How do I reset my MacBook Pro to factory settings without the original install disc? I am selling my MacBook Pro and want to totally factory reset it so none of my things pop up. How do i do this without the disc?

'Factory reset' can be done with Apple's Internet Recovery by holding  Cmd ⌘     R   at the boot chimes.

Check your machine is capable of this or whether it requires a firmware update to do it before actually trying it, or you may end up with an unusable machine & then have to get hold of OS Install disks.

You may also  want to go to Disk Utility & do a secure erase first, just to lessen the chances of someone trying to recover your old data [unlikely but possible on a simple wipe & install]


MBP16 charging: After sleep mode no charging (but with charging icon), restart helps I have strange charging behavior that started some time ago.
My MBP16 (Catalina 10.15.5 (19F101)) just stopped charging until i do some actions.
[!]ITS HAPPENING RANDOMLY, not all the times.
AND EACH CONNECTION OF POWER ADAPTER MAKES 'CHARGING' SOUND. :)
So my flow:

Going back from office -> home, connect the same charger, HEAR 'charging sound', wake up laptop. Sometimes it's charging, sometimes it's not (recently started having it).
Going to office from home, the same flow, the same results.

Charging icon is exist except the case the battery is running out.
Power settings says battery is ok (i bought it just some time ago), i'm using it with original power adapter.
And only restart macbook (or SCM sometimes) is helping me.
So it looks like after sleep mode it's not charged from time to time.
It really looks like software bug but i'm not sure, because i can see it's not charging, i don't touch/move any cables/adapter, just restart it - and it's fine.
The same ports, other ports, nevermind - just discharging with connected power AC until restart/reset.
So i'b doubt about "Defective battery/Defective charger" point.
Any ideas please? :(
Diagnostic test says - ADP000 (no issue).
system_profiler SPPowerDataType | grep -i "charge information" -A 10

      Charge Information:
          Charge Remaining (mAh): 8604
          Fully Charged: Yes
          Charging: No
          Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 8604
      Health Information:
          Cycle Count: 28
          Condition: Normal
      Battery Installed: Yes
      Amperage (mA): 180
      Voltage (mV): 12837

Just after MPB16 woke up. NO CHARGING.

Power settings

Power settings with adapter part

After restart/smc. CHARGING.

Activity Monitor Energy tab

Apple hardware on 10.15.5 doesn’t charge batteries until they fall below a band so that they don’t always use a charge event when you’re mostly full.
This is intentional and documented fairly well.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211094

This appears to be entirely correct behavior unless I missed something major in your question. This feature is excellent in my testing and I strongly urge everyone to keep it enabled if they want their batteries to last as long as possible before they get exhausted and must be replaced.


Bluetooth GPS on iPad I have purchase a iPad (non 3g model) and have also recently started using an application called Foreflight for my personal flight planning while getting my private pilots license.  I would love to be able to get a fix on my location - is there any way I can use a bluetooth GPS receiver with this application?

I've seen and used GPS receivers that connect to the host via bluetooth, on Windows Mobile phones.  I'm not sure about on an iPad.


SataIII SSD and 1,5 negotiated speed MBP5,1 I bought today a SSD hard drive (Kingston HyperX 3K 120Gb) and the problem is the negotiated velocity speed is set to SATA I (1.5 Gigabit), but the negotiated velocity should be SATA II (3 Gigabit). My MacBook Pro is a late 2008 (5,1).

What is going wrong?

The problem stems from what i believe with that model is that if you stuck the hard drive into the optical drive bay the actual link speed of the SATA in that bay is only SATA I (1.5 Gigabit). If you take that hard drive out and swap places with the hard drive in the regular slot you should be able to get full SATA II out of your SSD and should not notice much of a speed difference of your old hard drive if it is placed in the SATA I optical drive slot.


iCloud Backup not completing I have an iPhone 5 on iOS 8.4.1. I recently jailbroke it and then restored it back using iTunes. Since then, iCloud Backup is not completing even after me doing it manually over and over again.

Also, AppStore is too slow, the app download or update doesn't even start. Upon waiting for few hours, it completes about 5%

What could this be?

I updated to iOS 9 last night and iCloud Backup works fine now

and for the AppStore issue, I disabled the Two-Step Verification while still on iOS 8.4.1 and it worked


Refurbished phone prompts me for previous owner's password I recently received a replacement iPhone 5 from my insurance provider, sealed in Apple refurbished packaging (and they maintain that the device came directly from Apple).

After doing a factory reset, I receive the following prompt containing what I presume is the previous owners email address:

Enter the Apple ID password for *************@gmail.com (inluding the App Store, iTunes Store and iBooks Store).

I can skip this, but I think it's pretty concerning that I'm seeing their info. Out of interest I performed a few more resets (including one using my MacBook) and I still see this prompt every time the phone goes through the set up process. The phone is running iOS 9.2 and Apple support state they haven't seen this before.

It's not a show stopper, but any ideas on how this can be removed?

You might have some oddball combination of a serial number that's still enrolled in either Apple's DEP or Apple's Activation lock.

I don't know how to check DEP other than by calling Apple support and explaining your situation and asking them to explicitly check to inform you whether that device is or is not enrolled in DEP. https://www.apple.com/business/dep/ If the device was enrolled, presumably it could be pushing that user's account credentials to your device, but that's a really a remote possibility in my experience.

Some advice:

It's really your insurer's responsibility to deliver you a working phone. Even if they tell you to go to Apple - do that and then go back to the insurance company and ask for a proof of purchase. Apple requires written documentation of the original purchaser to bypass activation lock. If this device is somehow still locked - you might get locked out.
Keep in mind that Apple won't divulge private information about others - so be clear you are not asking them to tell you who purchased or locked or enrolled that device - just that you are uncomfortable using the device with someone else's account in it and you need their help establishing whether it's locked in Apple's records correctly or erroneously.
Get everything in writing and consider writing a letter to the insurance company so you have it documented that you had this issue and tried to resolve it.
Apple refurbished products come with warranty service - so you should be able to also see when that device was purchased by contacting Apple or using this web form - https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do Then ask the insurance people when they purchased it from Apple - the dates should match.

If you wanted to power off the device, you could try wiping it from iTunes or erasing all content one last time, but it seems you already did that and clearly the device is retrieving the account information from Apple's servers during the activation phase. Good Luck and please make an answer here when you figure out what happened or if this was just a bug in Apple's records that got fixed without you needing to do anything.


Retina MacBook Pro Running 10.13.5 Can't Connect to Windows Fileshare Servers We have several Windows-based file shares and one computer can't connect to them. By default, he should be able to use smb://server.name/share from Finder > Go > Connect to Server... and then get prompted for his username and password, but instead he gets an error almost immediately that says:

There was a problem connecting to the server "server.name".
Check the server name or IP address, and then try again. If you continue to have problems, contact your system administrator.

Here's what we've tried so far in our troubleshooting:

Tried restarting the computer
Changed the server name to use the IP instead. No change in behavior
Confirmed that the server name and IP can be pinged
Tried using cifs:// instead of smb://. No change in behavior
Confirmed there aren't any saved credentials in Keychain Access that could be outdated
Confirmed we get the same error when trying to connect to different servers with different shares and using different accounts

I solved a similar problem on my computer a while ago.
I created a file /etc/nsmb.conf with the following contents:

[default]
signing_required=no

Be aware that you disable some security features with this procedure.
You can find more details in an apple support article.


If i am not on 3G nor WiFi, do iMessage get sent via SMS? How does iMessage work? I had messaged one of my friend with iMessage, and he replied to me. However, I had disabled 3G and was not on a WiFi network. Were the subsequent replies routed via regular text message/SMS?

Yes, as long as the message was sent to your mobile phone number, and not your registered email address you will get a text message instead of an iMessage if you have no data connection when a message is sent.

iMessage is designed to seamlessly integrate with the messages application on your iPhone. Once set up and configured, your device will automatically decide whether to send an iMessage or a text message when you send a message to a contact on your phone.

Basically, when you compose a message and click send, your device checks with Apple to see if the recipient has iMessage enabled for their device. If they do, your iPhone will attempt to send your text to them via iMessage.

Your iPhone will then wait for a notification from apple that this message has been delivered. If this notification is received your message will have "Delivered" written under your message.

However, if the message is not delivered after a few minutes your iPhone will delete the iMessage, and send your text as a regular text message instead.

In the case of your example, your friends device would have attempted to send an iMessage, then after getting no delivery notification, would have sent you a text message instead.

You can ensure that an iMessage is always sent by composing your message to your friends iMessage registered email address instead of their phone number.

You can also set the "Caller ID", that your phone sends when it sends an iMessage, to your email address instead of your phone number in the Settings application. This will mean that your friend replies back to your email address instead of your phone number ensuring that only an iMessage is sent, as email addresses cannot receive regular text messages.


TextEdit does not show recent documents in Yosemite I am new to Mac OS X Yosemite. How do I make TextEdit show recent documents? When I go to File and select Recent Documents, it does not show the last few documents like it used to.

You probably have the Recent items setting in System Preferences > General set to None:


Upgrade to High Sierra I currently run MacOS 10.12.4 Sierra on a mid-2011 iMac.  I want to upgrade to 10.13 High Sierra.  On the App Store, the only option (after Sept 24) is 10.14 Mojave.  Where should I go to get High Sierra?  If I go to https://support.apple.com/en_AU/downloads/macos,  there are many different download options, but they all are updates, such as 10.13.6.

macOS High Sierra Download Link

That link should permit you to download the full macOS High Sierra installer from the App Store.


How do i make safari prevent search on addresses? I have an internal server at the address http://myserver.
If I type myserver/page safari starts a google search. How can I disable this behavior?

I know I can prefix http:// and it will start working, but other browsers lets me just type the address and takes me there.

I think if you add a slash / at the end of the address, it won't search and it's easier than http:// at the beginning.


AppleScript: Take a file from a directory and find the file name and POSIX path. Next do a shell script passing the file name and path to the script AppleScript

On adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items
     try
          set filename to name of this_folder
          set p to POSIX path of this_folder
          do shell script "path to script/.sh" &p &filename
     end try
end adding folder items to

Shell script never gets the arguments.
Have tried several boards and several variations of the code above, but no joy.  What have I overlooked?

Errors in folder actions will fail silently unless you trap them.  You can use a try statement, but in your snippet you are ignoring errors, such as:

AppleScript itself doesn't know about file names, so you need to use something that does, such as Finder;
The shell uses spaces as delimiters between arguments, so you need to make sure they are used as needed when appending the various text items;
File paths should be quoted or special characters (spaces, etc) otherwise escaped to prevent misinterpretations.

I don't know the purpose of passing the folder name in addition to the full path (also note that a list of the dropped items are passed to the handler in the added_items argument), but after fixing the above items, your snippet would be something like:

on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items
    try
        tell application "Finder" to set filename to name of this_folder
        set p to quoted form of POSIX path of this_folder
        do shell script "/path/to/script " & p & space & quoted form of filename
    on error errmess number errnum
        display alert "Error " & errnum message errmess
    end try
end adding folder items to


Characters do not echo in OS X terminal unless I hit the delete key As the title states, when I open up terminal to type a command, I cannot see what I am typing, it is as if the terminal is frozen. I can still execute commands when I hit return, I just cannot see what I am typing.

The weird part is that when I hit the delete key, I am suddenly able to see what I am typing, and the terminal functions normally until I run the command.

As well, when I hit delete the header at the top of the terminal window changes from:

name - bash - 80x24

to:

name - 37m - bash - 80x24

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

edit: Thanks for all the help, I've tried some of the suggestions. Creating a new Admin account and opening terminal seemed to do the trick; I can type in terminal in this new account without pressing delete. Any ideas for my main account?

Here is what I get when I run: /usr/bin/env

$/usr/bin/env
TERM_PROGRAM=Apple_Terminal
SHELL=/bin/bash
TERM=xterm-256color
TMPDIR=/var/folders/h5/rp872k9n0zq2lkl0kbbykjx00000gn/T/
Apple_PubSub_Socket_Render=/tmp/launch-KfwCn3/Render
TERM_PROGRAM_VERSION=326
TERM_SESSION_ID=F81718AA-A3FC-4FB9-9FF4-00037406DBAF
USER=derekbogdanoff
SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/tmp/launch-qQfC1a/Listeners
__CF_USER_TEXT_ENCODING=0x1F5:0:0
PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin
__CHECKFIX1436934=1
PWD=/Users/derekbogdanoff
LANG=en_CA.UTF-8
PS1=$[\033]0;37m]
SHLVL=1
HOME=/Users/derekbogdanoff
LOGNAME=derekbogdanoff
_=/usr/bin/env

Your prompt is messed up, specifically PS1:

PS1=$[\033]0;37m]

that's missing a lot of escape characters (\e[) needed for the colors (and most useful parameters for a PS1). That's also why you get the 37m in the terminal window title. Try setting it to something different by running:

export PS1="\e[0;31m[\h:\W \u]\$\e[m "

and see if that works. It should give a red (thats \e[0;31m) prompt showing hostname (\h), current working directory (\W) and logged in user (\u) inside brackets [] and the bash exit status of the previous command (\$). Note that at the end the color is reset to the default of the session with \e[m .

If the above worked, you only have to find out from which configuration file your "bad" PS1 comes from: look for an "export PS1=" line in ~/.profile, ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bashrc, (as M K already suggested in his answer) and put in the above version.

There are a lot of answers around here with helpful colors codes and inputs for configuring the PS1, like this one for example.


How can I automatically launch an application whenever the Mac goes idle? Is there a way to launch an application, such as Transmission, every time the computer goes idle (instead of sleeping)?

This is a very hard feat to accomplish, primarily because there is no specific definition of "Idle". The only programs I've seen to actually have idle features are Instant Messaging Clients and the recent Mac App Store releases of Growl. And those simply have a configurable time that goes off after the set number of minutes when there's no mouse/keyboard activity occurring.

There's been similar discussion on the Macworld Forums some years ago, and a specific post that essentially entails creating and running an AppleScript that will monitor your usage and launch an application when you go "idle".

property idleCheck : 20 as integer
property idleCheck_usr : 120 as integer
set timer to 0
on idle
    --Check idle time
    set idletime to do shell script "ioreg -c IOHIDSystem | awk '/HIDIdleTime/ {print int($NF/1000000000); exit}'"
    set idletime to idletime as string
    set idletime to idletime as integer

    tell application "System Events"
        if idletime is less than idleCheck then (* 20 is 20 seconds. If a key was tapped within the idleCheck seconds, it quits the app. *)
            tell application "TextEdit" to quit

            return idleCheck -- checks again in ... seconds
        else
            if idletime is greater than idleCheck_usr then (*  If a key was tapped after the idleCheck_usr seconds it opens the app. *)
                tell application "TextEdit" to launch
            end if

            return idleCheck
        end if
    end tell
end idle

In this case idle is only after 2 minutes, but you can easily change that to be longer if necessary. You will also want to modify the line to open Transmission instead of TextEdit.

Note that you will have to open this AppleScript and leave it running in order for the action (launching an application on idle) to ever occur.


How can I record the screen and the rear camera on an iPhone simultaneously? I've seen many apps that can record the iPhone screen and the front camera (facecam) into a single video. It embeds the facecam into a corner of the iPhone screen recording.

I want an app to record the rear camera and combine the video/overlay the video with the screen recording.

Basically I want to make a video showing how a WiFi light bulb reacts when using the iPhone app (screen controls).
So as I record the screen of the iPhone showing the changing the settings of the bulb on the app, I want to use the rear camera to simultaneously record and embed into the screen recording what's happening with the bulb in real time.

The key here is the rear camera, there are software which use the front camera (facecam) and screen recording at the same time but I can't find any app (or a way) to use the rear camera and the screen recording at the same time.

Is this something apps can do on the iPhone with iOS?

In the absence of an app that allows overlaying screen recording and a rear camera recording simultaneously (odd why the app makers didn't provide an option to select the rear camera instead of just the front facing camera), here is a workaround I found.

Record the screen recording using the iOS screen recorder
Record the rear camera video using the iOS camera app
Download iMovie from the App Store and overlay the two recordings together (split, picture in picture etc).

Here is a video tutorial I found on YouTube which explains how to combine/overlay two recordings/videos using iMovie on iOS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_qx75zTjr0

I'm not marking this as the answer as this is not my ideal scenario, it would have been nice to have an app do it, but it's a workaround for now.


how to set CSV delimiter in OSX Lion? I live in Indonesia and we use the dd/mm/yyyy date format as opposed to America's mm/dd/yyyy. Questions:

I changed my Language settings to Indonesia region so that this date format would be recognized as a date in Excel. It worked, but somehow Excel won't recognize a comma as a delimiter for CSVs anymore. How shall I solve this?
Is there a way to get Excel to recognize this date format without changing the Language settings?

Thanks

In Excel 2011, open a workbook,

Click on Format > Style and you get this window

In here click format again and you get this window

Pick the Date format you want,
or make a custom format in your case dd/mm/yyyy


/etc/hosts file not redirecting There are several questions about this, but none seem to address what I'm seeing.

After editing my /etc/hosts with vi with a test redirect, nothing is redirecting when I visit in a browser, including Safari, Chrome and Firefox. This is on MacOs Sierra.

##
# Host Database
#
# localhost is used to configure the loopback interface
# when the system is booting.  Do not change this entry.
##
127.0.0.1 localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1             localhost

127.0.0.1   www.cnn.com/

the result of $ cat /private/etc/hosts shows the same contents.

I have tried flushing the cache two ways:

$ sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
$ dscacheutil -flushcache

I have also rebooted my machine.

How can I get my /etc/hosts file to redirect?

It's extremely picky about the format of the /etc/hosts file. You have a "/" after the domain name, and this will confuse it (actually, it'll think that's part of the host name, and since you're trying to connect to the host "www.cnn.com" not "www.cnn.com/", it just doesn't match). So just remove the "/" and you should be good. There's no need to reset any caches.


First steps after acquiring a new MacBook Pro (w.r.t ensuring optimal battery life)? I just unboxed a new MBP 13.3 inch i5. I wanted to know what is the best way to start using it, so as to ensure optimal battery life i.e.

Should I charge it to full capacity, before even booting it ?
Should I start using it out of the box on AC ?
Also, going forward, what must I do to ensure that the battery lasts longer, and the average capacity doesn't go down with the years ?

While I appreciate individual experiences/suggestions, I'd really like links to articles/reviews from respectable websites that could authenticate the information - there are simply too many opinions out there :).

Nothing. Use it and charge it when it gets low. There aren't any "tricks" to ensuring a healthy battery anymore, but Apple does recommend the following:

  Be sure to fully charge your portable when you plug it in for the
  first time, and then run Software Update to ensure you have the latest
  software.

The new Apple notebooks (2009 and up) monitor the health of your battery and charge it accordingly, so there is very little maintenance required anymore. In fact, they no longer even require battery calibrations. All new Apple notebook batteries are pre-calibrated and ready to use.

As for usage trends to ensure longevity, that too is all handled by the OS and you can consult Apple's battery article for more details.

To be honest, storing the battery in the fridge or freezer, running it down and then charging it, pulling it out when using AC, or all the other myriad of "tricks" you'll read about are snake oil. Batteries have a limited life-span, and they start to deplete as soon as they are manufactured. That is the nature of batteries. Using them only exacerbates this phenomenon. There is no magic wand to turn back the hand of time.

In closing, Apple has some tips on how to maintain your notebook's battery. Just follow their recommendations, and enjoy your new computer.


How can I type the name of the person I'm calling on the dial pad and make the call? I was an Android user before. Now I'm using an iPhone X but cannot get used to the dial pad because I can't find the person by typing their name like I did on my previous mobile phone.

Is there any method of searching contacts in the dial pad by typing the name in iPhone? Is there any easy way?

In terms of an easier way, you have a number of options you can try. In addition to using the Contacts tab as pointed out by Nimesh Neema, you can also try:

Installing one of the many 3rd party apps, many of them free, that offer the functionality you're after (i.e. typing a contact's name via the dial pad)
Adding most of your commonly used numbers into your Favourites list
Using Siri to make calls, but not necessarily by saying, "Hey Siri, call...", but also by enabling the Type to Siri feature (more info below)
By swiping down from the middle of your screen to conduct a search and then doing one of the following:

-- start entering the name of your contact until you see them listed as your "Top Hit" and then tap on the phone icon to call them (or the message icon, etc)

-- enter the word "Call" followed by the first few letters of the name of your contact to get the option to call them

Enable the 'Type to Siri' feature

On your iPhone do as follows:

Open Settings
Tap on General > Accessibility
Swipe up until you see the Siri label
Tap on Siri and enable the Type to Siri option at top of screen
Exit Settings

Now when you hold your Home button down (or in the case of an iPhone X or above, by holding the side power button) you’ll get a keyboard pop up from the bottom allowing you to type directly to Siri (see screenshot below):

Now type the word "Call" followed by your contact's name, or just type your contact's name to be presented with a contact card from which you can call, text, email, etc.


iTunes can't sync contacts as contacts has been disabled on iPhone I am getting this error message.

itunes can't sync contacts as contacts has been disabled on iphone

Configuration: iOS 6.1, iphone 4

back up address book  [File>Export]
delete all contacts in address book
delete all files within: library>user>application support>address book
untick "sync contacts" in iTunes - click on "Sync" button
open address book: import file (the backup file)
open iTunes: tick "sync contacts" - click on "Sync" button


Do iOS content blockers work in Chrome Do the content blockers that can be installed with iOS 9 work in Chrome for iOS?

Content blockers are part of the Mobile Safari framework, so any third party app that uses Apple's SDK will inherit those extensions.

The current Chrome app (version 45.0.2454.89) doesn't appear to take advantage of Apple's offering. You might wait a long time for Google to cut into emir revenue stream by blocking trackers and advertising, but stranger things have happened.


How to get to Tweet in native iOS Twitter app from another app's webview? Often I'm in some iOS app (e.g. Facebook) and there's a link to some Tweet's URL. When I tap on it, it takes me to the web version of the Tweet inside a webview in whatever app I was in. Then if I want to like the Tweet, I have to login to Twitter again inside the webview even though I'm already logged in to Twitter in the native iOS Twitter app. Is there a quick way to get to the same Tweet in the native app?

At least in the case of Facebook I found an easy way to do this, from the top right menu:


Erase app data on iOS simulator or real devices I am developing natives apps for both Android and iOS and when debugging some login scenarios I need to reset the app to its initial stage without any token persisted on the (virtual) device. On Android, it is just as easy as typing an adb commande adb shell pm clear my.app.package.

Is there a way on iOS or shall I go through the lengthy process of uninstalling and re-installing the app ?

On iOS, erase all content and settings is how you wipe everything and then push your app again.

xcrun whatever....

The above xcrun is just useful to install and run an app as opposed to what you want which is to manage settings. See this developer article - at the very end it explains your settings persist even with app removal - so you’d need to clean on the simulator or write your app to reset settings with specific code.

https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/UserDefaults/Preferences/Preferences.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/10000059i-CH6-SW5

How effective these three options is really depends on your specific code, however. Erase all content always works.


Apple Official iOS Development Certificate Are there any official certification programs by Apple for iOS App Development?

There are no iOS certifications currently listed on the Apple Developer web site.

The de-facto industry standard base-level certification is getting at least one non-trivial native Objective C (or Swift) app that you've developed approved by Apple into the iOS App store.


Late 2011 13" MacBook Pro doesn't detect external monitor anymore on Mavericks I have a late 2011 13″ MacBook Pro with OS X Mavericks updated to the latest version, which was usually connected to a HP Pavillon 23xi monitor using a Mini DisplayPort to VGA  adapter. It worked like a charm as desktop extension until 3 days ago. When I woke up the MacBook it didn't detect the external display.

I connected the screen to another laptop using the same VGA cable and it worked. So the screen and the cable are fine.
I ran a live cd of Xubuntu on my Mac, and recognizes the screen perfectly, so the adapter and the Mini DisplayPort works properly.

However when starting with OS X, sometimes it doesn't detect the external screen, sometimes it detects it, and extends it, but the external screen is black. I can move the mouse to the second desktop, but logically I can not see what is in it. It worked perfectly well until 3 days ago. I Googled for a solution, and I tried the following with no luck:

Resetted the PRAM with alt + cmd + p + r until I heard the startup dong 3 times
Resetted the SMC with ctrl + alt + left shift for a few seconds and releasing all keys at the same time.
Reinstalled OS X Mavericks.
Restored a Time Machine backup of a month ago (when the screen worked properly).
Repaired 2 times the permissions of the disk.
Verified that I had the latest EFI and SMC firmware.

I've done all this and still have the same problem. (I think I need to reset something, but I don't know what else I should do.)

Seeing that this question has become popular, I will tell you how I resolved the issue...

I was using a fake adaptor, but it worked with Mac OS X flawlessly for two years. Strangely, it only works now when booting with other systems (like xubuntu live cd).

What I did to solve it was buying an original adapter from Apple.. I hope it will last until my Macbook becomes useless..


Have second user in window and not whole desktop I have to use a different user on my mac for some tasks which include regular switching between users. I know about quick user switching, but this has two limitations for me:

I have to enter the password each time I switch users
I would like to have the second user in a window and not the whole desktop (as in a virtual machine)

I would prefer the solution 2.

Is there a way of logging in to the local machine as user2 while being logged in as user1 so that the desktop of user2 is shown in a window and I can easily switch? Do I have to use VNC or is there a build in option which I could (ab)use?

OK - I have found a solution using Real-vnc.

Install Real-vnc version 5.3.2 from their download site. It is important to not install a newer version, as this seems to be the last version which supports User-mode for the server without a paid subscription!
As the server stops when a fast user switch occurs it is important to change the following setting (from the real-vnc knowledge base):

  ... setting the option "StopUserModeOnSwitchOut" to "No" in the Expert tab
  (VNC Server > Options > Expert tab).

Quit VNC server (this is the service). We don't need the global VNC server service as we will use the User Mode.
Now switch to the other user and login
Start VNC server (user mode). If you want to, you can add it to the Login Items to have it autostart upon login.
Switch back to your main user
use Screen Sharing app or the VNC Viewer app to connect to localhost. It is possible that you have to set a password in the VNC server, but I am not sure (the viewer will tell you).

That's it - it works perfectly for me, even with multiple monitor setup.

What I didn't manage, was to setup that the viewer uses both monitors - but I can live with that.


Long boot and shutdown time I own a MBP 17" model with i7, 4GB RAM, 750GB HDD. It is early 2011 model.

I upgraded to OS X 10.9 when it was released. Since then the boot and shutdown time has been extended greatly. What used to be a few seconds to shut down now takes like up-to a minute. I also don't use many apps or graphic intensive processes. But still when I launch VLC or certain apps the fan spins really fast and the apps themselves take quite a while to start. I even started thinking of going back to Snow Leopard. But after using the new features for a while now, am really doubtful of what I would do without them.

Is there any remedy to reduce these long waits and increase the performance? Like install any app or updates.

Has anyone had a similar experience and rectified it?

Maybe this isn't the answer you wanted to hear, and maybe also it's my paranoia about RAM (I made sure my new rMBP maxed out at 16 GB, particularly because RAM is now soldered to the motherboard), but the fact is that it's the cheapest upgrade possible on your computer. When you don't have enough RAM, the performance hit you take, when the computer starts paging to the hard drive, is simply monstrous.

Honestly I think 4 GB of RAM, today, is on the low side. Only the lowest end Macs currently for sale feature 4 GB of RAM, and some come with 16 GB standard. Mavericks has a compressed memory feature that should supposedly help with RAM pressure, but there's only so much that can be done. Your computer can certainly use 8 GB of RAM and most likely 16 GB of RAM, as reported here. I just checked Newegg and you can get 2 x 4GB RAM modules (for a total of 8 GB) of RAM for about $70 and 2 x 8GB for about $140 (reputable brands in both cases).

Then there's the possibility of replacing your hard drive with an SSD, but that's a much more expensive upgrade, and RAM should help a lot already. If you plan on staying with this computer for a long time, it's a possibility you definitely should consider since it breathes new life into any computer with a mechanical HDD. Also, prices are constantly falling, so if a RAM upgrade helps you now, you can hold out for a bit and get a good deal on an SSD later.

If it helps you somehow, I can happily report my previous computer, a mid-2010 15" MBP with 8 GB of RAM and a 300 GB SSD, absolutely flies with Mavericks installed, and I consider myself a fairly heavy user, including Parallels running most of the time. Most apps opened within a single Dock bounce. My wife needed a better computer and I needed more disk space (my average free space on the last few months was 10 GB or so), so I ended up ordering a retina MBP. But I can assure you that, other than the disk space problem, I could easily keep using that computer for another couple of years, it was just that fast.


Pros and Cons of Boot Camp/Virtualization for Windows 7 I have an iMac and I'm coming to the point where I'm going to need Windows 7 on it so I can do a bit of my Visual Studio development work on it.

I'm aware of two options, setting up the dual boot using Boot Camp and using something like VMWare or Parallels to setup Windows in a virtual environment.

While it would be way too subjective to ask which is better, what are the pros and cons to each approach? This would help me make an informed decision about which route to take.

There are actually three options.

Dual boot with Boot Camp.
VM using Parallels, VMware or VirtualBox.
VM using Parallels or VMware running the Boot Camp Windows installation.

The third gives you the advantages of the first two, i.e. you can make the decision which option to use every day or hour whenever you want. The second option also has three sub-options: you can run Windows fullscreen, in a window, or combined with Mac OS.

Now, generally the first option is ideal when

a) You really want to use Windows, not Mac OS, but thought that Mac hardware is nice and that Mac OS is a good extra.

b) You really want to use Windows sometimes.

c) You want to run games or other programs that want direct hardware access via the OS only.

d) You fear that system resources are not enough to run both Mac OS and Windows at the same time.

The second option is ideal under these circumstances:

a) You really want to use Mac OS all the time and only need Windows sometimes.

b) Or for specific applications occasionally.

c) Or for specific applications all the time (for example Microsoft Access or some such Windows-only application).

For all three running Windows in fullscreen mode will work, for a) and c) running Windows in a window is good too, and for c) running Windows in combined mode (called "Coherence" or some such thing depending on VM product) can be quite good*.

(*I run Powershell a lot because I use it at work and need to study all the time and Powershell is the only Windows program I run all the time. Hence I like the fact that using Parallels it is the only Windows window I see on my desktop.)

The third option is ideal if you really want two computers in one, leading to combinations of all reasons above. I use Windows 7 and Lion with Boot Camp and Parallels myself.

Hope this helps.


Trouble with local iCloud services I reset my password for iCloud recently and everything went pretty smoothly. My mac still connects to iCloud and the password to log in has also been changed. However whenever I restart my computer, all of the different iCloud services request my password again, and only accept my old password. There are about 10 pop- up boxes, here are some of them:

How do I notify these services that the password has been changed so that I do not have to go through this process every time I restart my machine?

(As a side note, I know that my mac connects to iCloud because iCloud Drive does update when I add folder to the iCloud Drive folder on my mac.)

Thanks.

I called Apple tech support today and got the following answer. It seems to be working so far.

Navigate to the Library folder (The easiest way is to go to the Finder top menu bar, hold down Option on the Go submenu and you should see it come up)
Delete the Keychains folder
Go to iCloud in Preferences and sign back in

Hope this helps!


How to auto show unarchived files in Finder? Currently Archive Utility is configured to unzip all archives opened by me in their directory.

While this is good it is not enough for me, I want it to show me the result in Finder.

How can I obtain this behavior, is there a hidden switch?

Instead of Archive Utility.app, I recommend The Unarchiver. It'll show the extracted files  in Finder. (I'm not sure if it's default behavior but you can change the setting in preferences.)


shortcut alt+cmd+m is blocked I use IntelliJ IDEA and the shortcut I am using to "extract a method" seems to be blocked by another application. The shortcut itself is mapped by IntelliJ IDEA.

OS X: 10.10.2, MacBook Pro with english keyboad (and layout)
the shortcut: alt+cmd+m

When I press this combination nothing happens, no other app is reacting either.

I already unchecked all shortcuts in the system preferences that could block IntelliJ IDEA shortcuts. I also quit almost all running applications, no success.

Is there a way to find which program could be blocking this shortcut. I am pretty good with the shell in case there is some find/grep stuff to make this happen.

it was divvy which i use to maximize windows. so my fault as i chose this shortcut a while ago .... shame on me.


How can I stop autocorrect in a granular way? I misspell "maintenance" all the time. I usually ignore the autocorrect suggestion and just send it. Recently my iPhone (and iPad and MacBook - thanks iCloud) have started suggesting the misspelling of this word as a correction.

It's one thing for me to ignore an error, but it's another for it to suggest the error as a correction later on. How do I change this behavior? I don't want to turn off autocorrect, I just want to remove this misspelling from the autocorrect suggestions. It also doesn't appear in "shortcuts" in keyboard settings, since it was never defined as a shortcut.

When you type something several times and ignore the suggestion, iOS assumes you mean to type it that way and adds the word to the Keyboard Dictionary. You can reset the dictionary by going to Settings > General > Reset and tapping "Reset Keyboard Dictionary". You cannot reset the dictionary in a granular way.

A possible workaround, however, if you don't want to reset the whole dictionary, is to add the misspelling as a shortcut and set the replacement phrase as the word spelled correctly. To do this go to Settings > General > Keyboard.


What is the best approach to ejecting disk while in sleep mode, scheduled? So, I have an external HDD which is being used for Time Machine.

After getting to home, I usually connect my MacBook to a HDD via Hub and put it into sleep mode. Because I sometimes get back home late during the night, the Time Machine backup may happen during midnight. However, in the morning I have to wake up my mac, only to safely eject the HDD and put the MacBook into sleep mode again for bringing my MacBook out.

So I searched in order to create a scheduled disk eject job that can be run during sleep. I looked for solutions like crond, launchd, but even launchd cannot run a script during sleep mode if I properly understood the documentation - even if I set up a job with StartCalendarInterval it will not be invoked until the MacBook is woken up.

Is there any commercial app or another approaches that can be used for my situation?

My OSX is latest version of Mojave.

I think the Energy Saver suggestion is a good place to start:

 » System Preferences » Energy Saver » Schedule and set it for, say, 30 minutes before you want to leave for work.

However, I would not schedule it to go back to sleep unless you know that it has actually succeeded in ejecting the disk. Otherwise you might have the disk not eject for some reason, and then if you remove the drive, you'll get that terrible message about ejecting a drive improperly.

So, let's say that you want to leave for work at 8:00 a.m.

Set Energy Saver to wake the computer at 7:30 a.m.

Then I would use Keyboard Maestro to run a script at 7:35 a.m. to unmount the drive. (You can schedule specific times for macros in Keyboard Maestro.)

The first step of the macro would be a shell script to unmount the drive.

I have a shell script to do this already, so I'm sharing it here. You can add a shell script as a step of a Keyboard Maestro macro.

All you'd need to do is change the DRIVE="/Volumes/Time Machine" line to reflect where your Time Machine drive mounts.

#!/bin/zsh -f

    ## Change this to wherever your Time Machine drive mounts
DRIVE="/Volumes/Time Machine"

    ## Change this to however many times you want to try before
    ## the script considers itself to have failed.
MAX_ATTEMPTS="100"

    ## Only change this if you know you need to
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/bin

    ## initialize the counter. Don't change this :-)
COUNT=0

    ## This `while` loop will keep going until the drive no longer appears at the mount
    ## point, or we exceed the number of attempts we defined above.
while [[ -d "$DRIVE" ]]
do
        # increment counter
    ((COUNT++))

        # check to see if we have exceeded maximum attempts
    if [ "$COUNT" -gt "$MAX_ATTEMPTS" ]
    then

        echo "Exceeded '$MAX_ATTEMPTS' trying to eject '$DRIVE'."

            ## This will cause the script to fail
            ## which should cause the Keyboard Maestro macro to fail
            ## so it won't go to sleep, so you'll know that you
            ## have to manually eject the drive
        exit 1
    fi

        # don't sleep the first time through the loop
    [[ "$COUNT" != "1" ]] && sleep 10

        # This is where we try to eject the drive
    diskutil eject "$DRIVE"

done

exit 0

The second step of the macro is a built-in feature in Keyboard Maestro to Put Computer To Sleep.

However, if the first step of the macro fails (i.e. if the drive does NOT eject) then the computer will not go back to sleep.


MacBook Pro (6,2 - Mid 2010) Crashes During Graphics Acceleration Ever since upgrading to 10.6.5 my MacBook pro seems to crash when graphic acceleration. The screen will go black and if audio is playing it will start to skip like a broken record.

This occurs when using the following apps:

Transmit
Sparrow Mail
Pixelmator

and this css3 demo:

http://lab.simurai.com/ui/zen-player/

Anyone else experiencing similar issues?

Hardware is stock and diagnostics are reporting everything is ok.

It sounds like a problem happening when the computer switches to the high-performance (discrete) chip–something in that transition is failing. Open Console from the Utilities folder, and find kernel.log.  See if there are any interesting lines at the time the crash happens.  Probably a few lines with "NVDA" in them.

If you open System Preferences and then Energy Saver, you can adjust the graphics mode - try setting it to high-performance (discrete) all the time.  Either the system will freeze right then, or you can attempt the same tests.  If you still see trouble, it's time to talk to Apple.


will RAM from a mid-2011 MacBook Pro work in an early 2011 iMac? Will RAM from a mid-2011 MBP work in an early 2011 iMac (and vice-versa)? Both are listed as 1333 MHz PC3-10600 DDR3.

I have 16 GB (2x8GB) in the MacBook Pro, and 12 GB (2x4GB + 2x8GB) in the iMac.

I want to swap the MacBook Pro's RAM with the 2x4B set in the iMac.

The memory for the MacBook Pro 8,1; 8,2 and 8,3 is the same as for the iMac 12,1 and 12,2.

Just as a point of clarity, the models possible are:

Early 2011 MacBook Pro
Late 2011 MacBook Pro

Mid 2011 iMac
Late 2011 iMac


Screen sharing from Mac to Android tablet I want to use my Android Pixel tablet as a second screen for my Macbook Air, similar to how users of the app Duet use their iPad as a second screen for the Macbook. Is there any free/inexpensive app that does this?

I am not in anyway affiliated with the following company / developer but I think iDisplay might be the solution you're looking for. They have an application for Android as well.


How to deduplicate iMovie files in "Original Media"? With each project, iMovie imports videos, images, and audio into an iMovie Library.imovielibrary. I want my originals in a separate folder, along with other originals that I didn't import into iMovie and others for which I use other tools such as ffmpeg, but I still want to keep the ability to edit and export projects. At the moment I have videos in two places and the iMovie library is a bloated 300 GB in a 1 TB drive.

How can I avoid duplicating video or other files in an iMovie library and save disk space?

This page suggests replacing the video files with links to the original, which saves space. It has this gist in ruby, and I coded this gist in Python, which is also below. The iMovie library went from 300 GB to 5 GB because I skipped two projects I was still working on.

Like the ruby version:

it goes through an iMovie 10 library and replaces the files in Original Media for which it can find a correspondence with links
it requires you to import into the library, quit iMovie, and then run the script.

Unlike the ruby version:

it uses symlinks to the original media instead of hard links (I confirmed that it works just as well)
you can define the filetypes to replace (movie, audio, image)
you can adapt the global variable PROJECTS_TO_SKIP to avoid replacing media
on some projects that you may be working on.
you can skip projects that you're still working on
it assumes that your iMovie library and originals folder are organized by the same event name, because in my case I had multiple DSC001.MOV and I use the event name to distinguish them
if the event names are different, e.g. if you create two events titled "movie" then iMovie renames
the second to "movie 1", you can adapt the global variable
SHOW_NAME_CORRESPONDENCE to map the name of the iMovie event to the name of
the folder with the original content.

import doctest
import glob
import os
import pathlib
import shutil
import sys

FILE_SUFFIXES_LOWERCASE = [".mp4", ".mts", ".mov", ".jpg", ".jpeg", ".png"]

PROJECTS_TO_SKIP = []  # e.g., ["project 1", "project 2"]

SHOW_NAME_CORRESPONDENCE = {}  # e.g. {"movie": "movie 1"}

def skip(f):
    """Returns a boolean for whether to skip a file depending on suffix.
    >>> skip("abc.mp4")
    False
    >>> skip("ABC.JPEG")
    False
    >>> skip("abc.plist")
    True
    >>> skip("00114.MTS")
    False
    """
    suffix = pathlib.Path(f).suffix.lower()
    return suffix not in FILE_SUFFIXES_LOWERCASE

def get_show_and_name(f):
    """
    >>> show, name = get_show_and_name("/Volumes/video/iMovie Library.imovielibrary/my great show/Original Media/00117.mts")
    >>> "my great show" == show
    True
    >>> "00117.mts" == name
    True
    >>> show, name = get_show_and_name("/Volumes/video/path/to/originals/my great show/00117.mts")
    >>> "my great show" == show
    True
    >>> "00117.mts" == name
    True
    """
    path = pathlib.Path(f)
    name = path.name.lower()

    dirname = str(path.parents[0])

    imovie = "iMovie Library.imovielibrary" in dirname
    parent_dir = str(path.parents[2 if imovie else 1])
    show = dirname.replace(parent_dir, "")

    if imovie:
        assert show.endswith("/Original Media"), f
        show = show.replace("/Original Media", "")

    assert show.startswith("/")
    show = show[1:].lower()

    if show in SHOW_NAME_CORRESPONDENCE:
        show = SHOW_NAME_CORRESPONDENCE[show]

    return show, name

def build_originals_dict(originals):
    """Go through the original directory to build a dictionary of filenames to paths."""
    originals_dic = dict()

    for f in glob.glob(os.path.join(originals, "**", "*.*"), recursive=True):
        if skip(f):
            continue

        show, name = get_show_and_name(f)

        originals_dic[(show, name)] = f

    return originals_dic

def replace_files_with_symlinks(library, originals):
    """Go through the iMovie library and find the replacements."""
    originals_dic = build_originals_dict(originals)

    # List files recursively
    for f in glob.glob(os.path.join(library, "**", "*.*"), recursive=True):
        if skip(f) or os.path.islink(f):
            continue

        show, name = get_show_and_name(f)

        if (show, name) in originals_dic:
            target = originals_dic[(show, name)]

            print("Replacing %s with %s" % (f, target))
            os.unlink(f)
            os.symlink(target, f)
        else:
            print("No original found for %s" % f)

def main():
    args = sys.argv
    assert 3 == len(args), "You need to pass 3 arguments"
    library = args[1]
    originals = args[2]

    replace_files_with_symlinks(library = library, originals = originals)

if "__main__" == __name__:
    r = doctest.testmod()
    assert 0 == r.failed, "Problem: doc-tests do not pass!"

    main()


Why is same privileged bash command giving different information from script than from command line? I wrote a bash script to verify various configs on a system, but I am getting different results depending on whether it is run from the command line directly or from the script. Here is the command:

bt_discoverable=$(system_profiler SPBluetoothDataType | grep Discoverable)

If I disable discoverable on the bluetooth and then echo the variable on the command line I get the expected result:

Discoverable: No

But if I echo it immediately after running the same command from a bash script, I get

Discoverable: Yes

The script does elevate its privileges through an internal sudo function, so I commented the block for that function out and ran the script again. This time, things worked as they should. Here is the elevation function:

RunAsRoot()
{
        if [[ "${USER}" != "root" ]] ; then
                echo
                echo
                echo "***  Type the password for ${USER} and press ENTER  ***"
                echo
                sudo $1 && exit 0
        fi
}
RunAsRoot $0

This function is the first thing the script runs, so the code position is a problem.

Why does running in an elevated privilege (sub)shell cause this issue? Is the problem Terminal, Bash, or something else I'm ignorant of?

The difference comes from the change in shell environment once elevated. I'm not sure how you would write a script that would account for this change easily, but the answer to my original question is that you need to be aware of such differences when you elevate privileges.

Thanks to "thankyour" for this lead. I finally posted this as an answer since they didn't for some weeks.


Are there fonts that include musical note characters? On my Mac, there is a font that contains the BEAMED EIGHT NOTES Unicode character, but there are no fonts that contains the MUSICAL SYMBOL PLUS NOTEHEAD or the MUSICAL SYMBOL QUARTER NOTE Unicode character.
Are there fonts that contain such characters?

Try installing the Musica font from page. This will install the musical notes you need (free). You can then test it out on this page.
Hope this helps.


How can I get my laptop's existing system onto a new replacement drive? I'm planning to swap out my early 2011 MBP's drive for a larger capacity one. I'm running Mac OS 10.7.5.

I have available a 1 TB external USB-connected drive that I'm using for Time Machine backups.

I also have a SATA-to-USB adapter.

I'm pretty sure I have a compatible OS X install disk that I could boot from.

So given all that, what would be the most efficient way to get my old system onto the new drive? Should I copy it onto there before or after putting it into the machine?

Would the Time Machine backup help me out in any way?

A few ways to approach....

Clone your existing drive to a drive image on the 1TB (if it has room). As @revolver mentioned, Carbon Copy Cloner is a good tool. Super Duper does very much the same thing. Your choice. Swap drives and then restore. You'll need a boot drive that has your clone tool. The 1TB could do this, or a flash drive, etc.
Plug the new drive into the USB/SATA adapter. Install OS X on the new drive so you get the recovery partition setup properly. Then clone directly from internal to external drive. No drive image involved. You can even reboot while in this config to confirm everything worked. Then swap the hardware.
Run a Time Machine backup. Install the new drive. Install OS X, with its recovery partition. Boot to the recovery partition and restore from Time Machine.
Install OS X on the new drive and use the Migration Assistant tool to move all your data and apps over from Time Machine backup. This has the advantages of removing some cruft and getting you a "fresher" environment.

I'd pick #2 as you can test the new drive before you commit to the hardware install.


TextMate: How can I switch 2 lines? I recently migrated over from Notepad++ (and from Windows) and I am finding myself at an inconvenience without CTRL + T in Notepad++ which switches the current line with the previous line. I tried using Move selection (CMD + CTRL + ARROW), but it does not behave the same way.

It's the same as in Notepad++, control ⌃+T. Place your cursor at the beginning of the second line, press ⌃ T, and the two lines will be transposed. Your cursor will also move down a line as well, enabling you to repeatedly transpose to move a line down several spots.


multiple desktops question on mac I have a question about multiple desktops. This function is super helpful since I only have a 13 inch macbook pro and my screen economy is vastly improved with multiple desktops since I am using ruby, sublime text, web browsing, and (due to my ADD) VLC and quicktime at the same time.

Questions:

1) How do I get multiple desktops to start at startup?

2) I have assigned web browsing to desktop 1 and ruby+sublime to desktop 2. How do I get these to open on these desktops permanently? Will 2 desktops be created if I open ruby and sublime after restarting my computer?

3) Is there a quick way to drag open applications between desktops?

4) Say I have VLC open on desktop 4 and I select that it opens on desktop 4. At startup, if I only have 1 desktop open, and I open VLC, will desktops 2 and 3 open? Are desktops reopened after restarting?

5) Any other useful tricks I should know about?

Setup your windows the way you like them.  When set right click on the application icon in the dock and go to Options-->Open at Login and This Desktop.  This will open that application on that desktop at login.  I have found that some applications just don't work properly but most that I've tested work as expected and open to that desktop at login or when opened.


Reviewing Apple Store apps anonymously? I have tested many apps and I would like to review them in the Apple Store. I use an iPad.

I don't want to review apps under the account my credit card is tied to.

How can I review apps anonymously?

You cannot review anonymously but Apple offers feedback through this form here.


iPhone 6S - Not getting Push Notification and Badge icon related to OS Updates I bought an iPhone 6S three months back. Earlier I was not aware that I would get push notifications regarding iOS updates. However, later I became aware of this thanks to a friend. Since buying my iPhone, Apple has released 3 updates and I had not received a single notifcation of these.

If I go manually and check for software update, then I can see it. Why are other devices getting notififcations regarding iOS Updates and I'm not? I have formatted my iPhone 3 times and the latest one was done by Apple service and they set it up as new iPhone.

Please help me out regarding this issue.

The problem with this type of question is that it can only be verified as resolved under the right circumstances.

Although you say you have reset the iPhone three times, and once at an Apple service centre, it's not clear what type of reset was done. My advice is to follow these steps to try and resolve your issue.

Connect your iPhone to your computer and launch iTunes (if it isn't already open). Note: You may need to enter a passcode or trust this computer.
Select your iPhone when it appears in iTunes. (Note: If you're prompted to update iOS do not download/install the update.
Manually do a full backup of your iPhone to your computer (i.e. not just to iCloud). You can do this by clicking on the Back Up Now button. This may take some time depending on how much data you have.
Once your backup is complete, disconnect the iPhone from your computer.
On the iPhone go to Settings > General
Swipe up and tap on the Reset option at the bottom
Tap on Erase all Content and Settings
Follow the prompts to erase/reset your iPhone
Once you've reset your iPhone, reconnect it to your Mac or PC and launch iTunes (if it isn't already open). Note: You may need to enter a passcode or trust this computer.
Select your iPhone when it appears in iTunes
When prompted, choose to Restore your iPhone from the backup you made at Step 3
Follow the prompts to restore your iPhone

Once these steps are complete you will have hopefully resolved your issue.

At the time of writing this, iOS 10.2.1 was just released (hence why at Step 2 I didn't want you downloading/installing the update if prompted).

If you haven't already installed this update, then you should get your notification soon. On the other hand, if iOS 10.2.1 was already installed then you won't know if these steps have resolved your issue until Apple releases the next update.

EDIT re: Timing

I just wanted to add a bit of info on the timing of notifications relating to iOS updates.

Typically, after an iOS update is release, users should get a badge notification with a '1' that sometime in the first 48hrs - 72hrs. However, an actual push notification may not come until quite some time after and only if your device hasn't been updated yet.

Using myself as an example, I have an iPhone 6s which I've had since September 2015 (it's now Feb 2017). In that whole time I've never had a push notification about an iOS update because I always update my iPhone fairly quickly. However, my wife who also got an iPhone 6s at the same time as I did, did get a push notification for iOS 10 at some point (weeks after iOS 10 launched) because she was still on iOS 9.3.5 and was in no hurry to update (I'm usually her guinea pig with these things). However, she did eventually update from iOS 9.3.5 to iOS 10 because the notification was relentless annoying her (and because iOS 10 was working well for me).

In summary, what I am saying is that a badge icon should appear within 72hrs of the official release, but that a push notification message may take weeks and only if arrive if you haven't updated.


Where can i get a copy of OS X Lion s/w? Where can I get a copy of the S/W Lion?
I want to "clean install OS X Lion" on my MBA 13" 2012, like it originally came.

AirRay

If your Mac originally came with OS X Lion, is capable of doing internet recovery, and you have a WPA/WPA2 network, then booting using Internet Recovery will enable you to install OS X Lion. To boot into Internet Recovery, follow these steps:

Shutdown your Mac
Press the power button
Quickly release it and hold down Command-Option-R
Keep on holding it until a globe shows up, or a list of WiFi networks.
For more assistance, visit https://www.apple.com/osx/recovery/

If that is not an option, you can purchase the OS X Lion download code from here. Upon recieving it, go to the Mac App Store and redeem the code. It will download like any other app. If you are installing it on a Mac running OS X 10.8 or later, you will need to create a bootable USB and wipe all your data, as the installer will not allow you to install 10.7 on a newer OS release. If you choose this way, be sure to make a copy of the Lion Installer and backup all of your files.


What is Openport.app? Am I being a victim of some hacker? I haven't installed it

OS: 10.15.2 Catalina

If so. Is it safe to remove by command line?

OpenPort is a program used to create a tunnel from your machine to the Internet. Essentially allowing your, or others that are given access, to connect to your machine from the Internet to remote control it, copy files, etc.

It is normally used in situations where the machine cannot be placed directly on the Internet. For example in home user setups your machine can be stuck behind NAT, home firewalls, etc. that makes it difficult to access it from the Internet. OpenPort connects from your machine to a server to create a tunnel that will easier connection from the Internet.

You pay a monthly subscription for the server service for OpenPort, although they have a limited, free plan as well.

If you haven't knowingly installed OpenPort.io, I would uninstall right away. It is safe to remove in as so far that it doesn't come standard with the Mac, so it is an optional extra. You might want to take a backup before removing, if after removing you realize that it was actually yourself that installed the app for some purpose and want it back with your own configuration.


Disable dictation from command line Is it possible to disable dictation from the command line, so that macOS never asks again if I want to enable it?

I know that many such things can be done using defaults write but couldn't find the right key for dictation. I'm using macOS Mojave 10.14.5.

If you are talking about not having the message box, shown below, popping up again when pressing the e.g., Fn key twice, then use the following defaults command in  Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.HIToolbox AppleDictationAutoEnable -int 1

This changes the Shortcut: setting from e.g. Press Fn (Function) Key Twice to Off in System Preferences > Keyboard > Dictation, and would be the same setting that gets set if clicking the Don't Ask Again button.


Create apple script which auto names files with info from clipboard when a key combination is pressed I work with file sets all beginning with the same number, but with variations, e.g. 0545038773.jpg, 0545038773_right.jpg, 0545038773_left.jpg, 0545038773_TOP.jpg, etc

I'd like to assign the, _left, _right, _TOP, etc. to specific key combinations like Command or Option and 1 pressed at the same time, OPT3, OPT4, OPT5, etc.

Ideally, you'd copy the first part, 0545038773 from wherever, then when you select the file and press the key command, OPT+1 for example, the script highlights the name field, places the copied info from clipboard, 0545038773, then appends the _left, or _right, depending on which key combo is pressed.

Any help would be appreciated. I had something that did this for PC but I don't have access to the script anymore to try and start translating any of it.

Even the first part would help. Select file, press key command, naming field then highlights, pastes from clipboard.   Thanks.

This is a problem of two halves.  The second half is easy:

    tell application "Finder" to get the selection as alias list

    tell result
        if (count it) is not 1 then return
        set TheFile to its first item
    end tell

    tell application "Finder" to set the name of TheFile to ¬
        [the clipboard, "_left", ".jpg"] as text

The core line of code you want here is the penultimate line set name of TheFile to..., where TheFile is a variable that points to the currently selected item in Finder, and you simply need to change the appending text item as you see fit.  The first few lines simply deal with getting the selection from Finder and making sure only one file is selected.

The first half of your problem is solvable but at varying degrees of investment versus reliability.

Do you use any automation software, such as Alfred, Better Touch Tool, Keyboard Maestro or FastScripts ?  All of these let you create hotkeys that trigger a macro to do whatever you want (in this case, run the script above).  This would be my recommended method of doing things, but they are all paid-for applications.

The other way is to create a service in MacOS (using Automator).  Once you’ve done that, you can go into System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services, find it in the list, check the box, and assign a shortcut to it like the ones you mentioned.

From then on, whenever you press those shortcuts, the service runs and executes your AppleScript.

Hope this helps.  If you require clarification, leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.


Cable to record from iPhone to Mac I want to play audio from an iPhone and record it on a Mac or PC. Can a simple male to male stereo cable be used as headphones to the iPhone and a recording device to a PC or Mac?

Yes, there's nothing why it shouldn't work.

Please not that some Macs only have one headphone Jack. Even if it automatically switches to in&output when you plug in an (Apple) Headset, you'll have to set it manually to input when using a normal male-male cable.

To do this, open Settings>Audio and you'll find a dropdown box. ('use headphone jack as...' or so)


Can the signal level at which Wi-Fi disconnects be changed? On my iPhone 5s, I am often at a location at the edge of the limits of my Wi-Fi  signal, where my 4G signal will actually be stronger than the Wi-Fi  signal. However, my iPhone will remain connected to the Wi-Fi  at this point, and will only disconnect when there is no Wi-Fi  signal at all.

Is it possible to increase the level at which Wi-Fi  will disconnect and the 4G (or 3G) will be used instead? As it is, I have to manually turn off Wi-Fi  every time this happens, which is rather frustrating.

Not configurable on iOS.

Depending on your Wireless Access Point/Router you can sometimes turn down the signal power to shorten it's reach to a smaller radius.


Will Migration assistant erase my Lion setup I just got a new macbook pro. It runs Lion.

I have a time machine backups of my old snow leopard machine. If I use Migration assistant to move data to new machine via time machine backup, will it erase my Lion OS? I need Lion but I need old data.

No, you'll be fine. Migration assistant migrates user accounts, applications, setting and/or files (depending on what options you choose), but it won't overwrite your Lion operating system. See Apple's guide to using Migration Assistant here.


Non-static desktop wallpaper in macOS my question is exactly as it sounds. Is there anyway to make a "moving" or "non-static" desktop wallpaper in macOS. I'd like a loop or repeating video or something similar to what Josh Fluke has in many of his videos. I'm quite experienced in python, java, apple script etc. and know of no solutions to this problem. I've also seen various tutorials that work for Windows but not Mac. Additionally, many tutorials on the subject fake video wallpapers by merely playing a video in the background or requiring an app to be open all the time (e.g. VLC)—and I'd definitely like to avoid apps that must appear in the task bar or occlude my desktop icons. Ideas?

You can play any video as a Desktop wallpaper using VLC from the command line if you pass the option --video-wallpaper to the VLC executable. This will play the video behind your Desktop files. The VLC executable is located at /Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC. I have that aliased to vlc, using:

alias vlc='/Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/VLC'

You can now play any video using:

vlc --video-wallpaper movie.mp4

This will cause the VLC application to be in your Dock. If you would like it to be hidden, follow the instructions in this answer, or copy the example below:

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'Add :LSUIElement bool true' /Applications/VLC.app/Contents/Info.plist

uses the native utility PlistBuddy to edit the Info.plist file in /Applications/VLC.app/ so that VLC no longer appears in the Dock. If you would like to undo this so VLC will show up in the Dock again, use:

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'Delete :LSUIElement' /Applications/VLC.app/Contents/Info.plist


Displaying calendar events as text, in the terminal Using Yosemite, is there a way to display events from my calendar in the command line?

I'm aware of the stock calendars apple supplies for things like holidays and such, /usr/share/calendar/ and the command 'calendar' to display events listed in these. Is there a way to do the same thing but list events from my own calendars?

I've found that personal calendars are stored in ~/Library/Calendars but everything I've found within that folder does not work with the 'calendar' command. There are several folders with ambiguous names similar to "D4385-GS57-D352-GA248592.calendar". And some folders contain a lot of *.ics files, which I think are calendar events.

How about something like that:

$ find ~/Library/Calendars -name "*.ics" |
      xargs grep -h -e "SUMMARY" -e "DTSTAMP" |
      sed -E 's/^[A-Z].*:(.*$)/\1/g' |
      sed -E 's/^([0-9]{4})([0-9]{2})([0-9]{2})T([0-9]{2})([0-9]{2})([0-9]{2}).*$/\1-\2-\3 \4:\5:\6/g'
Fist’s Birthday
2014-05-16 05:44:20
Secon’s Birthday
2014-07-26 09:58:49
Third’s Birthday
2014-05-16 05:44:20
...

This command will output all events in all your calendars (included subscribed ones).


Cannot upgrade VirtualBox installation of Mac OS 10.6.8 to Mavericks - supposedly a processor issue I'm running Mac OS X 10.6.8 within VirtualBox 4.3.2 on a Windows machine with an i7 processor. I would like to upgrade my OS to Mavericks through the App Store. When I try to do so, I get the erroneous error message that my processor does not meet the new operating system's requirements.

Any ideas on how to resolve this issue?

Don't know if this is still valid, but for anyone having the same problem, just set the Machine version to "10.6 Snow Leopard" instead of the generic "Mac OS X":

That did the trick for me.


Macbook 2010 with OS X 10.9 - "Dangling Thumbs" issue while typing I have a problem suddenly finding myself typing in a completely different part of a document.  I'd like to see an option to disable the trackpad while typing, for a user-selected number of ms after a keystroke.  That would solve the most irritating thing about the macbook for me.

there used to be an option for it as seen in this article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3608?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
If you have a mac running mountain lion or below this still works.
There is still an option to disable tap to click in system preferences/trackpad but that disables it even when you are not typing.


How to enable notifications on Calendar macOS for recurrent events? I created a few recurrent events from the Calendar app but none of them are being show as notifications, neither as popup notifications (those that appear on the top-right corner of the screen) nor on the sidebar to the right (the one that appears when I click the button to the right on the menu bar).

This is how one even looks on Calendar.

Make sure event notifications are enabled for whichever calendar you're adding the events to.


Weird null characters ^@ output on iTerm 2 / zsh when a command is running When I m using iTerm 2 (with zsh), and a command is running at the prompt, every minute or so ^@ (NULL character) got displayed on the terminal. Below is an example, using socat, but other commands yield the same outcome:

  2016/03/11 09:59:36 socat[1514] D data loop: sock1->eof=0, sock2->eof=0, closing=0, wasaction=1, total_to={0.000000}
  2016/03/11 09:59:36 socat[1514] D select(8, &0xa0, &0x0, &0x0, NULL/0.000000)
  ^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@

In this example, ^@ is written at the end of the last line every minute or so.

If I run the same command with the built in mac os Terminal app / bash, the output is clean.

Any idea where these nulls characters comes from and how to get rid of it?

Null characters are anti-idle feature to keep connection alive with old servers.

Go to iTerm2 -> Preferences -> Profiles -> [select your profile] -> Session tab -> uncheck "When idle, send ASCII code" checkbox.


Automatic text replacement [substitution], space to replace It seems that to replace text (Prefs/Keyboard Shortcuts/Text), one has to type a space after the keyword, and this inserts a space after the replacement text. Is there a way around this?

It depends on how you have the global pref & also the prefs in each app...

Bear in mind there are 2 ways to trigger it - whether you have "Correct spelling automatically" set or not

Of course, you need Text replacement on, in for instance, Safari > Edit > Substitutions

but then if you also have
Edit Menu > Spelling & Grammar > Check Spelling While Typing and also Check Spelling Automatically

then as you start to type a substitution, it will first auto-suggest underneath

As soon as it auto-suggests, you have 2 options...

Hit  Enter ⌅  & it will auto-fill & add a space, or
Hit  ↓  then  Enter ⌅  & it will not leave a space

The real down-side of having it set like this is if you're not expecting it to correct something & it does, without you noticing.
Any slightly unusual word or spelling can get auto-corrected to a simpler... yet wrong one, if you don't proof-read.

Your friend Anny quickly becomes Any, for instance


How do disable background downloads? App Store just ate all my mobile data trying to download Xcode. Is there a way to tell OS X that WiFi I'm currently using is expensive and it should not download its stuff without asking me first?

Xcode will not download automatically until you actually press the download button in the App Store.

The only way I can think of minimising the chance of using the WiFi extensively is to disable the installing available updates in the background.

Go to App Store->Preferences->uncheck Download newly available updates in the background

You could uncheck the automatic check for updates all together, but this increases the risk of not getting latest security updates - what is not really recommended.

All these modifications mean that you would need manually download updates.


Preview can't find fonts used in eps file generated by gnuplot I am trying to use TimesNewRoman.ttf as the font for *.eps files generated by Gnuplot.  I am running OS X 10.9.5 on a 2010 Macbook Pro. Here is my gnuplot script.
set terminal postscript eps enhanced size 5,5 font 'TimesNewRoman.ttf,20'
set output "./test.eps"
plot sin(x)

When I open this file with Preview, I get the error:

PostScript Conversion Warning
Converting the PostScript file “test.eps” produced the following warnings:
· TimesNewRoman.ttf not found, using Courier.

TimesNewRoman.ttf is an exact copy of Times New Roman.ttf. Gnuplot has problems trying to find files with spaces in the file name. So I copied the /Library/Fonts/Times New Roman.ttf to /Library/Fonts/TimesNewRoman.ttf and
~/Library/Fonts/TimesNewRoman.ttf.  I believe this trick worked when I was using OS X 10.6.8, but it appears not to work in Mavericks.
How can I fix this?

Preview's postscript conversion doesn't use Times New Roman, but you (probably) can use Times Roman. I'm not familiar with Gnuplot, so I'm not sure how to set fonts, but the name is "Times-Roman"


What is this button on my MacBook? I have a 2011 MacBook. Along the left edge (looking at it from the normal typing position), near the front, there is a small silver button which is flush with the rest of the case. When pressed, a small series of tiny lights beside it flash green before going dark again. Nothing else happens.

Can anyone explain what this button does?

This is your battery capacity indicator. The number of lit dots indicates how much battery you have left.


Macbook charge cable doesn't work in my macbook. Macbook #2's cable works in my macbook. Why isn't my macbook able to charge with my cable? So, I've been having an issue on and off for a year or two where my macbook airs magsafe charger wouldn't actually charge my device, and I'd have to reset the SMC 10+ times to get it to recognize my charger.

I've recently gotten access to a second macbook (pro) so I was curious if that charger would work for my macbook air. Lo and behold, it works immediately after plugging it in the first time. So, the other macbook charger works for both that macbook and mine. My charger works for the other macbook, but in mine it takes a bunch of resetting to get it to work.

What could be causing this weirdness?

Not sure if it would help, but here's a pic of my magsafe port (there is no removable debris, it just appears to be discolored and scratched a bit):

I would suggest swapping the chargers and avoiding the problem.

The original charger may not have been the correct rating - had this before where they charge but so slowly or not at all.

Macs and chargers do check what they are connected to so smaller chargers don't try to charge the larger batteries as the chargers have different ratings 60W, 85W etc...


Catalina Keeps Deleting Documents Symbolic Link I have a symbolic link from ~/Documents to ~/Dropbox/MyDocuments.

However I noticed that Catalina from time to time deletes my symbolic link and replaces it with a new Documents folder. I think its happening at a reboot but may happen at other times as well. Any way to prevent this

I have found a workaround for this that I got from the Dropbox forum. As for many years, I 've been syncing my Desktop using Dropbox. However, because of the new layer of security in Catalina, it deletes the folder.

Here is a solution that I did it and it is fine for me now.

  After creating the symlink to my Dropbox desktop folder, I locked the
  link file by displaying its info and checking the 'Locked' checkbox.
  That seems to do the trick. I checked that I can still write and save
  to my desktop.

Link: Dropbox Symlinks


How to hide favourites bar in mac os using bash script? I'm trying to disable and enable the favourite bar in mac os "Yosemite" using bash script, I used the following command in terminal but it didn't work even after I restarted Safari, so am I doing something wrong?

defaults write com.apple.Safari ShowFavoritesBar -bool false

You need to add a -v2 for Yosemite.  See below:

defaults write com.apple.Safari ShowFavoritesBar-v2 -bool false

Restart Safari.


Clean install of macOS Sierra not working I'm trying to perform a clean install of macOS Sierra on a late 2009 iMac, but I can't get it to work. The installation comes up with errors every time when it's almost finished. As I've tried a lot of things, I'll list them up first as they come with different errors.

Something also notable is that the iMac first failed an upgrade from El Capitan to Sierra via the Mac App Store. It gave the error that the installation had not been successful and should be run again. This, of course, did not work.

As there were only old files on the iMac, I decided to perform a clean install. First of all I erased the HDD via macOS Recovery. This all went well without any errors. I rebooted the iMac and went to Recovery and had selected the option to install macOS Sierra. After a long time waiting the installer finally ended up with the error: The installation was unsuccesfull, please try again. So I thought that maybe the installer was at fault so I created a bootable USB.

First I created a bootable USB via my MBP 2016 using the Terminal. It all went well and the USB was located in the Finder as Install macOS Sierra.

I plugged in the USB to my iMac, held the option key and than the USB didn't show up. After long Googling I found that unplugging and plugging the USB back in while the screen of 'select bootable' was shown, did work. So I selected the USB and went through the process again. But again with the same result. After some more Googling I tried to reset the PRAM with the commandoptionpr keys and booting it up twice. Same result again.

I than erased the USB and created a new one via the MacDaddy install disk creator. It showed fine in the Finder on my MBP, but the same as the first time for my iMac. And the installation gave the same error.

After some more Googling, I tried to reset the date via the recovery Terminal, via the format: date mmddHHMMYYYY. It than gave a new error upon installation: "The installer payload failed signature check".

After more Googling I tried to reset the date via the internet command in Terminal. This reset the date to American Timezone (time.apple.com). Again, with the same results.

Resetting it back to my own timezone via the date command, to be really sure I inserted the correct date, the installation came back with the first error: "The installation failed, please try it again".

I can't find any other solutions on Google and I really hope you guys can help me out.

NOTE: The error messages were in the Dutch language, so I've tried to translate them as best I can.

Title: THREE OPTIONS TO HELP IN YOUR CONCERN
+
*FIRST OPTION****......
If you continue to have concerns, noting the previous Stated Advise above, is of good quality....May one suggest going to Recovery Mode ...**First: Shut down the computer NEXT: restart holding the Key Stroke: (Option-Command-R)  You will see a box to select you preferred Language (click continue)(FYI: Mandatory: must be connected to the inter-Net via wifi>>> visible in upper top of bar) Next select Disk Utility> Erase the HD Continue by quitting Disk Utility NEXT Select  Reinstall OS X  (MUST HAVE APPLE ID AND PASSWORD for the Install) Finally When Exiting RECOVERY MODE you will be asked to select a start up Disk (there should be only one selection) Click and continue.  Your Computer will shut down then start up in El Capitain.  Finally, Please install updates  go to Apple.com and install Sierra..... .
+
SECOND OPTION.......
OTHER Possible AVENUES TO RESOLVE CONCERNS:  You may also go the Apple Support: https://support.apple.com and talk via phone call or Online Chat for clear concise steps with clarifications as needed......
+
THIRD OPTION......
If you feel the above may be TO DIFFICULT OR UNCLEAR, consider going to the Nearest Apple Store, make an appointment for the Genius Bar to help with this concern....
+
Good Luck...
Authored statements: ysureican Fogarty


i need to charge my ipod while connecting to an accessory I'm looking to charge my iPod via USB or car charger while still being able to use a sync cable accessory with the iPod. I'm connecting an iCombie (which is a wireless adaptor) to my motorcycle helmet and want to be able to charge the iPod at the same time.

I think you are looking for something like the dockStubz Pass-Through connector

the idea is that the connector allows you to connect further 30 pin connectors to the bottom, then use a standard micro-USB cable to charge the device at the same time.


MacBook Pro stop charging at 99% Most of the time my MacBook Pro stop charging at 99%. But when I check the battery status it says battery is charged. My battery cycles is around 500. Does it means I needs a new battery or it is something else? Thanks.

I am using Mid 2012 MBP.

This is normal and the reason to it is so as to prolong the overall life of the battery. You can see more information here.


With the "small" Mac keyboard, how to simulate a HOME, END, and PageUp, PageDown key? My desk is a little too narrow for the long type of Apple keyboard -- the one that has the keypad and the Home ↖, End ↘, Page Up ⇞, Page Down ⇟ keys...  (it will take up the space for the mouse).

So if the small (wireless) keyboard is used, is there a way to simulate these keys: Home ↖, End ↘, Page Up ⇞, Page Down ⇟?  (Home ↖ takes a user to beginning of page, End ↘ takes the user to end of page).

In some apps like Chrome and Safari, Command ⌘ + Up ↑ is like Home ↖, and Command ⌘ + ↓ Down is like End ↘.  Fn + Up ↑ is like Page Up ⇞, Fn + ↓ Down is like Page Down ⇟, but it won't work in some apps such as in Finder (File Manager) and iTunes, where both of them will only do PageUp and PageDown simulation but not Home ↖ orEnd ↘ simulation.

I have this keyboard:

Not this keyboard (which has the dedicated Home ↖, End ↘, Page Up ⇞, and Page Down ⇟ keys):

The Command+Up/Down keys you mentioned for Chrome and Safari are coincidences. The Fn+Up/Down keys are not. Those key combinations are actually mapped to the Page up/Page down keycodes, so the application thinks you actually pressed those keys. There are similar mappings for Home and End: Fn+Left and Fn+Right, respectively. These Fn+Arrow mappings will work exactly like Page Up/Down and Home/End in any application, unless it somehow is working around the system.


Can Apple Remote app wake up an Apple TV 2? Is it possible to wake up an Apple TV 2 using the Apple Remote app on an iPhone or iPad rather than using the remote that comes packaged with the Apple TV 2?

Yes, as soon as you start the Remote app and tap the 'Menu' button, the Apple TV will wake up.


Is it possible to upgrade a second generation iPod Touch to iOS 4.3? Suddenly a lot of my apps are not working on my iPod Touch 2nd gen.  Many of these are telling me that I need iOS 4.3 for them to work.

I've tried updating software in iTunes - but it says my current version 4.2 is the latest and there are no updates to install.

Any ideas?

Please answer

Thanks

According to the incredibly useful iOS support matrix v 2.0 (Winter 2012) done by Empirical Magic, the end of the line is running iOS 4.2.1 on an iPod touch (2nd generation).

Apps that target 4.3 or newer are just not going to run on that device unless the developers re-add support for that OS. Since the code set for that device is ARMv6 you can expect more and more apps to be dropping support as time goes by. Thankfully, what you have should keep running indefinitely, but updates will taper off.


Why is "auto adjust brightness" washing out my retina display on El Capitan? When I check and uncheck this System Preference "Automatically adjust brightness", my display gets slightly washed out instead of brighter or darker. It seems to be adjusting the gamma and the grays instead of the backlight brightness.

What's going on here and is it possible to restore the behavior of Yosemite and earlier with this option?

A sample of the gamma difference with setting enabled/disabled.

It is a new feature called ‘Ambient light compensation’. Before the Beta 7 or so it was a separate option in that menu on your screenshots, but in newer betas and in the finale release Apple merged it with the ‘Automatically adjust brightness’ checkbox, so yes, it is now adjusting not only backlight brightness, but gamma as well.

The only solution I found so far is to turn off that checkbox and adjust backlight brightness manually, which isn't a solution really. Hope Apple will bring back a separate checkbox for ambient light compensation.


iPhone 4 locked by it's previous owner iCloud account I've bought a iPhone 4 of an auction site. When this iPhone got delivered and I turned it on, it asked me for the PIN code of the previous owner and noticed that the iPhone 's language was completly in French.

When trying the most common PIN codes (0000, 1234, 4321, etc...), and all attempts failed (from all the tries, I had to wait an hour to try again....), I decided restoring it in iTunes.

After restoring it in iTunes to the latest supported IOS; 7.1.2, and putting an SIM card into the phone, I had to configure the language and such. After that screen, it asked me to login on the previous owner's iCloud account.

The problem is, I dont know the previous owner of the iPhone.

Can I remove the previous owner's iCloud settings from the phone?

No.

You need to contact the person who sold you the phone and get them to either give you the iCloud details, or give you your money back.

The phone can not be activated by Apple until it has been unlocked using the iCloud details (login and password) that it was locked with. This is a security measure to stop stolen phones from being useful to people.

If the seller does not have the iCloud details, then it was probably not their phone to sell, and they should return your money.

Sorry.


How to increase the max user processes hard limit(Mojave) How do I increase my max process hard limit. Currently, I can't go more than 2500. I'm on Mojave 10.14.6.

Currently what I do is:

sudo vim /Library/LaunchDaemons/limit.maxproc.plist // and then increase the limit

sudo launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/limit.maxproc.plist
sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/limit.maxproc.plist
launchctl limit

I can only increase it to 2500. I want it to be much higher than that.

Looks like kernel is hard coded to 2500 in param.c

#if CONFIG_EMBEDDED
#define NPROC 1000          /* Account for TOTAL_CORPSES_ALLOWED by making this slightly lower than we can. */
#define NPROC_PER_UID 950
#else
#define NPROC (20 + 16 * 32)
#define NPROC_PER_UID (NPROC/2)
#endif

/* NOTE: maxproc and hard_maxproc values are subject to device specific scaling in bsd_scale_setup */
#define HNPROC 2500 /* based on thread_max */
int maxproc = NPROC;
int maxprocperuid = NPROC_PER_UID;

#if CONFIG_EMBEDDED
int hard_maxproc = NPROC;   /* hardcoded limit -- for embedded the number of processes is limited by the ASID space */
#else
int hard_maxproc = HNPROC;  /* hardcoded limit */
#endif

and while this may be scaled in bcd_scale_setup (if you are running server version), hard_maxproc is always taken as upper limit according to syslimits.h

#if !defined(_ANSI_SOURCE)
/*
 * Note: CHILD_MAX *must* be less than hard_maxproc, which is set at
 * compile time; you *cannot* set it higher than the hard limit!!
 */
#define ARG_MAX        (256 * 1024) /* max bytes for an exec function */
#if !defined(_POSIX_C_SOURCE) || defined(_DARWIN_C_SOURCE)
#define CHILD_MAX          266  /* max simultaneous processes */


Can I change the brightness on a secondary display? I have a MBP with a secondary display. Is is possible to have the brightness keys (F1 & F2) change both the main display (laptop screen) and the secondary display (a VGA external monitor connected via a Thunderbolt port with an adapter)? If not, is it possible to change the brightness on the secondary display?

On Apple displays, if you press Control-F1 or Control-F2 the brightness on a secondary display will adjust. I have tested this on my MacBook Air 2011 13" and 27" Thunderbolt Display.
Important note: You have to plug in the USB cable from the Display to the Macbook Pro in order that the keyboard shortcuts work.
If you're using a MacBook with Touch Bar, this works for the "brighter"/"less bright" Touch Bar buttons but NOT for the Touch Bar brightness slider.


Run java bundled in .app from command-line The question is how do I run some application written in java and bundled into .app package from command-line?

The main purpose of this is to run an application under JDK7. So I will start it with the java bundled in JDK7 instead of default one.

I need something like https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/10253/15553 but with java, so I can run it with a different JDK.

To switch to another JVM, try to modify the JAVA_HOME and PATH shell environment variable in ~/.profile.

# in ~/.profile
# switch to another JVM (here, 1.7)
unset JAVA_HOME PATH
export JAVA_HOME="$(/usr/libexec/java_home -F --version 1.7 2>/dev/null)"
export PATH="${JAVA_HOME}/bin:${PATH}"

# general info on Java preferences
open -a 'Java Preferences'


Open a new terminal tab from the current terminal using command A new terminal window can be opened by a command

open -na Terminal

Is there a way to open a new terminal tab?

You have to do this through AppleScript, but it can be executed from the command line via osascript

osascript -e 'tell application "Terminal" to activate' -e 'tell application "System Events" to tell process "Terminal" to keystroke "t" using command down'

Credit:  StackOverflow - Open new Terminal Tab from command line (Mac OS X)


Can VirtualBox prevent Mac OS X Yosemite to boot properly? After a few days of good experience with Yosemite, my Macbook pro cannot boot anymore. After 30 or 40% of boot, it just restarts. Here are what I did to fix it:

Booting to single-user, runnign fsck -fy, since the laptop fallen one day or two ago and I was suspicious about hard drive. But fsck told everything is fine with my hard drive. I don't think it is checking bad sectors.
Resetting PRAM
Booting to Recovery, checking hard disk via Disk Utilities
Reinstalling Yosemite from OS X Utilities

Now it does not even boot into recovery (reboots after 30%).

My last try was to verbose boot, and the last message printed out before rebooting was:

VBoxDrv: Failed to open kernel symbols (rc=-102)

In another try, the last message was:

VBoxAdpDrv: version (some number)

I had VirtualBox installed on my MacBook and worked prior to upgrading to Yosemite (in Mavericks). I did not check it in Yosemite.

So my question is: can VirtualBox prevent Yosemite from boot? Can I uninstall it using single-user boot (which is the only successful boot on my computer now)? Or do you have a better idea to get it fixed?

Finally I found a serious hardware error (failure of main board) was preventing installation of Yosomite. The reason I saw Virtual Box error was just a matter of chance, it printed out the lost error message before the computer crashed due to the main board error


Google Drive client fails to sync Pages documents I have two Pages documents in a local folder. They should be synchronised to Google Drive by my Google Drive client. The documents appear as folders remotely.

I'm getting "Upload error - an unknown issue has occurred".

Now if I open the GDrive folder in my brower, instead of SomeDoc.pages, I see a folder with the same name and a structure like so:

Index.zip
preview-micro.jpg
preview-web.jpg
preview.jpg
Metadata
    Properties.plist
    ...
Data
    (images contained in the doc)

Closed and restarted the client, and deleted the faulty remote files. It didn't help (it actually deleted the local files in an attempt to synchronise).

Surprisingly, nothing to be found: search and search on Google nor on stackexchange.

Any idea?

OSX 10.10
Pages 5.5.1 (2111)
Google Drive 1.18.7821.2489

UPDATE

This is stunning: if you open a terminal and ls -la the directory where your document resides, you'll find out the document is actually not a file but a directory, containing all the items I've listed (Data, Metadata...). Even though Finder presents it as an actual file.

I've updated to Pages 5.5.2 (2120). Making a guess from this post, I re-opened the file and re-saved it. Now in the terminal, it shows as a file, not as a directory.

Then I renamed it to trigger a sync (not sure this step is mandatory). I worked. Renamed it to its original name.

The old files still appear "in error" in the Google Drive client, even after I restarted it (by going to Activity Monitor to finish it as there's no quit button in the current version). Still have to fix that part.

Did you try to uncheck the following.

  Google Drive (drive.google.com), click Option (the gear icon) and
  Upload settings.

  There, uncheck the option Convert uploaded files to Google Docs
  format.