Apple News Remove Topic I currently subscribed to Apple One and I'm on macOS 11.0.1.  I never used Apple News prior to subscribing so this is my first experience with it and trying to tune it to the stories that interest me.
The sidebar contains a section titled 'Apple News' and it contains several topics, screenshot below).  I'm not able to customize this section (I can customize sections like 'Following' and 'Suggested by Siri').  I have zero interest in the topic named 'Racial Justice' and want to remove it.
I went thru Preferences and can't find any way to delete that topic.  I know I can right-click on stories and block channels as well as 'suggest less like this', but that doesn't impact this section of the sidebar.  Does anyone know of a way or a hack to remove items from this section of the sidebar?

Apple's News editorial team chooses the categories under ‘Apple News’ and these are shown to everyone in your region. These are not customisable per person.
The categories you choose to be interested in go under ‘Following’, which is customisable and can be removed with a secondary click and choosing Unfollow Topic or Block Topic.


How do I save multiple images from my Dropbox app to my Camera Roll I need to save multiple photos from my Dropbox to my camera roll. From what I can see you can only do one at a time. Is there a way to this by folder? I have 60+ images and and doing one at a time will be tedious and time consuming.

Maybe try the Carousel app? They're about to discontinue it in March, but it should still be available. From what I recall, you should be able to select multiple images in that app, and you might be able to save them to your Camera Roll from there.


Able to print, but can not scan from my printer I am using Artisan 725 on my Macbook and when I try to scan it says that the printer is not able to communicate - "Communication error has occurred." However, it will let me print.

Has anybody else had a similar issue with this printer/scanner and found a way to resolve it?

This is because the Epson Artisan 725 is considered an MFP or Multi-Function Printer.  This means it's actually two separate devices that just share the same footprint.  So, it is entirely conceivable that the printer drivers are readily available from Apple while the scanner driver isn't.

Heading over to their Support Page, it appears that they have both printer AND scanner drivers for macOS (Sierra) so you would need to install that driver for your scanner to work.


Equivalent to top -ua In older version of Mac OS X, maybe up to 10.6 or something like that, you could use top with -ua which accumulated CPU-usage and listed the process with most CPU-time at the top. This combination has since disappeared and I have been unable to find a replacement. Any ideas?

A nice addition would be if you could tell it to accumulate CPU-hsitory for e.g., 10 seconds, 1 minute or so, is that possible?

You're right, top has changed since 10.6 (Here is the man page for the top on Snow Leopard)

Now, to access to the accumulative mode you have to

start top
type c to change the current mode
type a to set the accumulative mode (and enter to validate the input)

To sort by CPU time, use the -o option :  top -o time

About the second part of your question, I a bit curious. Accumulative mode counts the CPU time since the start of the mode. So I will do it for 10sec if you wait 10 seconds etc.


Partition table error in external ARECA RAID Thanks for trying to help me fix this problem.
I have been having trouble with my external RAID, the error message that I got was that I have a partition table error. The RAID contains six 4 TB hard drive in a RAID 5 setup.
I used "testdisk" to try to fix the problem, but now all my data seems to be gone. Upon restarting my computer, I am asked to format the drive - which I have not done.
The RAID was formatted initially under GUID partition scheme.
I took screen shots of the original partition table. disk5 is my RAID setup.
I am asking for help in reverting the partition table to its original setup so I can access data.

The TestDisk results for macOS formatted disks are/were often misleading or even wrong because the algorithm misinterprets special hidden volume content. AFAIK it tries to detect special empty blocks (2) followed by the occurrences of the strings H+ and/or HFSJ in the third block - which marks the beginning of a HFSJ volume. A similar sequence is used to detect the last blocks of a volume. Such 1536 Byte "blocks" are more frequent than TestDisk can handle.

I prefer a manual approach.

Preconditions:

GPT (GUID Partition Table)
some "standard" partitioning with Disk Utility previously (the disk may contain several volumes though)
the disk mustn't be initialized after the incident
the disk or volume mustn't be repaired (with Disk Utility, Disk Warrior or similar tools)

Methodology:

determine the device block size
determine the volume type of the vanished/missing volume
read-out the volume header (and sometimes the second volume header) to determine block size and number

Basics:

First get all available disks and the partition table of the broken disk (here disk5):

diskutil list
diskutil umountDisk disk5
sudo gpt -r show disk5

Device Block Size:

To determine the block size of the disk enter:

diskutil info disk5 | grep "Device Block Size"

Depending on the Device Block Size (either 512 B or 4096 B) and the total size of the disk they either contain a 200 MiB or 300 MiB EFI partition as first partition after the partition table, then the main volume and finally some free space or a second partition and some free space. The last few blocks are occupied by the second ("backup") partition table.

The standard Apple GUID partition scheme of a 512 B disk looks like this:

                0           1         PMBR
                1           1         Pri GPT header
                2          32         Pri GPT table
               34           6
               40      409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
           409640  part2-size      2  GPT part - partition type
         - depending on the formatting of the disk a 3rd partition and/or free space -
    total_size-33          32         Sec GPT table
     total_size-1           1         Sec GPT header

The standard Apple GUID partition scheme of a 4096 B disk looks like this:

               0           1         PMBR
               1           1         Pri GPT header
               2           4         Pri GPT table
               6       76800      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
           76806  part2-size      2  GPT part - partition type
         - depending on the formatting of the disk a 3rd partition and/or free space -
    total_size-5           4         Sec GPT table
    total_size-1           1         Sec GPT header

512 B disks may also have a 614400 blocks(512) EFI partition (partition 1) or 4096 B disks may have a 51200 blocks(4096) EFI partition - both can be found much less often than the other way round though. The size of the main partition is reduced or enlarged respectively.

An external RAID with a RAID-controller may contain a bunch of 4096 B disks but will still present the RAID-volume as 512 B device!

Volume Type:

To determine the volume type you have to hexdump the first blocks after the EFI partition.

This is done by piping data stream input in dd to hexdump:

sudo dd if=/dev/diskX | hexdump

To hexdump a 512 B disk (with a 200 MiB EFI) use the following command:

sudo dd if=/dev/disk5 skip=409640 bs=512 count=3 | hexdump

To hexdump a 4096 B disk (with a 300 MiB EFI) use the following command:

sudo dd if=/dev/disk5 skip=76806 bs=4096 count=1 | hexdump

In both cases a normal HFS+ volume is indicated by its signature 0x482b (="H+") at 0x0000400 and/or by its lastMountedVersion 0x4846534a (="HFSJ") starting at 0x0000408

0000000 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
*
0000400→48 2b←00 04 80 00 20 00→48 46 53 4a←00 00 2b ab
...

In both cases an APFS volume is indicated by 0x4e585342 (= APFS magic string) starting at 0x0000020:

0000000 0f d5 99 82 f1 8b e4 67 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0000010 14 33 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 80 00 00 00 00
0000020→4e 58 53 42←00 10 00 00 f6 37 b9 03 00 00 00 00
...

Volume Header:

Both dumps also contain the Allocation Block Size and the Number of Allocation Blocks of the (first) volume or the APFS container. Both values determine the size of the (lost) volume/container. The allocation block size mustn't be confused with the device block size!

The allocation block size of an HFS+ volume can be found in the volume header. In the dump above the volume header starts at 0x0000400 and ends at 00005FF.

The allocation block size is an UInt32 starting at 0x0000428

0000400 48 2b 00 04 80 00 20 00 48 46 53 4a 00 00 2b ab
0000410 d2 c3 e0 e6 d8 cd 44 73 00 00 00 00 d2 c3 d2 d6
0000420 00 01 c9 aa 00 00 08 8d→00 00 20 00←2b a9 28 fa
0000430 02 56 52 7a 2b 74 ff f4 00 01 00 00 00 01 00 00

The allocation block number is an UInt32 starting at 0x000042C

0000400 48 2b 00 04 80 00 20 00 48 46 53 4a 00 00 2b ab
0000410 d2 c3 e0 e6 d8 cd 44 73 00 00 00 00 d2 c3 d2 d6
0000420 00 01 c9 aa 00 00 08 8d 00 00 20 00→2b a9 28 fa←
0000430 02 56 52 7a 2b 74 ff f4 00 01 00 00 00 01 00 00

To convert hex to decimal use echo "obase=10; ibase=16; (uppercase hex!)" | bc

So the allocation block size of the above example is

echo "obase=10; ibase=16; 00002000" | bc (=8192 byte)

and the number of allocation blocks is

echo "obase=10; ibase=16; 2BA928FA" | bc (=732506362)

The total size of the example volume is 732506362 x 8192 Byte (= 6000692117504 Byte or 11720101792 blocks(512) or 1465012724 blocks(4096)).

The block size and the block number of an APFS container can be found in the container superblock which starts at 0x0000020.

The block size is an UInt32 (reversed) starting at 0x0000024

0000000 0f d5 99 82 f1 8b e4 67 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0000010 14 33 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 80 00 00 00 00
0000020 4e 58 53 42→00 10 00 00←f6 37 b9 03 00 00 00 00
0000030 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
...

The block number is an UInt64 (reversed) starting at 0x0000028

0000000 0f d5 99 82 f1 8b e4 67 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
0000010 14 33 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 80 00 00 00 00
0000020 4e 58 53 42 00 10 00 00→f6 37 b9 03 00 00 00 00←
0000030 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
...

To convert hex to decimal with echo... command you have to reverse the byte order:

(00 10)⬄(00 00) > 00⬄00 00⬄10 > 00 00 10 00
and
(f6 37 b9 03)⬄(00 00 00 00) > (00 00)⬄(00 00) (f6 37)⬄(b9 03) > 00⬄00 00⬄00 b9⬄03 f6⬄37 > 00 00 00 00 03 b9 37 f6

So the block size of the above example is

echo "obase=10; ibase=16; 00001000" | bc (=4096 byte)

and the number of blocks is

echo "obase=10; ibase=16; 0000000003B937F6" | bc (=62470134)

The total size of the example volume is 62470134 x 4096 Byte (= 255877668864 Byte or 499761072 blocks(512) or 62470134 blocks(4096)).

Recreating the lost volume:

Depending on your findings in the previous steps (512|4096)/(HFS+/AFPS)/(block size & block number) add the missing EFI and the main volume to the partition table.

Examples with the above example disks (and both missing EFI and main partition):

512 B disk, 200 MiB EFI & APFS container (499761072 blocks(512))

sudo gpt add -i 1 -b 40 -s 409600 -t C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B /dev/disk5
sudo gpt add -i 2 -b 409640 -s 499761072 -t 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC /dev/disk5

4096 B disk, 300 MiB EFI & HFS+ volume (1465012724 blocks(4096))

sudo gpt add -i 1 -b 6 -s 76800 -t C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B /dev/disk5
sudo gpt add -i 2 -b 76806 -s 1465012724 -t 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC /dev/disk5

Verify the final volumes with diskutil verifyVolume diskXsY.

If you're faced with a 512 B disk and a 300 MiB EFI (or a 4096 B disk and a 200 MiB EFI) which will result in hexdump gibberish, you have to slightly apply the dd ... | hexdump command.


Bootcamp install on external, partitioned HDD reboots to Boot Recovery Assistant I have followed this guide: https://9to5mac.com/2017/08/31/how-windows-10-mac-boot-camp-external-drive-video/

When I select EFI Boot from my Samsung M3 portable drive it reboots to the boot recovery assistant and asks for my pw to unlock the macOS disk.

This is the second HD I've tried this on, both to the same effect.

The drive is partitioned 75/25 Time Machine / Windows.

Any help is appreciated

When Boot Camp installs Windows 10 on a Mac, any Apple supplied drivers required to boot Windows 10 are automatically included in the driver store during the installation process.  There is no outward indication that this takes place. After Windows 10 finishing installing, software including additional drivers are installed. This process is very evident due to output shown on the display.

When watching the video, I did not see any step where the Apple supplied drivers, required to boot Windows 10, were installed to the drivers store. This means the instructions supplied in this video are incomplete.

So you may ask: Why did the example shown the video work? My best guess would be that Windows 10 was installed on an older Mac. Microsoft makes an  effort to include in the ISO all the drivers needed to boot an installation of Windows 10 for any Windows 10 compatible computer. For an older Mac, there would be no needed to copy the Apple supplied drivers to drive store, because the required files would already be in the store.

Since your Mac is a 2018 model, the drivers needed to boot may not have been included yet in any Windows 10 ISO file. If this is the case, Windows 10 will not be able to boot.

My best advice would be to not try to use third party software in an effort to trick Windows 10 into booting from an external drive. All the software needed to install to an external drive is already included in the Window 10 ISO file.

If you want to proceed based on the video, then eliminate the use of the VMWare Fusion software. In other words, use Boot Camp to install Windows 10 to your internal drive, then use WinToUSB to transfer to the external drive. You then can remove Windows 10 from the internal drive.


Photos plugins: use TIFF instead of JPG as interchange format I recently had to move from Aperture to Photos for organising and editing my RAW format photos as Aperture no longer lets me order print products. I use quite a few plugins for the editing bit, which in Aperture could be done with the lossless TIFF file format. However, when using a plugin in Photos I see the image file has been converted to JPG. Is there a way to change this to also use TIFF or PNG?

I'm unable to see any quality loss with my own eyes, but I prefer to keep my photos as high quality as possible for print etc.

Short answer : If the plugin has no option to select "TIFF", you'll have to live with JPEG

Long answer: When you look at the example source code that apple provides for Photos plugins (Photos sample code for plugins), you can see that the file types for the output are explicitly set to kUTTypeJPEG by

            guard let destination = CGImageDestinationCreateWithURL(output.renderedContentURL as CFURL, kUTTypeJPEG, 1, nil)

This means that the plugin decides the format it writes to. If the format is hardcoded and the plugin does not give you the choice to change the output format to TIFF, you will have to live with its choice. If it allows you to write to kUTTypeTIFF, you get what you want.

Hope this helps you.


Can't add events to iPhone calendar which are more than 1 year in the future My iPhone 5c won't let me add any events to my locally stored calendar that are more than 1 year in the future. When I add them, they stay for 30 seconds or so and then disappear. Why is this happening and how can I fix it?

I think it's some kind of glitch in your phone or settings are not correct.

I checked on my iPhone 5, which runs iOS v.9.2.1 and event was saved even 3 years further. It's doesn't depend is it 1 year ahead, or 1 day ahead.

Try to troubleshoot:

When you are in a Calendar App, click calendars button in the bottom, and make sure the proper calendar is selected with checkboxes.
Check if the settings of synchronization for calendars are correct. Settings->Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
Try placing event to some other, closer date, closer than one year, if it doesn't work - proceed further.
Try a Restart. Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button for a few seconds until the red "slide to power off" slider appears, and then slide the slider. Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button until the Apple logo appears.
Try system update, check if there are newer versions of iOS Settings->General->Software update.
Resetting your settings. You can also try resetting all settings. Settings->General->Reset->Reset All Settings. You will have to enter all of your device settings again.


What's the normal value for cached files? My computers been randomly shutting down. I've noticed on activity monitor that cached files is almost always at 8GB+, even with no programs running.

Is this a normal value? If not, how do I diagnose what's causing it to run so high?

Yes, that is a completely normal value.

The amount of cached files is not supposed to lower itself when you close running programs. There's no good reason for that to happen. The files will still be cached in RAM ready to be delivered to programs quickly when needed. If they are never needed, they will be purged from RAM eventually.


Run lolcat after each command? I'm trying to add an alias for lolcat that will invoke after each command put into the terminal.

I only know how to add it to select items, anyone know how to just make it a standard output?

UPDATE

I put my implementation here with install instructions:

https://github.com/dosentmatter/rainbow-bash-prompt

It uses the C implementation of lolcat but I modified it a little to make it psuedo-random.

OLD ANSWER

Here is how I did it. Add this to your .bashrc:

PS1_colorless=${PS1:-'\h:\W \u\$ '}

ESC=$(echo -e '\033')
SOH=$(echo -e '\001')
STX=$(echo -e '\002')
PS1_color_wrap='s/'$ESC'\\[[[:digit:];]*m/'$SOH'&'$STX'/g'

PS1="\$(lolcat -f <<< \"$PS1_colorless\" | sed '$PS1_color_wrap')"

It works by running lolcat dynamically on $PS1_colorless and doing a sed to add in control characters so line wrapping works correctly.

It takes a little less than 200 milliseconds to run. So it might be too slow for you. Here is an example I timed:

I chose to use PS1 and not PROMPT_COMMAND because I wanted to be able to use the bash prompt escape sequences such as \h, \W, etc. which wouldn't be possible with PROMPT_COMMAND since I need to pass it to PS1 for expansion before running lolcat. You can use alternatives like ${HOSTNAME%%.*} to imitate the behavior of \h but I don't think you can do it for something like

\#     the command number of this command

It uses -f to force lolcat to run even though the output is being piped to sed. lolcat defaults to not output anything if the output is not to a tty.

After doing the lolcat, it does a sed to surround the ansi color syntax such as ESC[38;5;184m (ESC is the control character \033) with the control characters SOH and STX so it becomes SOHESC[38;5;184mSTX. SOH and STX are just \[ and \] respectively in the bash prompt control characters. I have to use SOH and STX control characters instead of \[ and \] because I am generating colors dynamically. \[ and \] would not work because they are translated to control characters when PS1 is first parsed. \[ and \] would work if you used PROMPT_COMMAND to generate output for PS1 but then I wouldn't be able to use \u and \W because lolcat would have been run before passing \u to PS1 for expansion.

For reference:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24839271/bash-ps1-line-wrap-issue-with-non-printing-characters-from-an-external-command

Characters surrounded by SOH and STX are treated as non printing characters. This is required so line-wrapping works correctly and doesn't treat the ansi color as actual visible characters.

If you want to use literal non-printable control characters, you can replace

this

ESC=$(echo -e '\033')
SOH=$(echo -e '\001')
STX=$(echo -e '\002')
PS1_color_wrap='s/'$ESC'\\[[[:digit:];]*m/'$SOH'&'$STX'/g'

with this

PS1_color_wrap='s/^[\\[[[:digit:];]*m/^A&^B/g'

Note the ^[, ^A, and ^B are the literal control characters so you can't just copy and paste. You would have to use something like vim to enter them

In vim:

^[ == Ctrl+vEsc or Ctrl+vo033

^A == Ctrl+vCtrl+a or Ctrl+vo001

^B == Ctrl+vCtrl+b or Ctrl+vo002

EDIT (a little faster in python):
The python one seem to run a little bit faster:

Change these variables in your .bash_profile:

PS1_colorless=${PS1:-'\h:\W \u\$'}
PS1_newline="tr -d '\n'"
PS1_spacing=' '
PS1="\$(lolcat -F 6 -p 25 -f <<< \"$PS1_colorless\" | $PS1_newline | sed '$PS1_color_wrap')"
PS1+=$PS1_spacing

The python version has extra newlines in the output so I remove them with the tr. It also removes trailing spaces so I removed the trailing spaces from PS1_colorless and add them back with PS1_spacing.

You can get it here:
https://github.com/tehmaze/lolcat

I will update if I ever get the C port working:
https://github.com/jaseg/lolcat

I can't get it to build on mac os. If anyone can get it working on linux or mac os, please let me know.


MacBook Cannot Boot Up - Grey Screen My MacBook won't boot past the grey screen (white unibody MacBook 15", Intel-based, dual core).

I installed an illegal copy of Snow Leopard onto my Mac (as legal copies were not available in my country at the time).

It doesn't boot up anymore, but sometimes when I hold down the option key it boots.

I've installed linux mint onto it, and it works – or rather it worked fine.  More often than not it doesn't even boot into target disk mode (no hard drives appear nor the Mac installation disk).

More often than not it doesn't boot the os installed or reads the installation disks. Its just a blank grey screen. No icon or anything.

However on the rare occasion that it does boot as it should in target disk mode, hard disk appears and if an installation disk is inserted, it is read perfectly and after selecting one of the targets, it boots fine. Problem is, this normal boot only occurs like 1 out of 30 attempts.

I have tried:

Resetting the SMC - can perform
Resetting the NVRAM and PRAM - can perform
Boot into safe mode - cannot perform
Boot into verbose mode - cannot perform
Removing the battery and holding the power down for a minute

The simple answer is it sounds like your operating system is totally fried. You will need to do a full erase (zero out all data and not the quick erase drive option) of your hard drive. Reinstall a legal copy of Mac OS X. This is absolutely key. It's just plain out not smart to install anything illegal. It is so easy to add key logging or any other type of malicious software into illegal copies of operating systems. Furthermore, they could easily install stuff that could grab personal data such as passwords, bank account information, or use your computer as a zombie to hide illegal activity. You could get easily screwed. Do you want that? I don't think so. Who would? Just buck up the cost and get a legal copy of OS X. It's worth every dollar and the peace of mind.

If you can't afford Mac OS X install a stable build of Linux, but I scratch my head as to why would someone have a Mac but not run Mac OS X as their primary OS. Doesn't make sense. You might as well have a PC.


Mac Mini - black pixels show up as purple Has anyone encountered this problem: It's a mac mini. It's connected to a tv via a HDMI cable, both of which work fine with other computers. However, when connected to the HISENSE tv, at native resolution, all black pixels come out as purple. If I switch to scaled resolutions, the colour is fine - but of course the resolution is now off. Any ideas? Thanks

This sounds like a problem I once saw on a DVD player with a DVI output, where it was outputting YCbCr instead of RGB.  If there is a video format menu on either device, have a look there


Why Apple Reminder app on iPhone 7 / iOS 13.3.1 does not have hourly repeat option? I've been looking for ways to set up an hourly reminder. I've find a number of online article saying that starting with iOS 13, the native reminders app has an "hourly" option in the repeat menu.

Yet my native / Apple Reminders app doesn't have an Hourly repeat option. I have an iPhone 7 with iOS 13.3.1 installed. I have tried to delete / reinstall the app, still no "hourly" option.

What am I missing? Is there something I can do to change that?

Had the same problem with an iPhone 11 Pro, so it's definitely not the age of the phone.  Could reliably follow the instructions from this answer on an older Xs, but Hourly would just refuse to show up on the 11 Pro.
Then I noticed that the summary page on the 11 Pro (tap < Lists in upper-left from any list) had a link Upgrade right around the heading My Lists (sorry, didn't think of taking a snapshot), and tapping it asked for a confirmation (the upgrade is irreversible & breaks compatibility with other devices sharing the same lists using older software--see this Apple Support page), and then voila!, Hourly magically appears in the list of base periods on the Repeat screen.


What is time machine backing up? Is there a way to find out what time machine is backing up?

My time machine has been running fine, but it suddenly started to back-up 20GB a few days ago when I have not changed that much since last back-up.

This morning it started to back-up 14Mb, but I have not used it since it's last back up at 00.01 am.

Thanks,

Linda

There are two tools I know of that do this: (1) BackupLoupe (which is a GUI application) and (2) timedog (command-line Perl script).


Incorrect hostname in terminal after factory reset I wiped out Mac and reinstalled (Mojave) (logout from Cloud, Messages, deauthorized iTunes, erase disk, reinstall). Now my terminal is showing a name that I set up through Preferences -> Sharing on previous instance of  system (before reinstall).

I checked Preferences -> Sharing computer Name is:
Kathy’s MacBook Pro

When I check in bash:

red-panda:~ kathy$ scutil --get ComputerName
Kathy’s MacBook Pro
red-panda:~ kathy$ scutil --get LocalHostName
Kathys-MacBook-Pro
red-panda:~ kathy$ scutil --get HostName
HostName: not set

My questions:
1. Why red-panda is still there after reinstallation? Where that information is stored? If I want to sell the Mac, how can I be sure to wipe all out?
2. Can HostName: not set make any troubles?

1.) red-panda is your current computer name.

Click Apple Menu on Top Left
Open the System Preferences... App
Type Computer Name in Search
Change the red-panda to whatever you like, I would suggest something short, like KM, if you plan to use Terminal a lot
Close System Preferences... App

To securely wipe your hard drive, do an after-restart system reinstall and pick the proper option.

For more info and useful tips on how not to lose your own data before doing it, read some articles like this:

What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac
How to reset your Mac before selling it

2. No, no trouble for no hostname. The hostname is not set by default upon install.

However, if you wish to set it, execute: scutil --set HostName desired-hostname-here-again-I-suggest-a-short-name-like-kmp in Terminal.


iTunes not syncing videos from the Photos app in Mac to iPhone I organize all of my photos and videos on the Photos app in Mac, (with everything in the folder Photos Library.photoslibrary). I also disabled all iCloud Photo Library , My Photo Stream and iCloud Photo Sharing.

Then I sync photos and videos through iTunes with the options "copy photos from Photos" . iTunes can correctly count the number of items in my Mac's Photos app (number of photos + number of videos). However, when it tries to sync the videos, itunes displays "syncing 140 videos" and then just skip over all of them. All the photos are synced correctly though.

Does anyone know how to solve this? Thanks!

Okay, so I found a way. It's a work around, but it works.

Email the video to yourself (email should be accessible on your iphone).
Save the video to your iCloud Drive
Save the video to your device (it will go to your camera roll).

Hope this helps others facing a similar issue.


Mac won't access 4 TB Seagate USB drive I don't see it in Finder, I don't see it in Disk Utility. I don't see it in the system profiler.

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

Tried on two different ports, both of which work with a thumb drive. All ports on this old beast are USB 2.

System: Mac Pro (Early 2008) running 10.11.6 (El Capitan)

Disk: Seagate Expansion 4TB, USB 3

Disk works fine on a Windows laptop (USB 3 port) and a NUC running CoreOS (both USB 2 and USB 3)

USB 3 cable that came with drive in all tests.

Fsck is not running.

Console when drive plugged in:

10/22/18 5:25:14.000 PM kernel[0]: USBMSC Identifier (non-unique): 0x00000000 0xbc2 0x231a 0x710, 2
10/22/18 5:25:21.000 PM kernel[0]: USB device 0BC2231AFD100000 - fConsecutiveResetCount = 1.

Short version: I have an old Mac with old-spec USB ports that only supply a limited amount of power to the connected device. That's enough to drive the circuitry (hence the console report) but not enough to spin up the physical disk. Of course, this is not a problem with thumb drives.

Solution: connect the drive through a powered hub, to provide the extra juice that's not coming from the Mac. It's possible that an older powered hub wouldn't work. Fortunately, current models are quite cheap.

This is arguably a duplicate of this question, where the problem is the same. But it's an old question, a bit of a mess, and the best solution offered (use a special cable to feed extra power) is not practical for most people.


How to upgrade my browser on 10.6.8 These are the specs of my mac book, currently running Snow Leopard 10.6.8.  I'm trying to upgrade my browser, as Gmail says it's out of date, and I can't access the playlist on amazon prime.

I am not sure how to upgrade my browser.  Can anyone help?

Hardware Overview:

  Model Name:   MacBook
  Model Identifier: MacBook1,1
  Processor Name:   Intel Core Duo
  Processor Speed:  1.83 GHz
  Number Of Processors: 1
  Total Number Of Cores:    2
  L2 Cache: 2 MB
  Memory:   1.5 GB
  Bus Speed:    667 MHz
  Boot ROM Version: MB11.0061.B03
  SMC Version (system): 1.4f12
  Sudden Motion Sensor:
  State:    Enabled

Thanks!

It really depends on which browser you are using...  I would recommend not using Safari on 10.6.8, since it is unsupported by Apple at this point, and the older versions of Safari have known compatibility / security issues.

The best way to "upgrade" would just be to install a third party browser (Chrome or FireFox, which I linked to below) and those issues should go away.

To clarify, Safari is a fine browser on later versions of OS X; specifically ones that Apple still releases security patches for.

Safari

On Snow Leopard, Safari cannot be upgraded past version 5.1.10. Wikipedia article

FireFox

It appears that you can install the latest version of FireFox, according to the system requirements for FireFox 37 page on mozilla.org

Google Chrome

Google Chrome's official download page says that the latest version runs on 10.6.x Google Chrome Download Page


You can’t change the startup disk to the selected disk? I am booting my macbook through an external usb drive. At system preferences - startup disk when I try to select my internal harddisk it says:

You can’t change the startup disk to the selected disk. The bless tool was unable to set the current boot disk.

What could be the issue with the internal drive or how can I fix it?

The first thing I'd try is resetting the NVRAM:

Shut down your Mac.
Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P,
and R.  Turn on your Mac.
Press and hold the ⌘+Option+P+R keys immediately after you
hear the startup sound.
Hold these keys until the computer restarts and you hear the startup
sound for a second time.
Release the keys.

...and see if that solves your problem. If it doesn't, I'd start worrying about a hardware fault.


Keyboard shortcut in Word 2011 to send document as email attachment? In MS Office 2011 for Mac, there is a useful menu option under:

File > Share > Email (as Attachment)...

It's a very quick way to get from editing to email.  Is there a way to assign this to a keyboard shortcut? I'd be be glad if I can do this with the already-installed tools, but would consider a third party tool as well.

What I have tried:  Word's own keyboard tool under "Tools > Customize Keyboard..."  I can find no listing of this menu item (under 'file' 'share' or 'email').

Nor does the OSX (Mountain Lion) Keyboard Shortcuts preferences tool help.  I've tried a shortcut for both "Share" and "E-mail (as Attachment)".  The first one shows up in the MS Word "File" Menu, but does nothing in practice except blink the menu header.  The second one simply does nothing.

Is there a way to set up a keyboard shortcut for this option?  If not, do you have any other quick solution for achieving the same effect?  These are often files that I receive via email, so I'd rather not have to explicitly save them, note the location, then attach them from within an email program.  I want a quick edit & send.  The copy n my outbox is enough of a backup for me.

You have to type the exact menu item name in the shortcut area, so make sure that you have the ellipsis: "E-mail (as Attachment)…"

You can type an ellipsis character by holding down option and typing ;


Mac 13inch 2020 model-M1chip- Lenovo USB C gen2 dock station--> Unable to connect dual monitors I have Mac 2020 model, 13 inch & M1 chip model and using Lenovo Dock station- USB C model.
I am trying to connect my 2 external monitors, but after connection it is displaying duplicate on both the monitors.
I tried couple of options like with VGA cable, HDMI and other options, but still duplicate mirror is displaying.
Can any one suggest what is the work around to resolve this issue?

You can't connect two external monitors to M1 MacBooks with the extend mode. There exist a work around consisting of connecting one monitor through USB-C and the other with the help of DisplayLink software, but I do not know how good is this working. Possibly, we will see Big Sur update for 2020 MacBooks that enables 2 external monitors in extended mode.


What is the dotted blue underlining when I use dictation on OS X? When I use the dictation feature in OS X, sometimes some of my text has got dotted blue underlining below it after entry:

What does this mean? Am I able to use it to correct the mistakes in the text more easily?

I am using OS X 10.8.

This highlighting "hyperlinks" the text, if the system is unsure of what you said. It will typically take a couple of best guesses, and display them as options from which you can choose from. You can see the suggestions by right-clicking the word or control clicking it.

It also selects the text when you click on it, which allows you to simply type a replacement if the options provided aren't correct.

This article may provide helpful information on dictation.


2010 Macbook Pro keeps crashing in Adobe - does it need more video memory? We have a late 2010 Macbook Pro 15, 8gb memory, 512mb video. When we have more than one Adobe product open (And sometimes only one product) the computer will freeze. Our designer who uses the computer is blaming it on the lack of video memory.

Do I need to order a Mac with at least 1gb of video memory to run the new Adobe products or is it more a function of RAM?

We are using Adobe suite cs6 (Photoshop says version 13)

Photoshop
InDesign
Illustrator

It could be pure out of memory, but it may be that both products are fighting over the OpenGL implementation that Adobe uses.

Try this - it may need some fiddling to get the best balance
[this is for Photoshop, idk the precise locations for other Adobe apps]

In Prefs > Performance, reduce the overall memory requirement - it ought to handle this OK by itself, running into pagefile if needed, but just to see how it goes with this reduced…

Either disable "Use Graphics Processor" or open Advanced Settings… & selectively disable sections until you find which is causing the issue.

If you decide to leave "Use Graphics Processor" on, then look in Prefs > 3D & drop the memory requirement in there to half your card's total memory, less a little for the system.

All these tweaks will require you to relaunch each app, so it may take some time to finally settle at something that works best for you.

The alternative, as you first surmised, would be to get a more powerful graphics card with greater memory - if that would be even possible on a Macbook, which I somehow doubt.

Everymac states [for the high-end i7 machine]:

  NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with 512 MB of dedicated GDDR3 memory and Intel HD Graphics with 256 MB of RAM shared with the system -- that Mac OS X automatically switches between for better graphics performance and better battery life, respectively, depending on application use.

One thing you should definitely check is that it is at least switching over to the NVidia rather than using the Intel card.
gfxCardStatus would be the go-to tool for that kind of task.


double-side printing: blank pages are not counted as even? Mac OS X: 10.14.6
Preview: 10.1 (944.6.16.1)
Printer: Canon 2900

I followed this to print double-side: How to control manual double-side printing on Mac OS X Lion?

The problem: when choosing "Even only", the blank pages are not printed. Given an example: I have a pdf file with 10 pages: page 6 and 8 are blank

Odd only: will print 1, 3, 5, 7, 9
Even only (reverse order): only print 10, 4, 2

so the result is:

1 |
3 |
5 | 2
7 | 4
9 | 10

What is the reason? How can I make the blank pages are printed as normal (even) pages?

Preview should normally print blank pages in a PDF document. They are still valid page objects. There is no setting in Preview itself to skip blank pages.

It's most likely that your printer has its own setting to eliminate blank pages. You'll need to check its configuration to see if such a thing exists and is on.


Selecting multiple words via AppleScript in PowerPoint I'm trying to come up with an AppleScript that selects multiple adjacent words in a Microsoft PowerPoint slide.

I figured out how to select single words, and how to select the entire range of a text shape, but I cannot figure out how to select a custom range of multiple adjacent words.

Apple Script for selecting a single word:

tell application "Microsoft PowerPoint"
tell active presentation
    tell slide 1
        repeat with j from 1 to count of shapes
            set aShape to shape j
            if (name of aShape is "Title 1") then
                select word 2 of text range of text frame of aShape
            end if
        end repeat
    end tell
end tell
end tell

Apple Script for selecting the complete text shape:

tell application "Microsoft PowerPoint"
tell active presentation
    tell slide 1
        repeat with j from 1 to count of shapes
            set aShape to shape j
            if (name of aShape is "Title 1") then
                set myTextFrame to text frame of aShape
                set myRange to text range of myTextFrame
                select text range of myTextFrame
            end if
        end repeat
    end tell
end tell
end tell

You are very close. Let's say you want to select words 2 through 4 of your text frame of aShape:

Where you have this:

select word 2 of text range of text frame of aShape

change it to this:

select words 2 thru 4 of text range of text frame of aShape

You could put in any number you want in there, not just 4, of course. If you might need to specify a different ending word every time you run the script you could extend this script by displaying a dialog box and asking for input.


iPhone - "Edit User Dictionary" is missing Initially I had 5 keyboards

English
Spanish
Emoji
Japanese (Ten Key)
Japanese (Romaji)

I added a couple words to my User Dictionary. Later I realized that I do not use the two Japanese ones very much, so I removed them. After doing that, the "Edit User Dictionary..." option completely disappeared from my Keyboard Settings menu. When I put Japanese (Romaji) back on, the option reappears.

I tried deleting the few words I had entered and removing the unwanted keyboard again, still the option does not appear. I am thinking the dictionary database may have been built to correspond only with the keyboards I had when I initially edited the dictionary, and now it won't rebuild or something.

Anyone else seen this?

Thanks!
Thomas

Womp womp...that was easy. Maybe next time, I'll read my search results BEFORE hitting submit on SE sites. Well here is the answer. Hope this helps someone. Apparently, "Edit User Dictionary" is only enabled for certain languages...with English not being one? ::shrugs:: whatever.


Reinstall Mac OS. Will time machine really work? I installed a lot of OSS packages when I got my new MacBook.  After many updates and 2 OS upgrades XCode command line tools has REALLY gored itself.  IT thinks it is installed.  But everything I try to do says CLT is NOT installed.  I have attempted with GREAT prejudice to delete XCode and reinstall.  Mostly all I have done is lose the source code for my website.  But CLT is still not usable.

I am now to the point of ready to reinstall 10.14. I do have a time machine backup but have never tried to use it to recover an entire machine before.

Will this really work?  I am pretty stuck right now as Ruby but if I’m going to have to start from scratch in setting up I’ll just do without.

Opinions on bare metal reinstall?

Yes, it should really work!

However the best way to be sure of any backup is to always have multiple backups, so in this case a Time Machine backup and a drive clone using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner would be advisable.


Archival style backup software or online service I have some folders that I need constantly backed up.

I need to have the backup in archival mode where nothing is ever deleted. That is, new files are backed up, backed up files are never deleted, and updated files don't replace backed up files.

The folders contain financial records which need to always be kept.

I've tried Google Drive with the backup app, however, this keeps it in sync.

I've tried Time Machine, however, old files are deleted once the drive is full.

I need something like Google Vault. Where once files are added, they are retained forever. I don't use Google Vault as it requires a Google Suite account and i'm just on a personal Google account.

Can you recommend a software that can do this? Or a online service is fine as well.

I believe you can do this with Time Machine. You could set Time Machine to do a backup hourly or daily. Then tell time machine to only backup the specific folders with the data you want to backup. Time machine saves all backups until the drive you are saving to is full. The backups should be very small so a disk will hold a lot of daily backups. You can monitor the remaining free space on your destination drive and get a new disk when the one you are using is almost full.

The real trick could be restoring a backup. I think restoring may replace current data. You could test this out using hourly backups to see how it works. After a couple of hours, try to restore and see what happens.

There is a 3rd party free app called TimeMachineEditor that will enable you to change the backup interval from every hour to different intervals in hours, days or weeks.


“You don't have permission to save files in the location where screen shots are stored” Every time I try and take a screenshot this appears ^. I've tried looking for the location of my saved screenshots typing in commands into the terminal and  my Desktop folder is unlocked (in Get Info).

This is what was on my terminal:

I typed: defaults read com.apple.screencapture location

Result: The domain/default pair of (com.apple.screencapture, location) does not exist

I typed: defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Desktop

Result: Could not write domain com.apple.screencapture; exiting

Please help!

grep "truncating history files" /etc/* 2> /dev/null
/etc/bashrc_Apple_Terminal:     echo -n 'truncating history files...'


How Do You Launch The Finder Process in Terminal Is it possible to start the Finder process from Terminal? If so, what would be the command?

Simple:

open /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app


Use Force Click to open link in a new tab in Safari? I know it's possible to open a link a new tab by holding  Cmd ⌘  when clicking a link. However, I think it would be great if I could simply use Force Touch for this - then my hands wouldn't have to leave the trackpad at all.

I have BetterTouchTool installed, but that program lacks a 'single-finger Force Click anywhere on the trackpad' trigger. Is there another workaround to achieve the desired effect, e.g. using AppleScript?

I'm on a 15" tMBP, should that be relevant.

BetterTouchTool does work. Add a Safari specific Trackpad gesture. add Force touch and assign keyboard shortcut.

I used Chrome, and assigned CMD - SHIFT - ENTER to force touch. Worked like a charm.


How to read my old deleted iPhone WhatsApp messages from PC/Mac? I deleted some important messages seven days ago and want to recover them. How can I undo my mistake and how can I read the data from my PC/Mac?

Did you try logging into WhatsApp for Mac?


Homebrew: Why is java not installed as a dependency for Tomcat? Java is listed in Tomcat's dependency list. But when I install tomcat there is no java. Why?

$brew install tomcat
$brew list | grep java | wc -l
0

If Java was already installed previously (either the Oracle or the outdated Apple Java installer) Tomcat's requirements are met and brew won't install another Java.

The small green checkmark (or red cross if Java has to be installed) will indicate this:


Which command controls the open file limits? Which command / configuration file controls the open file limits on OS X?  Is there a different command for OS X 10.5 / 10.6 / 10.7?  The options I explore below are ulimit, sysctl, and launchctl

"Too many open files" is apparently a common error on Leopard, perhaps other versions of OS X:

420 Too Many Open Files
How to properly increase ulimit -n on Lion?
Where are the default ulimits specified on OS X (10.5)?

There are many (related?) ways to view the open file limits:

$ ulimit -a
core file size          (blocks, -c) 0
data seg size           (kbytes, -d) unlimited
file size               (blocks, -f) unlimited
max locked memory       (kbytes, -l) unlimited
max memory size         (kbytes, -m) unlimited
open files                      (-n) 2048
pipe size            (512 bytes, -p) 1
stack size              (kbytes, -s) 8192
cpu time               (seconds, -t) unlimited
max user processes              (-u) 512
virtual memory          (kbytes, -v) unlimited

$ launchctl limit
cpu         unlimited      unlimited
filesize    unlimited      unlimited
data        unlimited      unlimited
stack       8388608        67104768
core        0              unlimited
rss         unlimited      unlimited
memlock     unlimited      unlimited
maxproc     1024           2048
maxfiles    2048           4096

$ sysctl -a | grep files
kern.maxfiles = 32768
kern.maxfilesperproc = 16384
kern.maxfiles: 32768
kern.maxfilesperproc: 16384
kern.num_files: 2049

It has been claimed in some of the above posts that these can be modified with the following commands:

sudo launchctl limit maxfiles 16384 32768
sudo ulimit -n 32768
sudo sysctl -w kern.maxfilesperproc=16384
sudo sysctl -w kern.maxfiles=32768

However, out of the above commands, only the sysctl commands have any apparently effect (i.e. ulimit -n and launchctl limit show no change after the above commands have been entered, while sysctl -a does show the requested changes).

The corresponding locations to change these parameters for the OS are:

/etc/sysctl.conf
/etc/launchd.conf

I also discovered one answer which reads that ulimit only controls the current shell.

How can I adjust upwards the max files / max open files limits on macOS?

The simple answer used to be that there were multiple limits and the lowest limit that you reach in a specific instance will generate your error. Now on 10.12 launchctl limit maxfiles is also in the mix. For details on implementation, this great answer is getting bounty and deserves more votes than the one I can give it.

other relevant threads are:

`ulimit -n` for non-root
Why won't kern.maxfiles setting in /etc/sysctl.conf stick?

The ulimit level is set low to prevent one poor shell script from flooding the kernel with open files.

The kern.maxfilesperproc is there to leave a little room in the max files count so that one process can use most but not all of the open file handler space from the kernel.

For normal situations, the kern.maxfiles is the final limiting factor.

On Sierra - the limits are 256 open files and unlimited max, so I'm finding that having 3 to 4 thousand files set for the soft limit works for just about all our hardware and still keeps the system responsive when a runaway process opens too many files. We do like to keep our development servers at the 256 limit so that we catch leaky and problematic software in development / staging and test rather than finding out about it in production.

http://krypted.com/mac-os-x/maximum-files-in-mac-os-x/

I'm not a fan of 10k files - maybe with APFS and NVMe storage we will see the day when that's not unthinkable, but try to stick with hundreds or low thousands for your file limits. Especially if your mac has a low process limit, having so many files opened by so few processes can be problematic.


How do I get QuickTime to store temporary recordings on another drive? When you do a movie recording or screen recording, QuickTime stores the in-progress recordings in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX/Data/Library/Autosave Information.

On my machine, I have a fast SSD mounted on /Volumes/SSD but a slow platter drive on /. I'd like to send the autosave files to the SSD. With professional programs like Premiere, you can just set the scratch location, but with QuickTime it seems impossible. However, I really like QuickTime's screen recording feature and would like to use it with my fast SSD.

I tried to ln -s the Autosave directory to point at my SSD, but QuickTime errors out with an "unknown" error after that.

Turns out this is actually possible by employing a double link trick. In the terminal:

$ cd ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX
$ mv Data Data_bak
$ ln -s /Volumes/SSD/QuicktimeScratch DataSSD
$ ln -s DataSSD Data

and voila! This sets up Data as a link pointing to the local DataSSD file, which in turn is a link pointing to the actual SSD scratch location.

QuickTime works fine now, and puts its temp files on my SSD just as I wanted. No more screengrab stutter!


Screen blurs when I try to record videos on iPhone I have an iPhone 11 running on iOS 13.3.1 and when I open the camera, everything works fine expect the videos (slow-motion/normal/time-lapse). When I try to record one, the screen blurs and the video never starts. I tried to reboot it, to change the quality (HD/4K) and the FPS but it doesn't work. Yet, when I try to take pictures everything works fine, and the microphone works well too.

Any idea on how I can fix this ? Here is a screenshot of what I get :

First, have you force quit the camera app and restarted your phone?

This could be one of two things both are prompted by the Camera app being unable to start the camera properly.

The first is that the physical camera isn't working some or all of the time, depending on the phone model it might be that one of the back cameras works but not the front. This would be verified by either trying to film using the front camera, or use the back camera in photo mode.

If all the cameras work in the photo mode then you should move on to trying to reinstall the operating system:

Take a backup using iTunes/Finder or iCloud, ensure it is fully backed up, all options are enabled.
Erase the iPhone using the Erase all content and settings feature.
Setup the iPhone as a new iPhone, ignore the backup for now.
Test the camera.

If the camera is still not working you need to seek a repair from Apple.

If the camera is working, erase the phone again this time try restoring the backup. If the issue returns then you will need to copy all of your settings off the phone as there is no further action that can be taken beyond simply starting the phone from blank again. Obviously you can sync all your settings with iCloud but you will need to essentially set it up from new.


iOS podcast app without fixed episode limits? I like to listen to the archives of the BBC podcast "In our time", which contains more than 750 episodes. But I can't see the all the older episodes with Apple's app, which has a 300 episode limit. Is there any iOS app that doesn't have an episode limit and so will let me see the entire episode list and download any episode from the archive?

300 episode limit is due to podcast host, not podcast app.


How can I listen to a voice memo in background like iPod and open some other note taking app on iPhone 4? I tried, but my voice memo gets paused. If this isn't possible, is there any way to import voice memos to ipod (kind of workaround)?

Since Voice Memos both plays and records audio, and recording can't be done in the background as far as I know, then the whole app does not work in the background. That sounds more like a design decision to me, rather than a technical limitation. In theory, Apple could have made the playing audio part of Voice Memos to work in the background.

A very long-winded way to get to do what you need is to import the voice memos to your iTunes library. In iTunes, select your iPhone from the Devices list. One of the tabs (probably Music or Info) has a checkbox that will enable transferring voice memos into iTunes. When this is enabled and you sync your device, the voice memos get imported and a playlist titled "Voice Memos" is created.

At this point, those audio files and the "Voice Memos" playlist should act like any other. You could, for instance, get to the audio files from the "Voice Memos" playlist and then set the metadata for each file by right-clicking it and selecting the Get Info dialog. Useful voice memos can be set to a Media Type of Audiobook--which makes them available to you as audiobooks in the iPod app.

If you make them Audiobooks or basically do anything that sends them to the iPod app; then you could play them in the background while you open your note-taking app of choice.

You do not need to set them as audiobooks, though. Once they're in the voice memos playlist; then  you can sync the playlist as you would any other. The caveat is that without metadata, it becomes hard to find the files in the iPod app. In iTunes, for instance, they show either with a blank artist name or with an artist name of "Untitled". That is why I strongly suggest adding metadata ASAP.

I am just reminded of Dragon Naturally Speaking and Dragon Dictate. I do not have them, but I have heard nothing but great things about them. You may try their apps (one of them is free, I believe). They may offer you better features over the included Voice Memos app. I've seen screenshots where it looks like in addition to having a record option, the UI also has a text field for you to type on.

Hope this helps.


Keyboard shortcut is triggered for many times automatically Possibly after upgraded to High Sierra, I found that whenever I send a keyboard shortcut (e.g. ⌘+W to close the current tab in Safari), the shortcut is triggered for many times automatically and for example, suddenly 3 of my tabs got closed even though I intended to close only one.

This phenomenon happens inconsistently (sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't).

Is this a bug? I'm not sure what has happend in my case and maybe I'm missing something after upgraded to High Sierra...?

Also, is there any way to fix it, for example resetting the keyboard setting or something like that?

UPDATE

I found that this happens in other keys (not even keys combination on shortcut). The below is a screenshot when I tried to type in ghost run -D, where t was triggered for so many times.

UPDATE 2

This happens not only on keyboard shortcuts but also on the normal typing. And I found that people using Karabiner-Elements (which I used as well) report the same issue, though they are not sure yet if it is caused by the software.

There's two things I would try initially: testing your Mac in Safe Mode and, if that doesn't resolve things, resetting the NVRAM.

Test your Mac in Safe Mode

Follow these steps:

Fully shut down your Mac
Restart your Mac
Immediately press the Shift key and keep it down
Let go of the Shift key when you see the login window (NOTE: If you have FileVault enabled you may need to log in twice).
Take a note of what happens (i.e. test your keyboard entry as per your question)
Exit Safe Mode by restarting your Mac as normal
Test again to see if the problem still persists

If the problem still persists after following the above steps, you can also try resetting the NVRAM.

Resetting the NVRAM

Older Macs had what's called Parameter RAM (PRAM), newer Macs use Non-Volatile Random-Access Memory (NVRAM). Since you haven't specified the exact model of Mac you have, follow these generic steps to reset the NVRAM:

Shut down your machine. Yes, a full shut down, not just logging out.
Press the power button and then immediately press the commandoptionpr keys.
Keep these keys pressed down for at least 20 seconds!
Let go of the keys and let your Mac reboot normally.

Note: When you log back in you may need to readjust some of your system preferences (e.g. speaker volume, screen resolution, startup disk selection, time zone information, etc).

Let me know how you go.


Free FORTRAN compiler - or one that does not have to be updated all the time I have paid some good money to buy the "Intel Parallel Studio XE Composer Edition for Fortran OS X" - The problem is that, whenever the OS changes (i.e., from Lion to Mountain Lion to Mavericks to Yosemite), the compiler needs update, and purchase of a new version. (Unless you buy a maintenance, approx. $300/yr). Also, sometimes a new version is required even when Xcode is updated!

Two questions:

Is there some free FORTRAN compiler or a non-free, which works after updates of Xcode or/and OS?
Is there a way to make it work, even if is was destined for say Mavericks?

re free Fortran compilers

gfortran is part of gcc (gcc stands for GNU Compiler Collection not just the name of GNU's c++ compiler)

Xcode now does not install gcc (even via command line tools) gcc is a link or wrapper to clang

As to installation my first attempt would be via a package manager like Macports or Homebrew or fink.

For macports (others will be similar) install will be

Install macports as per the guide
install gcc with the fortran option sudo port install gcc5
install a select program to allow selection of different gcc versions (in this case there will only be one) sudo port install gcc_select
select the version sudo port select --set gcc mp-gcc5

gfortran is now in /opt/local/bin

Macports should download readymade binaries for this so no wait for a long compile of gcc

If you upgrade the OS Macports will need a complete reinstallation (OK it might work but support and test is only done on a complete reinstallation, previous OS upgrades have definitely needed one the last 1-2 might have worked)

Homebrew instructions are included in this article which also includes other free Fortran compilers and other useful Fortran info.


iTunes truncates MP3s. I know the fix, but I want to automate it with AppleScript iTunes has started truncating the MP3s that I add. Who knows why. They tend to get cut off at 4:10. There's a discussion, and a fix, here

The amazing problem-solver, abuckiew, gives an AppleScript to loop through the songs and play each one of them briefly.

  If anyone uses my workaround I use the following Apple script after
  adding files to my library to let each song play for appx 1 second
  (change 5 to however many songs you have added):

delay 1
activate application "iTunes"
tell application "System Events"
  repeat 5 times
  key code 124
  delay 1.5
  end repeat
end tell

But I want to improve on this. What I'm looking for is an AppleScript that will remove songs from iTunes (either songs selected or a whole playlist) and then re-add them, and play each one for 1 second. I'm almost there! This is what I've got:

global okflag, selectedTracks
set separator to "."
set okflag to false
-- check if iTunes is running
tell application "Finder"
    if (get name of every process) contains "iTunes" then set okflag to true
end tell
if okflag then
    try
        tell application "iTunes"
            copy (a reference to (get view of front window)) to thePlaylist
            -- check if "Library"; later, we will not offer to number a Library playlist
            set using_the_Library to false
            if (class of thePlaylist) is library playlist then set using_the_Library to true

            if item 1 of selection exists then
                set using_selection to true
                copy (selection's items) to theTracks
            else -- its the whole playlist
                set selectedTracks to (get a reference to thePlaylist)
                copy (thePlaylist's tracks) to theTracks
                set using_selection to false
            end if

            repeat with i from 1 to (count theTracks)

                if using_selection then
                    copy item 1 of selection to thisTrack
                else
                    copy track 1 of selectedTracks to thisTrack
                end if
                -- thisTrack now set
                copy (get thisTrack's location) to location_in_finder

                delete (some track of library playlist 1 whose database ID is (get database ID of thisTrack))
                add location_in_finder to library playlist 1

            end repeat
        end tell -- iTunes
    on error error_message number error_number
        tell me to display dialog error_message & return & "Error number " & error_number
    end try
end if -- okflag

This script takes the selected tracks (or the whole playlist, if nothing's selected) and removes the files from iTunes and then re-adds them. What I need to do is to play each re-added track for 1 second. How can I get a reference to the file I've re-added, so I can tell iTunes to play it?

Thanks in advance!

Figured it out!

Here's the relevant line: set newTrack to add location_in_finder to library playlist 1. I hadn't realized that add track returned a reference to the track added, but the iTunes AppleScript dictionary showed me the light.

The Final Script is below:

global okflag, selectedTracks, newTrack
set separator to "."
set okflag to false
-- check if iTunes is running
tell application "Finder"
    if (get name of every process) contains "iTunes" then set okflag to true
end tell
if okflag then
    try
        tell application "iTunes"
            copy (a reference to (get view of front window)) to thePlaylist
            -- check if "Library"; later, we will not offer to number a Library playlist
            set using_the_Library to false
            if (class of thePlaylist) is library playlist then set using_the_Library to true

            if item 1 of selection exists then
                set using_selection to true
                copy (selection's items) to theTracks
            else -- its the whole playlist
                set selectedTracks to (get a reference to thePlaylist)
                copy (thePlaylist's tracks) to theTracks
                set using_selection to false
            end if

            repeat with i from 1 to (count theTracks)

                if using_selection then
                    copy item 1 of selection to thisTrack
                else
                    copy track 1 of selectedTracks to thisTrack
                end if
                -- thisTrack now set
                copy (get thisTrack's location) to location_in_finder

                delete (some track of library playlist 1 whose database ID is (get database ID of thisTrack))
                set newTrack to add location_in_finder to library playlist 1
                play newTrack
                delay 1.5
                stop

            end repeat
        end tell -- iTunes
    on error error_message number error_number
        tell me to display dialog error_message & return & "Error number " & error_number
    end try
end if -- okflag


Mouse Speed and Sensitivity I'm going insane trying to simply use an external mouse. This can't be as hard as it seems. The external Logitech mouse I am connecting to my MacBook Pro is way too freaking slow and I can't find any settings to improve it. I have tracking set to max and I did some terminal thing where I set scaling to 10 which helped if I move the mouse quickly but if I move it slowly it crawls slower than a freaking snail trapped in molasses. How can I get my mouse to just work normally where a couple inches crosses the screen at a steady rate no matter how fast I move it?

If you haven't already, go to Logitech support. Search for and download the support software for your specific model of mouse. Afterwards you should have a preference pane under System Preferences for Logitech which you can use to adjust the tracking speed of that peripheral.


Mac OS X startup config Back to Mac OS 9, there was a way to create startup configs (to include or not some extensions to the OS). This was a built-in feature of Mac OS.

Is there a way to manage this on OS X ?

Since OS X no longer has extensions per se managing them is not necessary. (Thankfully)

I still have horrifying memories of managing different extensions which had varying degrees of incompatibility often requiring different load orders and multiple reboots to straighten out.

Here is an excellent article, although old, that still outlines the OS X system startup process:

http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/ancient/whatismacosx//arch_startup.html

The closest thing to an extension manager is this freeware utility that manages items in your Library folders, allowing you to enable/disable them. I don't use it myself and have no idea if it still works with recent Mac OS X releases.

http://s.sudre.free.fr/Software/Diablotin.html


Can I use an external microphone on my iPhone 7 for speakerphone calls? I have an external microphone (Shure MV5) which I can connect to my iPhone 7 via a lightning connector.

I know I can use this external microphone to record audio on my iPhone.

But is there any way I can make plain old phone calls from my iPhone, in speaker phone mode, using the external microphone?

No, you can't, because Apple doesn't not allow the choice of the sources. Otherwise, with an old iPhone with the 3.5mm jack, you can cover the last ring to avoid the microphone contact.

Apple source


Strange files named "/xEy4O" keep appearing I'm running OSX 10.11.3 and I keep finding files named /xEy4O all over my file system. I've opened them in a text editor and they are completely empty. So they appear to be a marker file of some sort. If I list directory contents in the console the name is actually :xEy4O. I can run find / -name ':xEy4O' the files only seem to be located in directories I've opened at some point but I don't know which application is putting them there.

Also, the files seem to be confined to my home directory and it's subdirectories. I'm thinking it isn't a virus, but I'm not sure what it actually is.

Here's the output from find:

/Applications/IntelliJ IDEA 15 CE.app/Contents/bin/:xEy4O
find: /dev/fd/3: Not a directory
find: /dev/fd/4: Not a directory
/Users/hammer/.Trash/:xEy4O
/Users/hammer/:xEy4O
/Users/hammer/dev/tools/eclipse/che-4.0.0-beta-13/:xEy4O
/Users/hammer/dev/tools/eclipse/che-4.0.0-RC1-SNAPSHOT/conf/:xEy4O
/Users/hammer/dev/tools/eclipse/che-4.0.0-RC1-SNAPSHOT/plugins/examples/:xEy4O
/Users/hammer/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/e1509ec4913dcca752e7dc0579fc6a1320cab6d2/:xEy4O

I keep deleting the files when I find them but is there someway to determine the process that's creating them? Maybe a way to get a notification when a file is created?

Open terminal.app (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal or via Spotlight) and issue this command: sudo fs_usage | grep [path_to_file]. Path_to_file may be to any of your found 'xEy40' files. See, if it'll show anything.


How long should it take to charge up a new iPhone I just got a new 64 GB iPhone 5. I left it connected to my MacBook Pro all night last night via the USB cable. It's only about 85 percent charged.

Is that normal? Seems like it should be charged up by now.

No this is not normal.

An iPhone should not be using so much power overnight that a normal charge source cannot top it off in 4 hours.

The problems could be:

stuck process on the CPU of the phone.
faulty hardware on the iOS side
insufficient charge from the USB

You can rule out the first by connecting the phone to charge and then powering it off. It will charge safely when powered off as the charge circuitry doesn't need the phone to be running.

The second problem might be a used up battery, a prematurely failing battery, damage to the internal charging circuitry.

The third problem could be as simple as the Mac not charging during hibernation (it would charge during sleep at 500mA level) or a bad cable or faulty port power. You can rule that out by charging from a proper wall adapter.


Mirror my iPad 2 screen on my Windows PC? I can't find any app which mirrors my iPad's screen to my Windows computer screen. Since iDisplay has been removed from the App Store I have no other ideas. Any recomendations (up to $15) for a solution to mirror my iPad screen on my Windows PC display?

Try out Reflector by Air Squirrels.

It works very well on the Mac, has a windows version and also appears to have a trial version. You can make sure it works before spending money on a license.


Get notified when battery is charged Is there a way to write a custom apple script or any other way to get a Alert or Desktop notification when the battery on my Macbook Pro reaches a certain percentage of charge?

This app is a free replacement for the standard battery menu bar item, and it includes the ability to set notifications (in Notification Center) when the battery hits certain percentages.

Alternatively, if you want to rig your own solution, you can get charging status and percentage from running pmset -g batt in the shell. You'd need to poll it rather than getting notified however. If you're comfortable with programming, the IOPowerSources API looks like it can do notifications when the battery/charging status changes, but obviously that's more involved.


Importing an iPhoto library in Photos I had an iPhoto library in a non-standard folder and it was not recognised by Photos (which is OK).

I would now like to import all the photos and then delete the old library. How?

If I open Photos with option I can choose the iPhoto library. Will this copy all the pictures?

If you have an existing Photos library and you want to import an iPhoto library use File -> Import (shortcut: cmd+shift+i) and select your iPhoto library.

If you want a Photos library with just your old iPhoto library, hold alt (option) while starting Photos and select your iPhoto library.


Disk Utility cannot erase USB drive (error -69877: couldn't open device) Disk Utility (macOS Catalina 10.15.2) fails to erase my USB drive (64GB key, currently formatted in exFAT).

/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *64.1 GB    disk2
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk2s1
   2:       Microsoft Basic Data Lexar                   63.9 GB    disk2s2

I've tried a bunch of commands that I've found here and there in the terminal, but none of them worked, like:

➜  ~ diskutil eraseVolume exFAT MyName /dev/disk2
Started erase on disk2
Unmounting disk
Error: -69888: Couldn't unmount disk

➜  ~ diskutil eraseVolume exFAT MyName /dev/disk2s2
Started erase on disk2s2 Lexar
Unmounting disk
Erasing
Error: -69760: Unable to write to the last block of the device

➜  ~ diskutil eraseDisk FAT32 MYSD MBRFormat /dev/disk2
Started erase on disk2
Unmounting disk
Creating the partition map
Error: -69877: Couldn't open device

➜  ~ diskutil eraseDisk free EMPTY /dev/disk2
Started erase on disk2
Unmounting disk
Creating the partition map
Error: -69877: Couldn't open device

My USB drive appears as read only when i do CMD+I, I tried repairing the permissions but that failed too.

➜  ~ diskutil resetUserPermissions /dev/disk2 `id -u`
Ready to reset user permissions on disk2
Error encountered attempting to reset permissions for user 501 home directory on disk2: Permissions are not enabled on the disk (-69861)

Thx in advance for the help :)

This is an attempt to write a canonical QA for this issue, as per the Meta post:  Where is the list of canonical questions stored for Ask Different? This answer is based off a number of pre-existing answers expect it to be periodically edited with the goal of becoming a comprehensive information resource. *

Can't Access the Device

If you're having an issue where you can't access the device there are a couple things to check first:

Check for write protection.

On SD cards, there is a physical "write lock" switch that may become enabled.  Make sure it's in the "up" position.  If it's write protected on every SD , you may have an issue with the logic board itself.
On USB flash drives, there may be a physical switch or it may be write protected from via a write protect bit, or the chip may be modified from the factory.

Make sure you have the correct privileges.  Sometimes the drive may have had user privileges assigned to them.  Using an Admin account will usually get around this.

Fixing the Device

There are a few steps you can take, but all are destructive to the data on the device.

Erase Disk.  As the name implies, this does a simple erase of the disk and marks the free space as "empty" with no file system  or partition scheme.

$ diskutil eraseDisk free Empty /dev/diskX

Re-partitition the Disk.  I like to force a rewrite of the partition map to something that macOS is familiar with like a GPT partition and HFS+ file system.  You can use MS-DOS with MBR as well.  use diskutil listfilesystem to get a full list of supported file systems.

$ diskutil partitionDisk diskX 1 GPT HFS+ Untitled 100%   ← GPT with HFS Format

$ disktuil partitionDisk diskX 1 MBR FAT32 UNTITLED 100%  ← MBR with MS-DOS

Zero out the disk.  Using this command writes zeros to every block of the raw device, meaning you're bypassing everything and accessing the device itself.  This is the nuclear option because it will overwrite every single spot on the device with a zero.  Triple check the device name!

$ diskutil unmountDisk diskX            ← Only if necessary (you get a "Resource Busy")

$ sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/diskX bs=1m

If none of the above works, it's likely the device has failed.  On SD cards, this is actually quite common. Ask any photographer and they'll tell you that SD cards fail usually in the middle of paid gig which is one of the reasons they now make D-SLRs with dual memory slots

* Existing Questions/Answers

Couldn't open device
Disk Utility won't erase my USB flash drive ("Couldn't open device")
How can I fix Error: -69877: Couldn't open device after interrupted formatting process?
Unable to format USB disk (Error: -69877: Couldn't open device)
Disk Utility Cannot erase USB Drive (Error: -69877: Couldn't open device)


How can I add movies to my iPad from both my home and work computers? I'd would like to add some ripped DVDs to my iPad from both my work and home computers. Is this possible? Ideally I'd like to watch them using the Videos app that comes with the iPad but I'd be fine buying another app if it's necessary.

thanks!

There used to a be a method where by you edited the iTunes Music Library.xml file on the second computer to make your device think the two computers are the same computer. I'm not sure if it works any more though. Explanation guide here
Alternatively the easier way of doing it is to take advantage of iTunes file sharing and use an application from the app store. The advantage of this is that most app store video playback applications support more file formats than would be supported though the default video playback app so you won't need to do any conversion before copying the videos across.
The application I would recommend, and use myself, is AVPlayerHD


Where are dictionaries stored in MacOS? I’m studying the Dutch language, and the built-in dictionary has plenty of example sentences that are superior to the ones in the materials I’ve been working with from Loecsen.   I'd like to put many of them (a few at a time) into Anki for memory drill.
But Apple has disabled copy on the pop-up.  Perhaps that’s a copyright issue, in which case my question is irrelevant.  But if not, I’d like some way to get to them other than screen shot, OCR, and cleanup.
The same dictionary is also on my iPad, so a way to access that would be useful as well.
I understand they are XML, which would mean they shouldn't be hard to parse, but I haven't found anything like that so far.
Update: I’m still interested in the answer, but I found a source that’s better for my purposes.

"I’d like some way to get to them other than screen shot, OCR, and cleanup."
MacOS comes with a Dictionary.app which uses the same resources as the Lookup pop-up. You can copy text from there.

You can choose which dictionaries are included in the app's Preferences.
The Apple .dictionary format is not XML and is not human-readable without some decoding.


How to recover deleted data from erased hard drive? So last night my wifes laptop died big time. I could only boot up in safe mode and clearing pram / smc wasn't helping so I decided to wipe the hard drive and install Mountain Lion. I booted it in safe mode and copied any important files over. Then I wiped the drive and installed ML, which has now fixed the problem.

Only I made a mistake, the one thing I forgot to copy was the iPhoto library, which had all of our photos for the past 2 years on it. And it wasn't backed up.

Any ideas on recovery methods?

Okay, so I think I've solved the problem and thought I'd post this up just in case anyone runs into similar issues...

I've downloaded a program Data Rescue 3, and I'm scanning the drive for deleted files. The program seems easy to use although I found that if you want to scan your internal drive (as in my case), you'll need to have another external drive plugged in as the software won't let you restore to the same drive you're recovering from.

When you run the software, select your internal drive to scan off then select the deleted files scan. When prompted, select your external drive to work off.

I'll post my results, success or failure, in the comments soon.

Screenshot of results:


Cannot shut down computer due to app not responding I have a 2012-ish MBP and I am using it to develop iOS apps using Xcode. This app stops responding relatively frequently, but usually I can just force quit it and open it again. However, this time I cannot Force Quit Xcode, although there is no 'dot' beneath it in the dock, right clicking the icon just shows the 'not responding' message. I have attached a screenshot.

This is preventing me from shutting down my computer. How can I fix this?

I hope my description is clear enough to make this a good question.

You can take one of the 2 approaches one-by-one:

1) Command + Option + Escape brings up a window to force quit running apps.

2) In Terminal window, get the process_id by running ps -a and execute kill -9 <process_id> for the matching process.

If this doesn't work, quit all the other apps you can, make one last backup to time machine or equivalent and then kill all your user processes.

kill -9 -1

You can try the above several times by reopening terminal and as a last resort, pressing and holding the power button will force the system to a harder shutdown by pulling all power.


Outlook 2016 for Mac Export Broken? I run an online tech-support system. My Outlook 2016 for Mac is very slow in response & when I asked for advice on the issue, my friend asked me to clean up my mailboxes. However, I cannot do that because I have hundreds of emails that are important. So I tried to export the email database. But somehow the export is not working. It crashes after 3-4%. How can I fix this or is there other ways to backup Outlook 2016 for Mac.

Have you tried rebuilding you outlook mac identity? If you haven't, then have a go through that and try exporting your email database again. This is a manual process and may acquire your attention as well as your time.

Have a look here: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/office_for_mac_support_team_blog/2015/01/07/outlook-for-mac-for-office-365-database/

If you are seeking an automatic process then you can have a look here: http://www.mailbackupx.com/how-to-scenerios/how-to-backup-outlook-mac-mails-on-mac.html


Is there really no way to force Time Machine to do a second, independent backup? Edit: I originally asked this in terms of forcing TM to do a "full" backup. After getting answers about how every backup is a "full" backup, I realized I asked the wrong question. The problem is that I have a backup that I don't trust, on a disk that has other stuff on it, including TM backups from other machines. I'd like to do another backup of one of my machines, independent from the first one. Below is the rest of my original question.

I've looked all over, and there just doesn't seem to be a way to do this. Lots of people taking guesses that seem to work in some cases, but not in mine. I've tried just deleting the folder that contains the backup, but of course the finder won't let you delete it, or even rename it. Bash won't allow it either -- it always says "operation not permitted". Is there really no way just to make TM do a second, independent backup to the same disk without reformatting it?

Every backup is a full backup. Your destination has hard links to each file so that if you copy any snapshot to another volume or folder - you have a copy of every file. If you delete a file from one time interval - the other intervals lose no data. As implemented, there is no reason to store duplicate bits on e destination if a hard link suffices to fully document each file being backed up.


Changing OS X's Apache settings to replicate Ubuntu's Apache environment I've been using an Ubuntu distro for a few years now and I greatly prefer the default Apache2 settings on Ubuntu compared to OS X. This post aims to provide instructions on how to convert the few settings I want from 'mac-style' to 'ubuntu-style'.

I'm trying to change the default behaviour of Apache on OS X to be similar to Ubuntu, including both the apache user / group and work directory. The information I have found so far on this points to the following:

Apache on Ubuntu runs under www-data, on Mac under _www
Apache on Ubuntu uses /var/www, on Mac /Library/Webserver/Documents

I got this information on Mac from /etc/apache2/httpd.conf.

My questions:

Do I need to delete the _www user / group, before making the new www-data user and group, or can I simply change the former? How do I do the correct one without breaking everything?
I believe I can simply change the line in httpd.conf to change the root directory for files, and create the /var/www/ folder also. But in order to do this in the right way, I'll need the right permissions, so (1) needs to be done first.

The end goal:

To have a www-data user running Apache (like Ubuntu has) rather than _www, and also have my root directory under /var/www (like Ubuntu has) rather than /Library/Webserver/Documents, and for any PHP extensions via PECL or otherwise not to be affected by this change.

How can I set this up correctly so that "it just works", and won't interfere with anything like extensions / other modifications in the future?

I'm running OS X 10.9.4, Apache/2.2.26.

You can always do a clean install, from source, of Apache HTTPD, with whatever settings appeal to you. If you want it to walk, talk, and quack like Ubuntu, choose pathnames, user-ids, and everything else to match as part of the 'configure' process. All you need to do to your stock Apple deployment is turn it off to avoid avoid port conflicts.

You could try to reconfigure the Apple default install to be more Ubuntu-ish, but you risk getting tripped up by some obscure decision made by Apple, up to and including source mods. So I suggest that your best best is to use the source, as its authors intend.


Simulate INSERT key in Mac OS X Long story short, I am using Citrix to remote into my PC at work, and several applications require the use of the INSERT key, which, as everyone knows, Apple chose to eliminate from their keyboards. I've tried everything I can think of, and never been able to find an easy way to send this keycode via Citrix.  I'm sure there are other uses for this, and I've read quite a few people's questions on the subject, but no one seems to have offered a viable solution.

I have the Apple USB keyboard (full-size, with numeric keypad), and in the position where the INSERT key would normally exist, Apple placed the "fn" key. Now, I still need this key from time to time, but what I'd love to see is perhaps Control-fn or similar to send the keycode for INSERT.  If anyone knows how to achieve this, preferably without installing 3rd-party software (adware?), I'm all ears.

For Midnight commander it seem to be ^/Ctrl+T=Insert. As suggested by jherran.

The more generic Insert function is supposed to be Fn+Return/Enter=Insert, see this other question for more discussion and details.

I have however had little success with Fn+Return working reliably in many applications.


Is a corrupted HD a sign of something ominous for the hardware? The Verify Disk functionality of the Disk Utility reports that my HD is corrupted. I fixed the problem using the startup CD but what does that mean for the health of my HDD?

One time error usually means nothing.

Do use it as a warning - keep your backups current and perhaps even test a restore. Also, you might check things in a week to make sure it's not a sign of hardware errors instead of a software error.


Funny Apple Logo colors during startup When my iMac boots up the apple logo and progress bar flicker red very briefly. There doesn't seem to be anything else the matter with the computer apart from this. It's a very new retina iMac running macOs 10.12.1.

Should I be concerned? Does anyone know why it does this?

UPDATE: My iMac has started being glitchy rendering certain pdfs. As advised I'm going to take it back to the store.

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I called Apple Support who ran a few remote diagnostics and then referred me to my local Apple Store. The guy there booted my iMac as a monitor to another Mac and it still played up so he concluded that there was a problem with the logic board and it's currently being replaced.


Is there any way to recover backups already automatically removed from iCloud? I need a backup from a week ago, but only have last two days.

The backups were automatically removed from iCloud, so I cannot recover from deleted items.

If you're talking about backups of iOS devices, then no, there's no functionality for recovering an already removed/deleted iCloud backup of an iOS device.

If you're talking about "manual backups" you might have made - i.e. manually copying over files to the iCloud Drive or similar, you should be able to recover them from icloud.com. However, I doubt that this is your situation.


Duplicate photo libraries I have a question about duplicate photo libraries that seems the opposite of a previously asked question. In my case, after converting iPhoto library to Photos library, the computer at one point asked if I wanted to convert Photos library to iPhoto library. So I said yes and now have two libraries.
In this case I think each one is taking up 130 GB of space rather than each library pointing to the same photos, and I would like to remove one of them. Is it safe to remove the iPhoto library? Would this also delete the photos used by the Photos library?

If you make a time machine backup, you can be sure that you can recover from anyone's guess as to whether you have two libraries or just that the files are linked together.

Photos is designed to use hard links in some cases to avoid duplicating every photo during the transition period. When you eventually delete the old library, then you no longer have linked files. Keep in mind - when files are hard linked, you have two pointers to the same one file. No duplication happens other than at the level you are accustomed to seeing things in Finder and open/save dialogs.


Can I adjust the time delay for when the dock re-appears? I like to hide the dock unless I need it.  There is a slight delay before it will reappear.  Is there a Terminal setting I can change so that the dock will instantly appear when I move my mouse to the bottom of the screen? I like how things work but want to tweak the timing.

You can manually set the time it takes for the dock to appear using the defaults write commands:

autohide-delay → custom appearance delay with dock animation
autohide-time-modifier → custom appearance delay without dock animation

First, activate auto-hide in System Preferences → Dock → Autohide or type ⌘+⌥+D

Then open the Terminal and type:

defaults write com.apple.Dock autohide-delay -float 0; killall Dock

0 is the time it takes for the Dock to appear in seconds. You can choose floats and integers e.g. 2, 0.5,...
killall Dock causes the Dock to restart
the syntax is the same for autohide-time-modifier

Restore the default behavior using...

defaults delete com.apple.Dock autohide-delay; killall Dock

According to MacOSHints this trick was found by reverse engineering from the developer Christian Baumgart of Hyperdock.


How can I tell Music for iPad to play all of an artist's songs without making a playlist? I want to play all of an artist's songs that I have, on multiple albums. Making a playlist seems overkill. This was never an issue in iOS 4, as there was a track-shaped option for shuffle play.

Please note that I want something that always works, so simply "pressing play while on an artist's page" won't do the trick as sometimes a song is currently "playing" already.

I'm running iOS 5.1.

Not obvious at all, but:

Tap My Music from bottom nav.
Tap the red filter menu selection that's located roughly upper central on the screen, just below the Recently Added section.

The filter menu should say Artists or Albums or Songs etc. Choose your desired filter option (Artists in this case).
The list items below the filter will update.

Tap the list item's avatar (tap the artist photo, in this case). Do not tap the list item's text (the artist's name), unless you want instead to navigate into sublists.
A queue will begin playing from your selection.

If you already had a queue, the old queue will be replaced with this new queue.
The first song in the queue will not be random, even if you had shuffle enabled.

An almost-too-skinny-to-tap bar will appear at the bottom of your screen.

Tap it to view the current song, to access shuffle and continuous buttons, and to preview the queue (menu icon to the right of the fast-forward button).

Complain to http://apple.com/feedback.


Removing Items from Reading List How do I remove items (individual or all) from Reading List on my iMac (OS X 10.6.8)?

I'm running OS 10.9.x right now, but I don't think it should be too different. When you open the reading list by clicking the little glasses (I think that's what it was- it may be under the same book icon as bookmarks), mouseover the item you want to delete, and you should see a tiny x in a circle appear in the top left of that item. Click to delete it.


MacBook Pro Mid-2012 starts but does not respond anymore My gf has a severe issue with her MBP Mid-2012 (serial number is C1MK9X6ZDTY3; it is a MacBook Pro 13-Inch "Core i5" 2.5 Mid-2012). A few months ago I replaced the internal HD with an SSD. Everything worked fine. A new SATA cabled was also put in place.

Recently however the laptop had some issues. First, when pressing a certain area on the case, it would reboot. However, after rebooting I could work with it again as if nothing has happend. A few days later, it would again shut down, but then make 3 beeps while attempting to reboot. As several sources online state, this means faulty RAM. Intuitively I just tried to reboot again and the MBP worked just fine. My gf told me that there were cases where the diplays showed some glitches. Right now the situation got worse and the laptop cannot be used anymore. It boots, but then the "spinning coloured ball" occurrs. The laptop responds extremely slow. Finder cannot be opened, etc.

One more thing: She just told me that a few weeks ago she switched on the laptop with the power cable connected because the battery was empty. She then noticed some sort of "short circuit" when connected the cable. There was a tiny flash and it was as if something "burned". The funny thing is just that I would expect that the laptop immediately stops working. However it worked fine afterwards, but (obviously) slowly deteriorated as described above.

Other things I have tried:

I run Apple diagnostics. It said there could be an issue with the battery. I then did it again with power cable attached and it said there are no problems.
I removed both memory sticks (one by one) to ensure that none of them are faulty. With only one of them in use, the system behaved in the same erroneous way.

So what whould I do now? Can I do anything at all or should I go to a technician? Which  faulty hardware could be responsible for the described behavior?

UPDATE: A short update: I bought a Samsung 850 EVO 500GB (see here:  https://www.amazon.de/Samsung-MZ-75E250B-EU-interne-schwarz/dp/B00P73B1E4?th=1). Actually, I just remembered that I did not buy the SSD. The SSD is already a bit older, but I bought a new  SATA cable, because the SSD wouldn't work internally. So I bought this cable:  https://www.amazon.de/ireplacement-A1278-Drive-Macbook-821-1480/dp/B075PZ3PK5?th=1
With this cable I could use the SSD internally and everything worked fine.

UPDATE: I identified the root cause. See this thread now please: Extreme slowing down of MacBook Pro due to pkd process

One thing that does happen at times with MacBooks of this kind (own one myself and had it happen to me) is that batteries can over time "inflate" and slowly but surely push themselves against something — in this case it would be weird if the something was the mainboard since it's not located under the battery but rather beneath it). But maybe you could take it apart and see if the battery looks odd or even a little blown-up and ask your friend if she ever replaced it before..?

Some basic steps to perform:

To rule out possible battery faults, you could take the battery out,
then try turning it on with the power cable attached
Give the obvious "mac-things" a try such as SMC reset, PRAM/NVRAM
reset etc.
Take out the SSD and attach it to another computer to see if you can
start it up from there


Does the Power Nap support the purchased apps download? Does the Power Nap downloads the just purchased App Store apps? I am expecting it so as stated in this Apple Support Document - How Power Nap works on your Mac.

But, I think I misunderstood it because when I have clicked Install below the Xcode icon in App Store which initiated the download, when the download is at 800MB I have plugged in my MBP-RD-2015, closed the lid, opened it after 30 min and disappointed to see the download is still at 800MB.

I have verified that in settings power nap is checked while plugged in and on battery (I have enabled it before). Does  Power Nap support purchased apps download or does it only supports downloading of updates in App Store?

I think the key to when/how App Store downloads are process is, according to the link you provided,

  Mac App Store downloads are checked once a week.

You didn't give it enough time.

The way power nap works is that "Sleep" takes priority.  If you want to put your MB to sleep now for whatever reason (say, you are going into a meeting), it doesn't make sense for your MB to say "no, I think I will continue downloading"

There is a "schedule" or a time interval when your MB will wake.  Once per hour to do something small like check mail or your calendar.  Once per day for updates (bigger activity) and once per week for pending downloads.

To check for these things, it has to come out of sleep "half way" - meaning enough to turn on networking and your drive, but not enough to bring up your full GUI and related services.  If your MB is going to be checking and downloading continually as opposed to the schedule, then it's not going to sleep; which defeats the purpose of putting it to sleep.


Accidentally restored iPhone, how can I recover my data? I connected my current iPhone to iTunes and I accidentally hit restore and now my iPhone is set up like my old iPhone 4! Is there a way to make my iPhone back to the way it was an hour ago?

Unless you have a backup of your data, either in iTunes, on iCloud, or otherwise, you can't restore your data. If you do have a backup, you should restore it per the method for the specific backup medium.


Mac OS X Yosemite public beta not receiving updates I have a 2010 iMac and I installed Mac OS 10.10 public beta last summer, but I haven't received any updates since. My exact version right now is OS X 10.10 (14A379b).

Does anyone know what should i do to get the latest system updates?

in my guess, your beta may be expired, so the solution would be a final yosemite install from app store.