Macbook Pro GPUs: overheating and noisy fans

I'm sure everyone with a Macbook Pro has experienced the heavy heating and the fans sounding like they are about to take off.

Sure, but depending on what the Macbook is doing it could be normal behaviour.
Also some Macbooks heats more than others. What's yours?

Anyway, there are two possible situations:

1) you always experienced heating and loud fans:

I would say it's normal behavior (but you can always try what suggested at (2) if you feel it's really too much heat/fans)

2) heating and lound fans started at some point during the life of your macbook:

Try to fix the problem

make sure the macbook can cool down normally (fans exhaust grid are not obstructed)
reset the SMC (see other answer)
use Activity Monitor to check if there is a connection between overheating and specific application/processes
bring the macbook to apple service center

  My problem is that this is happening even with simple tasks such as web browsing or watching a video...

Web browsing pages that use Flash or intensive JavaScript and/or watching videos can be CPU/GPU intensive tasks.

  My understanding is that it is due to the Intel CPU doing all the work to save energy. Am I wrong?

Yes, you're wrong.

Macbooks Pro have an integrated GPU (integrated into the CPU) and a discrete GPU.

The difference between the two is that the integrated GPU heats less, drain less power but has limited features and computational power than the discrete.

When possible the OS uses the integrated GPU to save energy. When not possible (ex. you're using photoshop, you attach an external display,... ) the discrete is used and the MBP heats more.

You can see what GPU is used with gfxCardStatus

The Energy Saving GPU option tells the OS that you want to use the integrated GPU whenever possible.


Accidentally made mine and my brother's data exactly the same

If you have no backup of your phone then there is really no way to recover the data.

Data recovery works under the assumption that when you erase the file you just erase its entry in the filesystem, marking that space "free to use." So the most important thing to do is don't use the device. If you write data to storage marked as empty chances are the data will be overwritten by the new data, making the old data non-recoverable.

This is what happened to your iPhone. It is unlikely that there is any way to recover your data and highlights the importance of turning on the option to back up to iCloud and to back up the phone to your computer so you have multiple redundant backups in case something like this happens.


Do iPhones fully sync with Google services and other Web apps?

I have an iPhone 4. I love it. Google has a sync service for iPhone which will do #1 and #2. Your desire #3 is easily done through the browser. There's a built-in google maps app to fulfill your wish #4.

So, the iPhone can do what you want.

That said, it sounds like you want an Android.

EDIT, since you asked about hardware

After over 2 years of use, most of it without a case, except for a few minor scratches my iPhone 3G is fine. The only thing even close to degradation is a barely noticeable "stickiness" to the front main button.

My new iPhone 4 seems just as solidly built. I can't imagine these things falling apart without some sort of abuse.


iPhone is broken, how can I still access my contacts?

If you synced them through iCloud, then the easiest way is to go to  iCloud. From there you can go to Contacts, select them all using the gear menu on the bottom left and export the vCards. You also can open iTunes and see if it has already been set to sync contacts to an app on the computer or if iTunes has a backup that you could restore onto any iPod, iPhone or iPad to access them / cloud sync them.

Otherwise if you were backing up the device on your computer you can recover the data with iPhone Backup Extractor.

Or, if the phone still boots up (e.g. you just broke the screen or something like that), you can also try using some utilities like PhoneView (I'm pretty sure there are others, but I've used only PhoneView so I don't know if/how they works).


Based on an incomplete understanding of the problem, I think you want to click on the "Store" section of your Settings app on the iPhone. From Store, you can click on the Apple ID and then choose "Sign Out." You will then be able to "Sign In" as a different user.


A 3-times beep normally means that something is wrong with your Random Access Memory (RAM).

You will need to replace it before you can use the mac. When you have access to another mac or iOS device you can download mactracker to see what kind of RAM memory your mac needs.

I think is 1067mHz or 1333mHz, but i'm not sure and don't know if there is a command to check the memory frequency.

After your RAM is fixed, you can reinstall os x.
When you get the error message that the service is currently not availble, you can try another time are try to get a bootable device. I'm not sure if it is possible to make a bootable usb for mac on a windows.

If you can fix the problem by your own, you need to bring your mac to an authorised apple service provider. You can also go there to verify what kind of RAM you need, so maybe they can fix the os x problem when the reinstall your RAM if you don't want to do it yourself.


Deleted almost everything from MacBook Air (2014) and still no storage?

Reinstall macOS

It looks like cached system files are what's causing your storage problem. Reinstalling macOS will not delete any personal information or files, but resets all system files and restored deleted system apps.

here's what Apple says about reinstalling macOS. I've reformatted the directions below to make your life easier:

Start by pressing the appropriate key combination for what you need. I suggest Command-R:

Now, using macOS utilities, select Reinstall macOS:

Simply wait until the download and install is complete and your cached files should be cleared, solving your problem.


Where is the httpd error log file on Lion?

As morth pointed out, for the default Mac OS X Apache installation these are located in: /var/log/apache2/error_log.

The location can be changed in the httpd config using the ErrorLog directive, even for individual virtual hosts. Also note that if you installed another Apache besides the built-in one (like through MacPorts, or MAMP), this probably is different for you too. In that case you should have a look at the httpd.conf or equivalent for your installation.

tip: If you have Growl installed, also have a look at this 'growltail' script. I think it's great to get notified of errors while developing, without having the need to switch back to the Terminal all the time.


How to make script out of focus in AppleScript?

This will do what I think you're looking for. I removed the 'choice of one' from the beginning as it didn't seem relevant to the workflow.

I'm using an activeApp variable to call the app forwards after the dialogs. If you use System Events to call forwards it will not restore the frontmost window.

By using tell me instead of tell application "System Events" except where necessary, you can avoid the complication of the modal dialog stealing focus & not returning to your frontmost window afterwards.

Adding & quoted form of to the shellscript will work in more cases. Some apps will error without it, including Automator itself.

The Automator service receives no input from any application
I've left in a lot of debug, in the form of dialogs, to observe the progress.

on run {input, parameters}
    tell me
        tell application "System Events" to set activeApp to name of first application process whose frontmost is true
        -- Back up original clipboard contents:
        set savedClipboard to the clipboard
        display dialog ("Original clip - " & (the clipboard))
        activate application activeApp
        tell application "System Events" to keystroke "c" using command down
        delay 1
        display dialog ("Copied clip - " & (the clipboard))
        set theSelectedText to the clipboard
        set theModifiedSelectedText to do shell script "echo " & quoted form of theSelectedText & " | tr a-z A-Z;"
        display dialog {"Modified clip - " & theModifiedSelectedText}
        activate application activeApp
        set the clipboard to theModifiedSelectedText
        delay 1
        tell application "System Events" to keystroke "v" using {command down}
        -- Restore clipboard:
        delay 1
        set the clipboard to savedClipboard
        display dialog ("Restored clip - " & (the clipboard))
    end tell
    set input to {}
    return input
end run


How can I put the folder containing my iCloud documents in the Finder sidebar?

First, make an alias to the ~/Library/Mobile Documents folder. Then, drag the alias to the sidebar.


Why is my battery time so much shorter after jailbreak?

I can see two main possibilities:

Apps like FolderCloser, NoLockScreen, and SBSettings shorten battery life by requiring heavy background processes. The only solution to this would be either to not install these apps or restore the phone to its original state altogether (and not have these apps installed). I am convinced that jailbreaking allows for processes that are not in phase with Apple's careful thriftiness of battery use.
Your battery is not calibrated properly so your iPhone miscalculates the remaining percentage. The solution here would be to drain your battery completely and then fully charge it.

Good luck! And know that you can restore the phone to its original state.


There isn't such things like upgrading the voice quality available right now as far as I know. If that seems to be an issue, you should visit an Apple Store while it's in the warranty time period.


Adobe CS5 Mac iOS High Sierra 10.13.6 Just stopped working! Help

After paying $1800 at the time for Adobe Creative Suite CS5, I too have no desire to go to a cloud based "pay for play" software, especially during these uncertain financial times.
Have you tried having two hard drives which contain two different operating systems on them?
I have Mac OS 10.8.5 on one hard drive so that I can used Steinberg's Cubase version 6, and I have MAC OS 10.13.6 Hign Sierra on a my main hard drive - I just switch to my "downgrade" hard drive and keep working...and you can access both drives from the menu like normal.
That was my saving grace!  I can still use Photoshop on 10.13.6, but it won't let me run Adobe Premiere CS5.
Sadly, in all my Mac years no one ever told me I could do that.  It would've saved me a lot of upgrade money when a new OS didn't work with my audio software (especially WAVES plugins which I paid lots of money for and it became obsolete, since WAVES too is on a cloud-based-pay-to-play model)
Hope this helps.


Can you read and write from and to APFS under High Sierra to FAT external hard-drives?

What happens to those backups with APFS?

Nothing happens.

Only the main internal drive is converted to APFS (and its contents are preserved anyways).

You will be able to use your external drives as before.


How to UNLOCK rotation of the iPad 2 non retina

The Lock Rotation and the Mute Under the USE SIDE SWITCH TO: act as radio buttons.

Selecting one deselects the other.

Depending on which one is selected determines what the side switch does.

Either Mute or  Mute or Lock Rotation.

The side switch is either On (showing an orange dot ) or off  (NOT showing an orange dot )

In Mute mode:

side switch ON = silent
side switch OFF = sound

In Lock Rotation mode:

side switch ON = No Rotation
side switch OFF = Rotation

The Control Center's  (when you swipe up) button that is used for  Mute or Lock Rotation will also change to either a Mute or Lock Rotation button depending what is selected in the settings.

So you have full control regardless of how you are setup.


I found an apple discussion that seemingly answers your question:

Question

  I went to the help menu and it instructs me to click an icon that doesn't appear.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer

  Yes I had this problem as well, I found out that you have to Drag the clip from EVENTS into your PROJECT.

  But when you do so, make sure that you drag it just over the top, not actually into the clip. The icon should then appear.

I am sure that Video Overlay settings have the same reason to not show up as the Adjust option

Hope this helps


iMac password stopped working, Apple Persistent State Encryption shows a recent modified date

What is "Apple Persistent State Encryption"

  Used by the persistent state feature to encrypt window snapshots to
  ensure privacy.

  It is changed frequently.

So that one is normal.

As for your password, no one can change it without knowing the old password. If you have set up your log in with Apple ID assistance you can use it to recover your password. Read more here.


lsof will show you the open file handles.

If you know the PID use the -p flag.

Eg, on my zsh shell at the moment I see:

alex@smiley:~|⇒  lsof -p 82946
COMMAND   PID USER   FD   TYPE DEVICE  SIZE/OFF     NODE NAME
zsh     82946 alex  cwd    DIR  14,12      2414   186278 /Users/alex
zsh     82946 alex  txt    REG  14,12   1103984       73 /bin/zsh
zsh     82946 alex  txt    REG  14,12    474672   787843 /usr/lib/zsh/4.3.11/zsh/zle.so
zsh     82946 alex  txt    REG  14,12    258672   787864 /usr/lib/zsh/4.3.11/zsh/complete.so
zsh     82946 alex  txt    REG  14,12    120576   787863 /usr/lib/zsh/4.3.11/zsh/complist.so
zsh     82946 alex  txt    REG  14,12     71264   787838 /usr/lib/zsh/4.3.11/zsh/zutil.so
zsh     82946 alex  txt    REG  14,12     79968   787852 /usr/lib/zsh/4.3.11/zsh/parameter.so
zsh     82946 alex  txt    REG  14,12    599280  7719861 /usr/lib/dyld
zsh     82946 alex  txt    REG  14,12 296980480 12427083 /private/var/db/dyld/dyld_shared_cache_x86_64
zsh     82946 alex    0u   CHR   16,0   0t26354     6285 /dev/ttys000
zsh     82946 alex    1u   CHR   16,0   0t26354     6285 /dev/ttys000
zsh     82946 alex    2u   CHR   16,0   0t26354     6285 /dev/ttys000
zsh     82946 alex   10u   CHR   16,0    0t3432     6285 /dev/ttys000

The Type column shows the various file or pseudo file types that might be open, sockets, pipes, etc.

ulimit or limit, depending on system and shell lets you change the number of open files.


Why does my reported used and available disk space not equal the total reported via "df"?

It's because on Big_Sur / is a read only system volume mounted on a snapshot. The size of this volume is around 15 go. The free size is 18 go, so the volume "data" may be around 200 go.
The command
diskutil list

Will give the real size of your system volumes.


Why can't I acces my Mac's webserver from my iPhone using the Mac's ad-hoc WiFi?

It is probably related to resolving the host name.

Try using the IP address of the Mac instead of the name:


How long is it safe to store an unopened iPod Classic?

I would recommend to:

Charge the battery to about 30%

Read more here:

Store it in dry and cool place.


The diagnostic function on an iphone does not appear to have a user-trigged capability.
Apple can invoke this remotely by pushing a Profile to your device, assuming that it can both boot up and is able to join a network.

The profile causes a new item to appear in

Settings ➔ Privacy ➔ Analytics

When you tap on this the tests run and immediately send the results back to a support agent and I presume they‘re recorded in a database somewhere too.


OK, found it myself. Under System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services, I can uncheck those 3rd-party services.


Account for upgrade is different to account in phone settings

NRaf,

Chances are the friend downloaded those apps under his/her Apple ID. Thats why it's prompting that Apple ID username/password.

Simply delete those apps and reinstall them under your Dads account and everything will be fine.

If these are Apps that your friend has paid for but your dad has not and thats why the friend downloaded them to his device so your dad wouldn't have to pay for them, then thats a different issue. look into family sharing and see whats going on there from both parties.


Is it possible to remotely install an app on an iOS device from the web/iTunes?

Yes - iOS supports this out of the box with many MDM frameworks to push updates to iOS devices over the air. There are some free / open source MDM, but I would recommend something hosted like bushel that has better support and has been running a while.

http://bushel.com

If you need to host the MDM yourself, Apple's server app includes Profile Manager and would be my recommendation for your first server. (It's well documented, inexpensive, handles sertificates well and enables push notification registration.)

https://www.apple.com/osx/server/


If you have a Mac with iTunes you can connect your iPhone to your computer with a USB/Lightning cable and then back up your iPhone to iTunes on your computer. I've done this many times with my iPhone 6 and my older iMac.


Clocks due to change and sleep prompt goes into infinite loop

go to guest user
bring up 'monitor' app; I stopped a number of processes, although I can't remember which ones, including finder
bring up 'preferences' > 'energy saver' > 'power adapter' > 'schedule' and turn off sleep schedule


Add a Service to an Application, not General

To have an Automator Service/Quick Action show up in only a given application's Services menu, then in this case set, e.g.:
Workflow receives [Automatic (Nothing)] in [QuickTime Player]
      Note that [Automatic (Nothing)] is the default and can be changed as appropriate.
When setting in [QuickTime Player] the Automator Service/Quick Action will only appear in the Services menu of QuickTime Player, although it will show under General: in the application's Services menu.
It this case it will also show under General in: System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services
As you can see in the pictures below, Say Foobar shows on the Services menu of QuickTime Player, but not Safari.

Example:


Force DNS server ip while connected to VPN

I've found a solution, open source client openfortivpn let you skip dns settings while connecting to the VPN. Using its --no-dns --pppd-no-peerdns options fixes it


Why don't my keyboard shortcuts work in VMWare Fusion 6?

I've found three conceptual hurdles that one needs to understand for any of this to make sense.

Keyboard and Mouse Profiles

For starters, it should be made clear that in VMWare Fusion's application preferences, you edit settings for a keyboard and mouse profile, but these settings do not necessarily apply to your current virtual machine! Your VM is assigned a profile on the VM settings panel under Keyboard & Mouse, accessible by default with command-e or in Virtual Machine -> Settings, or from the Virtual Machine Library -> Settings button. Identify which profile your VM is using to ensure your modifications made in application preferences have an effect.

Shortcuts and Windows Key Mapping

In VMWare's application preferences, when setting up the details of a specific keyboard/mouse profile, there are shortcuts to define and customize, and also some important settings on the "Mac Host Shortcuts" tab--particularly the Command key -> Windows key setting. Many of the shortcuts that are available are listed as various combinations with the command key. HOWEVER, these shortcuts are not really mapped to the command key! Rather, they are being mapped to the Windows key, with the presupposition that the command key you intend to use will be mapped to the Windows key in the aforementioned "Mac Host Shortcuts" setting.

This means that if you normally want to use command-s (on the left command key) as a save shortcut to control-s in Windows, but your Windows key mapping is set to the right command key, your command-s shortcut WILL NOT WORK!

Input Grab and Release/Ungrab

If you've configured it to do so, your host OS will catch specified operating system-level shortcuts and gestures (like mission control and the application switcher), but during normal operation all other input will be sent through to the virtual machine unless a shortcut exists in your keyboard and mouse profile. This includes keyboard shortcuts that normally exist in the application menu items of VMWare fusion, excepting those that are also listed on the "Fusion Shortcuts" tab of the keyboard/mouse profile. Unfortunately, this list of shortcuts is small and cannot be expanded, but there is one shortcut in particular that allows us to break free of the virtual machine context and send shortcuts directly to the VMWare Fusion application. This is the "Ungrab Mouse and Keyboard" shortcut (command-control), and it cannot be edited or removed.

  There is a bug related to this shortcut that arises when only one of the command keys is being mapped to the windows key in your keyboard profile. As mentioned above, the keyboard shortcuts in this list are actually looking for the windows key configured in the command key mapping -- EVEN THE UNGRAB SHORTCUT. If you hold down a command key that is not mapped to windows and then tap control, you will enter a state of sticky windows key, where the virtual machine behaves as though the windows key is being held down until it is "pressed" once again.

So, to recap: In the event that you want to assign and use a keyboard shortcut to suspend your virtual machine, you should do the following:

Use System Preferences -> Keyboard to choose an application shortcut for the Suspend menu item. Some shortcuts may not be available, so make sure your is valid by checking the desired menu item after registering your shortcut -- your desired shortcut should appear next to the item in the menu. If it doesn't, try something else.
Configure your VM keyboard profile to your liking according to the guidelines above.
When accessing the shortcut, first press command-control (where Command is a key that VMWare is treating as a Windows key) to release input from the VM. Your cursor will change to a hand if you did this correctly.
From this point, you can access any keyboard shortcut on a menu item, (like preferences: command-,) including your customized application shortcut.


Export Keynote to PowerPoint in high resolution

As there doesn't seem to be any way to make PowerPoint handle vector graphics, the only solution is to export the image to the correctly sized PDF image (essentially treating it the same way one might work with a raster image).

While this is incredibly dissatisfying, it does result in a PPT presentation with unpixelated images…


Avoid download 100.000 mails from gmail when using Apple Mail

Apple's mail on 10.11 and older will download all the mail that the server tells it about. The macOS 10.12 mail has a setting to optimize mail storage that might store header information for all mails, but not download the body and attachments of older emails.

You can opt in to that from the Apple menu - about this Mac - storage - manage, but it seems to only be offered when you have significant storage burden from Mail and/or specific mail server configurations.

Since that's how the mail client was designed and codes, you will need to go to gmail's web interface and hide some of the folders from IMAP access to prevent mail from ever seeing the messages. Exchange has a setting to determine a time range of mail to sync, but google and IMAP do not have that feature.

Gmail -> Settings -> Labels

Most people I know that use mail like you describe (keep all of it all the time) choose to not show All Mail in IMAP and then just clean their inbox when the volume becomes unwieldy.


My Macbook’s hard drive is encrypted using FileVault 2. Will adding a new user with a different password break the encryption?

FileVault 2 will encrypt the boot volume and allow you to unlock that volume based upon existing user accounts.

Adding a new user account on OS X El Capitan (10.11.6) will automatically add that account to FileVault 2's list of enabled users.  So no, you won't revert your existing setup or remove an existing account's ability to unlock an encrypted volume.

The built-in fdesetup account is also very useful (requires sudo privileges):

 list       [-extended] [--offline] [-verbose]
            List enabled users, or locked volumes.

 enable     [[[-user username ...] [-usertoadd added_username ...]] |
            [-inputplist]] [-outputplist] [-prompt] [-forcerestart]
            [-authrestart] [-keychain | [-certificate path_to_cer_file]]
            [[-defer file_path] [-forceatlogin max_cancel_attempts]
            [-dontaskatlogout]] [-norecoverykey] [-verbose]
            Enables FileVault.  This command will fail if no recovery par-
            tition was found on your disk.


Changing password of admin account from inside the root (superadmin) account

The password for an user account is stored separately from the keychain password. Usually both are the same password.

When you normally change your user password, you have to enter the old password and the new password. The software then uses these passwords to attempt to change the password for the keychain. This only succeeds when the old password for the user is the same as for the keychain.

If you reset the user password without entering the old password, then the keychain password will remain the same.

So, if you do not know the keychain password, the only way to gain access to the keychain is to reset the keychain password. Unfortunately, this will erase the keychain.


How to setup two completely separate partitions on one SSD

No, since Apple designs the OS to be able to erase itself and undo any logical partition you make - anyone with moderate amount of time or technical ability can access the drive.
Your only play with shared storage is to trust encryption and separation of secrets. But that is flimsy protection if system B can always read, erase and modify system A storage. You don’t gain any data or interaction protection with two OS, you only gain complexity and two code bases and less protection overall.
The OS is always aware of the entire storage chain for all attached drives. You need external drives, two of them, to guarantee your “there is no interaction between the partitions possible” clause.
But, as long as you are on Catalina or higher, there’s never been a better time to dual boot two macOS systems on the same SSD. You can try it out and see if you can live with two OS and experiment if spotlight will find files and apps on the other system based on how you set things up. But this won’t make things more secure, it makes things less secure in several ways.


I had the same problem and it turned out the computer was looking for an external hard drive to mount that wasn't connected properly. If you have any external hard drives, you may want to try unplugging them and then doing a forced restart?


Mavericks Time Machine is stuck in the middle of backing up, other times stop unexpectedly

To summarize how I worked around the problem:

made sure the problem only exists for Mavericks: made sure that another Mac (pre-Mavericks) still backs up to QNAP NAS seamlessly
made sure that problem is only related to QNAP NAS and Mavericks together, not to Mavericks alone. For this, performed back up to external HDD

when external HDD backup got stuck with progress bar frozen, Standby-Resume of Mac helped to "unfreeze" Time Machine most of the time

to achieve first successful backup with NAS, I first excluded every folder that is on "Macintosh HD": Time Machine Preferences > Options > Exclude these from backups > +. Having minimal successful backup, I added folder by folder, from smallest ones (all <1MB, then all <1GB, then one by one more and more large, largest in the end.

when backup stopped itself long before the estimated time, it turned out that it actually copied the part last displayed on progress bar. The next time you invoke Back Up Now, the total amount of files to back up becomes smaller by the amount reached previous time.

for QNAP NAS, installed QFix (reboot OS X before invoking new backups). QFix seriously improved copying speed and made the speed consistent, plus resolved "frozen progress" problem at least for a full backup from the scratch.

Still, the problems left for Apple and QNAP to solve are:

progress bar which frequently gets frozen in the middle of copying
stuck "Preparing backup..." after QFix before OS X reboot
backing up stopping itself in the middle of copying, and/or "I/O error" which forces backup progress to stop


How can I get OSX Mavericks to notice a DNS change in `/etc/hosts`?

According to the the hosts(5) manual page, the /etc/hosts file is used by mDNSResponder. Your attempts are correctly flushing the computer wide cache but you also need to flush the browser's private cache.

After each edit of /etc/hosts reset the mDNSResponder cache using this Apple technical note, OS X: How to reset the DNS cache:

sudo dscacheutil -flushcache

After doing this, reset your browser caches:

Safari: use the menu item Safari > Reset Safari.
Chrome: use the menu item Chrome > Clear Browsing Data.


How to disable the MacBook trackpad click but keep the tap enabled?

Unfortunately, there is no way to do that using vanilla Mac OS X. The trackpad allows to use tap function with click. It doesn't allow to use the tap exclusively.

However, there may be third-party software/kexts that allow to do that.


How can I get spotlight to search everywhere for any file?

Spotlight doesn't search hidden & system areas at all, by design.

The simplest way to get around this is to use something like EasyFind (freeware) instead. You might need to allow it access to Photos Library, in Privacy and Security preferences.

It doesn't index, so it's slower than Spotlight, but it will find anything, anywhere.


This is a common problem with many apps on the retina Macbook Pro. We'll just have to wait until Google updates Picasa for the high-resolution display. There is a discussion about this on Google's Product Forums.


Macbook Air not detecting correct external display resolution

With the Display pane of System Preferences visible, hold down the Option key and the "Gather Windows" button in the lower right should turn into a "Detect Displays" button. Click on that button and your computer should take care of the rest.


Is it possible to use the character map as a standalone app?

In this http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20051022020253863 Article, you find the AppleScripts to do what you want. However, the paths seem to have changed at least under Lion. So, to show the Character Palette under 10.7 (possibly older as well), use this AppleScript:

tell application "Finder"
    open item "System:Library:Input Methods:CharacterPalette.app" of the
    startup disk
end tell

As a bonus, the Keyboard Viewer is displayed with this script:

tell application "Finder"
    open item "System:Library:Input Methods:KeyboardViewer.app" of the
    startup disk
end tell

To create a "Standalone Application" from them, just paste them into the AppleScript Editor, choose File->Save As... and select Application as the type.


Google Drive won't start, odd 'Butt' menu bar icon

I had to re-insall Google Drive upon El Capitan Upgrade. Make sure you have the latest version. For some reason it was not auto-upgrading for me.


Restricting Apple ID purchases to free stuff only

What I would do is create an Apple ID for her without a credit card, along with creating an Apple ID for yourself (hooked to a credit card).

Without a credit card, the only way to purchase something would be for her to:

Have a gift card (you still couldn't control that spending)
If she wants to buy something, she needs to come to you directly. You can go into iTunes (on your computer with your Apple ID with the credit card), find it in the store, and gift it to her:

She'll get an email that'll allow her to download the item.

If you want a less restrictive method, you can set up an allowance (look at bottom of page) that would allow her to spend a set amount of money every month.


Git clone fails with "fatal: multiple updates for ref 'refs/tags/v1.0.0' not allowed" on MacOS Mojave

Do you have a custom .gitconfig? I had to remove the following parameter from mine in order for cloning to work again:

[remote "origin"]
    fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*

git v2.21.0 was released a few days ago, so perhaps something changed under the hood. I need to go check out the release notes.

Anyways, hope this helps!

Adding a bit more background context, this line was very common to fetch the tags by default. It allowed to do git fetch which would also do a git fetch --tags equivalent under the hood.

Basically, if you want to fetch tags when you do a git fetch with this v2.21 git version, you can create an alias in your .gitconfig as follow:

[alias]
    fetch = git fetch --tags

Doing this and removing the fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/* will result in the same behaviour, but compatible with git v2.21

See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1204190/does-git-fetch-tags-include-git-fetch/20608181#20608181 for in-depth explanation and history changes.


What is the second monitor you want to add ?
By reading configuration of your Mac Pro I find this (in the graphic card section) :

  It has both a Mini DisplayPort and a dual-link DVI port.

So I think you can connect two display devices on your Mac :

Your Cinema Display on the mini display port
Your other display on the DVI port

According to your second monitor, you can connect it directly on the DVI port or you should use a adapter (for example a VGA-to-DVI adpater).

Hope this helps !


How can I recover the key of an encrypted hard-drive?

What would be the purpose of disk encryption if the key can get recovered from the encrypted disk itself? Unless you find it in the Keychain (and I'm not even sure it's there in the first place) or somewhere else where you may have written it down, you are out of luck.


How does iTunes make its decision as to what artwork to provide?

iTunes uses an external site to search for album art.  I don't remember exactly which site it is, but I do remember that it was crowdsourced, so there's a high likelihood that, especially with relatively rare music, it will get the wrong thing.


How to enable Huawei Health app options for iOS that exist for Android?

I can't say if I just overlooked that, or if a newer version of the health app improved things: I can now see the my indoor cycling activities, too. They show up in the overview of outdoor cycling. Unfortunately, that overview only sums up distances, so the time spent on the indoor device don't count.  But at least, they all show up.
I also noticed that the user guide for another new huawei device, the Gt2 watch, explicitly mentions that certain features (such as installing watch faces from the huawei servers) only works with the android app.
But I can confirm that it is straight forward to switch the device between different phones, as I used my old android phone to install other watch faces, before connecting it with my iPhone.
EDIT: things are further improving for iOS users. In 2021, the only thing feature that I see on Android, but not on iOS: the ability to manage tracks, and those manually.


I gave up trying to fix it using the UI. Instead, I've created a launchd agent in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/. This can be done by writing a .plist file with this content:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- This is ~/Library/LaunchAgents/my-login.plist -->
<!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>my-login.agent</string>
    <key>LimitLoadToSessionType</key>
    <string>Aqua</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Users/$myuser/.local/etc/scripts/my-login.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>AbandonProcessGroup</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/my-login.err</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/my-login.out</string>
</dict>
</plist>

As you can see, it runs a script in .local/etc/scripts. In turn, this just runs everything it finds in .local/etc/scripts/login/ (you can choose another dir for this, eg, Library/scripts):
#!/usr/local/bin/bash
# This is my-login.sh

cd `dirname "$0"`/login
for script in *.sh
do
  . "./$script"
done

Finally, login/*.sh files usually contain very simple commands, eg:
# google-drive-client.sh
open "/Applications/Backup and Sync.app"

(and of course, this is the same mechanism that many *NIX distro use for /etc/profile.d or /etc/cron.d).
Everything can be enabled by running:
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/my-login.plist

(or, logging off and logging on again should do it too).
The .plist options runs the script upon load, and only once. Moreover AbandonProcessGroup ensures that the applications launched in background (eg, using open) are not killed when the main script ends.
This isn't for the non-expert, sorry, I couldn't fix the problem at UI level and I think the macOS quality is getting worse.


My Shut Down menu is partially in English

What worked for me is following the instructions to change the language used at the login screen on your Mac, namely:

Switch to admin account
Open Terminal.app
Run sudo languagesetup
Enter 9 (which indicates Dutch, my preferred language)
Reboot


OSX Mavericks: AppStore wring out my credit card number, but I haven't got any

Apple has a support document describing this: How to create an Apple ID without credit card.


Is it possible to detect which frequency band the iPhone is using

Not direct software solution but on the back of your iphone there are is a Model number, on my Iphone 5s it is A1530.  Different models are supplied in different countries according to the frequency bands licensed there. If you google that number with model of iphone and or frequency band you will find information as to what frequency bands your specific hardware supports.


How do I clear the Diagnostics & Usage data from my iPhone?

They are usually deleted when you do a sync.


How do I get my iOS5 iPhone 4 (and 3GS) to play a .wav file attachment in email?

In Mail, just tap on the attachment to play the .wav file.


Does macOS's Core Graphic Rendering convert everything into PDF?

I think it's essential to know where the PDF model for rendering comes into play in the macOS graphics and windowing system.

From the ARS Technica article:

  it is important to understand that Core Graphics Services deals with
  more or less "ready-to-display" data sent to it from higher layers in
  the graphics system. It is a pixel pusher, not a graphics creator

So, everything is built on top of Core Graphics Services.  The PDF engine is used to render essentially what you are seeing on your desktop (for a lack of a better word).  For instance, the rendering of an App like TextEdit, Numbers or Microsoft Word would go through Core Graphics Rendering (the PDF model).

  Core Graphics Rendering uses PDF for its internal vector graphics
  representation. Apple describes its rationale for using PDF as
  follows:

    As a superset of Adobe PostScript, PDF brings several improvements,
    including better color management, internal compression, font
    independence, and interactivity. However, PDF is not a full-fledged
    language as is PostScript; it is declaratively, not programmatically,
    specified. Consequently a sophisticated and expensive language runtime
    is not necessary, as it is for PostScript.

Basically, what this is saying is that Core Graphics Rendering (just one of the graphics rendering systems) uses PDF because of its features over PostScript.

As for streaming media and "high performance graphics applications" like games it will go through a different rendering engine.  OpenGL is a vectoring engine and it interacts directly with a systems GPU.  It would be wildly inefficient to convert to a PDF model then display the rendered results.

So, to answer your question (and TL;DR):

  That is, when you run games like Quake (which are, I believe in
  opengl), is every frame internally converted to PDF and then
  rasterized?

No, games that use OpenGL are rendered in OpenGL and passed off to Core Graphics Services which just "pushes the rendered pixels."


It looks like a developer preview of Lion Server was installed at one point overtop your current consumer version of Lion. You can't do that.

I can't (under penalty of compromising my confidentiality agreement with Apple) go into detail but installation of Developer seeds are not so simple as to keep installing new versions. There is a process to ensure nothing breaks.

I assume your brother is not a registered developer and was not made privy to these processes, hence the errors above.

In short, your system is hosed. I would recommend reinstallation from either the MAS or using the Recovery HD (boot holding ALT ). It's of note that reinstallation of Lion will not remove the contents of the user profile and aside from having to download the OS, quite painless. Simply boot using the Recovery HD, select the location of the installation (your case, Macintosh HD) and sit back. Once done, you will have a fresh copy of 10.7. Then you can use Software Update to install 10.7.2 (and any other updates you require).

Then give your brother a good wallop for (allegedly) pirating OS X (and another for his ineptitude and pirating the wrong flavour)!


How can I reset the sorting of my Events in iPhoto back to by date?

From the menu select View > Sort Events > By Date.


How can I make Arabic fonts in GIMP work?

You better ask Gimp!
Gimp FAQ :  http://www.gimp.org/docs/userfaq.html
Or ask Gimp Support.


Where is the source code for mmap function?

I assume you mean mmap.c - you can find the source files here:

https://github.com/apple/darwin-xnu/blob/5394bb038891708cd4ba748da79b90a33b19f82e/libsyscall/wrappers/unix03/mmap.c
https://github.com/apple/darwin-xnu/blob/master/bsd/sys/mman.h

The kernel part of the implementation where the functionality actually lies can be found here:

https://github.com/apple/darwin-xnu/blob/5394bb038891708cd4ba748da79b90a33b19f82e/bsd/kern/kern_mman.c


Need a way to save multiple window layouts for multiple configurations of monitors

There's an application call Stay that does this and works very nicely.


Cannot merge partitions of external hard drive

You can not NTFS format from macOS. You may have been using the ExFAT format.

Below are some possible commands to create a single formatted partition.

For MS-DOS FAT32 format use:

diskutil  partitiondisk  disk2  1  mbr  FAT32  EXTDISK  R

For ExFAT format use:

diskutil  partitiondisk  disk2  1  mbr  ExFAT  EXTDISK  R

For Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

diskutil  partitiondisk  disk2  1  mbr  JHFS+  EXTDISK  R

For example, if you want the ExFAT format, the below is the output you should see by entering the appropriate commands. Of course, your 2 TB drive will probably be sightly different in size from mine.

Davids-iMac:~ davidanderson$ diskutil list disk2
/dev/disk2 (external, physical:
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        +2.0 TB     disk2
   1:                 DOS_FAT_32 EXTDISK                 43.5 MB    disk2s1
   2:               Windows_NTFS extdisk                 1.8 GB     disk2s2
Davids-iMac:~ davidanderson$ diskutil partitiondisk disk2 1 mbr ExFAT ExtDisk R
Started partitioning on disk2
Unmounting disk
Creating the partition map
Waiting for partitions to activate
Formatting disk2s1 as ExFAT with name ExtDisk
Volume name      : ExtDisk
Partition offset : 2 sectors (1024 bytes)
Volume size      : 3906250061 sectors (2000000031232 bytes)
Bytes per sector : 512
Bytes per cluster: 131072
FAT offset       : 2048 sectors (1048576 bytes)
# FAT sectors    : 120832
Number of FATs   : 1
Cluster offset   : 122880 sectors (62914560 bytes)
# Clusters       : 15258309
Volume Serial #  : 5a7b6783
Bitmap start     : 2
Bitmap file size : 1907289
Upcase start     : 17
Upcase file size : 5836
Root start       : 18
Mounting disk
Finished partitioning on disk2
/dev/disk2 (external, physical:
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        +2.0 TB     disk2
   1:               Windows_NTFS ExtDisk                 2.0 TB     disk2s1
Davids-iMac:~ davidanderson$


Your MacBook Pro User Guide will state the following:

Slot-loading SuperDrive
This optical drive reads and writes standard-size CDs and DVDs.

By standard-size CDs and DVDs it means that the slot-loading drive is not designed to take mini/micro optical discs of any sort.

Instead, you will need an external tray-loading optical drive or access to an older Mac with one. Of course, if it's some sort of promotional material, software, etc, then you may be able to view/download it from the internet.


When using Numbers app, is there a setting to create a new column when user presses tab?

To add a row above the selected cells use the Option+Up Arrow command.

To add a row below the selected cells use the Option+Down Arrow command.

To add a column to the right of the selected cells use the Option+Right Arrow command.

To add a column to the left of the selected cells use the Option+Left Arrow command.

On an iPad you can use the next buttons found on the screen


The piece under key hinge –– that looks like a nipple –– came loose. What to do?

The piece is the "dome" - it sits under the key cap (see here). Underside of it has a conductive surface, so pushing it down closes the contact to trigger a key press. You may be able to fix this with some very small bits of double-sided adhesive tape; not sure I'd superglue it, because failure to fix could mean you're looking at a total keyboard replacement, depending on where the glue gets.


How to use multiple audio outputs (of a mac) simultaneously?

For this you can use the App "Audio MIDI Setup" in /Applications/Utilities.

When you open the app, you will see a list of all audio devices in the list to the left. With the "+" button at the bottom you can create a new Aggregate Device or a Multi-Output Device.

The devices created there will show up as normal audio devices in the system preferences' "Sound" settings.

The Multi-Output Device seems to be what you are looking for. It will output the audio to all devices enabled in the right part of the window.

The Aggregate Device allows you to join multiple sound cards to simulate one audio device with more output channels (e.g. instead of four separate stereo outputs you would see a single 8 channel output).


Cleaning my Macbook screen *under* the shield

To do this the risk of further damage is rather high as I had to do this before on the same Mac. You will need a heat gun to heat the edge of the screen so you can pull it off then after it is separated you will need microfiber cloths and denatured alcohol (available in the paint section of any store) to wipe the LCD and glass cover perfectly clean. After finished you can use your glue of choice to put it back together however keep in mind pretty much any glue you use will not come back off without breaking something, so there is no turning back. Personally, either use an external screen or buy a new one off eBay (which is what I did). I found with mine it separated because the hinge cracked and wasn't able to tell this till after I opened it.


AppleScript to turn on the Accessibility Keyboard in High Sierra

Update Note: This answer was originally written prior to the release of macOS Mojave and as such to use it in macOS Mojave you'll need to change three lines of code.
Change:

select table 1 of scroll area 2
select row 16 of table 1 of scroll area 2
tell tab group 1

To:

select table 1 of scroll area 1
select row 16 of table 1 of scroll area 1
tell tab group 1 of group 1

The following example AppleScript code works for me under macOS High Sierra:
if running of application "System Preferences" then
    quit application "System Preferences"
    delay 1
end if
tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal pane id "com.apple.preference.universalaccess"
    delay 1
    tell application "System Events"
        tell window 1 of application process "System Preferences"
            select table 1 of scroll area 2
            delay 0.1
            select row 16 of table 1 of scroll area 2
            delay 0.1
            tell tab group 1
                click radio button "Accessibility Keyboard"
                delay 0.1
                click checkbox "Enable Accessibility Keyboard"
            end tell
        end tell
    end tell
    quit
end tell

In Script Editor, I saved example AppleScript code as an application, named Accessibility Keyboard.app, in the Applications folder.
Next, I added the Accessibility Keyboard.app to: System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility
Now I can bring up the Accessibility Keyboard easily via Spotlight, or the Accessibility Keyboard.app can be dragged and dropped on the Dock so as to be launched for there.

Update:
My original example AppleScript code was geared at opening the Accessibility Keyboard, not closing it. As such, if it's open and the original script is run again it errors out. The following version of the example AppleScript code accounts for whether or not the Accessibility Keyboard it already shown and if so, closes it.
Note thought that while this does close the Accessibility Keyboard if it's showing, there is an added bounce to Dock Tile of System Preferences and is not and issue other then a secondary visual distraction.
Example AppleScript code:
if running of application "System Preferences" then
    quit application "System Preferences"
    delay 1
end if
tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal pane id "com.apple.preference.universalaccess"
    delay 1
    tell application "System Events"
        tell window 1 of application process "System Preferences"
            select table 1 of scroll area 2
            delay 0.1
            select row 16 of table 1 of scroll area 2
            delay 0.1
            tell tab group 1
                click radio button "Accessibility Keyboard"
                delay 0.1
                if value of checkbox "Enable Accessibility Keyboard" is 0 then
                    click checkbox "Enable Accessibility Keyboard"
                else
                    click checkbox "Enable Accessibility Keyboard"
                    delay 1
                    my clickOK()
                end if
            end tell
        end tell
    end tell
    quit
end tell

on clickOK()
    tell application "System Events" to click button "OK" of window 1 of application process "System Preferences"
end clickOK

Note that System Preferences does not need to be visible for this to work and why there is no activate command in the example AppleScript code. Additionally if System Preferences is already open, it is first closed before the rest of the code is processed. This is done for a couple of reasons, the first of which was already stated and secondly seeing the UI Events processed is a visual distraction and can be annoying.
Also note that the value of the delay commands may need to be adjusted for your system, and or additional delay commands may or may not be needed. Adjust values of and or add/remove the delay commands as appropriate.
Keep in mind that once the app is added to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility and modified thereafter, you'll need to uncheck it and recheck it for the new changes to be allowed to be processed.

Note: The example AppleScript code is just that and does not employ any error handling and is meant only to show one of many ways accomplish a task. The onus is always upon the User to add/use appropriate error handling as needed/wanted.


In the "Tools menu", choose "show inspector". In the inspector, select "Annotations inspector".

Press CMD+A to select all annotations, then click backspace to delete them.


What does it mean when a %CPU exceeds (# of cores) x 100%?

The % CPU is relative to 1 core, so 726% is using almost 8 cores. Core is loosely defined, so 1 Hyper-Threaded, "virtual" core looks like 2 cores to Activity Monitor.

What type of system do you have? If it is just 2 cores (which is seems to be) then nik's answer sounds correct.

A late model 8-core system can look like 16 cores to Activity Monitor:


Mid 2010 MacBook Battery Replacement Recommendations

I got the same Macbook Mid-2010 which is valuable to recover to do a lot of stuff. I would recommend you to find the trusted vendor for the battery and other parts as we might have different area. See the review online to check whether they are selling good parts or not. If your decision fall to iFixit hardware, it could not go wrong as they are trusted and reliable as well with complete instruction for you macbook as well.

I would recommend you to learn to clean the macbook as well, buy thermal paste, change it yourself carefully which can be fun and add knowledge. In summary I would say:

Clean the macbook inside out and change thermal paste (buy thermal
paste if you do not have one)
Replace HDD to SSD in your macbook (buy HDD caddy to replace your optical drive and use current HDD as extended storage)
Upgrade RAM to at least 8 GB would be better
Change battery

That would be the things I did and now it can be use for daily but not extreme usage. Hopefully it is helpful as I just wanna share as it is the same device.
Additional video: https://youtu.be/83_GiAViMHo


Is there a key to trigger the home button on an external iPad keyboard?

Unfortunately, the answer appears to be no. The Apple iPad Keyboard Dock for the first generation iPad had a physical home button on the keyboard, but successor products compatible with the iPad 2, including the Apple Bluetooth Keyboard have been unable to replicate this feature. Not the answer you're hoping for, I'm sure, but I'm afraid it's the answer, for now. Of course, Apple could change all this with a software update.


You got it the wrong way round :-)

create a key pair on the Mac you are using
put both id_rsa.pub and id_rsa into ~/.ssh and run chmod 600 id_rsa
append the generated public key (id_rsa.pub) to .ssh/authorized_keys on the remote machine (your server in this case). If you are allowed to login in via ssh using a password, use

ssh remoteuser@remotemachine "mkdir ~/.ssh; cat >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys" < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

otherwise transfer the file by whatever means you have to upload files.
run ssh remoteuser@remotemachine in your shell to connect

PS: The private key should never need to leave the machine it's generated on


In the Store-App, log in with the account that was used to buy the apps. Then you can re-download the apps without paying (using the bought-tab, or just searching for the app).


using kinect to move cursor on macbook pro

Kinect Jesture should let you do what you wanted:

  Control the mouse cursor and fire the key events (right or left).

Here is a Vimeo video demonstrating Kinect Jesture.


Bluetooth connection issues with LG Soundbar and Macbook Pro or iPhone

I have a samsung soundbar, and an Onkyo, I use bluetooth pairing from my macbook, and motorola phone- exact same issue on both sound bars. Apparently bluetooth pairing just blows. I think it might be interference from the multiple devices in the same area using bluetooth.  (PS4 uses it for the controls, Samsung smart tv uses it for the remote). It definitely is not the macbook, as the problem happens from my smartphone, and I am a support tech for apple, and know how to troubleshoot the mac.


Real performance boost with multiple partitions

I have never, and I mean never, even back to the "classic" Mac O/S days (going back to system 6) partitioned a drive into smaller chunks.

Performance gains were supposedly about different parts of a rotational drive being faster than others (EG quicker seek to sectors near the physical hub). There may also have been some O/S speed gains in some O/S if you keep parts on different partitions, though I am not entirely sure as it has been years.

That said partitioning a drive does have some benefits, mostly when it comes to backup as it can be easier to back up all of one drive allowing you to easily exclude those things you don't want or need. On the other hand most backup programs allow easy inclusion or exclusion of types of file based on location and multiple other criteria.

Personally I have never bothered with partitioning as the few times I have had to use it I found it limiting to what I wanted or needed to do on the computer. In other words I would occasionally run out of room on partition "A" with plenty left on the other partition(s).

There is nothing inherently wrong with partitioning a drive but there is no real pressing need (or requirement) to do that with O/S X. And if there is no need/requirement I go with the first principle of good engineering: "KISS" or Keep It Simple, Stupid ;-)

As for question two, I suppose it depends on the availability of available backup space. If you have enough room to back up everything, do so and reformat the drive as one partition, then restore what you need to the fresh O/S install drive and go from there.


How can I fix or diagnose problems when Find My Mac doesn't work?

Updated

Here is the explanation from Apple's iCloud Troubleshooting:

I cannot turn Find My Mac on

This can occur if:

You are not an administrative user on your Mac. "Administrator authorisation required" will appear under the Find My Mac switch in the iCloud System Preferences pane. Log out of your account, log back in with an administrative user account and try to turn Find My Mac on in that account.
Your Mac has an old Recovery partition. "Recovery system update required" will appear under the Find My Mac switch in the iCloud System Preferences pane. From the Apple () menu, choose Software Update and make sure you install the Mac OS X Lion Recovery HD Update.


Use Macbook Pro's single audio jack for both input and output at the same time?

Yes - the good splitters mix the pins correctly to provide mono microphone and stereo output in the same jack. You can of course get breakout boxes like the Griffin iMic and have the benefit of a cleaner D/A circuit at the expense of carrying another device that's plugged into USB. Just like everything - some of the expensive products are over priced and some of the cheap ones are worthless. I'd go with a name brand - especially if their products are carried on the Apple Online or stocked in the retail stores.

Lion does add a control where you can select the speaker icon in the menu and switch from input and output.

As to the rationale - unless an engineer from Apple steps up, we'll have to speculate.

Here are the reasons to have fewer ports. (They're not al good, but they are reasons)

Simplicity - the iPhone / iPad / iPod touch all have one port. Many people don't need or want the confusion of knowing which port they plugged in to their mac. Just as you really appreciate having two, many appreciate having only one stereo jack.
Internal simplicity - one less switch, one less moving part, several solder points.
Internal spacing is far more important than external space. If you look at iFixit's excellent take apart manual - you will see there actually isn't room on the logic board for another connector. The design would have to sacrifice an USB port or the SD card slot to make room for a second package without reducing the space for the battery. These macs are packed incredibly tightly and despite the clean appearance of excess external space, inside they are packed like proverbial sardines in a can.

This lack of space likely cuts features from the smaller macs like a redundant mini headphone port.


What's the safest way to ship diskettes?

Any time I shipped magnetic media, I used the anti-static bags that electronic components came in.  Granted, when you have access to an IT department, they are easily available; we would save them for reuse.  I still do, but my stash isn’t as plentiful as it used to be.

However, you can get reusable zip poly anti static pouches.  They will provide shielding from low level EM fields and are transparent enough that if your package is opened for inspection, the contents are easily identifiable.  I’ve never had any issue with data loss using this method whether shipping in-country or internationally.

You didn’t mention which format the diskettes were; if they were 3.5”  or 5.25” or even the large IBM 8” but typically you could copy the disks so long as the drive was capable of writing it.  For instance, the 3.5” 1.44MB FDD drive could easily handle the 720K disks.  We had a “copyboard” in an IBM AT that would duplicate anything including copy protected disks for Apple.  It didn’t even matter if the OS could read it so long as the drive could.

Along that note, I just recently ran across some Gateway 2000 MS-DOS 6.22 setup disks in a storage box that weren’t exactly put away with the greatest of care (about 25 years old).  I was able to image them and install MS-DOS onto a Virtual Box VM with no issue.  I’d bet your disks are still readable.  If at all possible, I’d make an image for safe keeping (I can walk you through it, but it’s technically a different question).  Oh, and those DOS disks were imaged using a Mac!


Quit Chrome, open Terminal and enter following (press Return at the end)

defaults delete com.google.Chrome AllowDeletingBrowserHistory

Then start Chrome again.

See man defaults for details about the defaults command and its options.


Why is Mountain Lion more security conscious?

Apple computers have long been considered "virus free" although Apple stopped pushing this as a selling point earlier this year in the wake of several Apple targeted viruses.
The truth is that a virus can be programmed for mac much like a software application can, the reason for the lack if infections on mac was merely the same as the reason for lack of some apps in the past, the relative unpopularity vs windows machines meant it was less practical to program for mac.
With macs now being more popular than ever before, Apple now has to implement strict measures to hold on to their clean, virus free image, hence Gatekeeper being added to Mountain Lion.


How do I get the iTunes column browser shown by default on Shared device?

If you upgrade to iTunes version 10.7 your problem may be solved...
In 10.7 you can right- or control click at the top of the column browser (first column) which will show all the options that can be visible by default -- genres, albums, composers, groupings-- in the first column. You can check those that you want. Upon restart those checked options will be visible by default.


Can a child's device be controlled by multiple family members?

Your child's account can only be associated with one Family Sharing group at a time. The best solution would be to add your ex-wife to your Family Sharing. There's an option to mark an account as a Parent/Guardian, which gives that person authority to approve requests from a Child account in the Family.


Boot Camp Assistant can't install Windows after partition made and booted to USB installer?

my bad, I just needed to take the extra step of formatting the Boot Camp drive to NTFS:

(per: https://www.howtogeek.com/186907/how-to-install-windows-on-a-mac-with-boot-camp/)


How to find Wi-Fi password when it's not saved in the keychain but Mac automatically connects to it

To exclude a malfunction of Keychain Access.app, you could try the security command in Terminal (to be found in /Applications/Utilities/, or search with Spotlight):

security find-generic-password -D "AirPort network password" -l "network name" -w

Replace "network name" (without the quotes) with the wireless network's actual name.
Hit enter and a window will pop up and ask for administrator credentials.  Enter those and click "Allow" to find the password as output in Terminal.


Unfortunately, there's no way built into iOS or the App Store that will tell you what your past purchases were. However, whenever you buy something from the iTunes Store, Apple emails you a receipt of the purchase. You don't get a receipt for free items, but you should be able to keep track of your past purchases anywhere you can get access to your email.


What's the shortcut to switch between app documents in a Spanish keyboard?

You can find a complete list of keyboard shortcuts in System Preferences, under Keyboard, then Shortcuts. If one isn't listed you can also bind it to whatever you like.


Display phone numbers instead of contact name in recent calls

Restarting both messaging and phone apps worked for me.


On the iPhone itself, you are unable to add "e-mail address aliases" like in the OSX App. The only method of having people call your iPhone is by giving them your phone number.

As far as the iPhone making facetime calls, the only easy way I've seen to do it is to already have their Facetime address in your Address Book, or use Safari.

Open Safari on your iPhone, go to the URL bar, type: <facetime://their@email.addr>, then tap the "Facetime" acknowledgement button afterwards.


Can I Delete Specific Apps Through Terminal while booted to recovery or an os installer?

Using the Terminal app. Look in /Volumes to see if the name of your normal desktop hard drive is there.

If so cd to /Volumes/< Insert your home volume name >/Applications

That will take you to the applications folder of your desktop.  Where you can remove unneeded items.

If not present, you will need to mount it.  If using a standard disk with a recovery volume you can issue the following command (with root permission)

mkdir /Volumes/mydrive
mount /dev/disk1s5 /Volumes/mydrive
cd /Volumes/mydrive

an "ls" should show you the Applications directory where you can remove the needed items.


As mentioned a VPN is needed. This will echo the web traffic.

I have read online that this might help:

https://vpnuk.net/setup/

But I have personally never used it


VGA display no longer being recognized by Late 2016 MBP OS Sierra

It's a bug.  If I leave the USB-C adapter plugged in, the VGA can be connected and disconnected without issue.  That's the only way, other than my weird multi-adapter method.  Kinda sucks to have to leave the adapter in, but that is the only way.
  I actually got a whole new MBP just for this issue, and the new one acted exactly the same BEFORE I imported any files or settings.


Videos failing to download to iPad from Canon Camera

I upgraded the iPad to IOS 9 Public Beta and did not turn iCloud on and the issue was solved.  This is not an ideal solution and I'm lucky that the Beta was available.

I tried reinstalling IOS 8.4 multiple times and the problem persisted. I tried both restoring the iPad from the cloud and starting fresh after an IOS 8.4 install.  Both of these failed.  I did not try a fresh install where I turned iCloud off from the start, however. I didn't think of this until I installed IOS 9 Beta.

I tried installing IOS 8.3, but could not get it to revert. I think Apple works hard to prevent this.

My conclusion is that there is a bug in IOS 8.4 that is causing this problem. If I had to guess, it has something to do with iCloud trying to sync huge videos from an external HD Camera. So perhaps it's an iCloud issue, but it's hard to separate the OS from the Cloud at this point. Hopefully the issue is solved with the IOS 9 Beta and continues to be solved when IOS 9 is released later this year.


I've looked this up a dozen times over the last year, but just after posting found a solution that evaded me previously. This does the trick. Its in the Accessibility settings tab, not where you'd expect a solution:

https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/106237/is-there-any-way-to-disable-magic-mouse-scrolling-in-photoshop-illustrator

Its stopped the crazy scrolling.


First check all of the following values (see yellow arrows) in the "apps" tab in iTunes. Does the icon show up in the simulated screen on the right side ?

Then, right-click on the your iPod in the devices section of the left column in iTunes and choose "reset warnings."

Then sync again (by clicking on the "Apply" button at the bottom right of iTunes) and see if iTunes shows you any error messages.


I brought a second hand I phone 5s tha is registered for beta updates

You can use iTunes to restore the device to the last shipping OS.

You could also delete the beta profile and keep the same OS. There's not much preventing you from keeping the beta updates as well.

Really - there's no downside to inheriting a device with beta other than you want to decide now before you put your data on it. You generally can't restore a new backup to an older OS.


What is the highest resolution I can use with OS X 10.7.5 and DELL 30inch monitor?

OSX lion doesn't limit screen resolution, screen resolution is only limited by the graphics ability of the computer you're using and the screen res of the monitor you're using. If you're running lion then you have an intel chip mac. Older intel macs (pre 2009) with shared GMA video cards supported up to 1920×1200, however pretty much anything post 2009 will support up to 2560×1600 (which is what your Dell 30 inch monitor will be if its the current 3007WFP model)


How to Connect a router to console, using a mac

I don't know if I am a "serious Mac user" but I do use my Mac "seriously".

The instructions you got fit pretty much all OSes (Windows, macOS, Linux).  It just depends on the software that you use

What those instructions are telling you is to use an RS-232 connection to talk to the router.  This type of maintenance has been around since at least the 1970s and predates macOS/OS X

The only "modern" difference is that they now recommend a USB to UART bridge, or in more common vernacular, a USB to Serial Adapter because modern computers haven't been shipping with RS-232 serial ports for a long, long time now (since USB became mainstream).

You won't need to install any software; you just need to use screen that is included with macOS.  You must go through Terminal because

screen only runs in Terminal
you are connecting to the pfSense console (which is, in effect, another Terminal connected to a serial port)

What you would then do is connect to the console by issuing the command:

$ screen /dev/cu<USBdeviceName>

I currently don't have one attached to my Mac so I can't show you an exact name.  Though, I do  have FreeBSD on an old Dell workstation for this with dedicated RS-232 ports and my devices are /dev/cuca0 and /dev/cuca2.  (OS X bases a lot of their inner working on BSD)  You will have to see what the device gets named by listing out /dev.


How do I disable sending or receiving "effects" in iOS 10.1 Messages?

Apple added a new setting to disable playing message effects.  Go to Settings -> Accessibility -> Reduce Motion and turn off Auto-play Message Effects.


Convert HTML to PDF with page margins and hyperlinks

Try using wkpdf:

sudo gem install wkpdf;wkpdf -s file.html -m 10 file.pdf

It retains links and you can specify margin sizes with -m.


Using iCloud as file storage and synchronization service

You can not selectively sync content explicitly. If you allow it in iCloud settings, it will delete local copies of large files–but this cannot be directly controlled. You cannot sync iCloud drive to an external disk.


How can I change calendar/contacts sync setting for iPhone?

If you go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > iCloud (should be the first account)  and scroll down to Contacts.

When you scroll to "Contacts" you must slide it off. I did this by sliding the "Contact" button from right to left and swiped away the green.  I was prompted to "What would you like to do with the previously synced iCloud contacts on your iPhone.  I chose "Keep on My Phone".

Then you can use iTunes like you used to do and select the Contacts you want to be synced. I prefer this way.


I talked to Apple Support and eventually had to reinstall Lion, which fixed the problem.


Homebrew Cask: List all formula available for installation

$ brew search --casks

Commands beginning with brew cask have been merged into brew (i.e. brew search, brew cleanup).

You can use the --casks flag in brew search to "display all locally available casks".

$ brew search -h
Usage: brew search [options] [text|/text/]

Perform a substring search of cask tokens and formula names for text. If
text is surrounded with slashes, then it is interpreted as a regular
expression. The search for text is extended online to homebrew/core and
homebrew/cask.

If no text is passed, display all locally available formulae (including tapped
ones). No online search is performed.

        --casks                      Display all locally available casks
                                     (including tapped ones). No online search
                                     is performed.
        --desc                       search formulae with a description matching
                                     text and casks with a name matching
                                     text.
        --macports                   Search for text in the given package
                                     manager's list.
        --fink                       Search for text in the given package
                                     manager's list.
        --opensuse                   Search for text in the given package
                                     manager's list.
        --fedora                     Search for text in the given package
                                     manager's list.
        --debian                     Search for text in the given package
                                     manager's list.
        --ubuntu                     Search for text in the given package
                                     manager's list.
    -v, --verbose                    Make some output more verbose.
    -d, --debug                      Display any debugging information.
    -h, --help                       Show this message.


Able to join captive WiFi network, but not connect to internet

One more thing that you may try that works fairly consistently for me. Under Network Preferences, change Location to some other, if this is the first time you do this, do "Edit Locations" and press the "+" sign and add one using any name you like, copy any old settings that may apply. Apply them, and "Hey, presto!" you get the log-in screen of your internet service.

Hope this helps.


Have you MD5'd iTunes.app? The easiest solution might be to backup your library and completely reinstall iTunes, being sure to clear out anything in ~/Library, /Library and the like.


apsd/mDNSResponder spamming thousands of DNS queries per second on macOS Big Sur

This keeps coming up every day or two, so eventually I wrote a small utility called mDNSSupervisor to monitor mDNSResponder and restart it whenever it's apparently going berserk. Doesn't solve the underlying issue of course but enough to cure the symptom and be mostly safe from its effects.
You can download the tool if you want from https://github.com/zmwangx/mDNSSupervisor (free, WTFPL licensed). Installation instructions there, too.
A sample from my logs showing it in action:
time="2020-11-28T17:15:06+00:00" level=info msg="1606583706: 15s rolling average 142.8, above threshold 100"
  PID  %CPU    RSS  ELAPSED COMMAND
  246  38.2   7692 14:01:57 /usr/sbin/mDNSResponder
  259   0.0   4768 14:01:57 /usr/sbin/mDNSResponderHelper
time="2020-11-28T17:15:06+00:00" level=info msg="mDNSResponder restarted"


Exact the same issue.
Only my MBP with El Capitan could not connect to wifi (always turn off and turn on to work for seconds), but just at home, not at office.
I fixed with a firmware update of the router and access point (fritz!box), I also changed wifi radio channel and set wifi standard to n+g+b.


How do I move Mac and Windows partitions to single Hard Drive?

Before you start, make sure you have a verified working clone of both partitions/systems.

You will ideally want to have software that can clone partitions, such as either the excellent CarbonCopyCloner, or the equally awesome SuperDuper, both of which will allow for your needs (complete clone) in their Shareware mode.
I don't know what tools are suitable for PC, but find one that does the equivalent for Windows installations.

Reboot from your cloned Mac OSX installation, and prepare to repartition your target Hard Drive. Disk Utility can sometimes repartition volumes non-destructively, but for this I would recommend quick erasing the drive and repartitioning to the desired sizes for each OS, with a caveat for the situation below.

Repartition as desired (ensure GUID, journaled, case-insensitive for the Mac Volume), noting you may need to go through various procedures if you are using OSX 10.7 Lion and wish to retain the hidden recovery partition (ie: you may have to reinstall Lion and restore from your backup, then proceed with Bootcamp installation which will again walk you through creating a suitable PC formatted boot volume which you can later clone your Windows installation back to).

Clone back the OSX Installation that you are booted from to the target Mac partition on the internal drive (if you haven't already restored from this in the previous step). Do the equivalent process in Windows for your Windows installation.

Test each by booting into each and making sure everything works as expected.


Moving files from Desktop to another folder and vice versa using AppleScript (and bash inside of Applescript) inside Automator

So it looks like you'er trying to set a flag that toggles each time the Service runs, and there is more than one way to accomplish this.

In this example, I created an Automator Service named Test Service, with the settings shown in the image below, and added a Run Shell Script action, as this is all you should need to accomplish the task since you were using a do shell script AppleScript command anyway to do the work.

As presently coded, each time the Service runs it says what the flag is set to, 0 or 1, and sets it to the opposite. You'd of course remove the say... commands replacing them with the code you want to run based on the setting of the flag.

#!/bin/bash

file="$HOME/Library/Services/Test Service.workflow"

flag="$(xattr -l "$file" | awk '/com.TestService.flag/{print $2}')"

if [[ $flag -eq 0 ]]; then
    # Do something...

    say "flag is currently set to 0, setting flag to 1"

        # Set flag to 1.
    xattr -w com.TestService.flag 1 "$file"
else
    # Do something else...

    say "flag is currently set to 1, setting flag to 0"

        # Set flag to 0.
    xattr -w com.TestService.flag 0 "$file"
fi

This uses xattr to set an extended attribute on the Automator's Service .workflow file and it is this that is read each time and changed each time the Service is run and this is the flag to determine which branch of the if statement runs in the script.

You can either manually set the com.TestService.flag using xattr in Terminal before you run the saved Automator's Service so as to have the extended attribute applied to is .workflow file or if you just run the saved Automator's Service the first time is will set it to 1 as it reads the empty flag variable the first time as being equal to 0.

The following output from Terminal shows the extended attributes of the Automator's Service .workflow file when it was first saved, it just had the com.apple.FinderInfo attribute set, and then the Service was run a couple of times to show that the com.TestService.flag attribute was set and changed each time the Service was run. (I manually ran the xattr command before and then in-between each time I ran the Service to have this output to show.)

$ xattr -l "$HOME/Library/Services/Test Service.workflow"
com.apple.FinderInfo:
00000000  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000010  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000020
$ xattr -l "$HOME/Library/Services/Test Service.workflow"
com.apple.FinderInfo:
00000000  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000010  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000020
com.TestService.flag: 1
$ xattr -l "$HOME/Library/Services/Test Service.workflow"
com.apple.FinderInfo:
00000000  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000010  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|
00000020
com.TestService.flag: 0
$

Obviously you can change the name of the flag from com.TestService.flag to whatever you'd like however remember to change it in the script in all three places, in the awk command and in each xattr command in each branch of the if statement. Also change the name of the file variable as appropriate for the actual name of your Automator Service .workflow file.


Removing iPad virtual keyboard prompt (iOS 13 beta)

I'm running iPad Pro 10 inch with iPadOS 13 beta 5, and you should be able to turn it off in

  Settings > General > Keyboard

and turn off Shortcuts. This should remove the bar shown in the picture.


Using Managed Preferences to set permissions on a folder

nevermind its not needed. I had set the MCX redirection incorrectly.


All sorts of third party activity monitors add that sort of animation.

Have you looked in LaunchAgents and LaunchDaemons folders in /Library and ~/Library to temporarily remove any you are not SURE you need? Also, it could be something started in Accounts preferences - Login Items.

I have never seen anything since OS 9 days from Apple that popped up animations like that.

Good luck hunting it down!


Script to change Computername/hostname causing bizarre Terminal behavior

In the comments, @MorganR wondered if the code that reads from the CSV file was including a strange character within $compName.

One way to test for odd, perhaps non-printable characters is to use od.  It has an obscure name (stands for "octal dump"), but it is useful.  It shows the detail of each character in an input stream.

I usually start by using -c argument, which causes od to output each character detail as "C-style escaped characters"... there are other arguments to output as hex, octal (still occasionally useful!), etc.

For example (notice the normally invisible \n is shown):

$ echo "foo" | od -c
0000000    f   o   o  \n
0000004

So, if that makes sense, my suggestion is: try adding the line echo $compName | od -c to the script after the "loop through the CSV" section.

In the comments, the issue has turned out to be an unexpected \r character.  I think the likely cause for this is that the CSV file has CRLF (=\r\n) line endings (was it created on a Windows system perhaps?), but the read ser loc command in the script is expecting just LF (=\n).


remove old drive from Time Machine backup

I found a solution in this answer:
How can I delete Time Machine files using the commandline

I used /System/Library/Extensions/TMSafetyNet.kext/Contents/Helpers/bypass
and it worked for me


iCloud **Documents and Data** discontinued on iOS 9/Yosemite?

Short answer is that your intuition is correct: in iOS 9 and Yosemite (or later), you have the choice between iCloud Drive or no iCloud at all.

The reason for this is that "Documents & Data" syncing was re-written using the new CloudKit in iOS 8 and OS X 10.10, and renamed "iCloud Drive".

iOS 8 did remain backwards compatible with old-iCloud if you chose not to upgrade to iCloud Drive. One weird exception to this was the iPhone 6 and 6+. These devices did not have this compatibility mode, so it was iCloud Drive or nothing.

OS X Yosemite (10.10) also does not have the same compatibility mode though, so unless iCloud Drive was enabled, there is no document syncing. The same goes for OS X El Capitan (10.11).

I expect that the iOS 8 compatibility was only included to fill the gap between the time iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite shipped, so I cannot imagine that iOS 9 would be compatible with the old-iCloud in any way.

Also note that "iCloud" is a collection of different technologies under the surface, so things like Contacts and Calendar may be able to sync without iCloud Drive enabled on all devices, but most other apps will need it enabled.


Dual booting older (2011) MBP into Windows and Linux (not macOS)

I read your this article. Follow the steps outlined in the article with these adjustments.  I'd set up three partitions instead of four: macOS, swap and Windows. I'd adjust the macOS partition to the size you want to for linux. I'd install linux over the top of the macOS partition.

I've set up a triple boot system before but I haven't tried this procedure. Good luck.


Can someone explain what 'diskutil cs revert' does?

diskutil cs revert turns off the Core Storage volume manager for that volume. The Yosemite installer turns it on in case it's needed later (mostly for FileVault), but if you don't actually need it (e.g. for FileVault a Fusion disk) it doesn't do anything useful.

If you aren't using FileVault or a Fusion disk, what Core Storage mostly does is confuse Disk Utility, limiting its ability to dynamically resize and rearrange volumes, and preventing it from displaying the disk structure properly. That "251 GB APPLE SSD SD..." thing is what Disk Utility should be displaying there, because "Macintosh HD" and "BOOTCAMP" are both volumes within the physical SSD. With Core Storage, it was showing BOOTCAMP as somehow part of Macintosh HD, which it isn't at all.


How can I turn off iCloud storage space warning notifications?

I think your options are limited here.

Turn off iCloud Backup altogether.
Some info on how to selectively or collectively switch off iCloud is here: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH2613?locale=en_GB&viewlocale=en_US
Back up less, e.g. by deciding not to back up your camera roll. I carefully manage what gets backed up and what not (and also which app gets mobile internet access).
To see which apps on your phone are taking up the most space follow these steps:

Open the settings app
Tap iCoud
Scroll down to Storage & Backup and open it
Tap Manage Storage
Select your iPhone

If you're on Windows 10 (unlikely in this forum...), type in the Windows 10 search box Settings and select "Settings Trusted Windows Store App"

Click "System"
Click "Notifications & Actions"
Scroll down to "Show Notifications from these apps"
find "iCloud" and turn it off
This works for other offending app notifications


Where are Automator's "Watch Me Do" files saved?

They appear to be part of the workflow, which means they would be saved wherever the workflow file is saved. This varies, depending on what kind of workflow you are creating.

Services are saved in ~/Library/Services
Folder Actions are saved in ~/Library/Workflow/Applications/Folder Actions
Applications and Workflows are saved wherever the user saves them.


With Snow Leopard, you never really say if you want 64bit or not.

With Windows, yes, according to this Apple KB, your laptop supports 64bit Windows


Slow download speed via Web browser on macOS Mojave

Your Internet connection speed alone doesn't determine the download speed that you will get when fetching a file from a remote site. You Internet bandwidth determines the maximum speed that you get when transferring content from a remote computer.

The remote computer (download host) may also have upload bandwidth restrictions due to variety of reasons. The upload speed of the remote computer in-effect considered in addition with your download speed determines the transfer speed you get.

It appears that the site you are trying to download data from have such restriction in place. To alleviate, try using an alternate download mechanism available on the site, via a different protocol or a download mirror.

To verify if you are receiving speed advertised by your ISP in the installed Web Browsers, you can simply check with one of the Internet speed testing websites.


Nevermind, found it:

brew install gnu-time

the command is gtime


Can timestamps be preserved when copying files on OS X?

I just ran across this myself, and the built in cp command actually handles it.

I discovered a bunch of old CF cards that I wanted to harvest the pictures from. My processing scripts will look at the file mtime to put it in the correct place so I needed it preserved.

From the man page:

 -p    Cause cp to preserve the following attributes of each source file in the copy: modification time,
       access time, file flags, file mode, user ID, and group ID, as allowed by permissions.  Access
       Control Lists (ACLs) and Extended Attributes (EAs), including resource forks, will also be pre-
       served.

       If the user ID and group ID cannot be preserved, no error message is displayed and the exit value
       is not altered.

       If the source file has its set-user-ID bit on and the user ID cannot be preserved, the set-user-
       ID bit is not preserved in the copy's permissions.  If the source file has its set-group-ID bit
       on and the group ID cannot be preserved, the set-group-ID bit is not preserved in the copy's per-
       missions.  If the source file has both its set-user-ID and set-group-ID bits on, and either the
       user ID or group ID cannot be preserved, neither the set-user-ID nor set-group-ID bits are pre-
       served in the copy's permissions.

So, using zsh I was able to run (NO NAME being my cards volume name):

cp -rvp /Volumes/NO\ NAME/DCIM/**/*.{JPG,jpg} ~/Desktop/tmp/pics

I believe that the special /**/* construct is specific to ZSH; however you could do something like

find /Volumes/WHATEVER -type d -print0 | xargs cp -vp {}/*.JPG /my/out/path


Stop dock moving between monitors while moving mouse to the bottom of screen

You cannot "just" stop it - unfortunately.

You have some options to keep it in the same place, but they have drawbacks:

A) Keep the dock on the left or right side of the desktop. That way it will stay in place.

or

B) In Preferences => Mission Control, uncheck "Displays have seperate spaces". Now the dock will stay in place, but you will loose the spaces functionality.


Those are extended attribute files, which OSX uses when the filesystem doesn't support resource forks or extended attributes.  You don't care about them.  (The entry you quoted is a message to the Finder to display a "This file was downloaded at (date).  Downloaded programs may be unsafe.  Do you want to open it?" dialog along with a button which will open Chrome and take you to the page the file was downloaded from.)


iOS 11.4 is currently in beta and isn't released publicly yet. It is not possible get Jailbreak for an unreleased iOS version.

iOS beta releases are highly susceptible to change, hence you can never find a Jailbreak for them.


Where to find files like pictures and music from Mac hard drive?

If the defaults are in play, then the path to the Users folder of the Macintosh HD when booted from the Recovery HD is:
/Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/Users

Update Note: At the time this was originally posted it was accurate as stated, however, since macOS Catalina the actual physical location is '/Volumes/Macintosh HD - Data/Users'. That said, either path can be used to retrieve user files from.

Within that, the Users directory at the above path, there will be Shared directory and at least one other, which would be your fathers.
It is within that directory you'll find:
Desktop
Documents
Downloads
Movies
Music
Pictures

Etc.

If you are doing this from macOS Recovery, I would probably opt to make a Disk Image of the target Users folder using Disk Utility > File > New > Disk Image from Folder.
Then at least you could do it using a GUI and it would retain all the meta-data too.
Note however, if you have removed the HDD/SSD and have it in an external enclosure connected to another computer, then the path to the Users folder is just /Users, meaning in the root of the volume.


El Capitan, how to choose a specific Java version to run

Maybe just put the following in your ~/.bashrc:

export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home -v 1.6`


Is it safe to close the lid while an app (Xcode) is updating - during "installing" phase?

Yes, it is perfectly safe to close the lid during updating of Xcode. The update process will of course pause, but resumes automatically when you open the lid again later.

I don't think a method exists to make the update timing of Xcode more predictable or interactive. The progress indication they share is all we get, and it may sometimes be off by a lot.

Delete-and-clean-install seems to work quicker for me in some cases at least. However, I haven't experienced any negatives coming from updating Xcode in place (except the wait while updating).


is there an app button for the voice control on an iPhone 4?

The (very) short answer is "No there isn't".


Will the new iPad (bought in Korea) work in the USA?

Yep, it will work in the USA. There is no difference in the hardware for a cellular iPad bought in USA or in any other country.

All iPads have been sold unlocked since their release. So yes, it will be unlocked.

Source: http://store.apple.com/us/question/answers/ipad?tqid=Q79JKFTAAKPHKF2FTPT47A24U4YAUH79K

  "Both the AT&T and Verizon model of iPad can roam worldwide on GSM/UMTS networks. In countries without compatible 4G LTE networks, the new iPad will operate on GSM network technologies such as HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA.
  When you travel internationally, you can use a micro-SIM card from a local carrier."


A possible alternative is Spellcatcher X.

http://www.rainmakerinc.com/products/spellcatcherx/


How water-resistant is the iPhone, really?

Apple's technical support document suggests avoiding taking an iPhone into a steam room:

  About splash, water, and dust resistance of iPhone 7 and later

  Learn about splash, water, and dust resistance on your iPhone. And learn what to do if your iPhone gets wet accidentally.

  ...

  To prevent liquid damage, avoid these:

  Swimming or bathing with your iPhone
  Exposing your iPhone to pressurized water or high velocity water, such as when showering, water skiing, wake boarding, surfing, jet skiing, and so on
  Using your iPhone in a sauna or steam room
  Intentionally submerging your iPhone in water
  ...

Strictly speaking, iPhone 8/8 Plus/XR are rated as IP67, later models as IP68. See Wikipedia for details, Apple claims 30 minutes at a depth of 1 meter for IP67, 30 minutes at a depth of 4 meters for IP68.


How to separate "mouse" and "trackpad" settings?

I had the same problem when I started to use macOS.

I installed this little utility, which lets you reverse the scrolling behavior only for the mouse:

Scroll Reverser for macOS


After some Googling around, I don't believe this is possible.

Though you can disable USB ports by unloading kexts, this would disable USB port functionality altogether: it would neither supply power nor read any USB connected input device (it may still supply power, but definitely would not recognize any input).

An alternative option would be to purchase an AC powered USB hub (for example) to reduce the power being drawn from your built in USB port when a device is connected to the hub (and hub is connected directly to AC + your machine). That way, though 500 mAh would still be allocated to the port, the iPhone would be drawing power from the AC connection. Thus, you could still connect the phone to your machine and have it recognizable via the hub without drawing power exclusively from the machine's USB port.

Related:

Disable Specific USB Ports / Restrict Data Transfer from USB Ports


How to see what files were changed in TimeMachine?

Lion has come out with the tmutil command and the man page shows that it will crawl a specific backup and report very detailed information on your specific backups. The verbs compare, uniquesize, and calculatedrift look most useful if you don't mind the terminal.

I still use BackupLoupe on Lion (as well as on older OS) and have high praise and thanks to the team that built it every time I need to use it. I should probably send them more money, too. It's that good.

It makes it very easy to see what files are taking the most space between backups and also is indispensable for knowing when a specific file has been changed by tracking each time it is saved as a new version going back in time. It works on a local database so you are not crawling the filesystem each and every query - just once each time to collect the deltas for each backup.


To do so just:

On iCal go to Preferences / Accounts.
In the panel on the left, click the + button to add an account.
Fill in the information, being:

Account Type: Google. Although you can either use Automatic or CalDAV, and the System will detect the proper account type.

Email Address: The email which you are using to log into the Calendar. The @domain.com part should be written too.

Password: Well, the password for that account. If you are using 2-Step verification you must use an application-specific password.

Doing this, by default, will sync any calendars that appear in My Calendars on the web, as well as the Contact's birthdays and events.

Adding additional calendars, or removing any of them from syncing, you must go to the Account Sync Configuration Page, and select the calendars you'd like to be displayed. After doing so, refreshing iCal will display the new configuration.


I solved the problem by deleting the keychain folder which is localised under ~/Library/Keychains
After deleting it, restart a device and enable iCloud keychain.


When you remove an account from the iPhone (or any iDevice), it will ask if you want to "remove or keep" the current contacts etc.. synced with the accounts.

First delete the account from your device i.e.

1) Tap on Settings
2) Tap on Mail, Contacts & Calendars
3) Tap on the Account in question
4) Scroll to the bottom and tap on "Delete"

You'll then be asked if you want to keep or delete the contacts, calendar entries and/or mail on your device.

Once you've done this, the synced contacts should be on the device still (confirm this first), and then voila.. you can close your Exchange Account.


The USB Super drive is compatible with:

the following computers:

MacBook Pro with Retina display
MacBook Air
iMac (late 2012) and later
Mac mini (late 2009) and later
Mac Pro (late 2013)


Node Program Runs in Terminal, but Not As a “do shell script” AppleScript

This was solved by KniazidisR at https://macscripter.net/viewtopic.php?pid=196447#p196447

set nodePath to "/usr/local/Cellar/node/12.5.0/bin/node "
set mercuryParserPath to "/usr/local/bin/mercury-parser "
set pageURL to "https://postlight.com/trackchanges/mercury-goes-open-source"

do shell script nodePath & mercuryParserPath & pageURL