Disable swapping on Yosemite Under OS X Mavericks and below we just could launchctl unload the dynamic_pager plist, but trying to unload this plist doesn't have any effect since OS X Yosemite.

What is the new way to disable swap files now with OS X Yosemite?

Have you tried something like this?

# Check installed RAM, disable VM if 8Gb or more.

mem_inst=`/usr/sbin/sysctl -n hw.memsize`

if [ "$mem_inst" -ge "8589934592" ]; then
    echo "8Gb+ Memory installed."
        if [ "$action" == "unload" ]; then
            sudo nvram boot-args="vm_compressor=2"
            sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0
            echo "vm.compressor_mode set to 2"
        else
            sudo nvram boot-args="vm_compressor=4"
            sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 3
            echo "vm.compressor_mode reset to defaults"
        fi
            launch_control $action /System/Library/LaunchDaemons com.apple.dynamic_pager
    else
    echo "Less than 8Gb memory."
fi

This isn't something I wrote, was information I found.


Terminal: What does intermittent "cp: .: Invalid argument" mean? Very often I get an error message on the terminal "cp: .: Invalid argument". It also happens with other commands than "cp". For example:

me@iMac:/Volumes/boot$ cp ~/Documents/wpa_supplicant.conf .
cp: .: Invalid argument
me@iMac:/Volumes/boot$ cp ~/Documents/wpa_supplicant.conf .
me@iMac:/Volumes/boot$

Note that I did not re-type the command on line three, I just hit up-arrow and enter. Does anyone know what the problem could be, or have an idea how to debug?

Thanks, Martin

Set your hard disks to never sleep in System Preferences and see if the issue still persists.


How can I force an app to redownload from Mac App Store? I have purchased an app which didn't download successfully. I deleted the installer and tried to install it again from the Mac AppStore but the download button says "Installed".

I also still have the app icon in my Launch Pad with the download progress indicator on it.

I'm aware of the option + click on the "Installed" button and on the Purchases button, but neither works.

How can I reset this download process to enable me to download the app again?

Answering my own question. I enabled the debug menu and then selected Reset Application, restarted the App Store and now the Download button shows up again.

To enable the debug menu, open Terminal and run

defaults write com.apple.appstore ShowDebugMenu -bool true


Lion won't give out DHCP addresses with Internet Sharing Lion doesn't seem to be giving out DHCP addresses when I turn on Internet Sharing. My firewall is off, I create a shared network with no security sharing ethernet->wifi. In Network Preferences the Wifi connection shows as yellow, with a self-assigned IP, and any device I try to connect (e.g., iPad) doesn't get an address. Help!

I finally figured it out.

You said your Firewall is off. You should double-check. This will definitely cause Internet Sharing to not work. System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Firewall.
In the "Sharing" panel, change your Computer Name to something simple. Instead of "Elliot's MacBook Pro", use "MBP".

Turn off Internet Sharing (if it's on). Make sure you have set "Share your connection from:" to "Ethernet", and "To computers using:" to "Wi-Fi". Change the "Wi-Fi Options..." and save.

If that didn't work: Turn off Wi-Fi on your Lion Mac. Make sure you have internet access from Ethernet, and that it works (test a site in a browser).
For your Wi-Fi connection, set "Configure IPv4" to "Using DHCP". In the "DNS" tab, delete any existing entries.

Hope this helps!


Is it possible to purchase music on an iPhone without iTunes? Do any music stores beyond iTunes exist that allow you to legally purchase content on an iPhone? That is to say, is it possible to purchase music without connecting to a computer? Streaming or downloading are both ok.  Through an app or a website is also ok.

I haven't tried the service, it seems that Rhapsody does more or less what you are asking for -- a music store on the iPhone that is separate from iTunes.


How to add a calendar month to a date? In Numbers, if I have a column for dates, and I want each cell to be one day later than the cell above, I can enter a date in the first cell and then set the next cell to be "cell above plus one". Then I can drag the cell border down to fill the column with increasing consecutive dates.
Is it possible to do this with calendar months? A rough approximation would be to set each cell to be "cell above plus 30," but this would give a different date each month. I want to be able to fill cells with the same date each calendar month. In other words, if a cell contains "7/11/20" I'd like to be able to drag the cell border down to automatically fill the next cell with "7/12/20".

You can try formula and get easily what you are looking for.
EDate, starting row and month =1 (which increase the month when you scroll it)

FINAL RESULT WILL BE:


To show iPad's view on Macbook This tutorial raised a question if you can mirrow the screen of iPad Air through a cable to the newest Macbook Air.

So I think the cable should be something

the power cable of iPad air To Lightning place of Macbook air

Does there exist any such cable by which you can show the picture of your iPad on your Macbook Air?

No, Apple provides no official way of doing this.

If you really need to, you could use Option 3 listed in the tutorial you linked to, the Apple Digital AV Adapter, combined with some sort of external video capture device for you Mac like the Elgato Game Capture HD Game Recorder.


Keyboard Shortcut :: Remove Google Chrome Bookmark I keep accidentally typing Command + D in Google Chrome, because I'm used to that taking me to the Address Bar on Windows systems. This results in a bookmark being created.

My question is: How do I use the keyboard to reverse this action, to remove the bookmark that was created?

Edit
To reverse and accidental bookmark, go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts and turn on Full Keyboard Access for "All controls". Now one can use the tab key to highlight the Remove button then hit return to reverse.

Use ⌘+L to highlight the URL thus taking you to the Address bar.
From Chrome Support:
⌘+L Highlights the URL.
Takes a bit of retraining of muscle memory, but this is faster and is less complicated than trying to remap the Bookmark shortcut, which is built in by Google.
NOTE: This works in Safari and several other browsers too.


How to change the default media player on iPhone? I have a jail broken iPhone and I want to change the default media player from "music" to "pandora downloader". I am thinking the only way to do this would be with I file? The main thing I want is to have pandora downloader play anytime I hit the play button.

There is no current way to make Pandora Downloader the default music app on iPhone (even jailbroken). There is a way to make Spotify the default music player (see here), but all that tweak does is change the little icon in the multitasking bar. When pressing play the music app still plays. While maybe that is a technical issue, there is also the functional problem of what the phone should do when the button is pressed. Should it play a random song? The first song in a playlist? It's unclear.


Magic Mouse 1 and Bluetooth 4.0 I am considering adding a Bluetooth 4.0 dongle to my 2011 Mac (to enable Airdrop). Will my Magic Mouse 1 still work?

Yes, the Magic Mouse 1 works with standard Bluetooth 4.0.

Bluetooth is generally backwards compatible so that older devices keep working with new Bluetooth hosts (either built-in to computers or in dongle form), although newer devices generally are not guaranteed to work with older Bluetooth hosts.

The Magic Mouse 1 requires your Mac to be running at least Mac OS X 10.5.81, which you would already be running if your mouse is working before adding the dongle. Any 2011 Mac is capable of running 10.5.8 or later, so you will face no problems there.


How do I disable private browsing in Safari One of my friends has a child who is being overly sneaky online (imagine that). She wants to disable the ability for her child to select "Private Browsing" in Safari. In her opinion, Parental Controls are too limiting for a teenager, but Private Browsing is too permissive. Is there a terminal command or other way to do this on OS X?

(Of note: I did see the trick of using Interface Builder to edit the NIB file to delete the option from the Safari Menu, but I think it would be beyond her tech ability to perform those steps. I also doubt she'd want to install Xcode).

Thanks for you help!

I could suggest something more evil :

Enable parental controls and use the logs !

Someone on Apple Support asked if private browsing disabled logging. It appears no, the parents controls will still log the websites. Even if the sneaky kids enable the private browsing, the logs will spill the beans !


how to view iPhoto 11 photos on Apple TV (3rd gen)? I have shared a photo album iPhoto 11 (using Preferences > Sharing > Share My Photos > Share Selected Album.

I have an Apple TV (3rd generation) and I'm trying to view the shared photo album on it.

How do I view my shared iPhoto album on my Apple TV?

On your Mac, enable photo sharing in iTunes.  Don't know why you have to use iTunes - I guess ATV doesn't know how to read the iPhoto library directly.  I'm not in front of my Mac, but you can Google the photo sharing menu command if it's not obvious.

On the ATV3, go to the Computer menu/icon, click on your computer name if needed, then go to Photos.  Your shared albums should be in there.

From the main Settings menu/icon, you should be able to select one of your albums to use as the slide show.

That said, it's easier to use Photo Stream!  Let me know if you need help with that.


Exchange files between 2 Macs over wifi Is there a quick an easy way to share files between two macs (OS X Lion) over wifi?

AirDrop

Open Finder on both Macs, on the left you'll see the AirDrop icon with the parachute and box. Click that on both macs and you should see each other. Then just drag files to the other computer's picture.

You don't even have to be on a wifi network at all, you just have to have wifi enabled on both Macs.

Edit: As mentioned below, not all Macs have AirDrop. The next best solution is to choose "Create Network" under the wifi menu on the Menu Bar (or join the same wifi network on both machines).

Then enable file sharing.

Now open finder and choose "network" on the left of a finder window, or in the top most folder (ctrl-click on the title  at the top of the finder window, mine's called "Lance's MacbookPro") you should see "network" there.


Mac stuck in safe boot I accidentally did a hard reset on my mac by doing contorl+c when my mac was booting up. I typed /sbin/fsck -fy because it was supposed to fix my Mac so that it is no longer stuck in safe boot. It said to type reboot, but now my Mac won't start outside of recovery mode. I need help trying to recover data and starting the computer.

Running the command   /sbin/fsck –fy   initiates a file system consistency check utility which should scan your system and attempt to repair any issues, this scan is documented to take approximately 15 minutes and should not be interrupted.

You should restart your computer, press the power button, and then immediately press and hold the  Command + S  keys as the computer starts up.  This will boot you into Single-user mode and you should see white text on the screen.  Now run the fsck utility and wait.

When it's done it should prompt you with the message "File System was modified" or "No problems were found".  If you see the first message, you should repeat the entire process over and over again until you receive the "No problems were found" message.  This may take 3 or more times of repeating the process.

If after 5 times you still do not get the No problems were found prompt then your last hope is to attempt a Disk Repair.

Find a OSX install disc, and insert it, restart, holding down the  C  key to boot to the disc.  Once it starts up, navigate to the Disk Utility application which will be found in one of the drop down menu's along the top of the window.

Within the Disk Utility application select your drive and run the Repair Disk command.  Run it repeatedly until it responds that no errors needed to be repaired.

If it still doesn't work, buy a new hard-drive.


What are the OS X Mavericks hardware system requirements? I have a fairly old (I am not sure when it was bought) iMac 5,1 running OS X 10.6.8, but I just saw the free upgrade to Mavericks. It looks tempting, but I'd rather first know if my computer can handle this OS before I try to install it.

Processor: 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

(I guess that covers the most relevant hardware, if something else is important I'll add it.)

System requirements can be found at Apple - Upgrade your Mac to OS X Mavericks. Click the View compatible Mac models link under the Check your Mac hardware step to view the supported models.  Currently:

  Mac models compatible with OS X Mavericks

  iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
  MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
  MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
  MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
  Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
  Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
  Xserve (Early 2009)

From the Apple menu select "About This Mac" and then click the "More Info…" button to determine exactly what model you have.

According to the information at How to identify iMac models, the iMac5,1 is the Late 2006 model, which is not compatible with OS X Mavericks.


Will a 2015 MacBook logic board work on a 2016? I have an early 2016 MacBook A1534 with a failed SSD.
I was thinking of buying a logic board from the A1534 early 2015. Everything looks fine by the looks of it all connections match up just fine.
But maybe there’s more I don’t know. Can anyone tell me if it will work? Could the pins be different?
Picture on the left is a 2016 and on the right is a 2015.

No, this will not work.
It's not the connectors you have to worry about, it's the screw hole locations and Apple is notorious for changing this very minor but critical detail to prevent this exact thing from happening.
For example, I just finished restoring a Mid-2007 (white) MacBook.  I ordered a bottom case (improperly listed as a 2007) and while every single connector lined up properly, it would not go in because of very subtle differences in where support posts and screw holes were placed - sometimes as little as a couple millimeters.

Could the pins be different?

Absolutely!  Apple makes changes all of the time depending on the components they source.  The MacBook Pro's you referenced could very well have an issue where the pins are different.  After all, it's the 2016 MacBook Pro models that suffered the "flexgate" (display cable) issue where the 2015's did not.  The cable was made shorter and the back light power pins (21V) were moved too close to a data pin (3V) resulting in machines that had fried GPUs.
My advise is to have the SSD repaired.  There are firms out there that will do board level repair like this for about the same price as you're going to pay for a different logic board.


How to customize the Do Not Disturb feature for weekends? I have the Do Not Disturb feature scheduled to work from Midnight to 7 am.  This works great.

However, on the weekend I like to sleep in and would like the Do Not Disturb feature to go until 9 am.  But I do not see this feature.  It's like all or nothing.

Am I missing something simple?

This currently can't be done. Schedules you select apply to all the days of the week.

You can provide feedback to Apple on the following page:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html


Do /etc/resolver/ files work in Mountain Lion for DNS resolution? Can anyone tell me if adding a file under /etc/resolver will work for DNS resolution using a DNS server other than what is handed out via DHCP ?

My issue is that I want to use OpenDNS for a clients home DNS resolution in order to take advantage of the filtering and anti scam capabilities but the massive disadvantage is that here in Australia things such as Apple content are delivered by a CDN (Akamai) which will then server content using a US based delivery point.

What I want to do is have the DNS server address handed out via DHCP to be the local router address (DNSMasq using OpenDNS DNS servers) and then, for example, place a file called apple.com under /etc/resolver with the following line:

nameserver 203.12.160.35

The idea is that any DNS request to apple.com would be resolved by a TPG (my ISP) DNS server rather than the local routers DNSMasq daemon using OpenDNS servers.

So I have done this and the output of scutil --dns is:

DNS configuration

resolver #1
  search domain[0] : harland
  nameserver[0] : 192.168.10.1
  nameserver[1] : 192.168.10.1
  if_index : 4 (en2)
  reach    : Reachable,Directly Reachable Address

resolver #2
  domain   : local
  options  : mdns
  timeout  : 5
  order    : 300000

resolver #3
  domain   : 254.169.in-addr.arpa
  options  : mdns
  timeout  : 5
  order    : 300200

resolver #4
  domain   : 8.e.f.ip6.arpa
  options  : mdns
  timeout  : 5
  order    : 300400

resolver #5
  domain   : 9.e.f.ip6.arpa
  options  : mdns
  timeout  : 5
  order    : 300600

resolver #6
  domain   : a.e.f.ip6.arpa
  options  : mdns
  timeout  : 5
  order    : 300800

resolver #7
  domain   : b.e.f.ip6.arpa
  options  : mdns
  timeout  : 5
  order    : 301000

resolver #8
  domain   : apple.com
  nameserver[0] : 8.8.8.8

DNS configuration (for scoped queries)

resolver #1
  search domain[0] : harland
  nameserver[0] : 192.168.10.1
  nameserver[1] : 192.168.10.1
  if_index : 4 (en2)
  flags    : Scoped
  reach    : Reachable,Directly Reachable Address
macbookair:resolver

Now the output of an nslookup on apple.com is:

macbookair:resolver ilium007$ nslookup apple.com
Server:     192.168.10.1
Address:    192.168.10.1#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:   apple.com
Address: 17.149.160.49
Name:   apple.com
Address: 17.172.224.47

macbookair:resolver

So I am not using the TPG DNS server - I am still resolving against 192.168.10.1 which is the local router. Does the order of the resolvers matter ? ie. the entry created after I place the apple.com file in /etc/resolver is resolver #8:

resolver #8
  domain   : apple.com
  nameserver[0] : 8.8.8.8

I would really like a way to make this work - any help would be appreciated.

This question seems a bit old, but I'm going to answer it anyways as I had a similar problem:

Yes, this works.

Your first problem is that you obviously have the wrong IP (8.8.8.8 instead of 203.12.160.35) in /etc/resolver/apple.com. Verify that the contents of this file is really:

nameserver 203.12.160.35

Then scutil --dns should have an entry like this:

resolver #8
  domain   : apple.com
  nameserver[0] : 203.12.160.35

The second problem is that you tried to verify it using nslookup which does not use the DNS resolution mechanisms of OS X. If you look at the man page of nslookup you will find this:

Mac OS X NOTICE
   The nslookup command does not use the host name and address resolution or the DNS
   query routing mechanisms used by other processes running on Mac OS X.  The results of
   name or address queries printed by nslookup may differ from those found by other
   processes that use the Mac OS X native name and address resolution mechanisms. The
   results of DNS queries may also differ from queries that use the Mac OS X DNS routing
   library.

To check your DNS config you could do

dns-sd -G v4 images.apple.com

and verify if it yields the same IP as

nslookup images.apple.com 203.12.160.35


Disable outgoing mail for an account? I have an account that I want to receive but never send email from in Mail.app. Is there a simple way to disable this one account?

I'm running Mountain Lion.

There is an option within the preferences of Mail.app.

Go to the "Accounts" tab, and select the email account, and under Account Information, you can set the outgoing mail server to None.

You must also enable Use only this server.

When sending a message from that account, you will now get a message asking you to choose a different outgoing mail server, with the option of cancelling the send.


Run Node commands for _www user I've installed NodeJS for all users on my Mac and when I do a whoami in the terminal it says 'cameron' and I can access node, npm, and grunt globally.

However when I try and run these from PHP e.g. exec('npm install'); I can't run them because they don't exist! Doing a whoami in the PHP reveals that I'm running the website as _www which isn't an actual user on the Mac...

So basically how can I install Node for _www? So I can run these commands from PHP.

This fixes it (after changing apache to run as the user who has node or by giving access to _www).

putenv('PATH=' . getenv('PATH') . ':/usr/local/bin');


how to transfer a app from one ipod to an iphone? Ok so I want to transfer an app from my IPod to my IPhone.  The only problem is that that app got deleted off the App Store so I cant just download it directly to my phone.  Is there any way to transfer over the app onto my computer and then transfer it onto my IPhone?  Also I am not on a Mac, I am using a Dell Intel PC so the ITunes looks differently then it would on a Mac.

Connect the device with the app to the PC with a USB cable.
Right click on the iPod and select "transfer purchases"
Once the app is on the computer, then connect the iPhone.
Set up that app to sync and you should be done.


WindowServer Bookend log messages I am getting lots of log messages in my 10.10 Server install.  This was an upgrade from 10.9.5. I will get hundreds of the Gesture Started and Gesture Ended messages in a second with different numbers (i.e. 503xxx becomes 504xxx).

9:41:46 AM WindowServer: 50386035501120 -- Bookend Type: 62 (Gesture Ended) conn: 0xf8c7, window 0x5e
9:41:46 AM WindowServer: 50386035506584 ++ Bookend Type: 61 (Gesture Started) conn: 0xf8c7, window 0x5e
9:41:46 AM WindowServer: *** Complete ***

Any ideas?

I cannot describe how terribly annoying this was for me post Yosemite install as well. Your beloved mac would freeze as hundreds (thousands?) of log lines detailing gesture bookends would demand intense resources. Anyhow, here is the secret sauce.

Note that multi-monitor preferences are going to be lost (screen arrangement, preferred display, etc)

Step 1: move/backup your plist files

sudo mv /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist ~/Desktop/
sudo mv ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.windowserver* ~/Desktop/

Step 2: Shutdown your mac

Step 3: Reset pram

press/hold Command+Option+P+R and press power button once
wait for two tones
let go of the keys and allow your mac to boot normally

I hope it does the trick for you.


Yosemite on SSD boots from USB but not when the SSD is installed internally In another thread I have explained the issues I have with a clean install of OS X on a SSD.

Now the situation is:

Yosemite installed on SSD.
Boots from SSD attached via USB .
Does not boot from SSD when installed internally.
I get a beachball and the Mac will not start.

What might the problem be?

Just because the hardware is set to remember where the last boot was from and will look back to it at the bext boot, I can recommend you to hold down the C button right after you start up the fully assembled system and then select the SSD again.

Also note that the cable that connects the internally placed SSD may be damaged/disconnected somehow or even the Motherboard could have a problematic/defected chip.


iPhone charging from MacBook Air 2017 I have an issue when I plug in my iPhone 11 Pro Max into my MacBook Air 2017. The issue is that it starts to charge for like 1 second, disconnects for 5 seconds, and then loops like that. Do you think the issue could be with the port or the software?
I am running macOS Catalina 10.15.5 and iOS 13.6.
Edit: It was a lightning cable issue. Other newer lightning cables work fine.

The issue is that it starts to charge for like 1 second, disconnects for 5 seconds, and then loops like that.

Dirt or another containment in the port isn't going to cause a loop that cycles in a regular intervals.   When you connect an iPhone to a MacBook, there is a charging negotiation - normally, the USB spec is for 5V @ .5A, but the MacBook can "boost" the available charge up to 2.5A - it has to "ask" for it, however.  That "loop" that you're seeing is a connection, an ask and a disconnect and then the device trying again.
It could be a couple of things...

You have an issue with your port not being able to supply enough power to the phone
You don't have sufficient power on your USB bus
There could be a hardware issue - either with the MacBook or the iPhone

If you can charge your phone correctly otherwise (i.e. with a regular USB power adapter) and your USB port functions normally, start with an SMC Reset.  If that doesn't fix it, try Safe Mode by holding ⇧ Shift while booting.  But, to be candid, I don't see that having much effect, if any at all.  Charging is not handled by the OS, but by the firmware on the SMC chip.  In this case, ensuring your firmware and software is fully updated would be the next best thing.
Lastly, you want to ensure that your connectivity is good - avoid cheap, knock off cables and connectors.  I assisted someone just yesterday who insisted against my advice on using one of those 5-way USB spider things that has all the different USB connectors on one cable she picked up at a trade show;  It fried her Dell XPS' charging ports.  Use good quality cables from trusted brands (I like Anker personally). Saving $5-10 on a cable simply isn't worth it.
If it is the hardware (either phone or Mac) you might just want to avoid charging with your Mac and stick to the wall adapter.  To fix it would require replacing logic board(s) and it may not be worth the expense.  If it's under AppleCare...well, that's a different story altogether.  You'll have to make the call to see if it's worth the AppleCare incident for this issue.


Is it possible to install Linux packages on OS X? I know that the Mac commandline is very similar to that of Linux operating systems, so it would be nice to use some features of Linux in my Mac, specially installing Linux packages. For example, in Linux we can install a package by simply typing sudo apt-get install "package name" at the prompt. Is it possible to do something like this on Mac?

Yes, it is possible to install and run a variety of UNIX applications on OS X. There are a few solutions out there, my choice and recommendation is Homebrew. I've found other solutions to be overly complex and unwieldy.


How can I re-install Mac App Store I just deleted (via AppCleaner) my Mac App Store app (which I couldn't log into for 2 weeks) with the idea to re-get a fresh app via Software Update.

But Software Update doesn't download Mac App Store anymore.

How can I re-install Mac App Store on my Mac? Thank you.

There isn't a stand-alone Mac App Store updater. Your best bet is to reinstall Mac OS X 10.6.6, using the combo update. It's a 1.06 GB download, but it contains all the parts of prior updates (the 10.6.1, 10.6.2, 10.6.3, 10.6.4 and 10.6.5 updates) and should repair your current install.


Fullscreen app unusable due to focus loss i am quite new to the OSX system and having some issues with ElCaptain.

Basically a fullscreen application (Android Studio in my case) loses the focus and i have to kill it via the task manager in order to get it up and working again.

To reproduce it i just have to open Android Studio. Then open the Genymotion Device manager and then the desktop switches to my main desktop (where non-fullscreen apps are placed). If i switch back to Android Studio again, the input focus is still on the Genymotion windows which is placed in the background. In this case i cannot bring the genymotion window back to foreground again and Android Studio does not accept any input anymore.

Is there any hotkey combination or other trick to get that window back again? I can see a subwindow "Genymotion*" if i "right"click on Android Studio, but its greyed out and i cannot switch to it this way.

Any tips?

You could use a combination of App Expose (4 finger swipe down) and Mission Control ( 4 finger swipe up or F3) to view all possible app windows. Make sure you have these setting enabled.


Does the iPhone multi-task while sending email? When I send a message and the progress bar is still "moving", can I simply move along and send another message?

And even before that is completed, if I move along and send another message can I be guaranteed that all messages will be sent?

Yes you can. You can even close the Messaging app.


Google Chrome: Error 11 after setting Automatic Updates Yo, got the following issue: Google Chrome is running on OS X El Capitan.
After I set "Automatic Updates for all Users" to true at the "About" page in Google Chrome and entered my credentials (this process obviously needs root rights) this error message appears now on the "About" page:

Update failed (error: 11)

After I googled this error message I visited the following link that describes my problem very well: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=520135.
Sadly none of the approaches works for me (Reinstallation worked neither), so I ask here if anybody has any idea to solve this problem ?

Just found this How To Fix Chrome Update Error 11 On A Mac

  Open Finder. In the top menu, select Go > Go to Folder
  Enter either of the locations below. If the first location doesn’t come up, try the other:
  /Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/
  ~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/
  Double click the file called CheckForUpdatesNow.command – the Mac Terminal window will open and execute the command
  Wait until you see the message “[Process completed]”
  Close the Terminal window
  Refresh your Chrome ‘About’ page – the update should complete without showing the error

And it really worked for me


How to search more magazines in Apple Newsstand on iPod? When I open Newsstand on Apple iPod, I don't find any magazines other than the featured ones, is it possible to find more magazines using the Store part of Newsstand?

No - You have to click on Search and a serach queery will bring up all results accross iTunes.

The store page behind newsstand is just a coverpage for the iTunes store. You will find that once you have entereed the store from newsstand you are able to browse and download any iTunes content.

It is easier in this case to use iTunes on the desktop of a computer.

You can browse in alternate ways by tapping on release date and then sorting by name, most popular or release date.

However when you use the iTunes store on an iPad, you have the additional option of filtering results by Category, you can then select Newsstand.


Metadata rejected- replied but no response 2 days after? My app status changed to Metadata Rejected because they needed to ask me something. I answered 2 days ago and haven't gotten a reply nor has it changed back to in review. Is this normal?

What is normal? I am a developer and although Apple is extremely helpful, they don't have standards when it comes to deadlines. You are at the mercy of their prioritizing. It can take anywhere form 1-7 business days for metadata rejected apps. Fix the metadata they are referencing and submit back to them like you have done. There is no set time they guarantee to respond to you, but they will definetly respond. They won't leave you hanging.


Unable to connect mac from remote using telnet I am trying to use my mac as proxy using charles proxy. To do that, I had my mac and android device in same network and manually set the mac ip as proxy in the android device settings at port 8888.

Now I am unable to connect to internet through the android device. Upon pondering i noticed that my mac was refusing connections from any remote device through telnet, while it was connecting if I try to connect from the same machine (i.e telnet localhost 8888).

Also my mac can be connected using ssh from other device in same network and the firewall is disabled. What can be that is preventing the machine to not accept inbound connections from remote machines?

Apparently, I was using an unstable version of Symantec antivirus which blocked many incoming connections as well as the airdrop feature in mac. I downgraded it, which solved the problem.


Can an 'incorrect password lockout' be set? I administer seven Macs running a range of OS X 10.10 to macOS 10.13. The machine I use to administer them is running OS X 10.10.

All of the users are Standard accounts, with one Admin account which I use to administer the computers.

Is there a way to set an incorrect password lock out, which will only let you try more passwords if, a set time is elapsed, or the Admin user grants access again?

I would like to use the lockout as an additional layer of security from someone trying to brute force their way into a remote desktop session with a machine when the machine is on a public network (eg. hotel / airport etc).

It turns out that you can use a Terminal command to achieve this. Note that parts of this command are deprecated, but I tested it on macOS 10.13.3 and everything seems to work.

On the device that has the account you want to set a lock on, log
into the administrator account.
Open Terminal and enter the following command; pwpolicy -u testuser -setpolicy "maxFailedLoginAttempts=1". Assume that testuser is the short name of the user you want to apply the lockout settings to, and 1 is the number of failed attempts required to trigger the account lock.
Restart the device to ensure that the changes take affect.

If an account is locked, you can log into the administrator account again and unlock the standard account using the following command; pwpolicy -u testuser -enableuser.

Update:
I was able to test this with remote connections, and your device will not allow remote authentication with a locked account.


Shortcut for Preview sketch tool Nearly every time I open Preview.app I will then immediately press the toolbox button and then the sketch button.

Is there a shortcut to access the sketch tool or some way to put the sketch button on my default toolbar?

This workaround applies to Preview.app 9.0 (909.12) in macOS Sierra 10.12.2 and will most likely break in future releases.

Launch AppleScript Editor and enter the following.

tell application "System Events" to tell process "Preview"
    activate
    set markup to checkbox 1 of toolbar 1 of window 1
    tell markup
        if not (its value as boolean) then
            click markup
            delay 0.1
        end if
    end tell
    set sketch to checkbox 1 of toolbar 2 of window 1
    tell sketch
        if not (its value as boolean) then
            click sketch
        end if
    end tell
end tell

Launch Preview, open a document, switch back to AppleScript Editor, and run your script. You will most likely get at least one error about AppleScript Editor requiring permission to use accessibility features.
Open System Preferences. Open the Security & Privacy pane. Click the Privacy tab. Click Accessibility. Click "Click the lock to make changes." Enter your password and click Unlock. Click the plus sign. Select Automator and click Open. Repeat, adding Script Editor. Make sure the checkboxes next to Automator and Script Editor are checked in the list.

(Hopefully, you'll only have to do step 3 once... until the next macOS upgrade.)

Go back to Script Editor, and try running your script again. Hopefully, in Preview, the Sketch tool will now be selected.
In Script Editor, save your script as an application somewhere in your home folder.
Find the application you just saved using Finder or Spotlight. Run the application. You will get another error about accessibility access.
Return to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy.
Click the little plus sign again. Browse to the application you just saved, and add it to the list. Make sure the check box next to it is checked.
Now, run your application from the Finder or Spotlight again. Hopefully you will not get an error this time.
Open Automator. Choose File > New. Choose Service. Under "Service receives selected," choose no input. Click any application and choose Other... Choose Preview.
In the "Actions" search box, type application. Drag Launch Application over to the "Drag actions or files here to build your workflow" panel.
Under Launch Application, choose Other..., then browse to your application.
Save the automator action (Service) with a sensible name, like "Preview Sketch Mode" or something easy to remember that you can type exactly.
Make sure the automator action works.
Launch System Preferences and go to Keyboard. Click Shortcuts. Click App Shortcuts. Click the plus sign. Under Application, choose Preview. Under Menu Title, type the exact name of the service name you saved in step 13 above. Assign a keyboard shortcut to it.

You should now have a keyboard shortcut that enables Sketch mode in Preview.


Toggle "Use all F1, F2 as standard keys" via script I toggle the "Use all F1, F2 as standard keys" setting very often and would like to automate it via a script (or a keyboard shortcut). Is it possible? I've tried to Google the right arguments for defaults write ... but unsuccessfully.

Update: I ended up creating https://github.com/jkbrzt/macos-fn-toggle based of the answers here.

Update II: There's now also — https://github.com/Pyroh/Fluor — a really nice menubar app that allows you to automatically change the behaviour of the keyboard's fn keys depending on the active application.

tell application "System Preferences"
    reveal anchor "keyboardTab" of pane "com.apple.preference.keyboard"
end tell
tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
    click checkbox 1 of tab group 1 of window 1
end tell
quit application "System Preferences"

You could also use defaults write -g com.apple.keyboard.fnState -bool true, but I don't know any way to apply the changes without logging out and back in again.


Disable Bluetooth permanently How do you permanently disable Bluetooth on OS X Mavericks?  It seems that simply shutting it off in preferences doesn't disable it.

I found a gist that removes the launchds & the kernel extensions for the bluetooth. It will make the system incapable of using the bluetooth features  :

#!/bin/bash

# disable bluetooth
# OS X 10.8.2
# 2012-10-08

home=$HOME
bk=$home/backup-bluetooth-extentions
mkdir $bk

# sudo reboot with Shift Key # Safty Boot
# Login as Admin usert.

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Local Backup OFF
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# sudo tmutil disable
# sudo tmutil disablelocal

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Agnet
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# bluetooth
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.bluetoothUIServer.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.bluetoothAudioAgent.plist

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Daemon
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.blued.plist
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.bnepd.plist
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.IOBluetoothUSBDFU.plist

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Extentions
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Driver
sudo mv /System/Library/Extensions/AppleBluetoothMultitouch.kext $bk
sudo mv /System/Library/Extensions/IOBluetoothFamily.kext $bk
sudo mv /System/Library/Extensions/IOBluetoothHIDDriver.kext $bk

# Bluetooth Mouns & Keyboard
sudo mv /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHIDKeyboard.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleBluetoothHIDKeyboard.kext $bk
sudo mv /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHIDMouse.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleBluetoothHIDMouse.kext $bk

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# touch
sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions

echo 'Shut Down & Restart'


Preview accessing closed files (El Cap 10.11.3) on El Cap (I noticed this since upgrade to 10.11.3) Preview keeps accessing closed PDF files, which means I cannot empty the trash.  In fact the problem exists even if Preview is not running.  I open a file, close Preview and the file, trash it, try to empty the trash and I get 'the file is in use'.  Just now:

:~$ lsof .Trash/tutorial-strata.pdf
COMMAND     PID      USER   FD   TYPE DEVICE SIZE/OFF      NODE NAME
Preview   62216 me  txt    REG    1,4   196236 109606954 .Trash/tutorial-strata.pdf
QuickLook 71216 me  txt    REG    1,4   196236 109606954 .Trash/tutorial-strata.pdf

(as you might notice Quicklook wanted some of the action despite the fact I did not activate a preview of the file).  How can I stop this most annoying behaviour?

#

following GhostLyrics' suggestion I run:

:~$ ps -ef|grep Prev
  501  2411     1   0 12:00am ??         0:08.49 /Applications/Preview.app/Contents/MacOS/Preview -psn_0_28633933
  501  2412     1   0 12:00am ??         0:00.01 /Applications/Preview.app/Contents/XPCServices/com.apple.Preview.TrustedBookmarksService.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.Preview.TrustedBookmarksService
  501 16880 57035   0 12:36pm ttys000    0:00.00 grep Prev

so Preview is still running in the background despite the fact it is not open (according to the Dock):

Hence it looks like that preview is not actually closing properly for some reason or another....

Are you sure that Preview is indeed not running as opposed to not visible? (CMD+W vs. CMD+Q)

As for an image explaining what I mean, refer to this: http://geek-and-poke.com/geekandpoke/2013/8/24/the-one-and-only-difference-between-os-x-and-windows

Update:

example output for non-running Preview:

ps -ef|grep Prev
502 46649 46541   0  8:58PM ttys000    0:00.00 grep Prev

example for running Preview:

ps -ef|grep Prev
502 46655     1   0  8:58PM ??         0:01.16 /Applications/Preview.app/Contents/MacOS/Preview -psn_0_11016833
502 46656     1   0  8:58PM ??         0:00.01 /Applications/Preview.app/Contents/XPCServices/com.apple.Preview.TrustedBookmarksService.xpc/Contents/MacOS/com.apple.Preview.TrustedBookmarksService
502 46661 46541   0  8:58PM ttys000    0:00.00 grep Prev


My new MacBook Pro won't keep its Wi-Fi connection Here's the deal... I have relatively brand new Macbook pro, I purchased it in late June 2014 and right now it's November 2014. Recently, my Macbook will not keep an internet connection to wifi. There's no problem with the router; I've had no trouble with my iPhone or PC's or even other Macbooks in this house. Additionally, I've noticed the same problem with my computer in other networks, but I can't offer too much information about that, because 99% of the time I have my computer in my house.

More details:

There is no pattern for this loss of connectivity. I cannot stay connected more than 15 minutes, and it fluctuates between about 10 and 2 minutes, usually. The time does not change with my activity or lack thereof on the internet.
I have tried things like clearing all my wifi passwords and networks, changing my location in network settings, turning off the wifi connection, restarting, and all of these things separately and together. Nothing changes.
I first noticed this about a week or two after upgrading to OSX Yosemite (10.10). But it was nothing simultaneous and I've heard of similar problems on other OS's, so I personally can't point my finger to that problem.
My Airport Utility is 6.3.4 (634.17) and the card is AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0xF5).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I bought this computer to last me 5 years as I study abroad and complete 4 years of college. Right now, I just really need some assurance that I didn't spend 8 months of paychecks on an $1800 aluminum frisbee.

Went to Apple Store today (Dec. 27 2014).also family members have iPads, other Mac Pros, iPhones…NO NETWORK PROBLEMS except with single Mac Pro .Apple absolutely no help…..blames the network (which it is not)….and said, work it out with Internet Provider or if you don't believe us pay for tech help (as unit is out of warranty)…That, itself was an amazing experience.If anyone finds an answer I would appreciate the help as well.

Are you on OS X 10.10.1? It claims to fix some wifi issues present in 10.10.0.

If your software is up to date, you can try the following steps. They worked perfectly on my early 2011 MBP running Yosemite. Source

Turn off Wi-Fi from the menu bar.
From Finder, hit Command+Shift+G (or click Go > Go to Folder) and enter the following path:

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/

Within this folder, locate and select the following files. (Note: You may not actually have all of them. I know I didn't have all five files on my computer, but I deleted all the ones I had and the fix still worked!)

com.apple.airport.preferences.plist
com.apple.network.identification.plist
com.apple.wifi.message-tracer.plist
NetworkInterfaces.plist
preferences.plist

Move them to a backup folder, like on your desktop. The goal is to delete them from the SystemConfiguration folder (so make sure they don't exist in that folder any more!) to force OS X to recreate them, but you'll want to be able to put your original files back in there in case something goes wrong.
Reboot your computer.
Turn on Wi-Fi from the menu bar. Good luck!


Understanding photo libraries when migrating from iPhoto to Photo I recently updated an outdated OS to Catalina, in which the iPhoto app was replaced by the Photos app.
In HD/Users/User/Images, I now find three different folders :

iPhoto-Library (Migrated Photo Library) - 45GB

iPhoto-Library (Photos Library) - 40GB

Photos-Library (Photos Library) - 50GB - contains some 150 more photos than iPhoto-Library - Not sure if the Photos-Library was created automatically or by me.

I know I can open one of these libraries at a time in the Photos app. I also know that in the Finder, I can right-click and access the structure of these libraries. I noticed that they do not have the same folder structure.
My goal is to obtain one Photos-Library containing all the photos contained
in the three libraries (including a check so as not to lose possible non-duplicates).
Where can I get more information about how to proceed?
On this Stackexchange, I found several questions related to my issue, but I haven't found the exact solution. Some links :

How to duplicate-check between iPhoto Library and Photos Library *and* move non-duplicates from iPhoto -> Photos?
If I've migrated from iPhoto to Photos, can I safely delete the migrated photo library?

EDIT
I have added the file sizes in the list above.
The second linked question indeed answers my question more or less. It seems I can delete the iPhoto-Libraries and keep the Photos-Library.
I still do not understand the difference in file size, and would like to see which photos appear in the Photos-Library but not in the iPhoto-Library (maybe I have imported them before noticing there were different libraries). However, it seems there is no easy way to compare two libraries, as only one library can be opened at a time (except using external software, cf. the first linked question).

Some more information about the structure can be found here. The three folders you see all reference to the same set of image files on your Mac, using hard links.
The 150-photos difference MAY be due to one of these reasons:

Your Photos library already had some photos before you migrated iPhoto library (More likely).

You had RAW and JPEG pairs for some photos. iPhoto counted each pair as one photo, but in migration they exported separately, increasing the count (Less likely).

The Photos library should be the superset containing all your photos, but the only confirmatory test I can think of is to extract the file lists from the SQL databases of those three folders and compare them.


What protocol does iOS use to sync Notes to a server I was wondering which protocol the native application for notes on iOS is using to keep the data in sync with iCloud. My aim is to host the notes on my own server, but I could't figure out the protocol. Any help is much appreciated!
I would also be happy about tips on existing open source projects or a protocol specification as I will consider writing my own server application if I don't find any other software.
Thanks in advance.

You can host your own notes if you run an IMAP server. There are additional details in knowledge base article HT4191. A great IMAP server is Dovecot.


OpenGL 2.0 on Windows 10 on VirtualBox on El Capitan Some software running on Windows 10 requires me to have OpenGL 2.0.
I'm running Windows 10 in VirtualBox, which is on El Capitan.

How do I install OpenGL 2.0?

Please explain as if speaking to a layman. :)

Error message given by the software:

  Required OpenGL extensions: GL_VERSION_2_0, GL_ARB_framebuffer_object, GL_ARB_texture_compression, are unsupported. Please update your computer's graphics drivers or verify that your graphics card supports the listed features. If this error persists after updating the drivers, you will most likely need to upgrade your graphics card.

VirtualBox Guest Additions for Windows 8 or later no longer add the necessary registry entries to enable OpenGL support.

Based on comments in No OpenGL Support for Windows 8 and related links I was able to craft the following Registry file to add the missing OpenGL keys...

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0000]
"OpenGLDriverName"="VBoxOGL.dll"
"OpenGLDriverNameWow"="VBoxOGL-x86.dll"
"OpenGLFlags"=dword:00000001
"OpenGLFlagsWow"=dword:00000001
"OpenGLVersion"=dword:00000001
"OpenGLVersionWow"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\OpenGLDrivers\MSOGL]
"DriverVersion"=dword:00000001
"Flags"=dword:00000001
"Version"=dword:00000001
"DLL"="VBoxOGL.dll"

Due to hardware detection that happens at various points there is proper order of doing this as well:

Enable 3D acceleration on your guest before powering it up to install Windows.
Install Windows 10.
Install VirtualBox guest additions and reboot.
Import the above Registry file and reboot.

Note that this is limited OpenGL support - it only enables things up to API Level OpenGL 2.1. Some things work fine, others not so much. e.g.: Blender 2.78 refused to start before this change, citing lack of OpenGL support, but afterwards it starts... and just displays a white window.

Update 2017-03-04:

Blender's all-white window issues were fixed by downloading their software-based OpenGL driver, ftp://ftp.blender.org/sergey/softwaregl/win64/opengl32.dll, and copying it into the folder C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender

It obviously won't be performant like this but at least it's usable... which is important because a lot of Blender add-ons only work on Windows (e.g.: Bos FBX Importer/Exporter only works on win64 systems).


How do I turn off "shuffle" on my iPod Nano 7th Generation? I'd greatly appreciate help with learning how to shut off "shuffle" on my iPod Nano 7th Generation?

Go into "settings", then "music" and change the shuffle setting from "on" to "off"


How do i get rid of the bottom iMessage app toolbar in iOS 11? I don't use the iMessage apps very often. How do I get rid of it to free up some screen real estate?

If you tap and hold the gray App Store button for a bit right above the bottom toolbar that should remove the bar until you call it up explicitly with the same button.


iPhone could not be restored - error number -1 I posted an old iPhone 4 to my sister (I'm in Australia; she's in Thailand) which was working fine both before and after she received it.

Recently it has started cutting off while being used - especially when using data - and saying there's 'no reception'. This was happening every couple of weeks.

My sister has been restoring the iPhone through iTunes each time this happens, which had been resolving the problem until it came back again.

Unfortunately now though it is no longer restoring through iTunes, and showing this error message:

  The iPhone "iPhone" could not be restored. An unknown error occured (-1)

Obviously this is a pretty unhelpful error message. This Apple support page covers the next steps for most error types, but it appears that the error number -1 is an error in and of itself!

The phone is now stuck on the usual restore screen:

What steps could we try to resolve this? Or is it likely that the phone is just too old and is suffering from software designed for newer iPhones? In case it is relevant, the phone has never been jailbroken and I (and my wife) have always been the original owners. It is a 4, not a 4S.

If it auto shutdown too often and require restore everytime like that then you should consider the phone is too old. Hardware especially its memory start malfunctioning. As end user, there is nothing you can do, sorry :(

But repair services does, hehe :D


How big external monitors will a Macbook Pro Retina support? I am considering buying a Macbook Pro Retina as a developer machine (and dual boot it into Windows 8).

The thing is I love big monitors, and lots of them.

How many and how big external monitors will a Macbook Pro Retina support?

In particular, can it display with native resolution on a 2560x1600 and a 2560x1440? And use its internal display too? Will it require particular adapters, e.g. DisplayPort?

Will I be able to use those monitors when booting into Windows 8?

Here's one example of someone running two 27" displays at 2560x1440 via Thunderbolt/DisplayPort plus an HDMI display at 1920x1200:
http://blog.macsales.com/14241-macbook-pro-15-with-retina-display-can-run-3-external-displays

The Thunderbolt ports officially support up to 2560x1600 so that resolution shouldn't be any problem either:

  Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on up to two external displays, at millions of colors
  http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/

To get up to that resolution, you're limited to either Thunderbolt/MiniDisplayPort or Dual-Link DVI via an adapter - single link DVI and VGA adapters won't go that high.

For the HDMI port, I haven't seen any specific maximum resolution. This person got up to 2048x1280: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-3121_7-57460642-220/how-to-power-four-simultaneous-screens-with-the-retina-macbook-pro/

Generally, external monitors work fine in Windows. I see no reason why it would be any different on the Retina model or on Windows 8 specifically.


What software can play FLAC files and has basic playlist support? What are options to play FLAC files and have playlists on OSX? I've not seen a way to make iTunes play them natively, songbird looks terrible with retina display and same goes for clementine.

I just switched to osx from linux and I was hoping I wouldnt have to go back to CMUS.

I hope you have a secondary storage solution for FLAC audio files. I do :). I understand the allure of FLAC, I do everything I can to get my media in FLAC or at least some lossless format that I archive. There are a lot of benefits to keeping lossless files around, but playing them via any conventional player is (in my own opinion, of course) not one of them.

I use Max to convert my FLAC files to Variable 256Kbit AAC audio.

Once that's done, I archive the FLAC files elsewhere, and import the converted files into iTunes. Sweet, compatible, bliss.


difference b/w various commands for getting root access in terminal I have used linux:Kali for a while and to get root access i just needed to type: su in terminal. But in OSX i need to type in su - what does this - mean?

If i just type su in terminal than i get sh-3.2# in next line

whereas if i type su - then i get root# in next line.

What's the difference between all of these commands.

Also i see some other commands to get root access in terminal:
(1) su bash
(2) sudo su

Please help to understand difference b/w all these commands.

From man su:

-l      Simulate a full login.  The environment is discarded except for
        HOME, SHELL, PATH, TERM, and USER.  HOME and SHELL are modified
        as above.  USER is set to the target login.  PATH is set to
        ``/bin:/usr/bin''.  TERM is imported from your current environ-
        ment.  The invoked shell is the target login's, and su will
        change directory to the target login's home directory.

-       (no letter) The same as -l.

As for su versus sudo, it's generally accepted in Apple circles that sudo is the preferred method of working in root. By default, su is disabled on OS X (as is the root account). There are only a few occasions when I've had to enable root to get things done.

For more information, I recommend reading both manpages.

man su
man sudo


Restricting Apple ID purchases to free stuff only I've given my 9 year old daughter an iPad for Christmas. I'm confused about how to set it up with regards to using my Apple ID, or creating a separate AppleID for her.  I've read some things about Family Sharing, but it doesn't seem to address what I want to do.

What I'd really like is for her to be able to download anything she likes from iTunes or the App Store as long as it's free without any need for me to authorize the download.  However, for anything that is not free, I want to be the one who authorizes this with some kind of approval/password.

Can anyone please tell me if this type of setup is possible and how to do it?

What I would do is create an Apple ID for her without a credit card, along with creating an Apple ID for yourself (hooked to a credit card).

Without a credit card, the only way to purchase something would be for her to:

Have a gift card (you still couldn't control that spending)
If she wants to buy something, she needs to come to you directly. You can go into iTunes (on your computer with your Apple ID with the credit card), find it in the store, and gift it to her:

She'll get an email that'll allow her to download the item.

If you want a less restrictive method, you can set up an allowance (look at bottom of page) that would allow her to spend a set amount of money every month.


How to download WhatsApp iCloud backup? I read the thread Accessing WhatsApp iCloud backup?
and did all Kanthala Raghu explained to reveal icloud whatsapp backup in terminal. But what I get is only a list in terminal after typing cd ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/find whatsapp. Like these:
57TXXXXX~net~whatsapp~WhatsApp
57TXXXXXX~net~whatsapp~WhatsApp/Documents
But how do I download them to my mac ? Now I can only see they exist on the terminal console...thanks for your help

The files are already downloaded to your Mac. The folder you're searching is on your local Mac.
As explained in the answer you've linked, the backups are stored as tar archives (tar being a program that can bundle multiple files in one archive file). You can do as they instruct:
cp *whatsapp*/Accounts/*/backup/*.tar ~/AFolderIChoose

Create the "AFolderIChoose" folder in your home directory before running the command. You should then see that folder populated with the backup archives. You can double them in Finder to unpack them.


How to stop file vault decrypting and re enable encryption? SHORT QUESTION :

Ive got a macbook pro, late 2012, osx 10.10.5, with file vault enabled.

Now when i go to System Preferences > File Vault i get the following decryption screen (see below screenshot). How can i stop it decrypting and re-enable deception ?

LONG QUESTION (with background) :

Ive got a macbook pro, late 2012, osx 10.10.5, with file vault enabled.

When i tried to power it on earlier today it wouldn't start properly the screen was on, but very dull and it couldn't be made brighter using the brighter key. I waited a while but had to press the power button again to shut the machine down, when i powered it back up it took me through the forgot your password wizard.

I hadn't actually forgotten my password, but it wouldn't let me do anything apart from go through the wizard. The forgot password wizard gave me 3 options : 1 + 2 where related to resetting the password and 3 was to do with disabling file vault, so i went with option 3. The computer then booted correctly.

Now when i go to System Preferences > File Vault i get the following decryption screen (see below screenshot). How can i stop it decrypting and re-enable deception ?

Just wait for it to decrypt, then re-enable FileVault.


How to set environment variable in Yosemite for local ssh sessions I'm having a problem with Yosemite, it won't set the environment variables when doing:

ssh localhost
env | grep myvar

no sign of myvar.
I've managed to get Yosemite to set the environment variables for terminal sessions etc using the excellent suggestion here.

Why is it not working for the ssh session?

Did you try to add your variable to your .bash_profile: export MYVAR="Whatever"

$ . .bash_profile
$ echo $MYVAR
Whatever
$ ssh localhost
Password:
Last login: Tue Nov 18 18:58:41 2014 from localhost
$ echo $MYVAR
Whatever
$


Can I configure Accessbility settings using Terminal instead of Preferences Panel I have a problem with my MacBookPro, the left click button on (any) mouse doesnt work and the trackpad doesnt respond to any clicks, so the only thing that works properly is the keyboard and Mouse Right Click/Middle Click.

I was looking at the Accessibility preferences and can see there is something call Enable Mouse Keys, does this option allow you to effect a left-mouse click with a keyboard combination, I also Speakable Items. Both would make my life easier until computer fixed, but unfortunately without a working mouse there seems to be no way of selecting these items.

Is there a way I can set these values from the commandline, because mouse right-click and middle-click work I can open a Terminal Window and enter commands from there.

Try this:

$ defaults write com.apple.universalaccess mouseDriver 1

Also you can always access Spotlight by typing Command+Spacebar (unless you've changed the default keyboard shortcut for that).  From there if you type trackpad you should be able to get to your trackpad preferences.


PowerBook G4 won't connect to Airport with WEP password I'm helping at a friend's house. She has a Airport Extreme setup with a WEP (yes, I really do mean WEP) password.  Her iMac running 10.5.8 connects to the network just fine.  I'm typing this question on that iMac.

However when I try connecting to the same network with her PowerBook G4, sitting in the same room as the Airport Extreme, the PowerBook won't connect.  It asks me for a password but I can't get it to accept the password.  The PowerBook is running 10.4.11.

When I select the network, I get dialog that says:

The selected AirPort network requires a password to join.

    Wireless Security: WPA Personal

    Password: ______

[ ] Show password

[ ] Remember password in my keychain

(?)   (Cancel)   (OK)

(Pardon my ASCII art.) Anyway, the wireless security setting is a pulldown menu, and I want to pull down that menu and select "WEP" or "Transitional WEP", but I can't. WPA Personal is the only available option.

So, needless to say, if I enter the WEP password, it fails to connect.  What do I do?

Way back in ye olden days I had the same issue with a iBook, it was never a 100% fix but if you go to Airport -> Join Other Network it'll allow you to pick the security type and enter the SSID for the network, that should trick it into working properly.


Safety of sharing my apple password on screen with apple technician I recently had a problem with my apple id on my ipad. I called apple tech support and was guided through some steps by the technician.She assured me everything was ok but during the process I had to enter my apple id password 5 or 6 times whilst I was screen sharing with her.She said the internet signal kept dropping and she could not see what was going on.So I entered my password which was working correctly and the verification codes 5 or 6 times.
My initial problem was to do with changing my apple id password and tech was very helpful. I am sure that I called the correct apple support and I got a follow up email from apple.Question is is this usual apple says very clearly not to share password with anyone.

Did you give your password to the tech, or type it into a browser?

If you typed it into a browser and the dots appeared, the tech cannot know what the password is.

It can't hurt to change your password again if you are concerned about anyone knowing it.


Is is possible to add tag, notes or labels to backups made by Time Machine? Is it possible to add label, tag or notes to Time Machine backups. Lets say after fresh reinstall of OS X - label it as "Base System 1" then after few days (at some point with more software/work) "Designer Workstation - Base System 2" etc.

So, in case if system needs to be restored to a known good state (because of crash or otherwise). It would be easy to look at tag/notes and decide which one to restore. Than to just look at date-time stamps.

I know full bootable clones are the way to go. In addition to one bootable clone, it will be great to have multiple tagged restore points in Time Machine.

Is there a way to achieve this?

No, it's not possible to tag any specific revision in TimeMachine.


software problem: retrieve contacts data from Time Machine My Macbook Pro under Sierra is now at the Repair Shop. I am using another MacBook Pro under Yosemite while my Sierra machine is being repaired. However, I forgot to export Contacts before taking my Sierra machine in this morning and now my Contacts data is 3 years old, which is pretty well useless to me. It should be no problem, because all the necessary info is on my Time Machine linked to Sierra. However, things are not so simple (at least for me).

How can I now get my contacts info onto the Yosemite machine from the Sierra-based Time Machine backup? It seems that none of the published solutions works.

Update: I have updated the script as per @user3439894’s feedback. The script should now work for most users, no matter what flavor their address book raw data is in.

You might want to look at a temporary command-line solution. It gives you a contact <search_term> command that you can run in Terminal.app to look up contacts.

I assume your Yosemite MBP is only a temporary solution while your Sierra MBP is at the repair shop. While the Terminal command has limited functionality, it might work well enough for you to be useful while you wait for your Sierra MacBook Pro to return.

Setting up the temporary command should require not more than 10–15 minutes.

Setting up the contact command

Open the Time Machine backup that contains your (Sierra-based) address book data.
In your backup, look for the folder "${HOME}/Library/Application Support/AddressBook", which is the root folder for all your contact data.
Restore that entire AddressBook folder to a temporary location, e. g.: ${HOME}/SierraAddressBook.
Double check that the whole ${HOME}/SierraAddressBook tree has the correct permissions so you can read it without an administrator password.
For good measure, make a backup copy of your ${HOME}/.bash_profile file.
Open the file ${HOME}/.bash_profile in a text editor of your choice.
Temporarily append to .bash_profile the following lines:

(Note that for some of these lines, indentation matters; try not to change indentation in any of those lines, even if it looks a bit off.)

contact() {
  # We assume "${HOME}/Library/Application Support/AddressBook"
  # has been restored to this directory from a TM backup.
  local contacts_base_dir="${HOME}/SierraAddressBook"

  local search_term="$1"
  local sql_code="$(cat << EOF
.mode column
      SELECT
        TRIM(       IFNULL(R.ZFIRSTNAME, '')
          || ' ' || IFNULL(R.ZLASTNAME, '')
          || ' ' || IFNULL(R.ZORGANIZATION, '')) NAME,
        'created ' || date('2001-01-01', ZCREATIONDATE
          || ' seconds', 'localtime') CREATED,
        'modified ' || date('2001-01-01', ZMODIFICATIONDATE
          || ' seconds', 'localtime') MODIFIED,
        GROUP_CONCAT(DISTINCT TRIM(IFNULL(E.ZLABEL, ''),
          '! _$<>') || ' ' || IFNULL(E.ZADDRESSNORMALIZED, ''))
          EMAIL,
        GROUP_CONCAT(DISTINCT TRIM(IFNULL(P.ZLABEL, ''),
          '! _$<>') || ' ' || IFNULL(P.ZFULLNUMBER, ''))
          PHONE
      FROM
        ZABCDRECORD R
      LEFT JOIN
        ZABCDEMAILADDRESS E ON E.ZOWNER = R.Z_PK,
        ZABCDPHONENUMBER P ON P.ZOWNER = R.Z_PK
      WHERE
        NAME LIKE '%${search_term}%'
      GROUP BY
        R.Z_PK
      ORDER BY
        NAME;
EOF
    )"

  export sql_code
  find "${contacts_base_dir}" -regex '.*/AddressBook-[^/]*\.abcddb$' \
    -exec bash -c "/usr/bin/sqlite3 '{}' <<< \"\${sql_code}\"" \;
}

export -f contact

Save your changes in .bash_profile.
Open Terminal.app.
Open a new terminal window.

Usage

Run the command contact followed by your search term in the Terminal. For example:

$ contact "Bella Napoli"

Bella Napoli  created 2013-10-12  modified 2015-05-29              Home +49 931 51706

$ contact IKEA

IKEA Frankfurt  created 2013-10-12  modified 2013-10-12              Work 0180 5 353435

$ contact Neptun

Hotel Neptun  created 2013-10-12  modified 2013-10-12  Work concierge@hotel-neptun.de
Work +49 381 777-0,WorkFAX +49 381 54023

$ contact

<lists all your contacts>

Caveats

The search term only applies to first name, last name, and organization name.
The search term is case sensitive.
The search term cannot contain spaces or certain punctuation, unless it is enclosed in the proper single or double quotes.
To search by full name, use the correct order: <first_name> <last_name> <organization_name>
Search terms can also be substrings of names.
I do not endorse any of the companies and their products and services I gave in the example. I used those because I cannot disclose personal data for obvious reasons. Besides, I was too lazy to add bogus data to my own address book.
I’ve tested the script on El Capitan only but it should work on Yosemite, even when combined with Sierra-based address book data.
If you run into issues, feel free to leave a comment below.


Installing tmux but getting "dyld: Library not loaded Referenced from: /usr/" I try to do

brew install tmux

it installs, but, probably due to previous failed and not fully removed non-brew attempts to install both it and libevent, when try to use tmux I get

$ tmux
dyld: Library not loaded: /usr/local/lib/libevent-2.0.5.dylib
  Referenced from: /usr/local/bin/tmux
  Reason: image not found
Trace/BPT trap: 5

I tried to install libevent but I got:

$ brew install libevent
Warning: libevent-2.0.21 already installed, it's just not linked

so I tried

$ brew link libevent

but I got

Linking /usr/local/Cellar/libevent/2.0.21...
Warning: Could not link libevent. Unlinking...
Error: Could not symlink file: /usr/local/Cellar/libevent/2.0.21/include/event2/util.h
Target /usr/local/include/event2/util.h already exists. You may need to delete it.
To force the link and overwrite all other conflicting files, do:
  brew link --overwrite formula_name
To list all files that would be deleted:
  brew link --overwrite --dry-run formula_name

so I tried

$ brew link --overwrite libevent

but I got

Linking /usr/local/Cellar/libevent/2.0.21...
Warning: Could not link libevent. Unlinking...
Error: Permission denied - /usr/local/include/event2/util.h

so I tried

$ sudo brew link --overwrite libevent

Password:

but I got

Error: Cowardly refusing to `sudo brew link`
You can use brew with sudo, but only if the brew executable is owned by root.
However, this is both not recommended and completely unsupported so do so at
your own risk.

I'm stuck.

brew uninstall --force tmux
brew install tmux

fixed it for me.


How can I transfer iMessage/SMS messages from Mac to iPhone? I have a huge problem. I’ve restored my iPhone without first making a backup. I have all my iMessage/SMS conversations on my Mac (macOS Sierra).

Is there a way I can transfer those conversations to my iPhone?

Starting with iOS 11.4 and macOS 10.13.5 High Sierra, Messages in iCloud lets your messages sync across devices over iCloud.

On iOS, you enable this feature by toggling Messages under Settings → General → [Your Name] → iCloud.

On macOS, open the Messages app, then go to Messages → Preferences… → Accounts → iMessage and check Enable Messages in iCloud.

This feature will upload all the messages from each of your devices to iCloud, and merge them with messages uploaded from other devices.

From there, each device will only keep a cached copy of recent conversations, and download additional messages from iCloud whenever you try to view them. Once the merge/sync is complete, if you delete a message in one location, it will be deleted from all your devices.

Note that both iMessages and SMS/MMS are included as part of Messages in iCloud.

As a bonus, just like iCloud Photo Library, your messages will no longer be backed up as part of your daily iCloud Backup. This should save you storage in iCloud by no longer requiring duplicate backups of your messages for each of your iOS devices.


RAID 0 setup does not contain full disk space from slices I just setup a striped RAID 0 on my 2012 MacBook Pro with two SSDs.  One drive is 256 GB and the other is 500 GB, but my RAID disk is only 510 GB.  Disk2 is my RAID disk, with disk0 and disk1 being slices.

Does anyone know what's going on and how to fix this?

I erased all disks prior to setting this up.  See attached image from diskutil list output.

I used the OS X Yosemite Disk Utility to setup the RAID and now I am running El Capitan.

You can't fix this. The size of a RAID is always a multiple of the smallest volume used in the setup.

The chunk sizes (stripe sizes, interlace sizes) as well as the number of chunks have to be equal on all used volumes. Usually the chunk size is 64 kb. These requirements are determined by the size of the smallest disk and limit the size of the resulting RAID volume.


Confused about USB-C transfer speeds of latest MacBook Pros I was reading this
article about the next iteration to USB-C ports. It says that the new standard will double speeds from 5 Gbps to 10 Gbps.

It also says:

if you just bought a brand new computer with USB-C port,
like, for example, the 2016 MacBook Pro that I'm using to write this
article, you're pretty much screwed.

But according to Apple’s website their USB-C ports
support up to 40 Gbps data transfer speeds. So this is 4 x faster
than what the above article is saying about the new USB standard.

Can someone explain this to me? I am confused.

The USB-C ports on your MacBook support USB 3.1 (gen 2) AND Thunderbolt 3.

USB 3.1 gives you a transfer speed of 10 Gbit/s and Thunderbolt 3 is capable of up to 40 Gbit/s.

Note however that just because a device has an USB-C connector that doesn't imply that it supports USB 3.1 gen 2 and thus 10 Gbit/s. It can also be USB 3.1 gen 1, which is basically USB 3.0, which is 5 Gbit/s.


How can I stop iCloud downloading files to my Mac Ok, I am getting really annoyed with macOS now, so I asked this question

How can I clear pending iCloud Downloads?

and the answer worked! Great!

However after signing out of iCloud and signing back in this time with documents switched off and Optimise switched off, my Mac is still insisting on downloading my documents folder!

As you can see from the image both Desktop and documents is not selected, Optimise is unchecked and yet you can see it is still downloading 44GB of data I don't want on my mac! Thats why I bought the external storage plan!

Why? This is driving me crazy!!

have same problem.
The x button is not clickable

As you can see, those downloads generate a lot of traffic.
And if I (right) click on files or folders and choose "Remove Download" - it removes files locally (which is great!) with only one exception: it starts to download files again very next day.
Already tried to turn of icloud sync with my Mac and as soon I added it back - it started to download files. Yesterday it finished downloading and I removed local copies. Today the download started back.
I don't understand why it's so, I don't want to keep local copies. If I will need a file from icloud I will click "download now" and that's it.
OS: Big Sur 11.2.2


iOS 13 Request Mobile Site I’ve noticed on iOS 13, safari automatically sets the webpage to desktop site, and I don’t see anyplace to set it back to the mobile site. Does anyone have a solution to request mobile site?

If you open up the menu to the left in the address bar - I think you'll find what you are looking for.


ldap users cannot log in I have created an ldap server (hosted externally with a domain name) on a ubuntu 18.04 machine with openLDAP. I configured linux machines to allow my users to connect using ldap and it works as expected (the user can log-in on the machine, and it creates a new home directory).

However on mac, I can list my users in the Directory Utility :

And I can get my user information (with his group declared in ldap)

bash$ id -p hlarget
    uid hlarget
    groups  sysadmin everyone netaccounts com.apple.sharepoint.group.1

But when I try to login as the admin user to edit my directory, I have a 2100 error. And when I try to log using ssh hlarget@localhost, or even in session manager, I cannot :

    failed CRAM-MD5 authentication for authzid - 'dn:cn=hlarget+o=example+ou=users,ou=users,dc=example,dc=com' authcid - 'hlarget' error 49

I'm pretty sure it's an encryption error (I use ssha encryption for my UserPassword). How can i figure out what the problem is? And how to fix it?

I solved my problem using this script

for m in CRAM-MD5 DIGEST-MD5 LOGIN NTLM PLAIN; do
  /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "add ':module options:ldap:Denied SASL Methods:' string $m" /Library/Preferences/OpenDirectory/Configurations/LDAPv3/ldap.foo.fr.plist
done

I'm pretty sure it's not the best answer but still, it do the trick and now I can log in.


Keep app "always on top" in El Capitan Is there a way to keep in app always in front of other apps?

The tool referenced here - Afloat - doesn't work in El Capitan. Would love to keep iTerm2 always in the forefront but can't find a way to do this.

You could try to achieve this functionality with an application like "Afloat" as you mentioned already. But it seems to only work in El Capitan if you permanently turn off System Integrity Protection (SIP) which isn't recommended.

However, here is the link to the program: https://github.com/millenomi/afloat

How to turn off SIP: https://github.com/millenomi/afloat/issues/22


Catalina 10.15.6 automatically connecting to NFSv3 shares on Ubuntu 20.04 machine With this command from terminal I can succesfully connect to NFS share, but how to automate this?
sudo mount -t nfs -o nfsvers=3,proto=tcp,resvport 192.168.x.x:/nfsshare /Users/xxx/nfsshare

Until now, I was able to connect to NFSv4 shares from Finder's Connect To Server option and then to drag that volume to Login Items in User section of System Preferences, but I had to downgrade Ubuntu's NFS support to v3, because v4 causes freezing of the whole NFS server machine. The same technique for automatic launch of shares is not working with NFSv3.
Already tried this: https://lowhangingfruit.dev/2019-10-21/automount-nfs-on-macos/, no luck.
Anyone can help me? Thanks!

https://lowhangingfruit.dev/2019-10-21/automount-nfs-on-macos/ is working:
I just had to remove some parameters from command and it worked out, I only left -fstype=nfs,nfsvers=3, and that's it.


How to deactivate the ZTE Connect Manager for Mac? The Connect Manager for Mac that comes with the ZTE LTE modem model MF821 keeps running even when the modem is not in use, after doing Force Quit in Activity Manager, after kill -9 in Terminal, and across restarts. The program is poorly written, as it periodically causes CPU load spikes, during some of which the computer restarts itself. How can I deactivate Connect Manager?

It turns out that the program is managed by launchd. Further, it is configured to keep itself running at all times. Thus, you must remove it from the launchd configuration. Open Terminal and run the following command:

$ launchctl remove cn.com.zte.zConnectManager.plist

This will keep the program from reactivating itself. Note the behavior in the following conditions:

After plugging in the modem, the program no longer automatically connects. You must open it (search on "4G LTE"). I have to open it twice for some reason.
When you close the program, it secretly remains running. You must open Activity Monitor, search on 'Connect Manager', and then select it and select the Quit button (octagon with an 'X'), then select 'Quit'. After this, it will not reactivate until you restart it.
When you unplug the modem the program will close its window and you must deactivate it in the same way as above.

==UPDATE==

I've found that I must periodically run the following:

$ launchctl remove cn.com.zte.zLogging.plist
$ launchctl remove cn.com.zte.zConnectManager.plist
$ launchctl remove cn.com.zte.usbswapper.plist

Run the following to see what cn.com.zte stuff is in launchctl:

$ launchctl list | grep cn.com.zte

If the command returns nothing, then you should be okay, though the ZTE programs may figure out a way to reinsert themselves into launchctl. Given the difficulty of removing the software and it's tenacity in remaining installed during attempts to remove it, I consider that it may be malware.


Stuck on Apple Logo while trying to install Snow Leopard on MacBook Pro I purchased a used MBP (without a hard drive). See model details/specs below. I am trying to install Mac OS X Snow Leopard (Version 10.6.3). I have successfully done this using the same process on two older MacBooks (A1151, A1181).

I searched the Ask Different postings and did not find what I was looking for. Many similar ones exist. But most folks with this issue have the original, still working HD to work with. Not me.

I also confirmed that my MBP is compatible with Snow Leopard. Compatibility list on Everymac.com

Here’s mine.

Apple MacBook Pro "Core i5" 2.4 15" Mid-2010 Specs
Identifiers: Mid-2010 15" - MC371LL/A - MacBookPro6,2 - A1286 - 2353*
Model: A1286

Specs listed on everymac

I purchased a retail copy of Snow Leopard. I have it on DVD and I have imaged it to a USB stick with Disk Utility to make for easier installations. Then I installed a hard drive into the MBP, held down the Option/Alt key to boot from the USB drive. It then, as expected, shows me the only option which is to boot the Mac OS X Install DVD. As soon as I hit Enter, the screen changes to the Apple logo screen (with nothing else, no progress meter, no spinner). And there it stays.

I’ve left it untouched overnight. I’ve tried using the DVD instead of USB. I’ve reset the NVRAM/PRAM more times than I can count. I’ve tried using different hard drives. Different Memory. Swapped the sticks. Used only one slot. I tried installing Leopard (10.5 via CPU Drop-in DVD). Nothing seems to let it get past this screen. I don’t want to give up on it since it’s such a lovely machine.

Here’s a small google photos album for reference.

I’ve used the same technique to successfully install Snow Leopard on two older MacBooks (mentioned above). I’ve also booted Ubuntu Linux on USB successfully. So I know the machine is functional.

Any ideas? What else can I try?

Your screenshots show you are not connected to a network. Perhaps if you connect to WiFi or an Ethernet dongle Internet Recovery would kick in.

Also if you can connect to another Mac with a cable you could clone that Mac’s OS over to your drive. You could also remove the drive and use a dock to clone from a working machine.
After you clone you could potentially be able to erase the disk and reinstall the OS using the recovery utility.


MBP 13' (mid-2010; 7,1) 2.4 Core 2 Duo P8600 supporting 16 GB RAM under Win7? I’ve got a MBP 13′ (mid-2010) 2.4 Core 2 Duo (full specs below) that I’m now operating solely under Win7 64Bit. It formerly run as well under OS X 10.6.8, relatively to which the firmware seems up to date (MBP71.0039.B0B).

Would my system recognize 16 GB RAM if operated under Win7 64 Bit? Or would it require the latest firmware (MBP71.0039.B0E) of OS-X 10.7.5 (which was never installed on my MBP) anyway?

As far as I have read elsewhere, using 16 GB RAM under OS X seems to definitely require this later version of OS X (including the respective firmware update); so I'd like to know whether this is an issue of OS X or (as I suspect) the firmware.

Modellname: MacBook Pro
Modell-Identifizierung: MacBookPro7,1
Prozessortyp: Intel Core 2 Duo
Prozessorgeschwindigkeit: 2,4 GHz
Anzahl der Prozessoren: 1
Gesamtzahl der Kerne: 2
L2-Cache: 3 MB
Speicher: 4 GB
Busgeschwindigkeit: 1,07 GHz
Boot-ROM-Version: MBP71.0039.B0B
SMC-Version (System): 1.62f6

According to Apple your MacBook Pro only supports 8 GB RAM, however Mactracker says it will support 16 GB.

Also at MacSales.com have a look at Upgrades for MacBook and MacBook Pro 'Unibody' Models 2008 – 2010 and 16.0GB OWC Memory Upgrade Kit show your model MBP supporting 16 GB RAM. Or at Crucial, see: Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2010) compatible upgrades


iMac 2017 5k host, iMac 2017 21 target display mode I am using my iMac 2017 5k as my main machine and want to use my 21 inch 2017 iMac in target display mode.

When I try Command + F2 I hear a beep and nothing happens. I have also tried doing it at the login screen and also tried fn + Command + F2 but nothing worked. What am I doing wrong? Is this possible?

Neither of your Macs support target display mode. Below are the Macs that do.

iMac (27-inch, Late 2009)
iMac (27-inch, Mid 2010)
iMac (Mid 2011-Mid 2014)

For more information see Use your iMac as a display with Target Display Mode.


What's the best way to extract audio from a video file? I am a huge fan of HandBrake. It is the epitome of simple. Select a video file (or DVD), select a preset, select an output path, click Start. A certain amount of time later relative to the size/quality of the content, and you have yourself a pretty much perfect video file suitable for the medium of your choice.

I've been looking for similar qualities in an Audio Converter, and more preferably, an Audio Extractor (from a given video file). I would love to be able to drag a video file into an application, specify that I want the Audio File in AAC at a given bitrate, click Start, and let the app do the rest.

I am not averse to using Handbrake to suffice the conversion aspect of this, so long as the audio extraction after the fact is a simple process. The point is to take as few steps as possible.

Any tips? Apps? Ideas?

I finally found the exact combination I needed, and I found it in ffmpeg.

I will expand on the question a bit and spell out the fact that I was already working with mp4 contained video/audio, so MP4 Video (.m4v) and AAC Audio (.m4a). I absolutely wanted an as-is version of the audio extracted from the video.

First off, it's pretty easy to install things like ffmpeg, mplayer, things built off them, and similar open source packages nowadays. Between Rudix, Homebrew, MacPorts, and Fink (does anyone even use fink anymore?), third party software is a snap to install.

So, after installing ffmpeg, and having the ffmpeg accessible at the command line, I ran a command like this:

ffmpeg -i videofile.mp4 -vn -acodec copy audiotrack.m4a

ffmpeg: The command.

-i videofile.mp4: The source video file.

-vn: Do not record (do not consider) video data.

-acodec copy: Copy the audio source as-is, here's where all the magic is. ffmpeg will write the audio data out as various supported codecs, but specifying copy leads a bit-for-bit exact copy of the stream. Coupled with disabling video via -vn leaves you with a lone audio track inside an mp4 container.

audiotrack.m4a: The output filename.

I can't believe something like this was so difficult and hidden for so long.

Since I always intend to rip aac audio data out of an mp4 container/video, I wrote a quick little script to do it.

#!/bin/bash

INFILE="$1"
TMPOUTFILE="${INFILE%.*}"
OUTFILE="${TMPOUTFILE##*/}.m4a"

ffmpeg -i "${INFILE}" -vn -acodec copy "${OUTFILE}"

Now, I simply invoke rip_m4a_from_mp4 somevideofile.mp4 and I am left with an audio only version with the same filename, ending in m4a instead.

Simple! For me anyways. No GUIs, lightning fast, this is just one of those things that the command line does better.


Speedest Installation macOS Sierra from Thunderbolt, MacBook Air My MacBook Air comes originally with El Capitan.

I call to Apple Support because I want install a clean macOS Sierra, and they told me Hold Command+R,  delete the Hard Disk, and next Select Reinstall.

By default the connection was Wifi. The problem, this connection is very slowly, I haven't option to select my thunderbold LAN connection, instead of Wifi.

The Wifi for me its vey problematic, and I need to reboot. Then appears world globe... After I delete my HD again, but Appears El Capitan.

The problem this methods needs 10 hours over a problematic wifi.

I think that I need to install El Capitan later upgrade to Sierra Later again repeat the procedure (delete HD & Format) to perform a Clean installation of macOS Sierra.

Is there a Quickly method?

Is recommended Alt over Command+R?

How can I to select Thunderbolt LAN connection by default to install macOS?

Note: I haven't runnable macOS now in My MacBook!

NOTE: I have a macOS Sierra installer on USB External Hard Disk (Original & Modified), but I don't know how install directly from USB.

You can do a clean install easily:

Attach the USB installer
Reboot holding the Option key
Hold on until you see the "install Mac OS Sierra" volume
Choose "Disk utility" in the Mac OS utilities screen
Select you HD and erase it
Format it in hfs+, usually with the name "Macintosh HD"
And finally choose "Install Mac OS"

You may want to backup your data first.


Home button broken and Notification Center stuck my home button on my ipod touch 5th Gen has been broken for  while so I have been using assistive touch. Earlier on my notification centre got stuck half way down the lock screen, making my ipod completely unusable.

I tried turning it off but the notification centre is blocking the slider and obviously I can't restart it since my home button is broken. Has anyone got any solutions? It's an absolute nightmare!

Press and hold the sleep-wake button to shut down the iPhone.

When you restart it, the notification center should be freed, but you will clearly have issues using the device if you lose control over the assistive touch, so be sure to set up backups the first chance you can.


Combine multiple PDFs into multiple PDFs I'm trying to take a set of PDFs (that I'll have already separated into one page files) that I want to combine into multiple PDFs. As a teacher, I want to be able to scan a stack of tests into one big PDF file, split that into single pages (I already have the Automator service for that), and then combine the results into a separate file for each student. So if I had 10 students and a 4 page test, I'd want to be able to combine those 40 files into 10 separate PDFs, ideally labeled by student name (if there was a way for me to input that list of names into Automator). Worst case scenario, I just run a combinePDF service for each individual student, but I didn't know if there was a way I could do that all in one fell swoop?

Thanks for your help!

I'd use the third-party command line tool, cpdf, and script the process of creating the separate PDF documents for each student.

Have a look at: Coherent PDF Command Line Tools Community Release

Download pre-built cpdf tool (This is a direct download link. Building from source is available from link on main page linked above.)
A comprehensive user manual for the PDF tools can be found as a PDF document, or browsable online.
Note: the Community Release version of Coherent PDF Command Line Tools is free.

There is no need to first extract the the scanned PDF document into individual files to then combine them as the following example shell script code extracts the pages from the scanned PDF document four pages at a time while naming each new PDF document for each student:

#!/bin/bash

    # Replace e.g. "Student 01", etc. with the students name
    # in the order required as scanned in the PDF document.

my_students=("Student 01" "Student 02" "Student 03" "Student 04" "Student 05" "Student 06" "Student 07" "Student 08" "Student 09" "Student 10")

    # Replace "/path/to/scanned.pdf" with the
    # actual pathname of the scanned document.

scanned_document="/path/to/scanned.pdf"

    # NOTE: If cpdf is not in your PATH, then use its fully
    #       qualified pathname, e.g: /use/local/bin/cpdf

x=1
y=4
for this_student in "${my_students[@]}"; do
    cpdf "${scanned_document}" $x-$y -o "${this_student}.pdf"
    x=$(( x + 4 ))
    y=$(( y + 4 ))
done

To use this shell script in Terminal, first run the following compound command:

f="processpdf"; touch "$f"; open -e "$f"; chmod u+x "$f"

Then in the document that opens, TextEdit by default, copy and paste the example shell script code into it, make the appropriate edits, and then save it.

It can now be used in Terminal using e.g. ./processpdf or /path/to/processpdf or if placed in a location that's within the PATH, then simply, e.g.: processpdf

Note: As coded the new  PDF documents are created in the PWD in Terminal. You can add e.g. /path/to/ to "${this_student}.pdf", e.g., "/path/to/${this_student}.pdf" if you want.

If you need/want to apply this to a Run Shell Script action in Automator, instead of regular shell script usage, let me know an I can update the answer.

In either case, if you want to pass the script a file with the names of the students, instead of using an array, as presently coded, that is doable too.

Note: The example shell script code is just that and does not contain any error handling as may be appropriate. The onus is upon the user to add any error handling as may be appropriate, needed or wanted. As an example, as presently coded, the  new PDF documents will overwrite existing documents of the same name  without warning.


Use Automator for saving file on NAS, what happen if NAS is not accessible? I'm still new with OS X and have learned how to use Automator for zipping a folder in one file, named with date, on my Hard Disk. I saved the set of actions as an app. I'm planning to use Calendar to run it daily at 1pm. This should work fine.

I'm using the French language for Automator (trying to translate the called Actions) :
1. Get elements/items in Finder (I fill in the folder I want to backup)
2. Create an archive (I fill in the target and the name I want for the archive) – screenshot

If I want to save the zip archive on my NAS, (ReadyNAS 312) rather than on my Hard Disk, what will happen at 1PM when the NAS is not working (powered off, no network connectivity, etc.)?

In my tiny Automator script, do I have to "test" if the NAS is connected before running the archiving action? If so, what is the right (and easy) way with Automator?

It's normally a good idea to check for the existence of an external disk before using it. In this case, however, automator won't display an error if the disk is not found, it just won't do anything. I'd say it's safe in this instance.


IPhone 5 power button not responsive Recently the power button on my iPhone 5 has become hard to press, and slow to come back up after being pressed.

Update :
As I was typing this I was repeatedly pressing the power button. It eventually returned to its normal position. I am adding this question anyway because I want to know if anyone else has experienced this issue and if so did they had to take their phone into Apple for repair (or talked to a Apple rep that recommended they take it in). (i.e is it a symptom of a bigger problem>)

Update  :
It appears to continue to stick at times. I'm going to bring it in next chance I get. Thanks. Note: It's fairly cold here some days (10'F) I'll have to check that next time it happens (probably not).

Honestly, this sounds like a hardware problem. It wouldn't be software causing that. Chances are it's simply a bad switch. Hopefully you have AppleCare. If so, wait until it gets bad then take it in. They probably would just replace it. Otherwise - purchase AppleCare if you're still within the time. ;-)

I suppose there is also the possibility something like that could come from something somehow getting in the switch, or damage from a drop. Likely not the case for you, but I think it could happen.

Again, in conclusion, it's probably a bad switch.


After heavy use, my big iPad has charged very slowly. What can I do besides the Genius Bar? Is there a different wall charger I should use? During an inpatient stay, I had my 12.9” iPad Pro(Model A1652 EMC 2827), which I tried to use much of the time I was awake. The battery was depleted most of the time: I had it plugged into a wall charger, and power was never really more than 5-10%. It lost power frequently. I took it to the Apple Store and was offered immediate replacement.

Now my laptop is in the shop, so I have been working from my iPad, and its apparent charging behavior is similar or worse. Besides that the charge has usually gotten down to 10% and stayed there during the day, an overnight charge while powered off from a wall socket only gets it to around 25%. I get the impression, possibly a false impression, that you ride it too hard and it becomes permanently sapped.

I have read in other posts that iPads need more current than an iPhone, so possibly a different charger would help. Beyond that, what can I do beyond replacing it with an un-sapped model so it will charge from either U.S. or continental Europe power?

Thanks,

iPads do need more current than iPhones, they have bigger batteries, and bigger screens. They consume more power because of this. If you aren't using a charger (block) of the same or higher capacity than the one included with your iPad. Considering this is a Pro model we're talking about, it'll probably have to be a higher voltage charger than a regular iPad charging brick. If you ARE using the charger included with your iPad Pro, consider getting it replaced. It may have given out from a power surge, or just worn out from constant use.

Temporarily, however, you can power off your iPad while charging. I've had a similar problem to this with my Samsung Tab A 7.0, and powering it off allows it to charge. It will probably still charge slow, but it won't lose battery life, and will charge significantly faster than with it powered on.