text:
How can you switch users at the login screen, without administrator access, with only one local account (the administrator) and many network accounts?
Sometimes, a network account is logged in, and the user doesn't/forgets to log out. When someone else uses this computer, the lock screen shows. The only options that I know of from here are:

Click cancel, which does not switch the user
Force shutdown the Mac by holding down the power button
Find their password, login, and logout

If I had an administrator, I could (probably) add another dummy local user account, and it would show a user account switcher, but I don't have admin access.
How can I switch the network account without admin access other than the above methods?

As long as it is ok to forcibly log-out the user, you just need to to logon as the local admin using Apple Remote Desktop (available in the App Store) or ssh (through a terminal), and kill that user's loginwindow process.  You must login to the computer and not simply "Share screen" from Finder.  Then you will be able to login.
Here's a really easy-to-read article about this.
Of course, for either of those options to work, you have to enable Remote Login and Remote Management in "Sharing" under the System Preferences.  The Sharing menu is shown below:
If you would rather use fast-user-switching, which I personally don't like because it can often really slow down your computer, then you can set up an "logout user after x minutes of activity" option in the System Preferences -> Security & Privacy, which will return you to a login screen.  There may also be nice hacks if you search around, that allow you to get the user-switching icon or a keyboard shortcut setup to do a fast-switch, or trigger a switch or logout by tweaking a call to CGSession, although that may have been possible only in older OSX versions.  There is a huge discussion of many other ideas in that last link as well.


text:
Airport Express as a wifi access point connected by Ethernet cable to a modem?
Will an Apple Airport Express be able to do what I need?
I work on a laptop running Win7Pro, and my internet feed comes to a Netgear DM111P cabled modem, which I connect to the laptop using an ethernet cable. The modem sits in my office at home, and I'm fine with this set-up when I'm working in that room. But I want to be able to connect wirelessly to the internet sometimes from other rooms in the house (max distance say 10 metres through 2 doors), using a wifi access point device (WAPD) that I leave in the office. So the idea is that I leave one end of the ethernet cable plugged into the modem, and I move the other end between the laptop (when I'm in the office) and the WAPD (when I want to use internet elsewhere). The procedure needs to be quick and simple. I don't want to have to configure software all the time. I just want to be able (when leaving the office) to power up the WAPD, take the ethernet cable out of the laptop and plug it into the WAPD, then leave the room with the laptop; and (when coming back into the office) turn the WAPD off, take the ethernet cable out of the WAPD and plug it back into the laptop. Also I want to turn the modem off when I'm not on the internet.
Is the Airport Express a WAPD of this kind?

The unit should do what you want. No guarantee on the bandwidth as the range increases, but if your Internet connection is less than 30Mbps, and you're only using it for Internet access, then having the wireless component shouldn't slow you down.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


text:
Mavericks Open Directory: a user can't open or modify files he's created
The OS X server & clients are on 10.9.5.
I've got a client who's had some issues, various corruptions, etc..  I had to re-create the entire user, and in doing so, have some permissions issues.
The user is working now. If he creates a file (say in MS Word), he can save it. But if he closes it, he cannot reopen it or save it again!
I'm assuming that I need to change flags of some sort on this user, though I'm unsure what, where, or how.   I've not resorted to 'going nuclear' with chmod on the user folder, as I'd like to maintain a semblance of consistency here.
Any ideas?

Are the client accounts network accounts or local ones?

network accounts (Open directory)

with local homes or network based home?

The home folders are all on the server (network).  The users are network.

Found it.... faulty network cable - random apps locking up led me thru a stack of tests...  replaced the cable and all is well!!

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
Terminal doesn't force quit
When I click Terminal in Launchpad, it says "The application Terminal is not open anymore." But it shows up in the Force Quit window and it has the open-app indicator on the dock.
I can't quit the app, restart or shut the computer down.
I think this could be the root of the problem:
I was running a program in Terminal overnight and then it said something like, "Terminal is paused...run out of memory." I quit it and when I opened it again, this happened.
Using
MacBook Air
OS X El Capitan v. 10.11.2

Sounds as if you may have run your system out of RAM, which is quite possible with the anemic Air designs Apple is passing off as computers these days.
you may well need to do a hard shut-down and reboot.. hold down power button till it shuts off, then wait 5-10 seconds and reboot.
If terminal does the same thing after that, then you may have an actual issue..


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Find all hidden files that were hidden using the command "chflags hidden filename"?
I remember to hide an important file, but I can't find it anymore and I don't remember the name. I don't remember how I hid it, i.e., if just by inserting a prefix of . or using chflags hidden filename.
I tried to recover all hidden files (hidden because of the prefix .) under my desktop using the following command
find . -name '.*' | grep "^.DS_Store" > hidden-files.txt

and the resulting hidden-files.txt text file is empty. (Anyway, I'm not 100% sure if the command above is correct.)
Again, now I would like to retrieve recursively (as I'm doing with the previous command) all hidden files that were hidden using the command chflags hidden filename using the terminal (or without, but I would need to have a list of them or a path to them). Is it possible? If yes, how can I do it?
Edit 1
I think the command above doesn't work because grep does not accept input. Anyway, to solve the problem I think I just need to add xargs as follows
find . -name '.*' | xargs grep "^.DS_Store" > hidden-files.txt

This should work for you
find . ! -name '.' \( -name '.*' -o -flags hidden \)

which means find in the current directory, all file system objects, except do not list the current working directory- (! -name '.'), whose name begins with a dot or file flag is set to hidden.


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Recognise command and colour it on the terminal?
I was wondering if it's possible to colour a recognised command in real time while typing and/or when switching to previous commands using the arrows.
For example, if I start typing gre, it should not color anything, but once I finish typing my command completely, i.e. grep, it should color grep with a certain color.
This would be useful to immediately recognise also the position of arguments in a complex command. I'm using the default terminal that comes with the notebook.

Not a bash answer, as I don't have one, but if you switch your shell to zsh (a close relative of bash) and install the configuration framework prezto you'll get this functionality more or less out of the box, as well as significantly better autocompletion. Switching to zsh most likely won't change your day to day bash workflow at all, but it'll open a a lot of doors in terms of customisation and extension, and also adds some clever features worth learning - like shared command history across all prompts that can be included in the autocompletion dictionary, file globbing to efficiently work with multiple files at once, and most importantly compatibility modes, whereby zsh can emulate another shell - meaning that if some of your bash scripts don't work the way they used to after switching to zsh, you can just emulate it - although personally all the bash scripts I've written still worked fine in zsh.
Useful links:

Installing the latest version of zsh in OS X
Installing prezto
Some in-depth discussion of how switching can improve your workflow


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iPhone - how to free up space when storage is completely full
My mom has an iPhone 4 (or 4S) and she has taken so many photos that there are 0 Bytes space left.
I can't install apps to delete files on the phone directly.
I can't move files via USB.
I can't delete files via USB.
Windows 7 shows the "Deleting ..." window but nothing happens (not even on a single photo).
So how can I delete all those photos (backups done) or even better the whole phone including iOS?

You can try using the option of "Erase all content and settings". It's an option provided by Apple to delete your content and reset the iPhone to factory settings.
This link will help you safely do that. Just make sure it's fully charged and connected to the charger.

Sure. Try it and if it doesn't work as you want then try "Factory Reset". But I think it will work perfectly.

If there are many apps installed from the Ap Store (or iTunes store) it may be possible to delete some of them to get enough extra space to be able to delete photos. After deleting photos any of the apps you deleted could then be reinstalled from their original store at no charge. (If this works, the only possible problem could be if any of the deleted apps aren't current since reinstalling them would bring in the current version which might work differently.)
If the problem with deleting photos is dependent on the app you are using to try to delete photos this may work; if it's a problem with lack of space for iOS itself then you'll probably just have the same problem trying to delete apps, too. It can't hurt to try. Hope this helps.

You can backup important data on iCloud, then you can try to erase your iPhone, tap Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings. Before erasing iPhone, connect your device to a charger and leave it connected until your device resets.

Backups is very important. You should be attentive.

I had the same problem, the solution is very simple: sign out icloud account, and sign in again. That's all.


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The Apple ID you entered couldn't be found or your password was incorrect. Please try again. | In-App Purchase
I bought an In-App Purchase yesterday. While buying the app crashed, so I tried to restore the purchase (money was already taken from my account). But if I'm entering my correct Apple-ID password (works when logging in into iTunes), it says:

The Apple ID you entered couldn't be found or your password was incorrect. Please try again.

When I'm entering a wrong password, it just says:

Your Apple ID or password is incorrect

What am I doing wrong?

Contact the developer, if no solution ask for a refund via https://reportaproblem.apple.com/

The App Store is doing this when you try to upgrade


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Why iMessage generate a lot of Encryption and Signing keys?
First of all I don`t use iMessage. I log out of iMessage on my iDevices.
Today I took a look of my login Keychain Access and there were 366 items. All of them were iMessage Encryption Key and iMessage Signing Key.

I delete it, reboot my Mac and open Keychain Access again. In the reboot 8 keys (see screenshot) were create. Is this behaviour normal?

That's not abnormal. The system makes these and there's not much detail Keychain Assistant will show so it's a bit difficult to know which is used where.
Also, iMessages establishes a different key for each device you sign in to. The four key pairs you have could be one Mac, one iPad, one iPhone one and one watch.
I wouldn't worry about it - they are so small, deleting them seems more risky than the benefit of clearing out "old" ones.

There is no problem in deleting those. Just close your messages app, remove all of those from keychain and reboot your mac. It will create a fresh pair for use.
PS: Log in and use it! It is one of the most secure IM services in the world, works seamlessly and allows you to send SMS from your mac.

If you check the last aragraph of the question, the OP has already deleted these and they come back so they’re asking for an explanation why IMO.

Bug. It's fixed in the latest version of macOS, but when using older versions, cleaning house every now and then seems to be the only 'solution'.


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MacBook Pro Retina thinks internal display is LG TV inside ColorSync utility
So, about a month ago, my MacBook Pro Retina 13" (Late 2013) display died. When I went to an authorized service provider, they tested it out and said that it needed to be replaced (the display). They said that it would take a week before the display was shipped to them, and in the meantime, I could use my MacBook Pro on an external display.
A year before this (around April 2015), my display had died, but it revived itself overnight somehow. I used it on my external LG TV, and after it revived itself, it used "HD-709 A as the default color profile, and even if I changed it back to "Color LCD", the HD-709 A would stay on the login screen.
Now, I went home after seeing the service provider and used the TV as my external display. After I got my computer back from replacing the display, I saw that the same thing had occured. I dug a little deeper into ColorSync utility, and now, the main display is called "LG TV", even though it is on the internal display, in systeminformation, it shows a built in retina display (but in ColorSync utility, it says LG TV is default, and the internal Retina one doesnt even show up, and the default profile for my computer is again HD-709 A.
In System Preferences, however, it is called "Built-In Retina Display". I can still use Color LCD, but the TV's main profile is stuck to the computer for now. When it happened the first time, a reformat fixed it. Is there a way to make ColorSync utility recognize that my internal display is default and completely remove the external one?

Inside ColorSync

Inside SysPrefs

Also, a side question, when this same MacBook Pro heats up and has intensive GPU use, it makes a clicking sound. No graphics performance is reduced, and the Display works fine, just the color problems

Is that clicking a fan not working?

No, its not a clicking clicking sound, more like a tick sound. I also checked the fan (only one in this model) under load, and its RPM is just fine

@Dubstep_cats Did you try a PRAM reset, sometimes it could reset a display problems like this. Also did you try to repair the profiles from Profile First Aid from ColorSync Utility?

Yes, a PRAM and SMC reset, and I also verified the profiles. Nothing wrong. In the color sync utility, LG TV only shows up under displays and is marked as default.

It might be a preference file somewhere, I just went to a time machine backup that I made before this incident, and restored the /Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Displays Folder and no avail


text:
Apple password verification showing weird characters
I recently had to reload Yosemite on my Macbook Pro Retina (Mid 2014)
and after booting it up this morning and allowing a application to run, my password box looks like this.
Any help would be appreciated.

The Font Database is corrupted, you can rebuild it. (NOTE: make backup before performing this)
sudo atsutil databases -remove

And then repair permissions:
sudo diskutil repairPermissions /

After it's finished restart your machine.

That looks like font corruption. I'd run the "standard toolkit"

Fix permissions, Verify & if necessary Repair disk, using Disk Utility.
Reset Home folder permissions & ACLs using OnyX  - Maintenance tab/permissions, tick the box at the top then Execute.
Update to [or re-apply if already up to date] 10.10.5 using the 10.10.5 combo update, not the delta from App Store.


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Update emacs that comes with OS X
Is there a way to update the emacs terminal editor that comes with OS X? I could remove the binaries and install Emacs using a dmg package, but the idea was to upgrade to a newer version with some command.

Apple controls when / if they update emacs so most people just install a newer version of the tool and change their PATH variable so the new version is found first and runs by default.
If you like the sound of that, I recommend installing Homebrew:
/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Then install emacs:
brew install emacs

Add a link so that it'll work as emacs in the Terminal:
ln -s /usr/local/Cellar/emacs/24.5/Emacs.app /Applications

This will install the 'stable' version. As of this writing, that's 24.5:
» brew info emacs
emacs: stable 24.5 (bottled), devel 25.0-dev, HEAD
GNU Emacs text editor
https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/

This is significantly newer (24.5.1) than the version that came with El Capitan (22.1.1):
» emacs --version
GNU Emacs 22.1.1

However doesn't this mean that typing emacs in Terminal will find the Apple supplied one first. Also you should explain why use Homebrew rather than a binary emacs and why you can't just copy that emacs over Apple's one

@Mark Because it's far more convenient than... really anything else. Testing whether it'll find the HB version first.

After testing it, there's one more command to link it. Edited, thank you.

surely you need more than that as you emacs in Applications is not on the path

Forgive the edit - I've made the rationale for adding a second binary to the top of this post @nbro - Short of lobbying apple to update the app, you could install this and then shove it in place of the shipping version. On 10.11 that binary is restricted by default - so you need to disable SIP and deal with weakening Apple's security model. The downside is large to messing with Apple's shipping OS. The upside to layering new tools that run instead of the shipping ones is large.

No worries, thank you @bmike. That's said much better than I could have said it.

You can also compile from source.  XCode has all the necessary tools.  This also gives a GUI version which is nicer than the terminal-only version supplied by Apple.

You can use brew linkapps instead of creating a symlink. That way it's not version dependant.

It seems that you have to use brew install emacs --with-cocoa to get the Emacs.app folder (I tried to install on OS X High Sierra). However, the ln example did not make the homebrew emacs the default one, but I had to add an alias
$ alias emacs="/usr/local/Cellar/emacs/26.1_1/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs -nw"

Apparently Emacs.app is not included anymore when installing emacs, at least in v26.3. What worked for me, instead of the ln command, was:
$ alias emacs="/usr/local/Cellar/emacs/26.3/bin/emacs" (you have to replace 26.3 with your version of emacs)
Also, if you want this alias to be permanent, you need to add it to ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc, or whichever you're using.

It could be done but best not to do it. Certain directories including /usr/bin are updated and controlled by Apple so any changes there will be removed when the OS is updated, also in El Capitan and above this path is locked down by SiP and so you have to go through more hoops to chnage files there.
$ ls -lO /usr/bin/emacs
-r-xr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  restricted,compressed 35581744 Jan 13 20:12 /usr/bin/emacs

However in practice there is no need to do this. Install a new emacs in places you have access to e.g. for command line in /usr/local/bin or ~/bin - or GUI versions in /Applications or ~/Applications. /usr/local/bin is the default path so in all cases you need to edit the path to put the directory containing emacs before /usr/bin.

When using the brew command the correct command is brew upgrade emacs even if you have done a brew update, the install will install Emacs 25, the older version.
Just sharing my experience.

Could you bee a bit more specific in your question as to what you are doing, what you expect and what you get.

Verified on macOS 11.13.6: brew upgrade emacs will fail if there is no brew-installed emacs available, brew install emacs will install the most recent version (emacs-26.1_1 right now).

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Can I force my iPhone 5S to ONLY use towers from a specific US state?
I live in Laughlin, Nevada (right on the border of Nevada and Arizona). Some casino apps require you to be in Nevada to access them, but the problem is that sometimes my phone picks up on Arizona cell phone towers (even when I'm on the Nevada side of the border). Is it possible to force my iPhone to ONLY use Nevada towers?
Thanks in advance!

Assuming the towers are using the same working bands, as far as I know what you are asking is not possible. The phone complete the association with the tower that provide the higher signal, you can't control that.

Have you determined if geo-location or a VPN to your house or place of work in nevada would pin your location to the state?


text:
Why is there a generic folder icon for Library in the "Go" menu?
Usually, when in the Go menu in Finder, there are icons for each item, for example
However, when I hold the option key and Library shows up, it has a generic folder icon instead of a court-like icon:

I have since upgraded to El Capitan, but it has been that way since Yosemite. The only thing I can think of that may have caused this is setting the ~/Library folder to nohidden using chflags, but setting it back to hidden does not fix the issue.
Is this new behavior(I doubt it), or a glitch on my part? How could I fix it?

Unfortunately, there is no Sidebar icon for the Library folder in Yosemite and El Capitan. The sidebar icons are used for the Go menu items as well.
The icon that was used in the past in the  (Mavericks and before), was (to my knowledge) ToolbarLibraryFolderIcon.icns, which does not exist anymore.
You can view the Sidebar icons that do exist in /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources. They are named in the format Sidebar<FOLDERNAME>Folder.icns.
Interestingly, the Library folder icon (for the folder itself in Finder) does still exist, as LibraryFolderIcon.icns

+1(when I have the rep), but if I create the ToolbarLibraryFolderIcon.ics, will the library icon be back?

Not likely, the systems handling the icons wouldn't be looking for it.


text:
Cleaning my Macbook Pro Retina leaves greasy 'streaks' across the screen
I try to clean my mid-2015 Macbook Pro with Retina display by wiping the screen with a damp cloth and then immediately drying.
However, there seems to be left some residue/streak marks, which look very oily. Sometimes these disappear after a few minutes, but they are still very unsightly, and a bit worrying (is there something wrong with my screen?)
I'm wondering if there are other cleaning techniques which avoid this issue, or whether this is completely normal behaviour.
Thank you!

Two microfibre cloths, available from any supermarket.
Don't get the 'smooth' ones specially for glass, they can be a bit hard on a plastic screen, get the 'fluffy' ones that make your fingers itch, like picking up tiny velcro.
One cloth completely wetted in lukewarm water [nothing else], then squeezed as dry as you possibly can [trick - fold in 4, then roll & wring. You really want it as dry as possible].
The other cloth totally dry.
If the screen is warm, you may need the first cloth very slightly wetter - but never anywhere near wet enough to dribble if squeezed - you really don't want any water that could run down the screen. The cloths work better when almost dry anyway.
If the screen is cold & also dark, i.e. computer off, you'll also find it much easier to see when it's clean.
Wipe the damp one gently over the screen, multiple times, turning the cloth, pay attention to the edges & corners. The trick is gentle repetition, rather than 'force'.
Then, whilst the screen is still very slightly damp, wipe over again with the dry one, completely drying the surface.
Smears gone forever… well, until next time ;-)
Please don't be tempted to use any type of domestic cleaner or alcohol. You never know what type of screen coating any given screen has & some cleaners can irreparably damage the coating layer of some screens.

Thanks! This seems like a very detailed and thorough answer, so I've upvoted, but I won't be able to test (and so, accept) it for a while.

I don't have any microfibre cloths, but I ended up using the same cloths which I use to clean my glasses, and this method has proved very effective!

Glasses cloths are usually microfibre ;-) They're actually similar to the 'smooth' ones I mention at the top of my answer, but are considerably softer than the ones you get in supermarkets for cleaning mirrors etc. I would have mentioned them - but considered them a bit small [& expensive] for screen cleaning. The 'fluffy' ones you can get for a quid/buck/shekel in packs of 3 or more. TBH, once you start using them to clean things, they become something of the same kind of revelation sliced bread must have been early last century ;)

I had a similar/identical problem (https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/316798/used-a-chemical-on-my-macbook-screen-now-what). I ran a microfibre cloth and a glass cloth in the washing machine, and used the microfibre on the MacBook screen straight out of the washing machine: wet, but drained. I need to check the screen up against bright sunlight, but as far as I can see, the screen looks completely restored (no film of chemicals). Didn't even use the glass cloth. Imprints of the keyboard are still there, but that's permanent damage probably.


text:
How can I fix the OS X dictionary lookup feature for StackExchange comments in Google Chrome?
When I use the "Look up word" right-click menu option on a StackExchange comment in OS X, the system selects other text and looks that up instead:
Step 1: select a word in a StackExchange comment to look up

Step 2: right click & "Look up word"

Step 3: watch OS X select some other text next to yours and look that up instead:

Why?
How can I fix this?

I'm using OS X 10.10.5.
It appears to shift the selected text by 10 characters to the right in all cases, and happens in Chrome but not Safari.

Does this also  happen when you don't select a word/phrase, but simply move the mouse on a word then right-click?  2) Does this happen with a mouse or the trackpad, or with both? – 3) Does this happen in all applications? – 4) Does this also happen when you just copy text?

@DictionaricsAnonymous In fact, it only happens when I try to look up words in StackExchange comments. I'm assuming there is some style/script magic which is interfering with the way OS X parses the text but haven't figured it out yet.

@DictionaricsAnonymous To your questions: 1. both 2. only tested with trackpad, don't have mouse 3. no, see edit 4. no

I just tried it and it worked fine for me. I'm using an old iMac running High Sierra.

Note: An update to the SE site (which I believe happened on July 18th, 2018) has fixed this problem—at least on all Stack Exchange sites. This issue is most likely still present on other sites, so this answer should still be useful.

I know some ways to get the dictionary to work for Stack Exchange comments (and a few other places I've seen this happen on the internet):

Hover over the word, and use control+command+D.
Three finger tap the word. (Make sure this is enabled, of course.)
(Stack Exchange specific) Browse Stack Exchange logged out.

As for why, I've mostly figured it out (finally). There are two lines in the source code (that only appear if you have privileges to upvote/flag):
upvote

flag

However, the problem is resolved if you change those lines to:

I'd be tempted to try the "standard toolkit"…
Do all of these, in this order.

Reset the SMC
As I don't know which Mac you have, read this for instructions for your specific machine - https://support.apple.com/HT201295
Reset the NVRAM
At the boot chimes, hold  Cmd ⌘   Opt ⌥   P   R
Keep holding all 4 keys until you hear the chimes again, then release.
Fix permissions, Verify & if necessary Repair disk, using Disk Utility
Reset Home folder permissions & ACLs using OnyX  [make sure you get the version appropriate to your OS]  - Maintenance tab/permissions, tick the box at the top then Execute.
Re-apply the 10.10.5 update using the 10.10.5 combo update, not the delta from App Store


text:
How to read car charger input current specification?
I found two MacBook 60 Watts car chargers, one says on the backside “INPUT: 12V-24VDC 5.6A MAX”, the other “Input: DC 11-15V Max 10A”. So, the latter has an efficiency of 50%?
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/619ISd6fcKL.SL1500.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61qLRTluyUL.SL1500.jpg

I don't think this question is on-topic, but those are just differences of voltage and current ranges. You have to check if your device (macbook) requirements fit these ranges.

No, you have to read the description different:
#1) Input 12-24V means it is capable for normal cars (12-14V) and Trucks (24V) and the 5.6A Max. is most likely the maximum allowed current before the internal fuse blows off.
#2) Input 11-15V means it is only usable for cars (no Trucks) and a maximum current of 10A before the internal fuse blows off.
so ... they are both usable for your need unless you own a Truck, then you should take #1.

If you are using a passenger vehicle either charger will work.  If you are using a specializied commercial, industry, or military vehicle that works on a 24volt system (you will know if it does or not) then the first adapter is the one that you need to use.
However...
I would not use either of these.  3rd party power adapters are notorious for being of poor quality and could be dangerous to not just your Mac, but to you as well.  If this is for your car, I recommend getting  a DC power inverter and a GENUINE Apple Power Adapter
You are connecting an Apple laptop worth thousands to a $30 adapter....to me, it's just not worth the risk.  The second benefit is that you will have standard AC power outlets, meaning you can use them for just about anything you would plug into your home.


text:
How to make .docx files open in Pages by default
Is there a way to make .docx (Word) files open in Pages by default? How do I do it?

Mark/highlight the file with the mouse/pointer and hit cmdI.
In the Open with: part choose Pages and then hit the button Change All….

After compiling and installing duti this can also be done from the command line.


text:
How can I test my LAN speed between Mac and Apple TV?
How can I test my LAN speed when I do not have two computers? I have a Mac, an iPhone, and Apple TV.
I want to see the strength of my home network. I don't care about testing my internet connection, just the LAN.
What tools are available?

How to Measure
The place to monitor the speeds of course is your Mac. The easy built-in network speeds monitor is in Activity Monitor at the bottom of the main window. Alternatives include MenuMeters or iStat Menus which put the speeds right up in the menu bar.
How to test
This depends on which version of the Apple TV you have. With version three and earlier (the common black one), there's no local storage so you won't have much luck testing the upper limits. With the Apple TV 4, you'd need to jailbreak it to be able to directly copy media onto the drive (very strange). Just streaming won't test the limits of your network as most streaming will be in easy territory of 500 kb/sec, although you could try streaming an original MP4 from a DSLR to see if that chokes your network (and at what speed watching the transfer rates in either Activity Monitor, MenuMeters or iStat Menus).
It's fairly easy to figure out what your speeds will be. Any recent Mac (last six years) has 1000 BaseT (aka gigabit) ethernet (if it has ethernet at all, the USB to Ethernet adapter is just 100 BaseT). Hence the bottleneck will be your router. Real world speeds of 100 BaseT are 4.5 to 6 MB/sec. I recently upgraded my own router from 100 BaseT to 1000 BaseT (my old gigabit router had failed about a year ago) and had my internal transfer speeds jump from 6 MB/sec to 30 MB/sec. On the other hand, my computers on the powerline technology I use in part of the house to cut down on the ethernet cables along walls only tested at 4 MB/sec (even though it's theoretical maximum should have been closer to 40 MB/sec).
You won't be able test your wired internal network speeds with your iPhone as the connection is wireless. If you only want to check wireless connection, you can try copying some large files into your Saved Photos folder on your iPhone.
For your wired ethernet testing, I'd suggest having a friend bring over a 1000 BaseT laptop to do your wired ethernet testing. His laptop, a second short ethernet cable and some simple file transfers will do the trick. Testing with network storage devices (NAS) is not recommended as most of them are considerably slower than listed (there are exceptions).

I will try copying files to the iPhone and observe the network strength. Thanks for the tip.


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How to turn off Apple TV?
I have a Apple TV 3rd generation and I know that I can navigate to Settings etc to turn it off. While this works, it's kind of cumbersome. Are there easier ways to turn an Apple TV off?

If you mean sleep. Which effectively is turning it off.
On 3rd Gen.
Hold down the Play/Pause button for 5 seconds.
The Apple TV will go to sleep.
On the 4th Gen.
Hold down the the Home button for a couple of seconds, Looks like a TV.
You will then get a option dialogue to Sleep or cancel.

On 3rd Gen, holding down the Play/Pause button for 5 seconds will not turn off Apple TV unless you are at the Home screen. I hate that steps are required to power off a device. So annoying...

Unfortunately it does not say anything about that.. https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204332


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New shortcut for going up one line in Terminal in El Capitan
I upgraded to El Capitan a few days ago. Before I used to use ⌘+⬆ to go up exactly one line in the terminal (and usually pressed the combination continuously to go exactly were I wanted), but this doesn't work in El Capitan. What is the new shortuct ? This is not covered AFAIK in this other question which is more about marks.

Still seems to work on Mine. Never used it before, but I get the line flash highlight

Under the View menu in Terminal, it lists Option-Command-PageUp/PageDown to go up/down a line (which on my keyboard with a function key but no Page Up/Down keys, ends up being Fn-Option-Command-Up/Down).


text:
Saving files to a Mac Computer
I'm trying to save a file to a folder. I keep getting an popup that says I do not have permission to save files to a location

Which folder and what are its permissions?

Set permissions for items on your Mac
Permission settings determine who can view and alter files on the
  computer. Permissions are an important factor on OS X and other *nix
  systems and defines the way the system handles users, files and
  devices.
Assign permissions to users and groups

Select a disk, folder, or file, then choose File > Get Info.
If the information in Sharing & Permissions isn’t visible, click the disclosure triangle.
If necessary, click the lock icon to unlock it, then enter an administrator name and password.
Click a user or group in the Name column, then choose a privilege setting from the pop-up menu.

Read & Write: Allows a user to open the item and change it.
Read Only: Allows a user to open the item, but not change its contents.
Write Only: Makes a folder into a drop box. Users can copy items to the drop box, but can’t open it. Only the owner of the drop box can
  open it.
No Access: Blocks all access to the item.

Shamelessly copied from: OS X Yosemite: Set permissions for items on your Mac
Another useful read: Understanding UNIX permissions and chmod

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
How to get Pages to automatically save documents as .docx files
Is there a way to get Pages to automatically save documents as .docx (Word) files? How do you do it? I'm wondering because I do not have access to Microsoft Word and this is the preferred format for what I'm doing

Pages does not support saving as a Word .doc or .docx file.  Your only option is to Export your document to that format, which obviously isn't nearly as easy as simply hitting the Save button.
It's important to note that Pages support of .doc/.docx isn't perfect.  If the document has a lot of formatting or review comments, there's a pretty good chance of lost formatting or comments when you export your document.
A free alternative to purchasing Office:Mac is to use Office Online, which will happily run in Safari or Chrome on your Mac.  If this is a short-term need, you can download a free trial of Office:Mac.  If you have an iPad, there's a free version of Word for it too.  I realize that none of these are what you've asked about; I provide them in case an alternative to using Pages will work for you.

My answer may be not very helpful but I think there may be some script that after one click may convert the .pages file into doc or docx file, outside of the pages. Apple is trying to stick to it's own invented format, due to compatibility between Mac OS and iOS, so it is very unlikely that you would ever be able to do that.
Check this one out. I hope it helps:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5539968?tstart=0


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How To Get Rid Of "Upgrade to OS X El Capitan" Notification?
The upgrade notification gets more and more intrusive day by day. Now there is no option to be "Reminded Tomorrow" or "Skip This" anymore.

Now one could just turn on "Do Not Disturb" feature from System Preferences between 00:01 and 23:59 (or something similar more suitable for the sleep pattern of the dear reader). However, there are still some notifications I'd love to see.
So, the question is: How to get rid of this particular notification (for good, preferably) ie. how to just use whatever I've got installed and not upgrade for the time being?

One way to do this is to actually upgrade your Mac to El Capitan. :-O    In all seriousness, I have a Yosemite Mac at home, and I do not get this pop-up.

I think that would be ruled out by the caveat at the end of my question.

According to this link which specifies how to disable the Yosemite update,  go to the App Store, click the Updates tab, then Right-click on the El Capitan update banner at the top and select Hide Update.


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Quicklook for fullscreen terminal
I recently realized you can use quicklook from the command line. Here's the example: qlmanage -p somefile.txt >& /dev/null & When this command is invoked quicklook opens its popup *in a different desktop*.
What I'd like is for quicklook to open in the *same* desktop window as full-screened terminal (just above it). Is this possible with quicklook?

The answer appears to be "no" as windows can't generally appear on top of full-screened applications.  But thanks for the tip about qlmanage!


text:
How can I ensure continuity of Time Machine history from Yosemite to El Capitan?
I know this is a notoriously difficult problem to solve on OS X, but I'll try again, circa El Capitan era.
I have used the disk shown below as Time Machine disk with Yosemite.

Yet when I select it as Time Machine disk now that I upgraded to El Capitan, it is accepted as a backup disk, but not as an existing disk. Hence there will be no continuity in the history (and the oldest backups will be erased sooner than necessary).
How do I have continuity?
My attempt to make sure that the name of the machine (under system preferences \ Sharing) exactly matches the previous name of the machine does not solve the problem.

Is it a straight upgrade, or did you clean install?

It's a little bit of both. I did a clean install. Then I used migration assistant to move the files (I only backup user files, not system files) to the newly installed OS X. You would think that this by itself would trigger the "this Time Machine disk should continue backing up incrementally from where it left off" flag.


text:
Run app that has expired by Apple fiat?
My Mac is running out of space and its shutting down VMs on occasion. I purchased a program called Space Gremlin from the App Store a few years ago. When I attempt to run Space Gremlin, I get the following message:

When I purchased the app, there were no restrictions on it, so this behavior is new to me.
I wrote to the authors of Space Gremlin, and they told me it was an Apple message. I no longer have an App Store account, so there's nothing for me to do with Apple.
How do I run the Space Gremlin program?

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

Your licence to use and run Space Gremlin are effectively bound to the purchasing Apple ID.
From this discussion, it appears you have chosen to abandon the Apple ID associated with this purchase:

Since they abandoned help with the account, I responded in kind and abandoned it too.

By abandoning the Apple ID account, you have also abandoned any purchases and licences associated with the account. In this case, that includes being able to run Space Gremlin.
Be aware that you never owned or had an absolute right to be able to run the application; I do appreciate this is unlikely what you want to hear. The first paragraph of Apple's USA default Licensed Application End User Licence Agreement reads:

The Mac App Store Products and App Store Products (collectively, “App Store Product(s)”) made available through the Mac App Store Service and App Store Service (collectively, “App Store Service(s)”) are licensed, not sold, to you.

From a developer's perspective, the Digital Rights Management (DRM) problems you have suffered are a compelling reason to offer non-Mac App Store editions of their software.
Older Version?
As a workaround, you may be able to find an older version of Space Gremlin that did not implement Mac App Store receipt checking – assuming a version once existed.
Alternatives
Have you considered using an alternative tool, such as the open source GrandPerspective?

Other tools and utilities are mentioned in the answers to these questions:

How can I figure out what's slowly eating my HD space?
What is consuming HDD space on my MacBook Pro?
How do I quickly find large files and folders on my mac?

"By abandoning the Apple ID account, you have also abandoned any purchases and licences associated with the account. In this case, that includes being able to run Space Gremlin...." - citation, please. I still own it and the licenses. The account no longer exists because Apple does not support them. Anyway, this does not answer the question. The question is about running the app I own and am licensed despite Apple's broken DRM.

The certificate used to sign the app bundle expired. You need to download a freshly signed copy. You can't do that without signing in so Apple can verify your right to run the software.

Thanks @samh. I can't sign in because Apple has me locked out and provides no effect support paths.  How do I remove the DRM from the binary? I'm happy to decouple it/disgorge it to avoid Apple's broken DRM since I own it and I am licensed. I'm even happy to sign it with my own CA, if that's what it takes. I have an internal CA I use for other things.

@jww You could also ask the developer to send you a redemption code and set up a new Apple ID. I'd recommend you take another tilt at restoring your AppleID since Apple has beefed up their online support staff substantially over time. In the end - it's about how much you value your time and whether you're feeling moral pressure to stick to extracting more concessions from Apple or the developer over what likely was a $5 purchase when you made it.


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Show Library folder and subfolders in Spotlight Search
As a software developer, I often need to look into files within the Library folder.
For quick access, I'd like to be able to see the files in my Spotlight searches.
How can I do that?

The answer to this question explains that by default System Files (including everything in the Library folders) are excluded from search.  Hopefully someone more experienced will come up with a way to change that behavior. I've been annoyed by this for a long time too.

I would put a bounty on this, but I don't have enough points to do so. I think a ton of people would benefit from this question being answered.

You can include System Files like those in the Library folders in a Spotlight search, if you use Spotlight within Finder via the search bar in the top right corner of each Finder window.
Just type in your search and click the small + appearing below the search bar.
In the opening window search for System files and tick it's box for In Menu and click OK.
Afterwards select System files from the dropdown menu on the left and select are included in the next dropdown.
The process is also described here: How to Search for Hidden, Packaged, and System Files in OS X

If you want a simpler method you can use an alternative for Spotlight like Alfred or LaunchBar. These tools work just like spotlight and can include System files within their search scope besides lots of other features.

I suppose this will suffice. Thank you. I hope Apple will implement such option in future updates.

@SirJony You should really check out those alternatives. I've been using Alfred for years. It's as fast as Spotlight and you can configure it to use Spotlights shortcut. And if you want to explicitely search for files you can just prefix your search with ' and then it will search for files (including system files if you want so) instead of apps, contacts etc.

Thanks. I'll look into it. I used to have Alfred before the HUD Spotlight existed.


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How To Identify Process From A Toolbar Icon or Window?
How does one identify which process is behind a certain tool bar icon without having to rely on asking someone on the know or just killing processes until the icon in question magically disappears? For X11 there are tools like xwininfo. Is there anything similar for (older) OS X versions like Mavericks?
An example case: How to figure which process (by process ID) has produced the highlighted icon on my toolbar? I'm happy to do some programming if necessary, but would rather not reinvent the wheel here.

A partial solution to this problem would be to use Accessibility Inspector, as described on one of answers. However, quite often it does not reveal enough information (nor does it allow one to go get all the way to the process ID without some manual labor on the way).
For example, for the icon above Accessibility Inspector is not much of help:

You can use Accessibility Inspector bundled with Xcode. Then select the element and press ⌘CMD+F7 to lock the element. Then Select AXApplication in "Hierarchy" and then Go To Element button. There under the accessibilityTitle You'll have the name of the application.
Here's the screenshot where You can find 1Keyboard app selected.

In some cases the attribute accessibilityTitle is an empty string. Is there any way to get further in those cases? For example, in the particular example I picked, there the accessibilityTitle is <nil>.

@SamiLaine You have to select AXApplication not AXMenuBarItem.


text:
Manually copy .ISO to bootable USB (without Bootcamp)
I want to create a bootable Windows USB from my Macbook manually as an alternative to Bootcamp.

I've downloaded the Windows 10 ISO file.
Formatted an 8GB USB with MS-DOS(FAT) with a Master Boot Record Scheme within Disk Utility.
Question: Can I now finally mount the .ISO and copy it's contents to the USB?

Please don't reference to Bootcamp in your answers.

Can I assume this is to install Windows on a 2012 for newer Mac?

Yes it's a 2015 MacBook Pro

Indeed you were right - these commands were exactly what I wanted! Cheers @DavidAnderson


text:
How to remove all pictures from the Photos app and put them in a folder?
I want to store some pictures that I had in a camera in a folder on my mac, but when I inserted its memory card on the the respective USB port, the app Photos opened up, and there was the option to import the pictures, which is what I did.
Now, I just would like to retrieve all these pictures and put them in a folder that I want. How can I do it? I don't want this Photos app to keep track of any picture that I imported actually.

By default, imported original photos are located at:

~/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary/Masters/

So putting them into a folder is as simple as copying the 'Masters" folder elsewhere.
Alternatively you can select the photos you wish to retrieve and then go to File > Export > Export Unmodified Original.


text:
Can the iPhone Health App Log Numbers?
I would like to keep track of how many abdominal crunches I can do. All the Workout Activity Types are based on Calories (some also distance) and the Start and End time.
Are there any Workout types or any other data types that fit my need to log just a number?
Maybe there are a third party app that can log special types to the Health App?

There's no way to add individual numbers to to the iPhone health app. There are dozens of apps that can log your excersize numbers to Health it, if that's what you're looking for.

I am not sure what you mean by Health it. If the apps can log to the health data, so I can use the builtin Health app to e.g. plot the data - then that is what I am looking for.

Typo, should be HealthKit. The Health app will let you add individual data points to an existing activity but you can't add an individual exercise, like crunches. Your best bet is to download a free exercise app that let's you manually add your exercises and that can integrate with the Health app.


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Can I remove all missing songs without having to do it one at a time?
When I have iTunes on shuffle, I invariably end up hitting a song iTunes can't find, and then I have to tell it to start shuffle over again (until I hit another song it can't find).
Is there an easy way to go through and remove songs that it can't find from the list of all my songs? Or do I just have to go through manually and remove them as I encounter them?

Here's a work-around I found:

Create a playlist in iTunes and call it whatever you want (I called
mine "existing songs").
Go to your "All Songs" view, select your entire library, and drag it into the "existing songs" playlist. iTunes will not add missing songs to this playlist, which means "existing songs" will only include songs without an exclamation point.
Create a new smart playlist with the rule "Playlist is not
existing songs". Name it whatever you want (like "Exclamation").
Your new smart playlist will contain only the missing songs, you can re-download them or delete them as you wish.

Source: LifeHacker


text:
How to lower iPhone/iPad brightness?
How do I lower the brightness further than the limitations on the iPhone / iPad?

To lower brightness lower than the limit:

Settings app > General > Accessibility > Zoom:
Set Zoom Region > "Full Screen Zoom"
Set Zoom Filter > "Low Light"
Set Maximum Zoom Level all the way to the right (The highest value)

Go back to Accessibility:

Settings app > General > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut:
Set "Triple-Click The Home Button For" > Zoom

To Test: Triple click the home button and the screen will go darker.

Seems a rather convoluted method for something that's on the Control Centre anyway.


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Folder "Desktop" can't be found
This is the error message I am receiving as I try to attach something from my desktop to an email.

“Desktop” can’t be opened because the original item can’t be found.

What should I do?

You should provide more information: what email program do you use, how do you attach something from your desktop, step by step. Screenshot of the error would also help.

You also want to update your title to something a bit more meaningful other than the OS we assume you are using.


text:
For security reasons, what should I block with the firewall?
For security reasons, what should I block with the firewall?
I'm just interested in the system itself, not additional installed software. For example, I'd like my system to synchronize the clock or download system updates in the background.
Or, to turn the question around:
What on my computer would need incoming connections?
I don't use my Mac as a web server, but is there anything else that needs to receive incoming connections?

Well, basically the standard Firewall blocks incoming connections only. So as long as any network accesses are triggered by your Mac (as in the case of clock synchronization or software downloads/updates), you can block all incoming connections.
Once you have the firewall set up if you install anything that requires a connection you will be prompted to allow or deny that connection - so turning it on has little downside and lots of upside from a security standpoint.

Thank you, so there is nothing in my system that needs incoming connections, if I don't run my Mac as a web server?

Web server, torrent clients, game servers etc will need incoming connections, but out of the box there shouldn't be anything requiring them AFAIK.

@patrix any server at that, not just web and game. Also many VPNs need incoming connection.


text:
Why does Apple TV not stop my Mac from sleeping?
When using Home Sharing on Apple TV 3rd gen, the Mac will fall asleep even though it is needed to stream content. So in the middle of a movie the connection will be lost because the Mac goes to sleep.
Why does it not stay awake? It seems like a big oversight on Apple's part.

You might want to try going to

System Preferences
Energy Saver
Then set Display Sleep to never

If you find the need to put the display to sleep because you want to have the computer on and running for whatever reason then I would suggest going to the Screen Saver options and enabling Hot Corners. In that screen you can make the display go to sleep or trigger a screen saver by moving the mouse cursor to a corner on your screen.
Source: That is my current setup. No Display Sleep on unless I'm running a lengthy Time Machine Backup overnight.

I don't care if the display sleeps, I need the machine to stay awake. Having the machine never sleep is not an ideal workaround.

There is a free app called Caffeine that adds a little coffee cup to your title bar. Click on it and the Mac will never sleep. Click again and your Mac goes back to its normal sleep pattern.

Thanks, but I'm more interested in why the prevention of sleep isn't triggered by default.


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Get current time with/in milliseconds from OS X command line
I'm trying to get the current time from OS X command line to work with in AppleScript to output the elapsed time.
Currently I'm using this script:
set timea to do shell script "date +%s"
##something is executed
set timeb to do shell script "date +%s"
set runningtime to timeb - timea

But it is too unprecised, so I'm looking for a way how to get the elapsed precisely with milliseconds or somethin.
Thanks.
:)

You'll likely want to script your timing in bash (faster to execute) than AppleScript - you could use the gdate command or logger to dump the timing to a file for analysis external to the script if desired...


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What happens if you used "rm -rf *" in /Users or /Users/someUser?
Note: Don't type rm or any variation of it into terminal under any circumstances if you are not experienced with the command line
Does the Mac OS X block you from using rm in those directories to delete a user or delete all the users and do you need to use sudo and put in an administrator password or does it let you without any passwords?
For example if you typed in the following line into terminal would it just completely wipe everything?
cd /Users; echo rm -rf *

Of course the echo wouldn't be used if you actually wanted the remove command to run.

We already have a question on rm -rf / in the root directory at http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/174595/stuck-on-blue-screen-after-running-rm-in - let's keep this to what happens when you rm in /Users directory...

Two cases:

you're logged in as root. Everything goes away.
you're logged in as a normal user.  All of that user's files go away.

In some systems, rm is supposed to prompt you if you do this at the "/" level.  Do not count on that prompt.
With El Capitan, Apple supplies a "prompt" per se, which by default should leave enough of the operating system to boot and recover from your backups.  To see if this has not been disabled, use
csrutil status

Further reading:

How to Disable System Integrity Protection (rootless) in OS X El Capitan
Re: Backing up ACL's

This is mostly incorrect - SIP doesn't protect anything in /Users - only normal ACL and filesystem separations exist in that part of the filesystem.

You can recover the system if your home directory was erased (a little painful, of course).

Also - please note - the question did have rm -rf / in the body so this question was addressing that aspect before being migrated here. We cover rm at the root already at http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/174595/stuck-on-blue-screen-after-running-rm-in

I've had this conversation before, where it turned out that a minor change of command was sufficient to bypass the prompt.

Yes it will wipe everything and it wont work without the sudo privileges; You can try it in a virtual environment or
you can take a look at this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4fzInlyYQo
Have a nice Day !


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How can I send the currently active window to the back?
Is there a shortcut or such to send the currently active window to the back of the screen while still keeping it open (so that it ends up "beneath" all other open windows)?

H will send the current app (inc all its windows) to the back and hide it until you bring it back to the front (from the dock or by -TAB to reselect the app). In most applications Shift--~ will cycle through the current app's windows, which is probably closest to what you're looking for.

I know about it, it's not what I want.

If you want to send it all the way to the back, which window should be your focused? The previous selected window?

Short answer: No, Apple does not provide an API that allows you to alter an application window index except by bringing a window to the front (index 1). There are no elegant solutions. But:
Long answer: Yes, You can use AppleScript to effectively move a window to the back of a stack of AppleScript-able windows by collecting a list of windows, then rapidly moving each one (except the frontmost) to the front, leaving the chosen window at the back.
Here is an example of an AppleScript which sends the frontmost Finder Window to the back.
tell application "Finder"
    set winList to every window whose visible is true
    if not winList = {} then
        repeat with oWin in (items 1 through -2 of reverse of winList)
            set index of oWin to 1
        end repeat
    end if
end tell

This script is based on a solution by JMichaelTX discussed on the KeyboardMaestro forum.
The reshuffling is incredibly fast, but in the Script Editor you can inspect how it works, leaving "506" on the bottom and popping "502-505" up in a way that preserves their order:
get every window whose visible = true
    --> {Finder window id 506, Finder window id 505, Finder window id 504, Finder window id 503, Finder window id 502}
set index of Finder window id 502 to 1
    --> 1
set index of Finder window id 503 to 1
    --> 1
set index of Finder window id 504 to 1
    --> 1
set index of Finder window id 505 to 1
    --> 1

You can map this AppleScript to a service or keyboard shortcut, either by a) putting the script into a Run AppleScript action inside an Automator service, or b) using a launcher (Alfred, Keyboard Maestro etc.). For details on Applescript keyboard assignment see: How do I assign a keyboard shortcut to an AppleScript I wrote?
This may satisfy OPs needs -- it is unclear from the original post. This solution can also be extended to multiple AppleScript-able applications. I am not, however, aware of a solution to make it work effectively with a mix of scriptable and non-scriptable windows, due to the fact that in AppleScript, System Events addressable windows for non-scriptable applications do not have a set index verb/property. There exists an "AXRaise" action for some windows when assistive devices / accessibility is turned on, but this also does not apply to all windows. Elaborate hacks exist that involve walking through each active application and show/hiding or minimizing/restoring windows, but they are a mess.
Related discussions:

How to set a window's index to last (furthest back) in applescript
Applescript - Bring window to foreground
Is there a way to iterate over all open windows in Mac OS X?

Is it possible to send window of any app to the back, instead of the window of a specific app?

Sadly, as of Mojave, this seems to no longer work.

Since Mojave, my understanding is that controlling Finder with AppleScript now needs permissions to run (untested). If you are getting errors like errAEEventNotPermitted then there are solutions to add these permissions -- see related discussions: https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/106949

This is a great solution, any way to make it work across windows of multiple applications? I'd like to be typing in my terminal with my browser on top.

How do you do that not with finder but with any frontmost application ?

Also, i am not really interested with it being relative to the windows of ONE particular application but relative to all windows, of ANY application.

Your question isn't very clear, but if what you want is a shortcut to cycle through all windows of the currently active app, you should be able to do this with the Command~ keyboard shortcut.
The ~ key is usually located at left of the 1 key.
Just to clarify, what the Command~ keyboard shortcut does is cycle through all windows of the current app you're in. For example, if you're using MS Word and have three documents open, it will cycle through those three documents.
However, the Command~ keyboard shortcut does not cycle through Tabs. For example, if you have Safari open with three windows and each window has five tabs open, using this shortcut will cycle through the three windows, not through the individual tabs.
Another option that may achieve what you want is the CommandM keyboard shortcut. However this minimises the currently active window to the Dock, so I suspect that's not what you want.
If I've misunderstood your question totally, please clarify.

I think that this is the use case that the OP wants: say I have the messages app open in front of my mail app and I want to quickly bring the mail app to the foreground and send messages to the background, I can do a keyboard shortcut and the messages app will be behind my mail app. I tried your keyboard shortcut and this did not accomplish that.

I think you mean the key. ~ is the only printed when Shift is held and is pressed

The OP question is perfectly clear for me, because I happen to use Linux Desktop, and it is very convenient to middle click application bar to send it to the back

I agree with Crowder's comment. I'm pretty sure an example of the intent of the OP was to recover from e.g. the having a set of 4 windows on your screen that you've taken the trouble to arrange nicely and then accidentally clicking on some background window (thus bringing it to the front and partially/fully covering those 4 windows). You then have to individually bring all of the original 4 windows back to the front one by one instead of just sending the accidental front window to the back. Bringing any window to the front again is easy using Expose, but recovering from accidentally bringing a window to the front is a royal pain in macOS. Linux is good this way (as it also is with focus follows mouse, but that's another topic...).
And I know you can minimize the offending window, but subsequently fishing specific windows out of the dock is yet another macOS pain point...

As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.


text:
How to find the last saved file
I don't know when I stopped working yesterday, but very likely I saved a file before shutting down my computer.
How can I find the (not system owned) file with the last save timestamp?

Show a finder window sorted by date modified.

Open a File Menu > New Finder window, or  Cmd ⌘   N
If 'All my Files' isn't the default, View menu > All my Files or  Cmd ⌘   Shift ⇧   F
Sort as List  , View menu, or  Cmd ⌘   2
By default this doesn't show, so Right Click the header bar & check Date Modified

Sort by Date Modified, with newest to the top by clicking that column in the header bar  -

Your most recently saved file will now be at the top of the list.

Now this is fantastic! I didn't even know about "All my Files". How handy! I thought I would have to go through the Terminal and do some complicated find. Oh God, how I love Apple again ♥ – And, wow, thanks for the wonderfully comprehensive answer. Wish I could give you more than the standard rep.

Welcome. The All My Files category is relatively new, maybe since Yosemite [I'm not certain] & is the default view for new users, but not for us old timers who have been updating 'in place' for years :)


text:
Can you set specific apps to NOT auto update on iOS?
I have auto update on for apps on my iPhone iOS 9.3 but I'd like to set certain apps not to update. Is that possible?

No, it's not currently possible to set auto update for specific apps.  You have to turn Auto Update off at the App Store level then review each update notice you receive to determine if you want to update that app or not.


text:
How does my iPhone know which headphone cable I plug in?
When I plug in my Apple EarPod earphones, my phone sets the volume to whatever it was the last time, but when I plug in the auxiliary cable in my car (just a simple jack, no fancy infotainment system) it puts it to full volume, like the last time I plugged in that cable. Is there something special about the Apple EarPod cable? Or does the iPhone do something even cooler?

An line-level input, which is what your car's aux in jack is, presents a relatively high impedance to the source - generally 10k ohms. Your 'phones have a much lower impedance, typically 32 ohms for PMP phones. It's possible to distinguish between them in that way.

The EarPod earphones also have a mic and remote connections, which will differentiate them from a normal stereo jack.

That works too, but would not allow distinguishing between ordinary headphones (with a TRS plug) and a standard TRS patch cable to a line input. We don't know if the iPhone in question can actually make that distinction, but I do know that the impedance method is what works for the most cases. (muttered: Though it would be just like Apple to use something that would only do that trick with their own branded earset.)  (And you meant "...from a normal stereo plug", not "jack". The things with holes are jacks; plugs fill holes. If you have a hole in your boat you want to "plug" it, right? ;) )


text:
AppleScript returns error on defining date
my following code returns an error
tell current application
    set b to "Tuesday 12 April 2016 at 18:06:10"
    date b
end tell

If I would write the string, defined in b, directly before date, it is working, but my date string is defined by some variables, so b is just an example for the string, how it looks like.
But why does AppleScript returns the error, only because of the string is defined in a variable?

Please add the actual content of your script!

What exactly are you trying to do, set the date on the system?  If so, you need to use the do shell script date ... where ... is properly formatted information the date command expects.

Try:
set dateString to "Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at 12:00:00 AM"
set dateReference to date dateString

tell current application
    -- insert commands here
end tell

Another approach:
set y to 2001
set m to 6
set d to 12
set h to 12
set min to 12
set s to 12

set cd to current date
tell cd
    set its year to y
    set its month to m
    set its day to d
    set its hours to h
    set its minutes to min
    set its seconds to s
end tell

Doesn't work: error "Can’t get date "Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at 12:00:00 AM"." number -1728

Is this still inside your tell block or have you removed it?

Yes, it is still inside the tell block. Something other is also done there, but outside the tell block it is working? Why?

Date is from standard additions, not from the application

I know it is no application, but how to tell it it to run the commands?

You can define the dateReference variable outside of the tell block.

Your syntax isn't quite right.
First, you don't need to "tell" anything. Leave the "tell" and "end tell" off. Dates are not specific to any particular app so you don't need to "tell." This may be the entire problem.
Second, if you do something like this:
set a to current date

You will get a result like this (not exactly like this, because it is particular to your date and time preferences):
date "Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at 10:39:44 AM"
That's the "result" of the one-line script above. Notice the commas.
Your script where you set "b" does not include commas and that may be where it goes wrong. I think if you run a one-line script like I showed above you will see the proper syntax. Once you see it, you can change your string in the line where you set b to match the syntax the system expects. If you are using the proper syntax (that is, matching what you get when you ask for current date) then your problem is exclusively that you've wrapped your date commands in the "tell" block, and the app you're "telling" doesn't understand how to do it. Leave the "tell" wrapper off. Get your date stuff done outside of that. Your date "b" will still work later on in your script, in a tell block. But you have to do your date work outside of a tell block.


text:
Howto clean Photo Folder
I opened Photo. I deleted all the pictures. Then I emptied the "Deleted images".
My Photo app is apparently empty.
I open finder, the photo library package is around 7GB an subfolders are full of old images and other unknown files.
I wish to clean all, to gain a fresh empty Library.
If I delete the .photoslibrary folder, the app shows an error message.
Can someone tell me the right procedure, please?

You can create a new library by opening iPhoto whilst holding ⌥ alt/option. This creates a fresh iPhoto library which you can import media into.


text:
What environment variables are set in .profile for OS X?
I accidentally overwrote my .profile file and I believe deleted my environment variables. To be honest, I don't really understand how the operating system handles environment variables. My rough understanding is that there are configuration files like .profile which the operating system looks at, or runs, automatically and sets the environment variables that way. But how does the system know which config files to run? Are there default config files? Is .profile a default config file in OS X? If .profile is one of these default config files, is there a way for me to retrieve it or else the environment variables that it sets by default. What are the default values for .profile in OS X?

.profile is not a Bash file, exclusively. It is read by sh and possibly other shells as well.

Most of environment variables are not set by .profile. By default, that file does not even exist. Whatever problem you have, it is not because you have overwritten your .profile.

In your terminal that still has the variables write printenv > with_profile.txt. This will dump all available variables into with_profile.txt. Open a new terminal window and write printenv > without_profile.txt.
Start python and write:
with open("with_profile.txt") as w_profile, open("without_profile.txt") as wo_profile:
    w_profile_vars = {line.strip() for line in w_profile}
    wo_profile_vars = {line.strip() for line in wo_profile}
    for var in w_profile_vars - wo_profile_vars:
        print var

That should print the set of missing variables one by one.
P.S.
~/.profile is not there by default (not on Mavericks, Yosemite and El Capitan for sure). Hence it's possible that you overwrote nothing, unless you had created the file yourself a long ago.


text:
Did I mess up my .profile file?
I was trying to update my system path, followed some directions online and accidentally types:
touch ~/.profile

Did I overwrite my .profile file? Does this mean that I have destroyed all of my PATH information? If so, how do I fix this?

The short answer is "no".
The touch command does not modify the data in a file at all. Its effects on a file are:

If the file does not exist it is created
If the file exists if sets its access time metadata to the current time

There are some more options but in this case they are irrelevant, you can see the whole documentation by typing man touch in the terminal.
So, no worries, your .profile file was not modified.

I see that you are on OSX which doesn't have a ~/.profile file by default. So you probably didn't do any damage.
Just run echo $PATH to confirm that it has the usual directories: /usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin


text:
lost drive space
This is the get into -

And the finder view -

From a 2008 MacPro, running 10.5.8 Snow Leo. This wouldn't be an issue, except I was planning to update to an SSD. With only 60GB used, and much of it, I'm removing, a 120GB SSD for pretty cheap seemed a good way to boot this machine.
I'm used to the log files that need attention, or a reboot that clear caches that can get crazy. But, here we have 140GB that's missing.
To the question - how do I identify and remove the source of this phantom 140GB? Would a migration to a clean HD be a quick interim step? i.e. just find a blank 1TB drive, install clean OS, migrate? Or do I risk having that 140GB chunk migrate as well?
Edit - Disk Inventory X found this, instantly, a huge blue area - Now, how do I know what's safe to remove? Note - I'm not obsessing over ever last GB, it's just that a 3 to 1 filled/really used ratio seems pretty high.

The operating system contains multiple files and directories hidden from the Finder app. that is the source of some "missing space".

There are hidden files/folders that by default are not shown in Finder.  Use a program like Disk Inventory X to have a better look at what's really on the drive.  You also can Google "show hidden files os x" to see how to show/hide the hidden files/folders in Finder.

@user3439894 - I edited per your advice. Disc Inventory showing large chunks of used space.

There are tons of similar questions!

Have a look at: sleepimage – the Mac OS X sleepimage file explained

Hi Joe - This is a bit broad. 1) You only see files and folders from your user. It's entirely possible the files are allocated to another user on the machine. 2) You might need to restart and run Disk Utility to make sure the count is correct. 3) A tool like system information (see the linked questions) will show you what class of storage is taking your space. It's possible you have one honking file or some combination of many things. Hit me up in [chat] if we can help clarify a more narrow question here.

@user3439894 - and I updated to show hidden files, thanks.


text:
complete (full) rootless disable
even though El Capitan, in recovery partition, allows the user to "disable" rootless, it should be possible to disable "even more" the SIP layer.
could someone confirm that using
nvram csr-active-config=%ff%00%00%00

would disable any feature for the SIP layer?

What are you expecting past csrutil disable when booted to Recovery HD? The nvram can be cleared in many cases, so wouldn't anything set there be worse off / more temporary?

I just want to investigate in undocumented SIP status


text:
Mysterious "EFI Boot" partition appearing at startup?
A few days ago, I tried installing Windows 8.1 on my late 2011 Mac by using disk utility to make a free space on my disk and a Windows 8.1 boot drive to install. While installing, my Mac recognized the boot drive as "EFI Boot" (when I pressed the options key to select the boot drive).
In the part when I had to format my partitions for installation, Windows created 2 partitions in the free space: 1. the Microsoft Reserved partition and 2. the partition where Windows is meant to be installed.
The installation went well, no errors were raised, but when I pressed the options key at startup to boot to Windows, my Mac recognized my Windows partition as "EFI Boot" (so now I have 3 options when I pressed the Options key:Macintosh HD, EFI Boot, and Recovery).
That is not really a big problem to me, but then when I started using Windows, I couldn't find a way to make the audio drivers working. I couldn't install Microsoft Office either.
So, I booted into my Macintosh HD partition, and use disk utility to remove the Windows partition and the Microsoft Reserved partition. Then, I reinstalled Windows 8.1 by following these instructions: Boot camp install of Windows 7 issue, no bootable devices
Everything went well and the audio is now working, but now, when I press the Options key at startup, I have 4 options: Macintosh HD, Windows, EFI Boot, and Recovery. When I tried choosing "EFI Boot", it shows me a blue screen, saying:

Recovery
  Your PC needs to be repaired
  A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed.

  Press Enter to try again
  Press F8 for Startup settings

When I tried pressing Enter and F8 keys, it returned to the same blue screen.
When I tried mounting the EFI partition, I see 3 folders: Apple, Boot, and Microsoft. I tried deleting the Microsoft folder (and I kept the copy of it somewhere else), and boot into the EFI Boot again, my computer froze and restarted.
The question is, how can I make the EFI Boot disappear when I press the options key at startup? It's not creating any problems with my Mac or Windows partitions, but I'm very curious about what it actually is, what does it have to do with my computer, and why does it decide to show up when I pressed the options key?

This is a duplicate question. See Ghost partition, Windows BSOD

@DavidAnderson Thank you! Tried that and it's working.

Your question has two parts. The first part is repeated below.

The question is, how can I make the EFI Boot disappear when I press the options key at startup?

This a duplicate of the question "Ghost partition, Windows BSOD". The rest of your question, which again is repeated below, does require further explanation.

It's not creating any problems with my Mac or Windows partitions, but I'm very curious about what it actually is, what does it have to do with my computer, and why does it decide to show up when I pressed the options key?

The "EFI Boot" appears because the Mac firmware finds the boot file BOOTx64.EFI in the folder \EFI\BOOT on the EFI partition of your internal drive. This is part of the UEFI specification. For example, if you go to the "uefi.org Specifications web page", you can download and view the "UEFI Specification Version 2.5". Sections 3.5.1.1 Removable Media Boot Behavior and 3.5.1.2 Non-removable Media Boot Behavior (on pages 88-90) describe the naming of the BOOTx64.EFI file and that it should appear in the \EFI\BOOT folder.
When holding down the Option ⌥ at startup, the Mac firmware will look for the \EFI\BOOT\BOOTx64.EFI file on each EFI partition of all drives accessible at startup. Each occurrence will generate an icon with the label "EFI Boot" on the Startup Manager menu.
When Windows installs, some of the startup files are stored in the folder \EFI\MICROSOFT. These files are also duplicated (with some renaming) in the \EFI\BOOT folder. Not all non-Apple operating systems do this when installing. For example, Ubuntu Linux does not. (Well, last time I installed in EFI mode it did not.) The Ubuntu installer does create a folder \EFI\UBUNTU with startup files (GRUB), which the Mac firmware by default ignores. To get Ubuntu to appear in the Startup Manager, you have to manually mount the EFI partition and copy the files in the \EFI\UBUNTU folder to the \EFI\BOOT folder. (Also, the copied grubx64.efi file needs to be renamed to BOOTX64.EFI.)
If you need to do this for two operating systems, then you will need a second EFI partition. This should not present a problem since an EFI partition is fairly small (<200 MB) and the limit on Macs by default is 128 partitions. However, to tell one operating system for the other, while viewing the choices presented by the Startup Manager, you may want to change the icons.
For example, I have rEFInd installed in a second 134 MB EFI partition on my iMac. (This happens to be the last of 9 partitions.) Additionally, I have Windows 10, Yosemite (on volume "Steelhead") and El Capitan (on volume "Steelhead2") installed. Below is a image of my Macs Startup Manager menu. (For a better view, click on the image or open in a new window.)

The icon can be changed by mounting the EFI partition and adding the icon file .VolumeIcon.icns to the root folder. A collection of these icons, for popular Linux and other operating systems, can be found here.


text:
How do you change the order that users appear on the login screen?
How would I change it so that one account appears to the right of another in the login screen? I am using the latest software version on a Macbook Air.

Technically this isn't possible, since accounts are shown in alphabetical order by default and there's no option to change the sort order.
As a workaround, however, if you prefix the full name of an account with a space, it'll sort at the beginning of the list. So for example, if you want to have two accounts called "Hello" and "Test", but with "Hello" on the right, name the other account " Test" (note the space).


text:
How to play a dvd movie with external subtitles?
This is not about authoring the DVD (not similar to this question): just want to insert the DVD in a laptop, start it in a video player, and then add a separate subtitle that I have myself found. (Some DVD movies contain no subtitles - or some subtitles may be needed that are not on the DVD.)
I know how to do that in Windows and in Linux - without VLC: it can try but has bad results in this respect. - Every time I try it, external subtitle display for a DVD in VLC is erratic; usually subtitles are not always displayed, or they disappear after a while, namely after pause/play or after going back and forth. (See here, here, here, here about this old bug that is not yet completely gone, afaict.) Here it says VLC is the only Mac player that can do the job. But is it?
Are there some Mac video players that could achieve this task - like MPC-HC (Potplayer, etc) can in Windows (and MPV and SMPlayer in Linux)?

This is a temporary answer as I don't have a Mac at hand now.
I have to test on a Mac, but the Windows version of 5kPlayer can do it very well; and it has a Mac version.
Also, KMPlayer can also do it (also tested just in Windows for the moment) and it has a Mac version it seems (here - Mac Alpha Version: have yet to test too).


text:
Read geotagging data from iphone photos exif data
I shoot photos with my iPhone and localization services are active.
When I open a photo from my Mac Preview (tools > show inspector > exif) I can't see any geotagging data.
BUT, when I open the image with my Mac Photos it correctly positions a pin on a map.
So, my question is: why I can't see geotagging data (GPS latitude and longitude) if it is clear they are written somewhere in the image? If they weren't, how could the map position the pin correctly?
I tried various services online but I can't see any geodata either.

If you are looking for an EXIF viewer on your Mac (which may show the location on a map or the actual GPS coordinates), I would suggest Image Exif Editor. If you look at the screenshots for this app, it clearly shows the GPS coordinates. If you are looking for something similar for your iPhone or iPad, I would recommend doing a search in the App Store using the search criteria "EXIF."

I think I found an answer: when you connect an iPhone to your Mac, Mac starts Photos, so you can import your pics. Now: if, from Photos, you drag an image to your desktop, it looks like it looses geodata. Instead, if you export a photo using the export menu item and you choose to export location data too, there's no such an issue

Try enabling “Include location information for published items” in Photos preferences. Last I checked this also applied to drag-and-drop. https://blog.houdah.com/2015/12/keeping-geotags-dragging-images-apple-photos/


text:
External GPU on MacBook Pro (Mid 2012)
I am starting to learn Cuda programming for scientific computing (in particular computational quantum chemistry) and I would like to test my programs on a decent Cuda-enabled GPU. The Intel HD Graphics 4000 1024 MB integrated in my MacBook Pro (Mid 2012) does not meet exactly my expectations. Recently Nvidia announced the GTX 1080 for a decent prize.
According to come websites it is possible to connect an external GPU to a MacBook via Thunderbolt. I would like to know if somebody already tested this option and if there is some difficulties/problems one should be aware of.
In addition I saw that there are some website that already sell a chassis with with a GPU. The chassis is quite expensive... Is a chassis really necessary or the GPU could be connected directly to the MacBook without any additional component (Thunderbold cable excluded, obviously)?

The card would need a goddam PSU.

Attaching an external GPU to a MacBook Pro via Thunderbolt has been tested and tried, yes. The specific GTX 1080 has not ofcourse, as it hasn't been released yet.
You will need the chassis. There's no way to connect the GPU over Thunderbolt without the chassis (or similar device - it doesn't actually have to be a metal box, but the electronics needs to be there).


text:
OpenSSL encryption method doesn't work on El Capitan
The following file encryption method works on OS X Yosemite:
Encrypt: openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -salt -in file.zip -out file.zip.enc
Decrypt: openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -d -in file.zip.enc -out file.zip
However, when on OS X El Capitan I get this error:
unknown option '-aes-256-cbc -in file.enc'

Any solutions?

You likely have a shell quoting problem. The command works just fine for me in 10.11.4:
> which openssl
/usr/bin/openssl

> openssl version
OpenSSL 0.9.8zh 14 Jan 2016

> openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -salt -in file.zip -out file.zip.enc; echo $?
enter aes-256-cbc encryption password:
Verifying - enter aes-256-cbc encryption password:
0

> openssl enc -aes-256-cbc -d -in file.zip.enc -out file.zip; echo $?
enter aes-256-cbc decryption password:
0

Check to make sure that your calling program is treating -aes-256-cbc as a single option and isn't quoting it when sending it in to the shell. It looks like it's calling the program with option cluster "-aes-256-cbc -in file.enc" which actually isn't a valid, single option for openssl.
If you can provide more details about how you're calling openssl I can give you more specific guidance.

It worked. You are right. There is nothing inherently wrong with the method, except that my program was treating "-aes-256-cbc -in file.enc" as a single option for some unbeknown reason.
Thanks. Cheers. :)


text:
Battery Life While Using External Monitor on rMBP is Less
I have a  Retina Macbook Pro 2014, in clamshell mode attached to a full HD monitor.
I see that battery lasts much less when connected to an  external monitor. Is there any explanation to why this happens? External monitor has its own power source, and Full HD is less than retina resolution.
Is there any overhead associated the mini Display Port?

I'm curious if you see the same results with the laptop open, but the internal display still off. On a related note, do the fans seem to run more often/faster when in clamshell mode vs open?

@8bittree I can only turn off display via dimming it when its open. I didn't test this. there is no difference in fan noise, its quiet on both.

The reason is because when you connect an external display, even if you close the laptop and use it in clamshell mode, the laptop automatically switches from an integrated video card (this uses much less power) to a more powerful, discrete video card (this uses a lot of power).
This is also true regarding Intel Iris Graphics, which has different power profiles (see the "Power Management" section). Also read on Embedded DisplayPort (eDP), and it's possibilities in terms of saving system power and further extend battery life in portable PC systems. I'm not the specialist in GPU-chips architecture, but my guess is, that the difference is exactly in using of Embedded DisplayPort on a mobile CPU, against of DisplayPort connections when on external monitor.
So the battery is drained more on when external monitors are connected, it needs more GPU power. Monitor itself does not drain the battery, as it's connected to external power.

MBPr 2014 13 inches doesn't have dedicated video card.

@SandroDzneladze, please find out my updated answer with facts provided by links.

I also found this article http://embedded-computing.com/articles/embedded-greater-display-efficiency/ useful


text:
Apple sells toys in their store?
I was thinking what intresting in their website and when i looked for everything i found toys! Heres a picture i noticed
Why would apple sell toys if they just are tech company

These are tech-enabled toys made by Disney as part of their Disney Infinity line. These toys can interact with specific apps on Apple devices.   This is similar to Apple selling drones that can be controlled via iPhones.
Disney has recently announced they're discontinuing this line of toys so Apple is probably trying to sell them all and reduce their stock.


text:
Why does OS X have bash v3.2.57?
OS X comes with bash version 3.2.57 instead of bash version 4.3.39, which GNU lists as the current stable release of bash.
Is there any way to upgrade bash on Mac OS X?

See also Update bash to version 4.0 on OSX - answer by William T Froggard.

Note the original question asked why Apple shipped an old version of bash and then asked how to upgrade. This is an answer to the original. If the question is just the latter then it is a duplicate
You would have to ask Apple as to why. However I would note that bash is now licensed under GPLv3 and   3.2.57 is the last version released under GPL2.
As bash is in /bin you should not replace it directly as this can be updated or modified by Apple at any time and now with SIP it is also more difficult to change. Also scripts elsewhere might depend one this version
You can however add bash from GNU or from a package manager like Macports or Homebrew. You can then change the Terminal.app profile to start this shell rather than bash
Macports is
sudo port install bash

Homebrew is
brew install bash

As of 14/6/16 - the stable version of bash is 4.3.42 and updates usually come rapidly through both port systems.
Or you could change your shell to another that Apple supplies e.g.  zsh which is more powerful than bash (version up to date of release of El Capitan) or ksh which is upto date. (or tcsh which is a C shell but also reasonably up to date)

Nice answer! Very good explanation. How can I change to zsh? Is anywhere a good manual of this shell? Thanks a lot!

See http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/88278/change-default-shell-from-bash-to-zsh and http://zsh.sourceforge.net

Worth noting that ksh and tcsh are both pretty old shells with a very small following. For those wanting a bash alternative, zsh and fish are more modern and quite commonly recommended.  zsh is the default shell in macOS since Catalina in 2019.    See this graph on Stack Overflow trends for bash, zsh and ksh popularity - the others don't have tags.


text:
Canon Duplexer prints on opposite sides
I have a problem I cannot fix. The CANON i-Sensys MF4660PL printer I have is able to print double-sided, but it does not do it correctly. I have downloaded the latest printer driver from Canon (for El Capitan), and tried different drivers and settings in the printer, but after one-and-a-half hour I am inclined to give up.
THe problem is that it prints on opposite sides; so yes, it does print on both sides, but you have to turn around the page to continue reading. I have also changed the Long-edge vs Short-edge binding setting in the printing settings, and the 'Auto-Rotate' setting, to no avail.
Google does not seem to help me either... Anyone?

Would please tell me what application you are using and what type of files you are printing? (I'm guessing Pages.app...)

sorry to be incomplete. I have tried printing PDF files using Google Chrome (the built-in PDF reader and print utility) as well as PDF print through Preview. I have also tried printing a regular HTML web page (in Chrome).


text:
Is it possible to activate an iPhone overseas?
My parents brought me a iPhone SE locked by Sprint from US and I only turned it on here in my country (Brazil). It was not able to reach the original network.
I wanted to unlock it but first I must activate it. Activating this device is only possible in US with a Sprint sim card or can I do it in a different way (for example, iTunes or just via internet)?
Please help. Thank you.

there are ways, but AskDifferent is not the resource for illegitimate advises.

Thank you. So there are no legit ways to do so? I have to go US and then activate it there?

Did you try with a local sim?

Locked iPhones can only be used with their respective providers in the countries of purchase. So no, you can't use it. Can you still exchange it for an unlocked model? Otherwise there are illegitimate ways to do it.

Many thanks. I called Sprint and they can only unlock my iPhone if I get a contract and wait 50 days. Apparently this is the legal way. And it sucks. Thanks Americans carriers.


text:
Remove audio track in QuickTime 10?
In previous versions of QuickTime you could remove the audio track and save the file. This function appears to have been removed in QuickTime 10.
Is it still possible?

Audio tracks can be removed from QuickTime movies using Automator.
This workflow

will remove the audio track from all the files in the Movies folder on the desktop.
Note this will remove the audio tracks in situ so please take a copy of them if you want to keep the audio.

Note that this will disable the audio track temporarily only. It doesn't completely remove the audio. You have to export the video afterwards, then the audio is gone.

When I try to run this work flow ı am getting this error The action “Enable or Disable Tracks” encountered an error: “NSWindow drag regions should only be invalidated on the Main Thread!”

This doesn't work. I get the same error as above (interestingly there is no error when doing it the other way around, i.e. removing the video and saving just the audio... But that's not what we want.)

@LinusGeffarth export how ?

@codebased this is from a while ago, but I think I meant you need to export it from QuickTime directly in the menu bar.

What you are looking for is a demultiplexer or demux utility. Which one to use can depend on your specific file container format.

Quicktime Player 7 had the features you remember for demuxing individual tracks. Apple claims it can still be installed. You may need the Pro feature set though I'm not sure they would sell you a key anymore.
Subler is a muxer that will do MP4 files. It can demux as well.
Squared5 claims to do the job for MOV files.
FFMPegX provides a Mac OS GUI for many media libraries that can mux/demux most anything.

FYI, the command that allows you to delete the audio track in Quicktime Player 7 is Window>Show Movie Properties. Unfortunately, that is a Pro feature, and Apple no longer sells QuickTime Pro. Fortunately, if you do happen to have a key, it will still work, as there's no online verification of the registration code. Just remember to quit and restart the app after you register.

Avidemux is an opensource tool for Mac/Win/Linux that does the job. Load your file, and in the Audio menu pick Choose Audio Track, then disable the audio track, and save to a new file. Make sure Video stays on copy.