Activity Monitor showing a process that takes 600% CPU?

Nothing is wrong with your Activity Monitor. 100% is the throughput on one core of a CPU.

Newer Macs (all since 2007?) have CPUs that have more than one core and or also hyper threading. Handbrake can make use of these cores and excite in parallel on more than one core.


This is an issue with the network and the other devices.

The bonjour sleep proxy function allows other computers and devices to listen for your Mac while it sleeps and answer. When that gets confused, the other device “claims” your Mac name and the only thing your Mac can do is make a new name.

Computer name keeps changing OSX 10.10 (14A389)

You can confirm this shutting off every other device in the network and changing your Mac and then sleeping and waking it a few times.

Long term, figuring this out isn’t super easy, so knowing it doesn’t hurt things in general, can you live with this knowing why it happens?


How can I find out which generation my iPod belongs to?

See Apple's note on identifying which iPod model you have.


There is an issue with the time in my macbook air

Have you tried resetting the PRAM?

  Shut down your Mac. Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command
  (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down
  simultaneously in step 4. Turn on the computer. Press and hold the
  Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears. Hold the keys
  down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for
  the second time. Release the keys.

If this doesn't help, your PRAM battery may need to be replaced. Not a huge deal.


How do you connect an Apple Magic Keyboard with Numeric pad to Windows 10 via Bluetooth?

When you have the Windows Bluetooth pane open and it is searching for devices then slide the power control on the keyboard to Off and then On shortly after. This should make the keyboard discoverable by Windows.

Make sure that the keyboard is not plugged in via cable to another computer, and make sure that it is not able to communicate with a previously paired Mac at the same time.

Note that the comments you have received earlier regarding duplicates and directions concerns a completely different keyboard, namely the "Apple Wireless Keyboard". You have the "Apple Magic Keyboard" which works in a slightly different manner regarding Bluetooth pairing - and it doesn't have a power button, but rather a slider.


Cannot delete or merge old boot camp partition in El Capitan

The answer is so simple. Forget terminals and internet recovery. Here's what you gotta do:

Format the BOOTCAMP-partition through disk utility to MS-DOS (FAT)
Press cmd + space and write bootcamp-assistant, open bootcamp
Erase windows and merge the partitions as one mac HD-partition.


MacBook Pro refuses to boot/recover, hangs at "white screen"

If your MacBook Pro was built around 2013, this is most likely a hardware fault to do with the actual GPU itself. It happened to me so I took it to Apple, they ran some diagnostic application on it and basically gave me a new, updated model. Apparently the problem is well known to them. I have some documents on the subject. I will edit/update this post if/when I manage to find the paperwork.

http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/


How to make Preview render PDF docs with crisp fonts on MacBook Air (without Retina Display) in Mojave?

In short: No. Apple has removed the Font smoothing facility from the OS.

Your best option is to set Adobe Reader/Acrobat as your default app for PDFs. There are other apps, too. I quite like Foxit Reader, which is free and does display everything nice and crisply.


How to selectively install new macOS features on my old and slow iMac?

The macOS installer does not provide the functionality you are seeking. With the default update process your goals are simply unachievable.

That is: my firm recommendation is: do not try this and be careful with the following.

That said, if Pacifist works with Mojave (not tested):

you might want to disable automatic updates
you might try to download a standalone updater from Apple, when it becomes available
you open the resulting installer package in Pacifist and look for all the features you want and install only those, ignoring the rest.

Looking at the size of the packages Apple distributes these days it seems quite questionable if this route is even remotely able to provide you with even the slightest advantage regarding time. The possibility to screw up even more is also higher this way. This is more a theoretical excercise along your intended plans and not really a practical solution.

The only practical solution for your plans is to let the default Apple installer run its course.  After that finishes, you disable SIP and then disable all those things you do not want.
Only this time you do record your steps and pour them into a script, like done here:

MacOS disable services or
Disable bunch of #$!@ in Sierra (Version 2.1)

That inconveniences you just a tiny bit more compared to a regular install left at all defaults and is finished after the next update in under 10 minutes. (If Apple didn't change too much under the hood: like introducing new services your  script doesn't know about (and you do neither) or introducing new dependencies to those things you threw out.) Given the status of Mojave your old and slow iMac might benefit from staying away from this bleeding edge. Older OSes do not change so much as is dutifully expected from this newest kid on the block.

There is no safe way to do this. Backup hourly. At least. (Having a spare Mac or partition or VM to try this out might be an idea not easily dismissed as well.)


How to Run Shell Script upon Application Launch?

The third-party UI-scripting application Keyboard Maestro (KBM) can perform this function. (Along with many others.)

I've been using KBM for 5 or 6 years, it's very stable and reliable.

See screenshot of sample KBM script:


How can I extract the audio from a video file?

I can't tell you about best results, but for some results:

VLC, FFMPEG, or MPLAYER

VLC has a GUI and a Wizard. ffmpeg and mplayer example here.


How can I stop incoming e-mails interfering with music playback?

Because the iPod Touch doesn't have a Mute switch like the iPhone, you will have to disable all the alerts in Settings > Sound. This can be done by tapping "None" on each of the Sounds (i.e. New Mail, etc.)

If you have iOS 6, you can switch on Do Not Disturb. You can then customize the settings in Notifications > Do Not Disturb. You could allow all calls (Facetime for later gen iPods) by changing the "Allow Calls From" settings. However, there will not be any text notifications - or anything else for that matter.


moveWordForward: on ⌥-f in El Capitan doesn't repeat


Using a US-bought WiFi iPad in the UK with the AppStore?

The iTunes store is related to the locale of the iTunes account (which is determined by the credit card associated with the account). Several friends of mine have bought iPads in other countries (US and UK) and are happily using them in Sweden with the Swedish iTunes store.


Download OS X from Windows to install on Mac from USB

Why not just do a clean install of OSX from the recovery utilities when they load after control + option + R? Or restore from back up?


In OSX Mail, how do you type an address without completion/correction?

After brute-force experimentation, I found the solution is the Escape key.  Type either "Esc, comma", "Esc, Tab", or Esc and then click on the body or another header.

Esc must come after the very last character.  (I'd prefer a way to mute autocomplete until I start on a new address, because the flashing makes it hard to type.)

Other natural-seeming solutions do not work.  E.g., if I type "delete", Mail hides the autocompletion, appearing to respect the typing.  If you then type "Tab" or "comma", or click elsewhere, though, even without another character typed, it replaces the adress with the first match in its list, and you must delete and start over.


tell application "Finder" to delete ((POSIX file "/Users/user1/Library/Application Support/Skype/tankitan") as alias)


Apple Mail refuses to accept correct login

This may be a symptom of problems with the so-called Local Items keychain.

I had some Mail accounts that would not login (though in the server logs I could see a successful login!), and I could not add new Mail accounts (I was getting strange cryptic errors which turned out to be accountsd failing to store the new password in the Local Items keychain).

For some reason (bugs or bad design) it seems to get corrupted or locked.  It is supposedly used to sync passwords for Internet Accounts to multiple devices, but it exists and causes trouble even if you don't use iCloud (I don't).

The solution is relatively easy, but very annoying:  First stop all apps, then entirely remove (or move to the Trash in case you're afraid you might want to have the option to restore it) the sub-directory (or directories) called ~/Library/Keychains/U-U-I-D/ (where U-U-I-D is a long hexadecimal UUID), and then immediately reboot.  I also removed the old mail account password items from the login keychain, but this may not be necessary.  Either way you may have to re-enter passwords for various accounts, but this time they should appear in both your normal login keychain and the magic Local Items keychain.

After rebooting you should see that directory re-created, and in Keychain Access you should see the Local Items keychain unlocked when the login keychain is unlocked -- if not then lock and unlock the login keychain.

Also make sure you have disabled (un-checked) all of the 'automatically manage connection settings' boxes for both incoming and outgoing servers in all Mail accounts (found in Mail Preferences under Accounts/ServerSettings).


OS X Terminal – Open Tab in current directory, troubles with umlauts

Prior to OS X El Capitan 10.11, the code in /etc/bashrc arranges to send an escape sequence at each prompt to tell Terminal what the current working directory is, but this code only percent-encodes spaces, which means that it doesn't work with characters that are not valid URL characters, which includes any non-ASCII characters like “Ü”:

update_terminal_cwd() {
    # Identify the directory using a "file:" scheme URL,
    # including the host name to disambiguate local vs.
    # remote connections. Percent-escape spaces.
    local SEARCH=' '
    local REPLACE='%20'
    local PWD_URL="file://$HOSTNAME${PWD//$SEARCH/$REPLACE}"
    printf '\e]7;%s\a' "$PWD_URL"
}

On 10.11 and later, the code has been moved to /etc/bashrc_Apple_Terminal and has been updated to percent-encode all characters that require it, so it can now work with characters like “Ü” (your example case works for me on 10.11.1):

update_terminal_cwd() {
    # Identify the directory using a "file:" scheme URL, including
    # the host name to disambiguate local vs. remote paths.

    # Percent-encode the pathname.
    local url_path=''
    {
        # Use LC_CTYPE=C to process text byte-by-byte. Ensure that
        # LC_ALL isn't set, so it doesn't interfere.
        local i ch hexch LC_CTYPE=C LC_ALL=
        for ((i = 0; i < ${#PWD}; ++i)); do
            ch="${PWD:i:1}"
            if [[ "$ch" =~ [/._~A-Za-z0-9-] ]]; then
                url_path+="$ch"
            else
                printf -v hexch "%02X" "'$ch"
                # printf treats values greater than 127 as
                # negative and pads with "FF", so truncate.
                url_path+="%${hexch: -2:2}"
            fi
        done
    }

    printf '\\e]7;%s\\a' "file://$HOSTNAME$url_path"
}

[iTerm 2 apparently reads the working directory from the shell process state. This has the advantage that it works without any shell setup; however, it isn't guaranteed to be correct (there's no reason a shell's current working directory has to actually match the cwd it uses when executing a command, at any given moment), it doesn't work through indirect connections like ssh or shells running within editors or screen multiplexers, and it can't read the directory from processes owned by other users—for example, if you use sudo -s to create a root shell, it can't read the working directory from the root shell process. Furthermore, the program state only includes a file descriptor for the open directory, not the path that the shell is using for $PWD, so you won't actually get the path you used to navigate to the current directory in some cases—e.g., if you traversed through a symbolic link.]


can i use iMac (Retina 5k, 27-inch, Late 2015) as target monitor?

2014 iMacs were the last to support target display mode as these were before the 5K screens were introduced, which requires too much bandwidth.

27-inch iMac models introduced in 2009 and 2010: Use a Mini DisplayPort cable […]
All iMac models introduced in 2011, 2012, 2013 and mid 2014: Use a Thunderbolt cable […]

Furthermore, your 2020 iMac is too new to support target display mode even if you had a ≤2014 iMac to use as a display.

You can connect any of these older iMac models to another Mac from 2019 or earlier

Use your iMac as a display with target display mode - Apple Support


sticky keys without lock in macOS Sierra

karabiner developer announced on karabiner website that macOS Sierra is not yet supported

  macOS Sierra support status

  Karabiner does not work on macOS Sierra at the moment.

  We are developing Karabiner-Elements which provides simple key
  modification for macOS Sierra at first. (Karabiner-Elements works well
  on macOS Sierra. We are working on fixing several remaining issues.)

  We'll start updating for the full featured Karabiner for Sierra after
  Karabiner-Elements is completed.

  https://github.com/tekezo/Karabiner-Elements

You can download the latest Karabiner-Elements from https://pqrs.org/latest/karabiner-elements-latest.dmg


iOS 7: call screen background photo bugged?

I occasionally have the same problem, usually only after I decline a call by pressing the lock button. A reboot fixes it though… try rebooting!


I have a brand new mid-2012 Macbook Pro i7 15", which I bought on 12-23-2012. I was using my bluetooth mouse but the secondary button wasn't working accurately in one of my applications, so I switched to my trusty Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000. When I plugged the dongle into the USB 3.0 port, I got an error that said my laptop keyboard needed to be identified (?!). I couldn't get it 'identified' until I turned off my Bluetooth option. When I did that, both the mouse and the internal keyboard played nice.


How to get iMovie, iPhoto & garage band back after rebuilding system?

Log into the App Store, and they should be there in the 'Purchases' tab - assuming that when you bought the Mac you told the Store that you wanted to register the apps to your Apple ID.


"Start Screensaver" hotcorner no longer works under El Capitan beta

What worked for me:

1) Change the hot corner action to something different. It should work.

2) Restart your Mac

3) Change the hot corner back to the original action.

I just checked that the action keeps working after a restart.

I'm on MBP 15'' Retina Mid-2014 with El Capitan.


Touch Bar - Alternate Key Combination to Show App controls

Try Better Touch Tool.

I don't see a way to have the Touch Bar display function keys (initially) AND allow for the use of both App Controls and Control Strip.

Aren't you accustomed to holding fn when using the function keys anyway? I think this is the behavior Apple had in mind (show App Controls and use fn for function keys).

Instead of an additional keyboard shortcut, I'd suggest Apple add a "Show Control Strip" box on the the Fn setting when you choose App Controls (like the first drop down behaves).

Worst case: use an external keyboard when developing.


How to remove iOS 7 Grey Line voiceover mode

I can't see the picture because I'm blind, but, I think you are talking about the VoiceOver cursor. Currently on iOS there is no way to hide it while VoiceOver is on. On the Mac there is. I am not currently at my Mac to tell you exactly where it's at in settings, but I can later if needed.


When Xcode opens, by default, it shows the Welcome to Xcode window upon which there is a list of recent projects one can select to open.  To clear this list click: File > Open Recent > Clear Menu


From your description you have a modem provided by your ISP and a separate access point or wireless router given by them that at the moment gives you Wi-Fi access to the internet.

You have to replace this access point or router with your Airport Extreme.
Open (or download, if you're on a Windows box) the Airport Utility app that will allow you to configure the Airport Extreme. Then follow the instructions provided at the Apple Support page:

  AirPort Utility 6.x: Connect to the Internet using PPPoE

  Some DSL and cable modem Internet service providers require you to use
  Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) to connect to the
  Internet.

  If you’re using a DSL or cable modem, make sure it’s connected to the
  telephone or cable jack, and to your wireless device’s wide area
  network (WAN) port before setting up your base station.

  Open AirPort Utility, located in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder, select the device you want to set up, then click
  Edit. Enter the password if necessary.
  Click Internet, then choose PPPoE from the Connect Using pop-up menu.

  Enter the account name, password, and any other information your Internet service provider gave you. When you set up your base station
  or your AirPort Time Capsule to connect using PPPoE, the device
  receives an IP address from your ISP automatically, and uses DHCP and
  NAT to share that IP connection with computers on your wireless
  network.
  Choose Always On, Automatic, or Manual from the Connection pop-up menu. If you choose Always On, your wireless device stays connected to
  your modem and the Internet as long as the modem is turned on.

  If you choose Automatic or Manual from the Connection pop-up menu, you need to choose an increment, such as “10 minutes,” from the
  “Disconnect if idle” pop-up menu. If you don’t use an Internet app
  after the period of time has passed, you are disconnected from the
  Internet.
  If you choose Automatic, your wireless device connects to the modem, which connects to the Internet when you use an app that
  requires an Internet connection, such as an email, instant message, or
  web app.
  If you choose Manual, you need to connect the modem to the Internet when you use an app that requires an Internet connection.

  Choose an increment of time, such as 30 minutes, from the “Disconnect if idle” pop-up menu if you want to force the base station
  to disconnect from the Internet when it isn’t used for the specified
  amount of time.
  Click Update to reset the wireless device with the new settings. If your web browser reports a connection error when you access the
  Internet, wait until your computer is connected to the AirPort network
  and make sure the network is connected to the Internet.

  To check the connection, use the wireless connection status icon in
  the menu bar on a Mac, and the wireless network icon in the status
  tray on a Windows computer.

On the Wireless tab you want to select "Create a wireless network" and specify the security, SSID and password. You can check additional options but let's keep it simple.

On the Network tab you have to select "DHCP and NAT" on the Router Mode (it does not allow me to modify it, probably because I selected "Create a wireless network" on the Wireless tab).

Please check your settings and comment if this does not solve your question.


How do I set what "maximize"means for a window?

the maximise feature on OS X is set to in some apps like Terminal (because it's content is purely text and can easily by formatted) to fit your whole screen, on other apps like Safari or Chrome, because they are browsers they tend to contain images (and other hidden HTML or CSS contents) which would make it by default to arrange the window so that it displays all the content correctly but also to allow you to work at the same time with other windows, that's why it will try not to use all the width (people tend to use 2 windows sideways not upways) but remember that (at least Safari) tends to remember the height and width that you manually chose.

On the 3 step cycle I think there is no way to do that, sorry, what I usually do is usually set browsers to use all the space available, if I need to use another app, either enter fullscreen mode with Safari and you can easily change from desktop to fullscreen apps with (control) + (left or right arrow). If you really want to do something like comparisons and really need to have both windows opened at the same time us El Capitan's split screen feature, set Safari (or others) to fullscreen and then access expose and drag your other windows to Safari.

Hope this helps,

Tiferrei


Is it possible to set a http proxy & port on a iOS personal hotspot connection

It seems that iPhone hotspot blocks access between devices on the local network.
I've set up an HTTP proxy on my Windows device. My other Android phone can pass through the proxy tunnel when they're connected to the same rooter.
However, it won't work if they're connected to an iPhone hotspot.

My daily proxy app Shadowrocket works in the same way: It allows my iPhone to share the proxy to other devices when connected to the same network, which here means a rooter, NOT an iPhone hotspot.


How do I get the latest drivers for boot camp and windows 7

Ralph - drivers are on the OS X DVD.  So once the OS is installed, boot into it and if you need drivers, you can point your OS to the OS X DVD.  Win 7 however, does a lot better with drivers than XP - I would think it will auto-update as needed.  You will have fewer problems than it seems you're currently expecting;  don't sweat it.  :-)


Use OpenSSH agent instead of the OSX agent

ssh-agent, the system builtin one, is run as a system daemon started by /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.openssh.ssh-agent.plist. Cause the service plist is located in /System/Library/LaunchAgents, it mean it's impossible to disable it unless you break SIP, which is not recommended.

The macOS version ssh-agent is built with additional KeyChain support compared with the standard one. The best solution is to use the keychain.

First, uninstall the homebrew-installed SSH, brew uninstall openssh.

Secondly, configure the SSH to use password from Keychain.

Host *
AddKeysToAgent yes
# use the password stored in keychain
UseKeychain yes
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Thirdly, add the key and password into Keychain.

ssh-add -K ~/.ssh/id_rsa

In this solution, we keep the password into Keychain and configure OpenSSH to load password for the key from Keychain.

References

OpenSSH updates in macOS 10.12.2


Why do I have duplicate iPad USB network devices?

This problem disappeared for me upon upgrading to macOS Mojave.


Display Photo from URL in iOS 8 Today View Widget

I was also looking for such a webcam widget and also couldn't find one to suit my needs.
But as you mentioned RSS there is one that can do that (Photo of the Day Widget by Francis Bonnin) however you can't set a refresh rate for it in the app/widget settings. I also couldn't get it to work with a webcam url (JPG url or page where the webcam e.g. JPG is shown) or create an RSS feed via existing online tools for the image link or webcam page. If you know how it can be done for webcams at other websites let me know. I'm trying to run a script on my own webcam with one or more webcams from other website by looking into this W3School RSS image element code.

I did receive a good response from the developers Lennart Reiher (PhotoBar widget) and Francis Bonnin (which created e.g. Photo of the Day widget) which were thinking about creating a new app/widget after my e-mail to them. They said that the new widget could have one or multiple webcam URLs (e.g. to a JPG) and hopefully also have a refresh rate option in it.

Also take a look at the huge iOS8 widget list (i'm also updating in the start topic almost daily at MacRumors forum at iOS8 sub category in the sticky widget megathread topic). I also created a Photo category there.
If you found a widget or build one yourself let me know here and maybe also there.


What is this white 'No items selected' popup box in save/open dialogs?

I figured out the answer while confirming a few behaviours of the mystery white box while writing the question. I'm posting and answering the question anyway since none of my searches turned up anything.

So it seems it's the File Preview box: if you hit space in the 'Open Files' dialog with a file selected, a similar box gives you an enlarged preview of whatever file is selected.

In the 'Save As' dialog, however, you can't select files (clicking just copies the file name), so it will always come up as 'No items selected' any time it comes up. While you can select folders in the Save As dialog, it doesn't attempt to preview them and continues simply saying that nothing is selected.

Here's a screen grab of it functioning by previewing the screen grab of itself not functioning:

Seems like it can never show anything other than 'No items selected' in the Save As dialog.


Does the iPod Nano 6G use the headphones as an antenna?

Yes it does. From this Apple KB doc:

  [The] iPod nano uses the earphone or headphone cord as an antenna, so you must connect the earphone or headphone cord to the iPod to receive a radio signal.


Can I make the Launchpad key (F4) on my new Macbook Pro toggle Mission Control instead?

What you want is FunctionFlip:

You can individually choose which keys you want as standard f-keys and which you want as the Mac-specific functions. In your case, "flip" the F4/Launchpad key, then assign F4 to launch Mission Control.

The only caveat is you cannot use both FunctionFlip and BetterTouchTool, as the developer of BTT points out.


Currently the 90 day restriction is only for automatic download of additional purchased content.

This also is a per device limitation and not something about the account being banned from working elsewhere.

For 90 days after you turn on the "automatic download feature", you can't switch another account to start automatic downloads on that one device. You can always trigger updates manually. As long as you disable automatic downloads on the second account (or both) you won't have any issues with your two ID on multiple device setup until you run into the 10 total device limit for a given Apple ID for store purchases.


Connect iOS Device
Go to Photos tab in iTunes
Uncheck "Sync Photos from iPhoto" option
Press "Apply" and/or "Sync
Check "Sync Photos from iPhoto" option

Now everything should be as it was before and the error is gone :D


Sadly, malicious code can be so small and obfuscated in an infinite number of ways so you can't simply make a rule to test a package to tell if it's good or bad.

Statistically, people have established some guidelines like trying to know the source (typing in the web address directly and not trusting a link, not downloading it from an alternate site, insisting that it be code-signed and verifying the package check sum before installing executables), but these are indirect remedies.

Apple maintains a page with links to most security information here:

https://ssl.apple.com/support/security/

Additionally, you could insist that all software that you run is signed by a legitimate developer to reduce the likelihood that someone has added a key logger to the game you just downloaded.

Lastly, after several delays, Apple has released GateKeeper to effectively sandbox software so that it has to explicitly list the things that it does (like access the address book, or modify files without user interaction) so that you can only let the system run code that obeys the sandbox rules. From a consumer perspective, you can prevent all code from running while you do whatever checks you feel are appropriate before allowing that code to run on your Mac.


Why can I not type certain upper case accented letters using the option key with Turkish input?

Thanks to tips from @TomGewecke, I was able to find the app/shortcut key combo that took over the letters I was trying to type.
Amethyst (a great window management tool) uses Option + Shift + I to "Display current layout" and Option + Shift + S to "Select Wide layout".

I don't have any use for those functions, so I removed the corresponding shortcuts.
For future reference, I am wondering if there is a way to ask macOS for "the list of currently assigned shortcut keys and what app has defined them".


Why does macOS create file mounts for each app?

These seem to be installers DMGs. You can unmount and discard them after installing the apps in your computer, typically by copying them to /Applications or ~/Applications.


You don't add yourself to this plist—OS X manages this itself. For example, download a new browser and copy it to the Applications folder. Without opening it once, OS X will add it to the list in System Preferences.

This is achieved with the following in the Info.plist in the app:

<key>CFBundleURLTypes</key>
<array>
    <dict>
        <key>CFBundleURLName</key>
        <string>http URL</string>
        <key>CFBundleURLSchemes</key>
        <array>
            <string>http</string>
        </array>
    </dict>
    <dict>
        <key>CFBundleURLName</key>
        <string>Secure http URL</string>
        <key>CFBundleURLSchemes</key>
        <array>
            <string>https</string>
        </array>
    </dict>
</array>


I need help with administrator password for macbook pro 2010 laptop

Call the fellow you bought it from and ask him for the password again.

If it is a recent machine you could boot into "recovery mode" and reset the password, otherwise rebooting in single-user-mode could allow you to reset the password from the command line. Some good options are listed here:

http://tidbits.com/article/14437


How can I run newer Unity games on OS X 10.9 Mavericks?

The crash log indicates that the game is looking for a function called getattrlistbulk. Because this function doesn't exist in Mavericks, the game doesn't know what to do, and crashes. Ergo, in order for the game to run, we'll have to give it what it wants—a copy of the getattrlistbulk function.
(In other words, we need to write some code. Make sure you have Apple's Xcode Command Line Tools installed!)
getattrlistbulk is a part of the kernel, which means I definitely don't understand what it does. But, what if I don't have to—what if Unity games don't actually need getattrlistbulk for anything important, and/or have a fallback codepath for unexpected values? If that was the case, it might be that getattrlistbulk doesn't need to actually do anything for the game to run, it merely needs to exist.
Only one way to find out! Let's give this code a try:
#include <sys/attr.h>

int getattrlistbulk(int dirfd, struct attrlist * attrList, void * attrBuf, size_t attrBufSize, uint64_t options) {
    return 0;
}

This copy of getattrlistbulk will always return 0, no matter what.
If you save this code as UnityMavericksWorkarounds.m, you can compile it with:
clang -compatibility_version 9999 -o UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib -dynamiclib UnityMavericksWorkarounds.m

Now, we need to make the game load our new UnityMavericksWorkarounds library. This should be easy to do with the DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES environment variable. Run in the Terminal:
DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES=UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib Sayonara\ Wild\ Hearts.app/Contents/MacOS/Sayonara\ Wild\ Hearts

...and watch the game crash the exact same way it did before:
Dyld Error Message:
  Symbol not found: _getattrlistbulk
  Referenced from: /Users/USER/Desktop/Sayonara Wild Hearts.app/Contents/MacOS/../Frameworks/UnityPlayer.dylib
  Expected in: /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib

Why can't UnityPlayer.dylib find our fancy new getattrlistbulk function?
Let's look at the crash report again. UnityPlayer isn't expecting getattrlistbulk to be just anywhere, it's expecting it to be in /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib, and so isn't looking inside of our UnityMavericksWorkarounds library. This is due to a concept called two-level namespaces, which you can and should read more about here. And, although two-level namespacing can be turned off via DYLD_FORCE_FLAT_NAMESPACE=1, Unity games won't work without it.
Let's try something else. What if we made the game load our library, UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib, in place of libSystem.B.dylib? Apple's install_name_tool command makes this easy! Copy UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib into the application bundle's Contents/Frameworks directory, and then run:
install_name_tool -change /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib @executable_path/../Frameworks/UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib Sayonara\ Wild\ Hearts.app/Contents/Frameworks/UnityPlayer.dylib

(Replace Sayonara\ Wild\ Hearts with the name of your game.)
Now, try launching the game again, and...
Application Specific Information:
dyld: launch, loading dependent libraries

Dyld Error Message:
  Symbol not found: dyld_stub_binder
  Referenced from: /Users/USER/Desktop/Sayonara Wild Hearts.app/Contents/MacOS/Sayonara Wild Hearts
  Expected in: /Users/USER/Desktop/Sayonara Wild Hearts.app/Contents/MacOS/../Frameworks/UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib
 in /Users/USER/Desktop/Sayonara Wild Hearts.app/Contents/MacOS/Sayonara Wild Hearts

Hey, at least the crash log changed this time! You can probably already guess why this didn't work. libSystem.B.dylib is essentially the Mac equivalent of Linux's libc, and as such, it contains many, many functions. UnityMavericksWorkarounds only contains getattrlistbulk. And so although the game now has access to getattrlistbulk, it's missing everything else!
What we want is for our UnityMavericksWorkarounds library to also provide all of the other libSystem functions in addition to its own—which is to say, we should make libSystem.B.dylib a sub-library of UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib.
I did this using optool:
optool install -c reexport -p /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib -t Sayonara\ Wild\ Hearts.app/Contents/Frameworks/UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib

(There's probably a cleaner way to link this at compile-time, but I couldn't figure out how, and optool worked.)
Now, try launching the game again, and...

Theoretical FAQs
(Follow-up questions no one has asked, but which they theoretically could.)
Q: Is the return value of 0 important?
A: Yes. I originally tried 1, but that caused some games to allocate all available memory and crash once none was left.
Q: Will this make all Unity games work properly in Mavericks?
A: No. As far as I'm aware, it will allow any Unity 2018/2019 game to start up, but no one said anything about working properly! Games are complex, and these ones have clearly never been tested on Mavericks before, so they may have other glitches. Timelie is one example of a game which technically works with this fix, but has very severe graphical problems.
Many other games, however, really do seem to run perfectly.
Q: Is it possible to actually reimplement getattrlistbulk instead of using a stub function?
A: Maybe? The Internet™ says getattrlistbulk is a replacement for getdirentriesattr. So, at one point I tried:
#include <sys/attr.h>
#include <unistd.h>

int getattrlistbulk(int dirfd, struct attrlist * attrList, void * attrBuf, size_t attrBufSize, uint64_t options) {

    unsigned int count;
    unsigned int basep;
    unsigned int newState;

    return getdirentriesattr(dirfd, &attrList, &attrBuf, attrBufSize, &count, &basep, &newState, options);
}

This was written by pattern-matching the example code for getattrlistbulk and getdirentriesattr in the developer documentation. It does work (insofar as games run), but then, so does return 0, so I really have no way to test the code. Under the circumstances, return 0 seems safer.
Q: Can I get a tl;dr?
A: Sure:

Copy the first code block in this answer into a file named UnityMavericksWorkarounds.m.
clang -compatibility_version 9999 -o /Path/To/Game.app/Contents/Frameworks/UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib -dynamiclib /Path/To/UnityMavericksWorkarounds.m
install_name_tool -change /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib @executable_path/../Frameworks/UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib /Path/To/Game.app/Contents/Frameworks/UnityPlayer.dylib
Download optool.
/Path/To/optool install -c reexport -p /usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib -t /Path/To/Game.app/Contents/Frameworks/UnityMavericksWorkarounds.dylib


Where can I find an Mavericks driver for my Alfa AWUS036H

From the Alfa web site (no direct link to FAQ entry available):

Q: Does AWUS036H has driver for Mac Lion?
The AWUS036H works on 32-bit Mac only. If your Mac system is running on 32-bit CPU and you just upgrade the Mac OS to latest version then your AWUS036H is still compatible to it. However, if you just purchased Mac system with 10.6.8 or later version who is running on 64-bit Mac system then you have to boot your computer into 32-bit in order to run the application with device. And you can find the installation guide through our blog @ http://alfanetworkinc.blogspot.com/2011/08/install-awus036h-onto-mac-os-107.html
To identify whether your Mac system is running in 64-bit or not, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3770
If you like to use wifi adapter with default 64-bit Mac system then we’ll suggest following models -  AWUS036NH, AWUS036NEH, AWUS051NH, AWUS036NHR and AWUS036NHV.


Can a Thunderbolt iMac use Target Display Mode on a Thunderbolt MacBook running Windows?

I have tried this and can confirm it does not work. It works fine from OS X --> OS X but not if the MacBook is running Windows.


What happens if I plug both sides of one USB-C cable from one MBP port to another of its ports?

There isn't any risk in doing this, but it'd be a self-defeating practice. Basically, what happens to your MBP will depend on which of the following scenarios is true:

If the MBP is not also plugged into AC power - In this scenario, it's not a good idea as the MBP will slowly lose power faster than it would if the cable wasn't plugged into both ports.
If the MBP is plugged into AC power - In this scenario, the MBP will automatically except the charge from the AC outlet source, rather than any other source. In other words, plugging a USB-C cable between two of its ports will have no effect.

Also, according to Apple:

  Your MacBook Pro draws power from only one power supply, even if more    than one is attached—so using multiple power supplies won't
  speed up    charging.
  If you connect multiple power supplies to your MacBook Pro, the one    that provides the most power will be used, regardless of the order in
  which you connected them.

Source: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207256

Finally, the MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2016 and 2017 models) and MacBook (13-inch, Late 2016 and 2017, Four Thunderbolt 3 Port models) can power two devices that use up to 15 watts, and two more devices that use up to 7.5 watts. It doesn't matter which side of your MacBook Pro that they're connected to—power is delivered on a first-come, first-served basis.

In the case of your MBP, it can power one device that uses up to 15 watts and one device that uses up to 7.5 watts. However, this will have no impact when connecting the MBP to itself, beyond what I stated at the beginning of my answer.


How can I bind a multitouch gesture to open a file with a particular application?

You can run an AppleScript file using BetterTouchTool, but I don't know how you get the selected file. Here's the script:

tell app "<your application here>" to open file <file here>

That will work as long as there's an application to open and a file to open. The problem is getting the selected file...


From user3669959's linked answer:

Open the Mouse settings in the Control Panel
Click on the Hardware tab, "HID-compliant device", Properties
Click on the Details tab
Choose Device Instance Path in the Property drop down menu
Note the VID value
Run regedit
Edit HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\HID\VID_???\VID_???\Device Parameters, where the ??? is the VID value we just found
Edit FlipFlopWheel
Change the value from 0 to 1
Close all programs
Reboot

This worked for me on a Windows 7 64 bit PC, using the Boot Camp 5.1.5769 AppleWirelessTrackpad64.exe driver.

References:

http://tsentas.net/windows-bootcamp-reverse-scrolling/


Zoom in on photo in Quick Look on macOS Mojave

Is there any other new shortcut for zooming an image to actual size in Quick Look on the latest version of macOS Mojave?

In the public release of macOS Mojave 10.14, Command + 0 keyboard sequence appears to achieve the desired function.

To zoom back out again use the keyboard shortcut Command + 9.

You can use Command+ and Command- to Zoom in and Zoom Out, like you can do at Preview app.


Can my iPhone tell me where I have recently been walking?

Option 1 - Google Maps Location History

One of the easiest solutions for background location tracking that takes very low amount of energy. Download Google Maps and Enable "Location History".

How to Enable Google Maps Location History

Open Google Maps
Tap Menu and then Settings
Click Personal content and then scroll down to "Location settings"
Click to Turn "Location Services is on."
Set Location Services is set to Always with iOS Settings.

You can later view your visited locations at google.com/maps/timeline or on Google Maps "Timeline" tab.

Option 2 - Apple Frequent Location History

iOS has a feature called frequent locations built it's system. Apple provides you with lesser location history and detail. To access the information:

Go to the "Settings" > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Frequent Locations.

You will find some of the frequent locations you have visited if it's already been turned ON.

Option 3

As mentioned by Owlsnipes in the comment, Moves(acquired by Facebook) is an activity tracker which runs in the background which can record all the movements and classify it as running,walking and driving. It's a pretty neat app and I've used it myself in the past.


Make MacBook Pro announce emails when sleeping

No - sleep precludes the making of sounds.

You can set the Mac to prevent sleep and instead just put the screen to sleep but anything that runs on the CPU will need to machine to exit from sleep anytime a mail arrives in order to produce the sound you wish to be made.


How to download an App file from the App Store

You can download .ipa files of iOS apps using iTunes 12.6.4. This is a special branch from Apple that can be installed alongside newer versions of iTunes. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208079
The Mac version is not compatible with macOS 10.14 Mojave or above. You may want to use the Windows version inside of a VM.
Once you have the .ipa file, you can peek inside further by changing the file extension to .zip and opening it with Archive Utility. Then, right click the .app file and select "show package contents". This is useful if e.g. you want to extract an icon or other asset.
I haven't used this myself but you can also download the .ipa files with iMazing, which is compatible with current macOS releases. However, this requires putting your Apple ID password into a third-party program.


What is ~/Library/VoiceTrigger/SAT ? Part of Siri?

SAT stands for Siri Audio Transcripts.
It's a UF_DATAVAULT, a new type of privacy container in Catalina that restricts who can access the contents by specific entitlement. This means nothing can access the contents except the individual binary granted the individual entitlement.


App on MAS that writes mathematical formulae into an image?

It isn't in the Mac App Store, but try LaTeXiT.

As you might have guessed, it uses Latex input to create an image of the equation.  You can link the image into a Keynote or Pages document (or others, I'd imagine).  Live updating, etc.

I use it frequently, and love it!


Spotlight not finding folders, files, or apps in High Sierra

I found the answer on this post in an Apple Community forum.

The key was to rebuild the Launch Services Database - I didn’t even know that was a thing. You need to use the terminal and run this command:

sudo /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain u -domain s -domain l -v

Takes a minute or so to complete and you get a lot of lines with errors. Then I continued with the advice in the post to rebuild the indexing with the following

sudo mdutil -i on /
sudo mdutil -E /

After running for just a few minutes I started to see apps show back up in Spotlight.

Hope I can save someone else a few weeks of pain and searching.


Is there a way to automatically save Pages documents copies as PDF on every save?

You might be able to use Folder Actions to trigger an AppleScript that creates the  PDF whenever the contents of the folder are changed. The problem may be the fact that the document is still open.
But realistically, you don't have to manually press Save in Pages anyway, so just assign a key command to Export to PDF. You could even use Command S.


I had similar problems, only Siri was not finding contact information of any kind, was not locating my friends, and not opening apps on command. I found that the problem was that Siri was having an issue with opening apps was causing all problems listed. To fix I used a Cydia app called iFile to locate the following files:

/var/mobile/Library/Caches/com.apple.LaunchServices-045.csstore
/var/mobile/Library/Caches/com.apple.mobile.installation.plist

Delete both the files, close iFile, and reboot device. After restarting all your apps will be gone and they will come back one at a time. Took only a few seconds for them all to load. Tested Siri and all my problems solved.

I'm using a jailbroken iPhone 5 with 6.1.2


Force a 5 GHz connection on an iPhone 5s

iOS decides automatically whether 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz connection is best if an access point supports both.

You can change your BT Home Hub settings to broadcast two separate access points. Open the hub settings → Advanced Settings → Wireless → 5 GHz Wireless and disable “Sync with 2.4 GHz”.

This allows you to specifically connect to two separate access points depending on whether you wish to connect over 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz.


I can't paste a file into system directory

You have run into System Integrity Protection ( SIP ) which protects certain system folders from being changed.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204899

To make the copy anyway, you turn off SIP.  Be sure to turn SIP back on when done. It's a hassle.

https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac/how-turn-off-mac-os-x-system-integrity-protection-rootless-3638975/

I'd look for an alternative folder to place the file. I'm not a Java person.  I did find:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12842063/where-to-install-jar-files-on-os-x-so-other-java-applications-will-find-them

https://aldoblog.com/2002/05/where-to-put-java-extensions-on-mac-os-x/


How can I quickly filter by edited photos on iOS?

There is a feature for filtering photos in the iOS Photos app which allows you to quickly find previously edited photos.  To access this capability click the three dots at the top right of the photos app (the three dots are located next to the "select" button).
After pressing the three dots (...) you will see the following screen:

Select "Filter" and the screen below will appear.  On this screen select "edited"

Finally select "Done" and you will see only your edited photos.
You can reverse this by selecting the three dots again, selecting "Change Filter" and then setting the filter to "All Items"


A reboot fixed the issue.  However before the reboot, I restarted finder and the process would not start up, I could see my files in terminal but not on the desktop and could not navigate via finder windows.

Both the finder and the Spotlight issues were fixed with a reboot.


Can a Macbook Pro Output Video through the 3.5mm Audio Port?

No.  It's an audio port not an audio/video port.

Per the Apple Support site: Mac Basics: Ports on your Mac

HDMI and the Thunderbolt Ports will carry both digital video with audio, but your analog audio port (denoted by the headphone icon) will only carry audio.

Your option here is to get an HDMI to Composite adapter that will convert the digital video/audio signals to analog composite signals.  There are different makes/manufacturers.  You should pick one with good ratings and that is not too expensive.


Currently, the only way to have the iTunes visualizer display across multiple monitors is to configure your other monitors to duplicate the display of the monitor where the visualizer is currently being displayed.

Here's a sample screenshot of where that option might be located in your Control Panel:


Keyboard shortcut to navigate/cycle between visible windows on screen

Those would be

Control+F4 - Move focus to the active (or next) window

Shift+Control+F4 - Move focus to the previously active window

If you have the "F keys as standard function keys" option disabled in System Preferences > Keyboard, enable it.

Or use Fn in addition to the above shortcuts.


If you're still on the hunt for such an application, I have great news. I wrote a simple status menu bar app, which lets you limit the main output volume of your Mac. The app is called Earsafe, check it out if you have time.
All the best!


iPhone FTP utility with automatic backup?

What you want can be done with Apple's iCloud backup (on your iPhone go to: Settings, iCloud, Storage & Backup, iCloud Backup). But you ask specifically for a whole iPhone backup over FTP.

You can also use your WiFi to backup your iPhone via iTunes. To set up Wi-Fi syncing, connect your iOS device to your computer with the included USB cable. Click the Device button in the upper-right corner. (If viewing the iTunes Store, click the Library button first.) If you don't see your device, choose View > Hide Sidebar. In the Summary tab, select "Sync with this [device] over Wi-Fi."

There are some good non Apple programs to backup your photo's over the internet (bittorrent sync, Dropbox, Copy for iOS, and much more), but none use old school FTP.

If you specifically want FTP, you should jailbreak your iPhone, setup your FTP connection and run a Cron job which syncs every x hours. I would strongly recommend not to go this way, it will eat your battery and FTP is not the correct way to do this, I would greatly suggest rsync over SSH. Or use SFTP. But yet again, I would strongly recommend not to go this way.

If you want to drop every photo you make onto an FTP host, you can do this if you setup an OS X device in between. You can use iCloud-Photostream to send the photo's to your photostream. Now, when your mac is running, it will automatically download this stream and store the foto's in ~/Library/Application Support/iLifeAssetManagement/assets/sub. Now you can use any software to start syncing your mac. For example you can create 'Folder actions' to start an FTP upload every time the folder gets a new image.

Another possibility is to make the photo from within file-exchange app like Dropbox or bittorrent sync or one of the others. The app will automatically upload your photo's to other devices.

I would go for the iCloud-Photostream -> Mac -> Client if I had to use it myself. I would go for creating the photo's from within the file-exchange app if I had to explain my mother how to do it. Furthermore, what are you planning to do with your backups? You can not use them to restore your iPhone, you need an iTunes or iCloud backup for that.


Macbook bluetooth connection with my earphone

I'm copying here the link of how to reset the NVRAM, this is how I've fix my problem:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063
I hope that it'll help someone else! :)

Cheers!


A few things to check:

1) That you're using the correct command-line developer tools. (newer versions of Xcode 6.2+ rely on these for things like SourceKit etc..)

You can check this by running xcode-select -p in terminal, and you should get back something to the tune of /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer or the path to whichever beta you're using i.e. /Applications/Xcode-beta.app/Contents/Developer

2) Don't rename the beta-s i.e. '/Applications/Xcode-beta.app' to '/Applications/Xcode-6.2-beta4.app'. Things go awry with this!

3) Is your pboard working in general?

Drop to terminal and:

ps -ef | grep pboard

should come back with something such as:

504   367     1   0  2:20pm ??         0:00.01 /usr/sbin/pboard

if it doesn't, double confirm that it's set up to be launched properly by:

launchctl list | grep pboard

this should come back with something like:

367    0   com.apple.pboard

Note the 367 shown in both for the PID. This basically indicates that my pboard is running fine...

If you get something else try:

cat /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.pboard.plist

and you should get something like:

...
<plist version="1.0">
    <dict>
        <key>POSIXSpawnType</key>
        <string>Interactive</string>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>com.apple.pboard</string>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
            <string>/usr/sbin/pboard</string>
        </array>
        <key>MachServices</key>
        <dict>
            <key>com.apple.pasteboard.1</key>
            <true/>
        </dict>
        <key>EnableTransactions</key>
        <true/>
    </dict>
</plist>

4) When you paste into Xcode, and you get the spaces (i.e. missing characters), when immediately save the document, is the text there after restarting Xcode and reloading the project?

5) If you open Console in (Applications/Utilities/) do you see anything specific flashing up when you paste? i.e. any Xcode, DVT, SourceKit, Pboard etc... assertion errors etc..
 - try pasting whilst console is open so you can see this.
 - (the above tags I listed should be good filter words for console)

Let us know if this helps :)


iPhone 3G GPS is unreliable; seems to use assisted-gps only

The prelonged stern look didn't work??? Lol

I see that you tried restoring from a backup. Try restoring to stock software instead of your saved backup and see how it works. I've noticed that sometimes erratic behavior is caused by corrupted files within the actual backup image.

If that doesn't work, try taking it in for service...I really don't think that's necessary though.

Hope this helps!


If you delete everything on the second page, the second page should disappear. Maybe the template needs to be removed or there are spaces on page 2 that you don't see.

To avoid a lot of guesswork, the function "View -> Show invisibles" should make obvious what is on the page:

Invisible characters will then show on the page:


Apple Calendar: Share busy/nonbusy information for several calendars

I recommend you try the Google for that.

The explanations on how to will take to much space in here, but if you follow the instructions here, it is explained nicely.


Why does my iPhone use my location when I tell it not to?

This is a known defect that started with iOS 10.3.  Dozens of Apple fan sites, including Apple's own discussion forums, are filled with people complaining about the bug.

According to some people on this Apple discussion forum, Apple is now considering this 'expected behavior' and doesn't have any plans to fix it.  I'd take that with a grain of salt because it's just one person saying they were told this by an Apple support person.

I'd recommend you file a bug report as well as provide feedback about your displeasure.


You can press ⌘+A to select all then Text->Indent Selection.


Swap CMD and Alt only on external keyboard

There is a section dedicated to this under  → System Preferences → Keyboard:

Open Modifier Keys… and reassign them from here:

These settings are specific to each external keyboard you have connected. They will “stick” between reboots, as well as whenever you unplug an external keyboard and plug back it in.


How do I silence incoming voice calls on WhatsApp?

In order to silence the ringer during an incoming WhatsApp call, you can turn off all the "Notifications," and prevent the WhatsApp from accessing your microphone by going to Settings > WhatsApp >Notifications. Please note that this will disable all the notifications on WhatsApp including the chat/message notification.

If you'd like to receive sound notification for text/chat and only disable the ringer for incoming WhatsApp call, then you should disable the "Banner" alerts, and prevent the WhatsApp from accessing your microphone by going to Settings > WhatsApp > Notifications.


Just hover your cursor over the relevant message for a few seconds, the time & date will pop up in a tooltip.

Picture with clear date also shown, to demonstrate it's accurate.
& those verification codes are well out of date.. ;-)


Mac doesn’t go to sleep after inactivity

You can get a list of power assertions by running pmset -g assertions:

$ pmset -g assertions
10/27/13, 8:48:55 AM GMT
Assertion status system-wide:
   BackgroundTask                 1
   PreventDiskIdle                0
   ApplePushServiceTask           0
   UserIsActive                   0
   PreventUserIdleDisplaySleep    0
   InteractivePushServiceTask     0
   PreventSystemSleep             0
   ExternalMedia                  1
   InternalPreventDisplaySleep    1
   PreventUserIdleSystemSleep     1
   NetworkClientActive            0
Listed by owning process:
   pid 189(coreaudiod): [0x0000000100000617] 00:00:19 NoIdleSleepAssertion named: "com.apple.audio.'AppleHDAEngineOutput:1B,0,1,2:0'.noidlesleep"
   pid 9879(backupd): [0x00000001000005f1] 00:13:17 PreventUserIdleSystemSleep named: "Time Machine backup"
   pid 9879(backupd): [0x0000000c000005f0] 00:13:17 BackgroundTask named: "Time Machine backup"
   pid 18(powerd): [0x00000009000005e1] 00:13:47 ExternalMedia named: "com.apple.powermanagement.externalmediamounted"
   pid 18(powerd): [0x00000011000002e1] 00:00:00 InternalPreventDisplaySleep named: "com.apple.powermanagement.delayDisplayOff"
    Timeout will fire in 299 secs Action=TimeoutActionTurnOff
Kernel Assertions: 0x4=USB
   id=500  level=255 0x4=USB mod=10/26/13, 6:38 PM description=XHC1 owner=AppleUSBXHCI
   id=501  level=255 0x4=USB mod=10/26/13, 6:45 PM description=EHC2 owner=AppleUSBEHCI
   id=502  level=255 0x4=USB mod=10/27/13, 8:48 AM description=EHC1 owner=AppleUSBEHCI

In the output above, Time Machine is preventing idle sleep.


iPhone can send iMessages without a SIM card?

iMessage can also register email address (like your Apple ID), that's how it works on iPad and iPod Touch.

So it's completely normal to be able to send iMessages with an SIM-free iPhone.

As long as you are connected to a WiFi network.


How to change text transparency in the Mac preview?

https://maketecheasier.com/watermark-pdf-pages-quick-actions-macos  has a solution with automator to achieve the text transparency adjustment.

And I found another solution, using Keynote:

Load Image in Keynote, and text in Keynote can set transparency using View menu -> Show colours (CMD + Shift + C).


Swipe between pages doesn't work and unable two fingers scrolling up/down

What worked as well for me was switching off two finger swipe from the trackpad settings ('Swipe between pages' setting), then turning it on again directly after. A lot more convenient than logging out and in again.

If the problem happens too often a PRAM reset often helps as well:

Shut down your Mac.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard:
Command (⌘), Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down
simultaneously in step 4.
Turn on the computer.
Press and hold the
Command-Option-P-R keys before the gray screen appears. Hold the
keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound
for the second time.
Release the keys.


Why does TimeMachine generate large backups and is there a way to optimize them?

This utility can show you what has been included in the last backup: BackupLoupe

If some things are being backed up that don't ever need to be, then you can add them to the exclusions list in the Time Machine Preferences section when you click the [Options] button.


How can I embed an image in an Apple Mail signature?

You can simply drag an image file into a signature in Mail.

This will embed the image with in the email so all your future emails will include an attachment.

I sugest using a PNG as they are quite light-weight.


iTunes starts playing when disconnecting Bose Soundlink Mini

This (http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/how-to-stop-itunes-from-opening-with-bluetooth-speakers.1666895/) worked for me --

In Finder go to Applications and show package contents on iTunes.app. Inside the MacOS folder there is a unix script called iTunes, I renamed it iTunesclosed. Also renamed ituneshelper.app to ituneshelpdisabled.app

Remove the iTunesHelper.app from starting on login via System Preferences -> Users and Groups

Also kill the iTunesHelper process via Activity Monitor.

Edit: Note that you may have to do this every time iTunes is updated.


How to bind workspace to shortcut, and also bind return to previous workspace to the same key

System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts sets keyboard shortcuts for all Desktops to CTRL n (where n is the number of the Desktop).

However, they are disabled by default. So it would be very easy to press CTRL 8 and CTRL 5 to switch between Desktops. If you wanted the same shortcut for both actions, you would have to use some kind of script to check the current Desktop setting and make the appropriate move.


Problem with reinstalling Facebook app on iPhone

Here are a few things that you can try. These will be non-technical answers to you question.

Go to Settings>General>Date and Time and toggle the Automatic switch. This will set the correct time for your iPhone, as sometimes the App Store does not download apps to iPhones with their clock set in the future.

Restart the iPhone by holding down on the lock and home button at the same time for about 10-15 seconds until the Apple Logo appears (there is no red slider) then let go of the buttons.

Sign out of the App Store in Settings, sign in again and try to download.

Sometimes, users have connection problems to the App Store (or the App Store has an internal problem) so wait and try again later. You can use Facebook in Safari in the meanwhile.

Mainly this error occurs when Apple changes their Policies and Terms, or when the wrong time is set on the iPhone, because the iTunes/App Store Session is invalid or has expired. So this should help you, otherwise let me know in a comment and I will try to help :)


I've written an AppleScript script which toggles the Zoom style:

tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
    activate
    tell application "System Preferences"
        set the current pane to pane id "com.apple.preference.universalaccess"
        reveal anchor "Seeing_Zoom" of pane id "com.apple.preference.universalaccess"
    end tell
    delay 0.5
    tell pop up button "Zoom Style:" of window "Accessibility"
        click
        if value is equal to "Fullscreen" then
            pick menu item "Picture-in-picture" of menu 1
        else
            pick menu item "Fullscreen" of menu 1
        end if
    end tell
    tell application "System Preferences" to quit
end tell

You can use Keyboard Maestro or any other script launching app to run this script on a keyboard shortcut.


Change Modifier Key While Application is frontmost

You could use a private.xml like this with KeyRemap4MacBook:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <appdef>
    <appname>EMACS</appname>
    <equal>org.gnu.Emacs</equal>
  </appdef>
  <item>
    <name>test</name>
    <identifier>test</identifier>
    <only>EMACS</only>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::COMMAND_L, KeyCode::CONTROL_L</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::CONTROL_L, KeyCode::COMMAND_L</autogen>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::COMMAND_R, KeyCode::CONTROL_L</autogen>
  </item>
</root>


Is it safe to remove read, write, and execute permissions for 'others' recursively on home directory?

That depends on what is running on the server. If you have a web server running and serving other user's content from their home directories than the web server would not be able to read those files.

When making this decision the group that the users belong to is also important. If all users are members of the staff group for example and if the home directories have read and execute permission for that group than other users will still be able to access those directories.

However in general it should be safe and probably even the preferred method.


Macbook Air (Mid 2013) keyboard and trackpad not detected

This sounds like the kext that controls the built in keyboard / mouse is either missing or damaged.  I believe the kext in question is something along the lines of "IOUSBFamily.kext". I doubt this would be a hardware/firmware issue though since Windows recognizes input from the built in keyboard/trackpad.

You might try repairing the disk using Disk Utility in the recovery volume and then repairing permissions using Disk Utility while booted to your Macintosh HD volume.

If those don't resolve the issue then I would attempt an archive & install of the OS...

To boot to the recovery partition you need to power it off

On start up, using the USB keyboard, press command + r or if that doesn't work press option until you see your partitions, then select recovery 10.x

Wait for the recovery tool to boot
Select "Reinstall OS X"
Follow the on screen prompts to reinstall OS X

This process SHOULD preserve your data but as always it's a good idea to have a backup of any pertinent data beforehand.  The reinstallation will go through and reinstall the base system files, which should include the missing/damage kext responsible for the problem, while leaving any files you've added  alone.

Hopefully all goes smoothly and that fixes it for you!


Try this:

tell application "Terminal"
    if not (exists window 1) then
        reopen
    else
        do script ""
    end if
end tell


Xcode error The maximum number of apps for free development profiles has been reached

In my case this guide worked; that is, in Xcode go to Window → Devices then under Installed Apps delete some of your apps and afterwards I could run my own apps on the device again.

I also rebooted the phone beforehand, but I assume that was not necessary.


'Filter' failed error trying to print after upgrading to Mavericks

I got it working on my Mavericks Macbook Pro this morning. All you need to do is install SpliX 1.1.1 (a set of free CUPS printer drivers for certain models of Samsung, Dell and Xerox printers) at http://guigo.us/mac/splix/

Then, reset your printing system (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1341) and re-add the ML-1710 1.1.1 driver.

Then you're good to go!


This is due to the MNT_IGNORE_OWNERSHIP flag being set for the drive when mounted. The unknown user and group are exactly what show up when root views files on a drive for which permissions are ignored.  When a user views the permissions, the files will show up as their own.  I'm surprised you can't delete the .svn file from your own account (not root)

Please see this Ask Different Answer for more direction.  Basically, you'll need to uncheck the "Ignore ownership on this volume" checkbox from an inspector on the drive info.

If you can't delete it from your user account, try setting yourself as the file owner with the ignore flag unset.


How to browse files on your iPhone with Bash on Mac Book?

The easiest way is to install Homebrew first, and then use this command:

brew install ifuse

to install the "ifuse" program from libimobiledevice.

It will allow you to mount and access the contents of the iPhone on your Mac.

Look at the guide here for various options to ifuse that will allow you to mount various parts of the iPhone file systems (app containers, the media partition, the whole file system, etc.).


Assigning keyboard shortcut to iOS User Agent in Safari's develop menu

That looks like an n-dash to me, rather than a hyphen

Hyphen -

N-dash —

typing 2 hyphens will change to an n-dash in regular text areas, if you have Smart dashes enabled in Edit > Substitutions, otherwise you could try copy/pasting this one...

Safari iOS 8.1 — iPad


Possible to use two HCI controllers concurrently?

After some back and forth with Apple Support I've learnt that yes, macOS can use two Bluetooth HCI controllers at the same time, but the same driver cannot be used for multiple devices at the same time. As both my internal Bluetooth module and the USB dongle I purchased use a Broadcom chipset, macOS uses the same driver and that's why I cannot use both at the same time.

The solution is to use a USB dongle which does not contain a chipset made by the same manufacturer as the internal Bluetooth module. Broadcom seem to make the majority of chipsets used in most Bluetooth USB dongles - however I've found the 'Orico BTA-403-BK' which uses a CSR8510 chipset, which is manufactured by Qualcomm, who acquired a company called Atheros in 2011, whose Bluetooth drivers are natively supported by macOS. I'll report back after the Orico arrives with my final result.


Using iPhone 4s camera to record video live on OS X

Go to App Store put "iPhone webcam" into search and you will find few apps that can help you use your iPhone cam as webcam for you Mac.

Of course every such program relies on desktop client that you need to run or install in order for this functionality to work.


Homebrew Formula for emacs' VM (View Mail)

This works:

class Vm < Formula
  desc "VM is a mail reader that runs under XEmacs and GNU Emacs."
  homepage "https://launchpad.net/vm"
  url "https://launchpad.net/vm/8.2.x/8.1.93a/+download/vm-8.1.93a.tgz"
  version "8.1.93a"
  sha256 "9eab4cca6d8e4f3c5b2ab0293caecda3207b8f7e5d1e620d067898c35204235e"

  depends_on :emacs => ["23", :build]

  def install
    system "./configure", "--with-emacs=#{HOMEBREW_PREFIX}/bin/emacs",
            "--prefix=#{prefix}"
    system "make"
    system "make install"
 end

def caveats; <<-EOS.undent
  To use add to .emacs:
  (add-to-list 'load-path "/usr/local/Cellar/vm/8.1.93a/share/emacs/site-lisp/vm")
  (require 'vm-autoloads)
  EOS
end

Though I'm not sure how to dynamically list the necessary prefix for the load-path in the caveats.


Insect inside the display of the iPad Retina

The bug could conceivably get in through the 30-pin port, Lightning port, or the headphone jack. Since your iPad is so new an Apple retail store would probably give you a new one without any hassle. Make sure to back it to your computer or iCloud before taking it to the store.


Set restriction code automatically when i update my iPhone to iOS 9

Try 2580. Dont know if this is default or a forgotten password of mine that i just happened to remember but i would give it a shot. It worked for me.


Mac Battery malfunctioning in just 2 years

Your battery needs to be replaced.  Period.
There’s a very similar question that already addresses this question

Macbook Pro Battery 0% and wrong date

However, you have a few statements in your question that should be addressed.

My usage of the laptop is just normal... I use it for mostly for reading books, videos on YouTube or movies

It doesn’t matter.  The battery has no idea (and doesn’t care) what you use it for.  Whether you read eBooks, write code or crunch numbers, your battery will do the same thing which is use a chemical reaction to move electrons.

Also I did leave it attached to the charger even after 100% charging but that is only more beneficial for the battery as many posts here state too.

This s fallacy perpetuated by well meaning but misinformed folks throughout the Internet.  Leaving your charger plugged in doesn’t mean your battery is still charging.  If you see the green light (MagSafe chargers) or get the “100% charged indicator” and your charger is still plugged in, it doesn’t mean the charger is still jamming electrons into the battery.  The SMC will “disconnect” the charger electronically to stop charging.  If you’re using the Mac, it will draw most, if not all the power from the charger first, battery second.  The battery itself has an overcharge/undercharge protection circuit to also protect it.
You having to manage your Mac’s battery charging process - a machine that can literally recognize your voice and fingerprints, and produce some if the most brilliant videos on the fastest performing SSDs on the market somehow can’t manage a simple task like charging it’s battery is simply baffling.

Then why has the battery started malfunctioning when apple promises 1000 cycle counts and it's just been 312 counts.

Apple promises no such thing.  The expectation is that a battery “should” have a life expectancy, on average, of 1000 charges.  It’s the typical bell curve with some batteries lasting less and others lasting more.  Granted, 2 years and 312 cycles is on the narrow, left side if the curve, but it’s not improbable nor unheard of.  It’s just less common.
Why does it fail so soon?  Any number of reasons, but likely a manufacturing defect.  These are “man-made” devices so they’re not perfect.  Each battery is composed of individual cells, you may have had one or more cells go bad. Maybe the SEI layer that is both necessary to conduct the electrons across the cell but also detrimental in that as it builds, capacity dies, has built up to the point that it can't function any more.  Only a lab with specialized equipment and high power microscopes can tell.

Was the battery that I originally got faulty.

No exactly.  The warranty of a Mac in the US 1 year.  You can purchase Apple Care for an additional 2.  I have a saying that that if a company is willing to warranty something for X years, means it is expected to last X+1 years.  Using this “theory”, a new Mac with AppleCare including battery coverage is 3 years.  The expected lifespan of a battery is 3 to 5 years.  Seems to fit.
That doesn't mean there are outliers.  There are some that last 6+ years meaning Apple couldn’t be happier.  There are some that last only a couple of months meaning Apple is on the hook for a replacement much sooner than they were expecting.
TL;DR
The battery died prematurely.  It happens as it’s a manufactured product.  Unfortunately it happened sooner than you expected but there’s no “fault” to be assigned.  It’s definitely a bummer and very inconvenient but there was nothing you did (most importantly) nor anything Apple did that caused it to fail.


2017 MacBook Pro 13" with Touchbar (USB-C) can't connect to LED Cinema Display 27" (Mini DisplayPort)

I have the exact same problem and after much search, came to this solution:

Dual-Link DIV to DisplayPort using Apple's connector
DisplayPort to USB-C using this connector Which is a  USB-C to Mini-DisplayPort and Charging Port Adapter {Amazon.com}

Keep in mind that the Cinema display also needs a USB-A connection (I'm guessing to provide power to some internal circuit for link negotiation?), so you'll need a separate adapter from USB-C to USB-A.

I'm also an amateur photographer and shoots with a Canon 5DsR, editing my photos using an AdobeRGB LG 4K display (10-bit color to support AdobeRGB). I've also tested the DisplayPort adapter on this display and it works flawlessly.

On a side note - reason why you'll need a separate adapter for USB-A instead of having the USB-A built-in to the DisplayPort adapter is that only way for USB-C to support DisplayPort data-rate is using Display Protocol, which turns a bi-directional USB connection (10Gbit/direction) to a uni-directional output port (20Gbit total). If you work out the math: 3840 * 2160 * 10-bit color per channel * 3 color channels (RGB) * 60 Hz = 15Gbit/s.


Fn key not being recognized on macOS Mojave

You'll need to wait for the new driver from Logitech I think..


I have tried everything myself. The only thing I actually got to work was buying drivers from Mac-serial-USB.com I do believe what the website was. After I loaded the new driver from them. It was like 8$ it worked perfect which made me extremely mad because I shouldn't have to pay some random company for a driver that should already work.


You can use PhoneView or a similar application to download your iMessage database to your Mac.

iMessage data is not stored in iCloud, not even as a backup.


Can't download apps from App Store as get button doesn't start download

From the Apple help site at: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201400 it recommended

  Make sure that your date, time, and time zone are correct. Tap
  Settings > General > Date & Time.

My settings were correct. However I turned off the automatic date/time/timezone feature to make the date and time zone setting be manual.

Voila, I could connect to the iTunes/App store. I had turned my phone off and on several times. I really wanted to avoid doing a reset. So I've escaped it for now.


Is there a way to automate the movement of application windows to assigned monitors?

Place the application window on the desired screen.  Then right click its Dock icon -> Options -> Assign To -> (select desired target)
These functions are especially helpful if you use Spaces.


How old is your Mac computer (and its internal hard disk)? I ask because hard disks are known to fail over time, so if your hard disk is over 3 years old, it could be that your disk is failing and therefore writing information to the disk could take a really long time.

Fortunately, replacing a hard disk is actually quite easy/straightforward.


Control characters in Terminal and an international keyboard

There might be a more direct solution, but here's the one I found.

If you go to
Terminal → Preferences... → Profiles → the profile you're using → Keyboard
you'll get a list of mappings between function keys and special keystrokes.

We want to add the ^] to this list, so click on +, and choose the key, and optionally modifier, you would like use. (I went with ctrl+F12, and since F12 is also the key for volume up, what I actually need to press is fn+ctrl+F12.)

In the text field, we need to enter the correct control character, but the thing is, ctrl+⌥+9 is not recognized here either. The solution is to directly paste in the correct octal code, which happens to be \035 (you can copy&paste it from here).

Now pressing fn+ctrl+F12 sends the proper ^] control character, and I can get back to the host's shell.


Accessing my contacts from broken iPhone?

Check your iCloud account to see if your contacts were backed up. You can go to www.icloud.com and then sign in with your Apple ID and password. Once you are in, you'll be able to view contacts and see if they are backed up.

As for the iPhone and its battery/power issues, you'll need to visit an Apple Store and get a new battery to replace the current one. Keep in mind you may have to pay for it since its likely that you no longer have a warranty on it. That should at least fix the issue. Also since support is no longer provided for the iPhone 4, they can choose to opt out of repairing it if they can't order the parts from the repair depot.

***Make sure that when you charge your iPhone that you use the standard Apple charger that came with your iPhone. By using third-party chargers, they can create issues similiar to this one.


How can I send iPhone to iPhone messages rather than SMS messages?

You probably want to use iMessage or another messaging service like WhatsApp etc.


Usually EFI is on your Macintosh HD. It's likely still there, but not used due to messed up settings. This very easy to fix:

Boot into a Recovery partition, DVD, or USB drive. Using the installation media that came with your device will suffice.
Once loaded, you'll be presented an interface like:

Close this window, and you'll be prompted to choose between Startup disk, Cancel, and Restart.
Select Startup Disk. The mere act of opening this utility with run the appropriate bless command in the background, repairing your EFI setup.
Select Macintosh HD
Restart
Come back to Ask Different and up vote this successful answer :D


Early 90s Mac freeware anti-virus program

Disinfectant was a popular freeware antivirus program on the Mac from the 80's until its official retirement at version 3.7.1 in 1998:

  Announcement and Press Release May 6, 1998
  Updated: October 11, 1998
  I regret to announce that I am officially retiring Disinfectant, our free
  anti-viral utility for the Macintosh. The current version 3.7.1 is the last
  version. Disinfectant will not be updated for the new Autostart 9805 worm or for
  any future viruses, worms, or other Macintosh malware.

It's the last antivirus I've used on my Macs. There hasn't been much need.


best free desktop gadget to get exchange rates

Calculator.app doesn't display the exchange rates, but it does allow you to convert between them.  You can do this by entering a number in the calculator, and then going to the Convert > Currency... menu and choosing the appropriate currencies.

If you're looking for a Dashboard widget to show exchange rates, I'd suggest this one:  http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/calculate_convert/currencyconverter_palplesoftware.html


WPA2 Enterprise network doesn't appear in WiFi list (OSX Mavericks)

Once you have joined the network by the method you list, open System Preferences and the Network Control Panel; select Airport on the left, and then click the Advanced button on the lower right of the Panel. Check the box next to "Remember networks this computer has joined" and then, if not already listed in the above list, click the plus ( + ) button on the left below the list, and add the network to your list of Preferred Networks. If it is a network you use often, then you'll want to order it near the top of the list. Then click the OK button, and then click the Apply button, and close System Preferences.


To store a shell script in a Caches folder is very uncommon!
If you use absolute paths in your script and the plist you don't have to add obscure paths to your PATH variable.

Clean up your .profile/.bash_profile file and remove the /Users/danny/Library/Caches: part!

Create a bin folder in your user folder and put in a script with the name imagecopy.sh. The content of the script is:

#!/bin/sh
cp /Users/danny/Library/Caches/latest.png /Users/danny/Documents/output/$(date "+%Y.%m.%d-%H.%M.%S").png

Create an appropriate output folder. In the example above I use ~/Documents/output.

Create the file /Users/danny/Library/LaunchAgents/com.user.imagecopier.plist with the content:

<?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.user.imagecopier</string>
    <key>Nicer</key>
    <integer>1</integer>
    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/Users/danny/bin/imagecopy.sh</string>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/com.user.imagecopier.stderr</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/com.user.imagecopier.stdout</string>
    <key>StartInterval</key>
    <integer>60</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

The file /tmp/com.user.imagecopier.stderr will show any error (e.g. if the output folder is missing or no latest.png is available)

Load the file with:

launchctl load -w /Users/danny/Library/LaunchAgents/com.user.imagecopier.plist

If the launch agent works properly you can remove the part

    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/com.user.imagecopier.stderr</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/com.user.imagecopier.stdout</string>

of the plist.


Can all files be removed in the user's bash session directory?

A session file is commands from a single session.

The history is an incomplete collection of commands used in any session.

I don't know for sure whether anything (other than loss of history) would occur from deleting them, but I suspect not.  An easy test would be move them all to another directory, then move them back if you see a problem.


Is it any different to clone each partition separately VS cloning the entire disk, when clone is meant for data recovery?

Partitions are fixed in size, so taking images of each partition individually does the same thing as taking an image of the whole disk. The only small difference is that any gaps between partitions (if they exist) are only included in the full disk image. But this gaps are „invisible“ anyway, so for any user-level data duplication and recovery operations this doesn’t make a difference.


Calendar App on MacOS Won't Sync After 5PM

Seems to be a fault on google’s end affecting macos / google calendar integration.
The relevant google support thread is here


Do we need to disable the trim on an 3rd party SSD before updating a Mac?

TRIM is a subset of the ATA commands specific to SSDs.

Can you operate without it?  Sure, but it will treat your SSD as if it were a spinning HDD - impacting performance and lifespan.

From Wikipedia:

  The TRIM command enables an operating system to notify the SSD of
  pages which no longer contain valid data. For a file deletion
  operation, the operating system will mark the files sectors as free
  for new data, then send a TRIM command to the SSD. After trimming, the
  SSD will not preserve any contents of the block when writing new data
  to a page of flash memory, resulting in less write amplification
  (fewer writes), higher write throughput (no need for a
  read-erase-modify sequence), thus increasing drive life.

If your MacBook Pro came with an SSD, it's enabled by default.  If not, you must enable TRIM when you upgrade to an SSD.


Why won't the iPad Podcasts app download my MP3s?

Since you have access to the server that is supplying the podcasts, you might have to look over the access logs and correlate the time with when your iOS device failed to download an episode.

If for some reason you can’t or won’t look at the server logs, next easiest is to set up a web proxy like Charles proxy - https://www.charlesproxy.com/ and generate more logs.

Last useful would be downloading Xcode and running instruments on the Mac to connect to your iOS device and look over the system and use console app to attach to the iOS logs as you attempt a download.

Let us know what you did to figure this out!


Barcodes for iTunes are general use UPC barcodes not different from other products.
iTunes requires that all albums have a UPC and all individual songs have an ISRC. ISRC codes are a simple, internationally recognized numbering system for audio and music video recordings. The ISRC, in addition to tracking for Billboard charting, also allows you to get paid for digital music sales by ensuring that your royalties are tracked properly (particularly important for iTunes).
Source - http://simplybarcodes.net/barcode-itune.html


How do I turn off automatic downloads and updates?

You can't disable automatic updates for individual apps.

The only options are to have automatic updates, or to not have automatic updates. It is not possible for granular control currently. You can provide feedback to Apple here:

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


adding a secondary group for user via CLI in Lion is not working

Superfical answer but perhaps it may help:

groups username

tells me that this command is deprecated, and I should be using

id -Gn

or

id -p

I then get the list of groups that i belong to in its entirety.

man id

dsmemberutil seems more like a way to query the data store, which I was actually looking for,so I hope this helps you. Thanks.


Which apps support the vga adapter for iPad 1?

I just tried it, Sketchbookx, Bamboo paper and pdf-notes work with iPad1 (not jailbroken) with VGA connector.


If you can boot to Recovery HD,  then you can check for a local Time Machine back up or external drive backup and make a decision.

Data is most important, so take the Mac to another Mac and use target disk mode or an external drive to get a known good backup off the drive. This assumes your drive or the Mac is failing and this isn’t just a software error and time you spend looking at the logs or trying to fix it delays the chance to save your data on a good drive.
Dig a little into the error and try a reinstall of the os. This assumes the data is intact and you’re Ok risking loss and playing the odds.
Find a technician or spend time learning about the console and boot process and specific boot error (see the logs or boot in verbose mode) to remedy a specific failure in the startup process.


Can I copy from Finder the current Path?

There is a service to open a selected folder in terminal, which can be enabled from System preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Services.
It can either be assigned a keyboard shortcut, or be launched from the services menu:


What is the exclamation mark in the bottom right corner for in Photos for iOS?

After tapping around a bit I tapped on Edit and a message popped up that said there was any issue downloading the photo over cellular. I guess it was just a thumbnail. I recently turned on iCloud Photo Library and turned off cellular data for photos. Turning cellular data back on removed the exclamation mark.


Since Yosemite upgrade, I always need to "force eject" drives?

You can find out what's using the volume with the command:

sudo lsof +D '/Volumes/volumename'

Note that sudo will prompt for your admin password, and it won't echo as you type. The first column will list the name(s) of the processes using files on the volume. In my personal experience, the culprit is usually "mds" and/or "mds_store". These processes are both involved in indexing the files so that Spotlight can search them quickly.

Sometimes they seem to let loose of disk and allow a normal eject, but sometimes not. Unfortunately, I don't know of a real solution; sometimes you just have to use Force Eject.


Hard drive free space discrepency between System Profiler and Finder

If you have Time Machine Local Snapshots enabled (and I'm fairly sure it's enabled by default), then it's going to use some of your free space for creating these local snapshots. However, Finder doesn't take the space used by this feature into account, pretending it is actually free, because if the user starts filling up the disk, then the local snapshots get deleted -- it will only use `idle' free space, so to speak. See this other question for more details.

So, don't worry, if you actually need the extra space reported by Finder, then it will be made available to you when the need arises.


Mac pausing bluetooth headset used by another device

Any sound your computer makes  whether a system sound (i.e. an alert) or something from media will cause the media to stop playing on your other device.  What you have to do is temporarily disconnect from the device you're not listening to.  In macOS, just click on the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar, select your audio device and select Disconnect.

It's only temporary and you and reconnect any time by going to the same menu and clicking Connect.
This happens to me all the time on my iPad and iPhone.  It's not really a bug, but a limitation.  The computer/iPad/iPhone isn't stopping the music, it's the headphone - it's assuming that the "new" sound coming from the device is what should have priority so it sends a pause signal (like you hit the button on the headset manually) to the app playing the music/video/whatever.
I also suggest having all system sounds play through the internal speakers and not the audio device you listen to for videos, music, etc.

I got this information from Sennheiser  support because any small noise my iPhone made would pause the music or podcast I was listening to on my iPad.


Applescript: move all files with a certain extension to the trash

Using your example volume and folder name:
tell application "Finder" to ¬
    move (every item of ¬
        container (alias "DS_30:myfolder") of ¬
        application "Finder" whose name extension = "WMA") to trash


Broken icon in the applications folder in the dock

This is usual behavior for Applications that you newly installed from the internet (not with the Mac App Store).

You should also be asked whether you are sure to open it because it has been downloaded from the internet.

After a restart, or perhaps just logging out and in again, the usual icon should appear.


Does iPhone 6s SIM-FREE mean UNLOCKED & ready to use anywhere in world?

The correct term is FU - Factory Unlocked, but SIM-FREE or UNLOCKED are widely used.  This means that you the phone is not locked to a certain service provider.

Although there are different type of networks around the world, your iPhone 6s will work with most of them, both with voice and data, as long as you insert a local simcard.  Exception might be China  or if a specific carrier cannot support iPhones at all or refuses to support people who don't buy iPhones from them.

If you want to get the fastest available LTE network speeds, things get a little bit more complicated.  The list on http://www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/ will show you which phone you should get to access these fast speeds.  As you can see this list is far from complete - there's a lot of countries not on it.  This doesn't mean your iPhone won't work over there.

Your iPhone 6s will still work and switch back to another - lower broadband wireless - access speed.  Still very much usable though.


Sure, theres a thing called Guided Access, you can "crop" the area where they may not touch, anything in that zone wont work if tapped, and if you tap the home button they will be asked to enter a passcode.

To enable this:

Settings -> General -> Accessibility -> Guided Access

Enable Guided Access
Set a passcode at Passcode Settings
Enable Accessibility Shortcut

Now go into Safari, press home button 3 times, start Guided Access, then draw a block on the address bar and the toolbar at the bottom. Tap Start to begin or Options in lower left corner for more options.

To exit, press home button 3 times and enter passcode.

Hope this helps! :)


Using Configurator 2, Prepare Device Without Changing iOS Version

It seems that the way Apple wants you to do this is described here:

  Update iOS beta software
  You can use Apple Configurator 2 to install beta versions of iOS software.

  To install iOS beta software on a device, select the device in the    device browser and drag the .ipsw file onto the device.

However, the specific use case described is for beta versions of iOS. In my case, I wanted to install an older (than the newest public) version of iOS. It looks like the UI is the same for doing either.

When I attempted to prepare my device this way, the process failed with error codes:

  Personalization failed: 4027
  Personalization failed: 3194

I am not clear whether this is because updating a device to less than the newest version is unsupported ... or there is some other problem. Therefore, I'm leaving this answer, but not accepting it as solved, should someone else have more to add.


What are the "Overlapping Squares" icon in status menu on login screen?

Does the icon look like what is in this image?

http://cdn.osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/screen-sharing-messages-app-mac-os-x.jpg

If so it sounds like it would be related to Screen Sharing.


Is it possible to use custom resolution for Macbook Pro with Intel HD 4000?

No it is not possible. The screen is what is limiting the resolution.

That does mean that you can set up and use an external monitor with higher resolution as you can read on: http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/


Is there a proxy testing application on OSX?

And it runs on linux, windows, android, or even iOS. It's a npm tool called proxy-checker (https://www.npmjs.com/package/proxy-checker). Enjoy.


iOS Mail: Emails are listed in wrong order

Not sure if anyone will still read this but this question was still pretty high in rank on Google search.
I'm moving a large amount of mails from Gmail to self hosted solution, and also noticed this issue. I believe this is not caused by "Apple isn't looking at the same date for sorting that webmail or Outlook uses", rather it's because how the app interacts with IMAP servers.
In IMAP servers, all messages in a specific folder has a unique identifier (UID, see RFC 3501 for more technical details). It's a monotonic increasing number, and the UID is assigned to each mail in the order of it's addition to the mailbox in most cases.
The issue is when migrating emails, sometimes it's not guaranteed that the old mails are inserted in chronological order, so they may be partially "out of order" in terms of UID (in my case, the new mailbox is already receiving new mails when old mails are still being imported by imapsync).
My best guess is iOS mail app is only fetching tailing UID range of a folder, and in a normal mailbox it's just fetching the latest mails. However, in the above situation, it may gets mails that could be very old, but for all mails it's already fetched they will be in right chronological order. The time gap is simply because the app didn't actually have those mails downloaded. When you load more mails, the "missing" mails will be eventually downloaded and shown in right order. (I should have verified this by sniffing but didn't, but this should be the most possible explanation.)
The reason Outlook was fine in @Rick Rothwell's case may be that Outlook actually stores all mail headers locally (IIRC) so it can just reorder the mails locally to show them in chronological order. I've checked Roundcube's source code and it uses IMAP SORT command when fetching mails. However that command supposedly is not supported by some servers, and that could be why iOS mail app was not using it.
To fix the issue, I think the most direct approach is to just move the mails to another temp folder then move them back, while making sure that the moving operation is applied in chronological order (older ones first). As the UID of the mails are tracked per-folder, moving them across folders would give them new UIDs, and by making sure that they are assigned UID in right order there would be no issues in iOS mail app (or any other client that has this issue).