Improve applescript to open New Private Window with Safari

Try the following:

tell application "Safari"
    activate
    delay 0.5
end tell
tell application "System Events"
    open location "http://localhost:38"
    delay 0.5
    keystroke "w" using command down
    keystroke "n" using {shift down, command down}
end tell

Now here is the code I'd choose to use as it checks to see if Safari is already open and if yes, just opens a new Private window. If not then it works as I believe you intended, which is to close the opening window and then open a new Private window.

on is_running(appName)
    tell application "System Events" to (name of processes) contains appName
end is_running

set isRunning to is_running("Safari")

if isRunning then
    tell application "Safari" to activate
    delay 0.5
    tell application "System Events" to keystroke "n" using {shift down, command down}
else
    tell application "Safari" to activate
    delay 1
    tell application "System Events"
        keystroke "w" using command down
        keystroke "n" using {shift down, command down}
    end tell
end if

Note: The value of the delay may need to be adjusted for the speed of your system.  As coded the present values of delay work fine on my system.  The value is in seconds or fractions thereof as a decimal value.

By the way, I see no need to open a new Tab to "a URL that cannot be found" as I believe my method herein, in the block of code directly above, achieves your intended goal, both quickly and without as you put it, "see that the Safari window is launched in private mode without so much "macro" like appearance.".

By the way, the code in your question could be reduced to the example below and would actually run a bit faster then the way you presently have it coded.

tell application "Safari"
    activate
end tell
tell application "System Events"
    open location "http://localhost:38"
    click menu item "New Private Window" of menu "File" of menu bar 1 of process "Safari"
    click menu item "Failed to open page" of menu "Window" of menu bar 1 of process "Safari"
    click menu item "Close Window" of menu "File" of menu bar 1 of process "Safari"
end tell

However my first (and second) example, at the top of this answer, acts directly without seeing the menus open and close as it's not using click events but key presses.  Also while the condensed example of your code is just that, I wouldn't use it without appropriate delay statements where applicable.

In the end, I'd choose to use the second block of code shown in this answer.


This seems like an effective solution. A single Automator Run AppleScript action with the following script:

set text item delimiters to linefeed
set my_list to "/Users/username/Documents/URL_list.txt"
tell application "Google_Chrome" to set new_items to (get the URL of the active tab in window 1) as string
do shell script "echo  " & quoted form of new_items & " >>  " & quoted form of my_list

display dialog new_items with title "Added to the list"

Save as a service
Service receives selected URLs
Input is only URLs (probably doesn't matter)
Tested and working in both Safari and Google Chrome

If using Safari change the get the URL of the active tab in window 1 to get the URL of the current tab in window 1. Just to clarify: use active tab for Chrome and use current tab for Safari.
If you have several windows and tabs open and want to grab every URL to populate a list: tell application "Google_Chrome" to set new_items to (get the URL of the tabs in every window) as string


Bootcamp + Windows 8.1 + Apple Macbook 2011

I can say it's not memory. I have a new MBP since 1 week, with a SSD under WIN64 8.1 and 16 GB of memory and exactly the same behavior, instead maybe it's not permanently, maybe 100 % during 10 s every 5 or 10 minutes.


Apple "Strength" Commercial featuring Fitness Apps

According to Apple's webpage for the video, Strength, it is Seven Minute Workout


How do I get my (lost) device's serial number from its UDID?

I found one way.

I am an iOS developer, and I once used this iPad for development. Xcode has an Organizer window, which keeps tracks of the devices I used for development. The iPad appears on the list, and it also displays the serial number.

This of course only works if you have developed with the device using Xcode. I wonder if there is a more standard way to get the serial number.


You just have to hit cmdshift. once to get all invisible files and folders (either hidden by a prepended dot or the hidden attribute) in the "open" dialog. This persists even after navigating to other folders in the same window.

To see and select another invisible file or folder to complete the comparison you have to hit the shortcut again.

Before the shortcut:

After the shortcut:


Is there a SVN software that'd allow to work with a remote copy?

This may be a silly to suggest, but Nautilus on Ubuntu Linux has mounting of network drives, and ssh repositories and such built it very nicely. I used to edit code using this method with gedit. As for the mac, I would say that Transmit with its MacFUSE plugin is probably what I would use. What error are you getting?


Can CCC clone a Fusion drive and restore it to a new SSD?

In answer to your question: YES.

By way of explanation... CCC makes a copy of the file system, which is independent of what physical drives the file system is on. for example you could make a clone of a boot drive on a RAID-5 array and then restore it to a single drive with no problems.

The file system doesn't change just because it is on a different kind of physical media.


Application asks to allow incoming communications but is already allowed in firewall preferences

Without more details, it is difficult to guess what might be causing this.

The first step I would take in troubleshooting this is to create a new user account; log into that account and install the application; and see if the behavior is the same via the new account - if it is, then the problem lies in the application itself; if not, then the problem lies in your user account.


How to stop Siri from playing undownloaded purchased songs

I do not know about a better solution than logging out of the Apple Store. It will prevent Siri from accessing your purchased songs library from there.


Turn main screen off when watching full screen video on TV

Decrease brightness to the lowest level would be the best option for me.

There are many other solitons in this thread.


Junk mail filtering ignoring "Sender is in my Contacts"

This turned out to be spam filtering by the ISP (Comcast), not Mail.app. Since they use IMAP, the ISP's Junk folder is sync'ed with the Mac's Junk folder, so when the ISP filters it it looks just like the client filtering it.

I went to the ISP's mail settings and disabled their spam filter, and the problem went away.


OS X updater claims installation is successful, but new OS is not installed

This is the information I missed. I had downloaded a .dmg file, this installs the 'Install El Capitan' app (containing the full 5 GB installer) in the Applications folder. I was expecting it to install the OS instead.

The linked instructions show how to create a bootable installer on an external drive from the .dmg.

connect an external drive
Use the 'createinstallmedia' command in Terminal

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app

You can then boot the machine from the external drive and use it to update the OS on your normal boot volume.

The drawback of this approach is that it erases the external drive.


Quicksilver will not open on my Mac (OS 10.6). Can you help?

Here is the excerpt from Quicksilver's User Manual that should deal with your problem (note the "~" denotes your user account home directory):

The Quicksilver.app is usually in /Applications/ or ~/Applications/. When first used, the following per user files and folders are created:

~/Library/Application Support/Quicksilver/
Actions.plist - list of installed actions
Catalog.plist - the configured catalog sources
Mnemonics.plist - learned inputs, defaults and abbreviations
PlugIns.plist - the list of available plug-ins and how they are configured
Triggers.plist - the configured triggers
Caches/ - another cache folder
Indexes/ - folder of indexed items
PlugIns/ - installed plug-ins
Shelves/ - where items on the Shelf and clipboards are stored
Actions/ - not installed but create this folder to add scripts that implement actions
Templates/ - not installed but create this folder to use with the Make New... action
~/Library/Preferences/com.blacktree.Quicksilver.plist - stores various preferences and internal state
~/Library/Caches/Quicksilver/ - stores various state in binary files

To do a complete uninstall use the Uninstall Quicksilver button in the Application preferences, or remove the above files and folders.

It can also be useful to move or rename these while trouble-shooting a problem. If you are having trouble installing plug-ins check that the owner of ~/Library/Application Support/Quicksilver/ is the current user and not System. If it’s not, change it and restart Quicksilver.


Keyboard shortcut for current window position

Slate is an extremely customizable keyboard window management tool. It can take a while to get setup (although there are some example configs) but it's totally worth it.

Edit:

Slate has seemly abandoned at this point. I have switched to Phoenix which is very similar and more actively developed.


Looking for a manga reader for the original iPad hardware


Applescript: Waiting till AFTER QuickTime Movie Recording Window is Active

I'm trying to resize a Quicktime Movie Recording Window--only after it's active. Is this possible? The below script does work––if I hardcode the delay time.

Preamble/disclaimer:

▸ "active" is a vague term that has more than one meaning: I interpreted first to mean "focussed", then to mean "frontmost", and then to mean "exists"; but running your script up to the point where it creates a new movie recording, it turns out that the window created is immediately focussed, immediately frontmost, and, of course, it necessarily exists.

▸ It's not clear why you point out that you "hardcode" the delay time: was this because you would prefer to set the delay at run time, which implies being able to predict its value ahead of time; or was it because you don't want to use a delay at all, which would be a shame because that's exactly the way to do it (illustrated below).

The perceived problem

Looking through your script and testing it on my Macbook, it appears what you're wanting to set the size and position of the window that is created for the new movie recording, but finding that AppleScript will set these properties before the window is fully initialised (into a state where it is ready to record), during which time QuickTime resizes the window to accommodate the input source, thus "undoing" your adjustments.

Your script, as it is, doesn't in fact work, as it tests for the window's existence before advancing the script, and, as mentioned above in my preamble, the window exists immediately, which is to say that it gets created before it gets fully initialised (which is actually a really stupid thing for Apple to have done).  Therefore, when I ran it on my system, the issue described above is annoyingly persistent.

So, to me, the problem seems to how to workaround this jarring behaviour of seeing a window created one size, then grow, then shrink, and then grow again.
 Ideally, if it were me, I would like the window to just appear, set at the size and position of my choosing.

Assuming this describes your objective too, then...

Suggested solution

NB. If you just need to know the time, and not especially how the clock works, skip to the end where there's a script.  But, if you encounter any problems, do read the instruction manual before picking up the phone.

Firstly, we're not going to use System Events to adjust the frame of a window in an application that is scriptable, because scriptable applications provide a means to do this already, using the bounds property of a window object.  It is a four-item list of integers that equate to the coordinates of the window's top-left and its bottom-right corners.  Thus, if you wish to set the size of some window to {w, h} and position its top-left corner at coordinates {x, y}, you would do this:

set the bounds of some window to {x, y, x + w, y + h}

Secondly, there's no point hinging our script's delay time on a window's existence, because it will already exist on most systems.  If, on your system, you do find that an error is thrown when you reference the window of the new movie recording that tells you it can't find that particular window, i.e. error "QuickTime Player got an error: Can’t get window \"Movie Recording\"." number -1728 from window "Movie Recording", then you indeed do need to test for its existence.  Remember, however, this only that its properties are now gettable and settable, but not that this is the appropriate time to get and/or set them.

Therefore, thirdly, we need a new condition to test for that reliable tells us that we can adjust the window's properties and be confident QuickTime is done re-adjusting them itself, i.e. how can we tell that the window is done initialising ?

The answer to that is discovered like so:

Retrieve all the properties of the window and its document immediately after creating a new movie recording;
Instigate a delay of any length, but one that's definitely long enough to give the window time to initialise fully, like delay 5 or delay 10 (depending on your patience);
Retrieve all the properties of the window and its document a second time;
Compare.

Only two properties change between the times before and after the window's initialisation: the bounds property of the window (obviously, since this is what's annoying us); and the natural dimensions property of its document.

We can't reliably use the bounds property of the window because we won't know its initial or final values (either one alone would have been suitable for a viable test).  Thankfully, natural dimensions happens to sounds like a property that is probably size-related.  As it turns out, it's an extremely helpful size-related property: it doesn't tell us what the size of the window is at any point, but it does tell us the pixel resolution of the document's video input source.

If you wonder what QuickTime is doing that takes it so long to initialise a window...  It's looking for, and then loading, the feed from the video input source.  Therefore, when it first creates the window, the value of the document's natural dimensions is set at {0, 0}, i.e. there is no input source at present.  After everything is done and the movie is ready to record, it sets the natural dimensions to its final value.

This is when you know it's a good time to adjust the bounds of the window.

However...  This only eliminates one of the two jarring window resizes.  The solution to get rid of something you don't want on your screen is to hide it from view, or better still, make sure it doesn't appear on your screen in the first place.

There are three ways to open an application with AppleScript, and none of them involve a call to do shell script "open ...":

activate: This is the command everyone knows, because it's the one everyone uses, and so it's pervasive, and common, but this rarely means something is the best.  It opens an application if it isn't already open, makes it the frontmost application, bringing it into focus.  With some applications, it also triggers either a new window to be created if one doesn't exist already (some browsers, for example), or an "Open..." dialog to let you pick a document on your computer to open, if one isn't already (TextEdit, Preview, etc.).
launch: This command is underused because many people aren't aware that an application doesn't need to be at the front in order to accept AppleScript commands.  It opens an application, and places it and its windows on the desktop, but not at the front, and it doesn't steal focus.  This means that, whatever application one is currently working in will not get disturbed.
run: This is a command that, in fairness, isn't suitable for all applications, and for those that it is, is often called implicitly without the scripter realising.  That's because its purpose is to open an application without physical cues; in fact, if your dock doesn't have the indicator marking running applications, there would be zero visual trace of the application at all.  It opens, but in the background.  It's not frontmost, it's not focussed, it's not visible, which means its windows are hidden.  But most Apple applications don't need to be visible to be scripted.  However, if the application is already running and this command is called explicitly, it makes the application visible (but not frontmost).

Therefore, assuming that you are opening QuickTime where it wasn't previously running, this script implements all of the above:

property position : {1087, 497}
property size : {350, 621}

tell application "QuickTime Player"
    # if it is running then quit

    set doc to new movie recording
    repeat until doc's natural dimensions ≠ {0, 0}
        delay 0.5
    end repeat

    set win to the first window where its document = doc
    set {{x, y}, {w, h}} to {position, my size}
    set win's bounds to {x, y, x + w, y + h}

    activate
end tell

YES, there is a use of the delay command.  It's needed but it's not random: it's set to a minimal value purely to slow the rate at which AppleScript re-checks the natural dimensions property, which is a far cry from simply "guesstimating" a fixed delay that many people like to do in their scripts.

You will also notice it doesn't seem to use the run command I mentioned.  But hopefully, you recall that it can also get invoked implicitly, and this is one of those times: if QuickTime isn't already running, then simply starting the script with new movie recording will have stuff initialising in the background.  It becomes visible by sending the activate command (but don't forget, this isn't necessary, even for the actual recording and saving processes, so it's entirely possible to do a full screen recording, save it to a file, and close QuickTime without ever having to see that it was even open).

The line commented out is an optional extra to cater for instances where QuickTime is already open.  In that situation, even if it wasn't visible previously, the implicit run call will make the program visible.  However, quitting the application first, then running it will keep it incognito, providing there are no open documents that first need saving.

I really hope that's what you were after, because that was a long answer for me to write, and a long one for you to read (sorry about that).


Which version of OS X should I update my Mac to?

According to Everymac the last OS that machine is capable of running is 10.11 El Capitan.

As to which OS you choose to put on it, that will be dictated by which you have previously 'purchased' from the App Store. You can only download OS versions that are in your purchase history, with the exception of the latest OS - in your case El Capitan, for which there is an exception made for machines unable to run the current OS, Sierra.

If you choose any intermediate OS, you would need to find a friend who has that installer.


How to chian two External Monitors with Macbook Air 2017 13"

The 2017 MacBook Air does not natively support dual external displays. When you connect a monitor through the mini-DisplayPort, you'll only get a single display. Even when using the splitter - you'll always get a single display mirrored across both monitors.

The 3-in-1 mini-DisplayPort adapter is meant for converting the DisplayPort signal to one of three other signals - but only one at a time!

I would suggest using your existing adapter to connect the HDMI monitor to the MacBook Air using the mini-DisplayPort on the MacBook Air. Then buy a DisplayLink VGA adapter for connecting the VGA monitor to the MacBook Air's USB-port. Note that this display won't have the same performance as the built-in display and the HDMI monitor - so if you're using this for intense gaming applications, you'll probably want a different computer.


I looked around a bit more and found https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT203361 in the question of Problems connecting to iTunes store . For the last few months, my computer has been having an issue with date & time (when I restart it moves the clock ahead). Recently, I stopped changing it back, which is probably why iTunes Store stopped working . Once I changed the time, iTunes Store worked again.


MacPro after wake-up takes ages before Wi-Fi connects?

Did you try to delete your wifi settings?

Go go to System Preferences > Network > Use the (-) to delete wifi. Use the (+) to add a new wifi setting.
Do you use additional network settings e.g. Ethernet or iPhone USB? If so, try to disable them or set the Service Order accordingly.
It could be a network issue. Maybe your wifi DHCP Server is slowing things done.


How to download a list of URLs saved in a text file on iOS?

There are at least a couple of ways. Unfortunately there is no command line interface on iPadOS so WGET is going to be impossible to use. And unless the text file is ENORMOUS there is no need to zip the text file, though there are zip utilities for iOS.
iCloud allows for the synchronization of data between apps on both the Mac, iPhone and iPad. If you have iCloud drive you could paste the URLs into a pages.app document and save it there. Then you can open it on pages.app on your iPad.
If, like me, you don't have iCloud drive set up you can log into iCloud.com on your Mac and paste that text into a new notes document. This will then sync to all of your iCloud devices, including your iPad.
If you have a blog you can upload the text file to the blog and then go to that file on your iPad:
http://myblogwebaddress.com/textfileiwant.txt
Also if you have iCloud drive you can put the file in one of your iCloud folders and then use the files.app on your iPad to access the text file.
There are other ways but, hopefully, that will get you started.


MacBook with a new hard drive fails to start

Apparently RAM I installed months ago didn't want to play nice with the new SDD. Switching back to the old ram got the computer to boot no problem. (Weird, because I previously had no issues with the RAM before upgrading the SDD)


On your iPhone in the Apple Watch app, scroll down to Passcode.  Create a Passcode then enable “Turn Passcode On”.  Scroll down and enable Wrist Detection. With that enabled, anytime your Apple Watch is not on your wrist, passcode needs to be entered to access any of the watch functions.
However, if they are hell-bent on accessing your watch information, while you are wearing the watch… nothing is stopping them from cutting your arm off and using your watch while it’s still on your wrist LOL


How to get rid of the "Other..."-Account on the login screen?

Have you tried the sudo /usr/bin/defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow SHOWOTHERUSERS_MANAGED -bool false in the terminal? This turns off showing some of the other user types.

Doing some additional research, it looks like this has been somewhat addressed in this post on https://superuser.com/questions/70156/hide-users-from-mac-os-x-snow-leopard-logon-screen


What can I do when "Find My iPhone" won't turn off?

Enter the Settings menu of your device.
Tap the name that you see at the top of the menu.
You should see your available devices and the ability to change personal settings. Tap iCloud.
Scroll down until you see “Find My iPhone” or the green radar icon and tap it.
You can toggle the feature on and off here using the button labeled “Find My iPhone”.

https://www.ubreakifix.com/blog/turn-off-find-iphone


Need help finding out why a file (test_find.pyc) opens at startup

You could look in these locations if there is an alias to that. If not I would just delete the file.

/Library/StartupItems/
/Library/LaunchDaemons/
/Library/LaunchAgents/
~/Library/LaunchAgents/

For LaunchAgents there could be a plist file related.


This is because Full Keyboard Access is turned on. To turn it off, go to
System Preferences, Keyboard, Shortcuts tab, and select Text boxes and lists only at the bottom.

Alternatively, Control-F7 will toggle this.


Videos have audio on right channel only, how can I make it sound through both channels?

You can use the Universal Access preferences to play the same audio in both channels:


Is it possible to recover a formatted macOS partition

There are several professional, commercial data recovery options.

One is DiskWarrior, as an external boot media, which can recover corrupted file systems. However, as your file system was completely wiped, you will need to do block-by-block scanning of the raw data.

DataRescue is the tool of choice here. Starting it from a different Mac, connect your current machine via FireWire or Thunderbolt in target disk mode (start the current machine while pressing and holding the t key). It will show up as an external drive on the other Mac. Select the drive as source in DataRescue and run a full scan. This will take hours. After it finishes, you can choose which of the reconstructed files should be saved to a new location.

Direct manipulation on-disk is not possible, especially not now that a new OS appears to have been already installed. Without the partition table and metadata information, data is just on the disk but in an unusable way. That's why modern filesystems save the metadata information to several locations on the disk, so it is more likely to be recoverable even when the sector containing the superblock is damaged. But wiping the information manually wouldn't even help there.

So your best bet is reconstructing files with DataRescue. You could also ask your cloud backup provider to send you your data on disk. It will be quite expensive but if the data is important, just do it and consider it a hard-learned lesson for the future.


Preventing an iPhone to send automatically as SMS only when it's to a foreign number

It's an option similar to one I've previously searched in vain for - short answer is there is no granular control over whether or not to send as SMS.

The safest option is likely to be to simply disable 'Send as SMS' altogether.
Settings > Messages


The simplest way to transfer photos from an iPhone to PC selectively (not sync-all)

Windows 7 should see your connected iPhone as a Photo Camera. Just use the same software that you'd use for importing individual photos from a regular USB-connected camera. Also make sure to have your phone "trust" your computer by turning on the phone and selecting "trust" from the pop-up.

On OS X, you can use the built-in Image Capture utility (or iPhoto or Aperture if you have those).


Use caps-lock to lock fn key or other way to lock fn key?

To address the last point in your post, "Can I toggle the option in the Keyboard preference pane with a script?", here is the AppleScript code that will toggle the state of the "Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys" checkbox on the Keyboard tab of the Keyboard System Preferences.

tell application "System Preferences"
    activate
    set the current pane to pane id "com.apple.preference.keyboard"
    reveal anchor "keyboardTab" of pane id "com.apple.preference.keyboard"
end tell

tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
    click checkbox 1 of tab group 1 of window 1
end tell

quit application "System Preferences"

Note:  This code was tested under OS X 10.8.5. It may need to be adjusted for later versions of OS X.

You could use this code in an AppleScript application that could be placed in the Dock or in an Automator Service Workflow that could be assigned a Keyboard Shortcut, etc. If you need help with that, just ask.


How to fix blank icons for Download and Documents stacks in the Dock

Try removing PDFs from the stack's contents. Source

If that doesn't work, try backing up and removing ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist and relaunching the Dock (killall -HUP Dock).


I've had success with doing one or more of the following:
Content Caching

Set up Content Caching

Go to System Preferences > Sharing.
Turning Content Caching.
Restarting the Mac.
Apparently Content Caching reduces bandwidth usage and speeds up installation on supported devices by storing software updates on the computer.
We made sure that the Cache Size was unlimited - click on Options. And we also made sure that the option selected beside Cache was All Content.

Reboot
Run the Software Update check again
Once downloaded, go through the normal steps of upgrading macOS

Official Standalone Installer

If content caching fails, download the installer from the Mac App Store

Call Spotlight (Cmd-space) and type "app store," then hit return
Search for "big sur" at the top left hand side
Select VIEW on the top result of macOS Big Sur
Then choose GET

Once downloaded, go through the normal steps of upgrading macOS

Terminal
First-party software can be updated from the terminal using softwareupdate.

List available updates: softwareupdate -l
Install all available updates: sudo softwareupdate -ia
As of macOS Catalina 10.15, fetch the full installer: softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 11.2.3
Once downloaded, go through the normal steps of upgrading macOS

Semi-official Standalone Installer
Another route is pulling the standalone installer from Apple's CDN via an open-source Python script called installinstallmacos.py.
Install git

If git isn't installed or raises a xcrun: error, install/update git

Homebrew install: brew install git
Manual download and install

Setup script
# create git directory and download git repo
mkdir -p ~/git && cd $_
git clone https://github.com/munki/macadmin-scripts.git

# change to the new directory
cd ~/git/macadmin-scripts/

# make executable (may not be necessary) then run the script
chmod +x installinstallmacos.py
sudo ./installinstallmacos.py

Choose OS and download installer (output edited for brevity)
installinstallmacos.py - get macOS installers from the Apple software catalog

 #      ProductID    Version    Build   Post Date  Title
 1      001-15219    10.15.5  19F2200  2020-06-15  macOS Catalina
 2      001-68446    10.15.7    19H15  2020-11-11  macOS Catalina
 3      001-04366    10.15.4  19E2269  2020-05-04  macOS Catalina
 4      071-08935     11.2.2    20D80  2021-03-01  macOS Big Sur
 5      061-86291    10.15.3  19D2064  2020-03-23  macOS Catalina
 6      041-91758    10.13.6    17G66  2019-10-19  macOS High Sierra
 7      041-88800    10.14.4  18E2034  2019-10-23  macOS Mojave
 8      071-14766     11.2.3    20D91  2021-03-08  macOS Big Sur

Choose a product to download (1-16): 8

Once downloaded, it will be archived in a DMG
Open the DMG and go through the normal steps of upgrading macOS


Photos on old iphone being transferred to new iphone

Welcome to Ask Different. It sounds like you two are using the same iCloud account. Go to Settings -> iCloud and look at the email address listed at the top. If you are both signed in to the same account, you will see each others' photos. This also poses a problem for iMessage. If you two are using the same account, one of you needs to create a separate iCloud account, sign out on one device, and sign in with the new account.


Unfortunately not—there is no way to know that without jailbreaking.


Turning Caps-Lock into Control is not permanent on MacBook Pro Retina

One workaround is to get Seil, which is mainly used for remapping the Caps Lock key.

Check the first box, Change Caps Lock, and change the "keycode" on the right to 59 (the code for left control).


Where are the OS X Language Files for Times and Dates?

It depends on where your looking and the relative application your using.

If your talking about the ones in an application, they are bundled in the application themselves. In the example here for Skype, the .lproj is bundled in the Resources directory

 /Applications/Skype.app/Contents/Resources

The OS also stores the .lproj files in their respective bundles. By running this command in the terminal you can see where they all are, although you may need to filter a little bit more.

 find .  -name "*.lproj"

The command will render something like this:

The same can be done for .strings,  although you may have some difficulty searching through them all.

find .  -name "*.strings"


Scripting on iPad - accessing features like accelerometer, GPS, etc

techBASIC 3.1 supports the following connection and build-in sensor technologies:

Bluetooth LE.
WiFi via TCP/IP, HTTP, FTP.
HiJack (An A-D converter that plugs into the headphone jack).
Built-in accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer.
Access to composite information for heading, location (GPS/hotspot/cell tower), elevation, direction of travel.
Send emails (with user intervention).
Take photos or access the photo library.

It does not support:

The serial port. (It was implemented, but Apple would not allow this support to be released.)
Classic Bluetooth.
Receive emails. (Apple won't allow this.)
Send/receive text messages.


What is the difference between AppleScript version and AppleScript Studio version?

Your first line of code simply returns the version of the AppleScript language currently in use. You can also see it under Script Editor → Preferences → General → Default Language.

As for AppleScript Studio, this is what Wikipedia has to say about it:

  AppleScript Studio
  A framework for attaching Cocoa interfaces to
  AppleScript applications, part of the Xcode package in Mac OS X 10.4
  and 10.5, now deprecated in favor of AppleScriptObjC.

— From AppleScript: the definitive guide, 2nd edition

In essence, it was what you used for creating AppleScript applications in Xcode.


Voice control custom command with variable?

I've got something workable by using "Run Workflow" and the following Apple Script":
on run {input, parameters}
    activate application "IntelliJ IDEA CE"
    tell application "System Events" to key code 123 using {option down} -- left arrow for back word
    tell application "System Events" to keystroke ":"
    tell application "System Events" to key code 124 using {option down} -- right arrow for fwd word
    -- https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/36943/how-do-i-automate-a-key-press-in-applescript
    return input
end run

I just have to say the word "foo" as normal then speak a subsequent command "to keyword", which converts the previous word to a keyword using a sequence of three key presses as above.


Convert entire iTunes library to MP3 then delete old version?

I would select all the music you want converted, and make a playlist out of them. Next convert the files. Then select all the songs in your new playlist and delete them from your library by pressing Option Delete (OS X) or Shift Delete (Windows).

Additionally, I hope you aren't converting lossy music to MP3, as that would produce lesser quality files for no benefit.


Can I share my iMac's internet to iPhone or iPad over USB?

This works on macOS 10.12 and iOS 10 without needing a jailbreak or other app.
Later macOS 10.13 enhanced this feature as part of asset caching and Apple Configurator 2 features for multiple iOS devices sharing the Mac network. This is out of the box support, built in to the OS with no extra first party apps or modifications needed.
Before iOS 10 and macOS 10.13, USB tethering only worked in one direction or for one device. Before macOS 10.12 - internet service used to flow out of iOS but not in to iOS from a Mac over USB.


Go to Settings app → General → iPad Storage, and you'll be able to see the total storage capacity of your iPad at the top as XX GB of YY GB Used.

Here, XX is the space currently used, and YY is the total storage capacity of your iPad mini.

As of now, across different models, iPad mini comes with either 16, 32, 64 or 128 GB of storage capacity.


My iPhone charge percentage jumps dramatically

Non smooth charging or consumption indicates a hardware failure - usually battery related. If it's in warranty - that usually ends up the first attempt to remedy the symptom.


Nevermind, answered my own question. Stackoverflow had a post that I missed that described how the /usr/share/terminfo folder can get corrupted. Downloaded a replacement from that post, and the error message went away.


Parental Controls Always Allow does not work

This gave me enough info to fix the Minecraft launcher.  The prior answer works, but has an ugly menu name, which my son would pester me about.  So instead, I fixed the Minecraft.app setup.

In a nutshell, in terminal:

cd /Applications/Minecraft/Contents/MacOS
mv JavaApplicationStub Minecraft
cat > JavaApplicationStub << EOF
#!/bin/sh

exec `dirname $0`/Minecraft "$@"
EOF
chmod +x ./JavaApplicationStub

Basically, it would appear that ParentalControls expects the application being run to match the name of the executable (which is not the case with the distributed app: It's Minecraft.app, and JavaApplicationStub), so by moving the executable to match the app name, it works.  I had to create a shell script to actually exec the executable because I got "Path not found" otherwise.

This seemed to work.

I only put this here because it worked for me.  If you do not understand the code block again, please keep in mind you might have to re-download the app (or make a copy first).


How do I change the default alarm sound when creating an alarm with Siri?

I had the same issue. Did a hard reset (power and volume down until the Apple logo appeared. That'd be power and home button for all other non-7 devices.) It fixed the problem. It was driving me absolutely crazy.


How to enable searching inside Google Drive/Docs using Spotlight?

I don't believe that Spotlight is technically able to index the content inside the Google Drive files, at least not files that were created from within Google Drive's web interface. For example, if I go to drive.google.com and create a new file (e.g. a Document) and insert some content (text) in the document, that new file representing that document will show up in my Mac's directory (i.e. /Users/myname/Google Drive/filename.gdoc). However if I take that file and open it in a text editor, I can see that the only content in the file is a link to the online file and some other information. The actual content of the google document is not in the file that's on my computer. Since the content of the document isn't in the file that's on my computer, there's nothing for Spotlight to index.

I think this is really unfortunate. The idea that I could use Spotlight to search through all of the files that I created online is really great, but it appears that Google Drive isn't downloading the content of the files, so there is nothing for Spotlight to index. As you noted Precipitate provided that functionality, but it doesn't work any more and it's no longer developed.

One non-spotlight alternative is to use the app Alfred to search:

Google Drive Search with Alfred App

All this really is is a shortcut to open your google drive in a web browser and initiate a search- not really what you (or I) want.

There is also an app called Found that is able to search Google Drive, but that company was purchased and the app is no longer being developed. I haven't tried the most recent version (which is from 2013), and the reviews on macupdate.com are mixed about its current functionality, but it might be worth a try.


Git repository workspace folder not displayed in Finder

First, you're right when you say that the problem comes from the .service extension of your folder.

To browse your project from Finder, you can right-click on the folder and click on "Display Bundle Contents", right under "Open".


Is it possible to restore songs from an iPod to iTunes?

There is no end to the people that will offer to sell you some software to do this.

Here is a long list:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991

There should be several free ways to do this including this one:
http://download.cnet.com/PhoneTrans/3000-18553_4-75736709.html

Many advertising free downloads but are crippled and will only allow a few songs at a time.

I don't use windows so I cannot recommend one or the other but I would not pay for something you can find for free if you just look a little bit.

Good Luck


How can I install an SSD on my new Lion MBP w/out install disks?

The recovery partition on your original disk was the only supported method until the Recovery Disk Assistant was made available.

The bulk of this answer was written before the official steps were published - so I would recommend the Recovery Disk Assistant even though HT4718 steps help understand what is happening under the hood.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

The easiest is to get a drive enclosure or adapter and re-run the Lion installer from the Recovery HD and install Lion onto the new SSD.

It likely won't matter if the drive with the recovery HD is on an external bus or an internal bus, but I would keep the original drive inside the mac until you have Lion installed on your SSD connected to an external port.

Boot off the SSD to test it and run migration from the internal drive to the SSD before doing swapping the drives inside your mac.

It still boggles my mind that any mac will ship without some sort of reinstall media. Look in the center of the box, under where the mac sat. Call apple if your media is missing so they can ship it to you or point out how they want you to reinstall the OS on a new drive. Your mac's hard drive is listed as a consumer replaceable part, so they have to provide you with the steps to do that.


If I lose access to my account after enabling two factor authentication, will I lose my entire developer account?

Per the Apple Developer Two-Factor Authentication FAQ's:

  What if I lose access to my trusted devices and trusted phone number?

  You can request account recovery to regain access to your account.

  Account recovery might take a few days or longer, depending on the specific account information you can provide to verify your identity.


iPhone 5c says I am out of storage when I'm not

I had the same problem - there was 1.6 GB free but it would not let me take pictures because the memory was supposedly full.  Restarting the phone did not help.  I just connected the phone to the PC and it synced in iTunes and then it was fine.


This post explains a way of doing exactly what you want. It's and old post, though, but it should still work.


What is the MAX pixel estate I can get from a MBAir 2011 with multiple displays?

As has been said in the other answer, you are restricted to a single external display with the built-in hardware.

You can however add extra external displays using USB based display adapters. For example I use one of the DisplayLink adapters. Some of the DisplayLink adapters can do 2048x1152. There will be a limit to how many USB adapters make sense, before you start saturating the USB bus. But it should be fine for a couple of extra displays.

USB based adapters aren't well suited to 3D gaming and full screen video, but should be fine for what you want.


Sorry, but no.  This only works on the iPad if you are using an external Bluetooth keyboard.


Returning iMac to iSpot when bought from online shop

You should be able to get any Mac repaired (including warranty repair) at any Apple Store or Apple Authorized repair shop, regardless of where you purchased the machine.

If you're actually looking to return the Mac, you should call Apple Customer Support to see if you can return it at the store.


Is there a calendar app that supports email reminders?

There is a Google Calendar app that allows you to add email notifications:

Go to the event, scroll down a little, tap on "Add a notification"  and then on "Custom"


I assume you are using the dev version of Chrome (19.0.1077.3). If so, this is a bug that was introduced a few days ago. Expect it to be fixed with the new update. Here's the bug report on the official Google blog: Dev Channel Update.

Edit: I just checked for updates manually, and indeed the update was available, solving the rendering issue. To get the update now, got to Chrome settings (chrome://chrome/settings/), and click on the Help tab. The app will check for updates automatically, and ask you to relaunch the browser.


How to edit hosts with TextEdit on Yosemite?

Yes I just tried your command and it exists with error code 132 (I don't know why).

You can still use this to open your hosts file sudo open -t /etc/hosts. It will open the TextEdit app, if you want to run it in the background you can add your -b in the command line.  Or you can use other text editors like vim and nano they're both working perfectly with Yosemite.


Apple Music - How to automatically save everything that it added to My Music?

I've written a short blog post explaining how to do this.

You create a smart playlist with a single rule which checks if the iCloud Status equals Apple Music. Check the Make Available Offline setting for this playlist and all Apple Music songs/albums will be automatically downloaded when you add them to your library.


Notification sounds not playing after upgrading to Yosemite

I've had this problem happen a few times, and it can be fixed by killing the Core Audio daemon (it'll get restarted automatically):

sudo killall coreaudiod


How to write on FAT32 and NTFS from Mountain Lion?

At the moment, the only free way for NTFS write access without using abandoned software is using NTFS-3G along with FUSE for OS X. There's a guide for that in the FUSE for OS X wiki.

If you need NTFS writing a lot you might be better off using Tuxera or Paragon, both commercial but more faster and more bulletproof solutions.

As pointed out in the comments, there's no write restriction for FAT32 volumes in OS X.


How do I properly force osx to reload the Info.plist file of an application?

I've just had this issue as we had to change Info.plist in our app and it failed to run for anyone who updated from the previous version of the app. The easiest way I found of clearing the Info.plist cache was simply to move the file to a different directory, then move it back. I'm still hoping to find a way of doing it pro grammatically, but this should do for your case.


specific network settings for sharing internet connection

Your Macbook is bridging 2 different networks.

The first, from your router, would presumably be 192.168.1.0
That would make the router itself 192.168.1.1 & it will then hand out DHCP addresses from 192.168.1.2 up to as high as .254

In order to prevent potential IP Address conflicts. Apple's Internet Sharing will use an address of one order higher for each Ethernet connection you ask it to use [with Thunderbolt or USB adapters, this could be many, on rare occasions] so the first one will be 192.168.2.x, the one after 192.168.3.x etc

The only thing that puzzles me slightly is that the reported self-assigned address is 169.254.x.x. This is a private, self-assigned address that an interface will use if it cannot find a DHCP server to assign it one.
For a bridged connection, though, I would have expected it to assign itself 192.168.2.1, as the gateway for your bridge & not be trying to pick up a DHCP address at all, as it is the 'router & gateway' to your new node.

The fact that your second machine can connect successfully with an assigned address of 192.168.2.2 & a gateway of 192.168.2.1 would tell me that the self-assigned address might be misreported somewhere along the line; as otherwise it oughtn't to be able to connect.

After some extensive Googling I discovered this, which may explain the apparent discrepancy.

  If you toggle your Internet Sharing on and off, you'll see the bridge0: device appear and disappear from ifconfig. This makes things tricky depending on the static IP you assigned your Pi as well as your Mac. If you chose to use DCHP for your Mac Ethernet connection, your Pi will only work with a static IP that looks like 169.254.x.x; however, when you turn on Internet Sharing, your Pi will then only work with an IP that looks like 192.168.2.x. It turns out that if you used DHCP for your Ethernet connection and your Ethernet has an IP of 169.254.x.x AND you have Internet Sharing on, you can still connect to your Pi via a 192.168.2.x address since now the bridge0: device is the one handing out the IP address to connected devices.

TL:DR
Don't set DHCP on your shared connection in the Macbook, because it is supposed to be the 'master'. Allow the OS to set it up itself, which it will do correctly, with a fixed IP of 192.168.2.1 for itself & 192.168.2.2 ..3 ..4 etc for devices using it as a bridge


Disable upgrading of single-word addresses in Safari

Here, you are actually searching for a word in your default search engine and go to the first hit. You can either type http:// before your host name or if you have control over that host name, try to change it to example.local or similar which contains a dot (.).

Also, after the first use if http://example to visit that page (putting http:// manually), next time you will be able to use the hostname without the hassle to put `http' first. Till you remove it from history.


Office suite with spell check and dropbox sync for iOS?

If I am right you are asking about the red squiggly lines that appear under mis-spelt words?

Pages does this and on iOS 11 the Dropbox sync is seamless with files integration
Word from Microsoft does the same as Pages on iOS 11 but isn’t free for devices with a screen size above 10.1 inches (so the two largest iPad Pro are paid editing only). You need to bring some form of O365 subscription to get all the features on all screen sizes.

The spell check is a native feature within iOS, rather than the app. So if you type in the app you will get the auto correct.

You can use Pages to spell check as this has the red lines but you can't put back into drop box.

QuickOffice does sync with Dropbox, but doesn't spell check, (a feature which may be added soon) Documents to Go only offers dropbox sync with it's premium version which was misled by it's iTunes description.


You can install coreutils with brew install coreutils.

shuf will be linked as gshuf. Read the caveats when you install coreutils.


iPad possibly stolen, not appearing in Find my iPhone, what options do I have?

It's not clear from your question whether you have or haven't set up the iPad Pro with the Find my iPhone feature. However, at the risk of oversimplifying things, if the device:

doesn't appear in your devices list either on Find my iPhone or on iCloud Find (which is how I interpret your question) then it's almost certainly not set up with Find my iPhone. If this is the case, then you should definitely change your Apple ID password! This will prevent anyone else who may have accessed your iPad Pro from deleting your data from iCloud or making other unwanted changes.
does appear, but is just showing as offline, then it is set up with Find my iPhone but is just currently not online.

To answer your question on whether you can send a message to it, and assuming it's not set up with Fine my iPhone, then you can still send a message but not via Find my iPhone. Instead, because you were getting iMessages on the device, all you need to do is send an iMessage from your iPhone to whatever number/email address/account was being used on the iPad Pro to receive messages.

IMPORTANT

Before doing anything else I would heed my advice above re changing your Apple ID password, unless of course you do want to send an iMessage to it first. But if that's the case, then I'd do it ASAP and reset your password.


Why not work through this checklist from Apple before contacting either the Carrier support or Apple Support?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201415

Since you have a specific error message, you might also jump to one of the last steps first. Back up the iPad and restore it to factory new settings and re-test the SIM card that you think should be active.

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201252

I've needed to call Verizon to get a SIM card to be part of a shared pool of data, but any active Verizon SIM should work, so once you rule out the iOS software - re-verify that the SIM you have is truly active.


How important is it for a Mac admin account to be associated with an Apple ID

This association is purely optional. You don't need an AppleID or an iCloud to manage your Mac and as long as you're the original purchaser and have proof of purchase, you can lock the firmware, iCloud Activation Lock and take your Mac to Apple and they will unlock it for you.

The only reason to put your admin account into iCloud is if you want to let that other password for iCloud / AppleID unlock the Mac, store/sync keychain items in iCloud or use other features of the AppleID.

Choose good admin passwords on your Mac, write them down in a safe place (1Password, bank safe, place where you can get to if you forget a password) and you'll protect the admin password and your Mac.


Deleting a file on the NAS says "delete immediately" but it is still on the NAS's recycle bin?

This is not new and many NAS boxes have this feature.  It's just a method to provide for recovery, in addition to backup.

  I have to find the Recycle Bin on different volumes and then delete the files? That is kind of manual and low level and is hard to manage. Is there a way to do it in the Dashboard or configure it so that it really is "delete immediately"?

From your Apple (SMB) client?  No.  This is no more different that connecting to a friends MacBook via a shared folder and deleting a file.  You would have no access to empty their trash.

Why?  Because the inherent property of a NAS is sharing and usually by more than one person.  For instance, if we both deleted files from a NAS and you realized you needed it back, you wouldn't appreciate me emptying the trash of your things.

However, emptying of the Trash doesn't have to be a manual process.  FreeNAS, and my Synology NAS both have a feature for both manually emptying the trash as well as setting up a schedule to do so.  Here's a screen grab from my personal Synology:

Check your NAS documentation to see if you can set a schedule for when the trash gets emptied.

  What's more, if I move some files between Shares in the same NAS -- note that it is "moving", then the NAS actually decrease in storage, and I found the file in the Recycle Bin... so it is like a copy and delete. This makes it even harder to manage.

Yes, especially so if you're doing it from an SMB client like your MacBook.  A move is, in fact, a copy and delete.  This is not a fault of of the OS - macOS on your client and Linux (likely) on the NAS.  It's just a reality of SAMBA.

While I absolutely love my NAS for the convenience it brings, I try not to do any massive file operations from my client device.  Instead I will log in either via the web interface or via SSH so that a move (mv is actually a move and not a copy/delete).  In effect, I bypass SAMBA for these operations.


What file is responsible for saving window position?

Assuming the app uses NSWindow, then the position of document windows is usually described in the application's preference file like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>NSWindow Frame TextWindow</key>
    <string>1324 504 544 481 0 0 2560 1417 </string>
</dict>
</plist>

.
For an Apple app, the .plist will be in something like ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.TextEdit/Data/Library/Preferences
A windows.plist file in Containers ... Saved Application State may also hold relevant data.


iWork Numbers increase column size for sum

This functionality is embedded and its default behaviour. Of course if adding a row will be done using this option:


How can I make a LaunchDaemon run an app at login?

@Wowfunhappy's suggestion to use a Login Hook got me the exact behavior I wanted, even if it wasn't done via a LaunchDaemon as planned. The solution:
A script (myscript.sh) to launch my app (must be executable via chmod a+x)
#!/bin/bash

//launch app in background (otherwise login hangs)
/path/to/myapp.app/Contents/MacOS/myapp &

And specifying that script as a login hook via the command:
sudo defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook /path/to/myscript.sh

My app now runs as root as needed on every user login


How can I test an iOS app with just a Macbook?

Not really. Xcode has a simulator which cross compiles iOS source code onto the Mac processor. It’s not a proper emulator.

You’ll want some sort of cloud based unit testing or test lab service which getting a recommendation for is a little out of scope here. I’d budget a device testing library where you can rent devices (or perhaps take your app to the lab in question) or find a way to expense the hardware needed to test.


Apple Hardware Accessories or third-party?

I have been using the Apple Bluetooth keyboard for ~ 5 years, and I am pretty happy with it. It is pretty sturdy and even after such long time and ~8 hrs daily usage, I wouldn't notice any significant sign of wear. One advantage is that it is the same keyboard layout as on the MacBooks, which may be more convenient when switching back and forth between the external and in-built keyboard. A disadvantage is that it doesn't have background illumination, but it only really matters if you work in a rather dark environment.
I also saw a logitech keyboard at a Best Buy once which looked almost exactly like the Apple Bluetooth keyboard, except that it was plastic, not aluminum; the price was about the same, and it also almost felt like the same; however, I can't say anything about its long-term durability.

EDIT:

I forgot to mention that I spilled water over it a couple of times, and one time it was half a glass of coke. I turned it off, took out the batteries, and put it under running water in my sink for about 10 minutes (I was afraid that it'd be sticky if it would still work at all afterwards). Next, I let it dry for about 1 1/2 weeks and used a spare mechanical keyboard instead (which I really love too). However, the Apple Bluetooth keyboard turned out to be fine eventually.

Sorry, I can't really comment on the CD/DVD drive: I haven't used any for a decade or so.


I run into this type of problem frequently. I use a strict umask (0077) in my shell.  Usually, when brew is done installing, the dynamic libraries will have the same restrictive mask and the software I just installed doesn't work as a different user. Check the permissions on /usr/local/lib/libfuse.2.dylib. It might be accessible only by the brewer, which could explain why TrueCrypt can't find it.

Since HomeBrew symlinks everything, you may have to change the permissions on the symlink itself, and the file to which it is pointing. For the symlink, use the -h option:

chmod -h a+rX /usr/local/lib/libfuse.2.dylib

While you're at it, check to see if other files have the same problems.

Finally, sudo inherits the umask of the sudo-er. If umask is the culprit here, you might want to also check the permissions for the file-system bundle that you copied as an admin. If those are a problem, use

sudo chmod -R a+rX /Library/Filesystems/osxfusefs.fs

Hope this helps.


How do I exit full screen in VMWare Fusion 7?

To enter or exit Fullscreenmode of your VM you can press [Command]+[Control]+[F].


Transferring photos and music between Mac and iPhone

There are several ways.

A simple and popular way to copy files and share files among your devices.
https://www.dropbox.com/

"Box lets you store all of your content online, so you can access, manage and share it from anywhere. Integrate Box with Google Apps and Salesforce and access Box on mobile devices" Rated the most secure cloud storage by SkyHigh Networks.  You can buy a license to run box one of your servers.
https://www.box.com/

Using iTunes to transfer files:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4094?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
chinajon provides an explanation on how to do file transfers
https://discussions.apple.com/message/30289293#30289293

"iMazing is the all purpose iOS management software: expand your control over your mobile data beyond what is normally possible, without jailbreaking your device. With iMazing, you can easily browse and manage your backups, extract and print your text messages, or drag and drop songs to your iPhone. To put it simply, iMazing allows you to go way beyond what iTunes offers"
https://imazing.com/

Files Connect -- "Cloud Storage services like Dropbox, MobileMe iDisk, Google Docs/Picasa, Facebook photos, FTP, SFTP, WebDAV ... AFS (Apple File Shares) SMB (Windows shares)  protocols"
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/files-connect/id404324302?mt=8

Windows File server
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/filebrowser-access-files-on/id364738545?mt=8


How can I make Mac OS X run a program before shutting down?

Although Apple recommends to use "launchd", the easiest is to create a shell script using, for example, Terminal's pico:
pico /Users/Shared/logoutHook.sh

The file can contain something like:
#!/bin/bash
say 'Hasta la vista baby!'

Then give execution rights:
sudo chmod +x /Users/Shared/logoutHook.sh

Finally, hook the script to the logout procedure:
sudo defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LogoutHook /Users/Shared/logoutHook.sh

If you start another application, as I haven't tested this, I think it might be useful to warn myself and you that:

We might need to kill the shutdown signal to execute what we want;

Then send a new one (beware not to kill the signal sent by our own
script)…

If you want to remove the hook:
sudo defaults delete com.apple.loginwindow LogoutHook

If using "launchd", the idea would be to capture the SIGTERM signal. Have a look at: /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.shutdown_monitor.plist


Connecting to Bluetooth earphone disables keyboard

I think the problem is, the way the device was manufactured, as a physical keyboard. Problem is, in that moment, your "keyboard" are the bluetooth earphones, and it is considered as the default keyboard. That's why you cannot see anything.

What you can do is, go to bluetooth configuration, and you will see your headset. There should be a gear icon or something to access to configuration for that bluetooth device. THere, you can disable or enable media audio and phone audio, it should show something like "Input device", just disable that. That should disable the device as a keyboard.


There are several things in your script which can make it go wrong:

#!/bin/bash
home=/projects/clouddyn/md_bench/for_server/MD_bench

# home is a bad choice, because $HOME has a special meaning and it's
# confusing to have both $HOME and $home. But it doesn't make the script fail

template=$home/template

cd $home
min=1
max=3

# for i in $(eval echo "{$min..$max}")
# this can be replaced by the easier to read
for i in {$min..$max}
do
    mkdir "sim_$i"

    # sim=$(basename "sim_$i")
    # basename strips the path part, but "sim_$i" doesn't even have a path
    # so basically this just assigned "sim_$i" to $sim and can be replaced by
    sim="sim_$i"
    # Ideally this assignment would be the first statement after 'do' so
    # it could be used already in 'mkdir'

    # pushd $sim
    # cp $template/*.* $sim
    # Two problems here:
    # - 'pushd' already changes into $sim, so when 'cp' is called there is
    #   no $sim directory to copy into (as you are already in it)
    # - '$template/*.*' only matches files with a dot in the name, which may
    #   or may not be what you want
    # As there is no need to 'cd' into a directory to copy files into it I
    # would just use
    cp $template/* $sim/

    # prinf "This is $i dir" > ./$sim/file_$i.txt
    # You probably meant 'printf' here. Also this line has the same problem
    # as the 'cp' above (you are already in $sim)
    printf "This is $i dir" > $sim/file_$i.txt

    # popd
    # Not needed any longer
done


Should I run Parallels off of my SSD or my internal HD?

I put it on my SSD, like all other apps.  I think the advice to put it on a separate drives is for when you only have hard drives - 5400rpm at that (slooow).  With Visual Studio being so slow (been using it for years), it can certainly use the speed boost.  Mind you, I just set up my iMac on Friday and set up Parallels this morning, but so far, so good.  Windows apps are running very fast, and so are Mac apps.


Ejecting SD card takes a long time and CPU usage goes up

You can also try disabling Spotlight indexing for the SD card. While the card is inserted go to System Preferences->Spotlight->Privacy->'+' and add the drive.


iMac won't boot off of Mavericks USB when downgrading from Yosemite

The Booting from USB issue

Ok, so first off. I don't know how you made the bootable USB, but for the sake of consistency in my answer I will give you a method to use:

Download Mavericks for the App store. (I checked, it is still there for downloading)
Plug in the USB drive you want to boot from (has to be 8GB or more)
Then from the Terminal app run this command:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app

It takes a while to complete so go make yourself some coffee and let Mac OS do it's thing.

NB Notes:

Replace MyVolume with the name of your USB drive.
If you have already downloaded Mavericks and backed it up somewhere, you can just copy it back into the Applications folder. It has to be called Install OS X Mavericks.app.

Taken from Creating a bootable OS X installer in OS X Mavericks.

If you boot your Mac, immediately hold down the ALT key and select the USB as the boot device. This should boot into the Mavericks installer. From there you can run DiskUtilities and partition you OS hard disk and install Mavericks.

The NTFS issue

It sounds like you might have had a 3rd party app like Paragon installed. Mac does not natively allow writing to NTFS.


In Mail is it possible to copy the date and time to the clipboard from a mail message

This doesn't get you the date in text format, but when I grab using that grab hand cursor I can drag it into notes. There is then an icon with the subject of the email which, when clicked opens that email (albeit in a new window).

Might be helpful.


I can think of some ways.

Backup your /opt/X11/lib/libpng.16.16.dylib. And replace the file with either symlink to the file under anaconda or directly paste the file.
I think the environment variables can have multiple paths, like $PATH variable. I found that the path you have in front has the precedence over the ones that are written behind it. For example, if your path is /usr1/:/usr2/ then it should check the usr1 directory first and see if the required file exists, before moving to the second one. So you could possibly put your anaconda path in front of the /opt/X11/lib/libpng.16.16.dylib.
I believe symlinking the file is the best way. I have experienced that kind of things before, I just had to add a symlink and it's fixed.

This answer might explain your last question.


Is there any way to get the path of a folder in macOS?

In macOS holding the ALT key ⌥ often shows extra options in context menus.

To copy a file or folder's path in Finder.app:

Right-click the item
Hold alt ⌥ key down
Click Copy "item" as Pathname

Done. Now you have the path, as text, in your clipboard.


You cannot track it if it is not connected in some way to a data network, either over your mobile connection, or WiFi.  If it's turned off, or out of reception, you cannot track it.

Depending on what version of the OS is installed, then when the phone is turned on again and gains reception it should start to be traceable, and you can put it in Lost Mode in the Find my iPhone app so that it will alert you and optionally display a message on the device, however you need to have turn this feature on in the device first for this to work.

If the unit is running iOS6, then anyone who eventually finds it will be able to wipe the device and restore a blank OS without having to turn it on thus bypassing this security, but if you are on iOS7 then this is not possible, and the unit is worthless to anyone finding it.


Which 27" monitor for mac mini at lower resolution to look larger?

The two HP 27" models that you mention in your question are the very same two that The Wirecutter recommends in its review of the best 27-inch monitors. According to the article, current (Sept 2019) pricing is US$540 for the 4K/UHD/2160p version, and US$340 for the 2.5K/QHD/1440p version. Based on your description of the intended use for the display, I'd say QHD resolution will be just fine.

If your mother would be satisfied with a 24" display, you can save some money by buying a display of that size. The Wirecutter's review of the best 24-inch monitors recommends the Dell UltraSharp U2415 (currently US$225) for QHD/1440p resolution, and the Asus VS239H-P (US$130) for FHD/1080p resolution. At the 24" size, either resolution should work fine for your intended purpose.


Printing Error Error: invalidfont Ricoh Printer

From the Finder, select Go > Go to Folder...
In the dialog box enter: /Library/Printers/PPDs/Contents/Resources
Open the ppd file for your printer in e.g. TextEdit and change the TTRasterizer setting to None e.g.:
*TTRasterizer Type42 change to *TTRasterizer: None
Save the ppd file. If using the generic ppd file just add the line *TTRasterizer: None  after Language level entry.
Install your printer using this new PPD.


How to disable clamshell mode behaviour? Force machine lock on lid close

Sadly I don't think you can invoke this behavior and this is not the solution you are asking for, though as I imagine you are using a keyboard (apple?) you could always use the hotkeys to lock your laptop and screen.

Option–Command–Power / Option–Command–Media Eject: Put Mac to
sleep
Control–Shift–Power / Control–Shift–Media Eject : Put
display(s) to sleep

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236


How can I modify the Date Added field in iTunes 10

Just change the system clock and add the file again:

Remove the track.
Change the date on your system clock to the desired date.
Add the track.


How am I supposed to know if SMC reset has taken place?

A SMC or PRAM reset will invoke the Boot Chime to activate or become louder.
I would also suggest verbose mode (Cmd+V) and look for a reset message.


Macbook Air boot menu defaults to external monitor

Dragging the status bar (in Display Settings) to the screen you want as default worked for me! :)


You may run into some problems if you restore your iPhone from a backup, after upgrading. If you do a fresh install of iOS 5, you should not run into any problems.


iPhone 6 plus - weird horizontal lines on screen, won't stay in DFU mode for updates, iTunes stuck "waiting for iphone"

Problem solved- it seems that the battery has been over-drained and a long recharge is needed- I left it charging overnight and it comes to life again after 8 (12 actually, has been charging it before asking this question) hours. This could explain the lines on display- low voltage.


Strange characters appearing in Terminal

I believe the name of the volume is causing the issue. Normally the prompt would be like:

$ cd ~
volume:~ user$

$ cd /
volume:/ user$

Your prompt appears similar, but like this:

ޕ:~ agrimm$

Which leads me to believe the volume has an odd character in it's name.


Missing Wifi interface after upgrade to Catalina

I had the same issue. Updated to catalina overnight and in the morning wifi was not working. I reinstalled catalina from Recovery again. Now wifi is working even though System Information App still shows (null) for Network -> Wifi entries


Post Install Set-up

Have you been through the post installation set up?

In particular, Securing the Initial MySQL Accounts is important because it sets up the default users and passwords.

brew

You may want to try installing MySQL via the homebrew project. With brew installed, you can install MySQL using the command:

brew install mysql

MAMP

Alternatively, MAMP offers an application based edition of MySQL. Launching the application starts a preconfigured copy of MySQL for you – and it includes the web-based myphpadmin.

With regard to your comment wanting a free solution, MAMP is free:

  Similar to a Linux-Distribution, MAMP is a combination of free software and thus it is offered free of charge. MAMP is released under the GNU General Public License and may thereby be distributed freely within the boundaries of this license.


Eclipse 'luna' installing issues on MacOs Sierra 10.12

Same issue for me. The issue resolved when I copied the complete pack into the "Applications" folder and ran Eclipse in the path /Applications/eclipse/Eclipse.app/Contents/MacOS from Terminal.


Why is 1280x800 the best resolution for my MacBook Pro Retina 13"?

The explanation on the Preferences panel is wrong and confusing. The Retina display doesn't actually run at 1280x800. Instead it just "looks like" it does.

A 13.3 inch screen running at 96dpi (pixels(dots) per inch) has a resolution of about 1280x800 and the 8pt font and other on screen elements are big enough for the eye to see. When you run a 13.3 at retina resolutions 2560x1800 the fonts are much much smaller and hard to look at, so OS X makes them as big as they were at 1280x800 but more detailed. You get to see the same thing as one would at 1280x800 but at much greater detail 226dpi instead of 96dpi.

Resolution is just a big "carpet" of dots, you have a fixed amount of them and you can make the dots bigger to cover more area. For example a 3840x2160 4K TV that is 48 inches wide diagonally has about 90 pixels per inch comparable to a normal desktop monitor. A 15 inch Retina Macbook Pro has 2800x1800 (a little less than the 4k tv) but they are packed smaller and closer together on a much smaller surface area, 15 inch wide instead of 48.


Yosemite won't list computers in windows workgroup

Are you using Windows 7/8 or XP?

I know that when I at home switched from XP  to Window 7, I needed to change the windows workgroup settings...

It sounds like you don't have the proper workgroup assigned.


YouTube video thumbnails not getting loaded

I had a similar issue with the icons thumbnails that shows a blue box with a question mark in it. I'm running a Mac Pro mid-2010 running High Sierra.

I finally got it to work after setting the DNS setting to Google DNS.
Apple > System Preferences > Network > Advanced > DNS Tab
And add Google's DNS servers
Click the plus (+) button below DNS Servers table and insert
8.8.8.8
and
8.8.4.4

Click okay and close Safari/Chrome and hopefully it'll be fixed.


Your search for the origin of this sound may progress on 2 paths:
which application produces it and which sound is it.

Which application?

Here is an easy way to control if this sound is coming from
a standard screen capture.

Type the following command twice:

ls -lu /usr/bin/screencapture

First, whenever you want.
Next time, just after you heard the shutter sound.

This command will display you the time when this command was last run.

Which sound?

Quick identification

Here is a 1st attempt to be sure of which sound is used.
You can't try to recognize a sound by firing an application and trying
all the sound it can produce with its graphical interface.

The only practical approach is to use fast command lines just after
you heard your unsolicited sound.
Open a Terminal or xterm window and enter as is these 4 lines of
command defining short name functions to test 4 approaching sounds:

shutter() { afplay '/System/Library/Components/CoreAudio.component/Contents/Resources/CoreAudioAUUI.bundle/Contents/Resources/Grab.aif' ; }
lock() { afplay '/System/Library/Frameworks/SecurityInterface.framework/Versions/A/Resources/lockClosing.aif' ; }
unlock() { afplay '/System/Library/Frameworks/SecurityInterface.framework/Versions/A/Resources/lockOpening.aif' ; }
safe() { afplay '/System/Library/Components/CoreAudio.component/Contents/Resources/CoreAudioAUUI.bundle/Contents/Resources/Sticky Keys Locked.aif' ; }

On Mountain Lion, these sounds have moved. Then these functions have to be defined with:

shutter() { afplay '/System/Library/Components/CoreAudio.component/Contents/SharedSupport/SystemSounds/system/Grab.aif' ; }
lock() { afplay '/System/Library/Frameworks/SecurityInterface.framework/Versions/A/Resources/lockClosing.aif' ; }
unlock() { afplay '/System/Library/Frameworks/SecurityInterface.framework/Versions/A/Resources/lockOpening.aif' ; }
safe() { afplay '/System/Library/Components/CoreAudio.component/Contents/SharedSupport/SystemSounds/accessibility/Sticky Keys Locked.aif' ; }

Keep this window open, and as soon as you hear the unsolicited sound,
fire these four commands in turn to hear which one was played:

shutter
lock
unlock
safe

Next, to be sure, you can once more verify the access time of the identified sound file with the -lu options of ls. For example, you can
confirm that the lock sound was played with:

ls -lu '/System/Library/Frameworks/SecurityInterface.framework/Versions/A/Resources/lockClosing.aif'

Deep search

If this quick approach fails, here is a command to identify the file
which was used by the system to play a sound within the preceding hour
(-atime -1h):

find /Library /System/Library \( -type d \( -name "iTunes" -o -name "GarageBand" -o -name "Apple Loops" \) -prune \) -o \( \( -name "*.aif*" -o -name "*.wav*" -o -name "*.m4a*" \) -atime -1h -exec ls -luT {} \; \) 2>/dev/null

If this command doesn't report anything, the next step will be to run
the same deep search within your HOME directory:

find ${HOME} \( -type d -name "iTunes" -prune \) -o \( \( -name "*.aif*" -o -name "*.wav*" -o -name "*.m4a*" \) -atime -1h -exec ls -luT {} \; \) 2>/dev/null


Is it possible to have my two AppleIDs tied to different services?

To answer my question, after contacting Apple support--

One cannot have two Apple TV+ promotions going on the same Apple ID, or on two Apple IDs that are part of Family Sharing;
One cannot change the Apple ID that used for the Apple TV+ Promotion.

If you want to change the ID associated with a service, at least when you start via a free offer, you can cancel and re-sign up with the ID you prefer.
In my case, since I've got two offers going, the "best" thing to do to transfer over is to redeem the offer while signed in to Music.app, TV.app, or whatever, on the account one wants associated with the subscription.
So make liberal use of that calendar app.


Boot Process
Before you can be presented with a login screen, the OS must be booted.  Granted, there can be "login items" which are apps or helpers that can be loaded after a user logs in, but the bulk of the OS (this includes the kernel and related drivers) has loaded by the time you get the login screen where you enter your username and password.
To simplify it, if you can log into your Mac remotely before you've entered your login credentials, your Mac has booted completely.  As far as User applications that run in the GUI or get started by launchd (LaunchAgents) those will be started after you've successfully authenticated.  These aren't really part of the OS, but part of the userland environment - they're not required for macOS to boot and run, but they are required for the user experience.  You will see these loading on the screen in verbose mode.
The Eclectic Light Company has an excellent flowchart (below) as to the complex nature of the Apple boot process - but one thing to notice is there are a couple places for password input long before the system actually starts booting the kernel.

Firmware Lock
Mac computers both laptop and desktops now have heightened security and provide for a firmware lock.  This protects your device in that it prevents starting up from any internal or external device that wasn't designated a startup disk.
FileVault
FileVault is Full Disk Encryption of your storage device.  It's unlocked with your login password so it can appear that the boot process hasn't finished until you login (I suspect this is what you're seeing).

Typical Login Screen:

Firmware Lock Screen:


2013 MBP Hotspots in Backlight / Apple Warranty

1) I haven't seen many reports of flat spots like this over the past few refreshes of the MacBook Pro so I wouldn't consider it a widespread or known issue.  Only Apple will know for sure, and if it is then they would likely consider a Repair Extension Program (REP) to handle repairs for these symptoms outside of the 1 year warranty.  Only time will tell.

2) I would expect Apple to cover this so long as theres no signs of damage or trauma to the MacBook Pro.  AppleCare provides an extended warranty for failures and defects that are not a result of accidental damage. Ultimately it depends on the human being you end up dealing with but if I were you I wouldn't expect much pushback on having it repaired.


Mac not copying and pasting between applications

I had no helper applications installed.

Since upgrading to Mojave, this issue has not reoccured.


I need to examine an 82.7 GB (!) text file. What can open it?

less filename

From the command line, it lets you view files straightaway without loading the full file into memory.


If I were you I'd just get it from torrents since you basically own a copy anyways. Easy.


How to change Bluetooth channel used by Google Earth

Solved it.

Seems Google Earth cycles through all available COM ports until it finds a feed. Left it on for a while and it connected to the correct port eventually


Is there a way to execute on applescript when a server becomes available?

You can use launchd for that purpose. Here is an example of a launchd config plist that will execute an AppleScript when a disk is mounted:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>Example</string>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
            <string>/usr/bin/osascript</string>
            <string>/Users/sakra/Documents/Test.applescript</string>
        </array>
        <key>StartOnMount</key>
        <true/>
    </dict>
</plist>

To activate the config plist save it to the LaunchAgents folder in your Library folder as Example.plist.

From the Terminal you can then use the command launchctl to activate Example.plist by running:

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/Example.plist

The AppleScript will then be run each time a filesystem is mounted.

To deactivate it, run:

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/Example.plist


How to take a screenshot when you are using screen sharing

I use LaunchBar to start the ScreenCapture app (it used to be called Grab) so you can search for that as well. Spotlight or any other launcher should work.

Take the screen shot locally on the Mac is my advice and then save it to a cloud sync folder or otherwise get it to your remote is my advice. You get the standard keys and best resolution / drop shadow, correct key shortcuts this way.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201361

LaunchBar is designed to Keep your hands on the keyboard. Well worth the cost for me - especially when I screen share in from Windows / Linux / iOS / iPadOS and even other Macs.

https://obdev.at/products/launchbar/index.html


Does Macbook Air (mid 2013) bypass battery after it's charged?

I am not sure how we can know this for sure, but I believe that after fully-charged, it is indeed "bypassed".

Of course after if drops power it could be charging it back up a little bit, but I have never seen that happen.
At least not if judging from the LED indicator on the cable, which remains green at all times


Why does mounting an nfs share from linux require the use of a privileged port?

Why do you have to? Tradition, mostly. Once upon a time, restricting NFS to privileged ports (<1023) was considered a security measure. Back when people were using mainframe computers, this made sure that the NFS software on the client side was part of the OS/approved by the administrator, since a program can only use a privileged port if it's run by the root user. Today, this makes no sense because anyone can own a computer and have root access, so this doesn't mean anything in terms of security.

By default, many NFS servers don't allow non-privileged source ports. Some NFS clients (such as Ubuntu's), default to using a privileged source port unless otherwise specified, which is why your Linux client works without issue. Clearly, the OS X client doesn't do this. I don't know if that was an Apple design choice or something inherited from BSD. I know that Solaris also defaults to a non-privileged port.

The two ways of avoiding this problem are, telling the OS X client to use a privileged port, as you discovered, or configuring your NFS server to allow non-privileged ports (look it up in your server's documentation).

How do you get OS X to use a privileged port using a GUI? As far as I know, you can't on versions > 10.6. One used to be able to mount NFS shares in Disk Utility and type in extra options, but that was removed. (details) It was never a simple button or anything. NFS is hardly something most of the "non-techy" crowd need, so I guess it wasn't a priority and there are reasons routinely using privileged ports isn't a great idea.

I haven't tried it, but http://www.bresink.com/osx/NFSManager.html seems to allow configuration of OS X's NFS features without the command line.


Can I keep track of one specific app's sales from someone else's iTunes Connect page?

They are correct, a user on iTunes Connect has access to all apps, no matter what their role. Obviously this is a terrible design, but Apple has never been too quick to fix design flaws in iTunes Connect.

As you mentioned appFigures has the ability to restrict a sub-user's access to individual apps. The publisher will have to set up the primary account.

I can't find official information from any of the other analytics providers that they have this capability. My App Annie account definitely does not.


Mavericks lock screen doesn't show screen saver

Check system preference -> Security & Privacy -> General-> Require password XXX after sleep or screen saver begins


Upgrading to iPhone 11 Pro Max from iPhone 8 Plus w/o visiting the Apple Store

I did same, moving from iPhone 6 to 11. All I needed to do was take out SIM card and put in new device. SIM card was same size.  I recommend you purchase the 'sim-free' or unlocked phone from Apple. It costs the same, and does not lock you into a carrier. It also supports AT&T towers (as well as verizon etc). If you purchase the AT&T phone, they generally want you to change your plan, update it or hassle you to death :)

There is no need to contact AT&T, as they do not require registration or activation as does say Verizon. I don't know if this is technical or just policy, but no need to call or configure anything, just put in the SIM Card.

Be sure to backup your old phone to either iCloud or to iTunes on your Mac/PC. If you use iCloud, simply sign into iCloud on new phone, and iCloud will load all your apps and preferences from the old phone. If you use iTunes, simply attach your new phone to your PC/Mac and restore your data to the new phone.  If  you are using iTunes for backup, be sure backup using a password/encryption. If you do not, any passwords or logins will not transfer.


You can use the Cleanup: remove all contacts app from the appstore to do this. The app costs $0.99

If you want a Mac only solution, you can backup the contacts in your mac's Address Book, connect your phone to your mac and set it to sync only your address book in iTunes. Once it's done syncing (it should now be a clean slate), you can change the sync settings to whatever you wish and then restore your existing contacts from the backup.


Try the TeamViewer application for remote control.

I use it daily across the ocean and across the platforms (Windows/Mac) and it works fine.

http://www.teamviewer.com/en/index.aspx


How to boot from ISO without USB stick or DVD on Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger

It's technically possible if you have your hard drive partitioned with the ISO on said partition (and made bootable of course). Otherwise, you'll need to use a USB or disk in order to boot it. If you go with the first option, you can use either Disk Utility or Terminal. This should help if you're using Terminal: http://osxdaily.com/2012/03/13/burn-an-iso-image-from-the-command-line/


How do I run an interactive GUI application in pre-login environment?

I've been looking into this for awhile myself.  Mike Bombich been able to do it for years with his Bootpicker app.  And this developer is able to tap into running a GUI app as soon as the user clicks on a login icon: https://github.com/grahamgilbert/crypt (can't tell from his screenshot, but look up his OS X Management with Puppet presentation).


Which is the best alternative for Dreamweaver in Mac?

Adobe Dreamweaver (for Mac) — $399
As Andrew Larsson said, there is Mac version for latest Adobe Dreamweaver (url is the same as for Windows version).

If it's a tool that you like and already own, but it's not supported by Mac, then you may try to make it work under OSX using Parallels or wine. Some people made different Dreamweaver versions to work on wine (on linux), so you may try to install wine on Mac and then install Dreamweaver in this case.

Fraise

Easiest and most user friendly editor I've found so far is Fraise. It is small and nice, there's no 'workspaces' like in Eclipse and key-combinations like in Eclipse and Vim. It just stays out of your way and allows to edit HTML (there is preview window for it), CSS, and a lot of other file formats. I haven't seen yet any possibility of code-completion, but is it a big deal?

Ironically you may need to build it from source (but it's very and fast if you know how to use git and Xcode)

Quanta Plus
They say that it supports both code editing and WYSIWYG and it definitely works on OSX so you may like it. I've never tried it though.

There are also at least 2 tools based on Eclipse that you can use for web development:

Eclipse IDE for JavaScript Web Developers

It incluses tools for JavaScript developers creating Web applications, including a JavaScript IDE, tools for JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and XML.

As alternative you can install any other eclipse but make sure that it contains Web Tools or install them in eclipse of your choice:

Aptana Studio
It's also based on Eclipse. Besides HTML, CSS and JavaScript it supports server-site scripting languages (Ruby, Python, PHP). You can preview web pages you edit in built-in browser, but I don't know if it is possible to edit webpages visually in Elipse based IDEs.


Western Digital external hard drive is constantly ejected

Someone reported a similar issue on an Apple discussion forum:

I tried that but the drive will still eject itself randomly at times.
I contacted Western Digital about this and they say it might be a
problem with my USB cord. So they're going to send me a new one.
Has
anyone else had this problem and found that it was due to a faulty USB
3.0 (compatible with USB 2.0) cord?

Another poster in the same thread commented:

Sounds like disk is on the way out. I would move or backup all data on
it.

You should first back up that drive before anything else. Contact WD to see if they can send you a new USB cord. It's a good idea to run some diagnostics on the drive to confirm that there are no disk errors. Testing on another computer would also be a good idea to narrow down to see if the issue is isolated to your machine or the drive.
If the drive is failing, you'll need to return/exchange it.


Try this app - http://www.ecamm.com/mac/phoneview/

It copies all the info you mentioned to a Mac. Free trial to be sure you like it before paying.

If this is one time (or your value of the time it takes to manually record these is less than $30), just hook a stereo plug from the phone to the computer and record the mic input on the Mac. (Or PC if you use that computer)


MacBook Pro now asking to login with password, but can't do this via built-in keyboard

After reading your question a few times I've made an assumption (dangerous, I know). My assumption is that the only password you're being prompted for is your daughter's User Account password and NOT a firmware password. The reason I assume this is because the only reason (it seems) that you think it's prompting for a firmware password is because of Adriano's answer to another question.

So, if my assumption is correct, then my first thought was the same as that offered by n1000 in the comments - Have you tried an external keyboard?

However, if you haven't got an external keyboard handy, and since you're booting into Recovery Mode anyway, you can actually change your daughter's password from Recovery Mode and then log in using that and change the settings so a password is no longer required.

Why would this help? Well, since your Caps Lock key is stuck, creating a password with how your keyboard is right now will mean that you will be able to log in using that keyboard.

Resetting password from Recovery Mode

To reset your daughter's password password from Recovery Mode, follow these steps:

Power off your Mac
Boot into Recovery Mode by pressing the power button while holding down CommandR
Select Disk Utility and press Continue.
Choose Utilities > Terminal.
Enter resetpassword (all one word, lowercase letters)
Press Return
Select the drive with your daughter's account (typically the main hard drive)
Choose your daughter's account using Select the User Account.
Enter a new password
Re-enter the same password
Enter a password hint
Click Save
Ignore the warning about the password changing
Click OK.
Shutdown the Mac using Apple > Shut Down
Restart the Mac normally and use the new password to log into your daughter's account
Once logged in, go to Apple > System Preferences
Click on Users & Groups
Click on Login Options
From the Automatic login pop-up menu, choose your daughter's account

This will ensure that whenever your daughter's Mac is booted it will automatically boot into her account (which it sounds like you want to do).

If I've misunderstood your question, or you have any questions/issues, let me know by posting a comment.

[Edit]

Now that we've got you logged in, let's try sorting out your keyboard issue. Since you can't reset the PRAM as per usual, it's actually worth resetting the SMC instead. Sometimes this will resolve the issue preventing a PRAM reset.

For your MacBook Pro, here’s what you do:

Shut down your computer
Keep the MagSafe adapter (power cable) plugged in.
Press at the same time shiftoptioncontrol
(on the left side of the keyboard) and the power button
Let go
Turn your computer back on with the power button.

Once you've done this, log back in and see if there's been any change to your keyboard and report back.


Code to fix: WindowServer[250]: _CGXGLDisplayContextForDisplayDevice: No matching context for device (0x7fcfcaf18220) - disabling OpenGL

From the original answer:

Type the following into your terminal: sudo nano /etc/asl.conf.
Now, use the arrow key to go to the bottom. When you are at the bottom, paste it the following:

? [= Sender WindowServer] [= Level Warning] [A= Message _CGXGLDisplayContextForDisplayDevice] claim only

(There is nothing special, just command+v).

Now, hit control+x and hit y. Now, type sudo kill -hup syslog.

Sudo means super user grant, so you are giving the command access to all of your machine.


iMac not turning on after power cut mid update

You covered Apple’s triage steps nicely and I think you hit them all.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204267

Unless you can see something on an external monitor or the internal monitor booting with an option key held or internet recovery and see signs of life on screen, your next step is a repair shop to determine which component inside has failed.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204156

My hope is you can boot to internet recovery and choose to reinstall the OS. Since you were mid update, it likely left your data alone and the system totally needing a reinstall. If you weren’t updating, the hardware failure is more likely, but can’t be ruled out based on the symptoms.

You can also bring a bootable USB to that Mac and test operation / hardware without needing service help.


Failed to verify installESG.dmg on install mountain lion

For anyone coming across this in the future, there's 2 issues with this route:

The new file system introduced in Sierra means that the startup SSD must be APFS and can not be extended journaled. This means that with a brand new hard drive without a startup volume one can not restore directly using time machine onto the SSD. You need to install (High) Sierra first and then restore from time machine afterwards
Mountain Lion OS was apparently not a free OS and in Apple's own words this is why the internet restore is failing at the end

The 3 ways to resolve this are either:

Restore from a pre Sierra Time Machine image, then from this image upgrade to high sierra and then finally restore from the time machine image
Restore from the Mountain Lion recovery CD, then upgrade to High Sierra and restore from time machine
Obtain bootable High Sierra ISO from USB, install High Sierra and then restore from Time Machine

I hope this helps someone. This is my first time having to do disaster recovery in MacOS and I've been really surprised how un-user friendly this experience is when coming coming from an old machine


According to Mactracker, your MacBook 13-inch, Early 2009 (A1181, early 2009) can handle 6 GB RAM, or 2 GB more than Apple's 4 GB spec. You'd need to use a combination of a 4 GB and 2 GB 200-pin PC2-5300 (667MHz) DDR2 SO-DIMM.

See also: Apple MacBook "Core 2 Duo" 2.0 13" (White-09) Specs at EveryMac.com


Go to

Settings
Reset
Reset All Settings

and the process will start over. You're not losing content this way, because that's the 2nd option on that page.


What is the 'Zzz' complication on Apple Watch?

This is the alarm complication if you choose to snooze an alarm.


The Elgato Video Capture takes video from a standard 3-plug RCA feed and records it to your Mac or PC in H.264 (they provide the recording software). It is USB-powered. $99 list, $79 Amazon.