My phone transformed into my dad's phone HELP!

(connect to wifi)go to icloud in settings if you see yor dad's, need to long out with his icloud password  (do not delete account might delete his backup). Disable find my iphone. Then simply log your apple ID and restore your iPhone from backup, iTunes should have created one before it restored his. Turn find my iPhone back on for security.


I do something different.

I am in Canada, so I am using the CBC's (free) World Cup app on my iPhone, which gives access to live streams of matches. Using AirPlay I stream those to my AppleTV.

The quality is pretty awesome.

You don't mention where you live, but maybe there is an app available in your region too?


Abnormal behavior of web browser in OS X

In addition to running anti-virus software, as mentioned by Steve, above, you should check and clean out your browser's cache and extensions.

(1) Safari

  Safari --> Help --> Installed Plug-ins

Here, plug-ins called "Quicktime" and "Flash" are OK, and are not likely culprits.

  Safari --> Safari --> Preferences --> Extensions

Here, think long and hard about whether you actually need the services offered by any extension here.  If you do, check you've got the latest and disable or delete the rest.

  Safari --> Safari --> Preferences --> Advanced --> Proxies

Here, check to see if there are any proxies, which are instructions to visit some other site before going to the site you wish to visit.   Sometimes proxies are needed to get past restrictions put on you by your ISP, like the hotel you're staying at, but they're uniquely positioned to redirect you anywhere, and to pop open new web pages.

(2) Chrome

  Chrome --> Preferences... --> Extensions

Check here for any extension you don't recognize.  Disable or delete anything you don't need.

  Chrome --> Preferences... --> Settings -- > Search

Set your search engine to something you recognize and trust.  If you're in doubt, use "Google" or "DuckDuckGo" or even "Yahoo!" and delete the rest.

  Chrome --> Preferences... --> Settings -- > Show advanced settings... --> Network

Click here to look at your proxy settings.  Unless you need a proxy because you travel a lot, or you live in a repressive country, or your computer is part of an enterprise network, you probably don't need a proxy.


Automator: Service to list File Paths of selected items, into Text File

If you're looking for something that's more "pure Automator," here's one option (although, as was mentioned in the comments, right-clicking on the items in Finder, holding option, and selecting Copy Items as Pathnames is probably the easiest solution):

Accepts files or folders in Finder
Set Value of Variable Inputs
Run Shell Script: /usr/bin/dirname "$1" (make sure to pass input as arguments)
Set Value of Variable Parent Folder
Get Value of Variable Inputs <-- this should not accept input (right-click on the action and select Ignore Input)
New Text File (Plain text, [whatever file name you want], Parent Folder (drag this in from the variables list))

I've included a screenshot below:


Preview.app Very Slow To Save Highlights on PDF (rMBP, OS X 10.10.3)

What I ended up doing was simply break the textbook chapters into individual PDF files. Not the ideal solution, but at least the saving process for highlighting is relatively quick with chapter files.


Backup crisis: Will Time Machine backup iCloud Drive files ? Will it backup Box?

By default, iCloud Drive files are backed up with Time Machine. You can find them in this folder:

/Users/username/Library/Mobile Documents/

where username is the username of your account.

Note that if you have excluded the the Mobile Documents folder, Library folder, etc. from Time Machine - then the files will ofcourse not be backed up.

Also note that Time Machine can only backup the files that are actually on your computer. If you have set iCloud Drive to optimize storage usage, some files could be stored only in the cloud and not on your own computer. You can see that in the Finder when opening the iCloud Drive - a cloud icon will appear to the right of those files that are not stored on your computer. They will then not be included in your Time Machine backup.

The same applies for files on Box.com and other cloud storage service. If the files have indeed been stored on your computer, and you haven't manually excluded them from the backup, then they're included in your Time Machine backups.


iPhone 6 location services only update location every 20 minutes or so

From a page at Quora:

The phone uses three methods to determine your location, depending on what it can access at any time. First, it uses a GPS that triangulates to satellites in the sky to determine your location within a few feet. But you must have a reasonably unobstructed view of the sky. Second, if you are not in airplane mode, and can reach a cell tower, the phone triangulates to available cell phones towers and estimates where you are based on the signal strength of the various towers it can reach. This is the least accurate method, but it covers a lot of ground and can be surprisingly good. Third, and finally, if your phone can pick up on wi-fi signals from local homes and businesses. these have been cataloged to allow Apple to tell about where you are, even if the wi-fi signal is encrypted. (I THINK this still works, but I’m less sure.)
Some combination of these can nail your location very accurately most of the time.
But sometimes my phone still thinks I’m maybe a mile from where I am, usually if I’m in a building and my wi-fi is turned off.

From a Support Page at Apple:

With your permission, Location Services allows apps and websites (including Maps, Camera, Weather, and other apps) to use information from cellular, Wi-Fi, Global Positioning System (GPS) networks, and Bluetooth to determine your approximate location.
Apps that can show your location on the screen, including Maps, show your current (approximate) location using a blue marker. In Maps, if your location can’t be determined precisely, you’ll see a blue circle around the marker. The size of the circle shows how precisely your location can be determined—the smaller the circle, the greater the precision. When Location Services is active, a black or white arrow icon appears in the status bar.

In conclusion, the best way to make sure Location Services is finding you in the correct location is to have a clear, unblocked connection to GPS satellites, which isn't always possible.


My text messages are still on my iphone5, even though I removed the sim card. Will I lose the texts when I install a new sim card?

No, previous messages are stored locally on the device, not the SIM card, so installing a new SIM card will not remove the previous messages.


Is there a way to auto mount SMB storage without nobrowse option?

Edit to FALSE and remove the # in the following line in /etc/autofs.cfg:
#AUTOMOUNTD_NOBROWSE=TRUE


Suggested cool apps:

Hyperlapse (you can set the fastness, which is not possible with iPhone time-lapse)
Osnap, which does cost 3.99 but it's worth it!


Why does it take so long to load the login items with "reopen when logging back in" enabled?

It appears to me that the login items get started after all the applications from the last session have started up. For example, an older version of Adium used to hang (due to no internet connection being available) for a few seconds after starting up, and as soon as Adium was responsive, the login items got started.


There's no perfect built-in macOS solution for what you want, and that's why macOS offers different view options. They each have advantages and disadvantages.

However, the closest option to what you want would be to enable the Show item info option.

To do this:

Within Finder navigate to the folder you're wanting to view
Make sure it's in Icon view
Press commandJ (or just right lick on the window and select Show View Options)
Now you'll see the view options for icon view
Tick the Show item info checkbox

OPTIONAL: If you want this to apply to all windows with icon view, click on the Use as Defaults button at the bottom
Close the Show View Options window

Now you'll notice additional info is displayed below your icons

NOTES:

The reason this is not a perfect solution in your case is that the info displayed below the icon is not necessarily the file size. That is, while for many files it does display the file size, for others it will display different info (e.g. if it's a folder it'll display the number of items inside the folder, if it's an image it'll display the image dimensions, etc).
Not all file types will have additional info displayed.
I have found that sometimes you need to disable and then re-enable this option after copying items from another location across, otherwise the info isn't displayed immediately below the icon.

Despite the above limitations, enabling this will reduce the number of times you need to use Get Info to view the file size.


After further investigation, I discovered that the issue was not confined to Finder sounds but other sounds as well.

I deleted the com.apple.SystemSounds preference file from ~/Library/Preferences, restarted my computer and it solved the issue.


You need to first put your phone into DFU Mode. Then, run Redsnow, go to "Extras" and select "Just Boot".


How can I "bind" two speaker outputs in OSX? (the feature is gone)

Try multi-output devices in /Applications/Utilities/Audio Midi Setup.app?


How do I prevent iPhone from alerting twice when a text message arrives?

Settings App -> Notifications -> Messages -> Repeat Alerts

change that to "never."  :-)

Let me know if that helped...


I found a answer for you on our sister site.

Connect an iPhone to Arduino over Bluetooth

  There are several ways to connect Bluetooth LE devices to the Arduino.
  One I've used is the RedBearLabs BLE Shield.


How to merge two users in Mac OS - Catalina?

So, what I did actually was to open a 2nd user (also admin), login to the new account and from that account perform the changes.

I changed my account name, my full name but also the home directory. When the OS saw there is no home directory with that name it created a new one.
At the beginning I that all of my data on my user was deleted.
Suddenly I saw the data in home directory and connected what happened.
I accessed the 2nd admin user, changed the name of the home directory to the old one in the pic below, and thats it.


Issue setting environment variable that points to smb

Open Terminal
Open Finder and navigate to the folder containing the connection file
Drag&drop tns_names.ora into the Terminal window

The path shown is the value you need.


How to get Open File selector to show hidden files?

You can use ⇧⌘. (shift-command-.) to show hidden files in a file dialog temporarily.

To make Sublime Text show hidden files by default, run:

defaults write com.sublimetext.2 AppleShowAllFiles -bool true

To show hidden files in all applications but not in Finder, run:

defaults write -g AppleShowAllFiles -bool true
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool false

You can apply the changes by quitting and reopening applications. AppleShowAllFiles also affects other views besides file dialogs.


iPhone Gmail app push notifications not working

From inside the app, go to settings and turn off notifications, save, turn them back on, save. This seems to fix the problem until it happens again. It seems to happen about once a month, but that's sketchy memory reporting the frequency.


How do i get past this certificate error?

It would be easier to give you a fish here but since you don't want to share the hostname... the error indicates that the name in the address bar (eg. apple.stackexchange.com) does not match anything in the certificate that the site is presenting (perhaps it actually belongs to some.bogus.example.tld).

I think it's rather a poor idea to defeat the safety measures Google put in there for you. May I ask your reasoning for being fearless here?


Do I have an HDD or an SSD in my MacBook?

All retina Macbook Pros have PCIe SSDs. Previous MBPs (2012 + earlier) shipped with HDDs.

To find this out, find your model information by going to Apple (top left corner of the screen) -> About this Mac. Find the year (Mid 2014), then use either Apple's website or a website such as everymac.com to determine the specifications of the storage originally shipped with the computer.


Opening an OS X disk image with a launchd agent while the display is sleeping

It is likely your MacBook is asleep when launchd is scheduled to run your disk mount command. launchd does not change its behaviour because of the state of the display.

Your launchd job will run so long as:

the Mac is awake
the launchd job is active
you are logged in (the job ticket is in ~/Library/)

Use pmset's debug logs to find out if your Mac was awake or asleep. The following command will print a log of everything pmset knows:

pmset -g everything

Be sure to check the system.log for messages related to your failed launchd job. If a problem is encountered launchd will log a message.

Applications > Utilities > Console.app > system.log

Mac OS X Energy Saver includes the ability to power on or wake your Mac at a predefined time. You might want to use this ability to wake your Mac a minute before your launchd job is scheduled.

System Preferences.app > Energy Saver > Schedule…


Get Keychain to remember an additional field

There's no way to force Keychain to store the additional field.

I use 1Password for things that Safari/Keychain refuse to remember.
You can manually add fields for sites such as banks [at your own risk] where credentials will not auto-save.

There's also LastPass, but I haven't tried that


Ensure that under System Preferences > Displays > Arrangement (this tab only shows up if your computer detects an external display), the "Mirror Displays" checkbox at the bottom is checked.

This checkbox determines whether your secondary display will act as an "extension" or as a mirror of your primary.


photo recovery after iPhone "Erase Data"

Which iPhone OS and model do you have? The newer ones encrypt the data and the erase deletes the key. The chances of DIY recovery are slim. If you pull it off, you probably can get hired for iPhone forensics and make some serious salary doing that professionally.

Older devices are more amenable to typical recovery efforts. Either way you will need a forensic tool like PhoneView to access the filesystem. Once mounted you could try something like Data Rescue. Neither tool was designed for this, so you should try the free versions first before spending money on them.

The professional data recovery houses will likely charge an arm and a leg to get your data back - but at least you can get a quote if you really need them back at all cost.

Be sure to double check your camera roll isn't backed up to iTunes or on Time Machine. It would be far simpler to restore the device to an old backup and get the photos off intact. You would lose any photos taken after the backup time, though.

If you have enabled data security (iOS 4.3 and iPhone 4 are one combination that enables this security), you're likely deep in the hurt locker. See iOS 4: Understanding data protection to tell if you enabled data protection. In a nutshell, that means the filesystem was encrypted and the erase destroyed the key to the encrypted files. You will need industrial grade forensics to get things back if the phone was powered off immediately after the erase. Using it after the erase will rapidly overwrite the scrambled data irreversably.


How does one change the share name with file sharing in Mac OS X?

Use Directory Utility.

Open /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/Directory Utility
Select the Directory Editor tab
In the "Viewing" bar, select SharePoints in node /Local/Default
Authenticate by clicking the little lock button

Shares are listed in the left-hand column. Select one and update the following as needed:

RecordName (the name of the listing)
dsAttrTypeNative:smb_name
dsAttrTypeNative:afp_name

Changes should take effect immediately.

Apple hid this utility for a reason: Be careful, a wrong Directory entry can wreck your Mac.

Renaming sharepoints used to be possible with the Server app, but filesharing is now handled by the normal MacOS System Preference pane.


How can I export albums from Apple Photos into folders with the same names?

Ok, I have been combing the web for a similar solution as I really find Photos a poor replacement for Aperture.

This is an AppleScript script I put together based on various bits picked from similar questions but which they didn't do exactly what I needed.
I can tell you that this one works with OS X El Capitan, Apple Photos and my 70 GB of pics and videos, I added a few error checking steps, it might be done more elegantly so any feedback more than welcomed.
The reason it has the logic for picking albums based on the name is that otherwise the routine would go through all the albums, including default ones and export everything. I do use YYYY as start of each album so it is easy to select which ones I want to export. Possibly you can look for how to check for the parent folder or some other logic to ensure the script iterates over the right ones.

--AppleScript to export albums from Apple Photos
--Works with OSX El Capitan, Photos V1.3
--Usage: populate the initial variables with the folder to export to.
--It will create it in the desktop but you can use the alternative way
--to create it anywhere).
--Also populate the list of prefixes to look for.
--The script searches for them followed by a space, I use YYYY as
--prefix of all my albums. You may need to add your own logic there.

set theFolderName to "Exported Photos"
set albumprefixlist to {"2014","2013","2010"} -- Example list
set theDestinationRootFolder to POSIX file (POSIX path of file ((path to desktop as text) & theFolderName & ":")) as text
--Alternative:
--set theDestinationRootFolder to "/Users/[username]/Desktop/Exported Photos" as POSIX file as text -- sets the destination folder (use a valid path)
tell application "Finder"
    if not (exists theDestinationRootFolder) then
        my makeFolder(theDestinationRootFolder)
        log "Created root folder:" & theDestinationRootFolder
    else
        log "Root Folder already exists:" & theDestinationRootFolder
    end if
end tell
tell application "Photos"
    repeat with i in albums
        set tAlbum to get name of i
        set tFolder to (theDestinationRootFolder & tAlbum) as text
        try
            set nYear to text 1 thru ((offset of " " in tAlbum) - 1) of tAlbum as integer
        -- We use try here because in many cases there will be an error converting to integer

        end try
        set tYear to text 1 thru ((offset of " " in tAlbum) - 1) of tAlbum
        if tYear is in albumprefixlist then
            -- This checks the list, other tests can be done
            -- Alternative:if tAlbum begins with "2010" then
            -- Alternative: if nYear < 2010 then
            log "Processing " & tAlbum
            if (count of media items in i) > 0 then
                log "Exporting " & tAlbum & " to: " & tFolder
                tell application "Finder" to set fileExists to exists my POSIX file tFolder
                if not fileExists then
                    my makeFolder(tFolder) -- create a folder named (the name of this album) in dest
                    tell application "Photos"
                        try
                            export (get media items of i) to (tFolder as alias) with using originals
                        on error
                            log "Error with the export command, check the album's content"
                        end try
                    end tell
                else
                    log "Error, folder exists, rather not export there"
                end if
            else
                log "Skipping export as it is an Empty album"
            end if
        else
            log "Skipping album " & tAlbum
        end if
    end repeat
    log "Process completed"
end tell
on makeFolder(tPath)
    do shell script "mkdir -p " & quoted form of (POSIX path of tPath)
end makeFolder


Target disk mode turns your Mac with broken USB into a fancy hard drive.

You can do anything with that data that you could with any working hard drive. You could copy files from or to it, you could change permissions, you could install an os and you could include it in a backup.

It’s just data on a hard drive shaped like a Mac.


Two Airport Expresses extending the same network and a weekly password rotation?

If AE1 (plugged into the router) is setup as a wireless access point, then put a WPA/WPA2 password on that wireless network.

If AE2 is setup via Airport utility to "extend" the wireless network of AE1, then it will automatically inherit the password setup from the primary (in this case AE1).  Any password changes you make to AE1 will be transparent and update across both devices.

If you have setup AE2 to "join" a wireless network, this will not happen.

With "extend" the end user will only see one wireless network, with the same name, not two different devices.  Unless you have set your network up differently.


Using macbook running Lion, some software I'm using thinks there's an external monitor

I use a window manager by default (I highly recommend them anyway) and that will let you move windows back (my personal recomendation is Divy http://mizage.com/divvy/ - but I think they are all pretty similar)


Are there any car holsters for the iPhone 4 like the one that came with my first Android phone?

I'm not familiar with the Android dock you refer to (was it for the G1?), but the dock I personally use is a Belkin TuneBase:

As you can see, it can hold an iPhone landscape (though it will also pivot into the vertical position), powers/charges the phone, connects to your stereo either through a 3.5" headphone cable or an FM transmitter, and has a button that acts like the in-wire headphone button on the Apple iPhone headphones so I can play/pause music, go forward and back, and answer calls without needing to touch the device.

My only complaints are that the dock connector is only used for charging the device (I have to plug in my headphone jack manually) and that the audio quality on the other end of a speakerphone call isn't that great.


Where does Mountain Lion's Calendar.app store its preferences?

The bundle identifier is still com.apple.iCal. You can see it from the Info.plist or with something like bid() { osascript -e "id of app \"$*\""; }.

So the property list for the preferences is still in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iCal.plist. It will be probably be moved to ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iCal/Data/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iCal.plist if Apple sandboxes Calendar.


use this:

display alert output volume of (get volume settings)


Can you erase it using diskuitl

diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ "name" /dev/disk1

or repartition it.

diskutil partitiondisk /dev/disk1 JHFS+ newdiskname 100%


Source of grease inside unibody macbook?

There is one source of Grease looking like component inside your Mac.

The Thermal paste used between the chips and heat sink.

Who ever did the job made a mess out of it without cleaning it.


Buying a replacement display assembly would repair that damage. It's not a super hard repair, but you could break the rest of the Mac while it's open so if you read the guide for your Mac on iFixit.com or another place where people make DIY repair manuals - you can choose to pay a technician or see if DIY is worth an attempt.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201834

Also - you don't need to fix this - you could use your Mac in closed clamshell mode with an external display - it won't be portable, but an external display is cheaper and larger than the built in one and you would get to use that external with any computer and not sink the cost on the custom display as a service part.

Since your movement changes the lines - it's a fracture / disconnect of the wires to run the display and the panel that broke - not that the logic board or GPU have issues as the most likely failure mode. Once you get in to the Mac - you may find the logic board also cracked - so be sure you are OK getting it repaired ($800 for MacBook - $1200 for MacBook Pro) if all the parts are damaged and not just the screen. When you open, like Humpty Dumpty - if the case is holding things together marginally, when you open the case, you may find / cause more damage.


Automator action to run python script on series of files fails in Catalina

Running python scripts in shell scripts seems to work for me. Does the script have executable flags set?

Also, is there any reason you're using a shell script to pass the arguments to the python script, and not just embedding the python script in the Action?

You can set the 'Shell' drop-down value to /usr/bin/python, to use the bundled system python; or you can just use #!/usr/bin/env python at the start of your script.

Automator will even help you out by offering:

import sys

for f in sys.argv[1:]:
    print f

to get your arguments into your script.


Bluetooth not enabled at startup on MacPro 3,1

Try a PRAM reset if you think NVRAM could be causing this. Other than that you can create a new admin user in System Preferences > Users & Groups and reboot into that. It won't fix the issue but if it doesn't happen you can be sure a setting or application in your profile is causing it. If it persists it could be NVRAM or even a software update.


Try

netstat -r

Note that this will resolve the names of the gateways if possible. This takes some time. If you don't need this, run

netstat -rn


Oddly enough macOS Finder does not (seem to) offer a reverse sort in anything but list view.
You can change the sort order in list view by clicking on the column heading and noting the direction the arrow points, either up or down.
But a sort order does not seem to be available in anything but list view.
Perhaps a Finder alternative/replacement (like Path Finder) will have the functionality you are looking for.
Also you can choose the columns if you right-click on a column heading. You can add the Date Added column. As shown below (Catalina 10.15.7)


How to mute a FaceTime iPhone call on OS X through a shortcut?

Yes you can! Here are the steps:

Open Automator and create an Automator Service, with a single Run AppleScript action, containing the following code:

High Sierra and later:

tell application "System Events" to tell process "Notification Center"
    if checkbox "Mute" of window 1 exists then
        click checkbox "Mute" of window 1
    end if
end tell

Sierra and earlier:

tell application "System Events"
    if checkbox "Mute" of window 1 of application process "FaceTime" exists then
        click checkbox "Mute" of window 1 of application process "FaceTime"
    end if
end tell

Set the service to receive "no input" and to work in "any application", save it with a name of your choosing.
Now, go into the Shortcuts tab in the Keyboard preferences in System Preferences, and click on Services. The newly created service should be at the bottom, under the name you chose. Click on the service, then click on "add shortcut" to its right, and specify a shortcut to your liking.
You may have to grant Automator and/or FaceTime access in Accessibility in the Privacy tab of the Security and Privacy preferences.

That's it! You should now have a service set up, tied to the shortcut you chose that can be accessed from anywhere.


Looking for an iPhone app or script that turns off “Cellular Data” when on 2G and then BACK ON when on 3G

A left field suggestion:

Turn off cellular data and use a Mifi device (such as the Huawei E585) for your internet connection.
Yes this does mean another device and another SIM card, but you may be OK with that.

I've used this combination with an iPhone and it works really well.
You can leave the Mifi in your pocket, so forget it's even there
(just remember to charge it!).
You get other benefits, for example it means using a laptop or tablet "in the field" is possible also as they'll be net-connected.


Where have my safari, App Store, iTunes Store, and Siri gone?

Sounds like your restrictions were turned on somehow. Try the following:

Open Settings
Tap General
Scroll down to Restrictions and see if it says it's On
If it is, when you tap it, it will ask for a "Restrictions Passcode". If you don't remember setting this then just try your unlock code or SIM PIN.
You'll probably notice that the toggles for Safari and the others are set to off. If you don't want these restrictions in place then just tap "Disable Restrictions" at the top of that view.
You'll be asked to enter that passcode one last time to disable the restrictions

And that's it! You should now be able to access everything again!

If you can't, there's another possibility that the device is being managed with a provisioning profile so if the above doesn't work, leave a comment and let me know. :)


Inviting someone to iOS development team but restrict his access to one app

You can set which user has access to which apps in iTunes Connect
(Appe Support Article)

    From the homepage, click Users and Roles, then click iTunes Connect Users.
    Click the Apple ID for the user you want to edit, then click Roles.
    In the Apps section, choose an option from the pop-up menu:


Can OS X be configured to only allow administrator users access to shutdown tools?

You can use Workgroup Manager and OS X's managed preferences (MCX) to restrict access to the Restart and Shut Down commands in the Finder:

..then use the Accounts prefpane to show or hide the Restart, Sleep, and Shut Down buttons at the loginwindow:


That is an excellent start but you may still get the same error message as Windows will often want to know the domain of the username (not "Domain" with a capital D).

When you log into a PC over the network from another PC your username will often take the form of:

[PCNAME]\[USERNAME]
[PASSWORD]

So if my pc was called stevespc with a username of steve and a password of 1234:

stevespc\steve
1234

This is so that the PC will know where to get the authentication information from. If you leave off the [PCNAME] then it will assume that it is using credentials from the computer you are logging in from and not the username and password that you want to get to (with a username/password from the target PC).

so you may have to add the computer name of the mac. If you can't recall it you can use the IP address as well. Like this:

192.168.0.1\steve
1234

It's annoying and can be confusing at first but once you learn the trick its no big deal.


How to get full resolution from a Dell E207WFP connected to a 2015 MacBook Air?

Attaching the monitor with a DVI cable instead of the VGA cable caused Mac OS to recognize the monitor and use the full resolution.


Copy the certificate to the client (in DER or PEM format), then run:

sudo security add-trusted-cert -d /path/to/certificate

At least, that works for SSL certificates; I haven't tried it for code signing.  You might need to add -p codeSign or something similar.  Also, this sets a trust policy for the certificate, but doesn't actually add it to the system keychain.  If you want it to appear there as well, you also need to run:

sudo security add-certificate -k /Library/Keychains/System.keychain /path/to/certificate


2007 battery replacement for 15" pro. 85w now 60w? Help!

That looks like the correct part. On the page where you linked the battery at the top right is a phone support and live chat Pre sales and apple will ensure you have the right part.

If there were no losses (there are and they are not negligible) and there were not a cutoff in the charging circuitry, then this battery would get charged fully in less than an hour from an 85 watt adapter. The circuitry limits the charging rate to prolong the batteries so you should expect between 2 and 4 hours to charge that "60 watt hour" battery. The extra "capacity" serves to run the device and peripherals and have extra to spare and still charge that battery when needed.


Recreating iTunes library from a .itdb file?

You never said whether your hard drive is dead. If it's not, pull it out and use it as an external drive (with the help of a SATA-Firewire adapter). Use Migration Assistant.app to copy over your music, or just copy your iTunes folder (e.g., "~/Music/iTunes Media/").

Then, the next time open up iTunes, hold down alt as you tell it to open. In the following dialog box, select the new location of your iTunes Media folder.

My apologies if your hard drive is legitimately dead. I don't yet have privileges to comment on a question, which would have been a more appropriate vector for asking you to clarify the state of your hard drive.


iTunes Match: What do these symbols mean in iTunes?

It seems you have 2 copies of that song on your local library. One of them was uploaded/matched on iTunes Match and the other wasn't because it is a duplicate. The one with the duplicate icon is the duplicate and the one with the download icon is the one available in iTunes Match.


Likely they reside in the Application's Cache directory.

Look into (HOME)/Library/Caches and (HOME)/Library/Application Support


Toggle Apple Mail "Classic Layout" with shortcut?

Here's the applescript for it. Set this up as an app or something but this should get you started.

tell application "Mail" to activate
tell application "System Events"
    keystroke "," using command down
end tell

tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Mail"
        click button 5 of tool bar 1 of window 1
        delay 0.1
        click checkbox "Use classic layout" of group 1 of group 1 of window "Viewing"
    end tell
end tell


How to Open .dist extension as folder on Mac OS X?

Quit TextMate and open /Applications/TextMate.app/Contents/Info.plist in a text editor.
Remove the highlighted content from line 531 per the screenshot below:

Log out and back in.


Time Machine wiped my external drive despite pressing "Don't Use"

Here is the answer I got on the Apple Support Forums:

  Time Machine does NOT format drives, that I know of. If you connect a drive that is not formatted Mac extended TM should pop up a warning that it can't use that drive for its backup but it should Not indicriminately Format the drive.

  I agree with Thomas that the drive is failing or has failed. More then likely if you copy data to that drive it will become corrupted. Time to get a new drive and throw that one in the trash.


Recreating iTunes .itl database from .xml file without itunes copying songs?

Turns out that the one step I was forgetting was to reset the iTunes settings after removing my .itl database and library .xml files so that iTunes did not "organize your library" and "copy songs to itunes media folder after adding to library".


How do I launch an application with a specific JDK?

There's a support article from that game's developer addressing an issue where "the game freezes at start-up (blank screen)". It involves installing Java 1.6 (as you've done) and manually updating a library file, libjogl_awt.jnilib. However that article says the issue occurs when "[upgrading] to High Sierra", so this might not be what's causing your issue if you're still running Sierra.


NoScript
...can block plugins which you enable once via click-to-play or permanently by white-listing domains that they load content from.

While its primary aim is preventing malicious JavaScript from running, NoScript effectively blocks Java™, Silverlight™, Flash®, and other plugins and embeddings (such HTML video/audio elements and downloadable fonts) on sites you didn't explicitly whitelisted.
Java Applets, Flash movies/applications, Quicktime clips, PDF documents and other content won't be even downloaded from sites where you consider them annoyances or dangers, saving your bandwidth and increasing your navigation speed.

NoScript's settings for blocking plug-ins can be found in:
NoScript Preferences → Embedded Content
Overall though, I'd not recommend this add-on if your goal it to merely to reduce  noise. NoScript has been written first to block javascript and it is a wonderful tool for that.
However, because it's so powerful and configurable, it can be difficult to use for newcomers and takes a while to setup.


One Mac can print to network printer, one cannot

I solved the problem on my Mac. It was McAfee's firewall. It was blocking Bonjour communications... hence no printer sharing, or finding on the network. Disabled McAfee's firewall, and poof! Everything works.


How to delete GameCenter and iCloud from Internet Accounts using the Terminal?

The Internet accounts are stored in ~/Library/Accounts/Accounts4.sqlite.

give your terminal full disk access or you can't access ~/Library/Accounts
create a backup (e.g. cp ~/Library/Accounts ~/Library/Accounts.bak
open it with sqlite3 or any other sqlite client such as DB Browser for SQLite
give full disk access to your sqlite client (important if using a client with a GUI or its own wrapper, such as the above)
SELECT * from ZACCOUNT;
delete the row you want gone
save
reopen Internet Settings

This helped me get rid of a broken Game Center account on Big Sur. The account caused the Internet Accounts dialog to freeze.
credits: https://www.telnetport25.com/2020/04/macos-catalina-there-was-an-error-in-internet-accounts-preferences/


Is it bad if Guided Access is always running?

I have guided access running all the time, however i am not experiencing any slow-downs (using an iPad Pro).
I doubt guided access is different than any other app, so the background tasks should execute.


In Inbox by Gmail, where is the new "Swipe to delete" setting?

Inbox → Menu → Settings → account → Action to take when done with a message → Move to bin


I've booted in recovery mode and reinstall Mojave and now everything works fine again


iChat with Yahoo Messenger keeps prompting about the same buddy requests

Sadly, the problem lays in the chat protocol between the Mac and Yahoo.

The only solution I've found is to log on with a Window's machine using the latest Y!M client and doing the decline/ignore there.

I was up to 15 messages requests between my two acts every time I woke my Mac from sleep. Going to the Yahoo client on Windows cleared this up entirely.


Spotlight search stopped suggesting my frequently-used app

the same thing happened to me today... I just shut down my Mac and restarted it after a while and for now it's fixed...

I hope it will stay this way, nd it might be a solution for you as well!


I found this link helpful to solve a similar problem I was having:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1867978

I tried adding exit 0 to the end of my Automator shell script and it didn't seem to make a difference one way or the other.

After I read the above link I added this to the command in my Automator shell script:

>/dev/null 2>&1 &

It worked great. My Automator shell script now terminates normally.

In the above question, I believe the rsync command could be changed to:

rsync -aovE --delete /Volumes/STORAGE/Batting/Volumes/home/Backup >/dev/null 2>&1 &

If you wanted to log the output from your command, as I did, to a file /var/log/rsync.log then you could modify it to this:

rsync -aovE --delete /Volumes/STORAGE/Batting/Volumes/home/Backup >/var/log/rsync.log >/dev/null 2>&1 &


How to duplicate an entire dropbox directory tree to skydrive?

Dropbox honors symbolic links so you can use

ln -s ~/Desktop/SkyDrive ~/Desktop/Dropbox/

This creates a symbolic link SkyDrive inside your Dropbox folder pointing to the whole SkyDrive. All files/directories stored inside SkyDrive will be available in Dropbox as well now.


Any way to launch a separate instance of Google Chrome with a custom icon?

You could do all this via the Finder instead, along the following lines:

Within Finder, navigate to your Google Chrome app
Select (but do not launch) the Google Chrome app
Press commandC to copy the app
Press commandV to paste the app
Now you will have two copies of the Google Chrome browser
Select the second copy (but do not launch it)
Press commandI to get info of the app
Now navigate to wherever you have the icon you'd like to use and also Get Info (commandI) for that
In the Get Info window for the icon, select the icon at the top left and press commandC to copy the icon
Navigate back to the Get Info window for the second copy of Google Chrome (the one you opened up at Step 7)
Select the Google Chrome icon and paste (commandV) the icon you copied at Step 9
While you're at it, you may want to rename the second copy of Google Chrome

Now when you launch the two copies of Google Chrome, they will each have a separate icon.


Splitting a mac desktop into smaller portions

Have you looked at PowerDesk for Mac? the description says it can do what you want. There's a DualHead2Go & TripleHead2Go User Guide for Mac. PowerDesk for Mac can be downloaded for 10.6 thru 10.10. See Download info.

Okay, instead of preferences in order, from your comment they're all requirements.

Try a combo of PowerDesk for Mac, Cinch and SizeUp.


old iPad, new Mac, transfer iMessage logs

After updating to iOS 11.4 or greater and macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 or greater you should be able to use iMessage on iCloud. This would allow you to sync your message data across iCloud, so when you sign in from your mac all your messages from your iPad appear on your Mac. To enable that settings follow the tutorial here.

Enable on iOS

  Enabling this feature is simple. Open the Settings app, then tap the
  Apple ID settings with your name at the top of the page. On the Apple
  ID page, Tap "iCloud," then toggle on "Messages." If you have not set
  up two-factor authentication, Apple will walk you through the process
  here.

  Once 2FA has been enabled, the Messages icon should be as well.

  Once you enable the "Messages" toggle, when you open up the Messages
  app, it should say "Uploading Messages to Cloud" to indicate it's
  doing just that. If you're not connected to Wi-Fi and not plugged in
  to charge via USB, you will get an "Uploading to iCloud Paused"
  message stating to plug in your device and connect to Wi-Fi. Once it's
  done, the popups will disappear.

Enable on macOS

  Now, you won't notice anything different about Messages right away.
  Most of Messages in iCloud's features are under the hood. However, if
  you are running the iOS 11.4 on another device or if your Mac is
  running macOS 10.13.5 (it needs to be enabled in the Messages
  settings), you'll notice what happens on one Messages app happens on
  the other.

  If you enabled it on your iOS device already, you should get a prompt
  on your Mac to enable it. If not, open the Messages app, then click on
  "Messages" in the menu bar, followed by "Preferences." From there,
  click on the "Accounts" tab, and select the iMessage account listed on
  the left side of the window. If you haven't already, you may need to
  check the box that says "Enable this account." When that's good, check
  the box next to "Enable Messages in iCloud" (beta versions at one
  point called it "Enable Messages on iCloud").

  If you don't see this option, you are likely still running iOS 11.3.4
  and will need to update your software.


How do I distinguish text conversations from the same contact with different phone numbers?

The answer is: you can't distinguish the different numbers from a single contact


Is there an Enterprise version of iBooks Author?

The restrictions only apply to the .ibooks format.

From the iBooks Author Publishing and Distribution FAQ of 2/7/12:

  Are there any restrictions on the distribution of works produced with
  iBooks Author?

  If a fee is charged for the work and it is in the .ibooks format, the
  work may only be sold through the iBookstore. If the work is in a
  different format, such as PDF or ePub, this restriction does not
  apply.

Here's the relevant part of the updated license agreement regarding the distribution of work:

  (i) if the work is provided for free [...], you may distribute it by any means;

  (ii) if the work is provided for a fee [...] and included files in the .ibooks format [...], the work may only be distributed through Apple, [...], however, that this restriction will not apply to the content of the work when distributed in a form that does not include files in the .ibooks format [...]. You retain all your rights in the content of your works, and you may distribute such content by any means when it does not include files in the .ibooks format [...].


How to sync my iTunes library to my iPhone while still using iCloud Music Library for Apple Music?

Ok, I think there is a way to do this, but it is not my preferred method.

When you have iCloud Music Library turned on for your iPhone or iOS device, you will also need to make sure it is turned on for your iTunes library on the desktop. When you do so Apple automatically uploads your iTunes library to iCloud. Then, your iTunes library shows up on your iOS device. If you want to save those tracks locally, you must choose to do so within Apple Music on the device itself.

Basically, Apple has done away with the idea of syncing your music locally through a USB cable, you must do it over the air via your data connection or WiFi. Kind of stupid that it has to go through Apple's iCloud servers first and then back to your device...


What Version of Bash comes with OSX 10.9 / Mavericks?

Zephyr:~ ats$ bash --version
GNU bash, version 3.2.51(1)-release (x86_64-apple-darwin13)
Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Zephyr:~ ats$ which bash
/bin/bash


mount encrypted sparseimage as home directory before login

So depending on the actual use case you are working with I may have an answer for your dilemma. If the location you are mounting to exists prior to actually mounting your disk, logging in before mounting the disk will create a default user filesystem with its very own login keychain. You can log in to a different account, mount the disk and save the password to the keychain, copy the password to the system keychain, and (after unmounting the disk) transfer the password to the unmounted user account login keychain. That item will exist prior to mounting so the disk can be automatically mounted on login. So you should be able to use that password with launch agents. Go into the password options and allow all applications to use it so you are not prompted for anything after it is in its final location.

If you cannot get launch agents to work, you can always write a short applescript app to refresh your finder to have the proper desktop to display and put it in the login items of the unmounted account so that it executes after the drive is mounted

delay 5
do shell script "killall Finder"

Put that into the /Users/Shared folder or something so it can be accessed before mounting and the mounting process does not interfere.

So that "kind of" does not require user interaction at least beyond the process of logging on. I hope that helps!


How to set Fn and left Control keys as shortcuts to change between tabs in Safari

Both the control key and Fn key are modifier keys, which generally aren't intended to trigger anything by themselves. I think that even a macro program (e.g. keyboard maestro ) probably won't trigger on just a mod key. I know that Alfred won't trigger a workflow on a mod key.

There is a program called Ukulele that lets you edit your keyboard layout, and that would make it possible to remap your keyboard's behavior to your heart's content, but either you'd need to live with those keys being remapped all the time, or you'd need to select the alternate keyboard you created when you're in Safari.

Long story short, I think it's possible but will take some work and be annoying.


The best course of action is to use the secondary Linux machine to read the drive and make a bit-for-bit copy as soon as possible. Use a program such as ddrescue to ensure you get as possible out.

After you've made the copy, do any recovery attempts of file contents on the image you've created with ddrescue.

Your hybrid drive is most probably failing and failing fast. Hybrid drives have a lot more failure modes than a regular hard drive or SSD drive, so that's why you can experience very odd things happening - without for example it being the same sectors that are "bad" all the time.

You'll need to replace the drive. As it is only 6 months, perhaps you can get it replaced under warranty from the drive manufacturer or seller.


Mac Mini Server Reset To Factory - Help With Fatal Error

In case anyone has searched this and had the same problem as me here was the problem.

After a trip in to the apple store and some work on my own It turned out to be partly a broken sata cord inside the mini as well as the raid partition setup. Once the apple store employees helped me find the sata cable that was causing the error I realized the final problem was that one of the raid slices was set as a promoted drive.

The reason I couldn't tell this was the actual problem was an unrelated separate problem which turned out to be a broken sata cable. Once that was replaced it was fairly easy to see that one of the raid slices needed to be demoted in order to remove both partitions and truly wipe the HDD.


Where is opendirectory/accounts/login information stored on macos

It is stored in /private/var/db/dslocal/nodes.


How can I tell Firewall to allow incoming connections for Python running a specific script? (In this case: SickBeard)

While checking the programs above I realized I hadn't added the Current alias, which was  likely used:

/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current/Python

Adding Python from the Current alias folder fixed my problem. Hadn't seen this question or answer anywhere else online so I'm keeping it up.


Connecting iMac 2012 to an Yamaha Amplifier

Yes the iMac have optical out, most Macs do.

You need one of these Toslink adapter that plugs into standard 3.5mm audio plug for iMac to output optical from that.

Those are pretty cheap, and most are bundled with the cable itself or some audio accessories. Some shops might give away one for free, I got mine that way.

Anyway, Good luck!


How to launch Hangouts Chrome extension via AppleScript?

This works for me in macOS High Sierra:

if running of application "Google Chrome" then
    tell application "System Events" to click menu bar item 1 of menu bar 2 of application process "Chrome"
else
    tell application "Google Chrome"
        activate
        tell active tab of front window
            repeat while (loading)
                delay 0.2
            end repeat
        end tell
    end tell
    tell application "System Events" to click menu bar item 1 of menu bar 2 of application process "Chrome"
end if

Note: The example AppleScript code is just that and does not employ any error handling and is meant only to show one of many ways accomplish a task. The onus is always upon the User to add/use appropriate error handling as needed/wanted.


iPad virtual keyboard text entry: Can I disable the automatic upper-casing that takes place after I end a sentence?

Go to settings
Go to general
Go to keyboard
Toggle and disable auto-capitalization


YouTube on Safari Very Stuttery After 11.3

You can try doing a Safe boot (clear system caches) by holding Shift key at boot and then reboot the Mac.


Translate shell script not working within Automator

The default PATH passed to the Run Shell Script action in Automator is:

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

I always add a PATH=..., where ... is the actual PATH used in Terminal, to the top of the Run Shell Script action in Automator.

Or you have to add the fully qualified pathname of any executable to the command line that is not in the default PATH passed to the Run Shell Script action in Automator.

The last line in the trans script is gawk -f <(echo -E "$TRANS_PROGRAM") - "$@" and unless gawk is in the default PATH passed you'll need to add the location of gawk to the PATH you pass to the Run Shell Script action in Automator, or add the fully qualified pathname to the gawk command at the end of the trans script.

In Terminal use which gawk to get its path, e.g.:

which gawk
/usr/local/bin/gawk

In trans, change:

gawk -f <(echo -E "$TRANS_PROGRAM") - "$@"

To:

/usr/local/bin/gawk -f <(echo -E "$TRANS_PROGRAM") - "$@"

Or in the Run Shell Script action in Automator, e.g.:

PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin

Or use the PATH from the output of echo $PATH in Terminal.


How to migrate from Windows 7 to Windows 10 double bootcamp boot on Macbook late 2011 - MacOS High Sierra

As per my understanding, If you have a Macbook running a "genuine" copy of Windows 7/8/8.1 (properly licensed and activated), you can follow the same steps I did to upgrade it to Windows 10.

Boot your MacBook from your Windows 7 and carry the steps:

To get started, go to the Download Windows 10 webpage and click the Download tool now button. After the download completes, run the Media Creation Tool.

Choose the Upgrade this PC now option and be done with it.

Then just follow the prompts to complete the upgrade. You will not be asked for a product key, and when the upgrade is complete and you've connected to the Internet, you'll have a digital license to Windows 10, which you can confirm by going to Settings > Update & Security > Activation.

The digital license is associated with that specific device, which means you can reformat the disk and perform a clean installation of the same edition of Windows 10 anytime. You won't need a product key, and activation is automatic.


How to save an iTunes Podcast to a USB stick?

Right-Click on the file in iTunes, then select "Show in Finder"

There you have your Podcast-File. You can copy it on your USB-Drive or wherever you want!


Honestly, I would just buy some off eBay. I prefer the old ones too and have bought some from there before which were genuine.

If you're worried about fakes, look up the seller or look at their feedback.


iPhone external speak with Bluetooth and AirPlay?

Samsung has announced some products that support both.

Have a look at the high-end Samsung Audio Dock DA-E750, and the (only) a bit cheaper DA-E670.

I have never listened to the Samsung speakers, but I do find them a bit expensive compared to the already 'premium' price of the B&W Zeppelin Air for example, which still has a better reputation regarding audio quality, although preliminary reviews speak well about the quality of the Samsung speakers.

Also AirPlay is technically the superior technology, as it has a much larger bandwidth than Bluetooth, and transmits the audio uncompressed to the speaker. Unless you have specific reasons for needing Bluetooth, perhaps traveling with your speakers or streaming from non-Apple devices, I'd prefer an AirPlay speaker.


Serial number and sound unavailable after taking apart MacBook Air to clean it

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

Reset the NVRAM

Reset the NVRAM on your MBA as follows:

Shut down your machine. Yes, a full shut down, not just logging out.
Press the power button and then press the commandoptionpr keys. You have to make sure you press these keys before the gray screen appears or it won’t work.
Hold those keys down until your MBA reboots again (i.e. you hear the startup chime a second time).
Let go of the keys and let your MBA reboot normally.

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

Reset the SMC

To reset the SMC on your MBA, follow these steps:

Shut down your MBA
Keep the power cable plugged in.
Press at the same time shiftoptioncontrol (on the left side of the keyboard) and the power button
Let go
Turn your computer back on with the power button.

After resetting both the NVRAM and SMC check to see if either (or both) issues still persist.

If they do, then run some hardware diagnostics next.

Testing hardware

The diagnostics you run depend on your model of MacBook:

If it was introduced before June 2013, it uses Apple Hardware Test
If it was introduced after June 2013, it uses Apple Diagnostics

Once doing all this you should be able to identify/narrow down the cause.


try

/usr/local/php5/bin/php --version

If you want that php to become the default when you type php at the command line, run this:

echo "alias php='/usr/local/php5/bin/php'">>~/.bash_profile

then close your terminal and open a new one or run

. ~/.bash_profile


Apple wireless keyboard it's always turned off at startup

So the keyboard really needs to long-press turn on again? That's weird.

But these are things I will try:

Re-Pair the keyboard. Delete it from the known bluetooth device list, and pair it again.

Test the keyboard with other Macs

Replace the battery


Mail in Mavericks does not correctly text wrap / no option to view in plain text

There is an application called SmartWrap that, until the latest update (10.9.1) worked flawlessly to wrap text within the Mail.app viewing window. However, despite several email discussions with the developer, it may be broken (temporarily, I hope, since I've used the application for more than a decade without a hitch).


Temporary files listed by lsof don't exist

On some unix variants, lsof shows files that have been deleted but are still open. More precisely, these files have a “link count” of 0, meaning that there is no directory entry (no link, i.e. no name) that leads to them, but the file data still exists. The file data will be deleted when the file is closed.

The ability of lsof to display files with a link count of 0 depends on the platform, and I can't find anything in the documentation regarding the situation on OS X. Try running lsof +L to see the files' link count, or lsof +L1 to list only files with a link count of 0.

I wouldn't be surprised if the flash plugin created the file and immediately deleted in, it's a simple technique for making the data harder to obtain from outside the application. In other words, it's what the plugin author would do precisely to make it hard to do what you're trying to do. If that's what going on, you could counter it with something like libtrash for OSX.


Why does Eclipse launch so slowly on Mac OS X?

I was able to resolve the issue.

I inspected the logs and noticed the PyDev plugin was searching for a Python 2.5 interpreter (which had been installed on previous OS X installations). After I removed the Python 2.5 interpreter from PyDev's list of configured interpreters, the issue vanished.


Can I decrypt and read a partition without booting it from another mac?

You can unlock/decrypt and read any FileVault2 volume – either system or data partition – as long as the invisible Recovery HD partition (for a bootable system partition) or a Boot OS X partition (data partition) is still present and a password is known. Both partitions are usually following the respective encrypted partition. Boot OS X is no bootable partition as the name may suggest but a 134.2 MB partition probably holding some informations about the encrypted data partition.


For what its worth I've seen the same issue with Fusion 6 and nmap.  I also saw tcpdump fail as well:

sudo tcpdump -i vmnet8
tcpdump: vmnet8: No such device exists
(BIOCSETIF failed: Device not configured)

After upgrading libpcap to 1.40 and this still not resolving the problem, I found the following outdated post:
https://communities.vmware.com/message/693833#693833

Specifically this quote is where the issue lies:
"No guarantees, but we can try to take a look at implementing BPF on Fusion's network interfaces in a future release."

This seems to point to the issue being a vmware problem, so I tried VirtualBox 4.3.0 and when using NAT at least, the issues do not occur (nmap also worked for me):

$ ifconfig
…
vboxnet0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
ether 0a:00:00:00:00:00
inet 192.168.56.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.56.255

$ sudo tcpdump -i vboxnet0
tcpdump: WARNING: vboxnet0: That device doesn't support promiscuous mode
(BIOCPROMISC: Operation not supported on socket)
tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode
listening on vboxnet0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 65535 bytes


Follow these 6 shocking steps to prepare your iPhone for another user:

- What to do before selling or giving away your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch


How to Locate an App Running in the Background

Maybe it's a LaunchAgent? See here to stop. See here to remove.

If you want to find the actual file try EasyFind. It'll find things that Spotlight does not, especially non-user oriented files.


Connect external display to Macbook Pro 2018: HDMI or DisplayPort?

According to this discussion, it's recommended to go with Display Port.
Quoting from the answer:

So, the question is actually: "Which would work better? Display Port to HDMI or Display Port to Display Port?"
Personally, I don't like converting signals from one to the next - I would go with a Display Port adapter and keep everything the same end-to-end. The less you have to convert, the less overhead and the less compatibility issues.

Credit to @Allan for the original answer.


Restoring Time Machine backup made on a previous OS X version

Yes, the migration assistant can migrate from an older version. However it cannot migrate from a newer version.

Backup of 10.9 --> System on 10.10 works

Backup of 10.10 --> System on 10.9 does not work


Why does Mac OS include both ABC and US keyboard layouts when the two perform the same functions?

As per this Apple Discussion:

You should use US or ABC.  ABC is just the same as US but you don't have an American flag.  Some users outside the US may find that preferable.
ABC-Extended (formerly called US Extended) is much like US or ABC, but it lets you type a whole lot more accented characters via option key shortcuts.  If you have a need to type Chinese pinyin with tone marks, then ABC-Extended is the one to pick.

Apple also provides ABC QWERTZ and ABC AZERTY keyboards, which are the same as the ones called German and French, but without the German and French flags, for users who prefer that.


Creating 2 quarter-sheet sized booklet on single sheet of paper

Use Table settings and cells, e.g. in Word
Use Pages as layout program able to integrate texts generated in Word or elsewhere

in that manner, you can easily specify the printing fields.


How to set Apple Magic Mouse permanently with Mac?

You shouldn't have to continually pair the mouse after every restart, this indicates there is a problem.

First thing I would try is to power everything down, and then turn the mouse back on (small switch on the bottom) so that the mouse is "discoverable" before restarting. Ensure you follow these set up instructions after restart.

Make sure you have installed all system updates. OS X 10.6.2, for example, fixed a problem with bluetooth pairing.

If this still doesn't fix the problem, you could try to Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) (see this Apple support document.)


How can I remove Tapjoy's signing certificate?

It looks like the profile and associated certificate never made it to your phone. If they had, as you note, you would see them in "Settings - General - Profile."

Most likely you attempted to enroll, but there was a network issue (flakey network, blocked ports, problem with the server) which prevented the task from succeeding. SCEP, the protocol which handles certificates, is pretty much a form of file transfer - an analogy for your situation would be clicking a "download" link and having the network go down, or the server go offline, before you can finish the transfer.


I agree with Steve Chambers. Your hard drive is likely dying or dead (google "click of death hard drive"). An authorized Apple repair center can swap it out for a new drive (get an SSD, it'll speed your machine up), or you can DIY. I don't know your exact computer model, but the most recent Mac laptops that shipped with spinning hard drives were around 2012, so here is an example of how to replace your hard drive with an SSD (assuming it's a 2012 Macbook Pro, for instance):
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2012+Hard+Drive+Replacement/10378

It's actually quite easy to do yourself if you're careful and order one of the upgrade kits with the appropriate tools (small screwdriver and a T6 torx) along with the SSD.

Good luck! Cheers,
-joe


Why does the same colour appear different in different apps?

The discrepancy exists because something/someone messed up handling of color spaces and/or color profiles.

A very short and crude explanation:

Colors on computers are expressed as numbers - for example here as RGB with each color ranging from 0 to 255 (i.e. 24 bit color).

Computer displays are not all alike - they can display different ranges of colors. This doesn't mean that some displays do not display anything when asked to show certain combinations of R, G and B. Instead a different color will be displayed. These are called "native values".

If you choose a certain color on your computer display and send that color code to your neighbour - you would ideally want him to be able to see the same exact color on his computer. If he has a different type of display, chances are that he would see a completely different color (here we're not even taking into account calibrating individual displays of the same type).

In order to solve this problem, you have the concept of color spaces and mappings between them:

When you create the original color codes, you have to specify in which colour space you have defined them. I.e. for example define that the background color of this theme needs to be RGB (0,43,54) in sRGB. This is exactly what the Solarized Dark theme does.

When you create a program to load in color codes, you'll need to take into account the color space of the color codes you read from an external source. I.e. the program needs to convert or map the color code from the colour space of the original file into an internal representation.

Furthermore when that program wants to display the color on screen, it needs to map it to the color space of the connected monitor.

To show an example: Imagine you're using a MacBook Pro with a color space of Display P3 and load in the color RGB (0,43,54) in the sRGB color space.

If you look at an illustration of color spaces, you'll see that Display P3 is "larger than" (i.e. fully includes) sRGB. Therefore if something is defined as having a red value of 255 (max) in sRGB, it needs to have a lower value when mapped to Display P3 in order to leave room for those extra colors that Display P3 can display that aren't included in sRGB.

This means that (0,43,54) will need to be sent out to the display as a "darker" color code in order to achieve the same physical color when viewed by a human.

In addition to this color space management, there is the variation between individual displays of the same type. It is simply not possible to produce displays at the costs consumers are used to that are exactly alike in color reproduction.

Therefore the displays are "calibrated" - meaning that their actual displayed colours are measured and compared against what they were supposed to be displaying - and a mapping to compensate for that discrepancy is made. That is stored as a "color profile" on your computer.

If a program doesn't support color spaces when reading in colours or when displaying them, or it doesn't support color profiles correctly - then you can end up with situations like this where the same color is displayed differently in different applications.


Numbers: Can I highlight the row and column of the selected cell?

If I understand your question, Numbers does this by default - note the darkened row and column identifiers in the image below at AK50.

Edit: ah, I see.. okay, I found an inconvenient hack:

Select the Column containing your target cell
Cmd click the cell above (or the Cmd Click the row index of the cell above)
Cmd click the Row containing your target cell
Cmd click to reselect the cell above your target

Like so:

Maybe you could use automator to make this less painful?


How do I delete iTunes from my MacBook Pro

To delete iTunes Music:
Your iTunes Music is stored in a Music Library. The default location is in the Music Folder in Finder.
If you don't know where the Music folder is, open Finder and click Go > Home and open the folder Music.
You can delete this entire folder. It will offer to create a new blank Library next time you open iTunes. You will lose all the music, of course, when you delete this folder.
Music/iTunes Application
On macOS Sierra you can delete iTunes, but I'd recommend against it. You would likely have to disable security features. Remember that Music is just a few hundred megabytes - less than 0.08% of even the smallest hard drives.


Where is "search" on the iPod nano 6th gen?

It looks like this iPod doesn't have this feature: it's not mentioned in the manual (http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iPod_nano_6thgen_User_Guide.pdf) - even in the index.

However, you can go to all items starting with a certain letter.  From the manual (on page 20):

  If the list you’re browsing has an index, drag your finger down the
  index to show a large letter superimposed over the list. When you
  reach the letter you want, lift your finger.


GUID_partition_scheme not fully used after SSD clone

The output you posted shows 250 GB of free space. You could either use the space to install Linux or you could add this space to the APFS container. The command to add the space to the container is given below.
sudo diskutil apfs resizecontainer disk0s2 0

If you want to use the free space to install Linux, then nothing needs to be done from macOS. You will need to allocate the free space for Linux partitions when you run the Linux installer.
You might consider booting to macOS Recover and posting the output from the command below. This command will not change your computer. The output will give a better idea if the drive was cloned correctly.
gpt -r show /dev/disk0

Update
If you enter the command diskutil apfs resizecontainer, the following documentation is produced.
Usage:  diskutil APFS resizeContainer <inputDisk> limits [-plist]
        diskutil APFS resizeContainer <inputDisk> <newSize> [<triple>*]
        where <inputDisk> = A Container Reference DiskIdentifier (preferred)
              or a Physical Store DiskIdentifier
              <newSize> = the desired new Container or Physical Store size
              <triple> = a { fileSystemPersonality, name, size } tuple
Resize an APFS Container. One of the Container's Physical Store disks will be
resized, and therefore the Container which it defines will be resized by an
equal amount. You do this by specifying a new Container size; to preview the
current available range, you can instead specify "limits"; no change will be
made. A new size of zero is taken as a request to do a grow-to-fit operation.
If the new size implies a shrink, you can specify ordered triples in the same
manner as `diskutil partitionDisk`, etc, to fill the partition map's free
space gap that would otherwise result. If there is more than one Physical Store
and you specify a Container Reference, the appropriate Physical Store will be
chosen automatically. Ownership of the affected disks is required, and all of
the Container's Volumes must be unencrypted or unlocked.
Example:  diskutil apfs resizeContainer disk5 110g
          diskutil apfs resizeContainer disk0s2 110g
          diskutil apfs resizeContainer disk5 0
          diskutil apfs resizeContainer disk5 1.5t jhfs+ foo 10g ms-dos BAR 0

In your case, your APFS container only has one physical store disk with identifier disk0s2.
The output from the gpt -r show /dev/disk0 command shows there is a block containing 48,8376,007 sectors of free space. This is 48,8376,007 sectors x 512 bytes/sector = 250,048,515,584 bytes of free space.


You should be able to right click on the icon in the dock and select hide. This should hide one of the icons.  See image


MacBook VPN connection disconnects after two minutes

Under the built-in client, this is solved by:

setting the following on the VPN custom connection:

a) "lifetime time 24 hours;" or more
b) dpd_delay 0;
c) proposal_check claim;

This can be done by creating a file, e.g. /etc/racoon/fix.1.1.conf and adding the lines above in there.  Also ensure that the line "include /etc/racoon/*.conf" is not commented out in /etc/racoon/racoon.conf.


Use the IFERROR() function.

IFERROR(SUM(A2-A1),"")

If the cell calculation is valid, the calculation is displayed.  If there is an error in the cell, then this just returns "". (blank)


Why is Home Sharing not working with iPhone?

Launch the iPod App on your iPhone. At the bottom of the screen, you should see a More button with 3 blue dots.

As you can see here, there is a Shared list item at the bottom of the page. Click that, which should bring you to a screen like:

Click the name of the computer that you see in your list and then all of the videos, movies, tv shows, etc, will appear in your lists for those items.

In other words, the iPod App won't keep the home-shared content separate. You will see the Home Sharing content as if it was integrated with the device.


Where does MacOS store old versions of Preview edited images?

Where are these stored?

There is a folder at the root level of the disk marked /.DocumentRevisions-V100, which stores the data for versioning of documents. This is owned by root and not in a user-friendly format, so is best left alone.

File formats that use Apple's CoreData APIs (e.g. Pages) create revisions using their own Undo list, so the data is preserved in the file as a series of undo instructions.

It's possible that some versioning is done on APFS volumes in a similar way to localsnapshots.

How can I delete them?

Select File > Revert To > Browse All Versions.
Once you're in the "Time Machine" interface, move the pointer to the top of the screen to recover the menubar.
Now, under File > Revert To, you will now have the option to Delete the selected version, or with ALT held down, Delete All Versions.


Which one is the delete button on an Apple keyboard?

A detailed description on this is available on this post https://superuser.com/questions/482771/difference-between-cmdbackspace-and-fnbackspace-keyboard-shortcuts-in-osx
To summarize:

The most commonly used key for deleting elements that can be selected in the user interface is Backward Delete ⌫ since it's available without a modifier on all Apple keyboards. This applies to songs on a playlist, graphics in an image editor, deleting text boxes in Pages, etc.

The Forward Delete fn⌫ is mostly used for the same actions, so you can actually use both in an interchangable way for most applications, be it Numbers, Excel, iTunes, Photoshop, etc.

The combination ⌘⌫ is intended for actions that might have an immediate (unwanted) effect. One could indeed map trashing files and folders to a simple ⌫, but this could lead to accidental deletions. Finder uses the modifier as a safeguard. This also explains why iTunes will only delete a song without confirmation if you press the ⌘ modifier.


How to execute a Folder Action or another Automator script when I make changes to a folder?

Using launchd, you could save a property list like this in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ and load it with something like launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/automator_test.plist or by logging out and back in.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC -//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN
http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd>
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>automator_test</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>automator</string>
        <string>/Users/username/Desktop/Test.workflow</string>
    </array>
    <key>WatchPaths</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Users/username/Desktop/</string>
    </array>
    <key>StartInterval</key>
    <integer>0</integer> <!-- run at most every 0 seconds, by default 10 -->
</dict>
</plist>

Launchd only detects changes to files when they are saved atomically (or deleted and recreated every time they are saved). Most OS X apps perform atomic saves, but for example TextMate and vim don't.


USB Overdrive can do that but it's not free.

You could also add a rule like this to KeyRemap4MacBook's private.xml. The behavior when scrolling multiple ticks was a bit weird on the mouse I tested with; it only scrolled a full page about once every 0.5 seconds.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
    <item>
        <name>Test</name>
        <appendix/>
        <identifier>94D0530F-70BA-4DA9-BD45-C223A689A807</identifier>
        <autogen>--ScrollWheelToKey-- ScrollWheel::UP, KeyCode::PAGEUP</autogen>
        <autogen>--ScrollWheelToKey-- ScrollWheel::DOWN, KeyCode::PAGEDOWN</autogen>
    </item>
</root>

You can also increase the scrolling speed with defaults write -g NSScrollWheelMultiplier -float 200.


Option+click Scaled

You can toggle between Apple’s easy-to-understand “Larger Text”–“More Space” icons mode and the other mode listing specific resolutions. To toggle, hold down the Option key while clicking Scaled radio button.

Retina

As for that comment “Don’t used scaled.” on the Question, that is wrong advice. Scaled options are Retina-style by default, more commonly known as HiDPI. Note the checkbox Show low resolution modes in the second screen shot above. Checking that box and choosing a resolution listed with the notation (low resolution) means you are disabling the Retina feature and scaling up the image crudely (wasting pixels).


Is it possible to add credit to an account from a credit/debit/not a gift card?

Here's what you can do: you can have a gift card credit on your account as well as a linked credit card. Here's what you can't do: you can't only add $10 from a credit card to your iTunes account. But if you have a credit on your account now, and you link a credit card to your account, it will use all the remaining credit from the gift card first, then charge the remaining amount to your credit card.


Can't transfer purchases from iPhone to iTunes in iOS 9

Actually, this is not a problem.
Transferring purchases from devices with iOS 9 has been disabled by Apple. This is the response they gave to submitted bug reports regarding this issue:

  Apple Developer Relations 18-Sep-2015 02:51 PM

  This issue behaves as intended based on the following: Apps are no
  longer transferred from iOS 9 devices. We are now closing this bug
  report. If you have questions about the resolution, or if this is
  still a critical issue for you, then please update your bug report
  with that information.

As NetherLinks explained in the comments, it's because of the App Thinning feature Apple introduced in iOS 9. Basically, a different version of each app is downloaded on each device. So, apps downloaded on an iPhone cannot be used on an iPad. See image below taken from App Thinning page in iOS Developer Library.


First of all a quick reboot might fix your problems. If that does not work, you could try relaunching finder.  Apple icon → Force Quit → Finder → Relaunch. If that does not work you could try deleting the Icon Cache. Go to Terminal, which you can just search for, or go to Applications → Utilities → Terminal. Paste exactly these commands in one at a time.

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

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

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

Do note that when you put in a sudo command, you must put in your password once. The characters do not appear when typing them, so don't worry.

If this does not work, you should do a complete restore of the Mac. Look up tutorials online, but make sure to do a backup of your Mac with Time Machine or a cloud based service.

Good luck!


My app store can't dowload some apps or update

According to Apple Support System Status, at the time of writing 2015/10/13, the iTunes Store Service may be unavailable for some users.


Macbook Pro (mid-2012) detects adapter/battery but will not charge

After borrowing several different power adapters, I determined there was something inconsistent. The mid-2012 MBPs come with the MagSafe 1 "L" connector power adapter, but the pin layout is the same as the "T" connector models. I tried two of each and the L hasn't been able to charge my battery and the T charges consistently. Each time I made sure to use the right wattage adapter, which is 60W for this model.

I can't explain this, but it's charging now. Leaving this in case anyone else manages to dump water on their Macbook or have it fail in a similar fashion. I'd love to know why it works with only T connector adapters, but I'm guessing this is such a niche question it has not been looked into. I have also determined that in the "Power" section of System Report, it gives full power adapter info (serial number, model, etc.) for the T connector adapters I have used but not for the L connector adapters, so it seems to be an issue with the charge control (middle) pin on the MagSafe.

Long story short, always try another adapter if you have any others available. Switching to a different connector type fixed my issue.


The problem doesn't appear to be in "tor" or "torsocks". The problem seems to be in the version of "curl" shipped with El Capitan.

Similar to yourself if I try torsocks curl -s https://check.torproject.org | grep Congratulations I get nothing back.

However if I try torsocks wget -qO- https://check.torproject.org | grep Congratulations I get the expected replies.

  Congratulations. This browser is configured to use Tor.
  Congratulations. This browser is configured to use Tor.

But if you install curl from brew (resulting in a newer version of curl than ships with El Capitan) and then run torsocks /usr/local/Cellar/curl/7.45.0/bin/curl -s https://check.torproject.org | grep Congratulations, you get the expected "Congratulations" messages (note the version number might be different by the time you try this).

  Congratulations. This browser is configured to use Tor.
  Congratulations. This browser is configured to use Tor.


Software uninstalled from brew still on $PATH

Homebrew likes to create symlinks from /usr/local/bin/ to /usr/local/Cellar/.

You can see if this is the case by running: ls -l /usr/local/bin/bowtie2.

That should return a line with arrow syntax (->) like this:

/usr/local/bin/bowtie2 -> ../Cellar/bowtie2/<someversion>/bin/bowtie2

If that's the case, then you can just delete the broken symlink with: rm /usr/local/bin/bowtie2 (you may need to preface that with sudo depending on ownership of /usr/local/bin/. It's the broken symlink that is causing which to still show bowtie2 as being located in /usr/local/bin/.

You can then move the new binary for bowtie (that you downloaded from SourceForge) into /usr/local/bin/ or any other folder in your PATH.


Mac Mini 2013 and Samsung UE32F4000 32 inches tv resolution problem

Your TV has native resolution 1366x768 on 32", so it si normal it all looks big. This resolution is used on notebooks with 11-15" screens with elements size purposed for these small displays.

When you enforce full HD (1920x1080), your TV will recalculate received data from your computer (1920x1080) to native resolution (1366x768), so elements retain their size as for full HD, but look bad (they are not native, just calculated, reduced for less resolution).  Although it is not visible on your screenshot, but I believe that view is wrong.

Use smaller display with 1366x768, or native full HD display (will be still too big on 32", i think).


Open Activity Monitor and check the "Energy" tab. Click on "Energy Impact" to see what is using the most energy. This is likely what is causing the heat. Close this program when not in use. You can monitor the temp with Temperature Monitor (built into OS X). Spotlight > Temperature Monitor

Also, this 3rd party program can help, SMCfanControl: https://www.eidac.de


Can I keep apple music when switching apple IDs

You should check out Family Sharing, which is designed to share "family's" purchases and credit card. This way, you don't need to transfer content, instead you share the content.

Some restrictions as fine print from aforementioned site:

  Family Sharing requires a personal Apple ID signed in to iCloud and
  iTunes. Music, movies, TV shows, and books can be downloaded on up to
  10 devices per account, five of which can be computers. iOS 8 or later
  and OS X Yosemite or later are required to set up or join a Family
  Sharing group and are recommended for full functionality. Not all
  content is eligible for Family Sharing. Content can be hidden by
  family members; hidden content is not available for download. Content
  downloaded from family members or acquired via redemption codes is not
  subject to Ask to Buy.


Can I remotely change home or lock screens on iPads?

This is currently not possible OTA. You must connect the device over USB to change the wallpapers.


Try the combo updater instead - https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1970 for a direct download link which you run like any app.

You can always Google for "10.x.y combo update" & it will be the top hit.
It will apply all updates since 10.x.0 without needing any intermediate updates & is often used to fix odd update glitches.

Failing that, then try reinstalling the OS from Recovery.
This will not affect existing apps, docs etc - though of course, as with any operation like this having a current backup is always wise.


I haven’t seen any official announcement about this, but since it’s an undocumented setting, it’s not surprising that the functionality would’ve silently disappeared. If you’d like it back you might consider filing an enhancement request.


Why is it that "Mac OS X Snow Leopard can't be installed on this computer"?

Check to make sure you have enough RAM, Snow Leopard requires 1GB of RAM.  Snow Leopard does not require a 64-bit processor.


Created a symlink but Finder shows it as an Alias

Finder always shows symlinks as aliases. Even though they are actually different, Finder does not show the difference, regarding all symlinks as aliases.


Strange “Devices” section in iOS Wi-Fi Settings

This can happen when (for example) a MacBook computer was used to create it's own Wi-Fi network.

The pop-up you see indicates that after you connect to this SSID you won't have internet access.

Such networks are called Ad-Hoc networks (more info: Wiki) .


Send mail from multiple accounts that are the same account but belongs to different domains

Source: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH22279?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
Create or change an alias

Choose Mail > Preferences, then click Accounts.

Select an account, then click Account Information.

Click the Alias pop-up menu, choose Edit Aliases, then do one of the following:

Send a message from an alias
In a new message, move the pointer over the From field, click the pop-up menu that appears, then choose an email alias.


To do this, you would need to do basically two things:

Create an Automator Service that commits the job
Add the Service to the context menu

Both of these topics has been answered here on Ask Different; I linked to two excellent examples.

What you would have to do is create an Applescript or a bash script (bash probably being easier) that "commits" whatever it is you want to commit - you will have to scope the requirements in detail.   Once you have the script written, add it to the context menu.


ITunes Connect Review of an app with an incompatible API

Just in case any other person should look for a solution to a similar problem: made through Apple's reviewing process through the setup of a /2.0 subdomain for the backend.

Every old user is still pointing to the old url and, whenever the switch is ready, we will make the old uri point to the new backend (so that we will have two simultaneous groups of URIs address the same backend).

All the old applications will still point to the old URI and get the "Invite to upgrade" message. When upgraded, all the applications will point to the /2.0 subdomain.

From a web browser people will still be able to use the old URL and get served by the new backend.


Some solutions found here:

Have you set the mic as the input in GarageBand? (make sure the mic is
plugged in, open GarageBand, click on the GarageBand menu, Chose
Preferences, Click on the Audio/MIDI from the preferences window tool
bar. There will be a pulldown menu called "Audio Input," click on that
menu, and select the Blue Yeti. )
If your still not getting any audio in from the Yeti, have you tried
setting the Yeti as the audio in in system preferences? if so, do you
get any activity Level Input bar while it's selected? if not, is input
volume set to 100%? (far right end of slide)
Have you tried resetting the cable on the mic side?

If none of this works you might have to send it back as deffective.


What issues might (legacy) FileVault cause?

There are a number of possible pitfalls to having an encrypted home folder; most of them are more-or-less intrinsic to the idea, so they're not likely to go away... ever.

UPDATE: Lion's FileVault 2 uses full-volume encryption rather than just home-directory, so it actually does make some of these issues go away and changes several others.  I've added notes in [] below.  Note that upgrading to Lion does not automatically convert to FV2; you must first turn off "Legacy FileVault" encryption for accounts using the old system, then turn on VF2 to reencrypt.

Speed: obviously, the computer has to decrypt the data to read it from disk, and encrypt it before reading from disk, which'll slow down disk access.  This usually isn't a big deal unless you're doing something like video editing.  There's also a delay at logout as it recovers space in the image (and maybe also backs it up; see below). [VF2 removes the logout delay, and can use hardware AES instructions (on CPUs that support them) to minimize the general slowdown.]
Too much security: the good thing about FileVault is that nobody can get at your data without your login password (of the computer's master password).  The bad thing is that if you forget your password (and don't remember/haven't set a master password), you can't get at your data either.  The recommended procedure is to set a master password (before enabling FileVault), write it down, and store the written copy someplace secure (e.g. sealed envelope in a safe deposit box). [VF2 creates a recovery key, which functions very similarly to the old master key. There's also an option to have Apple store the recovery key for you, although I'd recommend using that in addition to (not instead of) storing the key yourself.]
File non-sharing: FileVault security prevents you from sharing files out of your home folder.  Your Public folder, normally accessible by other users on the computer (and if you have file sharing turned on, other computers on the network) is locked in the FileVault and available only to you. [FV2 removes this limitation.]
Risk of data corruption: normally, if your computer crashes there's a possibility that whatever files you had open could get corrupted; with FileVault, your entire home folder is contained in a disk image, and if that gets corrupted you could lose everything.  IIRC both OS X v10.3.0 and 10.4.0 shipped with bugs that could corrupt the types of images used by FileVault (fixed in 10.3.1 and 10.4.1, but still...).  So backup is very important if you have data you don't want to lose. [FV2 does not have the image corruption issue, but is still vulnerable to normal volume corruption; it will also limit your options for data recovery somewhat, as not all volume repair/recovery tools support encrypted volumes (yet).]  Speaking of which:
Backup time: backing up the FileVault image file is generally only possible when you're logged out.  External volumes (like backup drives) get dismounted when nobody's logged in, creating a bit of a catch-22 for many backup systems.  Time Machine gets around this by doing a backup as you log out (after the image becomes accessible, but before the backup drive gets dismounted), so make sure you log out with the backup drive attached from time to time.  Other backup systems... who knows.  In any case, test to make sure you're actually getting a useable backup. [FV2 removes this limitation. Note that Time Machine under Lion supports encrypting the backup volume, in which case it can only back up when the backup volume is mounted and decrypted.]
Backup capacity: backup systems generally save space by only backing up files that've changed since the last backup.  With your files hidden in a disk image, this isn't really possible.  The image is stored as a series of "band" files (in "sparse bundle format"), so the backup system only needs to store the bands that changed, but since these don't neatly correspond to specific files in your home folder, it's still going to use more space than if it could back up the files directly. [FV2 removes this limitation.]
Backup recovery: since the files you're likely to want to recover from a backup are hidden inside the encrypted image, they're a lot less convenient to recover from backup.  When using Time Machine, its slick view-through-time interface doesn't work with FileVault-protected files, you have to find the backup of the image, mount it, and recover the file(s) you want by hand.  Similarly, if you want to recover a file from an online backup, you're likely to have to recover the entire image so you can mount it and pull out the file(s) you want. [FV2 removes this limitation.]

One more note: to keep people from bypassing FileVault, make sure you have secure (encrypted) virtual memory enabled (in System Preferences -> Security pane -> General tab), and either log out consistently (yeah, right) or require a password immediately after sleep or screen saver (same place) and set the screen saver to run automatically when the computer's been idle for a while.  There is an option to automatically log out after a period of inactivity, but this doesn't always work (a program with unsaved documents will generally prevent logout).  [FV2 encrypts the virtual memory swap along with everything else, although the advice about locking or logging off still applies.  Also, 10.7.0-10.7.1 were vulnerable to FireWire DMA attacks in some states, but this appears to have been fixed in 10.7.2.]


OSX EL Captain customization and themeing

Amazing post I wished to write a blog post about this same topic. For yosemite you had Flavour 2 for customizing. The was large of people contributing there themes. But, the support for Flavour 2 had ended. They won't support EL Captain because of SIP

El Capitan Means The End Of Mac Themes & Deep System Tweaks

But, there is still a work around for EL Captain and you can install Flavour 2. Have a look at this reddit post.


how to install mac OS (Sierra) from USB drive, I am out of options

Follow the instructions at What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac ...there is a link halfway down this page on How to erase a disk for Mac. Yes, at one point you need to put in your girlfriend's or her father's Apple ID, but that's only your permission to install the OS from the App Store (you need an account = Apple ID to do that). The Apple ID you enter at that point does not stay on the system at all, it's only used to get access to the OS installer on the App Store. There are other ways but this is by far the easiest, given your background with Macs. Best regards.


Yosemite Photos: How to select only photos

To do so, you can create Smart Albums

These can be set to filter based on filetype.  You can set as many of these as you wish, and even modify existing ones.

In Photos go to File > New Smart Album or ⌘+⌥+N

Then you can set your filter criteria in several ways.  See the attached screenshot illustrating a PNG filter.

UPDATE: If you choose to use the Search field, enter just "jpg" without quotes to get a dropdown that shows filetype.