Unaccent Special characters and bulk-rename Background

I have a workflow that collects documents from various sources, converts them to PDF, OCRs them, compresses them, extracts their contents and annotations, uploads the files to a server and makes the corresponding mysql entries in order to provide a full-featured index for my web-based search engine.

To display PDFs within the search engine, I use PDF.js from mozilla, which can, in some cases, not load documents with certain characters in the filename.
These critical characters include german umlauts (Ä,Ö,Ü,ä,ö,ü), brackets ((),[],{}), french accents (é,è,à) and spanish accents (Ñ,ñ,Ó,ó,Á,á,É,é,Í,í,Ú,ú).

Every file that gets processed in applescript 'checks in' to php/mysql using curl. It would be no big deal to determine the new filename with PHP, but I have troubles to rename files which have the mentioned characters in their filename with AppleScript to a standardized name.

Question

I would like to implement a function that standardises filenames containing the special characters mentioned above using applescript.

The following filenames should become their corresponding values on the right

Riñón.pdf               --> Rinon.pdf
Ergänzung.pdf           --> Ergaenzung.pdf
Übersicht.pdf           --> Uebersicht.pdf
Système impérmeable.pdf --> Systeme impermeable.pdf

In short, german umlauts become expanded (like Ä --> Ae, ü --> ue) and all other accents become their 'unaccented' corresponding value (like ñ --> n, é --> e) and brackets become spaces ((Ergänzung).pdf -->  Ergaenzung .pdf)

Thanks for any advice

Renaming a file in AppleScript can be performed through the Finder:

tell application "Finder"
   set the name of file "Monterey" to "Eden"
end tell

Reducing a filename to a-z is tricky. If you are comfortable with perl, there is an ideal module called Text::Unidecode. Other approaches, such as using regular expressions, is discussed by Perl Monks in removing accents.

You mention using php, so this question may provide easier answers to integrate into your workflow, How do I remove accents from characters in a PHP string? The highest voted answer suggests:

function stripAccents($stripAccents){
  return strtr($stripAccents,'àáâãäçèéêëìíîïñòóôõöùúûüýÿÀÁÂÃÄÇÈÉÊËÌÍÎÏÑÒÓÔÕÖÙÚÛÜÝ','aaaaaceeeeiiiinooooouuuuyyAAAAACEEEEIIIINOOOOOUUUUY');
}


How can I get sound working on Bootcamp + Windows 8.1? Windows 8.1 isn't playing back audio on my 13" mid-2012 Macbook Pro.  I only have a speaker with an x on my notifications bar.  When I click on it, I get the usual "detecting problems" garbage.  Unfortunately, every "solution" I've found seems to work for everyone else, but not for me.

Device Manager

Windows shows a High Definition Audio Controller listed under System.  Its properties state that it has a Code 10 - "This device cannot start", along with "The requested operation was unsuccessful."  This is the only notion of an audio device listed in Device Manager.

Most solutions I've found say drivers need to be reinstalled (downloaded from the internet or simpliy re-run from the Bootcamp support drivers) and I've currently tried the following:

Bootcamp setup.exe (No errors are reported, 5.0.5033 "installs" a variety of sound drivers)
Cirrus Audio (Both CirrusAudiox64.exe and a manual .inf installation)
Realtek (I've tried nearly every link I've found)
Intel Graphics 4000 (apparently it does audio too)

Every executable runs and reports success, however, I don't see any sign of a change apart from the Realtek driver copying files somewhere in Program Files, and the Intel driver blanking the screen a few times.

Cirrus Audio

I've tried manually installing the Cirrus Audio driver by performing the following:

Select High Definition Audio Controller from Device Manager
Click on Driver -> Update Driver
Select "Browse my computer for driver "
Select "Let me pick from a list of device drivers"
Click "Have Disk..." and navigate to the .inf file

At this point windows complains that the driver does not support Windows x64, despite having "x64" written all over it.

"The folder you specified doesn't contain a compatible software driver for your device. If the folder contains a driver, make sure it is designed to work with Windows for x64-based systems."

If I skip #'s 4 and 5, and browse directly for the driver files, Windows reports that the Driver software is already up to date.

"Windows has determined the driver software for your device is up to date."

This makes me believe that Windows 8.1 might have an issue with certain drivers, deeming them unusable in some way.  It's possible that windows is denying the .exe installers' drivers, Realtek, and Cirrus behind the scenes, without letting them install anything.  Maybe they report success and silently fail?

Setup

It's worth mentioning that my Bootcamp setup isn't typical.  I've partitioned the hard drive and installed windows manually, alongside Arch Linux.  (I've triple booted this thing, and windows audio is the final hurdle.)  I'm also using the refind efi bootloader to boot the system.

For the windows boot option, I point refind to /EFI/Microsoft/bootmgfw.efi, without any options. I'm thinking that Bootcamp might do more than partition and install, and that I'm supposed to do more to inform windows about the macbook hardware at this stage.  Is this the case?  Did I miss something critical about Bootcamp?

If anyone can help me solve this, I will be eternally grateful.  Thanks.

P.S. I'm a linux user, so windows drivers aren't exactly my forte.  If I'm doing something totally wrong, please let me know.

Forget EFI and install using boot camp assistant.

After backing everything up, wiping my partitions, and installing Windows 8.1 using Bootcamp, everything works as normal.  The machine boots using bios mode, Cirrus Audio was properly installed after a single run of setup.exe from the Bootcamp support software, and the device is recognized properly as VEN_1013 DEV_4206 --Cirrus Audio CS4206B (AB 82).

It sucks, but it's worth it.  I plan on resizing windows' ntfs partition and booting linux beside it, but that's a problem for another day.


Can you upgrade the RAM in the latest MacBook Airs if you ship them to Apple themselves? I know that RAM is soldered onto the mainboard on the latest MacBook Airs, which makes a DIY upgrade apparently impossible. But would Apple do it instead though?

The guy at the Apple Store told me that I could send the Mac back to Apple and they could upgrade the RAM, but he didn’t look very convinced if I must be honest, so I wanted to double check here.

Apple will replace the motherboard. The RAM is not desoldered and replaced, but the motherboard is simply swapped for one with the amount of RAM you want.


Make command line app behave like a normal macOS app? Is it possible to make a command line app  behave and act like a normal Cocoa app?

I want to be able to set command line app Zathura, for example, as a default pdf viewer.

I want it to appear in Alfred/Spotlight when I search for it, and if an instance is already running, typing "Zathura" and then Return would bring up that instance instead starting a new one.

There is an app called Platypus which will take shell scripts or python scripts and make them into an app that you can just double click to run. The app is free. I use it to convert python scrips but it also works for command line scripts.


auto unmount .dmg if it has not been accessed for a while Is there a way to automatically unmount a specific volume (mounted from a .dmg/.sparseimage) if it has not been accessed for a specified period?

EDIT:

This would be especially useful for password protected images which contain sensitive data.
Since I got no complete answer to this, I have asked a similar but simpler question here.

The OS doens't allow that out of the box (neither for dmg nor real partitions).

What I would do is create a script that would listen to that mounted image and after x time idle, unmount it.

Applescript is a fairly simple way to get that working (or via an automator flow).

Some pointers:

(the tricky part is getting the disk image idle)

http://www.mactech.com/articles/mactech/Vol.20/20.07/FolderWatching/index.html

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:IjvM1V_MxroJ:macscripter.net/viewtopic.php%3Fid%3D39468+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&client=safari

Checking for folder/file changes using Automator?

How to run Applescript on Disk mount

Automatically launch a program or action when an external drive or disk is connected

I'll make an example later today, but the flow will be like this:

open script

drag mounted image disk to it

monitor this disk access (every x time, to save processor)

if last time accessed > idlelimit then
    eject disk
    quit script

otherwise

keep checking


Apple watch app without functionality I have a client who wants to add Apple Watch functionality to its app. However, my client wants to take paid from its customers using In App Purchase to activate this content. This will lead to an "empty" app on the apple watch with informative text to the user to purchase the Apple Watch IAP package to enable its functionality.

Although the request from my client is logical, I have a hard time believing Apple will approve such an app. Also, with regards to 2.12 of the review guidelines:

  Apps that are not very useful, unique, are simply web sites bundled as
  Apps, or do not provide any lasting entertainment value may be
  rejected

I can imagine Apple will interpret my client's Watch app as an app that is not very useful, until the user purchase the functionality.

Anybody with any experience here or having more insight on whether it would be worth giving it a try or not? Last thing we'd like to do is waste our time ;)

I would say you are over thinking the watch app.

Watch apps on Watch OS 2 and iOS 9 are extensions. They are the antithesis of a functioning app and simply a little detail or a little tidbit.

Furthermore, Apple approves apps that do absolutely nothing without a paid account. Netflix, Casper Focus, Splunk, all the newsstand subscriptions where you need to pay for content before reading an issue.

Now - Apple's review guidelines let them have great latitude to deny apps for no reason at all - let alone 2.12 "not very useful" which itself is highly subjective.

What you are concerned about also concerns many other app developers and it sure would be nice if there were a way to pay for "Pre-Approval of Innovative Features" so you could invest maybe 5k of effort to prototype and then pay for a review by Apple before investing the actual amount of development work in your app. See this story for the details of how pre-approval and the developers surveyed are in similar situation wondering what might pass review:

https://www.macstories.net/stories/developers-apples-app-review-needs-big-improvements/


How to reinstall OS X on a wiped MacBook Pro mid 2010 So I wiped the HD on my mid 2010 MacBook Pro, and trying to reinstall OSX via Recovery I get this error: the feature is not available at the moment and to try later.

I already had a chat with the support and they said that they can't give me any help, not even paid, because the MacBook is listed as vintage and to try the online recovery, I tried it to no avail.

Unfortunately I don't have any installation disks nor backup Apple products nor Time Machine backups, I only have access to this Windows PC I'm writing on at the moment.

I guess I could try to install the OS via USB but I can't find any legit way to obtain the installation files.

The system before the wipe was 10.9.4 Mavericks.

I really don't know what to do now, any help will be much appreciated.

That's a weird issue, your best bet is probably to download the "OS X Recovery Disk Assistant" to reinstall OS Lion.
From Apple's website:

"To create an external OS X Recovery, download the OS X Recovery Disk Assistant application. Insert an external drive, launch the OS X  Recovery Disk Assistant,  select the drive where you would like to install, and follow the on screen instructions.
When the OS X Recovery Disk Assistant completes, the new partition will not be visible in the Finder or Disk Utility. To access OS X Recovery, reboot the computer while holding the Option key. Select Recovery HD from the Startup Manager. "

Note: In order to create an external OS X  Recovery using the OS X Recovery Assistant, your Mac must have an existing Recovery HD, which in your case it most likely already does.


Laptop charger plug differences My Macbook Pro charger (purchased in the US) comes with two different plug attachments, one that fits directly into the body of the charger and one with an extension cord.  For some reason, the short attachment has only two prongs, while the long one has an additional ground pin.  What is the function of the ground pin on the long attachment?  Is it really necessary?

The third pin is a ground pin. It is required in some countries for devices with a metal surface to prevent shocks in case of a short-circuit.
Since they also delivered a plug with only two pins to you, in your country it seems to be ok to use without grounding. If you want to be absolutely on the safe side, use the three pin cable.

More info.


Can Siri be instructed to scroll pages for me in Safari? I’m curious if I can do some hands free browsing through Siri. How integrated is Siri with Safari?

In my honest opinion, using Siri on the Mac is extremely frustrating and has huge limitations. Again, in my honest opinion, enabling Enhanced Dictation in System Preferences is the way to go. Not only do you have access to dozens of pre-existing Dictation Commands, you can also create your own custom Dictation Commands.

Using Automator.app is a good place to start getting your feet wet with making new dictation commands.

So to answer your question, not only can you scroll using Dictation Commands, you can completely navigate through websites using Dictation Commands.

For example, while using Safari if you were to speak the dictation command "Show Numbers", this is what you would see...

And if you wanted to click on the link "add a comment", under your original post, all you need to do is speak the actual number (69) which is in the little blue arrow pointing to that link


Does OSX have a hidden "Device Manager" list like Windows? Back in the Windows world there was a Device Manager control panel that would list all the devices that were connected to your computer.

There was even an option to show "hidden devices", basically a list of items like thumb-drives, SD cards, etc. that were once connected to your PC.

I'm just curious if something like this exists in OSX? Is there a list of devices that are connected or ever were connected?

Search for System Information in Lion or later (or System Profiler in Snow Leopard and earlier versions of Mac OS) in Spotlight (press ⌘ and Space).

The program is in /Applications/Utilities and is the tool to see the connected USB devices and other hardware details. It is quite simliar to Device Manager on Windows.

Alternatively you can access it via the Apple Menu

 -> About This Mac -> More Info... -> System Report...

The System Information can save system profiler information to a file, so you could review an older snapshot to see what was connected once, but the Mac OS doesn't record all the devices connected - just the ones actually connected when you run the tool and it scans the current items on the device tree.


Is iTunes 12.4.1 available for 32-bit Windows? I couldn't find it on the Apple website, I was only offered the 64-bit version. Maybe that's because I'm using a 64-bit client for the download?

If you make the iTunes download believe you are 32-bit Windows, it will provide you with the 32-bit installer.

Change the user agent string following instructions for your browser (this guide seems to work) to something like Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; Win32, x86; Trident/7.0; rv:11.0) like Gecko so it appears you are running 32-bit Windows. Visit the download page again: it should now give you iTunesSetup.exe instead of iTunes64Setup.exe.


Time Machine Backup causes Macbook Pro to hang My Macbook Pro has suddenly started acting pretty funky. I will be running Blender for a few minutes and then it will turn on the fans and they will start getting faster and faster. I checked the CPU load and I can't figure out what's happening. When I go to restart my computer It just sits there. I try to force a restart be entering:

sudo reboot

into a Terminal session. This forces the computer into the shutdown screen and it just sits there and does nothing.

I have installed BitDefender from the App store and scanned my system, nothing came up. I tried using the DiskUtil in recovery mode to verify/repair my hard drive, everything checked out. I verified all of the file permissions and there are no errors. When I boot my computer up in safe mode then it works perfectly which leads me to believe it could be a virus but I'm not sure. I have a Time Machine on my network but I haven't done a backup in a few days and I don't want to take the time to transfer all my files I need onto a flash drive.

Is it possible I have a virus, or is it some kind of system error?

The problem was my Time Machine backup. Here are the symptoms I got in their order:

Time Machine get stuck during the backup stage, gives the error "ComputerX.sparsebundle is already in use"
Process fseventsd started hogging CPU causing the computer to slow down
Computer could not restart or shut down

My sparsebundle on the Time Machine was corrupted so my computer could not complete the backup. The process responsible for maintaining the backup (fseventsd) got hung up on the currupted file and started chewing up CPU. When I tried to shutdown my computer, It would get stuck because my computer wouldn't be able to eject the corrupted sparsebundle.

I found the solution here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1502226?start=0&tstart=0

In short, heres how to fix it:

1) mount your sparse bundle from your storage device
 2) do a disk repair from Disk Utility, make sure your sparse bundle is selected!

  Note: If your sparse bundle is not completely corrupted, you might be able to save some of your backups depending on how corrupted the bundle is

3) If your bundle is completely toast (like mine was) then you have to completely erase the bundle and start over from scratch. You DO NOT have to erase the entire backup disk, just your bundle

  Note: You may have to restart your computer to clear your bundle because now that the corrupted bundle is mounted, your computer won't be able to gracefully unmount.


How to fix Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet slower than Wi-Fi Macbook Pro? I recently bought a Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adapter so I could have faster Internet. I plugged the cable into my Internet modem, and the other end into my adapter. I plugged the adapter into one of my Thunderbolt ports on my Macbook Pro running OSX 10.11.3 El Capitan. The computer recognized it and connected to Ethernet. When I used speedtest.net, my WiFi had a lower ping and higher upload and download speeds than my Ethernet. I tried the cable to both Thunderbolt ports, all the ports on my modem, and my router, and even tried using a different Ethernet cable; it just wouldn't go faster on Ethernet.

I tried resetting my PRAM (Which has recently been changed to NVRAM, but is essentially the same thing), and deleting my Thunderbolt Ethernet setup in System Preferences. If you want to know;

Ethernet:

Ping=17 ms
Download=3.50 MB/s
upload=1.21 MB/s

Wi-Fi:

Ping=13 ms
Download=3.76 MB/s
Upload=2.19 MB/s

As you can see, my WiFi is not very good so I got the adapter to speed up my connection by using Ethernet. I just spent $30 so please if anyone can help I really need it.

I think there is something going on with El Capitan and a most recent update...   My ethernet speeds (same network as an old Mac Mini) are 50x more (very seriously) than my iMac 5k.  I get about 70Mb/s on the old Mac Mini and only about 1.5-2Mb/s on the iMac.  I checked the network traffic, I checked the processing in the background ...  nothing.  That's changed recently (with nothing else changing) and I think it was due to an update.  Frustrating though.


OS X won't boot. errno 19 I have a MacBook with OS X on one partition, a few other partitions and a Bootcamp Windows 7 on another partition.

Right now, I can boot into Windows but I cant boot into OS X. I am typing this while using Windows as the host OS.

When I boot into OS X I get the prohibited sign, and boot into OS X via Safe Mode, I see hfs_mountroot failed: 5
cannot mount root, errno = 19

At first glance this seems to be an I/O issue, that my harddrive is dying or something, but the Windows partition works flawlessly.

So something has happened to the boot on that OS X partition. Other places on the net say the drive is done and that I need to image it or that I need the OSX startup disc but even then its a gamble. But I disagree since it is clearly that one partition that is having some issues with its boot protocol and not the entire hard drive.

To further illustrate my point, my Windows 7 has MacDrive installed, and I can browse all the files on my OS X HFS+ partitions!

With that in mind, is there anything I can do to get my OS X boot partition to work again? Thank you!

What you may be able to try is running the fsck command in Single User Mode. As soon as you press the power button on your computer, press and hold Command+S until a terminal interface appears. When you see this: root:$ or something similar, type fsck -f and press enter. This will start a file system check which will most likely solve your problems. When it is finished, type reboot and press enter.

For my own curiosity, can you perhaps take a picture of the results? I'd be curious to see what it finds.


Unable to install Signal from App Store on iPhone I had been using Signal on my phone for a week. last night it stopped working and i was not able to send messages. I tried uninstalling and when i installed it again it does not install. it throws an error.
Can someone help me with this error

"This operation couldn't be completed"
(SignalServiceKit.NetworkManagerError error 504.)

Signal is/was down today, maybe just wait til they are back up. You can check the current state on the Signal Status Page.
From https://twitter.com/signalapp/status/1350118809860886528?s=20

Signal is experiencing technical difficulties. We are working hard to restore service as quickly as possible.


Is there a procedure to report a buggy iOS app in the app store? I found an app on the iOS App Store available in both lite and paid version, but it has too many bugs. See the edit history for the name, but this is more about how I can get word back to Apple in general about bugs.

In this case, the app hangs and its GUI is not following Apple's HIG. I want to report to Apple about this app. Is there any standard procedure to do that?

The programmatic and direct feedback channels to Apple and the developer are as follows:

Report a problem from the purchase summary in iTunes on a computer. This also is useful if you wish to ask for a refund in the case where the app was paid and doesn't function in your judgement.
There is a general problem link in the store as well as a link to developer support. These are best for technical or minor bugs that don't ruin the app experience or if you expect it to get fixed and continue to use the app.
You can write a formal review that Apple may eventually publish detailing why you feel the app is buggy or non-confomant with design guidelines or rules.
You can rate the app in stars

Those three procedures are standard ways to provide feedback about buggy apps or problematic purchases. Deleting the app sends less formal feedback as your devices stop asking for updates to that title.


Office 365 newly purchased is not launching on my Big Sur Mac? What can I do? I just installed big Sur on a Mac Book air. I purchased Office 365 and when I try to launch it, I gut just to base one, and then it stays stuck. What can I do?

One easy thing is to use a browser (other than Safari) and go to https://portal.office.com and make sure your license is set up.
Depending on which of the many versions of Office was sold to you, you might want to start with Microsoft subscription support to know which level and version of the programs you purchased so you can activate and sign in correctly. The applications are all the same, but the license you bring to the app enables the features your account provides.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/home/contact

Once the licensing is clear, then you can make sure you’re signing in to the apps and they pull the same license as your online check allows.


How do I disable auto swoosh (automatic space switching) in MacOS Sierra? I don't ever want to be switched between spaces except when I request it explicitly.

In Yosemite, this could be solved by:

disabling "Group windows by application" in Preferences -> Mission Control
typing defaults write com.apple.Dock workspaces-auto-swoosh -bool NO in the terminal.

Together, these prevented all involuntary Space changes.

However, these measures don't seem to work in Sierra.

Clicking in the Dock takes me to another Space if there are any windows for the application on another Space. I don't want this to happen.

How can I change it so that clicking in the Dock cannot move me to a different Space?

note: I've checked ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dock.plist -- the value of workspaces-auto-swoosh is NO.

I have macOS Sierra 10.12.6, and this option is in Mission Control settings (also looks like it's in the same place on my old Mac running 10.7.5). Simply uncheck the option "When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application", and Cmd-Tab will no longer make you switch Spaces.

Clicking on an app icon in the Dock will also no longer switch spaces, unless the app is already selected (its name is in the menubar), in which case further clicks on the icon will cycle you through any Spaces with a window open for that app. Not 100% what you are asking for, but if the app is already selected you should have no reason to click the icon again anyway.


Remote SSH connection I want to connect my iMac remotely via ssh. Even though I can connect it locally, I can't do it remotely. When I try to connect remotely it refuses the connection.

port 22: Connection refused

I saw lots of discussions about the problem but w/o success. This is why I am opening a new thread.
I also disabled the firewall but still cannot connect. For diagnosing purposes, I executed netstat tupan and I see ssh local address as 192.168.1.33.ssh and Foreign address as 192.168.1.33.49883. Here is the output.

Proto Recv-Q Send-Q  Local Address          Foreign Address        (state)
tcp4       0      0  192.168.1.33.ssh       192.168.1.33.49886   ESTABLISHED
tcp4       0      0  192.168.1.33.49886     192.168.1.33.ssh       ESTABLISHED
tcp4       0      0  192.168.1.33.ssh       192.168.1.33.49884     ESTABLISHED
tcp4       0      0  192.168.1.33.49884     192.168.1.33.ssh       ESTABLISHED

Could someone explain me what does this mean? Are those 49884 and 49886 are port numbers? Should I open new ports via port forwarding? And most importantly, could you guys explain me how can I connect remotely via ssh in layman terms please?
B.R.

Yes, the numbers 49884 and 49886 you see are indeed port numbers. However, they're not port numbers for the ssh service itself, but are the port numbers these specific clients have used for connecting. The numbers are essentially meaningless for you.

The usual problem that home users have with connecting remotely over SSH to their own computer is that their network is behind a NAT (Network Address Translation) router. Essentially this means that your router has a single public IP address, but allows multiple devices behind it to connect to the internet even though they have private IP addresses that are not "visible" on the internet.

The most common way to enable remote access over SSH is to add a port forward in the router. You'll need to port forward your remote IP port 22 to port 22 on the local IP of your iMac. How that is done depends on the exact router you have, but is usually explained in the manual or web interface help.


External drive won't eject cleanly I have several external drives, all of which work fine, but recently purchased and backed up to a new drive (Samsung T5) which always fails to eject cleanly. Whenever I try to eject it, I'm asked:

“Drive” is a volume on a disk that has 2 volumes. Do you want to eject “ Drive” only, or both volumes?
To eject both, click Eject All, or hold down the Option key while ejecting.
To eject only “Drive,” click Eject, or hold down the Control key while ejecting.

Unless I choose Eject All, the drive stays around, so I choose Eject All. But then I get a message that says "Drive - Data" was not ejected because it was in use, and I have to Force Eject to finally eject it. When I then unplug the drive I get a warning that doing so might have caused problems.
There's nothing that I know of that's actually using the drive when I do this, and no damage seems to be done.
Why won't my Samsung T5 eject cleanly?

The drive is formatted APFS/GUID, unencrypted and is a bootable clone with FileVault enabled (though it behaved this way before FV was enabled too, and before anything was backed up to it.)

This issue is generally caused by a background process that is taking a (very) long time to complete.

In my case it was Spotlight indexing, which I don't need for the drive in question. So after confirming that it the culprit was indeed Spotlight and terminating it, I simply disabled Spotlight indexing for the drive, and now I am able to eject cleanly. Similar instructions apply for identifying and terminating whatever process is the cause generally.


How do I disable/configure macOS Sierra's auto throttling of the CPU for processor intensive tasks I'm using an iMac (late 2015) with an Intel core i7 (quad core) 4GHz CPU with 32GB ram and a 3TB Fusion Drive. I'm a software developer working on a huge codebase that used to take about 30 minutes to build and run unit tests on my beast of a machine. Of course, running the build meant that the CPU usage was up through the roof and the fan working at its fastest speed.

I upgraded to macOS sierra yesterday, and my first attempt to build the project I'm working on took three and a half hours! During this time my computer and fan were as quiet as a sleeping baby.

I did some investigation and found that whenever a process uses too much CPU power to the extent of making the fans audible, in just a couple of seconds I see the CPU usage of this process falling down, and after a few minutes, the fan sound goes down too. It seems that in Sierra a feature was added to make sure that the CPU doesn't overheat by throttling the processor usage for high CPU demand processes automatically.

What I need to know is how to disable/configure this feature, because it's killing my productivity. I really love the other great features in Sierra, but I would certainly downgrade if there is no way to disable this auto-throttling.

Here are a few broad steps from a post on "Disable OS X kernel_task throttling" which you will need to try since I don't have an iMac on hand. Strongly suggest you read the post in detail and also understand potential risks before executing this sequence.

Disable System Integrity Protection so you can make system folder edits with steps at
How do I disable System Integrity Protection (SIP) AKA “rootless” on OS X 10.11, El Capitan?
Boot into single-user mode with Command-S sequence
Mount the filesystem:
fsck -y; mount -uw /
Backup the IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext extension
rsync -av /System/Library/Extensions/IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext /Users/Shared/
now delete the IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext extension and restart
rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext; shutdown -r now

If/when you want to restore the configuration,
rsync -av /Users/Shared/IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext /System/Library/Extensions

The /Users/Shared/ location for storing extension is a subjective choice. You can backup in any other safe place (even on an external drive). As long as you can retrieve it when you want to rollback this action.


Where do closed notes in OS X Notes app go? When you close a note in the OS X 10.9 Notes app it leaves no trace, there's no warning and no revert. It's just appears to be gone. Very unMac like to me. It's in user interface design 101 that if there's a risk of data loss, the application should inform the user of this is what will happen.

Where do the notes go in OS X if the default is "on this Mac"? What if the default account is an IMAP account? Can you get it back from the place it's connected to?

Well, this seem to be down to my unfamiliarity with the Notes app. As in "Mail" there is a browser overview under Window > Notes (Cmd-0) (in my language anyway) and any closed notes can be found there.
Despite a long long use of OS X apps this didn't feel like a natural place to look, but it's logical considering other Apple apps. I think possibly "Note browser" would have said more about the function of this menu option. I must have understood this as a reference to the app itself.


computer slow to load web pages after uploading from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion All I know is since I went from snow leopard to mountain lion my macbook pro 2011 13" 2.3GHZ i 5 2410M is slow to load web pages.I am not an expert and that is all I can say.

In my experience, since your upgrade from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion, your system does not have enough RAM and this is causing it to run more slowly. Upgrading to more RAM should speed things up substantially.

Snow Leopard, when booted up to the Finder, takes approximately 2GB of RAM to run (that is if no apps are loaded and running). Mountain Lion, however, takes approximately 3.5GB of RAM in the same situation. When you start running apps, including Safari or any web browser, the amount of memory needed by the system goes considerably above these amounts. If your Mac has less than 4GB of physical RAM, then Mountain Lion is going to use the "swap file" to constantly write pages in and out of RAM and to the hard drive, which is going to slow down your system operation considerably.

If your system will support it, it will run much faster if you can upgrade with more RAM. According to this chart, your model of Mac can accommodate 8GB, 12GB or 16GB of RAM (confirm the exact model number to be sure), so you should consider upgrading.


4k60 over Thunderbolt 1? I own a 2011 MacBook Pro which has Thunderbolt Gen 1 (MacBook Pro 8,2).  I know that TBolt1 is capable of 10Gbps, and the bitrate of 4k60 video is about ~5.7Gpbs.  Is it possible to drive a 4k monitor at 60hz with my MBP?

Model Name:                 MacBook Pro
Model Identifier:           MacBookPro8,2
Processor Name:             Intel Core i7
Processor Speed:            2.2 GHz
Number of Processors:       1
Total Number of Cores:      4
L2 Cache (per Core):        256 KB
L3 Cache:                   6 MB
Memory:                     8 GB

So TL;DR can I do 4k60 with my MBP?

Your MacBook Pro model came with either an AMD Radeon HD 6490M or 6750M and Intel HD Graphics 3000 as its graphics card options.

While your MBP does support up to two Thunderbolt displays in the following modes: dual display extended and video mirroring, it's only capable of an external resolution of up to 2560x1600 pixels.

Unfortunately, this resolution output falls below 4K resolution which is basically in the order of 4000x2000 pixels.

However, the maximum resolution of your 15.4" built in display is 1680x1050 pixels, so while you can't output 4K resolution to an  external display, the 2560x1600 pixels you can output is still an improvement.


Does Touch ID work differently between Apple Pay and iPhone unlock? I'm only asking this out of curiosity. I've noticed that when I use my Touch ID to pay with iPhone, or to unlock an app, it's much quicker and it always works. However, while unlocking the iPhone, sometimes I need to put my thumb 2 or 3 times till  it unlocks. I noticed this happening with different iPhone models too.

Is there any explanation for this? May I just be wrong?

No. You may experience slower response times due to presence of moisture or dust on or under Touch ID sensor or finger/thumb respectively.

Cleaning/Drying the Touch ID sensor/finger usually resolves the lag issue.

iPhone 6s and later (excluding iPhone SE and all Touch ID equipped models of iPad) have a second generation Touch ID sensor which is much faster at recognizing finger/thumb geometry.


When I try to delete some old folders on my mac desktop I get error. I have tried some method but failed. Error is shown in description I have tried several methods in the past as well.

While reflecting on root of problem initially after purchasing mac I had password set which was forgotten within week so I had to used command R feature to reset password. After That everything is working fine but folders and files shown on below screen are not deleted.

Figure 1

Figure 2

When trying to make any changes such as moving, deleting, renaming to shown folder above request pops up for entering admin password. Even after I enter password following error is shown.

Figure 3

After researching some method to solve this issue I changed the disk permission from other to read and write as shown below in Figure 4 but still same issue mentioned above in picture Figure 1, 2, and 3 is repeated.

Figure 4

What further I can do to get rid of those files and folders highlighted on fig 1. I am annoyed as they are useless at the moment and I repeatedly have to encounter them.

Have you tried removing/deleting those files and folders through command line using terminal ?

Open Terminal
type rm -r followed by Space
Drop&Drag the files/folders to be deleted into the Terminal window (so the file path gets inserted)
Press Return


How do I change the default font size for reading in Mail 6.0? How do I change the default font size for reading the body of messages in Mail 6.0? I know that I can use ctrl++, but I want the reading pane to default the body of the message to a larger font without lowering the default resolution.

This is a setting that can be changed in Mail Preferences. Open the dialog box by clicking:

Mail > Preferences (or Cmd + ,) > Fonts & Colors > Message Font > Select...

A dialog box should display with text options for you to customize.


Alarms not working for iCal calendar synced with Google account I have, in iCal two accounts: one local, one synced with my Google account. In the last 3 weeks or so, the alarms on the synced account have stopped working -- that is, I'll create an event, set the alarm, and click "done," and when I click on the event immediately after, my alarm settings have disappeared. This also happens when I add an alarm to existing event on this account. The alarms on my local account appear to be working fine.

I am running 10.6.8 on a 15" MacBook Pro.

Has anyone else had any problems like this? Any ideas as to how I could about fixing it?

On snow leopard I find that iCal drops alarms of type "message with sound", which I assume is because google calendar doesn't support them. It works ok for me with alarms of type "message". Could that be your problem?


Power Connector for SSD in 2009 Mac Pro I have a Samsung 840 Pro in my 2009 Mac Pro, and due to the 2009 Mac Pro only being SATA 2 I get about half the read/write speeds. I've been doing some research and I came across a SATA 3 PCI-E card that will work in a 2009 Mac pro.

I'm going to put my SSD in my second optical bay drive and run a SATA cable up to it, but what do I do about power?

I guess you figured this out a year ago now -
but you need a PATA -> SATA power adapter [couple of quid/bucks/shekels from Maplin's/Radio Shack etc] & run it from one of the old superdrive power-supplies you'll find ready & waiting in that bay.


Comma separated list to Columns / Mac Numbers I have a very huge list of Data (.txt file) .e.g.

945874,stu2,3826,120558,74,15
1836682,CHAOSTAURUS,90,978,3853,0
1411981,KasiaLover,101,28285,684,5
8270041,Daniel33de,3883,2389,2397,1
..... etc

where the variables are (in order):

$id, $name, $all_id, $points, $rank, $t

how can I convert every comma separated variable to it's own Column?

Can't find it.

Rename the file extension to .csv then open the file with Numbers.


why does my Thunderbolt display not wake from sleep When putting my MacBook Pro to sleep with Thunderbolt Display attached, upon waking-up machine...Thunderbolt Display does NOT wake, and I must unplug then plug-in the display for it to return to usable status

I have managed to isolate the problem.

It seems every time a mac connected to a thunderbolt display enters automatic sleep mode, it somehow screws up the PRAM and prevents it from operating normally.

There is a work around.

Set "Display Sleep" to "Never" from "Energy Saver" menu in "System Preferences".
Turn off "Automatically adjust brightness" from "Display Preferences" (Note: The settings will appear to reset and your brightness setting from keyboard will stop working"
Shutdown the mac.
Perform a PRAM reset by simultaneously pressing CMD+Option+P+R when booting up, keep keys pressed until you hear a second chime.
Power cycle your Thunderbolt Display by remove plug from socket, waiting 10seconds then plugging back in.

Your brightness keyboard button should be working now, and if you select "Sleep" from shutdown menu, the display will wake up upon key press normally.

You can also restart the station and it should perform normally.

SYSTEM
Mac Mini Mid 2011 - High Sierra
Thunderbolt Display 27inch


Can I make a symlink (to a .app folder) in Applications directory show up in spotlight? I used brew to install MacVim and it put it in /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/7.3-61/MacVim.app

I would like to be able to go to spotlight and type MacVim to launch the app. I tried creating a symlink in the Applications directory to /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/7.3-61/MacVim.app. But that doesn't seem to show up in Spotlight. I set the executable bits on the symlink. open MacVim.app from the command line works. How can I get MacVim to show up in Spotlight search?

In the Finder, press CommandShiftG for Go to the Folder. Type /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/7.3-61/ and press return. Select the file (actually a folder) MacVim.app Press CommandL for Make Alias. Depending on permissions, you may be prompted for an administrator password here.

Press CommandN to create a New Finder Window.
Press CommandShiftA to go to the Applications folder in that window.

Drag the newly created alias from the window in which it was created to the window containing the Applications folder. Rename the alias so it no longer ends in " alias".


iOS 7 Apps on iPad show up as installed but are not actually installed I have a few apps that appear to be installed on my iPad running iOS 7 but are not actually installed.

For instance, the app is no where on any home screen or inside any folder, but visiting the App Store and navigating to the app page on my iPad does not show an iCloud download button or a "Free/Buy" button.

The OS seems to think the app is there, but it's not. If it is installed I have no way of seeing or using it.

Things I've already tried:

Uninstalling, re-installing through iTunes (latest version)
Signing out of the iTunes/App Store on my iPad and signing back in

Has anybody had this problem or is there a fix anyone knows about?

Update (screenshots)

If they are installed, then the App Store should now say OPEN instead of buy, or re-download etc.

You can try to find the apps with Spotlight to see if they are just hidden icons (various bugs can hide your apps on occasion) or genuinely not installed; just swipe down from the center of the screen and search for the apps name.  if it finds it, then:

Settings > General > Reset > Reset Home Screen will bring back all your missing icons, at the expense of removing all your folders and putting the pre-installed apps back to their original positions.


Inbox messages not visible after upgrading to Yosemite Since I upgraded to Yosemite on January 3rd, my Apple mail app is misbehaving. When I get new messages from gmail, they show up in the Unread and Today mail folders but not in the overall Inbox folder. After they are read, they disappear from Unread (of course) and are lost in the ether. If I search mail for a specific message, it finds it and indicates its either in an Important folder or simply in the inbox. Otherwise the message doesn't show up in Mail at all.
Also the mail remains on the gmail server when I access it directly on the web.

I've tried to synchronize the mail accounts but nothing changes.

I also turned on iCloud and iDrive at the same time.

Your messages are not gone.

Apple Mail is not displaying the Exchange or G-mail inbox properly.

I tested this with 2 systems: 1 on Mavericks and 1 on Yosemite.

The Mavericks mail worked correctly and the Yosemite would stop displaying the inbox.  I was able to perform operations (read, flag, delete, move) messages on the Mavericks system and the actions would correctly show on the Yosemite system once I re-synced the mail application.

Furthermore, I only needed to click on my iCloud-based account and then go back to my Exchange account for the inbox to be displayed properly.  However, after about 30-45 seconds it would again stop displaying.

This looks like an Apple bug.

I hope this helps and that Apple can fix this annoying bug soon.


Remote not working on new iMac My shiny new late 2012 iMac arrived, but I can't seem to get it to respond to my Apple Remote.

I tried searching the System Preferences to see if out if the box it was paired to another remote, but I can't find that option any more.

I love using my Remote with iTunes and Plex. What can I do?

The new iMac does not have an infrared receiver. You will not be able to use your Apple Remote. For controlling iTunes, I recommend Remote from the App Store. For Plex, I recommend Plex from the App Store.

Whereas in the past Apple promoted the idea of using your Mac as a media hub (hence the inclusion of the Front Row app), I think Apple is now promoting the idea of using an Apple TV instead. It seems like every new hardware refresh is having the infrared capabilities removed.


How to configure OS X 10.5 to always open .WAV files with QuickTime? I use iTunes to listen to my music, all of which is in .mp3 and .aac files. I periodically want to listen to .wav files, however these are never music. Most often, they're voicemails sent to my by our VoIP system, but also my camera records audio notes in .wav files. I do not want these to open in iTunes, because then they get added to my library, and iTunes doesn't have the best interface for listening to files like this. I'd prefer to open them in QuickTime Player.

In the Finder, I did "Get Info" on a .wav file and chose "Open With" "QuickTime Player". I then did "Change All..." and clicked "Continue" in the "Are you sure you want to change all similar documents to open with" window.

I've done this numerous times. However the change doesn't stick, presumably because iTunes 9 is re-registering itself for the application of choice to open .wav files. How can I make this change stick under Mac OS X 10.5?

You can use RCDefaultApp, it's a freeware System Preference Pane  that works in Snow Leopard, Leopard, Tiger and Panther.

You must go to "Extension tab" and find .WAV in the list and change the Defallt Application.


Where are the iCloud Drive icons located? For example, I need to know where the Automator folder icon is. I want to use it for a thing.

Most system folder icons and stuff are in /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/* But these folder icons are not. Where are they located?

I think you are looking for either of the following files:

/System/Library/PreferencePanes/iCloudPref.prefPane/Contents/Resources/iCloud.icns

/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder/Contents/Resources/iCloudNoDocs@2x.png

Without clarification I can only guess what you want but I think I figured out that you want the folder icons shown within iCloud Drive. It seems like those icons are just a generic folder icon with the relevant app icon superimposed on top of it.


How can I get the tags section on Finder sidebar on OS X 10.8.5? Yesterday I reinstalled Snow Leopard because Yosemite is too heavy for my MacBook. How can I get the tags section on the Finder sidebar on OS X 10.8.5 like Mavericks or Yosemite?

Finder tags were introduced in Mavericks (10.9).
They're not available in earlier versions of OS X.


Two Macs and One Apple ID (purchases on App Store) I have a Macbook Air mid 2012 model and now I'm thinking about buying a Mac Mini or a iMac so that I can have my Macbook Air for when I'm on the road, and the Mini or iMac stationed at home all the time. For my setup now, I have a external display for my Air when I'm working at home, and I'm getting kinda tired of disconnecting and connecting the external display, mouse, and keyboard every day.

But then I thought about, how about all my purchases on App Store (OS X apps), are they automatically cleared to be installed on my new machine, while I still have them on my Macbook Air or is there going to be some kinda conflict with license?

This question can only really be answered on a per app level (The End User License Agreement (EULA) will specify how many machines an application can be installed on), but in general I have a MacBook Pro, My wife has a Macbook Air and we have a media center mac mini and I install all my apps on all of them without an issue, but we share a single Apple ID for all app store purchases, since apple has restrictions on using multiple Apple IDs on a single machine.

Developers seem to have a more sane point of view on mac (excluding Adobe or other graphics packages) than on windows, so I haven't had an issue.


Can all files be removed in the user's bash session directory? I didn't see this question asked or could find any answers when I Googled but I thought history -c would clear all my Bash history but there are still several files in .bash_sessions located under /Users/user/.bash_sessions.

What is the difference between these files and the bash history file of .bash_history? Can the files in this directory (/.bash_sessions) be deleted safely? There are over 200 files with random letters, numbers and dashes followed by the extensions of .historynew, .history and .session.

A session file is commands from a single session.

The history is an incomplete collection of commands used in any session.

I don't know for sure whether anything (other than loss of history) would occur from deleting them, but I suspect not.  An easy test would be move them all to another directory, then move them back if you see a problem.


What are the consequences of using DDR3 RAM in DDR2 MBP4.2? I'm supposed to use DDR2 5300 (667MHz) RAM for my MacBookPro 4,2. The max is 6GB, and I already have 4GB (2 x 2GB), so I only need a single stick of 4GB.  So far it looks like this spec RAM runs about $100.

4GB of DDR3 RAM runs about $20.

What are the consequences if I put the wrong RAM in? Will it work at all? Will it damage the RAM or the computer?

DDR3 has a different pin and spacer configuration than DDR2. The two are not interchangeable.

If you manage to cram the DDR3 stick in, you'll really mess up your laptop. I strongly suggest you don't try it.

This image shows the difference :

Thanks, your diagram is worth 2^10 words.


Can I connect Amazon fire TV/fire TV stick to my Macbook Pro instead of TV? If I just replace a TV with Macbook Pro, does it work? I haven't tested it yet. Please give me some suggestions. Thanks.

Amazon Fire TV requires a TV with an HDMI input channel to display video, something MacBooks (or pretty much any computer) are lacking. So no, this will not work (it won't work with an Apple TV/MacBook combination either).


Running a linux Multiseat configuration on Mac Mini hardware Does Mac mini hardware support multiseat configurations? I don't think os x supports it, but assuming I used ubuntu or fedora, are their any hardware limitations?

You can do something similar to Linux multiseat configurations with Lion Screen Sharing. If you have multiple user accounts on your Lion machine, you can turn on Screen Sharing in System Preferences>Sharing:

Then, in the sidebar of your Finder window, you can click on the name of your computer, and click "Share Screen". Enter the user id and password for the account you want to log into. If you screen share with a Mac that already has a user logged in, you have the choice use a virtual display, which will allow you to log in to a separate user account.


Macbook 12,1 (OSX 10.11.4) will not boot SSD clone of OSX 10.9.5 from MacbookPro 11,1 I am trying to create a boot disk for an older MacBook Pros that I have (MacBookPro 11,1 running OSX 10.9.5) which I plan to then boot from a newer MacBook Pro (MacBookPro 12,1 running OSX 10.11.4). These machines have essentially identical hardware with only 1 difference - the Pro 11,1 has a 500GB SSD, and the Pro 12,1 has a 1TB SSD.

However, I have run into some problems, and I am stumped. Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Here is what I have done:

(1) Create a Carbon Copy Clone of OSX 10.9.5 (Mavericks) running on my MacBook Pro 11,1 using the instructions on the Carbon Copy Clone website. The backup disk in this case is a SanDisk Extreme 500 Portable SSD.

(2) Test that the machine from which I created the clone (MacBookPro 11,1) can boot from the SSD. This works absolutely fine, with no hiccups.

(3) Attempt to boot from the SSD on the newer MacBook Pro 12,1 (which is running OSX 10.11.4 - El Capitan). This fails; all that I see is the 'No Access' Symbol

(4) Update the /System/Library/CoreServices/PlatformSupport.plist file on the SSD boot disk to match that on the MacBook Pro 12,1 based on advice offered at this URL. Now when I attempt to boot from the SSD, I get slightly further - in fact I get past the 'No Access' screen, and I make it to the expected grey screen with the Apple logo; however, at that point things simply hang (in fact the spinning wheel never appears below the apple logo like i would expect).

I've tried some other things. For example:

I tried again from scratch, wiping the disk & re-cloning, several times in fact, just to verify I wasn't missing something obvious.
I ran a 'Repair Disk' in disk utility on both the drive I want to clone, as well as the SSD backup disk. However, i still get the same problems.
To eliminate the possibility that this has something to do with the disk itself, I created a clone of the MBP 11,1 on a western digital drive that I have laying around, and ran through steps (1) - (4) above. The Western Digital behaves identically to the SanDisk SSD, leading me to believe that these problems have nothing to do with the External Drive itself.

Any help would very much be appreciated - The problem suggests that there is some compatibility issues with the Pro 11,1 and the Pro 12,1, given that the SSD boots fine from the Pro 11,1. Anyway, I have been reading many forums, but I am stumped.

You say the only difference between the two models is the size of the drive. This is an incredibly naïve statement. Although, I have not checked in depth, it would be a safe bet next model differs in hardware beyond the drive size.

Let's look at the chronology.

OS X 10.9 is released on November 22, 2013
MacBookPro11,1 is either a Late 2013 or Mid 2014 model. Should be
shipped with OS X 10.9.
OS X 10.10 is release on July, 24, 2014
MacBookPro12,1 is either an Early 2015 model. Should be shipped with
OS X 10.10.

When OS X 10.9 was released, most likely this version did not contain the software (drivers) for Macs not yet shipped. So installing this operating system on a future MacBookPro12,1 model should result in failure.

The opposite would likely succeed. You should be able to take OS X 10.10 from a MacBookPro12,1 and run successfully on a MacBookPro11,1.

How about upgrading OS X on the older machine before running on the newer machine?


Using TV as monitor for Macbook Pro while running Boot Camp I have a mid-2010 MacBook Pro (has Thunderbolt port) and I would like to use a TV as my monitor. I understand this is possible if you are running OS X but what about Windows?

Apple provides Windows drivers (via Boot Camp) for all aspects of the hardware it is running on, so yes you can.

You'll need a TV with an HDMI input, a Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter and an HDMI cable. After that the Mac, regardless of whether it is running Mac O/S or Windows will see the monitor as a display device and should be able to detect the optimum resolution, allowing you to use it as a monitor.

Note that some HDTVs don't have great definition and displaying the Mac or Windows desktop and apps might result in a blurry result. Only one way to know though, give it a try.


iPhone calendar reminder + My iPhone's calendar + icon has suddenly gone gray and will not allow me to add a reminder. I read through the answers here and it was suggested to slide on calendar in all accounts. That was already done and still nothing. Any suggestions?  Im missin my reminders!!!

Reminders are added in the Reminders app, not the Calendar app. Use the Reminders app to create reminders.


How should I give my old iPhone 3GS away to be used as an iPod touch? I want to give my niece my old iPhone 3GS so she can use it as an iPod touch. I don't want it connected to my iTunes.

Should I buy a new SIM card for it or should I leave my old one in?

A new SIM card is only necessary if you want to still use it as a phone.  You don't have to change the SIM card (but do leave the old one in place) if all it's going to be used for is an 'ipod touch' type experience.  Your cellular provider will have turned off that SIM when you activated your newer iPhone.

Take your old 3GS and go to 'Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings.

This effectively makes it a new phone.  No apps will be present other than the default apps that are on all new iPhones.  There will be no record of your appleID on the phone.

Now if your niece wants to buy apps from the app store she'll need to set-up and use her own apple ID.

See also this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3399341


Why are there ghost items in my podcast list that I cannot delete? Check out the image below.
I cannot finger swipe to the right to get rid of the top and bottom grayed out podcasts.
They are not in iTunes on my local disk or listed in the podcast section of the iPhone under iTunes.
How can I get rid of them?
Forcing a sync doesn't seem to work.

Re-download the offending podcast then delete it.


Is it necessary to eject an external drive before sleeping? I have a question similar to a previous one about ejecting before shutting down.

Is it necessary or recommended practice to eject external drives before putting a Mac to sleep, whether it be via an explicit sleep command (e.g., from the Apple menu or other equivalent means), if Energy Saver puts the Mac to sleep, or the closing of a lid on a laptop Mac?

Edit: To add a clarifying point, I do not plan to physically disconnect the drive before waking the Mac from sleep?

It's neither necessary nor recommended (at least from what I've read).

When you put the Mac to sleep, it will try and also put the external drive to sleep, thus parking its heads and turning off the drives. It won't eject it, however, so you can use it as soon as you wake your Mac again without having to mount it.

The benefit is that you don't have to worry about mounting it, as in most cases this would involve turning the drive off and on again, reconnecting the plug, or using diskutil from a Terminal—quite time consuming. Since I use my drive for Time Machine, I don't want to have to think about connecting it every time I wake my Mac.

The only downside I see is that you could accidentally plug the drive out. In that case, the Mac will wake up, and show you the error about a drive being disconnected without properly ejecting it. Since all data is written to the drive before going to sleep, this shouldn't cause any data loss though.

All in all, it's much more comfortable to just keep the drive mounted.


Recycling a damaged Late 2015 into a late 2013 MBP Retina Normally I work on pcs, not macs so I'm not real sure of my options but I'm trying to help a girl out.
She has two MBP, a late model 2013 (8GB Ram) and a late model 2015 (16GB Ram). The 2013 has a bad speaker and the keyboard has a few keys that no longer type but otherwise is in perfectly fine working order. She uses a wireless keyboard which she says "...is cumbersome to travel with."
The 2015 has seen better days, the case has more dents and dings than a golf ball and is acting up (powers off, the cooling fan is LOUD, battery only lasts 45 minutes, and missing a few screws from the bottom of the case so the touchpad doesn't always recognize taps, and there are two lines going horizontal on the retina display).
She wants to know if the processor, ram, and keyboard from the 2015 could be moved to the 2013 laptop or would the performance be marginal between these two systems?

Generally speaking no.
Most Mac laptops before the last couple of generations could only upgrade the RAM. Some you could upgrade the storage with a different drive or SSD module.
I know, heresy, to most Windows PC technicians but the fact is all current generation Mac laptops have zero upgradable parts. No RAM, No HD/SSD, no Processor, GPU or anything else. It's all integrated to the system board. And replacement means you have a talent for replacing surface mounted parts.
You can get info on what is what on the Macs in front of you at the excellent
https://everymac.com
They have all the specs for all the Macs down to whether or not you can replace, RAM, HD/SSD, GPU, etc.
And for a good place to find out how to replace/repair those bits that are repairable/replaceable, there is the wonderful
https://www.ifixit.com
With lots of pictures and HowTos on replacing and repairing a whole raft of Macs and other Apple Devices, not to mention lots of other computer equipment and electronic devices.
Some of what you want to do may be possible. Keyboards may be the same or similar and RAM and Storage/SSD/HD might be compatible or close enough to do some of what you want. Those two resources should start you on the way of discovering what, exactly, you can and can't mix and match with those two Macs.


Eject key no longer working The Eject key on my iMac (OSX Lion) is no longer working. It was working fine until a few days back, and I remember sleeping my display using the Ctrl+Shift+Eject shortcut, when I first found out about the shortcut, a few days back. But it is no longer working.

I have checked that it is not set as the shortcut for 'Speak selected text' option
I have tried resetting the NVRAM
I have tried switching user to check if it is a software problem

How can I fix it?

To fix the problem you should try to see if the problem is hardware or software.
We are going to rule out software because of the hardware testing that was completed.
As noted in OP's comment

... But I tried connecting the wireless keyboard to my MacBook, and the Eject key did not work there too ...

Since this problem persisted across multiple macs that strongly points to a hardware issue with the eject key on that Apple wireless keyboard.
If your Mac that the keyboard came with still has some coverage under AppleCare then Apple should cover repairing or replacing the keyboard according to  AppleCare - Mac and Apple Display Coverage

What’s covered — Mac

Your Mac computer

Included accessories such as the power adapter


iPhone Health "Walking + Running Distance" is way off The "Walking + Running Distance" on my iPhone 6 is wildly off.

I've walked <2 miles today (0.5 mile commute, 0.8 miles for lunch, and whatever around the office), yet my iPhone is reporting 10.3 miles. It's been way off like this for a while.

Is there any way to troubleshoot what's happening here? Or recalibrate the feature?

Number of steps seems OK...6767 steps at 1.5ft/step would be about 2 miles, which is close to my estimate.

Additionally, I cannot "Show All Data" for any of the health metrics, the loading spinner just keeps spinning.

If you have any 3rd party apps for health tracking, like Withings, they sometimes add onto your records.

My experience was my Withings app completely doubling my steps and distances.  If you do have these apps, delete them or just turn of their accessibility to your health.


I have several iPhones / iPads, and when I say "Hey Siri what's the weather tomorrow", only my main phone will respond, how is it designed? That's is, if I have several iPhones and iPads on the desk for lying there for an hour, and I just said, "Hey Siri..." without touching any of the devices, only the phone that I use most often will respond. Does Siri know which one is my main phone and only use it to respond?

When you say "Hey Siri", the devices that could possibly react to it will communicate with each other using Bluetooth to determine which device will respond: The device that heard you best, or the device that was most recently raised or used will respond to the "Hey Siri" request.

Apple has detailed the method here:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208472


Change encrypted internal HD permissions to prevent password prompts I have an iMac (running OS X 10.11.3) with a dual disk setup. A ssd for the OS (with Filevault turned on) and a HDD for storage that is formatted OS X Extended and Encrypted.

The intention is to symlink some user directories onto the storage HD.

The problem that I have is when I try to delete files on the storage HD I am prompted for a password (the user password as opposed to the password for the encryption). Also when I move files on the storage HD they are essentially copied as opposed to moved.

I have tried:

sudo chown -Rv username directory

but that hasn't worked.

I have also tried changing the Sharing and Permissions privilege settings to Read & Write for all folders and files but that hasn't worked either.

Anybody with any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

OK, I found a solution. If anybody would like to correct my approach please let me know.

With the storage drive (get info) ->
Sharing & Permisions ->
Checked 'Ignore ownership on this volume'

The next step might have been made redundant by the previous step, but I also did the following:

Directory on storage drive with user directories ->
Sharing & Permission ->
My User Profile, Read & Write

This appears to have done the job, can delete and move items as expected.


The volume primary SSD could not be repaired My machine is not starting after progress bar. I'm trying to find the problem by booting in single user mode.

I tried /sbin/fsck -fy

It showed me
Missing directory record (id = 33899953)
The volume Primary SSD could not be repaired

Boot to Recovery HD, open in the menubar Utilities > Terminal. Enter df to get the name of your main volume (e.g. "Macintosh HD").

Enter diskutil verifyVolume /Volumes/Vol_name (e.g. diskutil verifyVolume "/Volumes/Macintosh HD").

Then repair the volume with diskutil repairVolume /Volumes/Vol_name.

If no main volume is mounted try diskutil list, determine the disk identifier of the main volume (e.g. disk0s2) and first enter diskutil verifyDisk /dev/disk0 and repair it if necessary with diskutil repairDisk /dev/disk0, then diskutil verifyVolume /dev/disk0s2 and repair it with diskutil repairVolume /dev/disk0s2.

If your SSD has a CoreStorage Logical Volume Group  diskutil repairDisk /dev/disk0 should already repair everything.

If this fails you usually have to use some third-party software like DiskWarrior to repair the volume or restore a (Time Machine-)backup.


How to disable Adobe Core Sync app on OS X from being launched automatically? I have noticed a lot of Adobe processes are running in the background at start up on an OS X 10.11.4 (15E65) machine with Adobe Creative Cloud (CC) installed.

To get rid of this, I removed everything with "*adobe*" in the filename from the directories used by launchd, which are: ~/Library/LaunchAgents, /Library/LaunchAgents, /Library/LaunchDaemons, /System/Library/LaunchAgents, /System/Library/LaunchDaemons.

It's not a bad idea to browse these directories manually just to get aware of what is - or could be configured to be - launched automatically on your machine.

However, using this approach I got rid of all Adobe processes but one with the process name Core Sync Helper. The process' UID is me, not root.

Using the OS X activity monitor to get more information about this process it tells us that its parent process is launchd. The process' path is:

"/Applications/Utilities/Adobe Creative Cloud/CoreSync/Core Sync.app/Contents/PlugIns/ACCFinderSync.appex/Contents/MacOS/ACCFinderSync"

How does Adobe get this process to be launched automatically?

And how to stop it from being launched automatically?

Update:

According to YoshiBotX's answer, I used launchctl list as well as the App launchControl to find the service that launches the Core Sync Helper. To do so, I search for a service with adobe, accf or core*sync in its name. Unfortunately, there is no such service with an obvious name. All services on the system are by com.apple.... or from a third-party App that hasn't any relation to Adobe.

Also, launchctl list lists the PID of each Label. But the PID of the running ACCFinderSync process is not listed there at all. However, as mentioned before, its parent process is still launchd so I wonder how this can be.

Update 2:

Using launchctl I was able to gather more information about the service using its PID (omitted lines marked as ...):

macy:~ jens$ sudo launchctl procinfo 352
...
com.adobe.accmac.ACCFinderSync = {
...
com.adobe.accmac.ACCFinderSync.apple-extension-service
...
com.adobe.accmac.explinder
...
ACCFinderSync
...

But these aren't service which I can remove using launchctl.

Update 3:

Based on chiggsy's answer I was able to find more traces of the service (omitted lines marked as ...):

$ sudo launchctl print gui
    com.apple.xpc.launchd.user.domain.501.100008.Aqua = {
    ...
        unmanaged processes = {
    ...
            com.apple.xpc.launchd.unmanaged.ACCFinderSync.352 = {
                active count = 5
                dynamic endpoints = {
                    "ACCFinderInnerExtensionHost2" = {
                        port = 0x59a8f
                        active = 1
                        managed = 0
                        reset = 0
                        hide = 0
    ...
        externally-hosted endpoints = {
             0x59a8f    U   A   ACCFinderInnerExtensionHost2
    ...

$ sudo launchctl print user
    com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.user.501 = {
    ...
        endpoints = {
    ...
             0x59a8f    U   A   ACCFinderInnerExtensionHost2
    ...

$ sudo launchctl print system
    com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.system = {
    ...
        subdomains = {
    ...
            com.apple.xpc.launchd.domain.pid.ACCFinderSync.352
    ...

But that still did not help me to disable it.

Update 4:

kirb nailed it!

You can disable this Finder Sync extension from the System Preferences → Extensions pane (grey puzzle piece icon) – just untick Finder under the app name in question.
Then log out and back in (or restart if you have more than one user logged in to your Mac)

In OS X, the Finder Sync extension point lets you cleanly and safely modify the Finder’s user interface to express file synchronization status and control. Unlike most extension points, Finder Sync does not add features to a host app. Instead, it lets you modify the behavior of the Finder itself.

Extensions are parts of an app that are able to integrate with certain core components of the OS. Finder Sync extensions in particular enable tighter integration with Finder by way of sync status badges, and allowing buttons to be added to the toolbar, sidebar, and right click menus.
OS X keeps a database of all known apps on your computer, and this also includes any extensions (.appex bundles). When Finder launches, it queries this database for Finder Sync extensions and launches them. For security reasons, each extension lives in its own process.


Where did sharingd file find the IP address it trying to connect? I have this mac app installed LULU (https://objective-see.com/products/lulu.html)
using which I discovered /usr/libexec/sharingd  trying to local IP Address 192.168.2.255.
I figured out what sharingd is from here https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6501958

Update: usr/sbin/netbiosd
also tries to access the same ip address.

but I want to know from where does sharingd discovers/find out IP address ?
result of ifconfig without mac address:

$ ifconfig
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 16384
    options=1203<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,TXSTATUS,SW_TIMESTAMP>
    inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
    inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
    inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
    nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>
gif0: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST> mtu 1280
stf0: flags=0<> mtu 1280
EHC29: flags=0<> mtu 0
EHC26: flags=0<> mtu 0
XHC20: flags=0<> mtu 0
en0: flags=8963<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=10b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_HWTAGGING,AV>
    media: autoselect (none)
    status: inactive
en1: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    inet 192.168.5.218 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.5.255
    media: autoselect
    status: active
p2p0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 2304
    media: autoselect
    status: inactive
awdl0: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1484
    inet6 fe80::5cc0:dbff:fee3:d8e0%awdl0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0xa
    nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>
    media: autoselect
    status: active
en2: flags=8963<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=60<TSO4,TSO6>
    media: autoselect <full-duplex>
    status: inactive
fw0: flags=8822<BROADCAST,SMART,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 4078
    lladdr 00:3e:e1:ff:fe:49:4e:9e
    media: autoselect <full-duplex>
    status: inactive
bridge0: flags=8822<BROADCAST,SMART,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=63<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,TSO4,TSO6>
    ether d2:00:14:94:e9:e0
    Configuration:
        id 0:0:0:0:0:0 priority 0 hellotime 0 fwddelay 0
        maxage 0 holdcnt 0 proto stp maxaddr 100 timeout 1200
        root id 0:0:0:0:0:0 priority 0 ifcost 0 port 0
        ipfilter disabled flags 0x2
    member: en2 flags=3<LEARNING,DISCOVER>
            ifmaxaddr 0 port 11 priority 0 path cost 0
    media: <unknown type>
    status: inactive
bridge100: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=3<RXCSUM,TXCSUM>
    ether 42:6c:8f:15:90:64
    inet 192.168.2.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.2.255
    inet6 fe80::406c:8fff:fe15:9064%bridge100 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0xe
    Configuration:
        id 0:0:0:0:0:0 priority 0 hellotime 0 fwddelay 0
        maxage 0 holdcnt 0 proto stp maxaddr 100 timeout 1200
        root id 0:0:0:0:0:0 priority 0 ifcost 0 port 0
        ipfilter disabled flags 0x2
    member: en0 flags=3<LEARNING,DISCOVER>
            ifmaxaddr 0 port 7 priority 0 path cost 0
    nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>
    media: <unknown type>
    status: inactive
utun0: flags=8051<UP,POINTOPOINT,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 2000
    inet6 fe80::f21f:cbe5:bae0:c2e1%utun0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0xf
    nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>
utun1: flags=8051<UP,POINTOPOINT,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1380
    inet6 fe80::7fa7:7485:c59b:f50%utun1 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x10
    nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>
en4: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    inet 169.254.218.132 netmask 0xffff0000 broadcast 169.254.255.255
    media: autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
    status: active

macOS implements mDNS - Multicast DNS to find other devices on the same network segment. Basically, it says - who can share files and if the other IP answers - you have a connection that can be made if you click on that host in Finder (for one of many possible instances)

https://developer.apple.com/bonjour/
http://multicastdns.org

It's called Bonjour when it's wrapped up in IPv4/IPv6 as well as bluetooth zero configuration networking and this tech powers things like AirPlay, Printer Sharing, handoff / continuity and more.

So to answer your question, it found it by asking on your network. It's not clear why you have 192.168.5.255 and 192.168.2.255 both as broadcast networks, but that's not necessarily wrong if you have your network set up like that.


Hard drive Ejects itself while running ddrescue I don't know who to blame apple or ddrescue.
So Sorry if this is in the wrong place! :)

I have

Macbook pro Intel core I7 running Maverick
Failed 120Gb HDD (really old... more than 8 years I think)

So Natural I run ddrescue. But when the ddrescue gets to "Splitting Failed Blocks" step the disk ejects and recounts to my mac. but ddrescue seem to miss the memo, and keeps doing it's thing, even though the HDD has left the station.

The command had no flags.

Also it doesn't eject when I told ddrescue to skip the split stage "-n"

I am at a point where I need it to start splitting to dig deep for that data.

Has this happened to any one else?

I know that there were people who had problems with long cables but I'm not that case. (all small cables)

I'm going to try raw accessing the HDD to see if I can dig up more data next.

I won't blame anything or body except a failing hard drive. There is a old trick where you place a defective hard drive in an ESD safe bag and store it in the freezer for a couple hours. Once the metal is cold through the bag then try accessing the files again. You might have luck without ddrescue (which I am not aware of or experienced with) and the drive might just show up in Finder. However if it doesn't or it keeps ejecting and remounting you could drive a different computer or send the disk into specialists for data recovery.

Cheers


iMac randomly shuts down We have a late 2012 27 inch iMac. It has a 2.9 GHz i5 processor and a 1 TB fusion drive along with 8 GB of RAM. I recently upgraded it to El Capitan.

A couple of months ago it randomly started to not wake up after being asleep. We would have to unplug it and plug it back in to get it back on. It also would just randomly shut off while we were using it. If we had music playing, the screen would go black and the music would stop so it's not a display issue.

I took it in to our local Apple store and talked to them about it and they said the first thing they would do would be to reinstall OS X. So I decided to do that myself but that still did not fix the issue.

I then lugged it back into the Apple store about 2 weeks ago and left it with them for a few days to get to the bottom of it. They repaired OS X and then put it through a battery of tests to see if there were any issues with memory or the hard drive but everything came back fine. They then left it plugged in with a bunch of graphics programs and videos playing and still had no issues.

At this point, I was thinking it was a power issue with the plug we were using. When I brought it home, we left it plugged in and running in our dining room for a few days and did not have any issues. I gradually loaded programs back on and still did not have any issues. I then moved it back upstairs but the other day it started acting up again on my wife. I moved it back to our dining room thinking it was the outlet up there, but it's exhibiting the same behavior there now.

After doing some searching online, I found this post http://samwize.com/2013/10/13/imac-shutdown-suddenly-and-randomly/. It seems to describe the issue we are having.

I was able to check the Console and it says the cause for shutdown is 0. I'm pretty sure the Apple store ran the hardware test and memtest while it was there. I have repeatedly reset the SMC, which the Apple store employee informed me is basically what I'm doing every time I have to unplug it and plug it back in.

The only thing I haven't done yet is a PRAM reset.

So, now I'm not sure what to do next. According to that post, his logic board needed to be replaced. The Apple store quoted me $583.32 to replace the logic board if that was what was needed. But I only want to do that if I know definitively that's the issue.

So sorry for the long post, but does anyone have a suggestion on how to  root cause this?

Chances are this is a bad power supply board.

Shutdown error codes can be negative or positive values; negative being hardware and positive being software.

A "0" code is right there in the middle where it usually means a sudden loss of power.  See this post for more info:  Are OS X shutdown cause and sleep cause numbers listed/explained anywhere?

If any part of your logic board was beginning to fail, it would generate kernel panics which would be in the log and likewise, if you had software causing issues, there would be a log of a crash somewhere.

I've see this previously on other platforms whether it was a Mac, or a PC, or even enterprise grade servers.  What is probably happening is that a component in your power supply is getting too hot and consequently shutting down.  If you take it to the Apple store, they probably have the ambient temperature much lower than you home so it never has a chance to over heat. Just when you think everything is good, the symptoms return.

Is your downstairs location warmer or cooler than the upstairs location where it normally resides?

If you need to replace your power supply, rest assured these are fairly easy to come by and fairly inexpensive.  At the time of this post, they were trending around $65.   It's also very easy to replace (see the guide at ifixit.com)

While you are in there, I would swap out your (spinning) HDD with a SSD. I just installed a Samsung 850 EVO SSD in my 27" iMac and it is substantially quieter and cooler than before.

Disclaimer:  There still is a chance it's the logic board, but it's highly unlikely.  Before you do any expensive logic board replacements, try replacing the power supply first.

One more thing....I would definately follow agentroadkill's advice from his comment and put a UPS (battery backup) between the outlet and your Mac.


How to uninstall xonsh? I've been trying xonsh and I don't get used to it, so I would like to uninstall it given that I need to work.

How can I get back to my previous (default) terminal configuration?

Finally I've uninstall it. I think it may be good to answer my own question because it is not answered specifically for xonsh in all the Internet.
 First: Changing the default login shell
This is done just by running chsh -s /bin/bash in the command line.
See: How to uninstall zsh.
 Finally: Unistall xonsh
Now that you can use your previous terminal configuration you only need to uninstall it using the tool you used to install it (conda, pip, macports, homebrew...). In my case it was homebrew so I've run brew uninstall xonsh.
EDIT: as @BradPitcher writes in the comments  if you take these two steps in the wrong order, you may run into the error "Your shell is not in /etc/shells". You can workaround this problem by running sudo usermod -s /bin/bash.


Does Apple specify what the average lifespan of an iMac G5 would be? Based solely on the hardware used (including the power supply, logic board, RAM...) and assuming that the Software will not be updated (remain at OS X Tiger does Apple specify what a reasonable expectation for the lifespan of an iMac G5 from Mid 2005 would be?

Does (or has) Apple provided specifications such as these for any of its products?

I am looking into purchasing one from eBay and want to know if it will last and if I can expect to receive one that is "fully functional" even after ten years.

No. Apple actually disclaims that a brand new Mac will work reliably. Only that they will repair it, replace it, or refund your purchase if you seek warranty service under the conditions of the one year warranty:

  APPLE DISCLAIMS ALL STATUTORY AND IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND WARRANTIES AGAINST HIDDEN OR LATENT DEFECTS

Above from the US hardware warranty page at http://www.apple.com/legal/warranty/ for a Mac Pro

Furthermore, Apple has a long standing policy of cutting off the vast majority of repair service for Macs 5 years from the date when they remove it from sale.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624 - Vintage and obsolete products

There are some exceptions where you can get support between years 5 and 7, but after 7 years, Apple and Apple Authorized Service Centers often flat out deny repair requests due to lack of support or part availability.

I cannot find any G5 or PPC machine that isn't officially designated by Apple as obsolete in 2015.

So - in summary, a new Mac Pro isn't sold with the expectation that it will even work for one year and the expectation that it might need repairs. Certainly second hand older machines won't be vouched for by Apple to have a working life of 10 years from now. That doesn't mean some G5 will run for decades to come, just that the one you buy might or might not be the exception to things wearing out eventually.


Is it possible to manually sync reminders with iCloud whenever you want? I regularly seem to have problems with my reminders not syncing in a timely manner. I am using the Reminders app on my iMac (OS X 10.11.6).

Is there some way for me to manually sync my reminders with iCloud?

I’m thinking something like the option to ‘get mail’ in the Mail app that you can click on to manually get your mail.

Yes, but only by revealing the Debug menu in Reminders. To do this:

Launch the Terminal app (usually found in the Applications > Utilities folder)
Enter the following command (or just copy and paste it):

defaults write com.apple.reminders RemindersDebugMenu -boolean true

Press Return
Now launch your Reminders app (or, if it was already open, quit it and launch it again)

Now you can go to Debug > Refresh (or just press command + R) to refresh your Reminders with iCloud.

NOTES:

If the above process doesn’t reveal the Debug menu, then quit the Reminders app and start again at Step 2.
If you ever want to hide the Debug menu, then follow the same process but at Step 2 enter the following command instead:

defaults delete com.apple.reminders RemindersDebugMenu


How can I force macOS to show the window of a program that I know is open but won't appear anywhere? My problem arises because sometimes I'm doing something on my MacBook and the user session logs out, as if I'd restarted the computer. Normally it's something exerting that must overload my RAM, like navigating and suddenly opening too many windows (e.g. I was looking for flights and the option was checked to automatically open windows to look in 4 or 5 more different sites).

The thing is, if I have something open like a game, or a half-filled form on Safari I wouldn't wanna lose progress on, like this question... I know that the program stays open because I've been able to still hear the game music and sounds in the background, as if nothing had happened.

So what I was wondering, is if there is a way to force macOS (10.12.5) to forcefully show a window that is not appearing on the dock, mission control or anywhere else.

By the way, the only way I've been able to restart said program, the game for example, has been by terminating the process on the activity monitor. Trying to open it normally doesn't work.

Have you tried using Mission Control?

If the window is indeed open, it should show up there.

How to use Mission Control:

Swipe up with three or four fingers on your Multi-Touch trackpad or Magic Trackpad.
Double-tap the surface of your Magic Mouse with two fingers.
Click Mission Control in the Dock or Launchpad.
Press the Mission Control key on your Apple keyboard, or press Control+↑.
In OS X El Capitan, drag a window to the top of the screen.

Adapted from Apple's Support Page.


Create disk image which can be read on Windows I am interested in creating a disk image, using Disk Utility (or any other software) on macOS which can also be read on Windows.

Disk Utility provides the ability to create .dmg, .sparseimage, and .sparsebundle images all very conveniently. This is useful for me when I have a lot (such as a couple thousand) small files which I want to keep together for convenience purposes, but which is easy access to access and modify. Hence I use disk images (instead of disks), as they are single (or a small group of) files which can be mounted to reveal all the smaller files.

However, as far as I know, the disk images created with Disk Utility can only be read an modified only on macOS. I heard of a utility on Windows which viewing of .dmg images, but I remember this was a non-native, limited solution.

Is there a way to create such images on macOS, which is (preferably natively) compatible with Windows?

Yes you can actually create an .iSO image file on your Mac with Disk Utility and a little bit of Terminal magic.

Connect an external drive (or, if you have an older Mac, insert a disc into the CD/DVD drive) to your Mac and launch Disk Utility. This is the device that you will be placing your files on for conversion. A USB Drive is also useful if you can't find an empty Your disk will appear in the left column window.

Now that you’ve selected the source of the disc image, click on File > New > Disk Image from... In the popup window, select Desktop as your destination. Next, make sure to choose DVD/CD Master as the Image Format. Choosing this format ensures the contents of the disk are copied entirely as a .CDR image.

You should keep the image’s name short so that it’s easily reproduced.

If asked, enter your Mac password and hit OK to begin the disk image process. Depending on how large the disc is, the amount of time that’s necessary varies (Which makes USB drives very effecient). You’ll see a progress bar estimating the time until completion.

Once the process finishes, hit “Done,” and check your Desktop for the .CDR image. In its current state, the disk is ready for use on any Mac. To share the file with Windows users, you’ll need to convert it into a recognizable format. To do this, you’ll use your Mac’s Terminal app.

Assuming your .CDR file is on your Mac’s Desktop, open Terminal and type the following and hit the enter key:

cd desktop

Then, enter this line of code to transform the .CDR to .ISO and hit enter:

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

Substitute both instances of [filename] with the name of your .cdr image. For example, I named my ISO file TEST-IMAGE, so the line of code I used is:

hdiutil makehybrid -iso -joliet -o TEST-IMAGE.iso TEST-IMAGE.cdr

Terminal will create a new hybrid image. This image can be used by both Windows and Mac computers that use ISO 9660 and HFS file systems.


iOS Facebook app stuck in logged in state - how to log that user out? My wife was on one of her Facebook accounts on the Facebook app on my iPad one day. And when she went to log out, instead of the normal login screen, it now says Logged in as Xxx Yyyy with Xxx Yyyy being substituted here for my wife's account.

There’s a link below that that says Not Xxx Yyyy?, which gets you to the normal login screen so you can log into other accounts; but what I want to know is how do we get that account logged out properly so that the Facebook app goes to the normal login screen directly?

This is on iOS 8.2. One of the comments suggested I sign in with another account and log out with 'Remember me' unchecked, but I don't see a 'Remember me' check box on either login or logout. Also, this is the Facebook app itself, not the Settings app.

Update: Instead of the Logged in as link, there's now two pictures, one for each of my wife's accounts, with the account names below them. (And, there's a Log in as a different user link below.) It seems that the FB app is being changed to allow one tap logins or something. But there should still be a way to actually log out in such a way as to force the password entry next time, shouldn't there? I'm concerned that there's now this state that the app can be left in where someone can just click and go right into one of the accounts on the initial screen without typing a password. (Granted, the FB site has a 'keep me logged in' feature when you log into it from a browser, but at least there, when you log out, you're actually logged out.)

Update 2: As it turns out, the Facebook app's new behaviour is, indeed, a new feature for logging into your account(s) with one tab and no need to type your password. (When I logged into my account, I was greeted with a little dialogue that asked if I wanted my account to be saved like that (with an optional 4-digit passcode). I was able to get rid of one of the accounts from the app (the first one that showed up) by going to the Settings app and deleting the account from the Facebook app. For whatever reason, the other account isn't showing up there. Nor is there any option to add a passcode after the fact. Anyone know if there's a way to get at (and delete) all accounts that have been saved by the FB app?

When I still had the profile pics (or, rather, the one that I wasn't able to delete from the Setup app) visible in the Facebook app, I noticed that there was a link at the bottom of the screen called 'Login Settings' or something along those lines. Tapping that brought up a dialogue that lists the accounts that are set for instant login, so I was able to delete the other account from there (you can set or change passcodes from there, too, if that's your preference), and I'm back to the more secure old behaviour of needing to type in the passwords for all of our accounts.


WiFi no longer connects (specific network only) I can no longer connect to a specific public user+pass protected network from my 2017 MBP 15″.

Same network with same auth is accessible from my iPhone and Android tablet.

Network used to be accessible with these details from MacOS. I've tried removing the network, rebooting, readding.

What else can I try? - Is there a global cache somewhere? - Should I try editing my MAC Address?

Manually installing the certificate fixed my issue.


How can I mount an .img file I'm trying to do this tutorial, but I can't mount the img file:

sudo mount -o loop,offset=62914560 2015-05-05-raspbian-wheezy.img /mnt/rasp-pi-rootfs

It says mount: You must specify a filesystem type with -t.

How can I mount an image in OSX?

It looks like you try to mount a linux file system raspbian-wheezy.img like ext2/3/4, xfs. OS X does not support these file systems. There's an ext plugin for FUSE which might enable you to add support for the file system you want.


Transfer music from iPod touch to computer I know there are programs I can download to do this but I have done it before without them. After about an hour of searching I still can't find how I did it. I have Hidden files enabled. "Enable Disk Use" is not available as it is an iPod touch. And while I can transfer purchases most of my music is not purchased from iTunes.

I could have sworn there was a way to do this. I vaguely remember there being lots of folders I had to go through to pull all the music files. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Use DeTune :)

The only FREE iOS to macOS file transfer utility left, that still works in 2019, as far as I can tell...

https://mac.softpedia.com/get/Utilities/DeTune.shtml

After install, set Preferences as such:

This way you can transfer any of your files:

music,
pictures,
videos,
etc...

from your:

iPod,
iPad,
iPhone

to your Mac.


How can I get messages beta to start in "hidden mode" I have installed the beta of messages. I understand the software is beta and I have searched all the Apple messages forums and Google around for a solution but could not find one.

I have set messages to launch upon startup via the icon in the dock as follows:

However when I log into OS X Lion 10.7.3 the primary new message window pops up:

This has the effect of having the messages icon in my dock active in addition to having a new message windows pop up.

My desire is to have messages start up without having a new message windows open upon login. Is there an obvious way to accomplish this? I have tried using minimize scripts which minimize the new message window but still results in having two icons active in my dock as follows:

I have additionally made sure that the "Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps" setting under general preferences is not on.

You can create an AppleScript to do that for you.

Open AppleScript Editor
Type/paste this in:

    tell application "iChat"
        set minimized of window 1 to true
    end tell

launch "iChat"
tell application "iChat"
    close window 1
end tell

Save as an application somewhere
Open System Preferences > User/Accounts > Login Items
Click Add, navigate to application, add and enable