While it is possible to create a virtual machine that uses a physical partition, this is only done by experienced VirtualBox users. In any case, since you have removed your Linux virtual machine, then you probably do no longer need this partition. If you open a Terminal application window and enter the following commands, this unneeded partition will be removed and the free space added back to macOS.

sudo diskutil erasevolume free none disk0s3
sudo diskutil apfs resizecontainer disk0s2 0

The VM volume on disk1 has nothing to do with VirtualBox. The letters VM stand for virtual memory. This is the swap space used by macOS. The macOS operating system, installed on your Mac, uses 4 different volumes to operate. These volumes are stored in the partition named disk0s2 on your physical drive disk0.  This partition was given the container name disk1. The name disk1 implies a drive, but this is just the naming convension chosen by Apple. So disk1 is not drive, it is a container for the 4 volumes used by macOS.

Advice if sudo diskutil apfs resizecontainer disk0s2 0 fails.

This would indicate your a problem with the software stored on your drive. You should verify the drive. The Disk Utility with High Sierra no longer allows you to verify your drive. This must be done by entering commands in a Terminal application window. Also, it would be preferable this be done from either macOS Recovery over the Internet or a bootable installer for macOS. The commands shown below can be used to verify the drive. You can determine, if a verify command was successful, by looking for either an OK message or an exit code of 0.

  Note: None of these commands will change your drive.

diskutil verifydisk disk0
diskutil verifyvolume disk0s2
diskutil unmountdisk disk1
diskutil verifyvolume disk1s1
diskutil verifyvolume disk1s2
diskutil verifyvolume disk1s3
diskutil verifyvolume disk1s4
diskutil mountdisk disk1

The purpose of the sudo diskutil apfs resizecontainer disk0s2 0 command is to add back most free space found immediately after the container disk0s2 partition back to the partition. The command given below can print out the space allocated to your drive.

  Note: This command will not change your drive.

gpt -r show /dev/disk0

  Note: This command needs to be entered while in one of the Recovery modes given above.

For example, the output shown below shows free space after the partition with index of 2.

      start       size  index  contents
          0          1         PMBR
          1          1         Pri GPT header
          2         32         Pri GPT table
         34          6
         40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
     409640  488281248      2  GPT part - 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  488690888    1543494
  490234382         32         Sec GPT table
  490234414          1         Sec GPT header

After entering the sudo diskutil apfs resizecontainer disk0s2 0 command, the output would appear as shown below.

    start       size  index  contents
          0          1         PMBR
          1          1         Pri GPT header
          2         32         Pri GPT table
         34          6
         40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
     409640  489824736      2  GPT part - 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  490234376          6
  490234382         32         Sec GPT table
  490234414          1         Sec GPT header


Apple Music: Heart ratings ("Loved" tracks) are not supposed to synchronize between devices?

Through investigating a similar question I have found the same thing, you don't appear to be able to create a Smart Playlist for online content.

However if you download the song for offline playback you can Love it and it will show in the Smart Playlist of Loved songs. However this playlist does not sync to an iOS device, regardless of it being in offline storage on your iOS device.

I imagine this is a bug, and certainly isn't very user friendly. People are becoming confused by the fact you can Love a song but it doesn't let you review a list of Loved songs later.

I would expect an update in future to resolve this, seems like a lack of UX design and testing in Apple Music as there are a few issues like this.


Transfer video file from OS X Lion to iPod touch 4th gen with iOS 5

Air Sharing will provide a network drive the Mac can drop files onto so you can view them on your touch.


How to reliably restore photos on iPhone 4S?

iPhones are hardware encrypted.

If you reset the phone from scratch, everything that was on there before is gone.
 Once the hardware key is erased, the data is not recoverable by any means.

That's what backups are for.... iExplorer et al can scour backups & the current phone system... but not encrypted, overwritten devices.


Try clicking on the red highlighted parent disk and format that as OS X Journaled. Note that formatting the disk will erase all the data. So if you wish to keep the data and use the drive normally then please comment below.

NOTE: The following method will recover your data but all of it's name will not be the same you will lose the names of all the files if you do not want this to happen the comment below and follow the steps very carefully. As even one wrong step could damage you hard disk permanently and do not quit the terminal window directly after finishing recovery always exit the program in a grace manner like choosing the 'Quit' option.

As you told you want the data on the disk then first download testdisk for Mac first.Make sure you  connect your damaged external disk in which you wish to recover data from

Then extract the zip file then search in spotlight for "Terminal" then type in cd ~/Downloads/testdisk-7.1-WIP. Then run ./photorec and choose your correct hard disk which is damaged. (Just don't choose 'rdisk'):

Then choose the disk again don't choose 'rdisk' then choose the disk with HFS don't choose 'No partition' then if you wish you exclude some files then choose the 'File opt':

Then click on "Search" then click on "Other". Then after that choose the option "Whole". If you face any trouble please comment below! Quit the terminal window directly after finishing recovery always exit the program in a grace manner like choosing the 'Quit' option.


External Hard disk 500 GB free but can't copy 8 GB data

The HDD is formatted using FAT32 which has a known limitation of 4GB file size. You need to format it using exFAT which is supported by OS X and Windows.


Using TV as monitor for Macbook Pro while running Boot Camp

Apple provides Windows drivers (via Boot Camp) for all aspects of the hardware it is running on, so yes you can.

You'll need a TV with an HDMI input, a Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter and an HDMI cable. After that the Mac, regardless of whether it is running Mac O/S or Windows will see the monitor as a display device and should be able to detect the optimum resolution, allowing you to use it as a monitor.

Note that some HDTVs don't have great definition and displaying the Mac or Windows desktop and apps might result in a blurry result. Only one way to know though, give it a try.


Why is my Hard Drive and User folder shared when I turn on osx file sharing?

Prior to Mac OS X Lion, Mac OS X Client came with SAMBA Server and Client and what you defined to share was all that was shared. Since Mac OS X Lion, and continuing with OS X Mountain Lion and other releases of OS X, SAMBA has been replaced with SAMBX due to SAMBA moving to GPLv3.  As a result SAMBA is basically broken in the OS since 10.7. The Mac OS X 10.7 Server and OS X Server going forwards does have some finer sharing controls not present in the Client version of the OS.

As a result of these changes the Macintosh HD and User's Home folders are automatically shared for them as an Administrative User and only the Home folder as a Standard User, in conjunction to what one chooses to share in System Preferences > Sharing > File Sharing.

To see the additional shares including what's defined in System Preferences > Sharing > File Sharing and what's not defined there. In a Terminal, the output below shows what's shared for me as an Administrative User and only sharing a folder named Temp in File Sharing.  With File Sharing enabled in System Preferences > Sharing, just copy and paste the following command into Terminal and press Enter: smbutil view //$USER@$HOSTNAME

$ smbutil view //$USER@$HOSTNAME
Password for $HOSTNAME:
Share                                           Type    Comments
-------------------------------
Temp                                            Disk
IPC$                                            Pipe
Macintosh HD                                    Disk
$LOGNAME                                        Disk

4 shares listed
$

If you do not want those shares exposed then do not turn on File Sharing via normal System Preferences and instead install SAMBA and manually configure file sharing yourself.


I have a Macbook Pro 2012 that continues to beach ball after I erased the hard drive and upgraded to macOS Sierra 10.12 , why is still beach balling?

Sounds like you have the 13" MacBook Pro 2012, Disk Utility is not indicating a failing hard drive via its SMART status, and that the OS and/or any software you are running is not the cause there is one other thing I've not seen you mention you need to check into.

This model MBP13 2012 can develop an issue with the flex cable that connects the hard drive to the rest of the computer if the unit is getting carried around in a back pack or heavy book bag. The cable can be damaged by compression of the bottom case in the area where the cable runs from the hard drive to the logic board causing errors in the integrity of the data flowing to and from the hard drive.

Check out Apple's website but for this model they may still be offering to replace that cable at no cost for the 2012 only. If you've never had the hard drive flex cable replaced then all things being equal that may actually be the cause. Failure of this cable/bracket assembly starts as a general slowdown of even the simplest things on the computer like just opening a folder full of files. Best of luck with it.


The command line utility bc is capable of arbitrary precision mathematics, and you can call a command line utility from AppleScript and get a value from it.

For example:

set myVariable to do shell script "echo \"89723443578920345892 / 2\" | bc"

Gives this result: 44861721789460172946

To pass command line arguments as AppleScript variables:

set myNumber1 to "89723443578920345892"
set myNumber2 to "2"
set myVariable to do shell script "echo " & myNumber1 & " / " & myNumber2 & "| bc"

But this gets us back to the original problem, AppleScript represents large numbers as a float, so I had to pass the value as a string. So depending on where you get the very large number from, this could be problematic or a non-solution.


Check the version of an app installed on iPad

iOS provides a list with all installed Apps and their memory usage. Tapping on any App on that list will, besides giving you the option to delete it, display the name, the version, its size and how much memory it's using.

The path to access this list has changed through the iOS versions:

iOS 11: Settings / General / iPad Storage

iOS 9: Settings / General / Storage and iCloud usage / Manage Storage

iOS 8: Settings / General / Usage / Manage Storage

iOS 7: Settings / General / Usage


OpenEmu

Hands down the most beautiful, elegant and functional emulator to ever grace OS X. The initial public release was loosed on December 25, 2013.

If you'd like a version that has MAME support (among other consoles not included in vanilla download), click the arrow and choose the experimental version.

Then simply install the MAME core, drag your ROMs to the Arcade window, and OpenEmu will do the rest.

Lastly, for discussions on the topic, see this thread on github.


Jailbreak IOS 10.0.1 device via mach_portal without unlocking the iDevice

Is there a way to jailbreak an iPhone 6 running iOS 10.0.1 via mach_portal (a basic root shell exploit which can be found here) while the device is locked?

No. The mach_portal exploit requires you to install and run an application on the device, which requires the device to be unlocked.

Additionally, the mach_portal exploit is not a jailbreak. It could potentially be one component of a jailbreak, but it would need to be combined with a number of other important components (e.g, kernel patches to disable code signature checks and sandboxing) to allow it to be used as one.

  … or is the whole NAND encrypted while the device is locked?

It's complicated. All storage on iOS devices is encrypted. However, some of this data is encrypted using only a key that's embedded into the processor (the device UID), making it accessible at all times; other data is encrypted using a key that is wrapped using the device's passcode, making it only available when the device is unlocked.

Some details on this system are available in Apple's iOS Security Guide. But the TL;DR is that most of the important data is inaccessible until the device is unlocked.


You can use the menu Go -> Go to folder and enter the path of the folder you wish to see in the resulting dialog.

You can also use the keyboard shortcut Shift + Cmd + G to summon the dialog.


How do I disable or turn off Burst Mode photos in iPhone 6s?

Enabling the flash is one way to disable burst photos in Timer mode. You can also force HDR On.

I much prefer enabling HDR for this purpose, as it often yields better photos anyway. LED flash can drastically alter your scene in ways that may not be pleasing at all.


How is iMessage/FaceTime/iCloud service in China?

Although China is notorious for restricting various internet services, iMessage, FaceTime, and iCloud are not among them.

Your friend would have no trouble using these services, as long as he's either connected to Wi-Fi or has a cellular connection.


Sporadic static-like white dots on external monitor after upgrading to new MacBook Air

I'd start by suspecting the thunderbolt->DVI adapter you're using (you are using DVI, right?).

Do the dots go away if you just unplug and replug the adapter, or do you actually have to power cycle the unit?


Install Windows on MacBook Pro, without OS X

You're in luck! That machine will run Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, available from the Apple Store for $19.99. The Apple Store now has guaranteed next day delivery. Installing is very simple -- just insert the disk and hold down the c key on boot and follow the easy on screen instructions. Installation should only take 20-30 minutes. If you need help installing, you can take it to any of the Apple Retail Stores and they will install the System for you. But there is still plenty of online support from Apple and the web to get you back up and running quickly.

If you want to run a Linux or Windows desktop, since the hardware supports virtualization, then I still recommend leaving Mac OS X intact on the hardware, and, unless you need it for gaming, run the other systems in a virtual machine. This way the systems you work in will fully support the hardware, and there will be no performace degradation. With virtualization software like Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac you can run virtual machines in full screen, and never even know that OS X is running. Also available for free is Virutal Box; here is a download link for a version that will work in Snow Leopard.

Once OS X is installed, you can also install Windows or Linux directly on the hardware using BootCamp, and have a dual+ booting machine.

In general, its a good idea to leave Mac OS X on the mac hardware, as removing it will reduce your options.


This solved it for me!  http://macadmins.psu.edu/news/2011/06/grayed_out_finder_folder

  So, what happened? It appears that the folder's creation date was set
  to a random date in 1943.  While we are unsure of how it happened, we
  did figure out how to fix it.

  We used a few binaries that came with the Developer Tools, GetFileInfo
  and SetFile. GetFileInfo showed us the creation date of the folder. We
  overlooked it at first, but with closer examination it caught our eye.

  $ GetFileInfo Test/ directory: "/Users/user/Desktop/Test" attributes:
  avbstclinmedz created: 06/13/1943 06:13:00 modified: 06/13/2011
  15:07:33

  We then could change the creation date using the SetFile tool.

  $ SetFile -d 06/13/2011 Test/

  After seting the date back to a reasonable time, we can see that it
  has truly changed.

  $ GetFileInfo Test/ directory: "/Users/userid/Desktop/Test"
  attributes: avbstclinmedz created: 06/13/2011 06:13:00 modified:
  06/13/2011 15:07:33

  The folder then showed properly in the Finder and was again usable. We
  also found that if you created an alias of the folder, you could see
  the data and move it out. Once it was moved out into another folder,
  the old folder could be deleted.


I figured out it's at possible to apply rules to emails in drafts, sent, junk, trash, archive or other IMAP folders by selecting all messages and selection Message > Apply Rules.

The issue might have been that the spam emails are flagged as read on the server before they are loaded by Apple Mail and that Apple Mail doesn't apply rules to new emails if they are flagged as read already.


You'll have to decrypt it first, here is a complete guide to mounting and editing ipsw files.

Decrypting and mounting IPSW files

Hope this helps,

Tiferrei


External harddrive changes name sometimes

If your hard drive mounted with a "1" at the end, that means the system was somehow holding onto the volume before you had plugged it in again, making it think another volume with the same name was plugged in. Since it can't give an identical path to two items, OS X will add a "1" to the end (which shouldn't be permanent).

As far as the NTFS question goes, I recommend reformatting your drive in a FAT format. If you are sharing with WinXP, use FAT-32. If you are sharing with Win7, use exFAT. Be sure to backup all data first as the reformat will wipe the drive. NTFS is read-only on a Mac which has obvious limitations for you.


Is it possible to see the running timer on the lock screen in iOS 14?

If you Force Restart your iPhone, the timer will magically appear on the Lock Screen. I hadn't noticed this, but verified the problem after applying this solution.
Answer found at Apple Community.


Where are the PNG files for the UI theme stored?

You might try

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Versions/A/Resources/UI.bundle/Contents/Resources


How can I view message timestamps in iOS 11?

Drag/swipe the message window to the left.


How can I enable natural scrolling for my trackpad, but disable it for my mouse?


Always show text cursor while moving it in Word

I noticed the problem when I tried working on a document I created working on a PC using Windows 8. So your theory on operating systems may be valid.

I opened a blank document and copied the content out of the dysfunctional one and voila... my cursor came back.


How did a calendar icon make it to my Lock Screen?

This is iOS 8 new feature called Handoff more info here.

  Continuity lets you seamlessly move between your iPhone, iPad, and Mac, or use them together.
  (…)
  Use Handoff with Apple apps such as Mail, Safari, Maps, Messages, Reminders, Calendar, Contacts, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. Start a document, email, or message on one device and pick up where you left off on another device. You can also use Handoff with some third-party apps.


How to quickly connect to AirPods in iOS 11?

Just because one device sleeps does not make the airpods sync with another device. In such a case nothing happens and you have to manually connect on the device of your choice. I also struggle with this. My devices are not equal and I do different things on my iPhone, iPad, Macbook and iMac.
What would be perfect, as mentioned, is a Siri integration. But that would mean that the Airpods understand Siri, which they don't.
Thanks for the tip to go via the media control, far less hassle but not ideal.


Has the Virtual Display screen sharing been removed in Mountain Lion?

OK, I sussed it out.  You can still do it, it's just that the way you do it is based on context rather than using the appropriate command.

Basically, to use the virtual display, you need multiple user accounts on the target machine, and you need an account to be already logged into the target machine such that you can login a 2nd time using the virtual display.  Any account you wish to log into obviously needs the associated sharing rights enabled.  Then follow the following logic:

If no one is logged into the target machine, you will always get the Hardware display showing the normal login screen, when you login from that screen you continue to use the hardware display.
If the user you try to login as is already logged in, then it will always switch to that user and continue to use the hardware display
If you login with a user who is not already logged in at the hardware display but someone else is (this is the key, the Hardware display needs to be in use by someone else), you get the following message and the ability to use the virtual display.

If you want to use the virtual display for privacy reasons, you cannot simply switch to it like you could in 10.7, but you could simply leave the target machine with Guest logged in on the Hardware display to allow you to login as your primary user on the Virtual one.


How to diagnose connection timeouts when connecting to a WiFi hotspot

Don't have the solution but have interesting observation!!

My WiFi scan shows the SSID that I want to connect to

and in Terminal the Airport -s shows same SSID

I was monitoring the Console during the event.

The Associate event still shows the Correct SSID

<airportd[535]> associate: INFO: airportd associate: network=<CWNetwork: 0x7fec12802ce0> [ssid=Eurona900850808-81, bssid=02:0c:42:39:95:94, security=Open, rssi=-80, channel=<CWChannel: 0x7fec12802cf0> [channelNumber=7(2GHz), channelWidth={20MHz}], ibss=0], is8021X=0, remember=1

After few lines of other WiFi activity this comes up:

<kernel> Searching for networks with ssid Eurona900850808-8

WAIT: where did the last digit go, it supposed to be the Eurona900850808-81, but it shows Eurona900850808-8

Here is the rest from the Console:

Fri Sep 13 23:22:55.92  <kernel> Searching for networks with ssid Eurona900850808-8
Fri Sep 13 23:22:57.488 <kernel> No networks found. Please check if the network exists and is in range
Fri Sep 13 23:22:57.488 <airportd[535]> _WiFiMT_LogAssocTimeoutFail: MT** Assoc Timeout
Fri Sep 13 23:22:57.488 <airportd[535]> associate: Apple80211Associate2() failed with error -3905

Clearly the SSID lost the last digit somewhere in the process, and that leads to the Famous Timeout Error at least in my case.

While Apple provides great tools to analyze the WiFi, it is lacking bit more descriptive Error messages, like in my case saying there is no such network available since it clearly knows that in the Console report.


OSX-formatted USB drive giving strange partition message when I attempt to eject it. "Boot OSX" hidden partition?

This EFI partition is discussed at :
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4326715?start=0&tstart=0
The opinion there is that it is created by (some versions of) Time Machine.
Disk Utility hides it by default, but see
https://www.mede8erforum.com/index.php?topic=14019.0
for how to show it and remove it.


Mac wouldn't start up after I tried to fix a Mac App Store issue

I used Time Machine from Recovery HD to solve my problem, it perfectly reinstalled everything.


Zap the PRAM and reset the CMS

A small amount of your computer’s memory, called “parameter random-access memory” or PRAM, stores certain settings in a location that OS X can access quickly. The particular settings that are stored depend on your type of Mac and the types of devices connected to it. The settings include your designated startup disk, display resolution, speaker volume, and other information.

Shut down the computer.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command ⌘, option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Immediately press and hold Command+option+P+R. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears. Continue holding the keys down until the computer restarts, and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
Release the keys.

Resetting PRAM may change some system settings and preferences. Use System Preferences to restore your settings.

How to Reset Your Mac's SMC

The method for resetting your Mac's SMC depends on the type of Mac you have. All SMC reset instructions require shutting down your Mac first. If your Mac fails to shut down, try pressing and holding the power button until the Mac shuts down, which usually takes 10 seconds or so.

Mac portables with user-removable batteries (MacBook and most MacBook Pros):

Shut down your Mac.
Disconnect your Mac portable from its MagSafe connector.
Remove the battery.
Press and hold the power button for at least 5 seconds.
Release the power button.
Re-install the battery.
Reconnect the MagSafe connector.
Turn your Mac on.

Mac portables with non-user-removable batteries (MacBook Air and some late 2009 MacBook Pro models):

Shut down your Mac.
Connect the MagSafe power adapter to your Mac and to a power outlet.
On the built-in keyboard (this will not work from an external keyboard), simultaneously press and hold the shift+control+option+power button. Release all keys at the same time.
Press the power button to start your Mac.
Mac desktops (Mac Pro, iMac, Mac mini):
Shut down your Mac.
Unplug your Mac's power cord.
Press and hold the Mac's power button for 15 seconds.
9 .Release the power button.
Reconnect your Mac's power cord.
Wait five seconds.
Start your Mac by pressing the power button.

Alternative SMC reset for Mac Pro: If you have a Mac Pro that isn't responding to the normal SMC reset as described above, you can force a manual SMC reset by using the SMC reset button located on the Mac Pro's motherboard.

Shut down your Mac.
Unplug the Mac's power cord.
Open the Mac Pro's side access panel.
Just below the Drive 4 sled and adjacent to the top PCI-e slot is a small button labeled SMC. Press and hold this button for 10 seconds.
Close the Mac Pro's side door.
Reconnect your Mac's power cord.
Wait five seconds.
Start your Mac by pressing the power button.


How much does Apple Pay really cost for person to person transactions?

It's the same as Venmo, zero for debit, 3% for credit.  Nothing hidden.


When Photos.app starts, hold an Option Key ( ⌥ ). You will get a libraries manager.

When you select Create New... and save library, Photos will open a empty window and it is ready to use.


AppleScript Editor : comment line shortcut?

I have used FastScripts to assign a shortcut to this script:

set text item delimiters to linefeed
tell application "AppleScript Editor" to tell document 1
    set input to its text
    set {c1, c2} to character range of selection
    if c1 is 0 then
        set {p1, p2} to {1, 1}
    else
        set p1 to count paragraphs of text 1 thru c1 of input
        set p2 to count paragraphs of text 1 thru c2 of input
        if p1 is not p2 and {return, linefeed} contains item c2 of input then set p2 to p2 - 1
    end if
    set selection to paragraphs p1 thru p2
    do shell script "input=" & quoted form of (paragraphs p1 thru p2 of input as text) & "
if [[ -z $(sed -E '/^[[:space:]]*($|#|--)/d' <<< \"$input\") ]]; then
  sed -E 's/^([[:space:]]*)(#|--)[[:space:]]*/\\1/g' <<< \"$input\"
else
  sed -E 's/^([[:space:]]*)/\\1--/g' <<< \"$input\"
fi" without altering line endings
    set contents of selection to result
end tell


I guess what you can try is FUSE for OS X and btfs. Not sure if it will work.


macOS Mojave won't install updates past 10.14.1 due to requirement for APFS formatting

I had the same problem. After multiple searches, the only way I found to get the drive updated to APFS was the following:

Full clone of internal drive to external drive using SuperDuper! (Carbon Copy Cloner would also work from what I've read)
Reboot from external drive
Reformat internal drive as APFS
Full clone of external drive to internal drive using SuperDuper!
Reboot from internal drive

It feels like there should be an easier way to do this, but I couldn't find it.


iPhone shortcut to turn location services ON/OFF

Another thing you can do as of now is open the Location Services settings menu from the attached shortcut (export from the Launcher App from the App Store)


How do I correct errors in album/work/song/track in Gracenote after the CD is already imported into iTunes?

Aha!  If I turn off the eject after import option (which the latest update turned off without asking me!), then the import window stays there and I can continue to edit and submit.

Or, I can say No to the import, do my editing, submit corrections, then Import.

Third option, re-insert the CD, make corrections, submit, re-import (it will ask me whether I want to replace the previously imported files).

(Unfortunately, it won't let me edit some tags, but that's another question.)


Apple IpadOS / ios HTML editor which will sync with Amazon AWS S3 buckets

There's an app now that does this in iphone and ipad .. Filebrowser for Business, supoorts AWS S3 syncs.

Link to Apple App Store


No - but you can make a back up, erase and only install 10.7.1 and migrate the user and apps back from the backup.

If you run into oddball crashes - you can chase them down if the solution isn't obvious. You can then always go to 10.7.2 or worst case erase and go back to 10.7.2 and re-do the migration a second time from the snapshot you have now.

It's not generally good to go back, but sometimes you don't have the things that really matter or the side effects are manageable or you can re-set up those things by hand once you have discovered them.

Spotlight also makes it very easy to see what has been changed since you went to 10.7.2 and you could just revert to then and move those by hand.

Nothing about this is automatic, but it's certainly doable.


Whenever I have this problem it's because I've accidentally turned mouse keys on. (Option + 5) This is only the case if you have a keyboard without a numpad though.


How to automatically fetch images from a website and update desktop image to match (in terminal)?

You have a couple of options to tackle this:  AppleScript and a Bash (Terminal) script.  Since this needs to happen once per day (meaning scheduled) and you want to guarantee that the file gets downloaded the moment you're logged in so it can be there when you start and then once again every night at midnight,  I would do this in Bash.

Create the Script

The script is going to do two things:

Download the image
Set as the background image

The script is fairly simple.  It takes two arguments - URL and the location to save the file.  It will then download it to that folder location:

#!/bin/bash
#Bash Script to Download Forecast and Set as desktop background

#User Defined VARs below:

#URL to fetch image
url="http://www.cleardarksky.com/c/YerkesObILcsk.gif?c=2239204"

#Picture file Location
picFile="/Users/Thomas/Pictures/test.gif"

#Command to retrieve picture and save to defined location
curl -o "${picFile}" "$url"

exit

Save it in a convenient location; give it an obvious name like getSkyForecast.sh.  Make sure to make the script executable - chmod +x getSkyForecast.sh  If you don't do this, the script won't run.

Schedule the Script

The following is a bit more complex, because it will run upon login and every 24 hours.

Next, the script needs to be kicked off with launchd.  To do this, you need a plist (XML file that describes the job)

<?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>Label</key>
  <string>com.user.getSkyForecast</string>
  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
      <string>/Users/USERNAME/Path_to_Scripts/getSkyForecast.sh</string>
  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
  <true/>
  </array>
  <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
  <array>
  <dict>
    <key>Hour</key>
    <integer>00</integer>
    <key>Minute</key>
    <integer>00</integer>
  </dict>
</dict>
</plist>

Save this file as com.user.SkyForecast and copy it to the ~/Library/LaunchAgents directory.

Load it with the command:

launchctl load com.user.SkyForecast

Set the background image

The easiest thing to do is just go into System Preferences and set the Background image to this file (run the script manually first so it creates the file).  When the script runs, it will change the file, not the name so the desktop image will change automatically.


iOS 10, Messages has bifurcated chat history with my wife

This type of behavior is usually caused by Messages between phone numbers and iCloud ID's (typically your iCloud email address). You can click the target user for a message at the top of the thread (macOS) and it will show which address it was exchanged with (phone or email). On iOS, tap the circle with the username or photo at the top of the thread and the "recent" tag will be on the address used for those messages. See if the two threads are different.

Also make sure your Mac is enabled to send and receive messages from your phone numbers on both Macs. This is not the default for the Mac, though it is for the iOS devices.


How Do I Start Over With Backups Using Time Machine?

If you are backing up to an external disk, the fastest way is to

disable Time Machine
erase the backup drive/partition with DiskUtil
re-enable Time Machine

OTOH you won't loose anything if you keep the old backups for now. As every time slice within TM is a full backup you can still recover up to "now".


Change predictive text language independently of keyboard?

Go to Settings → General → Keyboards.
If French is not in the list, add it using Add New Keyboard → French.
From the list of keyboards which have been added, choose French, then select the QWERTY layout.

You can remove other keyboards you no longer wish to use by sliding them from right to left.


What's a good graphics card for Yosemite on a Mac Pro 1,1?

I ended up going with the aforementioned card (the "XFX HD 6670 650MHz 2GB DDR3/HDMI/DVI/VGA PCI-Express Graphics Card HD667XCLF3") and it worked brilliantly in both Lion and Yosemite.

I've only been using the DVI output, not HDMI, so I can't say anything for sure about the HDMI output.


How can I prevent my iPod from downloading album art?

There used to be an option in iTunes 8 that allowed toggling of album artwork on devices.  This was removed in iTunes 9.

I also have your model Nano and would like to disable the artwork - only recourse for us is to leave feedback :(


How Do I Get Out of Boot Loop on iPhone 4?

My advice would be to fix your home button (here's an excellent guide from ifixit if you want to fix it yourself: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+4+Home+Button+Replacement/3144) and then put it into DFU mode. If your home button is dodgy, fixing it will greatly enhance your chances of getting into DFU mode in order to restore it within iTunes.

There are tools that exist to get your device into DFU mode with a broken home button however these are unlikely to succeed if iTunes isn't detecting anything and your device is bootlooping.


Does macOS have something like Linux's binfmt_misc feature?

No, macOS does not come with a similar feature.
If you're interested in adding it yourself, you can could take a look at this project:
https://github.com/georghe-crihan/imgact_linux
It is a kernel extension that extends the kernel's exec_shell_imgact() function to recognize other file types (namely Linux ELF binaries) and pass them to a user space application to be executed. The source code is available, so it could potentially be tweaked and extended to provide functionality similar to binfmt_misc.


How do I delete a purchase that is on my music that I don't want

In the Music app, find the name of the song, album, or playlist that you want to remove, and tap the More Options icon.
  From the menu that appears, tap Delete.
  To remove the song, album, or playlists from only the device that you're currently using, select Remove Download or Remove Downloads. The item stays in your library on all of your other devices.
  If you want to remove the item from your iCloud Music Library on all of your devices, tap "Delete from My Music."

Straight from Apple Support.


New method for iOS 7, 8, and 9:

Open the Photos app
Make sure you're on the iCloud Photo Sharing screen (tap back as necessary)
Hit Edit (top right)
Tap on album name text from listing
Make your edits
Tap Done to save


Is it possible to keep dot files with specific extension unhidden in Finder?

I assume you are talking about the .vscode folder in your Home folder, as I have one there too from the Visual Studio Code.app install.

If you do not want to permanently show hidden files or use the ⌘⇧. keyboard shortcut, then this is what I'd do.

Open Terminal to the directory containing the .vscode folder and use the following command to create a symlink:

ln -s .vscode ' .vscode'

Note that the symlink has a leading space in its name; however, it's the only way to be visually accurate, per se, seeing it shown in Finder to have the appearance that it is a dot file without actually showing the hidden .vscode folder.


Transfer time machine backups from unmountable HDD

If disk drill won’t show you the directory structure, you’ll need to try a tool like Data Rescue it Disk Warrior so you can find the folder with one specific date to navigate and then restore those specific files. That would copy off at full speed.

use the folder named Latest  unless you’re sure you want to go back to a specific point in time

However, if the drive is failing hardware wise, no tool might be able to speed it up, so consider data rescue if you’re not sure it’s software corruption.


pkgbuild productbuild requires admin privilege during pkg installation

I think you have more developer skills like me, in this particular case the SIP could be the reason for this. Try to log in as root.

And it is stupid question: did you enable in System Preferences > Privacy > Allow apps downloads from  „anywhere“??

Fastlane is an alternative for building pkg files.


Unfortunately, Firefox (at least the 3.6 version I experimented with) does not disable the command shortcut for Quit when you change it in System Preferences.

I think the quick and easy fix for this is to add ⌘Q as a global shortcut to something else innocuous. In my experiments, I found this to work:

Open System Preferences.
Click on the Keyboard pane.
Click Keyboard Shortcuts tab.
Click Exposé & Spaces shortcuts in the left side list.
Under "Exposé" change the shortcut for "Desktop" to ⌘Q

Now when you accidentally hit ⌘Q, your desktop will magically and amusingly appear reminding you of your folly. Hit ⌘Q again and you're back exactly where you were.

As a sidenote, after a while you may want to change this back after you "unlearn" your behaviour. ⌘Q, the Mac equivalent to "ALT-F4" has been the standard shortcut since the introduction of the Macintosh, and like the other "standard" shortcuts ⌘W,⌘Z,⌘C,⌘V and so on, it's best to learn them to ease use of other Mac computers or when you upgrade.


I would turn on smb3 signing, smb3 encryption and retest. We are seeing the best performance with the latest OS, newest protocols and full encryption. It’s not twice as fast, but it’s measurably faster for a couple of vendors across the board for us.

Next, get a wire shark dump and look at the SMB commands. Work with networking on MTU and jumbo packets as that can really vault large transfers and be worth the engineering work if you can’t speed up large reads.


How can I mirror one Mac's screen to another?

You can install the program "AirServer" on the Mac Mini to be able to AirPlay the display directly to it:

http://www.airserver.com/Download


Finder. No folder icon after upgrade to 10.10.3

Try killall -KILL Finder in Terminal. Usually clears up graphical glitches.

Try resetting Finder preferences. Run these commands in Terminal:

rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
killall -KILL Finder

Note that you will have to redo any Finder preferences you had set.

If that doesn't work, follow these steps to reset the Icon Services cache:

sudo find /private/var/folders/ \
-name com.apple.dock.iconcache -exec rm {} \;

sudo find /private/var/folders/ \
-name com.apple.iconservices -exec rm -rf {} \;

sudo rm -rf /Library/Caches/com.apple.iconservices.store

killall -KILL Dock
killall -KILL Finder

After the first command, it will prompt you for a password. Enter your login password.


Terminal does not accept root password (just changed it)

You need to enter the password of the current user (who needs to be in the admin group unless you changed sudoers) if you run sudo.

PS: as other people already mentioned in the comments: you don‘t need to enable root to run sudo, basically you don‘t need to enable it at all.


How do I block a website on my iPhone 5?

To block a website on iOS 7 or later, go to Settings > General > Restrictions > Enable Restrictions then Restrictions > Websites > Limit Adult Content then Restrictions > Websites > Never Allow > Add a Website and add the website you wish to block.


How do I create a SSB for Outlook web mail using Fluid?

When you create a Single Site Browser (SSB) with Fluid, by default it only allows you to access specific URLs within it. The allowed URLs are by default (in this example): *outlook.com*.

What you need to do is open the SSB, enter it's preferences, choose the 'Whitelist' section, and add *live.com* to the whitelist. This should allow you to access both the login page, and actual Live Mail interface without issue.

If pages continue to open in your browser, take the URL and add it's domain to the whitelist.


How to see how much music do I have in iTunes?

You can bring back those details at the bottom of the screen by clicking Show Status Bar in the View menu, or pressing ⌘/.


Is it normal that the ad-hoc url doesn't work in the simulator?

Yes, the itms:// type links don't work in the simulator.


Use Screencapture command to record screen -- How to get the audio source id?

The -A <id> option has been replaced by the -G <id> option. Regarding the ID, it might be SoundflowerEngine:1 or something like that. You can get all audio device IDs by running the following Swift code (requires Xcode to be installed):
import Cocoa
import AVFoundation

let session = AVCaptureDevice.DiscoverySession.init(deviceTypes: [.builtInMicrophone, .externalUnknown], mediaType: nil, position: .unspecified)

for device in session.devices {
    print("device=\(device.localizedName), id=\(device.uniqueID)")
}

# Save it as ids.swift, and
$ swift ids.swift
device=MacBook Pro Microphone, id=BuiltInMicrophoneDevice
device=Soundflower (64ch), id=SoundflowerEngine:1

$ screencapture -v -V 60 -G SoundflowerEngine:1 output.mov

Alternatively, you can use the command line tool I made without installing Xcode:
$ list-av-capture-devices
[
  {
    "deviceType" : "AVCaptureDeviceTypeBuiltInMicrophone",
    "isConnected" : true,
    "localizedName" : "MacBook Pro Microphone",
    "manufacturer" : "Apple Inc.",
    "modelID" : "Digital Mic",
    "uniqueID" : "BuiltInMicrophoneDevice"
  },
  ...
]


I believe this is intentional on Apple's part. The reasons for this are:

reduce server load with smaller queries
reduce time to download results to the end user
prevent scraping the web site for store data (which is against the T&C)
simpler code on the user end not having to present hundreds of results on one page


Apple music playlist gone empty after upgrading to Catalina

This happened to me as well. I had to manually sync my Library:

On the top menu bar click

  Music -> Preferences -> Check the Sync Library Button


In theory, the answer is no. Activation Lock is designed to make bypassing it impossible.

However, this page claims to be able to bypass activation lock using some questionable mojo. Use at your own risk.

Alternatively, take the device to Apple with proof that you legitimately purchased it, and they should either be able to unlock it for you, or help you get in contact with the person who owns the account to which the device is locked.


"Not Enough Storage" message preventing me from using iphone 4S

Hold the home button and power button at the same time until the phone restarts. Connect it to your computer and delete some stuff :D


Yes, it's because the Mac sees multiple bootable disks.

Or multiple bootable volumes on the internal drive.


Mac Screenshot Markup/Annotation with Text that Sticks to Arrows

If you open your images in Apple's Preview, you can use the toolbar to add arrows, and text:

Then you can command-click each of the elements to move them respective of each other's position.

All of these annotations were done with Apple's Preview. You can do the same thing for PDFs as well.

And of course, taking screenshots are incredible easy in MacOS. cmd-shift-4 with  a space bar afterwards lets you take pics of windows.


Open Settings → Sounds → Ringtone. Choose a ringtone from the list. As you choose a ringtone, it begins to play so you can preview it.


Audio output gone, "internal speaker" device disappeared

My situation was NEARLY as you described -the issue was on a mid 2011 27" iMac. I had recently replaced/upgraded the original 1TB HDD with a 4TB HDD thinking/hoping it would resolve a problem with vertical lines on my monitor. It did just that, briefly, but then about a day later, the problem returned. I swallowed hard, opened up the iMac again, and replaced the graphics card, upgrading from the original 1GB to an AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2048 MB. To do that, it was necessary to completely remove the logic board as the graphics board connectors are on the back of the logic board (thanks a lot Apple!). It all went back together well, and everything but sound is perfect. It's possible that I could have damaged the logic board at some point, but it seems likely something else given the number of complaints about this with nothing being done internally. Whereas the original poster had NO system out options, I had one - digital output. Internal speakers option had disappeared, although internal microphone and line input functions remained normal.

All the tricks described in detail in others places failed to work, headphones connected to the jack do NOT function, but using a Bose wireless Bluetooth headphone works normally. The solution for me was rather than pour any more $$ into this old machine that is no longer my primary computer was to purchase and pair a Bose portable speaker with the iMac. The sound is much improved over the old internal speakers, I can leave it on it's charging pad to have continuous sound, and I can take the speaker anywhere I want pairing it to the iPhone X or an iPad.

The only thing bugging me is that I couldn't figure it out, but not worth wasting any time over either. Hope you've solved your problem.


iPhone asks for Mac password (or Mac asks for iOS password)

When you reset all settings or restore a backup from iCloud (or set up a device as new), the Keychain / iCloud and local USB trust pairings are removed and you should be prompted to trust the Mac when it connects to your iPhone.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202778

After the trust setting dialog pops up (if you are connected over USB), there is now a screen that asks you to enter your iCloud password to finish setting up the iOS device. I have not seen the follow on passcode/password page ever until today. In my case, it wanted the passcode on another iPad and not a Mac ( I have two iPads, an iPhone, Apple Watch, two Mac connected to my iCloud account as primary accounts / keychain sync enabled on all).

Enter Passcode for Other iPad

  Access to your account is protected by the passcode for "iPad". Your passcode is encrypted and cannot be read by Apple.

In my case, the iPad in question is named iPad Air 2 and there's a blue link with the text "Forgot iPad Air 2 passcode?" Tapping that lets me select another device to enter a passcode. I then selected my Mac Pro and the text changes to:

Enter Mac Pro Password

  Access to your account is protected by the password for "Mike's Mac Pro". Your passcode is encrypted and cannot be read by Apple.

I do have two step authentication enabled for my iCloud account so this seems a legitimate change that Apple has implemented recently to secure backups and/or joining a "new" device or OS to the keychain syncing / trust chain.

After entering the password, there was a long delay (the iPad screen went dark) and the next step was the iCloud Keychain dialog which also was slow to continue when I tapped that.


Why does mobile Safari revert to "Never accept cookies"?

Possible fixes:

Make sure there are no restrictions on cookie permissions, if you are a part of an Exhange account.
It has been reported that turning off iCloud Bookmarks may fix this issue. To do this; Tap Settings > iCloud and then tap the Bookmarks slider off.


Is there a way to auto-paginate "Page 1 of 3" in Pages?

Yes. Pages 09 certainly has this.

In the insert menu you should use both page number and page count to get page 2 of 3. You can use these anywhere, not just in the header or the footer.


Photo Library-Photo Stream-Camera Roll , whats the difference between these

Camera Roll contains photos you have taken on your device, accessible locally.

Photo Stream is a set of photos synced to all your devices, and only takes the last 1000 photos or from the past 30 days, whichever comes first. Photo Stream does not affect your iCloud storage.

(iCloud) Photo Library is where photos can be uploaded to, outside of the photos you take on your iDevice (so DSLR photos can be in Photo Library) and it does affect and consume your iCloud storage.


AppleScript to export script editor script as application

You must specify the full path where you want to save this application.

Here is an example that saves it in the "Applications" folder of the user.

set appName to "someAppName"
set thePath to (path to applications folder from user domain as string with folder creation) & appName & ".app"
tell application "Script Editor"
    set command to "do shell script " & "\"/bin/ls\""
    set innard to {contents:command}
    set Tallgeese to make new document with properties innard
    compile Tallgeese
    save Tallgeese as "application" in thePath
    close document 1 -- close the document
    -- quit ---- quit the editor
end tell


How to delete a song from inside an iPod?

Correct, on a stock iPod that is non jail broken, you can only delete music via iTunes.


How to fast set hot corners in Mavericks?

Before Mavericks there was indeed a property in System Events called "Expose preference".

Since 10.7 Lion, Expose was replaced by Mission Control, so this must be a remaining of this past time (The pref pane is called Expose.prefPane).

But in Mavericks this property was removed and not replaced.

tell application "System Events" to get properties returns

security preferences
network preferences
screen saver preferences
appearance preferences
CD and DVD preferences
dock preferences

And none of them has access to the hot corner properties.

So, no it's currently not possible to do the same thing. Or to be more precise, to do it without UI scripting. (BTW your script does not use UI scripting features).


How do I force my MacBook Air into "hibernation" mode?

I had simmilar issue and it was because my Macbook Air was connected to charger. When I disconnected it before closing lid - Mac went to hibernation as supposed.

Then I've read on somewhere ( forgot source ) that Mac won't go into hibernation mode until you plug out all external devices ( USB etc. ) and disconnect power adaptor. When it's connected to power it won't go to hibernate under any circumstantes ( so it's better to shut it down if you have to charge it ).


If you want to watch with the built in iTunes Player, I would suggest Music2iPod, a free app that can access any file (including videos) on a jailbroken iDevice and add it to the iTunes library. To add the video file to your device I would suggest connecting with a GUI SCP program (like Cyberduck) and transferring to the default directory (it really doesn't matter where, as long as you have read/write access and can remember it), then navigating to this with Music2iPod, which will then add the video to your iPod library for you.


Upgrade iOS 10 beta to iOS 10 final/public release

You can just do a normal software update from Settings > General > Software Update.  The release version will overwrite the beta version. See Apple's Beta software FAQ's* (https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/faq):

  To get a shipping release of iOS on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you can simply install the final version of the software you are testing when it appears in Software Update.

Apple's technical note about iOS beta software* (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203282) documents the process for upgrading from the beta to final release of iOS:

  Download the final version of iOS

  If you have an iOS beta version and want to download the final version, follow these steps:

  Connect your device to iTunes.
  While your device is connected, force it to restart. Press and hold the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons at the same time. Don't release when you see the Apple logo. Keep holding until you see the Recovery Mode screen.
  When asked, choose Update to download and install the latest non-beta version of iOS.

  An update install won't affect your content or settings.

*URLs left intentionally, do not edit to remove.


Switch to Intel Iris Pro on MacBook Pro under Windows

I know this is not the answer you want to hear, but unfortunately there is no way to disable the discrete GPU and use the integrated graphics, when using Bootcamp.

This has been discussed (to death) on support forums and on the web generally.

I have thought myself in the past, that it would be useful to be able to turn off the discrete GPU just to improve battery life on the laptop. But Apple have not provided a driver capable of switching off the discrete GPU, so there is no way of doing it.

Sorry to be the bringer of bad news - who knows, maybe they will provide that functionality in the future?


Unable to delete folder with phantom sub-folders / files

For anyone else coming across this issue. The solution entailed formatting the hard drive, after which disk utility was able to do its thing and the data could be restored.


Why AppleScript in El Capitan runs differently?

The on idle and quit handler are for Applets, not Scripts. Applets and scripts are different, however they are both written in Applescript.

An applet, is script application, which support idle and quit handlers, while script is like any other script in any language; it runs and till the end, doesn't know when it's about to exit, or when it's idle. Applet it like any other application, if you right click and "Open Package Content" of an applet you'll see the resemblance. Applet can have resources, can be CodeSigned, can have multiple script and shared without any problem.

That's your problem, choose to save the script as an application when asked, also select "Stay open after run handler", then your idle handler will run.

Few more things, it's always a good idea to return out of every handler, which you aren't in run and testing, this can cause the idle handler to not run as it'll be waiting for run to finish. You should also insert continue quit in your quit handler, otherwise it'll never quit; you'll have to force quit it.

For more info AppleScript Language Guide


After resetting iOS 7, and having my volume disappear, how can I re-enable it?

To fix this problem, I got my iPad charger (which was disconnected from any power source such as a wall outlet), and plugged it into my iPhone, and unplugged it twice. This process fixed the iPhone.


How to deactivate the welcome screen in LibreOffice for Mac?

There is no known setting to disable this dialog.

The "welcome screen" serves as a dispatcher to the different parts of LibreOffice (such as the word processor or spreadsheet). Because these applications cannot be accessed directly (they lack stand-alone binaries), the welcome screen is in fact quite functional when not launching LibreOffice from an existing document. Disabling it would not make much sense from a useability point a view, therefore I am not really surprised there is no setting to change this behavior.


Archive emails on Google Mail using Apple Mail

Two options work for this.

Move the message to the [Gmail]/All Mail folder. Mail.app will show two copies of the message in there, but it will appear properly in other clients (definitely the web interface and on iPhones, should be respected elsewhere).
Goto the Mailbox Behaviours section in the Accounts tab of the Mail.app preferences and deselect "Move deleted messages to the Trash mailbox" and "Store deleted messages on the server". This way deleting messages out of your Inbox removes them instantly, but there's still the archived copy in [Gmail]/All Mail. Solves the duplicates problem, but if you really want to delete something, you've got to move it to the [Gmail]/Trash folder.

Hope that helps. Google has published some other guidelines for using Gmail in Mail.app that may be helpful.


What effect does upgrading RAM or the Processor have on the performance of a computer?

You should definitely upgrade your RAM.

The performance improvement of replacing your CPU is minor, and will only be seen while running tasks that require consistent processing, which most modern uses do not.

You can check for yourself how many times your CPU reaches 100% of its usage.

Upgrading your RAM will enable your computer to cache more stuff, hence run a lot faster, and in addition, you will be able to hold much more programs running while still not getting any significant slowdown.


I'm sorry you felt the response you got on the Vienna GitHub page wasn't satisfactory. The issue was caused by a compromised web server that was serving you an RSS feed and also performing a normal HTTP request to a ransomware site.

To add an answer to your second item, disabling JS and plugins in the internal browser should be more than enough. Attempting to reach a ransomeware site isn't a security issue in itself.

For Sandboxing, Vienna was patched in November 2016 (see https://github.com/ViennaRSS/vienna-rss/issues/736) to prevent an XML exploit that allowed a malicious RSS feed to potentially read files outside of the application.
We hope to add the macOS native sandboxing in the future and that is an issue that is high on our list of improvements to make to Vienna and hopefully won't be outstanding for too much longer.


How to log in to turn off Num Lock on a MacBook Pro when you can't login?

Try disabling mouse keys. System Preferences > Accessibility > Mouse & Trackpad > Uncheck mouse keys if it is enabled.


Is there a workaround to pay for several years (stock up) with in-app annual subscription?

I don’t think you get any sort of hidden features with subscriptions through Apple. Since this is a service, it’s not baked into any OS upgrade or app, it’s just logic on how the system works.
I would reach out to the developer if you need this, but I would caution you - how could Apple offer a refund for something they might not even be able to deliver in 3 years. If the developer offers a side registration process - they an do whatever they please, but Apple has been pretty set on the terms for a while - so anything could change, but I would expect them to be selling annual passes at the longest term for as long as they’re on the hook to provide refunds when a purchase has issues.
I think you have a very good grasp - there’s no hidden workarounds here - it’s like asking a bank to change how they grant interest on certificates of deposit. It’s a pretty standard transaction from a mechanism what happens at the start and end - you’re just wanting them to change the term for you and a specific developer.


Using `jar` to create “zip” file … Mac won't open the zip, says “It is an unsupported format” … why?

I worked around my problem by installing 7-zip on Windows 10 and using that instead of jar like so ...
7z a c:\target\Application-1.5.zip .\Application-1.5\* -r

Mac likes the zip file produced by 7-zip, so this will work for me.
But I'd still like to know how to make a zip file with jar that Mac's default unarchive can unzip.


How to recover from accidently diskpart'ing an OS X drive, destroying everything?

If you can connect to a standard wireless WPA/WPA2 network, it should be possible to reinstall OS X from an internet connection. Try booting with
⌘-Option-R held down as soon as you power on. Do not let go until the Apple logo is visible on screen.

Per this Apple support article:

  Newer Macs include the ability to start up directly from an Internet-based version OS X Recovery. Your Mac automatically uses this feature when the Recovery System on the startup drive isn't available. For example, if your startup drive encounters an issue, or if your startup drive has been replaced or erased. Internet Recovery lets you start your Mac directly from Apple's servers.

I would not attempt to do this until you have exhausted any options you wish to take for data recovery.


What is the best OS X version for iBook G4?

Leopard, 10.5, had some interesting features but I wouldn't recommend upgrading if you're comfortable with your laptop as is. There's a good chance that your iBook won't run 10.5.8 as smoothly as it does run 10.4.11. As far as I can tell, this is your only choice to upgrade because your iBook won't run 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

The only reason I can personally imagine wanting to upgrade is to get any security updates that were issued for the last 10.5 release (10.5.8) but weren't for 10.4.11. There were roughly two years in between the last Tiger release and the last Leopard release, but I'm not sure whether or not any security updates were released in that time.


Keep standalone bash script app open after run of script

Gathering what's above in the comments, here's what works: Use Script Editor to write a script containing

do shell script "complete_path_to_start_script"
on quit
    do shell script "complete_path_to_quit_script"
    continue quit
end quit

Use Script Editor to export the script as a standalone app which remains open after the start script has terminated. This option can be selected in a checkbox.


Spotlight indexing appears stuck, what can I do?

You can try to temporarily disable Spotlight, removing its files and then reenabling it.

The process to do this involves executing Terminal commands, so please pay attention and triple check each step.

Open a Terminal.app (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app) and type:

cd /Volumes
ls -l

Examine the output of that, one should be your “broken” Volume. Once you have it identified, proceed with these steps, all in the Terminal. The first time you execute a command, your password may be required, this is normal.

The output may look like:

lrwxr-xr-x   1 root    admin     1 Sep  2 12:23 MacintoshHD -> /

So the name you’re after is “MacintoshHD”.

Step Number One: Disable Spotlight for your Drive.

sudo mdutil -i off "/Volumes/the_name_you_have_identified_before"

Step Number Two: Remove the indexes from the Drive.

sudo mdutil -E "/Volumes/the_name_you_have_identified_before"

Step Number Three: Eliminate all Spotlight Files from the Drive. (two commands)

cd "/Volumes/the_name_you_have_identified_before"
sudo rm -fr .Spotlight-V100

Be careful with the last command, make sure you type it exactly as it appears.

Step Number Four: Re-enable spotlight in the Drive.

sudo mdutil -i on "/Volumes/the_name_you_have_identified_before"

Now this should trigger a Spotlight complete re-indexing. You have to be extremely patient with it. Spotlight sometimes appears to be frozen but it’s really indexing. It’s best to leave it overnight and be patient.


No problem seeing them on my iPad, they are Arabic, must be a chrome bug.


How can I install getent on Snow Leopard?

dscacheutil is probably the best way to do this. It doesn't emulate the usual search process, it uses it, so you'll actually get the same results as a standard lookup (including caching, /etc/hosts, computer records in directory services, DNS, mDNS for .local names, etc).

$ dscacheutil -q host -a name www.apple.com
name: e3191.c.akamaiedge.net
alias: www.apple.com www.isg-apple.com.akadns.net www.apple.com.edgekey.net
ip_address: 69.192.45.15

$ dscacheutil -q host -a name gordons-mbp.local
name: gordons-mbp.local
ipv6_address: fe80:5::e6ce:8fff:fe50:136

name: gordons-mbp.local
ip_address: 192.168.10.249

$ dscacheutil -q host -a ip_address 127.0.0.1
name: localhost
alias: 1.0.0.127.in-addr.arpa
ip_address: 127.0.0.1

$ dscacheutil -q user -a name gordon
name: gordon
password: ********
uid: 501
gid: 20
dir: /Users/gordon
shell: /bin/bash
gecos: Gordon Davisson


When using CMD-Tab, how to re-open the app's main window?

There exists a shortcut for that, though it requires certain dexterity:

Command-Tab to the app, but then, before releasing Command, hold Option.

If you then release Command while still holding Option, the window should pop open.

It's just like clicking in the app icon in the Dock (if there are no windows open, one opens; if there is a minimized window, it appears again).


How do I solve the problem of “invalid active developer path” when attempting to use Git on VSCode

xcode-select --install

This installs or updates Command Line Tools. It can be done manually too, by downloading the tools from Developer Website.

How to compile with Command Line Tools for Xcode after deleting the Xcode.app application bundle?
Can't update Developer Tools on Mojave

You might need to point it to the install location of the tools too.

sudo xcode-select -switch /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools

Then restart the Terminal/ VSCode.


How to determine out what Wi-Fi channel is used from the command line?

There is a command line airport that is buried deep in the system framework that seems to be safe to call from the terminal. You can make a quick shell alias if you prefer short commands.

From macworld

Create an alias in your ~/.profile for the Airport Utility:
(this should all be on the same line with NO SPACE between airport='..., but it won't fit on one here!)
> alias airport='/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport'
Then you can run this command to find out more info: > airport en1 scan


Unresponsive mouse wheel on macOS Sierra

I've looked for many solutions and USB Overdrive, is the only one that I've found that fixes it. Would love to hear if there are others, because I agree the nagware aspect is annoying (although it's only on boot, so it's not actually that bad).

Install it, then, in the settings, set "Wheel up" to scroll up "2 lines" and "Wheel down" to scroll down "2 lines". For whatever reason you have to use "2 lines"—"one line" still exhibits the issue. It's possible your mouse will require different settings.


Location of power Logic on Macbook Air 13" A1369 main logic board

I assume you're looking for a way to bypass the power button to power it on?  If so this should help.

The power pads, two slightly raised solder points, are found just above the keyboard flex connection on the logic board.  See the circled pads in the picture below.  Bridging these two pads while power is provided to the Mac should power it on.  Be sure to use a metal tool with a non conductive handle to bridge the two points.

Source picture can be found in iFixit's 13" Mid-2011 MacBook Air logic board replacement guide, used and modified under a CC license.

Something to keep in mind, a stuck power button will prevent a Mac from powering on even when the power pads are shorted.  To verify that the top case (it houses the power button) is at fault you should disconnect the top case flex cable (silver flex in the photo) and try again if the Mac doesn't first power on with the power pads.  If it still doesn't power on with the flex disconnected then the logic board is likely at fault although you could still dive deeper and disconnect components (SSD, speakers, display) to further isolate the logic board.

Good luck!  Hopefully it's something simple/cheap.


Github and credential-osxkeychain delete access

Yes, git-credential-osxkeychain can delete the GitHub entry in your KeyChain. It will do that when it gets a failed authentication, I've had it happen to me.

I'm not sure it's a good idea, but I understand the reason. It has the access to do it and it's not like it serves any purpose any more.

GitHub can't do it from their end, they don't have the permissions over your KeyChain.


Yes, it's called Personal Hotspot in iOS5.

under the Settings App on iOS, hit the Personal Hotspot section.  If the feature is currently enabled, you will be able to set a Wifi password and turn the Hotspot on.  Instructions on how to connect to the iPhone are built into the page.

The facility is built into iOS, however you will find that it may or may not be available through your carrier.

If you find that the above is not enabled, then you will need to contact your carrier and subscribe to Tethering support for your contract, if it is available, once done you should be able to enable the Personal Hotspot facility inside the Network preferences.


This appears to be a recent change to how purchasing functions, added for increased security. According to TheNextWeb, via MacRumors:

  In the past 24 hours, Apple appears to have started prompting iOS
  devices owners and those with Apple IDs within iTunes to make their
  accounts more secure, requiring them to pick three security questions
  and enter their answers when they download a new app.

  The company is also asking users to enter a backup email address, in
  order to better protect their device but also their account (which is
  tied to Apple’s Retail website and all of its media services).


This was extremely fast, but I was fiddling with the wifi settings, and I noticed the ASUS traffic manager was enabled. Upon disabling it, I had the same download speed as other devices. It had limited my own device for whatever reason.


Turning off Apple hardware checks on startup

You can’t bypass this.

It’s technically not an Apple limitation as all computers (PCs too) need to run a minimal set of tests to probe how much RAM is available, what boot devices are present, etc.   Without it, your Mac wouldn’t know from where to boot from at a very minimum


Running Diskutil in command line mode is pretty much the same as running it in the GUI and that is the right way to go: select the disk and click on repair. Or do it the way "perhapsmaybeharry" indicated. Either should work.

If that fails you may need to try a dedicated disk repair program (I use Diskwarrior but there are others that work well too).

Likely a bad sector cropped up at the wrong place at the wrong time that the drive firmware could not fix. It is unlikely that Disk Utility did anything. And another disk repair utility may be able to fix this.

If it can't you may have to send it off to a data recovery company, but that is expensive and DiskWarrior (or others) is likely to fix it.


How to name new hard drive without conflict?

The name is relative and you can change it later. Just name the new drive new and use it for a week or day. Once you are ready to shift, name the old one "old" and put the name you want for new.

Or rename the old one before you introduce the new one.

This works out of the box, so I'm guessing you might have some other constraint that needs to be discussed, but perhaps you didn't know you could rename things on the go.

Also - never remove a working drive to swap until you’ve already set up the new drive externally and tested booting from the external drive. Then you know it’s bootable and working and if you put it inside, you know the fault is always the cable and installation - you don’t have to wonder if the OS wasn’t OK or drivers, etc...


Add "Google Images?" to the acceptable results for the text returned.

else if text returned of result is in {"Google Images", "Google Images?"} then

instead of:

else if text returned of result = "Google Images" then

This will allow for you to enter both as acceptable answers in your dialog.


Are there silicon wireless keyboards for apple machines?

You can purchase a Moshi ClearGuard keyboard protector directly from Apple and use it on your wireless keyboard. I have one in use at home in the kitchen/family room for our AppleTV 3rd gen. Comes in handy when I'm cooking and want to use the keyboard as a remote without having to wash my hands!

BTW/ Silicon is an element (#14 on the Periodic table.) Silicone is a flexible synthetic polymer used for adhesives, lubricants, cook-wear, insulation, and water-proofing.


Is buying from the Apple website VS Apple Store any different?

Nope, it is not different.

On apple store you can customize:

In you case it will come up as

Configure your 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display

2.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
16GB 1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM
512GB PCIe-based Flash Storage
Intel Iris Pro Graphics and NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M with 2GB of GDDR5 memory
Backlit Keyboard (English) & User's Guide


How to restart using an app without it accessing older data?

It depends on how the app was made. The way you describe it, it sounds like the app uses Apple's DeviceCheck to ensure that it can only be trialed once.

If that is the case, then you cannot as a user reset the data - not even by completely resetting your phone.


Missing sound in videos recorded with iOS 11

Apparently, iOS 11 records a video with two audio tracks: the first one completely silent, while the second one is the real one. You can fix it with ffmpeg like this

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -map 0:0 -map 0:2 -c:v copy -c:a copy output.mp4


What happened to icloud.com/activationlock page?

Apple removed it.  It was being used as part of a hack (a very detailed hack) to allow people to get around Activation Lock.


How do you contact a human behind iTunesConnect?

Assuming you're a registered Developer, you can just call the Apple Developer Program Support number for your country.

The direct link is: https://developer.apple.com/contact/phone/

If you wanted to know how to navigate to this, you would just:

Login at https://developer.apple.com
Select Support in the main menu
Scroll down to and select Contact Us
Scroll down to the Enrollment and Account subheading
Click on Apple Developer Program Support
This will open a Contact Us form
Above your details you'll see a link for call us


How to keep PowerPoint from mirroring my monitors when switching apps?

If you switch PowerPoint to display mode first, then switch to a mac app (using command-tab), then turn off mirroring, the setting should then stick. Otherwise, as you found out, Microsoft is sure nobody but powerpoint needs display mode.

In case some reader doesn't know how to turn off mirroring: If you go into "System Preferences/Display Preferences" Arrangement tab (only present when connected to a second display), uncheck the box that says "Mirror Displays".

Also, on the bottom of the Display Preferences pane, you can check "Show displays in menu bar" to access this setting more easily without going into preferences.


Jailbroken iOS 8.4 iPhone 4S device is now disabled and requires to connect to iTunes

Per Apple:

If you enter the wrong passcode in to an iOS device six times in a row, you'll be locked out and a message will say that your device is disabled.
Unless you made a backup before you forgot your passcode, there isn't a way to save your device's data. You'll need to erase your device, which deletes all of your data and settings.


What IPA layout do you use? SIL's website has one for Dvorak. You could edit other keyboard layouts with Ukelele or directly as XML.

You could also try adding something like this to private.xml in KeyRemap4MacBook.

<item>
<name>test</name>
<identifier>private.test</identifier>
<inputmode_not>ROMAN</inputmode_not>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::Q, KeyCode::QUOTE</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::W, KeyCode::COMMA</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::E, KeyCode::DOT</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::R, KeyCode::P</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::T, KeyCode::Y</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::Y, KeyCode::F</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::U, KeyCode::G</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::I, KeyCode::C</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::O, KeyCode::R</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::P, KeyCode::L</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::BRACKET_LEFT, KeyCode::SLASH</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::BRACKET_RIGHT, KeyCode::EQUAL</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::S, KeyCode::O</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::D, KeyCode::E</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::F, KeyCode::U</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::G, KeyCode::I</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::H, KeyCode::D</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::J, KeyCode::H</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::K, KeyCode::T</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::L, KeyCode::N</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::SEMICOLON, KeyCode::S</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::QUOTE, KeyCode::MINUS</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::Z, KeyCode::SEMICOLON</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::X, KeyCode::Q</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::C, KeyCode::J</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::V, KeyCode::K</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::B, KeyCode::X</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::N, KeyCode::B</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::COMMA, KeyCode::W</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::DOT, KeyCode::V</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::SLASH, KeyCode::Z</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::MINUS, KeyCode::BRACKET_LEFT</autogen>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::EQUAL, KeyCode::BRACKET_RIGHT</autogen>
</item>

It's based on remap.qwerty2dvorak in the checkbox.xml in the test folder.

If someone else was looking for a way to change the input method when holding a key, see this question.


How to access an iPhone app's database and media files?

If the data does not show in iTunes File Sharing, you can use iExplorer to read your iTunes backup for the app’s container.


Prevent File Sharing access with Apple ID

Joan, try this (it worked for me):

Log in as a different user than the one you want to modify; also, make sure the account you want to modify is not logged in.
Open the Users & Groups pane of System Preferences.
If the lock icon in the lower-left corner of the Users & Groups window is “locked,” click it and provide an administrative username and password when prompted. This allows you to make changes.
In the list of accounts on the left, right-click (or Control-click) on the name of the account you want to modify, and then choose Advanced Options from the resulting menu.
Look inside the box that says "Aliases".  If your apple ID is listed there, delete it.
Then close the padlock, and that did it for me.  If computers connect via the Apple ID now, all they can see are the shared, public folders. Nothing else.

Hope it works!


MacBook Pro Retina screenshot in higher resolution than the native?

By selecting the far-right setting for resolution within System Preferences, you are seemingly increasing the screen resolution to a value greater than 2880x1800. This is exactly why you are seeing an image with greater dimensions.

What the display settings allow you to do is scale resolutions so words and images all appear larger or smaller on the display screen yet all fit within the physical display (through scaling).

That being said, any scaled resolution may not offer the same image quality as the "Best (Retina)" setting depending on the application etc.

Also, the fact that your graphics performance will vary when scaling the resolutions indicates that your computer is using system resources to compute/adjust/scale what your display projects. This is how the resolution appears to be more, or less, than what the hardware should support.

Each alternate resolution will be higher or lower in dimension but scaled down/up to fit the display window.


Seagate (Samsung) external drive USB 3.0 not mounting on High Sierra

Looks like hardware failure to me. It might not be the drive itself. Could be a bad connection, or bad power supply. You haven't given any specific details on how you have this drive hooked up to your computer. Nor whether it's a 2.5, or 3.5" drive. So a definitive answer isn't possible. It it's read/write, tracks/sectors failing, smartmon will indicate to your BIOS/OS that the drive is failing, and needs to be replaced. You should perform a fresh boot and immediately look at your logs to see whether smartmon is reporting failures. But do check all your connections before powering up the computer && hard drive.

Good luck!


How to drag the last Safari tab to another window?

In Safari, one can move even the last tab of a window into another window simply by clicking on the tab's title area and then dragging and dropping onto the tab space of your target window. Dragging the last tab to a new window causes that window to close.

This is what it looks like to move the last tab, which I had opened at Top Sites.

That is actual size. The window 'collapses' during the drag operation and becomes semi-transparent.

The requirement is that View | Show Tab Bar is selected when the window is open with a single tab. This setting is sticky; it will 'stick' between Safari sessions.


Use security to get a list of Keys in Keychain based on type?

It looks like the answer here is as close as I can get, which is to use dump-keychain and filter by 0x00000007:

security dump-keychain | awk -F= '/0x00000007/ {print $2}'

It includes more than just Application Passwords, but it's definitely a more workable subset, and I can filter out a blacklist with grep -v.


How can I change the volume level of the dictation sound in iOS?

Get the keyboard active in any app or swipe down on home screen.
Press the Mic icon.
You don't need to say something, just hold down volume down button. Press the Keyboard icon to get out of dictation.

It will be muted afterwards. Your music and ringer volume will remain unchanged. I discourage doing this as the phone is then recording your sound which is something the company wants to warn you about.


Yes, if you have "Documents & Data" checked on iCloud preferences on OS X (since 10.9).


How to show TV from a coaxial cable on an Apple Thunderbolt Display

You might consider a TV tuner with HDMI output like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815260027

Then an HDMI to Display Port or Mini Display Port (Thunderbolt is backwards compatible with Mini Display Port. Display Port would need an adapter to the Mini variety) like this:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=962633

Shop around for devices such as these. No idea how well any setup would work, I'd love to hear back how well it works out.


Programmatically mark file(s) to be ignored by Time Machine

There is a C function 'CSBackupSetItemExcluded' you can use to tell Time Machine to exclude a file.

You can find it documented here...

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/MacOSX/Reference/Backup/#//apple_ref/c/func/CSBackupSetItemExcluded


Draft messages in Mountain Lion Mail do not include server draft messages

I have an iMac (Mountain Lion.)  I couldn't edit any of my drafts.  I finally found that all I had to do was click FORWARD and then when the email comes on the screen I can edit.  (Too bad extra steps have to be taken, though.)


Will my apps be removed from the App Store if my developer account expires?

Yes - all your apps will be removed from their respective App Stores if your developer program membership expires.

  If your Apple Developer Program membership expires, you will still have access to iTunes Connect. However, your apps will no longer be available for download on the App Store and you will not be able to submit new apps or updates.

Source: https://developer.apple.com/support/appstore/itunes-connect/

Attempting to log in to iTunes Connect will show the following message, but all of the services are still accessible.


CTR-Click is essentially right-clicking the mouse, and there is no way of remapping the keys without downloading 3rd party applications.

Karabiner can do this for you:
https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/

You can use it to map CTR-Click to left-click and it should work as you want it to.


Can I put my iPhone 4 sim card into a new iPhone 4S?

If you buy a new iPhone and switch SIM's, you'll be fine.

Both the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S are using the microsim, so SIM's will fit in both iPhones.

If your current iPhone 4 is registered on the account of your ex, he won't get a notice of SIM's being switched.
However, if you reconfigured the iPhone with a new account, your ex might know the phone isn't registered with his account when using apps like 'Find My iPhone'.


Create an El Capitan rescue USB using a Modern M1 Mac

Start by downloading the El Capitan dmg from this link : https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683
Then open the dmg and copy InstallMacOSX.pkg on the Desktop.
Then, from the terminal (Applications/Utilities) un-compact the InstallMacOSX.pkg file in a directory (Installer for example) which will be created by the following pkgutil command:
pkgutil --expand ~/Desktop/InstallMacOSX.pkg ~/Desktop/Installer

Then position yourself in the InstallMacOSX.pkg "package" created by the pkgutil command
cd ~/Desktop/Installer/InstallMacOSX.pkg

Then un-compact the structure using the tar command:
tar -xvf Payload

Finally move the InstallESD.dmg file created by the tar command above to the Desktop
mv InstallESD.dmg ~/Desktop

You must then format a GUID partition scheme USB key of sufficient size (8 GB for El Capitan) named KEY in the example and execute the following instructions :
hdiutil attach ~/Desktop/InstallESD.dmg -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/install_app
hdiutil convert /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.dmg -format UDSP -o /tmp/Installer
hdiutil resize -size 8g /tmp/Installer.sparseimage
hdiutil attach /tmp/Installer.sparseimage -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/install_build
rm -r /Volumes/install_build/System/Installation/Packages
cp -av /Volumes/install_app/Packages /Volumes/install_build/System/Installation/
cp -av /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.chunklist /Volumes/install_build
cp -av /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.dmg /Volumes/install_build
hdiutil detach /Volumes/install_app
hdiutil detach /Volumes/install_build
hdiutil resize -size `hdiutil resize -limits /tmp/Installer.sparseimage | tail -n 1 | awk '{print $ 1}' `b /tmp/Installer.sparseimage
hdiutil convert /tmp/Installer.sparseimage -format UDZO -o /tmp/Installer
mv /tmp/Installer.dmg ~/Desktop

Here you have to plug the USB key named KEY, then :
sudo asr restore --source ~/Desktop/Installer.dmg --target /Volumes/KEY --noprompt --noverify --erase

Test the key and if ok, delete the working directories and files of this operation from the Desktop.


Something may be mounting the disk on your startup system. Try to exclude the disk from spotlight, time machine and so on.

After that, there are a few unmount options in the terminal - sometimes, you have to unmount the volumes before you unmount the disks, or vice versa, and such.

Also, a few times in my past, the disk utility from the gui could unmount something which the diskutil command could not.

As a final recourse, try all this with the online recovery (it tends to be less likely to mount something) and/or the original version of MacOS your Mac shipped with (it may not understand new features of your Fusion Drive's file system, which is an advantage when deleting it).

On a sidenote, the zeroDisk option in Diskutil cleans up your disk more radically (and wears down the SSD more), but may help when issues remain. But it also only works when unmounting worked. You use it on both disks and let Disk Utility repair the Fusion Drive again. Use it only when deleting is unsuccessful. Be aware that a small error can delete the wrong disk, that there is no going back from it, that it takes a long time (though usually you can stop it with ctrl-c after the first percentage above 0 appears), and that it may destroy a disk (lots of zeros will be written).


How do I run Mac OS X partition on Windows 7 through a virtual machine?

Here is a quick summary of running OS X on non apple hardware with (and also without) support from virtualization such as VMware.

Possible - yes
Supported, licensed, intended - no
Legal - you'll need a lawyer to help with that in your specific location.

So, as long as the hardware was Mac you would be probably licensed for Lion and later OS X to run visually no matter what intermediary OS you used as part of the virtualization chain. The how isn't going to be easy since you'll have to defeat either VMWare's checks to prevent any Windows person from running OS X or OS X's checks to ensure it's running on Mac hardware.


iPhone's MAC address does not seem to be correct

For privacy reasons, iOS randomizes its MAC address so that public Wi-Fi networks (and other Wi-Fi based tracking networks) cannot use your unique unchanging MAC address to track you from place to place.
That 4A:… MAC address has the 2's place bit in the first octet set, which signifies that it is a locally administered MAC address (which in this context means it was randomly self-generated) not the guaranteed globally unique address that's burnt into the hardware. The 88:… address does not have the first octet's 2's place bit set, so it is the guaranteed globally unique address that's burnt into the hardware.
If you go into the iOS Wi-Fi settings for that network, you can turn off the "Private Address" switch to get your iPhone to use its unique, trackable MAC address on that network. See Apple's support document for details on this.


iMac 27" shutting down during Windows 7 install

Get Temperature Monitor to see if it's heat related...

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12381/temperature-monitor

iStat Menus...

http://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/

And/or iStat Pro...

http://www.islayer.com/apps/istatpro/

Open Console in Utilities & see if there are any clues in the system log for Date & Time of the last shutdown/crash & the next start up.


We recently released a new app that is dedicated to importing data from CSV (comma separated value) data files which covers many formats of exported data from existing apps.  It will allow you to import data from apps that have an export feature, but are not yet integrated into HealthKit / Health App.

If this is a feature you are still curious about, please check it out on the App Store at:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/health-importer/id930943780?ls=1&mt=8


With FileVault enabled, do I need to overwrite my hard drive with 0's before getting rid of it?

No - the point of FileVault 2 is to make it extremely difficult for a motivated person to decipher what was stored on that volume.

I would pay more attention to destroying that key that was used encrypt the data than the drive.

Of course, you could zero the drive, but why not go one better and pick a new encryption key that was never used, and never will be used and let your machine re-do the encryption of the drive once you have erased all the data one pass.

Since there have been no scholarly articles on how easy it is to decrypt a FileVault drive nor reports of exploits - you have to weigh the potential damage that leak of information could be. FileVault makes it much easier to not worry if you lose a drive, so the old saw to be sure to overwrite things many times is far less applicable for drives where encryption exists at rest.


macOS will not trim Windows partition and similarly Windows will not trim the macOS partition.

Both however will automatically trim their own partitions (and any other mounted file systems they understand).

You don't need to destroy either partition "semi-regularly" - just use them both as normal.

As a bit of background, Windows under Boot Camp will enable trim automatically if it identifies your disk as a SSD.  You can check this by the running the command fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify.

If it shows NTFS DisableDeleteNotify = 0 then trim is enabled. See How to Check if TRIM Is Enabled for Your SSD (and Enable It if It Isn’t)

The actual trim is run automatically on a schedule (weekly by default) or you can search for Defragment and Optimize Drives from the Start Menu and click on the "Optimize" button to run it immediately.

This is from my Boot Camp partition:


To use the Russian App Store you need to create an account there using whatever payment method is available. Apple matches credit cards to country so you'll need a card issued in Russia to buy any apps
Multi-lingual apps use the language configured on the phone. So even if you buy an app in the US store it will switch to Russian if running on such an iPhone (at least as long as the developers translated it to Russian in the first place)


Why does MacBook connect to AirPort Express but has no internet connection, while iMac works just fine?

Setting the AirPort Express b/g to g-only mode solved this problem for me, though I don't understand why.


How to show my name, but not my call back number when call out on Iphone 11

What does your cell phone carrier say when you ask them? The carrier is what determines this function, not Apple.


To deal with superfluous carriage returns in TextEdit

I don't believe that TextEdit has such an option.  It happily accepts all line ending types (even intermixed within the same file) and displays them properly.

You would probably need to use a text editor where you have direct control over the line endings and text encoding type when saving the file.  BBEdit is a great text editor that has such controls.

Another option is to convert the file with a utility like dos2unix.  The website doesn't offer a macOS binary download so you would need to either compile it yourself or install a package manager like Homebrew first then install the dos2unix package with brew install dos2unix. For an easy solution you can just run perl -pi -e 's/\r\n/\n/;' FILE.TXT as well.


Is there an iPad PDF Reader app that has autoscroll?

To date, I have found only one PDF reader that has Dropbox connectivity and has autoscroll(after a fashion.)

It is PDF Reader Pro iTunes Link. It is a universal app that works on both iPad and iPhone and ties to Box.net, Dropbox, Googledocs, and iDisk.  It has an "Autoflow" feature that allows timed jumps (from 5 to 100 seconds) of a preset number of pixels (20 to 400.)  I bought it at the low price of $0.99 and it performs, pretty much, as expected.  It has some basic annotation capabilities and "scans" documents using the camera in the iPad 2.  I have an original so I couldn't test that feature.

I haven't used it a lot as I like the annotative capabilities of iAnnotate, but the app is a good fall back if I need the autoflow feature.

For $0.99 it looks to be a solid reader that fits the requirements you laid out.


VPN client is not working after Yosemite update: Enforce Firewall Policy Fail

I think the unerlying issue is that Yosemite will not load kext (kernel extensions) unless they are signed by an authorized kernel extension developer. However in 10.8 and earlier, kexts could not be signed and signed kexts for 10.9+ will not load in <10.9.

I experienced the same issue loading unsigned tuntaposx for the vpnc cisco client.

You can override this behavior and allow the cpfw.kext to load in Yosemite by putting your computer into kext developer mode. This essentially reverts to the 10.9 behavior by allowing unsigned kexts to load.

sudo nvram boot-args="kext-dev-mode=1"

Now reboot and your kext should load.

You can revert by doing this:

sudo nvram -d boot-args


The latest Mac models with either Thunderbolt or Mini DisplayPort can't directly output composite/S-Video (older Macs with micro-DVI could do this when using the right adapter).

Therefore you need a converter box (powered via USB or separate power supply) that takes a VGA signal and converts it to composite or S-Video, which can be connected to the TV. You need to get one that can supply the correct video signal for your TV (PAL/NTSC/SECAM), although most will support all of those. These converters are available in a wide price range - generally the more expensive, the better the quality (of the signal).

You will also need a Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter to get a VGA signal from your Mac (this also works with the Thunderbolt MBP). For the computer with DVI output you will hopefully have a graphics card that can output a VGA signal, in which case you merely need a DVI to VGA adapter. If it outputs only DVI, you're in trouble, as you'll need another converter that converts this digital signal to a VGA one.

Alternatively you could get a USB graphics card that outputs TV signals directly, although I can't seem to find one right now. This would be act like an additional monitor, which may be preferable.

In case your TV has SCART inputs (Europe mostly) instead of composite/S-video, you'll also need a SCART adapter, although this may be included with some of the products mentioned above.

The whole setup would look like this:

Mac -> Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter -> Converter box -> [SCART adapter] -> TV


MacBook Air 2013 screen issues after sleep

So here's what happened:

I took the computer to the AppleStore, seeing it was only about three weeks old, and got them to take a look at it. Since it's a company computer I had some company benefits granting me a temporary replacement while they were fixing mine. I took my TimeMachine copy and restored it on to the borrowed Mac. I was surprised to find that the issue still appeared, which was quite annoying. So I restored the Mac again, messed around with the pmsetsettings and tried to reproduce the issue but it was impossible.

I then remembered that the issue started appearing a few days ago when I did a battery calibration (Drained the Mac completely) so I restored to a TimeMachine backup from before that and Boom, the issue was gone. At about the same time they called from the store and said that they couldn't reproduce the issue, so I told them what I had found, came in and got my computer back.

All in all, a really weird story but apparently something related to draining the battery while the computer was still on got corrupted and was then included in the TimeMachine backup.