How to prevent iOS from styling an emoji? Look at these characters:

Depending on your device, they'll look like this (a Windows screenshot of a Facebook comment):

Notice how the 2nd and 4th emojis are flat rather than stylized*. It's because I inserted an invisible U+FE0E character after each to tell devices not to change the appearance of the character.

However, on the Facebook iOS app, they look like this:

It seems that iOS isn't honoring the Variation Selector-15 (U+FE0E) character and stylizes all of the emoji characters.

How can I force emojis to appear as the basic flat text version?

* P.S. As a side note, when I inspected the HTML on Windows, this is what I saw, which I guess is how Facebook's website replaces the emojis with their own images whenever U+FE0E isn't present:

I think the problem is that iOS uses the Apple Color Emoji font for everything, and this font does not yet honor the mechanism for making characters text format.  The only way to get around that is to use css or similar means to force iOS to use a different font which only has text versions.


AppleScript : do a mouse scroll on a Finder window How can I do a mouse scroll on a Finder window in AppleScript ?

I know there is keystroke for the keyboard, click for a mouse click, but is there something for the mouse wheel ?

You can set scroll bar position using Apple Script. In Finder without horizontal scroll bar You can do something like:

activate application "Finder"
tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Finder"
        -- range is from 0.0 to 1.0, so to scroll halfway you would use 0.5
        set value of scroll bar 1 of scroll area 2 of splitter group 1 of front window to 0.0
    end tell
end tell

Tip from https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1540280?start=0&tstart=0 User James Nierodzik


How to fully erase Boot Camp partition I want to remove a Boot Camp partition, but when I try to erase it first (in Mac OS Extended Journaled format), there is some space remains, doesn't matter if Disk Utility is in recovery mode or not.

The proper way to erase bootcamp is use Bootcamp Assistant. Open the Bootcamp Assistant application, choose "Remove Bootcamp Partition", and then follow the steps. This will delete the bootcamp partition and restore your internal drive to a single partition (Macintosh HD).

If you have already erased the contents of the bootcamp partition and are just trying to delete the partition, there is a different set of steps.In this case, open Disk Utility and select "APPLE SSD SD025...". Click on the "Partition" button. Select the triangle in the circle labelled "Bootcamp 37,87 GB". Then click the minus button. This will allow you to erase the partition.


How can I update my OS X 10.5.8? This is the first time I've ever had a computer that didn't play out on me before it needed an upgrade and now I'm lost. This is also my first Mac laptop, and I am running OS X 10.5.8 (Yes, I realize it's old…I had it put up for a while)

Can someone tell me the next step or steps that I can take to do an upgrade?  I have no clue which animal I'm running or what I need to go to. I'm noticing more and more sites/actions are telling me that they are not compatible because my system is no longer up to date.

See here: http://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/

TL;DR: buy a DVD to update to Snow Leopard and then update it to Mavericks (if your hardware supports it).


Xcode 7.0.1 Simulator Won't Launch? After updating to OS X El Capitan 10.11 and updating to Xcode 7.0.1 I ran into some issues with the simulator.

At first the simulator would launch but I couldn't register/log in to the app because the ATS Key was needed. That was added, but now there is a different issue.

Whenever I try to launch the simulator, it appears in my dock, but it's inactive. It doesn't ever actually open and if I click on it's options, it shows that he simulator is not responding.

It had worked initially when I opened Xcode using sudo in terminal, but trying that again, I still am running into this issue. I've been looking everywhere online to find if anyone has had the same problem, and I've yet to find a solution.

I had the same problem on my 13in non-Retina MacBook Pro. I fixed it by going to my project, building and running the project, and when the Simulator.app opened, I pressed the "Stop" button.

This worked for me, but it must be a bug in Xcode 7.0.1 because just a few days ago my simulator was running fine.


Where does Mac OS X save the list of items/icons it shows in the Finder sidebar? Because a problem of compatibility between Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.7 (the problem was that the computer with Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.7 were both synchronized with the same Mobile Me account), I see an icon the desktop in the sidebar of Finder, even if the icon is not selected to appear.

I even tried to remove it dragging it off the sidebar, or clicking it with the right button and selecting "Remove from Sidebar," but the icon is still there.

The problem is that the dialog box to open files shows two icons for the Desktop, in some applications.

I think that the only solution is to manually edit the preference file containing the information about the icons that appear in the sidebar. Which file is it?
Is there any alternative for to removing that icon, or a tool that helps with these problems?

The Finder Sidebar is defined in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist. It may be stored in binary. If you have a property list editor, this won't matter; if you don't, you'll want to convert it to XML first:

plutil -convert xml1 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist

Then, open it in a text editor. There's probably an entry like so in there:

<dict>
    <key>Icon</key>
    <data>…</data>
    <key>CustomItemProperties</key>
    <dict>
        <key>com.apple.LSSharedFileList.TemplateSystemSelector</key>
        <integer>1935819892</integer>
    </dict>
    <key>Name</key>
    <string>Desktop</string>
    <key>Alias</key>
    <data>…</data>
</dict>
</plist>

(Note the key Name with string value Desktop.)

Delete that whole <dict> node, and save.


After hard drive upgrade, battery not charging? I just installed a new hard drive into my Macbook Pro 1,1. I had a little difficulty when I initially installed it because the monitor was not turning back on. After re-opening the MacBook Pro (with some difficulty) I closed it up again and it mysteriously worked.

Everything was going swimmingly, but the only problem now is that the battery is not charging. The adapter shows no light on the bit that connects to the computer. It did like 5 minutes ago, then I picked up the computer and it wasn't charging anymore. I tried setting it back down, wiggling the charger, pressing the bottom case areas around the battery. I'm at a loss.

I'm also wondering if I should just invest in a new (or in my case, newer used) MacBook Pro because this one seemed pretty rickety inside. There was no stabilizer bar holding the hard drive in place and some of the tabs holding the keyboard frame down have broken off. I don't really have the money, but this is the way I make money.

Any thoughts?

If you changed your hard drive appropriately, you would have never touched your logic board, so I would be surprised if it is broke. How did you replace your hard drive? Do the LED-indicators on the battery still work?


Macbook Pro - install operating system on SD card? I read that you can expand you Macbook's storage with SD card. Is it possible to install an operating system (OSX to be precise) on that SD card and switch between the operating systems?

Short answer: Yes, but it will not be ideal

Long answer:
Yes, it is possible to install macOS onto a SD card, but SD card have low read/write speed (unless you get one of the SDXC II card which can get 280MB/s which is still pretty slow for daily use, and they are expensive, cheap ones won't do anything in speed) my SSD can get around 465MB a second, and that is not the best SSD. So make sure you don't care about being slow with installing OS into them. Also by the way you can't really make large amount of writing into it or else it will break: they are not designed to have a system installed onto it.


How to select multiple app icons in Launchpad to move them? Is it possible to select more than one app icon at a time in Launchpad and then drag them to a folder?

Multiple selection is not implemented in LaunchPad. A work around: Drag individual icons into a folder (to make the first folder drag an icon over another and drop). Then move the folder to the new location and unpack it.


If somebody has logged onto my iCloud account can they see what I buy or download on the App Store? If somebody has logged into my iCloud account can they see what I download?

Yes and no - not directly. That person would have to set up iTunes with your Apple ID and then browse through the list of purchased apps.


Open Safari With Numerous Tabs Open? When I use Chrome I like the feature that enables me to open Chrome with a list of websites I always want to open up once I use it.

Is this feature available in Safari?

Yes, but the sites you want to use must be saved in a folder in your bookmarks.

Once you've bookmarked the sites all in the same folder (the only contents of the folder should be these sites), go to Safari -> Preferences -> General. Click the Choose Tabs Folder... item in the New windows open with: menu and select your folder.

New windows will open with each of your websites in tabs.


Where do provisioning profiles live in my iPhone XS? Apple Developer Program Information says:

A Development Provisioning Profile must be installed on each device on
which you wish to run your application code.
Each Development
Provisioning Profile will contain a set of iPhone Development
Certificates, Unique Device Identifiers and an App ID.

So where are provisioning profiles in my iPhone XS?
Can I see them?
Can I download them?
Can I beam them to any other device via bluetooth? airdrop? email?

The link you've included in your question doesn't in fact contain that quote.

The easiest way to manage the provisioning profiles on the iPhone is to open Xcode and select the menu item "Devices and Simulators" in the Window menu. Right-click on your iPhone XS and select "Show provisioning profiles".

You'll then be able to see the installed profiles, add new ones and delete existing profiles.

You cannot download a provisioning profile from the device, nor can you "beam" an installed provisioning profile. However, you can just copy the provisioning profile to the device (or store it on iCloud Drive) as an ordinary file (i.e. without actually installing it) - that file can then easily be transferred using AirDrop, email or whatever.

On the actual device you will in some instances also have a menu in Settings - General - Device Management that will list the installed profiles.


How can I get mailboxes settings from iPad to iPhone? I have long settings in iPad and I would like to get them automatically to devices such as iPhone and poussible to Mac in the future. How can I get the settings over all devices?

My first thought was that maybe you could use iTunes to sync your Mail settings back to your Mac. Then I found this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1296

  Mail account settings (email address, display name, server name, and user name) are synced from the computer to the iOS device; iTunes does not sync settings from the iOS device back to the computer and does not sync any email messages.

So considering this, I think your best option is to configure your complex Mail Settings on your Mac by hand first. Then, you could use iTunes to automatically sync those settings to all your iOS devices. Not a 100% solution for your problem, but I think it's the best you can do within the limitations you have.


Lost my iPhone 5s, can I get non-iMessage texts back after I replace it? I recently lost my iPhone, and have some important non-iMessage texts from android devices on it -- is it possible to restore these after replacing the phone, or am I out of luck here?

iCloud backups do include any SMS and MMS messages on your device. The same is true if you back up to your computer using iTunes.

When you get your new phone, your messages will be there if you restore from one of those backups.


I can't update iPhoto Iphoto was acting strangely, and was unable to open a valid iPhoto library that worked just fine with another copy of iPhoto on an external drive created with Superduper from my original disk.

I'm running a mid-2010 MacBook Pro with Snow Leopard.

So, I deleted iPhoto and reinstalled from the disks that came with my computer, and ran Software Update. Software Update didn't notice that iPhoto was out of date. iPhoto won't run or open the iPhoto library, and Snow Leopard says it's out of date. Yep.

I deleted the receipts for iPhoto in /Library/Receipts. Software Update still didn't work.

I copied iPhoto from my Superduper volume.  It's version 9.2.2, which is pretty current, but not completely up to date.  It can't open my iPhoto library, even though it works fine when I boot from my external drive and use that same copy of iPhoto. OS X says it's not up to date, but Software Update doesn't know this and passes it over.

I'd buy iPhoto from the App Store, but the version there only works with Lion, which I can't install on this machine yet.

I'm sure this is confusing, but net-net:

Snow Leopard says my copy of iPhoto 9.2.2 is not up to date and won't open it.
Software Update doesn't recognize that iPhoto needs an update.
I'm out of ideas.

When you reinstall iPhoto 11 from disk:

Go to

http://support.apple.com/downloads/

Find and download the 9.1 updater. Run it. Then Run Software update again.

That will find the 9.3 update.


Can I restore only selected files from Time Machine Backup after a fresh OS X re-install? I'm thinking to reinstall my Mac OS X on my Macbook Pro and starting fresh (instead of recovering from a Time Machine backup)

The question is:

If I do that, after OS X is reinstalled, will I be able to pick only certain files to be restored from my Time Machine backup?

The scenario is basically I want to start with a fresh OS X install and restore my iTunes library and possibly a few other documents.

You can do a fresh OSX re-install.

After that go into Time Machine and restore what you need.


Why is my keyboard is not responding to touch when using Whats App? The keyboard of my iPhone 6 is often blocked and does not respond to touch when I'm using Whats App, so I'm unable to write messages or reply back.

I would try removing the Whats App application first and re-downloading it. Also try using the original iOS keyboard if you are using a 3rd party keyboard


How to make a bootable disk from an image with Toast? I read contradictory information, some say it’s possible, some say it’s not  and Apple’s Disk Utility is required.

I prefer to use Roxio Toast for its multi-purpose but I don’t want to waste blank disks.

So is it possible and if yes how to make a bootable disk (DVD or CD) from an image (dmg, iso, toast, cdr...)?

I also heard that it must be burnt at the slowest speed.

Toast:

"Do not mount the Disk Image first!"
Launch "Toast.app"
Click "Data" icon (upper left) and choose ISO 9660
Select "Copy" icon (upper left) and choose Image File
Click "Select" and "Choose a Disk Image File" from the dialog (do not drag and drop).
Click "Burn" et voilà.

Disk Utility:

Launch "Disk Utility.app"
Click "Burn" icon (upper left)
"Select image to burn" from the dialog (do not drag and drop).
Insert CD / DVD
Click "Burn" using the dialog.

Most effective Option:

Launch "Terminal.app"
Use the following command(s). Replace "imagefile.dmg/.iso" with your dir and/or prefferd name.

hdiutil convert imagefile.dmg -format UDTO -o imagefile.iso
hdiutil burn Imagename.iso

This method uses the exact pre-installed function of "Disk Utility.app" only without the GUI!


"More Info" always "Fetching..." when I "Get Info" from a file I'm having this issue with the "More Info" section of the Info window of a file (Cmd + I or "Get Info" in contextual menu):

I'm running Sierra 10.12.3, and I'm not sure when this started to happen, but it happens with all kind of files.

Any idea on how can I track the root problem?

Thanks!

The problem was that I had Spotlight disabled. I disabled it because performance. I really never use it.

Would be great if Finder could get that metadata on the fly if it can't find them indexed.

To active Spotlight again:

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist


Yosemite broke Dropbox toolbar shortcut to reveal files in Finder I just updated to Yosemite, and now I cant access newly added files through the dropdown menu the Dropbox icon in the toolbar provides.

Previously it was possible to reveal a newly added file in finder if a file on the dropdown list was pressed(See picture) But now nothing happens!

Am I the only that has this problem?

Here is how I solved it:

Restart finder via terminal command or just reboot (copy/paste into Terminal: killall Finder && open /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app)
Finder >  Go tab > Go To Folder
Drag DropBox to the left favorite column

Works!


Laggy MacBook Pro on High Sierra and 2 external displays I've got a late 2013, 15-inch retina MacBook Pro.
Since a couple macOS upgrades ago, my system has become randomly slow, borderline unusable. I've come to realize it spikes when using 3 displays (2 external 1080p and laptop's retina screen). If I close the laptop and only use the 2 external displays, CPU usage instantly drops. And then, if I open it again, rises up and kernel_task can report over 150% CPU usage and transitions, typing, everything becomes laggy. This can happen even on a fresh boot.
I'm clueless, since 3 displays should be effortless on the GPUs task and by no means take over the CPU. I read kernel_task might spike in order to prevent other processes to hog the CPU and overheat. Even then, closing the screen interrupts no CPU consuming processes, so that shouldn't calm kernel_task down. And the laptop should be even hotter while closed than open.
Is there a step that might help resolve the slowdown?

I don't know why I didn't try this earlier, but a SMC Reset did it.

So I guess sensors were a little off and that was it? Any additional technical details is still much appreciated.


lpr fails to print asking for manual paper feed I use macOS High Sierra with a HP LaserJet Pro M12w printer. I can print regularly from macOS applications. However, when I print from lpr, the file remains enqueued with a message asking “Load paper in the manual feed tray”.

Note that the printer has only one tray.

With lpoptions -l I've found:

InputSlot/Media Source: *Manual

Which means the default is Manual, and it is also the only option (there is not an Auto option), so I suppose this is the problem (the other options are reasonable and reflect the current printer settings).

I tried to change that setting from the lpoptions command, but it does not change (probably because there is only one value), while from the UI (for instance from the print dialog of applications) there no possibility of changing the input slot (probably because there is only one option).

I suppose that the problem is generated in the ppd file for the printer, where the are the two lines:

*DefaultInputSlot: Manual
*InputSlot Manual/Manual Feed: "<</MediaPosition 4>>setpagedevice"

I'm not sure if this idea is correct, and I'm afraid of modifying that file.

Any idea on how to solve this problem?

Thanks in advance.

I tried a simple hack that works. Do not know if this is the best clean solution (I have doubts!), however it works for me, at least for now.

I simply removed from the PPD of the printer the following lines:

> *OpenUI *InputSlot/Media Source: PickOne
> *OrderDependency: 10 AnySetup *InputSlot
> *DefaultInputSlot: Manual
> *InputSlot Manual/Manual Feed: "<</MediaPosition 4>>setpagedevice"
> *CloseUI: *InputSlot


Alternatives to command line unzip? I've found that the command line unzip tool doesn't gracefully handle some of the files I'm unzipping: it makes a bunch of junk directories, and creates files whose resource forks aren't found.  (Perhaps they were created strangely.)

$ unzip -d NEW-DIRECTORY ZIP

Anyways, using Archive Utility is a start, because I can run the following and it is close (and it doesn't mess up my files):

$ open -a "Archive Utility" ZIP

But this does not allow me to specify a new directory for the contents!!  It automatically puts them in the current directory. :P

What are my alternatives?

"The Unarchiver" is a great tool, and I highly recommend it, both the GUI and the CLI tools.

That said, my unzip command is

ditto -xk foo.zip target_dir

where 'target_dir' is the directory where I want the files to appear (and it can be '.' if you want them to unzip right there).

Note that 'target_dir' will be created if needed.

Also note that ditto does not mind overwriting files, so use with care.

ditto on Mac OS X is designed to preserve resource forks, etc. so it is my preferred method of unzipping files, especially because it ships with OS X by default.


iPhone 3GS has color depth of 24-bit color or 18-bit color? I don't understand why Apple did not disclose all the detailed specifications. On apple site, it only tells the most basic specs not all specs so Wikipedia has to search iPhone specs in other sources.

For example, rhe wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone said iPhone 3Gs has
color depth of 18-bit color while http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_3GS said 24-bit color.

Have anyone who did use both 3Gs & 4 or 4s?  Did u see the picture clearer in 4 than in 3GS?

So which color depth does iPhone 3GS have?

24-bit color or 18-bit color?

i found the answer, iPhone 3Gs use 24-bit Emulation color not the 24-bit true color.

  18-bit:  Almost all of the least expensive LCD displays (such as typical
  twisted nematic types) provide 18-bit color (64 × 64 × 64 = 262,144
  combinations) to achieve faster color transition times, and use either
  dithering or frame rate control to approximate 24-bit-per-pixel true
  color,[12] or throw away 6 bits of color information entirely. More
  expensive LCD displays (typically IPS) can display 24-bit or greater
  color depth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24-bit_color#True_color_.2824-bit.29

Note: 18-bit color display was used either dithering or frame rate control to simulate 24 bit (16.76 million colors) per pixel true color; yielding sub-optimal color accuracy and often having poor viewing angles (http://techreport.com/review/23204/tr-summer-2012-system-guide/14)

So correct answer is 24-bit emulation color.


macOS High Sierra - set default Wi-Fi I wish to set a Wi-Fi access point as default to connect to. I was told to go to Network Preferences and click on Advanced... button to set the default. I am unable to find it. What am I missing?

Under Preferred Networks, drag and drop the listed access points in the order of priority you want your Mac to connect to them. Drag the most preferred one to top. Your Mac will connect to it when it is available instead of connecting to other available Wi-Fi networks further down the list.


Changed DMG password now it won't open Hardware: Hackintosh running Mavericks.
Problem: I had a DMG where I store (stored...) stuff I obviously wanted to keep private, so I unchecked the "Save in my keychain" option.
Some weeks ago, beginning to upgrade all my passwords (iPad, phone etc) to something less crackable (like the 6-digit iPhone lock screen) I changed the password of said DMG to a very long new one. I did it following the instructions in Disk Utility.
Yesterday I tried to open it but it said "Try again" a few times until the "Authentication error" window appeared.
I'm very careful with passwords and they are always stored. When I change them I keep the previous one, etc. But I might have screwed this one up because neither password works.
What I did after the change is rename the DMG with a password hint. But when it wouldn't open, I renamed it back to its previous name. Nothing worked.
And since I am thorough with backups too, I updated both backups with the new DMG... so none of them work...
Now the central question: since I did all this on my desktop computer, could I overcome this with some kind of log file, or anything of the sort stored somewhere in my drive? Of course I have full admin access.
I took it to my Macbook running Catalina but no luck there either.
Thanks to all !

The password used for encrypting the DMG is not stored in a log file or similar. Having full admin access doesn't help you, I'm afraid.
The only real resort is to brute-force the passphrase for the DMG. It seems you have a pretty good idea of what the password is and how long it is - that should make brute-forcing worthwhile to try. I'm assuming here that you made a typo when setting the password or something similar to that.


Devices cannot connect to my shared Wi-Fi I have a Late-2016 MacBook Pro without Touch Bar.

When I create a shared Wi-Fi network through System Preferences -> Sharing (while I have my machine connected to ethernet via a USB-C adaptor), no device can connect.

The network is configured with WPA-2 personal security (just a password, though I have also tried with no security and end up with the same result).

When I try to connect with security enabled, my iPhone always says incorrect password (though I've confirmed the password is correct). When I try to connect without any security, my iPhone just says unable to connect. I have had colleagues try with their phones and computers with the same results.

Any recommendations?

Head to the Genius Bar and show them. If they deem it to be a hardware issue they may replace the defective board.


How do I fix this Smart Folder problem? It keeps switching off of "This Mac" I created a Smart Folder in the finder called "TV" which searches for files of type movie created in the last 7 days. When I created the search in the first place, I clicked on "Search This Mac" to find all files anywhere. But now, even when I have new files that I've downloaded nothing will show up in the folder. When I click on Search criteria on the top it will say

Search: This Mac   TV

and TV will be selected. But, remember, I saved it as "This Mac"

Why won't it stick to "This Mac"? Why does it keep going to "TV" which doesn't make sense anyway, if there's nothing in a folder, then it can't find files in that folder of the type that it's supposed to be searching for...

Here's the steps I used to do what you're looking for which seem to be working the way you want.

Open Finder and click File > New Smart Folder - or press ⌥⌘N

Then setup as I have in the screenshot below and click 'Save' near the top right.

Then, when the little drop-down menu appears for you to save, select the options like I have below.

Now, you'll get a window left behind like this.

Now, close your new Smart Folder.  Then in Finder, open a normal finder window with either File > New Finder Window or ⌘N

Your 'TV' Smart Folder will be listed under the 'Search For' section on the bottom-left if you expand it out, like so


Launch Daemon for NodeJS App Won't start on reboot I've created the below launch daemon to run a nodejs program on startup (tiddlywiki in this case):
<?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>Debug</key>
        <true/>
        <key>StandardOutPath</key>
        <string>/tmp/tiddlywiki.stdout</string>
        <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
        <string>/tmp/tiddlywiki.stderr</string>
        <key>Label</key>
        <string>com.activescott.tiddlywiki</string>
        <key>OnDemand</key>
        <false/>
        <key>RunAtLoad</key>
        <true/>
        <key>KeepAlive</key>
        <true/>
        <key>inetdCompatibility</key>
        <dict>
            <key>Wait</key>
            <true/>
        </dict>
        <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
        <dict>
            <key>PATH</key>
            <string>/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:</string>
        </dict>
        <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
            <string>/Volumes/minidata/Dropbox/tiddlywiki/node_modules/.bin/tiddlywiki</string>
            <string>/Volumes/minidata/Dropbox/tiddlywiki/wiki</string>
            <string>--listen</string>
            <string>credentials=creds.csv</string>
            <string>writers=scott</string>
            <string>readers=scott</string>
            <string>port=443</string>
            <string>host=0.0.0.0</string>
            <string>tls-key=key.pem</string>
            <string>tls-cert=server.crt</string>
        </array>
    </dict>
</plist>

The file is named com.activescott.tiddlywiki.plist and it is in the /Library/LaunchDaemons/ folder.
If I load it with the command:
sudo launchctl load -Fw /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.activescott.tiddlywiki.plist

I start it with the below command it and wills tart and work fine - it just doesn't restart automatically when the comp reboots:
sudo launchctl start com.activescott.tiddlywiki

Note, it does take about ~20s to fully start (e.g. respond on a port and write to stdout).
I'm on Mac OS X, 10.13.6 w/ BuildVersion 17G13035
Update:
After a reboot I noticed that the output of sudo launchctl list com.activescott.tiddlywiki shows LastExitStatus as 19968. This value will show 0 if I start it with launchctl. Below is the full output:
{
        "StandardOutPath" = "/tmp/tiddlywiki.stdout";
        "LimitLoadToSessionType" = "System";
        "StandardErrorPath" = "/tmp/tiddlywiki.stderr";
        "Label" = "com.activescott.tiddlywiki";
        "TimeOut" = 30;
        "OnDemand" = true;
        "LastExitStatus" = 19968;
        "Program" = "/Volumes/minidata/Dropbox/tiddlywiki/node_modules/.bin/tiddlywiki";
        "ProgramArguments" = (
                "/Volumes/minidata/Dropbox/tiddlywiki/node_modules/.bin/tiddlywiki";
                "/Volumes/minidata/Dropbox/tiddlywiki/wiki";
                "--listen";
                "credentials=creds.csv";
                "writers=scott";
                "readers=scott";
                "port=443";
                "host=0.0.0.0";
                "tls-key=key.pem";
                "tls-cert=server.crt";
        );
};

Presuming your application can be run within the Terminal, making an AppleScript program (using Script Editor) containing the commands that you would run in the terminal and then exporting that program as a Run-Only Application, placing it in your /Applications/ directory can create your program launcher.
There is a helpful answer on using do shell script in AppleScript here.
AppleScript Example: Running hdiutil to mount a sparseimage bundle as a Time Machine backup drive
do shell script "hdiutil attach /Volumes/NewVolumeD/TimeMachine.sparsebundle"

Then, navigating to System Preferences > Users & Groups > (your account) > Login Items, unlocking the settings menu and then using the + button on the bottom left to select your launcher application from Applications. That launcher will now run on login, check mark on Hide so that it doesn't throw unwanted messages.
Alternatively, you could make a zsh or bash script and tell AppleScript execute the shell script (given its absolute path) instead of specifying each command in AppleScript itself.
EDIT: Instead of using Login Items, you can place the Application Bundle in /Library/StartupItems (though it is deprecated) if you want it to launch on startup instead of login.


How do not lock/sleep MacBook when you close the laptop lid? I would like the MacBook not to sleep and or lock when closing the laptop lid. I would like to lock and sleep it only manually. Any ideas on how to do it?

To enable laptop sleeping with closed lid:

sudo pmset -b sleep 0; sudo pmset -b disablesleep 1

To re-enable laptop sleeping:

sudo pmset -b sleep 5; sudo pmset -b disablesleep 0


iCloud syncing seems to have stopped, can't delete folders I am using iCloud Drive on my Macbook Pro, and I noticed that even if the iCloud folder has my files, they're not really synced on the cloud. Many files still have the cloud icon next to them:

Probably it means that they are still getting uploaded, but the worst fact is that there's no feedback about it. I think iCloud just stopped syncing the files, because I see no progress. The iCloud free space stays always the same.

And there are even some extra folders that I don't see on my iCloud folder, which are visible on icloud.com and I can't delete them because I keep getting an error:

I'd like to know if there's a way to get a feedback (which folders are getting sync'd for example, and the speed), and to know if the folder are effectively being sync'd or if the whole process is stuck.

The problem is that you can't delete a large number of files at the same time. Try going into the folders and deleting 1-5 files at a time. Appears to be a well-known issue.


Disabling "modal sheets" in OS X In OS X, modal dialogues are displayed as "sheets" that drop down from the top of the window. In many cases this is nice, but occasionally I find it really annoying. Consequently, although it's a long shot, I thought I'd ask whether anyone knows a way to either disable these modal sheets entirely, or to detach a sheet so that it becomes a proper window.

The reason I want this is that I often have many (unsaved and untitled) documents open in TextEdit and other applications, with short notes that I've made. When I shut down my computer it asks me whether I want to save each of them, but if there's only a few lines of text then the modal sheet completely covers it, so I can't see what's in the document. This means I have to cancel the dialogue, which cancels the shutdown, then go though and manually save everything.

So although it's nice to have modal dialogues attached to the window they're associated with, I'd really appreciate a way to move them out of the way to see what's underneath, if one exists.

I highly doubt you can change the appearance of sheets, even through undocumented means – that's been a core part of OS X since 10.0.

That said, I think there's a way to effectively avoid the problem you're having: in System Preferences, go to General and uncheck the box for "Ask to keep changes when closing documents".

Now, apps that support auto-save (like TextEdit) won't bug you about unsaved changes when they quit – they'll simply save the changes in the background automatically, then restore them when you next launch the app.

(Note: I think the above option is only available on Mountain Lion).


Can I re-use an email address for a new Apple ID that was previously a secondary email address? I want to use my son's email for his new iPad mini, but previously his email was associated with my Apple ID on my iPhone 5c as an alternate email address. I have deleted his email from my Apple ID, but I still can't set up his iPad using his own email address.

I am attempting to create a new Apple ID for him with his email so all my contacts won't come up on his iPad mini. When we try it, it says that the email is already associated with an Apple ID.

Yes, you should be able to. Having an email address as a secondary email address on another Apple ID does not mean that the email address does not have an Apple ID already associated with it. Try to regain access to the existing Apple ID associated with the email address at iforgot.apple.com.


Connecting windows laptop to iMac I have Lenovo Thinkpad T490 from work and I got my personal iMac 5k 2017. I have got a dell monitor and use that as my primary monitor and want to use iMac as secondary monitor.

I have installed windows 10 on iMac using Bootcamp. I wanted to find out if I can use any sort of cable to connect both. My laptop got HDMI, USB-c charging port.
I don’t use iMac as switching between windows and apple keyboard the buttons are different and get confusing, I want to use iMac as my second screen via cable.

So the question is can I and if so What cables do I need?

I want to use iMac as my second screen via cable.

You can’t.  The iMac doesn’t accept any video signal as input (the operating system doesn’t matter).  This model iMac does not support Target Display mode.

There are a couple potential products to turn your Mac into a secondary display for another Mac

AirDisplay for Mac
Luna Display

The last product that supported connecting from a PC to a Mac as a secondary display was Air Display 2, but has since been discontinued.


What is the best method to apply a screen protector to a touchscreen? Installing a screen protector on a touchscreen is not always easy.  Bubbles and dust can make your screen look horrible.  What is the best method/procedure you have found to apply a screen protector?

First I make sure the screen is completely clean using a micro-fiber cloth, then I use a credit card with the cloth wrapped around to press the screen protector tightly as soon as it touches the screen.

The trick is to press, making a forward/backward movement, the protector against the screen as soon as it touches it, removing any bubbles in the process. So don't try to put the protector all at once.


What is the AppleCare agreement's location? I bought my Mac and AppleCare in Oz, but I mainly use my Mac in Hong Kong. When I register my AppleCare, it asks me to fill in the location. What is this about? Which location should I choose? Thanks.

You should pick the location/country you've bought your Apple product.
The AppleCare states clearly you have "care" around the entire world, as they state even abroad is no problem. You don't have to move your product, as it's part of the Care you're paying for.

My iPad came from Canada and I'm using it in the Netherlands. Registered it first as Canada to avoid problems.


Applications stop responding when waking up from sleep Lately when I walk away from the computer and it goes into sleep mode, I come back and try to us the computer, all the applications are stuck "not responding".

I can use the computer and browse around, but any application that was open before going to sleep is now stuck. If I try to open Chrome after, it takes forever and 300% CPU. I have to force quit all the apps. Then I reboot (which also takes a long time).

I have 8GB of RAM on my macbook pro, i7. It only started to happen in the last couple of days. I am running Lion.

UPDATE: I now suspect something about the process called "qtkitserver". It happened today without going to sleep mode. One thing in common also was that uTorrent was running. I read online that QTKitServer is responsible for video thumbnails I think - maybe connected to the fact that I'm downloading videos.

You might try seeing if trashing any files that have windowserver in them from ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/ and seeing if that helps to temporarily remedy the issue.

I would expect this to get cleaned up in an official patch once it's certain these files are causing some of the sleep/wake sluggishness - but I've seen anecdotal evidence that this works for some.


EFI Boot Windows 8.1 or 10 Install on MacPro4,1 / Mac Pro (Early 2009) I would like to install Windows 8.1 or 10 on a separate single SSD disk in my MacPro4,1 (not yet flashed to MacPro5,1) using only

EFI/GPT method.

The machine has a 64Bit EFI (rEFIt reports version 1.1 - build 20070328 in the EFI shell using command "ver"), Windows 8 and Windows 10 installer  should be downwards compatible from EFI 2.x and should work with EFI Version 1.x as I read somewhere during my extensive research.

Unfortunately the machine freezes after choosing EFI Boot from Windows installer.

I created a USB boot like here
https://superuser.com/questions/1045512/how-can-i-create-windows-install-media-that-boots-installs-uefi-only

I tried the same installer and a unmodified DVD ISO on (native, not upgraded) MacPro5,1 and at least came to a blue windows screen with boot error 0xc0000225.

Using rEFIt on a stick, the MacPro5,1 reports the same EFI version and build.

My MacBookPro11,5 boots the stick from Apple Boot Selector Screen and enters setup correctly. When choosing BOOTX64.efi from rEFIt it freezes...!!??

What is funny is that rEFIt reports again the same EFI version 1.1 and build as before on the 2015 Mac...!!

How can I reliably check the EFI version of the machines?

I can get further information through rEFIt if needed. I got access to a native windows machine in the office and I can access command prompt through Legacy BIOS/CMS Bootcamp installation or setup of Windows or boot gparted or use gdisk to modify installers if needed. I can also burn DVDs.

What can I do to get the setup to load in EFI Boot and install Win 8 or 10 on my MacPro4,1?

Thanks a lot for help!

Got it working finally...

The first trick is to remove ALL disks from the MacPro when trying to load setup. You may leave clean HDDs or SSDs where the Mac EFI cannot find MBR or Protected MBR.

After you removed all other disks the MacPro4,1 will not directly freeze after choosing EFI Boot on the installer stick.
(You will have to create it like mentioned before here to force an EFI boot of the installer.)
There will then be a progress bar loading files but unfortunately you will get stuck on a black screen in a few seconds...

To be finally able to load setup you need to flash MacPro4,1 firmware to MacPro5,1 firmware.

The EFI version reported in rEFit shell will not change. But you will still have a different version after the upgrade flash. Apple does not seem to take great care about correct versioning with EFI standards as I understood from Rod Smith's comment here.
This more recent Apple internal version of the MacPro5,1's EFI will be providing us with the ability to boot EFI setup from the Windows 10 Installer on the MacPro4,1 machine.

Setup will load fine then and will give you a clean bootable EFI/GPT install of Windows 10 (W8 I did not try since I am happy with the more recent version). Install bootcamp drivers and enjoy AHCI without patches.

Be sure to strip the bootmgr files from the installer disc or stick. Even when choosing EFI boot, the Apple EFI will still boot the installer in BIOS/CSM Mode when those files are present.

I will probably post more detailed step by step instructions soon...

Here they are:

Make EFI bootable USB Installer

Download Win10 install ISO from Microsoft
Boot into Windows DVD Setup or existing BIOS/CMI installation to access a Windows command prompt
open command prompt (from windows run cmd, from setup press shift+F10)
load diskpart and make a clean installer stick
type in command prompt:

diskpart
list disk
select disk n #n=usb stick
clean #everything will get deleted!
convert gpt
create partition primary
format quick fs=fat32 label=Winstall
exit
exit

mount downloaded install ISO (I did it in Windows, should work in OSX too)
drag everything from the mounted ISO onto the USB stick
delete bootmgr and bootmgr.efi files from the stick to avoid BIOS/CMI boot and force EFI boot. See also here

Flash MacPro4,1 with MacPro5,1 firmware

Bootrom MP41.0081.B07 (EFI 1.4) to Bootrom MP51.007F.B03 (EFI 1.5)
(If your machine shows Bootrom version MP41.0081.B08 you could first try to continue without upgrading. I don’t know which Apple EFI version is contained in there. Downgrading should be possible as well, definitely possible to version MP41.0081.B07. Please research if you don’t want to lose the downgrade possibility to MP41.0081.B08)
The upgraded EFI finally enabled me to complete the boot process and you will have all other advantages of the 2010 and later models (hex-core CPU, faster RAM, Audio over DP) This upgrade is reversible.  (If using El Capitan you need to disable System Integrity Protection. Otherwise the flash will not perform. If patch is running successfully you can see a big grey loader bar and the apple logo. Optical drives will open. See here how to easily disable SIP)

Dowload MacPro5,1 Firmware here
-Mount dmg
(above steps will avoid error 5570)
Download Mac Pro Firmware Upgrade Utility here
Run Utility and follow instructions
check upgraded bootrom version and identifier in System Information

Setup Windows with EFI boot

remove ALL disks from the Mac Pro
Plugin USB Installer stick
Boot Mac holding option/alt key
Choose EFI Boot
Enter setup and select GPT installation target disk
Install

Install Bootcamp Drivers (optional of course.. You can also manually add what you want)

Boot into Windows
Download Boot Camp Support Software 5.1.5640 here
run setup
(the setup was hanging on my machine while installtion of the RealTek Audio drivers. To solve that follow instructions here)

Done.

Only issue I have is with my NVIDIA GTX 680 DVI-D port (and maybe others). After installing NVIDIA drivers screen will go black without signal. Booting then will show Windows logo but will go black w(o signal when login screen should appear. The system will boot to login properly after only 5-10 sec black screen without signal when using the DVI-I port instead. After successful login I could unplug and switch the port. Confirmed on EVGA and Gainward card. Did not have time to investigate further.


Running Windows through SD Card or USB thumb drive I have a 13" Macbook Air (2013) that has USB 3.0 ports and an SD card slot. I want to run Windows to play some games that are Windows only, and I didn't want to partition my main drive because it's quite small.

I'm thinking of either using a 32 GB SD card or a USB 3.0 thumb drive. Is it possible to do either of those, and if so which way will yield in better performance? In terms of read/write speed, which one is better, and can both have the same graphics power?

I tried this some 2 weeks ago on my retina 15" Mac. The usb I used was Kingston HyperX 128 gb, 3.0 . It ran WinToGo which is basically windows 8. I wanted to play Battlefield 3 but the result were very poor, I actually never managed to play multiplayer because servers kicked me for being AFK :D If you want to try some less demanding games it might work, but 32gb is not enough provided Windows alone would eat some 20-25 gb.


Are OS X Security Updates Cumulative? I can't seem to find a definitive answer anywhere, but are Mac OS X Security Updates cumulative?

The update in question is 2015-004. I've checked https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204659 but it doesn't list any requirements.

Background: I've just finished deploying 2015-002 to some of our iMacs (running Mavericks 10.9.5), but now I see that 2015-004 is out. I was wondering if there was any point in continuing rolling out 2015-002, or should I just deploy 2015-004?

I would assume not cumulative, based on 15 years on Mac, and continue with -002.

Absolutely there's a point, one never knows what little fixes are included in each Security Update, nor what might be dependent on previous updates.

Bite the bullet and play by the Apple book.


Does ios7 support third-party software keyboards? I am a litte confused about iOS 7. Does iOS 7 support third-party software keyboards? There are a lot of rumors around, I watched the last WWDC and read Apple documents but I couldn't hear anything about this. Am I missing something?

Is this a feature in the new OS?

Whether they were removed after an App Store rules update I don't know, but one of the first apps I ever downloaded was a 3rd party keyboard called Swype.  The difference between it (& others that were or may still be around) is that it cannot be plugged in in the same way as on Android, and become the default keyboard for all text input system wide, and instead runs as a standalone app that you can use to type stuff, then copy, then paste into wherever you want it to go using the normal iOS keyboard.

In addition, many apps augment the standard keyboard with a customised top row, made to look like it's part of the keyboard when in fact it's just an extra bit within the app, rather than on the keyboard - these are typically used to allow for extra keyboard functions like word left/right, or to provide quick access to common symbols like # or @ etc.

No formal announcement has been made about an official replacement API, and I would not expect to see one any time soon, as it goes against the whole "tinker proof" direction that iOS has always walked.


Cannot enable or disable Mail plug-ins I have two Mail.app plug-ins installed: "GPGMailLoader.mailbundle" and "Smallcubed MailSuite.mailbundle".  Currenly, GPG is enabled, and works, and MailSuite is disabled.

However, when I toggle either plugin (i.e. MailSuite to on or GPG to off), and restart Mail, the change hasn't taken.  So I cannot use MailSuite, nor disable GPG.

I have tried:

Reinstalling MacOS Mojave in-place (did not fix).
Creating a new user (everything works for new user).

How can I further investigate this?

Eventually I moved my ~/Library/Mail folder to the Desktop, reset mail "to factory settings", then re-imported all messages from the moved folder.  It took about a day, including the backup I did first.

Following the above "reset" instructions involves deleting ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/.  When I was perusing the new ~/Library/* and ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/* setup, after relaunching Mail, there were differences before and after, in particular which items lived in the container and which lived in the real ~/Library.  This may be a clue to a cause, but at least there is now a sledgehammer solution.


Unable to mount Time Capsule / AFP-SMB sharing keeps loading I'm getting a strange behavior for my Time Capsule (the "tower" model) since I upgraded my home LAN. The problem is that I can no longer browse the content of my Time Capsule using AFP or SMB because the Finder keeps loading. I don't get asked for the password because it's saved in the keychain. I also tried to manually mount Time Capsule using Terminal and mount or mount_afp but nothing changed.

This is the new setup of my home LAN:

All the connections are made using Gigabit Ethernet and Cat5e/Cat6 cables.
Since I connected my MBP and my Windows PC using Ethernet, the Time Capsule is not mounted properly anymore. But if I turn on AirPort and connect to the WiFi network, my Time Capsule works very well.
The only workaround I figured out is that I need to connect the switch directly to the Time Capsule, instead of the Router, to get it working again. So I thought the Router is blocking/not redirecting AFP/SMB traffic to the Time Capsule, in some ways...

I also tried to ping the Time Capsule from the MBP and it pings correctly using TC's IP address and Bonjour .local name. I checked all the possible settings:

TC shows up in AirPort Utility and Disk Sharing option is enabled
Firewall on my MBP is active but AFP and SMB connections are allowed
File Sharing options on my MBP are enabled

And finally, IPs in the entire network are automatically assigned using DHCP reservations, TC is in bridged mode (just a network hard drive) and modem too (internet connection through PPPoE is managed by the router); my MBP runs Yosemite 10.10.5.
Can anyone help me with this weird situation?
Thank you so much!

UPDATE:

The modem is my ISP fiber modem (Telecom Italia)
The router is a TP-Link Archer D7 modem router which manages almost everything: PPPoE connection, DHCP server, NAT, WiFi 5GHz-only AP, DDNS active, Firewall disabled, Port Forwarding active, IPv6 disabled
DHCP range is 192.168.1.101 to 192.168.1.210, subnet is 255.255.255.0, router is 192.168.1.100
TP-Link router has 192.168.1.100 IP
Computers have 192.168.1.1xx-like IPs: my MBP has 192.168.1.101 IP, 255.255.255.0 subnet and 192.168.1.100 as router
Other network devices, like the TC, Smart TV and Printer, have 192.168.1.2xx-like IPs: my TC has 192.168.1.201 IP, 255.255.255.0 subnet and 192.168.1.100 as router
The iPhone, which has the same configuration of a computer but 192.168.1.105 IP, can connect to the TC without any problems

Furthermore, using the Console app on the MBP, I figured out that the MBP correctly authenticate with the TC but it is unable to mount it as it keeps requesting reconnect tokens.
Hope this other information can help you and me to solve this problem!

I'd go for the obvious - connect the TC to the switch.

You didn't say what IP addresses were being assigned to everything; whether the 2 nodes as you currently have them are on the same subnet; what the router is & how configurable... etc. so the simple fix is remove the router from the equation.


Any problems adding a new SSD to iMac 2011? I have an iMac 2011 mid-model. I bought this without a SSD, now I want to add one.

I heard the model have several problems, when it comes to adding extra SSD's. Including TRIM support and Temperature Sensor. But I want to add it if those problems are acceptable.

I want to know if there are any problems, with adding a SSD, and workarounds for the problems.

Is there any Apple certified SSD that I can purchase now or later? I will bring my iMac to Apple's service center, and let them to add it, to keep AppleCare.

Update.

I'm living in Korea. And here is no Apple retail store and Genius bar. So I asked this question here.

The German IT magazine computerbase has done tests comparing the efficiency of  TRIM and garbage collection in SSDs of 2010.

The result is that recent SSD have a very effecient garbage collection so that the performace difference to TRIM vanishes. (source, German)

Upgrading the HDD on a Macbook does not void the warrenty (source). However, it does on a Macbook Pro (I think). Since replacing the hard drive on an iMac will require lots of tinkering, I'm pretty sure that you will void your warrenty.

Detailed guides as to how you replace your harddrive can be found here:
They include pictures, step-by-step guide and info on what kind of screwdrivers you need.


How to install g++-45 with Homebrew I have installed gcc45 by using brew tap homebrew/versions & brew install gcc45. However, I can not find g++-4.5 in /usr/local/bin. How can I install g++-4.5 separately by Homebrew? Thanks.

My system 10.6.8.

Looks like the g++ part is not built by default. Build it with brew install gcc45 --enable-cxx and g++-4.5 will appear. See brew info gcc45 for details on the build options.

[@ in /usr/local/bin on ⇄ master]
$ brew install gcc45 --enable-cxx
==> Downloading http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/gcc/gcc-4.5.4/gcc-4.5.4.tar.bz2
Already downloaded: /Library/Caches/Homebrew/gcc45-4.5.4.tar.bz2
==> ../configure --build=x86_64-apple-darwin12.3.0 --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/gcc45/4.5.4/gcc --datarootdi
==> make bootstrap
==> make install
  /usr/local/Cellar/gcc45/4.5.4: 909 files, 53M, built in 18.5 minutes
[@ in /usr/local/bin on ⇄ master]
$ ls -l /usr/local/bin/g++-4.5
lrwxr-xr-x  1 janke  admin  33 Apr 25 11:27 /usr/local/bin/g++-4.5 -> ../Cellar/gcc45/4.5.4/bin/g++-4.5


Lock Screen Notifications Without Content? Is there a way to have lock screen notifications which notify only that an activity has happened (SMS message, Facebook message, etc.) but doesn't show the content of that activity?  (I suspect there isn't, but thought I'd ask just to make sure.)

The idea behind this is that sometimes incoming messages contain personal or otherwise private information.  And while I'd like to have visible alerts that messages have arrived, I don't want that information displayed without being able to unlock the device.

Specifically for SMS/iMessage...

Settings > Notifications > Messages ... 'Show Previews'

That option doesn't exist for Facebook, though as I don't allow Facebook to push notify my phone I'm not sure what options there may be in the app itself.


What do I need to connect a second monitor to my MacBook Pro? I would like to use my MacBook Pro with a second monitor. What do I need to be able to do this?

Your MacBook Pro could have various display ports depending on its vintage:

Dual-Link DVI for the oldest models
Mini DisplayPort on the 15" from late 2008, on the 17" since early 2009

Both can drive a monitor in analog mode (via a VGA port on your monitor) or in digital mode (via a DVI port). Most monitors, except really ancient ones, have both connectors. The quality of the image beeing better with a DVI connection I recommend you go this route.

All monitors are shipped with a DVI/DVI cable, if not go get one at your nearest cheap PC place. For old MacBook Pro that's all you need. For more recent models you need to add a adapter. Apple has one, but I don't like it: It's really short and put pressure on the port when the computer is used on a support. Not to mention ugly. I bought on ebay a 6 foot Mini DisplayPort/DVI cable for cheap, it's all digital so you don't need huge shielding and "super copper wire balanced to give you the best image". Around 10 quids.

Note: Smaller models like the MacBook and the Macbook Air came with different ports: A mini DVI or a micro DVI. For the people reading this with a non "pro" model, make sure you check for those as well...

PS: You can find pictures of the various ports by searching for their names on Wikipedia. I wanted to put the links directly, but apparently I do not have enough reputation to post more than one link:(


How to build maccore from source? I want to build the latest maccore from source.

Problem: I have searched everywhere but can't find any build instructions.
Question: How to build maccore?

I am a Mac newbie but intimate with UNIX.

Put monomac at the same directory level as maccore
Go to monomac directory
Run make


Making Terminal bash auto-complete stop at ambiguous character and display all possible options The behavior I see happening is that when I type something partially and hit TAB, if there are multiple files/commands that match what I had typed in, only the first one is displayed. Further TAB hits result in other matches being shown. Instead, I want the auto-completion to fill till the first ambiguous character and then if I hit TAB again, display all possible choices (as in say Ubuntu terminal). This is what I have in my .inputrc:

set completion-ignore-case on
set show-all-if-ambiguous on
TAB: menu-complete

The show-all-if-ambiguous seems to be what I am looking for, but it doesn't seem to work for me.

I actually want the behavior that this member doesn't:

Skip first terminal beep and to display ambiguous filename expansions

I like hearing the first BEEP (or stop) and then typing in some more characters to fix the ambiguity.

Thanks to comment from mtklr. Many web pages that talk about Mac OS X Terminal auto-complete asks you to add the 3 lines I mention in my question. But if you want behavior as on say Ubuntu, you need just the first 2 lines:
set completion-ignore-case on
set show-all-if-ambiguous on

Do not add TAB: menu-complete


How to disable long press Caps Lock feature in Mac keyboard? There is a feature in Mac keyboard, where keeping the Caps Lock key held for over a second or so, the light will turn on and will change some behavior of input method.

What I want is totally disable this feature, even pressing Caps Lock for a longer duration, the light won't turn on, and don't change other behavior.

I only want to disable "press and hold" feature, my main language isn't English, so I need that feature tap to switch language, but I don't want 'press and hold' feature

How do I do this?

This is only a partial answer to your question.

You can disable the built-in behaviour of the Caps Lock key so that the light won't turn on, and it won't make your typing all uppercase, no matter whether you tap it or hold it down. After making this change the Caps Lock key will do nothing at all, and that means it won't switch input sources either.

Open System Preferences
Open the Keyboard Preferences
Press the button for "Modifier Keys..."
Select Keyboard "Apple Internal Keyboard"
Change "Caps Lock (⇪) Key" to "No Action".

I understand this isn't quite you want -- you want Caps Lock to be used only for switching languages, never for uppercase text. Maybe it's possible to combine this with some other tool that installs a custom behaviour for the Caps Lock key.


Macbook Pro - Not picking up Hard Drive I had a problem when I turned on my Macbook Pro, I would just get a flashing "?" when I booted up.

I decided to grab a recovery from another mac I have, I put this onto a memory stick and my laptop went into recovery mode etc.. I then went into Disk Utility only to find out that it wasn't actually recognising my hard drive..

I then tried another hard drive from another macbook and it wasn't picking up that hard drive either.

NOTE: I placed a CD a few weeks ago and it didn't like it, caused the fan to go crazy and I had to remove the CD through a command in terminal.

I tried cleaning the wire that runs from the Macbook to the hard drive and this picked up the hard drive at boot-up but then when I restarted, it went back to the same old flashing "?" mark.

Could it therefore be the wire that is running from the hard drive to the main-board? If so, would this be expensive to fix (From Apple directly) or would it be cheaper for me to purchase online and fit it myself?

Based on the fact that another known-good drive did not work, it sounds like questioning the cable is the next logical step. You could confirm what you already know by installing your hard drive in your friend's computer and booting it, thus proving the Partition Table/Master Boot Record/Apple Partition Map are in working order.

It sounds like plenty of other people are having problems with their hard drive cables too.

You can always buy an enclosure for your drive and attempt to boot from USB, ultimately proving that there is nothing else it could be. It's a tad cheaper than the replacement part.

Good luck.


iCloud backup fails on iOS 6 Have recently noticed my ios6 running iPhone hasn't done an iCloud backup since November. Could there be a new icloud api that would prevent ios6 devices from backing up properly? It appears to fail even when started manually. With no particular error message of course.
Did anyone have a similar problem?
Maybe someone can tell me the icloud log location? I've only found a preference plist with
BackStateInfo - error, code 1, domain MBEroorDomain, localizedDescription "Service crashed".
The backup fails on a different network as well.

That's the kind of thing software updates typically fix. Since it's an iPhone 5, you could try updating to iOS 8.4.1 today, or wait until iOS 9.0 launches in a couple of weeks. Just go to Settings->General->Software Update. I can't guarantee that updating will solve your problem, but you should update anyway for many reasons: new and better design, new features, bug fixes, security updates, and many other things.


Can anyone explain to me the difference between terminal apps, CLI, CLT and Prompt? I wish to understand at a conceptual level, the difference between a terminal app, Command Line Interface (CLI), Command Line Tools (CLT) and Prompt. I am confused as to what the difference is between them?
The thing that threw me off was realizing that Apple does not ship macOS with CLT (Command Line Tools) pre-installed, and I have to download and install it separately. Doesn't that mean that Terminal.app is useless unless I download the CLT?
I am using zsh as my shell running on macOS Catalina 10.15.6.
Clarification
My confusion is stemming from Xcode CLT. I don't understand what a CLT is?

Is Xcode CLT a compiler? And if it is built into macOS, why do I need to download Xcode's CLT?

Why do I need an app like Terminal.app to access the CLI. Isn't the CLI an interface to begin with?

Does Homebrew (which is a package manager) considered a CLT that has its own CLI that I interact with using Terminal?

I can't seem to wrap my head around these concepts and the connection between them.

CLI (Command Line Interface) is a general description of an interface that you interact with by typing commands. On the Mac your primary CLI is Terminal.app. On Windows it is PowerShell or Command Prompt. On the old Amiga OS it is simply called "CLI".
Terminal is the program or application ("app") that is used to access the Command Line Interface. On macOS terminal is located in the /Applications/Utility folder and called Terminal.app. There are alternate terminal applications (on macOS and Linux/Unix) that provide other features in the same way that Apple's Pages app offers word processing features presented in and implemented in different way that Microsoft Word.
Command Line Tools Are indeed shipped with and easily accessible in macOS using the Terminal.app. Since macOS is based (originally) on the Berkeley Standard Distribution Unix (usually called BSD Unix, or just BSD), it comes with (pretty much) the standard suite of Unix command line tools. This will be similar (with some significant differences) to the command line tools shipped with most Linux distributions.
Shell Though you did not mention this it is important to understand that macOS (and many Unix and Linux distributions) ship with a number of shell programs. Until recently macOS shipped with BASH as the default shell, more recently changed to ZSH, though BASH is still available. The differences in shells are subtle (to casual users) but define, in (slightly) different ways, the environment we use to run the command line tools. For most people the actual shell you use is unimportant. For programmers and system administrators the shell they use is vitally important to provide a customizable environment suitable to their specific needs.
Prompt is the character or characters that the shell presents in the terminal.app to indicate it is waiting for input. EG it is prompting you to type something. I have modified my prompt from the default so yours will look different than mine (below) where the prompt character is %:

TDLR
You have the command line tools built-into macOS. They are accessed using the Terminal.app (that then uses the ZSH shell).
You can download other standard Unix versions of these commands if the current ones don't do the job you want, the way you want them to, or are just plain missing. One of the more popular repositories of open source commands is Homebrew.
Homebrew is by no means necessary to the functioning of macOS but depending on your needs and desires in an operating system, they may provide good (or just familiar) alternatives to what Apple ships with its operating systems.


OS X Lion mysterious user cron job just does echo "PATH is $PATH" OS X Lion 10.7.3.

Console view of system.log shows log entries for cron jobs defined in my user crontab as expected. Follow this link to view a copy of my user crontab if you want.

I inspected /usr/local/cron/tab as root and the system copy of my crontab is also as expected (the job entries are exactly the same as what I see when I do crontab -e).

Here's my question: every now and again I see a message like this in system.log:

May  7 02:36:17 echo mcook[70156]: mcook cron job PATH is /Users/mcook/local/bin:/Users/mcook/local/bin:/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/sw/bin:/sw/sbin:/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.6/Home/bin:.:/Users/mcook/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11/bin:/usr/local/mysql/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/X11/bin

I am puzzled because I can't find a matching cron tab entry for this. It's my user name, but none of the cron jobs I have in my user cron table just says echo "PATH is $PATH". The message appears at odd times, but I can't see an obvious pattern: yesterday at 04:23:59, today at 02:36:17 and 02:47:22

Where else can I look to find out where this is coming from? Could the cause be some old data hanging around in some .plist somewhere?

My crontab says "The periodic and atrun jobs have moved to launchd jobs see /System/Library/LaunchDaemons". I checked those and the files in /etc/periodic but I still did not find a possible cause.

Does someone have other suggestions as to where this might come from?

launchd holds files in ~/Library/LaunchAgents for individual users.


Screen Capture on Retina MacBook Pro at a Lower Resolution? I use Command+Shift+4 to capture screenshots on my MacBook Pro with a Retina display.

I'd like to paste these captures immediately into another app I'm using. The problem I'm encountering is the resolution is so high, I have to first load them into an image editing app and scale them down 50%.

I was wondering if there was some system config to control the scaling of screen captured images automatically to save me the extra step?

I just ran into this exact issue the other day. Try RetinaCapture: it's a free app that captures screenshots in both 1x and 2x simultaneously (or, alternatively, just one or the other). And it's a "true" 1x capture: it redraws at 1x rather than taking the 2x version and scaling it down.

It also supports the same types of captures as the built-in Grab.app – full screen, timed screen, selection, or window – and you can save either to the clipboard or a file.


Make the desktop report the OS X version I have to maintain several different versions of OS X for testing, and it would be nice to know at a glance which version of OS X is on a machine.

I've previously created custom backgrounds with the version number, but as the number of machines increases this is becoming difficult to maintain.

Is there a utility that can display the OS X version on the screen at all times, or automatically change the background image to a generated image containing the OS X version on each boot (or, I suppose, when run manually)?

Running sw_vers -productVersion will return the OS version.

You could then use something like GeekTool to output the result of a shell script to the desktop.

GeekTool is having issues under Lion right now, but the author posted an 'experimental' build for Lion. on his Twitter page.


Is it possible to define the width/height of a Terminal window with this command: osascript -e \'tell application "Terminal" to do script I am using this command to do some magic for my personal use:

osascript -e \'tell application "Terminal" to do script

Is it possible to precisely define the width and height of the popup Terminal window?

If not, is there anyway I can do it after it's opened? (Precisely adjust its size value)

Open a Terminal window and position it on the screen where you want it and resize it to the size you want.

Then in Terminal, execute the following command:

osascript -e 'tell application "Terminal" to get bounds of front window'

It will return a four-item list of integers, e.g:

0, 22, 730, 531

Now move the Terminal window to a different position on the screen and resize it.

Then in Terminal, execute the following command, while substituting the actual list returned from the get bounds command, e.g:

osascript -e 'tell application "Terminal" to set bounds of front window to {0, 22, 730, 531}'

You'll see that the window gets repositioned and resized to what it was when you ran the get bounds command.


How to prevent full-screen exit on second monitor, when I close macbook lid? I use second monitor on my macbook. When I open some app in fullscreen, and then close the lid, the OS X exit fullscreen mode on plugged monitor and move all windows to it. How to prevent this behavior?

Disable extended desktop

By default the system will attempt to use both the external monitor and internal display in a dual-display setup; however, you can force the system to only use one display with a custom boot argument PRAM setting . To do this, open the Terminal utility and run the following command:

sudo nvram boot-args="iog=0x0"

Following this command, restart the system and your system will now either use the internal display, or only use an attached external display. To revert this setting, you can either reset the PRAM or run the following command to clear this value from the boot arguments (reboot for the change to take effect):

sudo nvram boot-args=""

Source:


External Display is not behaving as expected When i plug my cable into my macbook pro it will show the default home screen on the tv but it doesn't show anything from my desktop.

I can swipe over and see one thing from my dashboard but nothing else. What do i need to do to get to work?

When you plug in an external monitor (or TV, etc) to your Mac, it merely extends the desktop area into it, so it can look blank except for your desktop background.  You can get it to mirror the display, so what you see on the external screen matches the Macbook itself, but that's not the default option.  There are various reasons for this, it nothing else the external screen is unlikely to have either the same display resolution or screen ratio, and so a mirrored display may well look odd as well as being a bit of a waste of the extra space.

So, you should be able to drag your apps and windows into it, although it's guesswork until you configure it whether it thinks that the display is left, right, above or below your existing screen.  Experiment by dragging a finder window across all edges, and note when it starts to appear on the TV.  The TV might be to the right of your macbook, but it may require pushing content off the left edge in order to use it...

In order to change this, and if you want it to become your main display so that the dock and menu bar and other desktop icons appear on it and don't want to just mirror the display (useful for example when connecting a Macbook at 1280x800 resolution up to a 1080p tv) then open up display preferences from system preferences, where you will be able to identify, position and configure both monitors, and drag the menu bar from one screen to another in order to make it the primary screen.

If you make the TV your primary screen, then unplug it, it will automatically revert.


Using two 30" LCD screens with a MacBook Pro How can I use two 30" LCD screens with my 2011 MacBook Pro?

The problem with the USB2VGA is that you won't be able to drive the full resolution of a 30 in, which is 2560x1600.

Technically, the 2011 MB Pro is capable to drive the 2 monitors, but since there is only one thunderbolt connector you can only connect one Mini Display Monitor. You can however connect two Apple Thunderbolt displays, since they connect to the MB Pro using Thunderbolt and not Display Port. Then you would have the use of the full resolution of both displays.

Sorry, but a 30 in monitor is the biggest one that can be connected to any computer, adding one is asking a lot from a connectors-limited portable...

Good luck!


Text replacement not working in Office? I am talking about the text replacement function under system prefs/keyboard/text.

I have added multiple replacements, but they don't work in MS Office (Word, Excel, etc). Anyone know how to fix this?

Word does not use apple's stuff for this, you set it up in word's own Tools > Autocorrect .


Can I import songs I downloaded into garageband on my iPad, with no laptop fileshare? Im a rapper, so all I want to do is import a beat onto garageband and record my vocals over that. Problem is I don't have a laptop, just the iPad. I have downloaded instrumetals on other apps. Is it possible to import these files into garageband just using the iPad(as this is all I have at my disposal)?

I created a:

Garageband Mac to iPad Oneshot Converter at the fixed1t blog.

http://fixed1t-music-software.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/mac-garageband-to-ipad-one-shot.html

it has links to free trial software, youtube video and an ebay purchase £5.


Is my MacBook Air's trackpad broken? I have a 6 month old MacBook air. I use it for my online business at least a few hours a day and don't have a wireless mouse so I click the trackpad a lot. Lately it isn't always working when I light tap with my finger. If I use the pad a lot does it break easy?

Is it possible something got stuck or is otherwise jamming the trackpad?  Best bet may be to have genius bar take a look.

On older macbooks there was an physical adjustment you could make on the trackpack (open the case, remove some stuff, adjust screw).  And we had a problem with the battery swelling which caused the trackpad to stop working (essentially prevented the "click" action, as it was pushing the trackpad up).


What is the best way to transfer a large number of files between an iMac and a Macbook Pro? I am currently using a desktop iMac, and I recently purchased the 15" Macbook Pro with retina display. What is the best way to transfer all my files to the new laptop?

I was going to use airdrop, but will that be efficient with so many files? Also, when using airdrop will a copy of the file being transferred remain on the first computer?

Aside of using the Target Disk mode, which is sort of rough way, you can use the build in Migration Assistant already located in your Utility folder.

It is designed to transfer information from- to but also to place it in the right position, unlike the Target disk mode.


How to restore the Terminal mail program to default settings So a number of months ago I was messing around in Terminal trying to get my Mac to send an email from the command line. Unfortunately, I don't remember everything I did but I know I was messing around with postfix and creating a sasl password file, etc. I never got it to work and gave up.

Now I want to try again but don't remember what I already did. Is there a way to restore postfix or the mail terminal programs to their default settings so I can get a fresh start?

There must be two files main.cf.default and master.cf.default which you can use to overwrite the messed up ones, thus resetting them to the distribution default values.

cp /etc/postfix/main.cf.default /etc/postfix/main.cf
cp /etc/postfix/master.cf.default /etc/postfix/master.cf

If you can't find the default ones, you may try to copy them from another computer.

Also, you may type postconf -d which will print main.cf default parameter settings instead of actual settings.  Specify -df to fold long lines for human readability (Postfix 2.9 and later). Read more here.


Purchased an entire season of a show, but newest episodes are requesting payment of $2.99 We purchased 'How I met your mother, Season 8' through iTunes.

and this worked well for Episodes 1-14, however episodes 15 and 16 are not viewable, and are requesting to be purchased for $2.99/ea.

What's the best way to proceed?  The situation is the same both through iTunes and our AppleTVs.

Submit a Help request thru the iTunes store.  This happened to me for Archer Season 4, Episode 4.  Took about 3-4 days, and then I finally got the email saying it was ready for me to download.  Didn't happen to any of the other shows I buy.

Not sure if the Help ticket helped, but it didn't hurt...


Unable to boot up my Mac. Getting a flashing folder with a question mark I currently own a 15 inch MacBook Pro with retina display model ( early 2013) . My Mac was working fine and all of a sudden my Mac won't boot up. I see a flashing folder with a question mark symbol on my screen.

I took my Mac to a technician who diagnosed the issue and said flash disk has to be replaced. He said  "Reseted SMC and PRAM. Still same issue. Tried to erase the SSD by booting with known good OS. still same issue. tried to erase the SSD using terminal mode same issue. tried to repair the SSD found not getting repaired. Reseated the SSD and tried to erase the SSD still not able to erase the SSD".

Is there any other way to fix this issue without replacing the SSD?

Or could you suggest any other SSD for this model of Mac?

Take a look at EveryMac's Retina MacBook Pro page here. There is valuable information regarding compatibility (or lack thereof) of SSDs between different models, options for 3rd-prty upgrade offerings and lots of stuff you generally need to know about SSDs for Retina models.

Dealing with your actual problem at hand, SSDs aren't difficult to test, and any decent technician should be able to diagnose the issue. If your technician says it's died then by all means get a second opinion but SSDs have the capacity to fail like any other electronic or mechanical component.

If you're an EU resident you may have a case for a free replacement from Apple as EU-wide consumer law forces companies to offer a 2-year minimum warranty period. Getting them to honour a warranty may not be easy but it's another option. You never know, you could get lucky and find someone sympathetic to your plight who's willing to swap out the defective SSD.


Kindle not connecting to iPhone Wifi hotspot Im trying to connect my Kindle HD to my personal hotspot on my iPhone.  I keep getting an authentication problem. How do I fix it?

The easiest thing to do is see if any other computer or device can work with the hot spot.

Once you're sure your iPhone hot spot works, then you can figure if whatever version of Kindle HD you have has issues or is somehow not working well with whatever version of iOS you run.


QuickTime can't play 4k video while VLC can I'm on mountain lion 10.8.5 and recently my friend gave me a 4K resolution video. When I used QuickTime player, the video is very sharp and some of the text in it can't be seen correctly. However when I used VLC to play it, it played without any errors and I can clearly see the text. I like the UI of QuickTime player, so is there any way to make it appear on QT?

Let's be honest : appart of the UI, Quicktime X a crapy software in term of compatibility. And it became crappier since the development of Perian has stopped. And on Mavericks it's even worse (Perian doesn't work anymore ...). The cause : QuickTime X is based on the AV Foundation Framework which is only powerful with H.264 stuff (yeah the file format sold on iTunes).

VLC is powered by a different video library than QuickTime and it's know to be one of the most compatible player yet.

TLDR: So no there is no there is no solution yet. Let's hope the situation will evolve.


AppleScript click on Safari  link Based on this HTML tag, how can I click on View from TrustedMachines?

I know how to do it from document.getElementById or name but not sure how to do it this cases

    View

More complete tag:

        Geo
        USA

        Download Queue
        0

        Wish List
        0

        Something else

            View

        Trusted Machines

            View

Here is my normal click for id:

tell application "Safari"
    do JavaScript "document.getElementById('ViewTrustedMachines').click();" in tab 1 of window 1
end tell

Don't use getElementById. Its a pain in the a** and almost never works for what you want.  Additionally none of your elements actually have id's so theres no point in use it. Instead use JavaScripts beautiful and helpful querySelector.  You can use CSS selectors to selector a single element and do what ever you want from there.

The element you are trying to select has a unique data attribute. The data attribute is data-auto-test-id= and the content of that attribute is ViewTrustedMachines so we can select it simply with document.querySelector('a[data-auto-test-id="ViewTrustedMachines"]'). Finally we just add the .click() to...well...click it.

tell application "Safari"
   do JavaScript "document.querySelector('a[data-auto-test-id=\"ViewTrustedMachines\"]').click();"
end tell

Also correct your HTML:

            Geo
            USA

            Download Queue
            0

            Wish List
            0

            Something else

                View

            Trusted Machines

                View

Finally, here's a fiddle to show it in action.


Is it possible to turn off Internet access when locking the iPhone? I'd like to automatically turn off all access to the Internet (through Wi-Fi & Mobile Data) on my iPhone when locking it. I don't really like to get notifications from different apps when the iPhone is locked.

However, I do want to get all these notifications when I'm around and playing with it—so, basically, when I unlock my iPhone, I want to turn access to the Internet back on again.

Can this be done?  If so, what's the easiest way to do it?

Unfortunately there's no such feature in the current version of iOS (9.3), but there are some tricks you can still do now to achieve almost what you're asking for.

On iOS 9
In this version of the Apple's OS you can keep open the settings app in the background, keeping it open in the Cellular Data section so you can easily open the app and turn Off or On your Cellular Data before you Lock or after you unlock your iPhone.

On iOS 10
Beta coming on July. Official release coming this Fall. You may also think about updating your iPhone to iOS 10 when it comes out this Fall (or even to the Beta which is coming this July, but may not be very stable), in fact on iOS 10, (if you have an iPhone 6s) you can use the 3D Touch on the Settings app to get straight to the Cellular Data's section.
If you have an iPhone 6 or previous and no iPhone 6s, some coders have found out in the iOS 10 code a 6th toggle at the Top of the Control Center, and it's green. This means either it's for Battery settings or for Cellular Data ones (as they're the only green toggles in Settings).
So we may have a Wi-Fi and a Cellular Data toggle at the Top of the Control Center in iOS 10, and this may help you solve your problem as the only thing you'd have to do is simply switching them Off or On via the Control Center without even opening the Settings app.

Even if you do update to iOS 10, or not, you can still solve your problem by keeping open the Cellular Data's section in the Settings App, as that won't cost you that much of battery life.

Other methods
In the end, as some have already pointed out, if you don't mind about Cellular Data turned on, but you care just about not receiving the 'vibration' when a notification appears, but still want to see notifications on your lock screen, this can be done on the Control Center pressing the moon button.
Doing so you just activated the Do not disturb mode. Although you won't receive upcoming calls this way, in Settings you can specify wether to allow calls from your favorites, everybody or nobody, or even if you want to get notified about repeated calls - as Apple specifies:

When enabled, a second call from the same person within three minutes
will not be silenced.

For further informations about this mode, and how you can customize (and even schedule!), you may want to check out Apple's dedicated Support Webpage for it.
Hope this helped you out.


GroupDAV client app for iPhone? I am considering setting up a Citadel groupware server. It natively supports syncing via the GroupDAV protocol.

Is there an app for the iPhone that lets it sync its calendars, contacts, and tasks with a GroupDAV server?

As far as I can tell, GroupDAV is a superset of, or at least closely related to, WebDAV/CalDAV, for which the iPhone has built in support.

You could try fiddling with your iPhone's calendar app. Adding a CalDAV account may work.


How do I convert .dmg to .img? How do I convert DMG files to IMG files?  I am trying to use 'Q emulator' to run XPpro and it requires an IMG file of the XP disc.(legal copy)  I'm using a late model G5 PPC with Leopard 10.5.8

According to a very old source [circa 2006]

  In Terminal,

  hdiutil convert disk.dmg -format RdWr -o disk.img

  where disk.dmg is the path to your image (input)
  and disk.img the output image


iOS kindle app - where is the anotations file? When using my kindle I can make all manner of annotations, which I can then view on the book I have anotated. This is also true of my kindle iOS app.

However, the kindle itself has a document on it called something like 'my annotations', which constains all the notes I've written on any book (this is handy when the note I've written on the book is something like 'buy milk'), but my iOS kindle app doesn't have this 'my annotations' document. Can someone tell me either how to get the same functionality out of the app, or why this is the case?

iDevices don't allow direct access to the data files like other tablets which is why you can't see the 'my annotations' file.

However, the iOS version of Kindle app has a nice feature to backup your highlights and annotations to your amazon.com account.  You can enable it by clicking on the Settings (Gear) icon in the lower right corner, select Other, and turn on "Annotations Backup".

Next go to http://kindle.amazon.com and log in with your Amazon account.  Click on the Your Highlights link at the top and you will be presented with a list of all your highlights/annotations for all your books.


iTunes music purchases after changing country Are iTunes music purchases still available once I change the store country, assuming that both stores offer the same content which is associated with my account?

I am just concerned about making a substantial investment in music purchases now and not having the ability to download the files after crossing borders.

Your account has an associated country based on your credit card address. As long as you keep your account you should have access to the content, but I think you'll need to make a new account once you get a credit card in the new country. I don't know if you can have 2 accounts active in iTunes at the same time but I'm pretty sure you can switch between accounts.


Global hotkey that send keystroke to another app I want to configure a global hotkey like F5, and when I press F5 it should send [Command]+[Option]+[Control]+[Up Arrow] to the Skype app.

Anyone knows an app that I can do this, or script.

BetterTouchTool can do this. So can Keyboard Maestro but that would really be overkill.


How to control volume of music based on "Now Playing"? I'd like the Mac to mute itself when there's an ad on Spotify. It comes in a pair, 30 seconds each. I now have to hit mute button, then guess if a minute is over yet and then unmute it. Solid distraction.

I think that this info: "Advertisement" in music title could be used. But I don't know if it is accessible by any means in AppleScript.

Some task/ process/ job which I turn on while opening Spotify, which would be monitoring the Song title and then trigger mute and unmute after 60 seconds would do.

Please get me started on this.

I figured a simple solution. Saved this script & put it in user scripts folder.

tell application "System Events"
    set volume 0
    delay 30
    set volume 2
end tell


Saving Calendar entries when deleting exchange account Recently left a job and am deleting the Exchange account from my MacBook Air associated with the company. I no longer have access to the account (password has been changed, naturally) but I would really like to keep my calendar entries, mainly because I wasn't religious about where I placed appointments and I'd like to be able to look back and see what I did when at some point.

So, is there a way to either delete the Exchange account without deleting existing entries in Calendar (un-sync it or something?) or quickly copy all entries from one account into another.

I am basing this on something I have done in earlier versions of Calendar, like when it was called "iCal" so YMMV.

You should be able to select the specific calendar in calendar.app and then export it to an .ical file. Then delete your exchange account (did it sync Address Books as well?) and then if it just deleted the calendar you can re-import it.


Packets dropping and massive ping spikes at regular second intervals Since two days ago I have started having severe issues with WiFi connections on my 2016 MacBook Pro.

At a perfectly regular interval of around 1 second, I have (sometimes) packet loss but (always) a large lag spike.

I have enabled WiFi logging and opened up the terminal to type:

ping 8.8.8.8 -i 0.1

To receive the following data:

64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=0 ttl=57 time=37.690 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=57 time=37.879 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=57 time=22.395 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=3 ttl=57 time=13.670 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=4 ttl=57 time=9.888 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=5 ttl=57 time=21.961 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=6 ttl=57 time=17.904 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=7 ttl=57 time=19.079 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=8 ttl=57 time=15.510 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=9 ttl=57 time=14.569 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 10
Request timeout for icmp_seq 11
Request timeout for icmp_seq 12
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=10 ttl=57 time=323.558 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=11 ttl=57 time=222.342 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=12 ttl=57 time=118.255 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=13 ttl=57 time=16.076 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=14 ttl=57 time=12.145 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=15 ttl=57 time=29.611 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=16 ttl=57 time=42.650 ms
...

As you can see, the ping is perfectly fine and then flies up to 300ms and sometimes times out.

I actually just reinstalled Catalina from scratch and this is the first thing I have done to ensure it isn't a virus or an open application. I currently have nothing installed!

Does anyone have any idea why this is happening on my networks? (It happens everywhere as far as I can tell, will be testing another network tomorrow)

In my experience regular-interval (not random) WiFi drop-outs have been caused by:

1) WiFi access point SSID conflicts between 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands. Modern WAPs (WiFi access points) often have 2 different radios and can be set to use either different SSIDs for each radio, or the same SSID for both bands. If your WAP is 2.4Ghz/5Ghz capable and uses the same SSID for both bands, be sure the authentication settings and keys (WPA2 Personal + wifi passwords) are exactly the same for both bands.

If they are not the same your Mac may connect to only one of them, but periodically try to "upgrade" to the other SSID in hopes of getting higher speed. (E.g. your mac may be joining the 2.4Ghz network and periodically attempting to move to the 5Ghz network, but failing to join the 5Ghz network because it has different security settings/password from the 2.4Ghz. The "attempted join" lasts a few seconds, but fails -- and during this time your ping stops responding.

2) DHCP-related conflicts between identical SSID 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz networks. See this post: WAN connectivity failure every 5 minutes on Technicolor router

3) Uncommon, but occasionally a buggy external USB device can cause Wifi network problems at the driver level. Some kind of strange incompatibility between the hub's particular implementation of USB & Mac OS X's USB stack. Be sure to disconnect all external USB peripherals when testing.

In your particular case it would be useful to know more about your network setup. What kind of WiFi access point is it? How long have you had it and has it been reliable up to this point?  How many other devices are connected to it? Do they experience any problems?  How close are you to sources of WiFi interference (mainly other Wifi networks, in urban areas these days it is common to see 30+ SSIDs pop up from neighbors access points. Even suburban areas sometimes. Also in apartment complexes.


Process running for several minutes in Sleep mode My Mac OS is OS X Yosemite (Version 10.10.2).

Normally I put the mac in Sleep mode before going to bed, and I realize very often that the machine starts to run in the night just for several minutes and then back to silence.

I guess there is some bad process/software in my Mac that wakes up the system from time to time.

I know that Activity Monitor could check processes, but I have no idea how to see what is wrong...

Could anyone help?

As of OS X Mountain Lion (10.8), there has been a feature called "Power Nap" that allows the Mac to periodically wake from sleep while connected to a power adapter to retrieve emails, calendar updates, iCloud syncing, or to back up to Time Machine. This would be my guess for the reason why your Mac is waking up and running during the night and not an indication of a bad process on your Mac.

If this is unwanted behavior, it's an easy setting to switch off in System Preferences > Energy Saver:

Note that another option here is "Wake for network access" - which would be along the lines of remote or local file/printer sharing while in sleep. I would doubt this is happening since you are asleep yourself while it's occurring :-)


Microsoft Office 2011 OS X and unicode I have problems with my Word files when I try to open them on Windows machines. So, I checked the file and got that Word file has Unicode symbols. How to fix it? Thank you.

If the problem is that some characters do not appear but small rectangles are shown instead, as I suspect, then it’s probably a font problem. Quite possibly the Windows machines lack fonts that contain the characters needed.

In that case, you could download and install some suitable free fonts on the Windows machines. To identify a character (possibly displayed as a small rectangle) in a Windows version of Word, click on the position right after the character and press Alt X. This turns the character to its Unicode number. For example, ∅ turns to 2300. The Unicode number can then be used at http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/search.htm where you can find information on font support to different characters, using e.g. character name or Unicode number as key.


Internal hard disk requirements will not allow me to update to Maverick I tried to update to Mavericks, downloaded the update through App Store but the installation stalled with an error message saying my internal hdd didn't meet requirements.   I'm using an iMac mid 2007 core 2 duo with the Western Digital 320Gb drive.

Confusion has arisen due to my prior installation/update of Mavericks over one of my backup clones connected via firewire 800 - which is a doggy old IDE drive in an ancient icecube enclosure, and it works really well!!

So thinking that I might just clone my working external Mavericks to my internal drive, kick it in the guts and see how things work out - and it didn't.  Sat on the initial grey startup screen for 15 minutes before I got bored with the spinner and rebooted back to my working system.   What is going on?  I haven't been able to find any reference to required hdd specifications in documentation.  If my only option is to upgrade my internal disk then I will do it.  I was just just struck by the oddness of the refusal to ran on a particular disk.

My question is: Can I do anything about this reluctance to upgrade on my WDC WD3200AAJS?

Usually when there's a problem with upgrading you have to "re-bless" the HDD. This often comes from a permissions problem with something on the HDD. You can open the Disk Utility and do a full permissions check to find any problems.

In my experience I've found the best way to accomplish this is to create a boot-able USB device using something like "Disk Maker X" and then boot from that. Once in the installer Open the Utilities and run Disk Utility from there. This will allow the permissions to be accessed from outside the disk, which helps since you won't have anything dependent on your log in. After the permissions are fully repaired try rebooting to the USB device and re-installing.