I use the website alternativeto.net when searching for alternatives to certain software. It allows you to filter by platform (macOS, Windows, Linux) and also by licence (ie. open-source/commerical-paid/free-as-in-beer).

Here is their current list of recommendations for alternatives to Skype for macOS and Windows: https://alternativeto.net/software/skype/

Discord
Telegram (no screen sharing currently)
Tox
Slack
Hangouts

There are also web-based alternatives like deadsimplescreensharing.com, which doesn't require any app or plugin to be installed.


Can iPad 3 play 2048×1536 video in its native resolution?

If you take a look at this page,  it looks like the guy figured out how to get to 1920x1440 and even up to 2048x1536 using mpeg4 or h264.


How do I configure Camera and Microphone permission on macOS Mojave?

Starting with macOS Mojave, Apple has added new permissions to macOS that need to be granted before an application can use the Camera or Microphone. This affects all kind of calling software, and also affects web browsers that you might use for joining online meetings.

Security & Privacy in System Preferences

You can manage permissions for Camera and Microphone in the System Preferences. However, it doesn't work quite how you would expect! By default the list is empty, as shown below. None of your installed applications are shown in the list, and there is no + button that you could use to add an app. You can't even drag an app into this list.

The Prompt

In order to get an app to show up in this list, you first need to launch the app and activate some functionality inside the app that uses the Camera and Microphone.

If you're using QuickTime Player, open the File menu and choose New Movie Recording.
If you're using Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome, the fastest way to do this is by visiting screenapp.io (no affiliation, it just works well).
If you're using Safari, go to Google Hangouts and start a new Video Call.
If you are using Slack (paid version only):

Create a new private channel with only yourself as a member
Click the telephone icon
Press the "Share your screen" button in the call window

You'll see a prompt like "QuickTime Player" would like to access the microphone. Make sure to click OK because you'll only be asked once.

If you aren't presented with this prompt, first ensure that System Integrity Protection (SIP) is enabled on your Mac. To check, you can run csrutil status and it should say System Integrity Protection status: enabled. If SIP is enabled and the prompt still doesn't appear, you'll have to reset your privacy settings for Camera or Microphone using tccutil.

Once you've passed these prompts for camera and microphone, you should be able to use both devices in the current application. The setting is permanent, but only for one application at a time. If you want to use your camera or microphone in a different application, you'll need to authorize it again using the same procedure.


Connecting a Dell XPS running Windows 8.1 to a Thunderbolt Display

I don't believe your "Thunderbolt" port on your Dell XPS is a Thunderbolt port, it's more likely to be a DisplayPort connector. I'm not aware of Dell making any equipment that has a Thunderbolt port. Thunderbolt and DisplayPort do use an identical form factor, so it's easy to get them confused.

You cannot use a Thunderbolt display in a DisplayPort connector.

Since this answer was originally written, Dell has indeed added Thunderbolt 2 or 3 ports to their XPS line of laptops. Double check it is a thunderbolt port in the specs of your exact model and year, but a Dell XPS works well with my Thunderbolt display since the addition of a Thunderbolt port.


Work Mac and home PC with same Apple ID causing problems

open iCloud preferences on the work Mac and sign out of iCloud
answer each question to delete all copies of that data locally
disco


I'm Getting Errors When I Try to do 'brew update'

I've similar problems and my research suggests resetting your local version of the brew repo:

cd $(brew --prefix) && git fetch && git reset --hard origin/master

I'm about to try this myself.


Moving from Snow Leopard directly to Mountain Lion with Time Machine

In general you should not be concerned. However, if you are concerned I recommend you do the following instead:

Upgrade to Mountain Lion (do not do a clean wipe). Then re-install Mountain Lion again. Whereas the upgrade essentially checks and patches the system to make it the new OS, re-installing will effectively wipe the entire OS, leaving your user & network data intact. This is exactly what wiping clean & restoring from Time Machine backup via Migration Assistant will do.

If your system is acting wonky, it's just as likely that your user profile is the culprit. If so, both methods will keep your system potentially wonky. In this case you will want to  manually backup any necessary files (generally your home folder) to an external hard drive, wipe clean, upgrade, and then manually bring back the files you actually need.


I accidentally unmounted the External Hard Drive and now I want to re-mount it back

There is a 3rd party app named Mountain that lets you control volumes on you mac. The app has a free trial period and costs around $6.  Also available on App Store.


.cups is used by Common Unix Printing System, as the name insinuates, this is used by the printing system.

I believe that the .jssc is created by the java simple serial connector library. My bet is you have some java application that uses this library. I wouldn't worry about it.


Not that it will help, but that looks like a 2-coat process, as it's wearing away, the 'outline' is the border between the top coat & the substrate; the patch in the middle is where that base coat has also worn away.

In short, I'd say not fixable, other than by completely stripping & re-coating... or not viable, rather than not fixable.

moved from comments

Anodization changes the microscopic texture of the surface and changes the crystal structure of the metal near the surface. Thick coatings are normally porous, so a sealing process is often needed to achieve corrosion resistance. Anodized aluminium surfaces, for example, are harder than aluminium but have low to moderate wear resistance that can be improved with increasing thickness or by applying suitable sealing substances.


Answer is right here:

  To get internet in my school I have to use the schools http proxy server

If the proxy supports only HTTP, it does only support HTTP.

I don't think you forgot anything. Contact your school's IT if they have different addresses/logins for other protocols. If they don't — file a feature request.


Upgrading MacBook air from 10.6.8 to Sierra

I'm assuming that you have a Late 2010 MBA or later because an MBA prior to then won't support Sierra.  You will need El Capitan, instead.

I wouldn't recommend upgrading - I personally prefer doing a clean install and migrating over my Apps and Data using the Migration Assistant.

You should be able to download the Sierra Installer via the App Store since it was available to Snow Leopard Users.

Following are the steps you need to take to upgrade your MBA to macOS Sierra

Update (if needed) your MBA to the latest Firmware via a standalone installer.  This will help with the Internet Recovery.
Create a USB Installer of macOS Sierra
Backup your installation to Time Machine
Boot from USB and do a clean installation
Use Migration Assistant to move over your apps and data.


Is there a limit on logical volume size for FileVault?

According to Apple the maximum volume size and file size (using Mac OS X v10.5.3 or later) of a volume formatted with the HFS+ file system is close to 8 EB (exactly 2^63 - 2^31 = 9,223,372,034,707,292,160 B). This is also valid for encrypted volumes.

One fact cannot be concealed: the monstrous Logical Volume (the FileVault2 "envelope") is highly vulnerable to drive failure. The failure probability is comparable to a RAID0. Since FileVault doesn't use evenly spread chunks you may recover more data after a drive loss.

Here is a comparison for 10, 11 or 12 disks (8 TB):

Survival probability (for new 8 TB disks and being optimistic):

Nr of disks  1st year 2nd year 3rd year 4th year 5th year
         10       84%      37%      15%       8%       5%
         11       83%      33%      12%       7%       3%
         12       82%      30%      10%       5%       2%

If the disks are smaller than 8 TB (and the number of disks is higher) the survival probability is even worse.


Is it possible to upgrade a second generation iPod Touch to iOS 4.3?

According to the incredibly useful iOS support matrix v 2.0 (Winter 2012) done by Empirical Magic, the end of the line is running iOS 4.2.1 on an iPod touch (2nd generation).

Apps that target 4.3 or newer are just not going to run on that device unless the developers re-add support for that OS. Since the code set for that device is ARMv6 you can expect more and more apps to be dropping support as time goes by. Thankfully, what you have should keep running indefinitely, but updates will taper off.


Is there a way to remove the preview icon of a gif or jpeg file?

As mankoff said, the large size is probably a resource fork (with things like previews).  To confirm this, use the Terminal command ls -l@ /Volumes/Database/WebFolder/imgs/confirm.gif -- you'll probably see something like this:

$ ls -l@ /Volumes/Database/WebFolder/imgs/confirm.gif
-rw-r--r--@ 1 www  www  539 Nov 18 09:39 /Volumes/Database/WebFolder/imgs/confirm.gif
        com.apple.FinderInfo     32
        com.apple.ResourceFork  40748

If it doesn't show a 40kb resource fork, report back so we'll all have a better idea what's going on.

As long as the image is just for web use, a big resource fork isn't really an issue, since the web server will only serve the data fork (which is just 539 bytes long).  If want to compact the file anyway, use the command xattr -d com.apple.ResourceFork /Volumes/Database/WebFolder/imgs/confirm.gif to remove the fork.


How can I copy my music from iPod Nano (model A1446) to iPhone 5s?

I've had a similar problem. The only solution I found was an application called TouchCopy12. It allows you to transfer songs off of an iDevice directly to iTunes. I'm pretty sure you are able to transfer playlists as well. You get (I think) 82 transfers before you have to register. The link to the program, as well as information about it, will be located down below. I hope this helps and good luck!

http://www.wideanglesoftware.com/touchcopy/purchase.php

and

http://www.wideanglesoftware.com/touchcopy/features/index.php


What are M4 & T4 protocol of Hearing aid compatibility of GSM & CDMA model of iPhone 4?

If you see a M3, M4, T3 or T4 on the box then the phone has been designated as HAC compliant.

About the T

  "T" refers to the phone's coupling ability and is intended for use
  with hearing aids in the telecoil mode. The higher the "T" number the
  more likely you will be able to use the phone with your hearing aid on
  the telecoil setting. A telecoil is a small device that is built into
  some hearing aids for use with the telephone as well as assistive
  listening devices. To use the telecoil, generally either the hearing
  aid is switched to the "T" position or a button on the hearing aid is
  pushed to select the telecoil program. The telecoil picks up magnetic
  fields generated by telephones and converts these fields into sound.
  Telecoils are particularly useful for telephone communication because
  they permit the volume control of a hearing aid to be turned up
  without creating feedback or "whistling," and background noise can be
  reduced especially when using cell phones in noisy places. That is why
  hearing aid phones are important. They give you the ability to control
  and process sound.

source: betterhearing.org

About the difference between M and T

  An "M" rating measures compatibility with acoustic hearing aids while
  a "T" rating measures compatibility with induction hearing aids. So
  the higher the number (e.g., M3, M4 etc.) the more compatible the
  handset. Generally, handsets rated "M3" or "T3" by ANSI or better are
  considered compliant with FCC requirements. Acoustic Hearing Aids
  M3-rating indicates the handset has satisfied the ANSI standard
  M4-rating indicates the handset has exceeded the ANSI standard

  Induction Hearing Aids T3-rating indicates the handset has satisfied
  the ANSI standard T4-rating indicates the handset has exceeded the
  ANSI standard

source: uscellular.com


Is it possible to run both Xcode 3 and 4 side-by-side on the same machine?

To answer your question: Yes. When you install Xcode 4 (and its dev tools) your "old" Xcode folder gets renamed as Developer-old (provided you already had Xcode 3 installed)

To answer Ricket: Xcode 4 doesn't support a few things (yet) like Plugins and some features (like assembly code) are non existent in Xcode4 (perhaps yet or never) so if you rely on some things you might want to keep a copy of Xcode 3 around.

If you want to take a look at a good Xcode 4 review (and see some of the key benefits/drawbacks) have a look at this.


Problem with getting attachments on apple mail

I had this behavior often when View > Mail> As pure text was selected.

Selecting Best alternative did show the attachments.


Tricky one, but you can rig up a solution - I'm not sure about the final quality though.

First, you need to allow your iPad to use AirPlay Mirroring with your iMac as the target device.

To do this, you need to use a program like AirServer ($15 for a single user license) or Reflector ($15 again, but has a trial at least) or AirMac (Free, but not as fully featured) or AirPlayer (Similarly beta).  Mountain Lion will have this feature built in, potentially.

When this installed, check you can get it to work - so ensure the iPad and iMac are on the same wireless network, and turn on Airplay Mirroring, pointing it at the correct host:

You should get a window displaying the contents on your Mac.  Note, than even if you are using the top of the line iMac, the resolution of the iPad will still be too large to view without scaling, so expect some downscaling, either by the airplay protocol or the receiving app anyway, simply to ensure it fits on your screen.  Given a choice, a neat halving to get the original 1024x768 resolution should suffice.  The method of doing this will be different depending on which app you end up using.

Once you have a window running with out iPad screen in it, you can capture it with Quicktime.  I note that you already use ScreenFlow (which I missed at first), so you can do this your own way, but for everyone else you can do it with build in tools like Quicktime.  I am going to assume you are on Lion.  Open up Quicktime Player, and go File > New Screen Recording  Hit the big red recording button, and you get the message Click to record the full screen.  Drag to record part of the screen  Drag a neat square over your Airplay receiving window, adjusting as required to get a neat fit, then hit the record button in the middle, and do your stuff.

CAVEAT: Lots of things can affect quality using this method.  Your wireless network may be slow, resulting in dropped frames or lag when recording.  Your computer may be slow, or busy, resulting in dropped frames etc etc etc.  Quicktime (if you use it) is already by definition recording a compressed video, not raw, and it's using an image source on your screen that is already displaying a video that has been compressed down from Retina resolution to something saner for desktop use.  This method works, but the resulting video quality can vary wildly depending on your setup.  You can mitigate to an extent with thoughtful configuration of your network and so on, or by using more expensive screen capture solutions that record raw etc, that but is up to you to decide how much quality you need.  As it stands, the test video I put up was more than sufficient to be perfectly pleasant on YouTube.

  Now, time to own up, I cannot get it to work with the free versions on
  offer, but I have in the past, so I'm throwing the solution up anyway,
  in case it's just me being stupid.

I have used the trial version (limited to 10 minutes) of Reflector though, and created the following video as an example, proving it can be done, but you may need to cough up for paid software to do so:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1fyp8QzWeg

EDIT: Since this answer was accepted, many of the software solutions listed have included screen recording directly within the airdisplay software, negating the need to arrange a separate quicktime screen recording, and potentially improving quality.


How to turn off automatic typing correction in Lion?

Go to system preferences -> and then language/text

Hit the "Text" tab.

There is a checkbox that says "Correct spelling automatically". Uncheck it.

Look here for more info:

http://www.applegazette.com/mac/how-to-disable-auto-correct-in-os-x-lion/


Batch print with printer preset in MacOS

There are a couple of things you can do:

Printer Presets
Under the Presets menu, see if the Reset Presets Menu to “Default Settings” is checked. If this is checked, uncheck it and the last preset you used remain in place when you finish printing the document.

Create a "New" Printer
Create a new printer that prints to the same device, but set all the printer defaults (printer presets) the way you like them.  When you print, print to that printer instead.  You can even temporarily set that printer as the "default printer."  Just remember to set it back when you're done.


How to invoke a script when closing any file with a given extension

If the script could also be run when you open a file (or in other cases), you could use opensnoop.

~/test:

#!/bin/bash

while :; do
    opensnoop | grep -Ev ' (mdworker|mds|filecoordinatio|revisiond|Finder|Alfred) ' | grep -m1 '/Users/username/Folder/.*\.txt'
    say a
    sleep 1
done

/Library/LaunchAgents/test.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC -//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd>
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>test</string>
    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/Users/username/test</string>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

chmod +x ~/test, sudo chown root /Library/LaunchAgents/test.plist, and launchctl load /Library/LaunchAgents/test.plist.


How to compile gcc-4.0 on Mountain Lion?

Someone on serverfault answered the same question. So here's the way to compile gcc-4.0 on OS X Mountain Lion (copied from serverfault):

First get the old 4.0 package that was included with XCode 3.1 from Apple's Open Source page

Download the gcc-5493 package and build using:

mkdir darwin
cd darwin
../configure --prefix=/tmp/testplace --enable-languages=objc,c++
make bootstrap
make install


Why are some "updated app" dots brighter?

I noticed some of the dots on mine were a lighter color several hours after an update was downloaded, which would blow my theory about timing, so I tested changing wallpapers to see how that affected the color. This showed that the color of the dot is impacted by the wallpaper. It may be semi-transparent or the color may simply be chosen by the system based on the color behind it.

The below images were taken within a minute of each other after changing the wallpaper. The first two show changing from a light wallpaper to a dark one. The second, third, and fourth images were all taken with the same wallpaper. You can see the color darkens as the background darkens. In the fourth image, it even varies slightly between rows based on the differing shades in the background.


How update to latest Beta software of Mac OS X without having to update incrementally

You can't - Apple hasn't released a combo updater (yet) and we're at β7 build 15A263e.

You can duplicate this radar if you find it a waste of time.

http://www.openradar.me/22307567 The title isn't strictly correct - all installers so far are incremental.

So, your best bet is to get decent connection to the network and softwareupdate --download --all and then softwareupdate --install --all (or just straight install which downloads then installs)


How to make a test user without a credit card?

OK, as it turns out the test user can only be used from within the sandbox environment, which makes certain sense. This is described here.


Issue with burning Linux .iso file using Disk Utility

I don't think Disk Utility will let you "burn" an ISO to a hard drive. It might let you "restore" the content to the drive. Select the ISO image in the right-hand side, then drag and drop the hard drive into the "Destination" field and click "Restore". I don't have a device here to test, but that might work.

Normally people "burn" ISO images to CDs or DVDs, or write them to USB memory sticks. If you have one of them available here are the relevant instructions for Ubuntu (these instructions should work for other Linux distributions too). I've done both countless times and can confirm that they do work.

How to burn a DVD on OS X
How to create a bootable USB stick on OS X


How can I find iPhone apps uploading a lot of data?

It is unclear whether Bandwidth is from Cellular data or Wi-Fi setup separately. So I will do both.

In Settings → Cellular/ Mobile Data, after waiting for sometime, all the apps that consume data appear in descending order of used data. If Low-Power mode is off and sufficient battery power is available, then Photos and videos and iCloud Drive files will upload to iCloud if the feature Use Data for iCloud is turned on. To avoid extra usage this should be turned off.

For Wi-Fi, such usage chart is not available in iPhone natively. Two indirect approaches are:

See the biggest files or app-usage of iCloud. Go to Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → Manage Storage.
It is less accurate but go to Settings → Battery → Usage pattern. This can be a mix of a lot of activities but most apps that are at the top use a lot of bandwidth in my iPhone.


I am assuming by 'iTunes account' you are referring to an 'iCloud account'.

Photos won't appear in iCloud for that reason (no account to sync with).
No iCloud account associated with the iPad means no backup location to restore from or other form of cloud storage.

You may use iTunes to reset your iPad to factory default or restore it from a backup (should you have one) while the iPad is in recovery mode.
There are already tutorials specifically outlining every step of this process, hence I won't post them here.

This is just one of the 100+ available on YouTube: Video Tutorial

At this moment I am unsure if this answers your question or not, as I can't quite make out the actual question(s). Let me know how you get on.


Is there a way to stop macos from changing audio input when new device connects?

No. This is the prescribed behavior as you've already noticed.

I am fine with automatic switching of audio output device, but audio input...

How is the OS supposed to differentiate the difference between the one (device) you're OK with and the one you're not?  The way macOS sees this is that you've plugged in two distinct audio devices - input and output.  It then switches to them because  your Mac the assumes you want to use that device now as you've connected it; so it switches to it.
A quick workaround would be to disconnect and reconnect your USB microphone after connecting your headset. You would probably have much better results if you connected the headset via cable to a USB DAC rather than Bluetooth. This way, audio always sees the USB as connected  whether or not a headset is connected - the auto switch won't engage.
I do this with my Bluetooth Sennheiser headset (headphones and mic) effectively turning it into a headset only device.

Audio Recording
I'm adding this in here because the OP mentioned in comments that this was for an "audio recording" setup. This section will attempt to address issues in this context.
Your Bluetooth headset is the wrong tool for the job.
macOS is designed to be (out of the box), something that you plug in an it goes to work.  I'm not saying it can't be used for audio recording.  What I'm saying is that it's architecture for the user to open the lid connect their things and start working.  This includes audio devices and the behavior you're seeing is that philosophy in action.  Why they chose not to do allow you to tweak it is entirely an Apple question.
So, whether Apple intended this behavior or not, you're using the wrong gear to record audio.
Bluetooth headsets are probably the worst thing you can do for audio recording/production.  You have inherent latency (radio signals are slower than electrical signals which travel the speed of light), the DAC inside the Bluetooth headset is nowhere as robust as the DACs of proper equipment and you don't get the necessary, granular, control necessary for proper audio recording. It's also prone to external interference, noise, and general signal quality issues.
Just taking a very simple example - watch the evening news where they interview someone remotely and you can easily see the difference between someone with Airpods (as good as they are) and someone who spent a little bit extra on a proper microphone, a proper headset - and this is before we get into acoustic foam and mixers and gear!
If your goal is to record audio, you need a quality microphone and a quality interface (aka a mixer).  If you're just getting started, you don't need to spend buckets of cash to make this happen.  You can get a proper microphone input for under $50USD.  This will allow you to have a quality DAC, an input that you can control and a monitor port that will allow you to hear your input (your voice) before and after it goes through your Mac.
As you grow and add instruments or more voices to your recordings, your equipment should grow along with you.
Bottom Line
A Bluetooth headset is designed for listening or making phone calls.  Can you do recordings with it?  Sure.  However, it's not designed for it and it will show.  You need the right gear for the job: a quality microphone and a proper interface to capture and/or output that sound.  Short of that, and the quality of your final product will suffer.


How to turn off display by pressing the power button of MacBook Pro 2016? (Changing the behaviors of the power buttons)

As far as I know there's no Apple supported method of changing the power button behavior like that.


Finder: why is a *.wmv movie a "document" and not a movie? Howto correct?

I tried to do this answer myself to make it easier to explain to you but that answer is over complex, I bet it is something really small.. But here it is:

https://superuser.com/a/371939

If this worked for you, let us know what you did, in a better way please! :)


Prevent Microsoft Office applications to follow desktop (Spaces)

Any Application can be set to one of three options by right clicking it in the Dock

All Desktops - will follow you to all Spaces as you describe
This Desktop - will permanently fix the App to that Space
None - will stay on whichever Space it is launched

These only work as expected if you don't try to open multiple documents in multiple Spaces & if you don't use apps in Full Screen.


iPhone 4 dropped in the toilet briefly and now it won't turn on or be recognized by my computer

The liquid sensors are only there to determine if the device is still good for warranty, they're placed in strategic spots where the Apple so-called "geniuses" can quickly look and tell you that your device isn't eligible for warranty anymore (even if your problem happens to have obviously nothing to do with water damage).

In fact, the places where the liquid sensors are located on your device (dock and headphone connector) aren't that vulnerable to water and you can usually wipe whatever liquid is in them and the device would still work. This has changed with the iPhone 5 though, and the liquid contact indicator is now inside the SIM tray, which is tightly closed and water is unlikely to get inside accidentally (you'd need to completely submerge the device, in which case it'll completely kill it).

If you happen to be lucky and your device is still under warranty I suggest you go to an Apple Store, you'll get it replaced immediately.


If you don't have a VPN or something similar then you're not going to be able to use Bonjour. The multicast packets won't get passed from your colleague's network on to the internet (otherwise you'd see everyone in the world using Coda!). You need a VPN, possibly ShareTool (although I haven't tried it) or a local machine you can remote access.


Two things might work in your case:

Power off the Mac and hope an unerase utility can recover the files before they get overwritten (assuming the restore didn't write over the existing files on disk).
Delete the folder and try again from a different Time Machine snapshot.


MacBook Pro-Change Background doesn't display/use all of the jpg pictures in the folder

OK - I figured it out.     You have to click the FOLDER under its root when you add it to the Desktop & Screen Saver folder with "+"

For example.....if the folder is ....Documents\Backgrounds\winter(jpg files) --- you have to select the folder under ....\Documents\Backgrounds (select Winter)

I selected it under the actual directory ...\Documents\Backgrounds\Winter all of the jpg files displaying and selected "Winter" at the top.   (Need to select one directory back)


The dock will stay on the primary display if you disable 'Displays have separate Spaces' in Mission Control prefs. This will also enable all the settings below to work seamlessly, rather than fighting with what Spaces you have frontmost on each display.
If you use VLC for playback - which I'd highly recommend as being a) free, b) really easy to use but c) with lots of really complex options if you really need them -  you can set it to open in its own fullscreen method, which ignores the macOS native fullscreen, which otherwise will automatically black out the other screen. You can also dictate which display to open the playlist & the playback video on.
This means you can use the laptop screen for your playlist & the TV for the movie.
There's a lot you can do if you juggle these options. It's worth a few minutes messing with them to see what suits you. [You usually need to re-launch it for these to kick in.]

Set as above will hide the playlist as you start playback. Disabling the first option will allow you to keep them separate if you want. Disabling native fullscreen stops the OS from blacking one display [unless you specifically enable it on the right] & making a new Space [both of which I find infuriating… yet another reason I never use Apple's fullscreen.]
If you're using this setup for movie playback, I think this will remove any need to be dragging windows from screen to screen at all.
Set & forget.
The only downside I've ever found with VLC is that it forgets your current playlist if you quit/relaunch/reboot. It will remember current playback position inside any one file, once you reload your playlist, but not which was playing. It's not like most Mac apps in that respect.  For everything else, it pretty much 'just works'.


Typing too fast, strange hidden characters

Your option + space combination defaults to a non-breaking space and several options to remove that binding exist.

https://superuser.com/questions/78245/how-to-disable-the-option-space-key-combination-for-non-breaking-spaces

Whether you choose to show invisible characters in your  editor to manually proof for these issues or use a lint type tool or change the behavior of the system depends on whether you can avoid typing that combination after knowing it exists.


Where does Homebrew store its installed packages list?

If I understood correctly, here is the list of the folder HomeBrew creates while installing it on your machine.

Homebrew installs packages to their own directory and then symlinks their files into /usr/local.

And when you do brew list, it shows the tool that you get from it under Cellar Folder. So you can check all this folder to get rid of it properly.

For example, if I install wget as "brew install wget" then when I run brew list, it shows me as


My issue has been fixed. Today, my clicking with my trackpad would not work. After some googling, I found that an my disconnecting my external mouse fixed that issue and my original one! No idea why, but I will be probably be replacing my mouse.


How can I get my MacBook to stop freezing after I switch back to Mac OS from Windows 7 in Bootcamp

My Mac (OS X Mavericks 10.9.4) also crashes/freezes and becomes partly or wholly unresponsive (beach ball and all) and it was due to Sophos Anti Virus. Uninstall it and see if it makes things work!


Unable to Install Update; An error occurred installing iOS 8.2

Power off the phone, and hold down the power button and home button at the same time until the device powers on.  At that time, release the power button, but continue to hold the home button, which should start your phone in recovery mode and show an iTunes/USB Plug icon on the screen, which indicates for you to plug it into your computer with the USB data cable (computer with iTunes installed on it and open.)

Once you plug in the USB data cable to your phone/computer with iTunes, it should detect a phone (your phone) in recovery mode, and you should be able to fully recover your phone by restoring the latest iOS version to it.


iOS App Store gives me "Cannot connect to the iTunes store” error message

Various sites have figured out how to fix this error message:

  Go to Settings in your iPhone.
  Click on General.
  Go to Date and Time.
  Change Set Automatically to Off.
  Go to Set Date & Time.
  Click on Today’s Date.
  Move the year one year forward one year.
  Launch app store, should have no errors
  Go back to Settings, General, Date and Time, and change Set Automatically to on


If your using iCloud Photo Library your photos aren't part of your iCloud device backup, because the photos are stored in iCloud anyway.

The only chance to get it back is via a Mac, that downloaded the library via Photos.app and to check it's backups.


Anyone have experience with the Netgear DGN3500 or Linksys WAG320N?

I had a Linksys very similar to that one and many other modem/routers (in fact a few days ago I had to get a new one and found a DLink) and never had any problem with Bonjour “not working” or being unsupported. What do you mean by “didn’t support Bonjour”? Bonjour is a local protocol and unless you have different subnets within the same place and have a bridge/router in-between them, Bonjour is just like any other protocol inside your internal network.

I’m sure that either the Netgear or the Linksys are going to do the job fine. We have Window XP, Windows 7, OS X and Linux in our network.

If you expand your question to indicate what is your Bonjour’s problem maybe we can help.


Using the home (house) button in Logitech K400 keyboard

With my S530 I had to install the Logitech Control Center for OS X in order to configure the custom keys. Once you install that, you'll see a control center entry in your System Preferences panel:

Before you can assign a shortcut to the Home key on the keyboard, you need to make a keyboard shortcut for Launchpad as there is none by default. Open System Preferences and go to Keyboard settings. Click the Keyboard Shortcuts tab and select Launchpad & Dock. Make sure 'Show Launchpad' is checked and then double click over the area that shows the shortcut to assign a new shortcut (I used Alt-Cmd-L in the screen shot). If you can't assign a shortcut try unchecking and re-checking the Show Launchpad setting:

Now enter the Logitech Control Center, select your device and click the Configure button:

Click the Keys icon at the top to configure custom keys on the keyboard. Find the Home key in the list. Set the 'Assigned action' for the Home key to 'Keystroke. And configure the keystroke issued to be the one you assigned to Launchpad above. In my case it would be Alt-Cmd-L.


How does an app get to be featured in the App Store?

It might be placed there when an Apple employee decides to feature it.


I suppose if you wanted to do this in zsh, you would do the following.

~ arr=(foo bar)
~ echo $arr[1]
foo
~ val='foo bar'
~ eval "arr=($val)"
~ echo $arr[1]
foo

When you entered arr=($val), zsh interpreted this to mean arr=("foo bar") even though you did not explicitly put a pair of " around $val. When I entered eval "arr=($val)", zsh interpreted this to mean arr=(foo bar). Using eval can be confusing. When in doubt, you can use the following experiment.

Say you want to know what eval sees and therefore what really will be executed. Start with the statement shown below. Here, I assume you have already entered val='foo bar'.

eval "arr=($val)"

Now replace eval with echo as shown below.

echo "arr=($val)"

Entering the above command produces the following result.

arr=(foo bar)

This what zsh will actually be executing.


How do I send invitations for Calendar events with locations?

This turns out to be a known bug. Apple Support's recommendation is (astonishingly) simply:

  Do not add a location to events you plan to invite people to.

Apple is "working on it as we speak".


Transfer SSD from MacBook Pro 2009 to MacBook Pro 2012

There's a great website for repair guides called: iFixit


El Capitan : How to disable Force Click "Dictionary Pop-ups" in Chrome?

Switch 'Look up & Data Detectors' to 3-finger tap.  You can then re-enable it.  This avoids disabling force touch entirely.


Are kernel extensions also stored elsewhere?

KEXT files can reside in 3 locations:

Within an application bundle (XXX.app)
Within an application's sub-directory inside /Library/Application Support
And inside /Library/Extensions

Generally where the app developer chooses to place the kext files depends on the app itself and what makes sense for it (eg. how it stores local data, how frequently a kext might need to be updated, etc).
Kext files related to system functions, like network adapter or mouse drivers, will almost always be inside /Library/Extensions as those are loaded on startup. While app specific kext files like what VirtualBox has, can be located elsewhere as they only need to be loaded when the app is in use.
Here's a source: https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/technotes/tn2459/_index.html


Can I stream any video played with VLC player to Apple TV?

It's not using VLC (although it uses some of its components and should be able to open anything VLC can open), but it looks like there's a way to do this. It requires on-the-fly transcoding for formats the AppleTV doesn't support (essentially anything not .mp4 or .m4v), which means it may take a fair bit of CPU power on your Mac, especially for HD stuff. It also means that aside from files the AppleTV natively supports, you're not getting bit-perfect renditions of the files, it's a lossy translation, but if you have a decently fast Mac, it should be pretty good.

The main tool you'll want is AirFlick. It's a pretty basic program that sends a URL to the AppleTV that tells it to open a stream from your computer. It also handles transcoding the non-native files. It's not very well documented; it looks like the latest versions use a built-in copy of ffmpeg for transcoding, but some of the resources around the web suggest that it may need VLC installed as well.

Usage is pretty straight forward.

Open up AirFlick
Select your AppleTV from the drop-down in the upper-left
Drag the file you want to play onto the droplet, and hit play.

It should take around 30 seconds to buffer the transcoding, then start playing. It's definitely beta software, so YMMV.

From what I can tell, the transcoding support is pretty simplistic. If you want to configure the transcoding process, you need to use custom VLC or ffmpeg command-line options and pass the output to AirFlick.

This guide from TUAW should give you a starting point for how to do that, but you'll want to consult other VLC or ffmpeg resources for specific configurations - it's beyond my expertise. The basic idea seems to be:

Use VLC or ffmpeg to transcode the source (in the example, that's dvdread:///dev/rdisk5@1:3-, replace that with the path to your file of choice) on-the-fly to an AppleTV compatible format
Pipe that output to mediastreamsegmenter which breaks the video into a streaming playlist the AppleTV can read
Host the streaming playlist on a webserver on your Mac
Use AirFlick to pass the URL of the playlist to your AppleTV


I asked the Twitter user @launchderp:

  @launchderp Arelaunchctl load and unload still safe to use, at least until 10.12 or whatever comes next?

  c.f How do I use non-"legacy" launchctl commands to load and unload plists?

And @launchderp replied

  @tjluoma Yeah they're still safe. Too many years of dependencies to break them.

While this may not seem like an official Apple statement, I believe this person to be someone who is actively working on launchd for Apple, and trust what they say. YMMV.

Moral of the story: If load/unload is working for you, keep using them :-)


macOS Server is now basically an MDM server, powerful in its own right, but all the traditional things we used to associate with Server, like network services, Open Directory, file serving, caching update server, i.e. the good old days, is gone.

Server is geared now for education and business customers to maintain, administer and provision macOS and iOS devices. It scales down to providing much finer control of provisioning and administering iDevices and macOS machines for a large Apple-centric family with kids of several ages, for example.


it seems it is gone.
try this to get it back:
https://iad.apple.com/itcportal/


How do I connect an external display to my Macbook Pro?

DVI is far, far superior in terms of the Mac sensing the capabilities of the display and in terms of quality. Go that method if you can.

If your VGA adapter isn't working with OS X, you could contact the adapter vendor for support. Not all of them are high quality and even the high quality ones don't work with all displays/projectors.


I have available storage, but can’t install apps

If you have any partial downloaded app, large file etc which has not been removed, this might can occurred. Clear Cache or delete partial downloaded large file and that might have cause your problem.
A quick glance of how to clean the cache in iPhone.

-Tap Settings > General > iPhone Storage. (On an iPad that option will be labelled iPad Storage.)

-At the bottom of the screen you'll see your apps, arranged by the amount of storage they take up.

-Tap an app that's taking up a lot of space(In this case application download data and store them in a location of the iPhone

-Take a look at the entry for Documents & Data. If it's using more than 500MB, it's worth deleting and reinstalling the app to clear the space.
Tap Delete App,

-confirm


Do MacBooks slow down when not connected to power?

Yes. Intel calls it "SpeedStep." Variable CPU clock speeds that adjust to conserve power based on demand. The feature is engaged whilst the device is on battery power. All Apple products support this feature (it's actually supported at the hardware level and the operating system's kernel) but since desktop devices don't have batteries, you'll never experience it on anything that isn't mobile.

Your MacBook Air supports SpeedStep, as does the iPhone, iPad, and the traditional MacBook Pro.

More info on SpeedStep: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpeedStep#Mac


How to validate kexts signatures from the command line?

Here's the script which will output not singed kexts inside this directory:

#!/bin/bash

cd /System/Library/Extensions

find *.kext -prune -type d | while read d; do
    codesign -d "$d" 2>/dev/null
    rc=$?
    if [[ $rc != 0 ]] ; then
        echo "$d" is not signed.
    fi
done


In general order of most scans, which websites have scans of Apple 2 documentation and magazines?

Here's a list - feel free to edit this answer.

http://www.apple-iigs.info/ - huge amount of magazine, software and documentation
http://apple2scans.net/ - mostly technical manuals
http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/ - box scan of Apple IIGS software
http://www.macgui.com/kb/cat/4 - big range of pdf scans - game manuals, technical, etc
http://members.iinet.net.au/~kalandi/apple/aug.html - Sydney Apple User Group newsletter
http://juiced.gs/samples/ - some free issues
http://apple2history.org/downloads/ - Apple II and AppleSoft red and blue book
http://mirrors.apple2.org.za/Apple%20II%20Documentation%20Project/ - Manuals for computers, peripherals and software


Wrong sorting of non-English characters (iTunes 11.2 for Windows)

iTunes has a Sort tab in the info panel. In this panel, the fields on the right side are used to sort songs. Check it.

For example, my song עוד לא אהבתי די has a Sort Title set to Od Lo Ahavti Dai, so the song appears between Octopus's Garden and Ode To My Family.


Is there an easy way to determine if a music video is available for a song in my iTunes music library in the iTunes Store?

You can try what this fellow suggested as an answer because I think you can easily import iTunes tracks to the Spotify application.

That's the only way I can think of.


HiDPI on external monitor (Dell u2515h) with Macbook Pro

I encountered the very same problem while setting HiDPI mode for my Macbook Pro with SwitchResX. As the HiDPI resolutions didn't fit, I made my own ones.

Here's how it goes:

Follow the instructions on SwitchResX's website on how to temporarily disable "System Integrity Protection"
On the SwitchResX panel for the DELL screen, go to the "Custom Resolutions" tab and create your desired resolutions under the "Scaled resolution" category.
The pixels x lines you scale to are 2 times the "feeling" you want to get, e.g. 3840 x 2160 for a Full HD (1920 x 1080) feeling.

Disabling the SIP made the 720p resolution you mentioned work for me as well.


I had the same problem.  Following the steps in this article helped me resolve my issue:

Open Keychain using Spotlight (⌘-Space)
Go to Keychain Access → Preferences
Click Reset My Default Keychain
Restart your Mac


What is Mountain Lion (10.8.2) shutdown cause -81?

In general a negative shutdown codes are related to the hardware issues. Unfortunately the precise meaning of the codes is not publicly documented, so the best is to back up your data and give it to the repair.


Like Windows, allow user to manually select if Sound is routed through Headphones or Internal Speakers

Headphones and the Internal speakers are only OR option.

You can not have AND.

If your headset sometimes does not switch, check the plug for dirt stuck in it.

If it is not the hardware, reset your SMC.


Skype for business's share my screen shows only skype screen and desktop background

We have to explicitly add permission to share the screen in System preferences then SFB shows everything in the screen.

Ideally SFB should prompt to get some kind of permission to do this or let the user know about this through some message or notification so that it'll be obvious for user.Catlaina is released to public as well so I hope Microsoft address this issue soon

Please make the below manual choices to get rid of this problem

System Preferences
Security and Privacy
Screen Recording
Check the Skype for Business option.


How to open files at last position in Textwrangler?

Try a program called Brackets.  It does exactly what you want.  Its also a really cool looking editor, and only requires one window.

Link to Brackets by Adobe: Here


Apple Mail local vs. server folders: advantages?

Local folders remove mail from the server, so if you're limited on space on the server then you can store messages locally. Almost always this isn't an issue, and as mail in remote folders is still downloaded for offline use, you're not gaining anything for offline access there.

Choose a remote folder so you can access the mail from anywhere, unless you have a really specific reason otherwise.


Apple Keynote doesnt play in most of my browsers

Export to QuickTime / Movie

Your best option is to export the presentation as a QuickTime movie. This will create an MPEG4 formatted file that can be played on a wide range of devices and operating systems:

Keynote.app > File (menu) > Export To… > QuickTime

Compress with Handbrake

After exporting your presentation, consider compressing the resulting movie file using Handbrake. Handbrake will dramatically reduce the file size and broaden the number of supported playback devices.

View with Browser or VLC

Many web browsers across different operating systems can also natively play back MPEG4 files; so for many employees a web browser such as UE or Chrome will be enough to view the presentation.

Alternatively Mac, Windows, and Linux users can all play exported movies using the free application VLC.


dtmf dial recording for playback to bypass automated dial-in systems

The iOS Contacts app allows pauses and waits to be programmed into phone numbers.

With the number input pad visible, press the special characters key on the lower left.

This will reveal options to input 2 second pauses (you can use multiple pauses to increase the time) or to wait until the dial key is pressed again.


Why are my top-row keyboard buttons not working on Mac Lion?

If you check the Keyboard pane in System Preferences, you should see an option called Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys. I think you'll find it checked. The default is to have it unchecked.

Then within the Mission Control pane in System Preferences, I think you'll find that "Show Dashboard" is set to F13. The default is F12 (note that the default doesn't work if Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys isn't checked).


How to decide on a new Hard drive for macbook pro

I would head on over to a Mac Specific reseller like OWC MacSales, RamJet or   where a company has figured which models are the best to sell based on your specific model.

http://www.ramjet.com/sata.asp

You will see that you have many choices for well under your budget. Also you are spared the SSD/HD decision since your size/price constraint means the quality SSD are not priced in your range.

When you buy from someone that has done the work, they will support you and help you should you run into issues. Get a few options and make the call if you want to buy from someone that will also answer your questions or if you are comfortable buying a community part and ensuring the firmware works, etc...

Since RAM is so easy to swap, you really don't need to include it in the HD exchange other than your budget may be fixed. It's hard to give advice on that front, since your budget is yours and not something that transfers to an internet forum where this question and answer might apply to anyone. Without knowing your specific model and how much RAM is in use routinely based on your apps, it's not possible to advise what the most cost effective combination might be.


There is a problem with the NVIDIA graphics processors that can prevent the MacBook Pro for powering on. I have a 2008 15" MacBook Pro that had symptoms similar to what you are describing about a month ago. I took it to the Genius Bar and they determined that it was the NVIDIA chip causing it and replaced the logic board for free despite the fact that it was not under warranty and I didn't have AppleCare.

My recommendation is to take it in to the Genius Bar and have them check it out. I have found they have great support and have fixed problems out of warranty (such as this one) on more than one occasion. However, it looks like from the comments on another answer that you have done this already. It might be worth a shot trying again and take the support article with you to see if they change the diagnosis.

Or perhaps this answer might help someone else experiencing the same problem.


It depends on the Application, but mostly it's stored in the defaults database. You can check for example Mail.app with:

defaults read com.apple.mail DefaultWindowState

If You do not know the key just grep with "window" the output from defaults read BUNDLE_ID
where BUNDLE_ID is Your application bundle identifier which can be read like this:

APP_PATH="/Applications/Mail.app"
defaults read "$APP_PATH/Contents/Info.plist" CFBundleIdentifier

You can try to change keys in plists using defaults command or locate plist file in ~/Library/Preferences directory and change it manually.


TestFlight do not require UDIDs any more. You can distribute apps with TestFlight without having the UDIDs of all those test devices. Just invite the testers by providing their email addresses. They will be able to join you. You need an Apple developer account (99 USD per year) to use TestFlight.

And yes, with Developer Enterprise Program (299 USD per year), you can also distribute enterprise apps. You can distribute such apps to the users directly by just providing the Email address, and have them installed on the devices without any limits. Enterprise account does not require UDIDs. Know more about TestFlight, Developer Enterprise account and other options at Enterprise App Distribution - Hexnode blogs


How to remove the automatic ratings from songs in iTunes?

That is because the songs inherit an "estimate rating" from the album rating. If you want to remove these stars, you need to remove the album rating.

Click on the left of the stars from the album the song belongs:

they are now gone:

Apparently, this is the only way to change the album rating (the right-click menu doesn't show any options to change the rating).


How to see photos taken from iPhone 6+ in photo stream on my mac w/10.10.2

Photostream refreshes automatically. Given the camera quality of your phone the files are expected to have a certain size and need time to be uploaded. Also afaik the iPhone only uploads them when it's connected to a WiFi.
The easiest way to check if they have arrived in the cloud is checking on iCloud.com


Sign flat package with non-Apple certificate

Yes, it is so. The certificate must be a Developer ID Installer certificate from Apple. You cannot use the same code signing certificate you have been using for your Windows application previously.

You can read the instructions on how to properly sign flat installer packages here:

https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/IDEs/Conceptual/AppDistributionGuide/DistributingApplicationsOutside/DistributingApplicationsOutside.html


How do you add labels to your icloud/iphone calendar?

These aren't labels, they're separate calendars.

In the Calendar app on iPhone, choose Calendars at the bottom, then choose Add Calendar.
Enter a calendar name and choose a colour, then tap Done.
Move events to this calendar by selecting an event, choosing Calendar and setting it.


Window manager that will allow rules for specific applications?

Moom can be triggered using keyboard shortcuts and can deal with external monitors.

It can also save snapshots of given window arrangements, which can be triggered either manually or automatically. You can trigger a snapshot from any window and it can save snapshots with up to 5 external monitors at the same time.

Here's a screencast by Don McAllister showing how this works: http://www.screencastsonline.com/mac/show/0333/


This is the DEP enrollment screen. Contact the business that manages that device to either return it to them or have them release the device from management. Only they can release that hardware by Apple policy.

If you don't want to hassle with a potentially stolen iPad, contact eBay to see about a refund or how they handle sales of goods materially different than advertised. (on the assumption you didn't bid on a locked iPad)


There are two things that I suggest that you do to rectify this issue:

Go to Settings -> Mail, Contacts, and Calendar -> turn off "Contacts found in mail".
For extra measure, scroll up to your email address, select it, and disable Contacts.

*this was moved from comments above to help others looking for this answer.


This only works with iTerm2, but I ended up using the following script I modified from one Stack Overflow that opens a new tab:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

osascript <<EOF
    tell application "iTerm"
        activate
        set win to create window with default profile
        tell current session of win
            select
            write text "vim '$1' && exit"
        end tell
    end tell
EOF

This opens a new iTerm window, runs vim inside it, then exits the shell when vim exits.


'Sign in to iCloud' pop-up won't stop popping up on my iPad

The workable solution (until you get to the Apple store, that is):

Step 1. enter the wrong password and press done until you are presented with the option to reset.

Step 2. press reset and wait until safari is opened.

Step 3. double-click the home button to get the list of opened apps.

Step 4. kill all of the opened apps including the reset password page.

Your iPhone will work until the next restart.


How can I turn on the browser's cookie functionality?

Cookie settings can be changed in the Preferences app in the Safari topic.


To get the Classic view back in Apple Mail:

Go to Preferences
Select Viewing
Tick the Use classic layout checkbox


Mac OS X administrator account still requires sudo

Even though the account is an administrator, you still need to use sudo to become the root user. Administrator still has restrictions on what files can be read or written to.

For example, the /System/Library/User Template/ folder is set to System: Read/Write and even though you are an administrator, you won't be able to open this folder without either changing the permissions or using sudo to become the root user.


What are "Popular Apps" on the Mac App Store?

Whilst apps on the top charts list are selected algorithmically, all the apps on the featured tab are hand-picked. There's no algorithm that directly chooses apps to be shown on the featured tab.


Mounting an external hard disk clone that shares the same partition GUIDs as the source/host hard disk

I have tested your set-up in a virtual machine with the same result - the second CoreStorage volume won't be mounted. Cloning a CoreStorage container to another disk with dd doesn't change the UUIDs of the CoreStorage items. So it's indeed a problem of the duplicate UUIDs of the Logical Volume Group/Physical Volume/Logical Volume Family/Logical Volume of disk0s2 and disk3s2.

The good news is: there is a man entry for a tool which can change the UUIDs of all CoreStorage metadata objects: man csunique.

Check the disk identifier of the duplicate with diskutil list. In your example that's disk3s2.

Then the command in your case would be:

csunique -v -n /dev/rdisk3s2 #dry-run
csunique -v /dev/rdisk3s2

The bad news is: I can't find the tool/script. It's neither in the path nor can I find a file with this name elsewhere on the disk. I checked this in 10.9/10.10/10.11/Recovery HD by searching the whole disk even inside packages with FileBuddy. A Google search wasn't successful.

Work in progress

You may change the various UUIDs manually by editing the raw disk content with a tool like HexEdit or wxHexEditor of course. AFAIR the pvUUID and the lvgUUID are located at the first block of disk3s2. The pvUUID/lvgUUID has several additional occurrences in the metadata area of the Logical Volume Group of disk3s2. Don't use arbitrary (ie self-made) UUIDs but try to generate them with uuidgen or online with a UUID generator. Some bits of the UUID have a special meaning and determine UUID version or the hash algorithm.

Example:

The diskutil cs list output of the original disk:

diskutil cs list
CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group C451C0F6-32F9-43AB-8E59-42D21AEFF650
    =========================================================
    Name:         SystemCS
    Status:       Online
    Size:         67859718144 B (67.9 GB)
    Free Space:   18948096 B (18.9 MB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume E46EF8F2-6399-45C1-B213-8628A518466D
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    0
    |   Disk:     disk0s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     67859718144 B (67.9 GB)
    |
    +-> Logical Volume Family AAD268A6-FC66-43FC-A24E-11A1F23CA5DD
        ----------------------------------------------------------
        Encryption Status:       Unlocked
        Encryption Type:         None
        Conversion Status:       NoConversion
        Conversion Direction:    -none-
        Has Encrypted Extents:   No
        Fully Secure:            No
        Passphrase Required:     No
        |
        +-> Logical Volume 50B61719-7CB4-40D9-8AFC-F5CD37C1A66C
            ---------------------------------------------------
            Disk:                  disk3
            Status:                Online
            Size (Total):          67488448512 B (67.5 GB)
            Conversion Progress:   -none-
            Revertible:            Yes (no decryption required)
            LV Name:               SystemCS
            Volume Name:           SystemCS
            Content Hint:          Apple_HFS

The pvUUID (light violet) and lvgUUID (light yellow) appear in hex in the first block and the last block of the partition:

1st block:

last block:

and as text each four times in the last 32760 blocks (512 byte physical block size) of the partition in plist-like items.


Unfortunately, I got the same problem some times ago, when, after upgrading to El Capitan, I couldn't update to Xcode 7.1.1.

To solve this issue, I did the following:

Remove the .app file in your Application folder (if you prefer, you can use apps like CleanMyMac to remove any other related files);
Go to Downloads for Apple Developers (after having logged in) and download Xcode 7.2 directly from there.

Don't know exactly why the normal update doesn't work, but now, after re-installing the app completely, everything works fine for me (also the new updates from the App store).


Skype on ios7/iPhone4 completely useless

After spending a considerable amount of time, I managed to install a much older version of Skype using the Windows version of the guide mentioned here,

http://lifehacker.com/download-old-versions-of-ios-apps-with-a-clever-workaro-1749950092

I was lucky that my first attempt gave me a version that worked so I only had to do it once.

For anyone else interested, in the list of softwareVersionExternalIdentifiers I selected 756732646 which corresponded to Skype version 5.7.120

HTH


How can I turn off receiving SMS (not iMessages) on os x mavericks?

SMS Handoff is not a feature on Mavericks, it needs Yosemite to function
[Thanks to @tubedogg for the confirmation]

To enable it you would start from your iPhone…
Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding - then add your computer from the list by switching on.

That will send a code to the computer, which you then enter on your phone to confirm the function - afaik, Mavericks will never receive that number, only Yosemite.

Switching off is
Settings > Messages > Text Message Forwarding again & simply turn off forwarding that computer.


How to Make Macbook a Slave Display for Raspberry Pi 3b?

It's definitely not feasible, and likely impossible. Whatever ports are for video and audio on your MacBook Air would be out, like to an external display, not in. You could possibly disassemble the MacBook Air and spent an absolutely ridiculous amount of time (and maybe money) to maybe get it to work, but really, you just need a separate display.


Can AppleScript search deeply for the largest file contained below a folder?

There are various methods to accomplish this task, each with pros and cons.  The shell methods are fast-ish, but don't always return up-to-date information.  AppleScript's Finder interface is not as slow as I thought it would be, but only returns viable values for file sizes that have been cached, otherwise "missing value" for the rest.  System Events is normally the AppleScript file managing application of choice, as it's fast upon retrieval, but slows down when accessing file attributes.  It also can't do a deep directory enumeration like Finder can (although one can be implemented manually).

I decided to use the Objective-C scripting bridge to write an AppleScript that is both super fast, and fully capable of descending into the subfolders of a directory.   Overall, it's the best method, but comes with the drawback that your teacher might be a bit suspicious.

# Loads the Foundation framework into the script so that we can access its
# methods and constants
use framework "Foundation"

# Declare properties that belong to the Foundation framework for easier
# referencing within the script
property this : a reference to current application
property NSArray : a reference to NSArray of this
property NSDirectoryEnumerationSkipsHiddenFiles : a reference to 4
property NSDirectoryEnumerationSkipsPackageDescendants : a reference to 2
property NSFileManager : a reference to NSFileManager of this
property NSSortDescriptor : a reference to NSSortDescriptor of this
property NSString : a reference to NSString of this
property NSURL : a reference to NSURL of this
property NSURLFileSizeKey : a reference to NSURLFileSizeKey of this
property NSURLNameKey : a reference to NSURLNameKey of this
property NSURLPathKey : a reference to NSURLPathKey of this

# Call the handler defined below.  This is where the script does the actual
# retrieving of the files and filesizes
get my contentsOfDirectory:"~/Downloads"

# If we stopped the script at the line above, you'd see the entire contents of
# the directory subtree listed with file paths and filesizes, ordered in
# descending order by filesize.  However, you only want the largest file, so
# we pick out the first item in the list.
return item 1 of the result

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# This is an AppleScript handler declaration
on contentsOfDirectory:dir
    local dir # This tells the handler that the variable passed as the
    # parameter is limited in scope to this handler

    # Obtain a reference to the default file manager of the filesystem
    set FileManager to NSFileManager's defaultManager()

    # This is where retrieve the contents of the directory, recursing
    # into any subfolders.  The options declared tell the method to skip
    # hidden files and not to look inside file packages, such as
    # applications or library files.  I've declared a list of keys that
    # pre-fetch file attributes during this retrieval, making it faster
    # to access their data later: filename, full path, and file size.
    set fs to FileManager's enumeratorAtURL:(NSURL's ¬
        fileURLWithPath:((NSString's stringWithString:dir)'s ¬
            stringByStandardizingPath())) ¬
        includingPropertiesForKeys:[¬
        NSURLPathKey, ¬
        NSURLNameKey, ¬
        NSURLFileSizeKey] ¬
        options:(NSDirectoryEnumerationSkipsHiddenFiles + ¬
        NSDirectoryEnumerationSkipsPackageDescendants) ¬
        errorHandler:(missing value)

    # I created the script object just to speed up the process of
    # appending new items to the empty list it contains.
    script |files|
        property list : {}
    end script

    # This is the repeat loop that we use to enumerate the contents
    # of the directory tree that we retrieved above
    repeat
        # This allows us to access each item in the enumerator one
        # by one.
        set f to fs's nextObject()

        # Once the list has been exhausted, the value returned above
        # will be a "missing value", signifying that there are no more
        # files to enumerate.  Therefore, we can exit the loop.
        if f = missing value then exit repeat

        # Here, we retrieve the values of file attributes denoted
        # by the keys I declared earlier.  I'm picking out the path
        # and the filesize as per your needs.
        f's resourceValuesForKeys:[NSURLPathKey, NSURLFileSizeKey] ¬
            |error|:(missing value)

        # The above command returns a record containing the two
        # file attributes.  This record gets appended to the list
        # stored in the script object above.
        set end of list of |files| to the result as record
    end repeat

    # The list in the script object is an AppleScript list object.  For
    # the next part, I need a cocoa list object (NSArray).
    set L to item 1 of (NSArray's arrayWithObject:(list of |files|))

    # This defines a sort descriptor which is used to sort the array.
    # I'm telling it to use the filesize key to sort the array by
    # filesize, which will let us grab the largest file easily.
    set descriptor to NSSortDescriptor's alloc()'s ¬
        initWithKey:"NSURLFileSizeKey" ascending:no

    # Sort the list.
    L's sortedArrayUsingDescriptors:[descriptor]

    # Return the result.
    result as list
end contentsOfDirectory:


Did you try connecting it to the charger? The battery may have run out of charge. Leave it plugged in to the charger for half an hour and then try turning it on again.

It's recommended to follow the steps outlined in this Apple support document, If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch won‘t turn on or is frozen.

The last resort would be to get in touch with Apple Support or get it inspected by an authorised Apple technician.


how to install ubuntu 12.0 on MacOS with multi-boot menu

Create an empty partition with Disk Utility under OS X, shrinking the existing OS X partition. It shouldn't destroy data, but make a backup (just in case).
Boot Ubuntu using Live CD or Live USB.
Run the installer, and choose to manually select the partitions. Choose the empty partition as the root mount point (/) and make sure Ubuntu doesn't touch any other partition. The installer should format the partition as ext4 or ext3. Make Ubuntu install the GRUB bootloader (just leave the default settings).
You'll need an EFI boot loader. rEFIt is no longer mantained; rEFInd did a good work with my installation. You can install it from OS X very easily.


getting some information from activity monitor in mac pro

The CPU% value shows how much CPU load a process generates. A value of 100% means that the process uses one CPU core fully. As all modern Macs use multi-core CPUs you can even see processes with more than 100% CPU load sometimes (requires the process to be written in a way to make use of several cores at once of course).

So in your case the process is running happily. What Activity Monitor doesn't show you though is whether the process just runs in an endless loop or whether it actually processes its data as you expect.


You have to blow up the photo to add Faces to them. Just double-click the photo, and ⊕ Add Faces will appear in the Info panel between Add Keyword and Assign a Location.


How do I delete all pictures off an iPod Touch?

View the list of photos in the Camera Roll (or other album), hit the Actions button in the upper-right (the button with the rightward-pointing arrow). Now, when you tap on a picture or video, it greys out a little and gets a checkmark. Check all the items you want to delete and hit the red delete button at the bottom of the screen.


Free SSH GUI client with ssh tunnel support for Yosemite?

Most OS X users don't use "ssh GUIs" because OS X ships with a very good Terminal application. This is unlike Windows where the cmd.exe or even a PowerShell are not friendly command line interfaces to remote servers.

In OS X, you can just fire up Terminal.app and ssh from the command line with:

ssh <myhost>

You can use a more advanced terminal application like iTerm2 and it will allow you to save "profiles" that, when called up, automatically run a set of commands in the terminal for you. You can use these to automatically start ssh connections (which can be interactive terminal sessions or stunnels):

You can start and stop stunnels from the command line as well -- after all, these are just ssh connections that open a local port and forward requests to a remote server. For example:

ssh -f user@personal-server.com -L 2000:personal-server.com:25 -N

And you're done.

Private key authentication schemes are supported by the ssh command line that ships, default, with any OS X version.


What files are included in the /System/Library/LaunchAgents and /System/Library/LaunchDaemons

On macOS any MDM enrollment is not hidden. You are prompted as part of device enrollment and even if you accept, the system preferences show the profile control visually always and clearly. If you have no profile entry in system preferences (check that it's not enabled and hidden by selecting Customize from the view menu - if you don't see it - you're not managed)

Enumeration of /S/L/LaunchAgents and LaunchDaemons can be done, but I wouldn’t waste any time once you wiped the drive and reinstalled the os.

On my Mac - there are 304 system launch agents and 339 system launch daemons - including the ones you mentioned. Those frameworks exist on all macOS installs to work with MDM and not to indicate your Mac is currently managed. Just that it could later become managed if you enroll it or approve device enrollment if Apple points your Mac to an MDM endpoint.

mac:~ me$ ls -la /System/Library/LaunchAgents | wc -l
     304
mac:~ me$ ls -la /System/Library/LaunchDaemons | wc -l
     339
mac:~ me$ sw_vers
ProductName:    Mac OS X
ProductVersion: 10.14.5
BuildVersion:   18F132
mac:~ me$ ls -la /System/Library/Launch* | egrep -i "mdm|managed"
-rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel   1525 Aug 20  2018 com.apple.ManagedClientAgent.agent.plist
-rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel    549 Aug 20  2018 com.apple.ManagedClientAgent.enrollagent.plist
-rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel   1458 Aug 20  2018 com.apple.mdmclient.agent.plist
-rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel    719 Aug 20  2018 com.apple.ManagedClient.cloudconfigurationd.plist
-rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel    516 Aug 20  2018 com.apple.ManagedClient.enroll.plist
-rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel    523 Aug 20  2018 com.apple.ManagedClient.plist
-rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel    645 Aug 20  2018 com.apple.ManagedClient.startup.plist
-rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel    792 Aug 20  2018 com.apple.mdmclient.daemon.plist
-rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel    578 Aug 20  2018 com.apple.mdmclient.daemon.runatboot.plist


What types of problems could lead to 10 logic board failures across 3 different laptops?

I don't believe anyone can give a definitive answer. I would guess the Apple Tech Support folks would have indicated something by this time.

I personnaly have never heard of this level of repeated failures for a single person and/or device. But I have seen low levels of failures of Apple devices at a much lower, single instance level many times over the years. I have seen that I believe to be failure caused by "power spikes" on both the AC power ( very limited for Laptops ) and but more often thru other connected devices which the the like cause of the failure. Connections thru USB, ethernet - RJ45 cables can cause "logic board failure"/"logic board replacement" situations.

I would suspect it is not your computer itself but the ecosystem of things your device is connecting to that a leading to this level of repeated failure that is hard to figure out ( apparently ).

Can you paint the picture of your ecosystem of devices and home(s) of this device over the time period of failures?


Remapping "Command + Arrow Key" to jump through the words of CamelCase expressions?

⌃← and ⌃→ do that by default in many code editors like Xcode, TextMate, Sublime Text, and BBEdit. (If you have disabled the shortcuts for changing desktops.) You can change the shortcuts in TextMate by overriding KeyBindings.dict.

I have tried adding something like this to DefaultKeyBinding.dict:

"^\UF702" = moveSubWordLeft:; // control-left
"^\UF703" = moveSubWordRight:; // control-right

It doesn't work in other applications though. And ⌘← and ⌘→ can't even be reassigned in DefaultKeyBinding.dict.


Can't perform a factory reset on AirPods Max

Just brought them to the local authorized service to get a replacement.


While the iPad Pro can charge other devices off of it, including other iPad Pro devices, I see no indication that charging a device like a MacBook is possible.

I don't see any feature in which you can disable power transfer while connected via USB-C, like while using Sidecar in a wired configuration.

Apple does have instructions on how to charge another iPad Pro from the iPad Pro, including how to select which iPad Pro charges which:

  If you have two iPad Pro models with USB-C ports, you can connect them
  directly with a USB-C cable. One iPad Pro will draw power from the
  other. If you want to change which iPad Pro charges, unplug the USB-C
  cable and then reconnect them.

You could try the above with your MacBook and iPad Pro, but it's unclear if that would work.


External drive HD WD 3T My Passport with Mavericks suddenly unmounts

This is a WD problem, as stated below:

  If you own a Wester Digital external hard drive, you might want to think twice before plugging it into your OS X Mavericks computer, or better yet if you haven’t upgraded, perhaps you might want to hold off on doing so for the moment. Western Digital has recently issued a statement warning customers about potential data loss on their hard drives should they attempt to connect a Western Digital external HDD to a Mac computer running OS X Mavericks. As it stands there are multiple forums threads across the internet where many Western Digital users have complained of data loss.

Source : ubergizmo

In addition, the HDD I brought back, as stated in my comment was a Western Digital disk as well.


You can try installing Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.8) in VirtualBox. I was able to do this using an iMac (21.5 inch, Mid 2011) with High Sierra installed. I was able to install and use Adobe Create Suite 2 in a Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.8) virtual machine.  Adobe Create Suite 2 requires the installation and use of Rosetta.

VirtualBox is a free application.
I can not longer find the link to buy Snow Leopard from Apple. Used DVDs are available or you can refer to this answer.

Below is a link for the license for Snow Leopard. As far as I can tell, Apple requires the use of a Mac to run Snow Leopard. There is no mention of whether or not the Mac uses a virtual machine.

https://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/osx_snow_leopard_sec_upd.pdf


I would suggest you check your keyboard with OnScreenKeyboard. You can hit one letter C and see whether it is pressing on correctly or not.

To enable the onscreen keyboard in case you don't see it:

Open System Preferences and go to “Keyboard”, and look under the “Keyboard” tab

Check the box next to “Show Keyboard & emoji viewers in menu bar”

Pull down the newly visible Keyboard menu and choose “Show Keyboard Viewer”

After you conclude with this, you can try the following solution, it is a bit weird but have seen working for few people.

Weird solution

Let me know how it goes.


How to install certificates with Mono on Rootless El Capitan

Although this post is quite old, maybe an answer is still helpful.

Mono's new cert-sync might help:
http://www.mono-project.com/docs/about-mono/releases/3.12.0/#cert-sync

  Mono users on Linux no longer need to run mozroots to get SSL working. A new command, cert-sync, has been added to this release, which synchronizes the Mono SSL certificate store against your OS certificate store

  If you want to invoke the tool manually (e.g. you installed via make install, not packages) use
  cert-sync /path/to/ca-bundle.crt

  On Debian systems, that’s
  cert-sync /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt

  and on Red Hat derivatives it’s
  cert-sync /etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt

  Your distribution might use a different path, if it’s not derived from one of those.


Disable auto-update of Google Chrome with Firewall?

From this link:

This works to stop Google Chrome from updating itself automatically in Mac OS X:

Launch the Terminal, found in /Applications/Utilities/
Enter the following defaults write command and hit return:

defaults write com.google.Keystone.Agent checkInterval 0

Exit out of Terminal and restart Google Chrome

Direct Google search here.

YMMV.


I hear this happens when the app crashes mid-recording. Does it pop up when you try to sync the voice recording with iTunes?

You could try extracting it with a program like iExplorer. Find it under the 'recordings' folder.


Macbook Pro Mid-2015 Backlight Burning Bright

Is it repairable?

Yes.  The backlight or the entire screen assembly can (should) be replaced.  This is something you can do yourself with a replacement LCD and the instructions from ifixit.com.  It's basically removing the back panel, disconnect the display and WiFi cables, then detaching the assembly brackets/hinges.

  is it covered under warranty?

When did you purchase it?  Within 1 year (US) it will be covered.   Is you MacBook Pro still covered under AppleCare (extended warranty)?  If not, it's likely this will be an out-of-pocket expense.

Check your Apple service coverage to verify.


Software for burning AAC files to MP3 CDs?

If you change the Import CD As... to MP3, you should be able to convert any non-MP3 files to MP3. The same applies to all the supported file types.


If you cancel your Apple Arcade subscription and then later resubscribe, can you continue your games where you left off?

Yes.

As per the Apple Support document:

Access your Apple Arcade gameplay data on all of your devices:

  If you cancel Apple Arcade

  If you cancel your subscription to Apple Arcade for any reason, you can resubscribe and still access your gameplay data. If you wait too long, some of your game saves might not be supported by the time you resubscribe.

  If you're not an Apple Arcade subscriber, you won't be able to play any Apple Arcade games, even if you downloaded them to your device. Delete the apps if you don't need them anymore, or resubscribe to keep playing.


This works for me using the latest version of macOS Big Sur.
On my system, all I need to do is speak the phrase “Control Click” and wherever my mouse cursor is at that moment, it performs a Right Click.  However, if I speak the phrase “Show Commands” and search through all of the mouse related commands, I do not see the “Control Click” command listed anywhere.


What happens when a Mac SATA drive is put in a Dell laptop?

It depends on what you mean by "use".

You may access files on that drive from Windows/Linux, provided you have driver for HFS+ filesystem (Linux could have it already installed, at least in read mode, Windows driver must be downloaded separately). (i.e. the hardware is 100% compatible - and would run well if you reformatted the drive for Windows / NTFS).
You certainly will not get the Dell to boot OS X simply by moving the parts. OS X has very limited drivers and they are tailored strictly to Mac hardware.


As a short-term solution, you should be able to run

cp /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages/numpy* /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages/

as the versions of python are the same, and /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/site-packages is (amongst other places) where your python binary will be looking for modules.

I'm concerned that /usr/bin/python doesn't exist, as this is what is shipped with OSX and is required for some system/OS stuff to run. The reason you have so many site-packages directories (you actually have more than you listed in your question) is that it seems like you've installed a python.org version (the /Library/Frameworks/... one) and perhaps a third-party version from Homebrew or some other package manager (MacPorts by default installs into the /opt/local directory). Your version of pip was also installed from that source, so if you want to use the python.org version as your default then you'll need to install pip again (make sure you use the setuptools version, as distribute is defunct). After that's all done, you can then run pip install numpy --upgrade to make sure you've got the latest version, which is 1.7.1 currently.


Can you enable the meta key in Mavericks?

This is still possible in Mavericks. Have you looked under Terminal Preferences > Settings Tab > Profiles > Default Profile > Keyboard and then ticked "Use option as meta key" at the bottom?


What is the name of the Subversion server process on MacOS?

When you tunnel over ssh using svn checkout svn+ssh://.., the svn client is actually running svnserve -q -t for the duration of each ssh connection and then shutting down svnserve when the connection closes.

If you want to see this in action, try opening two Terminal sessions:

In Terminal session 1, run an svn command with the svn+ssh:// protocol. Assuming you don't have any ssh identities saved in your ssh-agent, this should pause waiting for you to enter your password: svn checkout svn+ssh://localhost/Users/johndoe/dev/svnroot.
Now switch to Terminal session 2. You should be able to find at least one svnserve process open via:  ps -ef | grep svnserve.

For example, you should see a matching process similar to:

501 12869 12856   0  6:06pm ttys001    0:00.03 ssh -q -- localhost svnserve -t
If you return to Terminal session 1 and either complete or abort the svn command, the associated ssh session and svnserve process will quit.

Note: if you are connecting to a local repository you can use the file:// protocol instead of tunnelling back into localhost via ssh.

For example:  svn checkout file://localhost/Users/johndoe/dev/svnroot


AppleScript unable to get text from safari

If it's a user input text field, it won't have an innerHTML property (or, it might, but it won't contain any meaningful data) because it's an element that can't contain child HTML elements itself.

You ought to be able to read the value property that you use to set its text content.

document.getElementsByClassName('text-entry')[1].value;


Auto batch-insert track numbers in iTunes?

iTunes doesn't offer this functionality natively: Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes always comes in handy in these situations. In this case, however, there's no easy solution, because there is no script that does that. You would need a combination of three scripts, which should work and should be fairly easy as soon as you have installed all three of them:

Get Number Song Names by Play Order and run it on the tracks you would like to number. This will add track numbers to the beginning of the track name.
Run Put Track Prefix to Track Numbers on the tracks, which will set the track tags based on the number you've added in step 1.
Use Remove n Characters From Front or Back to remove the track numbers added to the name.

As far as I can tell this is the easiest way to accomplish that. Of course you could also write your own AppleScript which does it in one step. And don't forget to create a backup, just in case.


MacBook Pro Connects to Wi-Fi but not the Internet

Seamus is right, it seems an issue related to network and not your MacBook Pro, though, you could execute  network diagnostic Utility.

The Network Diagnostics utility will guide you through a series of questions and tests, based on  your ethernet or Wi-Fi connection to network configuration and DNS servers. Sometimes the utility is able to fix issues by itself , but,when it can’t, it usually provides lots of useful info regarding  the nature of the problem as well as to offer several suggestions in order to fix network issues.

regarding VPN, could you tell me if you use more IP at the same time ?


If you reinstalled without erasing the disk, you might have something incompatible from your previous system. Try to restart holding the SHIFT key. This brings you into safe mode, where only apple components are loaded. The system might react slow, but should let you apply the update. (Would also prefer the combo update, as mentioned by 'forquare'.)


Will one or several shut down during filevault decryption harm things?

You can safely use, shutdown, sleep, and restart your Mac during the FileVault encryption and decryption process. The process happens in the background while your Mac is awake and plugged in.

FileVault encryption or decryption can take hours or days to complete, depending on your disk size and type. You simply have to be patient and let it finish. Portable Macs are required to be plugged in to decrypt or encrypt, so keep it plugged in and on if you want it to complete in a timely manner.

Your encryption or decryption will pause when asleep, shut down, or unplugged, and it will resume when awake and plugged in.

See the following for more information:

Apple Support: Use FileVault to encrypt the startup disk on your Mac
University of California: Use FileVault to encrypt your Mac
Backblaze: All about FileVault: Encryption for your Mac
University of Victoria: Encrypt a disk using FileVault 2: Mac

The question about your mouse and keyboard issue is, at the time of writing, very unclear and may be better suited for another separate question. It's highly unlikely that FileVault will have an impact on your built-in keyboard or trackpad.


Start from external disk only if connected to iMac

Holding down the option key will involve the Startup Manager. If you hold down the control key before making your selection, then your selection will become the default. This works for both internally and externally installed operating systems.

If Windows on the external drive is the default and the external drive is not connected, then the firmware will search for another operating system to boot. The preference is to boot macOS on an internal drive.


What happens if I restore an iPhone with Find my iPhone off?

If it’s activation locked, restore won’t remove that lock.

If it’s clean, you can restore and it’s ready to use so unless you want to try brute forcing the password, restore it and take your chances.

How can I bypass Activation Lock?
How secure is Activation Lock on iOS 7 (and later)?


Are the files given permission with chmod +x saved somewhere?

chmod +x /path/to/file sets the execute permission on the file itself. It doesn't maintain a separate list of permissions for standard read/write/execute, just sets that to the file.

  Are these files copied to any hidden folder?

No, the file remains where it is. The permission is set to the file in place.

  How does this command even work?

POSIX file permissions include read/write/execute permissions. Running +x adds the execute permission to all, -x removes it.

  How does he know the right path?

You provide the path to the command when you run it. /path/to/file is the path you provided when you run the command.

  If I delete the script do I need to run another code?

You can delete the file as usual, with rm or using Finder, without needing to run anything else. If you create a new file (regardless of the name) you will need to chmod +x /path/to/file to give it the execute permission again.

  Delete the copied file from a hidden folder?

There's no copying taking place when you run chmod so there's nothing else to delete.


It sounds like that SD card has a faulty controller chip. From your description, I'm guessing that you bought it second-hand through ebay, so you might have been "burned" there.

Something you can try is to open Disk Utility, choose the SD card, and then click Verify Disk.

Something else you can try (crossing fingers) is to reformat the SD card and hope for the best. However, if the SD card is acting flakey, then it might be best to scrap it for a new one.

Question: In Disk Utility, select the SD card and choose Info. What File System is the card formatted for?


How do I combine these two shell commands into a Service?

What about an Automator service like this one:

The payload is the shell script

 for f in "$@"
 do
    pandoc "$f" --css=markdown.css | prince - "$f".pdf
 done

Whatever the selected file or files, the service runs them through pandoc's Markdown parser, then takes the resulting html and processes it with prince, naming the output the original file name with a .pdf extension added.

The piping removes the need for you to manage temporary files.


Force QuickTime Player to auto-play files

Using the default will command QuickTime to start playback of the loaded file.

defaults write com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX MGPlayMovieOnOpen 1

It's not file specific, or movie specific. It will play all files, regardless of type if you run this command, and restart QuickTime.


How is it possible that my Macbook Pro with a failed logic board works just fine?

I've heard of a logic board "limbo state" where it passes in and out of working. It is broken, but it's letting you use it until it decides to die altogether. You may as well get all the life you can out of it, but don't depend on it to heavily.

I can't find confirmation of this, but I know I've heard stories of it before. Can anyone confirm?


How to print one Numbers row per page, formatted nicely

One way to accomplish this just using Numbers

The key to this solution is the combination of the INDEX(MATCH()) formulas.  Here is an excellent article on the use of this combination of functions.

Create 2 sheets

one sheet for data
one sheet for printing

In the Data sheet, add a basic table to hold the data.  A header row is useful for reading the formulas as they are added:

In the Print sheet, create a table or tables (one can get creative here, any number of tables or cells to format the printing in any way wished) for a print format.  The cells do not need to be in the same table together as each contains an individual reference to the data table.  The example in the screenshot below uses two tables.

Back on the Data sheet, create table with one or two cells for selecting the record to print:

Now, back in the Print sheet, use the following formulas to display the desired data:

  INDEX(Animal,MATCH(Print Index::B1,Index))
  Where Animal is the column containing the animal name, MATCH looks at the single data selector cell matching the corresponding number in the Index column and then returns the Animal.

  INDEX(Legs,MATCH(Print Index::$B$1,$Index))
  Returns the Legs data.

  INDEX(Head,MATCH(Print Index::$B$1,$Index))
  Returns the Head data.

  INDEX(Feathers,MATCH(Print Index::$B$1,$Index))
  Returns the Feathers data.

  INDEX(Size,MATCH(Print Index::$B$1,$Index))
  Returns the Size data.

Even when other data is inserted into the table, the proper value is displayed.  This is unlike VLOOKUP() which has to have the column number returned.  When a new column is inserted, VLOOKUP breaks where INDEX(MATCH()) does not.

Add the conditional formatting as desired to the cells in the Print sheet's table(s).

Back in the Data sheet, select the number corresponding to the animal desired to print.

Select the Print sheet then print as normally. command+P

AppleScript could be used to automate the process of selecting the index number, then printing the Print sheet.

This is a clean and easy way to maintain/update/change the print view without having to reinvent the entire data schema.

Demo:


Is there a maximum length of metadata that can be written in one xattr command?

As bmike mentioned, xattr.h has a constant called XATTR_MAXSIZE that is set to 64 MiB:

/* Maximum extended attribute size supported by VFS */
#define XATTR_MAXSIZE       (64 * 1024 * 1024)

VFS means virtual file system.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_file_attributes#Mac_OS_X:

  Although the named forks in HFS+ support arbitrarily large amounts of data through extents, the OS support for extended attributes only supports inline attributes, limiting their size to that which can fit within a single B*-tree node.

I don't know if that is accurate or how to see that size. You'll run into the maximum argument length first though:

$ getconf ARG_MAX
262144
$ touch a.txt
$ xattr -w someattribute "$(dd if=/dev/random bs=140000 count=1)" a.txt
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
140000 bytes transferred in 0.011996 secs (11670527 bytes/sec)
xattr: [Errno 7] Argument list too long: 'a.txt'

I couldn't figure out any way to get input from STDIN or any other workarounds for it.

You can also use custom attribute names:

$ xattr -w com.apple.metadata:MyAttribute gfdylvyieo a.txt
$ mdls -n MyAttribute a.txt
MyAttribute = "gfdylvyieo"
$ mdfind gfdylvyieo
/private/tmp/a.txt


Secondary click does not register even though it is checked on (MacOS Big Sur)

I re-installed Big Sur on my machine, by booting into the recovery mode. That seems to have solved the problem. However, if there are more convenient solutions than this, please let me know and I will select that as the accepted answer. Thanks!


Is it possible to take the app name again after the app got deleted from iTunes-connect?

No, once and App has been deleted, either by you or because of the expiration process, you cannot reuse your SKU or app name in the same account again. It can be used, though, by another developer.

Under the Deleting an App section of the iTunes Connect Developer Guide you'll learn more about the ramifications of an App Deletion.


Mojave (10.14) setting environment variables

The answer to this one in Mojave is to create a named file in /etc/paths.d, for instance

vi /etc/paths.d/local_bin

Put

/usr/local/bin

in the file, save and quit. Start another terminal window and it will be on your path.

I have one for MacPorts

$ cat MacPorts
/opt/local/bin


How to save a .css file from TextEdit or Word?

First, use TextEdit, don't use Word.

Before you save your document, select Make Plain Text from the Format menu. (If the menu says Make Rich Text then you are already in plain text mode.)

If you save the document now, you should be able to give it whatever extension you want. Since the file is plain text, you can be sure that TextEdit won't add any additional formatting instructions that will turn it into an incorrectly-formatted CSS file.


Is there an plugin for Safari that opens certain file extensions?

Safari downloads every file that it is not able to read (which is pretty much anything but website-formats such as html, css, xml)
There are some plugins that open special formats.
The first result from google is this one
http://www.schubert-it.com/free/


You can use APFS encryption (essentially FileVault) on a secondary drives such as USB drives etc. When formatting the drive with Disk Utility choose “APFS (Encrypted)”, and you’ll be asked for a password for the drive.

When you plug in the secondary drive, macOS will automatically try to mount to mount it by opening a pop up asking you to enter the password to unlock.

If you literally want to use a private key, as in a key file (i.e. not a written password, but an encryption key) - then you’re out of luck. No such solution comes built in with macOS. However it can be done with external tools.