/Volumes/external_drive folder not being removed

It's most likely that some program (probably uTorrent) is configured to access /Volumes/external_drive/. When the disk is ejected, that folder is deleted, but the program is re-creating it (because that's its configured location to store files), thus triggering the problem.

The only solution I know of is to make sure the program (again, probably uTorrent) never runs when the disk is not mounted. Quit the program (and if it has any background processes, shut them down), then eject the disk. And don't restart the program until after you've remounted the disk.


How to reformat/install new SSD on MBP late2010 using OS X Internet Recovery

For anyone in the future viewing this and having simmilar proble this is the solution: Start up the macbook and hold down CMD+R it will start the remote isntall procedure. Then chosoe disk utility from there partition the harddrive as you would normally using "MacOS Extended Journaled" also when you type in the size make sure you click enter or it wont get it. (I had to figure it out the hard way lol) After that click the apply and then partition. Close that window and go back to install os x from the window before. If it doesnt show simply restart and hold down CMD+R


How to connect a Facebook account to Adium?

Facebook updated its chat system, breaking Adium's support. You can still connect to Facebook but you need to setup the account as a Jabber account.

Your username will be Your_Facebook_Username@chat.facebook.com. The server is chat.facebook.com. The port is 5222 and you should not use SSL.


Try disabling / re-enabling Bonjour:

Uncheck Bonjour computers, wait a few seconds, and re-check it. That should clear out the shared computer.


Can iCloud do two-way photo syncing (deletion) between the iPhone and a PC?

As per the requirements and criteria of my question's description:

  The premise ... is that after taking dozens of shots ... and then deleting the ones I don't
  like ... I'm not left with ... photos on the iPhone device
  which I no longer want.

I can answer that NO, Apple does NOT provide a way to two-way sync iPhone device photos. iCloud's two-way syncing between a PC and an iPhone only works for the 'My Photo Stream' folder. What I was looking at on the iPhone, where I was not seeing photos being deleted by PC two-way sync, was the Photos tab in the iOS Photos app - the default view of the Photos app when the user first starts using iOS. This is actually the Camera Roll folder, and there is no way to do two-way sync with these original iPhone images on the device using iCloud (or any other service).

However, to answer the question's (more open) title itself: YES, Apple DOES provide two-way sync between the iPhone and a PC, BUT only for sharing/syncing selected photos from the device (and only for 30 days at that) - NOT for editing, or managing the original set of Photos on your iPhone device. To see the (near simultaneous) two-way sync in action on the iPhone, go to the Albums tab in the Photo app where in the My Photo Stream folder you see as it currently designed. To manage or delete original photos themselves, you will have to manually delete and edit them via non-cloud-syncing methods.


The CLI for keychains is: security.

It lets you do many things such as…

Getting item info:

security find-generic-password -a <item-name>

Getting passwords:

security 2>&1 >/dev/null find-generic-password -ga <item-name>

Read the man page for more info or do security help.


Unable to create a working .app executable using Platypus

I had a similar problem trying to run a Java-based web application server.  For me, the problem turned out to be that my environment variables (in particular, JAVA_HOME) weren't being set, which is because the instance of Bash (or whichever shell you have it use) doesn't start as a login shell OR an interactive shell, so your profile script (e.g. ~/.profile, ~/.bashrc, etc.) doesn't run automatically.

For me, the solution was to add the following to my script:

source ~/.profile

The source command causes the commands in ~/.profile to be executed in the current shell; this way the environment variables being set by that script will be available to the instance of Bash that platypus starts.

Note that it's important that you don't just execute the profile file as a shell script itself; that will cause it to run in its own shell, which will exit immediately afterward; any variables it sets will cease to exist as soon as it exits. This is why we have to use the source command.

As an alternative, you can just set the necessary environment variables directly in your script.

Hope this helps!


Creating iTunes ID using existing Apple ID

When you registered at developer.apple.com, had you Provided credit card information? If you had, the card information which iTunes needed must same as it. Don't worry，if you don't purchase anything, it will not incur any costs.
Actually, you can register an Apple ID without credit card. Go to the App Store, pick a free app to download. And click Creat Apple ID. Now you can Select NONE when it asks you credit card details.


Adium can be good alternative. Lifehacker calls it best IM client for Mac:
http://lifehacker.com/5802325/the-best-instant-messaging-application-for-mac

iChat is buggy, I had same problem and other problems too.


Keyboard shortcuts for "Straighten" in iPhoto?

You can press the S key to activate the straighten tool. And the return key will save any changes. Unfortunately, I am not sure how to control the slider in order to actually make a change using the keyboard.


A full list of security protection systems is available on Apples website here.

It contains the impact of the issue and what is fixed. Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide.


xcodebuild firing after every terminal command

The problem is that the Xcode license hasn't been accepted so when running git it tries to prompt you for accepting the license. For me running

sudo xcodebuild -license accept

fixed the issue


Magnetic timeline in Final Cut Pro X optional?

It's not optional. However, in use, I think you'll adjust and have the same sense of control very quickly. Have a look at the various online tutorials. I found this one exceptionally helpful http://www.izzyvideo.com/final-cut-pro-x-tutorial/ Also spend a little time with it and you'll soon see it's not anything like iMovie.


What is the purpose of "Apply Rules" in mail?

To add a rule in Mail, open Mail preferences (Mail > Preferences… or ⌘+,) and go to the Rules pane.

The Apply Rules function applies to all rules whose "Active" checkbox is ticked.


Problems accessing movies on MacBook Pro via Apple TV

I had the exact same problem as this before. Any number restarts and reboots in any order did not solve the problem.

At the same time I had a DNS issue with the default router setup from my ISP. When I changed my routers DNS to use the Google DNS it also solved my iTunes sharing problems.

I don't know if this is actually what caused it or if it was just a big coincidence but it's been working fine ever since.


Can an app that was removed from the Mac App Store be re-downloaded?

Yes. Most cases the developer will leave the app on the store, but just remove it from being sellable to new owners.

That allows them to submit bug fixes for existing customers, not force them to upgrade, allow them to re-download things - but not have new buyers buying the wrong version (not the latest).

Of course, the developer or Apple can also remove the app entirely - but this is far less common. What is common is when the developer keeps the same name as far as the store is concerned. In this case, you'll want to have a backup that you control to re-install no matter what Apple or the developer chooses.


How to install OSX on NVMe drive only (no SATA drive)

Apparently the downloads you get get off apples website use certificates that have expired. In order to work around this you have to download a "full" OSX install.
I re-downloaded an installer for Mojave using the following command on another mac
softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 10.14.6

Then created a bootable USB drive from this and was able to install successfully


Syncing someone else's iphone to my itunes

Store the contacts in iCloud? And yes, with the new iTunes this should be possible.
You can even download all the apps from their device on your computer.
You just have to confirm with the Apple ID that you want to sync with your computer.


How to recover data from iPhone backup files WITHOUT the info.plist, status.plist, manifest.plist, manifest.mbdb, and manifest.mbdx files?

It depends whether the remaining files you have are from an encrypted backup.

It won't be feasible to read your backup data if you have an encrypted backup with no Info.plist, Status.plist, or Manifest.mbdx files

However, if your backup wasn't encrypted, it will be possible to read that data. You'll find that whilst the filenames are unhelpful (they're SHA-1 hashes of the file's internal path), the file contents easily readable. It's only the filenames that'll be lost.

If you're looking for images, try renaming a bunch of the files to have .JPG extensions, and see whether Windows Explorer or macOS Finder previews them for you.

There are a few approaches for digging into what's there in bulk. You mentioned using iPhone Backup Extractor, and there's a guide on how a use "Bulk Rename Utility" to read backup data when in this situation.


Virtual and native OS systems - Sierra, Mavericks and Windows/Bootcamp?

In my opinion a set-up covering all three scenarios is possible but it requires a lot of work and the whole thing is probably fragile and won't survive upgrades or special updates of either of the partitions.

Parallels Desktop as well as VMware Fusion allow to use the Boot Camp partition as virtual machine without losing the ability to boot to the physical volume. In the past this feature had some hick-ups though (e.g. loosing Windows activation).
Triple boot macOS 10.12/OS X 10.9/Windows should be covered by one of David Anderson's answers. One answer showing the basic approach can be found here: Installing Ubuntu on Mac with macOS and Windows already installed. Install a basic OS X system (Sierra), install Windows with the Boot Camp Assistant. Resize the Sierra partition without touching the Windows partitions, add a partition for Mavericks and install Mavericks (or backup & resize-clone your current Mavericks partition).
At least in VMware Fusion it's possible to boot another OS X partition as VM with a raw disk device - this is the method also used with the virtualized Boot Camp partition but not documented to work with OS X partitions:

Create a basic OS X 10.9 virtual machine without installing anything. Shutdown the VM and quit VMware Fusion. This will create a vmwarevm bundle. Open the package (right click > Show package bundle).

Open Terminal and enter diskutil list. Determine the partition numbers of the EFI, the Mavericks partition and the Mavericks recovery partition (probably disk0s1, disk0s4 and disk0s5). Unmount the Mavericks volume.
Change directory: cd "/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/"
Create a raw disk with the disk number and the partition numbers found in the previous step (the EFI partition is required, the recovery partition probably not):

./vmware-rawdiskCreator create /dev/disk0 1,4,5 ~/Desktop/Virtual\ Disk sata

or without recovery partition

./vmware-rawdiskCreator create /dev/disk0 1,4 ~/Desktop/Virtual\ Disk sata

The command will create two files on your desktop: Virtual Disk-pt.vmdk and Virtual Disk.vmdk
Move the files into the 10.9 vmwarevm bundle (and replace the existing Virtual Disk.vmdk file):

Launch VMware Fusion and configure the OS X 10.9 VM (processors/RAM/network - bridged devices). Launch the VM.

This is tested with a full Mavericks system on an external thumb drive using an El Capitan host and it works. Mavericks and El Capitan both were and still are bootable as real systems.

If your SSD contains one or more CoreStorage Volume Groups it's more complicated. I would revert to the standard OS X partition scheme first.

Recommendation:

Virtualize everything except Sierra because a simple error/user mistake in the set-up outlined above may render all systems unbootable.


The metadata in the filesystem is exposed from mdls but I don’t recall ever seeing exit data being parsed as that is embedded in the binary portion of the file and not stored as filesystem metadata on APFS or HFS.

Go get exif tool as a stand alone download https://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/ or you can use https://brew.sh to get exiftool and script extracting the data you want, subsequently saving it as metadata for mdls or spotlight.

There might be a (un)documented way to parse the database files within Photos, but since those are private, I expect they change from version to version or are going to be some work to extract. Maybe an excellent tool like Power Photos could help there parsing the data from Photos libraries: https://www.fatcatsoftware.com/powerphotos/


You are only allowed to run a Server version of Snow Leopard in a virtual machine.

From Lion you are allowed to run the same guest OS X as the running host OS X - and you are allowed to install a client version of the OS.


Options for Replacing 60w Magsafe Power Supply

No, you cannot just arbitrarily solder the cord from the MagSafe Power Supply on to a generic 60w power supply as the output voltage and amperage need to be matched as well.

That said, since you're having issues where it's connecting to the power supply I have to assume your starting off by wrapping the cord to tight around its ears.  You're not supposed to bend it tight at it base!  Start wrapping it by allowing it to stay sticking straight out from the power supply, as in the picture below, and then start a bend to wrap it around the ears.

My previous MacBook Pro which I had for 7 years I wrapped it as in the picture and never had and issue with it.  I still have the old MBP and power supply and it looks a good as the two year old one in the picture below.


Are man page sections 2 and 3 available in macOS Mojave?

The manpages are installed with the command line tools. When I get a chance, I’ll edit the exact location to install from inside XCode. But, yes, there are manpages for sections 2 and 3, in Mojave.


Problem migrating mailboxes to Mountain Lion

Have you tried doing like this?

Navigate to: Macintosh HD → Users → Your User Folder → Library.
Now you need to copy the Mail folder, as shown below. (Yes, the entire folder.)
You should also copy the preferences file for Mail.app. Here's where you can find it: Macintosh HD → Users → Your User Folder → Library → Preferences. The name of the file is com.apple.mail.plist.
Copy the Mail folder and the preferences file to the Library and Preferences folder. Make sure that the folder and file are in the correct location!

Source:
http://www.macinstruct.com/node/183


Will AirDrop use the data allowance from my phone and wifi modem?

With airdrop it is always a direct connection (usually wifi or a mix of wifi + bluetooth) between the 2 devices. No internet connection is required at all. So you can transfer as much as you like and it will all be local between the devices; "peer to peer" like you say. Your internet quota won't be used at all.


"Send as Text Message" not available on iMessage for one contact only

Create a new message from your iPhone and pick his phone number as the receiver (do not use the existing conversation).
Then when you send him a message the option should become available.

The reason you cannot send your messages as text messages is because he probably messaged you with his email-address as the sender, not his phone number.


How can I set up Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection for Mac to work with the Portuguese keyboard layout?

All you need to do is to select the Portuguese keyboard layout in software on Mac OS X and also select the Portuguese keyboard layout on the Windows 7 computer to which you are connecting.

You can customize the keyboard behavior in the Preferences of Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection for Mac.


You will find in System Preferences a control panel where you can set and control where menus appear etc.

Also, you can set the mirroring options to appear in the menu bar as necessary.

Personally, I would purchase adaptors to go for the HDMI input to the second monitor.


eapolclient process using 30GB of memory?

You have at least three processes running wild:

eapolclient:       probably related to 802.1x protected networks
CCXProcess:   related to Adobe Creative Cloud
CCXLibrary:     related to Adobe Creative Cloud

The last two obviously occur after the update to Creative Cloud 3.4.0.180. A staff member of the Adobe forum advises to update to Creative Cloud 3.4.0.181.

To solve your problem for now try to quit or kill the three processes in Activity Monitor. Then try to quit all other running apps graciously (by quitting them from their menubar), restart the machine and check if it's still the same.

There is some evidence that the Creative Cloud problems are related to corrupted preferences files. You may try to create a dummy user, log-in with your CC credentials and check if the problem persists.


How to use 2009-era Airport Extreme in Bridge Mode Wifi

What you are describing is a WiFi extender. EG extending your Wifi network over WiFi. The basic two things you need to know are:

No this Airport won't do that. I don't believe any will.
WiFi repeaters just (usually) don't work very well.

TheWirecutter.com has a good take on it AND recommendations here http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-wi-fi-extender/.


This is a partial answer

The processors in the current mac pros use Xeon processors e5620 and x5670s with Intel's QuickPath Interconnect

QPI is Intel's implementation of NUMA and takes place fully within the processor just as HyperTransport is AMDs

I would have to admit in not being sure if that takes OSX out of the equation entirely or even mostly.  Modern processor architecture has improved since the original NUMA concept that the original requirement for software support is probably,now, immaterial.


How can I trigger my iPhone's alarm on receipt of an SMS message?

If you mark those people as "VIP's" on your phone, then their text messages will sound even when the Do Not Disturb mode is one.


How does one type circumflexes in El Capitan?

ABC Extended behavior has not changed from that of US Extended, you type circumflex via option 6 and then the base character.  Or the base character then option shift 6.


can not enter setup to receive code to move to ios from android

You need to reset your phone. Go to Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings.

Please note that this will remove everything on the phone.


See this detailed answer for "How to set an icon for a file type on Mac?" on superuser.com.
In this case, you need to update TextEdit's resources and plist to get it to use your custom icon for a file type it does not know about. The LaunchServices database also needs to be updated for the changes to be seen.
Here's a small snippet from that answer (bold emphasis mine):

Icons for file types are handled by Launch Services (the service determining, among other things, which application handles a file type). The file icon is always provided by the application handling opening a file by default. This way, e.g. Preview provides PDF icons by default, and PNG icons, but if you change all PNG files to open using Pixelmator instead, these files get a Pixelmator-style icon afterwards.
What you need to do is add your file type definition to the application that opens it by default, or create your own "dummy" application for the file type.


Will restoring my iphone require me to upgrade versions?

My personal recommendation would be to jailbreak your iPhone and download a Cydia application called iCleaner, which is specifically-intended to free up space on your device by clearing junk files.  It even has the exact option that you seem to be  looking for -- to delete message attachments.  It has multiple options for this -- to delete ALL message attachments, or SMART (which I'm not 100% certain what this does, but you could look into it).  iCleaner is pretty much the equivalent of CCleaner for iOS.

I do know for a fact that all messages and attachments are stored in a SQLite database that requires root access.  Your Messages application only shows the previous [however many] messages from individual contacts, but you can see that you can go back to previous history by scrolling all the way to the top and refreshing (swiping down).  Many people don't realize that  if they keep their messages, they are taking up valuable storage space on their phone, because this includes all attachments (including photos, video, etc.).

The following is only speculation, but my assumption is that iCleaner's SMART option only deletes the old attachments that are not currently visible in your current message history -- the old stuff that is still contained in the database, but which you don't have access to unless you scroll all the way up and refresh (by swiping down) to see older messages.

To answer your specific question, if you have done a full backup to iTunes rather than iCloud, you would be able to restore your phone to exactly that previous state, including iOS version and would avoid having to upgrade.


How can I keep my system clock in sync under Mavericks?

these seem to work ok on my iMac, running Mountain Lion:

  0.pool.ntp.org 1.pool.ntp.org 2.pool.ntp.org 3.pool.ntp.org time.apple.com

simply copy/paste the space-separated line above into the ’Set date and time automatically’ field, in Date & Time preferences. remember to press Enter after typing the ntp server names, so that ntp.conf gets updated.


preview pdf scrolling (also page up/down)

What seems to be happening is that when we used to set Preview in "single page" as the default, a newly-opened document window was exactly the right size, and you could easily up/down arrow through the pages.

However, now it instead opens the document with the page ever-so-slightly too large for the window from side to side, so Preview switches into "Oh, you've zoomed in and you'd like to scroll around this ONE page", and so the arrow keys become the scrolling around that ONE page keys.

Except that since it's vertically the right size, up/down doesn't scroll.  Left/right arrows will, though.

If you slightly enlarge your window (or shrink the page) to include some space all around, you'll see the up and down keys work without the option/alt key.

And this behavior is still screwed up as of 2017-05-29 (OS 10.12.5).


Print the URLs of bookmarks and pages on the reading list:

defaults read ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist|sed -n 's/^ *URLString = "\(.*\)";/\1/p'

Print the URL, title, date added, and preview text for reading list items as CSV:

sudo gem install plist csv;plutil -convert xml1 -o - ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist|ruby -rplist -rcsv -e 'Plist.parse_xml(STDIN.read)["Children"].select{|e|e["Title"]=="com.apple.ReadingList"}[0]["Children"].each{|e|puts [e["URLString"],e["URIDictionary"]["title"],e["ReadingList"]["DateAdded"].strftime("%F %T"),e["ReadingList"]["PreviewText"]].to_csv}'


Save Podcast on iPhone without Downloading

You could mark as unplayed but there doesn't appear to be anything like the heart in Music.


Is there a way to completely reset / regenerate Quick Look preferences (system-wide)?

From the CLI

qlmanage -r will reset the Quick Look cache.


If I have an iPod touch (1st gen) can I install apps?

You can update an ipod touch 1G up to ios 3.1.3.  Finding available apps that work on ios 3.1.3 or earlier can be painstakingly hard using the Apple app store.  An app store app called "VintApps" makes this super easy.

https://www.facebook.com/VintApps313


I've written web-mode.el (available on http://web-mode.org) because I had the same problems as you. This Emacs Major Mode for editing HTML templates (HTML with CSS/JS/PHP/JSP) is autonomous (no other major required) and syntax-highlights and indents according to the block's type.

OP Raving

With nothing more than

(require 'web-mode)

in your .emacs and storing web-mode.el in an accessible location (your home directory will do for a start), the code sample in the question will look like this out-of-the-box.

To get the right indentation

you'll need to use

;; First the (general) requisite initialization.
(package-initialize)

(require 'web-mode)

(eval-after-load "web-mode"
  '(progn
     (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.css\\'" . web-mode))
     (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.html\\'" . web-mode))
     (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.js\\'" . web-mode))

     (setq web-mode-script-padding 2)
     (setq web-mode-style-padding 2)
     (setq web-mode-block-padding 2)
     ))


Does the duplicate appear on your iPhone or within your iCloud account.

Try editing your iPhone contacts directly via this tool for example:

http://www.copytrans.net/iphone-contacts.php

Also, where do you edit the contact entries from which the duplicates result - on your iPhone or within the iCloud. I would assume that if you are editing them on the iPhone, a temporary local copy is created on your iPhone until it is synced back to the iCloud after which the duplicate copy (physically residing on your iPhone) will be gone.


AppleScript: trying to press "w" but getting "wa"

You're telling Applescript to send key down and key code 13.

Just use the following:

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to key code 13'


I am not sure how you doing what you have posted. Also, I question the wisdom in doing so.

I assume you installed rEFInd on your internal drive to be used to boot Kali Linux on a flash drive. You intend to use the flash drive to boot Kali Linux on other machines. How do you know if the other machines have rEFInd? If rEFInd is installed on the other machines, how do you know if rEFInd will be configured to scan for new operating systems to boot from? How do you know if the other computers will not be password protected to prevent you from booting from your flash drive?

I download the kali-linux-2018.3a-amd64.iso file from the Kali Linux Downloads website. I followed the instructions for OS X given on Making a Kali Bootable USB Drive website. In other words, I executed the following command.

sudo dd if=kali-linux-2018.3a-amd64.iso of=/dev/disk1 bs=1m

When I run the command diskutil list disk1, I get the following.

/dev/disk1 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *15.7 GB    disk1
   1:                       0x17                         3.2 GB     disk1s1
   2:                 DOS_FAT_12 NO NAME                 720.9 KB   disk1s2

When I run the command sudo fdisk /dev/disk1, I get the following.

Disk: /dev/disk1    geometry: 1912/255/63 [30720000 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*1: 17    0   2   1 - 1019 190  32 [        64 -    6234176] OS/2 hidden
 2: 01 1020   0   1 - 1020  43  32 [   6234240 -       1408] DOS FAT-12
 3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
 4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused

I can EFI boot this flash drive from the Startup Manager. When running the same version of rEFInd you are using, I get a different icon and text label than you posted. I can boot this flash drive using rEFInd.

I realize I am using a older 2011 iMac, but I find it strange that our results differ so much.


Missing option to silence text conversation in iOS 11

Source:

iOS 11 renamed the "Do Not Disturb" option for conversation threads to "Hide Alerts," and the toggle is still accessible by hitting the information icon in the top right. But that's too many steps for some of us, so Apple added a shortcut to the swipe menu on the Messages homepage which quickly disables notifications for both individual and group chats whenever they get out of control. Just swipe left on any message thread to access the new "Hide Alert" shortcut.
The latter method is especially handy, as it can disable notifications from outside the conversation itself and prevents the "Read" receipt from being triggered, giving us plausible deniability with regards to reading any messages.


How to delete a word accidentally added to the Pages dictionary?

Right click on the misspelled word and select “Unlearn Spelling”.

As Pages uses OS X’ global spelling services,  you can use this method anywhere text input is spell checked by it (more or less any text area, with the notable exceptions of MS Office, OpenOffice / LibreOffice, Firefox and a few other apps ported from the non OS X world).

If a misspelled word is not underlined in red and the “Unlearn Spelling” option is missing from the context menu, it may be that you originally used “Ignore Spellin” rather than “Learn Spelling”. In that case, try opening a new document and pasting in the misspelled word – the red underline will appear in the new document if you ignored the spelling in the original document.


How do I import a second photo library into iCloud Photos?

I have two solutions now. First, there seems to be some software out there, namely Powerphotos, which can manage multiple libraries for the Photos app.

Second, one can select the external library as the system library and then sync it with iCloud. This is obviously a bit stupid if you want to keep the libraries separate. But in my case this is ok, since I merely want to get all my pictures into the iCloud Photos.

If you still need multiple libraries, you probably should use PowerPhotos and copy pictures from the dedicated libraries to the system library using that tool.


Whenever I try to delete a file in Finder I get "Finder wants to make changes. Type your password to allow this."

OS X asks for a password whenever you try to delete a file because your ~/.Trash folder belongs to the root user and has permissions drwx------ — noone but root can read, write or open this folder. Being in the same situation I tried the command shown below in Terminal and it helped:

sudo chown -R steve:staff ~/.Trash

Note that I've changed my username to yours in this example. Also note that sudo command will ask you for user password — it's OK.


Is there any way to make a window transparent macOS Mojave?

Here is a post that uses Swift/Objective-C code to create a semi-transparency thing. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11174918/how-to-get-window-with-semi-transparent-blurred-background.


The PCIe flash storage will be faster than the SSD, but how much you'll notice that in the real world is questionable.
The PCIe card used in the new iMacs is the same (custom) stick-like form factor Apple uses in their other products.
You should get the 1TB or 3TB Fusion drive configuration if you want more than 256GB of storage and don't want a larger SSD. You could of course get an external USB3 drive to provide large storage if you prefer, or even get a USB/Thunderbolt external SSD.

The $200 for the fusion drive is expensive, but not insanely so. It will give the most noticeable performance boost of any possible upgrade on the iMac, unless you prefer to spend the money doing an all-SSD setup, which will still be very, very fast.

You're not going to find a compatible PCIe SSD for any less than Apple's upgrade cost. For example, OWC sells compatible SSDs for the MacBook Airs (http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Aura_Pro_Air_2012) that may work, but I don't believe anyone has specifically tested it.

I will also note that opening up the current iMacs is more difficult than in the past, due to the laminating process on the screen to reduce glare, parallax and weight. It would be a false economy to buy a $2000+ computer, only to risk damaging it by opening it up for the chance to save $50. If external storage is not desirable and you want more capacity, go Fusion.


Change Finder window graphics back to the more visible Snow Leopard ones?

Short answer: Install Snow Leopard.

Long answer: The only way I can think of is a pain.

The images used in Finder's UI are stored in the Resources directory of the application package.

Navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder/Contents/Resources/

You can find the offending graphics that don't suit your taste and edit them directly.

After modifications restart Finder using the following command in a Terminal window:

killall Finder


Mapping complex key combination to Volume Down/Up in Karabiner

You have three key codes in each definition and you use one modifier key (COMMAND_L) as a key code - which won't work as expected. Instead the following will be executed hitting Shift_LAlt_LCtrl_L+Cmd_L (you have to use the Command_L key as a normal key):

A left bracket will be written to a text field

and

Volume down (one level)

The second part of your command (Volume up) will be skipped completely because the key code is essentially the same as the first one and thus already in use:

KeyCode::COMMAND_L, ModifierFlag::OPTION_L | ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L | ModifierFlag::CONTROL_L,

If you hit and hold the Command_L key first and then hit and hold all other modifier keys and one of the brackets nothing will happen at all because Command_L needs a key down and up to be executed in your current configuration!

So use the following snippet instead:

<item>
    <name>Hyper Bracket Volume Control</name>
    <appendix>Hyper+[ and Hyper+] Volumn Down/Up</appendix>
    <identifier>volume.hyper</identifier>
    <autogen>
        __KeyToKey__
        KeyCode::BRACKET_LEFT, ModifierFlag::COMMAND_L | ModifierFlag::OPTION_L | ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L | ModifierFlag::CONTROL_L,
        KeyCode::VK_CONSUMERKEY_VOLUME_DOWN
    </autogen>
    <autogen>
        __KeyToKey__
        KeyCode::BRACKET_RIGHT, ModifierFlag::COMMAND_L | ModifierFlag::OPTION_L | ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L | ModifierFlag::CONTROL_L,
        KeyCode::VK_CONSUMERKEY_VOLUME_UP
    </autogen>
</item>


12" MacBook battery is dead after 386 cycles

An inflated/bulging battery is a safety risk and you should get it repaired ASAP. The reason for this could be anything from manufacturing defects to improper care.

If you got AppleCare when you bought your Mac, you may still be able to replace the battery for free. Otherwise, Apple won't change the battery for free, as warranties only last one year.(see here)

If you schedule a repair without AppleCare or warranty, it can cost anywhere from $129-199, depending on your Mac's model. You can schedule a repair here.

Or, if you are willing to take the risk, you can replace the battery on your own using an iFixit guide.


How did you repair your disk? I did it through command line and it helped. This topic might help.


iPhone drops data connection when in call

This is coming from an American, but the 3G coverage should allow simultaneous data and voice.

From Apple's Website:

  You can tell iPhone is connected to
  the Internet over a cellular data
  network if you see , or  in the status
  bar at the top of the screen.

  If you're outside your carrier's
  network, you may be able to use a
  cellular data network from another
  carrier. Roaming charges may apply.

  Note: If not on 3G, while iPhone is
  actively transferring data over the
  cellular data network—downloading a
  webpage, for example—you may not be
  able to receive calls. Incoming calls
  may go to voicemail.

GPRS and EDGE will fail at offering both voice and data, and it might be that you initiated the call on an EDGE network, and moved over to the 3G areas, either way I would recommend resetting network settings on the phone.

Settings>General>Reset>Reset Network Settings

This will reboot your phone, reestablish network connections, and forget your wifi passwords.


Universal (MacOS and iOS) iCloud path to file?

Not sure if this will do exactly what you want, but here's how to get a link to a file stored in iCloud:

On your Mac:

In Finder, open your iCloud Drive (found in the Go menu or Shift+Command+I)
Right click on the file and choose Share > Show People
Expand Share Options and adjust permissions as needed
Click Copy Link

On your iPhone/iPad:

Go to the Files app
Tap the file to open it
Tap the share icon (bottom left)
Tap Add People
Adjust Share Options as needed
Tap Copy Link

On the web:

Go to Drive on iCloud
Click to highlight the file
Click the Add People icon in the top menu bar
Click Copy Link
Adjust permissions and click Share
The shareable URL will shown


iMessage routing with multiple devices - Forcing SMS delivery

Anyone that had an iPhone can now de-register that phone number from iMessage delivery at https://selfsolve.apple.com/deregister-imessage

In the past, you had to know to turn off iMessage before you removed the SIM from the device to accomplish the same thing, but clearly enough people needed this that it's a self-serve option now from Apple to manage your iMessage status.

Then you can choose to SMS them or iMessage them and know when the iMessage is really landing at a device that's capable of replying to it. It doesn't perfectly solve your case, but for many it will be an ideal way to get messages reliably from non-iPhone devices.


Auto shutdown at night after High sierra upgrade

Installing "command line tools" solved this issue. However, I have no clue how they are related.

To install command line tools run following command in terminal.

xcode-select --install


What is up with IP address? Getting bizarre results

Given your description, it sounds like your Mac is accessing the Internet via a rerouted/controlled connection, such as a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
Please contact DNSFilter and ask how their product works on Mac and if this is expected.
138.197.142.28 looks to be operated by Digital Ocean. This is a cloud computing service and is probably being used by the DNSFilter service installed on your Mac to route your traffic.


Smart Playlist in Itunes based on file location

I don't think so. They appear to use information from the iTunes database/Library so how could they know anything about some random folder in your computer?

You could though simulate it using either Folder Actions or launchd but neither is perfect.

Folder Actions only works for new files in a directory and it provides the list of files added to the program/script you will run so you know what's changed.

launchd on the other hand will run your script/app whenever anything changes in the folder(s), you can monitor mupltiple, but it will not tell you which path changed or how - added or removed etc.

I would go with launchd personally. If it is just a single folder you could hardcode it into your script.

As for the script, try this...

set dpath to "/some/path/test/"
set qdpath to quoted form of dpath
set listname to "MyList"
set adpath to (POSIX file dpath as alias)

# Get audio files in selected folder
#   -- alas no recursive search results without a lot more code... :(
#   -- or use mdfind or other command line tool using `do shell script...`
set afiles to {}
tell application "Finder"
    repeat with ext in {".mp3", ".m4a"}
        set l to (every file in adpath whose name contains ext)
        repeat with f in l
            set end of afiles to (f as alias)
        end repeat
    end repeat
end tell

tell application "iTunes"
    if not (user playlist listname exists) then
        make new user playlist with properties {name:listname}
    end if

    # Built a list of existing list tracks so we don't have duplicates...
    set itracks to {}
    try
        set itracks to (get location of every track in playlist listname)
    end try

    set view of window 1 to playlist listname

    # Add not already in playlist
    repeat with afile in afiles
        if afile is not in itracks then
            try
                set tid to (add afile to playlist listname)
            end try
        end if
    end repeat

    # Remove any tracks from the itunes playlist not in the folder
    # and from the iTunes database else they still show up as invalid tracks...
    set iItems to (every track in playlist listname)
    set iLib to library playlist named "Library"
    repeat with iItem in iItems
        set loc to location of iItem
        if loc is not in afiles then
            set pid to persistent ID of iItem

            log "Removing: " & loc
            try
                # Thanks Doug Adams, it was driving me nuts....
                delete (some file track of library playlist 1 whose persistent ID is pid)
            end try
            delay 1
        end if
    end repeat
end tell

It is actually fun to watch it react to adding and removing files from the folder. Enjoy.... :)

Finally I'd reccommend you check these URLs.

www.macissues.com/2015/02/02/how-to-use-launchagents-to-monitor-folder-contents-in-os-x/
apple.stackexchange.com/questions/6658/


Is there a standard delay for consumer ratings of apps on the App Store?

My experience is there is a fairly big delay in reviews showing up - but I would expect even the first review to get published within a month of posting should other ratings and reviews arrive for that app to separate it from an app that has less than 100 downloads ever.

I don't know for sure, but the ratings seem to be held back until 10 or 20 are submitted. Once you reach that limit the store will show the overall rating and only new versions get ratings once they hit their threshold (but a message stating not enough ratings are in to show).

It makes sense for users to expect a few points before any app gets zero or five stars and makes the ratings a useful measure that some handful of people expressed an opinion before they are shown.

After hearing about the delays, I've sometimes checked and my experience with about 50 reviews where I cared to check back, the shortest time was about 24 hours and the longest was 2 weeks for a review to appear. I've not had one not eventually get published, but I also don't generally review apps that have hundreds of reviews which is much harder to find your needle in the haystack of other reviews. I generally star those apps or write something and not bother to check if it ever made it live.


Java Applets refuse to work in Safari or Firefox

Read this on Apple Insider. You probably don't have a Applet plugin installed on your system.


Calling Python 3 script from AppleScript

Solved my problem by changing the do shell to:

do shell script "/usr/local/bin/python3 /path/to/script.py $@"

and letting the shebang stay as:

#!/usr/bin/env python3


iPad for lightweight vacation computing?

There are a lot of pro photographers who've started using the iPad for their first pass of editing. Vincent Laforet, who is highly respected wrote about his use of them at "Using the iPad on set". Also "12 Best iPad Photo Apps" has some suggestions.


You will need an LCD Controller board kit that works with your LCD.
Find the model number of the LCD, make sure the controller will work with it.

You're basically looking for an LVDS controller.

The Mid-2009 15" MacBook Pro utilizes a LTN154MT07-G01 made by Samsung, it has a standard 40-pin LVDS connector.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HDMI-DVI-VGA-LCD-Controller-Driver-Lvds-Board-Monitor-Diy-Kit-for-LTN141W1-L01-/123128016280?oid=280634929240#ht_6675wt_1141

Or

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RTD2281-LCD-Controller-Board-Kit-For-DIY-Apple-A1286-LED-Screen-LG-LP154WP4-TLA1-/152696810140

If you need to find what model LCD is in a different computer, you can easily find out using eBay to search for the LCD for a specific model, find that LCD's model number, then search to find out the connector type.

... coincidently (or not) Hackaday just posted this article:

AN HDMI INPUT FOR A LAPTOP SCREEN, MINUS LAPTOP


You can fully close an app double tapping HOME to get the recent apps list (note that unless you are at the home screen, the currently running app won't be listed) and then tap and holding on any App icon until you get the wiggles - at this point hit the minus sign against any app in your recent list.  This will either stop the app, if it is currently performing any background task, or remove the 'fast resume' saved state so that upon the next start it will not resume where it left off.


macOS Server App no longer saves Websites settings

First you should enable debug mode in Server.app by running the following command:

defaults write com.apple.ServerFoundation DebugModeEnabled YES

and restarting Server.app. This should enable the debug menu. Then make sure the "Log Actions To Server Log" item is checked. Rerun your test, and then look at the log file in ~/Library/Logs/Server.log. The file shows the request/response communications between the Server.app and the backend admin tools. Look for commands to servermgr_web, most commands are in plist format, though the web commands may be in a JSON format.

Look for writeSettings commands specifically.


Battery care if I don't plan to use my MacBook Pro

No. 5-7 days is way less than an extended period of time @FoamyBeer refers to. Imagine that a lot of devices stay in warehouses longer than the time you want not to use your MBP. Just handle it as if it was a book:

Don't drop it
Neither heat nor freeze it
Keep it dry

In addition to that, do NOT leave it with a discharged battery. Actually, it's no big deal to have it connected to the charger the whole time. If your going on vacation, disconnect it from the charger to prevent damages by lightning strikes.


Activity Monitor dock icon CPU history aggregate

Just a one-liner of ATrubka's solution for ones wondering how to edit the plist file:

defaults write com.apple.ActivityMonitor DisplayType 0


Is PSU and GPU from iMac 2010 compatible with iMac 2011?

Both the power supply and the GPU are interchangeable

The Power Supply (PN# 614-0446) is compatible from model years 2009 through 2011.  iFixit.com confirms this (see compatible models)
You can upgrade the 2009 and 2010 iMac computers with the GPU from the 2011 model. So, the GPUs are compatible.

As for the LVDS connector, you’re only looking at one end.  You just need to get the cable that goes from the GPU to your appropriate LCD display (you can remove it from the GPU)


Spotlight Search
Use the kind attribute in your Spotlight search.  For example, in the search dialog, type
kind:mp3
to find all MP3 files.  I have a listing of all the relevant attributes in this answer.
So, for a more relevant example, you would issue a Spotlight search with your search term in double quotes and specify the attribute as follows:
"search term" kind:mp3

Not indexed by Spotlight
If you have a location not indexed by Spotlight, the most efficient tool for doing this is the built in tool find, however, since "Terminal" is off the table, you're options are limited.

Use Finder Search ⌘ CommandF and create a query for that specific location.  Here's an example of a Finder search for images in my "Backgrounds" folder (and below)

Use a 3rd party tool.  Disclaimer:  There are many tools out there, but the good ones will usually have a cost. These are the ones I'm familiar with however, they are not what I use as I prefer to utilize built in tools like find, mdfind and even locate via the command line.

HoudahSpot 5 ($35USD) Allows you to create and save complex search queries on macOS.
Alfred (Free, but Powerpack is about $40USD).  This is more of a productivity and workflow tool, but it does have excellent search capabilities.  The Powerpak can greatly enhance all of the functions.
Find Any File ($8USD).  A search utility that goes beyond Spotlight.
EasyFind ($0). File search utility that helps organize your searching.   Recommended by user Tetsujin


I want to remove some photos from iPhone 4s but keep them all in Photo Stream & iCloud

It's not entirely clear, but I'll take a guess.

If you connect the phone to a computer and no photos are removed when you sync, the most likely setup is the iPhone is using iCloud Photo Library.

You would turn that off in the settings app - iCloud.

Then once the library is off - choose whether you want the phone to participate in Photo Stream / Photo Sharing or not.

At that point, once iCloud Photo Library is off - you can delete photos from the phone manually on the iOS itself or by connecting to iTunes / Image Capture app / Photos app on Mac / iPhoto on Mac and transferring / deleting photos en masse.

How to delete all photos in the camera roll in iOS 8.x?
Understanding Photo Stream


My ssh key won't work on my personal wifi network. How do I fix it

Turned out that my company had restricted access to their bitbucket account. I eventually used our VPN settings and all works fine now.


How to migrate data from MacBook Pro to new iPad Air

There is no migration tool to import from an Mac to an iPad. Signing both in to iCloud enables bi-directional file sync as well as other structured data for select apps and files.
Also, the wired and wireless sync has grown up substantially from where it was initially using iTunes to move files to the iPhone and iPad and iPod.

https://support.apple.com/guide/ipad/sync-ipad-with-your-computer-ipadae9bab3e/ipados


How can I restore an ipad mini without an apple id password?

You can't. You need to have the apple id password for both reseting from iTunes and from the device itself. If the device isn't accepting the apple id password, try reseting it from iTunes too. iTunes is more reliable and you can reset without the device password (not the apple id password) on iTunes.


Converting Video using Handbrake for iPad Mini first Gen

As I've got an iPad mini myself I would definately recommend you the Apple TV preset.

Your iPad mini does not have retina display, nor does mine (first gen.) and converting to Apple TV format is great (720p instead of 1080p) and results in a smaller size file than iPad preset does.


How can I use $HOME or ~/ in my log paths of launchd plist to run as LaunchAgent

You cannot use $HOME in these keys. You'll need to use the work-around shown in this answer:

how can I use $HOME, ~ or environment variable in plist file of LaunchDaemons

And then use ordinary shell scripting to redirect standard out and standard error to locations within $HOME. I.e. use a command similar to:

command >$HOME/launchd.stdout.log 2>$HOME/launchd.stderr.log


screenshots storage place back to desktop impossible

The problem is that the command:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location /Desktop/

will set the default location for screenshots to be /Desktop/. What you actually want is to set it to be /Users/yourusername/Desktop/.

Try this, replacing yourusername with the username for your account:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location /Users/yourusername/Desktop/


After running `ssh-add -K` to add my SSH key to the Apple Keychain, what is the name and type of entry shown in Keychain Access.app?

I just got a brand new laptop (running Mojave) so I had the opportunity to try this without having to sort through a large Keychain. From what I can see, running ssh-add -K path/to/key does absolutely nothing to the Keychain. No new records were created after running the command.

I'm pretty mystified as to how OSX manages ssh-agent and I can't even get it to remember my keys (Ubuntu does this by default) between sessions. I'll come back and edit if I find a solution for you.

EDIT: If you key is not passphrase protected, it looks like OSX won't add it to the Keychain. Presumably this is because the only thing the keychain stores is the passphrase. Everything else seems to require messing with the ~/.ssh/config file.

EDIT: If your ssh key is passphrase protected, running ssh-add -K path/to/key adds your passphrase to your keychain as a generic password prepended with "SSH:" Also, as for remembering keys, starting with OSX Sierra, Apple chose to stop remembering keys by default. See a brief medium article (with some external sources) here.


Family members getting new phone - want to transfer apps, music, etc to a different Apple ID

The big problem in your proposed "ask" is "have all his old iCloud stuff"

What you can do is use one Apple ID with iCloud on two devices. You can even have some of the categories not sync: for example - no contact data, but iCloud has not mechanism to clone or push some content to second account.

You have to manually do that by using two devices and then turning off iCloud on the second device and retain the data you wish on that device. Apple purchases always follow the account that purchased them, so you can possibly mix two "buy" accounts for a short time, but the next time an app update happens, you'll need both account passwords to update everything.

It might be time to make a second account and move forward with each person re-buying / controlling what is contained in each account.

The good news - is contacts is really easy to separate so start there and then you can decide how much work it was to separate those so that each device has their own contacts and then repeat for each "bin" of data that comes with iCloud/Apple ID.


Add note to emails in Mail App or alternative Mail app?

Mailmate allows extensive tagging (IMAP compatible). A very good mail client, btw.


How can I sync Reminders with Google Tasks?

As I understand it from http://www.google.com/mobile/sync/ the Google Sync (push-email) doesn't currently support Tasks, so even if the iPhone page says Tasks (as it's using the Exchange protocol) Google won't actually do anything with tasks yet


I haven't experienced this, but I would highly recommend reinstalling the latest iOS (iOS 8.2) onto it, by using a computer with iTunes and hooking your phone to the computer with the USB data cable.

In iTunes, it should detect an update available and ask if you would like to update.  Go ahead and update it that way.  If that doesn't work, manually download the iOS 8.2 firmware update for your device from IPSW Downloads and then, with your phone plugged into the computer via the USB Data cable, and iTunes open, hold down the shift or control key while clicking on "Update" on iTunes.  This will open a file selection dialog/window, then just select the file you downloaded (iOS 8.2 Firmware file that you downloaded from ipsw.me), and it will flash your phone with the latest version.

Hopefully this will take care of the issue.

If not, you may have to take it to an Apple store and have them fix it/replace it.


How long is the duration of exposure on an iPhone 6 in iOS 8?

Depending on the lighting conditions the exposure time is between 1/50000 to 1/15 seconds. However with camera apps (other than the default one) you can achieve much longer exposure times (as long as you want).


Mac OS X Terminal [Use option as meta key] overrides backslash in spanish keyboard

And, as I already answered you on stackoverflow, the solution is to put the following line into your ~/.bash_profile, which remaps the unicode character "∫" (Unicode: E288AB, which is what is sent to your terminal right now in your desired configuration when you press Option + °) to the backslash character:

bind '"\033\xE2\x88\xAB"':'"\\"'


Siri thinks the city on my Facebook is one of my home addresses

I figured this out, more or less. On iOS 10 on my contacts card, I was able to edit the identification my phone gives the Facebook address by scrolling down to the connected accounts section of my contact card and editing the Facebook content there. However there is a bug and even after I'm done editing the only options are "edit" and "cancel" but not something to save it.

So instead I went to macOS, opened my contacts card there, edit my information there more easily, and it sync'ed to my iPhone, so Siri works properly now.


How can I listen to DAB+ radio on my iPhone?

I offer this answer as a possible software solution to meet your needs, although any software solution will require data usage.

I've just checked and TuneIn Radio is available on the Norwegian iOS App Store. For full details refer to https://itunes.apple.com/no/app/tunein-radio/id418987775?mt=8

I've personally been using TuneIn Radio for many years now and have generally been very happy with it. It provides access to over 100,000 radio stations and even offers users the ability to submit station requests in the event a station you want to listen to isn't available.

There is also a Pro version available (obviously at a cost).

NOTE: I am not affiliated in any way with TuneIn Radio.


directory structure between mac osx and linux

While you can shove libraries anywhere you want, and use OS X very similarly to Linux, I suspect you are after information on "the OS X way" of doing things, in which case:

Your question is too broad. While similar in some ways, there are many fundamental differences than between software packaging on OS X and something like Ubuntu - well beyond "stuff goes here on Linux, and here on OS X".

For example, libraries typically live in "bundles" rather than folders like in /usr/lib - either as .Framework bundles which live in /Library/Frameworks or ~/Library/Frameworks (the framework bundles include headers, support versioning etc). Or shared libraries may live in application bundles... etc - each of these is a big topic by itself.

Without a more specific question, any answer shorter than a small book may not be very informative..

This article explains some of the basic locations, and their Linux-equivalents

Apple's documentation on this kind of stuff is extensive (e.g the intro to Frameworks)


Wouldn't this be a good case for a Safari content blocker / javascript blocker that's selective?

Ghostery might be a good place to start on the Mac to see if you can use pre-built rules to quash cross-site scripting / ad injection of code into web pages. Of course, if the page is serving up that content directly you'll need to disable javascript on that page entirely or take note and just block those sites that crap up your experience intentionally or due to selling off ad injection to anyone with the means to afford this scare ware and scam ware.

If you wanted to be more precise - GreaseMonkey type user scrips could combat this with enough JS knowledge on your part (or finding someone that wrote the script to block today's iteration of this malware).

https://tampermonkey.net/?browser=safari
https://www.greasespot.net

  Edited By @JBis

  The following userscript was successfully in blocking the page.

     // ==UserScript==
     // @name         The Bomb Squad
     // @version      0.1
     // @description  Blocks the pages containing any function with the bomb_ch function detailed in https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/329594/prevent-spam-downloads-on-safari and https://blog.malwarebytes.com/malwarebytes-news/2018/02/tech-support-scammers-find-new-way-jam-google-chrome/
     // @author       Josh Brown (@JBis https://apple.stackexchange.com/users/263848/jbis)
     // @match        *
     // @grant        none

    // ==/UserScript==

   if (typeof bomb_ch === "function") {
     document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0].innerHTML="
Page Defused by The Bomb Squad

Because it contatained the following
 function(s):
bomb_ch()

";
    }

  Note: Sp(c)ammers can easily bypass this by randomizing the bomb_ch() function.

Newer OS versions of Safari might help cut this down a bit, but there's money to be made by people that deliver this load of crap to your Mac so they'll likely adapt to any technologies that try to make it easy to block. Unless you're willing to spend more money supporting a business that maintains a library of settings that can "whack-a-mole" and adapt faster than the charlatans can cook up new code in their boiler room.

You'll also have to decide if the web sites that do this are also charlatans that are part of the con since they should know this is happening to you, one of the visitors they host.


Is there a time limit on how long you can stream iTunes Radio?

You should count on it shutting off pretty much at the two hour point:

  Why does the music stop playing after two hours?

  iTunes Radio will time out if you don't interact with your system or
  device for approximately two hours. If this happens, simply access
  iTunes Radio again and choose a station to continue playing.

From: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5181 - Common questions about iTunes Radio

If you set a timer and change the channel about 20 minutes before things are about to stop, my experience is your 2 hours starts anew. I don't know if there's a practical limit on how long you could keep this up or if some pause is eventually enforced on the server side.


External Sonnet 550 eGPU not providing enough power for MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018)

If you have a new box that you're still able to return, you could consider buying the 650 model instead of 550 model that you currently have. The 650 models supports charging the laptop with up to 100 watts, whereas the 550 model only supports 87 watts.
In regards to switching power source and your comment regarding that you think Apple incorrectly states that the source with the most power is used:
The 2018 version of the 15" MacBook Pro comes with a 87 watts charger. So it is actually rates to supply the same amount of power as your Sonnet box. Therefore I don't think you can expect the laptop to switch to it when you connect it.
It is only the newer models from 2019 and on that comes with a 96 watts charger.
You could consider buying the newer 96 watts MacBook Pro charger to ensure more power is supplied to the laptop, but you'll still have to plug in two cables this way.
There's no command in Terminal that allows you to choose a different power source for charging.


Fabio's answer seems not to works as expected, not sure if I have a different version of BTT, or osx. Anyway, I found another option: simply bind Quit Safari with another keybinding.

Go to system preferences -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts -> App Shortcuts -> Add new one ('+' sign) -> Choose Safari from the Application menu -> Enter in the Menu Title the exact text: Quit Safari -> Set another shortcut than cmd-Q, I used ^-cmd-Q (option+command+q).

If you do want quit Safari, you can use this shortcut, or quit from the menu.


Streaming Video Content/Conversion - MacBook Pro (iTunes) to Apple TV [.MKV to .M4V]

MKV and MP4 are not video format, they are containers. An MKV can contain any type of video/audio stream.

Most of the time, MKV contains H264/AC3 DTS (video/audio; the most common format in blu-ray).

The official specification of MP4 do not allow the AC3 format for the audio channel, but the H264 format is possible for the video. Thus, you can convert losslessly an MKV to an MP4, for the video channel only. The audio channel will have to be re-encoded

I recommend using ffmpeg (a command-line tool) to achieve this goal.

Note: You can try and create an MP4 containing AC3, but I don't think it will work in iTunes or the Apple TV, even though players like MPlayerX or VLC will be able to play them.


Making a program use a specific network interface

Add a static route for your irc server. For example I have 2 interfaces: wired (en0) and WiFi (en1) of which the wired one is the default. So if I get a route to a server, it will go through the default interface (see interface line in output) :

MacMini:~ root# netstat -rn | grep -i default
default            10.0.0.1           UGSc          198       10     en0
default            172.20.10.1        UGScI           0        0     en1

MacMini:~ root# route get tyr.be
   route to: squarespace.com
destination: squarespace.com
    gateway: 10.0.0.1
  interface: en0
      flags: <UP,GATEWAY,HOST,DONE,WASCLONED,IFSCOPE,IFREF>
 recvpipe  sendpipe  ssthresh  rtt,msec    rttvar  hopcount      mtu     expire
       0         0         0         0         0         0      1500         0

But if I add a static route through the WiFi interface en1 however :

MacMini:~ root# route add 65.39.205.54/32 172.20.10.1
add net 65.39.205.54: gateway 172.20.10.1

MacMini:~ root# netstat -rn | grep -i 65.39.205.54
65.39.205.54/32    172.20.10.1        UGSc            1        0     en1

MacMini:~ root# route get tyr.be
   route to: squarespace.com
destination: squarespace.com
  interface: en1
      flags: <UP,HOST,DONE,LLINFO,STATIC>
 recvpipe  sendpipe  ssthresh  rtt,msec    rttvar  hopcount      mtu     expire
       0         0         0         0         0         0      1500         0

The route will disappear every time you reboot. To make it permanent you would have to create a script launched as a startup item or a custom launchd script.


Missing driver for printer - adobe postscript

Accordingly with the link here you have to download and install this software: Mac OS X 10.1 (PPD File).

After the installation of the file: PPDInst.dmg, I suggest you to install the printer from the System Preferences > Printers & Scanners > (add a new printer by pressing + button) and you should not have problem for the printer's driver.


Vector Software for Drawing and Diagramming

It may be difficult to get all features into one app but I'll suggest 5. They might have features in common but I'll highlight the ones you're asking about.

Artboard - Tablet support
Sketch - Imports/exports to SVG
Intaglio - Diagramming
iVinci - Converts from bitmap to vector
Pencil - Tablet support (mostly suited for animation and cartoons with bitmap and vector drawing, onion skinning, etc.)

All of them should allow

Editing any component easily after drawing it (layer support)
Easily add and edit text anywhere (vectorized text is a standard)
Exporting to PNG (also a standard)

I can't post more than 2 links but you'll find them easily on MacUpdate (all have trial downloads).


How to re-encrypt a decrypted partition that says "The Core Storage-targetvolume is already encrypted"?

When you say you decrypted it momentarily, it can take from minutes to days depending on the size of the partition and data within it and the speed of your system. The same goes for encrypting. The amount of free space also impacts how long things will take as it needs to encrypt/decrypt files somewhere.

It could be the case that it hasn't finished decrypting it yet.


Why does Chrome prevent my Mac from sleeping?


Does Magic Mouse automatically sync up with Windows in Boot Camp?

Once the wireless mouse is paired to the Mac, the mouse will work with Windows, the Mac Startup Manager, Mac Recovery, etc. Specific to your question, the Boot Camp Assistant restarts the Mac to boot the Microsoft Windows installer in such a way as to keep the mouse paired with the Mac. When installing Windows without the aid of the Boot Camp Assistant, often (but not always) a user has to plug in a wired mouse to install Windows and pair the wireless mouse after installation completes.

Unless you have installed Windows without the aid of the Boot Camp Assistant, you never realize how many steps are automatically done for you.


I removed Macintosh HD from backup disk how do I set it back?

Okay, now that we have clarified what the issue is, here's how to solve your problem.

Open System Preferences
Select "Time Machine"
Click "Options"
Macintosh HD will probably be listed under "Exclude these items from backups:". Click it and click the "-" button below the box and then click "Save"
Make sure that Time Machine shows the correct disk in the window (in your case, it should say "Seagate-3E59C4 TM Backup - Seagate-3E59C4". It is important to note that "Macintosh HD" will not show up here as it is displaying the disk to be backed up to, not the disk that is being backed up. "Macintosh HD" should never show up when you click "Select Disk..."
If you are running a MacBook, plug the MacBook in to power
In the menu bar, click the Time Machine icon and select "Back Up Now"

Time Machine should now start backing up to your Seagate drive. If you are still having trouble with Time Machine looking for the disk, then do the following:

Click "Select Disk..." in the Time Machine preferences
Select "Seagate-3E59C4 TM Backup" under "Backup Disks"
Click the "Remove Disk" button. The dialog will prompt you for confirmation and close
Click the "Select Backup Disk..." button
Select "Seagate-3E59C4 TM Backup" again and click "Use Disk"
If your Seagate is password protected, it will ask you for the password


Verifying zsh version on macOS Catalina upon brew install

The PATH evaluation command in /etc/zprofile probably overrides your shell settings in the Directory Services.

If you give priority to /bin in the global PATH (or even in the user's .zprofile/.zshrc/...) Apple's zsh will be your default shell exec despite other settings in your user ds profile.

If you want to keep your current PATH settings (prioritize /bin) you can move/copy brew's zsh link to a (new) dir like /usr/local/zsh/bin/.

Then change the shell dir and the shell with sudo nano /etc/shells and chsh -s /usr/local/zsh/bin/zsh and finally change your PATH in .zprofile/.zshrc to

export PATH="/usr/local/zsh/bin:$PATH"

You have to renew the zsh link in /usr/local/zsh/bin/ after updating/upgrading brew's zsh!


Periodically change Desktop wallpapers automatically on different displays independently

There's a feature built into macOS that lets you do this. Go to System Preferences app → Desktop & Screen Saver and click to select the Desktop tab.

You'd see a Change picture: checkbox towards the bottom. Enabling it would let you setup automatic change of wallpaper at a configurable duration.


You can use Option/Alt Key:

Shutdown your Mac
Make sure you have your external disk connected
Press Power Button to turn on your Mac
Before Apple Logo appears press Option/Alt Key and hold it
It should show all connected bootable disks
Select your external with arrows and press Enter

If your disks does not appear make sure that it is formatted with a GUID partition type.

For more info check this Link

I hope it helps you


How do `stat` and `file` differentiate symlinks?

The l in lrwxr-xr-x shows that is is a (symbolic) link.
Use readlink file to show where the symbolic link points to.

The stat manual page states:

  When invoked as readlink, only the target of the symbolic link is printed.  If the given argument is not a symbolic link, readlink will print nothing and exit with an error.


How to quickly launch a playlist from the home screen in ios?

Slightly overkill for just this one task, but Workflow can certainly do this--there's already a workflow in its Gallery that does this, so you won't even have to write your own. And you'll probably find other cool stuff to do with it too ;)


Does using pangu to jailbreak an iOS device delete your currently-installed apps?

Installing the jailbreak will not delete your apps, but it is generally recommended to backup your phone, do an "Erase All Content", and install the jailbreak with only the OS on the phone. You can then sync your phone to get all of your apps back after the jailbreak is installed. You should probably allow around 2 GB for the jailbreak, possibly more if you plan on installing a lot of packages.


What speed is the SATA controller in a medio 2010 Macbook Pro

You can find the speed of your SATA controller with the System Information application, by clicking system report > hardware > Serial ATA. Which in my case (a 15" 2.53GHz 2010 MBP) shows the following:

Intel 5 Series Chipset:

  Vendor:                   Intel
  Product:                  5 Series Chipset
  Link Speed:               3 Gigabit
  Negotiated Link Speed:    3 Gigabit
  Description:              AHCI Version 1.30 Supported

3 Gigabit means the maximum uncoded transfer rate is 2.4 Gbit/s or about 300MB/s (286MiB/s).

In conclusion: a 500MB/s disk is probably overkill.


Is it possible to turn off both 3G and LTE and only use 2G on an iPhone?

Settings → Cellular Data → Cellular Data Options → Voice & Data → 2G.

Depending on your locale, Cellular Data may be called Mobile Data, as shown in the screenshots (UK). This feature is dependent on carrier support. If the feature does not exist for you, contact your carrier.


Mac Won't Remember Hostname in Terminal After Reboot, gives 'unknown...'

Setting the hostname via the Terminal is not permanent.

From the hostname manpage:

  DESCRIPTION
  The hostname utility prints the name of the current host. The super-user can set the hostname by supplying an argument. To keep the hostname between reboots, run `scutil --set HostName name-of-host'.

Alternatively, set the hostname in your System Preferences, under the Sharing section.


Try using a USB - Y Cable! As the others have said... It appears the drive is not getting enough power.

Example,
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/USB3AYMBPB/

I realize that is microusb but they make y cables with USB on all the ends.

Goodluck! :)


Win7-damaged Mac GPT partition map on 4TB external HDD

There is hope if Windows didn't write anything to disk (except the MBR). The steps below overwrite the bogus MBR and replaces it by a proper PMBR and a GUID partition table. All previous entries will be restored.

Attach the external drive to a Mac
Open Terminal and enter diskutil list and sudo gpt -r show /dev/diskX with X the disk identifier of the 4 TB drive (e.g. if you find that the disk identifier is disk1, replace in the commands above and below diskX by disk1).
Unmount the disk with diskutil umountDisk /dev/diskX
Enter sudo dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/diskX count=1 bs=512 to overwrite the MBR
Unmount the disk again with diskutil umountDisk /dev/diskX
Enter sudo gpt destroy /dev/diskX #just in case, this might fail
Then enter sudo gpt create /dev/diskX
if the last command fails you may overwrite the MBR again with  sudo dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/diskX count=1 bs=4096 and reenter the last command:  sudo gpt create /dev/diskX
Enter sudo gpt -r show /dev/diskX and check if PMBR and GUID partition header/table occupy the first six blocks (block0-block5). This is the case if the disk controller reports a block size of 4096 Bytes instead of 512 bytes.*

In case of a 4096 logical block size the GUID partition table should look like this now:

gpt show: /dev/diskX: Sec GPT at sector 976754644
      start       size  index  contents
          0          1         MBR
          1          1         Pri GPT header
          2          4         Pri GPT table
          6  976754634
  976754640          4         Sec GPT table
  976754644          1         Sec GPT header

Then re-populate the GUID partition table with the above data (the type of the EFI partition is different though):

sudo gpt add -b 6 -i 1 -s 51200 -t C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B /dev/diskX
sudo gpt add -b 51206 -i 2 -s 976670666 -t 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC /dev/diskX

Check the disk and the volume with

diskutil verifyDisk /dev/diskX
diskutil verifyVolume /dev/diskXs2

* Add a comment if you get a different list after the steps sudo gpt create /dev/diskX -> sudo gpt -r show /dev/diskX e.g the PMBR and the GUID partition table occupy the first 34 blocks (block0-block33). Then the disk controller reports a block size of 512 Bytes.


will my code keep running when Mac is in sleep mode?

In short... No.

It's an either/or.

Either your code is running...
...or your machine is asleep.

You cannot have both at once.

Whatever is running may prevent sleep, or it may not.
You can test for that in Activity Monitor [Applications/Utilities] If you right click any of the headers & add 'Preventing sleep' you'll be able to tell if anything will prevent it or will just allow the machine to sleep at the set time.


What can the minidisplay port on the MacBook Air do?

I am not aware of any manual that contains this information but here is a breakdown, since this is one of the big reasons I got a MacBook originally.

The mini display port allows you to add an additional monitor to your MacBook. Support for this is built into the OS directly so you simply connect your external monitor using the correct MD/VGA or MD/HDMI or MD/DVI connector if the monitor does not have a display port and then you can configure how the displays work. This is done under the Displays option in System Preferences.

From the screen shot below you can see I am running a second monitor on my MacBook Pro at the moment and I have set the second monitor to be to the left of the main one by simply dragging it's rectangle to where I want it.

You can also move the menu to a different screen by grabbing the white strip on the primary screen and dragging it to another screen you want it on.

Each display can have it's own separate resolution and even separate backgrounds. The relevant preference panes will automatically show a dialogue on each screen if it supports multiple displays, for example the Desktop & Screensaver will show on both screens.

You can also choose whether you want to mirror the display or use it as a second screen. In mirror mode it simply mirrors everything on your main display.


Possible to use the same ssd for a Windows and a Mac laptop via different partitions?

I think this might be a better fit for Super User as it's mainly about PC/Windows rather than Mac.

However, as a rough guide -
you'd do far better to clone the Mac's boot & recovery partitions to a spare drive using something like Carbon Copy Cloner then let the Windows installer [from a PC] just break the whole darn thing - which it will, it will insist on NTFS & will probably set up its own EFI & recovery partitions; and Windows won't boot easily if it's not at the beginning - then use the Mac to restore the 2 Mac partitions afterwards to the end of the disk.  This will likely need 3rd Party software, such as Paragon Hard Disk Manager

Windows also is not truly portable like macOS, so each time you move it to a different machine it will either crash/fail or require re-authorisation from Microsoft. Windows is also not too keen on booting from a removable drive.

Ultimately, I think buying a second SSD would be simplest & safest.


"This Card is Already in wallet" message when I'm trying to add card to Wallet & Apple Pay which was removed

I removed other cards which I had already in Wallet and then one by one added them, also the problematic card.


Whenever an app tries to authenticate with Facebook, the dialog is in a foreign language

This is a bug by Facebook - you can track the status of it here: http://developers.facebook.com/bugs/407246299295529?browse=search_4fa410ea79db26337556383


the best app I ever used: Textastic. It costs about 7 USD/EUR and it is one of the most sophisticated apps I know.
I am a web and app developer and I like to use it with SFTP connection support and Dropbox combination ...

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/textastic-code-editor-6/id1049254261?mt=8

https://www.textasticapp.com


DuetHeuristic-BM and nsurlsessiond hogging CPU and Memory on MacBook Air

This link

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7810604

explains that nsurlsessiond manages network connections and DuetHeuristic-BM is a service that is used by Spotlight when indexing. Perhaps the DuetHeuristic is stuck on a file on your computer and is stuck in an endless loop.


How can I enable syntax colouring in vim using Terminal?

Run :syntax on inside vim or add syntax on to your .vimrc.


Looks like it was one of my plugins: Mouse gestures. I was wondering why it was working on my speed dials page(the right click) and when I turned off gestures, right click suddenly worked.


I assume you are doing that from one of the System Preferences?

If so, log into https://appleid.apple.com/#!&page=signin with that new account in a web browser.

You may have to feed it a credit card or some other payment option because That Is The Way Apple Works (sigh...). Once you have done that you should be able to log in and download the new OS.


My Apple Script Editor code doesn't work gives "Syntax Error Expected end of line but found identifier."

The problem is the version of Evernote I tried is not AppleScript scriptable.
When trying to add Evernote to the Library in Script Editor, in order to review its AppleScript dictionary, it errs with: Add Item Unable to add the item because it is not scriptable.
Additionally, when running the following command in Script Editor:
tell application "System Events" to ¬
    get has scripting terminology of application process "Evernote"

Its result is: false

Apparently at one time Evernote was AppleScript scriptable, however, in macOS Catalina, testing with Evernote from https://evernote.com/download/ and checking Evernote > About Evernote it shows:

10.11.5-mac-ddl-public (2530)
Editor: v121.2.15734
Service: v1.32.4
© 2019 - 2021 Evernote Corporation. All rights reserved

Looking for the typical AppleScript dictionary in /Applications/Evernote.app/Contents/Resources/ there is no Evernote.sdef file as would be expected if it was fully AppleScript scriptable.

If you do have a version of Evernote that is AppleScript scriptable then try the following, which I cannot test under the circumstances:
Change note1 to note in:
set myNote to create note1 with text myTitle title myTitle notebook "Imported Notes" tags ["imported_from_notes"]

You might also want to put in some parentheses. e.g.
set myNote to (create note with text myTitle title myTitle notebook "Imported Notes" tags ["imported_from_notes"])

Unfortunately without a version of Evernote that is AppleScript scriptable, I cannot offer more.


Why does Citrix CAG (RDP across monitors) take up multiple Spaces?

It sounds like you have it set to All Spaces [Desktops].
With the app running & in the correct Space, right click it in the dock & select Options > This Desktop.

For a fuller answer on setting up & using Spaces, see my other related answers at  https://superuser.com/a/1187552/347380 or https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/179403/85275


How to undelete files removed with rm -rf on an APFS SSD disk?

No. It's very unlikely you're going to recover anything.
The reason being is that when you delete something from an SSD, the way it's deleted makes it virtually impossible to recovery.  Basically, when you delete something, it tells the drive to mark the sectors as deleted just like in a traditional hard drive.  However, when subsequently asked to read back the data, the drive will respond back with either zeros or garbage.

How to get the "securely erase" function of Disk Utility on El Capitan & Sierra
Can the data on an MacBook Pro SSD be recovered after formatting using Disk Utility

Note:  It's not impossible to not recover any data, you will need to send it to a lab or to the manufacturer who can get around the mechanisms that secures the data.  However, this is usually very cost prohibitive unless it's for forensics and provided that the sector hasn't been overwritten already.  Unlike magnetic media, it only takes a single write to send the preexisting data into oblivion.


Make a specific tag the default window in OS X Finder

As you have tried, Smart folders/Saved Searches by themselves can't be used as the default location.  However, they can be made into Canned Searches, which you can use for new windows.

Here is what you need to do.

Create a new folder called To-Do (which will become the Canned Search) into your Documents folder.
Switch back to your home folder
Run a search with the To-Do tag as the query and the Search value to either "This Mac" or your home folder.
Click the Save button in the upper right corner
By default, it will be showing the ~/Library/Saved Searches folder.  Instead, switch to the To-Do folder you created in step 1.
Save the search with the name search.savedSearch
Open your Documents folder
Select and Get Info on the To-Do folder
Expand the Name & Extension section
Rename the folder from To-Do to To-Do.cannedSearch and press Return
Enable the Hide Extension checkbox below, which should become available after renaming, then close the Get Info window.
Open the Finder menu and choose Preferences
Click the "New Finder window show" pop-up menu and choose "Other..."
Browse to your Documents folder and choose the "To-Do" entry
Close the Finder Preferences window

Now whenever you open a new Finder window, it will show your To-Do search results.

Hope that helps!


Force a specific version of a framework for a process

A dangerous way to move forward is to use the DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES environment variable to change which python framework the calendar server uses. You will need to edit the launchd plist for the calendar server inside of the Server.app bundle to add your the environment variable. Look in Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/  for the file.
The man pages for launchd.plist(5) and dyld(1) will be useful. Also the otool -L command may help you track down dependancies.
I'm not sure how well the calendar server will run with these changes.


Just hold the Option button when you drag the folder, then will be available the "Keep Both"/"Combine" option so you can merge the folders. Just like the Windows default behavior.

Where did folder "merge" or "keep both" go in OS X 10.9 Mavericks?


How do I save all the stored information on my iPhone 4?

Apple makes backing up iOS devices easy. Just make a backup of it with iTunes or iCloud, as detailed in this Apple guide.

For Photos, just use the Photos app to import them all to your Mac. If you're using a Windows machine, open My Computer, double-click whatever represents your iPhone and copy the folder marked "DCIM" to your computer.


First cycle of MacBook battery: runs at 97% capacity, is this normal?

This seems well within the range I've seen. What really matters is how the voltage decays and you won't know if the battery is performing until you've had it through about 5 charge and discharge cycles.

If you are worried that your battery isn't going to perform, don't. With details like this, you can make a case for a battery swap from Apple before the one year warranty expires. With tools like pmset -g batt and the one you are using, a bad battery is one of the easiest things to diagnose and get fixed on a Mac these days.


As Apple doesn't allow for third-party keyboards outside of apps, you'd have to find (or make) an app that does what you want and design your own keyboard to do that.


Kali Linux bootable USB not showing up in boot menu

If my memory serves me correctly, you can not boot iso9660 images from a partition on Intel Mac computers. At least not directly from the Mac firmware. I am not sure what the author of your linked reference was thinking.
I would recommend following the instructions publish by kali.org. Below are two webpages which together cover the creation of a portable Kali with persistence.
Making a Kali Bootable USB Drive (macOS/OS X)
Adding Persistence to a Kali Linux "Live" USB Drive
If you are still having problems, then update your question and post a comment below.


Touch pad on remote control for AppleTV 4K getting slower to react

➥ Re-pair the remote with the Apple TV device.
I did this inadvertently. After getting even worse behavior, the remote became unusable, even after restarting the Apple TV. So I purchased another Siri Remote.
I paired the new Siri Remote by simply pressing a button, and holding the remote physically close to the Apple TV device. New remote worked well. So out of curiosity, I re-paired the old remote simply by pushing any button and then holding close to Apple TV. Two things happened:

The old Siri Remote works well again! After being re-paired with the Apple TV device, the old remote works just like new. The pairing process seems to have fixed the problem.
The new remote was no longer paired. Pushing any button starts the pairing process. So you cannot have more than one Siri Remote connected at a time. Bummer.

If anyone else is having this problem with their Siri Remote getting cranky and slow, try re-pairing. I do not know how to un-pair an existing remote unfortunately, except by buying the new remote. Rather than buy, perhaps borrow a friend's Siri Remote to pair and then re-pair the old one.


How do I download an older OSX / macos version from the mac app store?

If you've been using a mac long enough to have the desired older osx/macos versions installed under your apple id / itunes account, you can find these downloads by opening up the app store, then option-clicking the purchased tab. See picture below:

Answer found via Paul Goracke (@pgor)


Connecting 2 external displays to 1 port on my Macbook pro

My 2011 MacBook Pro has only a single DisplayPort connector which drives a 24" external monitor, then I use a USB to DVI converter and connect two additional 24" external monitors for a total of three external monitors. The DisplayPort monitor is fast, while the two USB to DVI converter monitors are much slower but sufficient for email and web browsing tasks.


I'm assuming you're using Messages on iOS which offers the option to delete your copy of a message. This assumption may not be needed since you can’t delete messages that iOS sends to another device whether it’s SMS / MMS or iCloud delivering it.

For messages, after a message is sent it doesn't matter what you do it on your side, it doesn't recall or delete the message on the other person's device(s).

You have the option to delete a text or image in order to save space on your device. You don't control the message content on the other device after you press Send.


How do I search the contents of all my Terminal windows

Terminal tabs have two useful AppleScript properties called history and contents.

contents contains the text content of the tab currently visible in its pane (that is, any lines lying within the boundaries of the visible portion the window).

history contains the entire history of the tab's contents, from the moment it came into existence to the moment the property's value is requested.

The AppleScript command to retrieve the entire contents (history) of all tabs across all windows currently open in Terminal is:

    tell application "Terminal" to get the history of every tab of every window

But, as you discovered, history can contain an awful lot of text data, depending on how many tabs you have open and how actively they've been used.

Your approach to dealing with this issue is a good one: looping through each tab/window individually and handling its contents one-by-one.

Your current AppleScript only retrieves the contents of each tab, which is going to be a very small subset of the data contained by each tab (which may be sufficient for your needs).  If you need to deal with the larger quantities of data contained in each tab's history property, this might be a means of doing so:

    set F to POSIX file "/Users/CK/Desktop/Terminal.txt"

    set _f to open for access F with write permission
    set eof _f to 0 -- Erase old contents

    tell application "Terminal"
        -- Loop through every window
        repeat with W in (a reference to windows)
            set [W] to W

            -- Loop through every tab of each window
            repeat with T in (tabs of W)
                set [T] to T

                set R to (a reference to history of T)
                write R & linefeed to _f
            end repeat
        end repeat

    end tell

    close access _f

This should sequentially append the text history of each tab from each window to the text file specified at the top of the script.


How do I delete specific photos from my photo-stream on the Mac or iPhone?

In recent (2017) versions of Photos.app, individual images can be selected and deleted from "My Photo Stream". These photos may also be removed from the local library on the device (depending on exactly how they were deleted: delete key; menu items; contextual menu; etc.), but not on other devices that have imported the images into their local library (which happens automatically with Photos.app on the Mac). Photos that were removed from the local library can be recovered from the "Recently Deleted" folder on the device, and are not added back to "My Photo Stream". Note that the photos visible in "My Photo Stream" can differ between different devices, perhaps due to time lag between local caches and server updates.

In earlier software## Heading ##, it seems that the only way to do this is to turn off Photo Stream, delete the photos from your devices, and turn Photo Stream back on.

From the relevant Apple support page:

To Reset your Photo Stream, follow these instructions:

    From a computer browser, go to icloud.com and sign in.
    Click on your name on the iCloud home page (this is the page that shows all the app icons). If you do not see your name, click the cloud icon in the top left of the page.
    Click Advanced.
    Here you will see the Reset Photo Stream button. Clicking this button will remove all your Photo Stream photos from iCloud. Once removed, they cannot be recovered, but you can re-upload any photos you'd like to restore to your Photo Stream from a Mac or PC.

After resetting your Photo Stream, you can also remove any photos that have been downloaded to your device or computers. To do this, follow the directions below:

    On your iOS device, you can remove photos from the Photo Stream view by turning off Photo Stream and then optionally turning it back on. You can do this at Settings > iCloud > Photo Stream.
    If you added any Photo Stream photos to other albums or the Camera Roll on your iOS device, you can locate and delete these photos manually, if desired.

    On your Mac, you can clear cached photos from the Photo Stream view in iPhoto or Aperture by turning off Photo Stream and then optionally turning it back on. You can do this in each application by visiting Preferences > Photo Stream.
    If you had Automatic Import enabled in your Photo Stream settings, your Photo Stream photos were also imported to your iPhoto or Aperture Library, and will remain after you disable Photo Stream. If you would like to delete any of these photos from your library, you can to do so manually any time you like.

    On your PC, you can remove Photo Stream photos by deleting them from your designated Photo Stream Download Folder. By default, this folder is located at C:\Users\Apple\Pictures\Photo Stream\My Photo Stream.


Excel for Mac 2011 calculation results equaling zero are formatting as a positive zero value instead of zero suppressed zero?

Unfortunately, without a sample spreadsheet, we need to start with a debugging exercise-- is this a formatting problem or a formula problem?  Here's one way to approach the debugging.

Set up an "indicator" or verification cell formula to verify:  is the running balance cell equal to Zero (TRUE or FALSE)? Is it greater than Zero (again, TRUE or FALSE)?    If you can verify that the value, displayed as "0.00" is in fact greater than zero -- you can trace why you have a formula leaving you with a very small value and not zero.  (You may have a very small rounding error, e.g. add 1/3 and subtract 0.33 -- balance is non-zero.)
If the cell check confirms the  cell is equal to Zero, yet is being formatted incorrectly:  tackle the in-cell formatting followed by the conditional formatting (if any).
First, check carefully your custom number-formatting string.  Reset your formatting string to a "known good" string -- the generic ones provided in the Format:Numbers box.
Finally, check conditional formatting by breaking down to one (1) condition at a time to isolate the condition which isn't working.


How to prevent MacBook pro heating when using external monitor, which causes the internal monitor to flicker after hours of work

You must take it in as it’s a physical issue
Yes, it is inconvenient and time consuming, but there is no software hack that’s going to fix this. So, to get the tech to see the problem, video it. Let them know that it can take hours to manifest, but if you have video of the problem, it becomes very difficult for them to dispute your claim. Additionally, you can try to “speed up” the failure by stressing the GPU with some benchmarking software.
As for verifying it after the fix, the same stress test can be used to quickly determine if the fix was successful.
It’s likely not the cable
Yes, flex gate is an issue, but I’ve never seen cable/temperature related issues. I would be more inclined to believe it’s substandard components like a capacitor, resistor, or transistor that’s at fault here.  A lot of the 2007 through 2010 Macs with GPU issues were due to substandard capacitors.  Put “larger” ones in and the issues went away. As for the cable, the issue usually manifests when opening the lid past a certain point, regardless of temperature. The other cable issue is that Apple decided to put the backlight pin (48V) adjacent to a data pin (3V) that went directly to the CPU/GPU. If this was your issue, you’d know it as your Mac would be dead.
Avoid fan control software
Unless you’re planning on overriding your fans to keep everything cool at the expense of noise, these gimmicks do nothing but cause your system to run slower. If your system heats up and needs to cool off, the SMC will spin up the fan. If that’s overridden, the OS has no choice but to slow things down so it can allow the CPU to cool.
As for the fan’s “lifespan” it’s really of very little consequence.  Apple doesn’t make fans, they OEM them from another manufacturer.  You can easily get replacements for $10 to $15USD. They’re also super easy to replace that DIY is very much doable; if you must take it to a technician, you’re looking at 15 to 30 minutes of labor, tops.  Compared to a logic board, a fan is less than a negligible cost.


How to disassociate AppleID from an old iPhone?

Here is the correct answer for you. It is currently the highest-voted answer to a very similar question which was asked previously.

Go into Settings > Messages and halfway down choose Send and Receive. Tap your AppleID on the top of the page, then choose Sign Out.

If you really are giving away your phone there are several other places you ought to sign out from as well:

Settings > FaceTime
Settings > iCloud
Settings > iTunes and App Store

If you'd prefer to reset the phone to its factory defaults, wiping all your data, apps, music, etcetera, then use Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content And Settings. Then the phone will be brand new like you just bought it from the shop.


OS X 10.9.3 Update causing coreservicesd lag

This is what fixed the problem for me:

Rebuild the Quicklook cache (in Terminal: qlmanage -r && qlmanage -r cache)
Rebuild Spotlight index (sudo mdutil -E /)

I'm not exactly sure which one of those two really caused the problem. You can try them separately.
It takes a while to rebuild both the cache/index, but afterwards Finder worked as expected.