When I enter commands in the terminal I get: "username is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported."

Probably you aren't logged in as admin user or the admin entry in the sudoers file was removed accidentally.

So either log in as user with admin privileges or modify the sudoers file. The sudoers file located in /etc should show the following entries beginning at line 55:

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

The last line denotes the ability of all admin users to act with root permissions by prepending sudo ... in the command line – e.g. to edit the hosts file with sudo nano /etc/hosts. Only the root user would be able to enter just nano /etc/hosts and successfully edit the file.

The file /etc/sudoers can only be read or modified with root privileges!

If you are logged in as an arbitrary admin user you have to check the file /etc/sudoers. Since your admin vanished from the sudoers file you have to reboot to Recovery Mode and check/edit the file.

In Recovery Mode open in the menubar Utilities > Terminal. Enter mount to get all mounted volumes:

/dev/disk2s1 on / (hfs, local, read-only)
devfs on /dev (devfs, local, nobrowse)
/dev/disk3 on /private/var/log (hfs, local, union, nobrowse)
/dev/disk4 on /Volumes (hfs, local, union, nobrowse)
/dev/disk5 on /private/var/tmp (hfs, local, union, nobrowse)
/dev/disk6 on /private/var/run (hfs, local, union, nobrowse)
/dev/disk7 on /System/Installation (hfs, local, union, nobrowse)
/dev/disk8 on /private/var/db (hfs, local, union, nobrowse)
/dev/disk9 on /private/var/folders (hfs, local, union, nobrowse)
/dev/disk10 on /private/var/root/Library (hfs, local, union, nobrowse)
/dev/disk12 on /Library/Preferences (hfs, local, union, nobrowse)
/dev/disk13 on /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration (hfs, local, union, nobrowse)
/dev/disk14 on /Library/Keychains (hfs, local, union, nobrowse)
/dev/disk15 on /private/var/tmp/RecoveryTemp (hfs, local, union, nobrowse)
/dev/disk0s2 on /Volumes/Data (hfs, local, journaled)
/dev/disk1s2 on /Volumes/Macintosh HD (hfs, local, journaled)
/dev/disk1s3 on /Volumes/Image Volume (hfs, local, read-only, journaled)

Search for the name of your main volume - usually it's related to disk0s1, disk1 or disk2 (in my example it's Macintosh HD: /dev/disk1s2).

Then enter:

/Volumes/volume_name/usr/sbin/visudo /Volumes/volume_name/etc/suoders

In my example that's:

/Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/usr/sbin/visudo /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/etc/suoders

and modify the file according to your needs (i.e add the line %admin  ALL=(ALL) ALL if it's gone). You have to escape spaces in the volume's name with a \!

BTW “username is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.” might have the consequence that Santa Claus will evade your home next christmas, except you have launched some counter-measures in advance – like securing your Mac with a firewall.


This won't be possible, for a few reasons...

Snow Leopard was the first Mac OS to require an Intel processor.  This is stated as the first requirement on Apple's Snow Leopard Technical Specifications page.
The vast majority of PowerPC Macs did not support booting from USB devices.  Towards the end of then PowerPC era Apple rolled out a change to Open Firmware in the last models to enable USB booting.  Your G4 iMac though would not be one of these models.

You're left with two options...

Create an admin account.  This can be done by removing the .AppleSetupDone file, forcing the Mac to go back through the initial setup, part of which includes creating an admin account.  The following steps should walk you through that process:

Shutdown as normal
Power on your Mac while holding command+S to enter Single User mode
Type rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone and press return
Type reboot and press return
The Mac should now reboot and go through the setup assistant, allowing you to create a new admin account.

Or, reinstall the OS, like you're wanting to do in your original question.  If you can find a copy of Tiger or Leopard you will likely be able to install it using the optical media (CD / DVD).  If you can find an image of a Tiger or Leopard OS / Installer then you can install it by using a Firewire 400 equipped hard drive.

Hope that helps.


Import to Photos app/MacOs is disabled/greyed-out even though the iPhone is connected

It seems that my iPhone were full in some way:  after removing gobs of photos and videos it is working to sync.  I did not see/notice any indicator of the memory being full and the Settings|General|Storage had said 8.7GB out of 16GB before deleting anything (now says 6.6 out of 16GB).  That is strange behavior.


How do I select more than one file in LaunchBar?

I found a post on the Objective Development Forums that suggests a different approach:

Select the file to move or copy (either in the Finder, or in LaunchBar).
Copy it (⌘-C)
Select another file (again, either in the Finder, or in LaunchBar).
Use ClipMerge (Press ⌘-C twice.)
Repeat steps 3 & 4 if you wish to select more than two files.
Select the destination folder.
Paste (⌘-V)

I was skeptical until I tried it.  It works quite well.


Can I connect a LED cinema display to an iMac late 2013?

I connect a 13” touchbar macbook pro with usb-c ports to my 27” apple display with apple adaptors and also my 15” macbook pro to the same display with suitable apple adaptors.
Works fine.


Apple watch still paired to an iPhone I no longer have

One thing you can do, assuming you're not worried about losing the data on your Apple Watch, is to erase all content and settings on the watch itself. However, if you have no access to a backup, then you'll be setting the watch up from scratch as a new watch.

If you want to proceed, the process is as follows:

Launch the Settings app on your Apple Watch
Tap on General
Swipe up and tap on the Reset button
Tap on Erase All Content and Settings
Tap on Erase All

Once complete, your watch will be back to factory settings. You can now go through the process of pairing it with your new iPhone.

NOTES:

In your situation this is unlikely, but if you're prompted to restore from a watch backup, then select the latest backup you have.
Since you're not likely to have an iPhone backup, you’ll just have to set up your Apple Watch as new.

[UPDATE]

Since you've clarified in the comments that you can't actually even touch your Apple Watch screen without getting prompted about a wrong code, try these steps instead:

Put the Apple Watch on its charger with the power on (so that it's charging) and keep it on charge for all of the following steps!
Press and hold the side button (not the Crown) until you see the Power Off slider
Press hard on the Power Off slider for about a second and then remove your finger
Tap on Erase All Content and Settings
Tap on Erase All

Once complete, your watch will be back to factory settings. You can now go through the process of pairing it with your new iPhone.


'du -hs *' on Mac failing with "du: illegal option -- n"

You probably have a file whose name begins with -n:
MyMac:~ user$ du -hs *
4.9G    Applications
1.1G    Desktop
2.2G    Documents
954M    Downloads
3.3G    Library
2.4M    Movies
7.8G    Music
 29G    Pictures
1.9G    Public
MyMac:~ user$ touch ./-none
MyMac:~ user$ du -hs *
du: illegal option -- n

Try du -hs -- *.


Quoth Apple:

iCloud secures your information by encrypting it when it's in transit, storing it in iCloud in an encrypted format, and using secure tokens for authentication. For certain sensitive information, Apple uses end-to-end encryption. This means that only you can access your information, and only on devices where you’re signed into iCloud. No one else, not even Apple, can access end-to-end encrypted information.

In some cases, your iCloud data may be stored using third-party partners’ servers—such as Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud Platform—but these partners don’t have the keys to decrypt your data stored on their servers.

End-to-end encryption requires that you have two-factor authentication turned on for your Apple ID. Keeping your software up-to-date and using two-factor authentication are the most important things that you can do to maintain the security of your devices and data.

According to the chart in the link below, all iCloud services are encrypted in transit, and all but iCloud.com and Mail are encrypted on the server.
Two-factor authentication is required for end-to-end encryption.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303


How can I bundle different installers from third party vendors to ease end-user installation process

pkgbuild and productbuild
Apple provide two command line tools for creating installer packages on macOS:

pkgbuild
productbuild

These tools handle authorization. Options are handled by the distribution file passed to productbuild.
autopkg
autopkg is an open source tool popular with Mac administrators:

AutoPkg is a system for automatically preparing software for distribution to managed clients. Recipes allow you to specify a series of simple actions which combined together can perform complex tasks, similar to Automator workflows or Unix pipes.


If I'm storing music and movies in iTunes, does it free up space on my Mac?

No, placing files in iTunes doesn't reduce the space required on the Mac. The files are still stored on your Mac.


Missing the iPhone "Installed Apps" tab in iTunes on Mac

With iTunes 12.7 Apple has removed app management from iTunes


MacBook Pro 15 inch (2011) screen has stripes

Take it back to an Apple Store or send it in for repair - that sounds like faulty hardware, and you'll still be in warrantee so they'll repair or replace completely free.

In case they decide to replace it outright (it's fairly new so they may) you'll want to use time machine to snapshot your hard drive for backups.


Moving home folder or large folders to HDD

You could just use a Fusion Drive. Note that this will erase all data on both drives, so you'll need another drive to store your data on.

http://www.macworld.com/article/2014011/how-to-make-your-own-fusion-drive.html


Wiped my keyboard with a damp cloth and now my macbook pro 2017 keyboard cannot type on the login screen

For my issue it was due to a speck of dust that got stuck in the command key. This was the reason why it wouldn't type in the login box but in the terminal.


'Other Volumes' storage increases after deleting secondary volumes

Upgrades and deletions with subsequent recreation of volumes in a multi-volume container leave the container untouched and new (more) "file system UUID" specific folders are created for each volume in the shared "Recovery" volume.  Those folders each include a close to 500 MB BaseSystem.dmg

These older folders are not cleared by the system.

To remove the older unused folders, make sure you are booted into a volume outside the container with the Recovery in question.
1.) Then first run the following command in Terminal (to be found in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app, or search for it via Spotlight)

diskutil list

...and press enter. This will show your disk identifier for "Recovery" in the output, which in your case is disk1s3

2.) Now mount the "Recovery" volume with this command:

diskutil mount disk1s3

...and press enteragain, which will mount "Recovery" in /Volumes/Recovery (press cmdshift. to make the invisible directory visible in Finder, if necessary).

Navigate to it and you can inspect the various folders for their content (e.g. the SystemVersion.plist).  You can also delete them (I'd like to add that I do not suggest this though.  Instead some feedback to Apple to clean up those older folders is what I did).

Since you want to keep the currently in use ones, you will have to find your volumes' current "file system UUID".

I'm using "Disk Utility.app" for that (/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app):
Select all your current volumes (one by one) and with one selected press cmdi to bring up the Info panel.  There look for "file system UUID" in the left column and note its value.

Do that for all other volumes.
If you've left the Finder window with the mounted Recovery open, you should now notice the ones you've found in Disk Utility also appear as folder names in the "Recovery" volume.  Leave those alone.

Only delete the ones that currently don't correspond to an existing volume, as shown in Disk Utility and empty the Trash, if you use Finder.

The mounted "Recovery" will get unmounted the next time you restart, or you can just right-click the volume icon in Finder and eject it.

If you don't have a volume outside the container to boot into

You can also delete those folders from "Recovery" itself.
Boot into the "Recovery" volume by holding cmdR at startup.
Launch "Terminal" from the "Utilities" menu.

Now follow the instructions, as above, running the two commands mentioned.
1.) The first one...
diskutil list ...to find your Recovery's disk identifier (which should be different from the one found, when not booted into Recovery above).
It (the container in question) will look similar to this:

/dev/disk5 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +62.5 GB    disk5
                                 Physical Store disk4s2
   1:                APFS Volume Installation1           23.8 GB    disk5s1
   2:                APFS Volume Installation2           12.2 GB    disk5s2
   3:                APFS Volume Preboot                 136.9 MB   disk5s3
   4:                APFS Volume Recovery                3.1 GB     disk5s4
   5:                APFS Volume VM                      8.6 GB     disk5s5

As you can see, "Recovery" shows its identifier disk5s4 to the right.

2.) Now run the second command with the found identifier, e.g.
diskutil mount disk5s4

Knowing your current file system UUID(s) from the first part of this answer, you can now delete the folders in Terminal.

Example:

Mount Recovery with diskutil mount and your own found disk identifier
(bash-3.2# is just the command prompt Terminal displays):

-bash-3.2# diskutil mount disk5s4
Volume Recovery on disk5s4 mounted

Listing of all Volumes mounted under /Volumes with ls -al /Volumes:

-bash-3.2# ls -al /Volumes
total 8
drwxr-xr-x   8 root  wheel   340 Jul 22 14:17 .
drwxrwxr-t  16 root  admin   612 Jul  4 08:34 ..
drwxr-xr-x@ 31 root  wheel   992 Jul 16 22:09 AnotherVolume
drwxr-xr-x@ 30 root  wheel   960 Jul 21 10:59 Installation1
drwxr-xr-x@ 28 root  wheel   896 Jul  6 13:13 Installation2
drwxr-xr-x@ 42 root  wheel  1496 Jul 16 23:27 Macintosh HD
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  wheel     1 Jul 22 14:15 OS X Base System -> /
drwxr-xr-x  11 root  wheel   352 Jul 17 13:53 Recovery

Changing the directory to /Volumes/Recovery with cd /Volumes/Recovery and listing its contents with ls -al.  Those are two commands:

-bash-3.2# cd /Volumes/Recovery
-bash-3.2# ls -al
total 16
drwxr-xr-x  11 root      wheel      352 Jul 17 13:53 .
drwxr-xr-x   8 root      wheel      340 Jul 22 14:17 ..
-rw-r--r--@  1 _unknown  _unknown  6148 Jul 17 13:54 .DS_Store
d-wx-wx-wt   2 root      wheel       64 Jul 22 14:13 .Trashes
drwx------   5 _unknown  _unknown   160 Feb 24 14:22 .fseventsd
drwxr-xr-x  13 root      wheel      416 Feb  8 17:36 05971D12-C9A5-46FB-A70E-2BC0295FAE74
drwxr-xr-x  13 root      wheel      416 Jun  4 11:07 23379897-F07E-43A4-A993-03308663CD1B
drwxr-xr-x  13 root      wheel      416 Jun 24 10:40 59283231-6D51-412A-B100-D9E205805732
drwxr-xr-x  13 root      wheel      416 Jul 21 10:29 AA624F58-E5E8-425C-9698-C1B78C3B0992
drwxr-xr-x  13 root      wheel      416 Feb 25 17:06 ADDF591A-10FB-42C4-BDC5-C1C24E6D9217
drwxr-xr-x  11 root      wheel      352 Mar  1 14:19 C9D33FAC-742B-4F16-9DB3-6FFCB5E29DA9

Removing the first folder, named 05971D12-C9A5-46FB-A70E-2BC0295FAE74 (as found in the listing above), which I know to be unrelated to the currently in use ones with rm -r UUID and answering with "y" (yes) to the question to override:

-bash-3.2# rm -r 05971D12-C9A5-46FB-A70E-2BC0295FAE74
override rw-r--r--  root/wheel uchg for 05971D12-C9A5-46FB-A70E-2BC0295FAE74/boot.efi? y

Checking that it has been removed:

-bash-3.2# ls -al
total 16
drwxr-xr-x  10 root      wheel      320 Jul 22 14:18 .
drwxr-xr-x   8 root      wheel      340 Jul 22 14:17 ..
-rw-r--r--@  1 _unknown  _unknown  6148 Jul 17 13:54 .DS_Store
d-wx-wx-wt   2 root      wheel       64 Jul 22 14:13 .Trashes
drwx------   5 _unknown  _unknown   160 Feb 24 14:22 .fseventsd
drwxr-xr-x  13 root      wheel      416 Jun  4 11:07 23379897-F07E-43A4-A993-03308663CD1B
drwxr-xr-x  13 root      wheel      416 Jun 24 10:40 59283231-6D51-412A-B100-D9E205805732
drwxr-xr-x  13 root      wheel      416 Jul 21 10:29 AA624F58-E5E8-425C-9698-C1B78C3B0992
drwxr-xr-x  13 root      wheel      416 Feb 25 17:06 ADDF591A-10FB-42C4-BDC5-C1C24E6D9217
drwxr-xr-x  11 root      wheel      352 Mar  1 14:19 C9D33FAC-742B-4F16-9DB3-6FFCB5E29DA9

The Recovery does not have to be unmounted, as the reboot will unmount it anyway.  Or, if you want to run First Aid in Disk Utility, unmount it with...   diskutil umount disk5s4 Again using your own disk identifier instead of disk5s4

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.


What is the right way to maintain Time Machine backup history for a HDD with two partitions?

Okay, so it looks like there is no need to worry about losing backup history on the time-capsule as long as the names of the volumes are unchanged.

Since there were no answers here, I just bit the bullet and went ahead with what I had originally intended to do. Fortunately, TC picked up the deltas after I resized and restored the data into Volume_B.

So now you might be wondering why I even bothered to ask in the first place. Well, the reason I was concerned is because the first time around, when I went from a single partition layout (backed up on TC) to a dual partition layout (with the name of the first partition unchanged), TC had somehow decided that it needed to start from a clean slate, and I lost all the history there.


How to keep my iTunes (app) library after reinstalling Windows?

Just backup your whole iTunes Library folder. On the new OS, install iTunes, copy your Library to the old place and open iTunes holding down Shift (Windows) or ⌥ (Mac OS).

A dialog should appear:

Select Choose Library... and select your old Library (I think you have to select the xml-file inside the Library folder) and everything should be as it has been before.

Source: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one


These emacs-style shortcuts -- like ^T for transpose -- are defined for the entire OS's text system in /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Resources/StandardKeyBinding.dict.

To override the shortcuts, Apple suggests:

  To customize bindings, you create a file named DefaultKeyBinding.dict in ~/Library/KeyBindings/ and specify bindings to augment or replace the standard bindings. You may use the standard bindings file as a template. It is recommended that you use the Property List Editor application to edit a bindings dictionary. You may use another application such as TextEdit or Xcode, but if you do you must ensure the encoding of the saved file is UTF8.

Source: https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/EventOverview/TextDefaultsBindings/TextDefaultsBindings.html


What are the risks with low disk space on a Mac?

There are a number of issues you could have with low disk space, but I wouldn't consider them high-risk. On a SuperUser post, the accepted answer cites a lot of information that is very old. The 10%-15% free space adage may even be out of date with APFS and modern SSDs. There is an older post on AskDifferent regarding the 10% free space limit with answer mentioning certain system process impacted by low disk space.

Typically, these are the main factors I've heard mentioned concerning having not enough free space:

macOS uses virtual memory. When more space is needed in RAM, macOS will swap some data from RAM to the hard disk. This is explained in an older Apple developer guide. If RAM is full and the disk is full, applications can crash.
Data that normally stays in purgeable storage, like caches and local Time Machine backups, will be unavailable for use. If you use the Store in iCloud feature, you could see many files unavailable locally that you would have to download again.

Anecdotally, I've run into these issues:

Large projects in Photoshop or Premiere couldn't be saved because there's not enough free space. This is risky since a crash could lead to losing data, even if I'm diligent at saving.
System updates unable to be installed due to lack of space.


Make terminal transparent to show wallpaper

This can be done simply by typing this command in the terminal:

" defaults write com.apple.terminal TerminalOpaqueness '0.85' "

Without the quotes of course.

You can adjust the opaqueness level to whatever you like


Finder open new Finder tab in the same directory

Press cmd + ctrl + o in Finder without any selection (otherwise you will open-tab to the selection if it's a folder instead).

cmd + ctrl + o will open a new tab in the same folder as the currently opened folder.

No need for any extra things in OS X for this ;-)


Automator - How to know what I can do with Automator in each app

Automator and AppleScript are two very different things.

For Automator actions for a specific app, search for the name of the app in the Actions search bar.

For AppleScript, open the Script Editor, then open the dictionary of the app by pressing ⇧⌘O and selecting the app. Apps not in the list probably don't have an AppleScript dictionary.


Possible reasons for very laggy video on external 4K monitor from MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013)?

It's about the decoding codec. Chrome does not support hardware accelerated vp9 codec on Mac OS, which is required to decode any 4k video on Youtube. Which means when decoding the 4k video it's using your CPU's resource instead of the GPU. Good luck trying to decode any 4k video using a mobile CPU, it simply won't work, a 9900k might do it, but a mobile chip, nope. For safari it should support hardware VP9 decoding, however, your Macbook is so old I highly suspect that the GPU does not support VP9 decoding.
Anyway my Macbook Air 2020 has difficulty running 4k on Chrome, and always drops frame during the first few seconds of full screen on a 4k external monitor when using Safari. Time to buy a new laptop if you want smooth 4k video experience.


How do I create a network automount with Open Directory in 10.8 Server?

You can use the Directory Editor that is part of Directory Utility (in /System/Library/CoreServices) to add a new automount record. I recommend using the existing record as a template for your new mounts.

The image above references the Mounts container in the /Local/Default node. You would obviously want to choose the LDAP node that represents your Open Directory node (victoria).

Here is some additional info on creating automount records in Directory Editor.


USB Ethernet adapter not populating in settings

You are probably missing a driver for the device. One is available here: USB 2.0 To Fast Ethernet Adapter -> Support. I don't know if it works though because the driver is very old (2008)!


How can I reconfigure the RAID settings on a Maxtor OneTouch III?

The only solution I was able to come with was to borrow a Windows laptop and install the software there. Was enough for me to learn that one of the two disks in the drive was dead. :-(


How to set No Access (restrict) permission to a user on a folder?

You could set the folder to have the following permissions to deny access from yourself, do this with your admin user:

Everyone: No Access
admin user: Read & Write

After this delete the line with your own user, so that you fall under the group "Everyone". This way only the admin user has an exception to the "no access" rule.


Why not put a small and not super powerful magnet on the specific area of the sleep wake sensor so that the system thinks the lid is shut?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203315

With power and keyboard connected, you'll have it running in closed-clamshell mode with full benefits for your use case and no need to move the actual display.

There are amazing USB-C pass through docks now - some that sit flush and others with a stand off cable so you can get around the limitation of only having two ports if that's the only sticking point for clamshell mode.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/hyperdrive-world-s-1st-usb-c-hub-for-ipad-pro--2#/
https://www.amazon.com/CableDeconn-Thunderbolt-Charging-Multiport-Adapter/dp/B07BK4TRG8/

The good adapters are still in the $50 US range, but the knock off ones are rapidly approaching $10 so you can pick metal or plastic and your warranty / support model of choice if you run out of ports.


Activity Monitor showing significantly less memory than About This Mac

I would remove the two smaller DIMMs and see if the Activity Monitor sees 4GB, as it looks as if the 2 2GB DIMMs are not being seen. If this is the case, then keep the 512MBs out and upgrade the RAM, which is very inexpensive these days.

If you're planning to keep this Mac Pro for a while, its worth loading up on RAM even if you don't think you need it, because future OS version may require it. I've always tried to match RAM sizes in all slots, and not mix sizes, and even further, matching the DIMM manufacturer. This may just be an unneeded caution, but you should find out the exact RAM requirements for this particular Mac Pro on the Apple support site.


High download speeds, slow browsing speeds

It could be that there's a DNS problem somewhere. Web browsing tends to involve a lot of small connections, with several DNS lookups just for one page, whereas large file downloads only need to make one lookup. So if there's an issue with your ISP's DNS servers, it could be slowing down your web browsing without affecting your large transfer speeds.

Try switching your DNS to use the Google Public DNS servers. Open up the Network pane in System Preferences, select your wifi and click Advanced…. Then go to the DNS tab, and enter in 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4, as shown in the screencap:

Make sure those entries are above anything else in there.

It may be another issue, but this is a good starting point.


Why not just use the Dictionary application itself? Does it have to be a widget? The Dictionary application has smart lookup and more tools than the widget.


What are the iPad gestures for the new Chrome app?

Have found only these two:

switching through open tabs: swipe from the edge of the screen
change order of tabs: long press on tab and move left/right


Why does Apple TIme Machine report transferring so much data?

The tmutil compare command compares your current file tree with the most recent Time Machine backup.  Time Machine makes a bunch of backups, though.  It takes hourly snapshots, then retains daily snapshots covering the last month, and then retains weekly snapshots for all prior months.  tmutil compare only uses the most recent hourly backup.

All these snapshots will remain on your backup drive until the drive starts running out of space.  Then the oldest backup data is purged.  Until you hard drive is basically full, it will continue to fill.

Most of the files shown in your comparison are things that OS X or other software fiddle with pretty frequently.  You don't need to do a lot to trigger changes to those files; every login, etc. will result in changes.  So, while you barely used the computer, if we're talking about a long enough period of time it looks like the computer has kept itself plenty busy enough to populate 2.7G of Time Machine backup/revision data :)

Updated to answer question in comment below

Let's take the literal question "Where is the 2.7G that TM transfered?"  The answer is: Nowhere, because TM did not transfer 2.7G.

Better question: "Why does TM show a 2.7G transfer, but tmutil compare shows a 624K transfer?  Why are these two numbers not in agreement?"  Strictly speaking, TM isn't showing a 2.7G transfer but 2.7G of something related, but different.  That "something different" depends on what you're looking at.

If we are looking at the size of the Time Machine drive or sparsebundle, those contain multiple backups.  If we are looking at the drop-down menu from the TM menubar icon during a transfer, that shows the full size of files involved in the transfer and not the size of the transfer itself.  TM figures out which files have been updated since the last backup, and then sums the full sizes of these files to provide a rough progress report in the drop-down menu (like a textual "progress bar," if you will).  Where possible, TM transfers the updated parts of those files instead of the full files (to avoid duplication of data, and to speed the backup process).

If "TM shows" you 2.7G somewhere else, we'd have to know where that somewhere else is before being able to answer this question.  Screenshot, perhaps?


Refresh Calendar.app with correct Exchange-account data

For me the solution was:

Open in Finder by running open ~/Library/Calendars in Terminal
Look for a folder that ends with .exchange. Open it.
Find the correct Exchange calendar by looking at the Info.plist files in each of the .calendar folders. Open the Events folder.
If you know that the problem is recent, sort all files by Date Modified. Set Cover Flow mode for showing the files in Finder
By looking at the items in Finder, Skip through the ics-files to search for the item that has the wrong date.
"Move to Trash" the incorrect item
Start the Calendar.app

I guess that it might be possible to "Move to trash" the .calendar folder for a full refresh of everything, but for me it was not necessary.


Your MBP uses the HFS+ files system which Windows cannot natively read. You will need something like HFS+ for windows or MacDrive to get it to work. Catacobae looks to be free and people like it on SourceForge.


Can I safely delete photo library to save room

Don't do anything with the external hard drive yet, except eject it and unplug it, so you have a good backup in case anything goes wrong. That said, the following steps should do what you want.

First create a new library on your Mac's hard drive by holding Option while you open Photos, then clicking Create New.

In order to use this with iCloud Photo Library (ICL), you must designate the new library as the system photo library. Go to Photos menu > Preferences > General tab and click Use as System Photo Library. Next go to the iCloud tab and turn on iCloud Photo Library, then choose the Optimize Mac Storage option.

At this point it should start downloading thumbnails and some original files ("optimized" means it caches all thumbnails locally, then uses a certain amount of the space available on your hard drive for original files).

This answer is based on the Apple support article Designate a System Photo Library which states, at the bottom, that setting a new system library and turning on ICL will merge into (not overwrite) the existing ICL that Apple has stored on their servers. It's possible it might not, and in that case, you may not be able to do what you want.


I doubt that it will work. It depends on whether the 8GB 2Rx8 PC3L-12800S-11-13-F3 also works in 1.5 V mode (instead of 1.35 V - PC3L means PC3 Low voltage).

If 1.5 V are allowed you will find a similar question and answers here: Can I use DDR3 1600MHz RAM in a Mac instead of 1067MHz?

In the comments you will find the hint to keep one of the slower modules mounted  - then it may work if your MBP isn't too picky. I don't recommend the approach though.


CalendarAgent hogs CPU to 100% every time I get network connection

I had the same problem with El Capitan, High Sierra, and now Mojave (seems to have worsened).
For me the removing the google delegation seems to have solved the issue:
How can I diagnose or fix the CalendarAgent occupying a whole CPU on Mountain Lion?


"scheduled tasks" - what's the OSX equivalent

They are called cron jobs in Unix-like systems. From the terminal man cron and man crontab.


You made several errors:

It is running provided you started the plist properly with launchctl - but it's faulty
You didn't define a working directory for ls
You are missing a proper stdout
You are missing a standard error file (then it's usually easy to detect what's wrong with your agent
Put it in LaunchAgents instead of LaunchDaemons: ls is no daemon

Here is a working plist:

<?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>
    <key>EnableGlobbing</key>
    <true/>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true/>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.noah.supertest</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>ls</string>
        <string>-laO</string>
        <string>/private/tmp</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/com.noah.supertest.stderr</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/Users/user_name/test.txt</string>
    <key>StartInterval</key>
    <integer>10</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

You have to create the file ~/test.txt first before running the launch agent.

Then start the launch agent with sudo launchctl [subcommand [arguments ...]] and check the result:

...
drwxrwxrwt  8 root      wheel  -       272 Jan 23 12:23 .
drwxr-xr-x@ 6 root      wheel  hidden  204 Apr  9  2015 ..
-rw-r--r--@ 1 username  wheel  -      6148 Jan 23 12:21 .DS_Store
drwx------  3 root      wheel  -       102 Jan 23 12:07 KSOutOfProcessFetcher.0.sAglCyxY5lzPoNgfmEvv-ZqGl-w=
drwx------  3 username  wheel  -       102 Jan 23 12:05 com.apple.launchd.XFA6PYyYos
drwx------  3 username  wheel  -       102 Jan 23 12:05 com.apple.launchd.pHTdYNvPM9
-rw-r--r--  1 username  wheel  -      1867 Jan 23 12:21 com.noah.supertest.stderr
-rw-r--r--  1 username  wheel  -         0 Jan 23 12:16 com.soma-zone.LaunchControl.dumpstate
total 24
drwxrwxrwt  8 root      wheel  -       272 Jan 23 12:23 .
drwxr-xr-x@ 6 root      wheel  hidden  204 Apr  9  2015 ..
-rw-r--r--@ 1 username  wheel  -      6148 Jan 23 12:21 .DS_Store
drwx------  3 root      wheel  -       102 Jan 23 12:07 KSOutOfProcessFetcher.0.sAglCyxY5lzPoNgfmEvv-ZqGl-w=
drwx------  3 username  wheel  -       102 Jan 23 12:05 com.apple.launchd.XFA6PYyYos
drwx------  3 username  wheel  -       102 Jan 23 12:05 com.apple.launchd.pHTdYNvPM9
-rw-r--r--  1 username  wheel  -      1867 Jan 23 12:21 com.noah.supertest.stderr
-rw-r--r--  1 username  wheel  -         0 Jan 23 12:16 com.soma-zone.LaunchControl.dumpstate
total 24
drwxrwxrwt  8 root      wheel  -       272 Jan 23 12:23 .
drwxr-xr-x@ 6 root      wheel  hidden  204 Apr  9  2015 ..
-rw-r--r--@ 1 username  wheel  -      6148 Jan 23 12:21 .DS_Store
drwx------  3 root      wheel  -       102 Jan 23 12:07 KSOutOfProcessFetcher.0.sAglCyxY5lzPoNgfmEvv-ZqGl-w=
drwx------  3 username  wheel  -       102 Jan 23 12:05 com.apple.launchd.XFA6PYyYos
drwx------  3 username  wheel  -       102 Jan 23 12:05 com.apple.launchd.pHTdYNvPM9
-rw-r--r--  1 username  wheel  -      1867 Jan 23 12:21 com.noah.supertest.stderr
-rw-r--r--  1 username  wheel  -         0 Jan 23 12:16 com.soma-zone.LaunchControl.dumpstate
...


How can I unlock an iPad 3 with an activation lock with an unknown Apple-ID

With the iPad powered off, press and hold the Home button, connect the USB cable from PC/Mac to iPad.

Continue holding the Home button until you see the "Connect to iTunes" screen, then release the Home button.

Open up iTunes to see iPad in recovery mode.


Ben, you won't like this... my short answer is 'no, you should get a monitor'.

But, my longer answer is maybe... if you are comfortable with the command line, you could try this hair brained idea:

Start off with firewire target mode. From your description it sounds like you enabled firewire target mode on the laptop rather than the mini. The way you would want to do this is hold down the 'T' on the mini (using a keyboard) as you boot up the mini. Then after waiting a bit (since you can't use a monitor to check that it shows an icon indicating it is in target disk mode) you would connect the cable to the two machines. The mini should now be a hard drive mounted on the laptop.

Now I'm following instructions from here:

http://pivotallabs.com/enabling-os-x-screen-sharing-from-the-command-line/

and having you type this in to the terminal

sudo defaults write /var/db/launchd.db/com.apple.launchd/overrides.plist com.apple.screensharing -dict Disabled -bool false

This is modifying a file on your laptop, and not on the mini, so you now are going to copy the file you just modified from the laptop to the mini:
/var/db/launchd.db/com.apple.launchd/overrides.plist make sure it is in the same location.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE backup this file first (both on the laptop and mini)

In theory, when you reboot the mini, screen sharing should be enabled.
There are a LOT of descriptions in this file though - so I don't really like this idea... but if you are up against a wall it MIGHT work.

Additionally, if you are not comfortable on the command line, stick with the short answer, get a monitor (borrow it if you need to).


How to setup MacBook Pro 13" Earlier 2011 Screen Resolution 1440 x 900

You can't actually increase the resolution of your display, as the panel is LCD and only has 1280x800 physical pixels.

You can however install and run Apple's Xcode from the App Store to allow your Mac to display resolutions (among many other things) found on other Macs to simulate the higher resolutions.

The display will be very pixelated and blurry though, as it's going to squash the visual elements from a larger virtual display onto a smaller physical display.

It has it's uses if you're a developer as you can design screen elements for larger displays and zoom to your native resolution in to see how they look, but I wouldn't recommend it for actual day to day use.


How to delete old SMS messages, but retain backups?

Well, if this is not just a spam question for promoting some app then you have not many options without jailbreak I'm afraid.

iOS allows setting the timer to 1 year, so basically making a backup every 6 month and moving it to a safe location on an external drive should allow you to access messages from it with a free version of any backup extractor.

But I would still stick to the following flow (should be the easiest and most realistic):

Move all old texts in PDF or CSV with iMazing, iExplorer, or any other on your choice (personally prefer iMazing ;) );
Sort them by folders (Work, Private, etc.);
Delete texts from your phone, manually or just set expiration to 30 days (1 year if needed);
Repeat this once a year by adding new conversations to a folder named by year.


How to create an event for a specific calendar?

The solution is actually simpler than that.  In Calendar preferences, click "Default Calendar" and scroll to the bottom and select "Selected Calendar."  Now, whichever calendar you have highlighted in the sidebar becomes the calendar in which you are working.


unbuffer is part of the expect package:

brew install homebrew/dupes/expect

You may need to:

brew tap homebrew/dupes/expect

Before you can install it.

UPDATE: As of 2018 expect is available without prefix in homebrew, thus:

brew install expect

is all that is necessary.


I would recommend bringing the phone into your local Apple Store or using the official Apple repair site to send it in.

Sometimes, even when there is no obvious cause for screen damage, it can still happen somehow. This happened to a previous phone that I owned, I sent it in and the screen was replaced, fixing the problem.


How can I generate dynamic keynote presentations?

You could create your keynote presentation as a series of separate files (either slides, or sections, eg. slides 1-20, slides 21-25, slides 26-40) and then merging them using Automator. This way you could simply replace slides 21-25 with alternative versions prior to merging?


Why does time machine backup take "3 days" over USB 3?

This is not normal if every backup takes that long and/or it never finishes.

You should let the backup end if at all possible. Each time you interrupt a backup - you add even more time to check the slow work that was made and then pick up where it left off. If you interrupt a back up too many times, it could take a week to get over a problem spot.

You could:

Let it run and see if the next time is quick.
Interrupt it and delete the partial backup
Clear the backups and start with a clean slate if you don't need the backups or don't care to troubleshoot a temporary issue.

If you want to troubleshoot, you have several options. Apple has a tmdiagnose tool that they use to collect logs and statistics relating to items that can cause problems.

If you can get help from Apple, I would do that and let them provide the training and expertise needed to make sense of the volumes of data that the diagnosis provides.

There are some other things you might try in this article:

Time Machine: Troubleshooting backup issues

Feel free to post back a more specific question if you find the issue doesn't resolve itself or you need more information about how to interpret your results from the article or the diagnosis tool. Also as you commented, it could simply be a bad hardware situation.


How can I change the colour matching option in the Default Settings printer preset?

You can't change the Default Settings print preset, but if you make a new Preset, and print with it, then MacOS normally offers the same preset again, the next time you print.
In earlier versions of MacOS, if you held down Option when you pressed OK in the Print menu, the settings would be saved as the default, but that doesn't seem necessary now. You could try it if it isn't working.
You can change the defaults of the printer by accessing the CUPS web interface, but that doesn't always include ColorSync options.
The first time you try this, you need to enable the CUPS web interface. In Terminal, type cupsctl WebInterface=yes
In a web browser, go to http://localhost:631
Then you'll see the CUPS controls. Click on "Printers" in the bar along the top. Choose your printer from the List. and in the drop down list, select Set Default Options.


Yes, Numbers can export CSV files.

Go to File » Export and click the CSV tab.


The zip file cannot “self delete”.
There is a setting for “Archive Utility” in most versions of Mac OS X / OSX / macOS where you can specify you’d like to delete Zip files after extraction.
See:

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/delete-zip-files-after-extraction

Check if you have this feature turned on:

If you have this feature turned on already:
I believe this is intended to work only after a successful extraction.  It shouldn’t work if the extraction fails.
One possibility is that only some of the zipped files in the zip were password protected.  (Yes, you can create a zip file with a mix of password protected and “unprotected” files.)
If the zip had even just one non-password protected file (like README.TXT) that unzipped correctly, it may be present and Archive Utility might have deleted the zip.  This seems doubtful.
If you do not:

Perform a spotlight search or command-line search for the file name.
Scan your hard drive for errors using a Disk Utility.
Re-download the file (look for a link in your browser history, if needed and available.)


Can I use Logitech ultrathin wireless keyboard for iPad also with my MacBook?

I think you can actually use it - I have it and used it at home before with different Apple devices.


How to fix an iPhone stuck on "Connect to iTunes" screen after iOS8 update?

Your device seems to be in Recovery Mode (or DFU Mode but that's hardly the case unless you were jailbreaking). If the firmware update was successful, you might get out of Recovery Mode by simply rebooting the iPhone. iPhone in Recovery mode should also reboot by itself after 15 minutes.

A manual reboot is done the usual way, by holding down the Sleep button and swiping the 'Slide to power off' slider when it appears. After iPhone has shut down, start it by pressing the Sleep button.

If the iPhone stays it the Recovery Mode after the reboot, it must be restored with iTunes. You only option is to find a computer with iTunes and restore the firmware when connected to iTunes. You will lose all non-backed up changes on the iPhone when restoring! After restoring a functional iOS, you can restore the latest backup of your iPhone.

There are also various pieces of software (i.e. TinyUmbrella) that have the means of getting an iPhone out of the Recovery Mode, if the iOS is otherwise functional. However, I'm not aware of such programs available on a Chromebook.

When you get to a computer with iTunes, there's an Apple's support article listing the steps to resolve most iOS update and restore errors with iTunes.

  Update iTunes
  Update the OS X
  Update, disable or remove your computer’s security software
  Unplug extra USB devices
  Restart
  Try again


How to reach full resolution potential with MacBook Pro 2012?

HDMI is limited to 1920x1080. You will need to connect the monitor with a mini DP to DP cable.


Error: "sudo: command not found" when trying to use XAMPP

Idea #1

The error could be because it's attempting to run this command:

$ sudo /Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/xampp

You may need to pass the entire command with single or double quotes to the sudo command like this:

$ sudo '/Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/xampp security'

Idea #2

If the above isn't your issue then I'd suggest changing directories and running the command directly from there:

$ cd /Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles
$ sudo xampp security

Idea #3

If that still doesn't work, take a look at the contents of the xamppfiles directory using the ls command and verify that xampp is in fact a file in this subdirectory. It it's missing then one of your steps to install XAMPP was either skipped or failed.


How to get statics on OS X finder folder visits?

You can create a Smart Folder (which continually updates with the results of a Spotlight search).

Open the target folder (e.g. Documents, your user home, Macintosh HD, etc) in a new folder.
Click on File > New Smart Folder
Click + to add additional criteria.
Set the criteria as Modified within the last 7 days.
Set the Kind to Folder.

You can save the Smart Folder in the Sidebar.

This won't give you a 'leader board' of Most Visited Folders, but it will give you some idea of what you've been doing recently.


Dual-monitor – dialog boxes appear on "wrong" screen

If you open System Preferences - Display, then click on Arrangement, you will see a white bar above one of the displays. This is where the menu bar is and will be the primary display and probably the screen that the dialogue boxes are opening on. To change just drag it across to the other screen in the Arrange window and this should then make the dialogue box appear on that screen.


MacOS 10.14.4 update failing to fully load and cycling through boot attempts but not loading requiring full recovery

I got it to load properly by entering Disk Utility and running First Aid on the HD (instead of going to the full recovery mode as I had been doing)and then when I rebooted it booted into 10.14.4 all AOK!!


Does Profile Manager for iOS Need to be Accessible over the Internet?

The MDM server does need to be available by the device, but Profile Manager itself does not. In other words, the ability to access the Profile Manager doesn't need to be present on the device, providing the literal MDM server is accessible.


Try updating to your iTunes into the latest version. It happened to me one time but when I upgraded the my iTunes to the latest version, then it worked fine.


Is there any way to get an email notification when someone leaves a voice mail?

Adopting a Google Voice number would allow you to do this, but only for calls placed to your Google Voice telephone number. It will also allow you access to SMS (non-iMessage) messages to that number.


Shift movie horizontally for side by side

I'm looking for an answer that uses just iMovie or QuickTime editing feature but until there is an alternative provided, I will post this answer using the free VideoPad app (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/videopad-video-editor-free/id846931335).

VideoPad has a Position Video Effect that allows me to slide the video to the right (the left area is filled in black).  Saving this I can now position it side by side and have the action appear on the right half back in iMovie.

Support for positioning video within the frame is what I need in iMovie


Turn off Skype 8.11 chat notification sounds

Upgrade to Skype version 8.29.0.50

fixes that problem.


Why isn't a binary file shown as 0s and 1s?

When dealing with computers, there are two interpretations of the word binary.

In terms of number system, it refers to a base 2 number system which uses two symbols, 0 and 1.
When speaking of a file, it refers to a file containing non-textual data (executables, libraries, data files etc.).

A binary file that can be run as a process is called an executable binary.

A file being binary file doesn't simply mean that it will be displayed simply in terms of 0's and 1's. There are layers of abstractions at work as to how files are handled by a computer.

Showing a binary file in terms of 0 and 1 would make the output unnecessarily lengthy, and is not the most optimal approach. A binary file is shown in a text editor according to the default encoding set for that editor.

Also, if an editor is configured to show binary output, it will also display every file, even plain text ones, in terms of 0's and 1's. Everything ultimately boils down to binary when stored in a computer.

To view a file in the most basic form of 0's and 1's, you'll need to use a special editor mode which is capable of displaying the binary data of a file. One such way is using the built-in xxd command in macOS. Type the following command-line in Terminal:

xxd -b filename

$ xxd -b a.out | head
00000000: 11001111 11111010 11101101 11111110 00000111 00000000  ......
00000006: 00000000 00000001 00000011 00000000 00000000 10000000  ......
0000000c: 00000010 00000000 00000000 00000000 00001111 00000000  ......
00000012: 00000000 00000000 11000000 00000100 00000000 00000000  ......
00000018: 10000101 00000000 00100000 00000000 00000000 00000000  .. ...
0000001e: 00000000 00000000 00011001 00000000 00000000 00000000  ......
00000024: 01001000 00000000 00000000 00000000 01011111 01011111  H...__
0000002a: 01010000 01000001 01000111 01000101 01011010 01000101  PAGEZE
00000030: 01010010 01001111 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000  RO....
00000036: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000  ......

It will display the binary dump of filename on standard output. This works equally for both binary and text files.

A more compact and commonly used form, which is preferred over binary is hexadecimal, which uses a base 16 number system (0-9, A-F). To show the contents of file filename in hexadecimal, just run the xxd command without any options with just the filename as argument in Terminal:

xxd filename

$ xxd  a.out | head
00000000: cffa edfe 0700 0001 0300 0080 0200 0000  ................
00000010: 0f00 0000 c004 0000 8500 2000 0000 0000  .......... .....
00000020: 1900 0000 4800 0000 5f5f 5041 4745 5a45  ....H...__PAGEZE
00000030: 524f 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  RO..............
00000040: 0000 0000 0100 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
00000050: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ................
00000060: 0000 0000 0000 0000 1900 0000 d801 0000  ................
00000070: 5f5f 5445 5854 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  __TEXT..........
00000080: 0000 0000 0100 0000 0010 0000 0000 0000  ................
00000090: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0010 0000 0000 0000  ................


Claiming an app title for your iTunes Connects account

If you've created an app record for the app, providing an app name and SKU, then you have registered this name to that iTunes Connect account for 180 days.[1]

After 180 days, the app record is deleted. Once an app record is deleted from iTunes Connect, you can't create an app record with the same app name on that iTunes Connect account.[2]


Full size keyboard with built in stand for iPhone?

For what it's worth, have you taken a look at the Apple iPad Keyboard Dock Wired Keyboard?

It doesn't have a number pad but otherwise is a full sized keyboard that shouldn't even need bluetooth.

Of course I am assuming that it will work with an iPhone even though it was made for an iPad.


What typeface is used by macOS to render unicode glyphs?

All glyphs are Unicode glyphs!

In the absence of fonts specified in the webpage itself, Safari will use its default font, Time New Roman. However, TNR does not have glyphs in the range shown on this page  so Safari cascades to its default for each Unicode range.

For the glyphs in your screenshot, the pointing hand symbols, that seems to come from:

/System/Library/Fonts/Apple Symbols.ttf

Other glyphs on that page are from:

/System/Library/Fonts/Apple Color Emoji.ttc.

You can of course create outlined SVGs from any font character using a vector artwork editor like Adobe Illustrator, Affinity Designer, Graphic, or Inkscape.


Check the inside of the phone's charger port with a flashlight. Lint can block all the pins from making a connection which will cause the phone not to charge. Same goes for any open connections like the DC "cigarette lighter" port. Try cleaning the hole(s) out I guess is what I'm saying


Open an ssh session in terminal with BetterTouchTool

So, if I understand you correctly, you want to just click on a shortcut on your Desktop (or somewhere else) that will open Terminal.app and connect to a particular host via SSH.

The quickest way would be to create an AppleScript that opens Terminal and executes the command ssh <user>@<ipaddress>

First... Here's the code you are going to need:

Make sure you change the "user" and "host" to its appropriate values; your username and the host/ip address you wish to connect to.

tell application "Terminal"

    activate
    do script "ssh user@host" in front window

end tell

You have to put that into an AppleScript script then "bundle" it as an Application.

Open AppleScript Editor

You can find AppleScript Editor in the Utilities folder, but I find it much easier to hit Command + Spacebar to invoke Spotlight Search and just start typing "AppleScript" and hitting RETURN when it's found.

Once launched, create a new document and past the code I provided.

Save your Code as an "Application"

When you save your App, save it to your Desktop, give it a useful name and make sure you select "Application."  You can ignore the "Options" at the bottom.

Launch Your App...

An icon will appear on your desk with the name that you gave it in the previous step.  Click on it to Launch your newly created app.

Results

Your terminal window will launch issuing the command you programmed:


Change default app for magnet links in Safari

I use RCDefaultApp to change things  such as this when there is not a direct preference that can be set in a given app.


Where Do I find the file? ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.microsoft.Word.savedState

In Finder, type Shift-Cmd-G
Enter/paste ~/Library/Saved Application State
A new Finder window will open listing the content of that folder
Locate com.microsoft.Word.savedState and delete it


Person keeps coming back into group conversation

He isn't actually hacking into your iMessage at all. Group messages can be a little strange in the way they work. When you remove someone from a group thread there is no way for them to know unless you specifically notify them. It does not show them that they were removed nor does it delete the thread. As such, the other party in your case is likely carrying on business as usual by messaging the group thread that you thought to removed him from. Here's the catch: you did remove him but when he messages the old group it creates a new group thread that looks identical to the one you removed him from. Then, when you remove him again, it goes back to the other thread and he can not see updates.

As such, to resolve your problem, use two, unique group thread names. If you tap "Details" in the upper right, and scroll up a little you will see a field to name the group. Find the one he is part of and the one he is not part of and then name them differently. Then inform the others on the thread he is not on to use [thread name] for messaging not [thread name with unwanted user].

Finally, if you want no correspondence from the unwanted guest, you can block him, but that will sever all communications. Moreover, you will not receive any of his messages yet the other members of your group chat will if they haven’t blocked him.


I managed to fix the issue by replacing the problematic file with another one from another music library.
I asked the Music app to create a new library (by holding the option key while opening the app). I have an Apple Music subscription and I have my music files uploaded to the cloud. I looked into the library file by clicking on "show package contents" and then copied Application.musicdb (the file that causes the issue in my main library ) into my main library to replace the problematic file. Then I closed the Music app and opened my main library and everything worked fine. I also deleted all the temp files and the app has been working fine since then.
Hope this helps others with the same problem.


Is there a good free DWG viewer for Mac OS X?

AutoCAD WS is a free app on the Mac App Store. I've never tried it.


Where does Apple App Store download security updates to?

First off: did you consider "Content Caching" in High Sierra's System Preferences > Sharing?

But to answer your question: while downloading you'll usually find the files in the system caches in the...

/private/var/folders/zz/

...folders (owned by _softwareupdate or/and _nsurlsession, with no access to the user).  But that's just a temporary state and they usually get assembled in numbered directories into...

/Library/Updates/

Since updates consist of more packages these days, they refuse to run individually and the .dist file will have to be opened with the Installer.app to install them in order.

The packages will wait for installation, before being removed, so making sure System Preferences > App Store is set to not automatically update and clicking "Not Now" before the download, or "Later" in the installation window will postpone installation and therefore removal.


Accidentally overwrote /usr/local/include, what's the damage?

In base MacOS /usr/local is empty so /usr/local/include just contains what you  have installed.

So either

The best way restore from a backup
Delete /usr/local/* and reinstall Homebrew and any other files you have installed there.


Your MacBook Pro is waking up when you disconnect the Display Port and Thunderbolt connections. This happens because OS X needs to re-evaluate its hardware situation.

Consider using a context-sensitive automation tool like ControlPlane. When you disconnect your display or thunderbolt network, have ControlPlane trigger sleep mode.

Alternatively, try reducing the required period of inactivity before sleeping: System Preferences > Energy Saver


Regardless of the kind of iPod your daughter has, you can add songs to her iPod by connecting the iPod to your computer and dragging the songs, playlists or library to her iPod. After it is finished syncing, it will be ready to go. If the iPod was previously synced to another computer and not set for "manually manage music", syncing with the new computer will replace the songs on the iPod. If the iPod was set up for manual management,  you can drag songs to it from the libraries on different computers.


Two monitors using Elgato dock and a thunderbolt device

This is a really interesting question that gets to the heart of how display signals travel over Thunderbolt.

Your mac is capable of driving two "Thunderbolt displays". The special thing about the thunderbolt display is that it is capable of "pulling" the display signal out of the thunderbolt signal. This specifically is called "demuxing" (de-multiplexing). So technically, thunderbolt is capable of carrying two multiplexed display signals.

In contrast, when you use a displayport adapter on a thunderbolt chain, the bus driving that port from your mac is only capable of sending that one display signal since it is not being multiplexed on the wire.

The Elgato dock (or OWC dock) is capable of doing the same thing as a thunderbolt display, in that it is demuxing a display signal from the thunderbolt wire to provide an HDMI port. If you are using the HDMI port, you can't plug a displayport display into the other end of the thunderbolt chain -- there is no component to demux the other display signal. You COULD use a thunderbolt display in this position.

But, you have one other option! If you buy a SECOND Elgato device and add it to the thunderbolt chain, you now have a component to demux a second display signal to another HDMI port. Then you can use the two HDMI ports to drive whatever displays you want!


How can I determine what is hanging git on my OS X machine?

Yep, occasionally this happens for me too. But it goes normal once I reboot my machine. Probably it starts to happen after update to git version 2.7.2.


Is the companion iPhone app mandatory for Apple Watch apps?

Yes, a corresponding iOS app is required. The watchOS component is considered an extension by Apple and not a standalone product.

See Preparing Your
App Submission for Apple Watch:

  App Review

  All iPhone apps with a WatchKit extension submitted to the App Store are reviewed based on a set of technical, content, and design criteria. Make sure to use our guidelines and resources before submitting your app for review.


Connection is invalid error when running Applescript and Safari

You need to swap the position of the activate line of code with the if not (exists document 1) then reopen line of code.

Example:

tell application "Safari"
    if not (exists document 1) then reopen
    activate
    tell front document
        set URL to "http://example.com"
        repeat until length of (source as text) is not 0
            delay 0.5
        end repeat
        do javascript "document.body.innerText"
    end tell
end tell

The screenshot of the Script Editor, below, was run with Safari open and without any windows opened.

First I had to check "[√] Show Develop menu in menu bar" (Safari > Preferences… > Advanced) and then on the Develop menu click "Allow JavaScript from Apple Events". Next I copied and pasted your AppleScript code in Script Editor and clicked the Run the Script button and it ran without error and returned the text of the http://example.com web page. However Safari was closed when I ran the script the first time.

After reading your question again, I was able to reproduce the error by having Safari open without any windows open.  I then looked more throughly at your code and noticed activate was before if not (exists document 1) then reopen and activate needs to be after it to avoid the error.


Why do I need to use sudo purge to free up memory and not doing it automatically?

Do not use purge
Just leave it reuse the memory is free :o)


How to play music from iPad on Yamaha amplifier without AirPlay, but wirelessly?

Just buy 2 of this (or somthing doing the same job). It will transform any speaker to bluetooth speakers, so you will be able to connect any bluetooth using device to your speakers and get the sound wirelessly. You should buy one for each device you want to connect. You then can connect the two bluetooth adapter using this (not sure what it is called). If your aux uses RSA, you can find the equivalent for RCA connections.


Make the green full screen window icon on Yosemite maximize windows

As the below mentioned solution is application-based (i.e. only works for apps like Google Chrome), another way to approach this problem is to ignore the maximize button entirely and to install the open source app spectacle which offers the keyboard shortcut:

⌘ + ⌥ + F

It also has some other nice features, too. And it works for all apps.

In order to maximize the window so that it fills the visible window content, use:

⌥ + Click on green icon

In order to maximize the window both in width and height to the current desktop for applications like Google Chrome use:

⌥ + ⇧ + Click on green icon

You notice the change of behaviour of the button in the way it changes its content from two the arrows to a plus sign.


You can turn on Do Not Disturb ("DND") mode to prevent distractions or notifications during specific timeframes.

Source:

Schedule Do Not Disturb

On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences or open "System Preferences" directly from the icon.
Click "Notifications".
Select "Do Not Disturb" at the top of the sidebar.

You can stop notifications during a time period, when your Mac is in sleep (useful if you sleep near your Mac) by checking the "When the display is sleeping" box.

If you want to receive call notifications even when Do Not Disturb is on, select the call checkboxes.


Moving photos from one Photos library into another

I think the easiest way to do this is to export the photos from her library and then copy them to /Users/[username]/Public/Drop Box. You can access these public folder from every other account on your computer and import the photos into the new library.


How can I undo changes made to a picture I accidentally saved via preview?

With Preview open:

File > Revert To > Browse All Versions

Select the original version.


Problems connecting to VPN on iOS 8 w/ OS X Server VPN

Setting up VPN isn't necessarily as straight forward as one would hope. The first issue is how to pass the connection from your router to the OS X Server. That is done via port forwarding in the router to your server's static (or reserved DHCP) IP address inside the network.

To make the connection work, you need to know your WAN IP address. If you're using dynamic IP addressing with your internet service provider, you need to have some means of updating DNS any time your IP address changes. DynDNS is such a service (there are others).

Once you've got DNS and port forwarding happening, then you'll be able to determine whether OS X Server and or or iDevices are configured correctly by carefully noting any successful connections vs. authentication failures.

Google/YouTube have a large number of videos regarding the configuration of VPN on OS X Server. They may prove useful to you.


Login Prompt stays after unlocking Macbook using Touch ID

I suspect this can happen if you use network authentication (like Active Directory), and your network password was changed.  Your fingerprint never changes, of course, but all your fingerprint does is unlock the password saved on your Mac.

If you change your password somewhere else (like on a Windows PC, or if an Active Directory admin changes it for you), your Mac won't know about the password change.

The fix is to only change your Mac's password using the Users & Groups preference pane in System Preferences.


Go to Settings->General->Keyboard. And see if you have 'and' defined in the shortcuts.


How can I remove the Finder icon from my Dock?

There is no easy way to do this, but there is a little hack :)

Navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/
Backup DockMenus.plist
Open DockMenus.plist in your favorite text editor with root access
Find section finder-running and add new sub-section

<dict>
    <key>command</key>
    <integer>1004</integer>
    <key>name</key>
    <string>REMOVE_FROM_DOCK</string>
</dict>

or just Download my version of DockMenus.plist
In plist editor file should look like this:

Open Terminal and run killall Dock.
Right click on Finder icon in Dock - Bingo!

p.s After Dock restart (manual relaunch or mac reboot) you need manually remove Finder icon from Dock


Why can't I install telnet on my macOS catalina with Homebrew?

Do the brew update first.

$ brew update
Fast-forwarded master to origin/master.
==> Downloading https://homebrew.bintray.com/bottles-portable-ruby/portable-ruby-2.6.3.mavericks.bottle.tar.gz
################################################################################################################# 100.0%
==> Pouring portable-ruby-2.6.3.mavericks.bottle.tar.gz
==> Homebrew has enabled anonymous aggregate formulae and cask analytics.
Read the analytics documentation (and how to opt-out) here:
  https://docs.brew.sh/Analytics
No analytics have been recorded yet (or will be during this `brew` run).

==> Homebrew is run entirely by unpaid volunteers. Please consider donating:
  https://github.com/Homebrew/brew#donations
Updated 1 tap (homebrew/core).

Then it's ok!

$ brew install telnet
==> Downloading https://homebrew.bintray.com/bottles/telnet-63.catalina.bottle.tar.gz
######################################################################## 100.0%
==> Pouring telnet-63.catalina.bottle.tar.gz
  /usr/local/Cellar/telnet/63: 4 files, 138.1KB


Did the latest iOS or Zoom update break screen sharing when in split-screen mode?

This is related to iPadOS 14 and all apps that screen share will need to update and use a new SDK/API or Apple needs to ship a new update for one app to broadcast the content of another sandboxed app.
On iPadOS 14.0.1 only local recordings can record split screen multitasking, no apps I’ve tested can broadcast. We are evaluating if we use a video capture device or have a computer present while we wait for updates from our conference vendors (Microsoft, Zoom, etc...)
Here is an article about zoom screen mirroring for iPad:

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201379235-Sharing-your-screen-iOS-with-the-Zoom-Desktop-Client


Looks like your devices are in Single App Mode- different from Guided Access. This is enabled through Apple Configurator or an MDM solution. To exit, connect the device to a Mac with Apple Configurator 2 installed. Then, select the device and the Actions menu (in the menu bar) select Advanced - Stop Single App Mode.

To re-enable kiosk mode, simply follow the same process, instead selecting Start Single App Mode.

Note: If Single App Mode was started using a configuration profile or MDM, you'll need to remove the profile, which can be done by selecting Actions - Remove - Profiles...


Why can't my iPhone 4 show edited music info?

You may have to use iTunes to remove the song from your iPhone, sync, then add the song back to you iPhone with another sync.  That will upload a fresh copy of the song with your new metadata to your iPhone.


Linux Mint VM crashes when MacOS sleeps?

This is expected behavior.

Your VM is not going to continue to run when your Mac goes to sleep.  In this case, your VirtualBox will attempt to save the state of the machine.  I have found FreeBSD to be forgiving in these cases, but Linux (Ubuntu) has never liked it when the Mac went to sleep and VB attempted to save the state.

The most effective solution is to disable sleep when your VM is running.


How to move text up/down in Notes using keyboard shortcut?

This should be possible using Cocoa bindings - see this answer:

https://superuser.com/a/283948/659069

--

The example below (taken from the link above) binds a 'move line down' shortcut to Opt-DownArrow - you should be able to modify this to meet your needs.

Create the file ~/Library/Keybindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict and enter the following:

{
    "~\UF701" = (
        "moveToBeginningOfLine:",
        "deleteToEndOfLine:",
        "deleteForward:",
        "moveDown:",
        "yank:",
        "insertNewline:",
        "moveUp:"
    );
}

This will add the shortcut Opt-DownArrow for a line-swap command (with the line below) to every application supporting the Cocoa text system.


How to remove an app on iOS without overhead?

Both macOS and iOS use APFS which make snapshots, so I would expect you have to wait for this like installation logs, snapshots and other artifacts to expire based on storage pressure and time.
diskutil apfs listSnapshots /

Since you have asked a raft of questions in one question, I’ll keep it basic and see if you want to ask specific follow on questions to address each specific item.


LG 5k display as docking station for multiple MacBooks

LG Display has no bluetooth

The LG UltraFine 5K Display has no bluetooth connectivity. Thus you cannot connect bluetooth peripherals to it.

Pairing the mouse/keyboard

You can connect an Apple Magic Mouse 2 and Apple Magic Keyboard to a MacBook via Bluetooth and/or using a Lightning cable.

You may need to buy a USB-A to USB-C adapter to connect them.

A possible solution

Both devices need to paired every time you want to use them with different computers/MacBooks. You can, however, leave the Lightning cables attached. If they are connected to a MacBook running macOS 10.12 or later they will pair instantly it. After that you may disconnect the cable or leave it attached (keyboard/trackpad only).

Connect the keyboard and mouse using the Lightning cable to a display with a USB-C Dock
Connect the display and your MacBook using a USB-C cable

If you choose to replace the Magic Mouse 2 with a Magic Trackpad you may leave the cables attached all the time.


First Sync my iPad. Warn to have my iPad data deleted. Is it real?

Have you authorized your iMac with the iTunes account(s) that is linked to data on the iPad? If no, do it by going to Menubar > Store > Authorize This Computer. It should allow you to sync without the data loss warning.


dock folders - how to view list/grid/fan on hover & open in finder with 1-click

I don't know of any way to view the contents of a folder when hovering the mouse over it.

To open a folder without having to click then click "Open in Finder", you can Option-Command click on the folder and it will open the folder in Finder. (Another tidbit: Command click on the folder and it will open its enclosing folder in Finder)


Is there a hard keyboard case for the iPad keyboard?

I couldn't find any hard cases, but Waterfield/SFBags makes some nice soft cases you can use for transporting your Apple Bluetooth Keyboard:

(source: sfbags.com)
(source: sfbags.com)


How do I sort photos by date taken in Apple Photos?

On the menubar click:

View > Keep sorted by date


How can I connect mac to Iphone hotspot without making "personal hotspot discoverable"?

Unfortunately many useful settings on iOS are simply not there.
One of this is the inability to hide your SSID.

If you really care about security you should just use the USB cable, to force this you have to completely disable both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi from you settings and then enable the hotspot.
It will ask if it's okay to only share your cellular connection with the USB.

Otherwise you can just use a strong password, if both computer and iPhone are up to date you shouldn't worry about anything. WPA2 is very secure and KRACK was patched a long time ago.

Even if you could hide the SSID everyone you should worry about can still see your hotspot. There is no way to hide any wireless connection.


How can I archive articles I'm reading on my iPad? (Evernote, Instapaper, etc)

I find the Send to Instapaper button to be perfect for archiving because it's so ubiquitous. The glue that gets your articles from there to Evernote is IFTTT.

Just create a rule that says anything you save to Instapaper gets imported to Evernote and you're set. I believe you can automatically have it add a tag at the same time.


iOS Developer Tools & Utilities (must haves and nice to haves)

Dropbox

Not programming related, but invaluable for everything that doesn't go in source control. While Evernote is document centric, Dropbox is file centric. If you need files on multiple computers with revision control then you need Dropbox.


How can I run a shell script that prompts for user input from within Applescript

AppleScript embedded in a shell script is often messy, hard to read, and hard to quote properly.

I get around that by using this sort of construct.

#!/usr/bin/env bash

read -r -d '' applescriptCode <<'EOF'
   set dialogText to text returned of (display dialog "Query?" default answer "")
   return dialogText
EOF

dialogText=$(osascript -e "$applescriptCode");

echo $dialogText;

-ccs


Alright these are the olden goldies for fixing stuff like that:

1) Repair Permissions:

This is often a bit of a sacrificial chicken but in this case it could very well be that something has caused the permissions on the login database or an associated file to end up corrupted.

2) Verify the disk:
It's unlikely to be a disk problem but whilst you're in there you might as well clear that off.

If they don't do the trick once you're logged back in go to Console in Utilities and post the log files up here, there might be some useful information in them.


Launchpad Cleaner is a free alternative. It's no longer supported, but it continues to work just fine.


How to import photos/videos from iPhone 7 on Windows when moving fails with "A Device attached to the system is not functioning"?

On your iOS device,

Go to Settings > Photos and scroll down,

Find the “Transfer to Mac or PC” section.

And select “Keep Originals”.

It will resolve your current issue.


There is a howto in redmondpie.com for jailbreaking the iPhone 3GS with iOS 4.2.1, but it appears there is no unlock yet.

http://www.redmondpie.com/jailbreak-ios-4.2.1-iphone-4-3gs-3g-ipad-ipod-touch-with-redsn0w-0.9.6b4-guide/


Can SteerMouse sensitivity be automated?

You should check if SteerMouse supports applescript by opening applescript editor and then clicking File -> Open Dictionary. If it does, please reply back.

In the meantime, there is a indirect solution, which is to have two separate preferences files for work and home and switching between them.

First, set your home settings. You'll find the preferences file at ~/Library/Preferences/SteerMouse.prefs. Copy that and rename the copy to SteerMouse_home.prefs. Then adjust them for work and copy those preferences and name them SteerMouse_work.prefs.

Then, in applescript editor, copy this code and save it as an application.

property myLocation : ""

if myLocation is "" then
    set myLocation to "Home"
end if

if myLocation is "Home" then
    do shell script "mv -f ~/Library/Preferences/SteerMouse_home.prefs ~/Library/Preferences/SteerMouse.prefs"
    set myLocation to "Work"

else if myLocation is "Work" then
    do shell script "mv -f ~/Library/Preferences/SteerMouse_work.prefs ~/Library/Preferences/SteerMouse.prefs"
    set myLocation to "Home"
end if

#You'll only need this part if the app needs to be restarted for the changes to occur.
tell application "SteerMouse"
    quit
    activate
end tell


Can I delete things safely from ~/Library?

To see which folders inside ~/Library use most of the space, run something like

cd ~/Library; du -sm * | sort -rn | head -16

in Terminal which gives you the 16 folders using the most space.

Specific cleanup actions afterwards depend on the folders found.


How can I continue a partial, interrupted download of Yosemite?

It is stored in the Application folder - if it doesn't continue, then delete the already downloaded file, and retry from the App Store again.


Is it possible to open and watch RatDVD Files on a Mac?

RatDVD is a proprietary format created by the program itself. The developer has no plans to make a Mac app, so if VLC wont play it you will either have to watch the files through a windows virtual machine or watch them through a windows partition.


Can iTunes Match recognize songs recorded from analog sources (line-in, cassette, vinyl LP, or FM radio), or only digitally-extracted CD audio?

Analog Source over Line-In → iTunes Match:  It works!  Kind of.

I just ran my experiment.  While I don't have a cassette player handy, I did have the means to make a reasonably good quality analog recording to try with iTunes Match, as follows:

I used this old CD player:

And this excellent CD:

I plugged the CD player into my Windows* PC's blue audio input (line in) with this cable:

I recorded the entire CD using EAC's "Record WAV" feature. Then, I split up the resulting single, large WAV file into individual WAV files (using EAC's "Process WAV" menu item.)  I judged the track boundaries by eye/ear, and I ended up within a second or two of the actual track lengths reported elsewhere.
I compressed the WAVs into MP3 using EAC w/LAME.
I renamed and copied the resulting MP3 files to my Mac.
I added the MP3s to iTunes, and then added them to iCloud.  After a few minutes, iTunes Match finished doing its thing, and 10 of 11 tracks were Matched.  Proof:

Summary

It doesn't appear that a strictly digital-sourced (i.e. ripped) MP3 input is required for iTunes Match to succeed (somewhat) at matching.  However, I did make sure line levels were appropriate during recording to avoid clipping, and though my recording was analog, the source is high quality.

What I still don't know is if iTunes Match would work with audio cassette, LP, or FM-sourced audio.  Does anybody care to run a follow-up experiment? :-)

* (my apologies for using Windows for the recording part of this experiment. I'm not yet familiar with audio recording/editing on the Mac.)


How can i have makefile/shell script call /Applications/application.app?

To use the Emacs.app from shell you need the unix executable embedded inside it. It is at Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs (I don't have this version of emacs so the capitalisation might differ)

An alternative is to use open to start any app from the workspace using open.

e.g.

open -a Emacs.app --args <all those passed to emacs>


Having come across a similar error myself, I found that it won't install Mojave onto an external hard disk due its need for the EFI partition to be on a local disk. The EFI partition is only 200MB+, so in theory you could get away with installing a very small hard-drive internally and just stick the EFI partition there. Once Mojave's installed, you can move the EFI partition to a USB (probably needs to be placed before any other partitions).

I use Linux/Gparted to change partitions for this purpose. You can do that entirely from e.g. the Ubuntu install USB without having to install Linux at all. You probably have an EFI partition somewhere on your USB drive, so simply copy it to an internal hard-drive. Since it's probably only 250MB, you can get such drives for extremely cheap off eBay if you don't have a drive lying around somewhere from an archaic machine.


How can I scan from my Canon Pixma MP140 to Mojave?

This question is a bit scattered, but if I understand it correctly, you can’t get this scanner to work with your Mac.
This scanner is EoL - End of Life
Looking at the support page for this particular multi-function device, the last version of macOS that was supported was OS X 10.5.x (Leopard) and that version was released in 2009 and support ended in June 2011. The drivers were released for both Intel and PowerPC architectures, the latter being EOL itself since 2006; just about a decade and a half ago at the time of writing this answer.
Development has (obviously) stopped on this product.  If it were to have TWAIN drivers, it probably would continue to function.  Unfortunately, it requires it’s own drivers provided for by Canon.
As far as the Intel drivers go, being that they are so old, they are 32-bit drivers.  If you’re attempting to use this on Catalina, this will be a non-starter as Catalina doesn’t support 32-bit apps or drivers..

Please tell me the only option is not really to spend $45 on VueScan?

It’s possible.  I can’t speak to the viability of the software.  While I’m a huge proponent of extracting every last ounce of usability out of a computing device, there are certain types of products that become much more expensive to maintain than it is to simply purchase new.  Scanners and laser printers have consumable parts like pinch rollers (usually made of rubber), stepper motors, and sensors that do fail.  When these items fail especially the rollers - they become dry and hard and no longer “grips” the paper, I usually dispose of the device unless I can find a quality “rebuild kit.”
Perhaps you can get it working again, but keep in mind, you’ll be spending $45 and in the end, you’ll still have an obsolete scanner that’s nearly a decade and a half old.
I’d spring for a new scanner.


How fast does a BootCamp installation wake up from sleep?

I've used BootCamp with Windows XP and 7 installed on several models of MacBook and MacBook Pro over the last five or so years; in my totally unscientific experience, XP is considerably slower than Windows 7, which is an improvement but still not as fast as OS X.

You might want to refer to this SuperUser page which links to several different AppleCare discussions.


How to disable right-click pop-up menu in Pages Dock?

In order for recent items not to show on an application's dock tile, you'll need to do at least two things, as also shown in the images below.

First in System Preferences > General, set e.g.: Recent items: 10 Documents, Apps, and Servers to : Recent items: None Documents, Apps, and Servers
Next, In Pages, as well as other apps that have an Open Recent menu item on the app's File menu, click Clear Menu in order for them not to show after taking the first step.


Answering my own question. I had to follow the steps enlisted here to get past this error.

Creating a Code-Sign System Certificate from Keychain Access.
Marking that Certificate to Trust Always. This is important.
Finally code signing the gdb executable codesign -s gdb-cert /path/to/gdb

With this, I was able to use gdb on mavericks.


What's the equivalent of "do shell script" with javascript automations? (Yosemite)

If you look in the StandardAdditions.sdef.

Menubar menu: Windows -> Library
Double click on: StandardAdditions
Change the dropdown to Javascript.

You will see that many of the script command change to the  camelHump syntax

app = Application.currentApplication()
app.includeStandardAdditions = true;

app.doShellScript('ls')


Detect installed applications (software dev) on OS X Lion

Apple Menu > About This Mac >

In the resulting window: (More Info)

In the side bar of the resulting window: Software > Applications

Columns presented:

Application Name | Version | Last Modified

Click on a row to see more details:

Kind (architecture)
64 Bit
App Store
Get Info String
Location (in the file system)

I see Python this way (3 different versions actually) but not PHP or Ruby.


As @RobZolkos said in his answer:

  It's not part of the Apple system to 'cut' files. The option is there
  and becomes enabled when text is selected. But not files. [...]

  ⌘+C then ⌥+⌘+V does the cut-and-paste for files
  on OS X.


When you perform the reset, do not "restore from backup", as iTunes will prompt you to do when it detects the "empty" device.  Instead, press cancel, and your iPod Touch should be empty.

For the most security, you should perform the erase from the device itself - In Settings, go to General, and select Reset; then, select "Erase All Content and Settings".  It may take a while, but it is a secure way to erase the device.


Have Automator add original path to Spotlight Comment for a file when moving to the trash

I would just use Applescript to do it in a Run Applescript Action

on run {input, parameters}
    set theDate to do shell script "date +%Y_%m_%d_%H:%M:%S"
    tell application "Finder"

        repeat with thisfile in input
            set theComment to theDate & return & POSIX path of thisfile
            set comment of (thisfile as alias) to theComment

        return input
    end tell

end run

This sets the date stamp and path.
It should be simple to add your touch and delete code to this.


Cursor Lag / Stutter & Media Blacked Out

How is the monitor connected to the machine, USB-C or HDMI? I and others are having an issue with cursor hangs with USB-C connections, sometimes to monitors sometimes to hubs. I would try using an HDMI cable, or honestly vice-versa, and seeing if that helps.


AppleScript: How to un-hide the file extension of a screenshot?

You were close! You need to use file in front of (filePath as POSIX file), e.g.:

set filePath to "/Users/Me/Desktop/" & "Screenshot" & ".png"

do shell script "screencapture -mx -T1 " & filePath

tell application "Finder"
    set extension hidden of file (filePath as POSIX file) to false
end tell


Is there no such thing as Microsoft Internet Explorer for Mac OS X?

Microsoft Internet Explorer for Mac is not available for the latest OS X versions (beyond OS X 10.4) as it was effectively replaced by Safari in 2003. As the Wikipedia page for Internet Explorer for Mac explains:

  As a result of the five-year agreement between Apple and Microsoft in
  1997, it was the default browser on Mac OS and Mac OS X from 1998
  until it was replaced by Apple's own Safari web browser in 2003.

  On June 13, 2003, Microsoft announced that it was ceasing further
  development of Internet Explorer for Mac and the final update was
  released on July 11, 2003. The browser was not included in the default
  installation of Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" which was released on April 29,
  2005. Microsoft discontinued support for the product on December 31, 2005 and removed the application from their Macintosh downloads site
  on January 31, 2006. Microsoft recommends "that users migrate to more
  recent web browsing technologies such as Apple's Safari."

Your best bet is to download the Windows version of IE and run it in a Virtual Machine (using something like VMware Fusion or Virtual Box).

Alternatively, the OSXDaily article on Internet Explorer for Mac the Easy Way: Run IE 7, IE8, & IE9 Free in a Virtual Machine describes a way to do this (I've not used it myself, but this does appear to circumvent the Windows 30-day trial period by using snapshots and possibly to comply with the EULA you should purchase a Windows licence and use that in a VM with a downloaded version of IE, as above, instead):

  We’re going to walk you through how to install Internet Explorer 7, 8,
  or 9 in a virtual machine running Windows, directly in Mac OS X – for
  free. This is achieved by using the freely available VirtualBox
  software from Oracle, and combining that with free Internet Explorer
  testing virtual machines from Microsoft, the trick is converting these
  free IE vm’s so that they work flawlessly under OS X (or Linux,
  technically), and that is all handled automatically with this method.


save skim annotated pdf as pdf with annotations

Skim doesn't save notes and highlights within the PDF file itself. That's why they don't show up in other viewers (much like 'bookmarks' in Preview).

It's possible to export a copy with notes and highlights embedded: File > Export… then choose file format "PDF" and mark the option "With embedded notes". They will show up in Preview and Acrobat. However, Skim can't edit the notes of the exported copy anymore. Apparently, Preview and Acrobat can, though.

Skim FAQ at https://sourceforge.net/p/skim-app/wiki/FAQ/

(based on Skim version 1.4.18, OS X 10.7.5, Acrobat Pro XI)


How to fix Catalina install failing with "Some APFS cryptographic state information was unexpectedly unavailable. : (-69461)"?

These instructions fixed it for me: https://www.reddit.com/r/OSXBeta/comments/ddh2mj/question_osx_catalina_install_issue/f2y22co/?context=1

Though I didn't boot into recovery mode. I just opened a Terminal when logged in as usual.

First I did:

diskutil apfs list

This showed a list of all volumes, and reported an error code (I don't remember which one exactly) next to the volume described as "VM" (which seems to be the "virtual memory paging partition").

In my case, this volume was "disk1s4" but it may be different for you. I'll call it "disk1s4_changeme" below to remind you to change it to whatever it's called on your machine.

Then I ran:

diskutil apfs eraseVolume disk1s4_changeme -name VM

My understanding is that you don't risk losing any of your own data by erasing the VM partition (your data lives on another partition), but as always it's best to have backups just in case.

Then I ran

diskutil apfs list

again to check that the VM no longer reports the error code, and to verify that it's still "disk1s4".

Then

diskutil apfs chrole disk1s4_changeme V

to restore the "this is the VM volume" flag. The "V" must be uppercase! Lowercase is to remove flags.

Then

diskutil apfs list

again to make sure it's flagged as a VM. You should expect to see something like

APFS Volume Disk (Role):   disk1s4 (VM)

That's it – I didn't restart my computer or anything.

I just started the Catalina installer, let it do its thing, and it succeeded. Godspeed!


Force iPad/iPhone to use specific location for services

FakeLocation

  FakeLocation is extremely easy to use. Just open it up, choose the app you want to fake out and then pick your desired fake location, save and you’re done. It’s as simple as that. To end faking your location just un-check the desired app.

LocationHolic

  Fake your iPhone's location with LocationHolic. You can set any location as your iPhones location.


Error while trying to clean install OS X El Capitan (Apple ID auth error)

it's an Apple id problem.
Solution:
Power on your Mac and keep Command+Option+R (CMD+ALT+R)
Then connect your wifi network and install without Apple id.
i tested, it's work.


You can use KeyRemap4MacBook with a private.xml such as this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <item>
    <name>Manual Smart Quotes</name>
    <identifier>ManualSmartQuotes</identifier>
    <autogen>
      __KeyToKey__
      KeyCode::BRACKET_RIGHT, VK_OPTION | ModifierFlag::NONE,
      KeyCode::BRACKET_LEFT, ModifierFlag::OPTION_L | ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L
    </autogen>
    <autogen>
      __KeyToKey__
      KeyCode::BRACKET_LEFT, VK_OPTION, | ModifierFlag::SHIFT_L,
      KeyCode::BRACKET_RIGHT, ModifierFlag::OPTION_L
    </autogen>
  </item>
</root>


You can still use defaults:

defaults write com.apple.Safari com.apple.Safari.ContentPageGroupIdentifier.WebKit2StandardFontFamily Georgia
defaults write com.apple.Safari com.apple.Safari.ContentPageGroupIdentifier.WebKit2DefaultFontSize 16
defaults write com.apple.Safari com.apple.Safari.ContentPageGroupIdentifier.WebKit2FixedFontFamily Menlo
defaults write com.apple.Safari com.apple.Safari.ContentPageGroupIdentifier.WebKit2DefaultFixedFontSize 14

Another option is to set a CSS file like this as as the default style sheet in the advanced preferences:

body {
  font: 16px Georgia;
}
pre, code, tt {
  font: 14px Menlo;
}

Both options have precedence over the default stylesheet but not over styles specified by websites. So like the preferences in Safari 5 and earlier, they mostly apply to pages that would normally use 15px Times or 13px Courier.


How to install a .qtz screensaver in Lion?

Move it into ~/Library/Screen Savers if you are the only one who wants to use it, or into /Library/screen Savers if you want all users on the machine to have access to it (note ~/Library is hidden by default in Lion: you can access it by holding Option when clicking the “Go To” menu in Finder).


What is the URL structure of iOS delta updates?

It depends on the build, version, and type of update. You can view a full list here, however iOS 6 does not seem to be included currently, if that is what you are looking for.


SoundBunny has a free demo available which will work for 30 days, this app will show you every app which is makes a sound. That might help you track it down. You can also tell it to ignore apps which you have ruled out, which should help you narrow things down a but too. The purpose of SoundBunny is to let you set the volume for each app, but I thought it might help with this as well.

TJ Luoma posted this answer to a similar question here: apple.stackexchange.com.


Why does unzipping via Finder set execute bit on text files?

The ZIP format does not contain information about Unix permissions (see ZIP, file headers). By default all files are then marked as executable.

Tar can store this information and by untarring it is possible to restore them (see tar, file format).


Add the following as a bookmark. I call mine View Source. It will open up a new window with the HTML source.

javascript:(function()%7Bvar%20a=window.open(%22about:blank%22).document;a.write(%22%3C!DOCTYPE%20html%3E%3Chtml%3E%3Chead%3E%3Ctitle%3ESource%20of%20%22+location.href+'%3C/title%3E%3Cmeta%20name=%22viewport%22%20content=%22width=device-width%22%20/%3E%3C/head%3E%3Cbody%3E%3C/body%3E%3C/html%3E');a.close();var%20b=a.body.appendChild(a.createElement(%22pre%22));b.style.overflow=%22auto%22;b.style.whiteSpace=%22pre-wrap%22;b.appendChild(a.createTextNode(document.documentElement.innerHTML))%7D)();


You can connect the optical outputs of your two computers to an optical switch, then connect the switch to your speakers.

Since most switches have TOSLINK inputs you might need 3.5mm optical -> TOSLINK cables to connect your computers to the switch.

All of these parts are common and relatively cheap.


Music 1.0.5.10 on MacOS Catalina 10.15.7 not showing 'Up Next' list in Mini Player

This is a transient issue.  After rebooting the mac, the mini-player displays  'Playing Next' in green text, to the right of 'History'.


How to open a Finder window even if one is open on a different space already, in Terminal?

You might use a script like this:

#!/usr/bin/osascript

tell application "Finder"
    make new Finder window to POSIX file (system attribute "PWD")
    activate
end tell

The script above always creates a new window. This wouldn't create a new window if a window with the same name already exists on the current space:

#!/usr/bin/osascript

launch application "Finder"
set pwd to system attribute "PWD"
set text item delimiters to "/"
tell application "System Events" to tell process "Finder"
    set w to windows where name is text item -1 of pwd
    if w is {} then
        tell application "Finder" to make new Finder window to POSIX file pwd
    else
        perform action "AXRaise" of item 1 of w
    end if
    set frontmost to true
end tell

System Events only includes windows on the current space.