Allow non-admin user to sudo without access to admin account data

The Answer:

Yes, it's definitely possible. sudo is designed to implement fine-grained security policies. As an example of fine-grained, sudo can be configured to allow a user to run a particular command, but exclude certain options for the command. Don't get sudo confused with su.

And so, when you say, "sudo access would mean the highest access on the machine so everything will be accessible", that's simply not true. IMHO, sudo was made to order for the exact problem you are faced with: "How do I give a user access to resources he needs to do his job, without giving him the run of the castle?" You may also appreciate the fact that sudo performs extensive logging of all sudo usage. This provides accountability for all sudo users because, unlike su, users execute sudo from their account, not the root account.

Here are two examples to illustrate this point. These are two entries that would go in the sudoers file - the file that defines a user's privileges under sudo. In the first example, the user friend will be given "access to everything"; i.e. unlimited root privileges:

Example: sudo for Full root Privileges

friend   ALL = (ALL) ALL

In the next example, the user friend will only be given privileges to run the software update option (-U) on the utility youtube-dl. This specification will confer root privileges to run only this one command with this one option (although in this case most of the other options do not require root privileges.):

Example: sudo for Limited root Privileges

friend   ALL = (ALL) /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl -U

A Brief Overview of sudo:

I can't explain sudo in the space of this answer. As you'll see that simply is not possible. Instead, I'll try to provide provide a "walking tour" with some references that will give you a better understanding of what sudo can (and can't) do, and how to configure sudo to implement the security policy you want.

Todd Miller currently maintains sudo as he has since 1994. That probably makes him the godfather of sudo.
There is a prodigious amount of documentation on sudo, including many older versions - including ver. 1.8.17p1 used in the current version of macos (Mojave, 10.14.5).
Perhaps a good place to begin learning about sudo is in a nutshell
Having read this nutshell overview, you now know that sudo is typically configured using the sudoers file. This is where you will create the specifications that implement your security policy; the specifications that define what resources your friend can access while using your machine.
Again, there's a lot of documentation. You'll want to read man sudo (ver 1.8.17 online), and man sudoers (ver 1.8.17 online). OK, skim through it at least, and study the EXAMPLES :) And BTW, your friend will need to read man sudo also, as he'll be using it!
Once you've decided what resources your friend needs, you can prepare to tackle actually editing/creating your own sudoers file. But there are some things you should know first:

The sudoers file should only be edited with visudo. To access it, you'll need to be logged in as (or su to) the "admin" user on your Mac. Upon entering the command shown below, the Sample sudoers file will be opened in your admin user's default editor (I've set mine to nano).
Know that editing the sudoers file carries risks. Minimze those risks by NEVER editing sudoers except through the visudo app. visudo is designed to validate the syntax of the sudoers file when it is saved. That won't save you from errors that have the correct syntax of course, but it's far less likely that you'll leave your machine in an unusable state!

Making changes to the sudoers file:

And so: To edit the sudoers file, login as (or su to) the admin user, open a terminal window, and enter:

bash-3.2$ sudo visudo
Password:                # you'll need to enter your admin user's password here

The editor specified in your environment will open, and the sudoers file will be listed. The User specifications section is near the end of the file; you can insert one of the example lines from above, taking care not to edit either of the existing lines:

  root            ALL = (ALL) ALL
  %admin          ALL = (ALL) ALL
  # insert your additions below here; e.g.:
  friend   ALL = (ALL) /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl -U

When you finish your edits, write the modified file, then exit the editor. visudo will automatically check the syntax of your sudoers file, and alert you if it finds a problem. You should never override these alerts; find and fix the issue, or simply comment out your changes until you do.

Using sudoedit to limit access to files

One final example: You wanted to grant sudo access, but not allow access to any data stored for your user. For purposes of this example I'll assume that you want to give your friend the ability to edit the file /etc/fstab.hd (a do-nothing file), and all files in the directory /etc/ssh.

You can use the sudoedit specification in the sudoers file to grant your friend access to files or entire directories that you specify. Here's how to accomplish that:

Run sudo visudo to open the sudoers file for editing.
As previously, enter the following sudoedit lines just below those you added previously; i.e.

  root            ALL = (ALL) ALL
  %admin          ALL = (ALL) ALL
  # insert your additions below here; e.g.:
  friend   ALL = (ALL) /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl -U
  # insert sudoedit specs below here:
  friend          ALL = (root) sudoedit /etc/ssh/*
  friend          ALL = (root) sudoedit /etc/fstab.hd

To edit these files, your friend will enter the following command(s) in a terminal window:

MyMacBook:~ friend$ sudo -e /etc/fstab.hd

# or...

MyMacBook:~ friend$ sudo -e /etc/ssh/ssh_config

# which will open the specified file in `friend's` specified editor

Limits of sudo

You should also keep in mind that sudo has its limits.

First and foremost, sudo is used to get  root privileges for a user from the command line (Terminal). It has no role in determining privileges anywhere else in the system; e.g. to add a new user in System Preferences. Outside the shell then, the authorization database controls access privileges, and sudo has no relevance. You may need a tool like this to manipulate the authorization database. {02/29/20 Edit: authbuddy is no longer maintained; its author suggests Apple's security tool instead. See man security from the CLI, or this html version }

Secondly, sudo should NOT be considered as a tool to harden the system against malicious users. Rather, it's simply a tool for reducing risk and increasing accountability for authorized users. That's not to say it "rolls over", it's only to say that its purpose is not system hardening.

This seems like a good point to stop, and catch our breath :) Your question did not include any specific security goals or policies, so it doesn't seem to make sense to prattle on with more examples (and there are plenty of those available for the cost of a Google search). However, if you do want help with specific configurations, you can either edit your question here, or post a new question. And don't forget that as sudo is available on virtually all *nix platforms, there are other SE sites that may prove useful: SuperUser SE and Unix&Linux SE are two examples.

Other potentially useful resources related to sudo:

AppleGazette on editing the sudoers file
AP Lawrence on Using sudo
Using sudoedit to limit file editing to a specific directory/ies
More on sudoedit (aka sudo -e, aka sudo --edit)
What's So Great About sudoedit?
Good general (not Mac-specific) help from from Digital Ocean
The sudo command, Part 2 of a 4-part series on "Demystifying root"


How do I create a passwordless keychain?

Hold down Option when clicking OK with a blank password; Keychain Access will allow it.  Just worked for me on El Capitan.  Note-- when you log in (with a password) you will have to press OK to unlock it.


What info does a Mac broadcast and how to hide it?

First make sure that you're running a firewall that is prohibiting all inbound and outbound connections on the server. Then open only those ports you need for the production to run fine.

Most applications can be configured to not identify their exact version, but remember that this is not really giving you any more security, it is just a tad harder to exploit.

After you've "hardened" your machine like this you could fire up a second machine in the same subnet and launch a utility like Wireshark (Wireshark download page) to listen to the chatter of your cloud server. This way you get additional hints about processes that you might want to silence.


How can I see a list of apps that have the ability to record my keyboard history?

Apps which are in the foreground are granted access to the keyboard automatically.
Apps which are run by your user account but are not in the foreground require accessibility access to access the keyboard. The list of applications granted access to this is available in System Preferences → Security & Privacy → Accessibility. Here you can add and remove applications to grant and deny access, however some applications may lose functionality.
Apps which run as root are not restricted in this way. You will have been required to authorise this before this is permitted. You can check the current list of running root processes in Activity Monitor.

Keep in mind there's no keyboard history maintained — the apps must be recording it live.


How to disable updates for specific app in Mac app store?

In a few cases where the code signing allows, you can prevent this check.

In finder, right click each app and show package contents.
Locate a folder named _MASReceipt and delete it.

This removes the receipt that tells the App Store to manage the app. I would do a backup of all apps before you alter them in case you want them back without downloading the update you seek to avoid.

In many cases, this wrecks the app since it’s now been tampered with - How do I avoid update checks for third party software (cobook), dont want to "update" by mistake

The long term answer is to have the developer code sign their app in a manner that lets you can opt out of upgrades. Once you convince them why this is good, they will have the option to fix whatever issues you have with patching the app or allow their customers to control this.


Showing current directory in Terminal's title, using tcsh

This is the prompt I use in tcsh.  It sets the window title to the full path (which as Chris Page answered, gains extra functionality in Lion).  The prompt itself is essentially [$HOST:$PWD] $USER% using tcsh % syntax.

set prompt = '%{\e]2;%~\a%}%S[%m:%c3] %n%#%s '


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

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <appdef>
    <appname>SAFARI</appname>
    <equal>com.apple.Safari</equal>
  </appdef>
  <item>
    <name>Swap ⌥↩ and ⌘↩</name>
    <identifier>SwapAltEnterAndCmdEnter</identifier>
    <only>SAFARI</only>
    <autogen>
      __KeyToKey__
      KeyCode::RETURN, VK_COMMAND | ModifierFlag::NONE,
      KeyCode::RETURN, ModifierFlag::OPTION_L
    </autogen>
    <autogen>
      __KeyToKey__
      KeyCode::RETURN, VK_OPTION | ModifierFlag::NONE,
      KeyCode::RETURN, ModifierFlag::COMMAND_L
    </autogen>
  </item>
</root>

You can find the manual here to know how to edit the private.xml file and update your configuration.

You have to check the small checkbox of the newly defined rule to make it work.


After some digging, I finally found a solution :

Update to Yosemite.
Apply a patch to IOKit.framework : https://github.com/Floris497/mac-pixel-clock-patch
Enjoy 2560x1080 50Hz using HDMI cable


Is it possible to render $\LaTeX$ in Safari?

I haven’t tried them, but there are some bookmarklets written by a user on the Mathematics Stack Exchange which sound like they do roughly what you’d want:  Should chat have TeX support?

In particular, the “render MathJax” bookmarklet sounds exactly like what you want:

  render MathJax installs MathJax and renders $\LaTeX$ once per execution. This is intended for use on web pages where the contents of the page are static.

These were originally written for Math.se users to get MathJax rendering in their chatroom within SE spending development time adding it to chat, but I see no reason why it wouldn’t work on an arbitrary webpage (and indeed, it seems to work like that on the installation page).


Is it possible to connect two iPhones to the same external GPS device?

Yes, this depends on the Bluetooth device.
Also note that there's a difference in pairing multiple phones with the same device, and actually be actively using the device from multiple phones at the same time.
I do not think it is common for Bluetooth devices to allow the latter in this use case, however it is ofcourse possible to implement for the device maker (at the extreme including two separate Bluetooth modules).


How to get iCloud keychain back after update to iOS 8?

If you have a verified phone number and have set up the ability to verify devices using SMS verification code, you can use this method. Otherwise, you will not be able to recover your keychain yourself. You may find help by contacting Apple: http://www.apple.com/support/icloud/contact/


Internal Speakers not showing in Output of Sound application

Explanation

If the sound output device is always displayed as 'Headphones' there are usually three explanations for it:

you have headphones plugged in
the tip of a broken headphone jack still sits in the Mac's audio jack
the Mac's audio jack is defective/broken

Possible solution

Please check with a flashlight whether you can see any debris in the audio jack. If debris/dust builds up it may trigger the electrical contact that makes your Mac switch from Internal Speakers to headphones.

Try to gently blow it out or pick it with a tweezer.


My guess is that your machine thinks the keyboard "type" is English (International) ISO, when it is really English (USA) ANSI.  This article may help:

http://m10lmac.blogspot.com/2009/12/fixing-keyboard-type-problems.html


Icons and other graphics have strange colored strips after waking Macbook

I have the exact same Problem! I have a MBP 2011 model with OSX 10.75.

I have also done a few hardware upgrades to this machine: I replaced the original memory with 8GB, and I installed a second 128GB OCZ SSD disc a few months ago. The SSD is the OS disc and the original disc is now my second disk.

I have the exact problem after the deep sleep, when the machine runs out of power.

From Mark’s tip, I replaced the new 8 GB RAM back to the original 4 GB RAM, but the problem remains! I assume it is a problem of the OCZ disc. I tried to update the used firmware but I failed as I need a Windows OS to do so.

So I made a workaround: I entered in the Terminal:

$ sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0

This means that the laptop will never enter DeepSleep (or hibernation, that is the RAM is always powered and in the event of a power loss the state is lost), and in this case the sleepimage /var/vm/sleepimage can also be removed.

Orginial Article: http://linuxtoosx.blogspot.com/2011/10/optimizing-mac-os-x-for-ssd-drives.html

It is no solution for the problem but a workaround to avoid the deep sleep. But this means that your work will not be recovered after shutdown from low battery.


The flowchart on unlocking an iPhone (no matter what model or what carrier) is here. If you're having problems with Customer Support with a specific carrier. List the exact words you used to request the unlock and consider getting them to explain exactly what the issue is.

Hold their feet politely to the fire if they are not supporting you as a customer. You will need to be responsible for being clear with them and listening to exactly what they say so they don't "snow" you with irrelevant information. Once you share with them the exact steps you are undertaking (linked below) they will have no where to hide except to admit if they will or will not unlock the device.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201328


How can I tell when Safari on iPad is using HTTPS

There should be a padlock before the page title at the top of the screen when you're on an https page.


The new iMac does not have an infrared receiver. You will not be able to use your Apple Remote. For controlling iTunes, I recommend Remote from the App Store. For Plex, I recommend Plex from the App Store.

Whereas in the past Apple promoted the idea of using your Mac as a media hub (hence the inclusion of the Front Row app), I think Apple is now promoting the idea of using an Apple TV instead. It seems like every new hardware refresh is having the infrared capabilities removed.


So, the problem that I've seem to have diagnosed is that browsers will cache favicon information, which includes Apple Touch Icons. For me, that caused my browser not to update the icons.

What I did was add append a version attribute onto the end of the URL pointing to the image.

<link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="https://yoursite.com/apple-touch-icon.png?v=1A11a1AAaA"/>

Specifically, I added "?v=1A11a1AAaA" at the end of the URL. I hope this helps anyone with the same issue.


Security Agent

The Security Agent is a separate process that provides the user interface for the Security Server in macOS (not iOS). Its primary purpose is to request authentication whenever an app requests additional privileges.

Test by running in Safe Mode.

Boot into safe mode then restart normally. This clears out a number of caches that may stop the process from eating up so much CPU time. Safe mode is much slower than a normal startup, so be patient.

How to boot macOS in Safe Mode

Start or restart your Mac, then immediately press and hold the Shift key. The Apple logo appears on your display.
Release the Shift key when you see the login window. If your startup disk is encrypted with FileVault, you might be asked to log in twice: once to unlock the startup disk, and again to log in to the Finder.

To leave safe mode, restart your Mac without pressing any keys during startup.

In most of the forums they have written that after running in Safe mode, it has resolved the issue.

I haven't use Kickstart on the remote machine yet, but this might be helpful for you if you want to look into it:

sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart -restart -agent

You can check Apple official site for more detail: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201710


How to export iMessages from OS X app onto new iPhone?

This is currently not possible on a non-jailbroken iOS device.


Prevent installation of malware, spyware... Admin password requirement

If other people use only the guest account, then they have no privileges to install anything.

I have added another account (beside the admin and guest account) which I use for daily work. The reason: sometimes someone ask me if he can use my computer for a short moment, and this way I do not have to switch to the guest account.

And because this third account has no admin privileges, it is more secure than using an admin account for daily work.


Yep, there is no way for you to do this. Check this answer and the comments below. Probably you should implement another method to poll for events while app is running.

ps. A more appropriate place to ask this question would be StackOverflow.


How do I get Xcode 4.1 running under Snow Leopard?

I'd use Xcode 4.2, as it's the last supported version of Xcode on Snow Leopard.  It can still be downloaded from developer.apple.com.


keyboard shortcut for paste in Powerpoint not command V

I had the same problem in Excel pop-up out of nowhere. Suddenly Cmd-V wouldn't paste anymore. Checking in the "Edit" menu I found that Cmd-V was associated with "Copy to Scrapbook", while Cmd-X would paste, etc. a whole cascade of messed-up keyboard shortcuts (of which only the lack of Cmd-V for "Paste" bothered me).

The following worked within Excel:

Go to "Tools" > "Customize Keyboard..." and reassign Cmd-V to "Paste" by selecting "Edit" under Categories and then "Paste" on the right. "Cmd-V" was still among the 4 or so "current keys" there but reassigning it still solved the problem within Excel.

For PowerPoint there is no such functionality it seems, the Microsoft website refers to "System Preferences" > "Keyboard" > "Keyboard Shortcuts" > "Application Shortcuts" where one can specify shortcuts for PowerPoint.

This obviously doesn't fundamentally solve the problem of how the keys got reassigned.

And I just realize that my answer doesn't directly answer in your situation. Nevertheless I hope it helps somebody else with the problem in Excel or Word.


The iPad Air comes with a 11.73 W charger (2.3 A at 5.1 V), so I would go for at least that much.


How can I fix the GPS problem that occured after jailbreaking iPhone 3GS 4.2.1?

You'll need a copy of your old SHSH blobs. If you don't have it, I don't believe you will be able to downgrade.

If you have your old blobs, grab a copy of the older firmware and follow various guides


Using the same Apple iCloud with 2 devices

Using the same iCloud account on both phones shouldn't lead to any issues. After all it's basically the same setup as using an iPhone and an iPad with the same iCloud account, and that's something which works for a lot of people.


List Local and Global Key Bindings in Mac OS X

I recommend KeyCue, if CheatSheet is not quite enough.

As Phill already mentioned, CheatSheet is great, because its fast, free and simple. But I noticed that for some applications (like Adobe Photoshop Lightroom) some shortcuts are missing from CheatSheet. KeyCue takes the shortcut game more serious, by showing shortcuts and their context more detailed. It helps you to create your own shortcuts and lets you exactly specify how and when they should trigger.


The one place you haven't listed is your Library folder..

From the Finder menu choose GO

then Go To Folder

 ~/Library

The chances are your Application Support directory has loads of stuff stashed.


Red shield with number in Nike+ iOS app?

The red shield indicates that you broke your personal record for one of the half dozen or so records the app automatically keeps track of, like “Fastest 5K Run” or longest run. A number badge indicates that you broke more than one record in that run. (One often breaks longest and furthest run records at the same time, for instance.) So, nice run!


Find the target of an alias or link in Quicksilver

I wasn’t aware of a way, but with some trial and error, I found that hitting → or / will take you to the original item for symbolic links. It doesn’t seem to work for aliases. There should probably be a “Show Original” action.


Does my MacBook have malware? Frozen screen and Automatic Clock Reset on Macbook Pro

The date was lost when you let the battery run flat. Once you reset it, it should be fine.

Check out Adware Medic (donationware) for any other PUPs, then run Avast again to see if it finds anything else.

Read http://www.thesafemac.com/mmg-defense/ too, to see what you can do to protect yourself in future.


Macbook pro display is messed up, what could be the problem?

I believe this might be a solution to your problem. Try resetting NVRAM / PRAM it may help solve the problem. Check this page for the steps and good luck: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379


How to measure GPu temperature MBP 13 mid-2010?

I used to have an MBP 15" mid-2010 and I was able to measure a lot of temperatures (including, I'm fairly sure, the GPU temperature) using iStat Menus. They have a 14-day trial version so it costs nothing to try.

Edit: here's a crop from a screenshot on my older MBP 15" mid-2010 showing the latest version of iStat Menus. Notice the plethora of GPU sensors.


Mac Mail - Mountain Lion - How does one remove the name from the sender heading?

Mail (menu) > Preferences... > Accounts > select the target account and under Account Information in the Full Name: field put the email address not the full name.


Any virtual machine installed will require its own, self-contained antivirus program. For example, I run Parallels Desktop 9 with XP, Windows 7 and Linux CentOS 6 VMs. On XP and Windows 7, I use Microsoft Security Essentials and ClamAV on the Linux VM. On OS X, I am running Kaspersky Internet Security.

The reason that each OS requires its own A/V software is that each VM is a self-contained environment that is essentially sandboxed. Although there is some sharing mechanisms in place, essential services, e.g., antivirus, cannot cross OS boundaries. To allow so would be a serious security vulnerability.


How can I back up a computer with PGP whole disk encryption enabled?

See this article in the PGP forum. It recommends to enable WDE on the target and then use SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner to transfer data (or restore from Time Machine).


Problem to change the country of my Apple Store?

I had this problem as well. I thought of maintaining 2 accounts (one for each country) but that just seemed clunky, so I opted for having just one in my "home" country (USA). Which is what I'm guessing you did too.

This was a couple years ago, but I remember contacting iTunes Support and explaining the situation. They basically said it was OK to go either way, but there's no bending the rules about what country the account is paid from, and you're still liable for all taxes etc. as if you were in the country you choose.

That doesn't answer your question yet, but since I have credit cards in neither country, I've had to get a bit creative. I've ended up funding all my iTunes and App Store purchases with gift cards.

If iTunes/App Store gift cards are available in France, you're pretty much set. Get a friend or relative in France to buy the card and send you the code. Set the iTunes account up using the gift card.

If you don't have anyone in France to buy you cards, I'm sure there are sites where cards are sold by third parties (and the codes delivered digitally).

I don't know of any for France, but I've used one to get my US cards and it worked perfectly. Do expect them to charge a commission on top of the value of the card. They have to stay in business too.

If gift cards aren't available for France then this option won't work for you.

You might be asking yourself how I bought the US gift card if I don't have a CC in the country where I am now. I have a prepaid VISA debit card here. Many sites will accept this as a credit card, so I used that to buy the iTunes gift card.

Yes, a bit complicated, but it occurs to me that, if this type of VISA debit card is available in France, you could just get one of those and use it in lieu of a credit card.

I have no idea if the France iTunes store will accept it though, but the fees for creating a card like that are usually like $10US upfront, nothing recurring (which is what I assume you're trying to avoid by not having a card in France), and they last for 2 years or more. So that might be worth a shot.

Hope you figure something out. Let us know what you end up doing.

PS: I helped a friend with this exact problem a couple months ago, actually walking them through the sign up. I noticed that since he was connecting from a non-US IP, it kept trying to sign up for the local store, even though the gift card was for the US store.

The solution is to use a VPN or proxy that makes it look like you're connecting from the country the card is for. This only happens if you're creating a brand new account with a card, and it only happens the first time.

Once the account was set up it continued working flawlessly WITHOUT the VPN, even when entering newly bought cards. I suspect this is just Apple trying to keep people from doing silly things, the same way you can't paste a password when changing your Apple ID password. It's a shame for those of us using password managers though...


There's one important thing, and only one important thing, about Apple-certified RAM.

If you:

Buy RAM that isn't Apple-certified
Install it (or have it installed by a non-Apple tech) in a Mac
Later have a (non-RAM-related) problem with that Mac and send it to Apple for servicing without taking out the added RAM

Then you may get a little love note in the box when it comes back:

  During the testing process, it was determined that a part Apple has not approved for use with your product resulted in your product's failure. When the part was removed, your product successfully passed all Apple diagnostic and reliability tests…

  Continued use of this part (or parts) may cause another failure or damage to your Apple product, which Apple will not cover in a subsequent repair.

  The part (or parts) that did not pass Apple's diagnostic tests for your product is identified below:

        __X__ RAM Memory
        _____ Other

And yes, I'm speaking from my own personal experience (part one, part two).


In the first instance, please repair disk permissions. If that makes no difference please try starting your machine in Safe Mode before restarting (back to normal mode) and seeing if that made any difference.

If neither of these work I would reinstall the OS over the top at this stage.

As to the cause? I think the Quicktime system plugin has incorrect permissions, is damaged or just plain isn't where it should be. Let us know how you get on!


The .dmg is the disk image which is mountable like an external file. The value it provides here is that .dmgs are checked for consistency/correctness upon mount, so if the download went wrong you will get notified
The .pkg is the standard format for installable software and usually contains not only the application itself but all the other stuff displayed during installation: ReadMe, legal/license information, optional packages etc.
The .gz is to compress the data and keep the packages smaller on disk (and for download)
.cpio is an archive format similar to tar etc.


Look to see if there is a profile attached.

Settings>General>Profile>Name of profile.

If there is then someone or some app has provided the security provision.


What is the safest way to shut down a Mac which is stuck at the screensaver?

A couple potential ideas:

1. Try to avoid the Screen Saver Bug: Turn off the screen saver (set it to “Never”) and just adjust the Energy Saver to turn the screen off to prevent burn-in. You can still lock the screen with ⌃⌘Q

2. Alternate Login Methods: If allowed, turn on Screen Sharing and/or Remote Login in System Preferences » Sharing and see if you can login with your phone using ssh or vnc (I recommend Prompt and Screens, respectively).

3. Sleep Instead Of Lock: Enable a “Hot Corner” to put the Mac to sleep instead of just locking it with the screen saver. Not as convenient as just locking it and walking away, as it will take a little longer to wake from sleep, but if it doesn't trigger the bug, it would be worth it, perhaps?


It's generally hard to throttle java - doubly so in this case where the app in question is designed to solely focus on crunching as many numbers as possible. Luckily, the diablo miner has an -f option to dial back the computations.

It's trial and error, but you can read up on this huge thread and search for CPU for more details.

"-f 1000 will greatly reduce mhash speed, but increase desktop interactivity. -f should be a multiple or divisor of 60, lower values increase speed but decrease desktop interactivity, higher values do the opposite."

It's best to get GPU only going as CPU mining is very expensive in terms of heat and electricity as well as reduced performance.


How to change default sort order in Catalina's Reminders?

I am inclined to accept the comment by @Joakim Danielson as the answer. Accordingly, instead of expecting a solution in a .plist file, I have written this Applescript to execute on startup (you also have to grant it accessibility permissions in Security & Privacy)

tell application "Reminders"
    activate
end tell
#wait for Reminders to launch since can't control startup items order
do shell script "/bin/sleep 5"
tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Reminders"
        tell menu bar 1
            tell menu bar item "View"
                tell menu "View"
                    tell menu item "Sort By"
                        tell menu "Sort By"
                            click menu item "Due Date"
                        end tell
                    end tell
                end tell
            end tell
        end tell
    end tell
end tell


How to terminate multiple applications via Activity Monitor

I would suggest you to:

Launch Terminal
When Terminal has launched, type "top" into the Terminal window. You'll see a list of currently running processes. At the top of the list is an overview of the processes that are running and the resources they're consuming.
When you identify a process that's causing a problem or consuming too many resources, take note of the number in the PID column next to the name of the process. To kill the process, type "kill -9" followed by the PID number. Press Enter. The problem process will now quit.


From your description, this seems like an issue with unmounting the drive not working properly or an unexpected restart of the system. When a drive is unmounted, the mount point under /Volumes/ should be gone. Otherwise Mac OS X would create a new mount point with suffixes like "-1", "-2" and so on since a name that's currently used cannot be replaced without a proper unmount.

There are a few things you could do to resolve this issue:

Ensure that you always eject the drive correctly.
Restart the system.
Remove the duplicate mount point in /Volumes
Apply the combo updater for Mac OS X 10.6.8 v1.1 and see if that helps.

References:
Remove the duplicate mount point in /Volumes
Drives in OS X appearing with '-1' appended to their names


Config Profile ~/.bash and ~/.bash_profile Default & Preferred Permissions?

bashrc and bash_profile are read by bash and do not require the execute bit to be set. Nor do either require the execute bit set when sourcing the file in your current bash session. That said, an octal representation of 600 would be my choice.
The default permissions set on a file is governed by umask.


An app to stop another app (Music Player) after some time

Launch Clock
Choose Timer
Tap on When Timer Ends
Scroll right to the bottom and pick Stop Playing
Set your time - say, 20 minutes (or whatever time you want) and tap on Start

Hope this helps.


What is could spawn tons of processes called AppleUserHIDDrivers over and over

HID stands for Human Interface Device, so you are correct, these are basically device drivers meant for any kind of input (or potentially also output) devices.

However, it's not always so simple to associate what one would call such a device and what the computer considers to be one.

For example, the touchbar on a MacBook is listed separately from the keyboard in the system profiler. So, are keyboard and touchbar one input device or not (I just use this as an example, since both are "default devices" on a MacBook I am not sure whether they spawn HID driver processes, I suspect not).

So, it's possible that your headset or any other device spawn more than one HID process, as they consist of multiple "technical" devices. Some might even be spawned by built-in interfaces of the Mac, meaning even a brand-new machine with the minimum of peripherals has more such processes as the number of peripherals you actually see laying on your desk. There could also be a hierarchy causing such "multiple" spawns (one process handles the more generic features of a device, while another handles more specialized things, think audio output of a headset versus input buttons it has to start/stop Music playback). I'm not sure exactly how this works as I have not written any drivers myself, but from what I recall that's very much possible (I am a mac and iOS developer).

I don't think there's an easy way to see which devices spawn which processes, but there's really no need to do that. The system loads them as needed (that's why you see launchd as their parent, that's your system's root process).

18 is a totally okay number of processes. I have 16 atm, and not many devices connected either.


Which Macs are compatible with macOS Sierra?

The Keynote announced the following supported hardware:

Late 2009: MacBook (MacBook6,1)
Late 2009: iMac (21.5" iMac10,1, 27" iMac10,1 and iMac 10,2)
Mid 2010: MacBook Pro (13" MacBookPro7,1, 15" MacBookPro6,2, 17" MacBookPro6,1)
Mid 2010: Mac mini (Macmini4,1)
Mid 2010 : Mac Pro (MacPro5,1)
Late 2010: MacBook Air (11" MacBookAir3,1, 13" MacBookAir3,2)

All later models are unquestionably compatible. A public list (on Apple's website) is not available yet, but a list may be available in the Release Notes (Developer Only).

For the Developer Preview: Registered Developers can access InstallableMachines.plist in InstallESD.dmg for a full list of officially supported Mac board-ids.

It may be possible to install on some unsupported hardware through modifying firmware, the installer, or other methods.


From @jaykru on SuperUser.SO (https://superuser.com/a/414513/152522):

  Did some more searching and discovered in recent updates the key
  repeat rate for x in OS X is set at some odd value. Anyway, to whoever
  else may have this issue, run this in your shell:

    xset r rate <milliseconds_before_repeat> <repeats_per_second>

  Or just xset r rate to reset the keyboard repeat rate to default X
  settings (i.e: something sane.)


Try iPGMail.

More here.

Features (copied from iTunes app store):

  PGMail is an app that implements the OpenPGP standard (RFC 4880) and
  allows the user to create and manage both public and private (RSA and
  DSA) PGP keys and send and receive PGP encrypted messages.

  PGP Keys and Messages can be passed to iPGMail several ways:

  From the iOS Mail.app - The iOS mail application will pass PGP attachments to iPGMail directly, eliminating the need to do an awkward
  copy-and-paste. NOTE: PGP messages that are part of the main body of
  an email will still have to be copy-and-pasted, only properly tagged
  attachments can be passed automatically.
  Directly from the system clipboard. Copy-and-paste the PGP message text from any file, webpage, or message, and it can be imported and
  decrypted by the app.
  iTunes File Sharing - Connect your device to a computer and open up iTunes, in the "Apps" section, you can scroll down and select iPGMail
  under the File Sharing section and transfer files to and from the app
  to your computer.
  DropBox - Starting with iPGMail v 1.14, you can link iPGMail to a dropbox account and transfer files to and from your dropbox file
  space. This means you can encrypt and protect your dropbox files or
  share files with others through your existing dropbox Public
  interface.

  iPGMail supports PGP key generation (RSA) directly in the app and
  stores them securely using the iOS keychain for the application. Using
  your own private PGP keys, you can encrypt and/or digitally sign any
  messages. Optionally, your public key can be attached to any message
  you send from the app so that the recipient can then import it into
  their own keychain, either on the phone or on any computer with PGP
  support.

  iPGMail will import your private keys so you can reuse your existing
  PGP identity and keys on your iPhone or iPad. Both public and private
  keys can be imported through the interfaces listed above.

  iPGMail allows the user to search public SKS PGP keyservers to find
  registered public keys for other people with whom the user can then
  send email that is digitally signed and/or encrypted encoded in
  OpenPGP ASCII Armor.

  This app is ideal for securing your files or for sending secure email
  messages to specific parties without worrying about it being viewed by
  anyone other than the designated recipient.


When is Apple Watch backed up to a paired iPhone?

You can be sure the watch backs up only when you unpair it.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204518

Apple says it backs up automatically but since you can’t check on that by tapping anywhere or logging into iCloud or looking in preferences, you don’t know when it happens or the date of the last backup.

The only way to check your available backups is when you pair any watch (e.g. you have a second watch or a friend that’s willing to unpair theirs or has a spare) and step through the pairing process and have your iPhone list the available backups and date ranges of backups. iCloud keeps multiple backups in time, sort of like time machine so you may have a choice of when to restore from your backups.


Any DvdFab/DvdShrink comparable program for Mac?

RipIt is the best I've seen. You can try it free, it is paid software with a novel guarantee. If you can't rip a title, they will buy that title and fix their software for you.


You can try this site http://osxdaily.com/2015/10/16/fix-wi-fi-problems-mac-os-x-el-capitan/  . For me it doesn't work:(.


iMac external projector limits screen resolution to 800x600

It sounds like OS X isn't properly detecting the resolutions your projector can support.

The best workaround would probably be SwitchResX. It's a shareware app (from what I can tell, no functionality restrictions) that allows you to set custom resolutions (and other display options). Set up one that you've confirmed your projector can support and give it a try.


iCloud is re-creating empty folders for old iOS Apps

It would help if you would explain why you would like to do this. For example, do you just want to clear up the clutter on your disk? Do you want to erase every trace of deleted apps?

If you just want to save space, the relevant command is brctl which is part of bird. (brctl for "bird control", as Apple uses the metaphor of the bird flying through the iCloud). At least according to the official documentation, the closest command to what you would be looking for would be brctl evict, but this doesn't remove the folder, but instead remove the local copy. In your example, you would type:

cd ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents
brctl evict iCloud~com~FireproofStudios~TheRoom3

I would keep an eye on the brctl man page to see if they add that additional functionality for the future for getting rid of these folders entirely.


How to connect 4 monitors to Mac mini 2011

An old thread, but in case anyone finds this via Google, I will be a drive-by good samaritan: I'm running 4x 1920-res monitors with a 2011 mini, as the poster wishes.

Number one is connected via HDMI; number two is connected via Thunderbolt. These two are fast enough for movies and 3D gaming. Number three and number four are connected with two USB adapters, specifically this one: HIS Multi-View II Video Adapter HMV2-MAC-PC USB to DVI Interface (link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815136004 ).

Many of the other brand USB adapters won't do 1920 (check carefully) or, as someone above said, will only do a single display from OS X, but I can confirm that one (at least) works with OS X (Mountain Lion, though I also used this setup with Lion).


The language specific shortcuts are set up when the computer is first set up. In my case, the computer was set up in German and I only later switched it to English. Then the default hotkeys do not change. The desired behaviour (switching windows with CMD+' could be enabled by going to System Prefs > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Keyboard and then pressing "Restore defaults". In particular "Move focus to next window" changes then.


How to fix a Time Capsule disk in "Internal disk needs repair" status?

It is simple but non-obvious, as you have discovered...

There is an Apple KB article that states:

"Simply restart your AirPort Time Capsule. AirPort Time Capsule automatically performs a file system check on the internal drive during startup. If the AirPort Time Capsule detects an issue that it can resolve, it will repair the file system of the disk. If an issue is found that cannot be resolved, the AirPort Time Capsule's LED will flash amber, and AirPort Utility will state the issue. You should use the most current version of AirPort Utility."

You can find that here.

Failing that you may have to remove the disk from the airport (ifixit.com has instructions) put it in an external USB drive sled and attach it to your Mac for further repairs and diagnosis. If Apple's Disk Utility cant fix it then you may have to use a commercial utility on it like DiskWarrior or Drive genius.


Is it possible to scan an image from the command line?

I don't know of a way to do it with built in tools, but there is an OS X version of SANE that should be able to do exactly what you request (scanimage > image.pnm).

SANE

  This is a TWAIN datasource for MacOS X that aquires images using the SANE backend libraries. The SANE backend libraries provide access to a large range of scanners connected through SCSI or USB. For a complete list see the documentation on the SANE project homepage.

It's available at http://www.ellert.se/twain-sane/


iPod Classic 160GB just will not start any help appreciated

My answer will be short, please check this support page from Apple to troubleshoot your problem:
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203170

If that doesn't work your last shot is at a service point.


Moved iPhoto Library: Need to point iMovie in the right direction

Locate the iPhoto library in Finder, drag and drop it to iMovie's project pane?


MediaKit reports not enough space on device for requested operation

The problem is that Disk Utility isn't able to reformat your drive from NTFS to APFS. You can format it to HFS+, then Disk Utility will pick up and do the rest for you. Here is a tutorial with detailed, step by step instructions: https://mycyberuniverse.com/web/how-fix-mediakit-reports-not-enough-space-on-device.html
Note that this will erase your entire disk (in case you have multiple volumes).
Summary of commands needed, in terminal:
diskutil list
diskutil unmountDisk force disk2
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=1024 count=1024
diskutil partitionDisk disk2 GPT JHFS+ "New Drive Name" 0g

Where disk2 is the name of your external drive, listed from diskutil list


How to configure webproxy settings to bypass hosts and networks in the shell?

To configure proxy settings in the shell use the command networksetup.

To get help enter networksetup -help.

To bypass networks, hosts and domains use the command:

sudo networksetup -setproxybypassdomains <networkservice> <domain1> [domain2] [...]

The default items in the list are *.local and 169.254/16.

So if you want to add a domain (abc.com) and a host (17.12.3.5) but keep current items in the list use (example network service: en1 - to get a list of network services enter: networksetup -listallnetworkservices):

sudo networksetup -setproxybypassdomains en1 *.local 169.254/16 abc.com 17.12.3.5

To clear the list use:

sudo networksetup -setproxybypassdomains en1 Empty


How to sort contacts by creation date or modification date in iOS Contacts or OS X Contacts 7.x?

After digging a little bit in Contacts' DB here is what I found.

As already said by @grgarside, the DB is in

~/Library/Application\ Support/Address\ Book/Sources/<source-ID>/AddressBook-v22.abcddb

Where <source-ID> is most likely the most recent modified directory.

AddressBook-v22.abcddb is a SQLite DB file with 24 tables (in my case). The most important one is ZABCDRECORD which holds (among others) the firstname, lastname and the creation date of the contact (but also modification etc).

The 2 interesting columns in your case are :

ZCREATIONDATE
ZMODIFICATIONDATE

As I found out recently, the base date for these 2 columns is 01-01-2001.
The columns ZMODIFICATIONDATEYEARLESS and ZCREATIONDATEYEARLESS  use the 1st January of creation year as the base date.

Using sqlite you can sort it like that :

sqlite3 AddressBook-v22.abcddb "select ZFirstName, ZLastName from ZABCDRECORD order by ZMODIFICATIONDATE"

It will output FirstName/LastName sorted by modification date.


Installing a C/C++ library with homebrew on M1 Macs

Add an environment variable as follows
export CPATH=/opt/homebrew/include
export LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/homebrew/lib

to the file corresponding to the shell, like ~/.bash_profile for bash.
Alternatively create CMake file with content like
link_directories("/opt/homebrew/lib")
include_directories("/opt/homebrew/include")

Or
set(CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS "-L/opt/homebrew/lib " CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
set(CMAKE_C_FLAGS   "-I/opt/homebrew/include " CACHE STRING "" FORCE )
set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "-I/opt/homebrew/include " CACHE STRING "" FORCE)

and create projects like cmake -C ../link_dir.cmake -B ../build -S .


How long can I safely leave my Macbook Pro running?

Laptops weren't developed with acting as servers in mind.

The overall-quality of the integrated components is lower than those of common servers. Additionally redundancy for important parts (like the cooling system etc.) is not given.

Especially consumer hard disks and the whole cooling system aren't designed to be run 24/7 a week and guarantee a long lifespan.

The in-case temperature will be generally higher than in a normal server.

This will effect particularly low-cost hard disks. The durability of hard disks may decrease with higher temperatures. (Opposite standpoint: Google)

Namely the Macbook Pro 2011 (i own one myself) heats up fast.

I always would advise to get a (cheap) MacMini, set it up headless and store in  a vibration-free place.

If you insist on using your MBP as server, use something like SMC Fan Control (as mentioned/advised by yourself and dwightk , choose a vibration-free place and don't close the lid. Most laptops rely on losing some of their heat through the keyboard. Try to disable the discrete graphics card by turning off 2D/3D acceleration in your VirtualBox VM (please check this ticket).


When quitting one application, quit additional ones

You can create a simple Applescript to quit the other apps. To do it, open Script Editor and type the following:

tell application "AppName1" to quit
tell application "AppName2" to quit
tell application "AppName3" to quit

Save as Application.

Then when you quit Logic Pro, you just need to double click on your new app, and it close all your defined programs.


Use time machine with different MacOS versions and a NAS

After a couple of useless QNAP replies, I moved to a Synology model. Tech service is much faster and ensured it works

I started from a DS418 but I choose a DS918+, I already installed it and it's running without problems with concurrent connections with different protocols


Storing specific Contacts on iPhone without syncing

Just disable the sync for iCloud and every mail account :

Settings

iCloud
Mail, Contacts, Calendar


OS X El Capitan Installer.app has crippled my Mac Mini

Double click the process in activity monitor and look for the Open Files tab.  This should give you an idea where the process is coming from

Try to force-quit the process in activity monitor.

Then try to delete the dmg files (make sure they are unmounted, right-click > unmount on the dmg).


ERROR: AUCTeX cannot find a working TeX distribution (macOS Sierra)

As patrix suggested, the problem was that the PATH variable that the error message referred to was not the Terminal's environment variable but emacs' own environment variable, whose content can be seen (as suggested by patrix) by evaluating (getenv "PATH") in Emacs.

To add /Library/TeX/texbin/ to emacs' PATH variable, I added the following code to the emacs initialization file .emacs:

(setenv "PATH" (concat (getenv "PATH") ":/Library/TeX/texbin/"))
(setq exec-path (append exec-path '("/Library/TeX/texbin/")))

These lines of code are appropriately modified versions of the ones given here.

After restarting Emacs, the problem was gone.


Find all executable files within a folder in terminal

This will find all files (not symlinks) with the executable bit set:

find . -perm +111 -type f

This will also find symlinks (which are often equally important)

find . -perm +111 -type f -or -type l

Here's how the command works if its not obvious:

find is obviously the find program (:
. refers to the directory to start finding in (. = current directory)
-perm +111 = with any of the executable bits set (+ means "any of these bits", 111 is the octal for the executable bit on owner, group and anybody)
-type f means the type is a file
-or boolean OR
-type l means the type is a symbolic link


Choosing FreeBSD as Startup Disk on Intel Mac

It appears to be quite complicated to boot an OS other than Mac OS from USB. See this thread on Ask Ubuntu for discussion on someone trying to do similar.

I know you don't want to install anything on the host system, but installing rEFInd or the older rEFIt may get you there. In that aforementioned thread a few people mentioned that once they had it installed a non-Mac OS USB drive would be listed as bootable from the bootloader menu.


Can I use regular mouse with my MacBook Pro 2011 using Mac OS Lion?

I have used everything from wired Bluetooth (incl. Razer Naga and a bluetooth Logitech) on all my Macs. All of the buttons on the Naga work via a control panel interface, and I have had no problem. Nevertheless, the "mouse feel" still isn't up to the standards of the native Mac mouses. No matter the setting, the acceleration goes from too slow to too fast in a heartbeat. It's usable, but I keep going back to my Magic Mouse for everything but gaming (in games where I need those extra buttons).


Install Mavericks from usb drive on new HDD

Did you create the bootable USB as the Mavericks USB should be created - it isn't the same way as with Lion/Mountain Lion.

Here is how a bootable USB with Mavericks need to be created: http://osxdaily.com/2013/06/12/make-boot-os-x-mavericks-usb-install-drive/


Google Chat somehow causes my wifi connection to drop

I never exactly figured out what the issue is, and this might just be coincidence, but I recently upgraded to Lion (and installed Messages Beta over iChat) and have not seen this issue since. I'm going to tentatively say this is resolved...


Can I transfer content between devices authorized to different Apple IDs?

Purchases are linked to the Apple ID.

Your devices may only sync content that they are authorized for. They can be synced with any device (up to 10) that is authorized to the ID.

This is an extract from the apple support website:

  If you want to transfer iTunes Store purchases from an iOS device or
  iPod to a computer, be sure to authorize the computer before
  connecting the device.

  ...

  Important: Clicking Erase and Sync will delete any existing content
  currently on your device. The content will be replaced with whatever
  existing content is in the current iTunes library your device is
  connected to. If there is no content in the iTunes library, nothing
  will be synced to your device, and your device will be empty.

  iTunes
  will begin copying any purchases made with any account for which the
  computer is authorized.

Jailbreaking might offer possibilities to bypass the restrictions, but it'll be against apple's licensing terms (copying the content to unauthorized devices that is).

I believe this would require to jailbreak iTunes on your Mac aswell for syncing to work - and I do not know if there are solutions to this.


Where are force click preferences stored?

All your settings are stored in something called the defaults system, which at its core is a bunch of .plist files in your Library folder: ~/Library/Preferences/whatever.plist.

You can actually change them with the defaults command in Terminal, although it's generally a good idea to quit the relevant app first. Changing system settings will probably not take effect until you log out. For more information, run man defaults in Terminal.

Try this command:

defaults read -g | grep trackpad

This should show your trackpad-related settings. I don't have a Force Touch trackpad, but here's  what I get:

"com.apple.trackpad.forceClick" = 1;
"com.apple.trackpad.scaling" = "0.6875";
"com.apple.trackpad.scrolling" = "0.3125";

Now for some troubleshooting.

Before going any further, it's a good idea to duplicate your global preferences file, ~/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist, in case you lose some settings you want to keep.

To see if one of these preferences is the problem, try doing this with each preference in turn that you got from the previous command:

defaults delete -g com.apple.trackpad.forceClick

replacing with the proper one, of course. You'll probably have to log out and back in to see the changes.

(An important note: Terminal commands generally don't ask for confirmation before doing things. They assume you know what you're doing, which is all well and good until you don't, or make a typo.)


No, that's a functionality which is built in iOS and is not customizable.


HTML videos not playing on Sierra 10.12.6

The first thing I'd probably do is start your Mac in Safe Mode and test to see if you can play videos fine?

Boot into Safe Mode

Follow these steps to boot your Mac into Safe Mode:

Fully shut down your Mac
Restart your Mac
Immediately press the Shift key and keep it down
Let go of the Shift key when you see the login window (NOTE: If you have FileVault enabled you may need to log in twice).
Take a note of what happens (i.e. can you play videos okay now?)
Exit Safe Mode by restarting your Mac as normal
Again, take a note of what happens (i.e. can you play videos okay now?)

Once you've booted into Safe Mode, let me know how you went and we'll go from there. Primarily we need to establish if everything works okay in Safe Mode or not. If so, we need to then establish whether videos can play okay when booting normally afterwards.


Is the iPhone 8 Plus case compatible with iPhone 7 Plus

Actually, it seems that the iPhone 8 Plus is case compatible to the iPhone 7 Plus. I was checking the one of the iPhone 7 Plus cases and on apple.com. It stated that it is good for both of these models.

Also there is the phone comparison page on apple.com where the dimensions are listed.


You need to install 3rd-party software for this, by default OS X just support reading NTFS, not writing.

Download and install MacFUSE and NTFS-3G.


4th gen shuffle battery, no lights or charge

It sounds to me like a hardware issue, and you will probably do best to contact Apple.

I assume you have, but I would check the old cable (if it is still around and functioning), just to make sure that doesn't work as well. There is always a chance the new cable is somehow non-functional.


How do I login to my Instagram account on another device?

It appears you have created the Instagram account using your phone number. Snapchat account on the other hand is created with phone number.

Regain access to the original phone number from the broken iPhone. If you setup your new phone with the same number, you'll be able to recover both the account onto it. You'll simply need to install the app(s) on your new phone and authenticate via OTP received on your phone number.

You also can restore your iCloud or iTunes backup to an iPad or iPhone or possible iPod touch based on the iOS version of the backup, but you can probably work with support for each system (Snapchat, Instagram) from any mobile device with your same cell number.


Is it possible to airplay content from iPhone to another iPhone or iPad?

There is one way that I personally know of, and that is using Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil for Mac/Windows and Airfoil Satellite for iOS ($29 USD).

How to send between two iOS devices is outlined in this article (from 2012, but the principle is the same).

Brief version of the article:

You first install Airfoil on your computer, and make it act as an Airplay server.
From the iOS device playing the audio source, you then use the normal iOS AirPlay controls to pass audio to your computer.
You then download Airfoil Satellite from the App store to your second iOS device, and use that application to receive audio from your computer. You just need to assign the Satellite app as a "client" and it will stream audio as usual.

If you are thinking of streaming audio from video sources via this method, then audio will obviously not be synced in real-time with video.

I have however used it for playing video on my iPad and then "taking the audio with with me" on my iPhone. The example would be if I'm watching a TV programme on iPad, and I want to go to the bathroom and continue listening…


Can I assign Magic Trackpad 3-finger swipe up/down to scroll to top/bottom?

My Magic Trackpad did this right out of the box. I believe you should select "Swipe to navigate."


How to change the url of a Chrome app shortcut?

I also had this issue (trying to create an app shortcut to the second Google Calendar account) and solved it by creating a web app manifest before creating the app shortcut:

Copy the JavaScript below
On the Google Calendar page, open the Chrome Devtools (right click anywhere on the page and select "Inspect")
Go to the Console tab and paste the copied JavaScript
Modify the URL if necessary to whatever URL you are trying to create an app for
Hit return to run the JavaScript

const startUrl = 'https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/1/r';
document.head
  .querySelector(':first-child')
  .insertAdjacentHTML(
    'beforebegin',
    `<link rel="manifest" href='data:application/manifest+json,{"start_url":"${startUrl}"}' />`,
  );

This will add a Web App Manifest for this website which will be used when creating the app.
Once you have done this, you can create the desktop app as normal:

Click on the three dots menu > More Tools > Create Shortcut
Check "Open as window" and select "Create"

Now you should have a separate desktop app for your second calendar account!
Source: https://github.com/karlhorky/pwa-tricks#change-starting-url-of-pwa-in-chrome

Alternative: Editing an Existing Manifest
If you're trying to add a different PWA than Google Calendar where the page either specifies a manifest already or sets the Content Security Policy directive manifest-src, then the above solution may not work, potentially also returning an error such as:
Refused to load manifest from 'data:application/manifest+json,...' because it violates the following Content Security Policy directive: "manifest-src 'self'".

To get around this, you can use Chrome Local Overrides to modify the start_url in the Web App Manifest:

On the page of the application, open the Chrome DevTools (right click anywhere on the page and select "Inspect")
Locate and expand the <head> element and find the link element with rel="manifest". Note the file path in href.

Open the Sources tab in the DevTools. If you have not used overrides before, you will need to set them up:

Switch to the Overrides 2nd-level tab (you may need to find it in the » menu)
If you Create a new folder in your projects or Documents folder called chrome-overrides
Click on ＋ Select folder for overrides and select the folder you created

Confirm any prompts at the top of the browser asking for access to the folder

Refresh the page to make sure all sources load. Locate the web app manifest corresponding to the file path you noted earlier. Right click and select Save for overrides:

Now the web app manifest is editable! Make your changes to start_url or anything else that you need, save the file and reload the page
The updated web app manifest has now been loaded, and you can install or create a shortcut to the PWA as normal

Source: https://github.com/karlhorky/pwa-tricks#solution-2-edit-an-existing-web-app-manifest


Do notifications show over a FaceTime call?


Automator to open random file on Windows share

The following example Automator workflow works for me:

on run {input, parameters}

    set thisFolder to (item 1 of input as string)

    tell application "Finder"
        set randomFolder to some folder in folder thisFolder
        open some file in randomFolder
    end tell

end run

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


Why OS X never ejects drives before shutdown or suspend mode?

I will share a why it is good to have it as is and a way around it if you are determined.

  When you put the Mac to sleep, it will try and also put the external
  drive to sleep, thus parking its heads and turning off the drives. It
  won't eject it, however, so you can use it as soon as you wake your
  Mac again without having to mount it.

  The benefit is that you don't have to worry about mounting it, as in
  most cases this would involve turning the drive off and on again,
  reconnecting the plug, or using diskutil from a Terminal—quite time
  consuming. Since I use my drive for Time Machine, I don't want to have
  to think about connecting it every time I wake my Mac.

  The only downside I see is that you could accidentally plug the drive
  out. In that case, the Mac will wake up, and show you the error about
  a drive being disconnected without properly ejecting it. Since all
  data is written to the drive before going to sleep, this shouldn't
  cause any data loss though.

  All in all, it's much more comfortable to just keep the drive mounted.

If you want to unmount the drives before sleep:

You can use the automator > files/folders > eject disk > tell it when
to eject.
Use terminal to unmount all drives before sleep. < not comfortable giving you the code as it can vary.


The only thing I could find, suggested by Benjamin Schollnick, here., is this:

  find -x /path/to/folder -name *.webloc -exec chflags hidden {} +

It will hide the extension for existing files, therefore, you will need to run it again for newly created files.

Althought in the original question its said for Leopard, I guess it will work for Lion too.


To install a sudo with insults you have to compile it yourself:

Requirements: Xcode 8.0, Sierra 10.12, probably SIP disabled

Backup sudo and visudo:

sudo cp /usr/bin/sudo  /usr/bin/sudo.backup
sudo cp /usr/sbin/visudo  /usr/sbin/visudo.backup

Create a dir: mkdir sudo
Change to the directory: cd sudo
Curl the Apple open source sudo:

curl https://opensource.apple.com/tarballs/sudo/sudo-83.tar.gz | tar zxf -

cd to the source folder:

cd sudo-83/src

configure, make and make install it:

./configure --with-password-timeout=0 --disable-setreuid --with-env-editor --with-pam --with-libraries=bsm --with-noexec=no --sysconfdir="/private/etc" --with-timedir="/var/db/sudo" --with-all-insults
make
sudo make install

The file sudo-83/src/INSTALL contains a lot more tweak options for the configure command!
The files may be installed to /usr/local/bin/ and /usr/local/sbin/ so you may have to move them (in my case I had to):

sudo mv /usr/local/sbin/visudo /usr/sbin/visudo
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/sudoedit
sudo mv /usr/local/bin/sudoreplay /usr/bin/
sudo mv /usr/local/bin/sudo /usr/bin/sudo
/usr/bin/sudo ln -s /usr/bin/sudo /usr/bin/sudoedit

or modify your path and prepend /usr/local/bin and /usr/local/sbin.
Enter /usr/bin/sudo /usr/sbin/visudo
Add the line in insert mode (simply hit i)

Defaults        lecture_file = "/etc/sudo_lecture" #<-already there
Defaults        insults

Save the file after hitting esc with :wq!.
Probably you have to quit and relaunch Terminal now.

Results:

host:~ user$ ls -l /usr/bin/sudo*
-rwsr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  restricted 225428 Oct 19 02:01 /usr/bin/sudo
-r-x--x--x  1 root  wheel  restricted 369136 Oct 19 02:00 /usr/bin/sudo.backup
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  restricted     13 Oct 19 02:03 /usr/bin/sudoedit -> /usr/bin/sudo
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  restricted  49544 Oct 19 02:01 /usr/bin/sudoreplay
host:~ user$ sudo openssl sha1 /usr/bin/sudo*
SHA1(/usr/bin/sudo)= 87d9ad990813b5a949d07267d566bb3a1fddeec0
SHA1(/usr/bin/sudo.backup)= 088c317bf7b8a146803533173699021b9aef5b16
SHA1(/usr/bin/sudoedit)= 87d9ad990813b5a949d07267d566bb3a1fddeec0
SHA1(/usr/bin/sudoreplay)= f76c5ad8d6f2aebbc24d77fee54a54ba9d207e25

Last login: Wed Oct 19 02:09:33 on console
host:~ user$ sudo ifconfig
Password:
Do you think like you type?
Password:
He has fallen in the water!
Password:
I don't wish to know that.
sudo: 3 incorrect password attempts

The files may be overwritten after a system update/upgrade!

Recompiling sudo with insults also works in older systems - you have to choose the respective tarball though (e.g. sudo-73.tar.gz should work with 10.9 and 10.10).

By modifying the ins_*.h in the src folder you should be able to include more insults. You can also add additional ins_*.h files but then you have to include them in insults.h like the other four already are. You may also include non-english insults of course!


SMC reset to fix battery not working, but cant be sure SMC reset has taken place

It's quite possible you have a defective battery, bad cable or power handling chip issue on the logic board itself.  From the output you posted, here's what we know.

81 cycles and FCC of 3918 mAh is way out of specification
The Voltage and charge measurement that you have 234 mAh (mili-amp hours) remaining
It's showing a draw of approximately 2.5A (battery is being drained)

The SMC can only accumulate how much battery capacity is left by measuring the current power against the current draw and known full capacity.  In this case, it's measuring that you're out of power and indicating your battery needs to be serviced.

There's no "dipstick" that can give you the actual charge, the SMC must calculate it and from the data it's getting from the battery, it thinks it's failing even though it continues to work.

Your best bet is to replace the battery (it's probably still under warranty) and still more likely to be the cause if you were careful with the cables and reseated them.


Is there a way to create a shortcut in Finder to an Apple Note?

I think you will like this following AppleScript solution.
STEP 1: Save this following AppleScript code as a Script File to your /Users/YOUR SHORT NAME/Library/Script Libraries/ folder. (with the name “Make Link To Note Library.scpt”).  Just compile the script and save it and don’t even bother running it from Script Editor.
This following AppleScript will be used as, what is known as a “Script Library”.
property destinationSuffix : "Contents/Resources/applet.icns"
property iconFile : missing value
property thisApp : missing value
property noteName : missing value

if iconFile = missing value then changeMyIconToNotesIcon()
if noteName = missing value then chooseNote()

try
    tell application "Notes"
        activate
        show note noteName
    end tell
end try

to changeMyIconToNotesIcon()
    set iconFile to path to resource "AppIcon.icns" in bundle ¬
        (path to application "Notes")
    set thisApp to path to me
    set replaceThisIcon to POSIX path of thisApp & ¬
        destinationSuffix as string
    do shell script "cp " & quoted form of POSIX path of iconFile & " " & ¬
        quoted form of replaceThisIcon & " ; touch " & ¬
        quoted form of POSIX path of thisApp
end changeMyIconToNotesIcon

on chooseNote()
    tell application "Notes" to set noteNames to name of notes
    activate
    set noteName to (choose from list noteNames) as text
    return noteName
end chooseNote

STEP 2: Save this following AppleScript code as an application, with the name, for example “NOTES Make Link To Note Template.app”
property loadedScript : load script alias ¬
    ((path to library folder from user domain as text) & ¬
        "Script Libraries:Make Link To Note Library.scpt")

run loadedScript

Taking this concept one step further, and making life much easier for everyone planning to use the code in my solution. Instead of copying and pasting the code from STEP 2, into a new Script Editor document and saving it as an application etc. , every time you want to create a “Direct Link To A Specific Note” , This following STEP 3 should make the process seamless.
STEP 3: Save this following AppleScript code as an application, with the name, for example “Make Link To Note CREATOR droplet.app”
Now that we’ve created the Script Library file "Make Link To Note Library. scpt”, from STEP 1’s Instructions, we can access its handlers and their commands, directly in this code by inserting the use command at the top of this following script.  This line set noteName to (notesLibrary's chooseNote()) & ".app” is an example of how to utilize a command from a Script Library file.
use notesLibrary : script "Make Link To Note Library"
use scripting additions

on open theFile
    appletFileIsAcceptable(theFile)

    activate
    set saveToFolder to choose folder with prompt ¬
        "Save Your New \"Link To Note.app\" To Which Folder?" multiple selections allowed false ¬
        with invisibles and showing package contents

    set noteName to (notesLibrary's chooseNote()) & ".app"

    tell application "Finder"
        set duplicatedApp to duplicate item 1 of theFile to saveToFolder
        set name of duplicatedApp to noteName
        open (((saveToFolder as text) & noteName) as alias)
        reveal (((saveToFolder as text) & noteName) as alias)
    end tell
end open

on appletFileIsAcceptable(theFile)
    tell application "System Events" to if name extension of ¬
        item 1 of theFile ≠ "app" then return -- decide if theFile is acceptable
end appletFileIsAcceptable

In Finder, drag your new created Script Editor applet from STEP 2. directly onto the icon of the Droplet from STEP 3. This will create a duplicate of the”Template.app” to a folder of your choosing and name it to the name of the chosen Note and then launch it automatically. When the process is complete, the new “Go To Specific Note.app” will be completely configured and revealed in Finder


Hit a key to "move and resize active window"

I use a little app called Divvy to do this. You can set up a global hotkey to bring up Divvy. And then within Divvy you can set up hotkeys that will snap the current window to a specific location and a specific size. It's great for quickly doing 2-up Finder windows for copying things back and forth. Or a Finder window on the left and a CyberDuck window on the right for remote copies. One of those apps that, when it's not on a Mac, will make it feel a little bit broken.


Is it possible to set the default view in the iPhone music app to be “downloaded” only?

I'm guessing you must be quitting the Music app when you're not using it (or perhaps rebooting your iPhone or something similar).

Assuming you have the Music app on the Downloaded Music screen, or are playing music from within that section, then Apple Music should stay where it was last at. However, if you're in the habit of quitting the app or rebooting your iPhone, then it'll default back to the initial screen.

If the above fits your scenario, then there's really no need to quit the app. You can just leave it on in the background, even when you're not using it.

For more information you may want to refer to this question: Why is it better for an iPhone’s battery to NOT close down apps?


Repackaging .pkg files without installing/unpacking

You can use the Flat Package Editor from Apple.

Go to Apple's Developer downloads site and download the Auxiliary Tools for Xcode - Late July 2012.
Once downloaded, open the DMG.
Find PackageMaker.app and open the package contents, then navigate to Contents/Resources.
Copy Flat Package Editor.app to /Applications or elsewhere then open it.

From this app you can open a .pkg and edit the contents by dragging files out, editing them and dragging them back in, then saving the package.

Packages can be resigned using the button on the title bar:


Unable to unlock login keychain on sierra in ssh

Your login keychain doesn't appear to be in the search list, i.e. when you checked it, it just shows the System keychain twice. No login keychain:

(~)$ security list-keychains
"/Library/Keychains/System.keychain"
"/Library/Keychains/System.keychain"
(~)$ security list-keychains -d user -s login.keychain
(~)$ security list-keychains
"/Users/USERNAME/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db"
"/Library/Keychains/System.keychain"

You can use the security command to lookup the -25308 error code.
In this case, it says "User interaction not allowed".
This is typical if you're trying to sign your app via SSH (or via Jenkins).

security error -25308
Error: 0xFFFF9D24 -25308 User interaction is not allowed.

You need to do a security command to enable codesigning of your application through a non interactive shell:

security set-key-partition-list -S apple: -k <Password> -D <Identity> -t private <your.keychain>

Here is a "complete" Jenkins / SSH friendly script to signing your app:

MY_KEYCHAIN="temp.keychain"
MY_KEYCHAIN_PASSWORD="secret"
CERT="certificate.p12"
CERT_PASSWORD="certificate secret"

security create-keychain -p "$MY_KEYCHAIN_PASSWORD" "$MY_KEYCHAIN" # Create temp keychain
security list-keychains -d user -s "$MY_KEYCHAIN" $(security list-keychains -d user | sed s/\"//g) # Append temp keychain to the user domain
security set-keychain-settings "$MY_KEYCHAIN" # Remove relock timeout
security unlock-keychain -p "$MY_KEYCHAIN_PASSWORD" "$MY_KEYCHAIN" # Unlock keychain
security import $CERT -k "$MY_KEYCHAIN" -P "$CERT_PASSWORD" -T "/usr/bin/codesign" # Add certificate to keychain
CERT_IDENTITY=$(security find-identity -v -p codesigning "$MY_KEYCHAIN" | head -1 | grep '"' | sed -e 's/[^"]*"//' -e 's/".*//') # Programmatically derive the identity
CERT_UUID=$(security find-identity -v -p codesigning "$MY_KEYCHAIN" | head -1 | grep '"' | awk '{print $2}') # Handy to have UUID (just in case)
security set-key-partition-list -S apple-tool:,apple: -s -k $MY_KEYCHAIN_PASSWORD -D "$CERT_IDENTITY" -t private $MY_KEYCHAIN # Enable codesigning from a non user interactive shell
### INSERT BUILD COMMANDS HERE ###
security delete-keychain "$MY_KEYCHAIN" # Delete temporary keychain

Shout out to Bochun Bai for spending 3 weeks with Apple support to finding the solution to the -25308 issue and posting it to https://sinofool.net/blog/archives/322


The fan screws are most likely 7.2 mm or 5.3 mm T6 Torx screws (the appropriate iFixit teardown will help you)

If the body of the screw is still screwed in, it could be very difficult to remove and require more specialist repair.


How can I filter and sort videos by orientation (portrait or landscape)?

After testing @CJK's answer, here's what I came up:
#!/bin/bash
shopt -s nullglob

for f in *.{mp4,MP4,mov,MOV,m4v,M4V}
    do
        height=`mdls -raw -name  kMDItemPixelHeight "$f"`
        width=`mdls -raw -name  kMDItemPixelWidth "$f"`
        mkdir -p "${height}x${width}"
        mv "$f" "${height}x${width}"/

        printf "File: $f\n"
        printf "> Dimensions: $height x $width \n\n"
    done

printf "All done! \n"

This will grab the height and width of each video type in a specific folder, and then sort it into its appropriate folder. With a bit more scripting, you could then sort the folders into portrait/landscape folders by comparing height vs. width.


combine two audio inputs (microphones) for Zoom

The problem with aggregate devices in macOS is, I think, that the different input microphones will be assigned to different channels. Zoom might pick up only the first channel of the aggregate device rather than mixing all the channels together.
Using a virtual audio device and a mixer software, one could mix the different microphones together into one channel of the virtual device and then select the virtual device as microphone in Zoom. Originally, I was thinking of soundflower (brew install soundflower) or vb-cable (brew install vb-cable), maybe in addition to obs (brew install obs) for mixing. But as BlackHole has been mentioned in the comments, let's try this one:

BlackHole is a modern MacOS virtual audio driver that allows applications to pass audio to other applications with zero additional latency.

Install the homebrew package manager
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Install the BlackHole virtual audio device
brew install blackhole-2ch

Install a mixer software that will be used to combine the microphone sources. You can use Apple Logic Pro if you have it, or you can use obs (free). Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get it working with Apple GarageBand, because this couldn't handle both microphones simultaneously. Here, I'm using obs.
brew install obs

In obs, in the "sources" section, add the first microphone as "Audio Input Capture".

Then add the second microphone the same way in obs.

In the obs settings (Cmd+,), under "Audio", under "Advanced", select the BlackHole audio device as "Monitoring Device".

In obs, for both microphones, you need to activate "Audio Monitoring". This will route the signal to the BlackHole device.
You find it in "Advanced Audio Properties" for the microphones.

Finally, in the Zoom settings, select the BlackHole audio device as microphone.

The volume levels of the two microphones can be mixed in obs. Zoom used this mix as input.


How do I activate markers and link text in iBooks Author?

Its not possible, hopefully Apple will make the App functional in the future. You can only hyperlink to bookmarks within a project and you cant bookmark a page!


apple macos external keyboard right shift and up arrow not work

Probably that there's no 'shortcut' assigned to what you are trying.
You can verify this when you open your 'keyboard setting' and go to the third tab as in the screenshot.

Check in the different lists if you find the non working combination or not, and if you dont, add it to the function you want it to do.


How many cores does a Mid 2012 Macbook Air have?

Your computer has 2 cores, but 4 logical processors. What you are seeing is Intel's hyper-threading technology. This technology puts multiple logical processors on a single core, so that each core can run multiple threads at once.

The difference between this and multiple cores is that hyper-threading only duplicates the parts of the processor which control the current state, not the actual execution unit, but multiple cores duplicate everything. This means that your computer will run like it has four cores only if the threads on each core are using different parts of the execution unit, but if the exact same thing was running on both threads in a single core, it wouldn't be any faster than a two-core system without hyper-threading.


How I can save the Skype chat history from my iPad?

It would be nice if Skype (Microsoft) synched the message history from your iDevices to your Mac where it is easily accessible, but I suspect they don't.

In the meanwhile you can try a trial version of something like iExplorer (https://www.macroplant.com/iexplorer/) which can access most/all files created on iDevices and try to locate your Skype message history.


Online manpages can be outdated or incomplete. Check the command itself:

$ security help dump-keychain

Usage: dump-keychain [-adir] [keychain...]
    -a  Dump access control list of items
    -d  Dump (decrypted) data of items
    -i  Interactive access control list editing mode
    -r  Dump the raw (encrypted) data of items


WD external USB disks intermittently showing

I am thinking this is an OS problem.

There's no evidence of this.  But if you want to be sure you can do either/both of two things:

Boot into Safe Mode where it's a clean version of macOS - no 3rd party apps or kexts (drivers)

Try on a different computer

Intermittent issues are usually hardware related:

Physically a bad port.  For instance, there may be dry solder joints connecting the USB port to the PCB.

Failing USB controller

Failing external drive enclosure

The best way to test this would be to take it to another computer.  If the problems exist there, then the issue is with the external drive, not your iMac.

No evidence of disks failing. Disk Utility finds no problems.

Your disks may be fine, but there are two major components to an external USB drive:

The disk drive itself (already tested as good)
The USB-SATA bridge (controller chip)

If the chip (or any of the electronics on the adapter) are failing or have failed, you will get errors like what you're seeing.  To verify this, you need to remove the enclosure from the equation.  If you can open them up, use an inexpensive USB to SATA adapter to verify.
Use this method to narrow down what the cause can be.  I'm hoping it just the enclosure which is most likely to fail.  The worse case scenario is the USB port(s) on your iMac are going bad.  And...when testing the ports on your iMac, make sure you try them all and not just one.


Programmatically creating mount points in macOS 10.12

As I answered at macOS Sierra: AppleScript mount volume keeps asking for login, I think the way to do it now is to create the mount point somewhere the user does have write access to, such as the user's home directory:

mkdir -p ~/mnt
mount_smbfs "//my_username:my_password@my_hostname/share" ~/mnt


Is there any reason to buy the iWork bundle instead of the apps separately from the App Store?

I guess it's mostly here for people on Leopard and older version of Mac OS X. Since the Mac App Store only works in Snow Leopard and later.

It could also be for people who don't want to depend on an internet connection when they need to (re)install, and want to have the app physically at all time.


No, you can't. MALAB R2014b is the only version that officially supports Yosemite. That said, I do have seen several workarounds that enable you to temporarily use the older-version MATLAB.


Java 7 and Java 8 is only available in a 64-bit version on OS X, and therefor it can only be installed on a 64-bit Mac.


I'd suggest posting this on the Keyboard Maestro Forum in the future – they're very responsive there:

I don't believe it's explicitly something you can do, but you basically can mimic the behavior. There's two ways. First, you can bind two different macros to the same shortcut. When you trigger it, a palette pops up and you just type the first letter of the macro you want to trigger (or more if they have names that begin with the same letters). For example, if I have two macros triggered by Cmd+S called "high" and "him" then you'd need to type "hig" to trigger the first.

Alternatively, you could use a  "Prompt with List" list and use switch/case. So you would have a list of keywords/letters that are used to set a variable. That variable would determine the path of your switch case. Like so:


Technically the issue here has nothing to do with the Hackintosh. It's a limit on the VMWare graphics card and failing the Logic install checker.

You can try the following:

Install Logic9 package, right-click and choose Show Original
Choose LogicStudio.mpkg. Right-click and choose Show Package Contents
Go to Contents/Resources/Requirements Checker.app
Right-click, and choose Show Package Contents
Find Checker.app, navigate to Contents/Resources -> file minsys.plist
Edit it, replacing every
"block" with "warn"
Save the file.

Now run the install and it should pass the check.

This same issue impacts genuine Mac's which don't have the required RAM or graphics cards, etc.


macOS Sierra slow in calculating on the Storage tab

All you have to do is leave the storage window open for a long time, say ten minutes. I am running 10.12.4.


Moving Macbook Snow Leopard drive to a Macbook Pro that had Yosemite installed: kernel panic!

Thanks to those who responded to my question, but here's what I ended up doing:

Installed my wife's macbook/Snow Leopard drive in a caddy and attached it to another mac machine as an external drive
Downloaded the OS X Yosemite installer from the App Store and ran it with the external drive as the target
Attached the newly updated external drive to my Macbook Pro as an external drive and booted up off of it (booted up into startup manger mode - press and hold the option key after the powerup tone - and then selected the external drive as the bootup disk
removed the drive from the caddy and installed into the MBP

I'm not sure the third step is really necessary.

This all resulted in a Macbook Pro running Yosemite with all my wife's data/apps/etc in place with little fuss - my original goal :-)

(If anyone else is following this procedure, a reminder to effectively backup your data before starting! In my case that meant using Carbon Copy Cloner to an external drive.)


Alfred searching through directories and filenames at the same time

One of Alfred's example workflows is Dynamic File Search. Here you enter the keyword or press a hotkey, then enter the folder, then the file. In the images, I've used the default keyword activation of ‘ff’, however you can set up a keyboard shortcut to go directly to dynamic file search. Once a folder is found, press enter to start searching for files within.

To activate this workflow, open Alfred Preferences → Workflows, click the + at the bottom to add a new workflow and select Examples → Dynamic File Search.


Syncing iPhone 4 for the first time and it's restoring it from another backup

You can restore the device by cancelling the restore of the backup, then selecting Restore iPhone in iTunes. This will reset it to the original state and allow you to set it up without the backup.


iOS VPN will NOT connect on certain WiFi

Most schools have firewalls on their network that prevent VPNs from being used. This is because firewall website filtering can be usually bypassed by using a VPN.

So as you guessed, it is something on the network that’s blocking the VPN.

And just so you know I have not found a way to bypass a VPN blocker or firewall(I am also a student at a school with a similar firewall)


Launch app in foreground doesn't work from cron, but does from terminal

For me on macOS High Sierra, e.g.:

 * * * * * open -a TextWrangler ~/notes.txt; open -a Notes

works as is, both apps come to the front.

Try adding, e.g.:

; osascript -e 'tell app "TextWrangler" to activate' -e 'tell app "Notes" to activate'

to the end of your existing command and see if that makes any difference, e.g.:

* * * * * open -a TextWrangler ~/notes.txt; open -a Notes; osascript -e 'tell app "TextWrangler" to activate' -e 'tell app "Notes" to activate'


What are the implications of deleting all content of /usr/local?

The main issue here is that you use Homebrew.
Homebrew puts its files in /usr/local/ so deleting /usr/local will remove Homebrew
So if you are prepared to reinstall Homebrew then no real issue.
However if you are not installing R and rstan via Homebrew then you will get the same issue again. If you can install them via Homebrew than that is a solution.
Basically if you use Homebrew then do not install other software in /usr/local (e.g. via normal Unix make install) as they confuse each other.
If you have to use software that has to use its own installer to end up in /usr/local then I would suggest another package manager e/g/ Macports or Fink or build your software setting the install directory to be something other than /usr/local


How can I get my Mac to see and transfer files from my android phone?

Android devices require a driver/app install - they will not natively hook up to a Mac.
Google provides Android File Transfer for this task.


Possible to give Finder back focus after opening and closing file (e.g. in editor)?

I don't know of any way to get OS X to behave like Windows in this case, but if the document you open is the only window open in that application, you can quit the app with Cmd+Q instead of just closing the window. If you need to keep the app open after closing the window, you can press Cmd+Tab to quickly return to the Finder once you close the window.


Calculation in Numbers to figure out the date 5 business days from another date

Days and dates are always messy, so whenever possible, one should try to use someone else's hard work. In this case, Apple have done it for us.

Say your date is in B2, example forumla to add five business days:
WORKDAY(B2,5,)

You can read more about its usage and find the other date-related functions available in Apple's Numbers Functions Reference.


Auto Adjust Brightness Secondary External Non-Apple Monitor

I don't know about auto adjustment but the way around is you can creat a sort cut or using this app you can change it if there no hard button or program available for you monitor. Use this app. You can adjust brightness and also set shortcut for it

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/brightness-slider/id456624497?mt=12

Enjoy!


UI Scripting doesn't always work well or that easily.

Try the following example AppleScript code.

tell application "Lingon X"
    activate
    tell application "System Events"
        keystroke 1 using command down
        tell application process "Lingon X"
            tell window 1
                tell splitter group 1
                    click row 1 of group 2 of list 1 of list 1 of scroll area 1 of group 1
                    click checkbox "Enabled"
                    click UI element "Save"
                end tell
            end tell
        end tell
    end tell
    quit
end tell

Note: This ran as coded on my system and took these actions on the first object shown in Lingon X, version 5.1.1 (5110), under macOS 10.12.5. It should work for you too, based on the picture shown in your OP.


Do iWork applications now iOS support versioning?

Version support is not found in iWork it is actually a part of OSX Lion. There is no version support built into iOS. (yet)


Use the "Sound" preference pane to set the default input and output to use the headset and then in Skype and other apps you will also need to go to their preferences and choose the headset there.

I have had to follow the same steps with a USB connected headset.


After much research it turns out it was not the bracket itself. Although I have to tell that the keyboard behaved better after installing the bracket.
I had to replace my trackpad entirely after all so probably something messed up my trackpad or just regular lifecycle (my MBP is 6 years old now...)


Strange message in console about _DirtyJetsamMemoryLimit key

It's harmless. Jetsam is a system that monitors memory use in OSX and iOS. It keeps a list of processes on the device, to monitor for situations where a device is running out of free RAM and look for things to kill to free up RAM. It also watches for processes that are using too much RAM; breaching a "high water mark" level.
This error message is because the code is shared between OSX and iOS but the _DirtyJetsamMemoryLimit key is only available on iOS.
You can read more about Jetsam at the following link.
http://newosxbook.com/articles/MemoryPressure.html
And if you are really interested you can read some of the Jetsam code in the following two files.
http://www.opensource.apple.com/source/xnu/xnu-1456.1.26/bsd/kern/kern_memorystatus.c
http://www.opensource.apple.com/source/xnu/xnu-1456.1.26/bsd/sys/kern_memorystatus.h
Long story short, I don't think this error message necessarily indicates a performance problem. The memory system on iOS is a lot more strict because iOS doesn't have things like swapfiles that allow the system to exceed the physical amount of RAM. OSX has a lot more room to play in.
Anyone can verify that it has no impact on performance by using Activity Monitor and showing all processes in the CPU view. Look at the syslogd line and make sure the CPU time is reasonable compared to other tasks you wish to perform with your Mac.


Does FaceTime on iOS 14 allow you to share your screen?

You need another app. To see which apps are available, you can hold the record button in the control center.


Can't run Apple Hardware Test as Mac crashes

Hardware defects

It is likely that some of the hardware that is needed for the hardware test to run, is defect. My personal experience is that this will most likely be one of your 2 RAM DIMMS. You can safely eject 1 and try the test again (and the same goes for the other).

If you run your hardware test from CD/DVD, you can also do this for your HD, and other components.


What are all the languages supported by Siri as of Apple iOS 7.1? Is there a changelog available?

There is a change log available, you can find it here.
This is what it says about siri:

Siri

Manually control when Siri listens by holding down the home button
while you speak and releasing it when you're done as an alternative
to letting Siri automatically notice when you stop talking
New, more natural sounding male and female voices for Mandarin
Chinese, UK English, Australian English, and Japanese

And the change log you mentioned isn't updated because there was no need for it, I verified on my iPhone running iOS 7.1 and there are no new languages in addition to the list you posted.

On the developer portal there is another change log (here) that shows all changes in different versions.
It is a lot more technical than the "consumer log".


How to install OS using Time Machine backup after hard drive upgrade?

If you haven‘t defined any exclusions in the Time Machine options then your backup drive will contain a full backup including system, apps, and user data.

To restore, you connect the backup drive to your Mac and press cmd-R when starting up. This will start from the Recovery system invisibly contained on the Time Machine disk. You’ll see an assistant window from which you select the first item, “Restore From Time Machine Backup“. Then you can select which of the saved backups you want to restore.

It’s as easy as that. But please make sure you use this mechanism only to restore a system onto the very same Mac you made the backup of. Don’t use it to restore a backup onto a different machine type as it could break your system if build versions don’t match hardware requirements. Should you want to restore a backup onto another system, Apple recommends you to use Migration Assistant (in /Applications/Utilities).


Is there a way to disable incremental search search on a Mac, especially in Preview?

No - spotlight has live searches hard coded into the app.

You have two options:

Work on tuning the system so it's less busy and that the disk IO needed to look up things from the spotlight database are faster.
Paste the entire search string into the search field to avoid incremental updates.