Control iMac using Macbook Air keyboard and mouse? I want to use my laptop keyboard and mouse as the input for both the Air and the iMac. I have tried apps that let me use the same input devices across different computers via wifi, but found them laggy.

Can I use ethernet to do this instead?

Or do I need to basically just use my iMac as a dumb monitor (with a thunderbolt cable I assume?). My iMac is really a great fast computer and didn't want to lose it and make the Air do all the heavy lifting if I can avoid it, I just prefer to have the second screen in front of me (ie laptop below and in front of iMac) and use the comfortable keyboard/trackpad setup of a laptop...

If you are fine with using your iMac as a display with your MBP doing all the work, enable Target Display Mode.

  Make sure that your iMac is turned on, and the other Mac is logged in to a macOS user account.
  Connect the Mini DisplayPort or Thunderbolt cable between the two computers.
  Press Command-F2 on the keyboard of the iMac that you want to use as a display.

If you want to your iMac to do all the work, you could use thunderbolt networking and then use some of those apps that you tried earlier with wifi. To set up thunderbolt networking, just follow the directions here.


Backblaze and similar services not necessary for a small hdd? Upload full disk dmg to cloud services easier? I understand the usefulness and convenience of a site like backblaze, but if I wanted an offline backup and my drive is under 100gb, would it make sense to just make an encrypted full disk dmg image of my main drive every once in a while and put on something like google drive which is a couple bucks a month for 100 gigs storage?
In case local backups aren't working (unlikely) I could use another computer to grab the file onto a thumb drive, and restore the image from disk utility recovery and it should work?
Could the usb with the dmg be ntfs or exfat coming from windows, or would it have to be hfs+ or apfs for disk util to see it?

Firstly, I think this depends on your personal price sensitivity, and factors like desire, or expectation for single file restoration, and tracking deleted files, as well as your internet connection. This is a fundamentally subjective and opinion based question.
Yes, you could image and save the whole image every month, but that comes with several drawbacks:

Backblaze is 'only' $4 more per month - this is dependent on your price sensitivity.
You have to remember to do it (although this could probably be automated, that's an investment of your time and energy). Something like CarbonCopyCloner will give you drive image back-ups.
You only get monthly point-in-time restoration. If your drive dies tomorrow (or you lose local back-ups), you're losing a month of data.
Backblaze gives you the ability to restore files from anywhere.
Backblaze gives you the ability to restore individual files quickly and easily
Uploading a whole drive every month could be taxing / time consuming on your internet connection.

To directly answer the questions in the title:

Necessary - this is entirely dependent on your risk tolerance and highly subjective. My personal opinion - backup everything that's personal to you (ie. can't be replaced), regardless of size.
Easier, no, Backblaze you set and forget and it uploads files every time they change. It's about as easy a solution as you can possibly get.

Backblaze is not your only option though:

iCloud will give you all your Documents off-site, and integrates into iOS and macOS so that it's as easy as Backblaze
Something like Arq allows you to backup to many different cloud providers - eg. AWS S3, and include Google Drive as a target option.


OpenSSL not getting linked with homebrew on El Capitan 10.11.6 I am trying to code in C on OS X (El Capitan) and need to use OpenSSL. OS ships with version 0.9.8zh 14 Jan 2016.

I used homebrew to upgrade and install openssl (got version 1.0.2h) but am unable to link it correctly to use it. This is what is did:

brew update

brew install openssl

brew link --force openssl

which gave me error saying

Warning: Refusing to link: openssl.

My path references /usr/local/bin as the first one.

Ran this command:
ln -s /usr/local/Cellar/openssl/1.0.2j/include/openssl /usr/local/include/openssl

(found this solution here: Openssl with El Capitan among other places)

got no error output, so I assumed this worked. But..

which openssl gives me this output: /usr/local/bin/openssl

openssl version gives me this output: OpenSSL 0.9.8zh 14 Jan 2016

All I'm trying to do is run some CLI commands/ write some C code edited in plain vi editor, compiled using gcc. I am including openssl in header files using

 #include <openssl/sha.h>
#include <openssl/ripemd.h>

Also, the command I am running on CLI which led me to this path was this (if that helps):

openssl dgst -sha256 -sign ec-priv.pem ex-message.txt >ex-signature.der.

Gives me an error:

EVP_SignFinal:wrong public key type.

Googling led me to understand it's cause of an old OpenSSL version which I need to update.

Any ideas on how to proceed here?

You'll need to make sure you open a new shell after performing the link.
(I updated my medium article you linked for future reference: Openssl with El Capitan).


Lightweight "sounds similar" radio app (OSX) Is there a Mac app that offers one-click or one-keystroke access to a box where I type in a song, artist, or genre I want to hear "sounds similar" radio for (a la Pandora), hit enter, and listen?

Kudos for an app that's very lightweight.

Rdio is close. It does not have a menubar icon, but in app: ⌘F - search - Start station.

App supports fullscreen and play and skip buttons on Mac keyboard. Miniplayer can be on top but does not allow search described above.


Cmd-Shift-Tab behaves differently when on dual screen On Mavericks, Cmd-Tab works as expected just fine (selecting the next application in the MRU list). With the task selector open, I can hit shift as well to move back in the same list before selecting app.

As soon as I plug in a second monitor (with it's own "space" I assume), this suddenly works differently. When I activate the task selector with Cmd-Tab, it opens as usual, but as soon as I hit shift in addition, the task selector closes, selecting whatever was selected when I hit shift.

On dual screen I can start the task selector up with either Cmd-Tab or Cmd-Shift-Tab, but as soon as I add or remove shift from it, it selects the application underneath and closes the task selector. On a single screen, I can move back and forth without anything getting selected until I release Cmd-Tab as well.

Does anybody know if this is a bug or the way it is supposed to be, and if the latter, what is the rationale for this?

samh nailed it in the comments. The issue is the use of an external bluetooth keyboard, and has nothing to do with dual monitors / spaces. The dual monitors are part of my office setup, which also has a bluetooth keyboard. I noticed that when using the computer at home (away from the office), the problem went away, and for some reason concluded it had something to do with the dual screen setup (forgot all about the keyboard).

The keyboard is a Logitech Bluetooth Easy-Switch Keyboard K811. I will see if I can find any keyboard setup and/or driver updates that fixes it. Very annoying.

Update: Updated to latest K811 drivers, no change. Googled a bit more and found:

http://forums.logitech.com/t5/Keyboards-and-Keyboard-Mice/K811-left-shift-key-quot-flickers-quot-when-used-together-with/td-p/1066141

tldr; Logitech is probably aware of it, but do not care enough to fix it. It's a great keyboard and Logitech should fix it, but it's hard to recommend it until they do. Switching apps is kind of a core function in a window system...


Is there a way to customize the color of visited links? I am an Apple user, and am currently using the Chrome and Vivaldi browsers. Not a computer programmer. Is there any easy way to make visited links stand out? The default color for those isn't defining enough for me, I would like the color to be more noticeable.

There is.

The color of a visited link is determined by the people who have designed the website you are visiting. Most sites will show links and visited links in the same color, but Google for example use different colours so that you can see which sites you have visited. This can be useful if you're trying to find back the site you've visited, or rather if you don't want to visit this site again and want to try another of the search results.

The way Google does this is by putting this into something called a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), which are effectively instructions for your browser on how Google wants it to look in the browser. CSS allows for different link 'states' to have a different color.

Some examples ...

/* unvisited link */
a:link {
    color: green;
}

/* visited link */
a:visited {
    color: green;
}

/* mouse over link */
a:hover {
    color: red;
}

/* selected link */
a:active {
    color: yellow;
}

In addition to this, some browsers allow you to "overrule" the way a site operator wants their site to look by letting you apply your own CSS to a site.

Chrome used to allow users to directly enter this type of custom CSS. Nowadays, Chrome only allows this through the use of a plugin. Stylebot is one of them, Stylish another.

Vivaldi is a browser I'm not familiar with. A quick Google search indicates that potentially aforementioned Stylebot can also be used for Vivaldi, but perhaps someone with more expertise on this specific browser can help out on more specific instructions.


No security options for external hard disk erase in Disk Utility I'm trying to erase an external disk drive that I had been using as a backup disk. There are no options for me to securely erase - the option just isn't there at all.

It is currently formatted as MAC OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted).

I have a second HDD drive that when mounted shows the security options when erasing.

Any ideas what is going on here? This is a new problem for me; I'm sure I've secure erased this disk before.

Edit: I've just noticed that the only difference between the two disks is that the one that could be securely erased is down as a 'USB External Physical Volume' whereas the disk I'm having the problems with comes up as a 'CoreStorage logical volume'. Is this the issue?

MacOS doesn't let you do a Secure Erase on encrypted volumes because there's no point: a single erase will delete the encryption keys; and any residual data on the disk will be meaningless junk that cannot be decrypted.

Multiple zeroing of a mechanical disk can put significant stress on it and shorten its lifespan.

Similarly, MacOS doesn't let you secure erase SSDs, because that's also a pointless exercise: doing the erase doesn't actually make it more securely erased.

Why is a secure erase 'not necessary' for SSD's?


USB 2.0 hard disk does not show up I have a 15-inch Macbook Pro with Retina Display that doesn't work with my USB 2 hard disk. It doesn't mount, doesn't show up in Disk Utility, and doesn't even show up in System Information  in the USB section.

This hard disk works fine on my Ubuntu desktop, and it worked fine on my previous Macbook Pro (2009 model). It doesn't work on my new Macbook Pro, but another disk does.

This is a bus-powered drive. I tried rebooting my Mac, and plugging into a different USB port. The LED comes on when I plug it in, but that's it. If I put my ear to the disk, I hear mild clicking sounds (but I am not worried about data loss since the disk works great on my other machines, every time, without the clicking sound).

Any idea what I can try? Use an AC power adapter? Thanks.

Try using a USB - Y Cable! As the others have said... It appears the drive is not getting enough power.

Example,
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/USB3AYMBPB/

I realize that is microusb but they make y cables with USB on all the ends.

Goodluck! :)


Is there a rpmbuild that works on macosx? I am working on a maven build that needs to make an rpm.  Is there a native rpmbuild utility that will run on MacOSX?  So far I have found some old abandoned macports/darwin projects and people recommending running virtual box/parallels in virtual VM mode.  Is there really no native tool for building rpms on Mac?

Building RPMs or more specifically the binaries/libraries within them on a Mac is not a safe bet because you can run into a number of issues involving architecture mismatches, among other issues like library linking.

In short, if you're building for Linux, you really want to build on Linux. It's possible to cross-compile, but IMHO this is incredibly difficult on OS X.


Remember window sizes and placement when unplugging and replugging second monitor Here’s something that sucks:

Plug in external monitor to laptop (Mac OS X Leopard in my case).
Arrange your windows to have the IDE on one screen and browser on another.
(Etc etc.  Resize, rearrange, fuss, fuss, fuss.)
Unplug monitor to run to a meeting, or whatever.
Goto 1.

I’d like to replace step 2 with “computer remembers exactly how I had it and just puts it back that way”.

(I personally only need a solution for Mac but collecting solutions for other systems here might be useful to others.  I’m sure it’s a common problem.)

Have a look at Stay by Cordless Dog. I believe it does exactly what you're looking for.


Videos failing to download to iPad from Canon Camera I am using a Canon Vivia HF R500 to take videos and downloading them to my iPad Air 2 via a USB to Lightening connection. This has been working flawlessly for me for months. I open Photos, connect the camera, and an import icon shows up. I select the videos I want, and click import. Then the videos show up in Albums > Videos.

Today it stopped working. The iPad sees the camera, shows the import icon, lets me select the videos, and seems to import them, but they never show up on the iPad. When I try to import them again, it gives the error message Duplicate Photos: All of these photos already exist in your Photo Library.

The videos do not exist on any of my devices or iCloud through the web. What can I do?

I've installed iFunBox to try and locate them (or the problem) via the iPad file system, but am not familiar enough with it to make changes.

Please help.

I upgraded the iPad to IOS 9 Public Beta and did not turn iCloud on and the issue was solved.  This is not an ideal solution and I'm lucky that the Beta was available.

I tried reinstalling IOS 8.4 multiple times and the problem persisted. I tried both restoring the iPad from the cloud and starting fresh after an IOS 8.4 install.  Both of these failed.  I did not try a fresh install where I turned iCloud off from the start, however. I didn't think of this until I installed IOS 9 Beta.

I tried installing IOS 8.3, but could not get it to revert. I think Apple works hard to prevent this.

My conclusion is that there is a bug in IOS 8.4 that is causing this problem. If I had to guess, it has something to do with iCloud trying to sync huge videos from an external HD Camera. So perhaps it's an iCloud issue, but it's hard to separate the OS from the Cloud at this point. Hopefully the issue is solved with the IOS 9 Beta and continues to be solved when IOS 9 is released later this year.


Does the real-world MacBook Pro battery life scale linearly with it's capacity? I have a well-worn battery on my 2010 MacBook Pro. After 467 charge cycles, I get about 3 hours of the normal 6-7 hour range.

Using coconutBattery shows me that the charge capacity is 5783 mAh, compared to the original 6900 mAh. Extrapolating the math there would indicate that a replacement battery would only last for an additional half an hour!

Is this number a reliable indicator of present and future battery life?
What kind of realistic usage am I likely to get from a new battery under Lion?

(For what it's worth, I've already calibrated the battery with a full drain, checked for rogue background processes, and force-disabled the NVIDIA graphics with gfxCardStatus.)

First of all a note, coconutBattery is a tool which helps you indicating a battery problem. It's measurements are not 100% accurate...

If you really want to know the health of your battery, I suggest you take a look at System Profiler (Applications < Utilities < Sytem Profiler) and open the 'Power' bar. Here you see information comming directly from Mac OS. It could be the same as coconutBattery, depending on what version you use, but this is the most reliable information about your battery...

You have Charge Information and Health Information

And to answer your question, I don't think their is a strict correlation between the lifetime of a battery and the number of mAh left (at least none that I found of). There's been a lot of writing about batteries, their lifespan and their health. But it depends on so much external factors, you can't make a decent prediction of it.
As your Mac ages, you battery's health will go down. Learn to live with it :)


Workaround for Dell's lack of drivers for macOS 10.15 Catalina? I've got two Dell printers - a C1760nw color printer and a B1165nfw Mono MFP.

Both of which are currently unusable after the upgrade to macOS 10.15 Catalina. Is anyone aware of a workaround or non-Dell drivers that I could use while Dell clings to their non-apologetic "circumstances beyond our control" refrain ...?

The one-stop-shop for open source print drivers is here:

http://www.openprinting.org/printers

Models similar to your Dells seem to be supported.

If the printers can interpret PostScript or PDF natively, then you should be able to get by with a 'Generic' print queue. This would not necessarily have device-specific controls, but should be enough to print.


Moving from Snow Leopard directly to Mountain Lion with Time Machine First time I've asked a question here but I've used Stack Exchange for answers to many many OSX questions so, first off, great big thanks for that.

I searched the archives but didn't find an answer to this or a similar question.

I am moving directly to 10.8 from 10.6.8. I am going to do a clean install of 10.8 (as my early 2011 MBP is acting wonky lately, fresh is better) from USB. As I understand it, I can use Migration Assistant to pull the data I want off my Time Machine backup. However, I have also seen (here and elsewhere) that some finagling may be needed to get 10.8 to recognize the 10.6.8 backup. Should I be concerned?

Thanks!
Micah

In general you should not be concerned. However, if you are concerned I recommend you do the following instead:

Upgrade to Mountain Lion (do not do a clean wipe). Then re-install Mountain Lion again. Whereas the upgrade essentially checks and patches the system to make it the new OS, re-installing will effectively wipe the entire OS, leaving your user & network data intact. This is exactly what wiping clean & restoring from Time Machine backup via Migration Assistant will do.

If your system is acting wonky, it's just as likely that your user profile is the culprit. If so, both methods will keep your system potentially wonky. In this case you will want to  manually backup any necessary files (generally your home folder) to an external hard drive, wipe clean, upgrade, and then manually bring back the files you actually need.


What's referred to as a "Unibody" mac? I'm still confused with the use of this word.  In Everymac.com for example, Unibody macbook pros are 2008 to 2012 (up to Retinas).  But then it's also used in Macbooks (not Pros).

Is there a definition of this term that’s somewhat authoritative?

The tag here is pretty authoritative to explain how unibody came about on the MacBook line where a united piece of aluminum was machined to house all the internal parts. This differs from the previous construction where discrete parts were assembled / welded / screwed and placed together.

This process is also used on non portable computers, but the difference in stiffness and reduction of size was most dramatic on the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines which then enabled the entire iPhone / iPad / Watch lines to evolve and refine what the unibody manufacturing changed on portables.

Apple doesn’t flat out define the term in the February 2019 Apple Style Guide, but the transition was when the original black keyboards arrived on the scene for the intel line MacBook Pro (initially) and later to the Air and MacBook lines. Currently all MacBook are considered unibody.


rMBP - Keyboard + trackpad unresponsive at random, reboot fixes I've had this issue twice today and is troubling me a bit. As the title already summaries; without notice, the keyboard and trackpad seem to get unresponsive. The system is actually still running (seeing animations and other stuff still happening). The keyboard power button does actually work, pushing it will summon the screen to logout, restart or shutdown, but I can't actually hit any buttons (ofcourse). So I eventually hold down the power button to power down and then power up again, after this, the problem seems to be resolved.

I don't know if this would be a hardware or a software issue. And I'm wondering if someone knows this problem? I've updated my Macbook recently to 10.8.2.

I've got the exact same problem, I've contacted apple care and they are replacing with a new machine. they say it is a defective trackpad but it looks as though there are lots of people with the same problem.


Is surround sound easy on a mac? My iMac, Macbook Pro, and Mac Mini all have only one stereo audio output each - none of them have digital audio output either (though perhaps other models do?).

Does OS X support surround sound?
Are there surround sound output devices (USB, presumably) for OS X, or does the HDMI output (via displaylink adaptor) of later models support surround sound?
Does iTunes, Quicktime, or any other video software output surround sound for SD or HD movies, assuming you have an appropriate output device?

I know this could be three separate questions, but the base question I'm really interested in knowing is:

Can I use a Mac as my primary entertainment device and easily get surround sound out of it for most applications, or is it going to be limited and/or difficult to set up?

I currently use a windows PC for my TV Tuner, Blueray, DVD, and Netflix all of which support surround sound, and they simply all work together without problems.  Is the Mac any easier or harder to do this with?

In terms of hardware, according to Mactracker, Mac Minis (and most other Macs) since early 2006 come with a 3.5-mm analog/optical combo jack and models since mid 2010 also come with an HDMI port, both of which should support multichannel audio if your source material provides it. You can find the specs for your own Mac by clicking the "This Mac" item in the left-hand pane.

Specs for the current (Mid 2011) Mac Mini say:

  HDMI port supports multichannel audio output

and for most of the other models, as an alternative to the 3.5-mm analog/optical combo jack, this Apple support page says that you can also use a mini Display port to HDMI adapter to receive multichannel audio and video (though I'm not sure what software support for this would be like):

  These computers supply multichannel audio (up to 8 channels) and video
  signals over Mini DisplayPort:

  MacBook (Mid 2010) and later

  MacBook Air (Late 2010) and later

  MacBook Pro (Mid 2010) and later

  Mac mini (Mid 2010) and later

  iMac (Late 2009) and later

  Mac Pro (Mid 2010)

  To connect your television or other
  HDMI devices to your Mac, use select third-party Mini DisplayPort to
  HDMI adapters that conform to the VESA v1.1a DisplayPort
  Interoperability Guidelines

Depending on the software player, it should be just a question of connecting the HDMI/optical output to your recevier and getting multichannel output. I use XBMC and get 5.1 surround sound output (AC3 or DTS) over HDMI, and I believe the latest "Eden" release supports 7.1. It also does blu-ray (rips only, I assume), DVD and has an excellent plug-in system which includes Netflix. Alternatively, Plex is an another alternative and will do much the same thing. Once you get your media set up, both will work pretty much out-of-the-box.

As for a TV tuner, Elgato's EyeTV looks very good.


Items in desktop folder to appear on desktop Somehow recently I managed to mess up my Desktop folder so the contents are no longer displayed on the actual desktop.  Anybody have any ideas how to get this back?  It's not a problem normally since I normally use spotlight, but it'd be nice to have.

Thanks

If you don't want to reinstall PathFinder, you can type this command in Terminal.app

defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool true

This will get them back. You might have to log in and out.


Spotlight reports "Indexing and searching disabled" in Lion Lion keeps "losing track" of Spotlight information. Directories and Applications disappear, full text searches stop working, etc. I seem to need to re-index it once a week or so.

However, now it appears to not work at all.

Running

sudo mdutil -i on /

from the Terminal I get a message

"Indexing and searching disabled."

I have tried trashing preference files, deleting the whole V100 folder, repairing permssions, etc but Spotlight still thinks indexing is turned off on my entire Volume (Yes have added/deleted whole disk from Spotlight's privacy preferences").

In the console I have quite a few errors that look like this

mds: (Error) Server: Disabled store registered for scope "/Applications"

However, I do not know how to tell it to re-enable that scope as mdutil gives an error when I try to turn on indexing and gives an error when I try to delete the index

EDIT: I reinstalled Lion. It did not fix the problem(s) :(

I had the exact same problem, with all solutions above failing identically. Then I reexamined the directory listing for / and found a hidden file .metadata_never_index in the root directory. I removed this file and was able to turn spotlight on again with
mdutil -i on /.

mds is now reindexing the hard disk, all looks good for now.


Keynote keyboard shortcut for moving focus between slide canvas and slides drawer? In Keynote '09, is there any way to move the focus between the slides drawer on the left side and the main window with the slide itself, without using the mouse or trackpad?

E.g., when I have made a new slide with shift-cmd-N (then this is automatically selected in the drawer), can I start writing in the slide without having to take my hands off the keyboard to use the mouse?

I was going to ask the same thing for Keynote 6 under 10.10, but I'll chime in here instead..

MacLemon's answer doesn't do anything helpful for me in Keynote on Yosemite.

One can switch between Navigator and Slide Only from the View menu (so shortcuts could be created via System Preferences), but:

I can't find out how to leave the Navigator visible but change focus
When the navigator is displayed, it doesn't get focus :(

There's a list of shortcuts here, but I can't find anything relevant..

Maybe an applescript / automator solution could be concocted.


What causes LG screen colors to change when I install a Mac OS update? I have 2 Macbook Pro 15 inch from 2018.

I have updated one of the both with the last Mac OS update (not exactly the last but 1 before), and my 2 LG external screens (4k) are not usable anymore, it burst my eyes, especially on heat colors (i barely don't see any difference on dark colors, but for example, white on green really hurts your eyes).

Since i have the chance to have 2 identical Macbook Pro and i didn't update the second one, i made the test to plug it instead of the updated one (i am using 2 USB C port). And it still works fine!

It's been almost 2 years i have these Macbook Pro and these 2 screens, everything always worked perfectly, and the issue appeared right after the update on one of it.

What do you think i should do ?

I've the same issue.. Working on a 15 inch macbook (2018) and just update to macOS Catalina 10.15.4. Macbook itself working fine but my LG 27UK850 monitor isn't showing matching colours anymore.. Tried a restart of my macbook but that didn't help. Monitor to factory settings isn't fixing anything as well.. Macbook colour repair shows me that I've around 30 bad colour profiles. Don't know if this is what has to be fixed but i can't repair it unfortunately..

If your color changes as the sun comes up and down, check for Night Shift.

I've found how to fix it.

Go to System Preferences
Go to Displays
Turn off 'High Dynamic Range' This fixed it for me. Hopefully for you as well =)

If this doesn’t fix it, consider performing a full calibration for both machines and check other settings relating to color.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/calibrate-your-display-mchlp1109/mac
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/change-your-displays-color-profile-mchlf3ddc60d/mac
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/if-your-display-doesnt-look-right-mchlp2906/mac


Two-fingered right click on iBook G4 OS X Tiger PPC I have a PPC iBook G4 and really would like to be able to have the two-fingered click to secondary-click functionality. I did a lot of googling, but nothing really came up, mostly stuff for other versions of OS X and for the Intel iBooks, not PPC.

I did eventually come across iScroll 2, http://iscroll2.sourceforge.net, but that says it is incompatible with my trackpad :(.

Does anyone know of any other ways I can add the two-finger click functionality?

Your computer isn't supported, I'm sorry. I have the same computer as you and I've spent hours searching but nothing exists if your computer does not have compatible trackpad drivers. Ask Apple about getting some new trackpad drivers installed via Live Chat or phone.


How to boot my mac mini up when my iPod Touch is near? What I'm trying to achieve is if I'm near my mac mini (10 meters) I want to press a button (or something else) on my ipod touch and than my mac mini should boot up.

How could I make that?

There's a wifi network in which my ipod is. My mac is in there also but my mac is off.

Any ideas?

On your Mac mini enter Energy Saver in System Preferences and enable the Wake for network access.  Then find an app in the App Store that does Wake on Lan, this is one such app - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/inet-wol-wake-on-lan/id318696675?mt=8 that I found during a search.  There might be others that fit your needs better.


Yosemite magic Mouse and a bluetooth disconnection party I hope some real OSX Nerds read this. Since Yosemite I have the problem taht I can't use the Magic Mouse anymore. It disconnects and reconnects every 5-60 second.

I find this in the console logs:

05.11.14 14:39:22,000 kernel[0]: [AppleMultitouchDevice::willTerminate] entered
05.11.14 14:39:22,000 kernel[0]: [AppleMultitouchDevice::stop] entered
05.11.14 14:39:35,000 kernel[0]: [BNBMouseDevice::init][85.3] init is complete
05.11.14 14:39:35,000 kernel[0]: [BNBMouseDevice::handleStart][85.3] returning 1
05.11.14 14:39:35,000 kernel[0]: [AppleMultitouchHIDEventDriver::start] entered
05.11.14 14:39:35,000 kernel[0]: [AppleMultitouchDevice::start] entered

Can somebody hint me in the right direction, how to solve that problem? Please.

it's so anoying

Best regards Mirco

Update!  - Delete "Bluetooth PAN" from network settings and wifi and bluetooth will  instantly work better.  Credit: http://ihealthgeek.com/2015/02/yosemite-10-10-2-wifi-and-bluetooth-finally-solved-no-really/

Otherwise, you can try my previous approach that works better, but is still a nuisance.

Turn off bluetooth on macbook
turn off keyboard/mouse
turn on bluetooth on macbook
Hold power-on key on keyboard WHILE
Choose the Bluetooth>Device>Connect from the macbook
Connection should succeed immediately
Release power button on device

This has worked for me repeatedly after trying the PRAM and other no-fix fixes.   It's a pain to do, but works everytime for me, and stays connected until I leave the room.


mount is adding a quarantine flag, causing: /bin/bash: bad interpreter: Operation not permitted - but not the usual suspects OK, I'm having a similar problem to: -bash: Applications/mvim: /bin/sh: bad interpreter: Operation not permitted - but it's not the same problem. I'm getting the same result.

I've already verified that it's not the com.apple.quarantine flag.

It's not the line endings (script was created just from vi). I can execute the script by using:

bash simpleshell.sh

Here's the results:

fawkes:tmp kylar$ vi simpleshell.sh
fawkes:tmp kylar$ chmod +x simpleshell.sh
fawkes:tmp kylar$ ./simpleshell.sh
-bash: ./simpleshell.sh: /bin/bash: bad interpreter: Operation not permitted
fawkes:tmp kylar$ cat simpleshell.sh
#!/bin/bash
export FOO=Hey
echo $FOO
fawkes:tmp kylar$ which bash
/bin/bash
fawkes:tmp kylar$ bash simpleshell.sh
Hey
fawkes:tmp kylar$ xattr -l simpleshell.sh
fawkes:tmp kylar$

UPDATE: I don't believe it's the filesystem being mounted as noexec. I've tried running the script in 3 different places: /tmp, ~,  and /source.

UPDATE2: Ok, after more digging - I created the script inside /source, which is a mounted dmg. That's where I ran xattr -l and found nothing. When I cp'd the script to ~ and ran xattr -l, it then had the com.apple.quarantine xattr. On a hunch, I looked at the mount attributes for /source and found:

/dev/disk1s9 on /Volumes/code (hfs, local, nodev, nosuid, journaled, noowners, quarantine, mounted by kylar)

So when I mount this dmg it's getting set as quarantine. How can I tell mount not to mount it with the quarantine flag? Once I removed the flag in ~, the script ran fine.

The script was being run from inside a .dmg that had the quarantine flag set on it. When the .dmg was mounted, it was mounting it with a quarantine flag that is inherited, but doesn't show up. I unmounted the .dmg, removed the quarantine flag, and re-mounted it, and all was well.


Bought a selection of songs off iTunes, they are "greyed out" won't play, can't sync them Hey so I bought a heap of songs off iTunes tonight. First 20 I bought off my phone through iTunes, no worries with them. I then got another 8 but these I bought through iTunes on my pc. These 8 won't do anything. They are grey with circles to the left of the check mark. Tried transferring all purchases, downloading all available downloads, Iv checked my account settings there is nothing that says these items are hidden, logged on and off again to iCloud still nothing. Am in-visioning a laptop sized hole in my window :/ any help? :)

This may be a long shot, but were the ones that are greyed out in .MP3 format by any chance - notice the capitals?   If so, and you rename them to .mp3 in lower case via "Get Info" in Finder, you may, possibly, notice a change.
Good luck.


How can I type the currency symbol for Costa Rican colón on my Mac? On OS X, how can I type the Costa Rican colón?

The symbol is:

₡

Add it to the Press & Hold character picker

You can add it to a letter's Press & Hold character picker.

Navigate to System/Library/Input Methods/PressAndHold.app/Contents/Resources/.
Backup the Keyboard-en.plist file.
Append the following to the Keyboard-en.plist file (before the closing </dict></plist>).

<key>Roman-Accent-w</key>
<dict>
    <key>Direction</key>
    <string>right</string>
    <key>Keycaps</key>
    <string>₡</string>
    <key>Strings</key>
    <string>₡</string>
</dict>

Feel free to change the Roman-Accent-w to any character you wish, providing it does not already have Press & Hold keys assigned.

If you wish to use a character with an existing Press & Hold set, you can append the ₡ to the relevant <string> lines for that character.


External display, keyboard & mouse connected to MacBookPro. Good or bad? Whenever I have a fixed place to work, I like to use my MacBook Pro as shown:

Connected to an external display in mirror mode, not extended screen mode.
Connected to external keyboard (Wireless Bluetooth, by Apple) and mouse (ThinkPad, Wired).
Lid closed with the keyboard placed above it.

I have had this habit for a while and I haven't any doubt about it until recently when I observed something very weird happening to the MacBook's screen.

Is this a good or bad practise for the MacBook's lifespan?

You should be fine. (It's advisable not to keep the keyboard on top, discussed below).

This mode is known as closed-clamshell or closed-display mode. Apple even has a support document sharing guidelines regarding this mode:

Use your Mac notebook computer in closed-display mode with an external display.

However, a few general instructions need to be kept in mind:

Make sure your MacBook is placed on a flat surface with no obstructions to the vents and air-flows, especially towards the lower end of the back side. That's where the vents are placed.
Do not keep it close to other electronic items which tend to get hot. Ideally your MacBook shouldn't heat up. (You can check that by placing your hand on top of the lid).

Note: To complement point 1 & 2, ideally don't keep anything 3"-4" around your MacBook. Keep that area open with proper air flow.
Refrain from keep anything on top of the device and apply any kind of pressure. I'd advise you not to use it in the way that you have demonstrated (with the keyboard on top). Consider moving the keyboard from top and keeping it elsewhere.
A few folks prefer keeping it in a vertical orientation rather horizontal as it provides for better air flow and exposed vents. There are various cases/docks which allow you to house your MacBook in upright position (random example). This advise may be helpful if you are using the MacBook in clamshell mode for pro-longed period of time. It also helps in saving desk space. (Space on desk for your keyboard .)
Keep the MacBook plugged-in to a power source. However, also consider draining the battery to a full discharge once in a while (recommended is at least once a month) to maintain its health.

I have a similar setup with an external display, wired keyboard and wired mouse connected to my MacBook Pro. I make it a point to completely discharge the battery (thereby completing one charge cycle) once a month. The advise is purely based on personal experience (~5 years of usage) and generally understood guidelines regarding maintaining a MacBook Pro.


How to logout Apple ID in App Store since MacOS Mojave new look Since the redesign of the App Store in MacOS Mojave, I can't find the correct place to log out current Apple ID account or switch it.

Can anyone tell me how to do that?

In the Mac App Store Menu bar, go to Store → Sign Out to sign out.

The entry would change to Sign In after successful logout. You can also sign in by clicking on the Sign In button shown towards the bottom left of the Mac App Store window.


VoiceOver and Emoji and Symbols viewer VoiceOver uses Control-Command-Space for launching an action but I can't use it because Emoji and Symbols Viewer hijacks it. Is there a way how to disable Emoji and Symbols viewer?

I need VoiceOver more than emojis.

You can assign a different keyboard shortcut to the Emoji & Symbols menu item.

I usually add/remove a cmd, ctrl, alt or shift modifier when remapping menu items like this.

System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts > + (plus button)


Minimum display resolution for macOS Sierra on Mac Mini (2011 or later)? I'm considering getting a secondhand Mac Mini (2011 model or later) for use as a media and backup server.

Most of the time it won't need a screen attached to it, but I'll need one in order to initially set it up, and perhaps for occasional maintenance or upgrades. I don't currently have a monitor or TV so I'll need to get hold of some sort of screen for it and I'd prefer it to be both cheap and small.

I can see monitors on sale in the 8" to 10" size range, with resolutions from 800 x 480 to 1280 x 800. What is the minimum resolution this screen needs to support, to be compatible with either the Mac Mini hardware or macOS Sierra itself? I can't easily find this information on the Apple site or elsewhere.

It doesn't have to be comfortable to use, just possible - i.e. the macOS installer must run, standard dialog boxes must display on the screen, and so on. I'm aware that 15" and 17" LCD screens are available for next to nothing, but I really want something smaller due to limited storage space.

The minimum resolution supported is 640x480. To get to this resolution (at least on my monitors on Sierra), when I'm in display preferences, I have to Control + click on "Scaled". This gives every resolution option, not just the main ones Apple thinks I want to use.


Overnight accelerometer usage I use the Sleep Cycle app almost every night, but am concerned about the "health" of the accelerometer in the phone. For the app to work, I set a time frame for it to wake me up, then I lay it on the mattress (not under anything to protect from heat buildup - I've never felt it get warm), and it uses the accelerometer in the phone to track my movement. Nice idea.

Does this kind of 7+ hour per night wear matter?

No. weather you're taking readings or not from the accelerometer or not, the components inside still move around the same way.

For more information on how accelerometers work, check out this insightful, easy to understand by the engineerguyvideos channel on youtube.


How to set up a default program opening an unknown file extension? I tried to open a file with an extension name of adb in Finder (to be precise, PathFinder).
When I clicked the file, vi editor is activated to open the adb file. I didn't do anything with the adb file, so my guess is that vi editor changed the system setup to open it whenever unknown file format is opened.

How can I change this behavior? I want to open TextMate as a default.

Finder Directions:
Click a file of that type. Press cmd-i. Reveal the Open With: tab of the Get Info window that appears. Select the app you want. Click the Change All button below that menu.

Now, all files of the type you opened will open with the application you selected.


Why does iPhone capture screenshots as PNG? Is there a reason for iPhone to save screenshots taken as .PNG instead of .JPG?

Screenshots won't have transparent background anyways.

PNG is not only useful for allowing transparency: PNG is a lossless format, while JPEG uses a lossy form of compression. Also PNG does compress screenshots pretty well (unlike camera photos, which is why Apple uses JPG for those).

More info if interested:

Also, A technical overview of what PNG is good for is worth reading (it's basically one of the main references on the topic and contains enough details to spend the day on it). Excerpt:

  For the Web, as of early 1999, there are two image formats with
  ubiquitous support: JPEG and GIF. JPEG is very well suited to the task
  for which it was designed--namely, the storage, transmission, and
  display of photorealistic 8-bit grayscale and 24-bit truecolor images
  with good quality and excellent compression--and PNG was never
  intended to compete with JPEG on its own terms. But PNG, like GIF, is
  more appropriate than JPEG for images with few colors or with lots of
  sharp edges, such as cartoons or bitmapped text. PNG also provides
  direct support for gamma correction (loosely speaking, the
  cross-platform control of image ``brightness'') and transparency. I'll
  discuss these in more detail shortly.

  GIF was the original cross-platform image format for the Web, and it
  is still a good choice in many respects. But PNG was specifically
  designed to replace GIF, and it has three main advantages over the
  older format: alpha channels (variable transparency), gamma
  correction, and two-dimensional interlacing (a method of displaying
  images at progressively higher levels of detail). PNG also compresses
  better than GIF in almost every case, but the difference is generally
  only around 5% to 25%, which is (usually) not a large enough factor to
  encourage one to switch on that basis alone. One GIF feature that PNG
  does not try to reproduce is multiple-image support, especially
  animations; PNG was and is intended to be a single-image format only.
  A very PNG-like extension format called MNG has been developed to
  address this limitation.


Move data from 1 hard drive to the other I have a bootable partition on an external drive with some old data that I want to move to a new external hard drive. The partition on the old drive is 500GB however theres only 320GB of data. So i want to keep the partition bootable and resize it so that I don't have 180GB wasted on my new hard drive. How can I do this with disk utility?

I think most disk imaging utilities will do what you are looking to achieve. Try Partition Magic or Macrium Reflect. In fact I know for sure that Partition Magic will automatically estimate the needed and resize the space as needed based on the original hard disk (and its partition) and the destination disk.


Connecting external display to Early 2015 MacBook Pro Does Early 2015 MacBook Pro output 4K 3840 via Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort? I seem to get only HD max option on YouTube videos.

I have a Samsung U32J590U 31.5" 4K UHD monitor. If not, do I have to get a real Thunderbolt cable or is HDMI-to-HDMI the answer?

Display Support:

Supports an HDMI-compatible device, including 4K, while using one Thunderbolt display or support for two Thunderbolt displays

External Resolution:

HDMI

3840 by 2160 pixels at 30Hz
4096 by 2160 pixels at 24Hz

Thunderbolt

3840 by 2160 pixels at 60Hz
5120 by 2880 pixels at 60Hz (with Radeon R9 M370X)


Waze crashes immediately on startup When trying to enter Waze from iphone 10 the app immediately closes itself. I tried uninstalling it and rebooting but that didn't work. What should I do?

According to Waze, this is a known bug with this version.
Waze is reporting it as "a Facebook issue" and directing users to this Facebook developer URL for more info.
Also, there's a megathread on Reddit with a list of apps that are impacted by this Facebook SDK issue.  You don't have to have Facebook installed or have a Facebook account for this bug to impact your apps.  If the app uses a Facebook library, it will be affected.
Updated: There a workaround for this issue as posted in a Verge article:

Lockdown Apps, a firewall and privacy protection app on iOS, uses a VPN to block trackers and things like Facebook’s iOS SDK from loading in third-party apps. It will allow apps like Spotify, Pinterest, and Tinder to launch during a Facebook iOS SDK outage, and it’s completely free to use.

I've tried this using the Lockdown app and I'm able to launch Waze without a problem.


Can I upgrade from iOS 6.0.1 to iOS 8.1.1 directly? I have an iPad 2 (Wi-Fi) which I want to update iOS 8, so I downloaded iOS 8.1.1 for iPad 2 Wi-Fi's IPSW.

I updated with iTunes on my PC but it says that it cannot update my iPad!
I want to install iOS 8.1.1 but current version on the iPad is 6.0.1.

Why can't I upgrade it?

The iPad 2 will run iOS 8.1.2. However, if the storage is full it will not be able to install the update.

Connect your iPad to your computer and open iTunes. Check the iPad's storage. If there is less than 5 GB free space, delete movies, music or larger apps until there is space (you can reinstall easily after the update).

From iTunes, click "Update". iTunes will download the proper update from Apple and do everything necessary.

If it still complains, do this:

While connected to iTunes, click "Backup". When it finishes, disconnect the iPad, open Settings, and choose "Erase all content". Plug it back into iTunes, update it, and choose "restore backup".


How well does the new iPad work with the iPad Dock that Apple sells? I am wondering if the increase in weight and thickness throws off the dock connector or the alignment / balance of the iPad dock connector.

I am asking about the part MC940ZM/A which is listed as the iPad 2 dock on the bottom sticker - but everywhere else says iPad dock without reference to which generation.

Macworld run a first test with a collection of accessories:

In our testing, even many form-fitting iPad 2 accessories work with the third-generation iPad. For example, most dock-cradle accessories—such as speaker docks, chargers, and even Apple's iPad Keyboard Dock—released prior to the new iPad work fine. (This is likely because many of these accessories were designed to fit both the iPad 2 and the original iPad, and the original iPad is even thicker than the new model.)
Similarly, most iPad stands and mounts—especially those that hold the iPad loosely in a groove, slot, or cradle, or on easel-style supports—work perfectly with the iPad. Even Twelve South's HoverBar, which uses a rigid-plastic, corner-hugging cradle, fits the new iPad, albeit with a tighter fit than when mounting an iPad 2.

Even better, Apple's site now states that the MC360ZM/A dock lists compatibility with the iPad 1st generation and the MC940ZM/A dock with the iPad 2 2nd generation and iPad 3rd generation.


How to present my IPhone screen on Windows I must present my iPhone screen on a skype meeting, but Skype for business does not appear to have that option.

A coworker said me that there is some official app that i could use to share my screen on my desktop computer running Windows 10. Of course, I searched on appstore and the internet with no luck.

So, could you point me out in the right direction?

One solution is to use Mirroring360.
You can mirror from iPads or iPhones to a Windows or Mac computer. Mirroring an iPad / iPhone or Mac screen is achieved using the AirPlay™ technology made by Apple, all you need to do is simply install the Mirroring360 application to the computer you wish to mirror to and start mirroring!

Of course, mirroring a Windows PC screen requires the installation of Mirroring360 Sender on your PC.  Make also sure that the computer and the mirroring device are on the same WiFi network.

You can download from here. You have a 7 days trial, then it will cost 14.99$.

As the website says, this tool is useful for presentations, screening recordings, classrooms and so on.


Endless loop of iCloud prompt rendering iPad unusable I hadn't used my iPad in some time, and recently tried powering it back on.  As soon as iOS starts up, I am prompted to enter my iCloud password. My home WiFi network has changed since the last time I used the iPad, so there is no internet access.  The iPad won't accept what I believe to be the password for my Apple ID the last time I used it (I have since changed it, but imagine it's expecting me to enter a cached password since the device hasn't been in contact with Apple's servers in some time).

I'm unable to connect to my new WiFi network since the iCloud prompt appears every second after hitting cancel.  Is there any way out of this loop?  I've tried restoring the device via iTunes, but it tells me that that Find my iPad has to be disabled before doing a restore (which, of course, requires entering the iCloud password).

I found a (much less than satisfactory) solution to the problem.  There is a slight delay between when pressing "cancel" on the iCloud password prompt and when the next popup opens.  I was able to navigate to the WiFi settings, and after a lot of frustration, was able to connect to my new wireless network.  After doing so, the prompt accepted my updated password.  Quite annoying.


Connect 2 LG Ultrafine 5K monitors plugged into the same side of late 2016 MacBook Pro 15 inch I have a late 2016 MacBook Pro 15 inch that, to my knowledge has 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports (two on each side). I have two LG Ultrafine 5K monitors. When I connect them to one port on either side of the computer, they work just fine and I can see them connected to individual Thunderbolt buses in my system information:

When I connect them to the ports on the same side, I get no picture in one of them. Doesn't matter which one, whichever I connect second, doesn't get a picture. But, my system information shows them both connected to a Thunderbolt bus.

Has anybody tried this? I realize that the one bus may not have the bandwidth, but it was my understanding that this particular model has 4 fully functional thunderbolt 3 ports and it looks like each display is getting the necessary bandwidth.

Source

Although now that I'm looking at that diagram, it shows one display on each side of the computer, ha!

What you're seeing is the correct behaviour.

Each 5K monitor actually uses 2 DisplayPort 1.2 streams and stiches them together to form a single image.

You have two DisplayPort streams available per Thunderbolt 3 bus, so plugging in a 5K monitor on the left hand side of the MacBook Pro occupies all the DisplayPort capacity available on that side.

This means that you need to plug one monitor into the left hand side and the other into the right hand side of the MacBook Pro.

It also means that MacBook Pros with only 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports only supports a single 5K monitor.


Notifications for Messages keep turning back on in Yosemite I want to disable banners/notifications in OSX Yosemite.

The problem is the notifications keep getting reset to the default.  This has happened twice since installing Yosemite on release day.

This is annoying as my work computer is showing private messages when clients are being showed something on my laptop!.

The above step 4 has run together and lost its formatting.  You need to run it like this:
Copy and paste each line of these commands into the Terminal window, in order. Press return after each line.  IN ADDITION, IN LINE 1 BELOW, YOU MUST ADD BACKQUOTES (`) (like ', but in reverse) BEFORE "getconf" and after "DARWIN_USER_DIR", so after "cd" it reads "backquote" getconf DARWIN_USER_DIR "backquote".  The backquote is edited out of the lines here due to a rendering bug in the stackexchange comment system.

cd getconf DARWIN_USER_DIR
rm -rf com.apple.notificationcenter
killall usernoted; killall NotificationCenter


IOS LAN SAMBA share access A Western Digital MyCloud NAS is pinned on a LAN: is there any native IOS 12.X functionality that enables users to discover LAN-SAMBA resources and browse them (like OSX Finder)?

No, there's no native functionality included with iOS for that purpose.

You can download an app to get the functionality you describe. For example the free "FE File Explorer: File Manager" app from Skyjos Co.


How to change default sort order in Catalina's Reminders? The new Reminders with Catalina allows the user to change the sort order, but does not remember the user's choice after system restart and always defaults to Apple's choice, which I believe is manual. Is there any way to change the default sort order to, say, due date, which would be my preference? I cannot find a suitable .plist file where default sort order is a parameter that can be changed. Any hints or ideas welcome.

I am inclined to accept the comment by @Joakim Danielson as the answer. Accordingly, instead of expecting a solution in a .plist file, I have written this Applescript to execute on startup (you also have to grant it accessibility permissions in Security & Privacy)

tell application "Reminders"
    activate
end tell
#wait for Reminders to launch since can't control startup items order
do shell script "/bin/sleep 5"
tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Reminders"
        tell menu bar 1
            tell menu bar item "View"
                tell menu "View"
                    tell menu item "Sort By"
                        tell menu "Sort By"
                            click menu item "Due Date"
                        end tell
                    end tell
                end tell
            end tell
        end tell
    end tell
end tell


Firefox "not responding", can't force quit, doesn't show in activity monitor I have entered a weird state

Firefox was open. The icon appears in the cmd+tab task menu.

In the dock it shows as "not responding". Force Quit does nothing though.

Ok... but then it doesn't show in Activity Monitor either.  I have searched for "Firefox", "fox", "ff", "mozilla" and skimmed through by eye.

I have also tried grepping the output of ps aux and top in terminal but I can't find it.

I wondered if maybe it wasn't really open and just the dock icon/task switcher were confused, but when I double-click Firefox from the Applications folder:

I have tried relaunching Finder but it doesn't fix anything.

I assume a reboot will fix it, can anyone suggest another avenue?

This is what I answered in a similar question. It did the trick for me.

  I had the same problem with NetBeans and this is what worked for me:

  sudo killall launchservicesd sudo killall Dock

  I hope this helps.

  I based my answer in this post: Can't kill Preview app and in previous knowledge.

Check my answer here: App crashes, dock icon remains, can't reboot, yet no process in ps aux to kill.


Disable caps lock key I have a new MacBook Air and I keep bumping the caps lock key. As you can imagine this is really frustrating.

Is there a way to totally disable the caps lock key without having to install software or mucking around with Terminal?

You can do this via System Preferences.

More specifically:

Go to Apple > System Preferences…
Click on the Keyboard pane
At bottom right click on the Modifier Keys… button
Now click on the Caps Lock button to select the No Action option
Exit System Preferences


How to edit the Plist so as to remove all reference to wireless cards and drivers if it involves no risks? I need to start a new, totally new wireless config.  My 17" MBP 4,1(1261) wireless died. Card removed was 3 wire but new one has only 2.  ifixit.com says connect black, then blue, and grey does not get connected.

El Capitan does not see that card at all even after resets of all 3 types with battery out.  Since, I've used at least 3 different USB adapters; now, I just want to start clean.

And this OS install was a clean install on to a 1 TB SSD which runs fast with the full 6GB RAM.

Removing the plist is not going to solve the issue.  The 3 wire versus the 2 wire are for the WiFi and Bluetooth antennas, and have no bearing on whether or not your Mac sees the hardware.

If you go into System Information (About this Mac > System Report) then scroll down to WiFi, it should give you information about the WiFi adapter.  If it doesn't, it's not being detected and no amount of jiggering with plist files will fix it.  It's time to look at either the new WiFi card is defective/incompatible or the mPCI slot on the logic board is faulty.

Given that you are attempting to fix a 2008 MacBook Pro, I wouldn't spend too much time trying to repair a WiFi adapter or deal with a potentially bad mPCI slot..  Instead, get a USB WiFi adapter like the DLink DWA-171 which supports 802.11ac and is fully Mac compatible (I'm using it on a 2009 MacBook Pro as I type this).


How to get Brew formula from the filename of installed binary? I often use dpkg -S <file> on Debian to get the package name that installed <file>.

However, using brew I cannot find this option anywhere?

How can I obtain the Brew formula that installed a given binary?

The brew whence external command takes an executable and looks up the Homebrew formula from where the executable comes.

Installing

To install the brew whence command, run:

$ brew tap claui/whence

Running

To run brew whence, pass it an executable:

$ brew whence python3

Executable                Comes from
==========                ==========
/usr/local/bin/python3    → python 3.7.7

Or pass it several executables at once:

$ brew whence 7z git-shell lzgrep

Executable                  Comes from
==========                  ==========
/usr/local/bin/7z           → p7zip 16.02_2
/usr/local/bin/git-shell    → git 2.26.0
/usr/local/bin/lzgrep       → xz 5.2.5

More information

For more information and examples, run brew help whence:

$ brew help whence

Full disclosure

Full disclosure: I wrote this command.
It is not part of Homebrew proper but you can inspect the code yourself.


Find all folders with rwx permissions for a certain user? How do I find all the folders that have rwx permissions for a certain user?

Preferably no admin, can use shell scripts, Terminal, Python 3.6.

find "$DIR" -user "$WHO" -type d -perm +777 -print

where "$DIR" is the parent directory that you want to begin searching in, and "$WHO" is the username or user-id that you want to look for.

Use "$LOGNAME", "$USER", or "$UID" in place of "$WHO" to search for the current user.


External Keyboard key remapping I recently bought a CM Storm QuickFire keyboard. This keyboard is made for Windows. It works perfectly on Bootcamp, but when I use it on the OS X side, the keys are completely remapped.

the F key acts like F + down arrow
etc.

Does anyone know how to fix this? Or how to completely remap a keyboard?

Extra info:
I used an identical keyboard on a work computer (Mac) and it worked well. Any ideas why that would be?

You could use Karabiner (previously KeyRemap4MacBook)
This app can remap every key on your keyboard.


Windows 10 can't be removed in Boot Camp Assistant? macOS Sierra (10.12.2) - 2015 rMBP

Installed Windows 10 via a direct Windows' ISO using Boot Camp Assistant. Made a partition, it installed fine, worked fine and then it got messed up and needs to be re-installed. Problem is, Boot Camp Assistant doesn't show the Windows 10 partition. Starting up BCA, there is no 'install/remove Windows' option, or any other options to select except to continue to the next screen, which once again doesn't show the Windows partition, but just the full size of my Mac's SSD. It says it'll restore my MBP to it's original 490~ GB. Is this going to erase everything on it?

How can I remove this Windows 10 partition if Boot Camp Assistant doesn't recognize it? I'd use Disk Utility but then I'll be left with a phantom Windows boot loader and I don't need that. Is there any way to refresh/reinstall Windows 10 on that partition using the ISO I have?

you are going to half to  reformat though disk utility to fat32  and use usb drive your created with bootcamp to instal windows on that same drive again


Xcode: How to determine which DeviceSupport is useful? When handling with MacBook storage problem,

I found that Xcode's bad storage management is very painful.
Seeing from the detail of DeviceSupport's item, it is about system library and Swift binary etc.
I know I should remove the older items. My question is how to know which item is currently using, in
/Users/usr/Library/Developer/Xcode/iOS\ DeviceSupport?
So I could remove the useless DeviceSupport, and keep the useful.

Yes, Xcode keeps device support files for old devices and it's safe to delete them.
If you want to know which ones are still in regular use, you can check the 'Date Modified' attribute:

or you can connect your devices to your Mac and check the OS version / build number in the Devices window of Xcode:

The arm64e version is for iOS devices with the A12 chipset or above: see the Stack Overflow question Xcode arm64 Vs arm64e and the list of devices with those chipsets on Wikipedia:

Apple A12
Apple A13


Is There a Coda 2 Plugin that does change highlighting for git / svn like netbeans has In netbeans, it highlights changed lines of code in green, blue or red and lets you revert changes per line. Is there a plugin that enables this kind of feature in Coda 2?

Plain and simple: no.

The only way to see changes in code at the moment is to use an external diff tool, like FileMerge.app or Kaleidoscope.app.


Pay for iCloud with Apple Pay iPhone 6

The credit card in iPhone's iCloud Settings/Apple ID/Payment & Shipping/Payment Method (Payment Details) has just expired. I received a new card ( new expiration date and verification code) and entered it into Apple Pay a few weeks ago.

Now I've misplaced the new credit card, so I can't update the iCloud payment method for that card. I can enter a different credit card number, of course. But why can't I pay for iCloud with Apple Pay?

The real answer is because Apple Pay stores the card info locally on your phone/watch. That's why when you get a new device, you need to re-sync and re-setup all your cards.

In contrast, iCloud subscription is billed directly from Apple's servers with whatever payment method they have on file. They don't have access to the card in your Apple Pay which is stored securely on your individual devices.

In the article about Comcast posted by oa- in the other answer, the actual thing Comcast is allowing users to do is to open their app and make a bill payment from the phone using the Apple Pay card stored on that phone. It still doesn't allow reoccurring automatic payments, because it can't.


Lost iPhone pictures after uploaded to iPhoto My iPhone was running out of space and I noticed I had over 1000 photos. Like usual I upload them to my computer using Image Capture then at the bottom I click "delete pictures after" so they aren't on my phone anymore.

They uploaded perfectly fine to Image Capture, but when I clicked on "transfer to iPhoto" I got a message saying the disk was full and now I can't find the picture files.

OK, I had a look around and this discussion might help you. Read all the posts for context but the important one is the last post by Old Toad, he is something of an iPhoto expert on the Apple forums. He says this:

I don't use IC for my imports but have one possible idea: While in the Finder use the Go->Go to Folder menu and enter "/volumes". See if there is anything in that folder other than alias to the various volumes you work with on a regular basis.
If you know the name of any of the files that are missing download and use Find Any File to search for it. FAF will search areas that Spotlight can't."


Hard disk space usage goes from 96% to 100% one minute after restart I have a mid 2014 MacBook Pro 13" (MacBookPro11,1) with 128 GB SSD. I have a lot of applications that I use that won't work on a external hard drive, so I always have issues with space. But going from 5 GB to 0 in a minute after restart? I had a look at the memory, and I'm only using 3 GB of 8 GB. This started immediately after last update to OS X Yosemite. 10.10.5.

$ df -h
Filesystem      Size   Used  Avail Capacity  iused   ifree %iused  Mounted on
/dev/disk1     112Gi  107Gi  5.1Gi    96% 27985010 1338252   95%   /
devfs          182Ki  182Ki    0Bi   100%      630       0  100%   /dev
map -hosts       0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%        0       0  100%   /net
map auto_home    0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%        0       0  100%   /home

# username at my-mac.local in ~ [16:14:51]
$ df -h
Filesystem      Size   Used  Avail Capacity  iused  ifree %iused  Mounted on
/dev/disk1     112Gi  108Gi  3.6Gi    97% 28384440 938822   97%   /
devfs          182Ki  182Ki    0Bi   100%      630      0  100%   /dev
map -hosts       0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%        0      0  100%   /net
map auto_home    0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%        0      0  100%   /home

# username at my-mac.local in ~ [16:15:21]
$ df -h
Filesystem      Size   Used  Avail Capacity  iused  ifree %iused  Mounted on
/dev/disk1     112Gi  111Gi  795Mi   100% 29119752 203510   99%   /
devfs          182Ki  182Ki    0Bi   100%      630      0  100%   /dev
map -hosts       0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%        0      0  100%   /net
map auto_home    0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%        0      0  100%   /home

I get alerts that disk space limit reached.

After restarting the Mac it happens again.

Next time it happens, try:

sudo find / -mmin -5 2>/dev/null

This will list all directories & files, created or modified within the last 5 minutes.


WiFi password is correct but it is telling me it is wrong I know my WiFi password is correct, but just today it is telling me on my iPad it is wrong.  How can I get it to work.

Try these in order:

Ensure Wi-Fi is turned on
Ensure your iPad can see the Wi-Fi network (SSID) you're attempting to connect to
Reboot your iPad & re-try
Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings. This also resets Wi-Fi networks and passwords, cellular settings & any VPNs that you’ve previously configured.


Retrieve network password (network share) from keychain in terminal How can I retrieve my NAS password from Keychain using the terminal? Using security I can retrieve both application and internet passwords, but I've been unsuccessful for those where kind is set to network password.

Using the -D flag of find-generic-password doesn't do the trick.

After searching, it seems the case is important for the kind. The following worked for me with the following keychain config:

security find-internet-password -D "Network Password" -l "the_share" -w

Of course you can filter a bit more by indicating more element to your research

security find-internet-password -h
Usage: find-internet-password [-a account] [-s server] [options...] [-g] [keychain...]
    -a  Match "account" string
    -c  Match "creator" (four-character code)
    -C  Match "type" (four-character code)
    -d  Match "securityDomain" string
    -D  Match "kind" string
    -j  Match "comment" string
    -l  Match "label" string
    -p  Match "path" string
    -P  Match port number
    -r  Match "protocol" (four-character code)
    -s  Match "server" string
    -t  Match "authenticationType" (four-character code)
    -g  Display the password for the item found
    -w  Display only the password on stdout
If no keychains are specified to search, the default search list is used.
        Find an internet password item.

With the above results here's what are the fields (replace -w by -g)

security find-internet-password -D "Network Password" -l "the_share" -g
keychain: "/Users/bric3/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db"
version: 512
class: "inet"
attributes:
    0x00000007 <blob>="the_share"
    0x00000008 <blob>=<NULL>
    "acct"<blob>="the_user"
    "atyp"<blob>=<NULL>
    "cdat"<timedate>=0x32303139313233303133323534345A00  "20191230132544Z\000"
    "crtr"<uint32>=<NULL>
    "cusi"<sint32>=<NULL>
    "desc"<blob>="Network Password"
    "icmt"<blob>=<NULL>
    "invi"<sint32>=<NULL>
    "mdat"<timedate>=0x32303139313233303133323534345A00  "20191230132544Z\000"
    "nega"<sint32>=<NULL>
    "path"<blob>=<NULL>
    "port"<uint32>=0x00000000
    "prot"<blob>=<NULL>
    "ptcl"<uint32>="afp "
    "scrp"<sint32>=<NULL>
    "sdmn"<blob>=<NULL>
    "srvr"<blob>="the_share._afpovertcp._tcp.local"
    "type"<uint32>=<NULL>
password: "the password"

E.g. specifying the protocol using -r "smb " will not result in any result for me as it is an afp share, but using -r "afp " will, for this particular (Note that the extra space is mandatory for this particular criteria to work). But it's also possible to search for the account using -a the_user. But for this password specifying other fields (as they are NULL) will not return anything.

macOs 10.15.2


Applescript - Open password protected excel file Is there a way for Applescript to open an Excel workbook (.xls) that is password protected?

I see that in the library there are functions to check if a workbook has password, but I do not know the proper syntax for opening a wb with password protection.

Tell application "Microsoft Excel"
  -- set theWb to path of .... etc.
  open theWb with password "abc" ? <--- what should go here?
end tell

There is a way to open a Excel workbook (xlsx, in my example) which is protected either the workbook and/or the sheet. You can use the following script:

set passwd to "1234" -- whatever you want
set theWbpath to "/Users/xxxxx/Desktop/number1.xlsx" -- example path
set theWb to "number1.xlsx" -- example file
set theSheet to "sheet1" -- example name of sheet
tell application "Microsoft Excel"
    open theWbpath
    unprotect workbook theWb ¬ -->
        password passwd        --> workbook part, can be left out
    unprotect sheet theSheet ¬ -->
        password passwd        --> sheet part, can be left out
end tell


Set file metadata attribute values I'm trying to set the values of some file metadata attributes in OS X Yosemite - kMDItemDateAdded and kMDItemLastUsedDate - the values of which can be shown using mdls <filename>.  I'm trying to set their values using xattr.

I've tried this:

xattr -w com.apple.metadata:kMDItemDateAdded "2001-01-01 12:34:56 +0000" some_file.txt
xattr -w com.apple.metadata:kMDItemLastUsedDate "2001-01-01 12:34:56 +0000" some_file.txt

I've tried this:

xattr -w kMDItemDateAdded "2011-01-01 12:34:56 +0000" some_file.txt
xattr -w kMDItemLastUsedDate "2011-01-01 12:34:56 +0000" some_file.txt

...but have had no success.  xattr reports no errors, but the file metadata attribute values are left unchanged.

Do you know if what I'm trying to do is possible, and if it is, where I'm going wrong?

I've looked into this question as well, and it appears that the "Data Added" attribute (kMDItemDateAdded) can be queried from mdls (but not xattr), but cannot be set. There is no option for it in the setattrlist function. The comments on this SO question go into a little (but not much) more detail. The "Date Added" value appears to be derived from some other seemingly inaccessible metadata value, not stored as an extended attribute.

I would guess the same applies for the "Last Used" date.


How can I stop my whole screen from flashing white on errors? Whenever I access Terminal and press Command ⌘ + Delete ⌫ my screen flashes white.

It also happens when Chrome's Command ⌘ + F returns no results.

Have I somehow messed up my settings?

I already verified that Universal Access » Hearing » Flash the screen when an alert sound occurs was unchecked. I've tried toggling the setting and still get the flash animation.

This sounds ridiculously simple, but it has worked for me in the past. Try checking and then unchecking Universal Access » Hearing » Flash the screen when an alert sound occurs -- this really sounds like that is the behavior in question, and sometimes setting it and the unsetting it resets to the desired behavior. (Note, this might be under Audio in newer versions of Mac OS.)

This basically checks that the preference file can be written to have a no then a yes and will clear up all sorts of minor issues in how apps can store preferences. The next step is to delete (or move to the desktop) the preference file for the affected application. In this case, the system stores this flash preference here:

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.universalaccess.plist

At this point, you might need to expand to see if rebooting, trying a new user account helps isolate the issue.


How can I make focus follow the mouse cursor? I will often click on a button expecting it to be clicked but instead all that happens is the application it is in becomes active, and I have to click again to actually click the button.  It would be nice if this second click wasn't needed, which leads me to my question:

  How can I make it so that when I move the mouse cursor over an inactive window, it becomes active?

This is freely possible for the Terminal and X11 :

defaults write com.apple.Terminal FocusFollowsMouse -string YES
defaults write com.apple.x11 wm_ffm true

Or, OS-wise, with a utility that seems to fit your needs, called MondoMouse.


1 key faulty on Macbook Pro Retina - is a replacement keyboard, battery etc the only fix? I have a 2013 MacBook Pro Retina which had a cup of tea spilled on it.  The machine works perfectly except for the 3 key which is not responding.  I've taken it in to an Apple Authorised Repair Centre who said they needed to replace the keyboard, battery etc to fix it at a cost of £600.

Is there any other way to get this single key working for less than £600?

This is still the top answer here for replacement keyboard, so I figured I'd offer my recent experience in repairing my keyboard after spilling soda on it.

There are three options to fix a key that is stuck due to a spill. I list them in order of ease.

Keep in mind that all of this is likely to void any warranty. Some of it may damage your computer more than it already is.

Remove the top of the key and clean under it.

Using a toothpick or other small prying device like a guitar pick, a plastic spudge, you can pry from the sides and pop the key cap off. There is a metal clip holding the key top down to a surface with a rubber membrane that actuates the key switch.  If done carefully, you can remove enough of this to clean the mechanical workings of the single key.  This may not be practical if you have many problem keys.

Replace the keyboard.

The keyboard is not simple to get to.  Officially, as mentioned in other answers, you must replace the whole assembly which includes the keyboard, backlight, trackpad, and batteries.

If you are willing to spend nearly a full day doing the work yourself, or happen to be a computer repair person and can do it faster, this is a reasonable option.

You will need the right screwdrivers and an anti-static work surface. Pentalobe, hex, and a tiny philips are all needed.  See other guides for sizing, but most computer repair kits these days come with the needed sizes. You will also benefit from a fine pointed plastic pick, and a strong plastic spudger for flipping open cable connectors and moving tiny wires into place.

Follow the teardown guides you can find on the net.

When you get to the keyboard, you will see it's secured with what look like rivets. It's necessary to rip the keyboard out of those 100+ holes, trying to get all the rivets out of the case in the process.  From what I've seen, this works fairly well, but you may have to pull some that got left behind with tiny pliers or drill them out.

The new keyboard can be purchased online in various places for not too much money.  You will also need the pack of 100+ tiny screws, ph000 I think.

The keyboard can now be screwed in place using the holes left by the rivets.  The screws should self thread into the aluminum.

Put everything back together and see how it works.

Give the keyboard a bath.

This is the option I chose because I didn't like the idea of ripping the keyboard out and didn't know how much of a complete pain it would be to remove the batteries. None the less, it seems to have worked out since I'm using that laptop right now to compose this.

It's necessary to completely disassemble the laptop as before, but also remove the battery and trackpad.

Removing the battery is ridiculously difficult, and in most places on the net it's written off as simply impractical to attempt.  Even Apple techs are instructed to replace the whole assembly when replacing a battery.

You risk puncturing the battery cells in this process.  That's double plus not good. These batteries can quickly turn into a smoking jet of flame if damaged in the right way.

But if you are willing to try anyway, here's how.

Get a strong pry tool that can slide under the battery packs and cut through the thick double sided tape in the process, without bending up and into the battery cells.  I used relatively thick plastic pry tools made for door panel removal on cars.  But I think a thin metal pry tool as sold for working on computers would have worked better. Work one pack at a time until you have them all loose.

The two center batteries on the 15" are taped to a strong piece of spring steel that is then taped to the case to cover the trackpad.  I'm not sure which is easier to remove, but it seems that the steel plate will go with the case or the two cells depending on which tape seal you break.  The steel curves over the side edges and won't be possible to get under from the sides, but can be gotten to from the center of the laptop side if you can get past the cables that are in the way.

I used some 70% isopropyl alcohol in a syringe to try to make removing the tape easier.  Others suggest applying heat to the case for the same reason.  I found the alcohol did remove the stickyness of the tape at the edges, but the tape is about half an inch wide and the alcohol did not do well at penetrating.  Also, I'm not sure if the plastic covering the batteries was keeping the alcohol out of the batteries since they formed pucker lines under the tape in prying.

Be careful to not deform the batteries when working them out.  They are like a very hard clay inside a plastic cover. And definitely don't puncture the plastic!

I can't really say for sure if heat or solvent is very helpful.  But I can say that removing the batteries was just about the most frustrating thing I've ever done in computer repair.

Assuming you manage to get the batteries off the case, the trackpad under the steel plate is fairly easy to replace. There is a screw over a switch on the underside of the trackpad. It's designed to be an adjustment for the clicking action on the trackpad.  If you screw it back in too tight, your trackpad won't click.  Too loose and the pad will rattle

Once everything else other than the keyboard is removed you can clean the whole keyboard.

Depending on what you spilled in it, choose your cleaner.  If it's something fatty like coffee with cream, you may need to use alcohol or similar solvent.  If it's just sugars, distilled water will do. Ideally, find Deionized water as it's even cleaner than distilled. I couldn't find deionized locally so I used cheap distilled and it's working fine.

Using a clean plastic tub to avoid any new contaminants getting dissolved, simply submerge the body and keyboard in your solvent and swish it around. Brush the keyboard with a toothbrush while submerged.  Be careful to not leave behind any bristles if you brush the underside. Actuate all the keys over and over to work loose any dirt or stuck on residue.

When you think it's fairly clean, repeat the process with a fresh batch of cleaner.

Then repeat with distilled or deionized water, and once more with a clean batch.

Dry it very well

After it was clean, I shook out the water, dried it with a microfiber towel, and then with a hair dryer set to low heat.  Then I let it sit overnight in front of a dehumidifier with the dry air blowing over it all night. Since distilled and deionized water contain very little mineral content of any sort, it should dry with no water spots at all, and nothing left inside the components.

Reassemble

Reassembly is easy except for knowing which screws go where if you didn't organize them well.  I recommend taking a photo of the layout as you go along, and possibly printing out the photo and placing the screws on it as you take them out.  It's not that hard to figure out which length to use where, but if you get it wrong you might go too deep and strip out the socket trying to get to tight.

Also be mindful of which parts go on in which order.  Best to take notes on disassembly since there are times when things have to go under other things, or partially under them. I found myself having to take up the main logic board several times to fit things back right.

Batteries may rattle

The biggest issue I had with the reassembly was the batteries again.  With the tape all malformed and not sticky anymore, it's pretty useless at holding the batteries firm.  They rattle in the case now.

I plan to resolve this by using some foam tape to reduce the gap. But I won't be using double sided adhesive.

Prior Mac laptops had removable battery packs and didn't have a need for heat sink. But I suspect these batteries may be using that tape as a heat sink connecting to the case with a lot of surface area.  The palm rests have always gotten warm with use. So I'm thinking of options to restore that heat transfer capability without resorting to similar tape. It's probably not really an issue.  But I'd like to at least stop the rattling of the batteries in the cavity.

New Info:

I found thermal padding that can be cut into shapes to stick to the batteries and thereby remove the gap while giving them a thermal bridge to the case as the tape was likely doing. These pads are tacky, but it's not so much an adhesive and they stay in place, but can peel off easily if needed.

I found it necessary to put them on front and back of the batteries unlike how Apple had the tape only on the hidden side. Since the pads aren't super sticky, this keeps the batteries from falling the sub-mm distance to the case bottom when it's sitting normally.

Personal Note

I hope this guide is useful for at least knowing how much of a pain the process can be.

I personally find Apple's use of rivets and adhesive on a "Pro" product that would normally have a useful life of up to 10 years (multiple owners likely) to be a huge detraction from the quality of the product, and a big ding on my feeling of Apple's brand superiority in hardware.


Mac OS internet Recovery mode stuck on progress option with globe animated screen It’s stuck on here. Anybody knows this answer ?

I was solved it, I just plug/unplug my internet cable from Wifi Router.


Using Automator to take a screen shot from Adobe Digital Editions, Page Down and repeat Is there any way to have OS X's Automator.app repeatedly take screen shots of a book in Adobe Digital Editions? So me doing the task involves:

Cmd + Shift + 4
space bar
mouse click
page down
repeat…

Can this be automated?

Yes, this is possible.

You can use with Script Editor.app or Automator.app for your task. If you choose Automator.app, using the Run AppleScript action to embed your AppleScript snippets.

AppleScript: Simulating key presses

Take a look at using AppleScript to automate key presses, How do I automate a key press in AppleScript? An example from the top answer:

delay 0.5 -- time to release modifier keys if for example the script is run with command-R
tell application "System Events" to tell process "Adobe Digital Editions"
    try
        key down option
        delay 0.1
        click menu bar item 1 of menu bar 1
    end try
    key up option
end tell

AppleScript: Capturing screen shots

To take a screen shot, there are numerous approaches. This question is a good starting point, Take a screen shot and save to desktop with current time as the name:

set theDesktop to POSIX path of (path to desktop as string)
set theCurrentDate to current date
set shellCommand to "/usr/sbin/screencapture " & quoted form of (theDesktop & "Screen Shot" & theCurrentDate & ".png")
do shell script shellCommand

AppleScript: Mouse clicks

Simulating the mouse is trickier but likely possible, see Is there a way to simulate a mouse click anywhere on a screen in Dictate ?. AppleScript's GUI scripting is designed to interact with specific elements on the screen.

Aside: Copyright concerns

Please do not use this process to bypass copyright protection.


How do Time Machine's checksums work? The man page for tmutil mentions that Time Machine records checksums of files, and lists a verifychecksums command. The man page is sparse on details, and does not otherwise mention checksums. I was wondering whether Time Machine ever automatically verifies these checksums (or if these are only verified when you run verifychecksums manually)? The page also says checksums are not retroactively computed, so how can I list the files in my latest backup for which no checksum is available? Also, is it known what checksumming algorithm is used?

 verifychecksums path ...
         Compute a checksum of data contained within a backup and verify
         the result(s) against checksum information computed at the time
         of backup.

         No output is generated for matching checksums. Issues are
         reported using the following legend:

             !    The file's current checksum does not match the expected
                  recorded checksum.
             ?    The file's recorded checksum is invalid.

         Beginning in OS X 10.11, Time Machine records checksums of files
         copied into snapshots. Checksums are not retroactively computed
         for files that were copied by earlier releases of OS X.

The above is from the tmutil man page in OS X 10.11.6, maybe the one in macOS Sierra has more details.

I have a partial answer to my own question: while I don’t know whether Time Machine ever automatically verifies the checksums, a post on ycombinator.com provided me with an answer to my other two questions. The checksumming algorithm is the same one as the default one used by the Terminal utility cksum. The checksum values are stored in the Time Machine backup as an extended attribute of each file (com.apple.finder.copy.source.checksum#N). So to list the files for which no checksum is available, you would search for all files in the latest backup without the attribute, using a Terminal command like this one:

find '/Volumes/Time Machine HD/Backups.backupdb/Mac/Latest' -type f -not -exec xattr -x -p 'com.apple.finder.copy.source.checksum#N' '{}' ';' -print 2>/dev/null | grep /

I’ll quote the original post for details on checking the stored checksum against the output of cksum:

  RJIb8RBYxzAMX9u on Apr 18, 2017
  [...] In any case, the "hash" appears to be CRC32, stored in extended attributes:

$ xattr .inputrc
com.apple.finder.copy.source.checksum#N
com.apple.metadata:_kTimeMachineNewestSnapshot
com.apple.metadata:_kTimeMachineOldestSnapshot
$ xattr -px 'com.apple.finder.copy.source.checksum#N' .inputrc
26 E5 4A AB
$ cksum .inputrc
2873812262 65 .inputrc
$ printf '%x\n' "$(cksum .inputrc | cut -d ' ' -f 1)"
ab4ae526


Contact recently upgraded to iPhone. How can I tell my iPhone to send them iMessages now? One of my contacts has recently switched to an iPhone. How can I tell my phone to send them iMessages now?

It ought to figure it out for itself, once their phone is set up correctly.

So long as their phone number is listed in their phone, in Settings > Messages > Send & Receive  as "You can be reached by iMessages at..." then it should just switch over.

You'll see their messages start to appear in blue rather than green.

You can test/check by finding them in Contacts. As you open their details, you should see FaceTime light up, which confirms they're on an iPhone.


Unable to verify account name or password My Mac Pro asks for an e-mail and password.

I was unable to remember them; I got a new password, but I'm still receiving an error message:

  Unable to verify account name or password.

I suspect your old password is still in the Keychain; go to Applications > Utilities > Keychain Assistant. Search for your account (usually your email) or the server used. Then doubleclick on the entry and check the checkbox in front of Show Password. Verify that it's the new password which is stored there.
It's safe to delete multiple entries of the same account, you should just have one entry.

The background is that Apple Mail.app will first try and use the password(s) stored in the login Keychain and when those fail, it will prompt the user to enter the new password.

See this article on how to manage your Keychain.


How do I bind a key in OSX to open a new window of an application? I can't find a way to do this. There's only binding to open an application. But the apps I want to use this on, (chrome, terminal, and finder) are always open. I just want to open a new window in the current work space.

I can Command + Tab then hit Command + N. But Command + Tab can change my workspace if a window of that app is already opened in another work space.

There's no single way to open a new window with AppleScript, but make new window or make new document works in many applications.

tell application "Google Chrome"
    make new window
    activate
end tell
tell application "Finder"
    make new Finder window
    activate
end tell
tell application "Terminal"
    do script ""
    activate
end tell
tell application "TextEdit"
    make new document
    activate
end tell

You can assign shortcuts to scripts with applications like FastScripts or Alfred.

You can also open new windows from the Dock:


Always open PDFs from one path with a non-default program My default PDF App is Preview. Now, I have one folder (with sub-folders in it) with PDFs that I would like to have to open all the time with another program. So basically I need to put a "Default program" for a restricted path.
Unfortunately the "Always open…" is not an option (even if it would work), because the documents in this folder change pretty often.

Does someone know if Automator or AppleScript may help me with this?

Using Finder for file management?

Drag your program of choice into the toolbar and drop it there:

  Add a file or an app: Press and hold the Command key, then drag the item to the Finder toolbar until you see a green plus sign.

Now double click on a PDF will open the PDF still in Preview.

You can select your other PDFs and then drop them on the Toolbar icon for the program of your choice.

Using a more programmery way would be to make an alias to

open -a YourAlternativePDFViwer.app

Then you type in Terminal your alias, drag&drop all your special PDFs on the Terminal. Terminal then expands all the paths to your PDFs and upon hitting Enter your preferred viewer should open all those PDFs.

Even easier would be an alias that reads as follows:

open -a YourAlternativePDFViwer.app /path/to/your/SpecialtyPDFS/*.pdf

If more automation is required, then you might have a look into Folder Actions Reference.

For double-clicking AFAIK it's either one or the other. But depending on  special filetype characteristics  RCDefaultApp might be worth a look.


Automator: Is it possible to resize an image to a maximum file size? I have been looking around for an Automator method, whereby an image file is to be resized (reduced height and width) to a specific file size (in bytes), or a near lower-bound proximity of that file size.

It would be a great use for MacOS Mojave's Quick Actions, as many website uploads do not accept full-size iPhone images, for instance.

My intuition is that this is a quite difficult problem for Automator to solve even with the help of bash scripting, etc. Usually, even applications like Adobe Photoshop are not great at predicting the final file size after a file is compressed to JPG or PNG, etc. Perhaps it could incrementally lower the image dimensions until it's lower than the max file size. Easiest would be if was a scriptable utility for this.

I therefore thought to ask if:

a) Is this doable, and
b) How would it be done?

I'm a little confused with the approach on how to properly compress the images you want to work with. As mentioned, there is sips, a working example based on pulling a directory of images and stepping through the list with a resize if the width isn't 800px:

property theWidth : 800

tell application "Finder"
    try
        ## Choose directory
        set imageDir to choose folder with prompt "Please select directory."

        ## Get list of items in diretory
        set the imageList to list folder imageDir without invisibles

        ## Step through images
        repeat with theImage in imageList

            ## Turn path to posix path
            set imagePos to quoted form of POSIX path of ((imageDir as text) & contents of theImage)

            ## Get image width
            set imgWidth to (do shell script "sips -g pixelWidth " & " " & imagePos & " " & "| tail -n1 | cut -d' ' -f4") as integer

            ## if not equal to set variable width resize
            if imgWidth ≠ theWidth then do shell script "sips --resampleWidth " & theWidth & " " & imagePos

        end repeat
    on error error_message
        display dialog error_message
    end try

That is just an example of what you can do with the width. As mentioned in the comment you could check to see which is longer the width or height and resize from there. If you do man sips in the Terminal you can pull all types of info. The above code uses tail and cut to trim the return. Resizing is done with --resampleWidth. You could resample based on height with --resampleHeight.

Regarding the compression aspect, if these are PNGs you can use Optipng. If you want something you can run with PNGs and JPGs you could use Trimage. AppleScript/Automater could also be scripted into using a compression utility. You would just need to call from bin a check if a compression exists:

try
    set checkBin to "(ls usr/local/bin/optipng >> /dev/null 2>&1 && echo yes) || echo no"
    return do shell script checkBin
on error error_message
    return error_message
end try

The above is checking for OptiPNG. If you wanted to check wether something was installed with HomeBrew you could use a similar command on /usr/local/Cellar.

All the above mentioned could be completely done in a Shell Script. It just depends on what you want and how you want to execute the code.