How do I control the Play/Stop button for a website (e.g., YouTube) in my external monitor while not having to move my mouse out of my main screen? I want to do programming in my MacBook Pro while looking at the lectures on Udemy on my external monitor. I found it tedious that often I need to move my mouse to the external monitor and pause the video, then go back to my MacBook Pro screen and catch up with the code, then move the mouse to the external screen again and resume the video, then finally move back my mouse again to my MacBook Pro screen to resume coding. Is there a better way to do it? extensions? Maybe set up a hotkey that can pause the video but leave my mouse where it is untouched? Has anyone solved it problem in whatever the hacky way you tried? thx.

In the Mission Control Preferences, select the option "Displays have separate Spaces".

If you have a YouTube video playing in either Google Chrome or Safari, these code snippets will play or pause a YouTube video in either your main or secondary monitor, whether or not Google Chrome or Safari is active and visible, and whether or not the tabs are active tabs or not

Google Chrome:

to clickClassName(theClassName, elementnum)
    tell application "Google Chrome" to (tabs of window 1 whose URL contains "youtube")
    set youtubeTabs to item 1 of the result
    tell application "Google Chrome"
        execute youtubeTabs javascript "document.getElementsByClassName('" & theClassName & "')[" & elementnum & "].click();"
    end tell
end clickClassName

clickClassName("ytp-play-button ytp-button", 0)

--clickClassName("ytp-prev-button ytp-button", 0)
--clickClassName("ytp-next-button ytp-button", 0)

Safari

to clickClassName2(theClassName, elementnum)
    if application "Safari" is running then
        try
            tell application "Safari"
                tell window 1 to set current tab to tab 1 whose URL contains "youtube"
                do JavaScript "document.getElementsByClassName('" & theClassName & "')[" & elementnum & "].click();" in document 1
            end tell
        end try
    end if
end clickClassName2

clickClassName2("ytp-play-button ytp-button", 0)

--clickClassName("ytp-prev-button ytp-button", 0)
--clickClassName("ytp-next-button ytp-button", 0)

In Automator app, create a new document and choose "Service" as the type. Add a "Run AppleScript" action to the workflow.  and insert the AppleScript code

Save your new Automator service and name it something like... "Pause YouTube Chrome"

After this, simply go to your keyboard shortcut preferences and assign your new service a keyboard shortcut.

Follow that entire procedure two times.  One for Google Chrome and one for Safari.

Now you should be able to play or pause YouTube videos in Chrome or Safari, available through a keyboard shortcut or the "Services" menu.


Kernel panic on every attempt to access Recovery Mode I was trying to access the Recovery Mode on my MacBook Pro5,3 with OSX El Capitan 10.11.6, however every attempt ended in Kernel Panic (KP).
I would see the Apple logo with a loading bar and the following console-like text as an overlay:

panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff8013b9654e): "Process 1 exec of /sbin/launchd failed, errno 5"@/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/xnu/xnu-3248.60.10/bsd/kern/kern_exec.c:4584
Backtrace (CPU 0), Frame : Return Address
0xffffff8117153de0 : 0xffffff80136dab52
0xffffff8117153e60 : 0xffffff8013b9654e
0xffffff8117153ee0 : 0xffffff8013b6df9b
0xffffff8117153f00 : 0xffffff8013bb3dd1
0xffffff8117153f40 : 0xffffff80136d54cd
0xffffff8117153f80 : 0xffffff80137cef3e
0xffffff8117153fa0 : 0xffffff80137ec52f

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: init
Boot args: rp=file:///com.apple.recovery.boot/BaseSystem.dmg

Mac OS version:
Not yet set

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 15.6.0: Thu Jun 23 18:25:34 PDT 2016; root:xnu-3248.60.10~1/RELEASE_X86_64
Kernel UUID: B5AA8E3E-65B6-3D0E-867B-8DCCF81E536C
Kernel slide:     0x0000000013400000
Kernel text base: 0xffffff8013600000
__HIB  text base: 0xffffff8013500000
System model name: MacBookPro5,3 (Mac-F22587C8)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 1874205854

What I have tried

Rebooting with CMD+R - results in KP
Rebooting with Option+CMD+R - results in KP
Rebooting with Shift+Option+CMD+R - results in KP
Rebooting with Option and then selection the Recovery partition - results in KP
I found that the BaseSystem.dmg on the Recovery HD partition was corrupted, so I replaced it (together with the BaseSystem.chunklist file) with a fresh version from the El Capitan installer. To no avail, I got a KP again, albeit a slightly different one:
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff8003c3995e): "A kext releasing a(n) BroadcomBluetoothHostControllerUSBTransport has corrupted the registry."@/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/xnu/xnu-3248.60.10/libkern/c++/OSObject.cpp:200

What else can I try?

My final goal is to boot to Recovery, disable csrutil, patch a system file such that my headphones don't launch iTunes automatically, then enable csrutil again.

Notes

Booting to Safe Mode by holding Shift during startup does work as expected.

After I forgot this issue for a while I stumbled upon a very useful tool made by Chris Silvertooth. The latest version of his Recovery Partition Creator can be found on his download page.

Using the application is very simple, I have successfully recreated my recovery partition on El Capitan (OS X 10.11.6):

(Optional but recommended) Create a full backup of your system
Download the most recent Recovery Partition Creator
Download the relevant OS X installation files from the App Store

Open the App Store
Open the Purchased tab
Find the installation file of the OS you're trying to add a recovery partition to and download it

Start the Recovery Partition Creator and follow the steps described in the dialogs. At some point you will need to point it to the installation files downloaded in the previous step.


Is it possible to install Mac OS 9 on a VM? Recently I got hold of a Mac OS 9.2.1 retail CD and would like to test drive it in a VM.  Is that possible?

SheepShaver will be your best bet. There's several tutorials laying around on getting OS 9 running in SheepShaver.


ssh tunnel in osx -- connection refused I'm trying to use an SSH tunnel for a web proxy. I've done this sort of thing before (for games.) I fire up firefox and tell it to proxy through localhost 12345 for everything. Then, ssh user@host -L 12345:localhost:8080 -N. When I try to use the browser, I get "connection refused." I enabled all the flags in sshd_config and restarted. No idea how to proceed. HALP!

I think you are mixing up two commands.
Try to set Firefox to Socks5 at port 12345 and run:

ssh user@host -D 12345

From the SSH manual, 'man ssh':

-D [bind_address:]port
Specifies a local “dynamic” application-level port forwarding. ... Currently the SOCKS4 and SOCKS5 protocols are supported, and ssh will act as a SOCKS server.

Your command user@host -L 12345:localhost:8080 -N forwards your local port 12345 to the remote host's port 8080. This would only work if there would actually be a proxy running on port 8080 on your remote host.


Mounting bluetooth as local drive I know you can easily browse files on a device by using bluetooth, this is not what I wanna do.

I want to mount the bluetooth device (an Android phone, for example) just like when I mount a usb drive or a network storage: that is with its directory listed in the filesytem under /Volumes.

Is there any extension/plugin which does this on Mac Os X Mavericks? This behavior works perfectly under Ubuntu.

Why I want to do it? Because a few application I use will only read files from the filesystem and it would be useful to me to have them read what's on my phone.

I guess what you can try is FUSE for OS X and btfs. Not sure if it will work.


How do I find out which application is sending me this Notification Center alert? It appears every 10 minutes or so, and it's driving me nuts! Nothing appears in my notifications slider (the black translucent drawer from the right screen).

Macbook Pro, 10.11.3 El Cap

For googlability: the text is:
AUTH_NOTIF_TITLE
AUTH_NOTIF_MESSAGE

Options:
Close
CONTINUE

Usually, you can click on the message area in the notification and the associated app will be launched.

FYI, this looks like the app's localization is configured incorrectly or is missing.


Unwrap Finder Folder I really like the (new-ish) Finder contextual menu option to move selected files into a new folder. I was wondering if the opposite exists too, where a folder is "unwrapped", where the contents are moved back to the parent folder.
Ex:

Select 4 files in Photos folder; Use "Create folder with 4 Items"; new folder created.
Right-click the new folder; "Unwrap Folder"; 4 files returned to Photos folder, empty folder deleted.

The 2 options are not quite the same, so I can't see anything like this existing.

When you use New Folder with Selection (4 items) (for example) creation of the folder is a simple task, to create a new folder and request a name for it.

But once a folder is created, there are multiple results from a proposed "unwrap" command, depending on if you select all the files in the folder or not.  Let's say you select all the visible files with the mouse instead of cmd+a, but you miss one that's scrolled off the bottom:

Should it abandon the attempt to unwrap, because there are unselected files?
Should it move the selected files back, and leave the orphan file alone?
Should it move the selected files back a level, and then remove the folder regardless of the fact that it still has contents?
What if there are further subfolders?
What if files don't have permission at the next level back, say they were on the users home directory, or the root of the filesystem?

The choices in copying stuff back one level and removing their previous location is far far tricker than simply creating a new folder and moving the selected files inside.

I'm sure that custom scripts can be written to provide something similar, but I imagine the use case it pretty unusual, as well as much trickier to implement in a way that won't confuse, as such it doesn't exist by default.


Data Drive Bootcamp Permissions I have a Mac Pro 2012 running HS and Windows 8 on separate partitions on the same physical SSD.  It also has a data drive, a separate physical platter drive.  When I'm on the Mac side, all is well, but on the Windows side, I can only read from the data drive, I can't write to it. I'm not sure which side I have to change permissions on to change this? I don't want to mess anything up.

The external data drive is probably formatted Mac OS Extended (journaled), on which Windows can not write.
Choose a format that can be used by both OS for read and write, like MSDOS FAT or EXFAT.


What's slowing down my Mac? I have the following mac:

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013)
3.4 GHz Intel Core i5
8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M 2048 MB

It has a HDD, and I have 240GB out of 1TB free space.

I'm on OS X El Capitan (10.11.3).

Since some time this mac has been very, very frustratingly slow. It takes about 15 minutes to go from a clean boot to getting firefox up and running. Especially starting applications is painful. It's a bit hard to quantify though, because at other times it seems ok. There's a big perception/psychology part to it.

I'm considering doing a fresh install, and perhaps go with an older OS X. But I'm also just extremely curious what's causing this. I can't figure it out. I know HDD's are slower, but the machine was fine when I got it, and I find it hard to believe that newer OS X's are so much worse.

Here's a few things I've done:

Turn off time machine, for good measure.
Turn off dropbox. My dropbox is rather large and I noticed it can be a pretty big factor when it's indexing.
I don't use FileFault.
1Password is in the startup items, nothing more.
I recently did a scan of my disk in recovery mode, to ensure that the disk wasn't failing. S.M.A.R.T. says verified.

There's nothing out of the ordinary in Activity Manager / htop. CPU and Memory both seem reasonable. Also worth mentioning that if I start a game like Starcraft or Cities Skylines, these applications perform pretty well once started. Starting them takes a long time though.

I'm basically at a loss why my fairly new Mac is worse at running applications as back when I got my first white macbook in 2006, when the applications I'm running haven't changed (firefox, terminal, thunderbird), and Memory quadrupled.

I'm very comfortable with the command line, and I just want to satisfy my curiosity. What causes my computer to take 15 minutes to go from boot to Firefox? How can I measure what the computer spends time on? Are there maybe obvious performance improvements I missed?

diskutil list output:

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            999.3 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

A few (maybe) interesting items from system.log:

I got a bunch of these:

Mar 20 19:13:18 localhost kernel[0]: Sandbox: launchd(1) System Policy: deny(1) file-write-flags /private/var/run/dyld_shared_cache_x86_64h
Mar 20 19:13:18 localhost kernel[0]: Sandbox: launchd(1) System Policy: deny(1) file-write-unlink /private/var/run/dyld_shared_cache_x86_64h

A whole bunch of these for all my applications:

Mar 20 19:15:44 Pasta kernel[0]: Sandbox: coreduetd(74) deny(1) file-read-metadata /
Mar 20 19:15:44 --- last message repeated 23 times ---
Mar 20 19:15:44 Pasta kernel[0]: Sandbox: coreduetd(74) deny(1) file-read-metadata /Applications/App Store.app
Mar 20 19:15:44 --- last message repeated 4 times ---
Mar 20 19:15:44 Pasta kernel[0]: Sandbox: coreduetd(74) deny(1) file-read-metadata /Applications/Automator.app
Mar 20 19:15:44 --- last message repeated 4 times ---
Mar 20 19:15:44 Pasta kernel[0]: Sandbox: coreduetd(74) deny(1) file-read-metadata /Applications/Calculator.app
Mar 20 19:15:45 --- last message repeated 4 times ---
Mar 20 19:15:44 Pasta kernel[0]: Sandbox: coreduetd(74) deny(1) file-read-metadata /Applications/Calendar.app

Your machine should not be this slow.  If the below doesn't help, you can take it to an Apple store to run hardware tests.  I've seen instances where faulty sensors, for example, would cause the computer to go into limp mode, and the hard drive was fine.

Have you tried resetting the PRAM?

There are some command line utilities that should be able to pinpoint what's using the disk (if that's the case).  You can try iostat 1 - this will display general disk activity, refreshing every second.

To see more granular info such as the process, use "fs_fsusage": sudo fs_usage -f diskio

I'd first try to narrow down what's eating all the I/O using the above commands.  You can always wipe and reinstall if you want, but if you restore your entire Time Machine backup, you'll be potentially re-introducing the problem.  So I'd say only restore your data/ user account w/o the ~/Library folder if possible.

On the hardware side of things, these devices shipped with at least 7200 RPM drives.  While much better than the slower 5400, modern OSes will still choke with excessive disk activity (spotlight, time machine, various system services).

Replacing the drive with an SSD on your own IS possible but you need tools, and have to be very careful handling the screen.  So if you've never done it before I'd recommend paying someone to do.

EDIT: Also check your system log in Console... look for disk i/o errors


Is there a key stroke to switch to a fullscreen app in Lion? I normally switch around my virtual desktops using the ctrl+num. Now, Exposé shows all the desktops and the fullscreen app whereupon clicking the fullscreen app rectangle will take me back to it. I'd rather do so via keyboard nav. cmd+tab doesn't work for me because I'm doing this with VMware where I have multiple windows open, one is fullscreen, others are not. cmd+tab seems to land me on whatever VMware window it randomly chooses.

You can configure these shortcuts in System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> Mission Control

I think the default is control-option-left/right arrow, at least that's what I have it set to.

In mission control, you can also re-order the position of the desktops/full screen apps by dragging them around. I think by default they're ordered by most-recently used desktop, but you can change that (I can't remember how, that would be a separate question anyway).


Upgrade Snow Leopard Server to Lion Server. What problems should I expect to arise? Is upgrading as simple as installing Lion Server from the App store? I've heard that you have to be running Lion first to be able to install the Lion Server software, but I'm looking at upgrading a live server and need to know how others have gone about it and the problems they ran into. Thanks :0)

Well, I would advice clearly against doing this for a live system at the moment. Don't fix it if it isn't broken.

Lion Server has a completely revamped UI, it takes quite a bit of time to reconnect all the bits and pieces. It does a lot under the hood which used to be exposed in Server Admin.
DNS / DHCP / other low level services are still available, but not exposed in the default UI anymore.

Set aside a separate machine, learn to find your way in the new UI, and then you may choose to upgrade your live system or not.


On iPhone/iPad, can you view a PDF sync'd in iTunes? A podcast I subscribe to has mp3 files and PDF files side-by-side. They all sync together into iTunes. On the Mac, in iTunes, I can double-click on either and hear (mp3) or read (PDF) what's inside.

However, when I sync this podcast and all its files onto iPhone/iPad, only the mp3 files are visible. Is there any way to get the PDF files to appear there? Seems like if they appear next to the mp3s on the Mac iTunes client, they should appear in the Podcasts screen in iOS.

Yes you can do this but the mp3s and PDFs are two distinct things that need to each be setup for syncing separately.

So, sync your podcast/mp3s like you always do. Then you need to tell iTunes to sync your PDFs through the books tab when you have your iPhone/iPad plugged in. They will sync to your phone as a book and be visible in the iBooks application.

Unfortunately, that's just the way it works. You won't be able to view the PDFs in the iPod application on the phone, just through iBooks.


WiFi Connection Lost Periodically - Must Reboot iPod Touch to Restore I have a 2nd generation iPod Touch running OS 4 that I (usually) leave powered on 24x7. What I notice that I am unable to go online - I cannot check my email, browse the web, etc. My guess is that my wireless router's DHCP tables have recycled (or whatever the right word is) and that the iPod Touch needs to renew its IP address.

If I go to the iPod Touch's Settings it lists my network and the DHCP-granted IP address, DNS settings, and so forth. If I try to renew the lease the existing settings are erased and the iPod thinks for a while before bringing up a new IP address. However, this new one starts with 169.254 (or something like that) when it should start with 192.168. Needless to say, the connectivity problems persist.

The only way I can get back online is to power down the iPod Touch then power it back on, which takes upwards of a minute. Is this a known problem with the iPod Touch? Is it an issue with my router? Am I stuck rebooting the iPod Touch when this situation unfolds?

Thanks!

Numbers starting with 169... are self assigned numbers and means the iPhone can't find a DHCP server to connect to.
This used to happen to my iPhone on an earlier OS version (3 point something). I haven't seen it for a while. Switching to and from "Airplane Mode" was enough to get the iPhone to acquire a new address.

PS. Is this an answer or a comment?


make FaceTime louder How do I make the FaceTime.app sound output louder on my MacBook?

It's too quiet for me to hear what the people on the other end are saying. Way quieter relative to every other app I use (YouTube in Safari, Discord calls, Microsoft Teams calls, etc.)

macOS Catalina 10.15, FaceTime 5.0

You can do that with third party apps such as SoundBooster from FroYoSoft or Boom3D from GlobalDelight.

They will allow you to control and optionally amplify the audio volume of each app separately.


How do I fix the email counter on the tag below the task bar? In the mail window, you can put a tag to your mail boxes below the taskbar (see screenshot) that you can click to go to that mailbox.  The tag has a number indicating the number of unread messages.

For me, this number is always wrong.

I have tried:
1. Erasing deleted messages
2. Rebuilding the mailboxes
3. Moving messages in and out of the mail box

to no avail.

Yes, it is a small thing, but it should work and if there is an easy way to fix it, I would.

restating my comment as an answer for completeness's sake:

"Inbox" in the "mailboxes" bar does not refer to the folder called "Inbox" but to the whole folder structure you might have created inside the "Inbox" or several "Inbox" folders, if you have multiple mailboxes configured.
All those unread items which are not in the actual "Inbox" folder will be in one of those subfolders, instead.


Can't find Trash in Finder or on Desktop I can't find the trashcan icon anywhere.

I'm using OS X 10.7.4. I'm not sure when it went missing.

I can still move items to the trash, but since I can't find it I can't empty it.

Is there a way to get the icons back, or an absolute path to it?

Note: I'm not using Time Machine.


How Do I Reset the Sharing & Permission Setting on a MacBook? When you select the "Get Info" option, the mac will bring up a pop-up with the various attributes of the object selected. In the "Sharing & Permissions" section, you can set the access level.

I switched my hard-disk (MacIntosh HD) to no access, thinking that no one else except me has access. But I am getting locked out too. Right now, all I have is a black screen with the pointer. How do I get back access to the hard-drive?  Please note that the image above is taken from a network computer as reference.  It is my personal computer that I cannot get to.

Upon further review it may be best to use a recovery to fix this issue.


Free space in iCloud not less even after having deleted all files in iCloud Drive I have moved all the files located at "Documents" and "Desktop" folder to /home/tmp folder. Also I have deleted all the files in icloud.com, but whenever I check the iCloud Storage, it's still the same, not less.

I'm making sure all files on icloud.com and local has been
deleted.

Storage size by local (MacBook):

Storage size by icloud.com :

Any ideas?

I try to contact Apple Support, but their website always come with :

  We’re sorry, there are no solutions available at the moment. Please try again later.

open system preferences and click on icloud. a new panel opens as shown below. click on the option button next to icloud.

After clicking the Option button a new panel opens. At the bottom of that panel is a checkbox to optimize mac storage. Make sure that box is unchecked.  See 2nd figure below.

If the new icloud space doesn't look correct give it a few hours to update.


To hide unused rows in Excel How do I hide all unused rows in Excel? I hate that if I scroll to fast I do not stop at the end of the data.
I am running Excel 15.

Here is an example. I want every row after 263 hidden so when I scroll down the data scrolling stops at 263. I also want every column after E hidden.

Taken from this article on TekReview

Make sure to leave room for expansion, if necessary.

Select the first column to the right of your data. Now we need to select all columns from this starting point to the end of the spreadsheet. Because Excel gives users spreadsheets with tens of thousands of rows and columns, we’ll use keyboard shortcuts to quickly jump to the end.
With the rightmost empty column selected, press and hold the Shift key and then press Command + Right Arrow. This will jump you to the end of the spreadsheet while the Shift key automatically selects every cell in between.
Now we have to tell Excel to hide these cells. With your cells still selected, go to Excel’s Menu Bar and choose Format > Column > Hide. You’ll now see all the cells to the right of your data disappear.
Next, we need to deal with the cells below your data. Similar to the steps above, this time select the first row beneath your data. With the bottommost cell selected, press and hold Shift and then press Command + Down Arrow. This will jump you to the very bottom of the spreadsheet and select all the rows in between.
Finally, head back up to Excel’s Menu Bar and choose Format > Row > Hide. You’re now left with a spreadsheet that features only cells containing your data, resulting in a much cleaner look.

If you need to expand your table, or simply don’t like the new look, you can easily unhide the cells. First, click the top-left heading cell that looks like a white arrow pointing to the bottom-right corner. Clicking this cell will select all cells in your spreadsheet, both hidden and not. Once selected, go to Excel’s Menu Bar and choose both Format > Column > Unhide and Format > Row > Unhide. Your spreadsheet will now be restored to the default look.


Sync my Music from Windows with the correct Added Date? I recently moved my music via USB from my windows to my macbook. All the songs were on iTunes and were arranged by Date Added. Once I moved them to the macbook, they all scrambled around with incorrect dates !! I thought iTunes saves the META data in the files so that they can be read again using another device.

Is there a way to arrange my songs by the correct Date Added

I still have the songs in my Window's iTunes if this helps at all.

Thanks

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4796

This Apple support document answers your question very well. Migration Assistant will copy over your iTunes library with metadata. Before that, delete the iTunes library you copied over from your previous attempt.


Does Apple reveal its iOS review wait time? The site appreviewtimes.com croudsources reports from iOS developers to figure out the current average iOS/Mac apps review time:

Does apple reveal any information about the current review queue size?

Apple provides no information on the queue size, just that it may take at least 7 days for your app to be reviewed.

Appreviewtimes.com is a very good site for estimated review times, I have found it to be very accurate.


Google two-factor doesn't work on iPad after iPhone is set up Love the idea of two-factor auth and was pushed to do it finally by the issues that plagued the Gizmodo author.

I enabled two-factor auth and it was all going really smoothly. I used Google Authenticator and two-factor setup to create some application-specific passwords, scan the Authenticator QR code with my iPhone to set it up, etc. etc.

However, now my iPad is reporting that it can't connect to GMail via Google Sync (Exchange) on the iPad.

I've taken the following steps:

Attempted to use an app-specific password. Tried a few different ones just to see if they worked.
Attempted to use a code generated from Google Authenticator on the iPhone.
Looked up Google Help. It told me to use Google Authenticator to add my iPhone, but doesn't seem to an address an iDevice that isn't the primary device (i.e. Phone). I can't add an additional QR code as far as I can see.
I can't navigate to the App Store on my iPad because the google sync login window incessantly pops up.

Any advice on how best to proceed from someone who activated his iPhone before an iPad?

The main thing I seem to be getting hung up on is that the process to connect the iPad is the same as the iPhone, except Google's process recommends adding an iPhone, and when I already have one and need to add an iPad, the only options I have are replace or remove.

I have this set up on my iPad and iPhone. Google's site isn't very clear, and it's easy to get confused between the different elements of the two factor logins.

It sounds like what you're getting hung up on is the Google authenticator app. That's only used for logging in to Google's websites, it doesn't authenticate your iPhone/iPad for email access or anything else. For mail access, all you need (and the only thing that will work) are app specific passwords.

Here's what I did:

Go to this page and generate an app-specific password. Label it iPhone Mail. (Doing this on the actual device is probably best, since you can copy/paste rather than manually copying from your Mac).
Open your iPhone Mail settings, and input the password you generated into your Gmail account settings.
Repeat for the iPad (creating a different app-specific password is highly recommended).

That should be all you need.

I think the reason you had trouble with the authenticator on your iPad is that Google probably allows only one authenticator active at a time for security purposes. I'm not 100% sure on this, but it's my best guess. I'd suggest keeping it on whatever device you have with you more often (guessing that's your iPhone).


Disable screen saver on OS X 10.9 When I set my screen saver "start after" value, it resets within a few hours. I have not yet determined what event causes it to reset, but it does not require rebooting to occur.

Apple customer support had me delete the com.apple.screensaver.plist file from /Library/Preferences/, but that did not resolve the problem.

Since the start after value won't stay put, is there another way to disable the screen saver altogether?

Deleting that wouldn't work. The only keys stored in that property list, by default, are:

njboot$ defaults read com.apple.screensaver
{
    askForPassword = 1;
    askForPasswordDelay = 900;
}

These keys are tied to: System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General > "Require Password 15 minutes (900/60) after sleep or screen saver begins."

You need to modify current host properties (saved in the "By Host" folder). To do so, open Terminal, and enter the following command at the command line prompt:

defaults -currentHost write com.apple.screensaver idleTime 0

Here's the result:

defaults -currentHost read com.apple.screensaver`

{
    CleanExit = YES;
    PrefsVersion = 100;
    idleTime = 0;
    moduleDict =     {
        displayName = "Computer Name";
        moduleName = "Computer Name";
        path = "/System/Library/Frameworks/ScreenSaver.framework/Resources/Computer Name.saver";
        type = 0;
    };
}

0 = never. Log out and log back in for changes to take effect. Once you log back in, you will notice under System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver > Start After: Never is set. This will override setting it via System Preferences. You can test this by setting the screensaver time, logging out, and logging back in. It will still read never. If you wish to undo this command in the future:

defaults -currentHost delete com.apple.screensaver idleTime

Googling the issue revealed that a corrupted launch services database could be one possible cause, and rebuilding it may solve the underlying issue.


How to set up Time Capsule in wireless bridge mode? I can't find any clear, step-by-step instructions on how to set up a Time Capsule in wireless bridge mode.  Eg, how to disable its routing functions and set it up as a switch/repeater connected wirelessly (not via ethernet cable) to another wireless network.  I'd also like to be able to connect a backup harddrive to it via USB and have access to it on the wireless network.  Anyone know exactly how to do this?

In AirPort Utility I change the default setting from Router to Bridge Mode, but then it's not clear how to specify the existing network I want it to connect with and extend.  Do I use "Create New Network", or "Add to Existing Network"?  And how?  Honestly I've tried multiple variants of both and neither seems to work right.

"Add to Existing Network" seems to make my Time Capsule completely vanish and and AirPort Utility can't find it.  "Create a New Network" at least doesn't do that, but I can't tell whether I've successfully extended my other network with my TimeCapsule or not, and the USB harddrive is not available (nor TC's own internal 3TB harddrive for that matter).  For example, there's this comment on Amazon saying you should use "Create a New Network" instead of "Add to Existing Network".

Anyway, any suggestions, or links to a good guide on this, much appreciated.

Apparently not possible to wirelessly bridge an AirPort/TimeCapsule device with another non-Apple wireless router.

https://discussions.apple.com/message/26473279
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5144712?searchText=bridge
https://discussions.apple.com/message/10769075#10769075


My iCloud account doesn't have a calendar? I use Google Calendar for my calendaring app. I am trying to solve a problem where calendar invites sent from other people using iCloud won't show up in my Google Calendar (I'm accessing gCal through Sunrise.am, but I don't think that's relevant).

I found this thread on support.apple.com which suggests if you have a Google account with the same email address as your Apple ID, then Apple will send the invite to your iCloud calendar instead of your Google Calendar, unless you log into iCloud and disable the "Use iCloud for incoming invitations" setting:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3454604?start=45&tstart=0

So, today I logged into icloud.com (which I have never used before) to try to disable that setting. However, I don't seem to have a calendar?

There is no mention of a calendar under the settings section. I also tried directly visiting https://www.icloud.com/#calendar and got redirected back to the home page. I've tried googling a ton, and can't find any mention of an iCloud account with no calendar.

I'm getting really frustrated with this, and just want invites from iCloud users to get through to my Google Calendar. I've already missed an important meeting due to this problem and really need it solved. :(

If you haven't signed in with your Apple ID on an Apple device at least once in its history, these are the only services available to you.

  What is web-only access to iCloud?

  Web-only access is a free level of iCloud service that's available to anyone, including people who don't own or use Apple devices. It includes access to Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for iCloud and 1 GB of free storage for any documents you create.

You can obtain the other features by signing in on an Apple device.

  How do I get the full set of iCloud features?

  If you have an iOS device or Mac, you can get the full set of iCloud features. Simply sign in to iCloud in Settings on your iOS device or System Preferences on your Mac. You'll get immediate access to all iCloud features and 5 GB of free storage. You can also choose additional storage plans from your device.

For more information, see this Apple KB article:

Web-only access to iCloud


Why bash history on my mac won't save? I have always used bash for work, and never had problems with it. Now, it does not save any command in history again.
If I open a window terminal, try some commands, it acts like everything has worked fine and show me history using the arrow keys. But If I close the window (and that it is the time that it supposed to be save on the .bash_history file) and open another one, there are no signs of the last commands.

How can I find out what is going wrong? Or re-set everything from blank.

I did this:

Add a variable to .bash_profile file

SHELL_SESSION_HISTORY=0

restart the terminal and after that it is working as I'd like. (It saved the commands after I closed the terminal)

P.S. I also use the HISTFILESIZE and HISTSIZE variables

HISTSIZE is the number of lines or commands that are stored in memory in a history list while your bash session is ongoing.

HISTFILESIZE is the number of lines or commands that (a) are allowed in the history file at startup time of a session, and (b) are stored in the history file at the end of your bash session for use in future sessions.


Am I supposed to buy Lion twice? I've formatted my mac, and I've reinstalled Snow Leopard from installation CD. Successively I've accessed to the mac store to download Lion again and install it on top of the fresh Snow Leopard installation, and suprise: the mac store asks me to buy it again.

I'm using the same user profile (Apple ID).

I can't delete this question anymore, so I provide the solution: I had 2 different accounts.

The problem is that I've used my email for one account, instead of using my nickname, and this generated the second account. I think they should recognize emails, and warn you, you already have an account with this email, to avoid issues like mine.


Lost preview.app. How to get it back? After resetting my Mac from a backup (High Sierra, version 10.13.6), I somehow lost the preview.app. It's not there. I still see remnants like com.apple.Preview.plist (yet, no com.apple.preview folder). What can be done to get it back without installing macOS anew?
thx

The Preview app should be in /Applications, with all the other apps. It cannot be deleted normally, so it is strange that it is missing. What happens if you double click on an image file or PDF? What happens if you type "Preview" into Spotlight? Is it missing from Launchpad?

Firstly, you should be able to restore it from your backup. Go into Time Machine app, navigate to the Applications folder, and then scroll 'back in time' until you can see it. Then Restore.

If that fails, then I would be incline to reinstall MacOS, because there may well be all sorts of other issues that you have not discovered. You can re-install MacOS and keep your (existing) applications and user data intact.


Function performed by a shortcut in Pages? I'm writing a lot of text with Pages. Upon typing I'm not always staring at my keyboard and from time to time when using the space bar I inadvertantly type command functions.
Most of the time I can easily recover this typing errors by looking at the dynamical 1st entry of the Edit menu which suggest to undo the wrong command (shortcut ⌘+Z). But this isn't always possible.

Now I just inadvertantly typed ⌘+E.

I don't see an immediate and total collapse of my actual page.

But I would like to know if this modified my document somewhere else
before saving a damaged document.

How may I find what this shortcut is doing?
How may I find what any shortcut is doing?

As far as I know there is not a canonical list of shortcut keys provided by the program in an easy to find way, however, some third party software has cataloged most Apple apps and some others too.

Give Cheat Sheet a try, I think this will answer your question with this program, as well as a great many others.

In short, after installing it, you hold down command, and it gives you a list of shortcuts relevant to the active app.


Quicktime Screen Recording heat problem My machine is a 13" MacBook Pro with retina display, running Sierra. When I record a screen (video with sound), the machine heats up rapidly (80 celsius in less than 1 minute of recoding).

That sounds reasonable especially if you're not in a cold environment. You're recording at a minimum of 240 million pixels per second internally (display resolution plus scaling, at 60fps) — that's going to be strenuous on the computer just like any heavy video processing workload. 80℃ is not out of the ordinary for any situation where you're taxing system resources.


Don't indent first paragraph in Pages In Pages, it is possible to indent paragraphs by going to Format > Layout > Indents > First and changing it to the desired value.

However, when updating the "Body" Paragraph Style to use this, it causes the first paragraph to be indented as well, which I would prefer not to have. It also causes one-liner paragraphs to be indented, which looks quite awkward.

Is there a way to prevent Pages from indenting the first paragraph in any sequence of paragraphs, without having to manually remove the indentation from each first paragraph?

This is an important question for anyone concerned with proper typesetting.

The solution is to click on your first body paragraph, create a new paragraph style (by pressing the 'plus' symbol at the drop-down style selector). Give it a unique name (such as 'Body - First Paragraph'). Under the 'Layout' tab, set the 'First' indent to 0. Under the 'More' tab, set the 'Following Paragraph Style' to 'Body'.

You can repeat the same process of setting the 'Following Paragraph Style' to 'Body - First Paragraph' for each of your heading level styles, if you do not want to change the style of the first paragraph manually.


What is changing the default keyboard layout from "U.S." to symbols after hitting + in 10.15.7 on a Mid 2012 MacBook Pro? The event:
After updating to 10.15.7 on a Mid 2012 MacBook Pro and hitting first time the + key - "é", the keyboard layout changed to symbols (instead of asdfg I get åß∂ƒ©).  I have only the "U.S." keyboard layout installed.  A few years ago I had the Greek because it was easier to type greek letters, but removed it about 4 years ago.
Symptoms:

Of course I am unable to log in. /Sometimes I can, but I was unable to determine what sequence of trials /+, , , , +, +++, etc.../ sets it back to "U.S".

The "About This Mac" menu item under the Apple menu disappear.  A new menu item "System Information" appears.

When I am in an Application - let's say Safari -, the "Quit Safari" menu item changes to "Quit Safari but keep the Windows"

Remedies tried:

All the key combinations and more listed above.  Did not work
Chat with Apple Support twice.  They had no clue but recommended to reformat and reinstall.
Reformated all volumes that Apple allows to reformat and reinstalled from the Base Mac OS. Did not work.
Reformated again and installed 10.14.6.  Did not work.  After the first hit of + or +, the keyboard layout changed to symbols.  Upgraded it to 10.15.7, hoping it will wipe the Base Mac OS clean and updates the EPROM... Did not work
Tried to boot from an USB drive that is bootable and contains 10.15.7 but after the Installer rebooted the machine the install did not continued from the USB drive, but rather of the Base Mac OS stored on the internal drive. So, ultimately did not work.

Any good suggestion that will work to keep the "U.S" keyboard layout?

It sounds like your machine thinks the Option key is always depressed.  Make sure that you do not have Sticky Keys in Accessibility Preferences turned on.  Try an external keyboard (doesn't have to be from Apple) and see if the problem persists or not.


How do you turn on a send verification prompt for text messages on iPhone? My mother has a problem that she often accidentally hits send while typing a text message (i.e. SMS). Is there any way to turn on some sort of "Are you sure you want to send?" verification prompt for text messages? She's on iOS 13.

Unfortunately, there is no such feature as of now. I think one possible solution can be changing the keyboard layout i.e. using one-handed keyboard placed on the left side [Settings > General > Keyboards]. This would shift the keyboard away from the send button and thereby prevent accidentally hitting send.


How to merge all the partitions to normal So I was trying to use bootcamp to use windows 10 because I need to use Visual Basic for my university and it failed and I’m not so sure how ended up with all these volumes. I have copied all important files to another USB so is there an easy way to clean up all the non-needed volumes so that my Macintosh gets all the space like before I started down this path?

UPDATE: This is after what I got after I followed klanomath instructions

To get the default partition layout you have to remove Apple_Boot, the empty container disk2, the almost empty container disk3, erase disk0s3-disk0s4 to free space and finally resize your main container.

Boot to you main system.

Open Terminal and enter:

diskutil list
diskutil ap list

to get the details.

Check your disk:

diskutil verifyDisk disk0
diskutil verifyVolume disk0s2

Remove all partitions and container except the main container:

diskutil eraseVolume "Free Space" Nil disk0s5
diskutil ap deleteContainer disk2
diskutil ap deleteContainer disk3
disktutil list #to get the new dev identifiers of the converted partitions
diskutil eraseVolume "Free Space" Nil disk0sY # Y probably one of [3-7]
diskutil eraseVolume "Free Space" Nil disk0sX # X probably one of [3-7]

Resize your main container:

diskutil ap resizeContainer disk0s2 0

Finally diskutil list should look more or less like this:

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251 GB    disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     314.6 MB  disk0s1
   2:                 Apple_APFS Container disk1         250.7 GB  disk0s2

/dev/disk1 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +250.7 GB   disk1
                                 Physical Store disk0s2
   1:                APFS Volume Macintosh HD            140 GB     disk1s1
   2:                APFS Volume Preboot                 21.3 MB    disk1s2
   3:                APFS Volume Recovery                509.8 MB   disk1s3
   4:                APFS Volume VM                      2.1 GB     disk1s4


recover data on external HDD formatted by mac I connected an 1 TB Toshiba external HDD previously used on windows pc to my new MacBook Air and a message popped up for if I wanted to use this drive for time machine backup and since this is the first time i'm using mac I clicked "later". I think it got formatted so I tried some data recovery softwares but was unable to recover any data. I had lot of data on it which I would like to recover, is it possible?

To recover data from an external HDD formatted by Mac, you can use software TestDisk. Formatting is mainly performed when the HD gets corrupted due to software conflicts, bad sector etc.
In Mac OS X, you can use ‘Disk Utility’ to perform the formatting process. Once formatting is completed, you can use advanced data recovery tool.


Slow OSX booting with black screen before apple logo Every time I boot my macbook, there is always a black screen before the Apple Logo pops up. The blackscreen stays for around 15-20 seconds. How can I resolve that problem?

It can happen, if you doesn't have selected a specific start-volume.

From the Apple menu choose System Preferences.
Click the Startup Disk icon in System Preferences, or choose View > Startup Disk.
Select your startup disk from the list of available volumes.

After that, restart your mac and the blackscreen shouldn't appear before a start.


Reveal each bullet by opacity in Keynote 6.6? This question is an exact duplicate of How to partially uncover bullet points in Keynote except that I am asking for the current generation of Keynote (version 6.6.1, rather than Keynote '09).

I want the slide to initially appear with all bullet groups translucent (dimmed by opacity set to low number). On each click fully reveal each bullet group by becoming opaque (opacity set to 100%).

As seen in this animated gif:

I want the same effect as Build In > Appear & Move > Dissolve with Delivery set to By Bullet Group, but I want the initial display of all bullet groups to be translucent rather than hidden.

My motivation is so that while giving a presentation I can see all the items immediately to remind me how to properly phrase my speaking, yet keep the audience’s attention on each bullet point.

This is what I tried and it worked in Keynote 6.6.1 (2560):

Create Bullet points text.
Select all bullet points and Copy
Select all
but the first bullet point and set color to 10% white (or whatever you like) leaving the first line at 100%.
Paste the saved bullet points over the existing and align precisely.
Apply the following setting to the newly pasted bullet points:

Using the Animate tool and the settings in the Build In automator Appear, the first bullet point will present in full 100% luminance with the succeeding points dim. As you click, the bullet points will appear as you have shown in your example.


Should I install Opera 12 or OmniWeb browser for my (dated) iMac OSX 10.5.8? Greetings: I've been reading the helpful comments regarding what browser is compatible with a dated OS. My Safari browser is 5.0.6. I'm going to paste my query here. I posted it on another Mac forum whose members get a little testy toward those who are not tech savvy:

I'm a senior (and I'm not talking high school) who's had Macs since the early '90s. However, I tend to cling to whatever works. Change, particularly technical change, is intimidating. As a result, I've been plugging along on my comfortable iMac for a long time. As you can imagine, things are getting weird: pages won't load, the system quits, I get shut out of many sites, etc. I tried going with the Firefox browser but a message said I don't have the requirements. I realize someone else had a similar problem and I read the answers but am as confused as ever. I don't need the latest technology. I just need to get back on track with the least amount of stress. My question: Should I take it to the Mac store or is there something I can do at home? Needless to say, I need to keep it simple. Thanks in advance for anything you can share with me.

You should try TenFourFox as it is a clone of the latest firefox.

The PPC version will work on an Intel machine via emulation. Pick the g3 version.

https://code.google.com/p/tenfourfox/wiki/WhichVersion


which apps comes free with yosemite macbook pro? i want to know which apps comes free when buy apple macbook pro os x yosemite new. I want to see 1st look of app. Can anyone tell me. I m afraid if i missed anyone while reinstalling again!cos i feel i had 2 pages when i 1st time start my laptop.
Is final cut pro and logic pro comes free when anyone buy new macbook? I feel i had this, just a doubt :(.
or if i give them back to fix will they install?

See this list on apple.com for the applications which are included with a new MacBook Pro. If you are missing additional applications after a reinstall, you can either re-download them from the Mac App Store or from the website of the vendor (in case the software wasn't purchased through the App Store).


How to disable plug in sound on late 2016 macbook pro? I found it once and not again, but there is a way to kill that horrible chime when you plug in the mbp.  (It reset itself upon a reboot, but it's the best I could do.)
  Now I can't find that language.
  I'm not talking about the boot up chime, but rather that stupid cell phone charge plug in noise.

defaults write com.apple.PowerChime ChimeOnAllHardware -bool false; killall PowerChime

It resets upon boot up but this will do it temporarily.  I'd love to find out how to disable this permanently.

EDIT: I am so proud of myself.  Here is what a dummy can learn to do for himself.  After I found that code for Terminal above, I had to figure out how to make that command run upon login.

Open TextEdit and type

#!/bin/bash

defaults write com.apple.PowerChime ChimeOnAllHardware -bool false; killall PowerChime

exit 0

... and save it on the desktop as "PCK.txt."  (Powerchime killer)

Rename that file to "PCK.ps"

Open up Terminal and enter

cd ~/desktop

to navigate to the desktop, where the PCK file is.  Then type

chmod +x PCK.ps

Now you can test the script if you want, hopefully it works and the sound is killed!

Next, under the Terminal drop down menu, there are preferences.  Under the Profiles tab there is a Shell "sub tab" on the right.  In this tab there is a "When the shell exits" section, under which is a box that you can choose one of three options.  I chose "Close if the shell exited cleanly," and now when I double click my "PCK.ps" file, a Terminal window flashes and that stupid powerchime is dead.

The final step is to add PCK.ps to my specific user login items.  The login items are located in Preferences / Users and Groups / >user of choice< / Login Items.  Then, click the plus sign and browse to PCK.ps and add it.  Check the box and now try a reboot!


MacBook Pro won’t turn on, even after SMC reset While I was doing some basic file management in the Finder, my MacBook Pro (mid 2012) suddenly went black. It wouldn’t turn on, even after long-pressing the power button or resetting the SMC (System Management Controller). The SMC reset caused the battery indicator light to go from green to red, but even after ten minutes of supposed charging it is not responding to the power button. My symptoms are similar to this and this post, but I have not spilled any liquid on the computer (quite the contrary; it has been stored for over a week on a dry, high shelf), and the laptop does not react to the power button even with the power cord attached.

Do I have any other options but taking the Mac to a repair shop?

The answer in my case was No, there was no other option but to change the main logic board. To my extreme fortune, Norwegian law requires five years of warranty on all electronics such as laptops and phones, so it was done for free. The repair shop even told me I was eliglible for a new screen so they threw in that as well.

Update Q1 2018: And to my extreme fortune and several unexpected circumstances, now they even swapped out the battery for free. Talk about longevity :-)


can i repair a failing disk on macbook pro for free? My macbook pro early 2011 says its drive is failing its S.M.A.R.T. test. It said to repair disk in recovery mode. I've attempted it twice. It doesn't seem to change the situation.
      Could the recent installation of MacPilot  and making changes to settings be causing a problem or causing the appearance of a mock problem?

If a SMART test indicates the drive is failing [& that test is accurate - you could use two independent tools to make sure they agree] then the drive is toast & needs to be backed up if possible & replaced immediately.

SMART is meant to warn you of imminent, potentially catastrophic, drive failure.
It is not a "fixable" problem.


How can I run iTunes without installing Bonjour in Windows 7? I just checked my Windows error logs and Bonjour has caused a ton of errors.  After reading about Bonjour and not needing the networking services it provides, I deleted it.  Now when I open iTunes, an error message appears saying that there is a problem and that it has to close.

Other posts (1, 2) seem to imply that iTunes can run without Bonjour.

How can I get iTunes running on my Windows 7 machine without installing Bonjour?

not sure if this is what you are looking for but I have, on occasion, done a standard iTunes install and then gone into Programs and Features and uninstall Bonjour. That and Apple Software Update show up as separate items for installation.

What it then leaves behind, I am unsure of. You used to be able to run regmon and watch installs to see what it installed so you could then rip it out by the roots later. But I gather that it is no longer supported. Not sure if Process Monitor will do the same thing.


Export iTunes playlists with folder structure intact I want to export my iTunes library to an external hard disc such that it RETAINS structure of all artist folders, album folders and music files within.
I would also like to separately export playlists from the library such that they retain all artist folders, album folders and music files.

There is way too much music  (1.5 TB) and too little time available to do this manually. I have tried many third party software or instructions (e.g.  "itunes export" ) but so far they all just transfer music files unattached from album and artist folders.
I am not very savvy with using command center but I can follow detailed and clearly written instructions. I know this can be done I just do not remember how.
My intention is to give discs to my children, with playlists retained so they can find their interests without having to search though over 100K songs.

(Yet another question is if there is a better music management program out there than iTunes which continually mangles my library)
I would appreciate someones guidance.
Thank you

The link below has the answer. With no need for downloading any software or scripts / patches.

You need to use Terminal, but there's a simple to follow video, and minimal steps on the page:

http://kray.me/blog/exporting-music-from-itunes-mac-while-keeping/

With selected playlist, choose File > Library > Export Playlist and choose m3u8 format
Open a shell and run tr '\r' '\n' < input_m3u | cpio -pd  destination_directory > m3u_file where input_m3u is your playlist file, destination_directory the root folder to put the directory tree in and m3u_file is a new playlist file for the new tree (?). You can leave out > m3u_file, you will see a bunch of messages like ´Cannot lstat ...`  which you can ignore.

I've just done exactly the same thing as you want to do, so I can say from personal experience that it works. Copies a playlist to a new location whilst keeping the iTunes folder structure exactly the same (so by Artist, Album or compilation, etc) depending on how you have you iTunes folder set up. If you set the new location as a SD disk (or external drive) it will copy it straight there.


Reverting a CoreStorage Volume I broke an installation of Deep Freeze on a Macbook by upgrading it to El Capitan. I'd like to get Deep Freeze to work again, but "This version of Deep Freeze cannot be installed on a Mac that has CoreStorage volume". There are many guides to reverting a CoreStorage volume on the internet, but the steps aren't working for me.

I open terminal and type "diskutil cs list" and get the list of volumes on the Macbook, the revertible area tells me "Yes (no decryption required)". When I type "diskutil cs revert [logical volume UUID]" I get the error "The given UUID is not a valid CoreStorage Logical Volume UUID. I erased the hard drive and installed El Capitan fresh making sure to uncheck FileVault when I was setting it up, but I'm still getting the same error. Is there another method for disabling CoreStorage on Macbooks that I'm not aware of? Appreciate any help regarding this.

I ended up stumbling across the answer to my own questions (although David is right, I could have avoided it by following his steps). The guides I found all pointed to the first UUID, but it's actually the 4th one after running the disktutil cs list command. Simple, but took me forever to find. Thanks everyone!


Developing iOS apps on Windows 7 Please read my question fully, I searched many questions but that doesn't answer my question fully. We are planning to develop an iOS app using PhoneGap, so we have also purchased $99 Developer license for it. So far we are good, but as per my research I found that we cannot build iOS app on windows, we compulsory need mac for it.

My question, is it necessary to use mac even if we don't have intend to submit to app store currently? Just we need to test our app on iPad so that once we have bug free application we can purchase mac and build release version out of it before we submit to app store.

Is this possible? Since we are a Java shop and this is our first project for iOS, please excuse me if I am asking something obvious.

So the bad news is that XCode is needed for its iOS Simulator as well as its Application Loader facility for actually uploading the programs to iOS devices for "real" testing. You'll need XCode for signing your apps before submitting to the App Store. Unfortunately, XCode is only available for OS X.

However, the good news is that you may be able to purchase OS X and run it in a virtual machine such as VMWare Workstation. I don't know how straightforward this is, as it is rather difficult to get OS X to run on non-Apple hardware, but a quick Google search shows that it is possible. This method would (likely) be cheaper than purchasing a new Mac, although the Mac Mini retails in the US for only $599. Some posts I've seen indicate that this may or may not be legal, others say you need OS X Server for virtualization. I'll leave the research up to you.

There are also services such as MacInCloud that allow you to rent a Mac server that you can access from Windows via remote desktop, or through your browser. Unfortunately, I don't think you'd be able to use Application Loader, as you have to physically connect the device to your computer, but it would work for development and simulation, at least.

Good luck!


iOS development forums? Can I access and post on the official Apple iOS developer forums without the 99dollars subscription ?

No. To post on or view the developer forums, you must be a paid member.

http://developer.apple.com/devforums/

  The Apple Developer Forums are available to iOS, Mac and Safari Developer Program members.


How to find files not containing comment x? I try to find all "*.xyz" files in folder x which does not have comment "abc". This code does the opposite. I would prefer to use Spotlight if possible. How i can do this?

Thanks

do shell script "mdfind -onlyin '/path/to/folder/x' kMDItemFinderComment == 'abc' kMDItemFSName == '*.xyz'"

The expression has to be a single argument. Subexpressions can be joined with &&:

mdfind 'kMDItemFinderComment!=abc&&kMDItemFSName=*.xyz' -onlyin /path/to/folder/x


Apple Mail is not retrieving mail automatically from Exchange I have an Exchange account set up in Apple Mail. When I click the "Get new messages" button it successfully retrieves mail from the Exchange server.

I have the "Check for new messages" setting in Mail to "Automatically" but it is not retrieving them automatically, I have to manually click the "Get new messages" button again to get the messages.

I have also tried setting "Check for new messages" to "Every minute" but this does not work either.

Initially restarting Mail seems to fix this, but the problem seems to re-occur every time I wake up my computer from sleep/hibernation. I don't want to have to restart Mail every time I do this.

Is there a known fix for this behaviour?

After changing the Check for New Messages delivery settings you need to restart the Mail for it to take an effect.


iOS mail inbox does not show addresses I use a catch all email address on my domain, and would like to be able to figure out what address is being sent spam email.  Unfortunately, I can't find a way to see what address an email in my inbox was sent to. Is there a way to determine the addressee of an email in iOS 8?

You would likely have to have an email app capable of displaying the raw headers of the email to trace this information. I do not believe the iOS 8 Mail app has this capability; it simply displays the most user-friendly information (your catch-all To: address). However, if you can access the same account through the Mac OS X Mail application (or Outlook, etc.), you can view the raw headers there.


How can I wirelessly transfer video from iPhone to Mac? I took some video on my iPhone and would like to transfer it to my Mac. However, it happens that I don't have my iPhone-to-USB cable with me today, so how I can I do it? If it was a photo I would just get it from my PhotoStream in iPhoto, but it seems videos don't appear there.

This has been asked here, but the accepted answer just says to buy an app. It's also been asked here, but the accepted answer says to email it. This doesn't work, because I get a message saying the video is too long and asking whether I want to select a shorter clip from it. (I do not.)

It seems unlikely to me that there's no way to do this with standard Apple software - so how can I do it without installing anything?

If it makes a difference I'm using Mountain Lion on a Macbook Pro and iOS 6 on an iPhone 5. I have an unlimited data plan.

I know you say you do not want to install. But you can get a free Dropbox account.

Install it on you Mac and iOS device.

Then in the iOS Dropbox.

Tap the 3 blue circles in the Menu bar.

Select the + Upload menu.

Allow Dropbox to see you Photos if Asked.

Navigate to the camera roll or Album that contains you video.

Tap it/them to select it/them

Tap The Upload menu to upload.

Once done they should be on you Mac.


does Macbook Pro continue refreshing screen when brightness is set to zero? In other words, does my Macbook's CPU realize it is wasting its time and energy by continuing to send instructions to a screen that has been completely darkened by setting the brightness to 0%?  (Not sure if this is equivalent to "display sleep."  It may be.)

I would hope so, but my guess is that it ignores the brightness setting and continues sending instructions just like it does when the screen is doing something useful with them.

The reason I ask is because I use my iPad as an external display (via Duet Display) and routinely dim my Macbook's screen whenever it's hooked up.

Yes the screen keeps refreshing regardless of the brightness.
If you still have a mac with a glowing apple logo you can even see this,just dim the screen all the way and shine a light through the back of the apple logo, you can see the screen is still active in the light leaking through from the back.
Edit: since I can sense the follow-up question allready:
You can achieve what you want using one of the ways described in this article:
Stop screen rendering on macbook


How to save picture viewed in iOS Safari to Files (iCloud) Open safari, browse to a page with images, press and hold on the image, select "Share..."
There does not appear to be a way to 'share' the image to the Files app.
Yet there is an option for "save to dropbox".
How can I easily achieve this?

There are two ways to do this.

Save the image to your photos, then open the photos app and view the image. Tap the share button and select save to files.
Copy the image, open the files app and paste it (long press) into the selected folder.


Where is the NFSHomeDirectory attribute stored? I have 2 Mac Servers, each of them set to be an OD Master, but are looking to a Sun LDAP server as well.  The same user has a different value for the NFSHomeDirectory value when doing a dscl read on the user with LDAPv3/My.LDAP.Server .  I assume this means that some of the info provided is coming from a local OD DB or a cache or something, otherwise it would be exactly the same on both servers when querying the same datasource (my LDAP server).

Question:  Where is the NFSHomeDirectory value stored?  OS X Lion (on one server and 10.5.8 on the other)

You need to check the mappings being used on the various servers. The program for looking at/configuring this used to be in /Applications/Utilities and named "Directory Access", then at some point it got renamed to "Directory Utility", and then (I think later) got moved from Utilities to /System/Library/CoreServices.. but I don't remember where it was & what name it went by in version 10.5. You'll have to look for it in both places.

Anyway, run Directory Whatever, click the padlock and authenticate, double-click the LDAPv3 service, select the config for the Sun LDAP service (there should be two configs listed, one for the local OD master, and one for the Sun service) and click Edit, then select the "Search & Mappings" tab.

There should be a pop-up menu near the top labelled something like "Access this LDAPv3 server using". If "From Server" is chosen, it's getting its settings from a config record on the Sun LDAP server. Everything bound with this option should be getting consistent mappings & therefore the attributes should match on all Macs.

If it's not in "From Server" mode (which it probably isn't, given it's a Sun server): find Users in the left column ("Record Types and Attributes" if the name hasn't changed since 10.5), click the disclose triangle next to Users, select NFSHomeDirectory under that, and see what's mapped to it (listed in the right column).

Compare what you find on the various OS X servers; if I understand your setup at all correctly, this should tell you where the difference is coming from.

EDIT: Having the OS X NFSHomeDirectory attribute mapped to the LDAP homedirectory attr is entirely normal. The naming conventions here are hopelessly confusing: the OS X HomeDirectory (note caps) attribute contains XML-wrapped instructions on how to mount the home directory, and the OS X NFSHomeDirectory attr contains the local path it should have (after being mounted), which matches exactly with the standard (RFC 2307) LDAP homedirectory (note lowercase) attribute. If the home directories are mounted via NFS, it's generally ok to have the OS X HomeDirectory attribute blank.

I'm not sure what happens if there are multiple home paths; my guess would be that it'll use the first and ignore the rest, but I don't really know.

To see what server is queried first, check in Directory Whatever, in the Search Policy section under Authentication. I'll search the various data sources in the order that they're listed here. Note that OS X does not handle identity conflicts at all well, so having users with the same account and/or full name, or the same user ID number, in multiple domains is a really really bad idea. If you have multiple accounts with any matching identifiers, OS X tends to merge all of their attributes in unpredictable and confusing ways. In a situation like yours, I'd tend to keep all users in just one of the LDAP services (probably the Sun server), with only the per-domain "diradmin" account in each of the OD master's domains.


How can I restore an iPad to factory defaults? I'm planning to sell / give my old iPad to a friend.  I've already saved everything that I want off of the old iPad.  How can I restore the old iPad to factory default settings so that my friend can start fresh?

It's a first-gen iPad, in case it matters.

In iPad Settings, go to General, then Reset, then "Erase All Contents and Settings". The next thing you see ( after confirmation) is the welcome screen as if just out of the box.

Also: If shipping it you might want to power off by holding top and bottom buttons until you see the "slide to power off" slider. I recently sold my iPad 2, cleared it to factory settings as described and powered off. Happy new owner received it with charge, ready to configure.


Is there any Mac software to handle archives (zip, rar, 7z, tar, etc.) that allows browsing? I am looking for a software to handle archives on OS X.
I know there are many of them quite easy to find, but none seems to have the most basic feature that most Windows archive applications have: browsing!

I mean, most OS X unarchivers, when they open an archive, they just unzip it... then ask you for target location in the best case.

What I want is something such as WinRAR or 7zip, which is basically an explorer (ie. Finder) that opens archives.

What I want is precisely this! I want to be able to browse any archive without extracting it, opening files directly from the archive and then be able to modify it so that the file is actually modified in the archive.
I want to be able to drag'n'drop a file to and from an archive to extract/add it.

Those features are so useful when modifying directly JAR files contents, JAR files MANIFESTs, war webapps conf-files and so on...

Thank you.

Zipeg allows you to browse and uncompress a number of formats, but does not allow compressing.


Make spotlight open new instance of application instead of going to application I recently moved from Windows to OSX, and find it frustrating that typing Chrome, Sublime Text or Terminal in Spotlight do not allow me to open a new window, but instead takes me to an open window of the application.

There's the option of running open -n "/Applications/Google Chrome.app/" from terminal but, that defeats the purpose of Spotlight. I'm also aware of Alfred, which is not a solution for me.

Is it possible to change the behaviour of Spotlight to suit this?

Found a solution using flashlight, which allows you to create custom search terms for spotlight.

Install Flashlight
Enter the Flashlight app
Click New Plugin > Run an Automator Workflow
Edit contents according to needs - mine is:

Click Edit Workflow
Remove notification and add Run shell script
Add command that fits needs - mine is:

Test your command works by clicking Run in the Automator window.
Close Automator and the window for the new plugin in Flashlight
Searching for any of the keywords in Usage examples input to the Flashlight plugin will allow you to run the script.


How to access iMessage library using Sequel Pro on macOS I'd like to access my iMessages using Sequel Pro. I have been told that they are in a sqllite file.

Messages uses an SQLite database structure, so you can't open this with Sequel Pro. You can open the Messages database at ~/Library/Messages/chat.db using DB Browser for SQLite.


batch convert audio files in vlc I am trying to add some files to iTunes: some .wma files which it will not import, and some .m4a files which it will import but not play because it does not know bitrate or duration.

I have tried the following:

converting with VLC: the files all play fine in VLC but I can only convert them one at a time, despite being able to give multiple files as input for transcoding, which implies batch conversion should be possible.
using ffmpeg to convert the files. This gives the error:

dyld: Library not loaded: /opt/local/lib/libx264.142.dylib
  Referenced from: /opt/local/bin/ffmpeg
  Reason: no suitable image found.  Did find:
    /opt/local/lib/libx264.148.dylib/libx264.142.dylib: stat() failed with errno=20`

when I try to reinstall ffmpeg in homebrew, building from source, as suggested in this question on github I get the error message Error: SHA256 mismatch.

There must be a simple way to batch convert files, either with vlc or command-line tools. How?

I haven't tried VLC for batch conversion, or CLI alternatives, but searching on Google returns Mediahuman on first place. It's a free app and it can work with .wma.

I haven't used it -install with care, watch for uninvited crapware.

I've used fre:ac with great success for batch processing. It's open source and free.

  It currently works with MP3, MP4/M4A, WMA, Small Vorbis iconVorbis,
  Small FLAC iconFLAC, AAC, WAV and Bonk formats.


Force DNS server ip while connected to VPN I'm using Fortclient VPN to connect to a customer network and the client enforces the use of their DNS (since the customer is in Turkey I get false DNS responses on wikipedia and other websites while connected)
Before high sierra I was able to reset the DNS server used using scutil:

> d.init
> d.add ServerAddresses * 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4
> set State:/Network/Service/forticlientsslvpn/DNS

that usually was enough, starting on high sierra even after setting the DNS value using set it still shows the old values:

> d.show
<dictionary> {
  ServerAddresses : <array> {
    0 : 8.8.8.8
    1 : 8.8.4.4
  }
}
> show State:/Network/Service/forticlientsslvpn/DNS
<dictionary> {
  ServerAddresses : <array> {
    0 : 192.168.20.10
    1 : 192.168.20.11
  }
}
> set State:/Network/Service/forticlientsslvpn/DNS
> show State:/Network/Service/forticlientsslvpn/DNS
<dictionary> {
  ServerAddresses : <array> {
    0 : 192.168.20.10
    1 : 192.168.20.11
  }
}

Is there another way to do it in High Sierra?

I've found a solution, open source client openfortivpn let you skip dns settings while connecting to the VPN. Using its --no-dns --pppd-no-peerdns options fixes it


How can I install Octave with curl support via homebrew? I've installed octave with homebrew (via brew install octave), and it seems to work fine, including gnuplot support.  However, it looks like it's missing curl support.  I'm getting the message "error: urlread: curl: No error" when trying to execute str = urlread(url, 'post', params).

I've tried making homebrew install curl by adding depends_on 'curl' to the octave formula and setting the CPPFLAGS and LDFLAGS environment variables to point to homebrew curl, but that didn't seem to change anything.

I had a similar problem a while back that was caused by having my proxies set up funny. I ended up disabling them to get it to install.

Also, are you sure curl is installed correctly? You could try installing it manually as well: http://curl.haxx.se/docs/install.html


Why "sudo nano" can bypass csrutil / SIP when enabled and other apps can't? Initial statement
I was installing open source ntfs-3g on my mac (Catalina). At some point, while crsutil was enabled (i.e. System Integrity Protection was on) , I had to modify one line in the ntfs-3g package and I couldn't write on the file due to the crsutil protection (I was using vim).
However, I found this answer https://superuser.com/a/1518414/1220896. With nano, I could modify the "protected" file without any reboot nor switching crsutil to disable.
And now, I am still trying to figure out how sudo nano can bypass SIP while sudo vim or any other text editor can't (update by the author: here I make the mistake of assuming it was SIP related).
Complete command:
sudo nano /usr/local/sbin/mount_ntfs

/usr/local/sbin/mount_ntfs is a soft link to /usr/local/Cellar/ntfs-3g/2017.3.23_3/sbin/mount_ntfs. In order to create the soft link, I had performed the csrutil disable/enable.
output of ls -ls /usr/local/sbin/mount_ntfs
0 lrwxr-xr-x  1 user  admin  45 Sep 18 16:33 /usr/local/sbin/mount_ntfs -> ../Cellar/ntfs-3g/2017.3.23_3/sbin/mount_ntfs

output of ls -ls /usr/local/Cellar/ntfs-3g/2017.3.23_3/sbin/mount_ntfs
8 -r-xr-xr-x  1 user  admin  613 Sep 19 14:17 mount_ntfs

Any idea ?

Update
The problem doesn't come from SIP as pointed out by the contributors to this question. I mark this question as solved and will try to find out why sudo vim could only access the file in readonly despite the permissions being well set.
I thank you all for your input.
As a personal not, i would say that sometimes being on the wrong path doesn't mean you can't learn from it --- consider this when replying to someone misleaded like I was.

SIP doesn’t matter so much on Catalina. The system volume is read only / protected.
When you say crsutil was enabled, that is meaningless. That tool is always enabled and can run. You would need to report the full status it reports and then reboot the Mac and then specify the full path to a specific file you attempted to modify for someone to be able to check your work.
I would just set aside all the history and ask a follow on question showing your precise vim failure. That’s quick for people to answer whereas trying to teach anyone how SIP works takes about 2 hours and constant feedback to cover all the nuances. Far too broad for a question here other than the idea to ask a follow up question that documents the specifics.


Encrypted iPhone Backup Over iTunes on Windows 10 I backed up my last iPhone a few months ago, before purchasing a new XR so I could move all of the info from my past phone on to the new one. At the Apple Store, I ended up just connecting the two phones together to do the data transfer, so I didn't end up needing the iTunes backup from my PC after all.

Fast forward to last week, my iPhone stopped working, and since shelter in place is still in full effect in CA, I had to send my phone in and they sent me a new replacement today. Since it stopped working suddenly, I wasn't able to get my current data back, but I fortunately still have the backup I made in February. Problem is, it is asking for a decryption pass code that I never created (at least not within the last 10 years).

I have called Apple Support, and they told me that they have no way of accessing or resetting this password, does anyone have any idea what it could have been? Could it have been a password that I entered when I first setup my Apple ID in 2008? Could it have been a password I set on another computer?

This backup contains years of photos of travelling, life events, and moments with those who have passed away. Any help would be graciously appreciated.

Some good news and some bad news.

Good news is the password is one you entered. It’s not reused or picked up from anywhere else. You (or your agent at the keyboard) could choose the same password as was used elsewhere, but they are not automatic or linked in any way.

To elaborate, iTunes does not encrypt backups by default, so someone typed in this password. That means you can think back to the first device you ever had that was an iPod shuffle, Classic iPod or iPhone and start making a list on paper or electronically.

List out the passwords you or someone with access to your computer may have ever used. Maybe start with easy things like the PIN you and your household use for gates, doors, devices, bank accounts. Me methodical and record which PIN you type. Also, go slow. If you want to try the pin 0000 and think you entered it but typed 00000 it may be a long time before you go back and try 0000.

Last good news is you are not really rate limited or at risk of destroying the backup by guessing wrong. You only lose time.

Bad news - the PIN or computer could be misbehaving - this is rare, but can happen. If the PIN was truly 1234 and that doesn’t work, your backup might be lost.

Neutral news - there is cracking software you may choose to pay for or trust. Like any internet software, even if the author didn’t plant malware, someone else could so consider care getting any software - but there are options to try and brute force passwords on backup files.

Apple isn’t offering to unlock it since they don’t set a default password and don’t want to get tricked into unlocking someone else’s private information let alone offer that sort of service. They do document how to move on if you exhaust your time or resources and can’t get into the backup you made.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205220


Unable eject a USB drive, Finder just hangs I seem to be unable to eject a USB thumb drive from my Mac running Yosemite.

When I click on the eject button in finder next to the drive icon, Finder will just hang. It refuses to open any more files; I can't even restart Finder.

The only solution I've come up with is to restart my entire computer to get Finder back to being responsive.

How can I eject this USB thumb drive without hanging Finder up like this?

If you can not eject, then the next best thing to do is unmount the volume using the Disk Utility application. Once unmounted you can remove the device from the USB port.

For example, I have an mp3 player plugged in to my USB port. The volume has the label PEARL. If I highlight the volume the Unmount button will appear.

If I click on Unmount, the button will change to Mount. You will also notice the volume is no longer appears in the Finder. I can now unplug the mp3 player.

Another solution would be to log out of your account, then disconnect the device.


StartupSound.prefPane on new iMacs? Inspired by this question to which I thought I knew the answer, does anybody know how to make StartupSound.prefPane work on a new iMac?

I just got the computer last week, and installed SS.pP (v1.1b3) right away, but noticed the next day that it didn't actually function.  However, it appears to work, in that it installed fine in System Preferences, I can access it, check and uncheck its options, and move its slider, all without receiving warnings or errors of any kind.  Whatever configuration I set is remembered the next time I go into the app, even after a reboot.  Nevertheless, the startup sound is still played when I boot up.

Edit: Are others having the same issue?  I'd be interested to know if this is a consistent problem with new iMacs or some quirk in how I've set mine up...

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure you're out of luck. A year or two ago Apple decided that the startup sound is enough of a diagnostic (which it is, in fact: it lets you know the logic board is functioning properly enough) that it needs to sound on every boot, from the internal audio device, regardless of what your sound settings and interfaces are.


How to verify if the MacBook Pro HDD cable is faulty? Is it possible that I take out the HDD cable and test it with multimeter to see if all wires are connected, etc? Is there a pin diagram for it?

The problem:
I have this MacBook Pro mid 2009, lat year the hard disk was behaving fishy, so I bought a new HDD and installed it. Problem solved, till now. The same problem is back.
Mac does not boot. Sometimes I can boot in the Bootcamp windows though. And when I put the  HDD in enclousure and connect to a PC with USB, it is just fine. Even it passed the SeaTools test. When I connect this HDD via USB to my mac, it can boot mac normally, but after some time it crashes.

Another test I made: I put the old HDD in the Mac, it booted fine, but after some time it crashed.

Now I am not sure if it is the HDD cable which is faulty or the HDD or something else.

Is there a way I can test HDD cable seperately and be sure it is faulty before spending 50 quids on a new one?

Thanks

You would use a OHM meter, to test the wires.

The cable and the plugs are 1:1 thus same pin on both sides.

The meter should show full connection, thus no resistance at all.

Some meters have the Audible signal for testing the connection.

I know you know this but here it is anyway.


I'm missing buttons and pull down menus in Mail I am missing the sizing buttons and pull down menus in Mail. It is a full window of the Mail screen and the wallpaper does not show.

How do I get back the regular view?

I'm going to assume you're talking about Mail on a Mac.

Since you haven't included a screenshot of the actual window you're talking about, I'll refer you to the fact that you can customise the toolbars in various windows within Mail.

To do this: go to View > Customize Toolbar...

This menu option relates to whatever window type you have active at the time.

For example, if you've got a New Message window active (commandN) and then go to View > Customize Toolbar... you'll be able to customise the toolbar within the New Message window.

Likewise, if you have the Viewer Window active (i.e. the main default window that Mail launches with) and then go to View > Customize Toolbar... you'll be able to customise that toolbar.


How many photos will fit on a 16 GB  iPad? I am interested about an iPad for my mom and can't decide whether to go for 16GB or 32GB. Assuming no movies on it, and minimal amount of apps (she will use it mainly for browsing and skype) how many photos can fit on a 16GB?

Short answer: 16GB should be fine for photos.

Long Answer: Your question is hard to answer with any accuracy as photos come in a variety of sizes depending on resolution, subject matter etc. For example, a photo taken on your 3GS iphone will be smaller than one taken on your 4GS iphone, which will also be smaller than one taken on your nikon DSLR digital camera. And as you could also reduce the image size based on how you want the photos to appear on your ipad, it becomes a bit more complicated to answer.

However, some math might give you a better idea at least.

1GB = 1024 MB so 16GB is 16384MB. Assuming you lose say 4GB for the in built apps and skype etc. we could say you might be left with 12GB or 12288MB.

Let's assume your mother isn't a professional photographer with a 30 megapixel dslr camera, but for the sake of being conservative we'll say all of her photos are taken on a hi definition camera, like the iPhone 4s. Depending on a variety of factors the photo size will range from about 1.5mb to 3mb at full size (bearing in mind these are still HUGE photos at full res.) If we say 2.25 is an average photo size, you're still left with roughly 5,500 photos on your spare 12GB of space.

Bearing in mind this is still pretty conservative the answer is that your mum can store literally thousands of photos in her 16GB iPad. If you weren't using a really hi def camera like the 4s iPhone, your photo sizes could be as small as 100 or 200 kb's each and the number is more like 50,000 photos.

Hope that's helped.


Does iCloud backup overwrite existing data? I got a new iPhone and since I had installed a lot of things over time I don't need/want anymore on my old one, I installed the new from scratch, downloading apps, adding the needed accounts, imported WhatsApp msgs via WhatsApp backup etc.
Now what's missing is e.g. my old SMS/iMessage and Signal history.

Since there's no export/import mechanism I tend to use iCloud Backup to get the missing pieces from the old to the new iPhone - and to save space and make it fast I removed everything I already have like music (can be synced later) and photos (already on my Mac in Lightroom) and most of the apps.

Question now: If I create a new iCloud backup on the old iPhone with only a small set of apps (thus focusing on SMS/iMessage) and restore it on the new iPhone, will this just add the missing pieces or also clean up the new device and remove everything that's not in the backup (and by that destroy everything I already set up)?

And if it would destroy existing data: is there any other way to get SMS/iMessages into the new device?

Restoring an iCloud Backup will cause you to lose existing data. As part of the procedure to restore an iCloud Backup, one chooses Settings → General → Reset → Erase All Content and Settings. Therefore your data on your existing device is gone.

It may be possible to perform a delta restore of an iTunes backup. Make sure both devices are running the same version of iOS, then…

Backup your current device (and your new device in case anything goes wrong) using iTunes.
Using iBackupBot, open the backup you made of your old device and find the messages data in the messages container in the backup.
Use iBackupBot's restore functionality to restore this data on to your new device.


Adding hosts entry to iOS in absence of DNS I am working with an application where my iPhone needs to see my laptop on the network under its host name and not the IP address because the SSL certificate works with the name only.  At the office, I resolved it by adding a DNS entry mapping my host to my IP and it works.  But today I am WFH on my home network which does not have a DNS server capability.

I was wondering if I can somehow edit some hosts file on the iPhone (or some setting or something equivalent) so that the iPhone can see the laptop under its name.  They are both on the same network and can reach each other via IP but the network has no DNS.

I also came upon this related material.  Here are my pertinent settings:

>hostname
my-mac.local
>scutil --get ComputerName
my-mac
>scutil --get HostName
HostName: not set
>scutil --get LocalHostName
my-mac

You can edit the hosts file on the iOS device if the device is jailbroken.

The hosts file can be found in the same place as on OS X: /etc/hosts. It works exactly the same as the hosts file on OS X.

Set the hostname of your OS X machine using:

sudo scutil --set HostName your-hostname


Create bulleted list in iOS Mail Is it possible to create a bulleted or numbered list in Mail on an iDevice? If so, please share how. I know it'll display them. Like if I create it in GMail on my MacBook, save a draft, then open it on the device, I see the bullets as intended, but I would like to actually create this same thing on my iPad/ iPhone.

Thanks!
Thomas

Until Apple offers the ability to add some basic controls (eg. bold, etc.) on the iPhone/iPad (without the keyboard) it's not possible without copying and pasting from a previous message.

You could create a draft with the different types of list to copy and paste and use that.

Of note: some third party apps can help with this: eg. MarkdownMail just released today by Second Gear Software ($1.99) or any other app that will allow you to create HTML.


How can I reset my iMac G4 to factory settings without the startup disk? I currently own an iMac G4 that I bought from someone online. But now that I try to update it, it won't let me. The Safari doesn't work and I really just want to clean it up and really start from fresh.

You need to contact the seller and see if they have the original OS install discs, as they'll have iLife and a correct version of OS X. Barring that, try to get ahold of a set of retail OS install discs for anywhere from 10.3 (Panther) to 10.5 (Leopard). I'd suggest you get the newest your system will support. (It's important to look for retail discs so you don't have to spend extra energy trying to match your Mac's exact specs and model with the one the discs were shipped with.)

How to choose which disc to get if you can find multiple OS versions?

10.2 - iMac G4s shipped with as low as OS X 10.2 (Jaguar), but an OS install/upgrade disc won't necessarily have the drivers to support your machine, and some iMac G4s may simply be too new for 10.2 to support them at all.
10.3 - This is the lowest you should go if possible. Look for install DVDs (rare) or packs of install CDs. (I think there's two or three CDs to install the OS.)
10.4 - Make sure you get a retail version of 10.4. This is when Intel Macs were introduced, and an Intel Mac's OS install disc will simply do nothing in your PowerPC iMac. Look for DVDs. (Code-named Tiger.)
10.5 - Not all iMac G4s support 10.5 (Leopard). Anything with a processor slower than 867 MHz won't get Leopard. If you have an 867 MHz or faster CPU, you can use any retail Leopard DVD (these discs are for both Intel and PowerPC). As with Tiger, be wary of system-specific install discs, as most (if not all) Macs that shipped with Leopard were Intel Macs.


What is special in /Applications/ folder? What happens when an .app bundle going copy to the /Applications/ folder? Are there any processes starting, any preferences copied to /Library/ ? Is a copy to /Applications/ folder a special trigger/event for the OS X?

I found that if I just copy Xcode then com.apple.dt.Xcode.plist appears in user's Preferences folder.

With the exception of installing app with package manager, there is no special events if you only copy application to any folders. The preferences stored in Library or Application Support are created when you run the application for the first time.


Why does a find field value in one application show up in a the find field of another application? On my MacBook Pro I have found that several applications seem to share the value for a find.  For example, I searched 'applestackexchange' in Safari's unified address bar, then I switch to Xcode and click into a Find field.  The first word of my search in Safari then appears there.  iTerm2 and Sublime Text 2 also seem to participate in this sharing.

Running latest Mountain Lion on  a 2012 MBP.

I've found it. It's called FindScrap.

At the command line, enter:

defaults write <program> FindDialog_UsesFindScrap -bool NO

Where <program> is something like com.barebones.bbedit.

(source: https://www.barebones.com/support/bbedit/ExpertPreferences.html#texts, accessed 20180203)


FTP server on Mavericks desktop I was thinking of installing vsftp through homebrew but found that OS X has its own version of ftpd. So I started to use this server and works fine, except for some security issues. I'm looking for the log file and cannot find it. I've been looking for it on the web and there is a way to configure the logging but just for OS X Panther.

Do you know were this file is located or how to configure ftp for handling log files?

Most unix processes write to or use a call to syslog. You can see this in Console.app entries be default (if none has reconfigured syslog) will show up in Al Messages and in /var/logs/system.log

You can increase the logging level by providing the -d argument to the ftp command line


"sudo apt-get install" on OS X Mavericks My understanding is that you need to install 'Fink' before an apt-get will work in the Terminal on OS X, but there isn't a Fink binary installer yet for Mavericks.

Does anyone know what the best alternative would be for

sudo apt-get install

on OS X Mavericks?

If I understand correctly, you just want a package manager.

apt-get is just an interface for Aptitude, a deb packaging system. DEB isn't tied into Mac OS like it would be your average Linux distro, so you'd need an alternative.

Fink will do this on its own, other alternatives are MacPorts or Homebrew.

If your goal is to be able to execute a command, say like (something) install program and it'll install the program and its dependencies for you, either of these three will do that for you.

I'd personally suggest Homebrew. http://brew.sh/


How to automatically apply permissions to files added to a shared folder I have a shared folder setup on a Mac Mini Server. It has permissions for our company group to read/write. When a mac user adds a file to the shared folder, it inherits the permissions of the folder and everyone can access it (yay!).

However, when a PC user adds a file to the folder, it insists on applying its own permissions to the file, not allowing the other users in the group to access it. I have to manually go into the server and apply the folder permissions to the new files added.

How can I have the files added by the PC users automatically inherit the permissions of the parent share folder?

I believe the way to resolve this is to set up ACL inheritance permissions on the parent folder. More about this here.

Firstly enable ACL permissions for SMB shares with the following command.

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.smb.server AclsEnabled -bool YES

Then set up inheritance permissions on the parent holder with the following command. This should recursively go through your share and apply the relevant permissions.

sudo chmod -R +a "group:REPLACE_WITH_YOURGROUP_NAME:allow readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity,list,search,add_file,add_subdirectory,delete_child,file_inherit,directory_inherit" REPLACE_WITH_PATH_TO_PARENT_SHARED_FOLDER

To be safe I'd recommend creating a test share to try the chmod command before applying it to your company's share. Then once you are sure you get the right results apply it to the live/production share.


Can iPhone 3GS make video calls? "The iPhone 4 was also the first iPhone to include a front-facing camera" (wiki)

So  iPhone 3GS & its Predecessors have no front-camera, then how they (iPhone 3GS & its Predecessors) make video calls like a webcam on a Desktop PC?

If they support that, then how does it work?

Do you look at the iPhone 3GS at the back when making video call? if so, suppose your friend also has video calling function then you can't see anything in the front of your iPhone 3GS??

Do you look at the iPhone 3GS at the back when making video call?

Correct. Since the iPhone 3GS has no camera on the side of display, you have to turn it around and talk to the non-display side to have your face show up in a video chat. Less than idea, for certain.