exFAT-formatted external drive loses folders

exFAT is not optimal for your situation probably, but unfortunately there isn't really a no-brainer solution for using an external drive frequently with both OS X and Windows, reading/writing large files, and with really low risk of data loss.

exFAT is not a journalled file system, so there is higher probability of data loss than with NTFS or HFS+. exFAT uses a single file allocation table and a single free space map, so there is a higher likelihood of file system corruption due to that (such as if a removable device is disconnected during a write). exFAT does do checksumming that allows it to detect some problems and repair to a consistent state, but that doesn't actually prevent loss of actual data. If it is plugged in and used frequently, that raises the risk that it will be transferring data if a disconnection or power failure happens, which isn't good.

You'd probably be better off going with NTFS - native on Windows and use something like Paragon NTFS in OS X.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ExFAT
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/06/review-is-microsofts-new-data-sharing-system-a-cross-platform-savior/
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4154638

For recovering the missing data and folders (data and with proper directory structure) - there is a good chance they are damaged so it won't be simple if possible. You might be best off babysitting Handbrake some more as you say and recreating the data you need. I might have suggested seeking professional data recovery help, but it sounds like this isn't something critical to you and probably not worth paying for. For example an engineer at a company like ours would have many recovery tools at their disposal and would either try many or know which ones would have the best ability given the situation after some investigating of the damage. Plus they're also experienced. I have seen them recover data from damaged file systems including good file names and directory structure when some software tools are unable to help, because there are actually enough parts of the file table remaining to work from if the tool can do it.

You could try more software recovery tools, particularly ones that recover specific file types, but it will cost money, and at some point it's just cheaper to go with a data recovery company... and for you, to recreate the data.


Stop unwanted Keychain sync between users

Most probably you both are using the same apple id. Try creating another one for your mom. They will no longer sync.


Configuring Siri to tell me the things I want to know in the morning

Welcome to iOS 12!

Once iOS 12 is released you will be able to use Siri shortcuts to add a phrase and have it do what you want for example.

"Good morning" could

Greet you
Tell you the weather
Tell you your schedule for the day
Send a good morning text to your family
etc.

all just with "Good morning".

I will edit this answer to include the step by step to achieve exactly what you want to do as soon as iOS 12 is released.

iOS 12 is planned to be released early fall).


Can AppleScript be used to brute force a FileVault drive where the password is lost?

As a proof of concept, I formatted a USB Thumb-drive using a GUID Partition Map and formatted it Mac OS Extended (Journaled) naming it "Encrypted".

Then in Finder, I selected the disk named "Encrypted" and control-clicked selecting Encrypt "Encrypted"..., while setting its password to "password".

When it was done encrypting, using Terminal, I ascertained the UUID I'd need to use with the diskutil command in my script with the following command: diskutil cs list

I wanted the UUID of the Logical Volume where it showed Volume Name: Encrypted and in this case it showed it as:

Logical Volume 1BFD0C99-1A67-4DC2-A0F4-199B2AE635B0

Here's the output of diskutil cs list, so as to see from what I drew the UUID.

$ diskutil cs list
CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group 3D8D6165-909C-4C55-8C0B-811AC4856773
    =========================================================
    Name:         Encrypted
    Status:       Online
    Size:         15270830080 B (15.3 GB)
    Free Space:   16777216 B (16.8 MB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume 1E6C582B-5822-4986-9F41-164DE662FCE1
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    0
    |   Disk:     disk2s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     15270830080 B (15.3 GB)
    |
    +-> Logical Volume Family 6D7E4DCE-D7C5-4383-BF88-9E2DB9A52E14
        ----------------------------------------------------------
        Encryption Status:       Unlocked
        Encryption Type:         AES-XTS
        Conversion Status:       Complete
        Conversion Direction:    -none-
        Has Encrypted Extents:   Yes
        Fully Secure:            Yes
        Passphrase Required:     Yes
        |
        +-> Logical Volume 1BFD0C99-1A67-4DC2-A0F4-199B2AE635B0
            ---------------------------------------------------
            Disk:               disk3
            Status:             Online
            Size (Total):       14935281664 B (14.9 GB)
            Size (Converted):   -none-
            Revertible:         Yes (unlock and decryption required)
            LV Name:            Encrypted
            Volume Name:        Encrypted
            Content Hint:       Apple_HFS
$

With now having the correct UUID, I created my bash script in Terminal:

touch unlock
open unlock

I then added the following code:

#!/bin/bash

if [[ ! -z $1 ]]; then
    while read -r line; do
        printf "   Testing: $line \n"
        diskutil coreStorage unlockVolume 1BFD0C99-1A67-4DC2-A0F4-199B2AE635B0 -passphrase "$line" 2>/dev/null
            if [[ $? -eq 0 ]]; then
                printf "\n   The correct password is: $line \n\n"
                exit 0
            fi
    done < "$1"
else
    printf "\n   Missing Dictionary File!...\n\n   Syntax: ./unlock dictionary.txt\n\n"
    exit 1
fi

Note: Replace the UUID above with the UUID of the Logical Volume of your encrypted drive.

I saved and closed the script named "unlock" and made it executable using:

chmod u+x unlock

I then created a dictionary file, touch dictionary.txt and populated the file.  Of course in your case, you'd use as you mentioned the program named crunch to create your dictionary file(s).

I then ejected and remove the USB Thumb-drive from my system.

I then plugged in the USB Thumb-drive and when the "Enter a password to unlock the disk "Encrypted"." dialog box appeared, I clicked the Cancel button.

Now I was ready to unlock it using the bash script and dictionary.txt file from Terminal.

To show what I put in the dictionary.txt file:

$ cat dictionary.txt
p
pa
pass
passw
password
passwo
passwor
$

Here's the output of: ./unlock dictionary.txt

$ ./unlock dictionary.txt
   Testing: p
Started CoreStorage operation
   Testing: pa
Started CoreStorage operation
   Testing: pass
Started CoreStorage operation
   Testing: passw
Started CoreStorage operation
   Testing: password
Started CoreStorage operation
Logical Volume successfully unlocked
Logical Volume successfully attached as disk3
Logical Volume successfully mounted as /Volumes/Encrypted
Core Storage disk: disk3
Finished CoreStorage operation

   The correct password is: password

$

As you can see it tried what was in the dictionary.txt file up until if found the correct password and when the correct password was tested it unlocked and mounted the disk, prints out what the correct password was and exits the script.

The reason for printing out all passwords, is so if you need to stop the script you can then remove the tried passwords from the dictionary.txt file before starting again.

Note:  It is important that before running the bash script you have first freshly plugged in the drive and clicked the Cancel button, then run the script.


Does Apple only store 2 digit version numbers?

This would appear to be a problem with your app's code. Apple uses three part version numbers everywhere, from first-party apps to the OS version number itself. Check if the version number is reported correctly when using Get Info from Finder on the app bundle.


Is it possible to use AT&T 3G on a Verizon LTE iPad?

Turns out I wasn't the only person that's been interested in this. There's an article on MacRumors that states that this is indeed possible, which is good news for me. The person that discovered it wrote:

Big question on everyone's mind buying the Verizon iPad was whether data from AT&Ts 3G network would work on this iPad, or if Verizon/Apple would block this.
I was one of the first to obtain a Verizon iPad and can happily confirm that this is allowed! I used my ATT iPhone 4S sim card and took out the Verizon sim, and data worked! You must apply the AT&T APN carrier settings before this works though.
BTW APN carrier settings can be changed here: unlockit.co.nz

edit: I just tested this and it works. Changed the APN, put my iPhone SIM in, and it worked.


Is this a scam? A web page claims my iPhone is infected

Yes. This is a scam. You are 100% safe to close your safari tab to get rid of this message and absolutely nothing will happen. Many scammers provide fake instructions which will tell you what to do to give them access to your device, or make you give them money or personal details too, without you realising.

In this case, due to the web address, it appears the only intention of this fake site is to get you to install an app, probably to make the app seem more popular. The address implies this is an advertisement of an app, and the bit we can see of the instructions seems to back this up too. It is possible they are still trying to get money if the app costs money.


How can I restore my iPad from iOS 5 to iOS 4?

iTunes will not willingly load a lower iOS onto a device. Have you looked into the tiny umbrella program to see alternate methods to trick iTunes into doing what you wish.

iOS 4 requires an shsh key to sign the 4.3.3 package for your specific device. This key normally comes from the itunes actication servers. Unless you have already saved that key, the automation tools won't work and you'll have to do muh deeper hacking to crack this nut.

tl;dr

read up on jail breaking
it might be too late for you to go back easily


Can't start Time Machine backups on Catalina

As @Tetsujin suggested, the problem was indeed lack of space on the startup drive that I was trying to back up.

With 30Gb free, Time Machine was able to initiate a backup and stopped returning errors. (That is not likely the minimum limit; I just found something large and deleted it.)


Computer starts up to gray screen, in recoevery mode getting "Open Error 5: Input/Output error on System/CoreServcices/ManagedClient.app/*

You need to specify what year/model your Mac is, and what operating system came with the system.

Let's assume that "Lion" came pre-installed and you have the option of a "Recovery Partition". You need to first format your hard-drive, removing everything (making sure that you have a back-up!!) and then:

1) Switch off your mac

2) Book your Mac and press and hold the ⌘ (Command) key and R key immediately; after the first chime sounds. You must keep holding down both the Command and R keys until you see a window with “OS X Utilities” across the top in large text. This should enable you to do a fresh re-install.

The second way to access the recovery partition is to re-boot your mac and hold onto the (options) key.

If you do not have a recovery partition on your hard-drive you need to seek someone who has a Mac with lion+ on and download the OS X Recovery Disk Assistant v1.0 and placing a new image onto a memory stick, and following the steps above with the memory stick.

If your Disk cannot be repaired, then, there maybe an issue with the disk itself. Or, you could try and "Erase" the disk and doing a fresh re-install. Again, you need to TRY the best you can to ensure you back up all the data before trying any of these steps. But, it seems to me (personally) that this may not be an option for you.

I hope this helps :)


Is there a way to make the alarm clock much much louder?

Why yes - there is an accessory for just that purpose.

Several musical instrument recyclers/artists - notably Christopher Locke - make and sell a selection of iPhone, iPad and other amplifiers that will make your iOS alarm clock much louder.


Terminal : needs full path to execute a command

bash in Terminal uses the content of $PATH to look for executables. Usually . (for the current directory) is not part of $PATH (primarily for security reasons), to run commands in the current directory type ./myapp.


How to open quickly – in a browser – a Wikipedia URL from Dictionary or from the 'Look Up in Dictionary' service dialogue?

In Dictionary.app at the foot of the page there's an option:

View web page.

This is not the routine that I recall.

Also the URL is not what's required – example: I want http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parity_bit but Dictionary links to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Parity_bit …


After installing Yosemite, opening iPhoto brings my iMac to a halt

So everything was working fine, you opened iPhoto, and wham! ... a non-booting Mac? Something else has gone wrong here, and I doubt it's iPhoto. After installing Yosemite, did you do other things with it successfully, like browse the web, open a Word document?

From the screen you describe, the HD is the problem. Either it is completely dead, system files are missing/corrupted, a loose cable ... anything along those lines.

If you have a Time Machine backup of your HD, use OS X Recovery to recreate your startup disk.


Stop access to the iCloud notes app on a lost iPad, but keep my notes on the iCloud website?

Did you enabled the 'Find my iPad' option on your lost device? If so, you can go to iCloud.com and remotely delete all data on the iPad without losing your notes in iCloud.
If not, did you use a passcode? All data on the iPad is encrypted and it is highly unlikely that someone evil finds your (locked) device and tries to hack into your notes.

Another workaround would require you to use the Notes application on an OS X computer. Set up your iCloud device and another email account that supports notes (most IMAP accounts do). Then open the Notes application and move all of your notes to the new account. This will eventually sync with your lost device, but you would have to access your notes in the new account.

I do not think that there is a perfect answer to your problem, everything left to do is some damage control.


Okay, I dug into this and found that you have a couple of misconceptions, but it now all makes a little sense.

The page How to Install an iQuiz Package? says:

Shared iPod Quiz (iQuiz) games on iquizshare.com come in three formats:

  Flat file format (e.g. history_albert.txt).
  Zipped package, which contains readme, trivia.txt, and maybe some customized artworks in .tga format.
  QuizPack format, which is created using Aspyr Media iquizmaker software.

That third format? It's created by Aspyr software and read by Aspyr software—and nothing else. It's not an Apple format at all.

If you have a .quizpack file and you want to read what's in it, here are the steps:

Go to iquizmaker.com and download the free iQuiz Maker software (available for both Mac and Windows).
Install iQuiz Maker.
Launch iQuiz Maker, choose File > Import, and then open your .quizpack file.
Doing this creates the file (and any necessary folders) ~/Music/iTunes/iPod Games/iQuiz 1.0/<quiz name>/trivia.txt (Mac) or ~\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iPod Games\iQuiz 1.0\<quiz name>\trivia.txt (Windows).
Quit iQuiz Maker, as you've got what you want.

You can't do these steps in reverse to turn a trivia.txt file into a .quizpack file, but given that the .quizpack file is fairly useless, there's no reason you'd ever need to.

Old version:

Can you give an example of what kind of file you have, and what you mean by "unpack"?

The article you linked to says that:

  The text-based data files you create are not compiled or put into any unreadable form.

and

  Tip: If you're curious and you've enabled disk access, you'll find your games in /Volumes/(name-of-your-iPod)/iPod_Control/GameData_RO. One of the folders in that directory—possibly 11002—contains the iQuiz game. In that folder, look under UserTrivia/Packs to discover your user-installed game sets.


Raise/lower/move/resize windows with mouse + modifier keys

Easy Move+Resize is a great little tool that does exactly what it says on the tin.

  Usage

  Easy Move+Resize is based on behavior found in many X11/Linux window managers

  – Cmd + Ctrl + Left Mouse anywhere inside a window, then drag to move
  – Cmd + Ctrl + Right Mouse anywhere inside a window, then drag to resize

This thing was a breath of fresh air after spending too much time trying to figure out how to get the latest version of BetterTouchTool to do what I wanted. It's also not dependent on SIMBL, which is nice.

My only complaint is that the key bindings are not configurable. I'd prefer to use ⌘ Cmd+⌥ Opt+⌃ Ctrl+Left Click for resizing, since clicking and dragging with two fingers on a trackpad is a bit awkward. But hey, it's open source, and as always, there's an issue for that.


How do I mount my FileVault 2-encrypted volume?

You should be able to unlock or decrypt your FileVault 2-encrypted HD with Disk Utility. I've got a post on how to do this:

Using Disk Utility to unlock or decrypt your FileVault 2-encrypted boot drive:

http://derflounder.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/using-disk-utility-to-unlock-or-decrypt-your-filevault-2-encrypted-boot-drive/

If unlocking via Disk Utility isn't working, you may need to use your recovery key. I've got another post on how you can unlock using your recovery key using the command line:

Unlock or decrypt your FileVault 2-encrypted boot drive from the command line:

http://derflounder.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/using-the-command-line-to-unlock-or-decrypt-your-filevault-2-encrypted-boot-drive/


itunes software upgrade not syncing music

This clearly isn't how an iTunes upgrade is supposed to go. There are quite different strategies for fixing sync issues depending on whether you have a Mac or a PC, so the best I can offer is to work from the script and perhaps ask another question if you have a problem with a specific step.

iOS: Syncing with iTunes (KB HT1386)

Also, the problem could be entirely on the iTunes end - so it's a bit of a game to eliminate things one by one. You might take your phone to another computer (now that it's presumably erased) and get a good iCloud backup and test syncing there. This will let you focus on either the iPhone or the computer.


Is it possible to use Boot Camp with Windows 10 from an external HDD?

Here's an updated procedure for Windows 10, based on orkoden's excellent answer.

I tested this process on a MacBookPro11,1 running OS X 10.11.5 (15F34). Throughout the process, directly connect all devices to your Mac. I found that certain operations failed more frequently if I used the USB hub in my monitor.

In addition to the external drive that will host your Windows installation (the "destination drive"), you will need another USB drive (the "driver drive") to temporarily store the Boot Camp drivers.

I used these parts:

Destination drive: Samsung T3 Portable 500GB USB 3.0 External SSD (MU-PT500B/AM)
Driver drive: SanDisk Extreme 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive (SDCZ80-032G-GAM46)

Here are the steps:

Install VMware Fusion 8.1.1 from VMware's site
The non-professional free evaluation version is sufficient
VMware Fusion 7.1.3 couldn’t connect my external USB disk to my Windows VM
I downloaded VMware-Fusion-8.1.1-3771013.dmg (SHA256: 29cad381a36374e58a85fb58f7aaad8cae41ad50ef07fdda0db6d782c95c0a95)
Download the Windows 10 ISO file from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO
I chose Windows 10, English, 64-bit
I downloaded Win10_1511_1_English_x64.iso (SHA256: cf5cff9e23c853fed769cf382e18b29889dcc0055b69226f0164ab51eca3069c)
Download the Windows 7 Automated Installation Kit from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5753
I downloaded KB3AIK_EN.iso (SHA256: c6639424b2cebabff3e851913e5f56410f28184bbdb648d5f86c05d93a4cebba)
Prepare the driver drive.

Run diskutil list to determine the device name. In my case, the device name was /dev/disk2.
Erase the disk using diskutil eraseDisk fat32 DRIVERS MBR /dev/disk2
Open Boot Camp Assistant

In "Introduction", click "Continue"
In "Select Tasks":

Uncheck "Create a Windows 7 or later version install disk"
Check "Download the latest Windows support software from Apple"
Uncheck "Install Windows 7 or later version"
Click "Continue"

If "Select Tasks" is not there, try "Action->Download Windows Support Software".
In "Save Windows Support Software", choose the driver drive, and click "Continue".
Wait for the process to complete.

Eject the driver drive: diskutil eject /dev/disk2
Disconnect the driver drive.

Prepare the temporary Windows VM. We’ll use the temporary Windows VM to write the disk image to the destination drive. In VMware Fusion:
Create a new VM:

File > New
In "Select the Installation Method", choose "Install from disc or image", and click "Continue".
In "Create a New Virtual Machine", choose "Use another disc or disc image…", locate Win10_1511_1_English_x64.iso, and click "Continue".
In "Microsoft Windows Easy Install", uncheck "Use Easy Install", and click "Continue".
Click "Finish".

Start the VM and complete Windows Setup. The settings don’t really matter, because we’re just using this VM to write the disk image.

Choose "Next"
Choose "Install now"
Choose "I don’t have a product key"
Choose "Windows 10 Pro"
Choose "I accept the license terms"
Choose "Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)"
Choose "Drive 0 Unallocated Space" and click "Next"
Choose "Use Express settings"
Choose "I own it"
Choose "Skip this step"
Enter a username

Install the Automated Installation Kit:

From the "Virtual Machine" menu, choose "CD/DVD (SATA)" > "Choose Disc or Disc Image...". Select KB3AIK_EN.iso.
From the Start menu, choose "File Explorer", and then "This PC". Double-click "DVD Drive (D:) KB3AIK_EN".
Choose "Yes"
Choose ".NET Framework Setup"

Choose "Download and install this feature"
After installation completes, choose "Close"

Choose "Windows AIK Setup"

Choose "Next"
Choose "I agree"
Choose "Next"
Choose "Next"
After installation completes, choose "Close"

Prepare and image the destination drive:

From the Start menu, choose "All apps". Choose "Microsoft Windows AIK". Right-click "Deployment Tools Command Prompt". Choose "More", then choose "Run as administrator". Choose "Yes".
Prepare the destination drive:

Run diskpart
Plug in the destination drive. In the "Choose where you would like to connect " prompt, choose "Connect to Windows"
Run list disk to determine the disk number of the destination drive. In my case, the disk number was 1.
Run: select disk 1
Run: clean
Run: create partition primary
Run: format fs=ntfs quick
Run: assign
Run: active
Run: list volume
Note the drive letter for the selected volume (marked with a *); this is the drive letter of the destination drive. In my case, the letter was "E".
Run: exit

Image the destination drive:

From the "Virtual Machine" menu, choose "CD/DVD (SATA)" > "Choose Disc or Disc Image...". Select Win10_1511_1_English_x64.iso.
Run: imagex /check /verify /apply d:\sources\install.wim "Windows 10 Home" e:

For Windows 10 Pro, use "Windows 10 Pro"
For Windows 10 Education, use "Windows 10 Education Retail Technical Preview"

Run: bcdboot e:\windows /v /s e:
Run: shutdown /p
Quit VMware Fusion

Restart into Windows to complete installation

Restart the Mac while holding the Option key
When the startup disk list appears, use the arrow keys to choose Windows.
Complete Windows Setup. If Windows restarts during Setup, restart again while holding the Option key to return to Windows.
Insert the driver drive. Open the Start menu, choose “File Explorer”, choose “DRIVERS (E:)”, open the “BootCamp” folder, and open “Setup”. Complete the installation.

Windows is now installed and ready.

To restart into OS X, click the Boot Camp icon in the notification area and choose “Restart in OS X…”.
To restart into Windows, open “System Preferences” from the Apple menu, choose “Startup Disk”, choose “BOOTCAMP”, and then choose “Restart…”.
To choose an OS at boot time, hold down the Option key.


You don't have a Rev A iPad 2 — the MC979 is an iPad2,1 (16 GB White).

The Rev A iPad 2 (iPad2,4 — A1395) model numbers start with MC954 (black) or MC989 (white). They use the Apple A5 Rev A.

Source: The iPhone Wiki — Models

To view your model number, you can find it in Settings → About.


I use Lion but with chrome.

If i have 10 tabs or pages open and press cmd + Q to quit chrome, when i open the app back up all my tabs are still there.

Plus according to the new press release, chrome is supposed to be the fastest and most secure browser.


My robust broadcom wifi card interferes with my graphic card

I advise you to reduce the card signal level. This won't reduce the speed which is only related to the frequency of the carrier wave and the signal / noise ratio.

This will increase the overall signal / noise ratio of all the hardware using the bandwidth around the GHz (1 - 10 GHz). Net result: the interference should stop below a level to experimentally find. Then the network throughput will be better, but its scope (in meters reached) will be shorter. Most probably you will shrink your network radius from 100 m down to 25 m. You will also lower the quantity of micro-wave heating your eyes and your brain (every thing which is containing a lot of water).


Unable to remove a container disk on MacBook Pro SSD

In your screen shot I can see 2 additional containers just bellow disk1, these must be removed first. Start by removing the containers going clockwise from macOS. You will then be able to remove disk1 last.


If you run AppleScript code via osascript in Terminal, then you need to add Terminal to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility, to allow it assistive access.

I took your code, saved it to a file named testcode and made it executable using chmod. I then ran it in Terminal and received the following error:

./testcode:157:286: execution error: System Events got an error: osascript is not allowed assistive access. (-1728)

I then added Terminal to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility and ran it again. It then processed the script properly and returned:

radio button Login Items of tab group 1 of window Users & Groups of application process System Preferences

It of course opened the System Preferences to that target.


How to share .bashrc files between two mac user accounts

You can use the ln tool to create a symbolic link:

ln -s /Users/user1/.bashrc /Users/user2/.bashrc

In this example you are creating a new link for user2 pointing back to the existing file in user1's directory. You may need to use sudo ln ... if the permissions are not set correctly.


It is hard to say for sure without more information, but my first guess would be interference.

Do you have another piece of electrical equipment near your iMac that could be impacting the signal? Speakers? A wireless headset? A router?

In my new apartment whenever I get a phone call on my 2.4Ghz land-line telephone it drops my WiFi connection on my iMac so interference can definitely cause odd problems!


Syncing address book contacts through iPad and iPhone?

There are a number of options, these solutions assume you want to sync your contacts to Apple's Contacts.app on your iOS device and not a third party app.

MobileMe

Apple's service is the most straight forward (it should just work) and offers other benefits such as storage.

Microsoft Exchange

iOS devices can use Microsoft's Exchange protocol to update the device's email, calendar and contacts. If you are running Snow Leopard you can use also connect your Address Book, iCal, and Mail to the same exchange server and your contacts will sync between your iOS device and your Mac's Address Book. A free option would be to use Google sync on your iOS device which uses Microsoft's exchange protocol. However Google Sync doesn't work for desktop applications like Address Book right now. So you would have to find a way to sync your Address Book contacts to Google which is possible.


Mac book Crashed - can only get folder with Question mark on it

This icon means that your Mac can't find a bootable disk.  Your iPad definitely won't help; your pen drive, internet access, and Win7 disc might or might not help.

Based on the model number that you've given, you have a white MacBook from 2006.  That means that the OS that came with it was probably 10.4 ("Tiger").  It could also have either 10.5 ("Leopard") or 10.6 ("Snow Leopard") on it if it was upgraded at some point during its lifetime.  This MacBook cannot support anything later than 10.6 (it will not work with either 10.7 "Lion" or 10.8 "Mountain Lion").  This laptop is long out of warranty.  If you are close to an Apple Store, since it appears that you don't have a lot of experience with Macs, you could try to schedule an appointment at their Genius Bar and see if they're willing to help you out.  They'll probably be willing to run the necessary diagnostics to see whether you're experiencing a major hardware failure, such as a failed hard disk.  However, if you have a piece of failed hardware, their cost to fix it is probably going to be more than the cost of buying a working Mac of a similar vintage.  If it is a piece of failed hardware and you're comfortable replacing the hardware on your own, I've found that Other World Computing has good prices for replacement parts, and they also include excellent step-by-step instructions for doing the replacement.  If it's not failed hardware, they might or might not be willing to help you get a new OS installed.  It doesn't hurt to ask.

You say that you've downloaded a DMG file off of the Internet, but I don't know what DMG file you have.  You need a bootable version of either 10.4, 10.5, or 10.6.  You can buy physical DVDs for each of these off of Amazon or other sources.  You can't use the installation discs from another MacBook to install the OS onto your MacBook (unless it's the exact same model as your MacBook).  To install from a DVD, you'll either need the installation discs from an identical MacBook, or the retail DVD (which is what you'll find on Amazon).  Once you have the DVD, put it in your drive and hold down the C key when you power up the MacBook.  If the installation starts, then you're probably going to be okay.  Go through the installation steps for the OS.  If you run into trouble during installation, Apple has some excellent installation troubleshooting steps.

If you don't want to run OS X on this laptop, you could just use it to run Windows.  The specifications are better than the minimum specifications to run Windows 7, so you could just use that.  There's an extensive set of instructions for installing Win7 on a MacBook Air, which should work for your MacBook too.  Those instructions go through the whole process in detail, from creating a bootable USB drive (which will require access to a Windows computer) to installing it on your Mac.


How to format a Seagate HDD to OS X Extended (Journal) with Disk Utility

In Disk Utility find the HDD you are trying to format in the left hand column. Select the disk and not the volume - that appears as child under it - to repartition it.

Just choosing the volume erases or replaces the file system but not the partition table type. This may apparently fail if the partition map is mal-formed.

If you feel confident with terminal, you may use instructions from other topics, alike this one.


Cannot ls ~/.Trash in the Terminal in Catalina (operation not permitted)

You have to give the Terminal.app Full Disk permissions in the security settings.


Problem with iPhone starting up completely

The steps to fix any iOS device that won't boot fully are the same and pretty easy to accomplish following Apple's support on how to restore a device.

Consider trying to make a backup or check if you have your data (programs, contacts, settings, photos) either synchronized or backed up before you restore - that irreversibly deletes everything you put on your phone as the first step of the restore:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201252

At the bottom of that article are several that might need to be epxplored if the normal restore fails, up to and including calling for a hardware repair to an authorized (or unauthorized if you prefer) repair shop.


How to replace or delete entire iCloud photos library?

Since deleting directly in the browser did not work (I guess Apple never tested it with a library that large...), I ended up using this workaround: create a new Photos library (start Photos app with option key pressed). Make it the system library and sync with iCloud (only download previews). Then delete all photos and albums once the download has been completed. The changes will take about 15 minutes to be reflected in the browser.
Then I switched back to my original library and enabled iCloud sync. Now it's uploading all of the >40,000 images back to iCloud.


AFAIK There's no (free) onboard app to achieve this.

The easiest way would be to do it via command line.

zip /path/to/zipfile.zip file1 file2

If you want to add all(!) files within a directory and subdirectories, run

zip -r /path/to/zipfile.zip /path/to/dir

It will also add .DS_Store files and that like, so be careful with the latter command.

However, if you're fine with spending some money, you could take a look at http://macitbetter.com. They provide an app called BetterZip 2 which is also capable of doing what you want.


Get Info still works when selecting multiple photos (and only touches the fields you change so you won't accidentally overwrite stuff), and both shift and cmd do what you'd expect as far as selecting goes - same as iTunes basically. Plenty fast in my opinion.

For proper bulk library things (merging several massive libraries, etc) something like PowerPhotos is what you'd have to go with, though.


Headphones not detected when connected to MBP

If you see red glowing light coming from it try the toothpick approach: take a toothpick and poke around in the jack until light turns off.

Source from: Apple inc

OS X Mavericks: Audio ports


In your case you have to add cron as "parent" app to the user's Security & Privacy > Privacy > Full Disk Access apps/execs.

Depending where to read the script from and where to write the log file to, you have to add cron to the Full Disk Access apps. Almost all default folders in the user's home are protected (Documents/Downloads/Desktop - I haven't checked Pictures/Movies/Music but I think they are protected too and obviously the wrong folders to add shell scripts or log files) by Catalina's system policy.

If the script and the log reside in user created and thus unprotected folders (e.g. the script in ~/bin and the log file in ~/log) it works without adding cron to the Full Disk Access group.

You can check this kind of errors by opening Console.app and searching for the shebanged exec in the script (here bash):

error   15:19:00.369105+0100    kernel  Sandbox: bash(4556) System Policy: deny(1) file-write-data /Users/user/Desktop/test/cronjob2.log
error   15:19:00.379093+0100    kernel  Sandbox: bash(4555) System Policy: deny(1) file-read-data /Users/user/Desktop/cronjob.sh

In the examples above cron wasn't added to the Full Disk Access group.

cronjob2 was run from an unprotected folder ~/bin but tries to write the log file to the protected folder ~/Desktop/test/. So no read error but a write error.

cronjob was run from a protected folder ~/Desktop and tries to write the log file to the protected folder ~/Desktop/. So a read error.

Interestingly both log files are created - the first one (cronjob2.log) is empty though.


Not sure about your corrupted backup. But you can downgrade to iOS 8.3; the same way you upgraded to iOS 9.
Your backup might show up if you do that. I upgraded to iOS 9. Couldn't find my backup. Downgraded to iOS 8 and it was there.

If you need help downgrading, this should have the steps you need. http://www.macworld.com/article/2687162/how-to-downgrade.html

Find the correct 8.3 build for your phone here: https://developer.apple.com/ios/download/

In iTunes with your phone plugged in, hold the option key and press restore. Navigate to your downloaded build of 8.3 and select that. Restore to iOS 8.3
During setup, you should see the option to choose an iCloud backup if you have one.


Are they set to be function keys - there is the "fn" key - have you tried holding that down and tapping the lighting key?

If that works, then you can change the behaviour in system preferences.

You can check this functionality in System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Tab and check to see if the bottom check box ("Use F1, F2, etc...") is checked


How can OS X perform "VPN Single Sign On"?

You could use tunnelblick, as a front end to OpenVPN. Once installed, it runs automatically when the user logs on. It can also be configured to connect automatically, in the VPN Details dialog:

It appears to work with OpenDirectory also, starting from version 3.1beta16 (I am currently using version 3.4.2). Taken from the release notes (What's New in Tunnelblick 3.1beta16 (Changes from 3.1beta14))

Fixes issues when using OpenDirectory and the user's home directory is on a non-Mac platform.

So, in short, while it doesn't provide the VPN logon at the login screen as requested, the end result is pretty much the same - you log in and have the VPN connection already running.

Hope this helps.


How can I get the last logins/shutdowns/restarts located on a volume from another Mac?

last gets its information from /var/run/utmpx, a file that records user and tty sessions, shutdowns and reboots on the current system. utmpx is a binary file, which means you can't use less or grep to read it or search for keywords.

So to get the session information of the other Mac, we want last to read  /Volumes/1013/var/run/utmpx.

Unfortunately, last can't be told to read a file different than /var/run/utmpx, but this is where chroot comes to the rescue. chroot takes two arguments, a path and a command, sets the command's perceived root directory to the specified path and executes it.

In our case, this is the command we need (type your login password when asked):

sudo chroot /Volumes/1013/ last

This command changes the root directory to point to /Volumes/1013 so that when last reads /var/run/utmpx, it actually reads /Volumes/1013/var/run/utmpx.

You can pass options to last, if you wish, or pipe the output to grep for more relevant results, for example:

sudo chroot /Volumes/1013/ last -10 | grep <some user>

If the command above doesn't work (for example, you get a segmentation fault), try this:

sudo chroot /Volumes/1013/ /Volumes/1013/usr/bin/last -10 | grep <some user>

that is, run the executable from the other Mac.

Note that there's a limit on how far back you can go with the macOS version with either method.

For example, with macOS "Sierra" 10.12, last worked as expected, while with OS X "Mavericks" 10.9, last only prints one line and then hangs. dtruss shows that a serious incompatibility is the reason for the hang:

$ sudo dtruss -p 39542
dtrace: system integrity protection is on, some features will not be available
SYSCALL(args)        = return
dtrace: 3870 dynamic variable drops with non-empty dirty list
lseek(0x8, 0x4000, 0x0)      = 16384 0
dtrace: error on enabled probe ID 2175 (ID 945: syscall::read_nocancel:return): invalid kernel access in action #12 at DIF offset 68

You can overcome this limitation by plugging the drive to a Mac running an older version of macOS.

For more information on chroot, run man chroot in Terminal.


This workaround applies to Preview.app 9.0 (909.12) in macOS Sierra 10.12.2 and will most likely break in future releases.

Launch AppleScript Editor and enter the following.

tell application "System Events" to tell process "Preview"
    activate
    set markup to checkbox 1 of toolbar 1 of window 1
    tell markup
        if not (its value as boolean) then
            click markup
            delay 0.1
        end if
    end tell
    set sketch to checkbox 1 of toolbar 2 of window 1
    tell sketch
        if not (its value as boolean) then
            click sketch
        end if
    end tell
end tell

Launch Preview, open a document, switch back to AppleScript Editor, and run your script. You will most likely get at least one error about AppleScript Editor requiring permission to use accessibility features.
Open System Preferences. Open the Security & Privacy pane. Click the Privacy tab. Click Accessibility. Click "Click the lock to make changes." Enter your password and click Unlock. Click the plus sign. Select Automator and click Open. Repeat, adding Script Editor. Make sure the checkboxes next to Automator and Script Editor are checked in the list.

(Hopefully, you'll only have to do step 3 once... until the next macOS upgrade.)

Go back to Script Editor, and try running your script again. Hopefully, in Preview, the Sketch tool will now be selected.
In Script Editor, save your script as an application somewhere in your home folder.
Find the application you just saved using Finder or Spotlight. Run the application. You will get another error about accessibility access.
Return to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy.
Click the little plus sign again. Browse to the application you just saved, and add it to the list. Make sure the check box next to it is checked.
Now, run your application from the Finder or Spotlight again. Hopefully you will not get an error this time.
Open Automator. Choose File > New. Choose Service. Under "Service receives selected," choose no input. Click any application and choose Other... Choose Preview.
In the "Actions" search box, type application. Drag Launch Application over to the "Drag actions or files here to build your workflow" panel.
Under Launch Application, choose Other..., then browse to your application.
Save the automator action (Service) with a sensible name, like "Preview Sketch Mode" or something easy to remember that you can type exactly.
Make sure the automator action works.
Launch System Preferences and go to Keyboard. Click Shortcuts. Click App Shortcuts. Click the plus sign. Under Application, choose Preview. Under Menu Title, type the exact name of the service name you saved in step 13 above. Assign a keyboard shortcut to it.

You should now have a keyboard shortcut that enables Sketch mode in Preview.


I want to move my old pictures to iCloud to free up iPhone storage space (iPhone already at full capacity)

iCloud is a syncing service, so any photos you delete on the phone will also get deleted in iCloud. This is obviously not what you want.
You can configure the phone to automatically manage local storage though by opening Settings, scrolling down to Photos and selecting the "Optimize iPhone storage" option. This will store the full resolution photos in iCloud while just keeping a low-res version on the phone itself. If required (for editing or sharing) the full-res version will get downloaded again automatically.
See Apple's support article for more details on how to setup and use iCloud Photos.


I am trying to disable Game Center on El Capitan

To disable Game Center on Mac OS X:

Open Game Center. In the menu bar, select Account > Sign Out. If you don't want to sign out, you can instead click Account > Settings, then uncheck "Allow Invites", "Nearby Players", "Contacts", and "Facebook". After you've done one or both of these two things, go to System Preferences > Notifications > Game Center > Game Center alert style > None.


The easiest way to delete photos is to use Image Capture. That's how I've been doing it.

Connect your iPhone to your mac via cable.
Run Image Capture. It should bring up the pictures on your phone.
Select all images (or just specific ones).
Click the Delete button.


Hinted by similar discussions in related forums, I figure it's bad contacts.
I fixed my issue by gently squeezing the keyboard USB to make it tighter. Be careful not to break it though. Just a gentle squeeze, so that it's about 0.5-1mm tighter should be all that's needed.

This would explain why new keyboards work fine for a while and why extension cords only help for a while only as well.


How can I clone my Lion-pre-installed drive to a new smaller hard drive?

It didn't take long - there is now an official assistant to roll your own external recovery HD. You need a USB drive with 1Gb of space and a free download.
The Lion Recovery Disk Assistant and OS X Lion: About Lion Recovery Disk Assistant will walk you through making an external bootable Recovery HD.
As the cloning software I like won't handle the Recovery HD yet, I've gotten good results by installing Lion onto the smaller hard drive and letting it make the Recovery HD.
It's easy to migrate the apps and data in post install rather than do it all in one step.


Voicemails found on iPhone that shouldn't be there

Make sure that your friend does not have your SIM card or the voicemail password you set up with your carrier.  If those two things are save your voicemail should be as well.


Is there a free QuickLook plug-in for CAD files (3D models)?

Try Graphic Converter, at least this one works for previewing the .skp files. In the free version you just need to wait around 30s to use the apps.

In some forums, there is said that to generate quicklook plugins, the developer of the apps needs to open up the source code in how their apps generate the files to display. Even maybe if someone is able to reverse engineering the apps to get the source code, there is still problems in terms of licensing. Unless otherwise the code used is under GNU license.


Does charging and CPU usage affect each other?

The CPU is boss of the power scheme and will get all the power it requests. The charger is boss of the maximum power it will output.

Only thermal conditions throttle the CPU.
If the charger is offering more power to be delivered than the charging controller is being asked to provide to the CPU, you have excess power available.
When the battery needs replenishment and excess power is available, the energy will be applied there in the usual non-linear LiPo charge curve off fast charge to roughly 80 percent capacity then slow charge.

The CPU can pull from two sources and the charger can deliver to two sources.

It’s a pretty simple systematic first glance, but the nonlinear charge and variable CPU/GPU loads make si ole linear time estimates not match reality.

So, if your charger is not providing the power needed to keep the CPU fully powered, the battery will drain and eventually the Mac will shut off because there’s no more battery to make up the deficit in power.  And that is why the CPU can run at full speed.

I don’t think there is any general common timing even if you restrict yourself to only USB-C charging models. But, the great news is you can just open the terminal and check the current power budget and time estimates and not rely on me or anyone else rule of thumb on the internet.

 pmset -g sysloadlog
 pmset -g thermlog
 pmset -g pslog

Those three commands show engineering summaries and details for the overview of the system state (sysloadlog) and the thermal CPU throttling (thermlog). The last power log will answer the specifics of any charge scenario for any model Mac and the charger you have connected.


Old MacBook power adapter on new MacBook Pro?

Yes, as long as your new MacBook Pro is of the 13" variety, then you will have no problems.

While Power Adapters technically have different model numbers (to associate them during repairs), the wattage is what you need to look at when considering to use on on a machine.  15"/17" MacBook Pro's require 85W Power Adapters, where as, the 13" MacBook Pro and MacBook use 60W Power Adapters.

Hope that clears it up for you.


Yes - that's a bug that might get fixed if it's not intentional.

You can lobby for fixing at https://developer.apple.com/bug-reporting/ and posting it to https://openradar.appspot.com to get community support to duplicate your request


Get the Mojave dynamic wallpaper back after upgrading to Big Sur

This one? (Just download it and then right click and "Set Desktop Picture")
https://files.rb.gd/mojave_dynamic.heic
Or maybe have a look here as well


In Sierra, is there a setting to keep the dock from jumping to external displays?

System Prefs > Mission control > Displays have separate Spaces ...disable

Though that may impact the rest of your workflow.


How to get VMware Fusion on Mac to use Logitech extra back/forward mouse buttons in Windows VM?

To expand on what CajunLuke said about changing the configuration on a per app basis.

If you have Logitech Control Center for OS X installed you can use Advanced click settings for just VMFusion using the following steps.

System Settings > Control Center

Click the Plus button next to the global settings drop down and navigate to VMFusion and click select
Change Thumb Back button to Advanced Click with the button 4 option and Change Tumb Forward button to Advanced Click with the button 5 option.

I use win + left and win + right for screen snapping in windows, so key mapping was not an option for me.  Advanced click allowed me to keep the windows shortcuts intact as well as use my forward and back buttons on my Anywhere Mouse MX as intended. I have tested this in Win8 full screen and single window and it works beautifully.  I'm not sure about unity because I haven't used Win8 in unity mode so I did not test.  Hope this helps others.  I know it took me forever to find the anser I needed.


Possibility of getting HealthKit data from third-party sensors in real-time?

From a user level - the health app consumes data that is stored in the HealthKit framework. From the developer and hardware manufacturer side, HealthKit framework is an API for them to do things reading and writing the data so that what you describe is clearly possible.

Even watch OS streams live data - so that's a core feature of bluetooth low energy. Once the data is on iOS, it's a matter of the developer placing it under health kit control. This is something Apple expects and allows with their code and SDK/API.

Now, not all data can be written to all areas - for instance, Apple's workout app doesn't allow third party contributions on Watch OS 1.0 and 2.0 but it does allow workout data to be stored in the database along with the Apple watch workout app data.


Setup Apple TV (2nd Gen) with neither a remote nor home sharing turned on

I decided to answer my own question after 2 hours of figuring out ways around the problem that "If home sharing is not turned on, apple TV cannot be controlled with an ios device".
Note that I am talking about a 2nd gen apple TV. A 3rd gen can be worked around by http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5900?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
You actually can get the 2nd gen synced with your ios, a little sneaky but it is easily managable.
Here is what you do...

Connect the apple TV to your laptop and reset to factory settings on the apple TV (I did this to get a clean box + latest software update).

Now when apple TV powers up (just hook the HDMI to the TV and the power up the apple TV) it will ask you for a bluetooth keyboard pairing if needed (if you have one, rest is straight forward, if not go to step 3 else step 5). New versions of apple TV software ask you for this pairing, hence the restore to factory + software update on the apple TV. NOTE: Restoring may not work on a Mac running Catalina, perhaps because Apple broke the functionality when they decided to remove iTunes. On MacOS 10.15.2 it gave an "unknown error (1)" and left the Apple TV stuck in recovery mode (showing the "connect to iTunes" screen when plugged into the TV). However it seems to work fine on macOS Mojave which still has iTunes.

I do not own a bluetooth keyboard so I downloaded 1keyboard app from the app store for free (I own a mac, something like this should be doable for windows too).

Using 1Keyboard I could emulate a bluetooth keyboard functionality from my mac.

Once I had the keyboard connected to the apple TV, use up down etc. keys to navigate and setup your apple TV. Then go to settings and pair your ios Remote App.

Save 20$ by not buying the remote :-)
Hope this helps someone.


Speakable items always activated after reboot

The Systems Preference app preferences file, just like that of any other app, can become corrupted. There are utilities--none free that I know of--that will check your preferences files, or you can simply move this file from ~/Library/Preferences to the trash and see if that fixes the problem. Close System Preferences first.

And I assume you've checked your login items.


If my family has multiple iPhones that use the same Apple ID, is there any way to not share Apps?

From your iPhone go to Settings > Store and disable Automatic Downloads for Apps. You can elect to do the same for books or music.

Your sons can visit the App Store and download any app that you've already purchased without being charged, though they will have to know the login information for the Apple ID tied to your iTunes Store account.

The alternative is to specify that the applications be synced to their phones from within iTunes.

  To sync downloaded apps to iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad: Connect your
  iPod touch, iPhone, or iPad to your computer.

  In iTunes, select your device (below Devices), and then click the Apps
  button.

  Select Sync Apps, and then select the apps you want to sync.


Cannot enable Time Machine encrypted backups since updating to Catalina

It seems like the issue was that Time Machine -dialog itself didn't have correct admin rights, but wasn't showing the padlock for unlocking them. Opening Time Machine from System preferences instead of the upper bar seemed to help, and that's how I was able to click the padlock and give enough rights for Time Machine to write into System Keychain.


How do I skip verification of a .dmg file?

The command line tools allow you to mount the DMG and skip verification.
Open Terminal:
hdiutil attach -noverify /Path/To/Your/DMGFile.dmg

If you have the DMG file on your Desktop, and the DMG was named "Broken.DMG" you could type in something like this:
hdiutil attach -noverify ~/Desktop/Broken.dmg

Rather than typing the name of the file, just drop the file icon in the terminal window once the main command is ready. If your image is bad, the warning is correct and you should get a new dmg rather than bypass the error checking step.

A more global change would use defaults, but this check is very handy in general since it flags bad images:
defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages skip-verify TRUE

This will stop the verification of DMG files permanently. After you've managed to skip the verification and open that file, it would be a good idea to re-enable the verification by opening Terminal again and typing in:
defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages skip-verify FALSE


Strange watermark on a iPhone photo taken in Target

I would be willing to bet that Target is using hidden watermarks that are only visible when taking a photo (similar to the watermark that is used by banks to protect checks).  What I hypothesize they are using is a fluorescent dyes that only shows up under certain lighting conditions (like the high intensity led of a smartphone camera flash)

See:  Invisible glass watermarks will ensure your new watch or smartphone is genuine

Out of sheer curiosity, I would do a simple test: take a compact mirror into the restroom with you.  With your phone in Airplane Mode, take a picture of the bathroom mirror and of the mirror you brought in.  If the image is in both places, it's "tech" related.  If not, it's in the mirror.


How to get the password hashes for a user in Mac OS X 10.10+, in recovery/single user mode?

When booting into recovery mode, the main hard drive is mounted under /Volumes/NameOfMainVolume/ (usually /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD or "/Volumes/Macintosh HD"). So if you need to access files residing on the main drive, include that part into your access path.


Apple Watch Series 3 with Cellular not receiving phone calls

Based purely on what you’ve described, your Apple Watch is working as intended. Let me explain…

When an iPhone is in Aeroplane Mode, its Bluetooth is not necessarily switched off. This means your iPhone and Apple Watch are still in fact connected via Bluetooth and that’s why calls aren’t coming through on your Apple Watch.

The reason it’s been designed this way, is the assumption that if your Apple Watch is still connected to your iPhone, then your iPhone is in the same area as you (e.g. at home, at work, etc) and that if you’re not wanting to receive phone calls on your iPhone, then you’d also not want to receive them on your Apple Watch.

To test my assumption, you can either repeat your test but manually ensure that Bluetooth is also switched off on your iPhone. Likewise, you could just go for a walk (it doesn’t have to be very far - 50 metres is enough) so that your Apple Watch loses connection to your iPhone and arrange for someone to call your cell phone.

If I’m right your Apple Watch will ring when your cell number is called. However, if it still doesn’t work, let me know and we’ll investigate this further.


Choppy mouse on macOS Sierra 10.12.3? (Both trackpad and wired)

Cursor became so jumpy on El Capitan, machine unusable despite all manner of resets ... but cured for good, still cured in Sierra, by third internet reinstall from Recovery partition!

The third time I ran with no hope, but what the hell it's easy enough, and ....no more trackpad or mouse cursor craziness!

If you really want to do it right, back up or make a clone, & erase disk with Disk Utility in Recovery Mode for a complete, clean install.


How do you remove header and footer in Word 2011?

I don't think I've ever seen the None option you're referring to. Even in Ms Word 2016 there's no such option, but you do get a Remove Header option.

As for MS Word 2011, the only way I've ever been able to remove a header is as follows:

Double-click on the header within your document
Go to Edit > Select All (or just press the command A keyboard shortcut)
Now press the Delete key on your keyboard
Click the Close button on the header (see image below):

Now your Header will be gone.


It was a permissions issue. I realized I couldn't even run touch somefile as my user while logged in directly on the remote machine.
Running sudo chmod -R 777 /media/timemachine and sudo chown youruser /media/timemachine may fix the issue for you.
Worth noting, I formatted /media/timemachine as ext4


No - OS X uses OpenSSH and you can inspect the source code used here.

Based on your output, it looks like sshd is not active on the machine. Also ps|grep ssh[d] will prevent your grep process from matching the target. Some people get concerned when they don't see sshd running, since it gets started on demand when launchd detects an incoming network request. Are you certain ssh is active? You could verify this with lsof|grep ssh if you have doubts.

Look for this when one ssh has been initiated recently on Lion:

Last login: Mon Jul 16 17:58:26 2012 from 10.0.1.35
mac:~ mike$ ps -ef|grep sshd
0   60320     1   0  4:23PM ??         0:00.00 /usr/libexec/launchproxy /usr/sbin/sshd -i
0   60321 60320   0  4:23PM ??         0:00.15 /usr/sbin/sshd -i
501 60330 60321   0  4:23PM ??         0:00.01 /usr/sbin/sshd -i
501 60336 60331   0  4:23PM ttys003    0:00.00 grep sshd


On the older MacBook Pro models, it's not a software function that reduces power.  It's actually a hardware requirement, managed by the SMC to utilize both mains and battery to get full performance.  With a dead or missing battery it would actually "downclock" the CPU.
MacBooks Run Slow Without Battery*

If the battery is removed from a MacBook or MacBook Pro, the computer will automatically reduce the processor speed. This prevents the computer from shutting down if it demands more power than the A/C adapter alone can provide.

With newer MacBooks and the release of Catalina's Battery Heath Management feature, you can control (very limited, albeit) whether or not performance is affected.
However, in your case, you would actually see better performance if you removed or just disconnected your battery because the charging circuitry is using current that could otherwise be used for processing to try and charge a battery that will not hold a charge - in effect, you have a power "drain" on your computer which is compounding the issue.

Fully charged MacBook Air turns off when power cord removed

Battery is draining with "Power source: Power adapter" in macOS Catalina

Macbook pro Mid-2012 not booting on battery. Not responding to power button

You need to replace your battery with a quality unit

* Tom's Hardware, Marcus Yam, Marcus and Ngai, Amos; December 01, 2008.  https://www.tomshardware.com/news/apple-macbook-pro-battery-benchmarks,6643.html


Do apps like GeekTool cause performance degradation?

My experience is that Geektool can significantly affect performance on My Macbook Pro (early 2011 running Yosemite).

I've noticed that both Fans start to max out at 6000+ RPM and applications become sluggish. Geektool itself does not appear to be hogging CPU or memory but something related to it is. It's not the geeklets as they are only echoing out some text and running df -h every 5 seconds.

One thing I've noticed is that the WindowServer process seems to start eating a lot of cpu while Geektool is running. My hunch is that this is the problem - I use my Mac almost exclusively with a large external monitor attached.

So if you do experience performance lag, it may be the individual geeklets if they are doing anything intensive or some combination of Geektool + other applications which need to draw to the screen a lot. Try a search on this site for WindowServer too - there seem to be other people seeing issues with WindowServer causing performance problems on Yosemite.


A partition copied with cat can't be mounted

cat is not an appropriate tool for copying volumes. It dumps files character by character. Yes, unix abstracts everything to a file, but it also distinguishes between character devices (files) and block devices (storage).

Wipe the partition and use dd, rsync, or a GUI tool like Carbon Copy Cloner to make a duplicate.

However, if I read your sequence correctly it looks like you made a copy and then wiped the original without verifying your copy. If so, time to get the backups out.


How to tell Finder where to find private key when "Connect to Server" using SSH?

Finder in macOS Sierra appears to only add the id_rsa key by default.
If you want to add other keys you either have to add them manually or alter the configuration.

on my machine a simple ssh-add ~/.ssh/test.key worked.

According to this guide you can also store the keys in your keychain:

In ~/.ssh create config file with the following content:

Host * (asterisk for all hosts or add specific host)
  AddKeysToAgent yes
  UseKeychain yes
  IdentityFile <key> (e.g. ~/.ssh/userKey)

You can read more about this on the Apple Developer Site


Notification Center frozen in macbook pro with Yosemite 10.10.3

The simplest and least destructive way to stop processes that run in your user space is to logoff, and logon again.

If you kill a process, it can't save any data correctly. Most system processes have good routines to handle this, but that slows things down the next time it starts and can leave things in a state where you need to clean up the mess by hand.

Logging out and back in will minimize the risk of causing further issues.


Can't turn on wifi on Mac OSX Mountain lion MBP 2012

Cycling the network setup has worked for me. Run the following in Terminal:

networksetup -setairportpower en0 off
networksetup -setairportpower en0 on


Do all computers/devices connected to an airport extreme run at the same speed?

No - this is demonstrably false for Airport hardware even before the latest generation where 802.11ac is introduced.

Simply connect two or three Mac at different distances (1m, 5m, 10m) and run wireless diagnostic on each.  You will see different transmit rates and MCS index for each device which correlates to how fast the radio link between each device and the base station is based on current interference and signal to noise ratios.


Will iMessage receiver on iPad see my iPhone number?

From this Apple Support article:

  For Messages, go to Settings > Messages and make sure that iMessage is on. If asked, sign in with the Apple ID you're using with Messages
  and FaceTime on your iPhone. Then tap Send & Receive.
  For FaceTime, go to Settings > FaceTime. If asked, sign in with the Apple ID that you're using with Messages and FaceTime on your iPhone.
  Turn your phone number on or off:

  To turn on your phone number, select it and your Apple ID in the “You can be reached” section. If you don't see your phone number, get
  help with your settings or contact Apple Support. If you see a number
  that isn't yours, change your Apple ID password.
  To turn off your phone number, uncheck it.

Once you turn off your phone number at the "You can be reached" section people will see your email.


OS X client gets SSL certificate error when trying to join OD

The OD server on 10.10 uses the identity certificate pointed to by the "MACHINE_IDENTITY" identity preference. Using Keychain Access or the security command line tool change the identity preference to point to your new CA signed cert.


Access passcode locked iPhone with broken screen without jailbreaking

Solution 1: USB keyboard

You can use the Apple Lightning to USB Camera Adapter.

Connect the adapter to your iPhone.
Connect a USB keyboard to the adapter.
Enter your passcode

Solution 2: Bluetooth keyboard

If you had connected a bluetooth keyboard to your iPhone before you can use it to enter your iPhone's passcode.

Make sure your iPhone has bluetooth enabled
Turn on your keyboard and pair wait for it to connect to your iPhone.
Enter your unlock passcode.


Using the serveradmin command-line utility, you can send a command to the smb or afp file sharing daemons.  Running the following will return an array of users, including their ipAddress, login time, and account name.

serveradmin command smb:command = getConnectedUsers
serveradmin command afp:command = getConnectedUsers

A typical line of output (for the user name) would appear as

smb:usersArray:_array_index:0:name = "user_foo"
...
smb:usersArray:_array_index:1:name = "user_bar"

If all you are concerned about is the user names,

serveradmin command smb:command = getConnectedUsers | awk -F '"' '/:name/ { print $2 }'

awk -F splits lines on the " , while  /:name/ only operates on lines matching :name.  The $2 takes the second column of text (divided by "), which is the user name.

user_foo
user_bar


Is it possible to suppress hidden calendars in iOS 5's notification view?

To the best of my knowledge you can't fix this. Hopefully Apple will modify this in an update at some point, but who knows. For now, the notification center is useless to anyone with a complicated calendar system.


How do I change a disk partition map scheme from MBR to GUID Partitions Table?

Ok thanks for your help, but I solved the problem on my way, here's what I've done:

Backup everything important to an external Harddrive
Inserted the Mac Installation Disc and ruined there the disc utility app.
I removed everything from my HD and it was GUID-Partioned.
Now I just installed Mac Os X 10.6.2 and updated to 10.6.8
Now I could run the installer of Mac Os X Lion without any problems and as a benefit of the whole thing, I started with a brand new Mac Os X Installation, without any trash in the file system.


In the "gif settings" box there's a value for "frame delay" which defaults at 100. This is the time in milliseconds between each frame.  The small it is, the faster the gif will animate.

Frame delay of 100 is 10 frames per second.  If you have 30 frames per second, use 33 as the frame delay.  If you have 15 frames per second, use 67 as the frame delay.

Or just change the "frame delay" value until it looks right - smaller for faster speed, bigger for slower speed.

There's a pretty good overview of how to use the app in this article:

http://www.macworld.com/article/1164864/how_to_create_an_animated_gif_from_a_video_clip.html

Also note that the preview inside the app is limited to 10 frames per second or slower - if it looks slow inside the app, test it out in a real browser.


Apparently XCode command line tools doesn't install the headers by default anymore. However, it does provide a package in /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/Packages. On my system it was /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/Packages/macOS_SDK_headers_for_macOS_10.14.pkg. I installed this package and then the headers showed up in /System/Library/Frameworks/Kernel.framework/Headers.


Boot camp assistant gives "Windows support software could not be saved to selected drive" Error Installing Win 10 on MBP2015

I will address your attempt to manually install Windows 10 without the use of the Boot Camp Assistant. Here are some points.

You are using Sierra. This is good in the sense that High Sierra has introduced APFS. This has caused some problems that you will be avoiding.
You created a bootable USB installer. I do not know how you did this, but you do have to copy the Windows Support software to this USB flash drive before installing Windows. If you can not do this, let me know.
I appears you created a FAT formatted fourth partition labelled "BOOTCAMP". I do not know what procedure you used do accomplish this. However, a FAT format for this partition caused the Windows installer to incorrectly believe you have a MBR partitioning scheme. You should have formatted this partition as "Mac OS Extend (Journaled)".
When the Windows installer asks "Where to install Windows?", you should proceed as follows. First, delete the fourth partition. Next, select the free space. Finally, select "Next" to continue.


The trackpad is not registering that second swipe as a four finger swipe.  Rather it is seeing it as a click-drag, and the machine believes you intend to reorder the windows.


How to disable Finder's "is available on your computer" message

You should be able to mount the server from the command line with mount_smb:

mkdir /Volumes/sharename
mount_smbfs //smbusername@localhost:1445/sharename /Volumes/sharename


Wifi hotspot with cell turned on but no connection?

It seems it is a yes, and Multipeer is not laggy if you remove the sample's fluff.

I had "no known" connection, 0-1 bars, it gave me warnings but still let me turn on one or another network (borrowed someone's and used mine as the other peer in the middle of nowhere)


Can I launch the File (Save/Open) Dialog from the command line?

This can be done using AppleScript, like in the question you linked to. Watch out, this is not the same as Automator.

Example script:

osascript -e 'tell application (path to frontmost application as text)
set myFile to choose file
POSIX path of myFile
end'

This uses the simplest form of the choose file command, and puts the result in the variable myFile. The result will be of type alias, which has a POSIX path property, which we read in the next line. The result will be written to stdout.

Look here for all the possible optional options to the choose file command. You can e.g. provide a custom prompt text, choose a default location, or only allow certain file types.


How do I log in to my Game Center with nickname?

Your nickname is not your Apple ID. Sign in with your Apple ID.


Time in GMT or Missing Time Zones in systemsetup

I didn’t have to “fix anything” so this isn’t super satisfying as an answer, but the problem has resolved itself. I see no updates that would have affected this and took no further action.


Music is taking up all my iPhone 5 storage

Deleting music off your phone doesnt affect the itunes library's contents (in  your case Music)

So you can un-sync your music../ update your library.. and put whatever you want back on.


Applescript System Events Keystroke broken after 10.9.4

It turns out that the System Events process on my machine was frozen (which I discovered after a node process refused to be killed). Performing a full restart fixed the problem.


Dual and triple non-TB monitors on a Mac Mini late 2012 (Macmini6,2)

Dual yes natively, Triple not without USB adapter one of the displays.
You can look over these two articles:

Apple Thunderbolt Adapters: Frequently asked questions (FAQ) - HT5309
Thunderbolt ports and displays: Frequently asked questions (FAQ) - HT5219

[Item 23] of the HT5219 article is most relevant3:

Q23. How do I connect my Mini DisplayPort monitor or monitor using a Mini DisplayPort adapter to my Thunderbolt-equipped Mac when I have other Thunderbolt devices connected?
When connecting a Mini DisplayPort display or a display using a Mini DisplayPort adapter to a Thunderbolt peripheral (except as described in question 24), make sure the display is connected at the end of the Thunderbolt chain. You can use only one Mini DisplayPort device in the Thunderbolt chain.
Note: Systems with more than one Thunderbolt port, like an iMac, can have more than one Mini DisplayPort monitor or monitor connected with a Mini DisplayPort adapter connected as each Thunderbolt port can support one Mini DisplayPort display.

Item #18, footnote 4 explains that you only get two monitors with the Late 2012 Mac Mini using Thunderbolt and/or HDMI. To add a third, you'll need a USB adapter for the one that has the fewest pixels / slowest refresh rate requirements. Perhaps you can get a newer (or used but more capable) Mac when it's time to run the Wacom Touch.

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012), and Mac Mini (Late 2012) computers can use an HDMI-compatible device on it's HDMI port while using one Thunderbolt display, or they can use two Thunderbolt displays.

You'll want to use either a thunderbolt to the exact adapter for each monitor rather than chaining two adapters together if at all possible.


How do I hide the parent folder of the user home folders in File Sharing?

Mac is mostly unix under the hood.  Try setting the permissions of the /Users folder to everyone only execute.

E.g. Currently:

bash-3.2# ls -ld /Volumes/Users
drwxrwxrwx  10 root  admin  510 23 May  2012 /Volumes/Users

bash-3.2# chmod o-rw /Volumes/Users

bash-3.2# ls -ld /Volumes/Users
drwxrwx--x  10 root  admin  510 23 May  2012 /Volumes/Users

OS X has addition access control tricks, so this may not work.


iTunes Match and syncing iOS device with iTunes Library

Currently, no. If you are using iTunes Match, it takes over playlist and music syncing for you.

The only way to get around this currently is to disable iTunes Match on the device, and then you can do a cable or wifi sync like you have been able to do. Match just gives you access to your library anywhere, so if its smaller than the device size, you can just sync everything. Or if you don't always need that access, then just cary what you want with you. iTunes Match will still be helpful for upgrading bit rates of files, as well as if you have other machines with a better internet connection.

Finally, you can also submit a feature request to Apple at the iTunes Feedback Page. For example, make a request to do local network syncing before iTunes Match syncing if the file exists on your local network. Dropbox somewhat works this way with their LAN sync - items are synced on your network first, and then any other changes are pulled down from the 'cloud'.


Connect two bluetooth headphones for audio sharing (Music, and Movies)

Yes, you can do it: https://community.bose.com/t5/Headphones-Archive/Share-Audio-from-MacOS-Macbook-Pro-with-two-or-more-Bluetooth/td-p/46007

Here are the steps I took:

Connect both headphones via bluetooth. Both should say connected on the Bluetooth setting page.
In Finder menu hit Go -> Utilities -> Audio Midi Setup
You should see both your headphones listed on the left here.
Hit the "+" button at the bottom left and select "Create Multi-Output Device" (You may rename the device if you wish)
Select your bose headphones from the list on the right to add to the Multi-Output Device.
Right-click on the Multi-Output Device you just created and use device for sound output and play alerts and sound through this device.
You may also select which device as your master device to sync across all your connected headphones.
I also selected Drift Correction for slave devices - I'm not 100% sure what this does but I think it makes sure that your devices stay in sync to the audio/video playing on your computer.
Watch away. Note that you won't be able to adjust ouput volume from Macbook any more, instead volume is adjusted individually at each headphone, which is pretty neat.


Welcome to Ask Different!

I had this issue when I updated to iOS9 (though I think I could play videos, I don't remember). All it was is I missed the Instagram update. Here is the question I asked: Why have pictures on Instagram got blurry since my iPad has been updated to iOS9?


Do the Airpods Pro change how your internal voice sounds?

No they do not - not due to plugging your ears and not due to loopback.
Both AirPods and AirPods Pro don’t loop back audio, so you don’t get any negative effects whatsoever. You have to go out of your way to loop the audio back with a tool like LoopBack to get any hint of your own vocalizations in the mix.

https://www.rogueamoeba.com/loopback/

AirPods Pro can be even better in transparency mode if you don’t like to have any attenuation. The Pro on full isolation mode are less effective than Etymotic ER-6 and more effective than foam noise protectors in my experience in terms of external noise and less impactful to making you think your voice is different.


How to see certificate for intermediate CA in Keychain?

For any Stored certificate, using Keychain Utility:

Open Keychain Utility, choose any certificate, double click it, select Detais:

The certificate will popup up, click on Details triangle.

Look for the issuer on the info below:

Here is the same certificate showed above, with the window extended to show full information: (NOTE: this osu.edu certificate is EXPIRED, so it is shown as "not trusted", but its issuer chain is present on it, and it is valid [the issuer InCommon CA chain].

Here is an Intermediate CA Certificate stored on my Keychain:

Here is another Intermediate CA Certificate

For any website certificate, using Safari:

After clicking "Show Certificate", folow the same procedure and click on the Details Triangle.


How can I switch to Space 1 with the mouse?

The mentioned BetterTouchTool can definitely do it via keyboard shortcuts.

After you install BTT, switch to Normal Mouse tab. There you click on + Add new mouse button and then click 3rd button inside the Click here to select mouse button.

Next, if you already haven't set up keyboard shortcuts to switch directly to a space, just pick any of the three modifier keys (CTRL, Option, Command), click inside the Custom Keyboard Shortcut field and press the key along with number 1, e.g Ctrl-1.

Note: if you have already set up such a shortcut, you have to disable it before trying to enter the shortcut to BTT, because OS X would otherwise capture this event and BTT won't get it.

Now close BTT window and go to System Preferences > Exposé & Spaces > Spaces and select the appropriate modifier from the To switch directly to a space: list:

Now you should be able to switch to Space 1 directly with Middle click.

PS. I should mention that I have Magic Mouse and have BTT set up with three-finger gestures to switch spaces from mouse - very convenient.


How can I extract Album Art from a track?

In iTunes select the song and press ⌘+I to Get Info.
Go to the tab Artwork and press ⌘+C to copy the Artwork.
Open Preview.app.
Select File → New from Clipboard from the menu or press ⌘+N
Save the file to a custom location. (.png, .jpg, .pdf, .tiff, ...)

Alternative for 3 to 5 : just select the artwork, and drag and drop on you desktop (or elsewhere) (it will copy the original file there; eg : if the file inside was a PNG, you'll have a PNG, if it was a JPG, you'll get a JPG)


Cannot Access Existing Recovery Partition - Early 2011 MacBook Pro

At this point you've ruled out all of the basic things. Reinstalling macOS, even from within the Macintosh HD should reinstall or repair the Recovery HD.

Additionally you should be able to disable SIP from Single User Mode in the meantime.


Can you 'drag and drop' text and drop formatting at once?

I don't know which application you are using but in Pages the simplest way is to use Paste And Match Style

Under the Edit menu

option-shift-cmd-V

is the keyboard shortcut

So if you are pasting into a document that has no styles set it will be pasted in as the standard body

Different applications may or may not have the same functionality. I don't have MS Word on my machine so have no idea if this is the same for that application for example.


Mac OSX upgrade Adobe Flash Player, download stops

I spent some time why but I just gave up. Here is my workaround and I hope it will help others. The workaround is to download the offline installer from this page http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/distribution3.html. Download the "DMG Installer (for System Administrators)" and install. After installing restart Safari for example and verify from http://www.adobe.com/uk/software/flash/about/ that you have installed.


How do I get two status-bar clocks with different timezones?

Status clock is free, and available from the mac app store:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/status-clock/id552792489?mt=12

Worth a look too: https://github.com/palaniraja/mclock

Note: Loversclock, mentioned in another post, didn't download.


ImageMagick convert command produces a slight error

First, shouldn't your example be :

convert ex.gif my_png_files_%d.png

as the input file is the GIF?

Could this be an anti-aliasing problem? Have you tried

convert ex.gif +antialiasing my_png_files_%d.png

I assume you have read the manual or the local copy at file:///opt/local/share/doc/ImageMagick-6.8.0/www/convert.html

EDIT: It turned out to be a geometry problem and the answer found here https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12791505/how-to-extract-frames-from-a-gif-file-preserving-frame-dimensions was to change the command to

convert -coalesce ex.gif +antialiasing my_png_files_%d.png


Does OSX have a nice feature to quickly drag windows via key press?

I recommend Better Touch Tool http://www.boastr.de.
You can customize not only window dragging but also custom gestures, window snapping and more.

Edit:
Dragged window doesn't have to have focus.


Bose QuietComfort 35 Bluetooth Headphones crackling/choppy when connected to Mac?

UPDATE: I no longer experience these issues so it was likely fixed by a previous update. Open the "Bose Connect" app on your phone and make sure your firmware is up to date.

When experiencing issues on Mac, open the "Bose Connect" app on your iPhone and connect to your headphones from there (if not already connected).

The app correctly configures the headphones and eliminates all sound issues.


What is this annoying popup when I try to edit text:

This appears to be coming from the productivity app Things 3.  You may have this in your login items (Settings → Users & Groups → User → Login Items).  Disable it there to prevent it from automatically starting.

Their support site has a great deal of info on how to use the product, but I was unable to find anything on preferences/settings.  There should be something in their settings that enables/disables actions when you select text.

If you have further difficulty, you may wish to contact that developer directly through their website: https://culturedcode.com/things/support/


"file not sent" from Android to Macbook, whereas they're paired

In System Preferences > Sharing > Bluetooth Sharing, ensure that Folder for accepted items is set to something. If it isn't set, incoming file transfers are rejected automatically.


Am I limited to using Apple's In-App purchase for charging for in-app consumables?

No. You don’t need in app purchases if you can just have a log in to identify people that already have a subscription external to the app.

See 3.1.3(a) “Reader” Apps of the review guidelines.

Yes - if you are a valid reader app and not required to offer IAP alongside the external purchase, you can then use stripe or anything else on your external payment system, but you have to host, design, collect everything externally.

You are not prohibited from having an external payment or subscription like Netflix or many other apps do. Some are blended like Major League Baseball where there is IAP for people who want to pay (and of course IAP pays Apple a cut per the agreement on purchases and subscriptions that you have available in your terms as a developer). And people can bring a paid subscription and log in from external to the app, and those pay nothing to Apple.

Everything hinged on strict adherence to what Apple defines “unlock within the app” which is in summary (as I understand it):

There can be no link or mention in the app how to find the actual payment terms. You can offer a sign in, but you can’t say it’s for payment.
You can’t have functionality that unlocks to mimic IAP or use the API or payments through Apple.

Tons of apps have trial subscriptions when they use IAP - look at Omni Group for OmniGraffle and such.... I believe you will run afoul of Apple review if you deliver everything and then force someone to pay later if that “pay later” isn’t explicitly IAP using Apple as the payment processor, but you can find that out by initially shipping no paid functionality and only do the log in.

For this potential wrinkle, see 3.1.3(a) and 3.1.3(b) and 3.1.5(a) of https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/

Then once your app is approved, let Apple review know you have a question for a future change. They will tell you exactly what’s allowed and what’s not during review in my experience.


Is it normal for there to be a 5min+ period of high CPU usage when going to sleep under El Capitan?

Is it normal? No. Not with an optimal install, optimal hardware & configuration.
Is your computer stock or have you installed non-oem parts? Age can also be a factor as the thermal grease can deteriorate over time especially when a cpu gets overheated. Also Apple had indicated that you need a minimum of 1GB free to even be able to run effectively. My experience is that having much more than 1GB allows the system to run best.

What can you do to fix it? Take a free disk and install the OS on it. Boot from that disk and see if the problem disappears. If it is gone then it's a software issue. If it still exists, you have a hardware or resource issue. If it's software you can create a new user and log in under that account. If the problem is gone then it's the old user account. If it's not, do a clean install of the system. If the problem is gone then it was a problem with the system.

What can you do to mitigate it? See the second response to fix it or replace the machine.


Every link starts download in browser on my osx

If your cleaning project stuck your Option key, such that Safari thinks it is always pressed, then any link you click on will download instead of open.

So, try wiggling or drying around your Option key?


Karabiner - ESC held down mapped to CONTROL_L

I think this is the correct definition to set in your private.xml:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
    <item>
      <name>Change HoldingEscape to Control_L</name>
      <appendix>(+ When you type Escape only, send Escape)</appendix>
      <identifier>private.holdingEscape_to_Control-L</identifier>
      <autogen>__KeyOverlaidModifier__ KeyCode::ESCAPE, KeyCode::CONTROL_L, KeyCode::ESCAPE</autogen>
    </item>
</root>


From the AppleScript System Events dictionary:

key code integer or list of integer : The key code(s) to be sent. May be a list.
    [using command down/control down/option down/shift down or list of command down/control down/option down/shift down] : modifiers with which the key codes are to be entered
keystroke text : The keystrokes to be sent.
    [using as above]

Some examples illustrating their use:
tell application "System Events"
    key code 124 using {shift down, command down} --> Right arrow
    key code 8 using command down --> ⌘-C
    key code {4, 14, 37, 37, 31, 47} --> H, e, l, l, o, .

    keystroke "v" using command down --> ⌘-V
    keystroke "Hello." --> H, e, l, l, o, .
end tell

(Note: I stylised ⌘-C and ⌘-V with their uppercase representations, but these indicate Cmd+C or V, respectively, without use of the Shift key.)
keystroke can also accept the AppleScript constants tab, space return, and quote.
The target is always the application window that has focus, so it’s important to set the focus to the desired application before issuing these commands (e.g. tell application "Finder" to activate).
Here’s a great reference for the keycodes as well as a detailed overview of these commands including more examples.


How to add a keyboard shortcut for Insert Equation for Word 2016?

Correct procedure but:
Write simply the word "Equation" (thats the word you have to call)

Tip: If you aren't sure what the menu name is for a command, click Help in that app and search for what you want, which will then show you the exact menu name.


You can disable App Nap for a particular Application by going to Terminal.app and typing:

defaults write <app domain name> NSAppSleepDisabled -bool YES

Being the <app domain name> the application's name and its company's, with the following format: com.companyname.appname


How to check whether the Mac OS X installation DVD I have is for my MacBook Pro?

It says so right on the disk.

Please don't pirate OS X.


In OS X Mavericks there no longer are cross-screen shadows.
You can get this system update from the App store for free.


Disk Utility (recovery mode) stuck at loading

A solution for getting the disk utility unstuck is opening Terminal and running this:

sudo ps ax | grep hfs

You will see a line that looks like this:

**970**   ??  U      2:08.88 /System/Library/Filesystems/hfs.fs/Contents/Resources/./fsck_hfs -y /dev/disk2s4

Take note of that first number and run this:

sudo kill -9 970 # (use your own number here)

The Disk Utility gets automatically unstuck. If your hard drive shows up, but the drives are grayed out, try restarting into Recovery mode (pressing Cmd+R after booting). After a couple of restarts you might be able to finally run First Aid on your drive.


iTunes media keys not working in Mac OS X El Capitan

Finally, I ran the following 2 commands in my terminal:

launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.rcd.plist
launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.rcd.plist

Worked like a charm!


Java 6 runtime environment & old Filemaker pro

Have you tried with the newest java from Apple: https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1572?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US ??

And then re-enable the JRE plugin and Java Web Start as described here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202643


OS X Server: Multiple Mobile Homes syncing to a single Network Home Directory?

This is still a supported function.

It's something that needs care and tending (like any sync solution) when a burp causes problems, but Mountain Lion server hasn't made it better or worse than recent server versions (Lion, Snow Leopard) in the management and deployment of network home folders that sync.

If you allow multiple log in or true mobile syncing where a copy of the home folder gets literally copied to each Mac - then you will get a sync conflict dialog should there be three edits to the same file and the system can not systematically resolve the conflict.

In practice, the pre-deployed filters work well so that users become accustomed to not opening the same app on multiple computers once they start seeing merge dialogs. You can also modify the sync rules if you have particular problems with a specific software package/file or user.


Getting error message, "You must install the legacy Java SE 6 runtime?"

Click "More Info…"
This will take you to this page.
Click "Download."
When it finishes downloading, run the installer.

tl;dr — literally just follow Apple's instructions and you should be set.


iOS6 on iPod Touch (4) no Wi-FI LAN, when there is no Internet?

Well, I'll take a crack at this one. I see three possibilities: 1) the packets are not leaving the iPod; 2) the packets are being dropped somewhere along the path; 3) there is a DNS related issue.

Lets start with DNS.

From the iPod try connecting to the Intranet server using the Intranet server's IP address instead of its name. If this works than either the DNS setting in the iPod's association to the WiFi network is incorrect or the search domain is incorrect. You can check this by going to Settings->WiFi->your_wifi_network_name. If these look incorrect, try to "Forget this Network" and then reconnect.

If you still have the problem then it gets a bit more tricky

Go the App Store and get an nslookup app and a traceroute app for your iPod. Several are free and work fine. Make sure neither of the apps require a internet connection to work. Once you have the apps, open the nslookup app and enter the DNS name of your Intranet server (ex. www.myserver.local). It should return the internal IP address of the server (i.e. it should not return the internet reachable address (if it even has one)). If it does return the correct address then take that address and use it as the input for the traceroute app. The traceroute should tell you all the IP hops it takes to get to the Intranet server. If it gets so far and then stops without getting to the Intranet server's IP address then we have a network problem to troubleshoot. If it does then we have an Intranet server problem to troubleshoot.

If traceroute gets all the way to the Intranet server then turn on the detailed connection logging on the Intranet server. Then, from the iPod, try to connect to the Intranet server. Now, look at the log file on the Intranet server and see if you see the iPod IP trying to connect and if so, what error is generated. Troubleshoot the error.

If traceroute does not get the Intranet server then turn debug logging on the network devices that sit between the iPod and the Intranet server. The traffic is making it somewhere and then being dropped. Find where it is being dropped and troubleshoot why it is being dropped.

NOTE: If traceroute never leaves the iPod and/or you do not see traffic on the first device that the iPod is connected to then the problem may be within the iPod itself. If that is the case then gulp do the normal iPod stuff like reset it/reload it/etc. (I hate it when someone tells me to do that!)

I hope this was of some help to someone and that I didn't ask you to chase a red herring


Paste into mail and keep format of pasted text but don't change to that format thereafter

This is what I do:

Write the first paragraph.
Write part of the the second paragraph.
Go back to the end of the first paragraph and press return or enter a couple of times.
Paste whatever will change the text style into the space you've just created.

Not very elegant but it does the job.


Try an SMC reset and see if that helps.

You could also try using the pmset command in a shell (Terminal).


How can I add a margin to a table cell in Pages?

In the format pane, go to text, layout and adjust text inset.


HTTPS sites won't work on Chrome, others don't work at all on Yosemite

I see the same issue, it looks like a bug.  It impacts both Chrome and Safari.

I found if I change the account profile settings to allow it to administer, it will start working again.

Not a great long-term solution, but hopefully Apple will patch it soon.


Can I pay for an upgrade to Lion and get Mountain Lion free later?

No, but you can upgrade right from 10.6 Snow Leopard to 10.8 Mountain Lion when Mountain Lion ships next month (for $20 USD), without having to spend the extra $30 USD to go from 10.6 Snow Leopard to 10.7 Lion.


Unable to edit config.inc.php in the phpmyadmin configuration

XAMPP-VM runs within a Linux VM, so you can't access the config files directly within the macOS filesystem. To access the VM either open Terminal from the XMPP launcher

or run

ssh -i ~/.bitnami/stackman/machines/xampp/ssh/id_rsa -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no root@192.168.64.2

By default the XAMPP VM doesn't include any editor at all so you need to install one using apt-get:

apt-get update
apt-get install nano

Afterwards you can run nano /opt/lampp/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php to edit the file.

PS: Based on https://stackoverflow.com/questions/52932609/unable-to-edit-config-inc-php


set up Caps Lock as a shortcut for changing the input language

Yes, you can use Caps Lock to change input language without third-party software.
All you need is a custom-made keyboard layout (usually made with Ukelele ) that has two alternative sets of characters bound to Caps lock=on and Caps lock=on and Shift=on states.

Pros: zero-lag, no weird key remapping hacks needed
Cons: buit-in input source indicator becomes useless, looking at the Caps LED is not very convenient for touch-typists.

To mitigate the "cons" I use lightweight third-party app called Capster that changes the icon in the menubar depending on the Caps lock state.
I also use small Applescript to disable Caps lock delay.

I'm using this method for many years and never looked back.

This is my bundle for Russian language (with additional Ukrainian characters bound to alt+key)
https://github.com/falcn/Caps-layout


Will an NFC payment terminal activate Apple Pay on an Apple Watch just like it does with an iPhone?

You have to double-press the side button on the Apple Watch to activate NFC/ApplePay.

This is due to energy saving.


How to make OS X Server 3 accessible from the internet?

Essentially you have to make your server accessible behind a router  with a frequently changing IP-adress with a fixed fqdn for the router and forward all http/https requests from the WAN to the OS X VM in the LAN.

Set up dynamic DNS:

Get an arbitrary name from a dynamic DNS service provider (like Dyn (not free) or NO-IP (free))
or depending on your hosting service and the access level you have, set up your own DDNS service

Set up a DDNS client on your OS X Server
Set up your OS X Server VM with a fixed IP
Set up and check port-forwarding (default is 80/443) on your Airport Express (some firmware versions seem to be buggy) to the OS X Server VM.
Access your home web server  from the internet with the chosen fqdn (e.g. (www.)myserver.no-ip.com).
Consider setting up some countermeasures against evil attackers.