Website gets blocked by webfilterproxyd even without website restriction I have a Mac Mini running Mac OS X 10.6.4 which has Parental Controls enabled for an account, but with Website Restrictions set to 'Allow unrestricted access to websites'.

However, there is one website (which I cannot specify for confidentiality reasons) which does not load at all. Instead I get the following error message in the system log every time I try to access the website:

sandboxd[12606] <Notice>: webfilterproxyd(712) deny network-inbound 10.1.1.3:49757

Obviously 10.1.1.3 is the machine's IP address and 49757 in this case would be the port that the request was sent from.

The website in question is in no way a bad/inappropriate/illegal website, so I don't see why it would be filtered.

Disabling Parental Controls completely for this account fixes the problem, but I'd rather not do that.

Any idea how I can fix this, or why it is happening in the first place?

In case someone else stumbles on this as I did...

Deleting webcontentfilter.kext is actually deleting part of Parental Controls. kext is short for kernel extension. It is better to turn Parental Controls off than to wreck it.

What was probably going on is that you need to, in the main firewall (under Security, in System Preferences), allow incoming connections from that IP address. You may need to configure the firewall manually, if so, consult a complete tutorial.

Also, 49757 is not the port the request was coming from, it is the local port the request is attempting to connect to.


In iOS9, where did Newsstand go? I have several subscriptions to newspapers that were in the Newsstand app.

But in iOS9 update, Newsstand is gone... and with it, all the magazines I had paid for, or was in the process of reading, etc.

Of course, they are nowhere to be found in the "News" app, neither in the "saved" tab not in the "search" results...

Where did they go, and what happened to my paid issues and my subscriptions?

This is making me freak out, since I was currently reading many paid magazines on the iPad, and I am currently updating the iPad as well...

The Newsstand folder is gone but the apps should still be present just not wrapped in a folder. If you can't find them you can still re-download the apps through the App Store. Only apps that are removed to a legal reason can't be re-downloaded.

Edit:

  Individual Newsstand apps will now install directly to the Home
  screen.

https://developer.apple.com/newsstand/


Fixing: "There are no devices registered in your account" without a Lightning cable Xcode 11.0 Using Xcode, when I try to sign my app, I get an error that says:
Failed to create provision profile
There are no devices registered in your account on the developer website. Plug in and select a device
to have Xcode register it

However, I do have my Mac registered on the website, which isn't showing up for some reason in Xcode. I don't have a USB-C lightning cable with me, which seems to be a direct requirement to connect my iPhone to my Mac.
Is there any way to solve this issue?
Edit: There is a secondary error that says that no profile was found for my bundle ID, but I'm pretty sure this stems from the previously mentioned one.

I don't have a USB-C lightning cable with me, which seems to be a direct requirement to connect my iPhone to my Mac.
Is there any way to solve this issue?

You'd need to connect and pair your iPhone to your Mac at least once before you can perform wireless debugging.
If you do not have a USB-C to Lightning Cable cable, you'd need to either get one or use a USB-C to USB Adapter (like this) or a similar hub.
The iPhone (or any iOS device) needs to be connected physically to the Mac and you'd have to manually Trust the iOS device before it could be paired with Xcode. This security reason is why you'd need a cable to connect the iPhone in the first place, and there is no way to work around it wirelessly.

There is a secondary error that says that no profile was found for my bundle ID, but I'm pretty sure this stems from the previously mentioned one.

You can resolve this by going to Xcode Preferences → Accounts and add your Apple ID. If it is already added, you can try by removing and adding it again.


Custom app keyboard shortcuts: different commands with the same name I've created some custom keyboard shortcuts for Sketch within system preferences:

I'd like to create some additional shortcuts, but what do I do when the commands have the same name within the dropdowns? e.g. there are multiple commands called 'Left' depending on which dropdown you use, see one here:

You can spell out the exact "path" to the menu item in question using the  "->" separator when you enter a value for the "Menu Title" in System Preferences. So, in your case, instead of "Left," you'd enter "Arrange->Align->Left" (without quotes) as the menu command in System Preferences.
Source


Securing VGA Output Plus Audio From An iPad As part of a retrofitting project for my church, I purchased a variety of equipment.  The minister has a recent model iPad with Lightning port.  I purchased a Lightning to HDMI adapter to get sound and video.  The church's overhead projector, for which there is no budget to replace right now, only handles a VGA input or composite input.  I purchased a Belkin HDMI to VGA adapter that has a 3.5 mm output so I could patch into the audio system's soundboard.

When I hooked this up to my iPad, it initially wanted to work.  It didn't though.  Nothing would play through the lash-up of cables.  I've tested the cables individually for the roles they play and they work.  Together they cannot get me VGA video and sound to run to a mixing board.

Is there a way to accomplish this through cabling?  Am I missing something or is this a dead end?

The Apple Lightning to VGA Adapter works, and when paired with a 3.5mm audio cord plugged directly into the output on the iPad, will allow for sound and video output.

If you have a system that allows for digital audio, it is possible to use a DSP for passthrough from the iPad to the Sound Board, however one usually runs for around $100-$1400.


Disable 3G on iPhone 5 with iOS8 After the update to iOS8, the switch to disable the 3G has been replaced by a disable 4G switch.

4G is already off but how could I also disable also 3G (which is still active, as shown on the status bar)

iOS 8.1 which will most probably be released on 20 Oct will fix the issue by adding the ability to select between 2G, 3G and LTE


Local (downloaded) music on iPhone On iTunes I set up a smart playlist to contain only downloaded music (iTunes Match) so that I can use it offline or when the connection has a very low quality (see for example Create a Smart Playlist for iCloud Songs that have been downloaded Locally)

I would like to achieve something similar on my iPhone.

I know that I can create a smart list on iTunes but the logic will refer to iTunes and not the iPhone. For example my "downloaded music" list is also present on iPhone but the songs are the one downloaded in iTunes not iPhone.

Did I miss something? Is there a way to create a similar list or to listen to local music only?

Did you turn off iTunes match on your iphone?Maybe you should try to turn that off and you might need to also toggle the music player setting to local files only: go to Settings > Music and set the option for "Show all music" to OFF.


With FileVault: Yosemite starts with default desktop background Since enabling FileVault (I think only after I did that for my second hard drive), the desktop background keeps resetting to the default at every startup. It suffices to select another folder in System Preferences -> Desktop to make it switch back to the one chosen by me, I don't have to actually set it explicitly again.
Does anyone experience the same issue?

Ok, it just occurred to me that the answer is obvious: OS X cannot access my Wallpapers folder which is on the second drive, before I have entered the password for using the drive, which obviously happens after the desktop is rendered. Solution: Move the wallpaper to the boot drive.


Trackpad gets stuck in select mode I'm experiencing the problems
described here, basically the trackpad has spurts of spurious input, but the problems are fairly intermittent.  I've kept the system usable by deactivating many non-critical gestures, like zooming, three finger drag, etc.

Are there any visualization or tuning tools for the Mac Book Air's trackpad?  It'd be useful to simply get a graphical record of the trackpad's input over a period when it was miss-behaving.

Are there any such tools under Linux if not under Mac OS X?

To be able to see what your trackpad "sees", you can use FingerMgmt.

As for your problem, do you have tap-to-click on? If so, does turning it off solve the problem?


In Safari, is there any keyboard shortcut to *hide* the Web Inspector? In Safari, when the Develop menu is enabled, I can make the Web Inspector appear by hitting ⌘⌥I. However, when I hit that again, the Web Inspector stays where it is.

Is there any way I can hide it with another (or somehow the same) keyboard shortcut?

According to the apple website, there is no hide shortcut. Sorry.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=42951

Sorry.


Examples of Apps with PIN protected content We have an iOS app with the following requirement.

The app must be accessible only to those participating in a research study

The app will be published to the public App Store, however, it will launch with a lock screen. If a valid PIN code is entered, the lock screen will disappear to reveal the app.

We are looking for examples of other apps that follow a similar restricted-access model.

There are a lot of apps that require login prior to use. However, most of them also have a registration button, a preview mode, or provide unrestricted content. In our case, the PIN code will be provided in person to those participating in our research study.

We are look for examples to emulate so in order to avoid issues with the app review process.

There are for example apps from Good Technology. You need a login and PIN from the admin in order to use the app. As for the review process You would need to provide the PIN to Apple in order to test the app (could be sample account).

Here's the info on Apple site about test accounts in iTunes Connect under App Review Information.


Outlook 2011 crashes when connecting to Exchange server The problem started this morning when Outlook 2011 tried to connect to the Exchange server looking for new emails. An error message came up saying that Outlook needs to close (see screenshot).

I can open Outlook and switch to Offline Mode, then everything is fine, but as soon as I turn off offline mode and it tries to connect to Exchange, Outlook crashes again. It works fine for other people with the same setup.

Is there anything I can do to analyze the issue? Rebuilding the identity is usually recommended in such cases, any other options?

First, make sure that you're up-to-date with your Outlook updates.  The most recent version of Outlook is 14.3.2.

One relatively easy option would be to remove your Exchange account from Outlook, quit Outlook, quit the Database Daemon, and then launch Outlook and re-add your Exchange account.  Another option would be to create a new user account on your Mac and add your Exchange account to Outlook there.  In either case, this will tell you whether this is an issue with something on Exchange or if it's local to Outlook.

There are additional troubleshooting steps available in this Outlook:Mac KB article, but the steps above are where I would start because they're the easiest.


Preventing an iPhone to send automatically as SMS only when it's to a foreign number I have a friend who is currently in China.

We talk a lot using iMessage.
The problem is that sometimes the iMessage isn't delivered and my iPhone sends it automatically as an sms (= fee !!).

I have enabled the option in the settings to do so, so that's the normal behaviour. But is it possible to enable it only for local numbers (not foreign) ?

I pretty much doubt it, but there's no harm in asking the question :)

It's an option similar to one I've previously searched in vain for - short answer is there is no granular control over whether or not to send as SMS.

The safest option is likely to be to simply disable 'Send as SMS' altogether.
Settings > Messages


Can I suppress the dot under an image caption in pages for macOS? When I use the media box to add a photo, I seem to be required to add a caption. Then under the caption, there is a gray dot. These dots show up in the image files I paste into Pages similar to this underline situation, but not the same.

How can I ditch the dot?

This issue occurs when you choose the "Image Gallery" option from one of two places either:

Menu Bar > Insert > Image Gallery
Tool Bar > Media > Image Gallery

The dot underneath is used to support multiple images being in that box similar to an image gallery function on a website.

The reason that you do not see this when you copy and paste an image or drag one in is that it inserts the image as an image and not as a single image within an image gallery.

The solution is to delete the image gallery and insert the image into the Document by one of the following ways:

Drag and Drop from Finder onto the Pages Document
Copy and Paste the image
Menu Bar > Insert > Chose ... (Select file)
Tool Bar > Media > Chose ... (Select file)

I have added an image to further illustrate this incase it was not clear.


iphone app icon size? Can someone tell me what size icons I should be including in an iPhone app.  Can I assume also that I should include two resolutions?  Any help would be great, thanks.

These is a list of icon's resolution needed for iPhone, iPad and both of them.

29x29 iphone/ipad
40x40 iphone/ipad
50x50 ipad
57x57 iphone
58x58 iphone/ipad
72x72 ipad
76x76 ipad
80x80 iphone/ipad
87x87 iphone
100x100 ipad
114x114 iphone
120x120 iphone
144x144 ipad
152x152 ipad
180x180 iphone

To generate all of them, I recommend you an app called Prepo that accept a 1024x1024 and generate the ones you defined.


Apple Messages Not Working At All After Update I recently updated to OS 10.12.2 (16C67), all of my apps (most recently iTunes), and my phone to 10.2, and I'm having an issue with my Apple Messages app not syncing, and not being able to send or receive messages.

I was also getting various alerts that my phone was trying to access my messages (the map in the alert pointed directly to my house), and my Dropbox used to auto-download my pictures, and now it says it can't find any.

I don't know those issue are related or not, but the all started around the same time. For now, however, I want to focus on getting Messages up and running properly.

I have gone through the recommended process of disabling and re-enabling my Apple ID several times. I have quite and restarted both the app and my computer in-between disabling and re-enabling. I've also done the same with my phone, and even done a full restore.

The only next step I can think of is to either delete everything related to Messages and start from scratch, but I'd prefer not to lose my archived messages.

Does anyone have a less drastic recommendation?

Thanks!

ty

Turns out that the culprit was an iPad. I've never used it for Messages, so it never occurred to me to disable iMessage on it.

You have to disable it on all devices to get it to properly reset, even if you've never opened the app on one.

Thanks for the tips.


Lock without going to sleep Whenever I lock my screen (using command+control+Q), the display goes to sleep within about 5 seconds. How can I prevent this?

This happens while plugged in, and my screen is set to never go to sleep while on power:

Even if I wasn't plugged in, on battery life, the screen should go to sleep within 2 minutes, not 5 seconds:

I'm on High Sierra 10.13.2.

edit: I gave up on locking with cmd+ctrl+q and just went with enabling my screen saver and setting the system to require a password on screen saver wake.

Alec,

You're running up against built-in functionality:  once the "unlock" screen appears and you don't enter your password, macOS falls back on the screen saver, or (without a screen saver) goes off.  Or, as you've noticed, when you use cmd+ctrl+q, it just goes to sleep, screen saver or no.  There's no control to change that behavior in the OS.

However, there are some free utilities on the Internet and the App store (Caffeine and Anti Sleep come to mind, but there are others) which disable the display sleep and/or the system sleep.  I gave Anti Sleep a try with the keyboard shortcut, and it did just what you're looking to accomplish: it kept the screen "awake" after it was locked.

Edit:  It looks like cmd+ctrl+q and Anti-Sleep's first option, "Prevent System Sleep when lid is closed" don't play together too well.  Uncheck that option to make this work.

All that said, be aware that the sleep feature is built-in to reduce power consumption and extend the life of your display.  By leaving the screen powered on all the time, you negate these protections.


No Prompt & Password Fill Install for Homebrew I'm trying to create a script to deploy macOS and the last piece that isn't automated is installing Homebrew. Because of the unique scenario where Homebrew shouldn't be installed with sudo, and it requires both the return key to be pressed and the users password, it's become a tricky thing to figure out. I've spent a few hours on this and found other unanswered questions on StackExchange with no luck on getting it completely automated.

My code:

echo "Password: "
read -s PASSWORD
echo $PASSWORD | /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

The echo skips the request to hit return but doesn't pass in the password because I'm missing the -S flag because I shouldn't include sudo when installing Homebrew. I ultimately need a setup that hits command AND passes in the password without using sudo. The rest of my script runs by using echo $PASSWORD | sudo -S my-command-here... so I'd like to not deviate too far from that scheme if possible.

The -s option is working for me, so I don't know why it doesn't work for you.

Have you tried to add #!/bin/sh (or #!/bin/bash) in the top of your script ??

If you use the -n option on echo you'll get the input on the same line as the label.

So the below is having the input: Password: <waiting for input>, and on the next line it just print the password entered - the awk is just for testing that the pipe was working. And then I've added a loop so that something always need to be entered.

#!/bin/sh

readPassword
echo $PASSWORD | awk '{print $1}'

readPassword() {
   echo -n "Password: "
   read -s PASSWORD
   echo ""
   if [[ -z "$PASSWORD" ]]; then
      printf '%s\n' "A password is required..."
      readPassword
   fi
}


Adobe Creative Suite CS5 - One License Multiple Macs As freelance web designer I have a total of four macs. I have an office I use during the day with an iMac and MacBook for taking to client meetings. And I also have a iMac and MacBook at home for generally personal use.

I have bought licenses for Coda, Postbox and a few other programs that I use and they work across all four macs but I would like to do the same with Adobe Creative Suite CS5.

I know the simple answer is buy more than one license but at the price they are that would be very expensive. I understand that using it on more than computer may break terms of the EULA? My question is will it even activate on more than one computer or is this impossible?

Any advice or guidance would be much appreciated, thanks.

Adobe's answer will be:

  Q: Can I distribute a Creative Suite 5.5 edition across multiple
  users or computers?

  A:The software license agreement accompanying your product may
  entitle you to install and activate the software on two systems with
  certain restrictions.  The product license agreement for suite
  editions does not allow you to install the individual components of a
  single suite edition across multiple computers. Read the software
  license agreement for more information. Subscription editions follow
  the same license agreement terms.

With that in mind you will need two licenses for the products you use, you may not need the entire creative suite on each computer and find it cheaper to purchase licenses for individual apps.

If you buy apps from the Apple App Store you can install those apps on any computer that you use the same Apple ID with. Adobe has yet to move their apps to the App Store, but I suspect they will at some point.


rbenv global version of ruby vs Sierra ruby version Following this OSX Sierra tutorial from the folks at gorails, I am having trouble getting rbenv global to associate the install of 2.3.0 with the ruby command and to override the default ruby version on my MacBook Air with macOS Sierra v10.12.2

$  rbenv -v
rbenv 1.1.0
$  rbenv install 2.3.0
/Users/user_name/.rbenv/versions/2.3.0 installed
$  rbenv global 2.3.0
$  ruby -v
ruby 2.0.0p648 (2015-12-16 revision 53162) [universal.x86_64-darwin16]

I tried rbenv rehash but ruby2.0.0 is still the default version. Briefly reviewing this blog about ruby and $PATH environment, I find I'm a little lost as to where the default Ruby "executable" actually lives...

gem env shows me that Ruby 2.0.0 lives here:

/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/2.0/usr/bin/ruby

and whereis tells me something different:

$  whereis ruby
/usr/bin/ruby

The tutorial says to add rbenv to my .bash_profile

echo 'if which rbenv > /dev/null; then eval "$(rbenv init -)"; fi' >> ~/.bash_profile source ~/.bash_profile`

Do I need to set my path to ignore the default ruby?

For what it is worth:

$  rbenv exec ruby -v
ruby 2.3.0p0 (2015-12-25 revision 53290) [x86_64-darwin16]

but obviously I don't want to write out the executive command everytime I want to use ruby... Per the blog, adding eval "$(rbenv init -)" doesn't make the ruby command defer to the rbenv global version... Help.

I entered this:

echo 'if which rbenv > /dev/null; then eval "$(rbenv init -)"; fi' >> ~/.bash_profile source ~/.bash_profile

but it should be:

echo 'if which rbenv > /dev/null; then eval "$(rbenv init -)"; fi' >> ~/.bash_profile
source ~/.bash_profile

...now it works fine.


Can iOS use Wi-Fi to get location even if Wi-Fi is off? On Android, if the user turns Wi-Fi off, the phone will still scan for nearby Wi-Fi access points to help determine the phone's location (discussed in e.g. this article). Does iOS also have this feature?

No.

If Wi-Fi is off, the radio is disabled, and it is no longer augmenting Location Services.

Often, you'll receive a message like the following to alert you to this:


Attempt to download app, says it's already installed on my Iphone4 I had the sirusxm app on my phone and everytime it would give me problems I would delete it and reinstall it.  I forgot that I had just recently changed my email password from my laptop, which is synced with my phone.  When I went to download the app after having once again delete it due to having problems, the column which you click on to download quickly changes to purchased.  The app is not on my phone.  How can I get it?

There is a difference between an app that has been purchased and one that is installed. To install a purchased app, open the App Store app on your iOS device.

Click on the Updates button in the lower right corner to advance to the Updates pane:

Click in the Purchased area near the top of the screen to advance to the Purchased pane:

Select the Not on this iDevice tab to see purchased apps that aren't currently installed:

Select the app you're looking for from the list and install it.


Install BootCamp drivers Windows 10 I am looking for the exe files for BootCamp drivers for Windows 10. I installed Windows 10 on my Mac 4 months ago using the ISO and BootCamp assistant but then I reinstalled it directly on the partition which made the BootCamp drivers go away, and now some things (such as right click and two finger touchpad scrolling) don't work. I want to get the drivers without having to reinstall Windows (at the beginning Mac gives you the BootCamp installation files as an exe but I can't find them anywhere online.)

NEW SOLUTION

Open Boot Camp Assistant, and click on "Action" in the menu bar.

Click on Download Windows Support Software.

OLD SOLUTION

You can download the drivers from Boot Camp Assistant.

First, uncheck "Create a Windows 7 or later install disk" and "Install Windows 7 or later version", leaving only "Download the latest Windows support software from Apple" option checked. It should look something like this:

Make sure you have a USB drive connected, and click continue. You should see a screen like this:

.

Select your drive and click on continue. It should download it to the connected USB drive.

Reboot into Windows, and install the support software from the USB.

Edit: I found Brigadier, a software that fetches and installs the drivers for you on Windows. I'll take a look at it, when I have more time.


iCloud and iPhone Calendar have different timezones The updates for my events in iCloud and iPhone differ by a day due to the difference in timezone. My iPhone's timezone is set to Singapore time. How do I set my iCloud timezone to Singapore time as well? iCloud only has a few timezones for us to choose from.

Even though the timezone was set correctly on a Mac, an iPhone and in iCloud settings, syncing across devices has always been off by a couple of hours for me.

Turns out, the time zone, though specified, was disabled for Calendar.

To fix this, click the gear icon in the upper right corner and choose Preferences:

Go to Advanced and make sure the first checkbox is ticked.

Click Save and enjoy your timezone.


What's a good program for syncing files between computers? I've been using Synk from Decimus off and on for a few years to sync files between two Macs.

Since upgrading to Lion, Sync 6 has started hanging during the process of scanning before the sync. Upgrading to version 7 is $45 which seems like a lot.

Is there another program out there that does the same thing? I don't need it to sync the contents of files that have been changed on both computers, just copy the most recent version of a file (or a new file) from one to the other. I'd also like to be able to have it ignore files with a specific Finder label.

If you can use command-line tools, try rsync.

For the label part, see Rsync filter: "OS X label".


Yosemite won't recognize my (admin) user password I Installed Yosemite and it won't recognize my (admin) user password.

Yes - I am positive that I am using the correct password.
No - Caps Lock is not on.

What is the problem?

It will be hard to tell what has broken without being logged in, but the solution is easy.

Boot to the Recovery HD (power cycle the Mac, then hold Cmd-R until the screen goes grey. Then wait about a minute or so and you should get the recovery tools. See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718 for details) and reset the password to be what you want it to be. Once you get logged in again, you can look at the logs and patch up your Keychain as needed.


How I can move the clock to the middle of the menu bar? How I can move the clock, by default at the far right side of the menu bar, to the middle of the menu bar?

Unfortunately for you, the answer is: you can't. The way the Mac OS X Menu Bar is set up, Application Menus get added starting in the left hand corner (after the Apple menu) and going right; System and 3rd party Menu Extras get added from the right hand corner and go left. There's no way to absolutely position a menu on the menu bar; you can only change the order of the items.

As Tony mentioned in his answer, the user can reorder Menu Extras by dragging them while holding Command. Only the developer of an app can reorder the Application's menus. But there's no way to position anything in the center.


Stop tilde and grave acting as deadkeys on French Macbook Pro keyboard (AZERTY) I have a 2015 Macbook Pro running Mojave where internal keyboard is French AZERTY (ISO) type as shown here:

Pressing grave (the key next to return) or tilde (Alt-Gr n) act as a dead keys.

Input stops until the next key is pressed in case I want to type ã,ñorõ after ~ or à,è,ì,ò,ù after `

Is it possible to map these so they do not act as dead keys - so pressing ` results in output as in line 1 not line 2.

I have tried installing Karabiner and making a script based on their examples but I can't find something to map the key  to.

In my test script below (which doesn't work) the "from:{key_code" "backslash" is what Karabiner-EventViewer shows when I press ` (which is where \ is on US keyboard).

The "to:{key_code" "51" (or  grave_accent_and_tilde) is what Karabiner-EventViewer reports for the < key on my keyboard and was just picked as a test.

{
  "title": "Convert deadkey ` to a grave (`) (AZERTY)",
  "rules": [
    {
      "description": "Convert deadkey ` to a grave (`) while leaving £ accessible.",
      "manipulators": [
        {
          "from": {
            "key_code": "backslash"
          },
          "to": [
            {
              "key_code": "51",
              "modifiers": [
                "right_option"
              ]
            }
          ],
          "type": "basic"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

I've seen various questions asking about where the keys are or how to swap them but not how to stop dead key acting as such.

Is this possible in any way using Karabiner or otherwise?

I considered changing keyboard layout to UK and then mapping back every single different key to French location but would rather not if there is a better way.

You can do this by making a custom layout with Ukelele.

Duplicate the French layout, then click on the dead keys and choose "change to output."


How to recover a dead Mac mini? A friend of me just deleted everything by running sudo rm -rf / on his Mac mini. Yeah I know...

(Another friend of us just create a cloud virtual box and invite us to play, that poor friend asked how to play with it, I said "sudo rm -rf /" for joking but oh dear I never knew he ran it on his own Mac, now things became serious)

And Mac mini 2014 the hard disk is fixed on the board. Now what can we do to save the system and recover some important files?

First the bad news, there is no simple 'un-rm'/un-delete and everything will be as it was before.

Assuming your friend doesn't have a TimeMachine Backup of the Data (hence the implied urgency), there are several steps involved:

Access the device
recover deleted files
rebuild the system

re 1: If you have access to another Mac and you have a thunderbolt cable, you can try to access the drive of the MacMini with "Target Disk Mode" (hold T on Startup, see Apple Support here). You can then try to recover the files (Step 2), f.e. with a GUI based Software (usually commercial) like 'Disk Drill', 'File Salvage' or 'Data Rescue' (of course there are others). Most of the commercial Software have a Demo-Version, so you can try before you buy.

If you don't have access to another Mac or a TB Cable you could try to start the recovery partition with Cmd + R and then run the Terminal, trying to recover files via the Terminal with the methods mentioned on this Post in 'SuperUser',

If your friend is uncomfortable with the Terminal, he/you could try to install OSX on a USB-Stick or an external Harddrive and boot the MacMini from the external Drive (see Apple Support here). You could then try to run the GUI-Software mentioned in Step 1.

Just to be clear - a recovery of Data and the OS 'in Place' (on the same Harddrive/Machine you trashed before) is not advisable, even if it would be possible. You are most likely overwriting the Data you want to recover. Your friend should have another Harddrive ready to copy the recovered Data to. After recovery we get to step 3.

re 3: After recovering the important Data to another Drive you can rebuild the System. Again, start the MacMini in recovery Mode (Cmd + R) an choose Reinstall OS X (see Apple Support here for detailed instructions).


Do the FireWire ports on the early 2011 MacBook Pros use 4-pin or 9-pin connectors? I've ordered a MacBook Pro (early 2011, 13-inch, 2.3 ghz), to replace my aging and breaking-down iMac G5. I'll need to run a FireWire cable from an audio interface (also on order, that has a 6-pin connector) to the FW 800 port on the MBP.

What size cable should I order? (i.e., 6-pin to 4-pin or 6-pin to 9-pin?)

Any Mac that has Firewire 800, including the 13-inch MacBook Pro, has the 9-pin connector. You will need a 6-pin to 9-pin cable.


What happens with existing apps on device when synching with new computer? I am synching my iPad with multiple computers. I now want to switch my "main" computer (as in the computer I really do the syncing with). Now the problem is that when I uncheck "Sync Apps" on the other computer, a dialog box says the following:

Because of this dialog I managed all my apps solely via the iPad. I do not want iTunes to delete my apps on the iPad, only that I will have to re-download them on my other computer and re-synch them anew.

What will happen when I click "Don't Sync Apps" now? Will it really delete all apps on the iPad?

At that point, yes - if you click Don't Sync Apps you are telling iTunes to reset the link between another iTunes library and your iPad - which will result in this computer deleting your apps on the device and replacing them with the apps on that iTunes Library. Cancel should let the rest of the sync proceed and leave your apps alone this time. Go into the Apps tab and deselect app syncing to prevent this message from coming back the next time you connect.

The iOS devices and iTunes are happy to have different computers feed it Apps, Information, Music, etc...

I don't see an authoritative document specifying how many different computers can routinely share syncing duties - each providing the minimum amount of content in terms of the Info / Apps / Ringtones (etc...) tabs in iTunes.

My experience is the six music related tabs are treated as one, so you could have your device get data from 5 different computers and not have any problems. In your case - you could easily sync everything but apps from computer A and the apps from computer B.

iTunes stores the App purchase history and syncing in preference files as well as in two locations on a Mac or a PC.

The two or three folders you need to move are:

The iOS backup folder maintained by iTunes
The iTunes database folder (which contains everything else - except for potentially the music files)
The iTunes media folder(s) (which may be consolidated in one folder or scattered across multiple drives or network locations in the worst case)

Assuming you want everything to move from the old computer to the new one and the new one has nothing (you can overwrite everything there), you simply:

Optionally - consolidate all the music media to one folder (for ease of transfer and surety the library will link correctly when moved)
Quit iTunes (to close all files properly before the move)
Move the backup folder (they are just plain files/folders)
Move the iTunes Library folder as well as the media

iTunes for Windows: Moving your iTunes Media folder
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder

The first time you launch iTunes on the new mac - just be sure no devices are connected and go to preferences and review the settings - make sure the music library points to the correct folder on the new mac and try playing a song or two. You can then connect your devices and resume normal sync/backup as if the new computer was the old one. Do use care to destroy / not use the old computer - the device could get confused if you sync to two versions of the "same library".


Dictation workflows don't activate keypress I'm unable to get Dictation to run the keypress portion of a workflow. I've tried recording a keystroke in Automator, and manually writing an AppleScript (with both key code and keystroke commands); they always work when I run them from Automator, but not from Dictation.

I know the scripts are running because if I put another command into the script, it will perform it when I speak the Dictation keyword.

Edit: After more experimenting I've found that AppleScripts in the DictationServices Workflow's folder will execute commands that don't work in scripts saved to other locations.

I finally got an error message which answered my question: com.automator.runner.xpc is not allowed to send keystrokes.


How to prevent QuickTime from showing cursor when playing subtitles? I use QuickTime quite a lot for playing mp4 videos with embeed .str subtitles. The only really annoying issue is that the cursor shows up back randomly when a subtitle appears on screen. Some facts about what I'm experiencing:

It only happens with QuickTime and only when the video has active subtitles. No problems in iTunes, nor in video preview from Finder, neither in VLC or the likes. Videos with no subtitles don't have problems with the cursor.
When placing the cursor in one corner of the screen the cursor appears back in any other random position of the screen.
I've been experiencing that for as long as I remember with yosemite and even after re-installing the OSX from scratch.

Has anyone experienced the same? Why is it happening? Any way to stop it?

For future reference, the issue has been solved on the latest OS X El Capitan


Why don't I receive Logic Pro X update notifications in App Store? I'm signed into App Store and have an installed version of Logic Pro X that I bought with the same Apple ID that I'm signed in with.

I no longer receive update notifications via the App Store about Logic Pro X updates.

Here is my system info:

OS X El Capitan version 10.11.6
Logic Pro X version 10.3.3
MacBook Pro Retina 15-inch Mid 2015

I can't upgrade to Mojave yet as apparently, Universal Apollo Audio Software doesn't support it yet.

Is my macOS too old to receive updates now? I tried re-installing once before, but that's a lengthy workaround I'd like to avoid.

The reason you are not getting update notifications is that your macOS version is no longer compatible for Logic Pro X.

From the specification page:

  macOS X 10.12 or later

You are running 10.11.6 and hence your version isn't compatible.


architectual drawing board for OSX What would be the "best" drawing tool for OSX that both lets me quickly and freely lets me sketch out ideas for software architectures but also refine and "prettify" these sketches so they can be used in a specification document or book. Sort of a bit like Microsoft Visio but better. With all the predefined shapes and cliparts but also with a little bit more freedom in drawing, layout and design.

OmniGraffle is very popular. A quick Google search just now also came up with yEd which I found interesting (and it is cross platform).

I don't know your definition for "prettiness" but back in the days when I used Visio I was surprised how much visual effect you could achieve with simple vector graphic tools and a bit of fine tuning. If the built-in tools are not sufficient you can always switch to a pure bred vector graphics program and add a few eye candies.


File created during maven build can't be copied Hardware:
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)\
OS:
OS X El Capitan, 10.11.6

Problem:
I have a standard maven project which I build using mvn clean install from the command line. I receive an error on the install process which says Permission Denied for the created jar file so it can't copy it over.

Looking in the directory I see:

$ cd target/
$ ls -al
total 230856
drwxr-xr-x  10 u1  g1        340 Dec 21 16:08 ./
drwxr-xr-x  12 u1  g1        408 Dec 21 16:08 ../
drwxr-xr-x   5 u1  g1        170 Dec 21 16:08 classes/
drwxr-xr-x   4 u1  g1        136 Dec 21 16:08 generated-sources/
drwxr-xr-x   3 u1  g1        102 Dec 21 16:08 jcasgen/
drwxr-xr-x   3 u1  g1        102 Dec 21 16:08 maven-archiver/
drwxr-xr-x   3 u1  g1        102 Dec 21 16:08 maven-status/
-rw-r--r--   1 u1  g1      38239 Dec 21 16:08 rules-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT-sources.jar
-rw-r--r--   1 u1  g1  118102157 Dec 21 16:08 rules-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar
-rw-r--r--   1 u1  g1      53247 Dec 21 16:08 original-rules-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar

If I do an ls -le I don't see any extended ACLs. If I try to copy the large JAR file:

$ cp rules-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar ~
cp: rules-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar: Permission denied
$ sudo cp rules-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar ~
Password:
cp: rules-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar: Permission denied
$ cp rules-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT-sources.jar ~
$

It's just that single file that won't copy. I have discovered that I can mv the file other places, but copying just doesn't work no matter where I put it.

What else is interesting is that I can move my code anywhere in the file system, rerun the build, and that single created file has the same issue.

I have booted to the recovery console and reset the ACLs and permissions for my home directory to no effect. I have run Disk Utility and it shows everything to be okay.

Has anyone seen anything like this before? Other Mac folks here are saying I'll need to boot single user and fsck -y the drive.

Additional Info

By default, the maven install step uses the maven-shade-plugin to build an uber-jar. It is this uber-jar that cannot be copied. If I disable the maven-shade-plugin, so that the final JAR is a normal jar, I don't see the problem.

I have Trend Micro running on my Mac if that could make a difference.

I have discovered that if I overwrite the uber-jar with different data (same name) the file become copyable. For example:

cat > rules-0.0.1-SHAPSHOT.jar
asdf
^D

After that, I can copy the file.

I have tried to watch things with opensnoop but all I see is a "Permission Denied" on an open by java.

Although this is an unsatisfying answer, updating to the latest version of the maven-shade-plugin "fixed" the problem.


iOS 10: Safari cannot open the page. The error was: "Not allowed to use restricted network port" I'm having an issue with iOS 10.0.1 and Safari 10. In iOS 9 and Safari 9, I am able to go a web site on port 4190. As soon as I use an iOS 10 device, I get this error message using Safari 10:

Safari cannot open the page.
The error was: "Not allowed to use restricted network port".

I read online that some ports are blacklisted. Best I could find is a KURL.cpp blockedPortList, but I don't see port 4190 blocked.

I see the error message is in this piece of code:
#define WebKitErrorDescriptionCannotUseRestrictedPort UI_STRING_INTERNAL("Not allowed to use restricted network port", "WebKitErrorCannotUseRestrictedPort description")

Any ideas?

The reason the port is blocked is because Apple considers it is a port that is open to trojans and viruses, so it automatically blocks those ports. it has to do with the release of Xcode(how mac programs are designed and written)
App Transport Security
iOS 9 introduces a new security feature that blocks non-HTTPS traffic in your app. However, this is a new feature that is only enabled for apps building with XCode 7 and iOS 9 SDK today. It will not break existing apps.
Since the changes above require recompilation, this will impact your development process and manifest itself as a breaking change.
To fix, edit the MyApp-Info.plist file and add the contents of this patch.
UPDATE: In short, the port was closed by Apple due to viruses. It worked on the older versions of Safari because the app was made on an older version of the program to used to create it (Xcode). So basically by updating, you installed a version of Safari that will not open those ports blocked by Apple.


Can I pay for my Netflix subscription using iTunes credit? Now that you can sign up for Netflix with your Apple ID and use that for billing, does that allow you to get it billed to your iTunes Credit rather than credit card?

According to this Bloomberg article:

  Netflix Inc. (NFLX) is deepening its ties with Apple Inc. (AAPL) by
  allowing owners of Apple TV set-top boxes to sign up for the
  video-streaming service directly and pay through their iTunes
  accounts.

More details and support links can be found on Netflix's iTunes billing page.

Finally, according to the current US iTunes terms and conditions:

  When making purchases, content credits are used first, followed by
  Gift Certificate, iTunes Card, or Allowance Account credits; your
  credit card or PayPal account is then charged for any remaining
  balance.

While the current T&C doesn't directly mention the Netflix subscription situation., the iTunes Card ("credit") comes before the credit card or PayPal account. However, since Apple also has your credit card information, as this Fast Company article notes, your credit card might actually be used to pay for your Netflix subscription instead of the iTunes credits.


When does Messages message via iMessage vs. SMS? This is probably an embarrassingly noobish question.

I sent a standard SMS text message from my iPhone 6 to a colleague's iPhone, who mentioned that my message was green and not blue, and that meant I hadn't activated something or wasn't using the right app to take advantage of iMessaging.

Currently I don't use apps beyond what came with my phone. To send SMS text messages I use the green callout balloon button that's near the phone button.

My colleague said I could save money by using iMessage instead of paying for each SMS text message. I countered by saying that if it's not SMS then that means I'd have to keep my phone connected to the internet 24/7 to receive messages and I don't do that.

My colleague then said something like it does but doesn't use SMS, so I wouldn't have to maintain an internet connection 24/7 to receive prompt iMessages and yet would not have to pay for SMS messages when I did.

A quick search turns up plenty of tutorials about how to use iMessages but so far I have not found a clear and concise explanation.

Is it possible to explain in a few clear sentences how the messaging functionality works on my iPhone 6 and when internet is used and when traditional SMS messages are used? For example:

Does it check first for an active internet connection on the sender's phone?
Does it also check if the recipient is also connected to the internet?
Could a message go out as an iMessage and then not be delivered even though the recipient could have received an SMS text message?

To send SMS text messages I use the green callout balloon button that's near the phone button.

You are using the correct app.

  My colleague said I could save money by using iMessage instead of paying for each SMS text message.

Your colleague is absolutely right. At least in this context. iMessage is Apple's Internet messaging service. You can send an iMessage to anyone who has an Apple device (such as iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac desktop or laptop computer etc.). The requirements is that the recipient must have registered their Apple ID with iMessage service and enabled iMessage. Either of email address (Apple ID) or mobile number (associated with your iPhone) can be registered with iMessage and can be used as sending destination.

The same Messages app is used for sending both an iMessage and SMS to contacts and recipients. An SMS is identified with a green bubble while an iMessage is identified with a blue bubble.

Additionally, you need not remain online all the time for iMessage to work, if either the sender of receiver is offline (not connected to the Internet), the sent message gets stored on device or Apple's servers respectively, and dispatched as soon as the Internet connectivity is restored (either via Mobile Data or Wi-Fi). It in a way works for how email works. Unlike some other messaging app, there's no concept of user being "online" or "offline" in iMessage.

When the recipient is either using a non iPhone phone or they don't have their number registered with iMessage service, your text message gets sent as a plain SMS, and all the same restrictions apply (character count, carrier charges). However, iMessage allows you to send text messages, media such as photos and videos and with iMessage apps stickers etc.

It's important to note that iMessage is a service available free of cost and is exclusive to Apple ecosystem of devices.

You can force an iMessage to be sent as a plain SMS if you suspect the recipient may have their Internet connection (Mobile Data or Wi-Fi) turned off, and you want the message to get across as quickly as possible (as an SMS is sent over cellular network).

  Is it possible to explain in a few clear sentences how the messaging functionality works on my iPhone6 and when internet is used and when traditional SMS messages are used?

Answers below inline:

  Does it check first for an active internet connection on the sender's phone?

No. Sending iMessage has nothing to do with active connection on recipients end.

  Does it also check if the recipient is also connected to the internet?

No. The recipient gets the message whenever they turn on Internet on their device. The messages you sent are held on Apple's computers in the meanwhile.

  Could a message go out as an iMessage and then not be delivered even though the recipient could have received an SMS text message?

If a message is sent out as iMessage, it will indeed get delivered (as long as their number is registered with the iMessage service) when the recipient turns on Internet on their device.

P.S.: I can direct you to this excellent document online officially maintained by Apple, which explains iMessage service and it's features in an easy to understand way.

Messages for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac

Force Messages app to send a text message as SMS instead of an iMessage

Here's a workaround that you can use to force the Messages app to send a test message as SMS instead of iMessage to a contact's phone number. It is slight clumsy, but gets the job done in the scenarios like you described:

If you have Internet access available on your iPhone via either Mobile data or Wi-Fi (indicated by the presence of appropriate icon in the iPhone's status bar), and the receivers contact number is registered with iMessage, you'll only be able to send an iMessage, irrespective of the online/offline status of the recipient. You can check if a message would be sent as an iMessage by the presence of a blue colored upward facing arrow besides your typed text message.

To force the message to be sent as SMS instead, temporarily turn off Mobile Data/Wi-Fi on your iPhone to disable Internet access. You'll still only be able to send an iMessage (Blue arrow icon) as your iPhone knows that the receiver is registered with iMessage. Send the message normally.

The message won't get sent from your iPhone due to the absence of an Internet connection. Now tap an hold on the message bubble, and you'll see an alert at the bottom of the screen with an option that says Send as Text Message. This option is not shown when you have Internet connectivity on your iPhone, or the message is already delivered to the Apple's servers.

This will cause your iPhone to re-send the message as SMS. The receiver will be able to get the message even in absence of the Internet connection on their device (as long as they have cellular connectivity on their device).
Don't forget to turn Mobile Data/Wi-Fi back on on your device to regain access to Internet.


How do I use AppleScript or Automator to turn Time Announce on or off at specified times? I like Time Announce during the day while I am working. But I want it off when I am sleeping.

Apple's Do Not Disturb function will mute notifications and sounds associated with them, but it has no effect on Time Announce.

Elsewhere on this site there is an old answer from a number of years ago that offered this script:

do shell script "defaults write ./com.apple.speech.synthesis.general.prefs TimeAnnouncementPrefs -dict TimeAnnouncementsEnabled -bool YES"

Similar script to turn it off.

Another answer can be found here, but goes back to the days of Mountain Lion:

How do I enable "Announce the time" programmatically?

I am new here and a rank beginner to Aapplescript. I do not have the privilege of commenting yet to seek clarification from the authors of the answers presented.

These scripts do not work on Mac OS X High Sierra (10.13). While the first script will compile, when run nothing happens. The script from the page referenced won't even compile. Syntax error about an unknown token after an identifer.

In addition, making a change manually to this preference in settings requires my password to unlock. Can AppleScript or Automator deal with that too?

UPDATE: This works for me using the latest version of High Sierra.

This version will "turn on" "Announce the time:" if not already enabled

property thePassword : "yourpassword"

tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal anchor "ClockPref" of pane id "com.apple.preference.datetime"
    tell application "System Events"
        delay 0.5
        my enterPassword()
        set theValue to get value of checkbox "Announce the time:" of tab group 1 of window "Date & Time" of application process "System Preferences"
        if theValue is 0 then
            click checkbox "Announce the time:" of tab group 1 of window "Date & Time" of application process "System Preferences"
        end if
    end tell
    delay 1
    quit
end tell

on enterPassword()
    tell application "System Events"
        try
            click button "Click the lock to make changes." of window "Date & Time" of application process "System Preferences"
        end try
        delay 1
        --activate
        set value of text field "Enter password" of sheet 1 of window "Date & Time" of application process "System Preferences" to thePassword
        delay 1
        click UI element "Unlock" of sheet 1 of window "Date & Time" of application process "System Preferences"
    end tell
end enterPassword

This version will "turn off" "Announce the time:" if already enabled

property thePassword : "yourpassword"

tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal anchor "ClockPref" of pane id "com.apple.preference.datetime"
    tell application "System Events"
        delay 0.5
        my enterPassword()
        set theValue to get value of checkbox "Announce the time:" of tab group 1 of window "Date & Time" of application process "System Preferences"
        if theValue is 1 then
            click checkbox "Announce the time:" of tab group 1 of window "Date & Time" of application process "System Preferences"
        end if
    end tell
    delay 1
    quit
end tell

on enterPassword()
    tell application "System Events"
        try
            click button "Click the lock to make changes." of window "Date & Time" of application process "System Preferences"
        end try
        delay 1
        --activate
        set value of text field "Enter password" of sheet 1 of window "Date & Time" of application process "System Preferences" to thePassword
        delay 1
        click UI element "Unlock" of sheet 1 of window "Date & Time" of application process "System Preferences"
    end tell
end enterPassword

I could have set the script to perform the action of clicking checkbox "Announce the time:" if it was not enabled already… with conditional statements of setting enabled or disabled of that checkbox during certain times.  I figured, for now, it would just be easier to save two different versions of the script.  One version for turning on checkbox "Announce the time:"  and one version for turning off checkbox "Announce the time:”.  In ScriptEditor, just saved each version of the script as applications.  From there just simply open Calendar.app and create two new calender events. one event for enabling checkbox "Announce the time:" at whatever time you choose.  And another for disabling..  Once you create the event, just create a custom alert and select the option of open file then choose your script which you saved as an app.


Apple Music checked as disabled and grayed out in iTunes In iTunes' preferences pane for Restrictions, Apple Music is grayed out and checked as disabled. Any idea how to enable this? The lock is not engaged at the bottom.

Looks like I had a Device Profile created by my administrator which disabled Apple Music, among other things.


Physical keyboard layout on macbooks Is there a way through command line to know what keyboard physical layout a macbook has? I cannot find that specific information in system_profiler. I want to know if the computer has a US, UK, ES, etc keyboard layout. The aim is to script it, upload it to my MDM so I can run it in all the company's laptops and find out that information.

Running the terminal command system_profiler SPSPIDataType it shows this:

SPI:

Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad:

  Product ID: 0x0278
  Vendor ID: 0x05ac (Apple Inc.)
  ST Version: 8.96
  MT Version: 4.69
  Serial Number: FM7741701QVGN41A5+RNZ
  Manufacturer: Apple Inc.
  Location ID: 0x01000000

I run it in two different macbooks, one UK, one ES. I was hoping that the Location ID would show something different but that was not the case.

I think I just found the solution, like this:

ioreg -l | grep KeyboardLanguage | awk '{print substr( $0, 56, 20)}' | tr -d "\" =|"


Need Reminder Application to notify every X minutes during the day Can one advise an application that can notify me each 1 hr 30 minutes during the day (let's say I can specify it to be from 10 AM till 11 PM).
I've tried Alarmed, Beep me, AidaReminder but all of them can not handle this simple task with almost no effort of the user.

The point is: if I want to arrange my everyday life and get used to:

Take pills at certain time
Smoke just 1 time in 2.5 hr
Have meals at a certain time
Take work breaks once in every 45 minutes that are lasting for 10 minutes
Plan to go to a gym every 3 days
Go to swimming pool every 2 days
Pay rent every 15th day of every month
etc.

I know most there is a calendar and simple alarm for most of those tasks, for productivity at work there is pomodoro technique, for tasks like repeating an event (let's say allowing me to smoke once in 2.5 hr) I still have not found a good solution.

I want everything to be in one place. I need an app that I can say:

Repeat event every 2 hours 25 minutes from 10 AM to 4 PM
Remind me to pay rent every 15th day at 10 AM
After every 45 minutes ask me to take an action and go to a 10 minutes break, notify when break is over and ask me to take action to get back to the work or postpone

Is there any good app that meet those exact problems?

Disclaimer: I've read the tour and I've found this question might be considered as falling into category of Questions that are primarily opinion-based, but I want to point this out: I've listed exact application responsibilities, so that's it: the application is meet the requirement or not, no place for subjectivity.

Take a look at Due. It has a Mac version as well, and I've not seen a more powerful timer app.


How can i install version 10.12.0 on my late 2008 macbook pro? I need to install microsoft word for university but it won't let me without version 12.1.2 on the macbook however it doesn't say that the mac needs updating?

The latest version of Mac OS X for a Late 2008 MacBook Pro is OS X 10.11.6, and therefore if the requirements for the version of MS Word your university is using is macOS 10.12.0, you'll not be able to install it.

From the Microsoft website:

  Operating system Office 2019 for Mac is supported on the three most recent versions of macOS. When a new version of macOS is released, the Office 2019 for Mac Operating System requirement becomes the then-current three most recent versions: the new version of macOS and the previous versions.

  Product functionality and feature availability may vary on older systems. For the best experience, use the latest version of any operating system specified above.


Can I use any Apple power adapter with my MacBook? There are 45, 60, and 85 watt power adapters for the MacBook line of portable devices (the Air, the Pro, etc.). Does the 45 watt charger which comes with the MacBook Air work with the 15" MacBook Pro for example?

You can use it, but how much actual charging goes on may be minimal. It depends how much power your MBP is drawing (i.e. if you're doing CPU or graphics intensive tasks, you'll draw more power, thus less charging), but I suspect the 45W won't do much more than slow the rate of battery drain. If your MBP is asleep or turned off, it should charge the battery, just slower than the standard charger.


Mavericks + Server.app + getmail (oh my!) I have a Mac mini Server with OS X Mavericks 10.9.1 and Server.app v3.0 installed. IMAP (dovecot) is running and accessible from Mail clients.

What I want is to have the server fetch emails from my various email accounts and "dump" them into the IMAP server.

I was previously able to do this on Linux by using getmail to fetch the emails, which would send the emails through procmail, which would deliver them directly into the Maildir folder which dovecot read.

Unfortunately the above process won't work with Server.app v3.0, as apparently the /Library/Server/Mail/Data/mail/* directories must be owned by _dovecot, which means Joe Random User can't write to them, which rules out procmail/etc.

Is there an easy(-ish) way to get a similar workflow, having the Server retrieve emails and add them to the local IMAP server?

What about server-side filtering? How can that be setup?

Is there an easy(-ish) way to get a similar workflow, having the Server retrieve emails and add them to the local IMAP server?

The key is to use the dovecot-lda program (lda for Local Deliver Agent), which can write messages into the IMAP server.

For example, if using getmail, you could provide a [destination] section which invokes dovecot-lda:

[destination]
type      = MDA_external
path      = /Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/libexec/dovecot/dovecot-lda
arguments = ("-d", "USERNAME")
allow_root_commands = True

Note that allow_root_commands is required because getmail will need to be run as root to invoke dovecot-lda.

Aside: The path for dovecot-lda is specified in the postfix configuration file /Library/Server/Mail/Config/postfix/master.cf:

dovecot   unix  -       n       n       -       25      pipe
  flags=DRhu user=_dovecot:mail argv=/Applications/Server.app/Contents/ServerRoot/usr/libexec/dovecot/dovecot-lda -d ${user}

  What about server-side filtering? How can that be setup?

Dovecot is configured to use Sieve (/Library/Server/Mail/Config/dovecot/conf.d/90-sieve.conf). Sieve rules are stored in /Library/Server/Mail/Data/rules/%u/dovecot.sieve (see /Library/Server/Mail/Config/dovecot/conf.d/90-sieve.conf), which unfortunately isn't easily writeable.

To install additional Sieve rules, use a Sieve editor, e.g. Sieve clients. Note that you need to use the correct port (Server.app defaults to port 4190; see /Library/Server/Mail/Config/dovecot/conf.d/20-managesieve.conf).

Unfortunately, after spending far too much time trying to make this work, I've given up on using a Sieve client.

If you're root, create a .sieve file (verify syntax with sievec), then copy to /Library/Server/Mail/Data/rules/%u/dovecot.sieve. Note: %u is the user's GUID, not their user name (i.e. /Library/Server/Mail/Data/mail/%u should exist), and /Library/Server/Mail/Data/rules/%u should have permissions 775 (writable by the mail user).

If you're not root...get root and see above.

When the Sieve rules are in place, /Library/Logs/Mail/mail-info.log will contain a line similar to:

mail-info.log:Feb 13 17:14:52 lda(pid 6108 user USERNAME-NOT-GUID): Info: sieve: msgid=<whatever...>: ...


Exclude hours from Calendar? Is it possible to lock the position, or delete the options for earlier or later, of the Calendar app on OS X?  I don't want anything before 8am or after 10pm, but the calendar moves too easily, so I may not always be aware of some entries.

Note: This answer assumes you're using either the day- or the week-display.

On OS X 10.7 and up, the calendar indicates that there are events that aren't displayed on the screen with a tiny "flob" better explained by this screenshot:

You can see that on both the 18th and the 19th there are some events not being shown. These will stay on the screen until you scroll far enough up (or down) to see them.

That said, you can't really "disable" the time interval of 10pm->8am, but you can make space for more events on one screen. To do this, open the Settings (Cmd+,), and select the desired amount of hours to fit into one calendar window. 8am to 10pm is 14 hours, so pick 14.


iMac 2008 Core 2 Duo does not list my bootable USB stick in the boot menu? Hi i am trying to install OS X El Capitan on iMac 2008 model Core 2 Duo processor, and  4GB Ram. The way i followed is i created a USB bootable stick and insert to mac machine and restarted the Machine then i  pressed C key in keyboard and i waited more than 30 seconds then it is not showing any usb Bootable option and later it booted directly. Even i can`t able to Boot CD Drive also. can any one help me out here please.

Try:

Holding down Option at boot, not C. This will show every available boot option
Make sure you are using a USB keyboard attached directly to the machine


Will encrypting hard drive reduce disk size? I have a 1TB harddisk that has 20GB space left. I want to encrypt this disk. Will encryption take up more space, and if so, is there an estimate, a percentage or something how much it will cost?

When I open Diskutility, I see a change for partitions that are encrypted. They each have two entries, a parent and child. The parent is the normal partition, and inside is the encrypted child partition. As the encryption is always done by the OS, it is software encryption.

The resulting encrypted child partition is smaller than the parent. As I had several encrypted partitions, I was able to compare them using the numbers in Diskutility. I can only give you the numbers from this one example, so I don't know if they are similar on other systems. For this computer, encryption takes 320MB data. One partition (root) uses 4KB less for encryption. Disk Utility reports for the parent root partition that 4096 Bytes are free. The other parent partitions have 0 bytes free. Why this is - I have no idea.

Below you see the data in bytes for all three partitions: 150GB, 300GB, 850GB.

(A)Partition   (B) Parent      (C) Child      (D) Difference  (E) MB
1 (root)       149484212224    149148663808   335548416       320.00390625
2 (external)   300060016640    299724464128   335552512       320.0078125
3              849726693376    849391140864   335552512       320.0078125

Difference D2 - D1

335552512 - 335548416 = 4096 = 4KB

As I use 256 bit encryption, these numbers may be different for 128 bit. If anyone can confirm this, that would be nice!


Import iCal data from other mac I need to consolidate two iCal installations: the data from my old laptop should be merged into my new laptop’s iCal data.

I tried exporting the old iCal data and importing it on the new laptop. Unfortunately, this would replace all my new iCal data. I don’t want this. I also don’t want to export/import separate calendars – I want to merge them (i.e. “work” with “work”, and “home” with “home”).

Is there a (hopefully painless) way of achieving this?

Note to self: use cloud-based calendar in future

http://www.macworld.com/article/54668/2007/01/mergecalendars.html

This seems to be doing exactly what you ask.


Find my Friends displaying email addresses, not contact portraits or names In the Find my Friends app, some of the entries in there no longer show the portrait from that person's entry in Contacts. The email address is displayed instead. I would like to have the portrait back (or initials where there is no portrait).

This appears to have been happening for some people since 2011. Further threads 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Advice from those threads include:

Ensure Settings -> Privacy -> Contacts -> Find Friends is On.
Add the email address to the Contacts entry for that person.
Restarting app and/or phone.
Deleting the app and reinstalling.

I have tried all of the above, except deleting the app. I am hesitant to do this, as this will require me to pester all of my friends again upon reinstall.

It all used to be fine, and then one day it wasn't. I always had the correct email address in Contacts. The privacy permission was always correct. I don't know what changed. The latest person I've added has their portrait fine, but not so for the others. Even "my" Find my Friends details are "unknown".

Is there a solution that will fix this short of deleting and reinstalling? I'll do that if there's no other recourse :(

I suffered from the email-address-instead-of-name problem after replacing my phone's local contact info with a sync copy from my gmail account. this seemed to work for me (ios7):

click on the contact name in the 'find my friends' window
click the 'contact' button at top left
click 'add to existing contact'
select the relevant person in your contacts list; this will seem to add a duplicate email address, and you might want to clean that up later

restart Find My Friends... is now showing names (for me at least)... good luck.


Scrolling doesn't work in Terminal for commands like less I used to be able to scroll using the trackpad through git diff or man pages which both use less when the output doesn't fit on screen. Today I restarted my computer and that behaviour is gone and I can no longer scroll down and if I scroll up it scrolls the terminal scrollbar showing previous commands. However in vim scrolling still works as expected.

The first thing I checked is the "Scroll alternate screen" Terminal setting and it is checked as expected. I also tried with iTerm2 and have the same issue even with the "Scroll wheel sends arrow keys when in alternate screen mode" setting enabled.

My default shell is zsh so I tried with bash and then sh. Both have the same behaviour and I can't scroll through the output.

Because scrolling still works with some commands like vim it seems like the issue might be that less is no longer recognized as an "alternate screen" but I have no idea why. Updating to the latest less version available on brew did not help.

it is weird, I had the exact issue this morning with iterm2.

I ended up adding the following to my ~/.zshrc:

export LESS=-R

Important: you might want to take a look at the flags you are using before running this command and understanding what each of them do.

Sources I looked at to arrive to this conclusion:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/803486/can-i-scroll-to-new-lines-using-mouse-wheel-inside-git-diff
https://superuser.com/questions/455212/how-to-make-mouse-wheel-scroll-the-less-pager-using-bash-and-gnome-terminal

Let me know if this helped.


App with proper PDF page numbering? I have a pdf file that has irregular page numbering (Roman numerals, then regular page numbers, then odd numbering scheme, etc..) created with Adobe Acrobat. Does anybody know of an iOS app that supports odd page numbering? When opening the PDF file in preview and Adobe Reader, the page numbers appear as they should, but when copied to an iOS device, the page numbers don't appear properly in iBooks or Adobe Reader for iOS, they just start at 1, 2, etc...

I've finally found a solution that supports logical page numbers like the other PDF readers I have tried, but also respects custom page numbers embedded within the PDF. GoodReader shows the page numbers properly. It's $4.99


Will i be able to upgrade from ios 9.1 beta to 9.1 stable I upgraded ios to 9.1 beta from 9.0 last beta a week ago. However i can't downgrade it to 9.0 stable as i don't have a backup.

How will i be able to update to 9.1 stable from 9.1 beta when 9.1 stable released ?

Thanks

Are you saying that your firmware is higher than iOS 9.1 and you want to downgrade back to 9.1? If so, you can't because Apple has stopped signing iOS 9.1 since December, I think. You can learn more from this post.


Microsoft Outlook for Mac - View Mailbox size We switched from Lotus Notes 8.5.3 and we now use Microsoft Outlook 2011 for Mac in my office. Lotus Notes used to show the size of the mailbox (check the image below). Is it possible to show the mailbox size like this in Outlook? I know how to check the size of the mailbox by right clicking it and seeing Folder properties. But if we have this kind of a feature, it would be convenient.

Sadly, Outlook:Mac 2011 doesn't make it possible for you to view your mailbox size at all times in the UI.  The method that you've found of viewing it via the Folder Properties is the only method.

If this is important to you, you should submit feedback to Microsoft.  In Outlook, go to Help -> Send Feedback About Outlook.  Tell them exactly what you want, why you want it, and how it impacts you to not have it.  Be verbose -- the better of a case that you can make, the higher the chance is that your feedback will be given due consideration.


Track when an iPod Touch was restored I suspect that someone is restoring my daughters iPod Touch to get around the password she has on it, and then setting a new password on it.  Is there anyway to track when a restore was done?  (i.e. if I can show that it was done today at 2:45).

Is there anyway I can prevent the device from being restored (parental controls)?

To answer the last question first, no. You can always force a device to be off and then force an erase/restore. You should be able to tell since everything is gone. Worst case someone has an old backup of her content and restored that.

It is far more likely the culprit has guessed the passcode and is messing with you all. Second most likely is a jailbreak and known admin password.

If the suspect is technically sophisticated, it's possible they can pull this off but the security of passcodes on iOS is quite secure in general.


Removing spotlight icon from menu bar persistently I tried to remove spotlight form the menu bar with the following trick:

sudo chmod 600 /System/Library/CoreServices/Search.bundle/Contents/MacOS/Search
killall SystemUIServer

Unfortunately if I repair disk permissions and reboot at some point (or just simply reboot some people tell me), the annoying spotlight thing is back in the menu bar.

I don't want to disable spotlight, just to take off the damn magnifying glass from the menu bar persistently.  Is there a way the works better than the one I presented above?

This works at least up to 10.9.2.

To disable:

sudo mv /System/Library/CoreServices/Search.bundle /System/Library/CoreServices/Search.bundle.bak
killall SystemUIServer

To re-enable:

sudo mv /System/Library/CoreServices/Search.bundle.bak /System/Library/CoreServices/Search.bundle
killall SystemUIServer


Bookmark all open tabs in mobile safari I've got an iPhone with ~500 open tabs (500 is the limit). I'd like to bookmark all of the tabs so I can review/read them later on other non Apple devices and potentially in non-apple browsers.

Is there any app or solution (like a pinboard client) that will allow me to bookmark and close those tabs in mobile safari then, at a later time, view the bookmarks in another browser or on a desktop?

Tyler Brook, the article you link as a solution is for a computer type of device and not an iPhone or mobile version of the browser. The mobile version has a more limited menu.
 I have the same question and am hitting the same wall.
So far I have to email my self links to get the open pages to a non-mobile device(with a bigger screen for my old eyes ).

The iOS 13 update is testing a new function to do exactly what you seek.

https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/bookmark-multiple-open-tabs-safari-ios/


What is Apple's Recycling Program? Can anyone explain Apple's recycling program to me, and how that plays out when ordering online? I am going to buy a new MacBook Pro and want to trade-in or recycle my old one.

I have a Early 2015 MacBook Pro (Core i5). It got a swollen battery and a line of dead pixel on the display. It has gone through some rough times. I think it can't be traded in but can be recycled from Apple.

Although related, Apple recycling program and Trade-in program are slightly different.

Apple recycling program primarily concerns with providing an avenue to recycle used hardware in an environmentally responsible way. It also gives Apple the opportunity to reuse certain components again.

You are generally not paid when you recycle old/used products. It's more about an ethically appropriate way to give away unusable hardware.

Apple trade-in program on the other hand lets you receive store-credit in eligible countries in exchange for a working hardware.

As you have a working Mac, you should go ahead with trade-in by visiting the trade-in homepage here:

Apple Trade In

You'll be presented with a questionnaire that lets Apple verity the eligibility for trade-in. You start by providing your Mac's serial number which will help Apple determine the system type and configuration.

Based on your responses, Apple will either show you an estimate of the store credit that can be availed, or suggest you to recycle the device.

You can locate the Apple trade-in or recycling webpage for your specific country by visiting the Apple Recycling Programs homepage.


Renaming Files in Finder using Keyboard When renaming files in Finder I end the renaming with "Enter" which irritatingly opens the file. Websearch tells me that the "Enter"-key should start (and end) renaming while Cmd+O opens a file.

How do I restore that behaviour or by which keycommand has it been replaced? Did I change this myself (inadvertently, like, a while ago), or has Apple changed it??

EDIT:
After getting the answer that this behaviour has NOT changed, I looked into what could have changed it again and found that I activated this behaviour in Karabiner-Elements. Probably should have tried to get used to the system before customising it.

I just realised that I activated this behaviour in Karabiner-Elements myself.


Cannot find where php5-fpm is stored in MacPorts I installed php5 from macports. But i can't find php-fpm for start.
Look in /opt/local/sbin and /usr/sbin/

I used console command:

sudo port install php5

May be need some like php5 +fastcgi fscgi

FPM support is still in the works at this writing; see Trac ticket #26039.


How do I keep my SSH private key passphrase away from OSX? I recently created an SSH public/private keypair on my Mac OSX Yosemite system and for this use-case, I wanted to encrypt the private key with a passphrase.

However, the first time I attempted to use this key, I was surprised to see a GUI component overlay itself over my terminal ... that is the first time I had ever seen (or heard of) keychain.

I want nothing to do with this.  I want the passphrase to exist nowhere but my own head - not even in an encrypted or keychain-vaulted safe space.

So I learned about the ssh config option 'AskPassGUI no' and that seems to have solved my problem.  I use that ssh key and keychain seems to not be invoked and there are no GUI pop-ups, etc.

But I'm suspicious ... I never liked that little Unicode key character that the Mac terminal inserts into the passphrase dialog in the terminal - it makes me think there are processes or services overlaying the terminal.

My question:

With AskPassGUI set to no, and no sign of keychain popping up, am I saving/caching/storing either my key, or my passphrase ... or anything ... inside OSX ?

Or am I having the simple, basic, text only relationship with my terminal that I hope to be having ?

Thanks.

I have no inside information about the MacOS internals, but from my experience using this feature, the passphrase is accepted by the GUI only to add the corresponding key to an ssh-agent. On my system it did not store the passphrase in the keychain (which I also do not want), but I'm not sure that's default behavior. My terminal would report "saving to keychain failed", but I could then ssh using that key until I logged out / restarted.
See the "AskPassGUI" and "KeychainIntegration" options in ssh_config (superseded in more recent MacOS versions, though).
Because it did not save the passphrase in the keychain, I happily entered my passphrase only once a week (shutting down on the weekend and never logging out).


Is there a way to add a background color in Apple notes? I'm using MacOs Mojave 10.14.6

I've looked for the function, but can't get any useful info on it. It seems like a simple function to me, but I can't find it on the menu.

No, there is currently no way to change the background color in Apple Notes.


Memory/CPU usage comparison between two MacBook Pros I recently switched from a 2014 mid MacBook Pro Retina with 2.7 GHz and 8 GB of RAM to a 3.1 GHz and 16 GB of RAM. I noticed something very strange which is that 1) when I am dong very basic tasks such as downloading something for the new MacBook Pro, it occupies 6 GB of memory used and 2) the CPU usage seems to be high compared to my MacBook Pro with 2.7 GHz when doing the same thing (i.e.: downloading same sized files and size).

Why is this the case? Most curiously, I'm wondering why the memory used for the new MacBook Pro is at 6 GB when simply downloading something.

It is rather difficult to compare a fresh 'cold' new system with a 'warm' fully synchronized and updated one.  New Macs have a lot of catching up to do; iCloud service syncing and system patches being two of them.

On the other hand OSX - and every other OS really - chooses a healthy part of the available RAM (real, physical memory) above swapping to disk (virtual memory) for obvious reasons.  Having 8 more Gigs available probably decreased your swap file by a couple gigs.  Granted, swapping to those post-2013 SSD's is reasonably fast, but no (or less) swapping is always faster (and better for your battery).

Chances are high your increased RAM usage is part of those 2 reasons.


Partition Mac hard drive and install two copies of macOS to segregate home and work usage I have a Mac Pro which came with just one partition. I would like to seperate work and home use.

I was wondering if I could backup the current installation, wipe and partition the drive into two, and restore the original macOS installation into both the partitions, effectively using the licence twice on my Mac.

Is this even possible and allowed?

It is easily possible to partition the drive and perform two (or even more) separate installations of macOS to keep home and work use separate.

No license violations whatsoever are involved in this act.

However, this approach is generally taken, only when you wish to run two or more different versions of macOS on a single machine at the same time. (For e.g. to run or develop an app on different major versions of macOS).

In your scenario, a highly recommended approach would be to create two separate user accounts instead of performing two different installations of the exact same operating system.

The following is a discussion listing drawbacks of the original approach (which could be entirely avoided by taking the aforementioned recommended approach):

Wasted disk space: Partitioning and installing two copies of the same operating system will unnecessarily end up eating precious hard disk space. Almost all the operating system and app installation data would be duplicated and twice the amount of storage will be used.
Management cost: You will have to separately update and manage two copies of the same operating system and installed apps. This is a repetitive and time-consuming process.
Context switching: To switch context between work and home profile will require you to perform a full restart. You'll have to close the open apps and files in one profile even if you want to switch to the other profile momentarily for a small task. With 2 user accounts, the context switch is very easy, quick and won't require you to quit any running apps or close any files.
3rd party software license: Some 3rd party software license may not allow such multi-user use and may require purchasing a separate license. While in the recommended case, only a single copy of the app can be installed and shared between the two accounts. (this can again vary from app to app depending on how it is licensed, but you'll be better off in most cases.)
Difficulty in sharing data: It may be difficult to share user data (if required) across profiles, especially if you opt to encrypt the contents of the drive. However, with the recommended approach, you can have a shared folder and seamlessly share data between the two accounts.
Limit of scalability: If a similar need for further segregation arises in future, the process will be really cumbersome involving taking backups, creating multiple partitions, installing more copies of the OS and apps and restoring data, which could soon go out of hand. On the other hand, with the recommended approach, you can simply add/delete a new user account within a few seconds.

All the above hassles can be avoided simply by creating two separate user accounts one each for work and home use. The data is kept segregated along with any OS and app level configurations. Any app will need to be installed only once and will be automatically available in other user accounts (any app-specific data and configuration will be kept segregated). You will also have the option of keeping an app private to a user by installing in ~/Applications directory instead of /Applications directory.

You can choose to make all the user accounts as Administrators and they will have access to all the system level settings. Each account can even be configured with a separate Apple ID. Each account can in effect act as a standalone macOS installation, remaining ignorant of the existence of the other user.

This setup can accomplish your desired goal in a highly manageable and scalable manner.

If you have other concerns and priorities where the aforementioned limitations don't apply, it is perfectly fine and easy to partition your hard drive into 2 (or more) partitions and have more than one simultaneous installations of macOS.


After upgrading to Snow Leopard, don't I have to upgrade Chrome or Firefox and other programs to 64-bit version? Since I have been using Leopard on my Macbook, all the apps should be 32-bit.

So an hour ago, the macbook is upgraded to Snow Leopard.  Does that mean all apps should also be upgraded to 64-bit version for speed?

For example, does Chrome, Firefox, (and any other popular ones) have 64-bit versions?

64-bit apps have been fully supported since Leopard (OS X v10.5), and 64-bit non-GUI programs since 10.3.  The only thing 10.6 added was that Apple included a 64-bit kernel (which is a completely separate thing), and included 64-bit code in (almost) all of the programs they ship with the OS.

OS X uses a "fat" binary format, which allows a single program to include multiple CPU-architecture versions of itself; when it's run, the OS picks the "best" version of the program, and runs that.  For instance, on a 64-bit capable Intel Mac, it'd look for a 64-bit Intel version first; if that wasn't available, it'd look for a 32-bit Intel version; if that wasn't available, it'd look for a 32-bit PowerPC version and run that under the Rosetta emulation/translation system.

Net result: many of your programs are probably already 64-bit capable, and have been running in that mode for a while now.  Some may not be, in which case they'll keep running just fine in 32-bit mode.  It's all remarkably transparent.

If you want to know which of your programs support 64-bit mode, run the System Profiler utility, and select Software -> Applications from the sidebar; it'll list all the programs it can find, along with whether they're Intel-only, PowerPC only, or Universal (both), and whether they have Intel 64-bit support.  You can also use Finder's Get Info on a program; if it has an "Open on 32-bit mode" option, that program includes both 32- and 64-bit versions of itself (and that option will let you override the OS's ideal of the "best" version).

Now, to answer your more direct question: I don't know about Chrome, but Firefox version 3.x comes in a 32-bit only binary; version 4 comes with both 32- and 64-bit.  Either one will work fine.


When upgrading to Yosemite from Mavericks are there any traps with Brew and Ports Currently running Mavericks. Got a LOT of things installed through Homebrew and a handful through Ports. Are these going to survive the upgrade? What is best practice in this situation?

If you have a lot of stuff installed in /usr/local, the upgrade will be extremely slow. It's faster to move it away before upgrading and move it back when the upgrade is done -- see here for full details.


Thumbnail floating on screen after deletion from desktop I have a MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) running High Sierra 10.13.3.

Recently when I have dragged and deleted image files from my desktop there has been a thumbnail of one of the pictures deleted left floating on the screen, it seems to be on a layer above anything else and the only way I can get rid of it is restarting my laptop.

Anyone else experienced this/found a fix?

⌥-right-click on Finder in the Dock and choose Relaunch.

This is an occasional bug in Finder that's been around for years. In my experience it happens fairly randomly when dragging files or folders around. If you have reproducible steps to recreate the problem, you should file a bug report!


Remove city from world clock widget? How can I remove a city from the word clock widget shown below?

You can choose whatever cities you like as long as there are four of them :-)
Just click on city name you want to replace, choose new one using Search field or use drop-down list in pop-up window. Your new choice will be displayed instead of Apple default.


How to hide Photos from iOS The new OS X Photos App allows to hide photos. Hidden photos will only appear in the Hidden album (or in any album which you explicitly added them to).

However, the Hidden photos keep showing on the iOS Photos App. iOS detects they are hidden, but it merely hides them from the image picker controller on third party apps. They can still be viewed in the main Photos App on the All Photos section. Is there any way to hide them from All Photos as well?

No. Hiding photos on iOS prevents them from displaying in Moments, Collections, and Years, but they will continue to show in any of the albums under "Albums".

Unfortunately, short of deleting them and then restoring them within 30 days, you are limited to the provision that Apple developed.


Hide Xcode's toolbar in fullscreen mode How can I hide Xcode's toolbar in fullscreen mode (cmd + ctrl + f)?

I tried to hide it and then go into fullscreen but it appeared immediately. Also I tried to hide it using right-click -> hide toolbar but that did not work:

I just would like to have a clear screen with just code on it, w/o any useless toolbars.

Can anyone help me?

Thanks in advance :)

This is not possible. On full screen the toolbar is always visible.

You can hide it only if you are out of full screen mode. If you want to do it with a key combination, you have to assign a shortcut on Preferences → Key Bindings (see the image below).


Fix boot loop of macOS updater The latest macOS 10.13.2 update apparently didn't install well on my MacBook Pro 13" with Touchbar.

On every boot the system loads the update installer but gives then an error message that the install file was not found. Since the update installer would load automatically on every boot this results in a boot loop. However I figured out that I can force to boot into macOS with ALT+R which has been a temporary fix for me since then.

How can I fix this? Is there a way to delete downloaded update files?

Try starting your Mac in Safe Mode, and see if that fixes your issue. To start in Safe Mode, hold the Shift during startup.

If that doesn't work, start the Mac in single-user mode by holding Command + s keys, and see if you can have the updates installed there.

Apple Support Document, Mac startup key combinations lists various startup modes and required key combinations.


applepushserviced and ocspd takes a lot of memory, is killing them safe? I'm in my office and the the network access is limited, would this causing this two process taking too much memory?
I use my Mac mainly for developing, would it be safe to kill this two process?

The OS handles unneeded processes automatically by swapping them out to disk while they are not running. You won't get significant amounts of memory back by killing them.

In addition at least ocspd is started automatically by OS X if needed. So even if you kill it, it will be started again as soon as Safari (or any other app) needs to verify certificates.


MacBook: Should I close all applications before going to sleep? Picture this:
It's 2 am, I'm coding, got XCode, a Browser, a Terminal... running and want to call it a day. I know very well that the next thing I'm doing on my MacBook is exactly where I left off, so with the same windows, tabs etc.
My question is:
Is it good practice to close all my applications before I put my MacBook to sleep (not shut down, just sleep)?
I've found an old post where they discussed this, regarding the time it takes to wake up your MacBook and get back to work. But what I want to know is, if leaving applications open drains my battery, or if it has any bad effects on my device over the long term.
Thanks

...what I want to know is, if leaving applications open drains my battery, or if it has any bad effects on my device over the long term.

Yes, it drains your battery, but it uses a fraction of energy than when awake.  When your Mac goes to sleep, it suspends all of your applications in their current state in memory meaning that (CPU) processing and disk activity have all been stopped, but the application state is in memory being supported by battery - so yes, your battery will drain.
However, when your Mac goes into hibernation it will write those saved states to a sleep image in which your Mac is all but turned off.  If the battery drains completely, the memory states though lost in RAM are preserved in the sleep image.
For more information, see Use sleep and Energy Saver on your Mac

or if it has any bad effects on my device over the long term.

Why would it?  Whether your Mac is fully operational and memory is being utilized versus in sleep mode where memory is also being utilized, there’s nothing that the latter condition is going to do to “have bad effects on your device over the long term.”   Memory just holds values and when you get down to it, it's simply holding on or off states (the 1s and 0s) representing values.
Whether it’s holding a spreadsheet, an photo, an animation, or the state of your application, it affects the memory no differently.  It doesn’t matter if your CPU is doing things with that memory or it’s in a static state, it doesn’t have adverse effects to your computer - it’s doing what it’s designed to do - hold on/off states representing values so long as there’s power.  In fact, an argument can be made that computer that’s awake causes more “wear” on one that’s asleep or hibernating.
Bottom line, the sleep/hibernate function has been used on all computers - Windows, macOS, and BSD/Linux alike across many different architectures like X86, ARM, RISC, SPARC and PowerPC - it’s a mature technology that works very well.  It’s designed to be a convenience feature that has no detrimental effects to your system.


Prevent webpages from binding to certain keyboard shortcuts? I'd like to stop webpages from binding to ⌥ (Option) only shortcuts.

E.g. these can be bound to:

⌘+V
⌘+⌥+K
⌘+⇧+E
⌘+⌥+⇧+X
etc.

But these I want to prevent being bound to (so that their default comes into effect, I have set them up as dead keys/special character keys on my keyboard to type symbols I find important):

⌥+/
⌥+⇧+E
etc.

I lightly edited some code from this answer on Super User to make it prevent the capture of certain shortcuts which do use the Option key and do not use the Command key. You'll want to add the keycodes for any shortcuts you want to prevent binding to the keycodes list. I started it with the codes for the two examples in your question, / and E (it doesn't care if other modifiers are pressed or not).

You can install this to your browser using an extension such as Tampermonkey.

// ==UserScript==
// @name           Disable option shortcuts
// @description    Stop websites from highjacking keyboard shortcuts
//
// @run-at         document-start
// @include        *
// @grant          none
// ==/UserScript==

// These are the keycodes for E and /. Find others to add by uncommenting the first alert line below and pressing that key.
keycodes = [69, 191];

(window.opera ? document.body : document).addEventListener('keydown', function(e) {
    // alert(e.keyCode ); //uncomment to find more keyCodes
    if (keycodes.indexOf(e.keyCode) != -1 && e.altKey && !(e.metaKey)) {
        e.cancelBubble = true;
        e.stopImmediatePropagation();
    // alert("Gotcha!"); //uncomment to check if it's seeing the combo
    }
    return false;
}, !window.opera);