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How to fix macOS High Sierra Boot Failure on iMac Apple 21.5-inch Computer?
Few weeks ago, on an Apple 21.5” iMac Desktop Computer (4th-Generation, late 2013), I installed the just released macOS High Sierra v.10.13.1. I’ve recognized that on November 29, 2017, Apple Released a Security Update for macOS High Sierra and installed it on the iMac in the background (without consent). During the next weekend I’ve Shut Down the computer, then turned it off with the power button and unplug the power cord overnight. When I reconnected the power cord and turned on the iMac with the power button on the next morning, I could see the log-in screen, enter the password, and then a muddy picture with a unusually slow moving progress bar, which run (filled) completely, but the screen did not progress, as typically, to open a functional Desktop (picture) with the Dock. After waiting for about an hour, I’ve tried to Force Shutdown the computer by pressing and holding the power button, then restart the iMac with the power button, but only got the same muddy picture with the slowly moving progress bar, which, again, after running till the end, the computer did not progress to opening a functional Desktop with a Dock.
I restarted several more times, unsuccessfully, then I contacted Apple Support and talked on the phone to few advisors (Case ID: 100370008105). In order to correct this situation, together, or I myself, did several times the following:

Manual restart
Start up in Safe Mode
Reset the System Management Controller (SMC)
Reset the Nonvolatile Random-Access Memory (NVRAM)
In Single-User Mode, a “senior” advisor from Apple Support wanted me to run the following commands (without further explanation):
mount -uw /
rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
reboot

However, after the log-in screen asking for the password, we have always ended up at the following GRAY SCREEN: user account picture, user account name, and progress bar (initially “filling” fast until the middle, and then slowing down, “filled” completely, till the end, after about 20 minutes). But NO visible progress to open the Desktop with the Dock (when waiting for several hours).
GRAY SCREEN
Since I could not recognize whether the computer could communicate with the original wireless keyboard and mouse in Bluetooth, I’ve replaced them and connected an Apple wired keyboard and mouse to the iMac.
Starting up from macOS Recovery, I’ve been able several times to

“Install the latest macOS that was installed on your Mac, without upgrading to a later version” using Command (⌘)-R
“Upgrade to the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac,” macOS High Sierra v.10.13.2, using Option-Command-R
“Install the macOS that came with your Mac, or the version closest to it that is still available” using Shift-Option-Command-R

Options 1 and 2 download and installation had always run (apparently) without problems, until I’ve ended up, again, at the same GRAY SCREEN. Option 3 could NOT be completed: “OS X Mavericks cannot be installed on “Macintosh HD” because a newer OS was installed.
Current Startup Disk (is):
Macintosh HD
OS X, 10.13.2
The iMac’s hardware (hard drive) appeared NOT damaged:

Starting up in Single-User Mode by pressing Command-S as the iMac starts up and running a disk check [sbin/fsck -fy], showed “The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK.”
Disk Check
The Apple Diagnostics and Apple Hardware Test showed “No issues found”
Hardware Test
Running the Disk Utility displayed “Operation successful”

The only issue I’ve able to identify was after a start up in Verbose Mode and using the key combination Command-V. It did display “indefinitely” the following message: “Process [x] crashed: opendirectoryd. Too many corpses being created.” After several hours it went from Process [187] to Process [1379], when I’ve lost patience and did a Force Shutdown.
First Aid on Macintosh
I appeal to all iGeeks to show their prowess and assist me in fixing the (software, macOS) issue on this iMac, so I can use it again before the Holidays, and thanks in advance for your consideration.
Verbose Mode

When is your last backup and can you erase all and start fresh? Is this a fusion drive, HDD or pure ssd?

Personally, I would wipe the drive and reinstall macOS.   Something got corrupted - to get you back up and running, wipe the drive and do a fressh (not upgrade) of High Sierra.

Have you tried using disk utility to delete all partitions and create a new one when installing? That might work, I bet there's an error on your disk, since it was probably was writing someting to it when you forced it to shut down, that's bad. It's ok to do that when reading data, not writing.
Alternatively, take the disk out (or tryt slave mode) and use paragon partition manager on some windows pc to check for errors. (paragon is not free)

I would do anything but remove the disk at this point. Good points on erase from internet recovery. At this point, so many things have been done it’s time to wipe and erase the storage and start with a clean OS install.


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Problem fixing my corrupted USB drive on OS X
I followed your tutorial How do I fix a corrupted USB drive on OS X?
and got the final message:

dd: /dev/disk2: Permission denied

Then I tried it with a sudo command and got the message:

dd: /dev/disk2: Resource busy

Do you have an idea how I can successfully fix my corrupted USB drive?

You need to unmount the disk first. Before you can write to it using ddHere the command you need to run to unmount the disk:
sudo diskutil unmount /dev/disk2

Correct so +1, to be more complete: if the disk would've had multiple volumes using unmountDisk would be advised.

@Montmons To my knowledge there is no unmountDisk command, only unmount and unmountVolume. unmount should unmount the disk and all its volumes. But I could also be incorrect

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Warnings after changing Sudden Motion Sensor with pmset
I'm following the Optimisation Guide from Avid for my Pro Tools software.
On the Disable Sudden Motion Sensor section, I get these errors after entering sudo pmset -a sms 0 in Terminal for turning the Sudden Motion Sensor off:

Warning: Idle sleep timings for "Battery Power: may not behave as expected. - Disk sleep should be non-zero whenever system sleep is non-zero.
Warning: Idle sleep timings for "AC Power" may not behave as expected. Disk sleep should be non-zero whenever system sleep is non-zero.

I then typed: sudo pmset -g to verify it it had worked (as per the guide's instruction) and got this:
Battery Power       -1*
AC Power        -1
Currently in use:
 standbydelay         10800
 standby              1
 halfdim              1
 hibernatefile        /var/vm/sleepimage
 powernap             0
 gpuswitch            2
 disksleep            0
 sleep                2 (sleep prevented by coreaudiod, com.apple.WebKit.WebContent)
 autopoweroffdelay    14400
 hibernatemode        3
 autopoweroff         1
 ttyskeepawake        1
 displaysleep         2
 acwake               0
 lidwake              1

I have no idea what any of  this means (the errors or the table).
Being worried, I then re-enabled the Sudden Motion Sensor using: sudo pmset -a sms 1, however, I was met with the same two errors messages that I posted above when turning it off.
I'm a bit worried, have I messed something up and how do I correct these errors?
Note
The message sleep prevented by coreaudiod, com.apple.WebKit.WebContent, did not appear a 2nd time when repeating. No idea what this is either.
System: Macbook Early 2015 13" Retina OS X El Capitan 11.6

I worked it out, it was due to Turn display off after x settings. Setting it to Never fixed this.
I'm the creator of this post. I'd close the thread but it won't let me log back into the account. Feel free to delete it.

This is a valid answer and should be marked as such.  Try getting in touch with the moderators of this site to merge your accounts

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


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Thunderbolt Display Daisy Chain Mini Displayport Monitor
I have an issue that I can't seem to be able to fix. Hope you can help me with that.
I have a MacBook Air 2012 13", a Thunderbolt display and a Samsung monitor connected through DVI on one end, and the other end DVI to Mini DisplayPort.
I would like this setup to occur: when connecting the MacBook Air to the Thunderbolt Display both the Thunderbolt Display and the Samsung display to work.
I have connected the Mini DisplayPort into the back of the Thunderbolt Display and connected the Thunderbolt display into my Mac, but the Samsung screen will not work.
Is there something I am doing that is wrong?

This is very unclear.  How are you connecting your monitors?  Thunderbolt or DisplayPort?  At one point you say it's working then you ask if it doesn't accept mini DisplayPort.  Can you please articulate what you have setup, how they are connected and  what your expected results are supposed to be.

I have updated the post to try to make the issue clearer. Thanks for you assistance.

According to the Technical Spec a 2012 13" Macbook Air cannot support multiple external displays. http://support.apple.com/kb/SP670   so I'm not sure if or how you are doing it now.  Your description of a DVI cable with two ends supporting a Thunderbolt Monitor and a Samsung one remains unclear.  Do you currently have two external monitors working somehow? Please describe the cabling.  As noted, daisy chaining won't work.  If you have a Macbook capable of supporting multiple external displays you need to use multiple Thunderbolt ports or a good docking station.

I have connected the Mini Displayport into the back of the Thunderbolt
  Display and connected the Thunderbolt display into my Mac and the
  Samsung screen will not work.

Unfortunately, this will not work.  You cannot attach (daisy chain) another monitor off of the Thunderbolt port on a Thunderbolt display. It's a limitation of the monitor, not the MBA
From AppleInsider:  Apple clarifies Thunderbolt Display will not daisy chain Cinema Display

However, users with an existing Mini DisplayPort external monitor will
  not be able to daisy chain the screen from the back of the new
  Thunderbolt Display, despite it being physically compatible with the
  port. Apple notes that "Mini DisplayPort displays will not light up if
  connected to the Thunderbolt port on an Apple Thunderbolt Display."

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


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Folder accessible in Teminal but not in Finder
I have a new Mac Book, and I moved data using Time Machine.  Since I have a new username (raj.more) on the new Mac Book, the restored data is sitting in it's own profile folder structure (rmore).
I am currently trying to move all of my music back into iTunes.  However, the old folder /users/rmore/music cannot be accessed in Finder.  I get an error saying "You don't have permission to access the content".
Funnily enough I can open the folder in Terminal, and browse to it without any issues at all and copy files.
How do I fix this (it applies to Documents, Downloads, and other folders as well)?

These folders may all be in iCloud. Go to the icloud drive and see if you can access them that way.

have you ensured you're the admin?

I just set up the new macbook myself - I am ad admin by default, right?  Also, if I don't have permissions, how can i browse into the folder in Terminal, but not in Finder?

not being real good with terminal I am not sure of the exact options but you should be able to "sudo chmod -R" to change the ownership of the files and folders so that your current username owns those file, which is currently does not.


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Screen Sharing app can’t connect to VNC
I have a VNC server (a QEMU VM to be exact) that I want to connect to, but I am experiencing a really strange problem. My server is on [ip]:5905 (or [ip]:5). When I try to connect to this server via VNC Viewer by RealVNC, it connects with absolutely no problems, except the Unencrypted connection warning. When I try to connect to exact same server using the built-in Screen Sharing app, it either tells me that it failed to connect, or it stays in an infinite “Connecting...” loop. What should I do?
By the way, I am trying to make a script that opens a connection to this VNC server, so I need arguments for the open command too. Thanks.

What make you think Screen Sharing is compatible with VNC?

According to this post from OS X Daily, it is. Am I wrong?

@DavidAnderson screen sharing was working connecting to VNC devices before the upgrade to High Sierra.

A few years later, I was running into this problem trying to install a Kali VM on my M1 Mac. When I tried to connect with Screen Sharing.app (with an empty password), it hung at "connecting..." but never worked. I could connect via tiger-vnc, but this wasn't working very well (screen lag, not updating, segfaults).
I eventually figured out that I needed to set a password in my VM configuration. Once a password was set, Screen Sharing.app connected right away.
My machine's XML config now contains:
<devices>
...
<graphics type='vnc' port='5900' listen='127.0.0.1' passwd='redacted'/>
<video>
            <model type='virtio' vram='32768'/>
</video>
...
</devices>

With this configuration, open "vnc://:redacted@localhost" from the command line now works as expected (as does ⌘K in Finder, or open "vnc://$(whoami):redacted@127.0.0.1:900", or several other variations).

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


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How can I sync and organise apps on iPhone from Mac?
Is there a macOS app to manage and organise apps on iOS? Apple used to
have this as part of iTunes but since they have dropped that feature there doesn't seem to be any real alternative to manage all those iPhone apps into separate screens and a manageable order.

You can use the free app Apple Configurator 2 to organize apps.
Once the device is connected, right-click > Modify > Home Screen Layout:

Then you can manipulate the apps, folders and home screens as you could in iTunes.

Configurator has plenty of of neat features, especially if you manage other people's iOS devices.

Looking at Apple Configurator it should do the job but the app is super buggy and seems less fit for purpose. It would be great to see what other options are available.

This seems to only manage a maximum of 4 screens. I have seven. Is there any way to make this silly subfeature scroll over?

I haven't used AC2 for this purpose for a while. The iOS interface for managing iDevice screens has improved since 2018, and I've found it easier to manage my own devices that way. Professionally we use JAMF for this purpose on our institutional iPad fleet, and it has an even greater functionality for hiding apps we don't want accessible.


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Shortcut Virus: What's the effect on a Mac?
I was at school when we tested a PowerPoint presentation on one of the school's laptops. Apparently, when we got home, many of my classmates told me that the laptop gave a "shortcut virus" on their USB flash drives. The flash drives contained a shortcut to the flash drive itself, which would lead to nothing. Files would have to be recovered.
I haven't plugged in the flash drive to my Mac yet. I have no antivirus installed and I'm not sure if flash drives are scanned prior to being shown on macOS. If I plug it in, will it give a virus to my Mac?
Thanks.

Do your affected classmates use Windows laptops?

Yup. I believe I'm the only one with a Mac who inserted a flash drive on the laptop at school.

A shortcut to itself is not an issue. One on the flash drive will not cause issues when connected to macOS or even when interacted with.
As an example, you'll find a ‘recursive’ link already in macOS: /Volumes/Macintosh HD → /.

I see. However, my classmates reported that their files are gone. The school laptop was a Windows one.


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Where does Safari store passwords?
I am having a very severe issue. I erased my Mac’s disk and reinstalled macOS High Sierra yesterday (I was already on High Sierra before reinstalling). I made copies of the drive before wiping it and I have all the data of the old disk at hand on external drives. (This is not a question about any kind of data loss, no loss occurred.)
Just after my clean install I wanted to reinstall all the passwords I had saved in Safari (I just store them locally, without using iCloud sync). I was absolutely convinced they were stored in the session Keychain, so I just opened the clone of my old disk and then ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db and I almost had a heart attack when I saw they were not there. There was a lot of stuff, including my WiFi passwords, iMessage, App Store, Steam passwords, certificates and so on, everything was stored there EXCEPT all the Safari Internet passwords.
So I tried to copy the whole Keychains folder to my new install and replaced the new one with the old one. This had no impact. Still no passwords in Safari.
Because I don’t use sync services I have literally no way to access these passwords ever again if I don’t find the file where they were stored. Where does Safari 11 usually stores locally saved passwords on High Sierra? This is a very serious issue, I am locked out of literally everything including important documents.

Your login keychain should be where your passwords are stored. But it's worth noting that there is a "System" keychain in /Library/Keychains as well. Additionally did you log out/restart and log back in after replacing the keychains?

Logging out and logging back solved the problem! Thank you so much! This is suuuuper shady stuff though. I finally understood that Safari passwords are not stored in the actual login keychain, but in other, hidden files (also in the Keychains folder) that are loaded at login. They then somehow appear in KeychainAccess.app as 'local items' and seem to follow special rules, because they cannot be exported as a single keychain, they must be copied one by one. Very shady behavior indeed...

Hmmm, I'm not sure about the hidden files, while I have some in my keychain directory, they're all empty and old. To the best of my knowledge all the Safari items are stored in the keychain proper.

There were some changes recently. There are new keychain items stored in directories with cryptic names. Safari seems to store passwords in these keychains. They are meant for iCloud sync, but even if you don't sync keychains using iCloud, they are used. Unfortunately they are encrypted, probably binding them to the hardware. I moved my SSD to a new machine after the old one died and I seem not to be able to restore them.


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Taptic engine (trackpad) stays on after shut down from Windows 10
I have an Early 2015 Macbook Pro 13-inch Model that has 6 operating systems manually installed on it (High Sierra, Yosemite, Android x86, Windows, Ubuntu and Kali Linux). As I said, I installed Windows manually, without using the BootCamp assistant.
About 2 weeks ago, I upgraded Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. After that, I reinstalled BootCamp helper, since it was broken after the upgrade. It reinstalled successfully. It was all normal from that point.
However, yesterday I noticed that the Taptic Engine (trackpad) stayed on every time I shut down my computer when it was booted up from Windows 10 (this doesn’t happen when shut down from other OSes). Is this normal behaviour? If not, how can I fix it?
EDIT 1: I have just discovered something strange. If I shutdown Windows using Classic Shell’s shutdown button, the problem happens. But when I shut down using shutdown -s -t 0, it shuts down the computer and turns off the taptic engine too. I will disable Classic Shell and try to shutdown and tell the results.

Have you tried removing Windows 10 and seeing if the behaviour continues? What about a fresh install of windows 10 without upgrading from 8?

I have found a workaround/fix for the problem. I will post an answer when possible.

Since I just started this account I can't post comments. I have the same issue and it's actually quite annoying, I've linked it to an issue where the touch bar stops working if the trackpad is clickable when turning it off in windows. > I have found a workaround/fix for the problem. I will post an answer when possible. – pixelomer Please share it! I need it!


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Stop outlook blocking me when I use a VPN?
If I leave Mail.app open and turn on a system-wide VPN on my MacBook Outlook (one of my email accounts) gets mad at me and disables my account and I have to use microsoft's outlook.com to sign in again and reset my password etc. because apparently "somebody else is using your account."
How can I stop this from happening?
Recently I've stopped leaving Mail.app open all the time so that I don't accidentally cause the problems when I start a VPN and forget to quit Mail.app first.
But this is a pain b/c of course I don't get notifications and don't get emails as soon as they arrive.
Is there a way to disable that account while a VPN is in use?
Or somehow stop these problems.

This happens to me when I use outlook on my home network, put the mac to sleep and then wake it up at work. Outlook, and other programs detect the change of IP and force a new sign in for security.

What worked for me is just to quit mail and re-open it.
This seems to work most consistently when quitting mail before starting the VPN and re-opening it while the VPN is on.

How can I stop this from happening?

This is expected behavior.
Microsoft (Outlook.com) uses location data (if available) as part of their security to validate authorization access; t's more than just your IP.
You can view all of your activity from Microsoft at the site:
https://account.live.com/activity

Using a VPN with Outlook.com
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) takes your traffic (all or some, depending on the policy set at the VPN server) and sends it through their network.  If you go to https://account.live.com/activity while connected to VPN, you will see that your IP address has changed (very significantly).  You are no longer "located" at your home, but now wherever your work's network gateway is located.
As such, (Microsoft) Outlook.com will detect this change and based on their security policies temporarily lock your access since it "appears" you went from one location to the next with the same cached credentials.
Turn on Two Factor Authentication
If you use two factor authentication (Microsoft Authenticator App), you can mitigate this somewhat.  Outlook.com will detect the change in location and ask you to authenticate (iPhone version shown):

Prior to locking your account, it should ask you to approve or reject the new sign in.
Your other option is to close Mail (or log out of Outlook.com), connect to the VPN and then reopen.  You will need to do this for each time there is a network change so there is a bona fide  log in as opposed to an authorization request based on stale cached credentials.

"temporarily": I am forced to change my password every time and often have to delete and re-add this internet account on my MacBook.
I don't have a phone so 2-factor won't work

Is there a way to automate the solution you describe in the last paragraph? because that's my current solution but manually doing this is a pain and I sometimes forget.

It is such a pain that Microsoft doesn't provide an option to disable this. Annoying as hell!

@AdamLiu - It’s a pretty critical security feature.  Turning it off would look like you were signed into the same account from two different locations at the same time.  While legit in your particular use case, it would prevent MS from detecting when an actual attacker was accessing your account without your knowledge.


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Is there a way to download, from iPad mini, videos created in an app?
I am trying to download 7+ gb of videos that my daughter has on her iPad mini. The videos were made in the app musical.ly and I would like to get them from the iPad to my Macbook. I cannot figure out a way to do this and would appreciate any ideas.

Assuming they were exported to a music format and not left as individual music snippets in the project, you should be able to simply connect the iPad to your computer's iTunes and browse the audio content that way. It will give you the option to synchronize the tracks to your computer. With a file size of 7GB, you probably don't want to upload everything to the cloud, hence a direct transfer would be much more efficient. I don't have first-hand experience with musical.ly specifically but I imagine the exporting procedures are pretty standard across the apps. Is that helpful in any way?

Thanks for the response. The issue seems to be that they are not in any kind of music file that I can see anywhere other than in the app itself. I can share them from her ipad to mine, via text, but one by one is just too tedious.

I'm pretty sure if you follow this guide you can do it: About File Sharing on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support. I don't know about that app specifically, but this is the first place I would look.


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Force BootCamp to use GPT
I have installed BootCamp manually to the last partition on my SSD /dev/disk0s13. It works, no problems, but every time I manage my partitions from OS X (or any other OS that is not Windows), the computer creates a new hybrid MBR, which makes Windows unbootable because it can’t find the Windows partition. I have to manually remove hybrid MBR via gdisk every time I manage my partitions.
I have a MacBook Pro 2015 13" Model with 512 GBs of storage and has 6 Operating Systems installed on it. I have macOS High Sierra and OS X Yosemite installed. I mostly use High Sierra.
Is there any possible way to either stop OS X from creating hybrid MBR or force Windows to use GPT? By the way, I'm using Bitlocker, not sure if it makes a difference.
UPDATE 1: I was trying to reproduce hybrid MBR with Disk Utility, and I discovered Disk Utility no longer produces that problem. Not sure about GParted.

Windows is supposed to be using GPT, but for some reason it's confused when there is a hybrid MBR and is not able to find the Windows partition, therefore not booting up.

What you need to post is an example where the conversion to hybrid partitioning occurs.

If you have hybrid partitioning, then Windows will only see the partitions defined in the MBR table. There is no workaround for this. High Sierra removes hybrid partitioning in favor of a fully protected MBR. Yosemite can convert to hybrid, especially if partitions 2, 3 and/or 4 in the GPT are type EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7.

Note: Type EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7 will appear as Microsoft Basic Data in output from diskutil list.

I can confirm that my disk’s 3rd partition is Microsoft Basic Data.


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Secure traffic before connecting to wifi/VPN?
Usually when you wake up your MacBook, macOS automatically establishes e.g. IMAP or various background sync connections. How can I make sure that all traffic is sent over to VPN connection BEFORE I connect to wifi or my VPN connection fails?
I am using Apple’s built-in VPN client in OS X 10.12. VPN service order is set prior wifi in the OS X Network location. Also, the checkbox for for „Send all traffic over VPN connection“ is enabled.

According to an article by How-To Geek How to Connect Your Mac to Any VPN (and Automatically Reconnect), there is an app that can do this for you, but first:

The “Advanced” button allows you to configure the VPN connection in other ways. For example, the default settings automatically disconnect from the VPN when you log out or switch users. You could uncheck these boxes to prevent the Mac from automatically disconnecting. Click Apply to save your settings. Before you do, you can enable the “Show VPN status in menu bar” option to get a menu bar icon for managing your VPN connection. Use this menu to connect to your VPN and disconnect from it as necessary.

However, the article also says:

By default, your Mac won’t automatically reconnect to the VPN if the connection dies.

 VPN AutoConnect by Nova-box is the app the article talks about, but it does not have a very good rating, so I am not sure if it would benefit you.
I use a VPN, but I am not using Apple's client for this. I use the VPN's client. I did download it from the App Store, and it has been great thus far—there is a feature that allows you to prevent any traffic from running until the VPN is up and running.
The VPN I have is  VPN Unlimited - WiFi Proxy. I purchased a lifetime subscription for around $20 from Cult Of Mac when they had a special on it.
There could be Terminal commands for this as well. I have found this other Ask Different question for you to take a look at: Where is the "Send all traffic over VPN connection" setting in OSX 10.9 Mavericks?
This last link to a Tuts+ article How to Use VPN on Your Mac is basically what you said you already did, from my understanding, but I thought it might be useful in case you wanted to double check your steps (since I haven't used the Apple client, I can't speak for it, hence this link).
Good luck!

Thank you for your quick reply. Looks like I have to switch to a third party VPN client. Apple’s default VPN implementation doesn’t provide this kind of feature. Any recommendation?

Using the Apple Configurator, it is possible to create a profile with on-demand VPN that can be imported into the network settings of a Mac. Selecting auto-connect then leads to the VPN re-connecting if it lost connection.


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Import dates from Excel to Numbers?
I'm trying to move to Numbers instead of Excel for basic sheet stuff, as Excel is a pain in the ass to use on Mac. I'm trying to have some dates to look like dates and apply conditional formatting. The dates in the Excel are like:
01.26.2018 12:26:20 PM
01.07.2018 08:03:41 AM
01.13.2018 09:17:45 PM

When put this data in Numbers and I choose a column or a cell in Numbers, then switch the data type to Date & Time, nothing happens. I set up some conditional rules, those don't work either. Is there a way I could turn this into date format, so I can apply conditional formatting (like "if day is 5 days from now, be red")? I'm trying this that doesn't work:

the date components should be separated by a '/' not by a '.', otherwise all the cell will be interpreted as text (as shown in the lower left corner)

@GioValerio That helps, thank you! Is there a way I can change this, so it takes dates without me having to find&replace the dots with slashes?

go back to excel and format your dates using a "custom" format, if the one with the slashes is not among the available. I would say you need something like: m/d/yy h:mm:ss AM/PM;@


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Where can I find the schematics/CAD model for MacBook Pro's components?
Device: MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014)
I'm looking for detailed schematics, preferably official Apple publications, describing and/or annotating the dimensions or other specifics of the components. I'm not looking for electrical layout diagrams.
My goal is to create an acrylic chassis inspired by the old iMacs to replace the aluminum. Any leads on the topic of this documentation is welcome, even if it's not everything.
The particular part I am interested in is pictured below:

I have the same problem, looked everywhere, found all the schematics for iApple devices but unfortuantely no Macbook: https://developer.apple.com/accessories/Accessory-Design-Guidelines.pdf - I will post it here, if I find anything.

Apple isn't known for making their computer parts user replaceable or making their parts public, because of this I would think it would be highly unlikely Apple would publish CAD files/designs of parts. Here are some possibilities I can think of for finding a CAD file.

Find a patent.
I'm not sure if Apple patented the chassis, but if they did you might be able to find the patent. If you're able to find it you could take the dimensions of it and turn it into a CAD file using a software like Blender, Fusion 360 or any other CAD application.
Contact a third party part manufacturer.
There are multiple third parties that manufacture Apple computer parts. One example of those companies is iFixIt. They provide some parts, kits, and guides for replacing certain computer parts. I took the time to find the parts you need. The bottom chassis is made up of two different parts. The first part is the upper case assembly, the second is the lower case assembly. If you contact them and explain your situation to them, they might provide you with CAD files, this isn't the most likely though.
Using a ruler and CAD software.
You've said you couldn't find any CAD files online so I won't mention that. That leaves one solution. Making your own CAD file, and just so you know, it's probably as complicated and time-consuming as it sounds. It's one thing just to make the part so it looks similar, but it's another thing to make it so it fits.

Good look finding/making the CAD file so you can make this part. I will look for a patent and make an update if I can find one.
P.S. Just so you know the part in the older macs is made out of plastic/rubber and not acrylic.

Thanks! I've gone the route of using calipers and producing drawings to send to a local CNC company. I don't want a Chinese manufacturer stealing "my" (Johny Ive's) designs. My neighbor is in my class at school, and his father is an apple exec, so I may ask him, as I know him quite well.

Apple has a a program and guidelines designed to assist 3rd party manufacturers develop products for Apple Devices.
See:  Designing Accessories
Specific to what you’re looking for, see Accessory Design Guidelines for Apple Devices

Includes detailed device dimensional drawings and important considerations for creating cases, covers, screen overlays, and camera attachments.


text:
macOS Calendar adding its own alerts
I recently got a MacBook, and I've added a few Google accounts to the Calendar app. Ever since I did, I've been getting alerts about the event after it's already passed or in progress. It seems as though Calendar.app is adding alerts to the event on its own; this didn't happen before I added my Google account to the macOS calendar.

The only alert that is supposed to be there is ‘Alert ten minutes before start’. Every other alert there has added somehow.

I've seen this behavior quite a bit with the calendar application when I dismiss the reminders. More specifically, if you snooze, "remind me tomorrow" or otherwise "kick it down the road", it seems to pick up these additional reminders. This is with a combination of iOS and macOS devices on the same shared calendar.
I think this comes about because you have a reminder several hours or days ahead of the actual event.
Suggestion? If you have something that you want to remind you on a daily basis, instead of kicking the reminder, just set it to a daily repeating reminder instead. That way you can get the benefit of being nagged about it but also you can just dismiss / mark completed today and hear about it again tomorrow without building up the multiple reminders.

When you say a daily repeating reminder, do you mean making another event that exists as just a reminder? Or is that another setting on Google Calendar/macOS Calendar?

@SheaBelsky it works better with reminders and make it remind you daily repeating. I noticed after I responded that your screen shot indicates a weekly repeat. I think you're picking up these extra notifications because it is a repeating calendar item. I don't think you see this problem when you do this as a weekly repeating reminder/task.

Sounds good; I'll make those adjustments accordingly. Thank you!


text:
64-bit only future and virtual machines
Apple has started the phasing out of 32-bit applications on MacOS. How is this going to impact virtual machines, be it Parallels, VMWare, VirtualBox, or Apple own hypervisor? Will it still be possible to run 32-bit OS inside virtual machines?

There’s never been a hard limit running older os in VM so this seems like a safe bet to say, yes - virtualization is a good bet to keep 32 bit os alive like it is for os back to System 1 and the (mostly) 32 bit Motorola 68000 processor.

It would be hard to prevent things like QEMU from being able to run 32-bit operating systems, as QEMU supports full hardware virtualization (this is distinct from hardware-assisted virtualization).
32-bit applications will likely become more difficult to run, as one will likely need an appropriately old OS and also any libraries or frameworks that 32-bit application depends on. However a generic 32-bit OS (assuming virtualization support exists for it) should be runnable by anything that does full hardware virtualization.


text:
Changing an Apple ID from one @icloud.com address to another
I have an Apple ID which ends with @icloud.com and I want to change it to another @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com. I've found a page which describes how to do that but it seems it doesn't work for me. I turned off two-factor authentication and removed all my devices. But there is no the following option:

Under your Apple ID, click Change Apple ID.

Could you help me?

Do you have other email addresses associated with your account?

No, I had 2 @icloud.com aliases but I also deleted them.

I've just tried with my account and the instructions in the support article linked below.  That only seem to allow you to change your address from me to icloud or vice versa not to a different username before the @.  From reading the article I had assumed it would let you change it to an alias but this does not seem to be the case.

From the Apple Support page about changing your Apple ID (emphasis added by me):

If your Apple ID email address ends with @icloud.com, @me.com, or
  @mac.com, you can only change your email address to another
  @icloud.com, @me.com, or @mac.com email that's already associated with
  your account.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202667
If you created your Apple ID recently with an @icloud.com address as identifier, you most probably can't change that. I think the support document I linked to is targeted at users who have old @me.com or @mac.com addresses that Apple used to issue a long while ago. Or maybe there could be special situations where you actually have two @icloud.com addresses associated with one Apple ID as the result of merging two IDs with the help of Apple Support, but those would be rare exceptional cases. For a recently created @icloud.com style Apple ID, typically you can't change it.

Yes, but how can I make them associated with my account? One can get an @icloud address when he/she create a new Apple ID or create an alias. I had aliases and I couldn't set any of then as the primary address.

As of Aug, 2019, the situation is still unresolved.
After a conversation with Apple Support it transpired that the ability to change an AppleID that ends with @icloud.com to a mail alias that end in @icloud.com is not implemented.
However, it is possible to do this if your mail alias end in @me.com or @mac.com, which is what the support article mentioned in the accepted answer refers to.
Apparently, the reason this hasn't been implemented is because this feature hasn't been requested often enough by the users.
If you're affected by this, or if you would like to see this implemented, please visit https://www.apple.com/feedback/icloud.html (Feedback Type: Account) and submit the feedback form to let Apple know that you too would like this feature implemented.


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iOS - Data corruption after downgrade
Yesterday, I downgraded my iPhone 7 from iOS 11.3 Developer Beta 1 to iOS 11.2 Release (It was being signed then) using the "Upgrade" option. Downgrade went fine, but after the downgrade, the device started overheating and I discovered most of my data was corrupted, including Social media, Wifi and iCloud passwords and contents and some System Settings. I had no option but to restore the iPhone, so I restored to iOS 11.2 and it works fine now.
My question is: Is this a normal behavior after a downgrade (from a beta) using the "Update" option?

Apple say in all beta documentation that you can not downgrade from a beta to an earlier version. What they mean is that behavior is undefined, and that if you run into problems when you try this, then you are on your own as it is not an action that they support.

Thanks for the quick answer. I didn't notice that, my bad. This page also tells that I had to restore.

By the way, the reason I decided to downgrade instead of restoring is I have done it before with no problems. Weird.

It’s unsupported. It might work, but if it doesn’t, you’re on your own


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How to find out if an App in the Mac App Store is 64 bit
I want to buy a game in the Mac App Store.
How can I check before buying if the game/app is 64 bit or not?
I would like to know because 10.13.4 is displaying warnings about 32 bit apps/games. And probably 10.14 doesn't run 32 bit apps/games at all.

If the app in question was updated after June 2015, or if it was released after February 2015 the app it's 64 bit.
Why:
Apple stopped accepting new apps without 64 bit support in february 2015 and stopped accepting updates to existing apps without 64 bit support in June 2015.

The game in question was last updated on 28 July 2015... so it should be 64 bit right?


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Retrieve iOS GarageBand projects on Mac
I created a few projects on an old iPad 2 years ago. The iPad broke down and I have had no more Apple products since then. Now I've set up an installation of macOS High Sierra in VMware, and I want to retrieve those projects uploaded to iCloud, from an iPad running iOS 6.1.3 (that's the last time I opened GarageBand on the iPad). I can confirm that the projects are still there by checking the usage of my iCloud space.
I tried launching Library while holding down the Alt key, and it showed me the "Mobile Documents" folder. However when I double-click on that folder, it jumps to my "iCloud Drive" folder, where I can't see anything (I just upgraded to iCloud drive).

Running macOS on a non-Apple hardware in any way is against the EULA. Also can't you just use iCloud online?

@ÖmerRıfatKULDAŞLI Unfortunately, I can't retrieve my GB files using iCloud web.


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Management of security questions in AppleID authentication
I have my AppleID, password and access to the email account registered to the ID. But I don't have the answers to the security questions. I have not used the account since it was set up in 2014 and I'm 99% certain that I didn't set up security questions at the time because if I had I would have used my password manager to create and store random strings as answers, and I have nothing saved. I can reset my password easily enough but I actually can't login. The option to reset security questions requires you to answer a security question!! Like doh, if I could do that I wouldn't need to reset them.I do think this is ridiculous. I got Apple support to phone me and the best they could suggest is change the password to a strong random one (it is anyway) and abandon the account! Anyone have any other ideas?

Good question. May I suggest you to ask Apple support exactly when your security question was set, explaining Apple support that this might be the evidence that your account was hacked.

You can go to iforgot.apple.com and then enter your Apple ID email address and then the captcha code there. Then choose continue and reset security questions. Next you choose how you want to reset it (get an email with a link or enter the password). Then you can change the security questions.
Apple Support can reset the password for you. All you need to do is to get verified. You need to attempt to sign in to the Apple ID site. When it asks for your security questions there is an option there that says Get Support PIN. Apple Support needs that PIN as 1 way to verify you. Then all they need next is one of the following:

At least 1 correct security question
Text you a code to your iPhone or the phone number
Enter in some of your credit card info that is on file.

After that they can reset the questions.
Best of luck.

If you have access to User ID, primary email, and password, you can regain access to your account if you have access to an Apple device.  You didn't mention if you have access to your security backup email.  If you go to iforgot.apple.com, you can tell them you forgot your security question answers, and they'll send a reset email to that backup email address.  If you don't have access to that email address, you either need to guess the answers or have access to an Apple device. According to support, if you don't have a device, there's nothing else they can do. The options in the other answer are no longer available if they cannot confirm your identity via the backup email or a linked device.
If you do have a device, or can temporarily get access to one, you can completely reset your account, questions, etc., with just your login and password.  If you reset the device (I haven't confirmed whether you can just add the appleid to an already setup device), you use just your appleid and password during setup. Under settings, attempting to access or change account information will bring up a prompt for the security questions.  There will be an 'I forgot' link at the bottom.  This will prompt for the identity check. Now that you have a device associated with the account, it will let you choose whether to email your backup address as above, or to push a notification to the device.  Select the device option, and a popup will appear with a code.  Enter that code in the other window, and you'll be prompted to create three new security questions.  Once that is complete, it will likely prompt you to set up two-factor authentication. If you don't plan to keep the device active, you can decline this and just setup the security questions with answers you actually know. You can also now log in at appleid.apple.com, where you'll be challenged with your new questions, and can then update anything else including the backup email address.  At this point you have full access to the account, even though you only had userid and password.
Considering that almost any throwaway device you can access will let you gain complete account access with just username and password, 2FA is a much more secure option. It also doesn't say much for apple's security model that lets their supposed 'for your security and privacy there's nothing more we can do' state be so easily bypassed.


text:
Managing old iMessages keys
Let's assume the following situation:

My device gets stolen and my keychain keys (including iMessage encryption and signing keys)
I reactivate my iMessage account and new iMessage keys are generated.

As far I know, iMessage client sends the every public key to apple, so when someone send me message my message will be encrypted with each public key ever associated with my account.
If someone sniff on my messages and because they have my old keys, can they read my messages?
Is there way to manage my iMessage keys associated with my iMessage account?

TL;DR

If you remote wipe the phone then the device will be erased including keys if it is online or if it is offline it will be erased when it comes online.
If it is offline but someone extracts the keys from it those keys are still useless as they are only able to decrypt messages specifically encrypted for that device and if you've remote wiped the phone then Apple won't tell other iMessage devices to encrypt messages to be sent to that device.
If you change your iCloud password then your device will no longer be able to use the iMessage service and will also render the keys useless.
If you remote wipe the phone but the phone is kept offline and the thief can access your phone (e.g. - break your passcode) then they can read old messages that were received before you did so.  In this case the iMessage keys don't come into play and normal passcode/TouchID security is what safeguards the messages already received by that device.
You cannot directly manage the iMessage keys for your iOS devices but you manage their access to iMessage by managing the device itself.  When you remove a device from your iCloud account you implicitly remove the iMessage keys and render them useless
Sniffing the connection between your stolen phone and Apple would not reveal your private iMessage keys because they are never sent over the connection and besides this it is difficult to sniff these connections since they are encrypted.  Only public iMessage keys are sent over the connection.

Long Answer
The detail of this is mostly covered by Apple's iOS Security Guide which describes the mechanism iMessage uses in detail, see excerpt below.

iMessage
Apple iMessage is a messaging service for iOS devices, Apple Watch, and Mac
  computers. iMessage supports text and attachments such as photos, contacts,
  and locations. Messages appear on all of a user’s registered devices so that a
  conversation can be continued from any of the user’s devices. iMessage makes
  extensive use of the Apple Push Notification service (APNs). Apple doesn’t log
  the contents of messages or attachments, which are protected by end-to-end
  encryption so no one but the sender and receiver can access them. Apple can’t
  decrypt the data.
  When a user turns on iMessage on a device, the device generates two pairs
  of keys for use with the service: an RSA 1280-bit key for encryption and an
  ECDSA 256-bit key on the NIST P-256 curve for signing. The private keys for
  both key pairs are saved in the device’s Keychain and the public keys are sent
  to Apple’s directory service (IDS), where they are associated with the user’s
  phone number or email address, along with the device’s APNs address.
  As users enable additional devices for use with iMessage, their encryption
  and signing public keys, APNs addresses, and associated phone numbers are
  added to the directory service. Users can also add more email addresses, which
  are verified by sending a confirmation link. Phone numbers are verified by the
  carrier network and SIM. With some networks, this requires using SMS (the
  user will be presented with a confirmation dialog if the SMS is not zero rated).
  Phone number verification may be required for several system services in
  addition to iMessage, such as FaceTime and iCloud. All of the user’s registered
  devices display an alert message when a new device, phone number, or email
  address is added.
How iMessage sends and receives messages
Users start a new iMessage conversation by entering an address or name. If
  they enter a phone number or email address, the device contacts the IDS to
  retrieve the public keys and APNs addresses for all of the devices associated
  with the addressee. If the user enters a name, the device first utilizes the user’s
  Contacts app to gather the phone numbers and email addresses associated
  with that name, then gets the public keys and APNs addresses from the IDS.
  The user’s outgoing message is individually encrypted for each of the receiver’s
  devices. The public RSA encryption keys of the receiving devices are retrieved
  from IDS. For each receiving device, the sending device generates a random
  88-bit value and uses it as an HMAC-SHA256 key to construct a 40-bit
  value derived from the sender and receiver public key and the plaintext. The
  concatenation of the 88-bit and 40-bit values makes a 128-bit key, which
  encrypts the message with it using AES in CTR mode. The 40-bit value is
  used by the receiver side to verify the integrity of the decrypted plaintext.
  This per-message AES key is encrypted using RSA-OAEP to the public key of
  the receiving device. The combination of the encrypted message text and the
  encrypted message key is then hashed with SHA-1, and the hash is signed
  with ECDSA using the sending device’s private signing key. The resulting
  messages, one for each receiving device, consist of the encrypted message
  text, the encrypted message key, and the sender’s digital signature. They are then dispatched to the APNs for delivery. Metadata, such as the timestamp
  and APNs routing information, isn’t encrypted. Communication with APNs is
  encrypted using a forward-secret TLS channel.
  APNs can only relay messages up to 4KB or 16KB in size, depending on iOS
  version. If the message text is too long, or if an attachment such as a photo is
  included, the attachment is encrypted using AES in CTR mode with a randomly
  generated 256-bit key and uploaded to iCloud. The AES key for the attachment,
  its URI (Uniform Resource Identifier), and a SHA-1 hash of its encrypted
  form are then sent to the recipient as the contents of an iMessage, with their
  confidentiality and integrity protected through normal iMessage encryption,
  as shown in the following diagram.

  On the receiving side, each device receives its copy of the message from APNs,
  and, if necessary, retrieves the attachment from iCloud. The incoming phone
  number or email address of the sender is matched to the receiver’s contacts so
  that a name can be displayed when possible.
  As with all push notifications, the message is deleted from APNs when it is
  delivered. Unlike other APNs notifications, however, iMessage messages are
  queued for delivery to offline devices. Messages are currently stored for up to
  30 days.

The basics of the section above is this:

Someone writes a message destined for you
Their device contacts apple and retrieves the public keys for all your current devices
Their device encrypts their message for each of your devices and sends it to Apple
Apple forwards each individually encrypted message to your corresponding devices and will cache undelivered messages for up to 30 days

If your lost/stolen phone is no longer associated with your iCloud account (because you removed it) then the sender's phone would not receive a public key from Apple with which to encrypt a message for that device so a copy of that message would not be sent to your lost/stolen device which renders the keys on that device useless, so even if someone managed to pull your iMessage keys from the device, as long as that device isn't registered to you anymore they'll never receive a message that can be decrypted with them.
If you haven't removed the device from iCloud then sniffing on the connection between your device and Apple's servers shouldn't be possible will be very difficult since it's done over a forward-secret TLS connection and the connection would fail if the device did not get a valid TLS certificate signed by the expected Certificate Authority which should make it difficult to perform a Man-In-The-Middle-Attack
If your phone was not deactivated with Find My iPhone and you did not change your iCloud password then the thief could just use your lost phone to read your messages as you would expect, however if you follow Apple's instructions for lost iPhones then the phone would either be inaccessible and/or not receive new messages, they have no way to extract your iMessage keys from your iPhone so they can't just put them on another device and if you put the phone in Lost Mode they can't even get into it to read your old messages without a passcode.
There is no way for you to directly manage your iMessage keys, they are managed under the covers by the devices registered to your iCloud account.  When you remove a device from iCloud Apple will no longer send that device's public keys out when an iMessage sender asks Apple to send you a message. The keys on the device no longer matter as no new messages would be encrypted with the public keys so no new messages can be decrypted with the private keys on the device.
It is then down to your device security (passcode/touch-ID and on-device encryption) to protect the contents of the phone i.e. your old messages.
You can also read about some ideas on weaknesses in this security model at the links below:
https://blog.quarkslab.com/imessage-privacy.html
https://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2015/09/09/lets-talk-about-imessage-again/
UPDATED
I've added this section to address specific concerns of the OP on the iMessage key-thief sniffing their network.
You seem particularly concerned about the following scenario;
Your iPhone has been stolen (or hacked) and is now back in your possession but your iMessage keys have been stolen by a thief who is now going to sniff the network your phone is on so that they can read your messages.
Let's firstly say straight off the bat that what you are worried about is entirely possible, since anything is possible, and any system can be hacked with enough time and effort unless it is completely powered off (battery out and unplugged) and never connected to a network.  So with that out of the way, let's explore how likely this is.  In order for someone to obtain your iMessage keys and sniff your network to read your messages here's a list of what would need to happen.

your phone would need to be stolen and returned to you
the thief would need to have hacked your phone and extracted your iMessage private keys, defeating any device security that was in place such as TouchID, passcode or device encryption to do this and would then need to hack the OS or the hardware to extract the keys as there's no provided way to get at them
your would either need to not know your phone was stolen or you may know but choose not to remove it from your iCloud account (thereby requiring the keys be renewed)
the thief would then need to gain access to the same network as you, for example your home WiFi network.  This will be relatively easy if it's unencrypted which is not typical and it will be relatively difficult if encrypted and password protected or has a MAC address whitelist for example.  I can't comment on how secure your specific home WiFi is however.
the thief would then need to intercept (or "sniff") packets destined for your phone and determine if they are iMessage messages and decrypt those using the keys, but there's a further hurdle, the traffic between your device and Apple is encrypted using a forward-TLS connection.  So the thief would need to also crack that encryption to manage to read the message data, then use the keys they had extracted to decrypt the messages within after reassembling the messages over the TCP stream.

Frankly, all of the above is incredibly complex and unless you're Edward Snowden, or some other Enemy of the State I don't think anyone could be bothered that much to read your messages
:op

If my keychain file is stolen, and I still use the same device without wiping it, but I have changed my iCloud password are my messages safe ?

Yes because if you have the device then the keychain thief would have no way to receive messages so they could decrypt them with your private keys

But someone can sniff my network and can get the messages on that way.

Updated the answer to address your last comment

Best explanation that helps answer this question is this article from TechCrunch. The relevant bits are reproduced below. Article
TL;DR: In this case, the key is specifically for that device. If you reactivate Messages, say on a new Mac, a new set of keys are created for that new device. Keys are not shared among devices: each iDevice has its own keys.
If the bad guy keeps your Mac, and you do not sign it out of iCloud, they could see your messages. So, sign that device out of Messages, and the keys are wiped.

When a user first enables iMessage, your device creates two sets of private and public keys: one set for encrypting data, and one set for signing data (read: signing data is a secondary blurp of data that helps to verify that the encrypted text hasn’t been modified after it was sent to the server. If these two things ever don’t match up, red flags start going off.)
Your public keys are sent to Apple’s servers. Your private keys are stored on your device. Apple never sees your private keys.
When someone starts an iMessage conversation with you, they fetch your public key(s) from Apple’s servers. Before that message leaves the sender’s device, it’s encrypted into something that only your device knows how to decrypt.
So if Apple never has your private key, how do messages arrive at all of your devices in a readable form? How do your private key(s) get from one device to the other?
Simple answer: they don’t. You’ve actually got one set of keys for each device you add to iCloud, and each iMessage is encrypted independently for each device. So if you have two devices — say, an iPad and an iPhone — each message sent to you is actually encrypted (AES-128) and stored on Apple’s servers twice. Once for each device. When you pull down a message, it’s specifically encrypted for the device you’re on.


text:
Is it possible to install a custom screensaver?
Is it possible to make or install a custom screensaver on to use on macOS? For example: create a video or GIF and use it as a screensaver.

There's WebViewScreensaver that lets you show a website as your Screensaver. Not quite a native way to do it, but if you know html and css, you can easily make a Screensaver.
You can also give it a path to a local html file.

You can use Xcode to create your own screensaver

but showing a video or GIF probably needs some custom programming.

Open system preferences/Desktop & Screen Saver. Click on the screen saver tab. Click on one of the predefined screensavers, The screensaver will be shown in the window. Below the window, a pull-down menu will appear labeled as Source. Pull down this menu and you'll see an option for a folder. Select the folder you want and images in that folder can be used as screensavers.


text:
Bash not recognizing packages installed using pip-3.6
I installed pip-3.6 using Mac Ports:
sudo port install py36-pip

Then, using this version of pip, I installed virtualenv:
sudo pip-3.6 install virtualenv

Now when I tried using virtualenv, bash isn't recognizing it.
PS: I didn't want to select pip-3.6 as pip because I have pip working with OS X's version of Python 2.7.

I would install virtualenv using macports - using two package managers always gets confusing

MacPorts may not have put things where you think, see here. Did the pip-3.6 command work? What do you get when you which pip-3.6?
Have you considered Homebrew over MacPorts? pip3 comes automagically with python3.x with Homebrew. It also has a virtualenv package that is easy enough to uninstall if needed.

pip-3.6 did work and successfully installed virtualenv


text:
Is it possible to save to my disk from the photos app?
In the past, If I've ever wanted to take a photo on my iPhone and move it to my mac, I'd have to use the files iOS app or google drive. I recently had an idea, instead of uploading the photos to somewhere, I could just save them from the macOS photos app to my disk after they were backed up.
The problem is, there doesn't seem to be an option anywhere that lets me save the photo from the app to my disk. Is this even possible?
I'm using macOS High Sierra.

Drag one or more photos from the Photos app to somewhere in Finder, such as a Finder window or Desktop.

I actually didn't think of that before, perfect!

The other way, which takes a (very) few more steps, is to click on the photo you want to save to your disk. Then, in Photos, go to File > Export, and choose to export the edited photo (shift - command - E), or the original unmodified file. You will then be presented with some options as in the picture below, and when you click "Export," you can even choose where to save the picture. Works great.


text:
Is it possible to AirPlay from Mac to iPhone?
I'm working on a native macOS app. I need to test some multi-monitor issues. When I'm at home I use AirPlay to my TV to test multi-monitor issues. But, when I'm at a cafe or co-working space if I could AirPlay to my iPhone then I could continue to work on multi-monitor issues.
I suspect people might suggest Air Display but I'm not sure it lets me display to iPhone and reviews are very poor.
Ideally I'd just like "AirPlay to iPhone" to show up as an option on my Mac.

Following on from @jksoegaard Air Display would be your best bet...

No, iOS on the iPhone does not natively support receiving an AirPlay display mirroring connection.
You can use third party iOS apps that employ other types of protocols with accompanying macOS apps that allow you to share the contents of windows from the macOS computer to the iOS device. AirDisplay, that you mentioned, is an example of this.
It is however not native AirPlay and thus has different characteristics. In general, I think it is fair to say that it is a clunkier experience.


text:
Is there a way to clear update data from the Mac App Store?
Recently I downloaded some updates from the Mac App Store including the macOS high Sierra update and a few other security and application updates. However, presumably because of a corrupted download, these applications fail their integrity checks and don't run on the system.
In addition, when I retry them, they begin downloading from some point midway. For example, the "iTunes + Remote Desktop Client + Safari + Security Patch 2018-001" for macOS Sierra, which measures 1.12 GB, always starts off downloading from the ~365MB point. After downloading again, the update fails.
Is there a way to clear the Mac App Store update data so that I can download everything afresh?
I'm on a MacBook Air 2017 edition, running macOS Sierra 10.12.6.

Have you tried to download them independently?

There certainly is.
I believe that I have worked out one of the best ways of going about such a task as I found myself having to do this frequently due to problems similar to those you are experiencing. I may just add that they stopped after the macOS High Sierra upgrade in September of 2017.
Go directly into the Mac AppStore's temporary files folder:

Quit the Mac AppStore completely (no updates running etc.)
Open Terminal and type: open $TMPDIR../C/com.apple.appstore/, hit the Return key.
A Finder window should have popped up with the files and folders in the "com.apple.appstore" location. Move (not copy) these to another folder (perhaps make one on the desktop) in case things go sideways, or (if you are confident), move them to the Trash right away.
Most importantly, do not delete or adjust any other files outside of this directory, when finished close the "com.apple.applestore" folder.
Relaunch the App Store.

Verification and several other download issues should be fixed with these steps and you may find that you are once again able to properly download and install the applications fully (i.e. not starting midway).
What next?
I would further suggest running one or two sweeps of CCleaner for Mac (a free, trusted software) with options to fine-tune specific types of files.

Open CCleaner

Go to Cleaner, select the Applications tab

Under Applications, check App Store
If CCleaner is run after completing clearing the AppStore temp files as described in the first set of steps, CCleaner will most likely remove any residual files and folders from the App Store that are only half downloaded or otherwise exhibit similar properties.
It just works!

For an additional read, this article explains my thinking behind the first suggestion, while this one may be a little more general.
Let me know how you make out or if there is anything you would like me to clarify. I'm always more than happy to do into further details.


text:
Can I install a 256gb SSD from a late 2010, early 2011 MacBook air 13 inch (A1369) into my late 2010 11 inch MacBook Air (A1370)?
The 11 inch MacBook air did not ship with or offer a 256gb SSD, only 64gb and 128gb. However the 13 inch from late 2010 did ship with a 256gb SSD.
Is the 256gb SSD from the 13 inch MacBook air (A1369 I believe) compatible with the 11 inch MacBook Air (A1370) from the same late 2010 time period?

Yes. The drives are the same physical dimension. There will be no issue with it being recognized.


text:
Linux Mint VM crashes when MacOS sleeps?
I'm running Linux Mint on Virtual Box (.vdi on my internal SSD) on my rMBP (macOS High Sierra).
While I haven't pinned down a pattern, I think it breaks every time my computer wakes up from sleep. So, I assume its something to do with putting the SSD to some sleep-state which breaks Mint.
What setting can I enable/disable to keep this from happening?

This is expected behavior.
Your VM is not going to continue to run when your Mac goes to sleep.  In this case, your VirtualBox will attempt to save the state of the machine.  I have found FreeBSD to be forgiving in these cases, but Linux (Ubuntu) has never liked it when the Mac went to sleep and VB attempted to save the state.
The most effective solution is to disable sleep when your VM is running.


text:
Finder window on top of full-screen safari?
I wish it were possible to press a keyboard shortcut while in full-screen Safari, have a finder window appear in the middle of the screen, and then drag+drop files from that finder window to safari.
How can I do this?

Your aware of the split screen function? Click the green window icon pressed  a bit longer. You then put safari on one side and finder on the other, you can change the ratio (default 50/60)

@Roger the problem is that I browse full-screen safari probably upwards of ten hours a day. In the rare cases that I need to upload a file, I'd just like finder to pop-up, and then I can drag'n'drop. Rearranging my entire screen space for a ten second operation is overkill.

I read you! :-) I'm also not always happy how it works. I don't know how much screen real estate you have,if I split screen and then drag the middle completely to the side, i'm guessing i have 80-85% of Safari. Not a great solution, but maybe something that could work.

Rather clunky, but possible...

Go back to Finder, select & grab your files; keep hold of them.
either...

Use your Show Dashboard key command & hover your cursor [still holding the files] over the Safari Space until it pops to the front, or
Use  Ctrl ⌃   num  to go to the last Space before your fullscreen app, then  Ctrl ⌃   →  to get to fullscreen.

Drop the files.

This is always going to be hindered by fullscreen apps being to the right of any & all numbered Spaces.
You may need to enable the Ctrl/key functionality first in System Prefs/Keyboard/Shortcuts/Mission Control

Only alternative I can think of is use the Open dialog, or as suggested elsewhere, don't fullscreen, just maximise.

Well, atm I'd just go to finder, then drag the files to the side of the screen (which switches spaces) and then drop into Safari.

I guess if you don't use Spaces, or have finder on the rightmost space, that works too. I have 2 screens & 7 spaces... which makes it more of a challenge, as Finder is on Space 1 & anything fullscreen is on >7. Another reason I never actually use fullscreen ;)

I'm usually just two spaces, safari is space 1 (full screened) and then a desktop on the second (rightmost unless playing fullscreen video from safari, which is common) and in that desktop my other apps are open (terminal, mail, discord, finder most commonly)

Unfortunately no applications can run on top of a full-screen application. Not even stickies, which work well on top of other applications. If you want a similar full screen effect while using finder on top you can use these 2 methods:

Click on Window on the top status bar than click on Zoom to widen the viewing angles.
Place your mouse arrow near the corners or edges of the Safari window and then stretch Safari all of the way to each section of the Mac display.

Either method will allow you to view the website and still keep the Safari screen large while multitasking via another application.

holding alt and then clicking the green top-left button maximises the window instead of entering full screen

Yes you can use that shortcut as well.

Hm, I thought TotalFinder's visor was a counterexample to your "no applications can run on top of a full-screen application" claim, but I just tested it and it does indeed seem to not open properly on top of full-screened safari. Maybe it worked on past versions of macOS

DefaultFolderX can also open on top of fullscreen - but of course that's only for file-picker dialogs, which idk is truly relevant to this - though it does have a nice click-through feature so you can click directly into any open finder window no matter what's in the way visually.


text:
Server.app and importing a Let's Encrypt Certificate
I have generated a Let's Encrypt certificate for the subdomain I use for the profile manager website.
I have exported the certificate and imported it into the Server app.
I got the following message when I try to select this certificate.
Additional access is required to use the selected certificate

I press on Continue. And get this message:
Services could not be configured to use this certificate

Does anyone have an idea how to solve it?

Can you try regenerating the certificates?

Private keys in the keychain have an Access Control List (ACL) attached to them. You can edit this list using the Keychain Access application.

Open Keychain Access and select the System Keychain
Select Keys from the Category picker in the sidebar
Find and select the Let's Encrypt private key
Hit cmd-i (or double click) to open the viewer
Select the Access Control tab
You may have to authenticate
Click the "Allow all applications to access this item" radio button
Click the "Save Changes" button.

Then restart Server.app and try setting up the Services again.


text:
Is there a log-in log on macOS?
I'm suspecting a roommate somehow got my password, and I want to confirm this hypothesis. Is there a log that keeps track of successful and failed log-ins?
PS: I tried using the wake reasons log, but it's not accurate.

See this answer:  https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/240690/119271

@Allan Using syslog | grep 'login\[' the most recent entry is in February 19, and I logged in today (Feb 21). Whatever it's logging, it's not up-to-date

Did you login or unlock your machine?

You are right, syslog isn't sufficient to help you here. You should look at the saved syslog: zgrep 'login\[' /var/log/system.log.*.gz .

Could you give us some more information to get a correct information: [return]- How your roommate would have used your account: direct access to keyboard, remote access through ssh or ARD or any RAT?[return]- What is the easiest way to get your password: is it shared on a server which got compromised, is it pretty easy, did you write it somewhere?

Direct access. I type it, although quickly, in front of him.

I'd use the Terminal command last for a more complete list of logins.
Execute the command last [yourusername] will generate a list of tty and console logins.
Ex: last icondaemon generates:
icondaemon     ttys000                   Wed Feb 21 08:12   still logged in
icondaemon     console                   Wed Feb 21 07:57   still logged in
icondaemon     console                   Tue Feb 20 07:52 - 15:24  (07:31)
icondaemon     console                   Fri Feb 16 07:16 - 16:03  (08:46)
icondaemon     console                   Thu Feb 15 07:33 - 16:25  (08:51)
icondaemon     ttys000                   Wed Feb 14 09:34 - 09:34  (00:00)
icondaemon     ttys000                   Wed Feb 14 09:34 - 09:34  (00:00)
icondaemon     console                   Wed Feb 14 07:36 - 16:19  (08:42)
icondaemon     console                   Tue Feb 13 07:31 - 15:57  (08:25)
icondaemon     console                   Mon Feb 12 07:32 - 16:30  (08:57)
icondaemon     console                   Fri Feb  9 08:51 - 15:48  (06:57)

...
icondaemon     ttys000                   Wed Nov  1 15:22 - 15:22  (00:00)
icondaemon     ttys000                   Wed Nov  1 15:21 - 15:21  (00:00)
icondaemon     console                   Wed Nov  1 11:36 - 15:53  (04:16)

I'm not sure what happened on November 1st to rollover the log.

Most probably periodic / monthly ran on the 1st of November.

Nope. I executed the periodic command manually, but the list remains the same.

I guess there is an undocumented problem around this file management. Read /etc/periodic/monthly/200.accounting.


text:
How to screenshot Netflix?
I am watching Netflix in Safari on macOS 10.13.3.
I just tried taking a screenshot through several methods:

⌘⇧3 while Safari in full-screen mode (Netflix isn't).
⌘⇧4 and dragging while Safari in full-screen mode.
⌘⇧3 while Safari is not full-screen and not focussed.
⌘⇧4 and dragging while Safari is not full-screen and not focussed.

But none of these captured the screen, I get only black images.
How can I extract a frame from a show on Netflix?

Use another browser (chrome, firefox), Netflix has this on the W10 app as well.

May I recommend a camera?

@Mark I don't actually own a  camera outside of my webcam.

What happens when you use a third-party screen capture tool like Monosnap?

Just use the screenshot app, but use the 'select portion of the screen' mode, not 'grab entire screen'.

The source is the combination of Netflix and Safari, which disables screenshots and screencasts of its content to prevent piracy.
You should be able to take screenshots if you use Google Chrome:

I'd like to do it in Safari if possible

I don't understand apple's motivation. If anything this encourages and supports piracy b/c people will just go onto the illegal websites to be able to take the screens they want.

I'm sure that Netflix and Apple are in cahoots, legally, to prevent piracy, but you you can't do it in Safari. No way around it. One can't even hook a Mac up to a projector and use Netflix through Safari - the image is black. This page has some tips about running a Windows VM, which seems a little extreme when you can just use another browser.

@IconDaemon is totally correct. You'd need to run macOS in a VM and screen shot Safari from another OS to get around the programming that intentionally disables this when safari and the screen shot run together.

@theonlygusti The motivation isn't to prevent screenshots - it's to prevent recording of an entire movie. Prevention of stills is just a side-effect.

The effect of two evils combined: Closed source and DRM.

Chrome works perfectly for Netflix screenshots.

@IconDaemon so you mention that you can't even hook up a projector. I haven't tested that. Weirdly (perhaps?) Mirror for Samsung TV perfectly plays Netflix on the TV. I wonder how it manages to do that.

no longer the case as of May 2022.

Indeed, it doesn't work on Firefox anymore either. But Firefox itself does have a screenshot function, and that seems to work!

I'm submitting this as an answer because I feel this is better answers "How to do this in Safari", even though there is already an accepted solution.
I really hate to suggest third party software, but in this instance, try Greenshot.  It's lightweight, and simple to use.
NOTE: SADLY, I just checked, and it is 1.99USD on OSX. Here is a list of alternatives:
https://screenshot.net/greenshot-for-mac.html
https://www.apowersoft.com/mac-screenshot is the top hit (in case link becomes defunct)

Have you tried using Greenshot to see if it works?

Yes.  Greenshot works fine.  It stands alone and is therefore not restricted by the boundaries of external software.  I just dislike not using built-in solutions, hence my apprehension for recommending it.  downvote accepted on the assumption people don't comprehend the answer.

Hidden spam. Greenshot does not work on Mac at all. The links go to a site promoting the original posters products (or more likely the ones he's paid to promote).

If anyone has a relationship with software, it’s best to disclose that. That being said, a single post that tries to answer the question isn’t necessarily spam. Please flag as other if anyone detects a campaign to astroturf this produce and we will look into spam violations.

Mac Screenshot does not work as of May 2022: the pane showing Netflix (Chrome) is black.

@MattiasMartens use Firefox and its screenshot function :)

Yah. I always used firefox before a few days ago, and never had that problem. What you can do though, is taking a portion of the image you want to screenshot; that way it works out without a hitch (just gotta get the dimensions right). Basically, don't take a 'full screen' screen shot, and use alt+4 but make it a bit smaller to bypass their privacy policy.
My best bet is that Safari and Netflix have implemented this policy not for screenshots per se, but to prevent recording the video playing and torrenting it. But, because they couldn't address the problem directly, they had to cooperate and do it at the source, i.e. to prevent any and all images (moving or not) from getting recorded. How futile :P


text:
Keyboard shortcut switch to space
I just found out about the ^1, ^2 etc. keyboard shortcuts for switching to desktops.

Those only do desktops though.
How can I set-up keyboard shortcuts to switch to spaces?
E.g. full-screen safari is space 1, desktop is space 2, safari's fullscreen video that's being played is space 3.

I'm afraid this is one of those features that was just really badly thought-through from the outset, when the new fullscreen paradigm was added, & hasn't been fixed yet.

You can only use key commands to go directly to numbered Spaces.
Fullscreen Spaces don't have a number.
Catch 22

Best you can do is use the number keys to get to the last numbered Space, then  Ctrl ⌃   →  to get to the fullscreen Space you require.
Yet another reason I never use fullscreen.
BTW, according to your Shortcuts picture, you only have one Space set up. The  Ctrl ⌃   [num]  shortcuts are added automatically [but not activated by default] as you add each potential Space.

Compared to my 7...

Safari full-screened to the right, as an example. Spaces have numbers, fullscreens have names.

What do you mean I have only one space set-up? I have three....?

Added pictures to my answer. You have one shortcut, so you have one Space. Anything with a name is fullscreen, not a Space. Spaces only have numbers.

Oh. I've been using wrong terminology. I'd always distinguished between spaces and desktops. Apparently a space is a desktop? And thus fullscreen apps aren't in their own spaces?

tbh, the terminologies appear to be pretty much interchangeable. In Mission Control Apple refers to all as Spaces, in Shortcuts they're all Desktops. Maybe a fullscreen app is just outside the definition altogether - as it a) has no desktop behind it & b) has no Space number.

What's a space number?

Desktop/Space... interchangeable...


text:
missing /etc/ directory in homebrew
I am currently working on setting up an IKEv2 VPN server with strongswan. I am working on a Mac running v10.11.16 (El Capitan). I have been referencing the following tutorial: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-an-ikev2-vpn-server-with-strongswan-on-ubuntu-16-04
I have run into issues with Step 4 of the tutorial. It seems that when I install strongswan using homebrew, the configuration files are not ending up in my etc/ folder, as they are supposed to. In fact, I can't seem to locate them anywhere on my machine. When I look in my /usr/local/opt directory, there is no etc directory included. It seems that my config files for strongswan are AWOL. Any ideas on where brew could be putting them?

I voted to close this question because the tutorial is for installing in Ubuntu, and the premises of this question are entirely wrong. MacOS is neither Linux nor Ubuntu.

If you've installed brew and strongswan to the default locations the standard "brew" etc location is /usr/local/etc/.
The folder contains all folders and sub-folders required by strongswan/ipsec etc.
Entering ls -Ral /usr/local/etc should reveal something like (slightly redacted by me to omit my user name and some unrelated folders were removed from the output):
total 40
drwxr-xr-x  12 user  admin  -  408 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxrwxr-x  19 user  admin  -  646  7 Mär  2017 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  -  608 27 Feb 02:36 ipsec.conf
drwxr-xr-x  10 user  admin  -  340 27 Feb 02:36 ipsec.d
-rw-------   1 user  admin  -   48 27 Feb 02:36 ipsec.secrets
drwxr-xr-x   7 user  admin  -  238 18 Dez 05:13 openssl
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  -  281 27 Feb 02:36 strongswan.conf
drwxr-xr-x   9 user  admin  -  306 27 Feb 02:36 strongswan.d
drwxr-xr-x  17 user  admin  -  578 27 Feb 02:36 swanctl

/usr/local/etc/ipsec.d:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  10 user  admin  - 340 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  12 user  admin  - 408 27 Feb 02:36 ..
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 aacerts
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 acerts
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 cacerts
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 certs
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 crls
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 ocspcerts
drwxr-x---   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 private
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 reqs

/usr/local/etc/ipsec.d/aacerts:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  10 user  admin  - 340 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/ipsec.d/acerts:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  10 user  admin  - 340 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/ipsec.d/cacerts:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  10 user  admin  - 340 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/ipsec.d/certs:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  10 user  admin  - 340 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/ipsec.d/crls:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  10 user  admin  - 340 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/ipsec.d/ocspcerts:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  10 user  admin  - 340 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/ipsec.d/private:
total 0
drwxr-x---   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  10 user  admin  - 340 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/ipsec.d/reqs:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  10 user  admin  - 340 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/openssl:
total 568
drwxr-xr-x   7 user  admin  -    238 18 Dez 05:13 .
drwxr-xr-x  12 user  admin  -    408 27 Feb 02:36 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 275049 18 Dez 05:13 cert.pem
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -     68  6 Aug  2016 certs
drwxr-xr-x  11 user  admin  -    374 14 Nov 16:29 misc
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  -  10835 18 Dez 05:12 openssl.cnf
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -     68  6 Aug  2016 private

/usr/local/etc/openssl/certs:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  2 user  admin  -  68  6 Aug  2016 .
drwxr-xr-x  7 user  admin  - 238 18 Dez 05:13 ..

/usr/local/etc/openssl/misc:
total 112
drwxr-xr-x  11 user  admin  -  374 14 Nov 16:29 .
drwxr-xr-x   7 user  admin  -  238 18 Dez 05:13 ..
-rwxr-xr-x   1 user  admin  - 5679  6 Aug  2016 CA.pl
-rwxr-xr-x   1 user  admin  - 5688 18 Dez 05:12 CA.pl.default
-rwxr-xr-x   1 user  admin  - 5175 18 Dez 05:12 CA.sh
-rwxr-xr-x   1 user  admin  -  119 18 Dez 05:12 c_hash
-rwxr-xr-x   1 user  admin  -  152 18 Dez 05:12 c_info
-rwxr-xr-x   1 user  admin  -  112 18 Dez 05:12 c_issuer
-rwxr-xr-x   1 user  admin  -  110 18 Dez 05:12 c_name
-rwxr-xr-x   1 user  admin  - 6419  5 Jun  2017 tsget
-rwxr-xr-x   1 user  admin  - 6384 18 Dez 05:12 tsget.default

/usr/local/etc/openssl/private:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  2 user  admin  -  68  6 Aug  2016 .
drwxr-xr-x  7 user  admin  - 238 18 Dez 05:13 ..

/usr/local/etc/strongswan.d:
total 64
drwxr-xr-x   9 user  admin  -   306 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  12 user  admin  -   408 27 Feb 02:36 ..
drwxr-xr-x  29 user  admin  -   986 27 Feb 02:36 charon
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  -  1792 27 Feb 02:36 charon-logging.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 10794 27 Feb 02:36 charon.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  -    65 27 Feb 02:36 pki.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  -    79 27 Feb 02:36 scepclient.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  -   173 27 Feb 02:36 starter.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  -   151 27 Feb 02:36 swanctl.conf

/usr/local/etc/strongswan.d/charon:
total 216
drwxr-xr-x  29 user  admin  - 986 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x   9 user  admin  - 306 27 Feb 02:36 ..
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 138 27 Feb 02:36 constraints.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 135 27 Feb 02:36 counters.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 278 27 Feb 02:36 curl.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 137 27 Feb 02:36 curve25519.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 215 27 Feb 02:36 eap-gtc.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 139 27 Feb 02:36 eap-identity.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 134 27 Feb 02:36 eap-md5.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 139 27 Feb 02:36 eap-mschapv2.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 245 27 Feb 02:36 kernel-pfkey.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 255 27 Feb 02:36 kernel-pfroute.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 132 27 Feb 02:36 nonce.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 301 27 Feb 02:36 openssl.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 248 27 Feb 02:36 osx-attr.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 130 27 Feb 02:36 pem.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 130 27 Feb 02:36 pgp.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 132 27 Feb 02:36 pkcs1.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 132 27 Feb 02:36 pkcs8.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 133 27 Feb 02:36 pubkey.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 283 27 Feb 02:36 revocation.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 491 27 Feb 02:36 socket-default.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 133 27 Feb 02:36 sshkey.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 986 27 Feb 02:36 stroke.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 132 27 Feb 02:36 unity.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 297 27 Feb 02:36 updown.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 221 27 Feb 02:36 vici.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 131 27 Feb 02:36 x509.conf
-rw-r--r--   1 user  admin  - 140 27 Feb 02:36 xauth-generic.conf

/usr/local/etc/swanctl:
total 32
drwxr-xr-x  17 user  admin  -   578 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  12 user  admin  -   408 27 Feb 02:36 ..
drwxr-x---   2 user  admin  -    68 27 Feb 02:36 bliss
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -    68 27 Feb 02:36 conf.d
drwxr-x---   2 user  admin  -    68 27 Feb 02:36 ecdsa
drwxr-x---   2 user  admin  -    68 27 Feb 02:36 pkcs12
drwxr-x---   2 user  admin  -    68 27 Feb 02:36 pkcs8
drwxr-x---   2 user  admin  -    68 27 Feb 02:36 private
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -    68 27 Feb 02:36 pubkey
drwxr-x---   2 user  admin  -    68 27 Feb 02:36 rsa
-rw-r-----   1 user  admin  - 14353 27 Feb 02:36 swanctl.conf
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -    68 27 Feb 02:36 x509
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -    68 27 Feb 02:36 x509aa
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -    68 27 Feb 02:36 x509ac
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -    68 27 Feb 02:36 x509ca
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -    68 27 Feb 02:36 x509crl
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -    68 27 Feb 02:36 x509ocsp

/usr/local/etc/swanctl/bliss:
total 0
drwxr-x---   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  17 user  admin  - 578 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/swanctl/conf.d:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  17 user  admin  - 578 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/swanctl/ecdsa:
total 0
drwxr-x---   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  17 user  admin  - 578 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/swanctl/pkcs12:
total 0
drwxr-x---   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  17 user  admin  - 578 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/swanctl/pkcs8:
total 0
drwxr-x---   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  17 user  admin  - 578 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/swanctl/private:
total 0
drwxr-x---   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  17 user  admin  - 578 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/swanctl/pubkey:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  17 user  admin  - 578 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/swanctl/rsa:
total 0
drwxr-x---   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  17 user  admin  - 578 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/swanctl/x509:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  17 user  admin  - 578 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/swanctl/x509aa:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  17 user  admin  - 578 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/swanctl/x509ac:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  17 user  admin  - 578 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/swanctl/x509ca:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  17 user  admin  - 578 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/swanctl/x509crl:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  17 user  admin  - 578 27 Feb 02:36 ..

/usr/local/etc/swanctl/x509ocsp:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x   2 user  admin  -  68 27 Feb 02:36 .
drwxr-xr-x  17 user  admin  - 578 27 Feb 02:36 ..


text:
OS X: Running both ethernet and wireless with different networks
I'm in a corporate LAN situation where I have a wireless LAN that will give me access to the outside work, but no access to the corporate servers and a Corporate Ethernet which will give me access to the corporate servers but not the outside world. As I need both to do my job I'm endlessly switching networks or turning wireless on and off to get things done.
I've been looking into how I can run both wireless and ethernet together and have DNS work across both, but I'm struggling to understand how to set it up.
I think I may be able to do it using /etc/resolver/ files, but so far all I've been able to do is hang my requests rather than get resolving errors back.
Has anyone solved this situation and how?

How will you choose which subnet destinations go through WiFi and which go through ethernet? You’re mostly at the mercy of your network admin setting up different subsets and DNS to resolve default routes to support your split traffic intention.

Thats one of the problems. I've also been considering whether to try a script based approach where I manipulate the routing table of the system to direct traffic to specific interfaces. But that seems more clumsy than trying the resolver approach. Plus I don' think it handles DNS. What surprises me the most is that I've encountered this problem at a number of corporate sites, yet very few answers online.

Sadly, the most complete solution would be to WiFi Out and get a split tunnel vpn in. Unless you’ll acquiesce and just not use the internet at work when work makes it os hard to internet.


text:
Can iPhone USB Hotspot be shared through a MacBook Pro?
My iPhone wireless hotspot quit working, but I can still use the internet through a USB connection. I’m wondering if I can use internet sharing on a MacBook Pro to share the USB internet connection from my phone. I attempted this and found the shared connection on my Apple TV. It connected but didn’t seem to provide internet to the Apple TV. I have another device I would like to use this shared connection with but I have to buy a WiFi adapter to test it. Prior to buying that, I thought someone here may be able to answer if this is even possible.

Have you tried resetting network settings in Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.

Can we assume you are running macos 10.13 high sierra?

Yep, 10.13.3. Not a beta version.

This is possible using System Preferences > Sharing > Internet Sharing.
Cell Network > iPhone > USB > MacBook Pro > Wi-Fi > other devices
In fact, you have to do it this way as the Wi-Fi on your MBP can either join or create a Wi-Fi network, it cannot do both at the same time.
Also, you should check usage terms of your mobile data provider to see if they allow sharing of personal hotspot in this way - some do not.

I'm not sure why it wasn't working for me, but I finally got it to go. I was able to connect my Synology NAS directly to my MacBook Pro via ethernet and share my phone connection to it. Didn't have to buy anything :D


text:
Macbook Pro becomes very hot after a minute or two of high CPU use
My Macbook Pro seems to become very hot after just a minute or two of high CPU usage by iCloud related processes. Is there any way to improve cooling. This happens while using my Macbook on a woden desk, I've tried the standard SMC Resets and other suggestions but to no avail :(

How old is it? When was it last stripped & cleaned? What temperatures are reported?

@Tetsujin It's a Macbook Pro 2015 Retina I got in June. Opening up the Mac would void warranty so stripped and cleaned has never happened. Temperatures range from 65 degrees celsius to 105 degrees celsius in extreme circumstances. I'd like to be able to use 100% of my resources without risking my system catching on fire.


text:
Apple Xcode: remapping camera's Pan, Orbit and Dolly controls in SceneKit module
I'd like to remap the following camera controls in SceneKit module of Xcode 9.2 (I'm coding in Swift):
panning  – alt + LMB
orbiting – LMB
dollying – alt + MMB
Pan drags the virtual camera along the XY plane, Orbit rotates the camera around Y axis and Dolly moves the camera forward and backward along local Z axis.

Is it possible to reassign mouse hotkeys for pan, orbit and dolly operations in Xcode's module SceneKit the same way as it works in Autodesk Maya?

panning  – alt + MMB
orbiting – alt + LMB
dollying – alt + RMB

There's no need to repeatedly edit your question so much, see Can, and if yes, should posts be bumped?


text:
Dropped iPhone 7 Plus - Screen no longer detected
I dropped my iPhone 7 Plus and it no longer detects the screen. I say "no longer detects" because I confirmed it; I connected it to a monitor with an HDMI dongle and it sees the monitor as the only screen (screen fills the whole monitor and isn't stretched at all). I didn't do a backup for a long time, I need to get my data from the phone, but I can't unlock the phone because it apparently restarted after I dropped it and I can't use Touch ID. Touch screen is completely unresponsive.
Is there any way I can use Touch ID? I will then connect it to my computer and backup my photos.

If you connect it to a monitor and can see the iPhone's interface and touching the screen does not allow you to interact with what you are seeing on the monitor than it is  likely that you'll have to have the screen replaced to proceed.

In some cases it's enough to reconnect to flat cable of the display to the logic board. It really depends.

Could I do that at my own? I already sent it to service, but just wondering...


text:
Stop Prompting to use Google or Safari
Every time I go to the web on my iPhone 6 it asks me if I want to use Google or Safari. Every time I select the option to not ask me every time but it still does. I have designated Safari as my primary web app in settings.  Help please.

If you have dedicated Safari as your default web browser why not uninstall Google Chrome? Safari is highly optimised to run on iOS devices and comes with all the same features as Chrome. Just go with Safari.

Good advice. Makes sense. Thanks. I’ve had a gmail account for a long while that I would like to keep using. Also, once in a while I need to use Google Docs. I hope I will still be able to access them after removing Google Chrome. I’ll give it a try.