You should be able to resize the CoreStorage stack by booting to a second boot volume (e.g. Internet Recovery Mode) after modifying the partition table. Afterwards you have to re-add the partitions in the old boundaries but with proper types.

Preparation:

Restart to Internet Recovery Mode by pressing alt cmd R at startup.

The prerequisites are the latest firmware update installed, either ethernet or WLAN (WPA/WPA2) and a router with DHCP activated.
On a 50 Mbps-line it takes about 4 min (presenting a small animated globe) to boot into a recovery netboot image which usually is loaded from an Apple/Akamai server.

I recommend ethernet because it's more reliable. If you are restricted to WIFI and the boot process fails, just restart your Mac until you succeed booting.

Alternatively you may start from a bootable installer thumb drive (preferably Yosemite or El Capitan) or a thumb drive containing a full system (preferably Yosemite or El Capitan). If you boot to a full system and login as admin you have to prepend sudo to execute some commands like gpt ... or newfs_hfs ...!

Remove the bogus MBR/GPT and re-add the partitions

Open in the menubar Utlities->Terminal
Enter diskutil list and gpt -r show /dev/disk0 to get an overview
Destroy the bogus GUID partition table/MBR and recreate a fresh one:

diskutil umountDisk /dev/diskX #with diskX = disk identifier of the logical volume
diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk0
gpt destroy /dev/disk0
diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk0
gpt create -f /dev/disk0

Re-add the partitions:

gpt add -b 40 -i 1 -s 409600 -t C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B /dev/disk0
gpt add -b 488966144 -i 3 -s 1267712 -t 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC /dev/disk0
gpt add -b 150150032 -i 4 -s 86566407 -t EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7 /dev/disk0
gpt add -b 148880496 -i 2 -s 148470856 -t 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC /dev/disk0

The logical volume should mount automatically if not encrypted. If not you may have to unlock it.
Verify the disk and the volume and try to repair them if necessary
Unlock your FileVault volume

diskutil cs unlockVolume lvUUID

Resize the CoreStorage stack

diskutil cs resizestack lvUUID size

e.g.

diskutil cs resizestack 20C85797-328F-4A27-B0DE-97DB2B14F1D7 65000m

if this fails you may have to decrypt the FileVault volume

diskutil cs unlockVolume 20C85797-328F-4A27-B0DE-97DB2B14F1D7
diskutil cs decryptVolume 20C85797-328F-4A27-B0DE-97DB2B14F1D7

and get the new device node with

diskutil list

Verify the decrypted volume (e.g. disk16)

diskutil verifyVolume /dev/disk16

Try to resize the CoreStorage stack again (like above)

diskutil cs resizestack lvUUID size

Resizing you Linux partition from inside Linux afterwards will probably hose your current MBR (and/or GPT) and will render one or both systems unbootable.

Tested in a VM:

Resizing the unlocked but encrypted volume from a second boot volume failed with an error number and some "booter is mounted" message. The reason for the message may be the following: the FileVault volume (disk0s2/disk16) relies on some files in the Recovery HD (disk0s3). Resizing the stack means shrinking the Logical Volume Group and all subsequent CoreStorage items and moving the Recovery HD to lower block numbers afterwards. The Recovery HD has to be unmounted to achieve this.

Using real partitions may yield different results or errors.


Mac Calendar has stopped allowing events to be entered on Sundays from month view?

Quit iCal, and try removing the com.apple.iCal.plist file from your Mac

Open Finder
Go Menu, hold the option key and click on Library
Go to Preferences
Remove the com.apple.iCal.plist file or put .bak behind it (backup)
Logout or reboot your Mac and your problem should be fixed.


How to fast navigate through emoji panel

The quickest way for me is to simply search for the emoji. After you use the shortcut, just simply start typing keywords to find your desired emoji.


My Mac 'dies' if it has less the battery level is below 3%

The SMC and device firmware control power management and I've not seen any parameters you can simply adjust to change the thresholds but clearly, Apple could program that and push an update if you had infinite money or influence.

That being said, it's quite easy to run a background command to log the battery levels to a file and parse that file. Whether you prefer python or perl or simpler shell commands would influence the solution you implement.

So yes, it is possible to program such a tool, but you'd need some basic scripting knowledge to implement a higher limit to enter hibernation.


How does Mac OS X 10.7 detect different displays?

1) You should be able to see these configurations in System Preferences > Display. I believe you go to to Layout (or could be called mirroring).

2) OS X displays two Display panels so you know which panel is attached to which screen.

If the Display options don't allow you to pick a resolution, change the Resolution from "Best for XX display", that will allow you to pick a supported, lower, resolution.


The website tomahawk-player.org maybe has an expired certificate. Should I ignore that?

According to sources that project has been "essentially abandoned" (nobody is working on it)

So, even if you download it, you are on your own with any problems that might occur.

As for accessing websites with expired certificate, you have been warned not to proceed, but you can at your own risk, witch could be major or minimal.

If you wish to proceed you can download the player from here

Just tried that and it Opens fine on HighSierra


Cannot change region (locale) on MBP running OS X 10.9.2

Is there maybe an AppleLocale key in ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/.GlobalPreferences.*.plist? That would override the key in ~/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist.


Is magsafe 2 charger somehow associated with a Macbook by serial?

No. There is no serialization on chargers. If so, the 350 Mac laptops in many carts all over our campuses wouldn't charge because students (and some faculty) seem unable to read numbered slots and match the numbers on the laptops. Don't worry.


How can I create a USB installer of OS X - El Capitan on a computer that is running macOS Sierra?

You can use the createinstallmedia command. This link explains: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372


Automator: Applescript to execute keystrokes for each nested folder in Finder

If I understood what you want, i.e. select a folder and then it and every sub-folder within it, including sub-folders of subfolders etc., gets these setting applied.

In order to pass the keystrokes to the target folders each needs to be the active window in Finder first, then System Events can send the keystrokes.

So, I'd write the code as in the example below.

tell application "Finder"
    activate
    set parentFolder to (choose folder) as alias
    set theFolders to every folder of entire contents of parentFolder as alias list
    set theFolders to {parentFolder} & theFolders    -- # Adds the chosen folder to the list of folders to be acted upon.
    repeat with eachFolder in theFolders
        open eachFolder
        delay 0.5
        activate eachFolder    -- # This is done to ensure the target folder's window has focus before being acted upon.
        tell application "System Events"
            keystroke "2" using {control down, command down}    -- # Sets: View > Arrange By > Kind
            keystroke "1" using {control down, option down, command down}    -- # Sets: View > Sort By > Name
        end tell
        close eachFolder
    end repeat
end tell

If you're wanting to act only on the top level sub-folders within the parent folder, then in place of:

set theFolders to every folder of entire contents of parentFolder as alias list

Use the following:

set theFolders to every folder of parentFolder as alias list

Note that the delay 0.5 may not be absolutely necessary however I added it because without it, the series of opening and closing folder's windows can go by so fast it's disconcerting and slowing it down a bit eases that. Although it may also be necessary, depending on how fast/slow the processing takes place, to ensure each folder's window in the repeat loop is actually available and has focus in order to receive the keystrokes. In either case, the value of delay may/can be changed as necessary/wanted to allow the tasks to properly occur and in a visual manner that appears more natural then a barrage of opening/closing windows leaving one to wonder, what just happened.


Macbook 16" won't extend desktop with Display Port Chaining

macOS does not support MST (Multi-Stream Transport) daisy chaining, so you cannot get such a setup working with extended desktop at all. You can get mirrored displays working (i.e. both monitors display the same picture), but this is obviously not what you want.

You can get extended desktop working in a MST daisy-chained setup as you have by running Windows or Linux on the MacBook Pro.

As you have figured out yourself, you could connect both displays with extended desktop by using two separate cables that both plugin to the MacBook Pro.

If you want to use a single cable to connect multiple monitors in extended desktop on macOS, you'll need to use either Thunderbolt monitors (those support daisy chaining), or a Thunderbolt dock such as the OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock or similar.


If it is like that under boot, login screen (as shown), and logged in then it is likely that there is a problem with the actual display or the cables that connect the display to the rest of the system.

It could be the video card as well. If you want to be really sure it is not software related try booting from an external drive, if you can.


Can a ML USB stick created with Lion Diskmaker be shared with others (who have their own ML license)?

No, there are no technical differences. And, yes, its ok to use someone else's Mountain Lion image, if you've purchased your own copy.


How to use Scale Action to scale up an image in Keynote without loosing quality?

I found two workarounds for this, but both are a pain.

The first is to replace the scaled up image after the scale action completes. This works pretty well, but during the scale process you can see the loss of quality until the regular image replaces it.
The second is more complicated, but produces better results:

Start with small scaled version of the image (image A) where you want it. Apply any Build In animations on it.
Have a full size image (image B) with the opacity set to 0%.
Have a Scale Action on the image B setting it to the size of Image A.
Add a Opacity Action on image B to 100%.
Use a Disappear Build Out on image A.
Then use the Scale Up Action on Image B to the new size you want it to be.

This produces perfect results, but as you can see is very complicated. I created a little video to show the steps and the results.


Why is Netflix more effecient in Safari than Firefox?

Please see Toms Hardware Benchmark.  This could help explain comparable efficiency between Safari and Firefox.  I have no proof, but a Apple Genius has also told me Firefox is less efficient compared to Safari and Chrome.


How to better use a Mac mini as a home theater PC with a television set?

The following will work on Lion. You need Xcode as well (maybe you can copy just Quartz Debug from another machine; if not, you can remove the developer tools after following my steps).

Run Quartz Debug from /Developer/Applications/Performance Tools/, click on Window menu, then on UI Resolution, then check Enable HiDPI display modes.

Log out, log back in and go to System Preferences, Displays and choose one of the HiDPI resolutions.

This will effectively double all UI elements, including font and button sizes, menus etc. This is still work-in-progress, though, so expect glitches. Apple is working on resolution independent UI since forever, but with Lion came a new way of just doubling every pixel. The advantage is that this will work with nearly every application, whereas truly resolution independent UI would need vector graphics for every UI element.

I'm using this on a 46" LCD TV from time to time, to make accessing iTunes easier. One way to quickly switch between HiDPI and normal modes is to check "Show displays in the menu bar" (translating from german, might be labelled differently) in Displays preferences. This will add a menu extra to the menu bar with which you can quickly choose from previously used resolutions.


What can I do when the power button does not put the macbook to sleep?

I would start with resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) to see if that resolves the issue for you.

How to reset the SMC on a mid-2012 MBP

Shut down your MBP
Unplug the power cable from your MBP
For 10 seconds, press and hold at the same time the shiftcontroloption keys (on the left side of the built-in keyboard) and the power button
After 10 seconds let go of all keys and the power button
Plug in the power cable
Switch your MBP back on with the power button.

Test it for a while and let me know how you go.


What key does this ⇥ symbol represent in Apple help docs?

⇥ symbol refers to the Tab key on the keyboard.

A full list of keys and corresponding symbols as used in macOS can be found here:

Can't find ⌃ symbol in keyboard


Deleting transferred purchases from iTunes cache

To delete Apps from iTunes just go to the Apps section of iTunes.
Select the desired Apps(cmd+click for multiple selection) and cmd+backspace to delete the files.

Your purchases will not be gone, since you can always download them again from the iTunes Store.


There are two ways to approach this question.

From the end user's perspective, the answer is no. No matter what you do, the app will come back to the same state it was in previously, unless you close it from the switching interface.

Technically: yes. When the device runs short on RAM, it will freeze the application's state from RAM to the main storage (flash). When you resume, it loads the state from flash back into RAM, and then resumes. This is intended to happen quickly enough and transparently enough to be indistinguishable, but you may sometimes notice that resuming takes a bit longer if you have loaded several other apps in the meantime (and therefore pushed the app out of RAM).


Unable to locate cgi-bin for nginx on Mac OS X

Try finding it by typing this in the terminal:

 sudo find / -name cgi-bin | grep nginx


Is there a remote desktop app for iPad that works well with a bluetooth keyboard?

Screens is probably the best app for that. Works with OS X builtin screen sharing but can connect to all VNC sources. It has a really smart way of translating touch to mouse events but also has bluetooth keyboard support, including modifier keys. And tons of other features. It runs 2560x1440 sessions smoothly on my side, you can pinch-zoom to get the scale you like.


Those products didn't currently (and don't today) follow the accepted API that Apple provides for apps submitted to the App Store. Basically, Apple provides the print code and apps can't modify or extend the print function that iOS provides.

Until this changes, you will be bound to workarounds:

Jailbreak the device and look for something that enables this function.
Print to a device that will render the job as PDF. I know of Printopia that will do explicitly this. You can even control which folder on the mac gets the PDF and have it uploaded back to the phone or to a private cloud so you can get at the PDF again systematically from iOS.
Use apps that can save to PDF like Pages and many others, but this is an app feature, not built into the main print settings.


A little Googling suggests that  it's a new problem in 10.8.4. A couple people in this MacRumors forum thread have experienced the same, as has the author of this blog post. No indications as to how to get rid of it however.

I haven't seen any error when testing say, so it may be some combination of hardware that causes it, but if the sound output is as expected, I wouldn't worry too much about it, and it will probably be fixed eventually.

If you're using say in shell scripts and need the Terminal output cleaned up a bit, you could always pipe it through grep: say test | grep -v "MTBEAudioUnitSoundOutput::PropagateProperty Error -10851".


Late 2008 MacBook Pro loose Battery cover fix

The battery cover is held in place by four metal hooks on the outer edge as shown in the image:

Source: Macworld/Jason Snell, First Look: MacBook and MacBook Pro


I had the same wifi issues with two iMacs, one iPhone, one android... the iMacs were the problem. This worked for me:

Resolving Stubborn Wi-Fi Connection Problems in Mac OS X

I hope it does for you.

Cheers


Cannot install Windows 7 64bit with Bootcamp

Apparently, Apple is in the process of changing how Windows is installed on Mac's. So, what was true 6 weeks ago may not be true at the moment. Also what is true today, may disapper tomorrow.

VirtualBox can be used as a substitute for the Boot Camp Assistant. There two differing philosophies regarding how to do so. Both install using a legacy BIOS and MBR partition table.

The first method can be outlined as follows:

Create FAT formatted partition to install Windows. This also creates
a MBR partition table.
Instruct VirtualBox to install Windows into the partition.
Boot Windows in the virtual world and run sysprep. This prepares
Windows to run in the physical world.
Exit VirtualBox and boot Windows.
Install the Boot Camp Support Software.

The actual steps for for Windows 7 are given here. This has been used successfully on Mac's older than 2012. I am not sure about the 2012 model, because the Boot Camp Support Software has the folder $WinPEDriver$ and the file AutoUnattend.xml. You may need the next method.

The second method uses VirtualBox to simulate a Windows PE. Windows is never installed or executed in the virtual world. The outline follows.

Create FAT formatted partition to install Windows. This also creates
a MBR partition table.
Copy the files on the Windows iso to this partition.
Copy the Boot Camp Support Software to this partition.
Create a small image file to hold the MBR bootstrap code.
Boot from the Windows iso using VirtualBox and run Windows commands
modify both partitions. Quit VirtualBox.
Copy the MBR bootstrap code to the MBR of the internal drive.
Boot the Windows partition and install windows.
Delete the iso files and the Boot Camp Support files. (optional)

I don't know if these steps are given anywhere. The closest would be here for Windows 10. A slightly differ version for windows 7 is given here


How to remove launchpad icon of broken application

Launchpad Manager

Launchpad Manager will allow you to delete any app from your Launchpad. Just open it, select GIMP and ⌘⌫.


OK, I finally figured this out.

First I opened Remote and clicked "Add A Device".

Then in iTunes, I clicked the phone icon below the volume slider. This became a drop-down menu, and one of the items was a Remote icon. (This didn't work every time; I first had to disconnect and re-connect my phone to the wi-fi network.)

Finally, I was able to enter the code in iTunes, and it paired the devices.

I didn't need Home Sharing turned on.


Any details about the captive/public wifi login screen browser?

I use following to prevent Captive networks

Change: File Name

Captive network assistant

to

No More captive network assistant

in System/Library/CoreServices

Make note of this so you can change it back one day if you need to.

This will not delete cookies you already have but will stop getting more of them.


There are lots of ways to get the system to try ejecting the disk, most of them detailed here: http://www.wikihow.com/Eject-a-CD-From-Your-Mac

My favourite is restarting while holding down the mouse/trackpad button.

If the drive is making noises but the disk does not come out, it is possibly hitting or caught on the edge of the slot. I have had success in using something like a business card or piece of paper and inserting it above or below the edge of the disk (or using two cards, one above the disk and one below the disk). When the disk is being pushed out by the mechanism, rather than hitting the edge of the slot, it slides along the card and does not get prevented from being ejected.


Custom keyboard shortcut not executing service

Usually this happens when there are conflicting keyboard shortcuts with other apps. Here is how I troubleshoot this type of problem.

Restart and prevent all login items from running.
Try the shortcut you’ve assigned, in this case, Option+Command+C.
If it works, that means there are other apps that prevent you from running the service.
Run the apps in login items one by one and test the shortcut until you find the conflicting apps.

Most of time it solves my problem. If it’s not conflicting keyboard shortcuts form other apps, you might use Key Codes to check the state of each key when pressed.


Sleep Wake Failures because of watchdog on 10.13 (supplemental update)

Here's how I would pursue this at work by getting some more power logs and then submitting all to Apple Engineering for analysis.

pmset -g stats
pmset -g log
sudo sysdiagnose Watchdog

To amplify on my comment - watchdog simply watches for stuck tasks so a slow wake from sleep error might be nothing based on a desire to capture statistics on any wake that's not blindingly fast so that the fraction of people that submit error logs to Apple can help them aggregate and measure the overall health of this operation.

If your storage is slower than the best SSD or you have a lot of RAM and your memory is not compressed - I would expect wakes in the 5 to 20 second range for recent computers (last 5 years) and much longer for older Mac hardware.

Unless you have a specific failure, or suspect your hard drive / storage is struggling (run Disk Utility or fsck at single user mode boot) only two occurrences of that wouldn't cause me to do anything other than set a reminder to check in 60 days if the wakes continue to throw "error" diagnostics. I would also check every week for updates and patch the OS in case it's something that gets remedied or tightened up.

Basically, watchdog is designed to monitor for performance, it's clearly gotten a signal or guidance to collect some more details for slow wakes. Other than that - without Apple's source code and a session with their engineers publicly explaining why this specific event was triggered, you may have to monitor this and focus on other aspects like specific apps crashing / failure to wake entirely, etc...


Creating a URL that always opens in Chrome

Google has official documentation on the Chrome iOS app’s URI scheme on its developer website.

Simply replace http with googlechrome and https with googlechromes. This means:

http://www.google.com/ becomes googlechrome://www.google.com/
https://apple.stackexchange.com/ becomes googlechromes://apple.stackexchange.com/

Previously, it supported an x-callback-url of googlechrome-x-callback://. This allowed the calling app to indicate its name and URI scheme to Chrome, which would show a back button in the address bar that closes the tab and invokes the specified URI. This feature was removed a few years ago when iOS 9 added the “Back to …” button in the status bar (but the URI scheme still works).


I assume by Macbook Pro MD101 you mean a Mid-2012 13" MacBook Pro (MacBookPro9,2) model?

If so, while Apple only officially supports a maximum of 8GB RAM, real world tests have proven this model is capable of using 16GB of RAM (and many many people run it with 16GB with no issues). To do this you would install an 8GB chip in each slot.

Now, as you seem to know, this model has two memory slots and takes 204-pin PC3-12800 (1600 MHz) DDR3 SO-DIMM memory chips.

Depending on your location, you can purchase RAM for this model from:

MacSales (United States)
Flexx (United Kingdom)
RAM City (Australia)
Simply Mac (Asia)

If your MacBook Pro is not the Mid-2012 13" MacBook Pro (MacBookPro9,2) model, please ensure you use the various websites above to identify the memory you need!


Message effects no longer work on my iPhone

There are settings that can enable or disable these. Even if you don't recall selecting this - checking that you're enabled would be a good first step.

My guess is at some point you enabled (intentionally or otherwise) the Reduce Motion option in your settings.

To check this:

Go to Settings > Accessibility
At the top, if Reduce Motion is enabled then the following effects won’t work at all:

Bubble effects
Full-screen effects

The other setting you can check on this screen is the Auto-Play Message Effects option. If this is on they play automatically, if it’s off you have to play them manually by tapping the circular arrow button below the message.

Further reading

The following pages on Apple's website may be of interest:

Use message effects with iMessage on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
Reduce screen motion on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch


How do I get x360ce to work in Wine on OS X?

I'm assuming you could click on package contents on the wrapper you have now made and click wine, then go to install software, and etc. to run x360ce.exe. You then could have the file moved to the right location mentioned in the x360ce guide. Haven't attempted this yet though, but if this doesn't work out, you could always button map using enjoyable, the second guide has explains how to do that. Good luck!


Very small type size upon starting evince pdf viewer

You can set defaults from within Evince ("Hamburger" menu > Save Current Settings as Defaults)
Settings are stored in ~/Library/Preferences/evince.plist, so defaults write ~/Library/Preferences/evince.plist "/org/gnome/evince/default/zoom" 1.5 does the same as gsettings does on Linux.

Setting the zoom level to 200% and then saving the current settings will lead to evince to open with 200% the next time. Window size isn't preserved though so it may or may not be helpful.


Console log flooded with "VMware Fusion Start Menu ... : assertion failed: ..."

After multiple attempts to solve this, I finally found the solution in a side note of a VMWare community thread:

Start Fusion, select one of your VMs (no matter which one) and change the virtual machine settings like this:
Virtual machine -> Settings -> Application Menu -> "Show only when machine is running"

After I did this the messages stopped immediately. I could even switch back to the default setting of "Always" and the messages did not reappear.


Is there any way stop my Apple trackpad from rotating?

Get a rubber mat for it to stand on, or as Faiz mentioned in a comment, use small amounts of tape to make it stick to your desk.

The rubber contacts on most Apple products can become a bit slippery after use. I personally just rub off any dirt that has collected over time with my thumb, and it's back to normal – slip-free.

Something like these Anti Slip Mats on Ebay should do the trick for you.


How can I tell if a Wi-Fi hotspot is WPA or WPA2?

You can find this out by holding Option and clicking on the WiFi icon in the Menu bar.

It will open up a "menu" with additional options and details including the type of security you're using.

If you see your network say WPA/WPA2 Personal, it means it supports both. This is what the Access Point supports.  In my case, I disabled WPA (and thusly it doesn't show up).  You can choose either QR code and the client will be connected.


How do I use AppleScript GUI scripting to change the mouse speed?

As you've no doubt found out, UI Scripting has its issues and in this particular case, the mouse preferences, the code can vary based on the version of the OS and what type of mouse, thus making it difficult to provide you code that will absolutely work in your use case scenario. To show you, I'll use two examples of code that work for me on my system.

On a MacBook Pro with an Apple Magic Mouse under OS X 10.8.6 the following example ApplesScript code changes the value of the Tracking slider:

if application "System Preferences" is running then ¬
    tell application "System Preferences" to quit
delay 1
tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal anchor "mouseTab" of pane id "com.apple.preference.mouse"
    delay 1
    tell application "System Events"
        click of radio button 1 of tab group 1 of window 1 of application process "System Preferences"
        set value of slider 1 of tab group 1 of window 1 of application process "System Preferences" to 4
    end tell
    quit
end tell

In a generic mouse scenario, the following example ApplesScript code changes the value of the Tracking Speed slider:

if application "System Preferences" is running then ¬
    tell application "System Preferences" to quit
delay 1
tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal anchor "mouseTab" of pane id "com.apple.preference.mouse"
    delay 1
    tell application "System Events"
        set value of slider 3 of window 1 of application process "System Preferences" to 4
    end tell
    quit
end tell

The value range of the Tracking Speed  slider is a decimal value between 0 and 9. Note that the value range for the other sliders differ, Double-Click speed is 0 to 10, and Scrolling Speed is  0 to 7. Also note that these ranges may very depending on the OS version and hardware.

With System Preferences opened to the Mouse pane, for a generic mouse scenario, use the following line of code in Script Editor to get the properties of the sliders:

tell application "System Events" to get properties of every slider of window 1 of application process "System Preferences"

You'll see the minimum/maximum values as well as the value they are currently set to. The later is important to know after you've manually adjusted to your liking and then use in the script to make the changes as wanted.

Note that with UI Scripting the value of the delay commands may need to be adjusted for your environment and or additional delay commands may be necessary as appropriate.

Also note that the example ApplesScript code is coded to first close System Preferences if it's open. This is being done so as not to have to see the events taking place as the graphic dance of some UI Scripting can be distracting.

You will see the difference between the two versions of example ApplesScript code in the second one, not only does it not have or need the click of radio button ... command, the slider number is different, along with its name. In the first version it's slider 1 and Tracking where as in the second it's slider 3 and Tracking Speed. There is also no tab group in the second version.

To address the hit to miss point mentioned in the OP, with the generic mouse scenario there are three sliders, so the following line of code for the tracking speed:

set value of slider 3 of window 1 of application process "System Preferences" to 4

Can be writen as:

set value of every slider of window 1 of application process "System Preferences" whose name contains "track" to 4

Now you don't need to know what number the slider is as it will act on the only one whose name contains "track", which in this case will be slider 3. The same concept can apply to other UI elements too.

You can also address the slider by its name, e.g.:

set value of slider "Tracking Speed" of window 1 of application process "System Preferences" whose name contains "track" to 4

The same goes for other UI elements that have a name property, in this case e.g., window 1 is also: window "Mouse"

Note: The example ApplesScript code is just that and does not contain any error handling as may be appropriate/needed/wanted. The onus is upon the user to add error handling as may be appropriate/needed/wanted.


How to enable 3-finger drag in Catalina?

Accessibility > Pointer Control > Trackpad options > Check "Enable dragging" > Select 3 fingers drag from the drop down


What are these mysterious menu bar icons?

The Two Houses icon is associated with a mobile home directory--linked to an OS X server. I believe the exclamation point is its cry for help--probably telling you that the local "copy" of your home directory hasn't been sync'd to its server counterpoint for awhile.  Click on the icon and see if it gives you more info.


Why does my iPhone beep with the Messages sound at random intervals?

In the Notification Centre settings, you can have an app only play sounds but not show any notifications, or show anything on the lock screen.

Take a look through the list for entries that only show Sound as the notification options, and turn off the sound option.


Parallels - Can I have a keyboard shortcut for the context-menu key found on Wintel hardware?

For Bootcamp I'm using AutoHotkey app as a way to remap standard Windows keyboard switch combination to Command ⌘+Space.

I've just tried to remap right command key of my Apple Aluminum keyboard to become Context menu key and it works with editing AutoHotkey.aht configuration file  and adding

  RWin::AppsKey

as a key binding. You may read more on remapping with AutoHotKey here. And here is a list of key names.

Also, in Windows, Shift ⇧+F10 should act as a context menu shortcut but I can't attest since my F10 key is not working and I'm too lazy to boot into Windows again and remap it just to test it.)


Test if application has windows on current space

For some strange reason, in System Events, the windows of a process only include windows on the active space. Using this tidbit, I was able to cobble together a solution to this.

on count_windows_on_current_space(process_name)
    tell application "System Events"
        tell process process_name
            return count of windows
        end tell
    end tell
end count_windows_on_current_space

tell application "Safari"
    if my count_windows_on_current_space("Safari") = 0 then
        make new document
    end if
    open location "https://cgamesplay.com/"
end tell


How can I digitize scanned sketches similar to how Preview's signature feature does?

You might want to try Vector Magic, it did very helpful turning my sketches into vector. It needs to be scanned first. We can adjust how detail the vector output.


How do I transfer music ratings from one computer to another

I got it working in the end by using a hint I found.

The trick is to make playlists per rating. One for 1 star, one for 2 star items, etc.
Drag all 1 star items into the 1 star playlist. Same for 2-5 stars.
Export the playlist/library (this results in an XML file).
Import the XML file on the other computer.
Go to each of the playlists, select everything, right click and give them all the correct rating.

(In case you have a backup .xml file that you want to use to restore ratings to your existing itunes installation: look at my description plus script where I use the exactly same trick, only with a script based on an old .xml file with the correct ratings)

Couple of improvements on this great simple solution (the best kind):
1) The exported XML contains the exact file location for each song.  Therefore each computer must also have the files in those same locations. You can, of course, edit the XML accordingly if they are different.
2) You can use 5 smart playlists (one for each number of stars: 1-5) and they'll be auto-populated (no manual selection and dragging required).


How do I add my Applications folder to the dock?

It sounds like you want to restore the Applications folder to it's location on the right side of the dock.

Close any open application windows so that you can see the desktop.
Click once on the desktop and the name in the upper left corner of
the screen (on the menu bar, next to the Apple menu...) says
"Finder"
Click on the "File" menu and then select "New Finder Window" A window will open up. Depending on your settings it may or may not show what we need to see, which is the side bar.
If the sidebar is not there select the "View" menu and then "Show Sidebar"
In the sidebar you should see "Applications"
Drag Applications from the sidebar to the right side of the dock. To the right of the
vertical bar and to the left of the trash.
Hover there for a second and a space should open up.
Release the mouse button

Your Applications folder is now back in the dock.


How do I change a calendar's color in iOS 4.2.1?

A partial-workaround is suggested on this Google thread:

  There is a workaround that solved the problem for me.

  The iPhone assigns calendar colours in
  this order: red, orange, blue, green,
  purple (then repeats that cycle). So
  the first step is to switch off
  Exchange syncing for Calendars in the
  iPhone settings then go into the
  m.google.com/sync web app and just
  enable one of your calendars. Then
  re-enable Exchange syncing. Now you'd
  think it would colour that first one
  red and it may do in your case but for
  me it coloured the first calendar
  orange, possibly because I had some
  other local calendars already on the
  iPhone.

  If it colours your chosen calendar
  with a colour you were not expecting,
  just start again (disable
  Exchange/change sync settings and
  re-enable) and take whatever colour it
  chose as the starting point in that
  cycle above. Once you've got the first
  calendar/colour combination working as
  you like, go back into
  m.google.com/sync and select the
  calendar you want to go with the next
  colour in the cycle. Wait a few
  minutes. Check that it's showing up as
  expected in the calendar app. And then
  go back to m.google.com/sync and
  repeat. If you take this one calendar
  at a time approach, you can assign
  colours as you want them, except of
  course you will face problems if you
  have say three green calendars and no
  purple ones...


Is it necessary to select a carrier when buying an iPhone online from Apple?

The reason for this is that in the US carriers have and use slightly different technologies and different frequencies than their competitors. Though I believe T-Mobile and AT&T use similar technology and frequencies. Not sure abut the other two.

I would suggest checking the website of the carrier you use at home and see what they use so you can select a phone that is the most compatible with their cellular network.


In Spotlight search results, how do I find which folder contains a specific file?

You might want to try the following:

Search for and highlight the file in Spotlight as usual.
Hold down cmd (command) and press Enter (return).

This should open the file's containing folder, and works in all recent versions of OS X.


Is it possible to wipe an entire iCloud Photo Library?

Photos on the Mac makes this trivial to accomplish. Similarly with the improved web interface, this is a two step process.

Command A - select all
Delete
Select All Photos album
File - Show Recently Deleted
click the Delete All button in the top right
be patient and wait for the deletion to happen everywhere and filter down to all devices that are syncing from the cloud

Photos for OS X released with 10.10.3 has the changes needed for easy cleaning:

Open your Photos library that is the system library
File -> Show Recently Deleted
Select Delete All in the top right
Repeat as often as needed if the app is still downloading new photos from the cloud

You can also delete 1,000 photos a time using the web interface in 2019 at https://icloud.com/#photos


macOS Catalina upgrade install with macOS Yosemite is stuck at macOS Catalina will be installed on disk

I'd suggest patience proportional to the time since your last backup.
Catalina will reformat the drive into new partition types. Interrupting that is going to mean starting over.
If you're lucky, the time it's taking is simply the time needed to reformat. macOS since maybe High Sierra or Mojave really expects to be running on an SSD, so there's going to be considerable additional time penalty whilst it does this conversion on an HD.
If your backup is good, you could consider dumping this attempt & start over with El Capitan, which is considered minimum OS from which to jump to Catalina. I'm somewhat surprised the installer didn't prevent you from going ahead, though I've never attempted to jump this far myself, so I don't know how the installer should react to the attempt.


To measure the effectiveness of Finder's search

Over years of using OS X search tools (Spotlight, Find, Smart Folders), all of which, I believe, use the collected file metadata in various ways and having gotten a fairly good idea what various combinations of search terms might find I am still often unable to successfully retrieve every file I think my search should find.  At one point I began to systematically test various searches to try to determine some basic patterns so I could be certain that the resulting files contained every (or even "the specific") file I was looking for.  I found that there were so many things that could subtly affect a search (such as word order, capitalization, differences between the use of numeric and alphabetic characters, using partial words that matched the beginning of piece of metadata versus a substring that would match within a the same attribute, quotes and double quotes, unmatched quotes, the various logical operators [AND, OR, NOT or &, |, ^ or &&, ||, or some or all of these so I can never quite remember the right form to use], the various "names" for pieces of metadata such as "date:" or "kind:" or many others, the complete list hidden away from most users abilities to find)…well, basically I learned a few things I could count on but I wonder if there is anyone who could actually predict the exact results of all but the most basic search. And then I’ve run basic searches that produce lists of files that I’m sure are missing some files that should be found or missing others that should be there and yet I’m not sure why.  Sometimes after time spent staring at the results I can see what happened; sometimes I never do.

All that is to say I am also bothered by inconsistencies for certain types of searches that I want or want to depend on being complete (as I think you are looking for yourself).  On the other hand, these same search tools are so essential to the ease of use of my Mac that I’d truly miss them if they were unavailable (at times I’ve been amazed at what I could find such as older pieces of my writing that were in files which had lost their filenames due to accidental deletion yet with a few key words could be quickly located.)  I have also watched people I know looking for files on a PC running Windows and think, "why don’t you just search for it?"  Then I recall how I often avoided using the files searching facilities when Windows was my main OS.

I believe that Apple’s search facilities will probably not be satisfactory to what you want, at least when used "intuitively."  That said, there are different commands that can be run using terminal that may allow you to get better results in your case, but that can only be determined by trial and error.  Their value, though, can be in providing ways to see exactly what metadata exists for some file which you feel is left out of the results of a search and whether the desired type of data is missing or a particular matching type of data is missing or otherwise.  The various system commands are those like mdutil and mdls and possibly other related commands.  I usually run man for one of these, such as man mdls and then refer to the related commands at the end of the manual page under the SEE ALSO heading.  The difficulty is that the learning curve can be steep depending on how far you wish to delve into the various search techniques.  Often the hardest aspect is not in knowing how to run a type of search but more in being able to find out the various names of the search keys to search on, which may require running other md… commands to dump certain keys and/or values of the system metadata.

Along with all of the basic unknown factors there is always the possibility that the metadata store is corrupt or not complete and needs to be rebuilt.  And then, too, the metadata is extracted from files as they are created or changed by various "modules" each of which handles some particular type or types of metadata extraction.  Many of these modules are provided by Apple and many come from various vendors to allow different types of files to be processed and different attributes collected.  So problems my exist in the metadata collection just as they might in the search facilities.  That’s where some system commands can help one to see just what is wrong with the files metadata or a particular query string.

If you are basically interested in searching for PDF files and the Adobe search features meet your needs I’d probably suggest going with those (or perhaps other third party search tools that may have a more defined and predictable search methodology).  And use Apple’s search facilities for what they can help with (and in many cases, despite possibly not returning every desired file, can produce "fuzzier" results that can help to form a better query for use in an alternate search engine).

Sorry to go on without being able to give more useful ideas but I hope some of what I’ve said helps you to decide upon a method that works for you.  (I love my Mac…most likely will always use a Mac…but sometimes I think that Apple doesn’t document parts of OS X just so it’s never possible to point at something and say it doesn’t work right, since it might work exactly as it was intended. You never actually know for sure!)


Permissions errors thrown, but permissions appear to be correct

Try  to access to the file on the terminal with the root access

Open the Terminal, input "sudo -s" .
And, after that, try to open the file.


Dual booting Mid 2012 MacBook Pro running Catalina with Deepin

It's quite straightforward, but when playing with partitions and dual boot systems, things can go wrong so:

First use CarbonCopyCloner to make a clone of your Mac in case anything goes awry.
Next, reboot the mac and hold down Command-R as it's restarting (when you here the gong usually) to boot into recovery mode.
Once recovery mode boots up, select Disk Utility and repartition the main disk (select the top disk (usually) and click the partition icon)
It will ask if you want to add a volume (which is what the 'data' volume is) or Partition, choose Partition.
Change the existing partition size to make room for the new one and Apply.

Now you have room for the Linux Boot Partition, simply follow the instructions at:

https://www.techonia.com/6156/install-manjaro-deepin-on-macbook-pro


Why is my iOS Development Certificate Team ID different from my real Team ID?

I've since had communication with the Apple Developer Program Support and they've sent me an email clarifying the team IDs.
This is what they wrote:

  Please note that I can confirm that the ID assigned to the IOS Development Certificate is a random one and is not the Team ID, therefore it is expected behavior. The ID assigned to the IOS Distribution Certificate would match the TID.

It seems the TeamID of the Development Certificate is in fact random. I wasn't able to do purchases in my app because of a bug and not this error.


What does "Enable Quick Website Search" do on OS X?

If you develop a website you can add a file called an OpenSearch specification that identifies the site as having searchable content.

You can see the apple.stackexchange.com OpenSearch specification here. The important bit is the following line that tells browsers the format for submitting search queries to the site.

<Url type="text/html" method="get" template="https://apple.stackexchange.com/search?q={searchTerms}"/>

The first time you visit a site with an OpenSearch specification Safari adds it to that list you can find under "Manage Websites". So if you start typing into the search bar something like "apple chrome hanging", Safari will see that you have apple.stackexchange.com in your list of quick searches and offer Search apple.stackexchange.com for "chrome hanging".

Nothing to do with Siri or Apple's servers. It all happens on your own machine. It's just a way to submit searches directly to other websites instead of having to open the particular site, click in their search field and type your query there.

You can find Safari's store of Quick Website Search information in /Users/YOURUSERNAME/Library/Safari/SearchDescriptions.plist.


SD Card not readable after upgrading to El Capitan

I would install the older OS to another USB drive so that you can verify that the new OS is really causing the issue and it's not a hardware failure.

When you boot to the old OS (hold option key when booting to choose which OS of the ones connected) run diskutil list to check the filesystem on the SD card.

It's unlikely that it's a format that's no longer included in the new OS. It's more likely that you'll find the card itself faulty or the hardware has changed and needs to be cleaned (lint can obscure one pin connector) or repaired. You can also get a USB to SD card reader to avoid needing to reinstall the old OS just to eliminate the SD card reader as a potential source of the problems on the Mac with the new OS.


If it asks for password it means you have not everything properly setup.

You need to set a policy in AWS IAM that grants access to your user to CodeCommit repos. In that policy you need to indicate the resource (repo) ARN (Amazon Resource Name) you want to grant access or * for all of them.

Then you need to generate a SSH key using ssh-keygen and enter the contents of that key (the .pub) in the IAM Console section named IAMUsersSSHKeys.

If you need further help let me know.


Macbook Air Bootcamp Assistant leads to Windows 10 install error 0xc0000001

The partition looks right.  Did you go through the BootCamp creator to create the installation media?  Drivers for the Disk Controller are added to the installation media by BootCamp.

See https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8276897 for an explanation.
See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201468 for Apple's official instructions.


How can I make a Macbook Pro to recognise a connected mouse as a mouse?

Have you tried resetting the NVRAM?

Source:  How can I disable the trackpad when my mouse is plugged in on Lion?

How to rest NVRAM:  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063


Accessing ~/Library in Open/Save dialogs

You have several options:

Make the ~/Library directory permanently visible in Finder and add it to your favorites in the sidebar. Then you can simply click on it in the Open/Save dialog. To make the Library folder visible, type the following commands in the Terminal.
 chflags nohidden ~/Library

You can navigate in a bash-like manner with tab completion. In the Open/Save dialog invoke Go to Folder... using:
⌘+⇧+G.

You can show hidden files in the Open/Save dialog. This way you can navigate to your Library via a parent directory which is in your sidebar. To toggle hidden files press:
⌘+⇧+.


My guess is you have a stuck process that is impairing the ability of the OS to tell you what amount of space is actually used from Applications, audio-movies-photo rather than categorizing everything as "other".

Make a back up of the Mac in case it's corruption or a serious problem.
Power off the Mac.
Boot to safe mode - hold the shift key as soon as you hear the startup chime and release it 20 seconds after the grey screen is drawn.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564

That should free up a stuck process and also repair any disk corruption at is easily fixable. Please let us know if you continue to get bad information from the space allocation image. Surely Applications take up more than zero K.


Deleted all partitions from Mac mini except Boot Camp, now can't reinstall OS X

Try Internet Recovery. Boot with ⌘⌥R until you get a spinning globe, then follow the instructions.

You'll need to have been fully up-to-date with Firmware updates though.


How can I change my iCloud account on my iPhone?

Under Settings / iCloud you'll see a big red button labeled as Delete Account. Contrary to what it appears, it won't actually delete the account, nor your Apple ID, it will only delete the iCloud's content from your device.

So, to change the device's iCloud account just delete the current one and then log in appropriately.


App Install Button 'Grayed Out' in iTunes 12

Without knowing the actual apps you're trying to install and what version of iOS you're running on your iPhone 4S, any answer you get is likely to be at best an educated guess.

There are a number of possibilities for your situation, but my first thought is that although you say nothing has changed on your Mac or iPhone, that doesn't mean something else hasn't changed.

Specifically, what I'm thinking is that many software developers are busy updating apps at present due to a number of updates (e.g. iOS 10, Xcode 8.1, Swift 3, etc). In doing so, many apps may become incompatible with older hardware and/or operating systems.

In your case you've downloaded the apps on your Mac, so there's no built in check going on as to compatibility. What I mean by this is that browsing/downloading the apps via the App Store on your iPhone will only allow you to download versions of apps that will install on your device, but there's no way for this to happen via the Mac as you could be downloading them for any number of devices.

Another factor is that your model of iPhone cannot run a version of iOS later than 9.3.5, so any apps requiring a more recent version will not install (and that's assuming you're even running iOS 9 (many iPhone 4S owners aren't).

You'd be best to use your iPhone to download apps as many developers (me included) do allow older versions of their apps to remain on the App Store for superseded devices etc.

Hope this helps!


How can I find the location of a Terminal command and how can I select a different version of it?

You can find the path to a binary by using type:
$ type latex ruby dart
latex is /Library/TeX/texbin/latex
ruby is /usr/bin/ruby
-bash: type: dart: not found

To use a version of a binary stored somewhere else you can

use the full path when calling it:  ~/installs/flutter/bin/cache/dart-sdk/bin/dart
define an alias (won't work in scripts): alias dart=~/installs/flutter/bin/cache/dart-sdk/bin/dart
adjust PATH: PATH=~/installs/flutter/bin/cache/dart-sdk/bin:$PATH


MacBook Air occasionally freezes when external monitor is connected

More than likely, the issue is, in fact,  your Mini DP to HDMI adapter.
The AmazonBasics Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter  adapter that you listed is a passive adapter (notice nowhere do they say "active").    Additionally, is much less expensive than an active converter like the Cable Matters Active Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter
Passive vs. Active
So, what's the big difference?  A lot, actually.  A passive adapter, to make a long story short, basically takes the pin outs of the Mini Display Port and configures them as HDMI.  Most of the time, this works, however there are a lot of limitations.  For example, the signaling of HDMI is 5V while mDP/DP is 3V.  Some monitors don't like this.  Additionally, HDMI has a clock signal where DP doesn't.
An active adapter addresses these issues; there's actually a chip that does the conversion of the DP signal to a "proper" HDMI signal with the correct voltage and clock signaling.
A Microsoft engineer has an excellent blog post on this very subject

Just to address some of the points in your question to reduce confusion...

Your OSD has absolutely nothing to do with the display coming out of your Mac.  It's an "overlay" that comes from the monitor and if you computer hangs, it will continue to work.  It will even work if no video source is connected to your monitor at all.

If it happens on both screens, your computer is hanging because it is probably getting bad signals coming back from the monitor.

You never had issues before because you were going native DP to DP.

There's really no "interplay" between your mouse (or keyboard) and your GPU - one doesn't affect the other.  A video may crash for a number of reasons, none of which will be your mouse.  What you are seeing is your CPU/GPU having to "deal" with the video conversion of two very different signals.


Can Apple delete an app installed via iTunes or the App Store without your permission?

Yes, it's true Apple can remotely delete apps. This is a failsafe in case a nefarious app accidentally makes it past the review process. Not sure about Mac App store, I doubt the ability exists there. It's a different installation/update process.

I don't think it's been done before, and I wouldn't worry about it. It's a good thing. I would want an app that say sniffs my credit card numbers or is actually a trojan horse of some kind to be removed from my iPhone post haste.


Yes, you should be able to orient each screen separately. In fact, here is a link of that very thing being done.

To access the screen rotation option in OS X:

Launch System Preferences.
Hold down ⌘ cmd + ⌥ alt/option and click Displays.

On the right side of the Display Preferences, look for the Rotation drop down menu.
Set the rotation you want.

Confirm the change and quit System Preferences.


What has Apple done to make macOS partially closed-source?

We don't know whether Apple did anything special here (like obfuscating their code or such).

A lot of software in macOS is actually Open Source and published on Apple Open Source
The source to the kernel (the core of the OS) is available from the above link but also on GitHub where it includes the version history.
You can also learn a lot about how everything works by reading through the documentation available (e.g. Mac Technology Overview)
And there is always the technical option to reverse engineer any library or application (even though it may be illegal to do so depending on where you live)


Does my MacBook DisplayPort support video input?

No, it does not, I fear: the DisplayPort is an output only.


Troubleshoot Dock behaviour in Mac Yosemite

Answer for my own question...

I mistakenly changed the default application for opening folders (!) away from Finder to an application of my own creation. I didn't know this was even possible! Needless to say this had some weird side effects, like the problem I originally described. But I figured it out – I mucked up my system with an erroneous QuickSilver command.

I'm always creating dated folders, so I created an Automator app that, given the current folder, would create a folder within using the date as the name.

When teamed with QuickSilver's "Current Selection" trigger, the app becomes useful. I can call my "create-dated-folder.app" from the current folder, using "Open with..." in Quicksilver's second pane, and my app in the third. Works great.

My mistake was, instead of "Open with", I once chose "Always Open With", which changed system settings I didn't know existed – it changed the default application for the "public.folder" UTI from Finder to my Automator app. Then the weirdness began, like if I chose "Open Examples Folder" from Automator's help menu, my app would be invoked. I really had no idea what was going on!

Brilliant tip from to Tetsujin who suggested RCDefaultApp would be worth investigating.


Macbook Pro retina 13: why 1280x800 (no HiDPI) looks blurry?

Every monitor does better in its native resolution (yours is 2560x1600).
That's because the monitor always "adjusts" (scales the pixels) from the resolution you set to its "native".

For the best clarity you must set the resolution of your system to 2560x1600.


MacBook booting with wrong keyboard layout

Things you could try:

Run sudo rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.HIToolbox.plist ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.HIToolbox.*.plist /Library/Preferences/com.apple.HIToolbox.plist and restart. The current keyboard layout is stored in the first file in 10.9 and the second file in 10.8. The keyboard layout used in the login window and by the guest account is stored in the third file.
Run open -a KeyboardSetupAssistant to identify the keyboard.
Run sudo rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone;sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/Setup\ Assistant.app/Contents/MacOS/Setup\ Assistant and create a new account. Set the default keyboard layout to Swiss German in the second step and enter anything else in the other steps. You can delete the account after you have created it.


Can I charge a MacBook Pro 2016 with a MacBook power adapter?

As with any computer, using a higher-wattage power adapter is fine, but using a lower-wattage one might not let it run at full efficiency and may be unhealthy for the battery in the long term. (And of course it won't charge as fast.)

There are a number of answers to this same question, but for MagSafe chargers, here. Kuba Ober's answer goes into quite a bit of detail about it, though I can't personally vouch for its accuracy.


So its solved by wait until freeze over - its about an 20 mins. I do not know what exactly it was but now its works as should.
If you have the same issue try to wait about an hour - maybe, it will helps you too.


Where does mysql register to start itself at boot time?


Low/bad signal on iPhone 4 after upgrading to IOS 6

The only solution that actually worked was a full factory reset:

Make a backup of your iPhone using iTunes.
Using iTunes, perform a full reset of the iPhone.
After the iPhone reboots, disconnect it from iTunes and go through the initial setup.
Connect the iPhone back to iTunes.
When asked by iTunes, choose to restore the backup.
If applications are missing after the restore, perform a full sync to have them re-installed.

I also called Apple support, and they confirmed this is a known and common problem when upgrading to IOS 6, and a full reset is the only way to permanently solve it.


How many applications can I run simultaneously on a new Macbook Air?

There are no system resources that can meaningful be counted in "applications", but some programs hog system resources atrociously, while others use hardly any.

If your computer seems 'burdened', then run activity monitor to learn what processes are using the most CPU and RAM, especially processes you aren't actively using.  You should avoid leaving badly behaved processes running continuously.


Lexmark E210 Printer install from .ppd file

This should work.
The key here is that it uses the gdi driver; though it's no longer maintained by Samsung, it is is community maintained and appears to have current support.  It's also built into Ghostscript, so it should be there.
The short answer is you should be able to manually add the printer using one of the printer models listed on the driver page (link above).
Manually Installing on macOS
The location for the (English) PPD files is /Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources/en.lproj.  Simply copy your PPD file there.
When you Add your printer, the very last field labeled "Use" will be where you specify your driver.  From the drop down, choose "Select Software" (left image).  A list of printer software will open (right image).  Start typing the name of the driver you copied in the filter box at the top; you should find your printer.

Note:  In my example, I used "localhost" as I currently don't have the printer hooked up to my network, but you would use the IP address of the printer.  As for protocol, use "LPD" for these older printers.
Printer Drivers
One thing you should note is that not all printers are created equal.  It may seem trivial, but depending on engine that drives your printer, you may or may not be able to continue using them.  For example, this printer uses a "Host Based Printing System."

This means that it's the operating system the local computer that actually does all the rendering of the graphics, not the printer itself.  It's a cost saving move for the manufacturer.  The downside is you have a good chance of this becoming a paperweight down the road.  Fortunately, this was based on a processor from Samsung that had continued support (they also sold this one to Fuji/Xerox)
Going Forward...
When purchasing a new printer, be sure to look for a printer that has support for printing languages like PCL and/or Postscript.  If it supports both, it's even better!  If it supports emulations like "HP LaserJet" or "Epson" or even "IBM" you can use those generic drivers as well.  These printers do cost a little more, but they make up for it in longevity.


Eject disk and get error message "Disk not ejected properly" when unplugging disk

I think I found the issue. There was some minor damage that the disk had. Disk Utility was able to fix the problem, and the dialog box no longer comes up when I unmount the disk and then unplug it.

I'm still trying to understand how this would cause the error message. It took over 40 minutes for Disk Utility to scan the disk before this problem showed up on the Disk Utility log. The error was Invalid leaf record count (It should be 23755134 instead of 23755132).

As I stated before, the Console doesn't show this issue. In fact, looking at the mount and unmount on /log/fsck_hfs.log, I see this entry:

/dev/rdisk2: fsck_hfs run at Wed Mar  6 18:35:07 2013
/dev/rdisk2: ** /dev/rdisk2 (NO WRITE)
/dev/rdisk2:    Executing fsck_hfs (version diskdev_cmds-557~393).
QUICKCHECK ONLY; FILESYSTEM CLEAN

which pretty much means a quick check on mount finds no errors. I have no idea how this would cause the error dialog box to show up when I unmount the disk successfully, and then unplug it.


Warn if a Time Machine backup is still in progress before shutting down or sleeping a Mac

You've asked what you want, but not why you want it.  I am guessing that this is a preconception that you think it needs to complete in order to be successful.  Time Machine isn't just a standard "backup job" that will create individual backups that depend on the success of each backup, it's more a permanent process.

Effectively each time you change a file, whether by addition or alteration of the contents or metadata, it gets added to the list of files that need to be backed up.  The list grows and grows all the time, and it's built into the actions of the filesystem that whenever it makes a change, it also adds the file to the list.  Every hour (or whatever you have set if you are using a non-standard config), Time Machine will start at the beginning of this list of changes, and start to plough through them and copy the changes to the backup disk.  At the end of the process, when there are no more files to include in the backup, it stops.

But there is no need to wait for it to stop.  If you have say 100 files in the queue, and it only processes 45.5 of them when you shut the machine down, the completed files are removed from the list only after Time Machine confirms they were completely backed up -- any partly-completed files will not be flagged as complete. Then, next time you boot up, wait another hour, the process will start again.  You will have the 55 files that were not transferred last time at the front of the queue, followed by any other changes that have been made in the first place.

So, in summary, unlike a traditional backup which requires completion to ensure validity, the Time Machine backup is an ongoing process that can be interrupted at any time, and you do not have to wait for it to finish before shutting down.  Indeed, if you are doing something disk intensive, feel free to temporarily turn Time Machine off or interrupt a backup that is in progress while you do stuff, then when you turn it back on it will just pick up where it left off.


No. The CPU is welded on the motherboard. You can't replace it with your own.

The only upgrade you can do on your own is changing RAM, hard drive, and replacing optical drive with a second hard drive, if you need.


Have two time capsules and use the one only as HDD and the other as router

Open the AirPort Utility and pick the AirPort accordingly:

HDD:

Select the Wireless tab
Network Mode: Off
Select the Disks tab
Tick: Enable file sharing

Router:

Select the Wireless tab
Network Mode: Create/Extend a wireless network
Select the Disks tab
Untick: Enable file sharing


Localhost Not Working After MacOS Sierra Upgrade

People [including me] have had success by swapping

::1    localhost

to

::1    127.0.0.1

though that's in a non-domain setup

worth a shot?


Unable to launch app using "open" command in Terminal

The argument(s) to open -a command can be Tab autocompleted, if you specify the path from the parent directory, e.g. open -a /Applications.

Try running the following command-line to launch Visual Studio Code from Terminal:

open -a "Visual Studio Code"

To open a file named index.html with Visual Studio Code app using open command, type:

open -a "Visual Studio Code" index.html

Please note you need to enclose the name of the app which contains spaces into double-quotes.

Additionally, quoting from the man page:

  The open command opens a file (or a directory or URL), just as if you had double-clicked the file's icon. If no application name is specified, the default application as determined via LaunchServices is used to open the specified files.

The statement is referring to the case when you are attempting to open a file using the open command. To launch an app, the syntax is simply open command followed by space, followed by -a flag, another space then the name of the app (enclosed in " if the name contains spaces).

If you have not installed the app already, you should install it by copying the Visual Studio Code.app bundle into /Applications directory.


Is there anyway to show stopwatch on iOS Lockscreen?

There's an app called TimerBar available in Cydia.
It will display a timer in your statusbar at the top.

Source: http://iphonemonsta.com/timerbar-ios-ipad-iphone-stopwatch-cydia-tweak


The open smb:// command is just automating what you're doing manually in Linux

Start by creating the mount point

sudo mkdir /Volumes/foobar

Then mount the share

sudo mount -t smbfs //user@hostname/path/to/share /Volumes/foobar

or

sudo mount_smbfs //user@hostname/path/to/share /Volumes/foobar


Software (not app) To Read Underlying iPhone Data

I don't think there's any software that can do it without jailbreaking the device.

iPhone Explorer is free software for Mac and PC that allows you to browse many files and folders without jailbreaking. If you do jailbreak it is also supposed to let you get at MS messages, call history, etc.

I've not used with with a jailbroken device, but can attest that it works reasonably well in its normal mode (it seems to not work as well with iOS 4.2, though you can still browse and such).


pgfplots is available as part of MacTeX:

To forcefully reinstall it from the command line, you can use

sudo tlmgr install --reinstall pgfplots


You should run DaisyDisk on your mac. It will give you a graphical mapping of all the space on your drive. The app is about $10, but has a free trial you can use. Just download it from the link.

There is also an older version names Disk Inventory X which is Donationware. It says on the link:

Disk Inventory X is a disk usage utility for Mac OS X. It shows the sizes of files and folders in a special graphical way called "treemaps".

If you've ever wondered where all your disk space has gone, Disk Inventory X will help you to answer this question.

For a quick start, please read the readme file on the disk image. Or see a 1 minute video about Disk Inventory X from macbreak.com.

Both apps take several minutes to scan your disk.


Will a modern Time Capsule work with 10.5?

The new Time Capsules require OS X 10.75 and later:
http://www.apple.com/airport-time-capsule/specs/

Your best option is to upload your documents online (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.) as your 10.5 backup on an external drive say, may not restore to the current version of OS X.


How do disable iOS keyboard from displaying?

Disabling the text insertion gesture may be impossible unless you consider adding an external keyboard or setting up voiceover to intercept and remap that gesture. I have had good success with peers using physical keyboards or accessories and propping up their iPad. Or use an Apple Pencil for many gestures and scribbles, which lessens the time fingers are on screen.
Hopefully over time you can train yourself and just summon the keyboard when you want it, knowing the gesture that summons it is a tap and hold.
Here are the global touch delays, if you want to experiment with them.

I find these are invaluable for teaching people to experience the sub second delays needed for a gesture to be recognized, but in the end, the penalty of slowing down the keyboard also slows down other interactions and most people don’t use these unless they need it due to dexterity conditions that make the default timing problematic and over sensitive / too reactive.


MacBook Pro 15" screen resolution way too high, unable to change resolution

I would try a third party executable that will allow you to list and change the screen resolution from the command line. cscreen works on macOS Sierra, High Sierra, and Mojave, there are also several projects on Github, but your mileage may vary.


How to see public IP address of outgoing internet traffic when connected via router?

Another quick service is curl ifconfig.me

Add an echo afterwards to complete the line:

curl ifconfig.me && echo


Simultaneous left and right click with trackpad

It turned out to be quite easy to patch DOSBox to allow using a keyboard key as a mouse button.  I submitted a patch for adding that functionality to the key mapper.

If you want to try this out, save the following into a text file called map-mouse-buttons.diff:

Index: src/gui/sdl_mapper.cpp
===================================================================
--- src/gui/sdl_mapper.cpp  (revision 3914)
+++ src/gui/sdl_mapper.cpp  (working copy)
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 #include "dosbox.h"
 #include "video.h"
 #include "keyboard.h"
+#include "mouse.h"
 #include "joystick.h"
 #include "support.h"
 #include "mapper.h"
@@ -1497,6 +1498,20 @@
    KBD_KEYS key;
 };

+class CMouseButtonEvent : public CTriggeredEvent {
+public:
+   CMouseButtonEvent(char const * const _entry,Bit8u _button) : CTriggeredEvent(_entry) {
+       button=_button;
+   }
+   void Active(bool yesno) {
+       if (yesno)
+           Mouse_ButtonPressed(button);
+       else
+           Mouse_ButtonReleased(button);
+   }
+   Bit8u button;
+};
+
 class CJAxisEvent : public CContinuousEvent {
 public:
    CJAxisEvent(char const * const _entry,Bitu _stick,Bitu _axis,bool _positive,CJAxisEvent * _opposite_axis) : CContinuousEvent(_entry) {
@@ -1708,6 +1723,15 @@
    return event;
 }

+static CMouseButtonEvent * AddMouseButtonEvent(Bitu x,Bitu y,Bitu dx,Bitu dy,char const * const title,char const * const entry,Bit8u button) {
+   char buf[64];
+   strcpy(buf,"mouse_");
+   strcat(buf,entry);
+   CMouseButtonEvent * event=new CMouseButtonEvent(buf,button);
+   new CEventButton(x,y,dx,dy,title,event);
+   return event;
+}
+
 static CJAxisEvent * AddJAxisButton(Bitu x,Bitu y,Bitu dx,Bitu dy,char const * const title,Bitu stick,Bitu axis,bool positive,CJAxisEvent * opposite_axis) {
    char buf[64];
    sprintf(buf,"jaxis_%d_%d%s",stick,axis,positive ? "+" : "-");
@@ -1866,6 +1890,15 @@
    AddKeyButtonEvent(PX(XO+2),PY(YO+4),BW,BH,".","kp_period",KBD_kpperiod);
 #undef XO
 #undef YO
+#define XO 5
+#define YO 8
+   /* Mouse Buttons */
+   new CTextButton(PX(XO+0),PY(YO-1),3*BW,20,"Mouse");
+   AddMouseButtonEvent(PX(XO+0),PY(YO),BW,BH,"L","left",0);
+   AddMouseButtonEvent(PX(XO+1),PY(YO),BW,BH,"M","middle",2);
+   AddMouseButtonEvent(PX(XO+2),PY(YO),BW,BH,"R","right",1);
+#undef XO
+#undef YO
 #define XO 10
 #define YO 8
    /* Joystick Buttons/Texts */

Then, in the terminal, check out the latest DOSBox code from Subversion:

svn co svn://svn.code.sf.net/p/dosbox/code-0/dosbox/trunk dosbox-svn

Enter the directory, and apply the patch with the patch command:

cd dosbox-svn
patch -p0 < ../map-mouse-buttons.diff

(This assumes that the patch file is saved in the parent directory of dosbox-svn.  If it's somewhere else, adjust the command as needed.)

Then, follow the instructions in the INSTALL file to build your new version of DOSBox.  Basically, it's these three commands:

./autogen.sh
./configure
make

Though you may have to install various dependencies, which can be done through Macports and similar tools.


A downloaded webp image from a website could not be opened

It's a WEBP image (developed by Google) and Preview doesn't natively support this file type.  If you right click and select "View Image Info" you can get the image details (this one was done in Firefox)

There are a few ways you can view this image...

WebP Viewer (free).  Available on the App Store.  It's a Quick Look plugin and supports printing.  Supports Safari
Browser Add-Ons:

Firefox: WebP Image Converter
Chrome:  Built In tool

Copy the image and paste it to another application then save it.  I used OneNote and was able to save the image as a JPG.  You can use other apps like Word, Pages, Notes, etc. and achieve the same results.


In practice, having a user account for each client actually works very well. The keychain contains items just for that client and you aren't distracted by your work when you are working on client's items. It's all about everything you need for that client.

Between webmail and web project management - you might even be able to keep some critical items out of the user account and be able to access it from multiple places.

I find that iOS is so good on managing the things I need, that I'm using "my" stuff on a computer so much less that one account per big project and a catch all consulting account to keep my personal account clear of work and be very nice for automated billing, crystal focus on the task at hand as well as clean separation of files and configurations where I can put things in a shared folder, but need to take a step rather than having everything all jumbled.

Fast User switching also helps to pop back to another account quickly when needed.


The comments in the link you provide indicate the latest vlc-git nightly release should work with 10-bit mkv files.

On the VLC nightly build page, look for the first file with a file name that starts with "vlc-git-intel" or "vlc-git-intel64". Download the former if you want the 32-bit version, the latter for 64-bit. (Even though the vlc-git files don't indicate their version number in the file name, the latest nightly build, as of 10/6/11, is a version 1.2 build)

Be aware these are considered unstable versions, so you may come across unexpected bugs while using the software.

You could also try MplayerX, which I think should support 10-bit video.


Any way to copy message body from Apple Mail keeping quoted line prefix (">")?

On my Mac with Mail 10.3, I can select a message in a viewer window, go to the menu bar and choose View > Message > Raw Source.  In the resulting window I can scroll to find the part of the message I want, and select the text I want to copy.  I just tested this on two messages from my Sent mailbox, one with Rich Text, one without.

Blank quoted lines seem to get an '=20' escape, so you'd want to do a search and replace after pasting.  It might not be too hard to make an AppleScript or Automator thing to help with this.

With an older version of Mail you might find the Raw Source command in a different menu, I seem to remember.


Is it possible to do conditional formatting in Numbers for iOS?

iOS Numbers does not support conditional formatting, and it is removed from the document upon import.

According to http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4648 the following changes are made on iOS (my emphasis):

  3D charts are converted to 2D charts. Chart data is retained and
  editable.

  Conditional formatting is removed from imported spreadsheets. Cell
  content is retained.

  Table Categories are removed. Tables remain organized and category
  names are retained as static text.

  Filters are removed.


Independently change Lock Screen and Login Screen background image in macOS Mojave

Mojave will use the desktop image from your first desktop on the lock screen.

The easiest way to change the lock screen to something else is to add a desktop, and drag it to be the first desktop and change it to what you want the lock screen to be.


enabling/disabling Internet Sharing with terminal in mac osx 10.9.2

I was browsing the same thread you linked to and also found that none of the answers worked. However I was able to modify Philip Regan's solution to work with my Mac OS version (10.9.3).

Here is the modified solution.

tell application "System Preferences" to set current pane to pane "com.apple.preferences.sharing"
delay 1
tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
    click checkbox 1 of row 8 of table 1 of scroll area 1 of group 1 of window "Sharing" -- change to row 10 if you are using anything before Snow Leopard
    delay 1
    if (exists sheet 1 of window "Sharing") then
        click button "Start" of sheet 1 of window "Sharing"
    end if
end tell
ignoring application responses
    tell application "System Preferences" to quit
end ignoring

This pertains to number 2 in your list... you might want to check out an app called "Accessibility Inspector". It was helpful in finding the new path to the particular GUI element this script modifies.


Update from 10.5.8 to Lion with the Lion USB stick

I know you can do a fresh install on a clean system, so you could try this: copy your existing install to an external drive (using Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper!), wipe the internal drive, do a clean install of Lion, then use Migration Assistant to copy your old system onto the fresh Lion install.


How do I find the installed RAM layout in my MacBook without opening it up?

You can see the current RAM configuration in a visual overview by:

Going to the  menu
About this Mac
more info
memory

If you'd like further detail, open the System Report... from the Overview tab of About this Mac. This can also be accessed by holding ⌥ while the  menu is open, then selecting System Information.


Wiped all disks for Ubuntu installation, but "macOS Recovery over the Internet" still knows my Wi-Fi password

Your Mac contains forms of storage that are persistent, but not stored on your normal disk drive - it is known as NVRAM (Non-volatile RAM) and PRAM (parameter RAM).
This persistent storage is used by the computer to remember user preferences such as which disk drive to boot from by default, audio volume settings, etc. It also contains the password for your WiFi.
The Internet Recovery mode is able to access this storage to obtain an internet connection to Apple's server for downloading the necessary software.
If you wish to clear this storage, you can do so by holding down Cmd-Opt-P-R and then turning on the Mac - hold them down for half a minute or so.
NOTE: If you have set a firmware password, you'll need to disable this before you can clear the persistent storage.


Was username the first account created? If so, that account has links to OS services that will prevent it from being deleted (though you could hide it). If this is the case and you really want it gone, you can reassign the GeneratedUID from that account to your preferred account and then delete the original. For detailed instructions on how to do this, see Ambrose Little's site.


Bootcamp error: Can’t install the software because it is not currently available from the Software Update server

So I have been getting same error when trying to install windows with bootcamp but I managed to bypass it. Usually I would choose win iso image, choose size for windows partition and click next. Software would begin to download but soon after the error would show up. Usually i would click OK and it would cancel installation, but this time i did not click anything and left it for some time and I noticed that download bar is changing. I left it to finish and only then click OK message, and then I re-run bootcamp installation and that worked!


No amount of button pushing reloads the OS.

You can try to brute force the pin, you can try to log in if you already have jail broken the device, the only option to bypass the pin is to connect to USB and have iTunes or a similar sophisticated program speak with the firmware.

Once you've loaded things with iTunes (or substitute) then you have to deal with activation lock if you have that enabled.


How can I convert a NTFS drive to HFS+ without having to move the data?

Sorry but there is no way to reformat a Hard Drive while keeping the current data intact. You can either move the data off, reformat to HFS+ then move the data back on or add a second partition that is HFS+, move the data to that partition then remove the old NTFS partition and expand the HFS+ one.


MacBook Pro early 2011 hangs at “white screen”

Unfortunately it is almost certainly the discrete GPU on the main logic board that is failing here, not some kind of OS issue. This symptom is the most common way this issue presents in the 2011 models, especially considering the fact that your machine isn't able to boot to recovery, but does not display any boot error messages (like the ? folder or prohibitory symbol).

The 2011 MacBook Pros had a repair extension program from Apple for this issue free of charge for a couple years. Unfortunately, it ended a while ago.

You can salvage the data in target disk mode https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201462 if you have another mac to connect yours to. You could also just remove the hard drive and connect it to another computer with an enclosure to recover data if that's what you need from it.

I know that there are definitely repair shops that do component level repairs on the failing GPU, but it would not be free. That said, Apple no longer fixes the 2011 models at all, even if you were to pay, so an independent repair shop would be your best bet anyway if you really wanted to get this computer fixed.


What's behind the "hairdryer" fix for broken iPhone 4s WiFI?

I have tried this fix and it does work although it wasnt permanent.
The only thing I can think it is doing is re setting the base temps of the motherboard and chip, much like a PC. In other words the software might be looking for the difference between the motherboard and the chip temp.
If they have set this too low for the 4S then obviously it would show it is overheating even if it isnt.
By heating up the motherboard and the already hot chip (which wont heat up further as much) you are re setting the parameters and so it works for a while or permanently. I'll try further.


You will have to change the file format.
This might be helpful to you http://calibre-ebook.com/.

Also this is a good resource: http://www.epubor.com/read-ibooks-on-kindle.html.

Good Luck


My purchased ringtones are gone from my 5s after updating to 8.1.1?

I just updated to iOS 8.1.2 which was released last evening and the issue is fixed.

Apple listed this as one bug that the update is intended to fix, so it's pretty clear this bug was recently introduced and not something anyone did incorrectly.


How to play an mp3 on an iPhone without installing anything?

It can be played from inside of the Files app


Trying to buy OSX Mountain Lion, keeps trying to update

If you have Lion...

One thing you can do is buy and download lion and install that onto a flash drive. Boot to the flash drive, and then from that OS, buy and download ML to that flash drive. Then boot back into your normal OS, drag the file onto your desktop and you're done!


No unfortunately, with the current 4.3 version of iOS on the iPad, there is not Personal Hotspot feature on the ipad.   This may be different on the upcoming iOS 5.


Why are some Mac apps not available on AppStore?

Business Reasons

On macOS, applications can be sold outside of Apple's Mac App Store.

Many developers choose to sell their software through Apple's store in order to access the audience Apple provide.

However, there are numerous business reasons a developer might choose to avoid the Apple operated stores. These include control over pricing, product, and direct customer access:

  If you only sell your software in an app store and the store controls the contract, market place, and customer relationship, what exactly is your business built upon? You have one customer; the store. You are left at the whim of that store's policies. Are you really building your own business? Or are you building someone else's?

It is possible to sell Mac software both through Apple's Mac App Store and directly to customers outside the store.

On iOS, apps must be sold through Apple's App Store.


Photos does not have the necessary permissions to create a library in the folder that you selected

My external HDD was in the HFS+ file format. The system's boot SSD was using the newer APFS.
I used Disk Utility to reformat the disk as APFS.
After switching to APFS I re-created the new Photos library and it worked fine.

We can move our Photos Libraries to an external drive, but the drive needs to be correctly formatted as MacOS Extended (Journaled) or APFS and locally mounted.

Pre-APFS file systems should work, but for some reason it wasn't working. Perhaps related to permissions, or the the file system itself. Switching to APFS fixed it for me.

I found a great resource for this question here:

Where is it safe to store a Photos Library? Requirements for the location of a Photos Library - 2019 version
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250000663


When you say screensaver, do you mean a static image or a mountain or something like that?

It could be that previously your computer was previously mirroring the image from your MacBook's built-in screen to the TV, and it has for some unknown reason switched modes and is now creating a second desktop.

Computers like yours can support up to three screens including the built-in one, and you can mix and match the mirroring and desktop modes.

Spanning basically gives you more room, it allows you to put windows onto the second screen and you can move your mouse between them, but in this case it's not what you want.

You can verify if this is what is happening by following these steps:

Click on the Apple menu
Open "System Preferences"

Choose "Displays".

Select the "Arrangement" option.

If this option is missing then the problem is not what I suspect, please come back and let me know.

You should see a diagram that shows you two blue boxes side-by-side:

This diagram shows how the two screens are arranged in relation to your mouse and the laptop, the one with the white bar is the primary screen (probably the build-in screen).

If as with this diagram the second box (without white bar) is off to the left you should find that if you move your cursor to the left if will appear on the TV.

If this is the case the solution is simple, there are two ways:

a. Press CommandF1 to switch into mirroring mode.

b. In the System Preferences window you have opened click "Mirror Displays"

After you've done this you'll notice that the blue boxes are now stacked in the System Preferences window, this indicates they are displaying the same image. The system should remember this in future, it is possible this was reset by the system during a firmware update caused by a software update you ran on your computer.


Is there an iPad PDF viewer that can stay zoomed out?

I have found two apps that can do this:
(free) MarginNote has a vertical scrolling mode (though it's not the default) and can stay zoomed out at about 50%.
(requires IAP subscription for this option) PDF Viewer by PSPDFKit GmbH has a vertical scrolling mode (though it's not the default) and can stay zoomed out at about 50% (Settings -> Advanced -> Extended Zoom Out)


Time Machine fails to backup certain files

The best way to debug this is with tmutil - since you mentioned using the touch command I'll briefly get others up to speed:

open terminal app
open finder to show the folder with the files in question
type tmutil isexcluded and then drag in the files and/or folders in question

Once you know if an item is excluded, you can programmatically remove exclusion or addexclusion as desired. The Time Machine preference pane also has an options button that allows similar modification of the exclusion rules, but no capacity to see if a file will be excluded or not.

Mac:~ me$ tmutil isexcluded /Users/me/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com\~apple\~CloudDocs/Certificate.pdf
[Included]  /Users/me/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Certificate.pdf
Mac:~ me$ tmutil isexcluded /Users/me/Library/Caches/1Password
[Excluded]  /Users/me/Library/Caches/1Password

Once you're comfortable with whether a file is supposed to be backed up, a tmdiagnose analysis might be required. Either by you, or someone that has done that or via support with Apple.


TLDR: If you can browse the web with Firefox or Chrome, but not with Safari, then adjusting your network settings might fix both Safari and the App Store.  Start by looking at proxy settings.

I'm hoping you found a solution by now.  Just in case this helps anyone, I'm going to share what worked for me.  I had no problem browsing the web with Firefox or Chrome, but the App Store just showed a grey window like the screenshot in the original post.

During troubleshooting, I discovered that Safari couldn't connect to any web servers.  This suggested that the problem had something to do with the Mac's network settings.  I opened the network settings, selected my network adapter, clicked Advanced, went to the Proxies tab, and unchecked Automatic Proxy Configuration.  That fixed everything.


You can't use the Safari icon to directly open a new window (unless you right-click etc, which is boring), but you can create an Apple Script that always opens a new Safari window, assign a fancy icon to this script and place it on the Dock beside the Safari icon. This way you can always choose between the focus on already opened windows (clicking on Safari icon) or create a new window (clicking on the "New Safari Window" icon).

Open Apple Script Editor, make a new document and paste this code:

tell application "Safari"
  make new document
  activate
end tell

Go to File menu, then Export...
Give a name like "Safari - New Window", set a place to save like the "Applications" folder, choose "Application" for File Format and then check Run-Only. Save it.

With Finder, open the location where you just saved this new app. Right-click (or Ctrl+click) the application and go to Get Info menu. Now, download this icon, drag it onto the little "Apple Script" icon on the top left corner of the "Get Info" window already opened to assign the new icon to your app.

Finally, drag the application "Safari - New Window" to the Dock and drop it beside Safari. \o/


Unable to delete songs from iTunes Match - they always come back

Its a pain, but you want to toggle iTunes Match and delete them again.

In iTunes:

Click the Store menu and select "Turn Off iTunes Match"
Click the Store menu and select "Turn On iTunes Match"
Delete Songs


Impossible to display full screen Flash content on iMac 5k?

You can "fix" this by disabling the build in chrome pepper flash and enabling the flash player plugin (download flash from adobe first)

Type chrome://plugins/ in your address bar

I had the same issue with my mbpr when it was just released with chrome. Have to wait for a pepperflash update. With the mbpr it took a while.


Will using higher wattage chargers degrade iPhone battery more quickly?

No.
The power rating of a charger has no bearing on the life of the battery nor the consumption of power by the device.  A higher wattage charger only means it can supply up to the specified amount of current, not that it will push that amount of current to the device.
Current is drawn, not pushed.
Regardless if this is an "intelligent" charger like a USB charger that conforms to the Power Delivery specification (USB-3.1 or higher) or an "old fashioned" charger, it's the device that draws the current from the adapter.
Chargers and power adapters are rated in watts which are calculated by multiplying the voltage (how much) by amperage (how strong).

For instance, a "quick charge" USB phone charger charger outputs 5V @ 2.4A, or 12W.  If you use a laptop charger like the USB-C charger for the MacBook Pro rated at 96W, it will only draw 12W of current because that's all the phone can pull.  However, if you connect the same phone rated at 12W and connect it to a charger that only supplies 5W, either it will charge slowly or it may damage your charger and possibly your phone.
This is where the "intelligence" comes with with respect to USB-C and Power Delivery.  The new USB-C chargers will negotiate with the devices as to what can be supplied.  In the simpliest sense, the device "asks" for power and the charger "responds" with what it can deliver.  This way, the device won't draw more than the charger can supply.
On the old fashioned devices (non-intelligent), there's no negotiation.  The device will attempt to draw the power it needs.  If the charger has the appropriate capacity, it will supply it.  If it doesn't it might pull more current than it can handle, potentially burning up the charger and/or damaging the device itself.
Further Reading
Various forms of this question has been asked previously.  Below is a small sampling for additional reading.

Is the Macbook 12 inch's USB-C charger interchangeable with other USB-C chargers or devices?
12V - 0,67 A USB Wall Charger for iPod Classic
Can I charge my headphones with the MacBook 12" charger?
Other than speed, is there a reason that a 10W iPad charger shouldn't charge a new MacBook Pro 2016?
Danger of damaging 13" macbook pro by charging it with 85w charger?


built-in isight camera on early 2008 macbook air 1,1

The camera, Bluetooth module, keyboard and trackpad all connect internally via USB. No LVDS cable is required or used by the camera. The internal microphone is connected directly to the audio controller.

Take a look at About This Mac from the Apple menu, go to More Info > System Report, and look at the devices listed in the USB category to see the various device connections.


iFaith can generate SHSH blobs and turn them into restorable IPSW files!

https://github.com/iH8sn0w/iFaith/releases


I just saw this article this morning that might be helpful: How to Prepare a MacBook Pro For Sale that was Upgraded to Mavericks by Scott Williams


How can I force my keyboard backlight to turn on?

gentmatt’s answer seems useful!

Alternatively, you could try going to System Preferences → Keyboard, and unchecking the “Automatically illuminate keyboard in low light” setting. That should prevent the “disabled” icon from your screenshot altogether.


My Launchpad organization was reset with Mountain Lion. How can I recover it?

According to this article, you can force a Launchpad reload by removing a .db file in ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock. This file is the SQLite database for Launchpad. Theoretically, you should be able to recover the file, which has a name something like: 5187B29E-A5A8-4CD6-A688-28D426B923F6.db and move it to the correct place. Note that you should backup the current .db file before doing this.