If you take a full backup of your iPhone (right click on it in iTunes and choose Back Up) and then restore it to a new phone, all data will be preserved, including apps' data:

  iTunes will back up the following information

  Contacts* and Contact Favorites (regularly sync contacts to a computer or cloud service such as iCloud to back them up).
  App Store Application data including in-app purchases (except the Application itself, its tmp and Caches folder).
  Application settings, preferences, and data, including documents.

From iTunes: About iOS backups.


What does the secure keyboard entry menu item in Terminal app do?

Essentially, this option prevents other applications (including things like TextExpander) from "listening in" on what you are typing. By preventing other background processes from recording or accessing your keystrokes, you are ensuring they cannot be logged or monitored, eg. by a simple keylogger, or another program running with normal permissions for potentially malicious purposes.


How to change Company Name in App Store?

Contact Apple. In the first question on the support page reads:

  How can I update or change my iOS Developer Program account information?
  Please contact us for assistance with:

  Address changes
  Contact information updates
  Company/Organization name updates or changes

Source: Account Managment support.


Why is ~/.zprofile always sourced on every interactive session?

Each Terminal tab is a login session on macOS by default. You can run w to see that each tab/tty running a shell has a process name starting with - attached to it (which indicates a login shell).
Additional information (related to bash, but the same is applicable to other shells)

What options does Terminal pass to bash on startup?
Why doesn't .bashrc run automatically? (some of the answers explain details)
What are the differences between /usr/bin/login and /usr/bin/bash?
Why doesn't Mac OS X source ~/.bashrc?

PS: If I remember correctly we have a Q&A which goes into even more detail on this including a rationale why macOS considers each Terminal window/tab to be a login shell. I didn't find it yet though...


It just shows the last time you've logged in/started a Terminal session, there is nothing weird about it.


I keep being asked by iTunes for password and credit card verification, and getting warning emails

After going through various rounds of support calls and emails with Apple, there was no way to solve the problem. However, after some months, it just disappeared. I never actually found out what was causing it, probably some glitch on the Apple side.

Meh.


My MacBook Pro will boot up but won't login

If the Macbook boots fully but will not log in it is likely that there is something that starts up in that user profile that is preventing boot up. Wht you need is Safe Mode.

Boot the Mac while holding down the shift key. When you see the Apple logo come up you can release the shift key. The Mac will boot, I have seen booting in Safe Mode take a long time. This is because Mac O/S does a bunch of maintenance routines during safe mode, including disk and filesystem repair, so give it time.

Once you are at the login screen I would bet that you can now log in. Now back up your important stuff just in case and try turning off items that run at startup.


What are typical use of using different 'network locations'

If you have a different network setup somewhere, that's the obvious reason to use locations.  For instance:

I use a public DNS provider (like GoogleDNS or OpenDNS).  That means I don't use the DNS server on the local network.  However, when I go into a public WiFi location (a coffee-shop, hotel, etc) this can cause problems.  The issue is that the authorization step to get onto the local WiFi network requires that my browser go to some page.  And to get to that page, I have to use DNS to figure out the IP address.  But, my request to Google's DNS server isn't allowed, since I'm not yet part of the network.

So, I set up a network location called "CoffeeShop" which doesn't specify a DNS server.  I renamed my "automatic" location to be "GoogleDNS".  Now, when I'm at Panera's and want to use their public WiFi, I switch location to "CoffeeShop" and then my DNS query during authorization goes to the local DNS server.  Note that you can quickly switch location under the apple menu (this only shows up if you have more than one location specified).

Enjoy!


How do I transparently compress a directory?

The compression is supported by HFS+ file-system out of box, however macOS by default doesn't compress any files.

afsctool

There is a afsctool command-line utility which can transparently compress the files, for example:

afsctool -c some_dir

Install via: brew install afsctool.

ditto

When copying files, use ditto, e.g.

ditto --hfsCompression src dst

  When copying files or extracting content from an archive, all the content will be compressed if appropriate.

To check whether a file is compressed using HFS+ compression or not, you can use hfsdebug. See: Compress files with HFS+ compression.

Related: Transparent file compression apps for macOS.


iTunes - Sorting issue. Song names that start with 'the' or 'a'

iTunes will generally import songs with a few different metadata fields. Check out this example where the name field is different from the sort as field:

As far as I know, unless these fields are updated for every song in your library, it will sort them as if the `a` or `the` weren't present.


How to trust an invalid certificate in Big Sur / Safari 14

Note: Don't do this for sites you don't trust!
This might not be the simplest solution, but it's the only one I could come up with (thanks to https://serverfault.com/questions/139728/how-to-download-the-ssl-certificate-from-a-website# for explaining how to download the certificate). Assuming we want to trust https://test.com/

Download the certificate by running this in the Terminal:

echo -n | openssl s_client -connect test.com:443 | sed -ne '/-BEGIN CERTIFICATE-/,/-END CERTIFICATE-/p' > /tmp/test.cert

Add it to your Keychain

open /tmp/test.cert

Add it to the System Keychain

Find it in the Keychain, double-click it and trust it:


How to adjust volume during movie playback on iOS 11?

I allowed an update to iOS again last night to v11.0.2 and Apple has fixed the problem.   They added the volume control back, and it is in the bottom left corner.  To access it, simply tap anywhere while a movie is playing.


I had the same problem and I noticed multiple birthdays that I didn't recognize or didn't really need to know.

When you're looking at the card, it should show where the information came from, in my case, the contact information came from LinkedIn. If that's the case, chances are there are more contacts you don't REALLY know, or if you do, you already have their birthday saved elsewhere.

I went into system preferences, Internet accounts, scrolled down to LinkedIn and click. It shows all my preferences for LinkedIn and I just unchecked Contacts. Closed and opened Calendar and Contacts and all those birthdays and Contacts were gone..

Hopefully that helps!


This means your current backup size on iCloud is 4.28GB.  The next time a backup is done it will add an additional 1.10GB.

4.28 + 1.10 = 5.38GB.  That will exceed the amount of space you have in iCloud.

You can reduce what's being backed-up or buy additional storage space in iCloud.  Check out this answer to a similar question for tips on what you can do.


Why does my iMac take so long to go to sleep?

Your full hard drive could be a reason. Some space is needed for swap and sleepimages and whatnot, and OS X has difficulties operating when it only has so little space free for those tasks. Try freeing some space (at least 5GB is recommended by Apple if I recall, I'd try to free more just to try).


Might have to ask Apple, or get someone smarter than me to look at it, but this looks like the start of the problem to me; that looks a long response time to me

Tue, 16 Sep 2014 08:02:10 GMT:  DEBUG: <--  Response 4:  0  (489ms),  headers:   body: (empty)
Tue, 16 Sep 2014 08:02:10 GMT:  WARN:  Could not decode JSON: JSON Parse error: Unexpected EOF

Answer form only used to be able to format correctly.


How to disable file associations to an app before/after installing?

lsregister is the command to deal with Launch Services. To unregister an app use the -u option and the path to the app bundle. lsregister is not in the PATH - you have to use the full path to the executable:

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -u /Applications/MediaPlayer.app


How can I make the Apple Music fonts smaller in iOS 10?

No, there's no way to modify the display in Apple Music.


Iphone ringing when husband receives a call

Both of your phones seem to be connected to the same iCloud account.

In iOS 8, one iOS device can answer another device's phone calls and vice versa. This feature is called Continuity.

Take a look here for more details: https://www.apple.com/ios/whats-new/continuity/


In the light of the FREAK TLS vulnerability, how may I disable insecure cipher suites manually in Safari?

Safari on OS X uses Secure Transport for SSL/TLS, the same implementation which is linked in cURL, App Store, etc. Secure Transport does not have any user configurations available. Therefore, it is not possible to modify Safari cipher suites.

Anyway, Apple recently released Security Update 2015-002 which fixes this issue.

  Impact: An attacker with a privileged network position may intercept
  SSL/TLS connections

  Description: Secure Transport accepted short ephemeral RSA keys,
  usually used only in export-strength RSA cipher suites, on connections
  using full-strength RSA cipher suites. This issue, also known as
  FREAK, only affected connections to servers which support
  export-strength RSA cipher suites, and was addressed by removing
  support for ephemeral RSA keys.

  CVE-2015-1067 : Benjamin Beurdouche, Karthikeyan Bhargavan, Antoine
  Delignat-Lavaud, Alfredo Pironti, and Jean Karim Zinzindohoue of
  Prosecco at Inria Paris

You can examine Secure Transport client with something like, curl "https://www.howsmyssl.com/a/check" | tr ',' '\n'. As someone pointed out, it is also a good idea to use Firefox or Chrome which use NSS instead.


How do I delete xpcproxy executable from /usr/libexec folder on my Mac?

You don't say why you want to delete it, so I'll assume you know what you're doing.
/usr/libexec is a folder for programs that are used by other programs. xpcproxy is owned by root, and so you'll need at least root privileges (typically via sudo) to delete it.
In addition, you may have Apple's System Integrity Protection if your OS is fairly recent vintage. If you have SIP, you'll need to disable it before you can delete this file. THere are numerous guides (like this one for Catalina) explaining how to disable SIP, so I won't repeat them here.


The solution to your problem is, either you get it from service provider or cut it by yourself to nano sim size (as stated by other user). You might know that iPhone 4S uses micro sim whereas iPhone 5S uses a nano sim, so to use it with iPhone 4S again after cutting it, all you need is a micro to nano sim adapter which is available online for few bucks. This way you can use it on both devices.


Airdrop from 1st gen iPad Mini to MacBookPro

No. iOS 8 will Airdrop to and receive from a Yosemite Mac. It is more likely that your iPad (Or Mac) is not compatible with the feature. If your iPad is older then a 4th gen, I think, it won't work.


Why doesn't the 'rm' command dump file in Trash?

rm is a standard Unix command and Unix does not always have trash. At the programming level the BSD API does not have a system call to trash a file, Apple supplies those at a higher level.

Also  you need a command that deletes files e.g. to remove them from trash and rm happens to be it. You need another command to put a file in trash.


How can I determine the resolution of an image saved to Photos on iOS11?

There's no native way to do this within iOS without either installing a 3rd party app or jailbreaking the device.

The closest you can get natively is to determine the image file size (i.e. in KB or MB), but obviously this does not provide the resolution.

Another option is to import the images to your Mac/PC in which case you can use macOS, Windows, etc to display the resolution.

In terms of 3rd party apps, there are countless options on the iOS App Store that can do this for you. If you're interested in more than just resolution than you may want to download an EXIF viewer app, most of which are free.. These will offer a lot of other data from the image and often work with images that are downloaded, not just ones taken with your iPhone camera (although in many of those cases you'll only get a resolution, which is what you're after anyway).

There are also photography apps and file management apps that can give you this info, but the built-in iOS Files app won't provide resolution details, just the image type, file size and date.


How to solve the "overscan" issue if the iMac is connected to an HDTV and using BootCamp and Windows 7?

Are you sure you need to have a software solution within Windows?  Many HDTVs let you adjust current display settings to disable the overscan.  See PCWorld - Tech Trend: For HDTV, Don't Overlook Overscan.  Quote:

  If you don't see every pixel you should see, you're not viewing a true
  1920 by 1080 progressive-scan picture. The name of the viewing mode
  differs from brand to brand, but it's commonly called Dot-by-Dot,
  Point-to-Point, Just, or simply Overscan Off.

To add to that, on my own HDTV, choosing "Studio" under the Aspect setting has the effect of eliminating the overscan.  I've also seen it called simply "PC" on another TV, and "Just Scan" on another.

Check your HDTV's settings ... chances are it has something like this and you aren't aware of it.  Though, admittedly there are some HDTVs without such a capability (sadly) and for these you'll need to find a solution that lets you reduce the resolution output to the HDTV.

Update: I found the following article explains well both the issue and troubleshooting steps: Windows Experts Community - Configure Your Display and Display Adapter.

Plus: some folks have successfully replaced the Apple video drivers in their Bootcamp Windows with ATI drivers, in order to access settings to compensate for the HDTV overscan.  See this blog post: Apple Macbook Pro (Early 2011) running Bootcamp Windows 7 with ATI / AMD Catalyst Control Center.  Got ATI video in your Mac?  Worth a shot perhaps, if you do.  Take a backup before messing with drivers, of course.


Is there a way to increase the speed of the "hover open folder" thing when drag and dropping?

Not strictly a duplicate of Spring loaded folder settings missing in Yosemite however the answer is the same, so I'll save future Googlers some effort by copying it, with slight modification, to here.

  Spring-Loaded Folders

  The slider is located in System Preferences → Accessibility → Mouse & Trackpad

  You can change the spring-loaded delay by writing the setting manually:

defaults write -g com.apple.springing.delay -float 1.0 && killall -HUP Finder

  Replace 1.0 with the delay in seconds before springing.

Credit to grgarside


How to get all my iPhone apps onto my iPod touch?

If you back up to iTunes, it should work to restore that backup onto the iPod touch. I've had success using that to migrate my first iPod touch to my second iPod touch and again to my iPhone 4S.

You should note that this restore will bring the device name along with it, so you'll have two devices with your iPhone's name.


Spotlight's Privacy tab not backed up by Time Machine?

Default Time Machine exclusions are in the file /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd.bundle/Contents/Resources/StdExclusions.plist

In 10.7.5 this file has a section named:
PathsExcluded
Which contains:
/.Spotlight-V100

So it is very likely that /.Spotlight-V100/Store-V1/Exclusions.plist will not be backed up by Time Machine.

I don't know where the "Spotlight Privacy tab" preferences are stored.


Where's the serial number of a Mac located, in the storage or in the firmware?

Serial numbers are stored within the logic board firmware.

As a result, if you're trying to access a Mac in Target Disk Mode you're not going to get it's serial number from the Startup Disk (well, not unless someone has previously recorded the serial number on a file stored somewhere on the disk).

If you need the serial number and you can't boot into the Mac, there may be other ways to obtain it (e.g. Apple sometimes engraves serial numbers on the device, by contacting Apple, etc).


Folders in iCloud Drive change their permissions

I had the same problem, trying to run a server as an unprivileged user that needs read access to Documents, while Documents is in iCloud Drive. Normal UNIX file permissions didn't stick. I solved it by using  ACLs to grant access.
chmod +a "_www allow list,search" Documents
In this example _www is the unprivileged user your server is running as. Use ps axu to find out what user that is for you.
The folders inside Documents should work like normal with UNIX file permission bits, so you only have to do this for the Documents folder itself.
For more info on ACLs, see here here and man chmod.


Printers compatible with case sensitive hardened Mountain Lion

Epson Expression Premium XP-605 is installed and running correctly on
Lion (10.7.4) on top of a case sensitive filesystem.
The driver version I used is the 9.0.5 from the Epson web server.

This means that this software went through a quality control able to detect programming errors where the same file may be named differently
in different places of the source programs.


Where are the emoji *category* icons stored on OSX?

The icons are stored as PDF and TIFF files in the resources for the character palette:

/System/Library/Input Methods/CharacterPalette.app/Contents/Resources/


AppleScript: Activate all mail rules with "sort: " in their name

Pretty simple one-liner:
tell application "Mail" to set enabled of rules whose name starts with "sort: " to true

You don’t even need to get all those rules or their names; however if you want to do so it’s just as straightforward:
tell application "Mail" to get name of rules whose name starts with "sort: "

Note: your example starts with sort: but you asked about strings containing that string. If that is what you want then swap contains for starts with in the code I provided.


According to Apple's developer documentation about their MapLinks  iOS/macOS supports map urls via a web link (using http or https) to maps.apple.com - so to link to GPS coordinates one uses:

https://maps.apple.com/?ll=50.894967,4.341626

Also just to add it seems that 'geo:' maps scheme standardised in RFC5870 sadly doesn't appear to work on iOS/macOS. Although according to the geouri.org there is some support in Android, and other applications.


Is an older version of Python a necessity?

While there are obviously differences in the different versions of Python, there are also differences between the "system" Python and those you install via Python.org, MacPorts, Homebrew, etc. All of these "additional" versions can coexist quite happily with the system versions in /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions - I have 2.3, 2.5.6, 2.6.7, and 2.7.2 on my 10.8.4 iMac which originally came with Lion installed. /usr/bin/python is 2.7.2.

Basically, there is no good reason to get rid of any of the system Pythons (they only take up ~200MB), and some very good reasons to not get rid of them. They are included for a reason, and there are various system utilities and programs that depend on them. You could get strange, unexplained behavior if you remove them, and vital stuff may not work, as Python scripts and libraries are behind some major system tools. Python has been designed to have multiple versions living happily side-by-side, so if your system is set up properly (which I generally trust the Apple engineers to have done), there won't be any conflicts as hypothesized by another answer.

If you want to change which version of Python runs by default when you type python into the Terminal prompt, then change your $PATH environment variable to point toward your installation of choice, do not unlink or change /usr/bin/python. For example, I use MacPorts, so /opt/local/bin is ahead of /usr/bin in my $PATH, so I never run the "system" version 2.7.2. You can then start your scripts with

#!/usr/bin/env python

and it will search your path for the correct binary.

You should have no problems at all using MacPorts point to your version of choice. One thing I would suggest, though, is to keep /opt/local/bin/python pointing to the latest version of Python 2 (2.7.5, currently), and use /opt/local/bin/python3 point to 3.3.2. Yes, you have to remember to add the 3 on the end of the command, but several months back I tried setting python to Py3, and occasionally would get weird errors from some programs expecting Py2 to be there.

Hopefully this helps answer your actual question, please let me know if you need anything else.


Why does Lion mount a network volume twice at login?

AFP mounts are tied to both a path and an authentication.

An exported volume might have multiple paths.  For example, an OS X server might export its root, the /Users/ folder, and the /Groups/ folder.  Each of these can be mounted separately.  In your case, your NAS may be exporting its volume under multiple paths.  It might even be exporting the same path multiple times.  Check the NAS' settings.

Each AFP mount is tied to a particular authentication (username/password).  You can mount the same volume/path multiple times using different authentications.  Its possible that the credentials you used in those two different places are subtly different.  Depending on the NAS, it might even come down to whether your long username or short username are used.  Your NAS might not even require a username (only a password) and might ignore whatever username is given.  OS X has no way of knowing that and so two different usernames (long versus short) might produce two different mounts even though they lead to the exact same volume.


Why does the Messages app request access to your heart rate?

The messages app requires the your heart beat for the pulsating heart sticker.

This sticker works on both the apple watch as well as messages on iOS within the "Digital Touch" scribble feature. There you can press and hold two fingers until a heart shows up that will pulsate with your current heart-rate.

This can of course be considered a gimmick so if you do not want to allow messages to access your heart beat, you can just choose not to share it. The only consequence of that would be that, if you send a heart beat using that feature, it will not be synced to your actual heart beat but use a default value.


Automatically deleting files that contain a specific content

Assuming you want to delete them without further ado, use

rm $(grep -lr "text to find" *)

The $(..) runs the command within the parenthesis and uses its output as arguments for rm.


Chrome Helper process...without Chrome running

It is safe to stop any process named "Google Chrome Helper" as it is only associated with Google Chrome. Since Google Chrome is not open, it is safe to stop them. This answer may help.


Why are some icons sideways on my desktop?

It's not that the icon is sideways, it's that the small thumbnail for the file that's used as the icon needs to be wide because the CSV file has at least one really long line of data in it. The thumbnail you're seeing is a dynamic preview of the contents of the file and in the case of the file on the top of the image, the data contents demand a lot of horizontal space to show you the preview.

Here's an example: I've created two CSV files on my desktop. One file has ~500 columns of data on one row. The other has 10 columns of data on one row. The thumbnail for the 500 column file is wide because that's what previewing the data demands.

Pretty smart of OS X really.

Edit: Someone asked where the threshold for change was in the thumbnails. I did some quick experiments. I saw changes in the thumbnail dimensions at 61, 81, 101 and 121 characters of text on the one line. Note: that is characters, not columns of data. So it includes the data and the separating comma. Here is how the thumbnail icon evolved as the file contents changed:

For all of these snaps I just changed the length of the text on the one line in the file via TextMate and save the file, viewed my desktop and there was an updated thumbnail.


There isn't an easy way to change the opener of the files and inject tail.

However, you could make very simple shell scripts and have them open the appropriate commands at log in time:

Opening new Terminal.app window/tab with a certain profile from command-line or AppleScript?

Also, you can set up several windows and several tabs with different font, color, arrangement (even across multiple Mission Control desktop spaces) and then have terminal open the group. Terminal's help has some tips on both AppleScript automation and using Window Groups (export/import) is possible to edit the xml configuration files for advanced cases.

Open terminal via AppleScript

For me, I just define aliases that are easy to type in my . initialization scripts.

alias tf=`tail -F`
alias tailf='tail -F /var/log/system.log`
alias upd=`tail -F /var/log/install.log`
alias mas=`tail -F /var/log/commerce.log`

So you can tf an arbitrary file or easily kick off specific files of interest rather than scripting a file to run a specific command. It really depends if your brain likes to bring a new window to an existing file or a new file to an existing window.


Modify the file .bash_profile with nano or another appropriate editor:

Replace:

export PATH=’/usr/local/bin:??
# Setting PATH for Python 2.7
# The orginal version is saved in .bash_profile.pysave
PATH="/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin:${PATH}"
export PATH

by:

# Setting PATH for Python 2.7
# The orginal version is saved in .bash_profile.pysave
export PATH=/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin:$PATH

Explanation:

The first line of your current .bash_profile

export PATH=’/usr/local/bin:??

modifies the standard value of $PATH given by /etc/paths from

/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

to ’/usr/local/bin:?? - which is no valid path.

The fourth and fifth line of your current .bash_profile modifies $PATH to

/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin:’/usr/local/bin:??

Since ’/usr/local/bin:? is no valid path the finally effective PATH is

/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin

which completely breaks your standard PATH. You can still execute all executables in the above directories but you can't omit the superior directories (e.g. to execute nano you have to enter /usr/bin/nano instead of nano).


Workaround for connecting two 2017 iMacs and using one as a second display

There's a product called AirDisplay from Avatron Software that allows you to extend your display to another Mac.

  Extend your main Mac screen to a nearby iOS or Android device or to
  another Mac or PC. Increase your productivity with an extra screen or
  mirror your main display to up to 4 screens.


Can I put memory from a 2.7GHz Mac Mini into a 2.4 GHz MacBook?

I've seen this attempted a couple times, each times putting faster clocked RAM into a machine designed for something slower - same machine as yours, the white unibody.

It might turn on, but it likely won't boot - just hang at the Apple logo.


Map left mouse button in Karabiner Elements

BUT: it's actually quite simple (if I didn't mis-interpret your question):

Just select [Add item] in K.-Element's "Simple Modifications" tab, choose "caps_lock" (left) and "button1" (right) – and you're DONE!

… no need for "Complex Modifications", btw.


Here's a link to iWebCamera for Mac. Let me know how that works!


Using XQuartz for communicating to the Centos server using local graphical user interface

You don't need to switch to runlevel 5, this only means that the server boots into the GUI, not that it's useable. You can use runlevel 3 and launch remote X sessions.

Furthermore, you'll have to use xterm to start the SSH session, not Terminal.app. If you run XQuartz it should open it by default. Then run ssh -X root.website.com to open the session and from this session you can launch the needed applications. If you need the entire desktop, run gnome-session & or your desired VM.

Note that you need to have X11Forwarding yes in your /etc/ssh/sshd.conf.


opening an app in a shell script with sudo

Just try sudo appthatneedsport25, no need to use open when dealing with bash or shell scripts. If it is an interpreted script (python ruby etc) and it isnt set to executable, you can always do sudo python scriptname.


How can I set the default alert settings for calendar events added from Mail

Yes, go to Calendar settings where you can choose defaults:


What are these extra /Zone.Identifier files created during Windows Remote Desktop file transfer?

According to Windows: killing the Zone.Identifier NTFS alternate data stream the Zone.Information is:

  The Zone.Identifier NTFS alternate data stream (ADS) is appended to Internet downloads by browsers, and inserted by most decompressors when expanding such downloads.

ZoneID=3 means it was downloaded from Internet zone (as opposed to Local Intranet etc) .  Different zones are detailed in this Microsoft document About URL Security Zones.

It is not a function of the file type it is metadata indicating the files provenance.

For example on Windows I created a new file Doc1.pdf in Word and downloaded a flight boarding pass Test.pdf from the internet.

PS C:\PDFtest> ls

    Directory: C:\PDFtest

Mode                LastWriteTime         Length Name
----                -------------         ------ ----
-a----       27/12/2019     09:51          25598 Doc1.pdf
-a----       10/11/2019     14:24          21784 Test.pdf

Only the downloaded file contains a Zone.Identifier stream.

PS C:\PDFtest> Get-Item * -Stream zone*

PSPath        : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\PDFtest\Test.pdf:Zone.Identifier
PSParentPath  : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem::C:\PDFtest
PSChildName   : Test.pdf:Zone.Identifier
PSDrive       : C
PSProvider    : Microsoft.PowerShell.Core\FileSystem
PSIsContainer : False
FileName      : C:\PDFtest\Test.pdf
Stream        : Zone.Identifier
Length        : 151

PS C:\PDFtest>

If you then copy these files to mac the stream data is converted to a file but only in the case that there was some.  This is because the filesystem (APFS) does not support streams (and indeed Windows doesn't necessarily know what filesystem it is).

A1398% cd ~/Downloads/PDFTest
A1398% ls -la
total 56
drwxr-xr-x   4 hali  staff    128 Dec 27 09:11 .
drwx------+ 28 hali  staff    896 Dec 27 09:11 ..
-rw-r--r--@  1 hali  staff  25598 Dec 27 09:51 Doc1.pdf
-rw-r--r--@  1 hali  staff  21784 Nov 10 14:24 Test.pdf
-rw-r--r--@  1 hali  staff    151 Nov 10 14:24 Test.pdf:Zone.Identifier

Note that if you check with ls the name is not FileName.pdf/Zone.Identifier it is FileName.pdf:Zone.Identifier - it is just macOS displays : as / in Finder. This is the same name as seen in Windows using Powershell Get-Item -Stream above or as mentioned in the link as seen using Nirsoft AlternateStreamView

The contents are whatever were in this NTFS stream. In my case it also contains the website I downloaded it from - the pdf was a flight ticket and has the airline name.

A1398% cat Test.pdf:Zone.Identifier
[ZoneTransfer]
ZoneId=3
ReferrerUrl=https://booking.nouvelair.com/web/Itinerary.xhtml
HostUrl=https://booking.nouvelair.com/web/generatePDFServlet

If you are not interested in this information you can remove the ADS on Windows as described in the above link:

  This batch file kills  the Zone.Identifier NTFS alternate data stream using the SysInternals streams tool:

@echo off
  if !%1!==!! goto :end
  :: use caret before pipe to hide the pipe from the outermost command in the batch file
  for /f "usebackq tokens=1" %%d in (`streams.exe %1 ^| find "Zone.Identifier:$DATA"`) do (
    goto :kill
  )
  goto :end
:kill
  streams -d %1
:end

Alternatively you can remove them on macOS after copying using rm (adjusting the directory)

rm ~/Downloads/PDFTest/*:Zone.Identifier


Modify terminal .command file to run on multiple files

The only line that does work in that script is

xattr -c "$FILE"

To run a command on all files in a folder, use find:

find /path/to/folder -type f -exec xattr -c "{}" \;

xattr also provides the -r flag to run recursively, so you can avoid find given that this functionality is part of xattr:

xattr -rc /path/to/folder


How to enroll Macs on Profile Manager MDM using Terminal?

i have tried to install the profile with root access. its getting install without password. but stuck at MDM profile which is very important. I have discuss with apple and they told me that you required DEP if you want automation.


Connect automatically to VPN when connecting to wifi access point?

ControlPlane
You want to have an automated action after you connect to a certain WiFi point. An easy way to do this, is using ControlPlane (formally known as MarcoPolo). This software makes your computer context aware and can execute scripts and programs when your location changes. Some examples that ControlPlane is aware of:

Current Audio Output device (headphones/internal speakers)
Discoverable Bluetooth devices
Advertised Bonjour (Zeroconf) services
Attached FireWire devices
Assigned IP addresses
Ambient Light level
Attached Monitors
Active Network Links
Power source (power adapter/battery)
Running Applications
Current Time Of Day
Attached USB devices
Visible WiFi networks

edit (21 aug 2014, thanks to @Rainer):
Marcopolo is now ControlPlane.
ControlPlane was created using code from version 2.5.1 of the MarcoPolo project still available at http://www.symonds.id.au/marcopolo/.  ControlPlane is a direct port of MarcoPolo and in fact, much of the configuration from MarcoPolo still works with ControlPlane, just better!
ControlPlane supports 32 and 64bit Intel based Macs running Snow Leopard through Lion.


How to reset iPhone to factory settings?

Is it signed in to Find My iPhone? If so you can go to http://icloud.com, select your phone and click erase iPhone.


Where is the hard disk in the mid 2012 15" Macbook pro with retina

All the black compartments are the Li- Ion Polymer batteries which power your MacBook Pro.
You won't be able to swap a 2.5'' drive in your Macbook because the Mid 2012 Retina models use a flash memory module.
Here you can see a guide to upgrading the SSD.


External display will not come back after power-off while connected to MBP 2017 with Display Port

I'd start with resetting both the NVRAM and SMC (in that order). Before following the steps below, ensure you have no external hardware connected and that you're using the built-in keyboard.

Reset the NVRAM

Reset the NVRAM on your MBP as follows:

Fully shut down your MBP.
Press the power button and then press the commandoptionpr keys. You have to make sure you press these keys before the gray screen appears or it won’t work.
Hold those keys down for about 20 seconds or until you see the Apple logo
Let go of the keys and let your MBP reboot normally.

Note: When you log back in you may need to readjust some of your system preferences (e.g. speaker volume, screen resolution, startup disk selection, time zone information, etc).

Reset the SMC

Shut down your MBP
Press and hold the power button for at least 10 seconds
Let go of the power button and wait 5 seconds
Power up your MBP again

Once you've reset the NVRAM and SMC use your MBP as usual and see how the display behaves. If it's still not waking up normally, then reset the SMC again but with the following steps instead:

Shut down your MBP
Press and hold the right shift key and the left option and control keys for 7 seconds before then also pressing and holding the power button down for another 7 seconds (i.e. the keys will end up being held down for 14 seconds, the power button for 7 seconds)
Let go of all three keys and the power button
Wait 5 seconds
Power up your MBP again

If all of the above doesn't work, it may be worth testing your MBP in Safe Mode to see if it behaves differently.

Boot into Safe Mode

Follow these steps to boot your Mac into Safe Mode:

Fully shut down your MBP
Restart your MBP
Immediately press the Shift key and keep it down
Let go of the Shift key when you see the login window (NOTE: If you have FileVault enabled you may need to log in twice).
Take a note of what happens (i.e. does your display wake up normally, etc)
Exit Safe Mode by restarting your MBP as normal
Test again when booted normally

If the problem doesn't occur while booted into Safe Mode, let me know and we'll go from there.


Based on your reply, first to check is the cable or connector.
Software does not randomly connect or disconnect and because you say it works after you plug-in and un-plug the cable a few times it works... the cable might be broken.

If you have a replacement, try it - else you could buy one (and return if it does not solve the problem). Based on your reply with VGA it works fine, I would definately buy a new cable/connector.


macOS Mission Control strange behavior on Sierra

I was able to replicate the bug with your instructions. (mid-2014 rMBP, macOS 10.12.2) I would recommend that you report it to Apple to alert them of the bug.


Enabling AHCI for SSD under Win7 BootCamp on Macbook Pro 2011

You can't.  Apple has implemented a Compatibility Support Module (CSM) into the Mac firmware that emulates the PC BIOS specification.  Since the Mac firmware is not 100% UEFI compliant, that CSM is the only way Windows can boot on a Mac.

Unfortunately, the ACPI tables in that CSM are just the bare minimum necessary to allow Windows to boot and nothing more. You lose several features when using it:

No graphics switching (always uses the discrete card).
No AHCI support (SATA devices are in IDE compatibility mode)

No support for TRIM
No support for Native Command Queuing (NCQ).

No support for advanced power management features (only basic S1, S3, and S4 states are supported).

Basically Windows sees your SSD as just a really fast IDE hard drive.  This will not affect the SSD in terms of lifespan.  It may, however, make the SSD a little slower over time than it would otherwise be when running Windows.

NOTE:  Some people have reported that they have been able to install Windows 7 in UEFI mode on a Mac, which would enable all those missing features.  However, it cannot be done on your model.  I've tried.  With sufficient hacking you can get it up and running, but it's plagued with audio and video issues.


Creating whitelist of few websites from Terminal

To permanently block outgoing traffic to all domains except some you should create a new anchor file and add it to pf.conf and enable the included pf firewall.

Create an anchor file org.user.block.out in /private/etc/pf.anchors

sudo touch /private/etc/pf.anchors/org.user.block.out

with the following content and a trailing empty line

#whitelist
mygoodhosts = "{ wikipedia.org, stackexchange.com, 197.10.15.234 }"
#ports to block/pass
myports = "{ 443, 80, 8080 }"

block drop out proto { tcp, udp } from any to any port $myports
pass out proto { tcp, udp } from any to $mygoodhosts port $myports

The additional IP address in mygoodhosts is just an example how to add additional items to the whitelist. The same goes for port 8080 in myports.

To allow complete access to stackexchange.com you have to add some more domains because some items (e.g. javascript) are loaded from third-party domains like ajax.googleapis.com.
Modify the file /private/etc/pf.conf but keep a trailing empty line

original file:

scrub-anchor "com.apple/*"
nat-anchor "com.apple/*"
rdr-anchor "com.apple/*"
dummynet-anchor "com.apple/*"
anchor "com.apple/*"
load anchor "com.apple" from "/etc/pf.anchors/com.apple"

to

scrub-anchor "com.apple/*"
nat-anchor "com.apple/*"
rdr-anchor "com.apple/*"
dummynet-anchor "com.apple/*"
anchor "com.apple/*"
anchor "org.user.block.out"
load anchor "com.apple" from "/etc/pf.anchors/com.apple"
load anchor "org.user.block.out" from "/etc/pf.anchors/org.user.block.out"

Parse and test your anchor file to make sure there are no errors:

sudo pfctl -vnf /etc/pf.anchors/org.user.block.out

Now enable the firewall:

sudo pfctl -f /etc/pf.conf -e

To disable pf later (after you are done with productive work) simply enter:

sudo pfctl -d

The first two steps have only to be done once. If you want to add or remove a domain in the whitelist, stop the firewall, modify org.user.block.out, parse the anchor file and re-enable the firewall.

To enable logging you have to modify several files and add a launch daemon/shell script (all files created/modified probably need a trailing empty line):

Create a log file:

sudo touch /etc/log/pf.log

Modify syslog.conf by adding a line:

local2.*                        /var/log/pf.log

Add a shell script in /usr/local/bin/pflog.sh witht the content:

#!/bin/sh
# bodged solution to absence of pflogd, ref 'Book of PF' p136

ifconfig pflog0 create
/usr/sbin/tcpdump -lnettti pflog0 | /usr/bin/logger -t pf -p local2.info

Create a launch daemon /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.user.pflog.plist with the content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>org.user.pflog</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/local/bin/pflog.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>Disabled</key>
    <false/>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Stop pfctl with sudo pfctl -d
Modify the block drop line in /private/etc/pf.anchors/org.user.block.out to:

block drop out log (all) proto { tcp, udp } from any to any port $myports

Load the logger plist:

sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.user.pflog.plist

Now re-enable the firewall:

sudo pfctl -f /etc/pf.conf -e

Watch pf.log in Console.app!

After a system update or upgrade some of the original files above may have been replaced and you have to reapply all changes.


After testing with a friend's iPhone I replaced the cable an it is working now. The connection feels tighter than the old one did even when it was new, so the old one may have just been defective.


iTunes Shared Library missing artist artwork

This problem is seen in all iTunes versions after 12.4.
It doesn't depend on a local network. Apple will not help you or anyone.


Keyboard shortcut to switch screens on split view

Here is another partial solution. If you split your screen between two windows of the same program, e.g. Safari, then Cmd+` (backtick) will toggle between the two.

Caveats and Special Cases:

If for some reason this does not work, you probably don't have this shortcut enabled. The answer at https://superuser.com/a/187072 explains how to do this.
This was tested on High Sierra, but should work just the same on El Capitan, and so on.


Try using Internet Recovery Mode instead of the regular Recovery Mode, and make sure that you formatted the right hard drive (in other words if you have an external hard drive plugged in, make sure that you formatted your actual hard drive, not your external one).

Here is some more info about different recovery modes from Apple's support site.


You can remove all settings and information from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch using "Erase All Content and Settings" in Settings > General > Reset.

From Apple's site.

edit:sorens is correct. The answer to the first part of your question is by default every time you sync with iTunes it backs up your iOS device. So just sync and reset.


Edit text file in a folder owned by a different user on macOS? I have system admin password

If you know the path to the file that you want to edit, you can use:

sudo -e /path/to/file/name/here.txt

and it will allow you to edit it with your $EDITOR of choice.

If you want to use the Open dialog box, you might think this will work:

sudo /Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit

But that fails with an error:

"Illegal instruction: 4"

However, BBEdit will work:

sudo /Applications/BBEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/BBEdit

And you can use BBEdit for free.

Oh, and both methods keep the original ownership of the file and permissions intact.


How can I edit Address Book distribution lists?

Only local groups (appearing in On My Mac) support distribution lists. This feature won't work if you're only using Exchange, a CardDAV server, or iCloud.

Here's a cnet article about this, with regard to iCloud: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20126108-263/address-book-distribution-list-editor-disabled-by-icloud/


What steps can troubleshoot OS X when some sites do not resolve on Snow Leopard?

In agreement with the original poster, in this answer I put together the comments above that describe the troubleshooting steps that helped solve the issue.

Realize that PeerGuardian uses a KEXT.

As strangelydim commented, PeerGuardian (an open source privacy oriented firewall software) uses a kernel extension (KEXT). The KEXT is used to block connections to "dangerous" servers specified in so-called blocklists.
Find out whether the KEXT was the culprit.

The original poster booted his Mac into Safe Mode by pressing Shift during startup (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1533).

Safe Mode does a lot of things (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564), among them it loads only required kernel extensions, so PeerGuardian's KEXT wouldn't be loaded.

The original poster could successfully connect to www.lubuntu.net, so the KEXT was the offender.
Disable the KEXT.

The first try was to move the KEXT from /Library/Application Support/PeerGuardian to /tmp and reboot. That didn't help. The original poster then deleted the KEXT. I also asked him to check in System Preferences>Users & Groups>Login Items whether PeerGuardian was listed and remove it.

After a reboot he could sucessfully connect to www.lubuntu.net.

So the bottom line is that, unfortunately, some programs cannot be uninstalled by simply dragging them to the Trash.


How can Tor Browser Bundle for OS X access my keychain?

In short: You can't. Firefox always uses it's own store for passwords and will never access the Mac OS X keychain at all. You either have to manually copy your credentials into Torbrowser/Firefox windows or use a third party software like 1Password that integrates across browsers.

Be aware that if you use a login on a website that hasn't been created over tor there is a good chance you're giving up your anonymity by yourself. Tor cannot protect you from posting your identity (by logging in with a username and password) by yourself!


Is there a utility that tracks most recently opened folders?

Default Folder X can do that - amongst many other things.

It's one of the few utilities I think ought to have been part of the OS from the outset.

From their page…

  Directory Assistant   Access your recent, favorite, and open folders from DFX's toolbar. Hierarchical pop-up menus let you quickly
  navigate through folders to get to your files.


MacBook Pro (2018) Overheating issues (Latest Mojave)

Your average body temp is 37.2 Celsius !

I do not see any surface area on your Laptop that is higher than 38 C, so you would not feel it as hot.

As for the diverse electronic devices and Integrated circuits (CPU), they are designed to withstand up to 110 Celsius.

Your Mac will turn off at 105 C.

None of your results come even close to been HOT.


Run multiple instances of the same version of Firefox with different profiles simultaneously

Your question is asking for something technically possible, in that it may be possble to "split" data in your profile, and distribute it among other profiles, but it sounds incredibly difficult to do considering what you would you gain doing this manually, as opposed to simply setting up new profiles and entering the data you wish into each new profile, and deleting the data from the other profile.

To accomplish everything you're asking for (except this splitting of the original profile data) is largely academic. The basic idea is have multiple profiles, and have multiple instances of Firefox each accessing a different profile. The way you do that is you first set up the multiple profiles, and you can do this by accessing the Profile Manager. Open your /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app and type this at the command prompt:

 /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin -profilemanager &

and the window that appears, along with information at the link provided above, will get you started on creating the extra profiles. Once these profiles are created, you can start the first instance of Firefox by clicking the Start Firefox button, and you can then launch your subsequent instances of Firefox using that same command. Again, in Terminal.app type the following:

 /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin -profilemanager &

and you will see a second instance of Firefox appear in your dock. Choose the profile you wish for the second Firefox instance, and click Start Firefox. Repeat these steps (pressing the up arrow will display the last command) for as many instances of Firefox that you wish to run, or until you run out of memory.


Is there a way to use Live Photos in iMovie?

Yes.  You don't have to buy any software.  Here's the procedure for transferring a "Live" photo taken on an iPhone 6 on to a Mac and then into iMovie or Photos as a movie file:

Connect your iPhone to your Mac using a USB cable
Open "Photos" on the Mac.
Select your phone icon should be under a grey "Import" title in the sidebar.
Select the "Live" photo(s) and import them.
In "Photos" select the "Live" photo you want to convert to a movie.
In "Photos" in the "File" menu select "Export"=>"Export unmodified original..."
Select a location to save your movie (container) file.  It exports the file as a .mov file.
You can open and play this file in Quicktime.  But...you're not done yet.
Right click on the .mov file.  At the bottom of the menu select "Encode selected video files".  IT takes a few seconds.
Now you can choose 480p, 720p or 1080p.
Save your file (it is .m4v format)
Now you can import this file back into "Photos" and share it as a movie or you can drag it to iMovie and select frames, edit etc..


Force Messages to use SMS for specific contact rather than iMessage?

I second @bmike's excellent answer:

  iOS 13 and below does not implement a setting on a per contact basis to prefer or force SMS over iMessage/APNS/Messages secure message delivery.

However, there's a (slightly clumsy) workaround in that I find helpful in situations like this

  Hypothetical: I need to send the message "Go home, don't wait for me; I've changed plans" to a contact in my messages app. This is a perfect use-case for SMS; if their phone is turned on, they'll almost certainly get it within a few minutes. But if we've started to use iMessage then they won't get it until they go home and connect to the internet because I've essentially e-mailed it to them.

I have shared a workaround in an answer here. Here's the workaround:

Force Messages app to send a text message as SMS instead of an iMessage

Here's a workaround that you can use to force the Messages app to send a test message as SMS instead of iMessage to a contact's phone number. It is slight clumsy, but gets the job done in the scenarios like you described:

If you have Internet access available on your iPhone via either Mobile data or Wi-Fi (indicated by the presence of appropriate icon in the iPhone's status bar), and the receivers contact number is registered with iMessage, you'll only be able to send an iMessage, irrespective of the online/offline status of the recipient. You can check if a message would be sent as an iMessage by the presence of a blue colored upward facing arrow besides your typed text message.

To force the message to be sent as SMS instead, temporarily turn off Mobile Data/Wi-Fi on your iPhone to disable Internet access. You'll still only be able to send an iMessage (Blue arrow icon) as your iPhone knows that the receiver is registered with iMessage. Send the message normally.

The message won't get sent from your iPhone due to the absence of an Internet connection. Now tap an hold on the message bubble, and you'll see an alert at the bottom of the screen with an option that says Send as Text Message. This option is not shown when you have Internet connectivity on your iPhone, or the message is already delivered to the Apple's servers.

This will cause your iPhone to re-send the message as SMS. The receiver will be able to get the message even in absence of the Internet connection on their device (as long as they have cellular connectivity on their device).
Don't forget to turn Mobile Data/Wi-Fi back on on your device to regain access to Internet.


How do I create El Capitan installer on a Catalina (or post-El Capitan) installed Mac for use on USB boot installer

I have noticed that these instructions no longer work as expected when using the current InstallMacOSX.dmg file, which can be downloaded from either the Apple website How to get old versions of macOS or the Apple website How to create a bootable installer for macOS. These instructions may work as expected, if you are using an older saved version of this file. At best, these instructions are just a hack and Apple has every right to change the InstallMacOSX.dmg file to prevent the desired results.

Note: On 1/31/2021,  M. Justin reported this answer still works for Yosemite.

I have posted a new answer to this question.
This new answer is must less of a hack, because Apple explicitly inserted code into the El Capitan installer to bypass the checking of the model when executed in a "VMware Fusion Player" virtual machine. So,  Apple evidently intends for users of newer model Intel Macs to use this new answer to retrieve the Install OS X El Capitan application. Still, I would like know from Apple why they thought such a complex procedure is necessary.

Below is my original answer.

Note: This answer was adapted from Klanomath's answer to a sightly different question.

There is a link on the Apple website How to get old versions of macOS that will download a file that can be used to create the Install OS X El Capitan application. However, if the model Mac is too new to allow the installation for El Capitan, then message given below will occur when trying to create the Install OS X El Capitan application.

This version of OS X 10.11 cannot be installed on this computer.

If you are trying to create a USB installation flash drive of use on another Mac computer, then you can still use the downloaded file to create this installer. The instructions are given below.
This method was verified by using the following configurations.

Catalina on a MacBook Pro 2017 touchbar for use on iMac 2009 24”.
Mojave on a Mac mini 2018 for use in a VirtualBox virtual machine on a iMac 2013 21.5".
Catalina on a iMac 2013 21.5" for use in a VirtualBox virtual machine on the same Mac.

The following steps can be used to create a USB installer for El Capitan.

Use instructions on the Apple website How to get old versions of macOS to download InstallMacOSX.dmg.

Use the Disk Utility to erase a 16 GB or larger flash drive. If the Disk Utility window has a View pulldown menu, make sure Show All Devices is selected. Highlight the flash drive, then click on the Erase button. Use the setting shown in the image below.

Next, click on the Erase button. When finished erasing, click on the Done button.

Use the Finder applicaition to open InstallMacOSX.dmg.

Enter the commands given below. A folder named El Capitan will be created in the /tmp folder to hold temporary files.

Note: The easiest way to enter the commands is to copy from this document and paste in the Terminal window.

rm -rf /tmp/El\ Capitan
pkgutil --expand /Volumes/Install\ OS\ X/InstallMacOSX.pkg /tmp/El\ Capitan
diskutil eject Install\ OS\ X
cd /tmp/El\ Capitan
hdiutil attach InstallMacOSX.pkg/InstallESD.dmg  -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/esd
sudo asr restore -source /Volumes/esd/BaseSystem.dmg -target /Volumes/MyVolume -noprompt -noverify -erase

After entering the last command given above, you may get a message similar to the one given below.
asr: Couldn't personalize volume /Volumes/OS X Base System

Some versions of macOS will produce this message while other versions do not. I suspect this is an fatal message because an exit status of 1 was returned.

Inspection has determined that the part of the command that failed is unimportant.

Therefore, I was able to ignore this error. However, the error can also be avoided by applying the following steps given in the section below titled Alternative to Using the asr Command.

To finish creating the bootable USB flash drive El Capitan installer, enter the commands given below.
diskutil rename OS\ X\ Base\ System Install\ El\ Capitan
rm /Volumes/Install\ El\ Capitan/System/Installation/Packages
cp -rp /Volumes/esd/Packages /Volumes/Install\ El\ Capitan/System/Installation
cp -rp /Volumes/esd/BaseSystem.chunklist /Volumes/Install\ El\ Capitan/
cp -rp /Volumes/esd/BaseSystem.dmg /Volumes/Install\ El\ Capitan/
hdiutil detach /Volumes/esd
sudo bless --folder /Volumes/Install\ El\ Capitan/System/Library/CoreServices --label Install\ El\ Capitan
cp /Volumes/Install\ El\ Capitan/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/InstallAssistant.icns /Volumes/Install\ El\ Capitan/.VolumeIcon.icns
cd "$HOME"
rm -r /tmp/El\ Capitan
diskutil eject Install\ El\ Capitan

Remove the flash drive. You are done.

Alternative to Using the asr Command
The command given below may generate a error message and/or hang depending on the version of macOS and perhaps the model Mac you are using.
sudo asr restore -source /Volumes/esd/BaseSystem.dmg -target /Volumes/MyVolume -noprompt -noverify -erase

You can avoid entering the above command by following the steps given below.

If the volume on the USB flash drive is no longer labeled MyVolume, then use the Disk Utility to erase the flash drive. Highlight the flash drive, then click on the Erase button. Use the setting shown in the image below.

Next, click on the Erase button. When finished erasing, click on the Done button.

Enter the following command to create a sparse flash drive image.
hdiutil create -type SPARSE -size 10g -layout MBRSPUD -fs HFS+J -volname MyImage -attach /tmp/El\ Capitan/MyImage

Basically, you want to restore to volume MyImage from the hidden file BaseSystem.dmg. The hidden file BaseSystem.dmg is shown in the Finder window image shown below. The drive OS X Install ESD can be found in the hidden volume Volumes in the root folder.

There are various ways to view hidden files. These ways depend on the version of OS X or macOS you are using. You may have to search the web for a way that works for you.

Highlight the MyImage volume shown in the Disk Utility main window. Click on the Restore button, then the Image button. Select the BaseSystem.dmg file, as shown below. Next, click on the Restore button.

After a successful restore, you should see the image shown below. You can click on the Done button and quit the Disk Utility.

Also, you should get the following popup.

Enter the following commands to clone to the flash drive.

Note: The dd command takes a long time to complete. See this answer to track the progress of the dd command. The bytes to be transferred is approximately 10 GB.

getdsk() { local "x=$(diskutil info "$2" | grep Part\ of\ Whole)"; eval $1'="/dev/r${x##* }"'; }
getdsk DSK1 OS\ X\ Base\ System
getdsk DSK2 MyVolume
diskutil unmountdisk $DSK1
diskutil unmountdisk $DSK2
sudo dd if=$DSK1 of=$DSK2 bs=1m
diskutil eject $DSK1
diskutil unmountdisk $DSK2
diskutil mountdisk $DSK2

Note: Since the original will be immediately ejected and eventually deleted, I did not bother to use the hfs.util command to change the UUID of the clone.

You can now proceed with the rest of the steps.

References
How do I make a bootable USB flash drive on a Mac?
What is the best way to generate a Yosemite or Mavericks Install USB flash drive?
Install El Capitan with VirtualBox on OS X


Strange duplicate Chrome icon with a display icon within in just popped up

This is a feature called Handoff, which is part of Continuity. It allows you to access apps running on your other devices with the aim of letting you start a task on one device and resume it on another.

On your MacBook Pro, you are seeing a copy of Chrome running on another Mac which is on the same Wi-Fi network, where Bluetooth is enabled on both devices and you are signed in to both devices using the same iCloud account.

It can be turned off by following the instructions in the article linked above.


How can I set duplex to be the default option when printing in Acrobat Pro XI?

The easiest way to do this is to just set a preset for your printer.
Once you have the setting the way you want, just go to Presets, and save it, call it Duplex, and then you are set..


Prevent apps on iPhone from triggering icons on Mac dock

Go to System Preferences → General and disable ‘Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices’.

This feature is called Handoff, part of Continuity. You can read more about it in the Apple KB:

Use Continuity to connect your Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple Watch


What modifies the PATH variable on macOS?

The system default $PATH variable is set in the file /etc/paths. That file has a one directory per line structure.

There are also multiple others files that can set or modify the path variable - user specific configuration files, and shell specific ones, that only apply if you use that specific shell.

I suggest not editing the system default file (/etc/paths) as it would affect all users. To add directories to the path used in a Terminal session (and assuming that you use the default bash shell), generate a file named .bash_profile. With a text editor, create a line that adds the directories you want to the default path, e.g:

PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin:$HOME/projects

That will add the directories "bin" and "projects" in your home directory to the system path. You will need to either execute source .bash_profile or restart your terminal session for that change to become effective.


It is just telling Google the type of "computer" you have.

The client is you and mac is the type of computer you have.


Will SCPlugin work on Mac OS Yosemite (10.10)?

SCPlugin is not working on recent OSX / macOS because the finder does no longer support plugins.
Try free svnx or xversion


iPhone 5 New iCloud address, but still have iMessage from previous iCloud

I've done it myself. The only way to erase all messages was one by one.

The good part is that only new messages were synced!


Try it & see.

Probably nothing will happen unless they have a partnership agreement with your own network - which usually applies more to roaming, abroad & would automatically switch if you just left your Network set to Automatic.
If you have no contract with the other network, they will not feel obliged to connect you.


iPhone 3GS Upgrade/Jailbreak/Unlock Help

I'm unfamiliar baseband, but i've used this site to upgrade/downgrade iDevices in the past.. Simply download the iOS version for your model device, restart iPhone in recovery mode (hold home&power buttons while restarting until it shows the recovery mode screen). Then iTunes takes over for you to install the legit iOS version.

I'd recommend using this method to get your iPhone where you want it version wise, then use whatever jailbreak method you'd prefer to jailbreak it afterward.

Also, if you're simply trying to upgrade this phone to later sell it, then you don't need to jailbreak it to unlock it. AT&T (only one who had the 3GS in USA) said a year ago that if an iPhone is not currently in contract that all you have to do is take it in the store and they'll unlock it for you for free. I hope that helps a little


Dual boot dual partition and clean install of High Sierra

You can indeed install High Sierra without converting to APFS. I don't know how you will be running the upgrade, whether it will be by a bootable USB but you will need to make sure that you put the following in the command --converttoapfs NO.

So if you were running it via a USB stick from the command line then you could use a command along the lines of the following:

/Volumes/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall --converttoapfs NO --volume /Volumes/HFS\ Volume

with HFS\ Volume: the name of your "first" partition (e.g "Untitled" or "Macintosh HD" - don't forget to escape any blank spaces in the volume name!)

I wouldn't recommended using the GUI installer itself as I believe that will convert your drive to APFS, running it from the command line allows you to enter the converttoapfs option.

Also as for dual booting you are correct as you can boot into any partition with a valid OS install by using the Option key boot modifier, or at least could the last time I tried which was a long time ago.


iMovie will not recognise my 60fps video?

Ok I think i have worked it out. I was using ShadowPlay with my Nvidia card to record and this was the file that didn't work.

So I installed OBS, and tried the same using Software x264 to record and it works fine in iMovie, will export to 60FPS. I then tried changing it to record with hardware NVENC (which I'm guessing ShadowPlay uses) and with all the other settings the same this doesn't work, refuses to save at 60fps.

So I think its nvidia hardware recording... not 100% sure, but it seems pretty damning evidence.


The only official Lightning / Micro USB adapter sold by Apple is the Lightning to Micro USB adapter as shown below:

There doesn't seem to be an adapter for the reverse of this.


Jailbroken iOS 9.0.2 on iPhone 6s pairing with Apple Watch 2.2

The minimum of iOS is for watchOS 1 as the software on the watch updates so will the phones I had the same issue and it came down to;
Upgrade the phone, gain features on the watch but loose some on the phone

Don't upgrade the watch, miss out on exciting new features but keep my phone jail broken...
I upgraded and am now waiting till the 9.3 jailbreak is released


What is the best way to occasionally play a sound?

Simply create a launch agent which repeatedly says something (or plays a sound) and load it:

Create a plist with nano in Terminal:

nano ~/Library/LaunchAgent/usr.home.bose.wakeup.plist

Copy the following lines and paste it into the Terminal window:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Disabled</key>
    <false/>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>usr.home.bose.wakeup</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/bin/say</string>
        <string>wake</string>
        <string>up</string>
        <string>you</string>
        <string>lazy</string>
        <string>Bose</string>
        <string>SoundLink</string>
        <string>Mini</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StartInterval</key>
    <integer>887</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

Save the file with ctrlO and exit nano with ctrlX
Load the plist with:

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgent/usr.home.bose.wakeup.plist

You can use other voices by adding the option -v $VOICE. To get the list of all available voices enter say -v ? in Terminal.

Example:

...
<array>
    <string>/usr/bin/say</string>
    <string>-v</string>
    <string>Agnes</string>
    <string>wake</string>
...

The downside of say: you can't set a sound level!

Therefore an alternative launch agent with afplay instead (you can set the sound level with the -v option):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Disabled</key>
    <false/>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>usr.home.bose.wakeup</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/bin/afplay</string>
        <string>-v</string>
        <string>0.05</string>
        <string>/System/Library/Sounds/Submarine.aiff</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StartInterval</key>
    <integer>887</integer>
</dict>
</plist>


Configure a network with an AirPort Extreme and Mac Mini Server?

Just buy the Server app. It costs about $20 which is a real bargain. There's also a wonderful video tutorial on the server setup on YouTube by Todd Olthoff. I installed a server with about the same configuration as the one you are contemplating and it took me a while to complete.


This feature is called Handoff.

  When your Mac computers and iOS devices are within Bluetooth range of
  each other (about 33 feet or 10 meters), they can automatically “hand
  off” what you’re doing from one device to another. For example, you
  can start writing an email in Mail on your iPhone, then instantly pick
  up where you left off in Mail on your Mac.

Follow the steps to turn it off:

Open the Settings app on your iOS device
Scroll down and tap ‘General’
Next tap ‘Handoff’
Turn the ‘Handoff’ toggle off


Can I set a custom address for reminders in El Capitan?

Just start typing.
It will search Contacts, recent locations, even what appears to be a Bing/Google search for matching locations.
Click it in the list once you've narrowed it down far enough.


Is there a solution for preventing battery drain on the 5s after the iOS 7.0.6 update?

This question was answered by updating to iOS 7.1. I've since turned all  the features of the phone back on (e.g., background app refresh, notifications, use my location, all the processes that I tuned off trying to troubleshoot) and my phone just lasted three days with normal use.


82GB of "other" don't appear in OmniDiskSweeper or Freediskspace

The number Grand Perspective shows as "Miscellanous used space" represents the amount of data that Grand Perspective hasn't scanned.
This could be due to you only scanning part of the drive (for example just scanning the home directory for one user, whilst other user's data haven't been scanned), setting a filter or lack of permissions.
If you haven't done so already, I would suggest giving Grand Perspective Full Disk Access and try again. You do this from System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy.
In case it is not due to files that are not scanned, the space could be taken up by file system snapshots - for example made by TimeMachine backups.


Only the spinning beachball when I try to open anything from spotlight

For future reference. I had the same problem, but found this solution:

Back up. (You should always have a backup.)
In Finder, select the menu: Go ▹ Go to Folder... and enter:
/var/db/CoreDuet
Delete the files inside that start with coreduetd. In my case it was 3 files.

Enter your Administrator password when prompted.

Reboot your Mac.


SpeechRecognitionServer not found in Mavericks with applescript?

Right at

/System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/SpeechRecognition.framework/Versions/A/SpeechRecognitionServer.app

When it asks, click Browse and type command ⌘+shift ⇧+G, then paste the path in.

With that specific script there are a few errors (you'll need to get rid of the Âs with find and replace, and there is a comment after a line continuation character in else if voiceResponse is "pause music" or Â¬   -- <callout id="code.osx-voice-automation.scpt.miscmusic"/>). After doing that I got it to run on my machine.

Oh, and if you're wondering how I found it - mdfind is Spotlight's Terminal interface, and it shows hidden files, so when I ran mdfind SpeechRecognitionServer it came up with the path.

Final script (this isn't going to fix your original problem):

with timeout of 2629743 seconds
    set exitApp to "no"
    repeat while exitApp is "no"
        tell application "SpeechRecognitionServer" --
            activate
            try
                set voiceResponse to listen for {"light on", "light off", ¬
                    "unlock door", "play music", "pause music", ¬
                    "unpause music", "stop music", "next track", ¬
                    "raise volume", "lower volume", ¬
                    "previous track", "check email", "time", "make a call", ¬
                    "hang up", "quit app"} giving up after 2629743
            on error -- time out
                return
            end try
        end tell

        if voiceResponse is "light on" then --
            -- open URL to turn on Light Switch
            open location "http://192.168.1.100:3344/command/on"
            say "The light is now on."

        else if voiceResponse is "light off" then
            -- open URL to turn off Light Switch
            open location "http://192.168.1.100:3344/command/off"
            say "The light is now off."

        else if voiceResponse is "unlock door" then
            -- open URL to unlock Android Door Lock
            open location "http://192.168.1.230:8000"
            say "Unlocking the door."

        else if voiceResponse is "play music" then --
            tell application "iTunes"
                set musicList to {"Cancel"} as list
                set myList to (get artist of every track ¬
                    of playlist 1) as list
                repeat with myItem in myList
                    if musicList does not contain myItem then
                        set musicList to musicList & myItem
                    end if
                end repeat
            end tell

            say "Which artist would you like to listen to?"
            tell application "SpeechRecognitionServer"
                set theArtistListing to ¬
                    (listen for musicList with prompt musicList)
            end tell
            if theArtistListing is not "Cancel" then
                say "Which of " & theArtistListing & ¬
                    "'s albums would you like to listen to?"
                tell application "iTunes"
                    tell source "Library"
                        tell library playlist 1
                            set uniqueAlbumList to {}
                            set albumList to album of tracks ¬
                                where artist is equal to theArtistListing

                            repeat until albumList = {}
                                if uniqueAlbumList does not contain ¬
                                    (first item of albumList) then
                                    copy (first item of albumList) to end of ¬
                                        uniqueAlbumList
                                end if
                                set albumList to rest of albumList
                            end repeat

                            set theUniqueAlbumList to {"Cancel"} & uniqueAlbumList
                            tell application "SpeechRecognitionServer"
                                set theAlbum to (listen for the theUniqueAlbumList ¬
                                    with prompt theUniqueAlbumList)
                            end tell
                        end tell
                        if theAlbum is not "Cancel" then
                            if not ((name of playlists) contains "Current Album") then
                                set theAlbumPlaylist to ¬
                                    make new playlist with properties {name:"Current Album"}
                            else
                                set theAlbumPlaylist to playlist "Current Album"
                                delete every track of theAlbumPlaylist
                            end if
                            tell library playlist 1 to duplicate ¬
                                (every track whose album is theAlbum) to theAlbumPlaylist
                            play theAlbumPlaylist
                        else
                            say "Canceling music selection"
                        end if
                    end tell
                end tell
            else
                say "Canceling music selection"
            end if

        else if voiceResponse is "pause music" or ¬
            voiceResponse is "unpause music" then
            tell application "iTunes"
                playpause
            end tell

        else if voiceResponse is "stop music" then
            tell application "iTunes"
                stop
            end tell

        else if voiceResponse is "next track" then
            tell application "iTunes"
                next track
            end tell

        else if voiceResponse is "previous track" then
            tell application "iTunes"
                previous track
            end tell

            -- Raise and lower volume routines courtesy of HexMonkey's post:
            -- http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=144749
        else if voiceResponse is "raise volume" then --
            set currentVolume to output volume of (get volume settings)
            set scaledVolume to round (currentVolume / (100 / 16))
            set scaledVolume to scaledVolume + 1
            if (scaledVolume > 16) then
                set scaledVolume to 16
            end if
            set newVolume to round (scaledVolume / 16 * 100)
            set volume output volume newVolume
        else if voiceResponse is "lower volume" then
            set currentVolume to output volume of (get volume settings)
            set scaledVolume to round (currentVolume / (100 / 16))
            set scaledVolume to scaledVolume - 1
            if (scaledVolume
            tell application "Mail"
                activate
                check for new mail
                set unreadEmailCount to unread count in inbox
                if unreadEmailCount is equal to 0 then
                    say "You have no unread messages in your Inbox."
                else if unreadEmailCount is equal to 1 then
                    say "You have 1 unread message in your Inbox."
                else
                    say "You have " & unreadEmailCount & ¬
                        " unread messages in your Inbox."
                end if
                if unreadEmailCount is greater than 0 then
                    say "Would you like me to read your unread email to you?"
                    tell application "SpeechRecognitionServer"
                        activate
                        set voiceResponse to listen for {"yes", "no"} ¬
                            giving up after 1 * minutes
                    end tell
                    if voiceResponse is "yes" then
                        set allMessages to every message in inbox
                        repeat with aMessage in allMessages
                            if read status of aMessage is false then
                                set theSender to sender of aMessage
                                set {savedDelimiters, AppleScript's text item delimiters} ¬
                                    to {AppleScript's text item delimiters, "
            set current_time to (time string of (current date))
            set {savedDelimiters, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to ¬
                {AppleScript's text item delimiters, ":"}
            set hours to first text item of current_time
            set minutes to the second text item of current_time
            set AMPM to third text item of current_time
            set AMPM to text 3 thru 5 of AMPM
            set AppleScript's text item delimiters to savedDelimiters
            say "The time is " & hours & " " & minutes & AMPM
            --else if voiceResponse is "make a call" then
            --  tell application "Skype"
            -- -- A Skype API Security dialog will pop up first
            -- -- time accessing Skype with this script.
            -- -- Select "Allow this application to use Skype" for ¬
            -- -- uninterrupted Skype API access.
            --    activate
            --   -- replace echo123 Skype Call Testing Service ID with ¬
            --   -- phone number or your contact's Skype ID
            --      send command "CALL echo123" script name ¬
            --      "Place Skype Call"
            --    end tell
            --  else if voiceResponse is "hang up" then
            --    tell application "Skype"
            --      quit
            --  end tell
        else if voiceResponse is "quit app" then --
            set exitApp to "yes"
            say "Listening deactivated. Exiting application."
            delay 1
            do shell script "killall SpeechRecognitionServer"
        end if
    end repeat
end timeout


Karabiner F1 to Launch Defined Applications?

The coding is similar to your question here: Karabiner F1 to Launch Safari?
You have to add a vkopenurldef tag though.

Some apps are already defined here:

/Applications/Karabiner.app/Contents/Resources/vkopenurldef.xml

After an update or an upgrade the file may be overwritten so customize your private.xml and add:

    <vkopenurldef>
        <name>KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_APP_Application</name>
        <url type="file">/Path/to/application</url>
    </vkopenurldef>
    <item>
        <name>F1 Application</name>
        <identifier>f1_application</identifier>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F1, KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_APP_Application</autogen>
    </item>

Example:

    <vkopenurldef>
        <name>KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_APP_Notes</name>
        <url type="file">/Applications/Notes.app</url>
    </vkopenurldef>
    <item>
        <name>F1 Notes</name>
        <identifier>f1_notes</identifier>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F1, KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_APP_Notes</autogen>
    </item>

Then enable it in Change Key. Depending on your settings (Consumer Keys or F1-F12 for the F-keys) in System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Keyboard -> F-key behavior you may have to hit the fn-key also.


You can search in Safari's open tabs: Two-finger pinch on the track pad, then start writing any word in the tab you’re looking for.


iPhone X photo preview different from result

The final photo is not a “screenshot”-esque result, but a processed image.


Depending on how much spelunking you are willing to do you can look at the html command templates in the servermgrd bundles for a partial list of command names/formats. For example to get a list of commands that the afp plugin accepts you could look at:

/Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/share/servermgrd/html/servermgr_afp.html

and look at the javascript in the template.

Look at the selection == "command_name" for the names of the commands and the rest of the commandValue for the plist formatted command. Then you can use the serveradmin command format to send the command to the plugin.

A different (and more up to date) way to find out commands is to look at the Server activity log to see the plist formatted commands sent by Server.app to the servermgrd backend. Look in

~/Library/Logs/Server.log

for the commands and their replies. You may need to turn on the logging from one of the menus (I'm away from my server right now so I'm not sure how I enabled the logging).

If you want network throughput, open Server.app, go to the stats panel, select the network stats and then look at the Server.log to get the commands you need to use.


Source:

No, you can't unlock the iPhone remotely.  You can use VoiceOver to select the numbers on the screen.

Hold down the Home button to activate Siri. Say “Turn on VoiceOver”.
Press the Home button twice to bring up the passcode screen.
Use the portion of your screen that responds to touch to swipe left and right, which will move your VoiceOver cursor to different passcode number buttons. VoiceOver will also say the button being selected, which is helpful if you can't see the screen.
When the cursor is on the passcode number you need, double tap the screen to “tap” the selected passcode number.
After the iPhone unlocks, you may need VoiceOver one last time to tap “Trust” in the dialog that comes up when you plug in your iPhone to your computer.
Copy your photos and/or make your backup in iTunes.

To turn off VoiceOver, you can say “Turn off VoiceOver” to Siri, or go into Settings -> General -> Accessibility to turn it off manually.


Is there any way to use iOS Remote to control an Apple TV without Home Sharing?

You can't (yet)
Currently, the official Apple page:

Doesn't make any indication of how to do this. Neither does a quick Google search.
But...
This Monday (June 10), Apple is expected to unveil iOS 7. There might be some changes there that accomplish what you want!


First, go to Settings > General > About, and wait to see if the "Update Carrier Settings?" Dialogue box appears.

Then, hard reset your phone by holding down the Home and Power button until you see the Apple logo.

If that doesn't resolve your connectivity issue:
Go to Settings > General > Reset, and tap "Reset Network Settings". Enter your passcode if you have one set.

Tap "Reset Network Settings" again. This will cause your phone to restart, and you will lose all stored Wi-Fi passwords.

However, it usually resolves problems like this. Back up your phone first if you aren't sure you remember all of your Wi-Fi passwords.


How do I get iWork / iMovie / Garage Band free of charge?

You probably purchased your MacBook Pro used, in which case the “free” downloads were redeemed to the original owner’s Apple ID. This would explain why you still had to pay for those apps.

Fortunately, starting April 18, 2017, Apple has made iMovie, GarageBand, Pages, Numbers and Keynote free for everybody. This should take care of what was a very common source of confusion among customers.

  Previously, all of these apps were provided for free to customers who purchased a new Mac or iOS device, but now that purchase is not required to get the software.

Here are the direct App Store links:

Pages for macOS / iOS
Numbers macOS / iOS
Keynote for macOS / iOS
iMovie for macOS / iOS
GarageBand for macOS / iOS

(Note: You sometimes need to provide a credit card or gift card balance to set up an Apple ID for Store use, even for “free” downloads.)

If you recently purchased those apps, you may be able to receive a refund by contacting Apple Support.


MAC OS X Mavericks 10.9.0 installation on VMWare Sphere Client 5.1

Sometimes the username is : admin
Password is : admin
Well, actually if this doesn't work a lot of times do not type in nothing, or you can type in "guest" as the username and password. Guest works for me. Sometimes writing nothing also works for me.

I think you should use an external mouse or another mouse and use a Mac mouse for example the mighty mouse or something like that because you are using a Mac Machine / VM.

My suggestion is that you should follow the steps I provided because, you never know, this might actually work out.

Notice :
If you think I posted something wrong on this topic or you need to edit / suggest something please leave a reply.


Will FileVault 2 wear out my SSD faster?

Encryption happens on-the-fly.  If the data was written to the hard drive, then passed through an encryption algorithm that then deleted the written data and re-wrote it, encrypted, that would be hella inefficient, and would largely defeat the purpose.  I think the answer to your question is no, but of course remember that if you're going from a data set that's not yet encrypted, then all of that data needs to be processed, so that initial process of reading, encrypting and re-writing data will have an effect.


MacOS Big Sur - how do I disable/ skip verify on opening dmg

sudo spctl --master-disable
Above is the line that disables gatekeeper in Terminal.
This is not a practice recommended by security experts or Apple, yet it totally disables any dmg verification.
I use third party firewalls and security tools while keeping gatekeeper off.


How do I correct the iOS7 photo app's location guess?

You can edit this in iPhoto on your mac, but only on the local copy not the Photo Stream copy. On the iPhone you'd want to get a metadata editor app such as EXIF-fi ($.99)


Is there away to stream music from iPad to chromecast via AirPlay?

Afaik there is no such possibility to close that gap. I have read about an app to stream your local media from an iOS device (AirCast). It was an early beta and no longer available. Besides Google tries to prohibit such functionality to avoid bringing illegal media to TVs via their devices.


How to submit an error report to app developer?

Implementing the sending part of a mail client in AppleScript is probably rather a challenge, but there might be other means:

Use a mailto: scheme to launch the mail client the user is using. You won't be able to provide a mail template though (but you could prepare something in the clipboard and have the user paste it into the new mail), and it will fail for those users who don't use any mail client at all.
Create a web form on a web server of your choice and direct users to this site if they want to give feedback.
Collect user feedback within your application and just post it on your web server in the background.


How to get Pages in Mac Yosemite 10.10.05 to recognise different languages for spelling?

In Pages 5 or 6, go to Edit > Spelling and Grammar > Show Spelling and Grammar and set the dictionary to the language you want (not Automatic).

In Pages 4, go to Inspector > Text > More > Language and do the same thing.

If you want to try Automatic, which may or may not work very well, be sure to go to system preferences/keyboard/text/spelling/setup at the bottom of the list and check only the boxes for the languages you want.

(The OS version doesn't matter)


Why an IPhone XS Max appears here? (Do not own an iphone XS max nor there is one in proximity)

The entry is added by an instance of Simulator (part of XCode for testing purpose)


iPhone's hold button causes skipping in currently playing song

I have seen failures of the digitizer think that a finger was depressed when it was not. Usually it's some odd noise or interference and shutting down the device and then restarting it clears things up.

You might also be able to detect that by tapping a calculator or other app that shows when a finger down event happens on pretty much all the screen.

Of course, if you have a hardware issue, this won't fix itself and it will typically get worse over time rather than better.

Additionally, on the iOS 6 - there are some times when I've seen the system get really busy with background tasks such that music player doesn't get the CPU it needs - especially when iTunes Match is enabled and the device might need to go out to the internet to get a song or an update to the catalog, etc…

You can diagnose software issues by putting the device in Airplane mode and powering it down (hold the sleep wake button and slide to turn off). When it starts in Airplane mode, all running processes are only local ones and you can then test the music player and the screen to isolate the device from the internet before re-enabling Wi-Fi and/or cellular data until you've gotten a feel for whether the issue is software, hardware or something that was corrupt on the running software and a reboot cleaned that up.


Switching from Microsoft Remote Desktop back to Mac

Microsoft Remote Desktop automatically opens on another desktop space. You can quickly change between your remote session and the Mac desktop by pressing control + left arrow, and vise versa for going back to Windows.

You can also press control + up arrow to see all spaces at the top of the screen.


Power off frozen Macbook with a touch-bar

The TouchBar mac with Touch ID sensor is a physical power switch, so pressing and holding it will shut down the machine as long as two things are true:

The button physically registers your push.
The SMC is listening and will initiate the power shutdown.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201150

Barring those, if you press for 20 seconds gently yet firmly, you may have to wait for the battery to discharge and then charge. Watch your backup in case the machine needs hardware service or a reset of the SMC / restore or revive of the T2/SMC.


Can the default contact store for Mountain Lion be iCloud?

You missed a step when setting up iCloud.

On each Mac, you can set the default account to be iCloud in the general preferences.

Now, you'll need a short clean up to migrate all your incorrectly filed contacts.

Select Accounts and temporarily disable each iCloud / Exchange / online account.
Then export all the "On My Mac" contacts to a vCard file and delete them (you have a backup of your Mac and if paranoid, a full export of all contacts before you delete things, no?)
Once things are clean, enable the default account, check that it's set like above, and drag the contacts onto the "All bike@whatever"

Import all the contacts, even if there are duplicates as you can then have Contacts look for duplicates and merge / update existing contacts as needed.
Once you've deleted all contacts from On My Mac and deselected it as the default, Contacts should hide that group from view and simplify your contacts going forward.
At this point, optionally enable other cloud contact sources and re-verify the default account.


Showing hidden files on the desktop. Is there a way to remove .DS_Store on desktop only?

I use XtraFinder, and it has the option to show all hidden items except for the desktop.


Where are Anaconda's libraries for PYTHONPATH?

I think one good option is to gave up with Anaconda and use Canopy under an academic license (user2738815).
Another option is to use Debian Linux, where I have not experienced any such problems.


Backup files in internet recovery mode: cp command errors

The error has to be in the names of the directory structures you use. For example, using the last command the error must be in the names
"/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/myusername/Pictures/"
or
"/Volumes/nameofextHD/"
There is a problem with one of these names or else there are no jpgs in that directory.
The same applies for the other statements. Did you mean to use the -r or the -R option with the copy command? My computer running High Sierra doesn't show a -r option for the cp command. I think you want -R.


macOS Sierra keeps running out of application memory

Chrome is probably launching when macOS starts, and tabs from your previous session and reopening, so you're instantly running out of memory.

Try the Chrome plugin, The Great Suspender. Also try running Dr. Cleaner continuously in the background.


Dock/Expose not working, Desktop stuck with gray background (Lion)

I had a similar issue, and running killall -KILL Dock in terminal worked for me.


Replace MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012) battery from MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011)

Yes, it is possible to swap the battery from a MacBook Pro 13" (Early 2011) to a MacBook Pro 13" (Mid 2012) model. In fact, the same battery is used from Mid 2009 to Mid 2012 in all 13" MacBook Pros. You will need a special screwdriver called a tri-wing screwdriver though, to remove and reinstall the battery.


Synchronizing iBooks with iPad/iPhone does not synchronize collections

Go to Settings/Ibooks and turn on "Sync Collections" (also sync bookmarks and comments if you want that too).


CoreStorage changed to Apple_HFS after resizing and Recovery HD popped in the middle of my disk

I think I fixed it.

First of all, you need to revert Macintosh HD into a CoreStorage using
diskutil cs convert /dev/disk0s2
Then, reinstall MacOs on Macintosh HD using the Sierra installer for the Mac Apple Store without loosing data, creating a new Recovery HD partition.
Lastly, erase the old Recovery HD partition labeled Apple_HFS with Disk Utility.


I have this screen bug that comes and goes, is there any way to fix it?

Oddly enough that could be environmental.

In brief there could be some kind of electrical (or electromagnetic) signal that is interfering with the circuits in your Mac. It is not uncommon but usually manifests itself in something that happens all the time or only when a train (or whatever) goes by.

If it is indeed environmental (and there is no guarantee that it is) then often just re-orienting the laptop (tilt the screen at a different angle, turn the computer to face another direction, etc.) might help. Failing that moving it to another room or another location in the room that it is in.

As it is a laptop, take it outside, like to a park, far away from electrical lines and see if the issue repeats. Or try your favorite coffee shop with wifi.

If you can do any of this while the static is happening, even better as you will get immediate feedback.

Failing all of that it may be time for a visit to an Apple Genius to have them diagnose the hardware.


Script to turn flagged emails into reminders

Well, I got the automator to filter the the flagged mail using the action [Find Mail Item (Message is marked with - flagged)]. But there isn't much you can do with the mail items except have them pop up on Mail using action [Display Mail Messages].

Then I found a script here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3435695?start=0&tstart=0
that takes mail and automatically generates reminder from Mail.

I haven't tried it through myself. But hopefully that gives you a start.


How do I make my Mac use .bash_profile to add extra paths after I statically set $PATH?

The bash shell actually defaults to look for ~/.bash_profile even though it may not initially exist.

After creating this file in the root directory of your user, just enter source ~/.bash_profile . This forces the bash shell to read immediately from the file and will run it's contents straight away.

As long as you have a line that looks like export PATH=<directories> in the file, your PATH will be set by this every time.
This helped.