Will I ever lose the apps that I've bought?

You'll have all of your apps for the life of your iTunes account, and you can download them again at any time for no charge.

The only exception is apps that have been removed from the App Store for legal reasons -- generally copyright violation of some form -- or if they're removed by Apple due to some rules violation, both of which are very rare.

Apple has been gradually improving its App Store interfaces so it's easier to determine which apps you already own. Until recently if you saw an app in the store that you already purchased the link to access it would still have the price: if you clicked it and you already owned it you'd be presented with a dialog that indicated that you'd already purchased it and asked if you just wanted to download it again.

As of now the App Store app on the iPad now intelligently replaces the price with "installed" if you have it installed (and, I believe, "install" if you've purchased it but it's not on the device), and the very latest iPhone App Store app seems to be doing it now, too. iTunes 10.3 appears to be doing it as well.


Can I suppress the dot under an image caption in pages for macOS?

This issue occurs when you choose the "Image Gallery" option from one of two places either:

Menu Bar > Insert > Image Gallery
Tool Bar > Media > Image Gallery

The dot underneath is used to support multiple images being in that box similar to an image gallery function on a website.

The reason that you do not see this when you copy and paste an image or drag one in is that it inserts the image as an image and not as a single image within an image gallery.

The solution is to delete the image gallery and insert the image into the Document by one of the following ways:

Drag and Drop from Finder onto the Pages Document
Copy and Paste the image
Menu Bar > Insert > Chose ... (Select file)
Tool Bar > Media > Chose ... (Select file)

I have added an image to further illustrate this incase it was not clear.


What is the best Homebrew version for an iBook running Tiger?

According to this issue, it seems like the Tiger branch is the most exactly accurate in that case.


Is the X-mailer number assigned to a specific iPad?

The X-Mailer header is used to identify the client application that is sending the message.

If there is a number in this header it should be the version number of the client mail application.  It is not unique to your iPad, all emails sent from the same device model with the same version of the Mail app will have the same number.


Is the 3G data rate slower when reception is poorer?

Short Version: Yes but it largely depends.

Why?: 3G networks travel through air and are subject to interference (as any microwave, radio wave, etcetera). Just like a Wi-Fi network, the principle is the same (only 3G requires a stronger signal from the iPhone, hence why 3G drains more battery, the distances in 3G are measured in miles/Km), as opposed to the limited range of a 11n network). When you are far, the distance for the wave to travel is more and therefore is subject to signal degradation, interference, etc.

All these nuisances in the signal travel, cause more packages that need to be resent, which increases the response time and the amount of information that must be transferred.

Say you request an image, the server gets the request and starts sending data. The signal is low, so the reception is bad, your iPhone keeps saying: what? say again… I didn’t hear the last part…

To put a real life example: If you’re talking 5 feet away from a person, you can understand hear him ok, provided the ambient noise is low. Now add some noise… you need to talk louder and sometimes you need to request for the other person to repeat because you didn’t hear.
Now put that person 50feet away…

You’re starting to get an idea.

Now we have to add another real factor:

3G towers could be a few miles away from you, and there could be a few, so the phone must try to find the strongest one, this process is also time consuming and it causes so many packages to be dropped. When something is dropped, it must be resent…

All in all, it really depends. You might have a low signal, but a decent throughput, but think that the weakness in the signal is making it harder for your phone to communicate.

Think that wireless connections, need to be as stable as possible to work, and in order to do that, they reduce the speed on purpose. I.e.: send less, but stronger.

Now I don’t have graphs or numbers (nor the real knowledge to be honest) to explain you how the whole 3G works and what is really involved, but having worked with a driver for a wifi modem, I know about the compromise of the stack to “slow down” when the strength of the signal is bad. You have a limited bandwidth and a limited strength, you have to balance. Wireless prefers strength over speed (which I understand) ;)


What's the 2020/Catalina method of getting my Mac to boot with Windows Bootcamp next time only?

One primary purpose of the "nextonly" option is to allow for installation of a startup manager. For example, if you install rEFInd as a boot manager, then you would configure the Mac to always boot to rEFInd. This boot manager can be configured to display different operating system to boot. After a selection is made, rEFInd instructs the firmware to boot this operating system once. After the selected operating shuts down or restarts, the firmware will boot back to rEFInd.
One possible solution to your problem would be to install rEFInd and configure to allows boot to macOS after a small delay. You could then during this delay choose to boot instead to Windows.
rEFInd has implemented a new feature that allows you press a number at startup. This number is stored in the keyboard buffer. When rEFInd starts up, the number is read from this buffer. If the number matches a menu item, then the operating system matching the item will boot. This feature was implemented to avoid having to make a select during the small delay mentioned in the previous paragraph.


How to enable "Click-to-play" in Google Chrome Version 43.0.2357.124 (64-bit)?

Google Chrome Version 55.0.2883.95 (64-bit) on macOS Sierra 10.12.2

It looks like the solution for Chrome 43 doesn't work any longer as the Let me choose choose when to run plugin content option is no longer present in the settings.

At the moment you can:

Open Settings (you can do it by clicking  and then Settings or by clicking ⌘+,).
Click + Show advanced settings.
Enter the Content settings in the Privacy section.
Go to the Flash section and choose Block sites from running Flash.

More information here: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/142064?hl=en

Google Chrome Version 43.0.2357.124 (64-bit) on OS X Yosemite

Ok, so I've found it. It is not presented as Click to play any longer (it used to be in previous versions of Chrome and is still presented like this in Chromium).

If you want to turn this option on you've got to:

Open Settings (you can do it by clicking ☰ and then Settings or by clicking ⌘+,).
Click Show advanced settings....
Enter the Content settings in the Privacy section.
Enable Let me choose choose when to run plugin content in the Plugins section.

It seems quite obvious now, but I've been trying to find this for a few weeks by now, because it was called Click to play before.


Unhide /etc dir but NOT using 'AppleShowAllFiles'. Possible?

On my system running Lion (10.7.4), the command sudo chflags -h nohidden /etc revealed the /etc folder at the top level of my hard drive.

The -h flag to chflags makes it act on a symbolic link rather than on the linked file.

The man page for chflags states "Unless the -H or -L options are given, chflags on a symbolic link always succeeds and has no effect." The behavior I observe when I run it is not consistent with this description: I very much do see an effect when I run chflags on this particular symlink.

If that solution doesn't work for you, or if you don't want to make /etc visible to all users on your system but you do want to easily navigate there in the Finder and in Open, Save, etc. dialog boxes, you could run a command like ln -s /etc ~/etc. That would create a (visible) symbolic link to the /etc directory in your home directory. When you double click it, it would open the /etc directory (actually the /Private/etc directory because /etc is a symlink thereto in OS X).


Can I tell Finder to show a Folder path when accessing the Folder from Favorites?

You can right-click (control-click) on the folder name in the Titlebar of the Finder window and select a parent folder and or you can expose the Path Bar in Finder (View > Show Path Bar) and select a parent folder from there.

Also from the Sidebar you can right-click (control-click) on the Favorites name and select Open Enclosing Folder, although this opens another Finder window whereas the previous suggestions stay within the same Finder window.

Additionally one should become familiar with the keyboard shortcuts of Finder which one can see shown on each menu in Finder, particularly the Go menu.  Like, Command–Up Arrow as mentioned by Ivan Chau in the OP comments.

Note: See Finder shortcuts in: Mac keyboard shortcuts


Can DVI displays and thunderbolt ports be expected to wake the monitors every time from sleep?

I have this same issue on my iMac 27" (Mid 2011) with one external DVI monitor. I took the iMac into the Apple store and the genius couldn't provide an answer to why this was occurring. I also tried using both Thunderbolt ports and the issue would happen on both. So for now what I did was to not let my iMac go into sleep mode. I set it to just have the display's go to black and when I activate the iMac the external display always comes back. Hoping a future update to Mountain Lion OS X 10.8 will fix this issue.


Manually deleting the Safari cookies on Yosemite is not working

I don't understand the full interplay, but rebooting will fix cookie retention [presumably held in cache] - that is separate from login details remembered by Keychain & also Form Values etc.

If you really want a clean sweep, try OnyX (free/donationware) > Cleaning > Internet - choose what you need to delete from there…

Safari has its own simpler version, though I'm not certain quite what it does delete…


No sound through USB-C to HDMI adaptor on MacBook Air 2019

After trying yet another adaptor (the Anker mentioned in the comment by IconDaemon) without success, I restarted the machine to reset NVRAM. It fixed the issue. In System Preference, the Sound panel now recognizes external devices, and sound goes through HDMI regardless of the adaptor I’m using (StarTech, CLDAY or Anker).


Time machine: moving a source external disk to a new computer

To make sure I understand - you have one external HD for data, plugged into your new computer, that was previously attached to your OLD computer - and you backed up your old computer + this drive to a second Time Machine drive?

Time Machine is not recognizing the old archive because the new machine is a fresh install. So it made a new backup. The data drive (which you state is being seen as a "new drive") would have been part of that old machine backup - Time Machine should recognize things on a per-computer, not per-drive basis. Unless you tell your new machine to inherit the old backup, the existing backup of your data disk will be ignored as well, and a new backup will be created with that disk as part of your current computer backup.

SSDs are great but the lack of cheap internal storage means more people have to use external disks for data. Cloud isn't a good alternative for everyone. Unfortunately the backup systems designed by Apple are not treating externals as separate backups - they are included as part of the internal mounted disk hierarchy of your computer.


How do I change the icon on an external drive?

EDIT:
As @David Anderson mentioned, the icon is stored in .VolumeIcon.icns in the root of the external drive. This is a hidden file by default, so press ⌘ + Shift + . to see hidden files. By default, the .VolumeIcon.icns file does not exist, and if it does, the icon in the file will be used.

If you want to see all default icon files for modification purposes, go to /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources. Then, you can move or modify any icon of your choosing to the drive.

Changing the icon of external drives still works on macOS. Here are the steps to do so.

Download an image to your computer
Open the image with Preview.app
Press ⌘ + C to copy the image to your clipboard
Select your external drive (Go to finder then Shift + ⌘ + C to see your external drives)
Select your drive and press ⌘ + I
Right-click the icon in the upper-left-hand corner of the popup window
Press ⌘ + V to paste the image to the drive


Catalina and old application compatibility regarding new file system access rights

Have you tried with, for example, macOS High Sierra? If it works then it's not because of the APFS.

What changed with Catalina is that a part of the file system is mounted as write only.

First of all you can try giving full disk access on privacy and security preference.

If that doesn't help try disabling the SIP from recovery mode with csrutil disable and after reboot try sudo mount -uw /; killall Finder to mount everything as read and write.


How to make bootable El Capitan installer in Mojave?

This would be painful.

Download High Sierra. See How can I download an older version of OS X/macOS?
Copy High Sierra to a flash drive. See How to create a bootable installer for macOS
Install High Sierra to a new volume in your APFS container. Here I assume you have enough free space.
Goto the App Store while logged into High Sierra. Download El Capitan. Here I assume you have previously downloaded El Capitan.
Copy El Capitan to a flash drive. See How to create a bootable installer for macOS
Remove the High Sierra volume from your APFS container. See Remove macOS from a APFS container?

Another alternative would be to install High Sierra in a virtual machine. This would avoid the need to remove the High Sierra files from your APFS container volumes. Installing in the virtual machine application does require modifying your current macOS (Mojave). While removing the High Sierra virtual machine would be fairly easy, removing the virtual machine application would probably not be a good idea. So, once you install a virtual machine application, you will probably not want to uninstall.

Personally, I have only run Snow Leopard and Yosemite in VirtualBox virtual machines. Other virtual machine applications are VMware Fusion and Parallels. User @user3439894 has posted in a comment a preference for VMware Fusion which was used to run High Sierra.

If you choose to use a virtual machine and are having problems setting up, you may want to post a new question.


Accept auto-correct suggestion with one keystroke

I have 69 non-modifier keys on my MacBook Air and 9 modifier keys. Having worked my way through all 78 single keystrokes possible on my keyboard, I can say with confidence that none of them have the effect of both accepting the autocorrect suggestion and not producing any input on your system. If you are looking for a single key press, the answer is definitively, as set up out of the box, no this cannot be done. Once you open the door for multiple key presses, there are options, as you acknowledge, but if your standard is a single key press, no, it cannot be done.


Could I install my OSX system into and boot from the external hard drive

Yes, this is possible. For full details refer to How to set up and use an external Mac startup disk. If you have any problems, feel free to come back here and search for an answer (or ask another question if you can't find a solution).

In terms of your Samsung MZ-750250B, if you actually meant a Samsung MZ-750250GB then this is actually a SSD and supports a sequential read speed of up to 540 MB/s and a sequential write speed of up to 520 MB/s. I think you'll find this is more than enough for everyday use.


How did I set this annoying window margin on MacOS app and how to remove it?

I eventually figured this out and the cause is specific to iTerm2 rather than MacOS.

There is an advanced setting in iTerm2 called "Terminal Windows Resize Smoothly" which when set to "No" forces the terminal window size to snap to the current font grid. This is what caused the margin and prevented me from resizing to remove the margin. Setting this to "Yes" or holding CTRL when resizing the iTerm2 window allows the window to resize to any size rather than snap to grid.

Hooray!


How I download all my files from Drafts for iPhone?

Directly in the page you linked it's stated:

Flexible Output
Send tweets to Twitter, post to Facebook, compose and send email, SMS/Messages, create calendar events – or save drafts to Dropbox or Evernote

So you could just send these notes of yours through email or Dropbox, for instance.


How to bring an application made in Automator to the foreground upon launch?

Have a look at the activate command in the AppleScript Language Guide Commands Reference.

  activate  Brings an application to the front, and opens it if it is on the local computer and not already running.

I'd add activate me after the start of the on run handler.


Catalina: Instruments with Full Disk Access

In Xcode you may start using Instruments with Xcode -> Services -> Toggle Instruments Recording.

This will trigger a chain of settings events inside OSX. The result can be verified by looking to File and Folders in Privacy tab (Xcode will be added also there).


Automater/Applescript page viewer/downloader loop

set theint to 1
set theurl to "http://blah.com/"

repeat until theint = 6
    tell application "Google Chrome"
        set URL of active tab of window 1 to theurl & theint
        activate
    end tell
    set theint to theint + 1
    delay 5
end repeat

works fine so far..
need to change 5s delay to something like 'when download finishes'.. any help?


That happens when you are not using methods that also moves the metadata file with the photos.

For some reason iPhoto decided not to make it simple to move photos arround or move them out of iPhoto hugging.

I recommend a app called Photoshare that allows you to choose and export all data associated with the photos.


How do I stop sharing call history between two iPhones?

If you are on the same Apple ID that is going to happen.
You can set up your own Apple ID, including @icloud.com email address for free and then link it with your husband's account for the purchasing of apps, music, etc., using Family Sharing

4 people in my household are on iDevices and each one has their own Apple ID or iCloud address...but it is all linked to one account and we use family sharing.

Just make sure your husband doesn't set it so that he has to "approve" every purchase you make! ;)


Connect New MacBook 2017 (USB-C) to Apple Cinema Display 30" (DVI)

Just wanted to pass on that today (Dec. 16, 2017) I successfully ran my 30" Cinema Display from my 2017 MacBook Pro at full 2560 resolution using a combination of these two adapters:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A493CNY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073ZZ46M9/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's very important to remember to plug the USB connector from the Dual Link DVI connector into a power source. Apparently that's what powers the adapter. It wasn't working until I made that connection.


Better Touch tool is definitely the way to go. When you create a new shortcut, in the actions there is a whole category called "Navigating Spaces / Desktops". Within it you can then pick an action such as 'move left a space', 'switch to desktop 3', etc. Check it out and let us know!


How does finder show a pc computer name but I can't ping it?

If a machine is found via Bonjour/multicast DNS, you may need to add a .local suffix to use the hostname in Terminal.  If it was found via NetBIOS (either broadcast or WINS), you may need to use nmblookup to get an IP address:

rushlight:10120 Z$ nmblookup mress
querying mress on 10.0.204.255
10.0.204.14 mress<00>
10.0.204.14 mress<00>


Are there other options for reducing glare on a MacBook Pro?

I once saw someone using a sort of matte finish film on their MacBook display which seemed pretty effective.

It was something like the item in this review

Looks like you'd have to be very careful when applying it.


Is there any way to daisy chain a 2009 24" iMac to a 2013 macbook pro with dvi cable?

You can attach your 24" iMac to your MacBook Pro using a MiniDisplay cable. Your MBP has Thunderbolt and the iMac has MiniDisplay. Follow the instructions on the site you linked to and enjoy.

*Daisy chaining is when you have a line of devices that use the same connection (Thunderbolt or FireWire) and you can attach several devices (external hard drives for example) and the devices are attached to each other with one of the being attached to the computer.


Can I download software update and apply them on another iMac

Yes. However instead of getting the update through Software Update look for the update web page. e,g, 10.7.4 update for Lion and iPhoto 9.2.3. I found the latter by google search site:apple.com iPhoto update


Try using Repair Disk Permissions for the hard drive where your iPhoto library is. You can do this from the Disk Utility app.

This might (or might not) solve your problem about not being able to change the date of your current pictures. It will probably won't restore your original dates.


Removing old users with sudo in terminal

When you removed the user account in System Preferences → Users & Groups, opting to leave the folder as is, the folder is completely disassociated with any account management system in macOS — at this point, it's just a folder. You can remove this folder, or perform any other actions to it, like you would any other folder on the system.


If I understand, you have a third generation iPad, which has an A5X processor. This is a fairly old CPU, as it was released in early 2012, but it should still provide a decent experience for web browsing.

Note that the A5X is 32-bit, meaning it cannot run a lot of new apps or iOS releases that are deigned for 64-bit devices. The latest version of iOS you can run is iOS 9.3.5, so I would first suggest you update to that version to get the most secure and stable experience possible on that device.

To address the iPhone throttling, iMore says that this does not affect iPads.
According to iMore, Apple only stated that a handful of iPhone models (devices from the iPhone 6 to iPhone 7 Plus) will be throttled at all. iMore also points out that the larger batteries in iPads makes this less of an issue.

If your iPad seems to be slow, I would suggest you connect it to a Mac or Windows PC and use iTunes to backup and restore the device. This will ensure a clean and up to date installation of iOS. While this may help, your iPad is a bit old, and it may just not perform well on recent versions of iOS. If you're willing to upgrade, the 9.7" iPad is a great option for its price and performance.


Universal keyboard shortcut for searching/exploring on macOS, similar to Ctrl+E on Windows

On many macOS apps, Command+Option+F brings up the same Control+E functionality from their cousin apps in Windows, e.g., Finder, OneNote, Edge, Chrome, Firefox

One exception is Visual Studio Code for Mac (perhaps all IDEs, text editors), Command+Option+F brings up Find-and-Replace functionality instead.

Visual Studio for Mac, brings up Find-and-Replace functionality too. To move the focus on the search bar, press Command+. instead

On Visual Studio Code (explore actions / files):

Windows: Control+E
macOS: Command+P instead of Command+Option+F

Skype for Mac's Command+Option+F focuses the input on People, groups && messages search bar. Skype for Windows' Control+E is not working, perhaps the developers just forgot to implement it.

On Finder, Command+Option+F merely moves the focus (just like how Control+E on Windows apps behaves) on its search bar:

Finder's Command+F, has a bit different functionality. I prefer Command+Option+F though, it works how I expected it to behave, i.e., it just move the focus on search bar, just like when the search bar is clicked by mouse instead. Finder's Command+F:


iMac 27 late 2009 - Grey screen shows at startup on yosemite

I had the same Issue on my old iMac - it turned out to be defective Memory of the Graphics Card (due to overheating).

I changed the Graphics Card and fixed the problem. There is a very well written tutorial on how to change the Card on iFixit. The only problem would be to find a replacement Card - i paid about 360$ for mine.


Restructure iTunes Library File Hierarchy

Have used Itunes for about 10 years now.   Keep you backups, but switch to the setting "Keep Itunes media folder organised" in the Settings.  At the same time I always check "Copy Files to Itunes Media folder when adding to Library".

Itunes sorts music per artist by default.   right clicking on any item can take you to the physical spot in you library.  Get over the apprehension and just edit the metadata.

To get any music referenced by your library follow steps at http://support.apple.com/kb/ph1459.

After that all the your stuff should be in you ITunes library.


Will the quality of my JPEG images taken by my iPhone deteriorate if I rotate than on my Mac?

Using Preview.app, the rotation applied is not lossless. You need to use a special tool that will either add an EXIF rotation header (which is then applied only on display) or simply keeps the encoding coefficients constant, but shifts them accordingly. One tool that supports this that has a UI is Xee, on the commandline you could use jpegtran or imagemagick.


Will upgrading to Yosemite remove all my tweaks and setting?

In general, no. Most of your settings will remain intact, but some of them may be reset or irrelevant in Yosemite.


How do I import photos in to the Photos Library completely?

Restoring them to their original location is the best plan. Then use File > Consolidate (as suggested by @Tetsujin here) to ensure all items are copied into the library. Your settings (as shown in the screenshot in your other question) are set correctly for Photos to manage the library and the originals to be able to be removed from your hard drive. This time I would just rename the folder they're in and see what happens. That way you can quickly and easily undo it if it still isn't working correctly.

Unless you are referring to the Masters folder (within the .photoslibrary bundle) as the originals. In that case - leave the photoslibrary bundle alone. You cannot remove files from it and expect them to keep working in Photos.


permanently stop iPhone text messages from appearing on my iMac

To disable Text Message Forwarding:

On your iPhone, open the Settings app, then tap on Messages, then Text Message Forwarding.
Tap on the on/off button across from your Mac's name to disable.


FileVault 2 encrypted Fusion Drive on iMac doesn't boot anymore

I was able to solve it using shift-cmd-option-R. I tried internet recovery before and it didn't work but the adding of the shift key installs the recovery version of the original OS the computer was on when new. That way I was able to start terminal and wipe/fix the drives! I am now installing Mountain Lion from this recovery and then back to Sierra.


iPhone 5 power button rattles on vibrate

It sounds normal, if a bit looser than my 4S. If it concerns you, you might be able to get a replacement unit from an Apple Store, though there are no guarantees that it will have better buttons (when I replaced my iPhone 4 two years back for a different issue, the replacement I received had noticeably mushier buttons).


How to handle `KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED` straight after Windows Login with Boot Camp?

You are suppose to use the software installed in the Window Recovery partition when something goes wrong with Windows. You stated in your question that Windows crashes after logging in. If so, then try this.

  Note: To get a better view of an image, either click on the image or open the image in a new window.

Boot to Windows 10.
In the login window, hold down the shift key while selecting "Restart", as shown below.

If prompted with the message shown below, select "Restart anyway".

With any luck, you should get the window shown below. Select "Troubleshoot".

In the window shown below, you could select "Reset this PC", but first I would select "Advanced options".

You should now see the Advanced Options window shown below.

Below is a description of these options.

"System Restore" - If Window Update downloaded software that caused your problem, the this may be a good choice. Note: there may not be any restore points.
"System Image Recovery" - You can use this option if you previous made an image file.
"Startup Repair" - You can try this option, but usually this does not repair problems of the type you are describing.
"Command Prompt" - You can skip this choice.
"Startup Settings" - This will allow change boot options at startup. This may allow you to boot Windows, but the problem will not be fixed.
"Go back to the previous version" - This requires that you have a previous version to return to. This usually only works if you have recently upgraded. In my option, this would be a last choice.

If none of these options appeal to you, select the arrow and try "Reset this PC".


This was fixed in VirtualBox v5.2.14 (bug #17805)

Download the latest version of VirtualBox for Mojave compatability


Suspected Places for Mac App Store Files

Not sure what you're planning to do, but here goes

  ~/Library/Application Support/Evernote/accounts/

Tread carefully or else… Evernote may not work for you.


There are a few, but my favourite is Zend's own, fully integrated hassle free controller

Zend Server Community Edition


System Prefs -> Mouse. Toggle 'Scroll direction:natural'.


Why does ‘freedom’ return the french fries  emoji?

The  emoji is offered as an option for any search matching the string ‘freedom fries’, which

  was a political euphemism for French fries in the United States. The term was born in 2003 when the then Republican Chairman of the Committee on House Administration, Bob Ney, renamed the menu item in three Congressional cafeterias in response to France's opposition to the proposed invasion of Iraq.

In the character picker, any prefix substring match on a word relating to that emoji will present the emoji for selection. Therefore ‘free’ or ‘freedom’ will match ‘freedom fries’.

Where does the OS find these strings?

 CoreEmoji.framework contains a list of emojis and relevant search strings, per locale, in

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreEmoji.framework/Versions/A/Resources/en.lproj/

replacing en with the locale. For the strings used by the character picker when searching, look in CharacterPicker.strings. For example:

/System/L*/Priv*/CoreE*/V*/A/R*/en.*/C*

Open the .strings file as a .plist in Xcode to prettyprint it as shown above, or use plutil:

$ plutil -extract "" xml1 -o - /System/L*/Priv*/CoreE*/V*/A/R*/en.*/C*
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<string>fries | freedom fries | french fries | fast food | junk food | food | object</string>
</plist>

$ plutil -convert json -o - /System/L*/Priv*/CoreE*/V*/A/R*/en.*/C* | jq -r ".[\"\"]"
fries | freedom fries | french fries | fast food | junk food | food | object

I don't want QuickType to suggest  as an autocomplete to ‘freedom’!

It won't. QuickType autocomplete emoji suggestions, or Messages tap-to-replace words with emojis when the emoji keyboard is shown, is defined by another file, FindReplace.strings.

Emojis are suggested as word replacements when an entire word in the original text matches an entire word in a string relating to the emoji. The word ‘freedom’ will not be replaced by the emoji since the ‘freedom fries’ phrase only exists in CharacterPicker.strings, not FindReplace.strings.

$ plutil -convert json -o - /System/L*/Priv*/CoreE*/V*/A/R*/en.*/F* | jq -r ".[\"\"]"
fries | french fries | french fry


Delete photos on iPad without affecting photos on iPhone

What you want to do cannot be done with iCloud Photo Library. By design, all the devices connected to your iCloud Photo Library have a complete copy of your library.

You can turn-off iCloud Photo Library on your iPad and use another app when you want to copy a photo between your iPad and iPhone.


How can I keep System Events from deactivating?

Save this plist as ~/Library/LaunchAgents/systemevents.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>systemevents</string>
  <key>Program</key>
  <string>/System/Library/CoreServices/System Events.app/Contents/MacOS/System Events</string>
  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
  <true/>
  <key>KeepAlive</key>
  <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Then run launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/systemevents.plist.

It doesn't fix the glitches in the QuickHue script though. I was probably wrong when I said that the error was caused by System Events not being open.


trying to restore iPhone from icloud backup

Notes aren't tied to iPhone backups in any way, they're tied to iCloud directly. If you can't find them in "recently deleted" (within notes) there is nothing you can do. Restoring the iCloud backup will have no effect.


New Magic Trackpad Anomalies? Pairs fine, Trackpad Preferences can't find it

new Magic Trackpad and new Magic Mouse, need OS X El Capitan. In previous versions of OS X, it will pair normally as a HID device, but its particular features won't be available.


iMac Won't Boot Any Disk — Keeps Restarting

It's definitely a hardware problem — either the system board or the video card.

I took the iMac to an Apple Store today. It actually passed all their in-store hardware tests, but the technician still couldn't get it to boot and agreed it was a hardware issue. He'd never seen a problem exactly like this before, and said there wasn't even a standard Apple repair code for it.

Fortunately, it's still covered by Apple Care and they'll fix it for free — they said it should take about five days to get parts and perform the repair.


Where is MySQL installed for the included Apache server?

MySQL is not installed by default, even though the included PHP is compiled with MySQL support. Check out this guide for MySQL installation.


what is the name and password for transfer server?

You Solution can be found in this SuperUser Question

If you want to use smb without a password, you have some options to bypass the "blank password issue", but it basically won't work. The Samba Service in Windows 7 simply does not allow you to do so.

I your specific case, the Username would be your Win7 Account Name and the password would be blank. But since Win7 (smb) does not allow a blank password for authentication you can not log in.


Using TimeCapsule through PFSense firewall

Okay, that was quite tricky. Like I've said in a comment, Bonjour is used by my Time Capsule to be recognized by the mac but isn't supposed to work on a different subnet.
I set up an Avahi server on my pfsense router that is forwarding any Bonjour request to the WLAN and I can now access my Timecapsule by wifi, use AirPrint and Airplay.
For more informations : http://www.avahi.org


Does Time Machine make a backup of Windows if using Boot Camp?

No, Time Machine does not do this. The only reliable way to back up your BootCamp partition is to boot into Windows and run Windows-compatible disk backup software from within Windows, to back up to a separate external hard drive formatted with NTFS.

Winclone has not been updated in a long time and is not a useful solution.


Anything involving accessing low level features like CPU instructions is going to require kernel access. This is definitely a case of you should know what you're doing first, as messing with memory on the kernel level seems like it would have any number of terrible ways it could go wrong.

Assuming you do, you can install unsigned kexts by disabling the System Integrity Protection.

To do so, boot into recovery mode (hold ⌘R when rebooting), open Terminal (in the Utilities menu), and run csrutil disable. Then reboot as per usual and install the kext.


You can set an environmental variable called MANPATH that will tell the "man" command where to look for the man pages. I see my mac 10.12.6 (Sierra) does not have that variable set.  According to "man man"  output, it uses /etc/man.conf to know where the directories are. You can add missing paths into that file.  That file may be overwritten by an mac os x update, so you may have to do it again.  To find your missing man3 files, which are probably still on your disk, try "locate \*man3"  and it should list every directory with a man3 folder in it.
Boyd


What does it mean if a USB drive takes very long to eject?

Yes, I would think so. If there is no alert hiding somewhere that says that the disk is in use, it very likely corrupted.

I would make a backup and replace the drive as soon as possible.


How to prevent the Photos app from launching cloudphotosd, photoanalysisd, etc?

Try running chmod -x on the binaries. This will prevent them from launching at all until you make them executable again.

I don't know how SIP will affect this, since you're modifying built-in programs. You may have to disable it.


Do users incur any charges for receiving push notifications on iPhones, even if indirectly?

Push notifications will mean charges are incurred if you ever pay for data. Clearly, most push notifications are very small transmissions, but they almost always use data connection instead of WiFi so if you had thousands of pushes, it might be the bit of data that exceeds your quota and racks up more cost. Also when roaming, all data might be metered a la carte, so you would in essence pay for each notification you received while roaming.

As outlined in the comment by Matthieu.

Push notifications are data.  If you are "roaming" (ie. outside the country where you have your service contract with your mobile service provider) you will incur charges.

Having said that there are plans which allow for free data roaming globally.  Such as the T-Mobile plans available in the US. This has something to do with the fact that T-Mobile is Deutsche Telecom.  On such a plan there will be no charges.


Software to losslessly optimize batches of image files

ImageOptim?

ImageOptim optimizes images — so they take up less disk space and load faster — by finding best compression parameters and by removing unnecessary comments and color profiles. It handles PNG, JPEG and GIF animations.
ImageOptim seamlessly integrates various optimisation tools: PNGOUT, AdvPNG, Pngcrush, extended OptiPNG, JpegOptim, jpegrescan, jpegtran, and Gifsicle.


Will it hurt my Macbook Air to be plugged into a "Uni Pak II" which is a dimming power source?

In general, it isn't a good idea to put a power adapter on a light dimmer as the circuitry could malfunction if the voltage is too low.

That being said, I believe the 45W adapter for the MacBook Air will survive- it just won't charge if the dimmer reduces the voltage below 100 volts. The AC is converted into DC and then applied to a voltage regulator circuit which typically shuts down when it isn't getting enough.


It a simple problem to solve.

You are first asking for the names of every item.

set filelist to name of every item in folder (path to desktop)

Which returns a list of the names. As text items.

Then you want to  do your search. But in your code you are asking for the name of the text item.

Thats why you are getting the error. The text item does not have a name.

Change the line:

if {filelist's item i}'s name begins with "Work" then set endlist's end to filelist's item i

to

if filelist's item i begins with "Work" then set endlist's end to filelist's item i

UPDATE:
In response to your comment.

You can create a list of the names of the items found on the desktop whose name  begins with for example "Work"

Doing it this way may be better.

Here you ask for a list containing the names  of any item found whose name (returned as a text item text) begins with ..

tell application "Finder"

    set filelist to name of every item in folder (path to desktop) whose name begins with "Work"
end tell


Is there a way to forward individual voicemails on the iPhone

Hopefully someone else can provide an easier answer or an app that automates this, but the method I've found so far only works for jailbroken phones:

Use iFile or some other file manager to access .amr files that are stored in /var/mobile/Library/Voicemail. The files are numbered sequentially and voicemail.db looks like its used to organize them.
Try to locate the correct .amr using timestamp.
Use file manager to email .amr file to myself or someone else.

A sidenote is that doing this I was able to find some orphaned .amr files that seemed to not have been completely deleted (.amr files are still stored when deleted until they are cleared from Deleted Messages). I was able to safely delete these old voicemails (over a year old, probably persisting from backups) from the folder.


MacBook Pro will not shut all the way off

If you tire of waiting, press and hold the power button.

If you want to run a disk check, reboot to recovery and use Disk Utility. Usually, it's just a stuck process and you won't need to fix things. Test a power off to see if the hang was incidental or if it happens 3 out of 3 attempts.


If you successfully made a dictionary you should put the file in /Library/Dictionaries.

In Sierra you have to make that folder yourself, as Apple has moved its own dictionaries to another location and no longer has this one.  It should still work, however.

You can find useful information in Apple's Developer Documentation


Can enterprise App Read its MDM Configuration file?

As the devices are enrolled in an MDM server, I would suggest using Managed App Configuration:

https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/samplecode/sc2279/Introduction/Intro.html

Managed App Config was introduced in iOS 7 and allows the MDM server to 'push' a dictionary to the managed app's NSUserDefaults container, essentially allowing for remote configuration of the app.

As you already have devices in separate groups, you should be able to configure your MDM to assign different managed app configurations to devices in each group.


Use Boot Camp drivers from DVD or download?

As you have upgraded your operating system to Mountain Lion, I would recommend getting the latest drivers from the internet.

While I can't say that they are definitely updated, Wikipedia notes that Mountain Lion runs Boot Camp 5 wheres Snow Leopard was version 3.


Is there a bluetooth camera that works with an iMac?

What exactly are looking for? A Security Camera? Take a look at BestBuy's, Amazon or the AppleStores camera section. Most USB, Bluetooth or Ethernet cameras should be supported out-of-the-box.

Here are some ideas:

Withings Home HD WLAN  Video Camera

Arlo Netgear Wire-Free

NetCam Wi-Fi Camera with Night Vision


Sierra: can't change Magic Mouse scrolling speed

You control scrolling via: System Preferences>Accessibility>Mouse & Trackpad>Mouse Options>Scrolling>

You can vary the scroll speed and inertia.


I'm shopping for a used iphone to take to Brazil. Should I buy GSM or CDMA?

I'm shopping for a used iPhone to take to Brazil. Should I buy GSM or CDMA?

This answer applies to any country and (technically) any phone.  Therefore, I’m writing it as a canonical answer for future queries of this nature.
You need to find out what type of technology is being used.
The best place would be to contact the local carrier.  In Brazil, it’s Vivo, Claro, TIM, and Oi.  You will want to check with them because different carriers use different technologies.  Here in the US, AT&T uses GSM, while Verizon uses CDMA, for example.
However, you can get a good idea of what technologies are being used in a country with the help from the web site GSM Arena.  They maintain a fairly comprehensive database of the different radio types and frequencies used in a particular country.  Below is a screen grab of their entry for Brazil.

Here we can see that for 2G they use GSM, 3G they use UMTS and for 4G the use LTE.  CDMA is nowhere to be found.
It’s always best to check directly with your provider (whether it be cell services, email hosting, or even personal services) rather than with “the guy from the Internet.”  My information is accurate today, but I’m not a representative of the company and all of it can change tomorrow.  I’d rather you know how to obtain the correct info rather than hope the info is still correct.


You need to use the $ char e.g. like this: =$D$3


How do I know what changes a programe wants to make?

You can use sudo opensnoop -n ProcessName to see what files have been opened by a process, but only after they've been accessed of course. You could also use fseventer to display modified files in a tree view.

The dialogs are shown by installers because they need root permissions to modify /Applications/ or other folders that aren't owned by the user. You can press ⌘I to see what files would be copied by an installer.


Macbook Pro not sleeping when left inactive with lid open

I resolved this problem. If anyone else runs into it in the future just go to chrome settings and then go to advanced settings and reset settings. It just brought me to default. Something in my settings was causing it. Honestly have no idea what it was.


When you formatted it, you may have deleted its internal software. Never format iPods from Windows Explorer, Disk Utility, or anything that's not iTunes.

To fix this, launch iTunes, plug in the iPod, and restore its software from there. As this will format the disk, you should back up anything you have put on the iPod in the meantime.

Also remember that you have to use iTunes to put music on the iPod - you can't just drag files onto it.


I have similar problems with users on my network using Mavericks, where no such issue existed with Mountain Lion. Most users can live with it, and they simply re-mount the disk. Apparently, the SMB implementation on Mavericks is different than it was in prior OS releases. What I have found is that if I connect to drives using cifs://servername rather than smb://servername, this pretty much mitigates the issue. This has been true for NAS, MFDs with Windows shares, and Windows servers alike.


"Item not available" error when trying to upgrade to High Sierra

I would recommend opening these links in Safari so they translate easier to the correct App Store app.

https://apps.apple.com/app/macos-catalina/id1466841314
https://apps.apple.com/app/macos-high-sierra/id1246284741

I removed the US store from the High Sierra link and cribbed the Catalina link from another answer. Also, once you get the download set, other issues can crop up. This following link is a compendium of knowledge and is super useful for reference.

How can I download an older version of OS X/macOS?


How to make Chrome open a new window for external Links

You can try using the AppleScript found on this page.

I just tried it out and it perfectly works fine in Chrome 12.0.742.122.

It's extremely easy to set up:

download the Bundle archive
double click it to unpack it
double click on OpenUrlInNewChromeWindow
open Safari and set the new "Browser" as the default browser in the Preferences.


How to import OS X keyboard text shortcuts?

If you sign in with the same primary iCloud account on OS X and iOS, the list of shortcuts is synchronised automatically.

It's currently unknown where the shortcuts are stored. source


What is the real world difference between 2020 8th generation iPad and 5th generation iPad mini?

Whether or not something is "worth it" is highly subjective - noone can really answer that but yourself.
If you compare the displays side by side, you'll see the difference clearly. Are you going to be doing that on a daily basis? - Probably not.
However I would say that the fully laminated display especially makes a big difference in how you perceive the display. This is one of those "I didn't need it until I saw it, and then I really needed it" things.
The resolution versus PPI is simply because the physical size of the iPad Mini's display is smaller. Even though the resolution is smaller, the physical size is so small, that the number of pixels per inch is actually higher.


App that retains data between installations. iCloud Keychain has never been enabled

iOS apps can keep important data (like login credentials) in the local Keychain. It is not the same keychain as the iCloud Keychain. iCloud Keychain is located in iCloud. Local keychain is located on your device, will never leave your device, only when you backup your iOS device and only when those backups are encrypted.

When you delete an app from your iOS device, there isn't really a uninstall procedure that also deletes keychain data.

What you could try is to sign off in Pinterest before you delete the app. If the Pinterest app is developed properly the sign off function should delete the login credentials. (not sure about it)


Question about Enterprise licensing and Apple Business Manager

Apple did not make drastic changes to the Enterprise program at WWDC19. I don't know where you have that from. The only change I can think of is that they changed their terms to include that they can review internal apps - i.e. they want to be able to check your apps in case of suspicion of malware, bad practices, etc. This is a natural development when taking into account that there recently has been several public cases of companies misusing the enterprise program - breaking the rules - to install apps that are malicious or deceitful to customers.

You seem to be convinced that your situation is similar to the majority of other app developers out there - but that isn't the case. The majority of app developers, as far as I can tell, are playing by the rules.

It has always been totally clear that enterprise distribution is for distributing apps to your own employees. Not to customers. You should have been aware of this for years - I cannot see that coming as a drastic change that surprised you.

Apple makes it perfectly clear that this is not for 3rd party developers on the front page of the Apple Developer Enterprise Program web site:

  Your proprietary app must be developed by you for use on Apple platforms.

The fact that you have broken the rules for a long period of time, and it wasn't discovered by Apple, doesn't mean that Apple have allowed you to do so and suddenly changed their mind.

For your purposes you should really be distributing your apps through the App Store (for public apps), or through Apple Business Manager (for private apps) - or possibly through Ad Hoc distribution, if it's a limited amount of devices.


I don't think contacting Apple Support is going to help much, but you can always give that a shot.

Clearly the error message acknowledges a known (to them) issue and a response saying you need to wait days for them to have a fix.

Initially I heard mostly from UK and other EU users so I guessed perhaps Apple needs to cleaning up those accounts. I don't think this anymore since it looks like some portion of people across the globe are being delayed.

Each user that signs up for Apple Music causes server load:

CPU and network bandwidth is needed to communicate with their devices
Each user uses storage and has to have their preferences recorded and playlists generated for each user (or at least linked to their accounts)
Each user's iTunes library needs to be ingested and stored online

If Apple has a temporary capacity issue, code scaling issue, or their model for how many people would sign up were too conservative then it might take days to spin up more servers or test and deploy the code change.

I've heard one person try to make a new Apple ID. I'd strongly recommend to not make a new Apple ID unless you are prepared for even more confusion or clean up later. If you're desperate to try the new hotness this weekend,  you can always open a support ticket with Apple or if you feel this error message shouldn't apply to your account.

My guess is this is an evolution of this error with an explanation that you don't need to do anything other than wait a day or so...

iCloud Music Library can't be enabled

You may have to pay for support if AppleCare don't see this as something that's in their scope of free support (recent purchase, paid AppleCare or just free to ask for anyone):

https://www.apple.com/support/music/

Look for an updated FAQ and articles or use the "Contact Us" link on the left if this drags on past your patience in the matter. I hope the delay is short for anyone wanting in on the service.


Can't swap Caps Lock and Esc keys using Seil

The problem is that you are setting up a recursive key binding.

Seil changes caps lock -> esc
Karabiner changes esc -> caps lock

So in the end when you hit caps lock or esc you will still get caps lock.

caps lock -> esc -> caps lock

When using Seil and Karbiner together you must follow the Input Even Modification Chain to determine the key press outcome (see Example 2 and Plural settings in Karabiner from the link).  You have to pay attention to the input event order.

Seil propagates to...
System Preferences > Keyboard > Modifier Keys... which propagates to...
Karabine

In other words, you CAN’T swap just two keys with the Seil & Karabin method you are trying. It will always create a caps lock key press recursion issue.

Rather, you should try to remap both keys with Karbiner only to create a private XML mapping file. This is because Karabiner by itself does not allow you to create recursive event modifications.

I hope this makes logical sense and helps.


iOS 11 how to prevent iBooks from moving my books to the cloud?

This is a bug in iBooks.  Please report it to Apple so they fix it.  Many of us have this problem.  I just got bit by it on an airplane flight, when I realized I didn't have my books on my iPad or phone because... Apple.


How to "archive" iTunes files with all metadata?

You can do a manual 'backup' of your existing iTunes library to a separate drive, which then gives you the capacity to restore the library later:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751

It's also possible to leave the library version intact and just move the audio files. iTunes marks missing tracks with an exclamation mark. If you try to play a track that has been moved, iTunes will prompt you to locate the track and enable you to point to it. If you wished, you could eventually manually update all your off-disk music. You can even move your entire media folder, should you wish:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449


Old iMac Hard Drive not readable as external

Do a cold boot and enter the password for the encrypted drive at that time. FileVault 2 doesn't allow access to encrypted drives after boot if you don't provide the password then.

When FileVault setup is complete and you restart your Mac, you will use your account password to unlock your disk and allow your Mac to finish starting up. FileVault requires that you log in every time your Mac starts up, and no account is permitted to log in automatically.

See: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204837


That looks like the front-end processor window for some non-Roman scripts. This gets pretty far into the weeds if you don't normally use them, but in case you're curious:

With a writing system like Japanese, you type using English characters to produce phonetic Japanese characters, and then convert those into ideograms. For the most part, this happens "inline", that is, right where the cursor is, wherever you'd be typing if you were typing in English. Back in the old days, however, it happened in a separate window (the FEP window), and once you had a chunk of text composed in that, you'd send it to the main window.

I use Japanese on my system. The FEP window still exists, and every once in a while it will pop up for a second—then the system seems to get its composure back and I go back to inline typing. I'm guessing that you're trying to produce a character that involves multiple keystrokes, like ü, and somehow that's invoking the FEP window. I can't say why it's happening or how to stop it, but in my experience it is harmless.


We'll need to troubleshoot the charging method first - then the device itself.

Troubleshooting the charging method, adapter, cable:

Compare packaging and writing on the cable:

  To identify counterfeit or uncertified cables and accessories, look carefully at the accessory's packaging and at the accessory itself. Certified third-party accessories have the MFi logo on their packaging. An Apple Lightning to USB cable has "Designed by Apple in California" and either "Assembled in China," "Assembled in Vietnam," or "Indústria Brasileira" on the cable about seven inches from the USB connector. You'll see a 12-digit serial number at the end of this text.

Compare connectors and laser etchings:

  You can use the Lightning connector, USB connector, and laser etchings to identify counterfeit or uncertified Lightning accessories. Compare the images below of certified Apple accessories and counterfeit or uncertified Lightning accessories. These are only a few counterfeit products. There are others.

Lightning to USB cable, Lightning-connector end:

The Apple-certified will have:

  Single piece Smooth Rounded, smooth contacts - (Image)
  Width and length of Apple boot is consistent (7.7 mm x 12 mm) - (Image)
  Gray/metallic faceplate insert - (Image)

vs. counterfeit or uncertified will have:

  More than one piece Rough or inconsistent finish Squared contacts with an uneven surface - (Image)
  Varying width, length, or thickness - (Image)
  White or black faceplate insert - (Image)

Lightning to USB cable, USB-connector end:

The Apple-certified:

  Interlocks on USB shell are trapezoidal Interlocks are equally spaced from edge - (Image)
  USB contacts are gold-plated - (Image)
  USB surface is smooth and consistent Surface of USB shell is flat - (Image)
  Surface of the insulator for the USB connection is uniform and flat - (Image)

vs. counterfeit or uncertified:

  USB shell interlocks have right angles Interlocks are inconsistently spaced - (Image 1 Image 2)
  USB contacts are silver-plated - (Image 1 Image 2)
  USB surface is rough or grainy Surface of USB shell has a detent or retaining divot - (Image 1 Image 2)
  Insulator for USB connection has notches or indents - (Image 1 Image 2)

Source: Apple

Troubleshooting the device itself:

Plug into power by one of the below methods:

Plug your charging cable into a USB wall adapter, then plug the adapter into the wall.
Plug your charging cable into a USB 2.0 or 3.0 port on a computer that's on and not in sleep mode. Don’t use the USB ports on your keyboard.
Plug your cable into a powered USB hub, docking station, or other Apple-certified accessory.

If your device won’t charge or charges slowly:

If you have very low battery and plug into power, a black screen or a black screen with a red battery might appear for a few minutes. Follow these steps and try again after each:

Check your charging cable and USB adapter for signs of damage,* like breakage or bent prongs. Don't use damaged accessories.
Use a wall power outlet and check for firm connections between your charging cable, USB wall adapter, and wall outlet, or try a different outlet.
Remove any debris from the charging port on the bottom of your device, then firmly plug your charging cable into your device. If the charging port is damaged, your device probably needs service.
Let your device charge for a half hour (If your device is unresponsive afterward, learn what to do).
Force restart your device: Press and hold the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons at the same time for at least 10 seconds, until you see the Apple logo. Then let your device charge for another half hour.
If your device still won’t power on or charge, take your device, charging cable, and charging adapter to an Apple Retail Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider for evaluation. You can also contact Apple Support.

Source: Apple


Very small resolution on external monitor Windows 7 with Macbook Pro Retina

I got it fixed, by selecting "Scaled" in the options in Parallels. Then I could change the screen resolution, and I had no problems in Windows 7. Success!


Did you download http://www.openafs.org/dl/openafs/1.5.78/macos-10.6/OpenAFS-1.5.78-Snowleopard.dmg ?

Upon opening it I was presented with a window with a few options, one of which said "Click icon to install".

I ran through this installer, entered my password, entered in a false cell name as I do not have a cell to connect to at the moment, and finished the install.
I do now have a system preferences area called OpenAFS.

It has all of the options though upon first running it does tell me there is an error with a config file not existing, I assume because I would create it and save it.

Could you post any error messages from the console when you install OpenAFS? Are you an administrative user? Any other information would be useful in troubleshooting this.


How to transfer audio files directly from Android device to iPhone 5s

There are various ways this can be accomplished. A simple solution would be use a online file sharing service such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Box etc. Simply install the chosen app on your Android device and backup files using chosen service.

This should be straightforward as Android allows file system access in general and there are various 3rd party apps which will allow you to browse the device filesystem.

Once the files are synced (uploaded to the cloud services's server), simply install the iOS counterpart of the same app and access the files. You will not automatically get access to the audio files in your iOS device. However, depending on the container format of the audio files, you may be able to playback them in the cloud service app itself (Dropbox, Google Drive, Box etc.).

However, the most likely case is that you indeed wish to playback the audio files on your iOS device. In that case, it would be advisable to install VLC for Mobile app for iOS and copy over the files using file sharing feature build into iTunes for desktop.

For the aforementioned, you'll need access to a desktop computer. Simply connect your Android device to the computer and copy over the audio files to your computer. Now install iTunes desktop app and connect your iOS device. Make sure you have already installed VLC for Mobile app for iOS. Now select your device within iTunes, select file sharing in the sidebar, click on VLC and drag & drop to copy over the audio files.

This will effectively copy the files into your iOS device. However, the files will be accessible only within VLC for Mobile app. However, it's highly likely that you'll be able to playback them as VLC for Mobile app supports a vast variety of formats.


Can I use Automator or some other method to extract EXIF GPS data from batches of photos on my Mac?

With Commandline tools this is easy:

Install Homebrew
brew install exiftools  in the Terminal
find ~/Pictures/ -iname '*.jpg' -print  -exec exiftool -DateTimeOriginal -GPSLatitude -GPSLongitude {} \; in the Terminal


-d option for split is illegal on OS X 10.9

The GNU version of split is different to the OS X version of split.

OS X is based on BSD Unix, and Linux (often referred to as GNU/Linux) uses the GNU toolset.

The GNU version of split is part of the coreutils, and the good news is that these are available in MacPorts. If you have MacPorts installed, you can install the coreutils port using the command:

sudo port install coreutils

This installs the GNU core utilities (including split) with a g prefix, so you call split using the command gsplit.


Is it possible to change the app launched by the Calculator button in iOS 7?

No.

These apps would then also accessible from the lock screen which would open a whole can of worms about security. Even the standard Apple apps do have problems with that sometimes, it would be even worse with 3rd party apps.


Generally, installing OS X Server on a main machine is not recommended, but if you have no choice, it should still be fine. There are some things to note, of course…

PostgreSQL has a massive impact on boot up times and shutdown times. PostgreSQL is used by many of the services in OS X Server and has meant that my iMac now takes well over 3 minutes to shut down. However, overall performance in the system is generally unaffected, providing you don't enable all the services or be running computationally-intensive tasks. For example, it might seem obvious, but running a build with an Xcode server CI bot will kill performance as it uses all the CPU available, leaving none for the current user. This is opposite to many services in OS X which will limit CPU usage to leave enough for a good user experience.

With regard to security, providing you are aware of what you are enabling, you shouldn't have any problem with this. The largest thing to note is that OS X Server will, by default, enable SSH access, which you may wish to disable. Everything else is by default disabled.


You can easily switch versions of Python using pyenv.

For example (using Homebrew):

$ brew update
$ brew install pyenv
$ echo 'eval "$(pyenv init -)"' >> ~/.bash_profile

$ exec $SHELL

$ pyenv install 2.7.12
$ pyenv install 3.5.2
$ pyenv global 2.7.12 3.5.2

$ python -V
Python 2.7.12

$ python2 -V
Python 2.7.12

$ python2.7 -V
Python 2.7.12

$ python3 -V
Python 3.5.2

$ python3.5 -V
Python 3.5.2


Safari cannot open page because iPhone is not connected to Internet

You need to turn off WiFi before you leave the coverage area (or more precisely - before you reach the point where WiFi is still "connected" but not viable.)

In iOS 9 there will be a system setting to allow cellular data to take over sooner, but on iOS 8 and less, your device will throw errors when WiFi fails you and before the radio disconnects from WiFi.

Manually disconnect or control your location so that you don't try to use the internet when WiFi isn't viable.


Restore Macintosh HD to its original partition configuration

There is no need to delete the CoreStorage Logical Volume Group. Just resize it:

Have a backup!
Reboot into Internet Recovery Mode (hold Option-Command-R) as the machine is restarting).  You'll eventually be presented with a Max OS X Utilities window.

In the menu bar along the top of the screen, click Utilities -> Terminal.

At the prompt, enter diskutil cs list and you should get output similar to the following.

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group 9B4FB14F-DA7D-46EF-BBB9-FD99166C1E2F
    =========================================================
    Name:         Macintosh HD
    Status:       Online
    Size:         920186970112 B (920.2 GB)
    Free Space:   49152 B (49.2 KB)
|
+-< Physical Volume DE3C1DD4-3EA5-4484-AE40-C8BD60AD5F75
|   ----------------------------------------------------
|   Index:    0
|   Disk:     disk0s2
|   Status:   Online
|   Size:     120988852224 B (121.0 GB)
|
+-< Physical Volume E1C56E99-3ED2-437F-AED0-A454FCC4E983
|   ----------------------------------------------------
|   Index:    1
|   Disk:     disk1s2
|   Status:   Online
|   Size:     799198117888 B (799.2 GB)
|
+-> Logical Volume Family D824D426-8315-405A-A7CD-5B62E549FBAE
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    Encryption Status:       Unlocked
    Encryption Type:         None
    Conversion Status:       NoConversion
    Conversion Direction:    -none-
    Has Encrypted Extents:   No
    Fully Secure:            No
    Passphrase Required:     No
    |
    +-> Logical Volume AC1A071B-63D0-488F-AFFF-D296E446FE6B
        ---------------------------------------------------
        Disk:                  disk2
        Status:                Online
        Size (Total):          914000052224 B (914.0 GB)
        Conversion Progress:   -none-
        Revertible:            No
        LV Name:               Macintosh HD
        Volume Name:           Macintosh HD
        Content Hint:          Apple_HFS`

Copy the Logical Volume (LV) alphanumeric UUID of your CoreStorage volume. The LVUUID should be the fourth (the fifth if you have a Fusion Drive) listed. In the above example the alphanumeric is:
AC1A071B-63D0-488F-AFFF-D296E446FE6B
Run the following command:

diskutil cs resizeStack LVUUID partsize

According to the number found above it would be:

diskutil cs resizeStack AC1A071B-63D0-488F-AFFF-D296E446FE6B 0g

This will expand your CoreStorage volume to full 1.24 TB
Quit Terminal.app and start Disk Utility and verify the expanded volume.


Clear recent locations in Calendar (macOS)

I don't know of a simple way as in iOS, where you can just swipe to delete an entry.
Recent Locations (map-location) on macOS are stored in the "corerecents" database here: ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.corerecents.recentsd/Data/Library/Recents/Recents
There are various ways to delete an entry:

Download a database browser, like DB Browser for SQLite, find the entry and delete it.
Use Terminal (to be found in /Applications/Utilities, or via Spotlight)
and the command line.

I'm not very versed with sqlite3, but the following should delete the "Matteo Corti’s Home" entry:
sqlite3 ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.corerecents.recentsd/Data/Library/Recents/Recents "DELETE FROM contacts WHERE display_name IS 'Matteo Corti’s Home'"

(note: if I type the apostrophe in Terminal, I won't get a result, since the database seems to use ’, instead of ', i.e. not a straight apostrophe.)
If you wanted to clear all entries (including email, phone, urls and instant message recents), you could just delete the database, I would think.


Should I Move The Swap Location For My Mac From The SSD To The Larger HDD In My Laptop?

I am certainly not an expert, but I would think that the faster read/write rates on an SSD would ensure faster performance on large programs than the hdd would.


Mac Hacked? "a computer with IP address 128.130.244.179 tried to establish an incoming connection to kernel"

There's nothing there that indicates being "hacked."
Too often, folks see connections or random behavior and immediately assume this is a hacking attempt.  It's not.
This could be any number of legitimate connection attempts especially given that the IP in question isn't flagged as coming from a known hacking IP, one of the many rogue countries (like China) or from a remote, anonymous proxy.
Now, you shouldn't be getting connections like this directly to the kernel especially if you are behind a firewall.  However, if your Mac sends a request out and creates a "state" on your firewall, it can connect back - making this entirely legitimate.

Ensure you're behind a proper firewall
Turn on the firewall on the Mac
Log outgoing connections in Little Snitch to correlate traffic

Bottom line...a single connection is not enough to determine anything.  You need to see this in context and you need to see the actual traffic that's incoming.  If you're not using firewalls, your very first action is to get behind one and/or turn it on.


Where does Mac Messages store older Attachments?

After comments
It does appear that these are shuffled off to iCloud, whether you want them to be or not.
From the Details button, top right, then scroll right down - rather blurred picture to demonstrate

Clicking that Download restores them to their correct location. How long before it decides to remove them again I've yet to discover.


Is it fundamentally impossible to have passive thunderbolt to dual-link-DVI or HDMI adapter supporting 2560x1440?

Not only is this not impossible, but products that do this exist. DisplayPort (and therefore mini-displayport and thunderbolt) supports DVI and HDMI output over passive adapters using Dual-mode DisplayPort.  Dual-mode DisplayPort only supports single-link DVI or HDMI. Single-link DVI is limited to 1900x1200, but single-link HDMI can go up to 2560x1600@60Hz with HDMI 1.3+, and bigger on new HDMI versions. In the DisplayPort 1.1 spec, VESA introduced a spec for dual-mode DisplayPort to support HDMI 1.4 output, using "Type 2" adapters.


Once a link to a photo has been created in iCloud, is there a way to invalidate the link & remove the photo?

If you shared the picture in an album (Photo Stream), you can learn how to do it here.

If you shared the picture alone (by clicking "Copy iCloud link"), you have to :

Go to the link on a computer, while logged in to the iCloud account from which the image was shared.

For example https://www.icloud.com/photos/#XXXXXXXXXXX-XXXXX

Click on the three dots (upper right) > Stop sharing

Note that every picture will expire 30 days after being shared. Also, if someone made an offline copy of the photo and/or saved it to their library, removing the share link does not claw that copy back - it only prevents new viewing.


Not the answer you're looking for, but there's no way to use subaddressing from Apple Mail in the way you're after.

iCloud itself does support the overall functionality via email aliases, but this is limited to three email aliases per account (unless you previously moved across from MobileMe with five email aliases). More information about this is available at Create an email alias in iCloud Mail, although this is rather limited compared to what you're really after and only relates to iCloud mail.

Unfortunately, I'm also not aware of any plugin that add this functionality, but hopefully someone will develop one in future as the demand for this seems to be increasing, especially as a way to help users tag email addresses based on the services they're subscribing/signing up to.

You also won't get any joy from MS Outlook as it still doesn't support this (although, similar to Apple, Microsoft does support it via its Outlook.com service).

There may be other solutions, but I'm not personally aware of any (except for gmail which does support this).

In the meantime you could provide feedback to Apple about Mail.


How to fix mail to particular contacts not appearing in Sent folder?

This appears to have been a hiccup on the SMTP server.


iCloud Photo library and photo stream - deleting photos from phone only

It appears you have synced photos into your iPhone via iTunes. You can select folders from your computer and sync them to your iOS devices when connected (or via Wifi if you have that option checked).
iCloud Photo Library is letting you know you'll lose those synced albums on the phone.
To check which photos and / or videos, you can connect your iPhone to your computer , start iTunes up and go to the Photos section on your device menu:

as you can see, you can select different options to sync photos from your computer back to your iPhone

If you do not remember setting this up, or if it appears un checked, as in my screenshots, you are probably not connected to the original iTunes (or iTunes library) that set this up.

Checking which are the images that will be lost directly on your phone is a bit more tricky, as the only obvious sign is that you cannot delete the album nor the images directly from it. So, you could go checking albums until you find one that does not allows you to delete pictures –although this will also be the case with iCloud Shared albums you joined. The good news is that you probably have a copy of those pictures elsewhere, unless you've lost the computer which synced them in the first place.

Turning My Photo Stream off will stop it from receiving pictures made with other iOS devices or saved on iPhoto / Photos app configured with the service. It will not save space if you don't have other devices behaving in that fashion. It will also stop it to upload them to those other devices, if this is part of your archiving system, keep that in mind.

Turning iCloud Photo Library on will upload a copy of all the pictures taken or saved (but not synced via iTunes) on your iPhone to iCloud, and, depending on the configuration, it will try to save space on your device by erasing the original on your iPhone afterwards and leaving a copy with lower resolution. If this setting is not activated, no space will be saved. Erasing the pictures on your iOS device with iCloud Photo Library on will permanently erase the pictures on all synced devices and on iCloud, so be sure to have a backup.


Twitter app on iOS 9 doesn't connect through proxy

iOS 9 implements App Transport Security on each individual application. This is a setting that is enabled by default on all iOS 9 apps. Application developers that wish to allow their apps to be proxied can disable this setting in the applications plist file. If you are on a jailbroken device you can also manually modify this file.

Alternatively I found this that should work, haven't tried yet though
https://nabla-c0d3.github.io/blog/2015/12/01/burp-ios9-ats/


How do I buy a MacBook Pro with a Russian keyboard in United States

The only way you can find out if some retail store might be able to get one of these for you is to contact them directly yourself.  I would try a store in a big city with a significant Russian community.  I have not heard of anyone finding it in the US, but you never know until you ask.

The online Apple store in the UK has them, if you are planning a trip there.


Your device must be unlocked (Face ID, Touch ID) for the notification to open immediately upon a direct touch. Otherwise, the notification will only let you slide to the left.


Requirements to use 'open -b "bundle.id" ' for OS X

My guess is that it is working on systems where the app has been present long enough for the app to be registered with the system, but fails on systems where it has not been present very long.

There is a possible solution here:

The command (all one line)

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user

The Caveat

After running this command, OS X may prompt you before letting you open some applications for the first time. I would NOT suggest running that on someone else's Mac or they are likely to get irritated with you.

Instead, I would suggest using open -a /path/to/your/app instead of open -b {bundle-id}


Mac Show All Windows for an app in dock Sierra

Go with the the mouse pointer to the dock icon in question, then with three fingers go up, this will reveal all open windows of this application.


dont show unread mails from subfolders in Apple Mail when collapsed

I don't believe that it is possible to change the way unread message counts are aggregated. However, you can change your folders so that they are not displayed under your Inbox. That way your Inbox will only show the count for unread message in your Inbox.

On many mail servers, mailboxes are created and stored underneath the Inbox which is what you are seeing.

INBOX
INBOX.Drafts
INBOX.Sent
INBOX.Trash
INBOX.Junk
INBOX.Todo

By changing your account settings in Mail.app, you can specify the IMAP Path Prefix so that Mail will ignore the first part (INBOX) display these folders independently rather than subfolders of the Inbox.

To do this go to Mail -> Preferences -> Account and select the account in the left column. Then select Advanced on the right and you will see a text box to change the IMAP Path Prefix. Typically, you'll want to change this to INBOX, but this will depend on your mail provider (e.g. Google uses [Gmail]) so you may need to check with your provider.


Buy an older version of OSX on CD

How to install Mac OS X without OS X Recovery or the DVD that came with the Mac?

or

Install Linux on your Mac

http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac/how-install-linux-on-mac-3637265/

(excerpt)

"Here's how to go about installing Linux on a Mac"

Download your Linux distribution to the Mac. We recommend Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS if this is your first Linux install. Save the file to your Downloads folder.

Download and install an app called Etcher from Etcher.io. This will be used to copy the Linux install .ISO file to your USB drive.

Open Etcher and click the Settings icon in the top-right. Place a tick in Unsafe Mode and click Yes, Continue. Then Click Back.

Click Select Image. Choose ubuntu-16.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso (or the image you downloaded in Step 1).

Insert your USB Thumb Drive. A reminder that the US Flash drive will be erased during this installation process. Make sure you've got nothing you want on it.

Click Change under Select Drive. Look carefully and pick the drive that matches your USB Thumb Drive in size. It should be  /dev/disk1 if you only have a single hard drive in your Mac. Or /dev/disk2, /dev/disk3 and so on (if you have more drives attached). Do not pick /dev/disk0. That's your hard drive. Pick /dev/disk0 and you'll wipe your macOS hard drive You've been warned!

Click Flash! Wait for the iso file to be copied to the USB Flash Drive.
Remove the USB Flash Drive from your Mac.

Shut down the Mac you want to install Linux on and attach the USB stick.
Power up the Mac while holding down the Option key.

Choose the EFI Boot option from the startup screen and press Return.
You will see a black and white screen with options to Try Ubuntu and Install Ubuntu. Don't choose either yet, press "e" to edit the boot entry.
Edit the line that begins with Linux and place the word "nomodeset" after "quiet splash". The whole line should read: "linux /casper/vmlinuz.efi            file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper quiet splash nomodeset --. (See screenshot, below.)

Press F10.

Ubuntu boots into trial mode.

Double-click the icon marked "Install Ubuntu".

Select English and choose Continue.

Select "Install this third-party software" option and click Continue.

Click Yes to the /dev/sdb alert.

Select "Erase disk and install Ubuntu" and click Continue.

Ensure that Select Drive is displaying the main hard drive. Click Install Now. Click Continue in the alert window.

Select your location on the map and click Continue.

Choosing your keyboard layout and click Continue.

Enter the name and password you want to use.

Click Continue and Linux will begin installing.


Will this optical drive work with my MacBook 13in mid 2010

Unless I misunderstood your question, this is not actually a replacement Optical Drive. What you're linking to is a caddy that allows you to add a second HDD/SSD to your 13" MacBook by using the space your original Optical Drive was in.

Based on your question, you need something like this.

Anyone looking to replace one in a MacBook Pro (13" mid-2010) would need something like this.


Are the files in an encrypted dmg actually in plain text on the hard disk

The files on an encrypted disk image are encrypted.

As you can see currently you can have 128 bit AES and 256 bit AES.  As is pointed out 256 bit will be slower but more secure, however both methods will leave your data encrypted, until it is decrypted.

The real issue is how strong the password for the encrypted volume is.  If the password is not a random string of characters, but based on a dictionary word with substitutions of 1 for i etc, the files while encrypted might as well not be.

Ensure your password is based on a long sentence where you use all punctuation marks, include spaces, numbers and special characters.


Try force-quitting NetAuthAgent.  It won't show up in the regular Force Quit dialog, so use either Activity Monitor or killall NetAuthAgent in Terminal.


I believe this is a bug with the menubar transparency in Big Sur.
I often get the same issue often when I switch between spaces with darker and lighter desktop images, as the transparency/font of the menubar adapts to your desktop image. For example, a darker desktop image shows the menubar with white font, but a lighter desktop image shows the menubar as black font.
If you don't care much about the menubar transparency, you could reduce transparency in System Preferences>Accessibility>Display and enable Reduce transparency. This will then keep the menubar as a solid grey menubar and hopefully stop the issue.
Another solution would be to click on one of the menubar options in the affected area or switch between different desktop spaces, and let the UI processes recalibrate.
You could also kill some UI processes in terminal to get it to reset, but I often find the terminal command killall Dock is a safe one and does the job fine.


It's most likely that your Entourage preferences file is corrupted in some fashion. Try this:

Close Entourage.
Navigate to ~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.Entourage.plist.
Move the file to the Desktop.
Open Entourage, resize the window to your preferred size. Entourage will automatically make a new preferences file.
Close and open Entourage again to test that the change sticks.

If all is well, you can trash the original com.microsoft.Entourage.plist file from your Desktop.


You need to use a for loop for this (works in both zsh and bash):
for target in "dir1" "dir2" "dir3"; do
    ditto -- "myfile.css" "testingdir/$target"
done

If the target directories are actually called dir1 etc you can use wildcard expansion
for target in dir[1-3]; do
    ditto -- "myfile.css" "testingdir/$target"
done


Screen Time: how to disable Downtime limitations in Safari?

Simple answer: it’s not possible. I don’t understand how anyone at Apple could release this feature with Safari missing from the list of apps


Can I Change Track Attributes Without iTunes?

Well I found a way but it's not easy!

Locate the file in the Media Type > Voice Memos folder.
Double-click one of the audiobook tracks to play it in iTunes.
Right-click the play-bar at the top of iTunes and choose Get Info and you can change that track back to an Audiobook.

You could do this for every track but in my case I found that doing this revealed all of the Audiobook tracks under My Music even though they were still tagged as Voice Memos. So I could select all tracks from there and use Cmd + i to convert them all to Audiobooks in one hit.

Quite a long workaround but hopefully this will help someone else, I'm just glad my audiobooks are playable again :)


My iPad won't turn on even though it has charge

It's a hardware issue. You need to go to the Apple store as you have already tried hard rest .
you can follow this guide also :-

  https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/161982/ipad+2+-+My+screen+is+blue+after+falling.


How can I get 2560X1080 resolution on my LG 29UM58-P monitor, connected to my 13" MacBook Pro?

According to MacTracker, your 13" 2013 MacBook Pro can support:

up to 1920 by 1080 pixels on HDMI;
up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on Thunderbolt.

So you need to swap the connectors used by each display.


How can I create an iCal realtime backup?

Maybe merging iCloud, local, and Gmail all together and then having Time Machine?

Your thoughts (dare I say paranoia) are interesting and the goal, unique. You could also create a script that runs at a set time interval and fetches your calendars and archives them in a method of your choosing.

Maybe the simplest would be to create an Automator script that will fetch your iCloud calendars and then save it to your ideal location and archive it automatically. The file of your calendar can be pulled when you go into iCal.app and then obtain the URL for sharing the calendar. Copy that URL and change "webcal://p20-calendarws.icloud.com/ca/subscribe/..." to "http://p20-calendarws.icloud.com/ca/subscribe/..."

That should fit the bill and keep system and effort to a minimum.


Holding down arrow key no longer quickly moves cursor to the right or left

It looks like your settings in System Preference Keyboard are off

Move the Delay Until repeat Slider to the right to as fast you like it


Trying to connect to a device based wireless set up on a ship

I would presume from what we are seeing in the WiFi menu that the Mac is connecting but not being given an IP address by the Windows 7 laptop. It's hard to know exactly without also seeing the "Network" preference pane with WiFi selected.

Check this article on sharing an internet connection on Windows.

You might also check that the WiFi on your Mac is set to use DHCP to get an IP adddress. In "Network" preferences click on the WiFi network then click the "Advanced" button and in Advanced click on "TCP/IP".

Make sure "Using DHCP" is selected.


Create new partition from brand new MacBook Air

Yes, simply click + to add a new partition. It will take space from the end of the current partition and add a new one to the end. No data will be destroyed — you can confirm this in the confirmation pane once you click Apply.


I found someone else with this specific problem.  My understanding is that Apple's Airport Base Stations simply "forget" the previously attached computer.

Two things to check:

Create a static IP address in network configuration on the iMac
in Airport Utility make sure you've created a MAC address based DHCP reservation for this iMac.  Apparently, the AEX AEB & TC will still "forget" but it might be longer now, like 6-8 hours.

The work around: using either and application or System Preferences > Energy Save schedule the iMac to "wake up" and turn back off every 6 hours or so if not being used.  This should re-up the IP.  Alternatively, DD-WRT router software supports WOL out of the box.  Wireless WOL is not part of the spec, however, I believe wireless WOL is an Apple deal.


Disk Utility says disk is corrupt after running fsck -fy

Honestly, you don't mess around with these messages. I think that the first thing to do is to make sure you have a complete backup of your hard drive. Get a second drive with enough capacity. Use Carbon Copy Cloner or Time Machine, or Super Duper to copy the drive.

Once you have a backup, you could easily reformat the drive, (this will avoid bad sectors), and then copy back from the backup.

My 2¢ Hope this helps..


Tracking down Used Disk space with df and du

I suggest you boot into Safe Mode  and let that process flush out some cache files that may have gotten very, very large. Right now, my ~/Library/Caches folder is > 5Gb in size.

This answer gives more info on where to find and eradicate large local Time Machine backup files.


You can use the default iTunes engine to find duplicates :

  File > Display Duplicates

Or, use a third-party software like TuneUp or TidySongs.


How can I stop Homekit devices being unresponsive in the Home on iOS (but not macOS or vendor apps)

The solution is to get a device to act as a HomeKit Hub like a spare iPad, an AppleTV or a HomePod speaker†.
I was experiencing this same issue until I got an AppleTV and used that as my Hub.  Once that device was on the network continually "talking" to the devices, they never "stopped responding" again.  I'm using more "mainstream" devices like Leviton, Lutron, GE, and Phillips.  I even had some of the newer brands like Weemo and Yeelight as you did, but found them even more flaky.  I have Ikea in the house, none of it has an electrical cord (there's only so much compromise I'm going to make and devices with 120V of mains current running through it isn't one of them).
It's not how strong or weak your WiFi is nor is how often you refresh your apps - it's how frequent (infrequent actually) it sends out traffic to update the Apps. If you're app on your phone misses it, it see's it as not responding.  I could usually fix it by issuing a command, having it fail, wait a couple minutes and the device would then become responsive. When I put the first AppleTV in, the issue completely went away.
My advice is two fold:

Implement a Hub device
Stick to more conventional brands.

† iPad 3rd Gen or later, iPad Air or later, iPad mini or later, AppleTV HD or 4K, or HomePod is required to act as a home hub.


That's definitely a big load but it doesn't sound seem like it's too much for those specs.  It's tough to troubleshoot something like this with a single answer but my guess is that there's an issue with your SSD.

Here's my reasoning:

Temporarily fixed up on Restart.
Temporarily fixed when startup disk is cleaned.
You're running with only 10.7% free space.

Possible solutions:

Verify that TRIM is running for your SDD. It should be if it's a stock drive but if it was updated, it probably isn't running.

In a terminal:

system_profiler SPSerialATADataType | grep 'TRIM'

Looking for "TRIM Support: Yes" but if it's no, the free version of Trim Enabler can do this:  https://cindori.org/trimenabler/

Try running the built-in maintenance scripts.  These should be running on a schedule already but you can manually run them in a terminal.

sudo periodic daily weekly monthly

These do various tasks with a frequency indicated by their name.  You can learn more about what they do here.
 http://thexlab.com/faqs/maintscripts.html#Anchor-The-11481

You might consider upgrading the SSD before investing in a new system.  macsales.com is great for matching up specific hardware id's to appropriate components.  I'm not endorsing that site.  It's just a starting point.

Hope that helps. Good luck.


Is there a way of preventing other Finder windows from responding to unnecessary drag/drop events?

Sort differently. If you sort by say, file size, the sort order won't change with the file name. I also enable "date added" or "date created" because those are not the same as "date modified". You can do grouping and sorting through the view menu.


The question is, do you trust the person that maintains the wireless network? Do you trust the other people that are using the wireless network? There are all kinds of risks when you connect to someone else's network. For example, man-in-the-middle attacks, DNS hijacking, etc.

I'm not saying you shouldn't use the shared Wi-Fi in a group home, but just be aware there are risks connecting to any network that you don't control.

A security researcher, Troy Hunt, recently published a blog article on a related subject. He is explaining why he doesn't allow guests to connect to his home Wi-Fi, but the risks he mentions hopefully explain better some of the things that can go wrong with Wi-Fi networks. No, you can’t join my Wi-Fi network


Add a delay to menubar dropdown in fullscreen apps

I don't believe this is possible in Lion.

For your specific problem, I'd just use the keyboard shortcuts to move to a new tab; it's much faster anyway.

To move to the next tab, command-shift-}. To move to the previous tab, command-shift-{.


I've been trying to figure this out for a while.  Here's the answer:

Chrome has a flash player built into it, and it updates automatically.  Other browsers use an external flash player.  If you're like me, you have flash player installed outside of chrome for other browsers.  Chrome doesn't seem to handle this very on it's own, but you can disable one or the other by going "about://plugins" in chrome, expanding the details (+ details at the top right), and finding the flash section and clicking disable on one or the other.

It doesn't seem to matter too much which one you use, but turning one off dramatically improves flash performance and overall memory usage for me.


Is there a feature or trick to automatically substitute or expand abbreviations to full phrases?

Yes, it's built into the system [& can also share with any iOS devices you may have]

System Prefs > Keyboard > Text

There are a few there to start you off - if you don't want them, select & hit the - button beneath.

Adding a new one is as simple as hitting the + button, type your trigger on the left [it wants something nice & alphanumeric as a trigger, no punctuation]
The output can be pretty much anything you can imagine, including multi-line text, however, to get multi-line into it you need to copy/paste it from somewhere else, like TextEdit.

The auto-generation of the shortcut in daily use is inter-dependant on your general spelling auto-correct settings, which will change its behaviour from only replacing on completion of the trigger then hitting Space, or offer to fill as soon as it thinks it has recognised what you are going to input.

I use it for anything from generating my signature, markup in Stack Exchange, to correcting some of my favourite typos that regular autocorrect doesn't seem to pick up.


How to get back old configurations of app windows if lost because of reboot?

By opening up the OSX preview app there is a chance that the PDFs will show up again. That worked for me.