I gathered that it is not possible to use iCloud for this objective. One must use Gmail. (Feel free to contradict.)

Sure, I'll try and contradict!

It's my understanding that SmoothSync for Cloud Calendar does this.

  How do I move the calendar entries that I currently have with iCloud to Gmail?

I found a nice step-by-step summary at the amusingly named burlapmonkey.com. I'll summarize:

Login to your iCloud calendar at icloud.com.
Publicly share the calendar you want to export.
Select the updated URL that begins with webcal:// followed by a cryptic address and copy it.
Open a new browser tab/window, paste the webcal address without loading it (don't press enter).
Change webcal in the address to http. Load the page.
Your browser should now be initiating a download of an .ics file which you can later import into a google calendar.
Don't forget to stop publicly sharing the calendar.


Preview missing lots of fonts that are shown in font book

PSL Ornanong Pro is 'available to download' in Catalina: it is not initially installed. Have you actually downloaded it?

Font Book will display the name dimmed slightly. You can download it by clicking on Edit > Download, or Download on a right-click context menu.


Apple's html editor doesn't engage in that level of formatting. It's still a throw back when mail was plain text and designed to let the receiver decide how to render line breaks and spacing as opposed to being a word processor.

Some love this since it's optimized for simplicity, speed and clarity.
Others despise it and want a heavy editing / formatting quiver at their disposal. (or at least heavier in function than was shipped)

You'd need a third party editor (or other app) to pre-author things and compose the mails or choose another client that suits your requirement to get line spacing rich text / html.


Does turning off 'sync from iPhoto' remove my photos?

Turning off Sync iPhoto will remove any iPhoto images you put into your Photos Library on your phone, but will keep the images on your Mac.


iTunes opens automatically when CD inserted

Try changing the system preference (as per your screenshot) for "when you insert a music CD" (or whichever one is causing you an issue) to "Open in iTunes" and then immediately back to "Ignore". For me that seemed to reset the preference to ignore.


Macbook Air suddenly will not power on without charger and shuts down without

Your logic board is likely starting to go. The battery is in good health but chances are there are other components failing.


Spaces and some other fonts are changed to rectangles?

Try cleaning your font caches - the simplest way is to use a maintenance utility such as Lion Cache Cleaner.


Can I put MacBookPro5,1 RAM in a MacBookPro5,2?

Both MBPs use the same RAM architecture: 204-pin PC3-8500 (1066MHz) DDR3 SO-DIMM.

Information from macOS app MacTracker.

8GB is the maximum supported RAM for this MBP.

Disclaimer: I'm a satisfied user of MacTracker and have no financial or other connection with the developer Ian Page.


What happens with my iCloud data after leaving family sharing?

This Apple Support document answers your query:

Share an iCloud storage plan with your family

  If your family stops sharing storage or you leave Family Sharing

  If you leave a family that shares an iCloud storage plan and you're using more than 5GB of storage, you have 28 days to buy your own plan.

  If you choose not to buy your own plan and the content that you’re storing in iCloud exceeds your available storage, new photos and videos won’t upload to iCloud Photos, files will no longer upload in iCloud Drive, and your iOS devices will stop backing up.

i.e., you will have 28 days of grace period to get a separate plan and keep access to your data.


How can I check if iPhone has been manipulated or compromised firmware?

Typically these modifications are not sustained beyond reboot. The ones that were are called ‘untethered’ and the last one im aware of that was 9.3.4. If the iOS version is beyond that it would almost certainly have to be of the ‘tethered’ variety and simply rebooting the phone should disable any such modifications

Additionally if there is a newer iOS version available to update, doing so will break any access to the files required to remodify the phone in the future and new files will be required to redo the process at that point.


In iMovie 09 an RCProject file is a binary text file which contains instructions and references to the actual video material. The actual video clips are stored in an Event folder. Check to see if you still have your Event folders. The clips would be in there.

You mention that your RCProject file is large. This probably means that you rendered your finished movies. iMovie saved the "Media Browser" copy in the rcproject file so it doesn't have to render it again unless you make a change.

So open your RCProject file and navigate to the Movies folder. Any completed movies would be in there.

To open the RCProject, right click on it in the Finder and select SHOW PACKAGE CONTENTS.

One more thing: If you do find the Event folder to go with the RCProject folder, iMovie is finicky about where these files are located.

Put the RCProject file in the Movies/iMovie Projects/ folder.
Put the Event in the Movies/iMovie Events/ folder.

With these in place, there is a chance that iMovie 10 will see them. However, I am not sure if you have to convert to iMovie 11 (which is version 9) first. Both iMovie 9 and iMovie 11 use the RCProject format. The current iMovie is called iMovie (no year) and is Version 10. It uses a scheme more like Final Cut Pro, so everything is in an Event folder, including any projects relating to that event.


My IDE runs tests slower when in a different workspace

It part of OS X itself to optimize the resources and to keep wise balance between foreground process and background tasks. Operating system devotes more resources to the active workspace, and to put less CPU processing capacity to the background tasks.

Benefits are obvious:

the higher responsiveness for user of the system in the overall for the foreground process;
and less CPU load (less heat is produced, CPU fan is quiet), lower impact on the battery life.

It should be clearly visible with Activity Monitor App, how much power system devotes to specific process.


Does putting an iOS device into single app mode prevent iOS upgrades?

We block iOS updates via different ways on our iDevices:

Via our Firewall, you can block these URLs on your WiFi network : mesu.apple.com, appldnld.apple.com.
Or you can block WiFi network on your devices via restrictions in a profile pushed by your MDM. So devices will be not able to download iOS updates, but you need to use only 3G/4G.


Firefox on El Capitan cannot create profile in standard folder

This issue, as well as issues I was having with iTunes and f.lux, were resolved by resetting permissions on the home folder. Before doing this, I had upgraded to Sierra from El Capitan. So the reset process I used is for Sierra. It's included below, and the original can be found here:

Resolve issues caused by changing the permissions of items in your home folder

  Reset permissions

  If the issue occurred after changing the permissions of items in your home folder, follow these steps to reset the permissions:

  From the Finder menu bar, choose Go > Home. Your home folder opens.
  Choose File > Get Info. An Info window for your home folder opens.
  If the “Sharing & Permissions” section at the bottom of the window isn't open, click the triangle in that section to open it.
  If the Lock button at the bottom of the window shows a closed lock , click the lock and enter an administrator name and password.
  Click the Action menu  in the bottom corner of the window, then choose “Apply to enclosed items.” Click OK to confirm the action. A progress bar appears at the top of the window.
  When the progress bar completes, open the Terminal app from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
  Paste or type this command in Terminal, then press Return:

diskutil resetUserPermissions / `id -u`

  On U.S. keyboards, the ` character is just above the Tab key. After entering the diskutil command, if Terminal says that permissions reset on user home directory failed (error -69841), enter chflags -R nouchg ~, then enter the diskutil command again.
  When the process completes, quit Terminal.

I discovered a quite different process for El Capitan on The Mac Observer OS X: Repair Home Folder Permissions, which I have not tried, and so cannot speak to its efficacy.


How do I download Remote.app on an iOS 6 only device?

Did you backup your phone to your computer? If so, you probably have the old version of the app in the Mobile Applications folder inside your iTunes folder. If you only backed up to iCloud I think you may be out of luck.


How can I mirror my mouse and keyboard across multiple displays?

This is not possible.

What you are attempting to do is mirror without mirroring.

Forgetting the secondary display for a second, you can't type or (mouse) control more than one window at a time.  It's the window that has focus that accepts input.  Think about it...you can move your mouse anywhere across any open windows, but you have to take focus of the window (click or hover depending on your settings) before you can interact with it.

Even moving the mouse in two separate windows is impossible.  Your mouse works on a coordinate system (X,Y).  You can see what it's (X,Y) value is by pressing CmdShift4 (screen capture).  There is no way to have a secondary coordinate value to "mirror" it on another window.

Adding another display won't help, either because unless you are mirroring the display (and since your example used different chrome browser profiles) you would be extending the display and the available (X,Y) coordinate system.


Chasing Ghosts

You have successfully removed all windows partitions from your disk, but you have not yet removed all files added during your attempt to install windows. What is left are files in your EFI partition. The ghost is being caused by the file efi/boot/bootx64.efi stored in the EFI partition.

Open a Terminal window and enter the following command.

sudo diskutil mount /dev/disk0s1

From a Finder window, open the EFI disk. Next open the EFI folder.
Remove the Boot and Microsoft folders.
When finished, enter the command below.

diskutil unmount /dev/disk0s1

Choosing an Installation Method

Generally the "modified Info.plist-trick" is just that. It is a trick. As far as I know, you can put the Windows installation files on the USB flash drive, but can not boot from this drive to install Windows. Generally, only the 2012 and newer models can boot the Windows installer from a USB port. If you succeeded, then your model must be the exception.

If you have an internal working optical drive, then this the preferred method to install Windows. If you need to buy a DVD, you are better off with a RW DVD. It will take longer to burn, but it is reusable. It is not sufficient to just burn the iso file to a DVD. You must burn the image stored in the iso file to the DVD.

There are two methods for installing operation systems on Macs. The first is the legacy BIOS/MBR method and the second is the EFI/GPT method. It is my understanding that the 2011 models are suppose to install Windows using the legacy BIOS/MBR method. From your post, I assume you were trying the EFI/GPT method.

You can choose which partition or media to boot from by holding down the alt/option key at startup. If a Windows installation DVD is in the Macs optical drive, you will get a DVD icon labeled "Windows". You can select this to install Windows using the BIOS/MBR method. There also may be a DVD icon labeled something like "EFI". You probably do not want to select this icon, since this will install using the EFI/GPT method.

A word of caution. If you using the BIOS/MBR method for Windows, you can not use any Windows software to change the disk partitioning. This must only be done from OS X. However, you can use Windows to format a partition.


Remove an app from Notification Center preference pane

Open Safari › Preferences › Notifications
There you can remove objects permanently by selecting the notification you wish to delete and then either hitting the delete key or by using the remove button ('-') if it exists.


iCloud Disassociation for a Mac Computer

I have decided to sell the system. I'd like to know if I remove the
hard drive (or in this case, an after-market SSD I've installed) from
the system, will there be any other data (i.e. iCloud data) stored on
the system on any other chip that I can reset in any way?

Unless you actually wipe the SSD clean, you could potentially leave all sorts of personally identifiable information on that drive. As for "data on a chip," there's nothing identifiable that stored.  Apple uses your serial number and the MAC address of your network adapter to validate you to their services.  Once you remove it from your account (see below), the hardware is now disassociated from you.

I plan to reset the SMC/NVRAM before I sell the system off of to
someone else.

This does nothing.  This is Internet folk lore that this has an actual function related to macOS.  What these two things do is:

Reset the SMC (Systems Management Controller) is resetting what the rest of the industry calls the PMU (Power Management Unit).  If you're having issues with power, battery, charging, etc.  you would reset this chip

Reset the NVRAM, this doesn't store much - just pre-boot environment variables like where to boot from.  It has nothing to do with iCloud.

Additionally, if I remove the hard drive, is the system still
associated to iCloud (specifically Find My Mac) or any other service?
If so, how do I disassociate it?

Yes.  It's based on the Serial Number of the device.  You can remove it from your account by logging into your AppleID account and removing it.
AppleID
The image below shows how to remove the device from your AppleID account (there's no SN# on that one because it's a VirtualBox VM of macOS Sierra running on my iMac)

iCloud & iTunes
You need to sign out of these as well.  You go into your local settings and sign out of each service respectively.
Apple has an excellent support document What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

The system will no longer boot even if I put in my boot device.

It will still boot from USB (if the drive is good).  The best way to ensure that it's still good and it is in fact the cable is to hook it up via a USB to SATA adapter.  If it is, you can wipe the drive and install a fresh copy of macOS on it.
(You might want to change out the cable - it's pretty inexpensive - see this link in the comments)


Display multiple email accounts in screensaver

You could try to

Create an additional gmail account collecting all mails (by setting up rules in the original accounts to auto-forward mails to the collection account)
Add the RSS feed of the collection account (https://USERNAME:PASSWORD@mail.google.com/mail/feed/atom) to the RSS Screensaver in OSX


The question is old but it seems it is now possible to share a Mac Internet connection from the ethernet port, with an iPhone connected to the Mac via a USB ↔ lightning cable,

Ensure the Mac Internet is working properly via the (thunderbolt adapter) ethernet port
Connect the iPhone (iPad) via the USB ↔ lightning cable
Unlock the iPhone ; if its asks for "Trust this computer?", tap "Trust"
Go to the Mac System Preferences Sharing [ uncheck "Internet sharing" if it is checked in order to allow changes to "To computers using:" ]
Choose "Share your connection from:" either "Ethernet" or "Thunderbolt ethernet"
Check the "To computers using:" "iPhone USB" box then check the "Internet sharing" service.

The iPhone should now be able to use Internet from the Mac.

If you want to be sure the iPhone is really using the Mac connection, switch off "Wifi" and "Cellular data".

[ achieved on iOS 10.3.2, MacOS Sierra 10.12.5 ]


Macs purchased before 2013 do not get iWork for free since before that point it was not included with the purchase of the computer.

As a workaround some users of older macs install the iWork '09 Trial

Edit: Looks like Apple today decided to give this away for free even on older hardware. See here.


Looking at http://camtwiststudio.com/support/faq/ the following seems to apply to your situation.

PS: Development for the application may have stopped, the web site looks rather outdated.


How do I prevent Lion Mail from marking a message as read after deleting/archiving another message?

Press ⌥+backspace to delete the message. No other message will be highlighted.

Warning: This deletes the selected message(s) permanently.


I used Seil (OSX app to manipulate caps lock) to rebind Caps Lock to F13, and I bound F13 to PTT, so now it works.


Apple support, mac with unencrypted drive

Your data is fully exposed, unless you have specifically encrypted files using a passphrase not stored on your hard drive.

Passwords and Secure Notes stored in the Keychain are encrypted on disk. If you have configured your Mac to require a password on boot, this password is usually also used as your Keychain Password. If this password is sufficiently hard to guess, your Keychain data should be safe.

As you note, your browser's session cookies (those that are are still valid) could potentially be exploited.

You can read Apples official document on keeping your data secure during hardware repair here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3294

Regarding Apple's policy - you can read their Service Terms here:

http://images.apple.com/legal/sales-support/terms/repair/generalservice/Service_Terms_English.pdf

Apple writes that they are not responsible for loss, recovery, or compromise of your data.

That being said, I'm pretty sure that Apple's guidelines for their service technicians make it clear that they are not allowed to, for example, copy of all your images on to a USB pendrive and bring that home with them after work. Depending on your location that would most probably also be illegal. That doesn't mean it can't happen though.


Contact photo not displaying in Messages app

4"-screen iOS devices (including your 5, as well as the 5S, C, and SE) no longer have the option to display contact photos.

If you decide to upgrade to a larger phone, check to make sure that zoom is turned off and show contact photos is turned on.


Login user - opposite to launchctl bootout user/id

Not on macOS

No, there is no Apple supported programmatic way of logging in a user on macOS.

One approach would be to create a virtual smart card and simulate a user logging in. This would require significant effort and development time.


Which device uses "Mobile Safari UIWebView" as the browser name?

It is not a specific device. It means that your web site was viewed using the UIWebView functionality on an iOS device (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch).

The UIWebView is different from the ordinary Safari browser, as it is not a stand-alone browser, but merely browser functionality that is embedded in a third party app.


Stuck on finishing import (from external hard drive to computer hard drive)

If you are not sure if the process is actually doing something or just stuck, you can get an idea from the following

Activity Monitor
/Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor.app

See if the process is frozen. In that case activity monitor should
show the process/App (iPhoto in your case) in red color. If it is
red, there is a high probability that the app is "hung".
See if the process is actually doing something on the CPU or Hard Drive.

If you see something going on there, it is highly possible that it is still doing something.

If you don't see anything, you may want to check Console:

Console.app
/Applications/Utilities/Console.app
Console shows error messages that the app may have generated to give some idea on what is happening.

Note that both these are indicative and may not be 100% accurate. In the worst case you may have to import again (I would search Google for any issues with importing large iPhoto libraries before trying again)

This is a snapshot of my activity monitor, I have selected QuickSilver and it shows 59.0 MB Bytes Read and 27.6 MB under Bytes Written. This data is dynamically refreshed so you can get a fair idea of the disk usage of an app. The same for CPU. Memory may not be a very good indicator though, even if an app has frozen it may still use memory.


Best way to stream video from iPad or iPhone to Macbook ?

If you have an iOS 8 device with a Lightning cable (i.e. no iPhone 4S) and Yosemite, you can do this without an Apple TV.

Plug in your iDevice to your Mac.
Open QuickTime.
Click File > New Movie Recording.
Select your iDevice as the input source.

You can find these instructions online with pictures here.


Remote Desktop Client perpetual update in App Store

After a bit more searching, I found this where I manually downloaded ARDC from and manually installed it. After re-running the App Store app, it now no longer shows ARDC needing to be updated.


If I understand this bug report (https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=689657) correctly, you can check if your version of Gimp supports ps and eps (it may not, even if you have ghostscript) by doing the following:

Open Gimp.
In the menu, click help, and then procedure browser.
In the procedure browser search for 'file-ps-load'. If it's not listed, Gimp won't open ps or eps files.

My version of Gimp doesn't have this. But I haven't tried downloading the current version, maybe the current version has this enabled.

It's not too hard these days to set up Linux in VirtualBox. If you have no other alternatives available and don't want to buy Windows or another computer, you can use Gimp on Linux (probably Ubuntu) in VirtualBox.


AS @lhf comments export/import implies that there is some information lost during one of the processes so that you can't export and then import and get exactly the same document back.

Save usually writes the file in the format that is native to the application or in the same format as the file was opened in.

Some applications e.g. Microsoft Office will not use export as much as this but use save as to allow conversion of the format of the document and possibly lose some information e.g. Excel can save as .csv. (I don't have MS Office here and can't remember if they have an export on the file menu). The do have an import that adds the selected document to the current one so another meaning.

The examples you give are both that the file file format is native to an application ( Open Office and PhotoShop) and the other applications' export converts their own format to these on export.


If your machine shipped with Lion (or later) preinstalled, you don't need to provide a user account and password as that serial number is used to validate ownership of the OS and the installer will re-download itself for free. This download happens from the Recovery HD and not from within the App Store.

If your machine shipped with an OS earlier than Lion (say it was shipped before Lion was released or just when Lion was released and the first user got a free upgrade to Lion), then your factory condition is before Lion. To get Lion, run 10.6.6 or later and log into the App Store app. You will need to purchase the Lion upgrade yourself or have an account that has that upgrade purchased already.

In summary, the only software license that transfers with the hardware is the shipping versions of the OS and not the upgrades that you apply after the initial purchase.


Leave iPhone unlocked for a few seconds after closing

In the Face ID & Passcode settings, you could set it to lock after 1, 5, 15 minutes or 1, 4 hours after the screen goes black.

Additionally, you should be able to create an alternative appearance for Face ID to include your Face when you have your mask on? I've set 2 appearances, one with glasses and one without. You may have to reset the Face ID to set up additional appearances though.

Hope this helps.

Edit

Here's the screenshots in the Face ID & Passcode settings where you can set the time it locks after the screen goes black.


What are the advantages of the mac mini's hdmi output?

If you keep your machine plugged into one display, there won't be much of any 'fiddling'. And even if you switch, 10.7 actually is supposed to help with switching displays (as in, if you go from a LCD monitor to a TV).

Another advantage is that the machine was just updated, so depending on how much you are willing to pay, you are going to get a more powerful machine than what you have now.

As you said, you will also have HDMI out, which will contain audio as well.

Finally, you will need to purchase a display, mouse, and keyboard if you don't already have one.


Can Virtual PC use the Boot Camp Windows Partition?

No as Virtual PC is form PowerPC macs and not Intel ones.
You will need an intel virtualization product e.g. VirtualBox which is free or Parallels or VMWare


How can I clean Unknown item of kind Unknown from my Account startup items system preference pane?

This appears to be a bug in OS X High Sierra (it may affect other versions too) and has been bugging the crap out of me for the past few weeks. I finally managed to find a solution, thanks to a post I made on this Github issue. Try this solution.

Basically you will want to remove the file $HOME/Library/Application Support/com.apple.backgroundtaskmanagementagent/backgrounditems.btm. Then reboot.

Note that that this will remove all Login Items you currently have set up so be sure and make a note of all of the apps, volumes, etc. you currently have set to auto-launch at startup, because you will have to re-set them up. But this definitely got rid of all the "Unknown" items for me.

The other alternative is to set up a new user folder and migrate in your other files, but having a backup and erase install / migrating in from a backup is a great solution as well.


How to resume interrupted download in i.files app

No one can really answer this question except the developer, it will just be opinion based. So here is my opinion:

This is a developer issue, you can review the app and tell them about this bug. This app doesn't have a support page in English so I doubt you will get support from them directly.

Here is an alternative app that can resume downloads:

Downloads Free | Downloads

Please note that this app can not save video files any more, that's why the current version has 1 star rating. But other than that, it's perfect! :)


How many hours since I unplugged my Mac?

On Mavericks take a look in the Activity Monitor's Energy sections bottom.


How to download files from MediaFire directly on iPad?

It is not possible to download an mp3 file from a site like MediaFire and place it directly in the Music app on your iPad.

There are some app where you can download a file to listen it later, sorry i don't know the name of one of those apps.

The options you have are

to download it on a computer and sync your iPad
to jailbreak your device and use iFile to access the mp3 file


How to connect MacBook Pro (2020) to ultra widescreen monitor?

Besides the other answer, you might have better results with a DisplayPort cable if your monitor supports it. My 3440x1440 monitor for instance works at 100hz with DisplayPort and only 60hz with HDMI.


How can I adjust additional cinema display screen's brightness?

It's way simpler than that guys. The brightness on the display is controlled by simply pressing:

Control+F1 OR Control+F2 to adjust brightness on your secondary screen (the one without the menubar).

F1 and F2 to adjust brighness on your main screen (the one on which the menubar is located).

If you have adjusted settings in System Preferences for the Function Keys to behave as standard Function keys, you will need to hold the Fn key in addition to each combination too.

If your Cinema display has a USB cable (older models), you will need to plug it in.


Your browser sends its list of preferred languages to websites. With other browsers, this is usually customizable, but not in Safari for macOS. On the Mac, Safari only sends the systemwide preferred languages.

To change it:  → System Preferences → Language & Region.
Beware that doing this will change the locale used by your operating system.

On the other hand, in iOS 10 the systemwide language is set separately from the app-and-website preferred languages. Both can be found under Settings → General → Language & Region.


The only way then is to call the Apple-support which can be found here: http://www.apple.com/support/contact/

Please be aware of possible extra phone fees.


Skype on iPhone - does phone have to be awake / unlocked to receive calls?

Skype doesn’t have to be open. I have tested it. There have been known issues with this which you may be experiencing.

In iOS 11 a feature was introduced that enhances third-party calling, so updating should fix the issue.


The fact that people say they are getting sound from both grills at the bottom of any iPhone is total nonsense, all models have a Microphone and a speaker at the bottom.

If Apple replaces the microphone with a speaker, the phone would be rendered useless as there would be no way of it picking up speech.

It is a very common misunderstanding.

A couple of things to check.

Clean the headphone jack - any dust or fluff can cause the signal to break
Go to -Settings>general>accessability>Mono audio make sure this is off
Compare with a friend's phone, same model, same track, same head phones, then try new headphones, and after that a new song.
if there is still a problem go to an Apple store.


Interrupted Finder whilst it was deleting 400GB of files. Now I have 400GB of Hidden Space that won't go away

Maybe it would help if you force-delete any remaining files from the .Trash folder using the terminal. I found this site to have a useful step-by-step tutorial of how it is done:

https://www.imore.com/how-force-empty-trash-your-mac-using-terminal


SMS delivery reports are a network feature, not a phone feature, so theoretically you might need to contact your carrier, to get more information and to check with them. Separately from it, confirmation has to be enabled/sent by recipient, I remember my old phone had this setting set to off.

iMessages, have separate notifications and format, as they are not real SMS, but are working between iPhones, iPads, iPods and Macs. If Wi-Fi is unavailable, iMessages will be sent over cellular data. Carrier cellular data fees might apply.

Activate/Enable iPhone SMS and iMessage Delivery Report

Tap Settings on the Home screen and select Messages.
Tap the Off button within the iMessage section of the Messages screen so that the button reads On.
Tap the Off button in the Send Read Receipts section so that it reads On.
Tap Settings to return to the Settings screen and to save your preferences.


Edit subject line of email in inbox in Apple Mail

While technically it's possible, it's not trivial. You would have to write an applescript to search/replace the contents of your subject field and then use apple mail filters and run applescript based on your rule.

This is commonly done in the unix world via procmail, for example when spamassassin detects spam, procmail appends SPAM to the email subject message.

it might be better to set up rules based on subject to filter your mail into separate boxes for organization.


iPhone no longer sending messages as SMS when recipient is disconnected from data

It sounds like the Messages app thinks that a device signed in with your niece's Apple ID is connected to Wifi or the internet, whether this be the case or not. Is there a chance that she's used her Apple ID to sign in to the Messages app on a Mac? If so it could be receiving her iMessages, thus circumventing the 'Send as SMS when iMessage is unavailable' because technically a device capable of receiving those iMessages is 'available'.

If that's not the problem, these steps have worked for me in the past so I'm hoping they'll also work for you! (You will likely need your Apple ID and password to sign back in to iMessage when you're finished.)

Disable 'Send as SMS when iMessage is unavailable'
Turn off iMessage altogether on your phone from 'Settings > Messages' (the main/first slider)
Restart your phone
Turn iMessage back on from 'Settings > Messages'
Sign back in with your Apple ID if it has been removed
Enable 'Send as SMS when iMessage is unavailable'
It wouldn't hurt to follow these steps on the iPhone 4 as well, as there is a chance the problem is on her end and not yours (Since you haven't noticed the issue happening with any other contacts using Apple devices).

These steps didn't cause any problems for me personally with my stored messages within the Messages app, but as always before doing any troubleshooting backing up your device is a smart move! I did not design iOS so I cannot absolutely guarantee no side effects!


Force installing untrusted Safari extensions

Copied from: Safari 9 - I cannot install extensions

To install a .safariextz file, go to:

System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Keyboard
  (for OS X 10.11.4+)

or

System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Full Keyboard Access
  (for OS X 10.11.1 to 10.11.3)

Then at the bottom of that dialog box, change the Full Keyboard Access:... option from Text boxes and lists only to All controls. You can then dismiss that System Preferences window.

Then, return to installing the extension. Double click your Safari Extension file and when the "Are you sure you want to install..." dialog box appears, do not click on the Trust button. Instead, use tab to select the Trust button and then confirm by hitting space. That should install the extension as required.


Truecrypt error: the OSXFUSE file system is not available (255)

I had a similar problem today. I installed osxfuse and ntfs-3g via Homebrew, but I didn't install the kernel extension. I got a similar error message trying to mount an NTFS drive in RW mode. After installing the osxfuse kernel extension (instructions are available via brew info osxfuse), the error went away. Strangely, it didn't happen the first time I mounted an NTFS drive using ntfs-3g.

I hope this helps.


revoke ipad access to my wireless network

The simplest solution would be to change the network password.  This can be done from the Airport Utility application found in your Applications > Utilities folder.

This will disconnect all devices, so it would require entering the new password in your devices including your connected printer.

Airport Utility also will show you devices connected to your network.  See also Apple Support for Airport.


Hold the Side button and tap Volume Up.

  #iPhoneX screenshot: Side button + Volume up

https://twitter.com/reneritchie/status/907736291726336000


Is it possible to update iPhone4  to a provider-neutral OS so WiFi hotspot can be enabled?

It is not a carrier localized version of the OS that is installed on the iPhone. There is one iOS release image for each hardware model. What changes for each mobile network is the carrier settings, which is downloaded either OTA (iOS4+) or by iTunes when the phone is activated or connected and an update is available.

If you have the released from any carrier lock then if you move to another mobile provider supporting the tethering feature then their carrier settings will enable the preference.


Over the past couple of weeks I have tried a number of things to fix my routers. I turned off IPv6 sharing, file sharing, renamed 2.4ghz and 5ghz networks to be on the same SSID (they were different before). Over time fewer routers were going down, until only 1 was a trouble spot. I reset that router to factory defaults and re-configured from scratch, but that did not hep.
At the same time, I kept getting email notifications from my thermostat’s cloud service, that it had been losing connection to the internet. I unplugged the thermostat from its power and after I did that, there were no more router problems.
I still don’t know the exact root cause. It has been 2 days of solid network stability. The thermostat has been in my house for 6-7 years, but it is of questionable brand that no one has heard of (Motison). Perhaps, it was poisoning the network.


Photos.app is missing the All Photos view / Photos sidebar button

As a workaround you can right click on any photo (e.g. in Recents) and select "Show in All Photos".
Photos will then switch to the "All Photos" view and you can use it pretty normally though the entry in the sidebar is still missing.


Remote control mac using ARD or teamviewer with password lock?

This isn't actually true. With ARD/Screen Sharing, you can leave the mac logged-out, authenticate when you connect with ARD, and then log in to your user account after connecting.

You just need to make sure the Mac isn't set to go to sleep when no one is logged in.

With TeamViewer, you would need to have the account logged in, but it should still be accessible if you have the account locked or using fast user switching. Those features allow an account to stay logged in, but prevent it from being used (physically or remotely) until authentication.


How do I backup my shattered iPhone that has a passcode?

If you phone is on, if you plug it into your Mac or computer it should automatically start to backup. As long as you have synced it on that computer at some point. Then you can just restore it when you get a new phone.


I would just snap a picture of the TV screen with a smartphone (or any other) camera and use this for the bug report.


Stop Reminders App from sending emails every time a change is made on a shared reminder list

My guess is that you have not registered and verified the email address you are receiving the emails at as an alternate email address for your Apple ID (or you have multiple Apple IDs and have registered the email address with the wrong one).


macbook pro 2017 and dell U2417H hdmi adapter issue

I have same problem with MBP 2017 15" with plain Full HD monitor.
MacOS always says it is connected but no signal to the monitor.

As Jackson1442 says, rebooting sometime works but not all the time.

My MBP 2014 has no problem so I doubted my hub and then the hdmi cable. I replaced those but no changes.

I now doubt about 2017 model itself as Mohannad Kattan mentioned. It is so annoying.

I will try USB-C to HDMI cable without hub.


What is a normal cpu temperature for a MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011)?

I do not know if iStat works well with Yosemite and delivering correct results.

Your CPU temp is on very high end indicating full load of CPU = continuous load of >100%.

Your SMC reset might not have worked so try it again.

Intel made a simple tool that correctly reports CPU load.

A 2011 model should not have a Thermal paste issue, those usually occur after 5 Years (if), and when the conductive paste dries up.
But if you consider doing something about it, it is in the difficult category to do it your self.

Intel Power Gadget.


You might want to consider exporting the slideshow into a Quicktime movie and present that way instead of through Keynote. If the contents don't change much, or at all, this is easiest. You can use iMovie to splice the two movies together. Make sure to set the movie to loop.


The values you set before are not given via the inputparameter. As long as you run your Automator Workflow as an Automator Workflow and not as an Application or Service, you can access your formerly set variables using the following:

tell application "Automator"
    set cat to value of variable "NameOfFirstVariable" of front workflow
    set x to value of variable "NameOfSecondVariable" of front workflow
    set o to value of variable "NameOfThirdVariable" of front workflow
end tell

inside your "Run Applescript" action.

Greetings, Michael / Hamburg


Suspicious Calendar Events, Spam Phone Calls, and Outgoing Messages—Has my iPhone been hacked?

Most likely, your Apple ID was hacked.

Any device signed in to your Apple ID can send texts, change notification sounds for specific contacts, change contacts phone numbers and more.

Go to appleid.apple.com to change your password, and change passwords on any sites that you use the same password on, as those are at risk as well.

If your password has been changed by the perpetrator, you will most likely have to contact Apple support, as well.

To prevent this from happening in the future, I recommend adding two-step verification to your account, so every log in has to be approved via a code on one of your devices or phone numbers.


Where did Twitter and Facebook accounts go in iOS 11?

Apple has removed these logins for Twitter and Facebook. From https://www.axios.com/apple-removes-facebook-and-twitter-integration-from-ios-11-2433996734.html:

  The bottom line: Now Facebook and Twitter will be treated like other apps, with the social networks forced to rely on the same iOS sharing extensions used by all those with whom they compete.

Apps relying on this central login logic need to provide an update for iOS11.


That's the face recognition at work.

Yellow rectangles are drawn around any detected faces to inform you that the facial colour/exposure/etc optimisations are in operation. The rectangle doesn't guarantee focus since there could be multiple faces detected. It's a feature of the stock camera app.


Take a single Time Machine backup, just in case.

When you wipe the laptop, use the Time Machine drive to selectively (manually) restore certain items.  Information and files related to application licensing will most often be located in:

~/Library/
~/Library/Application Support
~/Library/Preferences


How to show subject line for new messages in OS X Messages.app?

As far as I can tell, you can't. I have looked everywhere for this feature.

I'd love for this answer to become wrong though.


Does a Boot Camped Windows alongside a Mac OS X partition profit from a Fusion drive like Mac OS X does?

Fusion Drive is an OS X specific way of caching data.

If you use Bootcamp on a Fusion Drive you will get Windows on the hard drive only. Some information  from this Apple note


List of preinstalled Python packages in Yosemite?

pip (1.5.6)
setuptools (5.4.2)
wsgiref (0.1.2)

Yosemite 10.10.2


Spotlight can't find apps or folder, only seaches the web

Obviously, Spotlight's index is misbehaving, and you did the right thing using the mdutil command. If repeating that command merely provides the same "Index is already changing state..." result, then the situation requires you to manually remove Spotlight's data directory. It's simple enough to do and it's perfectly safe, but it would still be wise to run a backup before proceeding. Then:

1.) In the Terminal, issue the command

sudo rm -r /.Spotlight-V100

2.) Restart in Safe Mode

Restart your Mac, and immediately after you hear the startup sound, press and hold the Shift key.
Release the Shift key when you see the Apple logo appear on the screen.

3.) Restart (in standard mode) after Safe Mode startup is complete. Spotlight will begin indexing using the preferences you have set for it.


Why do movies sometime lag on my 15" MacBook Pro (2011)?

When formulating a question, it's best to ask it accurately. In this case, the issue has nothing to do with Blu-Ray or DVD files. You aren't playing back from disc media. Instead, you are playing back from very high-bitrate files ripped or copied from the disc media. You are using the free VLC player to view the ripped files.

Let's analyze: a 50 GB file of Fast Five (130 min running time) would appear to be a copied, uncompressed file, since you can find .mkv or .mp4 files of the movie on torrent sites that run between 6 and 10 GB. So the file you're talking about is a very high-bitrate video file. You don't say, but I'm guessing it's a .m2ts file.

Two things:

The problem could very well be in VLC. Its support for .m2ts files is not optimized (due to licensing issues and other problems, the Blu-Ray format is not publicly well-documented).
I don't think there is anything wrong with your Mac. You are simply throwing a tremendous amount of data at it, and the software you are using for the video playback can't keep up.

Suggestion: obtain a 1080p version of the movie in .mkv or .mp4 format, then attempt to play that back with VLC. If the movie plays well, with acceptable quality and without lag, then you have your answer, and can watch future movies accordingly.


Synology: Time Machine backup keeps stopping without errors

New information has come to light. The Mac may need directory repair, significant space freed or just an erase install based on multiple clean Time Machine starts failing.

It’s hard to pick apart backup issues with such a custom setup.
I recommend you start with the “nurse” procedure at the bottom of my answer - working up to fsck and safe boot as appropriate. Exclude three folders and let a minimal backup complete. Consider throwing away the old backups and starting with a clean slate, no restrictions or fancy settings - let Time Machine think it can use the entire disk.
/Users
/Library
/System

If the interface asks to skip all system files, say yes. Once you have hourly backups going well. Remove things from the exclusion one by one and focus on disk corruption on the source if that’s where the backups hang.
Also, disable cron forcing things while stability is not present. Let the normal triggers work until you’re solid is my advice. Also, The Time Machine Mechanic and Backup Loupe are invaluable tools for me working on problematic Time Machine situations. Yours seems overly not easy, so something is causing you pain that hopefully can be identified and remedied.


Why is my MacBook visibile on Bluetooth after Yosemite install?

Bluetooth needs to be in advertising mode for Yosemite's Handoff to work.

To disable Handoff in Mac Yosemite: Select System Prefs > General  and uncheck "Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices".


How to print and email PDF from any OS X application on PDF letterhead?

The latest version of PDF Letterhead in App Store keeps its settings. You can also choose "Open in PDF Letterhead" from the Print Menu. This saves you from creating a temporary PDF file.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pdf-letterhead/id976548033?mt=12


Why there is a constant voice notification on my Mac?

Are you sure that you have not accidentally turned on voice commands?

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1879370

Try command+F5.


Why does iOS Speak Selection read "2020" as "2020 inches" in English (UK)?

It's likely a bug, as I can't duplicate the behaviour in Notes on a Mac.

However, the reason for the confusion may be that ' and '' symbols are used as a shorthand for feet and inches (also for minutes and seconds in geographical co-ordinates).

Perhaps Notes thinks there is a double quote after the numbers?


Does Bootcamp work for all users on a mac?

The ability to boot into windows is not limited by what user installed it. That said everyone will need either their own Windows logon or have the windows password to the windows user you create.

The Windows users are totally unrelated to MacOS users.


iCal iPhone change Exchange calendar color

On iOS 6 and Office 365 - exchange calendars are fully customizable as long as you like the 7 default colors. :( - which means, you can't customize the colors on iOS as you clearly stated in the question

The only interface for changing colors uses the default picker - Go to the Calendar app, tap Calendars in the top left, scroll to the calendar you want to modify, tap the blue circle with the white > symbol and then choose any of the colors that are listed.

Perhaps an update to exchange or to iOS will fix this in the future, but you're not missing anything obvious. Even using alternate apps like Fantastical or Agenda on iOS won't help you escape the limited color palette.


What Is Optimal Battery Usage & Lost for iPad?

According to Apple, you're not bad at all and very much in the healthy range.

https://www.apple.com/batteries/service-and-recycling/

  iPad Owners

    Your battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 1000 complete charge cycles. The one-year warranty includes service coverage for a defective battery. If it is out of warranty, Apple offers a battery service for $99, plus $6.95 shipping, subject to local tax.


Storing whatsapp message data in iCloud to free up space on phone?

What i think the best solution is: Go to Whatsapp -> Settings -> Chats. Enable Save to camera roll. From now, all your incoming photos and videos will be saved automatically into your Photo app. The name of the album with the saved photos and videos is called WhatsApp. But the incoming photos and videos are also saved locally in the WhatsaApp app.
So now you should enable iCloud Photos in Settings -> Your Name -> iCloud -> Photos. All your photo albums will be backupped in the iCloud. It is not possible to backup one specific album.
After the iCloud backup, the photos and videos are still saved locally on your phone in your WhatsApp app. To delete this, go to WhatsApp -> Settings -> Data and storage usage -> Storage usage and choose a chat. From here you are able to delete the media which is stored locally in the WhatsApp app.


Using Automator services (Quick action) with Office 365

Services (Quick Actions) only appear in the menu if the settings at the very top of the Automator workflow window are set correctly.

You should make sure that "Workflow receives Text in Any Application" (In fact, you can even specify phone numbers.)


How to reset a salvaged Mac Pro which has previously been managed?

That machine is too old to boot to internet recovery. You will need to bring another OS - perhaps installed on an external hard drive and hold the option key when you boot. A DVD works as well, you will likely be able to copy files off but will need some skills to bypass deep freeze, that’s designed to keep out highly motivated teens with hours of free time.

The easy path is to erase the drive and install the OS you please.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201255

The help above shows the various startup keys and links to other articles on reinstalling.

Eventually, your path will land at the bottom of this article covering other ways to reinstall if you can’t get past deep freeze.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

Since you have an external, just use disk utility to wipe and then clone it or rerun the installer once you have backed up any files you want.


My iPhone 5s is cracked and the screen is black, how do I get pictures from the phone?

You can try using an iPhone data recovery software such as iPhone Recovery. Good Luck!


AppleScript to Save Excel Chart as PNG Broken after Recent Update

I'm posting the resolution here with the hope that it will help others not waste their time as I have over the last few days. It turns out that saving a chart as an image via automation (both AppleScript and VBA) is broken in Excel 16.10 and 16.11. I had to revert to Excel 15.41, and now the code is working again.


AppleScript, set the position of the frontmost window, even if not AppleScriptable

The answer was to allow SystemUIServer.app to control the computer, in the Security > Privacy > Accessibility preferences. I had so many Finder windows open, I can only assume that the warning dialogue was popping up behind them. Once the permission is granted, it works fine.


IPod Touch says it's disabled for 22,768,662 minutes

You can fix it by syncing with iTunes then restoring, just follow this handy guide.


You're correct.

I have "Install App updates" and "Install system data files and security updates" checked in System Preferences and "Install OS X updates" deselected, and exactly what you describe is what I observe.

OS X Updates are user-facing updates that directly affect the user, regardless of whether the user actually uses the respective app (e.g. RAW updates).
The system/security updates are the Security Updates and File Quarantine (XProtect) definitions.

In the last 30 days according to my App Store Updates tab, the following was not auto-installed for me with "Install OS X updates" disabled:

Command Line Tools (OS X 10.10) 6.3
Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 6.04
Remote Desktop Client Update 3.8.4

OS X 10.11.0 would be considered a separate app on the App Store, so it wouldn't be automatically updated from a version prior to 10.11.0 regardless of the settings.


Keyboard shortcut CAPSLOCK-SHIFT-TAB not working in Chrome on external keyboard after CAPSLOCK modified to CONTROL

you can use Apple's wireless keyboard, that will solve your problem.


Use your Computer and log in in to iTunes with it.

Then just leave it logged in.

Now try again with your Apple TV.


Cannot access TimeMachine backups from before clean install of macOS

Time Machine can be tricky and sometimes you really need to reformat your external drive and start over. But you could check several things, like are you using HFS+ on your external Hard Drive? Did you repair permissions of your external hard drive with 'Disk Utility'? Is the internal and external hard drive name still the same? Is your user short name the same?
You could also try, within the information panel of your ext. hard drive, to ignore permissions and user.


Why do I get "no volume available" when using an iPhone 4s in a dock?

Yet the the dock is designed to just provide charging power and to hold the device, there is no line out on the dock.

This is incorrect. The description for this device on Amazon (sorry, I couldn't find any information on it that wasn't on a for-sale site) has this feature listed:

Built-in, 0.125-inch stereo line-out audio jack lets you attach an audio cable directly to your stereo, or run the included cassette adapter into your stereo's tape cassette player

Apparently the device does have an line out on it some place. And this is why your headphone and volume controls are disabled when you dock your phone in it.


Can I install an App that is not available in my country's iTunes appstore?

A common way to work around the cross-border restrictions of the iTunes store is by using pre-paid iTunes cards. These are often available on eBay and you can redeem them in the iTunes store for the country of origin (assuming you want US items, you need to buy a pre-paid card from the US.)


What's a good terminal manager for OS X?

Taken in mind that setting up a tunnel by your self is really easy, you may consider using iTerm2 as a replacement to Terminal.app.

iTerm2 features profiles, so you may connect to any SSH server instantly.

Advantages over Terminal.app:

http://www.iterm2.com/

If you still need to use a gui for tunneling, then you may use an app like:

SSHTunnel or SSH Tunnel Manager


Solarized and Terminal in OS X 10.8.4 Mountain Lion

The bright green, yellow, blue, and cyan foreground colors seem to be almost the same as the default foreground color:

Or if you were expecting the themes to add colors to new places, they don't. They are Terminal settings files just change some of the settings that can also be changed from Terminal's preferences. You can make ls use colors with something like export CLICOLOR= LSCOLORS=dxfxcxdxbxegedabagacad.


Can I connect to my Mac via thin client?

TeamViewer for your iPad/iPhone?

Setup TeamViewer to run on startup and you should be good to go.

Or are you looking for your local machine to login to your Mac and run the Mac as if booting up?


Applescript exits with error when run via launchd

As bjbk commented, the problem was that osascript did not have Assistive Access. While it is easy to add .app programs to this list (System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Accessibility), OS X doesn't allow binaries to be added through the GUI. See Jacob Palmela's blog for how to add a program via the command line, or just copy and paste the following command, substituting in the path of the program to be added where indicated before executing:

sudo sqlite3 /Library/Application\ Support/com.apple.TCC/TCC.db "INSERT or REPLACE INTO access VALUES('kTCCServiceAccessibility','PROGRAM-TO-BE-ADDED',1,1,1,NULL)"

sudo is necessary because the sqlite3 db file is owned by root.


It turns out that, somehow, the graphics chip was no longer recognized by the OS when these problems started.  The flashing and flickering was apparently due to the slow processing of fade-in and fade-out animations when these animations were rendered by software instead of hardware.

I know this because I downloaded Maxon Cinebench and it told me my graphics card was "Apple Software Renderer."  When I rebooted the graphics card then showed as "NVIDIA GeForce 320M OpenGL Engine."

I don't know why the OS did not recognize the Nvidia graphics chip but I assume it will happen again which would give me a clue what caused it.


Write a comment or description for an image in Aperture

@terrydev's answer is good if you want to set a lot of photos to the same caption/description.

If you want a faster way of entering individual captions, you can use the "Info" inspector panel (default shortcut is Ctrl+D or via menus: View / Inspector / Info). The drop-down menu at the top lets you choose which set of metadata to display, I think the default "General" one includes caption, version name and headline...

You can type data in any of those, tab between them as usual, and use Cmd+← or Cmd+→ to switch to the previous/next photo in sequence.

This can make it much faster than using the menu + pop-up window for each individual photo. The data will be retained in exported images (if you don't strip metadata on export), and will show up in Facebook/Flickr/etc based on these fields.


Keeping photos in sync between phone and laptop (without iCloud?)

The short answer is no. The iCloud sync doesn’t have an easy configuration place to  push data to AWS S3 storage or Azure storage or Backblaze storage. You can back up the Mac to lots of places, but the sync process uses Apple encryption and online services exclusively. You would need to use a different photo app on iOS and MacOS if you wanted different sync options.
I’m facing a similar dilemma. For years the 200 GB storage was an easy decision, pay a little each month and don’t spend any time cleaning up all the photos I take. Everything could sync everywhere.
I have a license to PowerPhotos so I could manage two Photos libraries on my Macs and thin the system library that syncs, but in honesty, my time is probably worth more to me to pay for easy sync than use this super powerful software to fork my libraries. I may do some light cleaning and avoid paying the next tier for a few months, but for me the cost is low to have everything in iCloud. It’s not always apparent to me when I find a photo I almost deleted, and then later use it when making a slideshow to celebrate a birthday and I have evidence of them doing something goofy in the background. I’m hesitant to delete photos and don’t spend hours a month curating them. The good news is everyone can choose their preference for time / money / tools so I totally get some people prefer to not pay for any extra storage. If you clean things better than I or have a different way to archive your important photos, keep things clean in iCloud.


How can I get my own apps onto my jailbroken iPhone?

This article really helped me.

I'm not sure if it's still that relevant though. I remember just setting my xCode to "Don't code sign" or something similar. I can't really check it right now, I'll get back to this. Make sure you have appsync installed on your iPhone though, that is a must.

After that you might be able to run the app on the iPhone, but you won't be able to debug it live.


iPhone how to disable “No speakable content can be found on the screen”

Go to Settings → General → Accessibility → Speech and turn off Speak Screen.

This disables the two finger swipe down gesture from the top of the screen, which will speak content on the screen or show the message you're getting if there is no speakable content.


Missing Time Travel feature on Apple Watch in OS3?

There's a toggle for Time Travel (the name of the feature you're talking about) in the Watch app on your iPhone. Turn this on to enable the feature.


I encountered a similar problem.

If you use full paths it should work (note using ~ does not appear to work).

I found comment in a Ubuntu book "scp assumes that all paths are relative to the home directory of the user unless a full path is given". The same seems to apply to rsync


What's the keyboard shortcut for keyboard layout switch in Mojave?

Using Mojave 10.14.1 at the moment. I checked to see the mentioned shortcuts in the "System Preferences" --> "Keyboard" --> "Shortcuts" tab and then selected "Input Sources" on the left side menu:

(I) Select the previous input source: Control + Space
(II) Select next source in input menu: Control + Option + Space

(The first one was checked by default - even though I only 1 layout.)
My first post on StackExchange. I hope it was helpful!


Disable user's ability to change FileVault recovery key

Remove the user from the admin group would be the simplest method. The fdesetup needs sudo permissions or someone to re-enable the root user. Both of those options are possible when you have admin credentials.


`Unknown` file download after reload in Safari 8.0 on OS X Yosemite

I suspect it is not an empty file but malware from 'carpet bombing'. Do not attempt to open the file but get info on the file and you should see it is from known malicious sites. I am scanning my system right now using ClamXav and nothing is coming up bad so I suspect it will go away if you just keep trashing the files until the hacker gives up. If anyone knows more than this please contribute.


MacBook air is messed up, can't erase the hard drive from recovery

Try to boot in safe mode to fix any minor disk problem


How to remove autocomplete (autofill) entries from Chrome? (Shift+Fn+Delete doesn't work)

When you go into the Settings of Chrome, you will find a Auto-Fill chapter on the left menu bar. Click there and you can manage all your addresses, credit cards and passwords which are used for the autofill function.


Finally solved it.

After countless tries, here is what worked for me :

Format your new disk using macsx extended (journaled) and with GUID boot table.

Clone your disk into the other disk (in my case SSD to SSD) using Carbon Copy Cloner.
Then go on AppleLogo->System Preferences->Startup Disk and select the disk that you cloned INTO (destination).

Press restart, and it will appear in the booting options.

In my case, after it shows in the boot options I can select it and boot from it (even tho it is still external).

Hackintosh only:
In my case this wasnt the final step, since, after removing the original disk and mounting the new disk it still wouldnt boot.

So, I plugged the OLD disk into the USB external case, so the boot options would show, booted from the NEW disk as in previous step (settings->startup), and then Ejected the OLD disk once it booted, to prevent problems, I noticied that all apps were running normal (important to make sure you boot from the correct disk, since they are clones, you wouldnt notice a difference), and then reinstalled my Multibeast settings.

Removed the old disk from the usb slot before I restarted again.

Success, now, the new disk is cloned from the old disk, and has boot info re-installed onto it.

PS: if you are also planning to upgrade your OS, keep the old disk around and intact, so you have a quick and complete backup to work with just in case.

PS2: I use TimeMachine, but I unplugged it before any work just in case I needed it later, suggest you do the same.


Windows are slightly "transparent" in such a way I can see underlying windows show through slightly to the current window

That's one of the "features" of the Mac O/S that I always thought, "what were they thinking?" Unfortunately I don't have an answer to that but to your question:

Go to System Preferences -> Accessibility -> Display

look for two check boxes: Increase Contrast and Reduce Transparency.

Adjust either or both to get your desired effect, that is not seeing the stuff behind a window.


Can I allow text messages from certain contact through when in Do Not Disturb mode?

AFIK the Do Not Disturb does not have setting to let Text Messages through like phone calls.

You can join the large group asking Apple to do it http://www.apple.com/feedback/


How to share my Snow Leopard Mac's connection to my HTC Desire running Android?

OK so you need to connect to the internet via your MacBook to get around a MAC filter on your router.  You can share your MacBooks connection but it would need to be plugged into the router.

I don't think it's possible to do it like this:

HTC >> WiFi >> MacBook >> WiFi >> router

You need to do it like this instead:

HTC >> WiFi >> MacBook >> Ethernet >> router

So you plug the MacBook into the router and connect to that from your phone over WiFi.  You can do this as follows:

Choose Apple > System Preferences, and then click Sharing.
Select Internet Sharing.
Choose a network service from the “Share your connection from” pop-up menu, Ethernet for example in your case.
Select a networking service to share your Internet connection from the “To computers using” list, AirPort for example.
Click AirPort Options and give your network a name and password.
Connect to your MacBook over the WiFi network you just set up.


How to move all photos from iPhone to iPad?

use xender to send photos and if you not have xender open recovery and backup user data  and on ipad open recovery and select the backup in restore user data


Convert ALAC to aac 128k with all metadata intact

I realise this is not a command line solution, but I use Max to convert FLAC and ALAC to AAC and MP3 files, and it keeps the metadata intact.

http://sbooth.org/Max/

Its a very lightweight app.

There are also download links and instructions on the site for how to build the app from the source, so maybe the moving parts of the ALAC-to-AAC with metadata conversion could be discerned from there.

Also, before compressing lossless rips to save space, maybe give TuneSpan a try, and put your lossless audio on external storage?

http://tunespan.com/#show_demo


iPad app to automatically download and view a list of web pages offline

As always, "there's an app for that". Or a few:

Web offline seems closest to your scenario. $1.99 at this time.
Offline pages seems like a strong candidate, but pricier
Terra web browser is free and will let you save pages for offline reading, but it's a manual process.


There might be a way to modify the standard behaviour by doing some fancy low-level unixy stuff like creating the "root" account and logging in as that which would cause the authentication dialogues to not be so intrusive, but for the average user, the answer is "no".

A non-administrator account will be presented with an authentication dialogue in some situations where an administrator account would not have been presented one (such as when modifying items in the /Applications folder), so perhaps doing system updates might be easier when logged in as an administrator. You can change any non-administrator account into an administrator account by selecting the “Allow user to administer this computer” box in the “System Preferences” -> “Users & Groups” settings window.


Disable Lock Screen and Control Centre while using Apps - iPadOS

You can avoid accidentally triggering Control Center by disabling Access Within Apps (Located in Settings > Control Center).

And if you want to disable both Lock Screen (or Notification Center) and Control Center, there is not a direct option to do that. However, you can use the Guided Access Feature (Located in Settings > Accessibility > Guided Access), and triple-click the lock screen button in the app you want to focus on.

What this does is keeping you in a single app. You need to set a 6-digit password for the first use, or use Touch ID or Face ID. By doing so, you also lose the ability to go to the home screen or switch between apps. To end Guided Access, triple-click the lock screen button again, input the password, and tap "End".


Finder doesn't show thumbnail previews for RAW files

Raw support for cameras is something that changes with almost every OS update. Specifically, Lion 10.7.0 only supports some cameras, and 10.7.1 adds more, and so on. Also, according to this KB article on what cameras Apple supports - it is similarly vague that you need specific versions of Aperture or iPhoto to even see whether your machine needs a RAW camera support update.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4757

So, it looks like Apple is adding raw support to the OS in combination with you having a new enough version of either iPhoto or Aperture. I would say, you might want so jump to 10.8.3 and install the latest iPhoto from the Mac App store since my feeling is Lion intentionally changed RAW processing to exclude anything it wasn't sure it supported instead of 10.6's we'll try to draw anything and if it crashes, so be it attitude.

However, if you don't want to spend $40 on this, delay the upgrade to Mountain Lion and just buy the latest iPhoto (if needed). At that point you can call Apple support since you recently purchased iPhoto (or possible recently purchased Lion) and ask AppleCare to verify your camera model is compatible with your software versions. You get 90 days of complimentary software support anytime you purchase Apple hardware or software since they want you to get up and running with your new purchase.


Take it to Apple.

Electronics & water do not make the best of bedfellows.
I wouldn't consider a day in rice to really be sufficient to ensure the inside is not still wet, or otherwise contaminated.

I also sincerely hope you threw away the rice & the hot press afterwards.


How well does Google Docs work on the iPad?

Google Docs has full view and edit functionality on the iPad (see here and here). To be honest though, it's kind of like trying to chop down a tree with a plastic spoon. It feels quite clumsy, it's fairly slow and it's not something you'd want to be a regular part of your work flow.

  You're unable to select text, which means no copy or pasting. If you double-tap at the end of a sentence to get a period, you won't be rewarded with that particular mobile shortcut. There is no shift key; if you capitalize a word, all the text will be capitalized until you toggle the button off. Backspacing is equally slow, especially if you need to edit a large area of text.  Tuaw

There are Apps like GoDocs that claim to make the experience better, but I haven't tried them myself.

If you don't have an iPad (and I'm presuming you haven't because you're asking this question!) you can get your Mac or PC to pretend to be an iPad in Safari and try it out yourself. Fire up Safari's preferences and tick the show develop menu under the Advanced Tab:

Then use the Develop Menu in your Menu Bar to set your User Agent to Mobile Safari 3.2.2 - iPad. Your browser will act just like it was an iPad, which lets you experience with Google Docs or any other sites you're curious about.


Does the iPad (2012, 3rd generation) have the most pixels of any tablet's display?

For this answer, let's define that…

…the sharpness of a display is the ability to distinguish two distinct pixels.

Retina displays
There is no industry standard for retina display, therefore I'll follow Apple's use of the word. The term retina display is relative, as the definition follows the human eyes's perception of a display's sharpness:

The second picture means "300 ppi is the limit of the human retina at a distance of 10 inch"!
While the iPhone 4S is commonly used at a distance of about 10 inches to the eye, the iPad  will be used at a larger distance - e.g. 15 inches. Therefore, the iPad can have a similar reception by the eye even though the pixel density is lower.
Physical background of 'retina'
What does the formula mean? Let alpha be the angle at which the human retina will see two distinct pixels. d is the perpendicular distance to the display surface. h is the distance between two district pixels in one dimension.
Hence, we get:

As you can see in the table, the minimum angle at which the human eye can distinguish two pixels is larger than what it can see for both on the iPhone and the new iPad - at normal distances.
The perception of distinct pixels with the new iPad is even better than with the iPhone 4S. Apple is being fully reasonable when calling the iPad's display a retina display.

No other tablet can compete in similar measures for PPI and
display size of the iPad. It's even sharper then the iPhone in normal
use! It's the sharpest display on the market.

Of course, this assumption is based on the fact that the displays are able to display any two pixels that are next to each other - which @checksum has pointed out in a comment.
Competitors
As mentioned in this answer, there are competitors with higher pixel densities, but not at the display size of the iPad 4G (9.7''). Furthermore, it's not clear to me if they are able to display each unique pixel like it IPS displays used by Apple can.


What was the first version of macOS to ship with the Vim text editor?

vim has been included with OS X since version 10.3.0 (Panther); vi has been included from the very first version, 10.0 (Cheetah).

Apple has an excellent Open Source repository - http://opensource.apple.com - where they keep an archive of all the software that they've used in the development of their operating systems.  Looking at details of the 10.3 Project, you will see that vim made its first appearance.


Messages on MacBook isn't sending or receiving messages, despite being signed in to iCloud

The first step would be to make sure you can send iMessages to other iCloud users. If not, then you’ll want to Sign Out of iCloud under Messages → Preferences → Accounts. You may need to reboot your MacBook before signing back in.

If it’s regular text messages (SMS/MMS) that aren’t working, on your iPhone open Settings → Messages → Text Message Forwarding and make sure your MacBook is enabled. If it already is, toggle it off, then back on. You will be prompted to enter a verification code sent to your MacBook.

If none of this works, you may need to reboot both devices with everything disabled, then reactivate everything only after booting back up.


Stop MS Word opening files automatically on launch

Clear the saved state, rather than the history.
Quit Word.

From Finder
 Cmd ⌘   N
 Cmd ⌘   Shift ⇧     G
Copy/paste ~/Library/Saved Application State

Delete the folder com.microsoft.Word.savedState

Relaunch Word.

For future reference, whatever is open when you quit will reopen when you launch. The trick is to close documents before quitting.

You can stop all applications from remembering their state using System Prefs > General > Close Windows when quitting an app.

Alternatively, there's a $0.99 app called RestoreMeNot which can switch on a per-app basis.


I haven't had much luck the keybinding dict route, seems very spotty what works and what doesn't. Far easier to use an app like Ukulele to make a tweaked keyboard layout exactly how you want it - no issues whatsoever. Much recommended.


Active monitoring and scheduled scanning in ClamXav?

From a cursory read of ClamXav's online documentation, it appears that both of those features are available.

For Active monitoring, ClamXav allows you to specify any number of folders to watch (e.g. your Downloads folder) as well as having a way to scan incoming email and inserted disks.
For Scheduling scanning, there is a preference pane which allows you to both schedule virus definition updates and perform periodic scans.

I would recommend reading their online documentation.


Removing a contact from a folder in Yosemite Contacts software

There's a Remove From Group Menu item.

Select Your contact in the Group and open Edit -> Remove From Group.


macOS Big Sur version 11.0.1, no paste option in Finder

Any problem that only occurs in one user account has a standard solution:
Your problem is caused by something in your user account. This could be:

third-party software that is triggered to launch automatically, or something like a Finder extension.

A setting or preference that is wrongly configured.

Something else that exists inside your ~/Library folder. (the ~ sign means the current user's home)

Check System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items to see what is set to load at Login. It's possible that one of those might be incompatible with Big Sur and causing problems. Check for updates. Disable all of them, reboot and test the problem.
Check Finder Extensions in System Preferences > Extensions. Test the problem with any third-party extensions disabled. (You'll need to reboot or restart Finder, at least.)
Check the LaunchAgents folder in the ~/Library. This may contain scripts that trigger background apps. These may need updating. Again, remove the plist files to another location, reboot and test.
If none of those things work, then you'll need to 'divide and conquer'. Start removing entire folders from the ~/Library, reboot and test. If the problem is still there, replace the folder. If it goes away, restore half the contents of that folder, and test again. Gradually, you'll focus on the problem.
Likely folders are the Preferences folder, which contains ... well, preferences; and the Containers folder, which contains individual apps' working files.
Note that this is all in the user's Library, not the root level Library. The user's Library may be hidden in the Finder. Hold the Option key and click on the Go menu in the Finder, and Library should be a menu item.
Things not to do:

Don't reinstall the OS. The OS is working fine, as shown in the new user account. That will do nothing, except waste your time.

Don't migrate to the new user account. Changing user account can cause problems with existing file permissions. Also, if it happens again, will you keep moving on to new account after new account?


In order to turn off Find My iPad you have to have the password to your old AppleID. If you don't you may have to call Apple Support (or go by an Apple Store?) and have them reset the password to that account.

I believe that if you even try and just wipe the iPad it will require that password. No two ways about it you need that password.

Yes it is annoying but if anyone could simply turn off find my iphone/ipad that would negate it as a setting to help you find stolen devices.


Why is '/opt' hidden, and what can I do to unhide it?

Out of the box, there is no /opt file delivered by OS X.

This command will show the hidden status of files in root ls -lO / with O being the capital letter, not zero. The chflags command can be used to toggle the hidden flag if needed.

Depending on how you got /opt created, you may or may not have issues with the permissions changing again - most tools leave things alone with respect to filesystem flags as long as the read/write/execute permissions are not removed.


How to fix iTunes library? I copied the iTunes folder but the music does not appear in iTunes

What you should have done is hold the ⌥-key while starting iTunes and it will prompt you to choose a new library which is the iTunes Library.itl inside the iTunes folder you wanted to copy. If you still have a copy of the old folder, do the above. Otherwise, I think you just created a new library with 0 songs.


Why would Apple configure MacBook Pro to use inferior graphics card when a better one is installed?

MacBook Pro has come in models with both an integrated and a discrete graphics processing unit for many years now.

The integrated graphics uses less energy than the discrete GPU, so in order to maximize battery life, it is used whenever possible.

The integrated graphics should be plenty powerful to play ordinary YouTube videos or play a DVD, which are the tasks you describe in your linked question. Unless you have an external monitor connected to the MacBook Pro, the integrated graphics should handle this fine.

However, you can definitely configure your MacBook Pro to use the discrete graphics. This way you can test whether or not the problem goes away when using the discrete graphics.

You can the setting by opening System Preferences > Energy Saver, and removing the checkmark from the "Automatic graphics switching" checkbox. When this checkmark is removed, the computer will use the discrete graphics at all times.

Read more about it in Apple's documentation:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202043


Can I use an iPad (Wi-Fi+Cellular) as a cellphone?

No, you can't use it as a carrier cellphone. But if you have enough data in your plan, you can use it as a cellphone through services such as Google Voice or Skype which can give you a phone number that you can call with and be called with over the internet. They both provide apps that will "ring" your iPad when someone calls the number.

Google Voice is free to have a phone number. Calls From the US or Canada to the US or Canada are free, and calls to or from other places are pretty cheap.

Skype charges for a phone number, but that includes some sort of fee that gives you a predetermined number of minutes.


Game Centre cannot be quit in El Capitan 10.11.6

Are you logged into your apple account, and is it active with Game Center? I have had this issue before, and it was because I never signed into Game Center and I quit it too soon. As soon as I clicked cancel when it asks you to long in, I never faced the issue again.


In my (too many) years of experience, the best "mix" you can make is composed of:

Seven parts of water (distilled if possible but in the case of the plastic it won't make much difference)

Three parts of alcohol (the same used in medicine, sold in pharmacies).

So you actually put seven "somethings" of water and then three of alcohol. Mix, and store in a bottle, closed (or the alcohol will evaporate!). It can last for months. Use soft cloth to clean everything, even screens. Don't use toilet paper on screens.

note: Somethings can be, glasses, spoons, lid, etc. The important thing is that you use it for both water and alcohol, so it's the same proportion.


Can I boot my 2011 MacBook Air from an external SSD (OS X, Windows and/or Linux)?

If you have the old drive in an external drive case then connect it to your Mac and the hold down the option key at boot. The Mac will then give you the option to select the boot drive.


"XfinityWifi" and "PublicWifi" are being added to my list of networks without my knowledge or consent

Wireless networks are synced across iCloud, so if any other device such as an iPhone connects to these networks and is also signed in to the same iCloud account as your Mac, the networks will appear in this list.


This seems to work:

Open your calendar.
Click on the event you want to move to Reminders.
Copy the event (⌘ command+C).
In the Reminders app, click in a new event line.
Paste the event (⌘ command+V).

There are a couple things I noticed when testing this (on Mac OS Sierra, 10.12.6):

The title of the reminder matches the name of the calendar event, but it's followed by "Scheduled:".
If the calendar event contains any alerts prior to the time of the event, these alerts are not added to the reminder.  The reminder is only for the actual time of the event.


Special Characters Suddenly Won't Insert

I had this exact same issue, and user Tom Gewecke's advice seems to have fixed it for me. I simply removed two plist files in ~/Library/Preferences, and then rebooted. The files were com.apple.CharacterPicker.plist and com.apple.CharacterPaletteIM.plist. I don't know which of those files had the issue, but after removing them and rebooting they've regenerated, and everything's good again.

If you're comfortable with Terminal

You probably know how to move files around, just move these two somewhere else, or rename them:

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.CharacterPaletteIM.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.CharacterPicker.plist

If you just want something you can copy and paste, here you go:

mv ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.CharacterPaletteIM.plist{,-backup}
mv ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.CharacterPicker.plist{,-backup}

Reboot after this, and fingers crossed, it will work for you again.

If you're not so comfortable with Terminal

Open up a Finder window and press Shift ⌘ G (Shift Command G), then type ~/Library/Preferences/, and press Enter. There will be many files in that folder, you're looking for the ones called com.apple.CharacterPaletteIM.plist and com.apple.CharacterPicker.plist. When you find them, you can probably just remove them, but it's always a good idea to back them up. Just move them to another folder or something.

When you've done that, reboot your computer, and see if the Special Characters window works again.


What is the "+" mark at the end of file description?

The + indicates the file has an Access Control List (ACL) with additional permissions. Each rule in an ACL is called an Access Control Entry (ACE).

The command ls -ale will show the ACEs for each file/folder that has an ACL

The default folders OS X creates when it makes a new home folder — Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Library, Movies, Music, Pictures, and Public — will have the ACE

0: group:everyone deny delete

which means no users are allowed to delete the folder, not even the owner of the folder. This prevents people from accidentally deleting these folders, which OS X expects to exist.

To remove all the ACLs from the default home folders, without affecting ACLs of their contents, use

chmod -N ~/*

To remove an ACL from a folder and everything inside of it, use

chmod -R -N /path/to/folder

Once the ACL has been removed, you can now delete those folder as expected, However, it's generally advisable to not remove the default folders that OS X  creates in a user's home folder. The OS and many apps expect those folders to be there. In fact, OS X may simply recreate some of them the next time you log in.

An alternative is to hide them from the Finder with

chflags hidden /path/to/folder

To unhide, change hidden to nohidden. Hidden folders will still show up in Terminal, though.


Is there a good / acceptable blog-publishing application on Mac OS X?

One of the best applications is MarsEdit (40$) by Red Sweater Software.
It supports many blog types (including Tumblr), and allows both HTML and Rich Text editing.
I think it also allows editing Wordpress pages and not only blog posts.
It handles image uploading, editing of posts and supports multiple blogs.

Some of the cons of MarsEdit are its HTML editing shortcuts and macros which are a little uncomfortable and a bit too little.

If you're comfortable with HTML, then the known TextMate text editor can also be used as an editor for blog posts and then you can either copy/paste from there or use a blogging bundle which will let you upload from there. TextMate can also show you live preview of your HTML in a separate window.

Of course, being a specialized application, MarsEdit is more feature rich in the blogging sense but TextMate has a better editor (obviously).


Only storage size is different. There is no evidence or claims that point to the contrary.


Catalina - Apps that have requested access to your microphone will appear here

This solution will likely help you to get what you are looking for it.

Go to your user name under /Macintosh HD/ Users/XXXX
Right-click on your username and click on Get Info
Under the section “Sharing & Permissions”, unlock the lock from the lower right and enter the password.
Apply to enclosed items -> Click OK for the pop-up windows (Applying Permissions)

Reboot your device and try again. It should pop up after that.


First thing to try in these cases is to remove it via Terminal:

Open Terminal
Type rm followed by a space
Drag the file into the Terminal window (wait for the green + sign to appear, then release the mouse button) -> Path to file should get added in the Terminal window
Press Enter

Based on your additional information it seems to be phantom file only "known" to Spotlight. To rebuild the Spotlight index, either see Apple's support article on the topic or run

sudo mdutil -E /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD

in Terminal.


Diagnosing what's wrong with "vintage" iMac

From the sound of things it is likely the hard drive. An "easy" way to find out would be to attach an external HD and install the OS on that.

Be aware that depending on what is going on with the old HD it could eventually just prevent the Mac from booting as the Mac tries to access it even if it is NOT the boot drive.

Note that a USB drive would be SLOW, Firewire would be preferable and, while it is not as fast as SATA, would provide you with a generally usable/bootable Mac while you work up the courage to open it up and replace the drive ;-).


macOS Mojave: createinstallmedia: command not found

It appears that you do not have the installer for macOS Mojave downloaded on your system. Follow the steps listed in the section Download macOS in the linked Support document, How to create a bootable installer for macOS, to download the installer locally on your Mac before running the command:

  Download macOS

  Download a macOS installer, such as macOS Mojave or macOS High Sierra.

  To download macOS Mojave or High Sierra for this purpose, download from a Mac that is using macOS Sierra 10.12.5 or later, or El Capitan 10.11.6. Enterprise administrators, please download from Apple, not a locally hosted software-update server.
  When the macOS installer opens, quit it without continuing installation.
  Find the installer in your Applications folder as a single ”Install” file, such as Install macOS Mojave.

The installer is typically around 6GB in size. You can verify it by going to /Applications directory, selecting the app bundle and using Command + I keyboard shortcut to view info.

After you have the installer available locally, you can connect an external USB drive, run the mentioned command and create a bootable installer.

Note: The macOS installer can be placed anywhere on disk. Adjust the path of the createinstallmedia command accordingly to create the bootable media.


Reset my Macs password? I still have SSH access

No - the typical ways to reset a password or delete the file that lets the Mac reboot to the setup assistant where it lets you create a new admin user that will have a known password all require you to know a working user/password combination that works for sudo.

You'll want to boot to the Recovery HD or install media or into single user mode to make a new admin user (which can be deleted once you've reset your password) or use the normal OSX procedure to reset your password.


El Capitan animation direction in Spaces

Check that under System Preferences > Trackpad, "natural scrolling direction" is enabled.

Not having this option enabled would cause the screen to follow the exact direction your hand is swiping along the trackpad, and not the natural direction I assume you're used to.

NB: I'm not sure of the exact term for natural scrolling but I'll update my answer when I can be.


How can I erase all photos on my iOS 11 device that can't be removed with Image Capture trick?

I found the answer and it requires some surgery by deleting the sqlite databases that the iPhone keeps for synced photos, the photos thumbnails and the photos themselves. I've documented the steps in a blog page here: http://dronefone.com/brian/blog/Entries/2018/3/7_Removing_Synced_Photos_from_iOS.html

Note this works for iOS 12 as well.


Does LaunchAgent prevent repetitive execution of jobs?

Yes, launchd ensures you only have one instance of the "agent" running and it does this for you automatically. Set your job up normally using StartInterval to schedule the execution of your background job and the system won't launch a new instance if the previous instance hasn't completed by the time it gets to that scheduled start interval.

If multiple schedule intervals pass, launchd will run just one new instance at the next interval. It's "smart" about it.

Here's a sample plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd
">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
     <key>Label</key>
     <string>com.mycompany.test</string>
     <key>ProgramArguments</key>
     <array>
         <string>/some/path/to/a/script.sh</string>
     </array>
     <key>StartInterval</key>
     <integer>60</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

In the above example, if /some/path/to/a/script.sh takes 361 seconds to run, launchd won't start 5 new instances during that time frame, and it will only start one new instance at the 420'th second mark in time.

The wording on the launchd.plist(5) man page says as much, but the way it's written kind of makes it non-obvious:

  StartInterval

  This optional key causes the job to be started
  every N seconds.  If the system is asleep, the job will be started the
  next time the computer wakes up.  If multiple intervals transpire
  before the computer is woken, those events will be coalesced into one
  event upon wake from sleep.

That last sentence essentially says "launchd makes your jobs singleton for you as long as you follow the rules for good job behaviour".


Mid 2010 MacBook Pro kernel_task extremely high CPU usage (150%+) lags and kernel panics

The line you have quoted is not an indication of CPU issues - you seem to be misinterpreting that.

The meaning of that line is that the kernel (i.e. the operating system core) failed because of a page fault. A page fault means that the operating system core tried to access a part of memory that isn't accessible to it (i.e. not mapped). This should not happen.

The causes of this are either a software bug or software incompatibility (for example if you run an operating system version earlier than the one originally supplied with the computer), or it is a hardware error. Usually the hardware error is due to defective RAM or insufficient cooling.

Page faults caused by defective CPUs are extremely rare.


Which has more effect on software launch times: processor, RAM, or Hard Drive?

The hard drive is the only one that noticeably slows down app launching.

With RAM, there's no noticeable difference unless you already have many programs open and running.

With CPUs you'll only have one core involved in opening an app, so the differences are tiny even if you're making a large improvement.

The payoff with large amounts of RAM and faster CPUs come after the app is open, but mostly that payoff is only seen when you're multitasking or working with large media files.


Try saying: "no caps on, no space on", then spell the word, then say "no caps off, no space off".


External monitor viewport appear shrunk in native resolution on MBP

I had precisely the same issue, and so did this poster:
External monitor randomly lowers resolution adds black borders

the answer in both cases was to switch out the VGA cable.


This issue is generally caused by a background process that is taking a (very) long time to complete.

In my case it was Spotlight indexing, which I don't need for the drive in question. So after confirming that it the culprit was indeed Spotlight and terminating it, I simply disabled Spotlight indexing for the drive, and now I am able to eject cleanly. Similar instructions apply for identifying and terminating whatever process is the cause generally.


Keyboard malfunction progression: first ED, then FG, now T

The entire top case assembly controls the physical mounting as well as the electrical connection. I would see if you need battery service for it and pay for that repair. Get two problems fixed for the same cost.
Without removing the battery, it may be hard to know if this is liquid damage / corrosion or mechanical issues like grit or just physical parts wearing / breaking or it's electrical connection on the USB bus. Also, a battery that expands could cause all the issues and need service.
I would get a quote for repair and then wait till you can't use external / bluetooth keyboard and they pay for a repair if it's not covered by Apple. Sometimes Apple extends coverage for batteries and keyboards, so it doesn't hurt to ask for a quote - sometimes the price comes back zero.


When I turn on my MacBook Pro, I see the Apple logo and the progress bar but then it turns off

Troubleshooting is a process of elimination and can take quite some time. This means trying various things and reporting back with the results in order to try and get to the bottom of your problem.

Apple Hardware Test / Apple Diagnostics

The first thing to try is running Apple's built-in hardware diagnostics. To do this:

Ensure your MacBook Pro is connected to AC power
Start your computer
Immediately press and hold down the D key before the grey screen appear
When the icon appears on the screen let go of the D key
Select your language and click the right arrow
Select the "Perform extended testing" checkbox
Click the Test button
Take a note of the results that appear in the bottom-right window

Report back with your results.

NOTE: If holding down the D key doesn't work, you can also try holding down the OptionD keys during startup to try and run the diagnostics test via the internet.