What are the advantages of buying a Mac at an Apple Store? I'm trying to determine if it's better to purchase a Mac from an Apple Store or from a separate retailer. Beyond the hands on and focused purchase experience are there long term advantages derived from an Apple store purchase (ongoing support etc.) as opposed to purchasing from an independent retailer?

Aside from the service and other qualitative aspects of dealing directly with Apple, the only "advantage" of purchasing direct from the company is the up to date warranty registration. If you purchase your Apple product through a 3rd party, Apple will have on file an "estimated" purchase date based on the model's manufacturing date.

If you want to claim all of the 365 days on your warranty, you will have to send them the receipt (a scan or picture suffices) in addition to other purchase information so they can update their database to reflect the exact date of purchase.

Other than that, it makes little difference at the end of the day.


NVRAM: Error clearing firmware variables: (iokit/common) not permitted I cannot reset my NVRAM at startup (holding down ⌘ Command⌥ OptionPR does nothing), but I want to reset the NVRAM so I am trying to reset it with Terminal.

$ sudo nvram -c
nvram: Error clearing firmware variables: (iokit/common) not permitted

How do I reset the NVRAM?

Despite the error message, the NVRAM has been cleared. Found this on another forum that proves it out:
$ sudo nvram TestVar=HelloWorld
$ sudo nvram -p | grep 'TestVar'
TestVar HelloWorld
$ sudo nvram -c
nvram: Error clearing firmware variables: (iokit/common) not permitted
$ sudo nvram -p | grep 'TestVar'
$


What does it mean when Repair Disk takes just a few seconds to complete? I have the flashing finder icon problem. When I boot from DVD, I cannot choose the disk as Startup Disk. However, it appears in Disk Utility. When I run Repair Disk I can see the disk, and that it has about 130GB used, but Repair Disk takes literally about four seconds -- a suspiciously short amount of time. By contrast, Repair Disk on the external takes about three minutes.

What is the best explanation for this?

Checking a disk checks the partition map but not the volume data structures.

Checking a volume checks the partition itself, which can take much longer.


High Sierra file sharing on Macs not working for Active Directory users Running Macs, High Sierra, in a lab environment.  Serving K-12 students.  File sharing important as students drop off assignments (files) to instructor computer.  However, students logged on to the Active Directory domain cannot drop off files in the instructor's public folder-->Drop Box.  SMB and AFS sharing both enabled in System Prefs (sharing).  Testing with local accounts on same computers, file sharing works (local account can drop off files) but AD user accounts cannot.

Any ideas?

Check your Active Directory settings by following this article guide

https://support.apple.com/guide/directory-utility/welcome/mac

Type

  Directory Utility

in Spotlight to find and start it


Troubleshooting a mac that won't go to sleep I have a small issue where my macbook won't go to sleep on lid-closing when it's connected to a power supply. I remember having this problem a few weeks ago, and I found this command that could help me debug it. The command works since I would run this command and then close my lid. When I opened the lid, I could see that it was registered the lid was closed and what prevented it from sleeping.

I've tried most of the pmset ones, and I don't think that's it. (It might be though?)

I'm not necessarily looking for that exact one, so my question is:

Any monitoring tools (preferably terminal or command-line) that shows the log of what happens when I close the lid?

pslog

Have you tried the pmset command for live debugging?

pmset -g pslog

  -g pslog displays an ongoing log of power source (battery and UPS) state.


I removed the passcode from my iPhone before repair, has my data been compromized? Few days back I gave my iPhone 6 to a shop to change the battery. The person asked me to remove the passcode so that he can check the battery status. I collected the iPhone later when the battery was fixed.

But now I think it was not a smart thing to do to remove my passcode and give the phone to someone else. I am now worried that he might possibly taken the backup of my iPhone to his iTunes and then restore it into a another iPhone. Will he get all my data in another iPhone?

Is there anything I can do now to prevent this?

You should consider all device content compromised and it is too late to be prevented.

By removing the passcode, any new computer the device is connected to can be ‘trusted’ without any further authentication. The device can be backed up to iTunes and all the device content available to browse through or be restored to a new device.

If the backup was created ‘encrypted’ this includes all passwords on the device which may include your Apple ID password.

You should change any passwords which are linked to the device, such as Apple ID and email account passwords.


My internal hard disk is 0 byte and a flashing question mark I have been striving to bring my laptop to life,
however, I am seeing a flashing question mark on my MacbookPro screen.

I tried disk utility and it is just showing me Media and it is 0 byte.

I ran DiskWarrior and it gave following error:
An unexpected error occurred while communicating with this hard drives built in S.M.A.R.T. diagnostics, error -536870210, 28260C-

I installed a new hard disk. Problem was my old harddisk died because of shakes.


Removing the last 10 characters of a file name while preserving the extension I have files that look like this

[RF] Happy Hour 1 [jdhf2345].mp4
[RF] Happy Hour 1 [jdhf2345].mp4
[RF] Happy Hour 1 [jdhf2345].mp4
[RF] Happy Hour 1 [jdhf2345].mp4

I want to make the files look like

Happy Hour 1.mp4

I want to remove the ID after the 1 (it may not always be a 1 but will always have an id within square brackets.

You are asking two different questions here. One is "How do I remove the last 10 characters of a file name" while the other is going from [RF] Happy Hour 1 [jdhf2345].mp4 → Happy Hour 1.mp4.

I'm not really sure which one to answer here so I guess I'll answer the first one??

"How do I remove the last 10 characters of a file name"

set myFiles to choose file with multiple selections allowed
repeat with myFile in myFiles
    tell application "System Events"
        set myName to the characters 1 thru ((offset of "." in (name of myFile as text)) - 1) of (name of myFile as text)
        tell application "Finder"
            set myExtention to name extension of (myFile as alias)
            set myNewName to characters 1 thru (((length of myName) - 10) as number) of (myName as text)
            set name of file (myFile as text) to (myNewName & "." & myExtention as text)
        end tell
    end tell
end repeat


How do I stop Apache from starting up automatically? I'm running Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2 and Web Sharing is turned off in System Prefs.

I don't think this is specifically related to Lion.

Basically, I'm a frontend developer and there are always backend developers messing around in my terminal trying to make my life easier, but not explaining exactly what they're doing. So I suspect someone put something somewhere to explicitly command my Mac to start Apache automatically on startup. Here's all I know:

ps aux | grep apache

shows that Apache is running

launchctl list

doesn't show Apache afaik, but if it did I wouldn't know what it would be called anyway

sudo apachectl stop

returns launchctl: Error unloading: org.apache.httpd

sudo apachectl -k stop

returns httpd (no pid file) not running

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

Are you sure that it is apache you are seeing running. When you do the

ps aux|grep apache

You will see one process ( the shell process that is looking for the string apache)

A running apache server is not called apache it is called httpd, and you will see multiple instances of this (one parent daemon which in turn spawns workers). The apachectl  is reporting correctly that it is not running


iMac running too hot? I noticed my mid-2011 Core i5 iMac felt a bit too hot on the back. So i checked my iStat dashboard widget, Here are the temperatures:

HD: 52 degrees celsius
CPU: 49
Ambient: 35
GPU Diode: 55
GPU Heatsink: 56
Mem Controller: 55
Optical Drive: 48
Power supply 2: 66

Are these temperatures normal or should i be worried? I used to have a non-unibody MacBook Pro which also used to run hot(much hotter then this) which eventually had a logic board failure when it was just about a year and half old. Same thing happened to my brother's six months old unibody white MacBook.

These temperatures are completely normal.


Automator "Filter Finder Items" issues with spotlight When using an automator workflow with the following actions:

Get Specified Finder Items (some zip files)
Open Finder Items (with an unzipping utility)
Move Finder Items (to an existing folder)
Filter Finder Items (i.e. excluding folders)

I get mixed results, most of the time the filtered Items are incomplete. Some of the latest unzipped files are missing from the "Filter Finder Items" results.

I learned here that this specific action uses spotlight to provide the results. So this makes sense, as the newest files created might still not be indexed a few seconds later.

So the question is, how can I make sure that the parent folder or the files are properly indexed before using the "Filter Finder Items" action?

I've tried using the "Pause" action, but depending on the hardware or system load, we are quickly in the tens of seconds to have an uncomfortably uncertain reliability of this workaround.

How could we solve this? Any help appreciated

You add a shell script as the first automator task to run sudo mdutil -E /. This will rebuild the index.


iPhone X Face ID while on Enter Passcode screen Sometimes when I try to unlock my iPhone X with Face ID it fails and goes to the Enter Passcode screen. While on this screen what's the fastest way to get it to retry Face ID? I've found I can tap cancel and swipe up again, but hoping there's a faster way I'm not aware of.

I have found that tipping the phone away from you (i.e. bring it down to horizontal), and then bringing it back to face you again will cause Face ID to be tried again.


Mission Control stopped working then Dock won't restart i am using a macbook air and with yosmite os

At first I could still switch between desktops, just that i could not swipe up/down to access mission control and app exposé. I tried typing in killall Dock into terminal to restart dock, but now i cant switch desktops either and the background is completely black. killall dock just tells me it can't find the process for this user. when i typed in killall -s dock it showed only one process.

is there a way to force dock to start and fix mission control?

This was happening to me for a long time and I did some research and found out how to fix it. Go into terminal and run the following commands.

defaults write com.apple.dock mcx-expose-disabled -bool FALSE
killall Dock

This should fix all of your problems.


iPhone thumbnail tabbed web browser Is there an iPhone thumbnail tabbed web browser? Mercury used to have this feature and unfortunately it has been removed from the App Store.

I really don't like this type of tab where you have to click the tab button at the top then you have to scroll through the tabs to close them. When I have multiple tabs open on the same website I am often closing the wrong one.

Safari actually has this! Well, sort of.

Just pinch out or hit the "two squares" button to view your tabs in a Cover Flow-like view. On the iPad it will be a grid of cards that sometimes stack and sometimes don't. This also works on the Mac as well.


how to print or export annotations in a pdf file? I have a pdf file containing annotations from someone else (I assume they are made in windows with some Adobe software, but I'm not sure).

They look like that:

and can be displayed in Preview.appor Skim.appon the left of each page:

However, I'd like to print them (together with the pages) and/or find a way to export them to a text document.

How can I do that?

This is probably too late but I think I know the answer, so maybe it'll help someone. What you probably want to do is

Convert notes to skim notes
Go to File > Export > choose File format either Notes as RTF or Notes as text.

This answers your 'export to text document' questions. I don't see how you could print the PDF together with the text in the anchored notes, though.


Where does the Apple Workout app "save" completed workouts? The Apple Watch Workout app offers an option to "Save" a workout when it has been completed. Where are such saved workouts saved?

You can view all your past workouts (per day) on the iPhone Activity app! It gives you all the same information you see when you save the workout on your watch.

You can also view past workouts in the Health app (Workouts data in the Fitness section).


SSH request timeout every time I am trying to access a storage space we have at work via ssh but I get a timeout every single time (Mac OS 10.7.5 - Terminal).

I checked firewalls, settings, even turned off Little Snitch, and port 22 is nowhere blocked. Doing the exact same request on a Windows machine with a SSH client works like a charm.

Request:

ssh login_name@server_address

Answer:

ssh: connect to host server_address port 22: Operation timed out

The problem seems to come from my company's vpn/proxy settings. Will update if I find a way around it.

3 commands may help you to track down this protocol failure:

ping server_address
traceroute server_address
ssh -v login_name@server_address

Please check that you are connecting to your targeted server with the
right network interface. If you are using the infamous Automatic location you might be networking the wrong way (for example through the neighbour free wi-Fi when you thought you were using your company VPN).

If you suspect a legitimate or accidental filtering, you will be able to
diagnose it with:

nmap -Pn -p22 server_address


How can I download iTunes U videos faster? I want to download the videos from iTunes U, such as iPad and iPhone Application Development.

Lectures of previous semesters were on YouTube, so those of us with slow Internet connections could download/watch them without having to wait too long. But the latest videos are only in iTunes and seem to be, high quality, large files only. They take too long to download.

Is there a way to download these videos faster, or download lower quality versions just like YouTube?

This isn't exactly a MacOS question, rather it is related to iTunes. I am asking the question in this site, because I can't find any solution in the internet.

I had the same issue. If u use Wi-Fi for Internet access, try using a different Wi-Fi network when downloading or restart your Wi-Fi router. Try using an ethernet cable for wired Internet access instead of using Wi-Fi.
Also check for updates for your computer or for any security software you may have.


What does setting boot-args kext-dev-mode do to set the serial port? What does this command do?

sudo nvram boot-args="kext-dev-mode=1"

The command has nothing to with the serial port as such.

The "sudo" part means that you want to run the command that follows with superuser privileges.

The command is nvram, which is a command that allows you change variables in the NVRAM that is used by the firmware and kernel during boot of the computer.

The variable here is "kext-dev-mode" which is being enabled by setting it to 1. Ordinary kernel extensions (mainly drivers) must be signed by the developer, and the developers certificate needs to be signed by Apple - otherwise the kernel extension cannot be loaded.

The "kext-dev-mode" is intended for development scenarios where you want to test unsigned kernel extensions. Thus allowing these to be loaded without testing if they are indeed signed.

However, kext-dev-mode is no longer used for anything. On OS X El Capitan and newer it does absolutely nothing.


Can’t load plist. Launchctl says "Invalid property list", tried plutil, SIP, permissions I want to use the following plist to run a backup script under macos High Sierra.

File name:
com.pollux.backup.plist

Content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.pollux.backup.plist</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
     <string>sh</string>
     <string>-c</string>
     <string>/bin/backup_pollux_server</string>
     <key>KeepAlive</key>
     </array>
     <key>RunAtLoad</key>
     <true/>
     <key>StartInterval</key>
     <integer>3600</integer>
     <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
     <string>/tmp/pollux_backup.err</string>
     <key>StandardOutPath</key>
     <string>/tmp/pollux_backup.out</string>
  </dict>
</plist>

Permissions: -rw-r--r--@ 1 root    wheel  694  3 Apr 19:57 com.pollux.backup.plist

I use the same script and plist to backup my wife’s MacBook (Mavericks). It runs flawlessly. But when I try to load it with launchctl at my MacBook I get the following error message:

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.pollux.backup.plist: Invalid property list

I checked the plist with plutil:

LaunchDaemons pollux$ plutil com.pollux.backup.plist
com.pollux.backup.plist: OK

xmllint just shows the content of the plist.

I switched off the SIP:

LaunchDaemons pollux$ csrutil status
System Integrity Protection status: disabled.

Does anyone have an idea what to try next?

The key KeepAlive had to be removed from the ProgramArguments array and properly enabled (<true/>).

This is how it works now:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.pollux.backup</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
     <string>sh</string>
     <string>-c</string>
     <string>/bin/backup_pollux_server</string>
     </array>
     <key>RunAtLoad</key>
     <true/>
     <key>KeepAlive</key>
     <true/>
     <key>StartInterval</key>
     <integer>3600</integer>
     <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
     <string>/tmp/pollux_backup.err</string>
     <key>StandardOutPath</key>
     <string>/tmp/pollux_backup.out</string>
  </dict>
</plist>


Will there be issues if I install RAM modules with different sizes in a Mac mini? I have a Mac mini late 2012 with 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) RAM. I bought another 8 GB RAM module and installed it in the Mac. Should I leave the 8 GB module alone or should I install one of the two 2 GB modules in the vacant RAM slot?

Will there be any issue if there are different RAM modules in the slots (8 GB + 2 GB)?

If the two different sized RAM modules have the same specifications (e.g. latency), you shouldn't have any issues.

The advantages - more memory - outweigh the disadvantages of different sized modules - no interleaving memory.


How do you upgrade/update every package on your Mac? I want a single command to update everything on my Mac command line. No more brew update && brew upgrade && brew cleanup && brew doctor and npm update -g and that complicated command to update everything in pip3. Is there an existing tool for this, or should I just use a script? Also, is this even a good idea? Is there any benefit to updating all my software individually?

For reference, this is the current function I have in my .zshrc that is supposed to update everything:

function update () {
  (brew update && brew upgrade && brew cleanup && brew doctor) &
  upgrade_oh_my_zsh &
  npm update -g &
  (pip3 list --outdated --format=freeze | grep -v '^\-e' | cut -d = -f 1  | xargs -n1 pip3 install -U) &
  (cd ~/.vim_runtime && git pull --rebase)
}

After asking this question many places, I've refined the function to be both more comprehensive and predictable (runs the updates in serial, instead of parallel).

This is the final result in my .zshrc:

function update () {
  softwareupdate --install --all
  (brew update && brew upgrade && brew cleanup && brew doctor)
  mas upgrade
  npm update -g
  (pip3 list --outdated --format=freeze | grep -v '^\-e' | cut -d = -f 1  | xargs -n1 pip3 install -U)
  (gem update --system && gem update && gem cleanup)
  upgrade_oh_my_zsh
  (cd ~/.vim_runtime && git pull --rebase)
}


Macbook Pro mid-2015 15" swollen battery I bought the MBP around 2016 April. Few months ago, around 2018 Nov, bottom of the device appears a bit uneven, with slight gap with my desk. Over past few months, it wobbles more and more serious. Today I brought it to Apple Store Singapore for diagnostic, specialist at Genius Bar confirmed that it's caused by swollen battery. Consider it was just after about 2.5 years use, I find it hard to believe. According to the staff, it depends on usage. If under heavy usage or often charge it overnight, it's normal that MacBook Pro's battery can become swollen pretty soon.

My battery charge cycle is under 300, battery life drops a bit but still strong (9 hours instead of 10). I rarely charge overnight, normally turn AC power off and leave my MBP in sleep mode. I do use my MBP heavily though, say 10 to 13 hours a day. However, I still find it hard to accept the explanation given by Apple Singapore.  I wonder if other MBP 15" users experience the same? Or... am I the isolated case?

-- edit

To make the question more specific, is it generally expected that, Macbookpro battery will start swelling after 2-3 years use if laptop usage is heavy, e.g. 10-13 hours a day? The concern is not about the slightly reduced battery life (the battery life is still strong), but the physical expansion. I'm asking this because I've used few other laptops before, among which I never experience battery swelling except one (after near 5 years use). If the experience with my MBP is aligned with most other users, which means it's just a matter that I should adjust my expectation, and include the near SGD300 battery cost per 2-3 years into my next purchaser's consideration; Otherwise, I will try to ask them to consider replacing without me paying the full cost.

-- update 2019/6/21

Apple has just announced a battery recall for Macbook Pro 15" mid-2015 model. They confirmed that these batteries may pose fire safety risk:
https://support.apple.com/en-sg/15-inch-macbook-pro-battery-recall

No, it is not “generally expected” that batteries will swell after a certain amount of time.

What you have is a defective battery - it happens.  It needs to be replaced.

The swelling is caused by trapped off gasses from the chemical reaction not venting properly.  It could swell and not cause any issues or it could go into a condition known as thermal runaway where it will burst and catch fire igniting the off gasses in an uncontrolled manner.

This is not typical, but it does happen. Batteries, like everything else produced by humans, aren’t “faultless.”  Trying to pin down how common it is, is like trying to determine your odds of getting a “lemon” Toyota.  It’s rare, but it happens.

MacBooks from 2013 on started using batteries that were glued into place requiring you to replace the entire top case.


How do i fix my movie downloading problems? I bought some tv show episodes and a couple movies on iTunes, but when I try to download them on my iPhone 3GS it downloaded one movie then says "You can download past purchases on this device with just one apple ID every 90 days." What do I do?

You need to wait 90 days and then sign in to your Apple ID on that device. The words from Apple on this matter at this link.

This prevents people from sharing their ID with many devices or many ID with one device to avoid purchasing content on the stores, I believe.

You can find out how long you have to wait by opening iTunes on a computer and signing in to your Account Information.

From there, choose Manage Devices:


Which are main technical reasons to switch to Lion? Everywhere I just read posts and questions about how to make lion like snow leopard.
So... Why not keeping snow leopard, at least while lion's "young"?
Are there any technical / cosmetic reasons for the switch?

Lion's improved security is worth a mention. Don't get me wrong, Lion still has its share of security issues (see LDAP and enterprise updates).  But Apple's inclusion of sandboxing, full hard disk encryption, and a better ASLR goes a long way to reducing exposure to a wide variety of attacks.


Difference between du and Finder file sizes I was having a look at the size of libBLAS.dylib at some location in my Mac and du showed it's file size as 572K while the allocated file size (showed by Finder) was 1.4MB. I've read that the lack of sparse files on HFS+ can cause this discrepancy.

My question is that why would a compiled shared library need to be sparse - after all, it's not like anything is going to be modifying it.

Difference is in units they use.

du uses BLOCKSIZE=4096 bytes by default (rounded  if Human Readable format option -h i.e. df -h)
Finder uses BLOCKSIZE=1000 by default

$du -h /usr/lib/libblas.dylib
4.0K    /usr/lib/libblas.dylib

and same in Finder.


Virtual Box on an non-intel Mac is it possible to install VirtualBox on a non-intel Mac ?

My configuration : G5 with Mac OS X 10.5.8

No as VirtualBox does not emulate the CPU but virtualizies it as described by Oracle.

You would need to find Virtual PC or Bochs (I have used both in the past) or others in a list from www.macwindows.com

However now getting an extra second hand intel box might well be the easiest thing to do and would definitely provide the faster solution.


Make selected text in Notes the default style (no custom fonts, colors, bold, underline etc) I'd like to be able to select some text in Notes and hit a key or something to make that selected text go "default". No bolds, italics, fonts, or big/small sizes. Is there any such feature?

Unfortunately there is no clear formatting option or shortcut, however you can copy and paste the formatting of selected text.

For example if you have a note open with normal formatting, even just opening a new note and typing hello, press Command + Option + C to copy the default normal formatting, then select the note you want to clear and press Command + Option + V to paste that formatting over the text (i.e. clear the formatting).

Also as a point of note, typically you only get these issues from copying and pasting from a formatted document. You can avoid this by using Paste and Match Style which is Command + Shift + Option + V

Hope that helps!


iCal/Calendar and GMail - constantly errors and problems I'm using iCal/Calendar on MacOSX 10.8.2 and have one main account on GMail. It mostly works.

However, about every 1 minute - 12 hours (it really varies a lot), I get some errors from iCal that it couldn't find the CalDAV calendar or it got error 404. But then it works again. (It looks similar to this error although the suggestions there don't help me.)

Also, in addition to that, I have some sub-calendars (e.g. for birthdays). Mostly they show up in iCal, sometimes also twice (and then I have all entries double) and sometimes they completely disappear.

This is really annoying. So annoying that I want to have this resolved or I must find an alternative to iCal. I don't always want to click 'ok' on this error dialog. I also don't want to hope for luck that it shows my sub-calendars.

Is there some way to fix this? Or what are good alternatives to iCal?

The last post on the first page of this discussion states it is a known Google problem. (I haven't personally verified its accuracy, though).

Quoting @Kjell-o:

  Just so everyone is aware. The issue is indeed in Google's system, not in iCal. They are working on a solution. I received this directly from their enterprise support. If you look at the calendar logs, you'll see a ton of error for the calendar service - I'm getting ones that say, premature EOF.

  On another note, the google forums say that the shared calendars no longer act as "delegates" but as normal calendars and as a result they show up in the regular list. This may be the "duplicates" that some people are receiving. If this is you, uncheck the delegates as those will be superflous and most likely the cause of the 404 messages.


Why does OS X warn me before running an app downloaded from the Internet? I'm always hearing that there is practically no malware threat in Mac OS: clearly claims that there is no Mac malware are exaggerated, but the received wisdom is that they are a negligible threat and anti-virus software isn't generally used unless required by a corporate policy.

So that being the case, why does OS X warn me before running an app downloaded from the Internet? What's the perceived risk exactly? Either there's a credible malware threat out there (in which case everyone should be running AV software) or there isn't (in which case the warning is unnecessarily obstructive).

Edit for clarity in response to some surprisingly hostile replies: apologies if my terminology is misleading. I'm using "virus" loosely to mean malware that an anti-virus product would protect against. For example, a software site is hacked and the genuine download replaced with an infected version. A user downloads it in good faith and runs it. That's the kind of thing a good AV client would be expected to deal with: that's what I'm referring to.

Edit for clarity 2 (not by OP): changed "virus" to "malware" in the question to further the distinction.

There is a credible threat. You have to understand that virus means different things to different people, but the entire reason of it is to let a user know that there's a possible attack vector there.

For example, I don't think it counts as a virus when you've entered your admin password and installed a piece of software that trashes your system, it's just malicious software. I do however think something that propagates without user knowledge is, Apple seems to take a tighter view of security in general so the warning is for the casual user, just so they know to be careful.


Mouse Pointer Locator Due to a stroke, I have had some vision impairment in that I sometimes have a hard time locating my mouse pointer on the screen.  I have tried making the mouse pointer larger which helps but is still not the solution.

I am new to the Mac world and would appreciate your help.

In Windows, there is an option where pressing the CTRL key will help to identify the mouse pointer using a temporary display of several radiating concentric circles around the mouse pointer.  Is there something like this on OS X?

In the release of OS X El Capitan, just shake the cursor to locate it.

From Apple:

Call out your cursor.
Lost your cursor on your crowded desktop? Just shake your finger back and forth on the trackpad or give your mouse a shake, and the cursor gets bigger so it’s easy to spot.

To enable/disable this feature, go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Shake mouse pointer to locate

Shake mouse pointer to locate
Quickly move the mouse pointer back and forth to make it bigger.


Merge svg files into PDF I have a directory of about 1000 svg files in svgz extension, which resembles a textbook. An example of the svg files can be found here.How would I merge the files into a PDF while preserving as much quality as possible?

As you can see in this image, the PDF rendering of the svg is incomplete, but a quicklook view or opening it in chrome renders it completely. Google Drive preview also does not render it completely.

Based on nohillside's answer and Matthieu Riegler's answer, this is my solution:

cd /
for i in /path/to/folder/*.svgz
    /Applications/Inkscape.app/Contents/Resources/bin/inkscape $i --export-pdf $i.pdf
end
cd /path/to/folder
launchctl limit maxfiles 10240 10240
ulimit -n 10240
pdfunite *.pdf book.pdf


Will time machine backup my whole Adobe CS apps? I wish to upgrade my OSX and am worried I lose my Adobe CS apps since they were issued by my (ex)college and i do not have the keys/seriel#'s

I didnt quite understand the answer given. Will a TM backup save all this apps/data so if my new osx gives me problems I can 'go back' and recover the previous osx and ALL my apps/data incl the Adobe stuff! ?

thanks D

First of all you should not use applications you don't have licenses for.

Yes, time machine backs up all data. If you chose to reinstall the same OS X version on the same computer everything should be the same.

Please keep in mind, though, that adobe's creative suite (CS1) does not work on newer versions of OA X/macOS.


Can I use SSD Samsung 850 EVo , 250gb in Macbook Mid-2010 (Macbook 7.1) without mounting screws? Can I use SSD Samsung 850 EVO , 250gb in Macbook Mid-2010 (Macbook 7.1) without mounting screws? I got a brand new SSD but without mounting screws. There are mounting screws on my HDD currently, but I can't pull them out of it, because I don't have a screwdriver.

You can run your Mac with the SSD unmounted, but it is HIGHLY DISCOURAGED. This is because:

The connection can come lose, which will cause kernel panics and data loss
Could also harm the SSD if it bounces around in the case
Movement could cause damage to internal components, such as connections.

The best thing to do is to mount the drive. Post a picture of the mounting screws, and someone here will point you to the right screwdriver. They're almost always cheap, and it's worth the money.


Network printer hangs at "sending print data..." I can print a test page, but that's it. Anything else I try to print just hangs at "sending print data...".

I'm running OS X 10.7.2 (Lion). My printer is a Canon PIXMA MP210. I'm using the driver from Canon's website. It works when connected via USB. My connection URI is:

smb://printme:pleas3@192.168.0.3/GoFlex_Home

Anyone seen this before, and know how to fix?

I installed Gutenprint for OS X. The newest version supports my printer. It now prints perfectly using that driver. Weird because it didn't seem like a driver issue. Thanks anyway guys! Hope this helps somebody in the future.


How do I update my MacBook Pro to the latest version of BootCamp? Running Windows 8.1 on my 2013 Macbook Pro that runs OS X 10.10.5.

Want to update the version of BootCamp (and related drivers) that it is running - I don't think it has updated since I partioned and installed Windows 3-6 months ago and I know there have been updates.

I was notified within Windows via Windows Update of new BootCamp and tried the update via Windows update but it failed
Running Apple Software Update within Windows doesn't give me anything BootCamp related to download & install - this Apple Support Article  says that it will be available via this channel but it's not?
The options from within Yosemite + BootCamp all seem to entail a re-partition and reinstall of my entire Windows partition (naturally not first prize)
Download of drivers onto a USB stick from Apple website but this also seems to involve a re-partition.

My end goal is to perform the free upgrade to Windows 10 without reinstalling but I am trying to get BootCamp in order from the beginning.

Related question: how can I tell precisely which version of BootCamp I am actually running. From within Windows I can right click on About Boot Camp and it says 5.1 but this is not specific enough.

Open BootCamp Assistant and open the about window. You should be similar to Version 5.1.4 (500) if you are on 10.10.5

BootCamp gets updated when you update OS X so it's really not dependent upon any version of Windows whatsoever so you would be up date on BootCamp even if you deleted your windows partition and started over.


How can I install both Snow Leopard and Lion on the same machine? Possible Duplicate:
  Can I dual boot Snow Leopard and Lion?

I want to install two operating systems in the same mac pro. Is it possible to  install snowLeopard & Lion on the same macPro like snowLeopard & windows XP?

Yes, it is possible. You need to create a new partition and install the other OS on it. Here's a detailed tutorial. The basic steps are:

Create a new partition using Disk Utility.
Install the new OS on the new partition.
Set default boot partition using Startup Disks.
Manually select boot partition at startup holding down the ⌥ key.


Failed to open/create the internal network 'HostInterfaceNetworking-en0' VirtualBox? I download VirtualBox 5.2.10 r122088 (Qt5.6.3) On my macOS High Sierra. I set up my virtual machines but I cant have bridged adapter apparently. it was working in the last one but in this one, it just Gives me an error whenever I do AttachedTo: Bridged Adapter, Name: en0: WIFI(Air-Port) and in the advanced Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop (82540EM)

And when I start I get an error: Failed to open/create the internal network 'HostInterfaceNetworking-en0' (VERR_SUPDRV_COMPONENT_NOT_FOUND).
Failed to attach the network LUN (VERR_SUPDRV_COMPONENT_NOT_FOUND).

I ran into the same problem and then I solved it.

My installation environment is macOS High Sierra.

Install the extension package Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack corresponding to the VBox version
Create a new virtual machine
Set the network to bridge the network card
Start and select the image installation
During the installation process, open [Network and Host Name], Ethernet, then you can see the LAN IP
Continue to complete the installation.


Disk Partition is disabled for newly format disk I am using macOS High Sierra.

I erased my 1 TB disk using disk utility to using Mac OS Extended (Journaled) file system.

I want to perform partition on my disk and want to split into two parts, i.e. 500 GB both.

But I am unable to do it as partition symbol is disabled in disk utility.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

The command below assumes the external drive is still disk3, as shown in the OP's image.

diskutil  partitionDisk  disk3  2  GPT  JHFS+  Seagate1  500G  JHFS+  Seagate2  R

This command will erase the entire contents of the external drive.


write a "macro" to launch multiple terminal windows with one icon I have to send a sales person to a conference, and I have a mack set up with a MEAN app (running mongo and node app in browser), I don't want my sales person to have to know/worry about how to launch mongo, or the node server, I want a way to let them click on an icon - and it will launch a terminal window that starts mongo, and launches a terminal window that starts node, and launches the web browser to the correct address.
Is there a way to do this?
The commands desired:
Terminal #1

mongod --dbpath=Desktop/Demo/data/db

Terminal #2

cd Desktop/Demo/api
nodemon

Terminal #3

cd Desktop/Demo/ui
nodemon

Browser

localhost:3000

I would make each script be saved to a plain text file and you can name them 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and put them in a folder.

When you name a plain text file abc.command, clicking it runs the script.

I'd also use https://brew.sh to install mongodb so you can just use brew services to run that at launch. It's likely lightweight and you could have a "restart" script in case the demo goes south.

Also - teach your sales people, this is an easy thing to understand and imaging how much better they can sell when they say - I know tech and I know how to run and manage not only the product we're selling but own the demo requirements. Good luck in your venture.


Requirement when submitting app to Apple When I try to set up the app in Apple iTunes Connect to submit my app, I was asked to provide the support url.

Can I use my blog website for this?

I have seen many apps do this and there is no documented requirement as to what the support URL contains.

Table 10-2 of the iTunes Connect Developer Guide (Editing and Updating App Information) contains the reference to need to provide a support URL and there isn't any mention of requirements.

Clearly, the reviewer may visit your site during the review process and perhaps have a software monitor it periodically.

I've not known them to send a request for support during the review process, but I'd hate to fail review due to this item.

My advice is to be absolutely clear and indicate where on your blog the support avenue lies. I'd also set up third party monitoring of that URL in case it goes down during review and once your app is live on the app store.


How do I fix my video and audio on mac I have just recently experienced a problem with my finder, iTunes and others applications on my mac, but I used the safe boot solution and it worked , the apps are now responding, but I have movies and music on my iTunes and I tried watching the videos on vlc but it's saying that my mac lacks quartz extreme acceleration who's is required for video output and my iTunes is not playing any of the songs and the volume is not working as well. Thanks

If you're indicating that you're in Safe Boot and your audio is not working on the built-in speakers of your Mac... that's expected. Safe Boot is a testing environment only and some things simply do not function there due to the imposed limitations of Safe Boot, for the purpose of testing.

If Safe Boot fixed your primary issue, then simply restart. If the issue is still resolved, then hooray. If not, then you have something causing an issue in at least one of the following locations: Launch Agents, Launch Daemons, Startup Items, or Login Items.


Recover data after reinstalling OS X? I was wondering if there is a way to recover photos and things alike from a MacBook after reinstalling the OS X.

Like when you reinstall Windows there is the "Windows.old" folder and you can recover some of the data from there.

The Apple installer does not erase the disk unless you tell it to - that involves opening Disk Utility. So your files are fairly likely to still be there in the Users folder, just under your old user name.

However, you said "She used the installation CD" - you have old hardware running OS X.6 (Snow Leopard) or earlier? those versions DID have an "erase and install" option.

Of course, the easiest way is to simply recover the files from yesterday's backup that you of course have on an external drive.


How to download Maps for Apple maps? How does one cache map data to enable GPS navigation without network access?  I would like to cache maps before visiting an island.

iOS and macOS cache maps as you browse, so the first step is to visit all the places at the scales you wish so your system has a chance to cache the content.

I’m not aware of a way to force or pin these, so you might need a dedicated map if you have to be sure you have a complete offline map data.


Moving from Google (Android) to iPhone I have been using Android for many years, now I have an iPhone.

I am used to Gmail, having my Contacts as Gmail contacts, Google maps, backup of SMS to Google, Chrome with sync of online bookmarks, backup of photos to Google Photos, Google Calendar (in browser)

Basically, in what cases should I look for "native" replacements, and in what cases is it natural to use Google stuff?

(I have used the migration app)

To start, congratulations on the upgrade :)

Now, what I would do is connect the old phone to my computer (Mac or PC), open Finder (or My Computer), and double-click on the GUI representation of the phone to see the contents, now take the folder marked "DCIM" and copy to your computer.

If you have a Mac, open Photos (10.10.3 or later, for earlier see the Windows method below as it's about the same). Now, import the folder into your photo library and sync the library to your iPhone.

On Windows, you'll need to download iTunes from Apple (nowhere else) and then follow this Apple support article, scroll down to "Sync your photos manually with iTunes."


How to remove the automatic ratings from songs in iTunes? I want to remove the automatic ratings from my songs:

However, they don't disappear after right-click->Rating->None

That is because the songs inherit an "estimate rating" from the album rating. If you want to remove these stars, you need to remove the album rating.

Click on the left of the stars from the album the song belongs:

they are now gone:

Apparently, this is the only way to change the album rating (the right-click menu doesn't show any options to change the rating).


How can I connect a Mac Mini to a VGA monitor? I have a Mac Mini and want to connect it to my Lenovo L2230 monitor. I've read instructions about connecting a MacBook Air to a VGA monitor but I can't translate it to my situation. At present the monitor is connected to a pc running Joli OS.

It depends on which version of the Mac Mini you have. According to this Apple Support KB article, older Mac Minis can connect with a normal DVI port, which you can buy a DVI-VGA adapter for.

While the generation after that offered Mini DVI and Mini DisplayPort outputs, both of which can be adapted to VGA output.

Then immediatly after that there was a generation that offered HDMI and Mini DisplayPort output options, only the Mini DisplayPort could be adapted to VGA output.

The current Mac Mini uses HDMI or Thunderbolt(which is compatible with Mini DisplayPort) for output. Only the Mini DisplayPort / Thunderbolt output can be adpated to VGA output

Why no VGA on HDMI that is found here KB article:

  Can the HDMI port drive analog displays (VGA displays for example)
  using adapters?

  No.  The HDMI port will drive digital connections—such as DVI—using
  the adapter that came with the Mac mini, but cannot be used for analog
  displays such as VGA. You can purchase a Mini DisplayPort to VGA
  adapter separately to drive analog displays.

For Mac Minis with the Thunderbolt or Mini DisplayPort, the Mini DisplayPort to VGA
adapter would be the same as that used by MacBooks.

Third party adapters are also be available and at a lower price usually. A good low price source for compatible cables and adapters is MonoPrice.com


about://(null) popup? I encountered a popup similar to this one this morning while checking the weather report at http://touch.woodtv.com/forecast in Safari, though I have not been able to reproduce it.

The title is "about://(null)" and the text "Why you no play Candy Crush!!"  The popup occurred twice.  I tapped Cancel both times.

I suspect the source of this is rogue JavaScript in an ad network, judging from the fact that the screenshot below shows it in an ad-supported application, and when I saw it, I was on an ad-supported website.  My phone is not jailbroken.

I'm wondering if anyone is able to identify the source of the popup definitively.  Speculation is running rampant on Apple's support communities and elsewhere, from push notifications (delete Facebook and all your games!) to carrier notifications (which don't work on iPod Touches…), and my gut tells me little of it is helpful.  But I could also be very wrong.

(This is not my screenshot; it comes from https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5144627.)

UPDATE 1: The Candy Crush people have this to say, but I'm not (yet) convinced there's actually something installed that is to blame: https://forums.king.com/forum/candy-crush-saga/bugs-known-issues-ccs/recent-spam-why-you-no-play-candy-crush/?entryId=2326

UPDATE 2: Just reproduced it in the iOS Simulator while clicking around woodtv.com, but I'm not sure how to track it down further from here.

Since I got the popup in iOS Simulator, I was able to use Safari's Develop menu to inspect the page.  From there it was just an exercise in rooting around to find the obfuscated JavaScript, which, when run through jsbeautifier.org (which has the side effect of de-obfuscating it), looks like this:

var m = ['iphone', 'ipod', 'ipad', 'android'],
    u = navigator['userAgent']['toLowerCase']();
for (var d = 0; d < m['length']; d++) {
    if (u['indexOf'](m[d]) != -1) {
        if (confirm('Why you no play Candy Crush!!')) {
            window['top']['location'] = document['getElementById']('creative')['href'];
            break;
        };
    };
};

I think it's pretty safe to say that this is indeed a rogue ad, since on the page where I saw it, the ad itself was blank.  It's trying to get you to click through to a link.

So, in other words, it's a real pain in the buttocks, but probably not actual malware.  The ad in question is apparently delivered by AdMax by NEXAGE, so I'll see what I can do about alerting them.


Mavericks 'close the clam' woes I typically use my "Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013" MBP at work with the lid closed, connected to an external monitor, a bluetooth trackpad, and a USB keyboard. For the last few months, the results of disconnecting these items and opening the lid have been very frustrating: a black screen that cannot be woken. I end up power-cycling.

I started to compensate by opening the lid before disconnection. For a while, that worked. Most recently, the result of this is that the monitor is alive, but the builtin keyboard and trackpad are ignored. The bluetooth trackpad (if in range) works just fine. This latest behavior seems to me to cast some doubt in the theory that this is a duplicate of MBP Mid 2009 thinks the lid is closed permanently, but only some doubt. Log starts like this, I will shortly post more of it elsewhere.

See a gist containing a whole lot of log, exerpt:

Aug 29 06:34:56 tinfoilhat-2 kernel[0]: full wake (reason 1) 8841 ms
Aug 29 06:34:56 tinfoilhat-2 kernel[0]: vm_compressor_fastwake_warmup (448 - 9340) - starting
Aug 29 06:34:56 tinfoilhat-2 kernel[0]: AppleCamIn::systemWakeCall - messageType = 0xE0000320
Aug 29 06:34:56 tinfoilhat-2 kernel[0]: AppleCamIn::systemWakeCall - messageType = 0xE0000340
Aug 29 06:34:56 tinfoilhat-2 kernel[0]: SMC::smcHandleInterruptEvent WARNING status=0x0 (0x20 not set) notif=0x0
Aug 29 06:34:57 tinfoilhat-2 kernel[0]: AppleCamIn::systemWakeCall - messageType = 0xE0000340
Aug 29 06:34:57 tinfoilhat-2 kernel[0]: AppleCamIn::systemWakeCall - messageType = 0xE0000300
Aug 29 06:34:57 tinfoilhat-2.local WindowServer[103]: CGXDisplayDidWakeNotification [16519052069849]: posting kCGSDisplayDidWake
Aug 29 06:34:57 tinfoilhat-2.local WindowServer[103]: handle_will_sleep_auth_and_shield_windows: Deferring.
Aug 29 06:34:57 tinfoilhat-2 kernel[0]: [BNBTrackpadDevice::init][80.14] init is complete
Aug 29 06:34:57 tinfoilhat-2 kernel[0]: [BNBTrackpadDevice::handleStart][80.14] returning 1
Aug 29 06:34:57 tinfoilhat-2 kernel[0]: [AppleMultitouchHIDEventDriver::start] entered
Aug 29 06:34:57 tinfoilhat-2.local WindowServer[103]: Received display connect changed for display 0x3f003e
Aug 29 06:34:57 tinfoilhat-2.local WindowServer[103]: Found 1 modes for display 0x003f003e [1, 0]
Aug 29 06:34:57 tinfoilhat-2.local WindowServer[103]: Received display connect changed for display 0x2b10130f
Aug 29 06:34:57 tinfoilhat-2.local WindowServer[103]: Found 1 modes for display 0x2b10130f [1, 0]
Aug 29 06:34:57 tinfoilhat-2.local WindowServer[103]: Display 0x2b10130f changed state to offline
Aug 29 06:34:57 tinfoilhat-2.local WindowServer[103]: No display devices are on-line. Switching to virtual display mode

This is almost certainly hardware related. The magnetic reed switch (or hall effect sensor) depending on vintage of the Mac is faulty or failing and potentially voltage fluctuations due to sleeping are affecting it as well.

Any chance you have had it looked at by a tech?


Stolen Phone - How to Know if iPhone sound was triggered/un-triggered I accidentally left my phone in an Uber. It is still turned on and I have been using the Find My iPhone app to track it - the Uber driver claims to not have it in his car, however, the location changes every few minutes and going to all bars throughout the night - therefore leading me to believe it is still in the Uber. If I play the sound through the Find My iPhone app, is there a way to tell if someone has turned off the sound once it begins playing? I know you automatically receive an email that a sound was played, but I'd like to know if you can find out if someone turned the sound off.

The sound will play on the device regardless of the silent switch, and when the device plays a sound it reports back to iCloud and you will receive an email saying that the sound has been played. While there's no way to be sure that anybody heard it, you can safely assume that the sound was played if you get that email.


What is the font the battery percentage uses? A bit of a stupid question, but what is the font the battery percentage (pictured below) in OS X uses?

It is not the standard font you can get by calling [NSFont menuBarFontOfSize:0], I have noticed.

It's very likely to be Lucida Grande 13pt (It's the system default font).


I can't use Mail.app in El Capitan to encrypt email with a self-signed certificate I generated a self-signed root S/MIME certificate using Certificate Assistant. I made sure the resulting certificate was in my Keychain, and trusted it explicitly. In attempts to send encrypted mail to that account the encryption icon is never activated and the certificate does not show up on the TLS certificate list for the account (Mail Preferences). I've also tried creating a Certificate Authority and using that to generate a leaf S/MIME certificate, with the same results. I found detailed instructions for setting up server and client certificates at

developer.apple.com/library/ios/technotes/tn2326/_index.html

but, following those instructions, trying to adapt for S/MIME, produced the same result.

Signing mail from that account works fine.

Is there any way to do this?

First, to get the certificate to show up in the TLS section of the account, you need to import the cert into your keychain in P12 format. This is important because if you only import the cert (.crt), then that is only the public-facing portion of the identity (i.e. the public key). When you import the cert as a .p12, you are importing both the .crt and the private key associated with it. Now, keychain recognizes this as YOUR identity and will let you select it in mail as the source of encryption and signing. Also be sure that the certificate you are using has the correct authority to encrypt and sign email. You can verify this by checking for the presence of "email protection" under extended key usage and "Digital signature" and "key encipherment" under Key usage. Without these, you will likely have similar problems.

Similarly, be sure the .crt of the person you are encrypting is in your keychain, or you won't be able to encrypt TO them.


Why AppleTV displays "An error occurred loading this content. Try again later" error? I bought my AppleTv a couple of weeks ago (Black Friday) got it set up and running just fine. I've been enjoying Netflix and video podcasts, overall its been great.

Then unexpectedly starting sometime yesterday and with increasing frequency today I've been getting the error:

  An error occurred loading this content. Try again later.

All the videos start playing, and play for usually a minute or more but then stop and that message appears. I can get back to the previous screen and hit play again and it plays the content, again for just a minute or so.

I've noticed it with video podcasts, Netflix streaming and Youtube streams.

Could this be a problem with the AppleTV or might it be my ISP? Thoughts, solutions appreciated...

If you hold down the Menu button and the down arrow on the remote for 10 sec until the LED on the front of the Apple TV begins to flash. Let go of the buttons and the Apple TV will do a soft reboot.
This has been happening to me several times a week and doing this seems to fix the issue.


Multiple applications quit unexpectedly (Chrome, Evernote, Pages, etc) My OSX 10.8 works fine until today. Multiple applications quit unexpectedly, including Chrome, Evernote, Pages. It can't be fix even if I reopen or reinstall these apps.

I've conducted software update yesterday, not sure if it's one of the reasons. If I remember correctly, it's HP software or raw image processing, something like that, not a major system upgrade.

Anybody run into this problem? How did you solve it? Thanks!

The best way to solve a general issue like this is to focus on one problem.

Pick one app (perhaps Pages, since you can get good Apple support on it if needed) and follow the typical troubleshooting steps.

Get a pen and paper and write down what you change:

Reboot the machine and test that one app
Reboot into safe mode and test that app
Make a new user account and see if the problem happens there
etc…

The pen and paper also help to note the time when things fail - so you can look over the logs or get trained help when you have exhausted the things you can address in troubleshooting.

If you don't have a good background on things to try, Apple has a nice article on how to troubleshoot:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1199

The real art here is how to decide it's software and not hardware.


How to enable CTRL+4/5/6? On Mountain Lion 10.8.2, when I use the Keyboard Viewer, I can see that Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2, Ctrl+3 register correctly when I type them.

Ctrl+4 or Ctrl+5 however, only show the Ctrl key being hit and the numbers ignored.

How can I enable all the Ctrl+# keys?

I don't really need them for spaces - rather, I need all the keys available for SC2 (FWIW, Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2, Ctrl+3 work fine in SC2, but the higher numbers don't).

I had a similar issue of unresponsive Ctrl+3 and Ctrl+4 keystrokes using OS X 10.8.4 and found a solution that worked for me using information from this answer.

Open ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.symbolichotkeys.plist (I used XCode).
Update keys for the shortcuts which are giving you trouble by switching enabled to NO. I switched 120 and 121, which represent Ctrl+3 and Ctrl+4. I am not sure about Ctrl+5 or Ctrl+6.
Restart your computer.

Hope this helps!


Command Line Tools on Mac OS X 10.7.5 Okay, I have a problem with my Mac OS X 10.7.5 because I have to learn to program, I was programming "Hello world" and I was using the terminal and "Sublime Text" for text editor but my terminal doesn't execute the function because it doesn't have the command tools, and I searched command tools for my Mac and I found "XCode" but it is for Mac 10.8 What do you recommend for what the "Terminal" execute the functions?

tl;dr
open terminal and paste xcode-select --install

In general, you don't need whole XCode suite ;)


OSA Script failing for JavaScript All the Sudden I'm running a simple Alfred 3 workflow as I always have but the osascript portion of it is failing all the sudden.  I've restarted my machine and of course Alfred 3.  This is the error I get in the debug panel:  [ERROR: action.script] osascript: no such component "JavaScript".

I'm on OSX 10.12.5

If it helps, I actually submitted the question to Alfred first and they sent me here, see the original Alfred forum post:  https://www.alfredforum.com/topic/11058-osa-script-failing-for-javascript-all-the-sudden/?tab=comments#comment-57404

For those who may experience this issue in the future, I was able to resolve the issue by deleting the /Users/your short name/Library/Preferences/com.apple.ScriptEditor2.plist file and rebooting.  I can only assume this file must have somehow become corrupted and it kept the JXA option from being accessible as a script type.


Using "&" and "|" in SSHPass script I am making a script for my parents on their Mac's so that they can SSH into my Linux computer, and send commands, create popups etc.

This is one of my commands:

sshpass -p Password ssh maliciouzzhd@10.0.0.1 export DISPLAY=:0 & mate-session-save --force-logout

My problem is that the Mac treats the "&" as not in the sshpass script, and executes the argument after using the Mac terminal, no SSH.

So

sshpass -p Password ssh maliciouzzhd@10.0.0.1 export DISPLAY=:0 & mate-session-save --force-logout

would execute

export DISPLAY=:0

in the SSH session, but

mate-session-save --force-logout

would be executed in the Mac terminal.

If anyone could help me out with this, it would be greatly appreciated.

SSH accepts single argument as a command, not multiple ones, so the command line should look like this (note the quotes):

sshpass -p Password ssh maliciouzzhd@10.0.0.1 "export DISPLAY=:0 & mate-session-save --force-logout"

But the general idea might not work, because you didn't allow X11 forwarding (add -Y switch to the ssh).


MBP 13" Early 2011 Thunderbolt Firmware Version - How to update 22.1 to latest version I bought a Kanex KTU10 to add USB 3.0 support on my machine because its only on USB 2.0. The product said my machine can support the product but when I plug it in it didn't work, while Mini DP to HDMI can work.

Kanex support told me to update my firmware but I am on MacOS Sierra now how do I update my Thunderbolt Firmware on my OS version? Image below is the information of my Thunderbolt.

Since you're on macOS Sierra you should already have the latest firmware version compatible with your MBP.

As far as I know, the only firmware update for your MBP was issued about five years ago. For more info, refer to About EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Mac computers.


How to get file metadata? How to get extensive filesystem information about a file?

I have a file that consistently causes errors in my backup utility (Unison). I'm trying to narrow down a bug and find out how it is different from other files. I copied that file and a copy backups fine so bug is not related to file contents. Then I renamed original to make sure a bug is not related to a filename.

So now I have 2 files with exact same contents, same xattrs (I checked) but one of them causes backup to fail. What else could be different between those files?

Also it is not a single case. I have many similar problem files all of which are created by the same program (DaVinci Resolve)

update: I found out that while files show the exact same size in ls -l the problem file has larger size in Finder 'Get Info' dialog. So there is some king of metadata attached to that file. How to view it?

update2: I tried to use mdls and ls -l@ as advised but didn't get an answer. It just shows that file sizes are different but didn't show why. Here is some additional info:

Romans-MacBook-Pro:cut poma$ mdls src.mov
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate = 2015-01-19 06:12:45 +0000
kMDItemFSCreationDate      = 2015-01-05 04:54:25 +0000
kMDItemFSCreatorCode       = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags       = 0
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon     = 0
kMDItemFSInvisible         = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden = 0
kMDItemFSIsStationery      = 0
kMDItemFSLabel             = 0
kMDItemFSName              = "src.mov"
kMDItemFSNodeCount         = 290301124
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID      = 99
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID       = 99
kMDItemFSSize              = 290301124
kMDItemFSTypeCode          = ""

Romans-MacBook-Pro:cut poma$ mdls copy.mov
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate = 2015-01-19 06:56:04 +0000
kMDItemFSCreationDate      = 2015-01-19 06:56:04 +0000
kMDItemFSCreatorCode       = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags       = 0
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon     = 0
kMDItemFSInvisible         = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden = 0
kMDItemFSIsStationery      = 0
kMDItemFSLabel             = 0
kMDItemFSName              = "copy.mov"
kMDItemFSNodeCount         = 290300838
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID      = 99
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID       = 99
kMDItemFSSize              = 290300838
kMDItemFSTypeCode          = ""

.

Romans-MacBook-Pro:cut poma$ ls -la@
total 10681888
...
-rw-r--r--@ 1 poma  staff   290300838 Jan 19 13:56 copy.mov
    com.apple.quarantine            22
    Mac_Metadata            20
-rw-rw-rw-@ 1 poma  staff   290300838 Jan 19 13:12 src.mov
    com.apple.quarantine            22
    Mac_Metadata            20

.

Romans-MacBook-Pro:cut poma$ md5 src.mov
MD5 (src.mov) = 7d59d01e5efffe3a258eff86d8b775a0
Romans-MacBook-Pro:cut poma$ md5 copy.mov
MD5 (copy.mov) = 7d59d01e5efffe3a258eff86d8b775a0

As you can see src.mov has different size in ls and mdls while for copy.mov they are the same.

You can list all the metadata attached to a file with the mdls command

See this answer for a sample https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/165098/19086

ls -l@ will show which extended attributes are attached to a file


How to change Mac OS X iCal's calendar color for Microsoft Exchange server account? I'm using iCal for managing my schedules in my company. And my company is using Microsoft Exchange server for schedules. When I added the company account to iCal, it set the calendar color as orange. I have been using blue for my working schedule. So it's confusing me so much!

Usually, other accounts support changing the color by clicking Get Info menu. But this Exchange account doesn't show any configurable options. How can I change the color?

I'm running Snow Leopard and my iCal Get Info command allows me to change colors.  Here's a screen capture where I can make this change.

To reach this window, I highlight the exchange "Calendar" in the left hand sidebar of iCal and enter Cmd I.

In my iCal setup, I have "Home" (orange) "Gmail" (blue)and "Exchange" (red).  I can get info and change the color for any of the three calendars.  In my list, I have "Home", "Gmail" and "Exchange". Here is how 2 appts look:

What do you see when you get info on your exchange account?


How do I restore /Applications When trying to copy an application into /Applications, I accidentally copied MyApp.app/Contents into /Applications, turning it into an executable package instead of a folder.

I have removed /Applications/Contents and made the app accessible as it should be (/Applications/MyApp.app/Contents), but /Applications did not revert to its former glory.

Currently, if I navigate to Applications in finder, it opens a terminal into /Applications :(

Edit: I realized Applications is now of type "package". I followed the directions here: http://www.switchingtomac.com/tutorials/how-to-restore-a-folder-that-has-turned-into-a-package-in-os-x/ to no avail.

OK - this is an odd one. The most straightforward solution would be to use Time Machine to restore /Applications from the backup prior to it becoming marked as a package and not as a folder.

Barring that, You will need to boot into single user mode and delete /Application/Contents and perhaps some other files (it's hard to know what exactly else got messed up) by mounting the filesystem in read/write mode.

 /sbin/mount -uw /
 rm -rf /Applications/Contents
 # and optionally
 mv /Applications /badApplication_package

Alternatively, you could try rebooting with Command R and just reinstalling the OS - hoping that /Applications gets corrected. If you were worried about the rm command, you could also rename /Applications and reinstall your OS - hand moving back just the Apps you need being careful not overwrite things again.

This is a rare problem to face - so congratulations on forcing yourself to learn how packages and apps get made on OS X the hard way.


Using iPhone while charging and when charged Is it OK to use an iPhone 4 that is fully charged while keeping it plugged to wall outlet?

I am worried about stressing battery too much since it is charging and discharging at the same time.

Any issues here?

None whatsoever unless you somehow drop the phone since it's attached to a cord.

The charging system on iOS devices is adaptive and only engages when the battery needs charging current. It's smart and slows down the charge appropriately whether you are using the device or not.

Put another way, the device only asks for enough power to run itself and charge if needed from the wall. The wall doesn't send too much power so there's no risk of overcharging.


How do I get the name of the wifi network I'm connected to? I know how to find it out in Objective C, but I need to do this in a shell script.

(I could compile and install one of the example programs given in the link, but surely there is already a command line program installed that will give me this information?)

I have MacOS X Yosemite, 10.10.2.

/Sy*/L*/Priv*/Apple8*/V*/C*/R*/airport -I | awk '/ SSID:/ {print $2}'

This uses the airport CLI, with the -I flag to show information and filter using awk for just the SSID shows the name of the network.


Why did I get incorrect wifi password pop up for unknown network on iPhone? A few months ago my iPhone had a pop up saying 'incorrect wifi password' and telling me to enter the correct password, however it was for a network that I had never connected to or seen before. It happened when I was on safari on my 4G but wifi must have still been on. At the time I thought nothing of it but now am starting to think it was a bit odd. It hasn't happened again since.

I'm definitely sure I hadn't connected to that network before (the phone was only about a month old at the time and I'm very careful about what wifi I connect to).

I don't think my phone actually connected to the network as the incorrect password pop up appeared, I was also on a car journey at the time so wouldn't have been in range for very long.

Was wondering if anyone has any explanation for why this might have happened? Is there any risk of hacking to my phone?

The simple answer was the alert is not sensitive to a communication error from the server and lumps all Failures to authenticate into - password must be wrong.

Instead of retrying is presumes the cause of the error was human input not  generating a successful challenge and response from the server.


Is it possible to use Intel AMT to manage MacBooks? https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/intel-active-management-technology.html

I've heard MacBook intel chips are AMT-capable, but AMT isn't ever enabled so you can't actually use it. Is this true?

Neither SCCM nor AMT are viable management suites for macOS. The former has some limited success doing anything, AMT flat out isn’t well documented. One recent vulnerability seems to cover chipsets Apple uses, but there’s no Apple link amongst the 30+ vendor links to patch those vulnerabilities:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000025619/software.html

I would look to one of the traditional Mac MDM solutions to manage your Macs. I would also contact intel and Apple if you have a specific serial you want to check is or is not vulnerable and get an on the record answer.

As far as pragmatic solutions to manage macs, start with a free hosted MDM like https://www.jamf.com/products/jamf-now/ and then you can evaluate if you want to pay for a hosted service as you grow or partner / build your Mac MDM solution from open source like https://www.munki.org/munki/


Updating to iOS 6.1 disables cellular FaceTime? FaceTime over AT&T's 4G (you know, 3G) on my iPhone 4s (with a 2GB data plan) was enabled as of a few days ago. Haven't checked the settings since then, but I just updated to iOS 6.1 from 6.0.1, and after a message came up about saying that the iPhone was now using the new iCloud email address for iMessages, I decided to check on FaceTime, and it appears that the cellular data option for FaceTime is switched off again (and I can't enable it, just shows the 'call AT&T' popup). I don't really know for sure if I can blame iOS 6.1 because as its been a few days since I checked the setting it could be coincidence.

What do you think? A glitch in AT&T's system that accidentally temporarily enabled my 4G FaceTime? Something about the update turning it off? When I asked AT&T, they were surprised that it was even working at all a few days ago.

It isn't exactly iOS 6.1 and it sounds like AT&T at it again. I updated my iPhone 4S to iOS 6.1 yesterday as well and my Facetime over Cellular is still enabled. I am on a shared data plan, though, which has always - since iOS 6.0 - had the option to Facetime over Cellular.

I think AT&T's response when you asked them shows who is ultimately at fault here. Even though 6.1 isn't exactly at fault, it is possible that AT&T hasn't fully opened the possibility to Facetime over cellular to users with data packages like yours, and that upgrading to iOS 6 somehow re-instated that until AT&T does better opening it up.


Graphical Ping Plotter, similar to Perfgraph? On Windows, I use a program called Perfgraph, which, among other things, showed a visual graph of ping latency to various hosts in my Task bar. Here's an example:

The ping metric is the graph on the far right.

Does anyone know if something like this is available for OS X? I use it to ping my router and my DNS name server so that I always have a graphical indicator on my connection quality, and if there are problems I know if the source is inside or outside my router.

So far, the only "alternative" is the CLI ping command, which just doesn't present the information in as easily digestible format as Perfgraph.

I don't need all the other functions of Perfgraph, I just want that ping plotter!

Thanks all!

I have a nice CLI solution - it's called mtr. It's installable via homebrew or ports.

Here is a screenshot:


In-store iPhone 5 battery replacement? I have an iPhone 5 that's eligible for Apple's battery replacement program. I haven't actually had any trouble with it, but I suppose I should take advantage of the offer before it expires. There are two Apple stores in the area, so I'd prefer to take the phone to one of them. But the web page doesn't actually say whether battery replacements are done on site or how long the process takes.

What should I expect here? Would Apple replace the battery while I wait? Would they ask me to leave the phone a few hours or overnight? I don't imagine they'd swap it for another phone, if only because they wouldn't have the original iPhone 5 in stock at this point.

I had a battery replaced on the day after iPhone 6 launch and the process took 50 minutes door to door. (Entering the store to leaving). We did have a reservation and chose to stay past the "50 minutes" to let the iCloud restore finish and get key apps from the in store cache / fast internet.

I would expect you might get in and out 10 minutes quicker on a less busy day and could wait twice that if several phones were ahead of you to have batteries replaced.


How can I tell when it's a good time to buy a MacBook Pro? I want to know if a particular date (for instance, October 1, 2010) is a good date to go ahead and buy a Macbook pro, or whether I should wait few months for new models to come out. How can I figure out whether a computer I buy will soon become obsolete?

See the comments to improve the question, but Macrumors' buyers' guide always has suggestions if now is a good time to buy.


What could be causing this screen problem? I have a Mac Book Pro Early 2011, with upgraded RAM (Mac manufactured) and i7 processor. It is currently connected through the miniDisplay Port to a second VGA monitor (using the miniDisplay Port to VGA adapter).

This morning I woke up the MBP that I had left under Sleep and was surprise to see this. The second monitor, however, did not show this problem although the mouse cursor was all pixelated, much like the MBP screen.

Also, the computer was slow and unresponsive and I rebooted it.

Restarting my MBP fixed the problem.

It hasn't happened again so far, but it troubles me. What could have caused such a problem?

I would think that the graphics driver power management somehow failed. If you used a less sophisticated Operating System you would see this way more often. (Especially on Linux I saw patterns like that all the time the driver crashed or before the framebuffer got initialised). If your computer would have been manufactured earlier there was some problem with nvidia chips, however your computer should not be affected.


Is it safe to use this 60W PD charged for a late 2016 MacBook Pro 13"? The bundle charger is 61W. This USB Type-C charger comes with Power Delivery 60W:

Can I use it as an alternative for charing my MacBook Pro 13" (late 2016)?

Generally speaking, using a charger with a lower watage rating than the charger that came with the device will just mean that the device will take a longer time to charge. As long as the charger delivers the correct voltage (which is set by the USB specifications) it will not damage the device. Thus, if you trust that the charger properly follows the specifications laid out by the USB industry group, it should not pose a danger, but could take longer than a "proper" charger.

Using a charger with a higher watage rating should also work, but has the potential danger of allowing the device to draw more power than is safe for the device. In this case you would need to trust that the device maker has followed good design process and limits the power that it draws rather than just taking the maximum that the charger can push out.

I trust Apple not to allow their devices to draw more power than they can handle, and thus often hook up low power MacBookAir devices to high power MacBookPro chargers.


How to configure mac book pro to act as an Access Point (and not a router)? I am connected to internet via ethernet cable on my MBP laptop. I want to have access to internet wirelessly on my iPad as well. How can I config my MBP (OSX 10.6.8) to act as an "Access Point" ?

I already tried the internet sharing via system preferences.
I could connect to my shared network on my iPad, but the problem is my ISP does now allow network sharing! On my iPad it shows the following error message:

"We have detected that you are using a router or a device that is performing network connection sharing. Sharing a connection with multiple devices is against out term of use."..."You can use a router on our network, however it must be configures to act as an access point."
Then it mentions that I should turn off DHCP in the router settings.

I am in a student residence and do not have access to the ISP's support staff.
The description of the my internet connection contract says that I have right to use two devices manually. There is one ethernet socket in the room.

How can I get internet in my iPad?

Thanks

Just replace the word router with your Mac.

  If you are living in student accommodation and you would like to use a
  router (in your case the MBP), then you must follow the below
  instructions to ensure it is correctly configured for use on our
  network. Using a router that performs the DHCP service is against our
  terms of use. Failure to disable the DHCP service of your router may
  result in your connection being suspended.

  If you are living in residential accommodation, your router does not
  need to be re-configured. Please see our FAQs for more information.

  1) Connect the power cable to your router, and connect your router to
  your PC using an Ethernet cable. This cable needs to go from one of
  the LAN ports on the router into an Ethernet port on your PC. Please
  see the diagram below.

Follow additional instructions here


MacBook Air (mid 2013, 13", i5) - Geekbench scores on MacOS and Ubuntu Today I decided to do a clean install on MacBook Air - did an online recovery, erased the disk and installed MacOS High Sierra. Even clean it didn't behave really good so I decided to try Geekbench - with the Mac restarted and only the Geekbench app running - I got pretty low score -  1251 on single core and 2457 on multiple cores.

By a chance I had a Kali Linux (Debian) Live USB nearby so I decided to boot it and try Geekbench again. Got about three times better scores on both.

Got really suspicious and decided to wipe the Mac again and installed Ubuntu 17.10 to try the test again and it got an even better score -  - 3294 on single core and 5773 on multiple cores.

It just feels much better - runs smoother, everything feels faster...
Why could that be? I'm super confused. Can anyone shed some light on my case?

Why would that be?

Any number of reasons; however I would point towards testing methodology.  Looking at the Geekbench Score for a MacBook Air 11" Mid 2013, it got double your posted score and fairly in line with Ubuntu.

It's important to note that the score on the following chart are the "average" scores - meaning many higher and lower.

  To make sure the results accurately reflect the average performance of
  each Mac, the chart only includes Macs with at least five unique
  results in the Geekbench Browser.

Why the large variance?

macOS High Sierra, you didn't specify if you were using the latest updated version.
One test was done with a live CD
The Ubuntu score is referenced directly (unlike the others).  What "tuning" was done, if any is not noted.
macOS will limit the amount of CPU available to manage temperature.  Ubuntu does not.

Those are just some of the possible reasons for the large variance and is by no means an exhaustive list.


Logging into iCloud on a Network Managed user account If I log into a Mac at my uni, then I log on as a network user, so none of my files are actually stored on the Mac and I can log on to any machine and anyone can log into their account on this Mac.

Is it safe to log into iCloud in this case, as in noone else will be able to access it after I log out? Will it try and sync my entire iCloud Drive to this Mac?

Personally, I wouldn't add your personal iCloud account to a shared Mac. It can be done but you would need to set it up to not sync anything to the Mac and by doing that you are using iCloud in the way it was really designed to be used. Plus you would need to sign out each time for security. You would be better off accessing your iCloud account on a web browser.


Does a 2017 15" Macbook Pro top case fit on a 2016 Macbook Pro? The keyboard on the 2016 MacBook Pro is very prone to breaking, I've had the top case replaced twice in the past year so far and and I'm for a third time before warranty expires. Does the new 2017 top case fit on a 2016 Macbook Pro? I heard they fixed the keys in the latest iteration.

Best case they will cover it under warranty and switch to the new top case, worst case I'm considering buying a 2017 top case myself and changing.

No - the parts, keys, electronics and case cables are different.

I'd consider selling the 2016 and buying new if that's the way you want to go.


MacBook Pro fan is not running on default settings regardless of how hot it gets I have a MacBook Pro (Retina) and I am noticing that the fan is not running at all even though the temperature gets to more than 60c and the system starts lagging. I had iStat Menu installed and when I switched from default to manual setting and set the speed the fan would start spinning.

Now I am using the manual setting and running it on 4000rpm and the temperature gets to between 40c-50c. I am concerned about why this is happening? Why does it not work automatically on the default setting even though it gets so hot to the point that it starts to lag. Is it a software bug or does my fan have some sort of hardware issue?

One more thing: when I adjust the fan speed slider from 4000 to 2000rpm the fan suddenly stops working and I can not hear any sound and the temperature starts to heat up.

I also uninstalled the iStat Menu to see if it makes a difference, but the fan still doesn't run no matter how hot the laptop gets. Please advise the possible solution to this problem.

I am running Mac OSX 10.11.

P.S. Sorry for my bad English.

Have you tried resetting the SMC?

For MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, and MacBooks where you can’t remove the battery on your own (i.e. it's a built-in battery), here’s what you do:

Shut down your computer
Keep the MagSafe adapter (or power cable) plugged in.
Press at the same time shiftoptioncontrol (on the left side of the keyboard) and the power button
Let go
Turn your computer back on with the power button.

Let us know if this resolves your issue.

[UPDATE]

A lot has happened in the Mac space (incl. the various MacBook models) over the past couple of years and the process for resetting the SMC can differ now due to additional criteria (e.g. if there's a T2 chip installed, etc).

For the latest advice refer to How to reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac on Apple's website.


Numbers app: conditional highlighting using color scales? Is this possible, like you can in other spreadsheet software to do something like this? (color scales)

Try conditional highlighting - this doesn't provide quite that high level of automation, as you have to add rules one-by-one - but you can automate values with all sorts of controls. Find the main menu in Format -> Cell -> Conditional Highlighting...
Here is the main menu:

You have options such as:
Numbers | Text | Date | Duration | Blank
Hope this helps :-)


External display color problem So I have a weird problem...

This only happens when I boot into macOS (10.14.4), when I boot into Win10 via bootcamp, everything is perfect and no color issues at all.

So this rules out any hardware problems.

I am not too familiar with macOS so maybe its just a user setting somewhere but the color options under display don't do anything to solve the issue.

Suggestions?

Here is the fix! It has to do with the EDID settings.

https://michaelcivitillo.com/overriding-edid-on-osx-for-external-monitors/


Thunderbolt dock statation power charging There are two types of dock stations on the market:

Docks use external MagSafe adapter to charge MBP.
(MagSafe should be bought additional from Apple).
Docks with only Thunderbolt connection to MBP.

With first one power supplying is clear.
How does second type can charge MBP?

Is it possible to charge laptop through thunderbolt without MagSafe?

P.S. Consider MacBook Pro 2014-2015

The second type simply does not charge the MBP.

It is not possible to charge the laptop (MBP) through the Thunderbolt port.


Old MS Outlook Express for Mac copy/export/move Have an original Apple iMac OS 8.5 , with MS Outlook Express for Mac 4.01 .  My wife and I would like to copy/export the old email messages(from our courtship) off that system.  What File Extensions were used for email messages then?  What folder(s) should I be looking for?

Your question doesn't specify how you want to be able to view/store them, but I can think of a few options. Unfortunately, MS Outlook Express for Mac 4.01 doesn't offer any export option, so these are all workarounds.

Backup the actual data

Before doing anything else you should backup the actual data. I'm going to assume everything is in its default location, but if not this should be enough for you to locate where the data is.

Double-click on the Macintosh HD icon on your desktop
You should see an Internet folder - open this folder
Now you should see an Internet Applications folder - open this folder
You should now see the Outlook Express folder - open this folder
You should now see an OE Users(s) folder - open this folder
Now you'll see a Main User folder - open this folder
Now you'll see an Internet Mail folder - this is the folder that contains all your email data, including Inbox, Sent Items, etc.
Copy this folder onto another disk

Now that you've got the actual mail data backed up, it's time to look at a number of options.

Manually drag & copy the emails you want

One option you have is to select all the relevant emails, drag them into a folder on your iMac's desktop, and then transfer them to be read with MS Outlook for Mac. To do this:

Create a folder on your old iMac's desktop
Open Outlook Express
Select the emails you want to keep (or you could just select all)
Use your mouse to drag them all into the folder you created at Step 1
Open the folder to check that you now have x number of files in there (there should be one for each email)
Now you need to transfer that folder on to your newer Mac. Probably the easiest way to do this is to copy the folder onto a USB flash drive and then transfer them via the drive onto your newer Mac. However, depending on your setup, you may have other options open to you.

Once you've copied the folder onto your newer Mac, you can open it using MS Outlook. Depending on the version you have, you may need to drag an individual email onto the Outlook icon on your Dock in order to view it.

Using various apps as a go-between to view emails in Apple Mail

If you're wanting to access these old emails in Apple Mail, one option may be to use others apps as go-betweens to try to get the data into Apple Mail. However, this may be a hit/miss exercise. By way of example, one way this could work is to do as follows:

Download Outlook Express 5 to install on your old iMac
Download Eudora 5 to install on your old iMac
Use Outlook Express 5 to import your emails from Outlook Express 4
Use Eudora to import the email from Outlook Express 5
Transfer the Eudora data to your newer Mac
Use Apple Mail to try and import mail from Eudora

The above is not a step-by-step guide, just a broad summary. As you can see though, it requires a lot of importing data into various formats and may or may not get you to your end goal.

Save your emails as PDFs

This option is probably a good one in that you can view them on any device and choose to combine them as one PDF, or make a book, etc from them.

Probably the easiest way to do this is to download an old version of Adobe Acrobat to install on your old iMac and use that to save each of the emails as PDFs. You can then transfer the PDFs to your newer device.

Another option is to do this after you've transferred the emails to your newer computer via one of the above methods.

Save your emails as Text

This option is another good way to go, because like PDFs you can view them on any device. In fact, you can do this directly from Outlook Express as follows:

Create a folder on your old iMac's desktop
Open Outlook Express
Select one of the emails you want to keep
Go to File > Save As
In the Format drop-down menu, select SimpleText Text Document
Navigate to the folder you created at Step 1
Click on the Save button
Repeat Steps 3 to 7 for each email you want to keep
Now you need to transfer that folder on to your newer Mac (e.g. using a USB flash drive)

Once you've done this they will each open in TextEdit (or another similar app if you're using Windows etc). Once there you can print, save as PDF, etc.


How can I clean my keyboard without turning my Macbook Air on? I would like to turn off my Macbook Air in order to clean the keyboard and not repeatedly press buttons. However, when pressing any button, the Macbook immediately turns on again.
Is there any way to disable this behavior, so that for example only the unmarked button in the top right turns it on?

You can turn off the Mac using the power button or the Terminal (sudo shutdown -h now).
This prevents the keys from turning on the Mac. The only disadvantage, as soon as you accidentally press the power button, it starts.
Another option is to run third-party software that blocks accidental keystrokes, such as Keyboard Clean Tool.


If my iPhone was stolen and I decide to cancel my phone plan, would it still show up on my iCloud? If the thief uses the device with another sim or cellphone service would it still be tied to my iCloud?

There is no relation between the carrier's plan for cellular services (which is tied to your carrier) and iCloud (which is a service from Apple). So even if you cancel your phone plan after it's stolen, the iCloud linkage that was established when you setup your phone (or later modified it) would continue to remain with Apple.

If your iPhone is running iOS 7 and you have Find my iPhone turned on (Settings > Privacy > Location Services > Find my iPhone), then the person who has your phone cannot erase it or use it without your iCloud account and password.

If your iPhone is lost, you can visit http://www.icloud.com, login with your iCloud account (the one setup on your iPhone) and use Lost Mode (which prevents activation of the phone without your iCloud account credentials and also allows you to send a message to the device) or Erase iPhone (which erases your iPhone remotely).

Also see:
iOS 7: Activation Lock + Find My iPhone
How To Enable Activation Lock On Your iPhone And iPad (iOS Tips)


Change Safari Technology Preview's interface language The interface language of Safari Technology Preview is always English even if I use other primary languages for the OS. Can I change it to my system default language?

Unfortunately, Safari TP does not come with any translations for the user interface.

/Applications/Safari Technology Preview.app/Contents/Resources/*.lproj
Base.lproj en.lproj

/Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Resources/*.lproj
ar.lproj Base.lproj ca.lproj cs.lproj da.lproj de.lproj el.lproj en.lproj en_AU.lproj en_GB.lproj es.lproj es_419.lproj fi.lproj fr.lproj fr_CA.lproj he.lproj hi.lproj hr.lproj hu.lproj id.lproj it.lproj ja.lproj ko.lproj ms.lproj nl.lproj no.lproj pl.lproj pt.lproj pt_PT.lproj ro.lproj ru.lproj sk.lproj sv.lproj th.lproj tr.lproj uk.lproj vi.lproj zh_CN.lproj zh_HK.lproj zh_TW.lproj

It may be possible to copy translations from Safari to Safari TP, but I have not tested this.


How do I force Time Machine to back up to a USB HDD, instead of a .sparsebundle on that USB HDD? I use an iMac as an external monitor for my MacBook pro (OS X 11.6), over a thunderbolt cable. I usually have a USB 3 hard drive attached to my MacBook pro as a Time Machine backup. Last week I thought I would try attaching my USB drive to my iMac, and mounting it as a shared network drive over the thunderbolt network bridge. Of course, Time Machine then created a .sparsebundle disk image to perform the backup over the network. I decided I didn't want to start a full backup from scratch, and so moved the USB drive back to a direct connection.

However, now Time Machine only wants to back up to the .sparsebundle image, even thought the drive is connected locally and has a full set of backups at the root of the drive (in Backups.backupd). I tried using tmutil setdestination and tmutil associateddisk -a to force the association, with no success. I even renamed the .sparsebundle, and every time I start a backup the .sparsebundle is renamed back to the old name.

How can I stop Time Machine from treating the USB-attached hard drive as a network share for backups?

In order to prevent Time Machine from continuing to use the created .sparsebundle for its backups, you need to delete it.

Time Machine tries to backup to .sparsebundle files first. If it can't find any, it will create regular local backup.


How can I switch off "hold home button" voice control? My Brother in law has an IPhone 4 (not 4s) with a special kind of durable cover.  however this means that the home button gets pressed a lot in his pocket and switches on voice control which does all sorts of weird things.

Can you switch off the long press home button voice control?

Is there any other solution other than get a new iphone cover?

In Settings > General > Passcode Lock (Yeah, a weird place, but hey ho) you can limit the voice control to music options only, and turn off voice dialling.  This doesn't disable the long press option, but it does mean that at worst it can annoy you rather than embarrass you...

Note that for Jailbroken devices, there seem to be a number of tweaks and hacks that will disable the function entirely.  The following links are from a brief google, and I haven't tested them as I do not jailbreak but they look promising:

http://modmyi.com/cydia/package.php?id=28396
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzrJGhGbr2s


Paste files to multiple destinations I get into this situation quite often but haven't found a solution. I have a group of CSS files in the clipboard that I need to paste + replace into several different destination folders. My folder structure is similar to

.
├── folderA_11
|   └── CSS
|        └── file1.css
|        └── file2.css
|        └── file3.css
├── folderB_11
|   └── CSS
|        └── file1.css
|        └── file2.css
|        └── file3.css
├── folderC_11
|   └── CSS
|        └── file1.css
|        └── file2.css
|        └── file3.css
├── folderD_22
|   └── CSS
|        └── file1.css
|        └── file2.css
|        └── file3.css
├── folderE_33
|   └── CSS
|        └── file1.css
|        └── file2.css
|        └── file3.css
└── folderF_44
    └── CSS
         └── file1.css
         └── file2.css
         └── file3.css
etc...

There's a pattern: I want to paste to all CSS folders whose container ends in _11 but not any of the others.

The content of the destination folders doesn't matter, I just need to replace them with the new files. Is there a simple way to paste these files into multiple destinations at once? It could also be an Automator flow or Terminal command.

1 - Open Automator and create a new Service:

2 - Set the Service to receive Files and Folder in Finder:

3 - Drag an "Ask for Finder Items" action:

4 - Drag a "Run AppleScript" action:

5 - Paste this code:

on run {input}
    set numItems to count input
    set theFile to item (numItems) of input as text
    set numItems to numItems - 1
    repeat while numItems is not 0
        tell application "Finder"
            duplicate file theFile to folder (item (numItems) of input as text) with replacing
            set numItems to numItems - 1
            delay 0.1
        end tell
    end repeat
    display dialog "File copied to all folders" buttons {"Thanks"} giving up after 5
end run

6 - Save your workflow and name it as you want:

7 - USAGE:
Select as many folders as you want, right click, services, find your workflow:

Select the file you want to copy (beware the window can be hidden behind the main one):

Click "Choose" and wait for the copy.

PS: the file will replace existing ones with the same name.