Command line tools available by default In a unix based system a number of commands are available by default (either in /bin or /usr/bin). Suppose in some time I installed more tools like git, svn …

In OS X if I install XCode and then the command line tools package, a bundle of development tools will be getting installed into the system. So how can I know which commands are available at the time of the installation of the OS?

Is netcat, nc available by default on Mac OSX or is that installed along with command line tools ?

So how can I know which commands are available at the time of installation?

Commands available after a fresh install of Mavericks (OS X 10.9) belong to one of these four packages:

com.apple.pkg.BSD
com.apple.pkg.BaseSystemBinaries
com.apple.pkg.BaseSystemResources
com.apple.pkg.Essentials

(Note that, as of High Sierra (macOS 10.13), commands have moved to this package com.apple.pkg.Core.)

You can list the commands included in every package with this command:

pkgutil --files <package name> | egrep '^usr/s*bin|^s*bin/'

Are netcat, nc available by default on Mac OS X or is that installed along with command line tools?

I found nc with:

pkgutil --files com.apple.pkg.BaseSystemBinaries | egrep '^usr/bin/nc'

(On High Sierra, run pkgutil --files com.apple.pkg.Core | egrep '^usr/bin/nc' instead.)

so yes, nc belongs to the base OS installation.

I couldn't find netcat, so if you have it on your system it was installed later.

To list all commands provided by all packages, run in Terminal:

for p in $(pkgutil --packages); do
  list_of_cmds=$(pkgutil --files $p | egrep '^usr/s*bin|^s*bin/')
  if [ ! -z "$list_of_cmds" ]; then
    echo ">>>> $p <<<<"
    echo "$list_of_cmds"
  fi
done

You can also pipe the command to a file on your Desktop for later reference:

for p in $(pkgutil --packages); do
  list_of_cmds=$(pkgutil --files $p | egrep '^usr/s*bin|^s*bin/')
  if [ ! -z "$list_of_cmds" ]; then
    echo ">>>> $p <<<<"
    echo "$list_of_cmds"
  fi
done > ~/Desktop/cmds_from_pkgs.txt


Can the macOS startup sound/chime/ bong be changed on a MacBook Pro? I would prefer something fun like The Final Countdown song to play.
Is there any way I can change the startup bong on my Early 2011 MBP 8,2 to something custom?

You technically can't...

But there are a few things you can do instead.

Using a few techniques I picked up on the interwebs, I've figured out a way to both

Disable the boot chime (seriously, I don't recommend this. This is here for debug purposes, disabling it can be a very bad plan)
Run a sound at login (not boot - for some reason, at least in El Capitan, using Afplay at boot through crontab and LaunchDaemons is not working. If someone else can get it to work, lemme know, I'll add it)

Disabling the boot chime

I seriously recommend not doing this. Debug is important, and if there's a hardware issue, you need to know what startup chime you have. Turn back, ye who fear.

Go into Terminal.app.
Run the command sudo nvram SystemAudioVolume=%80

This can be undone with sudo nvram -d SystemAudioVolume
Note that this does not work in OS X El Capitan (because changes ಠ_ಠ)

The boot chime is now disabled.

Adding a login chime

Go into Automator.app.
Hit New Document
Select Application, and hit Choose.
Drag Run Shell Script in the second left-hand column into the main pane.
Type in the command Afplay -q 1 /path/to/sound/fileobviously replacing /path/to/sound/file with the path to the sound file.
Save as an Application and place it in your Applications folder.
Quit Automator.app
Go to System Preferences.
Click on Users and Groups.
Click on your user in the left-hand-most column.

If necessary, click the lock in the lower-left corner to allow for a preferences change.

Click the + underneath the main pane on the right.
Select the Application you just made and hit Add.
Click the Hide checkbox.

That's it.

You now have no startup chime(use caution) and a login chime. Hooray!


Why do iTunes and iPhone not show the same space used? Unlike this previous question, it's not related to iTunes Match (haven't ever had it on).

[][3]

Why is there such a discrepancy?

I had significantly more free memory displayed on the iPhone, while iTunes considered the phone to be full.

Logging out of iCloud and back in again on the phone helped. It is some hassle (at least, I had to reconfigure iCloud and there was some waiting time), but less than the complete reset & restore from backup suggested by others.


How to have GNU's date in OS X? I do brew search date unsuccessfully.
I have coreutils in my system.
I could not find GNU date anywhere.

How can you have GNU date in OS X?

The gdate binary from coreutils should be the gnu date program:

$ gdate --version
date (GNU coreutils) 8.25
Copyright (C) 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Written by David MacKenzie.

If you don't have that in the path, perhaps brew rm coreutils && brew install coreutils would be a place to start as well as inspecting your $PATH


Will one power adapter work with all shipping MacBook Air and Pro as of March 2013? I have a Late-2008 Macbook White (MacBook4,1) model, and my AC Adapter broke.

Now I want to buy replacement adapter, but since I am going to upgrade to a MBP13 or MBP15 in the next 1-2 years, I want to buy a compatible AC Adapter that works with my MB white and with my then-bought MBP15/13. The reason is simple, when I buy a new one, I'll have a spare adapter. I don't mind using a MafSafe1<->MagSafe2 adapter with either the MB White or MBP.

What is the model number of a compatible AC Adaptor that I can buy? I only want original Apple products, as my adaptor that broke was a non-original and it broke after half a year. As I always buy used Macs, so I am only interested in compatibility with devices that are available (or have been available up to) today and don't know if an 85 watt adapter would work well with any Mac.

The 85W MagSafe adapter should do the trick for you.  It's compatible with the original MagSafe design and provides enough power for all of the Intel Macs up to this point.

Picking up a 45W or 60W wouldn't save any money and though they would both run all of the Intel Mac laptops they be insufficient for powering a larger (15" / 17") Mac back to life since they require 85W.

Should Apple move completely away from the MagSafe design to the slimmer MagSafe 2 design you can add the adapter.


How do I uninstall imagemagick from Mac OS X? I have ImageMagick installed on my Mac. I manually installed it and the dependencies.

However, it is causing some problems with brew doctor, so I would like to just uninstall it. After uninstalling it, I will:

brew install imagemagick

I am not sure how to uninstall it, so any help getting me started in the right direction would be great!

I have decided to abandon this for now. I will be leaving it as is, and using homebrew to install it when I upgrade to Lion. Thanks.

Please try brew remove imagemagick

Sorry my bad ;)
If you manually installed it, goto the root directory where you downloaded the sourcecode and try sudo make uninstall. If you already deleted the install files, redownload the source file and untar it. Then you can cd to the source dir. and use sudo make uninstall to uninstall.


Editing system keyboard layout I wonder how to edit the following two files, so that I can change the system keyboard layout. It seems they are binary resource files, but I'm not sure.

/System/Library/Keyboard\ Layouts/AppleKeyboardLayouts.bundle/Contents/Resources/AppleKeyboardLayouts-B.dat

/System/Library/Keyboard\ Layouts/AppleKeyboardLayouts.bundle/Contents/Resources/AppleKeyboardLayouts-L.dat

I could use Ukelele to create a custom layout, but I would like to know how Ukelele reads the current layouts, and more over whether it is posible to edit the system layout directly.

As far as I know, nobody has found a way to edit the system layouts directly. Making a custom layout via Ukelele is the way to go.


Option to open files from the Trash When we double-click or ⌘O a file in the Trash, we’re greeted with a message that it cannot be opened.

But there it no technical reason for this, as evidenced by the fact we can circumvent this limitation in a number of ways (such as opening it via an app’s Open dialog, or the Terminal).

But I’d rather be able to open them with ⌘O or double-click. Note I’m not interested in solutions that require an external script or a new shortcut.

Is there an option to disable the default behaviour (that leads to the dialog)? Seems like a candidate for a defaults write solution.

If you just want to verify whether it is the correct file to delete (especially with generic file names like FullSizeRender.jpg): You can still engage QuickLook on files in the trash by tapping Space.


How to adjust a script that works in the Terminal but fails in Automator? I have been piecing together a shell script to use FFmpeg to validate video files in a folder and create a log file.

When run in the terminal from that folder, it works fine. When I incorporate it into Automator to use as a service, it fails to create the log file correctly.

It looks like the syntax I'm using causes an issue in Automator, and it's failing as it invokes FFmpeg. How do I adjust my script in Automator to give me the same result as I got in the Terminal?

Here is the script in Automator:

for f in "$@"
do
    echo "$f"
cd $f
pwd
find -E ./ -regex '.*(.MOV|.MXF|.mp4|.MTS)$' -exec ffmpeg -v error -i {} -map 0:1 -f null - 2>error4.log \;
done

And the output from the log file:

  find: ffmpeg: No such file or directory

This is because Automator doesn't use your interactive shell's path. You need to specify the location of ffmpeg.

In Terminal, run:

which ffmpeg

Replace the ‘ffmpeg’ in your Automator shell script with the output of this command.


Mac book Crashed - can only get folder with Question mark on it My Macbook for what ever reason has decided to just give me a flashing folder with a question mark on it.

I have tried restarting holding the Apple key and R - Nothing. I have also tried holding the ALT key on bootup but it just gives me an arrow curser and nothing else.

I am not sure if the hard drive is even bootable. I do not have a OS Disc.
I have downloaded a DMG file off the internet to my Pen Drive. I assumed incorrectly the OS would boot from my Pen Drive - it does not.
I have cable internet if needed.
I have Windows 7 Ultimate  which I can connect to the internet from, and I have an iPad if that would help.

This icon means that your Mac can't find a bootable disk.  Your iPad definitely won't help; your pen drive, internet access, and Win7 disc might or might not help.

Based on the model number that you've given, you have a white MacBook from 2006.  That means that the OS that came with it was probably 10.4 ("Tiger").  It could also have either 10.5 ("Leopard") or 10.6 ("Snow Leopard") on it if it was upgraded at some point during its lifetime.  This MacBook cannot support anything later than 10.6 (it will not work with either 10.7 "Lion" or 10.8 "Mountain Lion").  This laptop is long out of warranty.  If you are close to an Apple Store, since it appears that you don't have a lot of experience with Macs, you could try to schedule an appointment at their Genius Bar and see if they're willing to help you out.  They'll probably be willing to run the necessary diagnostics to see whether you're experiencing a major hardware failure, such as a failed hard disk.  However, if you have a piece of failed hardware, their cost to fix it is probably going to be more than the cost of buying a working Mac of a similar vintage.  If it is a piece of failed hardware and you're comfortable replacing the hardware on your own, I've found that Other World Computing has good prices for replacement parts, and they also include excellent step-by-step instructions for doing the replacement.  If it's not failed hardware, they might or might not be willing to help you get a new OS installed.  It doesn't hurt to ask.

You say that you've downloaded a DMG file off of the Internet, but I don't know what DMG file you have.  You need a bootable version of either 10.4, 10.5, or 10.6.  You can buy physical DVDs for each of these off of Amazon or other sources.  You can't use the installation discs from another MacBook to install the OS onto your MacBook (unless it's the exact same model as your MacBook).  To install from a DVD, you'll either need the installation discs from an identical MacBook, or the retail DVD (which is what you'll find on Amazon).  Once you have the DVD, put it in your drive and hold down the C key when you power up the MacBook.  If the installation starts, then you're probably going to be okay.  Go through the installation steps for the OS.  If you run into trouble during installation, Apple has some excellent installation troubleshooting steps.

If you don't want to run OS X on this laptop, you could just use it to run Windows.  The specifications are better than the minimum specifications to run Windows 7, so you could just use that.  There's an extensive set of instructions for installing Win7 on a MacBook Air, which should work for your MacBook too.  Those instructions go through the whole process in detail, from creating a bootable USB drive (which will require access to a Windows computer) to installing it on your Mac.


Bigger keyboard keys on iPhone 6 with iOS 8 I want a default keyboard with bigger keys. That's it.

No Swype, no SwiftKey, nothing fancy, no other customizations—I just want… bigger… keys. I have thick fingers and I dont want to use auto correct or prediction.

I know it's possible, because one of the apps I use (CamScanner Pro) has a bigger keyboard (taller) which types significantly better. I am desperate to get that keyboard by default everywhere, or any other third party option or fix that will make my keyboard keys bigger.

How do I achieve this?

Minuum and Thick Buttons rely on auto predict and dynamically enlarge keys… way too fancy for me: simple, default bigger keyboard, bigger keys. I am happy to sacrifice screen area for bigger keyboard.

[edit - now many months later, I still experience this problem. Over time I have used several apps that offer a keyboard with bigger keys within the app. I don't know how these apps can offer such a keyboard while it is unavailable anywhere else...]

Set your view to zoomed, and change your text size to whatever size you want.  This will allow your keyboard to be bigger and the font to stay the same size.  It does change the size of your icons.


10.9 Mail "smart mailbox" doesn't filter properly I have a smart mailbox setup to combine the inboxes of my 3 Gmail accounts.  It worked great in 10.8.  In Mavericks, this "smart inbox" frequently shows messages which have already been archived, and do not appear in the regular Gmail inbox within Mail.app.  This screenshot shows an example.  So Mail recognizes that the two messages are archived, yet they still show up here.  These two messages do no appear in the regular Gmail inbox within Mail.

I have already tried deleting and recreating the smart mailbox.  I show its settings below.

Here are two more possible solutions.

Reset Permissions

chmod -a 'everyone deny write,delete,append,writeattr,writeextattr,chown' ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~mail/Data/MailData/* ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~mail/Data/MailData/Signatures/*

This resets permissions on email related items (you can reset permissions on everything in Disk Utility).

Remove Indexes

rm -rf ~/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/Envelope*
mdimport ~/Library/Mail

This second possibility gets rid of Mail's index (Mail will rebuild it upon restart) and refreshes Spotlight with your email content.


Use the OSX Lion Lock feature on a Macbook Air Possible Duplicate:
  Is there a similarly fast alternative to Crtl + Shift + Eject for new Macbook Air?

Is there a way to use the new Lock feature of OSX Lion on a Macbook Air which does not come with an Eject key?

You're not the first person to have this problem. The best workaround so far seems to involve Automator.
See:
Is there a similarly fast alternative to Crtl + Shift + Eject for new Macbook that lack eject keys?


How do I acquire SDKs to build target pre-8.0 iOS? I have installed XCode 6 and it came with the iOS 8 SDK but i need to test on devices still running 7.1 and cannot figure out how to get the iOS 7 SDK now without downloading an older version of XCode than I already have installed. Where can I find the previous SDKs and can I install them in my newer version of XCode?

You don't need previous SDK to build for iOS7. Change Deployment Target in Xcode.

Here are differences between Deployment Target and Base SDK: http://www.raywenderlich.com/42591/supporting-multiple-ios-versions-and-devices

  Base SDK refers to the newest version of iOS that is capable of running your app. To check which base SDK you are building your app against, simply open your project file in Xcode and check the setting under Build Settings -> Architecture(...)

  Deployment Target refers to the oldest version of iOS that is capable of running your project. To change your deployment target, open up your project file in Xcode and check the setting under Build Settings -> Deployment(...)

Base SDK can be changed here:

Deployment target can be changed here:

Check this answer to add earlier devices support.


Installed 32-bit Windows instead of 64-bit on my MacBook Air Installed 32-bit Windows instead of 64-bit on my MacBook Air 2011. The Boot camp drivers are for 64-bit Windows 8 so they can't be installed. It doesn't see any USB drive including my external DVD drive.

Are there are any work arounds other than reinstalling 64-bit windows?


Why won't my Airport Extreme mount my USB 3.0 External Hard Drive? I just decided to upgrade to a USB 3.0 Hard Drive Enclosure. I regularly use my Airport Extreme to share the hard drive using an older enclosure. I know that the Airport Extreme won't have USB 3.0, but I expected it to be backwards compatible. Am I wrong, or is something else amiss?

I'm using this Thermaltake Max 5G, and it mounts when I attach it to a MacBook Pro running Lion.

Per Thermaltake support:

  The Airport Extreme Base Station cannot provide the proper driver support for the docking unit. The docking station was designed to be directly connected to a computer's USB port.

Not a very satisfactory answer, but I guess it is the answer.  I expected it to simply function as USB 2.0 speeds, rather than not working at all.


Performance issues, can I recover memory? In the past month I am having some serious performance issues with my MacBook Pro (2008 model).
From the activity monitor, I get that the CPU usage is low (25%), disk usage is low (256 GB SSD drive, 50% free), network activity almost null.
What concerns me is system memory usage; of the 4GB RAM I have:

Free: 35 MB
Wired: 1.1 GB
Active: 1.9 GB
Inactive: 900 MB
Used: 3.99 GB
VM size: 650 GB
Swap used: 11 GB

I have nothing particularly heavy running. Could it be that, since I have not rebooted for a few months, some executables keep requiring memory slowing the system down (memory leak)?

Is it possible to recover unused but locked memory, without a reboot?

To answer your question, yes, applications and processes continue to start up and if you have not manually closed them or restarted the computer, you will be "losing" RAM. You can turn the inactive memory into free memory with this command in Terminal:

sudo purge

You can also run Activity Monitor to diagnose what apps are running and sort the list by most memory.


How to fix Final Cut Pro X's "Modified File" message Final Cut Pro (FCP) X 10.2.3 today gave me the most unhelpful warning message in my timeline: "Modified File" - thanks Final Cut Pro! What can I do to fix this problem?

I've tried relinking the clips, Googling just lead to more questions and no solutions. Anyone have a clue?

Found a solution to this.

In FCPX go to File -> Delete Generated Event Files -> Delete optimized media = Voila!

That worked for me instantly. Hope you guys find it helpful too.


What 4k video editing programs are available? So far I've dabbled in video edition with consumer tools from Apple like various versions of iMovie and occasionally using external programs like ffmpeg or Handbrake for conversion. Now I'm looking at 4k video edition but iMovie doesn't seem to support video of such resolutions (or whenever I import it it always comes in 1080p). It also seems that with the recent iPhone 6 announcement Apple still doesn't want to jump into 4k video recording, so it's not surprising iMovie doesn't handle it at all.

What non linear 4k video edition tools are available? Do I have to jump to professional tools like Final Cut? I considered iMovie's ease of use adequate and feel uneasy about purchasing Final Cut because a search for it shows dozens of courses, implying it has a long/difficult learning curve.

I can't answer your first question properly, because there are many 4K tools and you have to check yourself, which you like most. I personally like Final Cut Pro X much. But that depends on your needs.

Now to your second question:
Well, as far is I know, there isn't a 4K video editor for consumers, because normally, this user-group doesn't need 4K. So yes, you need to switch to pro-tools like Final Cut Pro X etc.


How do I get photos from my iphone to the iPad in my husbands name via icloud Our iPad is in my husbands name, but I have a new iphone. How can I get my photos to appear on the iPad using icloud?

Create a shared photostream, share with your husband's account, and add whatever pics you want to that stream.

Go into photos app, tap photostream tab at bottom, then use the plus at top to add a new stream. He will get an invite when you create it that enables him to link to that photo stream on the iPad.

To add pics, simply press and hold one of your photos until the options pop up and add it to your photostream.


"Cannot execute binary file" with alias of binary I have installed both python3.3 and python2.6.
I have set python3.3 to default by creating an alias named "python" in usr/bin and another one for python2.6 named "python2.6".
Now if I type in the terminal "python" python3.3 will be open but if I type "python2.6" I get "cannot execute binary file".
I can launch the binary directly but not through the alias.
I have checked the permissions and are the same for both binaries and aliases so I don't know what to do.
Can someone help me?

Instead of using Finder aliases, use Terminal to create symbolic links (see man ln for details on usage):

ln -s /path/to/python3.3/binary /usr/local/bin/python
ln -s /path/to/python2.6/binary /usr/local/bin/python2.6

It's usually not a good idea to mess with /usr/bin content (will be wiped out with the next upgrade). Use /usr/local/bin instead and make sure it comes before /usr/bin in $PATH.


Is it possible to search mail for strings? Is it possible to perform advanced searching on the native iPhone Gmail client? Search for mail containing "some string" or mail sent by, from?

Yes, yes it can.

You can do any search that gmail supports:

from:myemail@mydomain.com "searchtime" produced the following search results (which are correct):

Examples of what you can do:

subject:(Search Term)

To exclude a term you can do:

-Windows

And pretty much anything normal Gmail supports.


Are Apple Remote Desktop connections encrypted? Is the data transmitted between two machines during an Apple Remote Desktop session encrypted? E.g. the login password, the actual screenshare, the text typed etc.?

Yes.

From Apple's Tech Specifications page on Apple Remote Desktop:

  Encrypt all communications between Apple Remote Desktop and client computers with 128-bit AES encryption, or disable encryption for data-intensive tasks


iCloud Photo Library vs My Photo Stream Now that the iPhoto iCloud Library feature is available on both iOS and OS X devices, what is the purpose of keeping the Upload to My Photo Stream feature?

If I understand correctly, with iCloud Photo Library, every time I take a picture the picture goes to iCloud and is pushed back to all my devices.

What are the basic differences between the two services? Why should someone use one versus the other one? Why should someone use only one of them?

iCloud Photo Library uploads every photo on every iDevice to iCloud and syncs then. My Photo Stream only saves the 1,000 most recent photos. Basically, the only advantage of My Photo Stream is that it doesn't count against your iCloud storage, whereas iCloud Photo Library does.


How do I make an AppleScript use a Folder in the Contents of a Bundle for an alias on the Desktop? I'm trying to write an AppleScript to make a temporary alias on the desktop from a folder that resides in the Bundle's Contents:Resources folder and then execute a terminal command that has an argument from a file that also resides in the Bundle's Contents:Resources folder and then remove the temporary alias from the desktop upon finish or exit.

How do I fix the following code to accomplish this?

set myRes to (path to me as text) & "Contents:Resources:"

tell application "Finder"
     make new alias to folder myRes & "Pass-Through Drive" at desktop
end tell

tell application "Terminal"
     activate
     do script myRes & "BasilliskII --config basilisk_ii_prefs"
end tell

tell application "Finder"
     delete file "Pass-Through Drive" of desktop
end tell

This is the error I get:

error "Can’t make «class cfol» \"Resources\" of «class cfol» \"Contents\" of «class appf»
  \"Mac OS 8.1.app\" of «class cfol» \"Desktop\" of «class cfol» \"ryan\" of «class cfol»
  \"Users\" of «class sdsk» of application \"Finder\" into type list, record or text."
  number -1700 from «class cfol» "Resources" of «class cfol» "Contents" of «class appf»
  "Mac OS 8.1.app" of «class cfol» "Desktop" of «class cfol» "ryan" of «class cfol» "Users"
  of «class sdsk» to list, record or text

I think I've corrected it down to...

set myRes to (path to me as text) & "Contents:Resources:"

tell application "Finder"
     make new alias to folder (myRes & "Pass-Through Drive") at desktop
end tell

tell application "Terminal"
     activate
     do script myRes & "BasilliskII --config " & myRes & "basilisk_ii_prefs"
end tell

tell application "Finder"
    delete file "Pass-Through Drive" of desktop
end tell

but still having trouble with the middle lines and the proper syntax of what I'm trying to accomplish.

You don't need to tell Terminal to run the script (unless you just want to lay eyes on it). But also you'll want to use a posix path escaped to prevent errors.

You could do it like ...

set myRes to alias (path to me as text) & "Contents:Resources:"

tell application "Finder"
     make new alias to folder (myRes & "Pass-Through Drive") at desktop
end tell

set posixRes to (POSIX path of myRes)

do shell script quoted form of posixRes & "BasilliskII --config " & quoted form of posixRes & "basilisk_ii_prefs"

tell application "Finder"
    delete file "Pass-Through Drive" of desktop
end tell


How to play a video file (avi/mp4) in AppleTV? Suppose I would like to play a video file (avi/mp4) in AppleTV 3. I see two options:

play the file in the laptop and mirror the screen via AirPlay on the AppleTV.
import the file into the ITunes in my laptop connected to my home network, enable home sharing, and make AppleTV play this file from the ITunes.

Is it correct ? Are there easier ways to play a video file in a laptop in AppleTV ?

The easiest way to to stream it via AirPlay.

You could also use a cable to hook up your TV, or stream it from an iDevice. You could also put in on a supported video stream site (like YouTube), and play it from the Apple TV's app. There are more ways then I'm able to list in the answer, so explore!


Is there a way to block access to my e-mail in my iPod Touch, so I can lend it? I would like to lend my iPod Touch 4 sometimes, but I would like to block access to my e-mails (as well as Facebook), is there a way?

Delete your mail account and log out of facebook?


How do I find an app that got lost following upgrade to iO6 I upgraded to iOS6. Something went wrong, and after the upgrade I needed to use an iCloud backup to restore the iPad.

Although almost all my apps came back, one is missing (it would have been in the backup). It was a simple, free color learning app, but one that meant a lot to my kids. The name was very generic, so I can't find it with Google or App Store search. I tried the  "purchased" tabs on each of my accounts in the App Store, and it isn't there.

How do I find the app, or what happened with it? Could it be missing from the "purchased tab" because it is incompatible with ios6?

New iOS versions never break compatibility with older apps. You could try viewing your purchases in iTunes on your computer. This could be fruitful as the app may have been hidden — to check, go to your account details page (in iTunes) and select "View Hidden Purchases."

Also, consider the possibility that it was downloaded with an Apple ID you haven't thought of. If you're certain it's not on the iPad, you can't find it under Purchased, and neither you nor your kids can remember its name, then it may have been pulled from the App Store. This isn't very likely, though.


How to test memory after memory upgrade? I recently upgraded my macbook from 4G to 8G and wonder if there's a tool to test the quality of new memory.
I found memtest 4.22 seems only test about 1G:

$ memtest all 2

Memtest version 4.22 (64-bit)
Copyright (C) 2004 Charles Cazabon
Copyright (C) 2004-2008 Tony Scaminaci (Macintosh port)
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2 only

Mac OS X 10.9 (13A603) running in multiuser mode
Memory Page Size: 4096
System has 4 Intel core(s) with SSE
Requested memory: 1048MB (1099390976 bytes)
Available memory: 1048MB (1099390976 bytes)
Allocated memory: 1048MB (1099390976 bytes) at local address 0x0000000101000000
Attempting memory lock... locked successfully
Partitioning memory into 2 comparison buffers...
Buffer A: 524MB (549695488 bytes) starts at local address 0x0000000101000000
Buffer B: 524MB (549695488 bytes) starts at local address 0x0000000121c3b000

==========

UPDATE:

I reboot into single user mode as described in this question, and test again. Works better, about 7G memory tested. So I guess the missing 1G is reserved for the graphics card?

I suggest you to install memtester for example with MacPorts:

$ port install memtester

and use it:

$ memtester 2G
memtester version 4.3.0 (64-bit)
Copyright (C) 2001-2012 Charles Cazabon.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2 (only).

pagesize is 4096
pagesizemask is 0xfffffffffffff000
want 2048MB (2147483648 bytes)
got  2048MB (2147483648 bytes), trying mlock ...locked.
Loop 1:
  Stuck Address       : ok
  Random Value        : ok
  Compare XOR         : ok
  Compare SUB         : ok
  Compare MUL         : ok
  Compare DIV         : ok
  Compare OR          : ok
  Compare AND         : ok
  Sequential Increment: ok
[...]


“Unable to load photo, an error occurred while loading a higher quality version of this photo” error message in Photos (iOS) I’m trying to view a photo on my device but it’s incredibly low quality and has a white information button in the bottom right, which when pressed says:

“Unable to load photo, an error occurred while loading a higher quality version of this photo”

I have plenty of storage left, I’ve tried running the Photos app with low power mode off, restarting my phone etc and nothing helps.
It’s especially frustrating as I’m sure I never set it to ‘optimise storage’ and typically the one photo it’s lost is one of my absolute favourite memories and photos of my wife. Sigh.
Is there anyway I can get this back please? Thank you

I managed to fix it by logging into iCloud.com and downloading the photo from the website (as proposed by @X_841 in the comments).


Terminal shows ">" after running command I am new to Mac Terminal. I am learning. After entering a command it gives me just that: >  What does it mean? What should I do now, how to continue or scape?

Here is the command I issued:

for file in *.txt; do echo mv "$file" "${file/#new/nou}”; done

In your case, the problem is you are inputing a ” character in your command after nou} (note, not a " but a ”) .

The command should look like this:

for file in *.txt; do echo mv "$file" "${file/#new/nou}"; done

To break out of any ongoing command just press Ctrl+C.


Which partition do I need to format or fix in order to install Sierra or lion? I have tried in vain to get my MacBook Air back up and running. I did a system restore or reinstall a while back and something broke.
I've tried command+R and a bootable USB, there doesn’t appear to be a time machine partition or option.

Which partition should I format? Can I clear them all and start from scratch?
If someone could show me how to get this issue resolved so I can use my laptop again that’d be great.

When restarting your Mac, you may hold Command (⌘)-R to enter your local recovery partition. From there, you should be able to erase and format your internal storage drive (e.g. Macintosh HD) using Disk Utility.
Please note that erasing your drive will result in data loss.
For macOS Sierra or OS X Mountain Lion, you should erase your drive using a GUID Partition Map and Mac OS Extended (Journaled). For complete steps to erase and format your drive, please refer to How to erase your Intel-based Mac. After erasing your drive, you should proceed with reinstalling macOS.
If you've completed the above steps but the same issue occurs, then there may be something wrong with your local recovery partition. You'll want to try the following next steps to access internet recovery (this requires an internet connection):

On an Intel-based Mac, you can use Option-Command-R at startup to upgrade to the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac, with some exceptions.

On an Intel-based Mac that previously used macOS Sierra 10.12.4 or later, you can use Shift-Option-Command-R at startup to install the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available.

If the above still fails to resolve the issue, you may try creating a bootable installer for macOS using another Mac if necessary.
If any issues persist after completing all of the above steps, you may be experiencing a hardware issue. I'd recommend contacting Apple support for further assistance.


Xcode 5.1.1 cannot run on device with iOS 8.0 version I am using Xcode 5.1.1 as I require an app which supports iOS 6.1 and Above with base SDK iOS 7.1. I tried upgrading Xcode 6.0 but it is not able to run iOS 6.1 simulators. So I reverted back to Xcode 5.1.1 with a backup that i had kept.
As I upgraded my device to iOS 8.0, I am not able to run the same on the device with Xcode 5.1.1.

The following is the screen shot of what I See in the organiser.

Is there any way to run my app on iOS 8.0 Device using Xcode 5.1.1?

You need to gather symbols from device before connecting it to Xcode 5. Download and install Xcode 6 side by side with older Xcode. Connect iOS8 device to Xcode 6. Wait for it to collect symbols and see if device is ready for development. From now on Xcode 5 is able to "see" the device properly.


How to install Windows 10 into a 2013 iMac without using the Boot Camp Assistant, USB flash drive or third party tools? First of all, let me state the following. I did use the Boot Camp Assistant to download the Windows Support Software, but because of the iMac's drive partitioning, I can not use the Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows 10.

The iMac has an internal, 512 byte/sector HDD with 235 GB free space at the end of the drive. The command diskutil list reports the following.

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *536.9 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Chicken                 150.0 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:                  Apple_HFS Turkey                  150.0 GB   disk0s4
   5:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s5

Both Chicken and Turkey have High Sierra (macOS 10.13.1) installed. I have downloaded the latest Windows 10 (Version 1709, OS Build 16299.15) iso file. Here is what I wish to accomplish.

Install Windows 10 Pro 64 bit.
Boot Windows using the EFI boot method.
Include a Microsoft Reserve partition before the Windows partition.
Include a Windows Recovery partition after the Windows partition.

I would desire to preform the installation without any of the following.

No third party software
No optical drive
No USB flash drive
No Boot Camp Assistant
Without disabling System Integrity Protection (SIP).

I would prefer not having to boot to macOS Recovery via the internet, built-in recovery or an USB flash drive macOS installer. But, since macOS Recovery is not a third party tool, I am not opposed to its use.

So basically, I am asking how to install Windows when macOS is already installed, but the Boot Camp assistant will not assist in the installation.

These are the basic steps needed to install Windows 10 for an EFI boot, when the Boot Camp Assistant will not create the necessary installation partitions.

I have made the following assumptions.

You wish to install Windows 10 an a internal drive. These instructions will not work for external drive installations.
Windows will be installed on the primary internal drive. In other words, the drive with the disk identifier of disk0. If you wish to use a different internal drive, you will need to substitute the appropriate disk identifier.
The drive has a "Device Block Size" of  512 bytes. You can determine the size by examining the output from the command diskutil  info  disk0. If the size is 4096 bytes, I will have to modify these instructions.
Your Mac model is one that Apple supports the installation of Windows 10 through the use of a flash drive.

The Windows specifications are given below.

Edition: Windows 10 Pro
Version: 1709
OS Build: 16299.15

  Note: To get a better view of the images shown below, either click on an image or open an image in a new window.

Use the Boot Camp Assistant to download the Window Support Software. Look for the "Action" pulldown on the Boot Camp Assistant menu bar. On my Mac, these files were downloaded to the ~/WindowsSupport directory.
Create empty space on a drive. This space needs to be outside any APFS or Core Storage containers. Since you already have 235 GB free space at the end of the drive, you can skip this step.
At the end of this free space, allocate about 10 GB for the installation files, followed by 600 MB of space for the Microsoft Windows Recovery Environment (WRE). I usually use the diskutil command to do this. Other combinations  of commands or third party tools can also be employed. The UUID for 10 GB partition should be EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7. The UUID for the 600 MB partition should be DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC.

In your case, the first step would be to absorb the free space into disk1s4. The command below would accomplish this task.

diskutil  resizevolume  disk1s4  R

  Note: This command will automatically relocate the "Recover HD" volume, below disk1s4, to the end of the drive.

The result is shown below.

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        +536.9 GB   disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Chicken                 150.0 GB   disk1s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk1s3
   4:                  Apple_HFS Turkey                  385.4 GB   disk1s4
   5:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk1s6

  Note: The resulting identifiers are not in ascending order. This happens occasionally when using the diskutil command. This can be corrected by restarting macOS. In this case, a restart will not be necessary.

Next, issue the command below to create the desired new partitions. The "Recovery HD" volume, below disk1s4, will be automatically relocated upwards so the free space can be created between the "Recovery HD" and "WINSTALL" volumes.

diskutil  resizevolume  disk1s4  150G  3  "Free Space"  "dummy"  224800M  FAT32  "WINSTALL"  10G  %DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC%  %noformat%  600M

  Note: A FAT32 format automatically selects a UUID of EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7.

The result is

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        +536.9 GB   disk1
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Chicken                 150.0 GB   disk1s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk1s3
   4:                  Apple_HFS Turkey                  150.0 GB   disk1s4
   5:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk1s5
   6:       Microsoft Basic Data WINSTALL                10.0 GB    disk1s8
   7:           Windows Recovery                         561.2 MB   disk1s7

  Note: The identifiers are not is ascending order. Again, a restart will not be necessary.

Format the 10 GB partition FAT32 with the label "WINSTALL". In your case, this was done in the previous step, so you can skip this step.
If the 10 GB partition is not mounted, do so now. In your case, the partition should already be mounted.
Mount the Windows iso file and copy the contents to the "WINSTALL" volume. In my case, the label "ESD-ISO" was used to identify the Windows iso. To perform the copy operation, you will need the enter the cp command from a Terminal application window. Below is the exact command I usually used. If necessary, make the appropriate modifications.

cp  -Rv  /volumes/ESD-ISO/  /volumes/WINSTALL

  Note: This command will take a while to complete. Be patient!

Copy the Windows Support Software to the "WINSTALL" volume. Below is the exact command I usually use. If necessary, make the appropriate modifications.

cp  -Rv  ~/WindowsSupport/  /volumes/WINSTALL

Use the command shown below to rename the AutoUnattend.xml file.

mv  /volumes/WINSTALL/AutoUnattend.xml  /volumes/WINSTALL/NoAutoUnattend.xml

Next, you need to boot from the volume where the Windows installation files reside. Hold down the option key immediately after restarting on your Mac. Release the option when the Startup Manager window appears. Select the icon labeled "EFI boot". Next, select the arrow below the "EFI boot" label.
Open a Windows Command Prompt window, by following the procedure outlined in this step. Below is an image of what is initially displayed by the Windows 10 installer. Select "Next".

In the image shown below, select "Repair your computer".

In the image shown below, select "Troubleshoot".

In the image shown below, select "Command Prompt".

The result should be the image shown below.

Use the command diskpart to finish partitioning disk0. The commands you need to enter are given below.

  Note: Sometimes it can take a while for the diskpart command to produce the first prompt. Be patient.

diskpart
select  disk  0
list  partition

From the output of the command list partition, determine the number for the partition with the type "Recovery". In this example, I will assume the number is 7. Your number could be different. The next command selects this partition.

select  partition  7

The next commands effect the "Recovery" partition. The proper attributes are set. Next, the partition is formatted NTFS and given the label "Recovery".

gpt  attributes=0x8000000000000001
format  fs=ntfs  label="Recovery"  quick

The next command lists the current volumes. Take note of the drive letter (Ltr) for the volume with label "WINSTALL". In this example, I will assume the letter is C. Your letter could be different.

list volume

The command below quits the command diskpart.

exit

Disable the ability to boot from the "WINSTALL" volume. This can be accomplished by entering the command shown below. This will rename the folder containing the boot files. If the drive letter, for the "WINSTALL" volume, is not C, then make the appropriate substitute when entering the command below.

rename  C:\efi  noefi

Enter the command below to start the Windows installation. Again, if the drive letter, for the "WINSTALL" volume, is not C, then make the appropriate substitute when entering the command below.

setup  /unattend:C:\NoAutoUnattend.xml

When the window shown below appears, select the "Unallocated Space" above the "WINSTALL" partition, then click on the "Next" button.

Continue with the installation of Windows 10. If the computer boots back to macOS, goto System Preferences and select Windows as your startup disk. Restart the computer to continue initializing Windows 10.
Proceed until you reach the screen where you are prompted for your region. For the 1709 version (OS build 16299.15) of Windows 10, your the screen will appear as shown below.

For other versions of Windows 10, the screen could appear different. As an example, the screen, for the 1507 version (OS build 10240) of Windows 10, would appear as shown below.

  Note: At this point, prohibiting your Mac access to the internet is generally a good idea. For example, unplug any ethernet cables or disable Wi-Fi access that does not require encryption.

Next, press the control+shift+F3 keys to restart Windows 10 in Audit mode.
When desktop shown below appears, the Windows Support Software installer should automatically launch. If this does not occur, use the Windows File Explorer to open the Windows Support Software application named "Setup". This application can be found in the "BootCamp" folder on the "WINSTALL" drive. After the installer application completes, allow the computer to restart.

Next, boot to the Windows Recovery Environment. Basically, hold down the shift key while selecting to restart Windows.
Navigate to a Windows Command Prompt by following the instructions given below.

In the image shown below, select "Troubleshoot".

In the image shown below, select "Advanced options"

In the image shown below, select "Command Prompt".

After a short delay, you should get an image similar to what is shown below. Choose the Administrator account to continue.

Next, you should get an image similar to what is shown below. Select "Continue".

The result should be the image shown below.

Delete the "WINSTALL" partition and extend the "BOOTCAMP" volume to reclaim the free space. The procedure is given below.

Enter the following pair of commands to start diskpart and list the current volumes.

diskpart
list  volume

From the output of the command list volume, determine the number for the volume with the label "WINSTALL". In this example, I will assume this number is 1. Your number could be different. Also, determine the number for the volume with the label "BOOTCAMP". In this example, I will assume this number is 0. Again, your number could be different.

The next pair of commands selects the "WINSTALL" volume and then deletes the corresponding partition.

select  volume  1
delete  partition

The next pair of commands selects the "BOOTCAMP" volume and then extends the corresponding partition to consume the deleted space.

select  volume  0
extend

The next pair of commands quits dispart and closes the window.

exit
exit

In the image shown below, select "Continue" to boot back to Windows 10.

You will return to the Administrator's desktop displaying the "System Preparation Tool" window. In this window, select "Shutdown" under the "Shutdown options", as shown below.

  Note: Your screen may also include a window labeled "Boot Camp", which  can be ignored.

Next, select "OK" to shutdown the Mac. At this point, you have completed the installation of Windows 10.

  Note: If you prohibited your Mac access to the internet in an earlier step, you may now want to allow access before turning your Mac back on. In other words, plug in the ethernet cable or turn the Wi-Fi back on.

Next time you turn on your Mac, Windows will start in the "Out of the Box Experience" mode. This is basically the way a newly purchased PC starts up, when Windows 10 is already installed.

  Note: When asked, be sure to select an Apple keyboard.

If asked, I can clarify any of the above steps.


iMac 27 3.2 GHz core i5 [late 2013] memory upgrade I'm thinking to upgrade memory on my iMac 27 3.2 GHz core i5 [late 2013]. It has currently built-in 8GB [4GB x 2] RAM. My questions are:

1] Can I upgrade RAM by simply adding 16GB [8GB x 2] in two empty ram slots? Or is it necessary to have 4GB x 2? Does it have to be 4GB... won't work with 8GB module? Is it that all modules have be with same capacity? Can I make it [4GB x 2 - built-in] + 8GB x 2 - to be added] 24 GB?

2] Does memory module designed for i7 work in i5?

Yes, you can mix and match memory modules with different capacities with no problems. My own late 2009 iMac is currently running with two of the 2GB modules it came with and two 8GB modules, for a total of 20GB. However, for the best performance you should "pair" the modules, and make sure you have two identical modules in adjacent slots.
There's no such thing as memory designed for an i7 or i5. What you need are 204-pin PC3-12800 (1600 MHz) DDR3 SO-DIMM modules, which can be used with either an i5 or i7 CPU.


My ipod is stolen, will i be able to retain progress on games My ipod 5 got stolen and I was wondering if, when I get a new device (iPhone 5s) will I be able to keep my progress on the games on my ipod that I have through game centre. I'm hoping that when I get the new device, I'll log into gamecentre then install the apps and games I had on my ipod and have them up to speed with where they were on the ipod, mainly because I had progressed very far in the game 'clash of clans'. Is this possible?

Depends on the game.

Some games store data on the phone that is only recoverable from your backup, if you have one.

Other games/apps store data on the developer's servers and will be available when you sign back into the game or Game Center on your device.

For the Game "Clash of Clans" the save progress is matched with your Game Centre account.


Does Apple review apps while WWDC? 3 days ago I submitted app for review, and it still waits for apple's review. Now there is a WWDC in Cupertino. Is it mean that Apple stopped reviewing apps while conference?

App Store reviews are continuing during WWDC.

According to Average App Store Review Times, reviews are continuing during WWDC. The raw data page shows reviews completed during the last 24 hours, such as Stuart Cooper's tweet.


Is there a Mac screen capture tool that will export to animated gif? I'm looking for a screen capture tool working on MacOSX that will export the capture to animated gif.

LICEcap is free (GPL), works on MacOSX, and capture animated GIF directly.

http://www.cockos.com/licecap/

It's never too late ;-)


Strange OS X desktop animation I've noticed a strange animation on the desktop of my January 2007 Macbook Pro.  The animation appears sporadically in the lower left-hand corner.  The best way I can describe the animation is "a hard disk being accessed".  The image is a simple cartoon hard disk being read.  The animation appears very briefly.  Have you seen something like this?

Cheers!

All sorts of third party activity monitors add that sort of animation.

Have you looked in LaunchAgents and LaunchDaemons folders in /Library and ~/Library to temporarily remove any you are not SURE you need? Also, it could be something started in Accounts preferences - Login Items.

I have never seen anything since OS 9 days from Apple that popped up animations like that.

Good luck hunting it down!


OS X RDP server application I am searching for a RDP implementation on OS X, but can't find any.

Does OS X have an RDP implementation application?

I, too, was a loyal user of iRAPP. CodeRebel is still in bankruptcy as of today. There's a new company, https://www.nuords.com/, that the CTO of CodeRebel has co-founded to sell comparable technology. I have not tested this product; I don't know whether the IP issues have been resolved.

xrdp works on Sierra (I'm using it right now). The compilation instructions can be found on these two pages:

https://github.com/neutrinolabs/xrdp/wiki/Building-on-OSX-(not-official)
https://github.com/neutrinolabs/xorgxrdp/issues/78

The instructions work with macports as well as homebrew; on macports, the final package you need is pkgconfig rather than pkg-config, and you don't have to work around the absence of OpenSSL. It took me about 15 minutes from start to finish to get it running.


Place document styles on the right of the document in Microsoft Word for Mac On my PC, I can place (or doc) the MS Word styles to the right of the document/screen. Is this possible on Word 2011 for OS-X?

Yes, there's a button for it next to the quick styles bar, see the following screenshot.

(click for larger image)

The same can be found in View -> Toolbox -> Styles.


Dynamically loading an Automator action based on a filename I would like to create an Automator action that will load an external Automator action based on a portion of a filename, on folder drag.

For example:

Filename[Type1].xxx
Filename[Type2].xxx
Filename[Type3].xxx

Type 1 - 3 will run a specified automator tailored for that file.  Is this at all possible?

Save the following script as an application. Copy and paste into Script Editor (not automator):

on open myItems
    set ds to {"file1", "file2", "file3"} # Enter identifiyers
    set scriptlocation to {"dothis.app", "imeanthis.app", "PleaseUpvoteMy.app} # Enter scripts location as POSIX path, respectivly
    repeat with myItem in myItems
        tell application "Finder"
            set theName to the name of (myItems as alias)
        end tell
        set rptvly to getIndex of theName of ds
        do shell script "open " & the quoted form of rptvly
    end repeat
end open

to getIndex of i from l
    repeat with n from 1 to count l
        if (i as string) contains ((l's item n) as string) then return n
    end repeat
    0
end getIndex

Comment any errors as I am on Mojave beta and having issue where I cannot run sccripts


IF statement doesn't work properly in osascript I'm working on script which should do something if application is running or not Also there should be a timer of checking(60 seconds) The problem is that "if" statement which is checking "count" doesn't work.

Here is a script:

#!/bin/bash
osascript -e "do shell script \"

COUNT="0"

while true;
do
    if (ps aux | grep Skype | grep -v grep > /dev/null)
    then
        echo "RUNNING" > /Users/someuser/Desktop/RUNNING.txt
    else
        echo "STOPPED" > /Users/someuser/Desktop/STOPPED.txt
    fi

    sleep 1
    COUNT=$((COUNT+1))

    if (("$COUNT" > "60"))
    then
        exit 0
    fi

done

\" with administrator privileges"

This way works:

#!/bin/bash
osascript -e do shell script \"

COUNT=0

while true;
do
    if (ps aux | grep Skype | grep -v grep > /dev/null)
    then
        echo 'RUNNING' > /Users/someuser/Desktop/RUNNING.txt
    else
        echo 'STOPPED' > /Users/someuser/Desktop/STOPPED.txt
    fi

    sleep 1
    COUNT=$((COUNT+1))

    if (($COUNT > 60))
    then
        exit 0
    fi

done
\" with administrator privileges

You don't need the quotes before do shell script, as this is an applescript sentence.
Avoid unnecessary double quotes to prevent errors.


How to update from OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 to OS X Sierra 10.12? I need to update my MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008):

from OS X 10.11.6 (El Capitan) to OS X 10.12 (Sierra) due to an incompatibility with Traktor:

How should I proceed?

I'm afraid your 2008 MacBook Pro can't update to 10.12. That OS doesn't support your hardware.

You'll need to find an older version of the NI software.


How can I get the list of all active network interfaces programmatically? My objective is to determine the IP address for Ethernet on a device. But assuming that there are connections like WiFi and USB Ethernet, is there a particular way just to get the Ethernet IP ?

On a shell I would do:
networksetup -listallhardwareports

which would give me a mapping of Hardware Port to Device. From that I would grep the device for Hardware Port: Ethernet and then use ifaddr struct to get my IP.

I know the ifaddr part, please suggest how to do the first part programmatically.
Also, is there an alternative approach ?

There may be several different ways to accomplish what you're asking, however, I'll just throw this out there.

I have a MacBook Pro that doesn't have a built-in Ethernet Port so in my examples I'll use Hardware Port: Wi-Fi since I tested this in both examples below and it worked, however you can change it to Hardware Port: Ethernet if that is what the output of networksetup -listallhardwareports shows for you.

If you just want to output the target device's IP Address to stdout, use the following example:

$ ipconfig getifaddr $(networksetup -listallhardwareports | awk '/Hardware Port: Wi-Fi/{getline; print $2}')
$ 192.168.1.100

If you want to assign it to a variable in a script, use the following example:

ipAddress="$(ipconfig getifaddr $(networksetup -listallhardwareports | awk '/Hardware Port: Wi-Fi/{getline; print $2}'))"

Explanation:

The relevant output of networksetup -listallhardwareports for my system is:

Hardware Port: Wi-Fi
Device: en0
Ethernet Address: 28:cf:e3:10:a4:cd

(Note: That is not my real MAC Address)

Using $(...) command substitution in order to have something to pass to ipconfig getifaddr <args> I determine the Hardware Port's Device Name with the output of networksetup -listallhardwareports and pipe | it through awk which is looking for Hardware Port: Wi-Fi and uses the get line function, which reads the next line after the match and is passed to print $2, which in essence prints the second part of the line following the match, which in the case is en0 and that gets passed to ipconfig getifaddr as its argument in the first example, e.g ipconfig getifaddr en0. The output of which is the IP Address.

In the second example a second $(...) command substitution is used around the complex command line used for the stdout example to assign it to the ipAddress variable when used in a script.

Note:  This is really meant to be an example as I've not coded it to account for the device being down.  In other words if the device doesn't have and IP Address there will be no output to stdout and nothing assigned to the ipAddress variable in the script.  Although in the script it can be coded to test whether or not the ipAddress variable is empty and act accordingly.


Is it possible to use an older Canon Scanner with OS 10.11 El Capitan? My Canon LIDE 600F scanner is old but still worked very well. When I upgraded to OS 10.11 my computer no longer recognized the scanner. Canon has officially stated that they are not making new drivers for this product, but I had a similar issue with my tablet not working and was able to find a solution on this site. Does anyone know of a workaround?

VueScan might help. Honestly, you're better off buying a new AIO then trying to get these older machines working. You can also try deleting anything related to this Canon scanner that's on your Mac then checking if Preview will recognize it. I was reading here that some people had a limited amount of success doing that.


Which Applications are accessing the microphone in OS X? I want to list the application names / process ids that are accessing any microphone / sound input device.  This would be great if it were a Terminal command (like lsof) but even an application would be fine, especially if it is managed through Homebrew.

Oversight is an app that can notify when apps begin using microphone or webcam privileges. I don't know how it's implemented under the hood, though.


Two entries for Google Chrome in Notifications preferences In System Preferences > Notifications, there are two entries for Google Chrome, and they have different settings.

I can obviously change them both to what I want, but why is this happening and how can I get rid of the extra one?

The new answer

The reason why you see two notification sections in System preferences is because one is for calendar (That is the one with the banner) and one regular notifications (the one that controls website notifications

The old answer
The reason why this answer is not right in your cause is because this is for Chrome's settings

If you have multiple accounts on your Google Chrome browser, you can change the notifications for both accounts. If you want to get rid of a Google Chrome notification panel, simply get rid of the account that you are not using anymore. The reason why they have different settings is that the primary account will show up different then your other accounts.


External display resolution does not match what is specified in Mac OS settings I am using Dell P2715Q display (4K) with MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015). It is by default scaled to 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz (copied from System Report). But the display shows "Resolution: 3840x2160, 60Hz" (at the bottom of the Menu). It bothers me cause I have some performance issues working with this display. I also have Dell U2715H display (2K) at home which doesn't show any performance problem at all. I assume the problem is in Mac OS scaling but don't see a way do diagnose or fix it.

Mac OS Sierra Version: 10.12.6 (16G1212)

What you're describing is macOS' "Retina" HiDPI scaling feature. The actual resolution that the GPU renders, the display sees and what is communicated over the display-cable is 3840x2160.

In simple terms, the resolution reported to applications is instead 1920x1080. This means that the actual usable resolution you'll find as a user is 1920x1080, but for example text is rendered "crisper" by macOS taking advantage of the underlying full resolution. Similarly images and video material can be shown in the underlying full resolution.

If you open System Preferences and select Display, then you see the scaling option you have chosen for your monitor. You can hold down the option/alt key while pressing the "Scaled" radio button to reveal a longer list of possible screen resolutions. You want to select one marked "low resolution" (i.e. not a HiDPI one).

You can also use third party utilities such as SwitchResX to get even more options for screen resolutions.

You can also disable HiDPI scaling completely from Terminal.app by running the following command:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver DisplayResolutionEnabled -bool NO

You'll need to reboot afterwards.

To reverse and enable HiDPI again, change "NO" to "YES".


Keyboard shortcut to move tabs left or right? Is there a Safari keyboard shortcut to move a tab?

If not, how can I make one?

I wouldn't even know how to write an AppleScript for this, the only method I see of moving tabs is to drag them.

Here are two AppleScripts for moving tabs one position right or left. The AppleScript gets the current tab index, checks if it can be moved, then moves it and ensures it's still active. This does refresh the page though but this appears to be a limitation of the AppleScript since it uses the Standard Suite's move.

Move tab one to the right

tell application "Safari" to tell front window
    set currentindex to index of current tab
    if currentindex is equal to number of tabs then return
    move tab currentindex to after tab (currentindex + 1)
    set current tab to tab (currentindex + 1)
end tell

Move tab one to the left

tell application "Safari Technology Preview" to tell front window
    set currentindex to index of current tab
    if currentindex is 1 then return
    move tab currentindex to before tab (currentindex - 1)
    set current tab to tab (currentindex - 1)
end tell

You can assign keyboard shortcuts to these by creating a service to run these scripts and assigning a shortcut to the service, or with a third-party app.


Power button not working on Macbook PRO 13" 2013 - ideas on how to reset SMC We have a 2013 13" MacBook Pro that is behaving strangely on the keyboard. As far as we are aware there has been no water damage to this MacBook.

Symptom:

Power Button on keyboard shutdowns but won't allow a restart.
Left Shift key works, but won't switch to uppercase.
Closing the lid and reopening 5 mins. later, the keyboard will not respond. A restart from the menu will reboot and keyboard comes back to life.

Thoughts are to reset the SMC, but with the power button not working this is proving very difficult to do.

Any ideas on away around this issue?

If you disconnect the battery, it will reset the SMC.

Remove the back cover
Using a plastic spudger, disconnect the cable from the battery to the logic board
After 30 seconds, replace the connector to the logic board
Replace the back cover.

In another related post, I detail how the SMC is reset.

Replace the Keyboard

The symptoms you are describing point to an electrical short in the keyboard.  See this related post for more details.

Bottom Line

If you are hoping that the SMC reset will fix these problems, it will be a fruitless endeavor.  The SMC regulates power distribution and cooling,  not functionality (resetting the NVRAM wouldn't help either).  The only way to repair this is to replace the faulty components.


How to remote desktop to Windows 8 with email login? How can I remote desktop to a Windows 8 machine using an email address login?

If enter my username as myusername@gmail.com and leave the domain blank I will be taken to the Windows 8 login screen and receive the login error:

  Other User

  The username or password is incorrect. Try again.

When I press OK, the Windows 8 login screen will just show my username as myusername, and if I add @gmail.com I can login.

The next time I open a remote desktop connection the client has split my user name up into:

  User name: myusername

  Domain: gmail.com

This also doesn't allow me to directly login and I get the same authentication error.

How can I preserve my username as myusername@gmail.com and login directly?

I am using Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2.1.0 on OS X 10.8.4.

Try adding .\ in front of your email address. I'm not familiar with Windows 8, but with previous versions this directs Windows to perform authentication on the local system, rather than on the domain in which it resides.

If this doesn't work, try also hostname\, where hostname is the name of the computer you are trying to log into.


On a macOS computer running Catalina, is it possible to have the /Developer/ folder that used to be present since Mac Os X was born? I am running a macOS System with Catalina 10.15.6. I used to like the /Developer/ folder in the root of the startup disk a lot, and I tend to still miss it now that under Catalina it seems not possible to have it. I have created /Users/<user>/Developer, but I got used to the /Developer/ relative paths and it annoys me. Recently, I have discovered the following terminal command:
sudo mount -uw /

This seems to make possible to mount the should-be-read-only startup disk in Catalina in read/write mode. Now I succeed to create the /Developer/ folder, and :) it even has the nice legacy icon:

but unfortunately, the folder is only writable through the terminal and I could not make it work in the Finder, although I tried all I could about chmod 777 and chown user:staff on the folder. I know this question is just for the curious, but I would like a solution if possible. Thanks

In macOS Catalina the new way is to use /etc/synthetic.conf to create a virtual symbolic link to the root of the e.g. Macintosh HD for the target folder. All writeable paths must reside on the data volume, which is mounted at: /System/Volumes/Data

It Terminal, run the following commands:
sudo mkdir -m 0777 /System/Volumes/Data/Developer
sudo nano /etc/synthetic.conf

Add the following entry to /etc/synthetic.conf:
Developer       System/Volumes/Data/Developer

Note there is a tab between the columns.

Save the file using: controlO enter

Close the file using: controlX

Reboot for the changes to take effect.

Note: While this creates a symbolic link of a plain folder, nonetheless, if you give the target folder  e.g. /System/Volumes/Data/Developer a custom icon and then restart Finder, (in Terminal killall Finder), it will show the custom icon on the symbolic link of the target folder.
 See: Create custom icons for files or folders on Mac
 For more information see the manual page for synthetic.conf, in Terminal: man synthetic.conf

Note: The Developer folder icon file is located at:
/System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources/DeveloperFolderIcon.icns

I added the custom icon by temporarily creating a Developer folder in my Home folder, which automatically gave it the Developer icon, and then used Get Info (⌘I) to copy the icon to the Get Info for the Developer folder at: /System/Volumes/Data/

Note: in Finder the Data folder will show as e.g. Macintosh HD when navigating to System > Volumes >.


Russian-english / english-russian dictionary Could anyone propose any RU-EN/EN-RU dictionary application compatible with iPod 1g (iOS 3.1.3)?

Paid or free, doesn't matter, but need some good one (with big amount of words and handy/fast UI)

I really like LangBook. Not sure though if it works with iOS 3.x. It says 'iOS 4.0 tested', but I don't think this means 'do not work with 3.x'.


Shared directory with Guest Ubuntu has become empty: a problem of virtualbox guest addition? I installed Ubuntu under Virtualbox in MacBook Pro with OS X El Capitan.

To share my OS X home directory /Users/tli folder with the guest Ubuntu, I downloaded the Virtualbox Guest Addition iso file to /Users/tli/Downloads/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions_5.0.16.iso, specified it under the virtual machine's Settings -> Storage -> Optical Drive (see the screenshot below), and installed it under the guest Ubuntu.
Then the shared directory worked: my OS X home directory /Users/tli folder is mounted as /media/sf_tli, and I could access the content in my OS X home directory from guest Ubuntu.

But after restarting the guest Ubuntu and virtualbox maybe abnormally or maybe not (I forgot), the content of the shared directory became empty in the guest Ubuntu. To solve the problem, I tried to reinstall the Guest Addition, by clicking Devices -> Insert Guest Addition CD Image, but got the following error:

  Unable to insert the virtual optical disk
  /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso
  into the machine Ubuntu14.04.

  Would you like to try to force insertion of this disk?

  Details:

  Could not mount the media/drive
  '/Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso'
  (VERR_PDM_MEDIA_LOCKED).

  Result Code:  NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005) Component:  ConsoleWrap
  Interface:  IConsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed} Callee:
  IMachine {f30138d4-e5ea-4b3a-8858-a059de4c93fd}

Also see the following screenshot:

I feel it strange to look for the Guest Addition under /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso of my OS X, rather than /Users/tli/Downloads/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions_5.0.16.iso which I specified earlier.

By the way, my user account under the guest Ubuntu is a member of group vboxsf.

What shall I do to make the shared directory work under the Guest Ubuntu?

Thanks.

Just solved the shared directory problem (showing the content of the shared directory), by installing the guest addition under gnome terminal of the guest Ubuntu:

cd /media/t/VBOXADDITIONS_5.0.16_105871/

sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run

See "Installing Guest Additions from a Terminal"  in https://askubuntu.com/a/22745/1471.

Questions:

Why did the above command line solution succeed in showing the content of the shared directory.
What is the cause of my problem in my post here?
I still get the same error when clicking Devices -> Insert Guest Addition CD Image as in my post here.


What is this no-name item in Activity Monitor's Energy tab? I'm running macOS High Sierra and just noticed a couple of these processes with an icon but no name. See screenshot below.

That could potentially be deleted apps, especially if you did a full delete of them (clearing caches/appdata/etc.).

Try to catch them running, so you can double click them to get more info.

If you aren't noticing any problems with your Mac's battery life, you can just ignore this.

Remember: High Sierra hasn't been out for very long, and is one of the buggiest release of Mac OSX to date. You may have to ask Apple Support if this continues to bother you.


Call Shell script from Automator on Catalina I created a Automator Program wich connect me with vpn an sets routes for split tunneling via Shell script.

The Program works fine on Mojave - now with Catalina the call

do shell script "sudo /Users/XXX/Desktop/routen_VPN.sh" with administrator privileges

produces an error

sh: /Users/XXX/Desktop/routen_VPN.sh: Operation not permitted

Now I have a solution that works for me. If I put the content of the routen_VPN.sh in Automator in AppleScript like this
do shell script "content of routen_VPN.sh" with administrator privileges
it works fine.
Thanks to all who tried to help me with this! :-)


Mac play not added to path I have installed the play framework using typesafe-activator. However, this does not appear on in PATH. Therefore, I can not use Play from the command line:

Octavians-MBP:exericsePS octavian$ play new app
-bash: play: command not found

If I try to install play using brew I get:

Octavians-MBP:exericsePS brew install play
Error: No available formula for play
Play 2.3 replaces the play command with activator:
  brew install typesafe-activator

You can read more about this change at:
  https://www.playframework.com/documentation/2.3.x/Migration23
  https://www.playframework.com/documentation/2.3.x/Highlights23

However, I can not install it with typesafe-activator either:

Octavians-MBP:exericsePS octavian$ brew install typesafe-activator
Warning: typesafe-activator-1.3.5 already installed
Warning: You are using OS X 10.11.
We do not provide support for this pre-release version.
You may encounter build failures or other breakage.
Octavians-MBP:exericsePS octavian$ play help
-bash: play: command not found

So how can I install Play such that it's visible from the command line?

Just add path to the play installation to your .bash_profile file in the user root directory.

For example I have

export PATH="/usr/local/mysql/bin:/Users/currentuser/PlayProjects/activator:$PATH"

This discussion could help you as well:

https://superuser.com/questions/314852/how-to-install-the-play-framework-on-os-x


how to get Time Machine backup overnight instead of every hour? My (older) iMac runs 24/7 and it seems like it's constantly doing Time Machine backups which slows down things considerably.  My wife is always complaining about beach balls.

Is there a way to configure Time Machine to do backups only in the wee hours of the morning?

There's a nice looking piece of freeware worth trying called Time Machine Editor which looks like it'll do the trick.


How to merge 2 one page PDF files On Lion (from memory, and I can't check anymore) this method:

open a one page PDF doc2 (with Preview),
open a one page PDF doc1 (with Preview),
drag thumbnail from doc1 onto doc2,
save as (⌘⌥⇧S) onto doc3

was an easy way to make:

doc3 = doc1 + doc2

or in Unix talk:

cat doc1 doc2 >doc3

Apparently (fixes appreciated) since Mountain Lion this simple receipe doesn't work anymore.

What is the easy way to achieve such a basic operation for PDF files:

given 2 PDF documents doc1 and doc2,
I want to get doc3 = doc1 + doc2,
with as simple an application as Preview,
within a few seconds of click, click, click….

I need this basic function for users running Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite.

Open the two PDFs with Preview

Drag the thumbnails of the second PDF to the end of the first PDF but above the grey line (marked with the red arrow):

and finally export the resulting PDF to a third PDF.

If your first PDF contains just one page this doesn't work.

Workaround 1: Open your second PDF, then open the first PDF, drag the single page to the beginning of the second PDF and export the resulting PDF to a third PDF.

Workaround 2: Insert an empty second page at the end of the first page.

and drag the second PDF to the regular end of your first PDF

delete the empty page at the end and export the remaining pages to a new third PDF.


Is the Shown location of your phone on find my friends accurate if the the phone is offline My daughter lost or had her phone stolen.  I do not believe she had her find my phone on.   She went on to find friends through the icloud and it is showing  a location for her phone.  We are wondering if this is actually where her phone is. Or what is the app basing this information on.

If she didn't have Find Friends turned on (it is on by default so she would've had to turn it off) then what you're seeing is the last location the iPhone reported whenever it reported it's location last.

If she's looking at it thru iCloud, perhaps she does have the Find My iPhone installed.  This is where a user can locate their own device.  The device needs to be on and online to report its location.  If she see's her iPhone and it has a green dot, that means it's currently online.  If it's a gray dot, the iPhone is offline.  If it last reported its location within 24 hours, you'll see the date/time.  If it's longer than 24 hours, you'll just see 'offline'.


iPhone 5 Delete Unread Mail Even though my inbox shows no mail, there is a note at the bottom of the screen that shows "787 Unread".   How can I clear or delete that note?

There is an Unread smart tab on the main screen of the Mail app (if you can not see this, try going into edit and adding it). This will show you any downloaded emails that have not been read. From here you can mark all as read.


Download interrupted an app from the apple store on a Mac I'm using my phone as a hotspot to download a 20gb app on my MacBook from the AppStore because don't have internet and am in isolation due to Coronavirus.  1/2 way through the connection was interrupted having used nearly 10GB of my limited allowance and after reconnecting has restarted the download losing several hours of download time!

Is there a way to resume the download where I was?

This is one of those situations where it is relatively easy to force a download to start over… but not vice versa.

If a resumable download is interrupted, then re-starting will automatically resume - unless you have changed browser or cleared its cache [even then a local ISP node may have it cached & rapidly restore the first part], or opened up a brand new connection which the server doesn't recognise as belonging to the original download.

The issue - I suspect, I am no expert in mobile data communications - is that over a mobile connection, it is harder to re-establish that it is the same connection & route to the original download… so it starts over.
I would guess that once that 'trust' has failed, you have no alternative but to start over.


airplay audio from iPhone to MacBook Pro? Is it possible at all to airplay audio from an iPhone to a MacBook Pro?
that is play from iPhone but select the output to be the MBP speakers instead of the airPods or internal speaker of the phone.

Are you asking about a native way to do this from macOS, or with third party apps?

As far as I know there is no way to arbitrarily play AirPlay audio to macOS, but your macOS devices can show up as recipients for some things like phone calls (by selecting the speaker button during a call).

On the third party side of things, there are a couple of apps for macOS that claim to allow this (I have not tested any of these personally).  Check out AirServer and Reflector.  From their website, AirServer seems to have a lot of features, and compatibility for more than just AirPlay.  AirServer has a trial and a discount for students, so that's where I would start if I were in need.  Additionally, I couldn't find if Reflector supports streaming just audio, but AirServer supports lossless audio AirPlay playback.


iPhone 4S won't connect to Pebble after forgetting phone My iPhone 4S running iOS 9.3.5 won't connect back to Pebble smartwatch after forgetting the phone from the Pebble's settings section and it won't connect back over the Pebble app.

How can I connect them back?

You have to forget both Pebble XXXX and Pebble XXXX-LE from the Settings on the iPhone. Then, you will be able to reconnect them through the Pebble app on the phone.


What is a good way to archive iTunes movies? I have bought a decent number of movies off of iTunes through various sales. The issue is, they take up a lot of space on my 120GB hard drive. I want to free up space, but I also do not want to lose the movies I have put money into.

What is the best way to archive iTunes movies in such a way that I can access them quickly if I want to watch them? After watching my sister lose 3 years worth of pictures to a faulty external drive, I am not overly trusting of them. Are there any other options out there?

I know you have said you would rather not use an external hard drive, but my technique for storing films for iTunes is to store them on the external hard drive and link them to iTunes by dragging them whilst holding Ctrl and Shift (on a Windows machine) which rather than copying into the iTunes folder just short cuts to it effectively.


Where did the digital color meter go in Yosemite? I used to have the Digital Color Meter (system app) in my dock, but since updating to Yosemite it doesn't appear in the dock anymore ("?" sign)
Did they just move it and Dock cannot find it?

You can find it under Applications/Utilities.

From there, you can drag it to your Dock to create an alias.  See Mac Basics: The Dock for additional info on making the most of the Dock.

To remove the Question Mark, drag it off the Dock until you see "Remove" then release.


How can I zoom in TextEdit? I am given documents from various different sources in various different formats to work with. I use TextEdit to read and make small edits to them.
TextEdit can read and edit all of the formats I need it to: Word 2003 (.doc), Word 2007 (.docx), RTF, and TXT. The problem is that it seems to only be able to zoom in on some of them:

Only .doc and .rtf allow me to zoom (via the 100% menu at the bottom right).
How can I zoom in on documents of all formats, including .docx and .txt, in TextEdit?


Searching for "-" in the contents of files There is a coding library Swiss Arrows that uses the operator -<> for a particular operation.

I don't seem to be able to search for this in the contents of files on a mac.

Is there a particular trick I need to do to enable this?

I just tried to use Spotlight on Mavericks (10.9.2) to search for a test text file containing the -<> pattern and it worked.

I used "-<>" as my search pattern (including the double quotes) and it found the test file.


Installed MacPorts packages sizes Can I retrieve a list of the sizes of MacPorts installed packages?

Yes, I know they are compiled from sources, but if a list of generated files is known, it should be computable anyway.

You could make use of port build in command contents, which gives you the oportunity to do things like that:

port contents --size depof:python27

Grep the lines you need and do the maths :-)

Update: found answer here at guide.macports.

While reading a bit deeper, I found this

port space --units MB --total thisport

which is much more handy then calculating the sum of the size of each file inside a port.


Where can I download Safari for Windows? This sounds like an absurd question, I know, but when I go to:

http://www.apple.com/safari/

There isn't a download link! I'm sure it used to be there :-/

Here's what I see:

Scrolling further just has more features. No link!

Safari on Windows is no longer supported by Apple.

Safari 5 (from 2010) is available via Apple's KB. The original page no longer exists, but the EXE is still hosted.

According to 9to5mac, it seems that have Apple decided to stop producing Safari for Windows, so Safari 5 is all that's likely to be available moving forward.

Update: As mentioned at Geek Dashboard, better use a cross-browser testing tool if you just want to test your project UI. With this, you will have the latest version of Safari running right in your favorite browser.


contact info sent on a text that is now blocked If someone blocks my texts but has previously sent me contact info from their address book, can I access the info if my texts are being blocked?

As long as your device received the info before the block happened, then the answer is yes.


Mouse tracking speed stuck on slowest setting since 10.12.4 update I use an external usb mouse/keyboard when I use my Mac (and have been for some time without any problems). Since the C-Error 10.12.4 update, my Macbook Pro no longer allows me to set/save my Mouse Tracking Speed in the System Preferences and the mouse tracking speed is stuck on slowest speed.

When I open System Preferences, the mouse tracking speed slider is on ‘Slow’.  For a moment after I pull the slider to a higher speed, the mouse speeds up but then immediately returns to the slowest speed, though the slider stays where I set it.

The slider stays at my setting until I exit the System Preferences, whilst the mouse moves as though it's set to the slowest speed.  When I return to the System Preferences, after closing it, the mouse tracking speed slider is back to the ‘Slow’ setting.

Moving the slider again repeats what I described above.

I have tried using defaults write -g com.apple.mouse.scaling 8 but that has no effect after logging out and back in.  Using defaults read -g -g com.apple.mouse.scaling returns 2 initially, and after I set the speed to fast, it shows 3 on subsequent reads.  I have also reset NVRAM but to no avail. However, resetting NVRAM had the, undesired, effect of wiping my UEFI boot settings and now I can't boot into my Ubuntu partition.  (Not very happy at the moment!)

The interesting thing is that while my Mac is on the login screen, the mouse tracks exactly how I want it (perhaps too fast since I've been playing with the settings).

Is there any other command I can issue in the terminal to get my mouse working the way I like it and how it was before this latest update?

I ran into this problem this morning. After trying several things which themselves did not work I finally found the solution:

Uninstall SmoothMouse

The app is no longer supported by the developers and they recommend removing it.

  To Uninstall SmoothMouse

  System menu (the Apple logo) -> System Preferences
  Find SmoothMouse in the bottom section and open it
  Open the About tab in the SmoothMouse settings and click Uninstall.

You might need to restart afterwards but that fixed it for me.


How can I bring back the "bounce" when scrolling in OS X? I just system restored after a kernel panic, and I am no longer seeing this feature.  It used to be that when you scrolled (say, down this page in Firefox), there was some physics in the scroll, rather than a hard stop and start.  Since system restoring, this is gone.  How do I bring it back? I am using Snow Leopard.

I think you may be referring to the "Scroll with inertia" option, which is found in System Preferences > Trackpad. If it's set to scroll with inertia, but inertial scrolling isn't working, try toggling it to "without inertia" then back to "with inertia".

If that doesn't work, you can try deleting the preference file, "com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad.plist" found in ~/Library/Preferences. Then log out, log back in and check the Trackpad preferences again.


Macbook Trackpad Tap To Drag Issues I'm having a weird problem that just started with my 2012 15" Retina Macbook Pro with Yosemite. The ability to tap and drag using the internal trackpad has stopped working. All the other gestures work just fine, including three finger drag (when I enable it - it's off by default) and two finger scrolling.

I can perform the gesture just fine using a wireless Magic Trackpad.

I've tried both SMC and PRAM resets and nothing helps. Anyone seen the same issue?

It seems like apple moved the option for enabling tap-to-drag to the accessibility pane. You can enable it there:

Note: ticking three-finger drag (in the Trackpad prefs pane) will change the Accessibility-pane setting. Unticking the drag setting in the Trackpad-pane first then follow these instructions to check your Accessibility preferences.


Trying to remove files listed in file with AppleScript with do shell script call The following code is an example of what I'm using at the moment, but it keeps erroring out on me:

do shell script "find /Applications -name 'Bingo.app' > /tmp/remove_files" with administrator privileges
if exists "/tmp_malware_alternate" then
    do shell script ("for i in `cat /tmp/remove_files`; do rm -rf $i") with administrator privileges
    do shell script "rm -rf /tmp/remove_files" with administrator privileges
end if

It's supposed to find the existence of a file (in this case, Bingo.app) and write it to a temporary file (/tmp/remove_files), which it does, and then check to see if the temporary file was written. If it was, it will look into that temporary file, and delete each file (specified by i) in the temporary file listing, then remove the temporary file itself.

Instead, all it ever does is return an error:

/bin/sh: -c: line 1: syntax error: unexpected end of file

or

error "/bin/sh: -c: line 1: syntax error: unexpected end of file" number 2

What am I missing in this?

You need to close the for loop:

do shell script ("for i in \`cat /tmp/remove_files\`; do rm -rf $i") with administrator privileges

should be:

do shell script ("for i in \`cat /tmp/remove_files\`; do rm -rf $i; done") with administrator privileges


Process list with name and VPRVT Is there any way to get just name and VPRVT of running processes?

top -stats command,vprvt -l1 | sed '1,/^COMMAND *VPRVT/d'

-stats = shown columns, -l1 = exit after one sample. It cuts off long command names and uses human-readable sizes though.


My iPad camera roll says it is using 7.5 gb after all pics have been deleted for weeks Please help me. I have deleted apps and photos to get memory on my iPad, and it still says I have 0gb left. It has been a couple of weeks. All photos have been deleted from the 'recently deleted' album.  It says the camera roll is using 7.5gb, when there are no photos. It's affecting my iPad speed. I've tried rebooting my iPad. I can't install anything, as my memory is used up. It has 16gb, and I think it's an iPad 2.

Note: I don't have a Macpro, MacBook, iPhone, iPod, iMac or anything else made by Apple.

Plug your iPad into iTunes and verify that there are no folders of photos from your computer that are being synced onto your iPad, it is possible that although you have deleted all of your photos that you took on your phone (i.e. the ones in the camera roll) you could still be syncing a folder of photos from your computer.

This link from the Apple website should have all the information you need about how to check that if you are unaware.


Only Chrome can access the Internet Very curious problem - only Chrome can access the Internet, but literally everything else cannot. Confirmed this in Activity Monitor's Network tab (it shows 0 bytes sent/received for literally every process other than Chrome). Mail, Software Update, Safari, App Store, all can't connect. At first I suspected it was a botched uninstall of Little Snitch or K9 internet filter, but now I'm suspecting something deeper in the system. Cleared DNS cache and other items using Onyx. Still no luck. Thanks in advance.

Are you able to get access out using command line programs? For example, can you ping google.com or perhaps ping 74.125.226.226? Ping will communicate using the ICMP protocol. So knowing whether or not requests on ICMP can communicate out may help to solve this mystery.

As far as whether or not you can communicate on TCP, you should try curl google.com and/or curl 74.125.226.226. Whichever works. The google.com one should produce some short HTML code, in which you can see "301 Moved". The 74.125.226.226 one should produce a lot of code. This is what Google's standard search page is. If neither work, something's perhaps blocking any TCP request not made by Google Chrome. Which is really strange. If one, the other, or both work however, we may be looking at more of a blacklisting situation. Hard to tell though. If it fails though, tell me what it says when it fails. It may be a standard "couldn't connect to host" or it may be something more helpful.

One more thing you can do is check Activity Monitor for any possible processes leftover from Little Snitch or K9. Only Little Snitch can block programs, I'm guessing though because from a quick glance at K9's site, they didn't say anything about blocking programs. So you really want to look for anything that might be associated with Little Snitch.

That's all I can think of for now. Let me know the results and hopefully I can help you more.


Symlinked Movies and Downloads. Restore icons? I've recently replaced the optical drive of my Macbook Pro with an SSD and installed Mountain Lion freshly on there. This leaves the HDD available as well and on by popular suggestion I've symlinked a couple directories. iTunes Media, Movies and Downloads, specifically. Worked fine!

Now I've ran into a slight inconvenience: the icons and folder name localizations got messed up. Have a look at the screenshot below.

My system is set up to be Dutch, but as you can see in the screenshot above the Downloads and Movies folders are still English. I did add .localized files to both folders and the actual folders on the HDD did change to localized names (their icons did not change, but then again they're not in a Users directory - only the simlink is).

The icons are missing in the Finder side-bar as well, as you can see.

Any ideas on how I could fix this?

I did the same for the applications folder, and the way to get the icon was to copy/paste the original icon to the (new) original folder, the symlink regained the icon automatically and instantly.

The name of the symLink can be edited without problem, if it needs to be in the translated version, just translate the symLinked folder.


How do I upload my iPhone pictures/videos to my Windows Vista PC? I found a page in iTunes that appears to allow me to sync pictures from my PC to my iPhone, but I can't see any obvious way to upload pictures taken on my iPhone4. How do I do this?

What about videos I've taken on my iPhone?

Just in case any of these matter:
iPhone 4.0.1
iTunes 9.2.0.61
Windows Vista Home Premium with SP2

I just do it by connecting the iPhone, then opening the folder..

attach device, open it in explorer
open "Internal Storage" on device
open "DCIM" folder
open "800AAAAAA" (?) folder
drag and drop pictures and files from device to somewhere else on my computer


Which apps support the vga adapter for iPad 1? iPad 2 supports full mirroring, which is great, but I have an iPad 1. How do I find out which apps support the vga adapter on iPad 1. I have failed to find a definitive answer.

For example maps, safari, google earth, photos.

I have seen references to video and itunes supporting it, but not fully.

Which apps have you used with the VGA adapter, and which features does it support?

I just tried it, Sketchbookx, Bamboo paper and pdf-notes work with iPad1 (not jailbroken) with VGA connector.


Is it possible to throttle the iCloud photostream sync in OS X? I have a large iCloud photo library. Once in a blue moon my iMac running Yosemite decides to forget all about the synced libraries, and I have to re-enable the iCloud streams. However, my little DSL line will then be clogged for hours on end, because OS X downloads gigabytes of pictures.

Is it possible to throttle the speed to a certain setting, say 1MBit/sec? Or at least to pause the sync, without having to re-download everything?

You can't. :(

I solved with QOS on the DSL Modem. (ASUS)


Where is the data for the "Messages" iMessage application stored? Where is the data for the "Messages" iMessage application stored?

I can't find it in "~/Library/Application Data".