Can iPad SSL/TLS traffic be inspected during DEP enrollment?

The DEP program as well as iOS security design out of the box will likely foil your attempts to enroll a device using networks where you need to install custom CA/certificates.

iOS does not automate silent installation of trust certificates without being enrolled in MDM or supervised. You would be preventing this initial enrollment unless you have what amounts to an illegal cert that makes your MITM servers look like Apple owned and operated. I say illegal in the sense that comodo, symantec and others are in hot water from Apple, Google and other OS vendors for issuing certificates to entities that are not what the certificate says.
Once you have the devices entered into your MDM, you can then push wifi profiles and your CA certs and then join the networks where you are "inspecting" SSL/TLS and other encrypted traffic between iOS and Apple or at least attempt to decrypt/re-encrypy/inspect that traffic.
DEP runs at a point in the OS setup that users can't even accept a custom certificate - this runs before the home screen is initially presented to users as part of the setup script / out of box experience.

This is documented at https://www.apple.com/business/dep/ and https://ssl.apple.com/business/docs/DEP_Guide.pdf and I would reach out to your Apple contact that established your "sold to" account for assistance in this.

https://help.apple.com/deployment/programs/#/

I wouldn't want to surprise Apple with what you're doing and risk them shutting down your DEP. Also they have engineers that can guide you if other large customers have the same "inspection" needs that you do and there are either undocumented ways to get around the design or otherwise clear only the initial traffic to Apple and then inspect things once the devices are enrolled.

You will have detailed legal agreements with Apple when you sign up for DEP, so you'll want to read through them as well since Apple vets organizations quite thoroughly, you can probably get excellent help directly from Apple if you've already jumped through all the hoops to be qualified for DEP in the first place.


macOS Sierra lost focus Finder when using mission controls

I'm having exact the same issue, and it took me weeks to define it, while it was driving me crazy. Its clearly a bug, and the update 10.12.1 didn't work. But, there might be another solution. I've followed your advice and assigned finder and safari to different desktops, it works but its not the way it should be. However, assigning finder and safari to NONE works!!! I've tried to juggle with a few different apps and so far so good


Your best option is to get a memory expansion module.  I have a 2013 Air and I purchased the PNY 128gb StorEDGE.  It's very fast and would double the available storage on your Air.

As others have indicated, opening the Air to add another/bigger SSD would be more expensive and difficult than just adding an expansion module.


Mirror (replicate) an iMac to a 2nd iMac


Getting odd indentation or word-wrap behavior in pages

IT looks like a hanging indent to me. In the Layout tab of the Format inspector panel, check to make sure First and Left are both set to 0 in the Indents section. The ruler is hidden by default, but the triangle and horizontal tick mark on the left margin of the ruler being set apart from one another will also produce either a hanging indent or first line indent (the upper tick mark represents the first line, the triangle represents the left margin aside from the first line).


"About this Mac" and "System Information" no longer working

When system information is unable to render the macOS version, I would connect a drive and back everything up as soon as you can or power off the mac and get troubleshooting help if you have files that are not backed up.

That out of the way, it’s probably something that can be worked, but why risk photos and other data that are not backed up when you know things are failing that should be rock solid.

Open terminal app (Applications / Utilities) and type:

sw_vers

That will report the last installation of your system software so you can take next steps. I would not install any updates or every restart if you have valuable data that might be able to be copied out of caution and not out of likelihood that you’re about to have more serious problems. Good luck and once you have those details - feel free to ask some follow on questions as you need more help.

Once you have a backup, you can boot to internet recovery and reinstall the version of MacOS you please. That will drop a new build of macos, all the tools and give you a start on what else might be broken or need looking in to with an install log that will have specific failure messages or your system will be healed.


Apple removed official support for "skinning" Mac OS X aeons ago. The only changes that you can make easily involve installing new icon sets.

There is no way to do this short of hacking binary files.


Is there a 'non-destructive' way to make mix cds in iTunes?

Create the new playlist.
Select all songs in the playlist and create duplicates (here: AAC version) of them.

Rename the Album title for all tracks and set the song order via the Get Info menu entry.

Burn the playlist and remove it.
You are save to remove the newly created Album in the iTunes Library (here: Testalbum) because you created duplicates earlier.


Create an iCloud account on my friend's iPhone

If all you need to know is whether it will erase your friend's iPhone data, the answer is no.

What your friend will need to do is sign out of their iCloud account via Settings > iCloud.

After signing out, what happens depends to some degree on what version of iOS your friend has installed, whether they have other Apple devices, etc. However, the worst case scenario is that when they sign back into their iCloud account all their iCloud data will sync back to their device with the exception of any photo stream photos older than 30 days. (Of course, if you're only going to use it for a very brief period to create the account, and then sign out of it, this won't be an issue as they'd be signing back in not long after signing out).

However, I do strongly recommend that your friend does a manual backup of their device to iTunes (on their computer) first. This is just an extra precaution in case something unexpected happens.

Also, your friend may get some emails from Apple (e.g. about Find My iPhone being disabled, etc).


You can "restore" to a new Mac during setup from a Time Machine Backup. This would be the most straight forward solution, but it won't let you selectively pick and choose what to restore.

An option still involving Time Machine would be to exclude locations that you don't want to backup and restore fully (such as the Applications folder) and just backup that folder manually onto some external hard drive.

A clean way would be to just install Mac OS X fresh onto that hard drive and copy everything "by hand". This gives you most control over which files will be copied and which you don't need anymore, but it'll take you much longer.

In regards to how to do it all (install Mac OS X onto your new SSD hard drive), I would consider this:

Currently I assume you have three hard drives. The first one inside your MBP (the internal hard drive). The second one in your external hard drive (1TB Seagate with the Time Machine Backup on it). And the third one is your new SSD (currently not in any case).

OPTION 1 (if you can't tinker with your external hard drive)

Attach the external hard drive (Seagate) to your MBP.
Partition the drive into 2 partitions with Disk Utility (hopefully this will work without having to erase everything)
Install OS X from your MacBook Pro directly onto the external SSD drive. You probably have to download the installer again and need to select the correct install target partition during the setup.
Build the SSD into your MBP.
Start the MBP while holding the OPTION key then select the external OS X partition (also well explained here: http://osxdaily.com/2014/10/18/clean-install-os-x-yosemite/ - this also applies to El Capitan)
Now repeat the OS X installation procedure onto your internal SSD drive
Restart the MBP and hold OPTION again, this time select the internal SSD
Restore with Migration Assistant or manually.

OPTION 2 (if you can't partition your external hard drive)

Install the SSD drive into the external hard drive case (switch it with the external hard drive)
Connect the external hard drive (with SSD inside) to your MacBook Pro through USB
Format the SSD to whatever you prefer and Mac OS X supports (HFS+ usually)
Install OS X from your MacBook Pro directly onto the external SSD drive (over USB)
After installation is completed build the SSD from the external case into the internal MacBook Pro (this is the first and only time you open the MBP).
Put the second (external) hard drive (with your Time Machine Backup on it) back into the external hard drive case (to connect over USB).
Restart the MBP and connect the external backup over USB, then start the Migration Assistant, which will let you restore from a TM Backup.

Alternatively, you can also put your original hard drive from the MBP into the external housing in Step 6 and just copy everything manually (and skip Step 7).


Retina Macbook Pro now has faster battery drain

Reboot.
Create a new user.
Try.

If the battery life is still short after a couple of days under a new account and there's nothing weird. Take it back to an Apple store. They will run the hardware test and determine if there's a problem with the battery. Be nice to them. Explain them that you know what you're doing, that this is unusual, that you know how to take care of a battery, that it suddenly started happening and that you would like for a Genius to take a look at it.

I did that with my Macbook Air 11 (with a 8 month old battery that just died out of nowhere) and they kindly replaced it.

Better safe than sorry.


4th generation 32gb ipod touch not working with boston docking station

To answer that question, you need to contact the Boston company's technical support department.

There was an issue some time ago when Apple rolled out iOS 4 and several third-party iPod interfaces designed for iOS 3, notably those of Volvo car stereos, could no longer work correctly with the new version of iOS. Apple changed the specification for interfacing, in an undocumented way with no advance warning, and certain devices were effectively rendered incompatible if the customers with devices running iOS 3 innocently updated to iOS 4. This was a rotten outcome for consumers, as there was no way to revert to iOS 3 short of jailbreaking and a difficult downgrading procedure, which Apple would certainly not support.

Your new iPod runs iOS 5. If you have an older model Boston dock, designed for iOS 3, perhaps this is related to that problem. Hopefully the Boston company can explain to you what the situation is and what can be done about it.


From what I've understood, this is what I could come up with. As useless as this may sound, have you tried unchecking and re-checking the box that enables Downloads in the sidebar? Also, you can try going to the parent directory of the Downloads folder, right-clicking the Downloads folder, and then clicking "Get Info" to see if the Download icon is there for the Downloads folder. If there isn't then you need to get the icon from somewhere and then drag it onto the existing icon in the "Get Info" window. Hope this helps!


Garageband workaround: Tempo change post-recording?

Turns out there's a simple answer:  all this is supported in Logic.  Garageband and Logic are the same piece of software;  Garageband is the limited version.

I upgraded to Logic after being frustrated with this (and many other limitations).  It was well worth it.


Image Capture "Delete After Import" Disappeared

If Image Capture detects that the device uses iCloud Photo Library, it disables 'delete after import'.

You can tell when the program starts the option shows, then a split second later, when the iCloud icon shows up next to the device, the 'delete after import' option is gone.

Here are some work-arounds:

On your device, go to Settings > iCloud > Photos > and then turn off iCloud Photo Library. This of course has larger repercussions (photos are no longer saved in the cloud).

In Image Capture, with your device connected, select all the photos you want to delete and then ⌘-Delete


How do I access and view cache HTML5 videos located in Safari or Chrome cache?

If you just want to download a video, you can use youtube-dl.

Downloading a YouTube video with Safari:

Enable using the HTML5 player from https://www.youtube.com/html5.
Enable the develop menu from Preferences > Advanced > Show Develop menu in menu bar.
Select Develop > Show Page Resources.
Reload the page.
Double-click the videoplayback resource.
Focus the location bar and press option-return.


What is the universal Document format on the Macintosh? (format you can be sure any Mac can display)?

PDFs will open in Preview for viewing - no Adobe Reader required. RTF will open in TextEdit, and can be edited, also with no optional software required. Which one is better depends on whether you want the user to be able to edit the document, or just read it.


Can "defaults write" command line configure the menu bar on macOS?

This defaults write command will enable several menu-bar icons, including Bluetooth.

defaults write com.apple.systemuiserver menuExtras -array \
"/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/AirPort.menu" \
"/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Bluetooth.menu" \
"/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Clock.menu" \
"/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Displays.menu" \
"/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/Volume.menu"

Changes will not take effect until you restart the SystemUIServer:
 killall SystemUIServer

If you want to enable additional items, look in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systemuiserver.plist to find the specific name of the menu extra you are seeking.

Note: If you attempt to enable a menu extra that you do not have on your machine, the command will get stuck in an endless loop. Some users may not have the Eject.menu, for example.


How to return screen brightness to default level

If you go to Settings on your iPhone and scroll down you should see a tab for "Display & Brightness". Tap this tab and you'll immediately see a slider marked "Brightness". There is no default level as such (default is to auto-adjust to ambient light levels) but you can adjust the slider to any level you want.


First time iPhone user here, some of my App icons on my Home Screen sometimes “blink” (turn to grey for a second), whats the meaning of it?

The app likely updated. When the app update is installing, the app is temporarily unavailable.
Alternatively, iOS may be cleaning the app. If your device is running low on space, iOS may delete temporary/cache data from the app’s container. This will temporarily make the app unavailable, for a couple seconds and show ‘Cleaning…’ in place of the app name.


What is the best media player for the mac (besides .mov - e.g., .mp3, .wmv, .avi, .mpg, etc)

VLC is by far the best.

Fast, extensible, and versatile. You can play just about any format video, Video_TS file, remote disks, remote streams, even pipe the output of a command into it to play. Can you say on the fly video manipulation? That's VLC.

Not to mention the main selling point, it's free.

Quicktime? Slow. Plugins? Hokey. Alternatives? Either not very "native" or buggy, slow, and prone to crashing. There is not one thing I have been unable to play with VLC that I had to use something else.

Okay, one thing. The MKV support on it is a bit of a pain. Try seeking with a 4GB MKV file.


How To Disable OS X Mavericks USB autorun

You need to remove the auto launch job with the launchctl command.

For example, in my case I have already installed a modem manufactured by ZTE. So I searched for LAUNCHD listings using the launchctl list command and grepped for those modem strings.

launchctl list | grep -i zte

Showing:

5681    -   cn.com.zte.usbswapper.plist

If you do not find your app, then output all the jobs to a file. This awk command tries to overcome the chance that you may have spaces in your launchd job name.

launchctl list 2>/dev/null | awk '
{ x="\""substr($0, match($0, $3), 100)"\""; print x; system("launchctl list " x) }
' > launchList.txt

Open launchList.txt. The name of the launchd job will be shown in "..." above the {} block where you hopefully find a "Mobile Partner" or "AutoOpen" string.

Perhaps inspect the item to be more confident before removal. Surround by "" if there are spaces in the job name.

launchctl list "cn.com.zte.usbswapper.plist"

Then just remove it. This is the command to stop the auto load. Be very sure you are removing the correct agent or deamon.

launchctl remove "cn.com.zte.usbswapper.plist"

Add it again if you want, using the full path of the PLIST file.

launchctl load /Library/LaunchAgents/cn.com.zte.usbswapper.plist


Making a bootable USB OS X Installer from iso on Linux

I think that you also need to bless that partition in order to make it bootable.

This is what I'd use on a Mac, but not sure if it still works on Linux box.

sudo bless -folder /Volumes/TARGET/System/Library/CoreServices


Make Speech in Safari read different languages

I would say this is a bug in macOS, so I've reported it.

But there's a simple workaround: use Automator to create a simple Service to speak the selected text in a voice of your choice.

You may also want to make sure to download the enhanced quality versions of the voice you choose to use through System Preferences > Accessibility:

If you select some text and option- or right-click to bring up the context menu, choose the Services menu item and you will see your custom Speak (Japanese) service that you can choose to read the text in that language with your chosen voice:


Prior to iOS 5, I used PhoneView for this. You can also try iExplorer.

They probably still work, I just haven't tried recently.


After upgrading to Lion interface alignment seems to break, any ideas?

First, do a Safe Boot. This, among other things, clears the Mac OS X font caches. There are also several third-party GUI tools for clearing the font caches, and there is a command-line command for doing this in the Terminal; can somebody else please provide the details?

Second, this may be a long shot, but have you used TinkerTool or a similar utility to change system font default point sizes? If so, try setting everything back to its default.

TinkerTool has many other wonderful capabilities, but its font point size settings are not practical simply because Mac OS X has never reacted well to changes in the font point size in the user interface.

Have a look at the screen shot below. It shows the TinkerTool interface set to the proper default system settings for all fonts. You can use this to confirm that everything is set to the correct default.


VPN+Proxy: How to override main network settings

Under Mavericks this should work fine. Once you have all the security details set in your VPN connection click on Advanced and then Proxies.

Make sure you select Automatic Proxy Configuration and put the complete URL provided by your IT staff into the URL field. This will almost certainly be different to the proxy config file used by a computer that lives inside your network.

You don't want to send all traffic over the VPN. Now a web site internal to your network will use the proxy but those outside will not. This is the behaviour you want.

It may be useful to actually look at the .pac file. You can do that by entering the URL into the address field of your browser and it should be loaded as a text file.

The only case where you want all traffic to go over the VPN is if you are accessing an external web service that your organisation pays for that authenticates through the network - this is usually things offered by the library such as law services or special dictionaries.


How to install app from App Store again on Mountain Lion (or on the new OS X)?

I've run into this before, and there really isn't a perfectly clean way to do it. However - if I wanted to trick it...
If you unmounted the disk/partition that had the existing copy on it, then App Store couldn't find it. Have you tried renaming the existing copy, or temporarily moving it off the Lion partition to USB key, then rerunning App Store?


On mac, chrome is not centered, and shifted to the right. How to fix it?

It looks to me like it's "not centered" because your window is actually much wider than your display screen, and extends to the right of the screen. (I think you'll find that within the window, the display of the content actually is centered.) I have seen this on rare occasion. I don't know a fix that's elegant, but you should be able to fix it in this inelegant way: Click and drag the left edge of the window to reduce the width of the window; then, grab the window header to move the whole window back over to the left, hopefully revealing the right edge. If the window is still too wide, repeat the operation until it fits on your display screen. Then size the window to your preference.


Can I change the locale for a single application?

You can add an AppleLanguages array to the plist of an application:

defaults write -app Calculator AppleLanguages -array de

See defaults read -g AppleLanguages for the language identifiers.

Language Switcher is a GUI for doing the same thing.


Mail.app: How can I archive the "smarts" of Smart Mailboxes?

Well, really, a smartmailbox is like a rule that is stored inside a mailbox.

I would suggest, creating the criteria for a smart mailbox as a real rule.
Mail(menu)>Preferences>Rules(tab).
This way, you can just check/uncheck those rules when you want. This may adversely affect the rest of your organizational routines. However, you can choose to move or copy the messages, so perhaps copying could avoid the aforementioned caveat. Or an alternative
is
For me, if I go (in Finder) to /Users/myusername/Library/Mail/V2/MailData  there is a file called SmartMailboxes.plist . You could always drag this out (Mail should not be running), and return it when you need it again.

(There are also these associated files:

SmartMailboxes.plist.backup
SmartMailboxesLocalProperties.plist
SyncedSmartMailboxes.plist
SyncedSmartMailboxesLocalProperties.plist
VersionedSmartMailboxes.plist
VersionedSmartMailboxes.plist.backup
that may either need to be moved with, or just deleted. I don't use smart mailboxes at all, just a few dozen rules that I have changed/deleted/had in various forms for years over multiple OS/computer combos.) (Italics indicate a file that is there if you have synced smart mailboxes, which I never have, so that file doesn't exist for me, but does for the OP).

as far as a terminal shell script, you would want to edit the relevant plist files with the strings you need, by adding/removing them as need. You will get the strings you need by looking at the files themselves. You might want an app to look at them cleanly though, this could be XCode, PlistEditor, or something lite like TextWrangler if you're not messing around with XCode.

Notes: I'm running Mountain Lion with Mail.app 6.2. You should endeavor to always give the software version number of all relevant apps/os's to help the helpers help. I don't know if those files exist in the same way for you (more/less/different name/location), but the place to start for any recent Mac OS X version is the ~/Library/Mail (where ~ is your username/home folder), if your library folder is invisible you can get there by typing in the string in the window that pops-up with command-shift-g.


The problem is the electrostatic current/charge/grounding while using Charger.

First make sure you do use the original Charger.

If your iPhone is in a leather case, remove it.

If you have a protective case, or if you are using a plastic sheet or film on the display, try removing them and testing the device without it.

Update:

I missed the point of you having 2 other devices doing the same.

In that case it could be the electric wiring in your place. Try plugging in in a another place (coffee shop). You might have what it is called High Frequency Harmonics (dirty electricity) in you home caused by number of different sources.


Find a file/folder within another folder with OSX UI

Since you tagged this with “quicksilver”…

In Quicksilver, assuming all the project folders are in your catalog (which is easy to accomplish), you could type something like ca/mc↩ to open clientA/myCode.js.

Specifically, create a custom catalog entry that scans the parent folder containing your projects, or if they’re spread all over the place, you could tag them and add them to the catalog based on that, or list their paths in a file and scan that, or… There are a few options. :-)

Once they’re in the catalog, you can type the entire folder name (like clientA) if you hate yourself, but really, just type the first thing that comes to mind as fast as you can think it and Quicksilver will find it (like clta or ca). After doing this one or two times, it will become the top result.

With any folder selected, you can hit / or → to get at its contents. (For this reason, it’s unnecessary to have your catalog entries scan deep into the contents, but that’s an option if you want.)


macOS Sierra Apple Watch Unlock - persistant iCloud Sign in required dialog

I had the same problem: In settings I was definitely logged into iCloud, but the Apple Watch unlock setting still claimed I wasn't.

I stumbled on the following weird solution:

I happened to start FaceTime on Mac, and noticed that I wasn't logged into it. I logged in.

When I then opened the Security settings again, the Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac was checked!


Unable to import S/MIME certificate and key into my iPhone (iOS7)

Surprisingly I had a look into my certificate in the mail accounts section. It was untrusted. I then got into the section of profiles and had a look into the imported profile. It was trusted.

Then I went back to the certificate in the mail account section and it was trusted!

This seems all quite buggy, Apple.


Open System Preferences > Network,
select the appropriate location you want to configure. You might have only one named Automatic which is only for very basic configuration and shouldn’t be kept for different network usages.

Then down under the left window select the + button and choose the appropriate interface to recreate.


Need to perform multiple clicks in MacBook Pro 2011 running OS X Lion

This is not a known but to my knowledge. Have you tried running a test OS from an external volume that has a fresh install of Lion (with all updates) to see if the issue still remains? Is your system able to run 10.6.8? If so try a known good volume with Snow Leopard and test again.
It might be of use to try those OSs out to help narrow it down. Best of luck.


How do you enable cookies with the newest IOS?

Taken from https://gaming.stackexchange.com/q/278248/105931

  Here's what I did that worked for me. Might not even need to do what I did...

  Iphone > Settings > Safari > Block Cookies > Always Allow
  Open Safari > Gmail.com > Logon with your gmail account > Open
  Pokemon Go

  More information about this issue from niantic itself


can't download apps after "authorizing computer"

Try this procedure to create an iTunes App Store account without a credit card.


Don’t install/remove anything, instead, quit Spotlight from Activity Monitor once that message pops up and it will continue. Spotlight automatically restarts.


You do that by inserting the SIM-card from the MVNO, and then access Settings on the iPhone. In Settings, choose Cellular and then Wi-Fi Calling and turn it on.


Is it possible to fully separate corporate from private contact data on a BYOD?

I spoke to the representative of a well known MDM solution for iOS today about this topic. He confirmed to me that iOS does not support such a separation of work and private data. In other words, you cannot restrict apps to access only specific contact accounts, it's all or nothing. MDM solutions usually deal with this by offering their own containers (apps) for mail and contact management.


iTunes Connect - difference between units sold and units paid out, plus Apples commision

The discrepancy is there because of several factors that you haven't accounted for, primarily:

For some countries VAT is included in "Sales" and deducted before you get your "Proceeds"
Some purchases might be refunded by Apple because of customer complaints - i.e. you will get 0% proceeds for these
The currency exchange risk is yours. It might be that the exchange rate fluctates leaving you with less than the expected proceeds when converted to USD.


Why do OTA updates require so much space?

The old OS has to run until the new one is in place and ready for the device to restart. Right there, you have 2x the space of a generic OS image.

Then, the OTA updates take more space than iTunes with a computer assisting  since your iPhone must have space not only for the compressed image, but also to store uncompressed contents of that download.

Lastly, some amount of temporary space is needed as it actually installs the updated firmware. This space is for upgrade scripts, patching settings, upgrading databases and getting all the old content ready for the new code.

Here's an accounting of the current fall 2013 upgrade with specifics. iOS 6 took up something like 600MB of space, but required something closer to 2.5GB of free space for the OTA update download/installation process, so it should be no surprise that iOS 7 asks for 3 GB space.

Here is a related link that may contain additional information.


Can I safely run command-line apps in single-user mode?

The TL;DR: Yes, you can run command line tools in Single User Mode. But not all command line tools. That's not what Single User Mode is meant for.

  I don't have to load the whole OS just for a command-line app.

Except, as you're discovering, you probably do.

Single user mode is meant for trouble shooting problems with the computer. It is the bare minimum needed for Darwin, the underlying Free BSD port that OS X is based on top of, to function. What you are placed in is a shell capable of running when things on the hardware are dire. It is a not a fully-functioning shell.

While it's "safe" to run applications in Single User Mode, in so much as you can't hurt things by running something like gtypist, it isn't recommended because it isn't an environment meant for running things other than emergency tools.

You should consider running a Terminal or iTerm2 window in full screen mode if you'd like a monitor that's 100% terminal and running gtypist from there. You're not gaining anything dropping OS X to single user mode, in fact you're losing a great many things and fighting battles that don't need to be fought.

You could use >console login, but if it's simply speed of access you're looking for, the hardware and software are designed to simply be put to sleep between uses, from which awakening is faster than rebooting into SUM anyway.


can I use time machine to restore old icloud confirguration?

It's doubtful.  iCloud is locked on the server side, a TM restore would only restore your client side configuration.


How do I setup a Mac mini server to support a dual drive configuration of System files and User files?

If you just link the home folders to a afp share, this does not work! You have to setup a directory server and maybe even a profil manager via the Server.app on your mini server.


Concern with location sevices on previously owned iPad

No. Since you (presumably) set up your account on the device, they no longer have control over it via Find My iPad.


Why does Automator need the discrete GPU?

Some of the Automator actions, such as those pertaining to Quartz, use the discrete GPU (if available). It may be a stability thing to require the discrete GPU on launch (similar to VMware Fusion). If you regularly use Automator and don't use the Quartz filters (or don't care about the performance gain) it should be safe to use gfxCardStatus. Just select Integrated Only before launching Automator.


iPhone 4s iOS 6 - how to clear Location Services memory

To reset your location preferences, do the following:

From your Home screen, go to Settings > General > Reset
Select Reset Location & Privacy

Note: This will reset your location warnings for all sites and applications.


You can save services anywhere, not just iCloud or the correct Service location. Because of this, I used to save services in my Dropbox and symlink them on multiple Macs. With the advent of iCloud, I use this instead, saving my services in iCloud then symlinking them on multiple machines.

Also, iCloud in Automator is not just for services — it'll sync all the Automator files, including workflows and applications.


How to share over ethernet but not over wifi

OS X's firewall is very comprehensive, but it's GUI is limited, it can do what you want, but it's somewhat complex. I would try the following this guide http://www.techrepublic.com/article/configure-apples-built-in-network-firewall-with-icefloor/

For more advanced support you'd probably have more luck asking over on Server Fault (StackExchange) rather than here as it starts getting into the system and networking level stuff rather than OS X specifically.


"so what would be the 'correct' way to provide it to you, OS X users
  next to main software?"

Either. If the installer is relatively large in size, I've found that it's contained in a dmg versus a pkg, however. Why?

  A .dmg package is seen as a single file rather than a folder of files
  like a .pkg package....The advantage a .dmg package has is that
  larger files may copy much more quickly to your distribution points than
  .pkg packages.

In my opinion (again, from the perspective of the OS X user), dmgs are intuitively easier to use: mount > drag > drop.


You can change it to Cmd+R. Go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts (tab) > App Shortcuts (left sidebar) click the plus and in the window: Application: Finder, Menu title: Show Original Just the menu item written exactly as it is in the menu, Shortcut: Cmd+R.

  When you change the shortcut, it'll show up in the menu item.


Text Edit rtf. Document suddenly disappeared from desktop after opening it!

Local Time Machine snapshot
If you enabled Time Machine and didn't disable local snapshots in the past (but can't back up your files at the moment because the backup volume is at home/elsewhere) you should be able to find the file in the local Time Machine snapshot.

Open Time Machine
In the "Star Wars" display navigate to your desktop folder
White/purple ticks at the right side indicate local snapshots/snapshots on the Time Machine backup volume
Use the white ticks to search for your lost document

Containers
A second place to find the file - independent of any backups - may be:
/Users/your_user_name/Library/Containers/com.apple.TextEdit/Data/Library/Autosave Information/


Is there a video player on windows for iPhone recorded videos?

Let us assume your videos that you can't play back are in the .HEVC (.HEIF for images) format, which are not natively supported in Windows. Therefore, VLC should be able to playback those files. Is it up to date?

To further address your issue, we need more info:

file format of the videos that don't and do playback?
Do they play on a different machine?
are the files showing black, or what is happening when you double-click click them/open them in VLC? Any error message?


go to Finder > Preferences > General

Then select  Hard disks under "Show these items on the desktop:"


If I restore my Iphone will my photostreams be deleted?

The Photostream itself, populated with photos from the last 30 days(up to 1000 images), will still exist after you restore your phone. However, because of the transitory nature of Photostream, it would be prudent to direct the flow into a more permanent repository such as a computer.

Shared Photostreams persist beyond the 30 day limit.

Apple Support articles:

iCloud: My Photo Stream FAQ

iCloud: Using and troubleshooting Shared Photo Streams


MP4 movie does play in QuickTime but not in iTunes

I suspect that the codec is the issue. You should probably try to re-encode the movie. There are a multitude of encoding apps out there such as Handbrake.


How to backup my iPhone without access to Internet, PC or a Mac?

You can enable iCloud backup in your settings. You will not need to create a hotspot, only use your data to upload the backup to your iCloud account.


Activity Monitor and System Profiler won't report 32 bit apps

Support for 32-bit apps was already removed in 10.15 Catalina.
It would make sense that Activity Monitor would no longer have that column since no such apps can run. It looks like that column was also removed from System Report.
So the good news is you probably don't have anything that broke, or at-least you haven't missed them if they did.
If you still want to check for any lingering 32-bit apps, you can probably still do so using mdfind in Terminal.


How can I temporarily disable hot corners when playing games (or other such full-screen apps) on Mavericks?

This is a quite old question, but I stumbled on it looking for the same thing (although on ML). The script looks interesting, but it's a bit far-fetched for me, I was looking for something simpler and preferably without add-ons.

This is what I found and works for me: in the hot corner's pref pane, hold Command, Option, Control and/or Shift after clicking a drop down list of a hot corner and you can add one or any combination of the modifier keys to a hot corner trigger. This way, they only work if and when you hold that(those) key(s) which you probably won't during a game, or any full screen app.

I'm pretty sure this works on all OS X versions.


Macbook Air 13" (2017) keeps shutting down

You can first read this : https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/if-your-battery-wont-charge-mh29198/mac here is a link to do a Reset SMC.
To have more infos on your battery download and use CoconutBattery


iPhone 5s crashing infrequently, despite restoring

I would absolutely recommend a genius bar appointment if it's convenient and they can be sure your phone is reporting these crashes to Apple Engineering. That being said, you have a totally normal volume of logs and glitches for a new OS release that hasn't had time to have all these little bugs patched.

Of the messages you listed, these are harmless and diagnostic whether you have an app crash or not:

awdd-YYYY-mm-dd-hhmmss-whatever-else
log-aggregated-YYYY-mm-dd-hhmmss-whatever-else
LowMemory-YYYY-mm-dd-hhmmss-whatever-else

Your phone is set up report each crash anonymously (they strip the identifier of the device from the reports intentionally) and the genius bar will ensure you are reporting these so that Engineering can make sure the most common crashes get sorted out.

The other benefit of the genius bar is they can run hardware diagnostics. You can also get these to run by seeking phone or web support in many areas:

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

Click the link that says you can get connected with an expert online.

Now, if you can't get to the genius bar, I can also say that they won't likely be able to dig into any of the crash logs other than perhaps the LowBattery log and LowMemory log and they will just look at them with you. You can look at them and figure out mostly what is going by reading the english descriptions and ignoring most of the hex (0x2f8107c6) and UUID (3A197A6D-1D9B-4F1D-BE12-356F8D3F3C2B).

LowBattery logs are how Apple (and the astute user) can tell if the battery needs replacing or if the programs are just using too much power in the background. LowMemory logs are just diagnostic - kind of like keeping your weight so that you can look back and tell when you were gaining, when you were holding steady and when you were losing.

These logs make the most sense when you track them over time and not so much that you have one now to 13 at this point.


That load seems quite normal to me for server. 98.53% idle CPU seems quite excellent for a light server load. There's no point in direct numerical comparison the macOS load average of the Mach Kernel with linux, AIX, BSD or other UNIX since the underlying architecture is different here.

What does translate to traditional UNIX system is counting active threads and watching overall CPU utilization. With more than a thousand threads being actively run (maybe a third are inactive enough to be marked "sleeping"), I wouldn't try to tune or change anything if I saw that on any of my hundreds of production Mac and OS X servers.

If you're really curious, I would run top -u -s 60 and let the system reach neutral (in iostat the 15m average you show is higher than the 1m average, which means the CPU usage is trending lower - when the three values are about the same, that's a good neutral to measure). Also, run sysctl hw.logicalcpu so you can normalize the value you see to the cores that are available. Even when your load is higher than the CPU available, it might not be a problem if your constraints are for IO, network or elsewhere than the CPU.

What are the top 5 CPU using processes when you have a slow refresh on top? Those will be causing the most load in your situation in all likelihood.


How do I add lyrics to a song in iTunes?

I own iClip Lyrics and I was fortunate enough to download it before they discontinued it.
(It still works even though they aren't developing it, and if you can find it online I highly recommend it)

All you had to do was play a song, it would search the internet, grab the lyrics, and automatically add them to the ID3 tag for the the MP3 file.

There are some other apps out there that do basically the same thing:

GimmieSomeTune
TuneLyrics
iLyrics


Weird text replacements on all apps on OS X

I've solved the problem myself. I've installed a lot of fonts some time ago and some of them had already been installed by default, by OS X, and this created some conflicts which, apparently, caused my problem.

Hope it helps somebody else.


Is there any way to access the Photo Stream outside of Photos.app in El Capitan

So, I've answered this for myself: iCloud Photo Library photos are buried in subfolders of "~/Pictures/*.photoslibrary/Masters" on El Capitan!

Using a savedSearch, the same approach as was popular under Yosemite and earlier, we can create a Finder folder that lists, chronologically, your Photo Stream. The XML version is here (you may have to modify some paths), or you can download my pre-compiled version instead:

Ta-da!


iPhone 5 Stuck in Recovery after IOS8 upgrade

I had the exact same problem. The one easy solution is ReiBoot.

It's no scam and you can easily leave the recovery mode with just one click. After that, you can install it without further problems.


From the name it seems like some kind of Japanese-English Dictionary app. Did you install something like that?


Do I need an internet connection to update iOS on my PC?

Yes it does. It has to verify the firmware with Apple's servers (gs.apple.com). If it cannot, it will error out (usually presenting a 3XXX error, which is quite often 3004) and fail to update.


Preserving an iPhone in factory state for long term

One of the primary things you need to be concerned about is battery. As you wish to maintain the device in a usable state, it's recommended to keep the battery in as healthy state as possible. Refer to the Apples's webpage dedicated to Batteries here and follow the recommended storage guidelines:

https://www.apple.com/in/batteries/

Specifically:
From, https://www.apple.com/in/batteries/maximizing-performance/

Avoid extreme ambient temperatures
Your device is designed to perform well in a wide range of ambient temperatures, with 16° to 22° C (62° to 72° F) as the ideal comfort zone.

Even when storing, make sure to keep the device in the given temperature range.

Store it half-charged when you store it long term
If you want to store your device long term, two key factors will affect the overall health of your battery: the environmental temperature and the percentage of charge on the battery when it’s powered down for storage. Therefore, we recommend the following:

Do not fully charge or fully discharge your device’s battery — charge it to around 50 per cent. If you store a device when its battery is fully discharged, the battery could fall into a deep discharge state, which renders it incapable of holding a charge. Conversely, if you store it fully charged for an extended period of time, the battery may lose some capacity, leading to shorter battery life.

Power down the device to avoid additional battery use.

Place your device in a cool, moisture-free environment that’s less than 32° C (90° F).

If you plan to store your device for longer than six months, charge it to 50 per cent every six months.

Depending on how long you store your device, it may be in a low-battery state when you remove it from long-term storage. After it’s removed from storage, it may require 20 minutes of charging with the original adapter before you can use it.

The website also recommends to update your device to the latest available version of iOS to benefit from software optimizations. However, if you wish to preserve the factory installed version of iOS, refrain from upgrading the iOS (which can be ensured by not letting the device connect to data network).

For my own devices that I have stored for long term, I generally power them on once every couple months and make sure to keep the battery charge at recommended 50%.
It would be a good idea to fully charge, then discharge, then charge the battery to 50% to store it again for long term. This would ensure that the electrons get a chance to move.


Mac Mail "View as Icon" missing in High Sierra?

What I was told by my AppleCare chat was that tis is a "Cosmetic Change: for Markup to work on attachments.  You are right that the  view as icon option is still there for text and numbers and for image files, but not for multipage PDFs.  Give Apple feedback on you interest in having this restred.


Male-to-male Lightning cables & Lightning hubs

Am I missing something, or do these devices not exist?

They exist...
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HKKP2ZM/A/belkin-lightning-audio-charge-rockstar

If so, is there a reason they don't?

They certainly are not popular.  That's because there are few use cases for them.  The Apple iDevices with a Lightning port are not built to handle more than one device at a time.  The Belkin Rockstar only allows a specific pairing of devices, one that provides power input and another that has audio output.  It is in effect emulating a specific kind of peripheral to the iDevice, an audio sink and power source which is a common style of an iPod dock.

I'm curious why the USB-C-to-USB-A adapter that I have (with the ordinary USB-A-to-Lightning cable plugged into it) is incapable of charging the iPhone.

That sounds like a hardware issue to me.
Perhaps you are merely concerned that the time it takes to charge is not what you hoped.  Apple computers source only 15 watts from their USB-C ports, and depending on the cable and other factors the computer may source far less power.  That could appear like it's not charging for someone used to a 30 watt or larger charger.

Anyway, I think my second bullet point still stands: I can't find any hubs that offer Lightning ports (at least one charge port) and have a male USB-C cable to plug into the MacBook.

This is a very narrow use case.  Any Apple computer should be able to provide 12 watts of power to the phone while plugged in with a USB-C cable, it's not 15 watts because every USB-C cable I've seen will use the old USB 2.0 protocol for data and power negotiation with a computer.  The people that will want or need more power than that are few.  The iDevice models that can sink more than 15 watts of power is also few.  Creating a Lightning hub (or whatever such a thing might be called) would be complicated as it would have to "know" which port it is supposed to draw power from.  Adding logic to gauge which port can source more power would be complicated, and labelling one port "data only" and the other "power only" is likely to confuse and frustrate people.
There are Lightning "hubs" much like you describe but only to provide a specific function, that being for sourcing power and sinking audio.  The market for a "hub" that does more than this is small and the complexity, and therefore cost, of them likely high.


Safari update message on my Mac, why is it there for four days?

This will work with any stuck update from the app store, btw, just change the names of the stuff to delete.

First thing to try: clear the app store updates folder at Macintosh HD/Library/Updates

Second thing to try: Open Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal) and paste this: open $TMPDIR../C and in there, delete anything that has the name com.apple.appstore then do the same in Terminal with this command: open $TMPDIR../T

Third thing to try: Open Disk Utility (Same place as Terminal), select your hard drive and run Fix Permissions.

One of those should do it.


Automatically connect Bluetooth device to Mac

OK, it has been a while ago I did that, but the ON comes from your speakers, not from Mac.

Mac see is as it sees many other BT around.

By pressing the power button on your speaker (I think for 3 seconds or longer) should tell your Mac to engage that device.


Cannot manually delete favorites in Safari in iOS 10.3.2

It's going to be very difficult to troubleshoot this based on the info you've provided.

Honestly, the iPad 4 is considered 'old' (introduced in 2012).  It does support the iOS version you're using but, like a 102 year-old man, it will struggle with some seemingly basic tasks like putting his pants on and using a spoon, simply because it's old.

If a reset didn't help, your only option might be to buy a new(er) device.


How can I click "Do It!" button with keyboard?

If there's just one option hitting Space or Enter should do the trick, as the button should be preselected. If there are more than one option you could tab between them by enabling  All Controls under System Preferences / Keyboard / Full Keyboard Access.

When tabbing through, a subtle blue glow will highlight the tabbed component. Hitting Space will use it, while hitting Enter will use the default option.


Why are some apps keep running in OS X even if I quit them?

It is due to bugs. Most likely in those programs, or in the OS X system. Essentially the program never completes the "Quit" action, so it doesn't exit and thus stays running.

Another cause could be hardware error - such as a non-responding hard drive. If that was the case, you would be seeing problems everywhere and not just with the Quit menu option in a few programs.

If you want to investigate the specific cause on your machine, I would suggest using dtruss to see what system calls the application makes as you hit quit. It could for example be hanging waiting for a mutex/semaphore, or similar - suggesting a deadlock or livelock. In other words, a bug.


I fixed this by editing the AppleShowScrollBars string in the ByHost .GlobalPreferences plist.

Even though ~/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist showed the correct value of ‘WhenScrolling’, the ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/.GlobalPreferences.udid.plist had the value of "Always". By changing the string using Xcode and logging out, it was resolved.


Wrong function key layout on a Mid 2011 MacBook Air

I am back after reinstalling my old flaky trackpad. My function keys are back to normal. This shows that the trackpad somehow interacts with the keyboard layout but I can not tell you how. Since the mid-2011 Air models seem to have numerous trackpad problems, it is possible your wife's used one had had the trackpad replaced.


It will not be possible to build Swift 2 code in Xcode 9. You have two options:

Use the compatible version of Xcode (Xcode 7.x.x) and macOS (OS X El Capitan 10.11, or macOS Sierra 10.12) to build the app.
Migrate the codebase to a more recent version of Swift (3.x or 4.x) using the migration assistant built into a recent version of Xcode. Xcode 8 can migrate your code from Swift 2 to Swift 3.

It will not be possible to build Swift 2 code with Xcode 4 as it does not support Swift 2 (doesn't have the compiler).


Looking for stop watch alarm clock app similiar to one on iphone on OSX for macbookpro

Maybe you are looking for something similar to the app Awaken. It has a similar look, clock, alarms (with sounds, music via iTunes and even executing scripts or apps) and timer with sleep mode (needs the Awaken Helper, provided at its website as well). Many of us are waiting for a future version including also a stopwatch.


Does iOS 9.3.5 prohibit iBooks syncing via iCloud?

iOS 9.3.5 is too old to sync correctly. See @ankiiiiiii's comment and the linked thread.


Are all the ports on 2016 MacBook Pro 13" the same speed?

As it turns out, there is a support document published by Apple that directly answers my question:

  Late-2016 MacBook Pro models vary slightly in the data speeds they
  provide to each Thunderbolt 3 port.

  MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2016) delivers full Thunderbolt 3
  performance on all four ports.

  MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports) supports Thunderbolt 3 at full performance using the two left-hand ports. The
  two right-hand ports deliver Thunderbolt 3 functionality, but have
  reduced PCI Express bandwidth.

  MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2016, Two Thunderbolt 3 Ports) delivers
  full Thunderbolt 3 performance on both ports.

Therefore based on this, I will use the left-hand ports for my high bandwidth peripherals.


How do I set Mail.app not to send the recipient names as they appear in my address book

While composing and email you can click the arrow in the address and choose Edit Address or double-click the address to edit the information. By deleting the name and leaving just the email address (it should look something like < someone@somewhere.com >) should do the trick. I couldn't find a way of having this changes done permanently, though.


Will two charging cables charge my laptop twice as quickly?

is it possible to plug in two power cables into the Mac?

No.

The MacBook will use the charger that provides the most amount of power.

  In the event that the Mac is unable to allow that amount of current in
  at once, is there a mechanism to limit how much is allowed in, or else
  cut it off entirely?

The USB 3.1 power delivery specification calls for the negotiation of charge to be delivered.  If you plug more than one it, it will simply refuse the one providing the least amount of power.


Without Xcode, there's not really any way to get an iOS simulator that I know of. Alternatively, you could download Xcode and just pull the iOS simulator out of it from the path Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Applications/Simulator.app.

edit: to run Safari in Debug mode on your virtual iPhone, there are a set of instructions on tutsplus. In essence:

open iOS Simulator
from the menubar, `Develop > iPhone Simulator > (website name)
this should open a side window with Safari Developer Tools


OSX: modifying text selection with ⌘⇧→ and ⌘⇧←

Mac doesn't use the cursor position if you have a multiple text selection, it considers the cursor is at 'all selected text'.

You can see this demonstrated if you use  Cmd ⌘   Shift ⇧   ←  instead of  →
Adding to the selection with  Shift ⇧  includes the previous selection.

Not a fix, but a workaround might be  →  which would move the cursor to the end of your current selection, simultaneously deselecting it, then  Cmd ⌘   Shift ⇧   ←   to select to the beginning of the line.


Removing uninstalled Command Line Tools from AppStore updates

I managed to fix it, it seems like I suspected, the problem was the boms in the /System/Library/Receiptsfolder.

So I booted into recovery mode, disable SIP, moved all files from that folder that had com.apple.pkg.CLTools*in their name, and the update in the App Store went away. Then I booted into recovery again to enable SIP.

It doesn't feel quite right to disable the security, but I gave it a try in this case as other similar problems seemed to be related to lingering bom files, so perhaps it makes sense.


Installing macOS Sierra on iMac 2008 new hard drive

You need at least a 2009 iMac to run macOS 10.12 Sierra.

The latest version of macOS that supports the 2008 iMac is macOS 10.11 El Capitan.


Software to backup recently modified files in few directories

QuickSand was the software I was searching for.


How to retrieve pictures from guest account?

On an Apple guest account, the home directory is wiped each time you logout or shutdown. That's why it's called a 'guest account', because it is meant to be temporary.

You will need a tool to recover deleted files if they have not been overwritten by new files in the time between when they were deleted and now.


OS X Server running on a Mac used for daily work -- possible? Issues?

I have been running OS X Server on my desktop since 10.6. Zero issues, and zero impact on the current user ( I use the same machine as my primary computer). I run Web, DHCP, DNS, Calendar, Contacts, File Sharing, Time Machine and VPN. No significant CPU or memory issues.

Some things to mind though:

Don't turn it off, and don't let it sleep. My desktop is on 24/7 except for software-update reboots.
The server needs a fixed IP address. This doesn't mean that your house needs a fixed IP address from your provider, but you do have to set the server's IP address on the subnet.
if you want to run all those local services you will need to understand DNS. Hope you like reading, I recommend the O'Reilly books, which are now available in electronic form so you don't also need steel shelves to hold them.


Technical reason that 2011 MacBook Air is maxed at 4gb ram

Space, ram is soldered onto the MB. So I see price v optimal RAM amount.


Can I boot from Snow Leopard DVD on 'normal' pc?

It will not boot. Sharing knowledge about making it boot is against the rules here.


Cannot run refind-install from Recovery because "/usr/bin/env: bad interpreter"

I suspect the ‘refind-install’ script has a shebang pointing to /usr/bin/env, such as

#!/usr/bin/env bash

The Recovery environment doesn't have a /usr/bin/env, so attempting to access that path returns the error that there's ‘no such file or directory’ there.

You can manually choose a shell to execute a script with by passing the script to the shell:

bash ./refind-install

Alternatively, you should be able to edit the script to point directly at the shell. Replace the first line in the script with something like this, presuming the line above is what's in the file.

#!/bin/bash

Note the space has been removed.

I have `/usr/bin/env` in my "Macintosh HD" but not in the recovery partition. Is this normal?


Why can't I delete messages from my IMAP account on my iPhone 4?

Maybe the trash folder is not correctly set on your iPhone.

Depending on the email-provider, you may have to choose the correct "deleted" folder in your account settings on the iPhone.

(maybe the translations are not literally, i am using a German iPhone):
Go to "Settings" -> "Mail, contacts ...", choose your IMAP account, choose "account info", look at the bottom and choose "advanced".

Here you can choose which folder is your trash folder.


How can I enter safe mode with the built in keyboard broken?

Although this might be either a layered problem or an XY-Problem:
There are a few things to consider here.

The broken keyboard.

Using a directly USB-connected wired keyboard should work. This registers boot key combinations.
Using a directly connected wireless bluetooth keyboard – like a Magic Keyboard from Apple – should work, but it is a little bit finickier. If not done before the situation arose, it might be difficult to pair the Bluetooth keyboard with the Mac though.
A Bluetooth dongle should not work. the dongle is likely not properly operational in the crucial time frame (this  seems to be the current approach so far.)
In all cases it might be a good idea to disconnect all other peripherals anyway.

The exact problem with the internal keyboard is hard to see from the information given. But if it is indeed "one of the wires/connector thingys disconnected or something like that" then it might be worth a shot to open the MacBook and reseat the connector (although that seems bizarre as this would have been quite an easy fix for the AppleStore to apply). Nevertheless, if you cannot insist on the Store to do that for you, and if you cannot resist to do that by yourself: ifixit Step 33 shows the – from your description – most crucial part (be careful and read the entire guide at least three times before taken up a screwdriver for the first time.)

The non-booting Mac with "storage is almost full"
SafeMode is only so powerful:

  Apple: What is safe mode?
  Safe mode (sometimes called safe boot) is a way to start up your Mac so that it performs certain checks and prevents some software from automatically loading or opening. Starting your Mac in safe mode does the following:

  Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed

  Loads only required kernel extensions
  Prevents startup items and login items from opening automatically
  Disables user-installed fonts
  Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files

  The gains from deleting the caches are sometimes substantial. But SafeMode is no magic bullet either.

If the keyboard solutions above fail you might try to boot from another drive (you didn't indicate whether just Shift doesn't work or Option is defunct as well). When booted from another drive you might have much more control and higher gains in accessing your drive and delete some stuff on it.

In older Macs with more standard interfaces for the SSD it might be an option to remove the internal SSD and put it into an external enclosure, and then boot from yet another drive. that other drive should be picked up automatically even if nothing is selected or selectable, if it is bootable at all.

Conclusion

Try a wired USB keyboard. Any one. Shift should be a universal
constant across all models.


How to share Back to my Mac across different Apple IDs?

Screen Sharing works across multiple Apple IDs and is probably what you're looking for. So long as someone at home can access your iMac and click "Accept" on the Screen Sharing notification that they will receive, it will allow you to remotely control the iMac and copy files on and off of it.


External Display is connected but only shows blue

There are a number of possible causes and related solutions, but let's start with the most obvious solution first.

Reset your PRAM/NVRAM

Older Macs had what's called Parameter RAM (PRAM), newer Macs use Non-Volatile Random-Access Memory (NVRAM). I suggest you reset this, here’s how:

Shut down your machine. Yes, a full shut down, not just logging out.
Press the power button and then press the commandoptionpr keys. You have to make sure you press these keys before the gray screen appears or it won’t work.
Hold those keys down until your Mac reboots again and you here the startup chime.
Let go of the keys and let your Mac reboot normally.

Note: When you log back in you may need to readjust some of your system preferences (e.g. mouse speed, time and date/timezone, etc).

Give this a go and report back with how you go.


Bootcamp puts content in Macintosh Harddrive

If I remember correctly these files belong to the VisualC++ redistributable. When the installer runs it extracts these files to the root of a drive and then installs to the correct folder. Once the install is complete, these files can just be deleted.

This isn't really anything to do with Boot Camp.


How can I merge Notes from two Macbooks without using iCloud?

You can use Exporter (free app from app store) to save all notes as text to a folder on your computer. Then import them into other notes.

It likely did work equivalent or extending on this reverse-engineering effort to get data from the database that backs the application:

https://articles.forensicfocus.com/2013/11/02/analysis-of-ios-notes-app/
What format does the apple notes sqlite db date use?

You could also just set up an IMAP server (even on your Mac) to sync up and then merge down the notes. iCloud isn’t the only server that can sync notes.

Sync Notes from Mac and iOS devices without iCloud


Easy way to bulk change folder icons in Mac

With the upcoming push to sign and notarize applications, there is some great technical information on how to use the Icon folder and data fork as the equivalent to the desktop.ini idiom.

https://eclecticlight.co/2019/07/20/how-to-add-a-custom-icon-to-an-app-without-breaking-its-signature/


Move hard drive from macbook pro to macbook air

As far as I can see both MacBook's using different SSD's. Take a look on iFixit.com and the image taken from the tutorial

MacBook Air 13" Mid 2012 Solid-State Drive
.

MacBook Pro 15" Retina Display Mid 2012 SSD

MacBook Pro 15" Retina Display Mid 2012 SSD Replacement
MacBook Air 13" Mid 2012 Solid-State Drive Replacement

I guess it would be much easier and faster using Time Machine, Superduper, Disk Utility, CCC...


MacBook Pro Late 2011 replace headphone 3.5 mm jack due to headphone's head stuck inside jack

You could use a USB output device, like a Griffin iMic. You can set the audio output in the Sound preferences panel to go to the iMic, then attach any speaker or Mic to that.


Can you tell if updates came from OS X caching server?

The caching server will print to log when a client requests an update. This log is located at:

/Library/Server/Caching/Logs/Debug.log

The following is the anatomy of a request which was served by the caching server's cache:

Client requests update package

Got request for host = http://swcdn.apple.com/{{REQUEST}}

Find cached package in server data

Initializing asset handler for http://swcdn.apple.com/{{REQUEST}} (path = /Library/Server/Caching/Data/{{UDID}})

Check/load asset in cache

Cached asset length = {{LENGTH}} MD5={{CHECKSUM}} last modified {{DATE/TIME}}
Extents loaded from disk: {{DATA}}
Data already cached for asset http://swcdn.apple.com/{{REQUEST}}, issuing If-Modified-Since request
Info loaded: file length = {{DATA}}, reader = {{DATA}}

Serve asset to client from cache

{{BYTES}} bytes served, {{SERVED_BYTES}} from cache, 0 downloaded

This 0 downloaded is what shows the update was entirely served by the caching server.
Finish

Outgoing connection finished


What is the maximum version of iOS compatible with the 2nd-generation iPod Touch?

iOS 4.2.1 (8C148) is the maximum OS version it can be upgraded to so you won't be able to install 4.3 or newer OS using iTunes and Apple supplied versions of the software.


Installing Lion from custom DIY DVD or USB fails

It's hard to know where the failure lies, but you might be able to get around the issue by re-installing Snow Leopard from media and then running the installer you have saved on the DVD/USB. This will avoid having to try the "official" Lion install and see if your installer is the cause or the mac has issues of it's own.


How to block Facebook app and facebook.com from loading on an iOS device

Not directly, but you could use a provisioning profile to assign a web proxy or custom DNS server to perform your filtering.


As stated, Photos keeps its own copies in its library.

Provided the photos you have edited and weeded out in Finder are the only photos you want in your library, try this:

Quit Photos if open
Move the Photo Library.photoslibrary file to a new location. (Desktop for instance) This make take a few minutes depending on how large the library is.
Open Photos app.  It will ask you for a Library.
Create a new Library
Import your cleaned up photos to the new Library
If you have what you want you can delete the old Library.

This should save you lots of time.  Just be sure you have backups of your photos!

In case you are curious how Photos stores your photos, ⌥+Click or right click and Show Package Contents


In audio Midi setup, change the "2ch-16bit" setting that you mentioned to either the 32 or 24bit option. The hissing should then be gone.


Help with AppleScript moving email messages

It's better if you capture a reference to every message in a variable, instead of getting the reference every time you loop.

tell application "Mail"
    set theWorkInbox to mailbox "Work Inbox" of account "Work"
    set TargetInbox to mailbox "Work Holding Bay" of account "Work"

    -- CAPTURE REFERENCE TO EVERY MESSAGE OF MAILBOX IN A VARIABLE
    set EveryMessage to every message of TargetInbox

    repeat with currentWorkMessage in EveryMessage
        set mailbox of currentWorkMessage to theWorkInbox
    end repeat

end tell


iOS apps can't run in the background constantly to do this task.

Dropbox can do this if you're willing to open the app whilst on network. Add the PDFs to a folder on your Dropbox, then in the app, choose Make Available Offline for that folder.

In the future, you can add files to that folder on your computer, then simply open the app on your iOS device to load the PDFs.


If we don't add NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription for saving images to Photo library in our app, would it be rejected during App Store review?

The Apple Developer documentation for NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription key says:

  Discussion

  Important

  This key is required if your app uses APIs that have write access to the user’s photo library.

So, yes, it's possible that for the app to get rejected in the absence of the key. If the app happen to crash during the review process due to the absence of the key (or for some reason we don't know how the SDK works internally), it may get rejected.

Per, this answer on Stack Overflow:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/46681344/what-is-the-crash-of-the-apps-info-plist-must-contain-an-nsphotolibraryaddusag

From the question:

  This app has crashed because it attempted to access privacy-sensitive data without a usage description. The app's Info.plist must contain an NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription key with a string value explaining to the user how the app uses this data.

From the answer:

  Obviously, to solve this crash you have to add the NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription into the application's plist file:

<key>NSPhotoLibraryAddUsageDescription</key>
<string>Our application needs permission to write photos...</string>

  As property list view:

Note: It's better to adhere to Apple's guidelines and include the key in your app's Info.plist. There's no harm/performance penalty by adding the key. In-fact with the key added, there's one less reason for your app to get rejected.


iTunes music sync: "Albums" sub-window too tall for main window

The suggestion from someone ("turingtest2") on the Apple Community forum was to submit this as a bug on Apple Developer Connection, which I have done.

The bug number is 23139220.


Time Machine encryption variations - how does each work?

It’s pretty easy if you just look at the disks and you’re on a moderately new macOS version.
Today, Apple encrypts disks and not backups. If the source is encrypted, it doesn’t matter because it gets copied unencrypted to the Destiination. If the destination is not encrypted the file stay clear, if the destination is encrypted, the files are encrypted.
Apple does encryption at rest, so until the filesystem is uncounted and then the key to decrypt them is no longer valid until a key to unlock is provided.
You can inspect encryption status with these two commands.
diskutil apfs list
diskutil cs list

APFS is the newer modern filesystem and core storage was used after the original method of encrypted sparse disk images. Complicated, so that’s why you see so many answers here on the old method, the newer method and the current method. Full disk encryption arrived with 10.7 Lion, so many major versions ago the old implementation is likely not in play for you.

What is the difference between FileVault 2 and Disk Utility Encryption?
When does encryption actually happen in MacOS/OS X encrypted volumes?


Using Javascript | Applescript to click button in Safari

For a minute there I thought you were asking the same question again as last time.

But  realise now you want to know how to use Inspect Element to construct your own code.

In the example you give: document.forms[WHATGOESHERE?].click()

The WHATGOESHERE would be the form name.

i.e document.forms['theFormName'].click()

Your website in their wisdom has named the form 'form'

<form method="post" action="/cgi-bin/RNAfold.cgi" enctype="multipart/form-data" name="form">
 <input type="hidden" name="PAGE" value="2">

i.e document.forms['form'].click()

But this would not click the input button

You can use the submit() function dot syntax'd on the end :

document.forms['form'].submit()

Safari Applescript : do JavaScript "document.forms['form'].submit()"

Also

In the code I provided you in your last question. I used:

tell document 1

        do JavaScript "document.getElementsByClassName('proceed')[0].click()"

    end tell

This uses the class Name proceed of the forms input element seen here: class="proceed"

<input value="" name="proceed" type="submit" class="proceed" onmouseover="this.style.cursor=&quot;pointer&quot;" style="cursor: pointer;">

The  getElementsByClassName('proceed')[0] does exactly what it says.

It gets the Elements By ClassName  'proceed'.

The [0]  means it will give you the first element in it's results from the Array that would be returned. The array is counted from 0-9. So the first item would be item 0.

A good place to get working examples and information about Javascript is at www.w3schools.com On the front page the have links to their HTML and Javascript examples and Tutorials. The elements of the HTML Dom and Javascript functions are listed for easy access.


extract the top-level domain and the second-level domain from a URL

As you are already using awk and are looking for a simple solution:

awk -F/ '{n=split($3, a, "."); printf("%s.%s", a[n-1], a[n])}' <<< 'http://www.example.com/index.php'
      ^ ^   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^
      | |          |                                  |
      | |          |                            last two elements
      | |          |
      | |          +--- Split the 3rd field (aka the part after //) into
      | |               the array 'a', using '.' as the separator for splitting.
      | |               Returns the number of created array elements in 'n'.
      | |
      | +-------------- The awk code between the '' gets run once for every
      |                 input line, with the fields split by -F/ stored in
      |                 $1, $2 etc. In our case $1 contains "http:", $2 is
      |                 empty, $3 contains "www.example.com" and $4 etc. the
      |                 various path elements (if there are any)
      |
      +---------------- Split the input lines into fields, separated by '/'


In order to downgrade to Mavericks from Yosemite do I need to reformat my hard drive and use the internet recovery to reinstall Mavericks?

As of today there is no known way to downgrade from Yosemite to Mavericks without erasing the drive.

Booting to the internet recovery mode altcmdR means that you boot to a netboot image containing a basic system downloaded from Apple/Akamai. You don't need the Mavericks installer. If you reinstall a system the system originally shipped  with your Mac will be loaded.

Boot process (takes 2 minutes connected to a 50 MBps-line):

Boot process finished:

Translation:
Festplattendienstprogramm: Disk Utility
OS X erneut installieren: Reinstall OS X
Starting Disk Utility looks like this:

Now you just have to repartition your Macintosh HD: 1 Partition & GUID partition table (available via Options)
If you stuck here unable to partition your drive because it's forbidden or greyed out, your Macintosh HD was probably converted to a CoreStorage Volume Group. Please check and execute the steps 10-12 of my answer to this question. Afterwards you have to start Disk Utility again and partition the drive to your needs.
BTW: SystemUSB is an attached thumb drive with a bootable system and disk2 (OS X Base System) is the netboot image you downloaded and booted to earlier in step 1.
Quit Disk Utility to get to the menu again (picture 2)
Start Reinstall OS X. Now probably Lion is downloaded to your newly created hard disk partition and installed there afterwards.
If you get a message like 'Could not find installation information for this machine' just restart your Mac to the internet recovery mode. (The netboot image seems to be very picky with the WLAN connection and it took me two attempts to get around this step)

If you choose the recovery mode cmdR the latest system will be installed. You need a working Recovery HD-volume though. Such volume won't exist on a brand new hdd.

In both cases a stable and fast internet connection will be convenient.

Using the internet recovery mode you won't end up with an 'unbootable' system (depending on the reliability of your internet connection) because your (maybe falsely partioned) hdd is never involved in the (net)boot process.

In your case (MacBook Pro early 2011) i would download 'Mavericks' with your App Store account, create a 'Mavericks Installer' thumb drive, boot to it and continue with step 2 outlined above. It's just faster and more reliable than first downloading and installing Lion and then Mavericks.


Upgrading to MacOS from 10.6.8 MacBook Pro

Are you using a 32-bit machine?

Unfortunately, 32-bit systems cannot run any OS after Snow Leopard (10.6). You have a few options:

Keep using Snow Leopard (be extremely careful about security, as I don't think it's still receiving updates)
Buy a newer Mac (possibly used)
Install Ubuntu and use it instead of OS X

If your machine is 64-bit, then I don't know what the problem is.


Can't import photos from iPhone 6 to Mac

The photos on iPhone doesn't directly show up in Preview.app on your Mac after connecting. You will need to copy (via import or sync) them to your Mac to be able to see them in Preview.app.

After connecting your iPhone to your Mac, launch Image Capture.app. You can find the app in Other folder in Launchpad, or simply search for it via Spotlight.

Once the app is launched, your iPhone is unlocked and both the iPhone and Mac have trusted each other, you should be able to see all the photos and videos in the Image Capture.app window.

Simply select, drag and drop the photos from within Image Capture app onto a folder in Finder to copy them to your Mac.


How to sync Gmail contacts keeping exchange contacts?

Use iTunes to sync and make sure you have your phone contacts in your MS-Exchange folder. Then you can either use the Google Apps migration tool or export them from outlook and into gmail.

Next you can remove the exchange account (which will probably delete you contacts).

Next you can uncheck the box in itunes that says "sync my contacts" so that they will all come off of your phone. Make sure you have them backed up first.

You can also uncheck the box to tell it not to sync the calendar if you like.

Next, you can add a Gmail account or google apps account - but when you do, don't click on Gmail for the account type - choose "Exchange" because it allows syncing of contacts and calendars, too.

See the gmail site for more details:

http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=138740


You have quite the diverse range of options:

Free:

Gapplin (AppStore) 14MB

macSVG 9MB

  macSVG is a MIT-licensed open-source macOS application for designing and editing Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) content for HTML5 web pages, mobile apps, animation design, and general graphics usage.

SVGViewer

  Fast, Free and Simple SVGViewer file Viewer
  Open and export SVG files on Mac, send to friends. Download SVGViewer for Mac. It’s free!

And with an additional footprint of 0 bytes:

your favourite browser!


How to delete a podcast from new ios6 Podcast app?

From the Podcasts view (left tab), press the Edit button at the top left (you may need to scroll up to see it). Each podcast will have an (x) button in its top left corner. Hit that button (it's small and can be tricky, but it works) to remove the podcast. Use the Done button at the top left when you're finished editing.


Left and right single quotes in Pages document

Disabling smart quotes may help.

Navigate to System Preferences > Keyboard > Text and disable "Use smart quotes and dashes."


Can a hobbyist or individual apply for Apple's MFi program?

Yes, smaller groups can apply to be in the MFi program, if they are serious about making a product for the iOS devices.  However, you will need to get approval from Apple for your basic device concept in order to get in the program, then the device will need to pass third-party certifications to verify that it won't interfere with the iOS device, etc.  Finally, Apple will need to approve your final product design before you can start selling it.

They've opened up this process significantly over the last year or so, but given the hurdles you have to jump to get a functional device out there this is still not intended for one-off hobby projects.  A small company can make a product to sell in lower volumes, but you'll need at least $20,000 in development funds to get through the process to your final design.

Recouping that level of investment doesn't require selling millions of devices, but you do have to have some moderate volume of device sales to make it worth your initial development time and money.

We're in the process of building an MFi accessory, and we're a very small company.  Our target sales volumes are not large, but they're enough to make this worthwhile.  If the product takes off, so much the better.


I don't have access to my Mac right now, but on my Linux machine I'm set up to use zsh as my default shell.  It looks like you can do this on Mac too.  Once you're in zsh, you can easily use Vim keybindings  (I guess it may also work in Bash?) by running set -o vi.
With Vim bindings active, you can press ESC to go to Command Mode, then use any normal Vim keys including R to switch to Overtype mode.
PS: To go back to Emacs bindings use set -o emacs.


Check if an app can read certain folders

macOS App Sandbox
~/Library/Containers is created by macOS and not the application. Sandboxed applications are effectively chroot'd into their container. You can learn more in Apple's App Sandbox Design Guide documentation.
Sandboxed applications have a com.apple.security.app-sandbox entitlement set to true.
You can view the entitlements of an application using the command line tool codesign:
codesign --display --entitlements=- /Applications/Safari.app

There is no way to run a shell script using the rights of another application.
macOS's sandboxing approach requires that you trust Apple's implementation.


How far is my Time Machine "preparing backup" step?

If the CPU goes over the roof, as shown by Apple Activity Monitor (mds–stores) or MenuMeters (see below), Time Machine "Preparing backup…" takes forever when it should be done in seconds or similar, and Apple Mail and Finder Spotlight (File - Find) find nothing, chances are that Time Machine is checking the Spotlight FSEvents database to see what has changed since the last backup, and that that such database is corrupted or there is some other problem. The fix is:

Stop Time Machine backup clicking the "X" on the screen capture above.
Reboot the Mac.
If required, stop again Time Machine (if it takes forever again) and once stopped, select "Time Machine - Back Up Npw".

In my case, that worked like a charm on macOS 10.12.6 (16G2136) Sierra using internal booting SSD 2TB from Apple (Samsung) on iMac 27-inch 5K Retine (mid 2017) and external Time machine Samsung Portable SSD T5 2 TB. Time Machine takes about 15 seconds to perform each backup there!

If not fixed and Time Machine takes forever again, rebuild Spotlight index selecting "Apple - System Preferences - Spotlight - Privacy". Then drag and drop the full booting disk (or the one that is backed up) there. Then remove it to allow Spotlight to rebuild its index. Note that it may take from a few minutes to many hours, depending on the items stored in the disk and the disk speed (SSD is much faster than the mechanical rotational ones). You may want to do it overnight.

Finally, it is a good idea to install MenuMeters to easily see when the CPU goes over the roof…
MenuMeters for OS X El Capitan 10.11 (and later)
https://member.ipmu.jp/yuji.tachikawa/MenuMetersElCapitan


How does a reminder that has both a location and time reminder work?

The reminder alerts do not work in tandem. This means it will alert you:

At the exact date and time you have specified
AND when you enter/exit the specified geofence


Time capsule over ethernet is incredibly slow

Configure the ethernet interface in Ubuntu to use Gigabit in full duplex
Reset the network card by powering down the laptop and unplugging it from mains for a few seconds
To effectively use Gigabit ethernet, use a Cat 5e or Cat 6 cable
Start the copy after a reboot of the devices (with WiFi and other connections disabled)


How to join the files into a similar directory tree?

Finder has supported merging folders since 10.7:

If the target folder has at least one file that is newer than the corresponding file in the source folder, Finder merges the folders by keeping the newer files, and the Merge button is shown as Keep Newer:

The dialog with the Merge or Keep Newer button is shown if you copy a single folder but not if you move a folder or copy multiple folders.

Another option is to use rsync:

rsync -aE ~/dir1/rootdirectory ~/dir2/

Options:

-a: archive (-rlptgoD or --resursive --links --perms --times --group --owner --devices --specials)
-E: preserve extended attributes, resource forks, and ACLs
-nv: show what files would be copied (--dry-run --verbose)
--ignore-existing: don't replace files that are older in the destination
--delete:  delete files from the destination that don't have corresponding files in the source


No, you cannot change the notification sound unless the app supports it (or it is one of the notification types listed under Settings > Sounds & Haptics), which Home does not (and it is not).


I accidentally deleted an iMovie project, but I recovered it. Now it is too blurry to see!

sounds like you only recovered the low-quality proxies.

The structure should be

Project Name folder, containing

CurrentVersion.imovieevent file &
Profect Name.rcproject folder, containing

Movies folder
Project file
Proxies folder
QuickLook

That applies whether you have the old iMovie structure or the new one.
If you have the new structure that doesn't look like a folder, then right click the iMovie Library 'file' & select 'Show Package Contents' - then you will see the actual folder structure


To get started, try to reset NVRAM:

Shut down your Mac.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R.
Turn on your Mac.
Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys immediately after you hear the startup sound.
Hold these keys until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for a second time.
Release the keys.

Resetting NVRAM

(If the rEFInd installation was performed  something like sudo bless --mount / Volumes / ESP --setBoot --file /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/refind_x64.efi --shortform, and the boot volume information was recorded in NVRAM).


Reinstall Google Chrome on iPod Touch 4th generation

Yes, you can do this by:

Tapping and holding on an app icon on the home screen until the icons start to wiggle.
Tap the "x" icon on the Google Chrome app.
Open the App store.
Go the the farthest right tab - "Updates"
At the top will be "Purchased"
Scroll to Google Chrome and tap "Install".

After deleted the Chrome app, you can also just search the app store for "Google Chrome". When the Chrome app is displayed in the results, there will be an "Install" button. You can install it from there as well.


Is it possible to install Android using OpenIBoot on an iPhone with the limerain/greenp0ison jailbreak?

It's not possible to install iDroid on 3gs at this time, only 2g and 3g iphones. My 3g is runnin it great. Sorry bro.


Some PDF bills are printed out with empty squares replacing the text

I have seen this issue before, and it appears to be a bug in Preview on 10.11.
It does something weird with specific TrueType fonts (including some previously supplied by Apple) that causes this effect.
The documents in question view perfectly fine, but when you try to save or print from Preview, it re-encodes them incorrectly in some way, resulting in the squares.

The same documents view, save and print fine in all 10 previous versions of OS X, and also work perfectly fine on every other platform.

I've seen some suggestions that replacing / fixing your system fonts will fix it - however, that won't help in a lot of cases - particularly not with third party PDFs, since the fonts will be subsetted and embedded in the document.

Your best option is to attempt to report it to Apple.
It's a real problem, because there's millions of PDFs out there already created that can't just change because Apple decides they're not going to fix their product.

You should also report it to your energy provider - their print supplier may be able to work around the issue by changing fonts or rendering the text as an image.

Of course, that won't help the unknown number of future PDFs you may encounter with the problem, so definitely do report it to Apple.  The more people that report it, the more they'll come to see it's a problem that needs fixing.


Sharing a Printer from a Mac to AirPrint

http://www.howtogeek.com/102671/how-to-enable-airprint-for-ios-printing-from-any-mac-or-windows-pc/

Thanks to AirPrint Hacktivator you can turn any printer connected to your Mac or Windows PC into an AirPrint compatible printer.  from:
http://osxdaily.com/2010/12/01/make-any-printer-airprint-compatible/


You can't change the location of the Appstore, it is based on the country you have registered it with. Like if you buy a new iPhone in Brazil and you sign in to the Appstore for the first time, it will redirect you to the Appstore of your Apple-id.


Spaces: visualization in menubar, and arbitrary keybinding for 'goto next space'

You can set a shortcut via Keyboard Shortcuts. Remember to tick the checkbox too!


Disable text box with preedit text when using an input source and searching in Finder

The box is annoying to be sure.  If you are in the Finder and have clicked upon an editable field, or are in a position to type keys that will result int he Quick Search as you have termed it, this box may appear.

If you are using an input keyboard that supports it, this box allows you to type in the "special" characters required by other languages, and use them for your search.

If you leave some characters in this box, and switch to the US input keyboard, this box will be amazingly persistent, yet will be uneditable while in the US Keyboard.

If you want the box to go away, select the appropriate non-US keyboard, delete the contents of the box, and when you switch back to the US keyboard, it will not appear.


Turn off blurring on Mac Book Pro with Retina display

Alright, it looks like you just have to check "Open in low resolution" check box in application information.

So select an app, press Cmd+I (or got to File > Get info) and check the "Open in low resolution" check box as shown below:

Now everything should look crisp


How do I trigger Appstore check for app updates manually?

I have the firewall turned on on my computer and I don't have a problem checking for updates.  I go to the App Store and at the top of the window is an icon for updates. Click on that and it tells you the updates available.

See the image below.


How can I get Thunderbird to send in HTML?

I have since discovered that Thunderbird IS sending in HTML, it is just that I seemed to be unable to compose messages in HTML, although I could cut and paste HTML.

I have resolved this by enabling View/Toolbars/Formatting Bar (although I don't know WHY it wasn't enabled).

I would still like to be able to tell Thunderbird to use a format on a message by message basis, but can find no such option.


Terminal Actived Push Notification Utility for OS X and iOS?

OS X Server integrates nicely for push notifications using APNS, but it's more focused on mail and chat notifications as opposed to sending generic notifications like a turn based game server.

It would get your Apple ID approved and be a very nice first step towards getting APNS to be ready to listen to commands from a Mac.

Here is a nice step by step article on setting up push notifications:

http://krypted.com/mac-os-x/enable-push-notifications-in-os-x-mountain-lion-server/

From there, you could use a chat hosted from your Mac as opposed to using iMessage (messages app on iOS to get messages sent with push notifications).


Cloud-sycning MS Office documents on OS X/iOS

Mobile Documents folder

Actually, iCloud can be used to sync anything that you wish, including MS Office docs.

In ~/Library/Mobile Documents create a folder (call it anything you wish) and put whatever Office documents you like in there. That folder will sync with other Macs (and jailbroken iOS devices, and on the web too if you have a Apple Developer licence).

Dropbox

Alternatively, Dropbox allows you to sync files that you put in your Dropbox folder with anything (Macs, iOS & Android devices using the Dropbox app or another app with Dropbox integration, and web).


Make Ctrl-k in Terminal copy to the system clipboard

There's a very simple solution if you're willing to extend your shell's functionality.  (Though it is pretty cool to see the automator solution)
Assuming you're using zsh, the current macOS default shell, then just add this to your ~/.zshrc profile.
pb-kill-line () {
  zle kill-line   # `kill-line` is the default ctrl+k binding
  echo -n $CUTBUFFER | pbcopy
}

zle -N pb-kill-line  # register our new function

bindkey '^K' pb-kill-line  # change the ctrl+k binding to use our new function

All this is doing is wrapping the Ctrl+k key binding so that in addition to performing its default behavior (kill-line), it also copies the relevant text into the system wide clipboard. The mysterious $CUTBUFFER contains the text that was just cut, and the macOS pbcopy utility puts whatever it receives from the STDIN into the system clipboard.
This solution was mostly just copied from https://gist.github.com/welldan97/5127861 ! My only original content is the explanation. :-)


Deleted Files from my IPhone still shows up when I hook my phone to Itunes

I think the best solution might be to factory reset your iPhone.
You can use this link for further guidance on this topic:
Use iTunes to restore your iOS device to factory settings.
:)


How to switch to windows that dont belong to any running application?

Have you tried F3 or F9?  One of those should get you in to Mission Control which will show you all your open windows grouped by application.  This works for me with the window for Net Monitor.

If neither of them works, go in to System Preferences -> Mission Control to set up a key or hot corner.


Looks like it only co-incidentally appeared at the 10.11.4 update; the problem was actually when I installed vagrant. Somewhere along the line either I or a script I used overwrote /etc/sudoers with the following rather than appending it:

Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_EXPORTS_ADD = /usr/bin/tee -a /etc/exports
Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_NFSD = /sbin/nfsd restart
Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_EXPORTS_REMOVE = /usr/bin/sed -E -e /*/ d -ibak /etc/exports
%admin ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: VAGRANT_EXPORTS_ADD, VAGRANT_NFSD, VAGRANT_EXPORTS_REMOVE

So /etc/sudoers was toast. Here's how to fix it if this happens to you.

Go to System Preferences
Go to Users & Groups
Click on the lock
Authenticate with an admin account
Choose Network Account Server: Join...
Click Open Directory Utility
Click on the lock
Authenticate with an admin account
Choose Edit / Enable Root User
Choose a root password
Open a Terminal
Type su
Type your root password and hit return
Type visudo

You should now be safely editing /etc/sudoers. Or at least as safely you as you can do anything while logged in as root.

Replace whatever nonsense you have in there with a properly safe file. Here's the one I used:

#
# This file MUST be edited with the 'visudo' command as root.
# Failure to use 'visudo' may result in syntax or file permission errors
# that prevent sudo from running.
#
# See the sudoers man page for the details on how to write a sudoers file.
#

# Host alias specification

# User alias specification

# Cmnd alias specification

# Defaults specification
Defaults    env_reset
Defaults    env_keep += "BLOCKSIZE"
Defaults    env_keep += "COLORFGBG COLORTERM"
Defaults    env_keep += "__CF_USER_TEXT_ENCODING"
Defaults    env_keep += "CHARSET LANG LANGUAGE LC_ALL LC_COLLATE LC_CTYPE"
Defaults    env_keep += "LC_MESSAGES LC_MONETARY LC_NUMERIC LC_TIME"
Defaults    env_keep += "LINES COLUMNS"
Defaults    env_keep += "LSCOLORS"
Defaults    env_keep += "SSH_AUTH_SOCK"
Defaults    env_keep += "TZ"
Defaults    env_keep += "DISPLAY XAUTHORIZATION XAUTHORITY"
Defaults    env_keep += "EDITOR VISUAL"
Defaults    env_keep += "HOME MAIL"

# Runas alias specification

# User privilege specification
root    ALL=(ALL) ALL
%admin  ALL=(ALL) ALL

# Uncomment to allow people in group wheel to run all commands
# %wheel    ALL=(ALL) ALL

# Same thing without a password
# %wheel    ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

# Samples
# %users  ALL=/sbin/mount /cdrom,/sbin/umount /cdrom
# %users  localhost=/sbin/shutdown -h now

Hit ESC, then type :wq! to save and quit the file
type exit to get out of the root shell
Go back to Directory Utilities
Choose Edit/Disable Root User

And - huzzah! - your sudo command should be back up-and-running again.


Can I use Cisco Meraki, or similar, to deploy Mac App Store Apps?

Yes you can. The process is the same as pushing VPP apps to an iOS device. You can look at this KB article from Meraki to see how it would work.


How can I delete a photo on multiple devices without having to delete it manually everywhere?

Without iCloud, the images are just imported, not synced. There's no tangible connection between the two. This the same behavior has you'd find with a camera's memory card.

Before iCloud, images were synced via iTunes. You can still sync images back to the iOS device via iTunes, but if you do that the iOS device can't delete them.


VoiceOver in macOS Big Sur echos zoom level

I was also very annoyed by this change, but finally they fixed it in macOS 11.2