Simplest and safest way to do a clean install of a newer MacOS? I currently have El Capitan, but no DVDs I have a MacBook Air 13-inch, Mid 2012 running OSX El Capitan 10.11.6 and would like to do a clean install of a "more modern" MacOS.
I have read about recent certificate problems but that discussion is over my head.
I have seen images of install DVDs but I have none now and don't remember ever seeing any.
I have already backed up all my files.

What is the simplest, safest way that I can do a clean install of a newer (or newest) MacOS? Do I need an AppleID for this? There is an Apple store here but they don't seem to want to do repair work on my computer because it has been obsoleted. However, they might still be able to offer some help I can't do this myself.

In a nutshell, it seems you need an overview of how to do this. All macos versions from the App Store have a built in utility section where you can open terminal and run createosinstaller script to make a bootable USB installer from the downloaded installer app. Most do not require an AppleID in the App Store, but you might have to set that up as well. You’ll want one, so be sure you write down your security questions and be prepared to enter payment info if requested. It won’t be charged, but you will have to enter it if your machine doesn’t let you make a payment-free account as part of your first free app download.

You do need a USB drive that will be wiped totally - 8 GB is probably large enough, 16 for sure is enough. It doesn’t need to be fast, just needs to work well enough to store 5+ GB of new data and be erased one time.

Here goes:

I recommend the newest OS you can - so open the App Store and try to download Catalina.
If that fails, you’ll need to check the requirements for your mac: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210222 _(hint both models of 2012 Air are eligible for Catalina, so you don’t need to use the next step unless you need an older OS)
Then get the installer that’s older than Catalina but meets your requirements - How can I download an older version of OS X/macOS?

Once the installer is downloaded, follow Apple instructions to make the bootable USB: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

When you boot from recovery (try booting from internet recovery just in case your 2012 model can internet boot - you can skip everything above)

Either way, choose the erase install path in this document whether you internet boot or recovery boot or make USB installer:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904


Can a Macbook Pro A1398 drive two Dell U2515H and at what resolution? I'm planning to use 2x Dell U2515H monitors with my 15" mid-2015 Macbook Pro 2.2Ghz (model number A1398) with Intel Iris Pro Graphics. According to Apple, it can drive:

  Dual display and video mirroring: simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 3840x2160 pixels on up to two external displays, both at millions of colours.

Additionally, the HDMI video output van:

  Support for 4096x2160 resolution at 24Hz

Will I be able to drive two of these bad boys at native resolution of 2560x1440?

According to Everymac…

  This model supports a simultaneous maximum resolution up to 3840x2160 on two external displays via Thunderbolt 2. Alternately, it can support a single display up to 3840x2160 via Thunderbolt 2 and a single 1080p display at up to 60 Hz, 3840x2160 at 30 Hz, or 4096x2160 at 24 Hz via HDMI.

According to Dell..

  For convenient connections to other devices in your workspace, the U2515H provides two HDMI (MHL) ports, a DisplayPort, a mini-DisplayPort and five USB 3.0 ports.

So, theoretically, both over Thunderbolt > Mini DP
or one over Thunderbolt & one over HDMI at 30Hz


Tool to monitor home network traffic & stats? I have a home network with several users, using both LAN & Wifi. I have a Billion 7800N router which is also my ADSl2 modem.

Is there a tool or something I can use that monitors all traffic going through the router, including capturing packets? Some features im looking for is broadband usage per user/ip, packet inspection (not required but handy) and other general network stats.

I was looking at Netuse network monitor from AppStore as it also uses the SNMP data on the router, but with no trial version im not willing to buy just yet.

Thanks

You could put a hub on the outgoing port (ensuring all packets are visible) and hook a Mac up along with the modem and router WAN connection.

Your mac could then run Wireshark to perform deep packet inspection and analysis on all the traffic for as long as you care to collect the statistics.


MacBook reboots during a long sleep if FileVault is turned on I've turned on FileVault on my MacBook Pro 2018 (High Sierra) and immediately after this the MacBook started to reboot randomly (mostly) when in sleep.

First I noticed that after putting my Mac into sleep I need to enter a password to unlock it (touch ID disabled) and that all my applications are closed. Looks like a reboot...

Then once when waking up my computer from sleep I got this message "Terminal interrupted logout. To continue logout, quit Terminal". This convinced me that the MacBook is trying to reboot itself during sleep.

It never happened before - but happens during all long sleep cycles (no matter if during the day or night) since FileVault is turned on.

Any ideas how can I troubleshoot this?

I have this problem and found this Preferences -> Privacy & Security -> "Firewall" -> Advanced -> Log out after 60 minutes of inactivity" setting being turned on too!.

I believe you forgot the  -> "Firewall" -> route in your description!

Thanks this was the solution for me!


Why do I get a '"Calendar Cache" couldn't be moved' error when launching Calendar? After upgrading to Mountain Lion, I get the following error message when I launch Calendar.app:

"Calendar Cache couldn't be moved because you don't have permission to access "Calendars".

When I click "OK", Calendar quits.

This user is an administrator on the machine. I tried granting the user 'Read & Write' access to Calendar.app, but nothing changed.

I have another administrator account on the same machine that can launch Calendar.app without issue.

If repairing permissions with Disk Utility and/or checking permissions for the actual calendar-files in /Users/<username>/Library/Calendars do not work maybe this will:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3773022?start=0&tstart=0

Seems a bit drastic though. I have not tried this myself. I suggest having a backup just in case.

Update: I just tried the instructions from the thread at apple discussions, and everything on my 10.8 system is OK. It's kind of a supercharged permissions-repair (lacking better terms atm).

If it works, thank macjack at the appe forums. If not, tell me :)

On my mac the ~/Library/Calendars/Calendar Cache is owned by me:
-rw-r--r--@  1 nils  staff  2813952 Jul 31 18:44 Calendar Cache

It may be of help if you post the output from this terminal command:
ls -lar ~/Library/Calendars/|grep "Calendar Cache"


Erase USB in Disk Utility says "Permission denied" I'm trying to format my USB so I can get all the space back onto it, but every time I try to erase it in Disk Utility, this comes up:

  POSIX reports: The operation couldn’t be completed. Permission denied

Try with diskutil:

diskutil eraseVolume HFS+ "new name" disk1

Replace new name with the name you wish the disk to have, and disk1 with the disk identifier (select disk → Info).


Will SIM-free iPhone from Apple lock to first carrier activated? Suppose I buy an iPhone 7 directly from Apple, and I select the SIM-free version.  Will this lock to the first carrier it is activated with?  Or is it unlocked for life so I'll be able to switch carriers freely without restrictions?

Searching online, I found some reports that claim past SIM-free iPhones might lock to the first carrier they're activated with (even if bought via Apple), but the sources don't seem fully credible to me.  Going through the purchase process on apple.com, Apple describes the phone as SIM-free but never calls it unlocked and doesn't seem to have any definition of what SIM-free means. That makes me wonder.

According to Apple a SIM-free iPhone purchased directly via Apple should be unlocked. So, it is pretty unlikely that you get locked afterwards.

Furthermore you should be able to use every SIM worldwide*.

*considering there are no restrictions in the chosen country like e.g. in Turkey.

Edit: This answer is based on the situation in the U.S. only. Other countries/markets may vary.


Is this MacBook charger counterfeit? I bought a supposedly original charger for my MacBookPro9,2 (A7A048) 2012 Macbook pro. It does feature the apple logo etched into the plastic, it also says

  Designed by Apple in California
  Assembled in China

On the one side. What seems strange to me is that on another side I find mention of

  DONGGUAN SOLUM ELECTRONICS CO.LTD

Which appears to be an electronics manufacturer, from brief web search. Is this simply the company assembling the thing for Apple or is it evidence of a fake? Unfortunately I don't have my broken original anymore to check.

It is not in itself evidence of a fake, no. It is common for Apple to have the name of the production facility written on the power supply. For example my 85W power supply has "Delta Electronics (Jiang Sui) Ltd." written on it in the same place.

An image search on Google for the 60W adapter also reveals that other power supplies have the same writing on it as yours.

However, it is not a 100% proof that your charger is original, as anyone could in principle write such texts on a charger. It would obviously be illegal however.


Airdrop from 1st gen iPad Mini to MacBookPro I am trying to copy a photo that I just took with my 1st gen iPad mini (with iOS 8.2) onto my late 2011 MacBookPro (with 10.10.2) and I can't seem to use Airdrop. Is this a restriction of the OS or the hardware and is there any way to overcome it?

No. iOS 8 will Airdrop to and receive from a Yosemite Mac. It is more likely that your iPad (Or Mac) is not compatible with the feature. If your iPad is older then a 4th gen, I think, it won't work.


How can I extend the time when system.log gets turned over? Right now my system.log gets recreated every 24 hours or so with a message like:

Jan  4 00:30:01 Mac newsyslog[63416]: logfile turned over

Can I change a setting such that it will get rotated every month? Or every week?

Having a much longer time would allow for better visibility of the progression of some errors.

You use newsyslog command. There is plenty of online documentation out there on how to do this, but here's a start:

https://serverfault.com/questions/264292/osx-var-log-system-log-where-do-i-define-pruning-interval


Do computers slow down as they age? I have an eMac I bought in 2004. I just used the system restore CD to re-install Panther, iLife '04, Internet Explorer for Mac(!), etc. I don't have any timed specs from "back then", so I can't answer this definitively, but the machine feels slower than I remember it feeling back in the good old days.

If my hard drive has been purged of all the cruft that accumulates over time, should the computer run as snappily as it did when it was new? Are perceived differences in speed due psychological, to comparisons to more modern hardware, or do systems slow as they age for reasons (physical degradation?) other than the accumulation of contents on the system drive?

No. Most workloads, the processor is what governs performance and the CPU itself remains measurably stable over time in terms of clock rate.

The OS and memory and storage are largely stable. Storage would be the first thing to slow with age, so benchmark that if you can.

Our expectations of what make for a fast computer however do not slow down. Camera resolution grows, image fidelity grows, more logic is stuffed into a web page, etc...

Software can become corrupt over time, but the computer itself can be returned to factory conditions with an easy erase and install to confirm that the hardware is still speedy even if we don't feel it's so fast compared to all the new young gun computers that are now shipping.

Now from a purely analytical standpoint, here are the items that could conceivably be measured in benchmark or manufacturer tests:

Heat Dissipation failures (thermal grease drying out or dust/worse accumulation) could cause CPU temps to rise when airflow can't remove enough heat from the chipsets. Older CPU didn't throttle as much and had larger metal traces to get the heat out. Newer CPU like the MacBook Air actively reduce cores and clock cycles to thermally control the CPU. This makes for a very noticeable performance dip when the CPU cannot be kept cool. I have seen tower and iMac cases packed with dust or worse / nicotine tar laden dust. So much so, that the computer had no business even running by the looks of it - but other than hot sensors, most still ran full speed (to my great astonishment).
Hard Drive imminent failures - the expected bad block relocation behavior when a drive has to take more time to land data can be noticeable, but I categorize that as your computer has a bad drive - not that it's old and slow. This can happen to a brand new computer with a bad drive until it triggers the SMART status or just fails outright.


Can Mac App Store purchased apps install Quicklook Plugins? Since all apps are now sandboxed when purchased from the Mac App Store, what does this mean for the install process? Do you literally downoad the .app bundle, which gets placed into /Applications, and then the process is complete?

Is it possible for an application that is sandboxed to install a Quicklook Plugin for use with filetypes it supports?

Yes, any application placed in the Applications folder can provide QuickLook support.

Sandboxing does not affect an application's ability to support QuickLook.

Mac OS X looks inside applications for a QuickLook plug-ins folder. The specific folder is:

MyApp.app/Contents/Library/QuickLook/

Support for Automator and Spotlight can also be provided using this per-application Library folder mechanism.

When you download an application from the Mac App Store you are still going through /usr/bin/installer. The Mac App Store downloads a flat-file installer package .pkg and then installs it on your behalf.

This allows the installation process to be more than just a single copy for complex applications; functionality that is only available to Apple software. For now, third party software can do no more than provide a single application to be placed within the /Applications folder.


iPad 2 mini with weird battery issue We have an iPad 2 mini that is several years old with recent issues with the battery.  After charging for extended period of time it will display a dead battery symbol and not boot up.  After plugging charger in and out for a couple of minutes it would finally start to work and when screen comes up it says it is fully charged.  The chargers are same as we are using to charge our iPhones so the chargers are still working fine. When the iPad 2 mini booted it is fully charged and would work fine off charger for hours.  Now we can't get it to boot at all and just get the screen that says the battery is dead.  It also says its charging when not plugged it but not when it is plugged in.  Very confused and need some ideas how to fix this thing.

The battery is failing/dead, the circuitry inside may be damaged, or both. You need to have this iPad serviced and needs to be opened and checked out by an Apple Tech. If it is out of warranty, any reputable 3rd party Apple Tech fixit shop should be able to help.

There's nothing anybody can do remotely - the device has obvious hardware issues. I've handled enough iPad minis in similar shape to be certain of it.

Your best bet is to get a new (or newer) iPad. If funds are tight, Apple has pretty good refurbished models in the Apple Store (US link).


Specifics of hardware On the MacBook Pro with Retina display, what is the specific screen they use, (any idea on model number), or is it their own manufacture?

If you go to this site to identify which Mac you're using (just keep answering the questions until you get to the end), it will ultimately make suggestions for parts. If you click on the relevant part, it will tell you the Apple Part Number near the price.


Updating Yosemite 10.10.5 ? on iMac I want to update my iMac OS X Mavericks Version 10.9.5 to OS X Yosemite 10.10.5. Do I need to backup my files ? or not ?. I'm afraid to update it because I don't want to erase my important files. I'm thinking that if I update my iMac all my files or my apps will be erase or reset .

First, always having a current & active backup should be priority #1.

OS X Installers (Updaters) are designed to be non-destructive and preserve all user data.

As long as no problems are encountered, your data should not be at risk.

With all that being said, make a backup.


What is the root cause of famous iPhone 4s battery draining issue? Even with latest iOS 5.0.1 some 4s users do encounter huge battery drains (1-2%/minute) even when they are doing nothing with the phone.

Is it a hardware or a software issue? Should I get a refund?

Update: The phone was bought 3 days ago from Apple Store in London, UK.

Last night when the phone battery went to 10% the phone just shut down automatically, like other were doing when the battery was reaching 2%.

Also, I observed that the percent of battery discharge was not linear, meaning that sometimes I observed the batter level going down with 5-8% at a time (while using the Phone). If I remember well from the other iPhones I had, the battery discharge in percentage should be smooth.

If it's convenient, get a Genius Bar appointment and take it to an Apple store. I have heard that further software updates to correct battery drain problems will eventually be released. However, you have every right to be unsatisfied with the product in the condition it is in right now.


Is there a way to write with FTP using the Finder I'm aware of this question Built in FTP client (cmd + k) - can't upload files (Mavericks), but my question is specifically targetted to anyone who has used Ubuntu, and fully understands how seamless FTP can be.

I'm looking to natively connect to an FTP server and be able to read and write. And open up folders in Atom or Sublime Text and just start editing files on the server.

Here are the options that I am aware of and have already tried, but none of them are as elegant as Ubuntu where you can just open a remote folder and start editing. If anyone knows of something, please let me know?

At the moment transit is the best option.
 - Transit

None of the others can edit whole folders in Sublime by importing the folder structure into the sidebar.
 - FileZilla
 - Cyber Duck
 - Forklift

Finder only has read access to FTP so you need to use a client, but Transmit provides Finder integration so you can connect to FTP read/write using Finder with Transmit. You need to use the Finder integration.

Add the server to Transmit GUI as if you were connecting just using the GUI.
You can choose Mount as Disk to connect using Finder.

To connect more easily in the future, show Transmit Disk in menu bar, which allows you to connect to servers in that list without Transmit running just using Finder.

With the server mounted, you can work with files and folders as you would any local disk.


Is it safe to run two installers simultaneously? Is it safe to run two installers simultaneously? Or is it safer to run one by one(maybe installers changes to write on same file)?

Installer won't let you install two programs simultaneously, so the question is moot. Click Install on as many packages as you wish and Installer.app will queue them up and install them individually.


Parallels Help moving ISO image I installed http://www.parallels.com/ on my Macbook Pro. Using an ISO image I installed windows on it.

I have an ISO image on my desktop. If I delete it, Parallels says: it's missing, but shall turn on (the operating system).

Is the ISO needed? If so, can I move it to another folder so my desktop stays clean of ISO images? Or do I not need it? (ISO)

I am using OS X 10.9.2 (Mavericks)

The iso is no longer necessary.
In the bottom of the virtual-machine-window there's a icon that looks like a CD
if you click it you can de-select the .iso (by either choosing disconnect or use phyical drive)


Adding smb printer through terminal Goal: Add a domain printer just through the terminal without using its IP address.

Following the instructions here:
https://dae.me/blog/1826/add-a-printer-via-command-line-in-os-x/#comment-256587

I ran this command:

sudo lpadmin -p sharp4141n -L "front office code" -E smb://ESC-PRINT01.byu.local/ESCN284_MX-4141N -P /Users/jaybrown/Desktop/ESC_PRINT01_ESC_N284_SHARP_MX_4141N_PCL6.ppd

But get the error:

lpadmin: Unknown argument “smb://ESC-PRINT01.byu.local/ESCN284_MX-4141N”.

I am on a domain. On an iMac running El Capitan. Please help me out.

As per Tetsujin's comment, it turns out I was missing the -v before the url of the printer.


Can I create fonts drawn as outlined in Word 16 for Mac? I'm trying to make some colouring in pages for my daughter, and want to make a large letter per page for her to colour in.

On Windows I could select a letter, choose font and there's an outline option that I can check.

I can't see this on Microsoft Word for Mac - 16.23 - Office 365 Subscription.

Is anyone aware of ways to achieve this?

Latest version of Word and works fine using Format and Font, with no fill and outline :


Timemachine backups to Encrypted APFS partition. Checkbox turn off encryption I am trying to use a newly created APFS encrypted case sensitive APFS partition with Time Machine backups. If I do not check the box encrypt backups, it prompts for the password to turn off encryption.

Does that mean the contents on the disk will no longer be encrypted on APFS encrypted partition?

I do not get it.

How is it able to store data unencrypted on an encrypted APFS partition, or turn it off for that matter.

Will that data be accessible without the password setup already for the encrypted APFS partition?

If I check the box encrypt backups, Time Machine will reformat the partition into an extended journaled partition.
So no APFS encrypted partition.

Can someone shed some light on this ?

I mean, how can my encrypted partition suddenly be turned off or is encrypt backups checkbox not needed on backups to an already encrypted APFS partion?

Time Machine cannot backup to an APFS disk, because APFS doesn't support hard-linking, which is essential to Time Machine's operation.

From Apple KB - Types of disks you can use with Time Machine on Mac

  Important: You can back up from an HFS+ or APFS-formatted disk to an HFS+ disk; however, Time Machine can’t back up to an APFS-formatted
  disk. If you select a back up disk formatted as APFS, Time Machine
  offers to reformat it as HFS+.


Determine and Use Resolution as a Variable in UNIX script on Mac I'm deploying a NetRestore image to multiple kinds of Macs: MacBooks, MacBook Pros, Mac Pros, iMacs and Mac Minis. I have several custom designed login screens that I'd like to use but everything before 10.10 requires that you know the monitor resolution otherwise the login background won't show correctly.

Is there a way to use the output of this code as a variable for a series of IF/THEN statements?

system_profiler SPDisplaysDataType |grep Resolution

The normal output shows like this

  Resolution: 2560 x 1440
  Resolution: 1920 x 1200
  Resolution: 1920 x 1200

(This is if you have three monitors...I'd prefer to use the first result).

My intention is for the script to run when binding the Mac to Active Directory (which has to be done manually), so the resolution should already be available. It would select the correct resolution image and then copy it into the required location.

Or by chance does anyone have any good idea on how to create custom login window backgrounds and user backgrounds to work on any type of Mac with any resolution? (Just like the OS does when you select "Fit to Screen" in System Preferences)

Thanks!

If you are looking for something to put into a shell script, you can run something like

if [[ $(system_profiler SPDisplaysDataType |
             grep Resolution |
             head -1 |
             tr -d ' ') == 'Resolution:2560x1440' ]]; then
    # do whatever is needed to do for 2560x1440
end if

You could also use a case statement to handle several resolutions

case  $(system_profiler SPDisplaysDataType |
            grep Resolution |
            head -1 |
            tr -d ' ') in
    Resolution:2560x1440)
        # handle 2560x1440
        ...
        ;;
    Resolution:1920x1200)
        # handle 1920x1200
        ...
        ;;
esac


Can I maximize windows on a second monitor? I recently added a second monitor. I want to be able to keep a window maximized on this screen. Clicking the maximize button when in this monitor causes the alert sound to play and the window does not maximize.

How can I maximize a window on the secondary display?

For some reason I am now able to maximize windows on my second display.

The only change I made was to try it with Finder per @drivec's comment about stock apps vs. other apps.

The direct answer to my question is: Yes you can maximize windows on a second display.

I have no idea why it did not work earlier.


How to get macOS to play audio-in from aux When I am on my PS4, I cannot get the sound to play through my Bluetooth speaker. What I want to do instead is to connect the PS4 controller to my MacBook Pro via the 3.5mm jack and then use some software to forward that to my Bluetooth speaker.

How would I get the audio from the 3.5mm jack going from my PS4 controller  to my Mac, again, from the 3.5mm jack?

Here is a diagram of what I want to make it easier to understand.

PS4 Controller-->3.5mm jack--->MacBook Pro-->Bluetooth

You can use an application like Airfoil.

Connect your PS4 controller via the 3.5 mm jack to your MacBook.
Open Airfoil, select Audio Source: External Microphone
Select Transmit to: (Your Bluetooth Speaker)
Enable your Bluetooth device.


iPhone or Apple Watch as an external keyboard for an iPad I'm interested in using a 3rd party app (GoodNotes) for a presentation on my iPad. When a keyboard is connected to the iPad, clicking the right arrow will advance to the next page/slide. However, I do not want to carry a full bluetooth keyboard while presenting.

Is there any way to emulate a bluetooth keyboard from my Apple Watch or iPhone such that I can control the iPad? Or, is there another way to control the iPad with an AppleWatch or iPhone?

I've found one possible solution called WeBe++, but I would like to do this without jailbreaking the iPhone.

I realize that many keyboard and mouse emulation apps are available, but these require a host application to be installed and therefore do not work on the iPad. They do work well between an iOS device and a Mac.

In case no solution to the above is available, I would consider other solutions that combine the AppleWatch and iPad, or iPhone and iPad. I also looked at PowerPoint and the WatchOS app, but it requires the iPhone to be the presenting device. I will need to the ability to draw on the iPad during the presentation with an Apple Pencil and I would like to save the notes after the presentation.

In order to make an iPhone appear as a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse/HID you need to jailbreak it. It is not possible to an iPhone as a keyboard as of today running iOS 11.0.x.


Creating a Backup of a Mac hard drive that won't boot? PowerBook G4 laptop no longer boots.

Hooked PowerBook G4 to another running Mac using Firewire and held down the 'T' key on boot up.

This is a Mac similar to the one I connected the PowerBook G4

The non-booting drive now appears in the Disk Utility program as APPL FireWire Target Media with a partition of Macintosh HD.  The partition is listed as /dev/disk1s3

I already tried fixing the issue using Disk Utility's verify and repair buttons, to no avail.

Next I tried using diskutil from the Terminal which appears to do pretty much the same thing as the gui version of Disk Utility output below:

PowerBook G4$ diskutil verifyVolume /dev/disk1s3
Started verify/repair volume (filesystem) on disk disk1s3 Macintosh HD
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume
Checking Extents Overfile
Checking Catalog file
Invalid sibling link
The volume Macintosh HD need to be repaired
Error detected while verifying/repairing volume disk1s3 Macintosh HD: Filesystem verify or repair failed (-9957)
[ + 0%..10%..20%..30%..40%..50%..60%..70%..80%..90%..100% ]
Finished verify/repair volume (filesystem) on disk disk1s3 Macintosh HD
Error detected while verifying/repairing volume disk1s3 Macintosh HD: Filesystem verify or repair failed (-9957)

I tried using fsck_hfs /dev/disk1s3 from the Terminal, and got the following output:

** /dev/rdisk1s3
** Checking Journaled HFS Plus Volume
** Checking Extents Overflow file.
** Checking Catalog file.
   Invalid sibling link
(4, 19014)
** Rebuilding Catalog B-tree
** The volume Macintosh HD could not be repaired.

I also found some more brash things I could try, but I'm quite concerned about what they might do to the data existing on the laptop.

*So that is why I am asking if it might do any good to make a backup dmg (uncompressed and read / write) before I try any of the more brash commands that mess with the inodes of the disk.  *

The Mac that the PowerBook G4 is connected to is very slow, but is presently creating a .dmg image of it's harddrive and I was just wondering if this would prove to be worth it, as it appears to be take a day or two to create the image uncompressed.

Though I'm competent in repairing Windows / Linux PC's, I'm new to repairing Macs and what I've written above was just my best guess at it.

Update

Trying to create the dmg image failed with the following error:

  Unable to create "Macintosh HD.dmg". (Input / output error)

Tried it again selecting the hard drive instead of the partition...will get back to you on what happens.

If the volume mounts, you may be able to use rsync to back up as many files as you can get. You'll have to make sure you have enough space for them on your iMac G4.

The command you'll run will look like this: (make a new folder on your desktop to put all this in)

rsync -avxr /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/* ~/Desktop/newfolder

This will attempt to move everything inside Macintosh HD to that new folder. It will skip over the things it can't transfer and keep going. With a bad volume like yours, this may be your best bet.

Good luck!


Restore from CCC or Time Machine? I'm getting a replacement Macbook Pro today. I just made a complete backup with Carbon Copy Cloner, and I also have a full Time Machine backup.

Which should I use -- Time Machine backup or CCC -- and how? I want to avoid having to reinstall software and zshell settings and so on as much as possible.

Time Machine would be your best route. Boot the new computer up holding Command + R and then in the Recovery utility, select "Restore from Time Machine backup" - assuming it is a full backup, it should work OK.


Add a hosts file entry without jailbreaking I have an iPad that needs to be able to connect to a server via its short hostname, e.g. http://app instead of http://app.example.com. The network it connects to assigns it a domain name other than example.com so it doesn't work automatically.

Is there a way to add a hosts entry (/etc/hosts) for that server in iOS, or add the appropriate domain name to the resolver search list without jailbreaking?

Use Weblock - AdBlock for iOS app to create a redirect rule from http://app to the IP and port you like.

(Only works when on a WIFI network)


Why "OS X Utilities" is showing instead of "macOS Utilities" whenever I perform recovery mode I have a MacBook Pro (retina, 13”, early 2015) running macOS Catalina 10.15.7 and I want to erase or reformat it.
I’m performing a factory reset and Command + R is not working to show the recovery mode so I used Command + Option + R. Instead of “macOS Utilities,” it shows “OS X Utilities.”
When I clicked the “Disk Utility,” I can’t find the HD disk I’m using.
Can someone please help me on how can I successfully reset my MacBook Pro?
Additional information:

My MacBook Pro built-in keyboard is already faulty. The left Shift key always functioning (meaning always on press) so download Karabiner-Elements to disabled my left Shift key.
I don’t have any external keyboard for MacBook. Sometimes I used a Windows keyboard when needed. I tried to use a Windows keyboard to press the Command + R to enter the recovery mode but no luck that’s why I tried the Internet Recovery (Command + Option + R) using the built-in MacBook Pro keyboard.

I can guess what's happening, but not how to fix it, short of physically disconnecting the keyboard.
The startup commands are…

 Cmd ⌘  R
reinstall the latest macOS that was installed on your Mac, without upgrading to a later version

This first one is in fact loading from your existing recovery partition.
These next two go online for Internet Recovery

 Opt ⌥   Cmd ⌘  R
upgrade to the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac
 Shift ⇧   Opt ⌥   Cmd ⌘  R
reinstall the macOS that came with your Mac, or the version nearest to it that is still available.

Pressing  Opt ⌥   Cmd ⌘  R for the latest OS is adding your stuck shift key (because Karabiner isn't loaded yet to prevent it), meaning you get  Shift ⇧   Opt ⌥   Cmd ⌘  R  which is trying to install a version of the OS (presumably 10.10) too old to read your APFS drive.
I can only guess that  Shift ⇧   Cmd ⌘  R is not being recognised as anything at all.


How to automatically tag file by name or extension I was wondering if there is a way to automatically tag a file as it reaches your computer, like downloads, copying from an external drive, etc. I would like to simulate gmail filters, like labelling every email as it reaches your mail.

I would prefer if we could do this by name, but if it could be done by extension, that would be ok too.

Apple offer Folder Actions to attach AppleScripts to folders. You can attach an AppleScript to perform any task with incoming files to a specific folder.

See Folder Actions Tutorial: Automation, Meet the Filesystem for a tutorial and step-by-step guide.


Yosemite when logged in will not connect to internet (but during system recovery mode will) Upgraded to Yosemite over the weekend and before the upgrade had I no issues with internet connectivity. After upgrading I noticed that I was unable to connect to the internet at home, but presumed it was a random issue and switched it off. On bringing my MacBook into my work I noticed that it would also not connect to the internet connection in work ether via both WiFi and cabled connections, though I could still connect to LAN devices.

The odd thing is that when using the System Recovery screen the internet connection appears to work fine as it was downloading the Yosemite image to reinstall it (though this kept failing because of too many people attempting to download the new release so was unable to attempt a reinstall) which makes me think its more of an issue something added to the recent OS upgrade.

Does anyone else have this issue, or know how to fix it?

Resolved the issue by clean installing the OS.


How to use the rest of my 4GB of RAM? I have a Late 2006 iMac running OS X Lion 10.7.5 with 4GB of RAM, however OS X is software limited to only addressing 3GB of the 4GB installed. I know in Windows when running a 32bit Windows OS with more than 3GB of RAM there were programs that could turn that unused RAM into a RAM disk. Is there any known way to do this in OS X? A 1GB RAM disk would be very useful as the old hard drive in this Mac only averages 40MBps.
Here's a quote from RamDisk Plus 12 for Windows 32bit

  RamDisk Plus 12 has a most unique feature. Our patent pending technology can access memory beyond the limitation imposed by a Windows 32-bit operating system! In other words, RamDisk Plus 12 can use "unmanaged" Windows' memory e.g. above 4GB. It can also use the stubbornly inaccessible memory between 3.2GB and 4GB.

Otherwise if the RAM disk isn't an option is there any other way that wasted 1GB could be put to use?

If I were in your shoes, I would just install a 64 bit version of OS X.  That way your OS could actually use all the RAM you put in, if it really is 64 bit capable. The first 64 bit machines Apple sold, according to my knowledge, were in mid 2007.  If this machine is really 64 bit, then you should just install a 64 bit OS.  But it's more likely that it's 32 bit, so I would just let that extra 0.7GB sit there.

If you really want to create a RAMDISK in Mac, do this:

CREDIT: www.tekrevue.com

By Jim Tanous on May 21, 2013 at 9:00 AM • @mggjimRAM Disks, as the name indicates, are logical storage volumes created using a computer’s memory (RAM) instead of a traditional hard drive or solid state drive. The benefits are easy to understand: RAM operates at speeds far beyond current hard drive technology. But there’s also a major negative: data stored in RAM is not persistent, meaning that it is erased when the RAM loses power due to a reboot, shutdown, or power loss.

Despite this drawback, there are still several situations that can greatly benefit from the speed of a RAM Disk, including using it as a Photoshop scratch area, manipulating large video files, or testing complicated databases. If you’ve got good backups of your data and you’re willing to risk losing the contents of a RAM Disk in the event of a power failure, setting one up is easy and fun. Here’s how.

How Big Should a RAM Disk Be?

The methods for creating RAM Disks, outlined below, will allow you to create a volume of any size. You’ll want to be careful to leave enough RAM available to run your Mac, however; if you use most or all of your RAM for a RAM Disk, the system will begin paging aggressively to the hard drive and overall system performance will plummet.

Therefore, make sure to choose a good ratio between your needs and your overall system memory. In general, it’s wise to keep your RAM Disk at or below 50 percent of your total physical memory. On a Mac with 16 GB of RAM, for example, don’t make your RAM Disk bigger than 8 GB.

Your choice will also depend on what applications you need to run while the RAM Disk is mounted. If you’re doing heavy Photoshop work, for example, you’ll want to leave more memory available for the app. On the other hand, if you’re just muxing video and audio files you can choose a RAM Disk a bit higher than 50 percent of your total memory.

Play around with the tools and techniques below to determine the best choice for your Mac and your needs. Now, it’s time to create the Disk itself. In OS X, there are two primary methods of creating a RAM Disk: the Terminal or an app.

Creating a RAM Disk via Terminal

Open the Terminal app from Applications > Utilities and enter the following command:

diskutil erasevolume HFS+ 'RAM Disk' `hdiutil attach -nomount ram://XXXXX`

Replace the X characters with a number that represents the block size for the total capacity of your RAM Disk. Calculate this number by multiplying your desired size of disk in megabytes by 2048. In our example, we’ll create a 4 GB RAM Disk, which requires a number of 8388608 (4096 * 2048). Input this number in place of the X characters in the command above:

diskutil erasevolume HFS+ 'RAM Disk' `hdiutil attach -nomount ram://8388608`

You can also change the “Ram Disk” name inside the double quotes to another name you prefer. Once you’ve configured the command, press Return to launch it. After a brief moment, the system will create and mount your RAM Disk. You can now read and write to it as you would with any other drive, as long as you remember that any data stored on the disk will be lost after a reboot or power loss.

Creating a RAM Disk with a Third Party App

For an even easier method, you can use a third party app to create a RAM Disk. There are several apps that perform this function, but we’ll use RAM Disk Creator from programmer Florian Bogner.

Download the app and launch it on your Mac. It will ask you two questions: the desired size of your RAM Disk (in bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, or gigabytes) and the name you’d like to assign the disk. We’ll use an 8 GB disk with the unimaginative name “RAM Disk.”

Once you’ve made your choices, simply press “Create RAM Disk” and the disk will mount to your desktop.

With both methods, you can get rid of the RAM Disk by ejecting it or rebooting. Again, make sure that all data on the disk is backed up before doing this; the data will be irrevocably lost once you reboot or lose power.

Benchmarks

The speed of RAM Disks will vary based on the performance level of your Mac’s RAM, but will still outperform traditional HDDs and SSDs by a wide margin. Here’s a performance comparison using a 16 GB RAM Disk on a 2011 27-inch 3.4GHz i7 iMac with a 240GB OWC Mercury Pro 6G SSD.

The OWC SSD can achieve 490MB/s writes and 540MB/s reads, numbers that by normal standards are exceptional. When compared to the performance of a RAM Disk, however, the SSD’s performance isn’t worth a second look. The RAM Disk peaks at about 4.2 gigabytes per second in both reads and writes, and averages about 3.5GB/s throughout the transfer sizes. For disk-intensive tasks, this performance can be a game changer.

Conclusion

As you can see, RAM Disks can offer power users an amazing level of performance, but it cannot be stressed enough the dangers of using volatile memory for data storage. As long as you keep good backups and save your work to a standard hard drive frequently, however, many users may find that the benefits of RAM Disks far outweigh the risks.


Can I lower the minimum volume on my Mac? Even when the volume on my MBP running 10.7.2 is set to only one bar - it is too loud for my use.

When using headphones, the minimum and maximum volume configuration is just fine. This is not the case when using the internal speakers.

How can I set a lower minimum volume on my Mac?

This only gives you one more notch below 1, but it might do as much as you need it to. Use the decrease volume button to lower the volume to 0. Then, press the Mute button once. This will let sound play, but at a lower volume than 1.

Also, you can change the volume in 1/4 increments with the following shortcuts:

⇧ + ⌃ + volume buttons in Snow Leopard
⇧ + option + volume buttons in Lion or later


Terminal command `screen` will not split windows vertically Macs come with screen natively installed, but I seem to have a problem with mine. After running screen and creating another window (ctrl+a, c), the split command (ctrl+a, |) won't do anything. Normally it's suppose to split the terminal vertically into two separate windows (typically used to edit and test in one terminal window).

Any suggestions?

I think what you want is to ctrla,shifts (split first), and then ctrla,tab to switch to the new region.  Now you can ctrla,c to create a new shell in that new region.

If you want vertical split, be sure to check the version of screen that you're running.  According to this Unix SE answer, vertical split is NOT a default feature and needs to be patched in.

The TL;DR of it is: you'll need to download and compile a new screen command with the appropriate patch (or at least a newer version if the patch has been merged into the main project).


This is continually showing in the syslog. I know it's mail generated but what? Oddly recurring message in syslog.
Note that the warning message in Syslog, isn't proceeded by any SASL warnings. Unless "Mail[378]" is exactly that.

Mail[378]: No worthy mechs found

I can't find any solution to this, and basically have no idea what it's referring to? So if anyone knows, I'd love to hear about it. postfi-3.1+dovecot+sasl+tls+mysql on OSX 10.10.3

The problem is from a pam configuration that seems to be generated by Mail.app looking to login when it can't. It is a TLS/SASL problem, that I still haven't got to the bottom of. However - the message has gone away.


VLC won't become default for MP3 or MP4 I have tried a number of times to make VLC Media player the default for MP3 and MP4. I open a file and tick the "Always open with" checkbox, but they still open with iTunes and QuickTime by default respectively. Does anyone know how to fix this?

Try one of these 2 solutions I hope they'll solve your problem:

1-  use "Default Apps" for change every default application.

2- From the Finder, select a MP-4 file, open the Info panel (File ➔ Get Info or ⌘I), select your preferred application and then click Change All…


Missing Disk Image password in Keychain after Time Machine restore I recently restored my HD from Time Machine, and it looks like everything in keychain copied over fine - except for one password for a very important disk image! When I look at my old login.keychain passwords, it's not there either, even though I mounted that image a hundred times from the keychain-saved password. Any idea where it went, or where it was stored?

Figured out the answer. To anyone wondering: the login.keychain file apparently doesn't have all the passwords in it. I had to copy the entire 'Keychains' directory over to my new system for them to show up. Disaster averted!


Where does OSX 10.6 store user specific location data For some reason, whenever websites try to identify my location, my MacBook Pro always gets confused and spits out a location that is not based on my current coordinates, but rather is my hometown, Cleaning browser data didn't help to solve this problem, thus I am thinking it has something to do with OS settings.

Do you know if and where OS could store my incorrect gps coordinates?

Your MacBook Pro does not have a GPS adapter. Geo location usually works on either looking up your IP address and nearby WiFi networks in an online database, while the latter usually gives better results. Location providers keep large databases of all WiFi networks and their location. For example, Google collects them while shooting photos for StreetView and also mobile phones collect them all the time. Looking up your location transfers a list of all networks in range to such a provider who guesses a location based on this list.

If you recently moved to another town, chances are high your own WiFi network moved with you but is still in these databases at the old location. Maybe there aren't more many more networks in range or they are unknown to the location provider. Thus, any geo location lookup returns your hometown as that is the only known spot where this WiFi network existed.

You could try to disable Airport and connect to the internet using a cable. This way the location provider only has your IP address as a fallback. At least this should give you a different result.


I've got a new iPod Touch, do I need a new Apple ID for FaceTime and iMessage We have a Mac, iPad2, 1 iPhone 4, 1 iPhone 4s and now have bought an iPod Touch for my son.

What is the best way for the iPod Touch to be able to sync previuosly download apps and music but enable Facetime and iMessage using his own details as my wife's details are used for her FaceTime/Apple ID?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

In iOS 6, you can set different IDs for Communications (FaceTime, iMessage, etc) and Stores (iTunes, App Store, iBooks Store). Let’s say one@me.com is your wife’s ID, and your son has already created two@me.com for his own use. The steps would be:

Go to Settings > iTunes and App Stores. Sign in with one@me.com.
Go to Settings > FaceTime and sign in with two@me.com.
Go to Settings > Messages and sign in with two@me.com.

Source: http://www.apple.com/icloud/setup/ios.html


How many displays/monitors can a Mac Mini 2012 support? I know the 2012 mini has 2 video outputs but I've seen in the past PCs where one DVI output could be split to two displays.

So is the limit one monitor per physical display port (HDMI & whichever proprietary socket Apple were using that month) or something else?

From Everymac... http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-i7-2.3-late-2012-specs.html

2nd Display Support:    Dual/Mirroring* 2nd Max. Resolution:    2560x1600*

*This model simultaneously supports 1920x1200 on an HDMI or a DVI display (using the included HDMI-to-DVI adapter) and 2560x1600 on a Thunderbolt or Mini DisplayPort display or even a VGA display (with an optional Mini DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter, which is compatible with the Thunderbolt port).


will autocorrect reset when turned off? If I turn autocorrect off for a short amount of time, will it forget the corrections it knows? on an iPod touch 5th generation, it will often mess with audio, and I would like to turn it on and off, but I am worried it will get rid of certain phrases that it autocorrects because of me using them so much.

The dictionary will NOT reset from turning off auto correct. (i.e. Settings > General > Keyboards > Auto Correct)

To reset the dictionary visit Settings > General > Reset > Reset Keyboard Dictionary


How can I drag and drop email attachments in Mail on Lion? I use Mail.app on Lion with Classic View enabled so it works like it did in Snow Leopard.

When an email comes in with an attachment, I used to be able to select one or more attachments and drag them to my desktop.  In Lion, it looks like I have to click "Save" and then choose a location for the file.

How can I drag and drop email attachments in Lion?

If the answer is I can't, then can someone explain why the change?  Having to click the "save" drop down, click an attachment, choose a directory in the pop-up, and then click the "save" button is much more work than drag-and-drop (and it feels decidedly Windows-esq, frankly).

I had this problem and tried restarting Finder in the Force Quit menu, and my drag/drop functionality came back.


System fonts don't display in Pages 5.5 As much as I hate the new Pages, I use it because it was a resource all my devices could update/re-upload before Microsoft Office came out on iOS devices. However, there are some fonts missing that are clearly OS installed.

Furthermore, it's valid, in my Font Book and in my System > Library > Fonts folder. I use it in Xcode and am trying to create a PDF in Pages to include in my application, so naturally, keeping the same font would be fluid and professional. However, it's not displaying as an option to choose and there is no preferences settings for fonts and I've tried repairing disk as a just-in-case measure. All my custom installed fonts display as an option to choose in pages but not select system fonts. this is not pages in iCloud Any suggestions?

EDIT: Not that it would matter, because it's more than this one specific font, but the font in question is 'Heiti TC Light' [an OS installed Font]. I just know I'll get a comment asking this. But again, it's more than this one.

Try looking for these fonts in Format > Font > Show Fonts.  That should always give you a full list even if the dropdown menu inside Pages for some reason does not.


Is there any way to make apps with fixed vertical orientation rotate? A number of apps on my iPad (iPad Air 2, iOS 12.3) are designed so that they won't rotate--they are vertically oriented only with the camera at the top of the screen. Is it possible to get these apps to rotate so that the camera is at the bottom?

An iOS app can be programmed to support any one, more or all of the following orientation modes:

Portrait
Upside Down
Landscape Left
Landscape Right

If talking about the portrait mode(s), while the apps targeting iPhone are generally configured to only support Portrait mode (front camera at the top), the ones for iPad support both Portrait and Upside Down (front camera at the bottom) mode.

If the app is question is programmed to only support Portrait mode, there is no way for the user to also make it work in Upside Down mode.


Shortcuts-app automation to prevent iPhone screen from going to sleep I was recently playing around a bit with the new Shortcuts app on the iPhone.

Is there an action to "prevent screen from going to sleep". Ideally, I'd want to activate it when a certain app is running. While the condition is easy to set, I can't find any way to then assign a "prevent sleeping" action.

As a workaround, I'd use combination of Low-power mode and Auto-Lock after t time.

In Display and Brightness Settings, you can set auto-lock to 1-5 minutes or never. Now since this might drain battery, use low power mode when your "condition is not met". This locks the auto-lock timer to 30 seconds.

Low power mode has its own cons, like some syncs disabled, reduced brightness etc.


OSX 10.9.5 - different keyboard layouts per application From what I see in the Googles, there used to be a way to set it so that each application/window could have its own keyboard layout.  I have two different apps, and I need different layouts for each one (Dvorak for one, and US for the other).

It seems like that feature may have been removed sometime between the stuff I'm seeing in Google and the current 10.9.5 version.  Is there another way to accomplish this now?

I use the keyboard switching as well.

To do that I just click on the menu bar Input source name Icon and select the keyboard I need.

That assumes you set the Input Sources in your sys pref key board, and you can choose the Automatically switch to documents input source as well if you prefer.

Auto switch:

  Choose an input source for a document and have it used every time you
  work in the document until you close it, even if you switch to other
  documents that use other input sources in the meantime.

  This option appears only when you add a second input source.


How to bind hostname with ip? There are 2 VMs running on VMWare on a remote server. For instance: devops-01 and devops-02. Both of them have SSH access enabled.
To access to the first one I do: ssh dev@devops-01. For the other one: ssh dev@192.168.80.y (y sometimes changes).

Normally I only used devops-01 and rarely the other one. Today, it all changed. Ideally I would like to access both VMs like this: ssh dev@devops-<ID>. But, I'm sure that involves calling the server guy and he's on vacations. So, I thought in "switching" my VMs settings.

I copied all the settings from System Preferes > Network > Ethernet from the devops-01 and pasted them to the devops-02 corresponding settings. (IP, Subnet Mask, Router, DNS Server, Search Domains are the same).
I also went to System Preferences > Sharing and edited the computer name on devops-02. (So now, it says devops-01).
Then, I stoped the old devops-01 VM. And now, I have the old devops-02 VM running, supplanting devops-01. BUT ping devops-01says that there is no route to it. Of course it works fine using the ip. But, that's not my intention.

What am I doing wrong?

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but you'd like a hostname to direct you to a specific IP address of your choice. If so, edit the hosts file located in /etc/hosts by adding a line like this below the localhost entry:

123.45.67.89 devops-01

Again, correct me if I'm misunderstanding you.


How do check that uninstalling Macports won't break things? Its been over a year since I installed Macports for Ruby. I want to uninstall but I can't remember if I was using for anything crucial. Can I get a nice list of ports that was directly installed?

Macports documents how to uninstall it

Uninstall the ports by

sudo port -fp uninstall installed

Then remove all the files

sudo rm -rf \
    /opt/local \
    /Applications/DarwinPorts \
    /Applications/MacPorts \
    /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.macports.* \
    /Library/Receipts/DarwinPorts*.pkg \
    /Library/Receipts/MacPorts*.pkg \
    /Library/StartupItems/DarwinPortsStartup \
    /Library/Tcl/darwinports1.0 \
    /Library/Tcl/macports1.0 \
    ~/.macports


MacOS Sierra: I forgot my password but have the SSD's Filevault recovery key. Can I reset my password? I'm on MacOS Sierra. I forgot my password, but I have the SSD's FileVault recovery key. I used the "Recovery Key" account recovery method when I set up FileVault, so I can't use iCloud to unlock my account. Is there a way that I can reset my password and keep my data? Is there a way I can mount the drive and use the command line to reset only my account password and keychain?

Please refer to this Support document by Apple:

Reset using your Recovery Key (FileVault must be on)
If FileVault is turned on and you have a FileVault Recovery Key, you can use that key to reset your password.

At the login screen, keep entering a password until you see a message saying that you can reset your password using your Recovery Key. If you don't see the message after three attempts, FileVault isn't on.

Click >  next to the message. The password field changes to a Recovery Key field.

Enter your Recovery Key. Use uppercase characters, and include the hyphens.

Follow the onscreen instructions to create a new password, then click Reset Password when done.

Determine whether to create a new login keychain.

If you can't log in with your new password after restarting your Mac, take these additional steps:

Restart again, then immediately hold down Command-R or one of the other macOS Recovery key combinations until you see the Apple logo or a spinning globe.
When you see the macOS Utilities window, choose Utilities > Terminal from the menu bar.
In the Terminal window, type `resetpassword, then press Return to open the Reset Password assistant pictured above.
Select ”My password doesn't work when logging in,” then click Next and follow the onscreen instructions for your user account.


APFS with external hard drives (non SSD) I bought a new external hard drive for my Mac. What is the best file system in 2021 to format the external hard drive?
I would like to encrypt the hard drive and I only use it with Macs so I don't need Windows compatibility. I used to format external drives with encrypted APFS but I heard it's not the best file system for spinning hard drives, only for SSDs.
Has anyone experience with this? Pros and cons? Should I use APFS or HFS+ for external hard drives? Thank you!

For HDD, if you are not going to install macOS, then use a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or  Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) format. When using a hard drive just to store files, APFS or APFS (Encrypted) could also be used. The main advantage to APFS is more APFS volumes can be easily added or removed.
In your case, open the Disk Utility. Press the ⌘+2 key combination. Highlight the external drive. Select the Erase button and choose the format and scheme given below. Note: High Sierra (macOS 10.13.6) was using in this example.

The Disk Utility will create a small hidden FAT32 formatted EFI partition followed by a JHFS+ formatted partition. In order to allow encryption, the JHFS+ formatted partition will be converted to a Core Storage partition and a small hidden JHFS+ formatted partition will be added.
The output from the command diskutil list external after erasing a 16 GB flash drive is shown below.
/dev/disk1 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *15.5 GB    disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage Untitled                15.2 GB    disk1s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk1s3

/dev/disk2 (external, virtual):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS MyExternalVolume       +14.8 GB    disk2
                                 Logical Volume on disk1s2
                                 C9787C76-7FAA-4E41-AFEC-4F3D8F2AC9CE
                                 Unlocked Encrypted


View machine name on login screen Is there a way to view the machine name on the Yosemite login screen?

It's been a few versions, I believe, since this was a default.

Open up the terminal.app and run the following command.

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow AdminHostInfo HostName

This will show your computer name, IP, and OS version (build).  By default this isn't visible on the login screen until you click on the clock in the top right.  Clicking on the clock will toggle through the information.


Mac OS X can't be installed on this computer when I tried to downgrade from 10.9.4 to 10.9.3 I need to downgrade my Macbook from 10.9.4 to 10.9.3 but I'm getting this error when it tries to install the Mac OS "Mac OS X can't be installed on this computer"

Any of you knows how can I downgrade the Mac OS version without this error?

Apple's OS doesn't downgrade. You will need to back up your files and apps to an external location and then wipe the main partition using recovery mode.

At that point, you can run the 10.9.3 installer - but again, the migration of the user data will be by hand since the assistant won't load the newer files onto the older OS.

Your best bet might be to install 10.9.3 on to an external drive and test changing the home folder location from the new install to point at the old drive (after it's backed up of course) and making a list of apps that have failed.

At that point, you can ask one by one for help if a quick search doesn't yield an answer to those specific issues. Most apps should work fine with such a small regression.


Change Copy and Paste behaviour system-wide I would like to enhance the global copy/paste behaviour with an additional action.  In particular, I often use Growl to display custom notifications.  From the command line, I can use the growlnotify executable to display something like this:

$ growlnotify -a "Google Chrome" -m "Text Copied" "Google Chrome"

I'd like to somehow modify the global copy/paste behaviour to create a Growl notification like this no matter where I perform the operation and no matter what I'm copying (text, files, etc.).  Is this possible using Automator/AppleScript (I'm only vaguely familiar with AppleScript)?  Or something else?

You can use applications like Keyboard Maestro (my preference), FastScripts, Spark to run a script which displays notification every time you press Cmd+C, or Cmd+V. Below is the Copy script which posts notification in Growl. Though you could also post these to OS X notification centre too.

tell application "System Events"
    set foremostApplication to name of first process where it is frontmost
end tell
tell application "Growl"
    register as application "Pasteboard Notifier" all notifications {"Copied", "Pasted"} default notifications {"Copied"}
    notify with name "Copied" title "Copied!" description "New Clipboard Item" application name "Pasteboard Notifier" icon of application foremostApplication
end tell

I tried creating a service through Automator, and binding that to Cmd+C; it didn't seem to work. You'd be better of using a app made to do this kind of work.

Edit: 05/11/15

I noticed that service created via the method above did work in Steam, while not in other Applications. I think because it doesn't have the Edit menu hence no Cut, Copy, and Paste items either. The application shortcuts probably get precedence over services linked to same shortcuts.


How to disable the discrete graphics card on a mid 2010 MacBook Pro on El Capitan? I have a mid-2010 MacBook Pro that suffers from the flawed Nvidia chip.
Using gfxCardStatus to force the use of integrated graphics works most of the time. But every once in a while Mail.app or some browser content (e.g. FB 360 videos) will force discrete mode and cause a GPU panic and subsequent reboot.

I'm looking for a way to disable the discrete graphics so it always uses integrated.

I found this and tried to follow most of the steps
http://www.asyncro.com/2014/03/24/macbook-pro-discreate-graphics-card-issue-fix-updated/

I had to boot into recovery mode first and use csrutil disable to disable the new system protection in El Capitan in order to move files.

And I assumed I needed to move the GeForce*.* instead of AMD*.* files.

But the command to rebuild the kextcache isn't working in El Capitan.

That is neither a permanent solution nor it disables discrete graphics card, you will end up with very slow graphics that make your computer unusable for everyday work.

I answered this other question with the full procedure to permanently disable discrete graphics card on startup.


How to I bulk remove pages using a wildcard search from Safari History on OS X? I changed jobs recently and I hate having the auto-complete to bring me addresses that I don't really need and I want to remove the entire domain from my history and books marks?

Like removing *.acme.com/* from history and optionally bookmarks.

I was able to sort the problem out, what I was missing was the search button which seems to be very small in located in the bottom-right corner, instead of the top-right like in all other windows.


Spell check multiple languages at the same time, at the same input field? Is there an option to somehow combine multiple languages at the same spell check "session"? Form what I can find under Keyboard > Text it seems that there are only two options
1) Chose one specific language
2) Allow to detect language by text that is written

I do often mix words from multiple languages and it is very annoying that I have text that has red line under words. I do not want to turn off spellcheck entirely. I still need to verify that what I have written is correct. I just need to combo my preferred languages.

The best you can do for apps that use the Apple facilities is to go to system preferences/keyboard/text/spelling/setup (at the bottom of the list) and check the boxes for only those languages you want to check, and then set it to "automatic".

How well it works for your particular requirements can only be determined by testing.  As far as I know, multilingual only works with languages for which dictionaries are provided by Apple.

Some apps like MS Word have their own spellcheck systems.


Right Click Drag with Magic Trackpad Is it possible to perform a "right click drag" with a Magic Trackpad?  What gestures/settings do I need to accomplish this?

I don't like pressing hard to drag, I use the 3-finger-drag gesture. With this it is easy to right-drag, just hold ctrl on the keyboard and drag with three fingers on the Trackpad.


Create a new partition after Bootcamp I've installed Windows with the Boot Camp Assistant Tool but I want to create a third parition to install Ubuntu. On the Mac I can't change the volume size, is not that i receive some error, is just don't give me the ability to shrink it. If i try to resize the Windows partition from Windows (so to get some free space from there), Windows says that the maximum aviable space that can be reduced is 600 MB (even if I have 30 GB free on Bootcamp partition). Is there a way to create another partition without deleting Bootcamp?

Winclone is the OS X software to backup and restore the Windows OS on a BootCamp partition.  http://twocanoes.com/winclone/

It lets you escape Apple's restriction to only have two OS partitions on a drive. You still might have to delete bootcamp, but you can then restore it in working form after you've re-done the boot drive partitioning to your liking.

Also see this question for core storage complications:

Can't reduce size of OSX partition in bootcamp


Deleted apps in iTunes. Can I transfer them from iPhone? I've deleted apps from my iTunes.

Can I transfer them somehow from my iPhone? Or I should re-download them one by one?

When I try to sync my iPhone, iTunes want's to delete apps…

If you right click the iPhone in the list on the left there should be an option to transfer purchases. Click that and it should transfer all your apps to your computer.


Wifi Problems when Notebook not connected to power source I have a Macbook Pro 2016 that is connected to 2 external monitors via Thunerbolt. When my Macbook is not connected to power supply, I can connect to the wifi with good signal strength but loading websites (or sending a ping) takes forever.

But when I plug in the power supply, the websites suddenly load instantly.

The problem does not occur when my 2 external monitors aren't connected.

Any ideas why this problem occurs?

First thing is to reset the SMC. Shutdown your Mac, the press & hold ShiftCtrlOptionPower for 10 seconds, then boot normally.

When you see a behavior change due to changes in power supply (plugging in a MacBook for example), chances are it's an SMC issue.

You can get more info by reviewing Resetting Your SMC


Please recommend a good technical design tool for iPad or OS X I'm looking for a tool that will allow me to create isometric and flattened designs. I'm looking for an application that allows designing of engineering projects for wood working.

I've spent a lot of money looking for an app but most are tools for sketching and artwork orientated.

Some features I'm really looking for are:

Easy to use
Isometric and flat views for same design to be shown
Vector based design, allowing me to resize, move objects individually
Measurement and scale support, allowing me to specify a scale and then size elements based on that scale (in metric notation)
Layers support would be preferred to allow measurements to be supplied on a separate layer

I don't want an overly complex tool, I just want a nice tool to do the job of creating designs alleviating the need for me to use pencil and paper.

If you haven't already, check out Google Sketchup. I don't think its on iOS yet, but it is lovely in its simplicity, short learning curve and flexibility. There are tons of YouTube clips showing off features and tutorials.


How can I use one AppleID for Contacts, Calendar etc, but an other for purchases? BACKGROUND
Many years ago when I first got an iPod I created an AppleID, which my wife and I shared for AppStore purchases.

When Apple changed the system, we created new AppleID to use for iCloud synchronisation for Contacts etc.
We continued to use the original AppleID for purchases, which were all done through iTunes.

Now that iTunes no longer works for purchases I have been updating apps on line.

I wanted to install a new (free) app on my iPhone. This prompted for the password for my new AppleID, which I entered.
I now seem to have one app on my new AppleID, and all the others on the original AppleID.

  How can I configure my devices to use the new AppleID for Contacts, Calendar etc, but use the original AppleID for purchases?

Logging off the new then logging on the new seems to take forever, and wants to overwrite all my data.

PS The original AppleID has Family Sharing setup.

The iPhone is running iOS 10.3.2

When I go to Settings this shows

iCloud: new AppleID
Store: original AppleID

below this it shows

iCloud: new AppleID
iTunes & App Store: original AppleID
Family Sharing: my name & my wife's name

I see no "person" icon on the top right, and when I click on Updates this prompts me for the password for my new AppleID

"Purchases" in the App Store shows

My Purchases

Family Purchases
my wife's name
my name

The apps in My Purchases and Family Purchases my name seem the same!

On the iPhone, open the App Store. Click the "person" icon on the top right. This will allow you to log out from your new Apple ID, and then login with your old Apple ID.

This will not overwrite any date, nor will it change which Apple ID is used for contacts, calendar, iCloud or anything like that. It will only change which Apple ID is used for purchases on the App Store (including downloading of free apps).


Macbook Pro Wi-Fi problems after Yosemite 10.10.5 update I've had my Macbook Pro for about a year now. It is a late 2013 Retina model running Yosemite. Until a few days ago, its Wi-Fi worked fine. However, after the 10.10.5 update, its Wi-Fi has become very slow and drops packets unless I'm a foot away from my wifi router. When I'm in my usual location of the next room, ping times go up to hundreds of milliseconds.

shanglin$ ping 192.168.1.1
PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1): 56 data bytes
Request timeout for icmp_seq 0
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=944.501 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=325.487 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=78.760 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=126.286 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 5
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=41.813 ms
^C
--- 192.168.1.1 ping statistics ---
8 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 37.5% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 41.813/303.369/944.501/335.189 ms

None of the other devices on my Wi-Fi network are having a problem. I've tried removing plist files from SystemConfiguration, and I've turned off Bluetooth.

My Wi-Fi router is a Cisco E1200 running 802.11n on the 2.4GHz band. I don't think it can run on the 5GHz band. I've tried updating the router's firmware to the latest, but it has not helped.

Any suggestions that could help?

Jeez, those ping results are terrible.

I'm on El Capitan now, but I can relate to your frustrations about the wifi. My macbook pro is a late 2012 model. I travel with my laptop and rely on it as my phone. It was a real show stopper when wifi would completely bork on the road as in not letting me connect to open SSIDs.

I made this extreme script to wipe out wifi settings and it worked for me, but it is a pain to re-enter ssid/passwords etc and for some reason the problem would show up every now and then.

For me, if wi-fi doesn't work what's the point of having a keychain? I just wanted it to work, so I was willing to wipe things out to make it so. Mac OSX will create new clandestine defaults, but obviously if you want your passwords to friend's wifi etc, backup your keychain.

You can try the script but be warned, it may not fix your problem, it may even make things worse. I do not accept responsibility for use of this script. Please look at the files and directories it is deleting.

Alternately copy and paste everything but the "#!/bin/sh" bit and run it in a terminal, I have it in script form because it was a recurring issue for me on Yosemite, the problem went away when I either upgraded or clean installed Mavericks (can't remember which I did), so I would consider upgrading your OS to Mavericks possibly. El Capitan is still painful right now with bugs and so on, but at least wifi works.

#!/bin/sh
cd /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration
rm com.apple.accounts.exists.plist
rm com.apple.airport.preferences.plist
rm com.apple.captive.probe.plist
rm com.apple.network.eapolclient.configuration.plist
rm com.apple.smb.server.plist
rm NetworkInterfaces.plist
rm preferences.plist


How can I write to Notification Center from a launchd command? I've got a plist set to run at a set interval, and have put it in /Library/LaunchDaemons like so:

/Library/LaunchDaemons $ ll macports_update_notifier.plist
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel    55B  5 Sep 13:47 macports_update_notifier.plist@ -> /Users/seron/bin/macports/macports_update_notifier.plist

The problem is that it doesn't seem to execute.
Here's the plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
    <dict>
        <key>HOME</key>
        <string>/Users/seron</string>
    </dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>macports_update_notifier</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Users/seron/bin/macports/macports_notificaton.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>StartInterval</key>
    <integer>300</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

I loaded it with sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/macports_update_notifier.plist.

Here's what sudo launchctl list macports_update_notifier produces:

{
    "Label" = "macports_update_notifier";
    "LimitLoadToSessionType" = "System";
    "OnDemand" = true;
    "LastExitStatus" = 0;
    "TimeOut" = 30;
    "ProgramArguments" = (
        "/Users/seron/bin/macports/macports_notificaton.sh";
    );
};

The script executes in about a second and works fine when run on its own. It needs to run as root.

I'm using OS X 10.8.1. What could be the problem?

edit:

My script runs terminal-notifier which is command line tool to display notifications in Mountain Lion and this is where the daemon bails.

#!/bin/sh
/opt/local/bin/terminal-notifier -message 'output' -group 'debug'

I found that the daemon runs fine if it's not loaded with sudo. One difference is that launchctl load test.plist reports "LimitLoadToSessionType" = "Aqua" instead of "System". However if I set LimitLoadToSessionType to Aqua in the plist and load with sudo launchctl refuses to load it displaying nothing found to load. It needs to run as root however because it updates the macports database.

update

I think I've found the reason why a GUI can't be launched by a daemon; Mac Developer Library, Daemons and Agents. An agent can do that. In my case, it needs to communicate with the daemon in order to display information whenever the daemon has updated macports. Now the question is, How do I make the agent ask and the daemon answer?

You can send to Notification Centre using Applescript (osascript )in you shell script.

There is a very good thread here that explains the various ways of either running only Applescript as a shell script or being able to mix applescript in with bash, for example.

I created a shell script with:

#!/bin/bash
theDate=`date '+DATE: %m/%d/%y TIME:%H:%M:%S'`

osascript -e "display notification \"$theDate\" with title \"test 1\" subtitle \" sub 1\""

I then created a LaunchDaemon in the same way you have and loaded it without sudo.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>notifTest</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/Users/userName/Documents/notify.sh</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>StartInterval</key>
    <integer>90</integer>
</dict>
</plist>

Every 90 seconds I get a notification:

The notification icon you will notice is the Script Editors one. Which means the Notification is controlled by the Script Editors Notification settings in Notification Centre


XQuartz startup very slow I use Xquartz.app (latest stable version, 2.77) fairly regularly. In Yosemite (fresh install) I've noticed that it takes a long time to start up (I've got a SSD so it shouldn't take so long to launch).

Here's the relevant part of my Console:

30.10.14 17:51:05,527 com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx[2371]) Endpoint has been activated through legacy launch(3) APIs. Please switch to XPC or bootstrap_check_in(): org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx
30.10.14 17:51:05,593 org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx[2371]: lockfile: Sorry, giving up on "/opt/X11/var/run/font_cache.lock"
30.10.14 17:51:05,594 org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx[2371]: font_cache is already running.
30.10.14 17:51:05,594 org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx[2371]: If you believe this to be erroneous, please remove /opt/X11/var/run/font_cache.lock.
30.10.14 17:51:05,752 org.macosforge.xquartz.startx[2363]: xauth:  file /Users/lucas/.serverauth.2364 does not exist
30.10.14 17:51:17,821 org.macosforge.xquartz.startx[2363]: /opt/X11/bin/xinit: XFree86_VT property unexpectedly has 0 items instead of 1

Does anyone know what the problem might be / how I can fix it?

Thanks!

Some software creates lock files to indicate to other pieces of software that a resource is being used. In theory they will delete the lock file once they are done using the resource. However if they crash they can end up leaving the lock file behind.

This is what is happening here. XQuartz is launching and wants to update the font cache but it sees the font_cache.lock file so thinks the font cache is already being updated. Most likely it isn't and it just crashed the last time it ran, leaving the lock file behind.

Just delete the /opt/X11/var/run/font_cache.lock file and try XQuartz again.


Libreoffice Vanilla on Mac Has LibreOffice Vanilla been removed from the App Store? In Belgium I get a message that this app is not available in your country or region. A few weeks ago it was there.
LibreOffice Vanilla on App Store
Is there another way of installing LibreOffice on Mac that has automatic updates?

Check the homebrew project. There are lots of applications available in "casks." You need to be a little familiar with the command line, but if LibreOffice doesn't have auto-update built in, this might be your best bet.


Why is there a AnonymousIdentifier_AD7E5BED-EF7F-59A7-856F-6984BE798469.plist file in CrashReporter folder? I found a file AnonymousIdentifier_AD7E5BED-EF7F-59A7-856F-6984BE798469.plist in my /Library/Application Reporter/CrashReporter folder.

The content of that plist included a dictionary with key AnonHostUUID2 and a long hexadecimal string value.

What would create this file, and why?

CrashReporter creates those files for later uploading to Apple's servers. The files contain anonymous information (hence the prefix AnonymousIdentifier) about the crashes to help Apple diagnose and fix problems.


Which path to upgrade from Mac OS X 10.6 (10A432)? In my "old" Mac mini I substituted the HDD with an SDD and added more RAM.

I reinstalled Mac OS from the only CD I actually have, version 10.6 (I think it's Snow Leopard, has a version code '10A432'.

I tried to upgrade directly to the latest Mac OS High Sierra 10.13, but it failed, my system hangs while finishing installation after first or second reboot.

Official Tech Specs

https://support.apple.com/kb/SP577?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Model Info

Part Number: MC238T/A
Model Number: A1283
Mac Mini 2.26/2X1G/160/SD/AP/BT - ITA

SW information

Mac OS X 10.6 (10A432)
Kernel Darwin 10.0.0

Questions

What's the maximum jump I can do in a single step?
Where can I legally download (and buy if needed) the DVD with the needed OS version?

You most probably have this model which can be upgraded to 10.11.

Apple has a support article describing the steps required to upgrade from 10.6.8 to 10.11. Basically you update up to 10.6.8 and then get the installer from the App Store.


iMac 5k internal SSD vs external SSD performance Can anyone point me in the direction of a real-world performance comparison between a iMac 5k's internal SSD and an external one (ideally one on thunderbolt and one on usb)? Basically, I want to know how much performance I'd give up by buying a smaller built in SSD and putting most data on an external.

Update

I guess ideally what I want is something like http://www.macworld.com/article/2039427/how-fast-is-usb-3-0-really-.html but for the iMac 5k (so including Thunderbolt 2) and with the internal drive included for comparison.

A comment asked what specific SSD models:

Internal - Whatever Apple ships I guess
External - Let's say a Samsung 850 EVO (http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-ssds).

But if the answer is literally 'there's no performance benefit to the disk being internal; that answers the real question (but I'd still love to see numbers).

Update 2

http://www.newegg.com/global/au/Product/SingleProductReview.aspx?ReviewID=4066303 suggests that reviewer found a big gap between an SSD in that specific thunderbolt enclosure and the MacPro's internal PCIe SSD - Is that more likely a limitation of the case or disk inside it (in which case how can I base avoid that?), or would that be likely to apply in my case as well?

Because the maximum throughput of any port on the iMac 5k Late 2015 is only 10Gbps (Thunderbolt 2), no external storage solution can match the internal SSD's speeds.

The short answer is that you would give up a lot of performance.
The internal SSD can transfer data at about a couple GB/s.
An external Samsung 850 Pro 512GB via a self-powered USB 3.0 docking station runs at about 400MB/s during CrystalDiskMark sequential transfer benchmark on an exFAT partition.

That said, for running macOS and applications, the difference between the internal SSD and an external SSD is much less noticeable than that between an SSD and a traditional HDD. Unless you are constantly moving large files on and off your drive, an external SSD won't feel much slower subjectively than the internal SSD.

You did not specify how much data you have or your budget, so I cannot give specific recommendations. But in general, I put macOS and applications on an internal SSD. I would figure out how many GBs macOS and all my applications would consume, and choose an SSD of appropriate size.

If you really value the drive being internal and need large capacity on a budget, consider the 2TB or 3TB Fusion Drive. They have a 128GB SSD built in and intelligently find and put the data you access the most frequently on the SSD portion. The 1TB Fusion Drive only has a 24GB SSD so is less attractive

Thunderbolt 2 enclosures doesn't make much sense

True, an SATA SSD could be bottlenecked by USB 3.0. But not significantly so. That is because SATA itself tops out at 6 Gbps (SATA3), not much more than USB 3.0's 5 Gbps.

For the same reason, even though Thunderbolt 2 eliminates the link bottleneck, the benefit would be small because now the bottleneck is on the SSD side, which is 6 Gbps.

There are PCIe NVMe SSDs (the internal SSD falls into this category), which are faster than SATA SSDs. But to use those externally you still have two problems:

Thunderbolt 2 tops out at 10Gbps, slower than what the internal SSD and other PCIe NVMe SSDs are capable of.
There are few (none?) Thunderbolt 2 to PCIe NVMe SSD enclosures. The StarTech product you linked to takes SATA drives.

All Thunderbolt 2 enclosures I have come across are ridiculously expensive, including the one you linked to, especially considering the limited performance gains. You would be much better off spending the money on upgrading the internal SSD.


get a notification when my machine is pinged I'd like to be able to be notified in any way (sound, notification, growl, etc) when someone pings my machine.

Is that possible?

Little Snitch may have the feature you want. It allows you to set up rules on network traffic, both inbound and outbound, mostly for blocking unwanted traffic, but I believe it can perform arbitrary actions such as notification for specific rules and types of traffic like ICMP pings.

There's a trial version that you can use to test.

I have no affiliation with Little Snitch or the company behind it.


Copy a table in a Microsoft Word document, using AppleScript I have several hundred MS Word documents containing a single table in each. I need to copy the table, paste into Preview and save as jpeg. I can get Word to find the table, but cannot get the "copy object..." command to work. Suggestions welcome!
tell application "Microsoft Word"
    activate
    tell document 1
        count (tables)
        --  set firstTable to item 1 of tables — this does not work. Why?
        set table_list to tables
        set firstTable to item 1 of table_list
        tell firstTable
            allow page breaks
            -- allow page breaks (false) -- syntax error, () not allowed. Why?
            set allow page breaks to false -- This does not work either.
            allow page breaks
        end tell
        select firstTable -- this works! Now what?
        copy object firstTable --error -1708; doesnt understand "copy object"
    end tell
end tell

I simplified the example and was able to find a solution to the invalid "copy object xxx" command syntax. I still don't understand the the actual format for "copy object ..." in Word, but this works!
Script to select the first Table in an MS Word document and copy it to the Clipboard. Can be enhanced to read a folder of documents and process each one. Using list of tables can process multiple tables in a doc.
tell application "Microsoft Word"
activate
    set firstTable to table 1 of active document
    select firstTable
    copy object selection
end tell


Set Keystroke for Service from Terminal I created some services to be used in Finder. Now I wanted to create some keystrokes to call these services. That would be easy in the System Settings, however, I would like to add them from the command line in order to automate this setup.

I tried the following which did allow me not trigger the services by a keystroke:

defaults write com.apple.Finder NSUserKeyEquivalents '{ "label-red" = "$@1"; "label-green" = "$@2"; "label-none" = "$@0"; }'

Any ideas to make this work? Instead of com.apple.Finder I might have to use another identifier, but which?

You can use PlistBuddy and defaults:

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'Delete NSServicesStatus:"(null) - test2 - runWorkflowAsService"' ~/Library/Preferences/pbs.plist 2>/dev/null;defaults write pbs NSServicesStatus -dict-add '"(null) - test2 - runWorkflowAsService"' '{key_equivalent = "^~@2";}'

The PlistBuddy command is not needed if there is not an existing entry for the service. Replace test2 with the name of the service. Quit and reopen applications to apply the changes.

^~@2 is control-option-command-2. See https://web.archive.org/web/20161220060333/http://osxnotes.net/keybindings.html.


How to update Windows 7 and Parallels Desktop 9 before updating to El Capitan I'm using a Mac for about 3 years now and updating OS X has never been an issue because it's free, but since I installed Parallels Desktop v9 and Windows 7 I'm reading issues about their compatibility on OS X 10.11 El Capitan where they are both not supported.

So upon coming to this issue I would rather ask an expert to tell me how to do it right and which should I upgrade first without damaging any of my files? Please kindly assist me step-by-step on how to do it properly.

You should probably keep your apps up to date before installing an OS that you know will be incompatible with their older versions.

Take a Time Machine backup of everything.
Update Parallels through this link. You'll get it for $49.99 (as opposed to $79.99) because you're upgrading from a relatively recent version.
Open the new Parallels and play around with your files to make sure everything works.
Once you're satisfied that the new version of Parallels works, take a new Time Machine backup.
Install El Capitan.

Good luck!


My iPhone / apple account might be hacked/ infected, looking for clarification and advice Today I accidentally opened the Mail App on my iPhone after many years, never used it but it is connected to my apple ID/ iCloud. When it opened I noticed it had around 40 emails started. Each one was a 'compose a new message' window and each one only had the 'to' email address filled in, nothing else.

This is an old iPhone 4s, running iOS 8 - not my main phone, keeping it for nostalgia more than anything.

This could have been several years of me accidentally tapping on peoples email addresses, and the app automatically opens this - and me never cancelling those, they just built up. However I don't recognise any of those email addresses and they were personal email addresses I don't recognise.

I've checked my iCloud account and the linked hotmail/outlook account from my laptop and it doesn't look like any emails were sent or received from the account, other than my own emails (which were only about 4 or 5 in total) - so no suspicious activities there.

So either a bunch of emails and the 'to' field was started and filled in and nothing else happened or the traces of sent emails were somehow deleted - which I don't know if that's possible.

Could this be a virus/malware? Is this a known issue/ bug?

EDIT: I've also check the iCloud/apple ID and when I sign in, I get a permission request on my mac and a code is displayed which I have to enter to log in - so if anyone had entered my account, I would have know from my mac. Right?

Tons of mails in a draft state is how things worked before IMAP and mail sync on iOS got better at handling this. Especially with gmail, this was a routine thing - dozens of drafts saved (littered) along the way.

I think you are fine if you know you have a secure password, aren’t seeing actual mails sent and can delete the mails. Extra bonus on the multi factor / alert, but older iOS devices might be grandfathered in as trusted, so perhaps change that in iCloud if you want a little extra resistance from this device without wiping it or signing out.

If you’re paranoid, erase all content and settings on the device, but just the presence of 40 to 100 drafts seems harmless in my experience. Without some other indicator you lost control of the device or the account credentials, I’d just keep it in mind and watch things.


How can i delete the 13.2gb photo library off of my phone? I have already gone through the creating an empty folder and synced just that folder and when that didn't work I unselected the box to sync photos and that also did not resolve my issue.  I'm at a loss on how to remove the data from my iPhone5.  I currently have 250 photos/videos on my phone that are just over 2gb...I would really appreciate help clearing out such a large portion of my harddrive

Try going to iCloud settings on the phone and turn off the Photos Sync setting. Then delete the photos from the phone.


After upgrading to High Sierra NTFS format mobile HDD fails to load I encountered a problem after upgrading to High Sierra. I have a mobile hard drive which is NTFS formatted (USB 3.0).

When I connect my hard drive to the computer, it doesn't appear in Finder. It can be found in the Disk Utility but it is grayed out. Mobile hard disk is working properly because in other windows computer connection is fine, before the upgrade (macOS 10.12) can also be displayed in finder.

Hardware: MacBook Pro 13 2017 16 GB RAM & 256 GB SSD without Touch Bar.

I also have similar problem, but luckily, it can read the drives. Perhaps your drive was not mounted. Now I temporarily use virtual Windows through VirtualBox to write to the drives while waiting for a complete solution.

My machine is iMac late 2015.


How much space does Apple music offline songs take up? I have a Macbook Pro with 120 GB storage. As i have limited space i was wondering where the offline songs on Apple music are stored? How much space do they take?

Apple Music offline songs are stored in this directory:

/Users/[your-user]/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Apple Music

A normal Song with a duration between 3:45 min and 5:02 min is about 7MB to 11MB large. rule of thumb is to calculate 10MB per Song and you are on the safe side.

For Example a Maroon 5 song:

12 This Summer.m4p
(8,5 MB on disk)
/Users/bMalum/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Apple Music/Maroon 5/V (Deluxe)
Duration: 03:44


Is there a way to turn off flat UI in MacOS Sierra? I recently "upgraded" to macOS Sierra (10.12).  I understand that many people have opinions on efficient and aesthetic UIs, but I personally hate (and that is the correct word) a flat UI.  If you like it, great... but is there a way for those of us who don't like it turn it off?

I'm guessing the answer is no - and I've gone through every preference and option I can think might have any bearing.  My Google search didn't turn up anything, either... but there's always a chance that I'm missing something.

If it helps an answer, feel free to get technical: I've been using Apple since the mid-80s, and computers before that; I've been working as a Software Engineer for decades (I'd prefer not to admit how long), and the command line doesn't bother me.  (Yes, yes, I understand that I've asked for a non-flat UI and use the command line.  It's not really hypocrisy... technically.)

Tl; DR Is there an option/method to turn off the flat UI in MacOS Sierra (10.12)?

No, you can't revert back to the UI of previous versions of OS X with Apple's tools.

You can, however, make the UI elements stand out more.

macOS Sierra: Increase the UI's contrast

Open System Preferences > Accessibility > Display
Tick the checkbox "Increase contrast"

Description

  Increase contrast

  Increase the contrast of items on the screen (such as borders around
  buttons or boxes) without changing the contrast of the screen itself.

Source: Apple.com


Find My Friends app accuracy I have my boyfriend's location on the Find My Friends app and he has mine as well.

Normally his location appears to hops around a bit when it's loading on my screen, but it's usually in the same 2-3 spots. However, the other night while it was loading, his location appeared to be some distance across the street, and then when it loaded it appeared to be in the middle of the street.

Normally it is a little off, but still closer to his house then it was the other night.

Is it normal that the location can appear to hop around a little, or for it to be a little off?

The exact location shown by the Find My Friends (or the Find My iPhone) service can be off somewhat, and the distances can be a lot more than what you've described.

For example, in our household we have about 20 devices. We also live on acreage and back onto an environment reserve. Sometimes, when using the Find My iPhone service, I can see one or more devices appear as if they're in our next door neighbour's yard, somewhere within the bush surrounds of the reserve, in the creek, and so on.

So, while it's impossible for anyone here to give you any certainty on where your boyfriend's device was at the time, we can say that the location being reported could easily be off by a distance of more than just appearing to be across the street. It's also common for it to appear to hop or jump around a little while obtaining the location.