Securely deleting data in iOS My understanding is that resetting an iOS device by using Erase all Content and Settings is considered secure deleting, as the key for the encryption is obliterated and no data can be recovered.
Just to be sure: is that still the case if I set up the device with the same Apple ID afterwards? Will iOS generate a new key, or will the system somehow recognize my Account and use the same key all over again?

You are set since Apple only uses the passphrase to help generate entropy on the actual key that's used to unlock the data. Apple wrote a very clear white paper that covers the protections and goes into some technical detail.

https://support.apple.com/guide/security/passcodes-and-passwords-sec20230a10d/1/web/1

If you set up a device with the same passcode 5 times in a row - none of the keys would be the same and no one could get at the data from the device even if you told them your passcode.
You are correct - they key is destroyed instantaneously and the data is cryptographically erased. You don't need any special tool to overwrite any of the data since it was previously encrypted and that encryption exists at rest. When you erase the device, the key that unlocks the data was destroyed and no passphrase will get that key back since it never left the Secure Enclave.

iCloud is more complicated, since your data lives in Apple’s servers and can be seen on the web, via API on official and unofficial apps, on Windows and on macOS and other devices in addition to your phone.
The encryption keys used to encrypt this data when it leaves your device are not the same keys as the ones used to lock the files at rest on the iPhone hardware.
So, you buy a new phone and take a picture of your pet. That pet photo is encrypted at rest with a key that’s entangled with your device passphrase, not actually encrypted with that passphrase alone.
Now - when you sign up for an AppleID or iCloud account - a different password generates a different set of key pairs both in the cloud and on device. Now things are much more complicated than just a device encrypting data at rest, since we have multiple key pairs and signing certificates and multiple computers involved just to get data to iCloud from your phone.
The process to sync the data to the cloud doesn’t need to know how to decrypt the data from storage to show it to you or send it to the cloud since iOS and iPhone hardware handle that encryption transparently to the apps. The running OS isn’t necessarily aware the data is encrypted like a fish doesn’t need to know it’s in the water to swim.
A different encryption is added before that data backs up or syncs to iCloud servers. In the case with the wiped device, when you sign in to iCloud, new key pairs are generated from that sign in event and used to decrypt the pet photo that comes down from the iCloud backup to your wiped phone (or new phone). The iCloud “app” decrypts the data and then the iOS stores it using the new local encryption key from the Secure Enclave (since your passphrase unlocked the device). Once sync is done and the file written to local storage, it is encrypted at rest with a different key than the key used to encrypt the data when it moved to cloud from old device and  back to the new device from the cloud.
To wrap up, the pet photo can be encrypted many times, using different keys based on where it’s heading. The same file gets transformed (in a reversible manner) so that when it’s decrypted, the data is the same file so it looks to us like your pet each time we look at that photo.
The hardware encryption is different than the software decryption and pulling this off in a way that people can use and not make mistakes in security is a very hard problem to solve.


How to capture still frame from video on iOS? I have a video on my iPhone that I recorded using my iPhone. I want to extract a single frame as a still image, preserving the full quality and native resolution of the recording.

I know it's possible to take a screenshot of video, but I'm not sure if that ends up being a lower resolution image. Also, it just feels clumsy to use a screenshot because HD the time I end up with UI controls over top the image.

Is there a way, without third party software, to extract a full resolution still image frame from a video on iOS?

No, there is no option in the photos app to extract a single frame.

Depending on the video resolution you may or may not end up with a lower resolution screenshot. If your video resolution is higher than the screenshots' resolution, you end up with a lower resolution image in the end. Read more about video resolution on iPhones and screenshot sizes.

The easiest way though would be to either use a third party app or - if you import the videos to a computer anyway - do it on a Mac/PC.

More about this: different methods, Apple Community


Does Macbook Pro charging profile depends on electricity grid? The questions might sound silly at first sight, but let me share my observations so far:

I'm in the U.S. right now where I use the charger I got from IT and I see that my MPB charges slowly. It says the battery is 51% full and will take another ~16 hours to fully charge
In my workplace I experience that too the charging stops around 80% and does not matter which plug I use
In the hotel with the same charger the same MBP charges two-three times faster and does not stop at 80%
home, which is Hungary with 240V electricity grid, reaching the fully charged state takes 2-3 hours (does not matter if I recompile my app in every other minute) and never stops at 80%)
I brought the charger came with MBP and the phenomenon is the same

Since I'm not an electricity engineer I don't know whether voltage matters in charging or not. In the U.S. there is 120v, but in EU we use 240V. Differences in Amper, I'm not aware of. In the EU, we use 20A or more fuses.

Is it possible the difference I experience is due to something default Apple magic in MBP?

There's no "magic" involved in charging.

The standard Apple charger delivers the same voltage and amps to the laptop when used on a 120V grid as when used on a 230V grid. So the type of grid should not matter.

20A fuses are definitely not common in all of the EU, it is much more common to have 10A fuses for lights and other outlets in normal homes, and 16A or more for kitchen appliances, etc. However, this doesn't really make any difference for charging a laptop. Even 10 amps at 120 volts is 1200 watts - which is way more than what is needed to charge any Apple laptop, as Apple's largest laptop charger is a 87 watt charger.

There's also no geographical components to charging. It is not so that the Apple charger knows that it is in Hungary and charges quickly, and knows that it is in the US and charges slowly. There's no such provision in any of Apple's chargers.

The most likely cause of your problem is that you're simply not using Apple chargers or not using the correct Apple charger. When you're in the US, you might be using a less-than-recommmended watts charger - or a knock-off charger. This would explain why it charges slowly.


Activity indicator in status bar continues after app download is complete Why does the activity indicator in the top left corner in the status bar continue to turn after the app download is complete? (iPad 2)

Some apps will continue the download verification and the unpacking and Installation process after the download shows to be done, leading to the wheel continuing to spin till the process is completed.


Transferring M4V/MP4 files into iTunes I'm moving my iTunes library to another computer that already had iTunes on it (both are Windows-based). On the original computer, video files loaded and played fine (I sync to an Apple TV). I tried to import video files that worked just fine on the original into the new one and they don't come over.  If I copy the files into iTunes on a Mac, they work.

This ISN'T an encoding issue (I believe) as the files work properly on other iTunes. The only difference is one machine is 32 bit and the other is 64 bit.

Any ideas?

Buscar found the solution (noted in the comments):

Apple had released a v12.1.1 for 64-bit machines that allowed earlier encoded videos to be imported properly.

The URL is http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1784

Busker thank you!


How to stop next podcast always auto-playing when current one finishes in iOS? How do I permanently disable the Podcast app auto playing the next unplayed podcast episode when the current one finishes? It even plays episodes of other podcasts, not just the podcast I was listening to.

The only way I'm aware of is to set the sleep timer to "When Current Episode Ends", but this only applies to the currently playing podcast. I'd have to remember to set this option every single time I start a podcast playing which I don't want to have to do.

I'm using an iPhone 6 with iOS 9.2 and Podcasts version 2.3.

Settings - podcast - turn off continuous playback. Link below with photos.

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2018/01/18/how-to-disable-automatic-playback-apple-podcasts-app/


Does Find My Mac work if the disk gets erased? My MacBook Pro was stolen a couple of days ago and Find my Mac had been enabled on it. I have already locked the Mac with a passcode and a message as well as clicked on the play sound feature(on the find my iPhone app), but those actions are pending until the computer comes online. The Mac is on El Capitan and came with Mavericks. The admin user is password protected but I had not enabled FileVault which is the disk encryption feature, so the computer can be wiped by erasing the disk in Recovery. The computer doesn't need to connect to the internet to be erased but it does need an internet connection to reinstall the operating system after the wipe. My question is, if the computer is erased and then goes online, will Find my Mac still work and notify me when it does? Is it still asociated with my Apple ID after the wipe?

As long as the thief does not manually clear the NVRAM in any way, or reconfigures iCloud with another account, the device can still be tracked when online.

see this answer


Trying to Analyse a WIFI Hardware Problem I have a MacBook Pro (13 ", Mid 2012) model running Mac OS 10.14.6 (Mojave). Of late I'm experiencing a lot of problems with the WIFI hardware frequently "shutting down" or going into a inoperational state. I found the fix of resetting the NVRAM working for me. But this thing is happening very frequently.
EDIT : Because of the comment I will add in this information. Cold boot doesn't seem to work. When u do a cold boot it just shows a cross at the WIFI symbol's place and indicates no hardware. Before the cold boot, the WIFI symbol looks blank as if the WIFI is turned off when it isn't it. And you can't turn it on either.
Further Edits : So I'm speaking in terms of frequency here. SMC reset has both failed and worked almost 50% of the times. NVRAM reset has also failed at times but it has been the most successful. (I might be biased towards NVRAM one compared to the SMC, because it showed most promise)
Also I think I can almost assign an "external" causality to the WIFI status turned off state. Whenever, the laptop get into a sudden movement
it just turns the WIFI hardware off in some sense. I do not know enough hardware to back up this comment of mine, but I think the WIFI must have an antenna of sorts, which gets disturbed whenever a "jerk" motion occurs to the laptop externally to switch off the WIFI.
My Macbook habits : I keep opening a lot of tabs on my safari and a lot of pdfs on my Preview. I mostly keep my pro in sleep state. Rarely do I shut down! And sometimes I code. I shifted to Mojave from the prior operating system, where the problem actually initiated, thinking a software update would fix things permanently.

What I would like help on is understanding the functioning on the NVRAM:
why does the NVRAM resetting fix the WIFI?
What makes the WIFI hardware go bust again?
Is it a hardware problem,
as in my macbook is too old and needs a wifi hardware repair? If so,
then why does resetting NVRAM temporarily fix things?

I'd like some understanding to this situation I am stuck in!
EDIT on the suggestion that NVRAM is exactly the source of the problem.
Before the WIFI status goes into its off state

nvram -p
backlight-level    %14%01
LocationServicesEnabled    %01
fmm-computer-name  MacBook Pro
SystemAudioVolumeDB    <
SystemAudioVolume  %df
bluetoothInternalControllerInfo    %1d%82%ac%05%00%13%18%1d|%d1%c3%8ai?

When the WIFI is in its off state :

nvram -p
backlight-level    %04%01
LocationServicesEnabled    %01
SystemAudioVolumeDB    %f2
SystemAudioVolume  V
bluetoothInternalControllerInfo    %1d%82%ac%05%00%13%18%1d|%d1%c3%8ai?

This blog gives an account of the information contained in NVRAM:

https://eclecticlight.co/2018/08/24/whats-stored-in-nvram/

It also gives the Terminal command nvram -xp to list the contents of the NVRAM, which might be useful. Note that the data is in base64 encoding, which will need further decoding to become 'human-readable'.

However, there does not seem to be anything specific to WIFI or networking generally. I note that Internet Recovery Partition, which is in Firmware, can remember Wifi router selection and passwords.

Given the age of the machine, an intermittent failure of this sort is likely to be a hardware problem. You could try ruling out software issues by booting to a new, clean OS on an external disk.

As to why NVRAM reset fixes it: that's unknown.  If the contents of NVRAM are unchanged when the WiFi is defective and when it works, then it's not the reset as such that's fixing it. It's possible that the reset does something else coincidentally.


Is High Sierra noticeable slower than Sierra? I I have a macbook pro 2012 15" i7 (quad core) with a SSD drive and 16G RAM. Last night I've updated from Sierra to High Sierra and I've noticed that everything seems to be kind of slow. Before the upgrade everything run snappier than now on High Sierra. I just upgraded from the mac app store and not a fresh install of it.

Should I run a fresh install in order to get a better performance?

No - High Sierra isn’t generally slower than Sierra so there’s likely something else going on.

I like your suggestion to run a fresh install. That’s almost always the fix when a system gets slower and slower and even a fresh install of the same OS as you have running for 6 months to 2 years straight often makes everything snappy and you happy again.

I’d do one last backup and erase install High Sierra and migrate the data back. Take some timings so you know objectively how long a boot takes and how long the things you think are repeatable (opening 5 tabs in Safari / opening a large spreadsheet / etc...) so you can then dig in if the reinstall doesn’t make everything better both subjectively and objectively.


"The iTunes library file cannot be saved. A folder was specified instead of a file." ...what? I just updated to iTunes 11.

Now I get this error:

Huh? Some Googling turns up people with this problem in iTunes 7 & 8. That was a while ago. They suggested various things, including rebuilding the library (which I am NOT going to do unless it's the only option).

However, my search prompted me to look in my iTunes folder. Yikes:

Most of those temp files appeared on 11/18/12, so this must have been happening before today when I upgraded.

So, is there a good solution? Why might this happen? Is re-building the library the only way? I'd rather not lose my date-added and play-count data.

This is a possible solution that I came across and (initially) it seems to have worked for me:

Quoted from Apple Support Communities:

  I assume the problem is gone now and here's what I did to get rid of it:

  stop iTunes
  alt-start iTunes, so it offers 'Create Library' and 'Choose Library'
  choose 'Create Library' to create a new library (iTunes 1)
  stop iTunes
  alt-start iTunes, so it offers 'Create Library' and 'Choose Library'
  choose 'Choose Library' and chose my main library, which caused me so much pain

  since then no more tmp files are left over in the iTunes folder and I hope it stays like this


Trying to reset password holding Command+R, at Startup, goes to Wi-Fi I am holding Command ⌘R at Startup, but can't access Utilities, it goes directly to Wi-Fi, choose network.

From OS X: About OS X Recovery

  OS X Internet Recovery

  Newer Macs include the ability to start up directly from an
  Internet-based version OS X Recovery. Your Mac automatically uses this
  feature when the Recovery System on the startup drive isn't available.
  For example, if your startup drive encounters an issue, or if your
  startup drive has been replaced or erased. Internet Recovery lets you
  start your Mac directly from Apple's servers. Starting up from this
  system performs a quick test of your memory and hard drive to check
  for hardware issues.

  Internet Recovery initially asks you to select a Wi-Fi network and
  enter a network password when needed. Next, Internet Recovery
  downloads and starts from a Recovery System image. From there, you are
  offered the same utilities and options as the Recovery System on a
  startup drive.


how to ungroup windows on mac I am coming from ubuntu. In Mac i notice that multiple browser windows or finder windows don't show up independently in task bar or task switcher. This is causing problems in many operations.
Is there any switch to activate ungrouped windows?

I believe that you should try to adapt to a different workflow:

You could press ⌘+` to cycle all the windows of the same application.
Note: this is not the apostrophe key, it's the backtick key.
Non-shifted tilde ~ left of z on a UK keyboard, left of 1 on US.
Try App Exposé:

Trackpad
System Preferences → Trackpad → More Gestures → App Exposé to configure your preferred gesture.
Keyboard
Press F10

I understand this is not a precise answer to your question, but I believe that switching from Win/Linux to Mac OS, involves some adaptation.


Sync multiple Google Calendars with iPhone Exchange... broken? I've come across How can I show multiple Google calendars in iPhone's calendar app? but the topic seems to be dead already and doesn't solve my problem for now.

I'm using multiple Google calendars and successfully managed to add an Exchange account on my iPhone. The first problem was the exact email used for login to that account. Only @googlemail.com seems to work - not @gmail.com.

Another possibly important detail is that I use the newer 2-token-login and I had to generate an app-specific password for that Exchange config. But I've managed that too.

Now it comes to the point where I shall open up http://m.google.com/sync on my iPhone - but this states that my device is not supported. I've found out that the german version counterpart seems to be https://www.google.com/calendar/iphoneselect which loads and asks me to check the desired calendars.

But no matter how much of my 8 calendars I select - only the primary is synced to my iPhone. So does this thing actually work at the moment?

Damn... tried to switch to english language at several locations... Google website, Google calendar, iPhone itself...

...setting english at http://m.google.com/sync while viewing with iPhone Safari did the trick. The calendars selected there now sync with my iPhone!

Sometimes we need to ask a question to find a solution ourself.


How do I import photos in to the Photos Library completely? I get the following error in Photos app on my Mac.

Missing File
Photos with unavailable original files cannot be opened.
The original photo “IMG_3076.JPG” is either offline or cannot be found. Click “Find Original” to reconnect.

This is what has happened, I assumed that since the photo is in the Photos Library I could delete the file from the hard drive. Apparently not. The answer by @Tetsujin suggests that this is not the case.

I have a backup of all these files and I can restore these.
My question is, How do I import these files into the Photo Library completely, so that there is no longer any need to keep the file as well?

Restoring them to their original location is the best plan. Then use File > Consolidate (as suggested by @Tetsujin here) to ensure all items are copied into the library. Your settings (as shown in the screenshot in your other question) are set correctly for Photos to manage the library and the originals to be able to be removed from your hard drive. This time I would just rename the folder they're in and see what happens. That way you can quickly and easily undo it if it still isn't working correctly.

Unless you are referring to the Masters folder (within the .photoslibrary bundle) as the originals. In that case - leave the photoslibrary bundle alone. You cannot remove files from it and expect them to keep working in Photos.


How do I open two/multiple fullscreen views simultaneously in 10.7 Lion? When I open two Lion-supported-fullscreen apps in dual-monitor mode, one monitor shows one app while the other monitor shows a "fabric" pattern/texture. The other fullscreen app is available by swipe or Mission Control as another view, but I'd prefer to have the two fullscreen apps up simultaneously (and no cloth pattern texture on the other screen). Is there a way to customize my setup natively or with apps to accommodate?

Moreover, is there a way to disable the second screen's "fabric" pattern/texture altogether (showing the desktop or other apps in that view)?

Unfortunately, you can't. I am hoping Apple will fix this as soon as possible as well.

There's a trick where you can put some app in the fabric space, as documented in OS X hints.

  However, if you utilize the full-screen swipe gesture to move to a separate full screen and pause/stop in the middle with multiple Spaces in view and invoke another application (i.e. via Spotlight), the spawned application can reside in the 'fabric space' or anywhere else. It basically remains attached to that space.


MacBook Pro doesn’t turn on without charger MacBook Pro 2012 non retina model 13.3 inch.

I am trying to turn on MacBook with a replacement battery 11.1 V, 6000 mAh, 66.6 W I installed myself.

The original battery was 10.95 V, 63.5 W.

The MacBook turns on & replacement battery charges when the charger is connected, but when charger is disconnected the MacBook turns off. That is I cannot turn on MacBook without the power adapter with the new replacement battery.

Original battery info

New Replacement battery info

Looks like your new battery, from the screenshot above, is only supplying 7.3V, which is presumably too low to power the motherboard sufficiently on its own, it should be closer to 12V.

So your battery might be rated 11.1V but it appears to be faulty, although it is not self-reporting as such, maybe because the mAh rating and cycle count is still ok.


Safari Extension for right click menu: Open in Google Chrome? Is it possible for an extension to add items to the right click menu in Safari?  If you enable developer mode, there is a menu item called "Open Page With..." and Google Chrome is a choice if it's installed.  Can the Open Page With... menu get added to the right click menu, so I can use one less step when viewing a page in Chrome?  Right now I'm required to load the page in safari, then choose the Chrome option, whereas I'd rather just right click on links and send them to Chrome quickly.

I would make it myself if I knew how!

Open in Chrome Service

You can make a Service in 10.6 or 10.7 using Automator that will open a selected URL in Chrome.

Here's how:

Open Automator
When Automator asks you to Choose a type for your document window, select Service
Change the "Service receives selected" drop-down to "URLs"
Add a Run AppleScript action (found under the Automator Library, or just search) by dragging from the left pane to the right
Copy the code below to the text field (replacing all the existing text)
Save and give the service a name (it will be added automatically to the services menu)

Code:

on run {input}
    set theURL to input
    tell application "Google Chrome"
        if not (exists first window) then
            make new window
            set URL of last tab of first window to theURL
        else
            tell first window
                set newTab to make new tab with properties {URL:theURL}
            end tell
        end if
        activate
    end tell
end run

This will open any selected URL in Safari or other application in Chrome, either in a new tab in the most recent window, or a new window if there is no open Chrome window. To access it, right-click and under the Services item at the bottom of the menu, you should see an item with the name you assigned.

One important caveat: OS X seems to be a bit picky/buggy about passing link to this sort of service. It works fine if you have text selected as a URL, but it only seems to work on some links. If I discover a better method, I'll update this post with it.

You may also need to restart Safari for the service to appear.


I'm using the f5 software connect to VPN, but errors out with TunnelServer already launched I'm using the BIG-IP f5 vpn client on my MacBookPro.  Most of the time it works fine.

Sometimes when my VPN does not exit cleanly I can no longer connect to the VPN.  No matter how many times I try to exit, disconnect, turn off my wireless network, or release the dhcp, close my laptop lid.  Nothing works.

I get this error message

  tunnel server already launched

The only way around this was to reboot my Mac.  This has the major drawback of loosing all my open browsers, terminals, folders, applications, etc.

Is there any other way around this issue?  So that I can retain all the things that I have opened and am in the middle of?  I try not to reboot for weeks or months at a time.

ps alx | grep svpn | awk '{ print $2 }' | xargs kill -9

Is the generic solution.  Here is the narrative on how I arrived at this solution.
From the BIG-IP f5 application log, you can only find this from the icon in the menu bar.  I saw this line:

2018-06-15, 23:30:54:000, 1274, 1274, edge, 1,    (0xfffffffe)
EXCEPTION - TunnelService, TunnelServer already launched, pid, 1514

I went into my terminal and found this.
ps alx | grep 1514
    0  1514     1   0  31  0  3552740   4212 -      S      ??    0:22.36 /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/F5 SSL VPN Plugin.plugin/Contents/Helpers/svpn svpn
    0  1515  1514   0  31  0  2473600    328 -      S      ??    0:01.54 /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/F5 SSL VPN Plugin.plugin/Contents/Helpers/svpn svpn

Then I issued a kill, but it didn't take.  Luckily a kill -9 worked just fine.
kill -9 1515 1514

So in the future I will be doing a
ps alx | grep svpn | awk '{ print $2 }' | xargs kill -9

This is the generic solution posted at the top.


Bluetooth tethering between Android device and MacBook I'm having some issues tethering my internet connection from an Android to my MacBook. It must be an issue with the MacBook, as it works on Ubuntu without a problem. A tried to re-pair the device and even remove the configuration from network settings and add it again but with no luck so far. Any ideas?

I had to install a system extension called HoRNDIS in order for it to work.

Link: HoRNDIS on GitHub

UPDATE: macOS will be disabling system extension in the 10.16 version, so I have no idea what the solution will be then.


Is it possible for my HTC phone to interupt my music when I receive a call? I frequently miss incoming telephone calls because I am listening to my iPod Touch.

Does anyone know if it's possible for my iPod to detect incoming calls on my mobile phone (an HTC Desire) and alert me to the phone call?

I've seen bluetooth connection devices that purport to do this (such as the GEAR4 BluEye), but they are several years old now.

However given that this kind of hardware exists, and that the iPod Touch has Bluetooth built-in, I wondered if there was an app or setting that would enable the phone and iPod to work together in this way?

I'm pretty sure, you can't do that. You have a bluetooth connection between your iPod and your headset - your mobile phone cannot close this connection or notify you over your headset. So you may have to buy an iPhone or use the HTC to listen to music... :)


Create different header after each chapter in pages 8.2.1 Can I change in Automatic way the header with the current chapter?

In Image we can see that the previous chapter (title) is in header (I text  inside the cell, not automatic way) and when begin title 2, the header still title, If I change title with title 2 change the whole document.

On the right side of the document window, click the 'Document' toolbar button, then the 'Section' tab.

Click somewhere in the section that you want to have a different header, then deselect the 'Match previous section' checkbox.


How can I watch an AVI file on my iPhone? I understand that the bundled apps for iPhone does not support AVI files. However, I have lots of these files which I want to watch on my iPhone.

Can you suggest a streamlined, automatic way of doing this? I have never watched videos on my iPhone or iTunes before and would appreciate step by step answers.

Use HandBrake to easily convert the AVI files to an iPhone compatible format then sync those converted files with your iPhone

Or, email/post them to Posterous, and they'll be auto-converted into a format watchable on your iPhone


macOS app for showing external HDD usage statistics? I'm planning on selling a used external HDD on eBay.  Are there any applications for Mac out there (preferably free) that can show me statistics about the usage history for the drive so that I can let potential buyers know the condition more precisely?

By usage stats I'm assuming you mean SMART stats...

DriveDx has a trial version that will show SMART stats. But you have to load a kext to see USB attached disks. That's a common issue with all the 3rd party programs.

It works well, and will allow you to do short & extended self-tests even in the trial version. It will save a report you could email to your potential buyer (Actions | Save Drive Health Report).


First Admin account not showing on login page I created a second Admin account on my Macbook Pro (Yosemite) and also enabled Guest login. Now I can only access the second account and the guest login from the login screen, the primary admin account is no longer shown.

It is also not shown in the fast user switching menu, nor am I able to log into it when I select username and password as login option.

I have not activated FileVault and I have not hidden the user by adding it to the HiddenUsersList. Any other things I might check?

I am able to su to the old user and the home directory and all still exist.

What I did (and what seems to have worked so far) is the following:

change username and home folder of the "missing user"
create a new user with the old username/home folder
delete the old user
use the new user instead

I think I should also have reused the old UID because I got a lot of files belonging to an unnamed "501" user that I had to chown to my new user.


How can I fix Error: -69877: Couldn't open device after interrupted formatting process? This question, possibly the same question, has been asked: Couldn't open device

However, my question hopefully demonstrates a more specific scenario as the situation in which caused the error explicitly known:

The following done as a root user:

I plugged in my SD card and ran diskutil list to grab the internal device node (/dev/disk2)
I ran diskutil partitionDisk /dev/disk2 GPT UFSD_EXTFS4 New 100% (UFSD_EXTFS4 is ext4 provided by Paragon)
I saw that it was working, so I interrupted the process at step 2.
I attempted to rerun the command with the number of partitions explicitly stated diskutil partitionDisk /dev/disk2 1 GPT UFSD_EXTFS4 New 100%

I get the message:

Started partitioning on disk2
Unmounting disk
Error: -69877: Couldn't open device

Running gpt show -l /dev/disk2 yields

start     size  index  contents
    0  7741440

Running gpt destroy /dev/disk2 yields

gpt destroy: unable to open device '/dev/disk2': Permission denied

It seems to me there is some lock on device disk2. I just need to figure out how to release it.

I was able to release it by rebooting into safe mode (holding shift key during boot) and then rebooting back into normal mode. I would like to know, however, what exactly could be done to release this lock without rebooting.

For anyone else who ends up on this question after searching online, be sure that you confirm that your SD card is not mounted as read-only! There is a physical tab that you may need to move:


Adding public key of iOS Prompt app to authorized_keys How do I get the public key for Panic's Prompt app to setup auto-login to my Mac?

I have disabled the option to login with a password over ssh as that would be a security risk.

I have tried copying both the public and private key from my Mac to Prompt's Documents in iTunes, however it failed to connect.

If there is no easy way to retrieve the public key in Prompt, can I log all ssh connections to my Mac and get the public key from that log?

For starters, just to clarify the terminology, when you create a key pair, the private key (typically named id_rsa) goes on the client (in this case the Prompt app), and the public key (typically id_rsa.pub) goes in the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file on the server you're logging in to (in this case your Mac).

You should be able to just drag the private key into Prompt via the iTunes documents interface. If you're getting a connection error, try doing it with your device attached via USB, not Wi-Fi (I've found Wi-Fi syncing can be a bit flaky at times). If that still doesn't work, open up your private key in a text editor, copy the text and send it to yourself in an email (or any other means that gets the text to your device). You can then copy that text, and when you click the key button in Prompt, it should give you the option to Import Clipboard Key.


Spaces: visualization in menubar, and arbitrary keybinding for 'goto next space' I'm looking for a tool or tools to
(1) switch to the next (or previous) space using an arbitrary keybinding, rathern than the modifier+arrow keys allowed in the preferences, and
(2) show a (very) small preview of the windows in Spaces in the menubar.

I've been using Desktop Manager to do this since before they were called spaces.  Unfortunately Desktop Manager is PowerPC-only and is not being maintained; I'd like a more modern solution.  I'm much more interested in solving the first problem; specifically I'd like to have ctrl-command-n to move me to the next space, and ctrl-command-p to go to the previous space.

Any quick solutions?

You can set a shortcut via Keyboard Shortcuts. Remember to tick the checkbox too!


How to find out what the Wi-Fi password is, of the network that I'm connected to, without the admin password? I logged on to a Wi-Fi network on my friend's computer and they forgot their admin password. They want me to find out the password, but I can't get into the keychain. But I am still connected to the network, that they want to connect to on another computer. I heard there was a way to do it in the terminal but I can't find it. What is the command line? All i know is that there is a command line in terminal that allows you to view the password of the wifi network you are currently connected to.
Thanks in advance.

You can view your own keychain via the /Applications/Utilities/Keychain Access.app

None of this is possible without an admin password.

The command line is accessible via /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app


Sorting through windows that are grouped together I have a number of open windows that belong to the same program (preview). I would like to easily and quickly flick between these open windows, but I have found this frustratingly difficult to do using Mission Control. It's fine for windows that are grouped separately, but when they are grouped together it becomes much more difficult to select a window. I know there's a keyboard shortcut to cycle between windows, but It would be nice to have them more clearly displayed in Mission Control. There's the five finger open hand swipe gesture that can be used to spread out the windows a bit, however, I find that it doesn't separate the windows sufficiently, and the gesture is temperamental in itself.

Are there any modifications, work arounds, selection commands or anything that could make window selection easier?

Examples of grouping:

This is mission control with separately grouped windows. Selecting an individual window or window group is easy.

A single pdf is difficult to select with grouped preview windows.

The five finger swipe doesn't separate the windows clearly. It is still difficult to select an individual pdf when many instances are open.

If you're in the app where the document is, you can use App Exposé to show just the windows of the current app, nicely spread out on the screen. I've got App Exposé set to a four finger swipe down, but I'm not sure that it's the default. You can find the settings in System Preferences -> Trackpad -> More Gestures (or similar if you've got a Magic Mouse, I would guess).

You can also press F10 to trigger App Exposé.


Is there any way to expedite a MBP 2011 discrete GPU failure I have an early 2011 MBP 15" with discrete AMD GPU. This is the same model that has the free repair/warrant described here: https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

I've already had to replace the logic board twice because of graphics issues. Is there any way to expedite the failure of my current logic board to get a replacement before the free repair expires at the end of this month? It's already showing a small amount of artifacting after heavy use. I'm afraid that the Apple Geniuses won't repair unless it's a complete failure (like my previous two).

Thank you for the help!

My reputation is too low to comment so I am writing it here.

bob gave you wrong information.

If you go to Apple's official page https://www.apple.com/sg/support/macbookpro-videoissues/
it says that

  The program covers affected MacBook Pro models until December 31, 2016 or four years from its original date of sale, whichever provides longer coverage for you.

The longer would be until 2016 December for you.


How to Remove a Word from Dictionary of Google Chrome? I added the word somehting (or similar) by accident to Dictionary of OS X El Capitan 10.11.4 in Google Chrome > 2nd click.
I would like to remove it from there.
I go to Dictionary but I cannot find by the Search tool, etc only someh and no success.
So I should be able to find recently added words or user words.

How can remove a recently added word in Dictionary of Google Chrome?

On macOS Chrome 60, settings do not let you access the dictionary. Words are actually added in two places where you can manually edit them:

~/Library/Application\ Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Custom\ Dictionary.txt

~/Library/Spelling/LocalDictionary

Then restart your mac for changes to take effect.


Logic Studio 9 : Is it possible to use tracks or buses as "virtual devices" Inside Logic Studio, you can re-map all your track output to specific buses and use those buses as inputs for other tracks.

I was wondering if it was possible to somehow use those buses outside of logic.

Basically, here's what i'm trying to do : I want to link a track to my Skype audio input so I can create insane real-time voice filter effects.

If Skype supported the ReWire protocol directly this would be no problem at all. You'd wire Skype's output to Logic 9, run it through your effects, and then wire the output from Logic 9 to Skype's input. But Skype doesn't support ReWire.

So instead you have to hijack it's audio input stream and feed it a stream from Logic 9. To do that you can use the most awesome SoundFlower app from the great folks at Cycling '74. It's free!

SoundFlower presents itself as an audio device to your computer. Except its only use is to route audio between applications. The 2ch mode is what you'll need to accomplish your goal here.

You'll set Skype's audio (microphone) input to be SoundFlower's output -- lets say the left channel output.

In Logic you'd create a new Audio track that takes its input from from the built-in microphone on your Mac. To enable the internal mic in Logic go to Preferences -> Audio and under the Devices tab select the Core Audio sub-tab and pick 'Built-in Microphone' for device.

Create a new Logic project. Add a new, mono Audio Track with the input coming from the internal microphone. Connect output of the track to the SoundFlower input channel. Pile on whatever effects you'd like on the channel (no real need to use a sub-mix buss in Logic here). Watch the levels in Logic and Skype and adjust to taste.

There's going to be some latency involved in all of this. And whether your third party will pick up on that or not depends on how big the latency gets as you pile on effects.


How can I get Preview to open up in the Foreground? Here's what's currently happening:

I use Chrome. I go to some website that has a PDF that I want to view on a hyperlink. I don't like viewing PDFs in the browser (even though I know this is possible), but prefer to have the pdf download and be viewed in Preview.

When I click the link in Chrome it asks me where I want the file saved, and then it downloads it. I click on the completed download tab at the bottom of the screen, and Chrome remains in the foreground. I can see that Preview has indeed been opened and the PDF is viewable, but I have to switch to Preview to view it using expose or command-tab.

Once the document has been opened in Preview and even when Preview is quit out of, it will always open Preview up in the foreground. This only happens on the first instance of opening a document. Also, if Preview is already open (in fore or background) downloading a new document will bring it to the foreground. So, what's happening only happens when a new document is downloaded and preview is not executed.

Here's what I would like to have happen:

I want to click on the completed download in the Chrome download bar at the bottom, and have it open and Preview and application-switch directly to Preview so that Preview is the foreground active application. This happens when I open other file types, but does not happen with PDFs into Preview.

My question:

Is there a way to change this behavior? Is there a central place where I can change the default behavior of whether apps open in the foreground or background?

Auto-opening a downloaded file from a browser is done on pretty much a browser-to-browser basis. Since you asked about Chrome, here's the relevant blurb from Google's Docs:

  Automatically open certain types of
  files

  If you want certain types of files to
  always open after they're done
  downloading, click the arrow next to
  the file button in the downloads bar
  and select Always open files of this
  type. To prevent potentially malicious
  files from automatically downloading
  to your computer, this option isn't
  available for executable filetypes,
  such as those with .exe, .dll, or .bat
  extensions (for Windows), and .dmg
  extensions (for Mac).

Personally, these features weren't visible when I tried it, but then I hardly use Chrome other than for the odd web site test.


Recently updated the company to all IMAP accounts, but now every account is synced? There are two computers at my company that are Macs.  We just both upgraded to El Capitan OS, and had to change our mail accounts from POP to IMAP to work with the Parallels that we run.  Ever since we did that, both of our mail accounts have been in sync with one another.  Whenever he reads an email on his computer from our General Mailbox, it shows up on my computer as "Read" already.

It's getting very frustrating, because we feel as though things are starting to slip through the cracks.

Is there a way to reverse this?

That's what IMAP does, it keeps the client state in sync. So it's doing exactly what it should. You can switch back to POP to get the old behaviour.


What are the screen dimensions of the iPhone 4s and iPhone 5s? What are the dimensions of the screen on the iPhone 4s and 5s? I mean the length and width of the actual display, in mm or cm. I tried searching for it online but all the sites I looked just provide the resolution and not the actual dimensions.

This can be easily calculated with the available information. Since screen dimensions are always specified as the diagonal measurement, the rectangle can be divided into two equal right-angled triangles, with the hypotenuse being the diagonal measurement and the aspect ratio of the display providing inputs for the calculation of the height and width.

iPhone 4S

Display size (always specified as the diagonal size): 3.5 inches or 89 mm
Aspect ratio: 1.5 (which is specified as 3:2 and can be calculated from the resolution - 960 x 640 pixels; 960/640 = 1.5)
Calculating the height and width when the ratio of the sides and the length of the hypotenuse are known can be done manually or even quicker, by using WolframAlpha.
Check this calculation link for iPhone 4S on WolframAlpha. The result is 74.05 mm by 49.37 mm.

iPhone 5s

Display size (always specified as the diagonal size): 4 inches or 100 mm
Aspect ratio: 1.775 (which is specified as 16:9 and can be calculated from the resolution - 1136 x 640 pixels; 1136/640 = 1.775)
Calculating the height and width when the ratio of the sides and the length of the hypotenuse are known can be done manually or even quicker, by using WolframAlpha.
Check this calculation link for iPhone 5s on WolframAlpha. The result is 87.12 mm by 49.08 mm.


Change Command Prompt - Variables are literal, and changes to .bashrc or .bash_profile not making a difference Trying to change my command prompt in OS X 10.8 / Mountain Lion. Changes to ~/.bashrc and ~/.bash_profile do not make any difference. Like:

export PS1="\W \$"

It defaults to the host name ("\h\%"). Even if I try to set PS1 in the terminal, it changes but displays the variables literally, as below:

ws10% PS1="\W \$"
\W $

(with ws10 being the host name)

My ~/.bashrc file:

export PS1="\W \$ "

Any ideas? I keep getting lost when I cd up and down the directory structure! Thanks a lot.

Typically on Mac OS X, only .bash_profile is executing when starting a new terminal. A common solution is to source one file into the other, for example in ~/.bashrc:

[ -r ~/.bash_profile ] && source ~/.bash_profile

Apart from that, your example works perfectly fine for me when put in .bash_profile. If you still experience problems, maybe you are overlooking something else?


How to change default path for photo booth? By default, photo booth save videos in

/Users/UserName/Pictures/Photo\ Booth\ Library

Is there a way to change this default path?

I am on OSX 10.11.5

I report here as an answer my comment above.

You can move the Photo Booth Library to the location you prefer, this procedure should automatically change the path of the Photo Booth application.

Note that the library is a package that keeps all the photos and the content of the application, if you delete it you will lose all your pics and data.


SSH from different Wifi network? I'm currently at college (living away from home) and my iPod Touch is at home. Its jailbroken and has OpenSSH installed through Saurik's Cydia repo. Is there any way I can SSH to get a theme file that I installed on the phone and pull it to my computer? I can ask my parents to unlock the phone to make sure its connected to Wifi as well as to tell me the Local IP address of the phone as well. What other steps do I need to connect from my computer to my phone?

Short version with no explanations
I want to SSH into my phone from a different wifi network.

Firstly ask your parents to turn on your iPad and connect it to the local network.
If you have remote administration on your router you'll be able to do the next steps yourself, else you'll need your parents to do it.

Login to your router's administration page
Get the external IP address of your router (if you can set up dynDNS this will make your life easier in the future)
Work out the IP address of your iPad
If your router allows you to, it'd be useful to assign it with a static IP address
Navigate to the port forwarding page (probably under security or firewall)
Configure port 22 (standard for ssh) to forward to your iPad (some routers will allow you to forward it to a MAC address making it doesn't matter if the devices IP address changes)
Now, from your computer SSH to the external IP of your router (or dynDNS address if you have that)


Stuck at loading spinner after resetting iPhone 4 (iOS 7.1.2) I'm giving my iPhone 4 (iOS 7.1.2) to someone else, and I wanted to reset it. So I went into Settings -> General -> Reset, and I picked the option to reset all content and settings. However it's been stuck at a screen with a loading spinner for about 5 hours now. How long should I expect this process to take?

It sounds like something's gone wrong with the reset process, but you should be able to recover the phone without too much trouble.

First, open iTunes and connect the phone to your computer. If the phone appears in iTunes without displaying any error messages then you should be able to restore it from the iTunes interface.

If the above doesn't work you can force the device to turn off by holding down the Power and Home buttons until the screen cuts out. At this point you should be able to turn it back on and (at the very least) restore the device via iTunes.

If that doesn't work, try putting the device into DFU mode:

Turn off the device (if it isn't off already) by holding down the Power and Home buttons until the screen goes blank.
Hold the Power button for 3 seconds
Hold Home button without letting go of the Power button, then wait 10 seconds.
Keep holding Home and let go of Power. Wait about 15 seconds just to be sure.

(Source for the above: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5409794)

From there the device will appear non-functional but you should have no problems restoring from iTunes.


Password doesn't work for software update but does for everything else I have a mac mini running Big Sur. My password is fine for logging in at start up and authorising everything, except the system software update. I haven't found an answer online as to why. Anybody got any suggestions and hopefully, a solution.

This will be a little tricky to pick apart remotely. Your edits are super helpful to come up with next steps.
I would use the command line and try this in the terminal app.
sudo softwareupdate --all --install

You will be prompted to enter your password and if that accepts your password and starts to download and install the updates, you know it’s just a GUI account issue.
If you don’t like the command line, another path is to make a second admin user and log out of the problem user (Apple menu - log out) and then try the update from the second account. Either way, you can reduce the potential causes and maybe get your update done, too.
I get the same prompt, but it works for me today when yesterday I got password errors and I changed nothing. I have Apple Silicon on my Big Sur mini so ymmv.


iPhone Overwritten Data How to get back over overwritten data?

My case: photos and videos from iPhone?

My phone updated and restored and I never got to back up my phone.

Where does the overwritten data go and how do I get it back?

If you restored your iPhone from a different backup, or as a new device, then you would need to restore again from the correct backup.

There is no recoverable data once a restore has been completed.
The devices are hardware encrypted & once the encryption keys are deleted, that's it, I'm afraid.


Ability to give away iOS application, usually for sale I am wondering if it's possible to do "mass giveaways" on the AppStore, without lowering, changing or otherwise changing the listed application.

Is it possible to distribute hundreds to, potentially, thousands of promo codes, legally, while still leaving the "normal" distribution channel of purchasing the app open?

An example of the above would be selling physical items in a store which have a bundled digital component available. Essentially you buy a product in a store, which comes "bundles with a free app" (BB and Android have already been dealt with, iOS is unclear). It would be nice to give the option to have a promo code in the box, that the user can then use to get the application for free. Is this possible?

No. Apple allows for only a very limited number of promo codes for the lifetime of an application (versions 1.0 - n.0). The exact number escapes me at the moment but somewhere around 100 comes to mind. You are allowed to have more beta testers, but that requires manual management of every user and isn't scalable should you need to go beyond your limit.

At the same time, there are pricing strategies you are free to implement, like free for the first 30 days, holiday and back-to-school sales, and the like.


Is it possible to have the auto display sleep less them a minute some how? In the System prefernces Energy Saver section you have "Display Sleep" option.

The minimum time is a minute. is it possible to tweak that some how to less then a minute?

Please don't add comments about good / bad idea... just the answer on the technical part.

This prints all power saving settings:
pmset -g

You will see that units are all in minutes (while '0' means 'never'):
man pmset

In other words, it is not possible.


Can a Yosemite extension enable itself without the user turning it on? I'm working on Yosemite Finder sync extension, and I need to know if I'm able to enable it by myself without forcing users to turn it on.

I've noticed that on start it writes message into log:

PM com.apple.preferences.extensions.remoteservice[2241]: ### com.MyHome.FinderExtension setting enabled:1

Can I turn it on manually somehow?

Thanks!

pluginkit -e use -i <com.XXX.plugin_bundle_id> installs the extension!


Two different Containers after factory reset? Macintosh HD & Macintosh HD Data? I wanted to start from scratch so I followed the guide that Apple has on their site. After rebooting and logging back in I saw that I have two different containers. Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD Data. Is there anyway to consolidate these into one? It says there's "Other Data" that's sitting at 22GB. No idea what that is and I'd love to clean up space on the Mac, that's why I wanted to restart from scratch.

For a Mac with a single internal drive, starting from scratch usually means erasing all partitions from the drive and creating a new GUID Partition Map with a hidden FAT32 formatted EFI partition and either a legacy Mac OS Extended (Journaled) formatted partition or a APFS container partition containing a single APFS formatted volume. The erase operation is usually performed by using the Disk Utility, but also can be performed by using the diskutil command.

Apparently, you either did not perform an any erase or erased a volume instead of the drive.

Once the drive is erased, a macOS can be installed. If required, any selected Mac OS Extended (Journaled) formatted partition will be automatically converted to APFS.
To show the drives in the Disk Utility window, select View>Show All Devices from the Disk Utility menu bar or press the key combination ⌘+2. Also from High Sierra, Mojave and  Catalina, you can select Show All Devices from the pulldown menu shown below.

For Big Sur, the pulldown menu appears as shown below.

When erasing, you should get a popup asking for name, format and scheme. Below is an example from Big Sur. For scheme, you should always choose GUID Partition Map.


Why can't I connect to the internet on my iPhone 4? I've just bought an iPhone 4 and I want to connect to the internet but I can't do so.

Do I need an apple id to use an iPhone?

Definitely I've contacted my dataplan service and they are saying I should be able to connect to the internet now. But i can't!

I've waited over 3 weeks but still no internet. These are the messages i get from 1627:

  May 8, 2011 5:33 PM

  Dear Valued Customer, your GSM Mi
  World Mobile service has been
  activated as requested.

  Dear Valued Customer, your GSM Mi
  World Mobile service has been
  activated as requested.

  May 16, 2011 1:08 PM

  Thank you for re-contracting your M1
  line with IPHONE 4, 16GB, WHITE.
  Please call us at 1627 immediately if
  you did not subscribe to M1
  service(s).

I'm thinking there's something I need to do in settings but I don't know what.. Right now if i open safari it just won't connect.

No - you only need a correctly provisioned data plan and working iPhone software. There isn't much that you can mis-configure unless you jailbreak or start mucking with custom iPhone carrier settings profiles.

iPhone data can break or be misconfigured on the carrier end - even if SMS and voice calls work, there can still be a problem with the data service so you may need to get help from your carrier that is providing your data access. It could also be a software issue and Apple is the best place to get that sorted.

Your question is basically how do I systematically troubleshoot iPhone data and/or teach myself how to operate my new phone. (no offense, but it's hard to determine from a one sentence question what your level of comfort is with iPhone data terms and how it may break.)

You might want to get some help from Apple or the carrier since the internet works as long as you are in working Wifi or your data plan is active on the iPhone. Troubleshooting an issue by back and forth on a discussion board is very hard so it's best to get real-time assistance when you are sitting in front of your computer to update the software if needed.

http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/ has some great getting started tips if you want to work through it yourself.

Specifically http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1976 documents the concepts and has an express lane link to get support directly from Apple to narrow down the cause - if 3G is showing in the menu bar it's not some obvious error or switch but something obscure or a carrier issue.


Get AppleScript Path of Parent Folder I am writing an AppleScript that will be run from a USB drive, but the dive name may change often so I need to figure out how to get the directory path of the parent folder that contains the script.

This gets me the entire directory with directory to the file, I need the directory of its parent folder:

set pPath to path to me as text
display dialog pPath

I came across this (which is what I need), but I need an AppleScript path, not a POSIX path!

set pPath to POSIX path of ((path to me as text) & "::")
display dialog pPath

When the script is run it should detect the directory path to the script, the first example of code does this, but it then needs to go up one folder to the parent folder which contains the script (the second example does this) but I need it converted from the POSIX path to Applescript path that uses ":" instead of "/".

AppleScript is written in English. Read what it says! Remove the posix path of from the code, and you'll get the HFS path.

Full code:

tell application "Finder" to get (container of (path to me)) as text


iMac display wakes up even when no one is using it I have my iMac set to set the display to sleep after 15 minutes. I notice at night that, even when no one is touching the computer, the display will come on for a while and then to go back to sleep after it's usually set time (10 minutes).
Is there any way to find out what's waking it up? Or even better, to force it to keep the display asleep?

Try this in your Terminal:

syslog |grep -i "Wake reason"

Then you'll get something like:

Sat Sep 08 09:28:12 MacBookPro kernel[0] : Wake reason = OHC1
Mon Sep 10 21:14:54 MacBookPro kernel[0] : Wake reason = PWRB
...

Depending on the text after the =-sign, you have the reason why your Mac went to sleep. And it can have multiple causes:

OHC: some USB device. If you see OHC1 or OHC2, it's very likely a USB keyboard or mouse has woken up your iMac.
EHC: USB interface too, but if you see this, it will likely be a wireless device.
USB: another USB device (drive, printer,...)
PWRB: If your powerbutton gets pressed (very unlikely)
RTC: a scheduled wake-up (energy saver, backups, iCal events,...)

I hope your item is in this list :)


Can you copy location metadata from one photo to another in iPhoto? Some of my imported pictures don't have location data on them because they were created using apps like Diptic. I'd like to tag them with them location data but the 'Assign a place...' search dialog in iPhoto is doing a poor job of finding the location the photos were taken.

I have pictures in my iPhoto library that have the exact location information that I'd like to assign to these location-free photos.

Is it possible to copy just the location metadata from some pictures to others?

Yes, it's very simple.

Select the photo you want to copy the location data from and hit CMD+C to copy
Right click the photo you wish to paste the location
Select 'Paste Location' from the contextual menu.

Also you can check out http://thedigitalstory.com/2009/04/copy_and_paste_geoda.html for a pictorial guide.


My iCloud account name and AirDrop name do not match I use my Apple ID on both a MacBook Pro (for work) and an iMac (at home). Here is the screenshot of my ID in System Preferences on my MBP.

It looks fine.

However my son at home had done a certain thing on the iMac with the ID and this problem appears:

In AirDrop on other Mac PCs, I see the following:

The user name is somehow changed to my son's name.

I have tried

1) login/logout of the iCloud account

2) resetting the profile picture.

But it was unable to reset the name. Everything else seems ok - I can AirDrop files to and from the iMac without a problem.

How can I fix this issue? Where does AirDrop pick up the name other than from my iCloud settings?

Try opening Sharing under System Preferences, then change the name there. It should change your AirDrop name.


Stuck in endless macOS Sierra installation loop I am a long time Apple Mac user since the 1990s, and I have never come across this sort of ridiculous behaviour before.

Yesterday I decided to reinstall macOS Sierra on my iMac. I followed these steps:

I used Command-R to boot into macOS Recovery.
I selected Disk Utility from the macOS Utilities window.
I opted to erase the HD with a 2 pass secure erase. This was successful.
I quit Disk Utility.
I selected Reinstall macOS from the macOS Utilities window.
I clicked continue when it told me to click ‘continue’ to set up the installation.
I clicked continue again when it told me to click ‘continue’ to download and restore macOS
And now I’m back at Step 6 again and get stuck in a loop between steps 6 & 7.

I have tried the above steps again today with the exact same result. Below is a visual representation of this madness:

Also, clicking on 'continue' instantly displays the next/previous screen - there is no indication that anything else is happening - not even the apparent eligibility check.

How do I get out of this looping hell?

I did read installation stuck in a loop due to damaged HD and Mac OS X Sierra installation stuck in a reboot loop but neither is about the same looping scenario as I find myself in.

This is the type of UX pain that really irks me, and very unlike Apple.

Since you're a long time Mac user I'm going to assume you have access to another Mac, so my suggestion would be to try reinstalling a fresh version of macOS Sierra via a USB installer.

Follow the steps below:

On another Mac, download the macOS Sierra installer via the Mac App Store
After its downloaded, the installer will launch automatically. When it does, quit the installer.
Grab a USB flash drive of at least 8GB in size
Connect the USB flash drive to the same Mac
Rename the flash drive to Untitled
Launch the Terminal app
Now enter the following command into Terminal. It may be best to just copy it from here (try triple-clicking) and paste it in.

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app
You will be prompted to enter your user password. Enter it now and press return (note that you won’t see the cursor move or display any of the characters you enter)
At the next prompt (about erasing your drive) press the Y key
Wait for your USB flash drive to be erased (you’ll see the progress via % values appearing within the Terminal window)
Once the erasure is complete, you will see a prompt that files are being copied to the disk. This may take a while, so be patient.
Eventually the copy process will be over and you should see a Done message in Terminal. You can now quit Terminal.
Eject the USB flash drive and now connect it to your iMac (the one you want to reinstall macOS Sierra on)
Startup the iMac holding down the option key
Select the USB flash drive you created from the list of drives and press enter

You should now be able to boot from the USB drive and install macOS Sierra from there.

Let me know if you have any questions.


How do I take a screenshot and paste it in a file? I am trying to follow these instructions but not succeeding in what they are supposed to instruct.  Can somebody please shed light on how to do this?

⌘ cmd + ⇧ shift + 3 will screenshot the entire screen and save it to your desktop. (You should hear a camera sound when you do this.)
⌘ cmd + ⇧ shift + 4 will give you crosshairs to use to select an area for copying. Move the crosshairs to the location that you want to copy and click the upper left, dragging the crosshairs to the lower right of the area you want. When you release, you will hear the same camera sound, and the screenshot will save to your desktop.

Also, ⌘ cmd + ⇧ shift + 4, then Space, then clicking any window will save that window to a screenshot.

To change the location of the saved screenshot, launch Terminal and use the following command:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location /path/ && killall -HUP SystemUIServer

Make sure you change /path/ to be the location where you want your screenshots to go.


Pages: Can I create text variables like in inDesign? I've found Pages simply great and very useful on making documents for idendity scopes, very lighter and faster than InDesign for medium-small documents.

The only thing I missing inside it are the text variables.
Well, this is the name used in InDesign, I'm talking about the creation of text pieces, inserted inside the text areas, this is very useful, if you need redundant informations, like client name and project name.

Does it exist in Pages?

Sure, at least with the new version of Pages this is possible by using tables. You enter the value that you want to repeat into one (single field) table and you add a formula into the other (single field) table by entering = and then clicking into the source table (the first one). The result is a formula similar to this:

= Table 1::A1

This way the content of field A1 in table 1 is shown / repeated in table 2.

However, this does not work inline - only for full lines / paragraphs.

But if you want the same information (e.g. the document title) to be shown on each page or on several places in the document, this will do the trick.


Set up iCloud Keychain without phone? Is it possible to set up iCloud Keychain without a mobile phone? If it is possible then how can I do it?

On your Mac:

Open System Preferences > iCloud
Check the box next to "Keychain"

On an iPad:

Settings > iCloud > Turn Keychain On

If you don't have any phone that can receive SMS it looks like you will need to call Apple Support to activate iCloud Keychain.


How do i remove the jailbreak on my stolen iPhone 5c? I had my iPhone stolen earlier today. I went through the steps of trying to find it using Find My Phone, etc.

I ended up getting my phone back miraculously through a system of Find My Phone and just my own personal investigation, but when I got it back it seems to be different. All my apps are gone, and I'm not sure if this was part of the Wipe My Phone I did but there is also Cydia and Pingu installed on my iPhone. I'm pretty sure those involve jailbroken iPhones.

My question: is my iPhone jailbroken, and what steps do I go through to reverse that? I don't want a jailbroken iPhone.

Cydia is installed when the iPhone is jailbroken. iOS 8 Pangu Jailbreak installs the Pangu app during the jailbreak process. So the answer to your question is Yes, the iPhone is jailbroken.

How to remove the jailbreak from your iPhone

Connect your phone to iTunes
Do a factory reset
Restore back to the most recent iPhone backup

Following the above steps can restore the iPhone to factory condition and restore back to the recent backup through iTunes.


Alias to folder on external hard drive disappears from sidebar when the hard drive is ejected I've made an alias to a folder on my external hard drive and added it to Finder's sidebar. Whenever I eject the external hard drive the newly added item to the sidebar disappears and doesn't reappear when the hard drive is plugged back in. I want it to disappear when the external hard drive isn't connected and REAPPEAR when the external hard drive IS connected. How can this be done? Thanks!

Try creating an alias on the desktop or a folder, and then either copying that or creating an alias to it in Finder's sidebar (that is, an alias to an alias).


Facebook app not working I have an iPod touch. The Facebook application was working fine until three days ago. When I start the Facebook app, it shuts down immediately. I tried restarting the phone but it's the same. I tried deleting the app and reinstalling, but it will not allow me to reinstall stating the app requires iOS 4.3.
How can I make this work? Why would it have all of a sudden stopped working?

Did you sync your iPod Touch with iTunes recently? An iOS device won't download newer versions of an app if they can no longer run on your current iOS version, but iTunes doesn't stick to that rule. So if the Facebook app was updated in iTunes, and then you synced with your iPod Touch, it may have been updated to a version that it can't run, hence the immediate quitting.

You can verify this by going to Settings → General → Usage and tap on the app under the storage setting. You'll see a version number, and you can Google that to see if you have a version that supports old iOS or not.


Wi-Fi connection randomly disconnects on 2012 MacBook Air My 2012 MacBook Air has problems with Wi-Fi – random disconnections, every few minutes.

The problems occurred with Lion, and persist after an upgrade to Mountain Lion.

It seems the Wi-Fi drops occur more often when I walk with the MacBook Air, or when I have it on my lap. With it on a table, the connection drops much less often.

After the network connection drops, I have to click the name of my network in the list again – the system does not reconnect automatically.

Things I tried include:

testing other computers on the same network (all computers work fine)
using the MacBook Air with a network in a different country (the same problem occurs)
a new network location
changing the MTU value for the Wi-Fi chip
replacement of the Wi-Fi chip (no improvement)
a fixed IP instead of DHCP
re-installing OS X
Windows on the MacBook Air - Wi-Fi works fine.
Using other Wi-Fi channels (both fixed and auto-channel-mode)

I have contacted Apple Support five times but it seems they can't or don't want to help me (they promised to 'look into it' but I haven't heard a thing in three weeks).

Anyone any other ideas? I'm getting desperate – since I got my MacBook Air three months ago I haven't used it a single time without Wi-Fi dropping.

This is a topic I have followed online and in "real life" for several months. Anecdotally, Apple seems to have a wifi problem with the 2012 MacBookAir. I have no firm figures concerning how widespread this situation is, but I know of two other MacBook Air laptops that have displayed this issue:

the MBA I purchased in hopes that I could use it attached to a
projector as the remote end of a video presentation at a conference I
had to miss for health reasons. I returned the computer one week
later after investing ten or so hours trying to fix dropping WiFi
connections.
my oldest daughter's 2012 12" MBA that she still has and is now connecting more reliably, close to 95%+

The resulting story is long, but reading the full adventure might help to open your eyes to the minutiae that helped me resolve her WiFi nightmare.

Shortly after purchasing the MBA for my daughter, she started complaining of wifi drops, initially at home and then she began experiencing drops everywhere--but not at my office where my AirPort Extreme literally sits on a shelf, three feet above my head. My initial thought focused on signal strength and distance from the router. While attending college she lives at my parents' home. The walls are lathe and plaster and the WiFi access point was at the opposite side of the house. I don't remember the brand, but it could have been a Linksys or DLink, and was only a 2.4GHz wireless-G unit.

While working with my daughter, I started some online research, including Apple Discussion boards. When I saw how many posts and complaints floated around the internet, and how few people had positive response from Genius Bar denizens, I figured that I would need strong documentation if I was going to get anywhere with them.

I worked to document and remedy connection stability on two fronts.

If you'd rather cut to The Chase and skip the steps that expanded my understanding of the issue, scroll down to the end of my post.

Tracking and replicating problems with her computer

Apple includes WiFi Diagnostics with OS X. Select Open WiFi Diagnostics from the WiFi menu while holding the OPTION key.
Don't worry about the three options on the main app screen, but first select Wi-Fi Scan from the View menu.

The channel, width, band, signal and noise are all listed.
You want the least competition for channels. Change that at the router if needed.
Signal and Noise are affected by interference from walls, electrical wiring and other environmental issues.

The larger the gap between the signal and noise represents a better connection.

Much of this information is available on the WiFi menu if you hold the OPTION key while clicking on the menu.
You can get a visual ticker tape for signal/noise by selecting Performance in the Network Utilities window.

Keep a log of approximate time/date, RSSI (signal strength), transmit rate and any important events.

Don't worry about keeping this log religiously.
Make a note any time you experience a noticeable change in WiFi speed.
Note the times you reset the WiFi router.
Every time you have a WiFi drop, be sure to note the event and the signal strength and rate.
More than dates and strengths, look for patterns.

At home, WIFI dropped
Logged out and back in
Walked from room
Connected to the DSL WiFi router at dad's house and dropped.
Rebooted laptop
Laptop on table
Lots if static from wind
At library, no WIFI drops
Just rebooted router
At dad's and connected to the Time Capsule. Not dropped.
At hardware store, WIFI dropped

Note any errors the MBA displays.

Unexpected WiFi timeout

If all else fails, you have something to take with you to the Genius Bar or discuss with Apple support that has stronger documentation than "The damn thing doesn't work!"
I also attempted to replicate the WiFi problems with my early-2009 17" MacBook Pro. My laptop remained connected every time we were together and hers dropped the WiFi.

Tracking and replicating problems with the router

General router information...

What make/model is your wireless router?
How old is it?
Are you connecting using 2.4GHz, 5GHz or both?

General site description...

How far away is the router from where you use your MBA?

Create a wireless site survey with NetSpot

It's a free download from the Mac App Store.
Use the program to draw out a map of where you use your computer (home, office, etc.) including all the interior walls between you and the router.
You walk around the site, using NetSpot to capture signal strength, noise and other information.
Post a capture of the results and I'll be happy to help see what might help.

Generally, you'll have better connectivity closer to the router. If you have a clear line of sight to the router, you should have a good signal.

I know my daughter got sick and tired of having WiFi drop, rebooting the router and/or her MBA.

How I finally made things better

I ended up controlling the two variables I could directly manipulate: signal strength and age of WiFi router. In the end, my solution improved internet connectivity throughout my parents' home, benefitting everyone.

I started out replacing the router with another older, non-Apple one I had sitting around my office, possibly an old AirLink. No positive affect. Then I replaced it with a third slightly-newer, non-Apple router. Again, no change. In order to re-connect after a drop, my daughter would walk to the other side of the house and reboot the router every time there was a wireless drop.

I brought a 30' length of CAT-5 from the office so I could position the various router closer to her bedroom. WiFi signal strength and overall quality improved, but she still experienced the drops three or four times a day. I think she would have been happy at this point, but the problem had become personal with me.

As I analyzed everything, I decided to introduce the one element she had not experienced from my office into my daughter's home:

I snagged an AirPort Express from my shop and reconfigured it for her
local network. It replaced the older, non-Apple router that was
there. Unbeknownst to me, we had the AirPort Express plugged into
a power outlet shared with a lamp that was controlled by a wall
switch. My daughter switched off the light when she would leave for
college, and also the router. Quality improved once again, with
signal drops once or twice a day. My parents were starting to get
annoyed by a twisty blue wire running through their home.
We changed the outlet to one with permanent power and after a couple
of days the signal stabilized and seemed to finally start running
properly. However, my parents were still annoyed by the twisty blue
wire running through their home. I figured I was close enough to a
stable solution that I invested some money in hopes of staunching the
flow of time and phone calls at all hours of the night. Money became
less important than sleep.
I installed a AirPort Extreme where the DSL modem is located at the
far end of my parents' house, in my dad's office. The Extreme bathes
the office with multichannel 5GHz goodness that links between 300MBs
and 450MBs. This one access point covers that half of the house with
2.4GHz coverage and 150MBs to 270MBs connectivity.
I dragged a CAT6 cable through the hot and dusty attic to a location
near my daughter's bedroom, near the other end of the house. I
attached an AirPort Express at this end which provides a near mirror
of the Extreme.
I bound the 5GHz and 2.4GHz into a single SSID/Network name.
I enabled the Express to extend the Extreme's wireless network,
connecting the two access points for passwords and transparent
passing from one access point to the other as one moves throughout
the house.
Both the AirPorts are powered and connected to the DSL modem 24/7.
While I was at it, I enabled a guest network with a separate
password.

The Chase

I think the 2012 MacBook Air WiFi issue might be because Apple has integrated Intel's more aggressive power-saving modes into the laptop. In a drive to maximize battery life, these new low-power modes change how (and how often) the laptop communicates with the wireless access point.

Apple introduces Intel's deep power states as Power Nap on their latest equipment.
From what I've been able to read on OEMs implementing the new lower
power modes (and we'll group Apple in as just another OEMs), Intel needs
greater control of the various components on the motherboard and has met resistance.
The price-sensitive business model that drives the Windows world
forces most OEMs to include the lowest-cost subsystems, not
necessarily the latest technology.
Since Apple does not play in the race to the bottom with prices and
profitability, the company often offers newer technology in their
products.
Apple is pushing the limits of throughput vs power consumption with
the 2012 MBA's WiFi subsystems. My 2009 MBP keeps the WiFi powered on
at all times so will never see the problem introduced when mixing an
older router with a newer laptop.
Older routers would see an IP address turning themselves off at
random times...  which then would drop the connection.
The 2012 MBA expects wireless access points to provide a longer time duration
before releasing a connection.
I found timeout durations in all the older routers' HTML-based
configuration systems, but could not make a change to any of them
from the default values.
When a system that has powered down the WiFi subsystem (even though
the user believes they are still working merrily right along) needs
to ping the Internet, the MBA powers up the "sleeping" WiFi
subsystem, only to discover the wireless access point has terminated
their connection.

Yes, this is a long-winded and overly-detailed story. I spent several hours this afternoon thinking through each element of the plot as I typed the events, and I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit I completely rewrote the ending because of thoughts developed and linked with random memories that I hadn't seen as possibly being interrelated.

There are many times that my quick, three line answer does not allow me the time to "think with my fingers". Instead of resolving an issue I sloppily (and possibly expensively) slapped a band-aid on the owie.

I resolved the dropped network issue by replacing the "antiquated" WiFi router with a "modern" one. I just happened to select one manufactured by Apple.
Either

increase the time an older router will keep an inactive connection
alive before timeout (which may not be changeable in any given older
router), or
replace it with one that supports Intel's newer power-saving states.


How to copy many emails to a specific folder rather than copy/paste the contents of each message? I'm trying to create a project folder for some woodworking I will be doing over the next few weeks. Among the first items into this folder is a collection of ~25 emails containing photos and measurements of components on a similar project.

Is there a quick way to copy each of these emails to a specific folder rather than copy/paste'ing the contents of each one?

If the photos and measurements are attachments you could use Automator to download the selected messages to a folder.

Edit: I wrote this AppleScript that will download the message and the attachments for all the selected emails in Mail. Make a new folder in your home directory called Emails and run the following code in AppleScript Editor.

NOTE: Make sure the Emails folder is empty. There may be problems if there are items in it already.

tell application "Mail"
    set the_messages to selection
    repeat with this_message in the_messages
        set message_subject to subject of this_message
        set message_body to content of this_message
        set download_path to "~/Emails/\"" & message_subject & "\""
        set save_path to (POSIX path of ("/Users/" & (short user name of (system info)) & "/Emails/" & message_subject & "/"))

        (* create a directory for the message and attachements *)
        do shell script "mkdir -p " & download_path

        (* save message body into a file *)
        do shell script "echo \"" & message_body & "\" > " & download_path & "/message.txt"

        (* save the attachments *)
        repeat with the_attachment in this_message's mail attachments
            save the_attachment in save_path & ":" & (name of the_attachment)
        end repeat
    end repeat
end tell


How to insert pages document to another pages document? I am using Mavericks, and Pages 5.1. I have created two .pages documents. Now, all I want is to attach one .pages document to another. In windows I could simply drag and drop or copy and paste both would have worked. But in Mac when I  :

Press command + c then command + v, it pastes the files name instead of the file.
Drag and Drop doesn't work at all.
Menu > Insert > Choose . Here all files looks disabled. I can attach a .mov file but no other files, be it .pages , .numbers , .csv  etc.

How do we insert one pages document to another pages document?

Create a folder paste the two files into it. Now hyperlink the two files by opening the document (whichever you are trying to add a link in) then click inspector after you have the text you want to hyperlink, for the hyperlink URL, try the following.

    Insert other pages document name here.pages

Now close the document and save all changes.
Right click the folder and compress it, then email the compressed folder to the person you are trying to send this to.


Reconfigure Thunderbolt DisplayPort Monitor Ordering I have 2x Dell U2412M monitors connected via Thunderbolt/Mini-DisplayPort. Even when I swap the ports connecting to the Mac, the monitors keep their #1 and #2 designations.

My physical monitor plan: Macbook Pro, Dell #1, Dell #2.

Software ordering in OS X: Macbook Pro, Dell #2, Dell #1.

Is there a way to get OS X to change the order of recognition for these monitors so that I don't have to physically swap their positions on my desk?

Edit: More specifically, I want the order of the IDs to be swapped. They get registered with the system as #1 and #2, and I want that to be swapped because it has an impact on directing windows to monitors, particularly with VirtualBox. I don't merely want to "arrange them".

System Prefs > Displays > Arrangement.

Drag one monitor over the other to the opposite side, then move the Menu bar to whichever monitor you prefer.

The actual screen is given a large red outline as well as the representation in the control panel as you drag, so you're certain which one is which.

BTW, that tenacious holding onto which display is which is a whole lot better than it used to be, where it would randomly decide 2 identical screens were the opposite way round on occasions - back in 10.6 & before.


What happens with your apps if you restore from iTunes backup? It is my understanding that restoring from iCloud causes apps to re-download automatically. If, however, I backup to iTunes, and iTunes does not have copies of my apps in the library, and I need to restore the device, what happens to the apps? My guess of what the desired operation should be is that the iTunes backup tells the device which apps it should have, and the device could then start automatically downloading them from the app store, organized the way they used to be and all (with the hopes being you have enough bandwidth for 5GB of app downloads). Is that how it works?

And is there any way to backup apps from the device to iTunes to avoid the bandwidth issue?

Indeed: restoring from an iCloud backup works the same way as restoring from an iTunes backup and all of your apps will automatically redownload.


Why can't Mail.app send email on Lion? My mail account (OS X Lion) refuses to send email. It receives mail fine and I have checked and rechecked all the settings etc. My iPhone and iPad send and receive mail with no problems, using the same settings, the same network, and the same accounts.

Any ideas why this is happening?

My grandmother's computer had the same issue. After trying a bunch of stuff, I ended up deleting the IMAP account and re-added it and everything works fine now.

As commented, you could also use the connection doctor (search for it in help if you can't find it under the menu structure for Mail) and see that all of the servers and passwords are set up correctly. Often an old setting can go stale or the preference file could get corrupt and need a new password to be stored for the sending side of email.


I have this screen bug that comes and goes, is there any way to fix it? It is sort of like a static wave that goes across my screen for a second then goes away. It is rather annoying it comes once every 5 minutes i'd say.

2010 macbook pro 15" 4gb-ram NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 512 MB Intel i7 and OSX 10.9.

What is the course of action to stop this?

Thank You

Oddly enough that could be environmental.

In brief there could be some kind of electrical (or electromagnetic) signal that is interfering with the circuits in your Mac. It is not uncommon but usually manifests itself in something that happens all the time or only when a train (or whatever) goes by.

If it is indeed environmental (and there is no guarantee that it is) then often just re-orienting the laptop (tilt the screen at a different angle, turn the computer to face another direction, etc.) might help. Failing that moving it to another room or another location in the room that it is in.

As it is a laptop, take it outside, like to a park, far away from electrical lines and see if the issue repeats. Or try your favorite coffee shop with wifi.

If you can do any of this while the static is happening, even better as you will get immediate feedback.

Failing all of that it may be time for a visit to an Apple Genius to have them diagnose the hardware.


iPhone 4S Message Display Format Is there a way to display sent/received iMessages in a vertical format rather than the current left/right bubble formate?

No. This is not something that is built into iOS.

There may be an option if you were to jailbreak your phone.


Does a Magic Trackpad have a button? Does a Magic Trackpad have a button, as opposed to just being a trackpad? I am not sure if this even makes sense, so let me know if I need to clarify.

Yes, it has two physical buttons on the edge lacking the battery tray. The two rubber feet on the bottom-front of the trackpad press against  internal switches.

For these to activate, you have to use it on a hard surface. The software tap-to-click that senses your finger pad deforming as it taps the immovable glass surface also will trigger a tap independently from the physical buttons.


What happens when MDM vendor certificate expires? There is no way to renew the MDM vendor certificate,you just have to create a new one.
After I create a new one, the devices have to be re-enrolled.
Is there a way I can avoid re-enrollment of devices?
I want to know what happens to the enrolled devices when the MDM vendor certificate expires?

If APNS certificate expires you have to enroll the devices. APNS certificates are valid only for an year.

Here is how you can renew APNS .

https://www.hexnode.com/mobile-device-management/help/renew-apns-certificate/


Can I lock my notes with my OS X device? With the most recent iOS update, Apple gave users the power to lock notes on their iOS device. Is this feature also available on OS X after the 10.11.4 update, and, if so, how do I use it? Or do I need to use my iOS device to lock my Notes?

There's a padlock icon on the toolbar of the Notes.app. You lock your note by clicking on it.


Does Find My iPhone still work with a SIM block? My iPhone was stolen this morning. I've had the SIM, but not the IMEI blocked.

It was turned off immediately by the thief. I'm hoping that, as it's got the iOS 7 beta, they'll be unable to crack it and confused, and might turn it on. Will Find my iPhone still work if the SIM is blocked?

The network support guys assured me it works on a lower level than standard 3G internet access. Is this the case?

In the limited sense that Find My Phone needs a data connection, blocking the 3G (or whatever G) data connection via the carrier would prevent a remote erase / location while the device is outside Wireless range of a known hotspot.

Find My iPhone relies on a connection to the Internet, through any medium. Wi-Fi, cellular or cans with bits of string. If the thief connects it to the Internet, then it should be picked up by Find My iPhone, even if they don’t connect it via 3G.

If the thief turns the device on and connects it to the Internet, Find My iPhone will kick in.

You can check with Apple whether your Find My Phone enrollment should prevent activation of the device if they restore it to factory settings. Anyone running the publicly released iOS 7 version would not need to block the SIM as the activation lock would prevent removing the Find My Friends association by preventing an erase / restore cycle.

Finally, the cell company still could locate the device by their cell towers whether the IMEI/SIM is blocked or not.


How do I stop Messages from my iPhone 6s from appearing on my Mac? How do I prevent messages from my iPhone 6s from appearing on my MacBook? I’ve tried everything obvious and various solution that haven’t worked.

My MacBook is running macOS Sierra.

On your MacBook, open Messages, then go into the menu bar Messages → Preferences → Accounts. Select your account labeled iMessage, and under Settings, either uncheck Enable this account or click Sign Out. You could also uncheck your phone number and every email address under You can be reached for messages at.

This will stop your Mac from being able to both send and receive iMessages. If you had Text Message Forwarding enabled for your Mac, this will stop it also.


win7 on macbook pro: is it safe to delete osx partition? I've installed win7 on mbp using bootcamp by creating additional partition - so now I have 2 partitions (win and osx)
My question is: will win7 boot normally if I delete osx partition from windows (using tools like Acronis Disk Director) ?

picture of my partitions from win:

answering to myself: yes it is safe
source: own experience


Looking for crossplatform solution to sharing sensitive files Is there a cross platform solution similar to a volume like with some DMG application installers when double clicked, they open with a prompt which pops up and asks if you agree with the terms or license before allowing you to open or access the contents of the volume.

I would like to be able to do something similar with personal sensitive files I intend to share, I want to require that recipients agree to conditions before being able to view/ access the files. As I understand it DMG only works on macs though (with no additional specialized software installed).

Readmes are usually ignored by most people, if they didn't read it, they don't have to accept the agreement. That's why I'm looking for a more in-your-face solution for confidential files, say, I was an attorney or lawyer (I am not), I would not want a terms of use to be contested just because it was easy to miss. I want to be able to be able to use a compressible archive. Encryption is desirable, but not always with a pass code. I would like an option of merely accepting the agreement as the trigger / key to decrypt the volume or archive.

Lastly, I do want this to be portable, I send stuff through email attachments, wetransfer.com, dropbox etc.

Create a password secured zip archive of your sensitive contents.

Create a terms of use simpletext file or optionally a pdf version with the same text as these will be easily readable on just about any system.

An overly simple example:

"if you disagree with these terms of use, close this zip/image archive and securely delete zip/image archive immediately"

or

"if you agree, use _ passcode to unlock _ zip/image archive"

Create and place the password protected zip file and the terms of use plain text and/or pdf documents into an unsecured zip file.

The user that opens the content would not be able to miss the terms of use before opening the sensitive content.

If you're scratching your head. we are leveraging nesting as a technique to ensure users have read and accepted the terms of use before accessing the contents. Here's a picture of and a link to the Wikipedia article on Matryoshka Dolls to better visualize how this works.


Can Adobe Photoshop Elements 2020 app in the App store construct and print multi month wall calendars? I have an iMac ( 2017 ) running Catalina 10.15. A year and half ago when I was running Mojave I purchased Adobe photoshop Elements 2019 directly from Adobe . The program was very glitchy but did function after a fashion.

When I upgraded to Catalina, Elements got even worse and the only solution Adobe wanted to offer was to get me to pay more money and then to continue to do so.  When I bought Elements 2019 it was not available in the App store and now it is.

My question is this: is the ability to design and print the multipage wall calendars that are part of the Adobe purchased app, still available in the App store version?

Any version of photoshop can be used to print wall calendars. I would probably use Illustrator or another tool, but since you can subscribe to these for a month by month basis - it should be easy for you to decide if it’s worth it or you use a different app.

There’s also a free trial of elements if you want to avoid the full CC apps and go with something you license at fixed cost.

https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements.html

Since so few Adobe apps are on the MAS, you might be happier getting it direct from them.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/purchases-mac-app-store-faq.html


My volume is greyed out with a (/) on it I am running Mac OS X 10.6.8.

The output of sudo killall coreaudiod and sudo osascript -e "set Volume 5":

Last login: Fri Nov 25 09:13:21 on ttys000
Daniel-Jensens-MacBook:~ danieljensen$ sudo killall coreaudiod
Daniel-Jensens-MacBook:~ danieljensen$ sudo osascript -e "set Volume 5"
2016-11-25 09:14:30.662 osascript[173:e07] Error loading /Library/ScriptingAdditions/Adobe Unit Types.osax/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Unit Types:  dlopen(/Library/ScriptingAdditions/Adobe Unit Types.osax/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Unit Types, 262): no suitable image found.  Did find:
    /Library/ScriptingAdditions/Adobe Unit Types.osax/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Unit Types: no matching architecture in universal wrapper
osascript: OpenScripting.framework - scripting addition "/Library/ScriptingAdditions/Adobe Unit Types.osax" declares no loadable handlers.

‘Optical digital-out port’ shown in System Preferences indicates that the computer believes something is plugged in to the audio out on your computer. Try plugging in headphones then disconnecting them, or otherwise clean the port.