Isn't there a faster way to delete events from the Calendar on my iPhone/iPod-touch?

There is not a faster way to delete events in the Cal app.

in the iOS5 beta, you could quickly delete an event in the day view by holding and dragging up, this feature was removed from the full release. There is a blog post I have dug up here

my personal opinion on this is that it would be easy to delete an even when changing it to one hour earlier by draggin it up.


Two-Step Authentication, iPhone Mail.app, and SMTP

Open up the keychain application and locate the password that it has stored for your gmail account.  Now delete it.

Then retry the process you have, ensure you put in your application specific password, and then ensure you press the checkbox that says to save password to keychain.

Further instructions and Mail.app specific screenshots here.

I believe that mail.app is using an older stored email and this is preventing access.  I am assuming of course that mail.app was working perfectly for you before you started using two step authentication.


How to change USB scheme when making bootable Catalina installer?

This answer first explains the traditional method of using the Disk Utility to solve the OP's problem, which in this case does not work. Next, the alternative method of using the diskutil command is given. This alternate method did work when tested in a VirtualBox virtual machine on a 2013 iMac.
There is no reason the flash drive installer can not use the Master Boot Record Scheme. Your problem is you are trying to install macOS to the flash drive. Normally, you would need to open the Disk Utility after booting to the installer (hold the option key at startup) and erase the internal drive. Afterwards when you return to the point shown in the image, then there should be an icon for the internal drive.
Below is an example of the result after highlighting the internal drive and clicking the Erase button at the top of the Disk Utility main window.

Note: The image below shows the Device for the internal drive is disk0. If your Mac shows a different Device, then make the appropriate substitution when entering the diskutil command given below.

Before clicking on the Erase button, you would need to change the Name and Format. Below is an example.

Selecting the Erase button on the pop window should cause the internal drive to be erased. In this case, nothing happens. The solution is to select Cancel, quit the Disk Utility, open a Terminal window and enter the following command.

Note: Here I have assumed the internal drive is disk0. This should be true unless there are additional external drives attached such as a thunderbolt 3 drive.

disktuil erasedisk apfs "Macintosh HD" gpt disk0

As example is shown below.

When finished, quit the Terminal application. When installing Catalina, you should reach a point where you can choose Macintosh HD, as shown below.

Note: Erasing the internal drive will delete all data stored on it. Be sure to backup your system first!
You could also try using the Disk Utility to add a new volume to the existing container on the internal drive, then choosing to install Catalina to this new volume. This would create a dual boot arrangement that would not erase your existing data.


Will 'Internet Recovery' necessarily erase my hard drive?

No, doing an Internet Recovery will not erase your hard drive (unless you explicitly choose do to that using Disk Utility). It will only reinstall the OS for you. You should get your drive checked to see if it's just data corruption or a deeper hardware issue that has resulted in the question mark folder icon being shown.

Also, this question has been answered on superuser - see "Does Internet Recovery erase everything on my Mac?"


"Print Layout" displaying strangely in Word 15 for Mac

A bit more Googling turned up an answer: https://support.office.com/en-my/article/My-top-margin-is-missing-993773e9-4be6-44ae-b9ab-7e0a5d2b8298

"point to the top or bottom of a page until the pointer becomes a double-pointed arrow, and then double click."


Why does touch -t replace the modification time with the year when I ls?

What you are seeing is the normal and expected behavior.

From the manual page for ls:

  If the modification time of the file is more than 6 months in the past or future, then the year of the last modification is displayed in place of the hour and minute fields.

To see output including month, day, hour, minute, second, and year on files that fall into the category above, use the -T option.

  -T When used with the -l (lowercase letter “ell”) option, display complete time information for the file, including month, day, hour, minute, second, and year.

Example:

ls -lT ABC.script
-rwxrwxrwx  1 timruss  staff    0 Feb 16 07:01:00 2017 ABC.script


Multitail

Install with

brew install multitail


How do I transfer saved data to a new iPhone?

Use iTunes

You can use iTunes to backup the device, then restore the backup to the new iPhone.

Connect your old iPhone to iTunes.
Click File → Devices → Back up.
Once the backup has finished, unplug your old iPhone and plug in the new one.
When asked to set up the iPhone, choose Restore from this backup, and select your backup from the list.

If you don't do it during first set up, go to File → Devices → Restore from Back up.

Use iCloud

Instead of iTunes, you can use iCloud Backup to backup and restore your information.

On your old iPhone, go to Settings → iCloud → Backup & Storage and press Back Up Now.
On your new iPhone, during the setup process, select Restore from iCloud Backup.

If you don't do it during the setup process, you can erase your device through Settings → General → Reset → Erase All Content and Settings, then the setup process will restart.


Run script in automator (without terminal)

You probably installed cliclick in /usr/local/bin which is not part of the search path the Run Shell Script action uses. To overcome this just specify the full path within the action

/usr/local/bin/cliclick w:750 m:2656,1138 w:750 m:2827,1000


TextEdit not responding after zooming in

Excuse me for not providing the answer. I just want to confirm that the issue is really happening.
Today, I had a meeting with my client. I noted important content in TextEditor and I haven't saved it yet. After the meeting, I did several zoom-in and zoom-out. And suddenly, TextEditor became not responding and it has been eating more and more RAM (current is 23.14 GB).
I would thank you a lot if anyone tells me how can I restore/save the currently opening content. If I force killing the process, I think everything will be lost.
Oh my god, Apple. Please don't do this to me! :'(


Unable to boot into recovery mode on El Capitan MacBook Air

You could do Command+Option+R to boot into internet recovery (from Apple servers). Ensure a stable internet connection. You can then run csrutil disable in the terminal.

As far as your recovery partition. If it is truly not working, you can delete the partition, download the latest OS X installer from the App Store and then reinstall OS X (this will not delete your files, think of it just like an OS X update). As part of the OS X reinstall, it will add a fresh new recovery partition.

Hope that helps.


Disabling / Uninstalling iTunes on macOS Mojave

Disable SIP
Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app
Enter in sudo rm -rf /Applications/iTunes.app
Enter your password (it won’t be displayed on screen)


The shortcuts correspond to the order in which they appear on the Favourites Bar, underneath the toolbar. If you add, remove or rearrange mailboxes there, the shortcuts will change accordingly.

If your Favourites Bar isn't currently visible, you can show it using the View > Show Favourites Bar menu.

http://www.cultofmac.com/202280/go-to-favorite-mailboxes-with-keyboard-shortcuts-os-x-tips/


can't select an external editor in photo 11 advanced preferences on a 1mac with OSX 9.3

iPhoto '11: Advanced preferences

  In the Edit Photos pop-up menu (described above), you can make photos
  open in edit view in another application (such as Adobe Photoshop).

  If you choose to edit photos in another application, selecting “Use
  RAW when using external editor” opens the RAW file—not the JPEG or
  TIFF copy iPhoto made when it imported the photo. Important:   If you
  select this option and then edit a RAW photo outside of iPhoto, you’ll
  need to reimport the edited photo into your iPhoto library; with this
  option selected, iPhoto doesn’t automatically save the edited copy in
  your iPhoto library.

  Even if you don’t select this option, you can always export the
  original RAW photo from iPhoto and open it using the editing
  application of your choice.

Selecting the IN application (in your case the DSCF0586) will open new window. Select the appropriate application. Your DSCF0586 will be overwritten.


How does OS X detect a PowerPC application?

Try wrapping the shell script as an app using Platypus. I've packaged multiple perl and bash scripts using the program, all appear as simple applications, with an icon of your choice, none have ever been misidentified as PPC apps.


I strongly suggest you use the package installer or use a full stack of configuration options when compiling, including the --prefix option so you know where the binary gets installed to.

I can only guess PHP 5.4 installed itself into /usr/local/bin or somewhere else and didn't just overwrite the default binary in /usr/bin. And you seem to have not modified your PATH variable to prioritise the bin directory of /usr/local with e.g. PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH" in your .bash_profile. So, it's expected running php will still use /usr/bin/php and not /usr/local/bin/php.

Alternatively, you could just symlink the new php binary to /usr/bin/php, (delete or rename the default binary before that):

ln -s /usr/local/bin/php /usr/bin/php


Why xterm would run only once on XQuartz?

Using Keyboard

After selecting/clicking on Xquartz, you can press command + n to create how many new xterm windows you need.

Using Terminal App

open a terminal app and enter the below command

/usr/X11/bin/xterm

hopes this helps.


Can be iPhone detected in 'Find my iPhone' service after recover?

I assume since it was a month ago that you had iOS 6 on there? If someone found it and wiped it from scratch, your Find My iPhone will not work.

In iOS7, Activation Lock could prevent them from re-activating your phone if they found it, and you might have a chance to find something.


Grapher.app

You might want to take a look at /Application/Utilities/Grapher.app. It is a graphical calculator that can create 2D and 3D shapes.

x2y2z2=42

Here is a starters tutorial that looks fine: http://computers.tutsplus.com/tutorials/getting-started-with-grapher-your-macs-built-in-graph-tool--mac-48440


How does Apple's free apps program work?

Whenever buying anything from Apple in the recent past that came with software, it's been linked to my Apple ID, so perpetually available in the App Store.

Eg. buying a Macbook just as Mountain Lion came out, it shipped without it, but was available for free from the store with it when I logged in with my Apple ID.


Backup to External in Recovery Mode (Terminal or Time Machine)

Whatever you do, leave the faulty disk alone until you know what you are going to do. The risk that the disk breaks entirely any moment now is very high.

This answer assumes you don't have FileVault enabled.

Get an external backup disk that has enough capacity and connect it.
Press cmd+alt+R before the boot screen appears to enter internet recovery mode. This loads the recovery mode from the internet, which will be very slow. The advantage is that there is no stress on the faulty disk.

Method A – If you want to save individual files:

Go to the menu bar and select Terminal.
Copy the files you want to rescue using cp. For instance, if you have a folder rescueme on your desktop, you can use the following command:

cp -r /Volumes/mydisk/Users/myusername/Desktop/rescueme /Volumes/mybackupdisk/
This will copy all files and subfolders of rescueme onto your backup drive called mybackupdisk.

Method B – If you want to make a full backup:

Enter the Disk Utility tool
Select the Disk that you want to back up
In the menu bar select File > New Image > Image from “mydisk”
Select your options. E.g. you may want to compress the image to save some space on the backup disk.
Press Save and wait.

It is likely that some parts of your disk are not readable anymore. Therefore the method B may not work and you should first try to save the most important files manually (i.e. method A).

Method C - if you have another Mac:

Connect the two computers, e.g. with a Thunderbolt cable.
On your broken iMac, press T at the boot screen to enter target disk mode.
Now you can use the Finder to browse the broken disk and copy files.


Restart the App Store app by double-clicking the Home button.

If that doesn't cut it, restart the iPhone and try again.


How to determine what process has opened a network connection?

> lsof -i :58199
COMMAND   PID USER   FD   TYPE             DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
Transmiss 304 Fyodor    8u  IPv4 0x2fbc34fe135e3895      0t0  UDP *:58199

lsof = list open files. See manual for more details.

/usr/sbin/lsof

You can see with "ps -ef" more info about the PID "lsof" gave you.


Mac printing error: paper size unresolvable conflict

An answer I posted on the HP forums http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Mac-Printing-and-Scanning/Trouble-trying-to-set-duplex-printing-as-default/m-p/4541236/highlight/false#M52949

I think I have found an interim solution, however, HP you MUST FIX THIS! This is a terrible way of having to set it up and it definiterly does not encourage me to buy HP products in the future. Please fix this and push a Mac driver update or printer firmware update or whatever is required.

Here is what I had to do but I am not confident that it is going to actually work all of the time :/

The different applications seem to have different key names for each of the individual settings in a printing preset. So a preset made in Safari would not work properly in MS Office. However, if you create a preset in Word it sort of works in Safari. In Word's print dialog, I first set the paper size to scale to "A4 Two sided margins", then selected the two sided print option and saved this as a preset. Here's the weird part; the two-sided checkbox is ticked if I select the preset but if I go into the "show Presets" option that shows the details of the presets, it says that two-sided printing is off! The same weird thing happens in Safari's print dialog. It is because of this contradiction that I don't really trust this solution but it seems to work for now.

HP FIX THIS PLEASE!


OSX connection configuration issue to rack application

The issue was rackup runs on localhost by default. To use host one must specify it with -o like rackup -o 192.168.0.111 -p 5004. Only one host can be specified.


You should only be using one router/firewall.

The problem with using two routers is you set up a double NAT scenario.  What is basically happening is that you forward one port from the edge router (the one from your ISP) to the internal router (Airport) which then has to port forward again.

For instance, using ssh port 22 as an example, you would have to forward port 22 on the ISP router to the Airport which then needs to forward port 22 to the host that's accepting the incoming connection (like your Mac).

Can things work in the above scenario?  Sure, but it adds several layers of complexity.

What you should do is one of the following:

Disable the firewall on the Airport and let the edge router handle all of the port forwarding
Disable the firewall on the edge router (turn it into a gateway) and use the firewall services on the Airport

You should also avoid the use of a DMZ.  This is an exposed area of your network that allows all connections/ports to pass.  It's analogous to the front porch of a house - it's part of the house but nothing is secured behind the front door.


Does Apple refund prorated cost to people who cancel their personal storage plan to join family plan before end of billing period?

According to Apple:

  If a family member is already paying for their own iCloud storage plan, they can choose to switch to your plan or keep their own and still remain part of the family. When they switch to the shared family plan, they get a refund for the remainder of their personal plan. They can't keep their current plan and use the shared family plan at the same time.


On your iPad go to settings. From settings go to Display and Brightness. Go to the page on the right and move to bottom of page. There you will see View. Tap on that header and you'll get a page called Display Zoom. Select if you want Standard or Zoomed display. After checking Zoomed hit the set button. You may have to restart ipad. This increases size of the displayed items but i don't know if its 20% or not. There may be other ways to fine tune this but I don't know how.


During Install: unexpected Arabic text in Elevated Permissions Dialog … why?

Mixed localizations like this have been reported fairly frequently in Mountain Lion, Arabic being the most common.  Normally it can be fixed by just going to system preferences/language & text/language and using the Edit button to remove Arabic.

Having only British English on that list may be risky, because the OS has no British English localization, so something else has to be used.  Try adding back at least English and perhaps some other languages and then restarting.  Or even adding back English and Arabic and then restarting and then remove Arabic and restart.


On my iOS version (12.1.4) there is an option to disable Screen Time notifications in the standard Notification Settings.
Make sure:

You're on the latest iOS version, to update go to Settings -> Software Update.

Screen time is turned on

You're accessing the notifications in the right place (Settings -> Notifications)


How To Identify Process From A Toolbar Icon or Window?

You can use Accessibility Inspector bundled with Xcode. Then select the element and press ⌘CMD+F7 to lock the element. Then Select AXApplication in "Hierarchy" and then Go To Element button. There under the accessibilityTitle You'll have the name of the application.

Here's the screenshot where You can find 1Keyboard app selected.


Tried to install boot camp and now can’t get into my Mac OS hard drive

The partition information for macOS appears to be stored in the MBR partition table. You will need to manually copy the values from this table to a newly created GUID Partition Table (GPT).

Boot to Internet Recovery mode.
Open a Terminal application window.
Use command below to printout the values in the MBR table.

fdisk /dev/disk0

Use the gpt command to create a GPT with the partition entries.

I would give more detailed instructions, but I would first need to see the output from fdisk.


How to use external monitor with MacBook Air closed and on battery power?

You can. All you need is an app such as NoSleep.


UK spelling dictionary - teach OS X *all* -ize spellings

I found a good-enough fix for this.

I copied the Oxford English dictionary -ize words from here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Spelling/Words_ending_with_%22-ise%22_or_%22-ize%22

and pasted them into

/Users/danbrowne/Library/Spelling/LocalDictionary

This seems like a fairly comprehensive list. Anything which is missing I can add by hand.

One remaining issue: Apple doesn't seem to be able to intelligently conjugate these words, but using copy-paste on the list (ize -> izes, izing, ized, etc.) sorted that out.


How can I share apps and music purchased on one apple ID between 7 devices?

Maybe you have authorized Macs you no longer have.

Go to your account in iTunes, under Apple ID Overview you can see how many computers you have authorized and (once a year) you can deauthorize all, after that you should be able to reauthorize your Macs. (This does not affect iOS devices, as they do not count towards your 5 devices limit)


How to load a LaunchAgent always as root?

LaunchAgents are always run by the user that logs in, and therefore don't obtain root privileges.

/Library/LaunchDaemons are run by root and therefore gain root privileges when they are run. Place your .plist here instead and it will run as root, however it won't be run when the user logs in, as it's run by root not the user that is logging in.


looking at buy MacBook that needs OS installed

Really, DON'T.

The Mac O/S is licensed to be used with a big dongle that prevents it being installed elsewhere. That dongle is called "A Macintosh."

Yeah, wipe the drive before selling. that is what they call "A Good Idea."

Just remember that a Mac with no O/S on it is a Mac that you can't really run basic diagnostics on:

Does it have the hard disk and RAM capacities as indicated?
Does everything work? (EG all the ports, WiFi, monitor, etc.)

So why didn't they at least reinstall from the media that came with the Mac. or from newer ones, install from the COMMAND-R, internet restore? It doesn't take long. And failing to do that makes me think (correct or not) that they may be trying to hid a problem.

Yeah you can bring an O/S install DVD with you and do some basic checking. or even TechTool Pro and sit there for an hour while it does a comprehensive check on all the hardware.

But really, when someone is selling you a Mac with no O/S installed, just say no.


Changing the Country & Region with Gift Card

The answer is, YES you can using a gift card bought in that country. Though you have to use a real address of that country for the process to finish.


Have you tried resetting the SMC (System Management Controller)?

With charger plugged in, hold Shift-Control-Option on the left side of the keyboard, then press the Power.

  The LED on MagSafe power adapters might change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.

  Indicators that your SMC might need to be reset

  The computer fans run at high speed, though the computer is not experiencing heavy usage and is properly ventilated.
  The keyboard backlight behaves incorrectly on Mac computers that have this feature.
  The status indicator light (SIL) behaves incorrectly on Mac computers that have this feature.
  Battery indicator lights, if present, behave incorrectly on Mac notebooks that have a non-removable battery.
  The display backlight doesn't respond correctly to ambient light changes on Mac computers that have this feature.
  The computer doesn't respond to the power button when pressed.
  A Mac notebook computer doesn't respond properly when you close or open the lid.
  The computer sleeps or shuts down unexpectedly.
  The battery doesn't charge properly.
  The MagSafe power adapter LED doesn't indicate the correct activity.
  The computer is performing unusually slowly, though it isn't experiencing abnormally high CPU utilization.
  Application icons may bounce in the Dock for an extended amount of time when opened.
  Applications may not function correctly, or they may stop responding after being opened.
  A computer that supports target display mode does not switch into or out of target display mode as expected, or it switches into or out of target display mode at unexpected times.
  The illumination around the I/O ports on a Mac Pro (Late 2013) does not activate when you move the computer.

Source: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201295


Writing to an NTFS volume is disabled on 10.9.2?

I updated my guide - turns out the issue is that osxfuse is just needed with ntfs-3g - fuse4x has to be removed.

http://coolestguidesontheplanet.com/how-to-write-to-a-ntfs-drive-from-os-x-mavericks/


Changing the default keyboard shortcuts in iTerm2

Just tested this in Yosemite. If you re-map the keyboard shortcut for "Close" in the System > Keyboard > Shortcuts, then that changes the ⌘+W behavior.

See:


Update from OS X Lion 10.7.5 to macOS Mojave 10.14

Refer to this macOS upgrade instructions webpage, (currently it refers to macOS Mojave):

macOS - How to Upgrade

  Upgrading from OS X Snow Leopard or Lion

  If you’re running Snow Leopard (10.6.8) or Lion (10.7) and your Mac supports macOS Mojave, you will need to upgrade to El Capitan (10.11) first. Click here for instructions.


iPhone Configuration Software/Application for Windows or Mac OS X

You can manage and configure your iPhone using the free app "Apple Configurator 2" from the macOS App Store.

You can read more about it on Apple's support page:

https://support.apple.com/da-dk/apple-configurator

It won't necessarily allow you to change icon names, though, as they're generally not configurable.


First you need a script. There are countless ways to script things, based on individual skills and knowledge of AppleScript or other languages. For simplicity, let's use automator.

You will want to use the Watch Me Do action to show Automator how to trigger the menu item to lock the screen.

I made this a service, since I like to use FastScripts for something like this. Launchbar will find your service as the top hit if you name it LockScreen as I did in this example when saving from Automator.

(You can make an Application and store it in Apps, but services seem more light weight to me and perhaps a little faster...)

To start, click the record button at the top. Once the screen locks and you get back in, do edit down the action - you can get rid of the "ScreenSaverEngine" task if recorded you getting back in before you stopped the "recording"

I moved the Playback speed to the max. I also told automator that this service receives "no input" just under the record button.

Here is what you should have after saving your new service. Pay attention to the requirements of the Watch Me Do action in the lower left if you have any problems with training your mac to sing itself a short lullaby.


How to make sure an iPhone 7 has not been tampered with before purchase

Buy your device from a reputable company.
(Apple, BestBuy, AT&T, etc)
That's the only surefire way you are going to know that the phone (or device) you just shelled the equivalent of a half a rent check for a non-ocean view 600 sq. ft. studio in Miami Beach is of the highest quality, reliability and most importantly authenticity.
As always, the old adage always holds true:  If it's too good to be true, it probably is.
Now, the iPhone 7 has been out less than a month since being released and you are buying one through the secondary market, you should be wary.  There may be nothing wrong with it, but given that carriers and major retailers give you 15 days to return for a full refund...you have to wonder why they are selling it already.


Avoid default fullscreen (no header, no dock)

I don't think there is any way to change the default behaviour, but you can return to the older Maximise functionality by  Opt ⌥   clicking the green dot.
This will not always fill the entire screen, but has the old switchable behaviour that you might be used to, first click enlarges, second click returns to last state.
This older functionality is still also available in the Dock prefs - Double-click a window's title bar to… zoom
This is the same as  Opt ⌥  green dot.
If you do want to completely fill the screen without being actually 'fullscreen' then  Opt ⌥  double-clicking any corner of the window, when you see the diagonal arrows appear on hover,  will expand to completely fill the screen - but it will not return on a second click & will also sometimes 'forget' the last size if you  Opt ⌥   click the green dot afterwards.


launchd: Confusion on semantics of bootstrap and bootout etc. after reading manual pages

LaunchAgents are basically  the same as LaunchDaemons, except that:

LaunchAgents runs only after the user Logs in, process runs on the Logged in UID (User ID) with the logged user privileges. Process can interact with the logged user via GUI.
LaunchDaemons runs on boot time, before the GUI is up, during the progress bar on the boot screen. It run as root, there is no need to have any logged user, run in pure background (like windows system services, or Linux rc.d daemons), it cannot interact with any user on the GUI. [This is basically for system services, but you can have your own service] (personally I have a launchDaemon that downloads and update my /etc/hosts file blocking some malicious URLs, it is a bash script I created as a service)

/Library/LaunchAgents/  - (For all users) [load after any user logs in]

~/Library/LaunchAgents/  - (for a SPECIFIC user) [load after he/she logs in]

--
To load means 'run the service', you load it on memory. But it may not run exactly on load time, if your internal plist setting sets for example a timer to run, after X hours.

Eg:
I create my custom daemon /Library/LaunchDaemons/local.updateHosts.plist

I will load it:

sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/local.updateHosts.plist

'Load' must point to the path/to/file.plist

**you may have to kickstart it after loading, this way it will be executed, finish, and wait for the next execution time (if it is a timed service like mine)*

Since it is on LaunchDaemon, it is a system service.

[a brief pause here about launchctl]

Because to continue we need to understand the MacOS process execution architecture:

MacOS Bootstraps domains, sessions and namespaces

Additionally to BSD process contexts [ UID ], MacOS has the Mach bootstrap process contexts, called namespaces.

A namespace is like a 'place' or grouping, where various process runs.

Bootstrap namespaces are arranged hierarchically. There is a System global namespace, below it we have a per-user namespace (non GUI), and below it we have a per-session GUI namespace [created by the WindowServer when the user logs in via GUI] .

Hierarchically, each lower level can access all their upper-levels namespace services (their parents services processes)

----
    System_Namespace
         Per-User_Namespace
             Per-Session_Namespace(GUI WindowServer)
----

Technically the GUI per-session namespace is
called 'Aqua' Session by Apple's API docs.

The hierarchy above shows the System Domain, the User Domain and the Session Domain (which belongs to the user, each user has its own)

An expanded view with 2 logged users is below:

``

//   System_Namespace [System]
//      |
//      ------ PerUSER_Namespace [Background] [user 501]
//      |      |
//      |      ----- PerSESSION_Namespace [Aqua] (MacOS GUI WindowServer) [user 501]
//      |
//      |
//      ------ PerUSER_Namespace [Background] [user 502]
//             |
//             ----- PerSESSION_Namespace [Aqua] (MacOS GUI WindowServer) [user 502]
// ----
//

``

This is exactly the root of the security architecture of the MacOS, it is called the Mach Layer, that works in conjunction with the BSD Layer (which takes care about user file permissions and other linux/bsd/unix permissions).

MacOS has 2 distinct security mechanisms integrated and working together: the Unix + the Mach security mechanisms.

Continuing about launchctl, when you are about to create a daemon/service you have to choose where it will run, which domain, and which context.

First, lets print the system domain services, this will list all launchdaemons, loaded or not, enabled and disabled one.

sudo launchctl print system/

Now, lets print the user domain services: (considering userid 501, you can find other users id numbers with the command:  id username

sudo launchctl print user/501

Note: Catalina also accepts the syntax: sudo launchctl print user/admin <- username

You can also query a PID, and check under which domain and namespace it is running:

sudo launchctl print pid/784 (considering 784 is the PID of Finder for example)

> $ sudo launchctl print pid/758
com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.pid.Finder.758 = {
    type = process
    handle = 758
    active count = 91
    on-demand count = 1
    service count = 90
    active service count = 2
    activity ratio = 0.02
    originator = /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app
    creator = Finder.758
    creator euid = 503
    uniqueid = 758
    external activation count = 0
    security context = {
        uid = 503
        asid = 100008
    }

    bringup time = 20 ms
    death port = 0x52a63

    in-progress bootstraps = 0
    pended requests = 0
    pending requests = {
    }
    subdomains = {
    }
    pending attachments = {
    }

    task-special ports = {
             0x3fc73 4       bootstrap  com.apple.xpc.launchd.user.domain.503.100008.Aqua
             0x15f03 9          access  com.apple.taskgated
    }

Under Security Context:

uid = 503 -> process is running for user id 503
asid = 100008 -> process is running on GUI session 100008

com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.pid.Finder.758
com.apple.xpc.launchd.user.domain.503.100008.Aqua

Means:

Finder, which has PID 758
was created by launchd,
under the user domain,
for user 503,
which is running a graphical interface with session ID 100008.

Now you can choose and control domain, namespaces and user for your daemon.

bootout means stop a service that is running, for ex:

sudo launchctl bootout system/com.apple.netbiosd

This stops the netbios daemon.

__
Lets go back to that service we created with this command:

sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/local.updateHosts.plist

load is the unique parameter that you pass the full path of the .plist file, all other launchctl commands works via reference from domain hierarchy!

So to print our service is: sudo launchctl print system/local.updateHosts
you dont't use the extension .plist, and the reference is system/process.name

The process name is what you define inside the .plist file under key Label:

        <key>Label</key>
        <string>local.updateHosts</string>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>

The bootstrap parameter is to force load your service while choosing which domain or namespace you want to make it run, ex:

sudo launchctl bootstrap user/503 /Library/LaunchDaemons/local.updateHosts.plist`

/Library/LaunchDaemons/local.updateHosts.plist: Service cannot load in requested session

The command above returned error because my service .plist only allow my service to run as a system service, otherwise it would have been started for user 503.

bootstrap let you start any service or XPC service bundle under other domains/namespaces. Basically you choose a service AND a target for it to run.

Additional sintaxes:

sudo launchctl start system/local.updateHosts

sudo launchctl stop system/local.updateHosts

sudo launchctl unload system/local.updateHosts

sudo launchctl kickstart system/local.updateHosts

If you want to go ultra-deep on this topic, I suggest this excelent documentation from Apple, it is very technical and very detailed:

https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Darwin/Conceptual/KernelProgramming/contexts/contexts.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30000905-CH212-BEHJDFCA


How do I succeed setting sublime text 3 as a default text editor on Yosemite?

The best results with setting default applications I have achieved with a little tool called RCDefaultApp.

It installs as a preference pane in System Preferences. Open System Preferences > Default Apps and change all the applicable extensions and/or UTIs to Sublime Text.


MacBook Pro printing fails with an Epson printer

Have you tried sharing the printer from the G4 box? This could be a case where the older system is running a set of printer drivers which work well with the printer, but the newer system has either those specific drivers removed, or they just don't work correctly.

To do this, on your G4 box, go to System Preferences > Printer, and select the printer you are trying to do. In there, there should be a checkbox that says "Share this Printer". Once you have done that, you should be able to see it in your print dialogs through Bonjour.

See if that helps.


AppleScript and Numbers: How do I add a row?

Instead of:

tell table "WorkoutDB" of sheet "WorkoutSheet"

Use:

tell table "WorkoutDB" of sheet "WorkoutSheet" of document 1

This way Numbers know which document to communicate with.


Macbook Pro (mid-2012) battery not identified (shows X) after SSD install

Based on what you’ve described, it sounds like you may have accidentally damaged something internal during your upgrade. Since Apple Hardware Test didn’t turn up anything, ordering a replacement battery is a reasonable next step. If that doesn’t work, then there must be damage to the logic board. You can get tested replacement boards for around $200 or so on eBay.


Document displayed at the top of the Finder window

I suspect you are dropping documents on the Finder toolbar without realizing it.

A document, a folder, an application, any item can be dropped on the toolbar to act as a shortcut, a navigation aid, an alias to a Finder view. Perfect place for a Trash button. Hold down Control and click on the toolbar to see choices about what appears, as well as Customize Toolbar.

To remove an item from the toolbar, press Command while dragging it off. Poof.

Or should I say, Boom.


Dual monitor on Macbook Pro Retina: difference between 13 and 15 inches?

HT5219 Thunderbolt ports and displays: Frequently asked questions (FAQ) says the 13" Retina Macbook Pro will happily run with two Thunderbolt displays.

Although I have not used it first hand, I would not expect you to have performance issues running the two extra displays. The main retina display is actually drawing 4 times as many pixels as the external displays, and then scaling the image down, so a Thunderbolt display is not going to make much of a difference.

As to the scrolling performance, I believe that was fixed in a software update


Search for files that begin with some letters and the search need to be non-recursive

The find command in mac OS is quite expressive, despite the fact that Apple still ships a 2011 vintage. man find will provide a list of all the arguments and options. There are some examples near the end of the man page.
N.B. this requires use of the Command Line Interface (CLI), so open/start/launch Terminal.app (it's located in the Utilities folder in Launchpad). If you're mac OS version is Catalina, you'll be using zsh by default; otherwise your shell will be bash. That's largely irrelevant to the answer here, but just so you know...
I'll try to get you started based on some details in your question:

I don't need to search recursively into sub-folders.

Use the maxdepth option to limit your recursion depth; -maxdepth 1 doesn't go below the specified folder. You can go deeper by increasing maxdepth beyond 1.

want to search for files or folders that begin with the word "abc"

Use the -name option (or a regular expression) to filter the results; in this case, -name "abc*", or if you wish the filter to be case-*insensitive* use -iname "abc*".
The type option allows you to filter your results by type; e.g. filter regular files with f, or directories with d. If you want files or directories, you may omit this option.
Assuming the folder of interest is /Users/YourName/YourData, the command to use is as follows:
find /Users/YourName/YourData -iname "abc*" -maxdepth 1

Let us know if you have questions.

Some References:

BSD man page for find

Know Your Tools: Linux (GNU) vs. Mac (BSD) Command Line Utilities


Can you add Tags to pre-installed apps on macOS Catalina?

No you can’t add tags to the pre-installed apps.  However you can right click the app in Finder and choose the option to "Make Alias" and you can add a tag to the alias file.


Xcode cannot run using the selected device?

This doesn't seem to be a problem with your version of Xcode/iOS/OS X, but rather that you have not provisioned your device. You need to add your provisioning profile to the device to allow you to test apps on it. Newer versions of Xcode will do this for you, but you can still do it with older versions yourself in the Member Center.


Is there a known reason why the filesystem in iOS is case-sensitive?

HFS+ originally ran on System 8 and System 9 and is case-insensitive. Apple developed the HFSX case sensitive file system around 2002-2003 as a replacement for UFS which was used by NextSTEP and could also be used by OS X.

In the transition from System 9 to OS X, Apple offered Carbon API's so that vendors could easily port their products without completely re-writing their applications. Carbon does not offer case sensitivity. For many years major vendors used Carbon code in their products, so HFS+ was left as the default file system.

iOS has transitioned to APFS but TimeMachine uses HFSX.


Record non-retina display in 1080p or more

Your problem doesn't have a solution.

Upscaling will never provide more information than is already in the original image. It would merely increase the data load for anyone wanting to watch it, with an actual decrease in the image quality.


Corporate alternatives to DropBox for iPad

A search on the iTunes store for SMB file browsers finds something called - ahem - FileBrowser that sounds like what you need. Haven't tried it myself - although thinking about it something like this might be a help in my workflow. Did I just cost myself $3 by answering a question?

It's at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/filebrowser-access-files-on/id364738545?mt=8


What would happen if I deleted AdSheet.app and iAdOptOut.app (iOS)

If you deleted those apps, you would only not be able to get ads provided by Apple's AdSheet API. Apple doesn't support this API anymore, so it would only affect a very limited number of old(er) apps.


Modify Expose button on my macbook for another shortcut?

You could also change it to a normal F-key with FunctionFlip.

If anyone else is looking for a way to change it with KeyRemap4MacBook, just create a private.xml like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
<item>
<name>test</name>
<identifier>test</identifier>
<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::EXPOSE_ALL, KeyCode::F19</autogen>
</item>
</root>

The keycode constants are defined in src/bridge/generator/keycode/data. The test folder has a checkbox.xml with all the predefined mappings.


Mac os not showing after install windows 10 with boot camp

The Boot Camp software for certain model Macs can be upgraded after being installed. This upgrade will allow Windows to choose a macOS operating systems stored in a APFS container as the default to boot. The upgrade can be performed by running Apple Software Update while booted to Windows.


Just use the Keyboard pane of System Preferences.

Click "Modifier Keys", and set "Caps Lock" to "No Action".

n.b. This setting can be different if you have more than one keyboard.


Can I modify the "move" calories for a pasta day?

If you move your time zones, you can extend “today” day to be longer at the expense of losing time “tomorrow”.
I take my fitness very seriously and I am obsessed with closing all the 3 rings for 5-6 days in a week and also with the awards. I challenge myself every month. This month I pushed myself a little harder and decided to aim for perfect month award. On March 30th, I was unable to close my move ring just by 1 calorie.
But I did something that worked to close my move ring for previous day. In my opinion this works only for people living in the eastern time zone. And can be done for only 1 previous day.
I went to settings on my phone, changed my time zone from New York to San Diego. Voila!! I gained additional 3 hours for the day, I closed my move ring with that one calorie I needed the most to get my perfect month award.
But you need to wait until 00:00 AM to change back your time zone. I tried to change back my time zone immediately after closing the ring but my watch got confused. So, I left my watch on charging and changed my time zone the next morning.
Yay!! I got my first perfect month award.
I seriously will not suggest anyone to do this on a regular basis. We need to be true to ourselves to achieve our goals. I was desperate for the perfect month award, I worked hard all month long for it and did not want to lose it by just 1 calorie.


Installing pyqt5 with homebrew just for python2

Ugh, of course after trying to fix this for ages, I find the problem 5 min after posting this question!

For anyone else who runs into this:

The problem was that I didn't have sip, which is a requirement, and sip automatically installs for both versions of python too, and so it was sip trying to install python3. sip has its own version of --without-python, but that didn't get passed to it from the pyqt5 install.

tl;dr - install sip separately first:

brew install sip --without-python
brew install pyqt5 --without-python


Resize Mac Partition is Disabled - how to partition properly

Apple's tools won't shrink the Bootcamp partition, so you have several options:

get a third party tool to back up Bootcamp and/or shrink it outright
install OS X on an external drive and run it there (basically punt)

There's a slight chance you have a siruation that could be remedied from he command line. Post the diskutil list details that Disk Utility doesn't show by default. Also, can you lose no data on Windows side? If you could delete that partition the side Mac could resize without any data loss.

See:

Unable to increase partition size with subsequent blocking partition
OS X Partition not resizable
Resizing dual boot partitions in Yosemite


Edit contents of file from Finder with text editor

The "foo.bar can't be opened because it is from an unidentified developer" error is because of Gatekeeper. You can disable Gatekeeper from System Preferences:

Selecting "Always Open With" from the "Open With > Other..." dialog only changes the default application for the selected files. You can change the default application for all files of a type from a Show Info window:

You can add a context menu item for opening files in TextEdit by creating a service like this with Automator:

If you have the Powerpack for Alfred 2, you can also create a workflow like this:

You can use duti to make TextEdit the default application for plain text files without an extension and executable scripts. Install Homebrew, run brew install duti, save

com.apple.TextEdit public.plain-text all
com.apple.TextEdit public.unix-executable all

as ~/.duti, and then run /usr/local/bin/duti ~/.duti.


Permanently remove sidebar that pops up every time I open a tab in Safari

Open a new tab, then go to View → Hide Sidebar ⇧⌘L.
The sidebar will be hidden on new tab pages until you show it again.


Can an iOS device be backed up to Google Drive?

I wouldn't call Google Drive an iCloud competitor. Google Drive (like Dropbox) is your hard drive on the Internet. Meaning you can see, and manipulate your files.

iCloud is a bit different, for starter, it's an Apple-centric service, you can backup your iOS devices, store your music (but only access it with iTunes), store your (iCloud) mail, calendar, reminders and contacts, and let apps store settings on it.

But you can't access it directly like you would do with Dropbox or Google Drive.

So I would say that you will not be able to use Google Drive to back up your iOS devices as easily as you would do with iCloud.


iPad "Not Charging" with 3m USB-dock-connector cable

I know Apple's answer - 'our cable works, there is no problem'.

IN SUMMARY - you either need to use Apple's own cables or the decent quality PC World versions or Asda or something, that are not really cheap but are two thirds the price of Apple, or half or something.

Really cheap clone cables will NOT work.  Can't explain it, but know it is fact.  My guess, they are not soldered properly inside the lightning end, and ipad depends on quality of connection being really good, maybe?  Any money, not all the connector bits on the lightning are connected physically to the other end.  ie it gets complicated.

Explanation follows:

I have found that Apples' own cable supplied (lightning) tends to kink near the ipad end, and horribly shorts out resulting in two main issues: a - ipad reboots or similar alarming thing b - it doesn't charge c- the charger that is on the plug gets very hot indeed, but the give-away is that unlike when charging the ipad properly, the back of the ipad where the battery/charging components are, remains completely cool to the touch.

So, it's the difference with your 3m cable to Apple's one.  I have bought several 'clone' cables AND NONE OF THEM WORK.  Short or long, makes no difference.  I keep them in a bag marked 'cheap useless aftermarket cables'. If you go to PC World or somewhere similar that sells cables for over a tenner apiece, they'll probably work.

If the cable costs 2.50 gbp ir probably WON't work, that's my experience.

You don't reveal where you bought the non-apple cable?  ASDA and places like PC World, their cables will work even non-apple ones.  Others might not.

Last, the earthing (ground) thing.  Generally, for signal-level power, only one end of the ground cable is earthed.  I know the house-wiring norm is for all of them to be tied together - so I guess it depends which way Apple leaned on this one.  Lightning adaptor of course, reconfigures uses of each contact, so which one is ground may not even stay the same?


How to close a new mail without Mail.app becoming active?

When I click on the mail notification, it opens the email in a viewing window, but it's also switching you to the Mail application. When you close that window, the main viewer probably comes up because its the only other window that's open in Mail. You can't have a mail viewer window open and be on top of Safari windows, while still being in Safari. (Safari for example)

But that said, if you keep your regular mail viewer window closed when you're not directly using it, it won't pop up in front of your work when you close the viewer window. You'll still be in Mail.app at this point, but your work should still be right on your screen so the first click you do will bring that app back to the front, whatever app it is.


Trying to install fonts to Font Book (Mac) using the Terminal

/System/Library/Fonts is restricted with System Integrity Protection, since this folder is intended purely for macOS built-in first-party fonts.

Instead, choose one of the following locations depending on your intentions:

/Library/Fonts to apply to every user, existing and newly created.
~/Library/Fonts to apply to the current user.
/Library/User Template/Non_localized/Library/Fonts to apply to new users.


Where does the notification sound come from in OS X?

I seems that I use filters in GMail to skip inbox, and the sound is actually come from Mail.app. As a result, no new mail arrives to the Inbox of Mail.app, but to the Archive of the Mail.app.

In the preference of Mail.app, one option is to choose "Inbox Only" for "New message notifications". But it seems that this option will not mute the new messages sound when new message arrive to other mailbox, only skip the notification alert that shows up in the upper right corner of the screen.


You just need to uncheck one or both of it under Document. See the image below.


As of Safari 8, favicons no longer show up on the tab bar, to my disappointment.

One solution is to use SafariStand & EasySIMBL. Once installed (see instructions on the SafariStand site), open the SafariStand settings and check "Show Icon on Tab Bar". This will return favicons to the tabs.


Stop making iPhone constantly change sound volume on its own?

Update: See @Andreas' answer below - iOS 14.4 addresses this issue by allowing the user to specify what kind of device are they listening to. The loud volume notification features still cannot be turned off, but with the right settings, the notification will no longer lower volume automatically. I am currently on iOS 14.4 with iPhone 8 Plus in EU region and I can confirm that I can set my BT devices as external speakers or car stereos, so that they do not have their volume lowered.
-- Original answer:
In addition to @grg's response it is worth noting that this feature doesn't work properly at least in following circumstances:

You are using your phone in a car, where bluetooth car radio is registering itself to the iPhone as bluetooth headphones.
You are using non-Apple headphones.
You are using home appliances, such as external bluetooth speakers, which register to the iPhone as bluetooth headphones.
You have a hearing disability and need to set high listening volume in order to hear anything. You currently have no way to listen to music (or anything, actually), since iPhone will automatically lower the volume.

In these cases, iPhone will determine you are listening to music too loud and will turn the volume down. This cannot be turned off. The screen in your Sound & Haptics setting screen explicitly states these notifications cannot be turned off. This feature was introduced as part of iOS 14, but the inability to turn it off was introduced in iOS 14.2.
I can confirm the above scenarios from my own experience with JBL external speaker and bluetooth receiver I use in my car.
Some users and articles claim that this feature is based on legal requirement in EU and elsewhere. I reside in EU and I was only able to find EU recommendation on hearing protection in mobile devices. I couldn't, however, find any regulation that would make it mandatory for phones to have mandatory automatic volume controllers that can't be turned off. Follow-up discussion is available at Apple forums. This change has arguably created massive amounts of e-waste, since every BT gadget from AliExpress that allows you to use bluetooth in your car has been rendered useless, as well as many, if not most, external speakers and sound appliances on the market currently.
I have no idea why anyone is defending this or why anyone would think I am too incompetent do decide for myself how loud I should listen to music. It's totally broken, not mandatory and dumb idea to begin with even if it worked flawlessly.
Other helpful opinions on how this broken feature affects people's lives:

User with experience in concert industry explains how this affects ability to reproduce music with DAC converters and provides evidence that it is not the loud music but screaming people that damage people's hearing at concerts.
User that drives motor bike explains how iPhone automatically lowers his volume when listening to traffic information and navigation, which introduces hazardous situations with potentially fatal accidents when people need to stop focusing on the road and start fiddling with their phones while driving.


Can a Verizon iPad (4th Gen) be used on AT&T GSM/HSPA+?

Yes, you can. It's unlocked, and you can move to any carrier you wish to. Of course, if you're planning to move off of Verizon, you would have to consider the terms dictated by your contract with Verizon.

Read more on Are iPad Models Unlocked? - iPad Q&A (from EveryiPad.com). Here's a relevant quote:

  However, both of the iPad 4th Gen models with cellular data capability are sold "unlocked" and are capable of running on any compatible network.

Also, a footnote Apple's LTE page states (with emphasis here):

  2. To identify your iPad model number, see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5452. iPad models are unlocked and may support LTE networks outside the country of purchase when using a valid SIM from a supported carrier. Contact your carrier for more details.


How to update Dock preview to Applications folder after hiding apps with chflags

I tested it and doing killall Dock in Terminal.app does the job.

  This specific killall command will essentially restart Dock and therefore the Applications folder preview gets updated as well.

Alternatively you can open /Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor.app search for Dock, select it and click the X in the top left corner of the window.


Can I run an AppleScript upon my 3G modem connecting?

Try ControlPlane. It lets you trigger various events, including launching scripts, based on various system events, including what networks you're connected to. I'm not 100% sure if it will read any network interfaces, or just the default ones, but it's free and probably worth a look.


Help in understanding a command line search of all sqlite files on os x device

There are details in man pages for those arguments.
From man mdfind:

-0          Prints an ASCII NUL character after each result path.  This is useful when used in conjunction with xargs -0.

From man xargs:

-0      Change xargs to expect NUL (``\0'') characters as separators, instead of spaces and newlines.  This is expected to be used in concert with the -print0 function in find(1).

From man stat:

-f format
Display information using the specified format.  See the FORMATS section for a description of valid formats.

z       The size of file in bytes.

N       Displays the name of file.

From man sort:

-n, --numeric-sort, --sort=numeric
Sort fields numerically by arithmetic value.  Fields are supposed to have optional blanks in the beginning, an optional minus sign, zero or more digits (including decimal point and possible thou-
sand separators).

-r, --reverse
Sort in reverse order.

From man head:

head [-n count | -c bytes] [file ...] This filter displays the first count lines or bytes of each of the specified files

So to break it down:

mdfind finds all .sqlite files and appends NUL char to each line
xargs displays the results in format NUMBER_OF_BYTES FILE_PATH
sort sorts the results by NUMBER_OF_BYTES descending
head displays top 20 results


Do Thunderbolt to Display Port cables exist?

There can be no such thing.

Thunderbolt is an active technology, Display Port is passive.
Adding the required circuitry to one end of such a cable would be pointless - it needs both ends to work.

Edit: Now I read your question again…

You have a Thunderbolt machine & a Display Port monitor…

That's Thunderbolt to Display Port not Display Port to Thunderbolt.

In which case DP to DP would be sufficient; the Thunderbolt circuitry would simply be inactive if you used Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt.
Display Port & mini-DP are the same thing, but different sizes.


Yes.

Move your mouse curser to the left/right edge of the launch bar. Then you can increase the width.
Use ctrl+⇧+←/→ to change the width in pre-defined increments.


Is there an iphone app to check if the brightness of your computer monitor is too bright?

I'm not sure this is exactly what you're looking for, they can be pretty expensive, but apps made for professional designers and photographers can do this.  DisplayMate and  Datacolor Spyder5Elite are two often cited products.

On the free side, there's several dozen that use the iPhone camera, including LuxCamera, Luxi, and LightMeter Free, to measure light.  Although, YMMV with these free apps, they should be able to give you a semi-decent reading.

I use a free application named f.lux to automatically adjust the 'blue' light emitted by my monitor.  It works great and I would strongly recommend it.


OS X Server 3.0 (Mavericks) Wiki / WebSites / Xcode

Resolution:

Remove /xcode and /wiki from Websites -> Server Website -> Index Files


How to setup a Mac (Mini 2015) without a monitor (or mouse or keyboard)?

I contacted the Apple Support Hotline and got the expected answer: setting up a Mac Mini without an external monitor is not possible (unless you happen to know and correctly perform the exact order of keystrokes necessary to complete the setup with an attached keyboard).

This actually got me thinking: What if I could attach a pre-programmed keyboard that delivers the required input timed appropriately to the required wait-times, etc and generate a universal "Mac setup adapter"? I could imagine the "Teensyduino" being the prefect fit for this job. Unfortunately, though, I don't have one of those lying around at the moment, but it would be worth considering if one really had to do a larger scale setup of such machines.

Solution: In contrast to my initial concerns about using Target Disk Mode, apparently people have previously had success installing OS X onto another computer in this way. There are two different approaches here:

We can try to re-install OS X (onto the Mac Mini in TDM from the MBP), which in my view is not a very good solution.
We can run the initial setup only by booting into the Mac Mini OS X partition from the MBP (by starting the Mac Mini in TDM).

The secondary option appeals to me, but either solution does require a Thunderbolt (or FireWire) cable. The process would look something like this:

Shut down MBP and Mac Mini.
Start Mac Mini in TDM and connect the cable to the MBP.
Start the MBP while holding the OPTION key to select the Mac Mini hard drive as the boot partition.
Complete the initial setup and activate any remote access features you want.


My iPad Mini isn't responding to the magnets in the cover; any fix?

Go to Settings > General and if "Lock / Unlock" is off, turn it on. If it's on, turn it off, then back on and then restart your iPad by holding the home button and lock button together until you see an Apple logo appear. Don't worry, it won't effect any content on your iPad, but it might be necessary to fix your problem.


No, iostat gets it's information from the OS, not from the hardware.
You could use smartctl - see this answer


The default location for iPhone Backups is:

$HOME/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup

If the Macintosh HD doesn't have adequate free space and or adequate free space cannot easily be made available at the default location, then the following can be used as a workaround.

First, if the iPhone is showing in iTunes eject it, then close iTunes.

If you have existing backups at the default location you can first copy the existing Backup folder to a new location on a different drive/partition/volume that has adequate free space.

Once you've copied the Backup folder to a new location you can either delete the original or rename it, e.g.: Backup.old. This needs to be done to allow for the creation of a symbolic link to the new location of the MobileSync Backup folder and the symlinks name also needs to be "Backup".

To create the symbolic link, it Terminal, use the following command line example while changing the path to what's appropriate for your use.

ln -s /Volumes/<Your External HDD>/MobileSync/Backup ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/Backup

With the symbolic link created you can now open iTunes, connect the iPhone and perform a backup.


How do I hide Terminal windows using AppleScript?

You could minimize each window as it's created, although you'll see each window as it minimizes to the Dock, or you could hide each window as it's created. The latter of which would require additional code as some point to unhide the window.

To minimize the window:

tell application "Terminal"
    do script ""
    set miniaturized of window 1 to true
end tell

To hide the window:

tell application "Terminal"
    do script ""
    set visible of window 1 to false
end tell

To uhide the window:

tell application "Terminal" to set visible of every window to true


Make iOS App Store search stop “helping”

I tried a webmaster tool search term site:https://abc.com for cookie app. Found the app for Mac, https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cookie/id1473091386?mt=12. Went to its developer page via the link at the bottom: https://cookieapp.com

Even if this is not the app you're looking for, it's good to have some idea about the developer to find an app quickly. One can look at google play store; chances are that it exists there, if it is on iOS App Store.

"Advanced" App Store search
How to search better in App Store
https://apps.apple.com/in/genre/ios-productivity/id6007

You can try Ghostery, Adguard, and Firefox focus and even private mode for some tracking protection.
Also, you can frequently delete website data in settings > Safari > advanced > website data. You would have to log in again, your history remains fine.


Change Apple ID on iPad without losing data

The "phenomenon" you experience has something to do with the actual apps your customer has on their iOS device. Those apps are purchased or downloaded by a person, which is not your customer and therefore using those apps would technically be against the EULA of the iTunes/App Store.

In order to rectify this, you want to do the following:

Sign out of the other unknown person's iTunes/App Store account and sign in again using your customer's Apple ID.
Delete the custom apps*) downloaded by that stranger and, if needed, re-download/purchase them with the correct account of your customer.
Also worth checking is to sign out of iCloud (if it is used by that other person as well) as long as "Find My iPad" is not activated as well. If it is, you will need to have a proof of purchase (second hand purchases will not be accepted to my knowledge) and contact Apple to have it removed.

*) IMPORTANT: Deleting an app will also delete its user contents, which are stored for it on the device itself (like documents or login credentials). Remote data (e.g. information on Facebook) are not affected.

Once all this has been done, your nightmare will be at an end.


What's a good solution for a couple extra hours on an 11" MacBook Air?

I am able to actively use my MacBook Air for around 7-8 hours. It is just a basic advice but it works fine for me:

Lower the screen brightness - it's relatively easy to control brightness on MacBook (F1 or F2).
Lower the backlit of the keyboard or, as your son is using his laptop in school during the day, it even makes sense to fully turn off the backlit (F5 or F6).
When the battery is getting to 25-30% I would quit all the cloud based apps like DropBox, OneDrive or iCloud. In Dropbox you can just pause syncing, which is a really handy feature.
Quit all the unnecessary apps. For example if in the class kids had a need to use MS Word and in the next class they don't need to use it, then show your son how to quit programs what he's not using.

I'm not sure if this will give MacBook Air battery two extra hours of life, but I would say from an hour to hour and a half.

One more thing would be somewhat reasonable usage of the battery. Meaning not leaving laptop to charge for hours when the battery is full and vice versa draining the battery all the way to 0% and then start charging it. Li-ion batteries don't like to be fully drained. Charging the battery with the mentioned above mindset could help it live longer.


Graphics tablet used to work without a third-party driver. How to reenable this?

First, try adding the software you are using with the Tablet to Accessibility. Next, try to determine what is the default driver used by Catalina for your Tablet, and add that too (if possible) to Accessibility.
While this issue is most probably due to architectural changes in Catalina, try disabling "System Integrity Protection" (SIP) and see if it works:

Go into Recovery Mode by restarting your computer and holding down the Command+R keys until the Apple logo appears on your screen.
Click Utilities -> Terminal.
In the Terminal window, type in csrutil disable and press Enter.
Restart your Mac.

Be sure to enable it again after you are done testing, following the same steps as above but using the command csrutil enable, once you are done testing.
You can use Activity Monitor to detect if high CPU is happening when you are using the Tablet.
(Otherwise, inform the manufacturer of the tablet that you can't test what they are asking you to do because of macOS Catalina. You shouldn't need to jump through hoops for something they should be doing to ensure the product works as described on macOS, i.e. they should be the one testing the products thoroughly for mac.)


saving contacts on iPhone 6 without bringing documents and data

Go to Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive and turn it off.
If you only want contacts you can turn off everything else you don't need there as well (Photos, Mail, etc.)


I restored my Logitech settings from a backup and the problem went away.

Something must have gotten corrupted.

I have an M720 Triathlon Multi-device Mouse and a K780 Multi-device keyboard.


Why does my iTunes 11 won't work on os x lion 10.7?

If you're still seeing this problem, try downloading the standalone iTunes installer here. Run it, reboot for good measure, and see if that helps.


Getting loads of Open error 5's when using Terminal to repair permissions

I found a (quite easy) way to recover the contents of my HDD.

1) I got myself the MBP from my nephew.
2) Connected it with a FireWire cable to mine.
3) Booted our MBP up in Target Disk Mode (press 'T' when booting up)
4) Our MBP then behaved like any external storage device and the files could copied off just like that.

In that way i got all the important files, photos, and projects of the lady. Hopefully this can help people in the future if they are having similar issues.


I Bought a Game from the iPhone App Store, and I Installed it on my Macbook from the Mac App Store?

App Store on iPhone or in iTunes is specific to iOS. If you are buying an application from there will run on iOS devices only, not on OS X. Similarly Mac App Store is exclusive for OS X apps. You cannot buy an app from App Store on iPhone and transfer it to Mac App Store. Both apps are incompatible with each other.

In your case, you bought the apps separately for your iPhone and MBP.


How can I map buttons on my PS3 controller to keystrokes on my Mac?

Yeah there's an application called "ControllerMate" that you can get here http://www.orderedbytes.com/controllermate/ . You pair the controller to the mac with USB (I think Bluetooth will work too but you might have to look up special instructions), then use this app to bind the controller functions to keys and mouse movements. It works really well. I used to use it to play things like Portal because they don't natively support the PS3 controller.


Switch to Target Display Mode without keyboard

I found a way to do it with an old, white apple keyboard, haven't tested with others but it might work.

I used a tool called Karabiner from https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/. When you install it, enable following options to get Command + F2 to work:

F1..F12 to Functional Keys (Brightness Adjust, Music Control, etc)
- F1,F2 to Brightness Adjust
--- F1 to Brightness Down
--- F2 to Brightness Up

After enabling this option, hit Command + F2 having previously connected your macbook using thunderbolt cable. If you're lucky you'll have a new external display working!


Is it possible to use Safari Technology Preview for handoff from iPhone?

This is indeed possible, but only if Safari Technology Preview is your default browser as set in System Preferences → General. If you use a different browser, then the Handoff will always use the original Safari.


Can Preview on Mountain Lion make animated pictures from a sequence of PNG?

If you hold down alt/option when you click the format dropdown in the export menu, you can still select GIF in Mountain Lion. Once you have done this, you can continue with the normal animated gif creation process:

Save your image as a GIF
Show the sidebar
Drag additional frames on top of the thumbnail


Boot Camp Partition Broken after Partitioning and can't be Repaired in OS X 10.9.5 (on Macbook 13" Air - Late 2014)

Did you make a bootable Windows installer USB key?

That one item would be key (no pun intended) you should be able to boot from the USB key. Then you should see the current partitioning. Hopefully your Mac and Windows partitions are still there. If not you are likely out of luck. You should be able to continue through this and boot into the Windows installer. Once you have gotten past the language and keyboard selection you should be given an option to install or repair Windows. Select repair.

If you do not still have the installation media you may want to create it again. I assume the Mac side is till working or you have access to a Mac. Just run the Boot Camp.app and when it asks for a Windows ISO point it to your Windows 7 installer, the one you used before, and let it do its thing.


How do I arrange my download folder as "Recently downloaded"?

Wait until Lion's release and then you could sort by "date added"

http://www.apple.com/macosx/whats-new/features.html#finder


How to restore ability to see server-stored mail drafts under "All Drafts" section of Favorites in MacOS Mail.app

The problem turned out to be that I had mistakenly turned on a filter for the "All Drafts" favorite folder and didn't realize it. Disabling the filter solved the problem. Sorry!


Pages: How do I change the column size in the footer?

@Matthieu Riegler is correct.

The portion will automatically resize to fit.  Simply type in or paste your text.  See screenshot below:

As noted in the comments, this only works when there is no content in the other columns. not quite what the OP had in mind.


The instructions you quote tell you exactly what the issue is

When you type make you will be prompted to install Xcode. You can also install Xcode by typing the terminal command xcode-select --install
If your compilation fails with an Xlib not found error, install XQuartz to get X11 headers under /opt/X11, and then type:

CPPFLAGS=-I/opt/X11/include
make ARCH=macosx


Moving Messages History from Macbook to iPad Mini

Follow these steps to back up and restore Messages (and other app data) from one iPhone to another:
1. Connect the old iPhone to a power source and turn on Wi-Fi.
2. On the old iPhone - assuming you're running iOS 8 or later - tap Settings > iCloud > Backup. The Backup switch is near the bottom of the large group of controls. (On iOS 7 or earlier, you should tap Settings > iCloud > Storage & Backup.)
3. Make sure iCloud Backup is turned on.

Tap Back Up Now, and wait for the backup process to complete. You'll need to remain connected to Wi-Fi for the entirety of this process.
Turn on your new iPhone. If you haven't done so already, you'll need to go through the setup process. When asked, tap Restore from iCloud Backup and Next. If you've already been through the setup process, you'll need to reset your iPhone. Tap on Settings > General > Reset and > Erase All Content and Settings.
Enter your Apple ID and Password.


iOS 9 Removing Camera Access From Lock Screen

It's looking like you cannot suppress the photo icon from the lock screen and iOS 9 has no difference in behavior from iOS 8 (so this really looks like a duplicate question to me since iOS 5 in fact...) unless you disable the camera entirely - lock screen or not using a MDM profile or restriction in the settings app.

Removing camera button on iPhone lock screen

The only countermeasure to that malicious behavior would be to not let the camera participate in iCloud photo stream so that once the camera had filled up the storage on the phone, the phone storage would be filled.

Bulk deleting images is something that's easy with a Mac and the Image Capture app.

In my opinion, this is a bug, and Apple should allow a restriction to prevent use of the camera from the lock screen. You could cut off the camera entirely using restrictions or an MDM profile, but that would prevent all use of the camera and not just from the locked state.

I would reach out to iCloud support and explain the data loss - they can point you to the upload restrictions and possibly tune them using your actual bad experience with Photo Stream.


MacPorts has several pre-configured gcc packages (from 4.2 to 4.6). Just install MacPorts and run

sudo port install gcc46


How to increase the font size of 3 finger tap lookup results?

You can change it by modifying the /Library/Dictionaries/YourDefaultDictionary/Contents/DefaultStyle.css file.

You must change the part related to the html.apple_client-panel.

Open the file with TextEdit or any other editor.
Look for html.apple_client-panel body.

There you'll find this:

html.apple_client-panel body {
font-family:'Baskerville';
font-size: 14px;

This is the definition's font size.

If you want to change the size of all the fonts, you'll have to play around with the rest of the html.apple_client-panel related stuff.

When modifying the file, you'll be prompted to duplicate the document, as it is protected. Change it, save it, change (if necessary) its file format to .css, and just replace it inside the dictionary's package. This will require admin privileges, of course.

Note: Make sure you're editing the DefaultStyle.css file inside your defaults Dictionary package. Remember, too, to reopen the Application were you're testing this, or the changes won't be noticeable.


I'm assuming when you say "Lock" you mean that the screensaver kicks in so that you are prompted for a password.

I use an app called Amphetamine (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amphetamine/id937984704?l=en&mt=12). It will make sure your Mac stays awake, but still allow it to start the screensaver (ie locking it). This way, any network activity continues (downloads, streaming, etc.), but your Mac is password protected.


You can fix the "permission denied" problem using this command: sudo chown -R $USER:admin /usr/local

The easiest way to install encfs is using "brew install encfs". This will install all the dependencies (gettext ✔, boost ✔, rlog ✔, osxfuse) automatically.

Follow the instructions on this website to correctly install encfs on Mac.


Optimization notice after installing Yosemite

It's updating the Spotlight index.
There's nothing to do, just let it happen.


How can I BATCH CONVERT Live iPhone images that have been imported to iPhoto as .m4v files to still .jpg images in MacBook OSX?

I see two possible options for you: Using the Photos app or Image Capture.

Photos app

The newer Photos app (that replaces iPhoto) was released as part of the OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 update. As you seem to be running Mac OS X Yosemite, presumably you have it installed on your system (by default in the Applications folder).

If you import your live photos into the Photos app and then select them (not sure I would select all 1000+ at once), you can go to File > Export and it will export the JPEG versions of the selected photos.

As an aside, if you Option-drag an image into the Finder or go to File > Export > Export Unmodified Original, then both the unmodified JPEG and the associated MOV files are exported.

Image Capture

Another possibility is to just use Image Capture (also by default in the Applications folder):

Launch Image Capture
Connect your iPhone via USB
Select your iPhone
Choose Live Photos images
Import the images

Both the JPEG and MOV files for each image should copy across to your MacBook.


Streaming a movie to my iPhone 3GS through ITunes

With iOS 4.3 you can enable home sharing while you are in the same wifi network. First make sure home sharing is running in iTunes. Then on your iPhone go to Settings - iPod, and then enter your home sharing account info.

Then, when you go to the iPod app, you can select the shared library.

As long as these videos are encoded the correct way, they should play through home sharing by streaming to your phone. I have tried this with music and movies on my iPhone and iPad.


Automator script to click button on web page generates “The operation couldn’t be completed." error

do JavaScript is for Safari. execute javascript is for Google Chrome, e.g.:
tell application "Google Chrome" to tell active tab of front window to ¬
    execute javascript "document.getElementsByClassName('magnifier')[0].click();"

That said, where you have it placed in the script may not be where you really want it.
Here is some example AppleScript code run in Script Editor with Google Chrome opened with at least one window.
It waits for the target URL to finish loading before clicking the magnifying glass and then sets the active tab back to the original active tab.
set input to {"桿"}

set searchString to input as text

set AppleScript's text item delimiters to space
set searchString to text items of searchString
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
set searchString to searchString as text

tell application "Google Chrome"
    tell front window
        set curTabIndex to active tab index
        set URL of (make new tab) to ¬
            "https://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/dictionary.php?searchMode=C&word=" & ¬
            searchString
        repeat until (loading of active tab is false)
            delay 1
        end repeat
        tell active tab to execute javascript ¬
            "document.getElementsByClassName('magnifier')[0].click();"
        delay 0.5
        set active tab index to curTabIndex
    end tell
end tell

Update to address comment.
The same conditions mentioned above applies to this example AppleScript code:
set input to {"桿"}

set searchString to input as text

set AppleScript's text item delimiters to space
set searchString to text items of searchString
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
set searchString to searchString as text

tell application "Google Chrome"
    tell front window
        set curTabIndex to active tab index
        set URL of (make new tab) to ¬
            "https://www.yellowbridge.com/chinese/dictionary.php?searchMode=C&word=" & ¬
            searchString
        set active tab index to curTabIndex
        repeat until (loading of last tab is false)
            delay 1
        end repeat
        tell last tab to execute javascript ¬
            "document.getElementsByClassName('magnifier')[0].click();"
    end tell
end tell

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


How do I set the default file permissions for GUI apps in Lion?

I think you have done what you could; the umask really is 077. When programs create files or directories via the mkdir system call, they specify a mode. The file or directory ends up with a mode which is the specified mode, but with any 1 bits from the umask cleared. So in all likelihood, the GUI programs create their directories with a specified mode 755, and if so, there is no change of the umask that will help. (If all GUI programs do this, it is probably because they all use the same library to create the directories they want to exist.)


How can I delete song from both playlist and iTunes library?

Simple…

 Alt ⌥  Right Click & you get the option to Delete added to the context menu

Alternatively - press  Cmd ⌘   +  Alt ⌥   + ← backspace
see Deleting songs on computer from an iTunes playlist


Change default fullscreen new window behavior

I have a similar use case. The workaround that I follow is to swipe back to any of the Desktop, right click on the Dock icon of the app in question and select New Window command. It involves taking a bit of a trouble to switch Space and not being able to use keyboard shortcut but serves the purpose.

The new, standalone window is created on the Desktop and it doesn't automatically go full-screen. The Space switching is required as the Dock doesn't appear in full-screen mode.

Switch to any of the open Desktop.

Right click on Dock icon to select New window command.


Mavericks Dock icons have become corrupted. Is there a cache to flush or a database to rebuild?

In case you don't want to use some "cache cleaner app" then just try doing it manually from the terminal with these three commands followed by a reboot:

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

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

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

or

Alternatively a single boot into Safe Mode once could/should clear out some caches.

Worked For Me™ in Sierra (10.12)


Quicktime Mov with Left Stereo into Mono/Dual Stereo

I use ffmpegX a lot for transcoding video files from one format to another, there is an option to set audio channels to Mono see the docs.


How to map the Command key to a "Windows" keyboard?

Remapping a Windows keyboard so that the key positions match a standard Mac keyboard is pretty easy.

Just open Keyboard Preferences, and click the Modifier Keys… button in the Keyboard tab.

This lets you change the behaviour of the keys on each attached keyboard (make sure you select your external one from the top drop-down menu).

To turn the Windows standard Ctrl⊞WinAlt configuration to the Mac standard controloptioncommand ⌘, just change the Option and Command drop downs so they have the opposite entries (i.e. Option performs Command and Command performs Option).

If you want to change the physical keys, most of the premium mechanical keyboards use Cherry switches that have interchangeable key caps. You can get Mac specific modifier key sets from places like DAS Keyboard and WASD Keyboards. If you want to go nuts, you can even get a fully customized key cap set in a style similar to Apple's keyboards, as this guy did (looks pretty nice IMO, but I'm sure it's costly).


When vim starts, it reads these two files from your home folder:

.vimrc, a configuration file that contains initialization commands
.viminfo, a history file that contains, among others, string and pattern search information

vim may become unresponsive if any of these two files are very large or contain corrupt entries.
To prevent vim from reading them, either:

Rename them:
 cd ~
 mv .vimrc .vimrc.bak
 mv .viminfo .viminfo.bak

where ~ is shorthand for your home folder.
(Ignore any No such file or directory errors, it just means the file doesn't exist.)

and start vim as usual:
 vim

or, alternatively, start vim as follows:
vim -u NONE -i NONE

where the -u NONE option tells vim not to read ~/.vimrc and -i NONE achieves the same result for ~/.viminfo.
If vim starts normally, you can rename back one file at a time to find the culprit and delete it.
If you want to find out more about the differences between .vimrc and .viminfo, see this answer. For information on the use of ~, see the Bash or Zsh manual.


Messages app on iPhone do not play alert/vibrate for SMS received from some numbers

iOS 12 and macOS Mojave introduced a feature called Secure Code AutoFill which lets you conveniently fill the security code/OTP in the active text field when one is received via SMS.

If you use a Mac which is linked with the same Apple ID as your iPhone, and you have enabled Text Message Forwarding under Settings app → Messages, the secure code/OTP generally send by your bank can be easily entered in the appropriate field with a simple mouse click.

You can read about the feature in the linked article:

How to Use Secure Code AutoFill in iOS 12 and macOS Mojave

  If you've enabled Text Message Forwarding on your iPhone, you can use the Secure Code AutoFill feature in macOS Mojave, too. The code should appear in Safari as an AutoFill option in the relevant field as soon as the SMS is delivered to Messages on your Mac.

  iOS and macOS use local data detector heuristics to work out whether an incoming message carries a security code, and Apple says the Security Code AutoFill feature does not alter the security of this two-factor authentication method.

If you have such a setup, your iPhone doesn't play any sound or vibrate for the received message, and the SMS is automatically marked as read on your iPhone.


Why are switches grayed out in the iPhones Settings app with iOS 8.3?

Looks like it's restricted —someone activated parental controls on your device.

Go to Settings > General > Restrictions and scroll down until you see the Cellular data item, you can deactivate it there (given you know the passcode).

On iOS 13, restrictions have been moved under Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions


Admin in Terminal, logged on Family's session

Host mapping - "JSAM modifies the hosts file if you choose Automatic host-mapping under Users > User Roles > Role > SAM > Options > Java SAM Options" (from here). Which is apparently running on the server side. If you are managing the server, try disabling host mapping unless you need it. At the very least, disable it temporarily and see if everything else works as expected. (If you can do everything you need without host mapping, then leave it turned off.)

Looks like if hosts file modification is enabled, the client needs to run as admin or root (see here) and should be prompting you for the admin password for your account on launch. If your local account does not have administrative permissions, then it would not be able to modify the hosts file. You'd need to log in as an administrator, not a user.

You haven't made it clear whether Terminal output is from your local machine or the remote one.


fsck_hfs keeps returning "The volume was modified"

Your disk is failing.

To answer your questions - yes, it attempts to rescue the data and mark the bad blocks so they won't be used in the future and no, there is no command to fix bad blocks.  Bad blocks are physical problems on the storage media.

The -S option, per the man page (man fsck_hfs):

  Cause fsck_hfs to scan the entire device looking for I/O errors.  It
  will attempt to map the blocks with errors to names, similar to the
  -B option.

(emphasis mine)

When you run fsck_hfs, it attempts to repair the file system - there's no guarantee that it fixes it.

In a previous post, I referenced that the hard drive in the iMac generally has a 3 year warranty (2 years after 2012) so basically, you're about 4 to 5 years into a drive expected to last about 3.  Chances are, it's failing.

I suggest replacing the drive.


Does MacOS "load-balance" TCP when more than one interface is available?

No, macOS assigns one route to a network. You’ll need to set up link aggregation which does extremely effective splitting if you can’t have a router that selects egress efficiently and you route all your traffic to that router.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_aggregation


Have you tried using this as a different user? If that works fine, you may have a corrupted plist file.

If you don't have too many custom settings, try reinstalling TextMate. It is important that you remove the corresponding plist file from ~/Library/Preferences/ before reinstalling.


Plug device into Mac. Open Image Capture (in the Applications folder), select device in sidebar. Check the option at the bottom that says "delete on import" then import all files to the selected folder or program.

I used to do this manually, only deleting older photos, but with the iCloud Photo Stream, you will always have the last 1000 pictures available, so there's no reason not to just delete all after import.

You may end up with duplicate photos. There are several tools you can use to resolve dupes. Personally, I dump all imported photos into a specific directory, then run a dupe resolver, then add the new images into my photo management programs. (Not an iPhoto user because it doesn't sync well between Macs. Don't know if it has any in-built dupe resolution. YMMV.)


Change default screenshot format for iPhone 6 Plus running iOS 8?

It is currently not possible to change the format of screenshots from PNG, however there are many ways to change image using a PC.

As for your second question, this is only possible by jailbreaking your iOS device and installing SSCapture.


Right shift key on Lion suddenly doing very strange things

Alright, just 'fixed' it. It's caused by that plastic divider on the Magic Wand! I guess the way it's holding the trackpad with the keyboard causes it. I've removed the plastic and moved the trackpad and keyboard in contact with each other. No more problem!


Is it possible to run iOS on a non-iOS device?

Theoretically? Sure, but it'd be a challenge, and I don't think anyone's done it.

However, you can sort of get it running on a Mac if you have Xcode: Xcode menu > Open Developer Tool > iOS Simulator. This will load a simulator for the iPhone with Photos, Contacts, Settings, Game Center, Maps, Newsstand, Passbook, and Safari. No way to install apps (other than making them yourself in Xcode).


The plastic connector is probably broken given that they were, as you describe, ripped from the connector.  There are very tiny detente molded into the connector and these are probably broken meaning the wire will no longer be secure.  This can lead to intermittent connection problems.

Spend the few dollars and get a new fan; it’s extremely inexpensive.


Why does my finder window not allow for re-sizing?

In Finder, type Cmd-G.
Go to ~/Library/Preferences.
Move com.apple.finder.plist to Trash.
Log out and back in.

That should resolve the issue. If not put the plist file back in it's original place (deleting the new one the system generated.

If that still doesn't work, create a test user account. Login to that and test it there. If the issue persists in this test account, you will need to reinstall the operating system most likely.


One way to maximize the ease of changing the spellcheck language is to use an app which allows you to synchronize the keyboard layout and the spellcheck dictionary.  I think both Nisus Writer and Mellel have this feature.


It's probably not just 1 file. Other just means it doesn't fit in any of the other categories.

See this answer for more info: How can I figure out what's slowly eating my HD space?


External drives [in fact any drive other than the current boot volume] have zero protection by permission.

It is trivial to Get Info on the volume & set "Ignore ownership on this volume"

The only way to protect data from any potential bad actor in possession of your drive is to encrypt it.


MacBook Pro 2016 (Touch Bar) in “Critical Update” loop

Weird enough I just had this, I unplugged all the USB-C devices and then did a power cycle and it booted fine. I think it's time to build a backup computer.


Parallels 12 - Hypervisor: Parallels or Apple?

This post in Parallels Forum clearly states to use Parallels Hypervisor:

Hi, Apple hypervisor comes short of the following matters comparing to the Parallels hypervisor:

Performance: slower on VM startup and shutdown

Stability: may crash more frequently

Functionality loss: no PMU, nested virtualization, thermal monitoring, energy profiling

Parallels Hypervisor is the best one.

By PaulChris@Parallels, a Parallels Support person.


Aggravating IPhone problem, apps when downloaded on one phone go to all phones

Try this on your sister's iPod /parent's iPhones.

Go to Settings -> Stores
Disable Automatic Downloads


A good (and inexpensive) images manager for Mac?

Well, you could try some sort of "anything bucket" like DevonThink or Yojimbo, as those should be pretty capable of handling the search and metadata parts, but I think those might be tad bit overkill if you only want to use it for images.

I am not sure how powerful the image managing part is, as I mostly use the conversion and editing tools, but GraphicConverter has some image managing parts built into it and might be worth a try:

http://www.lemkesoft.com/content/188/graphicconverter.html

As I said, it mostly is a conversion and light editing tool, but since it is an old-school shareware program, you can try it out for free to see if it suits your taste. In that case, I would recommend trying out both version 6 and 7, as 7 was a complete rewrite and as far as I know has not yet full feature parity with the older version.


Getting Music NOT purchased from iTunes, from an old computer to new computer

There are (at least) two simple ways of achieving this:

Select the songs in iTunes and drag them to a folder in the Finder. Copy said folder to the other computer (via WiFi, external drive, Disk Target Mode, whatever). Drag files out of folder and drop on iTunes.
iTunes Match. For a cost of $25 per year, you can store all your music in iCloud. Whether you bought said music from iTunes, or ripped it from CD, or got it from anywhere. Then you can access it from all your devices - iPhones, iPads, Macs, iPod Touches, AppleTVs - anything that can see iCloud.


Does FileVault 2 also encrypt my free disk space?

Yes, FileVault 2 encrypts the entire drive, including free space and trash.

To securely delete the entire drive, I find this info here:

While Apple removed secure-erase options from the Finder, Terminal commands still exist that can be used. The first is the classic “rm” file removal command, augmented with the “r” flags for recursive deletion of folders, and “P” to implement an overwrite of the removed files:

rm -rP /path/to/file-or-folder

For more thorough secure deletion, you can use the “srm” command (for secure rm) along with similar options to recurse (r), force confirmation (f), and then be verbose to show information about files being removed (v). The second flag (-s) is important for the type of secure erase to perform:

srm -rfv -s /path/to/file-or-folder

In this command, -s will perform a single-pass erase, but you can use -m for a seven-pass erase, or -z for overwriting with zeros. If you do not use this second flag, then the command will perform a 35-pass erase.

Erasing free space on a drive

In some cases, you might want to run an overwrite routine on the free space of a given drive, but unfortunately Apple has also removed options to erase free space in the new version of Disk Utility, which may leave you wondering how to do this. Granted on SSD devices, secure-erase can impact the life span of the drive, but it may still be useful for HDD devices.

To do this in El Capitan, you can again use Terminal commands:

diskutil secureErase freespace LEVEL /Volumes/DRIVENAME

In this command, change LEVEL to a number of 0 through 4, where 0 is a single-pass of zeros, 1 is a single-pass of random numbers, 2 is a 7-pass erase, 3 is a 35-pass erase, and 4 is a 3-pass erase (note all non single-pass options may take a while to complete). Change DRIVENAME to the name of the mounted drive (encase the name in quotes if it contains punctuation or spaces), and then press Enter to run the command.


How can I stop AirPort from waking my Macbook Pro?

You have gotten pretty far and tried several things. Found this gem: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11080 which has a list of things, some of which you have already done.

XHC1 refers to a Bluetooth device that is trying to wake your system but the fact that you are getting a output of "AirPort_Brcm43xx", the AirPort message pointed me to: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4645214?tstart=0

And if you have everything unplugged, BT is off and you have disabled the "Wake for network access" then I have a tendency to think that your OS is corrupted. I would go so far as to say that Power Nap is the service is that causing this but hard to say without for logs and I don't have that much free time! ;)

Unfortunately in the Apple discussion there was no marked answer/solution so if the issue still remains after a reinstall or test OS then you might have a hardware issue. You could also try resetting the SMC (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964) maybe the AirPort/Bluetooth card and MLB need a quick power cycle via the reset.

Hope that helps in some way.


Using Apple Xserve Xeon Nehalem 2.26 "Quad Core" as a regular computer?

Yes just attach a keyboard and display see Apple's Xserver user guide and it is a normal Apple computer. OS X server includes all of normal OS X.

However, it will need to be in a rack and I suspect is noisy and now not that powerful compared with current desktops (and possibly even laptops)