How to partition a pen drive with Disk Utility in El Capitan? I've a 16 GB pen drive and I want to partition it like this:

two MBR partitions:

FAT - 1GB
default (HFS Plus journaled) - remaining.

How to do this in El Capitan?

Open Disk Utility and select the disk in the sidebar (not a partition).
Click Partition in the toolbar.
Enter the first partition information.
Click the + button to add a second partition.
Enter the second partition information. The size will be entered automatically from the remaining space.
Click Apply.


Can the OS X keychain juggle two accounts for the same site? I have a different passwords for:

www.example.com/foo/login and
www.example.com/bar/login

It seems as if the keychain only saves the passwords in relation to the sitename as it does not make distinctions by the subdomain.

When I visit www.example.com/foo/login the keychain will save the password correctly, but when I visit www.example.com/bar/login afterwards it uses the password of the first page and doesn't let me create a new password for the subdomain.

Is there any solution to this problem?

No - you'll want a more full featured password manager like the one gentmatt recommended in the comments.

You could do some kludgey web proxy to give the subdomain a separate top level domain, but that's way more hassle than most would consider appropriate for solving the problem you pose.


How to send an SMS in iOS 10 I just updated to iOS 10 and I want to send an SMS instead of an iMessage to a friend. In iOS 9 I could continuously touch an old message and press send as a text message (or something like that). Now in iOS 10 I don't see anything relevant.

So, does the other person have an iPhone or something else? If it's something else, then it will automatically send as an sms. If the messages fails to send, and you try multiple times to send it, it will ask if you want to send as an sms instead of an iMessage (at least I think it will still do that).

If anything else, you could always go into iMessage settings, sign out of your Apple ID and then turn off and on iMessage.


Can Mac App Store Apps be "sideloaded"? The issue I am facing is bandwidth is very expensive where I live, I pay by the MB so if I need to install Final Cut on 10 different computers it would be murder to download it 10 times, is it possible to install on one computer and then move the files over and just pay for it on the other computer without having to get the files again? Or is the installation tied to a computer? Thank you.

You can copy/paste the application from one Mac to another, they will run as they are self-contained (no files required in other locations).

You may not even need to login to the App Store to run them. I had to install Xcode and Final Cut Pro on a very restricted network environment where the App Store is blocked, the apps ran fine.

Licensing is an issue if you use the apps in a non-personal environment (businness, education). Download and install work the same way.


Are all apps compatible with the Apple TV? I can't find a list of Apple TV products anywhere. I want to use Dish Anywhere specifically on the Apple TV. I'd also like to know if I can just mirror my screen from my iPhone 6 Plus to the Apple TV.

No, not every iPhone app will be on the new Apple TV. Developers have to release apps specifically for the Apple TV, not just porting the iPhone app.

Yes, you can mirror the screen of any iPhone 4s or later to one of the newer Apple TVs.


Data recovery after interrupted partitioning My MacBook Pro was working fine until my friend stopped the Disk Utility from partitioning and force quit the application. Ever since it seems that the problem has grown larger and larger as I used it.

Now it boots until the half of the loading bar, stays there, and shuts down after an hour or so. I tried looking at what was happening by doing a Verbose Boot and it was fine until it said it was repairing the disk and said it failed. I tried Command-R, it also said the disk could not be repaired, I tried the command-R boot again, now it says that it couldn't connect to the Apple support and stops.

Any suggestions on booting/retrieving the data? Should I make a bootable external drive for my laptop? If so, how?

You will need to create an installable USB drive which you can boot from, follow these steps carefully to achieve that:

Download the Mac OS (Yosemite) from the App Store
Format a USB in Disk Utility and name it Untitled (very Important) You should format your USB to Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)
Launch Terminal and execute this command:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app —nointeraction


Apple Mail doesn't display the signature dropdown in new email from line to select manual Signature I created multiple signatures for one Gmail account. Now depending on the context I would like to select a different email signature manually when composing an email.
I created 3 different signatures for one mail account. In mail preferences, I set “choose signature” to "None”. for that mail account.

If I now compose a new mail, I don’t see the signature drop-down in the from line.

How could I fix that?

Go to the Library folder of your user folder. It is hidden, so press command+shift+. to unhide all folders.
Go to

  Mail/V7/MailData/Signatures.

Move the two .plists to your desktop

Restart your computer, open the application, and test. If it works okay, delete the plists from the desktop.


any bluetooth keyboards with integrated pointing device (trackball/trackpad)? I'm looking for a keyboard and pointing device which I can use when my laptop is plugged into my TV. It needs to be able to connect to the laptop via bluetooth (I want to minimize the time and effort connecting the laptop), and the pointing device must be integrated into it.

I'm having a big problem finding a device to fit the bill online. I would have thought it was a very popular problem, and that there'd be plenty of devices out there... I've considered buying a bluetooth keyboard and "apple magic trackpad", which would be perfect if they were one unit...

The laptop is a macbook. I don't care if it's designed for windows, so long as it works with OS X.

Recommendations?

The Logitech diNovo Edge keyboard has a little trackpad on it. It's got a Mac version (~$150).

Also, the Adesso SlimTouch Wireless Mini Touchpad Keyboard for Mac (~$110) looks okay. I haven't used this brand, though.


ARD lets move mouse, but not click on external displays powered by USB3 display link hub. Internal display still works I've got a mid 2012 Macbook Pro (host computer, running 10.12.6, ARD 3.9.4) im connecting to via Apple Remote Desktop (ARD). My client computer is a late 2012 Macbook pro (client computer, running 10.10.5, ARD 3.9)

I used to have 1x external display attached to this host computer, and ARD was able to move between both screens and i could control (move and click mouse, type etc) on both screens.

The user of the host computer needed a second external display so i ordered a Startech USB3 dock (this model) which as i understand uses Display Link's technology to have 3x additional displays, of which im using 2x (one 1 hdmi, the other display port).

See setup diagram below.

Now when i connect to the host computer the 3 displays (1x internal, 2x external) show up. The internal display works fine i can control and see everything. On the 2x external displays i can see everything and move the mouse, but can't click or type anywhere.

When the sit at the host computer physically i can use the mouse to move and click as expected and the keyboard works fine.

Any ideas why im having issues with ARD on these 2 external displays that are connected through the dock ? I would have thought that if it wasn't going to work it would either a) not show the external screens in ARD at all. or b) not allow me to move the mouse.

Ive been following this up more with Display Link and they have informed me that currently Apple Remote Desktop does not fully work with Display Link screens in OSX 10.12.x

UPDATE Nov 17 : As of recently this seems to work, not sure if Apple or Display Link updated their drivers, but it just started working.


Move Application from Dock to Menu Bar I have written an AppleScript application and when running, it appears in the Dock, however I would like it to have it in the menu bar, at the top of the screen, instead. How can I achieve this? Is there some code I need to add to it so it can appear in the menu bar?

For a single script, it is no possible to create a unique icon that's sits near the clock such as the wifi icon for example. There may be unique AppleScript plugins that enable this, but I'm not aware of any.

If you need one icon from which you can run a bunch of different scripts, there are tools like FastScripts that enable this. OS X also enables application-specific scripts to show up in a special icon on the menu bar that only shows for that app. Not sure that still works in El Capitan, as I haven't used this functionality for a while.

I run a tool called Keyboard Maestro which lets me trigger scripts in a variety of different ways, one of them being the menu bar icon.


iOS (iPhone) "Other" storage category is huge I referenced this existing question and numerous forum threads on the internet, but still have not found a solve besides restoring the iphone.  Is there any known way to decrease the "other" storage category in iOS? I am in iOS 13 w/ an iPhone 11 Pro 64GB.  My "other" category is 30 GB.  I have tried everything with no avail short of restoring the phone from scratch and starting over.  Open to ideas...

As Steve Chambers commented - this was the ONLY thing that worked:

Backup phone on itunes to your local computer (not iCloud).
Wipe/Reset phone completely.  Delete all data and settings.
When it comes back up, plug into your computer again (or just leave it plugged into your commputer the entire time).
In iTunes, click restore from backup (the one you just made locally on your computer).

It will reload all your apps and settings to nearly the exact same (I had some things that randomly didn't restore properly and had to handle myself).  You'll also have to login again to some apps, but others you won't.
It also takes a long time, and is generally a pain.  But, given that this problem is all over the internet including on apple forums with no response or help from the company (typical), I will depend on this in the future too!


Airdrop option not showing Finder in mac I need to transfer files from my iphone to mac using airdrop.

But the airdrop tab is not showing in the finder sidebar. I tried finding the solution online on following links: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203538

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8499248, but no luck.

Please suggest how can get the airdrop option back in my mac. I am using MacOS Mojave.

Tried the following steps and it worked:

First disable airdrop using:

defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser DisableAirDrop -bool YES

Then enable airdrop using:

defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser DisableAirDrop -bool NO

Restart mac


Can I upgrade an iPhone 5S directly to 8.3 from 7.1.3? I am unable to upgrade iOS from 7.1.3 to 8.3 on my iPhone 5S. Can I upgrade directly to 8.3 or do I have to do it in stages i.e. from 7.2 onwards?

I presume you mean 8.1.3 … & also 7.1.2, as there never was a 7.1.3 afaik

You can go straight to it - in fact, there's no other option. It's the only route.
Apple stops signing old releases shortly after a new one comes out, so an older version wouldn't work, even if you got hold of it.

Safest route to any update is…

Sync to iTunes
Backup to iTunes
Download the update from iTunes, without updating.
Update as a separate step [ensures the download is full & complete before starting]

Belt & braces - you have a full, recent backup of the current state should anything go wrong.


FakeLocation Tweak (Via Cydia) has shut down my iPad and it doesn't want to work I downloaded a tweak via Cydia called FakeLocation. Once I downloaded it my iPad couldn't open again even if I charge it. Tried connecting it to iTunes on my PC to restore it but it doesn't want to connect because there's no battery. Any tips?

You can boot into Substrate Safe Mode by holding the volume up button on boot. This disables tweaks such as this which should let you get back in to the device and back in to Cydia to uninstall it.


20Gb of sleepimage OSX Mavericks I realized that I'm always I receive a message informing that my startup disk is almost full. So I used the "Disk Inventory" App to know what was happening.

My sleepimage was bigger than 20Gb, I read that one of the Mavericks OS features was the little size of sleepimage.

Could I delete the file? If I do, the sleepimage will work normally?

I had a similar problem. After waking my Macbook Pro from sleep, I found that space had magically diminished to just a few megabytes, even though I had several GB free before putting it to sleep. Deleting the sleepimage as suggested in the above post freed up the space again (the image had grown to about 4GB - pretty much the amount of space I was missing).


Xcode 6.1.1 writes too much data to disk Recently I noticed that Xcode writes too much data to the disc. Within just 40 hours it wrote more than 13GB to the disk.

I restarted Xcode to see what actions cause this insane data transfer. I noticed that typing just one character makes Xcode write 40-50 MB of data onto the disk. As I have an SSD this makes me very "uncomfortable" using Xcode.

How can I find out where the data is written and why it is written?

My guess is that you have a normal Xcode installation and you can confirm this with Instruments or fs_usage

You'll want to let it finish downloading any documentation and close project windows that you don't work on to focus on the background file IO.

sudo fs_usage -w Xcode  | grep -v Terminal


How is a factory reset done? So, I'm very new to Apple products and am feeling a bit naive about it all - so, forgive me if this sounds a bit stupid!

I am thinking about purchasing a used iPod touch 5th gen 64gb and I am wondering how a factory reset is done and if I can do it myself or if I would need to take it to a store. As well as how much does a reset do? Does it remove the previous user's junk?

If your buying a used iPod Touch whoever sold it to you will probably (and should) reset the device.   If its not or you just want to reset it you can do it by going into Settings > General > Reset > Erase all Content and Settings


13" MacBook Pro (Mid-2012) failing to fully boot I have a 13" MacBook Pro (Mid 2012) that is failing to fully boot.

What happens once I press the power button:

Screen turns on, and the typical boot-up loading screen with the Apple logo appears
Once the loading progress bar reaches about halfway, the screen goes black
About 10 seconds later, the login screen appears
I click on my account, type my password, and press enter

Now this is when the funky stuff begins....

The computer does not transition from showing the password box to the loading bar
Sections of the screen are now gray & green and slightly jittery

After roughly 2 minutes of spazzing out with along with the odd colors showing up....

Screen goes black
Fan is still fanning
Repeated beeping noise

Annnddd thats when I hold the power button and come to you fellas for some help

I'm looking to diagnose the problem in order to hopefully fix it,
any help/recommendation/advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

The work-around:

Thinking the graphics card might be the problem, I did the following:

Uninstalled macOS
Installed Debian without GUI (command-line only)

At the end:

Laptop does not freeze anymore
Laptop does not beep anymore
No more black/green/gray pixels

You can run Apple's built it hardware test, Turn on your Mac, then immediately press and hold the D key on your keyboard. Keep holding the D key until you see the Apple Hardware Test

I feel it could be a graphics card issue because it seems to play up when you  get to the login screen where the computer actually requires the use of the graphics card.


How can I connect 2 headset microphones to my Macbook Pro so that we can both speak AND hear sound effects from the Macbook Pro? This is for podcasting purposes. I just can't seem to figure it out. We both need to be able to speak and hear whatever noises/sound effects coming from the computer as all of it is being recorded. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

It sounds like you have three sources - two mics and the computer which is also doing the recording.

What you need is a mixer like the PreSonus 4x4 (I don't know of a 3 channel mixer).  This will give you control over the sound levels and profile of each source as well as a way to record them all on your computer.

I personally have used these in courtrooms (the 16 channel versions) to record from all microphones and audio sources.  They worked flawlessly.

The way it will work is like this:

The two mics can go into the "instrument/mic" inputs
The computer audio out can go to one of inputs
The headphones connected to the headphone port (you can use a splitter here)


Calendar event repeating every month but on a certain day Is it possible to create a calendar event repeating every month but on a certain day?

For example our window cleaner started on a Friday and comes every month but on the Friday. Calendar obviously works it out to be a Sunday but it would have been the Friday 2 days prior to that.

Is it possible to do such a thing in Calendar?

Select the event. Go into repeat. Select Custom. Change your frequency to monthly and "on the" to whichever day you want.


Is it possible to jury-rig Internet Sharing to share an internet connection wirelessly, when my Mac already connects to the internet wirelessly? I am trying to set up an internet sharing on my Mac so I can have a 'temporary hotspot' with lesser security so I can connect a DS to the internet when I want it, without changing my router's security settings.

The problem arises is that while I'd be sharing my connection over Wi-fi, the way the house router gets to my computer is through Wi-fi. Is it possible to jury-rig the system so that the computer can both connect to the internet router, and re-broadcast / share that internet connection to other WiFi clients, from the same AirPort card?

In short, not likely to be possible using a single Airport card.

99% of the time when a workstation's WiFi card connects to a standard wireless access point, it does so in WiFi "client" mode, which has certain physical (i.e. radio-frequency) requirements.

When operating in "client" mode, your workstation's WiFi card cannot act as a repeater or quasi-router for other clients. ("Ad Hoc" wifi mode can support multiple simultaneous connections to different devices, but Ad Hoc and Client modes are mutually exclusive.)

What should work fine is for you to add a second, separate WiFi interface to your Mac, for example a USB-to-WiFi adapter. (cheap, $19! And no, I don't work for OWC.)

That independent WiFi interface can then be separately configured for Internet sharing to give your DS (or other devices) a "temporary hotspot" connection. USB 2.0 has a minimum latency of 0.125ms and an average bandwidth of 25 to 35MB/sec -- probably plenty for your gaming needs, unless you're going to be connecting more than 3 or 4 clients.

Also, this question is closely related to Wi-Fi Connection sharing on Macbook Air via USB dongle , which is still unanswered.


iOS app store submission - including a screenshot that isn't a screenshot of the app Along with the screenshots of my app, I'd like to include a screenshot that shows what my app delivers e.g. an SMS message (picture is just for reference):

One of the features of the app is to send SMS messages in a specific format, and I'd like to show this by including a screenshot of the iOS messaging app. - By doing this, would I risk getting rejected from the app store?

There's always a risk of rejection of an App store submission for not strictly following the guidelines.  Best to check what other popular apps display (some have variations that are not exactly screen shots, but photoshopped artwork similar to such) to see what they get away with.  But realize that Apple's previous approval of these apps does not set any precedent for continuing to do so.

You could try putting a help screen in your app, and display a smaller image of the SMS messages window within your own help screen.  They you really would be submitting a real screenshot of just your app.


Does iPad 9.7 2019 have a different Touch ID? I have 3 devices equipped with Touch ID:

iPhone 7 2016
iPad 9.7 2019
MacBook Pro 13 2019

The Touch ID on my phone works maybe 10% of the time with my sweaty hands, while I have almost 100% success rate with iPad and MBP.

Are different sensors used on these devices?

There are two different generations of Touch ID hardware in Apple devices. The 2nd gen Touch ID hardware is widely regarded as being much faster — nearly instantaneous — compared to the 1st gen Touch ID.

Regarding the specific Apple products in your question: the 2019 iPad uses 1st gen Touch ID and the MacBook and iPhone 7 both use 2nd gen.

See this Wikipedia article on Touch ID for more details.

As of this writing, the breakdown between products with 1st gen vs 2nd gen Touch ID is:

1st Gen

iPhone 5S
iPhone SE (1st generation)
iPhone 6
iPhone 6 Plus
iPad mini 3
iPad (2017)
iPad (2018)
iPad (2019)

2nd Gen

iPhone 6S
iPhone 6S Plus
iPhone 7
iPhone 7 Plus
iPhone 8
iPhone 8 Plus
iPhone SE (2nd generation)
iPad Pro 12.9-inch (1st generation)
iPad Pro 9.7-inch
iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2nd generation)
iPad Pro 10.5-inch
iPad Air 2
iPad Air (3rd generation)
iPad mini 4
iPad mini (5th generation)
MacBook Air (2018)
MacBook Pro


How do I get Safari to search all tabs from all Safari windows in the Tab Overview, instead of only those in the current window? When I press the shiftcommand\ keyboard shortcut, it goes into 'expose' mode and allows to search thru only the tabs in the current window, not all windows.

It would be super handy to be able to search/display tabs from all windows.

Is there a way to do this?

This extension: http://nickvdp.com/tablist/ does allow global search and is awesome. It would also be good if it included iCloud tabs.

I would love it more if it could be invoked from the keyboard or integrated into Spotlight but it's still incredible. The way it just brings that tab+window directly to the front is beautiful.


If I bought someone's Macbook, can he spy on me? What if someone sold me his Macbook he doesn't need anymore?
When I remove old home profile and reinstall OS via Cmd+R (btw, would I need sudo pass for that?), after that would previous owner be able to block Macbook remotely or get any data about it?

In short:
To be completely sure you would want to go to disk utility when booted with Cmd+R and erase your MacOS partition.

Some more:
At this point (after erase+reinstall), assuming there were no hardware modifications (in theory you could install hardware tracking modules, wireless microphones and such, but it's rather corporate espionage/P.I./high profile legal domain) you should be good to go.

Booting with Cmd+R and doing just reinstall, without erasing partition can - in theory - leave some parts out.

Remote access is then controlled from system settings and remote wipe can be performed, if you are connected to iCloud (or have some 3rd party app running, which after partition erase you would not have).

The most careless would be to just remove user profiles on newly bought Mac, as there might still be some apps running in background, that you would not even see in Applications folder.


Is my MagSafe covered under my MacBook's AppleCare? I have a white 2010 MacBook, and the outer casing for the wire on the MagSafe power adapter has developed a small split. Is this something that may be covered under my MacBook's AppleCare? Is it something that a genius might give me a "one time exception" for?

Troubleshooting MagSafe adapters

Whether your product is in or out of warranty, you can take your adapter to an Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple Retail Store for evaluation and replacement if necessary. Pending the results of the evaluation, you may or may not be eligible for a replacement adapter free of charge. Signs of accidental damage would negate any coverage. Be sure to bring in the computer used with the adapter; it is required to process potential adapter replacements.

So there are competing things at play. If your cable is otherwise pristine, no bends, no mars, no scuffs and it's clearly not worn - you might think that this split could be caused by either abuse/nick/cut/carelessness or perhaps not holding up as designed. If the rest of the adapter cord is worn and starting to show normal signs that it's just wearing out (no cord lasts forever, especially when wrapped, unwrapped, tugged) you might be asked to pay for a replacement if it's not clear the physical separation was a defect in manufacturing.
If Apple didn't make the cable correctly, it's likely it would fail immediately, but the longer the time that passes until you take it in for service, it's more likely to be an external force causing the tear. Usually by inspecting the rest of the cable (not pictured) you will see other signs of excessive force so absent those signs of stretching and tearing, this might be covered despite what looks like an obvious cut/rip due to a tug.


sierra changes both desktops when shifting using better touch tool I use better touch tool to manage my desktop spaces. When I double swipe to change my desktop from on screen to another I want to do that just on one monitor (I have 2 monitors setup) but instead it just shifts both monitors desktops to the next one. How can I only do this on one screen?

To ensure each display has independent monitor selection, make sure
System Prefs > Mission Control > Displays have separate Spaces
is checked.


Not receiving anything in Mail.app inbox I have a Mac Pro, and I use Mail.app. Everything used to work fine with my POP account.

However, last week my incoming mail showed that it was being downloaded to my inbox, but it never showed up. I have rebuilt my inbox, and also re-initiated, and configured my POP account, but the same problem remains.

I have also an IMAP account, which worked fine before and since this occurrence.

Any clue or hints on what is going on?

It's possible that your mailbox quota may have been exceeded, thus making it so you don't receive any new messages. If that's not the case, then I would completely remove the account from Mail or explore around ~/Library/Mail and edit/remove some files if necessary.


External display for Macbook Pro retina I want to buy a Macbook Pro retina and also an external display for when I'm at home. I could of course buy Apple's thunderbolt display, but I'm looking for alternatives. Will every screen be good or do I need to look out for specific specifications because of the retina display? I guess when you are used to a high-res retina screen, the resolution of the external display should also be very high to match the Macbook retina screen?

You can set the resolution of the external display independent from that of the retina display.

I personally use a Full-HD display with a VGA->Thunderbold adapter at work and at home a Full-HD display with a DVI->Thunderbold adapter.

I prefer the DVI variant, but this is also because of the generally better display at home.


Permission denied for ls -l in a folder with symlinks I have a folder hierarchy
parent_folder -> inner_folder -> innermost_folder
The steps I followed are (as a sudo user):

created a symlink pointing to parent_folder
set the permissions of the symlink to 0400 => chmod -h 0400
set the owner (of symlink) to root => chown -h root

Now I switch to normal user,
ran ls -l in the folder which has the symlink, it throws error :

  Permission denied

Is this the expected behaviour?

A symlink basically is a special file containing the path to the symlink target. So if you restrict access to the symlink itself to root you prevent all other users from reading the content of the symlink, which results in a "permission denied" error when ls tries to read the symlink to identify the target.

To prevent ls from following the symlink (reading its content), use ls -P.

You can still remove the symlink (or actually any file not owned/accessible by yourself) as long as you have write access to the directory the symlink is in. A directory is basically an index, you can add/remove entries from it even without having access to the content of these entries.


Replacing a MacBook Pro battery I have a MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) with the following specs:

3.1 GHz Intel Core i7
8 GB 1867 MHz DDR3
Intel Iris Graphics 6100 1536 MB

My batteries cycle count is 918 and the condition states "Service Battery." It's said this since the cycle count was like 820 ish.

I purchased this MacBook in September 2016 for $1,000 brand new (there was a pricing mistake, and I got it for a grand cheaper). For the first 2 years, I didn't know that the best way to preserve the battery was to keep it plugged in if you can, and I unplugged it each time it got to 100%.

I'm considering replacing the battery, or buying a new MacBook. I'll probably go with the former because this MacBook still runs really well, and my specs are nice, I think. How did you guys decide whether to purchase a new MacBook or replace the battery?

Is it possible for me to install the battery myself? How much do you guys think it'd cost to replace and install the battery if I hired someone to install it for me?

What's the worst that could happen if I keep using the current battery until it's no longer usable? Would it damage the macbook in any way?

There are a few things going on here:

Best way to look after the battery

Neither the action of unplugging when it reaches 100%, nor the action of keeping it charged all the time are the right way to look after the battery.

There are a lot of best practices detailed on Apple's Battery website.

In summary however as you can now see doing nothing actually would have been better which is why I usually advise people:

Use it however you want.
Avoid leaving it plugged in all the time.
Never leave it for extended periods at or near 0%.
If you don't use it for 30 days, make sure to cycle the battery.

Battery service versus device replacement

I think you've already answered the question yourself here, however in summary:

The cost of battery replacement isn't going to be more than the cost of a new laptop, and the laptop was already bought at a significant discount.
The performance of the laptop is still more than adequate for the tasks you have so there is no need to upgrade.
Ignoring the financial reasons, environmentally replacing a laptop because the battery has failed is not great.

So, replace the battery and revisit this question in another 2-3 years, if you want something a bit more fresh in the mean time, reinstall macOS, set a new wallpaper, or buy a new case.

Should I replace the battery myself?

Replacing the battery yourself is definitely an option, it depends on whether you want to save money, how easy it is to get to an Apple Service Provider, etc...

If you go with battery replacement I would go with a reputable battery supplier like iFixIt as suggested in the comments above.

Personally I'd suggest that if you are already considering replacing the laptop then cost probably isn't the major consideration and maybe getting Apple or an Apple Authorised Service Provider to do it might be preferable for you.

Apple's Battery Service Price List

What if I keep using the battery?

In order of most to least likely:

Likely - The laptop won't stay switched on at all when the battery is unplugged.
Possible - The battery begins to expand bending the chasis.
Unlikely - The battery expansion damages internal components breaking the laptop.
Extremely unlikely - The battery is damaged and begins runaway overheating that causes a fire that destorys the computer and risks a house fire, major injury or death(s).

Again I can't understate how unlikely the battery fire is from this but it can and does happen with this type of battery technology.

If you plan to continue using the laptop you should replace the battery, but I'd not worry about it too much, just keep an eye out for battery expansion causing the battery to bend the chasis as that will be an expensive repair.


Lion SSD and HDD symbolic links - user folder? I want to symlink my user folder in Lion from my SSD to my HDD. However, I've read that this is not such a good idea as there is library folders containing caches in the user folder. I've had a look and in the user folder there is one folder named for my user name containing no library folder, and one folder named 'shared' containing a library folder. Can I just symlink my named folder and leave the shared folder as it is, or as I install more software and use my mac more will there be a library folder with cache files created in my named user folder? I don't want to symlink the wrong folders and not get the most out of my SSD.
Cheers
Ad

There is a Library folder but it is hidden on Lion by default when using Finder. You can see it in the terminal :

Macmini:tyr root# ls -ld Library
drwx------@ 36 tyr  staff  1224 Apr 10 01:42 Library

FWIW I have a SSD + HDD setup myself and I've left my homedir on the SSD so I will still be able to login if the HDD ever fails, but I've linked all dirs containing large file to the HDD :

Macmini:tyr root# ls -l
total 1552
drwxr-xr-x  17 tyr   admin     578 Mar 10 23:02 Applications
drwx------+  5 tyr   staff     170 Apr 13 02:15 Desktop
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  staff      35 Dec 31 08:15 Documents -> /Volumes/MiniHD/Users/tyr/Documents
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  staff      35 Dec 31 08:19 Downloads -> /Volumes/MiniHD/Users/tyr/Downloads
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  staff      33 Mar 18 16:11 Dropbox -> /Volumes/MiniHD/Users/tyr/Dropbox
drwx------@ 55 tyr   staff    1870 Mar 16 23:06 Library
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  staff      32 Dec 31 08:19 Movies -> /Volumes/MiniHD/Users/tyr/Movies
drwx------+  6 tyr   staff     204 Feb 19 04:35 Music
drwx------+ 24 tyr   staff     816 Apr  4 08:09 Pictures
drwxr-xr-x+ 88 tyr   staff    2992 Apr  8 11:17 Public
drwxr-xr-x+  3 tyr   staff     102 Dec 31 08:02 Sites
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root  staff      41 Dec 31 08:30 VirtualMachines -> /Volumes/MiniHD/Users/tyr/VirtualMachines

You'll notice Music isn't a link, that's because I've changed that setting in iTunes, so there's no need to replace it with a symbolic link.

Edit: creating symbolic links

(As always having a backup is essential.)

To create these kinds of symbolic links I recommend logging in as a second user then using root in the terminal. E.g. you want to create links for User1, then login as User2 and in the Terminal do :

$ sudo su -
Password:
Macmini:~ root# cd /Users/User1
Macmini:User1 root# mv Documents /Volumes/MyHDD/
Macmini:User1 root# ln -s /Volumes/MyHDD/Documents Documents

The above commands moved the "Documents" folder in the "User1" homedir to an external volume called "MyHDD", then created a link called "Documents" to the place where we moved it.


Only Getting Monochrome Output on TV I'm connecting a late-2006 MacBook Pro with the Apple DVI to Video adapter and an S-video cable (4 pins) to a high-end but outdated TV. Unfortunately, the output via the S-video cable seems to be only black and white, whether I'm using PAL or NTSC (the TV can switch). Via the composite video output and a S-video adaptor I can get color on the TV, but I'd like to get the pure S-video output, as the quality should be better.

I've tried changing settings and of course restarting but haven't had any luck with this.
Is there a setting I can change to get this to work, or is there some hardware restriction here?

UPDATE: I can get color by changing some settings (NTSC/52 Hertz on Mac and TV, 1027 x 768 Resolution) but the picture is pulsating.

You either have a bad adapter, cable, or TV. The S-Video standard separates the luma (dark to light) signal from the color signal. If only the luma signal is getting through, it will result in the picture being black and white. I suggest trying a different cable, and, if you have one available, a separate S-Video device. If both those work properly, your adapter has gone bad.


How to change iOS app "developed by" name? I have developed an iOS app using Phonegap technology. I have uploaded it on Apple App Store & it has been approved, is ready for sale & is live on AppStore. The problem is that I want to change developed by name of the app. How do we change it? Can anyone guide me?

You can't. Must contact Apple Support to do it.

  How can I update or change my iOS Developer Program account information?

  Please contact us for assistance with:

  Address changes
  Contact information updates
  Company/Organization name updates or changes

Apple Developer Support


Sharing serial number to a potential buyer? I am selling my iMac over Facebook and a potential customer is asking for serial number. I am not really comfortable with the fact to share with him but do not know what will happen if I do or why he wants it? Any are downside of sharing iMac serial number?
Should I ask for upfront before sharing?

The buyer could also just want to make sure that it is an authentic product- Apple Support- Check Coverage.


Phone not keeping emails My iPhone has recently started deleting my email automatically from my Phone after a couple of weeks. I am wondering how exactly I can keep all emails that come to my phone as I need them.

If the account is associated with Outlook or similar, it has a feature called "mail days to sync". To increase to show all emails, open settings, go to Mail, tap on the offending account, then change mail days to sync from the default amount to the longest period of time. This will restore all previous emails that have gone missing, and keep any new ones.


Macro software on iPad I wanna have a background software than can press a certain spot when the notification appears immediately. Is there any app that can do that? Or can I manually write an app and execute it on my iPad?

No it is not possible. Due to sandbox restrictions built in iOS.

Even if you develop your own app you can only press a certain spot in your own app. You don't have any access to other apps or the system itself.


Is it possible to have a shortcut to create bookmarks in Pages? In Apple Safari the command-d creates bookmarks. I would like to have it in Apple Pages.

Is it possible to have a shortcut to create bookmarks in Pages?

I know command-k but its for linking to already existing bookmarks.

The shortcut for creating Bookmarks in Pages is: ⌥+⌘+B

See the Insert menu list for details.


Need to install new HDD in macbook pro, do not have installation disk, can this be done? Bought a used Macbook Pro. Was working fine until I downloaded some contacts recovery software for iphone, it was useless so I uninstalled it. Since then machine has run   v e r y    s l o w l y......
I tried command r which took me into the reinstall but in Spanish! My technical spanish is not too good so I bailed out.
I have a 750gb hdd that will suit the machine, but I do not have original installation disks to install el capitan. Is there a way?

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

Install the new internal HD.

Connect the installer drive and boot. It should automatically boot from the installer drive if it doesn't find a bootable OS X on the internal drive. If it doesn't, hold the Option key when you boot. It will boot into the OS X installer. You will figure it our from there.


Two Apple IDs, can I use both on same device? When I got my new iPhone six, I made a new Apple ID, not realizing that I wouldn't be able to get my music from my previous Apple ID. I redeemed a $15 iTunes card on my new Apple ID, and I am now unsure whether or not using it and downloading music onto my phone will erase the data from the other Apple ID. What should I do?

You could use the "Family Sharing" Function in iTunes and add the original Apple-ID as a Family member, who can use your Music. See further explanations for Family Sharing here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201060


How to remove leading or trailing spaces from copy/paste operations? I usually have to copy/paste test from web pages (or other places) and paste it into HTML forms (usually Chrome).

The problem is that ofter I do end-up with a text that has additional leading or trailing spaces.

Is there a way to prevent this, by default? Like an OS X application or Chrome extension that can trick how paste works?

There´s an app for that.
ClipMenu besides keeping a clipboard history it is possible to assign scripts to the entries.
(1) You copy as usual
(2) click on ClipMenu's status bar icon, select your latest entry, and use a user-selectable key-click command to perform LTrim or RTrim on the entry.
ClipMenu is freeware.


how do I print to a cups server I have an old imac that I have turned into a printing server with cups, it is running debian

I need to set up printing on a mac running leopard

I have tried inputing the info directly on the localhost:631 but it didn't show up when I need to print something, the test page worked fine

I then tried to put it in directly from system preferences it appeared in the menu were you select your printer but I couldn't print, when I printed the test page it printed weird symbols and I saw the word adobe, the printer driver was the generic postscript printer, that is why I believe the word adobe was there, also after that first page it would print blank pages untill the printer ran out of paper

it is getting quite annoying

please help!!!!

If you're looking to turn an old iMac into a print server so that you can print from another Mac over the network, there's no need to mess around with cups or Debian.

Just install Mac OS X, then go into System Preferences -> Sharing then turn on Printer sharing. From there you can select which printers to share and which users can access them.

On your other Macs, you can add these printers in the System Preferences -> Print & Fax pane by clicking the "+". If both computers are on the same network, your Macs should automatically detect the shared printers on your iMac.


What's a free or cheap text-to-speech program that is available for commercial use? As I said in my previous question, I want to use an excerpt of a text-to-speech voice in a song. Where can I find a free or cheap service that'll let me do this without breaking their terms of use?

eSpeak is a brilliant opensource text to speech project. It's the default TTS software on many Linux distributations, but there's a Mac version available and it works great. There is also a project based on eSpeak called Mbrola which adds "singing" functionality.

Fwiw, I really don't see Apple suing you if you use the built-in TTS they provide.


iPhone 6s Plus experiencing unexpected touch input Recently, my iPhone 6s Plus randomly starts opening programs and games one after the other until I shut it down. Then yesterday when I was on a phone call, numbers started rolling across the top of the screen like it was trying to dial. Today, when I was on a call, it disconnected twice with the message "system failure!"

Any idea what is going on?  It is a little over a year old.

It is recommended to get your iPhone inspected by an Apple authorised technician. It appears there is something wrong with the hardware. It is also advisable to update to the latest version of iOS (iOS 11.3 as of this writing). You can try resetting your device (after taking a backup), and see if that resolves the problem.


How to quickly move mouse cursor between monitors? I have two external monitors, positioned horizontally on each side of my MacBook Pro. When I am working in the far left or far right screens, I find it a little annoying to have to move the cursor all the way across to get to the opposite side (usually requires multiple swipes on the touchpad).

Is there some easier way to do this? I already have BetterTouchTool installed but did not see anything in there that would do this. I was thinking of some kind of key combo shortcut I could use that would jump the cursor to the next screen.

This is definitely possible by using BetterTouchTool.

Since you already have it, there is no need to install a new software. Also it has a lot of other options, so I prefer it.

Anyways, here is how you do it:

Go to BetterTouchTool Preferences => Keyboard.
Click Add New Shortcut or Key Sequence button.
Assign new Keyboard Shortcut from Click to record shortcut

for example, for Monitor-1 Control+Shift+1, for Monitor-2 Control+Shift+2 etc.
Then from Trigger Predefined Action dropdown menu, select

Other Mouse Actions => Move Mouse To Position
A modal window will appear to capture your desired mouse position. Simply take your cursor to the desired position of a Monitor and Press Space to capture the position. Now Save the position in the Modal Window.
Repeat 2 to 5 for all your Monitors.

Now you'll be able to jump your mouse cursor to Monitor-1 by pressing Control+Shift+1, to Monitor-2 by pressing Control+Shift+2 and to Monitor-3 by pressing Control+Shift+3.

All the best.


MBP on TB3-Dock ignores USB-Devices until reconnect There are two usecases for my MacBookPro15,1: When I am on the road I just use it as it is without any peripheral devices. But when I am at home, I put it (with closed lid) in the book arc and connect it to my thunderbolt3-dock (Kensington SD5000T). The dock is connected to ethernet, two displays (via TB3-to-2x-DP Adapter) and my USB-Audio-Interface (RME Fireface UC). Additionally I use a Bluetooth Kebyboard and a BT-Trackpad.

Everything works fine except the audio interface. That only works after reconnect.

I suspect some security feature of the OS that ignores all formerly unconnected USB-Devices before login. But I am not sure about this.

Its getting on my nerves to reconnect the audio interface every single time. So I want my macbook to recognize this device automatically. Maybe its possible to rescan USB after login or mark this audio interface as trusted device somehow?

UPDATE

As jksoegaard suggested, I tested whether the USB recognition problem is related to the TB3-Dock. It is not. Here is how to reproduce:

Have the open MacBook on the desk with nothing connected.
Make sure its locked
Plug in a USB device, for example a microSD Cardreader with card in it.
Wake up and unlock the macbook (password, TouchID, Applewatch,...)
Notice: The plugged-in USB-Device is not recognized at all (not even unmounted as onik suggested in his comment)
Disconnect and reconnect the USB-Device
Notice: Device is recognized correctly

As I remember correctly, I already know this behavior from my old MBP (early 2013), since I bought it back then.

For the sake of completeness, I also tested this behavior with my MBP from work (Generation 2018, 13" Touchbar). It is exactly the same there.

UPDATE 2

jksoegaard pointed out that my last update was confusing because I used a USB cardreader for testing instead of the audio interface. For clarification: the cardreader was meant to be a generic usb device (which is not the audio interface) for testing. But as it seems, storage devices are something different.

As I tried out to connect the interface to the macbook directly, the problem got weird. There seem to be two cases.

First:

switch audio interface off
connect to macbook (does not matter if locked or not)
switch on audio interface
audio interface is recognized correctly

Second:

Audio interface is switched on and was last used in via the TB3-Dock connect audio-interface directly to macbook (does not matter if locked or not)
audio interface is not recognized
Disconnect and reconnect audio interface (does not matter what port or how often I try)
audio interface is still not recognized

That makes the audio interface look like the root cause of the problem. But I do not understand why it behaves completely different on the TB3-Dock. If connected via the dock, there is no interface power cycle needed, because reconnecting works at the latest.

This leaves me a little puzzled, as i do not know how to pin down the problem further. Any advice?

To my knowledge, there's no such security feature in macOS.

On my system I can easily connect the MacBook Pro with a closed lid to my dock (OWC Dock) and USB devices automatically reconnect.

I would test if this happens with all USB devices, or just with the audio interface.

In case it is generic, contact Kensington support to report the problem. I have checked their web site, and it seems they have no firmware updates or the like available for the product.

In case it is specific to the audio device, contact RME to report the problem, and check if they have firmware updates, driver updates or similar available.


Error Opening Image File in Terminal Much like: How do I cat a deleted file which is still open by its inode?.

I am using 'Sleuth Kit' command line tool, to gather relevant data from the disk. But I keep on getting:

Error opening image file (raw_open: file "/dev/rdisk1s2" - Permission denied)

This is so, whether or not I included r. How can I solve this problem?

In order to access a raw disk device /dev/rdisk1s2, it should not be mounted. Open Disk Utility and unmount it first. Otherwise you would get a Permission denied error when you try to access it as a raw device.

If you wish to (or need to) have it mounted and use the block device, remove the "r" from the disk name, making it /dev/disk1s2 (notice the missing "r" before "disk1s2").


Share WIFI Internet via Bluetooth PAN I like to share my macbook wifi internet connection with my phone via bluetooth. Settings|Internet Sharing has an option for bluetooth pan but it is disabled.

Your messages says it clearly.

Your Internet can not be shared!

It is prohibited to do so by a set up called 802.1x.

Your network administrator(or you) has created the 802.1x configuration profile to connect to 802.1x type network.

That profile does not allow you to share wifi (for security reasons).

If you have access to the 802.1x then you can change that.

If you do not have access:

Try creating NEW Location ! (without the 802.1x configuration).

Under Apple(top left) select Location > Network preferences

In the new Network window click on the Location then select Edit..

Now click on the (+) to add new location (name it)

Now select (add with +)the wifi to use, and add Bluetooth PAN (with (+))

Now go to sharing and Enable Internet sharing with BT PAN.

Do not forget to turn off and turn on the WiFi to enable it.


How to change the GNU Make's (default) default location of gcc I run Mac OS X El Capitan 10.4. I have used brew to install Compilation Tools (https://www.topbug.net/blog/2013/04/14/install-and-use-gnu-command-line-tools-in-mac-os-x/).

Now when I run make, it still appends to:

 /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin/g++ -c -pipe -stdlib=libc++ -fstack-protector-all --param ssp-buffer-size=1 -O2 -std=gnu++11 -isysroot

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.11.sdk -mmacosx-version-min=10.7 -pthread -fdiagnostics-show-option -Wall -Wextra -Wno-ignored-qualifiers -Wformat -Wformat-security -Wno-unused-parameter -Wstack-protector -fPIC -DENABLE_WALLET -DBOOST_THREAD_USE_LIB -DBOOST_SPIRIT_THREADSAFE -DUSE_NATIVE_I2P -DUSE_NUM_NONE -DUSE_FIELD_INV_BUILTIN -DUSE_SCALAR_INV_BUILTIN -DUSE_FIELD_10X26 -DUSE_SCALAR_8X32 -DQT_DISABLE_DEPRECATED_BEFORE=0 -DUSE_UPNP=1 -DMINIUPNP_STATICLIB -DSTATICLIB -DHAVE_BUILD_INFO -DMAC_OSX -DMSG_NOSIGNAL=0 -DQT_NO_DEBUG -DQT_WIDGETS_LIB -DQT_GUI_LIB -DQT_NETWORK_LIB -DQT_CORE_LIB -Isrc -Isrc/json -Isrc/qt -Isrc/tor -Isrc/qt/plugin

Now, I want it to be changed to

/usr/local/bin/g++

So, how to?

Add the following line to your .bash_profile:

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

To be sure that will work, restart the terminal and then:

echo $PATH

This will output your PATH variable. The order of directories in PATH variable matters. So, in order to work as you mention, the result should start with /usr/local/bin:


Vim 7.4 hybrid line numbers not working (installed via Homebrew) I recently discovered that Vim 7.4 enables a hybrid number mode, such that if you do set nu and set rnu, you'll see the absolute line number of the current line and relative line numbers everywhere else (see here and here). I set this up on a Linux machine and it works great. Unfortunately it's not working on my Mac (El Capitan). If I type :set rnu I'll get relative numbers with 0 at the cursor line, and if I then type :set nu it will switch to only absolute line numbers, unlike what I see on the Linux machine. I have Vim 7.4 installed via Homebrew. How do I get this to work? Do I need to reinstall with some particular setting?

It turns out the problem was not with Vim 7.4, Homebrew, Macs, or any combination of the 3. Just my brain. I was used to vi pointing to the vim that I want, but in my case vim points to the Homebrewed version and vi points to the version originally on my Mac, which was Vim 7.3. I usually use vi and vim interchangeably and that shot me in the foot here. I have vi aliased to the Homebrewed Vim now and everything is dandy.


Transferring an iTunes library between Apple IDs, users AND computers? Okay.
So I finally got my own MacBook Pro after a few years of sharing my mother's Mac. I have my own Apple ID and everything. The thing is... I spent hours, if not Days uploading music onto her computer from legitimate sources and hard-copy CDs. I named, cataloged, sorted and optimised my playlists and I do not wish to do such a thing again, especially considering this MacBook Pro has no built in disk reader.

I understand that I can 'share' libraries with my mother's computer, but that only seems like a short term solution as I only have access to said library when I'm in close proximity to her Mac, and I see no way of simply transferring the data.

Is there a way that I can transfer an iTunes Library from one Apple ID to another over separate computers?

If it's music you ripped yourself, or is otherwise DRM-free, you can just copy the iTunes library and files over to the new computer via networked file sharing, or a USB hard drive or similar. When you open iTunes it should read the library files and load everything automatically.

Apple's support article on moving your music to a new computer should be exactly what you need.


What is the Mac keyboard key with a symbol ⌅ of an up arrow pointing into a horizontal line? On a Mac, symbols are often used for keys rather than names. In Adobe Indesign for Mac, the keyboard shortcuts for inserting various break characters are described using what looks like an up arrow / caret / chevron pointing into a flat horizontal line:

It's the symbol on the right I'm asking about.

After much searching, I found it on the far bottom right of the full-size Apple keyboard. It's the... enter-like key (?) in the bottom right of the numeric keypad.

So two related questions:

What's it called?
Is it possible to trigger this key (for use in keyboard shortcuts) when using a keyboard without a numeric keypad (like a wireless keyboard or laptop keyboard)? If so, how?

It is called Projective, with Unicode U+2305, and it represents Enter which is different to Carriage Return, represented with a ↩.

Although most of the time they work in the same way, there is a difference between Enter and Carriage Return. While Enter, in most cases, will make a GUI object operate at its default function, the Carriage Return is meant to reset the user's position to the beginning of the line of a text.

Just doing fn+Return should trigger it.

On the short keyboards you'll either find the name or the icon.


Apple Magic Keyboard on Windows 10 (fn key and layout) 1. How do you get the Apple Magic keyboard to work on Windows 10 with the fn key and the correct layout?

I'm using a Magic Keyboard with British English layout but none of the fn functions work such as media keys, volume, Page Up, Page Down, Home, End, Del, etc.

What I have tried:

Using https://github.com/uxsoft/AppleWirelessKeyboard.  I can't get this to work on Windows 10 (even using the  5.1.5640 drivers). I'm even using the recommended version of the drivers as per this comments.
Various other versions of the Apple Windows 64-bit drivers (none of them make a difference)
Using Boot Camp on Windows (doesn't do anything)
using uawks (doesn't seem to have been updated since 2008). It doesn't work with fn functions and seems to cause the Shift key to be permanently depressed.

2. How do you get the Apple Magic keyboard to work on Windows 10 with the correct layout?

I've also not had any luck using the | \ key (it works as a ~ # instead) the ~ ` key (it works as a ¬ ` instead) and the ± § key (it works as a | \ instead)

I'm using  Windows 10 Version 10.0.18362 Build 18632.

Regarding 2., the mapping for the keys that create characters, you probably need a Windows software keyboard layout that matches Apple's unique "British" hardware keyboard.   See if this one works right for you.


How to hide the iTerm icon from status menu? How can I remove the iTerm icon from the status bar menu? I'm not sure how this area is called, so I provided an additional screen

I've already excluded it from Doc and cmd-Tab Application Switcher but I didn't find what is the way to get rid of the icon from macOS status bar.

macOS verion: 10.15.7
iTerm2 version: 3.4.4

Thanks in advance

It works for iTerm2 version: 3.4.4:
Prefs > Advanced > Add status bar icon when excluded from dock


Where is Preview.app's .savedState? Since Mac OS X Lion introduced the Resume feature, where applications save their open windows and document states, compatible applications have stored their window states to disk in the directory ~/Library/Saved Application State, in directories like com.apple.finder.savedState.

However in my Saved Application State directory, there is no com.apple.Preview.savedState. When I launch Preview.app, it does remember all its open windows and their states, but I cannot find where the state is stored on disk. It does not appear in the usual location. Can you help me find where Preview.app is saving its window states?

A Finder search for com.apple.preview with system files "are included" revealed the location of the file:

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Preview/Data/Library/Saved Application State/com.apple.Preview.savedState.

Thanks.


MBP Dual core (2006) fans usage since Mac OS X update 10.6.7 Am I the only one who noticed this :

since the last Mac OS X System update, the fans are quite often spinning at full speed, regardless of the activity on the computer. It happens even when there is not app running. I don't know if it's an heating problem or just the fans that are randomly triggered...

Does someone else encountered this weird behavior since a couple of months ?

EDIT : In fact, it seems that this problem has nothing to do with OS X upgrade. The problem is an heating problem and it related to some flash video reader that takes all the CPU power to display the video.

Airflow are certainly dirty. You can check it by opening your MBP. Find your model at iFixit and follow guides to access right and left fans.


TSplicedFont failed creating descriptor for El Capitan So I've bought used macbook air, wanted to format it to delete all traces of previous user.
Unfortunately after trying to reinstall I get spammed with this error message:

Language Chooser[416:4031] TSplicedFont failed creating descriptor for:

and list fonts that are missing.
I know that possible fix is to download system installer from app store, make a bootable usb drive and copy those missing fonts in there

https://noto-website-2.storage.googleapis.com/pkgs/Noto-unhinted.zip

but I don't have access to app store so I can't actually make it.
Left installer for the night - nothing.

What could I do?

I've seen this before. From memory it was an issue for a lot of people when trying to install El Capitan from an external USB drive, rather than from the internal boot drive. For some users it would resolve itself by leaving it for a few hours, but obviously you've already tried that.

There's a couple of workarounds I've seen, briefly summarised below:

Download/install the Google Noto fonts - This was a simple fix for many users. Basically you download the Google Noto fonts and then manually install them onto the USB drive at the following location: \System\Library\Fonts. I don't recall now, but you may need to actually create the Fonts folder in that location. Anyway, once installed, try installing again. (Note: you may need to
Install to an external drive first - This one takes a lot longer to do. Basically you install El Capitan onto an external drive first and then create an exact clone of it onto your internal drive. You can use software such as Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! to do this.

Another option, although you don't specify which model of MacBook Air you bought, is to try booting up with the shiftoptioncommandR keys held down. This combination should reinstall the macOS version that shipped with your Mac, or the version closest to it that is still available. If that version is El Capitan, then you're set. If it's an earlier OS, then boot into that and run the installer while you're booted in.


Clear large .MobileBackups files/folder? Got some issues with temp files from Time Machine which is filling up my boot disk with over 400GB of files.

MacBook Pro 10.7.5

I have tried the command sudo tmutil disablelocal, restarting the mac and then the command sudo tmutil enablelocal but nothing happened.

Then after trying more than ones I have lost the folder ".MobileBackups" which I cannot see anymore from the finder through Go -> Go to Folder -> ".MobileBackups" and neither through terminal.

I have launched also the Disk and Permission repairs without success.

I have read also the thread here "How to wipe huge .MobileBackups folder?" but it does not mention really this case.

sudo du -smx /* /.* | sort -n | tail -4
26473   /Applications
164833  /Users
209589  /.
209589  /..

df -m /
Filesystem    1M-blocks    Used  Available  Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/disk0s2     476120  417400      58469       88%       /

Disk usage details:
Audio     13.60 GB
Movies    15.49 GB
Photos     3.03 GB
Apps       8.51 GB
Backups    Zero KB
Other    397.50 GB

Is my 400 GB still missing from .MobileBackups folder or do I need to look elsewhere?

PROBLEM SOLVED by advise from Klaus

From the Apple support link

I started up the Mac in "safe mode"… and surprising the disk appeared with 278 GB free space !!!!!!

Then I rebooted the Mac (no safe mode) and the disk kept the 278 GB free space, and now my disk appears like this:

Disk usage details:
Audio     13.60 GB
Movies    15.49 GB
Photos     3.03 GB
Apps       8.51 GB
Backups    Zero KB
Other    180.24 GB

Free     278.38 GB !!!!

Still unclear to me what "other 180.24 GB" are used for… though not big deal.

A this point I will reactive the local snap shots with "sudo tmutil enablelocal" and will keep working as usual!

THANKS AGAIN KLAUS…. VERY WELL DONE!!!!

TIP: when I was in "safe mode" I kept the Mac in that mode for a couple hours as I saw from Activity Monitor that Mac was accessing to the disk in writing mode… so I left it to do its work until I saw no more activities on disk access.

All signs point to you not having 400 GB (or even 26 GB of space used from .MobileBackups) and with the repeated edits, I'm not even sure we're on the same page, but for others - here are some things to try:

Rather than re-enabling things, try giving the system 5 minutes to clean up before the restart

sudo tmutil disablelocal
sudo shutdown -r +5

Then when the machine restarts, look for that folder and delete things using Finder or terminal from /.MobileBackups once the machine is restarted with the local store disabled.

First check for a huge file in / with:

sudo ls -sa1 / | sort -n | tail -4

We know the large files aren't anywhere else but Applications and Users - but you could use this answer to search for smaller files (say 1 GB or larger)

If you're looking to just know what the size of various folders is - this long running command (14 minutes on an SSD MacBook Pro with 200 GB total allocation / 6 minutes on Mac Pro with about the same) will show you a list of the largest folders - hidden or not.

sudo du -smx /* /.* | sort -n

If that folder no longer shows using that space, your next recourse is to see if the filesystem catalog and free space accounting can be fixed. That would be the last step before backing up, erasing and reinstalling the OS.

Boot to single user mode: Hold Command + S when the boot chime is sounded and hold it until white text on a black screen appears.

/sbin/fsck -fy /

repeat the above check+repair until there are no errors and then

halt


What is the opposite of space to scroll up? What is the key that scrolls the page up in a web browser (Safari, Chrome, Firefox), that is the opposite of using the spacebar, which scrolls down?

Shift-Space

Space goes down a page, and Shift-Space is the opposite, scrolling up one page.


How to get HFS+ filesystem blocksize How can I find out the HFS+ filesystem blocksize for a local volume on a MacbookPro5,4. I think its 4k. I need to confirm this. Diskutil reports that the disk blocksize is 512 bytes.

You could try "stat" with the "%k" format option.  According to the man page this is the "Optimal file system I/O operation block size".  Command line is:

stat -f "%k" FILE

Where "FILE" is any regular file on your system (e.g. "~/.profile"). It should say "4096" or something like that.  I cannot 100% guarantee this is what you're looking for, but it seems close.


running a simple shell script on startup in Yosemite Regarding stackexchange  post how to get shell scripts to run at startup on Yosemite

The offering here is interesting but all I want to do is set the ip address of one of the ethernet interfaces, en0 with ifconfig. I don't want to launch a deamon.

the command to run is just:

ifconfig en0  inet 192.168.1.23 netmask 255.255.255.0

Of course the interface drivers have to be launched and the interfaces available for configuration.
This has to be run by root, other wise it has to be prefaced with sudo, which
has to have the credentials provided.

I have the root account activated on this system and am comfortable with and know most of the hazards.

But I don't want to do this manually every time the machine is booted or restarted.

Perhaps someone from Apple has a reference to a patch or info on why the
network preference operations for manual configuration of interfaces will not set them on mine.

I have been buying and using Macs since the late 1990's. This is one of only two out of nearly a dozen Macs I have owned that is not newly purchased from
a reputable dealer.

Apache server will also not launch with the web sharing option.

Perhaps the machine with the installation is too old? It is

Note: I BOUGHT THIS MACHINE USED FOR CASH
 Model Name:    MacBook Pro
 Model Identifier:  MacBookPro5,1
 Processor Name:    Intel Core 2 Duo
 Processor Speed:   2.4 GHz
 Number of Processors:  1
 Total Number of Cores: 2
 L2 Cache:  3 MB
 Memory:    4 GB
 Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
 Boot ROM Version:  MBP51.007E.B06
 SMC Version (system):  1.33f8
 <sn deleted for this post>
  Hardware UUID:    63410FEB-9CFF-5C8C-A692-8733BBEE36C5
 Sudden Motion Sensor:
 State: Enabled

This does not tell me its actuall manufacture date.

Thank you for time and attention

Jeff

You could save your script whatever you want and call it from a .plist file saved on /Library/LaunchAgents/ to be launched at startup.

Let me explain how to do it with an example.

Create you script and save it on /Users/username/setip.sh.
Create a new file called com.username.setip.plist in /Library/LaunchAgents/. This file must have the following format:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>com.username.setip</string>

  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
    <string>/Users/username/setip.sh</string>
  </array>

  <key>Nice</key>
  <integer>1</integer>

  <key>StartInterval</key>
  <integer>60</integer>

  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
  <true/>

  <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
  <string>/tmp/com.username.setip.err</string>

  <key>StandardOutPath</key>
  <string>/tmp/com.username.setip.out</string>
</dict>
</plist>

The file is pretty self-explanatory. It will launch the command /Users/username/setip.sh every 60 seconds, will be launched at load, will save errors on /tmp/com.username.setip.err and logs on /tmp/com.username.setip.out.

Restart, and the script will be executed.


Keychain Access is empty When I open my keychain access, it is empty. I can't see anything in it. However, I know that all of my stuff is still working (websites don't prompt me to log in, I join wifi networks, Xcode still see my developer certs), etc.

I suspect that this happened when I changed my account password. As I understand it, if I change the password in the Accounts pref pane, my keychain passwords should update automatically.

So I suspected that maybe if I locked my keychain items in Keychain access, and then unlocked them, that 1. I would be prompted for my password, and 2. I might be able to see my stuff again. Neither one happened.

Any thoughts on what I might do to rectify this? I have backups of all of the important stuff (secrets, etc), but I'd really like to try fixing it if I can.

Update 8/21/2013

I tried restoring from a TimeMachine backup, and I'm seeing the same thing. Here is a screen shot:

I know that it looks like a virgin Keychain, but as I indicated earlier, everything is still working. All my certs are still in Xcode Organzier, I am periodically prompted to unlock the login keychain, especially after a reboot.

This is very strange indeed.

I was also running into the same issue for a very long time and stumbled upon this post which explains the same problem.  At last, I got it working today.

Here's how I got it to work:

Open "Keychain Access" application
Everything will be empty
Go to View -> Sort By -> Keychain (By default, it will be sorted by Name)

After you do this first sort, every entry in the keychain will start showing up magically.  You can later change the sort order to anything.

I got the clue from Console logs:

4/22/14 11:36:19.792 PM Keychain Access[1575]: * -[KeychainStore _keyKeychainItemsByKeyOrItemClass:itemClass:attributes:]: Ignoring exception * -[NSMutableArray sortUsingFunction:context:]: function pointer cannot be NULL

Try it!


Finder Preferences: Unable to hide items on desktop I prefer my desktop to be as empty as possible. So the first thing I do whenever I get a new Mac is hide all items on the desktop (hard disks, external disks, CD's and servers).

On my Mac from work, I am unable to disable "Show these items on the desktop" in Finder Preferences. When clicking the checkbox to hide "hard disks", the checkbox unchecks and checks back on.

What could possibly prevent me from disabling this?

This Mac is managed and configured by our IT department, but I don't wish to contact them for this "non-issue" :)

Thanks

Your description is consistent with your IT department having deployed a configuration profile to your computer that controls your Finder preferences.    If you go into System Preferences and open the "Profiles" preferences you may see the configuration profiles installed on your computer.  I would expect to see one called "MDM Profile" and one or more that configure other aspects of your computer, such as the Finder.


os x terminal -remove files older than x days trying to create a scripts that deletes files older than X days. It seemed straight forward enough but all files seem to be getting removed?

find /Volumes/Groups/Projects/530_BFAMI/test/ -ctime +30 -print -exec rm {} \;

any ideas welcome!?

Also would be good to print file information for matches as maybe my dates are misleading in finder?

Never suggesting -exec rm ....

rm is simply too dangerous command. Always dry-run first. IMHO it is better using this:

find /Volumes/Groups/Projects/530_BFAMI/test/ -ctime +30 -print0 | xargs -0 -n1

this will show the dry-run and only when you satisfied you can add the rm to the end

find /Volumes/Groups/Projects/530_BFAMI/test/ -ctime +30 -print0 | xargs -0 rm

If you start using this piped to xargs version, you can always add more filters, like:

find /some/where -mtime +3d -print0 | grep -ziE '\.(jpg|png|gif)$' | xargs -0 rm

and similar (more) powerful combinations.


How can I protect Single User Mode to require a password? I once read that you can modify a file on the computer to make Single User Mode behave differently, called "boot.rc" or something similar. Is it possible to modify the behavior of SUM? Since physical access would compromise all security (except FileVault) is it possible to prevent SUM from running bash and immediately boot into the GUI (or at least into something which requests a password) so potential hackers would have no way to gain root access without a password?

You can add a firmware password, which will need to be entered before the Mac can be booted into Single User Mode (or from external media). Boot with ⌘R to enter Recovery, then select Firmware Password Utility from the Utilities menu to set it up.


How to reinstall previous iOS version on iPhone or iPod touch I have updated iOS version to 4.3.5 but I want to reinstall 4.2.1. Does any one know how to reinstall 4.2.1 on iPhone?

This might be not possible, depending on what device you have. Because Apple has stopped signing 4.2.1, unless you have backed up your SHSH, there is no way back on iPhone 3GS or 4.

If you have jailbroken before, Cydia might have backed up your SHSH. Then you should use Cydia's server to perform a restore.


Keep list of websites in Notification Center I want to keep stackexchange site as a notification so that whenever I want to open the site I just need to scroll down from the top and click on link of the site. Is there any way to do that?

No, there is no way I am aware of of simply adding arbitrary links that do not expire once viewed.  You could create reminders or calendar links or any other sort of repeated notification which contain the URLs, but this is a most inelegant solution.

If quick access to the SE site is what you need, then you could put a link in your bookmarks menu or bar, or you could even place the sites in your reading list which means it's always in the top section after clicking bookmarks (assuming you don't use reading list for it's intended purposes.

If you want to open a URL without opening Safari first, the best option may be to go to the SE homepage, click the share icon and click add to Home Screen, and then either drop this into your bottom four home screen dock slots, or if you have more than one URL that you wish to use, then shove them all in a folder and put the folder in your dock.


Problem starting Music app on iPhone When I turn on my music app, a picture of a girl wearing a headphone is showing and I cannot go to my music library. How can I resolve it?

The picture you're seeing is actually the page for Apple Music, it comes once you've updated the iOS to a relatively newer version supporting Apple Music. To get rid of that and proceed to your music library firstly make sure the phone is connected to the internet. Then open your music app. Once it's open at the bottom you should see a line saying either "No,Thanks" or "Continue to Music Library".
Just click on either one.
That did the trick for me when i faced this problem.


Cannot capture VHS video in iMovie 09 I'm trying to digitise several (as in about a hundred) VHS tapes, but I've run into two problems before I've even begun.

I've got two major problems; The first being iMovie 09 won't capture VHS from my VCR (but it will capture analogue output from a DVD recorder) and the second is iMovie isn't giving me any video/audio preview when capturing video.

I've connected my VCR to the Canopus ADVC 100 ports on the front of the box via a scart to RCA composite cable. Then I've connected the ADVC to my MacBook Pro (Snow Leopard, 10.6.6) via the 4-pin FireWire port on the front to my Macs' 9-pin Firewire 800 port using a 6-pin to 9-pin adapter.

When I switch on the ADVC, iMovie detects it and properly names it in the "Camera" drop-down box and opens the capture window with a blue screen. Sometimes (if I've just opened iMovie and this is the first capture I've done) it says "Play" in the top left hand corner of the preview. Since this is the first time I've used any analogue-digital hardware and iMovie, I'm not sure whether this is significant or not.

If I try to capture footage by clicking the "import" button, whether my VCR is playing or not, iMovie says it is recording (the red recording dot appears in the timer) but the timer does not start counting, as if it knows there is no signal and thus nothing to capture. Nothing is captured when I stop the import. I've tried two different VCRs but couldn't capture from either.

However, if I capture DVD video from my DVD recorder (using a different composite cable to connect the RCA inputs on the front of the ADVC to my DVD recorders' RCA outputs), the capture works (the timer increments), but there is no audio or video displayed in the iMovie preview window. I've read in other threads that there will be no audio because this is apparently not supported as of iMovie 06+, but I've not read anything definite about there being no video preview. So this is my second problem - no preview available - just a blue screen.

I've also tried plugging the yellow RCA video plug into a RCA video - S-Video (7-pin) adapter cable and plugging that into the 7-pin S-Video "Video in" input on the back, but that made no difference to anything. I've tried using a different 4-pin to 6-pin Firewire cable (with the same aforementioned 6-pin to 9-pin adapter) but didn't make any difference either.

My DIP switch settings are 1 = ON (I'm trying to capture PAL VHS video recorded on PAL VCRs and iMovie is set to PAL as well) and the rest are set to OFF.

My Mac is able to detect the ADVC (it appears under "Firewire bus" in the System Profiler when it is powered on).

One last point to make - the only VCRs I have available are the kind which are integrated into the TV unit, i.e. a TV-VCR combi unit. Would using a standalone VCR make a difference?

Yes, use iMovie HD. I switched back and used the ADVC with iMovie HD, and it worked fine.  iMovie 8.0.6?  Seemed like it was importing the whole time, but: where was the file? OY. Glad I kept iMovie HD.


Bluetooth Remote for Mac (for Plex) So now that Macs no longer come with infrared I can't use the Apple Remote to control Plex, which is pretty disappointing.

Does anyone know of a good Bluetooth remotes that will work with Plex? I've seen the Satechi Bluetooth Multimedia Remote, but it looks like its not compatible.

Alternatively, I've seen this Twisted Melon IR Receiver, however its pretty big and bulk so its far from an ideal solution.

Ive been using a combination of the iOS app and the Apple wireless keyboard, but none are idea. The iOS app doesn't remember the volume of the client, and freezes, and besides, I much prefer a physical keyboard.

Has anyone seen a small Bluetooth remote thats compatible with Plex (or, sends keyboard commands), or a small IR receiver compatible with Mac?

The Satechi Bluetooth Smart Pointer is actually a pretty good choice. I have a number of teachers at this school who use it for their classes all the time. It works a lot like the Apple Remote that has been (essentially) discontinued for Macs. It has some additional features, like a laser pointer. To make it work with Plex, you can just use it in Accessibility Mode (this makes it behave more like a keyboard than a remote).

On a slightly unrelated note, it can also be used to control iOS devices, which I thought would be useless; but, it turns out to have some very convenient implementations around campus that I hadn't imagined.

Certainly worth $50, from my perspective.


LSOpenURLsWithRole() failed for the application /Applications/darktable.app with error -10810 Darktable mysteriously stopped working on me yesterday.  I tried restarting my iMac, deleting and re-installing darkable and finally after going through some forums I tried running through the terminal:
    open -a darktable

That returned
LSOpenURLsWithRole() failed for the application /Applications/photo programs/darktable.app with error -10810
I tried chmod +x /Applications/darktable.app/Contents/MacOS/darktable
I also tried chmod +x '/Applications/photo programs/darktable.app/'

I have tried with several versions of Darktable and am beginning to think it has nothing to do with Darktable and something to do with MacOS...

Any ideas?

I found the solution... Here is how I found it: I tried the temporary solution suggested in this post:
iTunes on iMac won't start up after upgrade (error -10699)
- execute the binary directly by running the binary in the terminal.

/Applications/darktable.app/Contents/MacOS/darktable

That gave me this error:

[init] the database lock file contains a pid that seems to be alive in your system: 456
[init] database is locked, probably another process is already using it

As stated in http://redmine.darktable.org/issues/10164, there was a lock file left behind in  /Users/{HOME_USER}/.config/darktable/library.db.lock.

All I had to do was delete that file and up it was running again... Sometimes it's just a little too simple. :/


Distorted, robotic-sounding audio on Google Meet from AirPods 2 (via microphone) When using AirPods 2 for Google Meet video calls on macOS, my voice gets very distorted and sounds 'robotic'.
Only happens with Google Meet running the the browser, but no other apps.
I looked around (Google support forum, 2, 3, and also on Reddit, 2) and found that many other people are having this problem.
How can I solve this?
What I’ve tried with no success:

Resetting the AirPods
Switching to use the MacBook’s mic
Safari and Chrome
No such problems when using Meet/Gmail.app on my iPhone
No such problems with wired headphones

Some think it's a CPU issue: Chrome/Meet using lots of resources. I am running on a 4-month old MacBook Pro (1.4 GHz Quad-Core i5, 8GB 2133MHz RAM) so can't imagine that could be at fault.
Also, don't know if it's relevant, but seems that the AirPods 2 are using the SCO codec instead of AAC:

I've also already tried selecting the internal microphone, this didn’t help as long as the AirPods were connected:

I have a similar issue and found that a sudo killall coreaudiod via Terminal fixes the issue. From what I understand this resets the audio.
My issue is exclusively with a Google Meet in Safari. A Meet in Chrome doesn't have the issue. Everyone's voice that I hear is garbled. They can hear me fine. Maybe about 25% of the time if I switch audio sources and back it's fixed.


Mac app will no longer open I have an app installed on my iMac running High Sierra 10.13.6. Normally I would just double-click on this app in the Applications folder and the app would start right up. Recently it stopped doing that. When I double-click on the app nothing happens. If I right click on the app and chose open, nothing happens.  Does anyone know why double-clicking doesn't work anymore?

When I show package contents and go to MacOs i can open the run.sh file. The contents are:
#!/bin/sh
source "/Users/username/anaconda3/envs/py34"/bin/activate root
"/Users/username/anaconda3/envs/py34"/bin/anaconda-navigator $@

It could be that something in the .app package was damaged or corrupted over time. It will be difficult to tell. If you have a Time Machine backup you can try restoring the earliest copy of that app that you have.

You can open up Console.app and look through the logs and see if there is anything about that specific app in any of the myriad log that macOS keeps. That may at least give you more info why it is not launching.

If it is an app store app, re-download it. If it is unavailable perhaps there is a file inside the app package that indicates who the developer is.

If it wasn't an App Store app I would go looking for it online. Often you can find older copies of an app online line.


Mac Freezes when left IDLE I'm having a trouble with my Mac. It freezes totally when left idle for an hour or so and I can't get it to work by moving my mouse, pressing keys on the keyboard, etc., and I have to force restart the OS. I've checked my console, there are no logs in that except for one called system.log

Here's my System Information dialog.

I'm using nVidia GeForce 210 1GB graphics card but it's showing unknown

What should I do? I'm experiencing it since I've updated to Mountain Lion 10.8.5

The data in the system.log file before my first freeze is

Nov 24 10:31:38 localhost com.apple.launchd[1] (com.apple.aslmanager[929]): Exited with code: 255
Nov 24 10:31:39 localhost mds[43]: (Error) LSOF: File '/Volumes/ExternalHardDisk' (fd=24) left open on device 16777221
Nov 24 10:31:39 localhost fseventsd[52]: unmounting: failed to remove log dir /Volumes/ExternalHardDisk/.fseventsd (Directory not empty)
Nov 24 10:31:39 localhost com.apple.kextd[12]: Error reconsidering volume /Volumes/DATA.

Thanks.

[Perhaps this should be a comment rather than an answer, but I don’t have quite enough reputation points yet to comment. Sigh.]

I wonder whether the log is showing cause or effect here. It looks like you have an external drive attached. Since the problem happens at the one-hour mark, and since there are drive-related errors immediately pre-freeze, perhaps the problem is caused by the external drive responding incorrectly when being put to sleep by the system.

Could you try bringing up the “Energy Saver” System Preference panel and unchecking “Put hard disks to sleep when possible” — does the iMac still freeze?


Reinstalling Windows 10 on mid2011 iMac with Bootcamp apologies if this is inappropriate. I've posted this twice on r/applehelp on reddit and got no help, so I'm hoping someone here might be able to help me out. Copy-pasted from there:

Background: back in 2015 I successfully installed Windows 10 on my iMac (iMac 21.5-inch mid-2011, 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5) via Bootcamp, using a Windows 10 license (burned onto a CD) I got as a gift. I'm pretty sure I didn't use a bootable flash drive, but as of now that would be necessary as I've replaced the optical drive with a SSD. I had some minor and common issues at first (such as having no audio), but eventually those were resolved and the partition worked perfectly. I no longer have this partition and am interested in installing the OS again, but I don't remember how I did it back then.

Issue 1: Boot Camp Assistant claims 'Windows 10 is not supported on this Mac'. Support software is already installed onto a flash drive. How would I go about installing Windows 10 if it's unsupported, and how did I manage to do it in the first place all those years ago? Did something change between then and now? I have tried some tricks that supposedly allow you to install the OS on an unsupported machine but those ultimately failed.

Issue 2: A little while ago I tried using Parallels and it ran rather well, except that I couldn't use my Windows license key because it didn't register my computer as being the same one where I previously installed Windows. If I manage to install the OS again, would it accept my license key again?

Any help is appreciated.

UPDATE 4: I managed to revert my shameful and convoluted partitioning mistake by wiping out disk0 and reinstalling macOS + restoring a backup. Once everything was back the way it was, I used Boot Camp Assistant to create a partition for Windows (BOOTCAMP). A new problem arose, however, when the computer rebooted and all I got was a black screen with 'No bootable device found'.

Upon pressing Option while restarting, I understand that there should be a legacy Windows option and an EFI Boot option. Because my iMac no longer has an optical drive and I am using a bootable USB, only the EFI option appears. I now believe this is the source of most problems I have come across. Something about the disk becoming a hybrid MBR-GPT and Windows (EFI Boot) not recognising it as GPT? I will look more into this and update.

I’m assuming you have a bootable Windows 10 pen drive with Mac drivers.

I didn’t read any tutorials for doing it, the following is what I would try given your circumstances (and considering I’ve already installed Windows a few times on a few different Macs for gaming).

I would try to go on with the Bootcamp Assistant even though it says Windows 8, follow everything to the end, and ignore all the steps you don’t need, just so it creates the partition you need.

Windows 8 drivers could work on Windows 10, but if you already have drivers, ignore it too (leave it unchecked). Do not insert or let the assistant erase or do anything to your bootable pendrive.

Then when the Mac reboots, insert your pen drive with the Windows installation. If your Mac doesn’t automatically boot the pen drive, reboot again holding the option key and select the pen drive.

Install Windows normally on the partition created by the Bootcamp Assistant, and then install all drivers manually in case it doesn’t automatically do so.


Is there a way to make Finder always expand to "Show All" by default in "Icon View"? Is there a way to make Finder always expand to "Show All" by default in "Icon View"?

I am referring to this situation where the "Show All" is collapsed by default:

I have a two-part answer for you. The short answer is no, you cannot "Show All" by default in the Icon view you are using.

The good news, and second part of the answer, is that you can change the folder View settings to eliminate this completely.

Open one of the folders with which you are having an issue.
Select Show View Options from the View menu.
Change the Arranged By setting to Name or None.
Then Select Sort By to whatever way you prefer. Kind will be the secondary arrangement.
You may also wish to check the box, Always open in Icon view.

Once this is set the way you wish, you can also click the Use as Default button at the bottom of the View options window.


Safari extension for adding arbitrary Javascript to a page? Is there a way to do this?

I know I can use Stylish for adding arbitrary CSS to pages on a per-domain basis. Looking for something similar to add Javascript.

For example, let's say I wanted to turn the text red for any h1 element on a particular site if the content of that h1 element is "News". Can't do that with CSS, need to do it with Javascript. Is there any extension I can use to add this? Or would I have to write my own?

The dotjs Safari extension sounds like it will do what you want. It injects the JavaScript (from your ~/.js directory) that is served up by a small, local Ruby web server from the original dotjs Chrome extension.


How can I get Google Voice SMS notifications? I have an iPhone 4 with the Google Voice app. However I don't get notifications at all, I've tried everything! If I want to check if I received a text I have to go into the app and press the refresh button.

How can I get notifications working?

Go to Settings -> Notifications -> Google Voice. You'll see underneath the the 'Google Voice' line what's being pushed for notifications, chances are yours will say 'Off'. Just tap it and pick which ones you want to happen when you receive a SMS.


Mouse-Pointer behaves abnormally Sometimes, the pointer(cursor) behaves weirdly, getting clicked here or there, undesired clicks & drags. This has happened around 5-6 times in my MacBook Pro (mid 2012).

What could be the probable cause and how can I work around to remove this behaviour.

I don't have an answer that is, "this is your problem and I know what is going on." It's more of an "it sounds like..." answer.

Honestly it sounds like there is an external mouse or other USB device which is (for lack of a better word) misbehaving. Which brings up the prime directive of troubleshooting, Isolate And Identify.

Unplug everything (drives, power, monitors, everything!). Do you still have the problem? If not blame something you just unplugged, if the problem still exists then finding the issue becomes more problematic.

Start in Safe Mode. Boot the Mac while holding the Shift Key. You can release the key when you see the Apple logo. Booting will take a longer time. Once you are logged in, does the issue still happen?

If not then there is software installed on your Mac that is causing the issue.
If so then it is likely/possible it is a hardware issue.

If it is number 2 (from above) Then you will need to take it into an Apple Store or other Apple hardware tech and see if they can find the issue. In a situation like this it is logical to suspect the trackpad and/or the keyboard. But it is impossible to tell from this side of your screen.

Feel free to edit your original question to the answers to these questions and we can help as best we can with more troubleshooting.


iPhone, iCloud and Mail syncing problem The Situation

I work in an IT department for a law/property/ifa firm and we have iPhones rolled out to many of the important staff members. It is a UK firm, and as well as the permanent staff we also have consultants who may work for many companies come in who also get iPhones. We have a profile setup that allows our firm's mail and contacts to be synced with the phone. We also prohibit the use of iCloud as using it will breach the Data Protection Act as the iCloud severs are US based. The consultants who come in also have mail from other addresses they use to go to the phone. Our configuration we place on the phones disables the use of iCloud.

The Problem

One consultant uses a mobileme address as their email outside of the firm and needs their mail on the iPhone. The problem here is that mobileme is now part of iCloud, which as we mentioned we cannot use due to the configuration placed on the phones and will not use as the information we handle is incredibly sensitive and while someone may not bother taking legal action with a single consultant over using iCloud they would most certainly try their hand at taking it with a firm of our size considering we know about and acknowledge that using iCloud breaks the Data Protection Act. I have searched all over to see if it is possible to have the consultants email sync with the phone without using iCloud and the only ray of light I saw was that you can use mobileme email on devices that don't have the system requirements for iCloud.

The Question

Is it possible to have mobileme email addresses sync without using iCloud on the iPhone? Is there a better way in going about it?

I don't know the first thing about what the UK Data Protection Act covers, but you can clearly see in the iCloud and Mail, Contacts, Calendars settings that you can slide off Mail yet still slide on the other categories of data.

Contacts (addresses), Calendars, Reminders, Notes.

If it's OK to store that sort of information, then your consultant can continue to use Mobile Me / iCloud to put that information in the cloud. Again, you are trusting them to not store actual "protected data" inside an appointment as an attachment (mail message) as well as not enable the mail slider.

You might just decide to require them to use a hosted mail and account that complies with your data storage requirements. Period, full stop. Sometimes that is the cost of doing business as a professional.

Also - you can bank fairly certainly that Apple won't change the drop dead date to finish MobileMe since it's been published for about 13 months now.

http://www.apple.com/mobileme/transition.html

All MobileMe mail will shut off on June 30th, 2012 - presumably pacific time in the US.


Calendar Issues while traveling When traveling the calendar shows my appointments in local time, where I am at the moment. If I'm in Tokyo, for example, my 8 PM appointment next week in St Paul will show up as 5 AM. The settings are not the same for Mac and iOS, and there seems to be no way to globally force these applications to simply act as a paper calendar would, nor can I find any apps that will do that. It's crazy, frustrating and incomprehensible. I certainly understand why some people need that feature, but with computers this powerful those of us who don't need an option. This issue has been going on for years. I've dealt with any number of Apple support people both on the phone and at Genius Bars, and there's simply no way to get this to work.

On the Mac, there's a feature called "floating" which does that, but it has to be engaged for each appointment that I make, and it doesn't exist on iOS, so if I make an appointment on my phone I can't do that...

The question is, is there ANYTHING out there that can work as a simple paper calendar? Set it and forget it, what you put in is what you get. If I haven't explained myself clearly, I just want to ignore time zones completely, deal with absolute times.

Most third party calendar tools on iOS offer this. I can really recommend fantastical, which offers the option you're looking for. See this site.

  Time Zone Override: When enabled, Fantastical will always show dates and times in the selected time zone. When disabled, Fantastical 2 will use the time zone configured in iOS's Settings app. This option is useful if you are traveling but still want to see your schedule in your home time zone.


Show actual image size inside Apple Mail Apple Mail offers the option to decrease or increase the size of an attached image. The options are "small", "medium" and "big".

  But how can I display the actual size in KB or MB?

I am using Mail 8.0 in OS X Yosemite.

Not certain for Yosemite, but on Mavericks it's on the left of the window, level with where you choose the image size to send