Reinstalling the OS just for Safari seems a bit drastic. The reason it says that is probably exactly because you used rm -rf as opposed to dragging it into the trash.

In OS X there is a central registry of installed applications, and afaik when you drag an application to the trash, it is automatically removed from this registry. When you just rm -rf it will delete the files but not the entry in the registry.

So I'd try : reinstall Safari 6 normally, then drag it to the trash. This should remove it from the registry, so try to install Safari 5 afterwards.

If it still doesn't work, try using the /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister tool to manually unregister Safari.


Open System Prefs > Time Machine, then click Options…
You can add exclusions to the list, by clicking the + & navigating to the location, or simply by dragging any folder/drive etc into the box.

It would appear that anything already backed up will stay in the older backups until eventually it just 'falls off' over time, as Time Machine cycles through your drive space.


bash variable with spaces why cd "$myvar" results in one parameter, but myvar='"some stuff"' in two?

Typically, quotes are strip in a parameter/variable assignment, unless the quotes them self are quoted and they then become part of the string. As in your example "some stuff" is the string attached to $myvar. When you issue the command-

cd $myvar

the command is broken up into tokens- words and operators. The shell parses them into a command and arguments, then parameter/variable expansion takes place on $myvar. Since $myvar isn't quoted the contents are split into two words (known as field or word splitting) -

"some and stuff"

Thus, the error message- bash: cd: "some: No such file or directory. Since cd only accepts one argument stuff" is disregarded.
Even when you quote the variable $myvar it still produces an error message because the directory name is some stuff not "some stuff"-

cd "$myvar"
bash: cd: "some stuff": No such file or directory


What is the best practice for a daemon application running as root that needs access to the GUI?

On macOS, you should avoid running any process as root. Apple would likely suggest keeping this type of application in two parts. Each part should be sandboxed with appropriate entitlements.

Your background computer wide process will not be able to access the graphical interface. You will need a second process running within the user's session to provide an interface to the user.

Use launchd to launch your computer wide process on-demand; see XPC services below. This way, while nothing is playing, you avoid consuming any resources.

XPC Services

For macOS, Apple want you to communicate using the XPC services architecture. This approach uses Mach ports at the low level, but your processes do not need to be too concerned about that detail.


How to disable the message notifications of skype on mac?

System Prefs > Notifications

Set alert style to None, or Banner, which will disappear after a few seconds.


iTunes import settings for files on computer

Still not sure about the batch importing, but I did find some UX confusion in iTunes 11 that led to my posting this question. There's two different columns in the song view: "iCloud Status" and "iCloud Download". Just seeing the iCloud icon in a column by itself led me to believe it'd be filled in as the songs were uploaded. Not true, check "iCloud Status" as well.


If I use Apple Tv as a separate display on Mavericks will it transfer sound

AirPlay mirroring sends video and sound to the connected device.

You can over-ride the sound if needed by selecting an alternate output as well as just send sound to any AirPlay receiver as well.

This is how AirPlay has worked since it started with sound and the video mirroring support keeps adding features as time goes by.


iPad Air 2 and iPhone SE have different power adapter (head charger unit). iPad Air 2 needs 10W adapter, while iPhone SE needs 5W adapter.

In my experience, I can use 10W adapter for charging my iPhone 6 (which using same adapter with iPhone SE and some users said it will boost the speed). But iPad Air 2 can not be charged with 5W adapter, because it will need more power.

If you have used the correct adapter, make sure there is no problem with the USB cable and your iPad USB port. Because sometime, dust and dirt can disrupt the charging process.

Check this page to identify your adapter: https://www.apple.com/power-adapters/


Magic mouse two button click stopped working

BetterTouchTool will do this.

Go to its preferences.

Then make your settings look like this window.


Can I transfer videos from iTunes to an iPad not associated with it?

New set up will wipe out everything.

You can plug iPad into her iTunes and mark the option "Manually manage music and videos", save (sync), then plug again on your computer.

If you are careful when cross connecting, you can prevent cross-syncing the same information from two computers for this iPad, but still have each computer take care of part of the sync "situation".

other option is:
Copy the videos to her iTunes, then add them to her iPad from there.

Last option:
- Backup all the app data, videos, music and even pdf files with third party software (TouchCopy, iExplorer, PhoneToMac or any other you like). Do not backup system files.
- Set up the iPad.
- Copy everything back using the same third party software.


Folder cannot be deleted from the Launchpad and is not displayed in Finder

In the case where only one user has a "broken" layout, you might be able to wait until the system realizes the error and fixes it.

Reboot
Look in your user home folder for an Applications folder - check there or delete it if you don't use user applications
As a last resort, view these various methods for clearing the database and settings files the dock makes to track the icons and organization of the LaunchPad: How to remove an icon from launchpad that does not appear in the Finder?

If you can drag the ghost folder from the launch pad to the dock (either in the applications section of the dock or the folders section), then locating the folder might be easier than messing with nuking the entire database or settings file.

sqlite3 $(find /private/var/folders -name com.apple.dock.launchpad 2>/dev/null)/db/db "DELETE FROM apps WHERE title='Anaconda';" && killall Dock


How do I add the phonetic contact fields to a contact on iOS 5 when using an iPhone 4?

I can confirm after testing that these fields are not available on the iPhone 4 in iOS5, although they are available on the iPhone 4S.

However, if you have your contacts synced with Address Book on the Mac, you can add the field to the contact card via the Add Field menu item under Contact, and the field is then sent to your iPhone on the next sync. I am not able to confirm if you can do this via the iCloud web interface directly.


Apple will put a new case around your existing working components for a flat rate repair - probably $350 these days, but I haven't checked.

You would want to file down the aluminum if it protrudes, but that won't look much better than the ragged dings you have shown. Unlike steel, aluminum doesn't repair well and the anodized coating that Apple performs to make the pebbled surface isn't something you can DIY replicate.

If you're just concerned with color, you might be able to get some modeling paint to make it a bit closer to the shade, but on close inspection it won't fool anyone. If that goes badly, you can still file off the paint and use sandpaper which is the last thing I would mention - that really looks bad in my opinion, so I would avoid that unless you are ready to pay for an Apple repair if you don't like what the grit of the sandpaper does to the finish.

Small metal files are much easier to control and limit the area of "rework" so unless you have sharp edges, I would leave it alone if you want to keep the area looking new as opposed to feeling smooth.


Canon Camera Connect to Iphone to Cloud to Mac Issue

If you have iCloud Photo Library activated, all changes are synced between all connected parties —deleting in one device deletes in all devices. Same will happen if you erased them from your Photo Stream although that would probably leave a copy on your Camera Roll (unless you erased iPhone originals when importing via USB and had only the Photo Stream copy left).

In any case, you can still look for your pictures in the "Recently Deleted" album; manually deleted pictures should be there but I couldn't find the Photo Stream deleted picture on it and I don't know if they are saved there when batch removed after importing via USB.


Is it possible to change recorded keynote timing after recording manually?

You can't do this in Keynote.  Keynote recording only allows for you to record the whole narration at once.  You could work around this by recording your audio in GarageBand, and then importing your GarageBand audio into Keynote.  GarageBand allows for much more finely-grained control of your recordings, including re-recording a section.

Another option is to use PowerPoint:Mac, which does allow you to re-record the audio for one slide.


Time Machine only makes an estimate of how much it thinks will backup. That estimate can be wrong by a factor of 2 in many cases when there's nothing wrong at all.

Why does Time Machine's backup size not equal the size of my hard drive?
Why is Time Machine over-stating the amount of data that needs to be backed up?

If you get into trouble, you can always exclude the system files (which you will reinstall anyway from OS install, not from Time Machine) and exclude other files if you want to exclude some large folders to speed a backup of the rest of the files.

On OS X, what files are excluded by rule from a Time Machine backup?


How to make an NTFS Shared Volume Writable

NTFS is a disk file system. Usually you may access NTFS only by directly attached devices (e.g. PATA, SATA, SCSI etc.)

If you connect to a share over the network you use a distributed file system or network file system. They do not share block level access to the same storage but use a network protocol (e.g. AFP, SMB, NFS etc.).

Since the NTFS volume is attached to the MacMini, you won't be able to mount it via fstab or mount_ntfs on your MacBook Pro.

Instead check the permissions / ACLs in the file sharing settings in Windows 8.


Delete all apps from iTunes that aren't on my iPhone

Delete all the apps in iTunes.
Sync your iPhone and allow the sync of purchased apps to your iTunes library.

Actually, this answer already covers this.


Possible interaction between `brew doctor` and Java

You deleted a file from your /usr/local, which is referenced by programs that are installed with brew. You'll most likely have to go through the reinstallation process to get that .dylib back if you can't find it and replace it on your own.


Never backed up to iTunes or iCloud. Recovery mode

You might  wanna try copytrans manager or iexplorer


I had this exact issue after updating to iOS 7 an hour or so ago.  The ultimate resolution, although it took me an embarrassingly long time to arrive at, was to log in using my current Apple ID password, ignoring the out-of-date apple ID, while attempting to delete the iCloud association (as you are already attempting to do).

A couple of things that I had done in the mean time that might have helped things along unexpectedly:

I logged into icloud.apple.com using my current credentials.
I logged into appleid.apple.com and added a (heretofore) missing year to my Date of Birth.

I sincerely doubt either of these changes had any impact, but I thought I'd mention them in case you want something to try if your current password does not work.


You have to click on a file or folder to select it and then the Services menu will work. You can get to the Services from either the Finder menu bar or by Control-clicking (right-clicking) on an item.


Is there a way to force ssh tunneling to be required for Screen Sharing

I would advise you to create a permanent ssh tunnel so you can local forward the connection port from the Windows host to the connection port on the Mac host using Bitvise Tunnelier: https://www.bitvise.com/tunnelier, while not personally having used it, this question explains a similar problem: https://superuser.com/questions/235395/automatic-ssh-tunneling-from-windows


How can I listen to Apple Music from my web browser?

You can either use Apple's official web player (which is in beta) or a third party one:

Musish
Zachary Seguin Music

I would recommend trying one of the third party players, they have some nice features like last.fm scrobbling support and a full screen now playing view not available in the official one.


WhatsApp Messenger is currently not optimised for iPad, and therefore you will need to search for iPhone apps in the App Store search using the filter at the top.


How to copy/paste parts of a text in Messages.app

It does have an odd behaviour, but one that's easy to work round.
If you click-hold, the 'reaction' pop-up will appear, so the trick is just a short click.
If you click once straight onto the message bubble, anywhere, the text goes grey. At this point any interaction is with the entire message. If you directly double click or right click whilst the text is initially black, it doesn't go to grey, you can interact directly.
Basically, don't do that first click. You can do anything else & it works as individual words - so right click, double-click or click-drag works, for instance.
If you click outside the message bubble, the text goes back to black & you can now interact like any ordinary text.
BTW, verification codes like that will be found by Safari & will click right into the web page.
Examples

Grey text - handled as a single item for copy/paste.

Black text, can be individually selected.

Same in dark mode (first message is selected)

Smart fill-in feature in Safari


Safe to clean iPad screen with alcohol wipe?

Alcohol can probably damage the coating on the display. I wouldn't use an alcohol-based cleaner.

I accidentally used an alcohol-based liquid to clean my 2011 MBA's screen and the coating is visibly damaged by it.

See this Apple Support page: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204172.


External microphone audio recording on MacBook Pro Mid-2015

I got in touch with RØDE support that replied

  SmartLav+ is not compatible with the newer (2015 - onwards) models of
  the Macbook as it has a different threshold for it's input recognition
  compared to a smartphone or tablet device

Actually compatibility with MacBook Pro (or laptops) is not mentioned in their product's specification sheet, it's designed for smarphones and tablets.

It turns out that the MacBook Pro 2015 audio port is not compatible with many microphones despite the TRRS audio jack.

For anyone that experience this issue I suggest doing the recording with a iPhone (put it in Airplane Mode during the session) then sending the audio file to the mac via iCloud drive.


A full-on image compression explanation is probably better suited for StackOverflow, but since you related it to Apple, I'll give an overview here.

The image itself actually determines the size of its file to an extent. With that, one can compress some images more than others without losing much apparent quality. For example, the JPEG image compression algorithm handles reds poorly. Consequently, if you have a photo with more red, you will likely need to keep the JPEG quality higher in order to not notice a difference. There are other quirks with different image compression formats that can impact the size of the file as well.

Second is how you save the file. Photoshop has a Save for Web feature that allows you to have more granular control over the save quality of the image. You can adjust the quality percentage (of original) and immediately see the affects on the photograph. A commenter noticed that it was 58% image quality. That doesn't mean it's 58% of the original file size, but is the number associated with the algorithm. It is likely that just that is less than 58% of the original size of the photo. You can easily see what they described by saving a photo in Photoshop using Save for Web and then setting it to the JPEG format and setting the quality to 58%.

After the photo has been saved, there is still another level of compression that can be done - in fact, there is more than one. The simplest, perhaps, is to run it through an image compressor. There are many out there and the one stand-alone app that comes to mind is JPEG-Mini. These can reduce file size significantly in some cases (though not all). You can also configure the server to provide a gzipped version of the image which further reduces the size. (You can determine if that photo was gzipped by looking at the headers for that image request/response.)

Image compression is extremely important, but is unfortunately overlooked all too often. I appreciate sites that show that their developers have done what they could to reduce image size so that all of their users can enjoy a faster load time. On that topic, responsive images are rapidly becoming supported and are sure to bring an even better UX as we serve browsers more specific content.


Displaying calendar events as text, in the terminal

How about something like that:

$ find ~/Library/Calendars -name "*.ics" |
      xargs grep -h -e "SUMMARY" -e "DTSTAMP" |
      sed -E 's/^[A-Z].*:(.*$)/\1/g' |
      sed -E 's/^([0-9]{4})([0-9]{2})([0-9]{2})T([0-9]{2})([0-9]{2})([0-9]{2}).*$/\1-\2-\3 \4:\5:\6/g'
Fist’s Birthday
2014-05-16 05:44:20
Secon’s Birthday
2014-07-26 09:58:49
Third’s Birthday
2014-05-16 05:44:20
...

This command will output all events in all your calendars (included subscribed ones).


Need advice: should I open the back of a 2013 Retina MacBook Pro as a means to recover data?

First, some (semi) good news. Your data is most likely fine. The $1000 option is for severely damaged and / or corrupted drives.

The SSD adapter is the best choice - it will turn the SSD into an external drive and you can copy stuff off in the usual manner. 2 weeks is unreasonable - do you live somewhere not serviced by FedEx overnight?

Putting the old drive in a new MBP is possible - it will either fit or not fit, at which point you wait for FedEx to deliver the SSD adapter. However, the new MBP will require the most recent OS. If you kept the old one up to date it should run just like the old one. If you were still running Yosemite or Mavericks it will probably not boot - the old software doesn't know about the newer hardware.

A quick look at teardowns (you didn't specify 13 inch or 15 inch) show the drives are somewhat different - when I say "fit" above I mean the connector goes in the slot far enough to work. Not that it sits in it's space and you can put the backplate on again.

If you can find a 2013 MBP from any of the used computer dealers you definitely will be able to drop the old drive in and carry on as before. Updating your backups (and backup process) first of course.


It's possible to restore data deleted one month ago?

If you've deleted the pictures within the last 30 days, they are still available in the "Deleted pictures" album/folder within the Photos app on your iPad. If the deletion occured more than 30 days, they are unfortunately gone.

While it might be possible to recover the data even after the 30 days, the sandboxed architecture of iOS, the hardware encryption used and the ongoing file system writes by other apps make this a rather theoretical approach.


Is there any way to verify that OSX 10.8.1 installed correctly?

There is not really an easy way to verify the update went successfully. Your next steps should be to check your start up disk and then run a stand alone installer for the suspect OS X update. There is no harm in re-running an OS X installer over an OS with the same version.

Run Disk Utility on your start-up disk selecting Verify the Disk and also try Verify Permissions, selecting the repair options as needed.
Download the standalone OS X 10.8.1 installer.
Re-run the installer, and hopefully this time it completes without issue.


App that changes network settings, launches apps, etc. when changing network connection

ControlPlane

ControlPlane is a context-aware application that lets you do all kinds of things based on where you computer happens to be. Move from home to the coffeehouse and ControlPlane can switch your computer to high security mode.

  ControlPlane allows you to build configuration profiles, contexts in ControlPlane lingo, for your Mac based on where you are or what you are doing.  ControlPlane determines where you are or what you are doing based on a number of available evidence sources and then automatically reconfigures your Mac based on your preferences.  Evidence sources can include your current location, visible WiFi networks, attached USB devices, running applications and more.  You can even write your own evidence sources using shell scripts!

There's a long list of things ControlPlane can do for you and it includes the things you're asking for. ControlPlane is based of the MarcoPolo project, which is no longer actively under development.

And: it's free.


I would do the following to avoid hassles.

Download the installer I want from a running OS and use it to make an official USB installer drive.
Make a Time Machine backup of the 250 GB drive to the drive you will use to back up the Mac once it's running from the 500 GB drive. If you plan on no backups, beg/borrow/buy a drive at least 500 GB to use temporarily.
Boot to the installer drive to test that it COULD install to the 250 or the 500 GB drive, but don't install yet.
Power off the Mac and put the 500 GB drive inside.
Boot to the installer with no other external drives connected. Use Disk Utility from the installer to wipe the 500 GB drive and repartition it as OS X Extended.
Once you install to the internal 500 drive, connect the Time Machine drive to restore the backup you made earlier.
Keep the 250 drive safe for a while. You can always connect it to recover files if you discover Time Machine skipped some data or files you need.

I know Carbon Copy Cloner has a way to make a clone bootable, but I don't use that tool, so perhaps my mentioning it will get someone to step forward with that experience.

Also, cloning the drive will carry forward disk errors so you really don't want to do that. Cloning also bypasses the new default settings. Why run in old crusty settings when you can choose what customizations you miss when they occur to you and make use of the new features fully.

There are a few cases where I clone a setup, but the drawbacks almost always make me wish I had started clean so I save little time if any by cloning these days.


Is it possible to read out the "Album Artist" ID3 tag with spotlight query?

It isn't possible. You can check to see the metadata associated with a file by using the mdls command.

mdls ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Media/Music/Artist/Album/Song.mp3

Try it with a song that has an Album Artist and you unfortunately won't see it in the output.


MacBook Pro 2019 with touchbar freezes chrome forms

Make sure chrome is updated! You can check your version here: chrome://settings/help
As @Udhy pointed out in the comment.


Transfer some photos/videos from one iPhone to another

AirDrop will transfer the meta data - showing the date of the photo, location, etc.

If you go to the Photos app, select Albums, and then All Photos, it will naturally show at the bottom of the list as it is the most recent photo to be added to the phone. However if you select Photos, instead of Albums, it will be sorted chronologically by date.


QuickTime Player 10.5 (928.50) Mojave - Controls Stuck, Always Visible

Disabling Accessability Keyboard fixed the problem.


Assuming iOS 8.1.3, in the Maps app, touch on the information icon in the lower-right corner, then touch the "Report a Problem" button on the next screen.


Can I get my text messages back from my lost iPhone?

If you used iCloud backup, you can restore your previous phone's backup to your new phone by resetting the new phone's Content and Settings in Settings → Reset.

iMessages are separate to SMS/MMS and will be restored when you log in with your Apple ID into iCloud. Both of these are separate from your mobile number. iCloud does not store SMS/MSS messages like iMessages, only the database in iCloud backup.

This iLounge guide has more information about restoring text messages from an iCloud backup.


Unreliable WiFi on MacBook: how can I measure how "unreliable" it is?

So, how can I measure the quality of a WiFi connection

Use Apple's built in WiFi Diagnostics

Hold the Option (Alt) key while clicking on the WiFi logo on the menu bar.  You'll be presented with two diagnostic options:

Create Diagnostic Report
Open Wireless Diagnostics

The Report is what you're going to want to submit to Apple.

There's an excellent support document, If your Mac doesn't connect to the Internet over Wi-Fi that goes into in depth detail.

You can also get signal quality information via the airport utility and measuring the SNR values via Terminal, but basically, you'll issue the command:

$ airport -I


Multilingual spell checking on Whatsapp Desktop is not working

I had the same issue with Spanish and English. I followed these instructions to change the language priority, putting Spanish over English, and the issue was resolved.

http://osxdaily.com/2011/08/21/set-language-priority-mac-os-x-lion-auto-correct/


Would an SSD make developing in Eclipse (much) faster?

TL;DR: Yes on both accounts.

Start with RAM. Max it out at 8 GBs. My compile times dropped in half going from 4 GB to 8 GB -- swapping is a performance killer and the primary cause of the beach ball on OS X. More memory, less swapping. Happier development.

Then go SDD. In my case I went to an SDD in my DVD drive slot. I never used the thing so didn't think it was worth keeping around. Compile times for larger Java projects on the SDD vs the HD are consistently 3x faster on the SDD.

There's a caveat to all of this: SDDs are unreliable. When they fail, they fail hard. That's why I opted to keep my Main drive on a spinning platter drive. Also remember: Time Machine doesn't back up anything by your Main drive. So that means nothing on my SDD is backed up by Time Machine. Why am I okay with this? Two words: revision control. I only do things on my SDD that are backed by revision control. In my case git. And I push my changes upstream fairly frequently. If the drive fails, I'd lose an hour or two of work and that's not so bad. Everything else is safe on my remote repository in the cloud.


Can I install apps bought on the Mac App Store on multiple computers?

Yes. Just run the App Store app on the second Mac and go to the Purchases tab. You'll see a list of the apps you've already purchased, with an Install button next to each one - click the button to install on the second Mac.


OSX update cache: does it accumulate over time?

I suggest you download a utility that shows the size and arrangement of your files. Personally, I use DaisyDisk. It is shareware, so for your purposes, it would suffice to trial the software.

Mail attachments are stored in ~/Library/Mail Downloads/

It is unlikely that OS X is keeping packages after installation through Software Update. You should first look to your cache ~/Library/Caches/ and perhaps your sleepimage, which is located under /var/vm/sleepimage (note that the sleepimage is recreated every time the system goes to sleep. Read more about disabling it here if you are concerned with HD space).

DaisyDisk (or equivalent) will do a much better job at identifying where the "growth" has occured on your filesystem so that you may excise it than we ever could. I suggest you give it a try.


I tried several applications in trial mode; and all of them do require a backup.
He learned the hard way to make backups.


I ended up deleting the email account and re-adding it.  Once I did that everything fired right up.

Hope this helps someone...


How to decide which is the better browser for me: Google Chrome or Safari?

I use Chrome for work related stuff with its list of bookmarks etc

And Safari for personal stuff including banking

So if (and that is a big if) I let someone do a quick search on my machine at work then they are in chrome...

Nothing to do with memory use - and that is not an issue as my macbook pro is sufficiently powerful.


Is there a speed difference between copying files at the same time or after one another

There should be no difference. FireWire 800 operates on the physical layer, so it is all just bits of data as far as it is concerned. I recommend moving them both simultaneously, so you don't have to remember to come back and set the second one up to clone after the first is completed.

How many drives are you cloning? Personally, I recommend installing the drives from the old Mac Pro temporarily into the extra slots of the new Mac Pro and cloning them all within the new Mac Pro's box. That way you will benefit from internal SATA's 3Gb/s speeds, which are much faster than FW800.


Partition on External Hard Drive not showing in Finder

Onyx offers the option of hiding and revealing files, folders and volumes. You'll want to select the Utilities section and then Visibility. This may help with your visibility issue. If you can regain visibility you should be able to select the mounted volume and bring up its info (command + i), then tick the "Ignore ownership on this volume" box.

You could also try logging in as Root and see if that gives you visibility of your missing partition.

Really important bit first, as Root user you have the power to delete files that are hidden/protected under normal circumstances - be careful before deleting or moving anything as you could render your system unusable.

With that out of the way, you enable Root account access by using Directory Utility. This can be found in System/Library/CoreServices or System/Library/CoreServices/Applications, depending on your OS.

First you need to "Click the lock to make changes". Then, from the Edit menu, select "Enable Root User". You will be prompted to create a password for the Root account. Once that's done you can log out of your own account.

Now, log in with the username Root and the password you've just created.

Remember, as Root user you now have the ability to break everything if you're careless - so take your time, do what you need to do and then log out as soon as you're done

You should be able to see straight away whether you have visibility of your errant partition. Hopefully you do. If so, see if you get the option on the info page (command + i) to "Ignore ownership on this volume". If it does, tick it. If not, you could then try hvtuananh's suggestion of changing ownership with the command sudo chown RachelNicholsIII:staff /Volumes/RachelReboot Backup.

If any of that helps then logout and back into your usual account, then disable the Root account using the option in Directory Utility as previously outlined.

Once more, be careful what you do when logged in as Root!


How long should it take for iCloud Drive on Yosemite 10.10 to refresh and reflect changes made elsewhere?

According to this Apple iCloud Drive support page:

  I’m editing a document now. When will my changes upload to iCloud?

  When you'll see your changes depends on the app you're using. Pages,
  Numbers, and Keynote upload files to iCloud regularly to make sure you
  don’t lose any changes.

  Other apps upload your files to iCloud only
  after you save them to the iCloud Drive folder. To see your saved
  files on a Mac, go to Finder > iCloud Drive. On your iPhone, iPad, or
  iPod touch, go to the iCloud Drive app. On a PC with iCloud for
  Windows, go to File Explorer > iCloud Drive.

  If you still don't see
  the latest changes or you see an "in-progress change" icon or the
  iCloud Drive icon in the notification area (system tray), try to save
  a new document to the iCloud Drive folder. Then check the iCloud Drive
  folder to see if the changes appear.


Magic Mouse: replace single finger swiping/scrolling with two finger swiping/scrolling

MagicPrefs (http://magicprefs.com) version 2.4.2 did the trick for me. Choose "Preferences" in the menu it puts in the upper right of the menu bar, then click on the "Configure Scrolling" button, and then uncheck the row of checkboxes to the right of the label "One Finger Scrolling:"

No more scrolling with one finger!

Sadly, as the app notes, you can no longer use "momentum scrolls", where the page keeps scrolling after you have lifted up your fingers. You can't have it all, I guess.


Will your private tabs still be open when you exit out of private mode?

If you are talking about iOS, yes. Private tabs will be preserved.

In macOS, once you close the private tab(s), they are gone.


Tool for drawing bezier lines - inspector for the length of the line

Just found:

The Inkscape could measure the path length:

select the path
click Extension -> Visualise path -> Measure path

It will attach the length of the path into image. Not the native OS X app (needs X.org), but works OK, and it is free.


Old MacBook Air 3rd party SSD visibility is temperature dependent

If the original drive works inside the MacBook in any temp, then id say faulty SSD.

If not, then faulty MacBook :(

temperature based faults are usually categorised as things like dry joints, where solder between two surfaces is not correctly made and the contraction due to cold brings the surfaces in touch and heat creates expansion breaking the connection.


Volume reduces automatically after pluging headset into macbook pro

Headphones volume level is separate from the built-in speaker output. For example you can set the speakers' volume to 0 before plugging in headphones and then adjusting the headphones' volume to something different. When the headphones cable is unplugged, the system goes back to the previous volume value.

If I remember correctly, recent Macs also have a impedance sensor in the headphone jack, so that you can have different volume levels for different headphones based on impedance.


Adding a third Airport Express causes dramatic network slow down

This sounds as a channel overlap problem to me. Apple Airport devices try to use distinct and far-apart channels but may make a wrong automatic choice when there is a lot of interference from other WiFi stations, sometimes depending on the order you turn them on.

If you really need four access points (Extreme + 3 x Express) you either live in a really big house or those APs are not optimally placed. I'd suggest first using one AP (the Extreme), than go around every room and plot your signal strength and take note of other networks that pop up with their channel info. That way you find dark spots in the house and strategically place the Expresses to cover them.

Additionally, if you only need the AE to Airplay music to the speakers on the audio port you actually don't need to create an additional wireless network.


The screenshot happens when both of the buttons are released at the same time, so if you can slow down your movements and hold down the buttons for a short "two count" or long "one count" - basically a second and a half, then release both precisely.

If that doesn't work, you either have full storage or a problem with the system being able to process the button release events in a timely manner.

To troubleshoot that:

Put the device in AirPlane mode and power it off.
Power on the device and don't connect to any networks.
Open Storage and make sure you have 1 GB free or more.
Delete apps, connect to iTunes and make a backup if you have nothing you can afford to delete long term.
Once you have enough space free - try taking a screen shot in AirPlane mode.
If that still fails - erase all content and settings on the device (or restore it over USB from iTunes or similar tool.
If the screen shot still doesn't work after deleting all your content or restoring - seek service - there's something wrong with the hardware.

Depending on how much you deleted - restore your backup to the repaired / replaced / restored iPad.


Terminal: command overridden via shell script in /usr/local/bin not executed unless called directly

Order of execution is based on PATH order - locations put first are searched first, if match is found it is executed, HOWEVER, programs mapping are cached so you need to refresh the cache before changes will take place (if you've used that app before). See http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2010/08/bash-shell-builtin-commands/ (point 3.):

  hash command maintains a hash table, which has the used command’s path
  names. When you execute a command, it searches for a command in the
  variable $PATH. But if the command is available in the hash table, it
  picks up from there and executes it. Hash table maintains the number
  of hits encountered for each commands used so far in that shell.

and

  You can delete a particular command from a hash table using -d option,
  and -r option to reset the complete hash table.

Sidenote: maybe try to create alias instead of wrapper?


Are you using Lion?  If you are, you can check your versions by clicking the file title on the top of the window, then select Browser all Versions to revert back to the previous save.


Bluetooth MIDI in Yosemite (and up) Only

You cannot use Bluetooth MIDI in OS X Mavericks as it is not supported.  Bluetooth MIDI was implemented in Yosemite.  For more info, see https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/qa/qa1831/_index.html

  but I see nothing that actually states it cannot function on Mavericks.

It is very unlikely that you are going to see a statement from Apple stating that an OS three versions back specifically doesn't support a feature that was introduced in an OS that one version back.  Features that are listed are what's supported, not listed as to what's not.


Even though JRE 8 is installed on my MAC OS Yosemite, the error - " No Java Runtime present,requesting to install "

You must install the full JDK, not just the JRE, to get Java support on macOS. For some reason the JRE just installs the browser plugins, not the full Java.

This is the current JDK download page.


Advanced WiFi network settings are not per-network?

You can change your location in the apple button in the menubar, that way you won't have to open the system preferences, there are apps to change system preferences according to wi-fi connection: at the bottom of this post some are mentioned


Can I ask Time Machine to backup only some data to a smaller disk?

You can exclude items from a backup to save space on your backup disk, or to exclude items you back up using another method.

Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Time Machine.

Click Options.

Click the Add button , then select one or more items. You can also drag items to the list. To remove an item, select it, then click the Remove button . For example, you can exclude system files or the Applications folder from Time Machine backups using Time Machine preferences.

The backup disk is automatically included in the list of items that shouldn’t be backed up.

Click Save.

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18847

Notice how this setting is for both timemachine destinations though. Excluded files will (eventually) be deleted on both destinations.


Parallels, Mac and windows using US International keyboard

I found the answer here:
http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?265348-How-to-get-same-keyboard-layout-in-Windows-8-as-on-Mac
Basically I had to find an apple keyboard for US International and use it.


Well, in my point of view, if the app works 75% of the time playing AVI files, I would try to contact the developer directly, there might be something required (like a plug-in) or a bug that needs fixing. Like it says in the FAQ, if contacting the developer produces no result, then I guess you could ask for a refund.

I have heard that they gave refunds to people who were unhappy before, but it was a last-resort solution if I remember correctly. Also, I presume the App store staff will fight for you more if you paid 100$ for your app, and a little less if you only paid a buck... :-)


How can I set up a keyboard shortcut for switching input source?

Go to System Preferences → Keyboard → Shortcuts → Input Sources and define a keyboard shortcut there. As you only have two sources, set a single shortcut for one of the options, then pressing the shortcut will toggle the input sources.


I accidentally deleted the App Store.app

Once, I also deleted the Mac App Store from my MacBook Pro running OS X Snow Leopard. I fixed it by downloading the Combo update. So you can also try downloading the COMBO update for 10.9.5 from here : https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1760?locale=en_US.

Combo Updaters are your best bet since if anything changes within the app between 10.9.0 and 10.9.5, then the app will be in the package.

However, since this app isn't supposed to be deletable, you might want to run a full reinstallation of the entire OS. That will perform a much better check on things and permissions in case you have further damage than just that one app being deleted. Start with the combo and try the full install if you still have issues or doubts.

Lastly, now is a very good time to make a back up of what you have before you install anything.


step counter, how do I add steps to the dashboard?

open health app - tap Health Data at the bottom, search for steps in the top search field - tap Show on Dashboard


How does the name of a Parallels VM translate to the default name in Terminal.app prompt?

indeed it may have to do with the accent, try it without the accent.
my VM is called "PD XP MBP-Lex.pvm" in the mac and in Terminal and not changed.
Do you have the standard language keyboard?
If not maybe opening the keyboard from the menubar and select the US-International-PC keyboard and use the displayed keyboard layout to make the accent-grave.
Lex


You can do it with Garageband on a Mac, or using a separate utility on Windows.

Mac with Garageband

There's a detailed guide here, but the concise version is:

Create a new Podcast in Garageband.
Delete the placeholder tracks (the Podcast track can't be deleted), then drag in the audio file you want to add chapters to.
Select the Podcast track, make sure the editor is open (⌘E).
Move the playhead to the position you want a chapter at, and click Add Marker. Repeat for each chapter position you want. You can add titles if desired.
Export to disk or iTunes via the Share menu.

If you want the files to appear as audiobooks in iTunes, you may need to select them (in iTunes), and change the Media Kind (Get Info/⌘I, Options tab) to Audiobook.

Windows using Chapter and Verse

Download the free Chapter and Verse program. There are probably others out there, but this one seems to do the trick fairly simply and is free.
Click Add Files to import your audio track. If it's not in AAC format, it will prompt you to convert it.
Go to the Chapters tab and add your chapters as necessary.
Click the Build button to save the file, then import it to iTunes as desired.


Automatically opening multiple Apps / TABs for certain projects

I would recommend using a 'boot' shell script to do most of what you're describing and bind it to an iTerm2 profile. You can configure a profile to have a specific window arrangement (it is a feature of iTerm2), see iTerm2 > Preferences > Arrangements to save your current arrangement as a preset.

Then, make a new profile that executes a startup script and applies the aforementioned window arrangement as its default arrangement (iTerm2 > Profiles > Open Profiles > Edit Profiles). Ideally, you would bind launching this profile to a shortcut, like Command + Control + D for one-keystroke access.

In said profile, under the General Tab > Command section, the startup command should be a shell script akin to below:

I don't know why it's necessary for you to open up the sublimetext frontend and backend in different terminal windows. Whenever you run subl, it opens the app as a daemon, as subl is just a python wrapper that launches the OS X app.

Sample rough startup.sh script I scaffolded up for ya:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

cd ~/to/project/backend
open . # open Finder window of backend folder
subl . # open SublimeText instance of backend folder

cd ~/to/project/frontend
open . # open Finder window of frontend folder
subl . # open SublimeText instance of frontend folder

# Launch chrome and navigate to http://localhost:8000/ or wherever your dev location is
open -a "/Applications/Google Chrome.app" 'http://localhost:8000/'

echo 'COME AT ME BRO'

You should change the settings on SublimeText to not remember your window/tab arrangements from previous launch instead of attempting to script it to close all of your windows from before.

Alternatively, you could have subl open a native, .sublimetext-workspace or .sublimetext-project file and achieve more precise results than with subl .


The easy way to find the plist key for a given preference is to open a Finder window of ~/Library/Preferences, set it to List View, sorted by Date Modified.

Then, set the preference and see what file gets modified.

From that, I get two almost identical files modified (on 10.14.5):

com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad.plist
com.apple.AppleMultitouchTrackpad.plist

They contain the following relevant keys:

<key>DragLock</key>
<false/>
<key>Dragging</key>
<false/>
<key>TrackpadThreeFingerDrag</key>
<false/>

so you can set these keys directly with defaults:

defaults write com.apple.AppleMultitouchTrackpad Dragging -bool true
defaults write com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad Dragging -bool true

You can include three-finger dragging or Drag Lock, if that's what you want with similar commands.


I do not experience the problem anymore. I am now getting a normal/usual view. Since I didn't notice when it was fixed it is difficult to say if it was a bug or an issue with the Swiss iTunes store.


2020 MacBook Pro won't mount WD external hard drive

A few days after posting this, we got a usb-c cable for the drive and had no trouble using the drive with a direct connection. A few days later, the hub that we were using to connect the drive completely died. So, the hub was clearly the problem.


Optimal is what it's formatted as when you get the machine.
GUID/HFS+

LVG/Core Storage is necessary if you ever enabled FileVault. [Some updates to Yosemite also seem to have triggered that conversion too]

Try Blackmagic Disk Speed Test to see what speeds it's actually achieving.


Can I unlock an iCloud ipod that I bought and no code

No, there is absolutely no way to bypass the iCloud lock. Usually the only reason it's on is because the iPod was stolen, that's really the whole point of iCloud lock---even if a thief stole your Apple product, he wouldn't be able to get your data off of it and he wouldn't be able to use it after stealing it.

DO NOT buy one as it would be about a useful as a brick to you.


Yosemite turns on "reduce transparency" at every login or wake after battery failure

are you using Duet? If so, that is the problem.


Mail.app unable to login to 1&1 mail account after upgrading to macOS High Sierra

I had the same problem. The solution was in the Mail app itself to go to Preferences, select Accounts, and to enter the complete email myname@myisp.de as user name for my IMAP account.

I also had to change the port for IMAP to 993 and for SMTP to 465 (for secure connections via SSL.)


Disk ejected but still show up in Disk Utility?

Weird as it is, this seems to be the solution:

Remove the disk from Time Machine's list of backup destination drives.
Remove file tmbootpicker.efi from the drive's root directory.
Remove file /var/db/volinfo.database
After restarting and able to mount the drive again, re-add the drive to Time Machine.

Ejecting the drive seems to work now — it finally disappears from Disk Utility's list after the USB cable is unplugged.


Calculator Paper Tape window not capturing any information

The paper tape only records when pressing =. Press the equals button at the end of your calculation to record the calculation on the paper tape.


If you are looking at the iBooks "All Books" and you Select All and then, with everything still selected you click on one book and keep the mouse button down and then drag just a tiny bit, as if you were going to move the books somewhere--- if you do all that, you will see a little red circle with the number of selected items in it, attached to your cursor. See the picture. The purple arrow is pointing to the red circle with (in this case) "90" in it.

You do have to move the books a little bit but you don't have to move them far for the selected count to show up.


Upgraded my HDD to SDD. Can boot successfully via USB but will not boot when in MBP

Thank you for all the responses. I believe I have tried everything and have lost count of how many time I have switched the drives, formatted and reinstalled the Lion.

I figured out the problem, in the end, it turned out to be a problem with the firmware. The firmware on the drive was not compatible with late 2011 MBP and needed to be downgraded. After downgrading the firmware to 0309 it worked like a treat!

Thank you for all the responses, most appreciated. I hope this helps some people out.


When you click the button, iOS looks for an app that advertises itself as being able to handle ua://-URLs. Safari doesn't know how to do that, you'll need an app for that. I don't know if there's a way to find out which app responds to which URL schemes.
See this developer article.


How to select text on Google Search, when using Chrome for iOS7?

You can double tap to select a word, then just adjust the selection. More hints on this link


I’ve been using the very powerful paid app A Better Finder Rename for many years for complex file and folder renaming needs. Perhaps this app will help. I think it has a free trial period, too.

You can find it here.

Disclaimer: I’m an extremely satisfied user. No financial or other connection to PublicSpace.net.


On the Home screen (or on any screen with something you want to share), swipe up from the bottom.  You should see a bunch of icons. Toward the bottom 1/3rd of the sheet you'll see the AirDrop icon.  Tap the AirDrop icon and 3 choices will slide-up from the bottom:

Everyone
Contacts Only
Off

These choices allow you to limit the people with whom you can share. You both should have the same setting to ensure you can see each other.


Replacing the speaker on iPad 3 - What adhesives I need and where I buy them?

iFixit sells adhesive strips for that model.


You can use the following command in the Terminal to get a list of all the available voices:
say -v ?

On my system the output looks like this with the voice name followed by the language abbreviation (I removed the comments):

Agnes en_US
Albert    en_US
Alex  en_US
Alice it_IT
Alva  sv_SE
Amelie    fr_CA
Anna  de_DE
Bad   News
Bahh  en_US
Bells en_US
Boing en_US
Bruce en_US
Bubbles   en_US
Carmit    he_IL
Cellos    en_US
Damayanti id_ID
Daniel    en_GB
Deranged  en_US
Diego es_AR
Ellen nl_BE
Fiona en-scotland
Fred  en_US
Good  News
Hysterical    en_US
Ioana ro_RO
Joana pt_PT
Junior    en_US
Kanya th_TH
Karen en_AU
Kathy en_US
Kyoko ja_JP
Laura sk_SK
Lekha hi_IN
Luciana   pt_BR
Maged ar_SA
Mariska   hu_HU
Mei-Jia   zh_TW
Melina    el_GR
Milena    ru_RU
Moira en_IE
Monica    es_ES
Nora  nb_NO
Paulina   es_MX
Pipe  Organ
Princess  en_US
Ralph en_US
Samantha  en_US
Sara  da_DK
Satu  fi_FI
Sin-ji    zh_HK
Tessa en_ZA
Thomas    fr_FR
Ting-Ting zh_CN
Trinoids  en_US
Veena en_IN
Vicki en_US
Victoria  en_US
Whisper   en_US
Xander    nl_NL
Yelda tr_TR
Yuna  ko_KR
Zarvox    en_US
Zosia pl_PL
Zuzana    cs_CZ

This is an example on how to use say with a german voice, as suggested by scottishwildcat in the comments:
say -v Anna 'Guten Tag!'

In case you want to hear the example list, you can copy this for loop into your terminal, which will result in all installed voices speaking a text example:
say -v \? | while read LINE
 do
  SPEAKER=$(echo $LINE | egrep -o "^[a-zA-Z\-]*[ ]?[A-Z][a-z]+")
  TEXT=$(echo $LINE | egrep -o "#.*" | tr "#" " ")
  echo $SPEAKER
  echo -ne "This is voice $SPEAKER speaking the example text: \n" $TEXT | say -v $SPEAKER
 done


Should we link our personal stuff with our work computer?

I have so many questions right now.

What would you do if you're in my situation?

Personally I would not load anything terribly personal onto the company owned Mac.  This is especially true if you're loading anything ONLY onto that Mac, as the company likely has no obligation to allow retrieval of the data if you are terminated.

Should we link our personal stuff with our work computer ?

See my last note.  Typically it's not a good idea.  You'll inevitably end up with some personal data on the work Mac but in general I would try to avoid it.

What do I need to consider ?

Consider the right to data on the Mac.  They are providing the Mac to you as a tool for work, unless otherwise agreed on as some sort of benefit.  Consider that their IT team has the right to all of the data on the Mac, whereas you only have the right to your specific data.

Can Admin see messages, emails, browsing history on other account ?

Emails?  Absolutely.  Browsing history? Absolutely.  Messages?  I assume iMessage/instant messenger, they can absolutely see the history (unless cleared) but may or may not be able to use the actual messaging accounts.  Typically though where there is a will, there is a way.  IT folks are very good at finding ways.

Do they have even have the right to see other people personal stuffs ?

Yes.  Because it is stored on their equipment.  Were you give any paperwork when you were hired?  It likely included about statements data ownership with company owned equipment.
Source: I'm the Mac admin for a large nonprofit, overseeing roughly 200 Macs across multiple locations world wide.  We have relatively continuous turn over and as such we regularly access user accounts when people leave or if they are under investigation for improper activity.  It pains me to see some of my users using their Mac as they would a home computer, storing photos, music, etc on them because they will likely lose all of that if/when their employment is terminated. Long ago, to try and make this clearer to the end users, I added a usage agreement (our standard legal data statement) that they have to click through to log in.  It clearly states that the Macs are for work use and that the organization owns ALL of the data residing on the machines and our servers.  This is pretty standard practice throughout the enterprise.
Hope that helps.


Mojave guest OS on Yosemite Host via Parallels Desktop 10

Here are the visualizers that I know about.

Parallels:
Full version
http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/
fyi: Free version of Parallels for individual use:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/parallels-desktop-lite/id1085114709?mt=12
Free version, if still available, will only work with the most current version of macOS.

VMware Fusion
With VMware Fusion, run the most demanding Mac and Windows applications side-by-side at maximum speeds without rebooting
http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/

VirtualBox
VirtualBox is free, but you get what you pay for. Works fine for non-macOS operating systems.  Nightmare to get to work for macOS.  Basically, you need to match a version of VirtualBox with a version of macOS that will work.
"VirtualBox is a general-purpose full virtualizer for x86 hardware. " Runs Windows on Mac OS.
http://www.virtualbox.org/


I haven't heard of any specific issues with 5.0.3 and 10.6.6.

However, there are times when upgrades to Safari will break things like plugins or extensions. I recommend disabling all extensions and plugins via the Safari preferences. Then you can enable one plugin or extension at a time and visit a website that you know will crash your browser. If things work fine, repeat this process for each plugin or extension until you discover the one that is causing things to break. Once you find the culprit, you might have to wait until they issue a new version.

Having said all of this, there is a very good chance your crashes are related to Flash. Flash is a known vector for Safari crashes on Mac OS X and Apple has repeteadly stated that a majority of the crash logs they receive are Flash-related.

Even if you were not experiencing these crashes, I would still recommend getting something like Click2Flash to disable Flash on all websites--this is a great way to get rid of pesky ads. This should considerably reduce the number of crashes in Safari, assuming what Apple says is true. With Click2Flash, you can always whitelist specific websites so you can unblock their Flash content or you can unblock Flash elements on a click-by-click basis (hehce the name, Click2Flash).

Hope this helps.


How to disconnect from specific WiFi network (while remembering the connection)

You can disconnect from the current wireless network without turning wireless off by running the following command on the command line:

sudo /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport -z


AppleScript: complex script for WIFI login, getting time and launch screensaver

WIP

Script 1

repeat 2 times
    set status to do shell script "networksetup -getairportpower en0"
    if status ends with "On" then
        do shell script "networksetup -setairportpower en1 off"
        delay 2
    else
        do shell script "networksetup -setairportpower en1 on"
    end if
end repeat

Script 2

tell application "Safari" to activate

Script 2.5

Use @CJK code to connect. Then use Script 3 to accept terms and conditions.

Script 3

Safari > Preferences > Advanced > Show Develop menu in menu bar
Develop > Allow JavaScript from Apple Events

3.

tell application "Safari"
    activate
    make new document with properties {URL: "http://captive.apple.com"}
    if not (exists document 1) then reopen
    tell current tab of window 1 to set URL to "https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24500011/how-to-wait-for-webpage-to-fully-load-before-proceeding-script"
    set the_state to missing value
    repeat until the_state is "complete"
        set the_state to (do JavaScript "document.readyState" in document 1)
        delay 0.2
    end repeat
    set theId to "WillBeAddedOnceCodeIsAddedInQuestion"
    do JavaScript "document.getElementById('" & theId & "').click();" in document 1
end tell

Script 4

If the script is working then do the following:

Cron Method (Depreciated)

1.

export VISUAL=nano; crontab -e

2. Copy and paste the following

0 9 * * * osascript /path/to/YourAppleScript.scpt

3. Press ^O (Control + O)

Press Enter

Note: Cron will not execute if the computer is asleep

launchd

sudo nano /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.mycompany.plist
Copy and paste the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.mycompany.daemon</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/bin/osascript</string>
        <string>/path/to/YourAppleScript.scpt</string>
    </array>
    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <dict>
        <key>Hour</key>
        <integer>9</integer>
        <key>Minute</key>
        <integer>0</integer>
    </dict>
</dict>
</plist>

Press ^O (Control + O)
Press Enter

5.

 sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.mycompany.plist


Loading photos onto Windows PC with broken iPhone touchscreen

Here's a way to transfer photos to your computer (Windows 8 and above)

Connect your iPhone to a trusted computer using the lightning cable. It is important that the computer is trusted. iPhones do not connect to the computer otherwise.
The Photos app should automatically open. If it does not, you can open it using the Windows start menu or search bar.
Click on the import button in the top right corner, represented by a downwards arrow in a square box.
Select the photos you would like to import.
Follow the prompts on the screen. If you'd like to delete the imported photos, you can click on the check box in the prompt.

You will have your photos imported on your PC.

If you have Windows 7, Microsoft offers you Photos which you can download from this website: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/photo-gallery

After downloading Photos, you can follow the steps above.

Windows Vista and XP are currently not supported for Photos.


Best approach for enterprise integration

While Apple puts their iOS Enterprise Deployment documentation in their developer area, it doesn't mean that you need custom software to handle iPhones and iPads. It's all pretty much what I think of as standard sysadmin-type work, so while it does require some knowledge of XML files and scripting, it's fairly well documented.

Here are some places to start:

iPhone Configuration Utility
Distributing Enterprise Apps for iOS 4 Devices
Over-the-Air Profile Delivery and Configuration
iPhone Configuration Profile Key Reference


From looking at the example in the documentation you need to specificy the full path to the commands you want to run
/bin/cp $SOURCE_SELECTION_NAMES $TARGET_PATH
/path/to/soffice --convert-to odt $SOURCE_SELECTION_NAMES


Why does macOS replace .img with .ndif extension?

From this site explaining what the ndif extension is:

NDIF is an acronym for New Disk Image Format. The .ndif file extension is commonly used for files that contain disk images for computers that are running on the Mac operating system.
An NDIF file contains an image of a disk or a drive that was copied to the file from the user's hard drive. This information can then be used to restore data that has been lost or corrupted.

I can't tell you if that specific file is 'normal' or is safe to open (you can use various unzipping/unraring applications to open it), that's up to you depending on where you got the file.


why doesn't my 4th gen ipod have the camera app anymore?

It sounds like the iPod has restored from backup incorrectly, I would do a factory reset and then sync again as a new device.

You will then need to select what apps, music etc you want to sync. It may be worthwhile deleting the first backup to stop this coming into play again.


Go to Apple ID and unchecking these items (if they were be selected):

In general, every message from Apple has an unsubscribe link, usually, at the end of a letter. Plesase, check it.

Finally, check out a message sender in your Mail app, perhaps, those messages are not from Apple, and they are just a spam.


What is the menu item Automatic Updates for iOS when you have to start them manually?

Refer to the Apple Support document, Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:

  Update automatically

  With iOS 12 or later, or iPadOS, you can have your device update automatically. To turn on automatic updates, go to Settings > General > Software Update, then tap Automatic Updates. Your device will automatically update to the latest version of iOS or iPadOS. Some updates might need to be installed manually.

Here's the conditions to be met for automatic updates to install:


tl;dr

Use the extension cord! It is grounded.

Apple's grounding madness

You need your device to be grounded. The charger can be grounded because the metal pin that holds the adapter is (subtly) also the ground:

You need the plug to be grounded too. Obviously a 2 pin/prong plug is not grounded, you'll need one with 3 of them, but even in this case you have to check if the adapter's socket/shoe has metal in it (AKA is connected to the ground), because you can't take that granted at Apple! Just check out this picture from this article:

This is a 3 prong UK plug that has a grounding prong, but they haven't connected it! Fortunately at the extension cord there is a connection. You have to carry that extra 1.8 meter of cable tho...

So at Apple, the rule of thumb is that if it is an extension cord, then the socket is connected to the ground pin so it is probably grounded, if it is the small adapter, then there is no connection in the socket so no grounding for you:

The left picture from this answer shows the difference. The metal is more visible in the magnified picture on the right.

Hacky solution

Technically you could hack the not grounded 3 prong UK (Type G) adapter (that I mentioned before) to connect the ground prong to the grounding pin as shown in this tutorial. Of course, unless you want to use it with a Type G socket instead of the many other types, you will need to use another (grounded!) adapter to convert it to your desired (grounded!) wall socket.


Partition Time Machine volume already used

All the files currently located within the partition 'Time Machine' will be located in the partition 'Time Machine 1'. The partition 'Time Machine 2' will be empty and no files will be deleted.

Disk Utility should prompt you if the contents of Time Machine doesn't fit in Time Machine 1, but to be safe, check first.


How to set gcc 4.8 as default gcc compiler

Assuming you're using bash (it's the default), then you can add /usr/local/bin as your top priority in PATH like this:

echo "PATH=\"/usr/local/bin:$PATH\"" >> ~/.bash_profile

This will ensure that /usr/local/bin is checked before all other areas of your path. Then just start a new terminal session to load the new variable.

Another way to do this:

  cd /usr/bin
  rm cc gcc c++ g++
  ln -s /usr/local/bin/gcc-4.8 cc
  ln -s /usr/local/bin/gcc-4.8 gcc
  ln -s /usr/local/bin/c++-4.8 c++
  ln -s /usr/local/bin/g++-4.8 g++


Assuming all files are in the same folder:

mkdir new
for i in *.html; do
    sed 's|website.com|website.com/old|g' "$i" > "new/$i"
done


Go to Settings->Messages->Send & Receive and then tap your phone number under "Start New Conversations From". Your phone number should not be greyed out here, you were probably just looking at the "You Can Be Reached By iMessage At" section.


Apple Configurator 2 version and blueprints

No they won't. However, if you are concerned about losing them, you can follow the instructions in the linked document to backup and restore blueprints:

Preserve or migrate data for Apple Configurator 2


Keyboard, notification, or menubar shortcut to compose mail message?

The easiest way out-of-the box is to use the "services menu". Just select some text anywhere (a single character will do), right click to open the context menu and select the bottom-most item "Email Selection":

If it is not present (should be) you need to enable it under System settings -> Keyboard -> Keyboard commands -> Services -> Text


Can anyone tell me how I can change the Open With listing on a Mac?

You can use the mouse to try opening the file again.

Choose Open With…
Then select Other…
Check the box at the bottom labeled Always Open With.

before you select the application you want to now open that file type or extension.


Distribute an app directly to customers: MacOS vs. iOS

It is technically possible to distribute apps to iPhones and iPads without going through the App Store.
However, as you indicate that you want to distribute the apps to iPhone/iPads not owned by you or your organization, it narrows the options.
If you want to distribute software to internal test users or external beta testers (or similar), you can use Apple's TestFlight. It allows you to distribute your app to both insider and outsiders without limiting what the app can do compared to an App Store distributed app.
There is however limits to how widely you can distribute apps via TestFlight:
Essentially you can have up to 100 users that are internal (i.e. if you enroll as an organization this would be employees or dedicated extern testers). You can distribute apps to those almost without any delay and without going through a length review process.
You can also distribute your app to up to 10,000 external users. However those apps must go through a (shortened) review, and this means that there is some delay to the distribution. Often you will need to wait 12-24 hours to get the first version of an app approved. Updates are usually quicker.
Finally, TestFlight limits the duration these apps can be used. Essentially when an app is approved for external testing, it expires 90 days later. At that point it will not run on a users device. This means that to ensure people can keep using the app without interruptions, you must release an update 4 times a year approximately.
If you were enrolled in the App Store program as an Enterprise, you also have the option of distributing apps to your users without going through the App Store. Here you can deploy apps directly from MDM, email, web sites, etc. without going through any review process. However, you can only distribute apps to your own employees (i.e. devices owned by the enterprise). You cannot use this method to distribute apps to customers.


Why does the Mobile Safari Browser on iOS not allow file uploads?

iOS apps can only read data in their own directory and thus only Safari would be able to use these files - so how could you create them and put them in Safari's directories?

From Apple's Filesystem basics development documentation

  An iOS app’s interactions with the file system are limited mostly to
  the directories inside the app’s sandbox. During installation of a new
  app, the installer code creates a home directory for the app, places
  the app in that directory, and creates several other key directories.
  These directories constitute the app’s primary view of the file
  system. Figure 1-1 shows a representation of the sandbox for an app.

  Figure 1-1  Each iOS app operates within its own sandbox

  Because it is in a sandbox, an app is generally prohibited from
  accessing or creating files in directories outside of its home
  directory. One exception to this rule occurs when an app uses public
  system interfaces to access things such as the user’s contacts or
  music. In those cases, the system frameworks handle any file-related
  operations needed to read from or modify the appropriate data store


I may not be able to pin down exactly what the bottleneck is, but in effect - OS X tracks every single window opened across all apps and then has to lay them out for each space and decide if a window is visible, occluded by another window or in the dock or hidden entirely by Finder hiding an app.

All of this calculation is pushed to the GPU for buttery smooth animation. At some point, you will exhaust the resources on the GPU whether it's the amount of pixels being stored, the total size of each window, the number of spaces and calculations to be made, transfer speeds from the CPU / RAM to the caches on the GPU. When you hit that bottleneck, either the GPU can't be as efficient or it rejects the work entirely and then you see the CPU doing the rendering.

My suspicion is you are getting the CPU to render which would explain the dramatic drop off in responsiveness. Also - you are pushing somewhere in the order of (5120x2880) + ( 2 x (4096 x 2034) ) = 31,408,128 pixels

If you can make this happen on command - I bet an Apple Engineer would love to look over sudo sysdiagnose WindowServer when the machine is performing miserably. A call to AppleCare or a visit to a genius bar would be the step to get engineering involved.

In the mean time - you might be able to experiment with reducing the load on the GPU by:

less apps with windows open
less windows open per app
fewer virtual screens to contemplate
more hidden windows
re-cabling the displays so they connect directly to the Mac and not daisy chaining them.

For your 4k external displays - are you in MST or SST mode? - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206587 - if you went to SST, that might alleviate the bottleneck or require less concessions on the window count at the expense of a 30 Hz refresh rate. The 5k iMac is listed as only supporting one 4k display in MST mode, so that could be an explanation the issue you are seeing.


How to disable macOS catching CTRL-A when running screen

CTRL-A is used by screen to initiate a command sequence. You can either press CTRL-Aa  to send CTRL-A to the other computer or redefine it with the -e option (see man screen for details).


New iPhone XS People & Places People album not populating - nothing

Photos synced through iTunes won't carry over faces data. Instead, your phone will scan the library manually. It will do this in such a fashion that it doesn't interfere with your battery life.

If you haven't left it plugged in over night you certainly won't see much results


Are the app store review guidelines under NDA?

There have been several cases of people blogging about review guidelines, and AFAIK, nowhere does Apple ask us to agree to an NDA about the guidelines when creating our developer account (at least, they didn't for me).

Here's a few cases of the guidelines being blogged about:

iClarified, LocalMediaInsider, ReadWrite, engadget


Unable to place call from Mac using iPhone

Apparently you installed Skype and it got configured as the default app for making telephone calls (default app your Mac would use to handle tel: links).
You can try to revert to the previous/default behavior by launching FaceTime app on your Mac, going to Preferences and opening the Settings tab. Look for the value selected for Default for calls: at the bottom and make sure FaceTime is selected.


Sharing screen snippets from Windows 10 to iPad 7

As far as the individual manufacturers go (Apple and Microsoft), their universal clipboards are for products in their eco system.  In other words, Apple's universal clipboard only works between Apple devices (i.e. macOS to iOS).  Same with Microsoft.
However, you have a couple of options:

Save your snipit to a file and save that file to a cloud service like OneDrive or iCloud.  There are Microsoft OneDrive clients for macOS and iOS and reciprocally there are iCloud clients for Windows.

Use a 3rd party utility like 1Clipboard that will allow you to sync a clipboard between Windows and macOS (requires Google drive)

Personally, I use the first option and simply save any image I obtain from my Windows machine to a OneDrive folder and pick it up on my Mac through the OneDrive folder there.  The clipboard could be more convenient but I'm not keen on having Google products installed, but if it's something you already use then it's an easy integration.


How to Change the Attribution Line in Mail 6.0?

After some searching, I am pleased to advise that I found the solution to my own question, as well as the solution to a few questions from others here:

There is a small utility app called Quotefix that is available here:

http://code.google.com/p/quotefixformac/

With Quotefix, you can change the attribution line to anything you'd like, and for those
asking about it, you can make the cursor appear below the quoted text in replies, and there are several other goodies that I haven't tried yet, as well. Kudos to the creators
of Quotefix for this -- it works as advertised and my attribution line is now exactly as I want it.


Is there any way to change the output filename for qlmanage?

You can use textutil to convert Word documents to HTML and specify the output filename; it uses a different converter, though, which may not be acceptable for your uses.

With regard to qlmanage, you're abusing Quick Look here already.  The output is a directory, not a file, which is only designed for Quick Look to consume.  That Preview.html is a fixed filename is by design; otherwise the Quick Look displayer wouldn't know where to start.  That you're able to extract the HTML output yourself is a nice side effect, nothing more.


Possible to create a Bash alias that enters a certain string into Terminal?

Here's how I would approach it. Use this related question to write the function that would reside in your bashrc or bash_profile. Then add a line in the function that would delete the most recent line in your bash history using this


Background: I am having problems with my internet connection and the ISP call centre guy refusing to see a problem.

This is key to understanding your problem question.  What is the problem exactly that you’re are experiencing?  Going into detail here will help you (help us) come up with a solution that addresses your exact problem.
From your question, it seems that you are attempting to utilize (at least) two tools to determine what the issue is.  The problem is, neither tool is sufficient to get you accurate metrics to help you diagnose the perceived problem.
Ping
Ping measures how fast your network adapter responds to a request (a.k.a. Latency).   The problem with this is that you can have lightening fast latency (i.e. 10ms), but horrible bandwidth (56Kpbs) to transfer your files.
Where ping will come in handy is monitoring this latency over time assuming latency is the issue you're experiencing.
Bandwidth
You may have and pay for a high speed connection from your ISP, but what happens outside your ISP’s network could be the issue here.  See the post Improve file transfer performance over VPN for more details on this.  Basically, if the tech at your ISP is measuring data transfer rates from the ISP to your site it may be working fine (which is all the ISP is responsible for).
It’s entirely possible a server on a different network has a low bandwidth connection is creating the issues you are experiencing.


Why does my LaunchAgent return ROOT as the user?

A LoginHook was present. Loginhooks run as root and was calling the same file.
The following command removed the hook:

sudo defaults delete com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook

Thank you all for your time, and apologies for the wild goose chase. I knew it wasn't correct.


Shortcut for selecting the first song result from search in iTunes

Assuming the sidebar isn't shown (the current default), in iTunes v 11.3.1, I'm able to:

search (hit enter if you get the popdown results instead of the full window update)
tab
even though the song
isn't highlighted, I can just hit space and the top song starts
playing.

If you use the arrow keys instead, you can see that the first song gets selected, and then you can navigate the search results from there.

If the sidebar IS shown, everything is the same, but you'll need to hit tab twice.  As an aside, toggle the sidebar with ⌘alts

This is on Mac, on Windows YMMV.


Possibly System Prefs > Mission Control > Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use.


How to keep Chrome bookmarks in-sync with Safari

To clarify the previous answer.

Known issues with Xmarks+Chrome+Safari

I would like to add some remarks about Xmarks. The use of Xmarks for Safari and Chrome works mostly very well, but in some case, you can encounter conflicts issues.

Context

If you enable Chrome bookmarks synchronisation and if Xmarks plugin is in automatic sync mode (default setting), some conflicts can appear:

all your bookmarks folder will appear in double.
One will be empty, the other contains the bookmarks.

It can be boring to fix that kind of issue manually... Especially when you have a lot of bookmarks.

Hack/Solution

The only solution I have found is to:

Keep using Google Chrome synchronisation (bookmarks, plug-in and whatever you want).
Disable the automatic mode of Xmarks plugin (both on Safari and Chrome).
Then, each time you add a bookmark into safari or chrome think to overwrite Xmarks server with "upload" (see Xmarks advanced settings) and then, download the new bookmarks via "download". (the image below is an Xmarks for Safari screenshot - You have almost the same panel in Chrome Xmarks plugin).

Conclusion

Of course, that trick doesn't make your life easier and is impossible to use when you want to use Safari and Chrome in the same time (too many upload/download to do).


How to make keyboard shortcuts work with dual keyboards?

Ok seems installing Karabiner (website, github) was what was needed. Found it via the deprecated my-multiple-keyboards github project.


How to find the current temperature of an iPhone's CPU?

There's a lot of temperature information in sysdiagnose in iOS, might be a good place to start.


Is the white MacBook suitable for software development?

To elaborate on @Martín's answer, a MacBook is perfectly fine for development, I use one myself and never had issues.

But you could improve it. Switching to 4GB of RAM would be first thing on the list. Using a second screen could also vastly improve this setup. Another (bigger) investment would be to buy a SSD.


Custom folder icon doesn't display for SD card — shows as "generic .png" icon

I had this problem a while ago, honestly, I've forgotten the exact cause, but I do believe it's related to the icon cache.

Try renaming your drive, or clearing the icon cache.


How to use AppleScript application with "open file -a AppleScriptApp"?

After few different attempts and hacks I found good solution to solve my problem. First - implement the script. Then open the Automator.app and create new application. Then combine Get Specified Finder Items action and Run AppleScript. So now open -a my_automator_app /path/to/file will pass /path/to/file/ to my script. And that's cool.

P. S. in the argv will be stored the alias to the file, not the posix file path. To convert it from alias to posix you should use

set aliasPath to item 1 of item 1 of argv
set filePath to (the POSIX path of aliasPath)

Oh and don't forget that you might want to get the quoted form of filePath in case it contains some special characters (like space or ~).

You can get more information about alias/posix paths here


There are a couple unused megabytes after partition has been wiped

Every drive is different when it comes to the amount of space that it takes for it's own use.

For me, I have a 128GB SSD in my MacBook Air, but if I look up the amount of space available to me it usually shows that I have 120-121GB of actual usable space.


Try out Stay. It lets you save window configurations (position and size) in profiles. Unfortunately, these profiles only deal (multi) display arrangements.


If you're using a Windows keyboard, the Windows key is usually synonymous with option. Hold just the Windows key as the system boots and you'll get the... Options (get it?).

Failing that, if you have an internet connection, try Windows+r. If you don't have a recovery partition it should go to internet recovery and download what it needs from Apple.


You could try using the CloudScrob app that lets you preview the Scrobbles and edit them before it sends them.  Perhaps it could sidestep the bug?


How do I make sure that OS X Mavericks is successfully installed?

Click the  in the top left of your screen and select "About This Mac". If it says "Version 10.9.x" then you have successfully upgraded to Mavericks!

The installer app should have removed itself, but if it didn't you can go ahead and delete it manually.

And in the App Store it should show you a "Download" button instead of a greyed out "Installed" button. This is so you can download it again to reinstall OS X or install on another Mac. The App Store is not the place to check what version of OS X is installed, only to download apps and new versions of OS X.


MB Pro instantly gobbling up 70+ Gb SSD - How to track culprit?

It sounds like the operating system is swapping out.

Open Activity Monitor from the Utilities folder (inside Applications) and select the Memory tab.  Click on the Memory category until the little caret arrow points downward.  Then open Excel.

At the bottom, you can see if Swap Used increases.


Pages 4.3 on Mavericks - data loss with filenames beginning with tilde (~)

While the tilde is reserved in Unix to shortcut the users directory, it's also used by Pages, Numbers, and Keynote (as well as the Office apps) to prefix temp cache/version files.  They are invisible to the user via the Finder. I would try navigating to the folder with the command line and see if it shows up with an ls -larth.  Best advice is don't use "~" as a prefix for iWork or Office documents.


No internet when booting from Windows to OS X

It sounds to me more like your Airport Express is acting up (since you mentioned that the Mac works fine with your older LinkSys router.) Check for a firmware update via Airport Utility.
Additionally, you can force Windows to release the DHCP lease on its IP address by going in to the Windows command prompt and typing

C:\Users\myusername> ipconfig /release

Just do that before you restart into Mac OS X. I agree with @Buscar that you should try to reinstall the BootCamp drivers (and check Windows Update for any updated drivers.)


Is a MacBook 12" dual monitor setup possible?

As per https://support.apple.com/kb/SP712?viewlocale=en_US, I regret to inform you of this:

  Graphics and Video Support

  Intel HD Graphics 5300

  Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 3840 by 2160 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors

  Display

  Retina display

  12-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology
  2304-by-1440 resolution at 226 pixels per inch with support for
  millions of colors 16:10 aspect ratio Supported scaled resolutions:

  1440 by 900
  1280 by 800
  1024 by 640


Experience with using AT&T (GSM) iPads in Europe?

Yes, the GSM iPad will work in Europe.

Generally, there are no residency requirements to purchase a Pay As You Go (pre-pay) plan. Some countries may require identification and a local address while others allow you to pay cash and walk out of the shop with the SIM. If you try to buy a contract, you will need bank details and a credit check which would require residency.

The specifics can vary from country to country and carrier to carrier as each have their own policies. The best advice is to check the carriers in the country where you are going and see what their policies are. Then you'll be most prepared when you walk into the shop.


Is there an GTalk application for the iPad 2?


Does receiving spam iMessages / FaceTime calls indicate my account is compromised?

In short, your account wasn't hacked or compromised if someone you don't know places a call or SMS or iMessage or FaceTime call to your address.

Sadly, you can't easily block or change your iMessage and FaceTime account today, but if this grows, I would expect a way to block things just like the phone company now has various options for blocking unwanted calls even though they did not have such blocking in the past.

When you register for iMessage, you tell Apple either your email address or your phone number. Anyone else with iMessage can add your email address or phone number, so in that respect this is exactly like email spam.

In the physical world, someone can put a letter on your doorstep if they physically can make a letter and drop it off. Similarly, anyone with an iMessage/FaceTime account can enter any address and press send. Apple will deliver that message to you if your account is listening to the address the sender placed.

In many cases, people have several addresses in iMessage, and merely sending a message to an email associated with your Apple ID doesn't compromise your phone number, password, location or any other details about you by the mere fact that a message was delivered.

It's hard to tell whether the person has any information other than your email address, because it's probable they just guessed it. Email spammers use computers to generate millions of possible email addresses, and hope that some of them work. Also, the world is large, there could be thousands of people whose parents named them (or they chose an identity) the same as your fictional creation. Without engaging the sender or additional sleuthing, you may not be able to tell if this is a prank, intentional marketing for One Direction or a coincidence.


iPod in recovery mode, how do I make it stop?

If an iPod is in recovery mode, something is wrong with the iPod that needs to recover. Thus, it needs to be plugged into iTunes so it can be restored before it can play again.

This is caused by a problem with the software, and iTunes is the way to fix it.


How do I list the plugged memory sticks on Mac OS

You can use the native OS X diskutil command as shown below:

$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            499.2 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             654.6 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *8.1 GB     disk1
   1:                 DOS_FAT_32 LACI                    8.1 GB     disk1s1

If you're doing this from the command line the following command would list the Volumes currently mounted and their mount point in the filesystem:

$ df | grep ^\/dev\/disk
/dev/disk0s2                      487542528 377409836 109876692  78% /
/dev/disk1s1                        7879680   1128124   6751556  15% /Volumes/LACI

If you're just interested in the physical disks:

$ df | grep -i ^\/dev\/disk | awk {'print $1'}
/dev/disk0s2
/dev/disk1s1

Or the mount points:

$ df | grep -i ^\/dev\/disk | awk {'print $6'}
/
/Volumes/LACI


In terminal, modify the text that comes before $

This OSX Daily article has some detailed instructions on how to do. In short you need to modify your ~/.bash_profile file and modify the PS1 variable.

Below is a list of possible variables you can have displayed:

\d – Current date
\t – Current time
\h – Host name
# – Command number
\u – User name
\W – Current working directory (ie: Desktop/)
\w – Current working directory, full path (ie: /Users/Admin/Desktop)


I found out what was wrong. It seems the phone number types were the problem. They were classified as "Other". I changed them all to "Mobile" and it worked.

I hope this helps somebody, because I looked the problem up for hours and didn't find a solution.


Use this script to uninstall homebrew completely. It's safer to run each command separately, especially the cd `brew --prefix` to check if it suceeds.
From the homebrew FAQ:

How do I uninstall Homebrew?
If you installed to /usr/local then you can use the script in this gist to uninstall — it will only remove Homebrew and the stuff Homebrew installed leaving anything else in /usr/local alone.
Provided you haven’t put anything else in Homebrew’s prefix (brew --prefix), you can generally just rm -rf that directory. This is because Homebrew won’t touch files outside its prefix.


iTunes 12.5.1.21 on Windows 10 Version 1607 cannot detect iPhone 6s and iPod Touch (5th Generation)

If you are on Windows 10 N or KN, try installing the latest version of the "Media Feature Pack".

The latest version at present for Windows 10 v. 1607 is the Aug 2, 2016 version, which you can download here.


Force Macbook Pro on AC mode using broken battery

I noticed the performance issue is because of the battery issue. When battery is not recognized by the OS X86PlatformPlugin (Can be seen in disas, but need confirmation) uses CPUFloor of your device model plist in /S/L/E/IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/X86PlatformPlugin.kext/Contents/Resources/.

The issue was battery does not recognized on boot and for MBP 2015 13" CPUFloor==800 which is too low.

BTW thanks to PikerAlpha you can use freqVectorEdit.sh to change your PowerManager plist. I also changed CPUFloor to higher number so MBP can be used smoothly again.


If I used tar to archive Time Machine's Backups.backupdb folder, can the resulting file be uploaded to a cloud service and later used without issues?

Creating an archive with tar (using the -c option) does by default preserve hard links. I.e. the file will only be stored once in the archive, and when you unpack the archive you'll get hard links on the file system again. It's only when you use the --hard-dereference option to tar that hard links are ignored.
Remember also to use the -p option when creating and restoring the archive. This will preserve the permissions of files, including the ownership, ACL and other information.
Finally I would strongly recommend that you test the backup of the backup after you have made it to ensure that it can be read properly by Time Machine to enable you to restore the actual backup.


delay after opening lid display dark until key pressed

Check that pmset -g hibernatemode command in Terminal gives you 3 or 0 and not any other value. If it gives you something else, execute pmset hibernatemode 3 (this is the correct default).

Sometimes these settings go wrong for unknown reason.


iTunes keyboard shortcut service only works when in focus

It was a set up as a service that takes no input and runs in any application.

But that wasn't the problem. Indeed, @Tetsujin seems to be correct. It was a conflict with a keyboard shortcut in the application that had keyboard focus. I used a different shortcut and it works.


How do you disable Siri permanently on macOS Sierra (10.12.6)?

It is not my work but Rich T. has a great post on this at his blog:

https://derflounder.wordpress.com/2016/09/20/blocking-siri-on-macos-sierra/

You will need to deploy two separate configuration profiles, the relevant keys are below:

Domain: com.apple.assistant.support.plist

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Assistant Enabled</key>
    <false/>
</dict>
</plist>

and

Domain: com.apple.Siri.plist

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>StatusMenuVisible</key>
    <false/>
    <key>UserHasDeclinedEnable</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Depending on how you manage your macs, and how you want to deploy these profile settings they may need to be constructed differently.

As far as I know these two profiles are the only way to disable this.

Here is a link to the mobileconfig profiles for these settings. You can deploy them with any MDM:

https://github.com/rtrouton/profiles/tree/master/DisableSiri

Otherwise you will need to use defaults write:

defaults write com.apple.Siri StatusMenuVisible -bool false
defaults write com.apple.Siri UserHasDeclinedEnable -bool true
defaults write com.apple.assistant.support 'Assistant Enabled' 0

Once you make these changes you will need to clear the preference cache:

sudo killall -HUP cfprefsd

And then restart the WindowUI server:

sudo killall SystemUIServer

Hope this clarifies.


Can I force my iOS device to connect to 1 Wifi network over another

I don't know how I managed to miss this before, but it appears they are simply joined in alphabetical order

mywifinetwork
mywifinwk2

1 Will always be picked over 2

If you are able to persuade you're IT staff to change the name (SSID) of the network then you can do this

mywifinetwork
A_mywifinetwork

or

mywifinetwork02
mywifinetwork01

Should make sure 2 is always connected in preference to 1 when both are available

I've tested this a bit, but i'll come back and update if it stops working. So Far So Good Though.

If you can't get the SSID's changed then there is a much more complex solution here http://nootrix.com/2012/01/prioritize-wifi-on-iphone/


Am I supposed to have access to "com.apple.TCC"?

Apparently the TCC database stores the "privacy database": settings from System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy.

See https://eclecticlight.co/2017/01/09/controlling-privacy-in-macos-sierra/ and man tccutil.

The article says

  ... this is managed in a special TTC database, which is stored in the folder ~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC. There is also a master database stored at /Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC, but you cannot open that folder, as only the system has that privilege.

On my iMac running High Sierra:

$ ls -ld /Library/Application\ Support/com.apple.TCC ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.apple.TCC
drwx------  3 root    admin  102  4 Oct 11:15 /Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC
drwx------  3 ashley  staff  102 29 Jun 16:13 /Users/ashley/Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC

Note the different ownership: the one in /Library (= Macintosh HD -> Library) is owned by root, and the one in my home folder (~/Library/Application Support = /Users/ashley/Library/Application Support) is owned by me. Because the permissions are drwx------ in both cases, only the owner can see into the folder... so when I look in Finder, the one in /Library has a "no entry" sign on it (because I'm not root), but I can open the one in my home folder, and see there is a file there named TCC.db.

I don't know why you see a difference between your MacBook Air and your iMac. In older times, I'd recommend you "repair permissions", but I believe that facility has gone away in the recent operating systems.


Create 2 independent audio outputs to apple TV and headphones

An aggregated device is intended to play the same audio on multiple devices. As you want to play different audio on multiple devices, I can recommend several methods.

Use iTunes to play the video file on your Apple TV. You can choose the Apple TV as a playback device in iTunes, and stream the content to it without having to change your system audio device. That means, audio produced by other applications is still processed by your Mac (and therefore by your headphones, if they're plugged in)
Use VLC and another playback application of your choice in combination. Use screen mirroring to display the content on your Apple TV. Obviously, this will change your system audio device to the Apple TV, and any other audio will be played on the Apple TV, as well. But that's okay, because with VLC you can choose which device to play the audio on - seperated from the system audio device. So setup any playback application on the Apple TV, and choose Headphones in VLC audio menu for playing your video.

Obviously, the first method will work best, because streaming the video content from iTunes will require less bandwith than mirroring your desktop, resulting in less latency or connection drops.