Can a logged in user restore its ~/Library folder from a Time Machine backup made with a previous version of the OS? The full story: I have a clone of my old MBP drive which had Yosemite installed. I now have a new MBP with macOS Sierra on it. I tried to transfer the data from my old Mac to the new one using Migration Assistant, but it froze while importing the Applications. I also tried importing just my user account, but it was so slow that I cancelled the procedure, and decided to use Carbon Copy Cloner to finish the work. CCC had problems with permissions on some folders in my ~/Library folder however, and it did not seem to succeed importing everything. Now, my question is three-fold:

Will I have more luck if I restore my ~/Library folder from a Time Machine backup? Or will it also have the same permission problems?
My Time Machine backup is from a Yosemite installation. If I restore my ~/Library folder from that backup on a macOS Sierra machine, will I run into troubles? I am thinking about settings that might be specific to macOS Sierra here that I would be loosing by overwriting my ~/Library folder.
Will it work to restore my ~/Library folder from Time Machine while I am logged in? I mean, won't some of these files be in use and impossible to overwrite?

Have you done anything on the Sierra install that you wouldn't want overwritten? I've never tried restoring between different versions myself, but my guess is that it wouldn't be an issue—it'd just upgrade everything it needed to when you next logged in.

As for doing it while you are logged in—I wouldn't try it. I would either log in under a different administrator account, if you have one (but this might result in permissions problems), or log out, then borrow someone else's machine and log in over SSH. That way you won't have background processes writing stuff to your Library folder as you're trying to copy it.

This is for Time Machine. It may not restore everything—see below!

Borrow a friend's Mac (sorry, but Windows machines won't work) and open Terminal.

If your backup drive is locked:

Connect your backup drive and unlock it if necessary.
Open Terminal.
See below, starting with the ssh command, and replace ~/Library with /Volumes/disk/Backups.backupdb/machine-name/Latest/Macintosh\ HD/Users/user/Library where disk is the name of the backup disk, machine-name is the name of the old machine, and user is your username, as in the SSH command. Any spaces will have to be preceded with backslashes, as with "Macintosh\ HD". You can hit Tab while typing a path segment and it will autocomplete it for you, including escaping things as necessary (the backslash thing). Stop before the chmod command, as you didn't do anything to your friend's Library folder and don't need to undo it. (Plus, if for some reason they wanted something in their Library folder to be read-only, they might get mad at you!)

If your backup drive is not locked (hopefully it is, but just in case):

Do the same thing as above, except connect the backup drive to the new machine (without logging in!) and remove the user@machine.local: bit from the transfer. Also do the transfer while still logged in to the remote machine. You can then also use ~ in place of /Users/user (but don't replace this with /Volumes/...). The above method works just fine, but this one is faster.

An important note!

I'm not completely sure about this, but Time Machine may not back up everything in ~/Library. If you find something missing and still have the old machine around, I would use that to transfer the files:

Boot up both machines and connect them to the same network. Do not log in on the new machine, or log out if you are logged in.
Log into the old machine, and open Terminal.
Type chmod -R -w ~/Library. This will prevent the old system from modifying the folder as you're copying it. From here on out, until you undo this with chmod -R +w ~/Library, preferences will not be saved. Some other things might not be saved either; it's just a good idea not to do any work on either machine while this is going on.
Type ssh user@machine.local, where user is your username on the new machine (the name of your home folder, not your full name), machine is your new machine name, and local is the TLD of your local network. It may be local (mine is), but may also be something else. It might say something to the effect of "authenticity cannot be verified", but if you're on a home network you probably don't have to worry about this. You'll need to enter your login password (for the new machine) when it asks you.

You are now logged in to the remote machine. Type mv ~/Library ~/.Trash/Library to trash the folder you're about to replace.

If you don't have enough disk space to keep the old version around, you can use rm -rv ~/Library instead. Be very careful with rm, however! It deletes files immediately, without asking for confirmation. I wouldn't recommend doing this unless absolutely necessary, as then you won't be able to restore if there's a problem.

Type ⌃D to log out of the remote system. If that doesn't work (although it should), use exit.

Type rsync -rlptgDEHP --stats ~/Library user@machine.local:/Users/user/Library, substituting as above. This is the actual copy; it will most likely take a very long time. If you need to stop, just hit ⌃C to cancel the transfer. When you pick up again, it will have to go through the "building file list" process all over again but the actual sending process should pick up where you left off.

You can add z to the -rlptgDEHP bit if you have a slow local network (which is kind of unlikely, but...). This will make rsync compress everything before sending it across the network, although it'll take time to compress it before sending it and decompress it at the other end.

After the transfer is complete and you've tested it to make sure nothing broke, type chmod -R +w ~/Library (on the local machine). This will make it writable again.

Edit: You should do this on the new machine as well, so you'll be able to save preferences and things there.

A small note about security (this shouldn't really matter at home, but it might elsewhere):

Rsync uses a remote-shell program for the transfer; if the remote-shell program isn't secure, I doubt the transfer would be. It should use SSH, which is secure, but according to the manual, it can be configured to use something else:

  For remote transfers, a modern rsync uses ssh for its communications, but it may have been configured to use a different remote shell by default, such as rsh or remsh.

  You can also specify any remote shell you like, either by using the -e command line option, or by setting the RSYNC_RSH environment variable.

So if you want to force it to use SSH, use RSYNC_RSH='ssh' rsync ...

This only matters for network connections; it doesn't matter with the "TM drive not locked" method, as SSH is definitely used there.


I can't upgrade my OS until I change my icloud drives settings I have an Apple 2011 laptop. I haven't done any recent updates and nor have I downloaded anything either. My computer needs to upgrade to the next OS but it is saying that a change has to be made to my iCloud settings before I can use my App Store. I have no idea what this could mean.

I tried upgrading my credit card info on my Apple account and rebooting the laptop, to no avail. I also deselected some of the items in iCloud, but to be really honest am less familiar with Macs than PCs.

What do I need to do so I can upgrade my Mac?

Apple provides free support for basic use of the Mac App Store and basic iCloud support, so I would start with them.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201541
https://support.apple.com/icloud

Once you have some expert help on narrowing down what specifically you need to change / opt in / enable on your iCloud / Apple ID - then you will be able to see what / why you can't use the Mac App Store to download a new update. You probably have a few bridges to cross so try to pick apart specific messages and error conditions or specific things you can't find online if you ask a follow on question here.


DYLD_PRINT_TO_FILE & sudoers Exploit: What are the markers in the sudoers file? I am concerned about the DYLD_PRINT_TO_FILE exploit in the sudoers file.

https://blog.malwarebytes.org/mac/2015/08/dyld_print_to_file-exploit-found-in-the-wild/

If I have my sudoers file open, what are the markers I should be looking for as a sign of infection? My sudoers file is actually quite small and too my (mostly untrained) eye, I don't see anything that would be a concern. But what are some examples of lines/variables that would indicate a problem?

Here's is the bottom half of my file, nothing there jumps out at me. Thoughts?

# User privilege specification
root    ALL=(ALL) ALL
%admin  ALL=(ALL) ALL

# Uncomment to allow people in group wheel to run all commands
# %wheel    ALL=(ALL) ALL

# Same thing without a password
# %wheel    ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

# Samples
# %users  ALL=/sbin/mount /cdrom,/sbin/umount /cdrom
# %users  localhost=/sbin/shutdown -h now

This is the infecting command:

echo 'echo "$(whoami) ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL" >&3' | DYLD_PRINT_TO_FILE=/etc/sudoers newgrp; sudo -s

This means, that you'll have line like:

USERNAME ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL

at the end of your sudoers file.

NOTE: USERNAME is your username in the system. It won't have hash tag # in front.


Messages with Adium or third party client Is it possible to use Messages (Apple iMessage) with Adium or any other third party client.

Judging by the list of supported services on
https://adium.im/help/pgs/Accounts-ListOfServices.html
it looks like the answer would be no.


Shortcut for mirroring touch bar I would like to see an emulated touchbar on my iMac.

I randomly pressed the shotcut for it, but I don't know, which it was and I couldn't find it one the internet either. Btw., I don't use an Apple keyboard, so i.e. the fn key is missing.

You can show the Touch Bar on your screen using Xcode by choosing Window → Show Touch Bar or shift-cmd-8.


How can i regain functionality with automatic downloads? they no longer work in either direction I cannot get applications I download on my iphone to appear on my ipad.  Nor vice versa.  I did not have this problem with my old devices so I know it worked at one time.
Is this feature restricted to "new" purchases?  AKA if i'm trying to re-download something I already purchased in the past, it wont auto download to other devices?
I have ensured everything is signed in on the same appleid and both devices have auto downloads and auto updates on. I have tried toggling it off and on. Both are connected to the same wifi network.  Both have been restarted and are on the newest version of ios.

New purchases download to all iOS devices, if configured so.  But an existing purchase does not download to iOS device #2 just because iOS device #1 installs it again after it has been removed.
It has always been so.


Creating a new file blocks Textmate When I want to create a new file through the button (left-bottom one) in the project drawer or in the file menu it takes a long time and blocks TextMate and even blocks TextMate totally in some cases.

I've installed the latest version of TextMate and installed all updates available for Mac OS X.

Anyone any idea what the problem is?

I just tested it with a couple of different massive projects on my MBP and it created a new file right away.

First guess would be perhaps a bundle or other plugin you've added is interfering with the program operation somehow. You could also try trashing your Textmate preferences file and restart the program to see if that helps (~/Library/Preferences/com.macromates.textmate.plist).


Musical typing stops working - Logic Pro X Sometimes (usually after having been working in Logic for an extended period of time) the musical typing keyboard stops working and instead of playing sounds, the keys trigger the functions that they do when the musical typing keyboard is not open (the sounds play if I press the on-screen keyboard with the mouse, the problem occurs when pressing the keys on my physical keyboard). If I restart Logic the problem goes away.

Anyone encountered this problem and know how to fix it without restarting Logic? I'm using Logic Pro X on OS X Yosemite 10.10.4.

I do have a software instrument track selected etc.

same issue - Logic Pro 10.3.1 on Mac OS 10.12.5

musical typing keyboard works as expected, and then becomes unresponsive after some period of time

restarting fixes the glitch and we would need to report this bug to Apple and/or update Logic to hope it gets fixed as a bug.


Long USB cable for iPad kiosk? Does Apple or anyone else sell iDevice cables that are several feet or several yards long? I'm making an iPad Kiosk and need to keep it powered.

I'd be even happier if someone could point me to a "smart" charger which knows when to stop charging and when to start again.

Yes.

Griffin makes a 10 ft USB dock cable and it is available in the Apple Store


Can I install Windows 7 on MBP's Expresscard 34 Wintec SSD? I have broken my issue into several parts hoping to make it easier to understand what I am trying to accomplish as well as what I have tried. Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated!

The Goal

Install and boot Windows 7 Professional on a new Wintec 48G SSD via Expresscard 34 slot.Can this be done, if so has it been done before?

Background

The rationale behind installing Windows on the SSD is that I do not plan on using it often (need to run Win-only software at times). With this being said, I have heartburn slicing off a 32 gig partition of my main HDD to install Windows on and not be used but once every 2-3 weeks. If I can get it installed on the Wintec, in theory, I could remove it when not in use to save battery life and leave the port open for other devices. It is worth noting that I plan on storing all important data on the internal HDD based on several reviews of the Wintec.

In the past, I have run virtual machines, but handful of the USB devices I use for work have not worked well (if at all). Also when running a VM, the speed of both the VM and OSX is greatly reduced including a crippled battery life. Because of these experiences, I am trying to stay clear of virtual machines for this particular build. On a side note on the virtual machines, I have seen a few examples of running a bootcamp partition using open source VM software. This would be the approach I would take if I went back to a VM.

While scouring the web, I have found lots of examples that the Wintec 48 gig is bootable with OSX (with much success from the looks of it). Over all, the most common way that I have seen to accomplish this is to use disk cloning software. This method works great for OSX, but I do not believe that it can be applied to the Windows 7 install.

I have managed to boot from / run the Windows 7 installer for both 64bit and 32bit versions. On both installers I have made it to the point of selecting the HDD to install to and receive an error message stating that the system cannot boot from this device (Wintec) and to check the BIOS settings. This makes perfect sense on a normal PC, but with the Mac not having a BIOS I have run out of ideas.

While trying to fix this problem, I have tried formatting the SSD in NTFS 3G, NTFS Compressed, NTFS,  FAT-32 and unused space.  The hope was to format the drive using Disk Utility and  have the Windows Installer format it to what Win 7 required.  After approximately 6 hours of testing, I have concluded that it was a losing battle and begun reaching out to the communities for help.

System Information

Hardware: MacBookPro4,1 (2008 non-unibody), 4G RAM, Expresscard 34 Wintec 48G SSD
Software: Running OSX 10.6.6.  Wish to install Windows 7 Pro (64 bit preferred)

I use Parallels to run Windows on my MacBook Pro 5,1

I boot from my SSD 64GB and have my Parallels image on the SSD.

It runs super fast! It takes 14 seconds to boot up Win 7.


Has my iPhone security been compromised? I just had something really concerning happen to my iPhone 6s (iOS 11.3.1, I update my apps everyday, not jailbroken).

I was on the YouTube app when the screen completely froze and the screen’s colors looked slightly off (specs of red and green, etc. Could still see the video, but it stopped playing).  My phone almost never freezes, and in particular it’s never had the screen issues I've just described.

Does this sound like my security might have been compromised? If so, what should I do, and are there any tips to keep my phone protected afterward?

No, that doesn't sound like a security problem. As far as I know, there's never been a compromise of an iPhone as recent as the 6S whose iOS version is kept up-to-date. It's more likely to be a hardware or software glitch.


Use Calendar to schedule work meetings I have noticed that when accepting a meeting arranged for my work, the default behaviour is that it gets added to my Home calendar, while I want it to be added automatically to the default Work calendar.

Is any way to configure the calendar to schedule to a specific calendar the invitations from a certain person, or even better, a certain email domain?

Using menu item "Calendar" -> "Preferences" -> "General" you can use the pulldown menu for "Default Calendar" to select Work, which should stop new events from showing up in Home.

I don't know how to get it to select the appropriate calendar based on any conditions.


How to enable push notifications of emails? A quick question with perhaps no answer,

How can I enable push notifications of emails?

What currently happens when I get an email is that my phone vibrates or rings, then I look at the locked screen and no information is displayed.

I'd like a preview of the email in a notification window with at least the sender.

I currently have 3 mailboxes, one in google, one in hotmail, the other a private work exchange server.

Is there a solution to receive push notifications for all of my mailboxes?

You're talking about the notification settings for Mail, not whether push is on. To see new mail messages in the Lock Screen:

Settings > Notifications > Mail > Make sure "View in Lock Screen" is turned ON.

If you're concerned about your mail's push settings, those are in:

Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendar > Fetch New Data > Make sure "Push" is set how you want it.


imac retina memory configurations An imac retina 27" i5 (model 15.1) comes with 8GB (2X4GB) of RAM.
I am purchasing 2x8GB chipsets.
Will I cause a problem with my imac if I just add the 2x8GB sets yielding 24GB, or must I remove the original 8GB (2X4) first as apple suggests.

I just did the same thing the other day. Works fine. One thing I would note is that the memory that came preinstalled was in slots 1 and 3 so I just put the new memory in 2 and 4. It wouldn't startup! So I removed the memory and tried again. Put the original 2 x 4gb into slots 1 and 2 and the new 2 x 8gb into slots 3 and 4. All worked fine and have had no problems since.


What is a Group's Password field used for? When creating a group using the command line, I can use dscl as follows:

sudo dscl . create /Groups/testgroup
sudo dscl . create /Groups/testgroup RealName "Test Group"
sudo dscl . create /Groups/testgroup gid 999

or I can use dseditgroup:

sudo dseditgroup -o create -n /Local/Default -r "Test Group" testgroup

(here, I let dseditgroup automatically assign a GID)

Many of the posts providing guidance for creating a group also include this command:

sudo dscl . create /Groups/testgroup passwd "*"

and the man page for dscl says the parameter to passwd (in this case "*") is a user_path.
In the man page details for passwd, it only talks about it being used to change a password for a user, nothing about how it applies in the context of a group.

when I run

sudo dscl . create /Groups/testgroup passwd "*"

I am prompted for "Password:" and it accepts my admin password (only), and creates a Password field in testgroup.  The value for this field displays as an asterisk.

Most (though not all) of the groups on my machine have a Password field such as this.  I can scan them quickly using:

dscl . -readall /Groups Password

When I create a Password field for a group like this, does the asterisk indicate some kind of special user_path?
Does the field keep track of which user the password is for, and what the password is?
Once a Password field is created for a group, when and how might it get used?
thanks!

Groups with passwords will allow a user to become a member of that group if the user knows the group password and even if the user is not a member of that group. I'm not sure that group passwords are even implemented in OS X.

In general, if you see the password field set with a single "*" that means the password is not set. Since macOS is POSIX, consulting the Open Group documentation will always give you some clues-http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/newgrp.html


Mac OSX Apple Script, How do I make Apple Script push keys on an application What I am trying to do is make my character run up 50 steps then down 50 steps repeatedly using the up key and the down key. I know how to utilize system events to push keys and I know how to tell applications to do certain things but what I put together so far is not looking right. I am pretty much new to this, and I am trying to learn a bit, please help!!

You might also add a delay somewhere in the loop to make it easier to stop the script:

activate application "TextEdit"
delay 0.5 -- time to release modifier keys if the script is run with a keyboard shortcut
tell application "System Events"
    repeat while name of (process 1 where frontmost is true) is "TextEdit"
        repeat 50 times
            key code 126 -- up
            delay 0.1
        end repeat
        repeat 50 times
            key code 125 -- down
            delay 0.1
        end repeat
        delay 0.5
    end repeat
end tell

See Events.h or my website for the key codes.


Check disk usage and the growth history Today I received a message saying there is only 18 GB left.

In the last few days I don't think I used so much space in the disk.

Is there some way to check the disk usage history? In a way to see how much disk was consumed in the last day/week/month.

I suggest you to use the DaisyDisk application (a free trial is also available -- see the link).

This app help you to find out how you are using the space and so you can identify what is occupying a large amount of space in your HD. It does not provide a historical record, so unless you are using a tool and logging that information, you might have to focus on what's present now rather than looking back.


Are OS X installs specific to a machine type? When OS X is installed, does the installer:

write only generic files (that will work on any machine supported by that OS), or
customise the installation to a specific machine type in any way?  (If so, presumably this is based on the machine that the installer is running on?)

In the past, I have assumed that the answer is "OS X installs are generic", and used various tricks based on that assumption.  But I've only ever done this in various temporary workarounds, because I don't really trust that assumption.

If I had a trustworthy (so preferably referenced) answer "OS X installs are generic", here are some examples of what I could do:

Boot a Mac Pro using the software on a MacBook Pro (ie laptop is in target disk mode, connected to desktop via FireWire, I hold down alt when booting the desktop and choose the laptop drive).
Run an installer on one machine, writing to a hard drive that I intend to install in a different machine.
Create an installation in a virtual machine (via VirtualBox etc), then write it to a standard volume for use in a physical machine, or vice-versa.
etc

To try and limit the question:

Considering Intel only: let's ignore older PPC hardware
Let's say this is about 10.8 onwards
Apple hardware only: I'm not asking about Hackintosh
I understand that some applications may be confused in various ways by a change in the underlying hardware environment, but I'm just wondering about the OS itself here.

Yes and no.

In regards to retail installation discs / upgrades "purchased" from the Mac App Store, no, they are typically not machine specific.  These are general builds that are meant to install on any supported hardware.

Machine specific builds DO exist although at this point of time they aren't an issue for most people.  When Macs shipped with physical restore media (multiple CDs/DVDs) that media was very specific to that particular generation/model of Mac.  What this meant was that you could have an early 2008 MacBook and an early 2008 MacBook Pro, the MacBook media would display an error when booting the MacBook Pro and vice versa.

In regards to the actual installed files, yes, these days the installations are pretty generic.  I don't want to say that the installed files on a MacBook Pro Retina are the exact same as those on a MacBook Air, but for the most part this will be true.  In the past (early/mid PowerPC days) there were some differences but even then you could usually use one Mac to boot another.  The main problem we used to run into was remotely installing Tiger or Leopard using a mix of Intel and PowerPC Macs.  In those situations it was best to use PowerPC to PowerPC or Intel to Intel.

The only time this may not hold true is if you're trying to boot a newer Mac using the disk of an older Mac that has an older (older than the system the newer Mac shipped with) system installed.  For instance, if a new iMac was released tomorrow and I tried to boot it using 10.9.1 installed on my MacBook Pro Retina there's a good chance that it wouldn't boot because the iMac requires 10.9.3 or above.


iMac-Pro(Win 10) NO Ethernet controller Driver (NO BOOTCAMP) After successfully installing WIN10 on my iMac-Pro without BOOTCAMP, I was able to manually install the windows support(BOOTCAMP) drivers, and all of them work fine. Except the Ethernet Controller Driver, and that really bothers me since I'm not a fan of WiFi.

I have the iMac Pro base version

I tried every Driver I could find with no success.

Was any one able to get the Ethernet working on an iMac-Pro running WIN 10?

One of the first things I noticed about the article you link to is that there is no mention of a particular model or year Mac. It is impossible for there to be a one size fits all instructions for installing Windows on Mac computers. Second, the article is more than 2 years old. A lot has changed in two years. Any Macs capable of running High Sierra have had a firmware upgrade making many of the articles steps either obsolete or unnecessary.

Here a few comments with regard to the linked article.

I assume you used your iMac Pro to download the Windows Support Software. Using a different Mac can lead to the wrong download.
You do not need to use unetbootin. If fact, you do not even need a USB flash drive.
Starting with with High Sierra, macOS no longer creates Hybrid partitioned drives. So, you should not have to use gdisk.
The article does not mention System Integrity Protection (SIP). You should not have to disable SIP to install Windows.
I assume your installation did not include a Window Recovery Environment partition. I assume this because the article did not provide the necessary steps to create one.
The article included a step where the Windows Support Software (the legacy name is Boot Camp Support Software) is installed. Below is image taken from the article.

Note, there is a folder named WindowsSupport. This is a monumental error. If you have this folder on your flash drive, then I will assume this folder contains the folder named $WinPEDriver$. If so, then none of the Windows Support Software drivers needed properly install Windows were provided to the Windows installation software. If the WindowsSupport folder contains an AutoUnattend.xml file, then the Windows installation software did not receive any addition instructions provided by Apple to correctly install the Windows operating system.

An example of how the files should appear in the root folder of the Windows installation media is shown below. This image was taken from this Apple website.

You may want to refer the the question: How to install Windows 10 into a 2013 iMac without using the Boot Camp Assistant, USB flash drive or third party tools? The accepted answer provides a few extra steps your article may have omitted.


What are the ways in which installed software can negatively impact OSX speed over time? Applications installed on macOS are not always completely self-contained. Sometimes they write files in multiple locations outside their .app bundle, taking up space that they sometimes occupy even after we uninstall them.

What I'm more interested in with this question, is understanding the ways in which an application (even when not launched), can slow down the OS (eg. boot time, shutdown time, GUI responsiveness, app launch time).

I know that applications (both malicious and not) install:

kexts
Login Items
LaunchDaemons
LaunchAgents

Beyond these four, what are other ways in which installed software can negatively impact the performance/stability of the overall OS?

One notable absentee from your list is the category 'plugins'. I.e. additional software that runs within existing software on your Mac. It could be browser plugins, plugins for Microsoft Office, or many other types of plugins.

Besides that there's not really supposed to be other ways if you're only installing "well-behaving" software.

If you install software that is more or less malware, it could wreak havoc with your system by modifying system binaries, system configuration, system firmware or by creating other ways like LaunchDaemons/LaunchAgents to ensure that its own software is run on boot and continues to run.


Keyboard shortcut to go to previous window I use two monitors.

On monitor A I have:

Chrome window

On monitor B I have:

Chrome window
Text editor window

Let's say I view the Chrome window on monitor A, and then Text editor window on monitor B. If I want to go back to the Chrome window on monitor A, how do I do that?

Right now I do it by Cmd+Tab and then Cmd+`, but this is too many keypresses.

I found this free software that is capable of doing what I want: https://bahoom.com/hyperswitch


Is biteSMS or iRealSMS a better all-around iPhone SMS replacement app? Which one is better in terms of features, ease-of-use, and performance?

I have used both and I find biteSMS to be the superior app. I have no scientific data to back that up, but in my experience biteSMS has performed flawlessly while I always had trouble with iRealSMS. It may be different phones, but I used iRealSMS on a 3GS and gave it up, then moved to an iPhone 4 and installed biteSMS. I haven't looked back since.


Share favorites in Firefox using Bootcamp? I'm using BootCamp to install Windows 7 on my Mac. On both OS I'm using Firefox 6. Is there an easy way to automatically share the favorites in both OS?

If you're running Firefox 4 or higher, you can use Firefox's built-in sync capabilities to keep multiple instances of Firefox in sync across different operating systems and machines.

C|Net has a nice video that shows you how to set it up.


How can I make spotlight ignore certain file types and directories? Since spotlight continuously updates the index, sometime the file precedence gets changed around and I might type in "saf" and press return expecting to get Safari, but instead spotlight attempts to open some Java jar file.

Question Is there any way to make spotlight ignore certain file types or directories?

There is a way to exclude folders: add a .no_index extension to the file or folder name.

But my favourite one is adding a .metadata_never_index file to a folder. Use the following command:

$ cd DIRECTORY
$ touch .metadata_never_index


Applescript to return name of new file added to folder This is mostly a test so that I can work up to the function that I want to create down the line. I'm very new to AppleScript so bear with me!

I wrote this as an attempt to test a folder action that receives a new file and then displays an alert with the name of the newly added file.

This Script was saved to ~/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts. And then assigned to a folder on my desktop called Return Name. I see the script run when a new item is dropped in but nothing happens.

Can anyone just explain to me what is wrong here?

Thanks!

on adding folder items to InputFolder after receiving NewItem
tell application "Finder"
    set FileName to name of NewItem
    activate
    display alert "New Items Added!" message ("File called " & FileName & " have been added" as string)
end tell
end adding folder items to

This should work for you

on adding folder items to theFolder after receiving theNewItems
    delay 20 -- ALLOW MULTIPLES TO BE ADDED BEFORE PROCESSING - OPTIONAL
    set filesAdded to {}
    tell application "Finder" to set folderName to name of folder theFolder
    repeat with i from 1 to count of theNewItems
        set thisItem to item i of theNewItems
        tell application "Finder"
            set FileName to name of thisItem
            set end of filesAdded to (FileName & linefeed)
        end tell
    end repeat
    activate
    display alert "New Items Added!" message (("These Files Have Been Added To " & theFolder) & linefeed & linefeed & filesAdded as string)
end adding folder items to


Will App Store programs download when I'm on a different user than the one that started? I'm using Mac OS X 10.7.5, and I'd like to know this. I started the download for OS X Yosemite yesterday on User A, accidentally - I was going to start it on User B (me). Now, I didn't notice this until I switched to User B and let the computer sleep so that it could download the update while still staying alive (I plugged it in, too).

Now, when I woke up this morning, and switched back to User A, I got a couple of funny things happening.

First of all, it said Could not download OS X Mountain Lion due to an unknown error; the application can be found in Purchases in the App Store in a dialog window. Not cool, but I wasn't even downloading OS X Mountain Lion!

Next, when I clicked F4 on my Macbook Pro to see my Launchpad, OS X MAVERICKS was in there and paused.

Finally, Yosemite seemed to be still downloading; there was a Yosemite button icon thing, and it said downloading.

This brings me to my question: Yosemite didn't seem to have downloaded at all. It was still at the first progress bar image (or so it seemed). So, is it supposed to not download when I'm not in the same user as the one which started the download?

I'd really like to know this, because my internet downloads at 300 KBpS on average, and it's really slow, so I'd like to not be wasting time on getting the download to work when it's not going to work at all.

The App Store saves its files to a temporary folder until it is completely downloaded.  This temporary download location is different for each user of the Mac.  So, it's possible (likely) that you could have two partially downloaded copies of the same application.  For Yosemite, and its multi-gb package size, this is not trivial.

You can see if the file is currently downloading in a number of ways.  2 & 3 require some familiarity with Terminal.app.

Check the incoming data bandwidth with Activity Monitor
Search for any open files held by the AppStore agent via sudo lsof | grep storeage
Check to see if the file size of anything in /var/folders/XX/XXXXXXXX/C/com.apple.appstore/* is changing.  You can find the exact path (up to the C) via getconf DARWIN_USER_CACHE_DIR for the currently logged-in user.
If the app is downloading, mouse-over the Launchpad icon in the dock should show a %done status.  (I've seen this behave erratically; so, although it's the simplest, I'm listing it last)


Upgrading from Leopard to Mavericks I have an iMac from 2008 that is currently running Leopard and I would like to upgrade to Mavericks. What ways are there to upgrade, while spending the least amount of money. Also, are there any special discounts that Apple offers to students?

You have to purchase Snow Leopard ($20 USD) and, then, upgrade to Mavericks at no cost, according to Apple's website: http://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/

IDK if Apple has a discount program for students.


Is there a way for Snow Leopard to remember previously unidentified USB keyboards? I have an arbitrary Dell USB keyboard that I use with my MBP running Snow Leopard.  Everytime I plug the keyboard in, or reboot my computer, Keyboard Setup Assistant pops up saying the keyboard needs to be identified before it can be used.  Once I follow its instructions, I can proceed to use this keyboard.

Is there some way my computer can automatically identify this keyboard in the future so I don't have to run Keyboard Setup Assistant?

I used to have this problem with my keyboard. I did some Googling and learned that in order for my Mac to "remember" my keyboard the file /Library/Preferences/com.apple.keyboardtype.plist needed to be changed. The problem was that I couldn't change that file because I was logged in as a non-administrator user. The solution was to login with the administrator account, connect and configure the keyboard, logout and never have that problem again. :-)


How to stop an app from running completely on OS X? Few days back I installed Team Viewer on my MacBook Pro running OS X 10.9.4 Mavericks. It worked fine at the first. Now the app is stuck on the dock saying "Application not responding" and it's running indefinitely.

What I've tried to stop the app from running

Force Quit from Dock
Killing from Activity Monitor
Tried to restart the mac and the app launched automatically even though it's not set to launch during startup under system preferences.

There are two processes using the CPU which when I try to force quit gets automatically relaunched.

How do i stop the app or how do I stop these processes from running ever again?

It is probably a launchctl process that is restarting.

To see all loaded launch agents, in Terminal:

launchctl list

To remove one:

sudo launchctl remove label_of_program_to_remove

where, label_of_program_to_remove is found in the preceding list.  Note that you have to run the sudo command from an administrator account; or, su to an administrator account first.


Translucent menu bar option is simply gone after system reboot / freeze (Mac OS X Lion) I'm on Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2. I just had one of the infamous 'blue screens' when the MBP freezes (known for the early 2011 models).

After my system booted up again, my menu bar isn't translucent anymore (as it was before), and also, even the option to activate it (as described in http://www.mactrast.com/2011/10/mac-tip-translucent-menu-bar-in-mac-os-x-lion/) is simply gone from my settings screen.

How do I fix this?

Did another reboot and the menu bar is back to normal.


Outlook 15.27 Ctrl-A and Ctrl-E shortcuts no longer working I often have to use the Ctrl A and Ctrl E shortcuts to get to the start and end of lines in Outlook, and it looks like in the latest version (15.27), these no longer work.  Instead Ctrl A behaves like Windows and selects everything, and Ctrl E doesn't seem to do anything.

I can't figure out anything in settings or another way to override this behavior - has anyone encountered this or figured out a workaround?

I tested this out and can confirm that this did stop working.  However, there is a quick and easy fix: you can set your keyboard command in Customize Keyboard directly in Word.

Under the Tools Menu in Word, select Customize Keyboard (it's at the very bottom)

Next, in the Categories tab, select "All Commands."  Then in the Commands search for "endofline".  You can then assign Ctrl A

Make sure you are saving to Normal.dot (the default template) and select "OK."  You should have your keyboard shortcut restored.


How do I transfer all the contents of a file based on a criteria to another folder? I have multiple folders i.e., Fold1_part1 which have 6 subdirectories in them. In each of them has 3 folders full of images labelled either 0,5,10. I am trying to move them to another folder which will hold all the images for each category(3 folders which are 0, 5 or 10).

In Terminal
mkdir -p path/to/target/{0,5,10}
cd path/to/Frames
mv */*/0/* path/to/target/0/
mv */*/5/* path/to/target/5/
mv */*/10/* path/to/target/10/

PS: Use mv -i to get prompted in case of identically named files.


Can I block my ID when making a FaceTime Call? Is there a way to initiate a FaceTime call but block my identity from the person I'm making the call to? Reason: my daughter has lost her privilege to use FaceTime, but I looked at her Apple account a few minutes ago and it said that her iPhone was using FaceTime at the moment. I want to find out if she is, in fact, breaking the rules. Thank you.

No, you can only set your Caller ID to one of the email addresses associated with your Apple ID, accessible through Settings → FaceTime.


How can I find out which USB Type C port is supplying power I have a MacBook Pro 15" Late 2016 with USB-C ports. I also have a LG 27UD88 monitor that can supply 60W, and a CallDigit Dock that can supply 90 W. But still sometimes the MacBook is at 0% battery, even when working with very low CPU load.

Question: Is there a way to find out from which port the MacBook is supplied with power?

Of course, I could measure the current on the AC side of the power supply, but I'd rather look for a software tool.

The current should be displayed in your Power settings menu.


Change Mac Keyboard Identifier after keyboard replacement I replaced my MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013) keyboard. The U.S keyboard layout is mapped incorrectly now. It seems to be a problem with the keyboard identifier ID (maybe its Bundle ID). It looks like to be Japanese now but I need to change it back to english (I can't achieve this by changing input source and keyboard layout).

I can't find way how do without side app. But i solved with "Karabiner"


How do I observe and control a macOS update using `softwareupdate`? I made the mistake (don't ask) of entering

softwareupdate -ia --verbose

in Terminal, which is now stuck doing — I don't know what:

Software Update Tool

Finding available software

Downloading Command Line Tools (macOS Mojave version 10.14) for Xcode
Downloading macOS 10.14.4 Update
Downloaded Command Line Tools (macOS Mojave version 10.14) for Xcode
Downloaded macOS 10.14.4 Update
Installing Command Line Tools (macOS Mojave version 10.14) for Xcode, macOS 10.14.4 Update
Done with Command Line Tools (macOS Mojave version 10.14) for Xcode

and attempts to stop it with ^C result in

Cannot cancel updates after installation has started.

I have no progress indictor or feedback, and this has been going on for hours and softwareupdate --dump-state shows no entries (except for running dump-state) for quite some time.

How do I check the status of a softwareupdate installation, and how do I abort it if it isn't stopping or completing on its own?

Out of frustration I simply tried
softwareupdate --install --all

in a new Terminal window, which unstuck the instance of softwareupdate running on the other original window. This seems to have resolved the issue completely.


Does resetting the rating on an app also reset the top "Most Helpful" rated reviews? I have an app that hasn't had the ratings on it reset in almost a year. During that time it has accumulated a large amount of healthy 5 star ratings/reviews. However, the top review that shows on the app store product listing is a 1-star lengthy review. This 1-star review was at one time a 5-star and managed to accumulate enough "Helpful" votes to land it's way to the top of the reviews for the app. In a stroke of what I see as bad luck, the owner of this top review changed their rating to 1-star. So now when you visit the app page, you see this 1-star review. I am now trying to figure out a way to remove it. Reporting it does not do anything.

So my question, if I reset the rating when I submit a new update, will it also reset the top "Most Helpful" reviews?

I'm not sure about the rating of "Most helpful" reviews, but according to https://developer.apple.com/app-store/ratings-and-reviews/ it does not not reset your apps' written reviews.

  In addition, keep in mind that resetting your summary rating does not
  reset your app’s written reviews. Past reviews will continue to
  display on your product page.


iOS Xcode development on MacBook Air 2015 I am deciding to get a 2015 MacBook Air for iOS development, and was wondering how well my specs on the custom macbook I am ordering. I am getting the 13 inch 2015 MacBook Air 8 GB RAM 1.6 gigahertz fifth generation Intel processors. Would these specs run well with Xcode 6?

MacBook airs are computers generally aimed at people travelling a lot but have lots of intense work to do with production etc. If you have a different MacBook that has more power I would say it's a good choice. Overall, the xCode 6 would run on it.

However, for the price the new MacBook comes and the specs it has, I would suggest gathering a little bit more money and investing it in the MacBook Pro 13". It comes with a 2.7GHz i5 processor, 8GB or RAM and a better graphics card.


Where that icon on my OS X menu bar comes from? Anyone could tell me which application stands behind this icon on the menu bar?

I tried to figure it out but I couldn’t. Nothing happens when I click on it.

I don't recognize the icon, but I may have a way to find out which app it belongs to.

Bartender is an app that organises the menu bar apps, but can also show which apps are already there.
It's a paid app, but you can install the trial, find the mystery app, then uninstall Bartender.

A screenshot from an installation of mine.

Tip: If you just want to remove the icon you may be able to ⌘-drag it away from the menubar, but for that to work the app needs to be an Apple built-in app or use the same menu bar hooks.


How can I use a Linux box's display as a third display for my MacBook Pro? At work, I have a MacBook Pro that I use as my primary machine. I also have a RHEL6 box that has a dual-head graphics card. When my KVM is switched to the Mac, the second display that is hooked to the Linux box is not being used.

I know there is software the enable other computers to act as displays over a network without an additional physical display connection. Is there software that supports a Linux workstation being the third display for my Mac?

I'm not 100% sure if it'll meet your needs, but Synergy works very well as a software KVM and it supports any mix of OS X, Linux and Windows.


Alfred - Open selected url in browser I'm looking for a way to open the url in clipboard with Alfred - using shortcut key. Can we do this ?

Example:

I select an url then I click a combo key. My browser will open that url

I've resolved the problem myself. Here is the guide :

In Alfred ( make sure you have Powerpack ), make a shellscript in extensions:

/usr/bin/open -a "/Applications/Google Chrome.app" {query}

Create an extensions in hotkeys which use our created extension with the argument is selected text in OS X.

Set your keyboard shortcut. And now, when you want to open selected url, just select the url then press your keyboard shortcut.


How can I convert JPG into PDF easily? Is there any way to batch convert .jpg files into single .pdf files?

Never forget your little fellow Automator, sitting in a hard drive near you :)

Launch Automator, create a new workflow. Now you need to add two actions:

In the "Files & Folders" select Ask for Finder Items and drag it.
In the PDFs Category, find "New PDF from Images" and also drag it.

Your workflow should look like this:

Now read the options for each Action and customize accordingly. Investigate similar actions (especially in the Files & Folders category) and perhaps the Photos if you want to transform your images from JPG to something else. In fact, go ahead and look all over automator, there are a lot of interesting things there. :)

When you're satisfied with your Workflow, click "Run" on the top right corner. Watch the magic happens and depending upon the number of items and your CPU power, you might go grab a coffee/tea.


Target Display Mode between MacBook Pro and iMac won't work I try to use my iMac as a external screen or otherwise if possible, but when I press ⌘ CommandF2 nothing happened. I also try fn⌘ CommandF2 just to be sure

MacBook Pro 2012
iMac 27" 2012

Using Thunderbolt 2

Well, i found out why... I just needed to turn the cable around. For some reason, the Thunderbolt cable can be plugged in the wrong way.


How to disable Safari's Frequently Visited blacklist on macOS? I'm pretty sure Safari on macOS has some sort of blacklisting mechanism that's preventing some of the my frequently visited websites from appearing in that list. Is there a way to disable that feature?
I have Safari 13.0.4 on macOS Catalina but I think the feature (issue) has been present perhaps for years.

I don't know whether there is a blacklisting mechanism.
I think that if you ever delete a site from the frequently visited window, then it'll never appear again:
Check BannedURLStrings in ~/Library/Safari/TopSites.plist with
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c print ~/Library/Safari/TopSites.plist


How can I get Siri to pronounce Exchange contact names correctly? First of all, I don't use iCloud for my address book on my iPhone 4S; instead, I sync my Gmail contacts (and mail and calendars) using the "Exchange" account type. ("Gmail" accounts don't sync contacts, so I have to connect via Exchange.)

This is all fine and dandy, except Siri pronounces my wife's last name (my last name) incorrectly, and it's driving me crazy.

I've read every article on the web that I can find about phonetic pronunciation and Siri. Most articles seem to imply that adding a phonetic first or last name will correct Siri's pronunciation (though often people complain in the comments that it doesn't work for them). It doesn't work for me either, and I think I finally may have figured out why, but I'm wondering if anyone can verify this and/or shed some light on how to fix it.

Siri seems to obey phonetic pronunciation for iCloud contacts, but not for Exchange contacts. Oddly, I've gotten Siri to momentarily use the correct phonetic pronunciation for an Exchange contact, only to immediately revert on second try -- perhaps a result of syncing with Exchange/Gmail?

Has anyone else had this experience? Does anyone know of a workaround?

You can create iCloud contacts that merge with your GMail contacts.  The iPhone will collate the data from both the GMail contact and the iCloud contact.  I have this enabled for Hotmail:

Enabled iCloud syncing for contacts.
Open Contacts.
Press the back button (top-left) until you reach Groups.
Open All iCloud or All from My PC.
Create a new contact for your wife.  Include her full name and phonetic name.
Press Done.
Scroll down and check that Linked Cards shows an entry for Unified and GMail.  Press Unified.
Now you can see how your wife's information combining the GMail information and the iCloud phonetic information.


What Windows 7 Product Keys will work for Bootcamp! I am trying to setup Bootcamp, but am having a tough time. I know this question has been asked previously, but all of the answers are outdated. What SKU product key for Windows 7 is licensed for Bootcanp on 2013 MacBook Pro?

Keep in mind I don't have a DVD drive which makes use of any optical media problematic.

At least the following versions of Windows 7 will work find on bootcamp.

Home Premium
Professional
Ultimate

all work. In order to obtain a key for one of these versions, You will need to find an ISO and a Matching Product Key for the same version of windows.

Microsoft offer downloads of Windows 8 from the Microsoft Store. If you're set on Windows 7, then your options are limited.

If you have a MSDN account, you can download an MSDN ISO from there.
You can purchase Windows 7 from a reseller (Amazon, NewEgg, ) and borrow a USB optical drive to use a retail CD/DVD.
Download the Relevant ISO directly here (Content hosted on Digital River), and then use the Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool to install.

Home Premium SP1 (English, 64-bit)
Professional SP1 (English, 64-bit)
Ultimate SP1 (English, 64-bit)
Home Premium SP1 (English, 32-bit)
Professional SP1 (English, 32-bit)
Ultimate SP1 (English, 32-bit)

I'd wager that each of these methods would work for Windows 8, except the direct downloads, which link to Windows 7 only.


How to import Apple Mail accounts? I'm copying the old Mail folder over a fresh OS install.
I Copied over ~/Library/Mail & ~/Library/Application Support/Mail
Mails and mailboxes imported all right ( even better results than using Import Mailboxes menu option )
But the accounts didn't import. Where are they stored?

Account data should all be in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist.


Streaming Video Content/Conversion - MacBook Pro (iTunes) to Apple TV [.MKV to .M4V] I have a few .MKV video files that I would like to be able to list in iTunes so that I can stream to my Apple TV device. I currently use the Beamer app (MacBook) to stream them across however I was hoping that I could create a nice looking library of videos in iTunes and stream them that way instead.

I do not need these videos to be able to play on any iOS devices, so is there any way that they can be converted to .M4V/.MP4 without loss of picture or sound quality?

I've tried few apps such as Subler - I can seem to keep picture quality however the audio is definitely poorer. My videos tend to be 1080p HD with DTS.

Could anyone prehaps offer any solutions for full quality video streaming in iTunes?

Many thanks!
Dan.

MKV and MP4 are not video format, they are containers. An MKV can contain any type of video/audio stream.

Most of the time, MKV contains H264/AC3 DTS (video/audio; the most common format in blu-ray).

The official specification of MP4 do not allow the AC3 format for the audio channel, but the H264 format is possible for the video. Thus, you can convert losslessly an MKV to an MP4, for the video channel only. The audio channel will have to be re-encoded

I recommend using ffmpeg (a command-line tool) to achieve this goal.

Note: You can try and create an MP4 containing AC3, but I don't think it will work in iTunes or the Apple TV, even though players like MPlayerX or VLC will be able to play them.


AppleWatch 3 Series shows 4 lines of stripes across the display My AppleWatch 3 Series (GPS model) is showing 4 lines of stripes across the screen when it is off and under a direct light.

Should I go to AppleStore to check it? Or that is normal?

According to this article on MacRumors, there's been some defective Series 3 displays.  Apple is replacing them under warranty.

If it looks similar to this image, you should have no problem getting Apple to fix it.


Why my CodeRunner mac app keep output “(B[m” before my correct output? When I code test ruby script, it keeps output "(B[m" before my other output, even thought I just have single line puts statement.

Just as follow:

See the "(B[m" before my output text "      test". It's really annoying me for a long while. Any help will be preciated!

Update:

It occurs at CodeRunner version 1.3.1, and in latest version(2.2.1) I also get a "(B" there!

It looks like a language encoding issue.  Check that the space characters at the beginning of the string are actually half-width space, and not Japanese full-width spaces.


How do I remove old employers mailbox from my i4 without losing anything else? I recently left a company. The i4 phone is mine, but my old companies mailbox is on the phone. I can no longer access these emails. I want to delete the mailbox but I am afraid I will lose all of the contacts in the process. When I delete the mailbox, what exactly will be deleted?

If you are talking about the Exchange link: All services bound to that account will be removed. For example, if you add a new contact, the iPhone should have asked you where you want to add them. Either in the Exchange account or in the iCloud. If you've selected Exchange for this all the time, the contacts are saved in the Exchange account and will be gone once you removed the company account.

Included in Exchange can be: Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Reminders and Notes.


Launch an app upon certain external trigger In iOS 6 and with the iPhone 5 is there any way (even if it is a 3rd party app) to do the follwing things?

1) Lanch a certian application when

a) I pass a geo-fence (e.g. arrive home)

b) I get logged in to a WiFi hotspot with a certain SSID

c) the device is plugged to a power source

2) Close a certain application when

a) I pass a geo-fence (e.g. leave home)

b) GPS/Geo/Location is turned off

c) WiFi is turned

d) I get logged out from a WiFI hotspot with a certain SSID

e) the device is unplugged from a power source

U.S. Patent No. 8,254,902, otherwise known as "Apparatus and methods for enforcement of policies upon a wireless device," was granted in late-August, and would allow phone policies to be set to "chang[e] one or more functional or operational aspects of a wireless device [...] upon the occurrence of a certain event."

Apple was awarded this patent over the summer. They are looking at ways to disable features like the camera when in range of a certain AP, for example a AP near a locker room or bathroom or at concert and so on.....

Hopefully third party apps can find a way to take advantage of this as well.

Apple Location Software

Link above explains it in much more detail.


No ringing for FaceTime, no alert sound for iMessage I'm not getting ringing for FaceTime and not getting alert sounds when IMessages come in. I believe I've got all my setting right, and I can see the calls coming in if the iPad is in use. Do not disturb is not on, volume is not muted, the apps all have sound settings, etc.

I have been having the same problem.
I won't know if it works 'till someone calls - but I have just found in Settings>Do Not Disturb>Allow Calls From, change to EVERYONE.


How do I copy the name of the song currently playing on an internet radio station in iTunes? I frequently feel like Googling, YouTubing, or downloading some song playing on an internet radio station.  Mac OS X's iTunes displays the song information, but doesn't provide any obvious route to copying the song's author, name, etc.

I'm not interested if the iTunes Store offers relevant features because I always keep the iTunes Store disabled in parental controls.

Use this AppleScript to copy the current stream title to the clipboard:

tell application "iTunes"
    set stream_title to (get current stream title)
end tell

set the clipboard to stream_title
display dialog stream_title & " copied to clipboard." -- delete line to omit dialog

To install it as iTunes script, copy & paste the above into the AppleScript Editor and save it under Library/iTunes/Scripts in your home folder, giving it a sensible name, such as Copy Stream Title to Clipboard. Create the Scripts folder if it doesn't exist. This will make iTunes grow a little script icon in it's menu bar where you can select the script.


Spotlight on Yosemite not launching Apps My Yosemite spotlight does not start app anymore. I tend to use it for quickly starting up apps like Terminal, but now it just sort of hangs...

Any ideas to fix it?

It may be indexing or may have a corrupted index. Open Spotlight and check for an Indexing progress bar. If that is not present try going into the Spotlight PrefPane in System Preferences and forcing an index.


Macbook Air (2013) trackpad not responding The trackpad fails to respond after the computer got hung on a website video last night and then went into sleep mode.  On wakeup I had to use the arrow keys to toggle through various apps and quit them, then held down power button to allow shutdown. It took 3 times through this routine before I got all apps shutdown before a shutdown.  On restart, STILL no trackpad.

Just installed Catalina a week ago.  No problems with trackpad initially, probably unrelated to Catalina?

I can use a USB or wireless mouse.   I ran Disk First Aid, no help, no problems found.  Should I reset the PRAM or something? How is that done?   -- hold down P, R, command and option on restart bong?  Cannot recall.

I tried SMC reset guided by the excellent Apple tech support.  But it did not solve the problem.  Just as PRAM zapping did not.

His suggestion of removing 2 plist items from the library did solve(!) the problem.

~/Library/preferences/com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad.plist
~/Library/preferences/com.apple.AppleMultitouchTrackpad.plist

Apparently, one of these two got damaged; trashing them with a RESTART generates fresh plist files. Problem solved, thanks Apple!


iTunes backup also WhatsApp chats? a friend of mine has an iPhone 3GS and is swtiching to an iPhone 4S.
Now, she's tried to backup all her WhatsApp chats using the WhatsApp backup, but it gets stuck. So I'm thinking whether iTunes backup may do that too.

I know iTunes backups everything on your iPhone, so if those chats are on her iPhone it should work, isn't it?

So should I connect the iPhone to a PC/Mac and start an iTunes backup? Would that work to get the chats back when I'll restore the backup in the 'new' iPhone?

When WhatsApp backup to iCloud gets stuck

It's a 'bit late' but I recently experienced a similar problem to the one above, date June 2016.
For people like me who - for some reason - still have to change their iPhone 4 to 6s in 2017, you can bump into the problem that Whatsapp gets stuck while backing up on iCloud. It took me a while but I solved it eventually with the following steps:

Stop Whatsapp from being stuck: Settings > iCloud > switch off
Document Data & WhatsApp
Delete your current Apple ID account on your iPhone 4 Create a new free Apple ID ON YOUR IPHONE 4: Settings > iTunes en Appstore > Create new free Apple ID
Settings > iCloud > switch on Document Data & WhatsApp Go to Whatsapp > Create backup
On iPhone 6 log off with current Apple ID (and make sure you log off
with iCloud AND iTunes) and log in with the new ID you created on old
iPhone 4
On iPhone 6 install Whatsapp from Appstore and import the backup from iCloud

iPhone 4 (iOs 7) has a problem with updated iCloud (Drive) but via this bypass you can do the trick.


Yosemite Messages Screen Sharing Disabled I'm trying to screen share on from within the Messages app with another iMessage user. We're both on Yosemite, and we've successfully used Messages's new screen sharing feature many times. One day, we discovered the screen share button was disabled. It has never come back.

Screen sharing is enabled in the Video menu, and we are both on the most recent version of Yosemite. I'm not sure how to look for answers without even an error message to go on.

I just used Yosemite's screen sharing via Messages.

Getting it to work on both sides required me to enable back to my mac in System Settings under iCloud. After restarting the Messages app on both sides those two rectangles became active and screen sharing worked.


How to turn off fireworks on my phone after texting "Happy New Year" and any future shenanigans? Today is 14-Feb-2021 and I SMS texted "Happy New Year" to someone since it is the Lunar New Year holiday season.
After sending the text message my phone displayed a few second animation of a fireworks display.
Question: How can I turn off this kind of annoying animation shenanigans?
I've already done this: Stop my iPhone from receiving screen shots and other images sent via SMS?
My personal preference is to have a phone that simply does what it's told. Thank you in advance for not telling me that I should "think different"!

messaging myself in order to reproduce the problem:

Go to Settings and then tap on Accessibility. in Accessibility go to Motion. The new pane that opens has a switch to turn off "Auto-Play Message Effects". Turn this off and that should solve your problem.


Migration and drivers or kext programs? I recently purchased a new iMac.  I used the Migration Assistant to migrate users and applications from my previous iMac to this one.

Both are x86 based, and both running Snow Leopard, so as close as possible from that perspective.

While most things came across cleanly, it seems that programs that have lower-level driver like things did not.

My ScanSnap for example did not work, and had to be reinstalled from DVD.

My PL2303-based serial port seems to need a reinstall, and I have not yet tried the blackberry software.

Is the assistant supposed to migrate kext and low-level stuff like that?  If not, is there an easy way to find out what is missing?  Should I do something different in the future with respect to migration?

If it was easy to find all of the system items associated with an application, Migration Assistant would've done it for you; generally, if it can't figure it out, the easiest solution is to reinstall the software that didn't come over cleanly.

There is an alternative, however: clone the entire volume with something like Carbon Copy Cloner.  This'll get all of the add-on software fine (except things like hardware-tied license keys and such), but may run into compatibility problems with the new computer.  For example, if you clone from an older system to a new one that requires a special build of the latest OS version (with new drivers & such for the new hardware config), you may have to reinstall the OS (from the disc that came with the new computer) to get that to work.  Pick your poison...


Shortcut to open file with alternative application You can set certain applications to open certain files by default. For example, .pdf with Preview, .jpg and .png with Preview, and .txt files with TextEdit. However, sometimes you want to open them with alternative applications – .pdf with Skim, .jpg and .png with Photoshop, and .txt with Chocolate.

Is there any way to open a file you have selected in the Finder in its respective "alternative application" with a specific keyboard shortcut, for example F1?

It is possible to open files in specific application using a keyboard shortcut with AppleScript via Automator, but I am not aware of a way to open the file in an application depending on the type of file it is.

I don't think there is a way to associate an alternative app for every extension so there might be no way to do it via script unless you want to write your own app.

Why not use 'Open With' from context menu? I use it all the time, pretty much as fast as pressing hot key shortcut.


Yosemite Installation Error Okay, so every time I install Yosemite on my iMac, it gives me the same response. I delete the copy, and reinstall it, but it still gives me the same error...

Did you copy the installer of a drive? If you did, it's no good, as it will only work on the Mac that installed it. You will have to download the installer from the Mac App Store on the specific iMac you wish to install it on.


Equivalent of disabling services in Windows to lessen CPU/RAM usage for OS X? When it comes to the underside of things I know a lot more about Windows than Mac/OS X, so I'm not sure if OS X is even like this in this aspect but what I'm wanting to know is I used to very thoroughly disable system services in Windows for things I didn't need like network file sharing and quick user switching, just to name a couple, to make the computer run lighter.
It worked great on aging systems and I was wondering if there was an equivalent of such a thing for OS X that I could pick through and at my risk disable just to help my old Late 2006 iMac?

OS X doesn't come with a bunch of unneeded services loaded in the background taking up resources. Most OSes are not as bloated as Windows. There really isn't anything to disable, unless you enabled something that you no longer need. OS X is pretty conservative with what it enables by default, and it often will enable things automatically as needed, and keep them disabled when not.


Is xar preinstalled on macOS? $ which xar
/usr/bin/xar

It's in /usr/bin. Does that mean it's preinstalled on mac?

Unless you've disabled SIP and installed your own binaries in /usr/bin it's safe to assume that everything in /usr/bin (and /bin, /sbin, /usr/sbin) is pre-installed.


How do I break out of a stuck lock screen? On a MacBook Pro (the office's, I'm a noob), I started the upgrade process from Mavericks to El-Capitan from the app store.

After a while, the screen locked as, I assume, is usual. But now I cannot log back in. I typed my user's password in and hit enter, nothing. I tried hitting the the little arrow button to the right of the password and nothing. It's not frozen as the mouse still works, no beachball, I can clear the password. I clicked on the Cancel and Switch User buttons which appear to activate, but then did nothing.

That was the case for quite a while, then I tried clicking the Switch User button again, and the desktop rotated like a cube and now gives me a light grey screen.

Just Cmd + Ctrl + Power'd it. Install hadn't actually started (only download had), so was ready to upgrade after reboot.


The file system shows there is a user, "_mysql", that I cannot "su" as root. What is basically going on so I can get mysqld running again The following shell command sequence makes me realize I don't understand something very basic about how user and group accounts works on MacOS:

/tmp$ whoami
jondoe
/tmp$ cd /usr/local/mysql/data
/usr/local/mysql/data$ ls -l | grep mydatabase
drwxrwxrwx 55 _mysql  _mysql 1760 Jun 24 2019 mydatabase
/usr/local/mysql/data$ su
Password:
/usr/local/mysql/data# su xxxx
su: unknown login: xxxx
/usr/local/mysql/data# su _mysql
/usr/local/mysql/data# whoami
root
/usr/local/mysql/data#

summary: The file system shows that the mysql installation created a user account and group account both called: "_mysql". Yet, when I am root, and "su" that account, I remain the root user.
why do I care? I ran my database fine using El Capitan. Then, I upgraded to Catalina, and now I'm having trouble (I think permission) with running mysqld. And, as a general "best practice", I think you are suppose to minimize the number of things running as root on your machine, yet _mysql and root sort of look like the same account. Of course, I really just want my db running again and understanding the _mysql could lead to this.

My mysql database (5.6.23) became unable to start when I upgraded from El Capitan to Catalina (10.15.5). Now it works. This is what I did, but its possible some of this might not be needed or a recommended thing to do:

/tmp$ su
Password:
/tmp# cd /usr/local/mysql/data
/usr/local/mysql/data# chown _mysql:_mysql *
/usr/local/mysql/data# chmod 777 *
/usr/local/mysql/data# exit
/usr/local/mysql/data$ cd /tmp
/tmp$ sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server start &

One major error was that "/usr/local/mysql/data/JonDoe-MacBook-Pro.local.pid could not be created". And that was resolved by the chown and chmod commands I think. Before the chown, the user was root and group was wheel for files, but not directories, in /usr/local/mysql/data.
(#1) this does not start the server

/tmp$ su
Password:
/tmp# cd /usr/local/mysql/support-files
/usr/local/mysql/support-files# ./mysql.server start &

(#2) this does the server

/tmp$ sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server start &

My understanding is that option #1 and #2 should start the server in the exact same way. This added to my not understanding.


Where can I find the system icons for Mail? I'm trying to track down the .icns files for these icons:

Any ideas? Not seeing them in the app resource folder.

Obviously in macOS Sierra, Apple has changed how it packages some of the application resources and in this particular case the image assets that comprise the toolbar are still in Mail.app/Contents/Resources/, at least some of them, in the assets.car file as shown in the image farther below. Note that there are several .car files in the Resources folder, however looking at the open files for Mail.app in Activity Monitor, there are .car archives outside of the application bundle that are open as well, e.g.:

/System/Library/CoreServices/SystemAppearance.bundle/Contents/Resources/VibrantLightAppearance.car
/System/Library/CoreServices/SystemAppearance.bundle/Contents/Resources/SystemAppearance.car
/System/Library/CoreServices/SystemAppearance.bundle/Contents/Resources/Assets.car
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/AccountsUI.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Assets.car
/System/Library/CoreServices/SystemAppearance.bundle/Contents/Resources/FunctionRowAppearance.car

Note: Check in Activity Monitor on your system for a complete list of open files for Mail.app.

Doing a few Google searches, I found a few different apps, both GUI and CL, and had mixed results in both viewing and extracting assets from the .car archives. However, that was using only precompiled programs, and there are a few Xcode Projects I didn't test.

The one in the image below is ThemeEngine and while is actually showed more objects then Asset Catalog Tinkerer did, and opened some .car files that Asset Catalog Tinkerer couldn't, the drawback is ThemeEngine doesn't have an export function like Asset Catalog Tinkerer did. However, I could still copy and paste out of ThemeEngine though. Maybe the Xcode Projects would work better if I compiled then on my system, but just don't have the time to try.


How to lock the iPad's screen with a keyboard shortcut? Is it possible to lock the iPad's screen by using a keyboard shortcut, when using a BT keyboard, or the SmartKeyboard?

Cmd+Shift+Eject as on the Mac does not work. Holding down the Cmd key also does not show any shortcut.

I was able to figure out Control + Command + Q seems to work on the new iPad Pro keyboard to lock it.


Is it possible to close windows from App Exposé I have too many Finder windows open. It's a mess!
First, I need to take stock of everything I have open, so I activate App Exposé (aka Mission Control Application Windows) via ⌘↓. App Exposé shows me I have my Trash open in five different windows. I definitely want to close those!
Unfortunately, while App Exposé makes it easy to see what windows I have open, actually closing them is tedious! I need to individually click each window (which brings it to the front, but deactivates App Exposé), click the red close button (or use ⌘W), then re-activate App Exposé and repeat!
Is there a quicker way to close windows from App Exposé?

Since you can't close the windows thru Mission Control you can just use the Finder to close the windows.  The Finder windows that are open can be easily closed by clicking on the finder in the dock. That will bring all Finder windows to the front, one after another. Then all you have to do is click on the red dot in the left upper corner of each window.


Is it possible to always show hidden/dotfiles in Open/Save dialogs? It is possible to show so-called dotfiles/directories like .git or files/directories that have the Hidden attribute in the Finder by running

defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles 1

from the command line (then running killall Finder to restart it). However, this only works in Finder, not in applications' Open/Save dialogs. In those, one can use the ⌘⇧. keyboard shortcut to show these files, but you have to use it each time you open a new dialog as the settings aren't saved.

Does anyone know of any kind of way to make this setting permanent? It could involve a Terminal command, editing a .plist or other file on an application by application basis, anything. This question was asked a while ago with no satisfactory answers, so I'd like to see if there have been any changes in Mountain Lion, or if anyone knows an answer that just missed the first question. I'm currently running 10.8.4, if it makes any difference.

Just adding the key to the global domain seems to work:

defaults write -g AppleShowAllFiles -bool true

You have to quit and reopen applications to apply changes as usual.


What is the cable that connects the logic board to the display in a Macbook Air? My friend asked me to repair her Macbook Air (I swear I'll never touch it again) and while removing the panel surrounding the LCD screen with a razor blade (as shown on iFixit), I inadvertently sliced the display cable near the bottom of the screen.

What is the name for this cable? I can't seem to find a replacement - and I don't really want to bring it in to the Apple Store if I can help it.

Also, how easy is it to replace this cable - it's not soldered to the logic board or anything, right?

The takeapart guide on iFixit sells replacement parts, but expect them to be pricey. The Air is a very, very delicate machine so be warned that getting it put back together takes more grace than getting it apart.

Worst case, you could buy an entire display assembly if you feel you are doing more damage than good by proceeding with this repair. Three cables go into the Air's display assemblyL

Wi-Fi antenna
Backlight power
LVDS cable

I presume you nicked the last one - it has the widest connector to the logic board. The real problem is getting inside the Air's display assembly as I haven't seen that documented anywhere publicly available. That cable might be part of the LCD panel and might be something you could try to buy used from a liquid damaged or physically damaged Air. Here's where the question lacks details to know why you were in there to begin.

What part was being replaced that caused you to need a razor blade on this repair? Are you going inside the display assembly in the first place?

Don't rule out taking it in to the store in a static safe back with your tail between your legs. You will then know if they can fix it by quoting you an out of warranty part cost plus labor to fix things - both what was originally wrong and the things that have now gone not right.


Can "Discrete only" GPU cause slowness? I have 2 external monitors to my 2017 Macbook Pro v.10.15.6. Sometimes it slows -- the mouse lags badly.
I installed gfxCardStatus and sometimes the menu choice changes from Dynamic switching to Discrete only. It seems that the mouse starts lagging just when that happens.

Is it possible that "Discrete only" slows the computer?
Why does this switch automatically?
How can I keep it on "Dynamic switching"? The Macbook is always plugged in so power consumption is not a concern.

(This relates to my earlier question, in which "Automatic graphics switching" under Energy saver was getting automatically enabled. I wrote a script to keep it disabled, for better performance with more power consumption. It seems that that is a different setting from this "Dynamic switching" in gfxCard Status since Dynamic switching seems to increase performance.)

The author of gfxCardStatus answered here.

If your goal is better performance regardless of power consumption,
then the solution is really simple: quit gfxCardStatus, delete it, and
disable automatic graphics switching in System Preferences > Energy
Saver. That will cause the discrete GPU to be used all the time.
When gfxCardStatus is running, it manages the automatic graphics
switching setting for you. Dynamic Switching is equivalent to having
the automatic graphics switching checkbox checked.


Does Homebrew install use SSL/TLS? I recently installed Homebrew on my Mac using the UNIX command from the Homebrew homepage

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

When the command downloads the Ruby script, does it secure the connection to the GitHub server using TLS or SSL? In other words, is there any chance that I could have downloaded a malicious script if someone intercepted my connection?

Also, can someone please explain each of the options, flags, switches, etc. included in the command above?

You can't know for sure, at least not based on the information you shared in the question:

It's a https connection so it should be secure
Nevertheless you could connect through a network which tricked/forced you to accept a new certificate and then performed a man-in-the-middle attack
Somebody could have tampered with the script on Github, resulting in an attack within the script you've downloaded


Mac OS X firewall rules to block UDP connection to an external server Can anybody help to recommand a firewall app for Mac OS X? I'm going to block UDP connection to an external server, and then I need to check whether it switch to TCP connection to the server automatically. I can do that on Windows Firewall Defender. But I haven't found any firewall app on Mac.

MacOS has a firewall ported from OpenBSD — Pf. Although it's not kept up to date it still can be used for such a simple task you have.

Typically Pf isn't enabled by default, but ruleset crafted by Apple is loaded from /etc/pf.conf. It's not anything complex but rather a frame to be used later by some components of the OS.

For quick tinkering though you can simply load your own ruleset and enable Pf at the same time: sudo pfctl -ef …filename…

If you're looking for persistent solution instead, check out tutorials widely available on that subject all over the Internet.

Manuals are shipped with MacOS: man pfctl, man pf.conf


How can I remove or hide the stocks app from Apple Watch? I'd like to hide the icon of the stocks app so it doesn't appear in the collection of circles. Apple's documentation says you can't do this, but I hope someone finds a back door or way to minimize it past the normal icon size.

  “You can’t hide the apps that came with Apple Watch.”

Excerpt From: Apple Inc. “Apple Watch User Guide.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/4HEW6.l

If I could make the icon totally black, or hide it or shrink it or better, have it uninstalled and not take any space would be ideal.

Apple Watch app runs on iOS 8.3 and Watch OS 1.0.1

You can delete the stocks app from your phone on iOS 10 - and that removes it from the watch. There isn't a way to have it on the phone but not on the watch.
There were currently no workarounds, jailbreaks or non-obvious ways hide and minimize the stocks app on the Apple Watch apps display on iOS 9 and associated watch OS. The rest of this answer applies if you cannot upgrade to iOS 10 and watchOS 3.
Consider making a long tail arrangement of apps placing the ones you don't want to see to the end of the line.

In practice, you'll see the few apps centered around the clock face central point of the graph.
p.s. still can’t remove the stocks app on watchOS 7.1 - the beatings will continue until morale improves.


How to mute bootup sound? Possible Duplicate:
  How do I disable or get rid of the startup sound my Mac makes?

I have an old MacBook Pro (pre-unibody) running OS 10.6. I am annoyed by the traditional Macintosh bootup sound, which I want to mute permanently.

I've tried some proposed solutions:

Remembering to reduce the volume before I shut the computer down. It works, but it's not reasonable to do this.
Pressing the "Mute" button while booting up the computer. Seems to be the F3 key on my old MacBook, but that doesn't work.
Installing and using the application StartupSound. It didn't work. I read in forums that other users share this problem.

Am I doing something wrong, or is there another solution to my problem?

StartupSound works for me. It's true that it is sometimes not totally OK, but if you set different sounds volume, or check-unchech the mute radio button, finally it does the job.


Increasing my available storage on my iPhone After I sync my iPhone 5c with my MacBook, assuming all my music had been purchased from iTunes, my iPhone should now have no music and additional storage , correct ?

Syncing your iOS device to iTunes will not necessarily remove music from it.
You can delete it directly from the device going to Settings > General > Usage > Manage Storage (under Storage)> Music, slide the first item "All Songs" to the left and press "Delete".


How to set to open folder with enter in finder? I want to set to open a folder in finder with Enter.

I know it's possible to open a folder with ⌘ Command + ↓ Down Arrow but I don't like it and I never use it because it's easier to use the trackpad, but enter would be the easiest way.

I tried to set it trough the keyboard shortcuts but I can't do it.

Any person new to Apple and Mac would find lot of things un-intuitive or just forced on the user, w/o any options to change it.
Or it might be that just many of us had their first experiences on Win/Linux systems.

But just found this plugin to finder XtraFinder which among lot of other options allows you to ENTER/RETURN to open a file.

Feeling a lot relieved now! Hope it helps.


How to transfer MKV file from Windows PC to iPad Mini How do I transfer MKV file from Windows PC to iPad Mini? I have installed iTunes on Windows PC but I can't any option to transfer file.

Do not bother with conversion. Install the free video players like VLC or PlayerXtreme and upload the videos via wifi directly to the apps.

EDIT: Alternatively, and also must faster for large files, both apps allow transfers via iTunes. If you don't use iTunes read on...

For example, once installed you enable Wifi Transfers...

Then from your browser you go to the address shown and upload the files...


Inexpensive microphone setup for iPhone video? I play piano and have a Yamaha C2 grand. I'd like to occasionally record using the video camera on my iPhone 4. I've done a couple of tests using the built-in mike, and also using the little mike on the included white earbuds; these are almost good enough for my purposes, but there's a little distortion, especially on louder passages. (See here for a couple of tests with the earbud mike.)

I'm just looking for something good enough to post on Facebook or YouTube, for the benefit (?) of friends and family who are willing to humor me and my amateurish playing. I'm not looking to become an hobbyist sound engineer. Unfortunately, all of the resources I've found online on recording piano (here, here, here, or here for example) are aimed at the high end and involve hundreds of dollars worth of bulky gear - multiple microphones, preamps and stands and cables and whatnot.

Some other options I've considered and/or tried:

There are a lot of good USB mikes out there; I use the Blue Snowflake for videoconferencing on my computer. Someone suggested that I could use the USB-to-dock-connector adapter that comes with the iPad Camera Connection Kit to connect a USB mike to my iPhone. I've tried this and it doesn't work (accessory not supported message, no signal from the microhone).
The Blue Mikey looks perfect, but alas doesn't work with the iPhone 4.
The AMT M40 also looks like a good solution, but I'm not sure I can justify to my wife spending $500 on this.

So here are my criteria:

I'm not looking for audiophile quality
I'd prefer not to spend over, say, $100
I'd prefer to stick with a single microphone
I'd really prefer something self-contained, e.g. with a built-in preamp
I'd like something that can live unobtrusively in my living room (for example, no floor mounts)
I'd like for everything to be done on my iPhone - i.e. I don't want to record the audio separately on another device or on a computer and then have to combine it with the video.

Any suggestions?

Have you checked this? And maybe an accessory here.

Also a different alternative is shown here, using the headphone’s jack.


Keyboard and trackpad not working, SMC reset seems possible I have a MacBook Pro, 13-inch, Mid 2009 with OS X 10.9.5.

I suspect two things that might have caused the trouble:

Recently I had to replace the keyboard. After replacing the keyboard everything worked fine for a while.
I have also recently failed installing Windows with Bootcamp. The keyboard and trackpad worked before.

Now the keyboard and trackpad do not work at all. Though doing an SCM reset by using Shift Control Option and power keys seems to work as the macbook doesn't boot and I see the battery LED light up for a second or two (I'm using the Resetting the SMC on portables with a battery you should not remove on your own method). The power button works normally.

So the question is: Is it a hardware problem or a software problem? What should I do to make it work again? Is it worth it to do a clean system reinstall?

Update:
System reinstall didn't help. I got back the keyboard backlight, but pressing the keys or using the trackpad still doesn't work.

Update #2:
After one and a half years both the trackpad and the keyboard woke up of the coma and are working as if nothing has happened.

There's a very simple way to see if this is a software or hardware problem.  Power on your machine and hold down Command-V.  This is the shortcut for verbose boot.  If the keyboard works at boot, but not at a login window, its software.  If you cannot perform startup commands properly, it is a hardware issue, as no software is loaded this early in the startup sequence.

If it ends up being hardware, possibly a poor cable connections has caused it since the machine was opened recently.


Is there a program I can install to make title/header bars attach to the window? I've been using Windows since the 80's.  A month ago I got a Mac for a side project I'm working on.  Despite my best efforts, I haven't gotten used to the fact that the menu bar of windows aren't attached to the window and instead are on top of the screen.  Also haven't gotten used to the close/minimize/maximize buttons being on the left.

If this were Linux, I could change that and have it look and behave like Windows. Is there a way I can do it on a Mac?  Either by downloading and installing a program, or through some preferences modifications?

Way back in the OS 9 days, we could install hacks to do crazy things like recolour windows and move around those window controls, but now they are simply buried too close to the metal to do system-wide. Back in those days too many of these hacks would cause system instability. I'm sure Apple could have built in such customization cleanly in OS X, and indeed in the very early versions I recall some rudimentary functionality for "skinning" — but today having a consistent user interface is viewed by the company as a feature, not a liability.

I found this article with a fairly nice summary of utilities that bring some of the best features of windows to OS X. But unfortunately (fortunately?) adding extra menu bar clutter to every single window or moving the window controls isn't one of them.


What kind of encryption does Mac OS X Extended (Journaled, Encrptyed) use? Since my primary hard disk is encrypted with FileVault2, I also wanted my backup drive to be encrypted. I plugged in my external drive, brought up Disk Utility, and went to erase/format the disk. I chose Mac OS X Extended (Journaled, Encrptyed). However, I couldn't find out what kind of encryption it uses. Does anyone know (and/or know how I would look this info up via a command or system utility)? Is it the same as FileVault2?

Yes - it's the same whole disk encryption. In both instances you end up with a volume wrapper and key storage to unlocks the encrypted file system where the data is safely stored. Disk Utility is a bit of a chore to set up encryption of an external drive, so I usually just wipe the drive and set it for Backups and then tell Time Machine to encrypt the drive. It handles the formatting, generating the crypto keys and lets you choose a passphrase to unlock the keys.

You can use diskutil cs list from the command line (in terminal.app) to show the encryption status and details. There's nothing wrong with disk utility other than the steps involved to reach an equivalent drive setup.

Here is what a fully encrypted and locked USB drive looks like when you set up Time Machine and instruct it to encrypt backups to an external drive:

Air:~ bmike$ diskutil cs list
CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)
|
+-- Logical Volume Group 6FD6879D-EFBF-4F33-9FC2-13E32A0F7B28
    =========================================================
    Name:         Backups
    Status:       Online
    Size:         499730309120 B (499.7 GB)
    Free Space:   0 B (0 B)
    |
    +-< Physical Volume 3082BFED-D84E-48FA-AB4F-7FB0197FD653
    |   ----------------------------------------------------
    |   Index:    0
    |   Disk:     disk1s2
    |   Status:   Online
    |   Size:     499730309120 B (499.7 GB)
    |
    +-> Logical Volume Family DFD4DEB4-93A8-4DD5-8F73-6534AB408E4D
        ----------------------------------------------------------
        Encryption Status:       Locked
        Encryption Type:         AES-XTS
        Conversion Status:       Complete
        Conversion Direction:    -none-
        Has Encrypted Extents:   Yes
        Fully Secure:            Yes
        Passphrase Required:     Yes
        |
        +-> Logical Volume E9497C5B-4AAD-46E5-ACEE-4214D1CA11D8
            ---------------------------------------------------
            Disk:               -none-
            Status:             Locked
            Size (Total):       499411537920 B (499.4 GB)
            Size (Converted):   -none-
            Revertible:         Yes (unlock and decryption required)
            LV Name:            Backups
            Content Hint:       Apple_HFS


How to copy/paste a formula down an entire column in Excel 2011? I have a formula that references A1:B5 for instance, the result lives in any arbitrary cell, say D1. How do I copy and paste the same formula, referencing the same values as in D1, through the entire column D? For some reason, I can't find this answer anywhere.

If I select D1 for instance, and click the bottom right, and drag to use auto-fill, it seems to increment the A1:B5 values which ruins the results.

You need to use an absolute reference with $.

So that the cell references never changes when doing a copy and paste or fill change it from A1:B5 to $A$1:$B$5.

If you want you can even make a reference that is half absolute. The reference $D1 means that when you copy and paste the D will stay the same but the row number will change.


Configure zabbix_agent on macOS High Sierra According to Zabbix agent installation, you can install just the zabbix-agent on macOS with brew install zabbix --without-server-proxy

Nothing explained how to configure the agent, tells him where to send the information ? Is there any configuration file located somewhere ?

There are some files in /usr/local/Cellar/zabbix/<version number>/ but nothing similar to a .conf.

Checking brew installer or configure/make messages often help to determine where files and folders are stored or how and where to configure services or apps:

Example output after installing the required dependencies:

...
==> Installing zabbix --without-server-proxy
==> Downloading https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/zabbix/ZABBIX%20Latest%20Stable/3.4.7/zabbix-3.4.7.tar.gz
==> Downloading from https://10gbps-io.dl.sourceforge.net/project/zabbix/ZABBIX%20Latest%20Stable/3.4.7/zabbix-3.4.7.tar.gz
######################################################################## 100.0%
==> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/zabbix/3.4.7 --sysconfdir=/usr/local/etc/zabbix --enable-agent --with-iconv=/Applications/
==> make install
  /usr/local/Cellar/zabbix/3.4.7: 13 files, 1.4MB, built in 1 minute 31 seconds

One ./configure flag of zabbix is --sysconfdir=/usr/local/etc/zabbix.

Consequently the configuration file(s) and folders (i.e. zabbix_agentd.conf.d) can be found here:

/usr/local/etc/zabbix/

Additional zabbix* man files can be found here:

/usr/local/share/man/man1/
/usr/local/share/man/man8/

Additional steps to perform:

Add /usr/local/sbin to your path. Some brew-installed binaries are installed to this folder (e.g. dnsmasq or zabbix)
Get the zabbix agent to launch at boot time with a launch daemon/agent. I haven't found one accompanying the brew-installed zabbix.

Several can be found at github though:

com.zabbix.zabbix_agentd.plist (the config dir in the plist has to be modified though).
zabbix_agentd_osx_installer (either the UserName/GroupName keys have to removed or a User and Group each with the name zabbix have to be added as special user/group with dscl or the Users & Groups prefpane though or the daemon will fail)

The older zabbix 2.2.5 installer uses the following postinstall script to add a zabbix user & group/modify files and folders:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

#To create a group:
sudo dscl /Local/Default -create /Groups/zabbix
sudo dscl /Local/Default -create /Groups/zabbix PrimaryGroupID 113
sudo dscl /Local/Default -create /Groups/zabbix Password \*

#To create a user:
sudo dscl /Local/Default -create /Users/zabbix
sudo dscl /Local/Default -create /Users/zabbix UniqueID 113
sudo dscl /Local/Default -create /Users/zabbix UserShell /usr/bin/false
sudo dscl /Local/Default -create /Users/zabbix RealName 'Zabbix user'
sudo dscl /Local/Default -create /Users/zabbix NFSHomeDirectory /var/empty
sudo dscl /Local/Default -create /Users/zabbix PrimaryGroupID 113
sudo dscl /Local/Default -create /Users/zabbix Password \*

#Create needed directories
sudo mkdir -p /var/run/zabbix-agent
sudo mkdir -p /var/log/zabbix-agent
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/bin
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/sbin
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/zabbix

sudo chown -Rf zabbix:zabbix /var/run/zabbix-agent
sudo chown -Rf zabbix:zabbix /var/log/zabbix-agent

sudo chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.zabbix.zabbix_agentd.plist
sudo chown root:wheel /usr/local/etc/zabbix/zabbix_agentd.conf
sudo chown root:wheel /usr/local/etc/zabbix_agentd.conf

sudo chown -Rf root:wheel /usr/local/sbin
sudo chown -Rf root:wheel /usr/local/bin
sudo chmod -Rf 755 /usr/local/bin
sudo chmod -Rf 755 /usr/local/sbin

sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/etc/zabbix
#sudo kill -9 `ps aux | grep zabbix_agentd | cut -f11 -d" "`
#sudo kill -9 `ps -aef | grep zabbix_agentd | grep -v grep | awk '{print $2}'`
#sudo rm -Rf /tmp/zabbix*

It's not recommended to execute all these steps but the script may serve as an example how to get it to work. Some have already been executed by installing zabbix with brew (e.g. some sudo mkdir ... commands). Some aren't necessary (e.g. some sudo chown root:wheel ... commands) or will even break brew (e.g. sudo chown -Rf root:wheel /usr/local/bin). If you choose to create a zabbix user/group, make sure that the user can read, write and execute files in the /usr/local/etc|sbin|bin branches.

Move the edited plist file to /Library/LaunchDaemons/ and load it - after editing the zabbix config file - with:

sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.zabbix.zabbix_agentd.plist