Why a downloaded app can read/write to ~/Downloads/ without requiring the privacy allow permission in Big Sur? In MacOS Big Sur, I figured out an app (downloaded from internet) normally can not access ~/Downloads/, ~/Documents/, ~/Desktop/ folders directly. When it tries to access those folders at the first time, there will be a popup window to ask for permission and the permission can be setup in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Files and Folders.
Edited: It seems my bad description makes people confused (sorry about my English). I will put two screenshots here to clarify what I mean:

The above screenshot appears when the app iTerm2 tries to access ~/Downloads folder at the first time in Big Sur. (basically when I execute ls ~/Downloads/ commands in iTerm2)

The above screenshot is where I can change the folders privacy setup.
But, today, I downloaded an app (it's a downloading tool) and installed it by dragging it to /Applications folder. (the same way I installed iTerm2) I tried to use that tool to download a file to ~/Downloads folder and the file can be downloaded and written to ~/Downloads folder directly without any permission requirement. It can also display/read all the files in the ~/Downloads folder. I checked the Privacy setup in System Preferences and it does NOT have that app setup too.
I am very confused how can that app read/write the file to ~/Downloads without requiring a privacy permission on the protected folder. I thought those protected folders were protected and were not allowed to be read/write before granting privacy permission. But I was wrong.
(Note that, later I found out Google Chrome App can read/write those protected folders too without asking this privacy permission. File > Open File > Choose any files inside the three protected folders)
PS1: I haven't mentioned the "downloading tool app" name here because that is a non-English app. If anyone consider I should give the name to get a better help, just let me know. Thanks.
PS2: This is a fresh install of MacOS Big Sur. (Not a upgraded system)
PS3: The "downloading tool app" is a GUI app. (NOT a CML app).
PS4: I just find out the Google Chrome.app downloaded from https://chrome.google.com can write to (save file to) ~/Downloads/ folder directly without requiring any privacy permission too. This is weird. Why does iTerm, Code and VLC require privacy permission to do any read/write to those protected folders but google chrome does NOT need to require anything.

I’m not sure I fully follow all the PS, but when you download the tool in the first place and execute or move the file, you are granting entitlements for the download folder and clearing the quarantine flags on the app signaling that the app can run.
Apple designed this to warn people when they didn’t intentionally run an app so the friction is for unintentional downloads is how I interpret why Apple designed it thusly.
You may need a session with someone to pick apart every step and evaluate each program closely to get a specific answer, but generally downloaded apps behave differently than ones the App Store installs with respect to sandbox and entitlement warnings.


the max number of icloud accounts you can set up on iphone 5 I recently had my iPhone stolen, it was recovered but both of my apple ids were altered and I can not use them.  the person who stole the phone must have set up one or more accounts because when setting up new account it error messaged maximum number of free accounts activated.  What is the maximum number of free accounts on iPhone 5?

I have new phone and would like to know the maximum allowed..

I'd have tried a bit harder to get my original IDs back - as everything you bought with them is currently in the hands of someone else.

Contact Apple.

The answer to your question is 3, but that's not the point. Apple can override that if you can persuade them.


Hide Adium (or any other app's) icon in the dock I find it really annoying how the Adium icon is always at the dock being useless:

because to open the contact list, you can just use the status bar item, (the dock icon is just a waste of space according to me):

So is there any way to remove the dock icon of Adium (or preferably any app) and only keep the status bar item (fully functional)?

This may seem like a duplicate of Hide an application's dock icon but that answer hides the status bar item as well, after that nobody answered. Have any new techniques surfaced since 2011?

I would rather have a technique without another app, but if thats the only option then that'll have to do...

I achieved this with a simple Terminal command:

defaults write /Applications/Adium.app/Contents/Info.plist LSUIElement true

Per defaults(1), "Defaults allows users to read, write, and delete Mac OS X user defaults from a command-line shell." So this is actually doing the same thing as the other answers here, but without manually editing the plist file, which makes it much safer, not to mention easier (and scriptable).


How to downgrade an iOS app for iPod touch? Is it possible to downgrade an app from a newer version to an older version without having a copy of the older verion.

I guess this could also be rephrased to, 'is it possible to download an older version of an app from the AppStore after the new version has been released'

If you have Time machine enabled or you don't empty your trash very often you're in luck. You can go into Time machine and simply roll back to an older version of the app in Finder. Then if you uninstall and reinstall the app from iTunes you'll get the older version. Apps are stored by default in /Users/YOURUSERNAME/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Mobile Applications if I'm not mistaken. Just find the older version in your trash or hit Time machine once you get to that directory and roll right on back.


How do I send a Ctrl+Alt+Delete when connected from the Screen Sharing app to a Windows computer? When using Apple's Screen Sharing application to connect to a Windows computer that is running VNC, how do I send a Ctrl+Alt+Delete to the Windows computer?  I've tried a number of key sequences and none of them are working.

After some searching, I found the answer.  On the mac keyboard, you have to press

Ctrl + Option (Alt) + Command + Delete

ctrl+option (alt)+command ⌘+delete ⌦


In Applescript, how do I launch Safari "Silently" open url then close the unseen Safari window I am new to Applescript and MACs although my first computer was an Apple II Plus and I programed in Apple Basic and Assembly.

I am using it to create a "Silent" alarm button.

We have a system in place that via a URL call will send a message to a select group of computers, in this case the ones used by our security officers.

I wrote a similar one for PCs using the AutoIT scripting language. When some one clicks on this program, as far as anyone watching the screen is concerned, nothing happens. It is 100% silent. But unseen by anyone looking at the PC screen, IE was launched minimized and hidden, a custom URL string, with an embedded message, is opened and then IE is closed. The security officers computers get a message from the message system, Informacast, and  security responds accordingly. At no time is anyone watching the PC screen aware that anything has happened. It is all "Silent". Just like a silent alarm in a bank.

My MAC version, written in Applescript is working well except that the call to Safari can be seen on the screen when it takes place. It is only there for a few seconds as the URL is loaded, and then the Safari window is closed, but that few seconds is a few seconds to much and anyone watching the screen will know something happened when the alarm was pressed. I need to prevent anything from showing when Safari is launched. I need to make it "Silent".

The part of the script that opens Safari and loads the URL is shown below...

tell application "Safari"
launch
open location AlertURLString (This is the variable that has the URL and embedded message in it)
delay 1
close window 1
end tell

I have tried placing the following line in "Tell" routine in various places, before "launch" after "launch" before "open location" and after etc., but I still see a blip of the Safari window as it loads the URL string.

set miniaturized of window 1 to true

I also played around with variations of the following line but got an Applescript error every time.

tell application "System Events" to set process "Safari" to false

One more thing, it is possible that Safari or some other program could be open, maybe not full screen etc when this script is run and it is important that it not be closed or changed in any way that would clue some one in to the fact that something was happening on the system after the "Alert Button" is pressed. The "set miniaturized" line depending on how it was used would minimize the window which of course we don't want.

Again what I need is to be able to launch the URL 10000% silently.

Thanks in advance to all who are able to try and help,

Ralph

You won't be able to do it in AppleScript : Safari only does something on open windows.

You should definitely look at Command line scripts like curl.

The AppleScript to call a shell command takes the form:

set variableName to do shell script "command"

So using your AlertURLString you'd want something like:

set curlOutput to do shell script "curl '" & AlertURLString & "'"

See the curl man page for more details on how to use curl to do things like POST and PUT calls or attach payloads to the calls and what not. It is incredibly powerful.


fast forward a video with keyboard I have tried ⌥+→ and ⌘+→, but no luck. Instead iTunes jumps to the next video podcast.

Is there a way to fast forward ?


To deal with superfluous carriage returns in TextEdit I want to let TextEdit never save <CR>, the carriage return.

Different operating systems save end-of-line as different Unicode characters.
For MS DOS (like Windows) it is <CR><LF>, and for Unix and Mac <LF>, and for the very old Mac OS 9 just <CR>.
Here <CR> is the carriage return, and <LF> the line feed.

When sometimes I paste, into TextEdit, several paragraphs from a Windows-created file, for example pdf or doc/docx, <CR>'s are also copied.
TextEdit does not fully conform with Unix standards, in that it does accept <CR><LF>'s, by showing them indeed as line breaks.
I cannot tell, then, whether a line break is Window-styled <CR><LF> or Unix-styled <LF>.

When I save my personal writings in pure text (txt) written in Markdown, I don't want these <CR>'s, but can neither see them, nor delete them in TextEdit.
It is when I open the text file in question with Vim, did I spot those <CR>'s shown as ^M.
Indeed, in Vim, it is easy to replace them with empty strings.

However, I too edit in TextEdit often.
Can I set TextEdit so that it never saves <CR>'s in a buffer of its?
That is, when I paste a <CR> in a buffer, the <CR> is ignored and not written.

I don't believe that TextEdit has such an option.  It happily accepts all line ending types (even intermixed within the same file) and displays them properly.

You would probably need to use a text editor where you have direct control over the line endings and text encoding type when saving the file.  BBEdit is a great text editor that has such controls.

Another option is to convert the file with a utility like dos2unix.  The website doesn't offer a macOS binary download so you would need to either compile it yourself or install a package manager like Homebrew first then install the dos2unix package with brew install dos2unix. For an easy solution you can just run perl -pi -e 's/\r\n/\n/;' FILE.TXT as well.


Is there any way (software) to defrag NTFS on Mac? I have a lot of external hard disk drives, mainly formatted in NTFS since I have both Windows and Mac. I know iDefrag, but it only works with HFS hard drives and I was wondering if there are any utilities to defrag NTFS drives.

In short, no, I don't know of a way to do this other than booting into Windows.

That being said, a few things:

Why do you feel that the drive needs to be defragmented? Modern NTFS does a fairly decent job of preventing itself from getting too fragmented, at least when running under Windows 7+.
If you're sharing these disks with Windows machines, any reason you can't defrag when connected to those platforms?
The NTFS implementation on OSX has never really been extremely robust. While I'm not sure if the reason is solely due to how to handle ACLs (file permissions), it is worth pointing out that NTFS write capability isn't enabled by default.
If your primary machine is OSX, then you're probably best served using HFS+ as your file system. NTFS should be "SneakerNet" with the implication that it probably spends a significant amount of its time on a Windows machine anyway.

Probably #3 is the strongest point here, but at least this list is worth some thought?


MacOS Catalina change word delimiter language region setting I would like dash (-) to be considered a letter so if I double-click on
1d18830d-0250-ee03-0c48-6ff9d89dfcff
the entire string is selected and not just one segment.
It seems you used to be able to select a English Language region:
United States (Computer)
to get that behavior but I don't see that choice in preferences anymore.
Is there a way to add that region or copy the "United States" region and modify it for this?
I'm currently running Catalina, but if this changes in Big Sur, tips for it would be welcome too.
Thanks

To choose a region go to System Preferences and then to Language and Region. In Language and Region there is an option to select you region.  Mine was initially set to United States which is what I want.
You can try putting quotes around the name with dashes in it. and see if that works. or convert - to _ and use that.
I'm running Big Sur on an iMac.


Outlook 2011 for Mac "could not synchronize record"error I keep getting hundreds of these "Could not synchronize record: [...]" errors, but the meetings and emails refered to in the Errors panel do not exist - I deleted them, and confirmed that they are not in any folder, calendar, or anywhere.

They say error number: 19759

E.g.:

It turns out that these meetings were still on the hard drive.  I went to Finder, searched on the title of the meetings (which was in the Error message itself), and simply deleted the files in question.  They were kind of "grayed out", which led me to believe they were either owned by another user or had failed to get deleted correctly.


AppleScript app not responding force close I have a simple script:

caffeinate -di

that I saved as an app.  When I click on the app it runs the process and stays in the dock.  When I click on the Dock icon, it says "Application Not Responding" and the only way to terminate the process is to Force Quit.

Is there any way to write this script so that the normal "Quit" menu displays and I don't have to force quit it every time I want to stop it?

Any time an application does something like a execute a tight loop or perform a shell script that doesn't return, the user interface gets blocked because the app is not allowing the system time to process events.  In this case an NSTask can be used, since it runs in the background, and the application is just used to start and stop it.

The following needs to be saved as a stay-open application - the shell script is launched and terminated with the app:

use AppleScript version "2.4" -- Yosemite (10.10) or later
use framework "Foundation"
use scripting additions

property task : missing value -- keep track of the NSTask

on run -- example
    tell current application's NSTask's alloc()'s init()
        set my task to it
        its setLaunchPath:"/bin/sh"
        its setArguments:{"-c", "/usr/bin/caffeinate -di"}
        tell it to |launch|()
    end tell
end run

on quit
    if task's isRunning then tell task to terminate()
    continue quit
end quit


Determining currently used NIC on CLI I do a lot of work on Virtual Machines, and have several scripts to help me configure them quickly. I could fully automate spinning up a headless VM, except that I need to know the IP of my host machine for configuring VNC stuff.

I use either of the following two commands to get the current IP address:

ipconfig getifaddr en1      # For IP address assigned to wireless
ipconfig getifaddr en0      # For IP address assigned to ethernet

The problem is that I have to tell my script whether to use en0 or en1. I use wireless at home and ethernet at work, so I can't make an assumption.

I could use:

ifconfig | grep '192'

and parse the resulting line (both work and home assign class C addresses), but I'd rather not have to do that.

Is there a way to determine which NIC is currently connected to the network from the command line? Or at least a better way of determining the host IP?

My machine uses Mountain Lion, if that's relevant.

I would think your problem is determining "service order." The basic magic you see happen in the System Preferences > Network where the highest ranking connected service sorts to the top.

This Mac OS Hints article discusses a similar problem and solution.


How to disable the now default "ambient noise reduction" in macOS Catalina? In macOS Catalina, ambient noise reduction is applied by default to audio of an external source coming in through the headphone jack. This is not always desired, e.g. when recording musical instruments. In previous versions of macOS, noise reduction could be disabled via System Preferences. However, this option is not present in Catalina. This thread proposes downgrading to Mojave as a solution to the problem (which it is), though this is not desirable for me as I need Catalina for other reasons.
As mentioned in the thread, Apple's audio documentation specifies that ambient noise reduction is disabled if a 4-channel built-in microphone format is selected in Audio MIDI Setup. Unfortunately, my external audio source only supports 2 channels, so this option is unavailable in Audio MIDI Setup.
My guess is that the solution is any of the following:

Some terminal command to disable ambient noise reduction entirely.
Modifying some plist, e.g. in /Library/Preferences/Audio/.

However, I have not yet managed to find a solution, and would greatly appreciate it if anyone could think along. Thanks.

Sometimes the best solution... is a little patience! I have recently updated to MacOS Big Sur (11.0.1), and the checkbox to disable ambient noise reduction is available again in the sound input settings.
However, there is a caveat: the toggle is available only to a subset of devices. Please note the following, stated on Apple's website:

Capture less background noise when using your computer’s built-in
microphone: Select “Use ambient noise reduction”. This option does not
appear if a 4-channel built-in microphone format is selected in Audio
MIDI Setup or on Mac models with an Apple T2 chip.

Source: https://support.apple.com/en-ie/guide/mac-help/mchlp2567/mac


Does skipping "device enrollment" make files inaccesible to supervisor? Basically, I have a MacBook pro issued from work, I want to play some games so I have installed macOS X on external drive and boot from it. Now I get "device enrollment" notification every few hours and I always skip.

Does it make my files and traffic inaccessible to administrators? Or can they see whatever I am doing at a given moment on the device?

No, it doesn't mean that files, etc. are inaccessible to administrators as such.

When you have booted macOS from the external drive, and haven't enrolled, you're running the default software supplied by Apple alongside your own custom modifications.

However when you're booting from the built-in drive, you're running on an enrolled installation that potentially contains other configurations and software supplied by your employer.

If that software allows your employer to access external drives, then the file on your external drive are accessible by your employer. It is technically possible, but we cannot know whether or not your employer has installed such software.


How to find Google Calendar app on my MacBook after downloading with iTunes? I would like to download the Google Calendar app on my Mac.

I found Google Calendar in iTunes and clicked on Download. It looks like the app was downloaded, but I can't find it on my Mac.

Here is a screenshot of iTunes

How I can find this app on my MacBook?

App Store in iTunes is for iOS apps, i.e. iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

For Mac apps, you can download these from the Mac App Store: the App Store.app in the Applications folder. Mac apps can also be downloaded from anywhere else on the internet.

There is no Google Calendar app made by Google for macOS. You can use the built-in Calendar.app to access your Google Calendar. Is there a Google Calendar Mac Desktop App?


Cannot install OS X in recovery mode I want to reset my iMac (late 2014, 1 TB Fusion Drive) to factory settings. As I want to set it back to Yosemite, I am using Internet Recovery (Command-Option-R) as I have installed El Capitan in the meantime.

I was able to erase the HDD just fine in Recovery Mode Disk Utility, but now I am stuck.

The OS X install dialog shows no available drive:

In Disk Utility, the HDD and its partition settings look like this (all fields and buttons are grayed out, can't input anything)

First Aid Verify Disk doesn't show any anomalies either from what I can tell ("The volume ... appears to be OK").
First Aid Repair went through without issues, but that didn't change anything. Tried rebooting several times but that didn't help either. I also tried El Capitan Recovery mode (just holding Command-R without Option), it looks a bit different, but the overall result is the same.

In Disk Utility each drive is represented by one line with indented lines underneath them for each partition (or volume) on that drive.

From the screenshots you provided, you are using a drive constellation Apple calls a Fusion drive. It consists of an SSD and a regular hard drive logically bundled together.

Disk Utility detects the logical volume group of that constellation, which is named "Macintosh HD" and by default there is a partition underneath it with the same name.

For some reasons, this is not the case for you and I also see that the partition buttons are greyed out. So, my suggestion is to intentionally break the Fusion constellation apart and have Disk Utility fix it thereafter. Here is how:

Close Disk Utility
Open Terminal (menu "Utilities")
Type in diskutil coreStorage list and look for the UUID (you will need it in the next step)
Type in diskutil coreStorage delete lvgUUID|lvgName where lvgUUID|lvgName is the UUID you found before
Quit Terminal after the command finished
Open Disk Utility and follow the on-screen instructions to fix the "damaged" disk

After that, you will be able to install OS X again.


Rsync fails due to Sudo timeout I am trying to run a lengthy Rsync (local machine only, no ssh, no lan or wan connects involved) but Sudo is timing out and the script fails. Total runtime of the command is about 20 mins. What is the recommend way to either lengthen the Sudo timeout or disable Sudo from that particular command only? I am the admin of this system but do not log in as root.
Thank you in advance.

How are you actually invoking the script? If you run a script like sudo script.sh, all commands inside the script are run as superuser and you should never have it time out. If you're running a script that has sudo commands inside it, then it could ask for a password more than once if it takes too long between sudo commands. The sudo timeout only applies to new invocations of the sudo command. If your case is the latter, you do have the option of using the command sudo -v in your script which will extend the timeout by its default value (normally 5 minutes, but see below for how to change it), but if everything inside needs superuser permissions anyways, it makes more sense to invoke the entire script with sudo.

If you do want to change the sudo time out, you need to edit the sudoers file:

Bring up the sudoers file:

sudo visudo

Find the line that starts with:

Defaults    env_reset

Add a comma and the command timestamp_timeout=minutes to the end
(replace minutes with the number of minutes desired, 0 will always
ask for a password, a negative number will never time out -
dangerous):

Defaults    env_reset,timestamp_timeout=10

Save and close the file.


How to get all apps restored to an iPhone from a backup in iTunes? Just got new iPhone after backing up the previous iPhone I had. Set up the new phone as a "new phone" and then restored from iTunes backup. I found that many apps that I had on the old iPhone were not present on the new one now. (After a bunch of them sat there and said "waiting" right after I did the restore.) So there are a bunch of apps that are missing.

Then I went to iTunes and found some of the missing apps and clicked on "install" logical right?  Then I try to "apply" this and get the message "The app "Southwest" was not installed on the iPhone because the app could not be found". (And a bunch of other apps.)

Oddly this is the same exact problem I had when I upgraded my wife's phone too a couple weeks ago. Does anyone know how to fix this and also keep the apps on the same page and folder as they were before? I know already I can go to the App store and re-download the apps yes but major time suck and a lot of time to re-arrange the apps again like I had them organized before.

Is this a common problem?  It seems to keep happening to me. We just backup to the computer (not iCloud) since we would easily blow out the iCloud storage with the amount of data on the iPhones.

I would have a hard time believing that this is something I did wrong. I simply run the backup and expect the backup should work.

In order for itunes to restore your apps, the app must be in your iTunes library. It sounds like they are not. Which means iTunes can't restore them.


Mailto links on websites open iTerm instead of Mail In both Chrome and Safari mailto: links open up iTerm instead of Mail.

This seemed to have started happening right around the same time I added a shortcut through Settings > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts to use command+enter to Send in the Mail app.

But I have no idea if that has anything to do with this problem, or where else to even begin looking.

You can set the default Mail application, via Mail.app Preferences.

It is underneath the "General" settings, as "Default email reader".

Even if Mail.app appears to be already selected it might be worth a shot to select something else, then go back to Mail.app in order to clear the cobwebs.


Store attachments locally in Mail.app when using IMAP I'm reaching my quota on my IMAP account, one big space hog is email attachments.

Is there a way to tell mail.app that I want to "remove" certain emails from the server but keep them around locally?

My only other idea option is to forward them to a gmail-account and pop them back.

You will want to make a new mailbox with storage only on the Mac or use the Archive function in Mail to archive an entire folder/mailbox.

The built in help will guide you through the Archive path.

I just make folders "On My Mac" with the year, and then make Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 folders inside to keep each relatively small - you might only need one folder per year or one folder.

Once you move the message and are comfortable that it's on your mac with attachments intact, delete the original message from IMAP and your quotas will be happier.


How do I delete a file with a NULL byte in the filename? I made a file by accident with a filename of (NUL).xml, except instead of (NUL), it's literally '\0'. None of the methods I've tried have worked to actually delete it. Is there a way I can delete the file by an alternative reference?

Ok, so I cannot test this (for hopefully obvious reasons), but when filenames are your issue... use inodes!

First, in a directory, run ls -il (-i is show node numbers and -l is to make it a list):

2480878 -rw-r--r--  1 christopher  family  0 Mar  2 19:40 *a
2480889 -rw-r--r--  1 christopher  family  0 Mar  2 19:40 \\a
2480873 -rw-r--r--  1 christopher  family  0 Mar  2 19:39 a

In this example, I'm going to erase the file \\a, which is inode 2480889.

So I run find . -inum 2480889 -delete.

Hopefully this will work.


MacBook Pro (mid 2012) can't start with 3 alarms and sometimes can't wake from sleep I have a MacBook Pro (mid 2012) and I have changed the hard disk to a Crucial_CT250MX200SSD and changed the RAM to CRUCIAL CT8G3S160BM. My Operate System is OS X 10.11.4.

First, I found sometimes my Mac wouldn't wake after sleep and I have to force it to restart. Then after sometime, I found it even couldn't start: black screen with 3 alarms. Sometimes it could start after I tried again, but sometimes it wouldn't.

I have tried to change the RAM back to the original but the problem still appeared. The Genius Bar couldn't found the problem, neither.

This problem usually happened after I put it in my backpack and travel to a different place. So could it be caused by vibration? Actually, when it wouldn't start, pulling the RAM out and reinstalling it could help.

Does anyone have met similar problems? What may be the problem of my Mac? Thank you!!

edit (2017.1.26)

AHT results:

The first step would be to check out About Mac computer startup tones and identify which one of these startup tones is the one you're experiencing with your Mid-2012 MBP.

Near enough is not good enough! If your startup tone does not match exactly one of the ones listed, please comment back and say so and describe which one it is closest to and what the difference is. Unfortunately, not all of the possible startup tones are listed on that page, but identifying the correct tone helps narrow down your problem!

A possibility?

There was a common problem with some MBP models, but this predominantly affected 13" pre-2012 models. Regardless, there was an issue with logic boards not being able to address the RAM. In many cases it was caused by pressure, over time, on the bottom of the MBP which in turn placed pressure on the logic board.

You could test for this by applying some pressure on the bottom case as you start up or wake the computer. Place the pressure as follows: facing the bottom case, apply the pressure to the centre of the case, but slightly to the right (but not all the way).

If it's slight physical damage such as this, then you'd need a new logic board. However, you could try and manage the situation by always using the MBP on an even surface (such as on a desk). Also, transporting it in your backpack sounds like some sort of trigger, so you may want to pack it in well so that the bottom case is not being 'bumped' by other items in your backpack, as this may affect how well the RAM is sitting in the slots. Finally, you may want to handle your MBP carefully (e.g. don't pick it up / carry it with only one hand).

[UPDATE]

Now that we've established it's definitely an issue concerning your RAM in some way, we need to try and get to the bottom of what's causing it. Please be patient as troubleshooting is often a process of elimination and can take some time. The next step is to do a general test of your hardware.

Run Apple Hardware Test

Your model MBP uses Apple Hardware Test. To use this, follow these steps:

Shut down your MacBook Pro
Insert your original 2 x 2GB memory modules
Restart your MacBook Pro
Press and hold the D key before the gray startup screen appears
After a while, Apple Hardware Test (AHT) will start
When prompted, select your language and click the right arrow
When the AHT console appears, select the "Perform extended testing" checkbox and then click the Test button.
Your test results will appear in the window in the bottom-right of the console
Take a note of the results
Shut down your MacBook Pro
Now remove one of the 2GB memory modules and repeat steps 3 - 10
Now reinsert the 2GB memory module and remove the other one and repeat steps 3 - 10
Now remove the 2GB memory module and insert the 8GB model in the first memory slot and repeat steps 3 - 10
Now remove the 8GB memory module and insert it instead into the second memory slot and repeat steps 3 - 10
Now insert one of the original 2GB memory modules into the first memory slot and repeat steps 3 - 10

Note 1: These tests will take some time. At completion you should have run the Apple Hardware Test six times. Make sure you record the results clearly so you know what they were for each of the six memory configurations.

Note 2: If pressing and holding the D key at Step 4 doesn't work, start again at Step 3 and, at Step 4 press and hold both the OptionD keys instead. This will try and run Apple Hardware Test from the internet instead, so you will need to allow more time for it to complete.


What is the function of the power button on the Apple Wireless Keyboard? What does the power button on the Apple Wireless Keyboard do? When it is paired to a MacBook in clamshell mode, does pushing the power button put the MacBook to sleep, wake it up, or have some other effect? Is the power button strictly limited to turning on and off the keyboard itself?

The power button only powers ON/OFF the keyboard, it doesn’t power off the computer.

To power off your computer using the keyboard, you might want to use any of the following:

Reference:

⌘ (Command key) - On some Apple keyboards, this key also has an Apple logo ()
⌃ (Control key)
⌥ (Option key) - "Alt" may also appear on this key
⏏ (Eject)
⇧ (Shift)

⌃ Control + ⏏ Eject : Show shutdown dialog

⌥ Option + ⌘ Command + ⏏ Eject : Put the computer to sleep

⌃ Control + ⌘ Command + ⏏ Eject : Quit all applications (after giving you a chance to save changes to open documents), then restart the computer.

⌃ Control + ⌥ Option + ⌘ Command + ⏏ Eject : Quit all applications (after giving you a chance to save changes to open documents), then shut down the computer.

⇧ Shift + ⌃ Control + ⏏ Eject : Sleep the display, but not the computer.  (thanks to VxJasonxV)


Can a friend see how many times I have looked them up using Find My Friends I am sharing my location with some friends using Apple's Find My Friend service.

I am curious to know if they get to know how many times and when I have looked them up using Find My Friend?

As per @ Nimesh Neema answer https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/339887/46541

Your location is sent from your device only when someone requests to see it.

It means, if you request your friends location, your phone knows his number (you shared it) and will send a "Ping signal" to find it.

Once your friends phone receives the Ping request it will reply to you with the location data.

So theoretically YES, your friend could know you looked him up (Ping), if he has the tools and knowhow.

Some more technical stuff about it..
Officially, in an IP network, a ping is a network took that allows you to determine if a host is available on the network or not. It uses ICMP echo packets (https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc792) to do the deed.
When somebody says ping a mobile on the network, what he really implies is to determine if where (what cell it is connected to) that mobile is in the network. So, this can mean the mobile is trigger to do a forced location update (LU). The mobile then reports itself into the network with its latest information.


External SSD contains GBs of memory even after data is removed from it Just bought a new Samsung T7 SSD 1TB which I'm using for my MacBook Air. Before I stored anything on it, space was 1TB, after storing around some files of around 2GBs, things were okay. But once I removed those files from the SSD, it still occupies that 2GBs of space.
So, can anyone explain:-

Why these 2GBs of space was still showing even after the files were removed? Also, can we factory reset the device?

Also, the format it is using is ExFAT, does Mac uses it by default or it depends on the SSD?
The other ones are listed in the below screenshot:-

I am not sure if I completely understand what you're asking, but I'll try to answer your questions:

can we factory reset the device?

If you are talking about the SSD, then there is something like a factory reset. It is called formatting and you can do it in the disk-utility app (pre-installed on macOS)
You can follow Apple's guide or this guide. In short, I recommend formatting in MacOS Extended and using the GUID table, but I am no expert whatsoever.
This process will delete all files on the drive.

Also, the format it is using is ExFAT, does Mac uses it by default or
it depends on the SSD? The other ones are listed in the below
screenshot

ExFat is a format type. Formatting types are mentioned in the second article. In short, ExFat can be read from both windows and Mac, yet it doesn't always play nicely with Mac and may eventually lead to compatibility issues. Therefore, I would not recommend it, also because with compatability software like Paragon you can read MacOS Extended drives in Windows.


Mac runs same vm. Cannot exit I have inherited some Mac-based machine, but when I power it on - virtual machine with Windows XP starts. I cannot figure, how to exit this mode or restore Mac to factory defaults. I tried booting with pressing Fx keys, ⌘ Cmd+R and C.

Nothing works, and Windows XP is booting normally.

Hold down the Option key (⌥) when your Mac starts. That should take you to the startup selection screen. Hopefully it'll show you an icon for Windows and another icon for OSX.

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT1310

If it doesn't then you might need to install OSX from scratch. If your Mac is fairly recent you can do this from the Internet directly. Otherwise you'll need to source install media.

http://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT4718


Root password stopped working I used to be able to enable “root” user and log in under it.
(I know this is not recommended but let's just assume there is an actual reason for doing so.)

I just repeated the instructions, set another root password and logged out of my account.

However, logging in with root user and the password I typed doesn't seem to work.
The login screen just shakes as if the password is incorrect.

I already tried setting it to a different one, then to an empty string—nothing works.
What do I do now?

Assuming you have followed these instructions and still can't get it to let you in as root, I would recommend trying out the instructions in this support discussion to get it working.


You can't use Airport Utility without Airport Extreme? I want to use Airport Utility to settle wireless time limits, it seems that I can't use Airport Utility. Is it because you can use Airport Utility only with Apple hardware like
Airport Extreme?

Airport Utility is only for Apple's line of Airport wireless routers. This includes Airport Express, Airport Extreme, and Time Capsule. It does not support other routers.


Strange QuickLook Error I recently installed an SSD (m4 crucial latest firmware) with TRIM enabled on my late 2011 MBP 13". I did a clean install of Mountain Lion 10.8.1, enabled FileVault 2 and everything was working fine for about 2 weeks until Finder just started randomly killing itself every time I mounted a DMG or just launched some random app.

At the time I was getting this error:

com.apple.quicklook.satellite[205]: [QL] Using too much memory (308 MB), hit critical threshold (120 MB), exiting immediately to clean up.

Backed up all my files manually and did another clean install. Installed a few applications, re-enabled FileVault, waited 2 days, everything was running fine. Decided it was time to copy my files back over.

Whilst copying over Ethernet with Wifi enabled, I disabled the wifi, Finder hangs had to hard reset. On reboot the error was back:

12/09/2012 23:24:27.883 com.apple.quicklook.satellite[172]: [QL] Using too much memory (300 MB), hit critical threshold (120 MB), exiting immediately to clean up.
12/09/2012 23:24:29.883 com.apple.quicklook.satellite[172]: [QL] Using too much memory (616 MB), hit critical threshold (120 MB), exiting immediately to clean up.
12/09/2012 23:24:29.943 com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.apple.quicklook.satellite.DED6F2A5-B4D3-44C7-9EF6-86EF86AE217D[172]) Exited: Killed: 9
12/09/2012 23:24:29.943 com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.apple.quicklook.satellite.DED6F2A5-B4D3-44C7-9EF6-86EF86AE217D) Throttling respawn: Will start in 2 seconds
12/09/2012 23:24:33.509 awacsd[69]: Exiting
12/09/2012 23:24:35.559 com.apple.SecurityServer[15]: Session 100002 created
12/09/2012 23:24:36.108 com.apple.quicklook.satellite[205]: [QL] Using too much memory (308 MB), hit critical threshold (120 MB), exiting immediately to clean up.
12/09/2012 23:24:36.129 com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.apple.quicklook.satellite.DED6F2A5-B4D3-44C7-9EF6-86EF86AE217D[205]) Exited: Killed: 9
12/09/2012 23:24:39.824 com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.apple.coreservices.appleid.authentication[108]) Exit timeout elapsed (20 seconds). Killing<br>

I cannot find anything similar on Google and for the life of me cannot figure out what is wrong.

It's giving me the same error on every reboot and every 3-7 minutes. It's only matter of time I suspect before Finder starts going nuts. It's also worth mentioning that very few applications are installed at the moment.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Long story short, it turned out to be a 4.3mb CSV file on my desktop that quicklook had issue with. Deleted it and everything went back to normal... Strange.


Is there a way to automatically maximize a window when dragging it to an external monitor? I can do it with a shortcut, but looking for a fully automated way.

Does Mission Control or macOS allow this?

I use the app BetterSnapTool, which allows you to maximize windows by dragging them to the middle of the top of the screen, among other features.


Is it possible to detect the current power input on a MacBook? To the best of my knowledge, MacBooks will still charge if the power supply attached provides less wattage then the laptop was designed for. Is there a way to view the current power input, preferably a simple terminal command, or would that be impossible/always the same for some reason?
If relevant, I have a MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports), but would like a way that works on other models as well.

There is a straightforward way to determine instantaneous* battery charging current, assuming you have developer tools installed:
ioreg -rw0 -c AppleSmartBattery | grep -o -e '"ChargingCurrent"=[0-9]*'

The number is specified in milliamps.
However, this is not going to be the same as the current entering through your AC adapter (this is most apparent when the battery is fully charged, in which case the current will be 0), so it may not help you with what you're doing. I'm not aware of a place where that information gets published, although the PMU must certainly measure it.
Similarly, you can view the instantaneous* voltage of the battery, in millivolts, with
ioreg -rw0 -c AppleSmartBattery | grep -o -e '"Voltage" = [0-9]*'

which, when multiplied by the above current, will give you the power being delivered to the battery (in microwatts, so divide by a factor of 1,000,000 to get watts). But, again, it is not the same as the power being delivered by the AC adapter.
You can view more power-related parameters with
ioreg -rw0 -c AppleSmartBattery

Update:
I experimented on two systems – a T2-based MBP with Catalina and a non-T2-based MBP with Big Sur – and found that the former has the keys AdapterPower and SystemPower contained in the BatteryData dictionary property of AppleSmartBattery:
"BatteryData" = {"StateOfCharge"=98,"PMUConfigured"=0,"DesignCapacity"=8790,"QmaxCell1"=9017,"AdapterPower"=1101610469,"SystemPower"=1104635067,"ResScale"=244,"QmaxCell2"=9048,"QmaxCell0"=9082,"CycleCount"=69,"Voltage"=12503}

So this is a promising source for determining both the power being delivered by the AC adapter as well as the power being consumed by the system. These, along with the earlier battery charge current & voltage that I showed, could give you a pretty complete picture of the power situation.
I couldn't figure out the units at first, since the numbers are too high to be W, mW, and even µW, and too low to be nW. Then I remembered that some keys are stored as floating point values, and when I converted 1101610469 into an IEEE-754 float, I got the very reasonable-looking 21.1552219391, which means that it's published in units of watts.
You can therefore – on at least certain hardware or software – view the AC adapter power consumption with
ioreg -rw0 -c AppleSmartBattery | grep BatteryData | grep -o '"AdapterPower"=[0-9]*' | cut -c 16- | xargs -I %  lldb --batch -o "print/f %" | grep -o '$0 = [0-9.]*' | cut -c 6-

and system power consumption with
ioreg -rw0 -c AppleSmartBattery | grep BatteryData | grep -o '"SystemPower"=[0-9]*' | cut -c 16- | xargs -I %  lldb --batch -o "print/f %" | grep -o '$0 = [0-9.]*' | cut -c 6-

This uses lldb to do the IEEE-754 conversion, so you, again, will need developer tools installed. It is also very straightforward to write a small CLI tool that uses the IOKit framework to dump these out without needing Xcode installed on the target system, if you needed to have that.
* - Note that these values only seem to update once a minute or so, so they aren't truly instantaneous.


How to react on Appstore rejection of screenshots? Today my app's metadata was rejected by Apple.

Reason -

"8.1 - Apps must comply with all terms and conditions explained in the Guidelines for Using Apple Trademarks and Copyrights and the Apple Trademark List"
Your app does not comply with the Guidelines for Using Apple's Trademarks and Copyrights. Specifically, your app marketing screenshots show the iOS home screen and native iOS app icons.

I asked them why almost all other apps could use iPhone on app screenshots but I can't?

On that they answered:

On occasion, there may be apps on the App Store that don't appear to be in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines. We work hard to ensure that the apps on the App Store are in compliance and we try to identify any apps currently on the App Store that may not be. It takes time to identify these occurrences but another app being out of compliance is not a reason for your app to be.
Please remove any likeness of Apple trademarks from your app.

My screenshots look like:

I'm rather confused by the rejection reason because a lot of other apps (e.g. https://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id915637540, https://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id637855838 (very similar to mine),
https://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id461953674, https://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id284815942) use similar screenshots, apparently without problems.

I would really like to submit the app with the screenshots as they are, what is the recommended course of action to reconsider a submission?

If you step back, you might succeed in arguing "but officer, all the other drivers were speeding" in defense of your situation if the officer hasn't heard that argument 100 or 1000 times already.

Instead, realize that you are swimming against that tide now and Apple is changing the requirements and wording on what is acceptable marketing for app screen shots.

See these changes at: http://www.appstorereviewguidelineshistory.com

Apple is the seller and there are actual legal consequences if a consumer asks for a refund since the product being sold is different than described. Specifically, Apple markets your app with those images as "screenshots"

If you look at the kickstarter app every single image is one that you would see if you pressed the home button and sleep button and released both while the Kickstarter app was running.

None of the images you submitted are screen shots of the app. They might be screen shots of marketing materials or a web site, but that's not what Apple is selling.

And yes - you are blatantly in violation of the marketing agreement and using Apple's trademarked design for promoting your product, so stop doing that right away,

If you look at the current review guidelines and Apple's marketing agreement with developers, I'd say you'll want to adhere to several items in particular:

From the preamble - If your App is rejected, we have a Review Board that you can appeal to. If you run to the press and trash us, it never helps.
From the marketing agreement 2.4 - Never display the iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch Home screen or any icon or image that you do not own.
Also from the marketing agreement 2.7 - Do not surround the product with a highlight.
Also from the marketing agreement 2.10 - Screenshots should display only the actual screen content from your app that a user will see when the app is running. Do not incorporate Apple product images into your screenshots on the App Store.

I wouldn't recommend taking this to the review board, since this is so clearly wrong on several fronts (using Apple's home screen and iPhone image as well as not using actual screenshots where screenshots are requested).

Lastly, if you really want to use Apple's images you could contact their legal and licensing teams and get written permission to use Apple's icons and design beyond what the standard agreement allows. You'll probably have to pay for it, but my guess is that some companies have gotten Apple to budge on this since they co-market products. Think AT&T and such buying national media but it's not impossible that some apps in the store also have Apple's blessing to use a home screen.

Cheers and good luck with your app.


16GB 1600mhz vs 16GB 1866mhz RAM for Macbook Pro 13" mid 2012 Want To Ask
i did geekbench test on 2 types of RAMs on my  MBP 13" 2.9ghz i7 mid 2012.

1-Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3L-1600 SODIMM
32bit test
2913
Single-Core Score
6105
Multi-Core Score

64 bit test
3132
Single-Core Score
6754
Multi-Core Score.

2-Kingston HyperX Impact Black 16GB(8GBx2) 1866MHz DDR3L Laptop RAM (Low Voltage - HX318LS11IB/8)
32bit test
2715
Single-Core Score
5814
Multi-Core Score.

64bit test
2986
Single-Core Score
6975
Multi-Core Score

so i would like to know any opinion about RAM is better for my Macbook Pro 13" 2.9ghz i7 mid 2012??

2012 MacBook Pro 13" specification states that it supports 1600 MHz RAM. So, Kingston modules do not have an advantage, as the memory will run at 1600 MHz.

Purely, from numbers point of view, your geekbench results point to Crucial being faster. However, I suspect it is due to variance. You can try to rerun the same test several times and see how the scores differ from run to run.

Both Kingston and Crucial are well known brands with low failure rates. And unless you are going to put your computer under heavy load, memory intensive constant tasks, you will not notice any difference between the two in terms of speed. So, if I were you, I would buy whichever is cheaper.


Do ZIP files preserve all HFS+ features, when created using Finder's Compress command? Is it a good idea to backup a directory on a HFS+ filesystem by using the Finder's Compress function, and then copying the ZIP file to a FAT32 hard disc, or to Dropbox, etc? Or might that cause data corruption or data loss?

For example, if I compress my iTunes library, and symlinks are replaced by another copy of the file, that's a change in the semantics. If my hard disc crashes, and I restore a copy of the iTunes library from backup, iTunes may not work properly because of this. For example, changing the contents of one file won't affect the other. Deleting the file being pointed to means that you can no longer read the contents of that file via the symlink, which again is different if the symlink is replaced by a copy of that file. iTunes may crash given a corrupt library, or further corrupt the library, which means that the backup failed to serve its purpose.

Is it guaranteed that all valid directories compress to ZIP without errors, and expand to an identical copy of the original directory, without any loss of information or semantic changes? More specifically, do ZIP files support all HFS+ features?

Symlinks
Hard links (including to directories, which are supported on HFS+)
Aliases
Extended attributes
Resource forks
ACLs
Unix permissions
All valid path names in HFS+. In other words, does ZIP support all characters that are valid to use in a path name? Does ZIP support the longest path name you can create in HFS+, or is there a lower path length limit in the ZIP format?
Is there a 4GB file size limit?

... and so on.

I'm concerned about the potential for silent changes, which cause silent data loss or corruption without me being aware of it until it's too late.

This is a question about the ZIP format, and also about the Finder's Compress command. Because even if the ZIP format supports something, if the Finder's implementation doesn't, it doesn't help.

No credit for me. I have literally taken this from user NSGod: https://superuser.com/a/222590

My own addition, a bit obvious:

the target filesystem should support symlinks, hardlinks, etc, else it will not work
you can use the zip command in the command line and preserve these filetypes manually with zip --symlinks -r foo.zip foo/

How are you creating the .zip archive in OS X? (Using a command-line tool, and if so, which one, or by using Archive Utility, etc.)

What operating system is the target computer (where the archive will be unzipped) running, and what method are you using to unzip the file there?

First of all, in OS X, symbolic links are basically plain text files with some extra "Mac" information that lets OS X know that it should treat the file as a symbolic link. This extra Mac information is a special file type, creator code, and Finder flag information, which is stored not in the file itself, but in the HFS+ disk directory.

In OS X, when you create a .zip file, there is no room in the zip stream for this extra Mac information, so, in a sense, the symbolic link is stored within the zip file as a plain file. Whether someone on another Mac can unzip the archive and have it properly represent the original structure appears to depend on who or what you use to unzip it.

For example, a month or so ago a company released a game over Steam, Valve's game distribution software. The game application bundle included NVIDIA's Cg library in the form of a framework, which internally use symbolic links. There was originally a problem with Steam not properly restoring the necessary Mac information on Trine.app as mentioned in this thread:
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1556083

The image below shows 2 different copies of the Cg.framework, one I had installed separately from NVIDIA's website (upper image), and the lower image shows what was received with the game:

Notice that all the items match up, but what should be symbolic links are plain data files.

After taking a closer look at the FSCatalogInfo record for both the items, it was clear to me what the issue was:

You'll notice in the upper image that the beginning of the finderInfo struct has the following values:

0x736C6E6B = 'slnk'
0x72686170 = 'rhap'

These values are defined in /usr/include/hfs/hfs_format.h:

/*
 *  File type and creator for symbolic links
*/
enum {
    kSymLinkFileType  = 0x736C6E6B, /* 'slnk' */
    kSymLinkCreator   = 0x72686170  /* 'rhap' */
};

The 9th byte value, 0x80, corresponds to the kIsAlias flag of the finderInfo.finderFlags. That value is defined in /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/.../CarbonCore.framework/.../Headers/Finder.h:

enum {
    kIsAlias                      = 0x8000 /* Files only */
};

It appears that unzip feature built-in to OS X (Archive Utility) is hard-coded to look for possible files in the archive that's being unzipped that represent symbolic links, and to set the information appropriately. I believe that /usr/bin/ditto (when used for its ability to archive files) also takes care of this for you. I'm not sure whether zip or unzip do.


Cannot restore live photo back to camera roll Since iPhone 6S, Apple introduced "live photo" for taking a picture with a short 3 second clips. With the 3D touch feature, the user can see the picture in motion, which is great for capturing kids activities, etc.

There are several photo backup solutions claiming they can backup live photos[1] [2] [3], but actually none of them seems to be able to restore to its original state.

What I mean is when backup take place, it upload both still image (JPEG) and motion clip (.MOV) to the server, but during restore, it's either only the JPEG got put back to camera roll or MOV also got put back to camera roll but as a separated file. The 3D touch functionality is completely broken after restore.

Does anyone has the same issue or know the internal for getting it to work with 3D touch again?

[1] https://9to5mac.com/2016/03/07/google-photos-live-photos-split-view-ipad-pro/

[2] https://www.photosync-app.com/photosync/en/newsarticle/photosync-31-for-ios-released.html

[3] https://forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?t=105395

I've been in touch with the Photosync support, and got it to work.

When you download the images from the phone, keep the original file names - can be configured in the settings.
Don't rename stuff on your machine, either.
Don't use the browser for uploading the photos - use the companion app.

(That's where I went wrong. I used the browser for restoring; there
isn't a hint anywhere that live photos will be messed up that way.)

I restored from a PC running Windows 7. Haven't tried it from a Mac yet.


Setting up execution path in Terminal I have no experience with using Terminal but I am trying to install a program msbayes
(installation instructions here.

The instructions say to set up an execution path using either

$ echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin' >> ~/.bash_profile

Or

$ echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin' >> ~/.bash_profile

I have tried both of these but am still getting a command not found response. What am I doing wrong? Any advice?

Are you copying the dollar sign into terminal?  The dollar sign in writing, like in the document, is just a sign that it is on a new terminal line.

You can copy and paste these commands into terminal and it should work. I just tried it on my machine

echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin' >> ~/.bash_profile

or

echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin' >> ~/.bash_profile

Then you can verify that they have worked by typing in this command

cat ~/.bash_profile

And you should see

export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin

or

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin

Depending on which one you used.

If you want the changes to also be applied to the currently running shell, you need to run

. ~/.bash_profile

as well.


Has anyone tried 2x8GB (16GB) 2133 MHZ DDR3 204-pin RAM in their 2011 MBP 17-inch? And if so, any issues?

I was doing Geekbench benchmarks and found this profile:
https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/1046173

Notice the 2133 MHZ RAM installed on that unit. Clearly, he's able to boot and run his Mac and run all Geekbench 4 tests.

I'm tempted to test it out myself to see if there are any overall system performance increased (boot time, app launch, etc..) but I can't find where to buy that 2133 MHZ 204-pin RAM. Any suggestions?

Just in case you weren't aware, while Apple only officially supports 8GB RAM in your model MacBook Pro, it is in fact capable of running 16GB RAM and many users have done just that. So, if you currently have 8GB or less, you can certainly see some real benefits by upgrading to 16GB RAM (depending on your usage).

As for using 2133 MHz DDR3 modules, it seems they're working okay for rburkat based on his Geekbench results. In reality, the original 1333MHz spec used by Apple is a minimum speed. However, how much your MBP can take advantage of faster memory will depend on the logic board and processor.

In terms of purchasing compatible memory at various speeds for your MBP, you can refer to:

MacSales.com - US and others
Flexx - UK
RAM City - Australia
Mac Fixit - Australia
Simply Mac - South East Asia


How to start auto start mysql? Getting "Path had bad ownership/permissions" How can I auto start mysqld

I tried following https://stackoverflow.com/q/26476391/631619 but it didn't help

It seems like I have a ownership/permission problem, possibly related to from having installed mysql on this machine for a different user account.

I uninstalled and reinstalled but still get

$ brew install mysql
==> Downloading https://homebrew.bintray.com/bottles/mysql-5.6.27.yosemite.bottle.tar.gz
Already downloaded: /Library/Caches/Homebrew/mysql-5.6.27.yosemite.bottle.tar.gz
==> Pouring mysql-5.6.27.yosemite.bottle.tar.gz
==> Caveats
A "/etc/my.cnf" from another install may interfere with a Homebrew-built
server starting up correctly.

To connect:
    mysql -uroot

To have launchd start mysql at login:
  ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/mysql/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents
Then to load mysql now:
  launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist
Or, if you don't want/need launchctl, you can just run:
  mysql.server start

WARNING: launchctl will fail when run under tmux.
==> Summary
  /usr/local/Cellar/mysql/5.6.27: 9883 files, 339M
16:55:49 pengo EQ-390 /Users/pengo
$ ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/mysql/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents
/Users/pengo/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist -> /usr/local/opt/mysql/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist
16:56:36 pengo EQ-390 /Users/pengo
$ launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist
/usr/local/Cellar/mysql/5.6.27/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist: Operation not permitted
$ sudo launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist
/usr/local/Cellar/mysql/5.6.27/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist: Path had bad ownership/permissions
$ l ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist
lrwxr-xr-x  1 pengo  staff  46 Nov  7 16:56 /Users/pengo/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist@ -> /usr/local/opt/mysql/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist
$

I can start mysqld manually however, ie..

$ mysqld
2015-11-07 17:02:22 0 [Warning] TIMESTAMP with implicit DEFAULT value is deprecated. Please use --explicit_defaults_for_timestamp server option (see documentation for more details).
2015-11-07 17:02:22 0 [Note] mysqld (mysqld 5.6.27) starting as process 21472 ...
2015-11-07 17:02:22 21472 [Warning] Setting lower_case_table_names=2 because file system for /usr/local/var/mysql/ is case insensitive
2015-11-07 17:02:22 21472 [Note] Plugin 'FEDERATED' is disabled.
2015-11-07 17:02:22 21472 [Note] InnoDB: Using atomics to ref count buffer pool pages
...

and then in another window

$ mysql -uroot
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 1
Server version: 5.6.27 Homebrew

Copyright (c) 2000, 2015, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective
owners.

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.

mysql>

Also fyi

$ l /usr/local/bin/mysql
lrwxr-xr-x  1 pengo  admin  32 Nov  7 16:55 /usr/local/bin/mysql@ -> ../Cellar/mysql/5.6.27/bin/mysql

Do I perhaps need to chown whoami for additional files?

I tried adding

export PATH=${PATH}:/usr/local/Cellar/mysql/5.6.27/bin/mysqld

to my .bashrc based on having

$ l /usr/local/Cellar/mysql/5.6.27/bin/mysqld -r-xr-xr-x  1 pengo  admin
11948736 Nov  7 16:54 /usr/local/Cellar/mysql/5.6.27/bin/mysqld*

but I still got the same errors.

Looks like adding the path to to my .bashrc was probably the solution.

export PATH=${PATH}:/usr/local/Cellar/mysql/5.6.27/bin/mysqld

I also need to exit a current mysql session that was open


Is there a way to build a simple iPad pen yourself? I wonder about the technology used by the multitouch and the pens and brushes that are sold. Is this really high technology or can we build a pen for ipad ourself ?

Well, http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/05/diy-ipad-stylus-actually-extremely-easy-to-make/ looks interesting.

It seems that the ipad screen reacts to conductive surfaces, so if you can make one of those your point on a stylus, you're set.


How can I disable my iPad's screen turning on when there is a notification? I have an iPad mini 2. Also I'm using Telegram application. When someone sends me a new message into telegram, my iPad's screen will be turned on (light on).. and that's a huge problem for me .. Because I'm a member of lots of groups and channels  so I have more than 1000 new messages per day. And honestly I'm worried about my iPad's screen, I concern it will be broken, because it will be turn on/off constantly.

Anyway is there any approach to I disable the relationship between "my iPad's screen" and "new notifications"?

I think, you have two (or maybe three) possibilities:

1. The "Do not disturb"-mode

When the "Do not disturb"-mode is enabled, your iPad won't make any sound and does not turn on the screen, when you get a notification. But you can still see the notifications on your lockscreen, when you turn on the display manually.

2. Turn of notifications for Telegram

If you turn of the notifications for Telegram, you won't be notified about any message. That would solve your problem, but I think you still want to see notifications for some of your chats?

(3. Mute some chats)

Since I'm not using Telegram, I'm not sure, if this is possible. But any modern messenger has options to mute individual chats for a while, so they won't send you push-notifications anymore.


Is it possible to recover an erased Mac SSD partition? I did the stupid thing of formating by accident the main SSD in my Macbook. I was using Windows through an external drive and hit the "Erase" button thinking it was another drive.
So I lost EVERYTHING in my computer and it won't boot as MacOS. I can use windows through the external ssd, and the formatted drive is "Not Allocated" right now. I only erased, I didn't mounted as a new format.
Is there any way to recover the partition/files?

If you have a standard formatting (I assume it is hard to believe) then the chances are that you can restore it.
There are several forms of erasing a data carrier, including deleting the table of contents of a data carrier and erasing individual sectors of a volume.
Since mostly only the table of contents is deleted with a quick format, the data is still on the SSD, only the SSD or the operating system can no longer find any files.
It is therefore possible to restore the files, if you have restored the files, it is advisable to reinstall the macOS operating system, as sensitive files may have been damaged and the system does not work properly.
I use the Disk Drill program to create data. Please correct me if it's not good software


Mac is boot looping after Mojave update. Can access disk utility. No backup. Can I get the data off it? Mac's are sorta new to me.

I have a friend's MacBook who recently updated to Mojave. It failed and now the Mac won't boot up. Just looping.

She doesn't have a backup of her data

I can assess the disk utility in the recovery mode. Can I use the to pull the data off the drive into another one safety? Then restore an OS and out the data back on?

It's a MacBook Pro around 2015 or earlier was running Yosemite. There's some important files on the Mac I'm hoping to get out.

Reset the SMC (hold opt control shift and the power button for 20 seconds) then reset the NVRAM 3 times (3 on and off of the lcd monitors backlight) first.

Try to boot into Recovery mode or Internet Recovery (option command and R keys).

Is it looping after the Apple logo has come on the screen? If so then you probably can do what you mention since in that case it's likely a software issue although the drive could be failing. Do you mean the update failed and then the OS wouldn't boot right after?


How can I get my albums to sort by track numbers in iTunes 11's expanded view? I've been trying to figure out why my track sort order is wrong in iTunes 11. I have track metadata, and sorting by Album in the songs view works fine, but in the expanded view my tracks appear in what seems to be totally random order.

How can I get this to sort by track number within the album?

I can make my iTunes show something similar, if I set some of the tracks in an album to a different Disk Number compared to the rest.

Try selecting one of the out-of-order tracks, then use File > Get Info to open the window I've shown here.  Is there anything different about the information for the out-of-order tracks?


Desktop shows only background image – how to return to default behavior? I have an iMac running macOS High Sierra. Recently I setup my system so that my Desktop does not show the connected drives and doesn't show anything on my Desktop.

My desktop is completely clean. I also had many files and folders on my desktop. All those are hidden as well. I can't remember how I did that and now I'd like to change settings or turn it off but can't. Does anyone know how you would do what I have done and can tell me?

I have all the boxes checked in the Finder preferences panel so thats not the issue.

I remember a pull down menu with several options for displaying the desktop. I just don't recall how I got to the pull down menu.

In Finder, go to menu item Finder > Preferences and you will see your options there.


How can I split a movie into sections? I have a DVD that somebody recorded and burned for me, and the DVD has no chapter markers.  I ripped it to a MP4 file with Handbrake so I could put it on my iPod/iPad, but I also want it to have "chapters" like a DVD, so I can skip to the parts I want.

Is there an easy way to do this?  I didn't see an option in Handbrake (it seems to be ripping only), or in iTunes.  Can iMovie help me here?  Is there a cheaper/easier way?

It doesn't have to be exact, or terribly easy to use.  I'm perfectly willing to just provide a list of MM:SS points (there's only 4 or 5).

I haven't used it personally, but it looks like Subler will do what you want.

Here is the proper format you need to use for the chapter file: https://code.google.com/p/subler/wiki/ChapterTextFormat

  Subler will allow you to add chapters. You just need to drag and drop a
  text file in the right format into Subler. You don't write them in in
  the Subler GUI.

  The Subler site explains the format. It took a lot of trial and error
  for me to get it right and it is time consuming so I haven't done it
  in a while. Otherwise, I'd tell you how I did it.

  Once you add the file, you will have a new row under the Video Track
  and Stereo rows called Chapter Track. You can edit the Titles in there
  if you want to, but if you created the file correctly, you shouldn't
  have to.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=901354


How to keep PowerPoint from mirroring my monitors when switching apps? When I'm in presentation mode in PowerPoint 2008, and I deliberately or accidentally switch to another app, PowerPoint forces my dual monitors into mirrored mode.

Apart from shrinking my desktop and repositioning many dozens of windows, this also forces fullscreen virtual machines onto my main monitor, such that I can't get at the menu bar without unzooming them (and consequently messing up their desktops).

Does anyone know how I can prevent PowerPoint from doing this?  Does PowerPoint 2011 do the same thing?  (And does it introduce yet another incompatible UI?)

If you switch PowerPoint to display mode first, then switch to a mac app (using command-tab), then turn off mirroring, the setting should then stick. Otherwise, as you found out, Microsoft is sure nobody but powerpoint needs display mode.

In case some reader doesn't know how to turn off mirroring: If you go into "System Preferences/Display Preferences" Arrangement tab (only present when connected to a second display), uncheck the box that says "Mirror Displays".

Also, on the bottom of the Display Preferences pane, you can check "Show displays in menu bar" to access this setting more easily without going into preferences.


Can I still upgrade my iPhone 3G to iOS 4.x? Seeing this question made me think about upgrading my iPhone 3G to iOS 4.x, if that's still possible.

I've deliberately kept my iPhone 3G on iOS version 3.1.3 because that's the final 3.x version; I tried 4.x when it first came out but decided to downgrade again (while I still could!) because I felt 4.x was too much of a burden on the little device.

However, these days apps are generally downward compatible only to iOS 4.3 so I've had to go without many apps. I'm considering an upgrade now to get access to "modern" apps but I'm not sure whether I can actually still upgrade my phone because 4.3 is no longer current.

- Is it possible, in 2013, to upgrade any device from 3.1.3 to 4.3?

I guess that if I upgrade, there will be no going back. I can't imagine a downgrade would still be possible.

I would also have to jailbreak it after the upgrade, only because I need the SIM unlock.

The final iOS rev for iPhone 3G is 4.2.1, and you could always save a backup before upgrading and restor to the 3.X version if 4.2.1 was too much of a hog.

Hope this helps!

Edit: This thread says its not even worth it. 4.2.1 is crippling to the device.


How to get Mac OS X to run in a VM on Windows I want to be able to run RubyMotion on Windows 7 computers.  But RubyMotion only runs on Mac OS X Lion.  So it seems like the only option is to run a virtual machine on the Windows 7 computers which run Mac OS X.

What's the best way to do this?  I assume I have to buy a copy of Mac OS X for each Windows 7 computer?

You can technically run Lion in a VM, but I really really really wouldn't recommend it. Here's why:

You're basically entering the murky world of Hackintoshes
Hackintoshes are inherently "hacky". The performance is rarely going to be as reliable as running OSX on mac hardware.
You're violating Apple's EULA.

If you really want to do it, here's a link, but I really think it's a fool's game.

Recommendation

You'd be better off just getting a Mac Mini or something and if you really want to run Windows natively, then remote desktop from Windows to your Mac mini. I'd recommend that.


How do I disable or turn off Burst Mode photos in iPhone 6s? Whenever I use the self-timer modes (either 3s, or 10s), my iPhone takes a burst of photos no matter what. Is there a way to disable this?

Enabling the flash is one way to disable burst photos in Timer mode. You can also force HDR On.

I much prefer enabling HDR for this purpose, as it often yields better photos anyway. LED flash can drastically alter your scene in ways that may not be pleasing at all.


Books deleting library after startup Yesterday Books began deleting all books in my library except for a proof generated by Books author, and four books purchased from the Apple store. I replaced the directories ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iBooksX and com.apple.BKAgentService from backup to restore the library. Books deleted them again.

I upgraded to 10.14 from 10.12, and disabled syncing, the behavior persists.

I had to give up and download my entire library from iCloud.


Deleted email from iPad while offline gets a strikethrough line on web app rather than deleted When I delete an email message in Mail on my iPad, everything works normally—unless I'm offline. When this is the case, it deletes from the iPad, but the message on the web interface (in this case FastMail) retains it in the Inbox with a strikethrough line:

Is this a problem with IMAP, Mail, or FastMail? How can I make Mail actually delete the message?

The IMAP protocol has this silly concept of a message that has been marked as deleted but isn't really actually deleted.

The iPad only marks the mail as deleted. The IMAP client on the iPad considers this sufficient for the message to be gone, and you can't see it anymore when using that client. The web mail wants the message to be REALLY deleted before it goes away. If it's just marked deleted, it will still appear... with a strikethrough line.

To get the message to disappear from the web mail, you need to expunge deleted messages. The web mail interface might offer a way to do it directly, or else it will do it automatically when you delete any message from within the web mail interface. When messages are expunged, they are expunged all together, so it is enough to delete one single other message, and all of the other marked deleted (struck through) emails in the same folder will follow.


How to configure `ipfw` on Lion, Mountain Lion? I'd like to configure and start ipfw on Macs running Lion, Mountain Lion.

I found that pfctl is configured and started with:

/etc/pf.conf
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.pfctl.plist

How is ipfw configured and launched?

ipfw is configured in /etc/pf.conf

You can configure the ipfw using a GUI in IceFloor.


I can't get gcc to compile DevIL library I'm writing an OpenGL application in C++ using Xcode 4 on Lion. To load textures, and keep the application platform independent, I plan on using DevIL.

To install DevIL on my mac I ran ./configure and noticed gcc was no longer on the $PATH. I created a symlink from /Developer/usr/bin/gcc-4.2 to /usr/bin. Then I re-ran ./configure, it now finds gcc but fails with this:

checking for gcc... gcc
checking for C compiler default output file name...
configure: error: C compiler cannot create executables

I'm not sure what this means:

Shouldn't I have symlinked gcc?
Do I need another gcc?
Is the problem DevIL related?

Thanks in advance

As for your first question: The cleaner alternative to symlinking would be to add /Developer/usr/bin to your $PATH, so the other utilities needed for compilation can be found. That's easy to do:

export PATH=$PATH:/Developer/usr/bin

You could put that into ~/.profile so the path get set each time you open a terminal window.

And I'm certainly not a GCC/LLVM expert, but to me it seems like DevIL's configure script does expect a different version of gcc, one which doesn't expect an argument to the -V switch. My best bet would be to ask around on the DevIL developer's mailing list, as there probably are people who have been confronted with the same problem.


Upgrade iPhone 4 to run iOS 9 How do I upgrade my iPhone 4 to run iOS 9.0? Can this be done without a computer? I need it to download Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp.

The latest version of iOS that can be installed on iPhone 4 is iOS 7.1.2. It is not possible to upgrade it to run iOS 9.

iPhone is pretty old now as per iOS release schedule. It was discontinued in 2013 with support being stopped by Apple in 2014. To run iOS 9, you need at least an iPhone 4s which can run iOS 9.3.5.


Can Turbo Booster (3rd Party Application) damage your CPU? I have turbo booster installed on my old macbook pro which I currently use to handle files between my iMac Pro and the macbook. The macbook has a base clock of 1.4 Ghz turbo boost upto 2.3 Ghz. On enabling turbo bosster (Third Party application) the system continues to run at 2.3 Ghz as a result everything is fast enough to run, but on running the CPU at its maximum level results in thermal throttling. Turbo Boosters are normally used to check thermal throtlling and I am using it to boost the clock speed so am I doing something wrong or damaging the CPU and other hardware componenets by running the CPU at its max level?

No, using Turbo Boost will not damage your CPU or any other hardware components.

You seem to be confused about how Turbo Boost actually works. When you install a third-party application to disable/enable the Turbo Boost feature, you're not actually enabling the boosting of the CPU. Instead you're enabling the feature where the CPU decides by itself when and if to boost.

So in essence: You're not really turbo boosting all the time, and the CPU will by itself make sure to only turbo boost when it is safe to do so.

The rationale behind the third party applications is mainly to disable Turbo Boost for those that prefer increased battery time over performance.


iPad 2 has suddenly lost ALL Contacts, ALL Calendar entries iPad 2 lost all Contacts, Calendars.

The data is still in iCloud and my iMac has all this information

I've tried Wi-Fi, iCloud, and syncing via iTunes, but can't retrieve information.

Any one of the paths - WiFi syncing down from iCloud or choosing to sync contacts over iTunes should work to get contacts on your iPad.

Since it's the one device having problems, you will want to back it up and restore it to factory settings and test one set of data - perhaps contacts from iCloud.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1414

At the end of the steps linked above - choose to set up as new and then text contacts. This isn't a definite answer since you'll need to troubleshoot a bit, but it's a start on that process.


How should different sized RAM be added to iMac? I have a mid-2011 iMac which came with 4GB RAM (2x2GB). I just bought 8 GB (2x4GB) and added it to get a total of 12GB. The current configuration is as follows:

Given that the RAM is a different size, do I have the optimal locations for the different RAM chips? At the moment what I did was to simply add the 2 new sticks of RAM in the two empty slots.

I'm going to take WAGuess* and suggest that any gains (realized or not realized) due to memory-size matching will pale to insignificance beside the gains due to tripling your memory.  My rule of thumb for processor speed is that our perceptions tend to be more logarithmic than linear and that we don't really notice a speed increase until it is 50% - 100% greater than what we had before.

If you're in a situation where a few - consistently acheived - percentage points matter, such as frequently or perpetually running long, compute-bound jobs, and and where finishing a job a few minutes earlier might have a significant benefit for someone, then there may be an advantage to optimizing your memory placements.  Otherwise enjoy the speed of you newly augmented machine!  You've already got 99++% of the benefits to be had.

'*' That guess isn't completely WA'd: I've already looked into using mis-matched memory sizes on two of my older Macs, and the above is what I concluded from at the time.


How to clone my HHD to SSD on my mid-2009 Macbook Pro I'm trying to clone my 680GB HDD to a new 500GB SSD, trying EaseUS and Carbon Copy Cloner. The goal is to replace my HDD with the SSD, so I need to boot from it. There's only about 100GB of used disk space on my HDD so I figured it's doable to clone, unless it's literally trying to copy every sector, empty or not, in which case my SSD is too small.
Any thoughts on how to do this? Would using the Disk Utility be another option? I've read up on Time Machine, or Restore option in Disk Utility, but it's hard to find a clear answer and so far what I've tried hasn't worked. I managed to copy the contents over to the SSD but it won't boot up from it. And when I tried reassigning the startup disk to my SSD, it still didn't boot from it. Not sure what else to try. Thanks in advance.

I wouldn't recommend having the boot drive mounted to do a proper clone. If you have an external drive (preferably firewire 800 for that model, but USB 2 will also work), install a current versions of macOS onto it. Boot to that drive by restarting and holding down the Option key at boot, and you can select the external bootable drive. Now that you are booted to your external, install your clone software of choice, in your case Carbon Copy Cloner (I personally like SuperDuper! but that is me). Once you have the software installed, start cloning the boot disk to the new SSD.
As a side note, make sure that you partition your new SSD before you start the process. That way you don't run into an error because it is FAT32 partitioned and not GUID.


Does Cinema Display daisy chain work in Windows via Bootcamp? Possible Duplicate:
  Dual Thunderbolt displays with a Mac running Windows under Boot Camp?

I am wondering if I can have use two Cinema Displays in Windows using daisy chain.

Assuming that you intend to use two Apple Thunderbolt Displays daisy-chained to a Thunderbolt-equipped computer (whether Mac or not) while the computer is booted into Windows, yes, it should work, assuming whatever drivers are needed are installed and the graphics card has enough power to push two displays' worth of pixels.

tl;dr: If one Thunderbolt monitor works, two identical monitors should work just fine, assuming your graphics card can handle both of them at once.


How to create a custom repeating reminder? I want a reminder that goes off on Mon, Tue, Wed and Thu at 5pm.  I haven't found a way to do that.  I can ask Siri to do a reminder on Weekdays, but that includes Friday.

Is it possible?

Reminders doesn't seem to have this functionality at the moment. However, you can set an alarm in the Clock app that will go off at 5pm (or your chosen time) and you can select specific days like Mon, Tues, Wed, and Thu.

Hope this helps.


Why does my QuickLook show text files with a strange font, and how do I make it stop? After updating to Yosemite*, I noticed that QuickLook now displays .txt and .log files like this:

It still displays .plist files and other textual files like one would expect, with a small monospaced font on white background.

How can I make QuickLook display textual files in a more "traditional" way?

= The Yosemite update might have been a coincidence, and I might just not have noticed it before.

You probably have iA Writer installed on your Mac. They recently updated their application to include a Quick Look plugin to show some file types, including .txt, as multi markdown HTML in the Quick Look preview. People have complained that this is intrusive, and the developers have promised a fix in an upcoming update:

http://support.iawriter.com/help/discussions/mac-problems/3711-quick-look-plugin-is-too-liberal-with-file-formats

For now, you can simply delete iA Writer to stop this behavior or manually delete their Quick Look plugin from the app's bundle, as described at the end of this article:

http://brettterpstra.com/2012/03/19/multimarkdown-quick-look-with-style/


SSH with ipv6 working only if I pass %en0 with my ipv6 address I am trying to ssh with Mac OS X (10.10.1 Yosemite) terminal using ipv6.
If I use command like

ssh username@ipv6_address

It's not working and I am getting error "No Route to Host".
But If I use command like (with %en0)

ssh username@ipv6_address%en0

It's working and I am able to SSH with ipv6 address..

Can you please guide me what's the reason of not working without %en0?

Thanks.

When you want to connect to an unroutable address like link-local you need to specify the interface. This is because for unroutable addresses your system can't determine the outgoing interface by looking at the routing table.

Unroutable destinations include link-local addresses (fe80::) and link-local multicast (ff02::) and more.


Website URLs seem to refresh in the background I have written a Python script hosted on a Raspberry Pi that controls my garage doors. The doors are operated by sending a GET request to one of a few URLs on the server. It's only available within the LAN.

We use three iPhones, two 7s and a 6, all with the latest iOS version, to operate it with Safari.

By inspecting my server logs I am finding that one of the 7s and the 6 appear to be firing GET requests an random times, even in the middle of the night for example, causing my doors to open 'by themselves'. The other 7 doesn't seem to do this.

I've tried leaving it with the URLs added to the home screen, and also just bookmarked in Safari, but it doesn't seem to change the behaviour.

Is there some kind of background app refresh going on here that I don't know about, or could it be some other kind of fault? The Python end seems to be fine as the logging shows that it's responding to legitimate GET requests each time, but I can't find a difference between the iPhones that exhibit the behaviour and the one that doesn't.

Can you help? Thank you!

Many browsers do prerendering for often-visited sites.  It's possible Safari is preloading the URL as a top hit because you visit that URL a lot. Some browsers also prefetch sites to create image previews.

HTTP GETs are supposed to be safe and idempotent according to the W3C standards.  Many browsers (and proxy servers) make the assumption that it's safe to trigger and/or cache GETs. POSTs are supposed to be used for effect-inducing operations.


Which versions of MacOS/OSX is the voice "Victoria" available on? Is there a way to find out what versions of OSX/MacOS shipped with which voices?

I do not know if Apple has published a list however having just now checked the installers (DVD's shipped in USA and Install App's downloaded from App Store in the USA) from Tiger to Sierra, Victoria is in all of them.


How to put PDF files on an iPad? I want to read PDF files in iBooks on an iPad.

What is the current method to put PDF files on an iPad ? Is there a method that allows me to drag files somewhere so that the files will subsequently be pushed on the device ?

Using iTunes 11.1.5, when I select the Books tab with no device, I have a some kind of list ('Books') under Synchronize.

How do I add books to this list ? File -> Add to library doesn't do anything.

PS: I'm not interested in techniques that involve a third party service, like sending to one self by email or using a file hoster. I'm looking for the most direct technique that involves only one iPad, one Mac and one wired or wireless connection between the two devices.

Books are managed by the OS X application iBooks. You have to use iBooks in order to add books to your library. There is no Books section in your iTunes library where you can drag files to.

So just launch iBooks and drag files into the application window, and the books section in the synchronize tab will update immediately. Then, synchronize your device.

Also, if you try to add PDF files using File -> Add to Library, iTunes seems add those files as sound files, and they end up in the Music section of your Library, but won't be copied to your iOS device as PDF files.

Here is thread on discussions.apple.com, and the answer that pointed me to the right direction:

StumbleSally     Midwest - US

Re: how to upload pdf to ipad

Mar 7, 2014 6:56 PM (in response to dawnrber)

With the recent update to iTunes (I'm now on iTunes 11.1.5), the previous directions for uploading an PDF and syncing it with iBooks didn't work for me because iBooks is now a separate program at least on Macs.  Maybe iBooks has been separate for a while, but anyway, here's what I had to do:

Start iBooks.
Drag the PDF from my desktop to iBooks.
Start iTunes.
Plug in my iPad.
Stop the auto-sync/back up process in the center window by pressing on the small "X" (yours may not be set to auto sync when plugged in).
Select my iPad name in the left column.
Select Books from the menu bar just under the iTunes center window (you can skip this step if you want to sync all of your books).
Select the checkbox for the PDF(s) you want to sync (skip if you're syncing all books).
Select the Sync button in the lower right.
Once synced, go to iBooks on your iPad and in the Library, select Collections.
Select PDFs.

You should now see all of the PDFs you synced.


Can I erase a missing device to iCloud after removing it from My Devices? I had to return a dead iPhone to my phone carrier, so I needed to 1) erase the phone, and 2) remove it from the Find My iPhone app on my iCloud account. The phone is still in my possession for a day or two, but I cannot get it to charge and the battery has no juice.

Since the phone won't turn on, I needed to perform those two steps on iCloud.com rather than on my phone.

Unfortunately, I accidentally Removed the phone before Erasing it. :-(

As a result, I no longer can see it in my list of devices in the Find My iPhone app on iCloud.com. However, in the Settings app, it lists that phone as one of my iDevices running either iOS 8, Yosemite, or WatchOS.

Is there any way I can still schedule an erase for the iPhone if/when it comes alive?

I'm afraid since the device is removed from Find my iPhone app you can no longer make changes from iCloud.com. If you would be able to start the device again - sometimes you don't even need to go all the way as fully booted system - it will reappear in the Find my iPhone app.

I work at a retail chain as a service agent and have seen this many times. Customers wanting to leave their phone for repair/replacement, have removed the unit from iCloud.com but not erased it - simply starting it will reactivate the Find my iPhone and remote erase is available again.

Hope you get any way to start the device - even if it's not a fully booted system.


iPod touch reset and new Apple ID My child received an iPod touch as a gift but it contains the giver's Apple ID, email, etc.  They put music on it for my child under that ID.  We want to bring it into the family account for monitoring and such.  Can I reset the device and assign a new Apple ID for the child?  And should I assume any purchases made under the old Apple ID are lost forever?  (We have no access to the account.)

To start, let's talk about the music on it. The music is sort of tied to the Apple ID (not iPod itself). By "sort of", I mean you need that Apple ID to download it, but signing out of the Apple ID and into a new one won't delete it. For example, if you were to purchase music under one Apple ID and then signed out of it and into another, the music would remain on iPod, but if the music was then deleted (like when iPod is reset), you would be unable to re-download it, since it's not tied to iPod itself.

What you need to do is use iTunes to sync iPod to the iTunes Library on your computer. Once you're sure the songs (and anything else you want to keep) are all there, you can go ahead and reset it.

If it's running iOS 6.1.6 or earlier (to check, go to Settings > General > About, then look under Version), then yes, you can reset it and assign a new Apple ID to it without any problems. If it's running iOS 7.0 or later, however, it depends on whether or not Find My iPod is enabled (to check, Settings > iCloud, and look for Find My iPod at the bottom). If so, resetting it will trigger the device's Activation Lock and you won't be able to set it up. In that case, you will need the Apple ID password of whomever gave your child this iPod to disable Find My iPod, but once it's off, you can go ahead and reset it.

Once it's reset, use iTunes to transfer whatever content you want back to it.

If you have any questions about any of this, just comment them below my answer.


Operating an iPad with broken touch screen Can I use software from my computer to operate an iPad with a broken touch screen?

Not really. There is no other way to control an iPad than by its touch screen. There are limited keyboard controls, but nothing that can replace touch functions.

(If you could get to accessibility settings, you could enable switch control, but you would need to use the touch screen first.)


If I sell my iPhone, how will the warranty be affected? I recently dropped my iPhone 4 in the bath. Whoops...

Knowing Apple's stance on water damage, I simply upgraded (I was due an upgrade as part of my contract) and got a new phone.

My house-mate then informed me that I could go to Apple and purchase a new phone for £119. I did just that, and the kind lady in the Apple store let me know that the new phone only comes with a 90 day warranty.

As such, I have two Apple phones, and I'd like to sell my old (but brand new..) iPhone 4.

My question is: if someone purchases my phone on say eBay, will they too receive the 90 day warranty, or does it become invalid when I sell the phone?

The original warranty usually the standard 1 year + any AppleCare stays with the iPhone. And any remaining warranty transfers to the new owners.
Apple Care FAQs

Is the AppleCare Protection Plan transferable?
Yes. If you choose to sell or give away your Apple product, you can also transfer the ownership of the AppleCare Protection Plan. Please see the AppleCare Protection Plan Terms and Conditions for complete details.


Numbers version 5.3(5989). How to Calculate Duration by comparing two cells formatted as datetime? Column A has been formatted in the “datetime” format. Date and time from my glucose meter were entered into Column A and displays as in the default option I selected. Column D is the glucose readings and is not an issue in this question. (Datetime format displays as “1/5/2019 1805”). Also Column A has been sorted in ascending order and verified.
Column B is formatted as “duration”.
What is the function (formula) to compute the interval between successive dates & times in Column A?
Every attempt I have made results in “number was expected”.

You just need to subtract the later from the former.

ie: B2-B1


What services on macOS might leak identifiable information? I'm looking to make a set of firewall rules in macOS for use on untrusted networks, such that no identifiable information, such as account or device identifiers, might be inadvertently leaked.

macOS/Darwin not being my home operating system, I'm not sure which, if any, of the background services might leak such information in the cleartext. I'm particularly interested in cloudd, Handover, AirDrop and those services which would likely identify themselves to the network in some manner.

I've been unable to find existing guides for hardening macOS in this manner, but am happy to be directed to one if it exists.

I recently began researching issues related to hardening macOS 10.12. Fortunately I found a thorough "practical guide to securing macOS" on Github. The macOS Security and Privacy Guide (a 56-Page PDF) covers multiple macOS security topics, including application level firewalls; kernel level packet filtering (pfctl); background services (managed by launchd); system daemons; DNS variables; and many, many others.

With regard to your specific question, this "hardening guide" should be a useful resource for an evaluation of background services that might leak PII or other sensitive data. (The section on Spotlight Suggestions was certainly an eye-opener for me). Finally: the guide concludes with links to dozens of "Additional Resources" and "Related Software" involved in hardening macOS.