text:
MacBook shutting down randomly (about every 5 minutes)
The shutdown is now almost regular. It happens every few minutes.
It does not happen in safe boot mode, but in that case, Chromium browsers do not work, and startup takes over 5 minutes. If I then close the macbook, it freezes shortly after reopening.
Very unpractical...

This is a typical log file
2022-02-26 16:51:32.774836+0100 0x1be      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (IOHIDFamily) HID: Legacy shim 2
2022-02-26 16:51:32.775144+0100 0x14a      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleUSBMultitouch) AppleUSBMultitouchDriver::checkStatus - received Status Packet, Payload 2: device was reinitialized
2022-02-26 16:51:33.153173+0100 0x7d       Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (IOTimeSyncFamily) IOTimeSyncClockManager::delayedClockIDLookup registered service
2022-02-26 16:51:51.356665+0100 0x195      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (apfs) spaceman_trim_free_blocks:3327: scan took 18.923222 s, trims took 2.832145 s
2022-02-26 16:51:51.356681+0100 0x195      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (apfs) spaceman_trim_free_blocks:3335: 130197229 blocks free in

And another

2022-02-26 17:02:59.776576+0100 0xdb       Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (IOBluetoothUSBDFU) IOBluetoothUSBDFU::probe
2022-02-26 17:02:59.776589+0100 0xdb       Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (IOBluetoothUSBDFU) IOBluetoothUSBDFU::probe ProductID - 0x8289 FirmwareVersion - 0x0150
2022-02-26 17:02:59.779259+0100 0x1be      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (IOBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport) **** [IOBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport][start] -- completed -- result = TRUE -- 0x3000 ****
2022-02-26 17:02:59.779269+0100 0x1be      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport) **** [BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport][start] -- Completed (matched on Device) -- 0x3000 ****
2022-02-26 17:03:00.164255+0100 0xdb       Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (IOTimeSyncFamily) IOTimeSyncClockManager::delayedClockIDLookup registered service
2022-02-26 17:03:18.669041+0100 0x197      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (apfs) spaceman_trim_free_blocks:3327: scan took 19.220222 s, trims took 2.831143 s
2022-02-26 17:03:18.669056+0100 0x197      Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (apfs) spaceman_trim_free_blocks:3335: 130172667 blocks free in 646130 extents

My MacBook Pro (2014, Intel Chip) with macOS 10.14.6 shuts down randomly, with no warning.
This is happening since a few days. (I have the laptop since several years.) Shutdown is every 4 to 10 minutes.
Independent of battery state. Needs restart afterwards. Also happens with power cord.
Also "Calendar" was always opening at start-up, even though it was not in the
login queue. I zipped it away.
It must be a SW problem, as it does NOT happen in "safe boot" mode
(started by pushing "shift" just after power on.)
Recently uploaded SW: only Filezilla, Zoom, Avira, Malwarebytes, and browsers.
2 anti-virus programs found nothing.
I deleted everything form the login queue (System Preferences Users & Groups). No effect.
I reset NVRAM with alt-command-P-R. No change.
I restarted with ctrl-alt-shift. No change.
Cleaned the keyboard.
What else can I do?
Can one search the console somehow?

Two graphics cards:
Intel Iris Pro:

  Chipset Model:    Intel Iris Pro
  Type: GPU
  Bus:  Built-In
  VRAM (Dynamic, Max):  1536 MB
  Vendor:   Intel
  Device ID:    0x0d26
  Revision ID:  0x0008
  Automatic Graphics Switching: Supported
  gMux Version: 4.0.8 [3.2.8]

NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M:

  Chipset Model:    NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
  Type: GPU
  Bus:  PCIe
  PCIe Lane Width:  x8
  VRAM (Total): 2 GB
  Vendor:   NVIDIA (0x10de)
  Device ID:    0x0fe9
  Revision ID:  0x00a2
  ROM Revision: 3776
  Automatic Graphics Switching: Supported
  gMux Version: 4.0.8 [3.2.8]

Today, there was, the first time, a full freeze of the laptop. (NO way to move the pointer; needed 10 sec hard shutdown.)

The command pmset -g log | grep ShutdownCause gives nothing as answer.

Since a few hours, the white bar that increases under the Apple logo during startup is orange, not white, during most of the 15s it takes for startup.

In systemlog it says
Feb 22 07:41:19 localhost com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.opendirectoryd): Unknown key for Boolean: BeginTransactionAtShutdown
Feb 22 07:41:19 localhost com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (org.cups.cupsd): Service has increased maximum shutdown time to 65 seconds. This will create a poor experience for the user.
Feb 22 07:50:03 localhost com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.opendirectoryd): Unknown key for Boolean: BeginTransactionAtShutdown
Feb 22 07:50:03 localhost com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (org.cups.cupsd): Service has increased maximum shutdown time to 65 seconds. This will create a poor experience for the user.
Feb 22 08:05:21 localhost com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.opendirectoryd): Unknown key for Boolean: BeginTransactionAtShutdown
Feb 22 08:05:21 localhost com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (org.cups.cupsd): Service has increased maximum shutdown time to 65 seconds. This will create a poor experience for the user.

In safe boot mode, almost all browsers display erratically. This could confirm a problem with the graphics card.

cd /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports and ls yields:
AdobeAcrobat_2022-02-06-091445_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
AdobeAcrobat_2022-02-06-091528_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.hang
AdobeAcrobat_2022-02-06-093518_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
AdobeAcrobat_2022-02-06-093521_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.hang
Analytics_2022-01-27-070543_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-01-31-030615_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-02-02-070840_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-02-03-013400_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-02-04-050313_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-02-05-045755_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-02-06-053025_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-02-07-035014_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-02-09-041515_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-02-10-041526_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-02-12-010021_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-02-13-063048_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-02-15-044539_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-02-16-014253_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-02-18-021845_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-02-19-075021_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-02-20-010739_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-02-21-060249_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-02-22-030007_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Analytics_2022-02-23-014137_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.core_analytics
Distiller_2022-01-26-155912_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.cpu_resource.diag
Google Chrome Helper (Renderer)_2022-01-22-224242_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
Google Chrome Helper (Renderer)_2022-01-25-222110_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
Google Chrome Helper (Renderer)_2022-01-25-225602_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
Google Chrome Helper (Renderer)_2022-01-26-210800_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
Google Chrome Helper (Renderer)_2022-01-28-080223_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
Google Chrome Helper (Renderer)_2022-01-28-085321_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
Google Chrome Helper (Renderer)_2022-01-31-222559_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
Google Chrome Helper (Renderer)_2022-02-01-171331_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
Google Chrome Helper (Renderer)_2022-02-04-143527_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
Google Chrome Helper (Renderer)_2022-02-18-071737_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
Google Chrome Helper (Renderer)_2022-02-18-090746_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
Google Chrome Helper (Renderer)_2022-02-18-115441_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
Google Chrome Helper (Renderer)_2022-02-20-122743_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
Mail_2022-02-17-232137_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.cpu_resource.diag
WindowServer_2022-02-18-102940_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
WindowServer_2022-02-20-193707_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.cpu_resource.diag
backupd_2022-02-18-201629_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.cpu_resource.diag
bnepd_2022-01-23-115537_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.crash
bnepd_2022-01-23-115756_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.crash
bnepd_2022-01-28-012229_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.crash
bnepd_2022-01-28-172543_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.crash
bnepd_2022-01-31-230510_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.crash
bnepd_2022-02-03-145518_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.crash
bnepd_2022-02-04-073103_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.crash
bnepd_2022-02-07-164152_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.crash
bnepd_2022-02-09-073931_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.crash
bnepd_2022-02-10-123507_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.crash
bnepd_2022-02-10-233349_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.crash
bnepd_2022-02-12-224122_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.crash
bnepd_2022-02-13-063122_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.crash
bnepd_2022-02-16-092002_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.crash
bnepd_2022-02-16-175655_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.crash
bnepd_2022-02-17-071736_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.crash
bnepd_2022-02-18-054250_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.crash
bnepd_2022-02-18-054555_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.crash
com.apple.MediaLibraryService_2022-02-15-164313_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.cpu_resource.diag
firefox_2022-01-28-040816_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
firefox_2022-02-13-065234_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
firefox_2022-02-15-081451_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
firefox_2022-02-18-040258_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.cpu_resource.diag
iTunes_2022-02-13-143823_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.hang
inkscape_2022-01-30-180859_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.cpu_resource.diag
inkscape_2022-02-03-131920_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.cpu_resource.diag
plugin-container_2022-02-15-080755_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
plugin-container_2022-02-18-032317_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag
shutdown_stall_2022-02-18-111658_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-18-122242_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-18-122657_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-18-200328_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-19-105259_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-19-105817_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-19-105930_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-19-110025_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-19-110126_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-19-112131_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-19-131818_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-19-142711_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-19-174942_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-19-175146_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-20-061029_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-20-103738_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-20-104542_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-20-110548_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-20-174334_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
shutdown_stall_2022-02-20-232946_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.shutdownStall
signpost_reporter_2022-01-29-073901_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.cpu_resource.diag
zoom.us_2022-02-15-204350_2010MacBook-von-Nemo-3.wakeups_resource.diag

Is this an MBP with a discrete GPU? Safe Boot forces using the Intel GPU instead. The discrete GPUs have been a source of problems in many MBP models.

Yes, see above. But does this occur after so many years of use?

A sudden shut off is definitely some kind of hardware problem. Software doesn't do that. The GPU circuitry can fail at any point in the life. Why that should cause a power shut off, I'm not sure.

Please add the result of the following Terminal command to the end of your original question via a code block: pmset -g log | grep ShutdownCause

Do I need to do this in a particular directory?

@MotionMountain No

Do you see any kernel panics in /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports? Are you by any chance using Chrome as your web browser?

I usually use Firefox. It does a shutdown in either browser.

BUt in Chrome, in "safe boot" mode, the system behaves strangely: hromium browsers do not work well: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1299429  This might be a graphics card problmem.

The next time this happens, note the exact time and date. Then upon your next reboot, let's collect logs beginning at the last 10 seconds leading up to the shutdown. Use the following command: log show --info --debug --start "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" --end "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" where you would replace the placeholders with real numbers denoting the time range from 10 seconds before the shutdown until the first log messages after your reboot. This will likely be a lot of text, so please use a service like www.PasteBin.com to upload your log.

This is now found on www.motionmountain.net/list.txt (freeze in safe boot mode)

@MotionMountain I think you're using the wrong timestamps. Your file doesn't capture the period of time from before the shutdown through after the boot. Can you try again?

Next try: https://www.motionmountain.net/list2.txt

@pion  newest list in https://www.motionmountain.net/list2.txt

And a further one in motionmountain.net/list3.txt

The basic lines are now copied at the very top of the question.

2022-02-23 22:33:44.735232+0100 0xaf       Default     0x0                  0      0    kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: -128

A shutdown cause of -128 means that the SMC lost power before it could record a valid shutdown cause. This can happen for many reasons, but the most common reason is that there was suddenly insufficient electrical power available. This is seen frequently on systems as old as yours where the original battery has not yet been replaced. (See my answer in Apple battery issue or something else?) I suspect that you are probably near 1,000 power cycles by this point. (You can check in System Information.)
-128 is difficult to debug directly because there is so little diagnostic information available in these cases. One thing you could try is replacing the battery. But that would be an experiment and no guarantee that it actually targets the root cause. If you are running the latest OS with the latest firmware updates and no third party hardware attached or kernel extensions installed, you're likely looking at a hardware failure. Run Apple Diagnostics and then bring your machine in to an Apple authorized repair center.


text:
Why can I see .MOV in my iPhone solely on my Windows 10, but not on my iPhone?
On my iPhone, I see many .JPG — but I see no .mov. After I plug in my iPhone into my Windows 10 desktop, THEN I see all these .mov! Why?
Many — but not all — these .mov have the same file name as the .jpg, and are video recordings of the objects of the pictures. Have I accidentally been videoing the objects of my photographs???? I have not deliberately selected video though! I can't believe I would have accidentally clicked on video so many times!

You're taking Live Photos. Windows cannot handle these properly as part of the photo, so the movie files are listed separately.
See Apple KB - Take and edit Live Photos which covers the iPhone aspect. Apple provides no support for them in Windows, so you have to handle them as two separate files.
I don't know this for a fact, but this might be why the phone will not let Windows throw out half of what it considers a single Live Photo, from your other question - Why does File Explorer bring up permission errors, when I try to delete files from my iPhone on my Windows desktop?

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How to enter a Mac system password in Terminal if you don't have one
I am trying Terminal for the first time.  I have entered a properly coded command and Terminal is asking for a password.  I don't have a Mac system password, so I have pressed Enter, but that doesn't work.  Have tried with my Apple ID, again, no joy.  Suggestions?

See https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/257813/enable-sudo-without-a-password-on-macos tbh, I'm not sure how you can even create an admin account without a password.

If you run a command with sudo that's like asking for Administrative privileges to ensure you know what you're doing.
The "system" password it refers to is the same password you use when logging into your Mac.
If this password does not work, you likely only have a Standard user account.
Also, when copying terminal commands from the internet, please make sure you know what they are doing before running them :)

Interesting.  I am listed in Users & Groups as the administrator.  It has always been my home computer, single user.  But I do not have a "system" password, never have had.  But I take your comment about using terminal commands, so will reconsider that action.  Thanks.

@EJay did you try using the same password that you use when logging into your Mac? You can easily test it will work by running a command like:
sudo touch /Users/Shared/test.txt
This will create an empty file in /Users/Shared called test.txt and should prompt you for a password. If it creates successfully, you know that you have the right privileges and password.

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


text:
Run a terminal script to get the apple ID from the localhost?
I'm trying to get the appleID account that is logged into the iCloud account of a MacOS computer.
I've tried with
defaults export MobileMeAccounts

dscl . -list /Users UniqueID

Defaults find  SHKRecentServices

I will run this command on multiple computers to run an audit but I get it to work only on my personal one.


text:
In Finder, how dynamically change folder icon's color when said folder contains .git folder?
Looking for an automated way, in macOS Finder, to change a folder icon from its default blue to green, based on whether or not it contains a .git repository.
Can this be scripted or automated with a finder extension or some other tool?

What do you mean by change the folder icon's colour

Use Hazel, from Noodlesoft.  Read About Folders & Rules.

Thanks Marc, Hazel is interesting! Although I’m still hoping for guidance towards a solution using only AppleScript or JavaScript for Automation.

So "a finder extension or some other tool" was not accurate, it has to be first-party?  Probably figure out something with a Folder Action, but it wouldn't be dynamic.

My original question was edited... "Finder extension or some other tool" and some extra tags were added to it by an editor, and is now causing confusion.


text:
Built-in OCR in macOS?
Recently I've found on my Mac that I can easily highlight text in an image that wasn't possible before.
Is there also a built-in CLI option or an AppleScript option to address the OCR program with which I can achieve the same results as tesseract?

See https://support.apple.com/guide/preview/interact-with-text-in-a-photo-prvw625a5b2c/mac

This ocr is called live text. It was released with monterey

Shortcuts.app has an "Extract Text from Image" action.

There's also a shell command shortcuts to run a Shortcut.

Shortcuts seems to only be for iOS though not macOS, right?

@mowwwalker No, Shortcuts.app is in macOS, as of Monterey.

Sadly, I don't see it in the Shortcuts Gallery in 13.6.1 (22G313) .. is it no longer available??

@TryTryAgain Not in the Gallery -- Create a new Shortcut, and add it from the list of actions.

@benwiggy ... amazing, thank you for that clarification, I didn't realize you can create/add like that, I thought it was all via importing from what was available in the gallery. Thanks so much for the response, cheers!

Hmm, it appears to not really function. I added a shortcut but when pressing play it does nothing. I'm trying to extract text from an image that I have open in Preview (often it works within preview somehow, but occasionally it does not). I was hoping to be able to use something as a backup. How would I use the shortcut? I tried adding it to the dock too, it appears to do absolutely nothing when I click it or play it.

@TryTryAgain Probably best to read up on Apple's help pages for how Shortcuts work. You have to construct a workflow, with an input, an action and an output.

This seems promising ;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZVlifUpr_c

This is core of a simple cli tool to extract text from an image:
 let img = NSImage(byReferencing: url)
    guard let imgRef = img.cgImage(forProposedRect: nil, context: nil, hints: nil) else {
        fputs("Error: failed to convert NSImage to CGImage for '\(url)'\n", stderr)
        return 1
    }

    let request = VNRecognizeTextRequest { (request, error) in
        let observations = request.results as? [VNRecognizedTextObservation] ?? []
        let obs : [String] = observations.map { $0.topCandidates(1).first?.string ?? ""}
        try? obs.joined(separator: "\n").write(to: url.appendingPathExtension("md"), atomically: true, encoding: String.Encoding.utf8)

        fputs("got page obs is \(obs)", stderr)
    }
    request.recognitionLevel = VNRequestTextRecognitionLevel.accurate // or .fast
    request.usesLanguageCorrection = true
    request.revision = VNRecognizeTextRequestRevision2
    request.recognitionLanguages = ["de"]
    request.customWords = ["more", "Worte", "Wort"]

    try? VNImageRequestHandler(cgImage: imgRef, options: [:]).perform([request])

from this full working project

how are we supposed to use that? I tried pasting it in terminal but nothing happened

^ this is a lovely script, nicely indented and everything - but @yarns -> please don't paste random code you find online into your terminal. the OP is probably a lovely, unstanding member of the community - but...

Here are the steps for a shortcut that lets you drag your mouse over an image and receive the text on your clipboard -- basically, copy and paste text from anything on your screen, including other people's screen shares!
Creating the shortcut

Open the Shortcuts app and start a new shortcut.
Add Action: Take Screenshot, set to Interactive, Show More, Custom.
Add Action: Extract Text from [Screenshot] (the brackets fill in automatically)
Add Action: Copy [Text from image] to Clipboard
Add a title by clicking in the title bar: "Extract text from screenshot".

Adding your shortcut to the Dock
Go back to the main window, right click the shortcut, Add to Dock.
(Optional) Adding a beep when the clipboard is ready

Find a sound in /System/Library/Sounds and drag it to the top. I used /System/Library/Sounds/Basso.aiff.
Add Action: Play Sound. Show more, choose Select variable from dropdown. The top of the screen will say "Select a Magic Variable" and the word "File" will appear below the sound you added. Click that.
(The dropdown will still appear blank, and there will not be a line connecting this action to the others -- that's OK.)

(Optional) Assigning a keyboard shortcut
Open Details (click i on the right hand side). Note that the shortcut takes a second to run after its icon appears in the top menu bar.
I have found this shortcut sometimes stops working, in which case I have had to close Shortcuts completely, find the keyboard shortcut in System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Services > Shortcuts, then click into it and reassign it.
Screenshot of your new shortcut

could you please share this shortcuts and paste the url here? Thanks

I can't because my work computer blocks iCloud, but if you follow the directions you could share your link for everyone else.

Great post.  Very helpful!

Am tempted to share the shortcut. i can't see any security concerns - he mumbled as the virus coursed through his cyber neuron network – but I probably still would not run a publicly posted shortcut on my machine. Besides - it's much more fun making one yourself. AND! you get to watch your hard disc get wiped in real time :)


text:
Stop Safari omnibar suggesting website root
How can I make Safari's omnibar take me to https://www.evernote.com/client/web (for example) instead of https://www.evernote.com/ when I type evern into the omnibar and press enter.
At the moment, even though I purposefully deleted it from my history, it takes me to evernote.com (the homepage of that website) instead of to my most frequently-accessed page and the page I would like the suggestion to land me on.

I have the specific Evernote webpage load automatically when I start my browser up, and I have the same link as a bookmark in the Bookmark bar for easy access if the window is closed. I use another browser, but the concept and execution in Safari is the same.

Create a bookmark for the specific page you want. Bookmarks are included in omnibar results.


text:
SQL Server Download Docker Issue for Mac
I am trying to download SQL Server on Mac and when I type,
sudo docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-latest

into the terminal, I get prompted to put in a password.
I have tried numerous passwords with 12 characters that include upper/lowercase letters and numbers. No matter how strong I make my password I keep getting this message
passwords:
Sorry, try again.
Password:
Sorry, try again.
Password:
sudo: 3 incorrect password attempts

Does anyone know how to fix this?

it's not asking you to set a password.  It's asking you to put in a correct password.  You tried to use sudo, sudo will prompt for a password.  Sudo has an excellent man page, I suggest that you read it.

sudo allows to run commands (docker in this case) with root priviledges. So for this to work, you need to

be logged in as an admin user
enter your own password (the one of the account you are logged into) when asked for by sudo


text:
Keep font on computer
The font Kaiti SC keeps uninstalling itself from my macbook and I need to re-download it every few days.
How can I stop it from being removed? I would like to always have this font available.

Why do you say that it is being removed?  Removed by what process?

@MarcWilson it's just, some days I will suddenly notice "oh, this text that should be rendering in Kaiti isn't... let me check fontbook... [[ this is a font that needs to be downloaded before it can be previewed ]]" and I have to download it again

Kaiti SC is an optional font that can be downloaded from Apple using FontBook.
I can't explain why it is being 'removed' from your computer, but if you want to keep it, you need to locate it (using Show in Finder on right-click in Font Book), and copy it to /Library/Fonts.

'Show in Finder' is greyed-out on this font....

Is it downloaded? It's possible that Apple have removed it from Monterey. Do you have it on a backup?

It is downloaded, and I can re-download it every time it undownloads itself

Then when it is downloaded, copy it to your Font folder.

How can I copy it to my font folder?

@theonlygusti  Look for Kaiti SC in System/Library/Fonts and drag it to your desktop so you can put it in Library/Fonts or Home/Library/Fonts.

It's not in there. But a find / did come across some STKaiti files deep in /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks

That's why I said use the "Show in Finder". If that doesn't work, they'll be in /System/Library/AssetsV2. There are couple of folders in there with the word "Font" in them.


text:
How to manually delete Safari's DNS cache?
Develop > Empty caches (cmd alt e) isn't clearing Safari's DNS cache.
I made some changes to /etc/hosts and those changes are reflected in all my other browsers, and ping and getent hosts, but Safari still loads the previous website.
I have also tried sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder and sudo dscacheutil --flushcache and neither help Safari forget the previous address.

just try restarting

First thing to do is isolate your browser from search engines.

Cannot block site z1.fm from etc hosts

Next you might need to check for VPN like iCloud Private Relay. There are a handful questions here with some variations on the theme of blocking hosts via file overrides and when it’s time for a reboot after testing.
I like to test this with a text file. You can quit the browser and use commands like
nslookup this.web.site
open http://this.web.site
nslookup apple.stackexchange.com
open https://apple.stackexchange.com/q/436458/5472

And then retest flushing the dns cache to determine if you are getting a DNS lookup or a web search engine lookup or it’s just using history or cached / pinned / history of previous web site data to jump start things.

I don't understand, what should I do? What does it mean "isolate browser from search engines" The issue exists on VPN and not on VPN.

Isolate means to make the changes in the answer I linked - all of them. Then to retest one specific address. What site can’t you block @theonlygusti ? Did you turn off all VPN and private relay as well?

Do you want help scripting the lookups? @theonlygusti


text:
M1 chip, docker and a warning
I am using macOS Monterey Version 12.0.1 with the Apple M1 chip.
I have downloaded the appropriate version of Docker, but when I tried to execute the following in the terminal - I am following some online lectures -
docker run -v $PWD:/usr/local/share/scalar_blocks wlandry/sdpb:2.5.1 scalar_blocks --dim 3 --order 40 --max-derivs 10 --spin-ranges 0-20 --poles 18 --delta-12 0 --delta-34 0 --num-threads=4 -o/usr/local/share/scalar_blocks/output --precision 776

I got a warning
WARNING: The requested image's platform (linux/amd64) does not match the detected host platform (linux/arm64/v8) and no specific platform was requested

I have seen this complaint going around online, but there are so many answers that I am not sure which approach is the most resilient with regards to this matter. Any suggestions?
Edit 1: I forgot to mention that I have also installed Rosetta 2.
Edit 2: After the response by @Richardh9935 I updated to Monterey 12.2 but still no luck.

It looks that the problem is not with Docker Desktop nor OS but with the image you're running. Images should be also built for a particular architecture. With the message you see it informs you that the running image will be using translation x86 to M1 architecture.
In order to avoid this you need to build yourself a Docker image using source code of an application or ask a developer to build and post it on Docker Hub.
If you browse to the docker hub page of the image you are running here, have a look at the section "OS/ARCH" it has only "linux/amd64" which is not M1 architecture, for M1 it should be ARM64.
The issue is also mentioned at Docker web site in the "Known issues" section.

You just need to add a parameter for the platform like this:
docker run -d --name sql_server_test_three \
 -e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' \
 -e 'SA_PASSWORD=meowmeow' \
 -p 1433:1433 \
 --platform linux/amd64 \
 mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest (http://mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest)

This worked on my 2021 MacBook Pro (Chip Apple M1 Max).


text:
Transfer WeChat history from Mac to iPhone (not the other way around)
My phone broke and was forced to get a new phone without backing up my WeChat chat history. However, because I always use the MacOS app, I still have my entire history on my Mac. But I can't seem to find a way to transfer that history from my Mac to my new iPhone, only the reverse. Is there a way to create a backup from my the data on my Mac instead of from the data on my phone?

What research have you done and what have you tried?

Not an iPhone user, but as a thought, perhaps your WeChat data was backed up to iCloud and you could restore it from there?

@music2myear I've tried to use WeChat's built in backup features, but they only allow you to create a backup from your phone. I have also looked into where the data is stored on my computer. I found it, but there's not much that I can do with it without understanding if and how I can move that data to my iPhone. I assume that moving it would require the iPhone app to allow it, which it may not. I'm also waiting on a response from WeChat customer support.

@Anaksunaman WeChat isn't included in the list of apps for iCloud support. I don't think it's an option.

As of version 3.5.5, you now have the option to migrate your history from desktop (PC/Mac) version and back to the mobile app. It is similar to the backup/restore process, but it is a new feature called "Migration". I have been waiting for this for a few years too.


text:
In List view, can the Files prog on iOS 15.2 list files without showing icons and without showing dates and sizes on the same line as each file name?
When I run the Files program on iOS 15.2 and choose "List view", it lists files with each file name having a small icon to the left of it and with the date and file size shown below it. There are also horizontal lines separating each file's entry from the next file's. This allows 11 files to be shown at a time on the screen of my iPhone XR without scrolling being necessary.
If no icons were shown, and the dates and file sizes were shown either on the same line as the file names or not at all, then the number of files that could be listed without scrolling being necessary would be much larger, perhaps as great as 20.
Can this be done?

I asked the same question of myself a few weeks ago and could not find any settings that customized this view at all. We get what we see: no less; no more.
You can always submit Feedback to Apple and describe your design enhancements in the comments field.

There is a way to get more files in a screen without scrolling in list view but the solution is not to remove the icons or the infos, it's to reduce the text size.
By default, the text size of all apps is set to be 100% but you can change that for every specific app. If you change Files text size from 100% (default) to 80% (minimum), you get more files to show.
To do this, you can go to Settings > Accessibility > Per-App Settings > Add App > Files > Files > Larger Text. Then drag the white circle to the minimum (at the very left of the scale). But you can also do this in a much more simple way: Open Control Center by (1) swiping down from the top-right corner of your screen (for iPhones with Home Bar) or (2) swiping up from the bottom of your screen (for iPhone with Home Button); then, click on "AA"*, check that the blue circle is on top of "Files only", and drag the white bars to the minimum (down) so that the text size is set to 80%.

* To be able to click on "AA", you will need to check in Settings > Control Center that Text Size is in the Included Controls section.


text:
tar: could not chdir to 'dirname' when using -C with tar
I downloaded this file and when I try to use -C with tar to change the name of the directory it outputs to, I get this error
$ tar -xvf requests.tar -C requests
tar: could not chdir to 'requests'

I don't get this error when extracting files without -C. I tried this in /tmp and ~/Desktop I also tried passing an absolute path.

man tar tells you the issue

-C directory, --cd directory, --directory directory
In c and r mode, this changes the directory before adding the following files.  In x mode, change directories after opening the archive but before extracting entries
from the archive.

Thus you have to have the directory created before you change into it.
Without the -C tar extracts to the current directory
Thus for file dir/a.txt in the tarred file
With -C requests the file ends up in requests/dir/a.txt
whilst with no argument it ends up in ./dir/a.txt


text:
Why does my iPhone create so many 1**APPLE folders to store .JPG and .MOV?
I plugged in my iPhone into my Windows laptop, with a USB cable. Please see below.  1. Why does my iPhone create so many new separate folders?

Why do these folders contain merely .JPG and .MOV?

Doubtless I did not create them! I prefer just one folder to store .JPG and .MOV! Clicking on each of these 85 folders wastes time!

The structure is just not designed to go poking around in by hand… but Windows can't do it any other way. Mac users never see all that mess inside, so don't care about it.

Also, one folder with 1,000,000 files can be slower for the OS than 1000 folders, each with 1000 files.

Each time you connect to transfer / backup, the new folder is created so old files are not overwritten by accident.
Those filenames usually include the current date / time to make sure they are unique.
If you find that a disadvantage, just look on here for how many have lost files and data…

This is a folder structure common to camera manufacturers. For example, on an SD used with a Canon camera, you also find a DCIM folder with subfolders 100CANON, 101CANON, …
A lot of image management apps understand this structure. It's not meant to be convenient to humans.
The reason why Apple creates so many of these folders is something we can only guess (unless there's an official document). Solar Mike's answer has a good reason, though.


text:
How often does macOS synch my computer clock?
Just curious on how often this occurs and what is the process?  Also, is there a time server that I can connect to using an API of sorts?

As standard, the time is synchronized approx. every 20 minutes. This is done by the process timed.
Yes, you can connect to Apple's time servers if you like. You can check which server your computer is setup to use by inspecting the file /etc/ntp.conf. Apple's' servers are named for example time.apple.com, time.euro.apple.com, time2.apple.com and so on.
Apple's servers are nothing special in that regard - you can find online time servers from many places such as time.google.com, time.facebook.com, time.windows.com, etc. A popular one is the NTP Pool Project, which features NTP servers all around the globe for public usage. Point your request to 0.pool.ntp.org, 1.pool.ntp.org and so on to get the current time.
The protocol used to connect to these time servers is known as NTP (Network Time Protocol). The communication protocol is standardized and freely available.

If you want to force a recalibration with NTP, just kill the timed process in Activity Monitor, or by using command line Kill with the process id, or pkill timed for a fast and easy execution. This forces timed to restart and query NTP afresh.

Is this atomic time or UTC time?

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7806757

When you display the time on your Mac, people mostly want to show their own time zone or UTC. It is not common to use TAI (atomic time). Note that converting back and forth between UTC and TAI is just something that happens on your local computer - similar to how you can select various time zones. You don’t need a different NTP server for showing the time in TAI versus UTC. So you can do whatever you want for your purpose


text:
Is there a disadvantage to storing files on the desktop?
I remember reading that one shouldn't store files on the desktop. I don't remember what the reason was. Something to do with the Finder treating files on the desktop differently. The advice given was to store files in the documents folder.
I'm not looking for anecdotes ("I never had problems!"), but a technical explanation for why this might be a problem or why it cannot be a problem.

Simple answer: no, not really, not unless you have hundreds or thousands of files on the Desktop.
It can be really, really hard to navigate a Desktop chock-full of icons, though:

But there is one thing to consider - Quick Look processing & RAM usage.

Quick Look allows you to select an item and preview it with a quick tap of the spacebar. There are many different file types supported, from MP3 and AAC to JPEG and MP4.
While Quick Look is a fantastic tool to have, it will be your enemy if you keep Pages or Word documents, images, videos, music with artwork, and anything else it supports previewing on the Desktop.
The tool is always ready with previews, so when you have a lot of documents on the Desktop, all those previews will have to be temporarily stored in the RAM. This means your Mac can become extremely slow."

(I lifted the bulk of this answer from this link.)
On older Macs with limited RAM, this can become a huge problem. On newer Macs with much larger RAM availability, it may be less of a problem.
But this doesn't mean you should leave hundreds or thousands of files on the Desktop.
Personally, I download files to the Desktop, then move them elsewhere when needed. Files like disk images (.dmg) or archives (.zip) are better handled (IMHO) from the Desktop because the don't usually stay there when done.

Why download to ~/Destop when there is a directory ~/Downloads ?

Personal quirkiness.  I keep the space underneath Macintosh HD clear of files, and downloads stack up where I can see them and then operate on them. I found that the Downloads folder can quickly become cluttered with files, and they become 'out of sight - out of mind'. Being present on the Desktop forces me to deal with them immediately. I don't like a cluttered Desktop. My wife has a Downloads folder with (at last count) ~ 2300 files. 90% of the files she has no recollection of downloading (some are over six years old) but she doesn't want to touch them. To each his/her own.

I sort of have that thought but I use Hazel to archive the Downloads folder to a dated archive - and I clean up when I get a lot

The issue was that the WindowServer treated each icon on the Desktop as a Window object. This design harked back to the original Classic Mac OS.
This meant that file icons on the Desktop used more RAM than files within a Finder window.
However, changes to the Finder and the WindowServer in recent years have reduced this problem, while better hardware has also minimized the effect.

Although large numbers of files on the Desktop may not affect the performance of the computer, they certainly affect the performance of the user!

The Window server surely comes from NeXT and does not have much to do with Classic MacOs. And even then it uses rather different display code ie Quartz rather than Display Postscript

@mmmmmm Yes, you may be right, but the concept of icons on the desktop being windows stemmed from the original GUI, and probably even Xerox PARC. It was certainly true that lots of files on the desktop caused slowness on System 7 etc.


text:
How to fix macOS 12.3 Finder is unable to reliably copy large files to SMB shares
About when macOS 12.3 shipped I am unable to reliably copy files to SMB shares with the Finder with an M1 Max MBP. The copied files on the share are corrupted (the share has not been updated in months and works just fine). Checking the contents, large sections are all zeros.
At first I assumed it was the share and I assumed it was a bad hard drive. I went out and bought a new hard drive but had the same issue. Large files copied get corrupted.
Then I tested other device and methods. If I copy via the Terminal (cp srcfile /Volumes/ShareName/dstfile) everything is fine. I've tried copying via other non-macOS devices as well as a macOS 11.6.4 MBP and they are all able to copy fine too.
Is this a known problem? Is there a fix? An SMB setting?
Note: I also noticed copying from the old 2014 MacOS 11.6.4 MBP is 1.5x to 2x faster than the 2021 M1 Max 12.3 MBP even though the new MBP is 2 meters from the WiFi AP and the old one is 10 meters away in another room. Not sure if that suggests something.

What device and OS is doing the sharing?

I just wanted to reply to say you aren't crazy. This is happening to me too, I'm glad you posted this. I for one am going to stop using SMB from a MacOS client and switch to scp/sftp.

I am experiencing the same problem. I thought I was going crazy. I hope someone finds a fix for this.

I just ran across this bug! We were able to work around it by using rsync instead of cp - that worked fine - but wow, did I feel like I was going insane.

I don't think this is limited to the M1s. I have an Early 2014 MacBook Air running BigSur 11.7.4. I regularly download "large files" from torrents to the MacBook and then copy the files over WiFi to SMB shares on my Synology box. I recently noticed that several large files I had transferred were corrupted, and even though they had shown 100% downloaded on the MacBook, a "recheck" in QBittorrent showed the same files were less than 100% after being moved to the SMB shares. I went back and rechecked other files that I had downloaded over the years, and it seems this has been an ongoing problem.

I've changed the settings on my Synology box to require SMB2 at a minimum instead of SMB1.  I'll see if that makes any difference going forward.  Maybe I'll have to up the minimum to SMB2 w/ large MTU or even SMB3.


text:
Why does data remain after disk erase and factory reset - macOS Monterey
I've tried to erase and factory reset my MacBook, using Erase All Content and Settings in System Preferences. However, after completing the operation, and configuring the MacBook again, I can find the previous accounts in Mail, passwords of the wifi and all the previous settings of the last configuration. Why does this happen?
I don't have any backup on iCloud, I've checked many times. Anyway I choose to configure as a new MacBook.
How can I be sure the MacBook has been formatted if I find all this information after Erasing All Content?
I have a MacBook with T2 chip.

Welcome to Ask Different. While configuring your MacBook, did you sign in with an Apple ID? If you did, that's most probably where Mail account information (and passwords, if Keychain sync was active) came from.

Thank you very much. Yes, while configuring again my Macbook I Sign In with Apple ID. However, I've just checked Keychain and is empty, no password are saved in it

Could you confirm that Keychain is enabled in System Preferences > Apple ID? Keychain may look empty on your Mac, but, as you write in your answer, it looks like it stores your Wi-Fi password. If you own an iPhone/iPad, is Keychain enabled in General > [your Apple ID] > iCloud? If that's the case, your Wi-Fi password, which is stored in Keychain, is synchronized with iCloud, and that's most certainly where your Mac got it from.


text:
how can you completely format the ssd disk and erase data in the MacBook - after cyberattack
Unfortunately, I had a cyber attack that took control of my browser, running background processes on my laptop. I have already Erased All Contents and Settings with these steps:

Open System Preferences
Click System Preferences in the menu bar > Erase All Contents and Settings

Can it be enough? Or do I need a more intensive formatting? In this case what could I do and how.
I have a MacBook Pro with T2 chip and Monterey.

According to Apple, that should be enough (from https://support.apple.com/HT212749): "macOS Monterey includes Erase All Content and Settings, a way to quickly and securely erase all of your settings, data, and apps, while maintaining the operating system currently installed. If your Mac includes this feature when using macOS Monterey, use it instead of other utilities to erase your Mac.". If you still feel that's not enough, you can erase the drive as explained here: https://support.apple.com/HT208496.

You're welcome, should I rewrite my comment into an answer so that you can accept it, or would you prefer to wait for others to chime in?

According to Apple, erasing your Mac with System Preferences > Erase All Contents and Settings...:

should be enough (from https://support.apple.com/HT212749):

macOS Monterey includes Erase All Content and Settings, a way to
quickly and securely erase all of your settings, data, and apps, while
maintaining the operating system currently installed. If your Mac
includes this feature when using macOS Monterey, use it instead of
other utilities to erase your Mac.

If you still feel that's not enough (or the option is not available because your Mac doesn't include an Apple T2 Security Chip), you can erase the drive as explained here:

Intel Macs: https://support.apple.com/HT208496
Apple Silicon Macs: https://support.apple.com/HT211814


text:
iTunes not syncing complete playlists to iPod classic
I have 1015 songs in the My Top Rated playlist on iTunes on my Mac.
Only 568 will sync to my iPod classic. I have checked that all the songs are 5 star rated and made sure that the "rules" state that only 5 star rated are to be included in the playlist.
I have turned off my iPod numerous times and restarted it. I have shut down iTunes on the computer and restarted it. I have tried to sync the iPod to iTunes many times using different USB ports thinking that might be a problem.

Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.

If you create a static playlist containing these 1015 songs and sync that list to the iPod, do all the tracks get synced?


text:
What's this service on macOS 12.3?
What is this service /usr/libexec/remotepairingdeviced??
NMAP
PORT      STATE SERVICE
49152/tcp open  unknown

lost -i :49152
COMMAND    PID USER   FD   TYPE             DEVICE SIZE/OFF NODE NAME
launchd      1 root   13u  IPv6 0xe6318e44a459c0dd      0t0  TCP *:49152 (LISTEN)
remotepai 1121 root    3u  IPv6 0xe6318e44a459c0dd      0t0  TCP *:49152 (LISTEN)

sudo ps xuwww -p 1121
root  1121   0.0  0.1 408230064   8464   ??  Ss    2:22PM   0:00.07 /usr/libexec/remotepairingdeviced

I only found this: https://keith.github.io/xcode-man-pages/remotepairingdeviced.1.html which I guess is the same as man remotepairingdeviced.

Did macOS create a firewall rule for this service automatically for you? Only noticed it after I updated and seen a blocking incoming connections rule had been added.

I did not check the firewall, time to time I nmap my networks (Devices) and noticed this service on first i thought it was trojan or something like that.
Therefore, no rule was added on my side.

According to its man page, it's:
DESCRIPTION
 A service that manages remote pairing.

So it's for managing the pairing of an Apple Remote. (Possibly other Bluetooth paired devices.)
In short: it's harmless and should be left alone.

I think you need to explain "remote pairing".

I wouldn’t mix the streams @Gilby simple answer to a simple question works best IMO. It would be better to ask what does this do as a new question so proper answers can be provided

Indeed that's what I wanted to know.


text:
iMac "pauses" every minute or so
I have an older (2010) iMac that has been running smoothly until a few weeks ago. Since then, the computer has started to "pause" in increasing frequency.
During the "pauses", the computer stops whatever it is doing – streaming a movie (the movie freezes), updating text that I type (the text cursor freezes), switching to a different tab or menu in an app (the view doesn't switch) – and seems stuck for about half a minute, then it continues and works normally for another few minutes. While the computer pauses, I can still move the mouse pointer nomally and even switch to another app by clicking on its window. Switching to another app by keyboard shortcut doesn't work. Sometimes I can, and sometimes I cannot use this other app normally for a brief period before it "pauses" also. Usually all open apps are stuck in this way at the same time. Sometimes, the spinning beachball appears.
I have already erased the hard drive and reinstalled the system (the most recent version this iMac is compatible with is 10.13), but the problem persists, so it must be hardware related or system software related. The mouse is connected by a USB cable, the keyboard by Bluetooth, which might have something to do with the mouse working during the "pause".
The "pauses" have increased in frequency. At first, a few weeks ago, it was just a streaming movie "hanging" every couple of minutes, and I thought it was due to a network problem (e.g. the streaming server being overloaded), but two days ago the "pause" began to happen every minute or so, and the frequency hasn't dropped since then.
Anyone know what the problem might be and what I might try to do?

does the fan spin up? sounds like some sort of serious thermal throttle, especially a Mac of that age, try giving the fans a clean and replace thermal paste if you know how to

I would point to a failing drive as the culprit. The two 2010 models of iMac came standard with a spinning disk (21" iMac with 500GB, 1 or 2 TB; 27" iMac with 1 or 2TB and/or 256GB SSD.) At 12 years of age, this iMac is a bit long in the tooth (for healthy spinning disks, that is.) You should make a backup right away (if you don't already) and consider replacing the internal HD(s) ASAP!

@NathanEllis No, the fans don't spin up. The computer doesn't feel warmer to the touch than usually, either.

@IconDaemon I found a related question that seems to confirm your hunch: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/17160/imac-freezing-intermittently-every-few-minutes-how-can-i-fix-this Luckily I have been backing up everything continually, so at least my data is safe.

It sounds like Bluetooth may be implicated in the failure chain. Do you have a USB keyboard that you can try using and turn Bluetooth off completely?

@pion Yeah, thank you, I thought of this. The problem seems to at least get better, when I turn Bluetooth off. I don't have a USB keyboard, so I couldn't properly test this. I just watched half an hour of a movie with Bluetooth off, and the problem seemed to have disappeared, but when I turned it on again, the problem didn't reappear until this morning, so I'm not sure. I need to find a USB keyboard and test this for a few days to be sure.


text:
Website with database of users reporting compatibility between macOS version and software versions
A couple of years ago, when I wanted to install Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 under macOS 10.13, I found a website on which users could report whether or not a certain software version worked for them under a certain OS version. It was a huge database, listing many different applications, and very helpful. On it, many users reported using software that Apple or the software manufacturers claimed were not compatible. Unfortunately I cannot find the site again. If it is still online, does anyone know the URL to this site?

Here is one such site - the quality of the records here, I'm not sure:
https://roaringapps.com


text:
Taking the first 7 characters of a folder name and appending it
I have a lot of folders named the same way with the year at the start and I would like to somehow move the year to the end of the folder name
For example, current folder name:
(1999) Robert Wyatt - EPs
and I would like it to be:
Robert Wyatt - EPs (1999)
When searching I find a lot of answering with the rename command but it isn't recognised on Mac
What tools and techniques can accomplish this?

Short shell script
Run
for s in *; do
    t=$(sed -E 's/^(\([[:digit:]]{4}\)) (.*)/\2 \1/' <<< $s)
    [[ "$s" != "$t" ]] && mv "$s" "$t"
done

in the directory containing the directories to be renamed.
Install rename
You can install rename via Homebrew with brew install rename.
Use a simple rename.pl
Create a little perl script yourself:
#!/usr/bin/perl
# Usage: rename perlexpr [files]

($op = shift) || die "Usage: rename perlexpr [filenames]\n";

chomp(@ARGV = <STDIN>) unless @ARGV;

for (@ARGV) {
    $was = $_;
    eval $op;
    die $@ if $@;
    rename($was,$_) unless $was eq $_;
}

Thank you! I appreciate the info re: Homebrew, it helps make sense of a lot of other stuff. Pearl scrip is way over my head though, but thanks for believing in me

@johndoe You just need to save it as a text file named rename, run chmod +x rename and then execute it :-)

I am sure you could do what you want with a script in Terminal, but much easier to use A Better Finder Rename.
This apps as a wide range to rename tricks, but something like this would do what you want:

Note the app is $25, but you can try it first.  I am a happy user, nothing to do with the developer.

This application has been awesome for a long time. Highly endorsed for this task

this looks perfect, thanks so much! I had tried 'Renamer' and 'NameChanger' but neither had the options I needed. Downloading now, thanks again

Paste this following AppleScript code into a new Script Editor.app document.  Running the code in Script Editor will take all of the currently selected folders in the frontmost Finder window and re-name the selected folders by removing the date and parentheses from the beginning to the end of the folder name.
NOTE: If any of the selected folders' names in Finder don't start with a "(", or any of the selected items is not a folder... then the script won't rename that item.
tell application "Finder" to set theFolders to selection as alias list

tell application "System Events"
    repeat with i in theFolders
        if name of i starts with "(" then if kind of i = "Folder" then
            set originalName to name of i
            tell me to set newName to (characters 8 thru -1 of originalName) ¬
                & space & characters 1 thru 6 of originalName as string
            set name of i to newName
        end if
    end repeat
end tell

After testing this code a few times on some currently selected folders in the frontmost Finder window, and you are happy with the results... You can create a new Automator Quick Action and add a Run AppleScript command and insert the above code to it.  Then save your new Automator Quick Action.

After you save your new Automator Quick Action, it will be available to use in Finder when you right click on the selected folders, in the Quick Actions menu.  You will also be able to assign a keyboard shortcut in System Preferences to run the Quick Action on selected folders in Finder.


text:
Why are photos in iCloud storage as well as iCloud backups for each device?
My partner and I both have an iPhone and iPad.
My photos are in iCloud and iCloud backup is enabled for both devices.  Photos are not included in the backups as expected.
My partners photos are in iCloud and as distinct to the configuration on my device backups, hers includes and item for backing up the photo library.  When this is turn on for each device the backup grows very large due to including the photos and prevents the backup from being taken.  When this is disabled iCloud tells us that photo storage has been disabled and will be deleted in 30 days.
I’ve deleted both device backups and created them from scratch with the backup photo library option turned off.  Both devices show that photos are in iCloud, yet when I connect to iCloud from my PC it continues to count down the days to when photos will be deleted from iCloud storage.
How do we keep photo storage enabled in iCloud and avoid having photos included in each device backup?

A relevant thread: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/280464/are-photos-still-backed-up-in-icloud-backup-even-if-icloud-photo-library-is-off


text:
Downgrade AirPods firmware
I have a pair of gen 1 airpods which have stopped working since a certain firmware update. They will not receive any more updates as they are already deprecated.
The thing is that they are unusable now as they disconnect after barely a minute of listening. I have seen this problem happen to lots of people on the internet and there is no solution still, only buying the new ones.
Factory reset and pairing them again doesn't solve it.
What I wanted to try is to manually install a previous version of the firmware and I wanna know if it is possible to do it

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to manually install a specific version of the AirPods firmware. As @benwiggy as, you should take them into an Apple Store.
Those AirPods are still eligible for warranty (though unlikely) and out of warranty service.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624


text:
How to regain admin privileges on Big Sur
I'm using Big Sur and renamed my admin account. Now it has been downgraded to a standard account. There are other admin accounts on the system, so backing everything up and reinstalling wouldn't work. I can't use single user mode because that doesn't exist anymore. Removing .AppleSetupDone, for some weird reason, does not work either.
How else should I try to regain my admin privileges?

If you have other admin accounts, why not re-add admin rights from one of those?

Those aren't mine.

Why can‘t you just ask one of the other users then?

They're not nearby.

Hopefully the absent admin get back to you sooner than you decide to wipe the Mac and start over.
In the mean time, you can try the normal “forgot” steps in case you remember or have access to any alternate unlock methods to override an admin account.

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

My hunch is you’re trying to remove a non-existent .AppleSetupDone file from the data volume and didn’t realize or accommodate for the Big Sur system volume being immutable / sealed.

A possible solution is to boot from a recovery drive (like a USB stick), using any UN*X system (Linux, MacOS, *BSD, etc). However, I recommend a MacOS installer if your drive is encrypted by FileVault.
So after you have gained have full access to the drive (eh, you are root :), you just have to create a new user account with full privileges.
However, be careful: this is not a trivial thing to do, and you better have a sysadmin at hand for helping you through it.

Just to confirm, this won't mess with any accounts, right?

Absolutely: this does create a new user account, with admin privileges. Your account and files are not modified.


text:
Is there a way to update macOS offline?
I am using a MacBook offline. Is it possible to Air Drop the latest version of the OS or something to this machine so that I can update it offline?

YES
On another Mac go here
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-monterey/id1576738294?mt=12
Or you could just search "macOS" on the app store if you prefer.
Click on the "GET" (or install...) link for "macOS Monterey" and let it download in full. You will know it is downloaded when the macOS installer runs and presents its opening screen, don't do anything with the running installer!
Go to your Applications folder and drag the "Install macOS Monterey" app onto a flash drive. Once that is done, quit the installer.
The installer will likely still be in Applications, you can keep it or trash it as you prefer.
Plug the flash drive into the Mac to be upgraded and launch the installer. You can copy it to the HD first or run the installer right off the flash drive, either should work fine.

Does the macOS installer tie itself to an AppleID like most applications do?

the macOS Installer does not associate with a particular Apple ID as it is free and can be installed (legally) on any Apple branded computer.

For macOS versions up to 10.15, update packages are available directly from Apple: https://support.apple.com/downloads/macos

For macOS 11+, you'll only have access to "full" installers. (Some lists of direct links are available, e.g. https://mrmacintosh.com/macos-12-monterey-full-installer-database-download-directly-from-apple/.) After running those, an Install macOS Monterey.app application shows up in /Applications, which you can then use for updating.
From my testing though, this installer still needs access to the internet. Even if you run /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Ventura.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia to create a bootable USB drive.
Apple documentation says:

A bootable installer doesn't download macOS from the internet, but it does require an internet connection to get firmware and other information specific to the Mac model.

Potential things to investigate, though these haven't worked for me:

the Hackintosh install processes seem to get around this by manually repacking + reconstructing the install .dmg [1], or
manually unpacking SharedSupport.dmg [2].
putting those modified .app installers onto a USB drive, to do a reboot + boot-from-USB install.
following some of the disable MDM notifications steps, since you need to disable internet access at some point in the macOS install (seems to be after the final reboot/before the country select screen though, which means the system is still accessing the internet)

Thanks, I couldn't figure out why I downloaded a 12GB file and ran it and it finished in 3 seconds without updating my machine.  Looking in the Applications folder solved it!

you can sort of get around the need-for-internet by installing macOS to an external drive, then "restoring" the drive image to internal drive with Disk Utility, but that's really not an update.


text:
Apple Photo's Library from Mojave to Monterey looks stuck on updating
I have a Mini Mac running on Mojave. On an external drive I have my Photo Library saved. I don't use iCloud for Photo's.
Now I have a MacBook Air too. Running on Monterey. From this MacBook Air I opened Photos holding the Option-button to be able to choose my Library-location on the external drive. It started updating and said 87% done. It took a long time and the percentage done didn't seem to grow. I stopped the Photos app thinking something went wrong.
Because of thinking something went wrong I tried opening it again on my MiniMac Mojave. (Of course) It didn't work. Tried it with opening Photos holding down CMD+Option-buttons to be able to recover the Library. (Of course) This also didn't work.
Started it again on the MacBook Air Monterey and now it looks to be stuck on 0%.... For now I keep it open and letting the Photos app running.
Did anything go extremely wrong here? Can I do something to fix this?

I found this https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/431752/photos-updating-library-is-stuck-library-seems-bricked/441273?noredirect=1#comment636474_441273
It seems like this is a solution I could use. But now I don't know how to use Disk Utility and find my external harddrive. The Library is put in a directory on this disk. Just as well is this external harddrive used for Windows-stuff. Not software, just files.


text:
Cannot make WhatsApp calls on WIFI on iOS 15 : local network access required, but WhatsApp absent from the apps list
WhatsApp on iPhone is currently unable to successfully complete a voice call. The incoming call is notified by the usual ringtone and answer controls on the screen, but upon answering the call, nothing can be heard. Several seconds later, the call is cancelled, and a dialogue briefly appears, instructing me to give local network access to WhatsApp, by going. into iOS Settings > Privacy > local network, and allow access:

Here is the issue however: WhatsApp is not present in the list of apps, so I cannot toggle the switch to “enable “:

I have tried two things:

reinstalling WhatsApp, hoping that would reset things, and cause it
to ask for permission again
resetting the privacy settings: Settings > General > Transfer or Reset
iPhone > Reset > Reset Location & privacy
checked this question: iPhone 7 running iOS 14.3 can't make WhatsApp calls over WiFi

But the dialogue did not show, and WIFI calls still fail.
The WIFI connection itself is fine (other network activities such as email and web browsing, work fine). WhatsApp calls work fine on cellular data, and the chat function works ok on both WIFI and cellular data.
How can prompt an app to ask again for local network access?
... and/or
is there any way of adding a specific app to that list in the local network settings?
iOS version: 15.4.1
WhatsApp version: 2.22.8.75


text:
Accessing a Whatsapp backup on iCloud Drive (Windows)
I am trying to retrieve a Whatsapp backup file that is stored on iCloud. I have found this thread which explains how to do that with a Macbook: accessing whatsapp icloud backup
I have a pc with Windows 10 so I installed iCloud drive on it, then tried to look for any hidden files from the command line, but I cannot find anything (used dir /a:h). When I click on the storage button in the icloud window, I can see there is 186MB for Whatsapp, which I think corresponds to the backup I am looking for.
Any advice on how I could access that Whatsapp backup file? Ultimately, I am trying to download the file, then will try to use a third-party software to try to load back in a new phone.
Thanks!


text:
Get MacBook Pro M1 to consistantly order 2 identical monitors
I have an M1 MacBook Pro. I have two 27" HP E27u G4 monitors each connected directly to it via USB-C cables.
Every time the Mac sleeps (turns off the displays?), when I wake it up it will randomly assign one monitor to the left and one to the right. Meaning, 50% of the time I have to go into System Preferences and manually swap the position of the monitors.
The same thing happens if I disconnect and reconnect them even though I always reconnect them in the same order (first left monitor -> top usb-c port, then right monitor -> bottom usb-c port) on the side of the mac that has 2 usb-c ports.
How can I get the Mac to remember the order of the monitors?

This is a known problem and I have no answer. I gave up waiting for Apple's fix and use displayplacer, which I'll keep as a comment rather than an Answer as it's a command-line utility and "quickly undoes" rather than "actually fixes" the problem.

@JoelReid Even a workaround or "undo fix" is a solution and suitable for an answer.

@JoelReid more, please? "Known problem": to whom? To Apple? Just to you? Any link to where it is documented? Is there a bug report number? And: is it in the hardware? The firmware? The OS?  Does it affect MacBook Pros with intel CPUs, or just with Apple Silicon?  That, plus how you use Displayplacer to work around the problem, would be a very interesting answer. Please share!

Similar question: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/360624/macbook-pro-w-usb-c-and-multiple-monitors-occasionally-swap-non-main-screens

@gman Do you have any update on this issue, any new solution that isn't mentioned here yet?

@SegFault, no and in fact I've run into issues even with non-identical monitors. It seems MacOS often forgets the display settings I was using. I'm just guessing Apple doesn't care about users like US. 99% of their users don't use external monitors and 99.99% of their users don't use 2 external monitors so it's a low priority to fix.

@gman Thanks for the update. Let's hope that enough people use http://apple.com/feedback for them to put some actual "Pro" into the OS.

@gman It sounds like a timing issue, if Apple doesn't fix it we need a way to delay detection of the second display, a kernel hack, a display firmware option, an HDMI or DP adapter... Doesn't sound easy.

I suffer from a very similar problem. My MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021), with Apple M1 Max CPU and macOS Monterey 12.6, is similarly unreliable about assigning the left and right external monitors. They are both BenQ EX2780Q models. In my case, the Mac gets it right about 80% of the times it awakes from sleep. When it gets it wrong, I have a couple of workarounds which are usually effective. But it is very annoying.
My two monitors are side-by-side, above the MacBook Pro's built-in display. The left-hand monitor connects via Thunderbolt 3 cable to a Thunderbolt port on the left of the MacBook Pro. The right-hand monitor connects via an HDMI cable to an HDMI port on the right of the MacBook Pro. Normally, the Display Preferences UI labels the left-hand monitor "BenQ EX2780Q (1)", and the right-hand monitor "BenQ EX2780Q (2)".
What I observe is that, when the Mac wakes from sleep, or wakes the monitors from sleep after I have not used them in a while, there is a period of 5-15 seconds when the displays show messages or images, then go black, then display images again. Eventually both monitors show desktop images. I can move my pointer from built-in display to display (1) to display (2). About 80% of the time, the Mac picks the left-hand monitor to be display (1), and the right to be display (2). The rest of the time, it reverses this assignment.
I can tell which outcome I have, even before I enter my password to remove the display lock, by moving my pointer upwards from the built-in MacBook display to display (1). When things are correct, the pointer arrives on the left-hand monitor. When things are wrong, it arrives on the right-hand monitor.
In Display Preferences, macOS always depicts display (1) on the left and display (2) on the right, even when it has got them swapped in real life. I can confirm this by displaying different desktop images on each monitor. The Display Preferences UI shows the desktop images.
My primary workaround is, when the displays awake and before I enter my password to the display lock, to move the pointer up and sideways. This lets me tell if the displays are assigned in reverse. If they are, I press the "Cancel" button (or press the Escape key), and the displays go back to sleep. I wait a second and try again. It seems like the Mac rolls the dice on mis-assigning the displays each time it wakes. But, it has a bias to keep the assignment it currently has, even if it is wrong. Sometimes, the second try is correct. Sometimes I need to try 10 times.
If that fails, my second workaround is to unplug the cable to my right-hand monitor, the one I want to be display (2). Then I wake up the Mac. It has no choice but to make my left-hand monitor be display (1). Then I plug in the cable to my right-hand monitor. It becomes display (2), as I want it to be. The downside of this trick is that, once I unlock my screen, I usually discover that my application windows are on the wrong display.
I tried using displayplacer. It is "a command line utility to configure multi-display resolutions and arrangements." I got it via MacPorts. Displayplacer lets you assign display rotation, resolution, and relative position, using ID numbers which are supposed to be unique and unchanging. For instance, you could command (I shortened id numbers and added line breaks for clarity):
displayplacer "id:1817…1F30+F466…DECD res:1440x900 scaling:on origin:(0,0) degree:0"
  "id:4C40…22BB res:768x1360 hz:60 color_depth:8 scaling:off origin:(1440,0) degree:90"
  "id:A46D2F5E-487B-CC69-C588-ECFD519016E5 mode:3 origin:(-1440,0) degree:270"

What disappointed me about displayplacer is that those ID numbers are not attached to the physical monitors. Instead, they appear attached to macOS's idea of "display (1)" and "display (2)". When macOS reverses the assignments, it reverses the relationship of ID number to physical monitor as well. I suppose I could come up with two scripted invocations of displayplacer: one to reverse relative positions of the displays in response to macOS reversing the assignments, and one to correctly position the displays in response to macOS later getting the assignments right. I will leave someone else to write the answer which shows how to do this.

Is it not also a workaround to exchange the positions of the two external displays in System Preferences?

Using Display Preferences is a clever idea, but it does not solve the underlying problems. 1. When the problem occurs, Display Preferences shows the external displays incorrectly: right hand display on the left, and vice versa. 2. If I move the displays in Preferences, the names don't change, so now name "Display (2)" will be on the left and name "Display (1)" will be on the right. 3. The windows seem to follow the display names, so windows which should be on the right display will be on the left, and vice versa.

Of course, now it clicked, it's because macOS flips both the relative layout of the displays and their content while the change in System Preferences only affects the layout, i.e. at which edge the mouse cursor transitions. How unfortunate. Now I'm not so sure about getting a second display.

In case you haven't told Apple about this problem you might consider visiting https://www.apple.com/feedback/


text:
Stop facetime video pausing when switching spaces
When I facetime call from my macbook (macOS Mojave) how can I stop the facetime video from turning off when I switch spaces (especially to full-screened apps, especially Safari)?

The only workaround I have found for this is to assign FaceTime to All Desktops.  In the Dock, right-click on the FaceTime app icon and under Options, assign it to All Desktops.  This really shouldn't be necessary and Apple should fix this in FaceTime.  It does appear that the desktop assignment persists even after quitting FaceTime, so that helps.
EDIT: You must have multiple spaces already created for the All Desktops option to be available.

That doesn't seem to exist for me. The only Options are Keep in Dock, Open at Login, Show in Finder

@theonlygusti - interesting.  I have multiple monitors, so perhaps those options are only available when using multiple monitors.  When I tested, I switched between spaces on a single monitor using FaceTime and it worked (while I had multiple monitors active).  But I have not tried this when using only a single screen with no other monitors connected. At a minimum, I would expect you need to have already created two spaces.

@theonlygusti - This apple support page seems to indicate you need only have multiple spaces and not multiple monitors: https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/work-in-multiple-spaces-mh14112/12.0/mac/12.0

This is all i can see https://i.stack.imgur.com/87oVi.png

Oh nevermind, I found it if I make a new Desktop. Sorry, I can see that you wrote that but I didn't quite understand that previously. I'll see if this works on my next call, thanks for the help so far.

It doesn't work when I switch to a full-screened app.


text:
Google Maps Lists only visible in Web Version not in Mobile App (Mac/Apple)
after switching to a new iPhone (11 max pro), all my lists with saved places are gone on my phone but they are still there in my Google account when I access maps via Web.
On top of that, the minute I create a NEW list on my phone, then close and open the app, the list is gone again. But it is there on when I access google maps via a computer.
Only things I can save are "Favorits" "Want to go", "Label", "Marked sopts", "Travel plans" but no lists.
Can anyone help?:-)

In Google Maps for iOS, the 'lists' are available under the 'saved' tab at the bottom. You may need to scroll down a bit though.


text:
How to stop FaceTime making other apps quieter?
When I FaceTime call from my Macbook, how can I prevent it from making other apps quieter?
I want to play audio through my speakers at the same volume as always.
FaceTime calls lower system volume doesn't work anymore

Possibly related: FaceTime calls lower system volume

There are several answers there, and a (slightly hidden) remark on having to disable SIP to make it work. So what exactly have you tried, how did it fail?


text:
Delete a photo in whatsapp but not the message that contains it
Because I turned off Media Auto-Download in Storage and Data in WhatsApp's settings, when photos arrive they are blurry and I can choose to download them.

image 1
After downloading them, I can see the photos in original resolution.

image 2
How can I delete my local copies, and return the chat to its previous state (image 1)?
Deleting the image from the chat, and deleting the image from WhatsApp's Settings > Storage and Data > Manage Storage, deletes the entire message for me and it looks like this afterwards:

image 3
But I want to go from image 2 to image 1, I don't want to lose the:

text attached to the images
the image previews
ability to download the images again

It should be as if I hadn't tapped download yet.


text:
How to disable the wired connection
I want to keep my MacBook from going online. I know how to disable wifi.
Can I prevent my MacBook from connecting to the internet if a LAN cable is plugged into it?

To change these preferences on your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, click Network , then select an Ethernet service in the list on the left.
If there’s a lock  at the bottom left of the Network pane, click it to unlock the preference pane.
Source


text:
How to stop system audio from being lower when in a FaceTime call?
How can I keep all other apps the same volume as normal when I am in a FaceTime call? On macOS Monterey
Leaving SIP enabled

The best solution for this is to route the audio through a third party app.
I prefer Rogue Amoeba loopback for this need.

https://rogueamoeba.com/loopback/

Never tried it for anything like this, but I wonder if SoundSource [same company] might be a cheaper alternative. As far as I'm aware, both come with free trials to test.

Yea! @Tetsujin I should try just that on a new build.

I have it on an M1 iMac on Monterey, but I'd never thought to check this particular functionality, as we just shut all other sound off when using FT.

Please edit my answer here and also the linked answer with your results :)

Oh. It just mutes all audio anyway as soon as you initiate a call. [well, saves me having to shut everything up manually in future;) I'd never tested it before, as I have absolutely no desire to have any other 'noise' going on whilst on a call. This iMac has only one mic/speaker source, built-in. idk what might happen if routing was to another device.


text:
In 2022, how feasible is it to carry a cellular Apple Watch without my iPhone?
Today, I carry my iPhone and GPS-only Apple Watch everywhere I go. I've realized that I don't really need my phone for 99% of tasks. My Watch is enough to complete those. These tasks are:

Receive iMessages & send short replies
Receive email notifications (built-in Mail app) and reply
View & manage lists (e.g. shopping lists) in Reminders
Occasionally view the locations of loved ones in Find My

For a variety of reasons, I'd love to leave my iPhone at home on most outings. I'm considering getting an LTE Apple Watch, but the documentation I can find is oddly vague about what I could do without carrying my phone:

Apple - Use your Apple Watch without your iPhone nearby, oddly no mention of email or even "notifications" in general
Reddit, 2021 - Can’t get new mail on Apple Watch via cellular (both Mail app AND Outlook), claims they can send email but not receive (huh?), single answer claims that's normal behavior.
Apple Forums - Cellular Apple Watch E-Mail when iphone is off [2020] and Sending and Receiving email with only Apple Watch Series 3 [2017] suggest you can send & receive email, as long as the paired phone is switched on (but not necessarily with you).

Overall, this not encouraging towards a cellular Apple Watch as a basic connectivity replacement for a phone, but reports are mixed and some are pretty old.
Is anyone here able to give first-hand reports of how well connectivity - especially email, as that seems to be the pain point - works on a cellular Apple Watch with its paired phone left at home?

So you have an Apple watch? What happens on the day you left your phone at home?

@SolarMike My Apple Watch is GPS-only, so I can't properly test this (unless someone says functionality on WiFi sans-phone is identical to cellular, but that's not the vibe I get from docs).

I choose cellular on my  watch and dropped it on my iPad about 4 years ago (one was well worth the cost, the other not so much for me). I’ve had both devices without cellular and with cellular, so this is a good question to have.

I’ve never had a case where the watch has let me down yet. I rarely carry my phone for trips around my neighborhood and almost always leave my wallet home as well.
On some backcountry trips, I’ve had my watch connect before the phone which is not something I would have guessed based on antenna size and power of the battery and CPU.
The only reason I need a iPhone or iPad is:

a physical keyboard
app I can’t manage with Siri and airpods
a larger screen

Nothing substantial has changed negatively in this regard since series 3 so my presumption is people just have software / server issues or coverage issues. There is no arguing that the smaller screen is limiting as the fewer troubleshooting or logs you can access only from the watch, but Apple support should be able to help anyone with these issues get the logs later when you are home or on wifi to diagnose issues that will crop   up with any networked computer.
On the plus side, battery life, screen brightness, additional sensors, speed and quality of apps are all substantially better than 5 years ago.
The things you mention are things cellular and Apple Watch do very well - I prefer my watch over an iPhone or iPad for many tasks, especially reminders and prompt messaging and status checks.


text:
What color filter does Night Shift apply?
On iOS 15 what color filter does Night Shift apply?
I would like to be able to edit a normal photo on my MacBook and make it look like it would if it were displayed on an iPhone that has night shift turned on. How can I perfectly apply the same color filter that this setting does?

according to Apple the colors of the display are shifted to warmer colors. Depending on the software you use to process or edit your pictures you can change “warmth”

For example, the Snapseed app has a Warmth option within the Tune Image tool, and the native Photos app has a Cast slider within the Color editing option.

You can do this directly in Apple Photos on your Mac.

@slartibartfast that doesn't look the same

Night Shift certainly moves the color spectrum from cooler (blue) towards warmer (yellow). Maybe you refer to True Tone?

Night shift alone does blue light reduction - color temperature ranges from about 5000K during the day to going down to 1900K during the night.


text:
Mac OS X Tiger installation on VirtualBox freezes at verbose command line
I'm trying to install Mac OS X 10.4 on VirtualBox, but no matter how hard I try, it keeps freezing at the verbose mode command line after:
Got boot
device = IOService:/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCIO@1e0000/AppleACPIPCI/pci8086,2829@1F,2/AppleAHCI.PRTO@0/IOACHIDevice@0/IOACHISerialATAPI/IOSCSIPeripheralDeviceNub/IOSCSIPeripheralDeviceType05/IODVDServices/IODVDBlockStorageDriver/VBOX
BSD root: disk 0s3, major 14, minor 2

The attached screenshot (below)shows the problem. Does anyone know how to fix it?
P.S. the installation image is an x86 version of Tiger
Update 07/02/22: Today, I modified the VM settings and tried the installation again, but this time, instead of it freezing after the aforementioned code, I got a kernel panic at the command line, AND THEN it froze! This is really, REALLY bad!
Update 07/06/22: My dad gave me his iBook and PowerBook because he had no use of any of them anymore, so I decided to install Tiger on both of them and it worked perfectly (yay!). No need for a VM anymore!

Tiger isn't licensed for virtualisation [though I doubt anyone would really care these days] but precisely what version of 10.4? Before 10.4.4 there was no Intel Mac, so it's PPC only.

Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.

These VMware instructions https://www.downtowndougbrown.com/2017/10/virtualizing-mac-os-x-10-4-with-vmware/ suggest you probably need a 10.4.10 DVD that came with a MacBookPro3,1. But maybe VirtualBox is more forgiving.

@Gilby Okay, so you suggested that I use a Mac OS X install DVD image that came with another Mac machine to install Tiger. What you're talking about is that you suggested that I would use a grey Mac OS X install disc that came with a MacBook Pro 3,1. Grey install discs that were bundled with other Mac machines fail to install when you try to use them on Mac machines other than the one they came with. A disk image of the retail Tiger install disc doesn't work on VirtualBox as it only works on PowerPC, so I found an x86 image of Tiger that supports VirtualBox and used it to install Tiger.

Edit: Here is the Archive.org link I used to get the x86 image of Tiger that supports VirtualBox: : https://archive.org/details/mac-os-x-10.4.8-ja-s-amd-intel-sse-2-sse-3-with-ppf-1-ppf-2


text:
How to change note values in Logic Pro score editor
When I'm working in the score editor, how can I increase and decrease the duration of the currently selected note?
I.e. from semibreve > minim > crotchet > quaver, and back the other way.

Logic Pro > Window > Open Event List (Cmd 7)
In the event list you will see all the notes and more. Each written note is allocated a length a fraction shorter than the written note. Change the length of one or more notes (all the notes you have selected). Set up a test score, place one note and play with that to get used to how control note lengths, placement and more.
If you have recorded the score by playing a MIDI instrument, the placement and lengths of notes are exactly as you played them, which does not look as tidy in the event list, although you can quantise them if you wish.

With the note selected in the score editor, open the inspector and you should see an "Event" tab.
In the event tab there is a "Length" parameter that you can edit.
The "Length" value is a space separated list of numbers for "bars", "beats, "ticks"
You can also see the "Length" value in the event float [Window->show Event Float]
You can either edit the values directly or click hold and drag up or down on either of the components.


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view or test mini sites locally in Safari browser with relative source references iPad iOS 15.x and higher
Project goal:
Publish on iPad html/css static multi page site, external style sheet, images, and maybe animated GIF clips or very short videos.
This must run offline from iPad Files storage no calls to server.
Problem:
Apple at some point disabled the ability to open local files in Safari. This means you cannot open an HTML file with relative src references such as img src= or <link rel="stylesheet" href=".
You can only "open" or view the file via the Files app on iPad.
I have tried to hack around this for previewing my work via developer mode, cabled iPad as an exercise in futility.
Current Project state and or Limitation:
"Publish" or saved single file HTML document to the iPad.
View file in Safari - Unable
File-name.html view via iOS Files app
Files app renders the html file with only the internal text and internal header contained CSS styling.
Files app fails to load all relative source references such as
Is there a iOS app available that will load and run a static site essentially just like any browser normally would on MacOS desktop environment ?
A MacOS application that would essentially export a whole multi page mini site as a webarchive if you will that Safari on iPad would render correctly ?
Maybe some Adobe Acrobat Pro functionality and or InDesign etc that would export some type of PDF chunk that would render as planned either in Safari or Acrobat Reader just like it should in the first place.....
Apple seriously smh
Thanks.

Something like https://apps.apple.com/ch/app/worldwideweb-mobile/id1623006812 ?

If this doesn’t solve your problem, please edit the question to provide more focus on the problem you want to solve.

Thanks nohillside gets me 99% there on initial 5 minutes of rough testing with iPad Pro 11 inch 3rd Gen 15.5. - <img src= relative ref tests good
Of course the app would have to be installed for all motivated users plus step by step screen shot style instructions...
It is a free app , stunningly so, thanks Craig Hockenberry
https://blog.iconfactory.com/2022/06/worldwideweb-part-2/
https://apps.apple.com/ch/app/worldwideweb-mobile/id1623006812?platform=ipad


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My macbook doesn't turn on by attempting lot of times
I am having a issue with my Macbook where it doesn't turn on (power-on) randomly, And turns on randomly by attempting lot of times to open it, what issues could I be possibly be facing? My laptop is heating up but but no signs of turning on.

How old is it? TBH, it sounds like a hardware problem -- either the power management on the logic board, or the battery. Take it to an Apple Store, or other authorised Apple repair shop (or any local repair shop that says they'll do Macs) -- in that order!

When it does power on, you might try Apple Diagnostics to see what information is returned.

Please edit this once you’ve followed https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204267

You can try resetting the SMC
How to reset the SMC of your Mac
or running diagnostics
Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac
Barring that as others have suggested this probably requires hardware support.


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Used Disk Utility to Format a Flash Drive as exFAT but Returns as NTFS
I format a flash drive as exFAT on macOS (M1 Pro) but after the format, diskutil list shows the partition as NTFS and it also shows up as NTFS on OpenBSD and Linux. This is strange and I’m not sure what is happening

What does mount -t exfat show?

Are you sure you formatted the correct drive?

If the flash drive is using the Master Boot Record partition map, then an ExFAT formatted partition will be given the ID of 7. A NTFS formatted partition is also given an ID of 7. The TYPE column output from the diskutil list command uses character strings to identify IDs. The ID of 7 has been assigned the string Windows_NTFS. This does not mean the partition is necessarily formatted NTFS. In your case, the partition is formatted ExFAT.
Below is part of the output from diskutil list taken from my Mac.
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        +16.0 GB    disk1
   1:               Windows_NTFS MyFlash                 16.0 GB    disk1s1

This output shows the drive has an identifier of disk1 and the ExFAT formatted partition has the identifier of disk1s1. Below is the output from the command fdisk /dev/disk1 which shows the ID is 7.
Disk: /dev/disk1    geometry: 1945/255/63 [31250063 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -   31250062] HPFS/QNX/AUX
 2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
 3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
 4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused

Below is the output from the command diskutil info disk1s1 | grep Personality which shows the partition is ExFAT formatted.
   File System Personality:  ExFAT

References

List of partition IDs


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How do I add music to an iPhone from a Mac laptop without replacing the library on either device?
I am trying to add music from a laptop running MacOS 12.4 to an iPhone 7 running 15.5. When I try to do this no matter which options I select, I get a message saying that syncing the two devices will replace media on another library, I guess because I can only sync with one computer at a time? (I already synced another iPhone.) Is there a way around this?

Hi, welcome to Ask Different. Is your iPhone set to be manually synced?

@JaimeSantaCruz Thanks Jaime. Do you mind telling me or sharing a link for how to do that?

Nevermind, it presents you with the same problem. @Tetsujin it's right.

iTunes/Music will only sync tunes from the library it's connected to. Swap computers, swap libraries, it will not merge, it will overwrite. It may play havoc with other things you expect to sync too, photos etc.
The only way to achieve what you want is to get all the tunes onto the Mac it is normally synced to.

Thanks, so there's no other way around this like a third party app etc?

Third party apps can pull an entire backup then pick it apart, so long as you have the right passwords. None of them can really push/pull data  to & from an iPhone [other than simple 'files/documents' to sandboxed areas, which you can already do with iTunes, email or airdrop etc] - that would be a serious security concern. You really don't want to try syncing a phone to more than one Mac, even if you own them both.


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What is the user 'mobile' for on iPad?
I just sshed to a jailbroken iPad(Pro 3, iOS 14.2), and found other than root and daemon, there's an existing user mobile, which seems to come with the system. I was wondering

what the user is for?
if I do not change the password, can others ssh to my device with this account?
if I do change the password, can it mess with the normal system operation?

mobile is the default Non-Privileged user for the device. This user is for using the terminal when you do not need escalated privileges for everything (i.e. root). Since it is an existing user, I would recommend changing it and all other default passwords you haven't changed yet as that is a security risk. Your system will function all the same, just make sure you remember the password if you ever need to get back in!
I would also like to note that is it better practice to login to the non-privileged user account and escalate to root as needed.


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How to make notification but no noise when timer goes off?
Using the timer in the clock app, how can I make it so that there is a notification and maybe even vibration, but no noise, when the timer goes off? All the options I can see are for audible ringtones. When I change it to "stop playing" there is no notification either.

You could add your own ringtone (I have a "5 seconds of silence" tone exactly for this).

@nohillside can I do that using only my phone? I found a guide for adding ringtones to iPhone that uses iTunes on a computer, but i dont have that rn

Has been a while (and I probably synced from a computer). Support.apple.com might have a document explaining how it works.

This website describes a way to create a ringtone using only your iPhone.
I achieved a silent timer on iOS 15.6 using GarageBand 2.3.12.

Download Apple's GarageBand app free of cost.

Open the app and scroll through the start screen until you see 'Audio Recorder', open this new project.

Use the red record button up top to record for a short moment (stop by pressing the button again), we will make it silent later. Ensure that the recording stays under 40 seconds.

Open the track controls (icon showing three mixing board sliders in the top left). In the output panel move the track volume slider all the way to the left. When you play your track it should now be completely silent.

Export the song using the downwards pointing triangle button on the top left, and choose to export to 'My Songs'. You should now see a Files view, long-press the newly exported "song", tap Share, and choose Ringtone as a format. Export it using the name that you like. Press OK.

Go to the Clock app, and in the 'When Timer Ends' menu you should now see your silent recording at the top of the list. When the timer now ends you won't hear any sound, but will still receive a notification and feel the vibration (if enabled).

If you want to edit your GarageBand ringtones, before you finish step 5 above you can tap on 'Your Ringtones' to delete any you have saved.