Toggle Light Mode/Dark Mode AND Accent Color from one to another

Maybe this applescript code will help a bit

tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal anchor "Main" of pane id "com.apple.preference.general"
end tell

tell application "System Events"
    repeat until exists of checkbox "Dark" of window "General" of application process "System Preferences"
        delay 0.1
    end repeat
    -- Appearance
    click checkbox "Dark" of window "General" of application process "System Preferences"
    -- Accent Color
    click checkbox "Red" of window "General" of application process "System Preferences"
    -- Dropdown Menu For Highlight Color
    click pop up button 1 of window "General" of application process "System Preferences"
    -- Highlight Color
    click menu item "Red" of menu 1 of pop up button 1 of window "General" of application process "System Preferences"
end tell

tell application "System Preferences" to quit

UPDATE:

Taking it one step further, save this following AppleScript code as an application.  When this new app is launched, it allows for choosing your different color modes.

property appearanceMode : {"Light", "Dark"}
property accentColors : {"Blue", "Purple", "Pink", "Red", "Orange", "Yellow", "Green", "Graphite"}
property highlightColors : {"Blue", "Purple", "Pink", "Red", "Orange", "Yellow", "Green", "Graphite", "Other"}

activate
set chosenAppearanceMode to (choose from list appearanceMode ¬
    with title "Please Choose Your Appearance Mode" with prompt ¬
    "Please Choose Your Appearance Mode" OK button name ¬
    "OK" cancel button name "CANCEL") as string

if chosenAppearanceMode is "false" then return

activate
set chosenAccentColor to (choose from list accentColors ¬
    with title "Please Choose Your Accent Color" with prompt ¬
    "Please Choose Your Accent Color" OK button name ¬
    "OK" cancel button name "CANCEL") as string

if chosenAccentColor is "false" then return

activate
set chosenHighlightColor to (choose from list highlightColors ¬
    with title "Please Choose Your Highlight Color" with prompt ¬
    "Please Choose Your Highlight Color" OK button name ¬
    "OK" cancel button name "CANCEL") as string

if chosenHighlightColor is "false" then return

try
    if application "System Preferences" is running then do shell script "killall 'System Preferences'"
end try
repeat until application "System Preferences" is not running
    delay 0.1
end repeat

tell application "System Preferences" to reveal anchor "Main" of pane id "com.apple.preference.general"

tell application "System Events"
    repeat until exists of checkbox chosenAppearanceMode of window "General" of application process "System Preferences"
        delay 0.1
    end repeat
    -- Appearance
    click checkbox chosenAppearanceMode of window "General" of application process "System Preferences"
    -- Accent Color
    click checkbox chosenAccentColor of window "General" of application process "System Preferences"
    -- Dropdown Menu For Highlight Color
    click pop up button 1 of window "General" of application process "System Preferences"
    -- Highlight Color
    click menu item chosenHighlightColor of menu 1 of pop up button 1 of window "General" of application process "System Preferences"
end tell

try
    if application "System Preferences" is running then do shell script "killall 'System Preferences'"
end try

SIDENOTE:  My reason for using the the do shell script "killall 'System Preferences'" command rather than tell application "System Preferences" to quit is... Let's say, for what ever reason, System Preferences.app is already activated (with, for example, window Sharing/ Remote Management/ Computer Settings open) but not visible or not front most or whatever.  In Script Editor, you try to run tell application "System Preferences" to reveal anchor "SpeakableItems" of pane id "com.apple.preference.universalaccess" That command completes with no obvious errors but when you switch over to System Preferences, your "revealed anchor" is not revealed. Ok, no big deal, easy fix. I'll just insert a tell application "System Preferences" to quit command prior to the reveal anchorcommand. Running the updated code this time, you get a (userCanceledErr:-128) error. All of this hassle is because that secondary drop down window in System Preferences is open. In my opinion, the do shell script "killall 'System Preferences'" command seems to be the best solution.


It is the enclosure release.
See: Mac Pro (Late 2013) - Quick Start Guide


MacBook Pro Charger has stopped working properly - any short-term fixes?

This is a very common problem and has happened to me twice in the past -- unfortunately the adapters are very fragile at the tip.

Apart from getting it replaced, you can try gently wiggling the thin wire connection right where it meets the metal adapter tip.  Pushing it in towards the computer can also help.  Sometimes it will start working again if it's in just the right position, but it's easy to knock out of place again.  Either way, it will be difficult to live with for two weeks.  :[

EDIT: In case it wasn't clear, the gentle wiggling/pushing should be done while the adapter is attached to the computer.  You can judge your success by whether or not the computer starts/stays charging.  Keep the computer on a stable surface while you do this, and if you get it working, don't touch it -- or it will likely stop working again.


The version is linked to your OS level, you are using an older version of Preview because you are using an older OS.  The latest version is available as part of the latest OS.  Luckily, this update is now free, so long as your machine is compatible - looks for OS X Mavericks in the App Store


What does Using “MX Anywhere 2S” may affect Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity mean in iPadOS?

Some mice, like the MX Anywhere, support both Bluetooth and wireless radio connectivity (this is the connection method where you usually have to use a small USB receiver). This wireless radio uses 2.4 GHz spectrum as well and may interfere with BT and/or 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi.


There are a Bunch of iPod music recovery softwares you can search on Google, Some even give an option to export to iTunes library, hence maintaining the user ratings etc. I generally use iPod Access for recovery of music or video if I accidentally delete something.


It sounds like it could be a corrupt plist file or something else entirely. You didn't happen to remove any certificates from Keychain did you (accidentally)? Apple uses those for verifying code signatures.

One simple idea to try is to create a new admin account on your computer. Login and see if you're able to update the OS from that account. You can delete that account after the system if updated, or at least, you've now isolated the problem to a single account.

If that fails, I might try just re-installing macOS from the recovery partition. This will overwrite the system files but shouldn't affect anything else.


Apple provides an RSS you can subscribe to. You can find it by doing the following:

Go to iTunes Connect and log in
Go to Manage your Apps and select the App you're interested in
Under Links, in the App Information section, you'll find the Customer Reviews
Opening it will display all of the customer reviews, filtered by country.
Alongside the combo box to choose between the different countries you've already got reviews in, you'll find the RSS button.

Note: The countries combo box and the RSS button will only be displayed if there are reviews already.

The RSS URL looks like this:

feed:https://itunes.apple.com/COUNTRY-OF-THE-REVIEW/rss/customerreviews/id=APP-ID/sortBy=mostRecent/xml?l=LANGUAGE-YOU-WANT-IT-TO-BE-DISPLAYED-IN


I am trying to "split text to column" on a .csv file in pages

In the event that the user inputs one name with no spaces, the formula in the OP could be wrapped in an IFERROR formula.

IFERROR(TRIM(RIGHT(B2, LEN(B3)−FIND(" ", B2,))),"")

The IFERROR statement returns simply and empty string "" if there are no spaces.  (No spaces returns an error because FIND() results in an error when it cannot find a space.) The formula returns the characters to the right of the space. If no spaces found, it simply returns the contents of B2. (Of course, there is no way for the computer to know if the single name entered is a first or last name, even tricky for humans.)

Something similar could be used to return the first name or just the name in the original string:

IFERROR(TRIM(LEFT(B2,FIND(" ", TRIM(B2)))),B2)

The only gotcha will be if there are several names.  But this is a good starting point. A useful resource is the Formulas and Functions Help for the Mac apps—Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and iBooks Author.  Look for Text Functions.  Good function combinations can give the desired result.  Work from the inside out.  For example, TRIM(B2) will remove all leading and trailing spaces. Then, FIND(" ",TRIM(B2)) will look for the first space without having to worry if there was a leading space.  Hope this helps!

Examples:


A .pkg file is basically a folder (if you will) that the installer "app" is located in. I think you are wanting to burn/run the installer from a disc/USB? (if not, you can run it from the .pkg file itself by double-clicking and mounting the installer.

That being said, this is how to locate and save the .dmg file locally.

What you want to do is:

Right-click on the .pkg file > select "Show Package Contents"
Open the Contents/SharedSupport folder and locate the file named
InstallESD.dmg.

Copy InstallESD.dmg to another directory of your choosing. This InstallESD.dmg file is what you need to burn/run macOS installer from a DVD?USB.

Make the OS X El Capitan Bootable Installer Drive with a Terminal Command

Launch the Terminal application, found in /Applications/Utilities/
and enter the following command exactly (unless you changed the
target volume name from ElCapInstaller to something else) onto a
single line, the text will wrap because it is long, but it’s
important to have proper syntax:

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

Hit the Return key and enter the administrator password when
requested.

  You’ll then see the following screen text in the Terminal:

  Erasing Disk: 0%… 10%… 20%… 30%…100%…

  Copying installer files to disk…

  Copy complete.

  Making disk bootable…

  Copying boot files…

  Copy complete.

  Done.

The target USB disk or flash drive will be erased first and then copy the files to it so that it will become a bootable OS X El Capitan installer. This can take a while to complete, so wait for the “Done” message before continuing.

When you see “Done”, that’s it, your OS X El Capitan installer drive has been created, it’s bootable, and you can use it to update as many Macs as you want to with OS X 10.11.

To boot from the installer drive, hold down the Option key during Mac system start, and select it from the startup volume menu.

Note: the OP is trying to create a bootable disc via MAS and Terminal method. In the instructions it tells you to download and save the installer, to avoid deletion after install completes and saving it for future use. It goes on to say load the .app to continue with creating the bootable disc/usb. This is why, I assume the user has worded his question as such.

I wish people would actually wait for the OP response without thumbing down prior to knowing, if indeed the answer is right or wrong. Or maybe explaining why the answer is wrong by submitting an answer or correcting a wrong one.


xClient process consuming CPU -- what is it?

Open Activity Monitor and sort by CPU. Then select the item and click the information icon (circle with a lower case i)

Then you can see all the open files and ports. That should give you a ton of system files that make no sense, but you should get a path to the file or some details to post if you can't figure out straight away where it's located and what files it's reading. (Worst case upload the files to a GitHub gist or pastebin and link to me in the comments below)


It turns out that the files stored in Readdle Documents are not stored in the normal location where apps store their Documents and Data. (This may be because Readdle Documents lists itself as a Cloud Storage Provider.) Using the Tree View of the Raw Files section of iBackup Viewer, I was able to export the files in the AppDomainGroup-group.com.readdle.documents/File Provider Storage folder and reupload the files into Readdle Documents through its WebDAV feature.

I downloaded iBackup Viewer from https://www.imactools.com/iphonebackupviewer/.


Is High Sierra Activity Monitor accurate on a a MacBook Pro from 2013?

Unfortunately the answer is most likely "yes."
There is a reason, or at least a possible to likely reason(s).
This could easily be bound to a failing component (logic board, drive, I/O etc.) As if there are hardware problems those won't show up in activity monitor. Ask someone who (very recently) knows.

Boot the Mac while holding the d to go into diagnostic mode. The Mac will do its thing and report any problems it can.
Boot the Mac into Recovery Mode by holding the ⌘r kees at boot.

Once in recovery mode go to Disk utility. Select the top drive (your boot drive) and click on First aid.
Both of those tests will find gross issues with your Mac. It is not a guarantee that it will find a problem with any hardware or soft errors/bad blacks on the SSD. But it is always with trying.
OK so we've tried diagnostic tools, how about a different user profile? Go into System Preferences, create a new admin user and log in as that user. Problem gone? The issue was something in your user profile. The fun part is finding what it was. And by fun, I mean no fun at all.
If nothing is found there. I would back up your whole drive (Time Machine or 3rd party utility) Create a flash drive macOS installer with your preferred OS version (there are tutorials all over the place on hot to do this). Boot from the installer, re-format your HD and install the OS fresh.
Once that is done boot your mac normally and before restoring any of your apps, docs, pics or settings see if the problem is still there.
If the problem still exists it is most likely hardware and time to either have it repaired or buy a new Mac.


Removing entries from the MobileMe synchronization list

The program injected data into ~/Library/Application Support/SyncServices/Local/TFSM by calling code to add their sync schema to Mobile Me's local sync database. You want that program to call unregisterSchemaWithName before you delete it so that data is deleted out of MobileMe.

The Local SyncServices folder governs iOS device sync as well as MobileMe sync - so use care to keep those devices away from your mac if you with to proceed in a manual clean up.

It's a really bad idea to simply delete files out of that folder if you are not prepared to have sync break in very ugly ways (I have seen people end up with 10 copies of each contact, calendar item and bookmark by moving / disturbing things in SyncServices) If you have a great backup and don't mind erasing everything from MobileMe and re-syncing from a computer - have at hacking the folder. There's no better way to know how things work by breaking them. Apple has an eloquent warning that starts... "As if it were a swarm of bees, you should stay away from the SyncServices folder."

You can see what a sync schema looks like by reading the database of files on your mac in the terminal locate syncschema. These files and folders define how data gets injected into the sync database with the registerSchemaWithBundlePath call and may have clues on cleanup scripts or steps.

Your best bet is to contact the vendor and ask them what steps to take to undo their changes. Apple has been changing the internals of how mobile me works lately, so there are no for certain steps that work across all versions of 10.6.x and your specific data in MobileMe. Since MobileMe is a paid service, you might also get general guidance from Apple Support in cleaning up the preference pane even though it's a third party data addition. They did add hooks and intend to let other apps to the sync party so they might reasonably help you clean up after the fun is over.


How do I turn off the "Reader" button in Mobile Safari?

I am fairly certain there is no way to disable this feature, short of jailbreaking your device. Even then, I am not aware of any tools to do so. Sorry this isn't the news you were hoping for!


What determines whether podcasts are played individually or sequentially on an iPod?

I added one of the podcasts to a on-the-go playlist, and suddenly all the podcasts are playing individually, rather then sequentially.

I have no idea why adding one podcast to the in-the-go playlist affected every podcast, or what would actually be required to return the behaviour to the way it used to be (sequential playing), but there you are.


MacBook Air Mid 2011: headphone plug makes weird noises

There is no such sound coming from mine. Sorry to say this - but it sounds like you have a repair coming your way.

It might still just be the headphones though - have you tried with different sets??


You can use VoiceOver to control the device from a USB keyboard. You can usually use a keyboard to enter the passcode, but you also need to press Trust from a keyboard, which you can't do while connected to a computer that is not already trusted. In essence, either

enter the passcode with a USB keyboard and connect the device to a trusted computer, or
use VoiceOver to control the device from a USB keyboard to perform a backup to iCloud, steps for which are provided at https://deciphertools.com/blog/iphone-passcode-broken-screen/.


Can I use two non-Thunderbolt displays on a MacBook Air

The changes in Mavericks make it possible to connect a DisplayPort monitor to your MBA and also use an Apple TV as an external display - I've just confirmed it on my setup - but that is pretty slow over wifi.

The issues with connecting monitors to the MBA are in hardware, not software. For example, the reason why you cannot connect a DisplayPort adapter to the Apple Thunderbolt Display is because the monitor itself uses the DisplayPort channel:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4832/the-apple-thunderbolt-display-review/8

Connecting two displays to the MBA requires two thunderbolt devices.

The first device can be either the Apple TB display or one of the Thunderbolt docks with a DVI / HDMI connector. Both of these options use the DisplayPort channel, so connecting a DisplayPort monitor to them won't work.

This is where the second Thunderbolt device comes in (a hard disk or other device with two TB ports for pass-through). This acts as a man-in-the-middle and can extract a second DisplayPort signal.

So your setup will look like this:

<Air> -- <TB dock/display> -- <TB drive> -- <DisplayPort monitor>


Not enough storage for El Capitan; no way to free up space

Boot to Recovery Mode (hold cmdR while booting). In the menubar open Utilities -> Terminal.

Now change your working directory and go to /Volumes:

cd /Volumes

List all volumes:

ls -l

Move to your main volume

cd name_of_main_volume

Now you can move forward to a directory to remove files and folders with cd folder_name.

Appropriate paths to remove files or folders without touching your own data are:

/Volumes/name_of_main_volume/cores
/Volumes/name_of_main_volume/var/vm

Then remove files with rm file_name or rm *.* after making sure you are in the proper directory with pwd and checking all files with ls -l.

The folder cores may be empty, vm usually contains a sleep image and/or swap files which are all disposable.

If this doesn't suffice go to your applications or your user folder and remove files/folders.

To remove a folder use rm -R folder_name. In this case application files (e.g. Maps.app) are also folders!


IOS 14 - I stopped receiving text notifications while I’m on a phone call. How do I get that notification back

I ran into the same issue. I was on a phone call, looking away from my phone, relying on text sound notifications to alert me. When the sound alert stopped, I missed a bunch of text messages. I think I found the fix. Settings>Sound and Haptics. Move the Ringer and Alerts slide from left (mute) to right so sound is allowed.


How can I save a Pages document as .docx?

This does seem to be a missing feature. As I see it, you have two options:

Export as *.doc using File -> Export. While not ideal, I imagine almost everything that supports *.docx also supports *.doc.
TextEdit is able to save as *.docx. Of course this is only really an option if your formatting is simple.


How to install or port data to a Fusion / Hybrid / SSHD drive

No, there is nothing special you need to do.

At the risk of oversimplifying things, the way that hybrid drives work is that they monitor the data being read from the drive and, over time, they identify what files are regularly read from the drive. The drive then caches the most frequently accessed files to the high speed NAND flash memory.

The net result is that hybrid hard drives blend HDD capacity with SSD speeds.

A couple of years ago I actually installed a 1TB Seagate hybrid drive into a 15" MacBook Pro (late 2008) model and the improvement was amazing. Well worth it in my situation!

In terms of how you go about doing this, it's really a matter of personal choice. I've used Carbon Copy Cloner, Time Machine and others. In recent years I've just used Time Machine to manage all my backups and then restore data that way. I also use two Time Machine backup drives for each computer.

Hope this helps.


Is it possible to hide title bar of Firefox 22 in OS X 10.8.4

Short answer: no

It has been a bug since firefox 13
Even though autohide is set to 'true' the toolbars won't hide in fullscreen.

Best option is to go to view -> Toolbars and uncheck the toolbars in the top menu
But this leaves the 'tab toolbar'

So if you really want to hide the toolbars you should open the page in a different browser.


Color issues when waking up MBA connected to Apple Thunderbolt Display

Contrary to my belief this is most probably a software issue since I cannot reproduce the problem after updating to the most recent version (10.9.2) of OSX.


How to keep data from an old Mac to restore later

There is a app on your drive already.

The Migration Assistant.app

in /Applications/Utilities

Try it.


Does purchasing IAP from abroad increase the risk of getting my account disabled?

The answer is no.

As long as your account is registered in U.S., and has an active U.S. credit card linked to it, you can make purchase wherever and whenever you want with that account.

I should add though, you should have your account transferred to the country you live. If you're traveling, it's fine.


How to know my kernel extensions are 64-bit ready?

As far as I know, System Profiler won't display information for any .kext's that are being loaded and are located somewhere else besides the /System/Library/Extensions/ folder.

To get comprehensive information about the kernel extensions which are currently loaded and in use on your Mac, you can use the kextstat command line tool.

Open up the Terminal application (in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder), type the following at the prompt, and then hit return:

 kextstat

You will get a large list of all the loaded kernel extensions. You'll primarily want to focus on the bundle identifiers of the loaded .kexts. (That's the backwards domain name string such as "com.apple...."). You should be able to eliminate the ones that include "com.apple", as those will be Apple's and should have a K64 version. Once you've gotten rid of those, you'll then need to go over the remaining ones to make sure they are built as universal K32+K64 versions, or whether you may need to make sure you have the latest updates.

For example, after eliminating all the Apple kexts on the output I get, I have the following kexts listed. Since I switched to K64 a year or so ago, all of these are in order so everything is fine.

MacPro:~ mdouma46$ kextstat
Index Refs Address          Size   Wired  Name (Version) <Linked Against>
73  0 0xffffff7f8111a000 0x8000 0x8000  com.AmbrosiaSW.AudioSupport (3.2) <72 5 4 3 1>
81  0 0xffffff7f811bf000 0x9000 0x9000  jp.plentycom.driver.SteerMouse (4.0.2) <55 29 24 5 4 3>
105 0 0xffffff7f81499000 0x5000 0x5000  com.Cycling74.driver.Soundflower (1.5.2) <72 5 4 3>
115 0 0xffffff7f814bf000 0xd1000 0xd1000 com.vmware.kext.vmx86 (3.1.2) <7 5 4 3 1>
116 0 0xffffff7f81590000 0xc000 0xc000   com.vmware.kext.vmci (3.1.2) <5 4 3 1>
117 0 0xffffff7f8159c000 0x7000 0x7000  com.vmware.kext.vmioplug (3.1.2) <29 24 5 4 3 1>
118 0 0xffffff7f815a3000 0xa000 0xa000  com.vmware.kext.vmnet (3.1.2) <5 4 3 1>
119 0 0xffffff7f815ad000 0x2000 0x2000  com.nvidia.CUDA (1.1.0) <4 1>


Needing to run fsck -fy "often" should I send to repair?

First wipe the drive entirely. Repartition and then give it one more chance. Unless you want to blame a corrupt OS or really bad programs, this is likely a failing drive and not bad data or bad OS.


Get Custom HiDPI resolution rendering on non-Retina Macs

This forum post answers your question: InsanelyMac - Custom Retina HiDPI Resolution

It's pretty lengthy and complex, and probably not for someone who isn't happy with messing about with the terminal and plists etc.  In essence the steps involve messing with the DisplayProductID and DisplayVendorID values to fool the OS into thinking it's a HiDPI display.

It's not fair to simply plagiarise the OPs post, as this is from another user on another site, rather than a generic "use this program' style suggestion, so you'll have to follow the link rather than have it all pasted in here.


How to download Microsoft office 2016 or some equivalent?

Try the free office clone LibreOffice

http://www.libreoffice.org


How can I remove the Siri icon from the touch bar?

It is possible using the steps in this article:

  Go to the  Apple menu and choose “System Preferences” and then go to “Keyboard”
  Under the Keyboard tab, choose “Customize Control Strip” (note it is not called Touch Bar here)
  Now tap on the Siri button and drag it into the Trash on the touch bar, or use the mouse to drag the Siri icon onto the screen and out of the Touch Bar to remove it

  4. Choose “Done” when finished and close out of System Preferences


If you've ever used Photo Booth, or any other app using your built-in camera as a source, you may know that there's no way anything less than 1 second is fast enough. There is a very obvious warm-up time in order for the camera to actually warm up and provide an image. Although the problem with timing Photo Booth is that it has to open the app, draw the window, then fire up the camera somewhere in there.

As a matter of testing, I opened up Quicktime Player (Quicktime X) and let it settle down, then I hit File -> New Movie Recording. Luckily for me, the image didn't fire up right away because the built-in camera for my laptop was chosen, but I have the lid closed using an external screen also with a built-in camera.

So I changed the input source to the external camera, and pressed start on my stopwatch as soon as the green LED lit up (which was pretty much immediately). The video started displaying at about 1.5 seconds in. That's still certainly within "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" territory, but only barely.

My answer is that I'm suggesting stray light may be reflecting off of area the LED resides in, invoking an "illuminated" feeling, but that nothing may be happening in reality.

However, I don't suggest that you do nothing. Commercial vendors such as Sophos offer Antivirus products of OS X, Lion-compatible and free too in Sophos' case, and I've also used ClamXAV as a one-off scan-on-demand utility when I've had similar feelings (or when I've wanted to check a file for a windows-using friend, etc.).

Note also that OS X does have built-in spyware protection named, "XProtect", that was born out of the "MacDefender" trojan scare. TUAW has many great articles on the subject under the security tag.


Downloading and reinstalling macOS solved this issue.
The earlier unstable version of Mail.app was Version 13.4 (3608.120.23.2.1). The reinstalled macOS 10.15.17 now reveals Mail.app as Version 13.4 (3608.120.23.2.4). I suppose that this iteration, or perhaps some other invisible change, was responsible for the improvement.


Can I simply manually delete individual Time Machine backups from the Finder or command line?

tl;dr - It's safe to delete in whatever way you choose.
The only conceivable problem would be if Time Machine was trying to prune a backup at the same time you were deleting, so maybe turn off Time Machine for the duration of your clean up if you're not using the built in delete button.

You can use tmutil delete in Lion to safely delete backups. The benefit of this is the deletion happens more silently in the background. The downside is the UI isn't speedy for deleting more than one snapshot at a time. In practice, you have to be there to attend multiple deletions.
Don't worry about the internals of how files are linked or stored - yes most of the files in most of the backups are hard links, but to clean these up, you have to delete things folder by folder. The system will handle decrementing the link count so there's no better or worse way to go here.
It is also safe to simply remove them via Finder or any other method - just be patient as each backup contains a full set of directory entries for each file. My (worst) record is 4 days to delete through finder a batch of unwanted backups.
Good advice might be to start small if you can't leave your mac on overnight.
You won't lose any data unless you are deleting the last copy of a version of some file. You don't get any warnings, it will get deleted - this is the same whether you use Time Machine itself, or Finder or rm in some terminal script.

As a brief aside - Why do you want to do this? Time Machine automatically prunes old backups when you're getting low on space. I've found it very comforting to just clone my Time Machine drive to a cheap USB external drive and put it on the shelf. (or make this the drive on the shelf and use it as an excuse to get a new drive) Perhaps it's the perfect pack-rat-keep-everything verses if-you-don't-need-it-now's-the-time-to-delete-it test for Mac users.


How can I make SwiftKey the default on iOS 8?

Settings>General>Keyboard>Keyboards sets the keyboards you wish to use. The top keyboard in the list is the Default. "Edit" will allow you to edit, remove keyboards or move a keyboard to the top of the list.  To get Swiftkey as the default keyboard, move it to the top of the list.  I tried it and it works for me, of course as per below there are instances when Swiftkey wont be the default keyboard.

However, there are instances where your default keyboard will NOT be used, no matter the settings. Examples include when security settings, passwords etc are required, the standard Apple keyboard (now referred to as 'Quicktype') will launch. So do not expect the 3rd party keyboard to function exactly as the built-in one does...there will be places where it refuses to launch, usually due to a security issue.

As of Sept 2014, this is a new feature, so it is likely that there are refinements that will happen over time to help make the use of 3rd party keyboards more seamless.


What's the difference between entering return, option (⌥) + return and ctrl + return in TextEdit?

Viewing two example files in TextEdit there is indeed no difference:

On the left side Rich Text and on the right side Simple Text
Keyboard Layout: de-de

Viewing the same files with TextWrangler ("showing invisibles" enabled) the differences are revealed:

Viewing only the text file with TextWrangler ("hiding invisibles" enabled):

the same file in HexFiend:

Return and OptionReturn insert 0x0A (New Line) and ControlReturn inserts 0xE2 0x80 0xA8 (Code Point Value: 2028, Unicode Name: Line Separator)

The difference is visible here:

Inserting a lot of qs the whole second sequence of abcdefghijklmnop in the third line breaks to a "new line", while the same sequence in the second line continuously flows to a "new line".


WI-Fi Calling Notification keeps coming back

The answer appears to have been this:

Turn on the feature on my iPhone.

Wait awhile.

Turn off the feature on my iPhone.

Reboot the Macs that were showing the notifications.

One of those things made it go away.


iPhone application for TOTP that uses Secure Enclave to store secrets?

You can use 1Password with a local vault. 1Password protects its data decryption secret with a private key stored only in the Secure Enclave, which in turn protects the TOTP shared secrets.


Is there good software for recovering photos from an iphone data

Try iTools Pro (google it). It recovered my photos (but I only had 55 so I don't know if there is a maximum it will do for free).

Is your phone stuck in Recovery Mode?


how to set 3840 pixels wide for external 4k monitor

Apple support officially a small number of 4K Display. https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht6008

So, If you want to display your 380x2160 resolution, you can try SwitchResX. That allow you to display your own custom resolution to the screen.
http://www.madrau.com/srx_download/download.html


Is there a way to adjust the touch sensitivity of the touch bar on my M1 MacBook Pro?

Right now there isn't an option like that on the new macbook m1 . But I think this solution might help you from touching touchbar unintentionally .
Here's one idea:
Set "Touch Bar shows" to "Expanded Control Strip" and remove all buttons on the Control Strip using "Customize Touch Bar...". Then set "Press Fn key to" to "Show App Controls".
Now your Touch Bar will be empty unless you press fn to show the App Controls.


Sometimes Mac doesn't recognise my external hard drive

There can be a number of reasons why your Macbook Pro won't recognize a drive.

For instance, if you have a drive mounted and your system goes to sleep, it will also power down the USB port, putting your drive to sleep.  When your Mac wakes up again, the drive may not have come out of its slumber.

To verify that your USB port is detecting devices, open "Console" (Applications > Utilities > Console).  For example, I inserted a Windows (FAT16) formatted USB flash drive that doesn't mount and doesn't show on my desktop.  However, in Console, you can see that it is detected and an error is generated:

When you attach your USB devices, have Console running and watch to see if the device is detected and whether an error is generated.  If nothing happens here (with both devices) then you have ruled out your USB devices.

If they are being recognized in the system, but not showing up, you may have to disconnect them and remount them in Terminal.

First, see if they are listed.  Issue the command

diskutil list

My relevant output, again using my non-mountable USB as an example is as follows:

/dev/disk4 (disk image):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     Apple_partition_scheme                        +15.6 MB    disk4
   1:        Apple_partition_map                         32.3 KB    disk4s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS True Key                15.6 MB    disk4s2
/dev/disk5 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *8.0 GB     disk5
   1:             Windows_FAT_16                         2.1 GB     disk5s1 <----- My Problem Child

Eject the disk using the command

diskutil eject disk5

(Obviously use the disk number that associated with your USB device)

Running diskutil list again shows the device is gone:

/dev/disk4 (disk image):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     Apple_partition_scheme                        +15.6 MB    disk4
   1:        Apple_partition_map                         32.3 KB    disk4s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS True Key                15.6 MB    disk4s2

Now, physically remove, then reinsert the USB drive.   Your drive should be functioning again.


Open a file:/// url with #anchor from terminal

Don't use the open command.

Google Chrome:

/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome "file:///Users/me/index.html#my-anchor"

Safari:

osascript -e 'tell application "Safari" to open location "file:///Users/me/index.html#my-anchor2"'


Upgrading Xcode using App Store download problem

I don't know if this is your problem but look and see if you have any hidden purchases on your account. The way to check is:

Launch the app store & Select Store > View My Account and sign in.
Look for a section headed iTunes in the Cloud, with a Hidden Purchases entry, and click View Hidden Purchases.
Click Unhide for those purchases you wish to appear in your App Store Purchases window, then click Done.

Let me know if this helps.


MacBook Pro creates soft hissing sound through headphones

Tough to know for certain, but my money is on an impedance mismatch between the output of the Macbook and your new headset. Or, perhaps more accurately stated, excessively sensitive (low impedance) headphones are revealing flaws in the MacBook audio output circuit.

Care to share the model of headphones you're now using? My guess is it's a low-impedance model intended for use with portable audio devices.  You can boost the impedance by adding an in-line volume control adaptor like the Shure EA650. You will find other suggestions for solving this problem, including some DIY answers, by searching the forums at Head-Fi.org

For more information/background see: Impedance, and how it affects audio equipment by Rod Elliot and Sound On Sound: Understanding Impedance.

Another possible solution:
I have M-Audio powered monitors plugged into my MacBook Pro, and plug my Etymotic earplugs into the headphone jack on the monitors for private listening. I haven't noticed any noise problems with this set-up.


How to recover iMessages sent to main phone number when using a different SIM card overseas?

Apple stores iMessages on their servers only until they are sent to your device. Therefore, they will be sent to your iPhone once you put your original SIM back in.

Another option would be to add an email address to your iMessage account and then even messages sent to your original number will be forwarded to your phone with the temporary SIM in if it has the email address associated with your iMessage account.


Show ALL files starting with a dot in Finder

Well, I don't know about showing files starting with "." in the finder, but you can just as easily do what you want in the terminal. Just open the terminal go to the directory you want ( you start from your home directory you can use the "cd" command followed by the directory name like this: cd desktop or cd download. Once you are in the desired directory you can type ls -la to see a list of all the files and folders included the hidden ones that start with a "." You can open the files using the open command followed by the file name. You can also go inside the hidden directory by using the same cd command from before followed by the directory name.


How can I move photos from iPhone to my local disk?

When you plug your iPhone into your computer, Windows should pop up a dialog asking what you want to do with it. You should see an option to import photos. If you choose this, you can choose where you want the imported photos to be stored. You can also make 'import photos' the default behavior when you plug in your iPhone.

You are better off using the photo importer instead of trying to manually copy the files.

If you are using iCloud and Photostream, you can use the iCloud Control Panel to set up your computer to automatically import your Photostream photos. However, this only works with photos and not with videos.


How can I export .mobileconfig file from IOS10 to Mac?

You can get your .mobileconfig files from you iPhone/iPad backup (if you have an access to target device) as follows:

First, you need to create (or update) an unencrypted backup from iTunes.

Then you need to get a path to your backup. You can do this in iTunes preferences, in "Devices" tab:

Now you can search in backup directory for all .plist files, that contains PayloadType key and copy them to a directory on your Desktop:

BACKUP_DIR="PATH_TO_YOUR_BACKUP"
mkdir ~/Desktop/mobileconfigs

find "$BACKUP_DIR" -type f -name '*' -exec sh -c '
  for file do
    /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "print :PayloadType" "$file" &>/dev/null
    if [ $? == 0 ]; then
        cp "$file" "/Users/toma/Desktop/mobileconfigs"
    fi
  done
' sh {} +


How to drag icon in Preview to a folder and copy instead of aliasing?

Hold down the alt (option) key before dropping the icon in the Finder. That copies it for me, and that's been standard behavior in the Finder forever.


does thunderbolt support connecting multiple computers to a monitor

Do you mean multiple inputs (like a TV)? In that case, no. The Thunderbolt display supports one input but allows you to chain additional displays or drives using the Thunderbolt port on the back of the display.


How does the 4th generation iPod Shuffle know what time a song was last played?

You can find some information about the guts of an iPod Shuffle here.
Also because the selling point of a Shuffle is price (and portability) while still maintaining the Apple quality I don't think Apple would put much more components into it than what is absolutely necessary.


Hide a file extension by editing the file name in High Sierra

As others have commented, you weren’t hiding the file extensions, you were deleting them from the file name itself.  This will impact how the file functions.  But, if you haven’t had a problem so far, great.  Just avoid doing it from now on.

As you’ve noticed, there is an option in the information pane to hide the extension.  Oddly, I can’t explain why you’ve only noticed this now.  It has been there in earlier versions for quite some time.

The only way I’m aware of to get rid of file extensions is to make sure the Finder Preferences option you mentioned is unchecked, then batch select all the files of concern to you and hit ⌘+Alt+I to bring up a single information pane summarising all the selected files.  The checkbox to hide extensions can be checked and it will be applied to all files in your selection.

With the global preference set not to show file extensions, my feeling is that new files created will, by default, not have their extension visible.


How Can OS 10.9 Kotoeri Keyboard Layout Behavior Be Reverted To That of 10.8 and Earlier

This bug was fixed by Apple with update 10.9.1 of 12/17/2013

http://m10lmac.blogspot.com/2013/12/mavericks-update-fixes-japanese-input.html


Batch read file name and change content creation date

If the naming convention is the same for all files in the same directory, then in Terminal, cd to that directory and use the following compound command:

for f in *.*; do touch -t $(sed -e 's:\.[a-z].*::' -e 's:\.::' -e 's:[- ]::g'<<<"$f") "$f"; done

Explanation of some of the compound command:

for f in *.*; do ...; done - Loop through files.
touch -t [[CC]YY]MMDDhhmm[.SS] - Change the access and modification times to the specified time instead of the current time of day.
$(...) - Command substitution, replaces the command(s) with the result, literally.
sed - Stream editor for filtering and transforming text.

−e script - Add the script to the commands to be executed.
's:\.[a-z].*::' - This strips the file extension in e.g.: 2012-04-05 19.21.34.jpg

Returns: 2012-04-05 19.21.34

's:\.::' -  This removes the first . in e.g.: 2012-04-05 19.21.34

Returns: 2012-04-05 1921.34

's:[- ]::g' - This removes - and the space in e.g.: 2012-04-05 1921.34

Returns: 201204051921.34

Which is the perfect format for the -t option in the touch command.

Please note that the original compound command is formed a bit loose. In other words, it can be written to expressly target .jpg files where the extension is lower case as in your example, e.g.: 2012-04-05 19.21.34.jpg

Replacing the *.* in for f in *.*; do ...; done with: in *.jpg
Replacing the [a-z].* in sed -e 's:\.[a-z].*::' with: jpg

for f in *.jpg; do touch -t $(sed -e 's:\.jpg::' -e 's:\.::' -e 's:[- ]::g'<<<"$f") "$f"; done

Since the -t option is being used with the touch command, any filename that doesn't produce the expected output, the worst case scenario with it written a bit loose is its not going to impact non-target files and will simply error out on those files with:

touch: out of range or illegal time specification: [[CC]YY]MMDDhhmm[.SS]

So, written a bit loose or more targeted, the end results will be the same and, only files with the naming convention of e.g. 2012-04-05 19.21.34.jpg will be touched.

NOTE: Always make sure you have a current backup before wholesale processing files.


Disable automatic switching to 4G from WiFi which doesn't have internet connection

Put your iPhone into Airplane Mode to disable the cellular connection. Then re-enable Wi-Fi networking (you can do this even in Airplane mode). This will cause it to stick with the Wi-Fi network.


What are the steps to transfer an iPhone to someone else?

There are two separate issues here:

1. Transferring data plans

This is best dealt with directly through your carrier as CajunLuke notes. For person A, a simple SIM swap should work though, for person B you'll need to cut the 3G's SIM down to micro-SIM size to fit in the iPhone 4. And you can probably swap the SIM from the dumbphone into the 3G and have the appropriate data plans added on the account. Still check with your carrier to avoid headaches.

2. Transferring backups amongst the iPhones

This is pretty straightforward. It sounds like the iPhone users have already got them backed up, so you're most of the way there. Do a final backup, and make sure they remember the passwords.

I'd start with the 4S, since it's a clean phone anyway. When you plug it in to iTunes and activate it, it should ask if you want to set it up as a new iPhone, or restore it from a backup. If it doesn't, just right-click the iPhone in the iTunes source list and choose Restore from Backup. Check to make sure everything seems right on the phone, then you're good to go.

To set up the iPhone 4, start by wiping it clean (this is why you want to do the 4S first, in case something goes wrong, you still have the data on the 4). Go to Settings > General > Reset and select Erase all Content and Settings. You'll have to enter the phone's passcode if you use one. Once the wipe is complete, plug it in to Person B's computer and set it up via iTunes as you did with the 4S, but using the backup from Person B's 3G.

To set up the 3G, repeat the wipe process above, but set it up as a new phone in iTunes for person C. If the dumbphone has Bluetooth sync capability, you can try transferring contacts to the PC that way using iSync and Address Book (note that Lion no longer includes iSync, you'll need a 10.6 machine or lower). Alternatively, if the phone stores the contacts on the SIM, or has the option to copy them there, you can import SIM contacts on the iPhone by going to Mail, Contacts, Calendars in Settings and selecting Import SIM Contacts.

Apple has a good KB article detailing any additional information you might want located here.


2015 MBP - how to force integrated graphics?

gfxcardstatus is no longer maintained but I recreated it for modern macOS:

https://github.com/CodySchrank/gSwitch


Stop flagged messages in inactive accounts from contributing to Flagged counter

You've found a bug with Mail. I've just confirmed it fails for me as well. The count reflects the sum total of flags - and doesn't get filtered down when you disable an account that contributes to the total flag count.

I'll send a bug report to Apple and anyone else that cares can as well:

http://bugreporter.apple.com


Does turning on WiFi on iPhone use battery?

Yes. Your phone will be polling periodically for available networks, which will use battery. Even you set it to not ask to join networks, the radio is powered up and that takes some amount of power to do.


I need an application to read aloud any emails that come into a specific email address

As Mark mentioned, AppleScript is the way to go here:

Create a mail rule that runs the following script when an email from your home automation system is received.

using terms from application "Mail"
on perform mail action with messages theselectedMessages
    tell application "Mail"
        repeat with a_message in theselectedMessages
            set the_sender to extract name from sender of a_message
            if (junk mail status of a_message) is not true then
                tell me to say "Mail from " & the_sender
                tell me to say (get content of a_message)
                set read status of a_message to true
            end if
        end repeat
    end tell
end perform mail action with messages
end using terms from


To solve it (it's no longer needed as it's discontinued and was used for media creation in apps like iTunes and iPhoto):

Open the Terminal app (Spotlight search for 'terminal')
Type sudo softwareupdate --ignore iLifeSupport902
It will ask you for your password, enter it (you won't see it displayed on screen)
Close terminal and restart your Mac

It should now have disappeared.


How to format a disk to NTFS using Mac OS X

OS X can default read NTFS disks, but not write to them.

Possible solutions/options:

NTFS for Mac OS X (10 Days Trial): I use this one, and it does the job very well. When the driver is installed, you format your NTFS disks with Disk Utility where you select Windows NT Filesystem as the format.

Tuxera NTFS for Mac (15 Days Trial): I haven't tried this one, but it should also do the job.


The server returned the error: The server “imap.gmail.com” cannot be contacted on port 993

The canonical fix for troubleshooting Mail on OS X is to run the Connection Doctor (it's slightly buried in the Window menu without a keyboard shortcut to summon it) to isolate whether you have a general network error condition or a specific error on one or more of the accounts.

Each mail account will typically have two servers - different internet ports and potentially different username / password / authentication details.

Once you can isolate a specific error message on a specific port to a specific IP address, you can begin to troubleshoot whether you have a configuration issue, a network reachability issue or a server issue.

The show detail button is helpful to log the exact transactions and communications between Mail and the server.

If you have a vexing problem, I have found that disconnecting the network connection and quitting Mail (or forcing a reboot while the network is off) will let you start Mail and disable all Mail accounts except for one and also check for a stuck message or two in the Outbox. File those away as drafts so that you can then run connection doctor, re-enable the network and systematically work on the communication needed between the Mail program and your mail server.


Viewing VGA to USB input on a MacBook Pro

Easy enough to do with Microsoft Remote Desktop, available for free on the app store.

If you plug an Ethernet cable between the two computers they should negotiate a network connection and you will get gigabit speeds.

Note that this is different for what you can do with an iMac where you plug a Display Port video cable into the iMac and use the iMac as just a display. To the best of my knowledge Apple does not support this on its portables, only the iMacs so you are limited to whatever Microsoft Remote Desktop will support using RDP.

It is possible that there are other apps that might do a better job. VNC is a 3rd party open source remote control app, similar to Microsoft Remote Desktop except you will have to install it on both machines. There might be others that give you better performance but the MS app and a VLC app would be the place to start.


How to crop odd and even pages differently in a PDF?

So, after some tinkering, I was able to do it using Automator. I'd be very surprised if this is the most efficient way to do it, but you only need to create the workflow once.

Basically, there's an "Extract Odd & Even Pages" action that you can use to split the file. Here's a list of the workflow:

Ask for finder items.
Extract odd and even pages (Odd)
Move finder items (this moves the extracted PDF to a folder you specify, must be empty; otherwise, it'll be in a temporary folder that's hard to find).
Ask for finder items (select the original file again; otherwise, Automator will continue processing the file created in Step 2).
Extract odd and even pages (Even)
Move finder items (same as 3)
Ask for confirmation: Basically, it's a way to pause the workflow while you crop the pdfs. This is optional, you could just create a separate workflow (if you don't already have one) to combine the pdfs, and execute that once you're done. Otherwise, the idea is that you click "OK" after cropping both PDFs.
Get folder contents/Ask for finder items: Point to the folder where the two separate PDFs are located (or select both, if you used "Ask for finder items").
Combine PDF pages: Shuffle option
Move finder items (wherever you want the output).

That's the general idea, there are some refinements that could be done, if not a complete 'rewrite' to make it more efficient.


Changing Graphics Card on a 2006 Mac Pro

If you have a random low end PCI express graphics card you could probably put in any card and have it work and the most basic level. Guessing it should just work with no drivers on OS X although  it will probably be a horrible resolution and have no graphics acceleration, but it should work for when and if you need to throw a monitor on the Mac Pro when running OS X. However when booted into Windows it should be able to pick up the drivers from Windows Update or you can simply download and install drivers manually for any Windows compatible PCI Express graphics card.


Prevent application to post PreventUserIdleSystemSleep

No, there is no user accessible approach for blocking power assertions in macOS.
If you would like this feature in macOS, please let Apple know.


mac drains iPhone data-plan, while connected over USB

If your personal hotspot is on all the time (even when you are not using it), your iPhone will tether its 3G connection to any Mac or PC with iTunes by default when connected with a usb, and you can do nothing to change this behavior. You have to turn it on only when you’re actually using it, and you have to keep it off if you do not need it.


Creating a new contact in contact list but it doesn't show

Sounds like an issue with contact groups.  There are two places to check.

First from a contacts list screen click "Groups" in the top left and see if you have any contact groups that are unchecked.

Second go to Settings > Contacts and see what default account is set.  This effects what group is used when creating new contacts.


Change highlight color for deadkey previews (like accents: `´^¨) in terminal app

Check System Preferences > General > Highlight color to see if this yellow color has been selected. Perhaps another color would work better for your setup.


What OS X tweaks, hacks, or modifications couldn't you live without?

~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict

A property list that enables you to bind keystrokes to sequences of Objective-C methods. It can be used to define text editing macros that work in most standard text views.

{
    // copy paragraph (option-c)
    "~c" = (selectParagraph:, copy:);

    // convert selection to lowercase (option-minus)
    "~-" = (lowercaseWord:, moveForward:);

    // insert line below (command-return)
    "@\r" = (moveToEndOfParagraph:, insertNewline:,
    deleteToBeginningOfParagraph:);

    // insert an XML tag (option-shift-x)
    "~X" = (moveWordBackwardAndModifySelection:, setMark:, deleteToMark:,
    insertText:, "<></>", moveBackward:, yank:, moveWordBackward:,
    moveBackward:, moveBackward:, moveBackward:, yank:, moveForward:);
}

To get started, make ~/Library/KeyBindings/ and save a property list like the one above as DefaultKeyBinding.dict.

More information:

Cocoa Text System
lri.me/keybindings
github.com/ttscoff/KeyBindings


Where is file metadata stored in Mac OS X?

Extended file attributes
File metadata is stored in extended file attributes (EA) in macOS.
You can see them when listing files in Terminal using command:
ls -la@

For example if your file has a custom Finder icon, you could see listing similar to this one:
-rw-r--r--@ 1 user  staff  168142 Oct  1 23:02 file.ext
    com.apple.FinderInfo        32
    com.apple.ResourceFork  548373
    com.apple.metadata:_kMDItemUserTags     42

This means that file has 3 attributes (metadata), including resource fork holding the icon data.
Resource fork
To print resource fork contents of a file, you can use xattr command that allows you to access extended file attributes:
xattr -p com.apple.ResourceFork

however that might not be as useful because resource forks have only binary representation.
You can access that data in different way, through a dedicated filepath filename/..namedfork/rsrc. Using the example above to copy resource fork into a resource file (data fork):
cp file.ext/..namedfork/rsrc file.rsrc

Many commands have support for handling extended file attributes, for example cp -p will copy files including access control lists and extended attributes. If you want to copy resource forks separately, then you need to access them individually through ../namedfork/rsrc path.


How to change a key combination without using Karabiner?

You can change the text editing bindings for Cocoa apps with DefaultKeyBinding.dict. This will work for almost all applications where the ⌘ command+← left and ⌘ command+→ right worked before. (The only way it wouldn't work is if the application creator reimplemented those shortcuts from scratch, which is doubtful as it would be much easier to just use the versions that come free with a textfield.)

If the directory ~/Library/KeyBindings/ does not exist, create it.
Create the file DefaultKeyBinding.dict in that directory with contents like this:

{
    "@\Uf702" = moveWordBackward:;
    "@\Uf703" = moveWordForward:;
    "~\Uf702" = moveToBeginningOfLine:;
    "~\Uf703" = moveToEndOfLine:;
}

The @ refers to the Command key, ~ is Option, \Uf702 is Left, and \Uf703 is Right. The selectors on the right-hand side are the same ones used in the default file, /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Resources/StandardKeyBinding.dict, but switched around to match what you said in your question.
Restart an application for the changes to take effect in it.

Here's an in-depth guide to the Cocoa Text System that should help explain what's going on.


Corrupted iPhone App after IOS 5 Upgrade

It should still be in the purchased tab - you can check on a computer before you delete the corrupt version and re-download the latest version that was sold. I've been able to download many apps that are now no longer for sale so that seems to be the rule rather than the exception for apps that are no longer available for new purchasers.


Why does my iPhone keep prompting me for my Apple ID?

It seems this was a Skype issue due to "half-purchased" credit. Uninstalling and reinstalling Skype fixed it.


Apple-provided software to measure or estimate the CPU load associated with Core Storage

iotop would be the first place to go if Activity Monitor wasn't getting you an answer. It uses dtrace instead of the activitymonitord and has far superior probing skills without the "needing to learn DTrace" part.

Instruments would be my second choice but it has so many presets, it might be some probing until someone answers with an easy 1, 2, 3 to reveal the specific workload of FileVault 2.


Accessing 3rd party app files in iCloud from Windows

I don't think one is able to access 3rd party app data via www.iCloud.com. You may have a couple options despite that, the first being to get a Mac. Honestly, that's probably not very practical for you. Otherwise, IAWriter, may have a way to log into your account there and access files - a feature not uncommon with apps like that. If neither of those options work, then you will probably have to wait until they put out an app for Windows (which may not be very high on their list if it is on it at all.


DropDestination is Apple's developer terminology for the destination of a Drag action, e.g. when you drag something with the mouse from one app to another.

WebKit is Safari's HTML rendering engine. WebKitDropDestination appears in the WebKit source code and is part of the drag and drop code. The folder is intended to be temporary.

There doesn't seem to be any formal documentation of the term WebKitDropDestination or other references online.

If you have indeed dragged a bunch of your videos onto Safari or an application that uses web views, to upload them to a site, then this is the likely explanation.

If you haven't done anything of the kind, then it may serve some other use. Folders of this kind usually get deleted on a restart.


The quick and dirty way to trash a folder is to move another folder with the same name into the existing folder. It looks like you have a folder t which might be amenable to making a new folder on the data drive and name it identically to the folder you wish to nuke and then trashing the "new" t folder.

If that doesn't work, you should be able to open a finder window and attempt to rename the problematic file. See http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201583 for details.

Lastly, if nothing works, consider posting what format the /Volumes/DATA is via diskutil list and sudo ls -laOR /Volumes/DATA/.Trashes/


Edit Contracts, Tax, and Banking details

Yes, you can edit your information in almost all instances without needing Apple's help.

Worst case, if you are locked out for more than a long weekend, open a ticket with Developer Support and you should have help to clear up your issues.


Looking for a way to set the MacBook screen dimming delay

I'm not aware of a way to set the dimming time directly. You could always just increase the Display Sleep time in the Energy Saver preferences and then manually put the display to sleep when you're walking away from the machine. That's done with the combination ctrl - shift - eject


Which application to replace Superputty / PuTTY CM in macOS

Look further into terminal before you give up on it. Under the Shell menu, you'll find New Remote Connection.... The list of default servers will be auto-populated via Bonjour, but you can still create and save new sessions for ssh, sftp, ftp, and telnet. Of course, the default services in UNIX also allow you to create your SSH keys so that when you log into a remote host, you don't have to enter your password.

You can also customize your windows with a lot of features not seen in simple Windows packages like PuTTY. Be sure to check out your Terminal > Preferences... for customizing colors, keyboards, shell commands, fonts, screen size, key mappings, terminal emulation, and a whole lot more.

Oh, you can also create new sessions in tabs, not just new windows; the second option under the Shell menu will do that.


Where is system/library/extensions in OSX 10.10?

⌘-Shift-G is the hotkey for the "Go to Folder" dropdown menu. Just type in /System/Library/Extensions and click Go to open that folder.

P.S. I think your screenshot may be in your User folder, not the System folder. The System folder lives in Macintosh HD, not within a specific user's files.


How can I troubleshoot an Epson Perfection 1260 scanner that won't play nice with Mavericks?

The red light may mean that the scanner has detected an internal error, so start at that end.  First, try the scanner on another system if possible. If it works on another system, then the issue could be the USB connection or the software.

It is not unheard of (though rare) to have a bad USB cable, so if you have a spare, swap it for the current one and see if that helps.

There were sporadic disconnects in the early versions of Mavericks, so a system update may have solved your problem.  If not, start troubleshooting by making sure your software is up to date, then remove all other peripherals from your system and connect the scanner directly to your Mac ( no hubs ).  Try each USB port in turn, as there are differences in their internal connections.

I doubt that it would make any difference, but you can download and try a copy of vuescan, (hamrick.com) which uses a different driver.


Check the "archived software downloads"-section on their homepage here. There is a section for Bento v1, 2, 3 or 4, your product should be included as well. For example, try downloading Bento v4.1.2 from here ;)


iPad: Newly installed apps don’t show up on Home Screens

There's an upper cap on the maximum number of Home Screens that can be created on an iOS device. The count is a bit higher for iPad than for iPhone.

Once you hit the limit, any newly installed app doesn't show up on Home Screen, as no more screens can be created. You can still continue to install new apps as long as free storage space is available on your iPad.

You can search for an apps using Spotlight even if its icon is not visible. One way to view more apps is to organize apps within folders. A folder can house many apps (the limit varies between iPhone and iPad). Since a folder only takes up the visible are required for one app, you can see more apps when using folders than without one. (The maximum number of Home Screens or maximum numbers of apps in a single folder for a device are not officially documented and can be determined by experimenting.)

To create a folder, simply tap and hold on an app icon until all the icons start to wiggle. Now drag and drop an app icon onto another to house them into a folder. You can also assign a custom name to the folder to easily recognize it. However, you can not create a folder inside a folder.

Once you have organized apps into folders and are able to see the icons, you can drag to organize them on Home Screens as desired.

With iPad drag and drop support introduced with iOS 11, you can also quickly move multiple apps around.

Alternatively, if you have access to a Mac or a PC, you can also re-organize apps icons easily using iTunes.


Not if there's nothing currently playing. Play controls will try to resume the last thing you played that is still running and in memory. If the OS can't find anything to resume, it will default to iTunes.

All media applications are equal; but, iTunes is more equal.


List all programs without any window and kill them

Interesting problem.
Here's a snippet to help you start listing windows of apps:

tell application "System Events"
    set appProcs to every application process whose background only is false
    set appWins to ""
    repeat with eachProc in appProcs
        set appWinNum to title of every window of eachProc
-- Put "quit..." command into "if...then" :
        if (count of appWinNum) is equal to 0 then display ¬
                alert "No window found for app: \r\r" & name of eachProc
        set appWins to appWins & return & name of eachProc & ¬
                ":\n" & appWinNum & return
    end repeat
    display alert appWins
end tell

I didn't bother to set line feeds for multiple windows -- as there is a TREMENOUS drawback to this approach:

This script does not and will not find windows on each and every "space" set in Mission Control.
It's a pity, but as yet Mission Control is un-scriptable.

Your best -if ugly- solution would be to have each app put frontmost, then checked, then quit ...


Add a second signature in iPhone/iPad Mail

iOS only supports a single signature, but you can use iOS 5's new text Shortcut feature to manage multiple signatures. The feature is in the Settings app under "General | Keyboard | Shortcuts".

Add a shortcut for each signature, e.g. wsig = Work Signature and psig = Personal Signature

Shortcut only supports single lines of text, so I get around this by having my default sig be my name plus a new line, then I type the shortcut text on the blank line after my name.


What means SecTaskLoadEntlitlements failed error=22

You need a bit of introduction to understand what SecTaskLoadEntitlements really is/does:

An application (.app) in OS X is really a folder containing a number of files, including the actual program, resources (graphics, sounds, etc) as well as system files such as plist files.

One of these plist files contains a descriptions of the application's entitlements. An entitlement is either that the application "can do" a certain thing, or that it has permission to do a certain thing.

Examples on OS X would be for an app to have the permission to get read-only access to your Music folder, or that it is allowed to interact with Bluetooth devices, record from your microphone, etc.

Application on the OS X App Store are required to use entitlements in so that that they're required to be sandboxed, which is an entitlement in itself.

In order to make sure that entitlements cannot be changed or unrightfully gained, the entitlements are "signed". This means that the developer of the application uses a specific cryptographic key to "sign" the entitlements.

OS X checks the signature when loading in new applications, and only if it is signed correctly will it load the entitlements and apply them to the program.

Your error message means that the "launchd" program tried to load in the entitlements for an application, but it failed with error number 22. The number 22 means that an invalid argument (parameter) was given.

This completes the explanation of what SecTaskLoadEntitlements is.

To answer your main question you need to know what launchd is. Launchd in general is the first program started when you boot OS X - it has process identifier number 1. Its job is to start all the other programs necessary for booting your computer. It can also start programs based on time and events, such as for example hardware changes.

Therefore the log messages you see are not necessarily linked to the problem you're having. Launchd is running continually no matter if you're playing the game or not. There is no indication that the log messages relate to your game as per the information you have given. It is thus unlikely that the problem with your game has anything to do with SecTaskLoadEntitlements.

I would write a message to the Dread Out support to ask for a fix.


Legally run IE for testing via Parallels on Mac, _without_ buying Windows?

Got it working. Microsoft currently publish free, official Windows virtual machines for things like Parallels and others, for exactly this sort of testing - currently distributed on http://modern.ie

Go to the visualization page downloads section and choose 'Mac' then 'Parallels'.
For me (on Lion, July 2013) the "IE9 – Win7" VM didn't work at all, but the "IE10 – Win7" worked first time. Download it and extract the pvm file using the terminal commands provided. It's a big download, about 3.5gbs.
Run the newly extracted pvm file (after installing parallels) which should open in Parallels and boot up. If it asks if the VM was 'Moved' or 'Copied', chose "Copied".

A few tips for working with Windows through Parallels in this way:

Downloads within IE go to the regular Mac download folder by default
It seems to work first time with whatever input methods you have on the Mac. Copy and paste between applications "just works", and (unlike Virtualbox), if you usually use a non-standard input device like a graphics tablet, it works in the visualized Windows windows just as well as everywhere else
...that said, it still interprets the numpad default differently as by default numpad numbers are arrow keys until you hit the 'Clear' button (while your Windows VM is focused) then it acts just like when the NumLock key is on for PC keyboards, i.e. you get numbers.
If you have trouble entering credentials for any web pages, it seems like it adds a domain of its own (e.g. "IE10win7") rather than using the default for your network. If you have trouble logging in, try adding your network domain with a Windows-style backslash (e.g. enter domain\username as your username instead of username)
To switch so that instead of ae Windows window with desktop, start button, etc, it treats each Windows application like a Mac application with its own separate window and doc icon, switch to 'Coherence mode' (View > Enter coherence)
In 'Coherence mode', where Windows apps are treated and docked just like Mac apps, if you need to get to the windows desktop view for any reason, use the red parallels icon in the tray at the top right and 'Exit coherence'.

And just in case anyone is in the exact same position as me, needing IE for testing and for doing stuff in Sharepoint, you can install Sharepoint Designer in the VM but it has to be the 32 bit version.


Seeking text editor for Dropbox on iPad and iPhone

I’ve been using Editorial, which edits files right in Dropbox (so they sync), though mostly for Markdown files (which it has preview support for). I believe it does have a search feature like you describe.


In Mountain Lion, the Reminders application is able to do this. You create a reminder, then open it up and check "remind me on a day." You can then set a time for the reminder. If your computer is asleep at the scheduled time, the reminder will show up next time it's awake.


Install bootcamp with my parallels partition

It is not a trivial task - it's easy the other way round, but not this way…

Converting/Cloning a Parallels VM to Bootcamp on Mac has the full details, but this is the précis…

Process Outline
These are the basic steps required to get the job done:

Create the Boot Camp partition and make it bootable.
Copy the source vm’s filesystem to the boot camp partition.
Fix the Boot Camp partition’s mount devices and boot manager.
Fix the Boot Camp partition’s storage controller drivers and registry values.

Prerequisites

A Mac computer of course.
Parallels Desktop
The Windows 7 virtual machine which is to be cloned to the Boot Camp partition. This will be referred to as the “source VM”.
A second Windows 7 virtual machine which you’ll use to manipulate the source VM and the Boot Camp partition. This will be referred to as the “transfer VM”.
A Windows 7 install disk.
Either a Mac OS X install disk or a second Mac that can be connected via a Firewire cable.
A USB flash drive (of any size).


Where in the file system are iPhoto pictures located?

iPhoto Photos Location

iPhoto stores photos and meta-data in the user's home folder:

~/Pictures/iPhoto Library

Within this folder, the original photos are stored at:

~/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters

Bulk Copy with rsync

If the user name was friend, the rsync command to copy all the original photos to the local desktop would be:

rsync -ra '/Volumes/MacMini/Users/friend/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters' ~/Desktop


Use trackpad for annotation in Preview without clicking

If your MacBook has a Force Touch trackpad, you can use the Draw tool instead of the Sketch tool.

  Draw

  Draw a shape using a single stroke. Press your finger more firmly on the trackpad to draw with a heavier, darker line.

  This tool appears only on computers with a Force Touch trackpad.

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH20218


that is a trick you may tried it out, it's work for me for now.

1) use air dryer heat up your phone at the top part(you can aim on the headphone jack) until you iphone shown up the temperature screen.

2) When the temperature screen show up , turn off you phone (caution! the phone is very HOT).

3)After it is off pit it into a zip lock bag.

4)Let it rest for 1-2min and then put into the freezer for 30Min

5)When you take it out let it remain in zip lock bag and turn on the phone ( it may show battery low screen. If it's happen wait for a while and try turn it on again)

6) You are done!! you fix your wifi.

It will grayed out again whenever you update to a newer version of ios, so if that happen redo this proccess. So far it work for me, you may give it a try..


Is there a quicker way to clear cache on Safari mobile?

I have found that reloading a Web page in Mobile Safari twice clears the cache for the current Web page. Simply press reload, wait for it to finish loading, then reload again.


Did you buy it used? It sounds like the previous owner did not sign out of iCloud and turn off Find my iPhone before he sold it to you. If you can contact him and have him do it from iCloud.com, you'll be fine. If not, the phone is useless.


Mac os X - locked outside my account (language!)

This adds the language selection to the login window:

From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
Click Users & Groups to display the pane (or choose User & Groups from the View menu).
If the lock icon in the lower-left corner of the window is closed, click it, then enter the name and password of an administrator to unlock it.
Click Login Options.
Select the "Show Input menu in login window" checkbox.

Source: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4099


iPhone/iPad alarm clock app with custom radio stream support

TuneIn Radio. I've not looked back since.


A quick fix that brought the inspector back for me was to resize the web inspector pane by moving the mouse to the top edge until the pointer changed to the resizing pointer and dragging.


How to properly setup a reliable roaming WiFi with Airport Base Stations and an existing router

First, you will not receive adequate routing performance on network by way of the ISP's embedded router.

How to build WiFi 101

Log in to the AirPort devices and configure:

Internet set to DHCP
the Network to Bridge mode
the Wireless to create a wireless network
Enable an alternate name on the 5 GHz network (you could simply append "(5 GHz)" to the wireless network name)
leave the wireless channels set to automatic
Change Radio mode to 802.11a/n - 802.11b/g
Change the country to your own to avoid interconnection problems on 5GHz

Place the first AP at centrally in one extremity of the building. Join the AP on the 5 GHz network. Option-Click the WiFi menu to read the RSSI value. Determine the next AP location by by measuring where the signal dips below 65-70.

Once you've placed all the APs join all 5 GHz capable WiFI devices to the 5 GHz WiFi. Join all remaining devices to the non-5 GHz (2.4 GHz) network.

Protip: There's a great tool called WiFi Diagnostics in /System/Library/CoreServices. Check it out.


I normally use the sleep mode 99% of the time.  The only time I ever shut down is when there is a software update that requires it.  Or once  a month or so, I see my machine getting "confused" and a restart seems to resolve the issue.  (I usually just restart and then continue, using sleep when done for the time being.)


Can an iOS app be released as a public beta?

To reiterate what I wrote in the comments: Apple does not currently have any "open beta" program like Google Play's Early Access. In terms of TestFlight's scalability, you can invite up to 10,000 testers through the platform (as is listed on Apple's TestFlight web page).


First you need to understand that every email client used different email formats while saving/archiving their email database. For example Apple Mail archives its email database in .mbox format.

On the other hand Outlook for windows can imports or archives its email database in .pst file.

So, in order to migrate your email database from Apple Mail to Windows Outlook you will need to convert .mbox email database files into .pst.

Unfortunately there is no free solution to this problem. There are paid application available online for such conversion. I am mentioning one that appeared on top ranks for my search of "Apple Mail to PST" on google.

http://applemailtopst.com/
(I haven't used this application)


iPhone 6, iOS 11.1.2: Messages app closing right after I open it

iOS 11.2 did it. But what was the issue itself, who knows.


Outlook 2016 unable to connect to Exchange 2007

According to https://products.office.com/en-us/office-system-requirements?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

Office 2016 requires Exchange 2010, at a minimum, for "certain advanced functionality".

"Outlook 2016 does not support connections to Exchange Server 2007."


Cannot connect to Mac (Big Sur) running SSH server while connected to VPN

If this works when the VPN software is disconnected, then you now have a case to make a configuration change on the VPN server to allow split tunneling.
By default, many VPN servers demand and check that all traffic to the Mac (or PC or Android or iOS or unix client) connect only through the VPN. This causes intentional breakage of ssh since its can no longer listen for an incoming connection from your local subnetwork.
Signing in to a single tunnel VPN intentionally breaks the interface since it exists on the other end of the network tunnel which is a different network range. This is a security issue as most companies consider VPN a firewall to prevent any communications as you have described. This is working as intended for many VPN setups and what you ask may break or be contrary to security setup decision.
Options to change this include:

Try to establish your ssh session before VPN tunnels engage.
Change the nature of your VPN tunneling configuration to allow split tunneling.
Use a network to network VPN tunnel instead of a client to network tunnel.

It’s a good idea to review your security policy if someone else imposes VPN since this could be outside their design parameters or violate security policy if split tunneling is intentionally disabled.


Difference between the Sennheiser i300 and MM70i headphones for iPhone/iPod/iPad

Huh! So I asked an Apple representative, but they didn't know. I also asked Sennheiser and they finally got back to me. Apparently the i300 are exclusive to Apple (as I suspected), and although they look very similar to the MM70i, they're apparently closer in sound performance to the cheaper MM30i.

So basically, the Apple exclusive Sennheiser i300 are equivalent to the Sennheiser MM30i.

You can see the MM30i here:
http://www.sennheiser.co.uk/uk/home_en.nsf/root/private_headsets_mobile_music_504739

According to the Sennheiser representative, the MM70i has a better bass response and more accessories than either the MM30i or the i300.

So, from what I can gather, it seems buying the cheaper MM30i, or the more expensive MM70i, is a better option than the Apple exclusive i300.

Update: Since I wrote this question, it appears that Apple have reduced the RRP of their i300 to match that of the MM30i. However, as Amazon seems to consistently offer a 30% discount on the MM30i's, the Apple exclusive headphones are still more expensive in a practical sense.


Several things are happening here:

It sure looks like there are bugs in the space determination with mobile backups.
It's hard to tell in Finder since your user may not have permissions to read / calculate file sizes in many.
Your spotlight database is suspect and might need rebuilding (where much of the data that System Information uses to make those nice colored bar graphs)

I would try three things to see if you can get a better view of your data.

Turn off local time machine
Set all local drives to be private in Spotlight
Boot into recovery mode and verify the boot volume / repair / back up if needed
Remove the volumes from Spotlight privacy and wait for the reindexing process to finish

You also might want to look into a tool like WhatSize which can measure folder and file sizes as the administrator (root user). Also, using df and diskutil list in the terminal will help you get a lower level look at actual file system data size summaries.


What IR receivers would work on a 2010 MacBook Air?

For IR, it sounds like you want Twisted Melon's Manta TR1 ($20).

As far as a Bluetooth remote goes, it depends on what you want to do with the remote. If all that matters to you is cheap, take a look at the Targus Bluetooth Laser Presentation Remote (~$20).


Will upgrading to Lion boost performance and responsiveness?

All of the press / industry coverage is focusing on the huge usability changes (and that mirrors the marketing that Apple is doing).

Some notable exceptions are the new Safari which runs some benchmarks like web app and JavaScript significantly faster.

The major changes under the hood speak more to security, sandboxing and plumbing the new multi-touch interface, encryption, auto save, auto revisions rather than speed.

It is too soon to tell if speed is much better, but once people adapt to the changes, the idea is we will be much more efficient with the computer waiting for us less than the other way around. I would expect your experience with the hardware you mentioned to be a minor speedup in pure numbers but a major speedup as your brain becomes free from worrying about saving, window management and revisions (assuming you adapt to the changes and like them)

I get the feeling that with mission control and full screen apps, that the UI is incredibly fluid and optimized but I'm running on some faster macs than yours.

Fun times, huh?


iTunes and XCode not recognising devices after disconnected, until restart

Using the following in Terminal is an alternative to resting your Mac.

sudo launchctl stop com.apple.usbmuxd

You still have to quit and relaunch iTunes or Xcode in order to see the device.


Which setting in osx could block "ping localhost"?

The obvious choice would be if stealth mode were on. That blocks pings to localhost on all my Mac OS systems. Go to System Preferences, Security & Privacy, Firewall, Firewall Options...

Also, if you have "Block all incoming connections" that might also affect things. I would certainly turn off LittleSnitch since it also can and will block that sort of traffic if you haven't allowed it.


iCloud drive for desktop, documents, and downloads folder and dropbox in its own folder

This is perfectly fine.
In fact, you can have multiple services all running like iCloud, OneDrive, DropBox, etc.  Each will have their own folders.  Documents, Downloads, and Desktop by default sync to iCloud.  The other services do not re-map those folders to their services.


Recovery Mode is not available for MacBook Pro

You can have a failing hard disk that shows no errors in Disk Utility. Not all hard disk crashes are due to head landing, they can be electronical components overheat, the electronic components fails gradually slowing down the disk speed to null in a few months. I suggest a disk clone and a swap.


Is it possible to display my Mac on my iPhone using a USB cable?

They are the only options as of now. They are slow because of your internet.

Even USB have speed limitation.

And using a USB cable 6 or 12 feet long would defeat the purpose (you are to close to the Mac for any benefit).

Your WiFi speed should be good enough to watch streaming Videos without delay showing > 200kb/s.

To check, click on the WiFi while holding the alt key, that will open more detailed information on your WiFi.

In there it should say

MCS index >10


In Mavericks, how can I make Paste and Match Style the default for Cmd-V?

While it may not work in all applications there is a way of doing this for a large number. Certainly it works in Pages, Numbers and TextEdit but not Microsoft Word, where you have to do it within the application.

All you need to do is open System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts and select App Shortcuts in the left hand pane. Click on All Applications in the right hand pane and the + at the bottom.

In the Menu Title field enter Paste and Match Style then click in the Keyboard Shortcut field and press command-V. Then click on Add

You will now see that your shortcut is added. When you open Pages, for example, you will see that Paste no longer has a shortcut (you could add one using the same method) and right next to Paste and Match Style in the Edit menu is your new working shortcut,command-V. Oh, frabjous joy!


Any app that attempts image or movie conversion locks up

QuickTime in Mavericks saves it's application state to /Users/USERNAME/Library/Containers/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX/Data/Library/Saved Application State/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX.savedState/. If you rename that last folder, then QuickTime should then essentially launch with a blank slate.


How do I stop my iPhone from telling me by voice what keys I press and instead respond to them

Your device currently has on a feature called voice over which is made for people who are visually impaired.
One touch tells you what you have pressed, two touches will actually perform the intended action.

Triple clicking the home button typically turns off the voice over feature unless you have the magnifier enabled.

Once you have unlocked your device:

-go to settings, use the tap sequence
-three finger scroll to get to general than use the tap sequence
-three finger scroll to accessibility ,use the tap sequence and turn off the voice over, once again using the tap sequence.


How do you prevent a process from automatically restarting? (specifically, sophos antivirus)

This means that there is another monitor process which relaunches it.

You can check out who is the parent process: select the process in activity monitor and use the Info button, or via terminal with ps -ax -O ppid if I recall correctly.

It might be another process by Sophos but with a stealth name, or maybe even your VPN software. In that case you can just kill'em all.
The other possibility is that the process is being kept alive by the launch daemon launchd. In this case you will find an entry (a plist XML file) for your antivirus in either ~/Library/LaunchAgents, /Library/LaunchAgents (likely) or /System/Library/LaunchAgents (I dearly hope not).

If the second is the case, you can either:

Edit the file, and change the KeepAlive parameter, either removing or changing it (you can do nifty things, see the docs for more).
Just ask launchd to do the stopping for you. Unfortunately you can't just tell to launchtl stop since the process would just respawn. You'll have to use  sudo launchctl unload /path/to/the/plist file


How can I remotely monitor whether a Mac is connected to the Internet?

I'd look at osquery for collecting that sort of data from a fleet of Macs. You might whip together something that's more narrow - but this will let you alert on disconnects as well as monitor / detect many other issues that will crop up on a daily basis.

You might be a candidate for using Apple Remote Desktop to create lists of hardware and it reaches out to each one and determines online status and can be automated for reporting. If your fleet is less than 2,500 devices, that might be just fine although it starts to become unwieldy or just need some time to complete tasks when you're handling more than a few hundred remote connections for anything but basic operations.


Mac is boot looping after Mojave update. Can access disk utility. No backup. Can I get the data off it?

Reset the SMC (hold opt control shift and the power button for 20 seconds) then reset the NVRAM 3 times (3 on and off of the lcd monitors backlight) first.

Try to boot into Recovery mode or Internet Recovery (option command and R keys).

Is it looping after the Apple logo has come on the screen? If so then you probably can do what you mention since in that case it's likely a software issue although the drive could be failing. Do you mean the update failed and then the OS wouldn't boot right after?


"All Mail" in apple mail basically is just what it sounds like: a catch-all for everything on your e-mail account. I believe it does include your trash, but not your spam folder. That might be why it included an "erased" message.


Magsafe "L" light takes few seconds before turning off after being unplugged

It's nothing more than capacitor discharge.

The larger the capacitance, the longer it takes to dissipate once the power source is removed.

It's a power smoothing feature, not just in laptop chargers but many other electrical items.
Without it, small power fluctuations in the mains would cause computer glitches or crashes - or in simpler structures like LED lighting, flickering.


Try turning off the automated download of updates.

Launch the System Preferences
Go to the App Store preferences pane
Uncheck Download available updates in the background


For my Magic Mouse, Setting the Secondary click option to "click on left side," simply makes it so that the "right click" (contextual) behavior is reversed.  i.e. left-clicking brings up a menu, and right-clicking is a normal click.  UNchecking the checkbox beside Secondary Click turns off the "right click" behavior altogether.


How do I unset an IP address set with ifconfig?

Use delete:

ifconfig en1 delete 192.168.141.99


Hostname changes in the terminal when connecting to some wifi networks

On Lion (at least), the best way to achieve this is by running scutil:

sudo scutil --set HostName NAME

replacing NAME with the hostname you want. Note that /etc/hostconfig is deprecated, if you can believe a comment at the top of the file.


How can I fix Gboard hang after I use google dictation (long press on spacebar)?

Xcode has a visual profiler and debugger called instruments. Once you r device with your Mac, you might be able to snoop on the error logs, system calls and such. You will be at the mercy of however much symbols and logging google enables.

Better might be to seek support from the vendor of the app if Xcode is either not an option or not helpful once you try it.

N-2 iOS version support might be scant from google, but it’s only your time to try and get support from them.


Long overdue answer to this one…

Simple answer - Marvin (paid & free versions) plus Calibre (free, donationware) for format changing, editing etc & plugins by Wulf Krueger (again free, donationware) (iOS Reader applications & Marvin XD) for simple transmission to iPhone rather than having to use iTunes.

Join my Facebook group Revive Stanza for iOS 5 & check the back history. Wolf Krueger was very active in the early days, when there was a lot of discussion as to what might be the ideal replacement for Stanza. It's gone very quiet over the past year or so, as it became more & more apparent there was going to be no further move on Stanza, so it's an archive rather than an active group any more.

There are, of course, as many book reader apps as there are book readers, so I'm certain there are more opinions on which is best than anyone could reasonably wade through.

The group, btw, isn't trying to sell anything, or even force everybody to adopt the same new app & all opinions are the responsibility of the poster; it was just a meeting place for many people stuck in the same situation when Stanza went away.


How can I manage apps with File Sharing within iOS (without using computer)?

If you have already jailbreaked, then you can use iFile. If not, sorry I don't know either.


Wrong Root Name Appearing in Terminal | MacOS

Ok So you can give a name to your HostName :
sudo scutil --set Hostname "The name you want"

You will have to give your password for this operation. And it's nor appear when you give it.


Considering 27" iMac. Can I use it as a TV?

The best way to get TV hooked up to a Mac is through a TV Tuner. The best TV Tuners for Mac are by far the EyeTV tuners. The TV tuner could also be used to hook up to your Wii, however that is a bit impractical. Instead consider buying an adapter from RCA to Mini-Display Port to use your iMac as a Monitor for the Wii.


While iStat Menus @Mark mentioned are no longer freeware, the iStat nano and iStat Pro Dashboard widgets are free.

I personally use iStat nano for my system monitoring needs. Here it is showing the temps it can read on my iMac:

If you hover over the widget, you can change the view. I usually have it running in "Overview" mode, which shows CPU, RAM, HDD*, fan*, temperature*, network* and uptime info.

*) user-configurable, e.g. which temp sensor's readings are displayed


Catalina Trusted Root CA certificates are revoked - Chrome

I just figured out that macOS Catalina has a limitation on a certificate validity dates (and some other things), a certificate can't have a validity period more than 825 days and my certificate was valid for about 5 years.

So I regenerate my certificate and replace the old one with a certificate that
 has a smaller validity period and everything is working fine now!

According to apple's support page, a TLS certificate should meet this requirement:

The key size must be at least 2048 bits.
Hash algorithm must be SHA-2 or newer.
DNS names must be in a SubjectAltName, not in the CN field only.

and if certificates are issued after July 1, 2019:

The ExtendedKeyUsage extension must be present, with the id-kp-ServerAuth OID.
The validity period should be less than 825 days.


Trying to get Sublime Text 3 working from terminal

You need to add ~/bin to your PATH variable. In Terminal, type cd to return to your home directory. Then, type bin/subl .profile to open your ~/.profile file. If it doesn't exist, Sublime will just create an empty file. Add this line to it:

export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH

and save the file. Close out of Sublime, and restart Terminal. You now should be able to use the subl command from any directory.


Using the answer space as somewhere to park the image for now…

It looks  like you have a 180° Hue shift. I can achieve the same intentionally in Photoshop by doing that - note how it also affects all the icon colours in the same way too.

Two things to test.

Post a screenshot as well as your photo, to check whether it looks the same [hardware test].
Check Displays > Colour & make sure you have the correct profile chosen. Try a few different ones & see if they make any significant difference.

From comments above - & I had already tested this before posting this answer…
It doesn't look like Accessibility Colour Inversion, because even if you're set to Dark Mode, most of the Control Panel will look similar to these images, but icons such as Mouse would have turned black.


Does the performance increases when the memory increases in Apple products?

All 3rd generation iPads perform pretty much identically, because they have the same CPU, GPU and RAM (memory). Battery life varies between the Wifi and Wifi+4G models (with the 4G models getting a bit less battery life in exchange for a bit more connectivity).

The 16/32/64gb figure refers only to how much data (music, videos, books, apps and associated stuff) you can store on the device.

I suspect when apple drop OS support for the 1st generation iPad, they'll drop them all at once, no matter how much storage space they have.


Did you post your ctivo issue over on Github? The other place to look for options is tivocommunity.com