Xcode's Organizer window gets lost, when using 2 external monitors

I have the same issue. Restarting Xcode helps.


If you mount the hidden "Recovery HD" partition in Terminal:

sudo diskutil mount Recovery\ HD

and then again mount the "BaseSystem.dmg" by double clicking it:

then you should be able to use the setregproptool, located inside "Firmware Password Utility.app":

To get to the folder containing setregproptool right-click (or Control click) "Firmware Password Utility.app", select "Show Package Contents" and navigate to Contents/Resources.

Alternatively to the description in this link:

Set a firmware password from the command line - (see post from "Sep 13, '11 05:04:00AM ")

you can copy the "Firmware Password Utility.app" to a more acceptable location (for example on your local drive) and then use it from there.

These are the options of setregproptool:

$ sudo Firmware\ Password\ Utility.app/Contents/Resources/setregproptool -h
Password:
setregproptool v 2.0 (9) Aug 24 2013
Copyright (C) 2001-2010 Apple Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

Usage: setregproptool [-c] [-d [-o <old password>]] [[-m <mode> -p <password>] -o <old password>]

-c              Check whether password is enabled.
                        Sets return status of 0 if set, 1 otherwise.
-d              Delete current password/mode.
                        Requires current password on some machines.
-p              Set password.
                        Requires current password on some machines.
-m              Set security mode.
                        Requires current password on some machines.
                        Mode can be either "full" or "command".
                        Full mode requires entry of the password on
                        every boot, command mode only requires entry
                        of the password if the boot picker is invoked
                        to select a different boot device.

                When enabling the Firmware Password for the first
                time, both the password and mode must be provided.
                Once the firmware password has been enabled, providing
                the mode or password alone will change that parameter
                only.

-o              Old password.
                        Only required on certain machines to disable
                        or change password or mode. Optional, if not
                        provided the tool will prompt for the password.


Remove Program Association from Directory

Looks like you've set the bundle bit on your folder somehow (visible in the Info window: Kind: Package).
Some applications prefer (or create) a package instead of a folder, which can be double clicked to open a whole library folder in an application (iPhoto for example) and maybe to make it harder for the user to mess with its content(?).
To remove the bit run the following command in Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app, or search in Spotlight):

SetFile -a b ~/Downloads

SetFile is part of the command line tools.
Without the command line tools installed, a popup should ask you if you want to download them.  Allow this and try again.


Rebooting machine with macOS Sierra takes very long time

I had the same issue and it seems to be fixed when upgrading to MySQL 5.7.15

Cheers


Installing macOS 10.12.4 beta 2 breaks OpenSSH installed via homebrew

brew reinstall openssh

Solved the issue completely


How can I set system-wide grayscale with exception of some apps?

This cannot be done.
Greyscale in Accessibility is in effect an 'overlay' or filter for the entire screen. It is done right at the point the image is sent to be drawn by your GPU. No app is even aware it is set.
You can very easily test this by switching on greyscale & taking a screenshot.
Switch off greyscale again & look at the shot you took - it's in colour.


MacBook Pro doesn’t recognize new internal HDD

The MBP 13" mid 2012 has some weirdness with the internal hard drive cable, which seems to be overly sensitive to many factors, including hard drive brand. I have seen trouble before with HGST drives and that model MBP.

Assuming you successfully tested the drive another way and found it working, I would try a new internal hard drive cable. Check the cable model number on its undeside, it's either 821-1480 or 821-2049. The former seem to be less reliable than the latter, so if you need to order a new one to test, I would order the latter.


Homebrew installation requests to use my confidential keychain information. Should I allow it to do so?

My answer to question 2 ("Do I have to click 'Allow' for the installation to complete successfully? What will happen if I don't?") is - click "deny" and see what happens. The worst that could happen is that you'll have to reinstall Homebrew.

A wee bit of context from my experience in installing Homebrew: when I installed brew I didn't get this pop-up. However, after installing brew I set up a launchd job to brew update once an hour, and I ran into a daily limit which prevented hourly updates. Brew advised me the solution to this was to (a) create an account at Github, and (b) generate a token
for brew. My assumption is that you already have an account at Github, and that brew install is checking your keychain for a token. In my experience it's not needed for install, and you can generate a token later if you need one.


Try to verify the HDD from disk utility and repair permission if this is doesn't work, try to format it using windows machine.


How to enter redemption code for Snow Leopard?

You will need to buy the Snow Leopard installation DVD from the UK Apple Store

I'm not sure why you just got a redemption code. If you look at this information page about older versions of OSX it says when you buy Snow Leopard you get a DVD, but if you buy Lion or Mountain Lion you get a redemption code. Are you sure you got Snow Leopard?


5Gb of RAM being used with NO software running?

Sometimes the RAM doesn't clear properly - try running "purge" from the terminal - this will (as close as possible) clear the inactive RAM for you.

Also, the more RAM you have, the more your computer will use when idle for the background processes. This is normal and it won't get in the way of your performance.


Spinrite (www.grc.com) is awesome at repairing hard disks. The only caveat is you have to take it out and plug it into a PC as a drive. The PC won't read it, but Spinrite will.


Try to redirect the stderr so you can see what is happening.

exec("lpr myFile.pdf 2> /tmp/lpr_error");


How do I shade the region between two curves in Grapher?

First select both equations in the sidebar, and then Equation » Integration… in the menu.

In the dialog, it has preselected Area Between Curves. Confirm it.

You can change the color in the inspector window.

Since your second equation is y=0, you could just select the first one, and integrate it, selecting Area in the dialog. The result should look the same.


Upgraded to Yosemite, mkdir now says "permission denied"

I mentioned I owned the directory. I just found out that I actually owned the symbolic link to the directory. The user 'root' owned the directory. I chowned the directory and it works ok now.

My guess is either the upgrade changed the owner of the directory or else it changed the permissions logic regarding symbolic links.


Delete Photos from my MacBook, not iCloud

The only way to remove the photos from your Mac is to sign-out of iCloud.  This will keep the photos in iCloud but remove them, and all other iCloud-synced data, from the Mac.

iCloud is a syncing solution not an offline storage solution.  It's designed to give you access to your data from any device that logged-into that iCloud account.

From Apple's iCloud page:

  iCloud connects you and your Apple devices in amazing ways. It makes sure you always have the latest versions of your important information—like documents, photos, notes, and contacts—on whatever device you’re using. It lets you easily share photos, calendars, locations, and more with friends and family. It even helps you find your device if you lose it.

You could use an external storage device to store your photos and that will free-up your Air's HDD space.


Use iCloud calendar and contacts with non-Apple devices

I have a way to do this that may help your friend.  My setup does what you're describing.

I use Microsoft Exchange for work and Gmail for everything else.  I sync my iCal with Google calendar, Addressbook with Google contacts and use mail.app for all emails.  I use 4 devices and all of them have the same contacts and calendar information.

Since Addressbook and iCal have my current information, any non-iPhone device with access to Google calendar and contacts could use what I have on my Macs.  The non-iPhone device will need to be capable of syncing with Google calendar and contacts and most apps today have that functionality.

I also have a Comcast account that meshes fine with this setup since mail.app uses Addressbook and iCal instead of Comcast's contacts and calendar.  I sync everything by using the sync icon in the menu bar several times a week.  My setup includes an iPhone, iPad, Imac and MBP.

I'm researching iCloud to backup my Addressbook and contacts as well but I'm not in a rush since this setup performed reliably for the last 4 years.


How to get iTunes to play an iPhone playlist automatically when connected to iPhone

Ha !! I figured it out !!
And then I created an applet that would do this for me using AppleScript.

And then, I published the steps/code for the same on my blog below. Here's the link ::

How to start playing songs from your iOS device automatically on your Mac


Ran chown -R user /var and most things are broken

Try run this in terminal:

diskutil repairPermissions /

About DiskUtil Repair Permissions


It seems more likely that this call button was actually just a part of the website. If so the fake button probably was an off-white color rather than pure white.
If your phone isn't jailbroken I wouldn't worry about it. Clear your browser cookies to be on the safe side but it's probably fine.
If you see any suspicious ads on your home screen or profiles being asked for you to trust then you should worry. If so reset your phone to factory settings  or to an iCloud backup.
I recommend using Safari for these activities and blocking popups. Make sure to use a VPN.


With the Desktop in focus, press cmd-J to open view options and adjust the Icon size slider.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/mchldaafb302/mac


http://ankisrs.net/docs/manual.html#installing-and-assumed-knowledge

  Anki’s LaTeX support is not turn-key: it is assumed that you know how to use LaTeX already, and that you have it installed. If you have
  no experience with LaTeX, please consult one of the many guides
  available on the internet. If you are having trouble with markup,
  please ask on a LaTeX forum.

  To install LaTeX, on Windows use MiKTeX; on OSX use MacTex, and on
  Linux use your distro’s package manager. Dvipng must also be
  installed.

  Note On Windows, go to Settings in MikTek’s maintenance window, and
  make sure "Install missing packages on the fly" is set to "No", not to
  "Ask me first". If you continue to have difficulties, one user
  reported that running Anki as an administrator until all the packages
  were fetched helped.

    Note On OSX, LaTeX has only been tested with MacTex and BasicTex. If
    you use BasicTex, you need to install dvipng separately, with the
    following command:

      sudo tlmgr update --self; sudo tlmgr install dvipng

    The command may not be on the path, so you may need to provide the
    full path, eg /usr/local/texlive/2014basic/bin/x86_64-darwin/tlmgr.

  Note If you are not using the above LaTeX packages, you will need to
  use the "edit LaTeX" add-on to specify the full path to latex and
  dvipng.

Superuser access needed, not just admin.

P.S. It would be great if someone with sufficient rep link this answer to the Apple Stack Exchange question!  Even though we would be quite a few years late to answering user21373 's query :P


Custom keyboard shortcuts to change active Spaces desktop

The built in methods for changing shortcuts are less limited than you think.

Go to the Exposé & Spaces preference pane in System Preferences, and check out the bottom section of the preference pane. Note especially the text just above it:

  Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts (for additional choices press Shift, Control, Option, or Command)

Here's me pressing ⌃⇧⌘ (Control + Shift + Command) while the shortcut drop-down is active:

The shortcuts have the keys I'm pressing added to them (well, sort of, it avoids redundant combinations but its very easy to see how it works and choose exactly what you want).

So for ctrl+alt+arrow keys, open the drop-down, press ⌃⌥ (Control + Option) and you'll note the top item becomes the shortcut you're after.

You can also do the same for the shortcuts to switch directly to numbered spaces or for the Spaces activation shortcut.


What can I use to enable-disable a ssh tunnel with port forwarding?

Aliases and a bash script? Or the following:

SSH Tunnel Manager (free, open source)
Cocoa-SSHTunnel (GPL)
SSH Keychain (GPL)


System Preferences Badge remains after upgrade to macOS 10.15 Catalina

The 10.15.5. update recently came available, so I installed that. The badge has now gone away. Looks like a Catalina update got things reset internally.


How secure is Activation Lock on iOS 7 (and later)?

Any method to restore a device, bypassing iTunes restrictions either by using DFU/Recovery or by not using iTunes, would still require that the device go through the setup process. It is during this process that the device is connected to Wi-Fi and verified with Apple servers. This checks the database of Find my iPhone devices, making sure that the device is not listed. If the device is linked to an Apple ID, with Find my iPhone enabled, then the device will show the Activation Lock screen, and the Apple ID of the account with Find my iPhone enabled on the device will need to be entered.

Completely draining the battery would not fix this, since the Apple ID and Find my iPhone state is stored on Apple servers and retrieved during setup, not from the device itself.

Theoretically yes, 3rd-party software could gain access to a device and restore it, however as mentioned earlier the Find my iPhone state is stored on Apple's servers, so this would be of no benefit, and would not be different to restoring using iTunes when the device is in Recovery mode.

Even though a jailbreak has now been released for iOS 7, a device with a currently active Activation Lock can't be jailbroken.


Making changes to a Smart Group's distribution list persistent

Distribution lists are not persisted for smart groups. On Lion, if you search Address Book help for "distribution list", you will see a page called "Select addresses for group members". Below step 2 is this piece of bad news: "You can't choose smart groups."

Some versions of OS X show smart groups in the Edit Distribution List window, but as of Lion, this is simply the user interface being misleading.

Speaking of Lion, users who use iCloud for contacts will see the Edit Distribution List menu item disabled, because this feature is not yet available with iCloud.


Have you done a software update? As HP updates their drivers to suit different versions of OSX different updates are pushed through to users. Read more on hp's website.

You could also try resetting the printer system.


Can't update from El Capitan public beta

Go to the Purchased page and click UPDATE there.


MacOS Catalina how to change windows size without buttons?

You haven't specified the version involved, but you should be able to hold the option key and double click the bottom edge of the window to resize it.


Assuming you did not create any new partitions on your Mac, then Grub will only exist in the hidden EFI partition. If there is no evidence of Grub in the Startup Manager menu, then you can just leave the Grub files on the EFI partition.

You can make macOS the default by holding down the control key before selecting macOS in the Startup Manager menu.

If Grub does appear in the Startup Manager, then you can fix this by removing the EFI/BOOT folder from the hidden EFI volume. To make this volume visible in the Finder, execute the following command.

sudo diskutil mount disk0s1


Is there an offline RSS Reader for Mac OS X?

Reeder supports offline reading of your RSS feed. It will fetch and cache a configurable amount of feed history for you to peruse while you aren't connected to the web. And it'll look darn good while doing it. (Can you tell I'm a fan?)


Disable a specific app from ever bouncing in dock

It's all or nothing with the Dock. You have two options: disable bouncing for anything and everything by entering defaults write com.apple.dock no-bouncing -bool TRUE; killall Dock into a Terminal window, or modify & recompile Filezilla, which is not something anyone would want to do I guess. (A third option would be to get a new FTP client. Honestly, Cyberduck is really good.)


Each account can only be set to one region.  According to the knowledgebase article below, one should be able to change the region on an account.  Since this process doesn't seem to have worked properly in your case, I'd suggest contacting iTunes support.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1311

However, you could have two iTunes accounts; a UK account and an Irish account.  The advantage here is that you don't have to worry about a previous UK purchase not being available in the Irish store.

To get an iTunes account in a country in which you do not reside (and therefore do not have an address or credit card from that country), you could purchase an iTunes gift card from the country in question and follow the instructions in the

How to redeem an iTunes Gift Card on a computer > I do not have an iTunes Store account
section of the following knowledgebase article:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1574

You will need to authorize both accounts in the Store menu in iTunes.  Once both accounts are authorized, you should be able to update the apps you purchased with your UK account as well as any new apps you purchase with your Irish account.

On your iOS devices, however, you can only be logged in to one iTunes account at a time (Settings app > Store > Apple ID).  On the device, over the air, you can only update the apps associated with the currently logged in account.

I hope this is helpful.


One way around downloading any version of OS X that's not supported on the physical hardware is to download it in a virtual machine, on the unsupported system, that's running a version of OS X that supports the downloading of the version of OS X being downloaded. I did this using VMware Fusion.  The virtual hardware presented in the virtual machine allowed for this as the App Store did see the physical hardware and the virtual hardware presented was adequate for the OS X version being downloaded.

I had to do this with downloading OS X Mountain Lion in a virtual machine on a physical machine (MacBook Pro 15-inch Core 2 Duo) which only supported up to Mac OS X 10.7.5.  I needed to do this to create a USB installer of OS X Mountain Lion to be used on a MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013 to create an image of the SSD before the OS had been run directly from the SSD for the first time.  In other words to create a factory sealed image, so-to-speak.

Otherwise you'll need to do as Tetsujin suggested, "...get someone else with a newer Mac to DL it for you...".


Audio balance changes randomly in MacBook Pro Retina 15-inch' mid-2012

I've had this problem on multiple MacBooks (from my old Powerbook 15 from 2003 to prior to finding this question on my late 2011 MBP 13").

Apple has acknowledged it as a bug when pressing the volume buttons during heavy CPU usage way back in OS 10.2! The solution was to go back to preferences and set it back where you wanted.


Wrong volume name for sshfs volume in Finder even with volname option

The options go at the end of the command, so in your case:

sshfs user@host:/somewhere/on/the/Y /Z -o volname=Z

I just had a similar problem and this fixes it for me!


Do pics get multiplied in iPhone's photo app?

No, photos added to albums are references to the original. Deleting the original photo removes the photo from any albums that it has been added to.


OS X El Capitan find mouse dosen't work with external mouse

I know a hack to make it work. It's called "tell Apple that there's a bug in their beta software."

Seriously, don't expect flawless performance from features that still have every right to be half-baked. Open Feedback Assistant and file a report in the hope that Apple will have it fixed by the time El Capitan gets its stable release. Odds are other beta testers are having your problem too, so it's your duty as a tester to report all the bugs you can find.


Can iPad/Safari Pretend to be a Different Browser to Avoid Nag Screens?

Try the Atomic Web browser, it's UI is a little shoddy and not iPad3 retina ready, but the features are great. It can change the user agent to pretend to be other browsers, download files and then save them to Dropbox, and has a full screen mode.

You might also try Google Chrome for iOS, but I'm not sure if what User Agent that sends, I know it uses Webkit for rendering.


Identifying an iPad/iPhone by Model Number

You can check this site, some products can be found here. Hover mouse over the model, capacity and color will be displayed like this. It seems that Apple only wants to distribute this information within the company, there is no more public information.
 http://salesdownload.apple.com/public/sites/asw/common/compliance/Other_iPad.htm


/etc/profile is set to read-only for all users, so just using sudo won't help.

What you can do:

run sudo emacs /etc/profile
type C-x C-q to toggle readonly mode within Emacs
edit whatever you want
type C-x C-s to save it

Alternatively you can run

EDITOR=emacs sudo -e /etc/profile

which automatically creates a temporary copy of the file you want to edit (which makes it a bit safer in case you want to cancel the update).


Notes won't sync via IMAP in macOS Sierra

I was quite desperate with this issue as well after a clean install of High Sierra, here is how you setup Notes.app to find the correct imap folder:

System Preferences > Internet Accounts > [your account] > Advanced...

Check if your Path Prefix is set correct. In my case this was blank which worked fine for Mail.app but had to be set to INBOX to work for Notes.app

I hope this helps somebody.


Cycle though dropdown list using keyboard on Mac

Looks to me that this is an Adobe-specific problem. In standard macOS dropdown menus, you can navigate to and select the item you want using only the keyboard.

Up/Down keys move the cursor on the dropdown, while space is how you select the item you want. You can navigate to/from the menu using Tab. Here's an example.

Bonus tip: you can also quickly navigate the selected menu by typing out what you want to select, for example in a select a state menu, you can click it, then type T-E-X to select Texas.


How do I disable all Source Mapping in Safari DevTools?

As far as I know, there is no 'disable source map' option in safari.

I'm also not interested in these red lines in my console log. And tackled the problem from the other end, by letting the server give empty 200 responses for .map files

For nginx it's done by adding the next line to your config

location ~ \.map$ {return 200;}

I know this is dirty, but hey it works...


Very slow write performance 30min+ for 2GB - APFS?

Okay after running

diskutil APFS defragment /dev/<yourdisklocation> status

I saw that defragment was disabled.
Turning it on with

diskutil APFS defragment /dev/<yourdisklocation> enable

an waiting about an hour, the write speed startetd to return to "normal".
I could Copy the 2 GB in about 5 Minutes instead of 40´

Anyway - the Cruxial 500 MX 1TB SSD ist already in my Postbox.


Remove Faces Permanently from Photos Library

The iOS 12 and macOS 10.14 versions of Photos makes this significantly easier.

Select the face / person / name in question and then select:

Remove this person (from macOS)
Remove (from iOS)

That purges the name and face from ones it will select in the People Album. I do see that both platforms will find names from your contacts, so if you just removed "Mary" from your album and you have any contacts with Mary in them, you will still get prompted. Temporarily deleting the contacts (make a backup) or deleting the sync of cloud contacts like iCloud and Outlook.com (or the many other contact sync options) you can test that Photos doesn't have that name anymore to suggest to you.


Why does my iPhone heat when charged and when in use

1. Bad Connection
In areas with poor or reduced connectivity, iPhone has to expend more time searching for and maintaining network connections. This in turn uses more energy which causes the battery to heat up.
Possible Solution
You can try turning Airplane Mode on and see if you have the same problem with heating up.  I also have an iPhone and I myself notice that it does not heat up if I am out in the open, but it heats up and drains the battery if I am in the basement of a large concrete building.
2. Case?
If you have a case for your iPhone, you should expect that it heats up. The case, while it does protect your phone, also blocks some air from coming out and consequently causes the hot air to be trapped inside the phone. This will cause your iPhone to heat up almost indefinitely.
Possible Solution
When you are charging your iPhone, take it out of its case. While this may be inconvenient, it will help.
3. CPU Usage
If your phone is heating up, you may have a lot of applications open. Also, if you were playing a lot of games, then you can expect an increase in CPU usage and temperature as well.
All of the listed items below can contribute to an increase in CPU Usage:

Games
Data Usage (Facebook, Emails)
Fetch/Push Data

Possible Solutions

Do a Network Connections Reset (Go to Settings => General => Reset => Reset Network Settings, then reboot (you will lose WiFi passwords)

Try disabling the following apps (in Settings => General => Restrictions): Multiplayer Games, Ping, App Store, iTunes Store. Then reboot.

4. Defect
If nothing else works, then it is also quite possible that your iPhone is defective and if this continues to occur as you have stated, I would take it to an Apple Store. They may be able to better diagnose the problem.
Links and Resources
MacRumours
Apple Discussion Board
Apple Discussion Board


How can I downgrade from Mountain Lion to Lion?

I suggest you to do a complete backup with time machine, then formatting, install lion and restore all the data (including application and preferences) from time machine backup.

If you cannot download lion from app store, you have to search it on the web....


I actually found a work-around for this by referencing an answer on another question.

Short answer: yes!
I faced the same issue and basically tricked my iPad, you simply turn on airplane mode, you don't hit the redirect, you store the "server not found" page on the home screen and you are done :-)
Hope you can now resolve your 4 year old question.

The only addition to this method is that now on iOS 12 you need to turn on airplane and turn off wifi in order to drop all network connections.
Big thanks to Von Lion


How to make my iMac recognize my USB external hard drive?

If your USB hard drive is the bus-powered variety (that is, you don't plug it into the wall for power), then it is possible that it is requiring too much startup current to run on one of your computers.

Some computers are pickier than others about how much current a device can draw, and over what period.

You might try a cable like this:

Basically, you can use power from two USB ports, instead of just one.

If your hard drive has a jack for a power adapter, use that instead.


iPhone 4 won't connect to the internet except on wifi

You have done many of the quick fixes, but the best guideline on troubleshooting this would be to re-start the troubleshooting process:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3780

Before you start, do you have a backup of your device?

Also, you can test the data connection with some very simple items to rule out Mobile Safari or other items being blocked.

Go to Settings App - turn off Wi-Fi
Go to Settings -> General -> Date & Time and turn off "Set Automatically" and then intentionally set the clock back 10 minutes in the past.
Turn off the phone.
Turn on the phone - verifying WiFi is still off and the date is still set incorrectly and in the past.
Go to Date & Time and turn on "Set Automatically" and see if the date can be set from AT&T's network connection.

At that point, I would then go through the steps in the above article, noting on a piece of paper what results you get. That way should you need to contact AT&T or Apple - they can't give you the run around. It is Apple's responsibility to explain how to test the device up to and including restore / erase and setting it up new. It's AT&T's responsibility to ensure your data service is working if you are paying for it. You can not give them an easy out if you document your efforts to solve it and have done all the things that are expected of the end user.

Hopefully something simple like a power cycle and eliminating the WiFi will allow the cellular data to start working again, but it still could be something out of your control and you'll need help from Apple or AT&T to finally solve it.


When do I formally "Own" an app from App Store?

Once you tap Get, then confirm it by tapping again, then entering your Apple ID or using Touch ID, and the download starts, then you own it.

The download starting is important—if there's not enough space on the device, or the network disconnects first, or anything else prevents the circular progress bar from starting, you don't own the app.

Once download has started, you can tap the Stop button to stop the download. The icon changes to an iCloud download icon and you now own the app.
You can download apps you own from the Purchases list found at the top of the Updates tab on iOS.
Once the app has been added to your Apple ID, the app will remain on the list regardless of whether the app developer changes the price tier of the app. It won't be removed if the price increases and you can't be charged in the future.

This also applies with part 2, as if you purchase the app, then delete it, you can download it again without being charged even if the price tier increases.


Depending on your version of Mac O/S there should be controls in "Displays" that allow you to rotate the display. On the Snow Leopard mac I have at work there is a menu to the right that says "Rotation:" and a menu with Standard, 90, 180 and 270 degree selections available in it.

I seem to recall it looks a little different in newer versions of Mac O/S


Find my Mac checks all available WiFis in the local area and compares them to a huge database, but also with a proxy, vpn or similar, the mac still gets the signals of the local wifi and not of the final access point, so no, you probably can't trick this service by that way.

I'm very sorry for you.


There are 2 kinds of hidden files on OS X.

Files starting with . are normally hidden in Unix (including OS X) or Linux systems, but can easily be shown e.g. by ls -la.

In addition certain files (or directories) are hidden by OS X apps ( ~/Library is one example) and generally files inside bundles (such as .apps) are not normally visible.

It is easy to show hidden files in Finder (by changing settings defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE). This then applies to all files.

Finder addons such as TotalFinder make changing this easier and Finder alternatives such as QuollEyeTree http://binnie.id.au/QuollEyeTree.html let you toggle this for individual directories and show both kinds of hidden files.


Can I connect Apple Airpods to a Toshiba Portege laptop running Windows 8.1?

I connect mine with various Windows devices.  On my desktop (Win 7 Pro) I put the airpods in discovery mode (push the button on the back until the white light flashes) and then go to Devices.  Select add a device and wait until the list populates.  Your airpods will be there.  Click on it and let the drivers load.


Fresh install or Cloning when migrating from HDD to smaller SSD (considering fragmentation, mostly)?

I'd advise just keeping things simple and clone it over if you can easily get your data down to the smaller size, otherwise do a new install and use Migration Assistant (not for any supposed performance benefits, just that it's simpler).

Fragmentation is not an issue with SSDs because the physical location of the data doesn't change the performance characteristics—each block has the same access time as any other, unlike a hard drive where it takes time to reposition the read/write head over the proper sectors.

In my experience the fresh install thing tends to be more of a Windows thing (and an older Windows thing at that). If you're experiencing specific performance issues, the consider a clean reinstall. But otherwise just clone or use Migration Assistant and enjoy the speed of a new SSD.


Where is my ./configure file in OSX 10.8.4 (Mountain Lion)?

The configure script (not directory) is part of the source code archive you should have downloaded (capnproto-c++-X.Y.Z.tar.gz).

When you unpack that archive, change to the toplevel directory (capnproto-X-Y-Z) and run the configure command.

$ cd [to where you downloaded the archive]
$ tar xzf capnproto-c++-X.Y.Z.tar.gz
$ cd capnproto-c++-X.Y.Z
$ ./configure CXX=$HOME/clang-3.2/bin/clang++

Then run the subsequent commands (make and sudo make install) from that same directory.

This is rather generic - most autotool-based builds work exactly like that.


How can I see the log history of my iPhone 6 from an Android?

There's 2 ways to check the call history:

Look at the Recent tab in the Phone app.  This will tell you the numbers she's called and when she called.  To do this you need to have the physical iPhone with you and access to the Phone app.
Review the call log from your cell provider.  Almost all major cell providers allow you to log into your account from any browser or their app and review the call and text history.


You could just move the Sites folder into the Dropbox folder - and then make a link/alias from the new Dropbox location back to ~/Sites.

After you've moved the Sites folder into Dropbox you right click on the Sites folder in Dropbox, and then choose "Make Alias" and move this alias into ~/ (remember to rename it to Sites) - alternativ create the alias this way: Can I create Windows-style alias in Finder?


How to remove my local Backupdb.backupsdb?

What you are asking is to disable local backups, right? To do that, type this in terminal:

sudo tmutil disablelocal

The local backups will go away, and so will the space taken up by them (The folder, backups.backupdb)


From VirtualBox usb status bar icon open "USB Settings" and then add your device permanently to VirtualBox.

Then reconnect your device... and that's it.


Intermittent AirPort issue on MacBook Pro Early 2015


iPhone unable to backup on Mac due to insufficient space

The amount of space you use on your iphone is proportional to the size of the backup. But often the receiving device will need more space than the actual backup to backup a device. Do you have Google Drive or Dropbox?  If so you can move some of your files off your MacBook and store then on one of those services. This will free up some space on your MacBook.


None of the suggestions here had made any difference.  But, I kept looking and scouring the web and found (I don't remember where) what I thought, at first, was a half-assed suggestion that seems to have done the job.  The suggestion was that a "dirty" or misaligned speaker jack could be the issue.  Well, some days ago I removed the speaker plug from the iMac and, lo and behold, the constant opening of iTunes ceased.  I will eventually experiment to see if that was really the issue, but at least temporarily I'm satisfied with using the internal speakers.


Yes it is. If Google Chrome is your default browser.

Procedure

Go to Trello.com in Chrome
Drag the text in the URL field to the desktop. This will create a document that ends in .webloc. EG "Trello.webloc"
Drag that icon into the right side of the dock (it's a document and has to be to the right of the divider bar)

I had forgotten that you could drag the bookmark out of the URL bar directly into the dock. Do it that way if it suits you, either works.

Now when you click on that icon trello.com (or any .webloc document) will open in your default browser.

(This works in Safari and I don't have Chrome handy on this Mac to test. I am assuming that Chrome for Mac behaves the same as Safari in this respect)


Renaming the iCloud folder in the Terminal, but not renaming the actual file itself

How about creating a symbolic link to that directory on your Desktop or in another easily accessible directory?

ln -s ~/"Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs" ~/Desktop/iCloud

Note that you need to have the ~/ outside of the double quotes in order for the link to correctly resolve to your home directory, otherwise it will try to link to the literal directory ~ which of course won't exist.


Control-A combination doesn't work in Terminal

The problem was in Bartender, it was handling Control A.


Seems like my trackpad is never sleeping/shutting off

I've had to track this down and have found that keeping a log has helped me identify which trackpads are going through batteries faster than the others.

Once a week, I'm recording what the OS thinks is the battery level. I've been able to catch bad rechargeable cells as well as one faulty trackpad (among lots) that seemed to be less power efficient. Showing the log to the genius bar was all they needed to offer a swap.

If you don't have a lot of devices - it might be something you just throw good alkaline batteries at until you have a feeling if it's normal. I would go into the genius bar with the Mac and the trackpad to establish the idea you'll be testing it and ask if they have any insight.

Unless you have something capacative on the surface (or very near the surface), it shouldn't matter if your Mac is awake or asleep as the trackpad itself will go to sleep. You can also disable sleep / PowerNap and such once you are sure of the normal weekly drain on a battery and see if it makes any difference.

As to catching the culprit for wake issues - open the terminal and type pmset -g log to dump the history of sleeps, wakes and much more. The manual page for pmset will help if you need more detailed logs than that, but hopefully you can catch whatever event is causing the OS to wake up.


Use MobileME to host multiple domain names

Each account only allows one domain name to be listed. To get full separation, you will need either a family pack (for 5 accounts) or multiple main accounts on MobileMe.

Since iWeb does allow multiple sites, perhaps you could use forwarding or redirect for the subsequent custom domains. Making a CNAME pointing www to your mobile me entry point is the cleanest way to pass traffic, but there are other ways if you don't mind the hassle and exposing your mobile me hosting when the redirect shows the URL where you are hosting.

Most web-savvy people can tell a domain is hosted from mobile me even if you use the "offical" one domain per account method - it just is easier to keep your mobile me name from the address bar of most web browsers that way.


Confusion on Metadata | Named Forks | Extended Attributes | Resource Fork -- HFS+

Confusion arises from the fact that the relationship between these concepts is complex and has changed over time. In current systems the difference between a named fork and an extended attribute is largely academic.

For an extended attribute, the actual data is stored in the attribute data record.

For a fork, what's stored is the list of disk allocation blocks that contain the data. A resource fork is still a fork.

Basic file system metadata is stored in dedicated elements of the file system record itself, independent of the attributes and named fork references.


Can't add Quicksilver keyboard shortcut trigger

This is a known issue.

https://github.com/quicksilver/Quicksilver/issues/2361

It has been fixed and a new version will be released this week sometime.

Until then, you can download an older version to customize the keyboard shortcuts. Once they’re set, you can go back to the latest version, or wait for the next update.


Deleted SMSs do not sync between Mac and iPhone

I ran into the same issue with macOS 11.0 and I am not sure if it happened because of Big Sur using the new Messages app. What resolved this was to go to my Preferences > iMessage tab and select the Enable Messages in iCloud option by checking the checkbox. Then, click the button that says sync now and they will sync.
Hope this helps!


Mac Book Pro Rretina (2014) will not charge

I strongly doubt you've ruined the battery.

Here are some steps to try:
1) https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295 - reset the SMC as someone else suggested also

2) unplug your power adapter from the wall for over 2 minutes. There is breaker-like circuitry that triggers when there is a fault with the power adapter (usually thermal, like if it was lying on the carpet and overheated). Unplugging for 2 minutes resets this

3) sometimes rarely, something weird happens and the battery just needs to be unplugged/re-plugged. Don't do this yourself unless you know what you are doing. The battery in these laptops can be actually dangerous (think boom) without the right equipment. Take it to the Apple store along with the power adapter and just tell them "it stopped getting power, please help." Diagnostics are free even if the thing is out of warranty. You don't have to lie about what happened if they ask - leaving your laptop un-powered for a few days is not a crime nor warranty-voiding if you have a warranty.


It's unlikely you'll find a generic printer driver for this particular model.
"Generic" printers use languages like PCL (Printer Command Language) (Developed by HP), or Postscript (developed by Adobe).  Additionally, they could emulate other printers like "HP LaserJet," "Epson," and even "IBM."  There are some Canon printers that do have this type of emulation support like the BJC-210, however, I can find no documentation whatsoever for the MP140.
Just as an aside, there are generic PPDs (CUPS Printer Description/Definition) for Canon Postscript printers.
On the scanner side of things, I did find that the scanner is  TWAIN / WIA compliant.  You should be able to find generic TWAIN drivers, but WIA (Windows Image Acquisition) is Windows only.  While TWAIN drivers for Mac will exist, the problem is most are 32 bit making them incompatible with Catalina (I obviously don't have a MP140 to test to see if it's natively recognized).
My recommendation is to retire it.  It's obviously a quality product, but unfortunately it's hamstrung by a lack of "pro grade" features like Postscript and PCL printer languages.  When shopping for your next replacement printer, go a step up and get something geared for business and not consumers.  The consumables will be less and the lifespan much longer (I have an old Datamax label printer that still works because of PCL compatibility; it's not even USB!)


Terminal opens with "-bash: /usr/local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh: No such file or directory"

This is a common stumbling block when editing shell files.

I would remove any .bashrc and .bash_profile entries you know you don't need and then get a package manager to help you with managing the bash requirements. There is step by step help and many questions here on how to get homebrew set up.

Where can I download OpenCV for macOS?
https://docs.brew.sh/Installation.html

The benefits of homebrew is it makes some decisions about where alternative versions of python and packages live and you can not have to manage those as the software changes.


Is there a bluetooth phone that can remain paired with iPhone?

I have had good experience with Uniden. They make a range of phones that pair to your iPhone via bluetooth. They are good for incoming but have not yet worked out how to make outgoing calls through them.


Will reseting my 2011 Macbook Pro bring it back to the old version?

If you Mac was shipped with OS X 10.6 or earlier, then the Mac came with an installation DVD. If your Mac was shipped with OS X 10.7 or later, then you can download that version from the internet. You will need to boot your Mac using Internet Recovery Mode and download the original shipped OS X version.

  Early 2011 MacBook Pro models shipped with OS X 10.6 and the late 2011 MacBook Pro models came with OS X 10.7 installed.

Snow Leopard OS 10.6 is now to old to be of any use for accessing the internet or running most current applications. OS X 10.7 is better, but not by much. Your best bet is to see what previous purchased versions of OS X are still available from the Apple Store. I believe, Yosemite OS X 10.10 can not be downloaded even if you previous purchased this version.

It is generally a good idea to backup any version of OS X you download, before installing or upgrading your operating system. What I mean by this is that you backup the .dmg file you downloaded. What people are learning is that you can not rely on Apple to allow you to download a previously purchased OS X version at a later date.

If you can download Mavericks OS X 10.9 or later, you can copy the installation files to a flash drive. You can boot from the flash drive and perform a clean install of OS X. The instruction are given at the web site Create a bootable installer for OS X.


Is the a CLI way to download all photos from a Photos.app iCloud shared album?

Take a look at iCloud Photos Downloader it is a command line interface for iCloud Photos based on Python.

To install, you can type pip install icloudpd should the requirement of Python 2.7.x or 3.6.x be met. If you use Python 2.6.x will fail.

If you require Python, I reccomend using Homebrew Package Manager, which is known for being easy to install command line tools. If you’re going to install Python with this method, type brew install python

You can also install Python using the package found on their website.

If you’re looking for more info about the package and command usages / 2 Factor Authentication scenarios, take a look at the Repository’s Readme.


Can we purchase AppleCare in India for MacBook Air purchased from USA?

Apple recommends you to purchase an AppleCare protection plan in your country of residence, implying the country where you'll be seeking repair services.

Support - AppleCare - FAQ - Apple (IN)

Where can I purchase the AppleCare Protection Plan?
The AppleCare Protection Plan is available at the Apple Online Store and many Apple-authorised resellers and wireless service providers.

To answer your questions:

Once I purchase the laptop from US and come back to India, will I be able to purchase AppleCare for this laptop here in India?

Yes.

If yes, will there be any restrictions on the AppleCare?

No.
P.S.: The answers are based on information provided by Apple and from personal experiences.


How to migrate 'local notes' or 'on my mac' notes to iCloud?

On Mac #1, I just transferred all my "Local Notes" into iCloud and can see them in Mac #2:

Click on "Local Notes" on left side of Notes window.
Hit Command+A to Select All notes.
With mouse, drag all selected notes into "Notes" under "iCloud" on left side of Notes window.


Share links, notes, and pictures between iPhone and Mac?

Apple OSX Mountain Lion has been announced, it includes a few of the iOS apps on the mac desktop such as Notes, Game Center, reminders, twitter and message.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/mountain-lion/


Stop iCloud to sync with a specific file

Add .nosync to the file (before the extension).
HugeFile.nosync.pdf

An icon (crossed out cloud) will indicate the exclusion.


You can do this in System Preferences in the Text tab of the Language & Text pane:

You can toggle on/off the built-in replacements, as well as create ones of your own.


Why do settings disappear? Mail, usuallly

Here is the explanation from my provider's tech support:

  We think you should turn off [automatically manage connection
  settings]; there should never be any reason for it to use different
  ones. You always want it to stick with the recommended port 587
  (etc.), no matter what.

  The trouble with that feature is that if your ISP connection stops
  working for a second, and Apple Mail can't connect, it will think "oh,
  the settings might be wrong, so let's try a different port". It tries
  something else at random, and maybe it works, because your ISP
  connection is working again. But Apple Mail wrongly assumes the port
  setting was the trouble -- so it saves the new setting! And then
  you're using something weird that only works on certain networks,
  etc., when it would have been better to keep the original "works
  everywhere" port number.

  Apple Mail is the only program we know of that does anything like
  this, and it's not a good idea, really; it's designed to help people
  if their mail server company changes things, but can cause problems in
  other cases. We've even seen cases where it randomly changes the
  settings to something that can never possibly work on any servers,
  although it's not supposed to.

As evidence for this explanation, when I turned it off and it revealed the port settings, they were different for each account (but all were wrong).


Try repairing your Photos library. You can do this by holding down the keys Command + Option when launching Photos.app.


Trying to find file location of Mac Mail Smartboxes so that I can run automatic email archiver

The smart mailboxes aren't real mailboxes—they're just filters stored in Mail preferences. You can't find the location of the smart mailbox because it's not actually stored separately on disk.


Management of security questions in AppleID authentication

You can go to iforgot.apple.com and then enter your Apple ID email address and then the captcha code there. Then choose continue and reset security questions. Next you choose how you want to reset it (get an email with a link or enter the password). Then you can change the security questions.

Apple Support can reset the password for you. All you need to do is to get verified. You need to attempt to sign in to the Apple ID site. When it asks for your security questions there is an option there that says Get Support PIN. Apple Support needs that PIN as 1 way to verify you. Then all they need next is one of the following:

At least 1 correct security question
Text you a code to your iPhone or the phone number
Enter in some of your credit card info that is on file.

After that they can reset the questions.

Best of luck.


Using Shazam to pick up audio over internal soundcard / headphones

You can do this like so:

Install Soundflower (from https://rogueamoeba.com/freebies/soundflower/)
Option-click the volume icon and change both the input and the output device to "Soundflower (2ch)"
Start the Soundflowerbed application that comes with Soundflower, then click its icon in the top right (of a flower) and choose "Built-in Output" from the list under "Soundflower (2ch)"

Now your system audio output (e.g. VLC) is going out on the Soundflower virtual audio cable and your system input (e.g. Shazam) is coming from the Soundflower virtual audio cable, so Shazam can listen to whatever you play on the Mac, but Soundflowerbed lets you also route that virtual audio cable out through the system audio output so you can hear it all the time!

This could have a slightly negative effect on CPU usage and latency, so you might not want to use this set up all the time if you aren't using Shazam - in this case, you just Option-click the volume icon and set the output (and input if required) back to "Built-in". It's really cool to have Shazam IDing tracks as you listen to a DJ mix/radio station, and it's (sometimes) impressively accurate!


Is there a way to recover an older version of my iPhoto database?

There are two ways to do this:

1- You could open the folder in the Finder containing your iPhoto library (usually ~/Pictures) and initiate Time Machine by clicking the icon in the OS X system tray and selecting "Enter Time Machine." Use the time browser functionality to select a date that you wish to restore, then select the iPhoto library file, followed by the "Restore" button (see screenshot above)

2- You could manually browse to the location of your iPhoto library in the Time Machine backup. To do this, open the Finder, and locate the Time Machine drive that you use to backup your Mac. Double-click to open the disk image for the backup of your Mac, then navigate to Backups.backupdb | [Computer Name Here] | [Folder Containing Date You Wish to Browse] | [Macintosh HD] | Users | [Your Username] | Pictures. In this folder, you will see the iPhoto library file for the backup date that you are browsing. You can copy it to your Mac and optionally replace your local copy of the iPhoto library, if needed.


Does the mid-2010 Macbook Pro (Core 2 Duo) support memory compression with OS X 10.9+?

It is implemented completely in software, yes (for any meaningful definition of this). Obviously you will need a physical CPU to run the code in practice.

The feature does not require the AESNI instruction set. It only requires a x86_64 CPU (i.e. 64-bit CPU) which is anyways already a requirement for running Mavericks.

You can find the source code for the compression algorithm here:

https://github.com/aosm/xnu/blob/9653931b282e653805655cc56831195d0fb162aa/osfmk/x86_64/WKdmCompress_new.s


You can use a third-party application if you are not familiar with terminal.

Pdfwordcounter which returns the word count for inputted PDF files.


Install Ubuntu on Yosemite - no detected operating system

You have to have a hard drive partition that is formatted in the way Ubuntu uses. You can't do that using Yosemite so you will have to do it via the live cd using the disk utility. A nice guide can be found here -> http://www.ubuntulinuxguide.com/ubuntu-1204-lts/hard-disk-partition/


Changed iPhone Backup File Type. What to do?

The files in the backup are likely HEIC (or AAE for edits made in Photos). Furthermore, the backup could be encrypted, such that the contents of the backup files cannot be read normally.

You can’t convert a file from one type to another by renaming the extension; if this is what you’ve done, rename it back.
If you tried to convert the file using some conversion process, it may have corrupted the file. If you overwrite the original, it’s gone.


Removing a given email synced to my iPad?

If you just want to be done with all trace of the mail, simply fire up your iPad and go to the settings app.

From there, tap on Mail, Contacts, Calendars and select the mail account in question.

The Delete Account control will remove that account and all messages, contacts, calendars and notes that were synced to your work gmail account.

This does nothing to the actual google account and deletes no messages or contacts from the server. That would need a working connection and/or you to log in to the account at http://gmail.com or the URL they set up for your business log in.


How to list all files in directory excluding any that start with a dot?

To exclude files and directories add an exclusion pattern to the find command (see info find for more):

find /Volumes/DriveName -not -path '*/.*' > driveName.txt


How to use Gmail contacts on an iPod Touch

You need to set it up with Google Sync.  There's a step-by-step guide on the Google Sync Support Page


What should I do before I give up my iPhone?

You can save all the app data to migrate to another iOS device at a later date by backing the iPhone up to iTunes or setting up a free iCloud account.

This will nicely complement your existing plan in case you forget something until after you turn in the phone. You can restore your backup on to a friend's device long enough to retrieve that additional data and then erase the device. As long as you maintain the iTunes backup on the computer or iCloud access - your backup will be waiting until you get another iOS device to load the backup.

Here are some other apps you may have used occasionally and want to transfer to your Mac:

voice memos can be imported to iTunes
call history, SMS messages and voicemail (using an app like PhoneView)

If you have a good backup, you can feel better about having the phone erase all content and settings so you give it back clean and with no personal data just in case your company doesn't do a great job sanitizing the device before re-issuing it to someone else.


Yes Apple allows split screen with a vertical slider or divider out of the box.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204948

There are many awesome window manager that automate many grid layout, are flexible and very friendly to key shortcuts. I like moom and divvy in particular.

Replacement for MercuryMover
Is there a way to exactly position a window?
More than two windows split view


Does the App Store update Java, if installed?

Java6 provided by Apple should be updated by the App Store, given any newer versions will be released (which i doubt).

(Tested with Mavericks & Apple Java RE 1.6.0_51 in a VM. It was updated to Apple Java RE 1.6.0_65 by App Store)

Java7 & Java8 provided by Oracle use their own update services.


where is previous Terminal sessions info stored?

The history files for the Bash-Terminal are located within:

  ~/.bash_sessions/

(and called *.history)

or in this file:

  ~/.bash_history

(Both of them are hidden)

You can find other log files if you open the console app.

If you are curious about the Terminal.app log see
here.


Increasing a user's home directory size, external drive?

Moving the entire user domain, instead of just the folders for Videos and Photos may be overkill, though it would keep things simple. You're not going to see any advantage from moving preferences, audio files, Word docs, etc, as they are too small and not causing any bottleneck.

There's no disadvantage either, except that if the Mac boots up and can't find the drive, it will create a brand new (empty) user account on the system disk. "Where has all my stuff gone?"

Don't forget that you'll need another device to back up to!

Fusion drives can reduce in performance as they fill. I would recommend swapping one or more parts out for a regular SSD in due course.


What is the benefit of macOS dropping support for 32-bit software?

Apple's explanation for the transition can be found here: 32-bit app compatibility with macOS High Sierra 10.13.4

  All modern Macs include powerful 64-bit processors, and macOS runs advanced 64-bit apps, which can access dramatically more memory and enable faster system performance. The technologies that define today's Mac experience—such as Metal graphics acceleration—work only with 64-bit apps. To ensure that the apps you purchase are as advanced as the Mac you run them on, all future Mac software will eventually be required to be 64-bit.


Generally, you can use sudo csrutil clear, follow by a reboot, to enable SIP. So the command enables SIP without a reboot, however this does not go into effect until the next reboot. This get it down to 3 reboots to enable/disable SIP.

You can get it down to two reboot by using rEFInd.

If you want to disable SIP with a single reboot, then install rEFInd. If you specify the --usedefault option when installing rEFInd, then rEFInd will be installed to the /EFI/BOOT folder in the EFI volume. This will allow rEFInd to appear in the Startup Manager. A boot to rEFInd is almost instantaneous, as opposed to macOS Recovery which is not. Once rEFInd is properly installed, changing the status of SIP can be done by the following steps.

Reboot and hold down the option key to boot to the Startup Manager.
Select to boot to rEFInd.
From the rEFInd menu, select to enable or disable SIP.
From the rEFInd menu, select to boot to macOS.

If you have Windows or another Linux installed which uses the /EFI/BOOT folder in the EFI partition, then you will need to create another small partition for rEFInd to boot from. This can be another EFI partition, a FAT32 formatted or ExFAT formatted partition. You can even put rEFInd on a flash drive, if you do not rEFInd installed on your internal drive.

I also should note that rEFInd now includes gdisk, which is a command that is easier to use than the gpt command included with macOS. So, if you need SIP temporarily disabled to edit the partitioning on disk0, you can do this in only 1 boot.


AppleScript: How to write to text file in specific location (signaled by specific character)?

Here's a shell script:

sed -i '' -e ':a' -e 'N' -e '$!ba' -e 's/\n\n/\
Write the new line you wish inserted in your file here\
\
/' ~/Desktop/file.txt

You can wrap this in a ‘do shell script’ if you really want AppleScript, but for an Automator script, you can use a Run Shell Script action and just use the shell script.

Here's an AppleScript wrapper for the script, where the TextToWrite variable and the Target_Filepath variable have been defined elsewhere per your comments:

set addline to "sed -i '' -e ':a' -e 'N' -e '$!ba' -e 's/\\n\\n/\\
" & TextToWrite & "\\
\\
/' \"" & Target_Filepath & "\""
do shell script addline


OS X Finder not showing correct file size - why and how "fix" it?

This is not a bug, so there is nothing to fix.  Apple (and pretty much every other computer company) moved over to base 10 to avoid confusion with the standards that we have with the metric system.

In metric:
    10 mm   = 1 centimeter
    1000 cm = 1 meter
    1000 m  = 1 kilometer

In base 2:
    1 byte  = 8 bits
    1 KB    = 1024 bytes
    1 MB    = 1024 kilobyte or 10242 = 1,048,576

So, in pretty much every other industry "Mega" meant 1 million of something, in computers it meant "1 million and 48 thousand, five hundred seventy six of something"

It wasn't until around 1998 that the IEC, IEEE and other standards organization wanted to address this ambiguity.  They clarified it by coming up with the "binary prefix" for the unit symbol.

1 Kilobyte = 1,000 bytes.
1 Kibibyte = 1,024 bytes

This was done for the sole purpose of making things easier to understand as they related to computers.

It's very easy to understand (using your file example) that you have a

0.237MB file
237.2KB file
2,272KB file

I don't have to break out a calculator to to do base 2 conversion.  It's very easy for me to understand that my 1/2 TB hard drive is 500GB and not 465.66GB


iPhone switches to speakerphone when away from my face

When you lay your phone on the table and dial a number, you should see this screen.

If you see speaker in blue, you might try tapping that part of the screen to see if you can return to the receiver for sound out. If so, hang up and repeat the call.

If all calls start with speaker, then you have a problem with the software or hardware. The Apple troubleshooting web site might help, but I'd do this first:

Power down the phone and test after a clean restart.
Back up the device (you will need to restore your data to the device after resetting things other than the settings in the immediate step below)
Go to the Settings app > General > Reset > Reset All Settings
Repeat the dial on the table test
Now erase everything on the phone Settings app > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings
Repeat the dial on the table test
Restore the device using iTunes to erase it.
Check the headset port and dock connector for foreign debris (or liquid damage)
Get the hardware serviced by Apple (or other service provider) by going through the Apple Troubleshooting website mentioned before this list.


How can I hide / remove updates from the Mac App Store?

Does it still show up in Launchpad? Or have you tried downloading the application again and removing it from Launchpad? It runs uninstalld, which doesn't normally remove many other files than the application bundle, but it probably makes some other changes.


How to stop "password reset" emails from Apple?

I get these all the time, and it's not even Apple's fault.

If—like me—you:

Use a me.com or mac.com email address as your Apple ID
Have a common username (such as steve, @ either mac.com or me.com)

Then every Joe or Jane who comes along thinks that they have joe@mac or jane@me, can't sign in, and tells Apple to reset the password. Apple does what it should do and sends you an email telling you how to reset your password. Again. And again. And again.

If you're in the same situation, there's nothing that can be done about it (short of giving up that nice mac.com address).


Forcing bluetooth for iPhone incoming calls

There's no way to do this via the iPhone itself, but there are voice-controlled Bluetooth headsets (such as the BlueAnt Q2) that would allow you to take the call on the headset without pushing a button.


Are there any native tools for SVG conversion on OS X?

Try Gapplin. It works for me and creates PNG and JPG files from SVG. Simple and effective.

If you have a lot of SVG files to convert, ImageMagick is probably your best bet (available directly from imagemagick.org or via Homebrew).


Apple Photos has given the same name to dozens of photos, as if they were different people

You can simply merge people.

On iOS:

Go to People folder in Photos app
Click on 'Select' (top right corner)
Select the people you want to merge
Click on 'Merge' (bottom right corner)
It shows an alert, you choose 'Merge'

On Mac:

Go to People tab in Photos app
Select the people you want to merge
Right mouse click and choose 'Merge'
It shows an alert, you choose 'Merge'


What is causing my ~/Library folder to be come visible again?

It is VueScan. The developer (who otherwise is great) does annoying things like this, or adding the app's icon to the Dock without making them a preference.


Change main desktop to external screen after sleep mode

You can change your default display to the external monitor by setting a boot argument. Note that this will disable the internal display of your machine. It is described as the opposite of clamshell mode, but this isn't quite accurate, since this works when the clam is closed as well:

  sudo nvram boot-args="iog=0x0"

To clear the boot argument, either reset the NVRAM or execute the following. The former will clear all NVRAM contents, the latter will only clear the boot arguments variable:

  sudo nvram -d boot-args


High quality USB microphone that works on the iPhone 4

By "there are issues with the iPhone 4 and USB microphones," are you referring to the fact that no one has ever gotten them to work together?

The iPad, yes—but not the iPhone 4.

(Which, I think, answers the question about which mic I recommend…)


How do I find an app that got lost following upgrade to iO6

New iOS versions never break compatibility with older apps. You could try viewing your purchases in iTunes on your computer. This could be fruitful as the app may have been hidden — to check, go to your account details page (in iTunes) and select "View Hidden Purchases."

Also, consider the possibility that it was downloaded with an Apple ID you haven't thought of. If you're certain it's not on the iPad, you can't find it under Purchased, and neither you nor your kids can remember its name, then it may have been pulled from the App Store. This isn't very likely, though.


Use iOS twitter integration without the official Twitter app?

I found out recently in iOS 6 you don't need the official Twitter client installed nor the Facebook client. I use Tweetbot for Twitter, and I am still able to use the built in Twitter features for iOS without having reinstalled the official Twitter app.

Notifications are generally handled by the individual applications through the notification centre and therefore you don't need the twitter client installed, since your preferred client will handle these.

It seems that the link for this in the settings page is only to make you aware that you need another client to read actual Twitter/Facebook messages and to get all functionality.

iOS provides native authentication and tweeting functionality. The reason for the recommendation to install the twitter app is due to the fact that iOS does not support reading tweets or notifications natively.

I found this out by accident setting up my iPhone 5. I have since removed the official app from my iPad HD and everything still works.


How can i change my region/country but without putting a card to pay?

You can just create a new account in the new region via the app store and select payment option none.


OS X Terminal window disappears on launch

Well can I ask you what default login shell is?  mine is /usr/local/bin/bash from Homebrew, and if I move my stuff from Time machine to a new computer Homebrew is there but for some reason it is hosed, so I need to change the login shell, remove Homebrew, reinstall XCode, reinstall Homebrew, reinstall /usr/local/bin/bash and change my default login shell again.  I might be wrong on your special instance, but it is something worth considering.  In general Migration Assistant works for your data and all the "normal" stuff and Apps people have, but any developer/Unix stuff gets broken (or so it is my experience over dozens of migrations).

PS to change your default login shell go to the Preferences Panel (the thing with the cogwheels icon), Users and Group, unlock if needs be, right click on yourself -- the option of 'Advanced options' will come up, click that and change your login shell.  Save, log out and you're set.


Yosemite black screen with cursor after log in

Boot into the recovery mode (CMD+R) and in Disk Utility repair both the disk and the disk permissions. Once done, restart the computer and see if it works properly again. :)


Hide the clock on the iPhone 6+ lockscreen

This is not possible without jailbreaking.


It is necessary.

It is independent of Mac or macOS involved. As you wrote "improperly": this is the key here.

To prevent damage from the filesystem the OS checks "is the filesystem dirty?", i.e. not cleanly unmounted. "Dirty" filesystems then get a run of filesystem check (fsck_msdos). Successful fsck marks the filesystem as clean. (And usually tries to correct some inconsistencies, if it finds some of those it could rectify.)
Killing that process before it does the same as a proper unmount, i.e. "marking the filesystem as clean", will send you into a loop. Finding a way around that may be possible, but is certainly not recommendable.

Two 'solutions':

Try to eject/unmount the filesystem cleanly every time. That is the best way to avoid the fsck run. There may be some applications available to make even that even more convenient, depending on what kind of disks on what type of connection they are to be used.
Let it run its fsck course the first time around. That is the shortest way to start using it again.

Possible Preventive Measures:

Mechanical unplugging the drives involuntarily while awake or in use could be mitigated with a better cable. No joke. I have one quite expensive cable that sits much tighter than all the others in that port.
If the problem occurs mainly with sleeping or after not using the external drive you might want to look into an app like Mountain. It's commercial and there might be others out there (Jettison, CleanMyDrive).

Also, true: this fsck_msdos is mainly to notify you of any and prevent further damage, so you can take it to a system whose fsck or chkdsk actually can repair it.


terminal.app eats SHIFT key when used with UP and DOWN arrows (but not left or right)

I'm not sure what there is to "explain".  If you want them to be recognized, define them in your terminal profile.
The canonical list of ANSI keycodes I usually use is here:
https://github.com/timothybasanov/terminal-app-function-keys
 ⇧↑ \033[1;2A
 ⇧↓ \033[1;2B


1Password.  Not strictly a note taking application, but it does have secure notes built into it.  You're not going to find markdown support, but you get a place to type text.  Will sync via dropbox with it's desktop version.

Neither the iOS and OSX/Windows app are free.  (Plus it's a really awesome password vault)


iTerm not showing colors for directories/folders

I think I know why. I was using nightsense-carbonzied for my shell as well, besides Vim. When I removed it, its fine.

I used vimspectr previously and even if I stopped that, that won't come back to normal and I do not know why...


Will my emails be kept if I upgrade from 10.6.8 to 10.11?

The upgrade does keep all emails, but the new mail program will reprocess and reindex and move the actual files.

IF there is corruption in the filed or database on your computer now, an upgrade is when things get worse, so be sure to back up your Mac before the upgrade. That way, no matter what happens with the script, you could wipe and go back to the way things were or investigate your follow on question of how to export or make the mails portable in general as opposed to trusting the upgrade does what is intended.


Keyboard adjustment keys have black box around them

This effect occurs when "Reduce Transparency" is enabled (System Preferences > Accessibility).

(Very odd that this is how the effect would degrade, instead of just make it a solid colored square.)


How to hide computer name and user name in terminal command prompt

Change your prompt in your ~/.bashrc file. The example you asked for would be:
export PS1="\W \$"

It would result in the current folder you're in being shown plus a $ for the regular prompt and a # if you're root. Check out this guide for more examples of what you could show in your prompt.
Edit:
As per one of the comments below, you might need to source your ~/.bashrc from your ~/.bash_profile or even put this code in your ~/.bash_profile instead. You can read this article for a better explanation on which file to use.


windows can't read my HDD installed in my dvd slot on MBP

"PC compatible" refers to the way, partitions are written to the disc, I think. If it is HFS formated, Windows does not recognize it. Have you tried to format it with FAT32?


Disable backspace to delete e-mails in Mail.app

Actions performed by keys like delete (⌫; backspace on Windows) or return don't often have menu bar items. One reason might be that they are just so common and would clutter up the menu bar. The keys also have different functions in different contexts. If a menu item was assigned to delete, it would normally have precedence over the function delete has in text views.

You could use KeyRemap4MacBook to disable delete in Mail, but it would also disable it in text views.


Switch vibrations for all notifications except phone calls in silent mode

Unfortunately, unless you jailbreak you iPhone, there's no way to do that. Turning off vibrations for notifications does that for all notifications, including Phone call vibrations.


Which Time Machine backup destination over Wi-Fi to choose: old computer running Ubuntu or Time Capsule?

Both are feasible. I use the first myself, and my sister had the second set up at one point.

1) On the laptop, you can install netatalk which handles AFP file sharing. Time Machine requires some special AFP features but those are supported by the version of netatalk that comes with Ubuntu 12.04 (just do sudo apt-get install netatalk).

Here's a decent guide for that, although with current versions you shouldn't actually need avahi-daemon, netatalk can handle Bonjour by itself now. You may actually just be able to get away with adding a line like:

/home/username/backup    "Time Machine"  allow:username   options:tm,noadouble

to /etc/init.d/netatalk/AppleVolumes.default, which is all I had to do on one machine running 12.04 (I don't remember having to do the other stuff, but YMMV).

Note that you should NOT ever need to use the "EnableUnsupportedVolumes" hack as netatalk meets Apple's spec and should appear as a backup destination automatically. Using this hack causes Time Machine to ignore problems that can cause loss of your backups.

2) A Time Capsule can indeed be connected to a wireless network as a client to share the hard drive (it can also share a printer connected via USB). I think the setup wizard makes it pretty easy, you're basically just looking to set it up as a wireless client and not a router. You might want to hook it up by ethernet if the signal isn't so great, though.

If 320GB is enough space (which I imagine it is, unless your Air has a 512GB SSD), I'd go with the netatalk solution unless money is no object.


Why does iTunes Connect say that the day isn't over yet in all regions when it is?

No, this is not due to a lag or bug. The fact is that as I write this, it is still 30 June 2017 in some regions.

For example, right now it is 10:27pm Friday night in New York.

[EDIT]

You may find it useful to refer to one of the many online time services, such as the World Clock to check what the time is at any given moment around thew world.


Dell WD15 Dock with 2017 MacBook Pro - Displays question

No, that is not possible with that dock.

The WD15 manual does not state that this is a supported configuration. It is only supported for Windows, not macOS.

In order to do what you want, you'll need a Thunderbolt 3 dock instead of a USB-C dock. This is due to the way the signal needs to be demultiplexed in order to drive two separate displays. Essentially this particular dock uses MST (multi-stream transport) in order to drive separate displays - the MacBook Pro does not support that.


User permissions problem after restoring from Time Machine to a new user Mac OS X El Capitan

In versions of OS X from Lion (10.7) and newer with a recovery partition, there is an additional Repair Permissions application utility. This tool is located inside Boot Repair Utilities. Here’s how to access it.

Restart OS X and hold down the Command and R keys.
You will boot into the Repair Utilities screen. On top, in the Menu Bar click the Utilities item then select Terminal.
In the Terminal window, type “resetpassword” (without the quotes) and hit Return.
The Password reset utility launches, but you’re not going to reset the password. Instead, click on the icon for your Mac’s hard drive at the top. From the drop-down below it, select the user account where you are having issues.
At the bottom of the window, you’ll see an area labeled ‘Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs’. Click the Reset button there.

Info gleaned and appropriated from this page.


MacBook Pro 15" late-2012 no input/output devices detected

I can't be sure, but I think that the first step to solve the problem is to check the connection of speakers to motherboard. Are they connected properly? Disassemble the laptop and check all the loops and wires.


How to install firefox using the terminal app

I am assuming that you already have a connection via Terminal to the school server.

You need to download the .dmg first. Goto the directory in which you want to download the dmg file (command cd \PATH\TO\DIR)

Then enter this into the terminal:

curl http://mozilla.mirrors.tds.net/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/latest/mac/en-US/Firefox%2025.0.1.dmg -o firefox25.dmg

This is the latest Firefox Release for OS X.

Then mount the dmg:

hdiutil attach firefox25.dmg

Goto the mounted dmg (probably under Volumes):

cd /Volumes/Firefox

There you can find the Firefox.app which you can now copy to your Applications folder:

cp Firefox.app /Applications/Firefox.app

To unmount the dmg:

hdiutil detach /Volumes/Firefox


Safari not working with notification center

When you go to Gmail in Safari 6, you should see this at the top:

That should enable alerts in Notification Center. You could also set up your Gmail in Mail.app.

On Apple's website for Mountain Lion, it says:

  Facebook integration coming this fall.

So it may be a few weeks still before you can use Facebook with Notification Center.


Copying all my data to new disk, without resorting to Time Machine/Migration Assistant or cloning

The answer is simply no, because no program will be able to know all the specifics of installed programs (MA probably comes closest to 'knowing' most of the specifics of Apple software but as you found, it did so for 99% only), much less drivers, **nix level installes (MacPorts, etc.).

If you have a well working copy, then clone the disk (SuperDuper, etc.) and then upgrade the new disk to the new operating system.

If you have trouble with your current installation, make a fresh install, then plug the old disk into an USB case and coppy the /Users/(you)/ folders.  This will avoid installed software , old drivers etc.  Then install the software you need (most of it will pick up the essential config data from /Users/you/Application Support/).

The first is quick and painless.  The 2nd usually is still quicker than you mostly think and gives you the nice good feeling of a fresh start :-)


How do I add media not in iPhoto to a Keynote presentation?

You can

drag them in from a Finder window

copy and paste from somewhere else

or use Insert > Choose...

You can also add the folders by dragging them into the media browser, as described in Macworld's article Add more folders to the Media Browser.

First, in your iWork program, make sure the tab of the Media Browser that you’d like to modify is selected, then switch to the Finder. Find the folder you’d like to add, and start dragging it. Now press Command-Tab—while still dragging the folder—and switch to your iWork application. When the iWork program becomes active, your floating palettes will show up, and you can then drop the dragged folder into the Media Browser. (You can do the same thing using Exposé instead of Command-Tab, if you prefer.)
To remove folders you’ve added, Control-click on the folder in the Media Browser and select Remove Folder from the pop-up menu. You can only remove top-level folders, not folders within folders, in this manner. To get rid of all the folders you’ve added, Control-click on the Folders folder, and select Remove Folders from the pop-up menu.


I am using Yosemite (10.10) but I believe this feature has existed for a long while...

Simply open the file in preview and click on its name at the top of the preview window.

See screenshot:


My Retina MacBook Pro is missing some icons suddenly! What happened?

I have the same problem with my Retina MBP (the 2.3 GHz model); after upgrading to the latest 10.8.2 (including the graphics update) and resuming from overnight sleep, all Apple applications (Safari, Finder, etc) are missing all icons from toolbar and menubar (see a screenshot).

This is second time I encounter the problem. At first time I did a clean reinstall of Mountain Lion (i.e. wiped the disk) and did not install the latest OS X updates. When I yesterday updated OS X (after a week), today the problem was back after resuming the machine from overnight sleep.

rm -rf'ing all files under /Library/Caches and ~/Library/Caches and rebooting did not help for me. I filed a bug report at https://bugreport.apple.com.

Update:

After reading this thread, I re-booted into safe-mode, then back to normal mode and the icons are now back. I disabled hibernation as a precaution, until Apple will fix the problem.


Can I charge 2006 or 2007 MacBook with a charger for iPad or iPhone 5?

Nope. The iDevice charger has a very limited power output that would be insufficent for running the macbook, let alone charging it.
Going the other way around, however, is a little more doable, an adaptor could be made, but at that point you may as well just plug your iDevice into your macbook's usb port and be done with it.


Follow these steps if the issue occurred immediately after upgrading

Open the Terminal app, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
Type this command in Terminal:

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -seed
Press Return and wait for the Terminal prompt—which ends in $—to reappear. It may take a few minutes.
Quit Terminal.

And later go to Apple menu > System Preferences, click Extensions, and make sure that the Markup and sharing features are turned on in the Actions and Share Menu sections too after running the above command.


How can I make sure that the title of a Terminal tab/window is identical to the command I typed

macOS Catalina (10.15) now uses Zsh, which makes this really easy.

Show the currently running / last run command by disabling auto_title and adding a preexec hook:

# File: ~/.zshrc

DISABLE_AUTO_TITLE="true"

preexec() {
    printf "\e]1;${1}\a"
}


How to automatically import new songs from iTunes media folder on different devices?

I'm afraid not. It is one feature that personally I feel is sorely needed.

I keep one machine as my 'master' & every so often I port the iTunes Library.xml file across to the other machines.
In order to not make this take the entire day, there is a trick to 'break' the .itl file, which makes the import process take far less time. It does lose playlist info from the recipient machine & a few album covers always tend to go missing, but it's the best workaround I've discovered, after many years of trying.

Remove the existing .itl file from ~/Music/iTunes/ then create a new, 'broken' one from Terminal [copy the old one for safety if you prefer, but I've never found a way to manually insert data from one into another]
Open Terminal & enter this touch ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Library.itl That will create an empty ITL file, broken enough for our purposes.

Next time you launch iTunes, it will see the corrupt .itl & rebuild it [it will claim to be importing]. This is very much faster than having an .itl that doesn't match what the .xml thinks it ought to be, minutes rather than hours.


How to contact Apple if somebody has created an AppleID using an email address of mine.

This particular answer is meant to address the qualifier (emphasized)  portion of the question.

Unless your email address is not 100% solely in your control, this cannot happen.

Why? Because immediately upon creating an AppleID, you are immediately asked to confirm the account and an email is with with a code only; there are no links to click or addresses to reply to.

To be perfectly clear, an AppleID cannot be created unless someone physically types out the confirmation code in the boxes on Apple's AppleID website.

What this means

If "someone", whether nefarious or innocent intentions, created an AppleID account with your email address they either had:

access your email account
access to a trusted device that's no longer in your possession (sold, gifted, or stolen)
you confirmed the account and forgot about it.

What is Apple going to do?

Nothing, unless you can authenticate with the credentials the account creator provided.

email address
Birthday
Phone Number (required in some countries)
3 different security questions with 6 options each as to the question being asked (18 different permutations)

Apple needs to validate who you are before it will even contemplate making a change.  The reason for the extra verification credentials is for the simple reason email addresses and phone numbers change; your birthday and the city where your parents met (one of the questions) will not.

  So far as I know my account has been hijacked. I say my account, because it's my e-mail address which is used to login. So far as I know this is some variant of a malicious social engineering attack.

It could be your account and equally as likely it's not.   We (here on Ask Different) and Apple only have your word that the email is in fact "yours."  How do we know that you haven't compromised the legitimate AppleID account owner and you're attempting to hack their credentials? How secure would AppleID be if they allowed anyone to merely claim an email address was theirs and to reset the password?

(It's not an accusation, it's an academic exercise)

I can already hear your argument:  It's my email account.  Ok, let's look at it from Apple's prospective:

Given the security process, your email must have been compromised when it was created
Given that you can't authenticate any other security credential, but claiming you've got access to email means email is potentially compromised now.

From Apple's perspective, it's not their problem.


iCloud shows that it is full but I am 100% sure it is not

Photo Stream has no impact on your iCloud storage. Additionally, iCloud storage is not just about your iCloud Drive - in addition to other data (e.g. Mail, Contacts, Notes, iCloud Photo Library, etc), your iCloud storage also includes any iOS backups you have enabled (i.e. from an iPod, iPhone and/or iPad).

If you have an iOS device, you can go to Settings > iCloud and check whether you have Backups enabled. While there you can also check what else is enabled.

In addition, you can also go to Settings > General > Storage & iCloud Usage and then tap on Manage Storage at the bottom of the iCloud list. This will give you a breakdown of your data usage.


is there a way to create an AFP link to point to any user's home directory?

Well simplest way would be ~/Dropbox/shared/example.pdf (~ denotes user folder) but that will not probably work right from email.
You have to put it in Finder's 'Go to Folder...' dialog window which you can invoke with cmd+shift+G shortcut.


Connect 2008 black MacBook to 2013 MBA via Thunderbolt / Firewire?

What you need is a FireWire 800, according to this post from an Apple discussion board. Monoprice is a great, online retailer that has cables for a really low price. Take a look at the results that I have linked you. Remember, you need the 9 pin to 9 pin cable if you want to connect two Macbook Pro's together.


Which iPad app does encrypted note storage?

1Password by Agile Bits may suit your needs and has just been updated to version 4. Sync your notes (and passwords) on the LAN to your other devices or via DropBox. (Only encrypted data is sent to Dropbox as per your requirement.)


Does the 2011 Mac Mini work with dual monitors?

Yes, I too am a developer using a mid-2011 Mac Mini (with AMD Radeon GPU) connected to two Samsung displays

one display connected using HDMI cable which comes with the Mac Mini, and
another display connected using an Apple DisplayPort to VGA cable which I
had to buy separately.


How can I tell what's in my iCloud backup?

This is most likely a case of the numbers not updating in a timely manner. Have you tried setting it how you wanted, forcing a backup, and checking back in a small amount of time?


Why is my computer name new-host-2.home on the network?

The ".home" domain sounds like it might be something your router is providing. Check your router's settings for a DNS server configuration. If you want to use the Bonjour/mDNS ".local" names, then turn off the router's DNS server, or tell it to act only as a proxy for your ISP's DNS service.

Unfortunately, the specifics of these settings, and even how they are named, vary widely across routers. You will have to look up instructions for your specific router model.


Macbook air 2011-mid keyboard keys Q W E R T Y U I O working sporadically

Had the same problem on my MBP13 mid 2012. After 2 months of research and almost spending $600 to replace the top case I found this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh88cn_rtLo

I remove the top case of the key and gave a good clean and they start working again!!!

I know this reply is for an old post but I might help other having the same issue. If this doesn't work, it might be a hardware fault :/


MacBook Pro 13" Early 2011 - how to charge a new battery

The battery include a so-called "fuel gauge" chip that keeps track of the charge level, health status and individual cell balance. This chips is providing the battery level measurement that is displayed by OS X. As a result, you may install a new battery without consideration of its current charge level -- whatever the charge level actually is, it will be correctly reported by the battery chip to the OS.

As for all LiPo batteries, the main recommendation is to avoid regular deep discharges. There is no memory effect -- deep discharges degrade the chemistry and reduce the battery life, so try to keep your computer plugged as often as practical. An exception to this rule would be long-term storage of the computer. In this case, a charge level of about 50% is preferred (as per Apple recommendations).


I can't change country/region of my Apple account!

Go to https://appleid.apple.com/#!&page=signin

Login with your Apple ID
Enter your security answer if asked for
It will open a page with account settings
Click edit on first section where your address is shown
Modify your address and click Done

Vola... Your country is changed in Apple ID :) enjoy


How to get rid of Python Launcher icon every time a script runs?

I'm not familiar with pyplot, but from the documentation, it looks like the show() method 'holds onto' ("blocks") the script until it is closed by some user interaction.

  In non-interactive mode, display all figures and block until the
  figures have been closed;
  A single experimental keyword argument,
  block, may be set to True or False to override the blocking behavior
  described above.

Other methods like ginput() and waitforbuttonpress() describe the blocking process.

You could test this by commenting out the last line and see if the icons persist.


How to record on CD my Album from Photos App?

To move your Photos library to DVD:

1- Make an empty folder in your desktop or any other place in Finder (in a hard drive with at least 8GBs free space).

3- Go to your target album in Photos.app and press Command-A to select all photos in the album.

4- Drag photos from album to the open empty folder.

5- Wait! (It takes a little time. You can see the whole progress in a circular icon at the top of the Photos app, and if you click on it, a normal progress bar will appear, and it tells you the number of exported photos)

6- Burn. Again, press Command-A in the folder, and drag all the media to the empty DVD, and press Burn at the top-right corner of the Finder windows containing DVD.

7- Wait for the burning to DVD process to be completed!

NOTE: There are a lot of apps to help you do this in less time. You can find them with a simple search on Mac App Store.


I want to install Windows 7 on an external drive

I'm not sure if you are still looking for an answer, but here it is:

I haven't tried those specific methods, but I have installed Windows 10 on an external hard drive. It should be the same, although you will need a Windows 7 iso image.

Step 1: Download a virtual machine to run Windows on. I used VMWare Fusion and used a 30-day trial.

Step 2: Search "windows 10 iso image" and click the first link from Microsoft. Download it.

Step 3: Open the VMWare application and upload the Windows 10 iso image onto it, and run Windows.

Step 4: Go on your virtual Windows and download WinToUSB from this: https://www.easyuefi.com/wintousb/.

Step 5: Find and download a Windows 7 iso image. The official Microsoft website has it, but you will need the product key you received when you first installed windows.

Step 6: Open the WinToUSB tool and upload the .iso image onto it, and choose which version to install. Connect your external drive to your Mac, make sure it connects to VMWare, and select it once it shows up on WinToUSB.

Step 7: Wait until the tool installs Windows 7 onto the external drive. While this is running, go to the Bootcamp app and ONLY download the Windows Support Software.

Step 8: Once the WinToUSB tool finishes installing, you can close out of VMWare by shutting down from the virtual Windows. The connected external drive should show up on your mac again, and drag the Windows Support Software folder into the drive.

You should now have an external drive with Windows 7 on it, and the Windows Support Software on it as well. You can boot from it by restarting and holding option and choosing the external drive. Use the Windows Support Software to install the correct Apple Drivers in the external drive when inside the Windows 7 boot.

This was the method that worked for me on an Early 2014 MacBook Air on High Sierra.


Can I backup a device to a Mac iTunes and iCloud

I have accomplished this by plugging it into iTunes, selecting "Back up to this computer" and hitting Apply. It performs a backup to my computer and then I change it back to Back up to iCloud. As far as backing up automatically, I'm not aware of a way to do that.

’Course, I mostly rely on iCloud, but should get in the habit of doing this a little more often just to keep a copy on my computer.


Distribute iOS app without human interaction

Yes it is possible. You need to create a profile for said device(s). Profile Manager and Apple Configurator are your friends for such tasks.


Restart the computer when the system freeze

Here is how:

sudo systemsetup -setrestartfreeze on

just need to setup this once. It keeps the setting forever, until someday you set it to off again.


Transferring from Time Machine shows "MacPorts". What is this and should I transfer it?

MacPorts (a package manager similar to homebrew or Fink) creates an additional user with the name MacPorts/macports and a group with the name macports. Usually the UID(MacPorts) is the last regular user's UID+1 and the GID=UID(MacPorts).

After a normal OS X install this is 502/502 (if only one user is configured = admin) or 503/503 (if two users are present = admin and standard user).

Though the user has a non-system-user UID (>500), the account isn't visible in the Users & Groups System Preferences because it is marked as disabled. Time Machine/Migration Assistant still recognizes it.

If you don't use MacPorts anymore, you can safely ignore the account and uncheck the checkmark.


Can I charge my iphone from my macbook pro (late 2013) without turning the laptop on?

A Macbook Pro USB port will supply power to devices if the Macbook is on or asleep. It will not do so if the Macbook is powered off, completely shutdown.

See here for more details on how the power is supplied, it can get tricky:

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT4049


How to change Mac Mini from a mirrored RAID set to one drive?

Since it's a mirrored RAID, you should be able to still power it on with only one functional hard disk. To fix this problem, replace the crashed hard drive with a new one and rebuild the RAID mirror in the Disk Utility application.