Why is iTunes unable to recognize the content on my iPhone during sync?

If you previously tried to sync your iTunes with your iPhone but the sync did not effectuate until the end (failed or incomplete sync) this could have corrupted your iPhone Library file which contains all the listings of your iPhone media tracks/playlists, etc.

iTunes sync would first deal with this file deleting and then updating it after which it will add/remove tracks physically on your device. If a previous iTunes sync failed to execute correctly or was interrupted, iTunes would have deleted or corrupted your iPhone Library file while keeping the tracks physically on your iPhone. An iTunes sync could fail due to many reasons - USB cable damaged, USB slot on computer or device damaged, manual abrupt unplug, etc.

This would result in iTunes failing to see your iPhone tracks the next time you connect your iPhone since iTunes used the iPhone library file solely to recognize the content on your iPhone.

On your iPhone, on the other hand, you could continue seeing and be able to play the tracks normally.

If you have all of your iTunes tracks already loaded in your iTunes library, simply reset your iPhone to factory settings via iTunes and let iTunes fully sync with your iPhone. This will sort the issue out.


iOS apps take up more space than advertised?

You have to take into account that the exact number is an approximated value and that the device needs additional space to install the application. I’m guessing that although the application says it’s 643Mb, it really uses some more when it gets installed. You’re really pushing the limits of your iOS there :)


I find configuring GMail over exchange (Google Sync) works really well.

That's all I can recommend!


How do I migrate my Transmission torrents & settings from an old Macbook to a new one?

On your New Mac you do not need to install Transmission, in fact remove it.
Remove the HDD caddy with your 1000GB HGST hdd from your old macbook and install it in your new Macbook
On your new Mac customize the location of your Home folder so it points to your HGST 1000GB hdd
Take out and place your old Mac Vertex 4 SSD into an external 2.5 HDD enclosure, the Nexstar CX 2.5 is a great choice
Attach the HDD enclosure to the USB port of your new Mac
On the new mac type Migration Assistant in the spotlight search bar and the app will find your external drive
Select the external drive (orange coloured) and it will find transfer your applications, files, and everything!
You can include/omit 3 categories before migrating: files, apps, and network settings

When you open Transmission 3.0 (yes all othe Mac apps will migrated as well) all torrent colour tags/labels and torrents will be preserved. The file integrity check will be skipped, saving your hdd from checking everything all over again.
Notes:

Some apps on an older version of MacOS will not work once migrated to newer versions of MacOS. Download updates for them.
Pirated apps may not work depending on how they were cracked.
If you don't have an external hard drive enclosure, manually copy everything off your old Mac hard drive onto a usb key or external drive and it will work as well, but try to get the whole thing to fit into 1 drive. No partial transfers.


Yes, there is a noticeable delay (latency) with the AirPods. This is so with any wireless headset - but the amount varies according to the chosen codec, quality (frequency range, samples per second, etc), and protocol.

Basically any wireless headset has to balance bandwidth, latency, power usage, etc.

If you use AirPods for streaming music, playing videos, etc. the delay is not a problem. The AirPods will use higher quality settings for the best audio possible.

If you use AirPods for phone calls, Siri, or similar - the quality settings are automatically lowered to better balance these factors for that use case. In some cases you're perfectly okay with 8 kHz mono sound.

If you intend to use AirPods for listening to virtual instruments in GarageBand triggered by a MIDI keyboard - you're not going to enjoy it. These instruments require a high quality setting for the audio to sound their best - but you'll then have a very noticeable delay (latency) between hitting the keyboards on the keyboard and hearing the sound from the AirPods.

For those types of scenarios, wired headphones are still the best.


OS X Lion SMB shared folder lost execute permission

Samba was dropped in 10.7 in favour of new custom Windows/SMB code - the functionality might still look the same, but the software that enables it is very different.  I have seen various issues related to it, and this could be one of them.  You could always stop sharing via preferences, and install the "real" Samba sharing software and see if that helps - it's not the most elegant solution, but it may prove a point while you wait for a fix.


How can I lookup the IP address of a Bonjour host?

Use dns-sd

It's the Multicast DNS (mDNS) & DNS Service Discovery (DNS-SD) tool for BSD.

$ dns-sd -Gv4v6 <hostname>.local

For my example, I write:

$ dns-sd -Gv4v6 raspberrypi.local

And get the IP (redacted) in the address column:

DATE: ---Wed 19 Jun 2019---
14:23:40.213  ...STARTING...
Timestamp     A/R    Flags if Hostname               Address         TTL
14:23:40.531  Add        2  5 raspberrypi.local.     <redacted MAC>  120
14:23:40.548  Add        2  5 raspberrypi.local.     10.1.2.3        120
14:23:40.838  Add        3  5 raspberrypi.local.     <redacted MAC>  120
14:23:40.838  Add        2  5 raspberrypi.local.     10.1.2.4        120

Hostnames and IP addresses have been changed to protect the innocent. I found this answer by looking for other questions about finding Bonjour machines.


Display a pixel-for-pixel copy of a Mac-created Keynote presentation on iPad

Staying with the keynote format, no. I you export to a QuickTime movie, you will have the best chance to preserve the slide deck as it was on the Mac when saving it alone doesn't work.

You can only work around this by getting the mac pixels on the iPad since this appears to be an inherent limitation of the iOS app as written today.

Have you tried using Air Display to add the iPad as a second monitor and tell Keynote to present on the iPad? The company does awesome work and like any screen sharing over a network, there is latency and/or slight rendering artifacts, but it's better than other apps in that space as any I've seen.


How to copy music content and playlists between iPods (Nano 5th Gen 16GB)?

Assuming I understand your question correctly, would a backup > restore process do what you want?

More specifically, have you tried doing a full backup to iTunes of the first iPod and then restoring that to the other iPod? Basically, when you connect the second iPod to iTunes you can do a Restore from the full backup you just created from the first iPod.

Once you've done the restore, the music may not be on your second iPod to start with, but then syncing it with iTunes should restore all the music/playlists you had previously downloaded to the first iPod.

NOTE: I'm also assuming that all the music, playlists, etc are stored in your iTunes library on your Mac.


Darwin/Linux/Unix command line email client that supports iCloud?

A popular command line e-mail clients is Mutt. Use a package manager such as Brew or Macports to install it on MacOS. Have a look at this page for some pointers.

You can find the IMAP settings for iCloud in this Support article.


How can I get the expiration date of a certificate in a keychain from the command line?

GuyGizmo's answer doesn't seem to work with Xcode 10.1 tools on macOS 10.14.4. I pulled this way together after a few tries.

Since I was trying to find out when my developer code signing certificate expires from the command line, I could readily look at apps that I had signed:

codesign --display --verbose --extract-certificates /path/to/dir.app

That tells you a certain amount about the app, and extracts the embedded signing certificate (without its private key, so there's no need for passwords) to a file called codesign0 in the current directory, in DER format. The other certificates in the chain of trust are extracted to codesign1, codesign2 and so on, for as many as are needed. It's probably best to remove them once you've finished with them.

You can then use the OpenSSL command-line tool to get the expiry date:

openssl x509 -inform der -in codesign0 -enddate -noout

Which prints a result like:

notAfter=June 8 10:37:33 2020 GMT

Another way to get the same information from the codesign0 file, in a format that may be easier to parse with a programming language, is:

openssl asn1parse -in codesign0 -inform der | grep UTCTIME

That will show you the beginning and ending dates in ASN.1 UTC time format, which is usually YYMMDDhhmmssZ in an Apple code signing certificate. Yes, the two-digit year does mean an ASN.1 UTC time wraps around every century.


How to view my complete purchase (just apps, not IAP stuff) history on Apple App Store?

The system only displays a subset of purchases at a time. You would need to download them or save your purchase emails to create a comprehensive listing of all purchases.


Syncing many Google Calendars under same account with iOS Calendar?

This is the important site here. Below some misc instructions but you need the site if you use Google calendar with some iOS devices such as iPhone or iPad.

Basic Default-calendar -setup

  You can decide the default calendar in Settings more here, useful if you need to change it with different works, schools or universities for instance.

Setting up many Google Calendars to iPad under your account

  Please, preview this thread here. You need nothing like CalenMob, use the default iOS -calendar and then decide which calendars to share with Apple products such as iPhone and iPad here. For some reason, Google calls it iPhone sync but in reality it handles also the iPad -calendar, perhaps also other Apple products?

Why is it enough to set up just Google -calendars?

  Because you can import other calendars such as Facebook-event-calendar, more here, to Google Calendars which you can later show with your Apple products such as iPad by the above instructions. Have Fun!


If I transfer songs to a zip drive and reload, can I get them out of "Purchased"?

This is a bit of a grey area around fair use, but there is software out there that will allow you to remove the drm from iTunes songs. Given that the songs they currently sell do not have any drm, I think it's not a particularly immoral option.

If you want to stay on the clearly bright side of the law, burning the songs to a cd and then re-ripping them will remove the drm and is supported through iTunes. You will lose some quality though.


How to delete all iOS Mobile Applications in iTunes except ones being used?

Apparently (based on a comment on my answer in the question you linked), syncing a device with iTunes no longer transfers purchased apps from the device to the computer.

There is no automatic way to "restore" all apps that you want into your iTunes library. Each one would need to be re-downloaded through iTunes. From the Apps section of iTunes, if you go to the App Store tab, there is a Purchased link on the right-hand side a few items down. From there just click on the cloud with the down arrow in the corner of the icon for each app you want to re-download. you can sort that list alphabetically using the Sort drop-down toward the upper-right.

I don't know if there's an easy way to get a complete, alphabetical list of all 3rd-party applications installed on your device. Settings > Cellular will show you a list, but I don't know if it's complete. (I think it should be, though.) Settings > scrolling down past Apple settings will show you a list, but I believe it's only apps that have permission requests built-in, or something exposed for the settings app; I don't believe it's everything. Settings > General > Storage & iCloud Usage > Storage > Manage Storage will definitely show you a complete list, but it's not alphabetized.

You are correct that, even when apps were copied from the device to the computer, user data was not included as part of that. Data from apps is only copied when making a backup.


One of my favorite Mac developers released just the tool for your task.

It's called stressdrive and writes the entire drive with data and reads it back to ensure every bit was readable and matches what was written.


Deleting mobile applications from Mac/iTunes 12.5

If you sync a device with the computer, and the apps don't already exist on that computer, they will be transferred from the device onto the computer. (This may only apply to apps newly downloaded since your last sync.)

If you're using iTunes 12.5.1, it's now accessible through the drop-down menu that allows you to switch between Music, Movies, Podcasts, etc., as Apps. If it's not visible on that menu, choose the Edit Menu item on the menu and check the box next to Apps, hit Done, and then click on Apps.

Once in Apps, you can remove them by right-clicking on an application (or selecting several and then right-clicking) and choosing Delete, then Delete Apps, then Move to Trash.

You can set your computer to automatically download new apps that you purchase on your device under Preferences > Store tab > Automatic Downloads and check the box for Apps.

If you restore a backup from iTunes, it does the restore and then does a separate sync step where it loads the apps back onto the device. I don't know what would happen if the apps weren't on the computer to be put back on, though. If you restore from an iCloud backup, the apps are re-downloaded over the internet.


Why does my wifi iPad think its location is in another state?

The iPad location service now reports the correct location just seems to have taken a really long time to update.

Steps:

Connect iPhone to the wifi network
Open Maps and click on location arrow
Wait for Apple location db to update


How to mount my MacBook's user folder as registered user using Automator?

Okay, problem was I thought of my user folder as residing in /Users/userfolder and the URL to that folder being afp://URLofMyMacBook/Users/userfolder.

But to connect directly to my userfolder I need to tell Automator to open:

  afp://username:password@URLofMyMacBook/userfolder

without /Users/ in between. Now it works without asking me to specify the volume.

I found this out by mounting the volume manually and looking at the "Information" (Command+I).


Apple Compressor's distributed processing for Autodesk Maya

After a thorough research I found out that it's impossible to use Apple Compressor 4.3 via command line for distributed processing.


Is buying iPhone apps like a subscription or a one time purchase?

1) It's a one-off payment.

2) Apple don't allow duplicate app names in the store, so as long as you make sure that the name of the app you're buying exactly matches the name of the app that you want, then you should be OK. Or if it's a popular app, like Fruit Ninja, just buy it from the listing of most popular apps.


How to add shortcut for Insert Equation in PowerPoint 2016?

The shortcut posted by theoden seems to be broken in new versions.
As a workaround one can just go to the System Preferences => Keyboard => Shortcuts => App Shortcuts and add another one for Microsoft PowerPoint with the "Equation" as Menu Title.


Writing a Mail.app rule to say "do not download from server"

Mail.app rules cannot run on mail they do not have.  That is to say- a rule cannot be applied to a message that doesn't exist.  Mail.app must download the email in order to parse it in order to run the rule against it.

Now, that said.  If you're dealing with a POP server situation where Mail.app is configured to not delete anything from the server - it should still delete messages you explicitly delete.

Get into your Mail.app prefs, accounts.  Select the account in question, and go to the Mailbox Behaviours tab.  Check the 'Move deleted messages to the Trash mailbox' checkbox.  Now when you delete something, it'll go to the trash.  Yipee.  I prefer never to have Mail.app delete something itself so mine is set to "never", but you could set it to automatically empty the trash at whatever interval you like.

Now - if you set up your rule, whatever emails are downloaded onto your computer and match the rule will be deleted right away.  Or at least moved to the trash and deleted at your next interval.

I think when you talk about your PC experience you're talking about Outlook + Exchange, which has a unique feature where you can have the rules actually live on the exchange server and are executed there, rather than on your local computer.  Is this supported by Mail.app on a Mac?  No, not that I know of.


Terminal.app: changing shell behavior problem?

The following information is taken from

SHELL environment variable still points to zsh after using bash and
What sets the $SHELL environment variable?

on Unix & Linux, which applies to macOS as well.

You are running the Korn shell if the Terminal preference is set to /bin/ksh. The output

$ echo $SHELL
/bin/bash

is misleading because the SHELL variable is set by the login process to

  The user's shell, as specified by the password database.

(On macOS it is a user database and not the /etc/passwd file as on Linux, where that information is stored, but that does not matter.)

You can type

$ echo $0
-ksh

or

$ echo $KSH_VERSION
Version AJM 93u+ 2012-08-01

to verify that you are running the Korn shell.

Setting the shell via

$ chsh -s /bin/ksh

sets the login shell in the user database, and then SHELL is set accordingly:

$ echo $SHELL
/bin/ksh


How can I disable the bell icon/emoji from the title bar in iTerm2?

The bell is a visual indicator that the terminal bell "ringed".
You can disable it on a profile by orofile  basis in the "Preferences" pane
Menu: Profiles | Open Profiles | Edit Profiles... | Terminal
in the "Notifications" section uncheck "Show bell icon in tabs"


You can't completely reformat/erase/repartition the drive you are booting from (assuming you are booting from the recovery partition on your main disk drive).

So boot to a bootable DVD, a second (external) hard drive, a bootable thumb drive or boot to Internet Recovery Mode by pressing altcmdR while starting your Mac.

Then open Disk Utility and reformat the internal drive.


Is there a way to limit OS X when searching for apps?

Open the Spotlight pane in System Preferences.
Select the Privacy tab.
Drag the Applications folder from the partitions that you don't want indexed into the list area.

Shortly thereafter the duplicate results should disappear from the list, leaving applications from the one Applications folder you want.

You might need to force a refresh the LaunchServices database afterward too.

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

Finally restart the Finder with the following command to rebuild any data cached within the Finder.

killall Finder


Remember Window Dimension / Position Single Screen Laptop

I would suggest using a tool like Divvy to position and remember window positions. OS X simply doesn't handle it in an ideal manner.


Someone is accessing my computer through remote desktop. How can i block that?

Uncheck 'Remote Management' in System Preferences -> Sharing


iPhone: Why does the keyboard language switch randomly?

What you are observing is not really random. It is programmatically possible to remember the last used keyboard language, from among the set of languages chosen by user under Settings app → General → Keyboard → Keyboards, on a per text input field basis. This is employed by apps which present multiple text entry fields (such as messaging apps) to automatically choose the last used or the most relevant language.

Let me explain it with the help of an example. Suppose in a messaging app, you prefer conversing with some users in Simplified Chinese and with some in English. It's possible to program the app so that a text input field remembers the last used keyboard language. This way, the last chosen language is automatically selected for you. However, this doesn't work with the Emoji keyboard. This approach can be taken to aid user convenience.

If you are interested in learning about the programming aspect of how this can be achieved, refer to this answer on Stack Overflow:

https://stackoverflow.com/a/23403247/6995250


How do I create a script to create/modify local admin accounts?

This is what I came up with:

It also uses http://magervalp.github.io/CreateUserPkg/

#!/bin/bash
# This script will first check existing accounts for presence of USERNAME or admin    or administrator
# If found, it will change the password to PASSWORD
# If none are found, it will run the package create_USERNAME-1.0.pkg which creates an account with Full Name = Administrator, Account Name
# (short name) USERNAME with the password.

function checkusername () {

local test1=$(dscl . -list /Users | grep -i USERNAME)
local test2=$(dscl . -list /Users | grep -i admin)
local test3=$(dscl . -list /Users | grep -i Administrator)

if [ "$test1" = “username” ]; then
  echo the username username already exists
  echo setting password
  dscl . passwd /Users/username PASSWORD
  exit
else
  echo
fi

if [ "$test1" = "Username" ]; then
  echo the username Username already exists
  echo setting password
  dscl . passwd /Users/Username PASSWORD
  exit
else
  echo
fi

if [ "$test1" = “UserName” ]; then
  echo the username UserName already exists
  echo setting password
  dscl . passwd /Users/UserName PASSWORD
  exit
else
  echo
fi

if [ "$test2" = "admin" ]; then
  echo the username admin already exists
  echo setting password
  dscl . passwd /Users/admin PASSWORD
  exit
else
  echo
fi

if [ "$test2" = "Admin" ]; then
  echo the username Admin already exists
  echo setting password
  dscl . passwd /Users/Admin PASSWORD
  exit
else
  echo
fi

if [ "$test3" = "Administrator" ]; then
  echo the username Administrator already exists
  echo setting password
  dscl . passwd /Users/Administrator PASSWORD
  exit
else
  echo
fi

if [ "$test3" = "administrator" ]; then
  echo the username administrator already exists
  echo setting password
  dscl . passwd /Users/administrator PASSWORD
  exit
else
  echo
fi

}

checkusername

/usr/sbin/installer -pkg 'create_USERNAME-1.0.pkg' -target /


How can I print a PDF/X Mavericks document?

Create an Automator print plugin that prints as a PDF-X.

Open Automator.app

Select "Print Plugin" at the Choose a type for your document screen

Select "PDF" from the Actions menu

Drag "Apple Quartz Filter to the PDF Documents" to the workflow space on the right

When prompted choose if you want to create a copy of the original, add or don't add

In the Apply Quartz Filter to PDF Documents workflow, in the Filter dropdown, choose "Create Generic PDFX-3 Document".

Choose File-->Save

Name whatever you like (PDFX)

This will add a workflow back that allows for PDFX again. The workflow is saved in your user directory ~/Library/PDF Services/


Running macOS Sierra (10.12) or macOS High Sierra (10.13) on a 21.5" mid 2017 iMac

The mid 2017 21.5" iMac (both Retina 4K and non-retina models) originally shipped with macOS Sierra 10.12.4. Thus, both macOS Sierra and macOS High Sierra have the drivers to run on either one of the iMac's.

It would be possible to run the last (publicly available) release of both macOS Sierra 10.12.6 and macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 on either one of the iMac's by installing via USB installer or via Internet recovery.

The installer can use downloaded from the Mac App Store:

macOS Sierra 10.12.6 - Mac App Store
macOS High Sierra 10.13.6 - Mac App Store


Just unlock (bottom left) the network prefs before hitting the advanced button.
You have to enter a login name with admin rights and the respective password to do so. If it's your personal Mac usually the one and only existing account has admin rights (though the login name doesn't contain 'Admin'). An office/school/university Mac has - depending on the internal guidelines - often several accounts: non-privileged standard user accounts and one or several admin accounts. Only the admin accounts are eligible to change network preferences.
Choose your WIFI-interface and click the advanced button
Remove any unwanted networks


How to disable AirPlay service on playing video from iPhone

You may have unknowingly played the video on an AirPlay compatible smart TV present in your network from your iPhone. You can change the playback to your iPhone or stop it.

Open Control Centre (swipe down from top right), locate and tap on the playback controls and select iPhone instead of your TV.

Refer to this Apple Support article on using AirPlay on your iPhone.

How to AirPlay video and mirror your device's screen - AirPlay video from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch


How to import Chrome passwords into iCloud Keychain

Finally found it. It's in Safari menu. Too bad it seems like a one-off action instead of true sharing of this data:

Then:


Why did deadbeefdeadbeef become deadbeeedeadbeef?

The error message you have got is directly from the operating system kernel - warning of unexpected memory corruption. This is obviously not supposed to happen. 0xdeadbeef is indeed a common "magic number", but it appears here for a very specific reason.

Specifically this error messages comes from zalloc (a zone-based memory allocator) within the kernel. The kernel is the part of the operating system that is run in "privileged mode", meaning roughly that it has full access to the computer. Your own applications are run in a limited mode that gives it less access to the computer. As part of its functioning the kernel uses RAM memory to store and process information. In order to keep track of which parts of RAM is actually used the kernel uses many different allocators. The zone-based memory allocator is special in that it is used by the kernel itself only (i.e. not for applications) and that it allocates only RAM blocks of specific, fixed sizes. For example it might allocate blocks of 256, 512 and 1024 bytes - but it won't allocate a block of 300 bytes. This is done to make the allocator simpler and thus faster.

The cookie part of the error message refers to a security related feature, where pointers (memory addresses) in the kernel are "poisoned" by combining (with XOR) them with a cookie. The cookie is simply a random number picked when you boot your computer. This ensures that these memory addresses seem random, and are not predictable by virus/malware that exploit bugs to get access to privileged resources.

One specific functionality of the zone based allocator is that when the kernel frees the memory (i.e. states that it no longer has use for an allocated piece of memory), it doesn't just note that it is free for other use - but it also overwrites the memory pointer with the magic number 0xdeadbeef. This serves two purposes: (1) if the kernel erroneously use the memory after it has freed it, following the pointer wouldn't "happen to work" or "happen to point to other data which will be corrupted" - but rather trigger a system error interrupt as the address 0xdeadbeef is mapped to ensure that happens, (2) if the allocator later is asked for a new allocations and wants to hand out the same block again, it can detect if it was changed, meaning that there's a bug or hardware error somewhere.

In your case the error message indicates that (2) happened - so something altered some of the RAM in your computer that the kernel thought was marked as not in use. The cause of such a memory corruption is most often either a kernel bug, third party kernel extension bug or hardware error.

If the problem is a kernel bug, you probably have no way to fix this except to either wait for a new update from Apple, or downgrade to an earlier version of macOS. If this happens once in a blue moon, then just wait for the next update. If it happens frequently, you can try to figure out exactly what you did to trigger the bug, and avoid doing that in the future - or downgrade to an earlier version of macOS that hasn't got the bug.

If the problem is a third party kernel extension bug, I would check for updates to all of the kernel extensions you have installed. Kernel extensions are usually installed as drivers for third party hardware, or for special applications that change the way the system works at a low level. This could be for example virtualization software (such as VMware) or software such as Little Snitch or similar. It is always a good idea to disconnect any third party hardware and not start up such low-level applications and check if the bug disappears - then reconnect one thing at a time until you have the problem.

If the problem is hardware error, you really have no choice but to get the hardware replaced. Usually errors like this are caused by defective RAM modules. It could also be a thermal or logic board problem, but it is not usually the case. Use the Apple Hardware Test to check if your RAM modules have errors.

In the extreme case this error could be caused by a virus, but I would definitely look for other reasons first. A virus or malware usually tries to keep its existence hidden, so it wouldn't be triggering error messages such as these (and causing system lockups). However it is possibly that a bug in a virus triggers this error messages, similar to bugs in non-malicious kernel extensions.


Fixing dead/stuck pixels on Apple Cinema Display

You can sometimes fix stuck pixels by running something like this:

http://www.flexcode.org/lcd2.html

Hit the fix my screen button and it can attempt to unstick the pixel.  If that doesn't work then the best things that you can do is to make an appointment at your local Apple Store Genius Bar:

http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

and have the Geniuses look at it.  If it is under warranty still and it falls with in Apple's Guidelines for Pixel/Screen Replacement, they can replace the screen for you for free.

If it isn't under warranty there will be a parts and labor charge, but they will let you know this up front and you can decide if you want to go through with it.  That is one of the great things about Apple, free diagnostics even if you don't go through with the repair.  So technically you don't have anything to lose.  (Except your time, technically)


How to fix git path after MacOS Sierra update?

My problem solved after running xcode installation with following code from terminal:

xcode-select --install


Find files in current folder without spotlight

This should work out of the box, actually.

Open Finder Preferences and set the default search location to "current folder"

In the search box of Finder start typing the name of the file (or a part of it) to get matching files/folders


Transfer PDF from iPad to Mac without Internet

Depending on the type of Mac and iPad you are using, AirDrop could be a solution. The iOS device would need iOS 7 installed and be at least one of the models below.

iPhone 5 or later
iPad (4th generation or later)
iPad mini
iPod touch (5th generation)

The Mac would need to be a 2012 or later model with OS X Yosemite installed.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth need to be enabled on both devices, but no network infrastructure is necessary as AirDrop uses a direct Wi-Fi connection.

As long as you have the option to share the PDF using the standard iOS share button, you should be able to AirDrop the file. Your Mac will show up in the top section of the share sheet, but may take several seconds to be discovered so be patient.


App Store: can't add a new credit card (too many are already associated)

Thanks for documenting the current state of play. Although most can buy gift cards from the store of your choice and load them into the App Store, if they truly are not easily available in your country just slowing down the cycling of cards you use for payment is the obvious choice out of this dilemma.


Running Dragon Naturally Speaking on MacBook Pro

Since you are working in a laptop environment where memory can sometimes be limited, I would highly suggest going the route of setting up Windows using Bootcamp. The setup process for this is fairly straightforward (it walks you through the whole thing). If you haven't already purchased Dragon; however, there is a Mac version available. If you are planning on running any smaller, less-RAM hogging Windows applications, there are also a number of potentially-buggy options available (such as WINE) for porting those to OS X.


AppleScript - Error: Expect End of Line found end of script

Delimit the ampersand using a backslash like so:

(("Macintosh HD:Users:John:Dropbox:John \& Julie:Wirecard")

From: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11233682/opening-a-file-with-an-in-the-middle-mac-terminal


SourceTree: how to show commit information panel if once hide?

Run this in the terminal & restart SourceTree

defaults delete com.torusknot.SourceTreeNotMAS "NSSplitView Subview Frames repowindow_LogViewDescSplitter"

Source


OSX 10.10.3 Update - App Store icon image missing

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6983727

Resolved it from this workaround:

Click informations on the blank icon.
Click on the library icon in the left corner of the informations window and copy it.
Open Preview.
Paste the copied icon and save it on desktop.
Now, just drag and drop the new icon to the old icon of the informations window of the broken Library icon.


Applescript : Getting List of Id's of Visible windows ( windows shown on the desktop )

I modified your code, making the necessary changes for it to at least run (work) through the code to gather the information, while adding some additional code to handle the reporting of more then one message by having a separator between them. However, you can change it to something other then what I made it.

That said though, the output for the visibleWindows is just a string of numbers representing the concatenated id's, as that's how it's written to output. I'm not sure if that's the output you expected, however if the code as you wrote it had ran through, the outcome would have been the same for what's returned for visibleWindows.

on run
    set visibleWindows to ""
    set message to ""

    tell application "System Events"
        set listOfProcesses to (name of every process where background only is false)
    end tell

    repeat with visibleProcess in listOfProcesses
        try
            tell application visibleProcess to set visibleWindows to visibleWindows & (id of windows whose visible is true)
        on error someError
            set message to message & "Some error occurred: " & someError & "; "
        end try
    end repeat

    return {visibleWindows, listOfProcesses, message}
end run

In the code above, if you change set visibleWindows to "" to set visibleWindows to {}, then visibleWindows returns as a list of the id's not just a string of numbers.

If you also change:

tell application visibleProcess to set visibleWindows to visibleWindows & (id of windows whose visible is true)

To:

tell application visibleProcess to set visibleWindows to visibleWindows & visibleProcess & (id of windows whose visible is true)

You get the application's name followed by a list of its window's id, so at least the data returned make more sense, then just a string of numbers or a list of id's not knowing which belongs to what.

The bottom line is, get the listOfProcesses separately and then let the application not the process get the id and do so outside of the "System Events" tell block. Every combination I tried while leaving the remaining code within the "System Events" tell block failed. So I moved the rest of it outside of it and changed tell process to tell application and it worked. Then I tweaked the code it a bit.


rm does not support long-form --recursive, --force on Mac?

OSX is Unix and uses the BSD tools. The extended names are a GNU extension.

You just need to use the standard parameters e.g. -r -f
(These are in the POSIX standard)

The error is in the build file using non standard Unix commands


How can I change the number format in Disk Inventory X?

The Software was updated Feb 28, 2019. The commas are placed properly.

http://www.derlien.com/


July 18, 2019 (update)

Found this related post detailing the behavior and another one from the same author explaining how Dropbox deceives the user into getting accessibility permissions.¹

¹These are both close to two years old, but only found them today.

January 18, 2019 (update)

I installed Dropbox today on Mojave and in settings there is something regarding accessibility I had not seen before. Image follows.

From Dropbox help center:

  Why does Dropbox want to turn on accessibility?

  Accessibility is an Apple setting that allows applications on your Mac to interact with other applications. For example, it allows the Dropbox badge to work in non-Dropbox applications.

  If you don’t turn on accessibility, you won’t get access to Dropbox features like:

  The Dropbox badge
  Seeing who’s viewed your files
  Better prioritization for file syncing

Additional information from the Dropbox help center:

How do I turn the Dropbox badge on or off?, and
What is the Dropbox badge?.

July 12, 2016 (old answer)

I found an answer in the community forum of Dropbox. A user sent a ticket to Dropbox asking about this and he posted the reply there. According to the reply, Dropbox needs to control the computer in order to keep our data safe. I'm copying both the ticket and the answer over here.

Ticket #3172481: DB: Dropbox app listed under "Allow the apps below
to control your computer".

I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation why Dropbox needs
permission to control Mac computers, I'd just quite like to know what it is.

  Thank you for writing in regarding the security of your account
  information. I can certainly understand you wanting to ensure the
  security of data you have entrusted to Dropbox. I will be happy to
  explain the measures taken by Dropbox to ensure the security of
  everyone's account.

  Permission to control the computer is just another way of saying that
  there are certain system permissions Dropbox needs to function, and
  many of those permissions are to establish secure connections in order
  to protect the data contained within your Dropbox folders.

  Operating system permissions prevent files from being viewed or edited
  by unauthorized logins. Permissions can be set any number of ways and
  can be restored manually through a fairly simple process.

  Another possible cause of issues with Dropbox arise when conflicts
  exist between your local network sharing or folder redirection
  preferences setup in folders or files within your Dropbox. Similar
  effects can also happen when your Dropbox folder or its system files
  are located in a mounted network drive or a remote location (like
  roaming profiles) since this could cause Dropbox to not have constant
  access or permissions to operate in those locations. This is
  especially an issue if other people in the network could be accessing
  the same data. For these reasons, I'd suggest that you ensure that
  your setup does not include any of the above scenarios.

  Additional permissions my be required when syncing mobile devices,
  particularly when photos or photo albums are involved. Since there is
  a great deal of personally identifying information stored in the
  metadata for a photo file (yes, people can find you if they know how
  to decrypt this metadata), some of the additional permissions required
  for our Carousel app, for example, include:

  iOS

  -Contacts
  -Photos
  -Camera
  -Notifications
  -Background App Refresh
  -Use Cellular Data

  Android

  -In-app purchases
  -Device & app history
  -Identity
  -Contacts/Calendar
  -Photos/Media/Files
  -Camera/Microphone
  -Wi-Fi connection information
  -Device ID & call information

  Facebook does not offer a large amount of granularity or retroactive
  permissions control, so we need to request all the permissions we need
  or even may need in the future.

  I want to reiterate the point that all these steps are taken in order
  to prevent access to your data, not to facilitate access to your data.
  Dropbox takes great pride in being a company worth of the trust of our
  users, and we would never ask you to allow us access with the intent
  of violating that trust.

  I hope this helps clarify our account security measures regarding
  permissions. Thank you so much for using Dropbox, and please let me
  know if there's anything else I can help with.

Another user asked the following pertinent questions, but he never got any answers for those at least not in that thread.

  "(...) why the need to give up access across the board as opposed to
  an as needed basis? (...) It's hard for me to grasp why giving up OS
  level access to data that Dropbox doesn't need for our use, makes our
  data safer? (...) Syncing data for example seems to work fine without
  the permissions checked. What am I missing? I'm not trying to be
  combative; just hoping to get a better understanding. (...)"


Debugging charging problem with MacBook Pro

Apple makes 3 different chargers for their MacBooks that you need to be concerned about:

45-Watt -- For MacBook Airs.
60-Watt -- For 13" MacBook Pros.
85-Watt -- For 15" and 17" MacBook Pros.

You can use a higher-wattage charger than you MacBook requires, but not a lower-wattage one.  Yours was an 85-watt charger.  If your friend's charger was a 60-watt, that's why it wouldn't work.

Also, if your charger is broken, attaching a new MagSafe connector to it isn't going to make a difference.  Assuming your MacBook is OK, you will need a replacement 85-watt charger.

You may also need to reset your SMC.

For your model, according to this Apple document:

Shut down the Mac.
Disconnect the MagSafe power adapter from the Mac.
Remove the battery.
Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
Reconnect the battery and MagSafe power adapter.
Press the power button to turn on the Mac.

You should note that your computer will not give you any feedback at all when you do this.  No lights or noises will come out of the computer to indicate it was successful.


You can try to remove the network interface in "System Preferences > Network", select the network that isn't working, then press the "-" button.

And then add it back again by pressing the "+" and selecting "Wi-Fi" and naming it "Wi-Fi".


Create bootable USB disk with Bootcamp 6

Solved it! I created the bootable USB with Rufus, just select the Windows ISO and format the disk as FAT32. The partition scheme must be MBR Partition Scheme for UEFI if you select compatibility for both BIOS and UEFI-CSM it won't be detected on startup.


How will macOS behave when creating folders in /private/var/folders to mount a NFS share with?

No.

This is a system directory that contains things like logs, databases, your sleep image, etc.  It's not a directory that you should be mounting file shares to.  The purpose of the /private directory has already be discussed in the following posts:

What's the "Private" directory in OS X for?
Snow Leopard *private* folder?

Even the automount service doesn't mount shares to that directory, it's mounted in /Volumes.

Your best bet would be to either mount the share in a shared user space (i.e. /Users/shared) or within the users own home directory.


How to get access to an admin account without an admin account without losing data

Break a password
search for Mac Password Reset Software
Access user account data
If the fileVault was not enabled then you can access your account data by connecting your disk to another computer.
Contact Apple Support
You are not the first one in this situation. Apple Support should have already an answer for this question


Forcefully un-suspend a Parallels VM without starting Parallels

Check that you have option ShutdownReason"0" in config.pvs.
I think you have "2". It works for me.


I just had a similar problem and solved it by going to:

System Preferences > Java > Security

and set the security level down to medium.

However I don't find this a very satisfying solution and I wonder why Mail requires Java to display images...

Update:

I assume it actually has nothing to do with Java itself but in some way with the plug-in loading. Maybe changing Java settings does something with the internet plugins... After all, now that my images do appear again, it has no further effect to change the java settings. The images will be displayed regardless of the java security settings. (So I set them back to high)

Maybe another solution is to have the privileges repaired or internet caches cleaned up...


Is it possible that a self cut micro sim is killing an iPhone ?

An iPhone that is failing activation certainly sounds like a self-cut SIM card could be a problem.

There's an easy way to tell, however: take someone else's non-cut SIM card and see what happens. If it works, the SIM card is at fault. If it doesn't work, the phone is at fault.


I got a rock stuck in my charging port for my iPhone and my charger won’t go into the hole I need ways to get it out please?

If you can't get it out with fine tipped tweezers, you can try a tooth pick and super glue.  Put a tiny amount on the tip of the toothpick.  Then touch the tip of it to the stone, and hold it there until it sets.  Then pull it out.  I don't recommend this if you can't insert the toothpick without touching the inside walls of the charging port, though.


Bluetooth slow to turn on after iOS10 update

I'm having this issue as well. I went to Apple, they replaced my iPhone 6S due to both the bluetooth coming up with an error in diagnostics, as well as the battery issue thats plaguing 6S users. However, I am still having the same problem. I am convinced its software related and waiting for the new iOS patch. A bit concerned that the hardware diagnostics at the Genius Bar found a Bluetooth error as well, hopefully the software isn't damaging the hardware.


What is the best way to automatically create a movie from my iPhoto videos?

Open the iPhoto Library.

Click Create → Movie and select No Theme.
Select the photos/videos.
Press E.

All the photos and videos will be added sequentially to the timeline.
Export your timeline normally.


Green Flickering on Black Pixels - Macbook Pro 2011 (Auto Graphic Switching)

This is related to the AMD Radeon discrete graphics card. It is a hardware issue.

I noticed it come up when plugging in an external monitor on my 2011 MacBook Pro 15" (as it forces the discrete graphics to be used at that time).

The only band-aid fix I was able to find was to force the use of the Intel integrated graphics over the AMD Radeon graphics card. I found a handy utility called GfxCardStatus to both show you what graphics card is in use, and also toggle the use of the Intel integrated graphics card. The utility is available at http://gfx.io

Unfortunately for me in my case, you can't use the integrated graphics card with an external display attached. But at least it gets rid of the green dots in some cases.


Stop sharing Macintosh HD and home folder with File Sharing?

There is a folder called Public in your home folder that is shared by default with read only privileges. You don't need to tick the file sharing option to share it.


Xcode doesn't show up in spotlight results, neither search results

Try Rebuilding Spotlight index.  You can do it from the Terminal:

$ sudo mdutil -i on /


/usr/local/bin/ not found by Automator and Java but exists in Terminal

Automator uses the path variable hard coded in the kernel.

sysctl user.cs_path
user.cs_path = /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

Actually, this is the path set for a user's launchd and is then inherited by Automator when you launch the application.

launchctl getenv PATH
/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

Use the absolute paths to your executables or modify the PATH in the Run Shell Script.


Remove link to something that is not a folder in the Finder sidebar

This behavior got changed with the 10.6.7 update - apparently to avoid accidental deletion from the sidebar. Now the behavior is consistent with removing system icons from the menubar.

Hold the ⌘-key while dragging the icon away from the sidebar to remove it.


Why is python's "easy_install" installing into the wrong directory?

Find out where easy_install is by in terminal

which easy_install

I suspect that it will be /usr/bin which is Apple's python 2.6

EDIT: I don't have the python.org python so this is from memory.

To use easy_install for the python.org 2.7 use /usr/local/bin/easy_install or /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/bin/easy_install

Also easy_install is not in the Python standard library so you would have to install a package either setuptools or distribute I think the latter is now the preferred one.

To check what easy_install does look at the first line and see what python is used in the #! line


Keyboard not working in some apps in Catailna 10.15.7 while working in others

The only solution I found was to create an alternative user account on my mac. I am using that account now, and the problem does not exist there.


How to list previously approved apps from "Filter Network Content" pop-ups?

systemextensionsctl list

This lists all system extensions. The usage mentions a category can be given to filter the list but the manual doesn't document what categories can be provided.


Why does sed -i create random files with “q” commands?

I’ve found confirmation in the commit history: it’s a bug, which was fixed in r338375 in August 2018.


Where did the /proc directory go in Mountain Lion?

/proc has never been included in any version of OS X (although Amit Singh wrote a version of procfs for OS X). You should, however, be able to get at it through /.vol instead. First, find the device number for the volume it lives on with something like stat -f%d /Users/lamnk (assuming you don't have your Library weirdly redirected to another volume). Then get its file ID (aka inode number) from the lsof command (370617680 in the example you gave). You can then reach it as /.vol/volumeid/fileid:

$ stat -f%d /Users/lamnk
234821716
$ lsof -c "Google Chrome" | grep "Pepper Data"
Google 38571 lamnk 74u REG 1,2 156826302 37061768 /Users/lamnk/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Pepper Data/Shockwave Flash/.com.google.Chrome.KNc63e
$ cp /.vol/234821716/37061768 rawfile

EDIT: Apparently /.vol does not find unlinked-but-open files, even though they still exist on disk.  Unfortunately, this means this trick won't work here. You might be able to do it with Amit Singh's procfs, but I haven't used it so I don't know if it'll do the trick either.


Making it so programs aren't restored after startup from a forced shutdown

Log out once and uncheck the Reopen windows when logging back in toggle.

It should stick and cover you next time you have to crash land your mac.
Do be sure to check this setting in the General preference.

Lastly, some more tacky per-app solutions are running around like locking the folders where state is saved. OS X Lion: App-Specific Resume


Why are some desktops locked during a dual monitor set up?

The space that you want to move to another monitor cannot be active.
For instance if you are currently on "Desktop 1" you can move any space to any monitor except for "Desktop 1."  If you want to move "Desktop 1", you need to switch to a different space and then move it to the monitor you want.


Deleted time machine backups from external HD, but did not free space

Enter Time Machine - there is an icon on the menu bar. Scroll back using the arrow keys on the screen until you get to the older backups. Near the top of the window, there is an icon that looks like a gear. Click on this icon and one of the options in the pull-down menu is to delete. Use this to delete backups.


Execute a BASH script... by double-clicking on it?

Maybe change the extension name to .command, but I think there should be some workaround to make .sh work.

To run by double click on the icon:
open terminal and cd to directory of script.
then chmod +x .
finder will decide if it is excutable or not.


New hard drive in early unibody 2011 MacBook Pro won't boot

Reboot the computer and hold down the option key so you can access startup manager.

If you've already installed OS X, select your HD from the system.

If you NEED to install OS X, select your USB key and run the install

Another option would be to restart the system and hold down Command + R to enter recovery mode. Depending on your Mac model, you'll actually be able to install OS X from the internet. It will be the version you shipped with, but you can just follow the upgrade path to Yosemite.

And if you have to use your computer today, I'd just throw in the old hard drive and deal with this over the weekend


iPhone always thinks headset is plugged in

In most current audio ports on Apple products, the audio jack contains a small switch which senses when a jack has been inserted.  It is likely your phone's switch has some debris that has disconnected the circuit, something that I've observed on multiple occasions with multiple users devices.  I myself am constantly getting pocket lint in the various ports of my phone.  Someday it will probably result in the same issue you're having.

You need to somehow get the sensor working again, or work around it.  Try using canned air (from your local electronics or office supply store) to blow out the port.

Since the audio jack is soldered to the phone's motherboard, if this is a deal-breaker for you, you might have to replace it.


How do I fix this annoying Chrome for macOS scroll bar issue?

Try going to system settings > general > show scroll bars > always.


How can I assign custom colors to groups in a dispersion chart in Numbers?

Just called AppleCare. The guy took some time to make a chart and afterwards explained that I could click the line to change the color (just as I did before). While we were talking I clicked a dot in the graph, representing a data point. It turned out that you could change the color of the dots the same way. This color was applied to the legend, so the problem was solved.


Overcoming random slowness with my home Wi-Fi and 2015 13″ Retina MacBook Pro

The issues aren't with upgrading to Yosemite, they're with a component of Yosemite - every Yosemite machine runs the risk of having them. The issue's been resolved in the latest version of the OS X 10.10.4 beta, which you can download by joining the Apple beta program and following the instructions to put the beta on your computer.

Here's an article explaining more about the bug in question, if you're interested.


I solve a similar problem using the free public domain utility Karabiner. This allows for extremely extensive remapping of single or multiple key presses (including control keys) to any specifiable Unicode character, plus other operations. It is frequently updated, and photos has an older version for much older versions of OSX. You'll need to play a little bit with some examples to get what you want, but there's also pretty helpful documentation.


Based on the fact that another known-good drive did not work, it sounds like questioning the cable is the next logical step. You could confirm what you already know by installing your hard drive in your friend's computer and booting it, thus proving the Partition Table/Master Boot Record/Apple Partition Map are in working order.

It sounds like plenty of other people are having problems with their hard drive cables too.

You can always buy an enclosure for your drive and attempt to boot from USB, ultimately proving that there is nothing else it could be. It's a tad cheaper than the replacement part.

Good luck.


How to change the color and format of the static host/path/user string in the Terminal or iTerm?

What you are looking for us customizing the prompt in the bash shell. Many articles on the web including this one.

This is basically done by setting the variable PS1 e.g.

PS1="\[\033[35m\]\t\[\033[m\]-\[\033[36m\]\u\[\033[m\]@\[\033[32m\]\h:\[\033[33;1m\]\w\[\033[m\]\$ "

gives for user mark on machine flat

This includes \t as time, \u as user \h as hostname and \w current working directory

The \[ then \octal number \] send commands to the terminal , in this case acting as an xterm and sets the colours.


Go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Mouse & Trackpad > Trackpad Options… and check “Enable dragging”.


Key combination for selecting all the text in an edit buffer?

Hahaha. The answer is simple: it is cmd+a


Radio interference? How many other wifi spots are nearby? How many are using the same channel as you? Does this only happen with AFP or does it happen with other protocols as well (e.g., HTTP, CIFS, etc)? Are you using A/B/G/N?

What's the memory usage look like on both systems? Is one (or both) maxed out? The traffic seems very bursty. This could indicate that one or both sides can't buffer the stream properly (i.e., not enough free memory).

Do you have the same problems when configured to use an Ad Hoc network? If not then the problem is your WAP.


Possible to remap CapsLock with modifier functionality?

Use Seil to map caps lock to some key like F19. Then install Karabiner and save a file like this as ~/Library/Application Support/Karabiner/private.xml:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <item>
    <name>custom</name>
    <identifier>custom</identifier>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F19, ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::KEY_9, ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F19, VK_SHIFT, KeyCode::KEY_0, ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L</autogen>
  </item>
</root>

Then open the Karabiner application, press the ReloadXML button, and click the checkbox for the setting.

If others search for how to for example map pressing caps lock to escape and holding caps lock to control, use KeyOverlaidModifier:

__KeyOverlaidModifier__ KeyCode::F19, KeyCode::CONTROL_L, KeyCode::ESCAPE


How to purchase Lion OS without going to Mac App Store?

Just to note, you can (at least in the UK) use the App Store with a debit card.

However, if you don't have one of those either, and you're not having any issues with OSX 10.6, why not continue using it for now? In August, Apple will start selling 10.7 on a USB drive, which you can purchase with cash in an Apple Store.


Iphone 5 : Recording video in slow motion

Slow motion video is not available on models below iPhone 5s with stock software. There are camera apps that simulate it, but the hardware in iPhone 5 is apparently not physically capable of going above 60 FPS.

It is possible on jailbroken devices to unlock this 60 FPS mode, or at least it was as of iOS 7 (a few years ago).


Catalina - App Store issues - doesn't automatically find new updates and cannot update!

I ran into this problem in Big Sur (currently Public Beta).
I also noticed that App Store apps that I had on my system were showing up in my App Store account list as though they were available to download but not installed.
I tried various methods including deleting App Store caches and preferences files, deleting the keychain item (search in Keychain.app for appstored), and signing out and signing in to the App Store.
In my case, the problem was that Spotlight was no longer indexing /Applications for some reason, even though /Applications was not excluded from indexing.
I opened Terminal and ran:
sudo mdutil -a -i off

then
sudo mdutil -a -i on

And shortly afterward, the App Store showed available updates, and my installed apps were showing up as installed in the App Store as well.


Does iCloud backup only backup non-deleted pictures?

The pictures won't return as long as you did a backup after you deleted them from your device.


Clarification on Apple version identification?

A general statement regarding Model Identifiers (example: iPad1,1) is first number indicates generation and the second number indicates variant. However, there are many instances where simply reading the model identifier and trying to decode it cannot identify a device.

Comprehensive lists are available at EveryI and The iPhone Wiki. Note that there are several instances of overlap (example: iPad1,1 for both WiFi and WiFi+3G models)

The model/family/"A" number (example: A1234) may also be useful in identifying a given device (though some also overlap, such as A1395 for iPad2,1 and iPad2,4).

The model/part/"M" number is even better, typically allowing identification of more specific detail.

The iPad2,2 specifically refers to the iPad 2 WiFi+3G (GSM).


Can a Wi-Fi only iPad use a mobile Hotspot to get Internet access?

Yes, you can definitely use a mobile hotspot with the iPad. Make sure you get a version that connects with devices over WiFi, and you’ll be fine! (I.e. do not get a dongle that needs to be plugged into USB).

The connection process is slightly different than with an iPhone. It isn’t automatic, so you need to open Settings and look for the hotspot under WiFi and enter the password.

The only thing you’ll miss in comparison to the iPhone tethering is that the iPhone lets the iPad use its GPS for location updates. A mobile hotspot does not in the same manner give access to precise locations. Usually this is not a problem at all, unless you specifically want to use the iPad for navigation (GPS routing / mapping).


Flag disappears after reading a message in Mail

I reported this as a bug in 2006. It appears that Apple either doesn't use Mail or doesn't care about this feature.

You can get add-on software, such as Mailhub, to repair this feature.


iPhone dock connector seems to have bent pins, is this a hazard

Pull those pieces out with a plier (or tweezers) so to remove any potential shorts.


This is an unusual request. I'm not sure why you would want to do this but it sparked my interest. We'll use jot to pick us a random number between 1 and 16000.

jot -r 1 1 16000

This will be the number of hours we subtract from the current date.

seed=$(jot -r 1 1 16000)
date -v-"$seed"H "+%Y%m%d%H%M.%S"

Note that date above, formats the date to work with touch.

Now we use find to list all the directories within the current working directory and use an "inline" script to touch all the filesystem objects within each directory with a unique modification time in each directory.

find . ! -name '.' -type d -exec bash -c ' for dir
    do
        seed=$(jot -r 1 1 16000)
        echo touch -t "$(date -v-"$seed"H "+%Y%m%d%H%M.%S")" "${dir}/"*
    done
' sh {} \;

We are not done yet because we have indiscriminately changes the modification times of nested directories. We want unique mod times for each directory.

find . ! -name '.' -type d -exec bash -c ' for dir
    do
        seed=$(jot -r 1 1 16000)
        echo touch -t "$(date -v-"$seed"H "+%Y%m%d%H%M.%S")" "${dir}"
    done
' sh {} \;

And to put it all together-

#! /bin/ksh

find . ! -name '.' -type d -exec bash -c ' for dir
    do
        seed=$(jot -r 1 1 16000)
        echo touch -t "$(date -v-"$seed"H "+%Y%m%d%H%M.%S")" "${dir}/"*
    done
' sh {} \;

find . ! -name '.' -type d -exec bash -c ' for dir
    do
        seed=$(jot -r 1 1 16000)
        echo touch -t "$(date -v-"$seed"H "+%Y%m%d%H%M.%S")" "${dir}"
    done
' sh {} \;

This script could fail if you exceed ARG_MAX and currently will only list the changes that touch would make. You can remove the echo in front of touch to make the changes. Please be aware that this script has only limited testing and is offered AS IS.


My Books app in my ipad pro deletes/disappears my pdfs. I am on IOS 12.2 and it is was updated a couple weeks back without issue

I've had the same problem. One of my friends gave me a slew of books in ePub and PDF format. Most of them are crap, but a few I really hoped to read. The only thing that has saved me is that I have iCloud backups of my iPad Pro.

I've also been able to recover a few by syncing with my Mac, then opening Books and going to Collections->PDFs. Then I had to manually get them back onto my iPad Pro.

Whoa! Suddenly they all are there. I re-authenticated on my Mac (entered my iCloud password) and everything popped up.

I don't know if we have the same issue, but it just might work for you too. Try logging out of and back into iCloud!


Contradictory messages about restoring to a spare device

I don't think any of the sides are "lying" (i.e. being deliberately deceitful). I think the person wrong here might simply be you.

You're saying that your iPhone 4S died, and you're trying to restore to an identicate spare device. I have a suspicion that your identical spare device is not in fact identical. I think it's an iPhone 4.

The iPhone 4 cannot be updated to iOS versions newer than 7.1.2. In contrast the iPhone 4S can be updated to iOS 9.3.6.

In your case you will need to find newer hardware to restore your backup to.


Google Drive File Stream keeps enabling it's Finder extension

Google Drive Stream is defaulted to automatically start at login within the Google Drive Stream preferences.

There are two places it can be set - system (host) wide, or user only.  The locations are as follows:

System Wide: /Library/Preferences/com.google.drivefs.settings
User Only:  ~/Library/Preferences/com.google.drivefs.settings

Check to see settings by using the defaults command to get the AutoStartOnLogin setting.  For example, to see the setting system wide issue the command:

$ sudo defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.google.drivefs.settings AutoStartOnLogin

Do this for both locations by changing the path to the .settings file as described above.

If either come back "true", you've found the cause.  Next, write a new value to turn it off.  System wide example:

$ sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.google.drivefs.settings AutoStartOnLogin -bool false


In the "Store" menu in iTunes, choose "Authorize this computer..." then enter the credentials for the iTunes account you used to buy the movie.

If you have done this and still get this error message, then something in that file or your iTunes account is broken.  In this case, you will need to contact iTunes support: http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/contact/

I hope this helps.


osascript display dialog hangs when screen is off; detect unavailable GUI/display from bash or applescript?

This should keep waiting until the screen is on:

set screenOff to true
repeat until screenOff is false
    set screenOff to (do shell script "ioreg -c AppleBacklightDisplay | grep dsyp") contains "\"dsyp\"={\"min\"=0,\"max\"=2,\"value\"=0}"
end repeat

display dialog "Is now a good time to back up?"


iCal loads, but quits after a few seconds

You could try the same solution in the post you linked, but the calendars are stored in a different location (and format) in Snow Leopard. The calendars are stored as sub-folders of ~/Library/Calendars in Snow Leopard.

If you have multiple calendars, you can check the date each folder was created to see which one would be the Google calendar.


Certainly the easiest way to accomplish this is by using do shell script. pmset is definitely a viable option, though I am personally partial to the caffeinate command, which doesn't modify any preferences and doesn't require administrator privileges. You could use the following AppleScript to keep your screen awake indefinitely:

do shell script "caffeinate -di"

Alternatively, you can run caffeinate for a specified amount of time, after which your display will be free to go to sleep:

do shell script "caffeinate -dit [time in seconds]"


Is disabling spell check systemwide still possible in Sierra?

You can disable the feature that automatically corrects misspellings but it still underlines misspelled words. Go to System Preferences, Keyboard and click on the Text tab. There is an option on the right to correct spelling automatically. Make sure this is not checked.


You're running a program. It's using resources. If you want a program to run, it runs using any resources it needs as available. This is the intended behavior.

If you want to limit the resources available to your IDE, you can do that. Limiting the resources provided is pretty easy (provided you're willing to work with a little bit of third-party software.) You can use cputhrottle to limit the usage at the system level (better explained here.)


What you see as 'already completed with User A info' is the auto-complete feature. You can change user in the App Store following this:

Open the App Store app
MenuBar > Store > Sign Out...
MenuBar > Store > Sign In...
Delete info in Apple ID and Password fields
Enter User 'B' info and press Sign in


iMac and connected external displays, all as monitors for MacBook Pro?

Short answer:  No, this can't be done.

At the very minimum you would need to set your iMac into "Target Display Mode."  The last iMac that will support this is the Mid 2014.

Now, if you happen to have a compatible iMac (not the "newest model" you referred to), it still wouldn't work.  Target display mode turns your iMac display into an external monitor for your compatible MacBook with a Thunderbolt port.  It doesn't turn it into a "thunderbolt hub."

I am assuming you don't want to use the iMac and instead just use your MacBook and your goal is to get three monitors going...  I suggest just getting a third monitor and hooking that up to your MBP and bequeathing your latest iMac to a worthy coworker.  I am a huge proponent of finding the simplest solution and not layer it with complexity.


Conflicting Settings in OSX Server Profile Manager (Groups and Users/Devices)

I found the answer to this question myself accidentially.
Please check this site for a more detailed explanation. There is no single answer to this

Condensed:

  Some settings, such as controlling which items are opened at login, are cumulative because no one particular setting overrides another — any number of items can be opened at login.
  Some settings are inherited from workgroups to the user level or from within nested workgroups. Settings with only one ultimate outcome — such as the position of the Dock onscreen — use an order of priority to override the same setting for different account levels. The prioritization of conflicting preferences to override the same setting also applies for inheritance. The order of inheritance and overriding preferences is

Workgroup (the least specific level)

Device group

Device

User (the most specific level)

For example, a preference set at the workgroup level can’t override the same preference set for the computer group, computer, or user level. In this sense, a preference set for the user always wins when overriding other levels.


Is there any Mac software to handle archives (zip, rar, 7z, tar, etc.) that allows browsing?

Zipeg allows you to browse and uncompress a number of formats, but does not allow compressing.


I really don't think it matters. I put my MBP to sleep all the time because I like always opening it to exactly what I had open before. There are probably plenty of arguments that you can extend its lifespan by doing something or other, but unless there's a defect or you drop it in the pool, it's going to be obsolete long before it wears out.

Additionally, on flash-based Macs (Airs and Retina MBPs) running on battery power, the default setting is to go into standby after 70 minutes of sleep. Standby is essentially hibernation - the contents of RAM are saved to flash and the machine is powered off almost completely.


Probably need to search 'System files - are included'.
Regular search may not look in there.


Question about compatibility of High Sierra (on MBP 2017) w Photoshop Elements 2018

It's not clear whether your concern is around the fact you're running macOS High Sierra or that you're using a 2017 MacBook Pro?

What I can tell you is that I've seen Photoshop Elements 2018 work just fine on Macs running macOS High Sierra. There really shouldn't be any issues, although everyone's system is different because of the software they have installed and external hardware that may be connected.

However, just in case you weren't aware, you can download a trial of Photoshop Elements 2018 to try it out first. I'd do that if you still have any concerns.


Handoff is a good solution for this. It has a bookmarklet that you use in Safari to send the current web site to the iPhone app.


How to connect iTunes on Windows to only a specific AppleTV when several are available?

I would suggest, assuming the main function you'll be using is AirPlay, that you give each classroom's Apple TV its own AirPlay password that only the instructor in that room knows. That way, he/she can connect to it with the credentials you've given and no one else can. If a student needs to connect to it to show something, the instructor could put in the password on the student's laptop. Obviously, if the password gets leaked you can change it at will.

I know this seems a little tedious, but I think it's the only way of doing it short of re-subnetting the building (I understand why you'd want to NOT do that!).

Also, I would suggest you create DHCP reservations for each Apple TV on your DHCP server so they always get the same IP address when connecting, just in case your network gets overloaded. Just a suggestion.

Hope this helps a little. Good luck.


Why does the Magic Mouse prevent me from clicking with my trackpad?

This is a feature, not a bug. The idea is that you might want to disable the trackpad if you are using a mouse because, for example, you accidentally hit the trackpad with the palm of your hand.

I thought it was turned off by default, but in any case, here’s how to turn it on or off:

System Preferences » Accessibility » Mouse & Trackpad

[ ] Ignore built-in trackpad when mouse or wireless trackpad is present

For more details: OSX Daily: Ignoring Built-in Trackpad Input When Using External Mouse with MacBook

Turning Bluetooth On / Off Without the Mouse

1) If you have brew installed, you can easily install blueutil via brew install blueutil. Then you can disable Bluetooth by going to Terminal and typing:

blueutil --power 0

2) “Full Keyboard Access” can also help:

Once that is enabled, open Bluetooth preferences in System Preferences and press Tab to highlight the “Turn Bluetooth Off” button, as shown here:

Then press the Spacebar to turn Bluetooth Off.

3) If you use Alfred or LaunchBar, I suspect they probably have tools to allow you to toggle bluetooth as well.


USB-Serial Controller doesn't appear in Network

The aptly-named mac-usb-serial.com should be able to help you.

The real issue is conflicting drivers. In my experience, sudo kextunload AppleUSBFTDI has worked on both OS X 10.10 and 10.11, if you want to skip the linked troubleshooting steps (you should not).


It's simply a temporary metadata file created by TextEdit app. You can safely ignore it.

File beginning with . are hidden files in macOS. Files beginning with ._ are metadata files created by apps in macOS.

If you do not wish to be bothered by such files, it's better to add it in your version control ignore rules (if you use one).


iPhone 5 backup fails, both to iTunes and to iCloud, no 'zombie' apps found

For anyone who happens to have the same problem: It turns out the database of the Whatsapp application seems to have been corrupted in some fashion. In order to see a live log for your iDevice, connect it to your Mac and open XCode. Under Window->Devices, there is a panel at the very bottom. When trying to backup unsuccessfully with iTunes, there where a lot of error messages, one of which read

<Warning>: ERROR: Backup error - open_dprotected_np error: Operation not permitted (1) at path "/var/mobile/Containers/Shared/AppGroup/BAB2BCE4-C114-410B-ABFE-8C6B140B9446/Library/Preferences/group.net.whatsapp.WhatsApp.shared.plist.YvjyOTy

I went ahead and uninstalled Whatsapp from the iPhone. After that, both iTunes and iCloud backups worked again.


No, unfortunately none of the Apple Pencil products support the iPad Mini 4. You'll need the newer 5th generation iPad Mini for Apple Pencil support.

A good alternative could be the Adonit Jot Pro.


I find it quite odd that Time Machine refuses to completely restore a backup onto your Mac. I do not know the reason for this, but try these methods (I honestly do not think it is a hardware problem):

Restore from a older backup.
Install MacOS completely, and try to backup with migration assistant.

These methods may take some time, but hopefully they work.


iPad iOS 5 update gets stuck during iCloud setup

My iPod Touch was stuck on this screen.  I powered off and on and it unstuck.

see: Apple Community Forums


iPhone - Where is the brightness/backlight level setting in the file system?

User > Library > Preferences. The property is called "SBBacklightLevel2" in the com.apple.springboard.plist file.
Thanks @Andrew Larsson for the confirmation of this.


Does mounting a large disk image require a certain amount of free space on the internal drive?

There certainly isn't the same amount necessary as the DMG, so you sure can mount a 100GB DMG into a file system that has less (there will be trivial consumptions, maybe a few kb, but nothting that you'll notice).

The whole thing works in the way, that the system attaches a file-system driver to the file with the DMG.  The driver will present the DMG file to the system like an "external" drive and perform file requests on behalf of the system on the contents of the file.

Essentially the driver will says to MacOS:  We have a new volume here. So MacOS will then ask the driver.  "Give me a list of content in it", and then the driver examines the inside of the file and presents the list of files organized inside the DMG.  Etc.


Is there a reason Finder opens separate Info window for group of files/folders I have selected?

I know that I can use Summary Info after pressing Control, but what is the
  use case for default behavior?

It's working as expected.

The action that you select is operating on each file individually.  If you consider the other Finder functions (i.e. when you right click after selecting multiple files/folders), each function operates on each file individually.

Rename - renames each file/folder
Duplicate - duplicates each file/foler
Quick View - opens dialog for each file/folder
Compress - adds each file/folder to a zip archive
Share - shares each file via messaging, email, etc.

Look at it in this manner - Finder doesn't do a single operation over many files, it does one operation on each file for as many files selected.

The reason Summary Info is there, is for this exact reason, so you can get the aggregated info of many files because the default action is to operate on the folders/files individually.


Is it worth upgrading my AP Extreme to the new one that supports 802.11ac?

If you have devices that use Wireless ac, I would definately upgrade. However, if you do not, don't bother with it.


How to switch MacBook Pro back to Normal Digital Audio Out from Optical Audio Out?

It's unclear what you mean by "Normal Digital audio out." Optical digital audio out is the digital audio output if you're not using external USB/firewire/thunderbolt audio, so unless you're working with external audio interfaces switching between optical and digital does not apply as they refer to the same thing. I'm assuming you want to be able to use speakers and headphones as normal?
You've correctly identified that the audio codec IC on the motherboard controls this selection, and although many users find that toothpicks or blowing really hard or a dab of isopropyl alcohol on a toothpick works for them, it's possible for the little switch inside the headphone jack to become nearly permanently stuck. Since the headphone jack still works with headphones plugged in, that rules out the audio codec and means it's a problem with the switch itself. Somehow, headphones take priority over the digital output if both switches are on at the same time.
The solution, which I've described in the iFixit link you referenced in your question, and which originally comes from stin17 on this MacRumors thread, is intimidating but uncomplicated. We simply want to interrupt the line between the audio codec IC on the logic board and the little switch in the headphone jack by removing a component in between. This is usually a small resistor on older models, and after the Retina MBPs I believe it is an inductor.
If you can correctly identify your logic board model number (physically located on the logic board itself, usually a 6- or 7-digit number; for example, my 2012 MBP with a 2.3GHz i7 is a model A1286 and board number 820-3330-B) and find the boardview and schematic, you'll be able to find a resistor in line with the digital output switch, which, when removed, will prevent the audio codec IC from reading the digital switch. This permanently disables the optical digital/TOSLINK audio output, and you should not do this unless you are certain you've found the right resistor! However, if you're sure you know which components you're looking at, it takes about 10 seconds to scrape the tiny surface-mount resistor off the logic board with an x-acto knife.
If you have an A1286 macbook, it is likely R6805, which you can find in schematics and boardviews; this part number will certainly be different on other models. On my logic board, the circuit we want to interrupt is labeled AUD_PORTB_DET_L. Later models seem to rename this circuit to AUD_CONN_TIPDET_1 or AUD_CONN_TIPDET_2; I'd guess TIPDET_1 is headphone detection and TIPDET_2 is TOSLINK detection, but I'm not positive since I don't have one of those boards to check. Make sure you double check these on your particular model! I can't guarantee that R6805 is the one to get, but that's a good place to start.
The result here is that the digital switch inside the headphone jack remains physically stuck, but it no longer matters as it cannot complete its circuit to erroneously tell the audio IC that there is a TOSLINK plug in the jack. Again, optical digital audio output over TOSLINK does not work after doing this, unless you replace the resistor, but it sounds like you don't need optical digital audio output. This is straightforward and familiar for some, for others it's new and terrifying! I started learning my way around schematics and boardviews because of this exact problem. If you feel up to the task and you don't need TOSLINK audio output from your headphone jack, this is the most reliable and elegant fix when the other temporary methods fail.


Why Travel Time is not available for all calendars?

It depends on what the server has been configured for.  Travel Time is not something that is configured (normally) or by default in an Exchange Server.  Same thing for the Location field, however, by Default it's on.  On my particular Exchange server (hosted by MS365), Location is available by default.
Check with the admin of the Exchange server as to why those features aren't available.


Yes, if you sign in to your iCloud account in the TC preferences. Fire up AirPort utility and make sure your iCloud account info is in the "Back to my Mac" section of the "Base Station" tab.

Your TC disk will show up in the finder under "Shared" on any macs that are also signed into iCloud/BTMM.

Not sure if you'll be able to select it as a backup disk though; Time Machine preferences don't have a standard file chooser UI, it seems to demand either a local disk or a Time Capsule on a local network.


Can Mid 2010 Apple Macbook Pro 15" NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics processor be Upgraded?

The GPU is soldered to the logic board, and is therefore not replaceable.

You may want to explore external graphic cards. eGPU.


What could be the cause of these erratic and extremely high ping times between two MacBooks over wifi?

It's wifi - there may be nothing to "fix" if you have lots of other people using wifi, especially on the same channel as you.  Wifi is a shared resource.  Cabled connections are not (and always better if you have a choice).

Are you in a house or apartment?  How many of your neighbors are using wifi?  Are you using channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2GHz?  More importantly are your neighbors also using the same channel?  Do NOT use anything other than 1, 6 or 11 on 2GHz bands - all the other channels will overlap with 1 and 6 or 6 and 11.  5GHz channels do not overlap in the same way so it's less of a deal with 5GHz.

A quick way to see who is around you and what channels they are using is to use an app like http://www.netspotapp.com to do a quick survey and see what is going on around you.

The more use of wifi around you, the more the ping times are going to vary.  If you don't have neighbors close by, how many other devices do you have on wifi?  It all adds up...


Can I share iCloud storage without also agreeing to pay for iTunes purchases?

No. Family sharing in spring 2018 and back to when it started implies one payment card for all purchases.

The only exception of course is store credit or gift card balance can be applied to any or all parts of a family so that most purchases pull from that prepaid balance. So if you manage it or push out “allowances”, most of the time, only recurring payments and IAP hit the shared card.


What are the differences between Applescripts saved as *.scpt and *.applescript?

.scpt is in binary. .applescript is in text.

You can use Spotlight/Finder's find function to search for words in .applescript. You cannot do this with .scpt.

Since .scpt is already compiled, it's quicker to launch.

My favorite thing about .applescript is that I can write that a script that read/write onto itself, so that variables are saved for next run without creating a separate file to house the variables.


Safari 7.0 Very Slow since move to Mavericks?

This seems to have helped me a lot.  Its still too early to say for sure, but initial results are very promising.  Just to be clear what I did, I have attached a screen grab...


Can’t load plist. Launchctl says "Invalid property list", tried plutil, SIP, permissions

The key KeepAlive had to be removed from the ProgramArguments array and properly enabled (<true/>).

This is how it works now:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.pollux.backup</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
     <string>sh</string>
     <string>-c</string>
     <string>/bin/backup_pollux_server</string>
     </array>
     <key>RunAtLoad</key>
     <true/>
     <key>KeepAlive</key>
     <true/>
     <key>StartInterval</key>
     <integer>3600</integer>
     <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
     <string>/tmp/pollux_backup.err</string>
     <key>StandardOutPath</key>
     <string>/tmp/pollux_backup.out</string>
  </dict>
</plist>


Does MS Word on Apple has any command line interface?

If you want to do some stuff on Word using the CLI AppleScript is the way to do it.


Use smart folder as Finders default folder

Finder preferences doesn't allow this. You need to set the preference yourself:

defaults write com.apple.finder NewWindowTargetPath -string "file:///Users/path"

Requires log out and log in.


External USB hub for 4 external hard drives

Make sure the hub you buy powers each port to 500mAh. Most name brand hubs do this so you'll have to go to lengths to find a cheap / lesser specification hub that doesn't come with a plug in power supply to not be able to power three devices.

In general, shopping for items that Apple has chosen to sell through online store is a great way to identify which vendors make quality products. The best of the best items get placement in the retail stores. Since that space is very limited only the most useful and cool accessories make the cut.


Health Data is suddenly using a lot of iCloud Storage on iOS 10

I don't really know what else you can do about it, except don't back it up. This really feels like a bug/optimization problem on Apple's side.
Mine is 655MB and I'm pretty sure it was ~500 just a week or two ago.


Using Macbook and Windows Desktop with wired mouse and keyboard

You either need a KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse) switch  or a USB device switch.

A KVM will allow you to switch the keyboard, video and mouse between multiple computers; doing exactly what you describe without having to use the extra HDMI port on your monitor
A USB device sharing switch is a much cheaper alternative and will allow you to share USB peripherals between multiple computers and switch them by pressing a button.  With this option you will need the second HDMI input on your monitor.

Your desktop computer won't have to be running with either solution.

As for converting your mouse/keyboard to Bluetooth, (IMO) it is a step in the wrong direction as it would probably be easier to just get a Bluetooth mouse/keyboard combo (i.e. Logitech) that supported multiple computers.


This used to be possible, but with the latest iteration of iTunes, it doesn't work.

The method was always as described above, and the same thing happened on the last major release of iTunes.  Apple eventually seemed to put things right, but it's happened again this time round.

I have movies stored on my Mac and Home share them via iTunes.  When my daughter accessed movies on her Mac, which had parental controls set in iTunes, anything over 12 (UK rating) was greyed out and unable to be played.  Now they're all accessible.

Perhaps Apple will resolve this issue too, if enough of us report it.


WhatsApp calls with background data disabled

Yes, you will receive the calls on WhatsApp normally, even with the background data turned off as long as you are connected to the Internet (via Wi-Fi in your case).

WhatsApp makes use of a framework called VoIPKit available in iPhone software development kit, which enables it to receive audio/video calls even when in background/not running status or with the device in sleep mode/locked state/screen turned off.


This has nothing to do with the SSD, but rather the drivers.  Your new MBP has a completely different chipset and CPU, which prevents Win 7 from loading.  When installing Win 7, it makes a specific install for your specific hardware.  When you are dealing with a different chipset/CPU, those "drivers" if you will are so low-level that they cannot be updated/modified.

You can try booting into safe mode.  When your computer starts to boot into Win 7, hit F8 repeatedly.  If the Windows boot logo comes up, you have waited too long.  When you get to the menu, select Boot into Safe Mode from the list.  It might allow you to boot into Windows, but I'm guessing you will still get a blue screen.

If that is the case, the only way to fix it is to do a fresh install of Win 7.  Although you can try to boot from the Win 7 DVD and try a repair, in my experience, this will not work.


how to force OSX to refresh the Text Replace -list after losing it? (still on iOS safe&sound)

Unfortunately the answer seems to be: "Just boot your Mac and log in and see if they come back". And yep, they do. How weird.

Here's to wishing there was a way to press a button and force a reload of the Text Replacement data.


I think the default is 1 second, which is far too long for me. I find 100ms better.

defaults write -g NSDragAndDropTextDelay -int 100

should work just fine.

Apps need to be relaunched after changing that value.

Setting a negative number will disable drag altogether; zero sets it to immediate.


Your nginx.conf and your project.dev are somewhat hosed. And in my opinion your hosts is "non-standard".

I propose a different method - using a virtual hosts configuration with no standard site.

I assume nginx is already installed with brew. Instead of using the sudo brew services nginx start/stop command (which creates/loads and unloads/removes a launch daemon all the time) I use a permanent launch daemon here.

Stop nginx!
Copy the nginx' launch daemon to /Library/LaunchDaemons and modify the permissions:

sudo cp -v /usr/local/opt/nginx/*.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons/
sudo chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.nginx.plist

Create following folders (if they don't already exist)

mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/nginx/logs
mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/nginx/sites-available
mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/nginx/sites-enabled

Replace the content of the current nginx.conf by

worker_processes  1;

error_log  /usr/local/etc/nginx/logs/error.log debug;

events {
    worker_connections  256;
}

http {
    include             mime.types;
    default_type        application/octet-stream;

    log_format  main  '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] "$request" '
                      '$status $body_bytes_sent "$http_referer" '
                      '"$http_user_agent" "$http_x_forwarded_for"';

    access_log  /usr/local/etc/nginx/logs/access.log  main;

    sendfile            on;

    keepalive_timeout   65;

    index index.html index.php;

    include /usr/local/etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;
}

Create your project folder:

mkdir -p ~/Development/project-folder/project.dev

Add at least a simple index.html in ~/Development/project-folder/project.dev (to be able to test nginx)
Create a file project.dev in /usr/local/etc/nginx/sites-available/ with the following content:

server {
  listen                *:80;
  server_name           project.dev;

  location / {
    root  /Users/your_username/Development/project-folder/project.dev;
    try_files  $uri  $uri/  /index.php?$args;
    index  index.html index.htm index.php;
  }

  location ~ \.php$ {
    root  /Users/your_username/Development/project-folder/project.dev;
    try_files  $uri  $uri/  /index.php?$args;
    index  index.html index.htm index.php;

    fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_path_info;
    fastcgi_param PATH_TRANSLATED $document_root$fastcgi_path_info;
    fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;

    fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
    fastcgi_index index.php;
    fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
    fastcgi_intercept_errors on;
    include fastcgi_params;
  }

}

Now link project.dev to sites.enabled:

ln -s /usr/local/etc/nginx/sites-available/project.dev /usr/local/etc/nginx/sites-enabled

Modify you hosts file with sudo nano /etc/hosts to:

127.0.0.1   localhost
127.0.0.1   project.dev
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1             localhost

Test the nginx config:

sudo nginx -t

Start nginx with:

sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.nginx.plist

Test the website with:

curl -IL http://project.dev:80

To manage nginx easily create some handy aliases in ~/.bash_profile like:

alias nginx.start='sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.nginx.plist'
alias nginx.stop='sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/homebrew.mxcl.nginx.plist'
alias nginx.restart='nginx.stop && nginx.start'

Source the modified .bash_profile with source ~/.bash_profile afterwards.

After setting up a working basic website, add all necessary additional directives/locations. Check the error logs for errors afterwards!

To reach the OS X VM's website with a client (e.g the VM host - your physical computer), add an entry for project.dev in the client's hosts file:

127.0.0.1   localhost
ip_address_of_osx-vm    project.dev
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1             localhost

The most simple set up for the VM is to attach the network interface of the VM to a bridged network:

VM > Settings > Removable Devices > Network Adapter > Bridged Networking > Ethernet (or Wi-Fi)

In the Network preferences of the VM configure an IP in the same network as the VM-host's network interface. Example: if the bridged interface is Wi-Fi and the IP address of the VM host's Wi-Fi is 192.168.0.15/255.255.255.0, choose a unique IP in the same network for the OS X VM's network interface (e.g. 192.168.0.115/255.255.255.0).

A (website) client's hosts file should look like this then:

127.0.0.1   localhost
192.168.0.115   project.dev
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1             localhost


Mountain Lion does log a limited amount of information to

/private/var/log/wifi.log

To read that file – and its siblings such as wifi.log.0.bz2 – use Console.

Included with the operating system is a diagnostics app that can enable debug logging. With that level of logging enabled you can then use Console to:

view all messages
add a system log query
and so on.

Also in Stack Exchange:

Wifi Diagnostics get WiFi performance (2013-01-02)


Automatically print incoming email on an iPad

Going from this comment:

It would be one email per page. The idea is to automatically print out order emails so that they can be fulfilled.

You're using the wrong product for your purposes.
There are much less complex and more reliable solutions

Printers with email addresses like HP's ePrint  The printer has it's own address and you can literally email (or forward) the message to the printer

Apple's (or any other *nix for that matter) built in mail facility.  A simple and very short batch program can be used to access and print all mail sent or fetched) from a computer.

The full blown Outlook client supports rules that allow you to print all incoming mail based on criteria you set.

Purpose built software such as Email to Print from Papercut will retrieve mail from a mail server and print it based on rules (like Outlook client)

Actually, the worst thing you can do is set this up on a mobile device like an iPad.  The moment it goes to sleep, all processing is done.  If the process is pushed the the background, the email to print processing stops.  If the device is dropped, it stops.
If you're taking orders to be fulfilled, you likely have a computer (or even a server) already for other purposes (accounting, internal website, etc.) that can handle this processing for you without trying to bodge something on a mobile device.