Browsers open all links in a new tab Suddenly all the browsers begin to open all links in a new tab. Even when the link is deliberately intended to leave me at the same page (say, uncollapsing some text).

I tried Safari, Chrome and Firefox, the behaviour is the same. I also tried to close (and even to kill) and then reopen every single browser, but still no luck. After reboot this behaviour disappears until the next time. But I'd like to avoid rebooting. I cannot reliably reproduce this issue, but it occurs from time to time and annoys a lot.

Any clue on how to cure this?
P.S I use MacOS 10.13.3

To my thinking, a logical place to start and fix this is focus on Safari:

Go to the settings and change the tab behavior, click a link, then change it back to your preference if needed.
Next be sure the issue happens after you log out and log in again.
Next check is you have custom extensions or CSS or malware that overrides the css for all pages - this setting can be hinted from the web page, but should respect your settings in browser. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15551779/open-link-in-new-tab-or-window

Some oddball causes:

Faulty keyboard with a modifier key held down. Could be the main keyboard or any other usb keyboard, screen sharing software or Bluetooth keyboard.
You’ll need Apple’s keyboard viewer or other tool to visualize which modifier is held down of simple trial and error doesn’t help.
Make a new user to see if the apps work with clean user default settings and preferences.
Reinstall the os if you have no luck with anything else. Consider making a backup and doing an erase install - test browser before you load your apps and settings.


Error message when adding Calendar Event When adding a New Event to Calendar on the iPhone6, I get an error message "Cannot Save Event - That event does not belong to that event store." How are events suppose to be added to the calendar?

You provided very little information, like what account (iCloud, Google Calendar, etc.) you are trying to add an event to. I suggest signing out of that account in Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars and then signing in again.


Can a Time Machine drive have several partitions, or does Time Machine need the whole HDD to itself? Is it possible to partition and external drive an use only one of the partitions for a Time Machine backup?  Or does Time Machine need its dedicated hard drive?  (I've never used Time Machine before.)

If it is possible to do this, do I need to pay attention to anything in particular to make sure it'll work without issues?

I am aiming for one Time Machine partition and one NTFS one on the same external hard drive.  Is this feasible?

Time machine doesn't care what else is on the destination drive as long as the volume (partition) you choose meets the minimum requirements. If the volume you select isn't formatted properly, Time Machine will offer to erase and reformat the part of the drive that will contain your backups.

You might want to try resizing partitions using whatever tool you want before you start accumulating a lot of Time Machine data in case you want to be able to adjust the size of the partitions down the road, but that's more of a problem with partitioning and not something that Time Machine causes.


How can I convert a DMG to ISO on Mac OS X (preferably for free)? I have medical records within Windows software within a DMG disk image. How can I convert the DMG to an ISO format on Mac OS X? Is it possible to do it within Disk Utility or CLI easily, or do I need an external utility?

You can use hdiutil to convert from .dmg to .iso directly:

$ hdiutil makehybrid -iso -joliet -o [filename].iso [filename].dmg

Renaming .cdr to .iso is bad advice! An .iso has a slightly different format that allows PC users to play the DVD as well. A renamed file will work on macOS, but NOT on a PC.

If you have a .cdr and want to convert it to an .iso, execute:

$ hdiutil makehybrid -iso -joliet -o [filename].iso [filename].cdr


At symbol is in the wrong place on an Apple keyboard on Windows 7 We have an Apple keyboard connected to Windows 7 on a Sony laptop.

The email at "@" symbol is located on the 2 key, however when the alt key and 2 key are pressed simultaneously we don't get the "@" symbol, we get a quotation mark.

What settings need to be changed to rectify this?

Use shift + '.   At is in in quote. See onscreen keyboard. The symbols are swapped.


Pairing an Xbox controller with an iPad Is it possible to pair an Xbox controller to an iPhone/iPad with iOS 12? I've read several articles that say it's possible using Bluetooth but it's not working for me. I turn on the controller, hold the sync button and supposedly the controller should show up in "Other Devices" in the Bluetooth view in Settings but it never appears. I tried an iPhone XR, iPad and iPad Pro.

No. Apple requires controller be MFi certified, which the Xbox One controllers are not. Though newer Xbox One controllers (namely S and X) have Bluetooth, and in theory could be paired with an iOS device, they won't work in games, and in my experience (same as yours), won't even show up for pairing without a jailbreak.


When using an external monitor, does a mid-2015 Retina Macbook Pro with only integrated graphics run cooler than one with discrete graphics? I have a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) with both discrete (AMD Radeon R9 M370X) and integrated (Intel Iris Pro) graphics. When this machine is connected to an external display, I find that the keyboard gets uncomfortably hot even when doing very light work, and it gets annoyingly hot when doing anything heavier like compiling code.

I know that attaching an external display forces use of the discrete graphics adapter because the HDMI port and DisplayPort are hard-wired to that adapter. Unplugging the external monitor brings temperatures reported by the sensors down, and subjectively brings the keyboard back to "body temperature warm" instead of "annoyingly hot". A drop in temperature is observable even when the discrete graphics remain in use but only the external monitor is disconnected.

I can see why the graphics processor uses more power and creates more heat when driving multiple displays, but my question is the following: does the equivalent machine with only integrated graphics show the same magnitude of heat increase when using an external monitor? Presumably the integrated Iris graphics will also get hotter when driving multiple displays, but will it get this much hotter?

I don't have an Iris-only model around to compare, so I will supply some measurements from iStat Menus, and hopefully someone with the Iris-only config can take equivalent measurements. I will report the "left fin stack" and "CPU PECI die" temperatures, which react quite visibly to the use of an external monitor. All temperatures are measured with very low CPU activity, with any open applications essentially idling.

With a 1920x1080 display connected in a room climate controlled to a temperature of 25C, the left fin stack (LFS) is 51C and the CPU is 61C. A few minutes after disconnecting the display, LFS is 40C and CPU is 49C. After plugging the external monitor back in for a few minutes, LFS rises back up to 52C and CPU to 62C. The fans remained at around 2000RPM throughout the measurement process. So put simply, I get around a 10C increase in LFS and CPU temperature purely from plugging in an external monitor via HDMI.

The LFS temperature as reported in iStat Menus shows a nice smooth exponential rise and fall as one would expect:
￼

Thanks in advance to anyone who can supply the other half of the information needed to answer this question!

The short answer appears to be: yes, 12 degrees C (22 degrees F) or more cooler.

I got ahold of a custom-build Macbook Pro that has identical specifications except that it had no discrete graphics adapter. I set it up on the same table in the same room, connected to an identical monitor. I put both of them through the same sequence of operations, using yes > /dev/null & one or more times to occupy whole processor cores, running WebGL demos, plugging and unplugging monitors, etc. in lockstep. Temperatures, fan speeds, and CPU use were observed regularly using iStat menus, yielding 120 separate observations. Using the R statistical package I fit some models to these data and retained this one for the "left fin stack" temperature:

> summary(fin_fit)

Call:
lm(formula = fin_temp ~ dgpu + ext_disp + cpu_load + gpu_load,
    data = heat)

Residuals:
     Min       1Q   Median       3Q      Max
-12.1091  -2.8460  -0.2888   2.5413  12.1540

Coefficients:
            Estimate Std. Error t value Pr(>|t|)
(Intercept)  32.8460     0.7066  46.484  < 2e-16 ***
dgpu         12.2631     0.8067  15.202  < 2e-16 ***
ext_disp      2.4160     0.7836   3.083  0.00256 **
cpu_load      3.4386     0.4173   8.240 3.11e-13 ***
gpu_load     14.0506     1.2601  11.151  < 2e-16 ***
---
Signif. codes:  0 ‘***’ 0.001 ‘**’ 0.01 ‘*’ 0.05 ‘.’ 0.1 ‘ ’ 1

Residual standard error: 4.138 on 115 degrees of freedom
Multiple R-squared:  0.821, Adjusted R-squared:  0.8148
F-statistic: 131.9 on 4 and 115 DF,  p-value: < 2.2e-16

Interpretation: This model explains about 82% of the temperature variation. The base operating temperature is about 33C, every fully occupied CPU core adds about 3.4C, a fully occupied GPU adds about 14C, each external display attached adds about 2.4C, and using a discrete GPU adds about 12C. All of these variables are very significant in explaining temperature variations, and the model as a whole is quite effective at predicting temperature.

There is an apparent jump of 10 watts or more in power consumption when using the DGPU and an external monitor. This would be coherent with the extra heat, but I did not fit a model for this response variable.

I expect the fin heat model would fit even better if I excluded all observations that happened shortly after a change of state (change in CPU or GPU usage, change in presence of external monitor). There’s some amount of thermal inertia - it takes a minute for the heat sinks to warm up or cool down.

Conclusion: On the stock Macbook with a discrete graphics adapter hard-wired to the external monitor ports, from a temperature perspective attaching an external monitor has greater impact than performing heavy computations. The fans become audible frequently under load, and the keyboard can get uncomfortably hot. On the other hand, when using the model with no discrete GPU, the fans remain quieter and temperatures more moderate, as attaching an external monitor yields only a slight increase in base temperature.

Other observations: the dual-GPU model will also enter and remain stuck in discrete GPU mode when it doesn't really need high performance graphics, which can discharge the battery very quickly and cause unnecessary heat. At one point in my testing after unplugging the external monitor, it became stuck in DGPU mode. The activity monitor reported that this was due to the Terminal application requiring accelerated graphics (!).

Coming out of sleep with a monitor attached or switching on an already-attached monitor, the monitor often seems not to be detected or used by the OS. GPU switching seems to add a lot of complexity and be susceptible to glitches.


App not available on the App Store I have previously installed an app on my iPhone. I deleted it by mistake, and now I can no longer reinstall it as it is not available in the UK App Store.

What should I do to install it again?

The developer has most likely removed the app from sale from UK/all the App Stores.

You can check with the developer about the availability status by finding their contact information on the app's website. If you do not know the website address, try doing a Google search and see if you can locate it.

If the app is still available on App Store other than UK, you can install it by creating a different Apple ID and set the country as the one where the app is available. (This should be pretty easy to do if the app is free, as you won't have to setup payment).

Update: As mentioned in your response, if you are unable to locate the website via Google search, the most likely explanation is that the app is now defunct.


Applescript : count Length I created a code which count the length of a variable and take action regarding the length.

It's work well except when I have a variable in this format :

  "00108030-00045C9E2638502E"

1: the count is returning 8 and not 25
2: I have the error :

  "Can’t make 8 into type boolean." number -1700 from 8 to boolean"

Here is a preview of my code :
"

set theGUIDLength to (get length of (GUID as text))
if theGUIDLength is equal to 25 or 8 then
--
end if

"

I believe what you're looking for is:

if theGUIDLength = 25 or theGUIDLength = 8 then
## do code
end if


Running mod_perl on El capitan I'm trying to run mod_perl on El capitan.

Process

Following http://blog.n42designs.com/blog/2014/10/23/compiling-mod-perl-for-apache-2-dot-4-on-os-x-10-dot-10-yosemite/ an https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34240610/how-to-install-mod-perl-2-0-10-in-apache-2-4-on-os-x-el-capitan
The correct repository is different for El capitan, so use svn co  https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/perl/modperl/tags/2_0_9/

2.perl Makefile.PL MP_CCOPTS=-std=gnu89 ; make ; sudo make install I could get /usr/libexec/apache2/mod_perl.so
In /etc/apache2/other directory, I added cgi.conf with the following content.

LoadModule perl_module libexec/apache2/mod_perl.so
#PerlModule ModPerl::Registry

<Location "/Library/WebServer/Documents/cgi/">
    SetHandler perl-script
    PerlResponseHandler ModPerl::Registry
    Options ExecCGI
    PerlSendHeader On
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Location>

I copied simple perl cgi script in the /Library/WebServer/Documents/cgi/ directory, but instead of execution the perl script, the perl code is shown.

What might be wrong?

ADDED

After adding these lines in the conf file:

<Files ~ "\.(pl|cgi)$">
    SetHandler perl-script
    PerlResponseHandler ModPerl::PerlRun
    Options +ExecCGI
    PerlSendHeader On
</Files>

I have errors instead:

[perl:error] [pid 26307] [client ::1:60248] failed to resolve handler `ModPerl::PerlRun': Can't locate ModPerl/PerlRun.pm in @INC (you may need to install the ModPerl::PerlRun module) (@INC contains: /Library/Perl/5.18/darwin-thread-multi-2level /Library/Perl/5.18 /Network/Library/Perl/5.18/darwin-thread-multi-2level /Network/Library/Perl/5.18 ...

For Mac OS X, /Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables has already setup, so there should be no configuration. So, just copying echo.pl in the directory, and use the perl script with localhost/cgi-bin/echo.pl.

To make it work anyway

We need a ModPerl::PerlRun to install the CPAN module before the compilation.

sudo cpan ModPerl::PerlRun

This also creates and installs the perl_mod.so, but this breaks the apache, so we need to rebuild the module. This is the working configuration.

LoadModule perl_module libexec/apache2/mod_perl.so

<Location "/Library/WebServer/Documents/cgi/">
    Options ExecCGI
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Location>

<Files ~ "\.(pl|cgi)$">
    SetHandler perl-script
    PerlResponseHandler ModPerl::PerlRun
    Options +ExecCGI
    PerlSendHeader On
</Files>

Now localhost/cgi/echo.pl is the address to access.


How to make mosquitto broker auto-start on Mac OS (without homebrew)? I understand that using homebrew, a plist file will be provided and a user can use launchctl to install that plist file.

But, I am not using homebrew(nor macport). I built mosquitto binaries directly from mosquitto source distribution and I would like to be able to start mosquitto broker automatically (just like other daemons).

The homebrew mosquitto launch agent looks like this:

<?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>homebrew.mxcl.mosquitto</string>
  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
    <string>/usr/local/opt/mosquitto/sbin/mosquitto</string>
    <string>-c</string>
    <string>/usr/local/etc/mosquitto/mosquitto.conf</string>
  </array>
  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
  <true/>
  <key>KeepAlive</key>
  <false/>
  <key>WorkingDirectory</key>
  <string>/usr/local/var/mosquitto</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Depending on your installation directory of mosquitto modify the two path strings in ProgramArguments  and the path of the WorkingDirectory.

Also modify the Label to org.user.mosquitto (to avoid future conflicts with a possíble homebrew mosquitto install) and then save the file as org.user.mosquitto.plist to ~/Library/LaunchAgents/.

Load the agent with launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/org.user.mosquitto.plist.

Under certain circumstances (the make install options which you didn't specify in your question) it may be necessary to save the plist file to /Library/LaunchAgents (instead of ~/Library/LaunchAgents), modify permissions to root:wheel 644 and start it with:

sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchAgents/org.user.mosquitto.plist

Now you can test the installation and ensure the server is running successfully.  Open a new command window and start a listener.

mosquitto_sub -t topic/state

In another window, send a message to the listener.

mosquitto_pub -t topic/state -m "Hello World"


How can I receive FM radio broadcast signals on an iPhone 4? I know I can download apps such as Wunder Radio or iHeartRadio that tune in to the same signal over the internet as is being broadcast over commercial FM stations, but I want to use my iPhone to receive input from a real FM tuner.

Many times smaller stations do not stream and often other services, such as audio of TV on a Gym, some museums and traffic warning stations as well as conferences where live translations in several languages are broadcast over different FM frequencies.

Is there a particular app for this or maybe a third-party device I can purchase?

The only iOS device that features a built-in FM tuner is the iPod nano, since the fifth generation (the tall "candy-bar" style before they shrunk to the square shape). The sixth generation (current, as of this writing) iPod nano still has the FM Tuner.

It is impossible to merely download an app on any iOS device (iPod touch / iPhone / iPad ) to accomplish this with any modern/iOS device because you have to have the physical radio that can tune FM/AM radio bands. Now, if they streamed to some network location which an app can easily access...

I would like to mention also that the Griffin and Belkin products in The Apple Store ARE NOT tuners. They are transmitters. They broadcast (short range) on FM frequencies, so you can tune in using your car stereo, or perhaps some kind of radio tuner alarm clock you may have in your house.

The iHome speaker does appear to do FM tuning, but that is likely not practical in the example you're asking about. Go with the iPod nano.


Statistics on MacBook Air failures? Are there any statistics available about failure rates for MacBook Air by time? For example, what are the chances of failing within 1, 3, 6, 12 months, etc.

I'm not aware of any available data on this. I'm sure Apple has detailed information on returns and repairs, but there's no way they would ever release it (and I'd imagine it's guarded fairly heavily even within the company). You might be able to get some numbers from independent Mac repair shops, but without any information on how many Airs are out there and how many are going elsewhere for repair, it wouldn't be all that valuable statistically.

The best potential source I can think of is some of the market research companies, like Gartner. I don't know if any of their surveys would be specific enough to get data for failures for individual models (or whether their sample sizes are large enough to make any inferences significant). If they do have such data, it would almost certainly be in their for-pay reports (the free ones typically only include the general sales figures, nothing with the specificity you're looking for).


MacOS finder low fps How to enable my MacOS smoother? I have a feeling that FPS in macos is really low, I have checked that with iStats Menu app and I have from 4 to 30 FPS which is really bad result and it can be felt when you are work on this machine. Is there any way to increase FPS or refresh rate?
I have MacBook Pro 15" from 2018 2.6GHz + 16GB RAM.

Firstly refresh rate & FPS are not even slightly related. Refresh rate is a constant (the number of times a second your physical screen changes content), FPS is a variable.
Finder simply doesn't need high FPS all the time. Why on earth would you need 'gaming-level' response just to look at files on a screen?
Also, Finder FPS is responsive to your actions.
If you do start dragging things around quickly, the FPS goes up to compensate. If you quickly dash back to iStat to check, you'll see the figure is higher, then will rapidly drop away again.
If VSCode is constantly ramping the FPS up to 60, then it is just badly coded & wasting energy. Even YouTube will only lift the FPS to the rate of the video currently playing. Any more would just be slightly heating up your room, nothing else.
From my recent background running support for an online gaming structure for the past decade, "bigger better faster more" culture makes this FPS misinformation a constant bane to support staff. People just have the wrong idea of what it's for & how it works. There has been for the past few years an 'internet meme' of massive fps being "better" for gaming. This, so people think, is "better" even if your game is running 120 FPS yet your screen can only refresh at 60.
This is, if you think about it carefully, patently absurd.


Can Exchange emails be downloaded in Apple Mail to then be uploaded to Gmail account? I use Apple Mail and I have a work account on Exchange/Office 365 that I use through Apple Mail. I do NOT have the Exchange password, I am not the administrator. Is there a way for me to archive or download all the emails (to a .OLM or .PST file?) and then import them to a Gmail account?

Bottom Line: I want my Exchange emails exported to a Gmail account.
Thanks for any suggestions!

If you don't own the account login details, you've picked the best solution, this would be to set up a rule forwarding all new emails to your Gmail email.

Any Mail Client, including Apple Mail, app needs log credentials to establish the connection. So to be able to use Gmail as client app for your Exchange account, you will either have

to submit those manually  or
to have the password in iCloud
keychain

For the older emails, you can export them in .pst and upload that to Gmail but that's rather desktop operation. I think this should help.


Anyone knows what this third party input method? And is it safe to use it since it's from an unidentified developer? It basically gives you a PinYin-like words prediction but for English

When macOS informs you that software etc is from an unidentified developer this doesn't necessarily mean it's unsafe. An unidentified developer simply means that the software has not been registered with Apple. There are many reasons why this may be the case (e.g. the software may date back to before Apple started registering developer IDs).

Regardless of the quality of the software, if it's not registered than recent versions of macOS will present you with a warning dialog when you try to launch it. Typically this message will identify the app and tell you it's from an unidentified developer, and it may ask you if you're sure you want to open it.

Unfortunately there is no way for anyone here to advise you if the software you're referring to is safe unless we know what the software is or who the developer is.


Safari (iPhone, MacBook) gives NSURLErrorDomain:-1017 I face the issue that Safari returns the error: cannot parse response (NSURLErrorDomain:-1017)
I tested it on different iPhones and one MacBook.
iPhone XS & 11 (iOS 14.3). MacBook Pro BigSur.
You should see the same error when visiting https://gamerino.de
Google Chrome does not have this issue!

What are you using to host the website?
The issue is because of:

It looks like your server is offering an upgrade to HTTP/2 even though
the connection is already done with HTTP/2 - which makes no sense. Not
only that, it is explicitly forbidden. From RFC 7540 section 8.1.2.2:

I had a similar issue with a .NET API which was breaking only with Safari/iOS and the solution was pretty similar to HTTP/2 configuration
Please check here:
https://serverfault.com/questions/937253/https-doesnt-work-with-safari
Nginx: Header unset Upgrade; does not work if you proxy your request, use proxy_hide_header      Upgrade; instead.


Is it possible to automatically sync my iMac and MacBook Pro I would like to keep all my files (i.e. pages/numbers/keynote) automatically synced between my iMac and MacBook Pro. Is this possible? I don't want to have to save something in the cloud each time, then download it from the cloud on the other machine to work on and then save back in the cloud again. I just want to be able to open up either machine and have all identical files there automatically. Is this a pipe dream?

If iCloud Drive (FAQ) isn't syncing fast enough for you (or you're not on El Capitan ) then you could try a commercial solution (per Gb most are cheaper) or you could use one of the "roll-you-own" solutions.

There are multiple commercial solutions that do this, in no particular order:

Dropbox
Microsoft's OneDrive
Box
Google Drive

Then there's a range of self-hosted solutions which let you use your own network, servers etc to provide cloud storage & sync.

Of course if you put your laptop to sleep if will always have sync changes from your desktop when it wakes up no matter what solution you use.


Keep getting a "java" command-line tool notification on macOS Sierra 10 Every so often I keep receiving this "java" command-line tool notification on my Macbook Air - macOS Sierra.

When I click on More Info it just redirects me to

  http://www.apple.com/safari/

Not sure what is the way to get rid of it as it just stays on the screen and I have to select an option to make it go away. I am beginning to worry if this is a virus or something and also unsure why it would lead to the Apple website instead of java (Oracle)?

The problem was in my case that I installed the JRE, which was installed only as Safari Plugin, but not as usable commandline tool. Therefore /usr/libexec/java_home -v * would not find any installed Java.

The solution is to install the JDK, not the JRE.

Recommending to install Java 6 is not a good idea, this is an outdated version that does not have current security fixes and TLS ciphers.

Oracle should fix this - should not be difficult to make a correct OSX installation.


Home and End commands in Lion After installing Lion, ⌘ + ← doesn't go to the line start and ⌘ + → doesn't go to the line end.

Anyone know how to reconfigure this?

Coming from Windows I've had a tough time adjusting to the way home and end behaves. Luckily the guys at MacroMates had a blog post about this.

http://blog.macromates.com/2005/key-bindings-for-switchers/

Create a file at ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict with the following contents:

{
    /* home */
    "\UF729"  = "moveToBeginningOfLine:";
    "$\UF729" = "moveToBeginningOfLineAndModifySelection:";

    /* end */
    "\UF72B"  = "moveToEndOfLine:";
    "$\UF72B" = "moveToEndOfLineAndModifySelection:";
}

I restarted and my keys were behaving as expected!


iCloud causing phone to crash whilst making a call I have an iPhone 3GS, and I recently installed iOS 5 and set up iCloud. However, since then my phone crashes when I make a phone call (after about 2-3 minutes). I tried deleting my iCloud account to see if this rectified the problem but I lost all my contacts. Can anyone suggest any way to resolve this problem?

Those problems were reported by multiple owners. Apple claims to have solved those failing phone calls with the current iOS 5.1 update. Have you updated yet?


Does Time Machine do all I need? I use Time Machine for regular backups, and I have multiple HDDs for redundancy. This works fine for my computer, but the problem is that I have many files that do not reside in my computer and should be synced between these HDDs.

For example, photos from iPhoto: from time to time I have to free up space in my computer so the photos goes to the backup disks and I erase them from my computer. The mess increases with my wife doing the same thing with her Mac.

So what I'm looking for is a solution where I can tell my computer that I don't want certain files to be in it anymore, they should go to the backup, and that also the backup should be synced between the HDDs.

Is this possible to achieve using only Time Machine or any non-third party tool? If not, are there any third party solutions that do it?

Time Machine is a Backup Tool, not a File-Management Agent.

All it does, is copying new files to the HDD (as a mirror) and all older/deleted files go into a time-stamped archive.

If the disk is full, time machine deletes old stuff.

I assume you want to manage the data. Nit really "backup".
Because you do not copy them, you move them to the disk.

I also assume you have 2 Hard-Drives (1 for you and 1 for your wife), that should be in sync.

So in total you have 2 Macs and 2 Hard Drives.

Now Unix has a very popular command called 'rsync'.

You can sync (copy) or move data via rsync to the Hard Drive.

Rsync is command-line based, so it is a bit difficult.

But i would recommend it for your situation.

And because I was bored, here is a starting point for you.


Are there ad blocker that filters YouTube advertisements on Mojave Safari Version 12.0? Who knows an AdBlocker for the latest Safari that is able to block youtube ads. I've tried AdBlock & AdBlock Plus which both are now 'full' applications instead of extensions.

AdBlockPlus slows down your browser to the point that entering text, or clicking a link has a lag of around 1.5 ~ 2 seconds.
AdBlock works for a while, and then hangs taking 600% cpu utilization.

It works again after dis&enabling it in the extension preferences. But AdBlock's biggest problem is it doesn't block that much on youtube.
I'm not here to ask how to get AdBlock or AdBlockPlus going. I'm here to ask who has a blocker for youtube.
I've used AdBlock in the past before the new extension architecture, and it blocked all youtube ads. Now YouTube is encoding the advertisements in to the streams and come up with harder to block advertisements.
Can anyone recommend software that either blocks more or uses less CPU?

"Wipr" does the Job guys. No slowdowns, no cpu hogging, and it's not able to get to your passwords & payment info.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wipr/id1320666476?mt=12


Apple script-How to assign a variable from reading a file content and to send a message? This is a apple script as below. I want to read a file content and assign it as a variable for sending as iMessage content. But, I get an error.

tell application "Messages"
    set targetBuddy to "+xxxxxxxxxxx"
    set targetService to id of 1st service whose service type = iMessage
    set Shows to paragraphs of (read POSIX file "/Users/human/macairspace.txt")
    set textMessage to Shows
    set theBuddy to buddy targetBuddy of service id targetService
    send textMessage to theBuddy
end tell

It shows an error message.

error "「Messages」Error：Can't make「file \"Macintosh HD:Users:human:macairspace.txt\"」as「file」。" number -1700 from file "Macintosh HD:Users:human:macairspace.txt" to file

One possible cause of that error is the POSIX pathname, "/Users/human/macairspace.txt" is not correct; however, that is not the only thing wrong with your code:

Without going into details about what else is wrong, let be show you an example of how I'd code it, and this works for me when I replace "+nnnnnnnnnnn" and "/path/to/file.txt" with valid values.

Example AppleScript code:

set targetBuddy to "+nnnnnnnnnnn"
set textMessage to (read POSIX file "/path/to/file.txt")

tell application "Messages"
    set targetService to id of 1st service whose service type = iMessage
    set theBuddy to buddy targetBuddy of service id targetService
    send textMessage to theBuddy
end tell

Note: The example AppleScript code is just that and does not contain any error handling as may be appropriate. The onus is upon the used to add any error handling as may be appropriate, needed or wanted. Have a look at the try statement and error statement in the AppleScript Language Guide. See also, Working with Errors.


Making fonts larger in apps under Lion While there is no system-wide way to make all fonts larger under Lion without leaving native resolution, many individual programs do have a way to make text and various elements larger on the screen. Unfortunately, this varies from one program to the next.

If the goal is to make text appear larger in all programs, can we put together a guide to zooming in the various apps in Lion?

Google Chrome

Its own UI, not web pages

The following settings in TinkerTool affect the following pieces of Chrome's own UI:

Chrome address bar, i.e. URL:  System in TinkerTool (default font: Lucida Grande; largest size possible is 16 pt; larger sizes are truncated)
titles of tabs:  Help tags (default font: Lucida Grande; largest size possible is 13 pt; larger sizes are truncated. Bold is ignored, it's always Regular)
Chrome's ex-Wrench menu (top right corner): Messages (default font: Lucida Grande; upper limit is something like 24 pt, further increasing the number has no effect)

Web page content

Default zoom: Wrench > Settings (⌘ ,) > Show advanced settings > Web content > {Font size, Page zoom}. Both also affect how Settings page is zoomed.
For a particular site: ⌘ + / ⌘ -


Change opt+backspace binding to ctrl+backspace I have made a ~/Library/Keybindings/ and saved something like this as DefaultKeyBinding.dict. What I would like to do is options + backward_delete with control + backward_delete but I don't know the mapping for this. Can anyone tell me?

Replace ~\U0008 with ^\U0008

~ = Option

^ = Control

\U0008 = Backspace

Reference


iMac black-screened, wouldn't wake up; here's the error message I put my 1 year old iMac (running OSX 10.8.2 with all updates) to sleep in San Diego. I then tried to wake it up from Vegas using my other iMac (same OS) using the following command:

Cmd-K >> "vnc://192.168.1.49" #[running over a VPN]

I've done this sort of thing a million times with no problem but today the San Diego iMac didn't wake up. I sent my I.T. guy to investigate. He said the screen was black, and the machine was unresponsive to keyboard or mouse input. The harddisk was still running. The iMac was hot to the touch (as all iMacs are when they've been awake for an extended period).

He turned the machine off and turned it back on. Everything looked normal. He ran:

Cmd-Space >> "console"

The log was completely full. There were 4,000+ messages, each with the exact same date/time stamp and message. It was as follows:

2/12/13 11:29:29.000 PM kernel[0]: (default pager): [KERNEL]: ps_allocate_cluster - send HI_WAT_ALERT

It's like the machine was trying to wake itself at 11:30pm for some reason. And it failed. Everything appears ok now but this event concerns me. Any remedial action I should take?

An occasional kernel panic is to be expected.  If you begin to see this message more and more often, consider basic troubleshooting as per Apple's instructions:

  To help diagnose recurring kernel panics, record the date and time it occurs, and any information that appears with the kernel panic message.

  Was the computer starting up, shutting down, or performing a particular task when the recurring kernel panic happened?
  Is the kernel panic intermittent, or does it happen every time you do a certain thing?
  Does it occur only when a certain external device is connected, or a device is connected to a certain port?
  Isolate hardware or software as the cause of the kernel panic

  Start the Mac from Recovery or its install media. Note: If a kernel panic still occurs, go to the "Hardware troubleshooting" section of this article.
  Open Disk Utility and use "Repair Disk" on Mac's internal hard drive (named Macintosh HD by default).

  Important: If Disk Utility is unable to repair the internal drive, you should bring the Mac to a Genius at an Apple Store, or an Apple Authorized Service Provider for service and support. Be sure to ask that, if the drive needs reformatting or replacing, they contact you about escalating your case to a special data recovery service. If you plan to visit an Apple Retail store, make a reservation at the Genius Bar using http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/ (available in some countries only).

  Connect an external drive with at least 10 GB of free space. Note: Make sure the external drive does not cause kernel panics and is the only device on its USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt port. Connecting the external drive and its cables to another Mac can help make sure the drive does not cause kernel panics.
  Install OS X on the external drive.
  Start up from the external drive.
  Install all software updates until Software Update reports your software is up to date.
  Use the Apple applications on the external drive to surf the web, view QuickTime movies, email, print, scan, and/or other activities. Continue using the Mac for the amount of time it would usually take for the kernel panic to occur.
  If a panic occurs, go to the "Hardware troubleshooting" section of this article to further diagnose the issue.
  If a panic does not occur, go to the "Software troubleshooting" section of this article to further diagnose the issue.


How can I determine what kept my macbook pro awake until the battery drained? I left my laptop unplugged last night and woke up to 0% battery. This is not usually what happens. Is there a way I can find out, this time or next time, what caused that? I assume something was running that prevented it from going into low power or sleep mode.

Run the following in Terminal:

pmset -g log

You'll be able to check if there was some activity during the night.


Stream different videos and sounds to Bluetooth headphones & loudspeakers I have Bluetooth headphones & loudspeakers.

I want to stream sound from iTunes to Bluetooth headphones and a YouTube video to the loudspeakers.

I know that OS X allows to stream one source to both devices, but I want to stream each stream to different devices.

I know that in Windows it's possible via Realtek utility, but how about OS X?

OS X itself supports each app using a different device, as long as that app support select a device instead of using the default one.
Unfortunately neither iTunes or Safari supports alternative device unless that's an AirPlay device.

You have still two options here:

get an AirPlay enabled device, so you may choose device in iTunes or Youtube Player (which is powered by HTML 5 not Flash)
get another music app other than iTunes, I'd recommend Vox for Mac[1] which supports play iTunes Library and a lot more, you may choose device in the app.

UPDATE 2016/02/20
AirFoil 5 for Mac[2] now supports set different audio source for different apps.

[1] http://coppertino.com/vox/mac
[2] https://rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/mac/


Is it worth upgrading to iOS 12 on an iPhone 5s According to the WWDC 2018 Apple Keynote, iOS 12 will bring speed improvements with respect to its predecessors.

However, I was wondering whether it is worthy to upgrade an iPhone 5s to iOS 12? In particular, I am worried that iOS 12 will have an impact on the battery performance of my iPhone 5s.

Has anybody tried to do that?

4 year old iPhone 5s owner. Upgraded to iOS 12. Experiencing noticeable speed improvements (in overall usage) with no noticeable impact on battery performance.

The overall experience is definitely better than running iOS 11.4.1 on the same device. However, note that the battery performance is highly dependent on your usage of the device. In my experience, the battery backup has remained the same compared to iOS 11.4.1.

iOS 12 on the iPhone 5S, iPhone 6 Plus, and iPad Mini 2: It’s actually faster!.

In-fact, all iOS device released in the year 2013 and later (iPhone 5s, iPod touch 6th generation, iPad Air, iPad mini 2) are eligible to run iOS 12, and, as per Apple, will see noticeable speed improvements due to under the hood performance improvements made in iOS 12.


What shortcut does ⌦ symbol in Camunda macOS app indicate and how to invoke it? I am using the Camunda macOS app and I am wondering what does this shortcut mean (right facing delete key)?

In macOS, this symbol represents forward delete shortcut (to delete characters to right). It can be generated using the fn + delete key combination.

The aforementioned shortcuts are helpful on majority of Apple keyboards which lacks a dedicated forward delete key, such as MacBook and Apple Magic keyboard.

To reiterate:

⌫: Delete Left (like Backspace on Widows/PC)
⌦: Delete Right (fn + delete on compact keyboards. Also called Forward Delete)

This keystroke is used in the Camunda macOS app to remove selected object from canvas.

Notice the fn and delete keys in the accessibility keyboard.


How to show git files in Finder? This may be too close to a duplicate for Git plug-in for Finder?, but I'm after a tool that will merely show me whether there is a repo in the current directory, and the state of the files within.

I don't want to view all invisible files
I want to continue using Finder (I like PathFinder, but not always)
I don't need to run git commands on the files, just see their state

I'm thinking of an interface like Dropbox (see image), or TortoiseSVN for windows... any suggestions or workarounds?

Maybe its possible to create a folder automation? (never done such a thing! if it sounds plausible, I'll read up on it)

Thanks, Tim

An update, as there's been movement on this question...

There is a question on SO: How can i add icon overlay in finder? where a comments include Apples update of  points to the TortoiseSVN Subversion client
and a search turned up the following 2yo git repo with some demo code for 10.7: Finder-Icon-Overlay.

If I get around to messing around with an implementation, I'll update this answer.


How can I use launchctl getenv over ssh? In a terminal session I can run launchctl getenv SSH_AUTH_SOCK and it prints the value of that variable. However if I ssh into the same user from another computer, then run the same command, there is no output. I'd like to know how to make this work.

This is important to me because:

my ssh keys have passphrases
my terminal prompt includes bash-git-prompt
this leads to the message Enter passphrase for key [~/.ssh/...]: being printed every time my prompt is written to the screen when I don't have access to the ssh agent socket.
launchd sets the ssh agent socket path so that it can use the fancy "only runs when needed" functionality of launchd, so I don't know the path ahead of time and it changes on reboot.

What you're describing is how things are supposed to work. The reason that commands leaves no output is not that some bug or error happened that prevents it from displaying the value of SSH_AUTH_SOCK - it is simply because that variable is not supposed to be set by launchd in your environment.

When you're using key based authentication with SSH, and you want an agent to make it easier to handle the private keys - you'll want to run that agent locally. I.e. when you're ssh'ing into a remote computer, the agent is supposed to run on your local computer that you're ssh'ing from.

Imagine that you're ssh'ing in to a remote computer, and then want to use ssh from there and you need to enter a passphrase - the prompt pops up in the GUI shown on the monitor connected to that remote computer. You can't see it, you can't act with it. This is not how it's supposed to work.

Instead run ssh agent on your local computer, load in the keys, and then ssh into your remote computers using the -A parameter for ssh to enable agent forwarding (or set it permanently for that remote computer in the configuration).

If you really want to run ssh-agent on the remote computer, you can ofcourse do so. When you have ssh'ed to the remote computer, simply run ssh-agent and add your keys. If you want to automatize running ssh-agent, you can do that.


iPhone 4 won't restore No matter what I try, it always goes into recovery mode (Connect to iTunes screen) after restoring the device. The progress bar under the Apple logo becomes full, the device reboots, then it goes back into recovery mode. Same issue when trying DFU restore. I've tried Finder on macOS Big Sur, iTunes on Mavericks, iTunes on Windows, and 3uTools. No dice.

I got it working by using Pwned DFU Mode (iPwnder32) and idevicerestore with an IPSW.


Simple app for URL bookmarking? I'm looking for web service or an app (or whatever) for iphone 5 for bookmarking urls from google chrome or safari browser. I don't want to use bookmarks integrated into these browsers.

Does anybody know something simple and easy to use service / app with web frontend where i can work with these bookmarks? E.g. bookmarking via e-mail message is probably the simplest way for me.

I'm quite pleased with Pinboard. There are a number of browser extensions and apps that work with the API.


How can I reenable admin privileges without an administrative user? I installed server and fiddling around settings and I unchecked administer this account and the server crashed immediately.

Now I am listed as standard user and cannot perform any changes:

$ dscl . -read /groups/admin GroupMembership
GroupMembership: root

I thought there will be atleast 1 user to administer the whole computer excluding root :(. How can I get back. Quite panicked as I might loose everything.

You can try whether sudo -s still works (which would allow you to add yourself to the admin group again), but probably it won't.

Do the following

Reboot into Single User mode by keeping Cmd-S pressed during reboot
/sbin/mount -uw /
rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone
reboot

This will trick your Mac into behaving like a new installation (but with your data still intact). Follow the setup without migrating any data etc., near the end you will have the option to create a new user with admin privileges. Make sure to pick a new username here to avoid any conflicts.


How can I access a remote machine via SSH from behind a proxy? I’m trying to connect to a Linux machine via SSH. The problem is that my Mac is in a different network, behind a proxy that routes HTTP and HTTPS through port 80.

How can I access the Linux machine via SSH from terminal?

Connecting with -vvv returns the following result:

OpenSSH_5.2p1, OpenSSL 0.9.8r 8 Feb 2011
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh_config
debug2: ssh_connect: needpriv 0
debug1: Connecting to _example.com_ [_ip_address_] port 22.
debug1: connect to address _ip_address_ port 22: Connection refused
ssh: connect to host _example.com_ port 22: Connection refused

You may need tunneling technique for accessing an HTTP proxy using SSH tunneling check this link: http://kimmo.suominen.com/docs/proxy-through-ssh/


Possible to boot Linux on MacBook Pro in screen mirroring mode vs dual screen? Looking for a “bios” toggle to tell HDMI output to mirror display vs split screen (at hardware-level vs OS-level). Not sure this exists…

It does not.
The BIOS screens that you see on modern PCs, besides not being BIOS (rather UEFI) are just not available to modern Macs. That's what you get when you build the software AND the hardware. You don't need a separate interface to adjust the hardware, it is all done from inside macOS.
That said, it is possible to make some changes that take effect pre-boot, using the nvram command
nvram -p
Should give you all the settings currently set in non-volitale RAM. Many of which you can set yourself. A quick search should turn up resources that show the possibilities.
Though I doubt you can do what you want to do there. Those settings are controlled exclusively by macOS, so you would likely have to set them inside the OS of anything you booted the Mac from.


How to disable microphone for OS X? We need a way to disable the microphone so it cannot be re-enabled, at least by an unprivileged user.  And preferably via the command line, so it can be scripted.  On some Macs, we've been able to remove kexts, but on others, that also disables speakers, and we'd like to keep sound output.

I know this is an old post, but the above command does not work. "tell application "System Events" to set volume input volume 0".  Sure, the slider moves all the way to the left, but if you make noise you can see the mic picking up input.  If you manually move the slider then it mutes.  Further analysis using the apple midi audio app indicates setting input volume to 0 via applescript actually sets it to 4.  I've tried putting in -4 and other negative values hoping it would work.  it does not.

I'm not sure why apple chose this behavior.  It has been the result of setting input to 0 via applescript that it is not really 0 for years now.  Very frustrating.


Same Files in Two Folders, But Different Size Info? Can anyone tell me how this is possible? The files in these two folders are exactly the same, but the file size reported for the folders is different. Any ideas?

Edit: fullsize image @ http://i41.tinypic.com/6435ah.jpg

imac:untitled folder Wesley$ ls -la Working/ NotWorking/
NotWorking/:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x  3 Wesley  staff  102 31 mei 17:33 .
drwxr-xr-x  5 Wesley  staff  170  3 nov 22:08 ..
drwxr-xr-x@ 5 Wesley  staff  170  3 nov 22:08 Contents

Working/:
total 16
drwxr-xr-x  4 Wesley  staff   136  3 nov 11:59 .
drwxr-xr-x  5 Wesley  staff   170  3 nov 22:08 ..
-rw-r--r--@ 1 Wesley  staff  6148  3 nov 11:57 .DS_Store
drwxr-xr-x  5 Wesley  staff   170  3 nov 11:59 Contents

imac:untitled folder Wesley$ du -sh Working/ NotWorking/
 92K    Working/
 76K    NotWorking/

Are you certain that the folders do not contain any hidden files?  If you have anything beginning with a period (.) then this will not be reported in the Finder but will still be  contributing to the size of the folder.

Try looking in at the folders in Terminal with ls -la to see the file contents. You can check the disk usage with du -sh

Open Terminal

cd /Users/Wesley/Desktop/untitled\ folder
ls -la Working NotWorking
du -sh Working NotWorking


How do I go invisible in Messages (OS X)? I am using Messages for OS X and Google Talk. I'd like to be able to go invisible in Messages. How can I do this?

You don't get invisibility using Apple's Messages app on OS X. According to Google, their client also does not support invisible status, so perhaps it's a limitation of their API and only something you can set using their web app. They get to serve you ads when you are on the web, but not on a client so perhaps that was a factor in deciding to code that function in one place over the other.

Apple's Messages app on OS X will set an invisible status for AIM accounts, but not for Google Talk, so it's less like a Messages oversight as an account/API design issue from Google.


How does OSX assign disk numbers? I have four drives inside my Mac Pro.

Bay 1: /dev/disk1s3
Bay 2: /dev/disk0s2
Bay 3: /dev/disk2s2 (also, my boot drive)
Bay 4: /dev/disk3s2 and /dev/disk3s3

How are the disk numbers assigned?  If I swap Bay 2 and Bay 1, will the disks in those drives swap disk numbers (so I have /dev/disk1s2 in Bay 1, and /dev/disk0s3 in Bay 2)?  Also, does it make any difference that the boot drive is in Bay 3 and/or that it isn't /dev/disk0s2?

Drive numbers are assigned by the OS on a first come, first serve basis. The numbering scheme is as follows (with a capital N being a number):

diskN - always refers to a primary drive (i.e. the entire drive)

diskNs1 - always EFI

diskNs2 - First actual volume on the drive

diskNs3 - Second volume on drive, if there is one...this can go on for as many volumes as you have.

You can get some of the information about drives and volumes with the GUI version of diskutil by opening diskutil, clicking on the drive or volume, and then right-clicking on the item and then selecting "Information" from the dialog.

Another way is to open up a terminal window and type "diskutil list" and it will provide you with a list of all the drives, their partitions sizes and names (don't type it with quotes, though). If you want specific info about a drive or volume type "diskutil info " for example:

diskutil info disk0 OR diskutil info disk0s3

The utility will provide detailed information about each. I personally find using the Terminal.app a little easier because I can pipe the output to a file if I need to instead of cutting and pasting and it shows the relations of the volumes to the partitions a bit more clearly (IMHO).

I wouldn't think that swapping the drives around in the bays would make any difference. On my development systems I can swap around firewire drives, take one offline, take the other offline, bring the first back up, and even though they get different drive IDs, if one is set as bootable it will remain bootable. Mac's use UUIDs to tag the drives which remain unique to the drive regardless of their disk assignment.

The firmware for a Mac Pro might allow a user to provision specific bays to be bootable.


Why am I getting bad distortion on my MacBook Pro 15, mid 2015 right speaker? My MacBook Pro 15, mid 2015, has bad distortion on the right speaker. Headphones and bluetooth are fine, and when I use the Audio MIDI utility to swap channels it stays on the right speaker. I installed another right speaker I bought online, but the problem persists. Neither speaker had a broken cone, and the distortion sounds more electronic anyway.
Either:

I got a replacement speaker with the same problem. Since it was used, this is possible but seems unlikely given that my searches online don't suggest that this is a common problem.
I somehow managed to get the old one I removed mixed up with the new one, and put the old one back in. Possible as I'm a old fart, but I labeled the old one as "bad" to avoid this, and the one in my junk box is labeled "bad". Tho still possible that it was the labeling where I spaced out, but would require me to have been even more of a screw up than I usually am.
There is some sort of preamp on the sound/mother/other board that has blown.
There is some sort of software issue that is overdriving some amp somewhere.

I can solve #2 by doing the swap again, but it required more futzing inside the case than I like to do, always worried my fat fingers are going to break something else when I have to go that deep. Maybe it's possible to just plug the bad-labeled speaker in to test it, but I hate actually booting the thing with the back off.
It was pretty cheap, tho I don't recall where I got it, so if I could eliminate #2, #3, and 4, I'll just buy a new one.
Can any of you help me eliminate #3 and #4?

I impatiently decided to check the other speaker and managed to bust the plug (Doh!) trying to pull it off so I could test the "bad" one. That left me having to actually install the "bad" one anyway, which I did, and lo and behold, it seems to be working.
Looks like I was indeed more of a screw up than usual, in that I somehow managed to label the new one "bad."
So anyway, never mind.


How to fix iPhone that displays artists out of order in the music App? This seems like it might be related to my switch to iTunes Match. My Music App displays the artists out of order. Other lists, like Songs and Albums, are sorted correctly. At the start of the list they are sorted correctly, after scrolling down a bit then the headers that separate the letters are in the wrong spot, and by the time I get to the bottom of the list they are no longer sorted correctly. Additionally "Various Artists" appears multiple times (10 - 15 times).

My iPhone 4 is out of warranty, so I can't log an online incident.

Decided to try restoring my iPhone. That seems to have fixed it.


Can't print - 'Backend' failed Using a MBP running Catalina 10.15.6 I am unable to print to a networked Xerox printer.  It discovers it just fine with Bonjour, connects, but when I print anything, it instantly pauses the printer, and in the printer job list dialog, it fails saying Ready to Print - 'Backend' failed, 2 pages.
I've tried re-adding the printer, Reset the printing system with the right-click in the printer list, rebooting the machine.  I have an old iMac also running 10.15.6 which can print to it, so I know the printer works.  Any other ideas?

I figured out a workaround.  (Of course after struggling with this for weeks, I figure it out just after posting the question.)
When adding the printer, the dialog asks for "Name", "Location" and "Use".  "Use" defaults to "Secure AirPrint", but changing this to "AirPrint" fixes the problem.  It's a Xerox printer, FWIW.


Increase iPhone call history How can see call history in iPhone one month back, i also tried with tried party software but that is not perfect , is the any solution from apple?

You can't. iPhone call history is limited to the last 100 entries. Older entries are hidden but they might be available through a 3rd-party app.


How to disable codesign check on Logic Pro X plug-ins? I run Logic Pro X and other software to make music, and some third party plugins make the program crash if they get a:

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (Code Signature Invalid)

I can solve this problem by codesign -f -s - <file> but id rather not to, is there a way to disable code signature check? so it wont even give me an error and wont check it?

I assume the answer is no so hence my second question:

i need to run sudo codesign -f -s -  on a .bundle file thats inside a a Resource folder inside a .component (a package), and i have A LOT of these to go through, for example:

Plugin_2.component -> Resources -> Plugin_2.bundle
Plugin_3.component -> Resources -> Plugin_3.bundle

Is there a way to make a command to do it automatically?

I was thinking maybe in automator? something to make it do these 2 steps:

look for a .bundle file inside a Resource folder in a package
run sudo codesign -f -s -  on it

Is that possible? maybe make it in Automator and add it to Services in the right click menu? or to make it scan a whole folder with .component?

after some trial and error i managed to solve it easily with the following command in terminal

find . -name "*.bundle" -execdir sudo codesign -f -s - {} \;

find . -name "*.EXTENSION" is responsible for finding the certain file extension in a directory

-execdir YOUR COMMAND {} \; is responsible to executing the command.
using -execdir -> on the results of the previous find command ( {} )

fairly simple after all, hope this can help someone in the future


Trigger action on external monitor plug/unplug I'd like to trigger an action (launch an app, execute a script…) when I plug or unplug an external monitor on my MacBookPro with macOS 10.13.5.

Is there any native way or third party app to do that?

There is ControlPlane, but I didn't have much luck with it on El Captain.

Other option is running a never-ending AppleScript which calls your script on change of number of monitors. See this answer.


How can I extend the lock screen timeout in iOS? This question is applicable to both iPads and iPhones: how do I extend the lock screen timeout? By that I mean the time from when I see the "slide to unlock" message to when the screen goes black again. Right now when I press a button to wake my device up, I have about four or five seconds to slide the screen to unlock, before it just goes dark again. I would like to extend this timeout if possible. How do I do it?

Without jailbreaking your iPhone there Is no option to change that.


Does archived mail count towards your iCloud storage allowance? Does archived mail in iCloud count towards your iCloud storage allowance?

It does indeed - all mail that 'exists' is taking up space and therefore counts towards your allowance limit. The only way to free up space is to delete things fully.


How can I change the desktop wallpaper for a restricted, parental controlled account? We have an iMac with several accounts (two admins, one normal and one parental controlled).

My son's account (the parental controlled) will not let me change the desktop wallpaper!  Seriously?  I even told it to allow him to run system preferences (once) and even though I chose another wallpaper image, it won't work.

SURELY there is a way to change the simple desktop wallpaper for a managed account without opening the terminal?

Thanks for any tips.

You can set the wallpaper to automatically show images from a certain folder, switching images every X amount of time. This way, your son can put the image he wants in the proper folder and remove the old picture, and the next time it is changed it will choose the only picture there.

Use the + button to select the proper folder, change the stretching rule to fit your needs, and check the box for automatically changing the picture. If you don't set it to automatically change pictures, it will look for the last picture used and show a blank screen when it doesn't find it. You can force the image to be reloaded by logging out and back in, or by executing killall Dock from the Terminal.


How to change my own apple id, so I can upgrade xcode I am using company's computer. When I tried to upgrade xcode, it pops up someone else's account. Can I change it to my email address (apple id), so I can upgrade xcode. I heard that I need to reinstall the computer can do that (but I don't want to reinstall it)

Ask your employer to enter their administrators password so you can upgrade Xcode.

It sounds like your employer set you up with a normal account that needs an administers permission to do certain things, like update apps.


macOS Sierra broke SSH Kerberos authentication I have used Kerberos GSSAPI authentication together with SSH to connect from my Mac to work servers. However, ever since the macOS Sierra upgrade, I'm forced to enter passwords again.

My ~/.ssh/config looks like this:

Host MYSERVER
    GSSAPIAuthentication yes
    GSSAPIDelegateCredentials yes

I originally had there GSSAPITrustDns yes as well, but after the Sierra upgrade, SSH refused to start up saying that it could not parse the config. Removing the line fixed that.

Is there any way to get this working again?

I asked this in the SSH mailing list openssh-unix-dev@mindrot.org and I got this answer:

The GSSAPITrustDNS was never part of portable OpenSSH. This option originally comes from third party extending kerberos support in OpenSSH, which is no longer maintained, but can be simply rebased on the current sources.
The problem in this case is Apple dropping this patch used by many people, so the Apple is the place where you should ask (or your OpenSSH packager of your favorite repository).

http://marc.info/?l=openssh-unix-dev&m=147850754710753&w=2
It seems that we have to ask apple to put this feature back.


About this Mac - Storage information on terminal I am trying to reproduce the About this Mac - Storage window in the terminal.

Is there any easy way to do this ?

For the moment, the following commands are working (quite fast):

mdfind kind:music -0 | xargs -0 du -k | awk '{sum += $1} END {print sum}'

mdfind kind:image -0 | xargs -0 du -k | awk '{sum += $1} END {print sum}'

For the Applications, I use the metadata as du is way slower:

mdfind kind:application -0 | xargs -0 mdls -n kMDItemFSSize | awk '{sum += $3} END {print sum}'

When using the mdls -n kMDItemFSSize command on each application separately, it provides the same result as the Get Info window. However, when running the above command, I don't have the same result as the About this Mac - storage graph.

Also, I did not find any way to get the other types of data (movies, other, backups..)

Do you guys have any idea ?

Thanks !

Yeah try using something like this:

du /Application
du /apps

etc

Just use the path to where the files/folders of interest are. To find them you can use the grep/find and cat the results into a txt file or simply pipe the results into your du. Depends on where all your files/folders of interest are.


Preview fails to open pdf with "The file couldn't be opened because you don't have permissions to view it". but I have these permissions I've seen this earlier but never got time to bother looking closely into the problem.
So when I open a pdf file I created (long time ago, though in 2014). I see this error message from Preview:

But it's a lie, because of two things:

First, it's Get Info dialog:

Where one can clearly see the Permissions section, where it says Read & Write for peetonn (Me).

And who am I?

$ whoami
peetonn

Second, it's ls -Al@ output:

$ ls -l@ .
total 19936
-rw-r--r--@ 1 peetonn  staff   5.0M Dec 22 15:21 window.pdf
   com.apple.metadata:_kMDItemUserTags    42B
   com.apple.quarantine   22B

Could it be that these Apple's extended file attributes did something nasty?
How do I fix that?
Btw, if I hit Space for previewing the file, I can read it...

macOS 10.12.6

This is apparently a common problem, and one that Apple's support article below often does not fix.  It also occurs trying to save a new file.

The work-around both for an existing file that Preview wouldn't itself open, as well as for a new it says it can't save [which it actually already has saved], is this: navigate to the file in Finder and open via Cmd-O.  Then, back in Preview, click 'Cancel' and it will then proceed as if nothing strange occurred.

It's Apple's version of SNL's Rosanna Rosannadanna's 'Nevermind...'

This thread. suggests it's a permissions problem, and the referenced Apple Support page gives directions to apply permissions to the user folder via Get Info, then reset permissions in Terminal.

Immediately after I did this, Preview would save a screenshot, but shortly thereafter the same problem recurred.  It doesn't always do it.

My feedback to Apple when the 'fix' did not work was to point out that they just deflected the question.  I asked they address what to do when it didn't work.

It might be one of hundreds of OS issues Apple doesn't know how to fix.   Move on - install Mojave and hope it goes away?


What is the Default content in /private/etc/paths? I have edited /private/etc/paths to allow access for Homebrew:

/usr/local/bin
/usr/bin
/bin
/usr/sbin
/sbin

I want to restore this file to the system Defaults. What are the default lines and default order?

The default content of /etc/paths until Mavericks (10.9) is:

/usr/bin
/bin
/usr/sbin
/sbin
/usr/local/bin

The default content of /etc/paths since Yosemite (10.10) is:

/usr/local/bin
/usr/bin
/bin
/usr/sbin
/sbin


iPhone app to download/upload files How can I upload/download files from/on to a jailbroken iPhone 3G?

Are there any apps that allow me to do this?

http://www.dropbox.com/iphoneapp

2 Gb free account. No jailbreak needed.
Uploaded files can be private or be made public (accessible via http link).


Why can't I drag columns in Finder's Column View? Sometimes, when I'm working with Finder (Mac OS X 10.8), with a folder in Column View, I suddenly notice that the separator between columns has changed to a thick one like this:

When this happens, I cannot drag the separator to resize the columns. I haven't found a permanent fix apart from it seems to go away again after a while.

Edit (clarified question):

Almost certainly I have just enabled some mode or other, but I don't know what I've done. What causes this and how do I turn it off?

This happens when that separator needs to accomodate space for a scroll bar due to content length. You can resize them with the handles at the bottom end since 10.0.


Installing from .deb files in macOS Catalina I tried installing dpkg with brew. When it was done installing, it gave me the following message :-

==> Caveats
This installation of dpkg is not configured to install software, so
commands such as dpkg -i, dpkg --configure will fail.

Since dpkg -i is used to install packages, I need some help to fix this.

Also, are there any other ways to install .deb packages in MacOS? I'm open to using other methods as well

Thanks in advance

As far I know, a .deb file is a packaged software installer for Debian Linux (and its derivatives.)

If you want to install it, you're out of luck. I don't think there is anyway to install .deb packages on OS X.

However, we can unpack a .deb file on Mac OS X without installing it.

If you use Xcode, a utility called ar is installed. You can run the following command:

ar -x path/to/filename.deb

Alternatively, you could use Homebrew to install the dpkg utility which has many more options to work against .deb files.

dpkg -c path/to/filename.deb


How Do I Cancel an Apple ID? Can I cancel my Apple ID? I  have 3 accounts and I only need one.

Apple doesn't cancel these - you can put in a throwaway or secondary email / change the information and stop using the accounts, though.

How can I delete an apple account?
How do I delete unwanted Apple ID's?
When will Apple delete Apple ID?


Enable Parental Controls but allow Google Drive and game playing I am administering the laptops of 2 of a friends's boys (13 and 15, so ...). I have put Parental Controls in place but this is playing havoc with Google Drive and Steam, possibly also Minecraft but not sure yet.

I have no answer for Google Drive at present, it can browse folders OK but on opening a doc the contents can be seen briefly then Safari crashes. Odd bits of voodoo I found to add exceptions to the web filtering do not seem to make any difference. Steam seems to have an unpublished set of IP addresses it contacts and whitelisting here seems like a hopeless task. So rather than trying to fight it I was going to circumvent the whole thing.

My proposal is to create a gamer account on each boy's machine. This has parental control enabled but is set up to allow access to all websites but restricts the user to run Steam, Minecraft (and any other parentally approved games) only. One advantage is that time limits can be set on the gamer account while leaving the main account free for homework.

Does this seem viable? Any answers for Google Drive?

Not a complete answer but might help someone else looking for a solution for Steam.

I had no end of trouble if Steam was installed in /Applications, even if there was no restrictions on which applications could be run.

However, if Steam was installed in the user's Desktop (or somwhere else in their home directory) then after initial approvals on first run it ran without subsequent parental invovement. I had no restrictions on executing applications, I suspect it may have different had there been any restrictions in place.


Unable to copy files on iPod Until 2 days ago my iPod was playing music and videos just fine.

Now suddenly it is unable to copy multiple video files together from the library. It copies only when videos are given to it in groups of 3 or 4.

The iPod is also unable to copy any music from the library. Sometimes it copies just a few of the selected files and then hangs the computer. It doesn't even eject and eventually I have to just disconnect it!

I am very puzzled to see these problems with my iPod classic (120 GB).

Which kind of iPod is this? iPod Touch? iPod Classic...

Apple recommends the following steps to troubleshoot iPod issues. Exactly how these steps are performed will depend upon which iPod and OS you're using:

Reset the iPod
Retry connecting. Use a different USB port and cable.
Restart your computer. Make sure you have the latest software
updates installed
Reinstall the latest version of iTunes and the iPod software. Connect the iPod and select
"Check for Updates" in the iPod's source page.
Restore the iPod. This erases everything and takes it back to its factory state.

These are the same troubleshooting steps taken at Apple retail stores. They will fix the vast majority of iPod issues. If they don't, the device has likely experienced hardware failure of some kind. If it's still under warranty you can ask Apple to replace it.

For advice on the above steps specific to your device you can visit Apple's iPod troubleshooting site.


iOS7 why won't the time show up in texts I downloaded iOS7 and noticed that the time doesn't show up in texts like the older version.  How can I get the time to show up in my text messages when someone texts me? For example, when I receive a text from someone I want the time to show up in the actual conversation

Swipe right to left to reveal the timestamps.


Lost iPhone but someone is trying to use it - how can I track this My iPhone was stolen and I have blocked it, recently I received an email stating that I reported a problem... Someone is obviously trying to use my phone but because they can not access the internet or wifi I am unable to track this, does anyone know how I can track my phone?

If you have Find My iPhone enabled, simply log on to icloud.com and log in with your iTunes username and password. From the Find My iPhone home page, you can remotely wipe your phone or send a message to the thief. If you don't have Find My iPhone, try contacting your service provider to see if they can get a lock on the phone's location.


Move data from parent account to child account My kid has used my Apple ID for his iPad for several years while I've been on Android phones. I've recently moved back to Apple and realize we can not share the same account anymore as images etc. gets very mixed up.

I´ve created a child account for him under the Family sharing option, and my questions are:
If I set up his iPad with his new child account, will he:

Be able to download all previously purchased apps / games for free?
Be able to get his photos into his gallery?
Maintain the progress from games?
Maintain progress, files etc. from apps for school such as Showbie and Book Creator?

Thanks in advance guys!

Purchases, activity, and app/game progress are tied to an Apple ID.  In this case, they're tied to your Apple ID and there's no way to transfer this to a different Apple ID (your child's ID).

Some apps allow family sharing and some don't.  Because you've enabled that feature, your child will be able to access for free any apps you've already purchased.  In-app purchases will not be accessible by your child.

The activity/progress made on those apps under your ID will not be transferred to your child.  As of today, there's no way to transfer that that info.

Your child's account will be setup as a brand new account.  See Apple's Family Sharing site for more info.


Bootcamp installation of Windows 8.1 (High Sierra 10.13.6) audio driver doesn't work (iMac Mid 2011) Tried many things but nothing seemed to work installed all the drivers, read all threads about this issue in this forum but nothing worked ... Found an article but it was very long and confusing, if you know a solution to this please let me know thanks <3

I used a flash drive instead of a DVD to install Windows.

In 2012, Apple starting switching over from DVD installs of Windows to flash drives. In 2015, Apple again switched to installs of Windows where only the Windows ISO file was required. Your have a 2011 Mac and therefore were only suppose to install up to 64 bit Windows 8.1 by using a DVD. While by 2011 the industry had converted from legacy BIOS booting of Windows to the modern EFI boot method, Apple did start converting until 2012. When a High Sierra was installed on your Mac, the firmware was upgraded to allow EFI booting of a Windows 10 installer from FAT32 and ExFAT formatted flash drives.

Unfortunately, the Boot Camp Support Software for your model Mac contains drivers for the legacy BIOS booting of Windows. Therefore, if you attempt to install an EFI booting Windows you may encounter problems such as the audio not working properly. The same should also be true when installing Windows 8.1

  No Mac, regardless of model year, can BIOS boot from a flash drive.

In my opinion, Windows 8 and 8.1 were terrible versions of Windows. Therefore, you should consider installing Windows 10. Since the Window Support Software drivers are designed for a BIOS booting Windows, you should only install Windows to BIOS boot.

If you use a DVD to install Windows, then you should choose to BIOS boot from the DVD. This will automatically select Windows to be installed to BIOS boot. If installing the current version of Windows 10, then you will need a double layer DVD (DL).

If you choose to use a flash drive, then you can only EFI boot from the flash drive. The Windows installer will by default require you to install Windows to EFI boot. Instructions on how to install Window 10 to BIOS boot are given in the accepted answer to the question How to install Windows 10 into a 2011 iMac without using the Boot Camp Assistant, an optical (DVD) drive or third party tools?


Applescript - the activate command makes application "half-active" What I did:

Using this link,

I created the following Applescript:

tell application "System Events"
    click (first button whose subrole is "AXZoomButton") of (first window whose subrole is "AXStandardWindow") of (first process whose frontmost is true)
    set frontApp to (name of first application process whose frontmost is true) as string
    tell application frontApp to activate
end tell

This code allows me to "press" the green button at the top left corner of the window.

I run the code, using Alfred.

(Mountain Lion 10.8.4, Alfred 2.0.6)

What happens:

Zooming works fine, but

the zoomed window of the application loses focus.
the three buttons, red, yellow and green, at the top-left corner of the window are all dimmed in grey after running the code.
the menu bar still shows the application title, indicating that the application is still foremost.

(In this sense, the window is "half-activated"?)

If I click the window, those buttons go back to normal, showing red, yellow and green.

What I want:

I want to keep focus on the zoomed application window after running the code using Alfred.

Can anyone help me out, please?

Move the activate command outside the tell application "System Events" block:

tell application "System Events" to tell (process 1 where frontmost is true)
    click (button 1 where subrole is "AXZoomButton") of window 1
end tell
activate application (path to frontmost application as text)

Or you could probably just remove the activate command completely.


External keyboard modifiers with Sierra stopped working (when typing non-modifier key on MacBook Pro Retina) When I upgraded to Sierra, my shift key on the external keyboard stopped working when I press a key on my MacBook Pro Retina's keyboard.
I have a setup where my left hand is using the external keyboard (to avoid pain due to chest compression), while my right hand is on the MacBook's keyboard.

Now when I press the left shift and a letter on the MacBook keyboard, the
letter does not come capitalized. In El Capitan (and all other versions) this worked...

Any hints?

EDIT:

it's not just shift. It's command, alt, shift, control.
the modifier keys do work physically (when used with other keys on the same keyboard).

[SOLUTION!] Ha!!! Now it started working. Replying to my own question (related to Skeleton Bow's answer/suggestion - thanks) : Looks like Karabiner Elements kicked it the right way somehow. Even though I did not exactly change anything relevant, just installed it and opened it. Maybe the fact of installing /using karabiner forces sierra to use the old ways of handling modifier keys? Big thanks to @Skeleton Bow for the help in troubleshooting and for suggesting Karabiner Elements!


Can I install an IDE (PATA) optical drive in a 2009 Mac Pro? The 2009 Mac Pro uses SATA for its optical drive bays.  I have an older IDE (PATA) DVD burner I'd like to use with it.

I know there are IDE-SATA adapters, but they take up some space, and the fit with many internal components is pretty tight.  Is there room in a Mac Pro for an IDE optical drive, plus an IDE-SATA adapter so it can be plugged in?

Short answer:

As long as you have only one optical drive installed in your MacPro, you have a full 5.25" bay either under or above it available to stuff something into. I have a pair of SSDs installed in my lower optical bay.

Shorter answer:

If the IDE-SATA adapter is smaller than the optical drive, I'd pull the chassis and see if it fits.


How to record a audio with iPhone via input cable like AUX from laptop I am trying to record a audio with iPhone via input cable like AUX from laptop
Because I have audio file to use for the voicemail greeting, So I need to record with good quality.I think if can play from the pc and get the sound trough cable can record it with good quality

Actually all you need is an adapter cable that will provide the proper signals to the proper pins of the headphone jack. Note that if you have a phone without a headphone jack you will, first, need that lightning to headphone jack adapter that Apple sells.

The first thing I found was this article. It is much more than you were trying to do but it should work, none the less.

That article points to Amazon.com and a device called the Headset Buddy, which is nothing more than an adapter to go from a standard mini phono jack to the iPhone (and Android phone) headphone/mic jack.

Actually it may have some circuitry in it that does more than adapt a line-level input to your iPhone, not sure. No actual experience with this device.

The only thing I would be careful with (if you get the device linked above or something else comparable) is to start the output volume of your other device very low. I have experience with plugging stereos and the like into a Mac and the input level that a Mac and iPhone expect from a microphone is a lot lower than the output from your average audio out port on a PC or a stereo


OSX recovering ownership after bad chown command In hindsight, I made a bad decision, but I texted my wife a command:

sudo chown -R ${USER} /Applications/...

to run in a directory.  She didn't think it worked and started putting spaces where spaces shouldn't be, so she wound up running:

sudo chown -R ${USER} /

She shut it down after I told her she shouldn't have done that, and now I'm having no fun with this thing.

No biggie, I thought.  I've fatfingered some bad recursive commands in my past on Linux, but this is weird.  I've been repairing the root ownership from the recovery command line, but I don't know what happened to the user account.  When I look in /var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/users/, I see daemon, nobody, and root. My wife's user home directory is still there, but the ownership everywhere is 501.

So, clearly I am having some issues trying to chown things back to where they should be, but on top of that I'm not even sure I can resurrect that user to make things seamless.

Any thoughts?

EDIT - Running OSX 10.11.4, El Cap

OS X Yosemite (10.10) and older:

Applications → Utilities → Disk Utility
Select the startup disk from the list of volumes.
Click the First Aid tab.
To check permissions, click Verify Disk Permissions. To repair permissions, click Repair Disk Permissions.

Source: https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT201560

You can also do it from Terminal using the diskutil command.

OS X El Captian (10.11):

Applications → Utilities → Terminal
To verify permissions:

sudo /usr/libexec/repair_packages --verify --standard-pkgs /

To repair permissions:

sudo /usr/libexec/repair_packages --repair --standard-pkgs /

Type your password when prompted. You'll need to be root or a member of the admin group.

Source: http://osxdaily.com/2015/11/04/verify-repair-permissions-mac-os-x/


is there an application to manage bookmarks? I hate the in-built book mark managers of all browsers, it quickly becomes too messy and important links are hard to find

Is there desktop application which deal with bookmarks? something that has multiple options of fitters: categories, folders, tags and more

For example the task manager, omnifocus, is as simple or as complex as you want it to be, is there anything like that for bookmarks

Take a look at Xmarks. It stores the bookmarks on an Xmarks-server, so they are available from everywhere. It's compatible with Safari, IE, Firefox and Chrome.


how to get path for multiple files correctly through applescript or through terminal The current script I'm using for getting file path for single selection in finder is

tell application "Finder"
    set thepath to selection as text
    set pospath to quoted form of the POSIX path of thepath
end tell

It gives me path like this: '/Users/lawsome/Desktop/jan-study/untitled folder/'

This format of path is working for passing single file path for further action like moving or deleting the selected file.

When I'm trying the same script for multiple selections in finder I get result like this:

'/Users/lawsome/Desktop/Business Org Feedback.pdfMacintosh HD/Users/lawsome/Desktop/Top 10Macintosh HD/Users/lawsome/Desktop/Follow_Up_letters_Samples.pdfMacintosh HD/Users/lawsome/Desktop/Learn Outlook Tips.txtMacintosh HD/Users/lawsome/Desktop/OutlookTips.pdf'

This result doesn't work for me. What I'm trying to achieve is to pass multiple paths for selected finder items for further action.

If I drag multiple files in terminal, it shows files path in a different format and that works for further action. How can I get the path correctly through a script or through a terminal command.

The selection in Finder returns a list, so here is an example of how I'd handle things:

Example AppleScript code:

tell application "Finder"
    set theSelection to selection
    if theSelection is {} then
        return
    else if (theSelection count) is equal to 1 then
        set thePathFilename to the quoted form of POSIX path of (theSelection as string)
    else
        set thePathFilename to {}
        repeat with i from 1 to (theSelection count)
            copy (quoted form of POSIX path of (item i of theSelection as string)) & space to end of thePathFilename
        end repeat
        set thePathFilename to thePathFilename as string
    end if
end tell

If there is no selection when the script runs, it stops processing.
If only one item is in the selection, the thePathFilename contains one quoted POSIX Path Filename of the selected item, as a string.
If more then one item is in the selection, the thePathFilename contains the quoted POSIX Path Filename of each of the selected items, as a string, with a space after each.

Note: The example AppleScript code is just that and does not employ any error handling and is meant only to show one of many ways accomplish a task. The onus is always upon the User to add/use appropriate error handling as needed/wanted.


Gmail passwords don’t show up in Keychain Access. Are they saved somewhere else? I usually use Keychain access in Apple devices to locate forgotten email passwords for Outlook for Mac.
The Microsoft ones and others appear in Keychain Access.
However, the gmail passwords don’t show up.  Are they saved somewhere else?
I use this trick to recover forgotten passwords in customer’s Macs too.
Any help much welcome

I've tested it out and it seems that Microsoft Outlook for Mac sets up a sort of automatic authentication system. I didn't even have to put my password in it just logged me in.  I assume it got my Gmail password from the Keychain as I had it setup with Apple Mail. I assumed wrong. I also noticed the password field is not filled in on the account settings for Gmail in Outlook for Mac.
It seems Google Supports OAuth2 and Microsoft implemented it.
https://developers.google.com/gmail/api/auth/about-auth
https://developers.google.com/identity/protocols/oauth2
High level overview of OAuth2 and how it works:
https://youtu.be/CPbvxxslDTU
OAuth2 allows for credential-less authentication. When you setup your Gmail account in Outlook for Mac (likely PC as well) it asks you to allow Microsoft to access your Gmail account. Then you never even have to provide the password.  Google is doing to check to ensure you are who you say you are. If it knows this already it just lets Outlook login. If not it will have you authenticate but credentials go to Google not Microsoft. Then next time it connects it doesn't even send the ID/Password.
The Gmail password is not saved in the Mac Keychain as a result. If something breaks the chain of trust I am sure Google will prompt for your credentials, etc.  I didn't even have to use my Multi-Factor Authentication either.
Try adding another Gmail account or changing to a new user profile in Outlook for Mac.  Go to /Applications and right-click Microsoft Outlook then Show Package Contents. Go to Contents/SharedSupport and double-click the Outlook Profile Manager. Create a new profile and make it the default. Restart Outlook.  Add the Gmail account. In order to rectify any authentication problems you work with Google this way. i.e. Forgot Password, etc.
Creating a new profile will not affect the old profile. The data for a profile is kept here:
/Users//Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles/
If you drill down that path your old email should be in there and you could import it back into the new profile.


How to get video from webcam in a "Picture in Picture mode" While recording a screencast with QuickTime, I want to get video from the webcam in small window overlay. I can use photobooth video preview, but it's always too large and has lots of chrome.

This would save me having to rely on third party premium apps.

What are my options?

Have you tried starting a New Movie Recording first, selecting Float on Top from the view menu and then starting a New Screen Recording? Just tested it and it did a great job of a resizable PIP affect all in QT.


How to debug Safari CPU utilization and spinning beach ball? I have been plagued by performance problems in my late 2010 MacBook Air for several months now. Most of it seems centred around Safari. I regularly get very high fan speeds (loud to the point of very annoying), very warm laptop, high load average, and spinning BBOD (beach ball of death), especially on Safari.

I consistently have a single window, 8-10 tabs, none of them heavy dynamic apps (Gmail and Calendar running in Chrome).

I regularly have CPU spikes from Safari and WebContent (and at times soagent). They rarely last very long, but when they do, I see the BBOD and Safari is completely unusable, then the rest of the laptop slows down to a crawl.

I have taken a spindump of Safari - it takes a very long time - but I do not actually know how to interpret it to see where it is stuck.

I have almost no extensions installed. Just 1Password, AdBlock and ClickToPlugin (which was installed specifically to prevent Flash and others from bogging it down).

What can I do to narrow down the issue?

Adblock runs against every frame in the page. This is probably not all of your problem, but it is significant, at least it was for me. Switch to ublock and you should see a difference. Read the advanced docs and graduate to the the firewall style usage of this tool, and you will be very pleased.


How to disable App Nap in 10.13.6? I'm trying to disable App Nap for Chrome, but I can't find the checkbox anymore. Anyone know how to disable App Nap for a specific app in 10.13.6?

Not all ap's have the App nap capability.

If you do not see it in the Get Info window it does not have it.

However you can enable it system wide with following in Terminal.

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAppSleepDisabled -bool YES


iTunes reporting phantom songs on iPhone 4 I've been trying to work out whats going wrong on my iTune library

When I was syncing my iPhone tonight I noticed that under iPhone>Music there were approx. 150 songs that were grey with a "sync" symbol against them as well as a check mark.

I was using iTunes Match with no problem up to now.

I switched off Match and synced.  nada.

I deleted all the music on the iPhone using General>Usage>Music.  They are still there.

the iPhone reports having no songs on it under About.  I've tried dragging the songs to the iPhone with match switched off and only some of them copy.

I switched on Match again.  still there are 150 songs that are grey.

It looks like iTunes thinks that the songs should be on the iPhone but aren't.

Any suggestions?

See if this works for you... but this will remove ALL OF YOUR MUSIC FROM YOUR PHONE. So, I hope you have it somewhere else before doing these steps.

Uncheck "Sync Music" in iTunes on the Music tab for your iPhone.
Check "Manually manage music and videos" in iTunes on the Summary tab for your iPhone.
Go to the Music on the left tree under your iPhone in iTunes.
Select all of the music (CMD-A) and delete all of the songs.
Go back to the Summary Tab and click Sync.
At this point, your iPhone will have no music on it and will report that correctly.

This worked for my iPhone that was stuck in some weird limbo with Match. I was able to turn back on Sync Music and do the albums I wanted. Now my iPhone's Usage count matches iTunes.


Issues with upgrading iPhone4 to iOS 6 When I last upgrade my iPhone 4 to iOS 5, I later had to install another version of iTunes on my macbook to synchronize my files between my computer and my iPhone. This new version of iTunes required a new version of Quick Time, which took me a long time to find available on the internet.

Now my iPhone says that I need to upgrade to iOS 6. My macbook runs on Mac OS X leopard (10.5.8).

Which issues should I be aware of when upgrading to iOS 6, given my macbook's limitations?

A big one, as iOS 6 support was added to iTunes 10.7 which is only supported on 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) or later.

So, sadly, since iOS 6 requires this iTunes version to sync, and it requires Snow Leopard to run, your only option would be to upgrade your SO to 10.6.


Error when installing matplotlib I tried to install matplotlib on OS X Lion with the pip install command, but I get the following error:

error: command 'clang' failed with exit status 1

Does anyone have a solution?

matplotlib is part of the python 2.7 installed with El Capitan, no need to install it.


Get the Sound Output Device Name with AppleScript How can I get the current sound output device name with AppleScript?

For example, in my System Preferences: Sound pane "Internal Speakers" is currently selected. All I need to do is retrieve that device name -- "Internal Speakers" or "Headphones" or "Bluetooth Speakers" -- whichever is currently in use.

(I do not need a switcher/changer to another device.)

Just to help out a bit more:

In your main user directory /home// create a directory named 'bin' and put  SwitchAudioSource in there.

Here's some AppleScript which switches back and forth between two sources, the default 'headphone' mini jack output on the back of my Mac Mini (a laptop should be different), and my Sennheiser USB headsest.

Call me 'Captain Obvious', but here you go:

`on run

set theSwitch to "~/bin/SwitchAudioSource"
set theSource to do shell script theSwitch & " -c"

if theSource = "Built-in Output" then
    do shell script theSwitch & " -s \"Sennheiser USB headset\""
else
    do shell script theSwitch & " -s \"Built-in Output\""
end if

end run`


DRAM compatibility between two early 2011 MacBook Pro I have two early 2011 MacBook Pros as follows:

2011 MBP 17” - A1297 | MC725LL/A | (but I’m not sure if it’s a 2.2 GHz or 2.3 GHz).
2011 MBP 15” - A1286 | MC723LL/A | (2.2 GHz)

I have a few queries:

Can I take my two 8 DRAM chips (16 GB total) from my 17” and put it into my 15” one with no problems? Are they 100% compatible?

(2 - 204-pin PC-10600 (1333 MHz) DDR3 SO-DIMM)
Because of my doubt on the exact Sandy Bridge, would this cause any compatibility problems?
I’m not sure if the 15” has the AMD Radeon HD 6490M or the matching 6750M and Intel HD Graphics 3000 that the 17” has, would the DRAM swap cause any graphic problems if the AMD chips weren’t the same?
I don’t have the 13” version but I’m just curious if the same DRAM would be compatible with this model too?

Yes, the two are compatible. It doesn't matter if you have the 2720QM or 2820QM CPU.  You can swap the RAM modules without any problems.

The GPU (graphics) has no influence on which memory module is compatible. You can swap the RAM modules no matter which of the two models you have.

The 13" version will also be able to use the same RAM module.


How to keep iPhone photos synced on Mac? I'm really confused with these two features: iTunes Photo Sync and Photos App (on macOS).

I just want to keep my photos synced between my iPhone and MacBook. So if it is possible, every time I connect my phone via USB (or over WiFi) newest photos get copied from iPhone to mac and vise-versa.

What can I do? How to keep photos synced without uploading them to Apple servers? (aka iCould Photo Library)

I use Import feature of Photos app on macOS, it copied all photos from iPhone. But some minutes later, iTunes copied all downloaded photos from my mac to iPhone again! So I had duplicated photos on iPhone.

Note that I'm using macOS 10.12.6 and iOS 11.

To solve the issue with Photos.app and duplicate photos appearing on your iPhone, follow these steps:

Connect your iPhone to your Mac using a USB cable
Open Photos.app
Select 'Delete items'

This will delete your photos after they've been imported in Photos.app. This will prevent any duplicate photos from appearing in Photos.app on your iPhone.

On you Mac you can set up Image Capture.app so it a) copies all images/videos on your iPhone and b) deletes all images/videos afterwards. The following instructions work without Photos.app.

Step 1.

Make sure to disable Settings > Photos > iCloud Photo Library. This will make your iPhone appear as a 'Camera' so Image Capture.app is able to copy/delete media in your iPhone.

Step 2

To sync your photos in iTunes specify the folder your iPhone's media gets copied to.


DisplayPort unable to display in 2560x1440 I have a mid-2015 MBP running Mojave with 1 HDMI and 2 Thunderbolt 2 ports. I have two 32 inches Acer monitor - same model - EB321HQU with max resolution of 2560x1440. My monitors do not have DisplayPort. One monitor I have connected using HDMI and another using Thunderbolt to HDMI cable. The HDMI connected monitor is able to display at max resolution of 2560x1440 but the DisplayPort connected monitor is showing max resolution of 1600x900.

As per various articles I have read, the mid 2015 MBP should support two 4k monitors. Is there a way to get 2560x1440 on my DisplayPort based monitor? Do I need a DisplayPort 1.2 to HDMI 2 active adapter?

Used SwitchResX and the problem got fixed.