Reverting CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled in VSCode

For each defaults write x y z run defaults delete x y,
where x is the domain, y is the key and z is the value.

For example, to delete the first key that was set, run

defaults delete com.microsoft.VSCode CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled

Omit the value (e.g. 0) when deleting a key since the key is deleted regardless of value.
-g is a reference to the global domain; if you didn't write the key to the global domain then don't include -g when deleting.
The delete or write verb needs to go before other options like the domain, not after.


You have to be signed into iCloud with the same Apple ID. You also need to upgrade Reminders to the 'new-style' on your Mac.

Apple's note here describes the changes to Notifications


Concisely starting Mac OS apps from the command line

Finally I got it:
Add this to your .bash_profile

function foomagick() {
    rm -f ~/.foomagick.tmp
    ls /Applications/ | grep "\.app" | grep -v iWork | while read APP; do
        # clean it up
        a=`echo $APP | sed s/\ //g`;
        a=`echo $a | sed s/\'//g`;
        echo alias ${a%.*}="'open -a \"${APP%.*}\"'" >> ~/.foomagick.tmp
    done
    source ~/.foomagick.tmp
    rm ~/.foomagick.tmp
}
foomagick()

Now the following work:

Skim # open Skim.app
Skim foo.pdf
FireFox http://google.com
FireFox google.com # ERROR. Looks for local file.

Edit by Reid:

I implemented the above as a Python script that makes wrapper scripts instead of aliases. You will need to put ~/bin/mankoffmagic in your path. If you want the wrappers to be updated automatically, run it regularly from cron or somesuch.

#!/usr/bin/python
#
# This script automagically updates a set of wrapper shell scripts in
# ~/bin/mankoffmagic which call Mac apps installed in /Applications.
#
# Inspired by mankoff's shell alias posted on apple.stackexchange.com; see:
# http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/4240/concisely-starting-mac-os-apps-from-the-command-line/4257#4257
#
# Notes/Bugs:
#
# 1. Does not follow symlinks (aliases?)
#
# 2. Assumes that application names do not contain double-quotes.
#
# 3. Not very smart about finding the actual binary (it guesses). This is
# wrong sometimes, e.g. Firefox. Probably a deeper understanding of the app
# package structure would fix this.

import copy
import glob
import os
import os.path
import re

BINDIR = os.path.expandvars("$HOME/bin/mankoffmagic")
APP_RE = re.compile(r'(.*)\.app$')
STRIP_RE = re.compile(r'[\W_]+')

def main():
   # We aggressively delete everything already in BINDIR, to save the trouble
   # of analyzing what should stay
   for f in glob.glob("%s/*" % BINDIR):
      os.unlink(f)

   # Walk /Applications and create a wrapper shell script for each .app dir
   for (root, dirs, files) in os.walk("/Applications"):
      dirs_real = copy.copy(dirs)  # so we can manipulate dirs while looping
      for d in dirs_real:
         #print "checking %s" % os.path.join(root, d)
         m = APP_RE.search(d)
         if (m is not None):
            #print "Found " + m.group()
            dirs.remove(d)  # no need to recurse into app
            create_script(root, d, m.group(1))

def create_script(path, appdir, appname):
   # remove non-alphanumerics and downcase it
   wrapper = STRIP_RE.sub('', appname).lower()
   wrapper = os.path.join(BINDIR, wrapper)
   fp = open(wrapper, "w")
   # Twiddle the comments in the script depending on whether you want to
   # invoke the binary or use "open" -- the former lets you use any
   # command-line args, while the latter is more Mac-like (app puts itself in
   # the front, etc.)
   fp.write("""
#!/bin/sh
exec "%s/%s/Contents/MacOS/%s" "$@"
#open -a "%s" "$@"
""" % (path, appdir, appname, appname))
   fp.close()
   os.chmod(wrapper, 0700)

if (__name__ == "__main__"):
   main()


I've had similar problems in the past and my solutions were pretty simple.

Sign Out and Sign in iTunes & App Store, in the settings app.

Delete your iCloud and Sign in, in settings.

  Make sure you select keep data and select merge when you sign back in.


Applescript to move focus to active or next window

See if invoking with System Events doesn't override the scope of emacs/aquamacs.

tell application "System Events" to key code 48 using {command down}

If that still doesn't help, you can trap for it:

tell application "System Events"
    set theName to name of the first process whose frontmost is true
    if theName contains "emacs" then
        set frontmost of item -2 of (every process whose visible is true) to true
    else
        key code 48 using {command down}
    end if
end tell


Finder on Yosemite misbehaves: doubled text, blank windows, lack of updates

You have to make a PRAM reset.

To do that restart your Mac, and BEFORE the "Bong" press ALL the following keys, until you hear the "Bong" again : cmd + alt + P + R
After your can let your Mac start normally.

If the problem persist, redo the manipulation but stay your finger on the key until you have hear the "Bong" 5 times.


Why are there folders in /Users of already deleted users?

TLDR: Deleting this user's home folder will not harm your system. It will, obviously enough, delete any of the files you created when you were logged in as the previous user.

How is it possible that there be a folder for a user who doesn't appear at the login window?

OS X keeps track of users and their passwords using Directory Services. On most people's computers the Directory Services files are stored in /var/db/dslocal. This database stores the names of users, and other information, such as the location of their home folder. When you deleted your user, your Mac removed the account entry (from the dslocal database), but did not delete the home folder stored in the /Users folder.

So why didn't the system automatically delete the home folder when it deleted the user from the database?

When you delete a User from System Preferences, you are asked what to do with the home folder itself. You can see from this screenshot which option you must have accidentally chosen:

What's the best way to delete the old user's home folder?

I would suggest logging into the account one last time to ensure it does not contain any files you wish to keep, and then deleting both the user record and its files (as you originally intended). To do so:

in System Preferences > Users & Groups, create a new account with the exact same name as the old user's home folder. The system will ask if you wish to use the existing home folder. Choose to do so.
From the Apple menu, choose "Log out" and then log back in to the old user (ie: the user you just recreated).
Take look around in the user's Pictures folder, Documents folder, etc to make sure there are no files you wish to keep
Log back in to your normal account
Delete the old user from "Users & Groups" but this time, choose "Delete the home folder"


You didn't specify which macOS you have so this answer assumes you're using Mojave 10.14.
Source:

On your Mac, choose Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Users & Groups.
If you want to change another user’s picture, click the lock icon to unlock it, then enter an administrator name and password. You can change your own picture without unlocking Users & Groups preferences.
Select the user account on the left, then click the picture on the right.
Instead of clicking the picture, you can drag an image file from the Finder onto the picture.  If other users are logged in to this Mac now, you can’t select them.
Do one of the following:

Use a picture included with macOS: Click Defaults, then select a picture.
Take your picture using your Mac: Click Camera; when you’re ready, click Take Photo.
Use a picture from the Photos app: Click Photos. To see specific photos from a time, place, or album, click a disclosure triangle below photos, then select a group of photos. Select a picture, then click Next.
Use a picture from the Photo Booth app: Click Photo Booth to see pictures you’ve taken using your Mac and the Photo Booth app. Select a picture, then click Next.

Adjust the picture.

Zoom in or out: Drag the slider left or right.
Move the picture: Drag the picture around within the circle.


Does Apple change OS X operating systems between the GM and the final release?

There's a first time for everything but, but basically: no.

Unless you have found the mother of all security bugs, so humiliating that it would overshadow Apple's entire Mountain Lion release, the bug to end all bugs and live on in infamy, it just is not going to happen.

Not to mention, fixing and testing bugs generally takes time. The fastest Apple bug fix ever, to my knowledge, took two days but that's very unusual for a company its size. In general it takes weeks, in many cases months, even years.


Songs bought from iTunes and those manually added show up in different albums in Music app

Select all the tracks and choose File>Get Info. Re-enter the correct information for Album, Artist, and especially Album Artist. Click on the sorting tab and delete anything in all fields.  Click on the Options tab and set 'Part of a compilation' to 'No'. Click 'OK' and see what you got.


Create Keynote presentation automatically

Until Keynote 6, this was true. However, Keynote 6 uses packages for storing keynotes:

test.key
├── Data
├── Index.zip
├── Metadata
│   ├── BuildVersionHistory.plist
│   ├── DocumentIdentifier
│   └── Properties.plist
├── preview-micro.jpg
├── preview-web.jpg
└── preview.jpg

This doesn't stop you from creating older-style XML keynotes, since Keynote 6 is backwards compatible.


How to update Windows 7 and Parallels Desktop 9 before updating to El Capitan

You should probably keep your apps up to date before installing an OS that you know will be incompatible with their older versions.

Take a Time Machine backup of everything.
Update Parallels through this link. You'll get it for $49.99 (as opposed to $79.99) because you're upgrading from a relatively recent version.
Open the new Parallels and play around with your files to make sure everything works.
Once you're satisfied that the new version of Parallels works, take a new Time Machine backup.
Install El Capitan.

Good luck!


There is no way in Xcode (both natively or via any preference) to switch to the tab with the file already open (when attempting to open a file from another tab/window).

This seems appropriate, as many a times a file may be required to be open in multiple tabs/windows. Also, alongside the assistant editor feature of Xcode, having such a feature may not be practical/desirable.


iOS 5 Music App Grey circle with a square inside it next to the song title - what does it indicate?

Well, that symbol is the download progress indicator. It appears when you buy a song from the iTunes Store directly on your device. The progress is shown in a bar that goes around the circular track on the outside.

It means that it can be listened to via streaming (by clicking on it in the normal manner) if you have a suitable internet connection but has not yet been downloaded to the device.


You can use Karabiner to swap the keys using the following private.xml.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <item>
    <name>Swap Keys</name>
    <identifier>private.swapkeys</identifier>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::one, KeyCode::two</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::two, KeyCode::one</autogen>
  </item>
</root>

You'll need to find the KeyCode for the keys you want to swap as I don't have a German keyboard to check. You can use EventViewer accessible from Karabiner → Misc to find the KeyCodes. Replace one with one KeyCode and two with the other KeyCode in the above private.xml.


How to backup only the settings from a MacBook Pro

I'm not sure there's anything simple/comprehensive. I've been working on this myself for the past few months. I'm pretty happy with what I've got, but I had to put in a lot of custom work to draw together a lot of individual pieces.

The exact answer depends very much on what sort of config you need to port, and how technical you are. If you're talking about common color/desktop settings, this shouldn't be too bad. If you're trying to do something complex like keep exact Finder view preferences for every folder on your system, you're in for some work.

Here are a few things you may want to look into, each of which can get you at least part of what you want (listed roughly from less to more complex/technical)

mackup, a program which recognizes config files for many apps and attempts to piggyback on sync software such as Dropbox to share them among systems (I haven't used this--just aware it exists...; this is probably as close as you'll get if you'll get to what you're asking without doing some custom scripting)
A simple package manager, such as homebrew (particularly via brew bundle, which can install apps and other software specified in a Brewfile)
a dotfile manager, (I use yadm--but there are many of these with slightly different features and philosophies), which provides a scaffold for identifying which files on your system are config related, and making it simple to track/port them to another system. For the most part, you'll be on your own to identify what is worth tracking with one of these. It tends to take a while to identify what files are useful config, and which ones are junk. Many apps mingle them.
publicly posted dotfile repos from other mac users. One of the most famous of these is by Mathias Bynens. Some dotfile repos will only be good for ideas, but some (Like Mathias') include instructions for how you could install his configuration on your own system. It'll probably still take a good bit of effort to tailor this to your own needs.
more complex package managers such as Nix which, in tandem with nix-darwin, is capable of setting up parts of a macos system in a fairly deterministic/explicit/repeatable manner.

To give you some sense of what this can look like in practice, I can stand up a new system in under two hours with the vast majority of what I need pre-configured/installed. The process is, roughly:

I start up the system and log in to a private git host for my dotfiles, and go check the installation instructions in my README file.
Manually grant some security/privacy exceptions for Terminal and ScriptEditor so that my scripts can run.
Copy/paste a small bash script from my README document which installs the Nix package manager, and uses Nix to install the software that my dotfile manager (yadm) needs to successfully clone my dotfiles.
When yadm is done copying in my dotfiles, it automatically runs my full bootstrap script, which installs homebrew for installing a few big/commercial mac apps, installs nix-darwin for configuring the rest of my development-oriented software, sets many macos preferences, restores my work/project files from a remote backup repository, and runs hand-written scripts to configure a few apps that must be actively configured (installing Safari extensions, installing vpn configs, etc.)
reboots the system for use


Mail.app: How can I set a different default signature for each address?

1) Open Settings (Cmd + ,), click signatures. You will see a list of email accounts on the right.

2) Click the one you want to set a default signature to. Click the + button below the signatures.

3) Add you signature.

If you have more than one signature, select your preferred default on from the drop down menu below the signatures.


iPhone backup error - BackupAgent2 - Error uploading "" to "":

From what you’re describing it looks like you have a corrupted backup on your laptop, I assume deleting it will get you to backup your device. What you can do to check is follow these steps:

In the Finder, navigate to your iTunes backups folder
The backup folder of your device MUST contain at least the following:

Manifest.db or Manifest.mbdb
Status.plist
Manifest.plist
Info.plist

If you have any of these missing, the backup is corrupted or incomplete. In that case, simply delete this backup and start clean with a new iTunes backup.

I’m also thinking it might be worth checking if any iOS app installed on your iPhone contains files with special characters in the filename -  they can cause issues while backing up (APFS related, yes…).

I’m sure you’re fine with locating the iTunes backup folder, but just in case anyone else is having trouble here’s how to get there:

Open the Finder
In the Main Menu > Go > Hold alt key, Library menu item appears.
Click Library.
Navigate to Application Support/MobileSync/Backup and locate the iPhone backup. It should be a folder named with your device UDID.


How do I change the speed in my timelapse intervals?

There is - as far as I know - no option to do exactly what you want to achieve.

How the iPhone camera app makes a time-lapse and what it means for you:

I will quote from an apple community thread since this explanation is very good I think:

  The iPhone's time lapse camera will condense to about 20-40 seconds regardless of how long you record your time-lapse. If you record for less than 10 minutes then the frame capture is 2fps, after 10 minutes it reduces to 1fps, and reduces further at 40 minutes, 80 minutes, and so on.

In that process, all the images in between get lost. You end up with a 30fps video and no frames in between (which you would need for smoothly slowing it back down to real-time) are saved. Therefore, when slowing down your video, it will get choppy until you can see every single frame.

Possible workarounds:

Record a normal video, then quickly change to time-lapse mode
If you do this, you can put the clips together later on. Depending of the length of your time-lapse (which determines how fast real-time has been sped-up) you might not notice the missing part.
Example: Record a normal clip. Quickly change to time-lapse and start recording for more than 40 minutes. As explained above, the iPhone will take 1fp2s, meaning your transition time from switching recording modes could be up to 2 seconds and you would not notice (on iPhone 6s 4K 30fps should be 350mb/min)
Take a normal video and speed the parts up in post
This is possible and somewhat suitable for shorter clips, but you create huge files, filling up your smartphone very quickly.
(Suitable) Example: Take a 10 min 4K 30fps video (already about 3,5GB!) . In post adapt your speed as you wish. If you don't need the flexibility of changing something afterwards, I highly suggest you export the new file and then delete the original 10 min video.

Other than that, I haven't heard of any app that does what you want.

As a note: There are apps though, where you can adjust the frame rate of video recording exactly how you want it and not make the phone decide.


Internet recovery mode cannot connect to wpa2 network

Problem was troubleshooted and resolved as a DHCP error.

A static IP address had been assigned to the windows partition for my mac. This cloned mutltiple assigned addresses and shut out other devices.

Solution : removing the staticly assigned ip address resolved the issue.


Is there an alternative/customizer app for Cmd+Tab that does not show minimized/hidden windows and apps?

If you hold command and quickly tap tab you will cycle between your two most recently used applications without bringing up the heads up display.

If you want to use a third party app Witch has options to ignore minimized windows.


I'm the developer of DaisyDisk. I'd have to go into lengths to explain how we achieve this on the engineering side, but I can reassure you that the app doesn't make any "shortcuts" or "tricks". The scanning is real and full.

As already mentioned, it's kind of hard to make a precise measurement because of the disk caching. Every experiment will give you a different time, depending on many factors. But it's true that DaisyDisk is by far cry faster than any other disk scanner. This is especially noticeable on SSD drives. Haven't tried to compare it with "du" though.


Keeping music only on iDevice and not in the iTunes Library it syncs with

Yes. When you have the device plugged in, click on its icon in the navigation bar on the right, then in the main part of the window turn on manual management for the various types of content as shown across the top of the window.

It is, however, a very good idea to have some kind of a back up of your iDevice's content somewhere in case something bad happens with the device. External Firewire and USB hard drives can be had very extremely cheap.


Notes not syncing to and from iCloud from OS X Yosemite

From what I've seen from Apps like Notes, Numbers, and Pages... They're now acting as usual apps which looks for "filesystem" files. i.e. something on the local drive.

When you fire up an iCloud enabled app, then need to open a document, in your Favourites is "iCloud Drive" and now things are stored under there, under folders which correspond to their apps i.e. Numbers, Pages etc...

As to the syncing.. You needn't worry about this. Apple handles this.. Sadly, if you're looking to move directly over from App 1 on Device 1 to App 1 on Device 2 in 1 second, it won't happen.

edit

To resolve this, what I've done in the past is delete the container that the app in question lives in and start again.

e.g. in your case.. notes lives in: ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Notes

Problem is, when you do this, you probably will lose the notes you have... The ones which are already in iCloud will resend back down to the Mac you deleted the notes Container from.

Do note that after you do this, it's HIGHLY advised that you do a  "repair permissions" on the drive so the sandbox permissions/ACL's are reset.


You can use AppleScript on the Terminal:

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to keystroke "r" using {control down, shift down}'


How can I synchronize contacts with Google?

On your iPhone, you can set up an Exchange account, and enable Contacts synchronization.

Assuming you're on Mac OS X, you can also set up Google Synchronization with Address Book app and Contact synchronization with iTunes.

I've had issue with the former concerning the addresses, the city, postal code, etc. fields weren't correctly mapped. YMMV. On the plus side, the modification made to either Gmail or the iPhone are immediately applied to the other.

The second works fine for me, the downside is that you have to connect your iPhone to your computer when you want to share the modifications you made to the contacts.


Migrating from time machine backup on a Time capsule

I have WiFi off. I can access the time capsule using air port utility. Neither device is connected to the internet.

You say you have WiFi off.  Does that mean you are hard wired to the Time Capsule via LAN?  You may need to verify that your Mac can indeed see the Time Capsule.  That part of your question is a bit confusing.
You may wish to try again from scratch using macOS Recovery.  See Apple support for more details.  This will help you to reinstall macOS and restore from a Time Machine backup.

macOS Restore
Hold down Command-R or one of the other macOS Recovery key combinations on your keyboard immediately after pressing the power button to turn on your Mac, or immediately after your Mac begins to restart. Continue holding until you see the Apple logo or a spinning globe. Startup is complete when you see the utilities window:

After starting up from macOS Recovery, select from these utilities, then click Continue.
From there follow the onscreen instructions to restore from backup or even reinstall macOS then restore from Time Machine.


MacBook Pro 15" Retina Mid 2015 Trackpad Not Clicking

I went in to the Genius Bar and got an answer, so here it is!

Note that this may not work for everyone, but it did work for me.

The first thing the tech did was have me save everything and power off the computer. Wait until the screen is completely off and everything is powered down.
Plug in your MacBook.
Press the following keys in the bottom left of the keyboard: ctrl+option+shift (holding them all at the same time) and then tap the power button key in the very top right.
If the light on the charger is amber, it should flash green and then go back to amber. If it was already green, it will stay green.

This is called an SMC reset, or system management controller.

The way the tech explained it to me, this resets how the computer distributes power, and should make the computer send the correct amount of power back to the trackpad. I don't know if that's exactly how it works, but that's basically how he explained it to me.

After doing this SMC reset, the trackpad started working immediately. Hopefully this works for you as well!


How to restore to Leopard/Snow Leopard from Lion without any disk?

There are two possible solutions from my limited knowledge:
First method
Install the OS X Recovery Disc Assistant on a USB drive and reinstall Lion.
From the OS X Recovery Disc Assistant guide:

To create an external OS X Recovery, download the OS X Recovery Disk Assistant application. Insert an external drive, launch the OS X  Recovery Disk Assistant,  select the drive where you would like to install, and follow the on screen instructions.
When the OS X Recovery Disk Assistant completes, the new partition will not be visible in the Finder or Disk Utility. To access OS X Recovery, reboot the computer while holding the Option key. Select Recovery HD from the Startup Manager.

If her Recovery partition won't let you install already, I'm guessing there's a chance this might fail, but it's a least free to test and see.
Second method
Buy OSX Lion from Apple.
OS X Lion is still sold by Apple, so you could just buy a new disc and install using it.


Alert says "iTunes can not be opened while it is being updated." but nothing ever changes

This thread talks about checking for OS updates, and also trying to start the computer in safe mode:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7416168?start=0&tstart=0

If you don't have any OS updates to do, you might as well just download a new iTunes app and install a fresh copy:
https://www.apple.com/itunes/download/


Only you can answer the question as to whether an upgrade is worth it or not, but I do have some observations to make.

Firstly, your mid-2012 13" MBP doesn't actually meet the system requirements in terms of GPU. The page you reference specifies the following GPU requirements for macOS:

  Intel Iris Pro Graphics (MacBook Pro 13'' or 15'' mid-2015)
  Recommended: Dedicated GPU like AMD Radeon R9 M370X or better
  Minimum Video RAM: 4 GB RAM

That is, the minimum is a 13" MBP from 2015 and yours is from mid-2012. This implies as a minimum you'd need an Intel Iris Pro 5200, not the 4000 series you have. The 13" early-2015 model you have that works better has the Intel HD Graphics 6100 which can use up to 1.5GB of your RAM.

The second observation is that the specs of your mid-2012 MBP's GPU is that it can only use up to 1GB of RAM, not the 1,536MB you specify in your question.

So, while I'm a big believer in having more RAM, in this case for this specific purpose it's probably not going to add much life to this machine. Sure, it's worth doing for other uses (especially since the Intel HD Graphics 4000 uses up to 1GB of your MBP's RAM for its VRAM, so having more is going to be useful when running multiple apps simultaneously), but the benefit you'll get with Gopro Fusion Studio to render 5.2k content is questionable since you don't meet the minimum GPU specs anyway.


Sure, with the near-magical find command. The simplest way is like this:

find . -user 501 -exec chown Julian {} +

The "find" command is explained in the manpage, and in a number of tutorials and howtos like this one, nut the short idea is "find everything that matches these criteria, and do this command with each one".

. means to look in (and beneath) the current working directory.
-user 501 means to only find files owned by user 501.

Note that this is BSD-specific; in some other POSIX systems, user takes a username, and a separate uid flag takes numeric user IDs.

-exec … {} + means to run whatever's in the "…" (in this case, "chown Julian") repeatedly, passing it as many of the found files as possible.

So, if there are 5000 files, it may end up calling chown 4 times (on the first 1203, then on the next 1888, and so on).
Note that this is a BSD extension (although GNU has a similar extension); there is a portable equivalent with ; instead of +, but this will call chown once for each file, which will generally take a lot longer. (The standard solution is to use -print0 and pipe the result to xargs -0. But, since you're doing this on a BSD system, you don't have to do that.)
Note that if you're typing this in the shell, some shells will require you to escape the braces, but bash (the default shell on modern Macs) does not.


This is almost certainly hardware related. The magnetic reed switch (or hall effect sensor) depending on vintage of the Mac is faulty or failing and potentially voltage fluctuations due to sleeping are affecting it as well.

Any chance you have had it looked at by a tech?


missing windows keyboard buttons on rMBP

Apple has a support page on this: Boot Camp: MacBook Pro built-in keyboard mapping in Windows.


This relay isn't allowed to send mail "From" me.com

Apple doesn’t allow other Mail servers to send Mail on their behalf for security reasons - only authenticated Mail clients can send. Since your VPS isn’t an Apple server, no one will accept your reply as if you were Apple sending that reply.

https://support.apple.com/guide/icloud/what-is-icloud-mail-mm6b1a17e3/icloud

Are you able to set up your me.com account on your Mail clients or use webmail with iCloud in the VPS?


Mac OS X 10.7.4 Mail Client triggers Opera for external links in email

It's a little counter-intuitive, but you can set the default web browser for email messages from within Safari, just select the Preferences -> General option and then choose an application from the "Default web browser" pop-up menu. Hope that helps.


Can not text message most people with iPhones since iOS 8

Settings => Messages => Toggle off "iMessage". Works just fine (just tested it).


Safari does not restore tabs / not Resuming

It's not a setting in Safari, but a general setting. Go to your System Preferences < General and make sure Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps is checked on.

But you can install some 3th party apps too.

There is SafariRestore, which will basically do the same. But you have to disable the Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps on the screenshot above!
You can also add the Sessions extension to Safari which will do the same.

I haven't any experience with neither of these apps, so please let me know if it works out!


Is there an iOS SMS Texting app that allows parent to get a record of all texting messages?

I found this app.
SMS Touch that allows you to setup email address to send copy of SMS content.  SMS are purchased in app.
Net Nanny are also bringing out an iOS app to monitor and restrict iOS devices in young persons hands. details  here

NET NANNY FOR IOS includes Filtering (18 categories), Age-based Profiles, Safe Search, Profanity Masking, and supports Wi-Fi/3G/4G.
NET NANNY SUITE FOR IOS includes all the features of Net Nanny for iOS plus Remote Administration, Reports, Custom Categories, Whitelist/Blacklist. Future releases within the next few months will include Time Controls, Custom Alerts, Reports, and device management tools such as Device Locate and Forced Ring. All new features will be auto-updated for existing users.


Can't get suggestions for Dotted Blue Underline in OS X Dictation

aThe blue underlined words (if it works in the same way as it does on iOS (I don't use dictation on OS X)) then they are not there to provide alternate suggestions, but they are there to tell you that OS X is not entirely confident in its transcription. If a word is underlined in blue, it's saying that that was it's best guess, and if you select it you can edit the word if it is wrong in order to correct it.

If you do, Siri / OS X Dictation learns to connect that word to what you just said, and thus becomes more accurate after this is done tens of thousands of times.


iTunes says I have more photos than I really do

I have found the solution to the problem.

Quoting the solution from txforever from Apple forum.

Im not sure why is this happening, but i just know how to get rid of the prob.

  It has something to do with the Recently Deleted folder in the iPhone.

  You need to change the date of the phone to earlier mayb a year
  earlier as in 2014. Then go into your Photos>Recently Deleted folders
  to clear all the photo manually.

  Note, when you go into photo, the Recently Folder might show 0, but if
  you go into it, there is actually photo in it.


How can I map keyboard keys to other keyboard keys in an app specific manner?

@iGameRam's suggestion of KeyRemap4MacBook ended up working for me. I selected KeyRemap4MacBook because I am already using it to remap keys for me system wide. To do this I had to read the reference manual.

From the reference manual I found that there is a private.xml file that enables me to add more remapping values to KeyRemap4MacBook. By going to the KeyRemap4MacBook pref pane, going to the "Misc & Uninstall" tab and selecting "Open private.xml" I was able to open the file.

I had to add two elements to my private.xml. The first was:

<appdef>
  <appname>SPOTIFY</appname>
  <equal>com.spotify.client</equal>
</appdef>

This is because KeyRemap4MacBook does not ship with an app definition for Spotify. It does ship with many others. I need the app definition so my keyboard keybindings only apply for Spotify and are not system wide.

The second element I added was:

<item>
  <name>Spotify Vim Style Nav</name>
  <appendix>J and K works in Spotify</appendix>
  <identifier>private.spotify.vim_style_nav</identifier>
  <only>SPOTIFY</only>
  <autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::J, KeyCode::CURSOR_DOWN</autogen>
  <autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::K, KeyCode::CURSOR_UP</autogen>
</item>

This is the actual definition of the key bindings. The <identifier> tag is supposed to be unique for every key mapping. The manual suggests prefixing the identifier with private.. The <only> tag has to match an appname defined in the private.xml or shipped with KeyRemap4MacBook.

The <autogen> tags are supposed to contain the mappings. The manual has many examples on what kind of mappings that can be created. The two I have map the J and K keys to the Down and Up keys respectively.

Once the file has been saved, I just needed to press the "ReloadXML" button and then my mapping appeared as an option in the menu.

After selecting it everything worked as I wanted.


LG Ultrawide 21:9, MBP 2017 no HiDIPI 2560x1080

With the help of Stephan Madrau, the creator of SwitchResX I have found a solution for my problem:

half of the non HiDPI resolution is the HiDPI resolution, so I am using SCALED 3840 x 1620 non HiDPI --> 1920 x 810 HiDPI. It is a bit big.. but it is looking fresh and crisp.


Remove or delete a review from my iTunes app?

Reporting a concern is the only way to attempt to remove a review. The process is not instant and requires manual approval. If you've only just sent the form, wait a bit. If it's been a while and the review is still there, it probably means that someone has reviewed your complaint and declined it.


This sounds like you're experiencing MacKeeper and similar website ads.

What worked for me is a Safari extension called AdBlock Plus.

Click this text to install AdBlock Plus for Safari.


There are a couple processes that send data back and forth and this is a sign you need you log out of the user account so that those processes can exit and then when you log in, see if the connection is fixed.

Unless this is something that you run into very often, I'd log out and then restart to be sure it's not systemic before expending a lot if time digging into this.


Phantom iCal calendar subscriptions won't go away after deleting and iCal missing from Mobile.me

This got answered for me on https://discussions.apple.com/message/15816044#15816044

Turns out that it wasn't enough to delete the calendar in iCal, I also had to change a setting at meetup.com.


how to expand bootcamp boot partition to previously existed NTFS data partition

To share with other users facing a similar situation, here is how I solved the problem--and avoided completely reinstalling OS X and Windows. For reference, my OS X version was Mountain Lion when I started solving the problem--and I needed to upgrade to Mavericks in the end.

Back up Windows partition with WinClone to an external HDD
Run "Backup now" in Time Machine to make sure I have a latest backup of OS X partition
Under OS X Disk Utility, remove Windows system partition (which is typically labeled BOOTCAMP)
In OS X Recovery boot, remove OS X partition and create it from the scratch (make it use whole HDD space)
Install a clean OS X (my MBA 2011 allowed only Lion--if I remember correctly, it's fine as long as it's not a later release than my Time Machine backup)
Restore my OS X partition from Time Machine. It makes Recovery Partition disappear, we'll fix it in the next step
From AppStore, reinstall Mountain Lion. It's only needed to re-create the Recovery Partition.
Under OS X Disk Utility, manually create a FAT partition for Bootcamp following WinClone support article. WinClone will convert it into NTFS in the next step.
This is where you decide how HDD space will be split between OS X and Windows.
Restore Bootcamp partition from your backup (#1) to the Windows partition you created in #8.
Boot Windows under Bootcamp; it can run CHKDSK automatically, reporting that volume could be dirty--but didn't find any problems.
If you use Trackpad++, it needs to be reinstalled now. Boot Windows under Bootcamp, reinstall PowerPlan Assistant first, then Trackpad++.
Under OS X, re-create virtual machine in Parallels.
Upgrade to Mavericks.
Move to Bootcamp system partition all the data files that were originally stored on Windows data partition (provided you have their backup).

The only problem that's left at this point is that Parallels freezes VM when used in "all apps in one window" default mode (which is not Coherence, Fullscreen or Modality mode). Will seek solution for it later; at least it is stable for a week now in Coherence mode.

Before following the above sequence, I tried to recreate data partitition with Windows, converting the unallocated space that sized exactly like the lost partition. Failed: I found that there is a new partition which originally wasn't there: sized 620MB, but it didn't appear as recovery partition among Startup Disks on boot. Didn't try deleting it though, maybe it could help.


Transfer MKV files to VLC player on iPhone using Airdrop

First of all, let us see what happens when you transfer MKV files to iPhone via AirDrop.

If you are successfully able to complete the file transfer of MKV file(s) from your Mac to iPhone, you will see an alert like one of these:

If you choose to save it to iCloud Drive, you will be able to see them after installing Files app for iOS by Apple.

Once installed, open Files app, tap on Browse tab and select iCloud Drive to view the file.

However, it turns out that it is not serving the purpose that you are looking for, i.e. to transfer the files using AirDrop to VLC media player app on your iPhone. Transferring via AirDrop doesn't appear to be achieving the intended purpose.

However, there's an easy and very similar approach you can take to archive the desired end result. VLC iOS app has a feature called Sharing via WiFi. Launch VLC app on your iPhone, tap on the VLC icon at top left corner and tap on Share via WiFi. You'll get an IP address as shown:

Make sure your iPhone and Mac are connected to the same Wi-Fi network. Now, simply access the IP address shown in any Web browser on your Mac and you'll get this:

Simply drag and drop the desired files that you wish to transfer to VLC app on your iPhone into the browser window. Keep an eye on the progress indicator:

Voila! your files now show up in VLC app on your iPhone.

Do note that for the file transfer to complete successfully, you'll need to make sure that the VLC app keeps running in the foreground on your iPhone and it doesn't go into sleep mode.


It looks like kMDItemPath can't do what you need:

no-results-in-spotlight-in-searches-against-kmditempath

Some potential alternatives are discussed here:

how-to-locate-a-file-in-spotlight-using-folder-and-file-name


How can I change file name color on desktop?

As far as I can see, the answer is almost no.

The only hack I could find is:

In Accessability > Display, checking Invert colors will make the text invert color.

This obviously has side effects of everything else changing color in a sometimes unpleasant way. You'd have to use an originally black background to get a white background in this case.


How to determine what is intercepting mailto: links and disable the interception to have the default Apple Mail handle the mailto: links

Copy and paste chrome://settings/handlers into the address bar in Chrome and check for an active protocol handler for Gmail.

If you don't find something there, you could try installing RCDefaultApp which should list any system wide protocol handlers.


Is it possible to output different audio to HDMI and built-in speaker simultaneously?

You could try using AirFoil. I use it on my Mac to send audio out from a specific application to multiple sources (which can include the internal speaker as well as any external audio output device).

My use case though is to allow Spotify to send its audio out to my AirPlay speaker while allowing the internal speakers to still play only system notification sounds.

Check it out here: https://rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/mac/

(note I do not work for AirFoil, just an awesome product).


Launch Center Pro URL-scheme syntax for launching an action

Use a mix of the action ID (the name won't work, but every action has its own ID) and the url action. It will look like this:

launchpro://?url=[action:170]

To find the ID, edit an action and scroll to the bottom, you'll find the action there by the edge of the screen.


You can use a try block like this:

repeat -- your loop
    try
        --
        -- your code in the loop
        --
    on error err number n
        if n = -128 then -- User canceled
            --
            -- code to  cleanup before the program closes
            --
            return -- exit this script
        end if
    end try
end repeat


Mysterious icon when pausing Apple TV app

It is the new picture-in-picture feature of the Apple TV app in tvOS 13.

Can't decide what to watch? Use picture-in-picture viewing to play two videos at once, or browse the Apple TV app while a video plays in the corner of your screen.

Details:
https://support.apple.com/en-in/HT210525

Play a movie or TV show in the Apple TV app.
Tap the Touch surface on your Siri remote to bring up the video timeline.
Swipe up on the Touch surface to highlight the icon, then click the Touch surface to select it. If you don't see the icon, you're not in the Apple TV app and picture-in-picture isn't supported.
The video will shrink to the bottom-right corner of your screen.

To watch another video in full screen while your video window plays in the corner, find something else to watch in the Apple TV app and just click play.


Shortcut For Adding Bullet Point In Mac's Notes Application

Opt ⌥   8  at the start of a new line will generate a bullet list.

Adding further new lines will add more bullets, until you add 2 new lines, then it will revert to 'plain'

Same for a numbered list, but start new line 1. then space


The following is a list of popular programs that require X11:

Gimp - open source photo editing
Inkscape - open source vector drawing program
FreeCiv - open source version of the Civilization games
Scribus - open source desktop publishing software

Basically, if you plan on using only commercial software, you don't need X11. If you plan on using open source software, you may want to keep X11 around just in case. Many open source projects used to require X11 but now have native Mac versions (OpenOffice, for example).


What version of Netflix is stored with your iTunes Library on your Mac/PC? You could check this to see whether you still have the old version:

If so: you can select and sync the Netflix app from your iTunes library to your iPad.
If not, and you have a Mac: Your Time Machine backup should have backups of all the apps previously downloaded/synced with your iPad. These will be located within your iTunes Library. So you could go back far enough to find a version of the Netflix app that will work with your iPad and restore that version to your iTunes Library. Then select and sync that version to your iPad from within iTunes.
If not, and you have a PC: Assuming you have past backups of your iTunes Library, you can do the same as above (i.e. copy back a version of the Netflix app that will work with your iPad to your iTunes Library. Then select and sync that version to your iPad from within iTunes.


How can I spread a wallpaper out to 2 displays?

Natively in Mac OS X, you cannot spread a wallpaper over two displays in this fashion. You'll need to use Photoshop or your preferred photo manipulator to split the image in half and apply the wallpaper to the individual displays in System Preferences.


This is most likely to do with the temporary 'swap' files that Windows uses and needs to run. It would be nice to be able to downsize your OS X partition and upsize your Windows partition, but sadly NTFS is not that convenient.

Clear out any unnecessary files from the Windows partition from the Mac side, accessing it through Finder as falconbridge said. Then try and boot into Windows again.


Create a new Apple ID then add her to your account as a family member with the Family Sharing option. Any apps purchased under the original account will remain available (and paid for) in the new account. She would lose some things (account backups, for example, but her device would start backing up to iCloud on its own storage rather than using your free allotment). If you set the account up for her, you can still manage it as you'd know the login info.


Incorrect hostname in terminal after factory reset

1.) red-panda is your current computer name.

Click Apple Menu on Top Left
Open the System Preferences... App
Type Computer Name in Search
Change the red-panda to whatever you like, I would suggest something short, like KM, if you plan to use Terminal a lot
Close System Preferences... App

To securely wipe your hard drive, do an after-restart system reinstall and pick the proper option.

For more info and useful tips on how not to lose your own data before doing it, read some articles like this:

What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac
How to reset your Mac before selling it

2. No, no trouble for no hostname. The hostname is not set by default upon install.

However, if you wish to set it, execute: scutil --set HostName desired-hostname-here-again-I-suggest-a-short-name-like-kmp in Terminal.


Problems with the LDAP address book in iOS 6

Connecting to port 389 isn't wrong. It's actually "standards compliant". See RFC 4511 4.14 StartTLS Operation.
From the Wikipedia page:

"Servers also often support the non-standard "LDAPS" ("Secure LDAP", commonly known as "LDAP over SSL") protocol on a separate port, by default 636. LDAPS differs from LDAP in two ways: 1) upon connect, the client and server establish TLS before any LDAP messages are transferred (without a StartTLS operation) and 2) the LDAPS connection must be closed upon TLS closure.
...
LDAPS was used with LDAPv2, because the StartTLS operation had not yet been defined. The use of LDAPS is deprecated, and modern software should only use StartTLS."

iOS 6 account setup sends a starttls extended request on port 389 to the indicated server. Upon getting a success response the client (iOS in this case) initiates a tls handshake and if that completes the regular bind, etc. proceeds after that. So, the server must be able to handle both tls and non-tls connections on port 389.
Setup on the various servers is left as an exercise to the readers ;-)
So, iOS 5 and below used the LDAPS connection to port 686 but I guess iOS 6 is now "modern software".
FWIW, I think the startTLS operation is superfluous. Why even bother announcing to the world over an open channel what you are going to be doing inside a secure connection?


My checklist would consist of ensuring that the mic is not covered by dust/particles, try to use audio-recording software to make sure it isn't a problem with your voice chat software, and use an external mic to make sure it isn't a problem with the system itself.  One issue with the 15" MBP 2011 is that the mic is actually near the left speaker grille, so if you're running more intensive software that will run your fan up, you may have issues with fan noise being audible on the voice chat.  Typing will also result in noise on the mic, moreso on the left side of the keyboard.  It's a specific design issue with the 2011 MBP 15", and is noted by users on numerous Apple forums.  Making sure that the mic/speaker grilles are clean can help with the audio clarity; however, typing will always be audible on the mic.


Although it doesn't answer your question directly, the excellent

http://triviaware.com/macprocess/all

is a web resource that describes many Mac processes.

It describes webfilterDNSd as:

"Process is part of clean OS X install however there is no description available from credible sources at this moment. Use supplied link for related google search."

There's a comment section by which others that know might be able to answer your question.


Can I screen share an OS X computer to several viewers over VNC?

To the best of my knowledge the answer to your question is 'No'. I do the same thing and I use GoToMeeting or GoToWebinar. They are commercial products that cost money but they work really well. (I'm not affiliated in any way... I just use their products). I give demos all the time with GoToMeeting. The monthly fee was totally reasonable for what I do.


Is OS X Server an Operating system or a service suite?

OS X Server 4 is an application. (.app) that is installed over the OS.  It won't require you to format the entire drive to install it.  It will just add the needed features to take advantage of the Server.app suite.


When I use Command + L I get a zsh terminal in Chrome. How can I focus on address bar in Chrome

Ok, I found that my iTerm > Preference > Hotkey was on.

After turning it off, it works now.


The “Show Info” service could not be used because the application could not be found

Sounds like removing/un-installing that app damaged something in Finder. Which is an integral part of the OS (bear with me here...) Usually when you are having OS problems I recommend installing the latest update via a combo updater downloaded directly from support.apple.com.

Combo updaters have all of the patches required for all versions of the OS including hardware variations. When you download it from the App Store you get only the code necessary for your particular Mac. So combo updaters are more complete.

El Capitan does not seem to have a Combo Updater as this is all I could find. If you have Yosemite this would be your Combo Updater. If you look at both pages one is called a combo updater and one is not.

Speculating on what Apple is doing (or going to do) is both fruitless and (sometimes) fun. So why this is happening, who knows.

Since there is not a Combo Updater for El Cap (assuming that is what you have) I would download that updater and apply it to your system. If you have Yosemite, the second link. If you have an earlier version, well just google the version you say along with "combo updater" and the first link is usually the Apple download page.

Failing that sometimes just reinstalling the OS and then applying any updates is the way to go. Doing that will rarely wipe any of your data, but do back-up first, just to be safe.


Have you tried rebooting and pressing cmd+R (while booting), to get to your recovery partition and reinstalling Yosemite there?


How to download old versions of apps to old iPad

If the app developer removed them from the App Store then you can't download them again.

It's up to the app developer to continue to offer older versions of their app, not Apple.

During the shift from 32-bit to 64-bit apps, developers had to change their old apps to comply with the architecture change in iOS.  Most did; some did not.


How do I make an old Airport Express be a purely Airplay device?

The reset button can be pressed to temporarily reset the password of the device to the default. At that point, you would log in and put the device in bridge mode, update the password, turn of WiFi if you wish.

I've used these devices as you mention many times and it works well. The only catch is sometimes the latest AirPort utility won't manage older devices and you need an older configuration tool.


OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion Finder sidebar/Favorites: add MyComputer shortcut?

Under Finder's Preferences / Sidebar / Devices check your computer's name.


Which exact processor model do the macbook pros have?

The processor used in the early 2011 15" and 17" i7 models is the 2.2 GHz quad-core (2720QM) Intel Core i7 Sandy Bridge with 6 MB on-chip L3 cache, so they have 4 cores and 8 threads.

Apple's MacBook Pro performance page makes it clear that Hyper-Threading is now standard on all MacBook Pro laptops.


OS X Mountain Lion: keyboard shortcut to move current window to another space

You could use sizeUp.

sizeUp allows you to send the window to the next/previous space but also it has keyboard shortcuts for mounting a screen to the left or the right of a screen and sending it to the next/previous monitor.


Macbook Pro Freezes when waking from sleep/hibernation

What you describe indicates a failing disk. Here are 3 methods to fix that.

If you can start in Safe Mode then use Disk Utility to try to repair it.

Alternatively use the cmd+r to boot in to the recovery mode and use the Disk Utility

If that did not work start in Single user mode and run fsck -fs to try to repair it.

See this Apple KB article here: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT203176


Do companies have IT "spyware" on corporate iPhones?

Companies can choose to provide in-house apps to employees through the iOS Developer Enterprise Program without listing them on the Apple iOS App Store.

What you're asking about mainly falls into the realm of MDM (Mobile Device Management). One of the popular MDM solutions on iOS is Afaria, from SAP. Installation of the MDM app is made a mandatory requirement by some companies in order to allow employees to connect to corporate email (and other services). An MDM solution can be used to setup apps, accounts, impose corporate policies/restrictions on specific features and also enable remote wiping of the device through the provisioning of profiles.

Due to the application sandbox restrictions imposed by iOS, the MDM application does not have complete control over the device to snoop across every other application on the system and the OS. It cannot log keystrokes, network communication or data from the apps you use.

Read through the iPhone in Business page for details. Here are some relevant snippets:

  While IT can interact with iPhone and iPad devices through an MDM server, not all settings and account information are exposed. IT can only manage corporate accounts, settings, and information provisioned via MDM. The user's personal accounts can’t be accessed.
  ...
  ...

  Examples of what an MDM server can and can't see on an iOS device.

  MDM can see:

  Device name
  Phone number
  Serial number
  Model name and number
  Capacity and space available
  iOS version number
  Installed apps

  MDM cannot see:

  Personal mail, calendar, contacts
  SMS or iMessages
  Safari browser history
  FaceTime or phone call logs
  Personal reminders and notes
  Frequency of app use
  Device location

A few more points to note on this topic:

Apple may expand on the device monitoring and policy enforcement features in future releases of iOS.
One important prerequisite imposed by companies for allowing access to corporate email (and other resources) in exchange for installing MDM on the device is that the device must not be jailbroken. Companies that take security seriously would not allow (at least in their policies) jailbroken devices that could be vulnerable to all kinds of attacks (including, but not limited to, disabling or crippling the MDM app  and/or the MDM policies pushed to the device).
Of course, if a device is jailbroken, then any malicious app could access and gather a lot more information than standard MDM solutions available now (however, no commercial enterprise solution would ask for the device to be jailbroken as a prerequisite).


Key code 100 is actually F8, If you want to press F8 key just send key code 100.
But a different media control command key. Unfortunately, it seems the only way to run the pause command in media players via applescript is to send the proper key directly to the application(i.e. iTunes and Spotify). please see:

https://gist.github.com/NoobsArePeople2/5121597

PS: If you want to check press Fn, you can run this script

delay (1.0)
tell application "System Events"
    key code 63 -- fn
    key code 63 -- fn
end tell

this press Fn key two times and trigger the dictation


Mail App search not finding recent emails in inbox

I had the same issue when finding a 2015 email from my iCloud inbox. I switched to iCloud.com to find it. And I still have to go to the website even in High Sierra. Guess this has been a bug...


Is it possible to run VMware Fusion in the background to hide the windows and icons it produces?

It appears you can start Fusion headless by executing the following:

  /Applications/VMware\ Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmrun -T fusion
  start ~/Documents/Virtual\
  Machines.localized/[IMAGENAME].vmwarevm/[IMAGENAME].vmx nogui

You could also add /Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library to your $PATH or create an alias to have easier access to the vmrun command.

You can find more info on the vmrun command in this PDF. While a bit out-dated, it should still contain relevant information on how to start and stop your server.

If you are interested in running headless Linux servers for your development environment etc, I can also highly recommend to use VirtualBox instead. It is free, has extensive command-line support, and while running headless VMs Fusion loses most if its advantages (seamless GUI integration) over VirtualBox anyway. What's more, tools like Vagrant can even facilitate running these environments to a much greater extent. With the addition of a paid add-on ("provider"), Vagrant can control VMWare as well as VirtualBox for you3.


How do I increase an APFS partition size?

While the volumes stored in a APFS container are random access, the container itself is not. An APFS container is stored in a GPT partition. These types are partitions are sequentially stored on a drive. It is possible to expand a GPT partition to occupy space immediately before or after the partition. However, an APFS container can only be expanded to occur space immediately after, but not before. So you have two problems. First the ~400 GB of space is not immediately adjacent to the partition holding the APFS container. The partition with identifier disk0s3 is between this space and the partition holding the APFS container. Second, the space is above the APFS container. So even if you were to remove disk0s3, you still could not add the space to the APFS container.

To summarize:

While the drive and APFS allow random access, the GPT scheme does not.
APFS can be only be expanded downwards or shrunk upwards.

If you wish to wipe the entire drive and create 1.4 TB APFS container followed by JHFS+ partition, then enter the following command.

diskutil partitiondisk disk0 2 gpt apfs MyAPFS 1400G jhfs+ MyJHFS+ R

The EFI partition will be created automatically. If the above command was executed on a 2 TB drive, then result would be the partitioning shown below.

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *2.0 TB     disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                 Apple_APFS Container disk1         1.4 TB     disk0s2
   3:                  Apple_HFS MyJHFS+                 599.7 GB   disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +1.4 TB     disk1
                                 Physical Store disk0s2
   1:                APFS Volume MyAPFS                  24.6 KB    disk1s1

The command diskutil listfilesystems produces the output shown below. From this output, one can determine that the jhfs+ used in the above command means Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

Marlin:~ davidanderson$ diskutil listfilesystems
Formattable file systems

These file system personalities can be used for erasing and partitioning.
When specifying a personality as a parameter to a verb, case is not considered.
Certain common aliases (also case-insensitive) are listed below as well.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PERSONALITY                     USER VISIBLE NAME
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
APFS                            APFS
  (or) APFSI
Case-sensitive APFS             APFS (Case-sensitive)
ExFAT                           ExFAT
Free Space                      Free Space
  (or) FREE
MS-DOS                          MS-DOS (FAT)
MS-DOS FAT12                    MS-DOS (FAT12)
MS-DOS FAT16                    MS-DOS (FAT16)
MS-DOS FAT32                    MS-DOS (FAT32)
  (or) FAT32
HFS+                            Mac OS Extended
Case-sensitive HFS+             Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive)
  (or) HFSX
Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+   Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)
  (or) JHFSX
Journaled HFS+                  Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
  (or) JHFS+
Marlin:~ davidanderson$


How to control the right browser based on used workspace?


iPhone shows album art but iPod classic doesn't

Might have to do with how artwork is stored. iTunes can store it in the mp3/aac/whatever music file or in a separate database.

I noticed when exporting often the art is not included. A way to force iTunes to include the artwork in the file is to edit the file info in iTunes - like e.g. add a comment. Then the tag is rewritten with artwork also included.


How do I show a certificate's detail in OS X Mail (Lion)

This is not in Mail, I know of no way to do that, but this does not require any new software.  In Terminal:

echo ^d|openssl s_client -connect host:port 2>/dev/null |  sed -ne '/-BEGIN CERTIFICATE-/,/-END CERTIFICATE-/p' |  openssl x509 -noout -subject -dates


Try deleting the spotlight cache folder at ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.spotlight


How to make Siri aware of Google Chrome browser on Mac?

Invoke Siri and say any one of the following:

Open Google Chrome app
Open Google Chrome
Open Chrome app
Open Chrome
Launch Google Chrome app
Launch Google Chrome
Launch Chrome app
Launch Chrome

If some of the above doesn't work during the first try, you can alternatively, invoke Siri and say:

Open app

or

Launch app

Siri will respond back by asking what app you wish to launch. You can simply ask to open Google Chrome app, Chrome app or simply Chrome. With subsequent tries, when Siri has become aware of the Google Chrome app, you will be able to launch Google Chrome with the commands mentioned in the beginning.


How/Where do I drag an mp3 file from my pc to iphone?

You need iTunes to copy music from your computer to your iPhone.


I found the solution: Using lsof in Terminal located in the utility folder, I could see that chmod was accessing an Avid cache in ~/Library/Caches which I simply deleted. Now chmod doesn't run anymore.


Restore deleted contacts from iCloud without iCloud backup

iCloud automatically archives the contacts ( there is a max of 10 archives  ). The contacts can be restored via the web browser, even if no iCloud backups is switched on on the device.

In the webbrowser, click on settings and then contacts and then restore archived contacts.

Before the contacts are restored, iCloud makes another archive of the current contacts. Therefore, after retrieving a lost contact, write down the contact details and then one can go back to and restore the latest archive.


How to manage newer Ruby installations in macOS without intervening with the default Ruby installations?

Looks like you only update PATH etc in the shell profiles, but not in the running shell. Try to run the commands from rbenv onwards in a newly spawned shell.


Disk Utility info shows encrypted disk is not encrypted!

The proper command to check if a dmg is encrypted or not is:

hdiutil isencrypted /../../encrypted.dmg

or more detailed with the encryption type:

hdiutil imageinfo /../../encrypted.dmg

Examples:

hdiutil isencrypted /Users/user/Desktop/Untitled.dmg
encrypted: YES
blocksize: 512
uuid: 24895029-49B1-469D-A154-B8344B7CD6EB
private-key-count: 0
passphrase-count: 1
max-key-count: 1
version: 2

and/or

hdiutil imageinfo /Users/user/Desktop/Untitled.dmg
<Enter disk's password>
Backing Store Information:
    URL: file:///Users/user/Desktop/Untitled.dmg
    Name: Untitled.dmg
    Class Name: CEncryptedEncoding
    Encryption: AES-256
    Backing Store Information:
        URL: file:///Users/user/Desktop/Untitled.dmg
        Name: Untitled.dmg
        Class Name: CBSDBackingStore
Class Name: CRawDiskImage
Checksum Type: none
Size Information:
    Total Bytes: 100020736
    Compressed Ratio: 1
    Sector Count: 195353
    Total Non-Empty Bytes: 100020736
    Compressed Bytes: 100020736
    Total Empty Bytes: 0
Format: UDRW
Format Description: raw read/write
Checksum Value:
Properties:
    Encrypted: true
    Kernel Compatible: false
    Checksummed: false
    Software License Agreement: false
    Partitioned: false
    Compressed: no
Segments:
    0: /Users/user/Desktop/Untitled.dmg
partitions:
    partition-scheme: GUID
    block-size: 512
    partitions:
        0:
            partition-name: Protective Master Boot Record
            partition-start: 0
            partition-synthesized: true
            partition-length: 1
            partition-hint: MBR
        1:
            partition-name: GPT Header
            partition-start: 1
            partition-synthesized: true
            partition-length: 1
            partition-hint: Primary GPT Header
        2:
            partition-name: GPT Partition Data
            partition-start: 2
            partition-synthesized: true
            partition-length: 32
            partition-hint: Primary GPT Table
        3:
            partition-name:
            partition-start: 34
            partition-synthesized: true
            partition-length: 6
            partition-hint: Apple_Free
        4:
            partition-UUID: 17698BE2-A406-43AA-9195-8D1F1AAECE6B
            partition-name: disk image
            partition-hint-UUID: 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
            partition-start: 40
            partition-number: 1
            partition-length: 195280
            partition-hint: Apple_HFS
            partition-filesystems:
                HFS+:
        5:
            partition-name: GPT Partition Data
            partition-start: 195320
            partition-synthesized: true
            partition-length: 32
            partition-hint: Backup GPT Table
        6:
            partition-name: GPT Header
            partition-start: 195352
            partition-synthesized: true
            partition-length: 1
            partition-hint: Backup GPT Header
    burnable: false
Resize limits (per hdiutil resize -limits):
 min     cur     max
36072   195280  60572704

I can only guess why diskutil doesn't show that the image is encrypted. It's either a glitch or diskutil only rates FileVault as disk encryption.


How to transfer apps from a previous iPhone to a new one?

you can all you need to do is use iTunes and create a backup of your old iphone, after that's dome plug in the new iPhone and choose the previous iPhone backup (old iPhone) and it should work, I have done this since the iPhone 4 so I'm sure it works. The only thing is it takes a while if you have used a lot of your memory.

You can find additional instructions on how to do this on Apple's support site.


The official RAM specifications are given by Apple here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201191

Using the list, you need to

  Use Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Modules (SO-DIMM) that meet all of these criteria:

  PC3-12800
  Unbuffered
  Nonparity
  204-pin
  1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM

Note that only 32 GB of RAM is officially supported.


How can I reduce the mobile data used by the iPhone Mail app?

There is no way to do this in iOS.

For a workaround you could turn off 3G and turn it on when you need it, just before you open up Mail, that way when you are connected to WiFi you will get push, but manually have to get from 3G.

It's not a great situation: I would just increase your data cap, although I know that is not always easy, hence you asking for this workaround.


Where does Apple Configurator store ipsw downloads?

Since Apple Configurator 2.0 they are downloaded in:

~/Library/Group Containers/K36BKF7T3D.group.com.apple.configurator/Library/Caches/Downloads/ACUDownloadFileOperation/

and stored in:

~/Library/Group Containers/K36BKF7T3D.group.com.apple.configurator/Library/Caches/Firmware


Mid 2009 MacBook won't recognize [any] hard drive

It was the logic board. I'm using the hard drive now as an external drive with out problem.


How can I stop DiskUtilities from requesting permission every time I try to create an image from a CD

Mac OS X Snow Leopard is a DVD not a CD and I'd imagine some of the other discs you're trying to copy are DVD's too. Anyway, I can replicate your situation however, I also can do it from Disk Utility without being prompted for my password.

To do that, first unmount the disc and then select the parent node, e.g. on my Apple SuperDrive it's HL-DT-ST DVDRW GX40N, and option-click (right-click) and select: Image from HL-DT-ST DVDRW GX40N Media

In the subsequent dialog box change Save As: to something more user friendly, and change Format: to: DVD/CD master

Click the Save button and the disc will then start coping without being prompted for your password.

When finished click the Done button.

You can mount then disc image by double-clicking on it in Finder.

The above instruction are for Data DVD/CD discs  not Audio CD discs. Also note that I do not have a Hybrid Data DVD/CD/Audio CD disc to test whether or not the method shown above will work with that kind of disc.


Make Mac eject external drives when going to slumber or sleep/wake

There's a 3rd party app available for exactly this purpose. Jettison app automatically ejects your external drives when you put your MacBook to sleep.

It is a paid app with 15 days of free trial available.


Changing default email reader does not take effect

I had this problem too, when trying to set Airmail.app as my default email client.  I found a solution (after many failed attempts) here:

http://docs.airmailapp.com/airmail-for-mac/setting-airmail-as-the-default-email-client-airmail-for-macos

All credit goes to the author of that article, and the instructions should apply for any email client, not just Airmail.

The key is to reset Apple's LaunchServices database before opening Mail.app.  Here are the instructions from the above-linked site (slightly modified):

Open Terminal (Cmd+Space Bar and enter Terminal)
Copy & paste this command:

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -all local,system,user

Press Return to submit the above command and wait for it to finish (might take a few moments)
Open Mail.app and set your default email reader

This worked for me.  I noticed though that, when right-clicking a file in Finder and choosing "Open With", the menu was very slow to be populated with a list of apps (note that the LaunchServices database also controls this list).  So I restarted my computer and everything was fine.


Have you tried resetting your SMC? Are you positive the power cord is working? Try different plugs, different laptops, different power cords. Test this thoroughly as you don’t want to go through the rest of this answer just to find out it was a bad cord/outlet. If nothing in the above works, keep reading.

Based on your symptoms, and assuming the second power adapter is functional, it sounds too me like a bad MagSafe DC-In board. This is the board that collects the power from the MagSafe cable and transfers it to the battery. I’d suggest 1) running Apple Hardware Test with the adapter plugged in to test this. If the power test comes back faulty, and you’re reasonably sure that the cable is working, the MagSafe board is your most likely problem. If you feel comfortable with DIY repairs on your laptop, check out this iFixit page where you can find the replacement part for ~$25 USD. If you don’t feel comfortable with this repair, take your computer in to an Apple Authorized Service Provider to get a quote for the repair. Good luck!

Please don’t hesitate to add comments/edits if you think this answer is wrong, incomplete or needs clarification.


iPhone see apps downloaded from different Apple ID

No, in general, that would abuse the privacy of the other account.

The only exception is if all Apple ID were in family sharing and opted in to share app information. Then you can browse the other purchases from your account.

There also isn't a way on device to see which account purchased which apps if you happen to sequence several accounts to purchase on one device.


Why do some OSX progams have an installer (mpkg) instead of drag-drop?

The drag-and-drop method originaly came from cases where the application was a stand-alone executable, so all you needed to do to install it was drag the executable from a floppy to the App folder.

Today many applications use installers that let you drag-and-drop to the app folder, while the drag action in fact launches an installer that will install multiple files in different places. So technically the drag-and-drop today may very well be an installer.

So why then use an "Next-next-next-install" installer? Because you may want to ask the user questions! Maybe you don't want to install all parts of the software? Maybe you want it installed somewhere else? Or it could simply be a question of accepting the license agreement.

You can't do that with the drag-and-drop install.


Try renaming your SW Developments folder to one word (with no spaces or an underscore).

Looks like the space is causing a problem in loading the library.


iCloud mail sync with outlook 2016 on MAC

Solved. The issue was the 2-factor authentication. The solution, go to Manage your Apple ID, Edit by security, create an APP-SPECIFIC PASSWORD..

The rest is self-explanatory. Thank you for your consideration.


How To Install Kali Linux (or Debian) on Macbook Air (Original 2008 Model)

GUI
You can use the native OS X Disk Utility.app to split, resize, create & remove partitions as desired.
CLI
If you prefer to work with a UNIX-style bash shell, there are tools available via OS X's native Terminal.app command-line interface.

One of these would be a good start:
root@host:~# diskutil
root@host:~# diskutil list
root@host:~# diskutil listFileystems
root@host:~# diskutil activity

Once you have a bit of info, you might want a few of these:
root@host:~# diskutil splitPartition
root@host:~# diskutil resizeVolume
root@host:~# diskutil eraseDisk
root@host:~# diskutil eraseVolume

Boot from your installation media by holding the alt/⌥ option key during startup.


Apple Store - Mavericks/Yosemite Stuck at "Downloading" and actually does NOT continue to download?

Look at the Launchpad icon in the Dock.
If it's downloading there will be a thermometer [which I've since been informed is actually called a determinate progress bar] under it showing progress.

Bear in mind the download might be as much as 6GB, so 5 minutes isn't really much at all unless you have a really fast connection.

If you rebooted, dropping the connection, then you might have to poke at it a bit to get it going again. It ought to auto-resume, but sometimes gets stuck.
If it did, click Launchpad, find the partial download icon, then hold  Opt ⌥  & click the X in the top left corner.
Go back to Purchased & start over.


Put it in an external caddy, USB etc, then use something like Carbon Copy Cloner to duplicate it.

It will then be bootable when you swap.


Shortcut for "Action" button on Finder toolbar

This works for me running OS Sierra..  This AppleScript code will open your active Finder window or open a new Finder window if none are open, then it will automatically click the "Action" button in your toolbar.

Notice where it says "group 2" in both lines of code.  This is the location of the "Action" button in my "Finder" window.  If you do not have your "Action" button located in the exact same location in your finder window, this script will produce an error and won't work.

activate application "Finder"
tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Finder"
        delay 0.5  -- may need to adjust this number
        if window 1 of application "Finder" exists then
            click menu button 1 of group 2 of toolbar 1 of window 1
        else
            tell application "Finder"
                activate
                make new Finder window
                tell application "System Events"
                    tell process "Finder"
                        delay 1 -- may need to adjust this number
                        click menu button 1 of group 2 of toolbar 1 of window 1 (* notice where it says "group 2" in both lines of code.  This is the location of the "Action" button in my "Finder" window.  If you do not have your "Action" button located in the exact same location in your finder window, this script will produce an error and won't work. *)
                    end tell
                end tell
            end tell
        end if
    end tell
end tell

Save this script in script editor app as an application.  For purposes of this post, I saved the file in script editor as Finder_Action_Button_Shortcut.app

Open Automator app and create a new service

Be sure to select the files and folders option.  Add a "Launch Application" action to your workflow and select the new script editor application you just saved and named: Finder_Action_Button_Shortcut.app

At this point save your Automator workflow file and name it something like "Finder_Action_Button_Shortcut.workflow" to your /Users/YOUR_COMPUTER_NAME/Library/Services/ folder. (if Automator during the save process does not ask you if you want to install the new service)

Now this service will be available in your "Services" in Finder for any selected file or folder

Be sure to add Automator.app and Finder_Action_Button_Shortcut.app
to the list of applications allowed to control your computer in the System Preferences/ Security & Privacy/ Accessability/ Privacy tab

Next, go to System Preferences/ Keyboard/ Shortcuts/ Services and you should see your new service listed there.  Go ahead and assign your new service a keyboard shortcut and BINGO!  You're done


Finder freezes when deleting files across a network

What version of Mac OS X are you running?  If you're not on a relatively current Snow Leopard (10.6.x) consider upgrading.

Relevant log files may be found on your Mac OS X client in the /var/log directory.  These three may (or may not) contain relevant information (depending on what's actually happening):

system.log
kernel.log
secure.log

Consider also looking in the logs on your server, which may give you additional information.

You can restart the Finder (short of rebooting) in a few ways.
(1) log out, and log back in; or,

(2) restart the Finder in the GUI;

open the "Force Quit Applications" monitor window
select "Finder" in the list of running applications
click "Force Quit"
Finder will automatically respawn unless hypothetically something dreadfully broken on your system prevents that, in which case I imagine a reboot might be required (I've never seen that happen)

(3) Restart the Finder in a Terminal shell;
The command you describe would be expected to work, but it looks like the open command on your system is guessing wrong about the nature of the Finder.app path that you gave it. Consider launching Disk Utility and running the Repair Permissions.

Note, however, that the Finder should respawn automatically once it's been killed.  The simplest way to restart it in a shell is to:

$ killall Finder


Pages has stopped continuing a list on Enter

With your cursor at the end of a list item, Go to the Format Inspector (Paint Brush) and toward the bottom you should see a Bullets & Lists disclosure arrow.  Check that in the drop down you have selected a bullet style and not None.

CAUTION: Hitting Return twice will stop the numbering or bullets.

Example:


Why does my iPhone X start reading text automatically?

I found that this happens when I use two fingers and swipe from the top of the screen.

The solution

Go to Settings | General | Accessibility | Speech | Read aloud on the screen

(maybe the text is slightly different as my language is set to Chinese)


Firefox Sync allows the use of a server other than the official server provided by Mozilla, and it is possible to set one up yourself. The "Use custom server" option is provided to allow for this.


Network's DNS queries redirection to localhost

Since you didn't mention it, I would make sure to navigate to:

/private/etc/apache2/

and open (using your text editor of choice; vi/m works, of course)

httpd.conf

Once you're there, make sure that lines 39 and 40 (or thereabouts) read:

Listen *your_web_site's_address*:8080
Listen 8080

If it reads

Listen 12.34.56.78:80
Listen 80

Then that is certainly a big part of your problem, as the server is listening on the wrong port altogether. As always, make sure to properly configure your firewall(s)!


From the screen image, I would try a couple of things since you should be able to log in to the Mac and do things other than iCloud. Press cancel in the dialog and then check the date/time on the Mac. It should be within 2 minutes of reality if possible.

Then go to Safari and check at https://icloud.com to be sure you can log in and the account isn't locked or having issues.

At that point, you might need to clean out your keychain or try again in the iCloud preference pane. Worst case, you might need to get on the phone/web chat with iCloud support if it's a problem with your account or Apple's servers.


Apparently you have accidentally set the Dock to automatically hide by invoking the keyboard shortcut Command + Option + D. Re-invoke the same keyboard shortcut to toggle the setting and turn off auto hide.

You can also effect the same change by going to Apple Menu → System Preferences → Dock and uncheck Automatically hide and show the Dock setting.

If you wish to keep the Dock hidden, the same can also be shown as desired by moving the cursor to the edge of screen (by default Bottom) where the Dock is positioned (as seen in the Position on screen setting in the screenshot above).


Unable to download podcast after iTunes previously crashed while downloading it

Go to folder where you store podcast episodes you've subcribed to. (By default it's something like "itunes" folder in "mymusic" folder).

Search for folder named "Downloads". That folder is used for storing temporary files while downloading particulary episode, and it should be empty.

If ITunes crashes, some parts of the episode remain in this folder and that's causing the problem you encountered. If happens that there are some folders or files with .tmp extension, delete them and then try again to download particular episode.


Is it bad that my MacBook Air is passing me electricity?

Electrical current passed from e.g. a MacBook Air can be avoided by plugging your Mac into a grounded power outlet. I sometimes get this too when using a non-grounded power outlet.

I am assuming you are referring to being able to sense "vibrations" as you e.g. slowly and lightly move your fingers upwards on the palm rest?

I have found that when I have my Macbook Pro plugged into a non-grounded outlet and I touch something that grounds me - e.g. a radiator, I can feel the vibrations. If I stop touching the radiator, the vibrations cease!


Any Issues Using Non-HFS+ As Data Partition?

When using a non UNIX file system, the permissions you see are default for all files, unless the filesystem logic (i.e. the driver) contains some "translation" from the actual filesystem to those permissions seen by VFS (the filesystem abstraction layer in UNIX and OS X/iOS).

Using a non HFS+ filesystem, and non UFS, will lose the permissions, but not just that - you will also not get filesystem notifications when the filesystem is close to full. Some advanced system calls (like exchangedata(2) ) will not work, either. For the most part, however, most apps don't use these features, so you should be ok. Another issue to consider is case sensitivity - HFS+ isn't (though HFSX is). Using a case sensitive fs may lead to weird results where case insensitivity is assumed, and vice versa.


Can I drive two Cinema 30" displays from a MacBook Pro (Retina)?

The USB cable is only for the ports in the back of the display.  If you don't intend on using them, you don't need to plug it in.

USB 2.0 has a max cable length limit of about 5 meters.  You could get an extension cable that keeps you below that limit and it should make things work smoothly.


Mavericks HDD swapped while in sleep mode is now unreadable

Oh man - that's a bad situation. All is certainly not lost.

I would start by calling one or two data recovery services to get a quote from them. Once you have that, consider you could pay $99 for software that would look over the drive and offer to recover files.

With those estimates, you can decide if your time and photos are worth further efforts to salvage or if you just write them off and erase the drive to start over.


My mac came with Mountain Lion. I upgraded to mavericks - and now I can't find mountain lion download

For some reason which remains unexplained, the App Store 'Hides' the Mountain Lion purchase once Mavericks has been downloaded. The Lion purchase remains visible, but Mountain Lion becomes 'Hidden.'

Fire up App Store and go to Purchases. Now go to the Store menu and select View my Account - enter your password when asked. Go to the 2nd Section iTunes in the Cloud and click on Manage - You'll find Mountain Lion in the list.


On my ML installation, man md5 does indeed show the MD5(1) man page.

It's possible some local software installation or configuration is causing the display of a man page for dgst instead, though (which appears to be part of OpenSSL.)

A few things to check:

Do you have the MANPATH environment variable set in your shell?  It could be looking in an alternative directory for manpages before hitting the system manpages.  MANPATH does not appear to be set by default.

Are there alternative MANPATH directives in /private/etc/man.conf?  My system has

MANPATH /usr/share/man
MANPATH /usr/local/share/man
MANPATH /usr/X11/man

Has /usr/share/man/man1/md5.1 been replaced by a symlink to another man page that could be producing the dgst content?  Try

$ ls -l /usr/share/man/man1/md5.1
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel  12332 Nov 16  2012 /usr/share/man/man1/man.1

If /usr/share/man/man1/md5.1 has not been changed, then you can read its content specifically this way:

$ man /usr/share/man/man1/md5.1


Why does my Macbook Air automatically shut down when i connect my iPhone to it?

The Macbook Air tries to supply a full charging current to the iPhone, but when the Air is running on battery and doesn't have a full charge, it loads the battery down enough for the Air to go into low power mode.

When you connect you iPhone, make sure you have a full battery on the Air, or are plugged in.  This will also happen less frequently if the iPhone battery is full, but the main issue is making sure the Air has enough power to give a full amp to the iPhone without shutting down.

This doesn't affect the larger notebooks as noticeably due to their larger battery packs, but as they age and when they have low charge you would see the same issue from them.


This is what I ended up doing, with help from BritishColour. I ended up adjusting the delays because the Cmd + G was being a little quirky and not registering the key code 36 (enter) command. This also calls up Finder so it doesn't activate in whatever program I might be using in the moment.

on run

    tell application "Finder" to activate

    tell application "System Events"
        keystroke "n" using {command down}
        keystroke "g" using {command down, shift down}
        keystroke "/Volumes/XXXX"
        delay 1
        key code 36
        delay 1
        keystroke "t" using {command down}
        keystroke "g" using {command down, shift down}
        keystroke "/Volumes/XXXX2"
        delay 2
        key code 36
        delay 1
        keystroke "t" using {command down}
        keystroke "g" using {command down, shift down}
        keystroke "/Volumes/XXXX3"
        delay 1
        key code 36
        delay 1
        keystroke "t" using {command down}
        keystroke "g" using {command down, shift down}
        keystroke "/Volumes/XXXX4"
        delay 1
        key code 36
        delay 1
        keystroke "t" using {command down}
        keystroke "g" using {command down, shift down}
        keystroke "/Volumes/XXXX5"
        delay 1
        key code 36
        delay 1
        keystroke "t" using {command down}
        keystroke "g" using {command down, shift down}
        keystroke "/Volumes/XXXX6"
        delay 1
        key code 36
        delay 1
        keystroke "t" using {command down}
        keystroke "g" using {command down, shift down}
        keystroke "/Volumes/XXXX7"
        delay 1
        key code 36
        delay 1
    end tell
end run


iTunes 12.2 xml file is not present after upgrading my OS X to 10.10.4 and iTunes to 12.2

iTunes 12.2 definitely still generates an iTunes Music Library.xml file. From my machine, running 10.10.4 and iTunes 12.2:

~/Music/iTunes$ ls -l "iTunes Music Library.xml"
-rw-r--r--@ 1 mj  staff  109833070 Jul  2 14:20 iTunes Music Library.xml

That date and time stamp are the date and time I last exited iTunes.

That said, you can recreate the XML file. Apple has document HT201561 that describes the process as well as the purpose of the XML file and when it gets recreated, but note all of the warnings in that document.

Update: The generation of the XML is now optional in iTunes 12.2 - check Preferences > Advanced and set the option Share iTunes Library XML with other applications


Multiple SMS, Marketing campaigns through iOS?

Although its not exactly what you were asking for, this App does exactly what you want. It seems a little expensive, though.

Answering your question, there are a couple of ways you could import the contacts to the iPhone. You could, for instance, do it by:

Saving the file as .cvs
In Outlook Express, choosing File / Import / Address Book, and opening the .cvs file.
Connecting your iPhone and in iTunes, tick the box next to Sync Contancts With: and choosing Outlook Express.

Afterwards you could use an App such as Group SMS, or Group Text! or even create your own group to send the SMSs. To do so, just:

Open the SMS App.
Tap the New Message icon, in the top right corner.
Add all the recipients you want to send the SMS to by tapping the + sign.
Compose and send the message.

A Conversation will appear in your Sent Messages list. Therefore, if you want to send a message to the same group, you'll just have to compose the message there and send. This will be a bit painful if the recipient's list is a thousand names long.


Track appearing in iOS Music as an iCloud track that I do not own

First of all, if you ever participate in iTunes' free singles, those will obviously count as iTunes tracks. (It used to be called Single of the Week, I believe, but now it's found just under "Free on iTunes" on the Mac/PC versions of iTunes.)

By the same token, participating in any of those promotions - 12 Days of Christmas, iTunes Festival, etc. where music can be "purchased for free", those will count as tracks in your iTunes library that you can retrieve via iCloud.

Also, some tracks over the years came with free bonus downloads. You'd buy one song and some other promo song would be attached. Through the years, iTunes has done all sorts of weird, interesting and sometimes confusing promotions. (Among others, there was a Starbucks free song promo, the Pepsi 100 million free songs promo, etc.etc.)

The final obvious option is someone gifted the song to you at some point, for some reason.

If you want to figure out exactly what happened, you can check your purchase history in iTunes. On a computer, go to the iTunes store in iTunes, then at the top of the store UI, click your user account Email address and then choose Account. Provide your Apple ID password, then scroll down to Purchase History and click "Show All". If you have a long history with iTunes (I got in the game in 2003 when it all started!!!) then it may take a bit of time. Look through the list and find out if these tracks are appearing in any purchase. I'm not sure if received gifts show up in purchase history, but anything you actively clicked on "buy" or "download" will show up - even free stuff.

(I don't know your situation, but perhaps someone accidentally purchased it using your device? And the 99 cent charge would be easy to miss if you're not a person who carefully monitors your credit card bills...)

If you seriously do not see the tracks anywhere in your account, but they are still showing up as iCloud tracks in iTunes, then it could simply be an Apple glitch. Weirder things have been known to happen. If you buy a lot of music, you can't really "disable" just those two songs, but you can remove them from any playlists, and you can uncheck them in iTunes on your computer.

Hope this helps.

F


Israel has 220v/50Hz power that's standard throughout most of the world, so if there are problems with using an iPad charger to charge, it would most likely be due to substandard local power and not some problem with your equipment.

Even in high power mode, charging from a MacBook Pro is not a good option to charge an iPad unless it's in AirPlane mode with the screen off or powered down entirely so that all the charge can go to the battery.


Yes, an Apple ID is per email address, so you can have multiple Apple IDs in the same store, or different store.


External disk as system volume on different macs password issue

I believe the files in ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost are computer-specific. For instance, iTunes stores the volume of each computer there.
Hope this helps!


How does iMazing reboot/shutdown iPhone remotely?

The protocol used for communicating between the iOS device and the host program (such as for example iTunes) actually specifically allows for rebooting and shutting down the device.

You can find an open source and free implementation of the protocol called libimobiledevice here.

The library is a collection of many different tools. You'll need the one called idevicediagnostics so that you can run commands like:

idevicediagnostics reboot

idevicediagnostics shutdown

If you want to do this from your own program, you can find the source code for the idevicediagnostics program (that uses the library) here:

https://github.com/libimobiledevice/libimobiledevice/blob/master/tools/idevicediagnostics.c


How can I remove a folder that no longer exists from my Finder sidebar in Lion?

I was having the same issue and here's what just worked for me:

Hold command, then drag it off the Favorites bar.  The item will turn into a little "poof" white cloud and when you release, it'll go away! Finally!


Is it possible to play one song through speakers, and another through headphones/earbuds?

You can use a piece of hardware called a MIXER to take two (or more) audio signals, mix them together, and have one OR MORE outputs.  For example: Behringer XENYX Q502USB / Audio interface.

There is a learning curve for operating a mixer (where to plug in the sound source / what cables to use), but if you want to take recording to the next level, you might enjoy getting a mixer.


This answer has been moved to a more generic question: https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/114076/18387


I still couldn't find out how to troubleshoot this issue, but removing and re-installing the printer as a generic postscript printer helped.


How do I import a Reminder.app lists into a Notes.app checklist?

The following AppleScript script will take the selected Reminders in Reminders and make a new Note in Checklist format in Notes. This can be run in Script Editor or saved as an AppleScript application.

Note: As this script uses UI Scripting, when run from Script Editor, it must be added to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Accessibility in order to run. As an AppleScript application, the application would need to be added.

tell application "Reminders" to activate
delay 0.1
tell application "System Events" to keystroke "c" using {command down}
delay 0.1
set theNotesChecklist to ""
set theReminders to get the clipboard as string
repeat with thisParagraph in paragraphs of text of theReminders
    try
        set theNotesChecklist to theNotesChecklist & text 5 thru -1 of thisParagraph & return
        delay 0.1
    end try
end repeat
tell application "Notes" to activate
tell application "System Events"
    keystroke "n" using {command down}
    keystroke "l" using {shift down, command down}
    delay 0.5
    keystroke theNotesChecklist
    delay 0.1
    key code 51 -- # Delete - Deletes the last 'return' typed.
end tell

The above script assumes the selected Reminders in Reminders have no information associated with them. In other words, other then the Name property no other associated properties have been set. If other properties have been set, add the if statement to the repeat loop as shown in the code below:

repeat with thisParagraph in paragraphs of text of theReminders
    try
        if thisParagraph starts with "[ ]" then
            set theNotesChecklist to theNotesChecklist & text 5 thru -1 of thisParagraph & return
            delay 0.1
        end if
    end try
end repeat

Note: With UI Scripting, the value of the delay commands may need to be changed on your system and or additional delay commands added as appropriate.