If you can already log in on an account with administrator privileges (normal OS X account) and know its login password, you can reset the passwords of other admin accounts in System Preferences > Accounts. If you can't, you can reset the passwords of admin accounts in single user mode. See this question.

If you actually mean the password of the root user, it can be changed from /System/Library/CoreServices/Directory Utility.app/, but you have to be logged in on an admin account and know its login password.


How can I have 1805 threads when I only have 4 virtual CPUs?

Scheduling

Your 1,805 threads do not run simultaneously. They trade off. One core runs a bit of the thread, then sets it aside to execute a bit of another thread. The other cores do the same. Round and round, threads execute a little bit at a time, not all at once.

A major responsibility of the operating system (Darwin and macOS) is the scheduling of which thread is to be executed on which core for how long.

Many threads have no work to do, and so are left dormant and unscheduled. Likewise, many threads may be waiting on some resource such as data to be retrieved from storage, or a network connection to be completed, or data to be loaded from a database. With almost nothing to do but check the status of the awaited resource, such threads are scheduled quite briefly if at all.

The app programmer can assist this scheduling operation by sleeping her thread for a certain amount of time when she knows the wait for the external resource will take some time. And if running a “tight” loop that is CPU-intensive with no cause to wait on external resources, the programmer can insert a call to volunteer to be set aside briefly so as to not hog the core and thereby allow other threads to execute.

For more detail, see the Wikipedia page for multithreading.

Simultaneous Multi-Threading

As for your linked Question, threads there are indeed the same as here.

One issue there is the overhead cost of switching between threads when scheduled by the OS. There is a significant cost in time to unload the current thread’s instructions and data from the core and then load next scheduled thread ’s instructions and data. Part of the operating system’s job is to try to be smart in scheduling the threads as to optimize around this overhead cost.

Some CPU makers have developed technology to cut this time so as to make switching between a pair of threads much faster. Intel calls their technology Hyper-Threading. Known generically as simultaneous multi-threading (SMT).

While the pair of threads does not actually execute simultaneously, the switching is so smooth and fast that both threads appear to be virtually simultaneous. This works so well that the each core presents itself as a pair of virtual cores to the OS. So a SMT enabled CPU with four physical cores, for example, will present itself to the OS as an eight-core CPU.

Despite this optimization, there is still some overhead to switching between such virtual cores. Too many CPU-intensive threads all clamoring for execution time to be scheduled on a core can make the system inefficient, with no one thread getting much work done. Like three balls on a playground being shared between nine kids, versus sharing between nine hundred kids where no one kid really gets any serious playtime with a ball.

So there is an option in the CPU firmware where a sysadmin can throw a switch on the machine to disable SMT if she decides it would benefit her users running an app that is unusually CPU-bound with very few opportunities for pausing.

In such a case we come back to your original Question: In this special situation you would indeed want to constrain the operations to have no more of these hyper-active threads than you have physical cores. But let me repeat: this is an extremely unusual situation that might occur in something like a specialized scientific data-crunching project but would almost never apply to common business/corporate/enterprise scenarios.


How to disable automatic High Sierra download?

System Preferences → App Store and disable ‘Download newly available updates in the background’.


Which cities have "flyover" in iOS 6 Maps?

Australia

Australia

Sydney

Europe

Denmark

Copenhagen

France

Lyon

Germany

Berlin
Munich

Ireland

Dublin

Italy

Milan
Rome

Spain

Barcelona
Madrid

United Kingdom

London
Birmingham
Manchester

North America

Canada

Montreal
Toronto
Vancouver

United States

Apple HQ in Cupertino
Arlington, TX
Atlanta
Austin
Boston
Chicago
Dallas
Denver
Fort Worth
Houston
Las Vegas
Long Beach
Los Angeles
Memphis
Miami
New Orleans
New York
Oakland
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Portland
Sacramento
San Francisco
San Jose
Seattle
Bellevue, WA
Everett, WA
Kent, WA
Tacoma, WA

The initial 11 cities at the time of iOS 6 announcement (June, 2012) were identified by
Cult of Mac.


Using iPhone screen as a display monitor

An app called Duet can make your iPhone a display for your Mac.


Full screen mode across multiple monitors on Yosemite

Fullscreen only works on the desktop (space) the application is inside of at the moment. Since each display has their own spaces, the app will not cross over into the others unless you manually resize it to fit.


Office for Mac Excel app doesn't show thousand separator

A temporary workaround is always simply Command-A to select all cells and clicking this convenient button in the ribbon under the Home tab in the Number section:

A more permanent solution is as follows:
Go into System Preferences > Language and Text and click the "Region" tab.  If the first region dropdown menu is United States (Computer), this might be your problem.  Looking below shows that this region formats numbers without a thousands separator.

This appears to be the result, as you stated, of an OS X update. Instead, set the Region to United States (without the Computer part).

From the Excel Help window:

Display or hide the thousands separator
Select the cells that you want to adjust. On the Home tab, under
Number, click Display the value of a cell with a thousands separator.
Note: Excel uses the Mac OS system separator for thousands. You can
specify a different system separator by changing the regional settings
in Mac OS X International system preferences.

We have just done that, but it appears that Excel continues to ignore the change.  Re-install Office and update us with the results.


There's no contention. Apple provides APIs for accessing the M7's data and all the APIs are thread-safe. This means that there can't be any problems caused by two apps accessing the data at the same time.

Furthermore, reading data from the M7 doesn't manipulate the data in any way. Other apps can still access the data and the data is not reset.

As for the cause of the specific problem in the question, I'd put it down to a bug in the app itself.


Numbers for Mac: Force line chart to show axis at point (0, 0)

In the inspector, one can set the Axis Scale to a minimum value.

The resulting chart starts at 0 when minimum is set.


No Prompt & Password Fill Install for Homebrew

The -s option is working for me, so I don't know why it doesn't work for you.

Have you tried to add #!/bin/sh (or #!/bin/bash) in the top of your script ??

If you use the -n option on echo you'll get the input on the same line as the label.

So the below is having the input: Password: <waiting for input>, and on the next line it just print the password entered - the awk is just for testing that the pipe was working. And then I've added a loop so that something always need to be entered.

#!/bin/sh

readPassword
echo $PASSWORD | awk '{print $1}'

readPassword() {
   echo -n "Password: "
   read -s PASSWORD
   echo ""
   if [[ -z "$PASSWORD" ]]; then
      printf '%s\n' "A password is required..."
      readPassword
   fi
}


You are correct Mountain Lion will probably not run on it.  Also you need server software for it to be recognized as a time machine location.   Not sure if that was available in previous versions though.  OSX server is powerful,  but for simple use it is probably an overkill.  I have spent to many hours tinkering with mine while just using it for the uses that you state.

If you can get hold of an older version of OSX server and you are willing to tinker.. you could do all of that though


Using an iPod charging cable to charge an iPad

The iPad uses a 10W charger.  The iPhone has a 5W charger.  Most older computers only support the original USB spec of 2.5W USB port power support.  Your iPad, when on, uses more than 2.5W, so it will not charge unless it's turned off, and when off it will charge at less than 1/4 the speed of the normal iPad charger.  That can be up to 16 hours for a fully depleted iPad.

Newer Apple computers, and computers that support USB3.0, support higher USB power standards, but if your computer doesn't then you'll need to invest in a new charger for your iPad.

Note that the iPad will generally charge off other USB chargers from other manufacturers, but only at a slower rate than the original iPad charger, unless the charger you use is specified to charge the iPad.  When the original iPad came out 10W USB chargers were not common.


How to change the Admin password from blank on OS X Lion?

In Terminal.app type passwd, this will prompt you to enter a password for your account.

Another way is to Go into Users & Groups in System Prefereneces... and click on change password if possible. Not sure in the case of a blank password if that button will be active or greyed, since I never faced this situation before.


Can you test an app before you buy it on the iPad?

Sometimes app developers will release a version that allows you to play with it, but to get full functionality you need an in-app purchase.  See this app for Summoner Wars as an example:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/summoner-wars/id493752948?mt=8

But this is a choice the developer makes, so if the app you're interested in doesn't supply something like this (or a lite version; see @Alex's answer), then no.


You can use Karabiner to remap keys.

  A powerful and stable keyboard customizer for OS X.

This page details how to add custom behaviors.


Is there a way to restore the original sorting in a Numbers table?

The simplest way is 'undo' i.e. ⌘+Z until you reach the desired (previous) state. 'Undo' applies to anything what is 'done' in a file, so pending on how many changes are made it may be lot of undoing.


Create a New Space in Mavericks using Applescript

delay 0.5 -- time to release command if the script is run with command-R
tell application "System Events"
    key code 126 using control down -- control-up
    delay 1
    do shell script "MouseTools -x 1900 -y 60;sleep 1;MouseTools -leftClickNoRelease;MouseTools -releaseMouse"
    key code 53 -- escape
end tell

You can download MouseTools from http://www.hamsoftengineering.com/codeSharing/MouseTools/MouseTools.html. See http://osxnotes.net/applescript.html for a list of key codes.


Is is possible to use remote desktop to a Mac via direct cable or wireless?

First off, it's important to note that Apple's Remote Desktop is not Microsoft's Remote Desktop, and the two are not interchangeable. That said, you can still use various VNC products to connect from the Windows machine to the Mac.

From there, it's standard networking. If you want to leave the Mac Mini at home, you'll need to make sure that you can access the required ports, whether by port forwarding, or by an SSH tunnel/VPN allowing you to connect to your home network.

If you bring the Mac Mini with you, then you can easily create an ad hoc Wi-Fi network to connect them both too, in which case they will be on the same network, and you can connect that way. (You may need a monitor and keyboard attached to the Mac Mini at some point to configure this.)

Additionally, the Mac can automatically make any standard Ethernet cable into a crossover cable, such that an Ethernet cable connecting your Mac to your PC will create a network connection for the two machines, which, again, you can use as a standard network to connect from one to the other.

The network can be WiFi, direct point to point ethernet, point to point thunderbolt, point to point firewire or over a wired switched network of any of the above carriers.


How do I turn on calculator in spotlight without enabling conversions?

This seems to be a bug in Yosemite. Disabling Conversions shouldn't disable the calculator entirely, but it does. You can provide feedback and file a bug report Apple here:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html
https://bugreport.apple.com/


You'll want to check the diagnostics offered by the router.

In some cases your router could be "beam forming" to maximise bandwidth to a single device (such as a laptop). If you have relatively bad conditions, this could be necessary to get good speeds. By bad conditions I mean for example neighbouring WiFis networks interfering, noise from other equipment, big distances between router and device or objects blocking the signal (walls for example).

If you add another device to the network, such as the iPhone, the router could be forced to stop "beam forming" because you have too many units connected or similar. That could give you worse performance on the existing units, even though the iPhone is not transmitting/receiving any actual data.


Mid 2014 Macbook Swollen after High Sierra / What should I do?

Make a full backup and get it into a store/repair shop for inspection.


How to Disable resize window on mouse over edge

Don't click, just scroll.

Mac will scroll any window the cursor is over, whether it's foregrounded or not. You don't even need the cursor to be over the scroll-bar, just anywhere in that window.

The only exception to this is if your cursor is inside any specifically scrollable area within the window, such as the following example - this will override the main window scroll & scroll that specific area instead.

 random kernel panic data copied from another Ask Different question

panic(cpu 3 caller 0xffffff802cf70d0d): "a freed zone element has been modified in zone kalloc.128: expected 0xffffff8069109580 but found 0xffffff8069119580, bits changed 0x10000, at offset 0 of 128 in element 0xffffff80620cff80, cookies 0x3f00118b7d7cb634 0x5352144d41da7e3"@/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-2782.10.72/osfmk/kern/zalloc.c:496
Backtrace (CPU 3), Frame : Return Address
0xffffff8215e2b0c0 : 0xffffff802cf2fe41
0xffffff8215e2b140 : 0xffffff802cf70d0d
0xffffff8215e2b1b0 : 0xffffff802cf70811
0xffffff8215e2b1f0 : 0xffffff802cf6f657
0xffffff8215e2b320 : 0xffffff802d36a00b
0xffffff8215e2b3f0 : 0xffffff802d3699d5
0xffffff8215e2b4e0 : 0xffffff802d166802
0xffffff8215e2b650 : 0xffffff802d1741e4
0xffffff8215e2b6b0 : 0xffffff802d16f0b4
0xffffff8215e2b730 : 0xffffff802d149f64
0xffffff8215e2bb50 : 0xffffff802d39fc12
0xffffff8215e2bbb0 : 0xffffff802d164f17
0xffffff8215e2bc00 : 0xffffff802d15d143
0xffffff8215e2bf20 : 0xffffff802d1523fa
0xffffff8215e2bf50 : 0xffffff802d44b386
0xffffff8215e2bfb0 : 0xffffff802d036e86

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: icbaccountsd

Mac OS version:
14C109

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 14.1.0: Mon Dec 22 23:10:38 PST 2014; root:xnu-2782.10.72~2/RELEASE_X86_64
Kernel UUID: DCF5C2D5-16AE-37F5-B2BE-ED127048DFF5
Kernel slide:     0x000000002cc00000
Kernel text base: 0xffffff802ce00000
__HIB  text base: 0xffffff802cd00000
System model name: iMac12,1 (Mac-942B5BF58194151B)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 13465628889363
last loaded kext at 2954176650039: com.apple.filesystems.msdosfs    1.10 (addr 0xffffff7fafcb2000, size 69632)
last unloaded kext at 3097413036585: com.apple.filesystems.msdosfs  1.10 (addr 0xffffff7fafcb2000, size 61440)
loaded kexts:
com.symantec.kext.SymAPComm 12.7.1f4
com.symantec.kext.fw    5.3.1f4
com.symantec.kext.filesecurity  12.7f4
com.symantec.kext.ips   3.9.2f1
com.symantec.kext.pf    5.7.1f4
com.symantec.kext.internetSecurity  5.4f4
com.apple.filesystems.smbfs 3.0.0
com.apple.filesystems.afpfs 11.0
com.apple.nke.asp-tcp   8.0.0
com.apple.driver.AudioAUUC  1.70
com.apple.driver.AppleHWSensor  1.9.5d0
com.apple.driver.AGPM   100.15.5
com.apple.filesystems.autofs    3.0
com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch   85.3
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager    4.3.2f6
com.apple.driver.AppleOSXWatchdog   1
com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyHIDDriver    124
com.apple.driver.AppleHDA   269.25
com.apple.driver.AppleUpstreamUserClient    3.6.1
com.apple.kext.AMDFramebuffer   1.3.0
com.apple.AMDRadeonX3000    1.3.0
com.apple.kext.AMD6000Controller    1.3.0
com.apple.driver.ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin    1.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleLPC   1.7.3
com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyDriver   269.25
com.apple.iokit.IOUserEthernet  1.0.1
com.apple.Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X   7.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleHWAccess  1
com.apple.driver.AppleHV    1
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHD3000Graphics   10.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleBacklight 170.5.0
com.apple.driver.AppleMCCSControl   1.2.11
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltIP 2.0.2
com.apple.iokit.BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport 4.3.2f6
com.apple.driver.AppleSMCPDRC   1.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleSMCLMU    2.0.7d0
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelSNBGraphicsFB    10.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleIRController  327.5
com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient  3.7.3
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBCardReader 3.5.1
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless 1.0.0d1
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib 1.0.0d1
com.apple.BootCache 35
com.apple.driver.XsanFilter 404
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage  2.7.0
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHub    705.4.2
com.apple.iokit.AppleBCM5701Ethernet    10.1.3
com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI    5.5.2
com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort  3.1.0
com.apple.driver.AirPort.Atheros40  700.74.5
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEHCI   705.4.14
com.apple.driver.AppleRTC   2.0
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons   3.1
com.apple.driver.AppleHPET  1.8
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS    2.1
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC    3.1
com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC  1.7
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient 218.0.0
com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall   161
com.apple.security.quarantine   3
com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet  8
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement   218.0.0
com.apple.security.SecureRemotePassword 1.0
com.apple.kext.triggers 1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothHIDKeyboard  176.2
com.apple.driver.AppleHIDKeyboard   176.2
com.apple.driver.IOBluetoothHIDDriver   4.3.2f6
com.apple.driver.AppleMultitouchDriver  262.33.1
com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily  11
com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib 269.25
com.apple.kext.OSvKernDSPLib    1.15
com.apple.iokit.IOAcceleratorFamily2    156.6
com.apple.kext.AMDSupport   1.3.0
com.apple.AppleGraphicsDeviceControl    3.8.6
com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginLegacy 1.0.0
com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireIP    2.2.6
com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController 269.25
com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily 269.25
com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily   203.3
com.apple.vecLib.kext   1.2.0
com.apple.iokit.IOSurface   97
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient 705.4.0
com.apple.driver.AppleBacklightExpert   1.1.0
com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport   2.4.1
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltEDMSink    4.0.2
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport   4.3.2f6
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily   4.3.2f6
com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginFamily 5.8.1d38
com.apple.driver.AppleSMC   3.1.9
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusController   1.0.13d1
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusPCI  1.0.12d1
com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily    2.4.1
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIMultimediaCommandsDevice  3.7.3
com.apple.iokit.IOBDStorageFamily   1.7
com.apple.iokit.IODVDStorageFamily  1.7.1
com.apple.iokit.IOCDStorageFamily   1.7.1
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCISerialATAPI   2.6.1
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHIDDriver  705.4.0
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIBlockCommandsDevice   3.7.3
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageClass   3.7.1
com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily   3.7.3
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMergeNub   705.4.0
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBComposite  705.4.9
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPInAdapter    4.0.6
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPOutAdapter   4.0.6
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPAdapterFamily    4.0.6
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter 2.0.2
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltNHI    3.1.7
com.apple.iokit.IOThunderboltFamily 4.2.1
com.apple.iokit.IOEthernetAVBController 1.0.3b3
com.apple.driver.mDNSOffloadUserClient  1.0.1b8
com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireFamily    4.5.6
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily    2.7.5
com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family   710.55
com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily  3.2
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily 710.4.14
com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM  2.0
com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime    2.0
com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 2.0.0
com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily   1.1
com.apple.security.sandbox  300.0
com.apple.kext.AppleMatch   1.0.0d1
com.apple.driver.AppleKeyStore  2
com.apple.driver.AppleMobileFileIntegrity   1.0.5
com.apple.driver.AppleCredentialManager 1.0
com.apple.driver.DiskImages 396
com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily 2.0
com.apple.iokit.IOReportFamily  31
com.apple.driver.AppleFDEKeyStore   28.30
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform  3.1
com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.9
com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily    1.4
com.apple.kec.Libm  1
com.apple.kec.pthread   1
com.apple.kec.corecrypto    1.0

System Profile:
AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x168C, 0x9A), Atheros 9380: 4.0.74.0-P2P
Bluetooth: Version 4.3.2f6 15235, 3 services, 27 devices, 1 incoming serial ports
Thunderbolt Bus: iMac, Apple Inc., 22.1
Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 4 GB, DDR3, 1333 MHz, 0x0198, 0x393930353432382D3035312E4130304C4620
Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM0, 4 GB, DDR3, 1333 MHz, 0x0198, 0x393930353432382D3035312E4130304C4620
Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM1, 4 GB, DDR3, 1333 MHz, 0x0198, 0x393930353432382D3035312E4130304C4620
Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM1, 4 GB, DDR3, 1333 MHz, 0x0198, 0x393930353432382D3037332E4130304C4620
USB Device: FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
USB Device: Hub
USB Device: BRCM2046 Hub
USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller
USB Device: Hub
USB Device: IR Receiver
USB Device: Internal Memory Card Reader
Serial ATA Device: WDC WD1001FALS-403AA0, 1 TB
Serial ATA Device: OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5680H
Model: iMac12,1, BootROM IM121.0047.B1F, 4 processors, Intel Core i5, 2.7 GHz, 16 GB, SMC 1.71f22
Network Service: Ethernet, Ethernet, en0
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6770M, AMD Radeon HD 6770M, PCIe, 512 MB


Difficulty deleting music from music library on my iPhone

I was having the same problem. I went into Settings on my iPhone and to Music. Towards the bottom it says Show All Music. I just disabled that and it solved my problem.


In Terminal:

sudo xcodebuild -license

Which should view/accept it on behalf of all accounts on that particular Mac.

In recent Xcode versions you are able to accept it in one step:

sudo xcodebuild -license accept


Xcode comment selection shortcut not working on European keyboard

You can fix this by going to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts, then App Shortcuts. Click the + button and select Xcode from the top drop bar. Then set the Menu Title to Comment Selection. Next select the keyboard shortcut box and press the desired keyboard combination, then click OK.

It seems that the Norwegian keyboard's encoding of the / character does not work in shortcuts, so you should use something else than the /


"Xcode helper" would like to control this computer. Is this request legit?

If you are using UI testing on macOS, then yes, this is legit:

  macOS needs permissions granted to a special Xcode Helper app. You are prompted for this automatically on your first use of UI tests.

(see Apple Developer Docs).

This is needed because UI testing uses the accessibility features of macOS to drive your UI during the test runs.


install windows 10 via bootcamp not on the main drive

Below is a quote taken from the Boot Camp
Installation & Setup Guide (copyright 2013).

  • If you have a Mac Pro with more than one internal disk and you want to install
  Boot Camp on a disk that isn’t in the first hard drive bay, remove the drives in the lower- numbered bays. You can reinstall the drives after you install Boot Camp.

So, it is possible to install Windows via Boot Camp, on a drive that is not the main drive. The maximum Windows that Apple officially supports is Windows 8.1 (64-Bit). Microsoft says you should be able to upgrade an existing Boot Camp Windows 8.1 installation to Windows 10.

Everything I have posted so far is by the book. However, you are proposing going off script by directly installing Windows 10. Officially, the answer is no, but unofficially the answer probably is yes. If you try, expect to encounter Scarecrows. In other words, expect error messages from Apple as some point during the installation that will say you can not proceed. There is usually are one or more ways to bypass any problems that you will encounter. You can try posting a problem here and see if anyone can suggest a solution.

Here is some advice.

Burn the Windows 10 ISO to a DVD. You may need a DL DVD.
Install a BIOS booting Windows.
Before installing, make sure the Widows Support Software has been copied to a FAT formatted flash drive.
Select the Master Boot Record partitioning scheme when using the Disk Utility to erasing the flash drive.

  BTW, you do not need a license to try Windows 10. You can download and install without a Product Key. If you choose to keep Windows 10, then you will need to purchase a license.

There is always the possibility that Windows 10 is not compatible with your processor. I assume the Windows 10 installer would inform you, if this was the case. I have encountered PCs where I could install 64 bit Windows 7, 8 and 8.1, but not Windows 10. Basically, the processor did not meet the requirements given below. (This was taken from the Microsoft web site: Minimum hardware requirements, Section 3.1 Processor)

Compatible with the x86 or x64 instruction set.
Supports PAE, NX and SSE2.
Supports CMPXCHG16b, LAHF/SAHF, and PrefetchW for 64-bit OS
installation

On the other hand, I came across the Microsoft website: Windows Processor Requirements, which states:

  Intel Xeon processors are supported on Windows 10 Pro for Workstations and Windows 10 Enterprise only

Apparently, you can download and try Windows 10 Enterprise for free. See the Microsoft Evaluation Center website.

If you do not use the Boot Camp Assistant to install Widows, then you should follow the instructions provided by Microsoft. For BIOS booting Windows, the instructions for partitioning can be found at the BIOS/MBR-based hard drive partitions website.

I would recommend placing the System partition on the first (main) drive and then placing the Windows and Recovery partitions on a second internal drive. You could combine the Windows and Recovery partitions, if you wish. This System partition is only appropriately 100 MB in size, so the partition should have minimum impact on the space for macOS.

  Note: The Microsoft instructions do no include the Mac requirement that any drives that share macOS and a BIOS booting Windows must by Hybrid partitioned.


What about using Homebrew?

Once installed it should be as easy as writing in the terminal

brew install mplayer


which graphics cards does MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) have?

Apple sold many different versions of the 2014 MBP - different SSD sizes, different RAM amounts, different processors, and on the most expensive machines, a dedicated graphics card.

You may have a machine with only integrated (Intel Iris Pro) graphics. To learn whether or not you are right about only having integrated graphic, you need to know the exact MBP model you have.

One easy way to determine which model yours is:

Go to the Apple (top left of screen) and choose "About this Mac".
Look at the pop up window and find the serial number listed at the bottom. Copy it.
Go to www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/ and paste your serial number where it says Enter Identifier.
This will bring you to a page with the model of your machine. There you can see all of the specs. If the name has a (DG) after it, then you have a model with dedicated graphics. If it has an (IG) after it, you don't. This is an example with dedicated graphics:


How can I resize a Mac OS X app window after disconnecting from an external monitor?

Hold down the option key while clicking on the green button.  This should prevent iTunes from changing to the mini-player, and will resize the window as expected.


Install Older Versions of Java on OSX 10.8.1

You simply cannot get arbitrary Java versions for the Mac.  Apple provides their own Java binaries and does not provide every single Java release.  Also, those old versions have known security problems with active exploits in the wild, so it's dangerous to use them on a desktop system.

My best recommendation would be to create a Linux VM using VMware Fusion and install the old versions either from the Linux package installer or using packages downloaded from Oracle.


Restarting in safe mode without using the shift key under Mojave

Problems with MBP's internal keyboard and Mojave not Restarting in Safe mode using Shift key, can sometimes be resolved using External keyboard instead.


Can I make iTunes stop asking to access my phone?

Get a "charge only" or "data block" lightning cable.

One example: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F7AU62E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_FZmiAbB2FJDDE

These cables only let power thru, data is blocked or not connected.


Excel is unusable for large files that link to each other

At that level of data, it’s often easy to kill Excel whether you’re on Windows 10 or macOS.

Plain data should be fine for hundreds of thousands of rows and less than 30 columns for most data that’s not UUID length.
What seems to be most finicky is calculations, graphs, conditional formatting and all the processing that happens to the data and not simply the file of 100 or even 500 MB on disk.

The code base for 2020 Excel is the same on Mac and Windows with just some features selectively enabled for each platform. This was unified in the past 16 months, so you would need to simplify your calculations by troubleshooting your spreadsheets or perhaps move to an engine that’s less likely to get caught up like python or R. The main difference on Mac vs Windows is major feature and UI code for each platform, not the core data handling.

Depending on your linking, you might also just need a database which can handle indexing and optimization better than Excel can.

These are not at all trivial suggestions, so I know you’d prefer to not fix Excel, but it has so many layers of features, that you can stray away from performance and end up with a very fragile workbook in practice. There’s only so much stripping of charts and data you can do in some cases when you overload Excel with code and graphs and conditional calculations or worse, looping conditions that it cannot self detect or alert you.


Opening of encrypted sparse bundle in El Capitan very slow

I also had a sparse bundle that was very slow (>1 minute) to mount, but I solved this (it now mounts in seconds) by turning off automatic file system checking. Before I figured it out, this would happen:

hdiutil attach -verbose ~/the.sparsebundle paused at this line:
Checking volumes…
and it would appear in Activity Monitor as hdiutil using 100% CPU, for over a minute at a time, depending on connection speed.

To speed things up, pass the noautofsck option to hdiutil, like so:
hdiutil -noautofsck ~/the.sparsebundle

Or if you are mounting any other way, set the system preference:
defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages auto-fsck -bool NO

It is possible your update to Sierra resulted in a default being reset and/or a bugfix, per the hdiutil man page:

  By default, only quarantined images (e.g. downloaded from the
  Internet) that have not previously passed fsck are checked.

You could turn off the automatic file system checking and then check the output of diskutil verifyVolume /Volumes/theSparseBundleVolume occasionally, as a balance between data integrity and convenience. Keep in mind, that diskutil command will unmount your volume.


Any apple account that is created cannot be deleted.  Just create a new account if you need a new one.


Using iCloud Mail account from Computers without Lion?

The short answer is you get to keep MobileMe as it is until June 30, 2012.

Sometime between when iCloud launches (tomorrow?) and next June, you can choose to learn about and use iCloud (assuming it meets all your current and future needs) or find another email provider.

It is clear that Apple has said you will lose access to you me.com account if you don't move to iCloud by then so unless that changes, you should plan some action.

If things go as planned, we will all get a public look at things this week. Perhaps read some official documentation in the next month you. The future is unclear today before iCloud has launched, but you have 9+ months to worry about this...


App Store updates Affinity Designer over and over again

Try deleting the app and reinstalling from your purchased apps list.


I would try disabling your cell phone connection (Settings > enable Airplane Mode), then enabling Wi-Fi, and connecting to another Wi-Fi hotspot (you could even try a public one such as a local coffee shop or an Apple store). Perhaps there is some kind of filtering going on with your Internet connection.

If you have a 3G plan, you could (and probably should) do the opposite too:

Set Airplane Mode to off (so that it uses your 3G connection)
Turn Wi-Fi off
Try accessing the App Store.


How to disconnect MacBook Pro 15 2017 battery?

Sometimes it helps to look at the replacement part to see what connectors it has.

From this picture, we can see that there is a PCB and a small connector cable at the top of the assembly.
This would correspond to this part in your photo

Disconnect that, and your SMC should reset.


NPM installation issues with MacOS 10.15.2 beta 1

Update:

Remove most of this:

The root cause of the issue is the updating of the fsevents binaries by the author.  Once they do that, the issue should be resolved.

The fsevents team has provided recommendations to resolve in the meantime via their github issues page.

https://github.com/fsevents/fsevents/issues/291

I went back to the drawing board.  It turns out that when I looked at the github issue closer, someone actually nailed the root cause with this handy little tidbit.

  This is not something to be "fixed". One needs to have XCode
  command-line tools installed in order to install/compile native
  modules.

  There no longer are credentials for AWS. So the installs are actually
  a bit risky. In addition 1.2.x is really deprecated. I've just done a
  release that removes node-pre-gyp dependency and therefore the
  ability/failure to download prebuilt binaries.

I had just re-installed Xcode but had neglected to add the CLT.  Done... Fixed the problem.


Are Macbook Pros with a rusted / corroded MagSafe port safe to operate?

The iron / ferric portions of the MagSafe port is something that will corrode when exposed to oxygen. The quality of your pictures is excellent and all are operationally normal and safe since the 5 central pins are clear, not corroded and not obstructed.

You do have a pretty severe amount of corrosion, so that might implicate the environment having salts and high humidity. If so, the insides are also likely to corrode, but not simply because the outside is rusted.

The corroded portions are not part of the electrical charge / ground / function and only cosmetic so unless your 5 pins are stuck with debris and don't have spring pressure or the corrosion / lifting of the plastic shield prevent good contact, I would ignore that entirely.

You could place a new adhesive shim or consider painting (very carefully) the area since a thin layer of paint won't affect the magnetic pull or the function unless / until that paint is a physical barrier at one of the corners or covers the pins and springs.

Replacing that part might be $30 if you buy new service parts and much cheaper if you can get that part used from Mac that has other issues (broken screen, liquid damage not to the charge board.


You can use iCloud either to backup your iDevices' data and also as storage for your personal files, just like those saved in your HDDs disk.

Where?

As you said, instead of saving those files in your iCloud folder in your Mac, you can go to the iCloud website and login with your own Apple ID credentials.

How?

After you've logged in to your iCloud space, you'll get to the main screen where you can see all the Apps you can launch directly on the website (Photos, Numbers, Keynote, etc..).
You'll want to launch the iCloud Drive app, and once in it you should see 5 buttons on the top of the page.

The button you're looking for is the second starting from the left: the Upload button.
It will pop up a window where you can browse your entire File System with, and search for the files you want to upload to your very personal iCloud Drive.
After you chose the files, it will start automatically to upload them up in the cloud. Once done, feel free to delete those files from your Mac/Computer and access them whenever you wish, directly from your iCloud Drive App, which can be found either on the website we've just talked about, or even inside your iDevice.

If you haven't activated it yet on your iDevice, simply do the following:

Open Settings
go to the iCloud tab
Find the iCloud Drive option and switch it to ON.

You now have the App visible and accessible directly from the Home screen of your iDevice!

Note!

You're free to use iCloud as a storage solution, but I feel like you should remember by default you get 5GB for free on iCloud, if you want to upgrade your storage capacity, you'll have to pick a storage plan. At the moment there are 3 optional plans for iCloud storage:

50GB
200GB
1TB

The price will vary depending your location, you can check this article from the Apple Support website to find your own location's prices.


How to make Notification Center bar sticky?

Not sticky, but the easiest way I could find to reach Notification Centre is to set up a hot corner in the top right. System Preferences → Mission Control, Hot corners.


How should I go about tracking down my stolen iPhone 6 using Find My iPhone?

Remote-Lock the phone so they can't use it.
Visit your local police.


jailbroken iPhone 4 stuck at boot screen after update

To summarize

You tried to update a jailbroken iPhone without restoring it first.
The iPhone won't boot anymore

Cause

You cannot just upgrade a jailbroken device without restoring it as new device.

Solution

If you restore the iPhone via iTunes it should be fixed.
(You don't need any Apple ID for this, unless the iPhone is already iOS 7.* and iCloud enabled)


Black screen when booting into Mac , external monitor works

I know this may sound bizarre but have you checked your native screens settings? Such as brightness controls etc?
If they are all correct, have you tried running the MBP with power plugged in and the battery removed?
Otherwise, have you tried re-seating the ribbon connector for the screen? You can find the guide here: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+17-Inch+Unibody+Display+Replacement/3438
However, if this is a mid 2016 model, then I wouldn't hesitate to go the warranty route with apple and opening it up could invalidate your warranty.


If i am not on 3G nor WiFi, do iMessage get sent via SMS?

Yes, as long as the message was sent to your mobile phone number, and not your registered email address you will get a text message instead of an iMessage if you have no data connection when a message is sent.

iMessage is designed to seamlessly integrate with the messages application on your iPhone. Once set up and configured, your device will automatically decide whether to send an iMessage or a text message when you send a message to a contact on your phone.

Basically, when you compose a message and click send, your device checks with Apple to see if the recipient has iMessage enabled for their device. If they do, your iPhone will attempt to send your text to them via iMessage.

Your iPhone will then wait for a notification from apple that this message has been delivered. If this notification is received your message will have "Delivered" written under your message.

However, if the message is not delivered after a few minutes your iPhone will delete the iMessage, and send your text as a regular text message instead.

In the case of your example, your friends device would have attempted to send an iMessage, then after getting no delivery notification, would have sent you a text message instead.

You can ensure that an iMessage is always sent by composing your message to your friends iMessage registered email address instead of their phone number.

You can also set the "Caller ID", that your phone sends when it sends an iMessage, to your email address instead of your phone number in the Settings application. This will mean that your friend replies back to your email address instead of your phone number ensuring that only an iMessage is sent, as email addresses cannot receive regular text messages.


Can I use   partitions for multiple OS X installs?

This has nothing to do with Bootcamp. Simply split your hard drive into several partitions with Disk Utility, and run the OS X installer. You will be able to choose whichever partition you want to install onto, and switch between each by pressing ⌥ on startup.

However, please note that this is not compatible with Bootcamp. I.e. you won't be able to have a Windows partition, at least not with Bootcamp (you'd need a solution like rEFIt).

Regarding whether you'd need to buy OS X again or not: as per the OS X EULA:

  This License does not allow the Apple Software to exist on more than one computer at a time

…which I'd take for “it may exist several times on the same computer at a time”.

I know that's not what you asked for, so I'll keep it as an aside, but I can't resist saying it: this “partitioning” habit really is a switcher thing. There's no need for that under OS X, especially if you fully encrypt each partition (which I'm curious about, by the way).

The only reason I personally have two partitions is because I am totally dependent on my machine for my daily work, and I keep another OS in case of system corruption. But I aliased my user folder on the emergency partition to the one on the main drive, as an OS without my data is as useless as no computer. This fear of “a trojan” that would kill your system is irrational, and this setup will cost you much more in terms of maintenance (rebooting, keeping two systems updated in parallel…) than the advantages it will bring.


Time Machine: Include files and folders from another drive

If you set up Time Machine the first time, it automatically excludes any external drives including the Time Machine drive itself.

If you want to have certain drives included, just remove them from the exclusion list inside System Preferences > Time Machine > Options and they are backed up the next time Time Machine runs.

For more information, check out Apple's official support document: Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac


SMB "There was a problem connecting to the server"

work around ... add authentication to your smb.


rMBP - Keyboard + trackpad unresponsive at random, reboot fixes

I've got the exact same problem, I've contacted apple care and they are replacing with a new machine. they say it is a defective trackpad but it looks as though there are lots of people with the same problem.


Disable Terminal's title bar directory on Lion

It's done in /etc/bashrc.  You probably don't want to mess with that file.  You can override what's done there by creating a file called .profile in your home directory that contains the following line:

unset PROMPT_COMMAND

This will remove the directory in the title bar after you restart Terminal.


To code using Swift you'll need Xcode 6.

Xcode 6 beta is compatible with Mavericks 10.9.3 and upwards so yes it is possible to write Swift code in Mavericks!

NB: As of July 11, Xcode 6 beta is available freely on Apple's website.

Where can I download Xcode (n) Beta?


In Applescript, how do I launch Safari "Silently" open url then close the unseen Safari window

You won't be able to do it in AppleScript : Safari only does something on open windows.

You should definitely look at Command line scripts like curl.

The AppleScript to call a shell command takes the form:

set variableName to do shell script "command"

So using your AlertURLString you'd want something like:

set curlOutput to do shell script "curl '" & AlertURLString & "'"

See the curl man page for more details on how to use curl to do things like POST and PUT calls or attach payloads to the calls and what not. It is incredibly powerful.


"No PDFs" in iBooks on ipad; i.e. PDFs don't persist in Library

By default, PDFs don't persist in the Books app. In the Files app, opening a PDF with Books will make the Books app open the PDF from its existing location.
To copy the PDF into the Books app, with the book open in the Books app, tap the Share button, then ‘Copy to Books’. This will duplicate the PDF into the Books app container.


It's a feature!  It's so you can reach the upper part of the screen with you thumb.  It's called reachability, for more info here.


App that tells me what app is using data (Big Sur)

Activity Monitor gives a lot of info, including:

If you have the battery icon in your menu bar, you can see this:

Now, that says energy rather than I/O, but what's interesting is that it always says Photos.app even though the app is not running.  My guess is that even though it is supposedly not running, it is maintaining the sync between local and iCloud, i.e., network.
In an admin account in Terminal, you can use tcpdump to see details on what packets are being sent and where to/from
About a decade ago, my son used to play a game called RuneScape until I discovered that the Mac he used was exchanging huge amounts of data with the RuneScape servers when no one was logged in on that computer!  (And so I blocked all five servers.)


Macbook Air how to setup proxy for iTunes and App Store?

The Change Settings… button in Safari > Preferences… > Advanced opens the global Proxies sheet. Changes made here affect every app that uses that connection.

Alternatively the sheet can be opened by opening System Preferences.app, selecting Network, then Advanced…, then Proxies.


Login screen shows "Guest" option even though it is disabled

A possible way to remove the Guest account is to disable Find My Mac in iCloud settings.

Check this out: Disable guest account


How to stop iOS from showing tomorrow's birthdays everyday

iOS Calendar: Go to

preferences / mail, contacts & calendar / calendar / default alert times / birthdays

and select none. That should prevent your iOS calendar from
notify you whenever there is a birthday in your calendar.
Facebook: Maybe these notifications are from your Facebook app. Try turning these notifications off.

Also have a look at this (similar) question.


Is it possible to remove or delete the "Music" folder?

Do you have any indication that the OS will mind if you just rm -rf Music?

As far as I know, iTunes is the only app that uses that directory (at least on my machine, there seems to be nothing else in it).

So if you don't ever launch iTunes again, that directory should never reappear. If you want to guard against accidentally opening iTunes, you can move its library to a different location before removing the directory.


Update from macOS Big Sur public Beta to official release

The public beta FAQ covers how to de-enroll from beta builds.

https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/faq

See the Support section.

At any time, you may unenroll your device so that it no longer receives these updates. Then, when the next version of commercial software is released, you can install it from iOS Software Update, the Mac App Store, tvOS Software Update or watchOS Software Update.

https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/unenroll


How to move Mac OS application to specific display and also resize automatically?

Over on Superuser there are a number of answers that sound like one or more might help with your search.

Specifically that user was looking for something similar to (the Windows only) Ultramon.

https://superuser.com/questions/100364/mac-tools-for-control-multiple-monitors

MercuryMover sounds like it might do the trick. The answer is rather old but it might give you a starting point for finding something that works a treat for your needs.


Auto change keyboard layout based on application focus

If you go to System Preferences -> Language & Text -> Input Sources, you should have the option to "Allow a different one for each document" under Input source options.

The change is per document and not per application, but unless you change the setting for one document when you have several open you might not even notice the difference.


Why does running Luxology Modo cause a marked increase in performance for other 3D graphics apps?

MacBook Pros come with dual GPUs (built-in Intel and discrete nVidia) and the OS switch between them in the background, depending on amount of workload. it is likely you went over the graphic intensiveness threshold with Luxology Modo and the OS switched from the low-end Intel GPU to the mid-range nVidia, which benefited other running 3D apps.


Deleted hash files; can't login anymore!

You can boot into the terminal by holding Command + S at startup. You could create a new user via command line this way. Here is a tutorial. Another option is to insert the installation disc and reinstall the Mac OS X.


Issues with Screen Scaling on External Monitor

I think changing the screen resolution on the external display could help you in this case. Initially when you open up the Displays Settings from System Preferences. It would look something like this below with a limited set of display resolutions.

This list of resolution is what OS X thinks is the best for your Display. When connecting an external monitor/display, there are chances the aspect ratio is wrong because it's a widescreen monitor.

Solution

Open the Display Settings from System Preferences on the second monitor.
Hold the Option key and click on the Scaled button. It should open up a lot more Display resolutions.

Try finding what's the best option for your display/monitor by trial and error.


I updated to 10.9.2 and now SSL is broken. How do I fix this?

Open Keychain Access and delete the DigiCert certificates, but only the ones in the login keychain - not the ones in System or System Roots.

Afterward, you may need to restart your browser and/or network service (switch Airport off and on again, or disable and re-enable Ethernet. If you want to be sure, just restart your computer.

If you're a dummy (like I was) and deleted all the DigiCert entries, you can restore them by manually downloading and installing the 10.9.2 update from Apple.


MacOS Sierra - Cannot find what is using all disk space

Try sudo ncdu instead. As a normal admin or user you are not allowed to scan the content of certain folders (all indicated by an error while scanning and in the final listing by a dot - if a subfolder can't be scanned - or an exclamation mark - if the whole folder is excluded from scanning due to missing read permissions!).

Examples (only the big six and the .Spotlight-V100 folder are shown here):

ncdu:

   10,7 GiB [##########] /Applications
.   4,8 GiB [####      ] /System
.   3,5 GiB [###       ] /Library
.   2,2 GiB [##        ] /usr
.   1,8 GiB [#         ] /private
.   1,1 GiB [#         ] /Users
             ...
!   0,0   B [          ] /.Spotlight-V100

sudo ncdu:

.  10,7 GiB [##########] /Applications
    6,3 GiB [#####     ] /System
    5,2 GiB [####      ] /Library
    2,6 GiB [##        ] /private
    2,4 GiB [##        ] /usr
    1,2 GiB [#         ] /Users
             ...
  310,7 MiB [          ] /.Spotlight-V100

Another nice perl hack is this command:

sudo perl -e'%h=map{/.\s/;99**(ord$&&7)-$`,$_}`du -h`;die@h{sort%h}'

It will sort all folders (not just those in the current folder) depending on size similar to Grand Perspective without bricks:

 29G    .
 11G    ./Applications
7,4G    ./Applications/Xcode.app
6,3G    ./System
5,2G    ./Library
2,4G    ./usr
1,9G    ./usr/local
966M    ./Users/user/Library
879M    ./System/Library/PrivateFrameworks
851M    ./Applications/MAMP
850M    ./private/var/db/dyld
805M    ./usr/local/mysql-5.7.11-osx10.9-x86_64/lib
778M    ./System/Library/Frameworks
...


Some short answers to your questions:

There is no such app available in the App Store. Things may be different in the jailbreak universe
Up until last weeks I would have said "no, probably not". But Apple now has approved a screen recording app for iOS so it seems to be possible.
Nobody will know for sure until somebody writes such an app and sends it to Apple for verification


Making it easier to copy webpage text to the clipboard (in iOS)?

This might be too simple an answer, but using an AppleScript or possibly Automator, or both to automate Safari should do the trick, and you could then use cron to schedule the task for you.


Automatically Save Attachments in Mail.app in 10.8 Mountain Lion

Try this.

   using terms from application "Mail"
    on perform mail action with messages theMessages for rule theRule
        -- The folder to save the attachments in (must already exist)

        -- Save in a sub-folder based on the name of the rule in Mail

        set subFolder to name of theRule
        tell application "Finder"
            set attachmentsFolder to ((path to home folder as text) & "Dropbox:Attachments") as text
            if not (exists folder subFolder of folder attachmentsFolder) then
                make new folder at attachmentsFolder with properties {name:subFolder}
            end if
        end tell
        tell application "Mail"

            repeat with eachMessage in theMessages

                set {year:y, month:m, day:d, hours:h, minutes:min} to eachMessage's date sent
                set timeStamp to ("" & y & "-" & my pad(m as integer) & "-" & my pad(d) & "-" & my pad(h) & "-" & my pad(min))

                try
                    -- Save the attachment
                    repeat with theAttachment in eachMessage's mail attachments

                        set originalName to name of theAttachment
                        set savePath to attachmentsFolder & ":" & subFolder & ":" & timeStamp & " " & originalName
                        try
                            save theAttachment in file (savePath)
                        end try
                    end repeat

                    display dialog subFolder
                end try
            end repeat

        end tell
    end perform mail action with messages
end using terms from

-- Adds leading zeros to date components
on pad(n)
    return text -2 thru -1 of ("00" & n)
end pad

I have posted a more general Automatically Save Attachments in Mail.app on my blog


Installation failed when attempting to reinstall MySQL in OS X 10.6.6

This might be a little late, but Homebrew for Macintosh is a stellar way to install software such as mysql. There is information on the their wiki on how to install and then once brew is installed, it is just brew install mysql in your terminal window.

Good luck!

Update: DOH. I fail at reading. Problem already solved. Anyway, for people in the future, if you have trouble installing mysql, give brew a try.


Find Differences between Time Machine backups

The tmutil command-line tool has a compare option that does this. Just give it the file paths to the two snapshot folders on the backup volume, and it does the rest. The paths get rather long, so it's easier to cd to the backup parent, then just specify the snapshots. For example, compare the March 27 2016 10:11:12am and March 26 5:43:21pm snapshots of a computer named "Ipinak's Mac", on a backup volume named "Backup Disk", you'd use:

cd "/Volumes/Backup Disk/Backups.backupdb/Ipinak's Mac"
tmutil compare 2016-03-27-101112 2016-03-26-174321


There appears to be a bug in the way the iOS 10 Music app handles this. However, there is a workaround that will get you by until Apple fixes it.

Take these steps:

Go into the Up Next screen
Turn off the Shuffle function
Completely close down the Music App (don't just exit)
Launch the Music App again
Use 3D Touch (press firmly) on a song and select the Play Next option
Now use 3D Touch again, but on another song, and you'll see the Play Later option.
Select Play Later to add that song to the bottom of your Up Next queue.
Now the Play Later option will be there for all following songs.

However, the reason this is a workaround is that:

you no longer have the Shuffle function available to you.
I'm not sure what the workaround is if you have a device without 3D Touch

To have this whole issue fixed, send feedback to Apple.


This is a specific case of the general restore process:

How can I get back a system file after deleting it from my Mac?

Basically you have three places where you can get the original system files (except backups):

Recovery HD
Combo update installer
the (Mac) OS X installer

The Recovery HD is a basic OS X system only and just contains a subset of the files of the full system. Some files may even be outdated or different compared to the files of the full system. To mount the Recovery HD enter diskutil mount Recovery\ HD in Terminal. To get access to the system files mount BaseSystem.dmg:

hdiutil mount /Volumes/Recovery\ HD/com.apple.recovery.boot/BaseSystem.dmg

To copy a file enter:

sudo cp /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Base\ System/path/to/file /path/to/file

in your example:

sudo cp /Volumes/Mac\ OS\ X\ Base\ System/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SArtFile.bin /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SArtFile.bin

The Combo update installer may contain the file in question. Like the Recovery HD it only contains a subset of files of the full OS X system. To extract and install the original file, download Pacifist and open the installer package. Search for the file in question and install it. You need admin privileges to do that.

If the file isn't available in the Recovery HD or the Combo installer you have to download the newest OS X installer (in your case Install OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)). The approach is similar to the Combo updater method. Right-click Install OS X Mavericks -> Show Contents, navigate to /Contents/SharedSupport and mount the InstallESD.dmg. Open the folder Packages in the mounted image and then the file OSInstall.mpkg with Pacifist. Search for the file in question and install it. You need admin privileges to do that.

In your case you are lucky because the file SArtFile.bin can be found in the Recovery HD. So use the method outlined above to recover the file.


Can I run with an Apple Watch in the rain?

There's no way to turn the touch input off temporarily, but you can prevent the Apple Watch from stopping workouts early. When you start a workout just go to the watch face the way you normally would, the Workout will run in the background and can't be stopped until you go back to the app and it stop it yourself. It's not perfect, as you can't see your live progress, but it still works.


Why defaults read can't read some domains?And why is there an plist that stores all my information?

Why defaults read can't read some domains?

It returns an unintuitive message for when a domain is blank.  For example, a fresh install of Firefox may create /Library/Preferences/org.mozilla.firefox.plist, however when trying to read this file:
defaults read /Library/Preferences/org.mozilla.firefox.plist

# errors with:
# Domain /Library/Preferences/org.mozilla.firefox.plist does not exist

If you convert the .plist to xml you can see it exists but it's blank...
sudo plutil -convert xml1 /Library/Preferences/org.mozilla.firefox.plist
cat /Library/Preferences/org.mozilla.firefox.plist

... shows
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict/>
</plist>

So this message is simply misleading for blank .plist files.  Note, a similar misleading message may occur if you do not have proper access to read and/or delete a file or setting.

And why is there an plist that stores all my information even my keyboard model. co.twopeople.mate.plist contains even more information than Apple Global Domain

It's impossible to know, but you may consider reaching out the developers of that app, it's not something present on any of my machines, so it was likely installed by a 3rd party program that you used in the past.


Safari from macOS Catalina not working on macOS Mojave

As jaume and ankii suggested in the comments below the question (and as per Apple Support), the way to do it is to reinstall macOS Mojave. I now have the correct version of Safari for Mojave and I don't seem to have gained any new problems doing this.

If anyone comes to this question looking to find a place to download a stand alone version of Safari for macOS, I don't think it exists - though I am happy to be corrected.


Can OSX mail auto-search & complete a mail address?

Yes, Mail App could auto-fill the email address according to your Contacts even though you've mailed with before. Certainly, you can search the whole Contacts by your self.


How to prevent TextMate from overwriting symbolic links?

Disable Atomic Saves in Advanced Preferences.

When atomic saves are enabled, TextMate actually writes to a new file on Save and then moves the file over (hence overwriting your symbolic link).

See http://manual.macromates.com/en/saving_files#atomic_saves for more info.


iPad Mini stuck in iTunes logo (failed upgrade)

I had the same problem this morning. I tried to update my ipad mini to iOS 8 over the air (without connecting it to my laptop and iTunes), and it got stuck on the apple logo bootup screen.

The workflow described on the following webpage enable me to resolve the situation: http://www.iphonehacks.com/2014/01/fix-stuck-apple-logo-evasi0n7.html

Hope it'll work for you as well!


Admin rights for a standard user in OS X

I wouldn't recommend that you try to put in such a scheme. If you wish to use restrictions, you would generally not want the restricted user to install any application either (for security reasons).

Normally, a non-admin user cannot install applications in the system applications folder at /Applications since it's owned by user root and group admin. However, a non-admin user can install applications under the home directories (~/Applications), but those applications would be available only to that specific user (certain applications that are designed to be in /Applications or those using installer packages to write into system locations may not work well in such a case).

If you wish to allow a non-admin user to install applications into /Applications, then you can add that user to the admin group from Terminal.app (instead of going to System Preferences and allowing the user to be an administrator). Keep in mind that a user who can install applications into /Applications can also remove applications from there (intentionally or unintentionally).


You can do this on a Mac by typing cd and then just dragging the folder from Finder into the terminal and typing Enter.


How do I renew my apple developer membership from one membership type to another?

Here's the info from Apple Dev Page:

If I am enrolled as an individual, can I change to a company membership?
Yes. To convert your iOS Developer Program membership from an individual to a company, please contact us. You can make this change only if you are the founder/co-founder of the company. As part of the conversion process, you may be asked to submit business documents to verify your company's identity.

There's a link to contact page in the link I provided.


How select date of full backup to restore with Time Machine - NOT the latest backup

You should temporarily move the backups from the corrupt/unwanted version of the system to a different location, and then attempt the Restore. You may also try renaming the unwanted backups. For more, please go to:

https://thedesignspace.net/2014/01/11/osx-migration-assistant-doesnt-see-all-time-machine-backups/


Use Siri to fill in input fields on macOS

There are a few things to consider. Siri will only work if you are connected to the internet. Dictation commands (enhanced dictation) works with or without an internet connection.  Siri's capabilities are quite limited. The beauty of enabling and using enhanced dictation commands, is that you can create your own dictation commands. Getting used to the whole process takes a little trial and error. I barely ever use my mouse anymore.  I've created so many new dictation commands that I can virtually use dictation commands for entering passwords into password fields, create and send iMessages, emails, opening and closing applications, etc.
In fact, this entire answer I am posting was done with dictation commands. If you really want to roll your sleeves up and dive in, you can create AppleScripts that can be very complex then the save that as an application and enable that application as a spoken dictation command.

For example, I wrote an AppleScript that takes screenshots of my computer screen if the motion sensor on my built in iSight camera gets triggered.
The screenshots are stored on my desktop and then automatically messaged to me through iMessages. Then once the message has been sent, the snapshot gets deleted from my desktop automatically and stored in my dropbox. Long story short, with dictation commands, all I need to say is "Run Surveillance" which activates the video software with the motion detection, and from there the scripts get triggered.

Here is a quick snippet of the iMessage part of the script.

set exportAs to "Screengrab.png"
set myScreengrab to POSIX file "/Users/Smokestack/Desktop/iSentry_Motion_Detector/Screengrab.png"
do shell script "screencapture -mx -T0 " & quoted form of POSIX path of myScreengrab
tell application "Messages"
    activate
    set targetBuddy to "blah@icloud.com"
    set targetService to id of 1st service whose service type = iMessage
    set textMessage to myScreengrab
    set theBuddy to buddy targetBuddy of service id targetService
    send textMessage to theBuddy
    delay 5
    tell application "System Events"
        keystroke "h" using (command down)
    end tell
end tell
tell application "iSentry"
    activate
end tell
tell application "Finder"
    delete myScreengrab
end tell

Really there is no limit to how much of your computer you can control with dictation commands as long as you are willing to do some research and a whole lot of reading and trial and error.


Will grayscale increase or decrease battery consumption?

It makes no difference on the iPhone 6. So neither a reduction, nor extra consumption.

Some sources that tell the same story:

From a SuperUser question LCD/LED screens; how color affects the power consumption?:

  Conventional LCDs and LED based LCDs consume power that largely depends only on the intensity of backlight. This means to save power you want to reduce brightness of the screen.

  OLED displays, like those found in Samsung (and other) smartphones, on the other hand, have power consumption that depends on color being displayed.

As the iPhone 6 uses a conventional IPS LCD panel, it means that the power usage is mainly due to the backlight - and the backlight power usage does not change whether the displayed image is full color or monochrome. However it does change according to the brightness setting and how dark the displayed image is.
From CNET's article LED LCD vs. OLED: TV display technologies compared:

  The energy consumption of LCD only varies depending on the backlight setting. The lower the backlight, the lower the power consumption. A basic LED LCD with its backlight set low will draw less power than OLED.


How can I listen to a voice memo in background like iPod and open some other note taking app on iPhone 4?

Since Voice Memos both plays and records audio, and recording can't be done in the background as far as I know, then the whole app does not work in the background. That sounds more like a design decision to me, rather than a technical limitation. In theory, Apple could have made the playing audio part of Voice Memos to work in the background.

A very long-winded way to get to do what you need is to import the voice memos to your iTunes library. In iTunes, select your iPhone from the Devices list. One of the tabs (probably Music or Info) has a checkbox that will enable transferring voice memos into iTunes. When this is enabled and you sync your device, the voice memos get imported and a playlist titled "Voice Memos" is created.

At this point, those audio files and the "Voice Memos" playlist should act like any other. You could, for instance, get to the audio files from the "Voice Memos" playlist and then set the metadata for each file by right-clicking it and selecting the Get Info dialog. Useful voice memos can be set to a Media Type of Audiobook--which makes them available to you as audiobooks in the iPod app.

If you make them Audiobooks or basically do anything that sends them to the iPod app; then you could play them in the background while you open your note-taking app of choice.

You do not need to set them as audiobooks, though. Once they're in the voice memos playlist; then  you can sync the playlist as you would any other. The caveat is that without metadata, it becomes hard to find the files in the iPod app. In iTunes, for instance, they show either with a blank artist name or with an artist name of "Untitled". That is why I strongly suggest adding metadata ASAP.

I am just reminded of Dragon Naturally Speaking and Dragon Dictate. I do not have them, but I have heard nothing but great things about them. You may try their apps (one of them is free, I believe). They may offer you better features over the included Voice Memos app. I've seen screenshots where it looks like in addition to having a record option, the UI also has a text field for you to type on.

Hope this helps.


This is a slightly confusing Apple UI-fail.

Since Allan is partly or basically correct:

  You downloaded it. You didn't install it. To install it, you need to
  go to you Applications folder and launch it. – Allan Oct 31 '16 at 1:01

Seeing that the confusion persists:

  Can you be more specific? What is the name of the thing I need to
  launch? It does say installed (look at the pic). What does that mean?
  – user2429920 Oct 31 '16 at 4:04

Your picture displays "installed" for Sierra, alright.
You need to combine Allan's comment with the contents of this comment:

  The name of the app is "Install macOS Sierra.app" or
  something along those lines – NoahL Oct 31 '16 at 4:16

That means: Your AppStore application has successfully installed the "Install macOS Sierra.app". That info is pictured in the banner you posted: you downloaded the installer completely and the installer is therefore marked as installed.

To actually install that new system as the system running your machine ("upgrade to Sierra") you indeed need to open the newly installed "Install macOS Sierra.app" in your Applications-folder. That will then guide you through the actual install after which your system will boot into Sierra.


MacBook Pro 2013 keyboard and trackpad completely freeze

Try plugging in an external USB device, such as a phone or keyboard. I have found recently that this fixed my intermittent keyboard/trackpad issues perfectly.

As for why this is, I read on another site that the internal keyboard and trackpad on Macbooks connect over USB internally, so if the internal USB hub gets reset, it would force the keyboard and trackpad to reconnect. And after thinking about it, I am pretty certain that any time I have had keyboard/trackpad freezes like yours, I was also plugging in my Android phone, either to charge it or run diagnostics. I am pretty sure that plugging in my phone has been causing these issues.


How to fix the static screen on external monitor?

I have seen the static on the Apple Cinema LED Display connected to a Mac Mini Late '09 using mini-DVI to Mini DisplayPort Kanex converter.

What helped me was the order in which I connected the devices after the problems occurred. Not sure what monitor and what converter you use and whether these steps would help; however, what I learned is that these converters are very (VERY!) sensitive devices.

SHUTTING DOWN

Turn Macbook Air off (NOT just sleep, better reset PRAM and NVRAM, make it forget the terrors about the converter)
Disconnect the converter from the Mac
Disconnect the monitor from the converter and wait like 10 seconds
Turn your monitor off (pull from the power outlet, let it forget about the converter completely as well)

RECONNECTING

Connect the monitor back into the outlet
Connect the converter (my converter has the
USB female and male cable, which are extremely important to connect as
well, otherwise it acts weird)
If you DO have the USB, plug it in into the Mac first
Plugin the Mini DisplayPort into the Mac
Turn your Mac on

The reason for all this is to make your ports read and initialize the devices in the right order.

Also, keep in mind how to disconnect the devices correctly.

Disconnect the converter from the Mac first (Mini DiplsayPort)
Then wait a bit and pull USB if you have it.

Do not disconnect the monitor from a converter leaving the converter in your Mac. For some reason it causes problems when I connect the monitor back. My Mac won't see that the monitor is plugged in. Think of it as a converter having the drivers and its own soft running on your mac, so when you disconnect the monitor from the converter, Mac might not fully recognize that the monitor isn't there since the converter won't pass the signal saying, "Hey, the monitor is fully disconnected, stop all services." It will keep running the processes until you disconnect the converter from the Mac. So when you connect the monitor back, it might not react.

I do not like converters. I always try to avoid them as much as I can. So with the new Macbook and USB-C thing, I don't know... Hope they will build them better and smarter.

Good luck!


"brew List" will give you a list of packages installed by Homebrew and "port installed" will do the same for MacPorts. I don't know a similar command for Fink but it should be listed in the Fink User's Guide.

To get a more general list of installed software, go to "About This Mac" found under the Apple menu. There are two buttons on the image that pops up. Select "System Reports". This opens a window which lists about everything for your Mac. On the left side of the window, about two-thirds of the way down is the word Software. Click on this and just explore. It will tell you much about the installed software.


iPhone/iPod Touch App Review Sites and Payola

TheiPhoneAppReview.com and AppCraver.com are mentioned by the Wired article as sites that ask programmers to pay fees.


How can I make Apple menu shortcut keys work more like Windows?

It works pretty much as you describe Windows.

If you want a better key combo to access the menu bar, you can customize it under System Prefs > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Keyboard & Text Input > Move focus to the menu bar.

Then type to select which menu you want, hit enter, then type to select the menu item.

Note that most menu items have keyboard shortcuts. These are written next to the menu item, often a single character preceded by the CMD key.


The easy solution would be to use some 3rd party app to manage and organize your screenshots. Something like Ember or Skitch.


iMessage not working on iPhone without sim

I can iMessage from my Wifi only iPad, so it can be done. I have a feeling it has something to do with the sending or receiving address. I would check the Messages setting to make sure it is set to her Apple ID/email address. I would also try, instead of her sending it to your phone number, having her send it to your Apple ID/email address, as that is more universally recognized. It would be interesting to know if she can iMessage other iPhones as well.


Transfer an old version of an App from iPhone to iPhone

If you connect your iPhone to your computer and install apps and all of your synching and such through iTunes, all of your iPhone apps will be stored in your iTunes media/ mobile applications folder. From there, all you need to do is find the app and copy it to the location of your new iPhone’s same media folder and you should see it available to install when you have your new iPhone connected through iTunes.


I'm not aware of anything available to remove the badge from the app. However is is simple enough to turn off the notifications. For example in Mail:

Note the checkmark next to Badge App Icons in Notifications -> Mail. That will prevent the badge icon and if you have the sound on you will be notified when a new message comes in without the annoying visual distraction of the badge.


Early 2015 MacBook Air and two external monitors: how to do it and maximum resolution?

Just for posterity I'll answer my own question:

After doing quite a bit of searching around, I eventually figured out that the easiest and cheapest way to accomplish this would be to use the StarTech brand Thunderbolt 2 Dual-Monitor Docking Station. Even with a MacBook Air, you can still plug in two external monitors simultaneously. I found reports that it works as advertised. Note that I have not purchased one and tried it myself, though.


playing a podcast in i tunes with OS 10.8.5

You can press CMD+O and choose it from that folder directly in iTunes.

The easiest way to add stuff generally to iTunes I think is to drag and drop your podcast/music file/folder on the itunes icon.


In your question, you mention:

  double tap

So is it safe to say you are referring to Numbers on iOS?  If so, to lock a table or element do the following:

Tap the Format icon (Paint brush)
Tap the Arrange tab.
There you will see a Lock.  This will lock the element from moving and prevent editing.

To edit again or move, unlock in the same manner.

Hope this helps!


Is Jailbreaking And Enabling Bluetooth File Transfer On iPhone 4 Financially Secure?

Will jailbreaking, downloading unofficial apps (not registered in Apple's App Store) and enabling Bluetooth file transfer cause a chance of sensitive data theft?

There's a chance, but if you download from verified sources and check the repository you're going to be downloading from (google searches, etc.) you should be okay.  There's always a risk, but as with any risk, if you're vigilant about things you'll be fine.

  Is sim free iPhone already jailbroken?

If you're talking about an iPhone without the sim card, no, that doesn't mean that the phone is jailbroken already.  It just means it's the phone without the sim card.  iPhones have removable sim cards in them.


Where can I find specific Apple firmware like early 2011 SMC 1.69f3

For most people, I recommend always going forward, never backward. I’m sure someone has squirreled away copies, but I don’t have any source I trust to get old firmware.
There are ways to flash firmware without Apple’s loader process - How to downgrade SMC firmware

As you notice, since the updates now happen when you install macOS updates and
upgrades the older Apple page is archived and not maintained or migrated to the new hosting support sites.
In the case you seek to down level, I've not ever seen that work. I’m not saying you couldn’t be the first case to achieve that, but the issues tend to be failing hardware and not that the newer firmware has some bug Apple doesn’t then fix with even newer patch.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, just my experience is this hasn’t helped in the past. I hope you prove me wrong in this case and can report success getting the code and that it helps as you expect. Documenting it publicly and the checksum of known good firmware will be a service to everyone.
Keeping “obsolete” or “vintage” gear in full operation makes me very happy and is a worthy goal.


WiFi connection on my iPad automatically gets disconnected when the screen goes off

This appears to be a common problem.
Try these simple steps provided in the first answer here.
Let me know if they work. If not, please, provide me more details about your iPad settings or/and iOS version.


How to turn subpixel antialiasing on in macOS 10.14?

Open the Terminal application
Type or paste

defaults write -g CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled -bool NO

Press ↩ (Enter)
Restart the computer

To return it back, do the same but instead type in the terminal

defaults write -g CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled -bool YES

Update on 2019.10.12: the solution works in macOS 10.15 too.

Update on 2019.12.24: you can turn subpixel antialiasing only in a specific application. To achieve it, do the same but instead type in the terminal

defaults write com.evernote.Evernote CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled -bool NO

where com.evernote.Evernote is the identifier of the application. See how to get it in this question. Then restart the application.

To revert it, type in the terminal

defaults delete com.evernote.Evernote CGFontRenderingFontSmoothingDisabled

You can even enable subpixel antialiasing everywhere and disable in a specific application (it's left as an exercise for the reader).


Songs are continuously being deleted from my phone

Apple tends to do this because of competitors, I have been going through this for months now and have had at least 6 songs deleted. I downloaded them again, and thankfully apple had let me get them for free. but now, apple is making me purchase them. I am fed up. but heres a tip that hopefully help you out, download them on another website or platform. try not buy them on iTunes. I hope this works for you. and well wishes to you. ;)


Is there a difference between launching an app from /Applications vs /System/Volumes/Data/Applications?

Treat them as identical. There is no functional difference in finder or another program opening either path to the same Application bundle. You have only one Spotify app despite it showing up at two distinct POSIX paths.

It is not a sym link but a hybrid combination of two filesystem links that is presented as the path /Applications on Catalina.

I would say the closest analog would be a hard link on OS prior to Catalina, but firm links are new to Catalina and are not the same as symbolic or hard links.

You’ve chosen the strangest folder in existence on Catalina since it’s a hybrid / illusion as named in the most superb technical discussion on this idea I’ve seen:

  The old folder containing main apps, which used to be /Applications, now contains a mixture of apps from two different folders, /System/Applications, which is on the System volume and contains Apple’s bundled apps, and the Applications folder on the Data volume, which would otherwise be found at /System/Volumes/Data/Applications. When you install your own apps, they automatically get placed in the latter folder, as it’s the one which you can write to. When you view the /Applications folder in the Finder, though, you are actually seeing the combined contents of both folders, an illusion which is created by the firmlink at /Applications and the Finder.

https://eclecticlight.co/2019/10/11/macos-catalina-boot-volume-layout-revised-for-10-15-release/

Apple technical documentation is also plentiful, but not as detailed or readable as the Eclectic Light blog post.

What's /System/Volumes/Data?


Connect my watch with family iPad for Fitness+

No.  At this time, you can only pair the Apple Watch (all series) to an iPhone.  The Watch is deemed as an iPhone accessory by Apple.
It's not even possible to install the Apple Watch app on iPads.


What exactly does "Sync Google Contacts" checkbox in iTunes do?

The UI for configuring Google Contact Sync in Address Book and in iTunes is intended to support the same feature. If it is enabled in one place and not enabled in another place, it is a bug in the Apple software.

Pre-iCloud, all contact syncing worked through a service called Sync Services. Google Contact Sync is one of the clients of contact syncing via Sync Services, and both Address Book and iTunes provide a user interface for enabling Google Contact Sync.


I am typing into my terminal and the stdin is changing and adding characters on its own

I don't have any problem with trying to paste that line into zsh running in Terminal.app.  Some testing...
zsh: processed normally
dash: processed normally
oksh: processed normally
pdksh: processed normally
tcsh: processed normally
bash: processed normally
fish: processed normally
ksh: takes the Chinese as editor commands and weirds out

I'll report that as a ksh bug, I suppose.
But your problem would seem to be OhMyZsh, not Terminal.app.  I can replicate the ksh behavior in iTerm as well.
Edit: ksh has a bug with multibyte characters and the KEYBD trap.  See https://github.com/ksh93/ksh/issues/307 and https://github.com/att/ast/issues/197


How to activate an Automator application with AppleScript?

I was being stupid. This version works:

tell application "Finder"
    try
        open "Macintosh HD:Users:TheUser:Desktop:Automator test 2"
    on error
        display dialog "could not open the automator"
    end try
end tell

Just have to use the tell finder command and open instead of open application.


Is it possible to hide the dock on a per-application basis?

This can be done, but you cannot hide just the dock per app. It will hide both the Dock and the Menu bar per app.

You just have to make a quick, simple edit to the plist file for the application. Check out this article from Mac OS X Hints:

  To hack an app so that when it's active, the menubar and dock are hidden, you need to find its info.plist file. Control-click on the program in question, choose Show Package Contents from the pop-up menu, and then navigate into the Contents folder.

  Once there, add the following to the file:

<key>LSUIPresentationMode</key>
<integer>4</integer>

  Be sure that it goes in alphabetical order, otherwise it won't work (i.e. LSUIPresentationMode goes after LSMinimumSystemVersion but before NSAppleScriptEnabled). Save the file and enjoy.

You can change the value (in the example, it is 4) to 0 - 4. Apple's documentation has more details:

  Value: 0

  Normal mode. In this mode, all standard system UI elements are visible. This is the default value.

  Value: 1

  Content suppressed mode. In this mode, system UI elements in the content area of the screen are hidden. UI elements may show themselves automatically in response to mouse movements or other user activity. For example, the Dock may show itself when the mouse moves into the Dock’s auto-show region.

  Value: 2

  Content hidden mode. In this mode, system UI elements in the content area of the screen are hidden and do not automatically show themselves in response to mouse movements or user activity.

  Value: 3

  All hidden mode. In this mode, all UI elements are hidden, including the menu bar. Elements do not automatically show themselves in response to mouse movements or user activity.

  Value: 4

  All suppressed mode. In this mode, all UI elements are hidden, including the menu bar. UI elements may show themselves automatically in response to mouse movements or other user activity. This option is available only in Mac OS X 10.3 and later.


How to add managed GSuite account with mail disabled to iOS 12.0?

I have the same situation and problem. I contacted Apple Support today, they stated that they are aware of this issue and working together with Google to sort things out, they said it is a problem on the Google side.

I am going to contact G Suite support (I am an organisation admin) and will put the information provided by Google in this post.


The alarm will last about 15 minutes, according to Anna Fyen's answer on Quora:

  My alarm works fine every weekday. I cannot give you the exact time. But one day, I set an alarm and let it ring for a while so after about 15 minutes or so of ringing it turns itself off and displays a message on the lock screen.

Phoning an iPhone currently playing the alarm will likely interrupt the alarm and replace the sound with that of the ring tone.


You can insert a footnote by going to Insert → Footnote


If I upgrade to lion, will FCS 2 still work?

As far as I can tell, Final Cut Studio 2 will run on Lion, but will not install on Lion. Apparently, the installer program requires Rosetta, but the software itself does not. So yes, it should work, if it never needs reinstallation, but if it does, you're stuck. Proceed with caution.

Sources:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3134652?start=0&tstart=0
personal experimentation


Can I allow more than one app in "Single App Mode"?

No, you can't allow more than one app in "Single App Mode"

Apple also states

  Single App Mode forces the selected app to open on the supervised
  device and prevents the use of other apps. When this payload is
  active, the app reopens immediately after the device is restarted.


Fake.app: How to loop thru the rows in a CSV file and use the data in my Workflow?

The best approach is to use the Repeat With Action with the lines in file option selected. This allows you to read the CVS file on disk and iterate thru the rows as Fake Variables. You can then access these Fake Variables in other Actions which can fill out the web form (or whatever you need).

As seen in the screenshot above, I'm using a Do JavaScript action to initially fetch the current line Variable and then split it into an array of comma separated values.

var line = fake.get('line');

Then I use Fake's JavaScript API to set individual variables for each column:

var row = line.split(',');
fake.set('first', row[0]);
fake.set('last', row[1]);

Then use other Fake Actions to work with the data you've fetched. In this case, I'll fill out a simple web form using the Set Value of HTML Element Action. In this Action's text fields you can access Fake Variables with this special syntax:

${first}


Does OS X store my complete install history?

Look in /var/log for install.log and install.log.[something].bz2.  install.log contains the most current logs; the other files are archives of successively older log files, made whenever each one reached a maximum size.


To the best of my knowledge this is expected behavior. The dock has been doing that (probably) since the 10.0 public beta.

Unfortunately I have seen nothing online, either in App form or a shell or applescript, that would prevent this from happening. Perhaps someone else has run across something that would do this.


Can I prevent websites from disabling zoom?

I created a bookmark in Mobile Safari with this url

javascript:document.querySelector('meta%5Bname=viewport%5D').setAttribute('content','width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=10.0,user-scalable=1');

The easiest way to setup this bookmark is by:

Add a bookmark to any page
Edit the bookmark and set the url to the url I have above

Now anytime you are on page that you can't zoom then click the bookmark icon and select the bookmark you setup.  Then you can pinch and zoom.


Open a note or display dialog with application

I don't have “Final Cut.app” so I tested this code with the TextEdit.app.  If you save this code in Script Editor as a stay open application, on first run, this app will display a dialog box for you to input the message that you want the person opening “Final Cut” to read. If the Final Cut closes or unexpectedly quits…. On reopen of Final Cut, the original dialog you previously set, will be displayed again.  When you quit the stay open app and then relaunch it again…. That dialog box will once again appear asking you to enter the message that you want the person opening “Final Cut” to read.

property theApp : "TextEdit" -- Change this
property theMessage : missing value
property appIsRunning : missing value

activate
set theMessage to text returned of (display dialog ¬
    "THE MESSAGE" default answer ¬
    "Message You Want To Display" buttons ¬
    "OK" default button ¬
    "OK" with title ¬
    "Message You Want To Display" with icon 2)

on idle
    repeat
        repeat until appIsRunning is true
            delay 5 -- avoids dialog and theApp (if relaunching) opening at same time
            set appIsRunning to application theApp is running
            if appIsRunning is true then
                activate
                -- Running A Display Dialog Within An Application Tell Block...
                -- Inherits The Apps Icon To Be Used In The Dialog Window
                tell application theApp to display dialog theMessage buttons {"OK"} default button "OK" with icon 1
            end if
        end repeat
        -- next line necessary to re-trigger the "repeat until" loop again
        set appIsRunning to application theApp is running
        return 5 -- in seconds
    end repeat
end idle


How can I use my iPad as a graphics tablet?

The answer to your question is Avatron's AirPad software. http://avatron.com/apps/air-display I've just downloaded the Windows version and so far it seems stable enough, though I'm sure the Mac version is even more solid, since the Windows version appears to be relatively new.

That having been said, it's pretty impressive and does exactly what you want to do EXCEPT of course, there's no touch sensitivity, and there will always be a bit of lag (heck, Graphic tablets have lag too, believe it, but just a lot less).

Check it out!


Strange .userchain file on my Mojave desktop

The most likely cause of the hidden .userchain text file is the installation of SampleTank software, up to and including version 3 (the current version as of this writing).

I'm not clear on why this is created by the software, but if you're continuing to use the software then I would leave it be as it's basically taking up no space and doesn't cause any known problems in macOS.

However, if you no longer use the software, it's safe to remove. If in the future you launch it again, it'll just recreate the .userchain text file.

Likewise, if you've totally removed the software, it's also safe to remove.


Unable to reinstall MacOS Mojave on a hardware modified, mid-2012 MacBook Pro

I managed to solve it myself by going into recovery mode, trying but failing to install Mojave, then going to Disk Utility, view > show all volumes, having some files that said something to the effect of “EAS install files” (I can’t quite remember the name) burned to one of the internal SSDs. I then exited Disk Utility, went Apple Logo > Start-up Disk, & booted it up from one of the SSDs.
It then reinstalled fine, but it took about 6 hours in total.


Compile CFLite requires some unknown dependencies

You can find the files you need in the libdispatch-442.1.4 download at the open source site you linked above.

And libdispatch is included with 10.11.5 as well, as you can see on this page. https://opensource.apple.com/release/os-x-10115/

I don't have a Mac here to confirm, but I assume if you haven't installed Xcode (with its accompanying SDKs) then the headers won't be installed on your Mac.


Notes App on El Capitan: Change Default Format

But even if the new System Integrity Protection is off, you still will be unable to change it. And the keyboard's plists of PressAndAll also can no longer be modified to add the new accents.

Tip: You do not need to modify the default font and size in Notes.

To change the font, you can select all or one sentence and press Cmd + T.

To change the font size, you can press Cmd, Shift and + at the same time to increase or Cmd + - to decrease the size.

Another tip: If you want to use the user font in Notes in OS X, please, install and use AnyFont in iOS to install your favourite font in iOS.


Space issues with Mac Pro OSX 10.7.5 with SSD 120G as boot volume

Funnily enough I also have the same problem now. I don't remember space on my hard drive being taken so much but my 120GB SSD has only 40GB left now too. Using DiskInventory X i know that 40 is taken up by my iTunes library and some other files, but 40Gb seems to have been used by OS. I'm sure it wasn't more than 20 when I installed the SSD.


Firstly, RAID shouldn't include your backups. Something catastrophic hitting one, will hit the other. Eg. fire, burglary, etc.

Ideally, you want to keep one set off site. Using the 2 disks you can keep one at a friends, and sync the up periodically. There are tools that allow you to do this. Alternatively, something like BackBlaze, Amazon Glacier, will give you huge or unlimited storage that is remote and protected.

Secondly, when setting up RAID you want to think about your priorities. Are you optimizing for speed, redundancy, etc.

I you want to have one unit in house, and one remote and periodically updated, you're probably better off with RAID5, which is a better mixture of redundancy and speed.

Finally, RAID won't allow you to upgrade disks singly.

Alternatively, using a something like Zevo's ZFS you can configure the Big5 as a JBOD and feed the disks into a ZFS RAIDZ. This will allow you to mix and match disk sizes, and upgrade over time. It will also keep better control of your disks, checksum all the data, and a host of other features.

Personally, I'm a big fan of the ZFS approach, as I think the performance and security are better than a plain RAID.

RAIDing using OSX software, on top of a RAID in the LaCie box is asking for some complex failure.


Disable Device Enollment Notification Window

To disable enrollment pop-ups, I moved 2 files...

/System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.ManagedClientAgent.enrollagent.plist
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.ManagedClient.enroll.plist

to /Library/LaunchAgentsDisabled and /Library/LaunchDaemonsDisabled (make sure to create the directories if they don't exist).

Since I am using El Capitan, I am not "allowed" to modify the System folder. I did so by using Target Disk Mode and connecting to a Yosemite machine. You could also do so by disabling System Integrity Protection (instructions at http://osxdaily.com/2015/10/05/disable-rootless-system-integrity-protection-mac-os-x/ )


How Do I Know if my MacBook Pro is Using WPS?

If you simply option click on your Wifi icon on the menubar in OSX you will be rewarded with a wealth of information about the connection. - if you see something you don't like then as Lyken says log into your router and change it after,

Once you have determined the Security settings for the network you have joined, you can decide to not use it or connect over VPN or perhaps get the administrator of the modem to change the security.

Also, there is a Wireless Scan tool built into Mountain Lion and it's called Wireless Disagnostics.

You can find it in /System/Library/CoreServices (use the finder's go to folder menu item in the "go menu"). Once you open the program, you can choose the utilities window and run a scan of networks to determine their security even before you join them: