Need to replug my Magic Keyboard after each shutdown

On my iMac running Catalina I can enter my password after reboot using the bluetooth Magic Keyboard without connecting it via cable. Although you run a different version of MacOS on a different machine it seems to me that this is rather a bug than a feature. Does it also appear after reboot or only after complete shutdown?

I have two ideas you can try to fix the problem: First, reset your SMC. If this doesn't solve the problem reset your bluetooth controller.

If both things don't work, connect the keyboard to another Mac to see if the problem is the same. If it is, I would order a new Magic Keyboard or go to an Apple store.


Applescript to highlight text in Chrome using Javascript

Make sure you've enabled JavaScript from AppleScript in Google Chrome

  Executing JavaScript through AppleScript is turned off. To turn it on, from the menu bar, go to View > Developer > Allow JavaScript from Apple Events.

I've made a few changes to your script for it to work, with the changes highlighted in bold.

The scrollPos variable and its associated handling of scrolling by getting and setting window position was superfluous, so all references to it have been removed.
All execute verbs need to tell window 1, not just one verb. I've added to tell window 1 to the enclosing tell of the application.
The execute verb takes a reference and a JavaScript string, not just JavaScript. You are missing the reference on all your execute verbs.

set myList to {"AppleScript", "2018", "CLOSED"}

tell application "Google Chrome" to tell window 1
    execute active tab javascript "document.designMode = 'on';" -- scrollPos and page offset removed

    repeat with thisText in myList
        execute active tab javascript "var sel = window.getSelection();
                    sel.collapse(document.body, 0);
                    while (window.find('" & thisText & "', true)) {document.execCommand('HiliteColor', false, '#5cdf64');}
                    sel.collapseToEnd()"
    end repeat
    execute active tab javascript "document.designMode = 'off';" -- scrollPos and page offset removed
end tell

To run it on all tabs, wrap it with repeat with atab in tabs:

tell application "Google Chrome" to tell window 1
    repeat with atab in tabs
        execute atab javascript "document.designMode = 'on';" -- scrollPos and page offset removed

        repeat with thisText in myList
            execute atab javascript "var sel = window.getSelection();
                    sel.collapse(document.body, 0);
                    while (window.find('" & thisText & "', true)) {document.execCommand('HiliteColor', false, '#5cdf64');}
                    sel.collapseToEnd()"
        end repeat
        execute atab javascript "document.designMode = 'off';" -- scrollPos and page offset removed
    end repeat
end tell


Completely clear all cloud music from iPhone

The most recent version of iOS I have used is 7.1.2, but in that version you have to go to Settings>iCloud>Account Name>Delete All Data, and then sign out. It still may not fully work, so you should also log in to your Apple account in your browser (or go to Settings>iCloud if you have a Mac), open the list of devices associated with your account, and remove the iPhone. Finally you may want to change your account password to make sure the device cant be auto added to the account when it reconnects to the internet.

I will be the first to agree that their forced integration of iCloud and refusal to let you remove it is crap. For this reason I might also recommend jailbreaking if you're okay with it. Once an iDevice is jailbroken you can install iFile and manually delete the songs from the iCloud music folder. Be careful though because deleting the folder itself could cause problems.


Why is my headset reducing sound volume/quality when recording my voice?

TL;DR: Bluetooth is limited in bandwidth.

To be able to let both incoming (microphone) and outgoing (speakers) audio data, your headset can use multiple audio codecs.

Depending on your usage, it automatically switch from a codec set to another. The output quality gets worse (which use less bandwith) to allow input data from you microphone to get to your computer.

Now you might ask, what if we wouldn’t use 2 separate codecs but keep up with one ?

You would either have have a poor audio quality all the time (no matter if the microphone is used or not), or have a good quality with recurring audio interruptions because it would be impossible for the headset and the computer to exchange all the required data in time.

Some headsets even support more than 2 codecs. In such case they can have a greater control of the input and output quality balance. They would ask to your computer/phone/... which codecs they do understand, and make the best choice (depending on if you use the microphone or not) to give you the best audio quality.

For a non-exhaustive list of codecs used by Bluetooth devices: Apt-X, SBC, AAC (also used in Apple M4A audio files), LDAC, ...
Other audio codecs might include: AC3, Opus, MP3, FLAC, Ogg, ... but they are not used in Bluetooth.

  Is this a setting ? How can I fix this ?

If your headphone does not explicitly allows you to switch the codec in use — in most cases — you can’t. The headphone already uses what it thinks as the best setting. Some headphones allow that, but it is mostly « high-end » (understand « expensive ») headphones.

It’s like in plumbing: a pipe can handle a given quantity of water pressure. But at some point, if you try to put more pressure, pipes might break/explode. You would either need to use a bigger pipe (an USB-C cable for example) or reduce the pressure (in your case, the headset reduce the audio quality).


Escape black screen on MacBook Pro after disconnecting external display

I found this on Stack Overflow, to invoke 'Detect Displays' - which you could include in an Automator Service & then give a key command.

Of course… it would only be good for next time it happened, not this.

tell application "System Preferences"
    activate
    reveal pane "com.apple.preference.displays"
end tell

delay 0.5

tell application "System Events"
    tell process "System Preferences"
        try --don't even consider not using a try block!
            key down option
            delay 0.2
            click button "Detect Displays" of window 1
            delay 0.2
            key up option
        on error --logging out is the only other way to clear these
            key up option
        end try
    end tell
end tell


Why is my iPhone screen stuck on the 'connect to iTunes' screen?

Please note that the instructions I am giving are assuming you are using an English copy of Windows, since I do not have a Mac and therefore do not have much experience with them.  However, the steps will be very similar, and I will try to note where things might be different for Mac OS X.

First, check all of the following:

Make sure your copy of iTunes is up-to-date. In Windows, open iTunes, click "Help", then "Check for Updates".
Make sure you are connected to the internet and the connection is reliable.  iTunes contacts Apple several times during the restore procedure, and if iTunes fails to get a response during one of these check-ins, the restore will fail.
Make sure you are using the correct version of iTunes for your system.  If you are using a 64-bit version of Windows, you will need to install the 64-bit version of iTunes.  If you have Windows XP, you need the normal 32-bit version. If you have Vista or Windows 7, click the start orb, right-click computer, then click "Properties". In the "System" section, look for the line that starts with "System Type". If it says 32-bit, use the normal iTunes installer. If it says "64-bit Operating System", download the 64-bit version of iTunes from http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1047  (If you have trouble determining whether you have a 32-bit or 64-bit copy of Windows installed, try installing iTunes using http://www.ninite.com and it will automatically download the right version)
Delete the restore files from your computer. In Windows, press WindowsKey+R, type '%appdata%\apple computer\itunes' then delete the folders iPod Software Update and iPhone Software update if they exist.  If you are using OS X, the folder should be ~/Library/iTunes/.
If it still isn't working, uninstall iTunes, reboot, then install iTunes again, then reboot again.

If none of the above work, do the following to place your iPhone into DFU mode.  Some people have better luck with restoring with this method.

Plug the iPhone into the computer, and wait for it to be recognized in iTunes.
Press and hold the home and sleep buttons.
As soon as the iPhone screen goes blank, count to six seconds. At six, release the sleep button, and continue holding the home button.
You should see or hear the new hardware notification on your computer. When you do, you can release the home button.  If the new hardware notification, wait until iTunes recognizes it and tells you it found an iPhone in restore mode.
The iPhone screen should be blank. If it shows the "Connect to iTunes" screen, unplug it, then try again from step 1.


Drobo has become read only and can't be changed

I would suggest following the official support guide for this issue available here:

http://support.drobo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/42/~/why-is-my-drobo-storage-device,-connected-to-my-mac,-suddenly-read-only-and


Apple Knowledgebase article Issues when syncing photos to iPhone or iPod touch recommends deleting the iPod Photo Cache if syncing photos of a known compatible file format results in this message.


How to embed an Image in Mac OS Sierra Mail Application

There’s an entire new Storage Management window, located in the System Information app, that provides a suite of tools to help you free up disk space. Some aspects of the window are based on turning on or tweaking settings, like how Mail stores attachments and if iTunes should delete video files that have already been watched.


Is there a way to purchase the official Lion release when the Gold Master was previously installed?


Is there a way to snooze the reminder for a calendar event on iPhone?

This is not supported by the default calendar app at the moment. An app called Calendar Alarm from the App Store might be what you're looking for. Its listed features include:

  Works seamlessly together with all
  iPhone supported calendars (Google
  Calendar, CalDAV, Outlook, Exchange,
  iCal).
  Snooze function with intervals of your choice.


A better workflow for screen real estate than spaces?

Really, you can't beat two physical 1080 monitors and an extra, smaller (~1024x768) one (touchscreen a plus). This works best for headless machines, or machines with an integrated 1080 display. Here are example workflows for different scenarios (Big1=1080 main, Big2=1080 extra, Small1=small extra):

Coder:
Big1: The piece of code you're actively working on. Big2: The list of related files (like in XCode), and the interface design. Small1: Where the app's windows(s) go when you test it, unless it's big. Or music controls.

Web Developer
Big1: Code. Big2: Browser preview. Small1: FTP client or ebooks or list of files or editor utility panels.

Photo Editing/Design
Big1: Editing window (Ps controls, image, etc). Big2: List of photos w/ previews.
Big 3: Original image or music controls or editor panels.

Student (the one I spend the most time in)
Big1: Paper/essay on the left and outline on the right. Big2: Research websites, ebooks, works cited, etc (two open simultaneously works well). Small1: Music controls or assignment sheet/project requirements.


Any way to recover data from a semi-bricked iPhone?

If there is an Apple store in proximity, book an appointment with their tech. If PhoneView does not recognize the phone, I believe this may be your best chance to get the data out.


macOS custom keyboard layout is removed each restart of the OS

Try putting a copy of your custom keyboard layout in ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts directory. The Library directory in your Home directory is hidden by default. To enter it, click Go in Finder menu, press and hold the Option key to reveal Library option.


I find it easiest to use the settings app on iOS:

General
About
Diagnostics & Usage
Diagnostics & Usage Data
scroll to the crash you care about and tap it
select all, copy the text

Now you can paste the report wherever you please. Email, Simplenote, notes, Evernote, or wherever else you like to store the text for submitting a bug with Apple. You can also get at the logs after syncing from iTunes or Xcode - but getting it when the crash happens works best for me in most cases.


iOS 9.0.1 Unknown Error (-42585) What is it?

There are a whole raft of obscure error messages where your primary recourse is to contact Apple Support.

They have access to the engineering team that can look up a specific error message and they also have the best database of user issues that I'm aware of and can search for others with that situation.

You can also pay attention to if you're playing an Apple Music radio stream, or an iTunes match streamed song or a song that's copied onto the iOS device over USB from iTunes. Any raft of server errors like bad ssl certificates, missing files on Apple's servers would result in oddball error messages until the system can be updated with proper english errors like try playing another song.


iPhone contact search (with letters) doesn't return anything

It seems that you have multiple contact accounts on your iPhone. Open the Contacts app on your iPhone, tap on Groups and then tap "Show All Contacts".

You can now view all of your iPhone contacts in one place.


Security problem if Mac Os X file sharing permissions for "everybody" is set to read-only?

Any user on your machine would be able to read the files. People on the local network can only read from the places you have set up in Sharing preferences (under file sharing).


Turn mac into a personal hotspot while connected to network via wi-fi

Your Mac would need two WiFi interfaces to do that. You could add a USB plug-in one, or you could use an Airport Express as a WiFi extender with no connection needed to either computer. I see older AExes listed on Craigslist for $40 - $50.


You probably won't be able to merge them directly due to the present of BOOTCAMP partition in between.

I had a very similar issue while I had a "Recovery HD" partition created by OSX10.12 long time ago. Despite I can see the "free space" on the partition map, I cannot resize the Container1 to include it (I can only include it into the Recovery HD partition)

After hours of trial-and-error, I finally solved the problem by removing the "Recovery HD" partition and then I can have all disk space (except the tiny EFI partition) in Container1. And all these can be done through Disk Utility (in partition panel, by clicking + and -), no need to type commands in Terminal.

Try it, hope it works for you too.

BTW, in your case removing BOOTCAMP partition directly might be dangerous, consider using BootCamp Assistant to remove it.


How can I  print multiple pages on a single page via my iPhone?

Not natively, but you can with Printopia running on a Mac connected to your printer.

To do this, you need to first create a very simple Automator action. Open up Automator, and create a Print Plugin. For the Workflow, you only need to add the "Run Shell Script" action. Make sure the action is set to "Pass input: as arguments". The shell script needs only a single line:

lp -o number-up=4 -o media=Letter "$*"

The specifics of the line might depend on your needs. In this case, I'm printing to my default printer (so is't not specified). I found that without the "media" option the result was was not scaled properly. You can define number-up as either 1, 2, 4, or 16.

If you want to specify a specific printer, use the following instead:

lp -d <printer> -o number-up=4 -o media=Letter "$*"

where <printer> is one of your print queues. You can find these by executing lpstat -a at a terminal prompt.

That's it. Now save the action. I saved mine as "4-Up Print".

Next open Printopia in the System Preferences. Click the + to add a new destination, select "Add PDF Workflow", and pick the Automator Workflow that you created in the previous step.

When printing from your iOS device, pick the newly created Printopia Air Print destination. Obviously you need to be on the same local network as the Mac.

Enjoy!


Help: spotlight can't see Firefox in Applications folder?

This has helped on a lot of macOS boxes I've worked on (10.14, 10.15 Catalina beta 1, beta 2, beta 3 and beta 4), perhaps for different reasons now in 2019 than when OP originally asked the question.

Open Terminal/iTerm and run:
sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Firefox.app
Authenticate with your admin password.

Your download was tagged by a macOS security mechanism as potentially dangerous, so the extended attribute com.apple.quarantine was set.

Since the OS didn't ask for user confirmation, the xattr was most probably already removed, but only from the top level package Firefox.app itself, but not its contents.
This is at least one scenario where an App

can be launched without user confirmation, but
Spotlight refuse to index.

See superuser.com/what-should-i-do-about-com-apple-quarantine for more.


How well does the Apple Magic Trackpad perform as a mouse replacement?

I've found the trackpad to be great for general purpose use (particularly the 3-finger swipe-to-drag gesture and the wonderful inertial scrolling) but I've found it too inaccurate for GUI development work.

When I'm laying out screens for software development, or creating graphics for said software, it's too awkward to exactly position things with. I suspect you will find a similar problem if you are touching-up images etc.

I've found the ergonomics to be good, to be honest - I mostly use the Magic Trackpad and when that's not suitable for a job (see above) I switch to a Magic Mouse for a couple of hours. I have relatively small hands and find the Magic Mouse to be a really comfortable mouse, with no strain on fingers or wrist even after prolonged use. The trackpad gives you less to 'lean on' but I haven't found myself with any wrist ache or strain even when I've been using it solid for a day, etc.


The short answer to this is yes.

I answered a very similar question related to Ubuntu.  Your command set the boot order as Linux then (I am assuming here) Mac OS X.  What you have to do is set the boot order to boot the OS X partition first and you can do this in System Preferences.

Have a look at this post as it should be able to help you.


Is there any way to have the Screen Sharing app in Snow Leopard to remember the last connected host?

Don't know of a way to specifically do that, but you can set up browser bookmarks and/or desktop icons that will connect to specific hosts, if that's any help.

For the former, create a bookmark that points to vnc://hostname.blah.com rather than the more usual http://hostname.blah.com.

For the latter, create a text file with the .command suffix (e.g. 'myvnc.command') that contains the single line:

open vnc://hostname.blah.com

which will start the screen sharing session when you double-click it in Finder. You can also drag it to your dock if you wish.


Can the formula bar font in Excel 2011 be changed?

http://www.excelforum.com/excel-general/837994-formula-bar-text-size.html

Seems like "no" for 2011.  Grr.. very frustrating!


AirDrop

AirDrop for iOS is similar to the OS X counterpart. It allows you to share files over WiFi1 to nearby devices, such as photos, contacts or Passbook passes/tickets.

The 'Contacts Only' setting requires that you be logged in to your iCloud account, and you must have the sending device's Apple ID in your contacts.

The receiving device must accept a share, similar to OS X. A popup notification will appear when someone attempts to send you something.

1 (however Bluetooth must be powered for the initial connection to begin -  the device sends files through WiFi, however the secure connection handshake is achieved through Bluetooth)

  Sending a photo or a document to someone via text or email is fine. But if that someone is right next to you, a text or an email suddenly feels like too many steps. Enter AirDrop for iOS. It lets you quickly and easily share photos, videos, contacts — and anything else from any app with a Share button. Just tap Share, then select the person you want to share with. AirDrop does the rest using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. No setup required. And transfers are encrypted, so what you share is highly secure.


Trying to Analyse a WIFI Hardware Problem

This blog gives an account of the information contained in NVRAM:

https://eclecticlight.co/2018/08/24/whats-stored-in-nvram/

It also gives the Terminal command nvram -xp to list the contents of the NVRAM, which might be useful. Note that the data is in base64 encoding, which will need further decoding to become 'human-readable'.

However, there does not seem to be anything specific to WIFI or networking generally. I note that Internet Recovery Partition, which is in Firmware, can remember Wifi router selection and passwords.

Given the age of the machine, an intermittent failure of this sort is likely to be a hardware problem. You could try ruling out software issues by booting to a new, clean OS on an external disk.

As to why NVRAM reset fixes it: that's unknown.  If the contents of NVRAM are unchanged when the WiFi is defective and when it works, then it's not the reset as such that's fixing it. It's possible that the reset does something else coincidentally.


As long as you are an "Owner" of said Google Group, you can just add the email as an "Alias" in the Mail.app.

Mail --> Preferences --> Accounts --> Select the account that "owns" the group i.e. "myfirst@email.com" --> Alias --> Edit Aliases

Simply add the email address of the owned Google Group.  In your example "mysecond@email.com".


autossh in background does not work anymore

Since macOS Sierra, ssh-add doesn't automatically load keys added with ssh-add -K on startup. In order for this to work, I had to add ssh-add -A to my .bashrc, now things work as expected.


TIme Machine IP Change Loses Backup History

The new router (the hardware did change) is obviously using one of the default 192.* ranges instead of the 10.* range the old router was using. Your iMac and NAS picked up an address in the new IP range, (that's why the iMac could 'see' the NAS,) but because the IP in the NAT changed, Time Machine failed.

When you change routers in the future, you should make sure the iMac and NAS pick up an IP in the same range as the old router so there is no mismatch.


For equal cost, why would you select the MacBook Air over the MacBook Pro?

The primary cons for the MacBook Pro are:

heavier and more bulky compared to the Air
noticeably slower HDD versus SSD at the same price point
only has a 1280x800 screen resolution

Note: but is confirmed to be a better quality display than the one in the Air, with a more accurate color gamut.

Things that sold me on the MacBook Pro over the 13" MacBook Air: the MacBook Pro is more future-proof and upgradeable and offers more value for the money in my opinion.

Primarily Upgradeable RAM, the Pro Comes with 4 GB and so does the MacBook Air, but the key point is that I can just order it with the 4 GB for the Pro, knowing that I will be able to upgrade to 8 GB or even 16 GB at market rate for RAM whenever I want to. I cannot do that with an Air, you either order the 4 GB and shorten the usable life of your computer or pay upfront to upgrade to at most 8 GB at a premium price (thats shoddy and I would like to avoid that).
Secondly the MacBook Pro as of Mid-2012 version still has a standard form factor drive bay where you can purchase and install 3rd party 2.5" SATA Laptop Drives of your choice in SSD or standard hard disk drives.

And then the bonus features in order of importance to me, all of which without the need for external dongles and adapters:

Gigabit Ethernet
Firewire 800 port
SuperDrive (optical drive)
Standard Audio headphone jack that can do both output or input over analog or digital cables
Hasn't moved to the new MagSafe 2 adapter format

So the flexibility and value of the MacBook Pro sold me on it, its really sad to note that all MacBooks will probably be Airs (like the MacBook Pro Retina) soon enough and this value option will be nothing but a thing of the past, so enjoy it while it lasts.


Personally, I do not believe that you want to boot into recovery mode. Rather, if you're installing a new SSD into your Mac, the most effective path is to boot to a USB that has the OS X Yosemite installer loaded on it.

First things first, you will need a USB drive that has greater than 4 GB of space. Fall the instructions on this Apple help article for how to create your your Yosemite USB installer:
“Create a bootable installer for OS X Mavericks or Yosemite - Apple Support”
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

After you've created your bootable installer, please make sure to back up to your time capsule. You may want to take the extra time and perform a manual backup of your most vital files on a separate external hard drive.

When you have your bootable installer and a fresh back up you may begin the process of replacing the original hard drive with the new solid-state. After installing the SSD, you will hold the 'C' button during boot up which will allow you to specify which disc to start up from. Please see this Apple help article which articulates possible key values during start up:
“Startup key combinations for Intel-based Macs - Apple Support”
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201255

Although your SSD is most likely blank I find it good practice to ensure this fact by selecting disk utility from the available menus and wiping the SSD. You can also take this step further by re-formatting your drive to Mac OS Extended (journaled).

With your SSD squeaky clean it is time to install the fresh version of OS X Yosemite from the USB drive. You may select your Time machine back up during installation, or you may choose to wait until after install.


How can I find out what is taking up space on my hard drive?

I highly recommend using:  http://daisydiskapp.com

.. Once downloaded and installed they have a "Test Drive" option you click that lets you use it for free.  Please note that to see all files on your HD that all users own, you will want to use the "Scan as Administrator" option, which will prompt you to enter your password.

There is also:

Disk Inventory X - http://www.derlien.com
Disk Map - Google for "Disk Map OS X" ( Commercial software )


If you migrate to iCloud now, you

get all the iCloud benefits on the iPhone
can still access your mail from your Mac (HT4864)
you should still be able to share calendars and contacts (see MacRumors but I haven't had a need to test this yet). This may actually be unsupported by Apple but if everything else fails you could always set up a Google Calendar for this.
will loose all the other MobileMe benefits (like bookmark, pref, keychain syncing, gallery, iDisk etc.)
will still be able to sync the content of your iPhone with your Mac


How to downgrade from MacOS Catalina to Mojave

Before you begin

The first thing to understand is that downgrading means you'll need to:

erase your MacBook's drive, and since you don't have a Time Machine backup you'll need to make one (or back up your data in some other way), before downgrading
have an external drive that you can totally erase as part of the process.

Downgrading from Catalina to Mojave

To downgrade, follow these steps:

Use Time Machine (or some other backup method) to back up your data
On your MacBook, use Safari (or another web browser) to open this link:

https://apps.apple.com/ph/app/macos-mojave/id1398502828?mt=12

The Mac App Store should open up on the macOS Mojave page
Download the macOS Mojave installer
Connect your external drive to your MacBook
Use Disk Utility to totally erase the external drive as follows:

leave the drive name as Untitled
format it as either Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or APFS
use the GUID Partition Map

Open Terminal
Enter (or copy and paste) the following command into Terminal

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/Untitled

NOTE: If at Step 6 you decided to give the external drive a different name, then replace the Untitled bit at the end of the command with whatever you called your drive

Press enter
When prompted enter your admin password (note you won't actually see it appear on screen)
Press enter
When prompted, press the  Y  key to confirm
Press enter
Terminal will start displaying what it's doing - wait until you see the Done. message
Shutdown your MacBook
Reboot your MacBook while holding down the option key
In a short while you'll see some startup disk options
Now select and boot from the external drive

(Note: your external drive name will be Install macOS Mojave as the Terminal command we used earlier automatically changed it from Untitled).

Use the Disk Utility option to erase the internal drive (preferably in APFS format and making sure you use the GUID Partition Map option)
Once complete, exit Disk Utility to follow the on-screen instructions to install macOS Mojave onto the internal drive of your MacBook
Now use the Time Machine (or other) backup you made at Step 1 to copy across your data


This is not a answer to your question, but some interesting information on what can eat your data plan. (even on standby mode) !

So if you used Google maps (and did not turn it off) on your Vacation, there is a possibility to consume 100 Hours x 22 Mb = 2200 Mb

As for monitoring probably this would suit you.

My Data Manager – Track your mobile data usage and save money

  Description

  My Data Manager is a popular app that will help you take control of
  your mobile data usage and save you money on your monthly phone bill.
  Use My Data Manager every day to track your data usage and ensure that
  you don’t go over your monthly data bill and incur unnecessary
  charges.


How does my brand new iPhone have steps activity recorded on it (in the Health app) from a month ago?

This sound like a case of a product return - a customer who purchased it and returned it.
Now, you state that you purchased it as “Brand New” so Apple, of all entities, shouldn’t be repackaging returned items and selling them as new.   Actually, they can.
Specifically, from that post, there’s an FTC opinion giving guidance on usage of the term “New Product.”   Basically, they can take a previously opened product that may have even been turned on but  generally unused and in new condition, repackage it as new so long as there is a conspicuous process behind how they do this.
It’s entirely possible someone bought this iPhone, tried it out (maybe for this specific feature) didn’t like it and returned it. Apple did a simple factory reset not realizing there was data stored, and repackaged it as new.  Obviously, one got though the process that shouldn’t.   Is it a major problem and fraud on Apple’s part?  No. The process must be conspicuous, not perfect.
Simply contact Apple, tell them that it appears the product is used when it should be be new and you want a replacement.  They’ll accommodates you.


How to omit directories from Optimized Storage?

Currently there is no way to exclude subdirectories/files present in Desktop & Documents Folders, if you choose to store them in iCloud and enable Optimize Mac Storage.

A possible workaround for your situation could be to move the git repositories to any directory which is not a subdirectory of ~/Desktop or ~/Documents directory.

A commonly used subdirectory for storing repositories is ~/Developer.


Okay I solved the problem. First I created a backup, because everything got erased!

I restarted my MacBook in Recovery mode (Command + R)
Went to the Disk Utility
Clicked on my SSD that was in APFS
Clicked on Erase, and chose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with GUID Partition Map
After it was done, went back to the previous menu in Recovery mode and clicked to Reinstall Mac OS
I chose the new disk to install macOS (it took me around 30-60 minutes)

After installing macOS you can set your previous Time Machine backups. Finally I'm done, and now it enables me to partition my disk.

The problem was the APFS didn't enabled me to partition, only HFS+.

But be careful: since APFS is now the standard filesystem on Apple devices and if it has some important advantages which is not supported by HFS+ you will be messed up.

Take a look at APFS advantages before you choose.

Although you can reset your disk back to APFS anytime you want, but you might miss the ability of partitioning.

I think if you want to keep your drive as APFS you can purchase an external hard drive (it doesn't cost so much, but indeed needs extra care if you are working with a laptop).

Edit: After I erased my SSD with HFS+, I tried to erased it with APFS once again. (the whole SSD) And this time, it enabled me to partition in APFS. :)


This is likely a bug in QuickTime Player. It recognizes both of my iDevices, but not a couple of family member's iDevices. All I could say is try updating the iPad to iOS 9, in the event that it's the iPad acting up.


Apple provides an automatic Java installer but no uninstaller so you can't remove Java once you've installed it without using an at-your-own-risk approach.

That being said this is how to get rid of java from a terminal session and a using a text editor:

sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/
sudo rm -rf /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/*.jdk
sudo rm -rf /Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin
sudo rm -rf /Library/PreferencePanes/JavaControlPanel.prefpane
sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.JavaEssentials.bom
sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.JavaEssentials.plist
sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.JavaForMacOSX107.bom
sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.JavaForMacOSX107.plist
sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.JavaMDNS.bom
sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.JavaMDNS.plist
sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.JavaSecurity.bom
sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/com.apple.pkg.JavaSecurity.plist

At this point you need to edit the installation history to delete evidence you installed Java.  I suggest backing up the file first.  If you prefer a different text editor feel free to use it but do not use a word processor that puts formatting codes in the text file.

sudo cp /Library/Receipts/InstallHistory.plist ~/Desktop
sudo emacs /Library/Receipts/InstallHistory.plist

Search for entries that look like:

    <dict>
            <key>date</key>
            <date>2011-09-16T22:22:10Z</date>
            <key>displayName</key>
            <string>Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 5</string>
            <key>displayVersion</key>
            <string>1.0</string>
            <key>packageIdentifiers</key>
            <array>
                    <string>com.apple.pkg.JavaForMacOSX10.6Update5</string>
            </array>
            <key>processName</key>
            <string>Software Update</string>
    </dict>

also

    <dict>
            <key>date</key>
            <date>2013-01-15T11:42:35Z</date>
            <key>displayName</key>
            <string>Java for OS X 2012-006</string>
            <key>displayVersion</key>
            <string>1.0</string>
            <key>packageIdentifiers</key>
            <array>
                    <string>com.apple.pkg.JavaEssentials</string>
                    <string>com.apple.pkg.JavaForMacOSX107</string>
                    <string>com.apple.pkg.JavaSecurity</string>
                    <string>com.apple.pkg.JavaMDNS</string>
            </array>
            <key>processName</key>
            <string>Software Update</string>
    </dict>

and delete them.  You may wish to check your work using diff:

diff -u ~/Desktop/InstallHistory.plist /Library/Receipts/InstallHistory.plist | less

or some other file comparison tool.

You can test that java is gone by running:

java -version

You should see a pop up asking to install Java again.


Running Sierra and Leopard on MacBook Air

If the machine is newer than Leopard, then it's not possible.

No Mac can run an OS older than itself - the drivers for it simply weren't invented.

Your only option would be to set up a VM, using Parallels or similar; but you'd have to use Lion - the oldest user version of OS X licensed for virtualisation.
Snow Leopard Server was the first ever version you can virtualise.


SmoothDraw Alternative to Make Videos like Khan Academy

Try Krita. It works on Mac, Windows, and Linux. It's designed more for painting, but it should work just fine for this.

I believe it works with tablets, although I'm not 100% sure. It doesn't have an infinite canvas (if you even need that), but you can always start with a canvas bigger than the screen and use it like a whiteboard. Middle-clicking-and-holding will scroll the canvas. (If you don't have a three-button mouse, hold Space and drag. Two-finger scrolling will not work.)

Plus, it's free and open source!

If you do need an infinite canvas, try Inkscape. Unlike Krita, it uses vectors, so you can zoom in and out without worrying about quality. I don't think it supports graphics tablets, though.

If you go this route, when you launch Inkscape it will ask you to install X11. Be aware that it won't work quite like other Mac apps—it's running in its own windowing system. One main difference is that Ctrl will work as an alternate Cmd key.


Share photos from iPhoto to iOS devices on LAN without iCloud

PhotoScope is a paid app available for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch that allows you to browse an iPhoto library on the local network without using iCloud or other services. It does, however, require a free helper app be installed on the Mac to enable this.

(Note that I have not used PhotoScope and therefore, YMMV.)


Preventing filesystem from locking up when automount NFS share from VM goes away

I've found that umount-ing the share will also resolve the problem each time I suspend my VM.

It's not a perfect solution, as it has to be done manually, but it does work.

E.g.:

sudo umount /vhosts
(suspend VM)
sudo automount -vc

I haven't tested whether step 3 is necessary, but I figure it couldn't hurt.


How can I repair an NTFS partition from Lion?

From the Tuxera for Mac manual:

3.3 Checking and repairing NTFS file systems

There is only limited support for checking and repairing NTFS file systems at this time. The best way to repair a damaged NTFS volume is using chkdsk in Windows.

If you install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X, you will find that it includes a utility called ntfsfix, which can repair some fundamental inconsistencies of NTFS volumes. This utility is currently not integrated with the file system bundle, and thus can't be invoked through Disk Utility, because of reports that it has corrupted some users' NTFS drives.

If you want to try it out despite these warnings, you will have to invoke it manually, from the Terminal. Type “man ntfsfix” for usage info.


Apple to Windows External Hard disk file system error

In order to get it to work with Windows and Mac, you need to use FAT32 or exFAT for the drive format.


How to move imovie from one computer to another?

See this video - How to Export an iMovie Project.


iPhone - Whats the matter with the Passcode?

A strong passcode is harder to brute-force. The code itself it not used directly as an encryption key but rather used as an input to derive a real key from. So regarding the crypto behind the scenes, it doesn’t make much of a difference, but mostly works against attacks from the interface.


Risks and mitigation when getting a used iPhone

I intend to immediately wipe the phone by using iTunes to install a fresh iOS, as a clean install.

That should be the only major step required. Do a clean iOS install (or factory reset the device). Make sure to install the latest public version of iOS supported by your model of iPhone.

  ➥ What else should I do to address security concerns?

Installing the latest public iOS release should take care of the security concerns whatsoever. You can further ensure if no 3rd party/unauthorized part replacements have been made. The iOS should be able to detect if any crucial components such as Home button or battery has been replaced by unauthorized means.

  ➥ If this phone had been through a jailbreaking, is there a way for me to tell?

No if the device has been reset to remove the Jailbreak.

  Is there any risk to using a previous jailbroken iPhone after doing a wipe and install of an all-new iOS?

None if you reinstall iOS which effectively removes the jailbreak.


The table is selected by clicking the little circle thing.

There's no need to fiddle about as suggested in the forum post - just press the Delete key to delete it.


Dashboard widgets run in background [10.9]

Found it there is a little 'i' icon in the right corner of the dashboard webclip (if you hover over it with you mouse).

By default there a check box "Only play audio in dashboard" unchecking this will keep on playing!


Yes. Photostream shares photos between devices logged into a single iCloud account. You can post photos to a Shared Photostream and designated parties will be notified, but the photos aren't downloaded to computers or iDevices.


There should be an ntpd process started by /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.ntp.ntpd.plist by default in 10.8.

The plist is also missing <key>RunAtLoad</key><true/>, but I couldn't get this to work either:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>com.stefan.ntpd</string>
  <key>Program</key>
  <string>/usr/sbin/ntpd</string>
  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
  <true/>
</dict>
</plist>


It should be done in the app itself.
In “Misc” tab, press the "Uninstall Karabiner-Elements" button.

You can also uninstall Karabiner-Elements from command line.
$ sudo '/Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-Elements/uninstall_core.sh'

https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/docs/manual/operation/uninstall/

For any other app/file which are locked, try to unlock it by unchecking the "locked" box in "Get Info" first.
If the box is greyed out, run the following in Terminal:
cd "/Applications"
sudo chflags noschg "Karabiner-Elements.app"

Then delete it by right click >  "Move to Trash"
Read more about noschg at man chflags.


What Is The Smallest Partition I Can Use Disk Utility to Add?

Disk Utility will not allow a partition smaller than 10% of the disk size, so creating a 70 GB partition shouldn't be a problem for you.
Try deleting all local Time Machine snapshots:

 tmutil thinlocalsnapshots /

If that doesn't work either, I'd recommend using a Live System such as Knoppix.


I'd try clearing the saved state files.

From Finder:

 Cmd ⌘   N
 Cmd ⌘   Shift ⇧     G
Copy/paste ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Photos/Data/Library/Saved Application State

Find the folder com.apple.Photos.savedState and delete it.
That should give Photos a fresh start.


External hard drive has 3 partitions, all 3 are about full and appear on desktop but finder shows no content

Did you try looking for hidden folders? You can ⌘ + shift + . to show hidden items, or do ls -lah on the terminal.

If nothing shows, give DaisyDisk a try

Also, if you are using AFP, snapshots may be taking that space.


How can I enable backspace to go back in Safari on Mojave?

You can add a keyboard shortcut from the terminal, but this requires you to disable system integrity in macOS 10.14 Mojave and later.
defaults write com.apple.Safari NSUserKeyEquivalents -dict-add Back "\U232b"

Alternative, you can install a Safari Extension which injects a script that bring back the functionality:
https://github.com/yene/Safari-Backspace
For example:
document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function(event) {
    function handleBackspace(e) {
        if (e.keyCode === 8 && !e.ctrlKey && !e.shiftKey
            && e.target.tagName !== 'INPUT' && e.target.tagName !== 'TEXTAREA'
            && e.target.contentEditable !== 'true' // TinyMCE
            ) {
            e.preventDefault();
            window.history.go(-1);
        }
    }
    window.addEventListener('keydown', handleBackspace, false);
});


Is it 'safe' to use FN for custom shortcuts

You cannot create shortcuts using the fn key in the preferences pane (but you can assign Function keys f1, f2 etc.)

The shortcuts interface will allow you to press fn + X for Cut etc, but only X is displayed as the shortcut, and pressing fn + X results in typing X not cutting.

Very annoying for people that switch between Windows and Mac keyboards, since the CTRL key on a Windows keyboard is where the fn key is on a Mac keyboads.


How to listen to the same song at the same time on 2 different iPhones?

There are couple of young coders who met at 2013 WWDC after getting a scholarships from Apple who had the same idea you describe. They brought out an app called
Audibly

Description
Audibly plays your music in sync across nearby iOS devices. Just
choose the songs you want, link up some devices, and you're ready to
go.
Hanging out with friends and want to play a song, but your phone’s
speakers aren't loud enough? Instantly create a wireless surround
sound system and forget messy headphone cables.
Features: • Create a playlist of songs from your own library • Control
the volume across all the devices • Music kept in sync as you listen •
Use filters to change the pitch of the music • Favorite what’s playing
to come back to it later • No Internet connection required*
Audibly was first created at WWDC by a group of Student Scholarship
Recipients: Nick Frey, Chris Galzerano, and Veeral Patel.

Music can be streamed over Peer-to-Peer Wi-Fi on newer, supported devices, anywhere you are without an Internet connection. Devices can
also connect over a Wi-Fi network.

They still have some bugs to iron out but I have used it and it works well.


How to search file name that contains asterisk (*)?

Well, just type *. It isn't treated any different than other characters:


Can I reinstall a single iOS app without losing its data?

While I never tried it myself, in theory you could use something like PhoneDisk to open the app's private folder and copy all the content to your computer. Then, after deleting and reinstalling the app, you should be able to copy the content back.


Is there a way to make my MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard hibernate with a keyboard shortcut?

Option-Command-Eject is the system-standard key to put the machine to sleep.

If you want to do more than sleep, you can use this preference pane to fine-tune the sleep or hibernate behavior: http://www.jinx.de/SmartSleep.html

Edit:

More information about sleep, hibernate, and more on the Mac: http://www.geekguides.co.uk/104/how-to-enable-hibernate-mode-on-a-mac/


What's the meaning/use of ?mt=8 and ?mt=12 in iTunes Preview and Mac App Store Preview URLs?

MT stands for media type.  You can find known values in the answer to similar question.

Because there’s usually an ID in URL, it may seem odd, but according to another answer to that same question, the mt query parameter helps the operating system to launch the right store in the right app.  For example on iOS, you may see sometimes that links open the iTunes app first and then the iBookstore in the iBooks app.  Other times, the iBookstore is opened right away.  That is why mt should be part of iTunes and why you should probably use iTunes Link Maker.


You can do this with Karabiner with a private.xml such as this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <item>
    <name>~ to ⌘⇥</name>
    <identifier>private.tildetocommandtab</identifier>
    <autogen>
      __KeyToKey__
      KeyCode::BACKQUOTE, VK_SHIFT | ModifierFlag::NONE,
      KeyCode::TAB | ModifierFlag::COMMAND_L
    </autogen>
  </item>
</root>

This will effectively replace command with shift and tab with tilde, so that holding shift and pressing tilde twice will switch to the third app rather than back to the first.


Here is a script that will do what you need.  Let me know if you need a hand configuring it (although the article goes into detail about configuring it to check at intervals etc)

http://www.macmanager.com.au/software/low_space_script.html


What is ZoomWindow, and why is it hanging?

ZoomWindow is a process that runs under "Accessibility" options (System Preferences). I had this turned on because of poor eyesight, and occasionally I would want to use a keyboard shortcut to zoom in on a specific area of the screen (think of the Magnifying Glass in Windows). I never stopped to think that it would be a constantly-running process that was using RAM and (very little) CPU, but when you're running a system as old as mine, you need every tiny resource you can free up. I turned off the "Accessibility" option in my Taskbar, but all that did was prevent the little "Accessibility" icon from showing up; ZoomWindow (or some derivative) would always be in Activity Monitor.

Just messing around with it, I discovered you can turn this process off by going into System Preferences, Accessibility, then selecting Zoom, and UN-checking the box that read "Use keyboard shortcuts to zoom"; also, you want to check "More Options" (from the Accessibility window), and make sure "Enable temporary zoom" is also UN-checked.

I had tried to Force-Quit the process countless times in Activity Monitor, and each time, it would close, then immediately come right back; by using the steps described above, I opened Activity Monitor and discovered that the ZoomWindow process was no longer running. I didn't even have to Force-Quit.

Hope this helps!


Place document styles on the right of the document in Microsoft Word for Mac

Yes, there's a button for it next to the quick styles bar, see the following screenshot.

(click for larger image)

The same can be found in View -> Toolbox -> Styles.


How to recover photos that were deleted during an import from an iPhone to Photos?

When images are "deleted" in Photos, they are actually moved to a special album called "Recently Deleted", where they wait for 30 days before they are actually removed from your computer. Assuming you didn't manually clean out this folder after deleting them, you should be able to recover them by navigating to Recently Deleted, selecting the photos, and clicking Recover in the top-right corner.

Here is about where Recently Deleted should appear in the sidebar (it may appear differently depending on what other albums you have):


Global hotkey not working in Chrome or Intellij

Apps can enable/disable shortcuts as their developers see fit.  In fact, they can completely override system defaults and choose to ignore any custom shortcuts you may have defined.
Chrome is notorious for this.
In Apple's Human Interface Guidelines, it specifically tells devs to "respect standard shortcuts."

Respect standard keyboard shortcuts and create app-specific shortcuts for frequently used commands. Keyboard shortcuts let people activate menu items and actions by pressing specific key combination.

Apple advises devs not to remap the standard shortcuts but we know that they do it with their custom method of closing the browser.  Press and hold ⌘ CommandW to close the selected Tab.

In general, don’t override standard keyboard shortcuts. Users may become confused if the shortcuts they know work differently in your app. Only in very rare cases does it make sense to redefine a common shortcut. For example, if people spend a significant amount of time in your app, it might make sense to redefine a standard shortcut that isn’t applicable to your app. Another option might be to let the user choose their own keyboard shortcuts.

So, while Apple obviously frowns upon redefining shortcuts - you still can.
So, why doesn't your key combo work? Chrome (and I suspect IntelliJ as well) have configured the application to ignore or rewrite certain system user defined key combinations.


How to find all folders that are larger than 1GB or 10GB on the Mac HD?

find doesn't auto-sum so it only looks at the size of each individual item (which in this case would be the directory entry itself). You could do something like
du -h / | grep -E '^[0-9 .]+[GTP]\t'


iOS 7: Disable message "This cable or accessory is not certified and may not work reliably with this iPhone"?

The expected behavior when you see this message is to simply contact the vendor of the cable or charger and verify that your are in fact safe to charge an iPhone.

I would hate to tell people to disregard a message that could have safety implications. Granted, not all third party cables and/or chargers are faulty, but what if this were a warning that could get you to seek assistance from Apple or the vendor and ensure that a sub-standard part isn't being used to charge your device.

http://www.apple.com/support/usbadapter-takeback/

Given some of the horribly unsafe chargers that I have personally seen, I don't expect this to be an easy warning to bypass without jailbreaking.


I can't get calendar.app from the iOS app store

Try to restart your device whit:

On an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus: Press and hold both the Sleep/Wake and Volume Down buttons for at least ten seconds, until you see the Apple logo.
On an iPhone 6s and earlier, iPad, or iPod touch: Press and hold both the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons for at least ten seconds, until you see the Apple logo.

If the problem persists, make sure you make all system updates.

Try an alternative to load a Backup of your device from iTunes to restore the calendar App.


Perhaps there is something wrong with the wireless portion of the router. Do other wireless internet devices have the same problem? (By desktop I am assuming that it is a wired Ethernet connection)

Regardless, there is nothing that you can do on your iPad to fix the problem.


What happened to Bonjour in Safari 11 and how do I access it?

Apple clearly removed that item from the Safari menu.

My take on this is everyone is wondering about Safari 11 and Bonjour.  There is a suggestion that Apple needs to be reminded that it is huge to have Bonjour in Safari to manage printers, access scanners, even see some HomeKit device tech interfaces.

Everyone trusted Apple on Bonjour... and Safari is the preeminent end user tool to use and be introduced to the benefits of Bonjour...

consider posting your opinion on Safari-sans-Bonjour at:

Bonjour Feedback: https://www.apple.com/feedback/bonjour.html


File Permissions borked after "Repair File Permissions"

Permissions repair only affects folders and packages installed by apple and during software updates and it leaves most user folders alone.

You should be able to run it again to fix anything not correct. If there are still issues, you likely have a user definition corruption issue and might have to attack that head on. Which specific app it folder has these issues? Edit your question and this can also be edited once more detail is provided.


Command + R not working on Snow Leopard reboot

Command+R is used to enter Recovery Partition which comes with Lion and Mountain Lion.

To start up from the installation DVD (or any bootable CD or USB, for that matter) you must reboot holding down C before the chime and hold until the Apple logo appears.

You could, too, just let it boot normally, and then run the installer (once the DVD is mounted in Finder), which will, then, start up into the DVD.


Cannot update iPad 1 to iOS 4.3 or higher

It won't be possible to updated to iOS 4.3 unless you have a software image for iOS 4.3 handy.  This is because Apple wants to force you to install the latest version which is iOS 5.0.  The test app you have been sent should still run on iOS 5.0 though.
Since iTunes isn't being nice about letting you upgrade, what you can do is go download the iOS 5.0 software image from Apple and then you can force iTunes to update using the image.  Here's what you do.

Download iOS 5.0 for your iPad from the following link (please be aware that this link is not a direct download from Apple.  Apple doesn't offer the ability to download iOS outside of iTunes which is why I've provided this link)
http://www.ijailbreak.com/ipad/download-ios-5-firmware/

Plug your iPad into iTunes.  Hold down the Option key on your keyboard and click the "Check For Update" button in iTunes.  An Open File dialog box will open.  Select the software image you downloaded in step #1.

iTunes should upgrade your iPad.


You can charge your iPad 1 while in power off mode.

With regard to using a Chinese non-Apple branded charger, this is possible. However you should be aware that Apple's chargers are recommended. The price difference between a non-Apple branded charger and Apple's own charger is significant; that difference is because of Apple's design costs and additional safety features.

Ken Shirriff's article showing the inside of an Apple iPhone charger demonstrates why the price difference exists.


How does one export all contacts from iCloud?

I just had a massive heart attack after attempting to switch Apple ID accounts...

I originally shared an itunes account with my brother so that we could share apps etc...

But after changing Apple ID's and reconnecting to the cloud, i lost all my contacts...

Luckily they were stored in the Cloud with the old iTunes ID. If you log into iCloud and select all your contacts on the settings button (bottom left) it says Export vCard. Click this and you can Export all your contact information as a .vcf file which you can then back up onto an external harddrive etc...

Hope this helps!!


Xcode 5.1.1 together with xCode 6.1.1 - simulators deleted

You don't need both versions of Xcode in order to test with iOS7 and 8 simulators. With the latest version you will be able to test in both simulators. You just need to go to Preferences → Downloads and download the iOS 7.1 Simulator. Then you can define simulators with that version on your devices window.


How can I make the trackpad (not mouse) significantly faster?

You can set higher speeds with BetterTouchTool by enabling Advanced Settings and choosing the General tab of the Trackpad settings.


Make numbers in table of contents go to right of page in Pages

Show the ruler (View → Show Rulers), then adjust the TOC as you desire, such as:

Move the page numbers by selecting all TOC levels (hold ⌘ while clicking to select multiple levels) and moving the marker on the ruler.

Indent headings based on hierarchy by selecting sub levels and moving the marker on the ruler.

Add dots between heading and page number using the inspector: Text → Tabs: Leader.


@Elliott: Do you have the option of creating regular backups of your external disks? If so, you could symlink your photo library to the external source, backup that source however often you like, all the while using your full res photos instead of the low res versions. The photos would not be stored on your Mac hard drive (thus freeing up that space), but would be stored on backed-up external drives instead.

I've successfully done this before using both iPhoto and iTunes (among other things), and now regularly move all my important things to external drives for safe keeping. Backups of your backups is key, but drive space is cheap!

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.


Is Time Machine also backing up my Windows data from Bootcamp?

No, the BootCamp partition is not backed up by Time Machine.

You'll need to install a separate backup system for that. Either a Windows backup systems running on Windows when you use that system, or a Mac backup system that supports the file system you've used for Bootcamp (usually NTFS).


Folder with Question Mark On Startup, Don't Know the Firmware Password

Note: This RAM change trick no longer works on 2010 or newer Macs. I haven't done this in many years, but it did help back when I needed it.

If your laptop is old enough, and you can easily get to the RAM, (depending the model):

Shut down the Mac

Disconnect the power.

Open the MacBook and change the RAM configuration. Add or remove RAM so the amount is changed. Since the HD is dead, you won't need to have minimum RAM to boot OS X.

Close up the MacBook.

Start up and reset the PRAM by holding down Command+Option+P+R.
Hold these keys down continuously until you hear the MacBook chime 3 times. Release the keys.

When you see the question mark/folder, power it down by holding down the power button.

Open the MacBook and reinstall the RAM, as well as a brand new HD.

Close it up.

Restore the OS with the installer of your choice.


Howto Setup External Drive as a Networked Drive

My suggestion would be to format the drive to the default Mac OS X filesystem, HFS+ journaled. Then share the drive over SMB:

Open System Preferences
Go into Sharing
Check the box beside "File Sharing"
Under "Shared Folders", click the + icon and select the drive you want to share
Click the "Options..." button
Check the box beside "Share files and folders using SMB (Windows)"
Check the box beside the user accounts you want to have access to the drive
Click Done

Once this is done, all you have to do is to configure Samba on your Linux machine to connect to the shared drive.

You could also share over AFP instead and use netatalk on your Linux machine, but I've found that Samba is better supported.


You may be able to download Catalina from the Mac App Store: macOS Catalina Beta

Credit to Thomas Nelson for finding the Mac App Store download link.


Is it a good practice to create a desktop shortcut on mac?

I would say desktop alias creation at install time for an app is an anti-pattern and bad practice for developers to implement as default behavior.

The desktop belongs to the end user and macOS is designed to install apps for every user account and to consider more than one user per computer. To accomplish this, you’re either escalating the installer to root privileges to change multiple desktops or you’re ignoring / short cutting the way apps can (or possibly should) get installed for all subsequent users.
The launchpad and dock and spotlight / Siri are the bespoke app launch tools and idioms so you can assume your customers are very familiar with how to start an app they just chose to install.

The most kind way to do this would be to onboard the user and ask if they want any shortcuts the first time they launch the app. Apple recommends you have a very light onboarding, so even this is against "best practice" but I would see it as the best way to make an alias if you feel it's the right call for the majority of the users of your app.

I would encourage you to read over the HIG - Human Interface Guidelines and the many free WWDC videos on app packaging and installation - your question is a good one and thinking how people see your app during installation is super helpful to make your app succeed with many customers.

https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/


With last update to MacOS 10.15 Pulse Secure VPN stopped working

According to this thread on pulse secure community forum this should be resolved by 9.1R3.

It seems that this update has already started to roll out.

Edit: Just tested 9.1.3 (1313) and it works on MacOS Catalina.


Where can I see ITunes connect fiscal calendar without access to iTunes connect?

As I have access I've made a screenshot for you.
I don't know why Apple hides this behind a login, but I don't think it's a secret.

* Update Fiscal Calendar 2017

Fiscal Calendar 2016


Add recovery partition back onto drive after drive change

Reinstalling over an existing system does not create a Recovery HD.

WARNING: This is low level disk editing code and will hurt your disk if not done properly. Make sure you recheck your calculations on every calculator you own.

You need to have a copy of Mountain Lion installer in your Applications folder for the following steps to work. Enter the following commands in Terminal, one by one, while following the related video. You need to fill all the X yourself by following the video.

  sudo -i

  diskutil list

  diskutil info /dev/diskXsX

  XXXXXXXXX-700*1024*1024=

  diskutil resizeVolume /dev/diskXsX XXXXXXXXXB jhfs+ “Recovery HD" 650002432B

  diskutil resizeVolume diskXsX 650002432B

  mkdir /Volumes/Recovery\ HD/com.apple.recovery.boot

  hdiutil attach /Applications/Mac\ OS\ X\ Lion\ Installation.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg

  cp /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/BaseSystem.dmg /Volumes/Recovery\ HD/com.apple.recovery.boot/

  cp /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/.disk_label /Volumes/Recovery\ HD/com.apple.recovery.boot/

  cp /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/boot.efi /Volumes/Recovery\ HD/com.apple.recovery.boot/

  cp /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/kernelcache /Volumes/Recovery\ HD/com.apple.recovery.boot/

  cp /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist /Volumes/Recovery\ HD/com.apple.recovery.boot/

  cp /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/System/Library/CoreServices/PlatformSupport.plist /Volumes/Recovery\ HD/com.apple.recovery.boot/

  cp /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist /Volumes/Recovery\ HD/com.apple.recovery.boot/

  umount -f /Volumes/Recovery\ HD/

  asr adjust —target /dev/diskXsX -settype "Apple_Boot"


I have forgotten my iCloud username and password and need to turn Find My iPhone off. What can I do?

If you have Find My iPhone turned in, then you are signed into iCloud. Go to Settings > iCloud. At the top it will have a name and iCloud ID. Write down the icloud ID (it may be one of your non-apple email addresses) then click on that and it will ask for the for the password. If you cannot remember it, click the Forgot Apple ID or Password link in blue. Enter the iCloud ID you wrote down earlier, then click the Next button on the top right of the screen.

Continue to follow the onscreen instructions.


Where are apple quicktime trailers stored?

You can download them directly from the website you know? Just hold down the button for a little longer and then you can select your download format!


How can I reset the camera roll to photo IMG_0001.jpg on iOS?

With an Application such as iExplorer navigate to PhotoData / MISC where you'll find a file called DCIM_APPLE.plist which contains the following:

<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>DCIMLastDirectoryNumber</key>
    <integer>100</integer>
    <key>DCIMLastFileNumber</key>
    <integer>251</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

The DCIMLastFileNumber parameter is quite self explanatory. Set the number at which you want the counter to start at and restart the iPhone to apply the changes.


Installing dual boot Sierra and Kali-Linux

I have managed to get Kali Linux running from USB with persistence, on a Macbook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) with macOS Sierra.

Here's my guide explaining the process I used. I've tried to make it easy to follow, whilst still being as detailed as possible.

Part 1: Preparing the USB

Note: if you don't want persistence, just create 1 partition and finish the guide at part 3.

Open disk utility (Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility).
Select your USB device.
Choose erase.
Name: Untitled | Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled) | Scheme: GUID Partition Map.
Click done.
Select your newly formatted USB device.
Choose partition.
Click the "+" symbol at the bottom of the window.
Name (left partition): Persistence | Name (right partition): Kali Linux.
Format (both partitions): MS-DOS (FAT).
Click apply.
Click partition.

After this process, your partitions (Kali Linux and Persistence) may have renamed themselves to "K L" and "P" respectively. If this does happen, simply rename them, and follow the rest of this guide.

Part 2: Installation

Download your ISO of choice (I have tested this with Kali Linux full).
Drag the ISO file to your desktop.
Rename to "boot.iso".
Download the following EFI files: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49525238/efi.zip
Extract the "efi.zip" file to desktop.
Drag "boot.iso" to efi > boot.
You should now have the following files contained within efi > boot: boot.efi, boot.iso, bootX64.efi, enterprise.cfg.
Copy the efi folder to the root of the Kali Linux partition on the USB drive.

Part 3: Booting Kali Linux

Restart your machine.
Hold the option key (alt) as soon as you hear the chime.
Follow the onscreen options (for me I press the "1" key twice, and then it boots).
After a few minutes, you should be prompted to enter login details.
Username: root | Password: toor

Part 4: Persistence

Open up GParted (you can find this by clicking the bottom icon in the task bar to the left, then you should see a search function - search GParted).
Once GParted is open, click the dropdown menu to the right and select the bottom option. If you only have one USB inserted, it should be /dev/sdb.
Select the partition with the label "Peristence".
Click partition at the top.
After this (choose unmount if the option is available) choose format to and then choose ext3.
Click edit at the top.
Choose Apply All Operations.
Apply.
Select the newly formatted partition.
Click partition at the top.
Click label.
Label "Persistence".
Choose Apply All Operations.
Apply.

Part 5: Reboot

Restart your machine (as in step 3).
Change your desktop background to a solid colour (grey for example).
Restart you machine again.
If your desktop background is the colour you changed it to, you now have persistent storage.

Hopefully this helps anyone having issues.


How to clone my HHD to SSD on my mid-2009 Macbook Pro

I wouldn't recommend having the boot drive mounted to do a proper clone. If you have an external drive (preferably firewire 800 for that model, but USB 2 will also work), install a current versions of macOS onto it. Boot to that drive by restarting and holding down the Option key at boot, and you can select the external bootable drive. Now that you are booted to your external, install your clone software of choice, in your case Carbon Copy Cloner (I personally like SuperDuper! but that is me). Once you have the software installed, start cloning the boot disk to the new SSD.
As a side note, make sure that you partition your new SSD before you start the process. That way you don't run into an error because it is FAT32 partitioned and not GUID.


How do get photos from your photo stream on your PC

I believe that turning on Photostream on any particular device will only start to pull new photos added from that point in time onwards, and not grab the historically stored photos.


make my laptop tell me when battery is low even while "show battery status in menu bar" is not checked

I had the same issue when I use a Bitbar plugin on OSX and have the default battery menubar unchecked.  Here is what I use in my shell script to include a osascript call to create a notification pop up.

# Get info
power_source=( $(pmset -g batt | awk 'FNR == 1 {print $4$NF}' ) )
battery_level=( $(pmset -g batt | awk -F"\t" 'FNR == 2 {print $2}' | grep -o '[0-9]\+' ) )

# Notification when battery level is low
if [ "$power_source" != "'ACPower'" ] && [ "$battery_level" -le 5 ]; then osascript -e 'display notification "⚠ LOW POWER! ⚡" with title "Battery"';
fi

You could use this as a cron job. =)


How to get the selected text into an AppleScript, without copying the text to the clipboard?

Here is a recent blog post that focuses on this very mission:

Michael Tsai - Blog - Processing the Selected Text via Script

One way to get the currently selected text into an AppleScript, without overwriting the clipboard contents, is to simply save the clipboard contents to a new variable before the selected text is copied. Then, at the end of the script, place the original clipboard contents back onto the clipboard.

Here is what this might look like:

-- Back up clipboard contents:
set savedClipboard to the clipboard

-- Copy selected text to clipboard:
tell application "System Events" to keystroke "c" using {command down}
delay 1 -- Without this, the clipboard may have stale data.

set theSelectedText to the clipboard

-- Makes the selected text all uppercase:
-- From: http://apple.stackexchange.com/a/171196/184907
set theModifiedSelectedText to (do shell script ("echo " & theSelectedText & " | tr a-z A-Z;"))

-- Overwrite the old selection with the desired text:
set the clipboard to theModifiedSelectedText
tell application "System Events" to keystroke "v" using {command down}
delay 0.1 -- Without this delay, may restore clipboard before pasting.

-- Instead of the above three lines, you could instead use:
--      tell application "System Events" to keystroke theModifiedSelectedText
-- But this way is a little slower.

-- Restore clipboard:
set the clipboard to savedClipboard

But, this method is imperfect, as Michael notes:

  This is ugly and has some downsides: there are delays necessitated by the GUI scripting, and certain types of clipboard data are not preserved.

However, Shane Stanley left a comment on the blog post with a method to retain the original formatting of the clipboard contents.

If using the previous example, replace the first line with:

set savedClipboard to my fetchStorableClipboard()

Replace the last line with:

my putOnClipboard:savedClipboard

And add the following code to the end:

use AppleScript version "2.4"
use scripting additions
use framework "Foundation"
use framework "AppKit"

on fetchStorableClipboard()
    set aMutableArray to current application's NSMutableArray's array() -- used to store contents
    -- get the pasteboard and then its pasteboard items
    set thePasteboard to current application's NSPasteboard's generalPasteboard()
    -- loop through pasteboard items
    repeat with anItem in thePasteboard's pasteboardItems()
        -- make a new pasteboard item to store existing item's stuff
        set newPBItem to current application's NSPasteboardItem's alloc()'s init()
        -- get the types of data stored on the pasteboard item
        set theTypes to anItem's types()
        -- for each type, get the corresponding data and store it all in the new pasteboard item
        repeat with aType in theTypes
            set theData to (anItem's dataForType:aType)'s mutableCopy()
            if theData is not missing value then
                (newPBItem's setData:theData forType:aType)
            end if
        end repeat
        -- add new pasteboard item to array
        (aMutableArray's addObject:newPBItem)
    end repeat
    return aMutableArray
end fetchStorableClipboard

on putOnClipboard:theArray
    -- get pasteboard
    set thePasteboard to current application's NSPasteboard's generalPasteboard()
    -- clear it, then write new contents
    thePasteboard's clearContents()
    thePasteboard's writeObjects:theArray
end putOnClipboard:

I've tested this solution provided by Shane, and it does indeed retain all of the original formatting of the clipboard contents if you have rich text on the clipboard.

Shane later left a second comment, this time with the intent of minimizing the runtime of the script.

Replace this code:

-- Copy selected text to clipboard:
tell application "System Events" to keystroke "c" using {command down}
delay 1 -- Without this, the clipboard may have stale data.

with this code:

set thePasteboard to current application's NSPasteboard's generalPasteboard()
set theCount to thePasteboard's changeCount()
-- Copy selected text to clipboard:
tell application "System Events" to keystroke "c" using {command down}
-- Check for changed clipboard:
repeat 20 times
    if thePasteboard's changeCount() is not theCount then exit repeat
    delay 0.1
end repeat

I tested this new code and I did find that the script was in fact noticeably faster, just by a hair.

Overall, this is not a bad workaround. The contents of the clipboard are preserved and the delay is much less noticeable if you employ the code provided in Shane's second comment.

I tested the solution against a Service created in Automator.app that receives the selected text as the input. The Service and the pure AppleScript solution pretty much took equal amounts of time to complete (i.e, about one second).

If one wants a method to get and replace the selected text without having to touch the clipboard, Michael suggests in his blog post that one can utilize a piece of third-party software entitled LaunchBar. However, this is "cheating," because, at that point, we have moved beyond the scope of my original question, which is strictly concerned about AppleScript.


There's a hidden file with extension .padl in my home directory and I don't know what it's for

Like any hidden files, it’s quite safe to do the following since if you don’t know what it does, the chance even a well intentioned person on the internet knows your setup or needs better than you are low. Better to be safe and free to experiment is my motto.

Make a second admin account (assuming you only have this one account). Log out of the current account and be sure you can log in as the new account and restart.
Back up the file (if you want)
Delete the file

Now you have a line in the sand, escape plan and will know if the file is recreated again the exact date/time it came into existence. What you’re seeing here is a data dump of ObjectiveC data from a program or script.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25397048/extract-cfkeyedarchiveruid-value#27338814


Type a special character with a regular keyboard

Either look at the keyboard viewer:

Or google for pictures of Apple keyboards:


How can I test with Internet Explorer while on my Mac?

I have the perfect solution! In 2013, Microsoft released a free officially-supported solution to help Mac developers test with Internet Explorer versions 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 on Macs:

Go to https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/
Select your desired testing OS ("Mac")
Pick a virtualization platform from among VMWare, Parallels, and VirtualBox. If in doubt, choose VirtualBox (which you can download from the VirtualBox site)
Follow the directions to download VMs for the version of IE + Windows you want

Hope this helps.


How to use tabs in Textmate 2 for files opened via Transmit

I had the same question a while back, stumbled across your question, but saw there wasn't an answer. Today, I was frustrated, so set about to figure this out.

http://write.byronrode.com/textmate-2-tabs-and-transmit/ has the answer, which is a bit too detailed for an answer here.

Let me know if it helps.


How to connect to an already open Terminal session on another Mac

Screen is the best way to do it.  The command is available under both Mac OS X 10.7 and 10.8.

I configured the console sessions in GNS3 to use Terminal and screen with the following command:

/usr/bin/osascript -e 'tell application "terminal" to do script with command "screen telnet %h %p ; exit"'

This can be found in GNS3>Preferences>General>Terminal Settings

Then I list the screen sessions in my remote ssh session with the command:

screen -list

and... finally connect to the required router with:

screen -D -r <name of session obtained with "screen -list" above>


If the iPad was backed up to iCloud or to a Mac recently you should be able to recover from the backup.

If they were put on there from the Mac and you did not delete them from the Mac then you should be able to put them back.

If they were purchased from the App Store some how, then you should be able to reinstall them from whatever app you bought them with.

  If the only place you had them was on the iPad and it will not turn on
  or you can not connect to a Mac to back it up, then whatever was on
  that iPad is gone.


Time Machine: Local Snapshots and Backup while on Battery

The purpose of the switch "Backup while on Battery Power" is for you to choose if to continue the time machine backup while on battery or NOT.

The reason is to allow you to preserve battery power by unchecking it, but it will no longer create Snapshots.


How to disable Private Browsing in Safari on a 10.8.3 without Xcode

I use OS X 10.8.5 and have Xcode Version 4.6.2 (4H1003) installed.  I just checked the available downloads at Apple Developer in the Member Center and many past versions of Xcode are available for download, as far back as version 2.3.  If you don't have an account I believe you can still create a free account. Although you'll not have access to all downloads like a paid account nonetheless you can download Xcode and related Command Line Tools and much more.

BTW If you're wanting Xcode to edit the MainMenu.nib, don't waste your time as it's compiled and not editable.


That SDK isn't "supported" by Apple on that version of Xcode. You can still try Xcode 3.2.6 on Lion http://www.cocoabuilder.com/archive/xcode/305884-xcode-3-2-6-on-lion.html to avoid keeping around Snow Leopard for the "supported" version.


That's because those words can be replaced by Emojis. Apple released that with iOS 10 and when you type something in iMessage and select emoji keyborad(if that has a meaning matching with Emojis) it will make that word orange. If you want to replace that word with an emoji, then you simply have to touch that orange coloured word and it will be replaced by that emoji.

It is not a problem with your phone or any software issue. It is a feature introduced by Apple.

Ex: Type My car is down. Then select emoji keybord and it will show "car" word orange coloured.


Not everything counts from 1970.  Its the standard time of Unix.

  Unix time, or POSIX time, is a system for describing points in time,
  defined as the number of seconds elapsed since midnight proleptic
  Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) of January 1, 1970, not counting leap
  seconds.

Unix Time

  Early versions of unix measured system time in 1/60 s intervals. This
  meant that a 32-bit unsigned integer could only represent a span of
  time less than 829 days. For this reason, the time represented by the
  number 0 (called the epoch) had to be set in the very recent past. As
  this was in the early 1970s, the epoch was set to 1971-1-1.

  Later, the system time was changed to increment every second, which
  increased the span of time that could be represented by a 32-bit
  unsigned integer to around 136 years. As it was no longer so important
  to squeeze every second out of the counter, the epoch was rounded down
  to the nearest decade, thus becoming 1970-1-1. One must assume that
  this was considered a bit neater than 1971-1-1.

  Note that a 32-bit signed integer using 1970-1-1 as its epoch can
  represent dates up to 2038-1-19, on which date it will wrap around to
  1901-12-13.

Why is 1/1/1970 the “epoch time”?


Mac OS X allocates and uses RAM differently than is reported by Windows and can be confusing at times. Microsoft originally built Windows to keep as much memory free as possible. Apple's memory model follows a guideline that empty RAM is a wasted resource that could be better utilized to enhance performance.

Here is a quick and somewhat simplistic breakdown of how your RAM is currently being used:

Wired: memory reserved by the operating system
active: memory used by currently running programs, e.g., Chrome, Skype, Activity Monitor
Inactive: memory used by programs you previously ran since your last reboot, but have since quit. Most people use a few programs all the time and may switch between them by quitting one program and then launching another. Rather than releasing the memory to be "free", the inactive programs are cached and ready to run again. Some or all of this memory will be combined with Free memory as needed by the system or programs.
Free: memory as of yet unused since the last boot.
Used: total of wired, active and inactive.

The VM Size is the "total memory footprint available to the computer". When you use VM (virtual memory), the processor swaps unused portions of chip memory with hard disk memory, giving the usability of a larger memory footprint when it might not be available.

Your total Swap used is 0 bytes used, so you're managing to do everything in real or chip RAM without having to use the slower SSD. The zero page outs shows you made a good choice going with the 8GB or RAM.

The VM statistics are reset every time you reboot.

Hope this helps demystify your computer.

additional info added in response to Ando's comment

Let me give you a different perspective on your memory use:

Rather than ask "1.2GB, really?", ask how many services, caches and other system files the Mac loads on boot rather than individually as needed. As long as the amount used remains constant, you should be fine. If the wired amounts tends to dramatically climb as you use it, then you have something to worry about.

Additional wired memory can be used by system preferences, menu bar programs, and other background processes.

Comparing your system to a 2GB Linux machine is similar to comparing your computer to my Mac Pro with 24GB of RAM, multi-terabyte internal arrays, numerous graphic cards, etc. Both were designed and configured for different purposes and footprints.

You can get a good idea of the individual app footprints in the Activity Monitor window above the RAM statistics.

Hope this helps!

third edit in response...

I don't have a lot of experience with Chrome, but don't forget that it has a full instance of Flash living within it. Most of my circle works on iOS or OS X so I run FaceTime instead of Skype.

Here are some procedures to follow:

Check and see if you have the latest versions, especially for Chrome. Known memory leaks tend to get corrected over time.
When diagnosing memory issues, it's best to begin with a fresh boot.
As you run Skype and Chrome, track their memory uses over time.
As  you open another tab, how much additional memory does it grab?
When you close that tab is all the additional memory released?

Rather than spend a lot of time worrying about minimum memory footprints and such, track system performance with your clock... Does the computer still feel fast and peppy to you?


When iOS is updated, an .ipsw file that is downloaded from Apple's servers by iTunes. You can find direct links to them at iDownloadBlog.

At your parents' house, to update iOS, plug their iPad into a computer and launch iTunes. Then click it in the left sidebar and hold down the ⇑ Shift key while clicking on the Restore button. This brings up an open file dialog; simply look for the .ipsw file you downloaded and open it.

iTunes will tell you that the iPad will be wiped and restored, just click OK and give it time to update. You'll be asked whether you want to start again or restore from a backup when the process finishes; choose the newest backup and the previous data on the device will be loaded back on.


SQLite Manager 4 : unable to open database file

SQLite is a file-based database engine, and is therefor dependent on appropriate file permissions.

Check that the directory containing the database file is read-write-executable (rwx or octal 7) by the current user, and also check that the database file itself is read- and writeable (rw or octal 6).


How to daisy chain 2 Thunderbolt devices on 1 Thunderbolt port?

The Belkin Silver F4U055WW Thunderbolt Express Dock has only 2 Thunderbolt ports. Your answer does not address the problem. I have an OWC dock that is similar, 2 Thunderbolt ports. On both docks, one of the 2 ports is used to connect to the computer - leaving you with 1!

I don't get it. Just have to wait for hardware developers I suppose...

alphajolt

You can use an external Thunderbolt express dock. I use a thunderbolt dock for daisy chaining. It allows me to connect up to 5 thunderbolt devices.

It offers the following benefits:

One cable provides access to 8 ports
Daisy-chain up to 5 Thunderbolt devices
Cable-management channel

It's compatible with the following devices:

MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, and iMac

This is what I use for daisy chaining my thunderbolt devices.

Here's a link to New Egg so you can see the full details of the device and reviews:

Belkin Thunderbolt Thunderbolt Express Dock (NewEgg)


Find-and-replace AppleScript for iTunes Track Names

Technically all you need to do is put my in front of findAndReplaceInText, however this version of the code is IMO a better way to write it.

tell application "iTunes"

    set sel to selection of front browser window
    if sel is {} then
        display dialog "Nothing is selected…" buttons {"Quit"} with icon 0
        return
    end if

    set theSearchString to text returned of (display dialog "Find:" default answer "")
    set theReplacementString to text returned of (display dialog "Replace with:" default answer "")

    repeat with i from 1 to (count of sel)
        set thisTrack to item i of sel
        set name of thisTrack to my findAndReplaceInText((name of thisTrack), theSearchString, theReplacementString)
    end repeat

end tell

on findAndReplaceInText(theText, theSearchString, theReplacementString)
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to theSearchString
    set theTextItems to every text item of theText
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to theReplacementString
    set theText to theTextItems as string
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
    return theText
end findAndReplaceInText

Also note that while your script changes the displayed name of the song, it does not change it as the filesystem level, just the meta-data stored in iTunes.


How to turn off Mac's sounds by default?

Have you tried muting the sound?

Muting the sound before closing the lid and/or rebooting will keep the sound muted.

I also found this: Mute volume of macbook on sleep


"brew link node" creates/removes different number of symlinks when repeated

Do you have several versions of Node installed via homebrew? Every time it updates node homebrew puts the newest version alongside the old one and then updates the symlinks to the newest version. Running the brew cleanup should reduce that up a bit for you.


How to reset a disabled 5th gen. iPod without access to a computer?

You need iTunes to restore an iOS device. It doesn't have to be your computer—any computer from friends/family will will do.

If Find My iPhone is enabled on the iPod and the iPod is connected to a Wi-Fi network, you can log in to iCloud and erase the iPod. Once the iPod is erased, you can sign in with your Apple ID to deactivate Activation Lock and set up the iPod as new.


Is there a human-readable summary of Apple's Terms and Conditions?

Apple has on their website the latest versions all of their legal documents on their website: http://www.apple.com/legal/. Some of those pages offer summaries of the policies, but not many of them have that.

At the same time @Mark makes a valid point: there is a reason why these legal documents are so long. If you want a summary, then it would be best to have a lawyer look it over and give you the information you need. I think any take away from their documentation is that Apple is very restrictive when it comes to their branding, content, technologies, processes, and the like.


How can I start Bluetooth tethering using the command line?

It doesn't look like there is a direct AppleScript dictionary for working with Bluetooth this way.

You could use GUI scripting though, which basically uses the accessibility feature of the Mac OS to select menu items, etc.

A great writeup on how to start with GUI AppleScript is available on MacOSAutomation.com.

GUI automation can be difficult if you have a constantly changing list of things, but if you commonly have a list of bluetooth items connected that stays the same you should be ok.

You could then call this AppleScript through Alfred.


I don't think there's a particular kayboard shortcut you can use, but if you click on the app's title bar and hold mouse button and then click ctrl+n where n is the number of the screen you want to send it to it will be moved there. Bear in mind you will be moved there too.


Is there a way to tell iOS mail app to put emails from specific senders in a special folder automatically?

If you’re using an iCloud mail account then you can go to http://icloud.com/#mail

In the top right of the screen there’s a preferences icon — looks like a cog. If you click on that the preferences pop-over opens, click on Rules and from there you can configure some basic rules to put messages into specified folders.


To add Google Account, go to Settings app → Mail → Accounts → Add Account → Google and login with your Google account credentials.

After logging in successfully, you should be able to configure mail and contact sync.


iOS System Services > Time & Location uses excessive cellular data. Why? How to disable?

Well @grgarside was right. The problem was not in the system itself but in a bike tracker app which use Location Services excessively. I figured it out by disabling Location for all the apps and then enabling them one by one. Now I think I need to contact the developer of that app and the question is closed.


Can Mountain Lion bridge two network adapters for Parallels VM use?

I know this option probably isn't convenient enough, but if this is a deal-breaker problem…

You might consider switching your VM host software to Fusion, which supports this (and is somewhat more advanced than Parallels generally) use case natively.  The Network Adapter control panel in VMWare Fusion:


Using vmware fusion on one account while fast user switching

No, the VMs will run fine, I just tested it on my OS X Server. All the Services remain running, including the VMWare Fusion Virtual Machines and SSH-Connections.


Cookies in Safari private browsing with iframes

I know this was asked over a month ago now, however I'll answer incase you haven't found the answer and for future users.

It is to do with safaris cookie policy that is set by default. As by default safari will only allow cookies from sites that you have visited.

It does not use, therefore, any cookies set by the webpage that is within an iframe. This is because the location of the top frame (the page that has the iframe) is a different domain to the iframe, and if the user has never been to the domain of the site contained within the iframe, safari will not use the cookies set by the iframe.
Therefore, if a user were to go to the "main window" or the domain within the iframe, safari knows that you have visited this site, and will allow cookies set by this site/domain to be used.

You can check the policy safari is using when in safari, if you click Safari (top left) then Preferences a dialog box should appear. Along the top you should see a privacy tab. In the privacy tab, the first settings you should see are the cookies and website data. By default this will be set to Allow from websites I visit however this needs changing to Always allow for the cookies in an iframe to work without a coded solution. Alternately, you could look into a coded solution, such as this or this


The space in the others section of iTunes is taking 1.85GB

Even with 10 apps, make sure none of them is containing lots of documents (e.g., an eBook or comic book reader).

Or download iExplorer (free for file system access) and browse through the content of your device.

Also, you can try this:

Connect your device to the computer.
Open iTunes and select it.
Go to the Applications tab.
Scroll down to the Share Files section and.
Select every app one by one and see what documents can be transferred to your computer (you'll be able to check its size).


Dimmed means it is displaying a cached value while waiting for the size to be calculated again.

The .agilekeychain file is in fact a folder with lots of small files in it so it will take a few seconds to finish adding each individual size. Why isn't it there already? Maybe the Finder is occupied calculating another size on a previously opened window, it is not very efficient on focusing its work on the front window. Or the server does something else at this time, for example my Time Capsule can be horrifyingly slow to display folder sizes while indexing a backup.

As for the size difference, it means it has taken its snapshot value at a bad time during the copy process, when the folder was not fully copied. Dimmed values can be unreliable, it's outdated data by definition.

So either you wait for the Finder to update its data and display a correct size (in black), either you open a Terminal window, type du -s --block-size=1000 --apparent-size  [space] then drag and drop your file, you will get its size far quicker (in kiB). Far quicker also because the Finder, in my experience, sometimes "forget" old tasks and never actually update the size :(


In Numbers, how to navigate on text inside a cell after pressing Control+Option+U?

You can press OptionEnter to start editing a cell the same way that double clicking will edit a cell. This will allow you to use your arrow keys, unlike ControlOptionU.
Interesting that there are two ways to do this, I wonder what the reasoning behind the command you found working the way it does is.


Backup data from Macbook pro which won't boot

Surgery....

....pull out the hard drive, install it into an enclosure (a USB External hard drive enclosure) and simply plug it in as an external hard drive for another Mac without losing everything on the hard drive?

How to remove it:

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2010+Hard+Drive+Replacement/4305


Any performance gains when disabling secure virtual memory?

According to MacWorld, the advantage of disabling encrypted swaps should be “just a slightly less overhead on the page in & out process”.

So yes, there is a minor performance gain, but it won’t be a huge performance boost. To me, it’s not worth the security risk (of potentially having unencrypted passwords and other sensitive data in swap memory).

You’d get a much bigger performance boost if you’d disable virtual memory completely:

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.dynamic_pager.plist

To re-enable it:

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.dynamic_pager.plist


The man page you link to says:
renameat2() is Linux-specific.

It's never going to be in macOS.
Several other references point to that man page being Linux, not BSD 4.2. It's clearly a mistake.


safari sometimes can't load sites or sometimes it loads sites without css

Try restoring safari to factory default:

Settings
Safari
Delete history and data
Check the advanced tab if everything is clear, else clear it.


Cannot select "Not Now" under Settings>My Name>Start Using iCloud in iOS 11

In order to be able to select "Not Now" I needed to:

"Sign Out" under Settings>My Name.
Connect to the Internet (I used WiFi).
Tap "Not Now" under Settings>Sign in to your iPhone

Badge gone!


Can I delete text messages with one swipe like mail messages on iPhone?

Currently on the iOS 8 app, this is not an available feature.