How can I change the icon size in Lauchpad?

I have found no way to do that, nor have I heard of a way.  MacOSXHints is the place to watch for this kind of thing.

I have created folders in effect by dropping similar apps onto each other.  All QuickTime apps are together.  All Maintenance Apps are together, as are media viewing apps, etc.  I also move the least used apps to page 2

This reduces the number of pages for Launchpad and makes apps more accessible for me.  My most-used apps are still in my Dock so LP is rarely invoked.

This doesn't give you the solution you wanted, but may help as workaround.


Which Transcend Jetdrive Lite fits into MB Pro 13" early 2011?

Bought a JetDrive Lite 130 and it fits seamlessly into the MB Pro 13" early 2011 card slot and is working fine.


Why are two identical external monitors displaying at different resolutions?

My guess is that it's in the DisplayPort to VGA not supporting a high enough resolution–although 800x600 is rather low, there's not a hard rule for VGA. Have you tried switching which monitor uses VGA and seen if the resolution tracks?


Why won't my iPad apps sync when connected to my computer?

The obvious thing to try first is to reset your privacy and location preferences. You will then be asked to trust the iTunes/computer drivers (and asked to set privacy settings elsewhere as they come up).

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202778

At that point, the issue is almost certainly on the computer end with iTunes or iTunes settings or the os/usb hardware and drivers. Starting with a review of iTunes settings and looking for specific sync errors would be good to start.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201253


According to this Apple  support page, it doesn't appear that Siri can end a workout.

The site only show Siri starting a workout, as you've already found.   You can always submit feedback to Apple  and suggest this feature be added.


The VPN is a function of the specific version of iOS and not very well documented in the user guide. The information needed to establish a connection is more a function of the configuration on the VPN server and less about how the iPad data gets entered (except the details must match for the VPN to work)

A better resource is the iPhone configuration utility (more of a total iOS configuration tool) and enterprise deployment guide that goes into much more detail on what VPN protocols and settings can be used with iPad. They have step by step guides on setting up a VPN or having iOS devices join existing VPN.

http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/enterprise/


How do I recover my data/OS after accidentally writing over my main hard drive with an img file using dd?

If I was in the same or similar situation, this is what I'd try...

Using another Mac I'd download Yosemite from the App Store and then create a USB Installer.  Next I'd boot the Mac with the Yosemite USB Installer and install Yosemite to an External USB Drive, preferably a USB 3.0 HDD/SSD or even a large Thumb Drive.  Once the install to the External USB Drive is complete I'd boot the Mac from it and then download and install Ontrack EasyRecovery (on the external disk) then shutdown and move the External USB Drive to your MacBook Pro and boot from it. Then run Ontrack EasyRecovery and see what can be recovered.  If the trial shows promising results then purchase the product and recover as much of your User Data that you can.


Can Mail warn when emailing certain addresses?

Yes, you can have Mail put certain addresses in the to field in black and all others in red.
I use this to have Mail flag email that's going outside my organization.

Do this by going to Preferences > Composing.
Then under the "Addressing" header check "Mark addresses not ending with [ ]."  Inside the box put ".nameofyourschool.edu".
Then every email address destined within your school will be black, and all others will be red.
Just the thing to ensure FERPA compliance.


Unhide invisible files from the command line

For files hidden by prepended .
To show:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES; killall Finder

To hide:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles NO; killall Finder

edit: as per RikerW's advice, to shorten these long strings into some shorter strings, add the following line to ~/.bash_profile from your favorite text editor:
alias showall='defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES; killall Finder'
alias hideall='defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles NO; killall Finder'

do note that you will have to do source ~/.bash_profile to update your shell with the new aliases.

For files hidden from the GUI:
To show:
sudo chflags nohidden /path/to/file

To hide:
sudo chflags hidden /path/to/file

Do bear in mind that this completely removes the hidden flag.


You have an alternate calendar turned on, in this case Chinese.

To turn this off:

Open the Settings app
Scroll down and tap Calendar
Tap Alternate Calendars
Tap Off


Is there a battery conditioner for an iPod touch?

The iPod Touch has a lithium-ion battery, which really does not need to be conditioned like the older battery technologies did.

In fact, completely discharging a lithium-ion battery too often can severely shorten its life, so I wouldn't recommend doing a full discharge too often. And I wouldn't recommend using something that goes outside the normal voltage range of the battery either.

Discharging occasionally, perhaps once every 30 charges, can help to calibrate the battery so that it can given a better indication of run-time.

Apple recommends discharging completely about once a month.

Lithium-ion has a limited life-span anyway, typically 300-500 cycles; and they degrade over time too. How quickly they degrade depends on how hot they've been stored.

(See Battery University for more information on this)


Notes deleted after updating to Yosemite

This worked for me.

Go to Finder.
Applications.
System Preferences.
iCloud.
Tick the "Notes" box.


This may vary slightly depending on what type of iPod you have, but generally if you want to delete arbitrary songs on the iPod (without having to modify any playlists etc. in iTunes itself that you are syncing from), you need to have the device set to "manually manage music" on the device Summary tab. Then, you select the device from the top bar when it is connected, and open the "Music" tab, and you can select and delete songs from the list.


VNC Client that can send Ctrl+Alt+Delete?

The built-in Screen Sharing application on OS X is a VNC client that can send Ctrl-Alt-Del:

Laptop keyboard: fn+control+command+delete

Full-size keyboard: control+option+delete


If Migration Assistant is interrupted, will it resume from where it left off?

I stopped and resumed MA 3 times. Each time the estimated space was less than the previous time. It looks as if MA does indeed store partially transferred data somewhere and then puts it all together in the end, or something to that effect.


Thanks for answering my questions.

So with no headphones plugged in you get no sound through the built-in speakers on your iPhone.

Based on the screen shots you posted it looks like your phone thinks it's connected to a dock connection. That's jives with your "sound in headphones, no sound from internal speakers" answers to my questions.

It sounds very much like your dock connection at the bottom of the phone is not functioning correctly. It may just have some debris in it that's shorting out a few pins and making your iPhone think it's connected to a dock with a line-out on it, or it may be completely broken.

Try cleaning out the dock connection jack on the bottom of the phone. You can blow in it with a dry air source, compressed air in a can is best, to see if you can dislodge any debris from it. You can also try plugging your dock connector in and out a few times to see if that clears it up.

If that doesn't work your best bet is to take it an Apple Repair Depot and have them look at it. The dock connection is made up of a lot of small terminal points and it's not hard to mess them up if you force a connector in the wrong way or smush some debris in there when plugging it in to charge.


How do I disable WebEx Assistant on startup for Mac?

Try System Prefs > User & Groups > Your name > Login Items.

Select it in the list & click the - button underneath

If it's not listed there, then check either /Library/LaunchDaemons/ or /Library/StartupItems/ to see whether it has an entry in there.
It's safe to remove items from there - though they will continue running until the next reboot.

If you want to be able to restore functionality in future, zip the file in situ then trash the original.


How can I disable ALL notifications in OSX Lion?

First of all, let's make sure that we are talking about Mac OS X "Lion" which is version 10.7 and not "Mountain Lion" which is version 10.8. Is this correct? This is important since Notification Center debuted in 10.8.

If you are on 10.7 then I may suggest two workarounds.

1. You may want to install Growl app and set all notifications off. Please, read Help and Blog sections before purchasing the app.

2. You may want to upgrade to "Mountain Lion" and then turn off all notifications by entering this commands in terminal:

launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.notificationcenterui.plist
killall NotificationCenter

If you'll ever change your mind, you can then return it back by:

launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.notificationcenterui.plist

Hope this helps.


How to create new groups in iOS contacts app?


iMac OSX 10.8.4 Volume adjusts by itself

Check any third party software relating to sound output management. I'm not talking about apps such as iTunes or Spotify, but rather things such as Soundflower or other apps that modify how sound is output from your system and record system sounds.


Can I create a keyboard shortcut to lock a file in Finder?

Keyboard Maestro can do this with a macro such as this, which will run chflags uchg on every file in the current Finder selection:


This problem has been fixed. Turns out rEFit had something to do with my boot commands. However if you press f2 when selecting your drive it will give you an option to boot in single-user mode


Most-efficient way to copy iPhoto events between computers?

The most efficient way to accomplish this would be to merge libraries. Unfortunately, this is not included as a feature within iPhoto, but can be accomplished using an excellent program, iPhoto Library Manager. It's compatible with all versions of iPhoto v8.1.2 or later.

Your iPhoto Library, by default, is located at: ~/Pictures/iPhoto Library
Either place the iPhoto Library of Computer A on an HFS+ formatted external HDD, or use Target Disk Mode to mount Computer A's HDD as an external drive on computer B. I recommend the former method.

Choose Source Library: path to A's library on external HDD
Choose Destination Library: path to B's library.
See (3) and (4) for Duplicate Handling and Additional Options, then merge the libraries.


Applescript - the activate command makes application "half-active"

Move the activate command outside the tell application "System Events" block:

tell application "System Events" to tell (process 1 where frontmost is true)
    click (button 1 where subrole is "AXZoomButton") of window 1
end tell
activate application (path to frontmost application as text)

Or you could probably just remove the activate command completely.


Unknown contacts appeared out of thin air

There are many possibility:

1: Facebook sync with your contact info, as I know, Facebook will suggest people you may know to you.

2: Are you using a same Apple ID with your families or friends? Contacts will sync to your other device with same Apple ID.

3: Are you using other's SIM card? SIM card store contact inside the micro chip!!

4: Your Apple ID have been hacked.....change your password immediately and never tell others your ID and password.


How should I fix keyboard problems on iOS?

Solution? Use the Apple default keyboard.

3rd party keyboards can always have issues and it is up to the vendor to release updates to fix them.

You can post your issue at http://vip.swiftkey.net/index.php?/forum/705-ios-user-to-user-community-support/ and see if someone can help but more than likely you will need to wait for an update.


Command line to create a PDF document from a batch of images

Apple's own Automator action uses a python script to access Core Graphics. It works, but it's slow.
Here's a better python script which uses Apple's newer PDFKit framework.

You can use this from the Terminal with filenames as arguments, or you can stick it in an Automator Run Shell Script Action.

No installations or dependencies.

#!/usr/bin/python
# coding: utf-8
#
# IMAGE2PDF v.2.0 : Convert image files to one PDF.
# by Ben Byram-Wigfield

import sys, os
import Quartz as Quartz
from LaunchServices import kUTTypePDF
from CoreFoundation import NSImage

def getFilename(filepath, basename):
    fullname = basename + ".pdf"
    i=0
    while os.path.exists(os.path.join(filepath, fullname)):
        i += 1
        fullname = basename + " %02d.pdf"%i
    return os.path.join(filepath, fullname)

def imageToPdf(argv):
    prefix = os.path.dirname(argv[0])
    filename = "Combined"
    pdfout = getFilename(prefix, filename)

    for index, eachFile in enumerate(argv):
        image = NSImage.alloc().initWithContentsOfFile_(eachFile)
        if image:
            page = Quartz.PDFPage.alloc().initWithImage_(image)
            if index == 0:
                pageData = page.dataRepresentation()
                pdf = Quartz.PDFDocument.alloc().initWithData_(pageData)
            else:
                pdf.insertPage_atIndex_(page, index)

    pdf.writeToFile_(pdfout)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    imageToPdf(sys.argv[1:])


How does FileVault work compared to LUKS

You can find a setup guide for FileVault 2 here:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204837

When you enable FileVault 2 on your boot drive, an admin user will need to unlock the computer before it can be used. I.e. non-admin users will not be able to unlock and decrypt the drive.

When you turn on the computer, it boots from a separate, non-encrypted partition. That partition holds the decryption software as well as a list of admin users that can unlock the drive. This is done so that the bootup partition can display a startup image similar to a normal login screen with the names and avatars of the users that can unlock the drive.

Note that the unencrypted drive only holds the user names, not passwords, salted hashed passwords or anything like that. The user will need to enter a password that successfully decrypts the decryption key in order to unlock the computer.

In addition to the login password (which is used as a passphrase for one of the keys), you can also choose to enable either a recovery key, which is a 120-bit master password that can be used to decrypt the drive, or the option to allow an AppleID to unlock the drive. This means that you can unlock the drive by logging in to your AppleID which enables you to retrieve the key from Apple's servers. Some like this option for its ease of use, others prefer not to enable it for security reasons.

When you compare FileVault to LUKS, the systems are in principle very similar. However on a modern Mac with the T2 security chip, you'll find an additional security layer implemented with a Secure Enclave which tries to hinder brute forcing the pass phrase by adding delays, and protects against side-channels attacks on the main CPU as the encryption keys are never in memory on the Intel CPU. You can find further technical details here:

https://www.apple.com/mac/docs/Apple_T2_Security_Chip_Overview.pdf


New users can't see Apple applications from Utilities folder in Launchpad

I don't know if this is a related cause and the potential fix but I was able to get the issue resolved for me.

I use Homebrew Cask and I have it setup to symlink the applications from my Homebrew Cask directory into my /Applications/ folder (the default is ~/Applications).

The solution for me was to remove all of the Symlinks (I just moved them to my desktop) and then I ran the terminal command:

defaults write com.apple.dock ResetLaunchPad -bool true; killall Dock

After doing this my Utilities folder showed back up and when I moved the symlinks back into my Applications folder everything was back to normal.

If you do have symlinks in your /Applications/ directory or maybe even aliases it's probably worth giving this process a try.

Hope that helps.


Durability of HDMI versus Mini DisplayPort socket

I've got a non-pro Aluminium unibody Macbook (2008), the first one with mini display port. It's 6.5 years old, and I've been using external display for 4 years. I unplug it once a week only, and its failing for more than a year, maybe 2 years: it is getting loosy day after day, showing artifacts or non working. You need to move the cable to get it working again. And the adaptor is official...
Maybe now they make it stronger...


You should check with your service provider to see if FaceTime is supported.

From Apple Support:

  You might have issues using FaceTime for one of these reasons:

  FaceTime Audio or Video calling might not be available for all countries, regions, or carriers.
  FaceTime isn't available or might not appear on devices purchased in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan.
  Call forwarding isn't supported by FaceTime.
  Phone calls end when switching to or answering a FaceTime call.
  You can't switch from a FaceTime call to a voice call, or from a FaceTime Video call to a FaceTime Audio call.


From 10.0.5 [not sure about 10.0.6 as that's Yosemite only]

Top bar, to the right of the icons, next to the info button, then below, Audio Effect...
 3rd row, one of the rooms or cathedral


Posterization: What, Why, and How:

Definition:

  Posterization in art is a method of reducing the tonal range in an image, that is, reducing the range of colors.  This converts areas with subtle gradations of color into flat areas of color without any gradations; what were gradations in the original photograph appear as sudden changes in color shade. This process has been and is a frugal method for printing posters in the limited number of shades of color one has available. (excerpted and paraphrased from Maini’s Mind)

Famous post-modern posterized artworks include Andy Warhol’s body of “Pop Art” work, which was first exhibited in 1961. His Campbell’s Soup Can corpus was part of the Pop Art movement which launched the Post-Modern Art Era.  (Widewalls.ch)

The Obama Campaign’s “Hope” poster in 2008 has prompted innumerable knockoffs, a worldwide phenomenon fueled by a plethora of apps and websites allowing anyone to easily create their own selfie “Hope Poster”.

Why Posterize?

  What would induce a creative individual to purposefully edit out, cut away, basically lose information and details from an image? Going from say 128 tones down to 4 changes everything. Practical applications include simplifying the composition by removing that which is cluttering and distracting, and the removal of the background of an image bringing the focus forward to the main subject. (excerpted and paraphrased from Maini’s Mind)

Because unpredicted shapes and ideas emerge in this process of simplification and reduction, the artist’s mind and hand are enabled to create something totally new:

  “Unexpected happenings are encouraged through a serendipitous, intuitive openness to possibilities. Although these efforts do not guarantee achieving the goal of each picture, fresh, exciting results are instigated whenever stepping off known paths.” (Bonnie R. Beaver)

How to Posterize a Photograph in Procreate

Through experimentation, I have found ways to achieve a range of posterization effects in Procreate using the Selection Tool. It seems as if the sky is the limit...

Step 1: Choose your Image and Palette; Make and Color Selections

Begin with an unedited photo. In my experience, if a filter or even Camera Roll editing have already been applied, it can be difficult to obtain nice clean lines and fields of color in the final result. The exact characteristics of the photo you choose turn out to be less important than you would think: take risks and expect the unexpected! What do you have to lose????

Many artists like to work out a palette concept before they begin painting. This is a fun and intuitive task in Procreate: here is a great tutorial. Don’t feel bound to a palette, however. In Step 4 below I will tell you how to easily play with your artwork’s colors once all of the areas have been selected and painted.

So onward: use the Automatic Selection Tool to choose several areas to transform into your first color choice. (Here is a Tutorial on Procreate’s Automatic Selection Tool) Here I have selected the fence for my first color. Choosing small details like this first, which you want showcased in your composition, sets them apart and thus keeps them from becoming buried in or morphed with other color choices later on

When you are satisfied with your area selections, choose a color and a brush, and paint the selected areas.

Step 2: Rinse, Repeat, Don’t Fret Too Much!

Repeat Step 1 for as many colors as you desire. Many artists like to choose an odd number of colors which is thought to add interest and harmony to an artwork.

To prevent any gaps in the final composition, which would allow the original photo to show through, try to select and paint every part of the image. But don’t fret about this too much either, as the next step will take you through an easy work-around.

Step 3: Check for and fix any missed areas.

Once you have all of the areas selected and colored, you will want to make certain you haven’t missed anything, as you don’t want any of your original photo to show on your finished artwork. Check closely by zooming in and examining the entire image.

If small areas are found, there are many possible ways to fix them: the easiest is to use the Color Drop tool to select the color you want to cover the hole with, make sure it is at maximum opacity, choose a pen, and paint over it.

If there are too many holes which are tiny (such as a grainy patch), they are in a tricky spot to paint over without messing up other elements of the image, or you just aren’t in the mood to paint over each of them individually (sometimes it is painstaking work), try this:

  Set your background to a bright color NOT USED in your artwork.
  Using the Automatic Selection Tool, choose everything in the image but those holes. (Alternatively, if the holes are only in one specific area, you can apply this technique to just that area of the artwork.) This may require some back-and-forth fussing with the Threshold level, which will over-select if left too high. Be precise with your stylus (this will be much easier with an Apple Pencil!) Remember you can always “Go Back” with the two-finger tap, at any stage...  Experiment and you will get the hang of it.
  Once you feel satisfied that the holes are the only areas not selected, select the brush tool, which will kick the Selection Tool into the mode showing the UN-selected (protected) area under undulating diagonal stripes. The holes at this point are UN-Selected, so using your finger or stylus, long-press the Selection (“S”) Icon, then click “Invert”. Now the holes should be free of the diagonal stripes, meaning they are “selected” and can thus be altered, and you can erase them. Because you changed the background color to a recognizable color against the rest of the image, you will be able to tell when you are erasing the holes.
  Create a new layer BELOW the image, and fill it with a color which will show through the holes and make them seamlessly blend into the work. You can even paint holes in different areas of of the image specific colors to get this to work.
  Merge down when you are happy.

Step 4: Tweak your color scheme to your heart’s content.

The beautiful thing about posterizing in Procreate is that it almost doesn’t matter at all what colors you pick initially, because you can change them so easily, with many different methods, including the Automatic Selection Tool, several different features under the Adjustments (“Magic Wand”) Icon, and even the Layer Modes which are located under each individual layer.

In my example above, I was underwhelmed by the final result, mainly due to the palette striking me as very blah. So as you can see, I changed it! Here is my final result: notice that the grass that was showing through has been replaced with black (a common color in posterized art, due to its high contrast).

Alternative Posterization Effects

Here are a few examples of posterized works in which I chose additional techniques which depart from the flat field effect. These involve the use of textured brushes to layer colors, and applying ombre effects to selected areas.

OMBRE EFFECT: For this piece, each selection area was painted with swooping horizontal stripes of graduated color, then made into an ombre using the Gaussian Blur tool, which is under the Adjustments Icon:

LAYERED COLORS: Here I brushed layered colors into selected areas with the “Canvas” Brush on partial opacity. Using a dark version of a complimentary color under a bright version of its counterpart can really make colors POP!

LAYERED COLORS, DIFFERENT BRUSH: Using the same technique but with the Nikko Brush:


Macbook choses 169.254.x.x when the range is really 192.168.2.x

The problem was I didn't have DCHP enabled on the Airport, but when I did, the internet wouldn't work at all on all devices, when with it disabled, it worked on some.

So I contacted both my ISP (Bell/2Wire) and Apple. I had to setup the Airport to use PPPoE and I received that information over a call with my ISP.

The quickest route was to just reset both, call my ISP for PPPoE and reconfigure both.


New Finder window opens maximized every time

Open a new window, resize it, then immediately close it. That tells Finder to remember the new size for all new windows. No need to throw away all of your preferences just to change one.


How can I disable gestures on a particular workspace?

This is not a feature provided by OS X.
You have to disable unwanted gestures in System Preferences → Trackpad and then use a third-party tool to enable customized gestures.
E.g. You can use BetterTouchTool to define gestures on a per-app basis. This will allow to simply not set set any gestures for virtualbox.


This is from the iPhone user guide:

  Share photos, videos, your location, and more
  With iMessage or MMS,
  you can send and receive photos and videos, and send locations,
  contact info, and voice memos. The size limit of attachments is
  determined by your service provider— iPhone may compress photo and
  video attachments when necessary.

You didn't indicate if you needed an answer for wifi or cellular.


Ubuntu Bootable DVD created with a MacBookPro9.1 is not recognized

Below is a copy of an image from the link you gave in your question.

If you enlarge the image, you can read that the source is the file "trusty-desktop-amd64+mac.iso".

This is the WRONG iso to be using. You should be using "trusty-desktop-amd64.iso".

The iso's ending in "+mac" is for users who wish to do a BIOS boot. This includes users whose machines are not Mac's. The regular iso's that do not end in "+mac" are for users who wish to do an EFI boot.

I have found the EFI boots work with 64 bit Macs as early as the 2007 models.  If you have a optical (DVD) drive you can boot this way, but the USB flash drive method also works even when Windows USB installer will not. My (20-inch, mid 2007) iMac7,1 can boot Live and/or install current versions of Ubuntu using either a DVD or USB.

Both DVD and USB once booted, have software to verify the media. If found the DVD's verify, but the USB's, created using Ubuntu's instructions, do not. The boots and installs seem to work OK, but the fact the USB flash drives do not verify bothers me. Fortunately, if you create the USB media using UNetbootin, the resulting flash drive verifies.

Evidently, you can also use UNetbootin to create a Live USB version of Ubuntu that has *persistence, but I have never pursued that option.(Persistence allows you to keep your preferences and data even after a reboot.)

I have read may cases where users are happy with BIOS installs of Ubuntu. Problems occur when users what to triple boot of OS X, Ubuntu and Windows. If Windows should be installed in BIOS mode, then the user has to figure out how to get Grub to boot both Ubuntu and Windows. In these cases, booting Windows in BIOS mode and Ubuntu in EFI mode would be a better option. The problem here is that EFI Ubuntu installs do not set up the software to boot on Mac's. You are left to figure that out.

There are may solutions to this problem. Here are a few: First, you can move the files in the EFI partition get the Mac firmware to recognize Ubuntu. Second, you can install and configure rEFInd. Third, since Ubuntu installs a Grub that can recognize hfs+ formatted partitions, you can configure Ubuntu to boot the same way OS X boots. (Actually, the Mac firmware thinks it is booting OS X.)

An explanation of how it implement any of these three method is beyond the scope of the original question.


OS X 10.11 Disk Utility, encrypted dmg password and keychain

Using Disk Utility (in El Capitan) you won't be asked at all to save the password to a keychain while creating the encrypted dmg. But after unmounting and reopening the newly created encrypted dmg you will be asked to enter the password and the option to save it to the keychain will be shown:


Check this, maybe cover your needs:

http://www.screenrecycler.com/ScreenRecycler.html

but it is commercial 30$.

(You sure know this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3924)


Copy to clipboard buttons in browser no longer working

Some websites' 'copy to clipboard' buttons require Adobe Flash Player depending on your browser. Make sure flash is installed and up-to-date; see if that helps.


2012 Macbook Pro Bootcamp Driver For External Mic

There is no driver for a mic or headphone connected to a 3.5" audio jack. The device driver is for the audio system that the jack is connected to, not the jack itself.  This applies to all computers and operating systems, not just Macs
As you can see from the device tree image you posted, the microphone is recognized as an input device and is technically working properly.  However...
You have the wrong TRRS adapter
There are two different TRRS adapters, one for Apple and another for Android (everything else). The difference is the ground and microphone connectors are reversed.  The microphone is  "seen" because the audio chip senses the resistance and continuity of the completed circuit but it won't work because it's backward.
You need to get a microphone/headphone adapter that is Apple compatible. You can also use a USB DAC with dedicated mic and headphone connectors for better sound and reliability.


Change default installation location to install xCode

I recently moved my Xcode (4.6.2) from /Applications to /Users/daniel/Applications (I'm getting ready to slim down the main system partition to use an iSCSI target for my home folder, and want as much on it as possible).

The link in the comment by Buscar above isn't valid for new Xcodes that come through App Store. Instead, just move the app using Finder. You'll probably be asked to supply your credentials (due to admin permissions on some of the files inside Xcode.app).

You'll notice at first that Xcode starts up as if nothing happened. All seems to be well, but isn't quite, though — your Command Line Tools will be fudged. Other stuff that depend on it, like Homebrew, will fail unless you do this:

In Xcode, open Preferences and go to the "Locations" tab. The dropdown labeled "Command Line Tools" will be blank and there'll be a warning sign next to it.

Simply select the Xcode in that dropdown, and after once again supplying your credentials, all is well :) Even updates will perform as expected (I updated to 4.6.3 with no issues).


Turns out it was USB Overdrive.  Running 3.1 still causes issues with Lion.

When Overdrive is installed it only sees the trackpad as a mouse.  I uninstalled USB Overdrive and Lion detected it after reboot with no trouble at all.

This link was quite helpful as well.


Confirm Unmounting/Ejection of Drive During Shutdown in Logs for Yosemite 10.10.4

Not sure if this will be of much help however...

With Console open and system.log selected I ejected a USB Drive and removed it from the USB Port.  By all outward appearance the drive appeared to be properly and successfully unmounted, ejected and then removed.

These are the only entries that appeared in the system.log file upon doing so:

Aug 12 10:43:21 Computer.local com.apple.SecurityServer[17]: Succeeded authorizing right 'system.volume.removable.unmount' by client '/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app' [51235] for authorization created by '/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app' [51235] (100013,0)
Aug 12 10:43:21 Computer.local com.apple.SecurityServer[17]: Succeeded authorizing right 'system.volume.removable.unmount' by client '/usr/sbin/diskarbitrationd' [18] for authorization created by '/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app' [51235] (100002,0)
Aug 12 10:43:23 Computer.local com.apple.SecurityServer[17]: Succeeded authorizing right 'system.volume.removable.unmount' by client '/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app' [51235] for authorization created by '/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app' [51235] (100013,0)
Aug 12 10:43:23 Computer.local com.apple.SecurityServer[17]: Succeeded authorizing right 'system.volume.removable.unmount' by client '/usr/sbin/diskarbitrationd' [18] for authorization created by '/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app' [51235] (100002,0)

I'd image if it wasn't properly unmounted, ejected and removed you might get a warning when you plug it back in.  Or there may be an error message in the system.log file however I do not when to improperly remove a drive to test, you'll have to do that. :)

One thing I do every once in a while, because I'm constantly moving USB Drives around, is to use Disk Utility to Verify Disk and Verify Permissions on my external drives just to keep them healthy.


Chrome browser ignoring parental controls

This is the expected behavior, parental control only apply to the applications provided by Apple. At the time we needed that, we just blocked access to other applications through Parental Control.


Retrieving a clicked on notification on iPhone 8

There's no "archive" or "history" of notifications built-in to iOS unfortunately. Each app has to individually provide such a feature.

The best hope is if you happen to have another device running the same app, such as an iPad - perhaps that device still shows the notification on its lock screen.


How can I check what permissions an app store app will be granted?

Apps are not granted any permissions by default. The first time an app requests access to each of Location, Contacts, Calendars, and other such data, an OS dialog will show prompting you to allow or deny access. Once you've allowed or denied access, this access is maintained and can be changed in System Preferences Security & Privacy. All Mac App Store apps are sandboxed.


It appears that the second alert must occur before the first alert does, otherwise iOS will set the second alert to match the first alert. So, make sure your first alert ("Alert") is set to the time closest to the event, and the second alert is set to whatever time you want that is before the first alert.


Emoji Keyboard not inserting emoji after pressing Enter

The Enter (Return) does not work on my MBA High Sierra and never did before.

I place the cursor where the emoji has to go, then double click on the Emoji of choice.


Two pane file manager for Mountain Lion?

Forklift is nice, has support for FTP + SFTP + Amazon S3 + WEBDav. A bit pricey, but I got it on sale and there were a few discounts again after that so maybe worth a wait.

Screenshot of Forklift http://shrani.si/f/F/wu/3VAuwxPt/screen-shot-2013-06-27-a.png

You have mentioned Krusader (and wish to use open source software), it can be run on Mac via MacPorts. After installing MacPorts use:

sudo port install krusader

I doubt it will look good, but It should work. It supported Aqua look years ago, so no X11 was needed, but I have no idea how it stands now.


How can I tell if my Macbook Pro has had its SSD replaced or not?

If you happened to have written down your hard drives serial number before handing it in for repairs, you could detect replacement by comparing the serial numbers.

You probably haven't written down the serial number. Then you could try looking at the drive physically to determine the production year, if written on it. If that is newer than the year your MacBook Pro was bought - it has been replaced.

You do not mention which model of MacBook Pro you have, but it must be one of the older models to have a hard drive. It could be possible to check if the disk you have is not one of the models that Apple installed from factory on your specific MacBook Pro model.

Also you could consider asking your IT guy how he knows the hard drive was replaced. Perhaps he has paper work to document it.


How do I redeem an App Gift from a different App Store? "This code is only valid for customers of the ___ Store."

Related to this question.

And the answer is, gift cards and gift certificates are redeemable only on the iTunes Store for the country for which they were purchased.


What are the minimum requirements to charge the 2016 MacBook Pros?

After some experimentation with a 2016 15" MBP, it seems that they are very flexible:

A USB charger capable of 5 V, 2.4 A proprietary Apple signalling was recognized as providing 12 W of power, and an iPhone charger (which complies the USB BC specification) was shown as providing 5 W. The Nexus 5X charger, which provides USB-C 5 V, 3 A charging, was also correctly recognized as providing 15 W.

The power settings were showing these as "not charging" with the Mac running, but it turns out that even the large 15" MBP is capable of slowly charging from the tiny 5 V, 1 A adapter (it went up by about 2% after charging in sleep mode for about half an hour).


iTunes Store Sign in Failure: "%%appleId%%"

I had this happen to me and what worked was intentionally failing the Touch ID (or face I think it doesnt matter) so it gives you the option to type in your apple id password


It seems you can join your JPEG files with JSON in bulk with exiftool.

See examples here:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42024255/bulk-join-json-with-jpg-from-google-takeout


How can I get Safari 5.1 to show the download window?

Or you could follow the advice of Red Sweater^1 and use AppleScript + FastScript/Sparkle. If you follow the link everything is explained in details.


Uninstalled apps on iPhone still show up in Settings

To expand on my comment. Often these kind of issues respond to the backup, wipe, restore process. Here it is in greater detail

Plug your iPhone (or iPad) into your computer, launch iTunes and select the option to back up your device locally (rather than iCloud)
IMPORTANT Set a password for the backup. That will ensure the backup preserves all saved passwords. you will need to remember your AppleID password and unlock PIN.
Once the backup has completed, go into iCloud and turn off Find My iPhone, and unplug the phone from your computer.
Go to Settings > General > Reset and tap on Erase all contents and settings. you will be asked to confirm. Do so. The reset will take a few minutes. When it is done the iPhone will be at the setup screen, just like when you bought your phone.
Early in the setup process you will be given the option to restore from backup. Choose that, plug your phone into the computer and proceed with the restore.
When the restore is done the phone will reboot and proceed to download all your Apps. Unfortunately Apps are no longer stored on the computer during a backup so they all have to download, this may take a while depending on how fast your internet connection is.

When that is done you will have a freshly restored iPhone, identical, in configuration and settings as it was before. you will have to re-enter your AppleID and AppleID password but everything should still be there.
Note that doing this will usually clear temporary/deleted files that are otherwise not deletable, clearing usable space on your iOS device. It will also solve a lot of issues with the phone acting strangely and apps not working correctly, as well as the ghost app icons sometimes seen.


How to move a file from within the app to another folder?

Drag protocol can be a bit confusing, however, it does follow a recognisable pattern…

To the same volume

Drag will move - unless the file is in a protected location [root level of the volume, or in a protected System folder], in which case it will copy
 Opt ⌥  drag will copy
 Cmd ⌘  drag will override the simple drag behaviour for protected files & move instead [but will need Admin authentication].

To a different volume

Drag will copy
 Opt ⌥  drag will copy
 Cmd ⌘  drag will move [ie, copy, then delete the original.]

So,  Opt ⌥  always copies, but  Cmd ⌘  reverses the default behaviour of just dragging.

Worst case scenario - you can change your modifier key & check the added icon on the file you're dragging to see your end result, right up until you let go of the mouse button.

Just to complete the set -  Cmd ⌘   Opt ⌥  dragging will make an Alias at the destination.

edit …& after all that I realise that Preview will not adhere to that behaviour… Move appears to not be an option at all.
Best guess is that you cannot move an open document & even hope that an app could keep track of where it went.
The Finder can. You can move the file in the Finder whilst open in Preview, but then Preview will tell you you are working on a copy & you need to save a fresh version.
Pretty safe & sensible behaviour, really.


In Terminal run nano /path/to/file.cmdline.
In Finder, right-click on the file icon and open with TextEdit.app


How to bring iPad's 5 finger pinch functionality to iPhone

It's not possible to configure this five finger pinch gesture on an iPhone without jailbreaking it. Currently there are no jailbreaks for iOS 7 (see jailbrea.kr for available jailbreaks).

If the iPhone is a device with a version of iOS that can be jailbroken, then this can be achieved after a jailbreak using SBSettings and Activator (both installed through the Cydia app store). You can even assign custom gestures, like for example, a three finger pinch or a four finger pinch, for this action.


There is no way to achieve the Loved smart playlist without adding the song first to your library from my testing.

I have just given a song Love on Apple Music and it did not appear in my smart playlist until I added it to my library. Even if it was added to a playlist but not actually to My Music it would not appear.


You won't find anything like this on the App Store, since…

It's a service that restarts on boot (Android permission RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED), which isn't possible on iOS without a jailbreak or without exceptions, and is disallowed on the App Store.

  2.8 Apps that install or launch other executable code will be rejected

It'd run in the background all the time, which can't happen due to iOS restrictions, and is disallowed on the App Store.

  2.16 Multitasking Apps may only use background services for their intended purposes: VoIP, audio playback, location, task completion, local notifications, etc.

It uses the Android permission DISABLE_KEYGUARD which doesn't exist on iOS since apps can't bypass or interact with the system in that way.

  2.6 Apps that read or write data outside its designated container area will be rejected

App Store Guidelines available at https://developer.apple.com/appstore/resources/approval/guidelines.html


Put the contents of the mail directory in /Users/yourusername/Library/Mail (or  ~/Library/Mail in other words)

com.apple.mail.plist goes to /Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences (~/Library/Preferences)


I've not heard of any apps that allow you to copy iPhone > Mac / PC, but I vaguely remember mine just copying them over anyway.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4227 suggests that they will be copied over automatically.


MacBook Pro - SSD problem, folder with question mark

Folder with question mark appears when your Mac is not able to find a startup disk.

If a flashing question mark appears when you start your Mac
About the screens your Mac displays as it starts up

This could be due to either failing drive or loose connection between hard drive and the logic board (more common in MacBooks/portables).

Other symptoms most likely point towards some kind of hardware failure rather than software.

Recommended to get it inspected by an authorized technician or service provider.


Does ITunes compress audios synced to iPhone

There's a switch in iTunes, under options, to either downsample or leave alone…

idk the equivalent in Catalina.

Speaking as a [retired] professional sound engineer, by the time you're listening on a phone, you may as well downsample to 128kbps AAC & save yourself some space, because you won't hear the difference.


Windows 10 Install Hanging on Internet Connection

I have resolved this issue.  Can’t explain it, but deleted downloaded ISO File, increased sector size to 128GB.  Windows installed and loaded as before, but got stuck at exactly same spot on not connecting to the internet (blue box on screen in Windows 10 start up).  However, the lower left hand corner now changed it’s radio button to bypass the internet connection.  Windows then finished install, loaded and started up.

BUT!.....No wifi!!! (another issue I’ve seen on this forum).  Here’s how you resolve that:

Insert formatted USB Drive.
Open Boot Camp Assistant from Utilities.
At top pull down Action and select Download Windows Support Software.
When USB install is completed, Re-boot to Windows while leaving USB inserted.
In Windows, go to USB Drive, Boot Camp folder, and start Setup.
Drivers will get installed and Wifi should work (mine did).

What a frustrating 2 days this has been!

Hope this helps someone.


Can I keep the Mail app on my iPhone from automatically marking messages as read?

There is no setting that will not mark the email, in the Mail app, as read. So, the short answer to your questions is No.

A workaround that may, or may not, appeal to you, but would involve one more step would be to tap the Edit button in the upper-right corner above the list of email, check mark the ones you want to be kept unread, then tap "Mark", then "Mark as Unread". Again, this option may not work for you, but is probably the fastest way to mark multiple emails as Unread.


First of all, I've had a less than prefect experience with messages being delivered to both Mac and iPhone which I largely attribute to non-Apple devices.

To your problem, have you tried un-ticking phone numbers/email accounts and signing out on both devices? Quit app then re-lauching and signing back in?


Can I display GMT on my iPad's world clock?

Select UTC instead of a city. (Strictly GMT no longer exists.)


How to get “Subl” to work in my terminal?

I do not understand why you want to store it in the ~/.rvm/bin/ as that is supposed to be used for ruby related things and Sublime Text is not really that.

Instead place it in /usr/local/bin with sudo ln -s /Applications/Sublime\ Text \2.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl /usr/local/bin/subl

If you get that error using this, try to type it in instead. There could be hidden characters that messing things up for you.


What iPhone app will allow one person to track the location of another in real-time?

Find my Friends by Apple.

More info here.


New MacBook Pro screen goes black when opened past a certain angle

There is little doubt this is indeed the same issue as with the 13". Apple changed the screen hinge signal cable design starting from the 2015 MacBook Retina and subsequent MacBook Pros, both 13" and 15", to a design that is more complex and prone to failure from material fatigue. These signal cables often start failing in precicely the way you have experienced after the screen has been opened and closed some hundreds of times. I have replaced many of these screens for this reason, both 13" and 15", they are all susceptible to it, at least up to and including the 2018 models.
For the time being, you are however out of luck with Apple replacing it for free, as they inexplicably only have a repair program for this issue for the 13" 2016 model.

'Old', robust screen signal cable to the left, exiting at a right angle from the screen and thus twisting with screen openings. New more complex design to the left, now bending with each opening

For what you should do, I would get a screen assembly from eBay, for instance this https://www.ebay.com/itm/LCD-Display-New-Space-Gray-2016-2017-A1707-15-MacBook-Pro/254135956738 (presuming you have a Space Gray MBP) and check the '2 year protection plan from Squaretrade' option when you check out, for the very reason that any screen assembly will be vulnerable to this, then get your local 3rd party Apple tech outfit to replace it. I have no association with the eBay seller other than having used them and knowing them for being good and serious.


Decimal comma in Spanish keyboard layout

You need to change the layout of your keyboard. Not to another one, but to a new one that has been modified by an utility like Ukelele (there might be others).

Download the tool, drag the App to your Application folder. Notice that in the Disk Image, there’s a folder called System Keyboards/Roman/, copy that to you desktop (it’s temporal).

Launch Ukelele and from the File menu select: “New based on…”

Open the file Spanish-ISO.keylayout (found in the Roman folder that you saved to your desktop).

You’ll see a big blue keyboard representing your current Spanish-ISO map (if you brought your computer in Spain, that’s they keyboard you should use).

Double click on the “,” that you want to modify (or any other key) and you’ll see this:

Replace the “,” with the “.” (dot). And go to Keyboard Menu -> Set Keyboard Name. Rename the Spanish - ISO to something like: Spanish - ISO2.

Now save it, the name will be Untitled, but you should put Spanish - ISO2.

Where do you save it?

According to Ukelele’s User Manual, you have different choices (and I suggest your read section 3.3 of the manual). Short answer is within the Keyboard Layouts sub-folder of the Library folder in your home folder. This can be created if it doesn’t already exist. If you do that, only your user will see (and be able to use) this Layout.

After installing the keyboard layout and logging out and logging in again, open the International pane of System Preferences (Language & Text on Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and later). On the Input Menu (Input Sources in 10.6 or later) tab, your new keyboard layout should be listed there. Enjoy your faster IP Address typing.


Convert PDF to something editable without losing all formatting

If you just want to edit the content of the PDF, Adobe Acrobat (full version) can do that. It can change/add/delete text, images, objects, etc.


Is there any disadvantage of buying a refurbished iPhone 6s/7?

It depends where you buy the iPhone. Generally it’s wrote when the battery is new.

On the Apple’s refurb, the batteries are new.

For the warranty, the websites offers 60/90 days because it’s not NEW iPhone, not because they’ll be decreasing shortly.
And the websites would tells you the level of the iPhone, if it gets scratch on the back, missing wire.


Sync Wi-Fi Passwords on OS X with Android Phone?

The Android OS doesn't allow apps to modify the wifi settings, unless you have a rooted device. The alternative you have is to use something like Dropbox or Lastpass which allow notes to sync across devices. You can write your long wifi passwords on the desktop, then open the synced file on your mobile phone and copy&paste it into the form. At least that's what I've been doing all this time.


Macbook not detecting all USB keyboard keys

The problem appears to be that you're using an On-The-Go adapter.

USB OTG introduces the concept of a device performing both master and slave roles – whenever two USB devices are connected and one of them is a USB OTG device, they establish a communication link. The device controlling the link is called the master or host, while the other is called the slave or peripheral.

The OTG adapter is designed to allow your device to switch roles of being the host or peripheral; this is necessary to connect devices such as mobile phones to devices like flash drives and keyboards because your mobile device has to be both -  a host when you plug in a keyboard and a peripheral when you plug it into a computer.
There's no need for this swapping of roles when you plug things into your computer as it will always be the host and whatever you plug into it will always be the peripheral.  Even your phone won't be a host to a computer.  The computer will always see it as an external device; maybe a storage device or even a camera.
What you should be using is just a plain USB-C to USB-A adapter/converter - I like and have used Anker adapters due to their quality and warranty. (I have about a half dozen of these everywhere from my briefcase and my desk).  You don't need anything expensive, but make sure you get from a known brand (this is not the time to save a couple dollars).  When plugging in a sub $10 item into a $2,000+ computer, I tend err on the side of caution and go with reputable names.


In OS X 10.6 how do you mount an AFP share at boot or before user login?

Not sure that you can.  I would think for security reasons a user has to be logged in, so that a set of credentials can be used.  There's probably some scripts that are run pre-login though, so I suppose if you specify your credentials in there it would be fine.


Can set iTerm2 tab colors from the command line?

It appears a script like this could work for you. This is using zsh, but should work or only require a little bit of editing to work with bash.

Essentially what it does is aliases ssh to this color ssh command which changes the color of the tab and then runs ssh.


Install NTFS-3g in here: http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/24481/ntfs-3g

Then install OSXFUSE: http://osxfuse.github.com/

MacFuse has been abandoned for a while now. Someone picked it up and rename it to OSXFUSE

If you want to use it for Mac and Linux, use FAT. If you want to use it for time machine, use HFS Journaled.


Re-Agreeing to public WiFi through login screens

This sounds like your iOS device may have some sort of ban on the network. From experience, you can set suspicious devices to be auto-banned. This is especially common on public networks. I would imagine that iOS tried to Auto-Join too many times and the network may think it is a DDoS attack. I suggest you talk to the transport company on why you aren't connecting to the internet. Of course, this isn't something that just everyone will be looking to talk to a transport company and I understand it's inconvenient, but I've run a network in the past that's public and that's basically how it works.
EDIT: The image shows our set duration of invalid attempts. We have set our network to ban the device for 15 minutes, although there are options to ban the device permanently (strictly that only administrators can unblock the device). These systems may vary, but work similarly.


How can I know on which device I get Apple verification code?

Apple ID verification codes will appear on all devices logged into the same primary iCloud account.
On an iOS device, go to Settings → your name and tap on a device in the list. If the device says

This device is trusted and can receive Apple ID verification codes.

then you can expect this device to show the code when you need to log in on another device. All devices which show this message will receive the Apple ID verification code.
Devices only logged into the same account for iTunes & App Stores, iMessage and/or FaceTime will not receive Apple ID verification codes.


Why Is Mac Malware Less Frequent Than On Windows Systems?

To answer your main question: malware is less common on Macs than Windows systems simply because people haven't written as much malware for Macs.

Any debates about which operating system is "more secure" than another one are not very meaningful. Neither OS X or Windows will ever be 100% free from security flaws, so there will always be potential vectors for malware -- not to mention trojans and social engineering. You need only look at the system updates to see that Apple is constantly patching security flaws in Mac OS X, just like everyone else.

If you were a malware author and wanted to get your malware onto as many systems as possible, wouldn't you target the OS with the largest user base? This is most likely why malware is much more common on Windows; so many more people have scrutinized it, looking for exploits.

  Is it true that not one single virus has been identified on Macs?

Assuming you mean "malware" in general, no, that's not true. In recent memory, the Flashback malware has been delivered by both a trojan installer (which tricks the user into giving it permission) and an exploit in Java (which doesn't require any user action).

  Is it also true that the majority of malware identified is in the form of trojans

I can't find any reliable data, but there have definitely been several trojans targeting Mac users in recent years.

  Is the underlying reason that malware is supposedly less is because Windows still dominates in usage terms for most people, but eventually in a few more years, there will be just as much malware on a Mac as on a Windows PC ?

It's hard to say for sure, obviously, because nobody can predict the future. Apple is obviously taking steps to try to keep Mac users as safe as possible (e.g., Gatekeeper), but again, OS X will never be 100% immune to security threats. It's just a fact.


An icon set to extend Lions default icins,

I don't know of a pre-built set out there for you, but there's a nifty app on the Mac App Store called "Folders Factory" that makes it very easy to make customized folders.  Just drop in your pacman image and it'll create a folder and allow you to tweak settings, placement, colors, etc.


There is a Cisco VPN client built-in into Mac OS X. I am currently using it successfully to connect to my university VPN network from home.

Add it as an interface in Network Preferences -

Quickly connect to the VPN from the menubar -


Is there a way to turn off an external Apple Cinema Display remotely and continue to use the computer?

I don't think this is possible with Screen Sharing.  (That would go against the "spirit" of the Screen Sharing feature, which is to help people troubleshoot a problem or work collaboratively on something.)

This is not a free alternative, but if you use Apple Remote Desktop ($80), you have the option to "curtain" the screen, which not only hides what you're doing, but locks the remote computer against local access.  It also has many powerful system maintenance/monitoring features.

As far as saving power, could you simply turn off the local display before you leave the location?  You should also set the display to sleep when it's not being used (in the Energy Saver pref pane) -- in that case, it would only be drawing power while you're connected and using it.  Also, if you're using one of the new LED Cinema Displays, keep in mind they are energy efficient devices, so the power draw isn't as much of a concern as with standard (non-LED) displays.


Why were my contacts synced to my mother's iPhone?

Sharing a single Apple Id can save you money when downloading apps or music, but can cause confusion when attempting to use other Apple services associated with your Apple Id. In this particular instance I would venture your contact showed up on your mom's phone because she signed into iCloud with your Apple Id. By default iCloud syncs a lot of information:

Contacts
Calendars
Reminders
Safari
Passbook
Photo Stream
Documents and Data
Find My iPhone

If you go to Settings > iCloud you can toggle these services to on or off. Unfortunately, what I don't know is if toggling contacts off will remove the already synced contacts.

About a year ago I asked the question: how many Apple IDs should one household have? This spawned a lot of great answers and I definitely recommend reading it. To summarize it's okay to use the one account for purchases, but I would recommend having additional accounts for iCloud, Facetime etc.


Macbook webcam only shows black and green LED is always on

Based on the description and the comments, this sounds like a hardware failure, not malware.   The iSight camera and/or cable has most likely failed.  Replacing it should be a fairly simple task to a tech to accomplish

The first thing to do when having hardware difficulty of any type is to run Apple Hardware Test (AHT).  Simply hold down the D key while booting from a powered off state and the AC adapter connected.

Since AHT diagnosed an issue and you are under AppleCare, it's best that you take it in.


Do we still need to terminate the display port with Catalina?

You should not need to terminate the video port of your Mac mini as support for a headless machine is natively supported by macOS - Remote into Mac Mini after a reboot.  I say “should” because while it is supposed to be supported, I’ve run into instances where it would simply fail without it - notably VNC.
Bottom line is that you shouldn’t need it.  But, does it hurt to have it?  No.  It’s also sufficiently inexpensive that getting one so you don’t have to worry about any issues makes it quite feasible.


Start Activity Monitor (from Launchpad/Other or via Spotlight).

Find iTunes in the list and close it. If it's not there then find iTunes Helper and close that.

The names are present in the Process Name column, closing the processes is possible via the X button situated around the top left corner (of course not the red one, which closes the Activity Monitor itself, but below that).


Audio & Left side USB fail on Mackbook Air Mid 2013

If trying to use the Audio Midi Setup (as suggested in comments by Tetsujin) doesn't help, your next step would be to run Apple Diagnostics.

Run Apple Diagnostics

Follow the steps below to run Apple Diagnostics:

Fully shut down your Mac
Restart your Mac
Immediately press the D key and keep it down until you see the Diagnostics screen appear
Wait for Diagnostics to finish (this typically only takes a few minutes)
Once complete, one of two things will appear on the screen:

a No issues found message
a brief description of any errors found plus further instructions

If the diagnostics test does find errors, take a note of what they are

Note: If pressing and holding the D key at Step 3 doesn't work, start again at Step 1 and, at Step 3 press and hold both the OptionD keys instead. This will try and run diagnostics from the internet instead, so you will need to allow more time for it to complete. Regardless, take a note of what happens and let me know how you went.


Is it okay to stack an Airport Extreme on top of a Mac mini?

Stacking is not recommended. According to the Mac Mini user guide it is not recommended to place anything on a top of a Mac Mini, since its can interfere with the Mac Mini's Antennas for Wifi, Bluetooth and optical drive operation. Additionally, since that area kind of gets hot on my Mac Mini Late 2009, its probably not a good idea to cover it, since the Mini would be adding heat directly to the bottom of the Airport Base Station as well, and it does not have fans to keep it cool.

As noted in Mac Mini Late 2009 User Guide

  Important:  Don’t place anything on top of your Mac mini. Objects placed on top may interfere with the optical drive or the AirPort or Bluetooth®
   wireless signal.

In your case a stacking solution (pictured below) might be the safest way to save space and keep your hardware on the safe side to the written letter in the book. But if your careful and things are not interfering and things are not getting too hot, stacking might be OK, contact Apple to be certain.

Also consider moving your Airport Extreme to another location, it might help avoid sources of wireless interference at your desk, eg monitor, computer, speakers, cell phones, etc. You might be able to mount the Airport Extreme behind your desk or to a nearby wall behind your desk to get it out of the way and reduce the need to stack things.


change metadata tag before importing mp4 into iTunes to Music Video

If I recall correctly, music videos have the following metadata:

genre: Music Video
media kind Music Video
kind Purchased MPEG-4 video file

As a minimum, I imagine you'd have to change the genre and media kind metadata so that they're labelled as Music Video to ensure the .mp4 files are imported as music videos.

As an aside, you can typically view the above metadata within iTunes by doing a Get Info. That is, select the item and press command I (or you can go to iTunes > Edit > Get Info). This brings up all the metadata and you can view the:

genre within the Details tab
media kind within the Options tab
kind within the File tab


How can I hide an existing user - El Cap

The command sudo dscl . create /Users/username IsHidden 1 doesn't really create a full-fledged user. The user misses an UID and a PGID and some more attributes.

Instead it creates a "rump user" with a new Native Attribut Type: IsHidden with the value 1.

You can use the very same command for any existing user and add the IsHidden attribute with the values 0|1 though and after a restart the user account will be hidden in the login screen as well as in fast user switching (and in the System Preferences -> Users & Groups) if the value is set to 1.

Users with an UID ≤ 500 are hidden by default!


Is it possible to use mac trackpad gestures on, say, a linux virtualbox machine?

Using BetterTouchTool on the Mac host machine,use a application specific rule for the VirtualBox VM to map the swipe gesture to keyboard shortcuts to change desktops. To tie the rule to the VM and not the prefs app, issue ln -s /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/Resources/VirtualBoxVM.app ~/Desktop/VBVM.app, to create an alias to the VM's app bundle on the desktop. Next, make the rule and set the app as the alias on the desktop. Finally delete the alias on the desktop and try it out.


Is there a list of Google Drive compatibility issues?

I emailed Google and got a few clues from them:

Google does not track software incompatibilities, so there is no way to know if TotalFinder is responsible for the random " (1)" file duplications. I suspect it's not.
Google Drive does not support resource forks or aliases. Dropbox has the same limitation, but it does not destroy the files like Google Drive does.

I have briefly documented the issues here.

My final word is that Dropbox is safer to use than Google Drive, and that both are limited in such a way that they cannot act as perfect substitutes to external hard drive backups.


I just bought an iMac with Mavericks pre-installed, can i go back to Mountain Lion?

Older OS X versions might not include all drivers/kernel extensions required on current hardware so the general answer is No.

Apple has a nice article elaborating why this is a bad idea in general, but if you want to learn and have a backup of all your data, you could always try and see how far you get.

Also, just because your Mac shipped with Mavericks, doesn't necessarily mean that model isn't fully supported on an earlier version. You could check your exact model and determine whether your intended OS + Hardware combination is an exception to the general rule.

Assuming your iMac is the one marketed by Apple as Late 2013 - they yes, it will support installation of OS X 10.8.4 - Build 12E4022.

Having said that, an easy way out would be to run Mountain Lion in a VM (both VMware and Parallels will do).


What is the security model of iCloud Drive on iOS?

UIDocumentPickerViewController provides apps with open or import access to one or more user-specified files. Folders are not provided to apps for their own access to, and multiple selections must be user-initiated. When an app saves a file, it can retain access to that file but is not granted general access to the containing folder. Apps have access to their own app folders in iCloud Drive, but not the ability for any folder or all files.


Both of those tools seem to provide some basic diagnostic information about your drive.

  The Intel® Solid State Drive Toolbox (Intel® SSD Toolbox) is drive
  management software that allows you to:
  - View current drive information for Intel® Solid State Drives (Intel® SSDs), including:

  Model number, capacity, and firmware version
  Drive health
  Estimated drive life remaining
  SMART attributes (also available for hard disk
  drives and non-Intel SSDs)
  Identify Device information (also available for hard disk drives and non-Intel SSDs)

You can get this with DiskDrill or Diskwarrior.  The free versions of both can give you what you are looking for.

The "tuning" is basically enabling/disabling TRIM support.  There are 3rd party utilities out there that can do it for you, but the reccomended way is doing it through OS X Terminal.  The linked article has a Word document that provides you the steps to to enable TRIM; I am direct linking it here


My question is simple, how and why do I have these problems? Could they be caused by a widget?

It can be caused by anything including (a) widget(s).
However, in this case, it's an issue with iOS 14.

Apple Confirms iOS 14 Battery, Data Problems For iPhone Users
iOS 14 Battery Life Bad & Draining Fast? Here’s Why & How to Fix It

I have personally tested this after experiencing severe battery drain on my iPhone after upgrading to iOS 14.1 by reverting to iOS 13 via a restore from backup.  When I did, the issue went away.
What can you do to fix?  There are some tips like ensuring your apps are updated and closing apps (not suspending them) when not in use.  I personally just keep the phone plugged in all the time and I'm waiting for a new release that hopefully fixes it (actually, I'm waiting for the iPhone 12 mini instead).


Bootable USB for Windows 7 isn’t showing up on MacBook Pro 12,2

The Boot Camp Assistant will not accept Windows 7 because your Mac is a 2015 model. Starting in 2015, Apple eliminated including a legacy BIOS with the Mac firmware. Windows 7 can only BIOS boot and therefore can not be installed on your Mac. It does not matter how you create the flash drive or what method you use in an attempt to install.


Extract a disk image without diskimagemounter

Pacifist allows you to examine the contents of packages and archives, including .dmg files, and extract individual files. Unfortunately,  it may require you to authenticate as an Administrator to do so.

I would advocate caution in proceeding. Be certain you're not circumventing the intentions of your school's system administrators even if your actions are seemingly allowed based on the restrictions imposed.


Rotate a video taken on an iPhone, and save it as an MP4

I opened iMovie, and imported the upside down video (which only appears upside down in non-Apple apps, like VLC). Since iMovie is an Apple app, it is able to read the rotation metadata, so it showed the video correctly. I then simply exported the video as an MP4 from iMovie, which resulted in a video with the correct orientation.

No manual rotation was necessary in iMovie since it already was able to read that metadata, as I mentioned.


How do I improve video perfomance on my dual core Macbook Pro?

Assuming that you are not using the full computational power of your CPU (if you were, then that would be the end of the optimization process, overcloking put aside), the only thing you can optimize is cooling.

CPU can get throttled quiet heavily at high load after a certain point if the cooling system fails to evacuate the remaining heat, for two reasons :

Fans and radiator can get quiet dirty, hence obstructing the airflow
The heat paste can be aging and/or of poor quality, not transferring heat between the CPU (the place were heat is generated) and the heatsink (the place were it is evacuated by the airflow), hence the heat buildup and necessity to throttle the CPU to prevent it from damaging itself.

So, as for the solutions :

Cleaning the fan(s) AND radiator with pressurized air will get you a performance output proportional to their dirtiness and is quiet straightforward (just need a a Phillips and T6 screw driver).
As for the state of your thermal paste, and can diagnose it easily by putting your computer under a maximum load and looking at the reading of temperature sensors (the iStat Nano widget is enough) for both CPUS and Heatsink; too much a temperature difference between your CPU (should be 90-95°C) and your heatsink(should be more than 60-65°C) is the sign that could benefit from changing it. Be careful, as it is a very demanding and precise work, but could give you the extra performance you are looking for (don't expect too much of it though, maybe 10-20% ?).

Guides are available on iFixit for all these operations.


Why can't I  update to iOS 5 my iPod Touch 4th gen?

In general, you need to be connected to the internet to validate the install iOS packages with Apple's servers at the time of the restore. It is part of the install process that confirms to apple that your software has installed correctly and it generates the user license rather than asking you to enter a serial number for you allowing you to use the software.

Specifically for Error 1062 you need to remove iTunes and Apple Mobile device support from you applications. Then install the latest version of the software on your PC/Mac.


App Files on Mac OS X - Visual Studio Code

To completely remove Visual Studio Code you should delete the following files and folders:

/Applications/Visual Studio Code.app
/private/tmp/VSCode Crashes
~/.vscode
~/Library/Application Support/Code
~/Library/Caches/Code
~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.VSCode.*
~/Library/Saved Application State/com.microsoft.VSCode.savedState

monitored with fseventer (OK it's a 404, but the domain still exists)


Neither is actually correct.
The problem has nothing at all to do with APFS. As the linked answer describes, it has to do with the location of the partitioning tables.
If your source and destination drives have the same sector sizes, you can just copy using ordinary dd without any special parameters.
If they do not have the same sector size (as in the linked example with an old traditional hard drive and a newer flash-based drive), the partitioning table needs to moved.
Essentially the computer will try to read the GPT partitioning table at the location of the second sector. For some drives that will be at byte 512 on the drive, for others it will be at byte 4096 on the drive.
The dd command you suggest with two different block sizes won’t here. It means that dd will read in data in blocks of 4096 bytes, and write them out in blocks of 512 bytes - thus performing 4 writes for each read. However that still places all the data as the exact same byte indices on the target drive as they had on the source drive.
For your purpose you need to move the data that was previously at index 4096 to be at index 512.
Regarding your other questions:
Yes, encrypted partitions can be cloned with dd.
For this type of work you want to use rdisk instead of disk. The r means “raw” meaning that you’re bypassing the disk cache. You’ll end up with the same result, but it will go quicker that way.


Mail.app - Shortcut to switch signatures?

Sorry to dig up an old question, but I had the identical issue today and this was the first result for my google search for “mac mail signature shortcut”. While these answers weren’t what I was looking for, the 3rd google result was a MacWorld hint, which offered the perfect solution.

Here’s the answer: you can assign keyboard shortcuts for your email signatures, “From:” account selection, and even SMTP account from System Preferences → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Application Shortcuts. To set up your shortcut, click the + icon, select “Mail.app” from the Application drop down, enter the text of the signature (or other option) as it appears in the New Message window drop down, and give it a keyboard shortcut. Rob Griffiths, the author of the MacWorld hint, advises using ⌃ (control) in combination with your desired keys to avoid conflicts with existing Mail shortcuts, which seems smart.

In my case, I created a shortcut in Mail.app for the menu title “None” (the first option under signatures) and assigned it the shortcut ⌃X. It is now exceedingly easy for me to clear my default email signature when it doesn’t seem appropriate.

For the purposes of illustration, here is the System Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts pane (it’s the last item):

And here is what it looks like in Mail’s New Message window:


Why does directory vanish when I do SSHFS?

On OSX you should run the mounting command as your own regular user, not root.

sshfs user@host:/ ~/sshfs -oauto_cache,reconnect,defer_permissions,noappledouble,negative_vncache,volname=MySSHFSMount


iPad Air 2 - How to enable device rotation

There is apparently an option to adjust screen rotation in the Control Center on the iPad Air 2, since it has no side switch. (Control Center can be accessed by swiping up from he bottom of the screen).


How do I set the working directory as the tab title in Terminal for Mac?

Solution: Copy the zsh setup files (/etc/zshrc and /etc/zshrc_Apple_Terminal) from a Catalina system to the older system (preferably after backing up the original equivalent(s)).

I haven't tested this in Mojave, but I did in High Sierra, and it works fine there.

Explanation of the problem: Setting the Terminal window/tab title requires running some code (e.g. a shell function) to send the appropriate escape sequences, encoded version of the directory name, etc to the Terminal. In older versions of macOS, this was handled in bash by having /etc/bashrc run /etc/bashrc_Apple_Terminal, which defined a suitable function and set PROMPT_COMMAND to tell bash to run it each time it prompted for a new command. But since zsh wasn't the default shell, Apple didn't bother to create the equivalent setup scripts for zsh.

In Catalina, zsh is the default shell, so they wrote analogous setup steps and added them to /etc/zshrc and /etc/zshrc_Apple_Terminal. The mechanics are different (for example, zsh uses add-zsh-hook precmd instead of the PROMPT_COMMAND variable), but it does essentially the same thing. These files are not dependent on anything in Catalina; you can simply copy them to older systems, and they should work the same as they do in Catalina.


How to change encoding on iPad or iPhone mail?

I seldom use Unicode characters but, as far as I can tell, it seems the Mail.app sets the encoding based on what you're typing. So if you don't type any Unicode characters it will asume a different encoding (based on the language defined in your device).

Try to add an Unicode character to your replies as a workaround (maybe in your signature)!


How to connect an iMac 2011 to an HDMI laptop?

Mactracker (backed up by Apple's specs here) indicates that the Thunderbolt port is also a video output:

Thunderbolt:    1 - Thunderbolt 1 (up to 10 Gbps)
Display:    Thunderbolt digital video output (Support for up to two Thunderbolt displays)

You should be able to use a MDP to HDMI adapter like this one from Belkin.

In our testing at my workplace, the Belkin adapters are the most robust.


SSD will make everything feel faster, but it's kind of pricey. Your internal HD is probably wearing out anyway, so it's not a bad idea to substitute it. If price is an issue you can buy one of the new 7200rpm with 32/64MB of cache, and do a clean install. Before moving your data into the new HD, install your Applications. This way they will reside in area of the disk which can be retrieved faster.


AppleScript gives no permission error trying to open file, but the file can be opened manually

This problem is caused by Apple's sandboxing of applications (in this case, OmniGraffle). Preview does not receive an entitlement to access the PDF if you just pass it a string to open. From Apple's release notes:

  Compatibility Notes

  When sending commands to a sandboxed application, such as TextEdit in OS X Mountain Lion, parameters that refer to files must be of an explicit file-like type and not a bare string, or the target application will not be able to access the file. For example, file "Macintosh HD:Users:me:sample.txt", POSIX file "/Users/me/sample.txt", or the result of choose file would all be acceptable, but the string "/Users/me/sample.txt" would not.

Why does this sometimes work? When you open a file manually, the application retains the entitlement to open it (in Recents, for instance). Therefore, if you try any file you've opened already, odds are it will work, but it won't work on new files.

To fix, change your code to read:

...
    set srcFileRef to (open POSIX file srcFileString)
...


How to format multiple exFAT partitions on USB drive?

To format an ExFAT partition, unmount the partition and use (sudo) newfs_exfat [options] /dev/disk*s*. Check man newfs_exfat for the options.

The default FAT-size is 32bit, so you don't have to (or more precisely: you can't easily) specify the -F option.

Typically the Terminal commands should look like this:

diskutil list #to get the disk identifier of the exFAT partition
diskutil unmount /dev/diskxsy
sudo newfs_exfat -v Name /dev/diskxsy


Is disk image encryption slower than partition encryption?

An encrypted partition would likely be faster. With a disk image, you're actually accessing two filesystems, one within the disk image, and the one on which the disk image is stored, as well as the technologies needed to read the disk image itself. It seem unlikely that a disk image could ever be faster than full-disk encryption, but you would have to run benchmarks to be certain.


Tl;dr
For your Mac "lo0" is almost the same as the "me" is for you in your question!
lo0: is the loopback address of your computer:
wikipedia says:

Implementations of the Internet Protocol Suite include a virtual network interface through which network applications can communicate when executing on the same machine. It is implemented entirely within the operating system's networking software and passes no packets to any network interface controller. Any traffic that a computer program sends to a loopback IP address is simply and immediately passed back up the network software stack as if it had been received from another device.
Unix-like systems usually name this loopback interface lo or lo0.
Various Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards reserve the IPv4 address block 127.0.0.0/8, in CIDR notation and the IPv6 address ::1 for this purpose. The most common IPv4 address used is 127.0.0.1. Commonly these loopback addresses are mapped to the hostnames, localhost or loopback.

en0:
en0 is your first physical network interface.
Usually it's the internal Ethernet nic (Network interface controller).
It's not activated - probably no ethernet cable is connected - and doesn't have an IP-address.
en1
en1 is your second physical network interface.
Usually it's the Wi-fi interface.
It's activated and connected to an access point and has the IP-address 192.168.1.2, the netmask 255.255.255.0 and the broadcast address 192.168.1.255.
fw0:
fw0 is your third physical network interface.
That's your Firewire interface.
It's not activated - probably no Firewire cable is connected - and doesn't have an IP-address.


You can't access the WhatsApp backup as a file and only the latest backup is maintained. You can see its size in Manage Storage on iCloud. When you reinstall WhatsApp on the same or new iPhone, it will prompt you if you want to restore from iCloud backup.


Can't find an option to lock my workstation

In macOS High Sierra (10.13) there is a 'Lock Screen' option built in the Apple menu. And finally a shortcut ctrl + cmd + Q :-)

Old solution for me:

Or you can get a Keychain Lock in your menubar.

Open Keychain Access
Go to 'Preferences'
Activate 'Show keychain status in menubar'
There appears a lock in your menu bar.
Click on it and choose 'Lock Screen'.


I'm not 100% clear on what you're asking, but what I can tell you is:

I use a number of Apple Wireless A1314 keyboards with various iMacs and MacBook Pros and the tilde ~ key works fine on all of them.
I haven't actually used any of this model keyboard on a Mac running macOS Sierra, but I have on Macs running Mac OS X Snow Leopard all the way up to Mac OS X El Capitan and the ~ key works fine on all of them.
If you actually meant the ` key (which on my keyboard is the same physical key as the tilde ~ key), then this also works on all of them.
As for the Section Sign (§), I've always achieved that with a option6 keyboard shortcut (i.e. there is no physical key labelled as § on any of my Apple Wireless A1314 keyboards.

If the above isn't helpful, you could try starting your Mac in Safe Mode just to see if that makes any difference in your scenario.

Boot into Safe Mode

Follow these steps boot your Mac into Safe Mode:

Fully shut down your Mac
Restart your Mac
Immediately press the Shift key and keep it down
Let go of the Shift key when you see the login window (NOTE: If you have FileVault enabled you may need to log in twice).
Take a note of whether your keyboard now works as you want?
Exit Safe Mode by restart your Mac as normal
Test your keyboard again

Once you've tested in Safe Mode and afterwards, let us know how you went.


Is there currently any way to vote on what music you play?

If voting is not relevant, and money is not an issue, you can set up a Spotify Collaborative Playlist.
It allows you to invite any Spotify user to edit your playlist.

Other than that, searching for "playlist voting app" returns a great amount of apps that do different versions of what you are looking for, but I haven't tried any of them.

https://outloud.dj/ seems particularly promising:

  At your next party, everybody controls the music.
  Mash your Spotify and iTunes playlists with those of your friends and build the ultimate playlist.
  Add any song through Spotify, even if you don't have an account.
  Project your playlist onto your TV with the push of a button.
  The app is free and no sign-ins and set-ups required.


How does "Find My" application is working with location service changes in iOS 13

The While Using App permission means it's using your location when actively running (foreground) or in the background.

You can keep 'Find My' app in the background (do not force-quit) and it will be able to access your location.

Update: Source:

The Always Allow option, which grants an app “background” location access, has been removed from the initial location permissions prompt.

Instead, users can select Keep Only While Using (aka “foreground” permission) or select a new option, Allow Once.

So how does an app then get upgraded to “background” location permission? If the user continues to use the app, iOS 13 will now automatically and periodically prompt to upgrade location permissions from While Using to Always Allow.


In macOS Mojave, is there a list of unused keyboard combinations for shortcuts?

Is there any table with a list of unused shortcuts in Mojave that could be good candidates for custom shortcuts?

There is not. There are a few utilities out there which will show you which key combinations are in use¹ but none (that I am aware of) show you available keyboard shortcuts.

¹ I believe KeyCue is the most well-known and best supported.

One common method among Mac power users is the use of a Hyper Key which is (generally speaking) where you remap holding down the Caps Lock key to equal holding down ⌘ ⇧ ⌥ ⌃ because few apps (and few macOS default shortcuts) use all 4 modifiers (mostly because it is awkward to try to press them all at once, which is why remapping the Caps Lock key is recommended).

Personally, I use a Hyper Key with Keyboard Maestro because, unlike shortcuts defined in System Preferences, Keyboard Maestro's shortcuts are easy to backup/restore, and easy to sync across multiple Macs.


Is there an app that helps you move files without drag-and-drop?

One option is to use the built-in "Copy" and "Move Item Here" options:

Right-click on the source:

Hold ⌥ Option while right-clicking at the destination:

(Of course, these can also be done using keyboard shortcuts!)


How do I completely remove Symantec Endpoint Protection?

Looks like there's a tool that will completely uninstall Symantec software from your Mac. This page describes how it works. Here's the direct download link to RemoveSymantecMacFiles.zip.

In case the first link goes away, the easiest way to run it is to control-click on the download, choose "Open with..." -> "Terminal" and follow the instructions. You'll need to have admin privileges on the Mac but you won't need the "Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager administrator" password.


This might be a hardware error. Maybe try to install a different version of macos. Another option is that you Boot on an external drive and try to go from there.


Unable to download or stream purchased song from iCloud Library

Found a kind of workaround to re-upload those related songs. Make sure you have a backup of those songs before trying in case something will go wrong, and make sure you have exported your custom created playlists to import them later if any of those songs are there.

You are going to remove those Matched or Purchased kind of files and will create new ones. These steps should save all the metadata like ratings, play counts and so on, but will have a new one date added to library.

iCloud should have to check those files again and will make those songs Matched or Uploaded once again, but this time everything should be playable and downloadable for offline use.

Make sure you have the iTunes Plus setting in Preferences > Import Settings.
Create the new playlist and put all songs you found broken in your previously created Smart Playlist, just in case it will not mess up later. Create a new Smart Playlist with todays Date Added, this will put all fixed files there that you will create later.

In the next step you have to Create AAC version in File > Convert. This will make a duplicate file but all the crucial metadata should be the same, file size may be larger or smaller though.

Now you need to completely remove broken songs under Song > Delete From Library.

This will give new Removed iCloud status to the newly created files. You will need to select all files in the new Smart Playlist with Date added today setting, right-click and select Add to iCloud Music Library.

You will have now Matched or Uploaded iCloud status in these files but everything should work properly now. The location of files eventually should be the same as removed ones, so you can have playable Exported playlists that you want to Import now.


IMac freezing intermittently--every few minutes. How can I fix this?

It's very unlikely you downloaded something or broke everything with one download. Also - with at least 4 things not working well - please protect your pictures, emails just in case it's a hardware failure.

When only one thing is broken - it's often worthwhile to poke, learn, understand what broke and look for a fix of that one issue.

For any group of three or more problems, there's one solution that always works (and often saves a lot of time):

Back up anything you can't afford to loose and get someone who is a bit tech savvy to verify you have a workable backup that you can restore if needed.
Erase the mac and install just a clean system from the media that came with the mac.

This will quickly let you know if the hardware has failed. It will also solve nearly all software issues. Once you have surfed the web, made sure it is reliable, then you can run updates, restore your personal files and get on knowing it was just some corruption of the software.

Don't feel bad getting help from someone (even paid) if your savvy is for things other than a computer. A good tech can erase and install Mac OS X in 10 to 30 minutes. A good tech might take 4 hours to 4 days to pick apart all the things that could be wrong and tell you what happened. With multiple issues, it's hard to tell what was the root cause and what was just a subsequent failure.

It's often so much easier and efficient to just clean up the mess, start fresh, and keep an eye for any sign of the problems recurring. You will then have better data on the problem. You will also have a backup of your important files.

Since your computer can't tell if it has enough memory to run, (or is truly out of space) you can't really trust itself to fix itself which is why I jumped right to backup / restore for anyone on a situation as you describe. Also, if you were to determine exactly what broke, and did the fixes right, if it freezes or doesn't complete your fix - you will still be in the same badly working situation.

Best of luck - some good people have made answers with great advice here as to what could be wrong. I wanted to weigh in with a different sort of advice since no-one (you included) had mentioned protecting your data files.


Swapping existing hard drive into new laptop

If you are moving to a MBP with a different chipset than what you currently have, and since it's a new revision it will be all new hardware, then you can do the SSD transfer but you will get a lot of issues with driver and system compatibility.

The best thing would be to do a Time Machine backup of you current system, install the SSD, fresh install of OSX, and during the user registration restore your data from a Time Machine backup.


How to download any file to iPad from a cloud drive through the browser?

From my findings, it appears that you simply can't download files with any default free browser.
The most practical way was to use VLC and transfer the file over WiFi from any other device that supports browser file downloads.
Steps that made it work were as follows: (https://techlog360.com/wireless-file-transfer-from-pc-to-ipad-iphone/)

Connect iPad to the same WiFi network as the other device.
Download the file with any other device that supports downloading from a browser.
On the iPad, install VLC.
Open VLC, on the Network settings, turn on "Sharing via WiFi".
On the device, open the browser and input the IP address that appeared in the step above.
Press the + button, select the files from the device, and upload the files.
The files are then located in "Files (Apple app) -> On My iPad".


It appears if your device was previously used with you mom's iCloud account, and her contact information was not removed from the device before you signed in with your iCloud account. This will merge the contact data from both accounts.

Unfortunately, there is no way to automatically detect which contacts were yours or which ones were your mom's.

A simple solution is to manually delete all the contacts that do not belong to you. First, ensure that your phone is using your account for contacts, otherwise you will be deleting your mom's contacts on her iCloud account. Go to Settings > Your Name > iCloud > Contacts and check if Contacts is on and the account is yours. Then, open the contacts app and tap edit on the contact you would like to delete. Finally, scroll to the bottom and press Delete Contact then Delete Contact on the popup again.

If you happen to use Time Machine on a separate macOS device and use iCloud sync, you could try to recover your old contacts list, delete all your contacts, then re-import the original contacts from the Time Machine backup.

To prevent this from happening in the future (as I have done this many times myself on accident), make sure you completely erase your device before signing in with a new iCloud account.


Boom is a simple program that does nothing except boost the system volume past its maximum. It can also increase the volume of audio files, although iTunes can also do this. It does cost money, but only $5.


OS X swapping with free memory available?

This looks 100% normal, fine and not at all even beginning to look like a problem.

Swap is for items that the system determines aren’t needed actively and frees up RAM for other tasks that can benefit. You have a very large proportion of free memory so the system is well in the green.

Apple’s activity monitor now has a “pressure” gauge so I would look at that and only worry if you see large page in / delays or yellow / red pressure on Apple’s graph.

To check page rates to and from swap, open a shell in terminal.app and run:

vm_stat 60

You will see counts per minute and the swap in and out are the ones to worry about. Next would be that you have a stable and low amount of free pages so that number going down to 0 or 10 would be worrisome about swap or allocations. Until then, you’re likely at full speed with any amount of swap that’s not filling your drive causing other issues.


How do I fix enourmous CPU usage & temperature on MacBook Air when trying to install Wine?

The current lineup runs CPU up to 100 C. Is is normal, so you might be able to get something ike SMC fan control to ramp up the fans earlier, but since the CPU clock rate can over heat the blowers, you might not be able to do anything short of externally cooling the case significantly.

Both the clock rate and fans work in conjunction, so upping the fans in turn lowers the clock rate restriction - canceling your efforts to alter the designed behavior.


After seeing it in Firefox too, I decided it must be hardware-related. To avoid having to open up the Mac and change out the graphics card (which required a bit of effort to get the new card in there in the first place, due to it not aligning precisely with the PCI slot opening in the back), I tried changing out the cord. (I recently switched from having it plugged in with a DVI output -> DVI cable -> DVI input on monitor to a Mini DisplayPort output -> MDP/VGA adapter -> VGA cable -> VGA input, and the cord has issues I guess.)

It seems to have resolved the issue.