How do I type the prime and double prime characters on OS X?

Using the Character Viewer, search for "Prime". You can then click "Add to Favorites" for more convenient access.

In Mavericks, the following shortcut is helpful to bring up the character viewer:

  Control + Command + Spacebar

Click the button in the top right corner to switch between the "Characters" window and "Character Viewer". Note: to get that button or the search bar to appear, you'll need to scroll up.


About This Mac showing Mojave version 10.14.5 despite updating to 10.14.6

Most likely the update isn't installed. Go to System Preferences app → Software Update and check if an update is shown available.

Either the update is not downloaded or is pending installation. For latter, restarting your Mac should take care of installing it.


How can I tell if my Mac CPU supports AVX?

Execute this command in Terminal:

sysctl -a | grep machdep.cpu.features

You'll get a report out like this:

  Redacted-Family-iMac:~ redacted_user$ sysctl -a | grep machdep.cpu.features

  machdep.cpu.features: FPU VME DE PSE TSC MSR PAE MCE CX8 APIC SEP MTRR PGE MCA CMOV PAT PSE36 CLFSH DS ACPI MMX FXSR SSE SSE2 SS HTT TM PBE SSE3 PCLMULQDQ DTES64 MON DSCPL VMX SMX EST TM2 SSSE3 CX16 TPR PDCM SSE4.1 SSE4.2 x2APIC POPCNT AES PCID XSAVE OSXSAVE TSCTMR AVX1.0 RDRAND F16C

I've bolded the presence of the AXV1.0 CPU feature in the report from my Mac: iMac 27" Late 2012 3.4GHz Core i7.

(Answer lifted from this site.)


As other posters speculated, iOS 6 now supports uploading pictures through standard file upload forms.


Is it possible to transfer media from Catalina to an iPod Nano?

Yes, all models of iPod sync will still sync with your Mac after you upgrade to macOS Catalina. Syncing is done in Finder instead of iTunes in the new OS.


32gb of RAM on a 2011 or 2012 15/17-inch MacBook Pro using Crucial's 16gb single DIMMs

I doubt it would work. Macs are picky about RAM, and the RAM you listed isn't what is specified by Apple. Apple requires DDR3 RAM. You have listed DDR3L RAM. It's an easy mistake to make. DDR3L is low-power RAM, requiring 1.35V instead of 1.5V. It is very possible that the RAM will not be compatible.

Also, officially, Apple says that the MBP only supports 8GB RAM. However, it is widely recognized that the MBP can support 16GB RAM.

Why wouldn't it support 32GB? Because while 16GB DDR3L RAM sticks are available, 16GB DDR3 RAM sticks don't exist. There is no such thing as a 16GB RAM stick that matches Apple's specifications (PC3-12800 DDR3 1600 MHz type 204-pin RAM).

Edit: Although crucial says that the 16 GB RAM stick can be used in place of DDR3, it says it is not compatible with the Mac:


MacBook Air 2015 is a bit slow booting up

I have to say that each version of El Capitan (including 10.11.0) slowed a little more my MacBook Air.
In Yosemite the boot was easily 3 times faster.

Those days, it's the normal behavior of new system versions...


Turn off automatic download of attachments on iOS Mail

Currently there isn't  such a setting on iOS Mail app (as of iOS 12.0.1, Oct 2018).

A workaround that may help with detecting some unfiltered spam messages would be trying to preview the message before opening it. It could help increasing the preview size: go to Settings > Mail > Preview and increase it to 5 lines.

* image from https://www.imore.com/how-to-manage-mail-settings-iphone-ipad


Set "Load remote content in messages" per sender?

The only (ugly) solution to date seems to be:
tell application "System Events"
    click at {x, y}
end tell

— where x and y are coordinates of the mouse over the button to simulate a click (You can easily find these coordinates by doing a screenshot, i.e. cmd+shift+4)
Note: This will only work for the first message in a conversation since the button will be at the right place.
Tip: Although a dirty workaround, I accept this compromise as I make it more user-friendly by launching the script via a three-finger click through BTT.


Cannot boot Mac Mini with striped RAID 0 set

When you use Apple software to stripe the two internal drives of a Mac Mini, the recovery hard disk is removed. That means you will need to boot from a next journal drive to run Disk Utility and figure out what happened to the volume structure.

Fast SDHC cards are getting so inexpensive that I pretty much make one of those for every Mac Mini so it has a recovery OS to boot from for maintenance like this. Of course a USB drive works well too.

Get yourself a new drive and worst case, use internet recovery to install the OS on to an external drive so you have something to boot from. If you have a backup, you could wipe the two drives and run internet recovery as well to just fix or reinstall the OS on the empty drives.


Using python 3 when the default is python 2.7

OK, so if you already have python 3.3 or more, then:

Open the script in an text editor(TextEdit, vim, etc.)
Replace all python with python3
Save and exit

... or just do like @aircraft said, alias it if nothing else uses py2.


Normally yes.

The safe-mode is only blocking certain features of Mac at the boot time.
See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

  It loads only required kernel extensions (some of the items in
  /System/Library/Extensions).

  It disables all fonts other than those in /System/Library/Fonts (Mac
  OS X v10.4 or later).

  It moves to the Trash all font caches normally
  stored in /Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS/(uid)/ , where (uid) is a user
  ID number such as 501 (Mac OS X v10.4 or later). It disables all
  startup items and login items (Mac OS X v10.4 or later).

Eg if you have a problem with a font, a corrupt driver/kernel, ... it's possible you wont be able to use your Mac, since the Mac can crash at boot etc, booting in Safe-mode is a chance to solve those problems.


MacOS cannot copy "special" files...they are marked with "s"

This is a (s)ocket type file. As such, it doesn't have any persistent data associated with it and thus it makes no sense to copy it.
Sockets enable communication between two different processes on the same or on different machines. This communication is done using standard Unix/Linux file descriptors, using read() and write() system calls.


Clean shutdown/restart from terminal in 10.7+

While writing up this question I made a discovery that might help others to almost fully solve this issue:

  ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist contains TALLogoutSavesSate set to NO

While this is true, there is another file located at ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.loginwindow.*.plist that contains an array called TALAppsToRelaunchAtLogin. That array contains a list of app windows currently open.

Deleting this array, or in a more blunt way the whole file, and immediately restarting almost completely fixed the issue.

The remaining issue is when the machine starts up any open Finder windows are restored and if you had one or more terminal windows and actually ran the shutdown command from that window it causes it to be restored when Terminal is started again, but via SSH or a daemon seems to work fine.

I don't really think this a suitable solution in the long run but so far in my little testing it does seem to work.

upon further research it seems you can hook a script into login so it always deletes the file:
defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook /usr/bin/loginfix.sh

:edit, along the same lines as the terminal window it looks like each individual app is saving it's state, so for example if you open TextEdit, make some changes and then restart the machine using the above method when the you log back in and start TextEdit you end up with the document you had open. Looking in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.TextEdit explains everything


Will Adobe CS5 with Java SE 6 runtime work on 10.11 El Capitan?

Yes, you will need to install the Java version from https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1572?locale=en_US

From that link:

"Java for OS X 2015-001 installs the legacy Java 6 runtime for OS X 10.11 El Capitan, OS X 10.10 Yosemite, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, and OS X 10.7 Lion.

This package is exclusively intended for support of legacy software and installs the same deprecated version of Java 6 included in the 2014-001 and 2013-005 releases.

Quit any Java applications before installing this update."

After installing and restarting you can use the Java preferences pane in System Preferences to control which Java version you would like to use.


Tags in Mavericks are actually partially backward compatible with labels in Mountain Lion, because they're implemented as sort of an extension (and renaming) of labels. The main issues are:

If you assign multiple tags to a file in Mavericks, Mountain Lion will only see the most recent tag (label)
Tag colors aren't preserved; e.g., if a red tag in Mavericks shares the same name as a blue label in Mountain Lion (say "Important"), it'll appear in blue on Mountain Lion

All that said, why can't you upgrade your Mountain Lion system to Mavericks? The system requirements didn't change, so any machine that can run Mountain Lion can be upgraded to Mavericks.


Let me see if I understand your concerns. You want an app with a single deck interface that takes up the entire screen, but all the DJ apps out there all use a split-screen dual-deck interface with no single deck option. Is that right?

How about this? It's the only DJ app with a single deck interface I can find so far. Got cue points, loops, effect, the whole shebang.

Mixmo-DJ/Pro

Homepage: http://www.mixmodj.com/

App Store links:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mixmo-dj/id483351955
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mixmo-dj-pro/id461366285

Youtube Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGeyVmkmdTE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvhHybAfJ9M

Here's a review from a trust source, Digital DJ Tips:

http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2011/12/review-mixmodj-for-ipad-iphone-ipod-touch/

IK Multimedia's DJ Rig also has a single deck interface but it's for iPhone, so it might not look great on iPad but it still does what you want..

http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/djrigiphone/
http://itunes.apple.com/app/dj-rig/id478831717
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3QhZuHbAUY


Double-tap + Swipe

Quote from this Reddit thread (emphasis mine):

  I've been running into this accidentally and thought it was a bug: 4:3
  videos would zoom up (proportionately) to 16:9 from time to time while
  working the remote. It turns out there's an (AFAIK) undocumented
  gesture: double-tap + swipe left (or right). So, whenever you're
  viewing 4:3 content, you can tap, tap and swipe left to zoom up to
  16:9 and repeat the gesture to go back to 4:3. Neat & hope it helps
  someone. There's quite a bit of old conference talks in 4:3 out there.

I can't explain it any better than that, but hopefully it helps.


Can I use a Verizon iPhone 5 on T-Mobile’s LTE network?

Yes, but only HSPA 21mbps in select areas, you will atleast have 2g coverage. LTE will not work though


They are exactly the same. ⌘ CMD+. sends SIGINT just like ⌃ CTRL+c. I've checked this with this python script:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import signal
import sys
def signal_handler(signal, frame):
    print('You pressed Ctrl+C!')
    sys.exit(0)
signal.signal(signal.SIGINT, signal_handler)
print('Press Ctrl+C')
signal.pause()

It's made this way for backward compatibility, earlier versions of Apple keyboards did not have ⌃ CTRL button. Please read Max Ried comment bellow.

code from: https://stackoverflow.com/a/1112350/3488699


External Hard-disk showing Input/Output error

If Windows is having trouble opening various folders and is causing your drive to freeze, it suggests that the file system is corrupted or that the disk itself is failing. The first thing you should do is run chkdsk on the drive from a Windows system to correct any errors with the NTFS file system. If you still have trouble, I suspect that there's little you can do.

As for mounting it on the Mac, understand that OS X mounts NTFS file systems in read-only mode. As such, you'll be able to copy important data off of the drive, but you won't be able to update it or write new data to it.

Repairing the drive in Disk Utility might work, but I advise against it. As for it being unmounted, that is always going to be the case. One cannot repair a volume while it's mounted, in the same manner that one cannot chkdsk /f a drive under Windows without forcing the drive to be unmounted (or reboot, which does the same thing). Importantly, though, if you want to repair NTFS, you're best off doing it with Windows.


Can I sync Notes to and from a secondary iCloud account?

As of now, it is not possible. I tried adding a secondary iCloud account in Notes>Accounts and Apple restricts the sync of Notes, etc and only supports Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and Reminders on secondary iCloud accounts:


How to delete one history entry in Safari on iOS?

On iOS 8, I can delete an entry from the history by sliding left on it and clicking Delete.

This is a very nice addition. :-)


How do I get the terminals in terminal.app to go to the right directory after restart with tcsh?

Add this to ~/.cshrc:

if ( "$TERM_PROGRAM" == Apple_Terminal ) then
    alias precmd 'printf "\033]7;file://"; hostname | tr -d "\n"; printf %s "$PWD" | xxd -p | sed -E "s|(..)|%\1|g;s|%2f|/|g"; printf "\a"'
endif

http://www.stairways.com/blog/2011-08-07-tcsh-remembering-path uses Perl, doesn't escape characters like % or ä, and doesn't ignore iTerm.


Copying to external USB drive in Mac OS X 10.8.2 yields "Device not configured" and hard lock

The most common problem with external usb drives are the small power adapter with 2A. I have various WD Drives and all give up after a time with the same error "The disk was not ejected properly...". Without power the hd disconects (for a short time). I bought a bigger power adapter with 3 A and have no problems any more.


The first thing I would try is to log-out and log-in again. In most cases, this will fix your problem.

If not, you have to create a new user account and transfer the data which is left to this new user account. I don't recommend copying the whole Library to the new user account because it could be that your Library is damaged too. I would just copy individual folders like Application Support, Services and so on.


Yosemite upgrade fails at late stage, unable to get out of re-try loop

This was a problem solved by simple patience.

I left the machine with "2 minutes remaining" on overnight. After some period of time (presumably greater than 2 hours), the Yosemite install got over whatever was blocking it and completed.

I do not know what the fault was. I am assuming some simple but non-critical I/O was timing out, perhaps repeatedly in a re-try loop. Whatever it was, the predicted time was not updated to reflect the problem, making it look like the upgrade had hung.

That does make this a rather uninteresting fault in terms of Q&A, but I am leaving this here in case anyone else ends up with a similar long-running upgrade and wonders how long to wait.

According to comment by klanomath, many developers (with a large number of project files/ruby/etc) experienced the same problem upgrading to Yosemite. I have just shy of 100,000 files in dev projects in my home folder.

It might be interesting to know if there is a way to back out of incomplete installations (without a disk wipe and re-install) at the late stage my machine was at. My original question is essentially about that. However, I won't be in a position to try or verify any answers.


How to reorder highlights in Preview according to page numbers?

It's been like that since El Capitan. Your best bet for now is testing out other PDF viewers.
The good news is that it supposedly is fixed in Big Sur: https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOSBeta/comments/jjhrfz/is_the_issue_of_preview_showing_highlights_and/


This is a common engagement that I see and there is really no way to untangle purchases going forward.

The main thing to focus on in my experience is if you can edit the AppleID or not. If the account in question is @icloud.com, @me.com or @mac.com - it's set in stone and you can't really repurpose it.

If the AppleID is not using an Apple extension, then you have much more flexibility to rename the actual AppleID and update all the security, recovery and primary emails and convert a "personal" account to a "role/work" account and the other way.

When looking at the value of purchases, also consider the billable rate and the time spend not doing other work. Often it's simpler to write off the loss of past purchases and just make a clean break. Putting humpty dumpty back together again isn't viable in most cases.

Specifically:

retaining purchases - no go since they stay with the account and you can't use one Apple ID for that many devices without Apple eventually shutting it down.
fixing iMessage - this is doable. It is a lot of work, but you can plan that work on a piece of paper and then decide if it's really worth it to try and reuse one Apple ID or if you will just make a new account and use that going forward with a complete wipe of all the "wrongly configured" devices.

Again, get an estimate of how much your time is worth and how much time the people using the devices is work and solve your particular situation for the lowest $$ invested.


opened malicious attachment from scam email- what to do?

There is a rather high chance that the attachment was primarily targeting Windows system and didn't actually trigger anything on the Mac. Nevertheless the risk isn't zero.

What I would do in a similar situation if I wanted to reduce the risk and had a lot of time at my hand:

Tell her to shut the Mac down
Get an external drive big enough for the whole disk (an iMac with 10.5 is rather old, so make sure you get one with the right ports. USB2 isn't really advisable here)
Pay her a visit, boot the iMac from DVD and backup the whole disk to the external drive. If you can get the user-installed applications back easily you can also just backup the user folder(s)
Detach/eject the external drive
Reboot normally and log in to take note of

accounts configured in Mail etc.
usernames/passwords stored in Keychain

Reboot from DVD again and make a full reinstall of the OS from DVD
Upgrade to whatever macOS version you want to/can upgrade to (make at least sure to install all security updates)
Install an antivirus software (for what it's worth) and make sure the signature files are up to date
Attach the external drive again and run a virus scan on it
Create new user(s) and get the data back from the external drive
Enable Time Machine


How to add automatic paragraph numbering in MS Word?

Use the built-in Heading paragraph styles: apply these to your headings, and they will be numbered automatically.
If you do this you can also generate a table of contents (to use as your outline).


To what extent is system integrity protection affected if the attacker knows your Mac account password?

SIP itself is not an issue, since that requires physical presence to disable (to wit: rebooting the machine into recovery mode and running a terminal command). At no point during the process of changing SIP settings is your account password required.

However, there's an old adage in computer security: If someone has physical access to your computer, it isn't your computer anymore.

If a remote hacker has your account password, they could access various network services if they can reach the ports, get an SSH shell, impersonate you, and so forth.

If a hacker sitting in front of your keyboard has your account password, the hacker having your account password is the least of your worries.


USB power consumption information should be available in System Profiler.  See the screenshot below:


Text in place of Finder icons (MacOS Sierra)

Getting the buttons back is actually really simple:

First, select View > Customize Toolbar... in the menu bar.

Now, just make sure the dropdown (the one outlined in red) has the option you want selected. The default is Icon Only.


Does "reset this pc" work on a Bootcamp Windows 10?

You can try the Reset this PC option and if it doesn't work, simply copy and files to iCloud, OneDrive, etc or a hard drive and then remove the Bootcamp partition from macOS and reinstall Windows 10.


How to download Yosemite Beta from the Beta Program?

Go to your Purchases in the Mac App Store. There you should see it.


Notes (Mac) can't connect to IMAP account, Mail can

Notes accounts are usually associated with email accounts like iCloud, gmail, yahoo etc.

if you have an iCloud/iTunes account, log in to it under System Preferences-->Internet Accounts

Click the checkbox next to notes.

Open Notes, then drag your old notes into the iCloud account on the left.


I have only used APNG Assembler for Windows. It appears that the GUI version is only for Windows, but command line versions exist for both Linux and Mac OS X. Using the CLI version (or writing a UI wrapper for it, if you have any development experience) may be a possibility.

Alternatively, you can use an online service such as this online APNG Assembler. I cannot vouch for the effectiveness of this solution, however.


App Store using old information after manual XCode upgrade

Try resetting the Mac App Store.

Enable the debug menu and restart the Mac App Store.

defaults write com.apple.appstore ShowDebugMenu -bool true

Choose the Reset Application option and restart the Mac App Store.


Where can I find screencapture to replace mine that is broken?

If you had 10.7 or a newer version of OS X, you could download an OS X installer from the App Store and use Pacifist to extract the screencapture binary from the installer. I'm not sure if something similar is possible with a 10.5 installation DVD.

Alternatively, if you upgrade to a newer version of OS X, it should also replace the screencapture binary with a new version.


How to disable recycle bin (Recently Deleted) of iOS 8 Photos app?

There is one way I know of, if the device is jailbroken.  It's a free tweak on the "BigBoss" Cydia Repo (http://apt.thebigboss.org/repofiles/cydia/), called "NoRecentlyDeleted".

If your device is jailbroken, just search for "NoRecentlyDeleted" on Cydia, and install it.  After you install and respring your device, the photos you delete will no longer go into the "Recently Deleted" album in your photos app, and will instead be deleted from the device, as they were previously in iOS.

As of now, the tweak does not fully remove the "Recently Deleted" items album in the photos app, and it will still show there.  The author of the tweak plans on updating it in the near future, so the album is removed as well.

I hope this helps ;)

-James


In terminal, you can use diskutil to get information about the drive, including the device block size:

$ diskutil info / | grep "Block Size"
  Device Block Size:        512 Bytes


I don't have Siri enabled but get Siri suggestions in iOS 12

You can disable theses suggestions by going into Settings > Siri & Search and switching "On lockscreen" off.
As to why this isn't normally disabled if you disable Siri, I don't know.


Don't change to a new ID - you cannot carry past purchases from one to the other without setting up Family Sharing

If all you need is to change the address which Apple uses to communicate with you, then that's all you need to do - change that Primary email address.
Your Apple ID itself doesn't have to be your current email address, or even actually an email address at all, once it's set up it's really just a "User Name".

So your Apple ID could be fred.bloggs@abc.com, but your Primary email address could be j.appleseed@xyz.co.nz - & nothing else would need to change.

Here's how to do it…

  Sign out of iCloud, the iTunes & App store, FaceTime, Find My Friends, Find My iPhone, and iMessage on each device that uses your
  Apple ID.
  Sign in to your Apple ID account page.
  In the Account section, click Edit > Change Email Address.
  Enter the email address you want to use as your Apple ID. A verification code will be sent to your new email address.
  Enter the verification code from the email into the fields provided and start using your updated Apple ID. Didn't get the email?

Source : Apple KB - Change your Apple ID


Obviously, it’s a cache bug (or more like feature). If you find that it’s a little annoying, Apple does provide a way to remove this.

Here’s how to delete recent contacts from messages app (and other apps in iOS):

Go to the Messages app and tap on the New Message icon
In the recipient field, tap the name of the recently-deleted contact (or a part of the number)
When the contact shows up in the list, you should see a blue ‘i’ icon right next to the contact you just deleted
Tap on the ‘i’ icon. Next, tap on Remove from Recents
That’s about it. The contact will no longer show up.

It’s really that simple. This will remove the contact from the cache (of recent contacts) and it will make sure that the deleted contact doesn’t show up anywhere in iOS.

The problem doesn’t appear for contacts that you have not communicated with (via Email, Message or FaceTime). It’s mostly for contacts that you have communicated with via these services. The Recent Contacts list holds a cache of contact data (contacts that you have recently talked/messaged to) and it’s not available to modify.


Yes, it will take more charge than setting up just one account, but that amount will be very negligible, about 1 to 2 minutes a day. On the other hand, it might have a not-so-negligible impact on your data usage.


How can I backup Outlook for Mac 2016 on my mac?

Let the export complete. The internal storage of mails in Outlook 2016 for Mac is a cached version for all imap / google accounts that changes internally from version to version.

The export yields a far more standard and stable data dump which serves the purpose of being importable at a later date.

If you have local folders - on my Mac then things are slightly more complicated. Perhaps that's part of the slower export?


What kinds of files can be added to Documents in the Cloud?

If you consider the Finder to be an Apple app, the answer is any arbitrary file.

From my experimentation, it appears files dropped into folders in the ~/Library/Mobile Documents hierarchy get synched to other computers using the same iCloud account, regardless of type.


Can't Clear "Form and Search History" in Firefox

This happens when the item (in your are the "Form & Search History") is already cleared.

Are you sure this is not your case?

You mentioned in you comment that Firefox autofills the search bar when you type a website. Do you mean the URL bar (also known as Awesome bar ) ?

If yes, then the described behavior is expected. The Awesome bar get its results from "bookmarks, history and tabs".

So if you want to remove urls that you previously typed, you have to clear your browser's history.

On the other hand, if you mean the actual search-bar:

Then right click on it and select "Clear Search History" or select the option you mention in the question.

On the image above the "stack" word is a search I have previously done. You probably don't have any, since they are cleared.

For more information on what each option on the "Clear Recent History..." means check this section.


External display attached to MacBook Pro has washed out colours

I finally fixed this by following the instructions at this blog post:
Fixing the External Monitor Color Problem with My 2018 MacBook Pro
Read the blog post, it's good!  But just in case it becomes unavailable, here's
a short summary:
The external monitor is using the YPbPr colour format over HDMI.  Something about the MacBook Pro YPbPr output is not compatible with the monitor.  It's possible to create override settings to force the HDMI connection to use RGB instead, using a script at https://gist.github.com/adaugherity/7435890.
Here are the instructions from the above post:

Connect the problematic display.
Download and run this script
(./patch-edid.rb). Take a look at the generated file and remember
its path.
Reboot into recovery mode (⌘-R at boot).
Mount your main disk (enter Disk Utility, select the gray Macintosh HD, click
Mount, provide your password, close Disk Utility).
Open up a terminal (Utilities ->Terminal), backup the overrides directory,
copy in your new override file, and reboot:

cd /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/System/Library/Displays/Contents/Resources
cp -R Overrides Overrides.bak
cp -R <path to directory generated in step 1> Overrides/
reboot


How do I use Lightning EarPods with MacBook Pro 2015?

You can't.

Yes, it is a design flaw. You will need to buy regular earbuds that use the 3.5mm connector. If you want to use these headphones with your iphone, you will need to use the 3.5mm to lightning adapted that was on the back of your earpod case.


Can Apple decrypt iCloud data of third-party app?

If Apple is telling the truth, then they can’t access your data, assuming the third-party app developer doesn’t store your AES key in iCloud. Apple has no way to get at a key stored locally on your device (according to Apple) and no way to decrypt the data without the key (according to everything we know about cryptography).
If Apple is lying, then of course all encryption keys created or used by third-party apps could be secretly transmitted to Apple’s servers so that they can be used to decrypt your data, even if the app thinks it’s only storing them locally.


Fastest way to get a photo from iPhone to Mac?

Photo Stream isn't actually as bad as it seems. You don't need to launch iPhoto to get the photo — it's already on your Mac and much faster than it appears in iPhoto.

Your Photo Stream is stored in:

~/Library/Application Support/iLifeAssetManagement/assets/sub

Go to this folder and sort by date. Inside those folders are JPGs of all your photos.

You can create a smart folder to only show JPGs sorted by date modified which gives you an automatic updating folder of your pictures. Drag this smart folder to your Dock for immediate, real-time access.


How to access "Faster (fine)" and "Slower (fine)" playback controls on VLC for OS X? Else, what alternative?

Yes, VLC for OS X provides this level of control.

If you go into VLC » Preferences [aka. ⌘+,] » Hotkeys you'll find that you can associate hotkeys for both actions – Faster (Fine) and Slower (Fine) – and more:

You can find plenty of options here:

set them up the way you were used to using them on Windows,
set a hotkey for resetting playback speed back to normal etc.

Note: If your newly assigned hotkeys don't seem to be taken into account, you might need to quit VLC and start it again.


If Macbook has been wiped, will "find my iPhone" still work?

If the computer has been wiped by the thief, Find my [Mac] may not work for it, and it will likely continue to show offline. There is nothing that can be done at that point in tracking the computer.

As pointed out by @Gerry (thanks Gerry), if you wipe your Mac out using Find my [Mac], it may still show up, unlike iOS devices. This is because a Find My [Mac] token is written to NVRAM (persistant memory on Intel Macs), and unless they go in and disable the feature themselves in OSX System Preferences - something they would probably do - you will continue to be able to track the device.

Email notifications do work very well, and it is entirely possible the thief is just waiting for awhile before booting up the computer. Hopefully, he will start it up, and connect to the internet, and allow you to get enough information together to get the police involved.

Most of the time, though, the more tech savvy thieves will wipe the computer immediately, and disable Find my [Mac] which makes it impossible to track the computer.


How to start Apple Hardware Test without Apple Software Disk (MBP13 mid-2010)?

By knowing your exact Model Identifier (MacBokPro?,?) you could look in to this data base for the correct version of AHT to download.

Examples:

MacBookPro1,1 3A106
MacBookPro1,1 3A107
MacBookPro2,1 Mac-F42189C8
MacBookPro2,2 Mac-F42187C8
MacBookPro3,1 Mac-F42388C8
MacBookPro3,1 Mac-F4238BC8
MacBookPro4,1 Mac-F42C86C8
MacBookPro4,1 Mac-F42C89C8
MacBookPro5,1 Mac-F42D86A9
MacBookPro5,1 Mac-F42D86C8
MacBookPro5,2 Mac-F2268EC8
MacBookPro5,3 Mac-F22587C8
MacBookPro5,4 Mac-F22587A1
MacBookPro5,5 Mac-F2268AC8
MacBookPro6,1 Mac-F22589C8
MacBookPro6,2 Mac-F22586C8
MacBookPro7,1 Mac-F222BEC8
MacBookPro8,1 Mac-94245B3640C91C81
MacBookPro8,2 Mac-94245A3940C91C80
MacBookPro8,3 Mac-942459F5819B171B
MacBookPro9,1 Mac-4B7AC7E43945597E
MacBookPro9,2 Mac-6F01561E16C75D06
MacBookPro10,1 Mac-C3EC7CD22292981F


iOS Facebook app stuck in logged in state - how to log that user out?

When I still had the profile pics (or, rather, the one that I wasn't able to delete from the Setup app) visible in the Facebook app, I noticed that there was a link at the bottom of the screen called 'Login Settings' or something along those lines. Tapping that brought up a dialogue that lists the accounts that are set for instant login, so I was able to delete the other account from there (you can set or change passcodes from there, too, if that's your preference), and I'm back to the more secure old behaviour of needing to type in the passwords for all of our accounts.


https://github.com/hamzasood/AnimatedWallpaperTest

This is a sample project showing how to make something like a dynamic background but I think you need to jailbreak your phone to make use of it.


iPhone 6: Mobile data activation when on international roaming

No, the mobile data won't turn on automatically (without your manual intervention) when you turn on the mobile.


MacBook Muted, some applications still provide sound

The most likely explanation for this is that you have multiple sound output devices. When you mute, only the current output devices is muted — the rest are not.

The next time you hear a sound when you think you shouldn't, go to Sound Preferences > Output and check your Output devices one by one. It's almost certain that at least one of them isn't muted (a headset, for example), and that's how you're hearing the mystery sound.


Does "Erase all content and settings" help with potential Data partition file system issues?

Erasing the key in this manner renders all files cryptographically inaccessible.

The data is still there - but no-one is ever going to be able to read it.

Let me take a distant example…

You lose your house keys. All the furniture is still there, you just cannot get to it.
The difference in this case is the ease with which you could actually break a window to get in, or you could call a locksmith.

The locksmith required to decrypt your iOS data is not available on the other end of a phone call. It would require the involvement of probably something as rich & powerful as a government agency, determined to prove you are a terrorist.

Because of this encryption & the way that solid state storage works to spread the load, if you then restore or set up a brand new install, your old data is more than just un-decryptable, it's also been randomly overwritten too. Solid State storage doesn't write sequentially like an old hard drive. The concept of 'bad blocks' is not the same.

Of course, you would never store the only copy of any data in a single location, especially not a fragile mobile device. Far more likely than file corruption is serious physical damage to the entire unit.


Can I run the OS X installer even after I delete main disk

If you can boot normally into OS X then create an OS X USB Installer. See, Create a bootable installer for OS X (quoted below) or if not see, How to reinstall OS X.

  Use the 'createinstallmedia' command in Terminal

  Download the OS X installer from the Mac App Store. Quit the installer if it opens automatically after downloading. The installer
  will be in your Applications folder.
  Mount your USB flash drive or other volume. You could also use a secondary internal partition.
  Open the Terminal app, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
  Use the createinstallmedia command in Terminal to create the bootable installer. Examples of this command are in the next section.
  For detailed usage instructions, make sure that the appropriate
  Install OS X app is in your Applications folder, then enter one of the
  following paths in Terminal:

  Path for El Capitan:

/Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia

  Path for Yosemite:

/Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia

  Path for Mavericks:

/Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia

  Examples

  This is the basic syntax of the command. Replace volumepath with the
  path to your USB flash drive or other volume, and replace
  installerpath with the path to the Install OS X app.

createinstallmedia --volume volumepath --applicationpath installerpath

  The following examples assume that the OS X installer is in your
  Applications folder and the name of your USB flash drive or other
  volume is MyVolume:

  Example for El Capitan:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume

  /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\
  Capitan.app

  Example for Yosemite:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume

  /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\
  Yosemite.app

  Example for Mavericks:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume

  /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\
  Mavericks.app


How can I plug FileMerge into my Source Control App

The issue is that you are setting an app bundle in the config when the version control program is expecing a Unix command line.

You should use /usr/bin/opendiff as the command line. I think that is the only chnage you need for the perforce diff you show.

Example git configs for merging are in this  question and several other duplicates on StackOverflow.


Why does my iPod Classic cut off the end of certain songs?

The first thing to check is to see if iTunes has marked those specific songs to end early. Next, try re-encoding the song at a lower or different bitrate and syncing it to the device. Often a glitch in the file can cause iPods to skip to the next song, but the same binary file plays through on macs with better code for handling errors. Lastly, it could be error creeping into the filesystem structure on the iPod. Once you're sure you've backed up everything from the iPod, you can enter disk mode and use Disk Utility (on the mac - on Windows there are lots of disk formatting tools) to zero the drive. That will test the actual hard drive for errors and spare out any bad blocks.

Feel free to edit this or comment if you find none of these helps narrow down the cause.


How can I charge a mobile phone on my MacBook Air (like I used to be able to)?

I wish I had a how to but I have a 2010 MBA upgraded to Lion.  Connected my work phone, droid incredible, with the machine on and closed the lid and went to sleep and woke and the droid was charged.  So it is possible just don't know where to tell you to go to make it happen.  Also, meant to plug the MBA into power but forgot to connect the magsafe, so maybe try it without connecting the magsafe see if that was the trick.


Connect DualShock 3 (PS3 controller) and MacBook Pro 13" late 2013 on Mavericks 10.9.2

What i did was plug in my PS3 controller with bluetooth settings open then once the controller was plugged in i turned off bluetooth turned it back on and reset the controller, after i reset the controller i pressed the ps button and hey presto it was connected


Big Sur: PDF Service shell script cannot call python

I have discovered that Big Sur will graciously allow a script to execute in a PDF Service, if the script is put inside an Automator workflow saved as an APPLICATION. Saving as a Print plug-in, workflow, or other type will not work.
Use the 'Run Shell Script' Automator action, and place the script in there.
Whether the script can call another script with the necessary permissions, I have not tried.


The command to update the database is

sudo /usr/libexec/locate.updatedb

It should get run automatically every week from /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.locate.plist but you can run it manually if required.


Does IFTTT app drain battery faster in iPhone (and Apple Watch)?

I use IFTTT on my iPhone X iOS 11.4.

When I check Settings -> Battery and look at the last 7 days, IFTTT doesn't even show-up on the list of applications.  That means it's using less than 1% of my battery.

My recommendation to you, if you're thinking of using IFTTT, is to try it with a handful of recipes for a few weeks.  Then check the battery usage and see the impact on battery life.

Now, I'm sure this will change depending on how many recipes you're using and what kind of recipes they are.  IFTTT is just woken-up by iOS at periodic intervals to check for system notifications that something happened.


My Apple account appears to have a monthly fee of one dollar. How can I understand this or dig deeper?

Apple doesn't charge any fees for using the iTunes or app stores. If you're getting a recurring bill, you probably made an auto-renewing purchase (either a newspaper/magazine app, or some iTunes video content—regular apps aren't permitted to use auto-renewing in-app purchases).

You can manage or turn off these subscriptions in iTunes on iOS or OS X, have a look at Apple's instructions.


You can add/change any Key Command from
System Prefs > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts

Click the + button then add the info you require. [Later removing any custom binding will revert the app to its default binding]


Connect MiniDv camcorder via USB C & Firewire or MiniDisplay port

I understand that worst case I'll need a Firewire to Thunderbolt adapter and then a Thunderbolt to USB C adapter.

No.  You will need a Firewire to Thunderbolt adapter and then a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter.

USB-C is only the connector type, it’s still a Thunderbolt port.

You can’t use a mini DisplayPort cable because you’d be missing the Thunderbolt signaling.  Yes the, the physical connectors are the same, it doesn't mean all the connector pins are there.  Remember, DisplayPort is a component signal/protocol of Thunderbolt.  In other words, a a Thunderbolt cable will support mDP, but an mDP cable doesn’t support Thunderbolt.


I don't work for the company or anything but this company/platform seem to be becoming a standard for this kind of thing

https://pdfexpert.com

In the Apple universe you could try and open the document in Pages, modify it, then share your changes online with the latest iCloud/iWork sharing features.


How to reconnect VPN by using Tunnelblick from command line?

You should have a look at this Answer (comments are interesting too):
How to start Tunnelblick VPN connection via Terminal

This will guide you to create an AppleScript and then you may launch it by command line or crontab.


I think you're just confusing some of the concepts here. When you SSH to another computer you're connecting to it in an interactive terminal. You can run commands logged into another computer through this SSH connection.

Example

Here I'm logged into my Macbook (unagi) as myself (smingolelli).

$ hostname
unagi

$ whoami
smingolelli

Now we SSH to another computer on my LAN (mulder) as another user that's local to that system (root).

$ ssh mulder.bub.lan -l root
Last login: Sun Apr 21 23:05:32 2019 from 192.168.1.95

$ hostname
mulder.bub.lan

When I'm done I simply exit this interactive SSH connection to another host and I'm back on my original Macbook host.

$ exit


Disk Space taken up by misc/other - not TimeMachine

Are there multiple users set up on this machine? The screenshot of About this Mac -> Storage shows that there are lots of "Other" files on this partition, which usually means files outside of your user's home directory (and probably hidden/inaccessible).
By default, OmniDiskSweeper can only size folders which you can read. You may use Terminal.app to launch OmniDiskSweeper with root permissions to track down files your regular user can't access:
sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper

Also, /usr and /private are 10x larger than usual.
As for the second Data partition: That is weird. I would consider reformatting (after a full backup, of course).


Is it safe to delete the content of ~/Library/Logs?

Yes, log files can be safely deleted. Next time a log file needs to be appended to and is missing, it will be created (don't delete the actual Logs folder itself though). Log files are always presumed transient. However, before you delete all your log files, it might be worth keeping the most recent content of the most important log files in case you need to troubleshoot any problems.


Kay -

All of your photos, if you have iCloud Photo Library turned on, are automatically uploaded to iCloud.

All photos you upload to iCloud are available to be accessed online from the iCloud website. Simply sign in and select Photos. They are also automatically on your devices.

Now for removing them from your Mac:

Open Photos and press command + , to open the preference pane.
Select iCloud at the top and press Optimize Mac Storage This button only appears if iCloud Photo Library is checked above.

BONUS: Removing photos from the iPhone

Open Settings -> Photos & Camera
Select Optimize iPhone Storage under the iCloud Photo Library switch. This button only appears if iCloud Photo Library is enabled.


Finder- getting rid of divider bar in every new window

Looks like you have enabled "Preview". Type Shift-Cmd-P to toggle it (or toggle it in the View menu).


Can't change photos in Preview.app – permission problems only in ~/Desktop

Right click on the Desktop icon in finder, show info. Is the the folder selected as 'Locked' for some reason (little padlock bottom left corner of icon in Info window)?

Expand the 'Sharing and Permissions' section, should say 'custom access' and the privilege should show Read & Write.

Click the little padlock bottom right of Info window, enter admin details and click the little cog, and select 'Apply to closed items'.

Could also open Disk Utility, select the drive, click 'First Aid' and check the volume for errors. This last may not have any effect, and should come back showing as all good. The 'Repair disk permissions' will be completed automatically whenever you run any software updates and does not require you to do it manually any more.


Is there a way to send Apple proposals for usability improvements?

Apple already has a mechanism for this.  It's called Apple Product Feedback.

  Apple strives to bring the best personal computing experience to
  students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the
  world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet
  offerings. Apple welcomes your feedback on its products.

Apple will accept feedback on every product they make from their devices like the iPad, iPod, iPhone, Mac computers, dongles and peripherals, Apps, macOS, iOS, Watch, TV, iCloud, Pages/Numbers/Keynote, XCode, Music and Pay (not a comprehensive list).

If you have an improvement you would like to share, I encourage you to submit your feedback, suggestions and opinions to Apple.


What date format was this file I downloaded in?

That could match ISO 8601 without time zone.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601


Apple Watch notifications going to watch or phone intelligently

This depends on the general behaviour of the apple watch. Make sure your apple watch is on your wrist before testing this.

Notification distribution is depend on you are wearing it or not.


"No Bootable Device" after failed Boot Camp installation (Windows 8 - 1TB Fusion Drive)

I had a similar issue installing Windows 8 x64 on a 2013 Macbook Pro Retina running Mac OS 10.8.3 (which does support Windows 8) and the problem turned out to be an issue between the 32GB USB 3.0 installer drive I was using and Bootcamp Assistant/Mac OS. The USB drive was not defective.

I went through the Boot Camp Assistant process three times using a Microcenter branded 32GB USB 3.0 thumb-drive. When the system would reboot to start the Windows 8 installation process I would get a "No Bootable Device" error. After reading a suggesstion from another site I changed USB drives and used a Microcenter branded 16GB USB 2.0 thumb-drive and the Windows 8 installer USB was found and installation proceeded successfully.


How to set the Display aspect ratio to 16:9 explicitly when using a VGA adaptor

In the monitor/display settings just press the Option key when selecting the "scaled" option. Then additional resolution options will show up.


What's a good program to batch resize 100,000 jpg images?

I'm a little surprised that no one has mentioned the easiest, cheapest, and least technical option:
Automator
First, open Automator, which is in your Applications folder.
Next, choose to create a new workflow:

Next, add the following steps to the workflow by dragging and dropping:

When you run this, Automator is going to:

pop up a window asking you to pick some files (as many as you want)
pop up another window asking where you want to save the resized copies
ask you how big you want the resized copies to be.  You'll be able to choose either a fixed size or a percentage.  All the images will be resized to either that size or by that percentage.

(The "show this action when the workflow runs" checkbox means that the workflow is going to pause, display the option, and allow you to change it then)
Once you do that, Automator is going to churn and burn, and when it's done it'll beep at you.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have an option to choose JPEG quality.  However, for the price (free), it's pretty dang convenient.


Hold down the option key when you click on the WiFi menu. Then next to the currently active network there will be a "Disconnect from" option. I'm on Yosemite, and so I'm not sure whether this was present on earlier versions of OS X.


What are the risks of connecting a MacBook to an insecure wireless network?

The primary concern is that any HTTP communications (and other non-secured communications) could be intercepted, including cookies, which often contain your login information. Note that secure communications (HTTPS) have other methods to keep your information safe, so financial communications are usually safe.

The secondary concern is that your Mac can be directly attaqued by any
other computer within a 50 m radius. If your Mac doesn't have its firewall on, then this attack may lead to some file access (through guest account), and some remote control (through Apple Remote Desktop, VNC or more secret system vulnerabilities).

This security risk exists equally whether you are using OS X, Windows, Linux, or any other operating system, and there are no additional risks (nor less) on any platform.


How can I create a live updating slideshow?

Here is how you can do that in Power Point. I do not use Keynote.

There are two ways to insert content objects into a PowerPoint presentation:

Linked objects    A linked object is updated if its source file is changed. For example, a linked chart built from data in Microsoft Excel is changed if the source Excel data changes. The source file must be available on your computer or network to maintain the link between the inserted object and the source data. Inserting a linked object is recommended if the source data set is large or complex.

Embedded objects    The source data is embedded in the presentation. You can view the embedded object on another computer, because the source data is part of the presentation file. Embedded objects typically require more disk space than linked objects.


How to simulate multiple mouse clicks while holding the mouse button?

I made a solution for you.  Its got a few pieces, it might have taken me forever to come up with, and could probably use some polishing but its pretty darn close to what you wanted.  The only thing I cannot see us being able to accomplish is holding the mouse down to do it.  I couldn't find anything that would allow us to use the mouseup to turn off our clicking loop, so I used a toggle: Click once to start our crazy clicks , and click again to stop it (I used the middle click button as my start and stop)

We are using applescript, a command line tool for OSX called MouseTools, and an application called MagicPref to assign the script to one of our mouse buttons.

once you download and extract MouseTools, it is just a batch script.  I put it and my applescripts inside the same folder (I named the folder superclicks).  Now we just need to create a loop that clicks at the current location of the mouse, and a way to break out of that loop.

Here are the two applescript apps we make:

launch.app

global thisFile
set thisFile to (path to me)

global thisFolder
tell application "Finder" to set thisFolder to container of thisFile as text

# Function to check current state / should we should stop clicking
on checkstate()
local clickState
tell application "Finder"
    if exists file (thisFolder & "STOP_CLICKING.txt") then
        set clickState to false
    else if exists file (thisFolder & "CLICKING.txt") then
        set clickState to true
    else
        set clickState to null
    end if
end tell
return clickState
end checkstate

#function to update state of clicking via text files
#im sure there is a better way, but this certainly works
on togglestate()
if checkstate() is null then
    tell application "Finder" to make new file at thisFolder with properties     {name:"CLICKING.txt"}
else if checkstate() is true then
    tell application "Finder" to make new file at thisFolder with properties {name:"STOP_CLICKING.txt"}
else if checkstate() is false then
    tell application "Finder"
        delete file (thisFolder & "CLICKING.txt")
        delete file (thisFolder & "STOP_CLICKING.txt")
    end tell
end if
end togglestate

togglestate()
#we dont really want 3 states so we'll toggle again after a reset
if checkstate() is null then togglestate()

if checkstate() is true then
tell application "Finder"
    open (thisFolder & "clicking_script")
end tell
end if

clicking_script.app

global thisFile
set thisFile to (path to me)

global thisFolder
tell application "Finder" to set thisFolder to container of thisFile as text

## Function to check current state / should we should stop clicking
on checkstate()
local clickState
tell application "Finder"
    if exists file (thisFolder & "STOP_CLICKING.txt") then
        set clickState to false
    else if exists file (thisFolder & "CLICKING.txt") then
        set clickState to true
    else
        set clickState to null
    end if
end tell
return clickState
end checkstate

# let the clicking begin
on crazyClick()
set x to 0
repeat until checkstate() = false or x = 1000
    do shell script ((POSIX path of thisFolder as text) & "mousetools -leftClick")
    do shell script ((POSIX path of thisFolder as text) & "mousetools -releaseMouse")
    set x to (x + 1)
    delay 0
end repeat
end crazyClick

crazyClick()

These two scripts need to be saved as applications. Once you have those three items in your folder all you have to do is assign launch.app as a custom application to be launched for a particular click using MagicPrefs.

When you activate the script it clicks like crazy until you activate it again, which breaks the loop by adding some empty text files to the folder. We used the text files as a simple way to have external variables.

I have zipped all the files for easy downloading.

It might not be perfect but its definitely a good start to seeing what creativeness can be accomplished with automation.


Cannot backup Time Machine to Synology NAS due to "... problem with username or password."

Remove the drive as your backup disk in Time Machine, then open your terminal and run. beware that running this command will remove any other existing time machine destination disks!

sudo tmutil setdestination smb://uruser:urpass@NAS_IPADDRESS/TimeMachineName

If you don't want to remove all the existing destinations, you can pass the -a argument.

sudo tmutil setdestination -a smb://uruser:urpass@NAS_IPADDRESS/TimeMachineName

Source


Will the 2018 Mac mini be able to use my 2011 iMac in Target Display Mode?

I think I found the answer, buried deep in Apples support doc for the Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adaptor.

  This adapter is not compatible with displays that use DisplayPort or
  Mini DisplayPort, such as the Apple LED Cinema Display. Thunderbolt
  and Thunderbolt 2 are not the same as Mini DisplayPort , though the
  ports have the same shape.

Apparently Thunderbolt 3 does not pass mini display port signals, so target display mode will not work if you have an older iMac or monitor that uses mini display port.

This makes a big difference to me, as I will have to buy a new monitor if I go ahead with a mac mini. At least thats what it looks like from the doc. I'd welcome anyone who has actually done this.


I have also experienced slow performance on an SSD and it was due to other active processes writing to the disk continously.

Have a look at question on superuser on how to monitor OSX disk activity: https://superuser.com/questions/89266/whats-causing-all-the-disk-activity-on-os-x

Basically run this either this command form Terminal:

iotop -C 5 12

or this other:

fs_usage

To locate any process that is writing to the disk continously.

Another thing to try is booting from a clean install of OSX on an external USB disk, and the benchmark the internal SSD.

I would also determine if the SDD is running the latest Samsung firmware. You can download the latest version from this Samsung support page: http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/samsungssd/downloads.html

Beware that it is recommended to have a backup of the data before attempting to update the firmware.


macOS - Prevent same background image from showing on multiple Desktops?

The technique mentioned below would work if you do not set the Desktop background from the standard images provided in System Preferences.

Create a directory to hold the desired background images at some convenient location in your Home directory.
Within the created directory, create one directory for each open Space.
Place desired background images in each of the directories for Space. You can ensure that there are no duplicate images between directories.
Go to each Space one-by-one and choose custom directory for background image.
Set the background image for each Space from the respective directory.

Using this approach you can ensure there’s no duplication.


How to specify that cover art for a video in iTunes should be a frame from a specific time in the video?

The frame that's used is called the "Poster Frame". It looks like iTunes chooses a frame 10 seconds into the video by default.

To choose a specific frame as the cover art:

Start playing the video.
Pause the video on the frame you want to use.
Right-click on the video and choose "Set Poster Frame".


Cannot map the 'Window' key of a window keyboard of IKBC KB87

The keyboard has a windows key lock feature that is turned on.

In this particular keyboard the toggle switch for windows key lock is Fn + Windows key.

The trigger for windows key lock may be different in other keyboards.


Make TextMate run php from a different binary, not the original php

Under preferences, go into variables and update (or create) TM_PHP to point to your desired executable. E.g. I have /opt/local/bin/php because I'm using MacPorts.


How to select which iOS device receives push notifications (for Facebook)

Just of note that Facebook is notorious for being extremely flakey when delivering notifications of any kind (whether they be system wide through the home screen icon, or even in-app). If you have Push enabled on both devices, the problems could lie within Facebook.

Also note that it may (read: should) be the case that when you check your account on one device, the notifications should disappear on the other, as they will be marked as read.

Additionally, it could be that Facebook's servers deliver a notification only once to any waiting device capable of handling them (remember they have millions of users to contend with). You'll have to contact Facebook to make certain of this however.

You can use mail to test it. If you send yourself an email, do you receive notifications on both devices? If you read the mail, do they disappear (get marked as read) on both devices?


Switch to a specific input source in OS X in Catalina with AppleScript

Unfortunately things have changed in macOS Catalina and you''ll have to activate that menu in a different manner.

The following example AppleScript code, shown further below, works for me in macOS Catalina, however as I was testing in a virtual machine I do not know if the time lag in the running of the code, between clicking the target menu and the subsequent code, is inherent of an issue in the virtual machine or it will be the same on a physical machine.

I do not have German LaTeX2 so I used German instead, although for convenience I have replaced it in the code after testing.

The usual caveats apply for the use of this in: System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility

Example AppleScript code:

tell application "System Events" to ¬
    tell application process "TextInputMenuAgent" to ¬
        tell menu bar item 1 of menu bar 2
            click
            click menu item "German LaTeX2" of menu 1
        end tell

This does the same thing in a different manner, and one of these ways may be faster.

tell application "System Events" to ¬
    tell application process "TextInputMenuAgent" to ¬
        click menu bar item 1 of menu bar 2

tell application "System Events"
    keystroke "g"
    key code 36
end tell

To use the example AppleScript code in a handler:

changeKeyboardLayout("German LaTeX2")

on changeKeyboardLayout(layoutName)
    tell application "System Events" to ¬
        tell application process "TextInputMenuAgent" to ¬
            tell menu bar item 1 of menu bar 2
                click
                click menu item layoutName of menu 1
            end tell
end changeKeyboardLayout

Or the second version of the code:

changeKeyboardLayout("German LaTeX2")

on changeKeyboardLayout(layoutName)
    tell application "System Events" to ¬
        tell application process "TextInputMenuAgent" to ¬
            click menu bar item 1 of menu bar 2
    tell application "System Events"
        keystroke (first text item of layoutName)
        key code 36
    end tell
end changeKeyboardLayout

Note: The example AppleScript code is just that and does not contain any error handling as may be appropriate. The onus is upon the user to add any error handling as may be appropriate, needed or wanted. Have a look at the try statement and error statement in the AppleScript Language Guide. See also, Working with Errors.


Just announced MacOS Mojave: what level of support for Metal is required?

The article Apple Outlines Metal-Capable Cards goes into the detail needed.

From linked article --

  According to Apple, the following graphics cards are known to be
  Metal-capable and compatible with macOS Mojave on the mid-2010 and
  mid-2012 Mac Pro models:

  MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 128-bit 4GB GDDR5

  SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5
  SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition
  NVIDIA Quadro K5000 for Mac
  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition


iOS 8 has Settings => Privacy => Motion & Fitness => Fitness Tracking (On/Off). I don't know if it works; it was on when I just discovered it, yet Health app can't find any motion data. I do walk ...


Search files across folders and move recursively to new folder

You could use find:

touch -t 201302010000 /tmp/a
find ~/directory \( -iname \*.jpg -o -iname \*.png \) -Bnewer /tmp/a \
    -exec mv {} ~/directory2 \;

touch -t normally changes only the modification and access times, but it also changes the creation time if the target time is before the original creation time or when you are creating a new file.

-Bnewer (for birth time / creation time) is not supported by GNU/Linux platforms which don't have metadata for the creation time.

The parentheses are needed because -a (and concatenating expressions without -a) has higher precedence than -o.


How to iterate through multiple file extension without caring about case sensitivity?

Use find:

find "$arg" -iname \*.txt -o -iname \*.h -o -iname \*.py|while read f;do :;done

Use IFS= read -r if the paths can end with spaces or contain backslashes.

Or install bash 4:

brew install bash;echo /usr/local/bin/bash|sudo tee -a /etc/shells;chsh -s /usr/local/bin/bash

Then:

 shopt -s globstar nocaseglob;for f in "$arg"/**/*.{txt,h,py};do :;done

shopt -s nocaseglob also works with bash 3.2.


Migrating to new iMac, what does Migration Assistant actually migrate?

I've migrated between many macs over the years, and I've always found that the best way to do it, is manually. Normally I use a firewire cable (but you can also use WiFi, USB, external hard drive, dvd/cd, etc) to hook up the two computers, then just drag over files from one computer to the other.

Mostly everything the average user has on their mac will be found in their user folder (home folder). You can just drag/copy this entire folder over, or you can be more selective about which folders in your home folder you move (for instance, you may not want the Library folder). Then, anything outside of your home folder (Applications, for one) you can drag/copy over if you want.


Does Xcode save your answer to the system when agreeing to the License Agreement?

When you agree to the Xcode license, an entry is created in:

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dt.Xcode.plist

As shown in the image below:

Or from Terminal using the defaults command:

$ defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.dt.Xcode.plist
{
    IDELastGMLicenseAgreedTo = EA1478;
    IDEXcodeVersionForAgreedToGMLicense = "9.4.1";
}
$


Keyboard shortcut to insert text - Keynote

Have you tried adding keyboard shortcuts through System Preferences? See this article on the Apple Knowledge Base.


Mac network latency with NAS (not present with PC)

Network (WiFi)

I usually start by eliminating things from the problem to help simplify the overall troubleshooting exercise. I'd start with the WiFi because I've seen it be the source of problems more times than I'd like to admit. You can use tools such as PingPlotter (free for basic use).

NOTE: I generally just keep this running all day long, the vertical red bars are when I encountered network drops between myself and the WiFi access point.

There are other methods I'll use to do something similar to this, For example you can use the terminal application mtr which I highlight here as well - How does MTR (run with TCP protocol) calculate the loss rate?]3.

If you find you're having issues and have the ability to use Ethernet instead, you can try switching to a physical Ethernet connection to see if the problem goes away or is mitigated.

Storage

If you've progressed past eliminating the WiFi as the problem, look next to the NAS storage connection that the macOS systems are using to communicate with the NAS.

Here you'll want to see what protocol is being used to establish the connection. Is it Samba (SMB), is it NFS or is it something else. Each of these can be problematic in their own unique ways. If you find it's one of these, then understand the stack of software that is constructing this connection from your client Macs to the NAS and verify they're using the latest versions and dig into any logs they may provide.

I can go on but this should get you started in the general direction.


How to install specific version of python on OS X

For Python in macOS, use pyenv:
brew install pyenv

To install a specific Python version, run:
pyenv install <version>

To select a version:
pyenv local 3.5.0

Note that you must update PATH to override the default Python version:
PATH="~/.pyenv/versions/3.5.0/bin:${PATH}"

To list available versions:
pyenv versions

See https://gist.github.com/Bouke/11261620 for more information.


Output format of the standard Mac OS Color Picker dialog (choose color)

First, this is the script I use:

set format to (button returned of (display dialog "Select the format of the chosen color for the clipboard." buttons {"Cancel", "HEX", "RGB"} default button 3 with icon 1 with title "Color Picker"))
set {r, g, b} to choose color
set {r, g, b} to {_16_to_8(r), _16_to_8(g), _16_to_8(b)}
if (format = "RGB") then
    set the clipboard to ("rgb(" & r & ", " & g & ", " & b & ")")
else
    set the clipboard to ("#" & {dec_to_hex(r), dec_to_hex(g), dec_to_hex(b)})
end if

on _16_to_8(n)
    return ((n / 65535) * 255) as integer
end _16_to_8

property hex_chars : "0123456789ABCDEF"'s characters
on dec_to_hex(n)
    if (n = 0) then return "00"
    return (hex_chars's item (((n div 16) mod 16) + 1)) & (hex_chars's item ((n mod 16) + 1))
end dec_to_hex

The issue you are seeing is specific to the color you chose ({236, 236, 236} / ECECEC) using the eye-dropper tool. The picker showed it as {236, 236, 236} but when returned via AppleScript, it was {59438, 59436, 59437} or something close where the RGB values are not the same (i.e., not a true gray). If you open the color picker and manually enter 236 for each of the RGB values (do not use the eye-dropper tool) and then return the color, it will return the RGB result as 3 equal values ({60652, 60652, 60652}) that will then be coerced properly by the script above.

I believe there is a rounding issue with the color picker and the eye-dropper tool as it shows, by default, 8-bit (0-255) integers instead of floating point (0.0-1.0). When you pickup the color from your example image using the eye-dropper tool and switch to the grayscale slider, it will show as 91%. This is incorrect. The value should be 92.5% but the picker doesn't show floats, only integers in the grayscale slider (you can change to floats in the RGB slider section from the action button to the right of the slider type popup button). If you are in the grayscale slider section, manually enter 92.5 and then hit the tab key to have the value accepted by the picker then hit the OK button and again, you should see the proper results back in AppleScript.

So, if the result from AppleScript is not what you are seeing in the picker, just copy the HEX value from the picker's HEX field and cancel the picker by hitting esc or the Cancel button. If you want the RGB colors, run the script again but instead of using the eye-dropper tool, paste the HEX value in the Hex field and press tab to commit the entry then hit return or OK and the proper RGB values should be on the clipboard. A pain, no doubt, but if precision is important to you, perhaps the way to go.

Off topic but using the code above, you can also convert ASCII to HEX:

string_to_hex("Convert to hexadecimal!")

property hex_chars : "0123456789ABCDEF"'s characters
on dec_to_hex(n)
    if (n = 0) then return "00"
    return (hex_chars's item (((n div 16) mod 16) + 1)) & (hex_chars's item ((n mod 16) + 1))
end dec_to_hex

on string_to_hex(s)
    set r to {}
    repeat with c in s's characters
        set end of r to dec_to_hex(ASCII number c)
    end repeat
    return r as string
end string_to_hex

UPDATE

Here's a revised script that will look to see if the user canceled the color picker with the HEX code copied to the clipboard. If both of those conditions are true, then the script will use the copied HEX code to add the RGB or HEX code to the clipboard. An extra few awkward steps (select and copy the HEX string, then cancel the color picker) but perhaps feasible for your needs.

try
    set format to (button returned of (display dialog "Select the format of the chosen color for the clipboard." buttons {"Cancel", "HEX", "RGB"} default button 3 with icon 1 with title "Color Picker"))
    set {r, g, b} to choose color
    set {r, g, b} to {_16_to_8(r), _16_to_8(g), _16_to_8(b)}
on error e number n
    if (n = -128) then --user canceled
        set clipboard_string to (get the clipboard)
        if ((clipboard_string count) = 6) then
            set {r, g, b} to hex_string_to_dec(clipboard_string)
        else
            return
        end if
    else
        log {n:n, e:e}
        return
    end if
end try
if (format = "RGB") then
    set the clipboard to ("rgb(" & r & ", " & g & ", " & b & ")")
else
    set the clipboard to ("#" & {dec_to_hex(r), dec_to_hex(g), dec_to_hex(b)})
end if

on _16_to_8(n)
    return ((n / 65535) * 255) as integer
end _16_to_8

property hex_chars : "0123456789ABCDEF"'s characters
on dec_to_hex(n)
    if (n = 0) then return "00"
    return (hex_chars's item (((n div 16) mod 16) + 1)) & (hex_chars's item ((n mod 16) + 1))
end dec_to_hex

property hex_to_dec_chars : "0.1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9AaBbCcDdEeFf"
on hex_to_dec(s)
    set s to s's items's reverse
    set {d, p} to {0, 0}
    repeat with c in s
        set d to d + (((offset of c in hex_to_dec_chars) div 2) * (16 ^ p))
        set p to p + 1
    end repeat
    return d as integer
end hex_to_dec

on hex_string_to_dec(s)
    if character 1 of s = "#" then set s to s's text 2 thru -1
    set r to {}
    repeat with x from 1 to length of s by 2
        set end of r to hex_to_dec(s's text x thru (x + 1))
    end repeat
    return r
end hex_string_to_dec


How can I take custom printer settings from one computer and transfer them to others on the network?

Find the file

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.print.custompresets.forprinter.(your printer name)

and copy it to the other computer into the same location.


There doesn't appear to be a way to confirm that the client is getting a correct DHCP entry at this stage (no logs, etc). Packet sniffing helped.

Basically, the incorrect options in DHCP was preventing communication with the Netboot server, but with no diagnostics on the client, it was fairly hard to troubleshoot.

Managed to tweak infoblox settings correctly - I made OSX server a DHCP server on a closed subnet, and captured the boot options. Once I had those, I ported them to Infoblox and managed to get booting OK


macOS Catalina - how to set up Finder to use file sorting logic same as ls command (alphabetical order, not "natural")?

Essentially, Finder is treating the numbers up to the first letter as its sort criterion.

So, as far as Finder is concerned, the order is 'correct' for

0
2
6
298
2655522

It is not considering the entirety of the name as a hexadecimal figure.

Based on your edit - terminal is 'wrong' - 6 is smaller than 2655522

It's still down to "if you want a computer to sort 'properly' give it leading zeroes".

I also made a test folder - the logic is perhaps awkward, but it is actually logical, for a given definition.

I think what Terminal is doing is sorting numbers like they were letters, so like e would sort after aabbaccd so 6 sorts after 2655522


There are two factors that govern the life of a battery:

Age
Charge Cycles

The biggest factor is age.  Math Finds Top Culprit as Lithium Batteries Age

...a battery ages, or degrades, whether it is sitting on a shelf or
in use. The main cause of lithium-ion battery aging is the continuous
formation of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer in the
battery. The SEI layer must form for the battery to work because it
controls the amount of chemical reactions that occur in the battery.

The next is cycle count. A complete discharge and recharge is one cycle. A 20% discharge 5 times is one cycle, a 5% discharge 20 times is one cycle.
Whether that cycle takes a half day, a full day or a week all depends on how you use it; sleeping will put a very, small draw on your battery versus being off but the difference is almost negligible - I am assuming that you are not sleeping your MacBook for weeks at a time.
Even when you keep your MBP plugged in, you are reducing the per day cycle count; however you are not eliminating it.
Why does cycle count matter?  From the article again...

As the battery is continually used, however, small-scale side
reactions build up at the SEI layer, which decreases battery
capacity—how much of a charge the battery can hold.

Bottom line
It's doesn't matter.  You can expect to replace your battery somewhere between year 3 and 4.  Can you get longer?  Yes.  Can it be shorter?  Yes.  It's tough to know exactly when, but choosing "sleep" over "power off" isn't going to make a big difference.


Why does this I in a black rectangle with a line through appear on my iPad Pro screen, and how to get rid of it permanently?

Since this is happening in Safari several additions could inject content that doesn’t directly come from the websites you listed:

VPN or network injection (very unlikely as it would break most secure sites that use TLs)
Content blockers (very suspect, try disabling them all, then enabling then half at a time)
CSS modifications (less common, but very likely if you use them)
Developer tools and experimental features (Settings app > Safari > Advanced)

The developer tools and attaching your iPad to desktop safari and opening web inspector is the tool I use to dissect an odd website behavior. I can not reproduce your issue despite trying, but if someone can show how to reproduce it, I would love to help solve it.


Partition MacBook Pro with Mac OS X Lion using Disk Utility

ALERT: THIS WILL ERASE YOUR DATA WHEN YOU PARTITION. PLEASE BE SURE THAT ALL IMPORTANT INFORMATION IS BACKED UP VIA TIME MACHINE OR OTHER METHODS!

Load  OS X Lion from a USB Flash Drive or DVD from your post screen by holding option on your MacBook Pro's startup. Open Disk Utility from there, and repartition your hard drive to your desired specifications. Remember: this will erase your data (files and programs), and all of your data will need to be reloaded.


Numbers app: conditional highlighting using color scales?

Try conditional highlighting - this doesn't provide quite that high level of automation, as you have to add rules one-by-one - but you can automate values with all sorts of controls. Find the main menu in Format -> Cell -> Conditional Highlighting...
Here is the main menu:

You have options such as:
Numbers | Text | Date | Duration | Blank
Hope this helps :-)


You can download a trial of ecamm's PhoneView from their site -- and perhaps buy it, I've found it very handy. This will allow you to see everything on your phone, copy photos back and forth, and with Admin mode, get into the works.

You should be able to easily delete Voice Memos, those show up on the opening menu.


Different Graphics Switch options on Yosemite

On a Mac with dual switchable graphics (iGPU and dGPU) the general setup is as follows:
Boot uses usually dGPU with limited, basic capabilities since the drivers aren't loaded yet. Once the GUI arrives the drivers for both iGPU and dGPU are available, full acceleration for both is available and the power management kicks in.

For graphics performance and power management Apple deems fit a rather simplistic scheme:
The default checkbox you see without gfxCardStatus means:
iGPU is used as default but anything requesting "real graphics power" leads to switching to the dGPU. Depending on the version of the operating system or the application this request could be quite arbitrary (e.g. just a simple Java stub with demanding graphics or a badly written app).

Influencing these settings leads to the following options:

checked "Automatic Switching" =  defaults to iGPU switchable to dGPU
unchecked "Automatic Switching" = defaults to dGPU not switchable to iGPU
checked "Better Battery Life" = defaults to iGPU not switchable to dGPU
checked "Higher Performance" = defaults to dGPU not switchable to iGPU

So, in effect, yes, "Higher Performance" is the same as unchecking the checkbox in the first screen, that is, to force the dGPU.

Only using hacks – like gfxCardStatus – it is possible to get into the state of forcing more iGPU and better battery life (compared to – sometimes badly working – "Automatic Switching"). All the configs Apple seems to offer are more graphics power: force more dGPU and therefore force worse battery life.

It might be possible with a hack or maybe even to cleanly force the appearance and availability of the choice you seek in SystemPreferences.
But for your alluded usage scenario gfxCardStatus is the best and cleanest option available. If your system is still usable.

Alternatives:
Cody Krieger's original gfxCardStatus is no longer under active development fot some time now. It is not the only option:
A newer/forked version (its development also ceased now) would be Steve Show's forked gfxCardStatus.
Please note: these versions of gfxCardStatus are a fine example for wisely choosing which version to use. The versions available have different options, abilities. The newest version might not be the best choice for what you want to achieve.

A seemingly similar desire as yours, avoiding gfxCardSatus, led to the development of gpu-switch
So that option might be the part of this answer that comes closest to your question.

Finally some precognizing: the point "because my discrete GPU has some issues" might need a more detailed approach.
If it is the AMD RadeonGate dGPU for MacBook Pro 8,2, 2011, I'd suggest lobotomising the dGPU with software out of the system. A complete guide for that would be here: GPU Problem. Further pointers to mitigating hacks for the most common issues for badly designed and manufactured MacBook Pros in the past are listed also in the announcement of ceased development here: https://github.com/steveschow/gfxCardStatus


Remap broken "Tab" key to a function key on MacOs Sierra

While Karabiner does not work in MacOS Sierra they offer Karabiner Elements which has a subset of Karabiner's features.

One of the features it does have is the ability to map a function key to tab.


Excel always opens spreadsheet in read-only mode

I had the same problem. I could see the attributes set as Read-Only under the preferences but couldn't change them. I completely closed out of excel on my mac and changed the name of the excel file. That seemed to have changed the Read-Only status of my file when I opened it next. Hope this helps.


Messages and soagent making CPU spike - any solutions?

I had similar issue after I updated my mid 2012 mac book to Mojave. SOAGENT & CALLEDSERVICES were taking up more than 100% CPU.

I exported all the contacts to the VCF file format and saved on desktop.
Deleted all the contacts from the contacts list
Restarted computer
Imported back the contacts

My issue was resolved. Hope this helps


How can I delete a certificate that got restored from a backup under iOS 10/11?

I found a certificate in my iOS device's Certificate Trust Settings. And it was not be found in Profiles. Finally I remove it by add the cert file again, and then I can found and remove it in Profiles.

At first, I can't found the cert file, because this CA was installed years ago. So I did these things:

Backup iPhone to Mac, View backup file by some software (I used iMazing)
Find TrustStore.sqlite3 in Backup/KeychainDomain/ and export it to HOME DIR.
Use this project https://github.com/ADVTOOLS/ADVTrustStore to export certfile

./iosCertTrustManager.py -t ~/TrustStore.sqlite3 -e ~/foo.crt

Airdrop or Email this crt file to iOS device, and install it.
Find it in Settings > General > Profiles and Remove it.
It disappear in "Certificate Trust Settings"

Done.


How can I force Terminal.app to take up exactly half of my screen?

Terminal windows can only be expanded based on the width/height of a single character in the font that is used. You might be able to experiment and find a size that is easy to read while allowing the window to resize perfectly.


Deleting photos off of my iPhone but leave photos in the cloud

No, as far as I know, there's no way to do that using iCloud, they're always kept in sync. You can either:

Ask Apple to change this behaviour: http://www.apple.com/feedback/
Use a different cloud service, e.g. OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Drive, they all provide a way to backup your photos and sync them for offline viewing when needed.


How to duplicate-check between iPhoto Library and Photos Library *and* move non-duplicates from iPhoto -> Photos?

Perhaps a little bit late for esaruoho's friend but might be useful for someone else.

FatCatSoftware, who created the iPhoto Library Manager that esaruoho linked above, have created a similar application for managing Photos.app libraries called PowerPhotos.

For this situation I would go with option 1.

Convert the iPhoto Library to a Photos.app library.
Combine the two Photos.app libraries into one by using PowerPhotos.
Run a duplicate image check using PowerPhotos in order to make sure there are no duplicates.
Upload images to iCloud.


CMD-Z reopens last tab instead of undoing

Most online text editors which support keyboard shortcuts (like the Stack Exchange editor right here!) support ⌃Z (ctrl-Z) for undo too, which won't cause any system functions to be fired.

If you want to use ⌘Z, you can remap the Undo Close Tab function off ⌘Z to something else using System Preferences → Keyboard → Shortcuts → App Shortcuts. Set Application to Safari.app, Menu Title to Undo Close Tab and Keyboard Shortcut to something other than ⌘Z.


You could use dtrace to determine what is creating the file, say using iosnoop.d which runs under dtrace will reveal which applications are using the disk and what files they are reading or writing. This would imply catching its creation or write access, "live".

If that doesn't reveal who's created the file it could be because the process is communicating more tightly with the filessytem and hfsslower.d may be required to locating the IO to this file.

You could also see if the file is open currently, and if so by whom, using lsof.

The above suggestions should reveal what's writing this file, which I believe is the root of your question.

But to specifically answer your question, no you should not "lock" the root directory of your startup disk as this is not an advisable safe practice and may prevent the OS from booting or functioning as expected. I presume here that by locking you mean the Finder concept of locking a file, or the POSIX concepts of restricting permissions and using the uchg/schg file flags via chflags. While Mac OS X doesn't normally create new files in this location arbitrarily, changes in permissions and ownership could effect filesystem traversal by users and processes and in general *nix systems expect the root volume directory to be mutable. Many processes and commands in *nix use this as a fallback default, and it's often seen used in certain cases where a login occurs and there's no HOME, for instance. While it may ave no immediate short term negative effects, it's not a wise practice nor is it the best method to determine what's causing your mysterious file creation.

Knowing more about the file might also help answer your underlying question.


How to map Ctrl + Delete to Fn + Opt + Delete with Karabiner-Elements

Fn  is usually evaluated within the keyboard, before transmission. It doesn't generate its own event.

According to Key Codes,  Fn   Opt ⌥   Backspace ⌫  generates this data...

Key Down
    Characters: 
    Unicode:        63272 / 0xf728
    Keys:       ⌥⌦
    Key Code:   117 / 0x75
    Modifiers:  8913216 / 0x880140 ⓘ

Maybe you could use that to initiate the replacement - I don't use Karabiner so can't test.

*Characters:  doesn't actually generate any printable character on my machine.


How can I replace Finder with Path Finder in OS X Lion?

According to the Path Finder Support Forums, it is not possible to completely replace Finder with Path Finder. For more information see "Can I replace OS X's Finder with Path Finder?"


Time Machine: Back up separate files to separate drives?

This isn't possible with Time Machine. You can use Time Machine for one drive, then use an alternative backup solution for the other files to the other drive.


There is a way to do something close - it involves adding a bookmarklet to Safari and selecting that once you're on the page.

However, this will either open only the hyperlinks you've selected (i.e. highlighted) on the page or it will open all hyperlinks found on the page if you haven't highlighted any. In other words, it doesn't work in the Command + click manner you want.

If you're interested, here's the process to set this up:

Visit any page using Safari
Press CommandD to add a bookmark to the page you just visited
In the highlighted field that appears in the window, change the text to something like Open all hyperlinks
Press OptionCommandB to edit bookmarks
Find the bookmark you just added and right-click on it
Select Edit Address... from the context menu
This should highlight the URL. Press Delete to remove it
Now paste the following code where the URL was previously:

javascript:(function(){var n_to_open,dl,dll,i; function linkIsSafe(u) { if (u.substr(0,7)=='mailto:') return false; if (u.substr(0,11)=='javascript:') return false; return true; } n_to_open = 0; dl = document.links; dll = dl.length; if (window.getSelection && window.getSelection().containsNode) { /* mozilla */ for(i=0; i<dll; ++i) { if (window.getSelection().containsNode(dl[i], true) && linkIsSafe(dl[i].href)) ++n_to_open; } if (n_to_open && confirm('Open ' + n_to_open + ' selected links in new windows?')) { for(i=0; i<dll; ++i) if (window.getSelection().containsNode(dl[i], true) && linkIsSafe(dl[i].href)) window.open(dl[i].href); } } /* /mozilla */ if (!n_to_open) { /*ie, or mozilla with no links selected: this section matches open_all_links, except for the alert text */ for(i = 0; i < dll; ++i) { if (linkIsSafe(dl[i].href)) ++n_to_open; } if (!n_to_open) alert ('no links'); else { if (confirm('No links selected. Open ' + n_to_open + ' links in new windows?')) for (i = 0; i < dll; ++i) if (linkIsSafe(dl[i].href)) window.open(dl[i].href); } } })();

Press Return to accept the code

To make this work, open any page in Safari and then select the bookmarklet. One of the following things will happen:

if you haven't highlighted any hyperlinks on the page, the code will proceed to open all hyperlinks in a separate tab
if you've highlighted x number of hyperlinks, then the code will proceed to open those selected hyperlinks in separate tabs

IMPORTANT: If this doesn't work for you, ensure that you have Javascript enabled. You can do this via Safari > Preferences > Security.

One more thing - I have tried many times to get the above javascript to work as a Service in Safari (thinking that would be better than the bookmark approach), but have never been able to get it to work. On the off-chance you do, please share how. :)


How do I create a folder in the Files app on my iPhone? (not on iCloud)

Creating a new independent folder in the "Files app" does not appears to be possible without iCloud with exception of creating sub folders in the existing apps like Keynote, Numbers and Pages.


Need some basic enlightenment about using PHP

To figure out whether you have several PHP installed, you may try to run from shell:

$ which php -a

If you got one - then you are fine.

If you discovered, that the first line goes not the one which you installed, ensure that you are using the brew version, by placing /usr/local/bin before /usr/sbin in your PATH:

PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"
and questions #3: it seems you are confused. XAMPP already includes Apache, so you don't need to install anything separately. XAMPP is an Apache distribution containing MariaDB, PHP, and Perl. You may add xdebug to XAMPP package, by reading one of tutorials for OSX.


Removing a Word From the Spellcheck Dictionary

Whilst many words are in ~/Library/Spelling/LocalDictionary, there's also words contained in the localisation that you are currently in, such as en or en_GB.

Try looking in such files for the word. You can find which file it's in using the following Terminal command:

grep -lr "procede" ~/Library/Spelling/


How do I turn off the built in macOSD shortcut for Minimise ('Opt' + 'Cmd' + "M")

Setting a new custom shortcut frees the old one to pass through to the application.

What if you set minimize to be triggered by Control + Option + Command + Shift + L in Apple Keyboard Preferences?

You can set that just for your web browser(s) for using Google Docs or you can set it system wide as you find works best for your brain.


Numbers 2: Create a new header cell, listing once the contents of a column

Here is the solution that worked for me.
The original solution was provided in a question I posted in Apple Support Communities.

I am posting it here, as an answer to anyone the might arrive here looking for the same solution.

The 2 Cell Functions:

=IF(COUNTIF(A$1:A2, A)=1, MAX(B$1:B1)+1, "")

=LOOKUP(COLUMN(),  First::$B, First::$A)

Original Answer: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5960924


Disabling password in recovery mode, is default password restored when re-enabling?

You can reset the password via Recovery Mode or Single User Mode, but you would need to know the original password in order to change it back.

Another important issues comes to mind if they're using FileVault. You will not be able to access their information by changing their password (and you'll likely break other things trying).

Other options would include:

Making a secondary account (if the issue isn't specific to that user account)
Repairing the issue via Target Disk Mode (if the issue is fixable that way, and they aren't using FileVault)
Obtaining the password, or having them change it to a temporary password they can share with you

Note: If they aren't running FileVault, and you end up changing their password, you'll be prompted to wipe out their Keychain on every boot (which means they lose everything, or you continuously see Keychain errors).

The third option, i.e. obtaining a correct password, is best, and standard practice for repair shops.


Does memory need to be installed in same-size pairs in the Mac laptops of recent years such as MacBookPro8,1?

According to Apple's official site:

  For best performance, fill both memory slots, installing an equal memory module in each slot.

I believe it is technically possible to install RAM of different sizes, but Apple doesn't officially recommend it.


Time Machine by default backs up nearly everything in your macOS partition. It excludes log files, Spotlight indexes, caches, temporary files and trash (have a look: On OS X, what files are excluded by rule from a Time Machine backup?). The backup includes docker files, npm packages, your personal files etc. When the backup is completed, the hard drive will NOT be bootable, meaning that you can't run macOS from your Time machine backup.

You can restore from a Time machine backup without or after installing an operating system. If you restore without installing an operating system:

All the backup will be restored to your disk, including the operating system (for example Yosemite). [NOTE: If the Mac you are restoring to does not support the version of macOS in your TM Backup, it will still not be able to boot from the restore].
It can be done from either Recovery or Installation USB. No internet access is required.
After the backup is restored, everything will be exactly how it was while you were doing the backup.

If you restore after installing an operating system:

Only personal files and the files you select can be restored and will not restore the operating system.
Might not restore packages, system tweaks and files that are stored in directories other than traditional ones (for example "/MyApp/mysourcecode.cs" will not be restored by default).

If you think this contains misinformation, please comment because I never actually restored after an operating system installation.


Vertical and horizontal workspace switching

Not really. The Apple window managers work side to side for space switching on both iOS and macOS. Same with the split screen control - only side to side movement is programmed.

You could get an alternative window manager, but you can probably get 90% of the benefit learning the key shortcuts to move quickly to a set screen and disabling the "reorder spaces" option in Mission control.

I get why that's there for new users, but power users almost never want their spaces to be "reorganized" on the fly.


I had a similar problem with Octave 4.0.0, when I installed it as hadi suggested I got this message:

The graphical user interface is disabled by default since it is still buggy on
OS X; use brew with the option --with-gui to enable it.

Octave was compiled with gnuplot; enable it via graphics_toolkit('gnuplot').
All graphics terminals can be used by setting the environment variable GNUTERM
in ~/.octaverc, and building gnuplot with the corresponding options.

setenv('GNUTERM','qt')    # Requiers QT; install gnuplot --with-qt
setenv('GNUTERM','x11')   # Requires XQuartz; install gnuplot --with-x11
setenv('GNUTERM','wxt')   # Requires wxmac; install gnuplot --with-wxmac
setenv('GNUTERM','aqua')  # Requires AquaTerm; install gnuplot --with-aquaterm

You may also set this variable from within Octave. For printing the cairo backend
is recommended, i.e., install gnuplot with --with-cairo, and use

print -dpdfcairo figure.pdf

When using the the qt or fltk toolkits then invisible figures do not work because
osmesa does currently not work with the Mac's OpenGL implementation. The usage of
gnuplot is recommened.

What worked for me was adding the --with-gui:

brew install octave --with-qt --with-fltk --with-gui

Or reinstalling:

brew reinstall octave --with-qt --with-fltk --with-gui


External Display limited to 1080p after 10.9.2. update

The problem is Mac OS X. It is limited (in software, in the drivers) to a certain pixel colour clock rate for the HDMI port. The hardware in the Mac is more than capable of driving your WQHD monitor at 2560 x 1440 etc., but you can't do it via HDMI as the operating system's interface to it is essentially crippled in software.

It'll work via the DisplayAdapter port, though. The downside is that the single Thunderbolt connection will be taken, and you won't be able to connect to your monitor and other gear at home.


How to disable Safari Frequently Visited?

I see now that it can be disabled under the "Bookmarks" menu. Simple as that.


Filter out ARP query from given ether:ip

You could use a static ARP entry to solve the problem. This is done using "arp -s" as you write in your question. The second association is not a problem as the static entry will take precedence.

Alternatively you could block the MAC address of the spoofer. For example you could use the "ifconfig bridge" command to create a bridge over which you tunnel all packets from the evil MAC-address. When configuring the bridge, set that it tags the packets.

Then you can use the pf packet filter to examine all the tagged packets and possible reject them.