how to show all boot options and then hide them from rEFInd?

If you have the current version of rEFInd installed, then you should be able to hide the undesired menu items by highlighting the icon and pressing the - key. This assumes hidden_tags appears as a showtools option parameter in the refind.conf file. See Hiding and Displaying EFI Boot Loaders for more information.
If you have Hidden Tags enabled, then the following icon will appear on the tools line of rEFInd.

The default location for a rEFInd installation is the EFI/refind folder in the hidden EFI volume (disk0s1). You can mount this volume by using the command given below.
sudo diskutil mount disk0s1

You can unmount by using the command given below.
diskutil unmount disk0s1

Note: You mention rEFIt  in your question. You should not be using rEFIt with Catalina. The rEFIt Project is depreciated and has been replaced with rEFInd.


Can I determine how the Flashback trojan infected my machine despite disabling Java?

I'd be surprised if the logs told you anything useful.

If you're concerned, you could install one of the free AV products for the Mac. Do a full system scan to ensure that all traces of the trojan have been removed.


iOS devices could always play play audio in the background. From iOS 4, 3rd party apps may also run in the background, but the multitasking ability is restricted. Applications which aren't running are frozen to save CPU and battery life. However there are 7 background API's which may execute in the background :

Background audio
Voice over IP
Background location
Push notifications
Local notifications
Task finishing
Fast app switching

See here for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_(Apple)#Multitasking


Maintaining 1:1 rendering on high res screen (Snow Leopard)

Go to System Preferences (the square gray icon with gears on it) in the Dock and choose Displays, then select the resolution from the scrolling list of possibilities.  You should certainly be able to set 1920x1080, though of course there will be wide black bands around the output.

Generally, on OS X, unlike Windows, video hardware manufacturers do not install their own control panels or preference apps.


How to clear list of servers "Choose a mac" list in OS X Server App

On the client mac (non-server):

Quit Server.app

Activate Finder, hit Cmd-Shift-G and navigate to ~/Library/Preferences

Find "com.apple.Server.v4.plist" and change its name to "com.apple.Server.v4.OLD.plist" or something similar.
Move it to the Desktop if you wish, but don't delete it so that you can easily reinstate it if necessary.

When you reopen Server.app it should present the first-time splash screen, asking what you want to do.
Select the option relating to 'another machine'.


How to set the python environment for LaunchDaemons

I suggest that you use an absolute path in ProgramArguments, so

    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
    <string>python</string>

would become

    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
    <string>/usr/local/bin/python3</string>
    ..........

Your PATH variable is not correct. Change it to

    <key>PATH</key>
    <string>/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin</string>


iOS "PodCast" app fils up my phone; doesn't pre-download podcasts I want

If you go to a particular podcast settings, the options available are better described, and may explain the behavior you are seeing:

The option "Limit episodes" has a description that reads:

  Limit the number of new episodes shown in the Unplayed view

Which does not appear to define how many episodes are downloaded but only how they are displayed.

This description is not present if you go to the app settings on the iOS Settings app.

On a separate setting you can choose to only download new episodes, all episodes or all unplayed. My guess is that marking "Only new" will help with your issue, but it depends on what is considered new by the app of course.


Xcode from App Store Stalling at About 11 Minutes Remaining

The Xcode install takes an unusually long time even on a modern system, and the time estimates are often inaccurate. Just leave it be for a while -- it may take as long as a few hours.

Installing an SSD in the Mini will help significantly.


Can I delete the content of "~/Library/Mail Downloads"?

This directory is used to temporarily store attachments you open from Mail.app. They should be deleted automatically when you close the attachment. However, if you open an attachment, edit it and save it, then (in my experience at least) the attachment will tend to remain in that folder. Not all apps cause this (e.g. some Apple apps ask you to duplicate the attachment), but some do (MS Office seems to be a culprit for me). You can certainly delete these files manually now, although you might want to check you haven't accidentally saved something important there.


Intel Mac Pro 1.1 stops responding after ~5 minutes

Run Apple Hardware Test either from a bootable volume or from the install CD that came with your Mac (You're using a generic Snow Leopard disk, which doesn't have AHT on it, since AHT is machine-specific). This should narrow down whatever issue you're having. You should be able to work from there.


What are the main technical obstacles to running macOS on iPads in the near future?

Technically it is possible.
Apple made a Developer Transition Kit (DTK) available to developers back in June 2020 - i.e. the recently released M1 Macs were announced. This DTK runs macOS Big Sur on an A12Z CPU. This is the same CPU that the iPad Pro 2020 has.
The latest release of Big Sur still runs perfectly fine on the DTK, although a few things aren't perfect. For example the A12Z CPU does not contain the same virtualization functionality as the M1 - essentially making virtualization a no-go here. The M1 and the A12Z compared also has a lot of other differences - which are the cause of the big performance difference in running macOS on the two systems.
Besides the CPU itself, there are other things to take into account however - most importantly being drivers for the basic peripherals and bootloading - especially the signing of the operating system.
If Apple wanted to make macOS boot on iPads, those issues are very small and could relatively easily be overcome. After actually booting (i.e. getting the kernel running) - then comes the question of getting the actual graphical user interface running on the iPad. This involves having a suitable driver for the GPU - and drivers (which can be quite complex and involve a lot of high-level functionality) for things such as FaceID/TouchID, the flash drive, camera, audio (speakers/microphone), touch module, cell subsystem, etc.
If others wanted to try doing it, you would need a bootloading exploit to get the non-Apple-for-iPad-signed operating system to get accepted. Also you would need to acquire or create drivers for all those elements of the iPad.
Getting macOS to boot into a text-only command prompt on the iPad is probably feasible for outsiders within a reasonable time frame. Getting a full macOS working with support for all peripherals, Bluetooth mouse/keyboard and external Thunderbolt monitor - probably not something we'll see before long. Prediction is ofcourse always difficult, especially if it's about the future.


According to this support article, the system requirements call for a Mac Mini from 2009 or newer. The model number A1283 corresponds to each of the three Mac Minis that were manufactured in 2009 (Early 2009, Late 2009, and Server), so your hardware is compatible. The install image has disappeared because you began the installation process; this is supposed to happen, as the image was not designed to be persistent. The reason that the image is not persistent is partly because (if the installation is successful) if your file system were to become corrupted, for example, you would be able to boot from a separate partition that is made at the time of installation, called the Recovery Partition. In your case this did not happen, so you have neither the recovery partition nor the install media.

To fix your problem you will need to use another Mac, at least to begin with. The first step comes in two, simultaneous parts:

Re-download the Mountain Lion installer from Apple. Afterward, follow the instructions from this article to create an installer on a flash drive. While that's downloading, go ahead and start with #2:
Re-install the OS X version that was originally on your Mini. You'll accomplish this by booting from the installation discs that came with the machine. This is important! Do not use discs that came with another model or generation! Depending on your exact model, this software will be one of the following:

Mac OS X Server 10.6 (10A433; Server)
Mac OS X 10.5.6 (9G2030; early 2009)
Mac OS X 10.6 (10A432; original OS), OR, for the SAME generation, Mac OS X 10.6.2 (10A2234)

This will take a while, so be patient.

The next step is to upgrade your Mini to at least Snow Leopard (10.6.6). Although this really is a requirement only so you have the Mac App store on the machine. This was a requirement to download 10.8, which is available only through the Mac App store. Since you're downloading 10.8 from a different machine, I guess it would be possible to go from 10.6.x to 10.8, but I've never heard of anyone doing it. Probably just the safest to go ahead and get things updated to 10.6.6 or higher.

Once your Mac Mini has been restored and updated, go ahead and run "Verify Disk" through Disk Utility, just to be sure that the file structure is squeaky clean. It can't hurt, even though you've gone straight from a clean installation through some upgrades without anything in between, so go ahead and run it to make sure everything is spec.

Once that's all been done, go ahead and use your flash drive installer to attempt another installation of Mountain Lion. Not all installs work perfectly the first time through, so it may be that this one goes perfectly smoothly for you.

Good luck!


How do I get my AirPlay mirroring to take up my entire TV screen?

Try setting the Match Desktop Size To setting in the AirPlay menubar item to Apple TV

If that doesn't work, it may be that AirPlay is outputting at 720p and your TV isn't scaling - perhaps try a stretch or scale mode on your TV.


Shortcut to go to next table cell in table in Pages

⌥ alt/option↩ enter/return will always move down a cell.

The down ↓ arrow key will move you down a cell when

not editing the contents of the cell
(i.e. the cell is selected but the insertion point is not within the cell), or
the insertion point is on the last line of the text content of the cell

If your insertion point is on another line of the cell, either

keep pressing ↓ until you get to the bottom line (then another press will jump cell), or
press ⌘cmd↩enter/return first to acknowledge cell contents and jump out of the cell, then ↓.


iPhone Contact List - Custom Labels recognized as a Mobile Number

If you set it first set it to Mobile or iPhone, then select Add Custom Label, it should treat the device as a mobile device (since that was the last "non-custom" label selected).


Disable animation for "Swipe between full-screen apps"?

Sys Pref > Reduce motion

You can replace the horizontal sliding screen effect with a gentle fade-in, where one screen translucently covers and replaces the other. Works on macOS Sierra 10.12.6.

A faster/slower swipe of your fingers make a faster/slower fade-in. You can even stop mid-swipe to show the other screen translucently covering the present screen.

Choose System Preferences > Accessibility > Display > Reduce motion.


Can the default permissions on /dev/disk* be changed?

As far as I can tell, Apple locks this stuff down pretty hard to the point where it's not reasonably possible.

However, considering what you want to do with it, I'm certain that what you're actually wanting is to give write access to the external HDD which can be found in /Volumes/ (after you plug it in). Now, most external HDDs I've used (that are formatted properly*) will allow anyone to write to 'em unless an Admin chmod 'em to say otherwise.

*NTFS-formatted drives are read-only through the Mac OS. As far as I know, there is no way around this without reformatting the drive.


Time Machine only uses a disk image when backing up to a network destination (OS X Server or Time Capsule). When backing up to a local volume (as you appear to be doing), it stores the backed-up files natively on the volume (inside the Backups.backupdb folder), with no disk image.


Applescript toggle to do This, this time, and That, next time?

You can do it by setting your own defaults parameter, to store the value between uses/reboots etc, otherwise an Applescript will not remember your current toggled state.

This is a quick example that will set a user-defined parameter [replace with actual company &/or product name & memorable parameter name if you have one, otherwise the example data will do fine] then will just say out loud, 'yes' or 'no' depending on the state of the defaults parameter switch.

You can run it from the open script or save it as an application.

set newTestParameter to "YES"
try
    set oldTestParameter to do shell script "defaults read com.myCo.myApp myParamSet"
    if oldTestParameter is in {"1", "YES"} then
        set newTestParameter to "NO"
    end if
end try
do shell script "defaults write com.myCo.myApp myParamSet " & newTestParameter

--your actual code, dependant on above switch
if newTestParameter is in {"1", "YES"} then
    say "Yes"
    -- run thisCode
else
    say "No"
    -- run thatCode
end if

On first run it will write a new file to ~/Library/Preferences called com.myCo.myApp.plist & will contain one parameter, with the current state of your toggle, like this

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>myParamSet</key>
    <string>NO</string>
</dict>
</plist>

You don't need to do anything to 'maintain' this on your own, you can simply keep sending its new value with each script run.


dd copies the filesystem exactly, byte by byte.
It is not the best way to duplicate a filesystem, however, now that it is done, you can use Disk Utility to resize.
Select the Drive (not partition), then Partition tab, and you can drag the partition to the desired size.


iTunes Doesn't Won't Let Me Use An Alias Folder To Save iOS Backups in macOS Sierra?

A slight correction in terminology may help. Theres no such thing as an alias folder at the Unix level, but what you are actually creating is a soft-link to a folder.

Depending on how the target is specified ln may not complain if the folder still exists, but it will not overwrite it. I find it's safer if I am in the folder I wish to create the soft-link in.

I have setup the following on Sierra and High Sierra, and it works correctly:

$ cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/MobileSync/
$ rm -rf Backup
$ mkdir -p /Volumes/EXTERNAL_DISK/iPhoneBackup/Backup
$ ln -s /Volumes/EXTERNAL_DISK/iPhoneBackup/Backup Backup
$ ls -l
total 0
lrwxr-xr-x  1 user   staff  35 10 Oct 21:16 Backup -> /Volumes/EXTERNAL_DISK/iPhoneBackup/Backup

Now start iTunes and try the backup.


How to search for a hidden file in Mac OS?

For whatever reason, on my system, Spotlight does not find all .exe files. Using, separately, .exe or exe it only finds some files. Using filename.exe it does find it.

As an alternative, you can use the find command from Terminal to find any file you want, e.g.:

find . -type f -iname '*.exe'

In the find command above . is the PWD, which by default is your home directory.

You can read the manual page for find in Terminal by typing find and then right-click on it and select: Open man Page

If you prefer not to use Terminal, the is a freeware GUI app called EasyFind.

Note: I am not affiliated with the developer of EasyFind


Why will my Mac only load Google and Facebook?

In my case the problem was IPv6. Websites like Facebook, Google.com and Youtube use IPv6 and work fine while other's don't support it yet.

I couldn't figure out the issue exactly (and the right configuration for IPv6) but I disabled IPv6 and the issue was resolved. This is all I care at this point.

The commands for El Capitan:

Turning off IPv6 support for ethernet:

networksetup -setv6off Ethernet

Disabling IPv6 for wireless:

networksetup -setv6off Wi-Fi

If you ever need to re-enable:

networksetup -setv6automatic Wi-Fi
networksetup -setv6automatic Ethernet

I will edit this if I ever find the correct setting for IPv6 instead of a full disable.


How to convert Vmware Fusion virtual machine to bootcamp image

Converting a VM to a Bootcamp image is not supported and is technically difficult for a number of reasons, not least of which is that a Windows installation for a VM (or any physical computer) will not necessarily have all the drivers needed to run on different hardware.  There are other twitchy things about Windows like the whole license activation thing which tend to get in the way as well.


/etc/resolver: TLD itself not resolved by custom resolver

127.0.53.53 is a special address, indicating a possible name collision. What's happened is Google has registered .dev as a new TLD, and dnsmasq is trying to inform you that your use of .dev could collide with the new official use of .dev.

Though it's strange you can get *.dev to resolve correctly, I can't, I just made Apache listen on 127.0.53.53 because I'm lazy like that.

Here's ICANN's explanation of 127.0.53.53


Is it possible to move podcasts from iPad device to iCloud storage?

I see a number of possibilities here, but...

Podcasts typically don't take a lot space

...it may be worth mentioning up front that most audio podcasts don't actually take up a lot of space. Typically they use less than 1 MB per minute of audio, so you may not really have an issue (unless you intend to download a lot of episodes from multiple podcasts).

I listen to a lot of podcasts, so for reference purposes below are some examples of the amount of space taken up by those podcasts:

46 mins (37.2 MB)
40 mins (31.4 MB)
31 mins (24.7 MB)
22 mins (19.9 MB)
51 mins (35.7 MB)
1 hr 3 mins (43.6 MB)
5 hrs 53 mins (243.5 MB)

Of course, there are exceptions. I do listen to a couple of podcasts that actually use up about 2 MB per minute, but in my experience this is rare. And, if you're going to be watching video podcasts these will take significantly more space.

Streaming

The other consideration is whether you're intending to store them for long-term use? If not, then you don't have to download them in the traditional sense. Instead, you can just stream them when you're listening to them, in which case there's no need for you to manually manage your storage (well, at least not with podcasts).

Of course, in the case of streaming, you do need to have an active internet connection while listening to them - so if that's not going to be possible then this option isn't really going to work. This option also means you're not storing the podcasts for access in future.

So, the point of all this is if you're only subscribing to a handful of podcasts you may not end up using a lot of your iPad's storage. On the other hand, if you're wanting to hold on to past episodes then these can add up quickly!

For more information on downloading and/or streaming podcasts refer to Subscribe and listen to podcasts.

Podcasts app settings

The bundled Podcasts app actually offers quite a few options to help you manage your podcasts (and therefore the amount of space they take).

For example, you can set it to delete old downloaded episodes after you have listened to them. Likewise, you can set episode limits so you don't accumulate a lot of episodes of each podcast.

However, the trick here is that these settings are managed from iOS Settings, not from the Podcasts app itself. To see these and other Podcasts settings:

Open the Settings app
Swipe up until you see the Podcasts icon
Tap on Podcasts to view the various options available

For example, in your case you could set:

your podcasts to refresh manually
to not download episodes
to delete played episodes

3rd party apps

Apple's Podcasts app works pretty well, but as yet you can't use it to store podcasts in iCloud, you may want to consider 3rd party options.

A number of apps offer the functionality to use cloud storage for your podcasts, mp3s, music, etc.  One example is the VOX – MP3 & FLAC Music Player app. However, while this is free, the VOX Music Cloud is only available for premium subscribers. There would be many other options though, so it would be worth searching around.

Use a desktop version of iTunes

I understand this is not your preferred option, but you can use iTunes on your Mac or PC to subscribe to and/or download your podcasts and then sync them across to your iPad if/when you need to listen to them.

Once downloaded on your desktop computer, there's nothing stopping you transferring the podcasts to iCloud, Dropbox, etc for online storage. Or, for that matter, to an external drive. In my case, my entire iTunes library is stored on an external drive, so any music, podcasts, etc are stored there.


How to force a Mac to restart without pressing the power key?

ssh onto your Mac
Type sudo su -l to switch to superuser mode
Enter your admin password
type halt and hit enter

This sends SIGTERM (and subsequently SIGKILL) to all running processes and powers the system off.

Note: Type man halt for other options.

EDIT: You could also try launchctl shutdown


iPhone: play podcasts via voice command?

The official answer is No.

As of iOS 4, there is a simple workaround, however. You can just add a podcast to a playlist and speak "Play playlist PlaylistName".


How can I get hardware schematics for Mac computers?

https://www.apple-schematic.se/ This Website Would Help and Please Tell your Model for which you want schematic .


How to create a disk image from the command line

You can do this with the hdiutil tool. The appropriate configuration in your case would be:

hdiutil create -size 50m -fs HFS+ -volname Widget /path/to/save/widget.dmg

Obviously change the "Widget" and path to whatever you need.

A few additional options that may be useful:

-srcfolder /path/to/source This will create the disk image with the data in the specified folder as the contents.
-megabytes 50 used instead of -size 50m. This will use binary sized megabytes (2^20 bytes) instead of decimal (10^6 bytes).
-srcdevice /dev/diskXsY This  is like srcfolder, but makes a block-based copy from another device, like a hard drive partition or DVD. Useful for making clones and images of install disks, etc.


If you have iCloud backup and iCloud photos/Photo Stream turned on then the photos should be accessible to you when you restore your new phone from iCloud.

Photo Stream should also be available to you if you have iCloud photos turned on via icloud.com.

If not you may have to see if Apple or a 3rd-party repair shop can get your old phone working to get the pics off of it.


Photo library will not fully upload to iCloud from computer

I know it may be a little too late to answer but, if you haven't found out a way to get all of your photos to your ICloud, here I how:

You must transfer all photos from PC to Iphone through ITunes.  You should have a photos tab that you can select after connecting phone to pc.  You must check the box that say sync photos and make sure you select the radio button where you can pick which folders you want transferred over.  Unless you want your WHOLE library.  After you sync your photos, create a new album on your phone and SAVE those photos to it.

Icloud photo library will only upload photos that were TAKEN or SAVED to the phone.  Once you save your photos, go ahead and use icloud photo library to upload those photos to Icloud.  To view among all devices, make sure Upload to My Photo Stream is on.  If you want to share photos, make sure ICloud Photo Sharing is on.

Im a Technical Lead for a well known cellular company and have done my own research, troubleshooting, and testing to confirm this information.


Is it possible to use a "Westmere" Mac Pro to run virual machines with FreeNAS?

In response to your question:

  Has anyone been able to get FreeNAS 11 running VMs or any other VMs to
  run on a Mac Pro with this CPU configuration (I'm not sure if being
  able to run Parallels is any indication of the ability to run VMs on
  FreeNAS).

I don't know why anyone would want to deploy a NAS solution for the purpose of creating a host to run VM but the ability of a machine to be able to host VMs is essentially dependent on two factors:

CPU capabilities
OS Support

CPU Support

As for the Westmere processors - they are fully capable of supporting Virtualization technology.1  From their webpage:

Advanced Technologies

  Intel® Turbo Boost Technology                                  1.0
  Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology                              Yes
  Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x)                        Yes
  Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)       Yes
  Intel® VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)                    Yes

O/S Support

FreeNAS is based on the FreeBSD operating system which uses the BSD-licensed bhyve Hypervisor.2  So, because it's supported in FreeBSD, FreeNAS which is based on FreeBSD supports virtualization.

TL;DR

Yes, FreeNAS 11 on your Westmere processors supports virtualization though I don't think you will find very many folks who have deployed FreeNAS for the purpose of virtualization as it primarily a storage centric product.

If your main goal here is to built a virtualization platform, find a OS and Hypervisor that fits your needs.  If you just want a good (free) OS that supports Virtualization go for FreeBSD.

1 Intel® Xeon® Processor E5620

2 FreeBSD as a Host with bhyve


If the iPad mini and the MacBook Pro is on the same WiFi, they also have the same IP-adr. range, so they can see each other.

The Personal Hotspot option is for sharing an internet connection, and here you have the cellular network (SIM-card) as the external connector, and the WiFi (Personal Hotspot) as the DHCP Server.


Could you interpret these screen resolutions from Google Analytics?

1440x900 is the native resolution for 15'' non Macbook Pros, and the given  (best/default) resolution for 15'' rMBP with the pixel doubling effect taken into account, as it is. The analytics don't distinguish between the two, so the most you can infer from the data is that the most common model is a 15'' Macbook Pro.


OSX 10.9.5 cancel Finder operation causes dialog to never finish

You might try

killall Finder && open /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app


How can I remedy a multiple AirPort network where each base station tends to end up isolated from the rest?

The first thing I would suggest is to get an ethernet switch and place it between the ZTE router and the rest of the network.  Route all the Airport devices into the switch.  Then they should all see each other.  These cost $18-$25.

I have two Airport Extreme Base Stations, at opposite ends of my house.  I set the one connected to a DSL modem to be the DHCP server, and create Airport wireless networks.  I select the channels manually, not automatic.

The second base station is connected to the first by ethernet cable - not wirelessly.  It is set to bridge mode, but also to create wireless networks.  I give the networks the same, identical names, but manually select different channels than the first base station.

This lets any WiFi device to connect to either server without any conflicts that I have noticed.

You may wish to turn off the DHCP server on the ZTE router and use one of the Airport base stations to provide that service for your network.


How can I have dmg files automatically unmount when I trash them?

I found two options

Use a folder action on ~/.Trash to unmount any DMG getting moved into the trash can (see second part of this article, summarized below)
DMG Cleaner claims to be able to do this as well

Folder Action to unmount DMG moved to Trash

Create a new "Folder Action" workflow in Automator
Set Folder Action to work on ~/.Trash
Add a "Run Shell Script" action to the workflow
Set shell to "/usr/bin/python" and make sure input gets passed as arguments
Replace the content of the script box with the following script

import string, os, sys
lines = os.popen("hdiutil info").readlines()
should_eject = False
for line in lines:
    if line.startswith("image-alias"):
        path = line.split(":")[1]
        image_path = path.lstrip().rstrip()
        if image_path in sys.argv:
            should_eject = True
    elif line.startswith("/dev/") and should_eject is True:
        os.popen("hdiutil eject %s" % line.split()[0])
        should_eject = False
    elif line.startswith("###"):
        should_eject = False

Save the workflow


MacBook Pro suddenly started to freeze with any action (using SSD)

It sounds like you have a faulty SATA cable. Others have reported this same problem when upgrading from a standard HD to a SSD with Mid-2012 MacBook Pro laptops.

You can find more information over at Apple’s Support site:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/24783957#24783957


Create a file named org.mongod.user.plist in ~/Library/LaunchAgents with the content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>org.mongod.user</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>mongod</string>
        <string>--dbpath=/Users/prateek/Desktop/Mongo Database</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

This requires that mongod is in your path.

If mongod is not in your path, use the whole path in the first string of the ProgramArguments array (e.g. /usr/local/Cellar/mongodb/3.2.1/bin/mongod)

If you need stdout or stderr (which can be helpful if something fails) add the following in the dict section of the plist:

    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/org.mongod.user.stderr</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/org.mongod.user.stdout</string>

Load and start mongod with:

launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/org.mongod.user.plist
launchctl start org.mongod.user

To connect to your MongoDB database enter:

mongo localhost

Again this requires that mongo is in your path. Otherwise use the complete path (e.g. /usr/local/Cellar/mongodb/3.2.1/bin/mongo).


Dual Monitor Setup with Mac Mini (2014) Screen Blinking

I believe it to be a bug: it's a widely reported problem on a variety of Minis using HDMI, and I've certainly encountered it on my 2018 Mini.
A 'quality' HDMI cable may improve things. Turning off the 2nd display and turning it back on again may also make it snap out of it.
You don't say what OS you're running, but I would make sure that you keep up to date with OS updates, in case a fix is released. I believe that Big Sur 11.4 is expected imminently...


iCloud storage downgraded to 5GB for no reason

Just found out that my credit card expired!


Missing "Move to Dropbox" contextual menu option

I discovered that the contextual menu option only displays within folders on the primary drive. Since my Documents, Downloads, etc. folders are on a secondary drive, it doesn't display, despite the fact that my Dropbox folder is also on this secondary drive.


The Apple Store doesn’t list any AirPrint-compatible receipt printers.

However, the AirPrint Activator (an app for your Mac) allows you to use any shared printer via AirPrint.


Preview Crashes Repeatedly on Yosemite 10.10.1

I'm glad that you hesitated to reinstall the OS because of problems with one app. I saw this on 10.10.1 and actually it has gotten worse on 10.10.2. It's not search per se, but just opening certain kinds of PDFs that have been cropped using a Java-based tool called "Briss" (which converts 2-up scans to 1-up).

I think that this is a Yosemite bug that hasn't been fixed yet. PDFPen from Smile Software does not crash when viewing these PDFs.


How safe is it for me to install Java on OS X 10.8

The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and the Java SDK are not inherently unsafe. The problem relies for the most part in certain ways the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) accesses (and can be fooled to) certain pieces of the operating system.

Like every other complex piece of software, Java is no different than, say, .NET on a Windows machine or Mono.NET on any flavor.

Java on a browser, however, is a different world (and hence why you can go ahead and disable it in most modern browsers), similar to (but not as bad as) what ActiveX was back in the days of Internet Explorer.

You can safely have the JRE in your Macintosh, Linux or Windows machine with little danger, since no element of the Java RE or SDK will expose remote vulnerabilities by default. It's just a lot of code sitting in your Hard Drive.

Now if you want to know if executing Java software is unsafe, then there's no way to answer that without diving into huge arguments. If you want to run Java Software, just go to Oracle, download the Runtime environment and run your Java program. It will not be activated by default on Safari (but double check to be sure) or any other browser.

With all that said, Java is annoying (especially their updater, which you can tone down or disable but never ceases to be as annoying or sometimes more than the Flash Updater if you have Flash). On the other hand, Oracle finally started rolling more periodic updates to Java so vulnerabilities are taken care more often (which is annoying but good). When Apple was in control of the SDK, this wasn't the case.

Of course, some "security experts" will cry out loud that having Java in your hard drive can lead to more insecurity since someone gains access to your computer, they could exploit local Java vulnerabilities. Trust me, if anyone gains access to your computer (even remote) to the point where they can execute anything (including Java), you have a bigger problem.

So if you need it, go ahead and get it.


USB Mouse Wakes Up My iMac Immediately After Entering Sleep Mode

No. You'll need to unplug USB devices that wake your Mac prematurely.

This is a firmware level task which would require significant training to pull off. Nothing is impossible, but this isn't an easy setting to simply change.

Hopefully the vendor has a way to make it more like other USB mice that only wake their host when they are physically moved and not for the fun of it.


The quickest, simplest and arguably most correct way of doing this is using the open command in Terminal.

In a new window, run the command

open -na Calculator

This will open a new (-n) instance of the application (-a) Calculator.

If you want to have this handy at the click of a button, you can type the following commands into the Terminal, and it will create a shortcut named calc or calc.command on your desktop that will always open a new instance of Calculator

cd ~/Desktop
echo open -na Calculator > calc.command
chmod +x calc.command
exit

Mind that you don't already have a file named calc.command on your desktop, or it'll be deleted!


Move data from 1 hard drive to the other

I think most disk imaging utilities will do what you are looking to achieve. Try Partition Magic or Macrium Reflect. In fact I know for sure that Partition Magic will automatically estimate the needed and resize the space as needed based on the original hard disk (and its partition) and the destination disk.


Caveats and which upgrade path from Mountain Lion

So, I have performed my testing and taken the leap of faith albeit with a disk image to roll back to. I performed the update by way of a fresh install and data restore from Time Machine.

iMovie 10.0 is somewhat problematic. It offers the ability to read in my XAVC files but simply refuses to convert my iMovie v9 events. It'll do a handful then leave the others without mention of why. This seems a common issue. I have opted instead to use Media Converter - a free application - with a preset (Re-wrap AVCHD for Quicktime - uncompressed Audio) to enable iMovie v9 to utilise the files. I also do not like the way the new iMovie utilises an iPhoto-esque hide inside way of dealing with movies. That it doesn't convert existing events just ices the cake. My preference is for how iMovie v9, Lightroom etc work.

With regards other software I have had to switch from Zevo (no longer maintained) to Open ZFS. The latter doesn't auto-mount the drives but the switch is a blessing in disguise. It is actively maintained and utilised less CPU for the same work.
Parallels is fine as long as you've updated to the latest version. MS Office is all good. The iLife and iWork suites update but leave behind the previous versions which is a nice touch. I am yet to find any issues. I am not a major user of iCloud other than appointments/reminders which is all good.

Please feel free to tag onto this posting with notes of issues you have found. iMovie is my only item of note.


WeChat: "Voice call may be compromised and incur charges on current network"

Best guess - it means you are not on wifi, so are [potentially] paying regular data charge over your standard carrier network.

If you have a huge data allowance you can probably ignore this, but 2GB a month or pay-as-you-go & you'll be eating that allowance rapidly on a video call.


What can someone access on my device if they have set up iCloud?

You can go to iCloud.com and login to check what can be seen. (Or don't you have access yourself to it?) Why did he login your iPhone? Couldn't you ask him to log out?

To summarize iCloud.com and what can be seen there:

Contacts (if you set them in iCloud via your iPhone)
iCal Calendar (if you set them in iCloud via your iPhone)
Email (if activated) - this will be an @icloud.com or @me.com address
Notes (if you set them in iCloud via your iPhone)
Reminders (To do stuff)
Find My iPhone (NEVER ever turn this off, except if you've sold your iPhone)
Documents saved in iCloud via Pages, Numbers and Keynote


General
You selected a DDR4-Generation module in the implementation of SO-DIM which is both matching.
But I am not quite sure about the frequency. DDR4 has two standard frequencies: 2400 and 2666 MHz. Normally 2400 is always supported as default, and the 2666 is optional for higher performance.
However Apple is saying you should use a 2666 MHz for the iMac Retina 5K 27-inch 2019 model.
So you should use a memory module that is a Unbuffered Nonparity DDR4 SDRAM 2666MHz (PC4-21333) SO-DIMM. The brand should not matter.
For detailed information what all that means take a look at wikipedia.

Answer:
You selected a 2400 MHz module which normally should work, but apple seams to recommend 2666 MHz. To be 100% sure buy a 2666.
Suggestion:
You selected a Crucial module, on their web site you can search for your system and list all memory modules that are compatible. Here you can only find 2666 MHz modules. So if you want to stick to crucial you can follow this link. That would be my suggestion because the modules match the Apple specificities and are also sold as compatible for your specific system.

Apple Information
On the web site you can view the specifications for the RAM modules.
Memory specifications (iMac Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2019)
This iMac model feature Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory (SDRAM) slots near the bottom of the computer with these memory specifications:
Number of memory slots: 4
Base memory:    8GB (2 x 4GB DIMMs)
Maximum memory: 64GB (4 x 16GB DIMMs)
Use Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Modules (SO-DIMM) that meet all of these criteria:
PC4-21333
Unbuffered
Nonparity
260-pin
2666MHz DDR4 SDRAM


How to delete file or directory with accent character

If you look at this answer from Stack Overflow, you will learn that filenames on HFS must be in fully decomposed form, in which an accent on a letter is encoded separately from the letter itselves (and after the letter). In your case, the filename has somehow been snuck onto the filesystem in composed form instead, which confuses the filesystem to the point where it can see that the file is there, but still cannot find it. If Disk Repair cannot find and fix the problem, I much doubt that there is much you can do. There is an ancient File Name Encoding Repair Utility out there, but as it officially supports OS X 10.1 and 10.2 only, I would be rather hesitant about running it on a modern OS X if I were you. So your best bet is to hide the problematic directory somewhere it won't bother you.


Windows 7 install on MacBook Air without Bootcamp

I assume your MacBook Air is 2015 or newer model. If so, then you can not install Windows 7 on this model. The reason is that Windows 7 requires a BIOS boot method and Apple removed the ability to BIOS boot operating systems starting with the 2015 model year Macs.

The instructions for installing Windows 8.1 are given at the Apple web site: Use Windows 8.1 on your Mac with Boot Camp.

The instructions for installing Windows 10 are given at the Apple web site: Use Windows 10 on your Mac with Boot Camp.


Using MacBook Pro as keyboard/mouse for Windows computer

There's no native way to do this. However, you may be able to achieve what you want through the use of software. Below are some options I can think of that you could test:

Synergy
Remote Desktop Connection
Team Viewer
ShareMouse

How well any of these work for you (or meet your needs) will depend on your particular requirements.


What does an iOS profile have access to?

The profile can only see your Unique Device Identifier. Nothing else.


Does the H1 chip (in Airpods 2 and PBP) support streaming from one device to two sets of earphones?

I think you’re referring to Airplay 2, which now allows compatible devices to Airplay to multiple devices (such as both your HomePod and your Smart TV).

AirPods use Bluetooth, so this does not apply unfortunately (Airplay uses Wi-Fi).


My headphones stopped working on my macbook air

Please try this command as admin in Terminal:

sudo killall coreaudiod

It will solve the problem without rebooting


use different terminal setting after ssh into another machine

Yes! It absolutely is possible.

The colors and other aspects of your prompt are controlled by configuration files.

If you're using the default bash, shell then one place where you can configure your prompt is in a file in your home directory called .bash_profile.

Since the .bash_profile file has a "." at the beginning of its name, it may not be visible in Mac Finder windows, but you can see it listed in your terminal among others in your home directory by entering ls -al.

You'll have a .bash_profile file on your own Mac, and you'll also have another one on each remote computer you log into. (Or if the file doesn't exist you're free to create it.)

Put a different prompt config string in each of those files to get different colors on each machine.

What is a prompt config string, and how do you write a custom one?

This guide has full information on all the options you can enter to configure your bash shell prompt, including its colors.


Can text messages sent via Global.AQ Lite (iPhone App) be traced?

The answer is yes and no. She can not find you. The police ultimatively can track you down but its taking a lot of time and effort which might not be worth doing so.

The procedure would be:
a) The police opens up a criminal case
b) the police identifies the sending number
c) the police identifies the sending SMSC
d) the police ask the prosecution of the country of the sending SMSC who the sender was. This will most probably track back to a SMS aggregator. Going up the chain they will end up on Global.AQ provider.

e) The police of Switzerland would have to hand over a court order to the Global.AQ provider (Fink Consulting GmbH in Switzerland) to hand over the identity data of the person who sent the message. A court order is required by law. The laws of data protection and the laws of telecommunications in Switzerland prohibit to give out any information about any telecommunications occuring or their contents to anybody. This is the case in most countries but some countries, such as the US give that information to the FBI or CIA without a blink of an eye. This is not the case in switzerland however where the rule of law is followed strictly in those matters.  Any information of the content of the communication is only available to the police in case of serious crimes. The information on who is the owner of the number is however not restricted to the serious crimes.

f) The identity data would include your e-mail address used at signup, your name etc. which you used to sign up and the IP address. All of which could be hidden/faked to some extent.

g) the IP address then can be tracked down to the mobile phone operator or Wifi access point from where the message was sent.

h) the police now could know you and could prove you sent the message and could go after you.

All this would probably not happen if you are just a bit rude to a person. If you threaten to kill someone however such things can happen quite fast as life is considered in danger. It's also a question on if the police does want to do the effort of all this for a simple case of one time stalking.

So far the above procedure has happened only once in the lifetime of Global.AQ where someone was making a joke of placing a bomb. The receiver however has not considered this as being a joke but has taken it for granted and launched a chain reaction in police work.

My recommendation: be polite to people avoids the problem in the first place. It doesn't help to piss people off. It might fire back on you some day. Maybe in 20 years when you apply for your dream job but the HR manager of that company is the person you insulted and the person remembers it. In other words it never pays off to be evil.

Hope this answers your question

Andreas Fink
Developer of Global.AQ


Specifying network device used by software (or port) (in Terminal)

Could you just create a local web proxy to run it through? You could create one using
something like this command in the terminal:

networksetup -setwebproxy "Network Service 1 Name" proxy2.domain.com 3000


How can I make 'rm' move files to the trash can?

Bad Idea
Using rm to move files to the trash is a dopamine hit. It is common and pleasuring but can be bad for you taken out of context.
You really need control yourself when using rm. Especially if your backups are not current or you don’t have the time to do an erase / install / restore.

Don't use rm
Imagine, you get used to rm moving to trash and make a habit of it. Sure, your system is safe but when you log into a friend's (or your wife's or your boss') notebook and have to delete something? You'll be actually using the real rm - deleting those files forever. Without lots of prep and qualifiers, it's a bad habit, and you need to know that.
So instead, install rmtrash and make a habit of using it:
# install rmtrash, (either from the macports or by the brew.)
$ alias trash="rmtrash"
$ alias   del="rmtrash"       # del / trash are shorter than rmtrash

Correcting bad habits
Here’s where the personal advice starts - changing one’s behavior is hard.
Another thing you can do to force yourself to use rmtrash instead of rm is alias it to a custom message in your .profile.
alias rm="echo Use 'del', or the full path i.e. '/bin/rm'"

So, whenever you use rm, you'll be prompted to either use rmtrash or /bin/rm. Remember, this is only temporary, after a while you should remove the alias.

Never ever, do something like this:
$ pwd
/
$ cd /tnp; rm -rf *
sh: cd: /tnp: No such file or directory

Pop Quiz: In what directory will the rmcommand run? :)


What are good bi-directional, real-time synchronization utilities between Mac local folder and web server?

Unison is my go-to tool for a bi-directional file sync. (Mac binaries are available on a contributor's site.) I tend to think of it as a more interactive, configurable, and bi-directional version of rsync. Since it's a good *nix citizen, it can be automated via your favorite method. It's open-source and has ports to major OS platforms.

Unfortunately, Unison is no longer under active development, which may or may not be an issue for you. (I think the last time I used it was under 10.6.) But, it does fit your requirements nicely:

It handles bi-directional sync and works great on large files and data sets.
It can run in a completely automated way or interactively (where your review and confirm every change).
It runs over SSH.
GUI and CLI interfaces are available. (FWIW, the Mac GUI version, while nice/convenient, was always slightly flaky for me.)
Its end-user documentation is excellent and thorough.
It has configuration options for a multitude of use cases.
It has a design principle of leaving things in a Good State at all times, which makes it easier to recover should the connection be lost at any time.

And here's the main selling point for using it (for me, at least):

For remote SSH targets, it logs into the remote machine, runs a separate copy of Unison there to scan for changes, and then reconciles the state with your local machine to only transmit the bits (or bytes :-)) that differ, much like rsync does. This makes it very efficient with bandwidth, and it's also able to maintain caches of its file index on each side to make subsequent scans faster. For large data sets, this is a huge deal.

There are other Mac-specific tools for file synchronization, but, IIRC, they tend to assume that the filesystem is local, and are either very inefficient with bandwidth or very presumptuous about file "changes" (metadata, actual data) on large remote files / data sets.

Unison worked the way I needed it to, was reliable, and made me confident in using it due to its great documentation. Thank you, Benjamin C. Pierce!


cd is the command, /Applications its parameter, and you need so separate commands and parameters by a space character. So in your case it's

cd /Applications

or, if you want to go back to your user's home folder

cd ~

or simply

cd


How can I transfer video from my Sony AVCHD camcorder?

The new Final Cut Pro X natively supports AVCHD. The old Final Cut Pro Studio did not.

And the new Final Cut Pro X is much less expensive at only $300.

You really should evaluate if it will meet your needs, and if your system has the specifications to run it.


How can I bypass Textmate asking for my password every time I save a file?

Chances are you are trying to save your file somewhere other than under your home directory.  In my experience, Textmate Save dialogs often default to the system root directory.  If you try to save there, you will get an authentication request as you normally would not have write permission.  Expand the Save dialog box and choose somewhere in your home directory tree.


Where does OSX store the Desktop layout configuration info?

Mac OS X/macOS stores Finder layout information (including desktop icon placement) within the .DS_Store file that's located inside the current directory.


Will changing your Apple ID password affect a pending remote erase request?

Changing your AppleID password is an excellent idea, but you want to place your iPhone into LOST MODE rather than to erase it:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201472

Here is an excellent article on choosing a password, from Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science:  https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~help/security/choosing_passwords.html

I have read quite a few articles concerning stolen iPhones.  Many experienced thieves start by putting the iPhone into Recovery Mode, which erases all the data, and makes it virtually impossible to locate by you or the authorities.  Once in Recovery Mode, the only way to reload iOS (and reactivate the phone) is with the correct AppleID and password of the registered owner (you).

Odds are you'll never see your iPhone again, and some schmuck will buy it, only to discover it's unusable.


Ipod Classic not recognized by iTunes (Windows 8.1)

That is a know problem.

Choices are to go back to iTunes 11 or try to fix the iPOD.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6807069


I would look at two things:

Check to see if Mission Control is listed in System Preferences -> Desktop & Screen Saver -> Screen Saver -> Hot Corners

Check to see if Mission Control is listed in System Preferences -> Users & Groups -> Login Items

Either of these might cause issues similar to at least some of what was described.

Additionally, when you shut down or log out, if the checkbox "Reopen windows when logging back in" is selected, all the programs that are running when you log out will be restarted the next time you log in - this might be re-launching some software that you don't actually want to use any more. I generally uncheck this box. If you select "Apple Menu" -> "Log Out" and make the checkbox unselected, you can then hit the "Cancel" button to not log out, and the checkbox deselection will be retained.


File browser alternatives with remote connections

You can use sshfs or Transmit to mount SSH locations as local volumes.

↩ renames files in Finder. ⌘↓ or ⌘O opens files, ⌘⌫ moves files to the trash, and ⌥⌘V moves files copied with ⌘C.

You could also take a look at Forklift or Path Finder. Both support making return open files but not making forward delete move files to to the trash.


I think the Custom Label field is only visible for contacts on GMail, as opposed to on iCloud. Go to Settings → Mail Contacts, Calendars → Contacts / Default Account and set it to your gmail account. For the contacts you create now, they'll be saved on GMail and the Custom Label field will be available.


Monitor which folder has used the disk storage

I like omni disk sweeper to see where my space is going. Link: https://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnidisksweeper/

To see which folders have changed in the last 15 minutes, run this from a command-line: $ find / -type d -cmin -15


I like the message of the day for this.  As tradition dictates...
me@Mac ~ % echo "Welcome to the University of East Westia" > /tmp/motd
me@Mac ~ % sudo mv /tmp/motd /etc

Note: /etc/motd is only displayed in a login shell, which is typical of Terminal.app on macOS.  If you typically run non-login shells, you should handle display of /etc/motd in your shell dot files.


Automator application that asks me for a YouTube URL before running the command

Through lots of trial and error I finally managed to actually download and extract the audio. However I'm getting an error message: "ffprobe/avprobe and ffmpeg/avconv not found. Please install one." Thing is my ffmpeg is fully up to date. I even reinstalled it just in case. My "youtube-dl" is also up to date.

Addressing your comment...
The default PATH passed to a Run Shell Script action in Automator is:
/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

Add a PATH statement at the top of the code in the Run Shell Script action,
To determine what the normal PATH is, in Terminal run echo $PATH and then for the Run Shell Script action use whatever it outputs, e.g.
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

for f in "$@"; do
    /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl -x --audio-format wav -o "$HOME/Downloads/%(title)s.%(ext)s"  "$f"
done


Get two-factor authentication code from terminal?

I came up with a pretty simple solution to this problem using AppleScript that should print the 2FA code:

#! /usr/bin/env osascript
tell application "System Events"
    if name of every process contains "FollowUpUI" then
        tell window 1 of process "FollowUpUI"
            click button "Allow"
            delay 2
            set code to value of static text 1 of group 1
            log (code)
            click button "Done"
        end tell
    else
        log ("Couldn't find 2FA window")
    end if
end tell
return

Adding this to a file and making it executable using chmod +x name_of_file.scpt should create a script that can be run over ssh by executing ./name_of_file.scpt while in the same directory as the file.

Note: When you run this script over ssh for the first time, the following popup should appear:

Simply clicking "OK" should allow the script to run properly. This preference will automatically be saved, and can be modified by going into System Preferences->Security & Privacy->Privacy->Accessibility

This worked for me on macOS Mojave, but it may work on other versions as well.


Why does updating Garageband 6.0.5 to 10 cost money?

When you bought garageband 6, you cannot update to the new version because it was released as a new program, not an update.


Move an old Time Machine folder (NOT volume!) to a different disk

You're probably seeing the result of hard links in the file system, which can result in counting the same file(s) more than once.

This is common in UNIX-like backup solutions, including Time Machine. The actual data usage is only 90GB, so a hard-link-friendly tool like rsync should handle the move correctly.

Per Wikipedia's article on hard links:

  The term is used in file systems which allow multiple hard links to be
  created for the same file.


Apple Numbers program, weird thing with unix time code formula

Numbers '09 has a drop-down menu to specify the way that the time is shown in a Date and Time cell format.  The default in this situation seems to be None, but you can change it, as I show in the screenshot.

From your screenshot, however, I think you are using a newer version of Numbers.  I don't know where this setting is in that version, sorry.

One more thing: I think the last part of your formula +(-5/24) is perhaps correcting for a local timezone difference from UTC.  I'm not sure, but you may need to change this when daylight savings time stops or starts: worth making a note to check this on that date.


Photos and Videos in the camera roll (not photo stream) are indeed in the backup file. I would copy the backup file to a second location so that you can have a backup of it. There are also tools that allow you to examine the contents of a iPhone backup. http://addpod.com/juicephone

Try juicephone first and if need be you can restore your phone to the backup temporarily.


How to get back the standard application in Notification Center in Mac OS X?

Clicking the 'Edit' button at the bottom of the 'Today' panel in Notification Center will show the widgets which have been disabled. Clicking the green plus circle icon beside any of them will re-activate it. When all the widgets you want are active, just click 'Done' button on the bottom-left.

As far as I know the following is a list of the standard widgets supplied with OS X Yosemite

Today
Tomorrow
Weather
Reminders
Calculator
Social
World Clock
Calendar
Stocks


How significant is the new iPad's heat issue?

Not at all. I have noticed that it is warmer when sitting for long periods (i.e. reading in iBooks, playing Hero Academy) but it is not a big deal and not even unpleasant except when the day is hot. If you look at this on a relative scale that I've just made up:

10 - 2007 MacBook Pro 17" playing World of Warcraft
9 - Hell
8 - Dave's Insanity Sauce
7 - Chili con carne
6 - cup of coffee
5 - iPhone 4 in Personal Hotspot mode
4 - cup of coffee when you remember to drink the last bit
3 - New iPad
2 - Old iPad
1 - Fonzie

You get some more perspective.


Why won't my files import into garageband?

Usually, we can easily import MP3 files to GarageBand (especially GarageBand 11)

However, sometimes the import process will encounter difficulty in importing an MP3 into GarageBand in two situations:

Situation 1: GarageBand only imports MP3 files which have the extension in lower case: ".mp3". If you try to import MP3 files (like MP3 recorded from the Olympus LS-10) with the extension in upper case: ".MP3", GarageBand will refuse to import those kinds of MP3 audio.

In this case, change the MP3 file extension to lower case in order to import MP3 to GarageBand.

Situation 2: GarageBand only supports those MP3 audio files which have a sample rate of 44.1 kilohertz (kHz) and a bit depth of 16 bits.

In this case, it will be necessary to convert the MP3 file(s) to GarageBand's more compatible AIFF file format.

The following link provides instructions for two methods to convert an MP3 file to a AIFF file at: How to Convert and Import MP3 to GarageBand?


You can use the CardDAV protocol to sync your contacts. Here is an explanation how you can use it: Syncing contacts

There is also the possibility to use Google as an Exchange account. You should be able to find the instructions on the interwebs (I fear, if I post a link it will be in german language)

If you also enable the Google account also on your Addressbook application, merging them should be easy (depending on the application). In most cases, you just have to drag and drop the contacts to the corresponding Google folder.


In iMovie, can I suppress the visual portion of a video clip?

Right click on the video and select "Detach Audio". From there you can delete the video portion and only be left with the audio.


In Settings, visit "Mail, Contacts Calendars." Scroll down and select "Fetch New Data." Then, on that screen, temporarily turn on "Push," and then make sure iCloud is also set to push, so that new data is pushed from the server automatically whenever possible. This should push through any new data immediately.

You may then want to switch Push off for data, and choose one of the Fetch settings to save battery.


Which iOS jailbreak apps most closely implement an Android style notification system?

I stumbled upon SMS, Mail, Missed Calls Notifications In Status Bar | iPhone Cydia Tweak.


Installing virtualenvwrapper on macOS Sierra - "-bash: /usr/local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh: No such file or directory" error

You have a mix of pythons on your machine. I would stick to one.

In this case I would stick to anaconda.

SO edit your path so that anaconda is first on the path before /usr/local/bin and /usr/bin

Test by running

 which python

You should get

/Users/mark/anaconda3/bin/python

If a 2 rather than 3 you have python2,7 and I would switch to 3.

You can now use virtulenv etc as they are part of python 3.6 (the current 3.x version) see the python docs You should use venv now not what your tutorial shows https://docs.python.org/3/library/venv.html

However as you are using anaconda you can use conda insteaf of venv, You will find most things already installed (I use conda as it provides prebuilt C libraries when needed, pip etc can be more complex and also could require Xcode) https://conda.io/docs/user-guide/getting-started.html The django install is at https://anaconda.org/anaconda/django


Mobile safari won't login to websites on iPad

Have you tried clearing the safari cache and cookies from the settings app -> safari section?


The original devices warranty or 90 days, whichever is longer.

A replacement product or part, including a userinstallable part that has been installed in accordance with instructions provided by Apple, assumes the remaining warranty of the original product or ninety (90) days from the date of replacement or repair, whichever provides longer coverage for you.

http://store.apple.com/Catalog/Images/worldwidewarranty.html


How to fix SMS app showing no message even though they are available through Spotlight?

I think you must restore your iPhone from a iOS backup! But than you will lost your last changes.


Stop "...wants to use keychain" password prompts

Your Mac keeps asking for the login keychain password and this means
The password of your macOS user account might not match the password of your login keychain.

It might also tell you that the system was unable to unlock your login keychain. That's because your login keychain is still using another password.

If you don't know your this password, the solution is to create a new login keychain or reset to default.

Open Keychain Access, which is in the Utilities folder within the Applications folder.or Launchpad > Utilities > Keychain Access
From the Keychain Access menu, choose Preferences.
Click General, then click Reset My Default Keychain.
Add your account login password.
Quit Keychain Access then Restart your computer.

  From Apple support

  If you know your old password, use that password to update your existing login keychain:

  Open the Keychain Access app, which is in the the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. or Launchpad > Utilities > Keychain Access
  From the Edit menu, choose “Change Password for Keychain 'login.'”
  Enter the old password of your user account in the Current Password field. This is the password you were using before the password was reset.
  Enter the new password of your user account in the New Password field. This is the password you're now using to log in to your Mac. Enter the same password in the Verify field.
  Click OK when done, then quit Keychain Access.


MBP Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012, with MacOS 10.13.5

Web Sharing, also known as Internet Sharing, allows you to share your Mac's internet connection with other computers.  It can also provide you with the ability to share web pages from your Mac.

This could be considered a security risk by many security software applications because if it's not configured correctly, you could allow others to access to your computer.  I will not go into details about the pros & cons about that here because it's outside the scope of your question.

If you don't have a reason to share your connection or deliver web pages, you disable this feature from within System Preferences.  I'm assuming you're using macOS v10.14.2.

Open System Preferences.
While it's open, go to the View -> Sharing menu item.  This will bring-up the Sharing preferences.
Uncheck Internet sharing


How can I restore the default dimensions of the Force Quit dialog

You can delete a key in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist:

defaults delete com.apple.loginwindow 'NSWindow Frame ProcessPanel'

The changes seem to be applied immediately.


Saving and restoring the brightness setting of a display

One approach is to use the open source command line tool, brightness, to set the value on-demand. This way you could find your preferred brightness value and apply that value as needed, or per-profile.

Mac OS X Hints' discussion on Adjust brightness from Terminal covers the tool, how to compile it, and possible scripts to extend its use.

OS X Daily has also covered the tool in Adjust screen brightness from command line.


According to MacTracker, it looks like Apple officially supports a 4GB configuration, but it can hold up to 6GB. (This is for model "iMac8,1").


How to display USA content on my AppleTV while I'm in Mexico using hotel wifi?

Try Unlocator. It is a service to make it look like you are somewhere other than where you are. They have a seven-day trial so you can see if it does what you need. I'm not affiliated with the company, just a satisfied customer.


How can i share ubuntu's intertet to iphone via USB

You cannot configure a network connection using USB on the iPhone. If your Ubuntu machine has a wireless adapter you will have to configure it as an access point.


The directory is SIP-protected because it is the home directory for a macports user, presumably created as part of the MacPorts installation process.

The best solution is to first remove that user account, following the instructions in this accepted answer to another AppleSE question. You may also wish to remove the corresponding macports group that also exists.

Specifically, the following commands will remove the user and group:

sudo /usr/bin/dscl . -delete "/Users/macports"
sudo /usr/bin/dscl . -delete "/Groups/macports"

The MacPorts website uninstall page mentions deleting the user and group but does not note that it is necessary due to SIP-protection to do this before deleting the folders. I think they also have an error in the syntax of their dscl command.

Once you have done that, you should be able to sudo rm -rf /opt/local successfully.

Significant credit for this answer is due to @GordonDavisson for providing 90% of the solution in comments, some months ago.


How can I create a CD installer in ISO format for macOS High Sierra?

From my web page:

(Hat tip: User toru173 at MacRumors)

First, you must download the High Sierra package from the Mac App Store. This will create a directory called "Install macOS High Sierra" under Applications. On some systems, only a small stub of about 19MB is downloaded. It can appear random which systems that receive the full installation package and which only get the stub. If you got the stub, then you must run the program, accept the license and pick a target volume. Then it will start downloading the full version. When you get to the final screen, do NOT click the Reset button, but
rather select Quit from the application menu at the top of the screen.

The bulk of the downloaded files is put directly in an auxiliary directory in the root of the volume you selected in the installer. To create a bootable installer, these files must be available from within the installer directory, to be copied from there. This is best done by moving the files back into the required subdirectory. You should move the entire top directory instead of
copying the files underneath it, because there are locked files which you ordinary user cannot access.

mv "/macOS Install Data" "/Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport"

Create an image file with sufficient space to hold the DVD, in a format that is writable and growable, and mount it. Please make sure that you don't have any other disks named Untitled currently in use.

hdiutil create -o /tmp/HighSierra -size 12800m -layout SPUD -fs HFS+J -type SPARSE
hdiutil attach /tmp/HighSierra.sparseimage -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/Untitled

Now create a bootable image from the mini-system that is embedded in the installer.

caffeinate asr restore -source "/Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/BaseSystem.dmg" -target /Volumes/Untitled -noprompt -noverify -erase

This will change the name of the volume from Untitled to OS X Base System,
to reflect the setting in the source image.

Copying must be done as the superuser since it contains locked files that the normal user does not have access to.

sudo rm -rf "/Volumes/OS X Base System/Install macOS High Sierra.app"
caffeinate sudo cp -a "/Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app" "/Volumes/OS X Base System/"

Give the CD a proper icon.

cp "/Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/InstallAssistant.icns" "/Volumes/OS X Base System/.VolumeIcon.icns"
SetFile -a C "/Volumes/OS X Base System/"

Rename the installer volume.

diskutil rename "OS X Base System" "Install macOS High Sierra"

We are done with putting files into the installer image. Unmount the
filesystem within so that we can start to work on the image file itself.

hdiutil detach "/Volumes/Install macOS High Sierra"

Shrink the image to the minimum size possible, and convert it into an
ISO format file that can be written to a physical disk.

hdiutil resize -size min /tmp/HighSierra.sparseimage
caffeinate hdiutil convert /tmp/HighSierra.sparseimage -format UDTO -o /tmp/HighSierra
mv /tmp/HighSierra.cdr /tmp/HighSierra.iso

Now the installation CD is ready, and can be burnt to a physical CD.

There is a a caveat when using this CD: You must boot from the CD first, then run through the installer. When the installer reboots, you must start from the CD again, but this time, don't run the installer but rather a start a Terminal from the Utilities menu at the top of the screen. Here we must supply the installation package that this version of the installer thinks is already copied to disk.

cp "/Volumes/Install macOS High Sierra/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESDDmg.pkg" "/Volumes/Macintosh HD/macOS Install Data/"

Finally, while you still have a functional version of the system booted, you should run a disk check. If this fails when the system reboots, you are effectively hosed, whereas at this point, being in the installer, you can still rescue files to an external disk. Assuming that your harddisk is called Macintosh HD and that this is the second partition (s2) on the first harddisk (rdisk0), the commands to run are:

hdiutil detach "/Volumes/Macintosh HD"
fsck_hfs -fy -x /dev/rdisk0s2


Mount a Time Machine backup disk that will not mount

I've had problems like this also. If you have multiple USB ports try using a different port. Also try using a different cable and a different port.

You don't want to use a flaky drive for your backup. So, yes it seems like reformatting the drive and starting over makes sense, or replace it.


Enforce authentification (passcode, Touch ID, Face ID) for viewing saved passwords on iOS

In iOS 14, you can access saved passwords in Settings > Password.
If the iPhone has a Passcode and/or Touch ID enabled, access to passwords will require authentication, and Settings > Touch ID & Passcode will display "Require Passcode" as "immediately."


OSX HDD not working after I removed a partition on it

Googling issues with ASMT 2115 on macOS brought me here. I had an issue, similar to yours, when testing this external hdd enclosure.

Somehow by formatting SSD in Yosemite from Parallels (which was previously formatted on Sierra), I managed to get HDD into state which nor Sierra nor Yosemite could read/mount/format anymore on macOS. I could use eg. Ubuntu to format the disk, but that was not the point. I wanted to understand what is going on and why macOS started hating my disk.

I was not able to partition the disk or erase it from Disk Utility. The useless ultra generic error messages was not helpful at all, so I tried to format it from terminal with diskutil eraseDisk HFS+ OSX GPT /dev/disk3. There I was able to partially format the disk but finalisation broke with more errors. I was suspicious about electronics in this enclosure and macOS driver for it because I had several of them, and several SSD HDDs all showing same issue. All that lead me to investigate MBR/GPT of the disk in question.

What was strange to me was that fdisk saw unknown partition ID and gpt did not work at all.

Disk: /dev/disk3    geometry: 14593/255/63 [234441648 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -  234441647] <Unknown ID>
 2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
 3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
 4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused

And gpt did not work at all:

sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk3
gpt show: error: bogus map
gpt show: unable to open device '/dev/disk3': Undefined error: 0

Then I found about Hybrid MBR/Protective MBR/GPT issues people had, mostly due to BootCamp which was responsible for creating the Hybrid MBR conditions that was causing many problems to dual boot users (lost system partitions etc.). I was certain I created condition like that by my self (by using different non compatible OSX versions tough).

The solution in this case was to clear the hybrid MBR data, or even better to clear all GPT/MBR data on the disk (if you do not need the data), and start over.

I was not able to use Apple utilities successfully, but GPT fdisk (gdisk) worked great for me. SIP fill forbid gdisk from working on system disk (unless it's disabled), but it works great with external HDDs. gdisk revealed that my MBR and GPT were very different.

sudo gdisk /dev/disk3
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.1

Partition table scan:
  MBR: MBR only
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid MBR and GPT. Which do you want to use?
 1 - MBR
 2 - GPT
 3 - Create blank GPT

It's worth noting that:

Option 1 reads MBR partition table (as seen by fdisk) and converts
them to GPT.
Option 2 uses existing GPT (as seen by gdisk) and deletes the MBR partition table (becoming protective MBR)
Option 3 will start fresh with a new empty GPT.

If you want to save data on your HDD, do not do this. You have to repair it from gdisk. My fix was using option 3, then zaping (deleting all partition information) whole disk and recreating blank GPT:

x
z
Yes
y

After that I was again able to initialise/format the disk in Disk Utility again (and in terminal).

More info about GPT can be found here and here on gdisk homepage.

The fastest way to get gdisk is by brewing from cask with:
brew cask install gdisk

Hope this helps someone.

IMHO - it is not unlikely that disks will end up this way if they are eg. used between OS'es. macOS should really have support to handle them without breaking a sweat, but sadly - it does not.


iTunes stuck on "installing" when installing .ipa files

It is very uncommon to download / install a IPA file - free of charge or not.

The IPA files are usually used for known & registered devices (e.g. beta testers) - if your device is not registered and your device is not included in the IPA profile file, then installing the IPA file will fail.

This is kind of the Apple philosophy / protection: either you have a "deep" contact to the developer who includes your device (maximum is 200 devices as far as I know), or you jailbreak (?) your device, or you use the official AppStore and trash the IPA file.


Startup iTunes to Shared Library / Home Sharing

Unfortunately, you can't do this. THere might be a way to script it, but I doubt that; I don't think Apple wants people to be able to do this.


Fish shell installation using homebrew - iconv libiconv error

In the log that you posted above the following three lines suggest that you have MacPorts installed.

checking for /opt/local/include include directory... yes
checking for /opt/local/lib library directory... yes
checking for /opt/local/bin command directory... yes

It also appears that brew is checking there before checking in its regular file locations (/usr/local, etc). Something under /opt might be confusing brew and preventing it from compiling fish.

This can be mended by following MacPorts uninstall guide: guide.macports.org/#installing.macports.uninstalling


Other than pressing the home button or sleep button, you can say a list of words:

Goodbye
Bye
See you
So long
See you soon/later


Why can't some contacts be moved between accounts?

I report here my comment above.

The reason why you can't move the contact to Google (why you can to other accounts) is that this card is already present in Google.

If you look at the "cards" section of the contact, you can see all the accounts that contact is synced with.

Therefore, you can just drag and drop the contact to accounts that do not appear of that list.


First of all, I assume that you have enough battery power on the iPadWhen you see the apple icon on your ipad, hold the power- and home button for several seconds. The ipad will turn off and back on again. After this you can release the buttons when the apple logo is visible.

When the ipad is still stuck on the loading screen, you could preform a DFU (device firmware reset)-reset. Do not forget: by preforming a dfu-reset, all data will be deleted from the iPad.

A tutorial on how to enter dfu-mode can be found here
Make sure that the ad is turned on before you start following the tutorial.

To check if you successfully entered dfu- mode:

there should be an iTunes logo with a lightning/30-pins cable on the screen of the ipad
when the device is connected to iTunes, you should get a popup that the device is in restore mode and it has to be restoren before it can be used.


Can I "hide" the keyboard on my iPhone 4 the way you can on the iPad?

Unfortunately not. I agree that this feature would be nice, especially since it's included on the iPad. The only way to review an email prior to sending it without having the keyboard on the screen is to save it as a draft, then reopen it. A little tedious, sure, but it might be worth it if it's a long email.


How can I correct the wrong icon for a website bookmark?

Hold shift while starting up Safari from the dock.

Go to Develop menu and do Empty Caches. If Develop Menu is not there, enable it in Safari Settings under Advanced tab.

One can also dig in Caches folder in ~/Library and find the icons there.


In Macbook, what are Thunderbolt MAC addresses for, if ethernet adapters provide ones?

You can connect two Thunderbolt-enabled Macs together using a Thunderbolt-to-Thunderbolt bridge connections, therefore you'd need each end to be able to identify itself.

More information here: https://9to5mac.com/2016/11/22/macbook-pro-thunderbolt-3-bridge-network-video/


How to control apache service on OS X (start/stop/restart/graceful restart)?

I use the apachectl command

sudo apachectl stop
sudo apachectl start
sudo apachectl restart
sudo apachectl -k graceful

Hope this helps


Is there a way to make Preview not open all previously opened files?

This is part of resume. A feature introduced with Lion.
Per default, windows are restored the next time you open the application. If you want to completly close all windows just one time, you can quit an application using ⌘+⌥+Q instead of the standard ⌘+Q to quit an application.
Undo resume for a specific application
Type the following command in the Terminal. Then restart the specific application.
In general the syntax is:
defaults write com."producer"."program-name" ApplePersistenceIgnoreState YES

Thus, in your case (Preview.app) it is:
defaults write com.apple.Preview ApplePersistenceIgnoreState YES

If you prefer a graphical interface, you can use TinkerTool.
This application gives you access to additional preference settings and allows to activate hidden features in the operating system.

Undo resume for all applications
In order to disable this for all applications do this:
go to System Preferences->General->Restore windows when quitting...


How can I downgrade iTunes 10.5 Beta 7 to the regular iTunes 10.5

Did you try to delete the beta before installing the public version?


As a workaround, I'd set up a keyboard shortcut in Safari for both Pin Tab and Unpin Tab to the same shortcut, e.g., ⌥⌘P and then you can toggle the pinned status of the Tab with the same keyboard shortcut.

This way when a Tab is pinned and you want to close it, using the keyboard, you'd first press, e.g., ⌥⌘P then: ⌘W

System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts


re-enable mouse scroll inertia in Sierra

I found the setting in System Preferences > Accessibility > Mouse & Trackpad > Trackpad Options.

It was enabled, and disabling it and re-enabling fixed the issue for me.


Properly delete and then restore everything in iCloud Photos

"Download and keep all originals" is the correct setting to get all your photos onto your Mac. These originals are stored in Photos Library.photoslibrary, you can check the exact location of your library by launching the photos app while pressing option.
You can also check for syncing problems by creating a smart album, looking for files failed to sync.

After you have double-checked all of the above and saved your library on a secure place you go to System Preferences -> iCloud and choose Manage in the lower right corner (I don't know the exact translation, I'm using my Mac in another language). In the popup menu, choose photos and then delete from iCloud Drive.

The photos will be stored online for the next 30 days, so you are able to download them again, in case you made a mistake. After that period (make yourself a calendar entry) you can activate iCloud Photo Library again, and all your files will be uploaded again.


1) If the download has started and then the alert pops up: I have experienced this due to lack of network connections. Sometimes you're connected to WiFi, but there is actually no connection (for example you're connecting to a public WiFi and confirmation is needed).

Go to Safari, type in Google.com and see if Google loads in the browser. If not, find a reliable network connection and try downloading again.

2) If the alert pops up at the AppStore after you hit the GET button, and the download cannot even be started: your iPhone might not have sufficient space. Go to Settings and check your storage. Delete the Apps, Photos and Podcasts you don't need.


Where is the Mac password requested by iOS stored?

With public key cryptography, It's not necessary to store any password on a technical level.

Apple could implement a “use once locally and securely destroy immediately” algorithm as part of key procurement (to decrypt keys used for encrypting data marked as 'secure' on iCloud such as Health, where the keys are based in part on device password) to derive cryptographic keys have been generated based on your current device passcode, apple keys, or other factors.


It's easy. The non-retina MacBook Pros didn't get a redesign on the outside. They stayed the same (so, no HDMI "and stuff"). They only got updated on the inside, so your confusion on differentiating them is reasonable.

From Apple's site - here are images of the new 15" non-retina MacBook Pro:


Hosting a NTFS drive share from Mavericks to Windows 8

I've been using TuxeraNTFS for a number of years now to give my Apple computers the ability to read NTFS drives, namely, my bootcamp partition.  Tuxera recently updated their software to support Mavericks and it has been running fine on my iMac and on my Macbook Pro.  However, I've never had to connect to an SMB share using this software so I can't say for certain that it will work in that fashion, but it may be worth investigating if it resolves your issue.

The software isn't free unfortunately, but it is cheap, currently only $31.

http://www.tuxera.com/products/tuxera-ntfs-for-mac/


iTunes local backup of iOS device: can't disable encryption

Look in Utilities/Keychain to see if the backup password is there


Mac OS word delimiter character settings

There's a setting that might be what you're referring to:

OS X Preferences > Language & Region > Region > Americas > United States (Computer)


How did you install Wine? When I installed Wine using Homebrew, it told me that it had problems with the new Apple llvm compiler, and said to use the old GCC compiler, and gave me a link to download and install it. I haven't tried to install Steam in Wine though, so I don't have experience with your specific problem.


Restrict macOS from automatically enabling "Keep in Dock" after rearranging Dock icon

This is the expected behaviour and has remained the same since the days of Mac OS X 10.10. There is no way to prevent it from happening.

It still stands true, as of this writing, with the current latest version being macOS Mojave 10.14.5.


What are water resistance specifications for Apple Watch?

We really don't know what Apple has in store for the Apple Watch as far as waterproofing it. YouTube is full of guys who test their Apple Watch to see if is waterproof, they take it down to depths of ten feet and lower for a pretty long time and, though not very useful while underwater (due to pressure, the touch screen won't work also the heart rate sensor isn't always accurate), I've yet to see where the Apple Watch doesn't survive being taken underwater.

I've never submerged my Apple Watch Sport, but it has gotten wet quite a few times and I've rinsed it off in the sink many times, too.

Given that the Apple Watch is almost waterproof today, I think that Apple just doesn't want to call it that for fear that they will have to replace any units that break when taken deep underwater.


How do I create a secondary X axis in numbers?

Turn off Share X Values from the bottom-left.


How to choose the "From" account in El Capitan Mail when composing e-mail

Select your preferred email address in Preferences > Composing > Send new messages from:

If for some reason that doesn't work, try rebooting.


You don't need to - there's an open source clone of it at http://newosxbook.com/tools/lsdtrip.html which can get you the underlying API calls that Apple uses.


How can Transit app vibrate my phone even with notification sounds turned off?

When Transit App is in Go mode, it can deliver notifications using the Turn-by-turn API which has some special privileges.

Vibration is possible if Notifications are turned on for Transit App, even if all the specific options are turned off. Disabling notifications for the app prevents vibration.
Audible announcement of upcoming stops is permitted even if notifications are entirely disabled for Transit App. But of course audible announcements will only play if enabled in Transit App by toggling the sound icon in Go mode.

These special notifications also seem to bypass Do Not Disturb mode.


Grocery/List app for iOS with decent web application

Take a look at Catch. It was recently one of the featured apps on the App Store. It's not designed for shopping per se, but it can do everything but #2. Instead of a push notification, it silently updates. It does do notifications, but those are based on timed events.
It supports spaces and hashtags for categorization, which I think would fit your needs.

Also, it has a feature to share lists between people. If Catch doesn't cut it, you might want to look at Wunderlist also. Different, but many of the same features.

And, no, I have no connection to them, just like the app.

Update/Edit: Catch is no longer available. Wunderlist is better than ever, and Shopit the app is currently very hot (it's on the top free apps list in the U.S.) which does everything you asked about except sharing.


Mac Pro 4.1 (flashed) High Sierra Firmware Update

I found this on MacRumors...

Yeah you get a firmware update! :eek: first time the 5,1 has gotten a
firmware update in ages! I did not get it when updating from DP1 to
DP5 but if you make a DP5 installer, it says you must update your boot
rom before you can install and it tells you how, the shut down button
did not work for me but going to the apple menu and hitting shut down
worked for me :) then i followed the normal hold power button until
flashing power light and bam it did the firmware update! and im using
a flashed 4,1 to 5,1 Mac Pro! so yeah looks like flashed 4,1s are so
identicial they happily take the High sierra boot rom update! :D

So it looks like you'll be OK if you:

Click the shut down button which lets the installer write the firmware to disk.
Go to the installer menu and click "Shut down".
After the machine shuts down, hold down the power button for 15+ seconds until you hear a beep. The power light will flash quickly a few times before it beeps
Release the power button and allow the firmware update to proceed. DO NOT shut down the machine during the firmware update.

Reading further down that thread -

Just a heads up to update the firmware on a Mac Pro 4,1 or 5,1 you
have to install an EFI video card (this is true also if your flashing
a 4,1 to a 5,1) if you dont have a EFI video card then it won't update

Note: I gave up after about 6 pages of that thread, but the general consensus seems to be the above instructions do work.
Let us know how it goes - I have a similar machine...
Update April 2018
I just attempted this myself [eventually]. I first stripped all except the boot drive [Samsung SSD in the optical bay] & keyboard/mouse. Successfully got the Restart button to work, no probs, but the firmware update didn't succeed after holding the button until the light flashed.
After a bit of Googling, I found a note that said to hold the button not only until the light flashes, but keep holding until you hear the beep tone. After doing that, it worked & all went smoothly after that. The OS update is actually a separate process, which I hadn't realised until that point.


How to reformat hdd only viewable under (About Mac) -> (System Report) -> (USB 3.0 Bus)?

I got it.

The problem was that disk had an EFI System Partition. All the work to make the disk readable for MacOS El Capitan was done on Windows 10.
C:\Temp> diskpart
DISKPART>  select disk 1
---> clean
DISKPART>  exit

note:
(I just noticed that Mac has /usr/sbin/diskutil that I'm sure would have allowed me to deal with the EFI Partition.)

So, I used the Windows Disk Utility to create a 1-tb xFAT partition. MacOS recognized that. Then, I reformatted that to MacOS file format, 1-tb partition. perfect.

As can be seen in the question, MacOS only recognized that disk in 1 place, in the USB device tree. Only Windows seems to have allowed me to see that EFI System Partition and then allowed me to manipulate the disk.


How to set the language of iCloud calendar reminder emails?

First visit Apple ID. Then click Mange your Apple ID, middle on the right of the page:

Login and then click Language and Contact Preferences.

Here you can select English US or English UK.


How can virtual memory be greater than the total available space?

It's all imaginary since virtual memory doesn’t need to exist until a program stores something specific. In this case, some combination of programs is saying to the OS they might some day use that much space. Don't worry unless:

the swap space grows past your ram size
active + wired ram is greater than 75% of physical RAM. (3GB in your
case)

Basically, this idea makes memory handling faster as the system is running. Since programs keep asking for more and more memory, the system lays out un-mapped chunks of virtual RAM with tons of space in between each process' allocation. This makes some very common memory calculations easier and faster and makes it very unlikely that the regions will ever overlap. When virtual memory regions overlap, it's more costly to pause things and re-map the memory under a running program.  All this mental olympics involving virtual memory makes your mac run faster.


Why does F3 not work as Find Next in Chrome?

F3, like the previous poster said, is a Windows convention.  Cmd+F is how all applications within OS X do a "Find".  However, you can re-map your Windows favorites to OS X with no problem.

If you want to make F3 = "Find Next" in Google Chrome, you can set that up yourself.

Go to [System Preferences] --> [Keyboard] --> [Shortcuts]

Select App Shortcuts and then click the "plus sign" to add a new one.  You will get a dialog box like the one below

Select your Application that you want to create the shortcut for, in this case Google Chrome.

Now, here is the most important part:  Type the name of the menu command exactly as you see it.  Go to the menu bar at the top of the screen and select the command from one of the menu drop downs.  In this case, it's "Find Next"

Enter that into your new Shortcut and assign the key you want, in this case F3.  It should look like this:

Click "Add" and you should see it show up as an new Shortcut.  Head over to Chrome and you will see that "Find Next" is now mapped to F3


Can I delete the contents of some TextEdit Documents (60 GB)? (and how?)

It depends on where they are located and what the contents are. I use DaisyDisk when I have disk space issues on my macbook pro. Disk Inventory X sounds like a similar program. With DaisyDisk you can see what and where the files are located that are taking up so much space. You can download and use the free trial version of DaisyDisk from http://www.daisydiskapp.com/.

Maybe that will allow you to navigate to some of the files taking up so much space so that you can open some of them up to see if they are important or not.

As for how to remove the files:

Once you know the location of the files you can easily remove them from terminal. Just run the following command in terminal.app:

sudo rm -rf /Path/To/FolderToDelete/

That command will remove the FolderToDelete folder and all files inside of it.

Be careful with sudo command. See comments below.


Message time stamps not updating properly

Try toggling "Set Automatically" in Settings >> General >> Date & Time. This has traditionally solved timestamp issues for me in the past.


I would reinstall Mavericks.

You could run the Disk Utility and repair the Permissions before that.


If you are using macOS, you can create a new Service with Automator, add a Run AppleScript action to it, and enter the following script:

set current_application to (path to frontmost application as Unicode text)
tell application "System Events"
    if process "iTunes" exists then
        tell application "iTunes"
            set current_volume to the sound volume
            if (player state is playing) then
                repeat
                    repeat with i from current_volume to 0 by -1
                        set the sound volume to i
                        delay 0.01
                    end repeat
                    pause
                    set the sound volume to current_volume
                    exit repeat
                end repeat
            else
                set the sound volume to 0
                play
                repeat with j from 0 to current_volume by 1
                    set the sound volume to j
                end repeat
            end if
        end tell
        tell application current_application
            activate
        end tell
    end if
end tell

You can assign a keyboard shortcut to it in System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Services.


How to setup Disk Quotas on macOS Big Sur?

You would need to install quota-tools from Homebrew and then use that to configure your disk quotas.
Install Homebrew (if you haven't done so already)
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Then install quota-tools.
brew install quota-tools

Afterwards edit your /etc/fstab to enable disk quotas for the file sytem
/dev/rdisk0 /home apfs defaults,usrquota 0 2

Then run edquota to add disk quotas for the individual users:
sudo edquota -p user1 user2

After that restart the system to have the disk remounted and disk quota to take effect.