Does using "rm" command cause journaling corruption?

NOTE FOR CASUAL READERS: rm -rf destroys data.  Use with caution.

rm -rf may appear to go fast, but it is actually recursively going depth-first into each directory and unlinking the files within—the same operation that is used for any file deletion on Unix systems.

You can see how rm -rf works by adding the -v flag, e.g. rm -rfv.

There's no reason to believe that rm itself is responsible for journaling failures.  It's a proven and safe command that does not have any low-level access to the disk.

It is possible that the access pattern created triggered some bug in HFS+, but that seems unlikely as well; I rm -rf sizable trees of files on my machine frequently and haven't seen a problem.


I've recently deleted Boot Camp downloads and storage has disappeared

To remove Boot Camp, one is meant to use Boot Camp Assistant which provides an automated workflow for editing the partitions on your disk back to pre-Windows. You may still be able to use it in this state — try opening Boot Camp Assistant and choose Remove Windows if the option exists.

You can partition manually in Disk Utility. Choose Partition, delete NO NAME and resize the APFS container to the rest of the free space on the disk.


Stuck at full bar, in logo screen after system restore from TM backup

I got a new compatible SSD, fresh installed Catalina, and everything worked fine...Then I proceeded to restore the system from a TM backup...The problem is that when the system boots...loads really slow in the last 1/3, and then after it seemingly fully loads, it gets stuck there.

This is key.  If after a clean install everything is great but you subsequently restore from Time Machine, you may have a corrupted backup from the failing drive.

Instead of a restore, try doing a data migration Using Migration Assistant instead.  This will copy over your data and settings over but leave the OS untouched.  I prefer this method especially when upgrading to a new OS.


How to unregister an iPad from Lightspeed Systems MDM?

Here is the script for taking control of a device you purchase. I’m thinking the support team felt you wanted them to show you these steps or they don’t know how to remove MDM if they can’t touch the device physically due to SARS or just distance.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201441

Take your time, there are a lot of linked articles and if this is your first experience this could take hours or on might need someone to help you with a loaner computer to restore if you don’t know all the passcodes and have a working WiFi and ability to join that network.

If that device is in their DEP, they can control that, so document what steps you performed and again, get someone else to help on the call if needed, that’s a negotiation where yo7 are trying to calmly convince the person / organization to do some work for you after the sale happened. There is no rush for them to take action, so be sure to let them know they have time to research DEP. you can even send them here is they don’t know how to release DEP. If needed, we will help them, too.

How can I clear an iPad from another company's DEP?
Can iPad SSL/TLS traffic be inspected during DEP enrollment?


Do people actually add webpages to their home screen?

Just looked at my Apache Server logs to see if there was a difference in the user agent string when a page is called by an Add to Home app vs directly from Safari.

And indeed there is a difference.

The web app is calling itself:

  "Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 6_1_4 like Mac OS X)
  AppleWebKit/536.26 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/10B350"

While straight up Mobile Safari identifies itself as:

  Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 6_1_4 like Mac OS X)
  AppleWebKit/536.26 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0 Mobile/10B350
  Safari/8536.25

This feature is very simple to implement using Matteo Spinelli's "Add To Home Screen" script.  You could deploy it on your site and the look at your server logs and see if anyone is actually using it.

http://cubiq.org/add-to-home-screen


How do I change user account used by the Update tab of AppStore?

You bought the apps with your old Apple ID. Apps are permanently tied to the ID with which they were bought.

I'm fairly certain if you deleted them, and re-downloaded them with your new ID, the problem would be solved. You would, however, have to pay for them again if they were not free.

Relevant questions:

Attempting to update app asks for a different iTunes account password (pretty much a duplicate)

How can I find which account I used for downloading my iOS apps?


Is there a way to change the iOS low battery warning to pop up at 25%?

I think that a tweak named "Power Informer" is what you are looking for.
Step by step instructions by WonderHowTo on this link.


Mission control el capitan desktop thumbnail

You are looking for mission control by gestures ?

Settings -> Trackpad ->


How to Create New File in Selected Folder Using LaunchBar?

This can be done by using the "New Text Document Here" action

Select folder -> tab -> start typing "New" -> select "New Text Document Here" -> type name -> enter.

If you're looking for a more complete solution that can create any type of file (including ones without the .txt extension that the New Text Document action forces) try this Applescript. Just put it in a file named New File.applescript in the ~/Library/Application Support/LaunchBar/Actions/ directory:

on handle_string(dir)
    display dialog "Enter filename:" default answer ""
    set fname to text returned of result
    set fullpath to dir & fname
    try
        do shell script "touch '" & fullpath & "'"
        open location "x-launchbar:select?file=" & fullpath
    on error errMsg
        display dialog "Error: " & errMsg
        open location "x-launchbar:hide"
    end try
end handle_string

It'll touch the file, then select it in LaunchBar upon completion (you can comment out the line that does that by adding -- to the beginning of the line or just removing it).


MacBook Pro 11,3 with dual Dell P2715Q 27" Monitors

from monitor menu (the buttons) change the MST setting to Primary and Secondary accordingly


Horizontal scrolling on nedit with trackpad under XQuartz - MacOS Catalina

I use nedit and I can't scroll horizontally with my mouse. I have to manually move the scroll by clicking in the scroll bar at bottom of page. I don't have a trackpad to test with. If I place the cursor on a line and then click, hold and move the cursor to the right, then the page will scroll left.


Offline music not showing up after iOS 9.2 upgrade

My wife had a very similar problem, ever since upgrading to 9.0. I had to do the following in 9.2 to resolve her issues:

Backup her iPhone.
Wipe and restart her iPhone.
Reload from her backup.
Turn OFF iCloud Music.
Turn ON iCloud Music, selecting "Merge" when warned about deleting or merging the current content on her iPhone.

She can now see and download any content in her library, and make anything she wants available for offline listening.


Refresh your Genius results in iTunes and then re-sync your phone with iTunes. Then you should be able to generate Genius playlists on your phone.

To refresh your Genius results:

Open iTunes
Sync your phone with iTunes so all your purchased music is in your current iTunes library.
Make sure Genius is on. If you select Store from the menu bar and it says "Turn off Genius" you're all set. Otherwise select Store -> Turn on Genius.
Now select Store -> Update Genius

iTunes will think for a while and eventually the status area at the top of the main window will say "Delivering your Genius results...".

When it's done delivering your Genius results sync your phone with iTunes. You should have Genius playlist capabilities on your phone now.


Is any other application known to install TeamViewer?

That is not possible since the TeamViewer requires activation.

Typically they would send you a email that you signed with containing the link to activate it.

So you might had the software from somewhere but it was not active.


How can I transfer photos from the Camera Roll to Photo Stream?

Any photos that exist in the Camera Roll that didn't come from the device itself had to come from another device. The primary method for getting these pictures into iCloud's 1000 picture buffer is to enroll that other device into iCloud.

You have one case of a picture that was taken either more than 30 days ago or 1000 pictures ago or you deleted your entire Photo Stream and want to start over. In this case, you may need to sync those photos to a computer or another device using the Camera Connecton Kit to inject them into your current Photo Stream.


What is a good GTD app with cloud sync on iPhone, iPad, and Mac?

Check Wunderlist by 6Wunderkinder: http://www.6wunderkinder.com/wunderlist/

It's free. Iphone and ipad apps are available on itunes app store.


Mac OS X cannot find the hard drive (anywhere)

It does sound like a failed SSD drive, or possibly its PCIe connection on the logic board.  There are two things you can attempt before taking it in to Apple though.

1) An SMC reset.  This resets the system management controller, which is responsible for directing power flow through the Mac.  A lot of odd issues, not just disappearing hard drives, can be resolved with an SMC reset.  Apple's KB article HT3964 explains this a bit more in detail.

Shutdown your Mac
Connect your MagSafe adapter to a power source and then to your Mac
On the built in keyboard press left Shift + Control + Option + Power button at the same time.  You might notice the MagSafe's LED light change from green to orange, or vice versa, while doing this
Release all 4 keys/buttons at the same time
Attempt to power on your Mac as normal by pressing the power button

2) Remove the bottom case and reseat the SSD drive.  Obviously this is a bit more involved than performing the SMC reset but it's something I would typically try before taking the time to head to the Apple store.  This does require some specific tools though, a size 5 Pentalobe driver and a Torx 5 driver.  This iFixit walkthrough does a good job showing the process.  Essentially you need to remove the 10 pentalobe screws securing the bottom case, remove the bottom case, disconnect the battery, remove the torx 5 screw securing the SSD, remove and reinsert the SSD ensuring a snug connection, then perform the reverse for reassembly.

Good luck!  Hopefully either of these is all it takes to get you back up and running.


How to "merge" my Messages transcripts in OSX?

How about restoring from your backup just the Messages Archive folder contents? (Open that folder in the Finder; then choose "Enter Time Machine" from the Time Machine menu in the Menu Bar; then select the most recent backup that has your full Messages history.) On restore, if anything presently in that folder has the same name, you'll be offered the choice to keep old/new/both.

Relatedly, check out this answer:
https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/117558/10581

As far as merging goes, there are two ways: in the Finder, or in the Terminal. Both of these would require restoring your Time Machine backup of ~/Library/Messages/Archive to another, temporary location.

The Finder method is done by holding the Option key while dragging things to a location containing other things of the same name(s). If the destination contains items with the same name(s) as what is being dragged, it'll offer an option to Merge. But if what is being dragged contains items that are older than those in the destination, no Merge option will be offered.

The Terminal method is to use a command-line tool called ditto. This is something like using the command cp (to copy items), but it will automatically merge if there are name conflicts.


TRIM enabled on new Macbook Pro Mac OS X 10.8.4

Based on Apple documentation, if it says "Yes", than TRIM is supported and enabled.


How do I delete email files on my mac so that it retrieves them again?

You may need to rebuild a mailbox to update the list of messages it contains. For example, if messages appear to be missing or garbled, or if you can’t find all relevant messages when you search using the Entire Message search option.

In the Mail app on your Mac, select a mailbox in the sidebar.

Choose Mailbox > Rebuild.

When you rebuild mailboxes for IMAP or Exchange accounts, messages and attachments stored on your computer are discarded, and then downloaded again from the mail server to your Mac. Your mailbox appears empty until the download is complete.


The most straightforward way to install an Objective-C compiler is by installing Xcode (which is available free from the App Store). It gives you both the IDE and the command-line compilers (there's an option inside Xcode to install the latter). If you don't want to install the IDE, you can install the command-line tools only using xcode-select --install.

Once you have the command-line tools installed, you can use them to bootstrap GCC if you'd prefer to use that.


I updated to iOS 9 last night and iCloud Backup works fine now

and for the AppStore issue, I disabled the Two-Step Verification while still on iOS 8.4.1 and it worked


Usually this is a temporary glitch that a restart fixes. If you have this failing after that - you can test a new user account.

If that works, then your preference file needs to be cleared. See this post for details: Hot Corners for Mission Control stop working


Is there a way to keep internal drive segments unmounted while booting from external device

Nobody even commented. There may be a solution from a clue keyword  autodiskmount


Is it possible to have an app meant both for internal employees and external public in the App Store?

You could reply to Apple stating that the app actually is not used exclusively by internal employees - but rather is made available publicly for marketing/recruiting purposes. I have often seen that Apple's initial request for further information and clarification results in them approving the app update afterall.
However, if you are forced to switch to the enterprise model - don't worry at all. You can still offer access to potential employees. You would then just host the app on your own web site (or any web site you have lying around really) - and just send the potential employee a link to install the app.


This is the correct method:

tell application "Terminal"
    if not (exists window 1) then reopen
    activate
    -- insert your code here
end tell

EDIT
You can open new windows with do script

tell application "Terminal"
    do script ""
end tell


According to MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012) - Technical Specifications, this is what's supported under Graphics and Video Support and Thunderbolt digital video output:

  Graphics and Video Support

  Intel HD Graphics 4000
  NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 512MB of GDDR5 memory (15-inch 2.3GHz configuration) or NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory
  (15-inch 2.6GHz configuration) and automatic graphics switching
  Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to   2560 by 1600
  pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors

  Thunderbolt digital video output

  Native Mini DisplayPort output
  DVI output using Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter (sold separately)
  VGA output using Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter (sold separately)
  Dual-link DVI output using Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (sold separately)
  HDMI audio and video output using third-party Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter (sold separately)


How do I export a single frame from iMovie 10.0.3?

In my copy of iMovie (v10.1.6) you can do this easily:

File > Share > Image...

And it will prompt you to save a jpeg of the current frame.

Alternatively export a high quality video ("Theatre" ?) go to the frame you want to capture and select Copy from the Edit menu. Open Preview.app and select File > new From Clipboard and you have your screen capture.


What's the best way to replace MacOS with Windows & Linux Dual boot?

You can leave Windows as is and replace macOS with Ubuntu. There will be a conflict between the files in the EFI partition for Windows and the files the Ubuntu installer will place in this partition. One way to avoid this conflict would be to create a second EFI partition when installing Ubuntu. After the installation completes, move the Ubuntu boot files to this new EFI partition.


Mini Thunderbolt to VGA not showing video on external monitor but Mac says it is

The problem that you are facing is simple to fix. Actually there is no inbuilt Thunderbolt to VGA drive inside a MacBook/Mac mini. So what you should do is install a Mini DisplayPort to VGA Firmware Update v1.0. After installation restart the system, then connect your thunderbolt to VGA connector. It will work perfectly fine.

Here is the link for the driver where you can download it:

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL799?locale=en_US


How to trim .mov without losing quality?

Just trim your video on the iPhone, in your "camera roll". This is the only way I know won't  re-encoding the video.


Here is the things you might want to do before wiping the partially set up mac to get back to the automatic migration step described in this other answer

Open the Mac App store and make sure you're signed in to the Apple ID you want to "own" the iLife and iWork apps. Once you've signed in and accepted the license agreement, you can wipe the Mac following this instruction and try the "clean migration" with no user accounts on the Mac to delay/reduce the transfer from PC.
Copy any documents to an external USB drive before erasing things
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904 - choose the erase install and use Internet Recovery to do the erase with no drives connected.

Also, you get phone support with a new Mac. You can do your best on these steps and then call to get a human to make sure you're on the right track with the erase / migration. https://apple.com/support


Setting background image to dropbox file doesn't update background

You're right, it is cached. So if you want to change the desktop image, you'll need to change the db file. In Yosemite, that is ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock/desktoppicture.db

And here's a way to change it using the Terminal:

sqlite3 ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock/desktoppicture.db "update data set value = '/path/to/your/image.jpg'" && killall Dock

So, if you want to run that after a file have changed (such as modyfing it through dropbox) you could use a file watcher script, such as this Ruby one.


How can I capture video of my iPad, while making touches visible?

Display Recorder from the same author does exactly that.

Thanks to Vaccano.


How to ensure that all traffic goes through VPN connection once it has been started?

You need a firewall between you and the Internet that will block all traffic except traffic to the IP address of your VPN host

Your router will more than likely have this functionality built in


Is there a way to see iTunes sync info on the iPhone?

You could create a smart playlist that excludes files that are already included in another playlist.

So, in your case if you generally sync a playlist called "At Work" whcih contains what you normally sync, but then also throw a few others into the sync too, you could create a smart playlist that looks for any ticked track that is not already in the "At Work" playlist.  Call this "Adhoc" or something, and add this to your sync list, and you should have a new playlist that shows anything that wasn;t part of your original sync list.


How can i disable iTunes autoplay when bluetooth device is connected?

This is a common issue on Mac. Here is the tutorials that works fine on my rMBP with OSX 10.11:

1) Open a Terminal Window

2) Rename iTunes.app to MyiTunes.app

3) Create a DoNothing.app using the AppleScript Editor

4) Copy the DoNothing.app to the Applications folder

5) Connect a bluetooth device to get the "Where is iTunes?" window prompt and Select DoNothing.app as what to auto-launch instead of iTunes 6) Closing thoughts about updates etc.

Resource: https://discussions.apple.com/message/25425864#message25425864


Cannot overwrite columns in Numbers for iPad

Found an answer:

  Tap on the brush-icon, and deactivate the last menu-entry.


Why can't I play songs downloaded on iOS 7?

You should check iTunes->Preferences

Automatic Downloads
iTunes in the Cloud Preferences

If nothing helps and if these songs are not listed in your iTunes Store->Purchased history you have to contact apple...


Disable App Update Notifications on OSX?

If the App store doesn't know about updates it should not be able to notify you - so within System Preferences go into the "App Store" preference pane and deactivate the option to search for updates automatically.


How to run script on startup and shutdown OS X El Capitan

I believe the correction to the shell script should be:

function fstartup()
{
    //put folder into ramdisk
     tail -f /dev/null &
     wait $!
}
function fshutdown()
{
    //detach ramdisk

}

function framdisk()
{
    //do something
}
trap fshutdown SIGTERM
trap fshutdown SIGKILL
fstartup;

So that it will wait during the startup, not the shutdown.

I'm currently running my version and it appears to work fine, it correctly runs the shutdown function when the computer is shutting down.


How to use new Facebook Portal to call iPhone X

You will need to install Facebook Messenger on your iPhone and iPad in order to receive video calls from the Facebook Portal device.

After you have installed the app and logged in on both devices, others will be able to call you by selecting your contact. I.e. others will not be selecting which specific device to call, but the call will show up on all your devices, and you can select which one to take it on.


Go to URL chrome:flags.
Enable Tab Overview.
Restart Google Chrome.

Please note that this is an experimental feature.


What's the legal status of my Snow Leopard once I've upgraded to Mountain Lion?

Yes, for the first question. Whenever you sell your Mac, you're expected to sell it with the OS it came with, which in this case is Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Your upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion purchased from the Mac App Store belongs to you for your use and cannot be transferred to another person (on the other hand, if you bought a Mac with OS X Mountain Lion preinstalled, you're allowed to do a one time transfer to another person).
From section 3. Transfer in the SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR OS X MOUNTAIN LION (emphasis mine):

A. If you obtained the Apple Software preinstalled on Apple-branded hardware, you may make a one-time permanent transfer of all of your license rights to the Apple Software (in its original form as provided by Apple) to another party, provided that: (i) the Apple Software is transferred together with your Apple-branded hardware; (ii) the transfer must include all of the Apple Software, including all its component parts, printed materials and this License; (iii) you do not retain any copies of the Apple Software, full or partial, including copies stored on a computer or other storage device; and (iv) the party receiving the Apple Software accepts the terms and conditions of this License. For purposes of this License, if Apple provides an update (e.g., version 10.8 to 10.8.1) to the Apple Software, the update is considered part of the Apple Software and may not be transferred separately from the pre-update version of the Apple Software.
B. If you obtained your license to the Apple Software from the Mac App Store, it is not transferable. If you sell your Apple-branded hardware to a third party, you must remove the Apple Software from the Apple-branded hardware before doing so, and you may restore your system to the version of the Apple operating system software that originally came with your Apple hardware (the “Original Apple OS”) and permanently transfer the Original Apple OS together with your Apple hardware, provided that: (i) the transfer must include all of the Original Apple OS, including all its component parts, printed materials and its license; (ii) you do not retain any copies of the Original Apple OS, full or partial, including copies stored on a computer or other storage device; and (iii) the party receiving the Original Apple OS reads and agrees to accept the terms and conditions of the Original Apple OS license.

For the second question, yes, you can install Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard on one other Mac that you have. Look at the SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR MAC OS X, where section 2. Permitted License Uses and Restrictions states (emphasis mine):

Single Use License. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, unless you have purchased a Family Pack or Upgrade license for the Apple Software, you are granted a limited non-exclusive license to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-branded computer at a time. You agree not to install, use or run the Apple Software on any non-Apple-branded computer, or to enable others to do so. This License does not allow the Apple Software to exist on more than one computer at a time, and you may not make the Apple Software available over a network where it could be used by multiple computers at the same time.

You can do a one time permanent transfer of the Mac OS X Snow Leopard license. Section 3. Transfer in the agreement states (emphasis mine):

You may not rent, lease, lend, sell, redistribute or sublicense the Apple Software.
Subject to the restrictions set forth below, you may, however, make a one-time permanent transfer of all of your license rights to the Apple Software (in its original form as provided by Apple) to another party, provided that: (a) the transfer must include all of the Apple Software, including all its component parts (excluding Apple Boot ROM code and firmware), original media, printed materials and this License; (b) you do not retain any copies of the Apple Software, full or partial, including copies stored on a computer or other storage device; and (c) the party receiving the Apple Software reads and agrees to accept the terms and conditions of this License. You may not rent, lease, lend, redistribute, sublicense or transfer any Apple Software that has been modified or replaced under Section 2H above. All components of the Apple Software are provided as part of a bundle and may not be separated from the bundle and distributed as standalone applications. Apple Software provided with a particular Apple-branded hardware product may not run on other models of Apple-branded hardware.


benwiggy created a python script (joinpdfs.py) that will take PDF files as arguments and join them, creating a Table of Contents with each file at the top level, and each file's TOC merged in under it.
Script here: https://github.com/benwiggy/PDFsuite/blob/master/Automator_Scripts/joinpdfs.py
(Download it by Option-clicking the Raw button on the GitHub link above.)
You can pretty easily integrate that script into a terminal based workflow.
If you're not super savvy with Terminal there's a super simple workflow to make this work.
But first you have to make the script you downloaded executable via Terminal.
To make joinpdfs.py executable (only need to do this once):

Open a Terminal window.
Type chmod +x  (don't forget the space at the end)
Drag the downloaded script joinpdfs.py into the Terminal window. (This will put the entire path to the file in as an argument to the command you just typed).
Hit return.

The script will now be executable in Terminal.
To Join PDFs via the Terminal:

Open a Terminal window.
Drag joinpdfs.py into the terminal window.
Drag all PDFs to join into the Terminal window. (Order the files appear in finder window will be the order they appear in the PDF. Change this easily by dragging the files, or groups of the files, into the window in a particular order.)
Hit return.

(Note: I'm getting the following error, but it looks like you can ignore it: "CoreGraphics PDF has logged an error. Set environment variable "CG_PDF_VERBOSE" to learn more.")
A new file Combined.pdf will be created in the same folder as the first PDF you dragged in.
This file will have a TOC with the filenames at the top level, and the each PDF's TOC nested within.
To Join PDFs via Automator
benwiggy has instructions on this readme page for incorporating all his python scripts into Automator actions. The steps are:

Download the scripts. (No need to make it executable first.)

Launch Automator and create a New Service.

Set the drop-down menus to read "Service receives PDF Files in Finder".

Add "Run Shell Script" action. (under "Utilities".)

Set the shell drop-down list to /usr/bin/python and "Pass input" to as arguments.

Paste in the script you want to use (replacing the existing text).


Is there any way to run PowerPC applications on Mountain Lion (Not installing-just opening from a CD)

Quick answer: No.
Long answer: Yes, you can. You can run Snow Leopard in a VM (virtual machine) on your computer.

There are paid solutions like Parallels Desktop and VMWare, but a great free solution is VirtualBox. There is a fabulous guide on how to install Mac OS X Snow Leopard here

Note: You will need a version of Mac OS X Snow Leopard to install on the Virtual Machine. If you don't own it, Apple is still selling it here.


Running a command whenever Mac boots up with launchctl/plist

The immediate problem is that your .plist file isn't correctly formatted -- the contents of <string>...</string> should be encoded with HTML entities, i.e. & needs to be encoded as &amp; (note: you can check the format of .plist files with plutil -lint filename.plist).  But there are some other changes that need to be made...

Starting programs with launchd is rather different than starting them from a shell.  The biggest difference is that from the shell, you want the program to go into the background and run independently of the shell, so you wrap it in nohup ... &.  With launchd, it's actually best for the program to stay in the "foreground" so launchd can keep an eye on it.

Also, the elements of ProgramArguments won't get parsed by a shell, so listing the command and its arguments with spaces between them doesn't work -- make each argument a separate element of the array.

Here's my stab at a synergy .plist.  I haven't tested this, so it may need a little tweaking to work properly (see notes below):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC -//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd >
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>local.synergy</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/bin/synergys</string>
        <string>-f</string>
        <string>--config</string>
        <string>/Users/USER/bin/conf/synergy.conf</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>Nice</key>
    <integer>10</integer>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <false/>
    <key>AbandonProcessGroup</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

The last two keys above deal with how launchd should react if/when the synergys program exits.  By default, it kills any surviving subprocesses and launches a new instance; these two keys supress both parts, which may or may not be what you want.  Also, one thing this doesn't do that your version with nohup does is redirect stdin and stdout to nohup.out (in case the terminal goes away); instead IIRC launchd logs things that get sent to them.  If synergys is in the habbit of sending output, you might want to add something like this to the .plist:

    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/dev/null</string>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/dev/null</string>

Also, as mankoff said, you should put this in ~/Library/LaunchAgents so it'll be autoloaded every time you log in.  Oh, and you should probably add a local. prefix to the filename (as I did with the label) to conform to the reverse-DNS naming convention.


Restoring from backup does not restore some applications - I need their data badly

The actual app isn't backed up in the iOS backups, but the data for the app is backed up (unless specified not to by the developer - very rare) and a reference to the app is stored so that it can be re-downloaded from the app store. That's why you saw the "Wait" icon while it tried to download.

I would go into the App Store app and tap Updates > Purchased and triple check if you can download Photo Drag Pro from here. (The policy on whether developer-removed-from-sale apps appear in this list changes more frequently than I pay attention ;) I assume right now it won't appear, but it's worth checking.)

If that doesn't work, then your only option may be to try to pull the data for Photo Drag Pro out of the backup using a third party tool that reads iOS backup files. There are a handful of options; the one I work on is called Decipher Backup Browser https://deciphertools.com/decipher-backup-browser.html. You can use this to open and save the files from Photo Drag Pro out of the backup and onto your computer. If you need help locating the Photo Drag Pro data in the "All Files" section of DBB, there's contact links on our website and we'll help (and feel free to mention Kelly specifically if you want to make sure your email gets directly to me!)

(Note: As I mentioned, I'm a developer for the software I linked to. I want to make sure I'm up front about that!)


Allow Standard users to add a VPN account

I found a sample of script that could be used in Automator for the non admin user to run, that would need to be customized by you (so it is a beginning). This is a example for to fire up virtualhost.sh.

To pass in your username and password to admin privileges:

set vhostPath to "'" & POSIX path of (path to me) & ¬
    "/Contents/Resources/virtualhost.sh" & "'"
set vhost to vhostPath & space & input
do shell script vhost user name "user" password "pass" ¬
    with administrator privileges

change it to match your stuff


Cannot reach local web site using IP-address of macbook

Problem solved. I had to enable the option of accepting external connections in Webstorm settings.


Late-2013 rMBP able to install & boot Win8 using EFI?

I can confirm that if Win8 is installed from an ISO (rather than a Win7 upgrade) then it will be installed on a boot-using-EFI partition.


How to remove restrictions in latest IOS?

Things have changed with iOS 12 and the inclusion of Screen Time.

To access restrictions, follow these steps:

Go to Settings
Tap on Screen Time
Tap on Content and Privacy Restrictions
Enter the Screen Time passcode
Go to Content Restrictions > Web Content to access the restrictions related to web content


How Do I Set Multiple Categories for a Podcast?

Your second format is the proper one. Even if the iTunes listing only shows one category after the name, it will be searchable under both.

More explanation can be found here, or in the official documentation and a properly formatted multi-category tag is shown below:

<itunes:category text="Technology">
<itunes:category text="Computers" />
<itunes:category text="News" />
</itunes:category>

If you want multiple subcategories in different main categories, you would do something like your first example:

<itunes:category text="Arts &amp; Entertainment">
    <itunes:category text="Games" />
</itunes:category>
<itunes:category text="Technology">
    <itunes:category text="Computers" />
</itunes:category>


Interesting question. Computers have a measurement call MTBF or mean time between failure. The more parts something has, the shorter the period between failures. If the computer is off, then it cannot fail during that time. So you will extend the life of your computer by turning off the power when not in use. Hibernation is still on, and helps conserve battery power. Since your disk is not spinning media, shutting off power to it will extend its life. CPU failure will be due to overheating, so if the fan is not coming on when you boot, it is in no danger.


How can the default save format be changed for OS X Preview app?

Unless you need to edit the image in Preview, I'd suggest leaving it out of the equation altogether.

I use the following python script which saves any image on the clipboard to a PDF file, using a save dialog. (If the file exists, it adds the image as a new page.)
You can embed it in an Automator workflow with a Run Shell Script action, or add it to the /Library/Scripts folder, and you can access it using the Scripts menulet. (Script Editor.app Preferences enable the menulet.)

#!/usr/bin/python

from AppKit import NSPasteboard, NSPasteboardTypePDF, NSPasteboardTypeTIFF, NSPasteboardTypePNG, NSTIFFPboardType, NSPICTPboardType, NSImage, NSSavePanel, NSApp
from Foundation import NSURL
import Quartz as Quartz
import os, syslog

def save_dialog(directory, filename):
    panel = NSSavePanel.savePanel()
    print (panel)
    panel.setTitle_("Save clipboard")
    myUrl = NSURL.fileURLWithPath_isDirectory_(directory, True)
    panel.setDirectoryURL_(myUrl)
    panel.setNameFieldStringValue_(filename)
    NSApp.activateIgnoringOtherApps_(True)
    ret_value = panel.runModal()
    if ret_value:
        return panel.filename()
    else:
        return ''

def main():
    destination = os.path.expanduser("~/Desktop/")
    outfile = save_dialog(destination, "Clipboard.pdf")

    myFavoriteTypes = [NSPasteboardTypePDF, NSPasteboardTypeTIFF, NSPasteboardTypePNG, NSTIFFPboardType, NSPICTPboardType, 'com.adobe.encapsulated-postscript']
    pb = NSPasteboard.generalPasteboard()
    best_type = pb.availableTypeFromArray_(myFavoriteTypes)
    if best_type:
        clipData = pb.dataForType_(best_type)
        if clipData:
            image = NSImage.alloc().initWithPasteboard_(pb)
            if image:
                page = Quartz.PDFPage.alloc().initWithImage_(image)
            if os.path.exists(outfile):
                pdfURL = NSURL.fileURLWithPath_(outfile)
                myFile = Quartz.PDFDocument.alloc().initWithURL_(pdfURL)
                if myFile:
                    pagenum = myFile.pageCount()
                    myFile.insertPage_atIndex_(page, pagenum)
                    print ("Image added to Clipboard file.")

            else:
                pageData = page.dataRepresentation()
                myFile = Quartz.PDFDocument.alloc().initWithData_(pageData)
            myFile.writeToFile_(outfile)
            print ("Clipboard file created.")

    else:
        print ("No clipboard image data was retrieved.")
        print ("These types were available:")
        print (pb.types())

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()


Activity Monitor is unuseable because it's freezing mouse cursor when launched

This problem went away after I rebooted the system. (It was running for several weeks without rebooting before).

This clearly indicates that OS X just can't handle long uptime, because Apple cares more about bells and whistles than stability. :(


Press command + shift + escape and Force Quit the App Store. You can try updating again after App Store is quit.

If this is a recurring issue, try to install small updates first, one by one.


How do I erase old user and become the new user on a iBook G4 I just got from a friend?

Dont hit 'continue' after putting in the Install OS disk, instead go to top-left screen where there is a menu with an option to change login password.


How can I mount SFTP/SSH in Finder on OS X Snow Leopard?

The best solution I've found today (2017) is to use Homebrew and Cask to install osxfuse and sshfs:
brew install --cask osxfuse
brew install sshfs

And then:
sshfs username@hostname:/remote/directory/path /local/mount/point -ovolname=NAME

It works! :-)


The free space required by the Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows is larger than what is actually required. One question where this is documented is Mojave bootcamp assistant limits partition size. The answer to this question was to use the Disk Utility to create a partition for Windows, then install Windows the same way as any ordinary PC owner. The Boot Camp Assistant was only used to download the Windows Support Software.

In your case, I would first make sure all space being consumed by Time Machine is recovered. This can be done by executing the command given below in a Terminal Application Window. Basically, the command tries to reclaim any space taken by Time Machine by asking for a lot of space back. Once you have finished executing this command, go back and try using the Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows.

tmutil thinlocalsnapshots / 9999999999999

Other space issues related to installing Windows are documented in the accepted answer to the question: Installing Windows on MBP 2015 (Mojave) Using Boot Camp, Error: Not enough space!.


Get part of result of command line in OS X

I would recommend using the "grep" and "awk" commands from bash.  You can use them to parse the data given in bash.  Here is example using the details you described above.

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport -I | grep "channel" | awk '{print $2}'

Do yourself a favor and sym link the binary to /usr/local/bin so you can just type airport (or script it)

airport -I | grep "channel" | awk '{print $2}'


How do I monitor the total physical and virtual memory usage of a process and all of its descendants?

If using third-party applications is a possibility, I would suggest that you install the htop process monitor, perhaps from Macports. This tool extends top with a nice layout, and most relevant for your use case, it has an arbitrarily deep thread tree view that can be turned on with the F5 key.


Time machine deletes old backups when still >2 TB of 3 TB are free

Is it possible the snapshots being deleted are local snapshots (see http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202301) and not on the external? Local snapshots start getting deleted when free space your internal volume (not the backup volume) drops below 20%.


unable to open /var/db/sudo/ts/: Permission denied

That’s a very odd failure. I would probably boot to internet recovery and reinstall the os on top of what you have. If you have a backup, great and if not this isn’t a risky operation and something is certainly messed up with the permissions and sudo failures.

Unless you have a very good idea why things are specifically broken, perhaps some scripts to change ownership or other sorts of administrative changes that you know were made to that system, it’s probably a lot faster to just get a get operating system and then fix any remaining problems every install doesn’t solve immediately.


Automator supplies arguments (file names) to the shell script.
Try:

for f in "$@"
do
    case $f in
        *.m4a)
             /absolute/path/to/ffmpeg -i "$f" -acodec libmp3lame -ab 256k "${f%.m4a}.mp3"
             ;;
    esac
done


Reeder (RSS App from App Store) uses 60 GB of disk space. How do I clean this up?

Reeder's cache can get cleared in its preferences:

Unlike the iOS version you can't limit the number of articles in the cache though.


Create a playlist of songs loved/likes on Apple Music

A lot of people are making this mistake at the moment, the like/love button in Apple Music is not for creating a playlist.

It's there to tune the 'For You' section in Apple Music to your tastes so it can better make suggestions of what music you should try out next.

EDIT

As you've pointed out in your comment there is an ability to create a smart playlist of Loved songs in iTunes, however this is only referring to songs that you've Loved that are physically in your iTunes library, i.e. songs that you bought or ripped from a CD.

It is confusing but Loved in your iTunes library is unrelated to Loved in Apple Music.

EDIT 2

I've been playing some more and I managed to get the Playlist to include a song I Loved once I had downloaded it for offline playback in iTunes and then marked it. However this doesn't sync to my iPhone through iCloud Playlist Sync.


Can we create seprate Apple ID for our each iOS device but share the same media library?

Yes. Log in to the Apple ID that you want to use for iTunes and the App Store in the iTunes & App Store section of settings, then log in to the individual Apple ID for the iCloud account. These will be kept separate and allow individual iCloud accounts but a shared iTunes Apple ID.

Also, with the upcoming iOS 8, you can use Family Sharing.


You said you needed to open the script in AppleScript:

tell application "Script Editor" to open file (POSIX path of (path to me))


Command Line: create a link to folder and access files in this folder

You can do this with Symlinks:

ln -s /path/to/original/location /path/to/intended/shortcut

For example, if you want ~/Scripts to go to ~/Dropbox/Documents/Scripts you can do…

ln -s ~/Dropbox/Documents/Scripts ~/Scripts

Then open ~/Scripts/test.sh will open the file at ~/Dropbox/Documents/Scripts/test.sh.

To see the symlink you can run ls -laPGh ~/Scripts.

For example, I have my Mobile Documents folder symlinked as iCloud, so…

ls -lapGh ~/iCloud
lrwxr-xr-x@ 1 grgarside  staff    41B 12 Nov  2012 iCloud -> /Users/grgarside/Library/Mobile Documents


It looks like a weird browser extension to me.

Can you go to settings in Chrome, choose Extensions and deactivate all of them?


It can be a Tristar controller. (I had such problem on iPhone 5s)


Can the M1 MBP drive a 4K display at 60Hz when not in clamshell mode?

Yes, this is officially possible. Your MBP supports full native resolution on the internal display in addition to a single display up to 6K at 60 Hz.
To quote Apple's technical specifications:

Video Support
Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the
built-in display in millions of colours and one external display with
up to 6K resolution at 60Hz

M1 MacBook Pro 13" - Technical Specifications
Italics added for emphasis
As you can see, the specs specifically say: "Simultaneously supports".


How do I roll back from Yosemite to Mountain Lion without Internet Recovery after erasing my hard disk?

If you're trying to boot from a USB OS X installer and it shows up as a bootable device but then proceeds to show the stop sign and halt, this indicates the installer will not run on your Mac as your system is unsupported by the startup files on the installer.

As klanomath points out, if it shipped with Yosemite it's unlikely to support Mountain Lion. Your Mac may support Mavericks (which is more akin to ML than Yosemite) depending on the model family - and obviously also depending on whether you can get hold of the installer for 10.9. If you can get hold of a fresh copy of the 10.9 installer from Apple this will be the last iteration, 10.9.5. Importantly, this last version will boot all Mavericks-capable Macs up to and including all 2014 models. If this includes yours then Mavericks should install as long as it's 10.9.4 or later.

Your existing drive won't show at this stage as it doesn't have an OS X installation to boot from, even if it's correctly partitioned.


Can I charge a power bank through charging MacBook

I have no clue about the Xiaomi, but I charge my power bank while charging my 15" MacBook Pro all the time...

Actually, I generally have my power bank charging my iPad Pro and my Apple Watch Valet, which is charging my iPhone and Apple Watch.


It's hard to comment on your question as you didn't give many details.

You could connect a switch with monitor/mirror port functionality between your router and your DSL modem/network terminator (if that is two discrete devices for you). This way you could connect a computer to the switch's mirror port and "see" (snoop, trace) all traffic that goes out your router's WAN port and analyze it.


iOS - Photos & message access to MDM installed apps

MDM controls how an iOS device is remotely configured and what apps are pushed to be installed. It has nothing to do with what permissions are available to an app.

Reading photos stored on devices requires access to user photos. The mechanism to ask user for photos permission can be programmed by an iOS app developer and would work in the same way irrespective of the way the app is installed (MDM or App Store).

There are no permissions/mechanisms available in iOS which can let a third party app read text and WhatsApp messages. Each app is technically sandboxed and need to seek permission from iOS to access user data and device hardware.


How to import photos+videos from iphone with IOS 7.0.4?

You can use the Photos app to import photos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac without using iCloud Photo Library. These steps also work for importing images from digital cameras and SD cards.

Make sure that you have the latest version of iTunes on your Mac. Importing photos to your Mac requires iTunes 12.5.1 or later.
Connect your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or digital camera to your Mac with a USB cable. If you're using an SD card, insert it into the SD slot on your Mac, or connect it using a card reader.
You might need to unlock your iOS device using your passcode. You might also see a prompt on the iOS device asking you to Trust This Computer. Tap Trust to continue.
On your Mac, the Photos app automatically opens. If it doesn't, open the Photos app.
The Photos app shows an Import screen with all the photos and videos that are on your connected device. If the Import screen doesn't automatically appear, click the Import tab at the top of the Photos app, or click the device's name in the Photos sidebar.
To import a selection of photos, click the ones you want, then click Import Selected. To import all new photos, click Import All New Photos.


How to debug iPhone overheating when the cause is clearly not the environment when the phone is used?

I would advise phoning Apple first. you will be able to speak with someone regarding the overheating error you are having.

They will more than likely tell you why, and failing that recommend that you go to an Apple store. They will look at the device and run diagnostics.

If you report an issue with a product at the store and the issue cannot be replicated they will usually replace the device with a refurb model on the spot. I have had this happen twice (the swap, not the overheating) once with an iPad and the other an iPhone 3GS, both were replaced.

Yes the sad thing is that they will need to wipe all the data if they cannot fix it after diagnostics. You will hopefully have a backup on your computer, or if you used iCloud a back-up in the cloud, which you can start to download instantly at the store.

Hope it works out for you


Why will my iPhone 5 not connect to the Internet through 4g but will on wifi

Go to your Settings app, then Cellular. Make sure that Cellular Data is on, then go to Cellular Data Options and make sure that all settings (except Data Roaming) are enabled.


I maintain my Unix website on, presently, a Mac. Can I maintain it from a (not jailbroken) iPad 3?

Sounds like Diet Coda would be right up your alley. It's an iPad rethinking of the highly regarded Mac App Coda.

Basically it's everything you need to do hand coding of websites in one app package — a text editor for coding, (S)FTP for file management, and SSH for any server-side tasks. That's a pretty bare-bones description, there are a lot of well polished details that you may appreciate, I suggest checking out the site for more information.
You may also be interested in reviews from Macworld and Macstories.
Backups
It's worth noting that Diet Coda doesn't store the site resources on your iPad (it may cache some for performance reasons, but no permanent storage), all editing is done directly on the server. For this reason, it's probably best to have a backup of your website stored elsewhere if you don't already. This could be your Mac, but you could keep it all online by using something like Amazon S3. From the looks of your site (it appears to be just HTML and images, no big downloads, etc.), you could almost certainly keep a backup there for just over a dollar per year. It would be easy enough to set up an rsync script to automatically back up your site on a regular schedule to S3, and even keep snapshotted versions, you wouldn't really have to do anything beyond the initial set up.


Is there an app on Cydia that will let me turn off dock audio?

Unfortunately, this would require some very specific code that goes beyond anything I've seen on Cydia. That's not to say that a solution does not (or will not by the time I finish this post) exist. However, through my research and experience, this is handled by code much deeper in iOS than most Cydia apps care to touch. I wish I could offer a solution, but unfortunately, I think the only "real" solution is repair or replacement. Sorry. :(

Good luck and happy listening!


How can I force my phone to send iMessage instead of SMS? (I'm in a mobile promo) [Iphone 5 iOS 9.0.2]

You can go to Settings > Messages and turn the Send as SMS option off. (The actual names of the options may be different as I am just translating from my local language settings.)


Unless you trust that you understand what that app wants from the keychain (which could be a harmless - secure token generated to not track you but store a session or could be the password to a very important service and not harmless t all) - the best option is to deny the request and see what breaks.

Unless you have a good reason to allow access to keys, you shouldn't.


Can a Parallels VM be salvaged from a recovered .hds file (200gb file)?

It's possible that just the partition table got trashed somehow, use TestDisk to re-write the partition table:

  TestDisk is powerful free data recovery software! It was primarily designed to help recover lost partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software: certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally deleting a Partition Table). Partition table recovery using TestDisk is really easy.

Attach the virtual drive to another VM and use TestDisk from there.

This Parallel's support article describes the process, Unmountable boot volume BSOD when you start Windows virtual machine.


This command:

    stat -f "%N%SY" symbolicLinkName

will produce the output:

    symbolicLinkName -> linkedFileName

(-f is the "format" option for "stat".  The %N in the format is the filename of symbolic link and the %SY is the way to print out the name of the file it points to with the string " -> " before it. (The S usually means to print the field as a string but it has the special meaning for "Y", the name of the file pointed to, which adds the arrow before the file name.)


Running Eclipse Luna using Oracle Java 8 on Mavericks

JRE is Java Runtime Environment which is used for running java applications. But if you want to develop Java applications and do Java programming, you need JDK i.e. Java Development Kit.

To know more see the following question

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1906445/what-is-the-difference-between-jdk-and-jre


This is how it's designed - you need to override it each time the device detects a potential driving situation.

You need to turn the feature off manually one by one or once systematically to disable the checks and warnings.

How to disable automatic Do Not Disturb While Driving

By default in iOS 11, the feature is set to switch on automatically in the background. If you're almost always the driver, and rarely a passenger, you can leave it like this.

When it activates you get a permanent notification show up on your lock screen indicating that it is doing its thing. If you're driving, leave it alone. If you're a passenger, you can long-press on the lock screen notification and choose to deactivate it.

If you're almost always the passenger and rarely the driver, you can stop it coming on automatically by heading to Settings > Do Not Disturb then scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap on the "Activate" option. Here you can choose the "Manually" option so that it never comes on by itself.

Once you have chosen the manual activation, you can add a control to Control Centre by going to Settings > Control Centre > Customise Control Centre and adding the Do Not Disturb While Driving control. Now you just need to swipe up to reveal Control Centre and tap the little car icon to activate it.

From: http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/142217-how-to-disable-or-customise-do-not-disturb-while-driving-in-ios-11


Can't tab between dialog options on Finder's Replace File dialog

Looks like another example of Apples notoriously great user interface. In order to use keyboard to interact with the dialog, you have to click on it first.  But it has to be on the text of the question, not the title bar or blank grey areas around it.

When the dialog is activated, it's the focused window.  You can tell by looking in the Window menu.  The "Copy" window has checkbox next to it.  But it's in this magical-apple-great-interfacy focused state.  In order to make it focused proper, you have to click on the text. Oh, also, like all great UI's, it will not give you a visual cue that it went from apple-magical-focus to normal focus.  But if you press tab, the buttons become selected in a rotation.

The only solution I can think of involves Apple's wonderfully user friendly and clever programming language AppleScript.  Or some automation tool like Keyboard Maestro.  Or skip Finder all together for an option that's less magical like Terminal or ForkLift.

PS Sorry about all the sarcasm.  It's just the only thing that annoys me more than Apples awful UI's is their marketing boasting how user-friendliness is their forte.


How can I download Minecraft from Aptoide?

From Aptoide (emphasis mine):

  Aptoide is the largest independent Android app store and allows one to setup and manage your own Android Store.

You cannot directly run Android software on an Apple product.

Look for Minecraft on the iOS app store or download it directly from the official site for OS X.


Do Apple brick-and-mortar stores carry the iMac with built-in VESA Mount Adapter?

I initially flagged this question to be "Off Topic", but in the US, you can order on-line and pick up at your local Apple Store. There may be a delay, but it is possible:


Process using more memory than I physically have

This guy explains it well http://www.chriswrites.com/what-is-virtual-memory-on-the-mac/

  So What is Virtual Memory?

  Your Mac comes with a limited amount of
  physical memory (RAM) installed by default. Memory is critical to any
  computer to run applications and carry out all the operations
  commanded by the user. Memory must be as fast as possible (and it
  helps to have as much as possible) to maximise your Mac’s performance;
  thankfully, prices have drastically fallen in recent years.
  Nevertheless, every computer has a finite amount of memory so Mac OS X
  might actually need to use more than is physically available on your
  system.

  This is where virtual memory comes in – you can think of it as a kind
  of extension to the real memory on your system, albeit much slower
  because it is in fact physical space on your hard disk (or SSD, if you
  have one installed). Let’s say that you have 4 GB of main memory on
  your Mac and a 512 GB hard disk. If Mac OS X needs to use all 4 GB of
  main memory, it can still make use of any free space on your hard disk
  as an extension to that memory. Unfortunately, virtual memory is much
  slower than the physical RAM installed in your computer, because hard
  disks cannot match the speed of memory chips.


iPhone Mail displays the wrong number of drafts

Try opening the Drafts folder; that will start synchronizing the folder with what's in your Gmail folder.

I've noticed this happening for some of the Gmail folders on iPhone. As long as you don't access them, they don't all update.


What are my options for syncing a folder between a Mac and a PC?

Dropbox does have an option called LAN sync, which syncs files between computers on a LAN directly. However this still also syncs them to the cloud, it just saves you some internet bandwidth.

As @woz suggested, a file share on either computer or a NAS (including Time Capsule) would do the job. You could also run rsync from a cronjob, or use GoodSync, which has a neat GUI for that.


This, unfortunately, does not appear to be possible. See the question comments for more details.


Force iMessage auto complete to ignore Land line numbers

Mark the number you want to message as a favorite and it will get precedence over other numbers.

Also, look for the blue text to indicate iMessage when you see the various options for a specific contact (email or mobile) and you'll be sure to get their messaging account as opposed to sending it to the land line.

Also, as you send more and more messages, the ones you use float to the top. If you've "trained" your device to send to the wrong number inadvertently, you might need to slow down and send a bunch of messages / use the favorite trick to get the preferred number to be the one that floats to the top.

Alas, I don't know a way to categorically prevent a contact's number from being a message target short of deleting the land line and placing it in the "notes" section, which might be viable if you want to retrain the message app and then return the "land line" number to it's proper place in contacts.


Go to Sytem Preferences>Network>Wi-Fi>Advanced>Wi-Fi and drag the item with hotspot name to the top.  This will prioritize that Wifi network over any other network.


There's no difference except for the flag icon.  It is presumably there so that Canadians don't have to be looking at the US flag all the time to type their language.  The same holds for ABC, which is the same as US but no flag at all, for the rest of the world.

Unfortunately Apple does not document anywhere the dozens of different software keyboards/input sources which it provides.


Upgrade to Mojave messed up Guest account

Try this. It worked for me. Best of luck
https://www.imore.com/how-enable-guest-user-account-your-mac

Let us know how it went.


For anyone else in this situation, I'm posting my experience.  I did install iTunes and do a backup/restore, but that didn't fix it.  It did help me see that, in fact, there was a huge chuck of data marked as "other" - this is what most forum posts describe.  I began deleting apps to see if I could figure out which was responsible, but nothing reduced that wasted space.  Finally, I was forced to accept the unpleasant reality.  Yes, you have to wipe your phone. Since I had a backup, I went to Settings -> General -> Reset (at the bottom) -> Erase All Content and Settings.  After, I used iTunes to do a restore. This brought back pretty much everything the way I had it.  However, apps that I deleted I had to search and reinstall from the AppStore.  (Why don't they have a "my apps" list like Amazon does?)


How can I empty my Camera Roll from my iPhone?

I'm afraid there isn't an easy way to do so. As far as I know, there is no app which can do what you want... So I've come up with two alternative solutions.

The most easy one is to connect your iPhone to your Mac, launch Image Capture (which comes by default on your Mac), select all the photos and delete them. Here is a tutorial how to do so.

You can do this on your iPhone as well, without a Mac, but you'll have to do it manually. Which isn't a grateful job if you've got over a 1,000 photos...

Open the camera app, hit the upper-right icon (share), tap all the photos you want to delete (they are marked with a red check-icon) and then hit delete.


How do you copy a single word from an SMS?

Sadly, you can't select a single word from a received SMS.

You're going to have to copy the whole SMS to a note (Or to the "reply" input), then select the part you want from that note.

That said, if the sent code is numeric, a user can directly copy it.
iOS will interpret it as a possible phone number, and allow several options when the number is touched & held down.


External SSD with OS installed not working?

If it worked fine for several months then I would suggest the case supports it. It's very possible that the control board inside the case or the cable is damaged.

If you have the technical know how, I would suggest placing the SSD inside the iMac. That way you also avoid the bottleneck of having to go over USB. There are plenty of online guides on how to do this.

I have used several of the MacSales kits, all the iMacs are still running and it took me 30 minutes at most.


I am assuming you mean changing your nickname. If so, you must go into the ME section of GameCenter, tap Account (where it says your email), hit View Account, then Edit Account Info. Scroll down to Nickname to change your name. However, I believe that the names may still be linked to the Apple ID and will therefore appear on your son's iPod. If that is the case, he may have to follow the above steps as well.


Not identical to that, but emoji has several lock & key symbols

available from 'Show Emoji & Symbols' if you have System Prefs > Keyboard > Keyboard > 'Show Keyboard, Emoji & Symbol viewers in menu bar' enabled.


Is there an alternative to the five-finger swipe out gesture, allowing me to copy things to/from the desktop?

I would suggest you set up a hot corner to show the desktop (this is what I do):

Open System Preferences
Click Mission Control
Click the "Hot Corners..." button at the bottom
Set the corner you want to use for "Desktop" (I use the top right)
Click OK

Now you can move a file from a Finder window to the desktop with just the mouse:

Click and drag the file you want to move to the hot corner you set up, which will show the desktop
Drop the file on the desktop


Any app that plays songs from the device library can read song title, artist, album and a lot more, this is included in the Apple Framework.
Lyrics can be read as well, so long as they are included in the meta data of the song file. Most songs don't include this information, so the lyrics meta data is empty.
If you subscribe to Apple Music, it will load lyrics for songs you have purchased.  An app called Get Lyrical can also look up and install lyrics.  Finally, you can type or paste them yourself in the Get Info window.
The only other way to get the lyrics is to load a separate file such as an .lrc  This is why apps that show lyrics require you to play the song in them, because they have written some code to display .lrc file contents, or the meta data if available. .lrc files can also contain time data so can sync the playback to the lyrics, meta data does not normally do this.


Why is htop producing different reports than Activity Monitor?

In order to get accurate processes, cpu usage and accumulative time, the user running htop should be root. This is not the case with top, because it has the "set-user-ID-on-execution bit" (suid) set.

Execute sudo htop from your user terminal or if you trust your local users add the suid to the binary (# chmod u+s path-to-htop-binary).


Disabling Schubert's PDF Browser plugin on Safari

I found a workaround. Move Schubert's plugin file which is located in:

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/PDF Browser Plugin.plugin

or

/Users/YOUR_NAME/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/PDF Browser Plugin.plugin

to

/Users/YOUR_NAME/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/YOUR_PROFILE_DIRECTORY/plugins/

If you don't have plugins directory - create it. That's all :)

For Opera users - they should move plugin file to:

Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Disabled Plug-Ins/

Firefox and Safari don't use plugins from this location, but Opera does :)


What is the difference between Apple Remote Desktop / Remote Management / Remote Login / Remote Events and Screen sharing?

You are correct, VNC is a simpler version of Remote Desktop (note: Remote Desktop uses the VNC protocol in addition to adding a lot more features)

Remote Desktop offers more management features; ability to black out host computers screen, push updates, file transfers etc (think TeamViewer but by Apple).
http://www.apple.com/remotedesktop/

VNC doesnt have any of these options, its just a simple way to access a remote screen.

Remote Login allows you to SSH to a remote computer (command line - you dont see the remote desktop)

eg You may want to run a command on a remote computer, you could connect using VNC and open terminal or instead you could remote login via SSH and run the command without actually interacting with the screen of the remote computer

Updated to include @Wheat Williams notes below


Mac Pro (10.11.5) can't log in, doesn't display screens

I figured out a way to solve this problem without too much trouble. However, it only works with a second mac computer.

Put the Mac Pro into target disk mode.
Use a cable to hook it up to another mac computer (I used a firewire 800 to thunderbolt cable)
Restart other mac computer and hold down option to see boot options.
Boot other mac computer from Mac Pro's startup disk.
Follow startup/login process as usual.
Restart both mac computers.

The Mac Pro now runs as usual.


How to copy-paste in Finder when there's no right-click space?

The settings-wheel ("Action") button on the Finder acts as a right-click on the current folder. If you left-click on it, you'll get all the options you would on right-clicking the current folder, including "Paste Item". I've indicated it with an arrow below:


How to assign hotkeys to paragraph styles in Pages 5?

The feature was lost in the initial release of Pages 5, but was brought back in in iWork 5.2.

You can choose the shortcuts F1 through F8, and it appears to be a per-document setting. I suspect the reason it has to be per-document is that the styles themselves are part of the document. You may also be able to apply shortcuts to a template, so that new documents based on it get the shortcuts, if you use the same templates/styles a lot.

The UI in Pages 5.2.2:

I'm not entirely sure why, but Apple have done similar things in a few of their applications, with major updates (e.g. 4.x to 5.x) seeing a bunch of features disappear with a simplified UI, and then some of the lost features come back in minor subsequent updates.


Editing Hosts File to Redirect URL to different IP Address

Note that zionica.com and www.zionica.com (or any other subdomain that comes before the word zionica) is a different domain, and the line as listed will not trap everything automatically by listing only the Second Level Domain.

www.zionica.com

www is a third-level domain, more commonly referred to as a 'sub-domain'.
zionica is the second-level domain. This word/placement on it's own generally does not have a more specific name.
com is a Top-Level Domain (TLD). Just like co, cc, org, net, ca, jp, uk, me, info, etc. (Everything except etc is a TLD.)

You can stuff multiple names into a single IP address line, so this is valid:

199.204.138.195 zionica.com www.zionica.com


How do you use your iPod shuffle or nano?

Nanos or shuffles are great for workouts at the gym or while running. You can use them just about anywhere. I personally use a Classic for my stuff, but the nano is great if you have a smaller library or want something very mobile.

As far as what you can do with it (other than playing music), it really depends on which generation you have. You obviously can't really run 'apps' on it, but many generations (of nanos) had some small games, radios, could play video, etc.


Click on the Advanced link on the bottom left.  It will show you an option to continue on to the site you want to visit.

Chrome will show you this page if it finds problems with certificates, http vs https, etc.  It's just to let you know that it thinks something's not right and it gives you the option to continue or go back.


Encrypted external drive usually prompts for password, despite being in keychain

Two things you can try are key chain first aid and keychain reset, altough these in-house solutions hardly ever fixed anyhting for me. This is based on the fact that when some apps keep asking for passwords stored in the keychain, it's sometimes related to a corrupt keychain DB (Address Book's empty DB comes already corrupt on every new Mac - sarcasm).


How to bring OS X native Digital Camera RAW support from 10.11 El Capitan to 10.9 Mavericks?

Sticking with an older OS is going to leave you out of the loop on updates included in new versions. This is unavoidable if you are not willing to upgrade. For what it's worth, every older system that I have upgraded to El Capitan has seen some performance increases, in at least one case it was a significant bump in usability (early unibody MacBook that was barely usable in Yosemite is working beautifully in El Capitan).

Do a full system backup and give the newer OS a shot. It is difficult but not impossible to downgrade. If you can swap in a spare hard drive, and install from there, you won't risk your current setup just to check whether you can live with the changes implemented in 10.11.


You can log into your old account again directly in the GameCenter app:

start GameCenter
go to your profile and scroll down
tap on your account name (at the bottom) to log out
log in with the old account


MacBook Pro doesn't sleep when lid closes

Seeing that you disassembled things to clean everything out, there is a good chance that you forgot to attach (or possibly damaged) the magnetic sleep sensor cable/battery indicator cable assembly.

You can diagnose this by putting a magnet on the right side of the MacBook (where the battery lights are).  If it doesn't go to sleep, it's probably not connected.  Another good test is to run Apple Hardware Test (AHT).  Hold the D key while booting from a powered off state with the AC adapter connected.  If there is an issue with your sensor, it should show up in this test.

You will find the connector to the right of the battery terminal.  If it is in fact damaged, a replacement is quite inexpensive (Apple PN# 922-9061)


Convenient way to store sensitive information on Mac/iPad?

I use 1Password. I a bit pricey but worth it. There are iOS and Mac OS versions. You have to purchase both. Where 1Password really shines is for website logins. There's a demo for the Mac on their site.


Mac HDD very slow running xcode and iOS Simulator

Unfortunately, the choice of internal storage for your model iMac was the worst possible, in that the 500GB hard drive you have installed was a 5400rpm model. These iMacs also came with a 1TB Fusion (or Hybrid) drive option as well as a 256GB SSD option, both of which are significantly faster (especially the SSD).

Storage

So, to answer your question as asked, you can in fact replace the hard drive in your model iMac if you want, although Apple does not 'officially' consider the storage (i.e. HDD/SSD) in any of the Tapered Edge aluminum iMacs to be upgradable. However, to be fair to Apple, upgrading this is extremely difficult and I would not recommend anyone having a go at it unless they're experienced or are very technically competent.

Based on your specs, your iMac has the model identifier iMac14,4 (you can double-check this via the About This Mac option under the Apple Menu - click the System Report button). Instructions on upgrading your storage, along with videos, are available here.

Remember though, this is not easy!

RAM

Your particular model iMac only came with 8GB RAM and this was soldered onto the Logic Board, so cannnot be removed and replaced. There are no additional memory slots. In other words, this cannot be upgraded whatsoever.

External Storage

In terms of external storage, the fastest option would be to use an SSD in an external enclosure connected to one of your Thunderbolt ports. Here are some example options. However, you'd have to factor in the cost of the SSD and enclosure and decide whether that money would be better put towards a different Mac? The fact is that your model iMac is not really suited to heavy work as it's throttled by a lack of both processing power and RAM.

Comparison test

Also, as a test, I used a mid-2010 iMac with a 500GB hard drive installed and launched Xcode and compiled a few builds to the simulator and in all instances these were a lot quicker than the 15 mins you talk about. Of course, without compiling the same code this is not a fair comparison. However, this iMac did have 12GB of RAM installed and that is a 50% boost compared to what you will ever have for yours.

My recommendations

I would bite the bullet and start saving for another Mac.
Upgrading the internal hard drive is very difficult and I assume beyond your competency (no offense intended)!
In the meantime, I would ensure you keep your simulator running after first launch to significantly reduce subsequent builds etc.
You could also run an Apple Diagnostics Test to check your hardware to ensure there isn't some other undiagnsed problem. To do this, restart your iMac and immediately hold down the D key. When prompted, run the tests. If you get the option to run an extended test, select this as well. Note this may take some time to run!

Any problems/questions, let me know.


How to change keyboard layout to specific language with hotkey in macOS?

For the general case of changing input sources via keyboard shortcuts, see this earlier question.

Another approach might be to use the app Ukelele to design a custom keyboard that does what you want, but it would be a lot of work.

If it would be enough to use Caps Lock to switch between English and Russian, you can do this by just checking a box at the bottom of System Preferences > Keyboard > Input Sources.


Import signature from image file in Preview

Signatures are stored in the keychain.  If you can create a signature on another machine this thread may be of use
Can I export my signature from Preview on one Mac and import it on another?


Shortcut to switch windows, bringing the newly active window to the top

⌘ + TAB switches between applications. It brings up last active window of selected application.

Application can have many windows open (or no open window at all). To navigate between application windows:

first navigate to desired application using ⌘ + TAB
without releasing ⌘ use Up or Down arrow on keyboard to see all open windows of selected application.
Use Up/Down/Left/Right arrows to navigate between windows.
reaching desired window press Enter to bring it in front


mail - pop account crashes mail when it checks

Ok the issue was that I sent an email using the pop account to itself and for some reason osx mail couldn't handle it and would keep crashing trying to download that email.   So I used my iPhone to access the mail through IMAP looked at the other emails from the last email that I received on my computer and process of elimination deleted those subsequent emails until i found the offending email.


What other "Superdrives" are able to replace the UJ-868?

A drive to replace the Matshita UJ-868 should be:

9.5mm in height
SATA interface
Slot loading

You can even replace it with a UJ-267 (which is a Blu-ray writer)


macOS chooses which of those default routes to use based on the service order. You can set the order by opening System Preferences, select Network and then click the gear icon below the interface list to select Set Service Order. Drag and drop the interfaces to prioritize.

As you're working with the Terminal, this information is also available there by running:

networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder

This will show you the prioritized list. You can change the order by running:

networksetup -ordernetworkservices <service1> <service2> <...>

Note that this determines the route chosen only for connections initiated from your computer. If a connection is initiated by another device, the interface that it is initiated from will be used for that connection.

I.e. for example you have both an Ethernet and WiFi connection to another computer. You could set your service order so that you prefer connections to be made over WiFi. But if the other computer initiates the connection over Ethernet, then packets you send later on that connection will be sent over Ethernet.


What are safe CPU temperatures ranges under heavy load in the unibody Macbook Pro?

This model of MacBook Pro has a totally passive heat sink, so the two temperatures you mention are on the main die / logic board and not some measure of how hot your heat sink itself is running. The only way to correct this difference would be to have a new logic board installed (or get a new CPU mounted on your logic board).

As a technician, I'm more worried when the heat sink isn't closer to ambient than to the core when stressing the CPU with constant computing load. Then, it might be worth it to crack the case and re-apply the thermal paste between the metal cover (the CPU heatsink) on the logic board and the finned device (a.k.a. the Mac heat sink part) that gets the heat from the CPU heatsink to the air flowing out the back hinge area of your Mac.

If you had a faulty CPU you should be able to expose that in a geek bench test where it would throttle itself down under premature overheating. If you still had warranty left, I would open a support ticket (visit a genius bar or call AppleCare) to document this. They can then enter your concerns and offer a logic board swap if you are out of spec. I've had good luck getting concerns on the record and having Apple cover a repair if they had the chance to cover it under warranty, chose not to, and then the device failed within a few months after warranty.


iOS: Stop Photos app from opening automatically after receiving photos via AirDrop

iOS is programmed to automatically open the default handler app after it receives file(s)/data via AirDrop.

There is no native way built into iOS to change this behaviour.


"Cannot execute binary file" with alias of binary

Instead of using Finder aliases, use Terminal to create symbolic links (see man ln for details on usage):

ln -s /path/to/python3.3/binary /usr/local/bin/python
ln -s /path/to/python2.6/binary /usr/local/bin/python2.6

It's usually not a good idea to mess with /usr/bin content (will be wiped out with the next upgrade). Use /usr/local/bin instead and make sure it comes before /usr/bin in $PATH.


Services bug that prematurely activates an application

The only workaround I've found after testing several different scenarios is to wrap the Safari commands within a do shell script command, e.g. do shell script "osascript -e 'tell application \"Safari\" to activate'". Note that with osascript, multiple −e options may be given to build up a multi-line script.

From the manual page for osascript:

  −e statement

  Enter one line of a script. If −e is given, osascript will not look for a filename in the argument list. Multiple −e options may be given to build up a multi-line script. Because most scripts use characters that are special to many shell programs (e.g., AppleScript uses single and double quote marks, “(”, “)”, and “*”), the statement will have to be correctly quoted and escaped to get it past the shell intact.

Example AppleScript code:

tell application "Safari"
    activate
    make new document in front
    set URL of front document to "http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/271133/services-bug-that-prematurely-activates-an-application"
end tell

An example of the AppleScript code above, written as a do shell script command using osascript with the -e option, as necessary.

do shell script "osascript -e 'tell application \"Safari\"' -e 'activate' -e 'make new document in front' -e 'set URL of front document to \"http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/271133/services-bug-that-prematurely-activates-an-application\"' -e 'end tell'"

As you can see, each line of AppleScript code from the normal tell block statement is its own -e option, and as noted in the manual page for osascript with the -e option, escaping with a backslash has been done as necessary for the code to compile correctly before being run.

In other words, this turn the normal tell block statement and its included commands to a one-line do shell script command so as to circumvent the apparent bug in the use case scenario presented in the OP.

Note that you should be able to do similar with other applications triggered by the same bug, by substituting the appropriate application name (and commands) as needed.


My macbook air mid 2011 no longer connects to 5g WiFi

As you mentioned in your comment, it works sometimes. Then, I would recommend to flush DNS of your MacBook and try it again as a first step.

Flush the DNS cache by typing:

  dscacheutil -flushcache

Forget network and try to connect it back.

Other professional steps to know more on it:

Run Apple Diagnostics:

If you still haven't solved your Wi-Fi worries you could use Apple Diagnostics to check for Wi-Fi or network issues.

To do so follow these steps:

Disconnect all external devices (except the keyboard and screen).
Shut down the Mac, then turn it on while pressing and holding D.
When you see the screen asking you to choose your language do so, then watch as the progress bar indicates that your Mac is being assessed. This takes 2-3 minutes.

If problems are identified, Apple Diagnostics will suggest solutions.

Reset your SMC, PRAM or NVRAM

Reset the PRAM and the SMC (System Management Controller) is worth a try. This process is covered here: How to reset your Mac's NVRAM, PRAM, and SMC.

I suggest you try this step as a last option.

However, flushing DNS should work if your network is working sometime then.


Why I have not the option to open the web Inspector interface - Safari?

There's another way of showing the Web Inspector.

Right/Secondary click on a web page and select: Inspect Element or Review the elements.


Apps using the camera API crash after taking a picture on an iPhone 4S running iOS 7

Rebooting always fixes the problem for me.

As for permanent solutions, haven't tried this myself but this comment has a possible solution (pre-iOS 7 however iOS users have reported success):  http://www.iphoneincanada.ca/how-to/how-to-fix-iphone-camera-roll-crash-and-photos-turned-to-other-in-itunes/#comment-347059180


Using Time Capsule with existing Sky ADSL router

I asked the same question on the Apple forums, and got a solution that worked for me:

https://discussions.apple.com/message/20182532?ac_cid=op123456#20182532

I'll repeat it here so somebody else might find it useful in the future:

This is where you use a roaming network.

Do not extend.. that is much slower.. since you have ethernet and the TC plugged in you are 90% of the way there.

Use the TC to create a network.. with the same name and same passkey with security settings as the wireless downstairs. Locking channels is not a bad idea.. as this does require one difference .. the network upstairs must be on a different channel to the one downstairs.. then all will be hunky dorey.. !!


Can I tell my Mac to charge to 80% only?

Use osx_battery_charge_limit.
Follow the instructions on github:
# 1. Install command-line tools
xcode-select --install

# 2. Install Homebrew
ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

# 3. Install Python3
brew install python3

Alternatively, you can also get python3 from python.org.
Then, git clone --recursive https://github.com/DevNulPavel/osx_battery_charge_limit, cd osx_battery_charge_limit, and finally sudo python3 main.py -s 80
I think it might be better if you set it even lower, for example, 60% or 70%. Then, before you need to use it on battery for a long time, sudo python3 main.py -r. You can automate this switching between 80% and full using cron.
There is also a GUI version: https://github.com/godly-devotion/charge-limiter. Both work by setting the BCLM key in SMC to a custom value.


Can imagent in OS X Mountain Lion be made to consume fewer resources?

Force Quit on the imagent process and then restarting the Messages app reduced memory consumption to a few MB instead.


apple 10.9.1 MS office two screens simultaneously working on MS word on one screen and PPT on the other

If you activate "Displays have separate Spaces" in the "Mission Control" Preference Pane in the System Preferences (logout is required), you can use booth screens with an fullscreen applications (CTRL-CMD-F).

I tested this under OS X 10.9.1 with MS Word 2011 v.14.3.8 and MS PowerPoint 2011 v.14.3.8.


turning off hardware acceleration (VDVDecoder) seemed to fix it


Where are System Preferences settings stored? Trying to script equal brightness settings for two monitors

Preference locations

Some system-wide settings are in /Library/Preferences, and some user settings are in ~/Library/Preferences. I say "some" because I have found settings in these locations before, but have not done an exhaustive search. Also, this is what could be called an implementation detail. It's not documented publicly by Apple, is not intended for users to manipulate directly (by editing the .plist files), and the way it works could change without warning in a future version of OS X. The fact that Apple made ~/Library hidden by default on Lion is a good indication that the contents of this directory are not intended to be modified by typical users. So, for best results, you should modify the settings indirectly through System Preferences itself.

Having said that, I changed the brightness of my iMac running 10.7.3, then went looking for changed plist files in the directories listed above. I couldn't find anything pertaining to screen brightness.

However, I was able to use Automator to record a workflow that opens System Preferences, goes to the Displays pref pane, and adjusts the brightness slider. This may be an easier and more reliable option for you. A quick Google search indicates that automator workflows can run from the command line, but I didn't try this.

I'll also add that one of my setups is a MacBook Air with a 30" cinema display. Setting the brightness to the same percentage on both (25% for example) does not mean that the brightness matches visually. You will likely need to choose different brightness levels for each display to get them to appear equally bright.

Monitoring filesystem usage by System Preferences

EDIT: The way you can see which plist files are accessed or modified while running System Preferences is to run a command like this in Terminal:

sudo fs_usage -w | grep "System Pref" | grep plist | grep -v "Info\.plist"

This command outputs a huge list of paths and files, some of which don't exist. File updates continued logging for a few seconds after I quit the app.

If you go this route, here's what I recommend:

Dump the list to a textfile
Eliminate duplicate paths
Look at the files which have been modified. Files with states such as "stat64", "open", and "getattrlist" are just being opened for reading, but files with states of "chmod" or "rename" are being modified. I saw my ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist file get renamed with an extension of .CvkFEbo, which I believe is the system's way of performing an atomic file write (write the entire file under a different name, and if that is successful, rename it to the original filename).

Unfortunately, I still didn't turn up anything regarding a screen brightness setting persisted to disk, but I have only lightly skimmed the fs_usage results to now.

Command-line tool to control brightness

I found an article that lists source code for controlling screen brightness on OS X using the CoreGraphics framework. The article is a little over two years old, and I haven't tried it myself, but it may be useful to you. There are simple compiling instructions posted at the end.


Mouse scroll stopped working with Less in Terminal

After going through a few other answers, I've realized there is a $LESS environment variable that contains default flags.

It's empty on my other Mac and Ubuntu system, but for some reason it's equal to -FRX on this machine, and that's causing these issues:

-X caused it to NOT accept mouse scrolls
-F caused it to automatically exit for small files

Which is weird, since I never changed it, so it must've been modified by some other program. Anyways, manually setting it in my .rc files fixed the issue:

export LESS="-R"

Sources:

Unix & Linux: Neither 'less' or 'less -X' clear screen on exit
SuperUser: Less command clearing screen upon exit


Customizing Wallpaper for Apple Watch Infograph Watch Face?

Wallpaper can't be changed for the Infograph Watch face.
Even watchOS 7, currently in beta testing, doesn't allow this.
I suggest you provide feedback directly to Apple and indicate you want this ability: https://www.apple.com/feedback/watch.html


It's called clamshell mode and it's supported by the macOS.
Here's the Apple website about it

  Make sure that your Mac notebook is plugged in to an outlet using the AC power adapter.
  Connect a USB keyboard and mouse to your Mac.
  With your Mac turned on and the display open, connect the Mac to the appropriate port on the external display or projector and turn the display or projector on. Use an appropriate Apple video adapter if necessary.
  After your Mac notebook's Desktop appears on the external display, close the computer's lid.
  When you close the lid:

  In OS X Lion 10.7 and later, the external display changes to a blue screen, then shows your Desktop.
  In OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard and earlier, you can wake your Mac by clicking the mouse button or pressing a key on the external keyboard.

  You can now use your Mac notebook as you normally would with a USB keyboard and mouse.


Getting Time Machine to only back up when idle

TM is by default set to 60 minutes interval.

But you can change that to, lets say, 5 hours or any number without any hack.

Run this command in Terminal using seconds.

  sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.backupd-auto StartInterval -int 18000


Why am I getting "An internal error occurred while preflighting your volume for APFS conversion"?

Try to install on the old disk first, to see whether there is a hardware issue with your new disk, for instance by copying a lot of files to it. You can also then install a second copy of your OS to the SSD and see where it fails.

Once both work, if you boot with ALT and press CTRL, it will save the ssd you are booting to as default.


How can I add an audio menu in the Finder?

You can ⌥-click the volume menu in the menu bar to quickly select which audio output device to use.


Automator simulation of the mouse and keyboard

You can automate a mouse click using Applescript.

tell application "System Events"
    tell application process "Application_Name"
        key code 53
        delay 1
        click (click at {1800, 1200})
    end tell
end tell

If you want to click within a browser window you can use Applescript with the help of Javascript

tell application "safari"
    activate
    do JavaScript "document.getElementById('element').click();"
end tell

Purely via terminal, you can create a textfile with the name click.m or whatever name you like, save it with the following code

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#import <ApplicationServices/ApplicationServices.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    NSAutoreleasePool *pool = [[NSAutoreleasePool alloc] init];
    NSUserDefaults *args = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];

    int x = [args integerForKey:@"x"];
    int y = [args integerForKey:@"y"];

    CGPoint pt;
    pt.x = x;
    pt.y = y;

    CGPostMouseEvent( pt, 1, 1, 1 );
    CGPostMouseEvent( pt, 1, 1, 0 );

    [pool release];
    return 0;
}

then compile it:

gcc -o click click.m -framework ApplicationServices -framework Foundation

and move it to the appropriate system folder

sudo mv click /usr/bin
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/click

and now you can run a simple terminal command to manipulate the mouse

click -x [coord] -y [coord]

Other scripts you could use include MouseTools or xdotool; both of which are open-source.


Mac Pro 2008 OS X 10.6.8 random restarts, grinding HDD

Grinding is a hard drive's way to remind you to be really protective of your drive containing the most up to date backup of your data.

Here is a fabulous app that educates you on what each failure mode might sound like.

Drive Saver app for iOS.


Apple's Developer Documentation addresses this question.  In their Human Interface Guidelines for Sign In with Apple they it states:

  To help people set up an account and sign in, it's best to use the familiar buttons that Apple provides for Sign In with Apple. When you use the system-provided API to create a Sign In with Apple button, you get:

  A button that's guaranteed to use an Apple-approved title, font, color, and style
  Assurance that the button's contents maintain ideal proportions as you change its style
  Automatic translation of the button's title into the language that's set for the device
  Support for configuring the button's corner radius to match the style of your UI

There's several examples of buttons designs to fit the look of your app.  You have to use Xcode 11, of course, to get access to this API.

Here's a short tutorial that indicates how to add this feature to your own app.


Can I lock the functions on the touch bar?

You can set “Touch Bar shows” to “Expanded Control Strip” in Settings - Keyboard - Keyboard.

You can alternatively leave it as “App Controls” and check the “Show Control Strip” box, which allows you to push the arrow on the right side of Touch Bar to show the expanded control strip.

Another alternative is to set “Press Fn Key” to “Expand Control Strip”, which will display the expanded control strip when you hold fn.