Can Admin Accounts See the Contents of Other Admin Accounts?

Without further changes an admin can't read the content of the default folders of another admin - except the Public folder. Any custom file or folder (e.g. a dev folder in the user folder) can be read though - provided the default umask (022) hasn't been modified previously.

Any admin can either reset the password of another admin or change the permissions of the other admin's folders with sudo chmod ... though and he/she will be able to access those "protected" files and folders then.

Adding an additional admin makes your files vulnerable to him/her eventually.


Will I damage my HDD if I transport my MacBook in sleep mode?

MacBooks are fine to be transported when in sleep mode.  When a MacBook goes into sleep, it takes 20-30 seconds to save the current state to the HDD, while this is happening you'll see the status light shine brightly.  Once it goes into a slow pulse, the MacBook is asleep and the HDD is inactive so there is no risk to the HDD from normal movement in a bag for example.  Just make sure you don't throw it into the bag until it's fully asleep.  MacBooks also have a 'Sudden Motion Sensor' which can prevent damage to the HDD by the computer parking the head of the HDD if it detects that it is being shaken or is falling.  Read about it on the apple support pages or in the excerpt below:

  Sudden Motion Sensor technology is built-in protection for the hard
  disk, designed to help prevent disk issues if the computer is dropped
  or if it senses unusually strong vibration. Apple has adjusted this
  feature carefully to provide the best balance between protecting the
  hard drive and preventing unwanted activation of the Sudden Motion
  Sensor. Most Apple portable owners never need to turn this feature
  off. Apple suggests that you not modify the settings unless absolutely
  necessary.

  In some environments, such as live concert halls, recording studios,
  or dance clubs, external vibrations may be major enough to cause the
  module to unexpectedly park the hard drive heads, resulting in
  interrupted sound or video playback. In these situations, you may find
  that you want to disable the feature temporarily.

Also see page 23 of this manual
and page 16 of this manual


Any Mac made in 2011 or newer has the Thunderbolt port needed to use this, so any new iMac would work fine.


How to search for a character in the special characters window?

Ctrl+Option+Space in 10.9.x brings up a quick access to special characters in line where you're typing —throughout most every app.

The search algorithm is the same of course, which it seems relies on how the charicter is tagged rather than a smart search throughout.

Still, in general, I have found the quick access shortcut and search to work well for most things. If you start typing while the special char fly out is open it will run a search.

Interestingly, While it seems that some older special characters like π have names that need to be entered exactly to search for them  "small greek letter pi = π", emoji will display if just part of the name is searched. "Person with blond hair=" can be searched just by typing in blond.


How to remove JAMF from an Apple Silicon Mac

Your Apple serial number is integrated with Apple Business manager and JAMF server configuration. Unless, the ABM manger remove/release your serial number, you will keep on getting JAMF setup configuration.
In other hand, you can skip auto-configuration of JAMF setup without being in Internet when you reboot your MBP after you revive and restore as you mentioned in your question.
Also, I would suggest

Reset the Login Keychain
Remove any instances of the MDM CA in the keychain
Open terminal and ran "sudo jamf removeFramework"
Remove all related MDM preferences in /Library/Preferences
Remove all related MDM preferences in /Users/username/Library/Preferences
Reboot

However, Note: It's only possible if your JAMF admin has allowed an option to remove MDM Profile.
Else, only one last option is to reach out JAMF administrator.


Any way to prevent a notification from appearing in Notification Center?

Open the notification centre
Press the little cog icon on the bottom right
Find your application in the list
Select your application and unselect "Show in notification center".


Why can a command in Safari's Javascript (JS) console not call a previously defined function?

I can't reproduce the problem you're having. I've tried with the following JavaScript executed in the console.

I split the screenshots for each step from your question but the actual commands were executed in the console on one page without reloading.

  If I paste the function definition into the JS console, then the loop command, nothing happens.

  If I change the function call to "console.log" and put that in, it prints the correct parameters.

  If I redefine the function to call console.log and type in the call again, that works. If I then paste the original loop, nothing happens.

All seems to work correctly as it should! Perhaps the question could do with some screenshots of what you're trying.


Can not burn 1.4GB data into a 4.7GB DVD (file too big)

It turned out to be a very simple problem in my case. I just have a bad disc. Sorry for wasting the resources here.


How can I change DNS providers without needing to type in my password?

The account you are logged in as needs to be configured as an admin account, because the DNS settings affect all users on the system, not just the current user.  If it is not an admin account, then you will need to authenticate every time you want to change the DNS settings.

If you are logged in using admin account and still have the problem, then open System Preferences, go to Security & Privacy, click the "Advanced..." button, and make sure that "Require an administrator password to access system-wide preferences" is not enabled.


What font have you found to work the best with OneNote's OCR feature?

Tahoma works really well with OneNote's OCR feature.


Safari browser support for offline web apps

iOS Safari doesn't currently support offline browsing for web apps. However, Apple is currently working on improving support for progressive web apps, more importantly Service Workers.

Service Workers power offline functionality, push notifications, background content updating, content caching, and a whole lot more.

Here is a somewhat recent article on Service Workers
http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/08/05/apple-may-integrate-service-workers-into-webkit-support-next-gen-web-apps-in-safari


Unable to import notebook from my desktop "MAC"

Onenote doesn't work in a same way that you have in Windows PC. You have to upload your .onenote to Onedrive from your Windows PC and you can access them from your Mac.

So, "Share" your notebooks from OneNote for Windows to OneDrive — then OneNote for Mac will "see" them in OneDrive's Documents folder and sync them down to your Mac.


Photos.app doesn't play audio from videos recorded by Olympus camera

(Answering my own question.)

The problem is that the Olympus SZ-31MR encodes its audio as signed 16-bit PCM. This audio format is not supported by Photos. So the audio needs to be transcoded in order to play from Photos.

The command-line program ffmpeg can transcode audio streams while leaving the video streams unchanged. For example, here's how to transcode the audio to Apple Lossless (ALAC) and copy the video:

$ ffmpeg -i input.mov -vcodec copy -acodec alac output.mov

Experimentally, it seems that Photos doesn't mind if I edit the videos in its library, so here's a shell script that automates transcoding the Olympus's 16-bit PCM to Photos-compatible ALAC:

#!/bin/sh
# Convert movies in Photos library from 16-bit little-endian PCM to
# Apple Lossless.

set -e

# Location of Photos library
PHOTOS=~/"Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary/Masters"

# Directory for movie backups
BACKUPDIR=~/movie-backups
mkdir -p "$BACKUPDIR"

find "$PHOTOS" -name '*.MOV' | while read MOV; do
  if ffprobe -v fatal -show_streams -select_streams a -of flat -i "$MOV" |
    grep -q 'codec_name="pcm_s16le"'
  then
    echo "Transcoding $MOV..."
    BACKUP=$BACKUPDIR/$(echo "$MOV" | sed 's+_+__+g;s+/+_+g')
    TMP=$BACKUPDIR/tmp.mov
    ffmpeg -v fatal -y -nostdin -i "$MOV" -vcodec copy -acodec alac "$TMP"
    mv -- "$MOV" "$BACKUP"
    mv -- "$TMP" "$MOV"
  fi
done

This script is careful to keep the original movies in a backup directory in case something goes wrong, and it uses set -e and ffmpeg -v fatal to avoid continuing after an error, but it does overwrite the movies in the Photos library, so use it at your own risk.


What happens if I accidentally interrupted iOS software update on iphone

Answer

No. If your iPhone works after performing a force reboot (holding the Home button and the sleep button for a few seconds), you are good to go.

Explanation

iOS downloads the delta update first and starts the update process. You may have interrupted iOS while extracting the update files or checking them for consistency.

Additional information

The update will probably appear in Settings > General > Storage. Feel free to install the update using your iPhone or a computer with iTunes installed.

Did this answer your question?


Transfer an App Store app to another machine without internet access

Short of cracking the code signing, you will need to have the receiving Mac connect to Apple's servers (through the internet) at least once to validate your account on that Mac. Once that is done, you should be able to run apps for the length of time that the code signing certificate remains valid.

You could also see about contacting the developer and see if you can purchase the app from them directly if you don't want to have the App Store model for software installation and validation.


Mountain Lion - scale down the window shadows

The program I use to do this on OS X 10.8.4 is ShadowSweeper.

http://download.cnet.com/ShadowSweeper/3000-2072_4-75966596.html

This one looks like it might also work but I haven't tried it myself.

https://github.com/puffnfresh/toggle-osx-shadows

Others have suggested the programs ShadowKiller and Nocturne. Neither worked for me.


Is it possible to activate an iPhone 4 without a SIM?

Maybe you know somenone who owns an iPhone 4 already. Ask her/him for the micro SIM, put it into your device, activate your iPhone and give the micro SIM back to the other person.


Powering off/crashing during startup MacBook Pro mid 2009

Try an Apple Hardware Test by holding down the D key: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201257


According to this website it is two years. There are some tools that offer services like this by plugging your iPhone into your computer if you search around.


Solved the problem:

In the firewall options dialog (attached along with the question) there's another entity 'httpd' which was set to "Block incoming connections". Setting it to "Allow incoming connections" did the trick.

I do not know where it's coming from though.


com.apple.bkagentservice is part of BookKit, which itself is part of iBooks.

Based on the limited information in your question I'd guess the BKAgentService is trying to reconcile your books in iBooks.app on your Macbook with the books registered against your account in iCloud, and some conflict is causing it to go a little mental.

Something I'd try is closing iBooks, killing the BKAgentService, then renaming the following two folders and re-opening iBooks. This will relaunch BKAgentService and it should start to sync your library from scratch.

/Users/YOURUSERNAME/Library/Containers/com.apple.iBooksX
/Users/YOURUSERNAME/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService


Applescript to find and add specific contacts to a group

This is one way to do get the syntax right for this task:
to addContactsByEmail:(e_mails as list) toNamedGroup:(group_name as text)
        local e_mails, group_name
        tell application id "com.apple.AddressBook"
                set target_group to the group named group_name
                repeat with e_mail in the e_mails
                        tell (the first person whose e_mail is in the ¬
                               value of its emails) to if exists then ¬
                               add it to the target_group
                end repeat
                save
        end tell
end addContactsByEmail:toNamedGroup:

I've also wrapped it in a handler to be called as a re-usable code block, e.g.
my addContactsByEmail:{"foo@bar.com", "people@desks.com"} toNamedGroup:"Imaginary Friends"

You may wish to add some error-handling to cover the situations where the specified named group doesn't exist.  Currently, it'll throw an error (the same as yours would), but you could either elect to exist the handler gracefully if the group doesn't exist; or to create the group automatically.


OS X partition doesn't show up after dropping iMac, Windows still works

If you are running 10.6.5, try booting from the original installation disk, then open disk utility.

Run a "Repair Disk" both on the whole HDD to see if there is an issue with the partition table and on the boot volume that isn't working to see if there is an issue with the file system. If this disk is not repairable, you may have damaged the HDD with the drop, in which case not much can be done in terms of troubleshooting. You have a local backup, so your data is at least safe.

Alternatively, if you have another Mac running OS X, you can attempt to mount the disk using Target Disk Mode. This will essentially treat the internal drive on the iMac as an external drive on the other machine. Then you can run the troubleshooting steps above in a similar manner.


Upgrade then restore, or the other way around?

Apple's Migration Assistant does a great job at importing data from previous installations or backups. Therefore, I suggest you save yourself some time and do a clean install of the version of macOS you want to finally use and then use Migration Assistant to recover your Apps, profiles, etc.

As suggested by @SteveChambers:

back up
create a bootable USB installer or use internet recovery
reformat the drive
install macOS,
restore from backup using Migration Assistant


Mac OS X does not support multiple GUI sessions by itself. There are a couple options however - you can try Vine Server which requires some setup ahead of time (fast user switching on, you have to be logged on with a copy of Vine Server running).

The more robust alternative is a product called AquaConnect Terminal Server which provides services like Terminal Server but requires Mac OS  X Server to run.


Is there a way to find out how many of each iPhone model is currently in use?

There is no publicly available data for this information. Apple doesn't (and is not obliged to) make this data public.

If you are an iOS app developer, you can integrate with one of the many analytics solutions available that can give you a limited idea about similar metrics, (but for users of your app).

You can also consider looking at a similar trend report from Mixpanel, one of the leading players in the business. This should help you get an idea about similar if not exact data that you are looking for.

The kind of data you are looking for is not something that's generally made available publicly, even if Apple, or some 3rd party company has access to it.

P.S.: No affiliation whatsoever with Mixpanel.


My MacBook Air is automatically connecting to a password protected network that's not mine!

Wi-Fi passwords are synchronized via iCloud keychain. That's why your iPhone also knows the password. Try deleting this network from Preferred Networks.

Also delete item from your keychain.
In Keychain Access.app select iCloud keychain, find the item with the SSID (network name) of your neighbor's network and remove it (Right click -> Remove).


OSX memory inconsistency (shared + private)

The accepted answer to this question (and the associated links) defines the terms and also offers some explanation which may help.


Apple TV doesn't play some youtube movies

The reason your favourites do not appear in the listing on the Apple TV is that the owner of the video has not allowed it to be viewed on a mobile device (which the youtube considers the apple TV to be). The Apple TV recognises this and removes it from the list so you do not try and play an unplayable video.

The owner of the video (or more probably the copyright owner of the soundtrack) can decide whether to allow mobile devices and Apple TV's to display videos.


Can't load contacts from iPhone to iCloud account

On your iPhone be sure the following is set:

Go to Settings
Tap iCloud
Set the slider beside Contacts to green [on]


If Cmd+Shift+3 does not capture the display as you see it, or, if mirroring the display on your external monitor does not reproduce it then it is not the OS which is making that happen.

Your problem may be in the connection of the graphics and screen hardware itself. If pressing the unibody relieves this, you may need to reseat the graphics card or some other component. Has you laptop been dropped recently?

This Mid-2010 MacBook Pro teardown article or this disassembly video might help you ascertain which components you are pressing on.

Also, you may simply be overheating from a clogged vent port. Have they ever been cleaned (since mid-2010 = 6+ years)? This is a step by step guide to replace the fan if it needs a new one.


Tested under macOS High Sierra, here is how I do it:
set saveToLocation to "~/Documents"
set myURL to "http://www.webiste.com/"

tell application "Safari"
    make new document with properties {URL:myURL}
    activate
end tell

tell application "System Events"
    repeat until exists (buttons of ¬
        UI elements of ¬
        groups of ¬
        toolbar 1 of ¬
        window 1 of ¬
        process "Safari" whose ¬
        name = "Reload this page")
        delay 0.5
    end repeat
    tell application process "Safari"
        click menu item "Export as PDF…" of ¬
            menu "File" of ¬
            menu bar item "File" of ¬
            menu bar 1
        repeat until exists sheet 1 of window 1
            delay 0.05
        end repeat
        keystroke "g" using {shift down, command down}
        repeat until exists sheet 1 of sheet 1 of window 1
            delay 0.05
        end repeat
        set value of ¬
            combo box 1 of ¬
            sheet 1 of ¬
            sheet 1 of ¬
            window 1 to ¬
            saveToLocation
        click button "Go" of sheet 1 of sheet 1 of window 1
        click button "Save" of sheet 1 of window 1
    end tell
end tell

Note: The example AppleScript code is just that and does not contain any additional error handling as may be appropriate. The onus is upon the user to add any error handling as may be appropriate, needed or wanted. Have a look at the try statement and error statement in the AppleScript Language Guide. See also, Working with Errors. Additionally, the use of the delay command may be necessary between events where appropriate, e.g. delay 0.5, with the value of the delay set appropriately.


Two things:

Try placing your

<string>/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration</string>

inside an

<array>
</array>

Additionally you may be able to watch to see when the change actually happens with the below command.

sudo fs_usage -f filesys | grep /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration


New York not found in French weather app

Searching for "JFK" gives me "WNYC". It is the same weather in both cities.


How do I make my own terminal command with flags?

Though the question is probably off-topic I want to provide an answer: to start with simple bash scripting get in touch with getopts.

#!/bin/bash

while getopts ":a:" opt; do
  case $opt in
    a)
      echo "I'm the $OPTARG coder in the world." >&2
      ;;
    \?)
      echo "Invalid option: -$OPTARG" >&2
      exit 1
      ;;
    :)
      echo "Option -$OPTARG requires an argument." >&2
      exit 1
      ;;
  esac
done

Save this bash script as coder in a directory in the PATH and make it executable with chmod +x coder. If you choose another name don't replace an already existing file with the same name! Choose a unique name! The bash script checks for the flag/option -a and takes the argument after the flag to echo a sentence. The script doesn't check if the result is grammatically correct!

Examples:

coder -a best will result in I'm the best coder in the world.
coder -a "most yellow" will result in I'm the most yellow coder in the world.

but:

coder -a most yellow will result in I'm the most coder in the world.

or

coder -b "most yellow" > Invalid option: -b.


Stuck at Apple logo during boot. Cannot enter Safe mode. Cannot use Recovery USB

PRAM Reset

On boot, hold ⌘ cmd + ⌥ alt + P + R until the second boot chime. This can fix a variety of things including problems due to recent kernel panics.

Recovery HD

On boot, hold ⌘ cmd + R to boot into the Recovery HD. If this fails, hold ⌥ alt on boot, and select Recovery from the options available.

From here, you can open Disk Utility and select Repair Disk.

Target Disk Mode

If you wish to get information from the computer, and you have another computer and some way of connecting the two, you can boot into Target Disk Mode by holding T on boot. Files can then be taken off the drive by the other computer as if it was a normal external drive.

Internet Recovery

If you have a recent backup or Target Disk Mode worked (and your Mac is post-July 2011) you can start fresh by using Internet Recovery.

Hold ⌘ cmd + ⌥ alt + R on boot to begin. A new copy of OS X will be downloaded from the internet and installed, erasing your internal drive.


How can I combine PDF files and automatically create a table of contents?

PDFCombo, new free app for Mac OS X, combines PDFs and preserves the table of contents. It can also add a TOC entry based on filename to link to first page of every contributing PDF in the combined PDF.

Download here: http://www.onekerato.com/downloads.html


Is there automatic hyphenation in Pages for ios

With the current alignment options in Pages, there is no hyphenation option. You can make all lines align their left borders equal and it will allow gaps on the right at the end of a line to continue onto the next line. You can also align your writing so that every line is flush to both the left and right borders. Pages will vary the spacing between words to fit all words on a line.
I've tried both options many times and there is no hyphenation involved. Another option, flush borders on the right will just allow large gaps at the beginning of a line. Again there is no hyphenation.


How to remove unfinished Boot Camp Partition?

One option is to boot from your Mac OS X Install CD and edit the partitions using the Disk Utility (found in the menu). This can be very handy for removing partitions that just won't die.


How can I get `defaults write com.apple.screencapture` to change screen capture location in Mountain Lion

Works for me quite happily.

Have you restarted UIserver?

killall SystemUIServer

Does the path exist?

UPDATE: If the screen capture cannot find or write to the designated folder, it will default to the current user's desktop.


Welcome to AppleSE!

What you are seeing in that image is what is backed up in iCloud. You have to delete the app on iPhone by holding down its icon and then pressing the cross which appears when the icons start wiggling.

Then you'd be able to delete its data from iCloud by going to iPhone settings-> Account (First in the list with your name and photo)-> iCloud-> Manage Storage-> Ulysses classic-> Delete documents and data.


How to get Wi-Fi details from menubar in Big Sur like before?

Just to give this an answer for future searchers…
The key command was always Opt/click.
In the past, Cmd/Opt/click would also work - just by accident really.
In Big Sur, it no longer does work, so you have to use the prescribed command - Opt/click.


Use iPad socket adapter with MacBook Pro charger

Yes.

The socket adapter of iPad and Macbook Pro have the same standard:(2.5A 250V~).
So they are interchangeable.


Why does my keyboard language switch on website password fields?

After doing a little bit of testing, I think it's because of this option is enabled in System Preferences > Keyboard > Input Sources:

It's checked by default and since cbs.com is in English, OS X will automatically change the input source to English (If you don't have English, or whatever language the page is in,  enabled, it seems it'll just select your default input source — i.e. the one at the top of the list in Input Sources).

I tested with Hebrew and Danish enabled and when focusing a textfield OS X changed my keyboard layout to Danish with auto-switch enabled and didn't with it disabled.

At least in my case, the swithcing wasn't limited to password fields specifically (which makes sense). The behaviour is the same in both Chrome and Safari.


Which command-line packages do you need?

I frequently reinstall MacPorts (e.g., when there's a new major version of Xcode) so I keep a file with a list of my essential ports for easy reinstalling.

Here's my list of essential software that doesn't come with OS X.

arping
dnstracer
watch
wireshark
figlet
gnupg
ipcalc
lynx +ssl
minicom
mtr
ncftp
nmap
pstree
pwgen
p0f
sipcalc
ssldump
stunnel
tcpflow
unrar
w3m
wget
wordplay
fortune
cowsay
ack


Why does Office for Mac need Safari and Chrome closed for installation?

Presumably, the Office installer can modify/update the Microsoft Silverlight.plugin (which is installed in /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/), which Safari and Chrome could potentially be using.

It's primarily just a precaution against updating files which an application is actively using.

[EDIT]

After further investigation, it looks like it's actually the fact that the installer modifies the fonts in /Library/Fonts/Microsoft/ which is the motivation behind requiring that several apps not be running. The following is an excerpt from the XML Distribution script that's in the 16807Office 2011 14.3.5 Update.pkg installer package:

<choice id="fonts" selected="true" start_enabled="false" start_selected="false" start_visible="false" title="fonts-title">
    <pkg-ref id="fonts">
        <must-close>
            <app id="com.apple.Safari"/>
            <app id="org.mozilla.firefox"/>
            <app id="com.google.Chrome"/>
            <app id="com.operasoftware.Opera"/>
            <app id="com.microsoft.Word"/>
            <app id="com.microsoft.Excel"/>
            <app id="com.microsoft.Query"/>
            <app id="com.microsoft.Powerpoint"/>
            <app id="com.microsoft.Outlook"/>
        </must-close>
    </pkg-ref>
</choice>

[EDIT]

Another pair of potential culprits are

SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin
and
SharePointWebKitPlugin.webplugin

They are installed by default with Office 2011 under /Library/Internet Plug-Ins. (Note: Silverlight was not an option to install with 2011).


What are real life iPhone 5 battery run-time expectancies?

While quite possibly you do end up with a lower battery life in your tests than the one advertised, you need to take into account the following:

Test conditions

Many factors will determine the outcome when testing the battery life, like signal strength, iPhone settings, screen brightness, the actual websites being loaded, background processes and much more. FYI, apple discloses it's test conditions, you can read about them here. If you truly want to compare, you should as best as possible mimic the test conditions Apple used.

Test accuracy

While I have no problem taking you for your word your battery drops 1 percent exactly every 5 minutes while browsing, that doesn't necessarily mean you end up with 8 hours and 20 minutes of battery life. There is quite a large margin for error when you only sample such a small period, and the only real way of checking Apple's claims would be by actually trying to surf the web for 10 consecutive hours.

Concluding, while Apple's test conditions are semi-optimal for their testing results, they have a better reputation for test accuracy than some other manufacturers. They do test the iPhone with almost factory default settings, but specifically for browsing the actual web sites being loaded can still make a noticeable difference in the test results.

From the info you provided, your battery seems perfectly fine to me and within the margins of difference one would expect.


LLDB command line installation on macOS Big Sur edition (11.0) beta

This is fixed on macOS 11.1 BuildVersion 20C69 (and likely before now just I haven’t tried sooner to reproduce your issue).
You need to run the following:
xcode-select --install
sudo xcode-xelect -license

Press space to get to the end of the license and type agree.
Then open Applications folder and drag the calculator app icon into your command line window after typing lldb:
mike@m1 ~ % lldb /System/Applications/Calculator.app
objc[17521]: Class AMSupportURLConnectionDelegate is implemented in both ?? (0x206a678f0) and ?? (0x1163582b8). One of the two will be used. Which one is undefined.
objc[17521]: Class AMSupportURLSession is implemented in both ?? (0x206a67940) and ?? (0x116358308). One of the two will be used. Which one is undefined.
(lldb) target create "/System/Applications/Calculator.app"
Current executable set to '/System/Applications/Calculator.app' (arm64e).
(lldb) exit


How can I disconnect my Internet connection and still be connected to my TimeCapsule?

Yes, this is possible.

Configure the Time Capsule to "create a wireless network", name the network and set up a password for the network.

When doing this, ignore the error messages about having no Ethernet cable connected to the WAN port on the Time Capsule and/or not having an internet connection.

Of course you'll need to connect your Mac to this WiFi network for backing up.

Hope this helps!

[EDIT]

This edit provides the actual steps for creating a wireless network from the Time Capsule.

In most cases you would usually connect your DSL/Cable modem to your Time Capsule using the ethernet WAN port. However, in your case you won't need to do this since you're not wanting the internet.
Open Airport Utility (usually located in the Utilities folder of macOS). Or, if you happen to be on a Windows machine you would usually go to Start > All Programs > AirPort
Follow the instructions on the screen for creating a new wireless network.

NOTES

I've made the assumption you're still wanting to backup wirelessly - but you do also have the option of connecting the computer directly via ethernet cable. This would involve different steps.
Different versions of Airport Utility provide different options, so if my steps don't make sense please provide the version of OS you're running as well as the version of Airport Utility.
If you have problems, it may be worth returning your Time Capsule to factory settings - use something pointy to press and hold the Reset button for about 5 or so seconds (you'll know when as the status light starts flashing).
If you get stuck, you can also visit Apple's Airport page which will provide additional info, including access to manuals etc.

Let me know how you go.


HP P4515 printer in 10.7.4 - what driver?

It appears HP supports this printer with the P4014 series drivers.  Try installing them manually and use the Print and Scan page in System Preferences to add the printer to your machine.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/ProductList.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=135&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=3558788


How to retrieve photos from iPhone 5 with broken screen

Yes there is an app called iExplorer that will allow you to transfer files and photos to your mac.  The app has a free trial period. Connect your phone to your mac and run it. You should be able to see everything on your phone and transfer what you need.


What are the key differences between fink and macports?

Fink is a binary distribution using tools that originated from Debian (e.g., apt-get, etc.)

Macports is built around the philosophy used by the FreeBSD ports collection. In this you download tarballs directly from the upstream source, apply patches and compile. It's entirely automated.

I haven't used Fink in quite a while (since Panther) because it didn't seem very well done to me.


In this Apple support article, Apple says that resetting the SMC can fix fans that are constantly spinning for no reason.

  After performing normal
  troubleshooting, these symptoms may
  indicate that an SMC reset may be
  necessary:

  Fans The computer's fans run at high speed although the computer is
  not experiencing heavy usage and is
  properly ventilated....

Here's what it says about how to reset the SMC on a Mac Pro:

  Shut down the computer.Unplug the
  computer's power cord. Wait fifteen
  seconds. Attach the computer's power
  cord. Press the power button to turn
  on the computer.


The simplest way to do this is take a screenshot, save it to your photos and then set it has a lock screen.

Guided Access is the “official” way to lock one app, but that takes more clicks and your phone isn’t locked when you hand it off.


It happens immediately. There is a chance that your friend hasn’t configured iMessage properly.

Tell him to turn off iMessage, and turn it back on.


iPhone display of incoming calls and texts

iPhone will displays the name of the caller only if the incoming number matches with that of any of the saved contacts.


Questions from trouble getting the UniFi Controller to work on macOS High Sierra + Server (port 8080 in use)

Yes, you can safely change the port in

/etc/apache2/httpd.conf

and the default page with "It works!" comes from

/Library/WebServer/Documents


Not withstanding Nimesh's comment and presuming that method does not work...

Installing Mojave was undoubtedly not the cause of this issue, more like just coincidental. That said it is likely that something has happened to the HD (or SSD) in your MacBook pro.

It could be a loose connection, it could be a damaged/dead drive. heck it could be a number of things. But the one thing they have in common is that it is likely that the MacBook will need to be opened and serviced by a tech competent in doing said work.

If it is within warranty take it to your nearest Apple store. If there is not an Apple store nearby, call Apple tech support.

If it is out of warranty you can still take it to Apple but they will charge you for the fix. Possibly more than an independent Apple dealer might. But that would be your choice and based on your local experience with Apple stores, dealers and the repair jobs they are experienced with.


How to (and should I) put a path to user-installed python ahead of system-installed python?

You can accomplish this by adding

export PATH="/path/to/python:"$PATH

to your ~/.zshrc (or ~/.bash_profile if you're not on Catalina).

I'd like to propose an alternative and suggest pyenv, available via Homebrew. You can set a specific Python version to be "global" (i.e. default everywhere) and/or "local" (i.e. using that version in a specific directory only).

E.g.:

brew install pyenv
pyenv global 2.7.16
cd ~/myProjects/MyProject
pyenv local 3.7.6

If you were to use Python in ~/myProjects/MyProject it will default to 3.7.6, and anywhere else 2.7.16:

cd ~/some/other/directory
python --version
>> Python 2.7.16

cd ~/myProjects/MyProject
python --version
>> Python 3.7.6

https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv#homebrew-on-macos


In Microsoft Word 2011, Shift seems to be acting as a Command - how do I make it stop?

It's possible you could try resetting the default shortcuts from the settings...

This is an excerpt from a Microsoft support article on the Office shortcut settings...

  Reset all keyboard shortcuts

  On the Tools menu, click Customize Keyboard.

  To restore keyboard shortcuts to their original state, click Reset All, and then in the confirmation message, click Yes.

  NOTE   Keyboard shortcuts for tasks are reset.

Source


Messages having issues logging on recently on Yosemite?

In this order, try this:

Sign out of iMessage on all devices (if you want to be lazy, just the computer)

Remove iCloud from the computer (in the Accounts tab -- don't worry, we'll be putting it right back on)

Restart the machine

Repeat in reverse (add your iCloud account back, and then sign into iMessage).

That's basically what AppleCare would have you do.


macOS High Sierra Notification Center auto closing or not opening at all

I was working with a chatbot with Dialogflow which wasn't responding correctly. Once I did 2 restarts and correct it, my notification bar is working again as expected.


How to transfer screenshots from iPhone to OS X?

Connect your iPhone to your Mac via with the lightning cable
Open Image Capture app
Select your iPhone under on the left sidebar

You can now select all the screenshots taken on your iPhone and import to your Mac.


How to migrate email database from Outlook for Mac 2015 to Windows Outlook?

You are absolutely right that there is no way back to switch from Outlook mac to Windows Manually as outlook mac exports its database as .olm files which cannot be imported into Windows Outlook.

If your email id is Imap enabled then you can directly login to windows outlook and within few minutes your emails will start downloading.

There are many applications available that help in transferring the outlook mac data to windows outlook. You can go for these only if your email database is large. Here is one I found that had some decent features: http://www.olmtopstconverterultimate.com/

Please note that these applications are paid. Give the trial version a thorough run g=before purchasing the complete license.

Thanks. I hope this helps.


How does macOS Sierra securely pair with Bluetooth keyboards without a code?

TL;DR answers to questions

  How does macOS validate and secure connections between Bluetooth
  keyboards without prompting for a code?

It's not just macOS - your keyboard is connected and encrypted at the firmware level - if it wasn't you wouldn't be able to perform an NVRAM reset before the OS loads.

However, you don't need a code because modern Bluetooth keyboards use an authentication algorithm to pair and a generated authentication key based on public keys to secure the data transmissions.

  Does it just use trust-on-first use?

No.  It verifies its identity using an algorithm and 128-bit generated keys.

  Is it possible to force macOS to use a pairing code?

Why?  This would be going back to pre-2009 pairing methodologies.  This would be the equivalent of enabling WEP shared keys on modern WiFi networks.

Bluetooth Pairing

The process you described for pairing a Bluetooth device (a keyboard in your example) uses an old (Bluetooth 2.1) method of authentication called Simple Secure Pairing (SSP).

Basically, SSP has 4 association (pairing) models:

Numeric Comparison.  Both devices have input and display so the user can simply select "Yes" or "No" to pair the device
Passkey One device has input capability (like a keyboard) and the other has display capability (like a computer).  The device with display capability shows a 4 to 6 digit number and the device with input capability enters it.
Just Works  This is for devices with no display or input capability (like headsets) where you can't see or enter a passkey.
Out of Band (OoB) This is for devices that support an additional common wireless technology (NFC) where the devices have to be in very close proximity to each other.  One device must "tap" the other device before pairing will occur.

The most important thing to note is that SSP is NOT the encryption key; it's merely the pairing mechanism to identify each other.  Encryption is handled through a public key.  The code you enter is to make sure that's the device you want to connect to; it's not the security.

Since Bluetooth 3.0 (April 2009), Bluetooth devices uses an AMP key for authentication which automates the above process.

  AMP Key Derivation
  AMP link key is derived from the Bluetooth link key. A Generic AMP Link
  Key(GAMP_LK)is generated by the AMP Manager in the host stack whenever
  a Bluetooth link key is created or changed

  Authentication

  The Bluetooth device authentication procedure is in the form of a
  challenge–response scheme. Each device interacting in an authentication
  procedure   to as either the claimant or the verifier. The
  claimant is the device attempting to prove its identity, and the
  verifier is the device validating the identity of the claimant. The
  challenge–response protocol validates devices by verifying the
  knowledge of a secret key — the Bluetooth link key.

Encryption

There are 4 modes of encryption

Mode 1 - No encryption
Mode 2 - Individually addressed traffic is encrypted based on keys which are based on the link keys
Mode 3 - All traffic is encrypted using keys based on the master key
Mode 4 - (Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR) mandates all traffic is encrypted except for service discovery

Bluetooth keyboards using Bluetooth 2.1 (keyboards from 2009 and beyond) and up encrypt all their traffic.

SOURCE:  SP 800-121 Rev. 2, Guide to Bluetooth Security (May 2017)


Ping respects hosts overrides - but browsers don't, in spite of DNS cache flushes

There are similar problems (i.e. https://superuser.com/questions/648133/why-is-chrome-ignoring-etc-hosts-on-os-x) here on the network.

One answer is to follow this bug which must be solved eventually.

People also mention the plugin HostAdmin to workaround this issue.


Little Snitch reports outgoing connections for AirPlayXPCHelper for wrong subnets?

Time to answer my own question:

  Why AirPlayXPCHelper goes out to this network on port 5000 and 7000?

This is related to the Peer-to-Peer AirPlay and Airplay device discovery. macOS discovers new device and attempts to connect using these ports to finish (?) discovery process.

Couple of my neighbours got new AppleTV and macOS attempts to connect to them. As all AppleTVs are connected to the different networks, it attempts to connect to each of them and it is what Little Snitch reports.

  Is there a way to limit its desire to go there?

I'm not aware of any. I just blocked access for AirPlayXPCHelper to networks other than mine using Little Snitch.


Using USB splitter with USB-C Macbook pro 2016

You won't get faster than USB 3.0 speed on the link to the Mac or any of the hub links. (You'd need a thunderbolt 3 hub for that.)

USB 3.0 theoretical speed is 5 Gbit/s
USB 3.1 theoretical speed is 10 Gbit/s

Theoretically - when you have a hub, there is overhead and losses and those depend on the quality of the chipset in the hub.

In practice - what is going to be providing or consuming data at even 3 Gb/s - not much. Get the hub you like for the support and price and warranty and when you have an actual performance issue - you can profile it and get a second hub or offload the one device to another port.


How do I install Macports and Xcode for OS X Snow Leopard

You can register as a developer for free on developer.apple.com. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for

Once registered you can download Xcode 3.2.6 from the developer site:


How to make Font size equal to 15 in Terminal on Mac OS X Yosemite?

Here is what I did in OS X Yosemite 10.10.4.

Terminal (menu) > Preferences... > Settings > Select the target Profile > Text > Change... (button)

This brought up the Fonts window shown in the image below.

I then resized the Fonts dialog box vertically until the Size text window appeared and entered 15, as shown in the image below.


Bookmarks not being synced from macOS to iOS

Found a solution in case anyone is interested:

On icloud.com on "Preferences" under "Advanced" there's a link to "Restore Bookmarks", after permanently deleting every bookmark on there, I got iOS and macOS Safaris to be in sync again.

Note that even after solving the issue, iOS is taking longer than ever to sync Safari Bookmarks, it used to be almost instant and now takes more than 5 minutes.


How to uninstall "Microsoft AU Daemon” from my macOS machine?

First find it in Terminal with

mdfind -name "application name"

once you have it (copy its location and now kill it with

sudo rm -rif paste

there is no undo so be precise what and where are you deleting


Change the input language to english when shift is pressed

Found a solution.. Switching to 'Hebrew - PC' keyboard instead of 'Hebrew' solved it :)


Read-only HFS+ on Windows 10 with boot camp driver question

I finally solved it!

This literally took hours out of my day, but I now know what the problem was. It turned out that the drivers actually were installed. by verified this checking for the presence of the following files:

C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\AppleHFS.sys
C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\AppleMNT.sys

The reason that the drive was unreadable is because they were encrypted with FileVault. I disabled FileVault in OS X, and when I booted into Windows again, the partition was mounted.

There might be a way to use FileVault and Boot Camp together, I'm not sure. I read in a few places, however, that if you enable FileVault after installing Windows with Boot Camp, you can have your drive encrypted and accessible from windows. (This is just a hunch however, I'll have to look into it more)


How can I keep "Update Notifications" from disrupting a Keynote presentation?

So, is there a general way to ensure my Keynote presentation time is uninterrupted?

Unless I know I'll absolutely need network access, I just turn off all network interfaces while I'm giving presentations. This effectively blocks any auto-update routines from running without having to disable and then re-enable the feature in any piece of software I might want to use during my talk.

I'll also shut down all the programs I don't absolutely need running during a presentation. In particular email, instant message and any sort of communication apps that could cause a notification bell or a preview to pop up on my screen get shut down.

I'll pause Growl (Growl icon in menu bar -> Pause Growl) so notifications don't interrupt my presentation.

And I'll switch from any customized backgrounds I might have to some corporate logo backgrounds.

I'll even clear my browser history. Not that there'd be anything lewd, but there might be competitor's websites or company-sensitive information that can be given away by URLs that auto-complete when I start to type in the browser.

That's my usual pre-flight check before I use my laptop in public presentation.


If you have not tried it yet the free Lion Disk Maker can create a bootable USB drive from the .app.


Can people access my iphone data by opening it up

Check out the following links to understand more about Data Protection and Secure Enclave on iOS Devices

Data Protection
Secure Enclave


Upgrade iCloud storage from 50gb to 200gb then downgrade?

The short answer is: YES, you can do what you're proposing and you'll still have the same amount of space left. You're essentially asking - if I 1) sign up for family sharing, and; 2) upgrade my storage to 200 GB, can I reverse this entire process and everything will be the way I left it.

The answer is YES provided that your storage amounts and your wife's storage amounts are unchanged in your example.

I think there is some confusion on how Family Sharing works. It does not merge your files... it doesn't actually insert your wife's files into your iCloud. It keeps them completely separate. You'll be able to see how much space her files take up by clicking on Manage Storage, but that's it - you won't have direct access to any of her files.

So, it will be a bar graph that will show something like this:

Photos - 20 GB
Documents - 10 GB
Wife's files (family sharing) - 40 GB

You won't be able to see your wife's individual breakdown of how her storage is used -- e.g., docs, photos, etc., just that she is using 40 GB (and she won't be able to see your breakdown either).

If you decide to disconnect Family Sharing, it will simply remove the '40 GB' block of your Wife's files from your account and you will both have to sign up again for paid storage in order to keep your files. But, you'll still have 30 GB in this case, and she'd still have 40 GB, and you'd each be fine with a 50 GB plan.

As mentioned by @Udhy, in order to downgrade, you must be under the allowable storage limit. So in this case, if you were using Family Sharing, you would need to pay for the 200 GB plan as the 50 GB plan is not sufficient for both you and your wife to use. And, once you downgrade, you'd each be fine with the 50 GB plan.


You cannot do that, because the WiFi card cannot be connected to another WiFi spot as broadcasting his own signal. If you want to become a wireless hotspot, you'll loose connectivity with the internet. Therefor you'll need to be connected to internet with LAN. To do what you want, you'll need an external WiFi card.


No notifications on iPhone 4 running jailbroken iOS 6.1.2

It appears that this was caused by restoring an iCloud backup from a previous install which had been hacktivated. Notifications will not work with a hacktivated iPhone, and it seems as though they won't work with a restored iCloud backup of a hacktivated iPhone either.

The solution is therefore to restore the jailbroken image and set it up as a new phone. This will then activate with Apple's servers and notifications will work.


Yes, this is easily repairable. The speakers are relatively cheap. PBM sells them for $15 USD: http://www.powerbookmedic.com/MacBook-Air-11-Left-Speaker-p-22393.html (I have used them in the past for parts and highly recommend).

You can then hope to iFixit for a teardown of your MBA: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Replacing+MacBook+Air+11-Inch+Mid+2011+Left+Speaker/6312/1

Note that the MBA is actually as moderate difficulty in repairing (by iFixit), so if you are a klutz, you may elect to have someone else do the repair for you. Also, I have used general searches for your MBA model (based on the limited information you have provided), so you should ensure the parts are the exact ones you need and not go simply on my links above.


How do I stay in the same desktop when I switch to a full screen app?

You can't set it to go back to the last Desktop you were in, but you can set it to go to a specific Desktop when you exit full screen.

Just move the application in windowed mode to the desktop you want, right-click the app in the Dock and set to "This Desktop". Whenever you come out of full screen, it will always go into windowed mode in that particular desktop.


Can spotlight be reset when it misbehaves, is wrong or constantly indexing?

Close all applications and stop Spotlight

sudo mdutil -i off /
sudo mdutil -E /
sudo rm -Rf /var/folders/*
sudo rm -rf /.Spotlight-V100/*

then reboot and turn Spotlight back on

sudo mdutil -i on /

These commands turn Spotlight indexing off, erase the existing index files and turn spotlight indexing back on.

UPDATE:

According to your latest information the above does not help in long term.

Lets try finding what makes it index.

Disable all areas that you "normally" do no search.

Add Folders like System to the do not search.


What is this field at the bottom of the app closing screen on my iPhone?

This is a Siri feature, part of Siri's proactive abilities to suggest apps. This will suggest apps you may wish to use right now based on factors, one of which can be location. Siri has determined that you are likely to want to use this app in your current location, so it is suggested on the recent apps list at the bottom in your screenshot.


The messages app isn't on my Mac (Yosemite)

Since Messages.app comes bundled with OS X, it seems that it got deleted somehow.

To get the Messages app again (or any other pre-installed OS X app that is not available on the App Store), you will have to re-install OS X. The process does not erase any data.

Alternatively, if you know someone who has the same OS X, you could copy Messages.app from their machine and paste it in your Applications folder.


Not sure why it was happening but i found a work around using terminal “sudo mv ...” command to manually move the folders


How to verify if the MacBook Pro HDD cable is faulty?

You would use a OHM meter, to test the wires.

The cable and the plugs are 1:1 thus same pin on both sides.

The meter should show full connection, thus no resistance at all.

Some meters have the Audible signal for testing the connection.

I know you know this but here it is anyway.


According to the answer from: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/issues/24132

  I ran into the same thing this week with upgrading to Mavericks. It'll fix itself if you do:

brew reinstall libtorrent --build-from-source

  In this case, I think the issue is that the Mavericks bottle for libtorrent is bogus, but it's the default install.

Author: bconway


Mac - How to copy Documents directory to a USB stick?

Connected external storages are mounted under /Volumes directory under the root directory. Try running the following command:

cp -R Documents /Volumes/USB

where, USB is the name for the mounted external drive.

-R flag would cause the entire Documents directory hierarchy to be copied.


Sounds like it might be a bad Airport card, if you have the tools, open it up and then disconnect and reconnect the antennas connecting to the card. If that doesn't work, remove the card, clean the contacts on the card and then reinstall it. If that doesn't work, you'll need to buy a new card, specific for your model of MacBook Air.


2017 MacBook Pro Bootcamp Windows 10 WiFi crashes system

I do not have specific experience with this exact error however there are a few basic (Windows) troubleshooting steps to take.

Go into Windows Device Manager, click on the WiFi adapter and get the full make and model number of the WiFi hardware. Write it down.
Right click on that device and select Remove. If it prompts you to uninstall the driver, do so. Then reboot into macOS.
Download the latest Bootcamp from Apple.com. If you have the Bootcamp installer still verify it is the latest at apple.com.
Right-click on the bootcamp.app and "show package contents."
Inside the bootcamp.app package (look for it in the folders there) there will be an .exe file that holds all of the Windows drivers. Copy that out to the desktop and then onto your bootcamp partition. You can likely do that booted into Windows, if you prefer, it doesn't matter how you do it, just get that .exe to the Windows side.
Boot into Windows and run the .exe file. It should extract the drivers (make a note of where) and then start an installer. You can exit out of the installer as all you need are WiFi drivers.
When you booted into Windows it may have tried to automatically install the WiFi drivers (Windows plug-n-play). Cancel out of that and open Device Manager.
Find the WiFi hardware, it could be under network or unknown devices. Right-Click and select Update Driver. If you are given the option to let Windows search for a driver or installing manually, cloose the latter and point it to the folder that step 6 created, that contains the WiFi driver.
Windows should install that driver and though it is not strictly necessary I would go ahead and reboot.

At this point if WiFi is still acting squirrely, remove the WiFi driver again and Google the WiFi device that Device Manager identified. It should lead you to the chipset manufacturer's website. Look for their drivers for your version of Windows and (following the directions outlined above) install those drivers instead of the ones that Apple provides with bootcamp.

Usually this procedure will fix Windows Bootcamp driver issues. If that does not do it there is likely something deeper going on either with Windows or the WiFi hardware in your Mac.


Bluetooth keyboard stopped working after upgrading to Yosemite

I seem  to have fixed this now.

I went into Bluetooth prefs and removed the mouse and Keyboard.
I removed to batteries from both.
Rebooted.
Went to System Preferences → Mouse
Put batteries back into mouse, re-paired mouse only
Rebooted.
Went to System Preferences → Keyboard → Connect Bluetooth Keyboard.
Re-paired keyboard.


How can I rename multiple pictures simultaneously?

Using the built-in tool "Automator", you can define a workflow to batch rename files.

To do that, you will have to:

Open Automator find it using Spotlight or in /Applications
Create a new Workflow
Type get into the search field
Scroll to the bottom of the list of items and drag Get Specified Item from the Files & Folders actions list on the left panel and drop it into the right panel
Click the Add button and find your files
Add the Sort Finder Items action followed by Rename Finder Items
It the "Rename Finder Items" panel, select "Make Sequential" and "Add number to" Picture
Hit the play button and you should be done

Have a look here or here for an example tutorials on your specific renaming task at hand. An excellent overview of what Automator does and how powerful (and simple) it can be as a personal assistant - see the web page http://macosxautomation.com/automator/index.html


Most iPhone 4S photos import into iPhoto 11 as all black images

As forbca said in his/her answer in the support thread you linked to, the issue seems to be resolved if you reboot.

I had the same issue. After a reboot, I'm able to import the photos correctly into iPhoto. Just grab the originals and re-import them in iPhoto. You'll be asked about duplicates – import the portrait photos anyway.

It seems to be a bug in an iPhoto update that only turns up if you haven't rebooted since the update. The corrupted imports were done on a laptop that had over 30 days of uptime.


com.apple.xyz.plist - replace value - not set key - possbile?

######################################## BASH LIB #######################################
bash.string.replace() {
        local text="$1" find="$2" replace="$3";

        echo "${text}" | while IFS= read -r line; do
                printf '%s\n' "${line//"$find"/$replace}";
        done
}
######################################## BASH LIB #######################################

######################################## APPLE LIB ######################################
apple.plist.read() {
        local filepath="${1}"

        defaults read "${filepath}"
}
apple.plist.convert.to.xml() {
        local filepath="${1}" tmp="${2}"

        # If second argument is passed, then we save the conversion to a new file rather than write over the original
        if [[ "${tmp}" == "true" ]]; then
            tmp="/tmp${filepath}"
        fi

        if [[ "${tmp}" != "" ]]; then
            bash.cp "${filepath}" "${tmp}"

            filepath="${tmp}"
        fi

        plutil -convert xml1 "${filepath}"

        # We also output the content which can be supressed if desired by caller
        cat "${filepath}"
}
apple.plist.convert.to.binary() {
        local filepath="${1}"

        plutil -convert binary1 "${filepath}"
}
apple.plist.write() {
        local filepath="$1" text="$2"

        echo "${text}" > "${filepath}"

        apple.plist.convert.to.binary "${filepath}" # Not sure if this step is neccessary, if xml representation is enough. Not verified or tested without.
}
apple.plist.read.search.replace.write() {
        local file="${1}" search="${2}" replacement="${3}"

        local updated=$(bash.string.replace "$(apple.plist.read "${file}")" "${search}" "${replacement}")

        apple.plist.write "${file}" "${updated}"
}
######################################## APPLE LIB ######################################

######################################## EXAMPLE ##################################
my.test.1() {
    apple.plist.read.search.replace.write "/tmp/com.apple.finder.plist" "/Users/" "/Home/"
}
######################################## EXAMPLE ##################################

Basically we call the function plist.read.search.replace.write with file arguments and what to replace which will read it to text, then we perform a replacement on that text, and then write that text back using plist.write which will also convert it from xml (which it will be) to binary using plutil -convert xml1 "/path/to/file".

Rather than read using defaults read "..." we could in theory instad use plutil convert to xml but likely more expensive.


Currently, no. Google has only released the Pinyin app with support for Windows. A Mac OS X beta did come out last year, but it hasn't been released publicly, and as far as I know, there's no support for mobile devices.

Source


If a new battery doesn’t work with your hardware - I would return it to the vendor or seek service. Some aftermarket batteries may not work properly and the failure you describe isn’t likely to be something you (or any technician) messed up with cabling or connectors not seated.

When you reset the SMC it perhaps did a full read of the battery details and something isn’t correct for it’s code to predict when to send the low voltage / low charge warnings and begin an orderly shutdown.

This failure mode is different than the shutting off too high a remaining change - but it could be the same fix - get another battery.

Battery on white MacBook shuts off abruptly after 30% charge is left


Trying to get iOS 4 iPod app on a jail broken iOS 5 iPad without totally downgrading

Sorry to disappoint you, but there is no way of just getting the Music app from another version of the iOS. If you are so concerned then please try the App store for Music player apps, i have used iAlbums, it has a very nice and slick UI. It uses the default music player's backend to play music, so you won't lose on any features.

If you are ready to do some experiment, then you need to build a custom firmware (cooking a rom) with new iOS and old Music app, non-advisable since you risk bricking the device.

Hope i made some sense.


You could accomplish this by creating a Page Layout document. On the first page, create two side-by-side Text Boxes. Before typing, duplicate the page (control-click on the page thumbnail to the left of the editing area). Then, link each text box to its corresponding text box on the next page.

To add additional pages, go to the last page and duplicate it, to avoid having to recreate the text boxes from scratch each time.


Virtualbox - Can't install guest additions (Big Sur)

You can not install guest additions when using Big Sur. I have seen some hacks posted that are suppose to work, but I have never found one that works with a Big Sur guest.
Here are some ideas of how to substitute the functionality that guest additions may have offered.

Screen Size: The command given below can be used to change the video resolution of the Big Sur guest. For more information, see section 3.14.1. Video Modes in EFI of the online Oracle® VM VirtualBox® User Manual. You can also download a PDF version from here.
 VBoxManage setextradata "VM name" VBoxInternal2/EfiGraphicsResolution HxV

You should enter this command with the guest is powered off.

Transfer Files by Network: You can use SMB to connect to the guest by the host or any other computer on the LAN. You should make sure the Attached to: for the network is set to Bridged Adaptor.

Transfer Files by USB: You can attach a physical USB flash drive to the guest. To do so, you must first eject the flash drive on the host. When the guest powers off or ejects the flash drive, the host will automatically attempt to mount any volumes on the flash drive. If the host has USB 3 ports, then USB 3.0 (xHCI) Controller should be selected under setting for ports.

Note: VirtualBox defaults to SATA HDD for the guest. You can change this to to SATA SSD or NVMe SDD. Only NVMe SSD has trim capabilities, which I have found to increase boot times. (Booting is when trim operations are performed.)

Perhaps, a better solution would be to avoid VirtualBox all together. VMware now offers the use of Fusion Player for free. You do need to create an account to get a license key. VMware Fusion Player is both Big Sur host and guest compatible with Intel based Macs. Also, installing is simplified. You only need to drag and drop the Install macOS Big Sur application into a Fusion Player window and the installer drive is automatically created. In other words, you do not need an ISO or flash drive to install.

Note: You can have both VirtualBox and Fusion Player installed at the same time. Although, I am not sure if using both to run virtual machines at the same time is wise.

IMO, the fact that I can not install Big Sur on my 2013 iMac, but can install Big Sur in a virtual machine on the same Mac, just seems wrong (or unfair).


Unable to use SSL or TLS to access OpenDirectory ldap server

The following were the steps I took to resolve this issue:

Reboot the server in safe mode (hold down shift key whilst restarting)

Let it idle for a while (apparently it is cleaning out caches in this mode)

Stop the existing slapd server

 sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.openldap.slapd.plist

Set the correct certificate GUID in the file /etc/openldap/slapd_macosxserver.conf.  This can be ascertained from the contents of the /etc/certificates directory

sudo sed -e 's/oldguid/newguid/' /etc/openldap/slapd_macosxserver.conf >/tmp/conffile
sudo mv /tmp/conffile /etc/openldap/slapd_macosxserver.conf

Remove the configured TLS certificate values from the file /etc/openldap/slapd.d/cn=config.ldif

sudo vi /etc/openldap/slapd.d/cn=config.ldif
remove any lines beginning with olcTLSCertificate

Start the slapd server again

 sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.openldap.slapd.plist

Reboot the server again into standard mode.

Then from a client computer with linux or mac osx check that you can connect via SSL and that the certificates are correct using the command

openssl s_client -connect ldap.yourdomain:636 -showcerts

If successful you will get a dump of your server certificates as well as a connection detail description:

No client certificate CA names sent
---
SSL handshake has read 5209 bytes and written 807 bytes
---
New, TLSv1/SSLv3, Cipher is AES256-SHA
Server public key is 4096 bit
Secure Renegotiation IS supported
Compression: NONE
Expansion: NONE
SSL-Session:
    Protocol  : TLSv1
    Cipher    : AES256-SHA
    Session-ID: C8E0F4A4ED24021DB4D98ACF5A9ACDC2293BC3961BF2AE90026115D899369E73
    Session-ID-ctx:
    Master-Key:
    Key-Arg   : None
    PSK identity: None
    PSK identity hint: None
    SRP username: None
    TLS session ticket:
    ...
    Start Time: 1400140597
    Timeout   : 7200 (sec)
    Verify return code: 0 (ok)

Some other notes:

Apple suggests that you can use self-signed and own certificate
chains (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3745).  I use a self signed
chain and it is successful.
Port 636 is the standard ldaps port and is the port used by OpenDirectory (slapd)
TLS1 is supported as can be seen from the openssl connection test
Differing DNS names and host names do not matter (I tried both ways with a reboot between)
Differing reverse DNS does not matter (I tried both ways with a reboot between)


Macbook Pro fans spinning until I close the lid

You may as well ignore the fan thing unless it really bugs you. What I would do is download Macs Fan Control. Once the app is running, keep it running in the background. When the Mac fan starts up again, open the app and set the fan to a certain speed, and then reset it to automatic.


iCloud showing different sets of files to OS X users using same iCloud login

I eventually worked around this by turning of iCloud in both accounts, clearing the iCloud directories and then turning everything back on. Still no idea why it was happening in the first place.


Loop. Can't installing High Sierra clean from USB

I had the identical issue on any old Mac I replace drive with SSD.

Workaround I got is to install Sierra and upgrade to High Sierra, but it takes ages.

A better solution: disk cannot be APFS, so erase with JHFS+ and it works fine.

diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ …


Is there a keyboard shortcut for inserting MathType equations in Pages?

Update for 2019: The newer versions of Pages actually recently added equation support! Just go to Insert > Equation... or hit ⌥⌘E.

It uses LaTeX or MathML, but if you want to use MathType there's apparently a button for that in the resulting dialog, or you can set it to be your default. (I don't have MathType, so I can't test this.)

The Apple Support page has more information.


Under the list of network interfaces on the left that you have in the screenshot, press the + (plus) icon. For Interface, select Ethernet. Press Create. Does that work?


New Mac User needs help installing Picasa and then importing all i photos into picasa with correct titles

Delete the photos from Picassa
Export the photos from iPhoto to a folder named by titles (or as you like)
Import from the filesystem to Picasa


GarageBand doesn't let me import a file [ipad]

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

I guess you have to convert the MP3 files to GarageBand's more compatible AIFF file format. Use iTunes to convert MP3 to GarageBand more compatible AIFF format.

The following site could give you wider clearance: http://www.bigasoft.com/articles/mp3-to-garageband.html

If you have all the required format as expected and still if it is giving an issue, I would suggest you check your project. It does this when your project has become too full. Try deleting tracks out of your project and then drag the audio file back into Garage Band and it should turn up blue


Turn off iPad on-screen keyboard using Microsoft Designer Bluetooth Desktop Keyboard

Microsoft doesn't officially support iOS with the Designer Keyboard. They actually list it on their website as non-functional with iOS. This strikes me as a very inconvenient step seeing as I am using it right now on the iPad Pro and it is hands down better than any other iPad keyboard I have used... other that that idiotic refusal to dismiss the virtual keyboard when in use!


Jetdrive 850 install on Macbook Pro 2015

I fixed this by reformatting and recreating the Mac OS X High Sierra install disk using DiskMaker X.

After that, I encountered another problem: the Transcend SSD had an MBR partition table, for which I needed these instructions on changing the partition scheme to GUID.


Microsoft Remote Desktop Server for OS X

On this site are listed 5 possible programs to do this, as native this isn't possible.

Explained are:

TeamViewer
LogMeIn (free)
Real VNC
Vine Server
Remote Management

Note, LogMeIn does not have a free version anymore.


Yes, there are ways - though detection depends on what kind of bug we're talking about.

Is it possible to bug a non jail-broken iPhone: Yes.

Remember that a bug does not have to be in software - it could possibly also be in hardware. It also doesn't have to be in the actual phone, it could be placed in the cell network or in your providers systems.

In order to detect bugging, you could use equipment to scan for out of the ordinary radio emissions. You would also need to use a tool such as Wireshark to monitor network transmissions from the phone.

However a bug could elude such detection by being for example remotely activated or timed. Then you would need to employ your detection tools when the bug is actually active.

All in all it is very hard for an "ordinary Joe" to be certain that a phone is not bugged.

However, it is very unlikely that your phone is bugged if you really are an "ordinary Joe".


What can I use to save/restore Safari's history?

Safari history is stored in an SQLite database located at

~/Library/Safari/History.db

You can copy this file elsewhere to save it, then restore it by copying it over the top of the existing file (while Safari is quit).


In this solution we need to tell ssh to create a pseudo terminal with -tt then use a heredoc to send the commands to the remote location.

    ssh -tt user@domain.com <<EOF
    cd /var/www/website/
    git pull
    logout
    EOF


Predicting software compatiblity on different OS X versions

Short anser, no. The long answer is there are a few general rules with mac software support. If an app is built for PowerPC, it will only work up to 10.6 Snow Leopard as Lion dropped PowerPC support. Anything built for Intel macs should work with 10.5+.

Apps available on the App Store will say what their hardware requirements, and I believe all should work on lion.


Unicode HOT BEVERAGE (U+2615) in Google Chrome

This page shows what fonts support this character.

So you can use a CSS/style rule to select a font that supports the character. I notice that it's not a glyph in Arial Unicode MS, so I'm not sure you can guarantee Windows support.

On the Mac, you can specify the Apple Symbols font or Menlo.


As per Xcode 11.1 Release Notes, it is a known issue when trying to update to Xcode 11.1. To solve the issue, use the suggested workaround -- delete the existing Xcode.app or temporarily change the Xcode.app file extension.

  Known Issues

  Xcode may fail to update from the Mac App Store after updating to macOS Catalina. (56061273)

  Workaround: To trigger a new download you can delete the existing Xcode.app or temporarily change the file extension so it is no longer visible to the App Store.


Setting up Family Sharing/Apple ID without using school email

Why would you do this? When creating an Apple ID you are also creating an iCloud account. Just use the iCloud email generated as part of the process, or create a new email address for this purpose using any other free email service of your choice such as Gmail. (If you state he is underage, Apple will force you to use the iCloud email and will not allow you to use a non-Apple email for the account.)


How do I upload verification photos to Apple's Maps Connect?

It seems like email is the only way to send verification photos right now. This is the email response I received after reaching out to Support for Maps Connect.

  Regarding your inquiry, please reply to this message directly with a photo from outside your business.


You have moved the divider line to the right to set the email pane to zero width. You move it back the same way, but you have to move to almost full width for it to "hold", after that you can vary the width as you like.
It is the same in Classic View: if you do not move it up very high it will not hold.


Run GUI application in MacOS 10 in Docker

I was not using the right display number. The guide above uses the default display number :0.

Find the correct one by running:

  display_number=`ps -ef | grep "Xquartz :\d" | grep -v xinit | awk '{ print $9; }'`

Then change your docker run command to include the flags:

-e DISPLAY=$ip:$display_number \
-v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \


At this stage it’s somewhat unclear how many of the functions supported by Apple and 3rd party apps on 3D Touch can and/or will be supported on Haptic Touch.

According to Apple, the iPhone XR:

  …doesn’t have 3D Touch, but here again the team came up with something
  really smart. It has a new feature we call haptic touch. So to get to
  the camera from the home screen, we just press on it. You feel a
  haptic tap, and you’re taken right to the camera. This is a similar
  technology to what we do with the track pad in the MacBook Pro that we
  all love so much. It is a great experience.

Source: Phil Schiller, Senior Vice President Worldwide Marketing, 12 September 2018.

What does this actually mean?
The iPhone XR doesn’t have a pressure sensitive screen, but it does simulate the response that 3D Touch offers in that it provides haptic feedback to the user by way of a vibration instead of an actual haptic engine producing that feedback. But the biggest difference for power users of 3D Touch is that at the outset the user won’t get the additional options offered by 3D Touch.

For example, with 3D Touch a hard press on the Clock app will present the user with the following three options:

Create Alarm
Resume Stopwatch; and
Start Timer.

On the iPhone XR a hard press will launch the Clock app with a slight vibration feedback, but will not provide these additional options. This is akin to having no contextual menu when right-clicking on an item in macOS or Windows, except that with computers the right-click is much loved and used while on the iPhone the usage of 3D Touch has not been so widespread.

All that said, it’s unclear if iOS will try to offer some of these same features via the use of long presses instead of firmer presses in future updates. At present though, if you’re a power user of 3D Touch and don’t want to give it up, you’d be better off purchasing an iPhone XS / XS Max  or one of the older iPhone models.


Jetbrains'IDE can't start after upgrading to OS X Yosemite

You can also solve it by doing the following:

Locate your Installed package (PyCharm or IntelliJ), right click, show package contents

Under contents, open up Info.plist

Locate the JVMOptions dictionary entry, and find the key titled "JVMVersion"

The default value for that key should be "1.6*". change it to "1.6+".

Save it, and re-launch the IDE again.

You should be able to use it without JDK 6 installed.


How can I do text-to-columns in Numbers?

You can also replace the delimiters with tabs:

Copy the cells and paste them to a new TextEdit document.
Replace ", " with tab. You can insert a tab by pressing option-tab.
Copy and paste the text back to Numbers.


If the message was delivered, whenever the recipient reads it, a Read [Date] will automatically be displayed beneath. Bear in mind, as Emil points out in the comments, that for this behaviour to happen, the receiver must have the Send Read Receipts option enabled.

If the message is marked as not delivered, it means that, for some reason, that message couldn't be sent. Although you solve the issue, it wont be automatically sent, therefore requiring you to tap on the exclamation mark and choosing Try Again.


A way to run console commands in menu bar?

You can enable the Script menu from the built-in Script Editor.app: Preferences → General → Show Script menu in menu bar.

Then you can place any AppleScript in this menu by putting the script in your Scripts folder.

  To add user-level scripts to the script menu, save them into the ~/Library/Scripts/ folder of your user directory. For quick access to this folder, select Open Scripts Folder > Open User Scripts Folder from the script menu. When you do this, the folder is automatically created if it doesn’t already exist.

https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/LanguagesUtilities/Conceptual/MacAutomationScriptingGuide/UsetheSystem-WideScriptMenu.html


Viewer for HEIF/HEIC images in El Capitan or Sierra

The current version of Graphic Converter (from https://www.lemkesoft.de, free trial available) supports HEIC format.  I did not try it in Sierra or El Capitan, but the description says: MacOS 10.9 or later.


Make the screen always be off when having a call

Sounds to me like a bad ambient light sensor and/or the proximity sensor. Both are a part of the front facing camera assembly, and you cannot buy them separately.

It should be covered under warranty, but if it's a result of a drop or water damage, then it's not covered under the standard warranty and you may have to have it repaired, either by yourself or a pro.

If you feel comfortable with the repair, here are some tips:

When removing the digitizer assembly (touchscreen) with a suction cup, take extra care to avoid severing the digitizer and LCD cables.
If you damage the home button or its cable, then TouchID will no longer work.
Here's the guide

Of course, you could always take it to a pro, just be prepared to pay likely $100+, unfortunately. Maybe even $150+, depending on where you go.

If it's not under warranty, though, wait until the iPhone 6S comes out in less than a couple of weeks, as once the iPhone 6 is no longer the newest, parts and repair costs should be lower.


How to get XCode commandline tools for Leopard in 2014

Never. mind. Of course one ends up solving something like this right after posting on StackExchange.

This is simply a naming thing. Apple started calling their development tools "command line tools" starting from 10.7, which is why I could not find the old dev tools when I searched for this. 'Xcode 3.1 Developer Tools' is the name of the download. This question pointed me in the right direction.


Recommendations for headset (+ mic ) for macbook in 2012

I've got the in-ear headset buds from Apple; they have a single jack and they're excellent. Purchased retail in Austria for around €70.


Insert the two images (other object or group to be transitioned).
Select the first side and from the animation inspector add a Build Out effect of Flip. Disable Bounce.

Select the second side and from the animation inspector add a Build In effect of Flip. Disable Bounce.
Choose Build Order and set the second build (the build in) to Start: With Build 1.

Set the second side to be in front of the first side by right-clicking on the second side and choosing Bring to Front. Position the two sides on top of each other.


zsh uses .zprofile in your home directory
Try copying the contents of .profile to .zprofile and then launch a new terminal window


Change resolution of different images from different folders

There is a function called Folder Action.

Right click on the originating folder.

Select Folder action

Now select the Action you want (in your case Duplicate)

You can modify the script if you want to to suit your needs, but it will basically make copies of files at the moment they are added to the original folder in a newly created folder.


How can I delete a whole list amongst my reminders?

If you have another account (like Yahoo! or Outlook) linked in your iPhone settings in addition to your iCloud account, then it could be the culprit.

If that’s the case, try either disabling reminders from that account or try to visit the specific account settings pages and delete it manually.


According to this source this should work:

Prerequsites:

– Mac OS X 10.6.8 Server or Mac OS X 10.7 or later as prospective Guest OS

Create a r/w image of your partition
Open Terminal an enter:

hdiutil imageinfo /path/to/image.dmg  | grep "Format"

Output should be:

Format: UDRW
Format Description: raw read/write

Create a diskname.vmdk file with an editor:

# Disk DescriptorFile
version=1
encoding="UTF-8"
CID=fffffffe
parentCID=ffffffff
isNativeSnapshot="no"
createType="monolithicFlat"

# Extent description
RW SIZE_OF_DMG_IN_SECTORS FLAT "Fully_Qualified_Pathname_of_DMG" 0

# The Disk Data Base
#DDB

ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"
#ddb.geometry.cylinders is not used by Mac OS.
#ddb.geometry.heads is not used by Mac OS.
#ddb.geometry.sectors is not used by Mac OS.
#ddb.longContentID will be generated on the first write to the file.
#ddb.uuid is not used by Mac OS.
ddb.virtualHWVersion = "6"

customize SIZE_OF_DMG_IN_SECTORS (the size of your disk/512) and Fully_Qualified_Pathname_of_DMG in the above file
Open VMware Workstation and create a new machine and choose the above created vdmk file as hdd.image
There is a legal impediment to run Mac OS X on Non-Apple hardware. VMware Player & VMware Workstation therefore officially don't support the installation of Mac OS X on any hardware - not even on Macs.


Setting time format preference in unix (Mac-Terminal)

Using GNU ls, on Linux, there is a --time-style flag you can use to specify one of a few pre-defined time types, or specifying a completely custom +FORMAT style like the date command accepts. However, BSD ls, which Apple ships, does not support this flag.

I've seen similar discrepancies in commands like date and tar as well, all rooted in the differences between the GNU and BSD variants.


Applications (Google Drive, Dropbox, Eclipse, etc) only start when I launch them from within their package

It is possible that this could be a hardware problem? Specifically the logic board.  I discovered mine needs replacing. I am having the same errors. I also discovered that launching the Unix Executable works for many of the apps that otherwise won't load.  This makes no sense to me, but after hearing two Apple Support Technicians confirm, who am I to question.


That appears to be describing Safari as it will exist in the upcoming release of OS X Mavericks. So there are two straightforward ways to get the new Web Inspector:

Become a member of the Mac Developer Program and install the Mavericks Developer Preview
Wait until Mavericks is released to the public and upgrade to it


After upgrading to iOS6, all my apps are gone

If you don't have a backup somewhere (on a computer or in iCloud) you must download all apps again from the App Store.

For the next time go to Settings > iCloud > Storage (in the bottom) > Turn on iCloud-backup.


Use the -h option:

-h    If the target_file or target_dir is a symbolic link, do not follow it.
      This is most useful with the -f option, to replace a symlink
      which may point to a directory.

$ ln -shf newdir symlink
$ ls -al symlink
symlink -> newdir


How to upgrade to the latest iMovie for free?

Note: As user Pang pointed out, the original answer contains a dead link. This answer may not be valid any more, but you can find updated information about the "Up-To-Date Program" here.

Updated link text:

  Starting in October 2014, Apple announced that Pages, Numbers, and
  Keynote are available free with every qualifying new Mac. If you
  purchased a qualifying Mac that did not include Pages, Numbers, and
  Keynote, you can apply for these apps through the Up-To-Date Program
  by following the steps below.

Original answer:

iMovie costs $14.99 on the Mac App Store. New Mac computers include iMovie (and other creativity/productivity apps) for free. However, the free pricing is not offered for older Macs, as is outlined in the small print/asterisk note on this page.

  * Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are free on the Mac App Store for
  qualifying Mac computers purchased on or after October 1, 2013. OS X
  Mavericks required. Downloading apps requires an Apple ID.

The small print does not include "iMovie" or "iPhoto," but it should since that is how it works. Unfortunately, this means that your 2008 iMac is not eligible for a free copy of the new iMovie — you will have to pay the $14.99 if you want to update.

Updates like bug fixes for the 2008 version of iMovie are free, so you can also choose to keep using the version of iMovie that shipped with your Mac. Just install from the media that came with the Mac or contact AppleCare to have a replacement DVD shipped to you.

Another option is to activate a new Mac with your Apple ID and simply associate the free versions of the software with your account. If you have a friend who purchased a new Mac but is already eligible to download those apps, ask if you can sign in first with your account to get those free apps.


macOS: How to open a local HTML file with URL parameters

open just handles files, it doesn't know about GET parameters. So the AppleScript approach is probably the way to go here:

osascript -e 'tell application "Google Chrome" to
    open location "file:///Users/YOU/path/to.html?foo=bar"'


can i repair a failing disk on macbook pro for free?

If a SMART test indicates the drive is failing [& that test is accurate - you could use two independent tools to make sure they agree] then the drive is toast & needs to be backed up if possible & replaced immediately.

SMART is meant to warn you of imminent, potentially catastrophic, drive failure.
It is not a "fixable" problem.


Is there a Google Chrome version 50 supporting Mac OS 10.8.5?

At the present time the latest version of Google Chrome is: 50.0.2661.94

Under OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5...

If you do not have Google Chrome installed, and you download a copy and install it, the version will show as: 49.0.2623.112

If you then try to update it through Google Chrome it will report: "Google Chrome is up to date."

Note that the downloaded googlechrome.dmg file's URL is:

          https://dl.google.com/dl/chrome/mac/legacy/GGRO/googlechrome.dmg

If you have an earlier version installed, e.g. 48.0.2564.109, and update it through Google Chrome it will report: "Google Chrome is up to date."

On later versions of OS X, the downloaded googlechrome.dmg file's URL is:

          https://dl.google.com/chrome/mac/stable/CHFA/googlechrome.dmg

At the present time that googlechrome.dmg file contains version: 50.0.2661.94

To get the latest version of Google Chrome on OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.x, do the following:

Download the googlechrome.dmg file from the link directly above,
not the one that has "legacy" in its URL.
If open, close Google Chrome and delete it from the Applications
folder.
Open the newly downloaded googlechrome.dmg file and in spite of
the international no symbol showing, drag and drop it into the
Applications folder, not the Applications link in the installer
.dmg file.
Open Terminal and use the following command to modify the
Info.plist file inside the Google Chrome application bundle:

defaults write /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/Info.plist LSMinimumSystemVersion 10.8.0

       Note: Copy and paste the entire command above into the Terminal and then press Enter.

Now select the Google Chrome application bundle in the Applications
folder and press Command-I to open its Get
Info sheet and then close the Get Info sheet.
In a Terminal run the following command: killall Finder

       The Google Chrome application icon should now show as normal.

Now you can run the latest Google Chrome on OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.x.

Note: While the current latest version of Google Chrome (50.0.2661.94) is running fine for me under OS X Mountain Lion
10.8.5, this does't mean that future versions will run without issue on OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5, and therefore this method will become
worthless.


How to change boot picture of Windows partition?

I agree that you should test rEFInd using a flash drive. I see one can download "A USB flash drive image file" containing rEFInd. I believe you would be better off using my instructions. If you have any problems with my steps, let me know.

Steps to Install rEFInd on a USB Flash Drive

Download "A binary zip file" from The rEFInd Boot Manager:
Getting rEFInd page. I assume this will be saved in your Downloads folder.
Insert a flash drive into a USB port. Open the Disk Utility application and partition the drive as follows.

The format of the second partition does not matter. I happened to use MS-DOS (FAT). Before applying changes, click the Options... button and make sure "GUID Partition Table" is selected.

Apply the changes and quit the Disk Utility.
Open the Terminal application. Enter the following commands. You will be prompted for your log in password.

cd  downloads/refind-bin-0.8.7
./install.sh  --ownhfs  /Volumes/rEFInd  --alldrivers

This is what appeared in my Terminal window.

Last login: Fri Apr  3 01:53:35 on ttys000
Steelhead:~ davidanderson$ cd downloads/refind-bin-0.8.7
Steelhead:refind-bin-0.8.7 davidanderson$ ./install.sh --ownhfs /Volumes/rEFInd --alldrivers
Not running as root; attempting to elevate privileges via sudo....
Password:
ShimSource is none
Installing rEFInd on OS X....
Installing rEFInd to the partition mounted at /Volumes/rEFInd
Copied rEFInd binary files

Copying sample configuration file as refind.conf; edit this file to configure
rEFInd.

WARNING: If you have an Advanced Format disk, *DO NOT* attempt to check the
bless status with 'bless --info', since this is known to cause disk corruption
on some systems!!

Installation has completed successfully.

Steelhead:refind-bin-0.8.7 davidanderson$

When running rEFInd from a flash drive, I needed to introduce a 5
second delay. This delay was not needed once I installed rEFInd
on my internal hard disk. I assume you will need this temporary
delay as well. This is accomplished by editing the refind.conf
file. Enter the following commands to edit the file in the TextEdit
application.

cd  /Volumes/rEFInd/System/Library/CoreServices
open  -e  refind.conf

At the bottom of the file, enter a line containing scan_delay 5,
as shown below.

Save the changes and quit TextEdit. If you get the following
message, just click OK.

Restart the computer. You should boot to the rEFInd boot manager. The menu that appeared on my computer is shown below. (Hint: To get a better view, open this image in a new window.)

Steps to Uninstall Automatic Booting to rEFInd

Boot to OS X.
Open "Startup Disk" from the "System Preferences" window. The "rEFInd" text, under the external disk icon, should be highlighted.
Click on the internal disk icon representing OS X. The highlighting should switch to the text under this icon, as shown below.

Quit System Preferences, shutdown the computer and remove the USB flash drive.

What is next?

The icons files are store in the following folder.

/Volumes/rEFInd/System/Library/CoreServices/icons

It should be just a matter of substituting your icons for the default ones.

If you find any of this useful, let me know. The next step would involve installing rEFInd on your internal hard disk. I do not yet know enough about the partitioning of your internal disk to answer the questions I have. Mainly, I need to see the output from the commands given below.

diskutil list
disktuili cs list
sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk0
sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

None of these command change your computer. They only produce partitioning information.


Kindle not connecting to iPhone Wifi hotspot

The easiest thing to do is see if any other computer or device can work with the hot spot.

Once you're sure your iPhone hot spot works, then you can figure if whatever version of Kindle HD you have has issues or is somehow not working well with whatever version of iOS you run.


Spotlight search still searchs when not selected

Mail stays in Trash until you empty it.

Did you first empty the trash?

Select Edit, then Delete all.


Can closed (not running) apps access background app refresh?

Do not confuse Suspended with Not Running. Suspended means the app is still in memory but otherwise not utilizing any resources. Not Running means the app is not in memory at all due to being involuntarily terminated, either because the system required resources for a foreground app, or because the user force-quit the app.

Background App Refresh (BAR) =/= "Background" as shown in that diagram:

BAR allows apps to update content on a very limited basis, on a schedule set and enforced by iOS, generally about once per day.
The Background state shown in that diagram is Background Execution, which allows apps to complete certain tasks in the background. BAR being disabled has no effect on apps being able to use Background Execution.

Background Execution is generally only allowed if an app has not been force-quit by the user (the exception being "location apps"). Apps in any state, including Terminated, can use Background Execution if they meet the requirements below. If necessary, they will be relaunched by the system into the background (again, subject to the force-quit limitations above). See my answer on a similar question:

  Apps that play audible content to the user while in the background, such as a music player app
  Apps that record audio content while in the background
  Apps that keep users informed of their location at all times, such as a navigation app
  Apps that support Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
  Apps that need to download and process new content regularly
  Apps that receive regular updates from external accessories

  There is one other case, which is downloading in the background. This is a special case, though, because the app itself is still suspended and the download process is handed off to the system, in case the app has to be terminated by the system to reclaim resources.

What's not in the linked answer is notifications. Non-local notifications are generated on a server somewhere and pushed to the device via Apple Push Notifications (APN). The act of receiving a notification does not indicate the app itself did anything.

In your note example, when the note app transitions to the background, it is given a brief amount of time to save state. If it's in the process of doing something like saving a note, and it cannot complete it in the time allowed, it can ask for an extension, essentially, and then notify the system when it's done so the app can be suspended. This type of background work can be used by any app, not just those that fall under the categories listed above.


Minimise full screen Steam games in OS X Yosemite

CMD+H seems to work too.

Strangly CMD+Mdoes not do anything.


Dual boot Linux Mint 17.1 with OS X Lion

I have the same hardware and experienced the same problem. Booting from DVD and USB didn't work so I created a new partition on the hard drive, copied the Linux iso onto it and booted off that.  Got it installed ok but the fans were running all the time so I gave up on it in the end.


Repair Permissions messed up network preferences

Since several files appear to be either missing or corrupt, now might be a good time to check that you have a good backup of your data and then see about booting to a Recovery HD or other bootable media and seeing if the disk catalog itself needs repair.

You might also have a technician look at the hard drive if there are lots of problems with the disk. Most can be fixed by wiping the drive and then reinstalling the OS and finally restoring your applications and files from a backup. Of course, corrupt files like you are seeing in the network preferences could get backed up in a poor state - so you might still need to find and clean things one by one, but hopefully this is the extent of the problems.


How can I clean up old notes left in my Gmail account by notes.app?

It appears that the following search will find all messages created by Notes.app, and, for me at least, no messages not created by it:

from:username@gmail.com -in:drafts -in:sent -in:chats -l:SMS

(Where username is my Gmail username.  The SMS label is used by the SMS Backup+ android app, which stores SMS messages in Gmail in a similar way to Notes.app, albeit under a different label.)

To find messages which are no longer "live" in Notes.app (i.e., are older versions or deleted notes), and also exclude any other labels like SMS, use "-has:userlabels", like this:

from:username@gmail.com -in:drafts -in:sent -in:chats -has:userlabels

N.B.: For me the results are 100% old or deleted Notes.app notes, but this search will find any other messages created in the same way (i.e., via the IMAP interface, with your address in the from field) so have a look through the search results carefully before doing any mass deletions, just to be on the safe side!