Unique volname for DMGs We have a build process that is now doing the common layout for distributed DMGs.  This is done in a way that I've seen in many places -- the DMG is attached, then Finder does its job via osascript.  However, the script must refer to the mounted image by its volume name, and AFAICT, these are not unique.  Since the machine that is doing this work is not dedicated for that, I worry that it might already have a mounted image by the same name (likely, since the person who works with this machine is a client of the generated DMGs too).

Is there some way to refer to a disk uniquely in the osascript if, for example, I know its device or its mount point?  Or maybe there's some other way to resolve this, like attaching an image with a different volname so I can pass some randomly generated name?

(I'm surprised that I didn't see any mention of this on the web, so maybe I'm missing something more obvious.)

After a lot of searching and much cursing, I think that this is really a problem that practically nobody is aware of or concerned about.  Still, I was able to find a solution, it's not great, but it should work.  The idea is to mount the DMG in a known directory with some random name -- this name (the last element in the -mountpoint path) will be the name property of the disk.  So using this I walk over all of the disks and look for ones with a matching name -- complain if I find none or more than one, otherwise, I have the needed object ready to work with.

mnt="some-random-name-$$"
hdiutil attach -readwrite -noverify -noautoopen \
               -mountpoint "/tmp/$mnt" "/tmp/out.dmg"
/usr/bin/osascript <<-EOF
      tell application "Finder"
        set myDisks to every disk of desktop
        set theDMGDisk to ""
        repeat with d in myDisks
          if name of d = "$mnt"
            if theDMGDisk = ""
              set theDMGDisk to d
            else
              error "Too many attached DMGs found!"
            end if
          end if
        end repeat
        if theDMGDisk = "" then error "Attached DMG not found!"
        -- found a single matching disk, continue
        tell theDMGDisk
... etc ...


Changing drive format for OneDrive? I need to use OneDrive on my systems, but ran into a snag on one in particular (I don't know how or why this one machine ended up different).  It's reporting that it can't be used as the file system is case sensitive...

Is there a procedure to change filesystems without data loss?
Which filesystem should I be using for best OneDrive compatibility?

This extract from the Office Support Page from Microsoft lays it all out:

...

• File systems: NTFS or HFS+ (case insensitive)

...

See this page from 2011 on StackExchange which recommends a paid app iPartition that will apparently change from case sensitive to case insensitive.

Disclaimer: I have no financial or other interest in Coriolis Systems Ltd., developers of iPartition 3.


iMac (27-inch, Late 2013) 3.5 GHz Intel Core i7 with fusion (SSD and HDD) I have replaced the internal SSD with a 2TB and also replaced my HDD (which had died).

I would like t:
run bootcamp on the SSD and then run the MACOS on the HDD as separate drives
 .. OR ..
use the internal SSD as a minimal MACOS with bootcamp and then just install a second MACOS on the HDD for my MAC apps.

Can I do other of these?

Thanks!
Charles

The easiest method to install Windows is to use the Boot Camp Assistant. However this method limits where Windows can be installed. This limitation can be overcome my avoiding the use of the Boot Camp Assistant, but is increases the complexity of the installation process.

The Windows installer GUI (Graphical User Interface) can also limit where Windows can be installed. Some of this limitation can be overcome by first running the diskpart command before using the Windows installer GUI or by avoiding the use of the Windows installer GUI altogether and installing Windows by using the CLI (Command Line Interface).

An EFI booting of Windows is easier to install than one that uses the legacy BIOS boot method. Your model Mac can use either method. However, the Windows Support Software drivers you download using the Boot Camp Assistant are designed for an EFI booting Windows 10.

Your comment indicates you are having problems with the Windows installer. Can I assume you were able to create the partitions on the SSD drive using the Boot Camp Assistant and now have booted the Windows installer from the flash drive only to discover the Windows installer will not let you select the SSD drive partition created by the Boot Camp Assistant? Or, other than perhaps using the Boot Camp Assistant to download the Windows Support Software, you are installing Windows without the use of the Boot Camp Assistant application? If the later is true, then could you outline the steps you have taken so far? For example: How did you get the Windows Support Software? If you used a flash drive, then how did you transfer the installation files to this flash drive? If you avoided the use of a flash drive, then where did you put the files the normally a put on the flash drive? Once you have answer these question, I would be better able to offer the steps needed to install Windows 10.


Copy the original when dragging a alias I have i.e. a folder full with alias from everywhere on my system. Now I want to give exactly this files as the originals to an extern hard drive or what else.

Is there a way to simply take these alias and copy their originals into a second folder?

I’ve put together a little AppleScript for you. If you use the Script Editor to save it as an applet you can drag & drop folders on it. The script will first ask for the destination folder and then scan the dropped folders for any aliases contained. If it finds any it will copy the original items to the destination folder specified.

Here’s the code:

on open droppedItems
    try
        set destinationFolder to choose folder with prompt "Select destination folder:"
    on error
        return
    end try

    repeat with itemCount from 1 to length of droppedItems
        set theFolder to item itemCount of droppedItems

        tell application "Finder"
            if folder (theFolder as string) exists then
                set folderItems to list folder theFolder without invisibles

                repeat with folderItemCount from 1 to length of folderItems
                    set filename to (item folderItemCount of folderItems)
                    set theAlias to ((theFolder as text) & filename) as alias
                    try
                        set originalFile to original item of theAlias -- is Finder alias?
                        duplicate originalFile to destinationFolder
                    on error
                        display dialog (theAlias as string) & " doesn't seem to be an alias. Skipping."
                    end try
                end repeat
            else
                display dialog (theFolder as string) & "is not a folder. Skipping."
            end if
        end tell
    end repeat
end open

It is neither pretty nor feature complete but rather meant to show you a possible way to go. I. e. it doesn’t traverse any subfolders. Also, there’s no checking of file existence before copying. Anyway, it might still be what you need. Have fun!


How create a crontab on mac? I'm trying to create a crontab on mac.
I've tried crontab -e which takes me to what appears to be an empty file opened with vim. I make no changes and simply press esc, :, w, then q to save and exit.
But when I try crontab -l I see:
crontab -l
crontab: no crontab for st

I tried exactly the same thing as root but I get the same outcome
MacBook-Pro:~ root# crontab -u st -e
crontab: no crontab for st - using an empty one
-- I save an exit vim as above --

crontab: no changes made to crontab
MacBook-Pro:~ root# crontab -u st -l
crontab: no crontab for st

I'm struggling to figure out why this isn't working as expected

This will indeed open a new crontab in vim (presuming you don't already have one)
crontab -e

If it creates a new crontab for you, it will start empty, hit the space bar to add something to the crontab before saving and exiting
So TL;DR

crontab -e creates a new crontab if you don't already have one
If it's a new (empty) crontab, press i to 'insert' using vim, then press spacebar a few times so it's not empty
Save and exit vim by pressing these keys (in order): esc, :, w, then q


Linked MBP to my account even after erase I have to send my MacBook Pro M1 back to Apple as a replacement. I tried to format it but it didn't work (I think)(I used disk utility and erased Macintosh HD) as it still shows the activation screen and my email address linked to it. How do I unlink it from my account?
I tried using iCloud but I see the following screen which is my old email address and it won't let me type in my new email address.

First things first, the reason your MacBook Pro is still linked to your Apple ID is because you need to sign out of iCloud on that device. Reformatting the hard drive is not enough.
The What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac page on Apple's website provides a good summary of what users should do.
As for the screen in your screenshot, it's not letting you change the "email address" because it's actually prompting you to enter the password for the Apple ID (in this case, the Apple ID being the same as your old email address). The fact that it's an old email address is irrelevant, as it's still an Apple ID attached to you.
All you need to do is enter the password for that Apple ID to access iCloud etc.
If the Apple ID you used with that MacBook Pro was in fact another Apple ID, then you'll need to log into that iCloud account instead.
NOTE: Assuming your MacBook Pro has a fresh installation of macOS, you could just go into System Preferences to log out of iCloud etc. and that should disassociate that Mac from your Apple ID.


How to shorten month name in High Sierra menu bar I've updated to High Sierra and one thing that I immediately noticed as an OCD-guy was the full name of the month in menu bar:

I like keeping things as short as possible and I want to revert it back to the format "Thu 28 Sep 11:08" as in Sierra and below, instead of "28 September Thu 11:08".

I've fiddled with date formats in the system preferences but it doesn't seem to change anything.

How do I get the shorter date back?

Using High Sierra:

Here's what I see:

And here are my settings:

Advanced settings:

More settings:

Desktop date menu:


Will I be able to revert to El Capitain if I install Sierra on my 2015 Macbook Pro? I have a 2015 (purchased in late 2016) Macbook Pro with the following specs :

2.5Ghz Core i5
8GB of RAM
Running OSX El Capitain 10.11.6

It downloaded Sierra and is asking me to upgrade to the new version.

I want to do it, but I'm worried that the new Operating System will be too demanding for my laptop or that there are some things that I won't like, and I might want to revert in the future.

If I install Sierra, will I still be able to restore my Macbook to factory settings (including El Capitain) by doing a factory restore (where you hold CMD+R while it's booting, and format the drive to reinstall the OS) or will it always default to Sierra instead?

Yes, after completely formatting your hard drive and booting in recovery mode from the internet you will be able to install OS version it was shipping with. Also, you can always download and install previous macOS versions from your App Store purchases.


Is data in an APFS container erased after main partition is reformatted? I am trying to create a data partition for my user account so as if I need to re-install my computer, I do not lose any data that is on the other partition.

If I had the following layout on my 512GB SSD:

macOS partition formatted as APFS + APFS container named MacData - 100GB
Shared Data partition formatted as ExFAT - 362GB
Bootcamp partition formatted as NTFS - 50GB

If I were to format and reinstall the OS on the partition called macOS, would I lose data on my MacData volume? This is if I erased the macOS container rather than the partition it self?

When Mojave is installed, you need to choose a APFS volume. However, the operating system is not just installed to this volume. Additionally, three other hidden APFS volumes (Preboot, Recovery and VM) are created, if they do not already exist. The preboot files are placed in a folder in the Preboot APFS volume and the recovery files are place in a folder in the Recovery APFS volume. In both cases, the name of the folder is the same as the UUID assigned to the APFS volume you chose when installing Mojave. The VM volume is used to store the sleep image and the swap file.

If you create a new APFS volume and install Mojave to this volume, then the three hidden volumes are reused. Again the preboot and recovery files are placed in a folders with a name the same as the UUID of the new APFS volume.

If you delete a APFS volume that was chosen for a Mojave installation, only this volume is removed. The three hidden volumes remain and still contain and the same files. To remove the folders containing the preboot and recovery files, you have to manually mount the volumes and remove the folders. (For example, use the diskutil mount command to manually mount each volume.) Since the space taken up by these folders and their contents is fairly small, most users will probably elect to just leave the folders intact on these hidden volumes.

  This is a long way of saying: The removal of Mojave by deleting a APFS volume does not alter any other APFS volumes.

What I wrote above also applies to High Sierra when installing to a APFS volume.


No iMessage since 8.4 update I downloaded iOS 8.4 on my iPad and now I can't open Message nor can i open them in the setting menu. In addition, I can't scroll through the settings menu once it's opened. I have rebooted and reset network settings. Any suggestions?

The settings menu issue happens to my iPad when it is critically short on disk space. In those cases, I have to delete something (an app, or a video) and reboot the iPad to get it to work.


Why is Chrome on MacOS inconsistently not recognizing 3 finger swipes? I have used three finger forward/back swipe on MacOS for almost a decade in Chrome for forward/backwards on pages. This has consistently worked well and been flawless.
Within the past month or so, this has inconsistently been not working. I know the trackpad is working because my debugging has been:

Try to 3-finger forward/backwards in Chrome, it fails
Go to other app, use 3-finger forward/back, see it works (100% of time)
Go back to Chrome, it still fails

The part I am really confused by is that it sometimes works in Chrome still.
I can also consistently quit/restart Chrome to "reenable" this when it stops working.
Are there troubleshooting techniques to understand what might have changed to cause this? Or an obvious solution to fix this?
OS: 11.2.3 (20D91)
Chrome: latest version(s)

i believe its something to do with the ublock origin extension. try turning the extension on and off and the function should work again. same issue was happening to me and unfortunately need to do this manually as a work around until they fix it. :(


Incoming connection on UDP port 137 (NBNS) from an internal IP address? I have a Little Snitch (a third-party firewall application) on my Macbook running OS 10.11.1.

I noticed that because of my settings to deny most incoming connections from the LAN, the launchd process automatically denied an attempted incoming connection from an internal IP address (192.168.0.2) on UDP port 137 (NBNS).

I'm aware that NBNS is related to NetBIOS but I'm still not too sure of what it actually does. Was a machine on my LAN attempting to connect to mine in order to find out what the basics of my machine (like model or make or something)? I've never noticed a connection like this before so I'm curious if I should be worried.

.

In the screenshot: despite the arrow next to the IP address going rightwards, there's a symbol next to the log that indicates it was incoming.

The NetBIOS name service is somewhat similar to Apple's mDNS, but it is the older technology. Within a Windows network, it distributes the types of services your machine is offering by shouting out in the network what is has.

A citation from wikipedia:

"[…] In order to start sessions or distribute datagrams, an application must register its NetBIOS name using the name service. NetBIOS names are 16 octets in length and vary based on the particular implementation. Frequently, the 16th octet, called the NetBIOS Suffix, designates the type of resource, and can be used to tell other applications what type of services the system offers. In NBT, the name service operates on UDP port 137 (TCP port 137 can also be used, but rarely is).

The name service primitives offered by NetBIOS are:

Add name – registers a NetBIOS name.
Add group name – registers a NetBIOS "group" name.
Delete name – un-registers a NetBIOS name or group name.
Find name – looks up a NetBIOS name on the network.
[…]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetBIOS#Name_service


How to get location of a pdf file opened in preview I have opened a pdf file in preview, without knowing where this file is located. How can I find out?

Simply ⌘+Click on it's name in the title bar or secondary click (right click) on it .

(I have a polish OS X on the screenshot)


find -printf work around I'm trying to use a script to call compare file size. Unfortunately the version of find on my mac does not support the -printf switch. Any suggestions?

You should consider install GNU find using homebrew.

To install homebrew you just need to type the following in your terminal:

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Then install findutils by typing:

brew install findutils

Then your find version will support the -printf and should be the latest:

$ find --version
find (GNU findutils) 4.4.2
, nc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
, o the extent permitted by law.

, nd Kevin Dalley.
Built using GNU gnulib version e5573b1bad88bfabcda181b9e0125fb0c52b7d3b
Features enabled: D_TYPE O_NOFOLLOW(enabled) LEAF_OPTIMISATION FTS() CBO(level=0)


Inaccessible voice memo This 3-hour long voice memo that I recorded yesterday comes up when I search my phone but doesn’t show up in voice memos. I initially thought my phone is taking time to process this and it would show up later, but it hasn’t. Can I access this in any way?

The paid app iExplorer can show Voice Memos in a Finder-like interface. iExplorer has a free trial which will allow you to verify if the Voice Memo exists as a file on your iPhone. You will need to purchase the app to download the memo file.

Disclaimer: I'm a highly satisfied user of iExplorer and I'm not connected with Macroplant LLC financially or otherwise.


Why can't I see the three dots when someone with a iPhone is texting me back? Everyone with an iPhone tells me they can see when I'm texting back because of the three dots. My question is: why can't I see the three dots when someone is texting me? I have an iPhone SE.

The 3 dots only show when someone is using iMessage. If someone is texting you via SMS you won't see the typing awareness indicator.


Applescript code to simulate Command and Shift keys I am handicapped and use Dragon Dictate 3. I need to take control of my Mac with Dragon, because I am not be able to use the keyboard. I need to know some Applescript code to do that.

How could I simulate the pressing of the Command key and the Shift key to select multiple items in Finder?

First of all, Thanks to adayzdone for his solution.

I tested these with some success. So let me give it to you for helping other user which are experiencing problems.

1) locking Command key on Dragon dictate 3 procedure.

Name of the command (in french) : " Vérrouillage Touche Commande ". Method : Applescript Context : Finder

set _dictateApp to (name of current application)
    tell application "System Events"
        tell process "Finder"
            command key down
        end tell
    end tell

2) unlocking Command key on Dragon dictate 3 procedure.
Name of the command (in french) : " Dévérrouillage Touche Commande ". Method : Applescript Context : Finder

set _dictateApp to (name of current application)
    tell application "System Events"
        tell process "Finder"
            command key up
        end tell
    end tell

3) multiples selections of items in Finder on Dragon dictate 3 procedure.
Method : Applescript Context : Finder

set _dictateApp to (name of current application)
tell application _dictateApp
  set bundleID to («property BnID» of «property cCtX»)
end tell
set _currentAppName to short name of (info for (path to application id bundleID as alias))
try
  tell application "System Events"
    tell process _currentAppName
      key code 125 using {shift down}
    end tell
  end tell
end try

AND/OR in another command

set _dictateApp to (name of current application)
tell application _dictateApp
  set bundleID to («property BnID» of «property cCtX»)
end tell
set _currentAppName to short name of (info for (path to application id bundleID as alias))
try
  tell application "System Events"
    tell process _currentAppName
      key code 126 using {shift down}
    end tell
  end tell
end try

Hope it will help.
Thanks to all
Claude

Briefly looking at the Dragon Dictate manual:

A script like this will let you select the next item of a Finder window:

--key code 126 -- up arrow Key
--key code 125 -- down arrow Key

activate application "Finder"
tell application "System Events"
    key code 125 using shift down
end tell


Is there a way to filter Activity Monitor by unresponsive applications? It can sometimes be a slight nuisance to scroll through the whole list in Activity Monitor to find unresponsive applications – especially when this happens often and there's a lot of processes going on.

Searching for "red text" as a visual cue is what I usually do. But is there some neat way to filter, or sort, the list to easily find unresponsive applications?

Or, is there some other utility or method, outside of Activity Monitor?

When three or more apps are not responsive, it's almost always a symptom of a failure elsewhere. I would select one app and run system diagnostics on it. That gets a full picture of what is wrong and then you can log out and make a list of all the unresponsive apps - they will be the only ones remaining.

When you log in again, start the one app that was hung. You'll quickly know if it has issues or was just waiting for some other resource. In time you can narrow down which apps are "collateral damage" and which are primary failures.


Music player for iTunes library I have a music collection composed of music from my CD's and iTunes purchased music. This collection is stored in iTunes. Is there a 3rd party music player that will play this collection? If so, how does one import the iTunes music into the 3rd party player.

most music players, you have to go into the settings and there should be a setting where you point the app to the folder where your music is stored. the same as you do in itunes settings in the advanced tab. look for that. its got to be in the settings somewhere. you could also just try to open the music app, and drag the music folder into the player screen. also the same as itunes.


Why is Cron not running the enable wifi command? I'm trying to use crontab to schedule the 'enable wifi' command: networksetup -setairportpower en0 on.
I've been entering this command in the required format in the cron file, eg.:
05 15 * * * networksetup -setairportpower en0 on
However, it isn't working. This command works when I use it normally, and I've used crontab to successfully run other commands. Why is the command not running as intended, and what should I do to fix it?

I'm trying to get something similar to work too (using the -setairportnetwork option)
My WiFi access point is misbehaving, and sometimes restarts. When it does that, many of my MacOS systems do not automatically reconnect, and this is very inconvenient for my Mac mini that does not have a keyboard, mouse, or ethernet attached.
From the networksetup "man" page (man networksetup)

The networksetup command requires at least
admin privileges to change network settings. If the "Require an administrator password to access system-wide preferences" option is selected in System Preferences >
Security & Privacy, then root privileges are required to change network settings.

But I expect there's something different about the context in which cron runs a user's job than when it runs whilst logged into the desktop.
In my case, when it fails it outputs the following:
Error: -3930  The operation couldn’t be completed. (com.apple.wifi.apple80211API.error error -3930.)

and the only place I can find error "3930" documented is in Jonathan Levin's "new OS X Book" notes, unfortunately "Operation not permitted" isn't much to go on.
Perhaps Marc is indeed thinking in the right direction, at least that if not running interactively as a "Desktop" user then it needs to run as root. Going to try that, next, and report back...
TBC.


Formatting hard drive I scavenged a hard drive for my currently lifeless 2009 Macbook Pro 13. The scavenged drive (from a 2010 white Macbook) had been working because it was taken to an electronics store to have its data transferred to a new computer.

I installed the drive, turned on the machine and got the question folder. Maybe they just stripped the drive of all of its data or perhaps the drive has failed. Is there a way for me to find out without spending too much money?

The MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009) originally shipped with a Mac OS X 10.5.7 DVD and if you have the Mac OS X DVD that came with your system, or one that's compatible with your system, you can boot it from the Mac OS X DVD and see and test using Disk Utility and Terminal.


Can the keys on the MacBook Pro be removed for cleaning? The MacBook Pro does a really good job keeping dirt and stuff from getting under the keys, but none-the-less there is some dirt under a few keys.  Can I pop these keys off and then easily replace them?

In the past when I've done this, the key never really went back on correctly.

This is the newer Unibody MBP with the black backlite chiclet keys.

If they keys are square without beveled edges then no. Removing it would require major surgery to remove.

I recommend a can of air duster, some q-tips, and alcohol to clean the keyboard.


How can I make a .command file that I can share without giving permissions on each computer? I have a terminal command that I would like to run.

    telnet 169.254.216.127 54326

Ideally I would like to convert this into a .command file and be able to share it with many other mac users without them having to give permissions using sudo...

Is this possible? Can I create an extremely simple app that keeps the terminal window open after it has run?

Any help would be much appreciated.

The execute permission does also transfer to other computers. If the permissions of the file are lost when you transfer the file, you might create a zip or tar archive for the .command file:

$ echo telnet 169.254.216.127 54326 > test.command
$ chmod +x test.command
$ tar -cf test.tar test.command
$

You might also save a script like this as an application in AppleScript Editor:

tell application "Terminal"
    do script "telnet 169.254.216.127 54326"
    activate
end tell


How do I make function keys work for an external keyboard on MBP with Touch Bar I'm completely flustered by not being able to use the single key shortcuts in Chrome's debugger

F8 = play
F10 = step
etc.

I have to reach over to the laptop and press and hold the Fn key and then, with my other hand, I can use the F keys on my standard keyboard.

I tried changing the keyboard settings to force the Touch Bar to display function keys for Chrome.app but this did not solve the problem as it only solved it for the built-in keyboard, not my external keyboard.

I have  Karabiner but it's limited in my version (10.12.x Sierra). I also can't do a macro of one key to multiple.

Is there any way for me to achieve this?

You can check the following checkbox via System Preferences > Keyboard (default tab):


Can I use an iPhone 4 on Straight Talk? I have an iPhone 4 that's currently on AT&T. My 2-year contract will be fulfilled in January, and at that point (if possible) I'd like to switch my service to Straight Talk or some other less expensive alternative, since I hardly use up my data/voice/text allotments on AT&T.

A few questions:

First, I assume my phone needs to be unlocked. Can I simply request that AT&T unlock it once my contract is up? How does that work?
Since I already have the phone, can I buy just a SIM from Straight Talk (or whoever)?
Does any of this require that the phone be jailbroken? I do not want to jailbreak

Unlocking appears to be a pretty easy process. Just call them up or go online. Here's another article from Apple about it.

After the phone is unlocked, you should be home free to swap SIM cards with no jailbreaking required at all. I've had multiple unlocked smartphones (Blackberrys which previously had data contracts) in the past, which come down to just pulling the SIM, and moving it to a new device. Apple started with just AT&T, and at that point made it difficult to change carriers, but things have changed, and particularly the iPhones 4/4S do quite well at switching networks. The two year data contract can also be confusing, because this is required if the phone is to be purchased at a lower price. After that, there is no ties, to speak of with the carrier that originally sold you the phone.

After the contract ends (and in this case, it is unlocked), you can use the device as a iPod Touch (wifi) + phone. You could even get a prepaid SIM card (from AT&T) and use it without unlocking it.

*Apparently (thanks to @jsd), you don't even need to unlock your phone. Switching to ST should be pretty easy for you.


External monitor viewport appear shrunk in native resolution on MBP I am using Mountain Lion on my MBP, my external TFT monitor used to work great at its native resolution (1920x1080) when connected to the MBP.

However today after shutting it down and powering it up the resolution on the external monitor was on 800x600. In system preferences the 'Best for Display' resolution output was selected (wasn't that supposed to be 1920x1080?) when I clicked 'Scaled' and chose 1920x1080 the resolution indeed changed, however it is not taking up the whole screen. There are 1 inches to the left and right of the monitor that are not being used. Its as if the viewport is "shrinked".

I tried downloading SwitchResX but it did not help, when choosing 1920x1080 again the viewport is missing about an inch to the left and right.

Any thoughts?

I had precisely the same issue, and so did this poster:
External monitor randomly lowers resolution adds black borders

the answer in both cases was to switch out the VGA cable.


Duet Display install caused reboot to hang on High Sierra I tried to install the app 'Duet Display' today. It was always troublesome on my Windows PC, so I was disappointed to see it wasn't working very well on my new MBP 2017 13" w/ TB as well. The installer ran fine, but upon reboot the progress bar seemed to hang. I never reached the login prompt. A macOS update was pending and was waiting for a reboot, my iPad was plugged in and the MBP was on charge.

Anyway, I proceeded to contact Duet's support email, with them telling me to boot into Safe Mode (so I can delete the file duetdisplay.kext from /Library/Extensions), but my Mac won't even boot to Safe Mode; it seems to hang again. I never reached the login prompt, again. I'm thinking that reinstalling might be my only option, or removing the file manually via the Terminal in Recovery.

What are my options?

I've just encountered the same problem on my 15" 2016 MacBook Pro  running macOS 10.14.2 Mojave. While I expected it to take some time starting up it never came back to the login screen and here's how I solved the problem:

Reboot into single user mode by pressing the cmd + s keys on
startup. Note this not safe mode, it's single user mode.
Once in single user mode type mount -uw / so that you get write access to the drive.
Navigate to the kexts directory with cd /Library/Extentions.
Now delete the Duet Display kexts with sudo rm -Rf DuetDisplay.kext, it's a directory thus the -Rf.
Next clear caches with sudo rm -Rf /System/Library/Caches/*.
Finally restart with shutdown -r now.

Hopefully that helps anyone else with this issue. I'm so disappointed in Duet Display and asking for my money back. It's cost me more in loss of productivity fixing this mess than I hoped to gain using their App.


MacBook Wifi dies, computer needs to be restarted I've been having a problem where my wifi dies frequently, and won't turn on again until the computer is restarted.  By "dies" I mean no wifi networks are visible - when you click the WIFI icon, it asks if you want to "Turn on Wifi" even though you never turned it off.  If you click "turn on wifi" nothing happens.  So I've been restarting the computer a lot. It's a 2013 Macbook Pro running OSX Yosemite, but the wifi problem existed before upgrading to Yosemite. I believe it's a hardware problem.

Has anyone else had this issue, and if so, how did you resolve it?

Solution that avoids having to restart the computer:

Go to terminal and type

sudo ifconfig en0 down

And enter your password. This will cause the WIFI card to restart and (for me) the connection to be restored.


MacBook Pro Touch ID On my Mac-book pro 2019, Touch ID does not hard shut down MacBook Pro.
I have tried multiple options for resetting smc but they don't seem to work.

Have you tried:
Shut down your Mac.
Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds, then release the button.
Wait a few seconds, then press the power button to turn on your Mac.

This method and another one is given here.


In iOS 6, how can I convince Siri that New York City is not in Texas? This is NOT a rant about maps or its data.

I live in New York City, and when I ask Siri for the weather, the results seemed a bit... optimistic.  I think it unlikely, for example, that it will be 84 degrees here in NYC on this brisk October afternoon.

After getting the same (much too warm) results when asking for the generic "weather here" as well as "the weather in New York City, New York," I clicked through the Yahoo button to their webapp, which confirmed that while Siri "knows" I'm physically in New York City, NY, that somehow results in a query to yahoo for New York, TX.

If I go straight to the Apple Weather app, it works fine:  both the current location and a directly-typed entry for New York, NY report the correct high of 57 degrees.

So the problem appears to be somewhere between Siri's text parsing (which is working) and Yahoo.

I've tried this on two friends' devices with the same results.

Has anyone found a fix?

This is a legitimate bug with Siri: http://www.macrumors.com/2012/09/24/siri-delivering-wrong-weather-forecasts-for-common-city-names/

The bug has to be fixed on Apple's end (or Yahoo's, or wherever exactly the problem is occurring).

But you can work around it temporarily by asking for the weather in "Zip Code 10028" (or whatever).  Note that you seem to have to say "Zip Code" - just using the number doesn't seem to work.

That's a bit surprising that you're seeing it now since it first popped up almost three weeks ago – you'd think they would have fixed it by now. I guess all you can do is wait and it'll resolve itself at some point.


Trying to install fonts to Font Book (Mac) using the Terminal I've been trying to add "official company Fonts" to my DeployStudio workflow imaging new Macs. I'm testing it a terminal and in the DeployStudio Runtime environment (like WinPE for PC).

Here’s the actual command:

find /Common/Fonts/ -type f -exec cp {} /System/Library/Fonts \;

The many fonts are in a folder structure that has many levels, hence the find command…

Each time I get a permission error using local admin or root user.

What am I missing? It's right in my face right?

/System/Library/Fonts is restricted with System Integrity Protection, since this folder is intended purely for macOS built-in first-party fonts.

Instead, choose one of the following locations depending on your intentions:

/Library/Fonts to apply to every user, existing and newly created.
~/Library/Fonts to apply to the current user.
/Library/User Template/Non_localized/Library/Fonts to apply to new users.


iPad's Apple ID did not reflect the change I made on and now I can't turn off Find my iPad So this is quite a headache already. I'll lay out what I've done chronologically:

Not knowing that the Apple ID is still in use on a device (iPad), I've changed the associated email address on the Apple ID website.
The Apple ID is now associated with the new email address
I completely forgot this ever took place.
The boss approaches me, asks for the password of the Apple ID.
I forgot the password, so I reset.
No email came through
Checking Safari for saved password, found it.
Did not work
Found a similar password associated with a different email address
Suddenly remembered the change of ID

Now, for the questions:

Why didn't the iPad reflected the change I made regarding the email? This could've solved my problem, but it became stuck with basically a non-existent Apple ID.
Why can't I add the old email address as an alternative, or re-associate it with the Apple ID?
What do I do next? The iPad is associated with a non-existent Apple ID, and I can't turn off the Find my iPhone.

I hold you can help me with this issues.

I just went through this mess, almost the exact same steps (minus the boss asking). In my case I had forgotten about the iPad being logged in to the same account and did not turn off findMyiPhone on it before changing the appleId.

What worked for me finally, I found here apple's KB.

Log out of iMessage on the iPad, and the log back into iMessage making sure to use the NEW appleId email address.  Next go to settings and turn off FindMyiPhone, you will be prompted for a password and the old appleid will still be displayed in the request, use the password for new appleid that you just used to log in iMessage, and it will turn off find my iphone.

Once find my iPhone is off, you can log out the account completely, and update the email address.


Copy and paste stops working For several months now i've had an issue where after using my laptop for a couple of weeks without restarting, i'll slowly lose my ability to copy and paste. First it's only between different apps such as Terminal and Sublime Text, but eventually it's system wide and stops working everywhere.

As I type this, nothing seems to be copying to clipboard. Not in textedit, chrome, safari, terminal or otherwise.

Going in to Finder > Clipboard shows only one small piece of text which is the last thing I successfully copied before it completely stopped working.

Should I dump a process list here to show what i've got running or is there a common issue that could be the cause?

I'm on a 13" retina macbook pro running 10.9.

Thanks

Edit 1: It's drag and drop too.

Edit 2: After trying a million fixes found on the internet (changing file permissions, /private/var fixes, disabling hidden files from showing etc, killing third-party processes one by one), none of it worked. I did find however that killing the WindowServer process, which esentially closes all windows and resets the GUI, does provide a bandaid "fix" to the problem and bring copy&paste/drag&drop back. However, this is not particularly surprising. It's almost as inconvenient as simply restarting, which was my old fix. Still would like to figure out the underlying cause. My main suspect is the Windows apps I run via Crossover are messing with something in the system, even after killing Crossover and their processors.

Edit 22/6: I will post a process list and result from kextstat | grep -v com.apple once the issue arrises again.

Whenever I have this problem it's because I've accidentally turned mouse keys on. (Option + 5) This is only the case if you have a keyboard without a numpad though.


How can you print an email in gmail app on iPad How can you print an email using gmail app on iPad

It appears that you can't print from the app on iOS.

  Unfortunately, you can no longer print using the Google Cloud Print.

You would have to go to the site and print it from there.


How to be sure my Mac is fully disconnected? On many occasion thinking that my Mac was disconnected from any form of network (with or without wire), I discovered that in fact it was
confortably chating at full speed with the rest of the world through
a forgotten connection. Typically:

tcpdump -i en1

displayed a high speed movie about domain, bootpc, http, netbios, https, 5223 (unassigned)… trafics.

For the wireless side, there is a nice function to be aware that a Mac
is connected or not: the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar.

But for infrared, Bluetooth, Ethernet, MacOS X seems to miss the same usefull and simple function.

Is there a trustable software or method to be sure that a Mac if fully disconnected from any form of network?

I would be mostly interested by something as small and as visual as the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar.

This software should accomplish what you're looking for: "Ethernet Status"
There might be free alternatives, this is the first one I came across.


How to disable smart quotes [OS X 10.9.3 (Mavericks)] I've disabled smart quotes in the keyboard settings, but whenever I type ' or " in Messages (old name: iChat), they get converted to ‘ and “. How do I disable this default conversion?

In addition to System Preferences, this feature can be turned on and off in each app via Edit > Substitutions.  Make sure you check that setting as well.


How to trim many files using adobe photoshop I have 300 png files. I want to trim each of them. But for this I need open each file and make changes (even if I make script for trimming and save it will be long to open each file and do trimming). Is there already made solution or some advice how to do it better and quickly.

Thanks in advance.

Another option using ImageMagick:

mogrify -trim *.png

You can install it with brew install imagemagick after installing Homebrew.


Content not refreshing in iOS apps Everytime I open an iOS, app instead of refreshing to the homepage and showing me new content the app opens to where I was last time I used it. For example, when I open a third party news app, instead of opening to the homepage with new and updated articles, it opens to the article that I was reading when I closed the app. I am experiencing this problem with all my apps and was wondering if it could be related to background app refresh setting which I currently have turned off.

You are confusing between two different features available in iOS.

What you are observing is the iOS default behaviour and is called state restoration. As long as an iOS device has available memory (main memory or RAM), it preserves the running state of most recently used app(s). The assumption is that the user is likely to re-open the recently used app.

Background app refresh setting is relevant for apps that need to communicate with remote sever over the Internet to fetch data (typical example of such apps is social networking, email client apps etc.). Enabling background app refresh for an app (if enabled), will let iOS fetch data for such app at opportunate moments (such as when iOS device data connection is activated). This enables the apps to instantly present up-to-date data to users when launched, thereby providing a good user experience.

Since invoking device radio costs a relatively higher battery usage penalty, enabling this setting ensures best user experience while optimising resource usage.


Macbook Pro 15 inch 2019: will charging from LG 38WK95C-W via USB-C damage/fry the macbook's battery? I just received a new 15 inch macbook pro (2019). I connected it to my external monitor LG 38WK95C-W via the monitor's provided USB-C cable.

It does video/data transfer however since it is a usb-c cable it is also charging my MacBook. I did some research and these are the specs for both my LG monitor and my MacBook:

MacBook (15 inch): Battery and Power = 87W USB-C Power Adapter
LG Monitor: POWER: Output 60W >> throughout its USB-C output.

There is no feature to disable power via USB-C cable, under the circumstances will my LG monitor damage MacBook's battery since it provides less Watts (60 W) than MacBook's charger (87 W)?

Also any tips / workarounds to have the USB-C connection only transfer video without providing power?

Thank you for any assistance.

I'm assuming the main concern you have is that charging from the LG 38WK95C-W display is going to damage your MacBook Pro in some way.

This is not something you need to worry about. Having a charging source that provides 60W is really akin to using one of the chargers that ship with the 13" versions of the MacBook Pro on a 15" MacBook Pro. The net result is that your MBP will charge slower than it would with the higher watt charger, but this will not cause any damage to the MacBook Pro.

If you're concerned about this (and you really shouldn't be) you can change the cabling you're using to connect to the display so that you're using one of the display's other ports (e.g. it has HDMI) and totally bypass the USB-C port so that power pass-through doesn't occur. Of course, to do this you'll need a USB-C > HDMI adapter.


Emails in Microsoft Exchange account not following rules in iPhone I have a work email that is on a Microsoft Exchange account, and I have certain rules of where emails go and what they do based on who is sending them.  I have rules that send emails to certain folders, and they work just fine both on the MS Outlook side and on the iPhone (Mail) side.

I have one rule for a particular sender that both sends that email to a folder (on the server, not locally) and marks it as read.  This rule works perfectly fine on the MS Outlook side, but on the iPhone - it not only does NOT mark the email as read, it also takes a step backwards and leaves it in the inbox.

The next time I go to MS Outlook, all the emails are right where they are supposed to be (in the other folder and marked as read), and after a minute or two it reflects the same status on the iPhone.

How can I get this rule to work properly on the iPhone without having to open up MS Outlook every time?

Marking a message as read is claimed to be a client action but Exchange is able to perform it. The clients are not able to set up the rule.

You can use Exchange's web interface (Outlook Web Access) to create a server-side rule to mark messages as read.

An example with Exchange 2010:


Safari won't play Amazon Prime Video on my iMac? If I try to play videos on my iMac using Safari it won't play, but it plays fine using Chrome. I'm using macOS High Sierra and I'm running Safari version 12.1.

When I try using Safari I get a black screen with a message as shown below.

Can anyone tell me what I need to do to get Safari to play videos?

I don't think I had Silverlight installed but I don't know how to tell. I went ahead and installed version 5.1 of Silverlight but again I can't tell if its installed. When I go to Safari preferences and click on security I get the pane shown below.

You might want to check your Silverlight plugin and confirm that it's installed and working properly. According to their website titled: Prime Video System Requirements for Computers, these are the versions supported:

Mac OS 10.7 or newer
Safari (version 10 or newer on Mac OS 10.12.1 or newer)
The minimum supported version of Silverlight is 5.1

If you have the correct versions then make sure that the Silverlight plugin is enabled and configured properly in Safari, as shown below.

NOTE: You can navigate to HDD → Library → Internet Plug-ins to verify that Silverlight is installed.

Safari 12 and Amazon Prime

Curiously if I merely navigate to Prime Videos I'm able to play videos without any additional plugins using their built-in HTML5 player.

Additional research turned up this other AD Q&A titled: Silverlight Plug-In in Safari 12 which indicated that Silverlight was no longer supported in Safari 12.

References

Amazon Prime Video & Safari: Let's Call a Truce


How to access Windows share from an iPad? I didn't find any iPad app that's supporting samba.

What is the best way to access Windows shares from an iPad?

Because there is no normally-accessible local filesystem on an iOS device, an app that "supports SMB" doesn't tell us enough. Because you can't simply copy files from a SMB share onto the iOS device.

There are plenty of apps that support SMB shares, three I can think of off the top of my head (at least as far as I recall) are: Goodreader, OPlayer, and Air Sharing.

Air Sharing is probably the most compatible for whatever you want to do, as it opens almost anything. Goodreader is primarily a document reader (txt, pdf, etc.), and OPlayer is a multi-format video player. It plays almost anything, MPEGs, AVIs, MKVs, etc.

What you want to accomplish beyond merely 'connecting to a SMB Share' will dictate the app you'll be able to use.


Time machine is NOT excluding downloads I have OSx Catalina. I have several folders and disks excluded from TimeMachine.
TEST:

I use Terminal to navigate to Downloads folder.
I touch junk.txt
I Enter Time Machine and navigate to Downloads.
From there the Now frame shows junk.txt.
If I go back in time, junk.txt disappears, yet all the other files still show.
I expect that going back in time from Now frame, all files would disappear in all but Now frame.

Is this a known issue?
I understand may be a "System Folder" but I could not find any documentation that states that this folder can not be excluded as well as it shows up in list of exclusions.
However, as comment below, if I peruse through Volume using Finder, I do not see Downloads folder at all.
Odd behavior. Partition is encrypted. Even without decrypting partition, e.g. Disk utiltiy lists partition as Not mounted, I am able to open Time Machine and go back in time as well as restore a file from Downloads. How's that!

Great details - since you are in the command line already we should be able to get some very critical details sorted and help you understand how the system works, validate it’s configured and perhaps let you solve this.
The three big commands are tmutil isexcluded and tmutil startbackup --block and tmutil compare
You should be able to check at any time if the file you have is excluded - so start with that and make sure you are agreeing with whether it’s included and excluded as you move it from folder to folder - from ones that are and are not excluded.
Then once you see it included, run the compare against the last backup - see that it’s flagged as different, then force a backup and re-check the compare.

Once you’re sure the backups are happening in the command line (or not) then we can look if you need to diagnose Time Machine itself or if the GUI may be lagging or broken or it’s just a misconfiguration  that can be sorted.


Apple Macbook Pro Late 2011 freezing screen on startup It's been a couple of days since my Macbook Pro (Late 2011) started to freeze its screen on startup.

The first time it happened I was just using my Mac for some Matlab simulations (which I do really often) while listening to music on Spotify. The screen froze, the mouse cursor disappeared, no commands seem to get any answer, but the song kept playing (even advancing to the next one as soon as they finish). I decided to shutdown the Mac by pressing and holding the power button. After that, I tried to turn it on again, but I got the following screen:

(For those who cannot notice any difference between this and the "regular" screen, this one has some dashes and dots, and the loading bar started to get "thinner").

and as soon as the Apple Logo disappear, nothing happens: the Mac get stuck on a gray screen. I waited for hours to see if something happens but nothing changed.

After a couple of hours, I tried to turn it on again, and it worked just fine: I've done everything I usually do, which includes all the activity I was doing before the Mac had the problem for the first time (mainly Matlab simulations, spotify, programming, etc), and turn it off like I usually do.

After some days, I've got the same problem again - this time on startup, and as soon as I managed to turn the Mac on again I decided to reinstall everything, thinking it could be an OS problem. I didn't change the OS version (still on El Captain), just made a clean install.

The Mac was working just fine for the past few days, but today it started all over again, and right now I can't even turn it on.

What I've done so far:
- I changed my SSD (a 240gb Kingston SSD) with a spare Hard Disk that I have: nothing changed.
- Like I said, I've reinstalled the OS, and the only applications I've installed so far are: Spotify, Matlab, Google Chrome, and MacTeX. I've been using all of these applications for a long time, and I never had any kind of problem.
- I ran all disk utility tools before and after reinstalling the OS

My Mac:
MacBook Pro Late 2011 (15-inch). I changed the original HDD for a SSD, and changed the optical drive for the HDD. I use this setup since January 2015. I have 16gb of Ram.

Do you notice any colorful graphics glitches? The startup screen would be filled with dots. The Late 2011 MacBook Pros are known for defective AMD GPU. The symptoms point to GPU issue. Apple has a free logicboard replace program. The program is available till Dec 31, 2016. Better you visit your nearest Apple Store or Authorized Apple Service Center for diagnostic. for more info about the replacement program, visit the link below.

Apple MacBook Pro Video Issues (Apple Support)


What is the difference between Trailer and Movie when creating a new one in iMovie? The problem is as it is on the image below?

The Trailers methodology was designed for brief (~1 minute) movies, and it provides lots of pre-designed visual and audio templates (background music, essentially) to help make the process simpler.

These links may help: How to create iMovie 10 trailers, Apple's convert trailers to movies, and How to Create a Movie Trailer in iMovie.


MacBook not starting / booting after change done in user permissions with sudo I'm having the problem explained in this post: mac won't start after "sudo chown -R $(whoami) $(brew --prefix)/*" command.
The solution proposed is to reinstall the macOS, which I have done, but unfortunately, the Apple logo black screen is coming and nothing is happening post it.
When I try to erase the disk as explained here: https://support.apple.com/HT208496, Disk Utility displays this error:

My macOS version is Catalina.

Problem: Unable to reboot the Mac due to issue listed above.
Solution: Backup and Reinstall MacOS
Problem: Unable to solve the problem because reinstalling MacOS doesn't happen correctly and completely
Solution: Erase your disk (Ensure backup before you erase the disk)
Problem: Need to Backup Data before erasing disk
Solution: https://tanishqdhangar.medium.com/reinstalling-macos-but-need-to-backup-to-google-drive-before-clearing-your-disk-824530101203
Problem: Unable to erase disk; Couldn't unmount disk
Solution: Create a new partition (not volume) and reinstall MacOS on the newly created partition. (Please do not do it if you are not sure what you are doing!!)
Disclaimer: Author does not claim the method and is not responsible for any ill happenings. Do it at your own risk. ;)


Obtain FileVault 2 recovery key with administrator account I enabled full disk encryption on my new MacBook Pro.  (I am new to the Mac world but an accomplished Linux/UNIX and Windows type)

However, I made a mistake and skipped the step of taking note of the recovery key.

Is is possible to get the recovery key at this point?

It seems strange OS X didn't present you the recovery key. Try:

sudo fdesetup changerecovery -personal

This awesome blog has probably all the info you desire. Look for the section "Managing individual and institutional recovery keys". You can use your Filevault2 password to change the recovery key. And you will have to use an Administrator account.


Migrating to new iMac, what does Migration Assistant actually migrate? I've got a new iMac (Santa must have thought I was a good boy this year) and I want to move data from my 3 year old MacBook (Intel, running Snow Leopard). I realise I have a few options for this, but migration assistant is currently looking better than either starting from fresh or Carbon Copy Cloner etc.

What I would like to know is if migration assistant will bring across everything from a 3 year old system, including all the remnants of applications I have installed and deleted etc. If it does has anyone got any hints to stop it doing this?

I've migrated between many macs over the years, and I've always found that the best way to do it, is manually. Normally I use a firewire cable (but you can also use WiFi, USB, external hard drive, dvd/cd, etc) to hook up the two computers, then just drag over files from one computer to the other.

Mostly everything the average user has on their mac will be found in their user folder (home folder). You can just drag/copy this entire folder over, or you can be more selective about which folders in your home folder you move (for instance, you may not want the Library folder). Then, anything outside of your home folder (Applications, for one) you can drag/copy over if you want.


How important is it to support older versions of iOS? Not sure if this is better suited for here or for Stack Overflow - a commenter on a post dealing with similar (though not identical) topic on SO suggested that it would have been better to post it here.  If this is wrong then I apologize.

I hope you will excuse this somewhat of a philosophical question.  I'm an independent/individual iOS developer.  Recently, the one device I keep around for iOS 4.x compatibility testing (an iPod touch) gave up the ghost -- and I am having a devil of a time trying to replace it.  Of course new devices all have iOS 5 on them.  So one would think to hit up the used market.  But alas this is proving fruitless.  Even the used market is proving little help, as most sellers think it helpful to upgrade to the latest and greatest before putting them up for sale.  And after yet another day spent fruitlessly plowing through eBay search results, I finally had to sit back and think to myself:

How important is it to continue to support iOS 4.x?

It seems (at least if these blog posts are to be believed) that pretty much everybody is on iOS 5 these days, since it is still supported on even fairly old hardware; and that supporting older iOS versions will run you up against the law of diminishing returns, as supporting iOS 4 is both costly and largely unnecessary.  At the same time, I look at the new stuff we got to play with in iOS 5 (and soon we'll have even more toys in iOS 6) and I can't help but drool.  ARC alone looks like it will save me quite a bit of headache.  (Hey there retain/release, don't let the door hit you on the rear on your way out)

So I guess what I'm asking you is, as a user, how important is iOS 4 compatibility?  Did you upgrade to iOS 5, or are you still running iOS 4.x on any of your devices?  And/or do you know anyone still running iOS 4.x?  (The stereotypical tech-unsavvy parent comes to mind)  Any and all comments/advice/practical real-world experiences/etc. you can provide is greatly appreciated.

It is indeed more of an opinion question, but here's my 2¢ anyways. I've heard a lot of talk about it, and it's an important question. Before I continue, let me note, that I think after iOS 5, people will be even more likely to upgrade quickly because of OTA updates, and my guess is the absorption rate of iOS 6, for example, will be far greater then previous major releases. This said, chances are, by the time you release your app and iOS 6 comes out, iOS 5 will likely quickly take the back seat, possibly making iOS 4 even less popular (except for older devices).

One key area is the client base that you intend to go for. If, for example, you are building an app that would most appeal to kids in school, or other people that have a higher possibility of being given devices, it would be important to build for iOS 4. This is because my understanding is that many schools are picking up 1st gen iPad, and older iPod Touches, as well as older iPhones. These obviously will only run on iOS 4. I think that is the main thing that will keep iOS 4 on the pie chart - older models.

If you are building a game or something that may appeal more to people that are more technically savvy, it would probably be a much better choice to go with iOS 5. As for other "normal" apps for the general user, valuable resources such as ARC likely will make iOS 5 the better option. I haven't written an app (yet, hopefully), but from what I hear, ARC is hard to pass up, not to mention all the other APIs that you get.

Having talked to developers that still work with iOS 3 and 4, I hear that it is a royal pain, and you will have to expect to spend more time (and consequently money) in the developing stages of the app.

Personally, if I was to program an app, I'm confident I would do iOS 5. From what I hear, iOS 4 is left to people building apps for schools, for example, as well as apps that larger companies that have more cash to work with put out as they obviously want everyone to be able to use their app.

Here is another interesting thought while on those lines - instead of build for iOS 4, why not localize your application, and make it available in some other countries? This would be a way to reach a significant greater number of users.

Again, just my thoughts, but hopefully somewhat helpful.


I have lost magic mouse2 & keyboard Thanks as above I think I have to uninstall and re-install both but theyare undiscoverable as well. . Am I on right track? I'm nogeek also could not find library anywhere. Appreciate help have been at this for hours. Thanks am writing with apple onscreen keyboard and USB mouse.

once the mouse and keyboard are close to your computer and turned on, go to the System Preferences and click on either the mouse or keyboard options. Both of these panels have a buttom in bottom right which says Setup Bluetooth Mouse or Keyboard. The panes are shown below.

And for the keyboard.

Use these to setup your bluetooth devices.


App won't delete. I don't know what they are I have these three apps that won't delete. They come up as random number and won't go away. I tried rebooting my phone and checking in settings. Even in App Store.

These are apps that may have failed when downloading or didn't remove completely. I've seen it happen from time to time and it is odd that you have three of them. That said the best way to rid yourself of these things is to back up your phone to iTunes (password protect your backup so the backup saves your passwords stored on the phone). Then go into Settings -> General -> reset -> Erase all Contents and Settings.

The phone will do its thing and once it has come back up, plug it back into the computer and restore the phone from the backup you just made.

It's an annoying process to have to go through, but so far have found no other way to do it.


How to automatically back up and archive my photo library? I have a Macbook Air. I love it, but the hard drive is too small to fit my entire photo library. At this point the hard-drive is full and I need to find a way to move the files to a back-up location. I know I could just buy an external hard drive and move the files manually, but I would rather find a way where I could automate the process of backing up and moving older photos (or better yet, photos not recently viewed) to an external hard-drive and a remote backup location. I know of a few services that will automatically back up the photos (if I remember to leave the app running) but they don't remove the files, and I have no way of knowing which files have successfully been backed up and/or could be restored if I wanted to. So I don't feel like I have enough confidence in my backups to feel like I can delete the files to clear up space.

So I'm wondering if you know of a way to automate this process.

iCloud Photo Library would achieve a very similar end result.

In Photos, click Photos > Preferences, choose the iCloud tab and enable iCloud Photo Library.

If you turn on Optimise Storage, iCloud Photo Library will automatically manage the size of your library on your Mac. All of your original photos and videos are stored in iCloud while thumbnails are kept on your Mac. You can download the original photos and videos when you need them.

Note that your photos would no longer be stored in any backup you make, but iCloud Photo Library does keep deleted photos and videos for about a month.


Corsair Memory Question for a MacBook Pro (Early 2011) I have a MacBook Pro Early 2011 (Model A1278) and would like to know if Corsair CMSO8GX3M1C1600C11 memory will work on it. Before making the investment in memories, can someone help me?

The memory you specified, will not work.  It is PC3-12800 while the memory you need is PC3-10600.

According to Everymac.com, your particular model can support up to 16GB of memory.

  Apple officially supports a maximum of 8GB of RAM, but as first confirmed by site sponsor OWC, this model actually is capable of using up to 16 GB of RAM with two 8 GB memory modules.

Personally, I always recommend upgrading to the maximum amount of memory that you can get (I believe in the mantra it's better to have and not need, than need and not have).  The memory that you need for your particular MBP is the Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2)  2CT2K8G3S1339M


How can I use Siri to send a pre-made SMS? So I recently discovered that most bus stops have a code.  If you text that code to a specific phone number, you'll get a response telling you the ETA of the next bus to that stop.  I saved the phone number in a contact card and I saved all my frequent bus stop codes stored as a note in that card.

It's a little cumbersome to go into the card, copy the code, open a new text, paste the code, and hit send.  If I remember the code, I can just use Siri and say something like "Tell the bus company 123456".  It's a lot easier to just remember the cross-street names.

Is there a way to either have Siri make a substitution, say for example "Grant Street" with "123456", or else is there a way I could have a canned text all ready to go?  One thought I had would be to create a home screen icon called "Grant Street" that when launched, sends "123456" to the bus company's phone number.  Then I could just say "Launch Grant Street" or something and I'd get back the text saying when the next bus is.

Any ideas?

There are apps that do this, see Canned.

Really what you need (and I use) is a transit app of some kind. I like Transit.

I can't think of a way to get Siri to do this. One workaround is to make keyboard shortcuts so that you type "LGS" and iOS will autocorrect it to "123456".


Change terminal command prompt for root user in Sierra I can change the bash command prompt for the Terminal for an ordinary user without issue. (In my case, I modified the $PS1 variable in /etc/bashrc.) However, that change does not modify the command prompt when one elevates privileges to root using sudo -s.

Does anyone know where the command prompt preference is stored on a macOS Sierra (10.12.5) machine for an admin user who has elevated his privileges to root using sudo -s?

I have tried modifying the following files...

/var/root/.bash_profile
/var/root/.bash_rc
/var/root/bash_rc
/var/root/.profile
~/.profile

I have also tried using the command export PS1="Some prompt here# ", which changes the root prompt temporarily, but it does not stick when the session is ended and a new one is started.

Add the SUDO_PS1 environment variable to your ~/.bash_profile and then export the variable, such as:

export SUDO_PS1="\[\h:\w\] \u\\$ "

Note however this will only change the root prompt as it appears after you have elevated your rights via sudo.

A good list of prompt variables can be found here.


Shortcut key to open/apply profile in Terminal When in Terminal, I use Cmd-, to open the settings. I can then press up and down to scroll through profiles. But then pressing enter doesn't open a new window with that profile but instead edits the profile name.

This is driving me nuts. Is there a keyboard command to just open the profile so that I don't have to keep going to the mouse?

To Create a new Window or Tab with a Specific Profile
You can assign keyboard shortcuts to the items in the Shell > New Window and New Tab submenus using System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts to add shortcuts to Terminal.
For example, if you add

Homebrew ⌥⌘9

to the preferences, typing ⌥-⌘-9 will open a new terminal window with the Homebrew profile.
If you want to assign keys for creating tabs, you'll need to explicitly refer to the New Tab submenu using “->”. For example, I have this in my preferences:

Shell->New Tab->Homebrew ⌥⇧⌘9

Typing ⌥-⇧-⌘-9 will open a new tab with the Homebrew profile.
To Apply a Profile to the Current Terminal
You can change the profile of the current terminal using the Inspector window. You can use Shell > Show/Hide Inspector ⌘I to show or hide the Inspector. In the Inspector’s Settings tab you can use the keyboard to select a new profile—you can use the up/down arrow keys or type the name of a profile.


Is my iPhone 4 touchscreen malfunctioning? My iPhone4 is weird. The bottom touchscreen can be slid (to unlock) but it's really hard to tap the app in the bottom area. It seem the bottom screen is not sensitive but I can slide to unlock. What's wrong with my iPhone?

There are a handful of utilities that you can use to test responsiveness of your iPhone.

Try using a webapp called Sparky in order to test and see if there are in fact dead spots, alignment issues, or any other problem with your iPhone's touch screen.


What does an Apple "battery service" involve? I've got a mid-2012 13 inch MacBook Air that I've owned since new. Quite soon after I bought it, the drop-down menu that appears when I click the battery icon in the menu bar included the item "Service Battery". I never did anything about this, as although the battery seemed to drain more quickly than I would like, I'm usually close to a power outlet and use my MacBook while it's plugged in.

However, I thought I'd try to fix the "Service Battery" indication and see if I could get the battery running for longer. I reset the SMC, and when I rebooted the battery icon had a cross through it. I've seen this before on my MacBook, so I tried my luck and unplugged it. The screen went black, but when I plugged the MacBook back in it took me back to where I was, and the cross had disappeared from the battery icon. When I clicked on the icon, "Service Battery" had come back.

Do I really need to take my MacBook into Apple to get them to service the battery? Or is there anything I can do myself? I've attached a listing of all the data relating to the battery. Does anything look wrong?

That battery, while not old from age, has seen some, and then some more.

The charge count shows it as half life, but the charge it can hold shows it as 1/3 of life left.

The Service Battery is only a suggestion so do not wary about that one. The Replace battery is the next you get, and then the Replace Now is the final stage.

Considering the Charge it can hold iI would suggest you replace it. But yu can try the SMC reset to see if that fixes it. One full discharge (let the computer run till it shuts down due to empty battery) could also help in calibrating the numbers it reports.

For comparison here is my MacBook Air 2012.

Charge Information:

Charge Remaining (mAh):   3967

Fully Charged:    No

Charging: No

Full Charge Capacity (mAh):   4801

Health Information:

Cycle Count:  619

Condition:    Service Battery

Battery Installed:    Yes

Amperage (mA):    -1132

Voltage (mV): 7933


What is the radio frequency of Airdrop transmission? I know the Airdrop uses WiFi direct to send the packet, but what is the radio frequency of it so I can capture the traffic.

Is the WiFi 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz or both?

The protocol is called AWDL, trying googling that.  Here's a starter

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19587701/what-is-awdl-apple-wireless-direct-link-and-how-does-it-work


Very Slow Download Speeds from Apple Applications (Safari and Mac App Store) After I restored my computer to a clean reinstall of El Capitan, I have experienced incredibly slow download speeds in Apple applications only (Safari and the App Store). I tested downloading a file in safari, and I got around 256 kilobytes per second, but when downloading the exact same file with the exact same internet connection, I got much greater download speeds of around 5 to 6 megabytes per second. The same thing is happening in the App Store, with download speeds averaging around 256 kilobytes per second.

I have tried changing the DNS to both Open DNS and Google Public DNS, and none of them seem to fix the problem.

Again, I am having extremely slow download speeds only in Apple applications. (Strangely enough, browsing speeds are still very fast. Only download speeds are slow.) This is a very strange problem and I have no idea what is causing them.

Please let me know how to fix this.

Seeing as others are mentioning this issue might be related to a specific ISP, try enabling a VPN and re-running the download.

This mightn't be a long-term solution, but it should help you identify if the issue is the ISP performing traffic shaping App Store packets.


OS X: Route audio output to audio input I'm watching a video file, and I'd like to record small snippets of audio from the video file.

Previously I have played the audio on my MacBook speakers and used the built-in microphone to record the sound.

Is there a way to route the Mac's audio output to the audio input (microphone) digitally, so I don't have to actually record the audio from the speakers, with the loss of quality this incurs?

Is there also a way to listen to the audio at the same time it's "recording"?

Ideally, the solution would be easy and light-weight and not involve heavy use of audio software, because I want to be able to do it "on the fly" as much as possible.

Update 2017-03-31:
Rogue Amoeba, the previous maintainers of the open source Soundflower project, has a new (paid) application called Loopback which seems to be easier and more dependable to work with than Soundflower. It solves some issues with Soundflower, like reenabling volume up/down via the Mac media keys. Again, it is a paid product with a trial mode. https://rogueamoeba.com/loopback/
Soundflower can still be found here: https://github.com/mattingalls/Soundflower

Soundflower is a virtual audio device for OS X that can pass audio from applications to other applications. It does this by routing your audio output as an audio input to the system.
Step 1
After installation, a new device will be available in System Preferences > Sound. Go to the Input tab and select Soundflower (2ch) as the input device.

Step 2
If you want to route the audio and hear it yourself at the same time, skip to Step 3.
If you're okay with not having to hear the output yourself, you can now go to the Output tab and select Soundflower (2ch). You are now routing your Output to Input, and will be able to record the audio playing to an application like QuickTime, Evernote or Just Play Record.

Step 3
If you want to hear the audio while it's playing on your normal Output device (e.g. your Built-in speakers or attached headphones), you need to open the native OS X application Audio Midi Setup. It's located in your Applications folder under /Applications/Utilities.
Press the + button in the bottom left corner, and press Create Multi-Output Device. Mark to use both your Built-in Output and Soundflower (2ch). Now you can hear audio as usual while routing the Output into your Input via Soundflower.

Now that you have created a Multi-Output Device, go back to System Preferences > Sound and select it on the Output tab as in Step 2.
Tip: You can also change the Input/Output settings by holding ⌥ (alt/opt) and left-clicking the Volume icon in the OS X menu bar.

Troubleshooting
HOWEVER, while the above will work at times, I have noticed that the behaviour of Soundflower can be erratic from time to time. When originally composing this answer, I couldn't get it to work even though I hadn't modified the setup that was working the day before.
It has stopped working a few times before, and while I haven't exactly identified how to mitigate the issue, I have noticed that something of the following may have helped to get it working again:

Check if the volume has been reset for the Multi-Output Device or any of it's sub-devices in Audio Midi Setup. Be sure to check all tabs (Input/Output) on both the aggregated Output device and and its aggregated sub-devices. There's quite a few tabs here, and the volume sliders on one of them may have been reset to zero. This has happened to me a few times.

Volume resetting to zero wouldn't have to be a big problem, if the normal volume controls (media keys and menu bar volume icon) worked as usual. But sometimes, the volume icon in the menu bar is grayed out and the volume can only be manipulated in Audio Midi Setup. I don't know why this sometimes happens, because when I use some other Multi-Output Devices I have created that also includes my other computer connected via Thunderbolt in Target Display Mode, I can magically use the volume media keys as normal. More experimentation is needed here.


"Force Sticky Console": Safari devtools shifts away from Console to DOM inspector on reload When I'm working with the DevTools open, if I refresh the page, DevTools automatically switches to the DOM Inspector tab instead of staying on the console. Here's an animated GIF image to demonstrate the behaviour: http://gfycat.com/InsignificantSpiritedGrackle

How do I make sure DevTools always stays on the Console even after refresh?

There was an answer proposed here: https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/218126/43068 but it's not a 100% solution (as commented by the author on that answer).

This is currently not possible, if you keep the developer tools docked in the window. If you undock the developer tools, the tools respect that they have been opened using Show Error Console.

You can provide feedback to Apple here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/safari.html


Can you still track an iPhone after it has been logged out of iCloud? If my iPod touch 5 gets stolen and logged out of the iCloud account, can I still track it without having Find My iPhone? If they restore it which would log me out I can still track it by Wi-Fi right?

No, once Find My iPhone has been removed, the device cannot be tracked.

However, I believe you are underestimating how difficult it is to remove Find My iPhone from a device. To log out an iCloud account with an active Find My iPhone service, you need to enter the iCloud password, which would require them to have this information.

Furthermore, restoring the device requires disabling Find My iPhone as mentioned above, or entering DFU mode which activates Activation Lock requiring your Apple ID to unlock the device. All the while, your device can still be tracked using Find My iPhone.


Adding Apps to "Security & Privacy" Settings (Automatically) I am looking for a way to automatically add applications to the "Location Services" and "Accessibility" (Mavericks only) lists in the "Security & Privacy" settings pane.

Optimally I could just change some file (eg plist) to add applications to these lists. If that's not possible, there's maybe some terminal and/or AppleScript way to achieve that?

Just found it. The settings are in one of these two files:

System-wide settings: /Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC/TCC.db
Per user settings: ~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC/TCC.db

They are SQLite databases of the following form:

sqlite> .schema access
CREATE TABLE access (service TEXT NOT NULL, client TEXT NOT NULL, client_type INTEGER NOT NULL, allowed INTEGER NOT NULL, prompt_count INTEGER NOT NULL, CONSTRAINT key PRIMARY KEY (service, client, client_type));

Example (MS Office and Address Book setting):

sqlite> select * from access;
kTCCServiceAddressBook|com.microsoft.Word|0|1|0
kTCCServiceAddressBook|com.microsoft.Excel|0|1|0
kTCCServiceAddressBook|com.microsoft.Powerpoint|0|1|0

For other services, just pick the correct service name (such as kTCCServiceAccessibility) and the application bundle ID and add it to the appropriate database.


Does wifi need to be on for AirDrop, even if using ethernet connection? My iMac is connected to my network with an ethernet cable - as such I have turned wifi off, to ensure that I am using the wired network, rather than the much slower wifi network.

AirDrop never seems to work on that iMac, whereas I can AirDrop easily between my iOS devices and MacBook (which is on wifi).

I have only just clicked that these two points may be related. For AirDrop to work do I need:

All devices to be connected to the same wifi network?
Wifi to be switched on, but not connected, on the iMac?
Something else?

If I need wifi to be enabled on the iMac, can I "forget" my home wireless network without iCloud forgetting it on my other devices?

Please turn on wifi on the iMac, but no need to connect to any network. Since you are connected via Ethernet your syncing iMac with iCloud will happen without any interruption. Now you will be able to use Airdrop and iCloud syncing simultaneously. Hopes this will help.


How to copy line without trailing whitespaces in terminal? In OS X 10.11.6, I want to use a line of file paths output from terminal as input to another command. Right now, when I triple click on a line, the line gets selected, but with trailing whitespaces including a new line - this makes it hard to use that path in a command. Here is an example session that illustrates the problem:

~/testdir : ls -1 # there is a single file called "foo bar"
foo bar
# I selected the above output line with a triple click.
# This selected the line including newline at the end.
# I copy this to clipboard (Cmd-c).
# I then call wc below, with an open quote.
# I paste the output(Cmd-v)
# I close the quote in the next line.
# This gives an error as shown below
~/testdir : wc "foo bar
> "
wc: foo bar
: open: No such file or directory
# Now I use up arrow to recall last line, and delete the whitespace before closing quote
# This works fine
~/testdir : wc "foo bar"
       1       2      12 foo bar

How do I avoid this duplicate effort each time - i.e, how do I select the line without whitespaces, so only foo bar gets selected?

When a line in Terminal contains whitespace there is no method, that I know of, which involves just clicking to highlight the line sans the newline character.

You can single-click at the start of the line (or any inception point) you want to copy then press and hold the shift key and single-click the last word, or character, of the line you want copied. This will then not include the newline character when you press commandC to copy it to the Clipboard.
You can also double-click the first word, which highlights it, and then press and hold the shift key and single-click the last word, or character, of the line you want copied. This will then not include the newline character when you press commandC to copy it to the Clipboard.
Or you can single-click and hold at the start of the line (or any inception point) you want to copy while dragging the cursor to the last character in the line you want to copy. This will then not include the newline character when you press commandC to copy it to the Clipboard. Obviously this last one is probably not exactly what you're looking for but was included for completeness.


Why do 1080p displays look pixelated unless the monitor is 4k when retina is 1080p? I had a 1080p monitor and it looked slightly pixelated. I bought the LG Ultrafine 4k display and it looks great. I asked my work to buy me a monitor for the office and they offered a 1080p monitor. I am a web and graphic designer so it looking good is important to me. I also noticed that the native display is 2560 x 1600 which isn't 4k. Am I going to have to convince them to get a cheaper 4k monitor? I have a 2017 Macbook Pro Touchbar.

Yes. You will have to convince them that you need the proper tool for your assigned task, one that offers 3840 x 2160 or 4096 x 2160 pixels.

You also need your display to be flexible enough to emulate the different resolutions your end-user may have.


Can someone explain how to find and use kext files? The post I found on this forum: "Apple Cinema Display Brightness no longer works in Mavericks or Yosemite" explains how to fix it using kext files but I can't figure out how to get the kext file to use with the KextBeast program. I bought a used Apple LED Cinema Display and need to be able to adjust brightness to calibrate it.

I found out that by also plugging in the usb cord from my monitor to the computer, the brightness controls on my keyboard now work! No need for kext files after all.


Testing EFI integrity under Linux The utility in this article:  High Sierra automatically checks EFI firmware each week looks like it will improve security on a Mac running macOS, but is it available for Linux too?

is it available for Linux too?

It's highly unlikely to be available in Linux.

This is a macOS utility to improve the security of Apple Mac products.  Apple typically doesn't make available (aka open source) the tools they develop as they are proprietary to Apple.  There's no incentive for them to port this (or any other utility) to Linux since it's Apple's objective for you to run macOS on Apple hardware.


Mid 2010 MacBook Pro and Thunderbolt display Is there a way to use Thunderbolt display with mid 2010 MacBook Pro that only has a Mini DisplayPort (i.e. no Thunderbolt)? I understand that Thunderbolt displays are officially supposed to work only with post 2010 Macs, however I only care about the display functionality, i.e. I want my Mac to simply see it as a monitor.

Try a thunderbolt to mini display port adapter. Should be sold at the apple store or for cheaper on Amazon.


How to get Messages to connect to Facebook chat? I have the very same configuration for messages on two different Macs (home and work). At home I have no problem in connecting to the Facebook chat via the jabber protocol, while at work it simply doesn't connect and rises an error saying that it cannot connect to the host chat.facebook.com

I have no proxy problems here: I can chat from the website and even using my iPhone connection via Hotspot it doesn't solve the problem.

I'm sure the settings are ok because they are the same I use on the working computer.

Any help?

Your work machine likely blocks port TCP 5222. Or both work network and iPhone mobile operator block port TCP 5222 or chat.facebook.com. Please ensure those are opened on any in between firewall.

Even when the network provider does not actively block port 5222 there can still be issues in the network as this discussion of 81 posts in length shows.

To be absolutely sure that the issue is network blocking, you could try to setup a VPN connection on the faulty work computer. For instance to your home computer or use the free VPN demo from usaip.eu.


Downgrading from Yosemite to Mavericks with TimeMachine backup from another Mac I have an iMac mid 2011 with Maverick which i have replaced with a iMac retina 27" with Yosemite Preinstalled. I did a Migration Assistant to transfer files from old to new mac. Now i want to downgrade the new machine from Yosemite to Mavericks. Can i use a TM backup from the old machine made AFTER the migration, to do this? (Using the OS X Utilities restoring from TM Backup).

Doubtful, the minimum OS for the 27" iMac is 10.10.  You can lay the TM backup down on the iMac, but it will most likely panic on the subsequent reboot.


Safari list of closed sessions feature I don't use Safari that often but I remember this really nice feature where you could scroll through a list of previously closed sessions. I think it was located on the "Top Sites" page that Safari features. Now I can't find it, so I'm guessing either it was erased in an update or moved somewhere. Is there a way to access this list of closed sessions?

It is still there and it looks like this

Under the History Tab - Show Top Sites

in my Safari 6.0.5


When does Skitch use a transparent background? I am using Skitch Plus to take screenshots of applications running on my Mac, and I have noticed it has an option to set the background.

What I still have to understand is when that option is used. As it is evident from the screenshot, it is not used when I take a screenshot of part of the screen, and (from the following screenshot) when I take a screenshot of the full screen.

Does anybody know when the transparent background is ever used?
I am using the Mac OS X Lion; is the option not working in this Mac OS X, but working for previous versions?

I haven't used Skitch, but from the context (note it is indented under a checkbox) I think the option would apply to screenshots taken of whole windows.


How do I show menu item hot keys? In (insert any other OS here), many context menus items have hot keys for fast access (which are shown by underlining the appropriate character).

Is there a way to get this working on Mac? There do seem to be keys that jump to certain items, but I can't figure out what they are.

Note that I don't want to set up millions of shortcuts because

Applications have standard menu navigations across platforms
There's hundreds of items that I use in different contexts

It seems that the "equivalent" functionality is based on the starting characters and lots of typing as explained in Navigating to options in context menus's answers - in that question you can see that some menu items would be diabolically hard to select, involving typing whole words to disambiguate 2 items.

It seems that the application can specify priority, since the item selected isn't necessarily the first one that starts with what is being typed.


Turn off snap to road Is it possible to turn off the snap-to-road functionality on an Iphone 5 (IOS7)?

On my commute to work I ride on a bicycle path next to a highway. The problem is that the bicycle path does not exist on Apple's maps so the IPhone moves the gps position to the closest road.

(I ride along the blue path)

This is not a single incident. It looks the same every time except if I turn off mobile data. However, turning off mobile data only work occationally. Seems like the road positions are cached.

(This happen in all GPS-apps so it is a system wide thing)

You can ask the app developer to add an option to set CLActivityType to CLActivityTypeOtherNavigation.


How can I have more than 16 keyboard shortcuts for Spaces (i.e., Mission Control) Okay, so I have:

One external display connected to my Mac
Twenty Spaces (i.e., Mission Control), with ten Spaces on each display
My keyboard shortcuts are [Ctrl + X] for the left-hand display, and [Ctrl + Alt + X] for the right-hand.
My Mission Control settings are Displays have separate Spaces = ON

Fine and good. However, the keyboard shortcuts only go up to "Switch to Desktop 16." (i.e., System Preferences >> Keyboard >> Shortcuts >> Mission Control)

I have twenty desktops, but the keyboard shortcuts only go up to sixteen. How can I fix this?

Here's something I tried (on 10.9.5).  Unfortunately, it didn't work, but I'll note it here in case it inspires someone.

I noticed that enabling System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Switch to Desktop 16 caused ~/Library/com.apple.symbolichotkeys.plist to update.
I found some information (1) (2) about that plist.
According to that second link, "Switch to Desktop 1" is action 118.
I tested enabling / disabling Switch to Desktop 16 in that System Preference pane whilst looking at the plist file, using /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print :AppleSymbolicHotKeys" ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.symbolichotkeys.plist and, as I expected, the "enabled" value for action 133 (=118+15) changed.
I added a value for action 134 based on action 133, which I hoped would cause ctrl-alt-6 to switch to Desktop 17: defaults write com.apple.symbolichotkeys AppleSymbolicHotKeys -dict-add 134 "{enabled = true; value = { parameters = (65535, 22, 786432); type = 'standard'; }; }"  Unfortunately this doesn't seem to have any effect on my system.
So: I think that the symbolichotkeys plist file contains a mapping from key presses to actions.  The actions include Switch to Desktop 1 through
to Switch to Desktop 16, but there are no corresponding actions for desktops with higher numbers.  Sorry!


What is the Bonjour option in iMessage for? iMessage has a Bonjour option but there isn't any explanation on what this all is about. So what can I do with this?

When Bonjour is enabled in Messages it allows you to chat with other users on the same network who also have Bonjour enabled. As described in Bonjour For Developers:

  Bonjour, also known as zero-configuration networking, enables automatic discovery of devices and services on a local network using industry standard IP protocols.

This was developed some years ago to enable easy configuration of printers and other network services without needing to know ports, addresses, etc.  Messages simply ties into this service.

Jabber is a messaging protocol.  It underlies several protocols such as AIM and Google Chat.
iMessage is a messaging protocol. Messages is the chat application.


Can the files being transferred affect/slow the data throughput? I'm currently trying to carry out the initial backup of an iMac using Time Machine, backing up to a Time Capsule (3TB, the older 'flat' type). The TC is connected via Ethernet and for reasons to do with our home network I've given it a static IP address as per this article: https://www.macworld.com/article/3170186/network-storage/how-to-configure-a-time-capsule-as-an-ethernet-only-storage-device.html

Wifi on the iMac is turned off, so the connection is definitely via Ethernet. Nothing else is connected to either the iMac or the TC (wireless is off on the TC too) other than a printer connected via USB to the TC.

The data on the iMac totals about 500GB ad for the first 300GB of the backup everything proceeded as expected with data-sent rates (observed via Activity Monitor's Network tab) of 20-35 MB/sec — about what I expect to see from Ethernet. Around the 300BG mark, however, data rates fell through the floor to about 5KB/sec, about one 5000th of what I should be getting.

I left it to continue overnight but in the morning the data rates were the same and in 6 hours it had transferred only a fraction of 1GB to the backup, so I quit the TM backup and started it again. The backup process seems to have picked up where it left off, but the data rates are still crummy — typically giving me 1.3MB/sec with occasion spikes up to 20MB/sec and frequent drops back down into the KB range.

Since I know that this ethernet setup can and has supported decent speeds (even earlier on in the same process), presumably there is nothing inherently wrong with the network itself. I'm puzzled as to what might be causing the slowdown. I wondered if it might be caused bu the backup processing certain types of files (very large monolithic ones, or huge numbers of small files, for example)?

Is that feasible?

[Update: the throughput has currently jumped back up to 20-30MB/sec. Nevertheless, my question still stands: can the particular files being backed up affect the data rate?]

Yes, the nature of the specific files can affect the data rate.

Especially if you have lots of small files the transfer rate is usually a lot worse than if you have few large files.

The reason for that being that the backup software has to use time to open/close each and every small file and possible transfer data at small block sizes (i.e. each file could have only few bytes in them).

Compare that to large files where the number of file system calls is low, and it is possible to transfer data at the optimal block sizes from disk and further on (might for example read from disk in 4 MB blocks or similar).


How to install imagick via homebrew? I am trying to install imagick using homebrew. The issue is that MagickWand libaries cannot be found.

$ brew install php54-imagick
==> Downloading http://pecl.php.net/get/imagick-3.1.0RC2.tgz
Already downloaded: /opt/boxen/cache/homebrew/php54-imagick-3.1.0RC2.tgz
==> Patching
patching file imagick-3.1.0RC2/config.m4
==> PHP_AUTOCONF="/opt/boxen/homebrew/opt/autoconf/bin/autoconf" PHP_AUTOHEADER="/opt/boxen/homebrew/opt/autoconf/bin/autoheader" /opt/boxen/homebrew/Cellar/php54/5.4.26/bin/phpize
==> ./configure --prefix=/opt/boxen/homebrew/Cellar/php54-imagick/3.1.0RC2 --with-php-config=/opt/boxen/homebrew/Cellar/php54/5.4.26/bin/php-config
checking for awk... awk
checking if awk is broken... no
checking whether to enable the imagick extension... yes, shared
checking whether to enable the imagick GraphicsMagick backend... no
checking ImageMagick MagickWand API configuration program... configure: error: not found. Please provide a path to MagickWand-config or Wand-config program.

READ THIS: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/wiki/troubleshooting
If reporting this issue please do so at (not Homebrew/homebrew):
  https://github.com/josegonzalez/homebrew-php/issues

There is an issue on github for that bug yet it got closed. There seemed to be a fix for that bug, but it got closed and cherry-picking is not possible for me.

As mentioned on this answer : https://stackoverflow.com/a/17848864/2307070

you can try these steps:

wget http://pecl.php.net/get/imagick-3.1.0RC2.tgz
tar zxf imagick-3.1.0RC2.tgz

Edit the file imagick-3.1.0RC2/config.m4 line number 55.

Make changes like this, from

if test -r $WAND_DIR/include/ImageMagick/wand/MagickWand.h;

to

if test -r $WAND_DIR/include/ImageMagick-6/wand/MagickWand.h;

Note this difference made in the imagick version number. After that try the conventional installation procedures

cd imagick-3.1.0RC2
phpize
./configure
make
make install