ical change color shading day and weekend

This question has been asked on the Internet before, and no one has ever found an answer.

The 'fixes' that have been suggested are all just to improve your computer screen's contrast.One way to do that is to go to the Universal Access pane of System Preferences. Play with the Enhance Contrast slider in the Seeing tab.

Sorry there isn't a better way to do this.


Kernel Panic on Hibernate / after unplugging Devices

Have you tried creating a fresh, new user account and seeing if the problem persists there? It could be due to something your user account is loading or running in the background.


After login mac is stuck on progress bar

If you're able to boot to the installation drive (external USB, DVD, etc.) but not able to boot from an internal drive, that indicates a hardware problem, likely with the drive or the cable attached to it.

An easy test is to attach your internal hard drive externally with something like this. If it boots fine externally, you can be fairly certain that there's an issue with the cable (or, less likely, the Logic Board).

If you still have trouble when it's connected externally, then you should first try reinstalling the OS while it's connected externally (as you might still have some software corruption). If it persists after that point, you likely have a bad hard drive.


Can you turn GPS off on a Apple Watch Series 2?

According to Apple, the built-in GPS of the Apple Watch series 2 will not kick in if the iPhone the watch is paired to is within range.

So, depending on your workout, having the iPhone with you (or nearby) will result in the iPhone doing the grunt work to conserve power usage of the Apple Watch.

Also, even if your iPhone isn't nearby, the Apple Watch GPS will not kick in unless you're actually doing a workout. For example, if you forgot your iPhone at home when you went to work and did nothing but sit in a car or at your desk the whole day, then the GPS would have never kicked in.

As for a setting to manually switch the GPS off, there wasn't one in the beta versions of WatchOS 3, but there are rumours that a future update may add this option.

Hope this helps.

[EDIT]

I just wanted to clarify that whether the Apple Watch GPS kicks in or not will also depend on the actual workout. Basically, if it's an indoor workout it won't, if it's an outdoor workout it will (i.e. if your iPhone isn't nearby). However, if it's a swimming workout the GPS only kicks in if it's an open water swim (i.e not in the pool) and you're doing freestyle. Any other stroke the GPS won't kick in.


Accessing a PDF stored in iBooks (on a jailbroken device)

There are various files (.plists residing in /var/mobile/Media/Books), but the only one that seemed up to date also regarding renamed titles was

/var/mobile/Applications/iBooks/Documents/BKLibrary_database/iBooks_v*.sqlite

This file can be opened with iFile's SQLite Editor and under the Key ZBKBOOKINFO there's the mapping between filenames and book/pdf titles.


Is it a good idea to enroll in Apple Developer Program now?

When iOS 9 releases, anyone will be able to build apps and deploy them on their devices without needing to join the developer program. However, you will not be able to distribute the app to the app store without joining the dev program.


Java JRE and JDKS 1.6 and lower are supplied from Apple and 1.7 or 8 are from Oracle.

The latest Apple one is here I think.
This installs the JDK and the JRE.

the JDK is under /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/ but /usr/bin contains java, javac etc so will be on the path


Can I use my early 2009 iMac as an external screen?

The specifications for the 24" Early 2009 iMacs according to eveymac.com and the Apple Manual for the Early 2009 series of iMacs does not mention target display mode as a feature.  That unfortunately means that the Early 2009 generation of iMacs did not offer a target display mode so you will not be able to use that displayport output as an input source.


wrong icon of Unix symbolic link in Finder

I had the same problem, and it seems the problem in LaunchService in OS X. To clear it "cache" try this command in terminal

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user ;

and then

killall Finder; killall Dock;

In Mavericks it should work without reboot or re-login.


This should happen automatically and no special setup is required. Click on the email account's inbox (on the left side of the window) that you would like to see just that inbox. This should pull up the inbox for that account only.


This appears to be the result of a poorly completed Time Machine restore
drwxr-xr-x@ 97 mark       staff   3104 26 May 09:54 /Users/mark/
    com.apple.metadata:_kTimeMachineNewestSnapshot    50
    com.apple.metadata:_kTimeMachineOldestSnapshot    50

You can try this 2 commands for suppress this attributs :
xattr -rd com.apple.metadata:_kTimeMachineNewestSnapshot /Users/mark

and
xattr -rd com.apple.metadata:_kTimeMachineOldestSnapshot /Users/mark


Make sure the drive is from a reputable supplier.  I've used Western Digital external drives without a problem.

When you get the drive it will most likely be formatted in NTFS format (for Windows), so when you plug it in, you will need to open Disk Utility and repartition it as HFS+

A Firewire 800 drive is fastest, although since the backups are incremental and happen in the background (with only the changed bits/files going across), I believe the cost/benefit factor is weighted towards getting a cheaper but higher capacity USB 2.0 drive.  That's just my opinion.


The app store depends on network responses and if the server is overloaded (as it is when big updates roll out), you can get caught waiting.

If you're not in a rush - set a timer and try again in 8 and then again in 24 hours.

If you are in a rush, force quit the App Store app and open terminal app.

You can run softwareupdate -ai and let that window wait as long as it takes for the server to respond. That is not going to hang your UI like the App Store app can. It won't be any faster, but at least you can do other things while you wait things out.


App store id different from OSX system id?

You're talking about the password for a specific Apple ID (which you use on the App Store), versus the password for a specific user account on the Mac. There's no requirement anywhere that they have to be the same.

Your dad probably used a different password for his user account. If you cannot remember it, you can reset it by following the instructions here:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202860


I had this same issue and was able to resolve it by extracting the data from a backup. I used the script (accessible via link) to accomplish this. Note that a Mac would be required - Also note, I am in no way affiliated with the source or content, just a user in the past.

Run a phone backup via iTunes while connected to your computer
In Finder, go to the Go menu -> Go to Folder, enter in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup
Locate the most recently modified folder in the Backup folder
Create a folder named iOSBackup folder on the desktop
Copy the folder you found in Backup to iOSBackup
Download iOSMessageExport (zip) which includes a set of perl scripts. Unzip the files into the iOSBackup folder. (You should see similar to the screenshot below)

Open Terminal
Enter cd ~/Desktop/iOSBackup and press Return
Enter perl backup.pl --directory_path <folder>/ and press Return. Replace  with the name of the backup folder inside of iOSBackup (will vary from backup to backup)

Once the script has finished running, go back to the iOSBackup folder and look for a folder named _export

Inside of _export you should see folders for each date a message was sent/received, images/movies are located in here. HTML files of each conversation (by day) are also available

Source: WonderHowTo


Is there an easy way to save a contact for a phone number in the text of an SMS (iphone 4s IOS7)

Since you're running iOS 7, all you can do is copy it and manually add it to a new contact.

Update to iOS 9.2 and you will get the option to do exactly what you described in your post. Don't worry, even your iPhone 4s should run iOS 9 fine and updating may even make it faster.


is there an App that can extracts parts of a mp3 file without re-encoding the file?

Sounds like Rogue Ameoba's Fission should do what you want:

  With Fission's streamlined audio editing, you can quickly copy, paste and trim audio, as well as split files. Fission also works with compressed MP3 and AAC formats to edit without the quality loss caused by other editors. Get perfect quality audio when editing natively in the MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless, AIFF and WAV formats.


How to swap numbers row with symbols on US keyboard?

You can make a custom keyboard layout that does this pretty easily with the Ukelele app.


does there exist an app that can sync to iCloud notes?

Firstly iCloud is not a backup.  It is a synchronisation tool.  Hence the problems you have heard about with notes being accidentally deleted and then gone for ever.
So you need a backup.
But this is not so easy because the notes in Apple Notes are stored in a database and not as separate files.
One solution is to periodically export your notes out of Apple Notes into separate files in another format and store them somewhere included in your regular backups.  For this get the app Exporter from the Mac App Store.  But this is a one way operation - the only way to import into Apple Notes is by copy and paste of text.
The problem you have highlighted is in common with other popular note taking applications (e.g. Bear) which store notes in a database and synchronise with iCloud.  Backup is not straightforward.
For myself, I have given up using apple Notes for anything I want to keep.  I now use Typora and have learnt to use markdown for formatting.  Each note is a separate file and backups become easier to manage.  But I have lost Notes' ease of use and synchronisation to iPhone.
Edit:
It is possible to recover lost or accidentally deleted notes.
The Apple Notes database (and other stuff) is located in ~/Library/Group Containers/group.com.apple.notes.  This is part of the Time Machine backup.  So there is potential to recover lost notes by using the content of that folder from a Time Machine backup.
Here is a process which I tested and works:

Delete an unimportant note (to simulate the loss of an important note!),
Exit Notes,
Remove Notes from iCloud (in System Preferences - Internet Accounts),
Recover the folder from Time Machine using drag and drop in Finder,
Start Notes.

Notes shows all the notes that were present at the point in time when the TM backup was done.  But it is not connected to iCloud and so can't merge the recovered database with any differences in iCloud.
Now:

In Notes, move the recovered note from iCloud folder to the "On My Mac" folder,
Exit Notes,
Reconnect Apple Notes to iCloud (in System Preferences - Internet Accounts),
Start Notes.

Notes merges Notes' iCloud folder with the content on iCloud, but leaves alone the recovered note which is in "On My Mac".  If desired this can be moved back into one of Notes' iCloud folders.
This is not a straight forward process and is open to error and the risk of losing all notes.  But it is possible if you need to recover an important note.


Remove existing Facebook account from OS X

My suggestion would be to log out of the current Facebook account. Then go into your user's Library folder (holding down the alt / opt key while in the "Go" menu in Finder and you will see a new entry "Library"). In your Library folder enter the subfolder "Preferences" and delete these two files:

com.apple.accountsd.plist & com.apple.internetaccounts.plist (or just shove them over to the Desktop for testing)

Log out and back into the correct account and see if there are any notifications in Notification Center still listed. If yes, then download Onyx from http://www.titanium.free.fr/downloadonyx.php and let it do an automation where it clears all caches. When Onyx is done it will ask you to restart.

From here you should be good and there should be no trace of the original/old Facebook account. If however you notice anything still being left over, comment back with more information.


Using AppleScript to sync iPhone in Catalina

I expanded on dyindude's answer to make a single script that opens Finder, navigates to your device in the sidebar, waits for the sync button to appear, and clicks it. This assume's your device is named iPhone:

tell application "Finder" to open ("/" as POSIX file)

tell application "System Events" to tell outline 1 of scroll area 1 of splitter group 1 of window 1 of application process "Finder"
    set theElements to first UI element of every row whose name is "iPhone"
    repeat with e in theElements
        try
            if name of e is "iPhone" then
                tell e to perform action "AXOpen"
                exit repeat
            end if
        end try
    end repeat
end tell

tell application "System Events" to tell application process "Finder"
    repeat until button "Sync" of splitter group 1 of splitter group 1 of window "iPhone" exists
    end repeat

    click button "Sync" of splitter group 1 of splitter group 1 of window "iPhone"
end tell


Is a corrupted HD a sign of something ominous for the hardware?

One time error usually means nothing.

Do use it as a warning - keep your backups current and perhaps even test a restore. Also, you might check things in a week to make sure it's not a sign of hardware errors instead of a software error.


Safari reloads bookmark icons upon every restart

I realise a "me too" is not helpful, but I wanted to keep the discussion alive. This is the first post I have found on this subject after several attempts. So, good to know I am not alone.

Unfortunately, the answer from Geek is only a work-around. I work a lot on my Mac with a data plan and I like the favourites tiles / icons on my new tabs.

However, this does not happen on all Macs. I have a much-older MacBook air where this does not happen in High Sierra, but on a more recent MacBook Air I do see this every time.

The main difference between these machines, is that the one that has this issue is configured as a work Domain account, or in other words, as a Mobile device.


Where does iTerm store user preferences?

~/Library/Preferences/com.googlecode.iterm2.plist

Also note that you can set a custom location in iTerm Preferences under the General tab.


Have Apple announced whether the "Shellshock" bash update will be applied automatically via the App Store patching mechanism?

Will this update (eventually) be applied automatically via the App
  Store, or do I have to apply it manually?

As I explain in my answer on the question you link to, Apple has released patches you can download & run yourself. You do not have too compile from source or be deeply technically capable to run them.  Just download the one appropriate for your machine, run the installer & that’s it:

OS X bash Update 1.0 – OS X Mavericks
OS X bash Update 1.0 – OS X Mountain Lion
OS X bash Update 1.0 - OS X Lion

And while not directly available via the software update system provided in the App Store, running this patch is one of the simplest Mac OS X patches I have ever run. It takes about a minute of your time, an admin password & there is no need to reboot.

UPDATE: Look, I just saw a pig fly!

  Note: Security Update 2014-005 includes the security content of OS X
  bash Update 1.0


Completely remove some strange iTunes-purchased songs

Unfortunately their is no such way. For the U2 album Apple forced everyone to buy for free, there is a tool to completely remove it SOI-Removal Tool

The only option for your case would be to contact Apple Support in order for them to completely delete those purchases.


El Capitan WiFi Connection Drops Continuously

This fixed it for me:

System Preferences – Energy Saver – Battery Power :
Uncheck “wake for network access”
System Preferences – Network – Advance – TCP/IP :
Configure IPv6 – Switch to “Link-Local only”

Found that above fix in the comments of this article http://osxdaily.com/2015/10/16/fix-wi-fi-problems-mac-os-x-el-capitan/


How to export groups from an iCloud Address Book account using Automator?

Apparently, Lion’s Automator actions are a bit more finicky about implicit data conversion between actions than Snow Leopard’s. In your case, the issue is the “Get Contact Information” action does not perform a conversion from groups into their contained  contacts. This can be solved quite easily by inserting a “Get Selected Address Book Items” action set to “people” after the first one (which retrieves the selected groups) before the “New Text File” action. This will allow you to select groups in Address Book instead of having to select all their constituent members.

As to the encoding issue, that does not seem to have anything to do with the Automator workflow: testing with my iCloud address book (German, with lots of Czech and French contacts) neither your nor my variant produce any issues writing UTF-8 text as long as the “New Text File” action’s file format is set to “text (.txt, convert if necessary)”. If the issue persists on your system when using these settings, possible causes I can think of are

TextEdit (or your editor of choice) is set to display the file as another encoding than UTF-8; in that case, it would mangle them on display.
your address book might contain differently encoded characters, possibly from importing from older systems: Address Book is very good at hiding these, but they can cause a number of odd issues. There are a number of utilities out there claiming to fix broken Address Book records, but I have never tested them – YMMV.


Stop iPad from automatically using iPhone data?

The feature you are describing is called "Instant Hotspot," though you will not see that phrase in the UI of any of your devices.  Instant Hotspot allows Macs and iOS devices to use the "Personal Hotspot" feature of one an iOS device to provide internet connectivity to a Mac or another iOS device, without the need to switch on the Personal Hotspot feature on the host iOS device.

In order to use Instant Hotspot, each device must be signed into the same iCloud account.  That's it.  There is no switch to enable or disable.  Just sign into the same account.

It seems impractical to ask your users to use separate iCloud accounts for their phones and iPads... so your best solution may be to call up AT&T and ask that the Personal Hotspot feature be disabled on the phones... thus ensuring that the iPads will stick to their native data connections.


Mac OS X - report time on battery since last AC unplug but exclude sleep time

Well, I'll provide an answer to my own question, tested on Yosemite but not extensively. This is bash code:

#!/bin/bash
humantime () { printf -v $1 "%dh%02dm%02ds" $(($2/3600)) $((($2/60)%60)) $(($2%60)); }
#unplugged=`pmset -g log | grep 'Summary- \[System: DeclUser.*\] Using Batt' | tail -1 | cut -f1,2 -d' '`
unplugged=`syslog -u -k Sender loginwindow | grep 'magsafeStateChanged state changed old 1 new 2' | tail -n 1 | cut -f1 -dZ`
onbatt=$((`date +%s` - `date -j -f "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S" "$unplugged" +%s`))
slept=`pmset -g log | sed -n "/^$unplugged/,//p" | awk '/Entering Sleep.*[0-9]+ secs/ {n=split($0,a," ");sum+=a[n-1]} END {print sum}'`
[[ -z $slept ]] && slept=0
awake=$((onbatt-slept))
humantime hawake $awake
humantime hslept $slept
printf "Awake on battery for $hawake (%.1f%%)\n" `echo "$awake*100/$onbatt" | bc -l`
printf "Slept on battery for $hslept (%.1f%%)\n" `echo "$slept*100/$onbatt" | bc -l`

I won't vouch for its accuracy but it seems to work. Since I don't know Apple's internals (I'm new to Mac OS X) I reversed engineered it with a few trial and errors plugging and unplugging the adapter, both while asleep and also while awake, to see which log entries are reliable.

You will notice that I tried using pmset -g log to detect when the power was unplugged but it's unreliable. Upon unplugging, the log entry is Summary- [System: DeclUser kDisp] Using Batt but unfortunately the same log entry occurs during sleep while unplugged so it's unreliable. I resorted to syslog instead.

NOTE: This reports the time since the last unplugged event. This may not be when the battery was 100 %.

Potential issue: The above code takes the timestamp from syslog and matches against pmset. If pmset doesn't have an entry (any entry) at the same timestamp then it won't work. That shouldn't happen but if it does, then you could convert the timestamps to epoch seconds and detecting the closest timestamp in pmset that way.


Setting up signatures with different font in Mail.app

The font option only lets you select your default font. To select any font, when in the Signature editor, press ⌘T to open the Fonts inspector and choose a font family and typeface.


When the -R option is used, MacOS grep requires you to explicitly give it a directory to search; for example, specify . to recursively search the current directory:

grep -R 'networks' .


AppleScript to get contents of file in Apple Mail

I'm a little confused as to exactly what you're trying to achieve.  This is not an exact solution to your question, but maybe this following code will help put you on the right path.

The first part of this following code with the "Mail" commands will take the currently selected message in Mail.app, and save all of the email attachments in that message to your desktop.

The second part of this following code, with the "Finder" commands, will read the contents of any .txt files in the list of files stored in savedFileList and save that information to the variable theContent

set saveFilePath to POSIX path of (path to desktop)
set savedFileList to {}

tell application "Mail"
    set theCount to every mail attachment of item 1 of (get selection)
    repeat with i from 1 to count of theCount
        try -- handles if "downloaded of (get mail attachment id theID of item 1 of (get selection))" is false
            set thisItem to item i of theCount
            set theID to id of thisItem
            set theFile to mail attachment id theID of item 1 of (get selection)
            set isDownloaded to downloaded of (get mail attachment id theID of item 1 of (get selection))
            set theName to name of theFile
            save theFile in POSIX file (saveFilePath & theName)
            set end of savedFileList to (saveFilePath & theName) as POSIX file as alias
        end try
    end repeat
end tell

set nameExtensions to {"txt"}

tell application "Finder"
    repeat with j from 1 to count of savedFileList
        set thisItem2 to item j of savedFileList
        if name extension of thisItem2 is in nameExtensions then
            set theContent to read thisItem2
        end if
    end repeat
end tell

At this point you should be able to send actual files, or content from txt files you have received from the currently selected message in "Mail.app". (As all of the information has been stored in different variables in the code... For you to choose and act upon)


How can I find an iOS app I had installed once but since deleted?

If your old phone and new phone are both iPhones, then all you need to do is check the purchase history under your Apple ID to re-download it.

To do this:

Launch the App Store app on your iPhone
Tap on Updates
Tap on Purchased

You will now be able to access your purchase history and, should even be able to filter by the Not on This iPhone tab.

If you can't find the app in your history, then it's possible that it's no longer available on the App Store. If that's the case, you may be able to re-install it from iTunes on your computer, especially if you have Time Machine backups (assuming you're on a Mac).


Typically this is an issue when you connect over HDMI and the display / TV / monitor settings can be adjusted to turn off or reduce the “overscan” which in effect is zooming in in the center of the signal.

Search here for overscan and you’ll see a lot of results:

How to solve Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Overscan problem? (Part of the screen is missing)
Display's native resolution not registering properly

Specific steps for HP 25bw monitors are as follows:

Press the Menu button to open the OSD settings.
Scroll to "Image Control..." and press OK.
Select "Custom Scaling" and press OK.
Select "Overscan" and press OK.
Select "Off" and press OK.
Select "Save and Return" until the OSD menu closes.

Same steps will work for MacBook Pro 2018 connecting to HP Pavilion 25xi.


macOS - Determine the count of open windows for running app

No - there's not a general solution for this. You might need to add a follow on question explaining why you need this information and what you'll want to do once you have that information. Some apps are well behaved and you can use automation to request a count of active windows or use Mission Control or script things in python with an objective C bridge to count all windows based on your definition of “open” whether it excludes hidden / minimized / on another virtual space or screen or just the windows visible.

Keep in mind if you’re scripting things, with App Nap / Sudden Termination / Power Nap and all the advanced power scheduling technology that's been added to macOS - you can't really even define if some apps are even running. You will have an app running and show up in the dock and app switcher when each and every thread of that app is killed and nothing is running on the kernel. Similarly - you can have threads running on the kernel - doing active work when the app is technically not running and you won't see it in the dock or the app switcher.

Quite simply, the OS and applications deeply integrate to start and stop things and the illusion that an app is running is no longer something you want to manage. You should expect that when you switch to an app or launch an app, that it responds quickly and lets you get back to work regardless of the status of it running or not before you asked it to do work.


3/4 Icon in the status bar. What is that?

That was "Habitify" app badge , application that track habits.


MTMFS consuming an entire CPU core and fans running full bore with Lion

To track down the issue you may have to dive into fs_usage or other tools that capture filesystem activity as it happens.

Normally, I have seen minor corruption issues on a filesystem (or bugs in the code - it's hard to tell / hard to reproduce this issue) as the cause of this. In practice I can't get it to fail again after cleaning the existing local backup.

sudo tmutil disablelocal
reboot the Mac in safe mode (which runs fsck and many other helpful and potentially irrelevant tests and checks for corruption)
reboot the mac normally
sudo tmutil enablelocal


Can second hand SIM locked iPhone 4S be activated with a different carrier?

1 Question: I am wondering if this is standard to get T&C on the
  screen after restore or this phone never been activated?

Yes it is standard to get the T&C after restore.

  2 Question: If this iPhone has never been activated - can it be
  activated with a different carrier's SIM card to what it was supposed
  to be locked to?

Activation is irrelevant.  You'll either need to jail break the phone and unlock it, or ask the carrier the phone was intended for to unlock it.

  3 Question: If I try to activate it with a SIM card from a different
  carrier - what is the chance that it stops working and becomes a
  "brick"?

No, inserting a SIM card from another carrier won't "brick" it.  It just won't work in the phone.

Something to consider, the iPhone 4S uses a smaller sim card than standard phones do.  When upgrading to a 4S from a 3GS I had to sand my SIM card down to fit (I like to use prepaid service so I'm not under a contract).


El Capitan Terminal command to toggle clock between Analog and Digital?

Make it analog: defaults write com.apple.menuextra.clock IsAnalog 1 && killall -KILL SystemUIServer

Make it digital: defaults write com.apple.menuextra.clock IsAnalog 0 && killall -KILL SystemUIServer


Why do I have to reboot my iMac and Wacom Cintiq after sleep?

I've had the same issue with my MacBook Pro (Early 2009).

Only occurred when waking up from sleep initiated by lid close.

Workaround I used was to switch off Automatically adjust brightness (Systems Preferences -> Displays). Hasn't re-occurred since – try that and see how you go.


You cannot differentiate what kind of mouse/input device triggers hot corners. To the computer, a pointing device (mouse, trackball, trackpad, etc.) is a pointing device and all give input the same way so there's no way for it to differentiate what is actually moving the mouse. Hardware settings for each different device (such as tracking speed for a mouse vs a trackpad) are a different story.


I am in a nearly identical situation as you. I have been manically searching for this answer for the past two days, finding little. But here is what little I've found:

The Bluetooth mic is used during phone calls, facetime, and speech-to-text. It is not used for anything related to recording, as if the software is only ok with using that input if the evidence is destroyed immediately, if no record is kept. Wired headphones that have mics built-in will work for recordings, but for some reason the Bluetooth headsets are treated differently. This is true for my iPad mini and for my Android phone.

The most plausible theory I've heard is that there might be some safety regulation that is responsible. Like the government thinks it would be too easy to eavesdrop on people through their headsets if they didn't make these restrictions. But that is just speculation.

Anyway, I hope I was able to tell you something you didn't already know. I will be anxiously monitoring your post to see if someone who knows more than me shares new information. Good luck!!


Setup Exchange account on Mail.app on only one mac

I finally found the answer on a different question:
Preventing iCloud from syncing internet accounts in OS X Mavericks

To summarize, you disable Keychain access on your mac, and then add the exchange account.


Pages: Is point in custom object with only one control handle possible?

If the handle you are speaking about is the little blue dot used to adjust the roundness of the corners of a rounded rectangle, then yes, there is only one.

(I am assuming the above assumption is true)

To use this handle, simply grab it with the pointer, and drag it. Depending on the object, it will do one of a few things.

On a rounded rectangle; it will round all the corners to the amount set by the handle.

On a star, it will adjust the sharpness of the points. (The amount of points can be set by the slider that will appear when a star is created.)

On a speech bubble, it will where the 'speech' is originating from.

And on an arrow, it will adjust the shape of the arrowhead, making it sharper, or less sharp.


How to restore a hidden file in Time Machine - can't find data file?

Open Applescript Editor, in Applications > Utilities then copy/paste this to a new script...

set newHiddenVisiblesState to "YES"
try
    set oldHiddenVisiblesState to do shell script "defaults read com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles"
    if oldHiddenVisiblesState is in {"1", "YES"} then
        set newHiddenVisiblesState to "NO"
    end if
end try
do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles " & newHiddenVisiblesState

tell application "Finder"
    set theWindows to every Finder window
    repeat with i from 1 to number of items in theWindows
        set this_item to item i of theWindows
        set theView to current view of this_item
        if theView is list view then
            set current view of this_item to icon view
        else
            set current view of this_item to list view

        end if
        set current view of this_item to theView
    end repeat
end tell

Then Save as an application, which you can then just double-click to toggle showing/hiding invisible files.

You don't need to kill the Finder for this toggle, a refresh is sufficient - & faster.


Format, clean install, & restore iPhone 3GS

Connect the device to iTunes and click Back Up Device.
Once the backup is complete, click Restore iPhone and follow the instructions to restore iOS on your iPhone.
Once this is complete, iTunes will prompt you to restore your backup which will restore all your data back to your device. All your data will be restored to your device except account passwords unless your backup is encrypted.


Does iCloud require any telephone land line infrastructure to send messages?

iCloud depends on the internet for transmission of data. iPhones, unfortunately, aren't capable of being sat-phones at this point (by themselves). As long as both the sender and the recipient have internet access, and as long as both are using iMessage (not SMS), then the iMessage should successfully be sent and received.

There are obviously multiple ways to get internet through which your phone could be connected. As you are aware, one such way is through cellular towers (if functioning), or another option is through a wifi connection (but again, this must have a landline connection as well). It is possible to get internet through a satellite dish and then broadcast that connection via wifi to your phone.

Again, both the sender and recipient must have internet in order to be able to communicate with iMessage.


What is a reasonable workflow to copy Android photos to Photos?

It's simpler and faster if one uses neither Dropbox nor Google Drive.

Photos \ File \ Import does it. The catch is that when you connect your Android phone to your Mac(Book), Android's filesystem will not be mounted.

The solution is to first use Android File Transfer to copy the directory DCIM \ Camera to the Mac. Then you can import it.


Yes, you can. Download and run the installer from the app store, click continue and agree to the license. In the screen asking for where to install, click the show all button to show drives other than your startup drive. You can select either an empty drive or one with older versions of OS X installed.

Since you are very likely to install OS X Mavericks again, you can make a copy of the installer to avoid having to download it again. Make a copy of the Mavericks Installer app in your Application folder before the installation begins, since the app will be deleted after the installation. You can use it to install OS X Mavericks on another drive or Mac. See here for more discussion: Re-use Mavericks install file

Reference: http://www.macworld.com/article/2055518/installing-mavericks-what-you-need-to-know.html


Has Lion Native NTFS read/write support improved?

I haven't seen any credible reports that NTFS write support has improved with Lion. It was in Snow Leopard and still is disabled natively.

As, it's not supported by Apple, getting a good third party plug in to enable that feature is as mandatory with Lion as it was with Snow Leopard.


Authorize a computer on a iPad with broken touch screen

No.

If you could simply override the setting from the computer, that would defeat the purpose of iOS not exposing internal data until it has been approved through the touch interface.


Charging problems, MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports) c

Firstly, make sure that you are using the correct charger, and not a lower-rated charger from a different Mac, such as a MacBook Air. If you have another charger, or can borrow one from a friend, it's worth checking whether a different charger works correctly or not. (Or alternatively, see if the charger works ok on another Mac.)
As this is a recent purchase, you should take it to an Apple Store for investigation. I realise that may be difficult at the moment with Covid-19 restrictions. It's likely to be a hardware problem that can't easily be identified or fixed remotely. (I wait to be proved wrong!)


Tooltip fade out delay in OS X 10.11.1 and Xcode 7.1.1

You can set it up via Apple Terminal. For example:

defaults write com.apple.dt.Xcode NSInitialToolTipDelay -int 5000

The value of delay is measured in milliseconds. So 5000 ms == 5 sec.

To find changed NextStep ToolTipDelay values in definite domains use:

defaults find NSInitialToolTipDelay


Can't update Java due to apparently newer version already installed

According to apple.discussions.com the install of Java8 should work after removing an older Java plugin with the following command:

sudo rm -fr /Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin


How to remove my card info from my iPod?

You want to remove your card info from your Apple ID. You can do this from your iOS device or from iTunes on a Mac or PC.

This article has step-by-step instructions to get to the page where you can edit your payment information.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201266

If you are trying to remove your card when you are being prompted to update your card info, it may not work. Instead, follow the step-by-step instructions from the Settings app.


What is the small microphone icon floating on top of the screen in macOS and how do I turn it off?

This microphone floating on your screen IS NOT the dictation feature. It is the Voice Control.

Go to System Preferences > Accessibility
Scroll down until you see "Voice Control"
Disable Voice Control.


Old Users App Store Account is still active on my computer

Open the App Store app and go to Store → Sign Out.


Create Custom Drop Down Menus in the Finder Toolbar

That button is added to Finder using the FinderSync Extension APIs:

https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/General/Conceptual/ExtensibilityPG/Finder.html

  Finder Sync supports apps that synchronize the contents of a local folder with a remote data source. It improves user experience by providing immediate visual feedback directly in the Finder. Badges display the sync state of each item, and contextual menus let users manage folder contents. Custom toolbar buttons can invoke global actions, such as opening a monitored folder or forcing a sync operation.


Can I bypass iTunes Parental Restrictions on iOS devices?

It seems to be possible to unlock restricted movie content on request through your Apple TV, but through your iPhone or iPad it appears not to be possible. You can read more on iTunes, iOS, and Windows 7 parental controls at the included links and in this Lifehacker article. I hope that this information helps, and let me know if you have any further questions.


Nope. No authorized service personnel will do so even if paid. There is the good chance the device itself might not work if it finds to rear camera missing.


Manage iOS Developer Enterprise Programs for several companies

You will need to use the Enterprise Program, unless you want to deploy everything on the iTunes store.

In terms of if you can register for several Enterprise Programs, a single organization can enroll in up to five iOS Developer Enterprise Programs.  However, each Enterprise distribution provisioning profile can only be associated with one App ID.

This Stackoverflow post should help.


I don't need as far as I know “Microsoft AU Daemon” so how can it be disabled?

"Microsoft AU Daemon" stands for "Microsoft Auto Update Deamon". I recommend checking for Updates regularly, since MS is updating their products quite frequently.

You cannot really 'turn off' the update-check, but you can set it to check for updates manually. In order to do that you should look at the Office Support Pages found here.

In short: Start Word f.e., in the Menu-Bar click on "Help", then click on "Check for updates". The MS Autoupdate starts and in that window you can select "Manually Check" and close the Window. After that the "Microsoft AU Daemon" should not start again unless you manually check for update.


Mission Control won't open with dual monitor

Mission control not opening is caused by Duet disabling it due to a bug in Sierra. I've just done a Google and found that apparently the bug is fixed in OSX 10.12.2 which is in beta and hopefully released soon.


How do I disable the Minimize (command-M) shortcut in Mavericks?

You don't need to install any additional software.

Go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts
Click the  button below
Enter "Minimize" (use "Minimize All" to override minimizing all windows with ⌥⌘M) into the Menu Title text input field.
Assign some bizzare key combination that you won't press by accident.
Repeat steps three and four for "Minimise" (alternate spelling) which is required for some apps.
Close the window to save the changes.

I'm aware that this is not really "disabling it" but the result is effectively the same and without depending on 3rd party software.


Why is my memory still inactive after purging?

I was doing some reading about inactive memory after wondering about it myself. My understanding is that inactive memory is memory containing programs and data which you have quit. OS X keeps the memory incase you decide to restart the program. Because it is still in memory it can start it much quicker. You can see this in action by quitting a large program and restarting it. It should start much faster than it originally did.

Inactive memory does not suck up your memory though because OS X regards it as still available for programs to use, jsut at a lower priority than free memory. ie. if OS X needs memory for another program, it will allocate memory from the free area, then the  inactive allocation. So when thinking about how much memory you have free for applications to use, inactive and free is combined.

As for swap, if a program is using it you should easily be able to tell by the amount of I/O going on and a noticable slow down.

If you really want to see whats going on I would suggest download iStat menus which is a really nice tool for seeing the internals of your system and display various instruments in the menu bar.


Dictionary application doesn't show all the dictionaries I can use

I have resolved the issue by copying the setting file (com.apple.Dictionary.plist) from the other Mac.
I made a copy of the file, in the case I could have the same issue.


Sorting of Spotlight's search results is disabled in Lion

Finder has two different sorting modes (the new Arrange By and the old Sort By) on Lion. If the Arrange By mode is set to something other than none, you can't sort columns in list view by clicking the list headers.

So just select View > Arrange By > None.


You can’t open the application “iTunes” because it is being updated

I have the same error message with XCode.

I deleted Xcode from Finder. Emptied the trash. Then installed XCode again from the App Store. (I cannot remove iTunes because it is disallowed by macOS)

Now both XCode and iTunes work again.


firefox mac os: how to remap cmd+r to f5?

You can remap any shortcut on macOS - so long as the item you wish to change has a Menu entry.

To demonstrate on Safari - I don't have Firefox..

Original menu -

So, to change it - System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts >App Shortcuts
Click the + button, set your required app, the menu exact name & your new key command

& here is your new menu -


Recovery HD Is not showing up. Is it because of FileVault?

Short answer: yes, it's because of FileVault (well, actually Core Storage, but that's required for FileVault). It's normal for the startup manager (Option key at startup) to only show one volume in this mode, but Command-R should still work to start in recovery mode. If Command-R is not working, I'm not sure what the problem there is.

Long answer: starting OS X is a multistage process: the CPU firmware (aka Boot ROM) gets control first, it loads a "booter" program off disk, and that loads and kicks of the actual OS. Normally, the booter is loaded from the volume you're going to start the OS from ("Macintosh HD" in your case), but in some situations that's not possible.

If you're using FileVault, the main volume is encrypted, so nothing can be loaded from it until it's unlocked; and it's the booter that handles unlocking it. (That "pre-boot" authentication screen when you initially enter a password to unlock and start up? That's actually presented by the booter.) Since the booter can't be loaded from the encrypted main volume, OS X puts a duplicate on the Recovery HD volume, and "blesses" that as the default booter. The Recovery HD actually has two booters on it: one that's configured to unlock & start from the main volume, and another that's configured to load the recovery system from the Recovery HD volume.

Here's where the confusion comes in: when you start with the Option key held down, the firmware presents the startup manager, showing all of the bootable volumes it can find. That "Macintosh HD" volume it shows is actually the Recovery HD volume, with some volume label trickery to make it look like the main volume. The firmware doesn't notice that there's a second booter on that volume, so it only shows the one icon. As a result, the startup manager can't be used to start recovery mode in this configuration.

Command-R, on the other hand, should still work. There's some more trickery involved, but that should select the alternate booter and start you up into recovery mode. You can verify the alternate boot setup by mounting the Recovery HD volume and then using bless --info to see its selected booter(s):

$ diskutil mount disk0s3
Volume Recovery HD on disk0s3 mounted
$ bless --info /Volumes/Recovery\ HD
finderinfo[0]:    449 => Blessed System Folder is /Volumes/Recovery HD/System/Library/CoreServices
finderinfo[1]:    792 => Blessed System File is /Volumes/Recovery HD/System/Library/CoreServices/boot.efi
finderinfo[2]:      0 => Open-folder linked list empty
finderinfo[3]:    410 => Alternate OS blessed file/folder is /Volumes/Recovery HD/com.apple.recovery.boot
finderinfo[4]:      0 => Unused field unset
finderinfo[5]:    410 => OS X blessed folder is /Volumes/Recovery HD/com.apple.recovery.boot
64-bit VSDB volume id:  0x7AB8C69807215B9A
$ more /Volumes/Recovery\ HD/System/Library/CoreServices/.disk_label.contentDetails
Macintosh HD
$ diskutil unmount /Volumes/Recovery\ HD
Volume Recovery HD on disk0s3 unmounted

Make sure your "Alternate OS blessed file/folder" is com.apple.recovery.boot, not boot.efi. If it's not... well, there may be a way to fix it with bless, but I the man page doesn't seem to be very clear on the subject. Also, make sure you're getting blessing info on the Recovery HD volume, not your main volume; the main volume will not generally have an alternate booter configured.


It's one of the major flaws with newer seagate drives (alongside no on/off switch so you have to pull the power cord out the back and risk damaging the disk). They are just not compatible with Macs unfortunately. They go to sleep and there's no way for the Mac to reconnect to them. I've contacted Seagate about this and they said "Sorry there's nothing they can do about it, perhaps I can contact Apple and they can do something about it". Great..!

I basically don't buy Seagate any more and don't recommend Seagate to any friends or family with Macs. They just cause too many issues.

I'm using 10.6.8, I've not tried 10.8.3 as poster above suggests.


Permission denied when I try to change a file’s access and modification times

The command should be touch -t (date) file.example

chmod +x just makes the file executable – it should not affect the date - but if you still want to use it, you can do it like this:

chmod +x file.example
touch -t 0401200 file.example

Also, check that you have write permissions on the file by running ls -l file.example (or right-click on the file in Finder and choose Get Info, then look at 'Sharing & Permissions').


Any issues upgrading a MacBookPro4,1 (Early 2008) to Lion?

I upgraded my MacBook Pro 3,1 (late 2007) with 6GB RAM to Lion. There are no specific problems, but note that the trackpad cannot use multi-touch gestures. Also, the networking circuitry in my MacBook Pro does not support AirDrop, so I can't use that. I noticed inconsistent behavior with keyboard backlighting on my model with Lion, but since I have never seen the need for that feature, I just disabled it altogether.


Why does the Google Chrome icon appear like this in Applications?

I have not seen this happen and it is quite uncommon, but usually it means that the app hasn't fully loaded the icon from the dmg file to the memory. It could've been because you moved the app over very quickly or you must not have followed the standard procedure, which is Download app → Drag icon to Applications folder.

Either way, it should fix itself on a reboot. If you don't want to do that, there's an answer on Super User to the same question:

  Drag the app to your desktop first, and wait for it to finish loading from the .dmg file. It will get its proper icon. Then drag it to the Applications folder, or on the alias in the .dmg, if one is supplied.


"ip route get 8.8.8.8" equivalent in Mac?

You can simply use the route(8) command
$ route get 8.8.8.8
   route to: dns.google
destination: default
       mask: default
    gateway: 192.168.0.1
  interface: en0
      flags: <UP,GATEWAY,DONE,STATIC,PRCLONING>
 recvpipe  sendpipe  ssthresh  rtt,msec    rttvar  hopcount      mtu     expire
       0         0         0         0         0         0      1500         0

The ip tool is not supported on MacOS because it's a very Linux-specific implementation (Netlink). The Mac version of route uses another interface (see man 4 route).


Xcode command line tools install error trying to run homebrew

This question has my best answer for installing the tools.

Can't install Homebrew on macOS Mojave; installer doesn't recognize Command Line Tools

I prefer running it without Xcode or a developer account, but if your are super paranoid on security, perhaps downloading it from Apple developer wen site lets you validate the checksum and sizing before you install it? If you trust Apple updates for security, you should probably trust them for the Xcode tools, though.


Only one USB-C port will charge my MacBook Pro?

So, to summarize, the port works for all functions (USB connectivity, display, etc) including charging downstream devices (like a smartphone), but you cannot charge the MacBook.

Your SMC chip needs to be reset.  Hold ^ Control⇧ Shift⌥ Option ⦿ Power from a powered off state.
There is failed component in the charging circuitry.

USB 3.1 (power delivery) negotiates power.  When you connect your power adapter to the port, it basically says "I'm a power adapter and I can charge."  The device (MacBook) will respond "I need X" and will negotiate with adapter for what can be delivered.  Once negotiated, the adapter sends the power and the USB port passes it to the charging circuit (handled by the SMC)

What could be happening here is one of two things:

The port is no longer negotiating for power (unlikely because the port still functions otherwise
The charging circuitry physically isn't getting the power (a broken electrical path)

If the SMC reset doesn't fix, take it in for service.


No, iOS 6.1.6 is the latest version your iPod touch will support. There is absolutely no way to install iOS 7, 8, 9, or (extremely) likely anything later. It just won't work.


Upgrade to Yosemite Cutting Off Photoshop CS6 Dialog With Two Displays

Same problem here. Unplug and plugin again helps (display port). After that the photoshop dialogs are complete visible (main system dialog: save, open...) - but the order of photoshops internal windows (layers...) are broken.


I think it's working, I think it's still uploading them but the progress bar in Photos.app is missing. I looked at the total number of items visible at https://www.icloud.com/photos and the number is gradually going up. They're slower to appear on iPhone but I do see some RAW photos there, based on a random check.
The progress bar is now working and the "Uploading 445 items" counter is slowly going up instead of down, so it looks like it's slow to decide what it needs to upload. There's now only 6324 large RAW files left to upload.


How do I disable "Apple News Spotlight" in Mojave?

Block notifications from the app in "System Preferences" -> "Notifications".  I'm not sure that it stops the app from from fetching news but it should block all notifications from it; including those that switch themselves back on for whatever reason.


How can I make iTerm2 *cd* into a directory by clicking on *ls* results?

I've found that you need to go Preferences -> Profiles -> Advanced -> Semantic History and use Run coprocess... and echo cd \1 to get the desired result.

Don't ask me why this works or how I found this solution.


A quick and dirty fix is to create the missing file with contents:

" Vim syntax support file
" Maintainer:   Bram Moolenaar <Bram@vim.org>
" Last Change:  2001 Sep 04

" This file is used for ":syntax on".
" It installs the autocommands and starts highlighting for all buffers.

if !has("syntax")
  finish
endif

" If Syntax highlighting appears to be on already, turn it off first, so that
" any leftovers are cleared.
if exists("syntax_on") || exists("syntax_manual")
  so <sfile>:p:h/nosyntax.vim
endif

" Load the Syntax autocommands and set the default methods for highlighting.
runtime syntax/synload.vim

" Load the FileType autocommands if not done yet.
if exists("did_load_filetypes")
  let s:did_ft = 1
else
  filetype on
  let s:did_ft = 0
endif

" Set up the connection between FileType and Syntax autocommands.
" This makes the syntax automatically set when the file type is detected.
augroup syntaxset
  au! FileType *    exe "set syntax=" . expand("<amatch>")
augroup END

" Execute the syntax autocommands for the each buffer.
" If the filetype wasn't detected yet, do that now.
" Always do the syntaxset autocommands, for buffers where the 'filetype'
" already was set manually (e.g., help buffers).
doautoall syntaxset FileType
if !s:did_ft
  doautoall filetypedetect BufRead
endif

which is valid (at the very least) for vim 7.0 through 7.3, as the file hasn't changed in years.

If you take a closer look, though, it is quite surprising that vim tries to open /usr/share/vim/syntax/syntax.vim: I checked the path of syntax.vim on different OS X versions and this is what I got:

OS X 10.8.3 "Mountain Lion"

/usr/share/vim/vim73/syntax/syntax.vim

Mac OS X 10.5.8 "Leopard"

/usr/share/vim/vim70/syntax/syntax.vim
/usr/share/vim/vim72/syntax/syntax.vim

I'd expect Mac OS X "Snow Leopard" to follow a similar pattern, so why is the path different? What has changed in vim, have you compiled a newer version or replaced it?

It could also be that /usr/share/vim/vim<version>/syntax/syntax.vim exists, in which case, as an alternative, you could create a link:

sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/vim/syntax/
sudo ln /usr/share/vim/vim<version>/syntax/syntax.vim /usr/share/vim/syntax/syntax.vim


Why can I not edit some photos Imported from an iPhone to Windows Vista?

It looks like a complete description of the problem and how to avoid (but not remedy it) is given at Neowin.

Briefly, taking a picture with the new volume button shutter release sets a flag that Windows doesn't understand and so it just gives that vague error message and refuses to mess with the image.

It follows that the images you can manipulate were taken using the on-screen shutter release (?)


How can I sync an animated gif from Photos.app on a Mac to an iPhone?

Apple Photos appears to support GIF but not animated GIF.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204264

I suggest you try a different cloud solution for your animated GIFs like Dropbox or Google Drive.


How can I boot my MacBook Pro from a DVD to update my SSD firmware

You should know there is no such this as "BIOS" on a Mac (the equivalent system is called EFI, but you don't boot into it to change settings). To boot from a DVD or any other external medium, you'll have to hold down the Option ⌥ key while booting.
Then you'll get a list with all the bootable devices and there you can select the device you want to boot from.

Or you can go to System Preferences > Startup Disk to select your disk and then reboot. Then you'll also boot from the disk.


Clean partition map before installing High Sierra

disk0 is your physical internal disk.

disk1s1 is required by macOS. Windows also stores boot software in this partition.
disk1s2 is used by macOS. The partition is not used by Windows.
disk1s3 is used by macOS. The partition is not used by Windows.
disk1s4 is used by Windows. The partition is not used by macOS.
disk1s5 is used by Windows. The partition is not used by macOS.

disk1 is virtual and exists because you are using core storage.

disk2 is the USB macOS installer.

The rest of the disks and partitions only exist because you are booted to the macOS installer. You should not try to delete these partitions.

Basically, the installer creates virtual disks in your computer's volitile RAM memory. These disks are used for temporary file storage. For example, compressed files stored on the USB drive are decompressed and stored on these disks.

You should be able to delete disk0s2 and disk0s3 without affecting Windows. If for some reason Windows will not boot, then you will need to create a bootable USB Windows Installer to fix the problem. If necessary, you can do this from macOS. I would avoid deleting the macOS volume. Instead I would do the following.

Boot to the USB macOS installer.
Open the Disk Utility application.
Erase the macOS volume using the format "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". This  should:

Remove Core Storage  on partition disk0s2.
Remove the "Recovery HD" volume on partition disk0s3.
Create a  "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" volume on a new partition.

Exit the Disk Utility application.
Restart and boot back to the USB macOS installer.
Install High Sierra on to the new volume. This should also create a new "Recovery HD" volume.


Snow Leopard Clean Install - Zero Out SSD?

You want reinstall your old MBP, because want sale it? So zero out.

Want install OS X into the new MBP - don't need zero.

"Zero out" is for the security. see here too. And if you come from the DoD, CIA etc.. ;) and you have classified informations on you notebook - use the multi-pass zero-out. ;)

For those who have heard that there is someone who has seen such a person who knows how wear-leveling works, ;) TAKE IT EASY :)

I show you how wear-leveling works when erasing a whole SSD sector-by-sector. (and not file-by-file).

For the simplicity imagine than your SSD has only 10 sectors, with numbers from 0 up to 9.
Again, for this example we don't need differentiate between static/dynamic wear-leveling, only need to know, than SSD somewhat counting the write-count into each sector on SSD.

The scheme is the following:

sector number -> 0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
my DATA          .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
usage count      0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0

for the fresh ssd we have usage count "0" for all sectors. (in reality this is not true, but for this example it is ok), and we haven't any data on the SSD.

Ok, after a while of usage of normal usage of SSD we get for example the next:

sector number -> 0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
MY DATA          .  .  x  x  .  .  x  .  .  .
usage count      5  6  6  6  5  5  7  6  4  5

so, we have physically occupied sectors# 2,3,6 (so, my data ARE really in these sectors, and does not matter what OS think where they are) and the SSD maintain his usage table. You can see the usage table (bottom row) is nearly leveled. (why is not exactly leveled does not matter for this example, and also we not need discuss how SSH maintain the his free sector table, but need to know, than the SSD's free sectors table has nothing with the OS's free sector table).

So, come erase the whole SDD sector-by-sector. What this mean? The OS will write some data (not always zeroes) into each sector sequentially on SSD.

The OS send a command to SSD "write these zeros onto sector 0". The SSD's wear leveling choose on block with the lowest number of writes and write the zeros into. In our small example this will be sector 8, so we get:

sector number -> 0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
MY DATA          .  .  x  x  .  .  x  .  -  .
usage count      5  6  6  6  5  5  7  6  5  5

I draw with '-' the written sector for the erase process. So the OS "think" than got erased the sector 0, but this is not true, because the wear-leveling erased the sector 8.

Next, the OS want erase sector "1". The wear leveling choose the first sector with lowest number of write, so sector 0 in our example.

sector number -> 0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
MY DATA          -  .  x  x  .  .  x  .  -  .
usage count      6  6  6  6  5  5  7  6  5  5

for the sector 2 - got written into sector 4

sector number -> 0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
MY DATA          -  .  x  x  -  .  x  .  -  .
usage count      6  6  6  6  6  5  7  6  5  5

sector 3 -> 5

sector number -> 0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
MY DATA          -  .  x  x  -  -  x  .  -  .
usage count      6  6  6  6  6  6  7  6  5  5

sector 4 -> 8 (AGAIN got a write into sector 8, because it has the first sector with the lowest number of writes)

sector number -> 0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
MY DATA          -  .  x  x  -  -  x  .  -  .
usage count      6  6  6  6  6  6  7  6  6  5

sector 5 -> 9

sector number -> 0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
MY DATA          -  .  x  x  -  -  x  .  -  -
usage count      6  6  6  6  6  6  7  6  6  6

sector 6 -> 0

sector number -> 0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
MY DATA          -  .  x  x  -  -  x  .  -  -
usage count      7  6  6  6  6  6  7  6  6  6

sector 7 -> 1

sector number -> 0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
MY DATA          -  -  x  x  -  -  x  .  -  -
usage count      7  7  6  6  6  6  7  6  6  6

sector 8 -> 2

sector number -> 0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
MY DATA          -  -  -  x  -  -  x  .  -  -
usage count      7  7  7  6  6  6  7  6  6  6

sector 9 -> 3

sector number -> 0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9
MY DATA          -  -  -  -  -  -  x  .  -  -
usage count      7  7  7  7  6  6  7  6  6  6

As you can see, after the 1st pass, (the OS think than got erased all sectors) but in the reality sectors 6 and 7 got not touched.

In the next pass, the sector number 6 still not get erased. But in the 3rd pass GOT erased. In the reality it is more complicated, but the base principe is:

if you erasing the whole drive sector by sector (and not at filesystem level, so not file-by-file), you will get leveled all sectors on write
while you can not ensure, than all your files got erased on 1st pass, on multi-pass you can ensure this, just because of wear-leveling.

Now i show, why some users get confused about the erase. Imagine:

we have an empty SSD - all sectors has zero usage count. The SSD has for example 10 sectors.
we write one file, what got written into the first sector on SSD because this sector is the first with the usage count 0. So the sector #0 will have usage count 1. (again, this is not true in the reality, because of inode table, or FAT tables at the start of SSD - but for the example is ok)
so, the other 9 sectors are free (and has usage count 0). When you rewrite THE FILE 9 times, you physically got writes into the sectors 1-9, so after 9th rewrite your file is STILL IN SSD and possible to recover it. That is because you write only 1 sector at the time (rewriting only the space occupied with the file).
in the SSD with 1000 sectors, we can not ensure physical rewriting of the file (with length of 1sector) either in 1000pass erase.

But with the multi-pass erase of the ALL sectors (sector-by-sector) in SSD, you will get cleared all sectors and all sectors will have the same write-count at the end. (and the oldest FILE get erased first).

Just ask, if something is not fully clear.


Is it possible to control dimensions of cropping an image?

Depending on your needs you might resize all images first, then specify the crop and potentially resize again after if needed. It's really up to your workflow which operation needs to happen in which order.

Photos manually (which also has a very nice square crop tool and can export and re-sample the image if needed). The next step would be to have  automator or AppleScript control Photos (or your editor of choice) to make entering specific dimensions easier. If you don't mind shell scripting, the tool I've used to script this for many images is https://www.imagemagick.org/

You can get it with https://brew.sh and install quite easily. You should spend 10 minutes installing brew and the command line tools (free) from Apple and skip installing Xcode unless you feel you want the whole developer toolset. That might take 30 minutes or more to install.

There are dozens of tutorials on how to do this - here are three:

https://www.macworld.com/article/1153762/resize_images_automator.html
https://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/how_to_batch_convert_and_resize_images_with_automator
https://9to5mac.com/2016/04/27/how-to-quickly-resize-images-mac-using-automator-service/


You could try to use a keyboard shortcut instead. Either ⌘ + M to minimize the window or ⌘ + H to hide the application altogether.

Otherwise, you may want to try HyperDock (free beta for now), I believe you could do what you want to do with its custom shortcuts.


macOS Mail app rules to delete are archiving instead

Check settings in Gmail itself. In "Forwarding and POP/IMAP", what's the setting under "When I mark a message in IMAP as deleted:"? And if that is set to "Auto-Expunge off" - what is the setting for "When a message is marked as deleted and expunged from the last visible IMAP folder:"?

I have the first option set to the default (Auto-Expunge on), which prevents you from modifying the second option. But deleting an email in my mail client immediately sends it to the Trash folder, not the Archives folder.


Option + Double-click

Hold Option/ALT while double-clicking on the line to add a label to it.

If this maneuver instead creates a point to adjust the line from, double-click without Option/ALT. You can swap between Option/ALT-double-click (a) creating a point and (b) creating a label via a setting in Preferences → Drawing Tools → Line Editing.

Also, the documentation mentions clicking on the line while using the Text tool.


Do the new macbook pro models (2011) still have a 4 partition limit?

This is not a limitation of the hardware. This is a limitation of the MBR partitioning scheme required to allow Windows to boot with other non-Windows operating systems. The MBR partitioning scheme only supports 4 primary partitions.

The GUID partitioning scheme that Mac OS X uses by default is able to handle more that 4 partitions but not all operating systems support GPT.


The difference is that you are using a pre-built package under Linux but are looking at the compile-it-yourself instructions (which would work both for Linux and for OS X).

There are at least two options to solve that:

Use one of the package managers available for OS X, e.g. Homebrew and install Unison by running

brew install unison

You will need Xcode installed as well for this
Follow the "Download" link on http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison and download pre-compiled versions from here.


I've also noticed that my Macbook Pro boot sequence only occasionally ups the brightness to full when rebooting. (However, I reboot so rarely that I don't really mind.) I thought it was just me! I'm running OSX Lion (10.7.4), btw.

I like the suggested answer that the user preference value isn't read soon enough, but I suspect that the issue is that the appropriate driver isn't loaded until the last moment. From what I understand, the user prefs would be readable at any time during the boot sequence (assuming the root/boot disk volume is mounted, anyway), but if the driver isn't loaded, the value wouldn't be applied. That would account for the display being really bright for some time, but it doesn't explain the occasional (for me, about every second bootup) dimmer value.

Of course, if the dimmer code is part of the BIOS, that's completely wrong, and it probably would be down to when the user prefs were read and fed to the driver!

The strange unpredictable behaviour may depend on what sequence of events occurs when shutting down; it's possible (though not probable) that in some situations, the brightness register isn't reset when shutting down. This probably wouldn't happen if the machine was off for some hours/days/weeks. It would be interesting to see if there's a pattern to the behaviour though!

It might be possible to re-order the sequence so that the display brightness setting is applied sooner rather than later, but it will still be some number of clock cycles between the LED backlight being turned on and the appropriate driver load/preference read.


Can’t restore Time Machine back up - an error occurred while adding recovery system to destination disk

Try this·
Go to the Internet Recovery, erase the drive in Journaled format, and then restore.
I suspect, in your case, erasing the drive from Recovery is not the correct approach.


When you update your OS - (if it contains a Mail.app update) it will replace the previous version of the app with the new one and by doing this it will also replace the icon file.

Anyway something that you can try after you've replaced the icon again:

1.Open Terminal and enter this command - sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.p/Contents/MacOS/Finder

2.Enter your password and press Enter

3.WITHOUT switching to other windows press CMD + TAB and select Finder

4.Press CMD + N this will open a new Finder Window with root privileges (BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL WHAT YOU DO)

5.Press CMD + G and enter /Applications/Mail.app/Contents/Resources

6.Find the Mail.icns(it should be the new one you chose) file - Right Click it and select Get Info

7.Check the Locked attribute.

8.Go back to the terminal window and press CONTROL + C this will close the Finder Window.

This should prevent it from being overwritten

Command line alternative:

sudo chflags uchg /pathToFile/filename


Length of Mini DisplayPort to HDMI cable

Short answer:

Yes, the cable will be fine.

Long answer:

HDMI and Mini DisplayPort are digital signals, so either the signal works or it doesn't.

As cable runs get longer the signal is more prone to interference and signal loss that can result in no video, but unlike analog video such as composite video there is no loss in quality, just no video at all, or constant cutting out.

Given that you are really only looking at 10ft/3M this isn't very long at all, and as long as you buy from a reputable supplier the cable should state it is rated for 1080p at 60fps and if it was made 3 meters long it should work without question.

In my own experience signal issues with HDMI cables only tend to start to manifest at much longer cable runs over 10 meters / 30 ft, and at higher resolutions or frame rates which exceed what the cable was designed for, or when the cable is not from a reputable supplier.


Is it safe to work with MacBook Pro lid closed?

Yes - they are designed to work when closed. The machine will shut itself off if it ever exceeds the safe operating temperature (unless of course there are multiple failures in the sensors).

You can measure the battery temp - and may reduce the useful life of the battery if the temperature is always higher (and substantially higher on the order of 10 to 30 degrees F) for extended always on periods.

You may never need a new battery with the new 5 year / 1000 cycle batteries - so that might not even be a concern. I'm happy to spend the $99 on a new one if I really need one after the normal 3 year coverage has lapsed with Apple Care. Other than the battery - the rest of the electronics is basically immune to heat. The next thing to go might be a blower bearing - but those are far cheaper to have replaced than even a battery.


Why does a video file get bigger after editing it with iMovie?

720p resolution is 1280×720, which equates to quadruple the number of pixels vs. your original 640×360 (360p) movie. This alone would account for a huge jump in storage size.

You'll want to output in 540p instead (960×540). However this will still produce a video with 2.25× the number of pixels, so the resulting video may or may not still be larger.

As to why you can’t output in 360p, this appears to be a design decision by Apple (possibly to steer us towards Final Cut Pro), because earlier versions of iMovie allowed more granularity. In fact, in iMovie 10.0, 480p was still available, but as of iMovie 10.1, it’s gone. I suggest you voice your concerns to Apple.

Lastly, I should point out that Low, Medium and High Quality settings  all encode in H.264. They just use different encoding profiles/levels, with varying bitrates. From the figures you provided, I’d say your original video wasn’t produced using a profile equivalent to iMovie’s High setting. So you’ll probably want to try Medium or even Low.

If you still can’t keep your file size down encoding in 540p and using a lower profile, you can still down-sample it through Handbrake. However the upscaling-downscaling is sure to lower your video quality by some token amount. So it's a tradeoff.


How do I run diagnostics on an iPad Pro 11 with nonfunctioning screen and touch?

AFAIK there's no diagnostic tool.
You could hook up a KB/M as well as your MacBook (for display) using a USB-C dongle, but I'm not sure if it'll work.


Is there a free app like Sublime Text 2 on iPad?

Take a look at Textastic.

I've tried many others Code, Diet Coda, etc. While they all have some decent features, nothing is quite up to par yet all around in comparison to Textastic in my opinion (especially if you like Sublime Text).


How do I reclaim the "other" space on my iPad?

The "Other" space is not necessarily unused as you imply.  It could simply be your user data from your applications.

If you check in Settings > General > Usage you can gauge how much space your apps are using up including their data (might be photos, or podcasts, or pictures, or anything).

For example, my Instacast it taking up 406Mb of space, but the application is only 3.3Mb.  So that's over 400Mb of "other" space taken up right there:

If you were to add up your the data in this list, then subtract the total amount of "application" usage from it, it should pretty much equate to the bulk of this "other" data.  Of course, there are other things that are included as "Other", including your mail data, sms messages, internal log files and location data stores etc etc etc which may fluctuate over time but the big portion is just your apps contents.


Updating Apps to discover an unrecognized email linked to my account

Did someone help you set up your phone?

One way this could happen is that someone used their Apple ID to download apps on your phone.

It could also happen if you restored, updated or migrated your phone on someone else's computer.

The easiest way to solve it is by deleting and downloading them again with your Apple ID.

The problem is, at least with WhatsApp, that you will lose the data stored in it. You can export conversations by email but that is a very rough way of backing up and it usually leaves out media.

Instagram will ask for your credentials and you'll be ok; Skype will be somewhere around those lines too, but check their support site for specifics —I'm thinking chat history.

As for your data being compromised, it is probably not the case. The person who used this email you don't recognize to download apps on your phone (which is their Apple ID) only has access to a copy of the app on his purchase history —the same copy everybody has access too by the way— not the data inside of it. I would check if this Apple ID was used for some other service on your phone, which could have privacy implications, but that should be asked separately.


Activate Emoji & Symbols and Character Viewer independently

If I were in a similar situation, I would do the following:

Change the default keyboard shortcut for Emoji & Symbols from ⌃⌘Space to ⌃⌥⌘Space so that the default ⌃⌘Space can be used as a shortcut with one of the scripts, the primary one.
Create two AppleScript scripts, one for showing Emoji & Symbols, (the primary one for me), and the other for showing Character Viewer. (This could be done in one script however, for coding simplicity two will be used.)
Use FastScripts to assign a keyboard shortcut to each. The first for My Emoji & Symbols to ⌃⌘Space and for My Character Viewer, use ⌃⇧⌘Space as shown in the image further below.
Note that I have no affiliation with Red Sweater Software, the developer of FastScripts, and am just a satisfied user.

Note that in place of using FastScripts, an Automator Service can be used. However, I prefer the former because it has worked better for me then the latter.

The following was tested and worked under macOS High Sierra...

First, change the global keyboard shortcut for the Emoji & Symbols menu item:

System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts

Click the [+] to add a new shortcut with the following settings:
Applications: All Applications
Menu Title: Emoji & Symbols
Keyboard Shortcut: ⌃⌥⌘Space
        See image further below.

Next, create two AppleScript scripts (.scpt) files in ~/Library/Scripts/, one named My Emoji & Symbols and the other named My Character Viewer, adding the following to each:

For My Emoji & Symbols:

do shell script "defaults write com.apple.CharacterPaletteIM CVStartAsLargeWindow -bool false"
delay 0.5
tell application "System Events" to keystroke space using {control down, option down, command down}

For My Character Viewer:

do shell script "defaults write com.apple.CharacterPaletteIM CVStartAsLargeWindow -bool true"
delay 0.5
tell application "System Events" to keystroke space using {control down, option down, command down}

Note the only difference between the two is the value of -bool, being true or false for the CVStartAsLargeWindow key. Also, the value of the delay command is to allow time for the defaults command to make the write before System Events triggers the new global keyboard shortcut for the Emoji & Symbols menu item. The value of the delay command may need be adjusted, so do so as needed.

Then in FastScripts > Preferences... > Script Shortcuts, assign ⌃⌘Space (or ⌃⌘␣) to My Emoji & Symbols, and assign ⌃⇧⌘Space (or ⌃⇧⌘␣) to My Character Viewer.   See image below.

Note that FastScripts will need to be added to: System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility   See image below.

If using Automator Services, use a Run Apple Script action with the example AppleScript code, show above, replacing the default code in each and assign keyboard shortcuts via: System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services

Note that the mentioned naming conventions and or paths, et cetera, have changed for some items in macOS Mojave and will need to be adjusted accordingly. I am not yet running macOS Mojave however, have seen posts on some of the differences. You'll need to adjust as necessary if running macOS Mojave.

Key Symbol Legend:

Shift: ⇧
Control: ⌃
Option: ⌥
Command: ⌘
Space: Space

System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts

FastScripts > Preferences... > Script Shortcuts
     • Note that the ␣ character, shown in the shortcut below, is for the space character.

System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility


First, make sure you are looking at the right apache config.  Base OS X includes a config file, but the one used in Server is at /Library/Server/Web/Config/apache2/sites.

The two lines that makes Xcode the default is in 0000_any_80_.conf:

DocumentRoot "/Library/Server/Web/Data/Sites/Default"
DirectoryIndex index.html index.php /xcode/ /wiki/ default.html

That means Apache will look for an index first in /Library/Server/Web/Data/Sites/Default, but if there isn't an index file, it will try to use /xcode/ as the index (and will fall back to the wiki after that).

To override it, all you need to do is put some content in index.html. After that, you will still be able to access Xcode server in http://host.name.tld/xcode


Data backup needed before Apple Store screen repair?

You need to backup your data.
Period.

There is a new adage for the digital world we live in...

  "Any data which is not stored in at least three distinct locations ought to be considered temporary"

This translates to one on-site backup, e.g. Time Machine -  & one off-site backup, iCloud, BackBlaze, CrashPlan etc.

The first is to cover for if you break your machine irreparably.
The second is for if the house burns down too.

Without both your data can be lost at the 'whim of the gods'... forever.

Please have a read of my somewhat tongue-in-cheek question I posted on the Ask Different Meta a while ago

Restore from backup?


iOS-iOS device real time sound transfering

As per my comment, I think the key phrase to search for here would be Push-To-Talk (PTT). Take a look at the following:

Push to talk apps


Restart your MacMini to recovery mode by pressing cmdR at startup.

Open Utilities/Terminal in the menubar

Please replace "YourMainVolume" with the name of your main Mac volume (probably "Macintosh HD") in the following commands.

If you made a backup of your SystemVersion.plist (like advised in my answer) enter:

rm "/Volumes/YourMainVolume/System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist"

and hit ↵, then enter:

mv "/Volumes/YourMainVolume/System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist.backup" "/Volumes/YourMainVolume/System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist"

and hit ↵.
Enter exit, hit ↵, quit Terminal and restart your Mac.

If you didn't make a backup of your SystemVersion.plist enter:

vi "/Volumes/YourMainVolume/System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist"

and revert the edits you made previously. (vi Quick reference)

Quit Terminal and restart your Mac.


Can't Connect to Samba Drive Using OS X Lion

Actually Apple has added a new implementation of SMB as it is now the default filing protocol for file sharing (actually SMB2)

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57588593-263/os-x-mavericks-switches-to-smb2-networking/

While I don't recognize the error you are getting, try replacing SMB in your connection string with CIFS. EG:

cifs://server/share

That forces Mavericks to go back to the original SMB protocol.

However the fact that this was not working under Lion may indicate an issue of some sort (corrupt file, malware, etc.) with your system. If you have a spare bootable drive you might want to install a fresh copy of Mavericks and boot from that to see if your issue goes away,


I generally never tend to encourage to buy software not to advertise, however, on Iphone Epoc Cam HD(paid version) does perfectly its job. I've just bought it with somewhat hesitation since its free version seems, at first glance, really shlocky. After some tests with a lightning cable, sound and by setting resolution to 1920x1980, it works like a charm.


To install ddd you can do it via installing the Macports package manager http://www.macports.org/

Also You can use the GUI implementation of gdb  in Apple's Xcode. You just need to add your source in to an Xcode project.


PDFs randomly open in Preview instead of Acrobat

Right click then select get info. open drop down that says "Open With" then change app.


I would head straight to sophos where they provide free virus and malware scanning software as well as removal tools.

http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-antivirus-for-mac-home-edition.aspx

Their product is quite well vetted and used by enterprise and many organizational IT departments. Worst case, you could reboot your Mac into recovery mode and install a fresh OS onto a USB drive and then install the cleaning software there, but from what you've listed a decent tool might clean things up with little muss or fuss.


Application opens twice when file specified

You have to enclose the document you're trying to open in quotes

open -a emacs "/foo/bar/foobar.txt"


Yosemite Grey Screen with 3d Party SSD not a trim issue

try resetting your PRAM and SMC, this may resolve your issue,

http://osxdaily.com/2010/11/15/reset-pram-mac/

http://osxdaily.com/2010/03/24/when-and-how-to-reset-your-mac-system-management-controller-smc/

otherwise it could be bad RAM... take your Macbook in to apple and have them test the RAM.


Does applications movable to other iphones?

Once you have purchased an app from the App Store (even if it was free or discounted at the time) you can then redownload at no cost on your other devices so long as you log into the same Apple ID when you go to the store to download.  You can also sync from the same iTunes library, so long as the library is registered to the same Apple ID.


Why does iPhone Voice Control turn on when I wear headphones while working out?

It certainly sounds like the headphones are causing this. It's likely that moisture is eventually getting into the in-line switch/microphone module which is bridging the switch terminals and sending spurious signals to the phone.

However, I'd try the following:

Check for liquid damage inside the headphone socket: Hold your phone up to the light so that you can see down inside of the headphone port. There's a small indicator at the bottom of the port which will have turned a red/pink colour if liquid has come into contact with it. If positive, this could indicate that the phone's headphone socket may (also) be at fault.
Obtain another pair of the same Apple headphones and see if the issue occurs again.


Catalina to Catalina SMB Share Disconnecting When Busy

I realize the problem: the first Drobo volume is at max capacity.


How to uninstall Numbers and Keynote on Mavericks?

I recommend you just delete Numbers and Keynote using Finder.

The Mac App Store will detect the missing apps and allow you to reinstall them in the future if you ever need them.

Alternatively, you can use AppCleaner to delete them. This will remove all associated preference/cache files. This is usually superfluous unless you have an actual need to delete the preferences. They're not doing any harm leaving them there.


Is it possible to install Xcode 9 on a mid 2009 MacBook Pro 17 inches?

Not officially, no.

Xcode 9 will require macOS Sierra 10.12.4 to run. Unfortunately, the Mid-2009 17" MacBook Pro can only run the latest version of OS X El Capitan 10.11.6.

However, unofficially the Mid-2009 17" MacBook Pro can run macOS Sierra by virtue of the macOS Sierra Patcher Tool.

If this is something you want to consider doing, make sure you read all the information on the macOS Sierra Patcher Tool page as it contains important information you should weigh up before proceeding. If it was me I would not proceed without a full backup ready so you could recover your system if all goes bad.

NOTE: I have not seen Xcode 9 actually installed on any unsupported Mac, so cannot confirm that it would work on one which has macOS Sierra installed as a result of the macOS Sierra Patcher Tool.


Unless you have some specific needs, I would throw out most of those options and keep it simple: rysnc -aEv (on the default OS X version) or rsync -aXv (on the Homebrew version).

Options

-a is archive mode, which essentially means preserve the metadata (timestamps, permissions, etc.) and do a recursive copy. This is what you want for your standard backup or copy operations.
-E/-X preserves extended attributes (a.k.a. resource forks). In the past the built-in rsync version had special functionality to cover HFS+ quirks in this regard, but newer default versions of rsync may be improved in that regard now. I would lean towards using the built-in version unless you have a specific reason not to.
-v is the verbose option, and simply makes it easier to track what's going on if you're running this in a Terminal window. If it's going to be running in a script, you can remove it.

Unless you know you need them, you can safely ignore most of those options you've got already. Some are duplicated by the archive command, and others (like --inplace, which can slow things down and leave the filesystem in an inconsistent state) are only necessary for specific edge cases. Do yourself a favour and keep things simple — if you run into specific issues with the options I've listed, perhaps enumerate those (in a separate question if need be).

As an aside, running into problems copying via Finder is a bit of a red flag IMO. While it may not always be as fast as some options, it shouldn't be throwing error messages. You may want to verify/repair your disk in Disk Utility.


Does the iPad 2 Support the iPad 1 Dock?

It's possible to use the first generation dock, but it's a bit difficult to get the iPad 2 connected, because of the tapered edge: See this link.


Is it possible to filter which applications can use my iPhone's Personal Hotspot?

No, it is not possible. Even by jailbreaking would not enable this, or more exactly not in a practical way.


3 Terabyte hard drives in Mac Pro Mid 2010?


How to get sound to headphones through my USB speakers vs. the internal speakers?

It sounds like you don't have your sound input configured correctly. Have you tried going into System Preference > Sound and changing the Output device?

Another (easier) option is to Option ⌥ -click the sound menulet in the menubar, which will bring up an Input/Output device selection menu (10.6 and later).


Is there a way to define a box around an equation in Pages using Latex?

Here is a option for drawing a box around formulae inserted into a Pages document.  This is not super elegant but could be what the OP is looking for.

From the Menu select Insert > Equation...
Enter the desired LaTex or MathML into the dialog box.

Insert a 'box'. Generally, a square shape sized, fill color removed or set to desired color, with a border of the desired width.
Align both so that the equation appears in the center.

It may be good to group them together option+command+G so they can be moved or resized together.

More info on LaTex or MathML for Pages: Pages version 7.1 (5683) inserting equations using LaTex or MathML.


MacBook will read USB drives with no problem, but will not see the USB drive as boot drive

Try resetting the PRAM settings. First, restart your Mac, and before you hear the "bing" sound press option key (alt) + command + r + p, it will restart your Mac, after you hear the sound twice just plug in your USB stick and press the option button and boot from there. It worked for me. Hope this helped you out.


How to disable faces/people recognition in iOS10?

Apple did not give us a way to opt-out of the image analysis and the only way to avoid it is to move your photos off of the iOS device.

Maybe good to know. All image analysis is done on device and never leaves your device.

  Apple’s system is more focused on privacy than Facebook's or Google’s,
  with stricter limits on how the data is collected and stored. Onstage,
  Federighi insisted that Apple’s new system only uses local data, which
  means the company isn’t storing faceprints on company servers — a
  crucial point for anyone worried about their faceprint being used for
  more than just cataloging photos. Faceprints are still being created
  and used, but it's all happening on your phone, where Apple and the
  rest of the world can't access it. That’s different from Google and
  Facebook, which store data on the cloud and get significant scale
  benefits as a result.

Source: Apple's new facial recognition feature could spur legal issues - The Verge

What you can do to ensure more privacy is to not name the detected faces and to merge all detected faces into one single people album. This will prevent Photos from identifying more photos of the same persons.  Then hide the people album. Then the persons will not be used in Memories.


Can someone describe the purpose of OSX root level folders in laymen's terms?

It's a bit messy, and there is a degree of cross-overs, but the quick tour, without really going into the subfolders of these:

/etc, /tmp and /var are just symbolic links to subfolders in /private.

/etc generally contains configuration files.

/tmp is for temporary files used by running processes (also see /var/tmp)

/var is also used for somewhat temporary files used by running processes, but these tend to be less temporary and more often preserved between runs - e.g. logfiles which are usually in /var/log.

/usr contains binaries (executables) and developer-related files for core unix/BSD utilities. Things the user installs themselves should end up in /usr/local.

/bin also contains binaries but they tend to be more OS-fundamental than those in /usr - such as cp, cat, bash.

/sbin is as above but focused on routine administrative tasks such as mount and shutdown.  The s=system/superuser, usually you need root/superuser rights to use these commands.

/.fseventsd is used by the OS to log file-system change events (such as folder creation) so that interested parties can be notified when the filesystem changes.

However, to run the risk of saying what you didn't want me to say - most of these are of little interest, and if you were to use any, you'd be most likely to be in /usr/local, /var/log or /tmp.

Additional information with a focus on the common Unix structure can be found on Wikipedia (Unix File System).


Is installing a HDD instead of SuperDrive safe?

Overheating shouldn't be an issue. The SuperDrive probably runs
hotter (when it's in use) since it has moving parts
An SSD would most likely improve performance (especially if you use it as your boot drive and place for applications)
Don't know about battery life, but I imagine if you you use this as your boot drive, and the stock hard disk as your "slave", you might actually see an improvement (again, fewer 'moving parts')
This will void your warranty, but if you're careful you might be able to get in and out without leaving evidence of tampering. Consult iFixit's guides for tips
I can't imagine there would be a noticeable weight difference.
Steve is dead, unless you're talking about Steve Zahn. Steve Zahn doesn't care what you do with your computer.


Does iPhone 2020 SE support Google Calendar at all?

It looks like Google/Apple supports it if you're using the latest versions of iOS. Maybe some settings aren't correct on your iPhone?
Go to Settings. Scroll down to Calendar. Select Accounts. At the bottom is "Fetch New Data" Is Push turned on? Also in the list above this you will see some Accounts. What are your settings for Gmail? Fetch > Manual or Fetch ?
Under Settings, Cellular. Is Calendar enabled for use with Cellular? If not and you aren't near a hotspot this could cause your calendar to stop updating.
Google Calendar features that don't work on Apple Calendar;

Email notifications for events

Is this what you were waiting for? An event change notification?

Create new Google calendars

Room Scheduler

The work around would be to use the Google Calendar App in order to get the notifications of event changes.


Which monitor is used to show the booting screen?

The Mac mini models, that support up to 3 displays, normally use one of the USB-C ports for the display with the initial Apple logo. The HDMI port would only be used for the initial Apple logo display when there are no USB-C port connected displays. I can only assume that if three displays were connected, then the same USB-C port connected display would always be the initial Apple logo display. In other words, you not going to know which of the two USB-C port connected displays will be chosen for the initial Apple logo until you turn on the Mac. And, that this choice would be consistent.


ICloud Photos: Disable and Delete on Ipad

Welcome to AskDifferent!

"Disable & Delete" deletes only the photos and videos on iCloud. However, you would lose the originals of your photos and videos if "Optimize iPad Storage" were selected instead of "Download and Keep Originals" in your iPad's “Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Photos” settings prior to your selecting "Disable & Delete".

In addition, if your iPad has had little free storage left recently and "Optimize iPad Storage" were selected instead of "Download and Keep Originals", then you might also have lost some of the photos and videos you have been accessing the least in addition to originals of all your photos and videos. The number of photos and videos you might have lost in such a scenario (in addition to all of the originals of all photos and videos) would depend on how little free storage your iPad has had (if that were the case) recently.

In summary, if “Download and Keep Originals” were selected in your iPad's “Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Photos” settings prior to your selecting “Disable & Delete” (and you have had no trouble with the storage space on your iPad recently), you should not have lost anything at all. However, if “Optimize iPad Storage” were selected prior to “Disable & Delete”, it depends. This relatively recent article explains “What Happens When You Disable and Delete Photos from iCloud” in more detail.


Saving to cloud is easy to disable in system preferences:

Go to the iCloud Preference Pane
Select iCloud Drive
Click on "Options"
Check and uncheck the apps you want saved in iCloud.

This was tested on Yosemite and a Macbook Pro 2015


What would happen if I use a power supply with a different wattage than the system is designed for?

You can safely use the 85W adapter on any Mac, it will only draw as much power as it needs. The 45W adapter from the MacBook Air may just about manage to power your MacBook Pro but it won't charge it. It will not damage your Mac, but you may notice the battery may still deplete when using it.

Here is the information, straight from Apple:


Add a watermark to a PDF without installing new software

Automator can do this with Preview's Watermark PDF Documents action. You can create this workflow as a service to receive a PDF document and add a watermark to it.


Change Date/Time format in the Screen Shot filename?

It's using the system's standard date/time display format which you can customise in the 'Formats' tab in System Preferences → Language&Text

Or, it might be quicker to just change the time display of the clock to 24-hours mode: System Preferences → Date & Time

(I have OS X 10.7.5, so it may be organised/worded slightly differently in newer OS X versions.)


Cannot configure xdebug; "Operation not permitted" error when trying to cp

You need to temporarily disable System Integrity Protection

https://www.howtogeek.com/230424/how-to-disable-system-integrity-protection-on-a-mac-and-why-you-shouldnt/