Problems using my Airport Extreme Base Station with an external HD as an iTunes library

You've done the most important optimization available by placing the database files (the iTunes library  files) on the local drive. If you had that on slow storage (and Airport Extreme is in the slow category as far as network storage) then I could see you having slow launch times.

Even a library with 70,000 items stored in it should only have an iTunes Music Library.xml file that takes about 120 MB of space which should load in less than 10 seconds unless your PC is really bogged down with other tasks on the CPU.

The actual size of all the media doesn't affect the application launch time as it only has to parse the library files and not check each and every file before you can start using the program.

I would look at tuning up the PC or speeding up the filesystem where the library files are and see if that results in better app performance.


Phones can and do crash and need help from iTunes to be restored even if no software change has happened. The most common cause of a failure to update was that the phone was already missing a system file and the update just was the "messenger" that checked that file for the first time in a long time.

Why not connect it to a computer with iTunes and then restore the OS to clear out any errors? That will rapidly determine if your problem is a temporary software issue or a deeper hardware problem:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1414 - Use iTunes to restore your iOS device to factory settings


Switch between "In Library" and "All Apple Music" in iTunes Search

If you enable All Controls in System Preferences → Keyboard → Shortcuts, then you can ⇥tab to the button and use space to select it. There does not seem to be a keyboard shortcut for toggling the option directly.


Macbook pro 2017 non touchbar replace ssd

No. That's an SATA 2.5" disk. You need Apple's proprietary 12+16 pin SSD module, Generation 5.
See this page for an extensive coverage of Apple's SSD modules, including those in your Mac.
https://beetstech.com/blog/apple-proprietary-ssd-ultimate-guide-to-specs-and-upgrades
You either need a second-hand Apple OEM part, or a third-party new one, such as OWC's Aura range or Transcend's JetDrive 820.


I happen to have a 17" iMac 4,1. I burned the lubuntu-16.04.5-desktop-i386.iso image to a RW DVD using a 2011 iMac. I booted from the DVD using the 2011 iMac and ran the software on the DVD to verify the DVD was burned correctly.

  To boot from the DVD, you need start the Mac and immediately hold down the option key until the Startup Manager icons appear. Select the DVD icon labelled Windows.

Booting from the DVD using the iMac 4,1 was problematic. Basically, at some point the boot would fail. At least once the boot succeeded. After some research I learned I needed to hit the F6, then include the nomodeset option before selecting Try Lubuntu without installing. Once booted to Lubuntu, I could select the install icon on the desktop to start the installation process.

My iMac 4,1 has the latest firmware updates which are listed below.

Boot ROM Version: IM41.0055.B08
SMC Version (system): 1.1f5

The firmware information can be found under "Hardware Overview" in the System Information application display. Firmware updates for legacy Intel Macs can be downloaded from the Apple website About EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Mac computers.

Additionally, my  iMac 4,1 has 2 GB of RAM installed and has a 1.83 GHz Core Duo (32 bit) processor.


macOS Catalina: incorrect permissions on /tmp directory

I see exactly the same group ownership on my Catalina system, so I suggest that this isn't the cause of whatever problems you have.

Perhaps ask another question detailing the problems with installing applications and writing to /tmp ?


Can I use the Dvorak layout on Japanese keyboard on macOS?

You can choose the layout you want for Japanese inside the preferences for that keyboard.


How to prevent automount of a partition in El Capitan

Tetsujin and user3439894's comments and observations prompted some testing.

Turns out, there is more than one UUID when you look at drives and partitions and the 'diskutil list' command doesn't report the UUID that needs to be used in the vifs/fstab commands.

  root %> diskutil info disk1 | grep -e UUID

Shows that there are Volume, Disk / Partition, LV,LVF and LVG UUIDs ..
I'm only interested in the first two!

When I enter diskutil list I get the "Disk / Partition UUID", when I enter diskutil info disk1 I get both the "Disk / Partition UUID" and the "Volume UUID" (and more ..) I also get the "Volume Name" (the disk label)

Some tests I performed with the Volume - UUID and the disk label indicate:

the UUID in vifs/fstab is the "Volume UUID", don't use tabs!
the UUID command in vifs/fstab doesn't work with the "Disk / Partition UUID", tab/space makes no difference here
when using the "LABEL" syntax, don't use tabs!

Here are the two examples I got to work:

UUID=<Volume UUID><SPACE>none<space>rw,noauto

LABEL=<Volume Name><SPACE>none<space>rw,noauto

You can find the <Volume UUID> and the <Volume Name> of your internal disk by running

diskutil info disk1 | grep -e "Volume\ Name" -e "Volume\ UUID"

On my system the external disk-info shows up for disk2s1 and disk3s1


How to "killall" Visual Studio Code in Terminal?

I have Visual Studio Code, version 1.1.1, installed and on my system the following works for me:
kill -9 $(pgrep Electron)

Update: Just tested with Visual Studio Code, version 1.14.1, under macOS 10.12.5 and the above command closes Code and Code Helper that show in Activity Monitor.
PS: killall Electron also works.


How to Sync my Mail app with my Gmail account?

Check to see if Gmail on your Mac is set up to use IMAP instead of POP3 by going to Preferences > Accounts in Mail. IMAP syncs the read / unread status (among a host of other benefits).

If it's not set up to use IMAP then you'll have to remove the account and add it again, this time making sure to select IMAP in the account wizard.


Check the RAM.

Ordinarily bad or improperly seated Ram will prevent booting BUT it is worth checking.

However, this sounds like a hardware problem as you have done so much troubleshooting.

My suggestion is to bite the bullet and take the old Mac into a brick and mortar Apple Store.


Is this S.M.A.R.T. data normal for a 2013 Macbook Air SSD?

Fundamentally the SMART data of your 2013 Macbook Air SSD is normal comparing it with my Apple SSD SD0128F (inside a Fusion drive).

Probably some attribute names (namely Unexpected Power Loss Count and Program Fail Count Chip) provided by your SMART app are false:
Using two different SMART utilities here, the ID# 174 has the attribute name Host_Reads_MiB and the ID# 175 has the attribute name Host_Writes_MiB in both applications, which mean all read / written Mebibytes (~ 1.05 MB) in the life time of the SSD.

In your case that would translate to ~773 GB read and ~367 GB written.
Considering 3 power on hours (ID 9) of the SSD this results in 71.6 MB/s read and 33.9 MB/s written constantly - which seems a bit high.

The values here are 14,894,386 and 20,658,326 which equal 15.6 TB read and 21,7 TB written. With 698 power on hours this results in 6.2 MB/s read and 8.6 MB/s written constantly.

You may test this by making notes of the two values (ID174/175), executing a full restart and comparing the new values with the old values:

In my case (Mavericks 10.9.5) on the SSD the ∆ host_reads_MiB is 1820 MB and the ∆ host_writes_MiB 291 MB. On the HDD the ∆ Total_LBA_READ is 475 MB and the ∆ Total_LBA_Written 22 MB. Taken together ~2.3 GB are read and 313 MB are written while restarting a Mac - which seem legit values.


Every time I have had a color problem with an external monitor the problem was caused by a loose/bad connection between the display's cable the and display adapter dongle on my Mac.  Make sure the cable is firmly and completely seated inside the port on the dongle.


You can use the Migration Assistent found in Application/Utilities folder. This program will allow you to copy files, pictures, folders, programs, settings and more from a Time Machine backup.

Edit:
Open Migration Assistent and choose Time machine option, then click continue. Connect the time machine backup disk and choose it from the menu. Then select things to copy.

Read more here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204350

This is a similar question:
Restore files from Time Machine to a different Mac


iPhone makes shutter sound when taking photos despite being on mute

It is possible the refurbished unit originated from Japan or Korea, where the setting of the mute switch is deliberately ignored by the Camera app. See this article at engadget.


OSX crashes and reboots several hours after going to "sleep" (lid closed)

In my case the issue was related exactly to VMWare. Before putting my laptop to sleep I suspend the VM and the issue doesn't happen. That's a "pause" button in the VMWare UI.

Edit:

Looks like VMWare sleep functionality is buggy. I once got my entire VM getting to the point of no return. I simply use vagrant suspend these days before putting my laptop to sleep. No need to bring up VMWare UI.


The Siri natural (enhanced) voice has to download. If you've got a slow connection it might be a few days before Siri has the voice that you have become accustomed to.


iMac I/O very slow - hardware issue? How can I diagnose fault?

Backups that take 16 hours are certainly normal if you have lots of small files top update and copy (lots been 200,000 or so). Diagnosing failing / failed drives is generally easy for a technician since the system logs IO errors to the system log and hangs to Library/Logs. On the end user level, you won't be able to run a filesystem check / repair disk / erase disk using Disk Utility without errors when a drive is failed or failing. (Unfortunately you may get no warning other than a slowdown before it fails, so good on you for having a backup now)

For backups, the HDD access time is what limits things - doubly so if your source and destination are spinning drives or worse, a remote network volume. HDD might handle several hundred IOPS (input and output per second) best case and the backup process throttles IO usage to not impact the running system so if the backup ran in the foreground what might take an hour might stretch to dozens since it's throttled.

Now that your backup is done, how long does it take to make a backup if you quit all the apps running, and don't have any launch when you log in and then perform this test.

Log out of your account (and any others if you fast user switch)
Log in and start no apps except the terminal app in Utilities folder
Run a blocking backup and time exactly how long it takes

The command for that is:

 time tmutil startbackup --block

On a 2015 MacBook with SSD backing up to a new USB 3.0 HD, you might see this for a very small change in data from the last backup interval on a smoothly running system:

mac:~ me$ time tmutil startbackup --block
Total copied: 61.64 MB (64633164 bytes)
Avg speed:    39.21 MB/min (685202 bytes/sec)

real    2m26.550s
user    0m0.046s
sys     0m0.046s

If you post a couple of these with actual times we can discuss if it's worth erasing the drive and repartitioning it and running some speed benchmark tests or if you just need an SSD instead of HDD or if this is a sign the drive is failing and you'll be super glad you have a backup to restore once you replace that drive with a new HDD that runs at full speed.


Buying IPhone in another person name without contract (withoutcontract)

The warranty is tight to the device via serial number, not the purchaser name.


Which text editors take advantage of Lion's Versions feature?

TexShop, the Latex editor, now supports Lion versions. It is not a general Text Editor but can be used as such and supports many of the features you requested.

http://pages.uoregon.edu/koch/texshop/lion.html


Keep backing up when I put machine to sleep?

Your observation of how Time Machine is backing up is the same as mine. If TM is running a backup and you put your machine to sleep it will resume that backup on wake, but it will not keep your Air awake when you close the lid Unless you wish to prevent your Air from going to sleep when you close the lid, this is the expected behavior.

Time Machine takes its sweet time, especially if you have a chunk of data that needs to be backed up. I tend to let my backup finish by plugging in my machine and running Caffeine and then putting it to sleep later. The truth is, though, I've never had a real problem with the backup restarting on wake.


Why does my 13" MacBook Pro have trouble running Adobe Bridge on a 27" Apple Monitor?

First off, make sure you've run AAM to update all components to latest:

/Library/Application Support/Adobe/OOBE/PDApp/core/Adobe Application Manager.app

What happens when you set your displays to mirror (command-F1), launch Bridge, then revert back to extended?


Switching between tabs within the same Window in an app

Use Command + Shift + ← to go to the left tab and Command + Shift + → to go the to right tab.

This works in both Finder and Safari. It could be other combinations for other programs.


Sync ratings bidirectional between iOS and iTunes on PC?

You can turn off manual mode and use automatic syncing -- this will maintain the ratings both ways. In iTunes you want to be sure "manually manage music and videos" is not checked.

Might need some tweaking if you don't sync your whole library though.  Best way I found to solve that complexity issue is using smart playlists...


There's a tutorial on how to setup Kerberos for OS X here: http://computing.help.inf.ed.ac.uk/kerberos-mac-os-x. After that Safari should automatically work with the SSO, Firefox & Chrome may need further settings configured.

For iOS devices I'm unsure, it appears that to do it it requires either the device is in an Enterprise group, or that you build it with the iOS Configurator application but it's not entirely clear on how it should be done.


The only feature that needs to be enabled on the Time Capsule is the file sharing feature.

This will activate AFP and SMB Filesharing which allows your Mac, PC and Android Device to access the Time Capsule and use it as a NAS (basically the Time Capsule is a glorified NAS).

To access your file on the Time Capsule you need a SMB client for Android such as ES File Explorer:

Access the menu and select the LAN tab.
Perform a network scan and after a few seconds the time capsule should appear:

Select the computer and enter the login credentials to access your Time Capsule (username and password for the Time Capsule). You should see a folder that is named after the partition you see in the AirPort Utility when enabling the file sharing feature.


Time Machine and the dreaded negative sign

Yes, it's scary, and yes I'd be worried.  Why doesn't bob already own his own backups?  If it's because of a UID or UUID mis-match, what's preventing recreating this problem (perhaps in reverse) in the future?  If you can risk damaging the live machine I'd rather change Bob's UID and UUID on the live machine than on the backups, on the theory that there are probably other UUID mis-matches lurking on other disks.

In any case, scary as it is, if I were to try to fix I'd use the Finder if it were just a few folders that could be fixed with "Apply to enclosed items...".  If that was impractical, next thing I'd try would be to find files owned by whoever currently owns Bob's stuff and change only those files.  Going off of file path seems kind of risky to me.


Copy SMS and imessages from one phone to other WITHOUT restoring backup

I work on a tool called Decipher Phone Refresh (https://deciphertools.com/decipher-phone-refresh.html) running this over the backup and selecting to keep only the Messages app data (definitely not accounts) should accomplish a clean backup with the Messages data that won't require the old iCloud account during setup. So uncheck all of the options, and only check the Messages app data.

Don't select apps, since those will be tied to the old App Store account (which I assume is the same as the iCloud account) and will ask for the password to install the apps.


Where the ambient temperature sensor is located on 27" iMacs?

As per the manual and take apart guide provided by Apple to Apple Certified Mac Technicians: the ambient temp sensor is attached to the CPU blower (or fan).


How to run iPython Notebook as a service

In the end I created the following .plist file. It is autoloaded on startup and it will start a jupiter notebook and keep it alive.

<?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>KeepAlive</key>
          <true/>
          <key>Label</key>
          <string>cern.chernals.ipython</string>
          <key>ProgramArguments</key>
          <array>
              <string>/usr/local/bin/jupyter-notebook</string>
          </array>
          <key>RunAtLoad</key>
          <true/>
          <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
          <string>/Users/chernals/Library/LaunchAgents/jupyter-notebook.stderr</string>
          <key>StandardOutPath</key>
          <string>/Users/chernals/Library/LaunchAgents/jupyter-notebook.stdout</string>
              <key>KeepAlive</key>
              <true/>
      </dict>
      </plist>


Is there a Subversion 1.7 GUI Client for OSX Lion?

Cornerstone just updated to 1.7 on Feb. 10th http://www.zennaware.com/cornerstone/index.php


What does "when iMessage is unavailable" mean?

It means either

when the device is unable to determine if a message has been delivered over the iMessage transport successfully. When a successful delivery occurs you see a little 'Delivered' notification below the message in the history, and after a period you should have the option to resend as an SMS
or the recipient has no registration with the iMessage server to indicate that it could use the iMessage transport and will use SMS instead.


Converting a float to hours:minutes in Numbers

I was trying to do the same thing to represent X seconds in a time format.

=CONCATENATE(A0,"s")+"0s" which A0 is seconds


To answer your question:

alias julia="/Applications/Julia-0.3.0.app/Contents/Resources/julia/bin/julia"

tested.

(You need to make sure the alias goes inside the OS X app package all the way to binary.)


OS X 10.9 Mavericks subtle two-finger scrolling changes (on touchpad)

I arrived at this page because I also perceived a subtle change in the trackpad scrolling mechanics after upgrading to Mavericks.  It does indeed feel that medium-speed scrolling is slowed down a bit from before (10.7 in my case).  I don't have a machine running the older OS to test this on, though.

Anyway, I turned up the scrolling speed to max in System Preferences > Accessibility > Mouse & Trackpad and find the new mechanics tolerable on that setting.  This is maybe not the solution you are looking for but perhaps other readers will be content as I am with this fix.


How to use USB Ethernet adapter on MacBook Pro

It turns out I was using an old driver that was given on Insignia's website. I found that it is a Realtek adapter and the most updated driver is found here: http://www.realtek.com.tw/Downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=13&PFid=56&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false. This driver fixed all my problems.


How to enable AirPlay mirroring on an iPad mini?

After another round of reboots (first: software update for the Apple TV, second: reboot of the iPad mini), it now works:

It seems that some hiccup was responsible, which was very, very sticky. So the often mentioned hint of rebooting does really work. Just try it often enough... :)


Spotlight search stopped working after upgrading to iOS 13

If your search is showing empty search results, try these as best and first solution:

Tap Settings > General > Language & Region > iPad Language or iPhone Language
Select a language (e.g.; Canada English) and tap Done. Then confirm your change by tapping Continue.
Now change back to your original language.

If you think that Search is still not finding items, meaning it is not working correctly, try these steps:

Go to Settings > Siri & Search
Turn off (deactivate) everything (search results) by being on each App
Now turn off your device by pressing and holding the on/off button until you see the slider. Then slide the red slider.
Turn your device on.
Now go to Settings > Siri & Search and now turn everything on.**


Is there a way to use a Thunderbolt monitor with Bootcamp (WIndows 7) and not need to restart each time it's connected?

Yes.

  Thunderbolt hot plug is supported under Windows 8 or 8.1 on all 2014 and later Mac computers.

No - if you run older OS or hardware. In that case, this appears to be something you have to live with. The options are running Windows in a virtual machine so that Apple’s OS X drivers handle the hot plug for you or interrupt your workflow to accommodate the Windows drivers. Sorry, but I've not seen any other options so far to address this.

Reference: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204154


There are a number of things you can try...

Sometimes applications have memory leaks where the memory bloats over time, if you've been using Safari heavily, or using it for a long time without exiting and rebooting this could be an issue. Quitting Safari and reopening should fix this.
Check for extensions, and plugins that Safari uses to see if there are any malicious or unexpected plugins/try removing them temporarily to see if this fixes the issue.

Details of the Plug-Ins folders: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH19241?locale=en_GB&viewlocale=en_US

Best to do a backup before tinkering in the Library folders!

Try creating a new user account and see if Safari has the same issue in this account.


Is it possible to sync Google Chrome bookmarks with Safari?

Use Xmarks worked OK for me except for Firefox where it duplicated the book marks each time I used it.

Althougn now in Mavericks or because of a later version of Firefox it works


If it happens again, try the following:

Right click any Gmail folder that is missing messages and select "Get Account Info".

This forces Mail to search through the entire Gmail account for messages and will restore missing messages in all folders for that account.

The missing mail problem occurred for me when I upgraded from Mountain Lion to Mavericks 10.9.1 with Mail 7.1 (1827). I had unsuccessfully tried:

clicking "Get new messages in all accounts"
synchronising the mailbox
taking the account offline and then back online
rebuilding the mailboxes
un-enabling the account, restarting Mail and then re-enabling the account.

Only getting the account info solved the problem for me.


iMessage comes from a different (unknown) phone number? Possible to change own number?

Try these:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3401647?start=0&tstart=0

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1255571


How can I rip my DVD to play them on my TV?

You can use HandBrake.

  HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows.

There are a lot of built-in preset  you can chose from to rip your DVD to a format you'll be able to play on your multimedia device.


Why can't I clear the "Composer" field for tracks in my music library on my iPhone?

I don't understand why this is happening to you. My songs are set up the same way (classical has composer info, others do not) and the transfers are fine back and forth with my iPad and iPod when I edit the Composer field.

If you have a Mac, you could try this.

Drag a music file from iTunes to the desktop. Delete the file from iTunes and your iPhone and sync and make sure it's gone. Then drag the music file back to iTunes (with the iPhone powered down) and edit it. Drag it to the desktop, delete from iTunes and put it back, making sure that all the details are as you want them. Then sync to the iPhone.


Can you turn off the (the lighting) of the Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pros?

You can turn off the Touch Bar with this open source utility, Touch Bar Disabler. It disables the Touch Bar display, while mapping brightness controls onto Ctrl + 0, Ctrl + 1, volume controls onto Ctrl + 8, Ctrl + 9, Ctrl + 0.


What is the difference between “/private/var/vm” and “/vm”?

This happens because of a change that happened within the High Sierra versions. It is unknown whether this is a bug, or simply a change of hearts at Apple, but with High Sierra the location of the swapfile was changed from /private/var/vm to /vm, and then in a later update to High Sierra moved back to /privat/var/vm.

The best way to proceed is to ensure that you have upgraded to the latest High Sierra version. If the extraneous swapfile in /vm/swapfile0 still exists and takes up disk space, then boot up in Recovery Mode, use Disk Utility to mount the main volume, and start a Terminal and run: (replace TheVolumeName with the name of the main volume)

rm /Volumes/TheVolumeName/vm/swapfile0

Then you can reboot afterwards.


Strange padlock icon on status bar (not rotation-lock!)

This icon does not appear in any of the devices running iOS 7 or 8.

It's probably caused by a jailbreak tweak. OpenNotifier is one such jailbreak tweak which lets you customise the status bar to indicate notifications from any app. The icon does not seem to relate to anything specific so it's quite impossible to tell what's it's indicating. Checking the tweak settings could tell what's that icon is indicating.


Alright I solved this. Somehow, this setting was missing in iTerm on my MacBook Pro.


My research shows that images downloaded from Facebook always ends with “_n.jpg” !

So you must have downloaded them from Facebook to your phone.

iCloud then synced them with your Mac, unless you transferred them your self.


How to shuffle all songs in iOS 8.4 music app

In the My Music tab under the Recently Added album artwork is a title which by default reads Artists it is a pink drop down menu.
Select Songs from the list.
Select any song to start playback.
Enable shuffle mode, disable repeat.


Is an admin password enough to protect my files?

In general, no - setting an admin password is not enough to keep your files safe. If someone has possession of your MBP, it is pretty easy for them to change your account password, and then access any of your unencrypted files. Your keychain is safe, since it cannot be unlocked without the original password.

FileVault 2 (Full Disk Encryption) does not make much of an impact on speed. If security is a concern, it is worth implementing.


Here's how I installed the module:

Download source code from [mod_xsendfile github repository)[https://github.com/nmaier/mod_xsendfile/releases]
Install a newer Apache via homebrew, i.e. brew install httpd (note: it will not remove or damage your current, Apple-provided apache install)
Go to sbin in apache dir, i.e. /usr/local/Cellar/httpd/2.2.23/sbin
Compile the module (as fat-module variant):

./apxs -cia -Wc,"-arch i386 -arch x86_64" -Wl,"-arch i386 -arch x86_64" /path/to/mod_xsendfile.c

Restart apache.


Planning to test our web application in Safari/Windows 7 instead of Safari/OS X & iOS

Safari for Windows was dropped at version 6, in 2012. It is no longer available for download, directly from Apple, though can be found on several file hosters.
The last version of Safari for Windows was 5.1.7, released May 9, 2012.

I would say testing against such an outdated version would not really be useful at all.

There's a long article on resurrecting it for Windows 10 here though it doesn't deal with the comparison in security or real compatibility terms.


How do I log into my child's OS X account (under parental control) without knowing the password?

Technically, you can reset her password.

From a privacy point of view, you have to be clear with your policy. If you let her have an account with her own password, you implicitly agree that you should not log into her account without her approval. The solution is then to ask her to type her password so that you can use her account.


Are there any preventative measures I should employ after my MacBook was seemingly bricked?

Proceed to take it to an apple store for checking
Run Apple Diagnostics on your Mac:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202731
Run "/applications/utilities/disk utility" to check out the drive.

You will need to answer two prompts.

Run ends with:

This picture is from High Sierra.  user3439894 has provided additional links.

Should you find a problem, you can boot in recovery mode ( hold down command + r then power on your machine ). Look for Disk Utility under Utilities. Run "repair disk".


It seems the layout may have been modified.

Try using AltGr+Shift+3.

You can also check what key combinations produce what characters by enabling the On-Screen-Keyboard :

  Open System Preferences and go to “Keyboard”, and look under the “Keyboard” tab
  Check the box next to “Show Keyboard & Character Viewers in menu bar”
  Enable the virtual keyboard input in Mac OS X
  Pull down the newly visible Keyboard menu and choose “Show Keyboard Viewer”


How to tell if a Retina MacBook Pro has gone to sleep when the lid is closed?

It won't just overheat in its bag, but will also quickly drain its battery.
I always press the power button for about 1 to 2 seconds before closing the lid. The screen will go dark when you release. If you hold it too long, a dialog will come up asking if you want to sleep or shutdown. Choose wisely.


The wifi 'switch' is in the iOS software, and it is certainly not a discrete physical object that can be replaced.

From the iFixit teardown of this particular iPad, you can see that replacing the wi-fi chip itself is next to impossible to repair or replace. iPad logic boards are replaced in their entirety, and individual modules (like wi-fi chips) cannot be swapped.


How to change color of TODAY in Calendar?

In OS X it’s possible to change the highlight color. You can do this in the General ▸ Appearance panel in System Preferences.

Now you can enable the system highlight color for the today selection with the following command.

defaults write com.apple.ical CalUIUseSystemHighlightColorForToday -bool TRUE


Can a Mac's separate audio-in and audio-out ports be reversed in software?

Every Mac with two headphone sized jacks has one for in and one for out as the hardware is specialized for one direction. You don't need to repair the computer to remedy this if you are OK with an external DAC such as the Griffin iMic.

The Mid 2009 MBP have identical physical connectors soldered on to the logic board, so even if the jack parts themselves are physically identical, they are wired to different parts of the sound in/out circuitry for both analog and digital and replacing that mounted part that would require a high level of soldering skill. The cheapest repair for this issue is the flat rate repair from Apple but even that is pricey when you could use tape or some other physical aid to keep the headphone in the jack as the metal latch no longer holds the pin properly.


How to get the default compiler of c++ on Mac os x

I don't think Mac come with a C/C++ compiler by default anymore. I recommend that you install XCode and XCode commandline tools from the App Store. That will give you the gcc compiler (and probably LLVM as well).

Without knowing your build process, I can't tell you how to set a default compiler. There will be an option in XCode as well as options with command-line build tools. IOW, Macs do not have a system-wide default compiler setting that I'm aware of.

Here's the official documentation on how to use a different compiler with CMake.
https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/community/wikis/FAQ#how-do-i-use-a-different-compiler


You are getting the read-only file system error because on OS X NTFS is natively read-only. It was read-only before your Time Machine run in, and will stay that way unless you install a third-party driver, such as Tuxera NTFS.

Disk Utility's built-in repair commands are merely a GUI front-end for fsck and fsck_hfs. They are not meant to be used on an NTFS-formatted disk.


Hardware requirement for IOS compilation

I use a 13" retina MacBook Pro for writing applications (for iOS or OS X) in multiple languages with Xcode. I find that my computer is, more often than not, enough to compile an application for release from the command line.

Of course, the general rule that the more powerful your computer, the faster it will get stuff done applies, so it's a matter of how much you're willing to wait.

Depending on the size of your uncompiled application, compilation times can take anywhere from a few seconds to ten minutes.


dual (two factor-auth) gmail accounts in Mail.app

You shouldn't use your Google account password to sign in to a mail app. Instead, use an App Password. That's because most mail apps can't handle a two-factor auth code. For more information, visit https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185833?hl=en.

You can create an App Password at https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords


How do I prevent App Store showing badge on its icon on OS X 10.9 Mavericks?

You cannot. Notifications (which include icon badges) are not configurable for the Mac App Store app.


On my Parallels 8 installation, they're mounted as \\psf\ which is also mapped to drive Z:.


How can I find the owner of an obstinate iPhone?

Your best bet is to just place an ad on Craigslist and in the paper in the lost and found sections. If someone tries to claim the phone, have them identify the picture on the lock screen.

I used to work at an Apple Store Genius Bar. We were not allowed to give out any information from our system ever. If you're located in the US and the phone has a SIM, it probably has AT&T as a carrier. They will not be able to give you any info on the phone either.

Just to provide some insight as far as why Apple can't help you contact the whoever might be listed in their system, remember that a computer or iPhone is a transferrable device. We would frequently have customers bring in a device for repair that was purchased secondhand and the original owner's information was still in our system.

Let's say Tommy buys a MacBook Pro and registers it. Later, Tommy sells his MacBook Pro to Kate because he's broke. Kate purchases the MacBook Pro but does not update the registration. A month later, she leaves the computer in an airport and you find it. You take it to the Apple store and they say, "Oh, here is all of Tommy's info. We'll just call up Tommy and he can come get his MacBook back."

Tommy is not a very scrupulous person, and he fails to mention that he sold the MacBook Pro a month ago. He comes and picks it up and now he has Kate's money and his old computer back. Sweet deal, right? So you can see why this isn't something that Apple would be willing to do.

The Apple employee you talked to was not trying to be obstructive when he wouldn't help you out, but there's a lot of liability things at stake here. They were pretty committed to the idea of protecting customer data, sometimes to the point of idiocy when I worked there, so they're pretty much a dead end as far as returning the phone.


The best workaround I've found:

defaults write com.apple.dock tilesize -int 1
killall Dock

This makes the dock so tiny that it won't ruin your fullscreen workflow when it does pop out.


iOS has the option of backing up to iCloud.

OS X can use iCloud Drive to maintain remote synchronised copies of some data. For everything else, you need to have been using Time Machine locally, or a paid online backup solution such as Backblaze for disaster recovery.

It is your responsibility to ensure these are active & up to date.

With no backup, then you need to be looking at data recovery solutions. Whether that is software such as Disk Drill or Data Rescue or a dedicated [& expensive] Data Recovery Service depends on the actual cause of the HD 'crash' & the value of the lost data.


MacBook Pro lock screen hotkey without sleeping?

High Sierra and higher(?)
As usual every system update changes something.
There is now a Apple Menu item control+⌘+Q that locks the screen!
Sierra and lower
You can add the Lock Screen to your Menubar.

In Spotlight (⌘ + Space) search for Keychain Access

Open Preferences (⌘ + ,)

Check Show keychain status in menu bar This will show a lock in your Menu Bar with an option Lock Screen
(Optional)

System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts or Keyboard Tab

In the App Shortcuts or Application Shortcuts section, add a new item for All Applications with the Menu Title of Lock Screen and a Keyboard shortcut that you like.

This way you don't have to change your Screensaver timeout and you can lock your machine much like you do in windows. Note that You may also need to Logout and back in for any changes to the shortcut to take effect.


How can I change a smart folder's icon without changing the default icon?

How can you change the colors of the glyphs in the Finder sidebar, while leaving them as their default icon? You can't (unless there's a third party tool about which I am unfamiliar). However, you can change the default icons to your heart's content. Here's how:

As a test, I created a Smart Folder that finds all PDFs in my home directory. The default glyph for the Smart Folder is a gear, as noted in the OP.

Here are the steps to change the glyph:

Locate the directory /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources
Locate the file called SidebarSmartFolder.icns

Rename it to SidebarSmartFolder_old.icns
Paste into Resources folder the glyph you want to use in its place.
Rename it to SidebarSmartFolder.icns
Reboot your Mac.

You'll see now that my Smart Folder glyph in the sidebar has changed to the new one.


In Finder, use the Go in menu => Recent Folders. This is the closest you can get to

  "open[ing] in the last place I placed something"

More Information:

If you don't like the default, you can change the default Finder window to open as well. Go to Preferences in Finder.


iTunes starts randomly opening every time iPhone is connected -- settings contradict

In iTunes, open "Preferences",
Select "Devices" tab,
Check the box marked "Prevent iPhone, iPods and iPads from syncing automatically"

It started annoying for a few day and this fixed for me.


How is "Show alerts from my contacts" for Messages in iOS Notification Center supposed to work?

There's 2 different things here which are not pretty clear.

First of all, there's SMS and iMessage.

And like explained on this blog you can restrict iMessages from giving a notification if you decide you want contacts only (since iOS6). This does not work for SMS.

With iOS the name of Show iMessage alerts from changed, but the functionality remained the same.


My first thought would be to try and resolve the initial issue (i.e. the fact your MBP is not recognising the main drive slot), as that's what is most likely causing your current problem as well.

However, since you seem happy to work off the optical drive, I would try the following:

First reset the NVRAM and SMC (in that order)1
Boot up from the optical drive slot
Go to Apple > System Preference > Startup Disk
Ensure that the current boot drive is selected
Exit System Preferences and Restart your MBP

Now test to see if that has made any difference.

1. Since you haven't provided details of your exact MBP model I've included links to Apple's instructions. Make sure you read these carefully so that you're following the correct steps for your MBP.


How to use Mac microphone for a phone call on iPhone

You should be able to use the FaceTime app on your Mac to place calls via your iPhone.

To set this up it should be as simple as signing into the same Wi-Fi on both devices (Mac & iPhone) and the same FaceTime account on both devices.

From here you can make calls by just typing the number into this box in FaceTime:

As for using the microphone, you can configure which devices to use for speaker, microphone and webcam in the "Video" menu...

Finally once you've linked this all up inbound calls should show up as a notification you can answer on the Mac. If you prefer to answer on iPhone you can do this and then on the iPhone call app you can click the "Audio" option to route the call to your Mac where the FaceTime app will take over...

EDIT: Evidence that FaceTime can make calls from the Mac via an iPhone:


Finder window pops up every time Time Machine makes a backup

I solved it by running

sudo defaults write com.apple.frameworks.diskimages auto-open-rw-root -bool false

Source: https://superuser.com/questions/584237/make-time-machine-stop-opening-a-new-window-when-backing-up


I had this exact problem, and I was pretty annoyed by it. I stopped "locking" my screen, and instead started "sleeping" display. The wifi stays connected when screen is asleep. I assigned "Sleep Display" to a hotkey using BetterTouchTool (http://blog.boastr.net/).

Then, I went to System Preferences > Security > Require Password after sleep or screensaver begins.

Now my hotkey puts my display to sleep, and then the computer requires password when I wake it up. So it's the same functionality of Locking my computer without losing wifi.


How do i enter my numeric password in iPhone 4 in VoiceOver mode?

Try triple tapping the home button.

If that fails you, it might be more involved to rescue the device.

Either connect the iOS device to iTunes and disable voiceover or learn enough of the voiceover interface to get to settings and change them on the device.

For many people, VoiceOver is not at all intuitive at first go and really optimized for people that learn how to use it. This learning is an effort unlike the normal iOS interface that toddlers can get with no real training needed. I would say learning VoiceOver is like learning to ride a bike - not hard, but easier if you have someone guiding you or you practice on soft ground while learning and falling.

Tips on using VoiceOver

The touch interface is totally different in VoiceOver. First you have to tap once to select the number, then you double tap anywhere on the screen to select the spoken element.

If your password was 1228, you would:

tap once on 1, then double tap anywhere on the screen to enter 1
tap once on 2, then double tap twice anywhere on the screen to enter 2 twice
tap once on 8, then double tap anywhere in the screen to enter 8

Tips on disabling VoiceOver from iTunes

In iTunes you select summary and click Universal Access, then choose either Zoom or Neither rather than VoiceOver.


Photo App won't open after I downloaded OS X El Capitan V.10.11

To bypass this, hold down the Option key as you open the Photos app. You will get a dialog box letting you choose other (i)Photo libraries, or open a new, blank library:


How do I use 'security set-keychain-settings' to prevent locking?

If you run security set-keychain-settings without anything else it will turn off both "Lock when sleeping" and "Lock after  minutes of inactivity" for the 'login' Keychain. It will also set the default number of minutes back to 5.

From there you can turn on whatever settings you want.


So I just tested this out on my computer by moving around some icons. Looks like the file that stores the information is here:

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.plist and if you have it on your system ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.QuarantineEventsV2

So to test you can grab the two files and drag them over to the desktop. I would suggest logging out and back in of your account and then going back into Launch pad to test if issue is resolved.


Can I copy and paste iDevice backups to an external drive?

Yes, you can do this.

However, if you have a Time Machine backup1 you should already have these backups included, so you could potentially negate the need to copy the backup twice.

Either way, I'd do a fresh backup of your iDevice before proceeding.

1 You should definitely have some sort of backup regime in place, even if it isn't via Time Machine.


Apparently I don't have a problem.

The iBooks Store button in iBooks does nothing, apparently I should purchase Books through iTunes!

EXCEPT for User Guides - These can be accessed through the iTunes Help menu.

The download of the Guide I found on iTunes apparently does nothing, because they have already been downloaded!! - even though it says downloading for hours!

  Thank You Apple for such a simple, obvious, well documented, easy to use application.


How can you pause text to speech so that it restarts from where you left off?

This is a feature people wanted for a long time but it never came. An alternative is to use voice over but it doesn't really allow you to read out loud the highlighted text, it has to be the entire document. To activate it the default shortcut is command F5. You have to enable it in setting, just search for voice over.

There is one other way. You can save the entire document as txt file and open it with any browser of yours, tested on chrome or safari. Select all and right click, then "add to itunes as spoken track." It will take a few minutes and then you will have an audio file you can play. Press pause key on the keyboard to pause or resume while reading.


Does screen protector really protect anti-relfective coating in Macboon pro Retina display?

My understanding is that the problem with the anti-reflective coating is that it slowly delaminates. I.e. the coating simply comes off the screen. The cause of it does not seem to be heat, but rather pressure from outside sources or just time passing.

In that light, I don't think a screen protector will protect you against this delamination. Any pressure exerted on the screen protector will also affect the coating. Instead I'm worried that the screen protector will actually make it worse as it will put a (small) weight on the coating at all times.


Mail.app extremely slow on OS X 10.9 Mavericks

Thanks for uploading the Logfile. There are several entries which could describe the Problems, f.e.:

25/10/13 4:29:58.408 pm WindowServer[125]   disable_update_timeout: UI updates were forcibly disabled by application "Mail" for over 1.00 seconds. Server has re-enabled them.
25/10/13 4:30:12.256 pm WindowServer[125]   disable_update_likely_unbalanced: UI updates still disabled by application "Mail" after 15.00 seconds (server forcibly re-enabled them after 1.00 seconds). Likely an unbalanced disableUpdate call.

and

25/10/13 4:36:30.089 pm WindowServer[125]   common_reenable_update: UI updates were finally reenabled by application "Mail" after 392.86 seconds (server forcibly re-enabled them after 1.00 seconds)
25/10/13 4:37:26.568 pm com.apple.IconServicesAgent[437]    main Failed to composit image for binding VariantBinding [0x159] flags: 0x8 binding: FileInfoBinding [0x359] - extension: jpg, UTI: public.jpeg, fileType: ????.

and

25/10/13 4:45:13.084 pm Mail[408]   xpc __securityd_create_connection_block_invoke got event: Connection interrupted

and

25/10/13 4:45:21.796 pm com.apple.internetaccounts[463] An instance 0x7fcb64cef770 of class IMAPMailbox was deallocated while key value observers were still registered with it. Observation info was leaked, and may even become mistakenly attached to some other object. Set a breakpoint on NSKVODeallocateBreak to stop here in the debugger. Here's the current observation info:
<NSKeyValueObservationInfo 0x7fcb64cf0620> (
<NSKeyValueObservance 0x7fcb64cf0750: Observer: 0x7fcb64f28160, Key path: uidNext, Options: <New: NO, Old: NO, Prior: NO> Context: 0x12131544b, Property: 0x7fcb64cf05f0>
)

Some of the entries describe Timeouts because of syncing errors. How to fix them?

I would cleanup the Cache of the Mailaccount either by moving the Cache Folder or be deleting and recreating the IMAP-Account.

If you want to cleanup the Cache you have to:

Quit Mail
got to ~/Library/Mail/V2
Find the Folder for your IMAP-Account in the Folder "V2". It should be named something like "IMAP-you@email.address"
move the Folder for your IMAP-Account somewhere else, f.e. to the Desktop
start Mail again. It should be syncing the Mails from your IMAP-Account to your Computer in a normal fashion.

If that does not help you could try the second approach: deleting the IMAP-Account and recreating it.

Try that and post your results please.


Using dictation in the command line (e.g. transcribe an audio recording to a text file)

Dictation only works in standard text input UI widgets. Terminal applications typically don't use them.

The time limit per submission for processing is 30 seconds.


A lav mic like the one you linked to is so detached from your Mac that it really doesn't make sense to consider the compatibility between the two devices...

In a way, yes, all microphones can be made to work with your Mac, but if you were wondering if you could use one of the 1/8" terminated replacement model numbers plugged directly into the headphone jack, the answer would be a big no.

A lav usually plugs into the body pack (power feed/radio transmitter) on the wearer, used in situations where mobility is important (theatre, broadcasting, stage, etc.)

In a typical use case, you have lav → pack ⤏ (RF signal) ⤏ receiver → mixer → then the output. It usually comes part of a system comprising at least the first three components in that chain.

Between the mic and your MBP, there would have to be (at the minimum) an audio interface providing 48V phantom power. If you already have a system capable of powering a condenser mic, conceivably you might be able to order it XLR-terminated, but I don't know if Sennheiser would fill such an order.

Actually, your question made me curious and I googled around a bit, and to my surprise, did find this lav mic that looks like it would work directly plugged into the headphone jack on a MBP. It's definitely an oddball, but looks cool, apparently they use some MEMS device to make a proper condenser mic work with the limited current available from the TRRS jacks on iPhones and Macs. Maybe it would fit your requirements better.


Why can't I create a .ssh directory on macOS 10.15.4?

I booted into recovery mode, and ran First Aid on my disk. First the Macintosh HD volume, which returned without error.

Then, when I ran First Aid on the "Macintosh HD - Data" volume, the operation failed, with these errors:

I ran this operation twice, with the same errors. I didn't know what else to do, so I just restarted back into the normal environment.

When I log in, I see that there is a .ssh directory after all, created last October 25!

nnyby@nothing ~ % ls -lae .ssh
total 24
drwx------   5 nnyby  staff   160 Oct 25 11:36 .
drwxr-xr-x+ 26 nnyby  staff   832 Apr  2 12:43 ..
 0: group:everyone deny delete
-rw-------   1 nnyby  staff  1856 Oct 25 11:36 id_rsa
-rw-r--r--   1 nnyby  staff   423 Oct 25 11:36 id_rsa.pub
-rw-r--r--   1 nnyby  staff  3192 Apr  2 12:46 known_hosts

I had restarted this laptop plenty of times over the past few weeks, always with this .ssh problem, so maybe the disk repair did something to fix it? Either way, thank you macOS for being completely not frustrating at all to work with! I can't imagine why anyone would prefer to use Linux!


Can I make double clicking a word to highlight it ignore trailing commas?

This appears to be how Adobe Acrobat / Adobe Reader handles PDF text selection. Apple's Preview app handles double click text selection as you would want. If using Adobe Reader isn't critical to your workflow for this document, I would consider using Preview for it.


VMware: Shared folders on mac not updated on the virtual machine

I've solved. The problem was that I was using symbolic links applied to the files instead of the parent folder.


Backup and Restore Single App After Upgrade

If it's a built-in Apple app, then no.
Otherwise, just don't update that app when asked.
Eventually, though, you will get to a point where the old version may no longer work on the new OS.

Check that you don't have automatic downloads set in Settings > iTunes & App Store, then non-Apple apps will not update until you tell them to, from App Store app itself.


How do I highlight PDF text properly in the Preview application?

This seems to be a bug in Preview. There's a related thread about this topic in which many people say they are experiencing the same problem. I too have just tested it out and see the same results.

There are 2 workarounds I can think of. The 1st is to select all the annotations and set their color manually:

Open the annotations toolbar.
Press the right-most button which will show you a list of all the annotations.
Select all the annotations.
Choose a new color from the annotations toolbar.

The 2nd workaround is to use the Python script from the same thread previously mentioned.


Killing kernel_task is "killing" your entire system.

It's not the same as logging out; it's asking you to log out because everything will be going down.

From What Is kernel_task, and Why Is It Running on My Mac?

  A “kernel,” if you didn’t know, is at the core of any operating
  system, sitting between your CPU, memory, and other hardware and the
  software that you run. When your turn on your Mac, the kernel is the
  first thing that starts, and basically everything you do on your
  computer flows through the kernel at some point. Activity Monitor puts
  all of this varied activity under one banner: kernel_task.


Strange Freeze on My MacBook Pro 15.4" 2.0GHZ (A1150 / MA600LL) & No Sound After Boot

Schedule an appointment with the genius bar and bring it to them. At the very least they'll be able to run you the diagnostic tools and tell you what the problem is.

My experience is these sorts of problems usually result in a pretty expensive repair bill, unless you happen to be still covered under apple care support.

Logic board probably has some sort of damage.


How to Disable iMessage on iPad and MacBook?

To disable Messages on iPad:

Open Settings.
Tap on Messages.
Tap and turn off iMessage to disable it.

Next, let us disable iMessage syncing your messages on your iPhone to your iPad. Again in Settings:

Tap your Name / Apple ID.
In Apple ID, tap on iCloud.
In iCloud, under 'Apps using iCloud', tap and turn off Messages.

Next, let us make sure nobody else but you can enable iMessage on iPad again. So, again in Settings:

Tap Screen Time.
In Screen Time, tap Turn On Screen Time.
Tap Continue.
Select This is My [device].
Tap Use Screen Time Passcode to create a passcode, then re-enter the passcode to confirm. (Note: This should be different from the passcode you use to unlock your iPad, and don't tell it to anyone you are sharing your iPad with. You maybe asked to enter your Apple ID and password. This can be used to reset your Screen Time passcode if you forget it.)
Now tap on Content & Privacy Restrictions. (If asked, enter your passcode).
In Content & Privacy Restrictions, scroll down to the section Allow Changes and tap on Account Changes.
Tap on Don't Allow.

That's it - now,

You have disabled iMessage on iPad.
Made sure that the messages you send and receive on your iPhone is not synced and available on Messages on iPad.
With Screen Time you have made sure nobody can enable iMessage again on your iPad (as long as they do not know your Screen Time passcode).

To disable Messages on your macOS:

Open Messages.
From the menu bar on top, Click on Messages > Preferences...
In the Preferences window, click on iMessage.
Then click and uncheck Enable this account and Enable Messages in iCloud.
Then click on Sign Out.

On macOS Mojave:

On macOS Big Sur:

(Screenshot from Apple support docs - the id and phone number are fake).
Now Messages should be disabled on your macOS too, and unless someone knows your Apple ID and password, they won't be able to enable and access it.
(If you want to share your macbook with someone else regularly, create another user account for them. Learn how to do this here - Set up users, guests and groups on Mac).


Display Slack notifications on both screens

No, notifications are always only displayed on on the display designated 'primary'. (The one which has the white menu bar line on it in System Preferences → Displays → Arrangement)


Apple dictation missing commands in web browser

Google docs uses a custom javascript application that disables the services component of the Mac (that lets the built in Mac voice dictation work.). If you want to use voice dictation in Google Docs, you have to use there build in functionally, and you MUST use Google Chrome.

From Google:

  For an easy way to put words on a page, you can type with your voice in a document. At the moment, this feature is only available in Chrome
  browsers.

Here's how to activate the type with your voice function for Google Docs.

In a Chrome browser, open a Google Docs document.
Click the Tools menu -> Voice typing...

A pop-up microphone box will appear. When you are ready to speak your text, click the microphone or press Cmd + Shift + S on your keyboard.

If this is the first time you've let Chrome use your microphone you will get a little pop-up from the top of the screen asking to OK Chrome using your microphone. Hit Allow to enable the microphone in Chrome.

Once you click in the Click to Speak box, the mic icon will turn orange and appear in a circle.

You can now dictate into your Google Docs. As you do the mic icon will show when it detects sound with an outer ring.

When you're finished, click the microphone again.

From Google:

  While voice typing in Google Docs is only available on computers, many Android and iOS phones and tablets have built-in microphones that
  you can use with a document. Look for the microphone icon on your
  mobile keyboard.

For more information you can check out the Google Help Documentation here:
Typing With Your Voice.


macOS equivalent to Ubuntu mouse middle button on window title bar to lower window?

I believe what you are referencing is the setting in Ubuntu that can be configured called 'Raise window if covered, otherwise lower it.'

Unfortunately there is no equivalent for this action built into the Mac OS. We have plenty of shortcuts, but not that one.

There has been plenty of discussion about this missing feature in past questions like this one, which is broken down a little better for readers in this answer. I'm not marking your question as a duplicate because it's not exactly the same, and we're now dealing with a different OS than they would have been 5 years ago.

Here are our options:

'command + tab' - for cycling through open applications
'command + `' - for cycling through multiple windows of the active
application
'command + H' - to hide an application (all windows) without minimizing it; handy when you still want to be able to access the window from the application switcher without having to de-minimize it first

If the built in shortcuts of the Mac OS just don't work for what you're trying to accomplish, I suggest looking into a 3rd party solution. I have heard good things about a program called 'Witch' (although I don't use it myself). BetterTouchTool is another that I've seen recommended by many, but there are many on the market that have the ability to program shortcuts (and gestures) for the purpose of cycling through, activating, and handling open applications and/or windows.


OSX virtual machines for Visual Studio and Azure

I program a lot in Visual Studio. I use parallels and Windows 7 and a MacBook Pro. Works great. You'll want to max out the ram on your machine, other than that you shouldn't have any problems.


Favicons not showing in Safari 5.1.1 on OSX Lion?

After doing some research it turns out I am not the only one with this problem, and Safari has changed the location for it's favicon database.

From this Apple Forum discussion:

  Quit Safari.
  Go to ~/Library/Safari.
  Move the WebpageIcons.db file from the Safari folder to the Trash.
  Relaunch Safari.


Finder search doesn't work properly after Yosemite update

Has your spotlight been botched? IN short, finder relies on spotlight to find things quickly.

This will take a while (5 or so mins) and make your Mac go into "jump-jet" mode with the fans, but:

Drop to terminal
type in sudo rm -rf /.Spotlight-V100
then sudo rm -rf /.Spotlight-V200
then sudo mdutil -i off /
then sudo mdutil -i on /
finally sudo mdutil -E /

Basically in sport, it resets spotlight and tells it to reindex EVERYTHING it normally should do on your "Macintosh HD". (Everything unless you've previously added entries to the privacy list)

As I said before, it'll make your fans go crazy for a while, but this is expected.

After that, all should be great! :)


Change the year of 500+ photos in iPhoto

In iPhoto '09 (or later, I believe)...

Select all the photos with incorrect dates
In the menu bar, select Photos -> Adjust Date and Time
Modify the date to reflect the change you want -- for example, to shift all the photos forward one year, increment just the year part of the date by 1
All the photos will be time-shifted by the relative change you specified


Cellular data not working after software update?

I contacted my carrier (o2) and issue was resolved easily. It appears that Data Bolt-On, that I subscribe to, was no longer iPhone compatible. I was advised that this setting was affected by the Software Update. Not sure I really understand how or why but I was assured that the setting had now been amended and data services would be restored at midnight tonight


How do I tell my Apple TV 4K to retry for using 4K as a default?

The Apple TV estimates bandwidth available every time you play a movie - so it is done automatically. There's no need to rerun the setup process whenever the load on your internet connection changes.


Disable storage of invisible files "._" on my cfs or smb network storage

I will admit, I hadn't noticed that the defaults write command stopped working in Mavericks.
However, when I DO clean network mounts, instead of your one liner find and rm, I use this:

dot_clean .

The manfile explains:

dot_clean -- Merge ._* files with corresponding native files.

I don't use the -m flag, but you may find it helpful in your situation.

-m      Always delete dot underbar files.

Here is another person actively trying to stop .DS_Store files from being created:
http://www.aorensoftware.com/blog/2011/12/24/death-to-ds_store/ - looks like he doesn't want them on drives as much as he doesn't want them on the network!


MacPro 6,1 (late 2013) - 4 monitors using only 1 of 2 available graphics cards

I appears it works this way by design: no matter how many monitors are in use, they will be managed by one card, and the other card is in standby for use in uninterrupted GPU computation.


Hold down the Option key (⌥) when your Mac starts. That should take you to the startup selection screen. Hopefully it'll show you an icon for Windows and another icon for OSX.

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT1310

If it doesn't then you might need to install OSX from scratch. If your Mac is fairly recent you can do this from the Internet directly. Otherwise you'll need to source install media.

http://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT4718


Try IFTTT. This lets you set up recipes that can do things, such as send an SMS when an email is received. The contents of the SMS can be customised based on the contents of the email, such as including the subject and/or body of the email in the SMS.

The tag is customisable and optional.


Try using Recovery Mode to correct this issue. Change the affected user password with Recovery Mode and see if it works. If this doesn't work, you need to return this Mac to the Apple Store and have a Mac Genius check it out. It will save you many headaches to let them check it than trying to solve the issue yourself.


How can I restore deleted contacts from iPhone 4s?

The deleted and lost iPhone contacts can be recovered in 2 ways: recover from iPhone directly or restore from iTunes backup copy.


I don't believe so, no. iCloud is meant to be a cloud-based backing store for apps, not a file-syncing service like Dropbox. It's a subtle difference, but consider that all interactions with your iCloud data happen through apps (Address Book, iCal, iPhoto, iTunes...), rather than with the individual files themselves.

So any sharing functionality for a given type of data will likely be delivered through the associated app(s). Whether it will make use of iCloud directly is uncertain, but although still in early days that doesn't seem to be the current pattern.


Is there a fix for seeing two black screens using TeamViewer on macOS 10.14.6?

The fix is to update TeamViewer host to 15.13.7


Ubuntu on Mac (dual-boot). Where do I install GRUB?

Make a new partion from within OS X, then install http://refit.sourceforge.net/ and then ubuntu: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MactelSupportTeam/AppleIntelInstallation


Is APFS an appropriate format for flash drives ("thumb drives")?

Sure, there’s no HDD type mechanism so you have no reason to not use APFS other than interoperability concerns.

Apple at WWDC prepared has some great videos / PDF version of the slide deck and since you're on Flash, you'd need a good/specific reason not to choose APFS in my eyes.

  The Apple File System (APFS) is a modern file system, optimized for responsiveness on Flash/SSD storage, and designed for extensibility, security, and data integrity. APFS is now the default filesystem on iOS, tvOS, and watchOS.

The SSD optimizations won’t hurt on flash controllers and might help for any Mac centric work pattern.

The only down side would be file recovery software, but being able to snapshot the disk might help there.


You need to switch to list view to reorder songs in a playlist. To switch to list view click the list view button in the upper left hand side of the top of the iTunes windows:

Once you've switch to list view you need to make sure your items are sorted by track number (click the top of the the first column). Then you can drag tracks around in the playlist to reorder them. For example, I switch Planet Earth and The Valley in the playlist shown above by clicking on Planet Earth and dragging it up above The Valley and then releasing my mouse button:

Edit: I just tried this in iTunes on Windows and I think I see where you're getting the + from. It's actually okay -- just keep dragging. Apparently the + is the cursor icon Apple chose for a grab action on song (or a list of songs). I have no way to take a screen shot of what's happening, but I can definitely reorder songs in Windows by clicking and dragging when in list view. Same as on OS X.


How to mute sound alert when a key is not recognized?

You can completely disable alert sounds. If it's right for you, do it this way :

Go to System Preferences.app > Sound > Sound Effects
Mute the Alert Volume using the slider


What tools are available to help organize iOS apps into folders?

You can use Apple Configurator 2, available on the MAS. It's intended as an enterprise tool for those managing lots of iDevices, but works just as well for one. It's fairly self explanatory and graphical in use.

Select your device, then from the menu bar: Actions | Modify | Home Screen Layout. There you can drag Apps about. You can even select multiple apps (Cmd-Click) and move them together.


New iPhone 6 bought 4 months ago still restoring from iCloud backup

Settings > iCloud > iCloud Drive and turn that off - This worked for me after turning it off, back on, then off again. Restore stopped and then i turned it back on and did a back up.


Does the iPhone's passcode protect the SIM?

If you did not use a dedicated SIM-Pin then your SIM is not protected.

In other words, if you lose your iPhone someone can easily take the SIM card out of the iPhone and use it it in a different phone.

The iPhone PIN only protects the contents of the iPhone NOT the SIM card.
You have to use a SIM pin to protect the SIM card, it's available in the iPhone settings.

So if you lost an unlocked/unprotected SIM card, you should immediately call your provider and cancel the SIM card. They can send you a new one.


Is there a way to have the Mac App Store check for updates automatically?

The App Store doesn't offer that functionality by default, and you can't configure or script it to check for updates. So...

The closest you're going to get is automatically opening the App Store so you can look at the icon to check for updates. Here's how to make the App Store open automatically at an interval:

Open iCal and add a new event. Call it something like Check App Store for Updates. Double-click it on the calendar and click the Edit button. Set the repeat menu to Every day or Every week.
You can get it to check at some interval in between (say, every 3 days), by using the Custom... option.

Set the alarm menu to Open File. In the newly-showing second menu under alarm, choose Other... and select the App Store in your Applications folder. Set the last menu under alarm to on date.

This way, iCal will automatically open the App Store at the interval you specified under the repeat menu. Its window will pop up to remind you to look at its icon. When you do, you'll see the number of available updates.


How can I know when new iOS updates are released?

ipsw.me provides an RSS feed of iOS releases at ipsw.me/timeline.rss. You can subscribe to this RSS feed (or a filtered version) using IFTTT. Templates are provided at ipsw.me/notifications. This is accurate to a couple of minutes.

You can also subscribe to the TSS status of iOS releases using the API available at api.ineal.me. This can be near instantaneous, providing a real-time view of TSS signing (and subsequently the releases).


If you still have the command in your history, you could run history | grep .vimrc.

mdfind -name .vimrc: fast, includes files that aren't normally shown by Spotlight, but not files that aren't indexed, like files in folders that start with a period.
find / -name .vimrc: slow, includes all files.
locate .vimrc: relatively fast, but doesn't include all files and relies on a database that is only rebuilt once per week by default.

You could also use Find Any File, which is faster than find and includes files that aren't indexed by Spotlight.


Playing movies off our iPad at the cottage

Your best, but not least expensive, option is to buy an Apple TV.

This will allow you to AirPlay movies from your iPad (as well as any other Apple device) to your HDTV without using any cables.

I personally use my Apple TV to do this exact thing on TVs where we don't have a cable connection.

You can buy a new or used one but I wouldn't buy a used one older than version 3.

The movies you're trying to play using the cable might have HDCP copyright protection.


What is the Mac OS 10.7 (Lion) volume encryption standard?

Open Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app) and type:

disktutil cs list

Then look for the entry of your standard drive, e.g.

Name:                    Macintosh HD

Look further down to find out the encryption type:

Encryption Type:         AES-XTS

The latter is what I see when using this command in OS X 10.8.2, so you can assume that AES-XTS stands for the AES-XTS 128-bit encryption used in Mountain Lion.

I expect Lion to use the same encryption model, but I can't verify it because I have no Mac that's running Lion. However, the diskutil command should help you to find the definite answer.


This can only be done on a mac:

Connect your device to a Mac
Open Xcode, go to Window->Devices in the title bar
Click on your device from the sidebar
Click 'View Device Logs'

You don't need to be enrolled in a developer program to be able to do this. To this on windows you'll probably need some sort of virtual machine/hackintosh


All jobs related to items installed by packages (i.e. a pkg installer) are done with preflight or postflight scripts which are included in the package.

A preflight script may check if a needed folder exists and if its permissions are set properly. A postflight script may load launch agents and daemons installed by the pkg installer and set their owners and permissions.

In your case you would use a postflight script like this one:

#!/bin/bash

sudo /bin/launchctl load /Library/LaunchAgents/net.company_name.blocksierra.plist

BTW: Using if [[ $Version -ge 11 ]] will unload and delete the launch agent when El Capitan is installed. You may have to change this to 12.


Directions for syncing iPhone lead to a dead end

Try restarting the iPhone (home button + power button 10 seconds). Plug in the
iPhone and see if iTunes recognizes it.

If that doesn't work, you should try connecting it in Recovery Mode:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201263


How can I fix Youtube videos only displaying black with sound in iOS's Safari?

Forcing Safari to quit works reliably for me. Double click the home button,tap the 'X' on Safari.


Being asked for credit card information for updates on apps already purchased

Whenever you use your Apple account they will try to validate the information in your account. If there is missing address information you will be prompted for it. If you haven't agreed to the latest Terms and Conditions you will be prompted to agree. If you have credit card information on your account Apple will try to validate it. If the information is out of date, you will be prompted to update it even when installing a new free application or upgrading old applications.

You aren't being charged for updates.


Replaced the cable. Now the screen doesn't work. What could it be?

If all of your devices in the Thunderbolt "chain" are still functional including your Cinema display at the end of it all, chances are there is a problem with the connectors that go from the logic board in the Thunderbolt display to the display panel itself.

It's a quite common occurrence that when you disassemble this, that the connector comes loose.  Look to make sure that the LVDS and power connectors are securely attached at both the logic board side and on the display panel itself.


iOS weather widget that displays two locations

You're asking about a single iOS app that shows the weather on the lock screen for two locations simultaneously?  I don't have an answer for this exact scenario, but the built-in iOS weather app for iPhones will display the weather for many locations.  You can see the current weather for multiple locations simultaneously, and you can see the forecast for one location at a time and swipe back and forth to see the next or previous locations.

In the weather app, click the menu in the bottom right corner:

This shows all locations that you've set.  You can see the current weather in all that fit on the screen (as well as if it's day or night). Click the "+" in the lower right to add a new location:

Then type in the first few letters of the location you want to add:


Not able to connect to NFS server from my MacBook

Does it work when you use the mount command? For example, I can mount my NetBoot server's NFS export with:

sudo mkdir /Volumes/nfsmount
sudo mount -t nfs 192.168.1.8:/Volumes/Data/Library/NetBoot/NetBootSP0 /Volumes/nfsmount/


Is this a legitimate email address from Apple support?

The two pieces of information that make this legitimate is the message ID is really from Apple and the SPF comes from 17.x.x.x network which is known to be Apple’s private portion of the internet. Lastly, the DKIM validates both the above - apple.com email comes from the source.

additional information about the email sent shows this is legitimate, passes the advanced checks designed to stop blatant fraudulent emails.

This one was legitimate, but others that look alike could be scams - check the details is my advice.


How to get rid of the circular speech commands thing?

I was also met with this speech popup a few weeks ago. It can be turned on or off system-wide, but is sometimes app-specific for when it appears. For me, it was because I was using the Chess app, which uses "Speakable Items" so that the player can speak moves.

I had to uncheck "Allow Player to Speak Moves" in the Chess preferences pane. Depending on the application, you may or may not be able to disable this option.

You can disable "Speakable Items" system-wide through System Preferences by opening the Accessibility pane and scrolling down to "Speakable Items" and ticking the Off radio button.

Sources:

eHow Source for disabling Speakable Items

Apple Discussion


Just to close out the answer—as Allan noted in the comment, the Bluetooth radio itself was broken.


Syncing bookmarks between iCloud and Firefox

I use Xmarks, but this means that you'd have to have Safari or IE open (or at least the Xmarks client for them open) when you're on your desktop.

This way when you add/remove bookmarks from Firefox, Xmarks will bring it over to Safari, then Safari will bring it to iCloud.


Why is Wine X11 not creating a window on my Mac?

You don't have X11 installed on your computer. It is available on the OS X install CD.


I cannot delete one text message at a time

THe method changed with IOS 8.

Hold you finger on the message, and when the "copy | more" bubble appears then pick "more".  THen you will see how to delete one message.


Upgraded to iOS 7 "Could not activate phone"

As I posted elsewhere, after reading a million hints and trying everything, a guy said: Try a different computer. Even a friend's.

Went right through. Honest, it did.


Permanently install a non App Store app on an iPad - without expiration

No, it is not possible. All current methods of distribution, including those available through the ordinary App Store developer program and the Enterprise Developer program, have expiration dates.

Another answer mention Enterprise distribution as the solution - but it is not. The provisioning profile expires after 1 year, and the certificate itself after 3 years. So you would have to renew it in order to have the app working for many years.


Turn OFF the white flash WITH 10.8.5 - the old solution is no longer an option

The plist you listed is the correct one to remove. Remove it and try rebooting, and your problem should be resolved. If not, create a new user account and log into it, and see if the problem persists.


Documentation

The standard documentation of cupsd configuration file is available with:

man cupsd.conf

Modification

These options are configured through the cupsd configuration file which is:

/etc/cups/cupsd

If cupsd is running it will overwrite it. Hence so as to be able to edit it, here is how to proceed:

stop cupsd:

cd /System/Library/LaunchDaemons
/usr/bin/sudo launchctl unload org.cups.cupsd.plist

edit cupsd configuration file:

cd /etc/cups
cp cupsd.conf cupsd.conf.orig
vi cupsd.conf

start cupsd:

cd /System/Library/LaunchDaemons
/usr/bin/sudo launchctl load org.cups.cupsd.plist


Will an iPhone XR purchased in India work with US service providers?

Yes it would. An iPhone purchased in India has support for GSM frequency bands in USA. It would function similar to an unlocked iPhone bought in USA.


How many additional numbers can I set in one contact?

There is no limit as to how many numbers you can get on a contact.


Buying English edition of iWork in France

iWork has multi language support. If you buy iWork in a French packaging, you can still use a different language on your Mac.
The language used in any iWork program will be the same as in your System Preferences set in OS X.
Advantages of the Mac App Store version

There is no disadvantage (besides no install DVD) when buying the iWork suite from the Mac App Store. You can download it again and again, because the purchase is linked to your ID.

You can also install it on up to ten computers if they are linked to your Apple ID. The iWork with packaging may only be installed on one computer (single licence) or up to five (family licence).

You don't have to buy the whole iWork suite at once in the Mac App Store. E.g. It's up to you to only buy keynote, if that's all you need.

Supported Languages
English, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish


How do I type ² or ³ on an Apple keyboard (International English layout)?

There are some important gotchas with the other solutions posted here.

For one, symbol and text substitution entries only work in Cocoa apps. If you want a truly system-wide solution that works in all applications, this is not an option.

Also, apps like KeyRemap4MacBook are great, but relying on them means you have to keep the app running in the background all the time, which may not be what you want.

Custom keyboard layouts to the rescue

Luckily, remapping keys can be done in a way that will work for any type of application, and without any additional software!

Mac OS X has supported .keylayout files since version 10.2 (Jaguar). You can create your own keyboard layout, or rather, tweak the default one you’re using right now. Simply remap a keyboard combination you never use (for me, there are plenty of those) to the ² and ³ symbols, and that’s it.

In my custom QWERTY keyboard layout, I can simply press ⌥ + ⇧ + 2 to enter ², and ⌥ + ⇧ + 3 to enter ³. (My custom AZERTY layout has these mappings, too.)

How to create a custom keyboard layout

To create new keyboard layouts or modify existing ones, I’d recommend Ukelele.app. It has an option to create a new keyboard layout based on the one that’s currently in use.

After you’ve created your custom layout, there’s no need for the application anymore — you certainly don’t need to keep it running in the background.

How to install a custom keyboard layout

Copy the .keylayout file to the Keyboard Layouts folder within ~/Library (if you want to install it only for the current user) or /Library (if you want to install the layout system-wide).
Reboot (if you installed the layout system-wide), or log out and log in again (if you installed it for the current user only).
Enable the new keyboard layout via System Preferences › Language & Text › Input Sources.

How to make a custom keyboard layout the system default

Optionally, you could make the custom keyboard layout the system default by running the Setup Assistant with root privileges. This way, it will be used for the login screen, and any new user accounts you create will default to this layout as well. Note that this can only be done for keyboard layouts in /Library/Keyboard Layouts (i.e., layouts that have been installed system-wide).

sudo rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone; sudo "/System/Library/CoreServices/Setup Assistant.app/Contents/MacOS/Setup Assistant"

You will have to create a new user account in order to complete the Setup Assistant — but don’t worry, you can delete the new account afterwards.

Adding a custom icon to the keyboard layout

OS X will use the following default icon for your custom keyboard layout:

This icon will show up in the preference pane, and in the “Input menu” in the menu bar.

To replace this with your own icon, create a 16×16px image, and save it in .icns format in the same directory as the keyboard layout itself, using the same file name (only the extension differs). For example, my custom QWERTY layout is named qwerty.keylayout, so if I wanted to use a custom icon, it’d have to be named qwerty.icns.


I can’t connect to localhost on Mac high Sierra

You need to do some troubleshooting to find out what's wrong. That error message ("Hmm. We’re having trouble finding the site.") sounds like Firefox having trouble looking up the address for the name "localhost", which is really weird because "localhost" is pretty much built into the operating system. So, first verify that "localhost" is being properly resolved with the command dscacheutil -q host -a name localhost -- it should look like this:

$ dscacheutil -q host -a name localhost
name: localhost
ipv6_address: ::1
ipv6_address: fe80:1::1

name: localhost
ip_address: 127.0.0.1

If the response doesn't list at least the addresses "::1" and "127.0.0.1", something is terribly wrong. (It's ok if it lists additional addresses like "fe80:1::1".) This has nothing to do with Apache. If this is the problem, check your /etc/hosts file; it should contain at least this:

##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting.  Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1       localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1             localhost

Also, try bypassing the name lookup by trying to reach "http://127.0.0.1/" and "http://[::1]/". If those work, Apache is running and "localhost" lookup is the reason you're getting errors.

If bypassing the name lookup doesn't work, check to see whether Apache ("httpd") is running with the command ps -ax | grep '[h]ttpd'

$ ps -ax | grep '[h]ttpd'
48917 ??         0:00.62 /usr/sbin/httpd -D FOREGROUND
48924 ??         0:00.02 /usr/sbin/httpd -D FOREGROUND
48927 ??         0:00.01 /usr/sbin/httpd -D FOREGROUND

If there are no "httpd" processes listed, Apache is not running, and you'll need to troubleshoot further to find out whether it's not starting at all, or starting and getting a fatal error. If it is running, make sure it's listening for network connections with sudo lsof -a -c httpd -i -sTCP:LISTEN

$ sudo lsof -a -c httpd -i -sTCP:LISTEN
COMMAND   PID USER   FD   TYPE             DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
httpd   48917 root    4u  IPv6 0x3c39418bc7b0ab99      0t0  TCP *:http (LISTEN)
httpd   48924 _www    4u  IPv6 0x3c39418bc7b0ab99      0t0  TCP *:http (LISTEN)
httpd   48927 _www    4u  IPv6 0x3c39418bc7b0ab99      0t0  TCP *:http (LISTEN)

In the above, all three "httpd" processes are listening for TCP connections on "*:http" -- that is, port 80 (http) on all of this computer's IP addresses. If it lists something else, Apache is running, but the configuration is weird.

Note: none of the above will solve the problem, it's all directed toward finding out what the actual problem is. Once you have a better idea what the problem is, then you can try to figure out how to fix it.


It is necessary to obtain the installer application for macOS High Sierra. Once that is available in /Applications one can use the following script to extract the firmware data and install scripts to produce a standalone firmware installer package:

#!/bin/sh
# Based on investigations and work by Pepijn Bruienne
# Expects a single /Applications/Install macOS High Sierra*.app on disk
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.

IDENTIFIER="com.foo.FirmwareUpdateStandalone"
VERSION=1.0

# find the Install macOS High Sierra.app and mount the embedded InstallESD disk image
echo "Mounting High Sierra ESD disk image..."
/usr/bin/hdiutil mount /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra*.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg

# expand the FirmwareUpdate.pkg so we can copy resources from it
echo "Expanding FirmwareUpdate.pkg"
/usr/sbin/pkgutil --expand /Volumes/InstallESD/Packages/FirmwareUpdate.pkg /tmp/FirmwareUpdate

# we don't need the disk image any more
echo "Ejecting disk image..."
/usr/bin/hdiutil eject /Volumes/InstallESD

# make a place to stage our pkg resources
/bin/mkdir -p /tmp/FirmwareUpdateStandalone/scripts

# copy the needed resources
echo "Copying package resources..."
/bin/cp /tmp/FirmwareUpdate/Scripts/postinstall_actions/update /tmp/FirmwareUpdateStandalone/scripts/postinstall
# add an exit 0 at the end of the script
echo "" >> /tmp/FirmwareUpdateStandalone/scripts/postinstall
echo "" >> /tmp/FirmwareUpdateStandalone/scripts/postinstall
echo "exit 0" >> /tmp/FirmwareUpdateStandalone/scripts/postinstall
/bin/cp -R /tmp/FirmwareUpdate/Scripts/Tools /tmp/FirmwareUpdateStandalone/scripts/

# build the package
echo "Building standalone package..."
/usr/bin/pkgbuild --nopayload --scripts /tmp/FirmwareUpdateStandalone/scripts --identifier "$IDENTIFIER" --version "$VERSION" /tmp/FirmwareUpdateStandalone/FirmwareUpdateStandalone.pkg

# clean up
/bin/rm -r /tmp/FirmwareUpdate
/bin/rm -r /tmp/FirmwareUpdateStandalone/scripts

This is part of the Scripts of possible interest to macOS admins
from the munki project.


MacBook Pro shuts down while in "Login Window"

I would probably start with testing to see if this behaviour is replicated when booted into Safe Mode and if the issue persists then running Apple Diagnostics.

Boot into Safe Mode

Follow these steps to boot your Mac into Safe Mode:

Fully shut down your MBP
Restart your MBP
Immediately press the Shift key and keep it down
Let go of the Shift key when you see the login window (NOTE: If you have FileVault enabled you may need to log in twice).
Take a note of what happens (i.e. does your MBP still end up going to sleep, etc)
Exit Safe Mode by restarting your MBP as normal
Test again when booted normally

If the problem doesn't occur while booted into Safe Mode, let me know and we'll go from there.

If the problem persists, proceed with running Apple Diagnostics.

Run Apple Diagnostics

Follow the steps below to run Apple Diagnostics:

Fully shut down your MBP
Restart your MBP
Immediately press the D key and keep it down until you see the Diagnostics screen appear
Wait for Diagnostics to finish (this typically only takes a few minutes)
Once complete, one of two things will appear on the screen:

a No issues found message
a brief description of any errors found plus further instructions

If the diagnostics test does find errors, take a note of what they are

Note: If pressing and holding the D key at Step 3 doesn't work, start again at Step 1 and, at Step 3 press and hold both the OptionD keys instead. This will try and run diagnostics from the internet instead, so you will need to allow more time for it to complete.

Regardless, take a note of what happens and let me know how you went.

[UPDATE]

Since we've established the problem is not occurring when booted into Safe Mode then it's time to investigate login items, fonts, and kernel extensions.

Investigating login items, fonts, and kernel extensions

Let's start with Login Items:

Startup normally
Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups
Select the Login Items tab
Take a note of your Login Items
Now remove all of them by highlighting them and clicking on the - button below
Restart your computer

Now your Mac will boot up without those login items loading. Test to see if you can use your Mac without it going to sleep, etc:

If you can, you know one (or more) of the Login items were causing the problem. You can then add them back in one by one until you've identified the culprit. Problem solved.
If the problem does persist, it's either a problem with fonts you've installed yourself or with a 3rd party kernel extension. A little more info below:

Fonts:- You can remove any of the fonts you've installed yourself to see if this makes a difference. For more info, read the following Apple resources:

How to install and remove fonts on your Mac
Mac OS X: Font locations and their purposes

Kernel Extensions:- You can open Terminal (found within your Utilites folder) and enter the following command:

kextstat | grep -v com.apple

The above command will list 3rd party kernel extensions (you may need to stretch the Terminal window so it's easier to read). Look for anything you don't remember installing, or something that belongs to software you've removed, or just anything that looks out of place. Remember though, this is a list of 3rd party kernel extensions and therefore any of them could be causing the problem.


Troubleshooting HDMI connection between MBP and Sony Bravia TV

This problem could also be caused by a missing or improper HDCP signal coming from the MiniDisplayport-to-HDMI adapter.

I experienced the same issue with my MacbookPro (late 2008) and a Bravia TV. I tried one cable with a MiniDisplayport connector on one end and HDMI plug at the other. This worked fine between my MBP and a computer monitor or a beamer, but would not transmit any signal to a Sony Bravia TV. An adapter (of the cheaper kind) displayed the same behavior. The used HDMI cable was fine (tested between PS3 and the TV). Again, adapter and cable produced a proper signal on non-Bravia displays. A Dr. Bott MiniDisplayport-to-HDMI adapter finally solved the matter for me.


Automating pfctl to block incoming connections and IPs

You can simply replace:

table <attackers> persist
block log quick from <attackers>
pass in quick proto tcp from any port ssh flags S/SA keep state (max-src-conn 3, max-src-conn-rate 5/60, overload <attackers> flush global)

with:

table <attackers> persist
block log quick from <attackers>
pass in quick proto tcp from any flags S/SA keep state (max-src-conn 3, max-src-conn-rate 5/60,  overload <attackers> flush global)

If you want to restrict this to single ports use: ... port {22, 443, 5900:5902} ... instead of ... port ssh ....


How to hide an external drive from file sharing on local network

The only way a drive would have it's sharing enabled is through the Sharing menu in system preferences.
Access the File Sharing menu inside there and remove your drive from the list.

That's the only thing I can come up with besides changing the drive permissions.

Hope it helps :)


How can I log into an azure VM via my Mac?

You just need a Remote Desktop Client.

Microsoft has an official one called Microsoft Remote Desktop, that is free. It's available on the App Store.

There are other alternatives as well, such as CoRD.


On 10.8.5

  After you connect the displays to your computer, you can choose
  whether to use the displays as an extended desktop or for video
  mirroring. If you choose video mirroring, the displays each show the
  same image. If you choose an extended desktop, the displays form one
  large continuous desktop.

  If you are playing a DVD on a television connected to your computer,
  click the Arrangement button in Displays preferences and move the menu
  bar to the television. If you don’t see an Arrangement button, your
  computer is only capable of mirroring (showing the same image on all
  screens). For more information, see the manual that came with your
  computer.

On 10.9.3 (Mavericks)

  With an external display connected to your Mac, you can work the way
  you want. Each display has its own menu bar, and apps can run in full
  screen mode on each display. Want to use your HDTV as another display?
  You can easily do that with AirPlay and an Apple TV.

  Each display connected to your Mac can have its own windows and
  full-screen apps. You can spread out your work however you like.


Can I make aol.com my default email reader in Mavericks instead of Mail?

Assuming you already have the AOL mail installed on your system,

go to Apple Mail  (open it)- preferences

Select the Default mail reader to AOL.

The cmd i is standard Safari keyboard shortcut to open your default email (AOL) and to send the current webpage- nothing to do with AOL setting it up.


iMessage not working between two specific devices

First, check the destination address. On your iPad: open Messages, then open the message thread that's not working. Tap the "Contact" button (top right), then the "info" button (i). The destination address will be highlighted blue.

Next, make sure the destination address is configured on the receiving device. On the iPod: Settings → Messages → Send & Receive. If the destination address is missing, add it here.

And while you're at it, check the FaceTime settings, too: it works in a similar way.


All Apple products tend to finish the quick charge in just under 2 hours and reach full charge capacity just after 4 hours have passed.

Look at http://www.apple.com/batteries/ where this nice chart explains the charging curves in terms of voltage rise and current flow over time from empty to full.

As your battery ages, the charging does deviate from this curve and of course the 85 Watt adapter on a 15"/17" MacBook Pro is sending more current to a larger battery, but in the end, the stock new charging performance of all Apple products (iOS/iPod/portable) are designed to meet these times by changing the internal circuitry and power sources.

Faster charging is clearly possible, but degrades the life of the battery so my observation is that Apple controls the charge rate by having a charge controller that slows it down to meet these target times.


With File Vault ON are time machine backups encrypted?

No, the backups will not be encrypted automatically, but it's very easy to enable for directly attached disks. Just check "Encrypt Backup Disk" in the Time Machine disk selection settings.

If you're backing up to another Mac, you can use Disk Utility on that Mac to erase non-boot drives and put an encrypted partition on them:


Mac Mini with lots of I/O errors and related issues, trouble identifying culprit

Look at something like Scannerz because it was designed to find those types of problems. Here's a link:

http://scsc-online.com/Scannerz.html

Scannerz is fault detection software that monitors and looks for signatures associated with various types of logic board, drive, and system failures. I suspect either a cable, connection, or logic board problem.

I hope it's OK for me to post that link and info.