How can I add all of the text strings in all of the cells in a row together? I am building a tracking sheet in Numbers for when I need to send my clients lists. I can't seem to figure out how to build a text string that contains information from all of the cells in one row.

I have columns that contain the subject's name, whether or not they have done an action and then the url to their personal gallery.

The last column is a formula to put together the name, , url link.

What I want to do is have a footer cell that then puts all of those text strings together.

Sum doesn't work on cells with text.

How can I add all of the text strings in all of the cells in one column together, without having to manually input each cell into a formula?

Some projects have 5 rows, which isn't too bad. However, the job I am currently attempting to track has 70 people.

It gets a little unwieldy to have to build a formula of A2&" "&B2"&etc etc etc.

Can I automate that in Numbers?

Another solution is to use the CONCATENATE() function.

See the knowledge base for further details.

Examples

If cell A1 contains Lorem and cell B1 contains Ipsum, =CONCATENATE(B1, “, “, A1) returns “Ipsum, Lorem”.

=CONCATENATE(60, 60) returns “6060”.

=CONCATENATE(“a”, “b”, “c”) returns “abc”.

=”a”&”b”&”c” also returns “abc”, because the ampersand is the concatenation operator.

To add to every row, just drag the formula handle to copy the formula down.


How do I access my .plist with JXA (Javascript for Automation)? According to the Script Dictionary:

  PropertyListFile Object [inh. File] : A file containing data in
   Property List format

  properties:
   (PropertyListItem) : the contents of the property list file;
   elements and properties of the property list item may be accessed
   as if they were elements and properties of the property list file

and in Apple's JavaScript for Automation Release Notes

  ... the returned object is an object specifier —
    a reference to the accessed property—rather than the actual value.
    To send the get event to the external entity and return its value,
    call the property as a function:

But I don't know how to correctly use the object specifiers I am returned, nor can I see how to provide the particular plistPath to the PropertyListFile. Here's what I tried:

let app = Application.currentApplication()
app.includeStandardAdditions = true

let systemEvents = Application("System Events")
let plistPath = Path("/Users/iain/testing.plist")
let cats = systemEvents.PropertyListFile(plistPath).catsList

console.log(cats)     /* --> undefined */

I am trying to emulate the Applescript:

to getCats()

    tell application "System Events"

        tell property list file plistPath
            set availableCategories to value of property list item "catsList"
        end tell

    end tell

end getCats

This is the .plist file:

√ nodejxa % cat ~/testing.plist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>blogPath</key>
    <string>/Users/iain/WebDev/iainhouston.github.io/_posts/</string>
    <key>catsList</key>
    <array>
        <string>Blog</string>
        <string>Devops</string>
        <string>Drupal</string>
        <string>Formal Methods</string>
        <string>Parish Councils</string>
        <string>Scripting</string>
    </array>
    <key>scriptFilePath</key>
    <string>/Users/iain/bin/makepost.py</string>
</dict>
</plist>

I just had to figure out how to open and read a plist with JXA myself, and it was not intuitive at all. The documentation on JXA is frankly terrible. I searched the dictionaries in Script Editor, but also made liberal use of the properties() method in Script Editor, which will show you all the properties of many objects.

I finally did figure it out for myself, and I think this will work for you:

let app = Application.currentApplication()
app.includeStandardAdditions = true

let systemEvents = Application("System Events")
let cats = systemEvents.propertyListFiles.byName("/Users/iain/testing.plist").contents.value()['catsList'];

Results in the log:

/* Blog,Devops,Drupal,Formal Methods,Parish Councils,Scripting */


iPhone vibrates in spite of "Do Not Disturb" When i switch my iPhone 5 (iOS 7) to "Do Not Disturb"-Mode, and also activate "Always" in the Silence-Settings, it vibrates when it is unlocked.

  So when i am reading an iMessage, and it arrives a new one, my iPhone
  vibrates.

I want to switch my iPhone completely silent with this option, but it is really possible? I can turn off vibration, of course, but i really don't know what Do Not Disturb really does!

It turns of Vibration and Sound when new Notifications arriving, but when i am using the Phone, it should be complete silent as well.

  Is this a bug or just a missing feature?

It's my understanding that this is by design.

Do Not Disturb mode is meant to be active when the phone is not actively in use. The idea behind it is that, if the phone is unlocked and you are working with it, you do in fact WANT to be notified of a new item.
However, when the phone is locked and dormant, the logic is that you no longer wish to be disturbed, and it will suppress vibration / notification indicators.

So for example, if you are sleeping, and DND is on, then it will remain silent, and not vibrate. If you roll over, pick up your phone to check messages, and it's active, the DND will still allow vibrate to indicate new messages while you are using it.


What is keyboard shortcut to cycle through worksheets in excel (office 2011) workbook on mackbook air? It looks like the shortcut is listed as Command+PageDown, but there's no "page down" on a mackbook air.  how can I cycle through the tabs (worksheets) in an excel workbook?

According to Apple's Mac notebooks: Key placement and functions:

  Page Up key functionality is performed by pressing Fn and Up Arrow key.

  Page Down key functionality is performed by pressing Fn and Down Arrow key.


Function keys and Enter key on built-in keyboard of 13" rMBP mysteriously remapped. How to fix or reset to default? The built-in keyboard of my Macbook Pro started acting weird. I only started to have this problem around last week. I thought upgrading to
Yosemite 10.10.3 would remove the issue but it still exists.

Pressing the Enter/Return key OR Right-Shift triggers the
"Shift-Enter" combo.
Pressing the Escape key is now increasing the brightness of my
display.
Pressing the F1 key decreases the brightness AND decreasing my
volume.
Pressing the F2 key increases the brightness AND triggers the Escape
key.
Pressing the F5 key decreases the keyboard light AND inputs "-" and
vice versa.
Pressing the F6 key increases the keyboard light AND inputs "/" and
vice versa.
Pressing the F7 key inputs ";".
Pressing the F8 key enters a new line or triggers the Enter key (?)
Pressing the F9 key inputs "\".
Pressing F11 key decreases my volume and brightness.

Using an external keyboard doesn't seem to have a problem. I tried doing a PRAM and SMC reset but to no avail. Tried also changing the keyboard preferences like restoring to the default settings, removing extra keyboard layouts I use for work and using the function keys as standard function keys. I tried installing Karabiner keymap tool hoping to disable some keys but it still triggers some of the weird behaviour the keys mysteriously adapted so I uninstalled it.

The problem did go away two days ago (I have no idea how. I was just doing work research and the keys started working normally) but unfortunately, after turning it back on today for another day of work, the problem came back.

Any ideas on what I can do to fix this?
Is it most likely a hardware or a software problem?

First, boot into single user mode/verbose mode. If the problem persists, its hardware.

The hardware problem can be as simple as a loose connector between keyboard and logic board. I had experience with a malfunctioning trackpad on my no-retina MBP 13'. The cause was that the connector came loose and only some lines of signals were fed into the system. I don't see how the connector would come loose without external cause; I opened up/modded my MBP many many times. However, I can say that there is free space between the connector and the bottom chassis of the laptop, enough for it to become loose.

I know retina-ones are different from my MBP in config, so you should look up ifixit to see if that's the case for you. Plus, you might have warranty concerns etc that stop you from opening up the machine.


Failed to authenticate with Google, please try again later macOS Big Sur 11.2.1
Cant add any account to Mail, Calendar, etc..
For example, when I try add gmail account to my Mail and follow all steps:

Same time when I log in with this account to google in browser, I see in this google account access for 3rd party untrusted applications is enabled:

It is not needed, google already gives access to my MacBook Pro macOS without this setting. But I found lot "solutions" in Internet to set this security settings to On. This is not help in my case.
How to fix this bug which goes with macOS looks like couple of years?

This is not a bug of macOS. It was bug or troubles in some google network services like oauth2 with urls: https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/v2/auth/identifier...
Solution is to use VPN with any remote GEO location.


How do I turn off "Find my iPhone" on my device without wi-fi? My wifi greyed out/dimmed for no obvious reason. To restore my iPhone I am required to turn off "Find my iPhone".

Since I can't get access to wifi through my device (it needs Apple ID password), how can I turn the that off?

I tried doing it through iCloud.com but it needs to be turned off through the device itself (which then eventually shows on iTunes).

I've contacted the Apple support team but they haven't helped much.

You can restore your device by putting it in Recovery Mode first. This will restore your device regardless of settings on the device, including Find my iPhone.

Turn your device off.
Hold Home as you connect the USB cable until you see the following screen:

You should see the following message in iTunes:

  iTunes has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. You must restore this iPhone before it can be used with iTunes.

Restore the device in iTunes.


keyboard shortcut in google docs is same as safari Google docs uses the ⌘-, shortcut, I can't type this in Safari because it opens Safari's preferences.

How can I work around this?

Unfortunately, ⌘Cmd, is almost universally the default keyboard shortcut in Mac apps for Preferences.

As I could not find any simple way of reassigning or customizing keyboard shortcuts for Google Docs, the best workaround is to override the system shortcut for Preferences instead, to avoid the conflict.    Thankfully this can be done easily in OS X:

Open System Preferences, and then the Keyboard pane
Select the Shortcuts tab. Click "App Shortcuts" on the left pane. Then, click the little "+" below the right pane to enter our own custom
shortcut.
From the Application dropdown, choose Safari. (Or you can
leave it as All Applications if you prefer to do a system-wide
change).
For Menu Title, type Preferences... exactly, including the 3 dots.
Choose a different keyboard shortcut, preferably something not used by Google Docs. Perhaps ⌘CmdAlt,?

Once you've added the new shortcut for Preferences, you can use ⌘Cmd, for formatting subscripts in Google Docs!


monitor for 2018 mac mini I just got a new, used Mac Mini as a replacement for my 2011 iMac. My plan was to connect my 2 27-inchers via mDP and use the iMac in Target Display mode using HDMI --> Thunderbolt 2. Upon plugging it all in (and subsequent Googling), I think I learned the following:

The output needs to be Thunderbolt in order for Target Display mode to work, so trying to go from the HDMI port on the MacMini is no good.
Even connecting via TB, I still can't get audio or use the camera with the iMac in Target Display mode

Does that sound accurate?
With that said, I'm now looking into buying a 3rd 2550x1440 (minimum) 27-incher... one with speakers (which neither of my others have). I've been reading up on the latest mDP, HDMI and TB specs and quickly got in over my head. With a limited budget (around $300), I'm probably going to have to settle for less than the latest of each/any of these... most I've been seeing are HDMI 1.4 and DP 1.2.
I do web dev work... design and front-end development with some (very infrequent) video and/or 3D tinkering.
What advantages, if any, might I see if I were to bump my budget up and find something with newer HDMI and/or DisplayPort versions? What issues might I run into sticking with the lower versions?
I can say I have no complaints about my current 27-inchers (both with HDMI 1.4 and DP 1.2), but I feel like since I'm making a bit of an investment, it shouldn't be a dinosaur.

Target Display Mode has been deprecated for years. It has major limitations and many bugs and will only get worse with time because it’s unsupported. Don’t base your plans around it.


iTunes 11 - Difference between "Play Next" and "Add to Up Next" buttons Is there a difference between iTunes' "Play Next" and "Add to Up Next" buttons? (See screenshot above). They appear if I right click an album and it seems to me that they do the same thing: Adding the songs of the album (or artist) to my "Up Next" line.

(source: m-i-u.de)

'Play Next' adds the song/album to be played directly, 'Add to Up Next' adds the song/album at the end of the songs/albums that have already been added to Up Next. For the first song/album, this will make no difference, but try adding a couple more and you'll see the difference.

In other words, 'Play Next' works as a stack - Last In First Out, while 'Add to Up Next' works as a queue - First In First Out.


How to skip an update in Yosemite? Hi I want to skip this update in Yosemite and cannot hide it by right click > hide update because the right click simply does not work.

Also tried in terminal:

softwareupdate --ignore Pre-release

Any thoughts?

If you look at  https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man8/softwareupdate.8.html you will see that this can be fixed easily from terminal:

 softwareupdate --ignore RAWCameraUpdate6.05

I'm happy to FIX THIS FINALLY!


Alfred keeps asking for Contacts permission I'm not sure what is going on. Every time I access Alfred, I get this dialog box, "Alfred would like to access your contacts." I always have to click "OK" before I can use the program. I have verified that the Alfred checkbox is checked in the Contacts settings in System Preferences. Does anyone have any other ideas?

Just like @nobody-in-particular said, your Alfred code was probably changed, therefore the signature that was in place for Alfred is no longer valid. What you have to do is sign the application after the changes to the code.

This worked for me:

sudo codesign --force --deep --sign - "/Applications/Alfred 2.app/Contents/Frameworks/Alfred Framework.framework/Versions/A/Alfred Framework"


How can I run homebrew from an automation? This is my automation script, the commands work fine when I run them from Terminal.

The PATH passed to a Run Shell Script action in Automator by default is:
/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

You need to include a PATH statement in the Run Shell Script action and or use fully qualified pathnames for any executables called.
That said, using three separate Run Shell Script actions in this use case makes the first one useless as change directory in the first Run Shell Script action has absolutely no bearing on the subsequent Run Shell Script actions.  You should work all the commands into a single Run Shell Script action.
In a single Run Shell Script action you could use the following example shell script code:
PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:
cd "$HOME" || exit
brew update && brew upgrade

As coded, it does the following:

The PATH statement includes /usr/local/bin where I'd assume brew is.
If the cd command fails the script is stopped.
brew upgrade is only executed if brew update succeeds .

That all said, I would just use Terminal normally to perform any brew commands so as to be able to see what is going on.


What are the regulatory requirements that will halt the sale of the Mac Pro in Europe? As noted today on MacRumors Apple to Halt Mac Pro Sales in Europe Effective March 1 Over Regulatory Requirements However they fail to mention the specifics of why it fails to meet "Amendment 1 of regulation IEC 60950-1, Second Edition" ?

Apple today issued a notice to European distributors indicating that it will halt sales of the Mac Pro in Europe and select other countries as of March 1 due to new regulatory requirements going into effect on that date. The move will affect all European Union countries, as well as EU candidate countries and the four European Free Trade Association countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

As of March 1, 2013, Apple will no longer sell Mac Pro in EU, EU candidate and EFTA countries because these systems are not compliant with Amendment 1 of regulation IEC 60950-1, Second Edition which becomes effective on this date. Apple resellers can continue to sell any remaining inventory of Mac Pro after March 1.

Here is a summary of the changes by TÜV Rheinland:

  EN 60950-1:2006/A1:2010 includes the following significant changes from EN 60950-1:2006/A11:2009.

  Modified requirements for bridging resistors (1.5.7.1 and 1.5.7.2)
  Additional requirements for VDR (1.5.9.4)
  Modified marking requirement for equipment with multiple MAINS SUPPLY connections (1.7.1.1)
  Modified compliance criteria for LPS (2.5 c)
  Additional and modified requirements for safety interlocks (2.8.4)
  Modified requirements for minimum creepage distances (Table 2N)
  Additional requirements for rack-mounted equipment that should comply with Annex DD (4.2.1)
  Additional requirements for rotating solid media (4.2.11)
  Additional requirements for UV radiation (4.3.13.3 & 4.3.13.4)
  Modified requirement for LEDs whose compliance standard is changed to IEC 62471 (4.3.13.5)
  Additional requirements for protection against moving fan blades (4.4.5)
  Additional requirements for evaluation of IC current limiters (Annex CC)
  Additional requirements for the mounting of rack-mounted equipment (Annex DD)
  Additional requirements for household and home/office document/media shredders (Annex EE)


Will iOS ever play nice with Amazon purchased content? Are there any indications that I will be able to use my Amazon content on an iPad?

I have songs and videos with Amazon, and I would rather buy an iPad to watch/listen to them.

But I am being forced to get a Kindle Fire instead.

No, there aren't any signs that this will happen anytime soon.  Especially with Apple's In-App Purchase rules.


Error: /dev/fd/63: line 1: Moved: command not found I am trying to install particle cli on macOS High Sierra.

When I run this command:

bash <( curl -sl https://particle.io/install-cli )

I get this error:

/dev/fd/63: line 1: Moved: command not found

Can anyone help me fixing this issue ?

You are getting that error because the URL you have referenced - https://particle.io/install-cli - has moved.

The new URL is https://raw.githubusercontent.com/spark/particle-cli-wrapper/master/installer/unix/install-cli


Notes disappearing right after creation Sometimes a note in Notes suddenly disappears. It usually (always?) happens just in a few seconds after the creation, while I'm still editing the note.
What causes this kind of behavior and how can I fix this?

(Technical details: OS X 10.8.2, GMail sync is on.)

I observe same behaviour on one of my laptops (both use gmail, but different accounts). One of the solutions is to switch to iCloud sync. Notes stop disappearing, but you can't edit anything while notes are being updated... which happens each time you update something. Apple surely was in the rush to roll out that one.

I haven't figured out the exact reason yet though.. Played with Notes folder IMAP settings to no avail.


How To Include External Microphone Audio In Headphones? I have a pair of headphones with an AntLion ModMic (https://antlionaudio.com) that I use for making VoIP calls with a soft phone. Everything is working properly with one small caveat -- I can't hear audio from the microphone in my headphones.

Audio input is coming from the AntLion through a Plantronics USB adapter. Audio output is coming from a USB DAC to my Sony headphones. So separate inputs and outputs.

When I use a single USB headset, the microphone audio is blended in with what I hear in the headphones and I'd like to do the same thing with the two separate sources.

The only solution I have found is to use SoundSource (http://www.rogueamoeba.com/soundsource/) and use the audio play through feature. Not the end of the world, but I was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions.

Thanks in advance!

I'm going to end up sounding like a one-man advertising campaign for Rogue Amoeba ;-)
No affiliation, merely a satisfied user, for many years

Unless you want to mess with the highly unreliable Soundflower - originally made by Cycling 74, once maintained by Rogue Amoeba but now open-sourced at GitHub - then the only way to go is something made & still supported by Rogue Amoeba.

Audio Hijack, LoopBack & SoundSource are all based on the same [reliable] technology, but tweaked for different sets of user requirements.
SoundSource is the latest - & cheapest - of their offerings.

If it does all that you need, then it's the one to go for.


Installing a clean version of OS X I am currently downloading yosemite from the app store. I have Lion installed. I want a clean install. But i don't have a bootable cd/usb and I don't need to save any data.

Can i do the following or is there a better way?

Create a partition. Install yosemite on it. Delete the other partition where now lion runs

Yes. Creating a new partition, installing Yosemite (or whatever Mac OS you care) there and then copying/downloading the installer onto it is a great way to then erase your Primary partition.

Then you can cleanly install OS X on to the first partition and then delete the "staging" partition, finally resizing the first partition to take the whole drive again.

My way is "better" since if you install on to the second partition, deleting the first might leave you with space you can't re-grow the second partition to recover the first. I've never seen a case where I can't delete follow on partitions and then grow the first to take up all space.


connection line grayed out in iBooks Author I went to menu-format-text and all that but the thing is the box grayed out totally.

At this point, all I could actually click on was the hide and show thing but of course I can't see anything really. [what is the hide and show thing]

I am not really good at handling Mac terminology and don't know where to start.

The option to connect boxes does not work with the title page.  Create two new boxes within the document, select both boxes using the Command Key then try connecting the boxes  again.


Total per month of daily values I would like to have a total per month in second table of the first table
I would like the table to be separated and I would like the process to be automated: typing the month and year in one cell and having the spreadsheet calculate the total for that month. (it means i can keep data in a tab and just import/update it when I need without caring about which month stops where).

In my data table I have 2 columns: one is a date, the other a value

September 2014  114
September 2014  89
September 2014  109
September 2014  85
September 2014  96
September 2014  93
September 2014  96
September 2014  118
October 2014    107
October 2014    98
October 2014    79
October 2014    67
October 2014    86
October 2014    141
October 2014    92

The formula I'm using is:

=SUMIF(Date,"="&A2,Count)

Date is the date column in the first table;
in A2 i have the month and year (as mentioned above)—but this only returns the first value found for the month…
I tried using MONTH(Date) but it is not working; would you have any suggestions?

EDIT
my dates in the raw data table are formatted as follow:

01/09/2014 00:00:00

they are indeed Date, not String, so the SUMIF appears to be failing on this. How could I convert those Dates into Strings so the comparison inside SUMIF works?

Using the SUM(IF) function:

Because Numbers does not yet support certain Array functions, for example extracting MONTH(A1:A23), by parsing the date into a third column (which can be hidden) the function will work. This column can be in any table, not just the raw data table as long as the references are valid.

Hidden column formula:

=MONTH(A1)&YEAR(A1)

Where A1 is the cell with date.

Copy down then hide column if desired.  (Importing more data by adding rows should automatically bring the formula down but unhide the column to be sure.)

=SUMIF($'Month & Year',"="&MONTH($A1)&YEAR($A1),$Value)

From the documentation regarding SUMIF():

  The SUMIF function returns the sum of a collection of numbers, including only numbers that satisfy a specified condition.

  SUMIF(test-values, condition, sum-values)

  test-values: The collection containing the values to be tested.    test-values can contain any value.
  condition: An expression that can include comparison operators, constants, the ampersand concatenation operator, and references. The
  contents of the condition must be such that the result of comparing
  the condition to another value results in the boolean value of TRUE or
  FALSE.
  sum-values: An optional collection containing the values to be summed. sum-values can contain number values, date/time values, or
  duration values. It should have the same dimensions as test-values.


How frequently is Photo Stream synced to Aperture? I've been experiencing considerable delays between the time I take a photo and the time it shows up in Aperture's synced Photo Stream. Specifically, the photos show up on other devices that consume the iCloud Photo Stream, but Aperture seems to lag them substantially.

Is there a way to force Aperture to refresh its Photo Stream so that it matches the Photo Stream on iOS devices (and thus, presumably, its state in iCloud).

Normally Photo Stream should sync across devices within seconds, so long as the device that took the photo is on WiFi. However, I've also run into cases where Aperture's PhotoStream folder lags in showing recent images. When this happens I've been able to fix the issue by disabling and then re-enabling Photo Stream in Aperture's settings. It will re-sync everything in the Photo Stream folder, and new pictures show up almost instantly.

Hope this helps.


How to test hard drive - diskutility reports defective drive as perfectly fine long story
I have an USB drive to copy data between Mac, Windows (personally I don't own any) and PS4 - it is exfat formatted.  Recently I noticed my Mac would freeze when I plug in this disc - also there is a directory in the top hierarchy that I could not open.  Since this drive moves around a lot I suspected an unlucky disconnection caused corruption. Checked the drive and the only partition with disk-utility "first aid" - which report everything is fine.  Despite this in the system log there are plenty of I/O errors.  Looks like I need to trash it.  But I sure had loved it if my mac gave me any warning that I was using a bad drive (I kinda forgive the PS4 that she didn't warn).

So for the future what check should I use?

I see that there are older questions discussing a similar questions, though they are 5 years old and also some of the link tools are dead now.  Also this question is not about data recovery, but how to asses a drive.

tl;dr What program (on mac) can I trust to check my discs?

I reccomend Disk Drill.  Their diagnostic and monitoring tools are free, but the recovery functionality (if you need it) is what you will have to purchase.

There's also a very robust set of command line (CLI) tools available as open source:  smartmontools.  This is a available as a macOS binary package so you don't need to install via brew or MacPorts.

Important:  One thing to keep in mind when diagnosing external drives is that you have two components:

the drive itself
the USB enclosure

I have had USB enclosure's fail (the USB to SATA portion) that looked like a drive failure.  The best way to get around this is to remove the drive (if you can) and use a separate USB-SATA Adapter.  What you are doing is eliminating one of the components from the diagnostic equation (the USB interface) with a "known working" component.  They are cheap (approx $10) to keep for diagnostic purposes.

That said, a drive diagnostic is not a "quick status check."  To find bad blocks you may need to do a "deep scan" because a bad block isn't reported until the drive encounters a bad block.


Lauching a Terminal '.command' file, without exiting session I've found several similar requests, but not really what I'm looking to find.  I want to write a shell script, run its commands via double-click, and stay open, to continue my work in the Terminal.

I often create a standard shell script, and put them in a file, like "myScript.command".  This type of file allows me to double-click on it, and run the script inside, but these exit on completion.  I want the session to stay open, instead of automatically exiting, so that I can continue from where the script ended.  I've seen suggestions to use &, and wrapping with ( ), but that still exits.

I've tried things from this thread How to prevent the application launched in Terminal from undesirably exiting? but it wasn't what I needed.

I'm hoping it's some easy switch, or pipe.

Thanks!

As the final step in your script you can make it run a shell for you - just put the shell as the final line, eg. bash, or zsh.

That'll then drop you into the Terminal, within the script, and you'll get access to it's environment too.

However, that'll also stop your scripts from running to completion if you're not running them interactively. You could test for that and handle it as part of your script. Do it often enough and it might be worth making a shell function for it and sourcing it in from a standard location.

Or, since what you seem to want is just an easy way to run scripts, you can setup a bunch of aliases for them in your shell rc file (.zshrc or .bashrc), and have them available to call when you want them. That way you'll still be able to continue your work, and it's easy to re-run the script too - just run the alias again.


Using Dropbox Folder as Desktop I would like to use my Dropbox folder as my Desktop. I know how to do it in Linux and
Windows, but couldn't find any guide for Mac. Any ideas?

Though I have not actually done this it should be possible to redirect your desktop folder to a different location. Since the Dropbox folder is just a folder in your user profile (that the Dropbox app then knows what to do with).

I would avoid using the dropbox folder itself as the desktop folder just to avoid any difficulties or conflicts between macOS and the Dropbox app. Rather I would put a folder called "Desktop" in the Dropbox folder and create a symlink in place of your ~/[username]/Desktop folder that points to ~/[username]/Dropbox/Desktop.

If you are not familiar with symlinks (the Unix version of an Alias but works with system processes) this link from GigaOm should be helpful.

The only question that remains is will macOS allow you to do this as the default folder structure in your user folder may be protected by the recently introduced "SIP" or System Integrity Protection system.


How do I move my Outlook mac files to Ms outlook 2010? How can I move all my emails including the mailboxes from Outlook mac to Ms outlook 2010?

This depends a little bit how the outlooks are connected to the mail server.

When you use an Exchange Server, you don'T have to do anything. You just configure to keep all mails online in the server. Then you connect with Win Outlook and can access your email.
Another option is to exports all mails from MAC Outlook. And open this export in Win Outlook.

ciao
ryder


Accessing Mac's Virtual Hosts from Parallel's XP I am having problem with accessing Virtual Hosts (located on my Mac) from XP installed via Parallels.

Here's the setup:

Mac OS X 10.6.6

using pre-installed apache running via Web Sharing (not using MAMP!)
several virtual hosts set in apache's config

Parallels 6
Windows XP Pro 64bit installed via Parallels

Network setup set to Shared
virtual hosts from Mac added to C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file

Pinging gateway (Mac) from Windows seems to work just fine, but cannot access websites hosted on it - neither by directly accessing IP nor by VHosts.

Turning off firewall didn't seem to help.

What am I doing wrong?

Assuming there are no firewall issues, it may be worth double checking that you are using the correct IP address to connect to your Mac. When using Shared Networking, Parallels creates a separate sub-network that is used between Parallels and your Mac. As such, your Mac will be using a different IP address to communicate with Parallels than it will to communicate with your external/local network.

Here is an example configuration:

Mac

Local Network IP: 192.168.1.10
Parallels Network IP: 10.211.55.2

Parallels

Parallels Network IP: 10.211.55.3

Network

Parallels Default Gateway: 10.211.55.1

Because all of these IPs are non-routable, attempts to connect to your Mac using the 192.168.1.10 address will fail from Parallels. You will need to use the 10.211.55.2 address to connect to your Mac. Note that this is not the same as the Gateway address.

It is also worth pointing out that the IP address for the Parallels network is assigned via DHCP and has the potential to change. This means that you would need to change the entries in your hosts file.*

And finally, make sure that Apache is listening on the Parallels Network IP address. The default configuration should listen on all ports, but would be worth checking if you have changed the Apache configuration.

*There are instructions here to change the Parallels network adapter on the Mac to use a specific address, but this is for Tiger.


In Photos, can you crop and scale original to save space? I often take photos of documents, receipts, or product packaging; to have as a record. These photos usually waste space because they are higher resolution than I need, and they have extra space around edges that can be cropped.

To save space I export the image, scale and crop in Preview, and delete the original from Photos. This is a pain. Can I accomplish the same thing in Photos on macOS?

Any edit will always increase space used, as it will keep the original in Masters & add a new edited version.

It's the 'safest' method which is why I presume it's done that way.

If you want total control over your pictures, you need a more pro-oriented application.

Having said that - my own workflow only uses Photos as a 'show it to people & carry it on the phone' structure. All my real work I do in Photoshop, ViewNX-i etc... but the downside of that is I end up with far more safety copies & work in progress/files with different icc profiles etc than I would if I just used Photos.
One picture can end up having 1GB of variations, + backups in 2 other locations.


Quicklook is broken in Lion [Turns out this is known bug #9536151]

I have a strange issue with Quicklook in Lion. This is on a clean install and happens with  more than one user. It also isn't fixed if I clean out the Quicklook cache in /var/folders

I have to push the spacebar twice to get Quicklook to work properly.

The first time the usual Quicklook 'window' appears but it is blank:

Push the spacebar again and the image appears. If I restart the Finder the problem goes away briefly. It's driving me nuts.

This sounds like a bug; you can report it at bugreporter.apple.com with an Apple ID and password.

Can you reproduce the problem, then check for new error messages in /Applications/Utilities/Console.app? There's a small chance that this will indicate the source of the problem.


How can I fix poor Java performance caused by Mojave update 10.14.6? I installed the 10.14.6 macOS update yesterday, and now Java is performing very poorly.  This is especially noticeable when using Maven to build Java applications.  There are projects I build frequently that used to really tax the CPU, but now they barely use the CPU at all and they take many times longer to build.  Activity Monitor shows that the CPU, memory, disk, and network spend most of their time idling during the builds.

I installed a newer Java SDK and updated Maven to see if that would help the performance, but it made no difference.

I found the answer on a different Stack Exchange site:  https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39636792/jvm-takes-a-long-time-to-resolve-ip-address-for-localhost

Run the hostname command to get the computer's hostname.
Add two new entries to the /etc/hosts file, as shown below.  (Replace {hostname} with the output from the hostname command.)

127.0.0.1   {hostname}
::1         {hostname}


How do 3rd-party programs modify the $PATH variable? When I echo my $PATH variable, I see the binaries of some programs that I have previously uninstalled, and conversely, I do not see the path to some of the binaries that I can use, such as code.

I am using the default zsh that comes pre-installed with macOS Catalina, and from my understanding, $PATH must be set in either one of its "main" start-up files in /etc/ or a user configured override commonly found in the users home directory.

Yet, there has to be more because when I run:

cat /etc/zsh* ~/.zshrc /etc/profile /etc/bash* | grep PATH

## only ~/.zshrc is included because it's the only one in my home directory

The only result that is returned is the PATH variable I exported in my ~/.zshrc file. This definition does not contain the uninstalled binaries that are still there when I echo $PATH or the "hidden" binaries that are not there when I echo $PATH but can still be executed anywhere from the command line.

So my questions are:

There must be some other file that I am not seeing that is updating the $PATH variable before my own user-configured file does. Where can this file be, if not the start-up files caught by my previous cat command?
I guess you don't have to update the $PATH variable with a binary's location to be able to run it anywhere in the terminal. If that is the case, how is this done?

You can check the content of /etc/paths and the files in /etc/paths.d which gets added to PATH by

if [ -x /usr/libexec/path_helper ]; then
    eval `/usr/libexec/path_helper -s`
fi

in /etc/profile (or /etc/zprofile). Run /usr/libexec/path_helper -s to see what it does.


Script / Automator for conversion of Apple Works docs to .odt docs With about 2500 AppleWorks docs, dating back to 1995, which I cannot open in the newly purchased Apple Pages ( but with LibreOffice), I need a script or some other automation to do it. (Most of the AW docs are textdocs, some are spreadsheets, those LibreOffice cannot open yet).

So I need some (shell?) Script / Automator assistence.

Something like this:

-> go to folder XY (this can be done manually)

-> find next Apple Works doc > open it with LibreOffice > save it as .odt in some folder > open next one…

/
Wouldn’t it be nice to let the computer do the work?!

with best regards,
Omar K N
Stockholm, Sweden

Well, 2 answers came in on another bulletin,

1st by fosnola:

Hello,

one solution can be to use the LibreOffice command tool line ( see http://blog.vogella.com/2012/02/27/batch-converting-libreoffice-documents-into-p df/ ), ie. to type in a Terminal windows something like:

 /Applications/LibreOffice.app/Contents/MacOS/soffice --invisible --nologo --convert-to odt *.cwk

to convert all files *.cwk to odt

Another solution can be to modify mwawOSX ( @ sourceforge.net > projects > libmwaw > files ), an AppleScript which called the libmwaw, the filter that LibreOffice uses...

--------------------------------..--------------------------------

2nd by VilingOSX:

On OS X 10.9.2, the LibreOffice 4.2.3.3 command-line (Terminal) syntax for converting a pure AppleWorks 6.2.9 WP document to the following formats:

MS Word .docx

/Applications/LibreOffice.app/Contents/MacOS/soffice --headless --convert-to docx:"MS Word 2007 XML" --outdir ~/Desktop alice_6.2.9_osx.cwk

PDF

/Applications/LibreOffice.app/Contents/MacOS/soffice --headless --convert-to pdf:writer_pdf_Export --outdir ~/Desktop alice_6.2.9_osx.cwk

A couple of paragraphs of the conversion result shown in Pages v5.2 from the output Word document.

...[LINK]

And the following is a .docx from an MS Windows AppleWorks v5 document conversion, changing only the alice cwk with lorem_v5_win.cwk:

...[LINK]

If you have mixed text and graphics, your mileage will vary on the quality of the output.

--------------------------------..--------------------------------
Will have to test which is better.

/
Omar KN


Disk Utility First Aid has no progress bar? It is on "Checking snapshot 1 of 4" and has been for 30 minutes.

There is no progress bar. The drive is a 1TB SATA drive.

Should I quit it and start it again or just let it chug?

It was indeed stuck. We ended up force quitting the process.

It appears from other testing that the drive is operating at a much reduce top speed. Hopefully it is not failing. But this process was definitely stuck.


How to migrate to a new Mac, including SSH keys and dotfiles? I have an up-to-date 2018 MacBook Pro that I am replacing with a different 2018 MacBook Pro. I'd like to migrate all the content from the first one to the new one, including the SSH keys, all the dotfiles (.gitconfig, .zshrc etc.), PostgreSQL databases, Homebrew-installed packages, and the system and application preferences.

Does macOS Migration Assistant transfer everything from one drive to another? Or does it only look at apps, documents and ignores configuration files?

Yea, macOS Migration Assistant ignores configuration files.


Looking for OpenSource Cleaning / cache deleting application for Mac In the times of small SSD harddisks, I was looking for an open source software to delete caches and other space wasters like logs, unused application remains and such on Mac OSX, and all over the web people are telling me there's plenty of OSS projects doing exactly that. Sadly, I couldn't even find one of them.

I want to play around with an open source software that does this kind of things. I'd like to know the most complete and if possible documented open source project for hard disk cleaning, if any exists at all.

(Please don't tell me if it's useful to delete caches, that's not the question)

You can use CCleaner to delete caches and other things, and it's free


Massive Amount of Random Files appearing in Documents Really hope someone can help me with this issue!

For the past few months, I have had an annoying issue whereby I have multiple 2-character 0-byte random folders appearing within Documents, along with an index.dat file at the very top which seems to form the quickest. It appears to only happen when I use Safari, but I have become quite attached to the browser so would prefer to continue doing so.

I have tried deleting all cookies and updated to the latest macOS, but to no avail.

Would appreciate anyone able to help as its left me very puzzled!

This looks like an application is using that directory as a location for storing cached items. Typically you'll see this type of directory structure when caching files on a filesystem. It helps to optimize performance when read/writing the files to the filesystem and standardizes the interaction for the application that's doing it. Hence the regularity to the naming structure.

You could try analyzing what files all your applications have open to see if you can identify who the offending application is. To do this type of analysis you can use the UNIX CLI tool called lsof.

$ sudo lsof | grep '/Documents/'

Example

$ sudo lsof | grep '/Documents/'
DiskSpace  6071        joeuser    3r      REG                1,5     106496 11534741 /Users/joeuser/Library/Containers/com.apple.iBooksX/Data/Documents/BKLibrary/BKLibrary-1-091020131601.sqlite
DiskSpace  6071        joeuser    4r      REG                1,5     762232 11534745 /Users/joeuser/Library/Containers/com.apple.iBooksX/Data/Documents/BKLibrary/BKLibrary-1-091020131601.sqlite-wal
DiskSpace  6071        joeuser    5r      REG                1,5      32768 11534746 /Users/joeuser/Library/Containers/com.apple.iBooksX/Data/Documents/BKLibrary/BKLibrary-1-091020131601.sqlite-shm

These items that lsof found aren't offending applications, these simply happened to have the string /Documents/ in their paths. But are still examples of how lsof can identify files that processes have open.

In this made up scenario, the process that's using these files is this process:

$ pgrep -fl DiskSpace
6071 /Applications/Books.app/Contents/PlugIns/DiskSpaceEfficiency.appex/Contents/MacOS/DiskSpaceEfficiency

So this process, DiskSpace is utilizing files which happen to have /Documents/ in their location on the filesystem.

NOTE: You should be able to adapt this same method to troubleshoot what process is using the /Documents/ on your system.

How to fix it?

If it truly is Safari that's putting these files here then I'd direct my attention to setting pertaining to Safari that dictate where it should be putting its cached files. It's likely that one of these settings has been accidentally changed so that Safari is now writing its cached files into your /Documents/ directory.

Safari typically points to these directories as described in this AD Q&A: Which folder can I find cache files for Safari?.


How I download all my files from Drafts for iPhone? I made a lot of notes in Drafts and now want to have it on my Mac.

I have access to app by PhoneView but still can't find any text files. Also tried to contact the developer - no response.

Directly in the page you linked it's stated:

Flexible Output
Send tweets to Twitter, post to Facebook, compose and send email, SMS/Messages, create calendar events – or save drafts to Dropbox or Evernote

So you could just send these notes of yours through email or Dropbox, for instance.


Running iMac 2009 on external screen due to Broken LCD So I would like to know if it is possible to diagnose and install new OSX using blank SSD in an iMac that has broken LCD and no hard drive?

I bought this iMac out of auction where you cant test anything and buy as-is, and looks like I'm in deep trouble as the display doesn't work and it has no hard drive. The iMac chimes with Apple sound when turned on so that tells me motherboard is working.

Yes it is possible to diagnose and install macOS on an iMac with a broken LCD and missing hard drive.

The iMac all-in-ones from that vintage has a mini Display Port for a second display.  It supports Leopard through El Capitan.  Here’s what you’ll need at a minimum:

A mini display port to VGA, DVI, or HDMI adapter, depending on the monitor you’re hooking up to.
A bootable USB - either an installer or a USB with a full installation on it.  You can create an installer by following one of the many guides found online.  If you want to use the full install, you’ll need to install macOS to a USB flash (64GB is sufficient) or a USB hard drive.

As for a keyboard, I’m assuming it comes with one, but if it doesn’t, you don’t need an Apple one; a cheap USB keyboard will work fine. Just remember, the “Windows” and “Alt” keys are the Command and Option keys, respectively.


How can I create a dictionary for Mac OS X? Dictionary seems to be several versions ahead of the Apple documentation (2007).  I found a good blog post about it, but everything seems different now.  I installed Xcode (including the command line tools) but nothing is where it's supposed to be (e.g. /Developer does not get created and there is no Dictionary\ Development\ Kit).  I would like to make a pretty complicated dictionary, so I'd like to make this work instead of convert file types several times.

Xcode no longer comes with Dictionary Development Kit, but you don't even need Xcode to use it.

Register a free developer account and download the auxiliary tools package from developer.apple.com/downloads *It is now called: Additional Tool for Xcode (look for the latest version)
Move the Dictionary Development Kit folder to /Applications/Utilities/DictionaryDevelopmentKit/ (without the spaces), and copy the project_templates folder to ~/Desktop/
Open ~/Desktop/project_templates/Makefile and change DICT_BUILD_TOOL_DIR from /DevTools/Utilities/Dictionary Development Kit to /Applications/Utilities/DictionaryDevelopmentKit
cd ~/Desktop/project_templates/; make && make install

The dictionary should show up in Dictionary.app after you quit and reopen it. After that, try editing MyDictionary.xml or MyDictionary.css. The dictionary name is the same as CFBundleName in the Info.plist, and the bundle name is DICT_NAME in the Makefile.

If the lookup popovers show results from an older version of the dictionary, try logging out and back in. Terminating com.apple.lookupd or removing ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Dictionary* didn't seem to work.


MacBookPro Ram Frequency i have a MacBookPro 5,5 (Intel Core 2 Duo 2,26GHz) with Snow Leopard.
Actualy i've 2 ram block of 2GB (total 4GB) of DDR3 at 1067MHz.
Now i'm buying 2 ram bloc of 8GB of DDR3 but at 1600MHz, could i've problems?

This is the ram i'm going to buy:

http://www.amazon.it/Komputerbay-MACMEMORY-PC3-12800-1600MHz-204-Pin/dp/B009GYVK1O/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1392556082&sr=8-2&keywords=macmemory+16gb

I hope they will run at maximum frequency that motherboard support.

MacBookPro 5,5

Has a maximum RAM capacity of 8 Gig. (2x 4 Gig banks)

You are trying to install 16 Gig!

That will not work regardless of the RAM frequency.


Highlighted text is showing up abnormally on "highlights and notes" sidepane I am having an odd bug with the Preiview app.

Text is getting highlighted normally.
However, on the "Highlights and Notes" sidepane, text slightly offsetted from the actual highlight is being previewed.

Below is a picture depicting the problem.

This problem has persisted from my my old laptop (Macbook Pro mid 2015 High Sierra) to my new laptop (Macbook pro 2018 Mojave).

That looks like a problem with Adobe PDF file.

I tried it on a radon PDF downloaded from Web and it works fine, as long the PDF file is formatted correctly.

UPDATE !

In evaluating your Document, it shows a problem in text formatting (missing space between words). When trying to highlight selected text the Preview will obey the format given.

The dotted line appears and shows the problem when trying to select text, it shows it as one block.

There is not fix for that AFIK, but you can try to get fresh copy of the document.

You can use this Tool to look it up when trying to select text

It might show you bad formatted PDF in the dotted line box.


Annoyance in macOS vs Windows: where to right-click when in list view in Finder? This doesn't just apply to right-clicking.  Really I could have titled this:

Where is the "blank space" when in list view in Finder?

Open a Windows Explorer window in Windows and change to "Details" view.  Notice that at the far right of the window, there is basically an "empty column" or "blank space" where you can right-click to activate a context menu for actions within that folder.

Similarly, if I want to drag and drop a file(s) or folder(s) into that active folder, I can drag it to that "blank space" and avoid accidentally placing the files into a subfolder or activating an exe/batch file.

Now, the same behavior is available in macOS... to a point.  In "icons" view, I can always find a "blank space" to click between the icons.

However, in the other three views - list, columns, and Cover Flow - I find it incredibly annoying that there seems to be no place I can safely right-click (and similarly no place to safely drop a file or folder that I am moving).

Note this only applies when there are enough files or folders within the folder to require scrolling.  If there are only a few files in the list, then you can easily right-click in the empty space below the files.

So, my question is this:

Given a folder full of files which requires a scrollbar to view all the contents, where can you safely right-click to display a context menu, or safely drag and drop a file or folder?

I did find this almost identical question: How to copy-paste in Finder when there's no right-click space?

However, no one seems to answer whether or not there is any such space.  Based on this previous question, is the answer simply that there is no reliable blank space in macOS that allows you to open a context menu or to drag a file or folder?

Opt ⌥  + right click will show the overall 'folder' contextual menu as opposed to the 'item selected' menu.

...though, irritatingly, only in Column View.


Can I solder more memory into my MacBook Air? I love everything about my Macook Air except its very low maximum memory (and yes I bought it with the maximum available at the time).

So I'm thinking "I know how to solder... how hard can it be?".  It's not that unusual for the theoretic limit at the time a computer is manufactured to be surpassable later when modules with more memory become available.

Is the claim that the memory can't be upgraded based solely on the assumption that no one knows how to solder?  Or is it massively more difficult to solder new memory into a laptop than it is to solder some simple electronics project?  Are there any big difficulties other than just the need to solder the memory in place (and unsolder the old memory)?

iFixit, who is a proponent of replacing everything in your system, does not provide a guide to replace the RAM (only the entire logic board, on which the RAM is soldered). This alone should tell you that it is something that should not be attempted by users who are not professionals.
One user did ask in their forums if it was possible. Here's one response:

...to replace/upgrade/or modify those chips, we send them to factory. Precision soldering is required, it is not to be done at home (too fine a work for home, unless you have done this same exact work before and done it well everytime).
Even after factory re-work, some boards/assembly simply fail (shorted etc). Definitely not worth the risk unless you have direct access to a mother board assembly factory and someone does it for you over there.

Another user said:

In any case SMT chips as densely laid out as these are can't be desoldered and new ones desoldered by hand. You need very special gear only available at a fab house.

And a third user added:

They use a special fixture to hold the chips in place and heat both sides at the same time. Your chances is less than 20% getting it to work and heating the board without the proper masks could cause the other components to shift killing your system for sure...

Given that you can sell your (presumably functioning) existing machine for a fair amount of money, it seems like it would be much more practical to buy a new machine than take a very high chance of destroying your current one, since then it will be worth next to nothing.


Launch daemon not processing program arguments I have been trying to make a change (for port forwarding/redirecting) to the pfctl.conf file and have it ( the /etc/pfctl.conf file) loaded at startup. The pfctl.conf has been been confirmed to be working as expected because issuing sudo pfctl -ef /etc/pfctl.conf leads to the desired behavior (requests to one port get forwarded to the other).

That pfctl itself is actually loaded at startup is also confirmed because doing launchctl list | grep pf shows com.apple.pfctl in the output. However, the desired forwarding behavior is not achieved directly after startup. It happens only on doing pfctl -f /etc/pfctl.conf after startup. Oddly enough, the output of pfctl -ef /etc/pfctl.conf still says pf already enabled.

Therefore, I concluded that while pf is loaded at startup, the daemon seems to not load from the conf file. The body of the launch daemon com.apple.pfctl.plist now looks like:

<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
     <key>Disabled</key>
     <false/>
     <key>Label</key>
     <string>com.apple.pfctl</string>
     <key>WorkingDirectory</key>
     <string>/var/run</string>
     <key>Program</key>
     <string>/sbin/pfctl</string>
     <key>ProgramArguments</key>
     <array>
         <string>/sbin/pfctl</string>
         <string>-e</string>
         <string>-f</string>
         <string>/etc/pf.conf</string>
     </array>
     <key>RunAtLoad</key>
     <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Having checked the discussion at
Getting launchd to read program arguments correctly it was informative but not practically helpful in this instance - I have already tried editing the program arguments of the plist file to include the full path to the pfctl executable (as can be seen in the code above - first line of the arguments array) but to no avail. I have also added an argument (second line of arguments array) to actually launch pfctl based on the discussion at this gist. The daemon also seems to be configured correctly according to the instructions at Apple developer docs. In accordance to the developer docs (which state that the program tag is required when the program arguments are not supplied and vice versa), I also tried removing the program tag while leaving the program arguments array in place (with the path to the executable as the first argument) - but this had no effect either.

Puzzlingly, the shipped version of the pfctl.plist file (which can be assumed to be most likely correct) had both the program tag and the program arguments tag, apparently in contradiction to the dev docs (or maybe I misunderstood the docs).

So now I am completely at a loss. Any help would be most appreciated!

Additional info:
Not sure this is relevant, but just in case it is: the anchor file (created by me) which is referenced by pf.conf looks like:

rdr pass on lo0 inet proto tcp from any to 127.0.0.1 port =80 -> 127.0.0.1 port 8888

So is there a possibility that the network interface is not yet active and addresses have not been assigned at the time the daemon runs? If so, how can it be fixed?

Try removing the Program argument:
<key>Program</key>
<string>/sbin/pfctl</string>

A deep explanation is found here:
https://akikoskinen.info/launch-daemon-agent-program-programarguments/


Clear "Disk2" "OS X Base System" before USB boot OS X install Machine is MBP E-2011 500GB hybrid hard drive. Operating system is OS X 10.10.5 Yosemite.

I've encountered system issues that are difficult to resolve and have decided to reformat and reinstall OS X. I have prepared a bootable USB drive to install El Capitan 10.11.1 using DiskMaker X 5

When I use COMMAND+R at startup the Disk Utility shows "Disk2" "OS X Base System" underneath a divider below the title for my installed hard drive.

From what I have read this is a small recovery partition left from a previous install. All of my data is backed up elsewhere and I am installing from a bootable USB drive so I do not want this. I would like to install as if this was a blank, off-the-shelf replacement HDD.

How do I remove this "Disk2" "OS X Base System" before doing a complete drive erase and using my bootable USB?

Thanks

If it's under the divider, it's probably not on the installed drive. If you're booting to Internet recovery this is a temporary partition that resides in RAM, I believe, and not in the installed disk.


Cannot select Bluetooth device from Sound Output On OSX Sierra, I can no longer select a Bluetooth Audio device for sound output. I can see the Bluetooth head set is connected and I can select momentarily under Sound Output (see attached screenshot). However, within a few seconds, the Bluetooth device de-selects itself and reverts back to Internal Speakers.

A few notes:

I have tried a few different Bluetooth headsets and none pair with my Mac. They pair with my iPhone and other Macs so I can rule out an issue with the headphones
I have tried deleting Bluetooth plists and re-pairing. That did not work.
I have tried deleting plists related to audio with no luck
yes, I've rebooted my computer.

This strikes me as an issue with core audio but I'm not sure how to address this without re-installing the entire OS

I will add the answer.

Looking through discussions.apple.com, as usual, yields bad advice: reset, reformat, disk cleanup. Essentially do a bunch of random nonsense until the problem sorts itself out.

Before you do anything overly-complex or even irreversible. I recommend you try what I call the monkey's gambit:

Unpair
Forget Device
Pair
Repeat steps 1, 2, 3 a lot

(Look through comments for specific instructions)

Even when it seems like it's doing nothing, keep doing it. It took me 4 or 5 tries. I was nearly convinced it was the hardware, but then all of a sudden I'm back to listening to mediocre music on a pretty good bluetooth speaker.

This might have been expedited if I rebooted my computer, but I really didn't feel like doing that.

TL;DR please do not reformat or reset your computer without running the monkey's gambit for a while; it might save you a more major headache.

To be fair, this worked for me, but it is entirely possible your system is in a state where this will not help it. I do feel compelled, however, to claim that if you can see the device connected in the bluetooth menulet then it is probably not a hardware problem.


What are the risks of adding `/usr/libexec` to `$PATH`? I want easy access to PlistBuddy, which I wasn't even sure still shipped with macOS (Big Sur 11.3 here).
I found it in /usr/libexec, a directory I don't know well, but which contains a large number of executables, some of which I already use. So why isn't /usr/libexec in the default $PATH?
I prefer a big $PATH, and if it's safe, and I would edit my ~/.${SHELL##*/}rc with something like this:
export PATH=/usr/libexec:${PATH}

instead of adding this:
alias PlistBuddy=/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy

Is there any reason not to?

You should not add /usr/libexec to your path.
/usr/libexec is intended for "system daemons & system utilities (executed by other programs)".  This is the description from the command man hier.
So you don't want to directly run something from there by mistake.
If you have a reason to run one of those executables directly it is better create an alias.


How to position a window (e.g. iTunes Mini Player) next to the Dock? I like to keep the iTunes Mini Player in the bottom left corner of my screen, since it doesn't overlap anything else there and I can always see it. This works fine, with the following exception:

When I change iTunes to the standard iTunes window again to select a different playlist or  browse my selection, and then switch it back to the Mini Player, it's still in the bottom left corner, but is now positioned a bit too high, basically above the dock, instead of to the left of the dock. Which means I have to move it down again.

It seems like Windows have a natural tendency to avoid positions next to the dock, with the bottom of the window at the very bottom of the screen.

Is there a way to work around this, to force the window to stay at the bottom of the screen?

The dock will automatically push windows up above it to avoid the problem of losing windows. This is something that cannot be changed I believe. The only way to get it down that far would be to hide the dock or place the dock on the left/right side.


Updated Mac to El Capitan is asking for 4 digit PIN After updating my macOS 10.6.8 to El Capitan my Mac is asking for a 4 digit system PIN. I have no idea what that is.

The Mac has been locked via Find My iPhone. Whoever locked it has the code. Try logging into Find My iPhone on iCloud.com or on another Apple device and see if you can unlock it there.

If that doesn't work, somebody posted a (somewhat complex) work-around on the mac-rumors forums.

Last resort: go to Apple store with proof of purchase. They'll sort it out.


Enter digit instead of checkmark in box with Preview I am using Preview to edit a PDF document. How do enter a digit instead of a tick or a cross (checkmark) in a box using the Preview app on macOS?

From the Annotate toolbar (shown by clicking the pen icon), choose the Text tool. This inserts a text box into the document, which you can type characters in and reposition where you would like the characters to appear in the document.

The default tool, text selection (highlighted blue on the left of the above screenshot) will automatically enter a check mark in a box it determines to be a checkbox. You need to manually add text boxes where you wish text to appear if the assumption by Preview is incorrect.


Unable to see iCloud Music Library option in Music Settings Both my husband and I have iPad Airs. Both of our iPads are currently on iOS 9.2.1 and it states the software is up to date.

For some reason in my husband's Settings under Music it does not show iCloud Music Library option, but it does on mine. I am able to do all sorts of playlists and add to them from Apple Music, but my husband is unable to.

Is there a way of getting this option? I have tried searching on google, but all I seem to get as response is switch the option on. How can I switch this option on, if it is nothere in the first place? Does anyone in here know what to do, to get this option?

Whatever device it is that you don't have the "iCloud Music Library" option available to click on is logged into a different apple ID. I had this problem getting apple music on my Mac, I had signed up on my iphone. if it does work on one device, check in the settings and see what it says is the apple ID linked to the apple music account. I had been logged in under an old ID on my Mac's Itunes. I signed out and signed back in with my more recent ID from my phone and apple music turned on automatically, and the "iCloud Music Library" appeared in my preferences menu. Hope this helps


How would Find my iPod work on a locked iPod Touch? In order for an iPod Touch (which has Find My iPod enabled) to let Apple's servers know where it is located (e.g. via Wi-Fi positioning), I believe it needs to transmit the location over Wi-Fi.

Let's assume that the iPod is locked and someone stole it. From what I understand, the iPod will never connect to an unknown Wi-Fi network. This means, that since the person that stole the iPod cannot unlock it and initiate a connection to a Wi-Fi network, the iPod will never connect to a Wi-Fi network, and therefore will never transmit its location back to the original iPod owner.

Note: I realize that the iPod can connect to known networks automatically (i.e. those it has previously connected to), but for the purposes of this question, assume that the only Wi-Fi the iPod has connected to was at the original owner's home. And so, the person that stole it will never bring it back in range of this Wi-Fi hotspot, and thus the iPod will never connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Note that this is less of an issue on an iPhone (or iPad with 3G) since the iPhone has a 3G connection which it could use to transmit its location.

Are my assumptions correct which lead to the conclusion that Find My iPod/iPhone/iPad is basically useless on any non-3G device? Am I missing something? Is there any way to increase the chances of locating your iPod touch in case it does get stolen? (Preferably one which doesn't involve connecting to a bunch of random networks (i.e. in order to have them be "known" networks) in hopes that one day the thief will travel by one with the same name and have it auto-connect to that.)

I'm afraid you're completely right. Apple does even make a statement on its website about it:

However, there are some alternatives.
But since there is no way to come up with a work around on this problem, 3rd party software, like Undercover allows you to store the latest locations of an iDevice. Where Find my iPod touch will only show you the current location (it doesn't show a history of locations I think), Undercover will save its latest location, as they say on their FAQ page:

  What happens if Undercover is launched when a phone is not connected
  to the net? Will it still transmit its location?

  If Undercover is launched on an offline device (no 3G or Wi-Fi), its
  location is saved. As soon as the device goes online and Undercover is
  launched again, saved locations will be transmitted.


Edited Sudoers file and Relocated Items I had to edit my sudoers file on Sierra or High Sierra (I don't remember which one.) After updating to 10.15, I have the Relocated Items folder and I was able to delete the sudoers but I can't delete the rest of the folders in it. When I try to delete it, I get the error (File Name) can't be modified or deleted because it's required my macOS. Please let me know if I'm good to delete these files and how to do it if I can. (The sudoers files was deleted successfully.)

The files randomly disappeared and I think it's because I updated to Big Sur so I think that's what fixed it.


Macbook loses network connection when connecting external display In the image below you can see the mtr output while connecting the screen, the red part is where the monitor is connected. The monitor works just fine and has no problems with other computers, it's just that the macbook is apparently slightly crazy.

The wireless connection appears to be working just fine, but the connection has over 80% packet loss and/or have a latency of multiple seconds when the monitor is connected. The access point is a 2013 time capsule which has no problems as far as I know.

Specs:

Monitor: Dell 2007FP connected through DVI with the converter shown below
Laptop: Macbook Pro Retina 15" 2012
Thunderbolt to DVI/HDMI/Displayport converter (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mini-Displayport-Adapter-Cable-Thunderbolt/dp/B0093UCXEO)

This helped: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jObj6YnK44Q

ALU foil around the cable (up to the tip)
Bend the cable backwards (make it perpendicular to the screen)

and you're back online.


Change ISO volume label on OS X? I have some ISO files here with weird volume labels. I want to rename them to something I can easily remember.

I know in Windows using either winiso or poweriso (both are non-free?) it can be done but I'm not so sure in OS X. I did search the net but nothing useful came up.

Thanks!

edit: I believe it's best explained with an example:

I have an ISO file called "myiso.iso". When I double-click on the ISO file to mount it, it appears as "myweirdname" in Finder."myweirdname" is the ISO Volume name.

There is no direct way, that I know of, natively in OS X to edit the volume label/name of an ISO Image as can be done by using, e.g., UltraISO in Windows.  In other words, with the proper preferences set for UltraISO the volume label/name can be changed and saved to the ISO Image without recompiling it. I actually use UltraISO under OS X via Wine for this very reason.

Although this cannot be done natively directly under OS X, nonetheless it can be done using hdiutil by creating a new ISO Image from the mounted ISO Image having the volume label/name wanting to be changed.

You'll need to use the hdiutil imageinfo command, e.g. hdiutil imageinfo $NAME.ISO, to get the necessary information to configure the hdiutil makehybrid command to make the new ISO Image having the volume label/name that your want, instead of what it currently is. Have a look at the man page for hdiutil or just type hdiutil makehybrid -help in Terminal.

As an example, I'm going to use an ISO Image, of a DVD, that does not contain any DRM, as the source has to be DRM free.

The key info I'm looking at is, partition-scheme:, partition-name: and partition-filesystems: showing respectively, ISO9660, $NAME, and both ISO9660: $NAME and UDF: $NAME where $NAME is shown as, e.g., FOO_BAR_WEIRD in all three places.

I just want it to say FOO_BAR, getting rid of the WEIRD part, so my command line will be as follows, after first mounting the FOO_BAR_WEIRD.ISO image by double-clicking it in Finder, in Terminal I used the following command:

hdiutil makehybrid -iso -udf -iso-volume-name FOO_BAR -udf-volume-name FOO_BAR -o FOO_BAR.ISO /Volumes/FOO_BAR_WEIRD

I then used hdiutil imageinfo FOO_BAR.ISO and compared it to the output of hdiutil imageinfo FOO_BAR_WEIRD.ISO and it showed it has the same partition-scheme: and partition-filesystems: but different $NAME, as it should. The file size was ~.5MB larger however the newly created ISO Image had the name I wanted and played just fine as the original did.

So, it's doable but it takes a little time, work and extra disk space, which is why I run UltraISO via Wine under OS X. :)

Note: I tested this using a DRM free ISO Image of a Movie DVD and may require additional command line options and or additional steps depending on the type and contents of the ISO image.


How do I hide folders in OSX? Is there a way to hide folders in OSX like you can in Windows? And if so then how?

The command-line way:

Open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities) and type

chflags hidden /path/to/folder

replacing /path/to/folder with the POSIX-style path to the folder you want to hide (for example, a folder on your desktop called test would be ~/Desktop/test).

To unhide it, type chflags nohidden /path/to/folder.

The freeware way:

I haven't used it, but I've seen the app Hide Folders, by Altomac.


Safari playing a youtube video in the background I start Safari, and after a few seconds, I hear what seems to be the sound from a video. (Sounds like a british guy playing minecraft) There are no windows or tabs open to YouTube or any other video site. The sound keeps playing as long as Safari is open. Closing tabs, clearing cache, clearing history all have no effect. The sound only stops when I exit Safari. When I start Safari again, the sound starts again from the beginning.

What is going on? How can Safari play a video if no tab/window is showing a video/video site?

Edit: And how do I make it stop?

You might want to try this solution from Apple's own forum (be sure to back-up your Bookmarks first):

  Open a Finder window. Select your Home folder in the Sidebar on the
  left. Now open the Library folder then the Safari folder.

  Move the LastSession.plist and the Downloads.plist files from the
  Safari folder to the Trash.

  Restart your Mac.

It also could be an extension messing up with Safari.


Desktop appearing behind lock screen I recently received a 2012 MacBook Pro running Sierra for some development work. I'm quite new to Mac OS X, but was able to figure out how to enable fast user switching in order to lock my workstation when I'm away.

I've noticed however, that when I lock my workstation, a translucent capture of my desktop appears behind the lock screen and if you look hard enough you can see what I was doing before I locked the computer.

For example, if I were to lock my screen this very moment I would be taken to the login window but if I look hard enough I can read the text that I am writing for this post.

Is this a bug or a feature? Has it occurred to anyone else?

I've experienced this as well, currently in MacOS 10.13.5
A ghosted interlaced screenshot of my desktop and legible private information is visible on the standard lock screen and also the screensaver lock screen. This same image persists even after reboot.

I was able to clear the image by switching display resolutions.


Any way to see my PC and Macbook's folders using iPad? Is there a way to do that?

The only way i can think of is to use dropbox but it doesn't support some common file types such as .mpg, .mobi, and .epub, and is limited to 2GB.

Also, doesn't it make sense if iPad comes with an app on iOS that can do it?

I haven't tried either, but there's Cloud Connect Pro that says you can

  View and manage files on your Windows, Mac, Linux, or other network services like Dropbox, MobileMe iDisk, Google Docs, or Box.net directly from the iPad [via SMB, AFP, FTP, SFTP or WEBDAV]

and FileBrowser to

  [a]ccess your NAS [via CIFS/SMB] without needing to turn your computer on.

CCP is clearly more feature-rich (with e.g. integrated VNC/RDP client, printing and SMB server) but also comes with a hefty price tag ($24.99) compared to somewhat more simple FB ($3.99).
There's also an Upgrade OS X article that discusses them both.


How do I know how much time battery has left on my MacBook? macOS used to show how much time your battery was good for before it died (e.g. 4 hrs and 22 mins). I don't see it anymore though. Now it just gives a percentage. I'm running macOS Mojave 10.14 on a Macbook Pro.

Where can I find this info?

It used to appear under the menu bar battery icon as shown:

The macOS Sierra 10.12.2 update removed the ability to see the estimated time remaining, under the menu bar battery icon, on Macs equipped with a battery (various MacBooks). It is no longer possible to restore the functionality.

However, the same information can be obtained in the Activity Monitor app. Launch the Activity Monitor app using one of the following means:

Go to Launchpad → Other folder → Activity Monitor.
In Finder, go to Applications → Utilities → Activity Monitor.
Search for Activity Monitor using Spotlight.

Once the app is launched, go to the Energy tab. The time remaining estimate is shown towards the bottom.


How can I download something with display turned off (Ctrl+Shift+Eject)? In Lion I could just press Ctrl+Shift+Eject to turn off display on iMac.

In Mountain Lion it looks like this shortcut turns off whole computer. It looks like sleeping mode. So my downloads stop when I press Ctrl+Shift+Eject.

How can I download something with turned off (Ctrl+Shift+Eject) display?

I always use this combo as well, however this does not immediately sleep my machine in ML.

I believe this is a separate issue at play here. According to Siracusa's ML review, unlike in previous OS X versions, in 10.8 your system is eligible for sleep immediately upon "user inactivity" (the inactivity delay being set in your energy saver settings) unless the currently running apps make "power assertions".

In this case, that key combo is signalling to the OS that "user inactivity" should be triggered right away. In such a case, if your particular app that's downloading stuff does not make power assertions, your system will sleep.

I have come across the same issue generally (not necessarily related to triggering the screen sleep combo). See: Mountain Lion sleeps too aggressively


How to copy video files from OS X to iPad over Wi-Fi? I'd like to copy video files from my computer (OS X) to iPad over WLAN. I'd prefer simply share a folder on OS X and then be able to copy files from that folder when iPad is connected to the same WLAN.

What solutions there exists for this (apps, OS X native share)?

I have been using Dropbox, but it's too slow as it is round-tripping the file transfer through the internet connection, not the WLAN.

Videos are MP4 files, so they don't need to be converted.

AirSharing is a swiss army knife of turning any iOS device into a wireless file server. There are many others, but this program has three versions that have stood the test of time.

The "copy when connected" nut will be harder to crack. Unless someone steps up with a ready made solution, you will have to set up SMNP monitoring of your router and trigger a sync when the iPad MAC address is logged as joining the network. You could also poll bonjour locally, but SNMP seems more elegant to me since it will log and push that join without constant monitoring on the mac end.


Trouble creating directory from script run by launchd I have a simple script that creates a new directory based on the date then copies a set of files to that directory.  It runs fine from Terminal.  When I set it up to run as a UserAgent it fails.  The error log shows that has changed to paths from /Users/Study/xxx to /var/root/xxx. I've tried running it as root from Terminal and it still works.  I've ensured root is not the owner of the script file.  I've changed my original path of ~/xxx to the /Users/Study/xxx  but for some reason when run from launchd it changes the path.  Any ideas?

script:

!/bin/bash

MO=$(date +%d%B%Y)
mkdir /Users/Study/Dropbox/SPID_backups/$MO
cp -r /Users/Study/WebDevelopment/SPID/*.* /Users/Study/Dropbox/SPID_backups/$MO

launchctl plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.spidbackup</string>
    <key>Program</key>
    <string>/Users/Study/Library/Scripts/spidbackup.sh</string>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/com.spidbackup.err</string>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/com.spidbackup.out</string>
    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <array>
        <dict>
            <key>Hour</key>
            <integer>17</integer>
            <key>Minute</key>
            <integer>11</integer>
        </dict>
    </array>
    <key>WorkingDirectory</key>
    <string>/Users/Study</string>
</dict>
</plist>

You backup task is (very) user-specific and no system service, so the proper location for the launch agent is ~/Library/LaunchAgents/. If you put the plist in /Library/LaunchAgents it will run on behalf of every user logged in at ~ 5.11pm - which will fail for most users because they probably can't access some or most of your user folders/files.

Use a proper shebang in the script #!/bin/bash.. and make the script executable: chmod +x /Users/Study/Library/Scripts/spidbackup.sh.

Completely remove the plist from the launchctl db with sudo launchctl remove com.spidbackup and launchctl remove com.spidbackup. Move the plist to /Users/Study/Library/LaunchAgents/, chown/chmod it to your user and remove the key WorkingDirectory and the associated string.

Finally reload the agent with:

launchctl load /Users/Study/Library/LaunchAgents/com.spidbackup.plist

The proper permissions/ownerships for the files are finally:

ls -l /Users/Study/Library/Scripts/spidbackup.sh
-rwxr-xr-x  1 study  staff  ... spidbackup.sh

or

-rwx------  1 study  staff  ... spidbackup.sh

and

ls -l /Users/Study/Library/LaunchAgents/com.spidbackup.plist
-rw-r--r--  1 study  staff  ... com.spidbackup.plist

assuming Study is your user name.

Please also check capitalization (e.g. study vs. Study).


How does call blocking app work with conditional call forwarding? I'm at the initial stages of researching the development of my own call blocking mechanism for iOS. The goal is to develop a spam blocking app and infrastructure that delivers on some features that are sorely needed. The whole thing, from a development perspective is quite new to me.

Does anybody know how an app like RoboKiller works to route and block incoming calls? My observation is that the RoboKiller service forwards my calls to a managed service which then filters the calls and sends them back to my phone.

I notice that the app adds itself to the "Call Blocking and Identification" extension in iOS. And, the app has the user dial out and turn on conditional call forwarding to what I presume is a RoboKiller phone number. By conditional call forwarding, I mean the app has me dial a phone number using *71,xxx-xxx-xxxx on Verizon service.

If it is only "conditional" forwarding, meaning the call has to go unanswered or the line has to be busy before it forwards, then how is the RoboKiller service forcing calls through their system before redirecting them back to me? Is the app able to block a call from any number using some feature in CallKit that I am overlooking?

My question is specific about how the call is getting routed through a 3rd party service for filtering and then sent back to me, especially when only "conditional" forwarding is used?

RoboKiller uses a combination of carrier network (PSTN) and Voice over IP (VoIP) to deliver calls to your phone.  The technology and how calls are received on your phone are determined by the iOS version the device is running when RoboKiller is set up.  If you upgrade your iOS version, it is recommended that you disable/deprogram your phone, uninstall, and reinstall RoboKiller to ensure you have the best experience. You can find instructions on how to disable/deprogram RoboKiller in the Settings menu of the RoboKiller app.


Can't install Xcode on my mac? I want to install metasploit, and I know that xcode is needed. Now the problem is, that even though xcode is on my computer and I downloaded it from the app store, this occurs:

./msf_install.sh -i -p msfconsole -r
[*] Log file with command output and errors /tmp/msfinstall-Oct-03-15-003057.log
[*] Verifying that Development Tools and Java are installed:
[*] Java is installed.
[*] Xcode is not installed on this system. Install from the Apple AppStore.

Make sure you've opened Xcode and installed the components. To install the command line tools, run xcode-select --install.


AirDrop: How to access AirDrop from command line? I was looking for an option to use Airdrop to sync a set of directories between two computers.

I want to achieve this wirelessly (hence chose Airdrop without having the computers connect on a network or with cross cable wires).

Is there a command to send files to another Mac?
Also, is there a way to allow a Mac to automatically receive the requests?

If both computers have Wi-Fi capability built-in (otherwise AirDrop won't work either), you can setup a WLAN between them directly (no additional hardware required). The procedure is extremely simple (more or less copied verbatim from Apple):

Choose Create Network from the AirPort status icon in the menu bar.
If the icon isn’t in the menu bar, choose Apple > System Preferences, and then click Network. Click AirPort and select the “Show AirPort status in menu bar” checkbox.

Give the network a name and select a channel from the pop-up menu (or just use the default channel).

Select the Require Password checkbox to protect your network with a password. Type the password users will need to enter in order to join your network. Unfortunately WPA/WPA2 is not supported so pick WEP128 and type a password of exactly 13 ASCII characters or 26 hex digits

From the other computer you now can access the network under the name assigned in step 2. To exchange files, either use the Public/Drop Box folders of the individual users or share a specific folder for everybody.


How do I remove files from iTunes which have been deleted on disk? When cleaning up my disk I deleted a couple of files from my music collection which iTunes was managing. Now when I try to sync a device I get an error message that it can't sync these files because they don't exist. The problem is that I can't find these files in iTunes any more to delete them. They don't appear when I search for appropriate terms. So, my question is how do I find them, and is iTunes hiding them from me in some "smart" way?

I've found the easiest most reliable solution yet! No scripts, no loss of playcounts/ratings etc.

Create a new playlist, say temp.
Select all your the tracks you want to deal with and drag and drop them to the playlist. The new playlist will only contain valid tracks. All invalid tracks will be marked with the exclamation mark.
Switch to the playlist and select all the tracks, then right-click and Uncheck Selection
Switch back to Music and sort by the checkmark - now all the invalid tracks are grouped together!
Select them all and delete!

You can then go and Check the songs again to make sure they get synced to devices.


Is it possible to roll back to the last saved version of a file in mojave? I am not sure if I read that APFS functionality correctly but I have read that Mojave stores a kind of file time machine and that I could browse previous versions of files on the filesystem.

I was using Photoshop and saved a file called File1.psd. Seconds later I saved another image over File1.psd.

Is it possible to roll back File1.psd to the last saved version using terminal in APFS?

Thanks

Normally in most applications when trying to save a file with same name that already exist, your will be asked to confirm.

Background Save and Auto Save Features in Photoshop CS6

Auto Save, another new feature of Photoshop Cs6,  can help recover your file if your computer crashes before you’ve had a chance to save. To select the time interval for automatically saving your files, select Preferences > File Handling and choose from every  5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 minutes.

Both of these features are on by default. To disable either of these options choose Preferences > File Handling and uncheck Save in Background and/or Automatically Save Recovery Information.

However...if you use the Save command the auto saved version will be replaced/deleted and the process starts over.


ITC.apps.assetvalidation.PURPLE_PROVISIONING_PROFILE_BAD_PLIST.error.message What does this error mean in iTunes Connect when I am trying to submit an update to my app?

This appears to be a bug on Apple's end. Try waiting for a fix or creating a new provisioning profile. This has been raised in both of Apple's forums by the same person:

https://devforums.apple.com/message/1065069
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6628827


Accessing temporarily Another User's directories by entering his User ID and Password in Mac I've two user accounts in my mac, One for me and other for my friend. When friend is using the MacBook and he needs some file from me, for that I've to login into my account and share the file by file sharing or USB data traveller. It takes time. What I want is, when my friend needs some file from my account, I should just double click on a folder in finder within my account under Users and finder ask my login id and password and grant me access on entering right password. How can I do so?

There are several options:

First, set up a shared folder on your account (or both if you need both way) so that every file you'll copy there will be visible from your friend account.
You already have a public folder which can accomplish this.
Next, you can enable fast user switch from Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Options. Doing so, you'll have login controls in the right side of the menu bar. You just need to login, copy the files in the public folder and logout.

Even faster, open the Terminal (Applications > Utility > Terminal), and type

su YourUsername

it will ask for password. Enter it, and you will be logged on the shell with your account. From here, browse the folders and find the files you need (cd foldername to enter a folder, cp filesource filedestination to copy). Then logout with exit. Example:

Mac:~ Jack$ su epistrephein
Password:
bash-3.2$ cd Downloads
bash-3.2$ cp picture6.jpg ~/Public/picture6.jpg
bash-3.2$ exit
Mac:~ Jack$


How do you skip forward/back while watching a movie in iTunes for Windows? How do you skip forward/back while watching a movie in iTunes for Windows?

Move forwards or backward within a song/video

Ctrl+Alt+Right or Left respectively.

Reference: Apple Support


Do I have to "flash" an NVIDIA GTX 10XX (1070/1080/1080ti) to get it to use PCIe 2.0 on a Mac Pro? According to MacVidCards.com, one must use a modified ROM on a stock PC video card to get it to use the PCIe 2.0 spec vs the PCIe 1.0 spec when installed on a Mac Pro.

A MacRumors post suggests that it is not necessary to use a "flashed" ROM on an NVIDIA 10XX card if using the web drivers as it will work in PCIe 2.0 mode without being flashed, but Windows will only work in PCIe 1.0.

I want to buy a GTX 10XX to upgrade an old, but nice Mac Pro 2009 model I have. I don't want to spend $700 or more on a "flashed" GTX 10XX if I can get the same performance using a same make and model non-flashed GTX 10XX.

While it would be nice to get PCIe 2.0 bandwidth in both Windows and macOS, I'll be spending most of my time in macOS.

Is it true that macOS will utilize PCIe 2.0 bandwidth using NVIDIA web drivers for a GTX 10XX GPU without being flashed?

It appears that a standard GTX 1070 Founders Edition uses a link speed of 2.5 GT/s (PCIe 1.0) even with the latest NVIDIA Web Drivers:

The GT 120 I have sitting next to it has a 5 GT/s link speed (PCIe 2.0):

So I guess that answers my question.


Folders missing in sidebar with Big Sur Since I installed macOS Big Sur 11.1, I cannot see the usual folders in the left sidebar of Finder:

even though I have selected them in my preferences:

What is going wrong here and how do I fix it?

Next to "Favorites", if you hover over it, you should see an arrow you can click to expand the section. It must've been inadvertently clicked, since it's not new to Big Sur.


How to determine public temp directory on OS X to be write-accessible by www server? I've MAMP running httpd server as _www and I'd like to assign the temporary directory as part of the shell script (bash).

I've tried to use $TMPDIR as per these posts:

How do I find the 'temp' directory in Linux?
Where is the Temp folder in OS X?

however it points to /var/folders/vp/tlt7xf791gl1_v56m0xdmrph0000gn/T/ and this folder has not necessary permissions, so Apache server can't create any files in there.

Based on this:

$ /usr/bin/stat -F $TMPDIR /tmp /private/tmp
drwx------ 104 kenorb staff 3536 Oct 14 22:21:05 2015 /var/folders/vp/tlt7xf791gl1_v56m0xdmrph0000gn/T//
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 11 Apr  9 13:08:03 2014 /tmp@ -> private/tmp
drwxrwxrwt 112 root wheel 3808 Oct 14 22:12:04 2015 /private/tmp/

My www user which I care about:

$ id _www
uid=70(_www) gid=70(_www) groups=70(_www),12(everyone),61(localaccounts),401(com.apple.sharepoint.group.1),100(_lpoperator)

I can't use /tmp, because it's linked to my /private/tmp (which name states it's private).

Therefore how do I determine my correct temporary directory on OS X, so I and my httpd server can use it?

I don't want to hardcode value, as the script would be useless when used on different environments (e.g. on non-MAMP environment), so the location can vary.

I would write to /tmp (which is equivalent to writing to /private/tmp ) since it's writable by all users and not just administrative users. It's there for compatibility and for bonus points, your script can clean up files or cut them if they grow too large.

I don't have an authoritative reference to why /private was called that, but it's always been open to writing and isn't restricted like $TMPDIR is from non-admin users.

The real question is what user are you running apache - a member of the ADMIN group or just a normal non-admin user?

Apple documents this in the Secure Coding Guide with the admonition that writing files to publicly readable locations is inherently insecure and that it's better to place files in more protected locations that aren't readable by all users. See the Race Conditions and Secure File Operations section and this link on creating secure temporary files. By using the mkstemp POSIX call you ensure a unique file is created and can control access with umask.

Oddly (to me), mktemp when run by a non-admin user can still make a temp file in $TMPDIR so it's clearly using escalated privileges to hand off that more "secure" file to non-admin users. Pretty cool.


Will a virtualised copy of Mountain Lion on recent hardware run the Adobe CS5 Suite with comparable performance to an Early 2009 iMac? My father runs an old version of MacOS, I believe Mountain Lion, with a full set of Adobe apps, Suitcase Fusion, and so on from back when they were all 'buy-once' products. Reading around, almost none of it is likely to run on the latest version of MacOS without serious issues.
The OS's age has become a problem for almost everything else - the latest browsers won't run so more and more websites are unusable, and most downloadable software simply won't install (we had to dual-boot it with the highest OS that the hardware supports just to allow him to do iPad sync).
I've read that it should be possible to buy a newer Mac and run a virtualised copy of Mountain Lion in something like Parallels. Presumably it would then be possible to transplant an image of his old boot drive to be able to run the creative software.
Is there any reason that doing so might not be a good option? And can anyone comment on how well old Adobe apps run inside a VM, both in terms of performance and potential compatibility issues?
(The creative software is the main thing he uses the Mac for, so if it's going to be sluggish or painful to use in practice then maybe a different plan would be better.)
Edit: Sorry - a bit more detail!:
iMac 24-inch, Early 2009, 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8Gb DDR3, Geforce 9400 256Mb, upgraded with an SSD boot drive
OS X 10.8.5, and Adobe Suite CS5
(No specific model in mind as an upgrade, min spec recommendation welcome)

This is difficult, at best, to tell without the specs on the current Mac and what Mac you are planning on getting. Even then determining how well the Adobe apps in question will run is entirely subjective. How "well" something will run depends on how the person using the virtualized macOS perceives it to run.
That said, you should likely not purchase an entry level model of Mac (EG cheapest, iMac, cheapest MacBook, cheapest Mac mini, etc) with base level storage and RAM.
That said Parallels (and for that matter VMware Fusion) will both allow you to virtualize macOS on macOS and provide the ability to run those Adobe Apps that your father uses.
Note that transplanting an image of the old Mac's drive to use in the virtualization software might be more problematic than just installing a fresh copy of Mountain Lion in your virtualization environment, updating it and then using Migration Assistant to copy over his settings and apps. However other people may have better advice on that front.


Automatically move iOS app icons to fill empty slots on previous page? On my non-jailbroken iPad running iOS 7.1.2 I'm deleting a number of apps that I've downloaded to try but don't want to keep. As I delete them app icons on the page move up to fill the empty spots. Is there some way to also have app icons from the next automatically move up to fill empty spots at the end of the current page?

Moving them individually is tedious. I could group them, move the group to the previous page, the nun group them but this too is a hassle. I'd prefer not to have to resort to iTunes to do this.

This is currently not possible within iOS. You can provide feedback to Apple here:

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