VPN (PPTP) disconnects in OS X El Capitan (after update)

I've been struggling with VPN since 10.11.4. I'm unable to connect to a VPN server that I've used for a long time. I hope this is not noise, but here's what I have encountered in my research...

My problem is with an L2TP tunnel. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7502488 discusses a potentially related problem with respect to Cisco IPSec VPN. The interesting part there is that some have reported success changing to Diffie-Hellman group 14.

Slightly related is the App Store description of the 10.11.4 OS X server where they say "L2TP/IPsec VPN profiles now require 2048-bit or stronger Diffie-Hellman groups". This is consistent with the group 14 reports above since group 14 has 2048 bits.

At https://supportforums.cisco.com/document/12276506/diffie-hellman-groups they discuss the relative strengths of the various groups. One post says that group 14 is the minimum acceptable security for key exchange.

So I've started to think that Apple is now ruling out groups 1, 2, and 5. This is bad for me since those are the only groups supported by the older tunnel server I used to connect to.

I also use Private Internet Access sometimes. I tested connecting to them using L2TP. It worked fine. However, even with verbose logging, I couldn't find any log entries related to a negotiated DH group. But PIA is a security focused service. So, I'm guessing they would avoid a DH group considered insecure by some.

I contacted Apple Care. They were unable to help. I didn't push them to escalate it.

I tested from my Mac using wireless, Ethernet, and tethered to my 3G phone. My work partner, running an older mac that hasn't been updated to 10.11.4, connects fine to the server.

I also tested with my iPhone. It cannot connect either. Unfortunately, I've updated that recently to iOS 9.3. forums_developer_apple_com/thread/31608 reports problems with iOS 9.3 in addition to OS X 10.11.4. (Sorry, I don't have enough reputation to post that third link.)

Regards,
Barry


Where are keyboard shortcuts stored (for backup and sync purposes)?

The shortcuts that can be set in System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts are stored in ~/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist and the property lists of applications (like ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iTunes.plist or ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.chess/Data/Library/Preferences/com.apple.chess.plist).

The shortcuts for services are stored in ~/Library/Preferences/pbs.plist.


Fresh install of iOS 6.0.1 apps constantly crash

While I have had no problems with IOS 6.0.1 installs on the iPhone 4 and 4s in my household some generic troubleshooting steps would include:

NOTE: back up your phone with iTunes before doing any of this!

Hold down the top button until the phone prompts you to power it down. Do so. once it is off hold down the top button again till it powers back up.

failing that...

Hold down the top and home buttons until it just turns off (ignore the prompt to shut down normally). Once off power up and try again.

failing that...

I heard a while back that if you have THREE power downs in a row (as in #2 above) the phone does some major housekeeping on the third time booting up. Not sure if that is true but on a couple of occasions doing three in a row on my iPhone 4 fixed an issue. So do #2 above three times in a row and then test for symptoms.

failing that...

Attach the phone to your Mac/PC and when iTunes comes up, click on the iPhone in the side panel and then click on the RESTORE button. That will wipe the phone and then restore from your backup.

failing that...

Take it to an Apple store and ask a genius.


You probably just install the current version from the MAS.

https://itunes.apple.com/app/xcode/id497799835?l=en&mt=12

The command line utilities are included within the Xcode bundle. On first launch symlinks to the utilities are installed into the system so they can be accessed from the Terminal/command line.

There is also a separate Command Line Tools package available from the Developer Account download archive (needs an Apple Developer Account).

https://developer.apple.com/download/more/?=for%20Xcode


Delete my keychain cookies and after I was good. Took two seconds to fix after me spending hours to troubleshoot it myself.


What is the purpose of (and criteria for inclusion in) the "Downloaded" section of the iTunes Library?

So, as far as I can tell the "Downloaded" section of the iTunes Library is just all music stored on the local machine (i.e., which can be played without needing to stream from the ITMS / iCloud / Apple Music).

The name makes sense if you originally obtained all your music by downloading it, but for the rest of us "Offline" would be a better name for this section.


Disable Autohide Dock displaying slowly when in fullscreen

Completely remove or minimize HyperDock delay

How to auto hide the dock and remove its delay on the Mac

Open Terminal
Copy and paste the following command into a Terminal window:

==UPDATED CODES==

defaults write com.apple.Dock autohide-delay -float 0 && killall Dock

To restore the default behavior, enter:

defaults delete com.apple.Dock autohide-delay && killall Dock

If you don't want to remove the delay altogether, but just want to shorten it, you can play around with the number after the -float option. For me, this is a good fit:

defaults write com.apple.Dock autohide-delay -float 0.05 && killall Dock


Mac OS X 10.8 QuickLook Causing CPU & Temperature Spikes

It's a bug for sure, but the root-cause is a cached search in Finder which tries to find every file on the system and runs out of resource handles or something.
It's an obvious use-case in Finder that I'm astonished nobody has spotted yet (but I have been a Unix/Linux system developer for 20 years).

When Finder is doing it, you can both get rid of the phantom 'suck search' immediately, but also fix it permanently with 2 button clicks:-

When you have the issue, on the finder menu bar, you'll see the 4 icons pertaining to switching views, list, columns, coverflow,  etc.

Just click one of the buttons once to change the view to something else from your usual default, then click the button pertaining to your default view preference to change it back.

You should notice 3 things:-

The CPU-spin stops immediately and normality returns.
The phantom stuck search gets removed
It doesn't happen again - of course until you exercise the Finder design flaw (that's been there, what 7 years now!?!?) again. Just repeat until somebody wakes up and figures it out.

-Al.


MacBook pro (Early 2011) display backlight won't turn on automatically after waking up from sleep

I would try two things to start with:

Reset the SMC

Shut down your MacBook Pro
Plug in the MagSafe adapter and make sure it is charging
Simultaneously press the shift + alt + control + Power buttons and hold them for about 10 seconds. Let go after that.
Restart your Mac (and move on to the following suggestion):

Reset the PRAM

Press the power button to start up your MacBook Pro
Hold down the following keys:⌘ + alt + P + R until you hear the start up chime sound twice.
Let go and boot normally.

Test that out and tell us what happens.


How can I backup my email database and save them in PDF format?

If you are using chrome then you are in luck coz there is a chrome app that lets you save your emails in pdf format. Have a look at this app here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/save-emails-to-pdf/dngbhajancmfmdnmhhdknhooljkddgnk?hl=en. This was the first thing that appeared when I searched for your requirement.

The other things that can help you backup apple mail as well as save the backed up email database in pdf format is this app here: http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/Mail-Backup-X.shtml

I hope this helps you. Thanks


Does CPU heating to 90 C cause any permanent damage?

The i7-4650u has a max operating temp of close to 100c so you were pushing it close but it should be fine.


6000RPM all the time with no activity - restart helped

Sounds like the symptoms of a runaway process using a lot of CPU. Sometimes there are also valid reasons. If it reoccurs your best course of action is to open the Activity Monitor, and look for something using a lot of CPU time and try to determine if there is a valid reason for this (an example might be you have added lots of little files that are being indexed by mds (the indexer daemon for Spotlight)


Macbook air 13 2013 in battery drain issue

Using the OEM tools like Apple Activity monitor could tell you who is using the juice.

Open Activity monitor located in your utility folder.

Select CPU

Select All processes

Select %CPU to sort by usage

If any process is using >70% (for longer then few seconds) it is the one draining your battery.


Why can't I Airplay a certain sound file in iTunes?

Chances are that the file you try to playback has the file extension mp4. Try to change the extension to m4a and see if it works as expected then. In my case the source for my file was the sound track of a Youtube clip I had extracted using some online tool.


Is it possible to type in macron (e.g. "ā") without using U.S. Extended Keyboard?

This is just a option without changing the default Keyboard.

In OS X, this can be accomplished by holding down the A briefly and a pop-up will appear.

Just select by clicking or typing the corresponding number.  In this case 8

ā ← Like that

The repeat delay can be set to prevent eeeeeeeeee from happening too quickly.


How to scan an image (map) using only 256 colors?

You can use ColorSync for this job. It still requires you to scan the document with lots of colors, but you can reduce the colors to 256 using ColorSync (and do much more) by following these steps:

Open ColorSync: Applications->Utilities->ColorSync Utility
Open your scanned image: File->Open
Below the image select: Apply Profile->Named Colors->Websafe Colors

I translated the names from german, thus they may be slightly different on an actual Mac OS X with english local setting.


Script that creates a mailbox (folder) based on the email subject

I was able to get help from the official Apple Discussions forum, thanks to Barney15-E. Here's the reply:

In order to trigger it with a shortcut, you would need to create an Automator Quick Action.
Within that Quick Action you can run this script:

tell application "Mail"
    set selectedMessages to selection
    set mailboxName to subject of item 1 of selectedMessages
    set messageAccount to account of (mailbox of item 1 of selectedMessages)
    set newMailbox to make new mailbox at (end of mailboxes of messageAccount) with properties {name:mailboxName}
    repeat with eachMessage in selectedMessages
        set mailbox of eachMessage to newMailbox
    end repeat
end tell

To create the Quick Action, open Automator.
Select Quick Action from the document type selection.
Set the Quick Action to accept No Input in Mail.
Set the Image and Color to anything you want.
Drag a "Run AppleScript" action into the workflow area.
Replace everything between the on run/end run statements with the script above.
Save the Quick Action with a suitable name.

To give the Quick Action a shortcut, open Keyboard System Preferences.
Click on Shortcuts tab.
Select Services from the list.
Find your Quick Action (probably under General).
Add the desired shortcut.

If you want to file each selected message into its own folder, use this script instead:

tell application "Mail"
    set selectedMessages to selection
    repeat with eachMessage in selectedMessages
        set mailboxName to subject of eachMessage
        set messageAccount to account of (mailbox of eachMessage)
        set newMailbox to make new mailbox at (end of mailboxes of messageAccount) with properties {name:mailboxName}
        set mailbox of eachMessage to newMailbox
    end repeat
end tell

If you want a version that checks for at least one message selected, use this:

tell application "Mail"
    set selectedMessages to selection
    if selectedMessages is not {} then
        set mailboxName to subject of item 1 of selectedMessages
        set messageAccount to account of (mailbox of item 1 of selectedMessages)
        set newMailbox to make new mailbox at (end of mailboxes of messageAccount) with properties {name:mailboxName}
        repeat with eachMessage in selectedMessages
            set mailbox of eachMessage to newMailbox
        end repeat
    else
        display dialog "You did not select a message."
    end if
end tell


I'm going to side step things to get you something that will probably work just fine.

Open System Preferences and delete your WiFi and Ethernet configurations once you have saved all the work you need from the internet.

Add a WiFi connection and connect that to a WiFi Router with Internet Connection.
Then add an ethernet connection and make that a static IP

I would make two networks initially so you don't have issues with which interface gets the default route:

If your WiFi is something other than 192.168.1.1 - then you can use 192.168.1.1 for the Mac ethernet and the Mac default gateway. If the WiFi is on 192.168.1.1 then put the Mac and PI on 192.168.2.1 and 192.168.2.40 for example.

I don't have an ethernet port on their mac, so forgive the WiFi 2 name - you show have ethernet in that image.

At that point, your internet should work through WiFi and the Mac and the PI should be able to ping each other. The Pi won't see the internet through the Mac. If you want that, open Sharing preference pane and share the internet from the WiFi to the Ethernet port and turn off any firewalls to test things.

At that point, the Pi should use the Mac as it's router and everything should have access to the internet and each other.


See if this AppleScript code does what you want. It should click the menu item "ProPresenter" of the menus "Aux1", "Aux2" and "Aux3" as you requested:

tell application "System Events" to tell menu bar 1 of application process "ATEM Software Control"
    click menu item "ProPresenter" of menu "Aux1" of menu bar item "Aux1"
    click menu item "ProPresenter" of menu "Aux2" of menu bar item "Aux2"
    click menu item "ProPresenter" of menu "Aux3" of menu bar item "Aux3"
end tell

To set this up as a keyboard shortcut, use the following steps:

Open Automator
Create a new Service

Add a single Run AppleScript action to your Service with the following code:

tell application "System Events" to tell menu bar 1 of application process "ATEM Software Control"
    click menu item "ProPresenter" of menu "Aux1" of menu bar item "Aux1"
end tell

Make sure it's set to receive "no input" and work in "ATEM Software Control". Click on "any application", then "other", and navigate to the app.
Save it with a name of your choosing.
Now, go into Keyboard preferences, click on the "Shortcuts" tab, then click on "Services". Your newly created service should be at the bottom. Click on it, and click on "add shortcut" and specify a shortcut to your liking.

Lastly, go into "Security and Privacy" settings, click on the "Privacy" tab, and then "Accessibility". Make sure you see Automator in the list. If not, click on the lock on the bottom left and enter your password, then click on the "+" and add Automator to the list.

Repeat this with modified AppleScript code for each camera you need to switch between, with a different shortcut for each.


iPod classic 80GB won't charge from usb power adapter

I looked into the amount of current available from a USB charger when investigating how to charge multiple iPhones / iPads simultaneously.  Below is something I learnt that might be relevant.

There are several different ways that a charger can "tell" an iPod how much current it can provide - the iPod can't determine this directly.  If the charger is a computer, it will communicate this through a data transfer (similar to transferring MP3 file data).

But a simple charger won't use this method.  Instead, there are various standards (some proprietary, I believe!) which specify how much current can be provided, by providing certain voltages at the data lines.  USB has four pins: one ground, one power, and two data.  For example, apparently 2.8V on one of the data pins and 2.0V on another means "you can draw up to 1 amp".  See this link for some detail, although I think some of that is out-dated.

I'd guess that the LG adaptor doesn't provide the signalling that the iPod expects.  I don't know a way to resolve this, other than to try a different adaptor - sorry.


Are there any tools available (web tools, PC tools, iPhone tools) to send an MMS to the iPhone which contains images and text?

Have you tried sending via email? I think all carriers have an email formatted address for their phone numbers. Here's a random Google result with quite a bit of info:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=507548

Based on the comments, it appears to work with MMS, not just SMS. There's also a few services suggested, there.


How to restore from a Time Machine backup when there is already a user account set up?

Migration Assistant

This is the built in data transfer tool for Macs.

You can find it in /Applications/Utilities. You'll want to do the following:

Plug in your Time Machine backup drive, open Migration Assistant and select the From another Mac, PC, Time Machine backup, or other disk option:

Select the From a Time Machine backup or other disk option:

Select your Time Machine backup and click Next.
It should show you your old user account, which will have a drop down menu to select all the things you can restore.
Follow the prompts to restore.

This method will create a new user account alongside the one the Apple Store folks created for you. You'll be able to log out of the account they set up and log into your own.

Another option would be to:

Navigate to /var/db by pressing Shift + ⌘ + G and typing in the path.
Find the .AppleSetupDone file and delete it. It will likely ask you to authenticate as an administrator.
Restart your Mac.
Use the Setup Assistant to select a Time Machine backup to restore from.

This method does not delete the existing user account, but simply creates a new administrator account alongside it and allows you to use the Setup Assistant to restore from the backup.

You will need to delete the account the Apple Store folks set up for you if you don't want it anymore.

Good luck!


In VPN setup, what is difference between IKEv2, L2TP and IPSec?

They all are based on IPsec, but the protocol used to create the IPsec SAs and authenticate the peers is different (and there is an additional encapsulation layer for L2TP).

IKEv2: Uses the current version of the Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol. Authentication can be done with certificates, EAP (for username/passsword authentication, but includes EAP-TLS, which uses certificates) or preshared keys (PSK). The actual traffic is transported via IPsec in tunnel mode, UDP encapsulated if there is a NAT between client and server. It's the most modern, stable and flexible of these options (among other reasons due to traffic selector narrowing, split-tunnling/DNS, MOBIKE and better rekeying behavior).
IPsec: Basically the same as above but uses the old version of the IKE protocol (IKEv1). It offers similar authentication options (certificates, username/password via XAuth, hybrid XAuth, PSK) including the unsafe XAuth/PSK in aggressive mode. Traffic is also transported via IPsec in tunnel mode.
L2TP: This is similar to IPsec in that it also uses IKEv1 to establish an IPsec connection, which is then used to create an L2TP tunnel. Traffic is encapsulated in L2TP and then IPsec, which is usually negotiated in transport mode to avoid additional overhead. For more on the difference between L2TP and plain IPsec see my response to a question on superuser.com.


Network volumes get mounted in /Volumes. So look for a folder within /Volumes that corresponds to the name of your Mac Mini or the network share.

Additionally, you can drag any file into a Terminal window, and its full path will be entered onto the command line.


macOS 11.0 Big Sur compatibility with Mac Book Pro 2013

Yes, this in fact is an existing restriction with Catalina (see screenshot). It is unsurprising that the version of Mac OSX after Catalina has the same limitation; ultimately the hardware gets left behind as it becomes incompatible with changes in the OS.
See this table from https://eshop.macsales.com/guides/Mac_OS_X_Compatibility:

EveryMac lists the specifications of the Early and Late 2013 MacBook Pros at https://everymac.com/systems/by_year/macs-released-in-2013.html


Why is Python version set with PyEnv global not picked up a default one?

https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv#basic-github-checkout

  Define environment variable PYENV_ROOT to point to the path where pyenv repo is cloned and add $PYENV_ROOT/bin to your $PATH for access to the pyenv command-line utility.

$ echo 'export PYENV_ROOT="$HOME/.pyenv"' >> ~/.bash_profile
$ echo 'export PATH="$PYENV_ROOT/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bash_profile

  Zsh note: Modify your ~/.zshrc file instead of ~/.bash_profile.

-

  Add pyenv init to your shell to enable shims and autocompletion. Please make sure eval "$(pyenv init -)" is placed toward the end of the shell configuration file since it manipulates PATH during the initialization.

$ echo -e 'if command -v pyenv 1>/dev/null 2>&1; then\n  eval "$(pyenv init -)"\nfi' >> ~/.bash_profile

Restart Shell

exec "$SHELL"


Has anyone working Parallel 7 on Mavericks?

From meme1255's reply here

ExtensionsPath="/Library/Parallels/Parallels Service.app/Contents/Kexts/10.6/"
cd "$ExtensionsPath"

sudo kextutil prl_hypervisor.kext/
sudo kextutil prl_vnic.kext/
sudo kextutil prl_hid_hook.kext/
sudo kextutil -d ./prl_hypervisor.kext prl_netbridge.kext/
sudo kextutil prl_usb_connect.kext

open /Applications/Parallels\ Desktop.app

And you have to give parallels permissions to accessibility to get keyboard/mouse working:
System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy Tab > Accessibility section

You also need to reset Parallel's network setting.


How can I move reminders from one list to another by Applescript?

You can't change the container, because this property is read only --> container (list, r/o) : r/o means read only

But you can use the move command

tell application "Reminders"
    set output to ""
    set newList to list "Ausgaben"
    show newList
    repeat with thisReminder in (get reminders in list "Erinnerungen" whose completed is false)
        set nameObj to name of thisReminder
        if (nameObj contains "€" or nameObj contains " Euro ") then
            set output to output & "• " & nameObj
            move thisReminder to newList
        end if
    end repeat
    return output
end tell


Yes, if you have device backup and WhatsApp chat backup turned on, you will indeed be making two backups for WhatsApp. In my case, this means 2 x 1.5GB.

The following unofficial info should help you make a decision on whether to keep both, or turn one of them off. Disclosure, this is not my info, I did find it elsewhere:

  The iCloud backup and having the device backup does duplicate data.
  Backing up the phone will back up whatsapp, so if you restored to a
  new phone even without enabling the inbuilt backup your data would be
  there.

  If you enable the whatsapp iCloud backup you are able to restore your
  data to a new phone, without performing a full iCloud restore.
  Personally I would keep the in built whatsapp backup enabled and
  untick it from the complete iPhone backup. I swap my backup often
  between my two phones using just the built in whatsapp feature,
  without restoring etc.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/3pz8hh/how_does_the_whatsapp_app_backup_work/


Escape single quote in command in alias Terminal

Double quotes and escaping all " and $ correctly should work:

 alias svngrab="'svn status | grep -v \"^.[ \t]*\..*\" | grep \"^?\" | awk '{print \$2}' | xargs svn add'"

I also would avoid "svn grab" so maybe svngrab or svn_grab instead.


Is it a known problem that Time Machine does (sometimes) not backup Thunderbird profiles completely?

Besides the Time Machine configuration there is another way to exclude files and folders from being backed up with Time Machine: the com_apple_backup_excludeItem attribute.

To find all files or folders with this attribute enter in Terminal:

mdfind "com_apple_backup_excludeItem = com.apple.backupd"

To check if the attribute is set for a single file or folder use:

xattr -x /path/to/item

If you get a result similar to this one: com.apple.metadata:com_apple_backup_excludeItem the item is excluded from a Time Machine backup.

Or:

tmutil isexcluded /path/to/item

If you get the result -    /path/to/item the item is excluded or +     /path/to/item the item isn't excluded.

To remove this attribute from an item use:

tmutil removeexclusion /path/to/item


No, this is currently not possible. You can provide feedback to Apple here:

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


Convenient Way to Turn an Apple Note to EPUB

Sorry you had challenges with the copy to pages. In my experience, the content from the note to Pages is generally excellent and one step. Pages has EPUB export capabilities and it will take over all function for authoring from iBooks Author in the next OS release cycle in 2020.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211136

I think you will find the hassle to get it into pages lessened over time and benefit from having it in a format you can edit easier than PDF.


Why doesn't Siri call a contact that it clearly understands?

when you ask Siri to call a company and it finds the company name on the web Siri gives you what he finds on the web.
try for example to create a contact called Subway than ask Siri to call Subway you will see he looks first on the web.


Uptime since boot excluding sleep for osx yosemite?

As far as I know there is no simple command executed in Terminal to get your desired result.

Here is an example for a workaround to get the uptime and the sleep time(s):

uptime && pmset -g log|grep 'date'|grep -E ' Wake | Sleep '|grep -v 'Dark Wake'

with date: dd/mm/yy (example: 23/07/15)

Example (10.9.5 Virtual Machine):

machinename:~ user$ uptime && pmset -g log|grep '23/07/15'|grep -E ' Wake | Sleep '|grep -v 'Dark Wake'
14:59  up  1:09, 3 users, load averages: 0.58 0.47 0.51
23/07/15 13:51:39 GMT+2  Sleep                  Software Sleep pid=90: Using AC                                             10 secs
23/07/15 13:51:49 GMT+2  Wake                   Wake [CDNVA] due to power-button/User: Using AC                             149 secs
23/07/15 13:54:18 GMT+2  Sleep                  Software Sleep pid=90: Using AC                                             91 secs
23/07/15 13:55:49 GMT+2  Wake                   Wake [CDNVA] due to power-button/User: Using AC                             1872 secs
23/07/15 14:27:01 GMT+2  Sleep                  Software Sleep pid=90: Using AC                                             7 secs
23/07/15 14:27:08 GMT+2  Wake                   Wake [CDNVA] due to power-button/User: Using AC

Now do the math and calculate the non-sleep uptime. (6540 secs - 108 secs = 6432 secs).

Depending on your operating system and the hibernation mode you set, you may have to alter the grep part in the above command. Check pmset -g log for the appropriate strings. You also may omit the ' Wake ' part of the command to simplfy the output.


View / sort Podcasts list by subscribed status

There doesn't seem to be an automatic sort option to send currently subscribed podcasts to the top of the list. I have the same complaint (among others) with the podcast capabilities of iTunes. There are a couple of ways you can do this manually though.

Create a station and only include the podcasts you are currently subscribed to in it.
In the "My Podcasts" view, click the "Podcasts" drop-down menu (top right) and sort by "Playlist Order". You can then drag & drop to reorder your podcasts in the left hand pane.

#2 is what I do. You can quickly see whether or not you've subscribed to a podcast when you select it - if you're subscribed it will say "Updated xxxxx" under the podcast title. If you aren't, it will say "Not subscribed" along with the last updated date.

A bit annoying, but it seems that this is the only option. There may be a way to generate a playlist using some scripting, but from looking at the iTunes library file I don't see any information in there that indicates whether or not a podcast is subscribed to. (Someone more familiar with scripting for iTunes may have a better idea here).


Keys falling off from butterfly: change keycap is enough or do i need to change clip?

Check out the recall program:
https://support.apple.com/keyboard-service-program-for-mac-notebooks


Is it possible to use old Wacom tablet on 10.11?

I finally solved this.

TLDR:
I managed to get my Wacom Intuos GD-0912-U (first generation Intuos A4 size) tablet working in High Sierra, with a fully functional Wacom Preference Pane, by using a newer driver and preference pane, and hacking the preference pane file: I replaced the Info.plist in the package of the newer preference pane (6.3.15-3) with the Info.plist from the old preference pane (6.2.0w4) that was working in older macOS. Then switched System Preferences to 32bit and back, opening the prefpane before, in between and after. This restores a fully working prefpane.

Explanation;

I have an old first Wacom Intuos first generation (GD-0912-U) tablet, and ran into the same problems as described above, after I upgraded to High Sierra from Mountain Lion.

After a lot of reading and trial-and-error, I now have a fully working old Wacom tablet, with a fully working Wacom preference pane in System Preferences.

I read all solutions in this and other threads.

First, the following steps got me a more or less working tablet, as described in this thread:

Using a legacy driver, in my case 6.2.0w4, downloadable on the Wacom website:
http://www.wacom.com/en-gb/support/product-support/drivers
Export/backup the Wacom preference file from my pre- High Sierra (Mountain Lion in my case) computer/backup with the right settings, with the Wacom Tablet Utility in Applications > Wacom-tablet.
Then import/restore these setting with the same Wacom Tablet Utility.

The above works, you have a working tablet, but without a working Preference pane in System Preferences, as described in this thread.

The solution for a working Preference Pane for previous MacOS versions was to open System preferences in 32-bit mode, as described in this thread.
Unfortunately this does not work anymore in High Sierra.

I managed to get a working Wacom Preference Pane with the following trick/steps:

Download the old driver that works. With my Intuos1 tablet, in my case this was version 6.2.0w4

Install the driver
Look up the preference pane file in the Library
Libray/PreferencePanes/wacomtablet.prefpane
or it might be here in your User library;
~/Libray/PreferencePanes/wacomtablet.prefpane
copy this prefpane file to your Desktop.

Download a newer driver, that does work in High Sierra. In my case this was version: 6.3.15-3:

http://www.wacom.com/en-gb/support/product-support/drivers
Install this newer driver.

Open the old prefpane wacomtablet.prefpane file that you copied to your Desktop with: right-click > Show Package Contents. Navigate to /contents/Info.plist

Copy this file, or keep window open.

Navigate to your the prefpane of the newer driver:

Libray/PreferencePanes/wacomtablet.prefpane
or
~/Libray/PreferencePanes/wacomtablet.prefpane
Open it with: right-click > Show Package Contents.
Navigate to contents/Info.plist
Replace this Info.plist file with the one from the old preference pane file in step 3.
Just be sure you keep the newer prefpane file and replace Info.plist with the Info.plist from the old prefpane. You can check versions of the prefpane file with Cmd-i if you get confused.

Restart computer

Then:

Open System preferences. The Wacom preferences pane now shows and opens, but acts weird.
Close System preferences.
Change System preferences to 32-bit mode (with CMD-i on the System preferences app > checkmark at 'open in 32 bit mode').
Open System preferences
Make some changes in the Wacom preference pane. The pref pane still acts a little weird at this point.
Close System preferences.
Revert the 32-bit mode opening by deselecting the 32 bit mode option.
Open System preferences and the Wacom preference pane: Voila: fully working preference pane, without any weirdness.

Steps 6-13 are crucial, without the 32bit switching and back, the prefpane does not work correctly.

In my case with the mentioned to driver versions, I have a fully working prefpane. All options/settings are working and can be saved. Working with my old tablet on High Sierra for a week now, no problems or hickups.

Notes;

I imagine this hack may work for other older driver combinations, but I am not sure, just try it out.
I read somewhere that next versions of MacOS may not have the 32 bit option anymore, so steps 6-13 may not work anymore after High Sierra. In that case, I imagine that the hacked preference file still may work, but only the future will tell. I am not sure what causes the hacked prefpane only to work correctly after the switch of System Prefs to 32bit and back is performed. Maybe in a new MacOS version, the copied, hacked prefpane will just work. Just be sure to keep a copy of the prefpane and drivers to be safe.
I got this idea to hack the preference pane here:
https://magicutilities.net/unrelated/75-wacom-preferences-and-os-x
where this fix is described for a Graphire 3 - CTE-430. But without the 32bit System Prefence switch weirdness.

Hope this helps anyone to restore full functionality to our older beloved Wacoms!


Sounds like Argentina does not follow DST, or does so on a very ad-hoc basis.  This is possibly a bug in OS X (try updating your system) or perhaps an inevitable side-effect of not having a predictable schedule to code against.


The error that your getting...
Exec format error

Is a response from the SATA controller (USB to SATA bridge) to diskutil that there was an error when you tried to format your drive.  This points to a failing drive.
fsck is a utility to fix A corrupted file system and will not have sny effect here.  Looking at it from a simplified perspective, in order for fsck to work, you have to have an existing filesystem in place for it to fix.  formatting a disk is the act of wiping away whatever was there in order to install a new filesystem.  It’s like bulldozing your property to build a house. In this case, the guy doing it reported a problem that prevents you from doing it (they found a fault line).  Running fsck at this point would be like calling the plumber to come fix the pipes because you can’t clear away your property.

External Hard Drive no longer working

Basically, you need to replace that drive.
From your further attempts:

Then I had no issues creating multiple partitions under MBR, but any attempt to go back to GPT led to the message above re backup table and failure to create multiple partitions under GPT.

This further lends credibility to the diagnosis that your drive is failing. Where the tables are stored is in different places on the drive; the “whole” drive doesn’t have to be completely inaccessible for the drive to be considered bad.
I’ve seen this many times: folks will spend countless hours trying to get a drive to format that keeps generating errors. Then, they’re successful once, get it formatted, copy data over, do work, then suffer a catastrophic failure because the drive was dead (dying) to begin with.
Formatting a drive is a super easy task. If it takes you multiple utilities and days of effort, something is very wrong.  Don’t risk your data; get a new drive.


I think I've finally found the reason why it's been doing this. Every time you click the item it generates a preview the very moment you click down on the item. During the period that your mouse is clicked down, it runs its image anti-aliasing algorithms to create the preview.

I've noticed when I click on the item as fast as I can (ensure that I release the click as fast as possible), I get a better probability of the image being aliased rather than smoothed. Being a programmer, I think it's definitely because the computer can't generate the smoothed preview fast enough if a fast click is used. So to always get aliased images, I'd think a macro is probably the only way to click fast enough without having to rely on the speed of your finger every time you click.

(usually you can set the execution time of the macro, this is the only thing I can think of to solve the problem)


how to show what video files are on iPad

Go to the On my iPad tab at the top of iTunes. Here, the contents of your iPad is listed. Choose Movies to show all the movies on your iPad which are accounting for the space shown in your image.


How do I prevent a MacBook laptop from sleeping when closed with no external keyboard, mouse, or screen?

I use a program called "NoSleep". It allows me to do exactly that - helps me download updates, for example, while I go home from work.

You can get it from here:
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/37991/nosleep


How to rescue light red Time Machine backups

After hours of investigation, I've found the solution. Just run Finder as root:

sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/MacOS/Finder

And under this Finder you should be able to Enter Time Machine and browse lost backups.
I hope somebody will find this useful.


Brew says Wine is installed but it fails to run with "command not found" error

If it is a simple problem then brew unlink wine and brew link wine might resolve it. This isn't the same as uninstalling and reinstalling, which would be brew remove wine and brew install wine. It should be quite quick.

When brew installs a piece of software it installs it to /usr/local/Cellar and then links it to /usr/local/bin. Unlinking just removes those links, so it is still there but basically sitting somewhere it wouldn't normally be found.

But the first thing to try would be to check that /usr/local/bin is in your path. You can check this by typing echo $PATH in a Terminal window. You should see something like /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin.


I use my iPad all day at work for email, web browsing, etc. on 3G and it works fine without Wi-Fi for everyday use.

From a speed perspective, don't sweat it.  For a user who obviously doesn't sound accustomed to blazing broadband, I think 3G will be just fine. Internet is fast enough, Netflix works, and YouTube and the like are fast enough (although YouTube seems to limit the quality of the streams, but it's good enough).

EDIT: The original version of this answer highlighted why an iPad would not function properly without a computer, which is not true since the release of iOS 5.


I am unable to write my signature using the trackpad in Preview.app

I had the same problem on 10.13.3 High Sierra.  Rebooting the computer fixed the issue.


Can no longer ssh in to machine as git user after upgrading to Mavericks

Double check git is a user who's allowed to ssh in to this machine.

Go to System Preferences -> Sharing and select Remote Login from the list on the left hand side of the pane.

Make sure Remote Login is turned on my checking the box next to it in the list (sounds like it is though, since you can ssh in as your own user account).

Make sure the right side of the pane either says Allow access for: All users or in the box below this option your git user appears in the list of allowed users. If it's not in the box below, press the + button to find it in a list of users registered with the system and add it to the list.

Now make sure that /Users/Shared/git is accessible to the git user.

Open Terminal and do:

cd /Users/Shared/git

Use ls -la to view the permissions on the folder:

/Users/Shared/git [ian@iansimac] [20:22]
> ls -lah
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   2 ian   wheel    68B  6 Nov 20:22 .
drwxrwxrwt  14 root  wheel   476B  6 Nov 20:22 ..

If . in the list shows the owner to be an account other than git or the permissions to be something that git can't use to access this directory you'll need to change them.

If git is the only user who should access this location, consider something like:

sudo chown -R git /Users/Shared/git
sudo chmod 755 /Users/Shared/git

If that doesn't lead to a solution, try watching your Console while attempting to ssh in to the machine as the git user to see what it says. You can filter console messages for sshd to see just ssh-related messages:

11/6/2013 8:25:54.006 PM sshd: ian [priv][53178]: USER_PROCESS: 53189 ttys001
11/6/2013 8:26:37.217 PM sshd: ian [priv][53178]: DEAD_PROCESS: 53189 ttys001
11/6/2013 8:26:41.164 PM sshd: unknown [pam][53214]: in od_record_create(): failed: 13
11/6/2013 8:26:41.164 PM sshd: unknown [pam][53214]: in od_record_create_cstring(): failed: 13
11/6/2013 8:26:42.538 PM sshd: unknown [pam][53214]: in od_record_create(): failed: 13
11/6/2013 8:26:42.538 PM sshd: unknown [pam][53214]: in od_record_create_cstring(): failed: 13
11/6/2013 8:26:42.538 PM sshd: unknown [pam][53214]: in pam_sm_authenticate(): OpenDirectory - Unable to get user record.
v11/6/2013 8:26:42.540 PM sshd[53212]: error: PAM: unknown user for illegal user foo from localhost via ::1

And failed login attempts look like the last line in the output above.


Finder file dialogue very restricted - any way to enhance it?

You indicate in comments that you need a free solution.

There's no free solution to do what you want currently. macOS does not come with a preference settings that enhanced that specific context menu.

If you're able to program yourself, it should be possible to add extra menu items to the menu. This should be possible free of cost, but will ofcourse take time.

As others have recommend, there's commercial solution such as "Default Folder X" available.

In your comments you also express that you find not only the file picker dialog, but also the standard Finder to be very limiting for you. In this case, you could consider using an alternative to Finder.

Some good examples of alternatives are "Path Finder 9" and "Commander One". The first costs a bit, while the latter is free in the standard version.


Macbook pro 2018 - microphone shown as 1 input in Audio MIDI setup

This seems normal.

Looking at the tech specs for both the 2016 MacBook Pro and the 2018 MacBook Pro, you will see under the "Audio" section, that they have 3 microphones and 2 microphones respectively.

So, it appears that the 2018 model has one less microphone channel and this is what you're seeing.  As for audio input, I would look at getting a quality USB audio DAC instead of using the built in microphones


Airport Time Capsule US power cord in Europe?

I remember reading the tech specs for Timecapsule some time ago and it is specified it has a range of 100V to 240V. So it should be fine.

AirPort Time Capsule 802.11ac - Technical Specifications
Electrical and Environmental Requirements

100-240V AC, 50-60Hz; input current: 1.5 amp

You can check this, too.
Here is a link to the Apple TimeCapsule Technical Specifications - please also check if this is your version of Timecapsule.
Have a good trip!


How to ungroup compilations on iPhone Music?

fingaz's answer is not quite correct—they are talking about when you uncheck the "compilation" box in the Get Info window in iTunes, not turning off "Group Compilations".

The short answer is no, at least not at this time. If you want them to not be grouped as a separate "artist", you would need to alter the metadata in iTunes such that they aren't compilations any more. If this is a feature you would like to see in the Music app, you can tell Apple yourself on this page.


If I authenticate a second iTunes can they browse and watch movies I've bought?

Yes. You can authenticate as many as 5 iTunes computers that you own or control according the the terms of the iTunes store.

There should be a download icon that displays in iTunes when you have purchased some new content that he can download. This process is designed so that a single user with multiple machines can easily download content on all of them (think iMac, Macbook Air, etc.).

Since you mentioned cloud, you will need to subscribe to iTunes Match for this computer to have streaming access / download access to movies that were sold from iTunes. Movies and videos you have in your local library do not get uploaded to the cloud, so you would need to get those to your sibling's Mac or set up a network where you could use Home Sharing or another service to stream content that's not on Apple's iCloud/iTunes CDN.


Xcode saying Network Extension capability is not enabled when it is

For anyone wanting to use Network Extensions in their macOS app:

Developer ID provisioning profiles actually don't support the Network Extensions entitlement. Development and App Store provisioning profiles on the other hand do support it. It's not well described in Xcode or the developer site (which show it as enabled). It's not until attempting to distribute an archive with the Developer ID provisioning profile that you will see that it is not included, or by running security cms -D -I Developer_ID.provisionprofile.

See question #8 in this Apple developer forums post: https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/67613


I found a solution from web and it works on my ZTE-MF667 with no problem.

Go to System Preferences → Network
If you see your USB connection on the left side go to step 5.
If not, select the "+" icon like this.

Select your Interface and set your Service Name like this, then select Create:

Select ZTEUSBModem and set Configuration-Default, Telephone Number: #99*

Account Name and Password must be blank.Then select Advanced

Set Vendor: Generic and Model: GPRS(GSM/3G)

Click OK and Connect.


Most apps like that store data in a SQLite3 database rather than property lists. I recommend this route instead—actual implementation/etc is off-topic here.


You can query /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist with the defaults command line utility to get airpod battery levels. It doesn't use ioreg but is fairly extensible.

Some examples:

# Parse as XML and store in environment variables
battery_left=$(defaults export /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth   - | xpath '//dict/key[text()="BatteryPercentLeft"]/following-sibling::integer[1]/text()' 2>/dev/null )
battery_right=$(defaults export /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth   - | xpath '//dict/key[text()="BatteryPercentRight"]/following-sibling::integer[1]/text()' 2>/dev/null )
battery_case=$(defaults export /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth   - | xpath '//dict/key[text()="BatteryPercentCase"]/following-sibling::integer[1]/text()' 2>/dev/null )
echo left: $battery_left
echo right: $battery_right
echo case: $battery_case

# Just show values from defaults plist text output
# Left
defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth    | grep BatteryPercentLeft | tr -d \; | awk '{print $3}'

# Right
defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth    | grep BatteryPercentRight | tr -d \; | awk '{print $3}'

# Case
defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth    | grep BatteryPercentCase | tr -d \; | awk '{print $3}'

My case seems to always report as 0 unless the airpods are in it. If you have more than one connected set of airpods (or if other devices return similar information) you'll have to do something more complicated to differentiate between multiple devices.

This blog post has more info: https://blog.duklabs.com/airpods-power-in-touchbar/


How to view multiple inboxes on Apple Watch (individually)

From the Apple Watch user box (https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1708/en_US/apple_watch_user_guide.pdf): "Choose which mailbox appears on Apple Watch. Open the Apple Watch app on iPhone, tap My Watch, then go to Mail > Include Mail. You can specify only one mailbox, although if you don’t choose a mailbox, you’ll see content from all inboxes."


Mac OS X places installed fonts in the user's Library folder to differentiate between system fonts (located in /System/Library/Fonts), OS fonts (/Library/Fonts) and user installed fonts (/Users/~/Library/Fonts).

You can change this by open Font Book preferences (File>Preferences) and changing the "Default Install Location" option from User to Computer.

Hope this helps.

Added on 1/12/12 at 2:35pm:

Forgot to mention - If you're not able to delete the font from Font Book, try removing it from the /Users/~/Library/Fonts directory and emptying the trash. Also, make sure it's not a font that is also in the /Library/Fonts directory (preinstalled).


Our iPads in factory settings are less expensive, faster to interact with and break less than all the other hardware we deploy. This includes corrosive atmosphere environments, metallic dust and all manner of things that tend to short out gear. Even if they failed at a rate twice of computers, they’re still cheaper to replace than other options we could use for our application.

The resale value of lightly used iPads is so high I’d start a pilot program immediately if you’re on the fence.


Since update to Mojave SD card disappears after sleep

So its a problem with disk sleep. Actually the one have to disable it manually. In Terminal type: sudo pmset -g and than sudo pmset -a disksleep 1410065408.


Can i tell if i am being observed by an admin using apple remote desktop?

For someone to be able to observe you using Apple Remote Desktop, Remote Management needs to be enabled in the Sharing Preferences, on your computer.

Clicking on the Computer Settings opens a window to enable options for showing the icon in the status menu when someone is connected to you.


Bowers & Wilkins P5 wireless headphones on OSX causing problems for other bluetooth devices

I had a similar issue a few months back but it resolved itself when I upgraded to Sierra. Unless there's a reason for holding fire with the upgrade, I'd suggest giving that a go to see if this resolves the problem.

Do you have other Bluetooth headphones/devices, or perhaps another laptop to test with? Would be interested to see if a combination of other devices had the same affect on your Microsoft mouse. Although the disconnection only occurs when the P5 Wireless are connected, it sounds to me as though this could be a red herring!


Are songs streamed from iTunes Match stored somewhere on the Mac hard drive?

The songs are stored in the iTunes library, just like all other songs in iTunes. To find the storage location of a specific song, right-click it in iTunes and select "Show/Reveal in Finder" (or the equivalent in your language).


Is there a way to configure user account for different uses?

You could set up Automator applications to do just that. For instance, you could go to Automator, select Application from the "Choose a type for your document" menu, and then use the Launch Application action to open all the apps you want. Once you've set up "Launch Application" actions for all the apps you want for a specific use case, you can save your application with the name of the specific use case, drag the newly-created application to your Dock or desktop or wherever is convenient for you, and then all your apps are just a click away!

You can also make applications to quit all of the apps in a specific use case. Automator has a "Quit Application" action too.


Is it possible to completely disable the keyboard backlight on a MacBook Pro?

Go to System Preferences -> Keyboard and, in the Keyboard tab, turn off (uncheck) "Automatically illuminate keyboard in low light". Then, if you turn the brightness down all the way, it should never turn on. If you then want it on (say, a friend who is not a touch-typist), just use the brightness keys on the top row.


Pair is actually a bit of a misnomer.   Unpaired remotes will still control the device.   Pairing only changes the receiver so that it just looks for the paired remote.  In "un -Paired" any remote can control the device.

If you have multiple devices that you do not want to interfere with each other pair them to their own remotes and they will not interfere.   If one device is left unpaired it will still follow signals from other remote.


Alfred extension or equivalent that brings a single window to the forefront

If you have the full Alfred version, then you can map hotkeys to application launching and switching.

For example, as you see on the screen I've mapped option-1 for MacVim, option-2 for Chrome, etc.

If the app is not running it will launch it but more importantly if the app is running but not focused, then it will simply switch to that app.

I hope that helps!


How do I show the sum of multiple ranges in one cell?

=(SUM(C5:C25)+SUM(G5:G25))/14

SUM function takes a range. + operator adds the results. / operator divides.


Is there a way to sync iCloud data with a Nokia phone?

The only way to sync a non-Apple device with iCloud is to sync your Mac with iCloud, then sync you may with the device using iSync.


You can easily take a backup of your iPhone on your new Mac.

To transfer your media to your new iTunes, follow this tutorial in order to do so. If I understand your question correctly, this is what you need.


macbook - low power from the command line

You can, but you will need some extra utilities:

brightness - you can download the program at                 http://dev.sabi.net/svn/dev/trunk/LocationDo/brightness.c and compile it using the command:

gcc -std=c99 -o brightness brightness.c -framework IOKit -framework ApplicationServices

Or you can just download it from my server at http://attic.luo.ma/brightness.bz2

Once you have it, brightness 0.01 will lower the brightness as much as possible

Bluetooth - The command you want is blueutil which you can find here https://github.com/toy/blueutil. I have a compiled version of that available at http://attic.luo.ma/blueutil2.bz2. I also have another, older version of a program by the same name which you can download from http://attic.luo.ma/blueutil.bz2.

Whichever program you use, the -h flag will explain how to use it.

Wi-Fi - You can turn AirPort power on or off using:

networksetup -setairportpower <device name> <on off>

where <device name> is probably either en0 or en1

You can find out which it is using

networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder | egrep "Wi-Fi, Device"

For my MacBook Air (which uses en0), the command to turn it off is:

networksetup -setairportpower en0 off

More Settings

Be sure that you have changed the Energy Settings in System Preferences too, but you can also set them using:

sudo pmset -b sleep 10

to tell the computer to sleep after 10 minutes when on battery, and/or:

sudo pmset -b displaysleep 5

to tell the computer display to sleep after 5 minutes, when on battery (the -b flag indicates battery).

pmset -g

will show you your current settings.


My keyboard can only produce 95 characters?

There are two different kinds of "standard" keyboards, ANSI (like in your picture) and ISO.  The former is sold in the US, the latter in Europe.

References you have seen to 96 characters are presumably for the ISO version. It has one key more than ANSI version, which is located to the left of the z. Your keyboard is ANSI and has 95.

To see the different kinds of keyboards made by Apple, go to

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201794


What are the keys corresponding to the shortcut?

Apple's Help menu in the finder has an article titled What are those symbols shown in menus? - the related articles at the bottom are great reading. Your specific answer is:

shift+fn+delete

The up arrow ⇧ is the shift key and the symbol ⌦ is the Forward delete symbol.  Typed fn+delete.

Refer to Mac keyboard shortcuts for further information on the symbols.


OS X Lion Safari and Chrome's Vertical Scrollbar (overlay versus next to content)

That's your reason right there, you are using a traditional mouse, and so you get the traditional scrollbar, it should always be on view.  Your friend is using a touch input device, and like with trackpad users this does not rely on accurate positional use of the cursor, and so the scrollbars disappear unless active scrolling is happening, as they do not need to be seen for a target, and when they do show they overlay so as not to cause a nasty screen artifact (namely an 8 pixel wide scrollbar flashing in and out of existence, possibly causing screen repagination etc)


It's because iPhone 4 can't be updated to the latest iOS while most of apps require later iOS than the latest iOS iPhone 4 can be updated. You shouldn't have updated the apps before updating the iOS.


mail.app rejecting correct password for gmail accounts

The fix is to login to the google account affected, and then go to https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps and select "Enable" for the question "Access for less secure apps."

Apparently this results from a change Google made several months ago to improve security, which is indeed becoming more and more important as Google accounts are tied to a wider and wider range of uses.  It is a mystery to me why it suddenly prevented my logging in now, but I wanted to share the solution I found in case anyone else encounters the same problem.


The other commenters are correct. With an iMac you need to try an external monitor to determine if it is the screen or the GPU.

An Apple Genius appointment would cost you nothing and they could test it for you if you don't have access to another monitor and/or the right cables.


How to restart the Dock without using the command line?

You can force-quit background processes using the Activity Monitor utility. Just find the Dock process (either sort the process list by name, or use the search field in the upper right), select it, then click the Quit button (the icon is an "X" in an octagon) in the upper left of the Activity Monitor window. It'll ask if you want to do a normal Quit or Force Quit.


Actually I found it. Use terminal to temporarily disable the security with sudo spctl --master-disable. Then restore with -enable


How do I disable double-vibration when I dock my iPhone?

Short of disabling all vibrations (General > Accessibility > Vibration) in Settings, there is no way to accomplish this when running stock iOS, at least AFAIK.


I believe this would require an external soundcard. The MacBook's soundcard is built to output one channel of sound, not two. You can purchase audio interfaces with multiple outputs for relatively cheap from any audio retailer, both online and in-store.


Where are currently set wallpapers stored in Mountain Lion?

Have a look at this hint: http://osxdaily.com/2011/11/20/show-the-location-path-of-current-wallpaper-in-mac-os-x/

You can (temporarily) show the location of the current desktop picture by executing the following command from the Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.dock desktop-picture-show-debug-text -bool TRUE;killall Dock

You can revert this behavior by executing the following:

defaults delete com.apple.dock desktop-picture-show-debug-text;killall Dock


How do I make packages out of non-package installers?

Apple has a first party Package Maker application available with Xcode. There's also Packages, a third party solution.


Mac boots into log on screen quickly but takes long time to log into account

This is normal behaviour for Yosemite for users with FileVault enabled (i.e. Your Mac's primary disk is encrypted).

The authentication process is done earlier because without authorisation from the user the OS cannot access the rest of the disk.

This is a good thing, and I think you are (mostly) mistaken that it takes longer to boot up — since now you are watching the screen and waiting after entering your login/password the result is that one fixates on the screen and the time it takes to present the OS X graphical user environment, and comparing it with your prior experience of how much time it took to go from authentication to the GU environment. But the total time from power up shouldn't be noticeably longer.

To disable this behaviour:

Open System Preferences > Security & Privacy > FileVault

From there you can click on the 'Turn off FileVault', after which you will be asked to restart and you will have the normal boot up behaviour and the OS will start to decrypt your disk in the background.

EDIT: The 'extra long' boot time with FileVault occurs once only, at the first startup/restart after enabling FileVault as the OS is finishing the process required. After this, it should be as fast as normal. I double-checked this whole process by disabling FileVault and re-enabling it on one of my machines so I could be sure.

Nb. (if there is any slight increased length of time in booting up, it is more likely as a result of the disk encryption not because of your upgrade to Yosemite per se.)


Do I need the DVD to reformat 2011 MacBook Pro with OS X Yosemite

If your MacBook Pro (early 2011) was updated with Macbook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.3 then you will be able to use OS X Internet Recovery and not need the DVD that shipped with your Mac.  Also have a look at: OS X: About OS X Recovery


Where is the data for the "Messages" iMessage application stored?


Keynote - Random Elements and Shuffle Slides

In keynote there is an option called Magic move transition. So you can set image with magic transition , in each running the image position will get changed. For more reference


How do I bypass the battery using command keys on MacBook Pro 2017

It's unclear why the command keys are specified as the mechanism to disable/bypass the battery - there are many features and functions on your Mac that aren't implemented with the command keys or any of the modifier keys for that matter.  For instance you can hold Caps Lock to switch languages or hold a letter to get it's dialects (i.e. press and hold U for ü as in Über)
That said, command keys or not, you cannot bypass the battery to only run on AC; period.  This core question has been asked already:

Force USB C MacBook to run off AC power
Is there a way to bypass charge a 2019 MacBook Pro?

It basically comes down to how the MacBook was engineered - since the battery is no longer removable, it must be managed by the system and in response to market demand, Apple has implemented further management with Battery Health Management.  Additionally, to get the full performance of your MacBook, it will utilize both power from the mains and the battery.


Change default tab on Characters pop-up dialogue box

I ran a couple of experiments on this, to try figure out what the 'rules' are. It appears that if Frequently Used was selected the last time the window was opened, then it will not be selected & instead the item at the top of the list will be instead.

Assuming that list would remain alphabetical I removed all I had checked above Greek, then tried again - success, Greek became the top of the list.

The surprise was that once I added back all my other choices - Greek remained at the top of the list.

So - it doesn't appear that you can force Frequently Used to be selected by default, but you can force Greek to be at the top of the list & therefore be the default if no other below it was previously selected.


Tool or trick to require doubleclicking to launch apps from dock?

You can move the dock's location and size by going to System Preferences > Dock. Rather than keeping the dock at the bottom, where the mouse needs to be often, move it to either the right or left sides of the screen.

I auto-hide the dock on the left side of the screen (I'm on a 13" MacBook Air, so my vertical space is limited too). You could also use @VxJasonxV's suggestion of removing the apps from the dock. Most of the programs I launch are via  spotlight (the ⌘+Space shortcut is very useful). And the last trick I use is BetterTouchTool. I bound five-finger-click to ⌘+Q, which makes it very easy to quit applications, but not so easy that it accidentally quits applications I didn't mean to quit.


Do Not Disturb will mute all notifications. You can enable it by opening Notification Center by clicking on the NC icon in the menubar (or sliding in from the side of the trackpad with two fingers) and turning the switch on.

You can permanently set Do Not Disturb on by going to System Preferences → Notifications and setting the schedule to "00:00 to 23:59".

 →

To remove Notification Center altogether, you can run the following Terminal commands:

launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.notificationcenterui.plist
killall NotificationCenter
sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.notificationcenterui KeepAlive -bool False

Make sure to scroll to copy the entire line


How to know the name of UI elements using Accessibility inspector (or any other tool)

UPDATE. this will work in 10.7.x but 10.6 has les element info.

The Buttons (drop downs ) in the Print Sheet have Description to describe the function.

In Accessibility inspector; you see this when hovering the mouse over the element (button). you can lock the  Accessibility inspector's view with cmd+F7.

The Description will be listed as AXDescription

In the cases for the Printers its is Printers for Presets it is Presets

If you know the AXDescription you can avoid the numbers using something like this. But this is not the only way. Just one example.

activate application "Preview"
tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Preview"
        click ((pop up buttons of sheet 1 of window 1) whose description is "Printers")
    end tell
end tell

For the above to work in this example the Print Sheet must be visible along with 'Show Details'

The button/drop down  has a menu. So you can select or click it by referring to the menu items of the menu of the button.

Either by number or using its title/AXTitle.

activate application "Preview"
    tell application "System Events"
        tell process "Preview"
            click ((pop up buttons of sheet 1 of window 1) whose description is "Presets")

click menu item "Last Used Settings" of menu of ((pop up buttons of sheet 1 of window 1) whose description is "Presets")
        end tell
    end tell

You can shorten repetitive code by using a variable for the button and calling that.
When doing it like my example below;

   activate application "Preview"
tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Preview"
        set Presets_button to item 1 of ((pop up buttons of sheet 1 of window 1) whose description is "Presets")

        click Presets_button
        click menu item "Last Used Settings" of menu of Presets_button
    end tell
end tell


How do I determine which application handles a global shortcut?

I've re-installed the OS many times since, so the original issue no longer bugs me. But I did find a third party application "Shortcut Detective" (http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/labs/) that comes very close.


Why doesn't the disabling of the Caps Lock key have any effect?

It was right before me, there are distinct settings for the built-in keyboard and the external keyboard.  Setting it for external works!  Not sure why I'd want them to behave differently or why it doesn't default to external keyboard when that is the one being presently used though.


Desktop icon for mounted NAS volume changes location and it annoys me

Deleting the .DS_Store file on the desktop could help. Keep in mind that all icon positions are getting lost:

Open the Terminal.app in /Applications/Utilities
enter "rm ~/Desktop/.DS_Store" without quotes and hit enter
Relaunch the Finder

Press and hold the opt key
Right-Click or Control-Click on Finder in the Dock (while still holding down the Option key)
Select Relaunch

Also make sure there is some empty space around your wished position (2-3 icons wide).


Accessing the Terminal on a 2008 MacBook Pro, when booting in single-user mode

When booting into single-user mode, continue holding the Command + s key combination until you see white text scrolling on the screen.

Once the text stops scrolling, a prompt is presented where you can enter commands. If the prompt doesn't appear after the text has stopped scrolling, try pressing Enter key.


Usually users can switch their App Store region by logging out of their Apple ID for one region and then signing in with their Apple ID for the other region. All downloads will still remain on the iPhone and should not be erased. So why were your past purchases erased? Did you do this or did it just happen?

When app updates appear, the only updates you can download are for apps you downloaded with the Apple ID you're currently signed into. So this means having to regularly sign in and out of your Apple IDs.

This is what I mean. If you downloaded app X from the Indian store and you are signed in to the Apple ID for the Canadian store, the App Store app will still tell you that an update is available for app X. But downloading that update won't work unless you sign out of the Canadian Apple ID and then sign back into the Indian Apple ID. That's why it is better to just delete app X and redownload it using the Canadian ID as that meas it will be listed as a purchase for that ID. But if app X cost money then you don't want to do this because you don't want to pay for it again.

What you should do is delete any apps from the Indian store that are freebies and then download them again with your new Canadian Apple ID. This way you only have to change back to the old Indian Apple ID when you have to update an app that you paid for as you wouldn't want to have to pay for it again.

Does this answer your question?


After doing some research, it appears that the netcat distributed in MacOS is a rather old (imported at 2005-10-07) version of netcat-openbsd clone. Here is the header file from the netcat.c hosted at opensource.apple.com.

/* $OpenBSD: netcat.c,v 1.82 2005/07/24 09:33:56 marius Exp $ */

There are three popular versions of netcat in the wild:

gnu-netcat or netcat ver. 0.71
netcat 1.10 or nc110 (also known as netcat-traditional in debian)
and the openbsd version (netcat-openbsd, the netcat metapackage points to it) which is in active development.

Currently only the gnu and 1.10 versions support -e option and it's considered insecure. In the 1.10 version you should compile with -DGAPING_SECURITY_HOLE define to enable the -e switch.

The easiest way to install this version would be to use homebrew or other ports system (homebrew uses netcat 0.71 source).


How to change a table cell from $ to € in Pages?

Use the inspector to change the table cell formatting symbol.


Disable alt-tab (option-tab) instead of command-tab

It sounds like you've managed to change your keyboard mappings.  Assuming you haven't installed 3rd party mapping software, the quickest fix is to restore the mappings back to default.

SystemPreferences -> Keyboard -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> Keyboard & Text Input -> Restore Defaults

Most likely one of the "Move focus to X" options is set to alt-tab


Does Touch ID for Mac Touch Bar support third-party apps?

Yes.

Apple has published a guide - KeychainTouchID: Using Touch ID with Keychain and LocalAuthentication for integrating Keychain with Touch ID.  This means 3rd party developers can create code that allows users to authenticate to their app (an even possibly their website) via the Touch ID mechanism with credentials stored in Keychain

Additionally, more info can be found in the LocalAuthentication documentation

As for the Touch Bar... Adobe Photoshop currently support it.

According to the macOS Human Interface Guidlines, third party developers will be able to design their apps to use the Touch bar. Links to the API documentation and sample code are included.  So, it's only a matter of time before apps get updated to support the new bar.


Can I carry Mac Mini between home & office daily without damaging the hardware?

Yes. The Mac Mini isn't as fragile as the MacBook line and they survive that exact environment quite well.


How do I silence my phone for ten minutes?

Schedule DND on WeChat or iPhone. Can also mute a specific group on WeChat.

Otherwise ask Siri to "turn on do not disturb" and "set a timer for 10 minutes".


Which one drain battery slower, airplay or hdmi?

Depending how scientific you want to go, the direct cable would normaly consume less power then wireless transfer.

That is true when using the correct cable (high quality) since the cables also have some resistance (power consumption) specially if they are very long.

To find actual power consumption differences you need one of those power monitoring apps. (many options on the web).

Is it worth knowing? probably not, since you have to monitor it for like 2 hours, without other applications running to get meaningful numbers.


Change Finder Icon in macOS Catalina without rebooting?

With all default security measures of Catalina enabled you can't change neither Finder's icon nor Dock's Finder icon without rebooting.
To overcome the involved hurdles (and re-enable them later), you have to reboot at least twice.
These are:

disable SIP
mount your system volume read/write (usually it's read-only)

Step-by-step How-To:

Boot to macOS Recovery (AKA Recovery Mode) by booting|rebooting and pressing cmdR right after the startup chime

After booting is completed you'll see a window titled macOS Utilites. In the menubar open Utilities > Terminal

In the Terminal type csrutil disable and hit ⏎ Return/Enter to execute the command

In the Terminal type reboot and hit ⏎ Return/Enter

After rebooting to the standard macOS and logging on to a user with admin privileges, open Terminal in the folder /Applications/Utilities/

In the Terminal type sudo mount -rw / and hit ⏎ Return/Enter to execute the command

Now modify Dock's Finder icons: (/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/finder.png and /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/finder@2x.png) or Finder's Finder icons: /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/Finder.icns

To remove the original icon type:
 sudo rm /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/finder.png

and hit ⏎ Return/Enter

Copy the new icons with the Terminal to the Resources folder(s). Example (assuming the new Finder icon finder.png is on your desktop):
 sudo cp /Users/your_username/Desktop/finder.png /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/

and hit ⏎ Return/Enter

Remove Dock's icon cache:
sudo find /private/var/folders/ -name com.apple.dock.iconcache -exec rm {} \;

and hit ⏎ Return/Enter
11. Kill the Dock.app: killall Dock and hit ⏎ Return/Enter
12. Reboot to Boot to macOS Recovery and re-enable SIP by typing in the Terminal csrutil enable and ⏎ Return/Enter to execute the command.
13. In the Terminal type reboot and hit ⏎ Return/Enter
14. Proof for the modified Finder icon in the Dock:
[![enter image description here][1]][1]

After point updates (e.g. 10.15.2) the icons will be replaced probably and you have to re-do the whole icon customization.

Alternative way (kudos to user3439894) without disabling SIP and only one reboot:

Download/prepare your pics (i.e. finder.png and finder@2x.png) e.g on your Desktop

Boot to macOS Recovery (AKA Recovery Mode) by booting|rebooting and pressing cmdR right after the startup chime

After booting is completed you'll see a window titled macOS Utilites. In the menubar open Utilities > Terminal

Here I assume Macintosh HD is the name of your main volume and user_name is your user name. Replace them accordingly with the names in your setup in the commands below . In the Terminal enter (hit ⏎ Return/Enter after each line):
 cp /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/Users/user_name/Desktop/finder.png /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/
 cp /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/Users/user_name/Desktop/finder@2x.png /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/
 find /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/private/var/folders/ -name com.apple.dock.iconcache -exec rm {} \;
 reboot

If you are unable to navigate to the path /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD, make sure your disk is mounted. Follow the steps below to mount your disk.

Quit the terminal
Select the Disk Utility option
On the left side of the window, you will see the list of Disks where Macintosh HD might be greyed out. Click that and select mount from the central top panel.
Quit the Disk Utility and open terminal again. You will be able to navigate to the paths mentioned above

A quick & dirty bash script iconreplacement.sh (which can be refined) based on user3439894's alternative approach automates some tasks:
#!/bin/bash

#Variables

DOCKRES="/Volumes/$SYSVOLNAME/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/"

#Change Finder icons in Dock.app, clean Dock's icon cache and reboot to normal system

if [ ! -d "/Users/$USER" ]; then
    cp "/Volumes/$SYSVOLNAME/Users/$USR/Desktop/finder.png" "$DOCKRES"
    cp "/Volumes/$SYSVOLNAME/Users/$USR/Desktop/finder@2x.png" "$DOCKRES"
    find "/Volumes/$SYSVOLNAME/private/var/folders/" -name com.apple.dock.iconcache -exec rm {} \;
    reboot
fi

#Reboot to Recovery Mode

sudo nvram "recovery-boot-mode=unused" > /dev/null 2>&1
sudo reboot > /dev/null 2>&1

The variable DOCKRES defines the path to the Resource folder of Dock.app in Recovery Mode.
The if statement detects whether the Mac is booted to Recovery Mode. Only then the resource files will be copied to Dock.app's Resource folder, the iconcache will be deleted and the Mac reboots.
The sudo commands reboot your Mac to Recovery Mode. sudo doesn't exist in the Recovery Mode base system and executing it throws an error. In my environment this happened sometimes because reboot was too slow to kill everything (or sudo ... too fast). The error message is suppressed with ... > /dev/null 2>&1.
Move the bash script to your admin user's Desktop. The two Dock resource files (finder.png and finder@2x.png) have to reside on the same user's desktop.
To execute the bash script (save any open files and quit all apps first) and reboot to Recovery Mode enter in Terminal:
cd Desktop
./iconreplacement.sh

In Recovery Mode open the Terminal. The shell command and the script require to set the name of your main volume and the admin user. Example:
SYSVOLNAME="Macintosh HD"
USR=capatane

So enter and replace Main_Volume_Name and user_name accordingly:
SYSVOLNAME="Main_Volume_Name"
USR=user_name
cd "/Volumes/$SYSVOLNAME/Users/$USR/Desktop/"
. ./iconreplacement.sh

The first .  (dot and space) is intentional and is required to export the user definded variables (SYSVOLNAME & USR) to the shell script!
Use this script at your own risk. No responsibility is taken over for errors, omissions, interruptions, defects, delays during operation etc.


Improvements of the iPhone 6 over the iPhone 5s

Size vs features will end up being subjective.  Most notably the CPU in the 5s is the A7 and the 6 contains the A8.  Each generation of processor brings a jump in raw power. from A7 to A8 25% inc in processing and 50% increase in graphics with a 50% Reduction in power consumption due to new manufacturing process.  Each version of the iPhone typically come with better battery life.  However, If these are used then the life of the battery will depend on past treatment.  An iPhone battery will only respond to finite recharges and life diminishes over time and use.

Additionally the camera will always have improvements.  A great read on many iPhone cameras can be found at http://snapsnapsnap.photos/how-does-the-iphone-6-camera-compare-to-previous-iphone-cameras/

Motion sensor capability is about the same.

Finally, both phones will be supported by iOS 11.


Do some apps prohibit mirroring through VGA?

Short answer: Yes.

Some Apps (usually those with paid content) prohibit video output via AirPlay or AV-Adapters. There's no way I know of to get around the issue.
For some, not all, a HDMI adapter works because of "High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection"


Disable dual Graphic and use only Intel card

The only way to disable SIP is to go in through the recovery partition and disable it from there, so unfortunately I don't think that will be an option for you with the current state of the machine.

I would take a look at the answer for this question here:
MacBook Pro How To Disable Discrete GPU Permanently from EFI

Booting into a different OS is probably going to be your best chance at success. Hope that helps!


This happened to me a while back... First, try just holding down the power button for 10 seconds, to force the MacBook to shut down, and then reboot it normally. That sometimes works.

Failing that, you could try resetting the SMC:

Resetting the SMC on portables with a battery you should not remove on your own

Note: Portable computers that have a battery you should not remove on your own include MacBook Pro (Early 2009) and later, all models of MacBook Air, and MacBook (Late 2009).

Shut down the computer.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it
to the Mac if its not already connected.
On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option
keys and the power button at the same time.
Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.

Note: The LED on the MagSafe power adapter may change states or temporarily turn off when you reset the SMC.

Source: Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)


Upload specific Photo photos to Google Drive

Not having Goole Drive I am making an assumption here that you have a folder of some sort that you can drag files into and out of, similar to Dropbox.

If you select the photos in Photos.app that you want exported to Google Drive and then tap ShiftCommandE that will prompt you for the kind, size and quality of the picture. Once selected click Export and point the file dialog box to your Google drive folder.

Note that Photos.app will remember the kinds, size and quality settings from the last export so you will likely only have to select those options once.


Exclude folder from sync from iCloud to device (laptop)

iCloud Drive is a syncing solution so you can't exclude folders from getting synced from the cloud onto your computer. You can have macOS manage the space on your Mac though by going to System Preferences->iCloud, clicking on "Options" at the end of the iCloud Drive line and selecting "Optimize Mac storage". This will just sync the whole folder structure without downloading the content unless you need it. Non-downloaded files/folders will show a Cloud icon in Finder.


How can I see my Apple ID email / contacts without installing iCloud?

Yes - https://icloud.com has web apps for mail, contacts, calendar so you don't need an OS X or iOS device to use them. Several modern PC and Linux browsers are supported.


How to make macbook pro use a 16:9 aspect ratio?

You can use RDM to set a custom resolution such as 1920×1080.


How can I extract the Mountain Lion installer from the recovery partition

You don't need to worry about having to copy any data, making USB sticks or having the media present. Use Mountain Lion's Internet Recovery procedure, all files is downloaded and installed on the new drive without having any files.
You replace the HDD and start with Command-R...
See OS X Internet Recovery for more info about the procedure, quote:

If you happen to encounter a situation in which you cannot start from the Recovery System, such as your hard drive stopped responding or you installed a new hard drive without OS X installed, new Mac models introduced after public availability of OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion, automatically use the OS X Internet Recovery feature if the Recovery System (Command-R method above) doesn't work. OS X Internet Recovery lets you start your Mac directly from Apple's Servers. The system runs a quick test of your memory and hard drive to ensure there are no hardware issues.
OS X Internet Recovery presents a limited interface at first, with only the ability to select your preferred Wi-Fi network and, if needed, enter the WPA passphrase. Next, OS X Internet Recovery will download and start from a Recovery System image. From there, you are offered all the same utilities and functions described above.

Regarding "Where is the [OS X] disk image hidden?", the Recovery Partition is a minimal bootstrap that connects to a wi-fi network to download the complete OS X 10.8 install, that's why it is so small. See here for further info: About OS X Recovery.


Opt ⌥ -Click the reveal arrow next to foo.

Alternatively,  Opt ⌥   ←  will do the same thing.
 Opt ⌥   →  will re-open them all.

It appears Mojave closes them all by default now [though with no real consistency I can find], but previously opt/action was the way.


How do I copy files from macbook to external harddrive using single user mode?

On newer OS it's far better to boot to Recovery HD or Internet Recovery and then open terminal to validate that things are mounted and running properly.

From there, you can use Disk Utility and / or Terminal to copy files off a non-bootable OS.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

The benefit here is the system boots more fully on new Mac, avoids needing to know if you have T2 chip / FileVault and also mounts the attached drives when you start Terminal from the utilities menu.

Old school single user mode is still valid for non-T2 machines and if you can get past FileVault full disk encryption with a known admin / unlock account and password.


Failed to upgrade to OS X High Sierra with two non-descriptive errors

I had the same problem with an iMac,

just delete the update program from your mac and re download it from the App Store.

If that won't work you should make a Backup with Timemachine and reset your Mac. Try to update again. if it works, recover your data from the backup.

Check this link if you need help with the reset of your system.
https://support.apple.com/kb/PH25649?locale=de_DE&viewlocale=de_DE


Even if you’re sure you don’t use iCloud, go ahead and turn it on and check https://iCloud.com for notes and deleted notes.
Even if you’re sure you don’t use time machine, connect a drive and see if you can enter time machine to browse local backups and snapshots.
These two methods have saved me and also saved people that were convinced they didn’t have backups.
I hope you have a backup of some sort to piece together the notes database and don’t lose this work.


Mail.app performance after upgrade to Lion

If you open the Mail's Activity window (keyboard shortcut: Command+0), what does it show that justifies the 150% CPU figure?


Need an Applescript to handle specific incoming mail.

You don't need an Applescript. In Mail.app go to Preferences > Rules and add a rule that will delete any email that meets your specifications.


How do I delete photos only from my iPad but not from iCloud

You don’t need to worry about deleting your photos. If you download apps and things, photos will dynamically remove pictures to free up space. It knows it is backed up in iCloud, so it doesn’t worry about keeping your photos saved on device.

edit: If you absolutely  must have them gone, i'd suggest turning off iCloud photo library for the device in question. go to setting  and tap on your name, click on iCloud, then photos. Turn it off and tap remove from this device. remember you won't get any further photos synced to that device until you turn it back on.


Is there a Bowtie theme that looks like a Flurry icon?

You could start by adapting the default theme that comes bundled with Bowtie and is just HTML/CSS as well. Copy it from the application bundle (Bowtie.app/Contents/Themes/Default.bowtie) to ~/Library/Application Support/Bowtie and rename to e.g. Flurry.bowtie.

Make sure to edit all information in the contained .plist file, especially name (BTThemeName) and identifier (BTThemeIdentifier) to custom, unique values.

To get from this theme to something more like Flurry, the following need to be changed:

-webkit-border-radius in #artHolder (I used 18px)
-webkit-box-shadow, same location (e.g. 0px 0px 4px #000)
width and height, same location (I used 96px).
Remove the img tag referencing img/gloss.png.

The result will look like this:

What's missing is a proper border and maybe some glossy overlay. The file img/gloss.png in the theme produces the glossy overlay effect in the default theme. Replace the image file with your own containing a border and some highlight at the top matching the Flurry style. I shamelessly ripped the AirPort Flurry icon apart for this, deleted the background and border contents, and used the result as overlay image. Don't do this unless you know as little about image editing as I do.

The position of the border will be off by a few pixels. Play around with the top and left values in the image CSS until it matches the cover art. Change cover art size or border image size until they match as needed.

This is what it looks like on a darker background now:

Now, this is missing the light highlights at the top and some glossy effect, but this is about all I am able to do in an image editor.

Of course, this is just a rough outline. Much depends on the detailed requirements you need to work out yourself, e.g. whether you also want to flip the cover image to get the controls, and how they should look like.

I'm not sure about the licensing here. To be on the safe side, especially if you want to publish your theme, make it original, especially the border/overlay image.


Fastest way to delete all Timemachine Backups for a machine

If you've got:

  Operation Not Permitted

after executing

sudo rm -rf Backups.backupdb

you should follow this approach, which is adding bypass before the remove command:

sudo /System/Library/Extensions/TMSafetyNet.kext/Contents/Helpers/bypass rm -rfv Backups.backupdb


How do I turn off the passcode requirement on my iPhone?

Source:

Go to Settings -> Touch ID & Passcode.

Scroll down until you see the "Turn passcode off" button.  You'll need to enter your passcode first and then you can turn the passcode off.

This image is of an iPhone X with Face ID but the screen flow will be the same for your iPhone 8.

You might be prevented from performing many iOS and app functions by having this weak security.  I'm sure you're already aware of these implications since you decided to not have the passcode.


Yes, you can replace the hard drive in an iPod Classic. There is no need to replicate anything on to the drive as all the OS is stored in firmware separate to the drive. Once there is a blank drive in the iPod the firmware will take over. Instructions are here at iFixIt.

Mounting the Classic to take a backup is another question entirely. Since you can't actually get to the OS to back it up the only thing you need to backup is the music and I assume you have a copy of that already. If you don't then I recommend Senuti to recover a copy of your music and playlists to your Mac.


Ahhh... I don't know what happened but somehow the bookmarks that I edited on the iMac just didn't reflect on the MBA at all. I am only using really the Bookmarks Bar and don't keep bookmarks anywhere else.

What I did:
Went into iCloud settings on the MBA. Switched Bookmarks syncing off. Then back on. It asked me if I wanted to sync and merge the local bookmarks with the ones in the cloud. I said yes. It synced, and I got double bookmarks everywhere (iMac and MBA). Then I just deleted the duplicates, and all seem synced and well on both devices. I sync with some iPhones, iPads too and it seems ok. The bookmarks there appear in the "Bookmarks Bar" subfolder.


Comprehensive Clean out and migration of specific folders in Apple iTunes?

Safe to do this…

  C:\Users\Alex\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer

    ..\Logs\CrashReporter – 300 M

Delete contents of  - \Logs & \CrashReporter but to be on the safe side, preserve the folder hierarchy, just in case it wouldn't auto-recreate if needed.

  C:\Users\Alex\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync

    ..\Backups – 24.5 GB

Make a new one, delete all older.

      Clean iPhone 4 Backup

      How to Eliminate Duplicates in iphone 5 Backup? (Search Again)

      Migrate?? iPad Backup? (What Size is it?)

not sure about this section, could you clarify in your question & I'll change this answer

  C:\Users\Alex\Music\iTunes – 39 GB

    Cache – 327 MB How to clear?

    iTunes Media – 28 GB

      Mobile Applications – 26 GB

You can actually clear all mobile apps from here if you really need to save space. They're all purchased & can be re-downloaded if needed.

      Voice Memos – 1.3 GB

        .m4a files: 20100618 – 20150319 (Maybe some overlaps??)

These you would have to chase manually.
You'd have to find an app that will play them without duplicating to another location, which iTunes would do by default. [unless they already show in iTunes, in which case you can audition from there & delete as necessary.]

      Downloads – 700 M

        .TMP Downloads - DELETE

Always safe to delete temp files.

    iTunes Music – 10.8 GB

      Podcasts – 5.9 GB - >> Migrate / Export? How?

Migrate by simply copying to another location.
I'm not fully familiar with how iTunes deals with podcasts it thinks it ought to have but can't find. Might need to experiment.

      Mobile Applications – 4.4 GB – How to consolidate to single MA folder?

I wouldn't try to move apps, as you might just end up with duplicates. I'd either leave, or if space is at an absolute premium, delete.

      Voice Memos – 240 M - How? Consolidate to Single VM folder

Manually, as above.

        .m4a files: 1/26/2011, 19040101, 20100703 – 20120506

      Music – 100 M

        Yoga/ Rave – (Poor titling and Tagging) – 45.6 M – Check & Delete

        Few Singles – 50 M – Migrate and Clear

All music would need to be handled manually, from within iTunes.
The exception would be anything you already threw out of iTunes, but didn't tell it to Trash - those would be an afternoon of guesswork & comparison, I'm afraid.

      Books – 68.9 M – ePubs

Again, manually, as music above

      Downloads - .TMP - DELETE

Delete.


Mac terminal command returns permission denied, ran again and it worked fine

It's possible there was a write-lock on that folder when you attempted the first rm. An application or process could have been indexing or accessing the folder. Things like Mozy Backup or the Spotlight Search run in the background and access most all files on a file system.


Bad load balancing of network traffic between processes

You can use pfctl to limit bandwidth (up or down independently) based on IP address.  Alternatively, you can use it to do some mild QoS so that DNS requests & responses are given top priority, which I think should help much of your pain.


Bought an iPad but it's supervised.Is there a way to remove it?

Supervised devices lock in management, so your only recourse is to wipe the device. At that point you may discover that it’s also an enrolled device (DEP) and wiping does not unenroll from DEP as that is different than a MDM profile.

You cannot, by yourself, remove the iPad from DEP. The iPad has all these restrictions because it was previously managed by a company or school. You’ll need to figure out which school or company it is and send their IT and email and hope that they will remove it from their program for you. Their and IT and only their IT can unenroll an iPad from DEP.

You likely have bought an iPad that a student/teacher/employee/malicious actor stole. I doubt that an IT department knowledgeable enough to use DEP wouldn’t know to disown the devices before resale.

Also, I know this question will likely attract a lot of attention by students wishing to remove their devices from DEP: short answer, you can’t. Long answer: if you jailbreak the device you can remove the profile. This change will persist while you are on that iOS version and maybe once you update however if you restore the device it’ll come back. I of course don’t recommend this and you’ll violate your school policy (and IT will know, it’s not hard to detect a jailbroken device).


Shell variables in standalone app of bash script

Make sure that

the shell script within Borg.app is executable (chmod +x ...)
all the files within Borg.app are accessible by the current user
any command called from the script is called with the full path specified (especially for things stored in /usr/local/bin and similar non-default places)


Will my Mac run slow if I update it to Mavericks?

No, it should run faster.

I have installed Mavericks on three machines:

A 2007 iMac
A 2010 Macbook Air
A 2012 Mac Mini

All models are displaying noticeable speed improvements. Mavericks also freed up a substantial amount extra hard drive space on all my devices.


Ukelele keyboard not found by System Preferences

In my opinion, you need a «your_language.bundle» in the /Library/Keyboard Layout/, which contains your "PhysicsType1 (MathPhysics)"

Then
Try pressing the "+" in the System Preferences> Keyboard> Input Sources, and then select the language in the list that appears, select your "PhysicsType1 (MathPhysics)"


You would want to update to iOS 12.4.1. It is likely the carrier has a "carrier update" that needs to be applied. You can also try Reset Network Settings to completely rule out the device. After trying these, I would say refer to the carrier.