New non-retina 13.3" mac, will I get OS registered in the app store?

The first time you start up the system and log into the OS, you'll be prompted to create an Apple ID or connect to an existing one. That will register the OS as 'purchased' and enable you to do Internet Recovery or download the OS from the App Store.

If you're using a MacBook with the same OS as currently available on the new MBP you wish to buy, it may be possible to simply take the SSD out of your existing MacBook and plug it straight into the Pro. (This has worked with me in the past with taking an SSD out of a MacBook2,1 and putting it into a MacBook4,1.)

As for having to purchase the OS again, Mavericks is free. Any app that you've purchased/downloaded from the App Store can be installed on new systems free of charge.


Apple Mail - Do not apply rules automatically

Apple Mail rules run automatically only the first time they're set. After that rules will only run manually.

Going into Preferences and unchecking 'Active' will deactivate the rule and will never run it.


How can I change scroll direction in Snow Leopard?

Yes you can, with Scroll Reverser. It's a free app that sits in your menu bar (you can hide it if you want). It works all the way back to OS X Tiger.


It's actually pretty simple, in that, if it is not in the app store it can't be installed, unless you want to go the jailbreak route because you found an "R" app for jailbroken IOS devices.


It's likely that there is a fault with the connector either in the computer, or the cable, as you say you've tried another port and it's working I would suggest that there is a fault with that port.

Do other devices have similar intermittent disconnection issues?

As the USB bus on most modern computers also supports the keyboard, trackpad, FaceTime/iSight Camera and the SD Card reader it's likely that the USB device rapidly connecting and disconnecting dozens of times is causing either a software issue in the kernel extension that manages USB devices, or causing the hardware to shut down the USB hub in the machine to protect it from damage.

Either way, I would suggest trying with a couple other devices, and also check with another Lightning Cable for your iPad and if the issue persists seek service at your nearest Authorised Apple Service Provider, such as an Apple Store.


How to delete synced photos from an iPad?

Sync again with the computer, this time when it is plugged in, click on the iPad, and navigate to syncing options, and Photos, uncheck, Sync Photos. Then sync


Mini Displayport to Displayport is the best solution, provided your monitor has a Displayport input. A mini Displayport to Dual-link DVI adapter is also a possibility, but those tend to be expensive and not always reliable. If Displayport is an option, go with that.


The second emacs came with OS X.  For files that are logged in the package database, you can use pkgutil:

$ pkgutil --file-info /usr/bin/emacs
volume: /
path: /usr/bin/emacs

pkgid: com.apple.pkg.BSD
pkg-version: 10.9.0.1.1.1306847324
install-time: 1382483268
uid: 0
gid: 0
mode: 555

A list of packages can be obtained via pkgutil --packages.  However, note that—again—this only covers items in the package database.

You should not modify items that are part of the core operating system.  If you prefer a locally-installed program to override one that came with the operating system, you should adjust your PATH to prefer that program before system paths such as /usr/bin are checked.

One way to do this is to have /usr/local/bin be first in your path and link your /Applications version of emacs to /usr/local/bin so that it will be called first unless a program explicitly calls /usr/bin/emacs


Why My MacBook Pro’s battery is swollen and it don’t turn on nor charge? It’s 13 inch early 2015

The MacBook Pro battery is based on lithium-ion technology. Swelling of the battery can be caused basically by two different things:
The functionality of the battery is based on chemical reactions within its components. These reactions happen when you charge the battery, and when you use it to power your device. However, as time passed, this reaction is no longer perfect, and gas can be produced as a byproduct. This gas makes the battery swell.
The second cause is that the battery is internally structured in "compartments" that are seperated from each other. If for some reason tiny holes occur in the membranes that make out the separation, then moisture from the air could make it into the battery and react with the chemicals. This can cause swelling as well.
In either case, a swollen battery is not fit to be used - and should be handled very cautiously as it is a safety issue as well. A swollen battery could break out in fire spontaneously.
I would suggest disposing of the battery via the correct channels immediately.
The battery needs to be replaced with a new battery in order for you laptop to function again.


Clone the Windows partition with Carbon Copy Cloner?

Look into finding a copy of Winclone.  The main problem for SuperDuper and CCC is the inability to write to NTFS volumes.  They can backup your files, but often not necessarily capture the extended attributes with regards to ownership and permissions etc, resulting in an inability to make a sensible restore.

Winclone is no longer in active development, but it is effectively CCC for windows/bootcamp partitions.  I've used it to transfer bootcamp partitions from one drive to another in the past.


In most cases, "Date Created" is the date you created the file. For example, if you write a document and save it, "Today" is the creation date.

If I check my Applications folder, I can see that "App Store.app" was created on June 18, 2015. However, it's impossible for it to have been installed on that date because I installed El Capitan on the USB drive I'm currently booted from just a couple weeks ago (in other words, in June 2015 I didn't own a bootable copy of El Capitan). This means that the "Date Created" was the date that the app itself was created and not when it was installed.

In some other cases (I can't find the file I'm thinking about right now but if I do I'll edit my answer) you can download files and they could retain their metadata. You can download a file created years before you even owned your computer. If the metadata is retained you could have a creation date that is before your owning of that computer (e.g. download a document written in 2013 on a 2014 laptop).


Booting Windows 7 in Boot Camp shows a black screen with a blinking cursor

Since it is an Image-File frome a previous (working) Bootcamp Installation it should not be necessary, but there is an upgrade for the graphics and bluetooth driver from Apple with an installation instruction found here "Boot Camp: iMac displays a black screen during installation of Windows 7" which adresses this problem.


Port 62078 is the port on which the iOS lockdown daemon listens on. Normally it is interacted with via usbmuxd which is a protocol that allows arbitrary TCP connections to be made over a USB connection.

lockdownd can be used to do a lot of nifty things with the built-in services Apple expose on unjailbroken devices. The goto library for interfacing with this service seems to be libimobiledevice which is an open-source library implementing the usbmuxd and other iOS protocols. For a better overview of the capabilities of lockdownd and the iMobileDevice library, take a look at some of the packaged tools the library provides. If you know C, the source code for these tools is here.


Sync files between two different folders on a single Mac

If the git solution does not work for you Linux has you covered.

For folder syncing use rsync -avP —delete —exclude=‘excludeDir’ /path/source /path/dest
or
mirror
And for automatic operation use the scheduler crontab


Why do only some images received via iMessage have GPS data?

If Location Services are on for the Camera.app, EXIF data will include GPS data. If it is not, it will not for photos that are taken with Camera.app. Location data can be inserted on an app by app basis. I tested, for example, Camera.app, and Camera+. The former had Location Services disabled, and the latter was enabled. As expected, the former had no GPS data, while the latter did.

Furthermore, photos that are downloaded from other services may or may not contain location data. For example, Facebook strips GPS data out of photos, while Photobucket does not.

Any testing I have done has been with an iPhone 5, and also an iPad mini.


iPhone5 (iOS 6.0.1) not syncing with iTunes 11.0.2(26)

Three things come to mind if you cannot update to the latest iOS or iTunes software:

Look in the console logs for actionable sync errors.
Try syncing from Xcode as opposed to iTunes.
Restore the iOS device (declining to update the iOS level) and attempt a clean sync from iTunes. (or Xcode)


That's the default text inside the same Credits.rtf file when creating a new OS X Application in Xcode.

I assume Apple didn't bother changing it since they figured no one would bother looking.


How To Fix “Application Is Damaged, Can’t Be Used To Install MacOS” Failure on older Macs

Please check the following, did you redowload the macOS App? So the certificate issue is solved.

If so you should download the macOS App onto a current Mac Model fresh from AppStore and create a macOS-USB-Stick from the newer Mac, this should solve your issue with the AppStore Authentication, so you will be able to run the installation on your older Mac.


This might be a bit of a sledgehammer approach by Applescript compared to Automator's 'move' command, but as that's how the OP approaches it...

To do it as an Automator Service, so it's easy to hotkey it…

'Service receives selected 'files or folders' in 'Finder''.

on run {input, parameters}

    tell application "Finder"
        set selected_items to selection
        set theFolder to ((((path to desktop folder) as text) & "test") as alias)
        repeat with x in selected_items
            move x to theFolder
        end repeat
    end tell

    return input
end run


There are a lot of different shells available for Unix-like systems, and different users have different preferences. So on most Unix systems you'll find some of the most often used shells installed, to give users a choice in using whatever they prefer.

For more information about the differences between various shells see:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4317247/bash-vs-csh-vs-others-which-is-better-for-application-maintenance
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/199661/what-linux-shell-should-i-use
bash vs. zsh: What are the practical differences?

The default shell is just the shell newly created user accounts get assigned as a default shell. This can easily be changed by using chsh or changing the entry in the Users & Groups preference pane. And it's worth nothing that the default shell of existing user accounts will not be changed during the upgrade to Catalina.


Using time machine backup data from newly installed OS X Lion

The Lion Migration Assistant has had no problems for me to restore users and applications from recent Snow Leopard external disks. I was pulling from Time Machine, but it shouldn't matter if it's just a bootable drive or has many point-in-time versions typical of Time Machine.


Yep. Just to confirm this, I took the SIM card out of my own iPhone 6S and all SMS texts were present.


If a guest user installs cracked software / malware, is the original user compromised?

If you didn’t give the guest admin privileges, you’re pretty well protected.

There’s a basic rule when it comes to privileges - what one admin can do, another can (un)do.  This means that if you gave your house mate admin privileges, you gave him/her the same rights you have to modify the system.

So, let’s assume the worst case and say you did give him admin privileges.  “Cracked” software doesn’t automatically mean malware is attached.  But, again assuming the worst, whatever malware installed was done do with (worst case again) root privileges.

While SIP, Gatekeeper, and Catalina’s new read-only system volume do a considerably good job protecting your system, you can still do some critical damage.  Worse, you could have a keylogger installed that captures login credentials, personal info, and everything required to steal your identity and drain your bank account.

Start with Malwarebytes and scan your Mac for threats.  Personally, I would always have that nagging feeling that it's quite not cleaned.  For me, only a full erase of the drive and only a clean reinstall would give me piece of mind.

This again is if you gave him admin access.  If you didn’t, pat yourself on the back for not doing so, delete the account completely and don’t allow him back on your machine.


How do I exit/cancel Mac recovery mode password page?

My IT department confirmed what I hoped was true. You can just hold down the power button to restart. Everything's been working fine for days.


4 bars = 100% signal
3 bars = 75% signal
2 bars = 50% signal
1 bar = 25% signal

Why is it that you have signals with 4 bars and you can not connect could be other problem than signal strength.

I use the RSSI (received signal strength indication) as indicator, and the Noise as second indicator on signals that show >50%. With those 2 values one can decide if the WiFi is worthwhile.

The most telling number is the Transmit rate, that shows how high is the actual data transfer.

In this example one has 4 bars signal, but it is not useable, due to to very high noise and RSSI.

The most telling number is the Transmit rate, that shows how high is the actual data transfer rate.

If you hold the ALT key while clicking on the WiFi icon you will see the additional information on the currently connected network. Look at the Transmit rate, the higher the better ie >100 (It is the speed of data transfer).

Mac has more detailed Network analysis tools. In the Spotlight type Network Utility to find  it.


Completely uninstall, remove, delete any reference to Coda 2 by Panic!

My guess is you probably just need to nuke your user preferences.

Open terminal and past this command (make a backup of the Mac if you don't trust this):

defaults delete com.panic.coda2

You can also make a brand new user on the Mac and try opening coda there to double check it's not some other file somewhere or it it's really something out of your user home folder.

Isolating an issue by using another user account


How do I migrate my wife's iCloud from her paid storage to our family storage?

@RDG : That link does not explain how to merge an already existing plan into a family plan that the user has been added to. It merely states that you can:

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

@Dave Sag: I had the same problem with my family—my son already had a 50G storage plan and after I got a 200G family storage plan and added all my family members to it, for some reason it still showed him as "not using", and nowhere in the iCloud preferences on him MacBook would it allow him to switch to the family plan and get rid of his individual plan.

After a lot of digging I found one article that mentioned that in order to use the family shared iCloud storage you have to be running Mac OS High Sierra (10.13) or higher. Turned out, he was still on Sierra (10.12). After upgrading his MacBook to High Sierra the iCloud preferences now showed a button to "Use Family Storage". Clicking that instantly moved all his iCloud data from his individual storage plan to the family shared storage.

After doing that, it no longer even shows his 50G plan in the iCloud preferences. I'm assuming that it has cancelled that plan. If I find out that it did not automatically cancel that plan and that I have to go cancel it myself, I'll follow up on here to let you know.

Cheers
—Dan


Is there room for two drives in the 27" 2012 iMac?

It can be done, but I’m not sure which SKUs it applies to, or that it’s particularly advisable.
Both the 2.9 GHz and the 3.1 GHz 21.5″ iMacs have space for a second drive bay, and there’s an iFixit tutorial explaining how to install a second drive. (iFixit usually tear down new hardware within a day or so of release, and have a lot of tutorials for things like hardware upgrades and repairs).
Currently their page for the 27″ model doesn’t have such a tutorial. However, there’s a page on their forums where people are discussing associated teardowns and the possibility of such an upgrade. The poster ifixit611 writes:

The 27″ iMac holds one 3.5″ drive (unlike the 21″, which uses a 2.5″ drive), and one “blade” SSD like the new MacBook Pros use. Unlike the new 21″ iMac, you can upgrade the RAM on the 27″ w/o cutting the machine open (there’s an access hatch on the back).
Replacing the disk requires cutting open the display and removing the left speaker. You’ll need a proper mounting bracket (e.g., an Icy Dock) to mount a 2.5″ SSD in place of the 3.5″ drive. Adding/replacing the blade SSD requires pulling out the main logic board.

They conclude that they won’t be performing the upgrade before iFixit or OWC provide a proper “kit”.
So it sounds like, in theory, you could perform this upgrade on a 27″ iMac, and the instructions from iFixit for upgrading the 21″ would probably be helpful in this regard. That said, hardware is not my area of expertise and I generally get twitchy about opening up iMacs. Do at your own risk, etc.


What color wallpaper makes page control dots on iPhone invisible?

You can't make the dots completely invisible.

The iOS SpringBoard (or Home screen as it is generally called) is programmed such that the Page Controls (dots) which appear just above the Dock remain legible irrespective of the colour of the wallpaper in the background. This is done by assigning them colors which are in contrast to the colour of the background.

The logic ensures that at-least the colour of the dot representing the current page of Home screen is most clearly visible.

There is no publicly available official document to back this fact. The conclusion can be reached by performing a small experiment as described:

Set the background to solid #000000 or RGB: 0, 0, 0 (Black color).

Get the color code for the Page Control dots corresponding to non-current screens. Notice the colour code for the dots. The value is #727374 or RGB: 114, 115, 116.

Create a solid colored background image of resolution equal to that of iPhone's screen (640 x 1136 in my case, iPhone 5s), with the above noted color code and assign it as iPhone background. The color code was picked corresponding to non-current screen dots as they can have more than one instances.

Now once again, get the color code for the Page Control dots corresponding to non-current screens. It can be observed that the colour for the dots has changed.

Now, create a solid colored background image with colour code #FFFFFF or RGB: 255, 255, 255 (White colour). Once again, notice the color of the dots. The color corresponding to the current screen has changed from White in first image to Black in the current image.

P.S.: I have played around a lot with both macOS and iOS to minimise eye-candy by working through such tricks. Above conclusion is just an observation without any documented backing from Apple. The attached iPhone home screen screenshots have been scaled down to 50% of their original resolution.


Copy-pasting text from MS Word to Mac Mail does not preserve formatting

The easiest solution is that you shouldn't use Word to compose your email.  Use Apple Mail, or Outlook:Mac, or whatever your email program is.

Why is this?

Email is formatted using HTML.  Word produces very bad HTML that is highly likely to not look the way that you want it to, especially when you send it to someone else.
There are two ways that font sizes are displayed: in points and in pixels.  The world has mostly settled on points for specifying font sizes.  When you see that there's a huge difference in font size when someone responds to your mail, it's because their mail program thinks that your font size was in points when it was actually in pixels (or the other way around).

If you're using Word because you really want specific formatting that is possible in Word but that you can't do when trying to format it that way in your email application, this probably means that the formatting that you want to use isn't appropriate for email.  You should either use formatting that is appropriate for email (which doesn't extend far beyond choosing from a handful of fonts and font sizes, as well as some basic formatting like bulleted lists and bold/italic), or you should send your highly-formatted item as an attachment (either a Word document, if you're sure that your recipient has Word, or a PDF).


You should be able to force quit the installer. To do this, press the optioncommandESC keys to bring up the Force Quit Applications window. Then select the installer and click on the Force Quit button.

Another option is to make sure the installer is the active app and then hold down the shiftoptioncommandESC keys for at least three seconds to immediately force quit it.


Here are some suggestions.

If you are talking about Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) devices, then the path is

/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/

By default there is one bundle there: on my Mac iSightAudio.driver, is the driver for the built-in webcam.

Other devices may use Kernel Extensions; bundles that end in .kext, are located in:

/System/Library/Extensions/


What is the meaning of the command lsof +L1

There are three things to a "file" on POSIX filesystems:

The set of data blocks - the file's actual contents.
The inode, which is a structure that holds the list of said blocks, and some metadata (size, ownership, permissions, link count, and some others).
One or more directory entries, which contain a name and an inode number (and other things)

What you see when you run ls or in file browsers are the directory entries, organized in a tree of directories and files. Each of the directory entries map the file name to an inode number. The inode number is used to locate the inode, which is used to locate the actual blocks (and check permissions, etc.)

When you create a file, an inode is created with an initial link count of one, and a directory entry is set up with the name you specified, pointing to that inode.

If you create a hard link, a second directory entry is made with the name you chose, but pointing to the same inode - both directory entries refer to the same inode (i.e. you now have two names that refer to the same file). The link count of the inode is incremented for each new hard link.

When a process opens a file, using a file name, the kernel does the directory entry lookup, finds the inode, and returns a file descriptor that "refers to" the inode, not the directory entry. The directory entry is irrelevant once the file has been opened - it is just a convenient way to locate the right inode.

When you delete a file (e.g. using rm), you're not actually deleting the file, you're deleting the directory entry. The kernel decrements the inode's link count, but doesn't delete the inode (and reclaim space) unless:

that directory entry was the last one pointing to it (i.e. link count is down to zero - this is what lsof +L1 lists: open files that are completely unlinked)
there are no remaining open file descriptors that refer to it

So processes can continue operating on that file, even if there is no way to get back to it from browsing the filesystem. And you can get apparent inconsistencies from the output of df and du for instance:

df interrogates the filesystem to see how many free blocks it has. The data blocks from the "hidden" files with no more directory entries are not free (there are still processes that can read/write them), so they still occupy space and will continue occupying that space until the last file descriptor that refers to them is closed
du lists directory entries and sums up sizes. It can't see these unlinked files, and will thus return less space used than the filesystem will.

If the files are on traditional disks, they continue to occupy disk space just like normal, still linked files. IO happens as normal. It doesn't have more main memory requirements/start eating RAM.

If the unlinked but open files are in a filesystem backed by RAM, then they continue to occupy memory, as they did before being unlinked. (In both cases the files can still grow/shrink too.)

The space will be reclaimed only when the last open file descriptor is closed. (Note that still open file descriptors get closed when a process exits or is otherwise terminated.)

If you attach a debugger to a program that is using unlinked files, you won't see anything particularly interesting. File IO calls will look exactly the same as for normal, still linked, files. Nothing special going on there. By inspecting what is read/written you might get some ideas about what the process is using these files for, but that's about it.

As for accessing these files, I'm afraid I don't know OS X enough to tell if there's an easy way. The fdesc pseudo-filesystem looks like it could be useful, but apparently only gives you access to the current process's files.

A simple example of how a process can do this, in perl. (Can be done with just about any language, including shell scripts.)

Setup and helper function:

#! /usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use Fcntl qw(SEEK_SET); # for rewinding

my $fh;                 # file descriptor/handle
my $test_file = "./test_file";

sub status {            # checks if the file is "visible"
  my @st = stat($test_file);
  if (@st) {
    print "$test_file: file exists\n";
  } else {
    print "$test_file: error: $!\n";
  }
}

The main part:

# open file in read/write mode, creating it if it doesn't exist
# (overwriting it if it does)
if (!open($fh, '+>', $test_file)) {
  die "Failed to open $test_file: $!";
}
print $fh "Some data before unlink.\n";
status();
unlink($test_file);
status();
print $fh "Some data after unlink.\n";

# Rewind
seek($fh, 0, SEEK_SET);
# Print file contents
foreach my $line (<$fh>) {
  print "read: $line";
}
# Close
close($fh);

Expected output:

 $ perl test.pl
./test_file: file exists
./test_file: error: No such file or directory
read: Some data before unlink.
read: Some data after unlink.

You can move the unlink around a bit (before or after the prints), won't change anything. There's nothing special about the file handle after the unlink, can be used as any other file handle (as long as it is kept open).


You can easily change which device is used for audio input. Just hold down ⌥ Option while clicking on the Volume menu item:

Alternatively, to get a bit more fine control, open System Preferences (found under  > System Preferences…) and open the Sound preference pane:


Since you want to use the command-line I would recommend ffmpeg.

Generally speaking, it's the most capable tool you'll find for converting/encoding  anything you could imagine. It's incredibly fast and utilizes the audio command-line encoding tool LAME (my favorite), which compliments it almost perfectly. To be quite honest, it has so many uses that I would never be able to explain them all; It's definitely a winner in my book, so check it out.

For parameters that all depends on you, your setup, and what your expectations are. Without knowing which encoder you plan on using, or have installed, there are just too many variables involved to specifically to tell you which arguments should be used. If you need help with that part of it once you compile/install it then I'm sure someone here can help you out.


Is there a way to capture text messages into an image?

Only by scrolling and capturing repeatedly and then assembling in a graphics program. Nothing built into iOS currently does it, and SMS data is completely inaccessible to App Store 3rd party apps (protecting your privacy).


It appears that Disk Utility.app has been replaced by an incorrect version, or you are attempting to open a Disk Utility from a different installation of OS X. Make sure that you are opening Disk Utility from /Applications/Utilities and not from any other volume.

You can replace Disk Utility by re-installing OS X, which will replace all Apple apps in /Applications with new versions from the installation media.

Alternatively, you can use a Time Machine backup or other backup media to obtain a replacement copy of Disk Utility.

If you have a second computer with exactly the same version of OS X, you can copy it from that computer into the same location on the first computer. Once you have done this, boot into the Recovery HD with ⌘R and Repair Disk Permissions to ensure that the app has the proper permissions.


How Do I Remove Duplicate Apps From Launchpad?

First make sure you don't really have three copies of the Application. You can use spotlight to clean out any duplicates and keep one copy of the application mounted.

Once that is resolved, you can delete the duplicates from Launchpad one by one; if they all go, just reinstall Skype.

You can also force Launchpad to recreate its database, if it is corrupt, or just to refresh the apps alphabetically by using this hack:

run Terminal
execute sudo rm ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock/*.db
execute sudo killall Dock to restart Dock and Launchpad

Just be aware that you will use any user-defined grouping/sorting etc. this way.

Another wonderful high-level (and safe with undos and backups) GUI solution is Launchpad control, which is a system preference panel.


Strange case of truly invisible file (?) and undeletable directory on macOS

I filed a bug report with Apple and this seems to finally be fixed now in Mojave 10.14.4 (18E226).

To fix, update your OS to the latest version. Then reboot into recovery (CMD-R) and run disk first aid.

It should show one or more error: directory valence check: directory (oid 0x123456): nchildren (1) does not match drec count (0)  and / or error: nchildren of inode object (id 12345678) does not match expected value and repair them.

Once it is done, reboot into OS X and you should finally be able to delete the folder normally!


How can I script selective minimization of documents in text edit when several files may be open?

Open the windows you want to minimize first, and the other(s) afterwards.
open -a TextEdit.app ~/Documents/doc2.txt ~/Documents/doc3.txt
osascript -e 'tell application "TextEdit" to set miniaturized of every window to true'
open -a TextEdit.app ~/Documents/doc1.txt


This post seems to have a solution. It's probable that there's still an entry in the EFI for Windows even though the partition isn't there any more.


How can I troubleshoot a WiFi setup that needs close proximity to function?

Since there are a lot of causes - let's try to narrow down some things.

If you are on Snow Leopard - you can get some more detail on the MacBook to know if there is interference or if there is potentially a hardware error.

Hold the option (or alt) key and press the WiFi icon in the menu (you'll have to add it if it's not in the menu for this testing.)

All the mac cares about is transmit rate - it's the best number to tell how much data your mac thinks it can send reliably to the router. The higher the rate, the better. A high transmit rate is all that matters - even if the signal is weak, you still have a good connection if you have a solid transmit rate.

Next is RSSI - it's less intuitive. I tell people think of sunlight into the ocean. If you are -20 feet below the surface it's really light. RSSI of -100 is really dark / really faint signal. In ideal environment - no noise, good antennas on both mac and router and good amplifiers reading the singals - you can still operate at -100, but any interference or extra distance, you could stop getting a signal.

Different macs have different RSSI - so if you have a close match in hardware you can be sure the problem is the mac by comparing with another. If not, it's more guesswork. Your iPhone WiFi antenna is likely 10 times as big as the Mac's antenna so it's looking more like a signal issue than anything else.

I hope this helps you decide what next steps to take to find the cause.

You can change the router, change the physical location or change the hardware. If a repair shop is close, maybe try a diagnosis there. If not, you'll have to take the mac to other locations with that router and try changing the things you can control.

It's not likely software since moving the mac closer to the router doesn't change the software, but you might check for updates if some new firmware does better with interference or error handling. It's a long shot so I list it last.

EDIT - I am home and can report some transmit rates. On my older equipment, transmit rates of 24 to 54 are seen on an old linksys 802.11b router. My MacBook Pro gets transmit rates of 200 to 300 pretty much all around the house. Even when I have one bar in the menu bar for airport signal strength, these transmit rates stay high as the RSSI goes to -90 (which is getting far away from the base station)


Okay, I just figured out what was wrong. I had actually disabled my daughter to change her password under parental control (ages ago when I've set it up). To undo that I had to

SystemPreferences > ParentialControls > Other

where I could untick the box "Disable changing the password".


What are some quality small business management programs?

There's always Office for Mac if you like Excel, Numbers, and a host of other business apps. Check out the Mac App Store's "Business" section for more. Do realize, however, that Office for Mac isn't exactly the same as it is on Windows, and may not necessarily be worth the hefty price tag.


macOS Catalina USB keyboard doesn't work after being taken out and in again

Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac

Shut down your Mac, then turn it on and immediately press and hold these four keys together: Option, Command, P, and R. You can release the keys after about 20 seconds, during which your Mac might appear to restart.

Test after this.

If this doesn't help then at last try to:

Reset the SMC on Mac

First, shut down your Mac and Press Shift-Control-Option on the left side of the built-in keyboard, then press the power button at the same time. Hold these keys and the power button for 10 seconds. Release all keys. And, Press the power button again to turn on your Mac.

Start up in safe mode

Start or restart your Mac, then immediately press and hold the Shift key. The Apple logo appears on your display.

Release the Shift key when you see the login window. If your startup disk is encrypted with FileVault, you might be asked to log in twice: once to unlock the startup disk, and again to log in to the Finder.

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

This will release some kernel panic that might help to fix your issue too.


How to share a very large voice memo to Dropbox from iPod?

Since you only have two sharing options in Voice Memos (Email, Message), you are obviously limited to those two things (clearly excluding a computer which you don't have access to).

Caveat: the following steps worked for me, but I didn't have a super-large voice memo to test it with.

Turn off "Send as SMS" in Settings.app -> Messages (if enabled).
Open Voice Memos.app and select the memo you want to share.
Tap "Share", and select "Message".
Type in a bogus number.

This shouldn't be hard because we just limited our playing field to only iMessage users by turning off SMS alternate. The goal is to not reach someone obviously.

Hit send.
You should receive an error message that the message failed to send. (Perfect.)
Tap the memo, and then select the "Share" icon in the upper right corner.
Select "Open in DropBox".


'script' command in terminal, looking for a flush open

You can achieve more or less the same result by running

script -t 0

From the man page:

-t time  Specify time interval between flushing script output file.
         A value of 0 causes script to flush for every
         character I/O event.  The default interval is 30 seconds.


The certificate issue is not your fault and there’s nothing to bypass. They need to resolve the issue.

DPS is experiencing intermittent outages that may prevent access or limit functions.  The program is aware of the issue and actively troubleshooting.  This notice will be removed once the issue is resolved.


Is there a way to copy mp3 files directly over to an ipod from the command line?

Not unless you use custom firmware (Rockbox, iPod Linux for older models). The iPod depends on a database file for playing files and if you just copy the files over they will not be in said database and subsequently the iPod will not be able to play them.


Limit wifi network access per-user with user switching

You may be able to disconnect and reconnect using an AppleScript firing a shell command such as this: http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20031206194417678


Open System Preferences with a keyboard shortcut

Add it as a global shortcut (under All Applications, not System Preferences), and include an ellipsis in the menu name (either ... or ….):

The only apps this method works for are System Preferences, System Information, and App Store. For others, see:

Launch an OS X app with a keyboard shortcut - Super User (instructions for using AppleScripts, a list of third party apps that support application triggers)
OSX show/hide specific app global hotkey? - Super User (instructions for using Automator services)


How can one copy photos off an iPad onto a Windows computer (prior to syncing)?

http://blog.laptopmag.com/how-to-quickly-transfer-images-from-an-ipad-to-a-pc

A PC, like a Mac, will see the iPad as a camera. Instead of using an application to load the photos, you can just browse to them in Windows Explorer and copy them to a local folder.


Install El Capitan with VirtualBox on OS X

The dmg file (Install OS X El Capitan.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg) is no bootable image.

To create a bootable file use the following script. You may have to modify some paths (i.e. the user name in the last line and the path to Install OS X El Capitan.app (and the inner InstallESD.dmg file) in the 6th line):

#!/bin/bash

# Create bootable El Capitan ISO

# Mount the installer image
hdiutil attach "/Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg" -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/esd

# Create empty cdr image
hdiutil create -o ElCapitan.cdr -size 8000m -layout SPUD -fs HFS+J

# Mount the cdr image
hdiutil attach ElCapitan.cdr.dmg -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/iso

# Restore Base System to the cdr image
asr restore -source /Volumes/esd/BaseSystem.dmg -target /Volumes/iso -noprompt -noverify -erase

# Remove Package link and replace with actual files
rm /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/System/Installation/Packages

# Copy Base System
cp -rp /Volumes/esd/Packages /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/System/Installation
cp -rp /Volumes/esd/BaseSystem.chunklist /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/
cp -rp /Volumes/esd/BaseSystem.dmg /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System/

# Unmount the installer image
hdiutil detach /Volumes/esd

# Unmount the cdr image
hdiutil detach /Volumes/OS\ X\ Base\ System

# Convert the cdr to ISO/CD master
hdiutil convert ElCapitan.cdr.dmg -format UDTO -o ElCapitan.iso

# Rename the ISO and move it to the desktop
mv ElCapitan.iso.cdr $HOME/Desktop/ElCapitan.iso

# Clean up temporary file
rm ElCapitan.cdr.dmg

Paste the content in a text editor to a new document as plain text and save it as prepare_elcapitan_cdr.sh on your desktop.

Open Terminal, chmod the script and execute it:

chmod +x ~/Desktop/prepare_elcapitan_cdr.sh
cd ~/Desktop
./prepare_elcapitan_cdr.sh

Detach elcap.dmg from the VM. Use the final ElCapitan.iso as installer iso and attach it to the virtual SATA Port 1. You can delete the ElCapitan.cdr.dmg file.


Yes, if the app is deleted after being downloaded, it still counts as a download. Deleting the app does not affect the ranking of the app.

If you download the app over and over again using the same Apple ID, it will still count as one download. You cannot improve your rating by downloading the same app over and over again unless you use different Apple IDs.


How did the function "Save As…" change to "Duplicate"?

This was changed in Lion along with the introduction of Auto Save and Versions. Save As is still available by holding ⌥ alt whilst in the menus.


Target Display Mode not working on MacBook Pro 13" 2020

Same issue here!

New 2020 MBP, using an apple USB-C to thunderbolt adapter, apple thunderbolt cable, mid 2011 iMac.

Apple support just informed me that they don't have this feature in newer devices. What a shame!

I'm filling out a feedback form suggesting that they bring it back. Perhaps naively hopeful that they'll respond but worth a shot.


Is it safe to delete heapdump.hprof.old?

Yes, it is perfectly safe to delete the file.

It is used by programmers in debugging errors in programs. If you're not a developer, not actively debugging that specific program, or not actively involved in a support request regarding a bug in that program - you won't need the file.


Is it possible to install OS X on an assembled desktop?

1) OS X doesn't have any of that licensing/trial bs you're probably used to. There is just 1 version of OS X that you run, and that's it.
2) OS X can't just run on regular hardware without being "tricked" into thinking it's a mac
3) What's you're trying to do is against Apple's EULA, but is possible. You should see the Hackintosh project, and the OS X 86 project.
4) Running OS X on standard hardware is a very common feat, which is well documented on the internet… all you need is a simple google search query.


How can I upgrade to any macOS version that is no longer available in the Apple app store?

As soon as a new Mac OS is released, the previous one becomes unavailable.

The only way to get an older OS directly from Apple is to have previously 'purchased it' - even if it was free - then it will appear in your purchase history in the App Store.

If it's not in your purchase history, then you'll have to get it from a trustworthy friend [or less-trustworthy torrent etc]

10.10.anything will do, as you can still get the combo updater to 10.10.5

It's always wise to get a new OS download, even if you don't intend to install it right now - just so it's always in your history.  I have every OS back to Lion in my purchase history - good for if I ever need a disposable OS for testing etc.

As Sierra will not run on older machines, this rule has been relaxed for machines whose last supported OS is El Capitan.
You can download it from here - https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?mt=12 - but it will not run if your machine is capable of running Sierra.
If it is capable, then you are back to needing it in your purchase history already.


If you have or install Docker on your Mac, you can install Microsoft SQL Server in Docker from:

https://hub.docker.com/_/microsoft-mssql-server

When you have the server running locally, you can install the free Azure Data Studio for macOS from here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/azure-data-studio/download-azure-data-studio?view=sql-server-ver15

That is a graphical tool that will let you for example restore the backup file you have received. You can then export the data in the format you need to continue working with it with other tools.


Where are all of the different Python Copies Installed?

You can re-install the python3 that you messed up. With brew install python3  This linked question talks about the command line tools that may be need to complete the install. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14583427/brew-install-python3-fails

To remove the home-brew versions, so that you only have the system original
brew remove python python3  && brew cleanup


Printing warning: “hpPostScriptPDE.plugin” will damage your computer

I had the same problem after updating to Catalina 10.15.7 on my older Mac Mini. To fix the printing warning (and allow printing) I first deleted the HP drivers and then installed new ones. My HP Color LaserJet 2025 wasn’t one of the options with the new drivers but the OS selected Laserjet CP2020 and it seems to work fine. If nothing comes up that looks close to your printer, you could try “generic laser printer”.
You can download the uninstaller at HPs site:
https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06960563
I found the new drivers on Apple’s site:
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1888?locale=en_US
My Mac is too old to install Big Sur and My wifes’s doesn’t have enough space so I can’t test it with Big Sur.
I don’t think it is a problem with HPs certificates as Allan said since the same printer works fine on my laptop running 10.6.8.


My Macbook Air 2014 is stuck in an infinite boot loop because the SSD is not registering

If the SSD is not showing up in Disk Utility then it is likely that the SSD has failed or the hardware that supports the SSD has failed. The failure is likely coincidental to the OS reinstall and sale, but it can't be ruled out that the purchaser did something to the Mac. What that might be I couldn't tell you.
Realistically the only way to diagnose this is to open it up, preferably by a certified Mac tech, and see what is going on.
You are probably looking at having to replace the SSD (I think this Mac has a removable SSD) in your Mac.


iPhone 3GS always rebooting when logging on to cellular network

You might be lucky, iOS 4.3.1 is out and there's the following change in the changelog:

  Resolves bugs relating to activating and connecting to some cellular networks

Try to update and tell us if it fix the problem.


Try this
http://www.uxrecorder.com/

I can‘t use it - not available in german store


Can you watch movies from an external USB flash drive on an iOS device?

You need to pick an external store device that comes with an app to play content on the device.

  Stream videos to up to 3 devices—at the same time

  SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick is a great entertainer, too. You can
  stream music or videos1 to three smartphones, tablets or computers as
  long as they’re somewhere in the vicinity—the back seat, the next tent
  or the other end of the conference table.

https://www.sandisk.com/home/mobile-device-storage/connect-wireless-stick


iTunes for Windows finds less files to import than iTunes for Mac

This can happen with many other things on mac, such as your storage breakdown. The simple fix is to restart your mac and open iTunes back up again. Sometimes, macs need to "catch up".

Sources:

Apple store worker


Is "ignore volume ownership" the default for non-system partitions?

I only have an NTFS partition next to my HFS+ partition, so I can't verify this. But all my external's have "ignore volume ownership" disabled and I'm pretty sure I didn't set those.

Why do you need to know this? It's hard to help without some background information.


What video resolutions does late-2015 iMac 5K support on external monitors?

You haven't detailed how you have actually connected the monitor and the iMac, but it sounds like the problem is the cabling/adapters.

The monitor is from a time where you couldn't achieve the 2560x1600 resolution without using dual-link DVI. Note that this is different from just "DVI" as a non-dual link DVI cable will not allow you to transfer such a resolution.

You'll to use an adapter especially for this purpose. For example Apple's mini-DisplayPort to dual-link DVI adapter:

https://www.apple.com/dk/shop/product/MB571Z/A/mini-displayport-til-dual-link-dvi-mellemstik


From your description, one of two things is likely happening.

Here's what's supposed to happen, your IT department should package the certificates you need to "trust" their servers and networks and they should provide them and hopefully not change the certificates every few weeks or months. Better, they could pay for a real certificate that's signed by a trusted broker and your Mac would just know it was a valid certificate and not just something the IT department self-signed.

Your Mac should take the certificate needed and enter it into your keychain when you tell it to "always trust" the certificate, but that isn't working as well.

So - you could troubleshoot your keychain (start with the help menu in keychain access program) or learn more about how that works. You could ask IT to point you to the actual certificates and learn how to store them in your keychain or the system keychain. You'll want to run the Certificate Assistant from Keychain Access if you choose to store the certs locally since it will help you know if you have a good chain of trust and to debug things, since this usually takes several tries if you're not in the habit of installing custom certs into OS X.


Mac Pro 2009/10 Doesn't boot after weekend, LED shows for 2 secs then nothing!

We just managed to figure this out. It was a faulty RAM board/riser. We found the DIAG switch and pressed it with a pencil, all the lights for the PSU checked out properly. So we went back to thinking it must be the RAM again. One riser had 10GB on the other had 2GB, luckily the 2GB one appears faulty. We removed this riser (although we'd already done this!) and the machine booted up fine!

We then reseated the sticks in different slots on the faulty riser, reseated the riser and the machine booted, but couldn't find the RAM. So for now we've ditched that riser and are letting the machine run with 10GB instead of 12GB.

Hope this helps.


Automatically apply tag to folder based on content

The proper tool for this job is Hazel.
It can apply tags based on file names, file extensions, even file contents and a lot more. It can also do that on sub-folders as well.
The app has been around for a long time, its developer is very well respected, and the app is well worth its asking price.
There’s a free trial available which you should download and try before buying, but it’s an essential tool for me, and much easier to deal with than Automator and Folder Actions.
Updated To Add
I’m 99% sure that Hazel can do this (if I am understanding the idea properly), and would recommend checking out this page as a starting point:
https://www.noodlesoft.com/manual/hazel/advanced-topics/processing-subfolders/
The developer is also very responsive. The best place to ask questions is here:
https://www.noodlesoft.com/forums/


The proper config file name of the standard root shell (i.e. sh) is .profile. So change the name of .bash_profile to .profile:

mv /var/root/.bash_profile /var/root/.profile
source /var/root/.profile

This is working logging in as root in the GUI.

Trying to sudo su in a sudoer's shell won't fetch root's .profile file. Use sudo -i instead.


Will Game Data be Erased from iOS Restore if Connected to Game Center?

I have done this before and no, it does not erase your Apple ID or Game Center data. However, not all applications and games use Game Center or iCloud to store data so keep that in mind.


You mention it is/was a work account. Also that it is a managed account. Would you happen to be connecting up to an Active Directory or other directory account? If so, your directory server could be specifying that your account try and connect up with a network share on login. If your connection is wireless or something that passes login credentials in order to authenticate to the network, this may well create significant lag on login.

To test, fire up Terminal and enter:

dsconfigad -show

If the "Mount home as sharepoint" value is set to Enabled, your account is likely trying to connect to a share on login. To prevent this, simple run the following command:

dsconfigad -sharepoint disable

Note: this is all assume Active Directory connection, being one of the more popular enterprise/work domain services.


Is an external GPU possible for MacBook Air 2012?

For macOS Sierra or earlier, you can use automate-eGPU.sh to enable your eGPU.

For macOS High Sierra or later, you will require purge-wrangler.sh to get your eGPU up and running.

Regardless of a high success rate of these workarounds, it is recommended that you purchase an eGPU setup you can return for a full refund in case things don't work out.


Not receiving notifications form discord

If you first denied an app permission to send notifications this can be fixed very easily in settings. Go to settings. Then click the notifications. Then click discord. Then you can choose to turn notifications on.

There are several types?

Banners - This will notify you when a message is sent using a banner.
Alert - This appears on the screen and requires an action before continuing

Hope this helps!


Thunderbolt ports on my MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) stopped working

Since the MBP is so new, you should probably contact Apple right away.  You have eliminated all but your new Mac as the problem.  Let Apple fix it.


How can I install a working bluetooth library for Python?

Why not try python from homebrew. https://brew.sh

This port is very widely updated and has tons of previous versions if you run into a problem or have some modules that break on the latest versions as they do on occasion.


MacBook does not sleep when lid is closed

A lack of wake reason entries suggests your Mac is never fully sleeping. The sleep mechanism has started but never completes.

Use the following Terminal command to view a detailed log showing your Mac's power history:

pmset -g log

You will see a list of entries in form:

 * Domain: applicationresponse.slowresponse
 - Message: PMConnection AirPort configd plug-in com.apple.powermanagement.applicationresponse.slowresponse 1399 ms
 - Time: 13/03/2012 12:27:53 CET
 - Signature: AirPort configd plug-in
 - UUID: AB482838-2D6E-0000-0000-14BF53E20000
 - Result: Noop
 - Response time (ms): 1399

Look out for applications that may be keeping your Mac awake and active. Applications and other processes can keep your Mac awake if they are providing a service, such as file sharing or remote access. However, processes should be forced asleep after 30 seconds on lid close.

The behaviour you are seeing suggests a kernel extension or IOKit problem. User level processes can not block sleep when instigated by the user.

Do you have any utilities installed that install kernel extensions (kext)? These might include screen recording or audio capture tools; utilities than need low level access to your Mac.


Is there a way to number list items in reverse order in Pages '09?

Nope, you can only tell Pages to start at a number, and it will add +1 to that number. Pages ’09 doesn’t have the option to perform a reverse numbered list.

However, a “workaround” exists by using an old school table.

Click on the table icon on the toolbar to create a table.
Resize the table to your preferred size (Inspector > Table > Table: for better control on the cell’s size).
You will need two columns, the first column will be for the “numbers” and the second one will be the item itself.
Type the highest number in the 1st column/first row and the next number in the first column, second row. (see image)
Drag the little white dot downwards and the sequence will be automatically completed.
Modify the table properties in the inspector to remove the borders.
Silently grin because nobody will know this is a table… you can make evil sounds too.

If you need more rows later, you can add them, modify the first two items in the “sequence” and re-drag to regenerate the new sequence, for the same price.

Additional Info

This “automcomplete the secuence” magic also works for other datatypes, for example: Letters (try a, b, … drag).

8. Don’t forget to profit!


why file attachment in oneNote(Mac) is locked and how to bypass it?

It is not possible right now, because files attached to OneNote-notes are always read-only copies in the current version. If you edit them, Mac OS X saves the changes to a copy of the file in a location you can choose. To update the online copy of your file with your changes, you'd have to remove the old version of the file from the note and attach the copy with your new changes to it.


Based on the "iphone" tag on this question, I'm going to assume you're talking about an iPhone battery.  The lithium-ion batteries used in portable devices have a limited "lifespan" (number of charge cycles) -- their maximum charge capacity diminishes slightly every time they are charged.

Apple has published tips on battery maintenance as well as general tips to get more life out of iPhone batteries.

Unfortunately, iPhone batteries cannot be easily replaced by consumers, but Apple will replace them for $86 with a one-week turnaround.  There are also third parties that offer to do this cheaper, but it may affect your warranty if they are not authorized technicians.

Finally, if you are really into DIY, you can buy the parts online and replace it yourself (about $30 including tools and shipping), though some have suggested that this is a difficult procedure.


10.11.3 - launchd to start a job either at startup or at time of day

You should be able to control this with two different launchd jobs.

one job to start daily at 8 am
another job to unload the first at quitting time (8 pm)

If the application doesn't expect to be loaded/unloaded (like mongodb does if you install it from homebrew), then change the second script to call your "kill" script.

How do I create an AppleScript that will quit an application at a specific time and then put the computer to sleep?
Applescript app to shut down Mathematica at a specific time of day

I'm of the mind to just call /usr/bin/killall SelfControl if that works rather than mucking with wrapping a mode convoluted AppleScript example with /usr/bin/osascript like in the example here:

/usr/bin/osascript -e 'tell application "Mathematica" to quit'

This is far more robust than making a helper script that needs to stay running since launchd keeps track of the time that passes when powered off and/or sleeping and should fire things later (say 23:30) if you wake the Mac from sleep starting at 6 pm.

I use LaunchControl or Lingon app to manage my plist files - but you can hand roll them too like your question.

The second is shorter, so I've named it org.you.control.unload and it simply calls launchctl unload org.you.control.load at 20:00 and set the RunAtLoad to /false so it only triggers per the clock.

<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>org.you.control.unload</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>launchctl</string>
        <string>unload</string>
        <string>org.you.control.load</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <false/>
    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <dict>
        <key>Hour</key>
        <integer>20</integer>
        <key>Minute</key>
        <integer>0</integer>
    </dict>
</dict>

Just decide on the names you want: org.you.control.load or ** my.selfControlScheduler** are both fine, but pick an idiom and stick with it throughout.

Your startup plist looks fine but there could be permissions or other issues that a tool to debug things without needing a handy reference like http://launchd.info

Rather than script the opening of the app, just call /usr/bin/open -a SelfControl would be my suggestion if yours isn't working presently.

<string>org.you.control.load</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
    <string>/usr/bin/open</string>
    <string>-a</string>
    <string>SelfControl</string>
</array>


How can I save all modified files in Preview in one go?

Appearance Control Panel in System Preferences

I believe you may find what you are hoping to accomplish by checking here, which describes how to disable the autosave function, which is not what you are looking for... but in the top most screenshot is the Appearance Control Panel (/Applications/System Preferences.app/Appearance Control Panel) there is a checkbox to utilize the builtin autosave features of Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks. Find that control panel and uncheck "Ask to keep changes when closing documents" and see if that does what you want.


Go to Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration and trash the com.apple.airport.preferences.plist file.

Reboot and a new file will be regenerated. This would eliminate a corrupt file.

If the problem persists, you may have some interference in your cube so moving any printers or other electronic devices further away might help.


You can get the current swap usage on the command line by running the following command:
sysctl vm.swapusage

It will output something similar to:
vm.swapusage: total = 4096.00M  used = 2743.50M  free = 1352.50M  (encrypted)

The number in "used" should correspond with the number you've circled in Activity Monitor.


What section where you call and activate your phone? there was no phone call involved in setting up the iPhone 6 (or my previous iPhones either).

If you are not getting any cellular services you will need to contact your carrier. The simplest way to do this is to call 611 from the phone, but they may need you to reset the phone (losing the call) so it may be simpler to just go to your carrier's closest brick-and-mortar store.


Connect two 30" ACD on a 17" MacBook Pro (early 2011)

Yes, you can add another monitor if you use a USB video adaptor.  No, there are no USB video adaptors that support dual link DVI monitors such as the 30" Cinema Display.

Many USB video adaptors will support 1920x1200, some a little bit higher.

However, you will find the USB video to be slow and annoying if you are used to high performance video.

I suggest you consider using two Apple Thunderbolt displays which are a bit smaller and a bit lower resolution at 2560-by-1440, but you can connect two of them, and you'll actually find as good as your cinema display is, technology has improved noticeably since its release, and the thunderbolt displays are absolutely stunning.

You might be able to connect one thunderbolt display, then attach the thunderbolt-DVI adaptor to that display and attach your cinema display.

To that end, you might find some of the information in this question useful:

How to connect two non-Thunderbolt displays to the Macbook Pro 2011 via Thunderbolt?


DDR3 ram is not pin compatible with DDR2 so you will have to find the DDR2.

The higher speed RAM should work as it throttles down to the speed that the motherboard can handle.


MacOS application does not launch when double clicked but does launch from terminal

One thing I’d try is to use a tool like Platypus to help assemble the application bundle.

https://www.sveinbjorn.org/platypus

It might be easier to narrow down what part of the console log errors are relevant if you can diff your hand crafted app bundle and compare it with the one the tool assembles for you.


Yes, this is possible, though my solution is a bit hacky. Note that this method uses some undocumented Objective C APIs, and doesn't go through ordinary accessibility settings, so be careful.

First you need to have developer tools installed so that you can compile Objective C code. Then compile two commands enable-grayscale and disable-grayscale from source (based on this StackOverflow answer which provides some additional ways of doing this).

$  cat enable-grayscale.c
// https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14163788/how-does-on-screen-color-inversion-work-in-os-x
#include <stdio.h>
#include <ApplicationServices/ApplicationServices.h>

CG_EXTERN bool CGDisplayUsesForceToGray(void);
CG_EXTERN void CGDisplayForceToGray(bool forceToGray);

int
main(int argc, char** argv)
{
    bool isGrayscale = CGDisplayUsesForceToGray();
        if (!isGrayscale) {
                CGDisplayForceToGray(TRUE);
        }

    return 0;
}

$ cat disable-grayscale.c
// https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14163788/how-does-on-screen-color-inversion-work-in-os-x
#include <stdio.h>
#include <ApplicationServices/ApplicationServices.h>

CG_EXTERN bool CGDisplayUsesForceToGray(void);
CG_EXTERN void CGDisplayForceToGray(bool forceToGray);

int
main(int argc, char** argv)
{
    bool isGrayscale = CGDisplayUsesForceToGray();
        if (isGrayscale) {
        CGDisplayForceToGray(0);
        }

    return 0;
}

Then compile them into commands:

clang -g -O2 -std=c11 -Wall -framework ApplicationServices enable-grayscale.c -o enable-grayscale
clang -g -O2 -std=c11 -Wall -framework ApplicationServices disable-grayscale.c -o disable-grayscale

Put the resulting files somewhere you want to run them, e.g. your home directory.

Now install Hammerspoon. You'll need to give it accessibility access in System Preferences. Within Hammerspoon, select "Open Config", and modify the Lua code to do what you want. My configuration is below, based on this example from their docs:

function applicationWatcher(appName, eventType, appObject)
    if (eventType == hs.application.watcher.activated) then
        if (appName == "Firefox") then
            os.execute('/path/to/scripts/enable-grayscale')
        end
    end
    if (eventType == hs.application.watcher.deactivated) then
        if (appName == "Firefox") then
            os.execute('/path/to/scripts/disable-grayscale')
        end
    end
end
appWatcher = hs.application.watcher.new(applicationWatcher)
appWatcher:start()

That's the configuration I chose (turn on grayscale for Firefox, but leave it off for all other applications). Whenever Firefox is focused, the whole screen becomes grayscale. When other applications are focused, it's color. It sounds like you'd want the opposite: grayscale turned on in System Preferences, with it being disabled when you focus an app from the list you're interested in. Once you've configured it as you want, click "Reload Config" to activate the changes.


Copy settings and preferences to new mac

Yes, you can use the Migration Assistant software that's included in all recent versions of OS X. See here for Apple's instructions on using it in Mavericks. You'll need to be able to connect your old Mac to your new one, over a local area network (either wired or wireless) or using a Thunderbolt or Firewire cable


Why removed synched photo folders still appears on my iPhone 5S

This happens from time to time. Not just photos but other files and storage. The cure is the same routine for all of the various situations like this.

Unpair your watch if you have one or more Apple Watch
Back up your phone
Erase all content and settings
Restore the backup
Set things up that didn’t get backed up by design - Touch ID, Apple Pay, pair watches, etc...

You can use iCloud or a passcode to get personal details (health data) and network passwords part of the backup.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203977


Connect MacBook Pro to Smart TV wirelessly

I want to transmit the screen of my MacBook to these TVs so I can work in different apps, documents, code and watch movies.

You need a simple AirPlay compatible dongle plugged into the HDMI port of your TV.
I have used several of these in different locations

The work great for business presentations (i.e. PowerPoint) and simple animations
They work fairly well for playing standard definition video (i.e. YouTube or regular DVD).
It's marginal at best once you get to HD video (720p or 1080p)
If you want 4K, UHD, HDR, etc, you need an AppleTV.
It doesn't get around any copy protected (DRM) content; it won't play!

For their price point of sub $50 USD, they're a great little adapters to keep in your computer bag for when you go on client site for a presentation, training, or you just want to mirror to a larger screen.  It's also good to attach to a projector so guests can easily connect.  They're convenient, but not meant for high performance so keep that in mind when putting together your solution.


In the Finder's sidebar, there should be a section called 'Devices'. Click on the one that's your computer's name and you should see the SD card. Drag it back to the sidebar.


Changing wind speed in weather app to kmph

The wind speed unit is determined by your region settings. Depending on your original region you have to change from your region to a similar region using km/h instead of mi/h.

Example: changing the region from UK to Ireland will change the unit from miles per hour to kilometers per hour in Weather.app.

Changing the region settings is not restricted to Weather.app but will change things in all apps!

I will refrain from making jokes about proud Britons forced to use the Irish region settings to get a metric unit!

Edit: found a reasonable solution for the UK: English > Gibraltar apparently also uses km/h instead of mi/h (at least in iOS7) ;-)


Bootcamp Problem. Unable to partition the disk

So, looks like Bootcamp can't properly partiton your solid state drive.
If something doesn’t work, comment it so I can fix it.

Before continuing, make sure that you have a backup!!! I am not responsible for any damage caused by this guide. You have been warned.

These two steps are required for both methods, so do them.
Step 1: Open Disk Utility inside "Other" folder in the Launchpad, or simply type Disk Utility inside Spotlight.
Step 2: Select APPLE SSD SM02... (if you changed the name over the time, select your disk instead) from the list at the left, but NOT the containers, and press Partition located at the top.
From here, choose one of these methods to continue. Method 3 is the best method if you only have one partition, but if you have more than one, such as Linux DualBoot, then go for Method 1.

Method 1 (Manually installing Windows 10, Better for your case)

Step 3: A pie of your disk should have appeared now. From here, select your macOS partition and click + (plus) button. There is a new partition now. Arrange it's size either from the properties, or by dragging it from the borders. This is going to be your Windows 10 partition. Give it at least 40GBs of size and leave at least 10GBs of space for macOS. Name the new partition (not macOS partition) with a name that you will remember, such as BOOTCAMP, but make sure it is all in capital letters. Lastly set it's type as MS-DOS (FAT) and press Apply. You'll be warned that you are resizing your boot partition, just press OK.
You need a USB formatted as FAT32 with at least 8 GBs of free space to continue...
Step 4: After you have created your Windows partition, download and install unetbootin from here. Then run it and select Disk Image option on the screen. Select ISO option from the dropdown menu next to Disk Image text if it is not already selected. Then press the button with three dots (...) and select your Windows ISO image (assuming you already have one). Lastly, select your USB from the dropdown menu next to Drive text and press OK. This will burn the ISO image to the USB.
Step 4.1: To learn what your USB is called, open up a Terminal from Spotlight and type:
diskutil list

This will show you all of the drives connected to your computer. Your USB is something like /dev/disk1s1 or /dev/disk1s2 (but definitely not /dev/disk0). You can understand which one is your USB by searching for your USB's label.
Step 5: Now open up the Bootcamp assistant for the last time. Once it's opened, select Action > Download Windows Helper Software or something like that. This will download Bootcamp helper. Select the target as your desktop and continue.
Step 6: Once your bootcamp software is downloaded and unetbootin is done, copy the WindowsSupport folder from your desktop to the USB's root directory.
Step 7: It's time to begin the installation! Reboot your MacBook and when it's powering on, press and hold Alt (option) key on your keyboard. Once a menu with boot options appear, select the EFI Boot or Windows option with a USB icon on it. This will start the installer. Give it a few minutes and once the button to begin the installation appears, press it. Wait for it to start. Once it started, select Special option. This part is important!!! A list of volumes should have appeared now. Select the partition you created earlier for Windows and click Format. When it's done, re-select the Windows partition and press Install. Now just relax and wait for it to finish.
Step 8: After you fully setup Windows, select your USB from Windows Explorer and go to WindowsSupport folder. In that folder, run the setup program. Install it as a normal program and you are done!

Method 2 (Removing any partition other than your macOS partition)
Be careful! Doing this will destroy any data on any other partition that is not macOS partition. I do not recommend this method since there is no way to know if Bootcamp assistant will be fixed or not. Also this method may not be helpful for you since you only have one partition.

Sometimes Bootcamp fails to partition the drive itself (which does this method automatically) and you need to do it manually to continue.
Step 3: This step may be dangerous if not done properly, so be careful! A pie of your disk should have appeared now. From here, delete every other partition that are not your macOS partition one by one by pressing the - (minus) button. After you are done, press Apply.
If step 3 failed, try it again. It usually fails at first try.
If the only partition is macOS partition, try method 1 instead.
Step 4: Now try running Bootcamp assistant again. If this method didn't fix your problem, try method 1 instead.

Method 3 (Converting APFS back to HFS+, best for everyone)

Step 3: Backup your installation with Time machine (but not any other software). This is not optional.
Step 4: Reboot your computer into recovery mode. To do this, press Command+R after you hear the startup chime.
Step 5: You will be presented with a list of some utilities. Select Disk Utility.
Step 6: In the disk utility, select “Macintosh HD” (or your system partition) and select Erase. Select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as the type and select Erase.
Step 7: Quit the disk utility. From the list, select Restore from Time Machine backup. Go through the instructions and restore your backup to disk.
Step 8: After you restarted your machine, retry the Bootcamp Utility. It should work now. If not, try method 1.


Catalina recent items stack in dock no longer working

The recent items stack has been gone since Juli 5th (Catalina beta 3). Haven't found any documentation on why it is gone and how to reinstate it. The array is indeed added under persistent others in the com.apple.dock.plist, but nothing happens. Would really love to see it back.
The smart folder option is no option...


I am not sure that is what you want but here is what I've done.

I keep my apps sync'ed and let iTunes download everything on my Mac.

However, as I do not want my main HDD to be filled by these apps, I moved them to an external backup drive.

To do this, I go to the 'Apps' section of my 'Bibliothèque' (I have a french version of iTunes, but you can find it in the listbox that is in the upper left corner of iTunes main window).

There, I choose an app, right click and 'display in Finder'.

Here you are in the directory where all apps. You can move them elsewhere or simply delete them. After that iTunes will just warn you it cannot find the app anymore, but at least the deleted apps will not be copied anymore to your Mac.

Of course, you will still have to wait that synchronization copies your newly installed apps to your Mac, but once you've deleted the app on your Mac, it will not be sync'ed anymore.


Automator Help: take Fixed-Position Screenshot, click "Next Page" and Repeat (that's it!)

Kindle is not AppleScript scriptable in that it does not contain an AppleScript dictionary within its application bundle; however it is, within limits, using System Events and UI Scripting. Note though that with UI Scripting one must not use the system for other things while the script is running as Kindle needs to remain frontmost while the script is running.

The following example AppleScript code, tested under macOS High Sierra took screen shots of the first 5 pages of the BASH Reference Manual:

set saveToLocation to POSIX path of (path to pictures folder)
set bookName to "BASH Reference Manual"
set pageCount to 5

set pathFileName to saveToLocation & bookName

tell application "Kindle" to activate

delay 0.5

tell application "System Events" to ¬
    tell window 1 of application process "Kindle" to ¬
        set {position, size} to {{693, 66}, {1006, 1089}}

repeat with i from 1 to pageCount

    set shellCMD to ¬
        "screencapture -R837,124,770,994 -t jpg '" & ¬
        pathFileName & " - Page " & ¬
        i & " of " & pageCount & ".jpg'"

    do shell script shellCMD
    delay 1.5
    --  # Press right-arrow key.
    tell application "System Events" to key code 124
    delay 1.5

end repeat

Note: The example AppleScript code is just that and does not contain any error handling as may be appropriate. The onus is upon the user to add any error handling as may be appropriate, needed or wanted. Have a look at the try statement and error statement in the AppleScript Language Guide. See also, Working with Errors. Additionally, the use of the delay command may be necessary between events where appropriate, e.g. delay 0.5, with the value of the delay set appropriately.


Is there a limit for the attachment size in Messages?

Despite Joost's links, Apple did officially provide a size limit for Messages attachments.

Extracted from Mountain Lion's Features page:

  Send large attachments: Send high-quality photos, full HD video, or documents. iMessage allows attachments of up to 100MB.

Your 36MB file is, indeed, off the limit.


Sometimes the LaunchAgent (launchd job) that ensures that the Dock starts up gets stuck. Try unloading and re-loading it:

launchctl unload -F /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Dock.plist
launchctl   load -F /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Dock.plist
launchctl start com.apple.Dock.agent

The Dock is an app, and apps run as the current user, not as root. (To convince yourself that this is true, remember that each user has their own Dock.) So don't start it with sudo, unless you want to see the root user's Dock. You should be able to start it the way you did (except without sudo), given that the LaunchAgent is unloaded:

launchctl unload -F /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Dock.plist
/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/MacOS/Dock

The reason you need to unload the LaunchAgent is because it will reserve certain ports/services for use by the Dock process it's (unsuccessfully) trying to launch. This keeps your manually-launched Dock process from using them.


iPad won't turn on after a complete battery drain

Assuming it is now charged…

Hold Home & Power buttons for at least 45 seconds, see if it starts up normally.

If not…

Plug your iPad's USB cable into a computer with iTunes.
Hold down the Home button [keep holding] and connect to your iPad.
Keep holding the Home button until you see a screen telling you to connect to iTunes.
iTunes should show you a popup saying that there is an iPhone or iPad that is in Recovery Mode and needs to be restored before you can use it.
Click OK.
Click on Restore iPhone/iPad.

If the above doesn't work, you may need to get a fully operational iPad charger and plug it into the wall. The current and voltage needed to wake an iPad with a deeply discharged battery (or one that's malfunctioning due to age) is higher than a computer can provide over USB.

Plug into a known good iPad type adapter (higher current than iPhone charger)
Wait 15 minutes
Try powering on
Wait 10 minutes
Try a hard reset (hold home button and sleep wake button together for 15 seconds)
Wait 5 minutes
Try powering on

At that point, you can let it charge for another hour and try again or start with a different cable or a different charger. Eventually, you'll need to have the iPad serviced if it cannot wake from sleep due to a very low batter charge condition even when plugged into power.


Is it ok to use 14w charger to charge ipad

The answers is YES you can.

The charger can newer be to big, but it can be to small (not enough juice to charge the battery)

The battery charge is controlled by the battery. It will only take as much as it can handle.


If you update the phone, you might be prompted to reenter the password that you do not know.

However, if the update goes bad due to file system corruption on the device you will not have the option to erase the device and start over.

For that reason I would recommend not doing anything until you can get control of the device or you have a budget to replace it should you lose control of the secondhand and activation locked phone.


Is there a way to access Mac OS default wallpaper with resolution for portrait mode monitor?

Those pictures are located in

/Library/Desktop Pictures

Meaning not in your user's library folder but the one at the root of the Mac hard drive.

I would Option-drag the ones you like out onto the desktop and then put them in your Pictures folder. Then you will have to rotate them manually in a graphic editing app (Preview.app will do this).

Rotate them the direction you want to by 90 degrees and then save them back to where you copied them to.

You should now be able to select a "portrait mode" Apple-default desktop picture. I imagine some will look odd on their side but then they were designed for landscape mode.

You might be better served searching for portrait desktop pictures on your favorite search engine as you will find a lot out there, probably at least some of which you might like a lot.


How do I use chmod on a Mac to make new files inherit parent directory permissions?

First, a bit of background to explain what's going on: Files in OS X can have two quite different kinds of permission settings applied to them: POSIX and ACLs.

Files always (well, almost always) have POSIX permissions applied, consisting of an owner, group, and others (with some combination of read, write, and execute for each of those).  There is no way to control inheritance of POSIX permissions: new items are always owned by whatever user created them, the group assignment is inherited from the folder they're in, and the access is determined by the umask (which is pretty much always: owner gets full access, group and others read only + execute for folders).  So POSIX permissions won't work for what you're trying to do.

Files can also have an access control list (ACL) applied.  This is a list of access control entries (ACEs), each of which applies to a user or group, specifies types of access (in great detail), whether they're being allowed or denied, and whether the ACE should also be copied to items created inside the folder.  That last bit is the part that makes this useful for you; you need to create an ACE on the folder that specifies the group you want, the types of access you want, and full inheritance.

chmod on OS X can manipulate ACEs with the +a, -a, etc permissions options.  If I understand what you want, you'd use this (with your group name and folder path substituted) to create the ACE:

chmod +a "group:examplegroup allow list,add_file,search,add_subdirectory,delete_child,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity,file_inherit,directory_inherit" /path/to/folder

Note that the inheritance is not "live", i.e. it doesn't apply to items created before you assigned the ACE, and it doesn't apply to items created somewhere else and then moved into the folder.  You can apply it to existing contents by using -R (chmod -R +a ...).  I don't know of a way (except Apple's server admin tools) to force inheritance to items moved into the folder.


Can I install Mac OS X Lion (10.7) on my Windows XP PC?

Questions that detail how to actually installation of OS X on non-Apple hardware are off topic due to the violation of the Apple EULA, but let's see if we can have a good general discussion of the issues and assume everyone is here to learn where the virtualization issues lie.

Using non-Apple hardware

Your only option is a hackint0sh.

Using a Mac computer

If you were using a Mac computer, you can use both operating systems:

simultaneously:

OS X (host), XP (virtual machine)
dual boot via bootcamp:

OS X, XP ← this will allow XP full access to the hardware

Note:

Bootcamp in Lion does not support Windows XP. (Thanks to @DanBarrett for mentioning this)

It only supports:

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Microsoft Windows 7 Professional, or Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate with Boot Camp 4.0. Check this list for information on 64-bit support.


How do I select a directory to save files in Pages

Use Save As

in the pop up window click on the down arrow to expand that window and choose where to save it.


Switched carriers after ordering iPhone 11

Make sure your iPhone is unlocked from Verizon. Make sure that they remove your IMEI number from the account. Verizon can unlock the device, but if you haven't paid it off they wont.


How can I fix the OS X dictionary lookup feature for StackExchange comments in Google Chrome?

I'd be tempted to try the "standard toolkit"…

Do all of these, in this order.

Reset the SMC
As I don't know which Mac you have, read this for instructions for your specific machine - https://support.apple.com/HT201295
Reset the NVRAM
At the boot chimes, hold  Cmd ⌘   Opt ⌥   P   R
Keep holding all 4 keys until you hear the chimes again, then release.
Fix permissions, Verify & if necessary Repair disk, using Disk Utility
Reset Home folder permissions & ACLs using OnyX  [make sure you get the version appropriate to your OS]  - Maintenance tab/permissions, tick the box at the top then Execute.
Re-apply the 10.10.5 update using the 10.10.5 combo update, not the delta from App Store


iOS detects captive portals by attempting to access http://www.apple.com/library/test/success.html or http://captive.apple.com/hotspot-detect.html with the user agent 'wispr'.

Should this page request not return "Success", but still return a HTML page, then it shows the captive portal assistant. Make sure that you are correctly serving your captive portal page to this URL.


The only way to achieve this functionality is having no sound when the timer finishes.

Go to Clock -> Timer -> When Timer Ends -> Stop Playing


Mac Internal Drive Uninitialized | Macbook Pro 13 (mid 2010)

I managed to connect my HDD as an external on another mac, and was actually able to format it clean without errors. I mounted it back and began the installation, only to give me an error at the end which I don't exactly remember what it was, had lot of numbers in it - at this point I had kinda given up. So, Its either a faulty hard-disk or a faulty SATA cable, either way there's no point in trying to fix it - not worth the time. It is definitely not a software problem. Will be going for a new SSD by the looks of it.

I hope this thread can prove helpful to anyone having similar issues. Thanks for the help guys.

Solved.


How to drag file on OS X without having to click it twice

My suspicion is you have Accessibility options you don’t like enabled.

Unable to double tap on the trackpad to highlight multiple words in macOS Mojave
What's the difference between one finger dragging and drag lock?


What's the name of the screwdriver that will open up an iPhone 4?

They are called Pentalobe screws and look similar to this picture from Wikipedia:

You can find compatible screwdrivers on iFixit or Amazon. If you do go with Amazon, though, make sure you read the reviews before you buy anything, since many of them are filled with complaints about the product not working.

There's even a guide which will show you how to replace the screws with normal phillips ones.


Why does Microsoft Office 2011 open automatically upon start up?

It sounds like you had these apps open at last shutdown or logout. If you don't clear the check mark in the popup that states "Reopen windows when logging back in" all of your previously running apps will restart. I say this because in Lion sometimes that checkmark would not "stick" and default to on, and you would have to check it off at every shutdown/login, and you might have missed it.

Investigate this as well: Go to the "Users and Groups" System Preference pane. Click your account on the left (should already be highlighted and on top as current user). Make sure that under the tab "login items" that no Office apps reside there and are checked.

There are some other things to try but I believe these answers will cast light on your issue.


Make CMD-Delete a keyboard shortcut in Apple Mail to move a message to the archive?

If you install Karabiner Elements you can add a custom config file in ~/.config/karabiner/assets/complex_modifications called cmd_delete_archives_mail.json for example,

{
  "title": "Map CMD-Delete to Archive in Mail.app",
  "rules": [
    {
      "description": "Map CMD-Delete to Archive in Mail.app",
      "manipulators": [
        {
          "type": "basic",
          "from": {
            "key_code": "delete_or_backspace",
            "modifiers": {
              "all": [
                "fn"
              ]
            }
          },
          "to": [{
            "key_code": "A",
            "modifiers": {
              "all": [
                "left_control",
                "left_command"
              ]
            }
          }],
          "conditions": [
            {
              "type": "frontmost_application_if",
              "bundle_identifiers": [
                "^com\\.apple\\.Mail$"
              ]
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

For me, fn + backspace is delete which is why I wrote it with modifier keys. Maybe you won't do that (maybe your keyboard has a forward_delete key)


Which FileVault 2 recovery option is more secure - storing the recovery key in iCloud, or saving it somewhere yourself?

Saving it somewhere yourself is more secure as long as that somewhere else is memorized in your own brain. Otherwise the answer to this isn't static.

iCloud can have vulnerabilities and so can Dropbox. Knowing about some vulnerabilities only informs you about those that have become public. Right now we might possibly know about a vulnerability in iCloud, but tomorrow that could be patched and 12 vulnerabilities in Dropbox could be revealed.

I would consider them to be basically equal if you aren't going to memorize the recovery key.

As an aside, I don't memorize my own keys, I keep them in Dropbox using 1Password


How can I reset the Safari bookmarks in iCloud?

According to this detailed Apple Support Forum post the trick is to use Lion 10.7.2 and Safari 5.1.1 to force a flush of the Data.

Simplified steps:

Turn off bookmark sync on all devices except the Mac
Backup current bookmarks on Mac
Correct bookmarks on Safari on the Mac
Move the new bookmarks out of you Safari Library folder
Delete all bookmarks and wait for iCloud to update.
Move the new bookmarks folder back and wait for iCloud to update
Delete all bookmarks on iOS devices and re-enable sync.

It's laborious, but I am fairly certain Apple will release better tools for this process. Considering there normal rollout, they are probably handling these issues in phases. They introduced Photo Stream reset mid way in the Beta, so I am sure they will bring the rest through over time.


You can disable the Character Picker by typing this command on terminal:

defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false


I can now confirm that the layout of files and or folders that are within the ~/Desktop folder and show on the Desktop are indeed stored in the ~/Desktop/.DS_Store file.
That said, the layout is also controlled by the View Options for the Desktop and the settings for both systems need to match. In other words, assuming Sort By it set to None on the source computer, it is also set to None on the destination computer.
Copy the source files and or folders to the Desktop of the destination computer.
After copying the source files and or folders to the Desktop of the destination computer, then in Terminal, on the destination computer, run the following compound command:
cp /path/to/copied/.DS_Store ~/Desktop; killall Finder

You should now see the same layout as on the source computer.


Automatic reflow of icons in Finder while resizing window?

If you change your "arrange by" options via "right click" > "arrange by" to any other than "none" spaces between the icons is clinched/stretched according to window size, or icons even get rearranged to the next line if space gets to narrow.

This should be default behaviour without "arrange by" since it kind of breaks list view if active. Sadly Apple rarely listens to customer needs, since they "know what the customer wants".


What happens if I have switched the Time Machine off?

These are local snapshots. They should be on your external hard drive if it has been connected. Switched Time Machine off will remove them, but new backups will be created, unless you disable them.

The following answer contains links which explain this very clearly https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/178718/19086


I have a MacBookPro3,1 myself and have thought about doing this as well.  You will see a little bit of performance increase in boot time and overall usage by upgrading it.  In fact, ifixit.com may even sell kits for your computer's hard drive replacement.  It really boils down to do you want to shell out the cash, knowing that Apple will, if it hasn't already, cease to support your hardware.  Meaning that at some point, if it hasn't already, newer versions of OS X will not be able to be installed on your machine.

I'm still on the fence about upgrading to a SSD on my MBP because I know that sometime in the next year or two I will probably get a new machine to replace it, along with my iMac.  If you have the cash, a better investment may be to sell your laptop and use those funds to buy a new one.  Just my two cents.

here is a link to the parts that are sold by ifixit.com for your mac, but please verify that I have linked to the correct model (A1211): http://www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/MacBook-Pro-15%22-Model-A1211


What is the best free FTP server for Mac OS X Server?

Unless you’re planning on running an extremely heavy loaded FTP server (which the mini won’t be able to handle anyway) the built in FTP Server should be enough.

Pure-ftpd is a classic in the Unix world and I’m sure you can of course make that run under OS X, but it doesn’t have a “UI”, it’s all command line. (But very easy to configure anyway).


Are there headset adapters usable for MacBook Pros?

Of course the combined jack on Macbook is analog, of course it accepts mic signals (works with apple and other brand headsets for iPhone, for example) and not just line in signals (you can even plug electric guitar with passive adaptor from iRig) and as Zneak properly points in his question, it would not be too difficult to make an adaptor that splits one headset jack on Macbooks into headphone and mic, which is also great if you want to use some top notch headset like Sennheiser PC 360. Unfortunately I was not able to find such a product, only a guide on how to make one.

Last but not least, USB headsets are in no way better. They only use extra CPU power, clutter USB ports and are only as good as the DACs, ADCs, headphone and mic they employ. Now these components are much better inside Macbook and good analogue headset...

The Headset Buddy at Amazon claims to do just this. But I am not sure how well it will work, as the headset pinout Apple uses in Macbook, iPhone or iPad is different from some other manufacturers (that is why you cannot use iPhone headset with, say Samsung Galaxy S)


I would always go through Apple service regardless of what you think the timing is - if you think the product needs repairing, the service wing is the best place to get that service and not returns.

Apple service parts are often of higher quality than the new since some new parts can have manufacturing anomalies and the service parts are tested to a much higher standard - after all, Apple knows that thousands of people are going to get a device that needs exchange immediately (DOA) and they know the service part has to be better than the new in the box experience.

(Also, Apple service is designed to get you service where Apple sales is designed to Make the sale / take your money. Why seek support from the sales floor when that phase of the transaction is concluded?)

As a class - I’ll take a refurb / repair / known good service part over a new in the box one any day if given the choice. I know refurbished has a bad rep from companies that do a crap job of quality. Apple wants you as a customer for life, so why would they stock the service department with something that won’t make you happy. You’re already bummed you need service and you don’t think Apple hasn’t stacked the deck so they can delight you better from service than new?


Will ext4 formatted disk configured as Time Machine over SMB be recognised as Time Machine disk when directly attached?

Yes, you will have to do via the router. It could be wirelessly or via a cabled ethernet connection. This is normally not a problem as macOS Recovery supports Wi-Fi and restoring from network Time Machine backups.
If you plug the disk directly into the Mac it will not be recognized as a Time Machine disk, and you will not be able to access its contents without a third-party ext4 driver.


You can download this screensaver which allows you to specify the site you want to display (found there).
Turn on the password to make your screensaver to be the lock screen:

Open "System Preferences"
Go to "Security & Privacy"

Check "Require password [immediatly] after sleep or screensaver begins"


Disallow some websites from opening new tabs/windows

The best built-in defence for this is Safari Preferences → Security → Block pop-up windows. Other than this, you can use an adblock such as uBlock Origin.


If you have multiple devices spread among family members and also share your iTunes account with family members, this should help:

Article: How to Use iCloud in a Family Setting:

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2011/10/how-to-use-icloud-in-a-family-setting-share-apps-but-not-contacts


Automatically convert video podcasts to "ipod or iphone version"

Unfortunately, iTunes just won't do this.  :(


Editing info.plist of .ipa files renders app unable to run

Your editing breaks the signature and iOS is designed not to run apps that have been modified. It’s a security feature. A nice explanation is here.