Brand New Mac Mini with OS X Server, Open Directory not working

I had the same problem initially too. But for many months now, though, Open Directory has been working as expected and serves our many users' credentials reliably.
It was only after the following that Open Directory settled down:

I was 100% sure that the OS X Server's DNS and reverse DNS was consistent, as viewed from within and without our network, and
that the DNS records matched exactly the domain name on the SSL Certificate we purchased.

If there are any inconsistencies between these, then the Server app just can't make all the assumptions about its identity that it needs to.
If all this sounds simple - we did not find it so.
This was our experience after several failed attempts and several attempts where we thought things were working but Open Directory flaked out. Yours will be different e.g. if your OS X Server is not internet-facing:

Important Note: All this had to be done on OS X before the Server app was installed successfully and running reliably. This will require special attention if you bought a Mac Mini with Server included. You have to get the OS X identity issues sorted before you go ahead with the step of installing the OS X Server app. It's installation is quite brilliant ... if all its (few) assumptions are met; but can cause a right mess if they aren't!
I had to double and triple check before I realised that I had not told the people selling me our fixed IP Addresses (BT in the UK) the correct FQDN to resolve reverse DNS to.
We decided to use OS X Server's DNS to manage all the domains we manage. So, in the case of our Server's FQDN, we had to tell BT to delegate the DNS to our OS X Server's IP Address.
These interactions with external parties can take from many hours to a few days and should be completed to your satisfaction before you unwrap the Server app. Don't expect instant installation of Server until this is all sorted.
I had to play games with the router to have OS Server's external FQDN name on the local network. In our case (BT Business Hub 3) we had OS X connect to the router with DHCP but the router was set to give OS X the correct external fixed IP Address. This is a quirk with this particular router. Normally you are recommended to use OS X System Preferences Network Settings a fixed IP address; in our case we had to allow the router to give it a fixed IP address.
All this had to be done before OS X Server was installed successfully

An ideal place to start
The perennial advice - that still stands - is to start by running sudo changeip -checkhostname
(Although, ironically, I don't think changeip is there until afer you've installed Server ... so maybe it's only ideal after you've already got things right!)
When you can: run sudo changeip -checkhostname make sure you get the response:

...
The names match. There is nothing to change.
dirserv:success = "success"

and make sure that Current HostName value == the name on your SSL Certificate == the name on the front page of the Server app GUI
Open Ports
Another thing: ensure that your Server can be reached by the ports that it needs. These can be more than you might imagine. I just did this port scan (using the Network Utility on my MacBook) of our Server and you can see what ports it has open to provide its services. See  also Apple support page for Well Known Ports
Port Scan has started…

Port Scanning host: 81.123.123.123

     Open TCP Port:     22          ssh
     Open TCP Port:     25          smtp
     Open TCP Port:     53          domain
     Open TCP Port:     80          http
     Open TCP Port:     88          kerberos
     Open TCP Port:     106         3com-tsmux
     Open TCP Port:     110         pop3
     Open TCP Port:     143         imap
     Open TCP Port:     311         asip-webadmin
     Open TCP Port:     389         ldap
     Open TCP Port:     443         https
     Open TCP Port:     464         kpasswd
     Open TCP Port:     587         submission
     Open TCP Port:     625         dec_dlm
     Open TCP Port:     636         ldaps
     Open TCP Port:     749         kerberos-adm
     Open TCP Port:     993         imaps
     Open TCP Port:     995         pop3s
     Open TCP Port:     1640        cert-responder
     Open TCP Port:     3659        apple-sasl
     Open TCP Port:     4190        sieve
     Open TCP Port:     5900        rfb
     Open TCP Port:     7654
     Open TCP Port:     8008        http-alt
     Open TCP Port:     8443        pcsync-https
     Open TCP Port:     8800        sunwebadmin
     Open TCP Port:     8843
Port Scan has completed…


The maspushagent is the "push agent" for the "Mac App Store". Being a "push agent" means that it used for receiving/processing notifications from Apple's servers. It could for example be notifications about an update.

The program is automatically started by launchd when a notification is received by the Mac destined for the Mac App Store.

Therefore it should be safe to simply kill the mapushagent if it is behaving like you describe. Hopefully that fixes the issue for you.


How can I supervise/monitor the iPhone of my kid?

Parental controls are more so about restriction rather than monitoring. Although your intentions seem honest and reasonable, someone could maliciously use a feature like this to spy on friends or significant others.

Explore Apple's robust iOS Parental Controls instead.

Parental Controls


What gets copied (and what doesn't) during a Target Mode copy?

Target Disk Mode just turns the whole Mac into an external drive. There's essentially no difference between doing that and taking the drive out and putting it in a FireWire drive enclosure.
There's nothing special about TDM that makes it not-copy certain files.
However, when using a cloning app, some files may or may not be included. These are usually just 'temporary' data, such as caches, or machine-specific files that the system will recreate if absent. There may be options in the cloning app to exclude other files.


Mac freezes when logging in as >console [logging in to terminal directly without launching the GUI]

Too long; won't read: Set the Retina resolution as 'Best (Retina)' or below to fix console login crashing and freezing issue.

On my Retina 15in late 2013 MacBook Pro running OS X 10.9.5 Mavericks, the Retina causes console login to crash [if you changed Retina settings to above 'Best (Retina)', logout then console log back in] or crash with a kernel panic [if you changed Retina settings above 'Best (Retina)', reboot then console login].

This explains why Safe mode is unaffected by that bug, as Retina settings are reverted back to original ones.

Unless a fix rolls out, the best to do to fix that problem is to set Retina preferences as 'Best (Retina)' maximum; below, console login will work flawlessly and above, console login will crash or freeze [following if you logged out the console logged back in or reboot the machine, respectively].

Note that if you were in any setting above 'Best (Retina)', the Mac must be reboot to stop the console login from crashing or freezing.

Too long; didn't read: Set the Retina resolution as 'Best (Retina)' or below to fix console login crashing and freezing issue.


If by Parallels partition you mean:

the Parallels Virtual Machine (or .pvm file) usually located within the Documents > Parallels folder, then yes this will be deleted.
your running Parallels from a Bootcamp partition, then as long as you're not erasing the Bootcamp partition (i.e. you're only erasing the macOS partition and not the entire drive), then no this will not be deleted.
something else, then please clarify your question.


Two-fingered right click on iBook G4 OS X Tiger PPC

Your computer isn't supported, I'm sorry. I have the same computer as you and I've spent hours searching but nothing exists if your computer does not have compatible trackpad drivers. Ask Apple about getting some new trackpad drivers installed via Live Chat or phone.


Can I replace Apache with a different web server?

You can install other web server software like, for example, nginx using brew.

Personally I would just turn Apache off, I wouldn't try to remove it. Off the top of my head I can't think of any places where the OS depends on it being there, but given that it is installed as part of the OS, if you remove it there is a good chance that a future software update will just reinstate it.


How do I change my Apple ID’s rescue email if I forgot my security question's answers?

When you do not know your security questions and have no recovery email access, the best thing to do is to call applecare. You can find the phone numbers in this link.

When you have two-step vertification enabled, apple can't reset your password. Without your recovery code, your apple id will be useless.


Can I install Spaces and Exposé on Lion?

This is impossible because Mission Control / Spaces / Exposé are actually controlled by the Dock. And you'll certainly have no end of trouble if you try to transplant the Dock between OS versions.


How do I make function keys work for an external keyboard on MBP with Touch Bar

You can check the following checkbox via System Preferences > Keyboard (default tab):


There are a few ways you can clear up space on iOS. First of all, there are apps on the iTunes Store that clear up junk on your disk. I used one of these and it opened up 4GB without deleting anything that I noticed. You can also delete browsing data by going into Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data. Scroll down to the bottom and click 'Remove all Website Data'. You can also just delete data. There are some others, but there are just a few.

I know this doesn't answer all of your questions but hopefully, it helps some.


How to find where files reside on a partition

A disk defragmenter might do what you want for this. Possibly.

OS X since 10.3 automatically defragments files, but doesn't do anything to move them all to the 'top' of your volume. A 3rd party defragmenter might do this, which theoretically would clear out all the cruft that's preventing non-destructive repartitioning from taking place.

The other option is what Apple recommends in that dialog: clone the volume at the filesystem level, reformat, and then clone it back--when it rewrites, all of the files will be written one by one at the 'top' of the volume. Of course, if you need to do that, you might as well repartition while you're in the process of reformatting the disk.


Can't connect to iPod: iTunes claims iPod Touch needs passcode entered

I have the solution for you here.

Plug the iPod into iTunes
Hold the power and home button together until the screen goes black
Let go of the power button, keeping home pressed
after 10 seconds let go.
open iTunes and click restore iPod.

you have a blank iPod, and will need to sync again

Update (from original poster)

These steps are correct, I had to actually go to the Genius Bar to find that out because the instructions on Apples own site are not correct.  Specifically they do not recommend the two-button shutdown, but rather a regular shutdown which does not work.

More details here: http://codesweattears.blogspot.com/2011/12/putting-your-ipod-touch-into-recovery.html


How can I correct/delete iOS holidays on iDevice

AFAIK, you cannot delete the Holiday Calender on your iOS device. However, you can hide it via Calender app. In the Calendar app, tap Calendars in the bottom center and uncheck the Holiday calendar. And, here's how you can add Austrian holidays to your iPhone and iPad calender:

Go to Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars
Now, tap on Add Account
Scroll down and tap on Other
Tap on “Add Subscribed Calendar”
Type in “http://laudatio.com/florian/ical/AustrianHolidays.ics” and press “Next”, and then press “Save”
Press "Done". Congrats, you've added Austrian Holidays to your calendar.

You might find this useful: http://www.igeeksblog.com/how-to-add-us-holidays-to-iphone-calendar/ Hope it helps!

FYI: My iPhone has a calender for Indian holidays.


How do I remove purchased GarageBand content?

You should look for it in the following place, copy following and paste it in to the Go to Folder in the Finder.

/Library/Audio/Apple Loops/Apple/Apple Loops for GarageBand

Know-how:

*If you are wondering how I did it, since I do not use the Garageband:

I used the mdfind -name Garageband in Terminal that showed me all locations for it. After that it was easy.*


Safari redirecting to http instead of https

I wonder if you may be seeing a feature that was a bit controversial when Apple introduced it, namely, not showing the full website address.
If you go to Safari > Preferences > Advanced and check "Show full website address." and then once you are on "https://anywebsite.com" just click once in the address field. That should show everything including the http/https string.
Does that solve your issue? If not please edit your question and add some more details so we can assist.


I would guess that you have not installed the guest additions in your guest system.

Quoting from the manual:

  In the "Devices" menu in the virtual machine's menu bar, VirtualBox
  has a handy menu item named "Install guest additions", which mounts
  the Guest Additions ISO file inside your virtual machine. A Windows
  guest should then automatically start the Guest Additions installer,
  which installs the Guest Additions into your Windows guest. Other
  guest operating systems (or if automatic start of software on CD is
  disabled) need manual start of the installer.


Perhaps the simplest way to accomplish this is to use the CONCATENATE
Function in a new column and then hide the others.

At an appropriate place in your table, add a new column.  (Perhaps at the end)
Add a formula such as = TRIM ( CONCATENATE( A2, " ", A3 )) adding in the calculation as many cells as needed.
Drag the formula down the column.
Now, hide the columns.

The Trim function removes the blank space you add in the formula in the event the first row is blank.

See examples below.


I program in 8 GB and run light virtual machines and docker. You’d only need 16 or more for very specific cases. The new OS take less ram since Apple is dropping all the 32 bit frameworks and libraries. In general 3rd party apps are slimming faster than they are growing now as well, but with M1 and Intel, apps will be larger for a short term but that doesn’t really affect RAM at all, just disk space and network time to download.
You can compile LLVM from first principles on a 2015 MacBook or 2016 MacBook Air, so seriously large and complicated builds don’t require exotic hardware anymore.
The only cases for large RAM are massive browser needs and several VM for more than light testing.


cl date function working differently in Intel and M1 machines

The answer (thanks to a hint by @mmmmmm in the comments) is that in the M1 Mac mini you have to install the gnu coreutils (e.g. via Homebrew), but since the names of some of them overlap with the names of similar (but not identical!) utilities that come with the Mac mini, the system automatically prefixes "g" to any utilities whose names overlap.
Therefore, the problem was solved in my case by changing date to gdate in my code.


Spell Correction using only the keyboard

Yo ! Man, I got the best thing for you.

Just type some of your characters of word & press F5 & see the magic, It is what you want. Suppose your not getting the word rub some & get what you want.

Here is snap-shot of what you want.  ( source of lots of shortcut keys )

Suppose, I am a user, I would do as follows.

Start typing
suppose I typed Compu
and then I would press F5 for getting hints

simple & short just F5 does all for you, no need to press Cmd+: and then get correct one from list. It will give you list on the spot.


Can iPhone 5s be tracked if restored completely, and iCloud lock is gone?

Yes, it still can be tracked.

Anyone with the ability to track the IMEI number can find it if it is online, or using the phone services, since the iPhone is always broadcasting  it.

You can check information about (this is not tracking) yours here http://www.imei.info/

To display your IMEI number read this http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4061, or look at the label on the back of the iPhone.

However, even the IMEI number can be changed by someone who knows how to.


Can't restore or update IPhone - TATSU declined to authorize

for anyone else who comes across this or something similar. It turned out that my hosts file had an entry to gs.apple.com which was causing apple's signing (TATSU) server request to fail with their not so helpful error message.

So you need to check your hosts file on the computer you are running iTunes on to see if there are any entries to gs.apple.com and then either remove those lines or comment them out by placing a # at the start of the line.

like so #gs.apple.com 74.454.656.343  easiest way is via terminal. look up how to edit host file if you don't know how. on my mac the host file was located at /etc/hosts  once in terminal: sudo nano /etc/hosts will open an editor, once changed control x will exit, type y then enter when prompted to save your changes to the hosts file. all done.


Why does thunderbolt to displayport cable result in video with color bleeding?

Wow. So. Apparently OSX is treating my display as if it were a TV, and is only sending YCbCr color space instead of full RGB color space.

Found this article by Robert Pill that indicates the problem, and how to fix it:

How to force RGB in Mac OS X

Download the patch-edid.rb script from the forums thread above and
put it in your home directory.
Connect only the external monitor(s) in question (I closed my MacBook
lid, for example). The script will make override files for any
connected monitor. Type “ruby patch-edid.rb” in Terminal.
A new folder will be created in your home directory. Move it into the
“/System/Library/Displays/Overrides” folder. If Finder tells you that
you are overwriting an existing folder, consider backing it up first.
Restart your computer, enjoy your monitor.

To undo the changes, either delete the folder you had copied to the
Overrides folder (if it didn’t already exist) or replace it with the
folder you had backed up.

Also, one of his commenters made an improved script, available here.


How can I get DoubleTwist to differentiate between music and podcasts?

Judging by the screenshots, doubleTwist allows syncing specific playlists and has smart playlists.

Create a smart playlist that would contain all your library but not podcasts (excluding genre Podcast), and sync it.


Local DNS circumvented when WiFi is active

I think the DNS settings for each device are independent, so you need to configure DNS in the Advanced tab of system preferences for each NIC (en0, en1, etc.)


SSH to Macbook works when lid closed (and plugged in to power)

Yes, this is the Power Nap feature at work. On Mac notebooks, by default, Power Nap is configured as enabled when it's connected to AC power and configured as disabled when on battery (you can see this from System Preferences > Energy Saver). This is why you're seeing different behavior when connected to mains power and when on battery.

You don't have to worry about overheating since the Power Nap feature comes with built-in protection for it. Read the OS X: About Power Nap article for more information. It states (emphasis mine):

  Power Nap communicates and transfers data for a only a few minutes per Power Nap cycle when running on battery. When connected to a power adapter, communications and data transfers are continuous. When Power Nap is enabled your computer may be warm to the touch even if it is sleeping. Power Nap operations are suspended when your computer exceeds a predefined temperature so that your computer does not overheat.


Did the iPod Nano dock connector change from 5th to 6th generation?

They did, and unfortunately there's no adapter for it yet. You can see more information on the Apple support pages here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1380?viewlocale=en_US

My understanding is that the new iPod Nano likely won't fit with a number of older, existing devices.

I should also mention that although there's no adapter, it still has a standard Dock connector, so it'll work with your existing cables, etc.


How to start an app in a particular Space (Desktop) in Mountain Lion?

Move the application to the correct space manually, then right click the icon in the dock, choose Options and Assign To This Desktop. It will then open automatically there the next time.


How can I use my Apple bluetooth keyboard for keyboard navigation on my iPad?

I am sorry to say that I am unaware of any apps (jailbroken or otherwise) that add keyboard navigation to the iPad.

According to GigaOm, the following shortcuts do work:

⌘C Copy selected text
⌘X Cut selected text
⌘V Paste
⌘Z Undo
⌘shiftZ Redo
⌘↑ Go to top of document
⌘↓ Go to bottom of document
⌘← Go to start of line
⌘→ Go to end of line
⌘⌫ Delete to end of line
⌥⌫ Delete previous word
F1 Make screen dimmer
F2 Make screen brighter
F7 Skip back one song
F8 Play or Pause Music
F9 Skip forward one song
F10 Mute Volume
F11 Decrease Volume
F12 Increase Volume
⏏ Show or hide onscreen keyboard


iPhones in business: How to set restrictions on devices provided to employees

Apple Configurator can be used to configure devices in various ways including restricting apps, features and connectivity.

Payloads can be configured in these profiles that customise the device in various ways, such as pre-configuring certain settings or restricting functionality.

These profiles are by default able to be removed at any time, however they can be set to only allow removal with authorisation, or never.

These .mobileconfig files can be installed on a device simply by downloading them through Safari, or can be installed over USB to the device.


chown/chmod/chgrp on Users/____/Library without disabling SIP?

First, of all you do not need 4 cycles. To enable SIP, you can enter the command below, then restart the Mac.

csrutil clear

You should get the message shown below.

Successfully cleared System Integrity Protection. Please restart the machine for the changes to take effect.

You can disable SIP on a single restart, if you install rEFInd. If properly installed, you can select rEFInd from the Mac Startup Manager. From the rEFInd menu, you can disable SIP and then boot to macOS.

So to summarize, you can enable or disable SIP though a single restart. So the total number of cycles can be reduced from 4 to a  total of 2.

As for coping files from one users account to another, I do know were SIP is involved. If one of the accounts has administrator privileges, then you can enter the command below to become the root user.

sudo bash

Once you are the root user, you can enter the necessary commands to copy files between accounts.

Personally, I do not employ the root user. I just use the Finder application. I move (or copy) the files to the Public folder of one account, then switch users and copy the files from the Public folder to the other account.


After upgrading to High Sierra, I had the same issue, coupled with SMB hanging without connecting to remote servers.

The SMB issue was solved by changing the SMB version to v2 in the /etc/nsmb.conf configuration file and rebooting the Mac as recommended in this post on SMB share deadlock. After the reboot with the new /etc/nsmb.conf, shared devices were again correctly listed in the sidebar, so I surmise both issues are linked.

The /etc/nsmb.conf file I use is:

$ cat /etc/nsmb.conf
streams=yes
soft=yes
signing_required=no
protocol_vers_map=2
file_ids_off=yes


Can I put PC hardware in a MacBook Pro case?

The answer is simply No. Most Apple hardwares are custom designed for specific MBP. You cannot replace them with normal PC parts as they are generic. The PC parts are not custom designed. They are made to fit a wide range of common PC laptops.


I want to forward Apple mail to G mail account

Apple mail is just a mail client, to forward your mail to gmail, the set up needs to be done on Verizon.

You will need to log into Verizon web mail and then set up forwarding from there to gmail, otherwise you are forwarding your mail twice. Once from Verizon to your computer running Apple Mail and then again from your computer to google.  Depending on how good the Verizon web mail/mail server is forwarding should be easy to set up.

What you want to do is cut out your computer all together.

If you want to really set up forwarding from your computer i.e. from Apple Mail you would set up a rule in the following way:
While in Mail:

Press ⌘+, to bring up the preferences window

Select the Rules tab

Click "Add Rule"

Put in your "Description"

Select "Every message"

Under "Perform the following actions"

Select "Redirect Message" to put in your gmail account.

Please note that these instructions are for Mail 5.3 but should work with newer versions.


Migration Assistant won't transfer files from 10.8 to 10.9

You shouldn't have any problems if you use Firewire/Thunderbolt Target mode (hold T at startup). Depending on what ports you have you will need a Firewire 800 cable or a Thunderbolt cable, or Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter if you're transferring to a newer Mac without a Firewire port from a model with a Firewire port.

I've just tested this with a dummy account on a 2011 MacBook Pro running 10.6.8 transferring to a 2012 MacBook Pro running 10.9.5 - via Firewire - and it transferred fine with no errors.


Preserving "hidden" attribute when copying from NTFS to HFS+?

I don't have a ntfs partition to test it, but my man rsync documents the -E switch:

-E, --extended-attributes
          Apple specific option to copy extended attributes, resource forks, and ACLs.
          Requires at least Mac OS X 10.4 or suitably patched rsync.

I don't know if that helps, but it's worth a try.

Another thing to try would be to use the ntfs-3g driver to mount the partition, which includes the hide_hid_files option:

  Hide the hidden files and directories in directory listings, the hidden files and directories being the ones whose NTFS attribute have the hidden flag set. The hidden files will not be selected when using wildcards in commands, but all files and directories remain accessible by full name, for example you can always display the Windows trash bin directory by : "ls -ld '$RECYCLE.BIN'".

I assume ntfs-3g translates ntfs' hidden attribute before presenting the file to the system. rsync might then be able to preserve it. ntfs-3g can be installed via Homebrew.

If that fails, too, you will likely have to hide the files yourself. To do so you may use either chflags hidden <file> or prepend the file with a .. Both will hide the files in Finder. If you use the terminal frequently, you may prefer prepending the ., as it also hides the files from regular ls output (without the -a switch)


how to create a repeating event in Automator?

I was unable to get all the way to my ultimate goal of creating repeating calendar events with open file alerts.  But, i did at least solve this question of how to create a repeating calendar event in AppleScript, so here it is.
The main issue is that you can't actually create a repeating event.  You have to create a static event, then modify that event to repeat.  Here's the code that is working for me:
#Event name & description
set title to "event title"
set taskDescription to "The Description"

# which dates to use?
set startDate to date ("07/21/2020")
set endDate to date ("07/21/2020") -- last date to include

# which calendars contain the events?
set thisCalendar to "Automator"

# how many days in between repeats?
set interval to 2

tell application "Calendar"
    tell calendar thisCalendar
        make new event at end with properties {description:taskDescription, summary:title, start date:startDate + 540 * minutes, end date:startDate + 540 * minutes} # creates event at 9am, modify to suit.
        set theEvents to (every event where its start date is equal to startDate + 540 * minutes)
        set recurrence of item 1 of theEvents to "FREQ=DAILY;INTERVAL=" & interval
    end tell
end tell

If you don't have a local calendar called "Automator", then this might give you problems, I'm not sure.  Feel free to change the calendar name if needed.


I created a bootable usb with unetbootin and Gparted. I booted the mac with the stick. i moved my Recovery HD to the end. Then I rebooted normally, opened up Disk Utility, dragged the end of the main partition to the bottom.


PPTP VPN client for macOS Sierra or iOS 10?

The FlowVPN client is free (and works with any provider).

It supports PPTP and OpenVPN on macOS Sierra and High Sierra:

https://www.flowvpn.com/download-mac/

Just overwrite the FlowVPN server address with any server and it connects.


How can I use a specific keyboard layout from Windows 10?

I think you can find this layout for MacOS here.
There is definitely no way to import Windows keyboard layouts to Mac, or vice versa.


As fd0 pointed out, my user could not write to the directory /private/var/log, since I did not need the logs I removed the following lines:

<key>StandardErrorPath</key>
<string>/var/log/eod-email.log</string>
<key>StandardOutPath</key>
<string>/var/log/eod-email.log</string>

And it started working! I could have also changed these to a directory my user can write to to fix the issue.


My MacBook was stolen: can the thief access my files without my account password?

I'm sorry your MacBook was stolen.  That really sucks.

Sadly, there are numerous ways to read the data ranging from removing the drive or placing the Mac in target mode. Your password only protects things when the mac is booted into your unmodified OS.

To answer your question, Physical access is total access.

It would be trivial for someone to boot using a Linux LiveCD and mount your drive, thus accessing your files.  All they'd have to do to get past your sleep/password would be to hard power down the system.

Additionally, from the link above:

  Mac OS X: Single User Mode

  To boot a Mac into “Single User mode”, simply boot the computer and press Apple + S when blue first
   shows up on the screen. Next, mount the harddrive, and either dump the
   password and crack it with a tool like John the Ripper, or simply
   overwrite the root password:

# /sbin/mount -wu /
# /sbin/SystemStarter
To dump the existing root password:
# nidump passwd
To create a new root password:
# passwd root


yes its really easy to reinstall it without damaging anything! however a backup is ALWAYS recommended, if you bought it over the Mac Appstore you can just redownload it for free and install it again! or if your computer came with mountain lion you can

Choose Apple menu > Restart, and then hold down the Command (⌘) and R keys while the computer restarts.
If you’re not connected to the Internet, choose a network from the Wi-Fi menu in the right corner of the menu bar (in the top-right corner of the screen).
Select Reinstall Mac OS X, and then click Continue.
Follow the onscreen instructions. In the pane where you select a disk, select your current Mac OS X disk (in most cases, it is the only one available).
To start the installation, click Install.


You can find it in the Build Inspector under the Action tab.


Parallels Desktop 9 - Failed to open the Parallels networking module. After OS X El Capitan Install

Unfortunately Parallels Desktop 9 doesn't officially support El Capitan. I've received two Service Notification emails from Parallels which state:

  If you intend to upgrade to Mac OS X El Capitan (10.11), please note that Parallels Desktop 9 for Mac will NOT support OS X El Capitan (10.11).

  Before you upgrade to OS X El Capitan, be sure to upgrade to Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac. It is our latest version, fully optimized and enhanced for OS X El Capitan.

(From past experience, I usually have to upgrade Parallels Desktop every second OS X release. I'm currently on Parallels 9, am thinking of upgrading to El Capitan and came across this question when trying to research if I really do need to pay to upgrade Parallels. Unfortunately it appears I do...)


How to open another Account's User folder using Terminal?

Jump Desktop will allow you to log in to the same computer you are using as a different user. You will have access to all of your files and apps.
I have not done this extensively, but I did test it and it worked in Jump Desktop.
The default macOS Screen Sharing.app will not do this.
Screens 4 seemed like it was going to work, but it did not successfully connect.


macOS Sierra doesn’t seem to remember SSH keys between reboots

As of macOS Sierra 10.12.2 Apple added an ssh_config option called UseKeychain which allows a 'proper' resolution to the problem. Add the following to your ~/.ssh/config file:
Host *
   AddKeysToAgent yes
   UseKeychain yes

From the ssh_config man page on 10.12.2:

UseKeychain
On macOS, specifies whether the system should search for passphrases in the user's keychain when attempting to use a particular key. When the passphrase is provided by the user, this option also specifies whether the passphrase should be stored into the keychain once it has been verified to be correct.  The argument must be 'yes' or 'no'.  The default is 'no'.


How to get Apple News App in iPhone 5 (India)

See: iOS 9 Feature Availability § News

News is only available in Australia, USA, and the UK.

This is also more "explicitly" stated in the fine print at the end of the iOS 9.3 Preview page.

Features are subject to change.

News is available only in the U.S., UK, and Australia.
May not be available in all regions.


What should I do if I get email about my account claiming to be from Apple?

Apple has a support page regarding phishing attempts, see Identify and report phishing emails and other suspicious messages. Taken from there:

  These are common signs of a possible phishing attempt:

  The sender’s email address doesn’t match the name of the company that it claims to be from.
  The message was sent to an email address or phone number that's different from the one that you gave that company.
  A link appears to be legitimate but takes you to a website whose URL doesn’t match the address of the company’s website.
  The message starts with a generic greeting, like “Dear valued customer” — most legitimate companies will include your name in their messages to you.
  The message looks significantly different from other messages that you’ve received from the company.
  The message requests personal information, like a credit card number or account password.
  The message is unsolicited and contains an attachment.

It also recommends to report such messages to Apple by using "Forward As Attachment" within Mail and then send it to reportphishing@apple.com.


Xcode, change background color of selection

Have you checked the Font and Color Preferences?

You can customize the appearance of source code and console text by changing their colors and fonts in Fonts & Colors preferences.

Choose Xcode > Preferences and click Fonts & Colors.
Click either Source Editor or Console near the top of the preferences window.
Select a theme in the left column.
Select a syntax category in the detail area.

Then if you want, you can also customize colors for the: background, selection, cursor of the source editor and the console.


Didn't Apple use to provide USB stick with OS X on it?

Yes, The USB recovery drive shipped first with a MacBook Air and Lion was also sold as a full retail OS on USB write only format instead of the retail DVD/CD that used to be available for purchase.

Apple discontinued this practice a few years ago and has started distributing OS X via the App Store exclusively as a digital download. You can make a bootable version of the installer from the App Store version if you have a USB stick handy.

There's a free, AppleScript-based program called DiskMaker X that will help you build a bootable USB stick for Mavericks. You'll have to download the installer from the App Store first. Just cancel the installation after the download and Mavericks will remain in your Applications folder for DiskMaker X to find and use.


It's easy to make Siri forget your name by creating a sacrificial contact:

Open Contacts and tap the plus sign to create a new entry. Enter any text you like for the name. Tap 'Done'.
Open the Settings app and go to Siri's options under the 'General' tab. Tap on "My Info" and change the contact from you to the one you just created.
Go back to the Contacts app. Select the new contact, tap on 'Edit', scroll down until you see 'Delete Contact', and tap on it.

That's it—you're done. Siri's settings will now show "None" next to "My Info".


MacBook Pro 7,1 OS X upgrade to Lion or Mavericks

OS X Yosemite runs amazingly on my 2009 MacBook Pro (5,3). I don't know who started all this nonsense about Yosemite running poorly on all Macs, but it's perfectly safe and very useful on new Macs and even ones like mine that are a few years old.


Time Machine is optimized to create and maintain a history of file-level backups of all files/folders on your system. What you rather need is a disk/image level backup which just dumps the whole drive onto an external drive. You can afterwards either copy the whole image back again or, probably more useful, get specific folders back.

The two applications people tend to use for this are CCC and SuperDuper!. You also need an additional external USB drive at least as big as your internal drive.


If OS X cannot erase and partition a new drive, then either you have a rare corrupt data or hardware problem. Have you tried booting to recovery HD and using disk utility to repartition the drive entirely.

Choose APM to make sure you can write a new partition map. Then repartition to how you want to use the drive. If that fails, seek hardware repair or start to isolate the cable or enclosure or drive as the thing that fails.


Try remembering your usage of the battery. Is it always plugged with the AC charger? How many times did you go from 100% to 0? Did you leave it discharged for a long time? This all cuts down you battery life despite having only 200+ cycles.

You can though try a calibration procedure. Charge you MacBook to 100% and stay plugged for 2-3 hours. Then use it as usual and let it go to 0. Leave it for 5-6 hours discharged (overnight probably) and then charge back to 100%. You will see change in you battery life mAh. If you had never done this before, probably you would like to do this 2 times. It is recommended to do this procedure once in one-two months.

You may track how you battery behaves by entering in terminal the following code:

pmset -g rawlog

It will show current charge, current battery life, design battery life, drain, remaining charging/discharging time etc.


As far as I have understood, macOS allows read-only mounting sparsebundles in almost all situations.

However, when you want to read/write mount a sparsebundle, the underlying filesystem (in this case the network protocol you're using for mounting the wireless drive - for example AFP or SMB) must support F_FULLFSYNC. If your system does not support that the risk of data loss is substantial.

Therefore check if you can use a different protocol, or you can change the settings, mount options or FUSE-driver (if such is used) to allow F_FULLFSYNC.


Reset SMC: Can I use "SMCFlasher.efi -reset 1"?

I can verify that this procedure does indeed reset SMC. It will give a warning-message, but this is unrelated. Fans, charging and everything else goes back to normal, as with a keyboard-triggered SMC-reset.


How do I make an exact back up of one iPod Touch to another iPod Touch?

Sync the iPod so it creates a backup of it. Take the 2nd iPod and restore it. When you finish the restore and it begins the setup on iTunes, select that it restores as a backup of the first iPod that you just synced. From then on out you can just sync each iPod every time you add new music, etc.


Safari won't display the all page (to wild)

What I realise its this happen when the tab is pinned.
The resolution I found its to unpin the tab, open a new tab with the same URL and pin the tab again.


Safari and desktop apps have connectivity issues, but chrome and ping work

The proper way on modern macOS to flush the dns cache is:
sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

You’ll want ensure your DNS is working well by bypassing your routers provided DNS and manually configuring Google or Cloudflare or other DNS provider on the MBP.
8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4 is Google
1.1.1.1, 1.0.0.1 is Cloudflare
There are several other DNS providers to choose from. You definitely should use one of these on your router instead of your Internet providers DNS. Not only for privacy but also performance.
Some even setup their own DNS servers and enable DNSSEC, etc. to encrypt the DNS traffic. The Pi-hole DNS filter can block tracking, ads, and known malware sites for your entire network. Although it runs on a Raspberry Pi you can run it on other systems such as Docker, etc
Another possible problem may be a proxy. If this is an employer issued Mac it may be using a corporate network proxy even when you are not VPN connected. Companies are doing more of this due to the pandemic and work from home. If you see a Profiles icon in System Preferences (might have to search for it) then the Mac is managed with Configuration Profiles likely outside your control.
You may need to update the firmware on your router or if the router is older than 5 years consider replacing it.
You should check everything running from /Library/LaunchDaemons /Library/LaunchAgents and ~/Library/LaunchAgents for anything suspicious.


How to use font installed without rebooting the system?

You should not try to install fonts by copying them to the /Library/Fonts folder. This may cause problems.

To install fonts start the FontBook app (Applications/Utilities) and use the command Add Font … in the File menu . This will activate the new font(s) and you can use them immediately without a reboot. This procedure is useful if you want to install several fonts at the same time.
If you only want to install one or two fonts, you can double click on the font(s) and click the Install button in the preview window of Font Book.

In FontBook you can also activate, deactivate or delete fonts, group them, etc.

Once you add the font to FontBook, you'll need to quit the app you are using (like Pages) and reopen it; at that point, the font will show up.


Changing settings on iPad Pro selfie camera? (2018 11 inch model)

To adjust the refresh rate and resolution of the selfie camera, you also have to adjust the video recording options of the main shooter too. Apple does not let you change the settings independently of one another.

Go to: Settings>Camera>Record Video> “1080p at 60FPS” or “1080p at 30FPS”.

You should see the results immediately in the viewfinder.


Run shell script by double clicking in non-login prompt in terminal

The Automator application can be used to create an application that will run a shell script. The steps are given below.

Open the Automator application.
Choose New Document.
Highlight the icon labeled Application, then select Choose.

Under Library, select Utilities, then drag Run Shell Script to the window labeled Drag actions or files here to build your workflow.

Change Pass input: to as arguments, as shown below.

Replace the script with your own text. A simple example is given below.

From the menu bar, select File->Save..., as shown below. When done select Save.

Quit the Automator application.
(Optional) Find the new application in the Finder. Right click on the new application and select Get Info. Drag and drop a new icon set (.icns) file over the existing icon for the application, as shown below.

The result is shown below.

  Note: A .icns is not the same as a .jpg or .png file. You have to convert .jpg or .png to a .icns file before being used as a icon.

Test the new application. In this case, double clicking on the icon for the new application in the Finder produces the popup shown below.


How long does it take to restore from an iCloud backup?

There's really no definitive answer to this as a lot comes down to network speeds, bandwidth, what else you're currently doing with the device, and so on.

That is why you're finding that "Googling online it says it can take 1-4 hours per gb to restore from an iCloud backup" - because there's just too many variables involved. In fact, there are places in the world where 1Gb of data would take even longer than 4hrs to download.

As for your thinking that maybe it would be "faster to restore from iTunes", then it certainly would be if you're talking about a local iTunes backup that contains all of the photos and videos in question. Keep in mind though, a full "restore" means you're restoring your entire iPhone with what's in that backup, meaning that your phone ends up losing any data it currently has since that backup was made.

However, if you have all of the photos and videos also stored on your computer (e.g. in the Photos app on a Mac, etc) then you could use iTunes to sync across the photos/videos you want from that source rather than restoring your divide from a backup.


What is the best way to report a bug/feature request discussed here to Apple?

Apple offers a Feedback Page for that: https://www.apple.com/feedback/


You can create an account at www.battle.net and then tie your Warcraft 3 CD to your account.

Once you have done this, you are free to download the client on Windows or Mac at any time.

There's no need to buy different copies :)


Cycle through pair of spaces for two screens with one keyboard shortcut

Yabai: tiling window manager with support for spaces

https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai/wiki#comparison-with-other-window-managers

Requirements of Yabai

"System Integrity Protection (SIP)" must be disabled
"Displays have separate spaces" must be enabled

Note

Yabai allows you to switch to a different space without animation (great)

Disable the Mission Control Mappings and use this ~/.skhdrc file with mappings as the OP wants (uses jq, e.g. install with $ brew install jq)

ctrl - left : index=`yabai -m query --spaces --space | jq '.index'` &&\
                        if (($index != 1 && $index != 6 )) then\
                            new=$((index-1)); \
                            other=$(((new+5)%10));\
                            yabai -m space --focus "${other}"; yabai -m space --focus "${new}";\
                        fi
ctrl - right : index=`yabai -m query --spaces --space | jq '.index'` &&\
                        if (($index != 5 && $index != 10 )) then\
                            new=$((index+1)); \
                            other=$(((index+5)%10+1));\
                            yabai -m space --focus "${other}"; yabai -m space --focus "${new}";\
                        fi
# ctrl+1-5:

ctrl - 1 : index=`yabai -m query --displays --display | jq '.index'` &&\
                if (($index == 1)) then\
                    yabai -m space --focus 6; yabai -m space --focus 1;\
                else \
                    yabai -m space --focus 1; yabai -m space --focus 6;\
                fi
ctrl - 2 : index=`yabai -m query --displays --display | jq '.index'` &&\
                if (($index == 1)) then\
                    yabai -m space --focus 7; yabai -m space --focus 2;\
                else \
                    yabai -m space --focus 2; yabai -m space --focus 7;\
                fi
ctrl - 3 : index=`yabai -m query --displays --display | jq '.index'` &&\
                if (($index == 1)) then\
                    yabai -m space --focus 8; yabai -m space --focus 3;\
                else \
                    yabai -m space --focus 3; yabai -m space --focus 8;\
                fi
ctrl - 4 : index=`yabai -m query --displays --display | jq '.index'` &&\
                if (($index == 1)) then\
                    yabai -m space --focus 9; yabai -m space --focus 4;\
                else \
                    yabai -m space --focus 4; yabai -m space --focus 9;\
                fi
ctrl - 5 : index=`yabai -m query --displays --display | jq '.index'` &&\
                if (($index == 1)) then\
                    yabai -m space --focus 10; yabai -m space --focus 5;\
                else \
                    yabai -m space --focus 5; yabai -m space --focus 10;\
                fi

If you are not interested in a tiling window manager but want to use these mappings, you can choose the layout mode 'float' in ~/.yabairc:

yabai -m config layout                       float


macOS Content Caching works by caching, on your Mac, requests to Apple servers from all Apple devices on your network. It was moved from Apple's Server app to be included as an integral part of macOS starting with High Sierra. You can see caching statistics on Activity Monitor > Cache.
It works best when the caching computer is always on, particularly because client devices take a while to detect the caching server and start using it, but the server can run on any Mac. This detection is automatic for your local network, although you can configure specific rules for it.
You can also force client devices to detect the cache server immediately by restarting them or, if they're Macs, by running AssetCacheLocatorUtil on Terminal. The devices may stop using your caching server (and download directly from Apple) if they see it as unhealthy (down, non-responsive, or too slow). Each device decides this on its own so some client devices may see your caching server as healthy whereas others might see it as unhealthy.
It does take up storage space, however macOS by default will not count the cached data towards your used storage on  > About this Mac > Storage and, as far as I remember, will automatically purge old cache data when you try to use it for other purposes (such as copying files or installing apps).
To sum it up, you will probably not have "low space" problems, however, if you don't leave your Mac turned on for long stretches of time, you will possibly have little benefit of having it enabled.


Set keyboard shortcuts to move to the next space to wrap around?

As an alternative to what you are trying to do, I use an app called Which space that puts the space number in the menu bar.  This enables you to always know which space you are in. Knowing this you can use control # to change to space number #.


In iTunes 11, how do I download all existing shows for a podcast?

Select the List tab:

Click on the disclosure arrow to expand the subscription (if it's not already expanded):

Click on the download button at the top of the list:

Click OK to start downloading all episodes:


Permanent solution to slow open/save dialog?

I do not believe there is a permanent solution, since this problem has been out for far too long with little interest to fix it. I would recommend having that terminal script save as a .command stored in your dock that you would click every time you need it. To create a document that can do this for you:

Open TextEdit.app
Enter the following code into the document:

rm ~/Library/Caches/CloudKit/CloudKitMetadata*;killall cloudd
Save to a directory with the name "[a name that you would like].command"
Open Terminal
Type in chmod a+x BUT DO NOT HIT ENTER
Drag in the .command
Hit enter

Now you can drag in the command to your dock and click it whenever you need

EDIT:

Another idea is to use Automator.

Open up Automator
Go to the toolbar on the left and drag a execute she'll script
Paste the code from above into the action
Record a "Watch me Do" (by pressing the red record button in the top right) of:

Opening activity monitor
Seraching for cloudd
Clicking cloudd
Clicking quit
Selecting quit or force quit

Set that to 1000x and save as an app


The issue turned out to be that the executable referenced in the ProgramArguments inside the plist was not executable. Doh!


How can a keyboard be shared with an iPad?

I don't think you can. Bluetooth is designed such that pairing is two-way (computer <-> device). You can't pair to a second device without un-pairing from the first device.


How can I create a new user through terminal macOS 10.14

#!/bin/bash

USERNAME=per1
FULLNAME="Period 1"
PASSWORD="test"
SECONDARY_GROUPS="staff"

# ====

if [[ $UID -ne 0 ]]; then echo "Please run $0 as root." && exit 1; fi

# Find out the next available user ID
MAXID=$(dscl . -list /Users UniqueID | awk '{print $2}' | sort -ug | tail -1)
USERID=$((MAXID+1))

# Create the user account
dscl . -create /Users/$USERNAME
dscl . -create /Users/$USERNAME UserShell /bin/bash
dscl . -create /Users/$USERNAME RealName "$FULLNAME"
dscl . -create /Users/$USERNAME UniqueID "$USERID"
dscl . -create /Users/$USERNAME PrimaryGroupID 20
dscl . -create /Users/$USERNAME NFSHomeDirectory /Users/$USERNAME

dscl . -passwd /Users/$USERNAME $PASSWORD

# Add use to any specified groups
for GROUP in $SECONDARY_GROUPS ; do
    dseditgroup -o edit -t user -a $USERNAME $GROUP
done

# Create the home directory
createhomedir -c -u $USERNAME > /dev/null

echo "Created user #$USERID: $USERNAME ($FULLNAME)"


What is sunproxyadmin on port 8081 and what is port 11059?

Port numbers are just numbers - they do not give a definite answer as to what kind of software uses the port on your computer.

Your port scanning software used a list of well-known ports that matches the number with the name of a piece of software that originally used this port. In your case "Sun Proxy Admin" is a piece of software for Sun computers - i.e. most likely not something you run on your Mac.

To find out what is actually using port 8081 and 11059, you can run the following commands in the Terminal:

lsof -n -i4TCP:8081
lsof -n -i4TCP:11059

This will give you the command name and the process ID (PID) of the program on your computer that has these ports open.


Nope, you have to use a Mac. All the tools are on the Mac, as is the simulator program you'll need to test in.

Even if you could somehow finagle the whole thing running in Windows you still need a Mac to submit to Apple to get it on the App Store.

Cheapest scenario you're looking $699 for a Mac Mini and $99 for the iOS Developer Program (which you won't need until you want to run the thing on a real phone). You can go cheaper on the hardware if you buy it used but something to keep in mind is that it must be an Intel-based Mac running Leopard (10.5) or higher.


Problem transferring files from old 2008 iMac to new 2015 iMac using Migration assistant

Failed hard drive? Select your Apple Menu, hold down the alt/option key, and choose "System Information". Navigate to "Storage". Check the field reading "S.M.A.R.T. Status". It should read "Verified" if OS X thinks everything is OK.


How can I get tracks from another iTunes library onto my iPhone without wiping it?

GoodReader for iPhone ($5) will let you load files directly to your iPhone over your LAN and play them from there. That should work fine if your audiobooks are a) all one file (if they are in multiple files there may not be 'playlist' support, which would be annoying, and b) not DRM'd. If they are DRM'd you'll need to sync them via iTunes or, in the case of Audible.com, you can download them from the Audible player.


Black screen (no boot up) after upgrading RAM to 16GB on mid 2010 macbook pro

According to everymac.com your MacBook Pro probably neither supports 16 GB nor PC3-12800 memory modules. There is one exception for the MacBookPro7,1 (MacBook Pro Mid 2010 13") which supports 16 GB.

If you happen to have a MacBookPro7,1 get two 8 GB PC3-8500 modules or in all other cases get two 4 GB PC3-8500 modules.


Sound often randomly disappears from menu bar

System Preferences > Show volume in menu bar often randomly unchecks itself since upgrading to Big Sur.

If it's a bug, I would provide feedback to Apple at: https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos.html

How can I stop this from happening?

If under System Preferences > Dock & Menu Bar > Sound > Show in Menu Bar is checked and set to [always], not [when active], then sorry no, I do not know how to stop it from happening, however, I can offer a workaround that will automatically restore the icon to the menu bar when it disappears.
This is done using a Launch Agent and a shell script using osascript to run some AppleScript code that will click the checkbox with it gets unchecked.
In Terminal, assuming the pwd is your Home directory:
touch checkSoundMenu; open -e checkSoundMenu; chmod +x checkSoundMenu

Copy and paste the following example shell script code into the opened checkSoundMenu document and then save and close the document.
Back in Terminal:
sudo mv -v checkSoundMenu /usr/local/bin/
sudo -k

Example shell script/AppleScript code:
#!/usr/bin/osascript

set thePropertyListFilePath to POSIX path of ¬
    (path to preferences from user domain) & ¬
    "com.apple.controlcenter.plist"

tell application "System Events" to ¬
    tell property list file thePropertyListFilePath to ¬
        set soundIsVisible to value of ¬
            property list item "NSStatusItem Visible Sound"

if soundIsVisible then
    return
else
    if running of application "System Preferences" then
        try
            tell application "System Preferences" to quit
        on error
            do shell script "killall 'System Preferences'"
        end try
        delay 0.1
    end if

    repeat while running of application "System Preferences" is true
        delay 0.1
    end repeat

    tell application "System Preferences"
        run
        set current pane to pane id "com.apple.preference.sound"
    end tell

    tell application "System Events"
        tell front window of application process "System Preferences"
            repeat until (exists checkbox "Show volume in menu bar")
                delay 0.01
            end repeat
            click checkbox "Show volume in menu bar"
            delay 0.1
        end tell
    end tell

    tell application "System Preferences" to quit
end if

With the shell script taken care of, create the Launch Agent in Terminal, assuming the pwd is your Home directory:
cd Library
[ ! -d LaunchAgents ] && mkdir LaunchAgents
cd LaunchAgents
touch com.my.menu.bar.sound.plist
open -e com.my.menu.bar.sound.plist

Copy and paste the following example XML Plist code into the opened com.my.menu.bar.sound.plist document and change you in the value for WatchPaths to your Home directory, then save and close the document.
Back in Terminal:
launchctl load com.my.menu.bar.sound.plist

Example XML Plist code:
<?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>Label</key>
    <string>com.my.menu.bar.sound</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/local/bin/checkSoundMenu</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <false/>
    <key>WatchPaths</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Users/you/Library/Preferences/com.apple.controlcenter.plist</string>
    </array>
</dict>
</plist>

Notes:
The use of this workaround will require changes to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility in that osascript needs to be added and checked. You should be prompted for this when the checkSoundMenu shell script runs for the first time when the com.apple.controlcenter.plist file is changed, e.g.:

"osascript" wants access to control "System Preferences" Allowing control will provide access to documents and data in "System Preferences" and to perform actions within that app. -- Click: [OK]

"osascript" wants access to control "System Events". Allowing control will provide access to documents and data in "System Events" and to perform actions within that app. -- Click: [OK]

"osascript" would like to control this computer using accessibility features. Grant access to this application in Security & Privacy preferences, located in System Preferences. -- Click: [Open System Preferences]

Click the Lock, enter your credentials, and check: [√] osascript

You should of course trigger this manually the first time by unchecking the Show volume in menu bar checkbox in: System Preferences > Sound
I would toggle it a couple of times to make sure the Launch Agent is working as desired so when it does trigger naturally it works as expected.

This was tested and worked for me in macOS Big Sur with System Preferences > Language & Region set to English (US).

Reverting Changes
To completely undo the changes made by this, in Terminal:
cd ~/Library/LaunchAgents
launchctl unload com.my.menu.bar.sound.plist
rm com.my.menu.bar.sound.plist
cd /usr/local/bin
sudo rm checkSoundMenu

In System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility uncheck and remove osascript if not being used otherwise.


How to delete all my progress in Fruit Ninja?

When deleting the app, you are prompted if you want to remove the app data from Game Center.

Choosing Remove will remove this data and subsequently reinstalling the app will start a fresh container for the app data.


What tools exist to recover a file I clobbered using cpp in terminal?

Here are a few options to recover a file from user error of this type:

TimeMachine - your best hope.
Dropbox also keeps deleted files and versions if you stored that file in a folder that synced.
mdfind MYSCRIPT.py #better than locate and searches inside files, not just file names
Check your repositories if you use code control software like git or mercurial or svn or other tools
General undelete software like Data Rescue

As you're now aware, the terminal is unforgiving and doesn't have an "are you sure you meant to clobber that file?" design mentality. It gets worse when you realize recursive commands and the fact that everything is a file (directories, disks, disk images, etc...) and errant commands can delete vast amounts of work in the blink of an eye.


Xcode is an easy reinstall. Have you tried deleting it and going back to the Mac App Store to reinstall it?

If you’re developing on a beta version, be sure to list that in the body and you can do the same re-download and reinstall.

If you’re comfortable with the command line:

xcode-select -p

Check that your path is correct, and perhaps reset the tools path (which swift-auth ) and call for the command line tools to be installed if needed:

sudo xcode-select -r
Xcode-select —-install

The above commands will be substantially faster and more surgical to reinstall, but if you are missing one Xcode tool, you might need the whole app again depending on what caused the error in the first place.


Not using the built-in apps. There might be third party applications with this functionality.


CrashPlan's top-bar icon, how to get it?

Are you sure you've checked the option to show it in your menu bar?


iPhone 4 is stuck in a boot loop, has a broken power button -- how do I put it in DFU mode?

If your iPhone is stuck in recovery mode, DO THIS: (ON Screen USB pointing to a CD with a Music Note).

Make sure your iTunes is up to data, if not re-download itunes.
after re-installing ITUNES, plug your iphone via USB into your computer. ITUNES will automatically pick it up and a pop up box will probally say that your IPHONE is in recovery mode would you like to restore?
Click the restore tab.
Note - If ITUNES if out of date, this will not work.
Note - Do not do this over WIFI
Note - Do not interrupt the restore
Note - If you did not make a previous back up, your IPHONE will restore back to the factroy settings.

All this happened to me, fortunately I made a back up. I hope this helps.


Yes, you can do this using the built-in Disk Images of Mac OS X. A disk image (or DMG file) is a file which, when opened, presents itself as a removable Mac OS X volume, similar to a removable hard drive. Many OS X applications are deployed on disk images. If you encrypt your home directory using FileVault, you're creating a spare bundle disk image.
You can create OS X disk images which are compressed and/or encrypted.  However, if you create a compressed DMG, it will be read-only, so that may or may not work for you.
To create a new, empty encrypted disk image in OS X:

Open Disk Utility, which is under the "utilities" folder of the "Applications" folder.

From the File menu choose New > Blank Disk Image...

In the dialog that appears, you can specify where to save the disk image, the name of the volume, and choose the type of encryption:

Make sure to choose either "128-bit AES encryption (recommended)" or "256-bit AES encryption (more secure)" from the "Encryption" menu. Also, be sure to set a size for the disk image.

If you create a sparse bundle (newer, and may be more reliable) or a spare image (older, can become corrupted easily if it's open and your computer is shut down improperly) then the image file will start small and will grow as you add files to it, up to a maximum size you specify.

If you create a "read/write disk image", then the image file will start at the maximum size specified in the dialog box.

After you save the disk image file, you'll be prompted for a password and verification. Once completed, you'll have a new volume on your desktop and in the "Computer" view where you can begin dropping files!

To create a compressed, read-only image, you can do one of two things:

Follow the same steps above, however instead of New > Blank Disk Image..., choose New > Disk Image From Folder.... This will first ask you to select a folder full of files. From there, it will present a similar dialog to the one above, but will not prompt for a volume name or size; it will use the name of the folder and the size will be automatically calculated. Be sure to choose to make a compressed image and don't forget the encryption

Alternatively, if you have created a blank image and filled it with files, you can convert that image to a compressed image. This is a handy way to back up your encrypted files. Keep the master read/write uncompressed image as your day-to-day workspace, and periodically convert it to a read-only compressed image which you can back up to an external device. To do this, choose Images > Convert... within Disk Utility. Select the DMG file, and then you'll see the same screen as above.

Protip: if you drag and drop a folder onto Disk Utility's dock icon it will automatically offer to create a disk image out of that folder.
Protip #2: If you create an encrypted disk image out of an unencrypted folder and you want to delete the original, unencrypted files, remember to use secure erase otherwise you risk leaving confidential information on your hard drive.


AppleScript saved as application doesn't execute whole script when argument is passed

It looks like passing arguments to an AppleScript saved as an application has become broken at some point. I accomplished my task by using Automator to create an equivalent new Application that makes use of an Action > Utilities > Run Shell Script:

open -a Firefox
sleep 1
lsappinfo setinfo -app Firefox ApplicationType=UIElement
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to tell process "Firefox" to set value of attribute "AXFullScreen" of first window to true'
sleep 0.5
for f in "$@"; do open -a Firefox "$f"; done

I set the shell script Shell: to /bin/sh and Pass input: to as arguments, save it as "Firefox Full Screen" in /Applications, change its icon as explained here and add it as an exception in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy Tab > Accessibility.

I then can run any of the following and it works as expected:

open -a "Firefox Full Screen"
open -a "Firefox Full Screen" --args "https://google.com"
open -a "Firefox Full Screen" --args "https://google.com" "https://twitter.com"

I'm using this coupled with the following userChrome.css to both evade a well known issue with the macOS menu bar on full screen applications and another long standing address bar and tab auto-hide bug that Firefox have with macOS native full screen.

userChrome.css

#navigator-toolbox[inFullscreen] {
    position: relative;
    z-index: 1;
    height: 3px;
    margin-bottom: -3px;
    opacity: 0;
    overflow: hidden;
}

#navigator-toolbox[inFullscreen]:hover {
    height: auto;
    margin-bottom: 0px;
    opacity: 1;
    overflow: show;
}

#content-deck[inFullscreen]{
    position:relative;
    z-index: 0;
}

For a generic approach, check my other answer.

TIP

Firefox, by default, does not have any issue on Linux or Windows to auto-hide address bar and tabs in full screen as expected. With that said, I grabbed this userChrome.css from my ArchLinux setup. I use it on i3 and sway tiling window managers, with all the [inFullscreen] removed, to get address bar and tabs to auto-hide in normal bordless windows.


You can wipe the data and return it to factory settings by choosing settings - General - Reset.

Like the first answer you should now name them differently.

Just to add to that you will also need to restore one of them to empty, then set it up using iCloud, add iCloud to your other iPad 2 and then they will share data, but you will also be able to add an app to one and delete from the other without losing all data, next time you sync.


Why does my iPhone keep asking me for passwords for random WiFi networks?

That must be annoying, and you have identified the correct place that should turn the feature off, which clearly isn't working.  So it's not really a problem we can identify with as we are unlikely to be able to recreate it for start.

As with lots of this type of problem, there is no way we can help assist with identifying exactly why it's doing it, other than noting that it is likely transient behaviour and provide some possible steps to try and fix it, which veers us into the realm of off-topic answers as there is no way of knowing if this "answer" can solve it for you.

But with this in mind, I would try the following steps, in this order.

Turn Wifi Off and On.  If this does not solve it:
Turn Ask to Join Networks On and Off.  If this does not solve it:
Turn Wifi Off, turn Ask to Join Networks Off, and reboot your phone, then turn Wifi On
If none of the above solves it, I would consider connecting to iTunes, backing up your device fully, performing an OS re-install, then recovering from your backup.  This is last resort, but if none of the first 3 steps fix it, it's likely that there is some corruption of the settings for your Wifi which may only be fixed by replacing with a clean setup.


How can I improve response from the iPhone 4 multi-touch display?

The iPhone has a Capacitive touchscreen so you need to touch with some conductive material.

So the skin on you finger will for example work better than the nail and most gloves, pens etc will not work at all.


It's certainly possible to do this with AppleScript, but depending on how often you need to do this it might be simpler to just

Use the search box within Mail to list all mails containing this specific string
Drag them into a folder on the Desktop
Compress/zip that folder


What's a good Mac app for making timelines (Gantt charts)?

Revised because of edited question...

OmniPlan can create very nice looking Gantt charts and timelines out of project plan data. It is a full-on project planning tool, which might be overkill. But the output is quite lovely.


Automate a Webex Meeting outside of work?

Well scheduling a reoccurring meeting in WebEx is not a problem there's a checkbox for that and you can define Daily, Every weekday and duration.  You can also use Outlook to schedule the WebEx meetings.

Sounds more like you want to automatically launch the meeting instead of having the meeting saved with a reminder on a calendar app?
If you install the WebEx App on macOS and have it configured to start automatically there is a notifications setting so it pops up a reminder.  Then it's just a single click on Start Meeting. Or you can use the calendar of choice to do the same after importing an iCal Webex meeting.
Or if you look at the scheduled meeting page and drop down the arrow on the green Start Meeting button there's an option to open with browser or the app.  If you choose to open with the app you can then inspect the page and find a long URL webexstart://launch/. Copy that code and then launch it with command line open "webexstart://launch/..etc..etc..".  That opens the App and brings you to the meeting where you still have to click Start Meeting. You could do the same with the meeting URL itself to launch the browser but that wouldn't be the webexstart:// but https:// instead. Similarly you'll need to click the Start Meeting button.
Since WebEx can activate the microphone and camera its a security risk to just auto-connect and requiring at least some user input to make the connection is recommended. Password protecting meetings is highly recommended.
Having a Cisco compatible video conferencing hardware endpoint connected to a network, then you could as a WebEx engineer / admin configure it to start the meeting and connect automatically.  This is how physical conference rooms are setup. But then you need more privileges on the WebEx backend as well as some hardware infrastructure and the software to hook it into the Cisco WebEx backend. Also the latest best practice is to not auto-connect for security reasons and a physical conference room will typically have a touch panel showing the scheduled meetings and have a Join button that becomes available at the appropriate time. That way if no one shows up to that room the room won't automatically connect.  You don't want someone wandering by to eavesdrop on a meeting if no one is using that room.  For sensitive meetings it is normal to require a passcode even for a physical room so that means tapping Join and typing in a numeric passcode to join the meeting.
Automating your own connection is of course your own choice.  But consider the scenario of having your meeting auto-connect at an inappropriate moment, etc.


Is there a way to toggle VPN in iOS shortcuts?

First, you need to have a VPN app installed. When you connect to the VPN for the first time (via this installed app OR configuration URL), iOS enables a hidden tag in settings named VPN. This tile isn’t enabled by default, so check if you were connected before to any service or not. This setting was just created to manage an existing connection.
and my second solution is this url : prefs:root=General&path=VPN . but to use this url you need to connect existing app or shortcut (going there with safari does nothing and url is very unstable). here is download of my version of shortcut and sorry for google drive but i'm logged out of icloud :/ . and here is printscreen of code (i'm doing that due to security reasons and people just don't trust me so...) here it is:


How to have multiple (wireless) network profiles?

You can set up 'Locations' using System Preferences-> Network, which should do what you need.

In the Network System Preferences panel, you'll see (at the top) a pop-up menu labeled Location. It will be set to Automatic. Click that menu and choose Edit Locations...

Click the [+] button in the panel that appears. Name your new Location. Click Done.

Make sure the new Location is selected under the Location: menu, and set it up.

Then, when you need to change back to the other setup, change the location back to Automatic (or rename Automatic something more descriptive). When you need to change again, switch back to your new one.


How can I have Finder mount an SMB share from ssh without confirmation?

As mentioned by @klanomath, the confirmation can be disabled by following instructions on this page: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207112

That is, from a terminal:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.NetworkAuthorization AllowUnknownServers -bool YES

And then, to undo this change (for better security):

sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.NetworkAuthorization AllowUnknownServers


a bad Shutdown resulting in a flashing folder with question mark

Sometimes booting in Safe mode or in Verbose mode will ratify the boot log problems.

Safe mode "Shift"

Verbose Mode "cmd-v"

or Press Option during startup  Start up in Startup Manager, where you can select an OS X volume or network volume to start from.


How to delete or untrust all root certificates in OSX?

If You want to change set of system root certificates, they are in /System/Library/Keychains/.
Example of using security there is in this answer to similar question.


Can I add app folders to dock from launchpad?

Folders can be added to dock but they must be added to the right of the separator bar. Apps go to the left of the bar and files/folders to the right. The separator bar is the small verticle line on the dock. Dragging a folder onto the dock, to the right of separator bar, will attach an alias of that folder to the dock.


External hard drive is snapping/making weird sounds in sleeping mode

It's likely just the parking of heads and the disk wanting to stay in "sleep" mode. You can read more about that here.

One way to stop the disk from going to sleep (some external enclosures have extreme disk sleep settings to conserve power) is to use pmset.

For example, to prevent an attached disk from going to sleep while your device is plugged in to AC (charger) is as follows:

sudo pmset -c disksleep 0

It's of note that this prevents all disks from going to sleep, not just the external enclosure.

pmset is the program that handles all power management settings on OS X. The Power Management Preference Pane is just a front end to that utility. All settings are persistent (saved on reboot) and are actually written to a plist (/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.PowerManagement.plist).

Additionally, you could try using HDAPM (I ran this for months before I moved to an SSD).

I would suggest trying to use pmset to prevent the disk from sleeping. It works on most external enclosures, but if you find that it's not honored by your manufacturer, you may have to find an alternate method. I've found WD and some Seagate enclosures to be problematic. pmset is not a hack and should be honored by all device manufacturers; however if you find that yours is not, try heading over to their support forums. They may have a firmware update or more information.

Lastly, if you suspect the drive of premature failure, you'll have to run a proper analysis of the drive's physical health. Disk Utility is not a reliable program in this case, as it deals with filesystem structure and integrity. You will want to use either a 3rd party utility (like Disk Warrior) or better yet, the free tools supplied by the hard drive's manufacturer (which will most likely require Windows).


I have checked with version 4.0.1 of the iOS flickr app. I am sorry to say, but it is not possible to group yearly search results by album with this version. Here is a screenshot of my search results:

By the way, the file names of the uploaded are irrelevant for flickr, as they take the date info from metadata within the photo, via EXIF data.


How can I convert a Word (.doc or .docx) file to a PDF on an iPad?

If you have network access you could send it to Google Docs (upload, email, whatever) and then fetch the PDF from there.


Enable the firewall (System Preferences > Security and Privacy > Firewall). Also click on the Advanced settings, and enable "stealth mode".  This will help a bit with protecting you on public WiFi networks by not acknowledging ping packets and similar.

Don't enable any Sharing options (System Preferences > Sharing) unless you're positive you need them. Things like Remote Login and File Sharing are especially dangerous if your passwords are insecure.

Be wary in general of things you see. If there's a page (fake) that states you have hundreds of viruses that need to be removed, don't believe it. Think before you act basically. Easier said than done, but it's really the best summary of best practices.

So many people also forget about the fact that your bank or other important institutions will NEVER ask for personal information via email or for you to "update settings". When in doubt, go directly to the relevant institution's site.


After I delete an app on my iPhone, iTunes copies it over on next sync

The issue here is to do with the Automatic Downloads feature of iTunes and iOS. I believe (not 100% sure) that when you update to iTunes X and iOS 5 the feature to automatically sync apps between devices is enabled by default, and it is up to the user to disable it.

Basically, when you download an app with this feature enabled, it will download a copy to your computer also. You can then delete this app from the iPhone, but however it will remain on iTunes.

Now, when you plug your iPhone in, there is another setting that means the deleted app will be sent straight from iTunes back onto your iPhone. Navigate to the App section in the iPhone tab when it is connected in iTunes, and beneath the list of apps that will sync there is an option to 'Automatically sync new apps.' This causes iTunes to send that app it copied when you originally downloaded it from your iPhone straight back onto your iPhone. So, to fix your problem, deselect this.

If you want to disable the automatic app downloads completely, in iTunes go to Preferences - Store - and deselect the 'Apps' checkbox. On the iPhone, navigate to Settings - Store, and do the same.


Applist is a small code library that allows jailbreak app developers to get limited information about the apps that you have installed. Ryan Petrich is a reputable developer, and many popular jailbreak apps use this library. To name a couple, Activator and SBSettings use it. All jailbreak apps have access to everything on your device, so if you're worried about privacy, I'd suggest restoring your device to factory settings. Applist is a dependency to these apps, so if you uninstall it, it'll uninstall them, too. Applist is harmless, so just keep it.


El Capitan Spotlight returning no results for natural language searches

To answer my own question, Spotlight suggestions are only available in specific countries: https://www.apple.com/osx/feature-availability/#spotlight-suggestions


Should my Apple Watch sync its "mute" setting with my iPhone?

The mute-setting does not transfer from the phone to the watch.


If you don't deselect the Uninstaller in the installer app, the Folding@home folder also contains an uninstaller.pkg:

If the Uninstall Folding@home.pkg is missing in your environment simply download the installer and install Folding@Home again. Then use the pkg to uninstall everything properly.


What's the difference between "open with" and "recommended apps"?

"Open with..." menu shows up the "by default" App that the extension of the file is associated with on the system, as well as the other Apps that the system is certain that can handle that file extension too. Example: An image .jpg. Can be by default the "Preview.app", but will also offer you (in the case you have those Apps) Photoshop, iPhoto, Internet browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc. summarizing: any App that the system knows that can manage .jpg files.

The "Recommended Apps" list are the Apps of the "Open with..." menu + the rest of Apps that for some reason (mostly developers not specifying it) the system is not certain if is able to open it or not, then you can see some Apps "disabled" because the system knows that it cannot handle that extension. Example of a disabled App in this list is trying to open a .mp3 with the "Preview.app" which is intended to handle image file extensions and not audio file extensions.

Have in mind that the "Recommended Apps" list could offer Apps that are not able to handle the file you're trying to open because the system has no mean (for that App) to know if can or not.


Parallels on Mac has a better performance. It integrates with OS X in a way which is not possible with VMware. I am using parallels with multiple VMs without any problems or sluggishness. I have allocated 3 GB RAM to each VM. Check how many CPU cores you have allocated to your VM.


How do I restore my iPhone 4 without backup?

So, I don't think this is necessarily as simple as the current answers make it out to be.

Technically no, if you don't have a recent backup, you can't restore your phone to it's most recent state.

However...  a backup (in its simplest form) is just:
- a list of apps you have installed, and where you have them on your screen
- your email / iOS settings
- any data stored in the apps
- photos (unless you have iCloud photo enabled, then photos are not part of the standard backup)

So, given the above...   music is not part of a backup.   Any music you've purchased through iTunes is already part of your account.   You just need to download it again (it's already paid for).   Any apps you've downloaded can be downloaded again as well...   they are already purchased.   If you aren't using iCloud photos, you might lose some recent pictures taken...  but that's going to be about it.

Almost everything done on an iPhone is easily recoverable without a "backup".   The backup just makes things easier.


MacBook Air with Bootcamp, wanting removable Linux devices without rEFInd

IMO, a micro SD is not designed for the amount of read/writes that would occur when an operating system such as Ubuntu is installed. However, other users have posted questions where this is what they have done. So, I assume do so is feasible.
The Ubuntu installer does allow selection of where to put the Grub boot files. However, my experience has been the installer ignores any such selection and installs the Grub boot files in the first EFI partition on /dev/sda. From the description of the problems you are having, I assume this is true for your installation. Perhaps you meant the rest of the Grub files were installed in the /boot folder on the micro SD card (/dev/sdc).

An answer explaining how to separate the Windows boot files from the Ubuntu (Grub) boot files has already been posted here at Ask Different.

I should point out the BOOTX64.EFI file provided by the Ubuntu installer is the file the Mac Startup Manager finds and causes an icon to be displayed. This file is not a duplicate of the grub boot file grubx64.efi, but is instead a duplicate of the shimx64.efi file. My experience has been booting by using this file works, but do so also makes Ubuntu the default startup operating system.
Changing the label for the icon displayed on the Mac Startup Manager boot menu from the default of EFI Boot can be accomplished by using the macOS bless command. See the question How can I change the title of a boot image?. In your case, you should specify the folder containing the BOOTX64.EFI file.
There is no file in the EFI folder that can be edited to add volumes to the Mac Startup Manager boot menu. Instead additional items can be added by creating additional EFI partitions. Newer Macs firmware has been extended to include any Microsoft Basic Data partition which has been FAT or ExFAT formatted. Each partition needs to contain a EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI file. I should also point out that there exists other configurations that will result in a icon being displayed on a Mac Startup Manager boot menu.
The icon displayed on a Mac Startup Manager boot menu can also be customized by adding a .VolumeIcon.icns file to the root folder of the volume contained by the EFI partition. Care must be taken to insure the .VolumeIcon.icns file is of a format compatible with the firmware on the Mac logic board. Prebuilt icon set (.icns) files can be downloaded from this site. Also, included is script for creating new icon set files.


How to manually reset OS X Applications settings without reboot?

Macos X has changed over time in how it handles preferences.

It used to be in most cases that you could just quit the App and delete its preference file.

But now in many cases that will not work. Deleting the file will have no effect because the preference are read once from file and then stored in memory. Changes you then make are also only in the memory. At some point those settings are synchronised with the file. (written to file). If you delete the file before this is done a new file is created with the stored setting and you will find nothing has changed.

I am not really sure why apple changed this to this behaviour but I suspect it is related to the same reasons Apple now hides the users Library folder in part to stop people from deleting files that should not be deleted.

The tool to use if you want to do it so that the system pays attention to what you are trying to do is the unix command /usr/bin/defaults.

Make sure the App is not running.

Then in the Terminal.app found in the  '/Applications/Utilities/' folder

Type the command and arguments:

/usr/bin/defaults delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.barebones.textwrangler

This will wipe the plist file. But may not trash it.

Now when you open Textwrangler the Prefs will be back to the default.

This will work with many Apps. But I cannot guarantee this for all.

As with any unix command you can screw things up easily if you do not know what you are doing.

So read up on it.
 defaults man page

Apple guide

Google search


How can I make iOS 4.3 apps go onto my iPod 2G?

No. Unfortunately, due to hardware limitations, Apple has limited how far you can upgrade iOS on particular devices.

See this question for a similar situation. Perhaps this Q/A would explain things better as well.


I got a similar problem. My locked files were located in the trash bin of my Time Machine disk.

In the end, I forced the deletion by using the rm command.

Open your Trash window to actually see the locked files.
Open a terminal session to type the following (have your password ready)

sudo rm -R [drag and drop the locked files here]

Type your password when asked to do so.

Source:
https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac/how-empty-trash-on-mac-3682422/

On a side note, I found something interesting: I noticed that the folder I wanted to remove showed as "Username's Macbook" in the Finder window, but in the terminal, it was like "Username/1/2/4/s Macbook".

Too bad I didn't write it down. So I wonder if there was something wrong with the character encoding.


How can I create a separate address book to sync to a different mobile phone?

Create a separate user account for your husband. Your stuff will be different. Steps:

System Preferences > Users and Groups.
Click the lock icon in the bottom left and fill in your password.
Click the + below the left pane.
Fill in the credentials.
Log in to that account and start filling out the contacts.
If you want to copy over any contact, select the contacts in the address book and then File > Export. Save the files on a USB drive or a place not in your home directory.
Just open the files in your husband’s account. They will be added to Contacts.

If you are talking about an iPhone, another thing you could do is use iCloud. That would be much better and much more streamlined.


The main disadvantage is the current iPad will not be able to show the whole image with the high resolution as it was intended to be seen. Unless you were able to make the images a kind of "downloadable content" to view on a computer monitor.

It would increase the download time of the iBook, but that also depends on how many images are in the book and what the overall finished and compiled file size is going to be.

I personally have downloaded books that were 1GB directly to my iPad via wifi, but that is because I have fibre optic connection. Also I wanted that book!

It comes down to what do you think people would want to go through to get your book. Trial and error. There is no "correct" answer for your question. Only advise.


Are there default shortcuts for special hyphens and minus sign?

The characters you mention are not available on the US layout.  Apple does not publish a list of all the shortcuts, but you can use the Keyboard Viewer to see what each key does.  This list is old but probably still accurate.

The standard way to access them would be via the Character Viewer (Edit > Emoji & Symbols).  If needed often, then creating a shortcut in System Preferences/Keyboard/Text/Replace  With  would be an option.


Is there a way to force a game running in full screen to become a window?

Yes and No.  The game has to support the ability to run in windowed mode.  If it doesn't support it, then it will not be able to do it.
Now, when it comes to games that don't have the option in an preference menu, they can sometimes still support the feature, they just don't advertise it.
There are a few games that require you to edit a preference file to enable/disable certain things. Usually contained inside the game icon, right clicking on the game icon and hitting "Show Package Contents" will open the game's directory and show you the files that make the game.  Be very careful when doing this because editing the wrong thing can break the game.  Usually if this option exists then it will be somewhere on the internet and you will be able to find out more about it by doing a search for that game.
One such game that supports this is Cave Story+, editing the preference file can enable certain game modes and unlock features.
Other games will work with a shortcut when running, usually:

opt/alt + enter
opt/alt + f
cmd + f
cmd + opt + f
cmd + opt + enter
cmd + enter

Now, if none of these are viable options, then you won't be able to do it.


If you don’t need it uninstall it.

If you still need it then check in System Preferences for your account and remove it from the login items.


How can I check what mode is already on on defaults write?

You can use defaults read. For example, if I wanted to check for AppleShowAllFiles, I would do:

~$ defaults read com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles
YES

Which would return YES in the stdout. You can make your script execute this command and read it from stdout.

Another perhaps unrealistic (and quite dangerous) option would be to read directly from ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.<ID>.plist, however most of then are rather unreadable. For example, com.apple.Finder.plist around the area of AppleShowAllFiles looks like this:

NSNavOutlineColumnSettings.v1_FXMyDocumentsArrangeGroupViewBy_AppleShowAllFiles_ViewSettingsDictionary_CopyProgressWindowLocation_FK_StandardViewSettings_8NSTableView Hidden Columns

This is not recommended though


Removing packages previously installed by Homebrew

All packages installed by homebrew should be located in /usr/local/Cellar/
I think you can simply remove them from there.


The important thing to know is that once an OS is no longer supported, it doesn't immediately become full of security problems. It's also not beyond Apple to give updates to non-current (for want of a better description) versions of iOS for major security problems. Therefore, it's not possible at this stage to say when iOS 7 will be insecure.


If you go to settings/Display & Brightness/Auto-Lock and set this to never, that should work?

Hope this helps


How can I enable magic mouse momentum scrolling in Windows 7?

Answering the second part of the question, KatMouse is your solution.  It brings very Mac-like cursor/scroll interaction to Windows.


Is it possible to use an iPhone as an external encrypted drive accessible by iOS and any unix-based OS?

The short answer is, yes. There are a huge number of file manager apps out there. The trick is to find one which is (a) secure and (b) provides a webdav server so you can access the files on the device from other machines on the network (via a web browser or other webdav client).

I use Files by Olive Toast, which certainly fits your second criterion. Another one which looks like it would is EZ Server by Lisa Burns.

Regarding security, it depends what you're looking for. Do you want the files stored in encrypted storage on your iOS device? That's how iOS works for everything. Do you want them protected by a password? Isn't your iOS passcode enough? Do you want the webdav server to support https? Probably only necessary if you're using public Wi-Fi networks.


Using applescript to control an application which does not support it

The only way I am aware of is using UI Scripting (old link but still useful) via the dictionary of an application called "System Events". In substance, this allow you to make a script that click on a given button or press a given key. Unfortunately, you'll need to activate Simfy to send the keystroke (but you can automate it and automate a switch to the preceding frontmost application as well).

Remote Buddy allow you to send a keystroke to an application without activating it. You can then trigger the Remote Buddy action via AppleScript. But that seems overkill here except if you use Remote Buddy for other things already.


Does iOS 8 support AES in GCM mode to encrypt data in TLS/SSL?

Yes, it is possible.

YMMV depending on which app you're using or which SSL/TLS library you're using, if you're talking about your own app.


the short answer is, yes you can..

first, you need to be able to remote into her machine using SSH and terminal.

If you're unfamiliar with terminal, just stop right here and hire someone - doing remote login disk repairs is not for the uninitiated. You're more likely to erase the drive (or totally corrupt it) than to repair it. you'd need to either do a screen share or do a remote SSH login, but this would be the most powerful/fastest method..

If you're capable in terminal, this is your ticket..

http://ss64.com/osx/diskutil.html
http://www.theinstructional.com/guides/disk-management-from-the-command-line-part-1


Mac Pro hangs at startup showing white screen with spinning pie wheel

Turn off the machine, than boot again and hold the option-key ("alt" on some keyboard layouts) right after pressing the power button. A menu should appear where you can select the device to boot. Perhaps try formatting the drive and reinstalling again.


Fixing spotlight "code validation failed" errors?

I suspect it is a problem with a plist entry, first obstacle is knowing what file or app to look in...

I have been trying to fix a similar issue from mdworker scanning apps that was traced to an old style InfoPlist.strings for a Classic/OS9 emulator

Just after I succeeded in fixing that (it was quotes within quotes) I started to get

  mdworker[97078]: code validation failed in the process of getting signing information: Error Domain=NSOSStatusErrorDomain Code=-67062 "(null)" UserInfo={SecCSArchitecture=ppc}

I am not sure yet as I have just expanded the detail of logs I am looking at and not confirmed the source of the new message. It should have been there as I rolled out my fix among the many copies over a few days but was not seen until I just went deeper in logs.

Hope that helps if you are still stuck! I may report back...


Keep desktop icons as they are shortly after logging in

This is because it loads the previews of the files, which replace the default file icons. To disable icon previews on the desktop, click on the desktop, press ⌘J and uncheck ‘Show icon previews’.