Can you recover recovery mode after erasing HDD? I plug in a USB stick with Mojave macos installer. When I boot with Option key hold down, USB is not listed.

I have tried different DMG images and different USB drives.

Previously I erased macbook HDD (it has Linux only now) and flashed EFI partition with Refind. Consequently, Cmd+R recovery mode is not accessible anymore on my Macbook Pro 2017.

In this case, it seems that only two options left:

Use bless , which is only present on macos and requires physical USB stick not DMG/iso image.
Recovery mode where you can configure drive to become bootable or at least check why it is not

Are there any other options? I seem to be left locked out because my USB stick with installer is not listed there.

If you have properly created a Mojave USB flash driver installer, inserted the flash drive in a USB port on the Mac and booted to the Startup Manger, then the an icon will appear representing the flash drive. If this does not happen, then either the flash drive was not plugged directly into the Mac or the flash drive was not properly created. In other words, most likely there is something wrong with the DMG image or something wrong with the way you transferred to the flash drive.

As for the two options:

Use bless , which is only present on macos and requires physical USB stick not DMG/iso image.

  The bless could could be used to avoid using the Startup Manager. However, a properly created Mojave USB flash drive installer would appear in the Startup Manager. Besides, you have no way to execute the bless command.

Recovery mode where you can configure drive to become bootable or at least check why it is not.

  You have erased the any recover volumes that may have existed on your Mac. The only ways left to boot to Recover mode would be from an external drive or the internet. So far you have stated you can not boot from any external sources. In the comments, you have stated that you are to afraid to use the internet.

A good reference on how to install macOS can be found as the accepted answer to the question: How can I download an older version of OS X/macOS?


Finder list view, change column with to optimal with using AppleScript I'm trying to create an AppleScript script that resizes the columns of Finder's list view (e.g. Name, Size …) to their optimal width (i.e. the minimum width where all text in the column is visible) on Mac OS X 10.6. This can be accomplished by double clicking the divider between two column's headers. But I can't find a way to do the same using AppleScript. This is what I've tried:

Finder's column class has the attributes width, minimum width and maximum width but there doesn't seem to be a way to use the width attribute to resize the column to it's optimal width.

I also tried to use UI Scripting to simulate a double click in the small region around the column header divider using the following script:

tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Finder"
        set nameButton to button "Name" of group 1 of outline 1 of scroll area 1 of splitter group 1 of first window

        set {px, py} to position of nameButton
        set {sx, sy} to size of nameButton
        set clickPos to {px + sx, py + 5}

        click at clickPos
        click at clickPos
    end tell
end tell

This should simulate a double click between the headers of the Name column and the column to it's right but it is instead processed by Finder as two distinct clicks on the header of the second column which just changes the sorting order of that column twice.

The Accessibility Inspector also doesn't "see" the small regions around the dividers of column headers and always shows the properties of either column header.

Is there any other way to accomplish this?

The only thing that I can think of off the top of my head would be to get a list of the items in the current folder, find the item with the longest name, and then resize the width per that value. That's really all that's happening with the optimal width double-click.


System Info says my Documents folder is 170GB when Finder says it's only 8GB! Today I got a warning that my disk was running out of space, and up popped the System Information Recommendations window.  It claims my Documents folder is 170GB in size as you can see here:

But checking via Finder, the folder is only 8GB in size:

Not sure what's going on here.  In case it's relevant, my Documents folder is also synced to my Google Drive via Google Backup & Sync.  Does Google maybe store "versions" hidden somewhere or something on my drive?  I've enabled invisible items and nothing significant showed up in the Documents folder, so I'm stumped.  Not sure if the 170GB number is even real or not.

Documents in the System Information pane doesn't mean files in the Documents directory.

It means files that are not other, already defined media types - ie. not photos, books, movies, etc. This would normally encompass the sort of files you'd put in your Documents folder, but they don't have to be kept in there to be part of that total.

If you actually click into Documents on that System Info screen, and then hit the File Browser button up top you'll be able to see what directories are using up the space.

Personally, I do see it's finding a large (40Gb) amount of space used in Library, which is often where things like Google cache data. Apple also caches a lot in Library.


Remote application start So, I'm abroad and I want to stream my music library, I use subsonic on my main desktop (iMac) to stream music to my MacBook Air. So far it's been working fine, but it seems that the subsonic application on iMac has stopped working. The problem is with subsonic only, I can still access my shared files etc.

Is there a way to restart subsonic remotely? I tried to do shared screen but I don't seem to find the right menu for that.

The screen sharing button you mentioned is located in Finder. If you turned on Back to My Mac on your iMac the iMac should show up in the Finder's sidebar. Click on the iMac's icon and you get the screen sharing button.

Alternatively if you know the IP address or URL: In Finder press commandshiftg and type in /System/Library/CoreServices/ to navigate to the place where the screen sharing application is located. Open screen sharing and type in the address of your iMac and connect.


How to delete original partition I have a question regarding deletion of partitions on a Mac.  Due to some performance issues, I decided to start fresh and created a new partition (NewOSX) on the hard drive, to which I have transferred all the data that I need from my old, original partition (MacintoshHD) along with installing an operating system, downloading apps, etc.  I would now like to go ahead and delete the old partition and merge the disk space into my new setup.  I know this isn’t as simple as deleting the newer partition would be, as the minus sign in the disk utility partition menu is greyed out.

Here is the info of the two partitions that I am referring to:

Macintosh HD
Capacity: 119.2 GB
Used:     47.54 GB
Device:   disk0s2

NewOSX
Capacity:  129.35 GB
Used:      34.69  GB
Device:    disk0s4

I am wondering if there is (hopefully) a less than super-technical workaround that can accomplish this task.  Thank you.

Note: Though there is 47 GB still on the old partition (MacintoshHD), I no longer need anything from it and it is ready to be wiped clean.  Also, both partitions are running the “El Capitan” operating system.

diskutil cs list
No CoreStorage logical volume groups found

sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk0
start            size  index  contents
          0          1         PMBR
          1          1         Pri GPT header
          2         32         Pri GPT table
         34          6
         40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
     409640  232811696      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  233221336    1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  234490872  252636720      4  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  487127592    1269536      5  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
  488397128          7
  488397135         32         Sec GPT table
  488397167          1         Sec GPT header

Update

After having some trouble with Internet Recovery Mode and seeing my system crash a few times during reboot, I decided I didn't want to take any risks and mess around with Recovery HDs at all.  What I ended up doing was wiping Macintosh HD clean, reinstalling the operating system, and then took a few hours to manually transfer data, redo settings, etc., from NewOSX to Macintosh HD.  Then went to disk utility and deleted the NewOSX partition, which of course is a simple procedure.  Thanks for the assistance, wish I had realized the simple solution earlier.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Why not just back up your data and wipe the entire partition? I suppose if you want to learn how to move things around and you already have a bootable backup that you've tested, the plan of action you propose might be an interesting learning experience.

For anyone that's not sure they can pull off this, Apple posts supported instructions for a wipe and reinstall.

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18869

It uses the Recovery Partition to perform the wipe. If you don't run caching server to keep fast access to the installer you downloaded, you can make a USB bootable drive to do the deed as well.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

These are supported and designed to avoid human errors. Also, it ensures you get a clean partition table with a supported Recovery HD partition for ongoing maintenance and efficient management of OS X.


After using `networksetup -setdnsservers Wi-Fi "8.8.8.8" "8.8.4.4"` how do I clear them? I'm looking to script a temporary DNS server change to override the DHCP response I get from the network. I've figured out I can use networksetup but once we're done testing. Before I push to production, I figure I should know how to undo this.

How can I script to clear these changes and restore the settings the network provides now as if I never ran the following script?

networksetup -setdnsservers Wi-Fi "8.8.8.8" "8.8.4.4"

It's not feasible to save any the previous settings and I'm looking to remove the setting so that the actual new values can be retrieved from the network as opposed to saving what the settings were previously so I don't save an old value that is no longer correct.

Basically, I'm looking to ipconfig /renew on macOS.

If you're concerned only about cleaning DNS entries, the  command help gives you instructions what to do:

Usage: networksetup -setdnsservers <networkservice> <dns1> [dns2] [...]
       Set the <networkservice> DNS servers to <dns1> [dns2] [...]. Any
       number of dns servers can be specified. Specify "Empty" for <dns1>
       to clear all DNS entries.

In my case

sudo networksetup -setdnsservers Wi-Fi "Empty"


How to check if memory usage goes above a certain number? I have Dashlane installed, which makes it so that all passwords in my browser get typed automatically. It's actually really useful, except for a single flaw: it leaks so much memory. Seriously. After a couple days of running it, it'll have taken over nearly 3 GB of memory and slow down the whole computer.

I'm trying to make a program where it checks Dashlane's memory usage every once in a while and force quits it once it reaches, say, 1 GB.

How can I automatically check if the memory usage of a program goes above a certain number?

Assuming you have some linux knowledge, your question can be rephrased to this: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/131303/how-to-measure-actual-memory-usage-of-an-application-or-process

Add a process memory check to a scheduled task that runs every x hours/minutes. If it exceeds a number kill the process.

Although, if you are confident the issue is with the application you are using, I would take it to their support team, or change the software with a better one.


Flashing question mark when I start my Mac https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204323

I tried everything in here didn't work. I am using a 13" macbookpro retina, latest OS.

Stuff I did that might have cause this:

I updated 3 apps 1 of them was Xcode, the other was something about OSX, the third I can't remember.
I installed Cocoapods but never used it.
Did some tutorials and learned a little bash commands, nothing extreme that should have caused this.

After these actions I used the mac to write software, browser internet, watch videos, I used it for half a day and nothing weird happened. I closed the screen and reopened in an hour and had this problem.

Right now I am connected from the internet recovery. I see this screen:

I cannot restore from time machine backup, cause I have none
I cannot reinstall OS X cause it doesn't see my SSD. "Select the disk where you want to install OS X, under it nothing"
Get help online isn't very helpful
In disk utility:

Macintosh Hd, Disk Status: Offline
Capacity: 120GB, Available: 120GB, Used: 335MB (Weird at least 100GB was used and I am pretty sure I didn't format it by accident)

I click "Verify Disk": The partition map needs to be repaired because there's a problem with the EFI system partition's file system.

I click "Repair Disk": Couldn't repair the partition map because a new EFI system partition couldn't be created.

Also tried this: What does "EFI system partition couldn't be created" mean?

I have seen a few posts where they recommend me to backup the system and then reinstall the OS. I cannot backup and I cannot reinstall.

What am I supposed to do? My hands seem to be tied..

If you have a backup, format the Mac's drive, taking care to protect the backup. If you don't have a backup, try some tools like DiskWarrior or TechTool on the Mac's drive. If those don't help, you'll probably have to format and lose your data.

If you can't format the drive, it will need to be replaced.


Resize 'Macintosh HD" into unallocated space vacated by Bootcamp partition I have a Boot Camp partition on my MBP. When initially setting up the Boot Camp installation I set this partition to be quite large but now I wish to utilise more of that space in the Macintosh HD volume.

I've booted into Windows and used Disk Management to shrink that volume, so there's now just over 200GB of unallocated space on the drive.

I now wish to 'incorporate' this unallocated space into the Macintosh HD volume, but Disk Utility (the GUI version) doesn't allow it.

I've also tried

Terminal > diskutil resizeVolume disk0s2 0

I used 0 because diskutil tells me "A size of zero will cause a grow fit-to-fill." However, this command responds with "Volume format does not support resizing" and while that response might be very clear to someone else, I'm not sure what it's telling me. Is it because the unallocated space was previously formatted as NTFS?

Am I doing this the wrong way? Do I just need to tweak my Terminal command? What is the correct way to extend my current Macintosh HD volume into that unallocated space?

Change partition size only with Bootcamp Assistant.


Process called "ItYoingm" using over 90% CPU and over 106GB memory - root user I have recently downloaded Catalina on my Macbook pro and every now and again my fan goes into overdrive, even when I'm hardly using any programs.

I opened my Activity Monitor and there is a process called "ItYoingm" using over 90% CPU and over 106GB memory. The user is "root" user and the process group is "launchd(1)" and then parent process "kernel_task (0)"

Does anybody know what "ItYoingm" is and why it's using so much CPU? I can't find anything on google.

As it's a root user process I feel nervous about quitting the process. Can anyone advise?

I'm not very tech savvy so I would appreciate answers in layman terms please!

Select the process and select the gear icon in Activity Monitor and sample it. You will need to enter your password to allow Activity Monitor to look as root.

The first few lines will establish what this really is...

Analysis of sampling whatever (pid 133) every 1 millisecond
Process:         whatever [133]
Path:            /Library/Application Support/ThisThing/whatever.app/Contents/MacOS/TheDaemon.app/Contents/MacOS/whatever
Load Address:    0x104743000
Identifier:      whatever
Version:         ???
Code Type:       X86-64
Parent Process:  launchd [1]

Date/Time:       2020-03-07 10:44:35.131 -0600
Launch Time:     2020-02-24 10:14:17.221 -0600
OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.15.3 (19D76)
Report Version:  7
Analysis Tool:   /usr/bin/sample

Now to fix it, if you don’t recognize the program you may need help uninstalling it or use a tool like MalwareBytes to scan for known malware.

You can kill just about any root process - worst case it shuts down the system and you need to reinstall macos which doesn’t erase your programs or data, just makes a new operating system.

I would shut down the mac and disconnect from network and power on while you look, it’s likely something you installed, but without details on what you’ve installed we have to make some assumptions.

While you’re disconnected, making a Time Machine backup or just copying the most important files off your mac to an external drive would be very prudent if you lost control of the system and what’s running as root. Then disconnect that backup until you’re sure you don’t have malware running. (or don't connect your good backup if you know you have one and are already covered - some malware will encrypt files and damage trivial backups that don't make the files read only once backed up in a strong manner)

This last part is pure speculation - since the PID is 176 it started very soon after boot, so it's a persistent program that will likely start each time your Mac is restarted - so you will need to diagnose and fix the launcher or get help if this is all too technical or you want to be sure you've got someone experienced helping.

Good tools:

https://www.malwarebytes.com/
https://objective-see.com/products/knockknock.html
https://www.soma-zone.com/LaunchControl/


MacBook pro (Early 2011) display backlight won't turn on automatically after waking up from sleep My 15" Macbook Pro (Early 2011) has always had a problem where when I open the lid to wake it from sleeping the backlight doesn't turn on. I can easily turn it on by changing the brightness, which leads me to believe it is a software problem.

It isn't a huge problem, just a minor annoyance, but I'm paranoid about backlights ever since I had to replace my old MacBook due to a faulty inverter cable which caused the backlight to not turn on.

Update 1: I noticed that immediately after I open it, the screen is still on and it displays the unlock screen, and only then turns off. This was after being closed for only about 2 minutes.

I would try two things to start with:

Reset the SMC

Shut down your MacBook Pro
Plug in the MagSafe adapter and make sure it is charging
Simultaneously press the shift + alt + control + Power buttons and hold them for about 10 seconds. Let go after that.
Restart your Mac (and move on to the following suggestion):

Reset the PRAM

Press the power button to start up your MacBook Pro
Hold down the following keys:⌘ + alt + P + R until you hear the start up chime sound twice.
Let go and boot normally.

Test that out and tell us what happens.


AirPort Express extending connects in the wrong order Recently, after extending a wireless network on a setup with one Extreme and one Express (both AirPort base stations), I've been experiencing issues regarding which base station extends which on a certain iMac. Note that when it actually works, it works great.

I have the AirPort Extreme connected to a modem via Ethernet, but an AirPort Express that is generally closer to all of my devices extends this network (we can't change where our modem is without our ISP having to send someone over to re-wire practically everything).  The screenshot below explains everything.

I cannot use Internet on this particular Mac when it is acting this way.

Any suggestions or explanations as to why AirPort Utility would show it in this strangely ordered diagram?

I recently encountered the same issue and was able to resolve it by removing the Wifi connection in System Preferences > Network.

Here you can select the Wi-Fi interface from the left panel and click the "-" underneath this panel. Then, add back the Wi-Fi interface by pressing the "+", select Wi-Fi and attempt to connect to your desired network.

This should then place all devices in the correct order by connecting to the device that creates the wireless network as opposed to those devices that either join or extend it.

Best of luck.


Add an App and give it permissions to access Downloads in Catalina How do I give an app permission to access Downloads in Catalina?

The app does not appear in the list of apps. I unlocked the settings which you can see in the screenshot below but the + button is still grayed out so I can't add an app.

The app in particular is Screenflow and in trying to drag and drop an .mp4 file from Downloads into it. When I do I get this error which I'm only guessing is related to permissions

  The error message was "Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=-1 "Unknown error: -1"
  UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Connection interrupted}"

I have the same issue with Octave 3.8.0's GUI version. No OS level error gets displayed but the app cannot access Downloads and no way to add in the Security and Privacy System Preferences Privacy Tab

>> QKqueueFileSystemWatcherEngine::addPaths: open: Operation not permitted
Warning: QFileSystemWatcher: failed to add paths: /Users/gregg/Downloads

>> cd Downloads
warning: load_path: .: Operation not permitted
error: cd: unable to find current directory
error: cd: unable to find current directory
>>

Note: There are newer versions of Octave for MacOS but Stanford University machine learning courses require version 3.X

I have the same error and I find the reason here.

The reason is your Octave 3.8.0 is too old for your OS Catalina, you should download a new version of Octave(4.4.1 or 5.1.0). You can download the new version:
https://wiki.octave.org/Octave_for_macOS.


Remove Search.strtpoint.com Search Engine I, perhaps unwisely, installed iFunBox based on an article in a respected Computer Magazine APC.

This appears to have installed a Search Engine in my browsers.
It was easy to remove from Firefox, but I can't seem to delete search.strtpoint.com from Chrome.

Safari now crashes whenever I run it.

Any ideas on how to fix these problems?

EDIT
I have managed to fix Chrome.

I think I have solved my problem.

I got an exception from Safari which suggested "External Modification Warnings: Thread creation by external task."

I found many references on the web (most for Windows) and some suggesting going to Safari\Preferences\Extensions and turning off. I wasn't even going to try those which suggested I install yet another app from the web.

Seeing as I could not even start Safari the above was not useful. I could start Safari in Safe mode, but there was nothing there - possibly because when it originally wanted access to all my private data I refused.

Activity Monitor showed an Installer and this had ~/Library/Application Support/com.genieoinnovation.Installer/Completer.app/Contents/MacOS/Installer open.
I deleted this directory. Unfortunately this did not fix the problem.

I tried @Buscar웃 suggestion, but this only found references to old preferences in Firefox and Chrome, which I had already fixed.

I then tried sudo mdfind com.genieoinnovation and found the following.

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.genieoinnovation.macextension.client.plist
/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.genieoinnovation.macextension.client
/Library/Frameworks/GenieoExtra.framework/Contents/Library/LaunchServices/com.genieoinnovation.macextension.client
/Library/Frameworks/GenieoExtra.framework/Contents/Resources/en.lproj/com.genieoinnovation.macextension.plist
/Library/LaunchAgents/com.genieoinnovation.macextension.plist

/Users/ian/Library/Application Support/com.genieoinnovation.Installer/Completer.app/Contents/MacOS/Installer

Deleting all these seems to have resolved the issue.


iPhone "un-downloading" photos in Messages For any messages with pictures in my phone that are older than about 1 day, my iPhone seems to "un-download" the picture when I'm viewing the message in Messages and gives me an option to Tap To Download for an image that I already downloaded yesterday. After another day passes it'll once again be "un-downloaded" (sorry I don't have a better term for it).
This is rather annoying to constantly have to redownload the same photos.
How do I stop my phone from "un-downloading" the message's picture attachments?
I'm on an iPhone 8 running iOs 14.5.1. (And yes, I know I could save the image to my phone, but that also seems unnecessary.)

When you have iMessage iCloud Syncing enabled (this switch is located in iCloud settings, as opposed to iMessage settings, your device will remove downloads since they're stored in your iCloud account. This is done to keep your local storage space available.
If you turn off this feature, your phone will probably download your messages. However, if you don't have enough space I do not know what solution it will propose.
In theory, if you have sufficient space, iMessage iCloud Syncing will not remove your local file downloads.


Can I limit my dock to only show up on the main display? I use 2 external displays with my Macbook. I use the Macbook's display as my main display and only want the dock to ever show up on this display. Is this possible? Right now when I mouse to the bottom of my 2 external displays the dock will pop up there and sometimes push the rest of my windows up. I do not want this.

Thanks!

Your only options are both workarounds:

Uncheck "Displays have separate Spaces" under System Preferences > Mission Control
Pin dock to right or left instead of bottom (obviously not ideal if you're a bottom pinner)

More details here: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-keep-the-mac-dock-on-one-screen-in-a-dual-monitor-setup/


Expanding compressed file on macOS places expanded files on top of compressed file I'm sure others have noticed this behavior, and I cannot - for the life of me - find a solution to stop it.

If you have a compressed file (such as a .zip or .tar.gz) on your desktop (or any folder that you're displaying as icons (rather than details or list), when you expand the compressed file, the files from within are placed on top of the compressed file (the files/aliases/etc. overlap each-other).  How do you get this behavior to stop, and have the expand process place the files either into a folder named after the compressed file or have the files listed in a column on the desktop, rather than overlapping like they were a stack of cards?

Not that it matters, as this has been the way it is since forever, but I'm running macOS Mojave.

It will drop the expanded file about a 'quarter icon' to the lower right unless you have some kind of 'Sort by' set in Finder; then it will move everything to a new position to make room, as appropriate.

The Archive Utility itself does have settable prefs, but none of them includes what the Finder will do with the positions afterwards...

Personally, I just have it set to always Trash the archive after expansion, which at least moves them out of each other's way.
Archive Utility is in /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/
If you launch it from there it will stay open so you can set prefs.


Want download of entire Photo Stream and or Camera Roll from iPhone4S running iOS 5.1.1 to Win 7 Enterprise SP1? How can I force download of entire Photo Stream and or Camera Roll to iCloud from iPhone4S running iOS 5.1.1 (9B206) to Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 64-bit?

iCloud folders on the Win 7 machine are empty and none of the photos I want are "new".
If I place photos in the iCloud Upload folder they are uploaded to the Photo Stream on the phone and then on the Win7 Photo Stream folder, but how can I get all the old ones to download?  I'm considering using the App "WiFi Photo Transfer" but would prefer using existing iCloud.  Cannot tell if I have iCloud 2 or not.

I tried carpetflyer's suggestion of turning Photo Stream off and on in iCloud and the result was 2 new Albums in my phone, Photo Library with my most recent 6 photos, and My Photo Stream which was empty.  The My Photo Stream on my Win7 computer downloaded the 6 most recent photos in the Photo Stream album (the contents of Photo Library) and that's all that gets downloaded.  There are 353 others in my Photo Stream album that I'd also like.  I need help.  Anyone tried the "WiFi Photo Transfer" App?

Would appreciate any help.

In a nutshell...

Connect iPhone to iCloud.
Configure PC to connect to same iCloud account.
Select Photo Stream and click the Options button.
Configure your Upload and Download Folder, and Select the Photo Streams you want to sync.
Your photos should start to sync at this point; check My Computer | Libraries | Pictures.

This setup works for me on Windows 7.


Macbook Pro doesn't react to any key combinaton at start up I have a Macbook pro 2009. I had to do a hard reset on it. I was at the installing stage, when it just shut down itself, and now, when I turn it on, only the folder with the question mark is flashing.
But my problem is that, I cannot go back to recovery mode, or any other mode. When I shutdown, and turn it back (while pressing the right key combinations) and just gets to the flashing folder again.
Maybe I dont shut it down correcty? It doesnt even show the loading bar. Just a white screen, then the folder.
Any help?
Thanks

This occurs when there is no information on any hard drive that the computer can process. This means that at some point you likely accidentally deleted the recovery partition of your hard drive. There is no regular recovery partition so the computer has no idea what to do.

You need to have a bootable USB drive to do anything with that computer besides use it as a very expensive paperweight. Find a USB drive and someone with a Mac and make yourself an OS X (or MacOS) install disk. Then boot from that drive (by holding down Option during boot). Then wipe your internal drive and install the OS (which will automatically install a recovery partition).


How to stop "NTFS new version", or any notification for that matter? I used paragon NTFS for a while and then deleted it from applications folder. I also removed the dmg file(I know it would not stop notifications).

But I keep getting notifications like this everyday.

.

Clicking on it is useless. Safari would open(if not already) but no new window, no webpage, nothing.

I searched the Library folder for NTFS and paragon and deleted files and folders for e.g. from application support, from caches. One folder in its name had "notification". I deleted that too. Unhid hidden files by CMD + Shift + . For a temporary fix, I turned off notification from System Preferences. But I need a permanent fix.

Any App you need to actually run an installer & give admin perms, rather than just drag to Applications, installs elements somewhere inside the 'system' itself.

It is not wise to just throw these out if you no longer want them, as they will leave all the system bits behind.

As you threw away the component which contains the uninstaller, the app itself, then by far the simplest way to uninstall it will be to get the installer again, install it, then use its own uninstaller to uninstall it.
At the moment it is still entirely functional, you only threw out the control surface.


Internet Sharing not working with my BeagleBone Black Running Mavericks on a 15" MBP. I have a BeagleBone Black running Debian Wheezy. I have connected the two with an ethernet cable. I have a working wifi connection from the MBP. So I turn on Internet Sharing to "share my connection from WiFi to computers using ethernet".

When I run ifup eth0 on the BeagleBone Black, I see the following output:

Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client 4.2.2
Copyright 2004-2011 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit https://www.isc.org/software/dhcp/

[ 3916.877981] net eth0: initializing cpsw version 1.12 (0)
[ 3916.886430] net eth0: phy found : id is : 0x7c0f1
[ 3916.891796] libphy: PHY 4a101000.mdio:01 not found
[ 3916.896888] net eth0: phy 4a101000.mdio:01 not found on slave 1
[ 3916.906939] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
Listening on LPF/eth0/c8:a0:30:ac:1f:f4
Sending on   LPF/eth0/c8:a0:30:ac:1f:f4
Sending on   Socket/fallback
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 8
[ 3918.891594] libphy: 4a101000.mdio:00 - Link is Up - 100/Full
[ 3918.899032] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 9
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 9
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 9
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 20
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6
No DHCPOFFERS received.
No working leases in persistent database - sleeping.

Watching the output from Console on my MBP though, I can see it doing something

1/7/14 12:05:00.590 PM bootpd[18547]: DHCP DISCOVER [bridge100]: 1,c8:a0:30:ac:1f:f4 <arm>
1/7/14 12:05:00.590 PM bootpd[18547]: OFFER sent arm 192.168.2.9 pktsize 300
1/7/14 12:05:00.590 PM bootpd[18547]: service time 0.000651 seconds
1/7/14 12:05:00.590 PM bootpd[18547]: service time 0.000005 seconds
1/7/14 12:05:03.873 PM configd[16]: inet_set_autoaddr(en0, 1) failed, Resource busy (16)
1/7/14 12:05:04.137 PM bootpd[18547]: DHCP DISCOVER [bridge100]: 1,c8:a0:30:ac:1f:f4 <arm>
1/7/14 12:05:04.137 PM bootpd[18547]: OFFER sent arm 192.168.2.9 pktsize 300
1/7/14 12:05:04.137 PM bootpd[18547]: service time 0.000519 seconds
1/7/14 12:05:04.137 PM bootpd[18547]: service time 0.000002 seconds
1/7/14 12:05:10.296 PM bootpd[18547]: DHCP DISCOVER [bridge100]: 1,c8:a0:30:ac:1f:f4 <arm>
1/7/14 12:05:10.297 PM bootpd[18547]: OFFER sent arm 192.168.2.9 pktsize 300
1/7/14 12:05:10.297 PM bootpd[18547]: service time 0.001206 seconds
1/7/14 12:05:10.298 PM bootpd[18547]: service time 0.000007 seconds
1/7/14 12:05:24.813 PM bootpd[18547]: DHCP DISCOVER [bridge100]: 1,c8:a0:30:ac:1f:f4 <arm>
1/7/14 12:05:24.814 PM bootpd[18547]: OFFER sent arm 192.168.2.9 pktsize 300
1/7/14 12:05:24.814 PM bootpd[18547]: service time 0.000829 seconds
1/7/14 12:05:24.814 PM bootpd[18547]: service time 0.000004 seconds
1/7/14 12:05:32.405 PM bootpd[18547]: DHCP DISCOVER [bridge100]: 1,c8:a0:30:ac:1f:f4 <arm>
...

I don't know where to go from here. I do know that if I plug the BBB directly into my Netgear router, then it successfully fetches an IP address via DHCP. So I don't know if the problem is entirely on the Apple Internet Sharing side, but it's at least part of the problem, because the BBB, Just Works(tm) otherwise.

I'm on Debian Wheezy too and this worked for me:

Install Mac drivers from http://beagleboard.org/Getting%20Started
Connect BBB to Mac through USB
On the Mac, go to System Preferences > Sharing > Internet Sharing > Beaglebone Black
In System Preferences > Network, make sure BBB is in the left hand side and shows “Connected”
After SSH’ing into the BBB, run “dhclient” (or "dhclient usb0” if that doesn’t work) and then try “ping google.com”.


Reformat and then use Time Machine? I want to reformat my MacBook late-2008 unibody aluminium with HDD.

Can I do that and then after I have reinstalled OS X go to Time Machine and recover everything? Is this possible?

Yes, this is possible. Make sure that you've completed a backup through Time Machine, and that the backup is working and accessible, then erase and install OS X.

Once OS X is installed, you can use Migration Assistant to restore your data, or set up as a new Mac and use Time Machine to restore individual files/folders.


Menu bar and right-click menu blank So after working on my Macbook for a while. Menus will start blanking out.

Right click on Chrome in dock:

Top menu bar totally blank:

Right click on desktop:

Clicking the black Apple icon in the top left corner of menu bar:

Any idea what's causing it? I have to reboot or log out each time, which is no easy task given menus are blank.

First, the shortcut Shift - Command - Q will log you out and secondly, what a hassle when the display glitches or ghosts like that.

Start keeping a log

what time does this start and when was the Machine last restarted?
does logging out and logging back in fix it temporarily?
what apps do you run that correlate with this failure?

While you are logging to see if there are patterns, here’s how to triage specifically for the location of the fault:

I would start with a new user account to be sure this isn’t a system bug. While you are in the second user, check that your backup is current or set one up and let it finish. Once you’re sure it’s not the system, you can decide to start cleaning your preferences for your user or erase your user and restore files manually or with Migration Assistant to bring your user back from the backup.

I would try an erase install and restore from backup first before troubleshooting user preferences or manual restore of files. That’s much quicker and I have good success with it cleanuping up preference rot (assuming that’s what is causing this). The bonus to this is it also clears up system corruption. Two birds, one stone, so to speak.

Also, delete any apps you don’t need or can easily reinstall - the app data is left around and the fewer items to triage, the faster you will narrow down what’s causing this.

Good luck!

Some shots in the dark:
- uninstall Chrome for a while
- older versions of Microsoft Remote Desktop were reported to cause this - that should be easy to isolate if so

This is something quite a few have reported and my hunch is Apple probably doesn’t run the setup and app usage in their testing labs that’s likely to reproduce and fix this. Clearly this is a pretty severe visual bug triggered with some amount of common tasks.


How to enforce backup of an .ipa from iPad to iTunes/Mac? Usually, all the .ipas are backup up in the ~/Music/iTunes/Mobile Applications folder. I accidentally deleted an .ipa in the folder. Now, after syncing, the app is on iPad but the .ipa is not backup in the Mobile Applications folder. How can I enforce the sync to backup all .ipas to the Mac again?

My iPad is not jailbreak. I want to restore the VLC app (.ipa deleted from Mac) from iPad and install on another new iPhone ...

File - Transfer purchases from "device" command in the iTunes menu is intended to move all apps as well as any other purchased content to an iTunes library that lacks those items.


Freeware for extracting 7zip files? I've used The Unarchiver for this purpose, but it doesn't support extracting encrypted 7zip files. Can anyone suggest any other freeware for this?

BTW I'm using Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8

Softonic has a nice list of 7Zip for Mac utilities. Some are freeware.


Is it still possible to get @icloud.com email address? Set up a new iCloud account for someone and I am not seeing the option to set up an @icloud.com address and use the free email service. Does anyone know if this is still possible and how to go about doing this?

The steps seem strange, but first you must create your appleid using a non Apple address (note that if you already have an @icloud, @mac, or @me email address that email address is already an Apple ID)

Once your Apple ID has been created, on the device go to Settings > iCloud and flip the mail switch on, you will be prompted there to create your @icloud.com email address.

Alternatively, you can go to setting and go to mail. From there, add account and choose iCloud. If you choose "create Apple ID" at this screen, for whatever reason, it will allow you to create an "@icloud.com" email.

source Apple kb


Restoring from Time Machine on Mac without video card I’ve got a Mac Pro 5,1 with an Nvidia P600 (Pascal) video card, running the Nvidia Web Drivers. One of the internal disks is its Time Machine volume.

At some point it looks like automatic system updates overwrote the drivers, and the video card stopped working. Mac seems to boot correctly, I’ve been able to access it from a MacBook via Target Disk Mode.

I do not have another video card that will work in this Mac.

Is there a way I can restore the Mac Pro via Time Machine remotely?

I have seen various threads about using Screen Sharing but this was not enabled before the video card issue.

Is there a way to log into the Mac Pro via the Terminal if I connect the MacBook directly to an Ethernet port? I don’t think I can connect with it over WiFi as sharing was turned off, but I can see if it shows up on the network.

If so, what would I then need to do to 1) connect and log in and 2) restore from Time Machine from the command line? Step by step instructions for a command line n00b please :)

Thanks very much!

You are almost there. You could treat either the whole machine or just the system drive as an external HDD and attach it to your MacBook.

Attach your Mac Pro in TDM (target disk mode) to your MacBook. Boot into the Mac Pro’s system from your MacBook. Repair what you need to do.

Connect both computers.
Shut them down.
Power on the target Mac in TDM by holding the T key.
Power on host Mac with Alt/Option key pressed until you see MacOS boot manager.
Choose the target’s system disk
Boot
Repair graphic drivers, etc.


MBP defaults to bootcamp If I reboot my machine and don't do anything it always starts up windows, which I find really annoying because I almost never load bootcamp and it requires me to babysit the reboot.  I'd like to set the default to be OSX again, any ideas?

The easiest way of changing your default boot is to open System Preferences and then choose Startup Disk. This will let you pick a new default OS to load.


Speak screen saying "one dollar?" Every few sentences, the phone speaks a phrase that sounds like "one dollar." It's not in the text of the screen. Anyone know what this is?
This also happens on the Uber driver app when it’s speaking instructions. It’s the weirdest thing. It happens on multiple web sites (not just Uber.com), though not all.
I was thinking maybe it has something to do with HTML tags ???
I also found this question:  say command says wrong text (for some voices)
and am not sure if it's related. I don't have special voices installed on my phone. I'm just using the female voice.

Listen here:
https://soundcloud.com/user-339437908/one-dollar#t=0:04
Recorded from https://www.uber.com/a/drive-pp/?exp=nyc
Note that the phrase "one dollar" is spoken quite a few times throughout the recording and those words do not appear anywhere in the
text.

Or

Test it out yourself:
Go to Settings>General>Accessibility>Speech and enable "Speak Screen".
Then try it here: https://www.uber.com/a/drive-pp/?exp=nyc

** Edit: **
I was digging around and I noticed I was using the "female voice" setting under Siri, but the Accessibility settings have options for multiple voices. Using some of the other voices, the extra words were not spoken, making this question very much related to the linked question. However, the linked question refers to a specific word being spoken as a different word. I am concerned with why this extra phrase is being inserted into the text. The bounty remains and I hope someone can answer. And until then I'll be using the Australian voices because they don't exhibit this behavior.

I can't really get the code of the web page/app, but checking older/similar JavaScript/PHP code of uber.com it seems to be a hick-up of the Text-to-Speech framework which probably stumbles over a snippet similar to ..."common.step-to-main-content":"Skip to $1"... with $1 being a positional or a formal parameter with the "value": main_content or main content.

The above code (without $1 but with main content) can be found in uber.com/drive/new-york/ (Google Cache).

I'm no coder so I might use the wrong terms...


Resetting jailbroken device in settings caused boot loop I recently jailbroke my phone and for some reason my phone wasn't syncing my music from my iTunes library. I restarted my phone and lost my jailbreak tweaks. As my phone restarted the Cydia icon was still on my phone.

I went into settings and erased my iPhone. I saw the Apple logo and then it went into a black screen with a spinning circle. It's been on it for almost an hour. What can I do in a situation like this?

Resetting a jailbroken iOS device using the option in settings will cause no end of bad things, usually resulting in a device stuck in a boot loop, which appears to have been the case here.

You'll have to restore your device in iTunes. Connect your device to iTunes, then hold power and home until the screen turns off and back on with the Apple logo, then let go of power but keep holding home. Once the device appears in iTunes, restore it.


Are there any limits of re-downloading applications from appstore? I've got an application on my iPhone which was free when I installed it and now it became paid application. One day I accidentally deleted it from device and then was able to download it from Appstore for free (as I "had the previous version" of that app).

So now I just wonder are there limits for that (number of devices I can do that on, any time limits etc)?

Edit: The only thing that I managed to find so far is the following paragraph in iTunes Store "Terms and Conditions":

  Solely as an accommodation to you,
  some Products may be redownloaded for
  use in accordance with the Usage
  Rules. Not all Products are eligible
  for this accommodation or may be
  available at any given time. Apple
  shall have no liability to you in the
  event that a previously downloaded
  Product becomes unavailable for
  redownload. Once a Product is
  downloaded, it is your responsibility
  not to lose, destroy, or damage it,
  and Apple shall not be liable to you
  if you do so.

So is it a guaranteed behavior at all?..

As long as its the same app, then you should be able to do this as many times as needed. Also, once you have that app, you have it even if the price changes, goes from free to paid or vice versa.

One thing that I have seen happen in the app store, is developers releasing a whole new version of their app, and naming it differently,  launching it differently. A perfect example of it is Tweetie. When they went to version 2, he re-released it as a new app (Tweetie 2), therefore making anyone who wanted to get the new one to have to pay (even if they paid for the first). Then, that app was converted to free and changed to Twitter for iPhone, but if you bought Tweetie 2, you just got an update that changed it.


How to silence keyboard clicks on macOS I am using macOS 10.12 Sierra on a MacBook Air. How do I silence the clicks on my keyboard. Pressing the mute button does not mute the clicks.

Are you sure these sounds aren't the mechanical clicks of the keyboard?


Disk utility will not allow me to resize a partition on an unencrypted external hard drive I want to back up a copy of Windows onto a new partition of external hard drive currently formatted in exFAT. I don't know how to use Windows, so I want to use my Mac (mid-2009 MacBook Pro, running Mavericks, which it shouldn't be—it was built for Snow Leopard) to repartition the disk.

But it doesn't seem to let me. The name, format, volume size, and "+" are all grayed out, and the little handle that is supposed to let me resize the partition so as to add a new one in the remaining space is not showing up. (Actually, I have two such hard drives. In one of them, the "minus" option isn't available either.) Neither shows up as encrypted; other answers to similar problems tend to depend on the drives being internal or encrypted, so it seems this is a different problem. Here are pictures of my interface for both.

Actually, my question looks similar to this one: osx split external hard drive partition

Is it the case that one can only repartition hard drives using the Mac OS format?

There's no such thing as "Built for Snow Leopard". That labeling just an old habit PC manufacturers have for Windows, but it doesn't apply to Macs at all. If Apple lets you run the OS, that means they tested it, and should work just fine. The reason you can't resize those disks is because they are formatted as "ExFAT", and OS X doesn't support resizing ExFAT formatted disks.


Passcode lock for WhatsApp I am using an iPod touch 5 and I want to put a password on my WhatsApp, but the apps available on the App Store are not according to my need. Can you suggest some apps so that I can put a passcode on WhatsApp without jailbreaking?

Individual apps from the App Store can't be passcode protected in this way without jailbreaking which you mentioned you don't want to do. Restrictions are only available for pre-installed apps and features.

Instead, you can passcode the device, which will prevent access to the apps on the device, including WhatsApp. Go to Settings → Passcode to set it up.


Where is the "Send all traffic over VPN connection" setting in OSX 10.9 Mavericks? I'm attempting to change the settings of a Cisco IPSec VPN connection which was set up through OSX's built in VPN client in system preferences. The VPN functions as expected, allowing me to access protected servers at my company. I would like to access other websites on the internet through this VPN (youtube, wikipedia, whatever). As far as I can tell, my regular web browsing is not being directed through the VPN.

This apple support page says there is a setting called "Send all traffic over VPN connection" which can be enabled through the Apple menu > System Preferences > Network > Advanced > Options dialogue. However, when I select the VPN from the network interface list and click the "Advanced..." button, there is no "Options" tab or button. I see a dialogue with two tabs, "DNS" and "Proxies". There is no options button or "Send all traffic over VPN connection" anywhere to be found.

So, what gives? Does this have to do with what kind of VPN I am connected to (Cisco IPSec)? Is it related to the VPN's settings? Regardless, how can I route normal browsing through the VPN?

I guess not all VPN connections of the build-in VPN client in Mac have that option.

The PPTP and L2TP do offer the option: Open your network settings:

Select your VPN connection and click on the advanced button.

A new window will pop up with three check-boxes under the heading "Session options".
The last one of these checkboxes is the one you want: "redirect all traffic over VPN".

However, like you said. The advanced button does not pop up with Cisco IPSec.

I found this thread (https://superuser.com/questions/91191/how-to-force-split-tunnel-routing-on-mac-to-a-cisco-vpn) that maybe could be an answer to your problem (if you use it to route the whole ip range):

  Any one know how to hack the routing table (on a mac) to defeat the
  forcing of VPN routing for every thing over a cisco VPN? pretty much
  what I want to do is have only 10.121.* and 10.122.* addresses over
  the VPN and everything else straight to the internet.

The following works for me. Run these after connecting to the cisco vpn. (I'm using OS X's built-in cisco client, not the Cisco branded client.)

sudo route -nv add -net 10 -interface utun0
sudo route change default 192.168.0.1

Replace "10" in the first command with the network that's on the other side of the tunnel.

Replace "192.168.0.1" with your local network's gateway.

I put it into a bash script, like this:

$ cat vpn.sh
#!/bin/bash

if [[ $EUID -ne 0 ]]; then
    echo "Run this as root"
    exit 1
fi

route -nv add -net 10 -interface utun0
route change default 192.168.0.1

I also found an explanation on how to run this automatically when you connect the VPN, but it's late on Friday and I don't feel like trying it :)

https://gist.github.com/675916

Edit:

I have since left the job where I was using the Cisco VPN, so this is from memory.

The "10" in the first command is the network that you want to route over the VPN. "10" is short hand for "10.0.0.0/8". In Tuan Anh Tran's case, it looks like the network is "192.168.5.0/24".

As for which gateway to specify in the second command, it should be your local gateway. When you log into a VPN that prevents split-tunneling, it is enforcing that policy by changing your routing tables so that all packets are routed on the virtual interface. So you want to change your default route back to what it was prior to getting on the VPN.

The easiest way to figure out the gateway is to run netstat -rn before logging into the VPN, and look at the IP address to the right of the "default" destination. For example, here's what it looks like on my box right now:

Internet:
Destination        Gateway            Flags        Refs      Use   Netif Expire
default            10.0.1.1           UGSc           29        0     en1
10.0.1/24          link#5             UCS             3        0     en1
10.0.1.1           0:1e:52:xx:xx:xx   UHLWIi         55   520896     en1    481
10.0.1.51          7c:c5:37:xx:xx:xx   UHLWIi          0     1083     en1    350
10.0.1.52          127.0.0.1          UHS             0        0     lo0

My gateway is 10.0.1.1 -- it is to the right of the "default" destination.


Apple Music free trial ending As my free trial of Apple Music is due to end very soon, and I do not intend to pay for continued service, is there anything I should be doing before the trial ends to avoid any problems?

You can turn off auto-renewal. If you are on iOS:

Open the Music app
Tap the profile icon in the top left to get to the account menu
Choose View Apple ID
Under Subscriptions > Manage, turn off auto-renewal.

That's it.


Reset Apple Keyboard Shortcuts I have a new Apple Keyboard, up until recently pressing the F4 key used to activate Launchpad (Fn keys are set to do as the image on them) but mow it does nothing. I tried the keyboard with another mac and it worked as expected (pressing the F4 activated launchpad). How do I reset the settings on my mac so the F4 key works as I want it to?

PS. I tried going to System Prefs->Keyboard-> reset defaults with no luck.

On System Prefs->Keyboard-> Keyboard Shortcuts you need to click on Launchpad & Dock on the left, then make sure "Show Launchpad" is checked.


iPhone will not automatically connect to one particular wifi network There is a wifi in my home (run by landlord - I have no control), which is called "Default" and has no encryption enabled.
I can manually connect to the network from my two iPhones - but whenever an iPhone loses connection, it does not automatically connect again when in range.
What can cause the phone to not automatically connect to a know access point?
Both my computers connect and reconnect with no issues.
I have not seen this behavior with these phones with any other wifi access-points.
I have tried resetting the network settings to factory defaults on one phone, but it did not make a difference.
Both iPhones are up to date with latest iOS updates (5.1) and are not jailbroken or anything out of the ordinary.

Let me start this somewhat lengthy soft answer with a suggestion:

See if your landlord will allow you to extend his network by allowing you to add an Airport Express in your apartment. This may be the miracle solution you need to what is otherwise likely to be complex and quite possibly unsolvable problem otherwise.

I strongly suspect you're looking for a technical explanation to your problem. That answer is likely to be lengthy and beyond my expertise. It will also be largely theoretical because without some specific tests performed in your environment, the truth is unlikely to be known, only speculated upon.

The practical answer is that sometimes certain access points don't like certain wifi transceivers. Several years ago I had massive wifi problems with my the just-purchased MacBook Pro and a LinkSys wifi router that had been serving the house successfully for years—and still worked fine for all the other computers in the house, including my iMac G5 running the same version of the OS.

I applied numerous patches and tried various*tricks* on the Mac. I installed  alternative firmwares onto the Linksys. All with no success.

We installed an Airport Extreme and all of my wifi woes went away. Instantly.

If you're looking for explanation, you'll have to look further. If you want a solution to the problem, see if you can install an AEX, enjoy full use of your device, and don't sweat the details.


Burning CDs from iTunes Why are my music tracks when burned to CD from iTunes thru the Playlist feature shorter than the originals?  I have tried on multiple albums all with the same result.  A song might be 4:58 in iTunes and when I burn a CD, the song is now 2:58.  There does not appear to be any logic on the difference, just that the entire song does not copy.  This does not happen with all songs, just random ones.  Typical 5-8 minutes of music is deleted from several tracks.  It is not an issue of capacity on the CD.  I am well under the limit there.

That is odd. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps the start/stop times of some individual songs have been changed. Try this

Find a song that this happened to
Get Info on it (right click on the song in iTunes and select Get Info)
Click the "options" tab near the top of the Get Info window
Check and see if the start and stop times have been changed. Start should be "0:00" and end should be the full length of the song in minutes and seconds.

If those times are set incorrectly the songs will be clipped/truncated when playing, creating an AAC version of the song or burning to CD.

If that is not it... well sorry I don't know


Can I keep my MBPR unplugged when not in use? If I shut down my MBPr and unplug the power cord every night then in the morning plug it back in and turn on the MacBook, will it have an effect on the battery charge cycles?

Only if the battery discharged to about 20% overnight for some reason it will count as new charge cycle.

For example if unplug at 100% and plug back in at 80% it is not counted as new charge cycle.


Terminal issue with export PS1="" So I tried to change the output of my terminal prompt but when I try something like /W it just puts the /W not the path.  For example export PS1="/W $ "turns my prompt into "/W $"


Airport express and Airport utility I moved and had to change my network.

After juggling for reconfiguring my airport express station, I found out it was impossible to connect to them, even after a factory reset : they just would NOT appear in the Airport Utility 6.2 program that is meant to manage those things.

However, I could see all of them appear in the bonjour browser, so there is no network issues.

Faced with that issue, I saw some other people could not either use their Airport Express anymore. I am now using the old utility as they are, which necessitates a hack, but works perfectly.

However, I still don't understand if there are anything we are doing wrong.

That seems wrong that Apple gave no way to use its product.
Has anyone be able to manage its airport express with standard Apple program ?
I dont understand the rationale of what happens and must be missing some information..

Download the Lion version 5.6 of Airport Utility , which actually works with setting up / reconfiguring an Airport Express.

Both versions (ML comes with 6.x) can be used on Mountain Lion. Keep both around, for now.

Though once setup, my AE responds well to AU 6.x.

I don't know why .. but then, ours is not to reason why, is it.


OS X Mountain Lion Terminal and tabs take ages to load When I open a new Terminal tab I have to wait at least 10-20 seconds before I can work with it, I have followed previous suggestions here: How do I speed up new Terminal tab loading time?

But so far I still have slow tabs. When I open the inspector during a tab loading I see the following process:

login
bash
bash
ruby
sw_vers
dirname
sh

The bottom 4 start and stop during the inactive time in my tab, until the tab is finally useable and I only have login and bash remaining.

Can anyone offer any help here, it's very frustrating.

TIA

Did you look at your .profile file (vi ~/.profile) to check if someone (some program) has added something there that takes the time?

Try to create a new user on your Mac (System Preferences -> Users), log in as this user and see if the problem also happens.  If not, compare this user's .profile and the one where the delay happens (or at least the experiment will tell if it is something system specific or user specific).

Also there is the global file /etc/bashrc which is processed for all bash shells for all users.  Something added there could cause a delay for all shells for all users.


Using cURL to download images in XML feed? I have an XML file that has links to various .jpg I want to create an applescript that downloads a local copy of these. The idea is to also label them sequentially  with a number say 001 to 030.

Every time i run the script i want the pictures to be overwritten with the new ones.

Here is the XML file I need to use:  http://tweetriver.com/hud_ro/steer_filtered.xml?include_entities=1

Can anyone help?

If a shell script solution is acceptable as well, try the following

#!/bin/bash
URL='http://tweetriver.com/hud_ro/steer_filtered.xml?include_entities=1'
i=0
for u in $(curl -s "$URL" |
           grep jpg |
           sed -E 's/.*<profile_image_url>(.+)<\/profile_image_url>/\1/'); do
    curl -s "$u" -o $i.jpg
    (( i++ ))
done

This of course only works for this specific XML example and requires all files to be in jpg format.


How to use OSX built in VNC client to connect to localhost with port forwarding I already have ssh port forwarding set up, and it works with Chicken of the VNC, host set to 'localhost' and port set to the port I have forwarded.

Soon, I won't be able to use Chicken, because the latest OSX version, Catalina, won't let it run because it is a 32bit app.

I've tried to do the same with Screen Sharing, connecting with vnc://localhost:XXXX, but then it asks for a password, which it shouldn't need, and doesn't connect. How can I use the built in VNC client to connect to my remote desktop?


Is Pages gone on iPad OS? I just updated my iPad to the latest verision of the operating system (iPad OS).

It seems that the Pages app is gone... and I can't install it.

AppStore displays a message on the Pages app:

  Pages is only available on macOS.

How to install Pages back on my iPad? I loved the sync with the other devices and everything and now this is a bit frustrating...

No Pages is not gone from iPadOS and iOS. Pages has a separate app for both macOS and iPadOS/iOS.

To download Pages for iPadOS, search for Pages on the App Store app on your iPad, or open the following link:

Pages on the App Store


Transfer data from iPhone with no password to Apple ID My Apple ID got hacked a few months ago and it's still on the iPhone 5 and I can't access the password as it as hacked!

How can I transfer just the music from iPhone 5 to iPhone 7?

Your question isn't totally clear, so I'm making some assumptions (such as your Apple ID email is still the same and that you're talking about music you've purchased with that Apple ID).

As a starting point, visit iForgot to reset a forgotten password, unlock your account, or recover an Apple ID.

Once you've done that, you can sign in with your new password etc on your iPhone 7 and download any purchases you've made previously. Also, assuming you have a Mac/PC you can also sign in again on iTunes and use iTunes then to sync music etc across.

If I've misunderstood your issue, please clarify your question and let me know.


How can I get my mail rules from Mavericks to Sierra without doing them over one by one Or how can I export them?
Or even just print them?

There are far too many for me to do them over.

There are a couple of things you can try, but these seem to be a bit hit and miss (i.e. they don't seem to work in all cases).

Before I go any further, Apple Mail rules are stored in a property list at: ~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/SyncedRules.plist

Notes:

The "~" in the above path denotes your user account name.
The "Library" folder is hidden by default. In order to see it, go to the Finder and while you press and hold the option key, click on the Go menu and select Library from the drop-down menu.
In your case it may not be in the 'V2' folder - it could be in a 'V3' etc, but in Mavericks the default was 'V2' and in macOS Sierra it should be 'V4'.

Method 1 - copy the SyncedRules.plist file

This is what I'm guessing you've already tried. Namely, find the correct copy of your rules .plist file and copy/restore this across to the correct location within your new macOS Sierra location. By correct location I mean that in macOS Sierra there will probably be a new 'V4' folder - so copy the file into that folder!

Method 2 - create a new user account

This method involves creating a new user account but not enabling iCloud in it so you can access all your old rules.

More specifically:

Go to Apple > System Preferences
Select Users & Groups
Create a new User Account (you may need to unlock the padlock in order to do this)
In Login Options ensure you have Automatic Login set to off, and that you have Show fast user switching menu enabled
Exit System Preferences
Log into your new user account but do not log in to iCloud (i.e. totally skip this step)
Copy across your V2 or V3 etc folder into the Mail folder located within the user's library folder (see notes at beginning of answer on how to make the library folder visible)
Now open Mail
This should start a process to copy across all your Mail data from the V2 or V3 or V4 etc folder you copied across

Once finished, you should be able to see your rules etc. If you can, you can try to copy across this new folder to your other user's account (however, be aware this may not be preferable as you will replace existing data that may be more recent - although you could try just copying across the SyncedRules.plist file. Remember to copy it across to the correct location (see Method 1 above). However, if you have iCloud enabled, you may want to also copy this across to the

If this doesn't work, but you can see the rules, then at least you can now see them if you need to take screenshots etc to recreate them.

Let me know how you go - especially if you feel you're close but just not quite there.


Is it possible to run iOS on a non-iOS device? Theoretically, is it possible to run iOS on a device that doesn't ship with it? I know that Apple signed iOS so it only runs on Apple devices, but is there any hack that could potentially change that?

Theoretically? Sure, but it'd be a challenge, and I don't think anyone's done it.

However, you can sort of get it running on a Mac if you have Xcode: Xcode menu > Open Developer Tool > iOS Simulator. This will load a simulator for the iPhone with Photos, Contacts, Settings, Game Center, Maps, Newsstand, Passbook, and Safari. No way to install apps (other than making them yourself in Xcode).


Access to ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/ denied Since installing Mojave, I can no longer access ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/:

pse@Mithos:~$ ll ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/
ls: DataVaults: Operation not permitted

I've granted Full Access to Terminal in System Preferences, nevertheless the error message remains.

What makes this directory so special and how can I get access?

The DataVaults directory has to do with entitlements. Access is prevented unless the owner of the entitlement grants the access. The entitlements for Mail.app can be listed as follows and provides an XML plist.

codesign -d --entitlements - /Applications/Mail.app/

At this time, the only other method to acquire access to the directory is to turn off SIP.

For more details on DataVaults see No Entry ⛔: access controls in Mojave. The section on DataVaults starts off with

  Introduced in later releases of High Sierra, and used more in Mojave, are folders to which only Apple’s software has even read access, DataVaults. My account here is largely based on comments generously provided here by an anonymous source, as these don’t appear to have been mentioned anywhere by Apple (not even at WWDC 2018), nor can I find other descriptions.

so it all seems to be kind of mystery still.


What is 'Time Profile'? In System Preferences > Keyboard > Services > Development, I see options for 'Time Profile Active Application', 'Time Profile App Under Mouse', and 'Time Profile Entire System'.

What do these things do?

I've searched Google for "Time Profile" and "Time Profile Active Application", but no results show for that. Well, the later shows 4 total results on the interwebs, which none are useful in explaining what the program is.

I'm on MacBook Pro Mojave. I happened to find these options when I was adding the Finder right-click option for 'New Terminal At Folder'. After enabling all of them, I didn't see any new options related to 'Time Profile', but I do see the Terminal option.

They're shortcuts for developers to start time profiling an app using Instruments, which is a developer tool that's installed alongside Xcode. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instruments_(software)


What is the use of Background App Refresh? I never realised any advantage of having that feature turned on, nor turned off.

How can educate myself about what it does so that I can choose whether to turn it on or off either for the entire system or for specific applications?

Some apps like Facebook keep getting new feed posts in the background when you are not using the app. This gives the impression when you launch the app that it is really fast and everything is already there and your main UI isn't filled with blank spots for image placeholders and things of that sort.

The biggest impact I've seen on it is that is uses a TON of cellular data when my wife checks her Facebook on lunch break, then it keeps refreshing for the next 4 hours until she gets home to wifi.

I try to turn off background app refresh for most apps. A good hypothetical use for it would be some app that tracks tour mileage and plots it on a map. You may be on a long trip and you don't need to be looking at a phone while driving, so this would be a good use for background app refresh so the app can continue to measure your distance even when you have your phone locked or are on the phone itself.


Why does iOS remove aps from folders upon update? Has anyone else seen the issue where apps are removed from their folders when you do a mass update from the App Store? I've seen it with my iPhone 4 and my original iPad. It only seems to happen when it's the most inconvenient lol...like updating 20+ apps at once. I don't think it's a jailbreak issue; I don't even have Winterboard installed on either device.

I just wanna know if anyone else has seen this behavior, or knows why it happens.

Thanks!

I've seen similar issues on both my iPad and iPhone, so it is possible they may be in some way related, though my problem can occur with one app update or many.

I run into apps jumping out of their folders most when one app in particular has problems downloading or installing. (For example, I will often see an app in a perpetually installing state.) The only way to fix this reliably is to Respring or reboot, and that's when my apps jump out of their folders.

I'm not sure it has anything to do with being jailbroken, because I have seen similar behavior on my iDevices when I couldn't jailbreak them (though not as often). I suspect when an install or download goes awry and Springboard is restarted, it simply resets things on that app and treats it like a new install (which would explain why mine always end up after all the other icons and never intermixed).

A similar phenomenon is purely jailbreak related. If you have folder enhancers on your device (say, Infinifolder), and your device has to go to Safe Mode (or something else freaky happens), iOS puts the apps into a very funny order, and often out of folders. I think this is because the folder enhancers don't quite correctly keep iOS's own map of where things are up-to-date (and can't in some cases, especially if you have a folder in a folder or more than 12 or so apps in a folder), and iOS has to figure out somewhere to put them.

Definitely weird, odd, and even annoying (especially when all your apps jump folders and your well-ordered screens have to be rebuilt. sigh.)


Can iOS receive gmail's instant (within several seconds) push notification for email? I want the ability to send an email to an iOS users iPad's POP account and have them instantly recieve a notification.

For example, on my Android devices, since gmail is built into the system, if anyone emails my gmail address, I get a notification about 1 second after they hit send on their end.  If its a pop account, then I have to wait until the next pull, every 15, 30, etc minutes (whatever the user has it set to).

Can iOS receive the gmail type instant notifications? And if so, how does the email account or notifications settings need to be set up?

You cannot have Push notifications for a POP3 email account. The only supported mail accounts for push email notifications are iCloud/MobileMe and Exchange with ActiveSync support.


Can Apple Remote Desktop control the current session without turning on the screen? Sometimes I leave work open on my iMac and need to use Screen Sharing from my Macbook to make a few changes. This works great except when my wife and baby are sleeping in that bedroom.

I understand that using Apple Remote Desktop it's possible to open a session as a different user with a 'virtual display', showing nothing on the hardware display and (I assume) not waking it if asleep.

That's almost what I want, except that I want to control the existing logged-in session. If it weren't an iMac I could just physically turn the monitor off when I leave.

Can Apple Remote Desktop control the existing session without turning the screen on? If not, is there another tool that can?

It does in fact wake the screen, even in Curtain [privacy] mode.

It initially shows the regular login screen, then hides that & leaves it mainly black but with a large lock symbol & a tag as to who locked it.
After you log off it briefly shows the login screen again then switches off.


"To continue using iCloud, confirm your new Mac password" keeps crashing I recently changed my Mac password, and a System Preferences notification comes up, asking me to "confirm Mac password to continue using iCloud":

However, when I click Continue, all that happens is a dropdown appears asking me to continue, then when I continue, nothing happens. I have no idea why this is happening, does anyone have any feedback?

Try signing out of iCloud and then signing back in again.


Recommendation for genealogy software for OS X? I primarily work with gedcom files for my genealogy. What software is available for the mac which allows me to view and edit gedcom genealogy files?

If there are several options, I'd like one that interfaces with ancestry.com and/or other similar sites so I don't have to quite as much work managing searches and downloads of gedcom files.

Icing on the cake would include apps that have ipad counterparts so I can take it on the go for at least viewing, and hopefully editing.

I'm fine with apps that have their own database or file format as long as they import and export gedcom as well.

I haven’t found one that interfaces with the website you mentioned, but here’s a good overview of genealogy software for OS X: http://www.macgenealogy.org/mac-genealogy-software/

MacFamilyTree 6 is actively developed (it was just updated a few days ago), is fully GEDCOM-compatible, and it has an iOS version too!

It doesn’t export to ancestry.com but it can interface with a custom-built website called MacFamilyTree.com.


When running a virtualized operating system on my Mac, is it important to have anti virus software? Just curious if it is important to have anti virus for a virtualized operating system I got to thinking, that operating system is actively connecting to the Internet, so I thought maybe it had vulnerabilities.

If you are virtualizing a version of Windows, I would recommend you do use anti-virus software. Although Windows is running in a VM, it still is Windows and is vulnerable to viruses. A good choice of anti-virus software for Windows is Microsoft Security Essentials, which is free from Microsoft. (Note that: "Your PC must run genuine Windows to install Microsoft Security Essentials.")

If you are virtualizing a Linux distro, there is malware for Linux, so I would recommend anti-virus as well. There are several listed on the Linux malware Wikipedia page, including Avast! (Free) and AVG (Free).


Changing the default keyboard shortcuts in iTerm2 In iTerm2, ⌘W will close the current shell. In Vim, Ctrl W, by default, sets you up for a window command (e.g., Ctrl Wh moves to the window on the left, etc.)

I am new to using a Mac and haven't got completely used to the Command key, yet. As such, I am regularly closing my terminal session accidentally. (Fortunately, I'm running tmux, so my session is preserved, but it's nonetheless getting pretty annoying!)

Is there a way to change keyboard shortcuts in iTerm2? I realise it's probably unlikely and easier to change the Vim keybindings, but I don't want to change what I'm used to.

Just tested this in Yosemite. If you re-map the keyboard shortcut for "Close" in the System > Keyboard > Shortcuts, then that changes the ⌘+W behavior.

See:


Do I need to make my Windows 8 install disk bootable when using boot camp? I have the Windows 8 consumer preview .iso which I plan to copy to a DVD to use with Boot Camp. Though my question is - when I burn the image to the disk, will I need to make the disk bootable to use it to install Windows?

Burn it with Disk Utility by adding ISO file to left pane, then choose it and press Burn on a toolbar. And that is it.


Disable display mirroring for every possible future display Is there some 'defaults write' or other trick to tell OS X to never mirror displays? (Unless they're at least as good resolution as the retina display.)

I thought I had display mirroring disabled completely just from the 'displays' options. Every time I used one of the extra displays (projectors, TV) I regularly use, I got a them as additional displays, not mirrored. But today, giving a presentation, I attached another new projector, and it was mirrored. The horror! My desktop was left after that like my house would be after a robbery. I hate mirroring, because it squeezes the retina display into 640x480, and I have to rearrange all the windows back into reasonable sizes afterwards.

Sorry, no - there's no such option on current macOS versions.

You can submit a radar with a feature suggestion at:

https://bugreport.apple.com/

However I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. It is probably not one of the most requested features right now, although I think it would be very useful for me as well.


Macbook Pro won't display external monitor when lid is closed I hate that I'm having to ask this, because it's been working perfectly fine until now. I use my macbook pro as my home computer and hook it up to an external monitor and keyboard when I'm home. I do disconnect it on occasion. I unplugged it today and when I went to plug it back in and shut the lid, my monitor is saying "no connection." The monitor works fine with the lid open, but I used to be able to close it no problem.

Help!!

I faced the same issue few days back after being able to successfully close the laptop lid with my external monitor connected all the while. For me it started working back after connecting the power cord to the laptop. Without power, laptop does not seem to mirror the display to the external monitor with the lid closed. hope this helps.


Textedit file missing, How to recover? I have been working on my scenario for a week on textedit, and this morning while I was making correction my file disappeared, while the other textedit files that were open remained on-screen.

I can't find the file anymore. I have tried the library autosave and there was nothing. When I looked in /private/var/folders there are files that correspond to the time this error happened, but they are forbidden from access.

How can I get my textedit file back?

If it's not in Open Recent under the File menu, it's gone.


Is there a way to share photos from one iTunes account with another? I would like to share my photos that I have in my iTunes/iCloud account with another account. Ideally, I would like to be able to have anything that is in my photostream to be automatically sent to another iTunes account or that account's photostream.

Is there any way to do this? If not, can someone recommend a good way to automatically share my photos with other accounts?

Is there an application that I should consider to make this happen to iPhones and iPads linked to 2 different iTunes accounts?

You can setup your iPhoto to accept your incoming photo stream, then create a smart folder that automatically includes the contents of it, and subsequently sync's it to a 3rd party service such as Flickr, or Facebook etc.  This will allow you to share the photo stream with anyone that can access those services.  It's not wholly automated, and required you to have iPhoto running, but it may suffice.


Unsetting a Chrome Policy So I used defaults write com.google.Chrome AllowDeletingBrowserHistory -bool yes thinking it would set a mandatory policy for the global (machine) level, but it turns out I was wrong and it set a recommended policy. How do I revert that recommended policy back to an unset policy so it doesn't show as set to any value by Google Chrome? I tried a complete uninstall of Chrome by deleting the app and going to ~/Library/Application Support/Google and deleting the whole Chrome folder and then reinstalling Google Chrome but the policy is still present and shows as set. Any help is appreciated and thanks for your help in advance.

I tried:

defaults write com.google.Chrome AllowDeletingBrowserHistory -bool no(only sets to false)

defaults write com.google.Chrome AllowDeletingBrowserHistory -bool 0 (still false)

defaults write com.google.Chrome AllowDeletingBrowserHistory -bool(syntax of command error)

defaults write com.google.Chrome AllowDeletingBrowserHistory -bool null(syntax of command error)

Quit Chrome, open Terminal and enter following (press Return at the end)

defaults delete com.google.Chrome AllowDeletingBrowserHistory

Then start Chrome again.

See man defaults for details about the defaults command and its options.


Reassign CTL + Backspace on External Keyboard? I have an external Apple Keyboard. I am used to using FN + DELETE to invoke Backspace on my laptop, but this keyboard does not have the Function Key in the same location.

There in an actual Backspace button on this keyboard, but my instinct now is to hit FN + Delete.

I've been looking at the Keyboard Shortcuts in the Settings Application, but it is not letting me set a Backspace combo, and/or it is not letting me set a CTRL + DELETE combo.

I have also looked at "Modifier Keys" in Keyboard Settings, but that does not provide access to the Function key.

Any ideas how I can set this up?

Running El Capitan.

The Karabiner application is a good way to re-assign specific keyboard shortcuts like this, with a huge number of built-in customisations you can enable individually.

I believe the one you are asking for is supported, under the grouping "Change Delete Key", listed as "Control+Delete to Forward Delete".


What did 3rd Party Accessories sell for on Black Friday last year (2011) at the Apple Store? Not sure if this was the appropriate place to ask, but it is Apple related so here we go:

This is Apple's 2nd year of doing Black Friday sales, does anyone have any information on what 3rd party accessories were discounted by last year during the sales? I have a few things I'd like to get, but if the discount isn't too great or non-existant it might not be worth fighting the crowds for.

I'm aware that the iPhones / Macs were discounted for < $100.

Go now and buy what you want would be my advice. If it subsequently goes on sale, go and ask for a price adjustment on Friday. (Don't wait till Saturday to ask, though)

Apple's return policy is quite consumer friendly, so you could always not open things if you are on the fence and exchange or even return it until after the New Year due to the extended holiday season return policy.

Even if I had a list of things on sale - each store has different stock, different models so guessing which items will be in stock at your store will be hit or miss.

Also - Apple's announcement states that you can start shopping online at Midnight, so you can make your go/no-go decision well before the stores open on Friday. I would get the Apple Store app installed on your iOS device so you can shop, pay and not wait in line for items that they don't have stashed at the "rapid sales" line where many popular items are stocked in large quantities to minimize the delay of getting your item from the stockroom or finding someone free to sell you your new loot.


How can I reset AirPort Express to factory defaults? I tried the, press reset and power it down without success. All I got was to make it do yellow blinking. If I release the reset the blinking slops, anyways it stops even without releasing the button after 30 seconds.

The problem is that AirPort utility is not able to detect it and no Wireless is started.

What else should I try to reset this white brick?

I believe the full procedure is

Unplug the unit
Press and hold reset (e.g. with paper clip)
Plug the unit back into power outlet (while pressing reset)
Wait for rapid green flashing
Release reset button

From your description, it's not clear how you were managing the AC power


How can I make/receive Google Voice calls in Mountain Lion? I use Google Voice as my main line now adays. However, having to leave Google Chrome open and logged into Gmail is getting in my way...

I was wondering if anyone has a way to get these calls to go to a VOIP app that is installed on the computer. Does such software exist?

The telephone app in the app store is a great one to use, i'm using it in mountain lion and it works perfectly, was by far the easiest softphone I've ever set up. http://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/telephone/id406825478?mt=12


Google Authenticator after an iphone motherboard replacement A little while back my iPhone X started having motherboard issues and was unable to be booted up.
I was using Google Authenticator to store many accounts, some of which may be impossible to get to without those codes.
From what I understand Google Authenticator is tied to your hardware, and as a result when I restored my icloud backup to a new phone, the Google Authenticator keys are lost.
This leaves me no choice but to try to get the old iPhone working so I can safely restore an iCloud backup to it and have the google authenticator codes appear again. If it’s the same phone this will work fine.
The question is:
If the phones motherboard is replaced, does that effectively change the hardware so much that google authenticator won’t recognize it as being the same phone?

Google Authenticator stores your accounts in the iOS Keychain. There's nothing special about the way this is done - it is the same as with other apps on the iPhone.
When you restore an unencrypted backup, these types of Keychain entries are not included in the backup - and thus cannot be restored. It does not matter if it is restored to the same "motherboard".
If you instead make an encrypted backup (including iCloud backup) and restore from that, your Keychain entries will be restored - and thus your Google Authenticator accounts.
This is entirely intentional from Google, and they have set up the app exactly to do this. If it weren't setup that way, your accounts could be compromised without having the "second factor protection".
The mechanism through which the backup is “linked” to the actual device is entirely implemented by Apple - there’s nothing Google Authenticator-specific about it. The data is encrypted using the Secure Enclave’s unique is as part of the encryption key. The Secure Enclave is a special component of the processor on the iPhone that allows, amongst other things, encryption/decryption of data based on a unique ID that cannot leave the Secure Enclave.
This means that it is not possible to just read out the unique id to perform the decryption somewhere else. In practice this means that the data can only be restored on that physical device (I.e. the device having the same Secure Enclave as when the backup was made).
I know it is too late for you now, but when setting up 2FA accounts, you really want to set up at least 2 devices, so that you have a backup device in case one is lost for any reason.
If the services you use do not support having multiple 2FA codes, I would suggest instead using a different Authenticator app that allow syncing the secret behind the 2FA code between devices. The free Authy app from Twilio is a very popular choice.


iPhone's power button doesn't lock, shows Swipe to Power Off instead My iPhone SE, running iOS 12.4 reached its lower battery limits and went dead. I, foolishly pressed power button and then it stayed in an Apple Logo screen → power off → Apple Logo, loop for a while till I could get hold of the charger. After plugging in and letting it get some power, I observed the following:

It vibrated 3-4 times as if I removed and plugged in the power again which I didn't.
Pressing the power button once shows the Swipe To Power Off screen after a second or so. Doing it twice gives the same result.
To be able to lock it, I use the assistive touch method but that works only when I tap the Lock Screen  icon twice.

How can I get my power button to start locking the screen again ?

Is there anything else I can do except connecting the charger, if it goes dead again, to power it up ?

I bought it 2.5 years ago, and don't have AppleCare. Its battery capacity is 94%.

The button seems to have fixed itself. I used assistive touch to lock it

Locking an iPhone if button is broken?

and kept checking if power button is working or not. Often it shows the swipe to power off screen, but that's okay. Somehow battery capacity became 84%.


Require a Password When Woken From Sleep Only When Specifically Requested? I want to create one hotkey that puts my monitor to sleep without requiring a password to wake it, and another hotkey that puts my monitor to sleep which does require a password to wake it.

I'll be using BetterTouchTool to create the hotkeys - but how do I create one that requires a password and another that doesn't?  Bonus points if I can do this using Applescript since I already have a BTT/Applescript hotkey for when I'm leaving the house which turns off my Hue lights, mutes my Mac and puts my monitor to sleep.

I realize I can go into system prefs > security & privacy and select "require password immediately after sleep or screen saver" but that would mean I'd have to enter my password every time I put my monitor to sleep, which is what I don't want.

The following assumes you have/use a Login password:

do shell script "/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu\\ Extras/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession -suspend"

This can be used in AppleScript to invoke the Login window, which will not close whatever you currently have open and as such when you log back in, your Desktop is as you left it.

This way you can have the "Require password ... after sleep or screen saver begins" check box in Security & Privacy's General tab unchecked but still not let someone have immediate access after you walk away, having invoked the Login window.


OS X Lion, Safari: could not turn off antialiasing I had the antialiasing disabled in Safari (5.0?) in Snow Leopard, by setting

defaults write com.apple.Safari AppleAntiAliasingThreshold -int 200

Now I have OS X Lion with Safari 5.1, and that option does not work anymore. How should I disable antialiasing in Safari 5.1?

It looks like the code to handle that was stripped out finally in May, 2011. It conflicted with the new way of drawing and it's not clear if we can influence the threshold in the same way.

It might be best to ask / file a bug against WebKit which drives Safari's rendering.

To me, the new code works so much better, I don't need the speedup or the control.

See http://www.ichemlabs.com/618 for details, but here is the nice chemical rendering that shows the differences between the old and new default behavior. Full size, it's impressive how much better the rendering is at the same (or better) rendering speed.


Internal keyboard QWERTY; External Keyboard Dvorak Is there a way to configure a MacBook Air running Lion (10.7.1) to recognize the internal keyboard as QWERTY, but to attach an external keyboard configured to use the Dvorak configuration?

No, only a single keyboard layout can be active at one time and it will apply to all keyboards.  But switching layouts is very simple:  Apple/Command + space.  Or you can no doubt make it even simpler if you want.

Update 2016:  It's possible now to do this with Karabiner, as described at

Different key-maps/bindings for in-built keyboard and Bluetooth keyboard


How to configure macOS Server 5.11 for CI with XCode? I have a question. I bought macOS Server from the App Store. I want to achieve this basically:
https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/IDEs/Conceptual/xcode_guide-continuous_integration/
However, when I open Server, then on the left it is supposed to show XCode under Services, but it isn't.
I have posed my main question here:
https://serverfault.com/questions/1060038/how-to-let-osx-server-show-xcode-as-a-service
This is the main problem, but there seem to be a number of subproblems:

How to configure my router? (which ports should be forwarded?)
In XCode I enabled the Server under XCode > XCode Server ... (with the slider at the top right). I created the extra non-admin account on my Mac and permitted "node" through the firewall. Do I need to add a (non-guest) Server Account under Accounts in XCode?
In XCode, clicking Product > Create Bot ..., gives an alert: "Creating a bot requires that the project be under source control that is accessible by the server." Note: I put this project in the additional XCode Server logged in user account's shared folder, so I don't know why it wouldn't have access to it? What else/what is the default or best location for repo's and how can I set the location?
In macOS Server itself, how do I configure it? Under Julius's iMac Pro > Settings, ticking '[] Secure shell connections (SSH)' works, when I forward port 22 on the router and allow SSH in the macOS app firewall: I can SSH in over the internet (using my external IP). I haven't ticked the other two boxes. Under Julius's's iMac Pro > Overview the button Reachability Details... goves No available services (again, this is the main problem I think). I set Julius's's iMac Pro > Access to fairly restricted settings (only me, only this Mac), here it says: "macOS Application Firewall is enabled. Network access may be affected." However, I don't know how it may be affected, I can't add XCode here.

The article you linked is out of date. Xcode Server is now integrated directly into Xcode and OS X Server (now "macOS Server") is no longer required.
Here's an up-to-date tutorial on getting started with Xcode Server:
https://www.raywenderlich.com/12258400-xcode-server-for-ios-getting-started
I don't think you want to expose your Xcode Server to the internet, so you best use a VPN.


Can't sync calendars with iCloud I tried to enable Calendar sync at Settings > iCloud > Calendar and a message says "Activating Calendar sync" but it ends up in Home screen with no changes. When I go again to iCloud setting I see Calendar option is not enabled.

Another problem I found is that I can not invite other people to appointments. It seems iCloud is not working for my Calendar.

How can I enable iCloud Calendar syncing?

Try removing the iCloud account from your iPhone, and then adding it back. This has solved a number of my own iCloud-related issues in the past.


How can I rename items in the Finder "Places" Sidebar? In the Finder sidebar (and in Pathfinder's sidebar too), there is a Places area where you can add your own shortcuts.

Where are these actually kept on the Mac. I checked $HOME/Library but couldn't find anything. I want to see if I can change some of the names there. I have several shortcuts to mount Windows C$ shares over there, and I want to see if I can rename them to something a bit more meaningful than just C$. It's a little confusing when you have about a 1/2 dozen shortcuts all with the same name.

Finder doesn't seem to let you rename them.

They live in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist.  The "Places" area corresponds to the useritems key.  If you have XCode (any version) installed you can use the Property List Editor to read and edit that file; otherwise you'll need to use plutil to convert it to XML and back.

I don't know if you can safely rename the entries in that file; they clearly have aliases defined which point back to the originals, but I don't know if the name is ever used for anything other than display or if the Finder will become confused when the alias and name don't match.  Copy the existing one to a backup before playing with it.  You may also need to restart the Finder after editing it or copying the backup back into place:  Option+right click the Finder icon in the Dock and select "Relaunch".