Apple Watch pairing keeps failing I just see this screen below. I've tried to begin pairing multiple times and I get past the scanning screen and sometimes past the T&Cs but no further. The watch hasn't been paired before.

After power cycling the watch it offered to reset to factory settings. Then it failed once more before working the next time.

Also the first time it failed might have been because I was interrupted by a phone call.


How to stream from iTunes(on iMac) to iphone/ipad on same network, at the same time? I can use the Remote app to control what is currently playing on the iMac, but is there a way to stream the audio so that it is playing out through the iMac AND the ipad/phone in parallel?

Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil can stream to multiple computers and iOS devices (using a free iOS app). It can stream from iTunes, or from many other applications.


Change file icon OS X I tried following Apple's instruction to change a file icon, but it didn't work they way I expected.

Details

File type:  "web internet location" or Inbox.webloc

So this it what I've tried so far.

^ Right click Get Info

Copied the icon file

And... pasted

Result

Not what I expected... Am I missing something? How do I change this file icon without using apple script?

Follow these steps:

Get into on your icon file (open it for example with Preview).
Select the icon with Command + A.
Copy the selected icon with Command + C.
Paste it over onto the webloc file (as you're doing) with Command + V.

Basically, don't paste the file onto the icon, copy the icon of the icon.


How do I import my iPhone Mail imap account settings to my Macbook Mail client? How do I import my iPhone Mail IMAP account settings to my Macbook Mail client? Do I have to enter them manually?

You can't do this. You will have to enter the IMAP details by hand.


I removed Macintosh HD from backup disk how do I set it back? I used 2 backup disks , Macintosh HD and Seagate . My macintosh was unable to perform a backup due to lack of space while my Seagate is unable to perform a backup until the first backup is complete. And I happened to remove Macintosh HD from the back up disk and I couldn't set it back because the name Macintosh HD is no longer under the "Available Disk" besides Seagate

How do I retrieve it back?

Okay, now that we have clarified what the issue is, here's how to solve your problem.

Open System Preferences
Select "Time Machine"
Click "Options"
Macintosh HD will probably be listed under "Exclude these items from backups:". Click it and click the "-" button below the box and then click "Save"
Make sure that Time Machine shows the correct disk in the window (in your case, it should say "Seagate-3E59C4 TM Backup - Seagate-3E59C4". It is important to note that "Macintosh HD" will not show up here as it is displaying the disk to be backed up to, not the disk that is being backed up. "Macintosh HD" should never show up when you click "Select Disk..."
If you are running a MacBook, plug the MacBook in to power
In the menu bar, click the Time Machine icon and select "Back Up Now"

Time Machine should now start backing up to your Seagate drive. If you are still having trouble with Time Machine looking for the disk, then do the following:

Click "Select Disk..." in the Time Machine preferences
Select "Seagate-3E59C4 TM Backup" under "Backup Disks"
Click the "Remove Disk" button. The dialog will prompt you for confirmation and close
Click the "Select Backup Disk..." button
Select "Seagate-3E59C4 TM Backup" again and click "Use Disk"
If your Seagate is password protected, it will ask you for the password


Is it safe to install a deprecated Java version? I have an old version of Photoshop that requires an outdated Java runtime.

"More info" takes me to this Apple support page where you can download the older JRE.

Seems reasonable enough, but I am slightly concerned.

My question:

Could installing this deprecated, unsupported JRE make my system more vulnerable to malware?

Additional details:

I'm running macOS 10.13.6 (17G65) High Sierra.
As far as I'm aware, I'm only using Java to (prospectively) run Photoshop.
I never install Java extensions for browsers, so this question only has to do with desktop applications.
Under "Security & Privacy" I've selected "Only allow apps from the App Store and identified developers".

I don’t consider java a safe tool to install period. Unless you have a very compelling reason, or some specific threat model, don’t install java if you want security in your Mac.  It’s worse to install older versions that don’t get current security patches in general.

I’d look at something like Pixelmator or Acorn or even a newer Photoshop since your photoshop won’t get security patches anymore either.

https://www.engadget.com/2013/05/14/pixelmator-and-acorn-economic-practical-image-editors/

Your mitigation steps in additional details are all solid and well reasoned and each reduces your risk to security. so I can’t say the risk wouldn’t be worth it to you once you evaluate the alternatives I’ve mentioned.

I can say, I’d choose to not use photoshop CS 5.1 and java in my case.


OSX Yosemite uses over 500mb daily, without me using it. And only the total data received shown in Activity Monitor - no detail in specific process Almost every day, about 560mb of data is received and I'm not downloading anything. When I check in the Activity Monitor, it shows the 560mb usage, but in the list of processes, there is hardly any usage at all. If I sort by Rcvd Bytes, the most used by any given process is something like 2.7mb, and the total amount is less than 5mb (if looking at the details for the processes in the list)... I cannot find what process is using the data! Highly frustrating seeing that data is massively expensive in this country (South Africa) and I am using a wifi router with my 3G contract, and within a couple days, I've exceeded the limit.
I have seen a similar post and there was a process called nsurlsessiond which was addressed. In my case, this process name does not appear at all. I've followed the advice that was given in that post otherwise [like for Spotlight - Prefs > Spotlight > Search Results & switch off Spotlight Suggestions & Bing Web Searches], but nothing has changed.
How can I find out what is downloading the data and how to stop it?

Please help.

I don't think that the total displayed in Activity Monitor is the total you think it is. I think it is maybe just the last online action a process had. I noticed that while watching softwareupdate download data.

Just to be sure:
Is automatic software update disabled? See System Preferences, AppStore. Also, do you have anything set to sync itself? iCloud (Photos and Co.?), AppStore, iTunes, stuff like that?
For example, iTunes has its own "update settings" (see Preferences, last tab).

You can check in AppStore's "Updates" tab to see the recently installed updates.

Do you have control over the router? Maybe it has logs with timestamps so you could see if any other device used it or what else happened!
Because you said that the Internet is expensive, it could be that someone else is using it.

I assume you have the WiFi secured and it is not public? Use the strongest encryption your router offers and I would change the password, just to be sure.

May be it's the software that comes with the wifi router / 3G - have you installed anything for that?

Is this happening since beginning or started it later?

Also, you could ask your provider for logs or more information about this traffic.

Good Luck!


iTunes playing album tracks in wrong order When playing a specific album, iTunes plays the third track ninth. When checking 'Get info' the track is clearly designated as track 3 of 10. Nothing I do moves it to the correct position in the album order. How can I fix this?

iTunes version 12.5.3 lists this as a potential problem in iTunes that has been fixed.

  Fixes an issue where albums may play in an unexpected order

https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1814


To create a new apple ID on another iPhone Now my wife is holding iPhone 5S. She can't remember even though she created Apple ID and I cloud mail. She asked me, please create an Apple ID for her on my iPhone. Because I am working on abroad. Let me know how to create an Apple ID on another iPhone.

You can create a new Apple Id on My Apple Id website. Just click on Create a New Apple Id and follow the instructions.

In that website you can also Reset your password, that maybe it's a better option.


What Are The Best iPhone apps to keep a toddler amused in an 'emergency'? Preferably free - kids shows / films from iTunes are an obvious one.


Chrome Exposé in OS X Lion not working In Snow Leopard, Chrome had a feature that is like Exposé, but for the tabs.

The gesture to trigger it was a 3 finger swipe down.

And in Lion it just stopped to work.

Does anyone knows how to enable it in Lion?

Go to URL chrome:flags.
Enable Tab Overview.
Restart Google Chrome.

Please note that this is an experimental feature.


Can I change the iTunes library name with AppleScript? I manage my iTunes library on my iMac, but I got a headless Mac mini for streaming purposes to which I regularly synchronise the iTunes library via a shell script (run on the mini):

osascript  -e "try" -e 'tell app "Finder" to mount volume "smb://imacuser@iMac.local/imacuser"' -e "end try"
osascript -e 'tell app "iTunes" to quit'
rsync -av --force --delete --size-only /Volumes/imacuser/Music/iTunes/ /Users/miniuser/Music/iTunes/
osascript -e 'tell app "iTunes" to run'
osascript -e 'display notification "Done." with title "Synchronising"'

This works well, but afterwards both libraries can be found under the same name when using "Remote", for example. So the last thing I have to do on the mini is to go to iTunes preferences and change the library name.

Can I automate this last step somehow via AppleScript?

Yes, I can. I can automate the mouse keyboard actions necessary by scripting System Events. Since the AppleScript part of my shell script got bigger and bigger I converted into an AppleScript and called the shell from there:

-- iTunes has to be closed
tell application "iTunes"
    activate
    quit
end tell

tell application "Finder" to mount volume "smb://imacuser@iMac.local/imacuser"

set results to do shell script "rsync -av --force --delete --size-only /Volumes/imacuser/Music/iTunes/ /Users/miniuser/Music/iTunes/"
-- display dialog results -- uncomment this if you want to have a look

-- Now here comes the renaming part
tell application "iTunes" to activate
tell application "System Events"
    tell process "iTunes"
        -- Open "Preferences..."
        click menu item 3 of menu 1 of menu bar item 2 of menu bar 1
        -- Click "General"
        click button 1 of toolbar 1 of window 1
        -- Rename Library
        delay 2
        set value of text field 1 of group 1 of window 1 to "Mac mini Lib"
        delay 2
        -- Click "OK"
        click button 1 of window 1
    end tell
end tell


Is brew using MySQL or MariaDB A few months ago I installed either MySQL or MariaDB via Homebrew. But I don't remember exactly which one. Now I am trying to figure it out, because MariaDB supports features that MySQL does not, such as CHECK CONSTRAINTS:

CONSTRAINT random_assignment_check CHECK (LENGTH(random_assignment_id) = 5)

When I enter

SHOW CREATE TABLE employees\G;

It does not show the CHECK CONSTRAINT I created during the CREATE TABLE statement. This makes me believe I am using MySQL. Plus when I do this:

$ mysql -h localhost -u root -p
Enter password:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 2
Server version: 5.7.24 Homebrew

Copyright (c) 2000, 2018, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective
owners.

This increases my suspicions even more that I am using MySQL. It clearly states 'Welcome to MySQL Monitor' and 'Copyright Oracle'.

I output info for both of them:

$ brew info mysql
mysql: stable 8.0.13 (bottled)
Open source relational database management system
https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/
Conflicts with:
  mariadb (because mysql, mariadb, and percona install the same binaries.)
  mariadb-connector-c (because both install plugins)
  mysql-cluster (because mysql, mariadb, and percona install the same binaries.)
  mysql-connector-c (because both install MySQL client libraries)
  percona-server (because mysql, mariadb, and percona install the same binaries.)
Not installed
From: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/master/Formula/mysql.rb

MariaDB output:

$ brew info mariadb
mariadb: stable 10.3.12 (bottled)
Drop-in replacement for MySQL
https://mariadb.org/
Conflicts with:
  mariadb-connector-c (because both install plugins)
  mysql (because mariadb, mysql, and percona install the same binaries.)
  mysql-cluster (because mariadb, mysql, and percona install the same binaries.)
  mysql-connector-c (because both install MySQL client libraries)
  mytop (because both install `mytop` binaries)
  percona-server (because mariadb, mysql, and percona install the same binaries.)
Not installed
From: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/master/Formula/mariadb.rb

Notice for MariaDB it says installed version is 10.3.12. CHECK CONSTRAINTS were added in version 10.1, so I should have access to this feature. However, I think I am using MySQL and not MariaDB. How can I remedy this issue so I can use MariaDB and its features supported in 10.1?

You can identify what you've installed with homebrew with the list option:
$ brew list

To identify which you have, if the above doesn't help you can check the mysql binary version:
$ mysql --version
mysql  Ver 15.1 Distrib 10.3.12-MariaDB, for osx10.14 (x86_64) using readline 5.1

And after logging into the database, you can see what output you get:
$ mysql
Welcome to the MariaDB monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MariaDB connection id is 9
Server version: 10.3.12-MariaDB Homebrew

And - you can check which it's using as follows:
SHOW VARIABLES LIKE "%version%";

Then version and  version_comment. Should be something like:

| version                 | 10.1.29-MariaDB            |
| version_comment         | MariaDB Server             |

The database consists of both the server that's running, and the client.
You can force the client you want my using the full path - something like:
/usr/local/Cellar/mariadb/10.3.12/bin/mysql

You can check the server you're running with a ps:
$ ps -ef | grep mysqld
  501 95347     1   0 12:07PM ??         0:00.02 /bin/sh /usr/local/Cellar/mariadb/10.3.12/bin/mysqld_safe --datadir=/usr/local/var/mysql --pid-file=/usr/local/var/mysql/server.pid
  501 95411 95347   0 12:07PM ??         0:00.40 /usr/local/Cellar/mariadb/10.3.12/bin/mysqld --basedir=/usr/local/Cellar/mariadb/10.3.12 --datadir=/usr/local/var/mysql --plugin-dir=/usr/local/Cellar/mariadb/10.3.12/lib/plugin --log-error=/usr/local/var/mysql/server.err --pid-file=/usr/local/var/mysql/server.pid

Here you can see the start script is running (first line), and has called the actual server binary (second line). Both are running the mariadb instance.
The two packages will conflict with each other and shouldn't be installed at the same time. The conflict is called out in the brew recipe.


My MacBook Pro 15.4" (A1286 - Late 2008) trackpad is missing clicks and generally not working I notice it when I'm highlighting text as well. Halfway through the a selection it will unselect. It only seems to click right at the very bottom now.

Do I need to replace or clean it?

The battery might be swelling and pushing up against the bottom of the trackpad. If this is the case, as soon as you remove the battery it will work as expected (assuming no permanent damage has been done).

Replace Immediately! Swollen batteries can be dangerous.


How do I disable macOS Mail.app and use only Thunderbird for handling email The Mail.app on my Mac automatically launches upon login. I have exhaustively tried to stop it from launching without success.

I held the mouse on the Mail.app icon in the Dock, right clicked and made sure open on login is not ticked.

But every time I start my computer Mail.app starts automatically. I regard my privacy highly I do not want Mail.app to do this.

How can i stop this from happening or how can I disable Mail.app altogether.

You can simply disable Mail.app auto launching at startup and do not need to remove the email account from Mail.app. But if you wish to change your email client, read along.

There are two parts to answering your query:

Removing your email account from Mail.app.
Stopping Mail.app from automatically launching when logging into macOS.

You wish to use Mozilla Thunderbird as the choice of your email client. That's perfectly okay. You can use just Thunderbird, macOS Mail.app or both simultaneously to handle your mail (slightly depending on email protocol)

Here the answer for your question one-by-one:

If you do not wish to use email account(s) with Mail.app, simply remove/disable the account(s) from Mail.app. With the Mail.app open, go to Preferences → Accounts in the Menu Bar and disable/remove the added account(s).

Note: If your Mac is part of a company/enterprise and a system administrator has set it up for you, it is advisable to seek his assistance to remove the account and reconfigure the email with Thunderbird. Certain email protocol (POP3) may lead to data loss. Especially important if you are not familiar with what protocol your email client is configured.

Stop Mail.app from automatically launching. Go to System Preferences → Users & Groups → and select your user account in the left sidebar. Click on the Login Items tab, select Mail app in the list and hit the minus button shown in the bottom.

You may still choose to leave Mail app in the list and check the box ahead of it to let and launch on startup but keep it hidden from view.


How do I fix small gap at top and on the left of iMac display? I have an iMac mid-2010 (11,3) that is showing a small gap at the top and left side of the screen in the built-in display. It is almost like the screen position is off, or the display is not being fully stretched. There used to be a way in System Preferences to change the screen position in older OSX versions, but that's since gone.

I did just replace RAM, could that cause this? And is there a way to fix it?

I have the same model with replaced RAM as well. You can try this. Open system preferences and click on display/Scaled. Now set the display to a couple of different resolution values and then return to your desired value. If offset is still apparent, try a different resolution.


Have a file from windows to be uploaded to a space and using MacOS download this file having "garbled file name" This is maybe as similar to the urldecode. I guess the file name is from a Simplified Windows System to be uploaded to a file space.

  "×ÔÓÃ²Î¿¼_config_Ó³Éä¼ü_¿ì½Ý¼ü"

Then, I download this file via MacOS(English Interface). The file name is garbled.

I tried some urldecoder. It is not workable.

I make a question in here. Thanks.

I find out a way to resolve it after your kind comments so that I have a clue to find about "Windows ASCII"...bla...bla.

I get a post real similar to mine. I follow its answer to get the useful hints via google to get a online tool.

What I refer this article to get the hints.
How to encode and decode Broken Chinese/Unicode characters?

The useful tool to converter online to make the garbled word to be readable.
Online Character Set Fixer

This article mentions the uploaded file while I download it which is converted to UTF-8. Originally, it is "Windows-1252 encoded". So, I find a useful tool to make it.

The answer is here.

  "×ÔÓÃ²Î¿¼_config_Ó³Éä¼ü_¿ì½Ý¼ü" => "自用参考_config_映射键_快捷键"

Thanks all of you.

Best regards,


unable to copy to /usr/lib I am trying to copy a file to /usr/lib, but permissions are denied. SIP is disabled. When trying to copy via terminal, getting "Read-only file system".

This is correct behavior. You should not under any shipping OS be able to paste to that directory.
Much better to use a script or PATH or environment variables to extend your library in /usr/local/lib or other locations intended for customization. The OS manages the /usr/lib/ directory so your files will get stomped the next time an OS update happens or cause other breakage.


What's the fish shell equivalent to `set -o vi` to get vi/vim key bindings to access command history and edit? I'm one of the "cursed ones" that got their start in vi instead of emacs so the shell editing commands I am used to are set in bash with set -o vi but this doesn't work in the fish shell.

How can I enable vi / vim style key commands in the friendly interactive shell that runs when you install fish from https://brew.sh?

There is a command in fish to enable this one time and that command is:

fish_vi_key_bindings

To set this at every start up for all instances of the shell, create a startup file if it doesn't exist (or touch the date in case it exists) and then add that command to the startup file.

mkdir -p ~/.config/fish
touch ~/.config/fish/config.fish
echo fish_vi_key_bindings >> ~/.config/fish/config.fish

This is well documented on Stack Overflow as well, but I figured a clear answer here would help some people find the setup sooner. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28444740/how-to-use-vi-mode-in-fish-shell


What different Stack Exchange apps are available for the iPad? I am looking for iOS apps for the Stack Exchange network that support the iPad. This is very similar to this question, but the difference is that I'm looking for apps that run on the iPad (not in 2x mode). What different apps exist for browsing the Stack Exchange network on the iPad?

I have used 2 for iPhone, and have eventually gone back to the Mobile View as it was considerably better than either:

Six-to-Eight: Free. Worked OK, but you can't actually log in, you can merely track yourself as a user without being able to actually do anything

StackMate: $.99. Looked great, but soon worked out that by Stack Exchange it actually meant just SO, and not the SE network - wasted dollar.

As for iPad, there are only 2 available that work on iPad:

Answers for Stack Exchange
FullStack

And they both suck (imho).

For a start, FullStack only supports the Trilogy sites and Ask Ubuntu, so not the whole network.  And while "Answers for" covers all sites, it shares a further letdown with Fullstack in that neither of them allow you to actually log in and do anything other than browse.  This (as per the comments) may be because the API calls do not allow posting, but there is no reason why an App developer cannot use the APIs where they are available, and also put in a normal HTML webview of the actual site to finish of the missing parts - using the API does not limit you to only using the API if you are writing an app.

The mobile web view is far superior in every respect unless you are looking for non interactive bedtime reading.  One noted problem with the mobile view is that Chat does not seem to recognise the fact that you are logged in, meaning that while transcripts are available, you cannot enter a room and participate.

In addition to the above, a quick hunt about StackApps yeilds the following results, which are either deprecated, or were never fully released and may be interesting to read up on.:

StackUp
Stack Reader
iStack

If you are wanting a native iOS app for reasons such as getting push notifications, you can easily bodge up a system for allowing push notifications for your inbox to be sent to you iOS device.  You will need the following:

An account with IFTTT
An account with Boxcar
Your Boxcar account linked into IFTTT
A task within IFTTT that says IF RSS - New feed item from  apple.stackexchange.com/feeds/user/9495/responses (change to your own user ID) THEN Boxcar - Send a message to my inbox
The Boxcar app downloaded and installed on your iOS device.

Then, whenever you get a notification (an answer to your question, a comment on your answer, a shout in Chat etc) in your SE global inbox, it will send you a message into Boxcar, that may look something approaching the following:

You can customise the wording in the notification,but I have stuck to the defaults in this example.  Note, that the IFTTT feed checks currently run every 15 minutes.


Why does my keyboard language switch on website password fields? Using a Mac with Mavericks, I have keyboard setup to Hebrew. Then, when I click in the password field, it switches it back to English and Hebrew is disabled.

I saw that another question says to remove the keyboards, but I need to keep both Hebrew and US input methods active. I don't use quicksilver and wonder if something else might cause this problem on Mavericks?

After doing a little bit of testing, I think it's because of this option is enabled in System Preferences > Keyboard > Input Sources:

It's checked by default and since cbs.com is in English, OS X will automatically change the input source to English (If you don't have English, or whatever language the page is in,  enabled, it seems it'll just select your default input source — i.e. the one at the top of the list in Input Sources).

I tested with Hebrew and Danish enabled and when focusing a textfield OS X changed my keyboard layout to Danish with auto-switch enabled and didn't with it disabled.

At least in my case, the swithcing wasn't limited to password fields specifically (which makes sense). The behaviour is the same in both Chrome and Safari.


Meld: How to open /usr [Mac OS 10.13.2, Meld 3.19.0]
After choosing either File or Folder comparison, when I click the button to choose a file/folder and select the root folder (label of the drive mounted as /), the selection of folders is limited to:

Applications
Library
mounts (I've changed permissions for this)
System
User Information
Users

However, because none of the other folders are listed, I cannot select /usr.  I suspect this has something to do with GTK+, and an earlier Meld version worked fine.

Do I need to hold down special keys (like option) or do something else to allow this?

As a workaround, I created a symlink from my home folder to the folder in /usr/local/ that I needed to analyse.  However I don't want to change file/folder permissions just for this.

You just have to hit cmdshift. once to get all invisible files and folders (either hidden by a prepended dot or the hidden attribute) in the "open" dialog. This persists even after navigating to other folders in the same window.

To see and select another invisible file or folder to complete the comparison you have to hit the shortcut again.

Before the shortcut:

After the shortcut:


Problem to automatically update list of files on Finder Why does the Finder (MacOS) not automatically update the list of files when the download is finished? How to solve this problem?

Actually, I always need to click on another folder and back to the Downloads folder to see the new file.

Open your dowload folder and sort by date added. Under the View Menu select show view options. This opens a pane like the one shown below.

You want to make sure your 1st 4 settings are identicle to the ones shown above in the top red rectangle and the "Show Columns"  settings has the "Data Added box checked.

Now when you download a file the name should appear almost immediately at the top of the window.


MacOS 10.13.6 Can't delete or remove applications I can't locate the following files. I have removed it manually at file finder but it is still stuck here at the system information. Now I can't update my MacOs because I am running out of space.

If I click on Go Application or right click on Delete files. It doesn't work. Please help

What application are you trying to remove? Have you tried with an uninstaller tool?

For exemple, you can follow this to fully uninstall Office 2011: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/troubleshoot-office-2011-for-mac-issues-by-completely-uninstalling-before-you-reinstall-ba8d8d13-0015-4eea-b60b-7719c2cedd17

Many application has the same type of uninstaller.


Mac Mail deleted an entired thread of emails without my consent This never happened to me before but yesterday I had a big thread of emails open on my Mail app (~60 emails) and I don't know how but today they're gone. This happened at my office.

All the emails my client and I exchanged for the past 3 months simply disappeared without my consent.

I've tried searching for them directly on the server through Round Cube and they aren't there (not even on the Trash, Junk or Archive folders.) I've just arrived home to see if my sleeping MacBook hadn't synced in the meantime, but it turns out it does even in sleep mode.

I don't have Time Machine enabled and don't do backups of my Mac because I have everything on iCloud.

Does anyone know if there is some kind of internal trash / cache or any other place I can search for this emails?

Thank you

Don't know what your current settings are, But for future safety, in mail → preferences → accounts → mailbox behaviours, keep trash mails for a month. In case they were deleted by an inadvertent action.

If there were a backup, ~/Library/Mail/Vx (where x is a number) would have the mails. You can try though.

You can also ask your IT department(if any) to check in their backups. Most of them keep it for some days.


Why are certain games only available on iPad? I recently bought a 5th generation iPod touch. I searched for "Magic 2014" but was greeted with the message:

"Magic 2014 is only available on Apple iPad".

Why are certain games iPad only?

The most simple answer probably is because the developer decided accordingly. There might be several more specific reasons, the most relevant is probably that some games just need a bigger screen and/or it's too cumbersome to maintain two GUI versions in parallel.


iOS 11 and GPS accuracy on iPhone (6+) GPS on my iPhone 6+ has always been accurate. Amazingly accurate. Most of the time, it took only a few seconds to pinpoint my location on any app using GPS, Apple Maps, Google Maps... This has been the case for almost 3 years.

Update to iOS 11, then up to iOS 11.2.1

After the update to iOS 11 / 11.2, GPS is never accurate. The best it can get to is an approximate location of a radius of 20 meters. And often, the actual location is even outside that circular area. Whatever the app, same problem.

Tried to go in a very opened area, with no building, no trees... on a very blue sky day. Waited for minutes in Maps... same problem.

Tried the common fixes found everywhere on the Net

Reset Network Settings (after each update, then have to enter all wifi passwords again)
Reset Location & Privacy
Location Services ON/OFF
Reboot ... several times
All apps have been updated to the last version (eg Google Maps)
Airplane mode ON/OFF ...
and of course, tried with wifi ON and OFF

Nothing has improved in the GPS department...

(Unfortunately cannot restore to iOS 10 since I don't have a fresh backup of before the update)

Is this a known issue for some iPhones (namely the 6 family)?

Any other advice welcome.

edit

No improvement with 11.1.2

Nov 28 update

As of today, everyone I know who has an iPhone 6+ on iOS 11+ and use GPS a lot has this problem. Did an app to calculate the best accuracy the device might have within 30 minutes, under a clear sky, out of town - GPS is always erratic, inaccurate. It's definitely an iOS / firmware issue.

Went to Apple store and talked an hour with the manager, explaining the problem etc... Basically answers were

  there is nothing to do - your phone is defective and has to replaced with a new/used one [buy a new [678]+, or an X]  ...

Dec 22 update

It seems the reason to this sudden trouble could well be due to Apple slows down iPhones as they get older. GPS is a complex mechanism, and forcing the CPU (and other components) to act differently, to slow down, and probably get less power, could have an effect on the GPS chip and behavior.

Try updating to iOS 12. This should hopefully provide a fix for it. Also when you try to get your location try to wait a bit as accuracy improves over time. Make sure that you've set the date, time, and time zone correctly on the device in Settings > General > Date & Time. If possible, use Set Automatically.

  GPS accuracy depends on the number of visible GPS satellites. Locating
  all visible satellites can take several minutes, with accuracy
  gradually increasing over time. To improve GPS accuracy:

  Make sure that you've set the date, time, and time zone correctly on the device in Settings > General > Date & Time. If possible, use Set
  Automatically.
  Keep a clear view in several directions. Walls, vehicle roofs, tall buildings, mountains, and other obstructions can block line of sight
  to GPS satellites. When this happens, your device uses Wi-Fi or
  cellular networks to determine your position until the GPS satellites
  are visible again.

(Source)


MacBook Pro 13" Early 2011 - how to charge a new battery I am about to replace the old battery on MacBook Pro 13" Early 2011 (A1278) with a battery Model No: A1322 and I wonder if there are any special instructions on how the battery should be used for the first time?

Should it be fully charged for the first time? How many times should I do that?

What are the general recommendations for keeping the battery life as long as possible?

The battery include a so-called "fuel gauge" chip that keeps track of the charge level, health status and individual cell balance. This chips is providing the battery level measurement that is displayed by OS X. As a result, you may install a new battery without consideration of its current charge level -- whatever the charge level actually is, it will be correctly reported by the battery chip to the OS.

As for all LiPo batteries, the main recommendation is to avoid regular deep discharges. There is no memory effect -- deep discharges degrade the chemistry and reduce the battery life, so try to keep your computer plugged as often as practical. An exception to this rule would be long-term storage of the computer. In this case, a charge level of about 50% is preferred (as per Apple recommendations).


`rm` and Mac OS X's Versions feature I assume that deleting a file via Finder also deletes any previous versions in /.DocumentRevisions-V100 that are attached to that file.

But what's happening if a file is deleted in Terminal with the rm command? Are previous versions left behind or do they actually get deleted, too?

rm just deletes the file(s) specified on the command line. So if you need to delete additonal files from /.DocumentRevisions-V100 you need to delete them explicitely as well.


Apply display settings for a folder recursively Question

When I change the display settings in Finder, it is only applied for the current folder that I'm in.

I want to apply a display settings for all (sub-)folders in ~/Pictures.

Since it's only for ~/Pictures, using the option 'Use as Defaults' will not help me. How can I do this?

Solution (thanks to @hobs)

The following tutorial uses an automator workflow. The workflow has to be run again when you add a new subdirectory to ~/Pictures.

I think your question fits with this thread and my answer to it:
System-wide finder view preferences

Short answer, it isnt that easy, but if you are willing do to some work you can make it happen.


Does iPhoto copy all photos from Photo Stream, or just make references? When using Photo Stream on the iPhone, you have access to the last 1,000 photos taken, or the last 30 days of photos (source). That same rule applies to all iOS devices, and beyond the 30-day window, no photos are actually saved to your device unless you specifically select and save them to your Camera Roll.

What about with a desktop or notebook system (e.g., iMac, MacBook Pro, etc.)? Are the photos only temporarily accessible through iCloud when you see them in iPhoto, or are they actually stored on your computer?

Unlike your iOS device(s) that have a smaller more finite amount of memory, your desktop/notebook systems are more than capable of storing the photos, as they're found in your Photo Stream, they're also automatically imported to your iPhoto Library (same source as the question above):

  But since your Mac has more storage than your iOS device, it
  automatically imports every picture from your Photo Stream into your
  photo library so you can edit, delete, and share the ones you want.

Take note, however, that there is a difference between your Photo Stream collection and your iPhoto Library. Attempting to interact with any photo being viewed while Photo Stream is selected will prompt you to view the copy in your Library.


Can I use my @me.com address as my primary email address? Is my @me.com address a good candidate for my primary email address?
I'd like to stop using my old yahoo address.
I also only use Mac products. (MacBook, iPhone, iPad).

Yes. iCloud has a good online email client and supports IMAP for clients like Outlook or Thunderbird.

However, you might want to use the new @icloud.com email alias.


How to let user specify name of new screenshot using Automator I'm trying to understand how to use 'Folder Actions' and/or Automator so that when I take a screenshot, it allows me to type in a name for the file as it stores it in the screenshot folder (which I've changed from the Desktop to a folder named 'screenshots' on the Desktop).  When I Ctrl-click the Folder and choose Folder Action Setup, it gives me a list of scripts, none of which do what I want, so I assume I have to write this script in Automator?

Using Automator, I start with the "Files and Folders" --> Get Selected Finder Items as my first step.  Then I tried "Files and Folders" --> Rename Finder Items, but this seems to be only about adding a date to the existing name.

I see I can use Automator -> "Ask for Text' to display a dialog to the user, but then how do I use that input to rename the file?

After much hunting, I found Get Selected Finder Items and then Rename Finder Items: Name Single Item.  One nuance is that renaming the file ends up recursively calling the script, because the file with the different name is perceived as a new file.  I got around this by having a 'staging' folder, then the ultimate destination folder, and used Mover Finder Items as the last step in my Automator sequence.


Roll back to Mountain Lion without time machine backup I've installed OS X Maverick which was downloaded by someone else and was registered to other apple ID, that's why I can't install maverick free apps like keynotes, pages...how can I roll back to my mountain lion or start a fresh install or change the registered user of maverick I'm using right now?
I don't have any time machine back up or any installation disk.

Open the Mac App Store.

Then go to the Menu "Store" > Sign Out.

Now you can login with your account and you should be able to download the desired software.


Mountain Lion sleeps too aggressively For me, Mountain Lion always seems to sleep whenever there is no user action, even when the computer is still doing something. In my case it always sleeps in the middle of running a batch operation in Lightroom 4.1, and it has slept while Time Machine is still cleaning up.

According to Siracusa's ML review, apps need to be written to make "power assertions" if they want to stop the computer from sleeping. Otherwise, sleep it will. This seems like a way too aggressive strategy, especially to implement by default in a new OS? There must be many, many apps that have not been written to make these power assertions (including it seems parts of Apple's own Time Machine backup process).

Is there a hidden preference somewhere to revert to the old method of sleep at least until we get better app support for this? I'm not looking for a solution to supress sleep entirely (I know I can just tell the computer to never sleep), but rather to stop sleeping while it's still doing something.

Additional info:

My Mac does not support Power Nap (mid 2009 13" MBP)
My power settings in system preferences are set to the default, as follows:

pmset -g:

Active Profiles:
Battery Power       -1*
AC Power        -1
Currently in use:
 hibernatemode        0
 acwake               0
 lidwake              1
 halfdim              1
 sleep                10
 ttyskeepawake        1
 sms                  1
 hibernatefile        /var/vm/sleepimage
 disksleep            10
 displaysleep         2

pmset -g cap:

Capabilities for Battery Power:
 displaysleep
 disksleep
 sleep
 acwake
 lidwake
 lessbright
 halfdim
 sms
 ttyskeepawake
 hibernatemode
 hibernatefile

System log before and after a particular problematic sleep state (subsequent wake was not due to user input but rather a "DarkWake"):

    2012-07-27 00:32:07.343 com.apple.launchd[1]: (com.apple.iCloudHelper[3859]) Exited: Killed: 9
    2012-07-27 00:32:07.000 kernel[0]: memorystatus_thread: idle exiting pid 3859 [com.apple.iCloud]
    2012-07-27 00:32:12.416 com.apple.time[13]: Next maintenance wake [Backup Interval]: <date: 0x7fea7b6235f0> Fri Jul 27 00:45:48 2012 CEST (approx)
    2012-07-27 00:32:12.416 com.apple.time[13]: Requesting maintenance wake [Backup Interval]: <date: 0x7fea7b6235f0> Fri Jul 27 00:45:48 2012 CEST (approx)
    2012-07-27 00:32:13.000 kernel[0]: AirPort_Brcm43xx::powerChange: System Sleep
    2012-07-27 00:32:14.000 kernel[0]: 00000000  00000020  NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - not Active
    2012-07-27 02:20:14.000 kernel[0]: Wake reason: RTC (Alarm)
    2012-07-27 02:20:14.000 kernel[0]: RTC: Maintenance 2012/7/27 00:20:13, sleep 2012/7/26 22:32:15
    2012-07-27 02:20:14.000 kernel[0]: AirPort_Brcm43xx::powerChange: System Wake - Full Wake/ Dark Wake / Maintenance wake

caffeinate -i open -W -a Lightroom.app

should keep the system awake as long as Lightroom is running and not idle. To prevent any sleep at all, use -s instead of -i.


How to use (magic) trackpad scrolling to scroll only one page up/down with Preview? When I view pdf file with Preview, I can use wheel click mouse to scroll one page up/down.
How can I do the same thing with trackpad? Using two finger scroll gives me two much scroll. I need to scroll up/down only one pdf page with trackpad.

I dont have a Magic Trackpad, but on my Magic Mouse its the same gesture that is used for forward and back in Safari. In the mouse its swipe two fingers to the left and right, so if the Trackpad is just like that of a macbook, Im 99% sure its swipe three fingers to the right or left.

Hope it Helps!
Kevin


iPhone: copy–paste of URL not working I sometimes want to tweet a link from my iPhone (4s / iOS 8). On iOS 6 I used to simply copy the URL from Safari and paste it into the text field of the twitter app.

Placing the 'cursor' inside URL field inside Safari's URL field
choosing 'select all' from context menu
clicking on 'copy' in context menu
switching apps –> twitter
choosing 'paste' from context menu

This however seems to not work anymore on iOS 8. Workflow for sending an email with an URL was the same – and also does not work anymore.

Everytime I try to copy a URL as I used to, anything I copied before that url is pasted instead.

I do have a work around now: clicking the 'share by email' icon will open a new email with that link already in the text field which I then can copy to twitter. But I'm just wondering if anybody else has found a way how to copy URLs into other applications – or is this not possible any more by design?

PS: clicking the 'share by twitter' option does not work – but that's a different story I guess.

I tested and can't reproduce this (though I'm not trying to paste into Twitter, your issue sounds like the initial copy command is failing, so from that perspective it is working for me), but an easier workaround for sending to Twitter is selecting Copy on the bottom row of the share sheet (which copies the URL, though in a slightly different format), then pasting into Twitter.


Turn on Back To My Mac via a Script or Command Line The VPN software I use for work (IPSecuritas) requires me to turn off Back To My Mac to start it's connection, so I frequently turn off Back To My Mac in order to use my VPN connection (the program does this for me). I forget to turn it back on however and I'd love to know if there was something I could run (script, command) to turn it back on.

There is no supported way to do this. Having said that, you can do it using scutil:

louis@Arios:~$ sudo scutil
> set Setup:/Network/BackToMyMac
> d.add <YYY>  <XXX>.members.btmm.icloud.com
> set Setup:/Network/BackToMyMac
> quit
louis@Arios:~$

Replacing <YYY> with the UID of the user account on the system (for most people with  single account that is 501), and <XXX> with your iCloud account number. If you don't know that you can check your dns-sd registrations:

louis@Arios:~$  dns-sd -E
Looking for recommended registration domains:
 DATE: ---Wed 22 Aug 2012---
 9:11:04.789  ...STARTING...
Timestamp     Recommended Registration domain
 9:11:04.789  Added     (More)               local
 9:11:04.789  Added                          icloud.com
                                             - > btmm
                                             - - > members
                                             - - - > <XXX>

The last line will list your iCloud user number. I think they are all 8 digit numbers, at least mine is.


SMB "There was a problem connecting to the server" As of today, I'm suddenly unable to view any SMB shares on my macbook pro (mid 2011 13" model, El Capitain 10.11.4).

Everything worked fine yesterday, but today I can't connect to ANY windows file share systems. I have to load Windows XP in Virtualbox and copy stuff across that way.

I've looked at all the other answers, and this isn't because of some program (I have none running atm), nor is it due to cloud sync (I have it disabled) or time machine (I never use it).

Everything worked (well, as good as can be expected with file sharing on a mac), and now suddenly nothing works. Using the IP address directly doesn't help. Rebooting didn't help. Restarting the other machines didn't help. Disconnecting and reconnecting WIFI didn't help. And of course, the computer doesn't give any kind of error code to help track down the problem. Just "There was a problem connecting to the server".

The servers still do show up in Finder (even after rebooting). I just can't connect to them. Actually, it does connect to them long enough to ask how I want to log in, but then it pukes and shows that error.

work around ... add authentication to your smb.


No Default Calendar setting in iOS 13.3 I try to minimize my online footprint and don't use iCloud.  My iPhone SE has an Exchange account which I synchronize at home (over WiFi) with my laptop's Outlook [1].  I only sync Contacts, appointments, and notes [2].

According to https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/iphone/iph3d1110d4/ios, the default calendar in iOS 13 is set via "Settings > Calendar > Default Calendar".  In the panel for "Settings > Calendar", I have no "Default Calendar" field.

Is there a more updated documentation for setting the default calendar?  I am using iOS 13.3.

Footnotes:

[1] While not necessarily relevant to the problem, I use AkrutoSync to interface with Outlook and present an Exchange interface to the iPhone.

[2] For email, I use Navigator to access a webmail interface.

I ran into this problem myself when I switched to iOS 13.3 on an iPhone Max Pro. Try this: In "Settings," tap on your name and photo at the top of the page (the one that says "Apple ID, Cloud, iTunes and App Store"). Tap on "iCloud." Under "Apps Using iCloud," activate "Calendars." When you go back to the Calendar app, "Default Calendar" should now be an option. Good luck!


How can Finder permanently show a specific file starting with a dot/period? I have a folder on my Mac that I will set up to git-sync with a folder on my web server. I’d like to be able to see the .htaccess file in this folder without having to unhide hidden files all over the system. Is that possible?

I’m using Mac OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard).

(Mike Scott mentioned in How to show hidden files and folders in finder? that this might not be possible to show only specific files/folders that start with a dot but it would be nice with a definite answer – and instructions for how to do it, if it is indeed possible.)

One way to get around this would be to create a symbolic link to .htaccess and call it something without a dot. For example:

$ cd site_root
$ ln -s .htaccess htaccess

Then you can open htaccess from Finder and you'll actually be editing the .htaccess file.

(You could even make the second command ln -s .htaccess " .htaccess", which would visually look like .htaccess but be visible because of the leading space.)


Screen video capture application I am Looking for a program that let's me capture screen videos on Mac OS X.

I am requesting it for these two use cases:

Capture of a webcam. It should allow capturing only the webcam App window.
Creation of program tutorials. Ideally, it should allow mouse cursor magnification and visual click representation (like, making some visual effect when you click on anything).

A different program for each case use is fine if there is not a program that can do both.

I've found that "New Screen Recording" functionality in QuickTime Player combined with iMovie editing capabilities is enough for my needs. Maybe you can give it a try? Best of all, it's already installed on your Mac. Unfortunately, I can't compare it with Camtasia, as I haven't used it.


Update keeps coming back on MacOS I am on Catalina, latest version.
Since yesterday, I keep getting this:

I didn't know that iLife was even still a thing.
This is the update detail:

But then, when I try to install it:

and... it keeps repeating.
How can I get this over with?

To solve it (it's no longer needed as it's discontinued and was used for media creation in apps like iTunes and iPhoto):

Open the Terminal app (Spotlight search for 'terminal')
Type sudo softwareupdate --ignore iLifeSupport902
It will ask you for your password, enter it (you won't see it displayed on screen)
Close terminal and restart your Mac

It should now have disappeared.


USB Keyboard not working after Macbook wakes up from sleep I have a standard Windows PC-compatible USB keyboard plugged into my Mac. It works just fine, but whenever I wake my Mac up from sleep, I am forced to unplug and replug the keyboard from USB to get it to work.

I would reset both your PRAM/NVRAM and your SMC. See below for instructions.

Reset your PRAM/NVRAM

Older Macs had what's called Parameter RAM (PRAM), newer Macs use Non-Volatile Random-Access Memory (NVRAM). It may be worth you also resetting this. Here’s how to:

Shut down your machine. Yes, a full shut down, not just logging out.
Press the power button and then press the commandoptionpr keys. You have to make sure you press these keys before the gray screen appears or it won’t work.
Hold those keys down until your Mac reboots again and you here the startup chime.
Let go of the keys and let your Mac reboot normally.

Note: When you log back in you may need to readjust some of your system preferences (e.g. mouse speed, time and date/timezone, etc).

Reset the SMC

Your computer's System Management Controller (SMC) can also be reset. However, the instructions for doing this on MacBooks differ depending on the type of battery they use. Since your question has specified the model, I've provided both sets of instructions below:

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

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

For MacBook Pros, MacBooks etc that you can remove the battery from, here’s what you do:

Shut down your computer
Disconnect the MagSafe plug (or power cable) from the computer
Remove the battery
Press the power button for 5 seconds and release
Put the battery back in
Reconnect the MagSafe cord (or power cable)
Turn your computer back on with the power button


How can I copy paste on Apple Watch? I need to know if I can select some text and copy it, and then paste it on an Apple Watch.

No, there is no such functionality on Apple Watch as standard as there are no text fields for entering text other than dictation.


Is it possible to hack facetime call? Me and my girlfriend are using facetime regularly for talking. I'm worried if anyone can hack our Facetime calls and record our videos? Is it possible? How safe is Facetime?

FaceTime calls are encrypted sufficiently for most anyone's needs. FaceTime's encrypted stream acts underneath any other WiFi encryption that might also be present. If you feel that end-to-end data streams encrypted with unique keys for each recipient is safe, then I'd say have fun with FaceTime.

Someone with special skills, tools and time could probably crack it, but you probably don't have a high enough profile to be worth the time/effort.


MacBook won't eject DVD on bootup I'm trying to do a fresh install of OSX on a new hard drive and the  MacBook keeps ejecting the installation DVD. To see if the dvd reader has the problem itself, I tried another random dvd. The problem is it didn't get ejected and now I'm stuck because holding down the eject button doesn't eject it. I can hear that it is being read though.. since the hard drive is new, there is no OS in it so I'm stuck with the blinking question mark upon bootup and I can't also eject the random dvd i put in.

Any ideas what to do?

Okay, I decided to just take the plunge and took it apart.. After opening the optical drive itself, the DVD seems to have been lodged badly so that's how I got it out.


Clean keyboard on Macbook Pro 2017 I have a MacBook Pro from 2017.

It has the new keyboard with the shorter travel distances, touchbar, etc.

Some keys have been very sticky recently. What tools + methods can I use to clean the keyboard keys so they no longer stick?

On the older MacBook Pros, you could remove the keys and use compressed air to clean. The newer MacBook Pros don't have enough space to pop them off with a finger nail anymore.

You are correct, there is no room to remove the keys now.

I would highly recommend never trying to remove the key cap from any of the new low travel keyboards. The keys are part of the top case assembly, and are expensive for third party repairs. (And similarly close tolerance on Bluetooth keyboards)

Apple have a very well illustrated procedure now using compressed air only to clean. If that doesn’t work, I would contact Apple support directly and ask for options.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205662

MacBook cleaning image - from Apple


How to paste images from clipboard in Safari How do you paste an image from your clipboard in to websites/forms which support pasting, in Safari?

For example, in Chrome, I can take a screenshot using shift+ctrl+cmd+4 and then use cmd+v to paste that image in to a Facebook chat. This is very convenient. However, I don't seem to be able to do the same in Safari. Manually right clicking, and selecting paste doesn't seem to work either.

This is known issue with the current release of Safari.

But pasting images from the clipboard is now working properly in the Safari Technology Preview which means the fix should be coming to the public release version of Safari shortly.

FYI, You can go ahead and use the tech preview version alongside your regular Safari install without disrupting anything.

EDIT: Safari 10.1 was released today and fixes this issue.

EDIT #2: It seems to only work with some source applications but not others. For example, I can select and copy sections of web pages w/images and paste them into Gmail no problem (Safari to Safari). I can also copy text+images from Evernote to Gmail. But... the same doesn't seem to work when TextEdit or Notes is the source.

Relevant bug report


Black Screen when Upgrading RAM in 2019 iMac I bought the iMac with 8GB of RAM, 2x4GB SO-DIMMs.
I wanted to upgrade to 128GB - 4 sticks of 32GB. I replaced the 8GB with 128GB (4x32GB). Same brand OWC, same power etc.
If I only use 2x32GB, in slot 1 & 3 or 2 & 4 it works. I tried 2 sticks and the 2 others; all 4 work. But, if I use all 4 at the same time, I have a black screen.
Any tip please?

The 2019 iMac computer have different memory specifications depending on which model you get - the 21" and 27"; the 4K or 5K models.  Not all models support 128GB of RAM.
It's also important to note that OWC is not the original memory.  OWC is an after market brand.  If you're positive all of your memory works, but when you install the rest you get a black screen, you may be trying to install too much.  Confirm you have the right memory for your particular application.
The 21" models officially support up to 32GB of RAM and the 27" models 64GB.  However, independent testing per EveryMac.com confirms that they can support 64GB and 128GB of RAM for the 21" and 27" models respectively.

21: i3 4K iMac uses up to 64GB of PC4-19200 2400Mhz DDR4 RAM
21" i5 & i7 4K iMac uses up to 64GB of PC4-21300 266MHz DDR4 RAM
27" i5 & i9 5K iMac uses up to 128GB of PC4-21300 2666Mhz DDR4 RAM

You should be installing these in pairs, but there's no requirement to stagger the installation (slots 1 & 3 or 2 & 4).  See Install Memory in an iMac.  Memory is usually sold in "kits."  A 32GB kit is two 16GB SO-DIMMs and a 64GB kit is two 32GB SO-DIMMs.  So, for example, for the 21" iMac, you'll need two 32GB kits which will have four 16GB SO-DIMMS for a total of 64GB of RAM.
Here's a breakdown of the maximum memory per slot for each model:

21" iMac → Max RAM per slot = 16GB
27" iMac → Max RAM per slot = 32GB


Internal and External microphone isn't working There is a problem with the microphone on my MacBook (Yosemite 10.10.3)

The internal speakers work OK, and if I plug in headphones, they will work too.
Unfortunately, the internal microphone doesn't work. When I plugged in an external microphone, it would't work either.

Does anyone have any ideas what could it be?

I use a MacBook Pro, but I've noticed this behaviour with some software, where the audio gain in System Preferences gets reduced to zero (i.e., no mic input). I suggest the following procedure:

Launch the software that you're having difficuty with.
Go System Preferences >> Sound >> Input
Increase the Input volume slider as desired
Switch back to your software application, without closing the System Preferences dialog.

For some reason, if you close System Preferences, then this can cause the software to reassert zero gain.

You might also want to consider resetting the system, just to ensure that you're resetting anything that might be inadvertently causing your issue.


Are frayed cables of Apple lightning cord or Macbook Power Adapter covered by warranty? It is quite famous that users posted frayed lightning cable or Macbook Power Adapter cable on the Internet or Tumbler. Here is for Google image for lightning, and another one for the Power Adapter.

Users' reviews on the Power Adapter on the Apple website: "Horrible adapter... end up fraying", "The cable frayed on me", "cable is frayed", "It frays like crazy", "they fray at the end", "fray way too easily".

How about users' reviews on the lightning cable on the Apple website? "begin to fray", "frayed very easily", "Poor quality, frays easily", "frayed and the internal wires are exposed", "It frayed", "frayed and damaged".

Personally, I have used several Dell or Compaq notebook computers and their adapters, and their power cords have never frayed. The webcam can be of lower quality, and the fan can be noisy, but the $29 adapter never had a frayed cable. One the other hand, iPhone's 30-pin cable, lightning cable, Macbook Power Adapter cable have all frayed on me.

Whenever I talked to an Apple Store associate, they all said, for 5, 6 years, their cable never had any problem. I do not know whether it is some script the company told them to read out, or whether they are told to claim so, but people I know had this problem, my relatives had this problem, I saw YouTuber wrapping styrofoam sheet near the Magsafe end to prevent it from fraying, and if half of the people found it good and half of the people found it bad, the review of lightning cables won't be near the minimum possible: either 1.5 star when the lowest possible rating is 1 star, or a 2 star. The same goes for its Macbook Magsafe 2 Power Adapter.

Is it actually under warranty?  Because one store did replace it before, and another store said it is not covered.

By the way, some users may say they have some cable they have for 10 years and they never had a problem. Now, if the cable is laid flat, all straight on a desk, I won't be surprised they don't have a problem for 10 years. But, what if the power outlet or USB outlet is in front, and you need to plug in to the iPhone and see it upright -- then now the cable has a U-turn. Are Apple cables not supposed to have a U-turn?  What about power outlet or USB to the left or right side of the table, now your iPhone or Macbook is connected, and the cable may have a 90 degree turn. Are all brands of cable out there able to have a 90 degree turn, except Apple's cable?

Some user requested a photo. If it is lightning, I should have thrown it away because I ended up buying the Anker Powerline II from Amazon anyways. At around $12-17, it is reasonable, and because sometimes I need 6 feet or 10 feet anyways.  The $79 Macbook Power Adapter, since Apple didn't replace mine, I already threw it away. They are the ones of bigger concern, because you can't replace the cable, but you have to replace the whole power adapter transformer part, and it is $79, or $86.11 including tax. But I can tell how it looks like: it was all pristine and it was only broken "skin", somewhat similar to the photos below. Like I said, none of any other brands cable had fraying issue for me. Only Apple's does.  The photos that I can find online that are similar to the situations I had before:

According to Apple One (1) Year Limited Warranty – Accessory:

  This warranty excludes normal depletion of consumable parts such as
  batteries unless failure has occurred due to a defect in materials or
  workmanship and, damage resulting from abuse, accident, modifications,
  unauthorized repairs or other causes that are not defects in materials
  and workmanship.

This is the term that Apple store or service providers often rely on to reject warranty of cases like you mentioned. They could say it was caused by abusive usage behavior, or by accident thus violate the warranty term.

If you are specifically looking to confirm has Apple ever issued a recall/repair program for frayed lightning cable then the answer is No.


Is 0.4 GHz of extra processor speed worth €300? (about $430) I'm planning on buying a new macbook pro 13inch and I've got the choice between a 2.3ghz intel core i5 or an 2.7ghz intel core i7 for an extra €300 (= $430).

Can someone explain me what the difference is between i5 and i7? Would it be worth it to updgrade (eg will the performance be better)?

I would mainly use the laptop for matlab simulations (and other simple 3D simulations) and data processing. Some of these calculation are highly recursive and take a long time (fractal computation etc) on my current machine.

There is no simple answer. IMHO, the question is not about 0.4 GHz. (BTW, it is 17% above 2.3).

The real questions are:

do you have external USB or any other backup solution?

no - consider buying an external HDD first!
yes, I have - next question :)

have you already max. memory in your config?

no - consider investing into more memory first
yes, already max. memory - go to the next question

is there a config with better graphics performance?

yes - consider it first
no - next question

are you a heavy emulated Windows user (Parallels, VMware, VirtualBox etc)?

yes, go for the 2.7
no - next

do you need every millisecond of power (because of, for example, gaming, video editing, etc.)?

yes - buy the high-end one
no - next question

are you a bit paranoid (meaning, planning to use the FileVault encrypting for your $HOME folder)?

yes - buy the high-end one
no - next

how often are you upgrading your Mac?

every 18 months (one generation) - don't buy the high-end one, because usually they are a bit overpriced
every 2 years or more? - buy the high-end

misc. ;)

do you already own an iPad?

no?! - consider saving another 300 euros on notebook and buy an iPad - trust me, it is much better for browsing in the bed... ;)

is your girlfriend a technical geek?

yes - the high-end is a MUST! :)
no, bring her to somewhere for 300 EUR :)

misc 2 :)

Have iPad, no girlfriend - and have you decided to save 300 euros based on this answer? Consider sending me 50% ;) :)


Stop Apple Notes from cutting off handwritten text When hand writing notes in Apple Notes, it is very easy to cut off notes across pages when exporting the note. This is because dividers between pages aren't shown as they are in Notability or GoodNotes, making it easy to write over a page boundary and cut off the note when exporting the note.
Is there any way to export the note as a continuous PDF (a la OneNote) so that text doesn't get cut off, or show page dividers in the Notes app so that the user is aware of where the page divisions are?

If you have a Mac and an iPhone on same network the Notes on one device shows up on other.  So your notes should show up on your Mac and handwritten notes will appear as well. There is an option in Notes on a Mac to export selected note as a PDF.  When I tried this the Note apeared on 2 pages in the PDF and all the info was there.


iOS administration: Fleet Management / remote setup / remote control **without jailbreak** I have a fleet of more than 10 iOS devices (iPhones 3GS, 4, 4S, iPad2...) to manage, setup, etc.

Often, users are very lost with configuration and usage (device configuration, e-mail, calendar sync, Apps installation and usage... I even have question like "How can I send my photo by e-mail?", or "How to transfer this PDF?" sic.).

I cannot allow me to jailbreak professional devices, so it's a prohibitive constraint.

I seek a solution to guide them simplest, that in trying to explain to them what to do by phone.

So far I have found nothing better than to send them screenshot through IMessage, and it is very laborious.
Moreover, even with detailed pictures, users make regular errors, which can further complicate the matter!

So, if there is a secure and legal way, without jailbreak, to get a remote access, or the possibility (even limited) of a remote setup of an iOS device, it would be an deliverance for me.

Although the ideal would be to take remote control (like VNC or TeamViewer), I'm interested in every little thing, with idea like the ability to send auto-configuration files by iMessage.
Or anything else to what you might think...

Even commercial applications, because all of this is very time consuming.

I almost regret the days of Windows Phone 6.*, which it was possible to send Security Policies and use other corporate tools very helpful in such cases...

Anyway, thank you in advance for any help you could provide!

It's now 2017 so this is much easier than in 2012.

Start with either:

Apple Configurator
Jamf Now

Both are free to start, well documented, capable in the long term. As you get started in what you need, then look to see if perhaps a different single solution or combination of solutions makes sense for your budget, number of devices, and skillset(s).

For those interested in how it was in 2012 and the next several dozen months, it was a bit harder to manage iOS since the tools and iOS itself didn't have the hooks and maturity for this function. Then, the least expensive way to manage iOS mobile devices is to use the iPhone configuration utility. It is free, runs on Macs and Windows PC and you can email and host the configuration profiles on traditional web and file sharing solutions. I'm amazed it's still called the "iPhone" utility since it long ago became the iOS configuration profile utility.

The free support method would be FaceTime and iMessages and you can have your users take advantage of Apple's free tutorials, guides and retail worships and training. Past that, some businesses prefer to enroll in Joint Venture for training where your core team can get personalized business level training from Apple.

The next level of mobile device management would be Lion Server or one of the pay as you go MDM solutions like Robot Cloud where you can get started with MDM for $5 a month before deciding if your workplace needs the extra features of a full management suite like JAMF Software's Caspar Suite or Mobile Iron type solutions.

Whether you use profiles made by the Configuration Utility or a server based solution that hooks into Apple's Push Notification Service (APNS) so you can push remote wipe and remote updates to the devices in the field - all of these MDM solutions use the built in iOS management hooks and have various costs and expenses to acquire, learn and automate controlling change to 10 or 10,000 iOS devices.

Start small, and consider that your users will be highly motivated to learn on their own. You will want to make sure you have open feedback channels and learn from them. iOS deployments generally are less IT headache than many expect and much of the learning and support can be self-paced, on-demand and as needed. Getting iPads into the hands of the decision makers and support people months ahead of a wide scale deployment is critical to remaining nimble and avoiding making decisions before you know how the devices work in your work environment. Small pilot programs are also ideal to measure and adjust deployment when you are unsure how you will ultimately be managing these devices. Hang on, iOS deployment is a fun ride.


Macbook pro ejects every CD/DVD just after a few seconds This problem happened suddenly on my MacBook pro: when I insert a CD/DVD, it tries to read it for a few seconds (the motor of the DVD drive is working) and then it stops, and ejects the DVD.

I have read in many forums that this is a dead condition for DVD drive, and should be replaced. But some others also suggested the lens might require cleaning. Does anybody have experienced the second situation (i.e. can the problem be solved using DVD drive lens cleaner kits)?

Try the following steps and I am sure it will be fixed.

Clean the SuperDrive’s slot with compressed gas/vacuum cleaner.
Reset the NVRAM/PRAM and SMC

Reset NVRAM and PRAM:
Shut down the computer. Holding down the Command (Apple), Option, P, and R and then hold the Power button simultaneously, 3 times and wait for 3 loud chimes.

Delete the Finder’s preference files

Some people have reported successfully fixing Optical CD/DVD Drive on Mac or SuperDrive issues by deleting the Finder’s preference files (don’t worry, the Finder will automatically make new ones). You’ll want to delete two files: “com.apple.finder.plist” and “com.apple.sidebarlists.plist”. Both of these files are located in Users > [Your User] > Library > Preferences.
Run Disk Utility and Repair Disk Permissions
Delete the following configuration file to create a fresh copy

~/Library/Caches (your local Library directory).
System/Library/extensions.kextcache.
/System/Library/Extensions.mkext.
/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kernelcaches (a directory).
/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.romextensions (a directory).
CD Info.cidb

Credits - http://coreyjmahler.com/2013/06/15/how-to-fix-a-macbook-pro-superdrive-which-continually-ejects-discs/


Renaming the iCloud folder in the Terminal, but not renaming the actual file itself Is there a way for me to give my iCloud directory a "nickname" in the Terminal, that way I don't have to see "~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs" in front of each line, but rather, can just see "iCloud" and know I'm in said directory?

How about creating a symbolic link to that directory on your Desktop or in another easily accessible directory?

ln -s ~/"Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs" ~/Desktop/iCloud

Note that you need to have the ~/ outside of the double quotes in order for the link to correctly resolve to your home directory, otherwise it will try to link to the literal directory ~ which of course won't exist.


Dropping wifi, replace bcm4331 with bcm4360, MacBook Pro Retina Early 2013 I have a MacBook Pro 13" Retina, Early 2013, my wifi drops roughly ever 2 or 3 minutes when running ArchLinux (OS X works fine). As far as I know this problem is related to that there are no official drivers available and thus there are no solution out there.

So the idea I have is to replace the BCM4331 with a BCM4360 or another alternative that works in ArchLinux and OS X. Is this possible? Would e.g a BCM4360 work in a MBPr Early 2013 with OS X?

Best regards
Rawa

The BCM4360 is known not to work with the b43 driver. The broadcom-wl driver should work, but since the card is even newer, I would expect even more problems. I suggest to pick up a cheap usb wifi stick, that fixed all my problems.


If I download OSX Lion from the app-store, is that version linked to my account? I have downloaded Lion and created a bootable USB flash drive, a colleague wishes to use this. If I give this to my colleague will it be linked to my account or is it account independent?

Update: My colleague has a legal licensee to Lion but does not have a Lion install DVD. This is due to replacing a failed HDD in a Mac Pro. Instead of my colleague needing to download a 4GB file which they can't afford to I have a USB drive which I can lend to them.

As I remember Lion asks your apple ID when you first start up, is this the step that assigns your instance against your account or is my ID somehow embedded in the Lion copy I have.

I don't believe that your Apple ID is embedded in the installer, it may be but if it is, it doesn't matter. I downloaded Lion onto my iMac and installed it, and copied the installer to my Mac Mini (offline only computer) and installed it as well no problem. This was right when Lion came out too, and I has worked perfectly on both computers since.


Photos app and iCloud I have my photos saved in my 'Photos' application on my Macbook Air. I also have them saved on my iCloud (i can see them what i log on icloud.com). Now, if i delete photos from my 'Photos' application, then will they be deleted off my iCloud?

I only have a small amount of storage on my MacBook Air and so far they're taking up too much space.

Yes, it will delete them from iCloud.
If you need more space on your computer, you should get an external drive and move the photos onto there, then delete them from your Mac.


iPhone: Blocking calls by ignoring I want to block certain phone calls with my iPhone. However, the block list in iPhone actively blocks users and the caller known that he's being blocked.

However, sometimes you do NOT want the blocked user to know that he is blocked. So sometimes I just want to ignore callers (i.e., no incoming call notifications etc)

Is there any way and/or app to achieve this?

As far as I'm aware there is no such possibility in regular iOS.

I did find this app/tweak (iblacklist) that does what you want, although that's on Jailbroken devices only.


An automator service that opens a file with the same name but different extension of the selected item My movie collection has this setup:

a folder "Movies/Covers" with the images of the covers (jpg files)
a folder "Movies/Videos" with the corresponding video files (mostly mp4 files)

The files in both folders have the same base name.

I would like to be able to right click an image in the covers folder, select the service "open video" and open the corresponding video file in the videos folder with the VLC player.

I'm very new to Automator and initially I tried to do this for files in the same folder with this workflow:

But it doesn't work because the file renamed from xxx.jpg to xxx.mp4 opened by VLC is still an image.

Anyone could help me?

PS: In the past I used to add the cover to the video files as icons and choose the movie in the finder grid view, but this has led to problems after updating the operating system on several occasions.

You don't want to rename the file, just use a new folder path in order to look up a matching file.  Automator doesn't include default actions for stuff like that, so you are looking at using a third party action or a script, or doing that part yourself.

For an AppleScript solution, create a new service/quick action workflow that receives files or folders in the Finder, and add a Run AppleScript action, replacing the default script with the following:

on run {input, parameters} -- match name of an input item to a videoFolder item
    set videoFolder to ((path to home folder) as text) & "Movies:Videos:" -- the HFS folder path containing matching video files
    repeat with anItem in the input -- return the first match
        set {theName, theExtension} to getNamePieces from anItem
        tell application "Finder"
            set matches to (files of folder videoFolder whose name starts with theName) -- match any extension
            if matches is not {} then return (first item of matches) as alias
        end tell
    end repeat
    return missing value -- no match
end run

to getNamePieces from someItem -- get name and extension from a file item
    tell application "System Events" to tell disk item (someItem as text)
        set {theName, theExtension} to {name, name extension}
    end tell
    if theExtension is not "" then
        set theName to text 1 thru -((count theExtension) + 2) of theName -- the name part
        set theExtension to "." & theExtension
    end if
    return {theName, theExtension}
end getNamePieces

...then finish up by adding an Open Finder Items action, and save the workflow.


Are there video players that display milliseconds on Mac? I need to view a video in "mp4" format with an accuracy of minutes, seconds and milliseconds for a specific task - analysis.
Operating system: macOS Catalina, version: 10.15.7
As I understand there are video players with milliseconds display only on windows, on Mac, alternatives and solutions could not be found. Maybe someone came across a similar question and was able to solve it. I have already tried to install the VLC player, but a certain plug-in is needed to open the ability to view in milliseconds, unfortunately I could not install such a plug-in on a Mac.macos
video
This error occurs when trying to open the file:

The document "2020-12-24T09_20_45.375Z_LR_crf_26_deidentified.h.265.mp4" could not be opened.
The file isn't compatible with QuickTime Player.

If you have homebrew installed, you can install mpv (recommended) or IINA (based on mpv) which displays milliseconds.
If you do not have homebrew then you can install it by copying pasting the following in your terminal:
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"

Solution 1:
Install mpv with the following command:
brew install mpv

mpv player supports url and a wide variety of video formats. That means you can play files locally as well as youtube or any other online video links straight from your terminal.
After installing mpv you can play your video file by going to the terminal and type:
mpv <Drag the file you want to play from finder and hit enter>

At the beginning when mpv will open, it will not show you milliseconds. You would have to click on top of the time for it to display milliseconds.
For details see: https://mpv.io/ and their git repo: https://github.com/mpv-player/mpv
Here is a screenshot of a non-copyright video playing from youtube with milliseconds displaying at the bottom:

Solution 2: Install iina with the following command:
brew install --cask iina

It should let you install version 1.1.2 which supports this feature.
You can choose the timestamp in miliseconds as shown in the following screenshot:


How can I stop documents from popping out of folders littering the desktop? I have a MacBook Pro, early 2015. I work on a number of projects at a given time. Each desktop folder is labeled by client and I probably have 10 folders with 2-7 subfolders. I save documents to folders via the "save" function or by drop and drag on the desktop. Several mornings a week when I open my computer, 8-15 documents have "popped out" and are all over the desktop.

How can I make them stay put?

I would create the necessary folders in your documents directory or relevant location and use aliases on the desktop to drag / drop your files on as you wish.

It is not good practise to store things directly on the desktop - it requires more memory when it goes to sleep etc


How can I determine the sound volume from within a python script? I need to see when the sound volume on my Mac hits a certain point, in Python (and preferably without the need of any permissions). Any pointers appreciated.

You have a couple of approaches you can use here.

AppleScript via osascript CLI

You can use AppleScript directly via the osascript CLI to get and set the volume like so:

Get volume - Echos a number from 0 to 100

$ osascript -e 'output volume of (get volume settings)'

Set volume - Where 50 is a number from 0 to 100

$ osascript -e 'set volume output volume 50'

Get mute state - Echos a string of 'true' or 'false'

$ osascript -e 'output muted of (get volume settings)'

Set mute state - Where 'true' can be 'true' or 'false'

$ osascript -e 'set volume output muted true'

Using osascript module in Python

If you have Python3 installed and Xcode you can install the osascript module like so:

Install Xcode

$ xcode-select --install

Install virtualenv

$ pip3 install virtualenv

Create a Virtualenv project, and activate it

$ virtualenv venv
$ . venv/bin/activate

Now within this custom Virtualenv environment, install Python module

$ pip3 install osascript
Collecting osascript
Collecting public (from osascript)
Collecting runcmd (from osascript)
Requirement already satisfied: setuptools in ./venv/lib/python3.7/site-packages (from osascript) (41.0.1)
Collecting temp (from osascript)
Collecting psutil (from runcmd->osascript)
Installing collected packages: public, psutil, runcmd, temp, osascript
Successfully installed osascript-2019.4.13 psutil-5.6.1 public-2019.4.13 runcmd-2019.4.13 temp-2019.4.13

Here's an example Python program that will set the volume to 100

$ cat vol.py
#!/usr/bin/env python3

import osascript

osascript.run("set volume output volume 100")
code, out, err = osascript.run("output volume of (get volume settings)")
print(out)

Running this will set to 100 and then display the volume's level

$ ./vol.py
100

References

How to change volume with Python?
Pipenv & Virtual Environments
Why am I getting an “invalid active developer path” when attempting to use Git after upgrading to macOS Catalina?
Set/get OSX volume/mute from the command line
PyPi - osascript


How to change default Memories photo in Apple Photo app I would like to change the default memories photo in the Photos app on my iPhone and Mac. When Photos creates memories, it will sometimes choose a photo as the banner photo that I don't want. Even after I edit the Memories movie and remove the photo, it still shows that photo.

Seems like the only way to "solve" this problem is to delete the photo altogether, hide it, or delete the memory, which I don't want to do. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!

To change, click on the person who you want to modify,  then press "Select" and click on the photo you want to change it to.

Then press the "Share" button and scroll across to where it says "Set Key Face." Press this and that photo will be the main photo for that person.

On iOS 12 - the thumbnail for memories is gone, so perhaps that will happen in Photos on macOS or the web interface to photos so you don't have to mess with curating the hidden attribute of a photo you want out of the "featured" image rotation. Hopefully adding new memories lets those photos you want to see rotate in as the main placeholder, but there's no direct way to choose that today.


Cant install OS X Sierra: requires OS X Server update? I have a late 2012 Mac Mini, whose compatibility with Sierra I have verified. The Mac Mini is currently on OS X El Capitan. I am trying to update it to Sierra and when I get to the step of selecting the destination disk, I get a popup that says:

"macOS Sierra supports macOS Server version 5.2. To upgrade your server data you will first need to install OS X 10.10 or 10.11 and OS X Server version 4 or 5."

There is no Server app installed in the machine. Maybe it was installed before my time under another account and then uninstalled.

What can I do to upgrade to Sierra without having to install the Server app? I have to upgrade to install the latest Xcode etc.

The answer can be found on the Apple message boards and I can confirm this worked for me:

As root using sudo command from Terminal, delete the /Library/Server folder using the following command: sudo rm -rf /Library/Server
Within Finder, delete "Server" application from the "Applications" folder.

I realize you did remove the server.app folder, but the Library/Server folder must also be removed and was hidden from the finder. I only found it through terminal.

The person on the apple forum must have been from the team and knew what the installer was looking for.


HDMI TV not showing as audio output in System Preferences I have linked a cable from my MacBook Air to my TV via HDMI but cannot get volume on the TV. I have gone into preferences-sound but their is no facility to change 'internal speakers'. How can I do this?

If you are using a Mini Displayport to HDMI adapter this should help you.  If you are using Mini-DVI to HDMI adapter then you will have to get audio from your headphone port via an external cable because DVI is strictly video.


iPad app where possible draw, save for reuse and drop 'objects' on canvas for prototyping and to make mockup For prototyping / mockup needs, I want an iPad app where it's possible to draw, save and drop 'templates' on a canvas.
Something similar to balsamiq mockups, where there is a collection of components that can be placed on canvas, but with the ability to create my own components by drawing and saving for later reuse.

The best app that comes to mind is Sketchbook Pro for the iPad. It's like a simplified version of Photoshop where it has brushes and a lot of features that are at the mercy of your fingertips. I have it, and it's great for prototyping / making concept art real quick.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sketchbook-pro-for-ipad/id364253478?mt=8

I don't know what you mean by saving and dropping templates onto a canvas, but hopefully this link will steer you in the right direction.


Recovering photos deleted from iOS devices I deleted photos from my iPhone when the phone memory was full. I subsequently deleted them from my iPad too. Now I can't find them anywhere.

I checked on iCloud but I can't see all of them. How do I recover the photos on my iPad?

If you didn't delete your photos from "Recently Deleted" album and it hasn't been 30 days since you deleted them, you can check that album in the Photos app. They should be there. Otherwise, they are gone for good if you don't have any copies or backups of them.


DVI-D to Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 I was previously using a thunderbolt 2 to DVI-D connection to successfully connect my macbook pro retina 2014 to my monitor as follows...

This works fine but I recently wanted to use the same monitor with my Macbook Pro 2017 and so bought this thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter to give the following...

With this setup however I get no signal whatsoever at the Monitor and so am assuming I'm doing something stupid.  Any thoughts what the problem is would be appreciated, particularly any recommendations on a better way to go from thunderbolt 3 to DVI-D

Hooking up multiple adapters in series to get from one type of connector to another, VIA a third type of adapter doesn't always work. However there are enough exceptions to the rule that it is worth trying if you don't mind losing money on unusable adapters or returning said adapters.

There are USB-C to DVI adapters that should work. Amazon sells several makes and models but a simple Google search should turn up a bunch more.


How do I enable 3 finger swipe down for App Expose in El Capitan I have two machines side by side and cannot get the new one to mimic the app expose behavior.

10.10.3 Yosemite - 3 finger down will show all windows in the current app
10.11.3 El Capitan - 3 finger down does nothing

I want to keep the "Group windows by application" in Mission Control behavior.  I just want 3 fingers down to behave like Yosemite, any help would be awesome.

System Preferences -> Trackpad -> More Gestures -> App Expose

And one thing changed since 10.10: From 10.11 it is
4 fingers
instead of
3 fingers

It will never work with 3 fingers again, get used to it as a 4 finger gesture.


How do I open an app in my new mac book pro I just bought a new mac book pro.  I am pretty sure I transferred my apps from my iPad to my mac book pro.  How do I open the apps now in my new mac book pro?  I can see all my apps in the iTunes library but when I double click on them, nothing happens.

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you

Please understand that iOS Apps are not supported by or built for OS X, therefore they will not run on your new MacBook Pro unfortunately.

If you take a look on the App Store, you should be able to find the OS X equivalents for the apps you'd like to use on your MBP - though you'd most likely have to purchase them again if they aren't free.


iMac does not wake from sleep on Bluetooth action I work on an iMac (Late 2015) with macOS High Sierra (10.13.3). On this computer I use a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

The computer should wake from sleep if the peripherals are used. The corresponding option "Allow BT devices to wake this computer" is activated.

For the past few weeks, unfortunately, the computer does not wake from sleep if the BT mouse or keyboard are used. Specifically, it does not wake in 80% of the cases. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it does not.

If it does not wake on BT action, I can wake it up using a slight touch on the power button. The computer awakes up, but there is no connection to the keyboard and the mouse. Also, there is no warning message, which usually pops up if the connection to a BT keyboard is lost.

The only thing I can do in this situation is to force restart unsing power button.

There are a lot of similar questions on AD but non of them has an accepted answer. Most commenters suggest to try the common things like restart (muhahaha) reset SMC and PRAM and so one. This did not work for me and it did not work for all the other OPs. In some older questions the problem was solved by updates. Currently there are no updates available.

Does anyone know how to fix this issue?

I noticed that when I connect the charging cable to either the mouse or keyboard and the MAC, that device starts working (because it's functioning as wired instead of BT). So I have my keyboard permanently plugged in to the charging cable and I have a wired mouse to use on standby when the BT mouse fails to wake.


Disable lock screen on iPhone How do I prevent my iPhone from giving me the "slide to unlock" screen every time I turn it on?

In other words, when I hit the lock or home buttons, I want to be taken straight to the homescreen, without having to "slide to unlock".

Apple didn't program a way to eliminate the “Slide to unlock” screen. Without jailbreaking the phone, you can't get around this preventative feature.

(I guess the rationale behind this design is as a precaution against accidentally doing something unwanted while your phone sits in your pocket/purse/hand and the power button gets bumped. This also is how the lock screen is designed to work when the device is not powered off.)

The best you can do with a stock OS is to disable auto-locking in “Settings > General > Auto-Lock > Never”. However, whenever the phone is locked manually you will have to slide to unlock before using the device.


How can I permanently delete folders from /var/folders/ situated in Trash? I recently encountered an error where none of the applications would open, similar to this. I was able to resolve the issue by using Go to Folder... option under the Go menu and navigating to /var/folders/. I deleted all the folders there and rebooted my system, after which everything is working normally.

The problem now that I'm unable to permanently delete the folders fz and sv from Trash. When I try to delete them, I get the following warning and no matter what I select, the folders are not deleted from Trash - The operation can’t be completed because the item “0” is in use.

Note - MacOS has already replaced these deleted folders in /var/folders/.

I've also tried deleting it from the terminal with super user permissions but still can't delete them -

Anish@Anishs-MBP:.Trash $ sudo rm -rf *
Password:
rm: fz/w4_v47p50v141vqr9pwtg9qc0000gp/0/SafariFamily: Operation not permitted
rm: fz/w4_v47p50v141vqr9pwtg9qc0000gp/0/com.apple.LaunchServices.dv: Operation not permitted
rm: fz/w4_v47p50v141vqr9pwtg9qc0000gp/0/com.apple.nsurlsessiond: Operation not permitted
rm: fz/w4_v47p50v141vqr9pwtg9qc0000gp/0/com.apple.routined: Operation not permitted
rm: fz/w4_v47p50v141vqr9pwtg9qc0000gp/0: Directory not empty
rm: fz/w4_v47p50v141vqr9pwtg9qc0000gp: Directory not empty
rm: fz: Directory not empty
rm: sv/tjz3fg0j3hx5_lhhmv335s0m0000gn/0/com.apple.LaunchServices.dv: Operation not permitted
rm: sv/tjz3fg0j3hx5_lhhmv335s0m0000gn/0/com.apple.nsurlsessiond: Operation not permitted
rm: sv/tjz3fg0j3hx5_lhhmv335s0m0000gn/0/com.apple.routined: Operation not permitted
rm: sv/tjz3fg0j3hx5_lhhmv335s0m0000gn/0: Directory not empty
rm: sv/tjz3fg0j3hx5_lhhmv335s0m0000gn: Directory not empty
rm: sv: Directory not empty

I've also rebooted the system in Safe Mode and tried to delete them but no luck.

I realize that there are operations being run tied with these files that's causing the problem. How do I find and stop these tasks so that I can delete these folders?

This issue is only with a single user account. It looks like I'll have to disable System Integrity Protection and then try to delete them. Is that safe? I'm using High Sierra if that matters.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If you can’t delete the file because a process is holding it open you could try killing the process and then deleting the file. To find the process try the command below

lsof | grep [path_to_file]

Then kill each process by ID with

kill -9 [id]

For lsof to give you the PIDs the file must be open when lsof is actually executing. If it’s being opened and closed extremely quickly by one or more processes then this approach may not work

There’s another way that’s more OSX friendly/specific which is the following command

sudo fs_usage | grep [path_to_file]


How to enable option to save credentials in Viscosity VPN? Apparently sometimes Viscosity disables the option to save credentials into Keychain and even reinstalling the application does not bring it back.

What is the trick to re-enable them?

While Viscosity support refused to answer the question and stated that reinstallation is needed, I was able to find this trick after a bit of digging:

defaults write com.viscosityvpn.Viscosity KeyChainSupport YES


Recover iPhone from an older iCloud backup There's some data I want to recover I've lost this morning due to an accidental synchronization. Unfortunately, it made a new backup, so recovering the lost files via iCloud doesn't seem possible anymore. So, is it possible to recover an iPhone from an older backup in iCloud?
Btw., there's no backup on my Mac as I've made a clean reinstallation. So, the only way to recover the lost files is by using iCloud.

You can see your available backups in iCloud when you go in your iPhone to Settings > your name > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backups. That’s all you have in iCloud.
If none of these backups store the data you need, then the only hope can be in the Time Machine backup before the reinstallation in case you backed up your iPhone in iTunes/Music app. In that case you may want to restore content of this directory while iTunes is not running:
/Users/[your user]/Library/Application Support/Mobile Sync
Once done, you can start iTunes and see restored backups in Settings and the tab with devices.


Mac Reset Password Isn't Working It's very often that I have to reset my Mac password using recovery mode as I keep using fingerprint to login. If I shut down my computer after prolonged use of fingerprint, the machine asks for a password which I remember, but the machine will not take it.

So I have to reset the password either from Apple ID way or from Recovery Mode Reset Password. But this time, nothing is working and my machine isn't updating the password which I'm changing as I keep seeing the old password hint even though I changed it to something else. I have even tried to reinstall OS hoping this will work but it didn't.

Can someone help me?

Can you verify your keyboard is set to the correct language?
Many "wrong password" inputs come from non-english keyboard layouts, e.g. z and y are switched on german keyboards, usually not a problem, but in recovery or single user mode the OS only understands english if not set otherwise.


Does iphone have an activity/ diagnostic log Don't know whats going on ... I am listening to music and all of a sudden it gets paused. The impression is that i got a call without actually getting it.

I suspect one application, but have no proof its the one.

Is there an activity log i can take a look to see what happens when it happens?

Yes, but it's just a crash log...

Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & Usage > Diagnostic & Usage Data

However, my experience is that it's more likely that your headphones have a fault in the cable or inline remote or dirt in your headphone jack or dock connector (pre-iPhone 5) which is causing it to pause randomly.

This is very common, especially if the headphones don't sit fully into the jack because of lint at the bottom.