSX El Capitan: admin password only working from login screen

Open Textedit and type there your password
to check which problem might be yours:

typing errors,
bad repeating tuning,
num lock,
keys problems,
session configuration error.

If you think you have a typical problem with just the login window,
just configure your login so as to take advantage of your name
part of the login window to check how your keyboard and your software
are behaving.
Configure System Preferences > Users & Groups as follows:

Within the Name: part of the login window, type all the characters
contained in your password and check for:

bad repeating tuning,
num lock,
keys problems.


Yeah, I got a little trick that will do that, with Automator. Launch Automator and create an an Application workflow. Add the following actions:
"Get Specified Finder Items" -> here's where you specify the folder you want opened.
"Open Finder Items"

Then save the workflow and drag it to Launchpad. You might wanna change the icon too. Works just like a folder.


The following has been tested under macOS Sierra 10.12.5 and macOS High Sierra 10.13.3, and works without any issue on my system.
Using the example AppleScript code, from my original answer, saved as an AppleScript application named Flip Display 180° and added to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility, so as to allow it to process the code, I then used an Automator service workflow, also named Flip Display 180°, to open the AppleScript application of the same name, while assigning the following keyboard shortcut:  ⇧⌃⌘R

Note that the keyboard shortcut ⇧⌃⌘F, which worked under OS X 10.8.5, conflicted with a system default keyboard shortcut under macOS 10.12.5, macOS 10.13.3 and why I changed it. You may have to use a different keyboard shortcut and as usual you have to choose one that isn't already assigned in any application that has focus when pressed to activate this Automator service workflow.

I also ran the following command, in Terminal, so as not to show the Dock Tile for the AppleScript application on the Dock:
  defaults write '/Applications/Flip Display 180°.app/Contents/Info.plist' LSUIElement -bool yes

That said, if the UI for Displays in System Preferences in macOS High Sierra on your system different for some undisclosed reason then the example AppleScript code will need to be modified to accommodate the the differences between what works on my system and yours. If it does need to be modified, I'd imagine it wouldn't be that hard to figure out.

The following images show the relevant details:
System Preferences > Displays > Display, as shown on my system:

AppleScript application, named Flip Display 180°:

Automator service workflow, also named Flip Display 180°:
Code: open -a 'Flip Display 180°'

System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility:

System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services > General > Flip Display 180°

For the time being I'm leaving my original answer at the bottom portion of this answer as it does work as stated under OS X 10.8.6 and may be beneficial for other users.
Original Answer:
I know you are using macOS High Sierra and maybe you can use what works for me under OS X 10.8.6.
The following example AppleScript code used in a Run AppleScript action in an Automator service workflow flips the Display 180° when I press: ⇧⌃⌘F
if running of application "System Preferences" then
    quit application "System Preferences"
    delay 1
end if

tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal anchor "displaysDisplayTab" of pane id "com.apple.preference.displays"
    delay 1
    tell application "System Events"
        tell pop up button "Rotation:" of tab group 1 of window 1 of application process "System Preferences"
            if (value) contains "Standard" then
                click
                click menu item "180°" of menu 1
                my clickConfirmButton()
            else
                click
                click menu item "Standard" of menu 1
            end if
        end tell
    end tell
    quit
end tell

on clickConfirmButton()
    set wasClicked to false
    repeat until wasClicked
        delay 0.5
        tell application "System Events"
            try
                click button "Confirm" of sheet 1 of window 1 of application process "System Preferences"
                set wasClicked to true
            end try
        end tell
    end repeat
end clickConfirmButton

Note that the value of the delay commands may need to be adjusted for your system, and or additional delay commands may or may not be needed. Adjust values of and or add/remove the delay commands as appropriate.

Note: The example AppleScript code is just that and does not employ any other error handling then what's shown and is meant only to show one of many ways to accomplish a task. The onus is always upon the User to add/use appropriate error handling as needed/wanted.

Automator service workflow:


From Apple's knowledge base article about Bonjour on Windows (my emphasis):

  iTunes uses Bonjour to find shared music libraries, to find AirPort Express devices for streaming music to, and to find Apple TVs.
  Safari uses Bonjour to find devices advertising web pages on your network. Many of today's network printers, network cameras, and wireless gateways provide a web interface for status and configuration, and many of these devices (especially network printers) now advertise those web pages using Bonjour, to make them easily discoverable in Safari.
  Internet Explorer, via the Bonjour toolbar plugin, also provides easy discovery of Bonjour-advertised web pages.
  The Bonjour Printer Setup Wizard uses Bonjour to discover and set up Bonjour-advertised network printers.
  Adobe's Creative Suite 3 applications use Bonjour to discover digital asset management services.

If you don't use any features, then removing Bonjour won't cause you any trouble (except perhaps Apple Software Update might offer to install it again...)

Furthermore, this page has some instructions for more throughly uninstalling Bonjour.


How do I find how much space the camera roll is using on my iOS device?

For whatever reason, iOS doesn't break out the size of the Camera Roll as well as other data that is potentially in the cloud like mail, contacts, calendars and photos and videos in the camera app.

If you absolutely must see the size of your Camera Roll without the help of a Mac or PC, you can measure it indirectly by turning on iCloud backup and seeing the space that did/will take on the last/next backup.

Open the Settings app and go to:

iCloud > Storage & Backup > Manage Storage