Can OS X 10.5.8 be installed on a 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 Mac Mini?

Your Mac mini is probably a Apple Mac mini "Core i7" 2.3 (Late 2012) Macmini6,2. It was originally delivered with Mac OS X 10.8.1.

Neither 10.5 nor 10.6 contain the necessary drivers to support your hardware (especially USB3.0).

Consider installing Mac OS X Server 10.6.8 in an virtual machine using Parallels, VMware Fusion (both non-free) or VirtualBox (free).


How to keep connections alive on ssh MacOS Catalina?

Catalina is same as all the older OS X and macOS for this. For you, it seems the hidden ssh folder is what’s stopping your attempt to configure the file. My commands make the directory and then clobber any file you may have so don’t use the cat > and expect to keep old file contents. You can then edit the file once it’s set.

mkdir -p ~/.ssh
cat > ~/.ssh/config << EOF
Host keepsdroppingme.com
ServerAliveInterval 120
EOF

Of course you need to put the host you care about having the 120 second keep alive traffic being synthetically generated whether you’re typing or not. On the server side, they can still enforce a timeout, but this often works wonders.


Apple USB ethernet adapter is not detected

I had the same problem and a couple of minutes ago I saw something about the "Android File Transfer Agent" having problems with the device.
So uninstalled "iSyncr" software (sync android over Wifi), disconnected the usb device, plugged it again and now it's working fine.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3941878?start=0&tstart=0


Is there a way to click a default button with the keyboard, without Full Keyboard Access?

When the focus is on a multiline text view, pressing enter (⌤ or fn↩) usually selects the blue default button. (At least it does in some bug report dialogs.)


How to prevent a folder to sync to iCloud

there are 2 name extensions that will stop iCloud syncing.

.nosync

.tmp

if you add .nosync to a folder name you will need to add it also to the folder contents.
if you add .tmp to a folder name it'll stop syncing the folder & its contents.


From Apples's specification page, the 2017  MacBook Pro 13" has two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports:

Thunderbolt 3 has several different signals embedded within it:

PCIe
USB 3.1
Power
DisplayPort

USB-C is just the connector type not the USB specification.  In this case, the USB specification is 3.1.

What you need is a USB-C Displayport cable - it's basically a DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable because the DisplayPort signals are already present (it's Thunderbolt).  You would only need an adapter if it was just a simple USB port.

If you get one of those hubs/dongles, it must support DisplayPort and/or power passthrough.  If you get a USB hub, then you lose the Thunderbolt functionality.

If you want something that you can have a single cable setup that preserves your charging, display and USB connectivity, I suggest getting a Thunderbolt dock.  They're not cheap, but they do offer the functionality you're looking for.


Is it possible to download Apple's Command Line Tools for Xcode from the command line?

Apple now includes the xcode-select binary in OS X itself, so you have a one line solution that presents a graphical authorization window and then downloads and installs the current version of the tools.

xcode-select --install


You can Erase the disk using Disk Utility (open Disk Utility, select the disk, then the Erase tab, and click Erase), then use the Reinstall OS X option in the Recovery HD utilities list, following the instructions as a normal OS X install.

Alternatively, use Internet Recovery by booting with ⌘⌥R.


Accidently deleted some small sized partitions when installing Windows. OSX Partition wont boot

You didn't delete any partition. Instead the MBR got bogus by using Windows' Disk Management tool.

Instead of the MBR you should have a pMBR. After removing the bogus MBR you have to destroy and recreate the GUID partition table:

Boot to Internet Recovery Mode
Open Terminal in the menubar Utilities -> Terminal
Get an overview (especially the gpt command is important!):

diskutil list
gpt -r show disk0

Unmount disk0:

diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk0

Delete the MBR:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/disk0 bs=512 count=1

Destroy the GUID partition table and create a new one:

gpt destroy disk0
gpt create -f disk0

Rebuild all previous GUID partitions:

gpt add -i 1 -b 40 -s 409600 -t C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B disk0
gpt add -i 2 -b 409640 -s 166939584 -t 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC disk0
gpt add -i 3 -b 167349224 -s 1269536 -t 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC disk0
gpt add -i 4 -b 168620032 -s 68356096 -t EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7 disk0

If you get a resource busy error after one of the steps, just unmount disk0 again with

diskutil umountDisk /dev/disk0

Depending on your Mac model this will render your Windows installation unbootable. Check one of David Anderson answers how to restore a proper MBR entry to boot Windows if you have a MBR-bootable Mac (in contrary to GUID-bootable Macs since ~2013).


Yes, contacts are linked to your Apple ID. To import them, just to go Settings > iCloud on both the old and new phone and enable contacts.

After that, go into the contacts app on the new phone and hit the refresh button. Her contacts should appear shortly.


iPhoto 11 on Mavericks suddenly can not open library anymore

If you know how to use the info pane in Finder, you can select the iPhoto Library and make sure your user has read+write permissions.

An easy way to test this is to connect a USB or other drive and copy the file to that drive and then click on the library to have iPhoto open it. You might also hold the option key to be sure you select the correct copy of the library.

If that works, you can delete the broken library and copy the fixed one back. Also, if you have a backup, you could restore things from when it worked.

Feel free to comment or edit new info in the post if you have more details to share and this doesn't fix it.


Cleaning a MacBook Pro keyboard that's been covered in juice

You can actually remove the keys, clean them and then replace them again.

Follow this link to see how it's done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSpPlMdGvVI

The problem with liquid damage is that although the laptop may work fine now, if the juice has got onto the Logic Board, it can cause corrosion over time, which will more than likely cause issues.

However, I do hope this is not the case! Good luck!


Making music and photos available to Apple TV

This is similar to another recent question: Is Apple TV intelligent enough to stream directly from a NAS?

As @tubedogg says, you need iTunes running on a Mac/PC in your network to share local files.  You can only remove this requirement if you buy/stream everything from the iTunes store.

Unless you hack your ATV.

You can run something like PlexConnect on it to stream content from a local Plex server, but again you need a Mac/PC running a Plex server, so it's not that different than requiring a Mac/PC running iTunes.

I think there might be an XBMC hack (for ATV2 only) that will allow you to stream from a NAS/UPnP device, which might work with your modem's USB port, but I doubt it will work from the AE's USB port.  The AE's USB port is best used for a Time Machine drive, which is a great backup strategy, but off-topic.

So, if you haven't bought everything from the iTunes Store (or haven't used iTunes Match to make a copy of all your music available to you from the "cloud"), you do need to keep a Mac/PC running iTunes to access your personal content, regardless of where your USB drive is plugged into.


Does the Chinese dual SIM iPhone XS work with any SIM card?

Actually, provided you go for the option where you don't have to choose a carrier, your new iPhone will be unlocked (speaking from experience).

I just bought one from Hong Kong and I am using both my Chinese (since I am in Mainland China) and one from back home (on roaming) and they both work well.


Turns out the answer came out of left field. I had done a Spotlight rebuild, which didn't reclaim the space, but what it did do (I think) is change totals in About>Storage>Manage. The System went down to 90GB (which is still high but better), but Mail jumped up to 95GB. That gave me the clue to look in the ~/Library/Mail folder. From here it gets weird.

Turning on 'Calculate folder sizes' in the Finder, it calculated the Mail folder as 24GB.  However, underneath that folder were several "mail container" folders, one of which was 37GB besides another that was actually 24GB. Literally it didn't add up.

Inside of that 37GB folder was a Drafts mbox was 37GB all by itself!

Over in Apple Mail, she had no visible Drafts folders in any of the three accounts. I checked preferences to make sure each account was pointing to a server Drafts folder, and they were.  And when I created a new draft, it showed up properly.  So, the functionality was fine.

So, I figured out which Gmail account this huge Drafts folder belonged to (by watching the timestamps on the folders when I updated in Apple Mail), and then logged into that Gmail account via web. There I found a Drafts folder with hundreds and hundreds of emails with attachments (its normal for her to work with large PDFs).  These Drafts weren't getting deleting when she sent them.  So, I cleared all the Drafts off the server.  However, when I later launch Mail, the "cleanup" I was expecting didn't happen. Somehow, the Drafts mbox was a separate copy of these abandoned Drafts.

So I was left with quitting Apple Mail and Finder-trashing the 37GB Drafts mbox.  Even though the ~/Libary/Mail folder didn't gain any space, the overall hard drive free space did (as well as About>Storage>Manage).

She's got enough free space to work with now, but System still shows as 90GB and we don't know how she got into this predicament in the first place.  So, we don't know if this is the end of the saga.  (Perhaps because she travels a lot, she's "offline" a lot and Gmail is being ultra conservative saving her Drafts?) I suppose when she's back from her travels, I'll zap that email account and re-enter it, so it can download a fresh copy from the server.


Can Mountain Lion be modified so that a double click will open "hidden" folders and files?

Its looks like this might be a Mountain Lion Bug and a bug report has been submitted to Apple for this issue. Additionally, after some testing its seems that hidden files and folders will not open when double-clicked from with in a Finder window that has an icons, lists, or Cover Flow view selected.

Note:  For the Cover flow view double-click does not work in the list view, yet double clicking items in the cover flow section will cause the file or folder to open.

Note: If you double-click hidden files/folders on the desktop they open as expected, which seems odd, and kind of indicates that this not working in most Finder window views is just a bug.

Work Arounds until the bug (hopefully its a bug and not a new feature) is fixed by Apple:

Use the "column" or "Cover Flow" Finder views.

With column view selected hidden folders just open when clicked on, and hidden files open as expected when double-clicked.

With the Cover Flow view selected the work around is two steps.

Click on the hidden file or folder in the list on the bottom of the window.
Then double-click on the file or folder to open it.


OS X 10.10.4 update on 2009 Mac Pro: stuck at "Missing bluetooth controller transport" on boot

I'd certainly try it with only one of the GPUs in there, try swapping over if no joy.

I'd also be tempted to run the "standard toolkit" assuming you can get into the OS fully, though the first can be done from the Recovery partition…

Reset the SMC
Shut down the computer.  Unplug the mains power from the back & leave for 15 seconds. Plug back in & wait another 5. Boot.
Reset the NVRAM
At the boot chimes, hold  Cmd ⌘   Opt ⌥   P   R
Keep holding all 4 keys until you hear the chimes again, then release.
Fix permissions, Verify & if necessary Repair disk, using Disk Utility, from Recovery if you still can't fully boot -
 Cmd ⌘   R  at the chimes.

If that does allow you to boot…

Reset Home folder permissions & ACLs using OnyX  - Maintenance tab/permissions, tick the box at the top then Execute.
Update to 10.10.5 using the 10.10.5 combo update, not the delta from App Store

Being a Mac Pro you always have the option of just dropping in a new drive & putting a clean OS on there, from which you can poke & prod at the other drive with impunity.
There's also, of course, the option of then migrating a Time Machine backup to that new drive & simply discarding or repurposing the old one.


How do i find a printer which supports wireless printing from the iPhone?

Does it have to be one of those HP printers?  No.  It can be a Brother, or an Epson, or others.
First, did you read the page at Apple, regarding printing from your iPhone?
Second, after reading that page, at the bottom, did you follow the link to AirPrint-Enabled printers that was provided?

Printers not listed in this article are not supported by AirPrint.
Note: Some printers listed in this article will require a firmware update out of the box to become AirPrint-enabed. See the manufacture's documentation or website for details.
The AirPrint-enabled printer must be connected to the same home Wi-Fi network as the iOS device. This is the default configuration in most home Wi-Fi networks.

Now, assuming that you DID both of these things, and you did see the model printers that were being offered by all those different manufacturers... what is your actual question.  Are you asking if one of those printers listed there actually works to allow printing from your iPhone?
If you really want to stick with an HP, it can be any one of these...
HP Deskjet 3050A J611
HP Deskjet 3054A J611
HP Deskjet 3070A
HP Envy 100 e-All-In-One D410
HP Envy 110 e-All-In-One D411a
HP Envy 114 e-All-In-One D411a
HP LaserJet P1102w Printer
HP LaserJet P1606dn Printer
HP LaserJet Pro 100 color MFP M175nw
HP LaserJet Pro 300 Color MFP M375nw
HP LaserJet Pro 400 Color M451nw-M451dn-M451dw
HP LaserJet Pro 400 Color MFP M475dn-M475dw
HP LaserJet Pro CM1415fn Color MFP
HP LaserJet Pro CM1415fnw Color MFP
HP LaserJet Pro CP1025nw Color Printer
HP LaserJet Pro CP1525nw Color Printer
HP LaserJet Pro M1212nf MFP
HP LaserJet Pro M1213nf MFP
HP LaserJet Pro M1214nf MFP
HP LaserJet Pro M1216nf MFP
HP LaserJet Pro M1217nfw MFP
HP LaserJet Pro M1536dnf MFP
HP Officejet 4620 e-All-In-One
HP Officejet 6100 e-Printer H611a
HP Officejet 6500A e-All-In-One E710a
HP Officejet 6500A Plus e-All-In-One E710n
HP Officejet 6600 e-All-In-One H711a
HP Officejet 6700 e-All-In-One H711n
HP Officejet 7500A Wide Format e-All-In-One E910a
HP Officejet Pro 8100 e-Printer N811a
HP Officejet Pro 8500A e-All-In-One A910a
HP Officejet Pro 8500A Plus e-All-In-One A910g
HP Officejet Pro 8500A Premium e-All-In-One A910g
HP Officejet Pro 8600A e-All-in-One Printer N911a
HP Officejet Pro 8600A Plus e-All-in-One N911g
HP Officejet Pro 8600A Premium e-All-in-One N911g
HP Photosmart 5510 e-AiO B111a
HP Photosmart 5514 e-AiO B111h
HP Photosmart 6510 e-AiO B211a
HP Photosmart 7510 e-AiO C311a
HP Photosmart e-All-in-One D110a
HP Photosmart eStation C510
HP Photosmart Plus e-All-In-One B210a
HP Photosmart Premium e-All-In-One C310
HP Photosmart Premium Fax e-All-In-One C410a
HP Photosmart Wireless e-All-In-One B110—Europe and Asia-Pacific
HP TopShot LaserJet Pro M275


Have a read of this article , which conducts an analysis of iOS 7 on iPad 2, and see what you think. As noted in the link, enabling bold text will make a difference in iOS 7 on a non-retina display.


Remember WiFi but don't autoconnect on iPhone?

Forgive me if I'm missing the point of your question, but if you've connected to both SSIDs and your iPhone remembers them (and their passwords), then why wouldn't you just go to Settings > Wi-Fi to manually choose and connect to the network you want when you need to?

My point is, according to your question, you'd still like to be able to easily connect to that one when I need to (not that often), and wouldn't this approach achieve that? It's easy to do and since it's not something you need to do often, it's not cumbersome. Your iPhone will remember the password and once you've manually selected a network it'll remain connected to it while the signal is strong enough.


Old Mac OS X, cannot get admin access, boot safe or single-user mode, nor reinstall

Give this a try.  If you can get to single user mode you can remove the file that OS X checks for during boot to determine if the Mac has already been setup.  If it doesn't find the file then it boots to the setup assistant, which allows you to create a new admin user.

Try resetting PRAM:

Shutdown the Mac
While holding ⌘+option+P+R, power on the Mac
Continue holding all four keys until the Mac has chimed (restarted) twice, then release the keys and allow it to boot normally

If that fails, or you still can't boot to single user mode, give this a try.  Resetting NVRAM:

While holding ⌘+option+O+F, power on your Mac, after a few seconds you should be greeted with the Open Firmware screen.
Type and click return: reset-nvram
Type and click return: `reset-all'

Hopefully by now you can boot to single user mode.

Boot to single user mode (⌘+S while powering on)
Type and hit return: /sbin/fsck -fy
Type and hit return: /sbin/mount -uw /
Type and hit return: rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
Type and hit return: reboot

This should boot your Mac to the setup assistant.  From here you can create a new user account, which will automatically be designated as an administrator account.

Hope that helps.


If you're in the Open File dialog box, there is a heading in the sidebar that says "Media". Under that heading is an entry for Photos. Click that, and then at the top of the dialog, it will show any iPhoto albums you have. But, if you scroll down to the bottom, you can select "Photo Booth", and you should be able to load all your photo booth pictures from there. Unless I'm missing something, that should be all you need.


What is the latest OS to which I can upgrade an early 2015 MacBook Air running Sierra (10.12)?

Apple states you can upgrade to Big Sur directly from Sierra. You say you can not find Big Sur in the Apps store. Perhaps, you can use a link from this Apple website.
The recommendation to first upgrade to High Sierra not uncommon. High Sierra includes a firmware upgrade that allows booting from Apple's new APFS format. Although if you upgrade directly to Big Sur, the firmware upgrade will still take place. Apple offers this webpage for information on how to obtain and install High Sierra.
You should be aware that do to a the firmware upgrade, installation can take longer that you would normally expect. If your computer seems stop working during the upgrade, be patient this may be normal.


I deleted the update file for iOS 9.3. Is it possible to reinstall it?

Apple has pulled the iOS 9.3 update for some (older) devices because of a bug that could prevent using your device. Apple is not signing iOS 9.3 for your iPhone (5s and older), so it is not possible to update by official means at this time. According to the link below, 9.3 could potentially brick an older phone under certain conditions.

Source: http://9to5mac.com/2016/03/24/bricked-iphone-5s-5-ipad-2-ios-9-3-fix/


This is not possible. Apps requiring iOS 7 can't be installed on any version of iOS prior to iOS 7.


How can I script the setup of preferences in Mac OS X?

I did some more digging and I managed to find a solution that isn't AppleScript-ed UI movements.

You can script most of the settings changes I wanted to make using the defaults command (wiki).

As for figuring out the actual keys/values that correspond to the UI preferences, I've found lists like this to be useful (this one too).  I've also used this little script I wrote to suss out the changes made by the UI:

#!/bin/sh
mv ~/new-defaults.txt ~/old-defaults.txt
defaults read > ~/new-defaults.txt
diff old-defaults.txt new-defaults.txt

It'll give you all the changes to the defaults since the last time it was ran.  There's likely going to be other changes detected (like window positions), but most of the keys seemed reasonably named.  You can then take the changed key and figure out its domain by searching the full file.

There appear to be other mechanisms for storing preferences in Mac OS besides this (e.g. allowing non-App Store apps does not seem to be reflected in the defaults plists), and I still haven't figured those out.  The list I liked above uses some other commands, and I'll have to look into those next.


What is the Computer name that appears on new Macbooks ?

If you have time, you could reinstall OS X and quit the installer (and shutdown the system) at the point when it asks you to enter a username and password to create your first account.

When the buyer powers it on, it will then display the OS X welcome message and allow the buyer to complete the setup as if it were bought new.


I know of no way to do this if the Finder is the frontmost app at the start of your sequence. It's fairly standard practice that if you close the frontmost window in any app, the next behind it will come to focus.

However, if Finder is not the frontmost app, then  Cmd ⌘ -clicking the red dot will close the window without bringing the Finder to the front.

There are a few  Cmd ⌘  + action functions that will operate on a window without bringing it to the front - you can drag window edges to resize, minimise, close, etc.

You can kind of 'fake' what you want if you click on the Desktop first, then when you close your first window, the Desktop itself will be 'frontmost'... yet of course will not actually move.


"Battery is not charging" after updating to MacOS Big Sur

UPDATE: This looks like a new feature of MacOS Big Sur. In the Battery settings, there is a new option called "Optimised battery charging" which stops battery charging after 80% to reducing battery ageing. By unchecking this option the battery starts charging again normally.


Different programs in the same Xcode C++ project

In order to compile multiple separate files (separate binaries as a result) You would need to create separate targets for every file.

To add new target please choose: File -> New -> Target.., select for example Command Line Tool. Make sure it's properly added to Your project. Here's example:

My main.cpp is added to target multiple_targets like this:

My main-kopia.cpp file is added to target2 like this:

to be sure check the build phases for every target, here's example of my target2 Build Phase:

With this I am able to compile both main.cpp and main-kopia.cpp. Notice that they both have main() inside them.


Using Earpods on PC with TRRS to 2xTRS splitter

Uninstall your audio drivers and restart. Just use the Microsoft default driver.
If it still not working, just press the middle button once.

It seems like the problem comes with these buttons, not the mic.


Do all iMessages always get pushed to Messages on the Mac?

Unless there is a glitch and as long as you are connected to the internet, you will receive all iMessages that you would get on your iPhone on your Mac. If your iPhone is on the same Wi-Fi network, you will also receive all SMS and MMS texts on your Mac, as well.

If you blocked any numbers on your iPhone, they will be blocked on your Mac and the other way around.

Now, if you receive a text for a conversation that is for whatever reason not on your Mac (like from an internet issue), it should start the conversation on your Mac from that text.


Is the sudo bless --mount command in macOS deprecated. If so, what is in use now?

No.  There is nothing (that I could find) from Apple indicating that bless has been deprecated.

The two articles you posted:

Don’t Use bless To Change Startup Disks Any More In OS X
Setboot? Formerly bless? Command line OS switching?

are a blogger's opinion about what to use instead of bless and a thread in an Apple Discussion forum in which a random person is asking the same question; the articles are from July 15th, 2015 and November 8th 2016 respectively.  Needless to say, they are woefully out of date.

This does serve as a opportunity, however to highlight an important factor:  Apple won't deprecate something (especially as critical as bless) without notifying the public about it (i.e. in the release notes, updated man pages, etc.)

Why?  Well, how would devs and sys admins be aware of the changes and begin planning their transitions?

Deprecation notifications will come from Apple, not random people opining on the Internet.


Credit card numbers stolen. How to check if my MacBook has a keylogger installed?

The short answer is you already have!

Malwarebytes, like most (if not all) antivirus software for Macs, also guards against other nefarious activities, including keyloggers.

The free trial of Malwarebytes (which I assume is what you used to scan your Mac), would have identified any threats and cleaned your Mac of any infections. The free trial also comes with 30 days access to their premium service, so you could also take advantage of that as well.

Assuming you're a personal/home user, then many of the free options will most likely meet your needs, so don't feel obligated to keep using Malwarebytes if your preference is otherwise.

There are many other options out there you can choose from. As a starting point you can refer to the AV Comparatives list of antivirus vendors for Mac.

You may also want to read the most recent (as of now) AV Comparatives Mac Security Test and Review report (conducted in 2017).


How to revert OS X Snow Leopard default theme?

Aqua Extreme comes with a separate package called Remove Aqua Extreme which restores the default user interface.

If you download the latest Aqua Extreme from http://www.maxthemes.com/downloads/Aqua%20Extreme.dmg
you will find the Remove Aqua Extreme package inside the installation bundle.

Run this package, it should restore everything.


Network printer hangs at "sending print data..."

I installed Gutenprint for OS X. The newest version supports my printer. It now prints perfectly using that driver. Weird because it didn't seem like a driver issue. Thanks anyway guys! Hope this helps somebody in the future.


OSX Screenshot App: Can't change screenshot file format

Are you using ⌘ Command+⇧ Shift+3 and ⌘ Command+⇧ Shift+4 instead of Grab.app? Grab produces a .tiff file, but the keyboard shortcuts will produce whatever is set in that defaults entry (by default, .png).


If you open Safari in private browsing mode, all cookies you may have are not accessible. Feel free to log in to whatever site you want and the cookies only persist for that session as you are familiar with from Firefox.

If you want to script a periodic purging of all cookies, that is trivial if you use Automator to record the action of launching safari, selecting preferences and selecting the clear all cookies button.

That's probably overkill, since private browsing does about all you ask already.


Can I change compression settings on built-in archive utility?

If you launch Archive Utility directly from /System/Library/CoreServices/, you can create gzip-compressed .cpgz archives, which can have a higher compression rate than zip compression. However if you're compressing already compressed files (like most music and video files), you likely won't get much space savings, if any.

If you want to try however, open up Archive Utility, open the preferences, then change the Use archive format: setting to compressed archive, and create a new archive from the file menu (⌘K). This setting only affects archives created when you open the Archive Utility app. Ones created with the Compress option in the Finder's context menu will still be zip archives.


You may want to look into the sharing options as well as any other programs that may be keeping the computer awake.  If you exit all running programs (you may want to consider checking programs that are running in the background as well) and turn off all sharing under 'System Preferences' -> 'Sharing' and close the lid does it still exhibit the same problems.


I have deleted a bunch of music from iTunes on my Macbook Pro, but am not gaining any free space

I fixed the problem by resetting the PRAM and the NVRAM.


I had the same problem, I solved it by go to Language & Region and choose the region that has the same clock separator (I chose Australia) and then you can go to Advanced and customize your own dates and times format. Hope it helps


iOS holiday calendar becomes "Untitled Calendar"

Yes change location to US Virgin Islands then go to http://icalshare.com/ and subscribe to any calendar that you like.

I've been on support line with Apple for 2 hours and had to come up with this solution on my own. They are no help and very condescending.


How to Reset all Drivers to Factory Default

This ended up being a hardware issue: A current sensor was drawing too much power when connected to the 5V and ground pins on the board so it was being shut off automatically.


iPad app with variable speed video playback?

I built Swift Player for iPhone and iPad that will allow you to change (speed up) the playback speed of video and audio from the device or even directly from websites like YouTube, etc.

You can find out more information on the product's website.

Note: This is a product that I have developed.


Mail does not work in scripts launched with launchd

Not sure what happened here, but I got it working now. AbandonProcessGroup definitely needs to be set to true. Also make sure no other errors exist. I had some error, and after clearing that out things started working. It helps by specifying log output files in the launchd jobs. Use StandardOutPath key for log output, and StandardErrorPath key for error output. I specified separate files for error and log output.


Connecting 2 HDMI monitors with 2 adapters on both side of USB-C port on 2018 MacBook Pro

Yes. It is possible to connect two HDMI monitors using two adapters.

Each of the four USB-C ports (2 on either side) support connecting external display.


How to play .wmv file with a MSS1 stream encoded?

Try MPlayerX Version 1.0.17, better support for WMV than VLC (MMS1 is ok for me).


Can you use the Apple Magic Keyboard with a Windows Machine as well?

Yes, the new Magic keyboard works just fine (the 2017 wireless extended one that is) with the supplied USB/lightning cable. In fact I'm using a third-party PUR braided cable, typing on the Apple keyboard right now. There's a tiny On/Off switch on the back right edge, that needs to be on even if you are plugged into USB. My cheesy Dell here at work doesn't have BT but I'll get a cheap dongle from Amazon and try it.

Next I will use KeyTweak and remap some of the keys. Right now Command is the Windows key and the tiny Option ket is ALT. Those need to b reversed so they are used to where we know them. I also like to to make F16 my Play/Pause button for iTunes, and F17 & F18 my Up-Down Volume keys and F19 my Mute. Oh, and F13 Print Screen, and the Clear button I make Num Lock. These are just my suggestions but for Windows it works. There's no way to program the Eject button to do anything but Optical is fading into the horizon anyway, lol. All This changes the registry in Win 10 so if you pop on a std keyboard, make sure to run KeyTweak again to reset the Registry back to normal!

Why go through all this for a Windows machine? Sanity. Got my first Mac in '90 (16lb Portable) and my SE/30 is sitting right next to me in my office. If I have to use Windows, at least my keyboard interaction is Apple. All my devices are, lol.

BTW, KeyTweak is downright confusing to use. Here's how you do it. It'll take a little time but worth it.

For EACH Key you want to change:

Click Half Teach Mode
In the windows that pops up, click Scan Single Key
Then press the key you want to change. For example, I clicked F19. You'll see a numeric ID for the key appear.
Then select, from the DropDown, what Function you want the selected key to do. In my example I selected Mute.
Then click the Remap button.

At that point you will see your choice in the Pending Changes Box. Continue on changing all the keys you need by REPEATING ALL THE STEPS.

Once done, click Apply. THAT will change the Registry and remap your keys! IMPORTANT: The app will ask if you want to reboot. Say NO. Instead, go to File-->Save Remap File As, and save your mapping. Then if you ever have to reinstall Windows, just open KeyTweak and load the file! Or if you put an Apple keyboard on another machine, do the same, and you won't have to redo all the tedious mapping.

NOW you can reboot for it all to take effect. ;-D


Setting a different picture for each Messages account

I've researched it a bit and tinkered with the messages application myself because I too use multiple accounts and thought a different picture would actually be great for my uses.

However to my disappointment, this isn't a possibility. You can only change your account picture as a one-for-everything picture in Messages -> Change My Picture... which is a shame really.


Keeping Finder in sync with changes made in Terminal?

Not necessarily a fix, but I use this to refresh Finder windows - works after changing file visibility too, rather than killing the Finder.

tell application "Finder"
    set theWindows to every window
    repeat with i from 1 to number of items in theWindows
        set this_item to item i of theWindows
        set theView to current view of this_item
        if theView is list view then
            set current view of this_item to icon view
        else
            set current view of this_item to list view
        end if
        set current view of this_item to theView
    end repeat
end tell


How do I fix broken dictionary on iPhone?

Go to settings/general/keyboard/add new keyboard and see if there is one called English (UK). If so, activate that one and deactivate English - British.


Hmm, the two week break may have killed the Power Supply Unit (PSU), especially if it was a rather cold morning when you tried to first power it back up. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen that happen. :(

As for using a multimeter to test the PSU, I wouldn't bother since the LEDs indicate the PSU is still providing trickle power and I wouldn't really encourage trying to test around some of the other rails (just to be extra safe).

However, a fairly simple test you can do is a system reset. To do this:

Power up the Mac Pro
Wait for it to get to its current usual state
Press the SYS_RST switch on the logic board (yep, this needs to be done while it's powered on).
If the Mac Pro boots, shut it down again
Now try booting up again from the normal power switch
If it doesn't boot, press the SYS_RST switch on the logic board again (don't power off first)

Basically, if your Mac Pro does boot from the SYS_RST switch but not from the main power button, then it's most likely a new PSU you'll need.

However,let's not give up yet! I'm not sure if you have a full Mac Pro Service Manual at your disposal, but before purchasing another PSU it may be worth going through the following process.

Just ignore anything obvious or that you've already tried - I'm just trying to write this so it may be useful to others too. Obviously, before purchasing another PSU, it's worth trying anything below you haven't already tried.

Firstly, let's summarise what to make of the LEDs:

LED 1 off is a Good sign! - You wouldn't expect this to be lit unless your Mac was powered up but in sleep mode
LED 2 on is a Good sign! - This is normal when pressing the DIAG_LED button
LEDs 3 and 4 off is a Good sign! - These LEDs only come on if an error occurs or if the BootROM is corrupted (and you don't actually have to press the DIAG_LED button to see them)
LEDs 5 and 6 off is a Good sign! - Normally off. These LEDs actually have two indicator modes (i.e. they can either stay on or flash, depending on the error). Regardless, not an issue here
LED 7 off is a Bad sign! - This is normally on when pressing the DIAG_LED button. See troubleshooting suggestions below
LED 8 off is a Bad sign! - This is normally on when pressing the DIAG_LED button. See troubleshooting suggestions below
LED 9 on is a Good sign! - This is normal when pressing the DIAG_LED button (assuming the computer has been powered up for about 5 or do seconds first)

Troubleshooting LED 7

LED 7 should be on when pressing the DIAG_LED button.

Typically to troubleshoot this you would:

Check that the graphics card is seated correctly in its PCI slot
Check that the card’s auxiliary booster power cable is connected properly (i.e. if the card requires one)
Try the graphics card in a different PCI slot
Try another graphics card if you happen to have one handy

Troubleshooting LED 8

Likewise, LED 8 should be on when pressing the DIAG_LED button.

To troubleshoot this:

Check the power cable connections
Swap your AC power cable with another one and test again
Unplug all external hardware (except for the display, keyboard and mouse, but also including any UPS you may be connected to) and test again
If you happen to have another USB keyboard you can try, use that instead while booting up
Check for any signs of an obvious electrical short, e.g. metal screws or a loose PCI card slot cover touching the logic board. Also check the logic board for any soldering that’s not quite right (something loose, or something that could come into contact with something else)

Other troubleshooting

Some other things to try include:

Reset the SMC and test again
Reset the NVRAM and test again
Remove the battery for about 30 seconds, insert it again and test
Although you've only fairly recently replaced the PRAM battery, it's cheap enough to just try replacing it again


Are security questions no longer required for Apple ID account security?

Accounts with two-factor authentication enabled do not require or use security questions.
Two-factor authentication for Apple ID - Apple Support

Do I still need to remember any security questions?
No. With two-factor authentication, you don't need to remember any security questions. We verify your identity exclusively using your password and verification codes sent to your trusted devices and phone numbers. When you enroll in two-factor authentication, we keep your old security questions on file for two weeks in case you need to return your account to its previous security settings. After that, they're deleted.

If you are enabling two-factor authentication on an existing account, you may need to answer the security questions to complete the process.

You might be asked to answer your Apple ID security questions.


How does iTunes Match match the songs in your library?

I already answered a related question. I may not know the most definite answer, But I read that iTunes Match uses Gracenote's MusicID program. It seems MusicID uses the following techniques to identify songs.

MusicID-featured Identification Technologies:

CD Identification: Using the CD’s unique Table of Content (TOC), MusicID can identify CDs released around the world. Even with multiple pressings and release dates, patented fuzzy matching enables accurate recognition.

Stream Identification: Using an audio waveform fingerprint technology, MusicID can identify music with short audio samples anywhere in the song.

Digital File Identification: MusicID can identify individual songs or albums in a user’s collection regardless of source, format, or tag information. Utilizing a multi-step process which combines stream identification with textual information analysis from the file’s embedded tags, file name, directory path, and other related files in the user’s collection, individual or groups of songs can be matched to albums.

More here.

To answer your question, they perform some fuzzy text matching algorithm to map meta data and also perform audio waveform analysis.


Why can't some songs be played with Music?

It means Apple doesn't have the rights to stream the song to you, whether that be a locale-specific problem or because the song is Album Only on the iTunes Store.


Unfortunately that is not the function of the Time machine.

Time machine does not only backs up all users files, but also the operating system, so you can restore from it.

“Time Machine is a backup utility, not an archival utility, it is not intended as offline storage.

I would suggest you use separate disk for backing up individual users files.

The users home folders will be in the /Users/

To backup, use Disk Utility (in /Applications/Utilities/) to backup the user home folder.

Login as a local administrator, but not as the user account you want to backup.
Launch Disk Utility.
Choose File » New » Image from Folder...
Select the user's home folder /Users/[username].
Save the disk image to your backup drive.
Enter an admin username and password when prompted.


Change iTerm2 Default profile preset with "defaults write..."

To expand on the existing answer, if you load the colours you'd like once then you can export your preferences list file from the 'General' tab to a location in your dotfiles.

Thus, in my setup script, I have:

defaults write com.googlecode.iterm2 "PrefsCustomFolder" -string "/Users/ojf/dotfiles/iterm"
defaults write com.googlecode.iterm2 "LoadPrefsFromCustomFolder" -bool true

As long as your custom folder plist also says to load from the same custom folder (!) you'll be fine.


Alternative way to move windows around screen

MercuryMover
Although it's a paid-for utility (which comes with it's own PrefPane etc), this is a great tool for chucking around your windows. You can also set it up to force windows to certain sizes on a shortcut, which is handy if you want to check out your web pages in a browser at 800x600, etc.
By default, you jut press CtrlCommandup-arrow and you get a little black pop-up window that helps you to move/resize the window that had focus when you pressed the shortcut. (the screen grab includes the PrefPane too).


How do I switch my Apple ID email to a previously used rescue email?

You are getting an error message because your primary email cannot be the same as your rescue email. You have to first change your rescue email.

I just went through this. A source of confusion is that the instructions are not clear, and the option to change your rescue email is not easy to find.

Go to manage Apple ID (https://appleid.apple.com/account/manage), and in the left navigation to password and security.   You need to enter answers to your security questions before you can go through. If you forgot the answers, there's a link to send security questions reset information to your rescue email.

Once you have entered the answers to the security questions, you can change your rescue email - you'll have to enter one different from the main email, and you'll have to validate.

Once this done, you can set your current email as your primary email, and then set it as your appleID.

Update:  It was mentioned below, but worth adding it here to save headaches. Turn off Find my phone in all devices that are signed in to icloud.  Otherwise,  you won't be able to sign out, as your device will be signed to an account (used id) that does not exist.   Suggest making a backup first and then signing off from iCloud.  Make the ID change once all devices are signed off.

If you forget to do that, you will either have to restore the device, or will have at a later time to change your id back to the old email, log off the device, and then change it back to the new one.


Reinstallation OSX Mavericks on Mac Mini via WiFi Fails

In the end it was a loose cable to my fusion hard disk. Apple Care fixed it. They re-attached it and now we are all good.


Yes, it will be deleted from all other devices (that is logged in with the same Apple-ID) Photo Stream too. But if the photo also is in the Camera Roll then it won't be deleted from there.

Photo Stream is like a album that is synced between all of your devices over iCloud. A change in the Photo Stream album on one device, will also be seen in the Photo Stream album on all other devices you have one the same Apple-ID.


Can OS X dump cores in the working directory instead of /cores?

I finally figured this out. It turns out that this is a kernel parameter controlled by sysctl. You can set this on a per shell basis to dump in the current working directory with:

sysctl -w kern.corefile=core.%P

Since I never wanted my core dumps to end up in /cores, but always in the current directory, I added this plist to /Library/LaunchDaemons/:

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>sysctl</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/sbin/sysctl</string>
        <string>-w</string>
        <string>kern.corefile=core.%P</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

UPDATE:

Since I wrote this, it looks like the sysctl command changed. I've updated the examples above, but if you were previously using kern.core_pattern, that doesn't work anymore.


Homebrew on its own acts like a command-line App Store.

It's safe, if you know what you're downloading.
It uses SHA256 to fingerprint the downloaded instructions as a validity / tamper detection verification check.
It’s open, so you could validate what it’s downloading and how it
works.
It refuses to use sudo to intentionally be safer.

If you are concerned about downloading hijacked binaries, verify the SHA/SHA1 sum of the binary you've downloaded against the SHA/SHA1 sum published by the developer, usually on their webpage.

Despite a long track record of people not pushing malware or bad code to the system, it would be good hygiene to start validating downloads.


Can I use automator to launch a keystroke when program is idle

I don't know how well it would work, but you could try running something like this in AppleScript Editor.

repeat
    tell application "System Events" to tell process "Safari"
        set p to properties of UI elements of UI elements
        delay 10
        if properties of UI elements of UI elements is p then
            set frontmost to true
            keystroke "r" using command down
            --return
            delay 20
        end if
    end tell
end repeat


How to prevent MacBook Pro from sleeping with turned off external display?

Move all windows from your external displays to the mbp's display
Remove your display connector/s
Voila, It works!

If it doesnt work, Try Resetting the SMC and PRAM/NVRAM. Google about how to do that..


formatting a toshiba external hard drive for mac and pc

If you format is as "FAT" then you'll have lots of issues with the size of files you can write to it and other filesystem limitations. Best bet is to format it on the PC as Fat32 or even better exFAT on the Mac.

Both of those will give you read/write capability on both the Mac and PC. Just remember tho when you first plug it into the Mac wait for Time Machine to pop up the question about using the drive to do backups. Say no and it won't bother you again.


Are locked notes in the Notes.app are encrypted on the local host?

All user data on iOS devices is automatically encrypted. This includes any data stored in the Notes app.

Data on Mac computers is not encrypted by default, unless the individual app encrypts its data storage. It appears that data is stored in an unencrypted SQLite database, based on the fact there's a third-party export tool available.


How can I drag and drop transfer a playlist of songs using home sharing?

Create a new playlist on your local machine with the same name as the one you would like to import.
Click on the library that you wish to import a playlist from over Home Sharing.
Expand the library by clicking on the arrow to the left of the name.
Expand the folder called Playlists from within the library.
Drag the playlist from the home sharing library onto the one you have created.

Your music will be copied over into the new playlist.  This method does have one flaw, however.  If you already have some of these songs in your library, they will be duplicated.  But, File > Display Duplicates may help you with that.

Unfortunately, this is the only way to do this over Home Sharing.  Hopefully, iTunes 11 will improve on this, but I'm not getting my hopes up.


Go to Settings > General > Restrictions and confirm that restrictions are off. If restrictions are on, you'll need the restrictions passcode to turn it off.

Also, confirm that the top of settings doesn't have text mentioning "This phone is supervised and managed by..." at the top. If it does, talk to your company's IT specialist for more detail.

Lastly, on the home screen, pull down in the middle of the screen to reveal the search menu. Type "app store" and confirm that it doesn't show up there. If it does, it's likely in a folder or you simply missed it.


Can I share a 3G connection from an iPhone/iPad by creating a Wi-fi hotspot?

Yes, it's called "Personal Hotspot" by Apple and works on iPhone 4 and 4S. Here is an Apple support doc on it.
Not available on the 3G iPad though, as far as I know.


Where are Google Chrome cookies stored on a Mac?

Session cookies are only stored in memory, but the rest are in ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Cookies, it's an sqlite3 database.


How to bulk rename in OS X with my requirements

The following lines in Terminal should do the trick

for dir in my-pictures/*; do
    if [[ -d "$dir" ]]; then
        cd "$dir"
        i=0
        for file in *; do
            echo mv "$file" $(printf "%04d" $i).png
            (( i=i+1 ))
        done
        cd -
    fi
done

I've put in an echo statement to suppress execution so you can test it first. If the output looks ok, just remove the echo and rerun.

This assumes that there are no more than 1000 files in each subfolder, none of the files is already renamed and that all of them are PNG pictures.

By default, files are sorted by name. If you want to sort by date, replace the second for statement with

for file in $(ls -t); do


Which version of iOS causes Messages.app to combine message threads with a single contact with multiple different phone numbers into one?

The merging of message-threads with the same contact was introduced in iOS 12. But Apple didn’t officially announce it, what caused a lot of confusion, because sometimes it also merged different contacts: Forbes: Apple iOS 12 Has An Embarrassing Problem


Unlocked 5s won't connect to new carrier (docomo) data network

It sounds as though the issue resides in the LTE bands supported by the device. If the iPhone is model A1533 it will not support LTE bands: 6 and 9. A1533 is the model of most American unlocked devices. On Apple's LTE site it gives a list of each unlocked device, and the supported bands that has been organized geographically. iPhone 5S model A1453 is the correct model.


How can I deactivate bad RAM regions on a Macbook Pro (Retina 13")?

Tho it is possible in Linux and Mac O/S X is in fact a UNIX-based operating system I am not aware of a way to do this in Mac O/S X.

As for your particular Mac, I believe that the RAM is non replaceable (EG soldered to the system board). So if it is out of warranty and you did not extend the warranty with Applecare a system board replacement would not be cheap.

If you have a local Apple store you can make a Genius appointment and they will diagnose your issue and advise you what can be done at no charge.


Force system to use local hosts file before DNS (OS X El Capitan)

This is already the default in OS X. I.e. if you specify a host name in the hosts file, lookups will use the IP address you've specified there instead of doing a DNS lookup.

Note that this is only true for programs using the system standard resolver functions. Programs can use their own resolving mechanism that is not guaranteed to honor anything you write in the hosts file. However, those programs should be rare and far between.


How to create an applescript for multiple dd terminal commands in sequence (for multiple USB Drives duplication)

You can do this with a bash script.

#!/bin/bash

SOURCE="/Users/username/Desktop/source.img"

dd if=$SOURCE of=/dev/rdisk1 bs=1m
dd if=$SOURCE of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=1m
dd if=$SOURCE of=/dev/rdisk3 bs=1m
dd if=$SOURCE of=/dev/rdisk4 bs=1m
dd if=$SOURCE of=/dev/rdisk5 bs=1m
dd if=$SOURCE of=/dev/rdisk6 bs=1m
dd if=$SOURCE of=/dev/rdisk7 bs=1m

osascript -e 'display notification "Drives complete" with title "Complete!"'

Make the file executable (once):

chmod +x ~/Desktop/script.sh

Run it with administrative privileges:

sudo ~/Desktop/script.sh


How (in)vulnerable is OS X to encryption ransomware?

At the moment, it's relatively safe.  Most ransomware has targeted Windows users, and so far, the ransomware that has targeted Macs has been relatively crude.  The latest (very crude) Mac ransomware threat  did not destroy Time Machine backups, but was not stopped by FileVault.

In general, the steps you describe in part 2 of your question are unlikely to help protect you; encrypted data is not harder to re-encrypt than unencrypted data.

Vulnerabilities that don't require what you describe in part 1 of your question are rare, but are found from time to time.  Mac Ransomware that uses one has yet to be seen.  It's likely that Mac Ransomware will slowly get more sophisticated, and careful, savvy users are unlikely to lose their data to ransomware anytime soon.  But I can't predict the future.  This answer may live on for years and such ransomware is likely to turn up eventually.  But the meaning of "careful, savvy user" will likely change over time as well.

At present:

Ransomware will have a relatively hard time deleting or encrypting online Time Machine backups.  Even as root/superuser, it's hard to delete Time Machine backups:

sudo rm /Volumes/BK1/Backups.backupdb/Orion/2017-03-18-184155/BOOT/var/du--sortedALLk.13224.bak
Password:
override rw-r--r--  root/wheel for /Volumes/BK1/Backups.backupdb/Orion/2017-03-18-184155/BOOT/var/du--sortedALLk.13224.bak? y
rm: /Volumes/BK1/Backups.backupdb/Orion/2017-03-18-184155/BOOT/var/du--sortedALLk.13224.bak: Operation not permitted

But it's far from an insurmountable problem.  I think folks should assume that the additional step that the ransomware would have to go through (which I'm familiar with but choosing not to publicize - I'd rather not help script kiddies) to be able to delete or encrypt TM backups is something most Mac ransomware you're likely to become infected with will be programmed to take.

Time Machine users are encouraged to allow backups to run often, which makes them quite vulnerable to ransomware.

Therefore some backup drives should be connected less often and kept more secure - not fully accessible to the system - specifically to protect from ransomware.

Typically, victims realize they've been infected with ransomware only when the ransomware announces its presence.  So it's likely you won't be able to tell that a computer is infected with ransomware before it has a chance to encrypt the data on a frequently or continuously connected external drive. Assuming otherwise is far from a safe assumption. The ransomware threat makes better disaster preparedness, including having more numerous offline physical backups, more important.


Is it possible to update the preinstalled versions of both MySQL and PHP in OS X?

Briefly; no there is no easy way to update them. (Assuming that compiling from source is not considered easy)

I would strongly caution against modifying the system installed versions as you're likely to have your updated versions broken when Apple issues an update that updates them. (Usually Security Updates and has bitten some users/sysadmins when Perl has been updated)

If you wanted to update them it's a matter of downloading the source files and installing it over top of the provided versions.

As a reasonable alternative I recommend installing your own managed version of PHP and MySQL into /usr/local or using your packaging software of choice (MacPorts, Fink or Homebrew) or prepared installer (eg. MySQL's .pkg installer that installs into /usr/local).


macbook 13" and the audio jack for sound input

Ok,

It seem that the trick in the above link only works if a line in is actually connected. Which wasn't the case...


PF not forwarding incoming traffic on loopback from one port to another

First of all, it's not pfctl (who forwards), but rather PF instead. pfctl is just a controlling utility (hence "ctl").

Now to debugging. You gave none of that info so that all is based on my own expertise and assumptions, read "guesses".

pfctl -si should show you if PF is actually enabled. Yes, rules can be loaded into it, but being disabled it won't process traffic.

pfctl -vsn should show if your NAT rules are getting any hits or they aren't.

And if you have some other PF rules applied you'd better be sure there's no set skip on lo0.


Quit iChat if it is open.
Open Address Book.
Choose Card > Show My Card.
Click the Edit button.
Edit your first and last name.
Save changes by clicking the Edit button again or by selecting a different card.
Open iChat. Your revised name appears after you log in.


Is there an iOS app or jailbreak modification that can activate true caps lock?

To enable caps lock in iOS 5 double tap the shift key. The shift key will become blue signifying caps lock is enabled.

Caps lock will be disabled if switching to other input keyboards (switching to type numbers/special characters) or applications.

Source for answer is from a TUAW article.


How can I set the background image the same on all master slides without editing each master slide individually in Keynote?

It appears the correct answer is I cannot do this unfortunately.


How to mute the camera shutter sound effect?

Some countries (notably Japan and South Korea) have laws requiring camera phones to make audible shutter sounds.

I can't find a definitive reference for this (at least not one in English), but there are many second-hand references if you Google.


Granted that gparted didn't erase/secure erase data (overwriting important parts of your disk with zeros or arbitrary data) you probably can recreate the old standard GUID partition table which follows a fixed Apple scheme. gparted or similar gpt partitioning executables usually only modify the first and last 34 blocks (512 B) or 6 blocks (4096 B) of a disk.

The fast approach below won't work, if you've modified the disk previously (e.g installed Windows, resized the main volume and added a second partition). It only works with the "vanilla" OS X install partition scheme.

Recreating the old GUID partition table should restore the previous volume(s). Here is a related answer: HFS+ invalid number of allocation blocks.

The standard Apple GUID partition scheme looks like that:

                0           1         PMBR
                1           1         Pri GPT header
                2          32         Pri GPT table
               34           6
               40      409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
           409640  part2-size      2  GPT part - partition type
part2-size+409640     1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
    total_size-40           7
    total_size-33          32         Sec GPT table
     total_size-1           1         Sec GPT header

Here total-size is the total size of the disk in 512 B-blocks. part2-size usually is total-size - 1679216 in 512 B-blocks.

The partition type of the second partition is either 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC (CoreStorage) or 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC (HFS+).

Newer systems on SSDs preferably have a CoreStorage- and older systems on HDDs an HFS+-type main partition.

Preparation:

Detach any external drive
Restart to Internet Recovery Mode by pressing alt cmd R at startup.

The prerequisites are the latest firmware update installed, either ethernet or WLAN (WPA/WPA2) and a router with DHCP activated.
On a 50 Mbps-line it takes about 4 min (presenting a small animated globe) to boot into a recovery netboot image which usually is loaded from an Apple/Akamai server.

I recommend ethernet because it's more reliable. If you are restricted to WIFI and the boot process fails, just restart your Mac until you succeed booting.

Alternatively you may start from a bootable installer thumb drive (preferably Yosemite or El Capitan) or a thumb drive containing a full system (preferably Yosemite or El Capitan). If you boot to a full system and login as admin you have to prepend sudo to execute some commands like gpt ... or newfs_hfs ...!

Remove the an old/wrong MBR/GUID partition table

Enter diskutil list and gpt -r show /dev/diskX (with x=0,1,2,3 etc) to get an overview. Usually the internal disk has the disk identifier disk0. Below I assume your internal disk is disk0.
Enter gpt destroy /dev/disk0 to remove any current GUID pt.
Enter gpt create -f /dev/disk0 to create a new empty GPT partition table and replace any MBR by an PMBR.

Restore previous partitions

EFI:

gpt add -b 40 -i 1 -s 409600 -t C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B /dev/disk0

Recovery partition:

Now do the math: the start block $sbrecovery of the Recovery HD is total-size - 1269576. $sbrecovery has to be dividable by 8!

gpt add -b $sbrecovery -i 3 -s 1269536 -t C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B /dev/disk0

Main volume

Do the math again: the size of the volume $mainvolumesize is total-size - 1679216. $mainvolumesize has to be divisible by 8! Your main volume may either be a CoreStorage or a HFS+-type partition. Here I assume it's the first one:

gpt add -b 409640 -i 2 -s $mainvolumesize -t 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC /dev/disk0

Now check if diskutil list finds a CoreStorage volume:

diskutil cs list

If the GUUID partition table is properly restored and your main partition was a CoreStorage volume you should get an output similar to this one:

  CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group A629E051-D7B0-4B8C-A803-074F62704636
    =========================================================
    Name:         System
    Status:       Online
    Size:         53946696192 B (53.9 GB)
    Free Space:   16777216 B (16.8 MB)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume 90C09FC0-4215-4871-901B-70E2C9C7D464
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    0
    |   Disk:     disk0s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     53946696192 B (53.9 GB)
    |
    +-> Logical Volume Family F6962E38-50E4-4458-BFE6-CF2E179352F5
        ----------------------------------------------------------
        Encryption Status:       Unlocked
        Encryption Type:         None
        Conversion Status:       NoConversion
        Conversion Direction:    -none-
        Has Encrypted Extents:   No
        Fully Secure:            No
        Passphrase Required:     No
        |
        +-> Logical Volume BD36C73D-860D-4DC6-B125-AD624F448B88
            ---------------------------------------------------
            Disk:                  disk2
            Status:                Online
            Size (Total):          53496696192 B (53.5 GB)
            Conversion Progress:   -none-
            Revertible:            Yes (no decryption required)
            LV Name:               System
            Volume Name:           System
            Content Hint:          Apple_HFS

verify the CoreStorage volume with

diskutil verifyVolume diskX

(in the above CoreStorage example diskX is disk2 - check (Disk of Logical Volume), your diskX probably is disk14 or disk15)

If you get an error or no output your main volume either is a HFS+-type partition or the boundaries of the partition are wrong.

Then try the following and remove the CoreStorage-type partition and create an HFS+-type partition instead:

gpt remove -i 2 /dev/disk0
gpt add -b 409640 -i 2 -s $mainvolumesize -t 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC /dev/disk0

Verify the volume:

diskutil verifyVolume /dev/disk0s2

If you run into problems or get strange errors please post a comment to the answer!


Is there a possibility that older OS X apps will break in the new macOS?

Yes applications can break when a new OS is introduced. The APIs that it calls could have been changed or possibly removed.

This is why many apps will get updated just after an OS release and why developers get a beta test of the OS so they can check.

If the developer is not active anymore then you have to be the one who tests it. In large organisations there is often a complex plan to upgrade an OS: all the applications that the organisation uses have to be tested before agreement to update the OS is given. This is one reason many organisations have stayed on old versions of Windows (e.g. Windows XP) because they can't get all apps to pass or no-one has given the budget to test.


It doesn't look like you need to erase anything. Would you mind rebooting to Recovery HD and re-running Disk Utility to repair the drive? If that works, try again and see if you can get an error from Console or system.log if it fails you again. I'll dig into where BootCamp might log the failure in the mean time.


LANG variable wrong in iTerm2, where's the bug?

The following will do the trick:
Navigate to the
iTerm2 -> Preferences -> Profiles -> Terminal
and unset the "Set local variables automatically" in Environment section.


This error is only set to appear if your username or password is indeed incorrect, it doesn't fire by random. My advice would be to reset your password using iForgot.


If you have the same iTunes account you bought the music from on the other machine, you'll be OK. Just go to that machine and choose Store -> Authorize this computer.... You can have up to 5 computers authorized to play your DRM'd music. Also, if you want to transfer music off an iPod, there are ways to do that without erasing it. Here's a link with info on apps for that.


Commandline tools not installed with Server.app on Mavericks

I found the path. The path to the server tools is:

/Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/sbin/serveradmin

I think I was too impatient and did not wait for locate.updatedb to complete.


Apple ball speakers connect to MacBookPro?

You need a USB DAC (Digital Audio Converter).

I personally use a Behringer UCA202 to connect my iMac to my Bose Wave Radio (line input).

What's really nice about it is that it's powered off the USB port meaning it doesn't need an external power adapter.  It also has both left and right inputs and outputs as well as a 3.5mm headphone connection.    For best quality, you will want to use the RCA output.  You will just need an RCA to 3.5mm adapter (second picture) to connect to your speakers.


Why Has the "Downloads" folder become Read-Only?

You didn't specify that you can't change it back using the Info GUI, but I'm assuming that to be the case, since it wouldn't really be an issue otherwise.

A fix to try would be to change the permissions from the command line:

Open Terminal.app
Enter cd ~
Enter sudo chmod +w Downloads


macOS X El Capitan bootable USB not working

I have used another mac to create bootable USB. For some reason I couldn't use TransMac on Windows to make it happen.


How can I stop documents from popping out of folders littering the desktop?

I would create the necessary folders in your documents directory or relevant location and use aliases on the desktop to drag / drop your files on as you wish.

It is not good practise to store things directly on the desktop - it requires more memory when it goes to sleep etc


Restore important app. data from iOS 10 after an upgrade to iOS 11

That’s how I solved it:

Requirements

iPhone / iPad with iOS 11 running the password app which is not supported anymore
spare iPhone / iPad running iOS 10 with same password app freshly installed and no data inside

Procedure

download the latest free trial version of the iPhone Explorer
connect the iOS 11 device
go to Apps
select the password app
click MOUNT APP to display the appdata folder in a virtual drive with limited read / write access (Note: the trial version of iPhone explorer offers only 150MB of data to be written)
copy all files and folders to your local hard drive, make sure the folder structure is the same
connect the iOS 10 device
go to apps
select the empty password app
click MOUNT APP and copy over the iOS 11 appdata from your hard drive to the iOS 10 device
disconnect the iOS 10 device
open the password app and enter your master pin
you should now see your passwords listed as usual

Hope that helps!


Can I extend the iPhone's maximum ringtone duration?

This is a way to trick the iPhone (iOS 6.0) into making ringtones longer than the ~40 second maximum:

Note: This may now be a moot point since you can select songs for the default alarm, but the one advantage is it allows the phone to vibrate when it is a ringtone and the vibrate alert is enabled.

  Summary: Add a short 15sec .m4r song to iTunes. Replace the source file with the full length .m4r version, then drag it from the Library to your iPhone. iTunes will be expecting the short version but will copy the whole thing without error.

Prerequisites: Create two .mp3 versions of the song. One the full length, the other a short version <30sec.

Detailed instructions:

1) Create two folders. One with the full length version of the song. The other with a 15s version.

2) Add the short version to the iTunes Library via File>Add File to Library

3) Convert the short version to AAC, then search for it in Music. Once you find it, right click to Show in Windows Explorer. Rename the file extension of the short song to .m4r. Keep the Window Open.

4) Move the .m4r version to the short folder in Step 1.

5) Remove the AAC listings in the Music Library.

6) Repeat the AAC conversion for the full version, following Steps 3-5 while working from the full length folder. This is to prevent confusion. Use file size to help separate if needed.

6) From the short folder in Step 1, drag the .m4r into the Library section in iTunes.

7) Rename the short .m4r file extension to .m4r_short

8) Copy the full length .m4r into the short directory.

9) From within the iTunes Library, open Tones and then drag the song to your iPhone. The entire full length song will copy without any errors.


Are all USB numeric keypads OSX comatible?

Yes, if it's just a normal keyboard input device, which it should be.
I have one which doesn't say it's specifically for OS X, but works fine—it's just a keyboard.


Replaced external monitor not recognized MBP 13" Retina

So you're not connecting them exactly the same. You're using two adapters on the Viewsonic (an HDMI-DVI cable and an HDMI-Mini DisplayPort cable daisy-chained together) and one on the old Acer. Now you're trying to connect two via HDMI-Mini DisplayPort cables.

I would suggest trying to connect one of your Acer monitors using a normal HDMI cable to the HDMI port on the right side of the MacBook and the other to the left Thunderbolt port using the HDMI-Mini DisplayPort adapter.


Don't panic! I hope you haven't done irreparable damage with the disk utilities and partitioning, which has nothing to do with the problem. The fix is actually very simple.

The grey screen is caused by the non-signed kernel driver for the SSD. Mac OS X won't allow it to load by default, thus you can't access the boot disk.

This can happen if you don't turn off the kernel signing check, or if it gets turned on, which it often does during a system update.

If you are using Trim Enabler, this article describes how to recover. A similar procedure should work for anything that turned on trim.

I'm using a Crucial SSD too, with trim enabled. I forgot to turn Trim off before a system update, and had to recover using the instructions on the linked page (successfully).

Basically it overrides the kernel signing check once again, so you can boot your Mac like before.

https://www.cindori.org/trim-enabler-and-yosemite/

Once I was back in, I used the trimforce command to prevent the problem in the future ;-) Trimforce is new in Yosemite, I believe.


What does this keyboard shortcut symbol indicate?

It's the alt/option key.

Think of it as a switch in circuit diagrams.


How to transfer music from one iTunes library to another using shared library?

Yes it is, if you've set up the iTunes libraries for home sharing. Turn on iTunes on the machine with all the music. Go to iTunes on the machine you want the music on, then open look for other iTunes libraries on the network. If you don't see share libraries you may need to update the menu options in the General settings. Browse to the songs you want highlight them then click import in the bottom of the iTunes window.

I use this all the time to move songs, movies, TV Shows between my main desktop with a few TB's of storage and the different laptops around the house. This also works between OS X and Windows environments since it's connecting with iTunes.

EDIT: You can also configure the main iTunes library to automatically sync songs from the other libraries. This would mean that you only need to hook up a monitor once to set up the share the first time. You could also use this time to set up a VNC client on the main machine from which you could access the computer with your laptops and make edits as needed.


How can I position windows with the maximize button?

This looks like Moom which Is available from the App Store

http://manytricks.com/moom/


I know this question is old, but I just found the the same happening for me.

First off, you can see when your location services are currently in use when a little North-East arrow appears on your status bar next to your battery.

One way to find out which apps are using location services, is to start closing apps one by one and checking when that arrow disappears.

A better way is to look at the Location Services settings Settings > Privacy > Location Services. Here you can see all the apps that have requested access to Location Services and also what permission they have been granted ("Never", "While Using" or "Always"). Best pay special attention to the apps that show "Always". This means they can use Location Services even when the app is not active. This screen will also show a purple North East arrow next to apps that are actively using Location Services right now.

If you don't want the offending apps to have access to Location Services you can change their access to "Never" or "While Using" to limit the damage. Note though that depending on the apps purpose it might stop performing as desired.


Mail.app stopped working after upgrade to OS X Mavericks

I've switched to Postbox for my mail client until some of the Apple Mail glitches get worked out. Postbox seems to be built on the Thunderbird engine (which also works well) but it adds additional features. I use multiple Gmail and IMAP accounts, but I don't currently use any POP accounts -- based on past experience with Thunderbird I wouldn't expect any problems.


first, try to reset nvram and smc

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

however, to rebuild the dylib cache

sudo update_dyld_shared_cache -force

and the boot (kexts) cache

sudo kextcache -system-prelinked-kernel
sudo kextcache -system-caches
sudo kextcache -update-volume /
sudo kextcache -m /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/Startup/Extensions.mkext /System/Library/Extensions


com.apple.WebKit.Networking.xpc wants to sign using key "privateKey" in your keychain

*.pfx file is in PKCS#12 format and includes both a certificate and a private key.

When you imported the file to your keychain both the certificate and private key got imported to your keychain.

In general you first select a certificate to be used in an application or website. So in order to sign you in access to the associated private key needs to be granted.
That is why you get a prompt with options: "Always Allow" / "Deny" / "Allow"

For more info see Mac Help topic: Allow apps to access your keychain

Note: my understanding is also limited.
I came across your AskDifferent question by searching for a solution to an issue that blocks Allowing / Allways allowing access.


Powerful manager of default applications?

I don't believe there is one app to do what you want, but a combination of the following should do it.

RCDefaultApp is the old stalwart of extension/mime/creator code and many other types of mappings. In the transition days between Mac OS 9 and X, I used this extensively to deal with all of my files with Type and Creator Codes.

For more complicated file opening control try Magic Launch which can select the app to use based on currently open apps, file path, file contents, tags, etc.

This still doesn't give you control based on URL. For web addresses try Choosy, which gives a nice interface to select the browser at time of clicking on a link or via automatic rules based on strings, regex, and more.

Note: I don't currently use any of the above. For selecting which app to open a file, I use LaunchBar's ability to specify which app to open a selected file.


Will "Auto Delete Old Conversions" delete my messages from all of my devices if using iCloud?

You can consider disabling Messages altogether by going to Settings app → Messages → iMessage. This will completely disable Messages on the iPad (you won't be able to send/receive Messages).

Disabling Messages on one device doesn't affect in any way on other devices linked to the same Apple ID.

However, simply turning off Messages may not automatically purge the message cache.


Mac reboots after some minutes of inactivity

Go to System Preferences | Security & Privacy | Click on "Advanced" on bottom right (unlock padlock first) | Uncheck "Logout after 10 minutes of inactivity"


Shell command or series of commands similar to the Automator action "Get Link URLs from Webpages"

Here's a script to get you started:

#!/bin/bash

urls="/path/to/Input_URLs_List.txt"
output="/path/to/Output_Link_URLs.txt"

n="$(awk 'END {print NR}' "$urls")"
echo "Processing $n URLs..."

cat "$urls" | \
while read url; do
    lynx -dump -listonly "$url" >> "$output"
    sleep 5
    n=$((n-1))
    echo "$n URLs left to process..."
done

This will dump all of the links into a file that you can further process based on what you're looking for.  Additional code could be added to filter and process the output however without knowing what it is you need you'll have to work on it or ask some additional questions.

To clean up the output, use the following as an example:

Using "https://www.google.com" as one of the URLs the output would look like:

$ lynx -dump -listonly "https://www.google.com"

References

    1. https://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi
    2. https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl
    3. https://play.google.com/?hl=en&tab=w8
    4. https://www.youtube.com/?tab=w1

I've truncated the output, there's actually 19 Link URLs.

To have the output just be a list of URLs, no numbers or whitespace, etc., use awk either in conjunction with lynx or afterwards.

$ lynx -dump -listonly "https://www.google.com" | awk '/:/{print $2}'
https://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl
https://play.google.com/?hl=en&tab=w8
https://www.youtube.com/?tab=w1

So if you want the output file to be just the Link URLs, change the lynx command line to:

lynx -dump -listonly "$url" | awk '/:/{print $2}' >> "$output"

You can always process the contents of the output file later in the script or afterwards to get it down to the really wanted Link URLs and use a different search parameter in awk, e.g., I used ":" to both eliminate the blank lines in the lynx output and to show an example of how it can be filtered.  In this example only Link URLs get redirected into the output file because only lines containing a : get output by awk, as all URLs should have a colon in them. The {print $2}, simplified in this explanation, removes everything to the left of the actual Link URL.

Here's an updated script which sorts and removes duplicate Link URLs:

#!/bin/bash

urls="/path/to/Input_URLs_List.txt"
output="/path/to/Output_Link_URLs.txt"

n="$(awk 'END {print NR}' "$urls")"
echo "Processing $n URLs..."

cat "$urls" | \
while read url; do
    lynx -dump -listonly "$url" | awk '/:/{print $2}' | sort | uniq >> "$output"
    sleep 5
    n=$((n-1))
    [[ $n -gt 0 ]] &&  echo "$n URLs left to process..." || echo "Processing Completed!"
done

Update to capture stderr output from lynx to a file:

To capture stderr output from lynx to a file, redirect stderr to a disk file, e.g., 2>>"$file" added after "$url", e.g.:

lynx -dump -listonly "$url" 2>>"$file" >> "$output"

Add errlog="/path/to/Lynx_Errors.txt" under output="/path/to/Output_Link_URLs.txt" and then change the lynx command line to, e.g.:

lynx -dump -listonly "$url" 2>>"$errlog" >> "$output"

Or:

lynx -dump -listonly "$url" 2>>"$errlog" | awk '/:/{print $2}' | sort | uniq >> "$output"

Example:

#!/bin/bash

urls="/path/to/Input_URLs_List.txt"
output="/path/to/Output_Link_URLs.txt"
errlog="/path/to/Lynx_Errors.txt"

n="$(awk 'END {print NR}' "$urls")"
echo "Processing $n URLs..."

cat "$urls" | \
while read url; do
    lynx -dump -listonly "$url" 2>>"$errlog" | awk '/:/{print $2}' | sort | uniq >> "$output"
    sleep 5
    n=$((n-1))
    [[ $n -gt 0 ]] &&  echo "$n URLs left to process..." || echo "Processing Completed!"
done


Disable Escape key in Safari for getting out of full screen mode

Now, you could go ahead and brute-force disable the Escape key in
  Safari. But that'd defeat the purpose of still allowing Escape to work
  as a shortcut in the aforementioned places, which I'd rather avoid.

See here for an example to remap Escape to ⌥Escape with a Keyboard Maestro macro:


"Continue" button greyed out when installing .pkg

From man installer:

SYNOPSIS
 installer ... -package <pathToPackage> -target device

[...]

A device parameter for the target is any one of the following:

 1) Any of the values returned by -dominfo
 2) The device node entry.  Any entry of the form of /dev/disk*.  ex: /dev/disk2
 3) The disk identifier.  Any entry of the form of disk*.  ex: disk1s9
 4) The volume mount point.  Any entry of the form of /Volumes/Mountpoint.  ex: /Volumes/Untitled
 5) The volume UUID.  ex: 376C4046-083E-334F-AF08-62FAFBC4E352

So try sudo installer ... -target / instead.

If this fails there is also the option of using Pacifist to extract the content of the package and install it manually (or do whatever you like to do with it).


Where can I find settings for app review requests?

In iOS 10.3, this has been removed, though it was present in the beta.

However, there is hope!

Using the API (which will probably be the only allowed method for review requests going forward), developers can only schedule up to 3 review requests in a 365 day period.
Source: Apple Insider

This will lead to virtually no nagging, and it is rumored that Apple will stop accepting apps that ask for ratings using any other means shortly.

Though it is unfortunate that there is no switch to disable rating requests, this is definitely a step in the right direction, for both developers and users.


Can I lower the minimum volume on my Mac?

This only gives you one more notch below 1, but it might do as much as you need it to. Use the decrease volume button to lower the volume to 0. Then, press the Mute button once. This will let sound play, but at a lower volume than 1.

Also, you can change the volume in 1/4 increments with the following shortcuts:

⇧ + ⌃ + volume buttons in Snow Leopard
⇧ + option + volume buttons in Lion or later


How can I make Apple Mail show the URL (in mails) when I hover over a link?

Just hover the cursor over the link for a few seconds. The full URL will spring up underneath.

The down arrow that will also appear next to the link will open it in a Quick Look window rather than a browser - but if you want to check the link is safe first, don't use that until you're sure.


It sounds like your backlight has broken.  The LCD screen needs to be lit from behind before the screen contents are more than vaguely visible.  If you boot the machine again, and shine a bright torch from the front, you should be able to see your usual screen layout for login etc, but obviously everything is going to be very very dull.  If this is the case, then you can get that fixed with relative ease at various repair centres or through a slew of online guides.

Sometimes on older hardware it's not the backlight that's gone, but instead the tiny starter/transformer that is required to kick a backlight into life, although this type of method isn't used on modern LED backlit screens like your Macbook


There are a few things going on here:

Best way to look after the battery

Neither the action of unplugging when it reaches 100%, nor the action of keeping it charged all the time are the right way to look after the battery.

There are a lot of best practices detailed on Apple's Battery website.

In summary however as you can now see doing nothing actually would have been better which is why I usually advise people:

Use it however you want.
Avoid leaving it plugged in all the time.
Never leave it for extended periods at or near 0%.
If you don't use it for 30 days, make sure to cycle the battery.

Battery service versus device replacement

I think you've already answered the question yourself here, however in summary:

The cost of battery replacement isn't going to be more than the cost of a new laptop, and the laptop was already bought at a significant discount.
The performance of the laptop is still more than adequate for the tasks you have so there is no need to upgrade.
Ignoring the financial reasons, environmentally replacing a laptop because the battery has failed is not great.

So, replace the battery and revisit this question in another 2-3 years, if you want something a bit more fresh in the mean time, reinstall macOS, set a new wallpaper, or buy a new case.

Should I replace the battery myself?

Replacing the battery yourself is definitely an option, it depends on whether you want to save money, how easy it is to get to an Apple Service Provider, etc...

If you go with battery replacement I would go with a reputable battery supplier like iFixIt as suggested in the comments above.

Personally I'd suggest that if you are already considering replacing the laptop then cost probably isn't the major consideration and maybe getting Apple or an Apple Authorised Service Provider to do it might be preferable for you.

Apple's Battery Service Price List

What if I keep using the battery?

In order of most to least likely:

Likely - The laptop won't stay switched on at all when the battery is unplugged.
Possible - The battery begins to expand bending the chasis.
Unlikely - The battery expansion damages internal components breaking the laptop.
Extremely unlikely - The battery is damaged and begins runaway overheating that causes a fire that destorys the computer and risks a house fire, major injury or death(s).

Again I can't understate how unlikely the battery fire is from this but it can and does happen with this type of battery technology.

If you plan to continue using the laptop you should replace the battery, but I'd not worry about it too much, just keep an eye out for battery expansion causing the battery to bend the chasis as that will be an expensive repair.


How to deal with commands of conflicting names listed in `brew doctor`?

Important December update (from https://github.com/caskroom/homebrew-cask):

Homebrew-Cask will now be kept up to date together with Homebrew.

If you haven’t yet, to switch to the new system, run:

brew uninstall --force brew-cask; brew update


DRM Free Music With iTunes Match & Apple Music?

When using iTUnes Match you will be able to download a copy of your mp3 file (256 Kbps) from iTunes servers directly to your devices DRM-free.

If your file B.mp3 doesn't match any B.mp3 file on iTunes servers, then your file is uploaded to your iTunes Match account (same quality as local file) and it can be downloaded on other devices DRM-free.

Every file available on Apple Music has DRM, meaning: all the files you save for offline listening aren't DRM Free. Also, some files on Apple Music aren't available in every region.

Hope this helped!

EDIT

Corrected answer regarding the DRM state of iTunes Match files. Source.

Thanks to @fschoenm for correcting me!


How to find exact location of my lost iPhone

There is no app to do what you want. The accuracy of the GPS used by "find my phone" is not good enough to tell you where the phone is with the accuracy you desire. I would go back to the store and tell management what you are doing and then try calling your cell phone number. Maybe the phone's ringing volume is loud enough to hear. If you don't have access to another cell phone maybe you can use the store's phone to call.


How to set screen resolution with a keyboard shortcut on Retina MBP?

QuickRes (4 USD)
Based on your description, QuickRes appears to perfectly accomplish what you're trying to do.  You can set multiple (up to 8) resolutions in its preferences and assign keyboard shortcuts to them.  To access preferences, launch QuickRes and Ctrl-click (right-click) the icon that will appear in the menu bar.  Note that Mac will give you an error and claim that it is from an "unidentified developer"; simply Ctrl-click the app's icon in Finder and click open.
Screenshots are below:

QuickRes options.  Click Preferences. Also, after you set resolutions, you may simply click this icon normally to toggle between resolutions.

Resolutions pane of QuickRes preferences.  You may add more preferred resolutions in "Advanced." Also, because this was taken on an iMac, you will have different resolution options for your MacBook Pro Retina.

Shortcuts pane of QuickRes preferences.  Right now, my shortcut is Command-Option-R.  You can change this, of course.

In the Advanced pane, you can set how many resolutions you wish to toggle.  The shortcut only works when you have QuickRes open (it's a lightweight app, so don't worry about resources), so I would recommend selecting "Open QuickRes on Login" to get it out of your way.


How to go to tab 5 in Safari? (AppleScript)

This maybe an old question but I ran into this same problem.   The solutions so far don't seem to work with Safari 7.x.   This is what I had to do

tell front window of application "Safari"
    set current tab to tab gmailTabindex
end tell

The key is the "front window of".  If you don't have that it doesn't seem to work.


I haven't reviewed the presentation that you linked to, but there's no need whatsoever for static IP or even IPv4 connectivity for Home Kit to work.

Apple has been using IPv6 addresses and doing reverse DNS routing from the days of MobileMe and Back-to-My-Mac introduction in 2009 along with Snow Leopard. I would expect that Home Kit leverages IPv6 and mDNS (a.k.a. Bonjour) heavily to avoid the need for millions of households to establish fixed IP addresses or even set anything up other than log into iCloud on the appropriate devices.

I would also expect tight integration with Apple's Airport line of routers, but also good instructions on what settings are needed on generic or third party routers.

See Can I use Back To My Mac's mDNS address and for ssh and other routing of traffic? for more details on the existing OS X usage of mDNS.

In short, no part of the communications will depend on IPv4 as long as there is a viable network connection from the equipment running in the home to Apple's Push Notification servers so that control signals can be delivered properly.


Can I connect a firewire device and an HDMI display to 2015 Macbook Air with a single Thunderbolt 2 port?

You can't daisy-chain the mixer from Firewire up to display since they aren't compatible standards. You can use both devices with a single Thunderbolt 2 port, but you'll need to get a dock. OWC sells one with HDMI and Firewire, so you can plug your monitor and mixer into the dock and then one TB2 cable into your Macbook Air. There are other TB2 docks with a second TB2 port instead of Firewire, so you can use them with your existing Apple Firewire adapter.

The first commenter is incorrect on several parts. You don't need to even consider anything with Thunderbolt 3 because you don't have TB3.


Take it to the Apple store nearest and talk to one of the Geniuses.  They will most likely boot your make in safe mode which displays a bunch of system messages on the screen.  They will help you for free.


Make USB hard disk with OS X bootable as startup disk?

Recently I ran into a similar problem. See
Problem cloning the startup disk of a MacBook Pro running OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan .

Keep an eye on how you cloned your system partition residing on the SSD. I guess your system partition is of type  CoreStorage. If so, the recipe I figured out for cloning the startup disk may be useful to you.


It's not a bug, it's just because the GPS app is using much more power then the charger can deliver. You should check the amp. of your charger. I have one of 2100 mA and I can use my iPad with Navigon while my iPad is charging.

This charger sold in the Apple Store will provide your iPhone enough power to both run the GPS app and charge at the same time.


The way it works in OS X's Finder is you can type a word and the selection will move down as filenames are matched.

The quickest way to move between files when typing only the first letter is following up with tab


networksetup -listallnetworkservices is the macOS command that I believe you are looking for.

Quoting from man networksetup:

  -listallnetworkservices

  Displays a list of all the network services on the server's hardware ports. An asterisk (*) denotes that a network service is disabled.

On my MacBook Air:

An asterisk (*) denotes that a network service is disabled.
Wi-Fi
iPhone USB
Bluetooth PAN
Thunderbolt Bridge

There's also ifconfig which will show you IP addresses and MAC addresses, if that is what you are looking for.


Cloning a half-full 500 GB drive to a 256 GB SSD drive

Clone larger HDD drive to smaller SSD drive on Mac. Or migrate from an HDD to SSD.
The fastest and most efficient way can be done completely using standard tools in OS X.
This solution does not require any reinstall, all the way setup of user account and Mac settings, or separate programs or much more time consuming operations than direct disk to disk data transfer.
You need: 1 SSD drive and USB SATA adapter, it can be any enclosure, or SATA to USB adapter cable, or if you have thunderbolt or any faster connection this is even more preferred.

Always have regular backup. Time Machine is recommended way. Do it to external HDD or Time Capsule device.
Boot you Mac into Recovery mode. Reboot your Mac and immediately hold Cmd+R during POST stage (black screen).
Open Disk Utility, locate your existing HDD and select primary partition on the left (mount point /, Type: Logical Partition), this can be named Macintosh HD and in First Aid click Verify Disk, to make sure you are error free before start.
On the left now select primary disk it self (Type Logical Volume Group), and on the right select Partition tab, click + sign and drag primary partition (e.g. Macintosh HD) to resize to size smaller than new target SSD disk. Click Apply.
Now you have to prepare new SSD drive. Connect new SSD drive to Mac if not done so yet, and select it on left in Disk Utility. Click Erase tab and chose name for new device, I recommend to name it SSD, so you can clearly see difference in next steps. This name is for temporary use only.
Under format choose Mac OS X Extended (journaled) and click Erase.
Note: if this disk already was initialized or used on other system like Windows, please delete all existing partitions before this step and start like new! This is important to have new system bootable.
Poweroff and physically swap disks. Do not erase or start using old disk until everything is finished. Do not connect original disk until you are done.
Perform actual data cloning. Boot you Mac into Recovery mode again (Cmd+R). Select Original Primary partition on the left (Macintosh HD) and on the right select Restore tab. Drag SSD prepared partition to Destination field (you called it SSD). Click Restore and wait so many hours, how many you have to physically copy your data from one drive to another.
Reboot to Recovery mode again and choose Boot from main partition in new SSD. Click the Apple menu on the bar at the top of screen and select Startup Disk to access the Choose Startup Disk tool. The boot option will be named exactly the same as was in original hard drive, thus just select it and system will reboot into this his.
Note: this step is necessary to avoid boot wait, because Mac cannot find original disk anymore, and starts into SSD only after about 30 seconds as recovery boot sequence.
Reboot and system will boot fast into old Mac OS X system. Now you are done :)

Note: if your system waits about half a minute before booting when only a new disk is left on the system, then press Alt/option key during startup and just select Mac OS X system. This will reset the default OS and will clear boot wait for old device.
2020 macOS Catalina, Big Sur APFS update:
If you are on APFS already, this task becomes even more trivial.

Just do all steps except repartitioning and shrinking original drive.
Also format new SSD drive with APFS.

If you have amount of data in original APFS Volume which fits your new hard drive, there is nothing to stop you, just recover your new drive APFS Volume with old drive Macintosh HD as a source.
Checked and confirmed its working when I was migrating old SSD to larger SSD drive, also HDD or SSD drive to NVME drive.


Software that is functionally similar to Deep Freeze for MacOS 10.13

In terms of restore-on-reboot solutions it really boils down to Deep Freeze and Reboot Restore Rx. The latter of which doesn't support Mac's currently but will in the future from what I've hear.

What the Apple Store uses is akin to loading a disk image automatically. It's a bit more cumbersome than Deep Freeze or other similar solutions but at the very least it's compatible with APFS.


Can't add tag to apache config or log files

The files are owned by root and Finder runs as the user, so Finder is not allowed to modify the tags.

As a workaround, you can run Finder as root:

sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/MacOS/Finder

Or use tag or xattr:

brew install tag;sudo tag -s $'Red\n6' /etc/apache2/httpd.conf

sudo xattr -w com.apple.metadata:_kMDItemUserTags '("Red\n6")' /etc/apache2/httpd.conf;sudo xattr -wx com.apple.FinderInfo '00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00' /etc/apache2/httpd.conf