Is it possible to fix the spacing when using "ls" with colored output? This is the exact same issue found here:
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/165154/changing-the-spacing-between-files-in-ls

When you run the command ls -G or CLICOLOR=1; ls the spacing in the output gets squished.

These images demonstrate what's going on (taken from the old thread):

Running ls when CLICOLOR is unset or set to 0:

Running ls -G:

This happens in any terminal emulator (terminal.app, iterm, kitty) and any shell (bash, zsh).

As the commenter points out in the previous thread, this is caused by ls -G setting f_notabs=1. From the source file https://opensource.apple.com/source/file_cmds/file_cmds-242/ls/ls.c.auto.html:

    if (f_color) {
        /*
         * We can't put tabs and color sequences together:
         * column number will be incremented incorrectly
         * for "stty oxtabs" mode.
         */
        f_notabs = 1;
        ...

Is there any way to fix this? I can't find any information on this since 2014.

Obviously this isn't the end of the world, but ls is one of the most frequently called shell commands and being able to have both color and nice spacing makes things easier to read. I am surprised there seems to be very little written about this as I would expect it to impact a large number of people.

If your using Terminal or iTerm you can go to preferences and look for option to change fonts. For iTerm its shown in the image below.

If you click on the change font button you get the following pane.

As you can see in this image there are sliders to adjust the character spacing. you can spread the characters out on the iTerm windows.


How to locate UI Button for AppleScript using Accessibility Inspector There are several articles here that address this question, but none offer the help to connect-the-dots.

The attached screen shot shot shows Accessibility Inspector for the button in question, which answers to 'process java'. It also shows the properties of the window (bottom) and 2 code strings to have AppleScript press the continue button. These are:

if exists (button "Continue" of window 1) then
    click button "Continue" of window
else if exists (button "continue" of window 1) then
    click button "continue" of window 1

I am almost certain 'tab' and 'space bar' might work for this. But, can it be done through the window? If so, how?

EDIT: Tried to get info about the buttons with:

 get every button of window 1 of process "java"
    --> {button 1 of window "Security Warning" of application process "java",
         button 2 of window "Security Warning" of application process "java",
         button 3 of window "Security Warning" of application process "java"}

It appears the buttons are 'close, zoom & minimize'. (upper left 3 dots)

To get information about UI elements in Accessibility Inspector, you just need to hover the mouse over whichever UI element you want to know more about. For the purposes of closing this security warning, you need to be able to identify which button and which window. So if you hover the mouse over the title bar of the window you can see the AXValue is "Security Warning". And if you hover over the Continue button you can see the AXTitle value is "Continue".

From this you can create the following AppleScript which will close this dialog...

tell application "System Events" to tell process "java"
    click button "Continue" of window "Security Warning"
end tell

Also you can get AppleScript to tell you the actual names of the buttons in the window with. Please note that it will list the three standard Close, Minimise, Maximise traffic light buttons in the top left corner as well.

tell application "System Events" to tell process "java"
    get name of every button of window "Security Warning"
end tell

Hope that helps.


Super slow browsing on rMBP until reboot I've just experienced a couple of days of incredibly slow browsing (using Chrome mostly, but changing browser didn't help) on my home wi-fi. After trying many things like rebooting the router, removing devices from the network, diagnosing with iStumbler, requesting new DHCP leases, setting manual IPs, I eventually rebooted the machine and everything is back to normal.

What could cause this behaviour?

It's a mid 2014 Macbook Pro with Retina. The wi-fi is an ageing Dynalink that only supports 802.11b/g. I have a VPN installed but not active, and many apps:

It had probably been a few weeks or even a month since the last reboot.

Throughout all these problems, a Macbook Air on the same network worked just fine - so it's not a question of some weird network saturation.

That menu bar looks like you're on Mavericks. You should upgrade to Yosemite and see if that helps.

Speaking of which, if you haven't already, you should check how Internet-using apps that aren't web browsers perform, such as seeing how long it takes Dropbox to download a new file.

If all else fails, you should go to a place with a newer router and see if anything improves.


Truecrypt error: the OSXFUSE file system is not available (255) My truecrypt files were mounting fine until today when I tried to mount it and I got the error: the OSXFUSE file system is not available (255). The weird thing is I honestly don't know what I could have done on my computer since yesterday when there were no problems that would have caused this. I tried deleting macfuse and osxfuse and redownloading both but it still doesn't work. The weird thing is when I remove OSXfuse it says it is not available (-1) and when I have it says the same thing but with (255). Is there anything I can do to get my files back? I am on mavericks if that matters.

Thanks!

I had a similar problem today. I installed osxfuse and ntfs-3g via Homebrew, but I didn't install the kernel extension. I got a similar error message trying to mount an NTFS drive in RW mode. After installing the osxfuse kernel extension (instructions are available via brew info osxfuse), the error went away. Strangely, it didn't happen the first time I mounted an NTFS drive using ntfs-3g.

I hope this helps.


"AKauthorization remote view" ? Did someone hack my macbook? So my macbook air was making a lot of noise. I opened the activity monitor and saw "akd" and "AKauthorization remote view" consuming most of the CPU (50%)+. So I stopped it and completely erased my macbook thinking it got hacked. Does anyone know what "AKauthorization remote view"  is?

It is unlikely you have been hacked. A process on your Mac is likely trying to verify your Apple ID with Apple's Sign On services.

AK = AuthKit
AS = Authentication Services

Private AuthKitUI Framework
AKAuthorization appears to be part of Apple's private AuthKitUI framework. This framework is stored at /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/AuthKitUI.framework on macOS.
The public Authentication Services likely uses AuthKitUI to provide the user interface:

Use the Authentication Services framework to improve the experience of users when they enter credentials to establish their identity.

Give users the ability to sign into your services with their Apple ID.
...

It is likely AKAuthorizationRemoteViewService is a user interface element that shows content provided by a remote service.
See jujigo
/
DragonBuild source that mentions this framework's contents.
Given AuthKit (AK) is a System Programming Interface (SPI) – and thus private to Apple's engineers – only Apple can authoritatively answer this question. You should provide feedback to Apple about this behaviour.


Is Screen Sharing Version 1.7.2 on MacOS Catalina an Encrypted Connection? I can't find info from Apple on this...I typically connect via ip address and port forwarding. Is this a fully encrypted connection or do I need to configure an SSH tunnel?

The server software on macOS Catalina does support encryption, but your client needs to support encryption too.

If you're using a standard VNC client to connect with a password only, nothing is encrypted. Not even the password. In this case I would recommend an SSH tunnel as you propose, or other forms of encryption such as an encrypted VPN, encrypted tunnel or similar.

If you're using the Screen Sharing app on macOS 10.8 (Mountain Lion) or later to connect with a username/password or AppleID, everything is encrypted.


Downgrade iOS 10 beta 2 to iOS 10 beta 1? I'm just curious. I know you can downgrade to iOS 9.3.2 from iOS 10, but I'm wondering if it's possible to downgrade between beta versions.

As long as you have a physical copy of that previous beta then you should be able to do it thru DFU mode but it's Not Recommended to downgrade and bear in mind that these betas do expire after a certain date and the earlier the number the sooner they'll expire.


What is EFI in partition scheme? Recently I changed my partition scheme from MBR to GPT, and during after conversion I saw a another partition named EFI ... I don't have a good idea what does it do or its purpose ... but I think it's use for backup's.

So my question here is can you explain/tell me about EFI and it purpose?

Here is the Wikipedia article on the EFI system partition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EFI_System_partition

It says, in part,

  The EFI System partition is a partition on a data storage device that is used by machines that adhere to the Extensible Firmware Interface. It contains the boot loader programs for all operating systems installed (in other partitions) on the device, device driver files (used by the firmware at boot time) for other devices, and system utility programs that are intended to be run before an operating system is booted.

  On Apple–Intel architecture Macintosh computers, the EFI partition is initially blank and not used for booting. However, the EFI partition is used as a staging area for firmware updates;


Does restoring an iPhone from backup remove existing data from the iPhone? I want to restore an old backup onto my iPhone. Will that delete the data currently on my iPhone, or does my data get added to what’s in the backup?

Restoring an iPhone from backup will wipe all its contents, then replace everything with what’s in the backup.

Whatever data is on your iPhone now, but not in the backup, will be GONE after the restoration process.


How can I see which QuickLook plugin is responsible for which data type? Sometimes, QuickLook doesn't work right with certain file types, even though it should. Or a file now looks different in QuickLook than it used to.

How to find out which QuickLook plugin, or .qlgenerator, is responsible for which types, and what to do about it?

Open Terminal, and type the following:

qlmanage -m plugins

This will give you a fairly long list of all your active QuickLook plugins:

The types listed there might look a little strange, like com.apple.safari.bookmark. Those are Apple Uniform Type Identifiers or short UTType identifiers, and there is a list of the default ones available from Apple here. If you're looking for a specific file extension, it might be a good idea to open that link and search the page for it. A search for txt reveals its UTType to be public.plain-text, and this is the type you will find it under in the qlmanage output.

So if a particular type of file looks strange in QuickLook, just look up its path here, go there and disable it (for instance by renaming its file extension to something other than qlgenerator), then come back to Terminal and force QuickLook to reload its list of plugins by typing

qlmanage -r

Run qlmanage -m plugins again to make sure the offending qlgenerator is not loaded anymore. Careful: QuickLook will even load them if they're in the trash, which is why we renamed the plugin above instead of trashing it.

Open a Finder window, find a file of the right type, and hit the space bar to double-check.


"USB Accessories Disabled" notification from Thunderbolt 3 network connection? I've got a MBP (16" 2019) connected to a MacBook Air (13" 2020) both running Catalina in clamshell mode. I have a Thunderbolt 3 cable between them for network connection. Ever since I connected this Thunderbolt cable between them, I get endless notifications reading "USB Accessories Disabled - Unplug the accessory using too much power to re-enable USB devices."
I'm not certain that it's specifically the Thunderbolt 3 cable that's generating this error; I just know I don't get it when it's not plugged in, and it only appears on the MBP, not the Air. The MBP also has a powered USB-C docking station that has some USB3-connected hard drives and a webcam - but even if I unplug the webcam and USB3 hard drives, I still get the notification about an accessory using too much power, and again I cease getting that notification when the Thunderbolt 3 cable is removed.
The Console log output around the notification reads:
[Line 825 of /AppleInternal/BuildRoot/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/IOUSBFamily_executables/IOUSBFamily-987.140.1/USBAgentAndDaemon/Daemon/Classes/USBDaemon.m] -[USBDaemon portOverCurrent:]overcurrent at 0x14300000
Is the Air trying to charge itself from the MBP over Thunderbolt? How can I get it to stop, or at least to stop the notification from appearing?

Is the Air trying to charge itself from the MBP over Thunderbolt?

That is quite possible.

How can I get it to stop, or at least to stop the notification from
appearing?

As I recall a MBP can source up to 15 watts to no more than two USB-C ports, and no more than 7.5 watts to the other two ports.  Apple laptops can sink power from only one USB-C port at a time.  If there is more than one power source connected then the laptop will choose to sink power from the source that is advertising the ability to source the most power.  If there's two sources advertising the same power output capability then it will choose one at random.  An Apple laptop will not typically switch from one source to another if both are of equal capability but if something should interrupt the connection to the first choice then it might flip.  An interruption might be from the laptop being put to sleep and reawakened, a reboot, a loose cable, a utility power glitch, or something else attached to the power source taking enough power that it changes it's advertised power ability.
Considering the MBA side of this connection first there's looking at where it should be getting power.  The first obvious thing to check is for loose cables.  I'll see docks and displays with more than one usable USB-C port to the host, where one supplies more power than the others.  Is the MBA connected to the high power port?  A low power port will supply 15 watts just like the MBP would, it wouldn't take much to trigger the MBA to flip to take power from the MBP.  Even if the MBA is connected to a dock, power brick, or display that advertises 60 watts of power available a glitch in the system could cause a flip.
On the MBP side there could be USB power issues other than the power hungry drives and video camera.  Consider what else is plugged in.  Consider that if the MBA is drawing power that it's going to want to take all 15 watts the MBP could give.  Given that you are not seeing the MBP try to sink power from the MBA it's likely that the MBP has a solid power source.  Or, it has a 96 watt power brick and a display capable of sourcing 60 watts connected that it's not likely to try getting 15 watts from the MBA.
I can certainly agree that it's not certain that the connection to the MBA is the problem but you did make a case on that being a place to look.  What would be helpful is to find a way to maintain this Thunderbolt connection but in a way that no power can travel down that wire.  That's not going to be easy, or at least not cheap.
One way to break that power connection and keep the Thunderbolt connection is with two Thunderbolt 2 adapters and a Thunderbolt 2 cable.  That's putting what is likely a $15 cable into a drawer and replacing it with a cable and adapters that would cost about $150.  Oh, and it would cut the bandwidth of the connection in half.  Perhaps with a steady hand and a sharp knife someone could do surgery on a $15 cable to remove the wires that transfer power and not disturb the wires needed for a Thunderbolt connection.  An optical Thunderbolt 3 cable would give full bandwidth and have no power transfer.  An optical Thunderbolt 3 cable would cost a lot of money too.  Is there a means to get Thunderbolt without power delivery that I'm missing?  If it's possible to borrow a couple Thunderbolt 2 adapters and a cable then you could at least test the theory.  Borrowing an optical cable would also work but likely be far more difficult.
I suspect that using anything other than a Thunderbolt cable to connect the two laptops is undesirable.  A Thunderbolt 3 cable is a very cheap and very fast way to connect two Apple computers.  There's just nothing else like it.  Opening up the set of acceptable solutions to those that include removing the Thunderbolt connection will likely bring a solution faster.  But then that makes it so trivial that there's not much to discuss.


Changing Graphics Card on a 2006 Mac Pro I have a 2006 Mac Pro running an ATI 1900XT graphics card, but since it is acting as a server (Windows 2008 R2), 99% of the time it's running headless (Remote Desktop does the job) and the graphics card is producting quite a LOT of heat (can heat a 2 liter bottle of Coke in about 40 min) I would like to replace this card with something cooler and quieter.

I am wondering is there anything that needs to be done to a graphics card that would allow it to be used on a Mac? I would prefer not to spend 2x or 3x the price of a bog-standard PCI-Express "PC" graphics card for a machine that wont be connected to a monitor all that often. I am seeing Mac-specific graphics cards (Nvidia GeForce GT 120) for about 120 EUR on Ebay, but can pick up an NVidia GeForce 210 Graphics card for 30 euros.

If you have a random low end PCI express graphics card you could probably put in any card and have it work and the most basic level. Guessing it should just work with no drivers on OS X although  it will probably be a horrible resolution and have no graphics acceleration, but it should work for when and if you need to throw a monitor on the Mac Pro when running OS X. However when booted into Windows it should be able to pick up the drivers from Windows Update or you can simply download and install drivers manually for any Windows compatible PCI Express graphics card.


Is there any way I could download a iphone app to my mac book pro? I want to be a able to download the amino app to my macbook but it has not been made to be able to do that but I would like to know if I could in some way

I think this has been answered before in this thread.

The general reason is that the code is compiled for an ARM CPU (iPhone, Samsung, Pixel, etc).  Your MacBook has an Intel CPU and the code instructions are different.  As a developer, there is a simulator in Xcode to develop a mobile application with, but the simulator is not really for use to obtain an application from the App store and run it.


How to start a recording on the macOS built-in Voice Memo The Voice Memo is not starting to record automatically.

If I press the red "Pause" button on the bottom left I end up back at the main screen.

Pressing the "Play" button does nothing. So how to use this (what should be dead simple) app?

Go to system preferences and click on sound and then click on the input tab. You should see a panel like the one below.

Click on the Mac microphone and set the input volume to a resonable setting (I use about halfway across). You can choose a position such that speaking in a normal voice will move the input level about 1/3 up the blue scale. See below.

Now try recording using the method you tried previously. When you start the voice recorder and hit the red button you should get a screen like the one shown above. While running, the white line indicating sound intensity will be colored red.


Macvim crashing about hourly Any hints on stabilizing MacVim?  I have version "Custom Version 7.4 (73)" as shown in screenshot

Typically MacVim is crashing when I am working on a different application - not when actually editing within vim.

I found an active github project that has fixed some bugs related to Yosemite.  Here is the repo:

https://github.com/macvim-dev/macvim


Why is the Caching service stuck waiting for push token and never starts on OS X Server (Mavericks)? I've installed OS X Server app on a Mid-2007 iMac running OS X Mavericks. The installation was successful, but the Caching server doesn't start. The Server application graphically indicates that the server is started, but sudo serveradmin status caching indicates as follows:

caching:CacheStatus = "STARTING"
caching:StartupStatus = "PENDING"

When I examine /Library/Server/Caching/Logs/Debug.log, the last two relevant lines are always:

Registering for notifications
Waiting for push token

Yet, when I go to the server's Settings pane in the Server app, the "Enable Apple push notifications" option is checked, and the details dialog available after clicking "Edit..." indicates a valid push notifications certificate. When I click "Manage your certificates" in the same dialog, the "Apple Push Certificates Portal" website indicates a valid certificate as well.

The cache doesn't want to start - what's up? How do I get the elusive push token?

The clue came from the system log, looking at the entries from Apple Push Services Daemon (apsd):

apsd[69]: Hardware SerialNumber "System Serial#" looks incorrect or invalid

It turns out that this machine had a logic board (motherboard) replaced a while ago by Apple, and they never bothered to flash the machine's serial number. The only fix is to look for the tool that Apple technicians themselves use to flash the serial number onto a new motherboard.

I had to write down the serial # from the bottom of the stand and double-check on apple's support status site to make sure it matches my system. The serial flash tool will only let you set a new number, it won't change it, so if you mess up you're out of luck.

After running the tool and rebooting the system, the caching service started correctly without further ado.


Backing up Macintosh HD via Disk Utility (error -5344) I am trying to backup the Macintosh HD, to my external hard drive via disk utility. I created a blank image and tried to restored my MacintoshHD to that image, but the error pops up, "Restore Failure: error -5344"

Any help on how can I proceed with the backup?

If you have two Machintosh HDs together, choose the second (indented) one. You may need to unlock it via the context menu.

Then tell Disk Utility to create an image of the volume directly. In Disk Utility with the Macintosh HD volume selected, use New disk image on the toolbar or select New > Disk Image from "Macintosh HD" from the File menu.

Bear in mind that the created image has all of the problems from the original filesystem, and the creation of the image may fail if there are underlying I/O errors.

You could instead install the OS on the external drive and manually copy what you need to keep. If you get an error (usually -36 or -50), divide the problematic set in half and keep copying until you've either found a set of files you don't care about or narrowed it down to the exact things that have errors and have to be skipped.

If you need applications that weren't just dragged to /Applications, use the migration assistant, and hope it doesn't hit something that won't copy.


Download apps to 1st gen ipad I bought my Mom a 1st gen for Mothers day.  But now I cannot get any apps!
Any help would be appreciated. I have no idea where to start.

A first-generation iPad only supports iOS 5. That means it only runs apps that still support iOS 5, which are few and far between.

To download these apps, head to the App Store (the blue icon on the iPad's home screen), and you'll be able to download apps. Either they'll download or give you an error that they're not supported, in which case you can't download them.


Run shell script by double clicking in non-login prompt in terminal This question is super similar to this, but I'm curious how to launch the shell script in a non-login shell prompt. I already have it set up to run with iterm2 when I double-click. I don't really care if it uses iterm2 or Terminal, I can easily switch that if needed. I really am just interested in getting it to run in a non-login prompt.

I have my script set to run by dash (!#/usr/bin/env dash) but because it first starts up a zsh login prompt it sometimes prompts me things I don't want it to bother with (e.g., starting my ssh agent and asking if I want to update oh-my-zsh).

My guess (I might be wrong) is that if it started as a non-login prompt it wouldn't try to do these things. If it turns out that zsh non-login prompt still does this then I can probably set it up to run straight in dash in a similar way.

The Automator application can be used to create an application that will run a shell script. The steps are given below.

Open the Automator application.
Choose New Document.
Highlight the icon labeled Application, then select Choose.

Under Library, select Utilities, then drag Run Shell Script to the window labeled Drag actions or files here to build your workflow.

Change Pass input: to as arguments, as shown below.

Replace the script with your own text. A simple example is given below.

From the menu bar, select File->Save..., as shown below. When done select Save.

Quit the Automator application.
(Optional) Find the new application in the Finder. Right click on the new application and select Get Info. Drag and drop a new icon set (.icns) file over the existing icon for the application, as shown below.

The result is shown below.

  Note: A .icns is not the same as a .jpg or .png file. You have to convert .jpg or .png to a .icns file before being used as a icon.

Test the new application. In this case, double clicking on the icon for the new application in the Finder produces the popup shown below.


How can I set up a private virtual LAN for my laptop and its guest VMs I have two VirtualBox guest VMs running Linux under a MacOS X host.

I'm using bridged networking mode but I am not in control of the DHCP server and can not give my host+guests static IPs. Any time a DHCP lease expires, or I join a different network, I have to deal with my VM IPs changing, and consequently change all my firewall rules and /etc/hosts entries, etc. which is a pain to say the least.

So I want to set up a virtual LAN on my laptop like 10.20.30.0/24. Then make my host OS (the laptop) be .1, and the guest VMs be .2 and .3. The VMs need to be able to access the Internet through the host's connection. Sometimes that would be out the wired interface, other times out the AirPort. It would be ideal if, when the host's internet connection changes from wired to wireless, guest internet access is not interrupted.

Can I do this on OS X? What commands do I run, sysctls to set, etc.

I haven't tried it on an OS X host but "Host-only networking" does what you want. See: http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch06.html


Connecting an iPhone to the internet Only with a Stand Apple USB Cable Without Jailbreak I have an iPhone 4S and I don't have a SIM/Data card nor can I connect to the internet using Wi-Fi as the module is broken.

I am using a Windows 7 Laptop and I'm wondering if it's possible to connect my iPhone to the internet via a standard Apple USB cable. I have confirmed my connection to the internet on my laptop. Thanks in advance.

Edit: My iPhone is not Jailbroken

I found some (complex) instructions here.

But since you have some complex situation with your iPhone, no SIM, no data, and NO WiFi !!, this might work for you.

It describes how to use PC Internet over IPhone via USB Cable.

Important to know is:

First and for most we need a jailbreak iPhone with Cydia installed.

In PC you have to download the latest version of IFunbox v1.9.
Download and install Privoxy v3.0.19.
Download and extract Bitvise Tunnelier

and so on... (to long to copy in here)

I could not verify for you since I do not have your setup.


.afpDeleted* files, who's making them? When I use ls, I get the following message.

  ls: .afpDeleted38045157: No such file or directory

My svn fails in this directory with

  svn: E070008: Can't read directory 'current path': Partial results are valid but processing is incomplete

Apparently, these .afpDeleted files are some form of deleted files that are still open according to http://lists.apple.com/archives/macos-x-server/2004/Jun/msg01271.html

How do I know which program generated this file? I can't even access what's in the file, nor can I remove it arbitrarily.

I'm using Mac OS 10.8.4.

EDIT: After killing several suspected processes, I found out it was my MATLAB. I still want to understand more about this afpDeleted* business though.

In the 2004 words of Leland Wallace, an Apple employee in the Core Servers group:

  There is a unix programming "pattern" of creating a temp file, opening
  it, then deleting it, keeping it open. This allows the application to
  have a private scratch file that cannot be accessed by any other
  process (the file will to be completely deleted when it is closed).
  AFP does not have direct support for "open-delete" so we need to fake
  it by renaming the "deleted" file to .afpDeletedXXX and deferring the
  delete until it is closed.

Source: http://lists.apple.com/archives/macos-x-server/2004/Jun/msg01271.html


How to view saved passwords on Chrome iOS? On my desktop I have an extension which prevents websites from reqesting the browser not to recognize the password fields (I imagine they view this feature as unsecure). Now I have synced my passwords with Chrome in iOS, and the extension is not available on iPad. This means that while the
password has synced, it does not automatically get entered into the password field. So I thought I would just view the saved password and enter it manually. Unfortunately I am unable to do so. If anyone knows how to either view my passwords or otherwise recover it, I would be most grateful.

You can't review your stored Passwords in the Chrome App at all.

On the App and in the Support Documents Apple mentions  to use the url passwords.google.com see

On that Page when you open it on your Moblie it says that you can access your Passwords From all your Divices but not fron this Site see

So i think there is currently no way you can have a Look at your saved Passwords at the Moment.

If you realy need it you should Fill a Bug request and send it to Google so they maybe will fix it in the App.


How to scan a Mac for rootkits and other stealthy security hazards I'm looking at buying a second-hand Mac, probably one that does not include an OS installation disk.  How can I scan it to make sure that it has not had security threats installed on it?  Is there a CD or DVD image I can boot it up with to perform this scan offline?

Edit: prospective machine would be a 2011- or 2012-vintage MacBook Pro.

Also note that I don't have reliable access to high-speed internet, so solutions that involve downloading 5GB over the Internet are not ideal.  For others, though, this guide to creating a bootable Mavericks install medium may be helpful.

I ended up using a second Mac to do a scan with the questionable machine booted into target disk mode.

My actual scanning procedure was

0) (done before using target disk mode) update system and apps on both machines to current versions

1) compare files on both machines using this script:

DIRS=(Applications Library mach_kernel bin "private/etc" sbin usr);
# leaving out /opt as it seems to just contain MacPorts stuff

for dir in "${DIRS[@]}"; do
  # diff: recursive, just output whether files differ
  diff -r -q --speed-large-files "$1/$dir" "$2/$dir";
done;

1.1) I used a high-powered text editor (vim) to make sense of the output.  My basic strategy was to just organize the lines of output by the first couple of levels of the directory structure using indent-based code folding.  This technique does require some general and POSIX-ish-specific computing knowledge, in particular to differentiate "okay" differences from potentially dangerous differences.

2) I ran chkrootkit using the command

sudo ./chkrootkit -q -r /Volumes/system/

2.1) chkrootkit came up with the following output.  These indications seem to be due to running the scan on a target disk and/or due to differences between the various operating systems that chkrootkit supports.

error: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/strings: can't map file: /Volumes/system/ (Invalid argument)
error: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/strings: can't map file: /Volumes/system/ (Invalid argument)
not tested
not tested
unable to open wtmp-file /Volumes/system/wtmp
not tested: not found wtmp and/or lastlog file

2.2) In order to get chkrootkit to compile, I had to uncomment a line in the Makefile.  It's clearly indicated in the Makefile.  See here for more info.

SUMMARY

I feel pretty confident that this was an effective scan (given the clean state of the scanning system).  However, there are a few downsides to this method:

It assumes that the scanning computer is clean
It requires another Mac (obviously)
It can be painfully difficult to find a 9-pin-to-9-pin Firewire cable

In case you don't have an extra Mac available, here are a couple of alternatives to this approach:

It's possible to put a clean install of OSX onto a USB drive.  To do this, you boot the machine while holding down command-option-R to do an Internet Recovery.  This bypasses the disk contents and uses firmware code to install OSX from Apple's servers.  Apparently you can just plug a USB drive in and choose this as the installation target; afterwards you can boot the machine from the USB drive and run scans on the system drive.  Downside here is that this is a >5GB download, so you'd better have a fast Internet connection (or some patience).
I could have also pulled the drive out of the machine and put it into a hard drive enclosure.  The advantages here are that I wouldn't have had to use a Mac to scan it, and that I wouldn't have had to find a 9-pin-to-9-pin Firewire cable.  Of course, if I didn't use a Mac to scan it, I wouldn't have been able to use my first scanning method (the diff).


Can't Boot from Snow Leopard anymore after having installed mavericks on an external HDD I have a Macbook Pro running Mac OS X 10.6.

I wanted to test how mavericks works on my computer so I downloaded the OS and then I installed on a external USB HDD. Everything work as expected. I can now boot from the USB device with mavericks and I still see my internal HDD (containing Snow Leopard) with all the data untouched.

The problem is that I can't boot anymore from my internal HDD, even if the usb drive is not connected, I can see that the boot is "mavericks-style" and then fails because it doesn't find the drive. It seems that the installation procedure not only installed mavericks on the external drive, but also overwrites the boot sector of the internal HDD?

This one is already answered in the other discussion forum:
Open SystemPreferences->StartupDisk  and choose the SnowLeopard Disk, then restart.
Lex


How to remove new line from Terminal on launch? When I launch terminal, it always puts a new line at the beginning first.  I am using zsh and did install ohmyzsh, but I can't seem to find anything that would cause this behaviour.  Please see attached screenshot.  Using powerlevel10k theme.
I checked .bashrc, .zshrc, and every other profile I can think of but can't figure it out.

New tab and pressed return

UPDATE 2: .zshrc BAD CONTENT IDENTIFIED
# Colorise the top Tabs of Iterm2 with the same color as background
# Just change the 18/26/33 wich are the rgb values
echo -e "\033]6;1;bg;red;brightness;18\a"
echo -e "\033]6;1;bg;green;brightness;26\a"
echo -e "\033]6;1;bg;blue;brightness;33\a"

I don't know why these echo commands are causing that behavior, but when I comment out each one, the "new line" is less and less" until I have commented out all three.  I got the commands from this medium.com post but it's only supposed to change the tab color.  I have removed them now, but tabs are blah.  Better than the line spacing.

Comment out or remove the following three lines from ~/.zshrc
#echo -e "\033]6;1;bg;red;brightness;18\a"
#echo -e "\033]6;1;bg;green;brightness;26\a"
#echo -e "\033]6;1;bg;blue;brightness;33\a"

Each echo actually creates a new line (on BigSur 11.2.3) and together they create 3 new lines on every new window/tab.


Where is the backspace button on a MacBook keyboard? I need to know where is the back space in a MacBook Pro keyboard. I am new to the Mac, and not familiar with the keyboard layout.

The delete button is the equivalent of backspace on Windows, while fn + delete is the equivalent of the Windows delete.


Is a person fully able to make use of iCloud's ability to store and sync documents in the cloud if a person is not a die-hard iWork user? I see that if I use Preview.app its new method to move files to the cloud, I am not able to access it on my iPad or iPod.

I have only one Mac, and an iPad and iPod touch. I use MS Word, Excel, etc., not iWork.

Given the above, am I right that iCloud does not really serve me, with regards to hoping to shift some of my documents and work into the cloud, for nicely synced access and consumption on other devices?

(Note, I understand that iCloud's features syncing calendars and contacts work fine. I am talking about documents syncing and cloud storage features -- whether they do not serve my situation.)

If you don't use iWork, iCloud will not help you very much for your documents and other files. On an iOS device, you can only open iWork files from iCloud. If you use any other file types, Dropbox would probably be the best alternative to iCloud.

Although Mountain Lion allows you to store other kinds of files on iCloud, the only benefit you get from that is cloud backup of those files. However, if you want more than 5 GB of space, you have to pay for it, so it's likely not worth it.

Update: I read that app developers now have the ability use iCloud to store files used by their apps. So, in the future, Microsoft could allow for you to have an iCloud library for MS Word files so that you could save them to iCloud on your Mac and then open them in your Microsoft Word application on your iPad (which doesn't exist). The catch is that the developer has to make the Mac app and the iOS app for this to be possible. So, as a counterexample, since Apple does not have a TextEdit app for the iPad, you can't open TextEdit files from iCloud on the iPad. Some company, though, could write a Mac app and an iOS app that allows you to edit text files from iCloud on any device.


Does System Integrity Protection have any effects on OS's besides Mac OS? If I understand correctly, SIP is a security feature that protects certain folders on Mac OS from modification, even by root users.

I don't know how it works on a low level though, and I was wondering if enabling/disabling it has any positive/negative effects on other OS's installed on a Macbook, such as Windows or Linux distros. So, does it?

No, SIP is only applied within a macOS partition. You can have a look at /System/Library/Sandbox/rootless.conf to see which folders and files get protected by default.


how can I save my contacts from iphone? I use my iphone with a apple id until now, unfortunately because of some personal issues I have to change my apple id. I only worry about my contact numbers.
Is there any way that I can save them and change apple id ?

The contact numbers will be retained on your iPhone and transfer to your new AppleID.

What you will want to do is sign out of your old AppleID on the phone and then go into icloud.com under your old AppleID and delete everything you no longer want there.

When you create a new AppleID the contacts and other info will be uploaded to your new AppleID account.

At least that is how it is supposed to work. I would do a manual backup of the phone to your computer (using iTunes) just to be safe. you will likely not have to use the backup but It's always a good idea to have a fallback option...


How to choose mac battery? I had a problem with my battery(as I think). Actually I asked the question before about this issue here MacBook turning off suddenly

And eventually, I have decided to change my battery. I opened my MacBook and took a few pictures

And now I would like to buy genuine MacBook a1417 battery, by this search request I can find on eBay a lot of offers, but the question here is how to understand that this or that battery a really genuine(original) and I that I can buy it without any doubts?

For example this two

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F202630493472

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F202496878288

Both of them wrote Genuine, but price difference in around 10$... and anyway how can I check that this battery really good and genuine one?

Apple does not sell or distribute its OEM parts to consumers; Apple parts are only available to Apple stores and to Apple Authorized Service Providers. To get an Apple battery, you must either take your MacBook in for repair at an Apple store or to an Apple Authorized Service Provider. Neither of these sources will sell parts (here, a battery) by itself.

Thus, all MacBook batteries offered in the marketplace are non-OEM. They may be perfectly good (perhaps even taken from the same factory production line as Apple's parts), or they may be inferior.

As a consumer, the best you can do is to buy from a reputable source; one that offers its own warranty, and will replace the part if it is defective.

I've installed several MacBook and iPhone batteries from iFixit.com, using non-OEM replacements. They've worked fine.


How do I measure the performance impact of antivirus applications? I'm evaluating Antivirus software suites for my Mac, and would like to measure the performance impact they have on my computer.

I am not looking to do a expert-level thorough examination, but rather get a crude measure with some snapshot data points (or time-series data if possible).

What are the main metrics I should monitor? I'm thinking about the application's CPU usage – but is there anything else?
Is there a user-friendly way to do this (using an application or Terminal tool)?

If there is a general answer that applies to measuring any type of application, perhaps the question title should be changed to “how to measure the performance impact of MacOS applications”.

Note: There are of course a few AV comparison sites out there. But I've been slightly perplexed when looking at their results. For instance, one year ESET Cybersecurity Pro gets a top score in the performance department, but the next year it scores much lower and the article will say that it's a drag on the computer. I gather that one way to find out what works is to test them yourself.

AV-TEST state that their method is to use a large number of files & record the time taken to download, then repeat using each antivirus & see how much it slows down.

  Partly disappointing system loads

  For the load test of the security packages, 839 files, representing a
  volume of 30.6 GB, were copied on a reference system, and many
  downloads were performed. The time needed for these tasks served as
  the reference value in the test. As soon as a protection solution was
  installed, it was required to complete the same tasks. The relevant
  times required are listed in the latest test chart. The results,
  however, could not be more diverse. The reference time was 246
  seconds. As already mentioned, the packages from Bitdefender and ESET,
  with 249 and 253 seconds, hardly put the brakes on the system. The
  other values from Symantec, Canimaan Software, Kaspersky and AVG are
  good up to the clocked 268 seconds, however they're not great. But
  after Sophos with 284 seconds, the values continue to increase
  significantly: from 292 to 466 for Avast. The nearly unbelievable
  value of 1387 seconds was measured for Dr. Web. That is more than 5.6
  times the reference value.

[the referenced chart]

In my own, less than scientific tests, I could feel the slowdown using Sophos or Avast, long before I read about them on the AV-TEST site.

Regarding system load, they appear to be less specific. One can only imagine they are looking at Activity Monitor, but there's no direct information, only the rather vague

  The two charts with the test results quickly reveal that the
  protection solutions from Bitdefender and ESET, despite 100% detection
  rate, cause little or no burden on the system. They require for their
  own performance a mere 1 to 2% of system resources. Most of the other
  solutions in fact require up to 10% system resources for security
  performance, in some cases even m ore.


Git plug-in for Finder? Is there a plug-in for the Finder which lets me see and do all my git-related stuff?

There are many different apps or the terminal which change the prompt to show that files are “dirty” in terms of not being checked in or showing which branch of the code you are browsing.

I’m wondering if there are any Finder integration or visual indicators that will show if:

the current directory is under code control
the current directory has un-committed changes
is under code control at all

Are there graphical tools that are paid or free that integrate git status with Finder windows?

SnailGit is close (but not free) alternative to TortoiseGit that works for mac. It does displays badges directly in Finder. And it has right-click git menu for operations on repositories.

Free version is limited to one folder.


Trying to understand display specs of macbook pro I want to buy a monitor to connect to my macbook pro. From apple's website this is what I have gathered:

Retina display
15.4-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2880-by-1800 native resolution at 220 pixels per inch with support for
millions of colors
Supported scaled resolutions:
1920 by 1200
1680 by 1050
1280 by 800
1024 by 640
500 nits brightness
Wide color (P3)
True Tone technology

Video Support:

Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display
at millions of colors and:
Up to two displays with 5120-by-2880
resolution at 60Hz at over a billion colors
Up to four displays with
4096-by-2304 resolution at 60Hz at over a billion colors
Thunderbolt 3
digital video output
Native DisplayPort output over USB‑C VGA, HDMI,
DVI, and
Thunderbolt 2 output supported using adapters (sold
separately)

Questions:
Most monitors I can find online in my preferred price range support 1920x1080 resolution. Will they work with macbook pro as I cannot find 1920x1080 in the supported resolutions above?
Referring to "Up to two displays with 5120-by-2880" - does it mean each monitor has 5120x2880 resolution? That seems awfully large and I cannot find any monitor with so much resolution.
What would be a middle-of-the-road recommended resolution to buy? Thanks

1.Will they work with macbook pro as I cannot find 1920x1080 in the supported resolutions above?

Yes,they would work just fine.But only with resolution of 1920*1080 or below.

2.Referring to "Up to two displays with 5120-by-2880" - does it mean each monitor has 5120x2880 resolution?

You could output 5120*2880,but the monitor may not support it.

3.What would be a middle-of-the-road recommended resolution to buy?

To use an external display from a MacBook Pro ,I would only recommend displays with a resolution of 4K or 5K.

One thing you have to know about MacBook and external display is the output is blurry due to the font used by OS X,and the only solution to this is high resolution in much smaller display, or HiDPI.


iPhone 5: Does the Wahoo Key work with the Classic-to-Lightning adapter? I have a Wahoo Fisica Key I use for sports. It’s is a small dongle that enables sports apps to connect to heart rate monitors, pedometers, etc. It goes into my iPhone 4 classic iPhone 30-pin-connector.

Wahoo’s website obviously says it does not work with the iPhone 5, but I assume this is just for the physical incompatibility of 30-pin and Lightning. When upgrading from iPhone 4 to iPhone 5, will the sensor work with the 30-pin/Lightning adapter?

Yes it does. According to Wahoo Support, one would be

  ... able to use the lightning adapter to continue using our Wahoo Key.
  This would add about an inch to the bottom of the iPhone.


How to make Terminal windows persistent How can I make it so Terminal will remember the currently open windows on Quit, and reopen those windows, with all the existing text intact?

I have two machines:

Both on El Cap
Both with identical Terminal preferences, including:

Profiles > Window > Restore text when reopening windows [checked]
Profiles > Shell > When the shell exits [Don't close the window]

Both with identical .bash_profiles (just for LSCOLORS)

On the first machine, Terminal reopens windows exactly as I left them before Quit.

On the second machine, Terminal always starts with an empty bash window.  I can still press up to get previous commands.  (And the scrollbar is different on the second machine, FWIW).

I can't figure out what's responsible for the (desired) behavior on the first machine, so I haven't been able to port it to the second machine.  Any suggestions?

You have "Close windows when quitting an app" checked on the machine that does not restore the terminal windows (your second machine).

This setting is in System Preferences -> General  not in your Terminal preferences.

Uncheck this box to get the desired behavior.  Understand however that this behavior can extend to other applications as well - it is not restricted to Terminal.app

As for the scroll bars, I suspect you will find that the Show Scroll Bars radio button in System Preferences -> General is not set the same on your two machines.


Why is the Turkish Government in my computer? Perusing Keychain Access, I see that "TÜBİTAK UEKAE Kök Sertifika Hizmet Sağlayıcısı - Sürüm 3" is listed as a trusted root certificate authority. Per this 2013 article, I understand that:

  my laptop trusts anything signed by “TÜBİTAK UEKAE Kök Sertifika Hizmet Sağlayıcısı”. That’s, apparently, a Turkish government entity. Now, I’ve no particular reason to distrust them, but until a minute ago I had no idea that my computer trusted them. More concerningly, I wouldn’t really know if that certificate came built into [the OS] or just got added last week by a nasty bit of malware…

Is this normal? How should I deal with such a thing?

Delete the certificate? (Is this even possible with S.I.P.?)
"Untrust" the certificate?
Is there a way to neutralize all the certificates which weren't there
when the OS was first installed? (is this even a good idea?)

Of note, there are a handful of other oddly named (therefore suspicious looking to me) certificates in my Keychain Access. Per the comments to this similar question I am reticent to just start deleting/disabling certificates without a better understanding of what I am doing, how to undo any damage I might cause by deleting certificates which look suspicious or a better understanding of the security issues.

Apologies if this is too broad a question, but what is the Turkish government doing on my computer and should I get rid of the embassy they've installed in my computer?

I am particularly leery, as apparently there is a "Turkish Crime Family" making threats about Apple accounts which they are claiming will happen this April 7, 2017.

FWIW: macOS Sierra 10.12.4, mid-2012 MacBook Air

Per this list of "trusted root certificates in iOS 9" from Apple it seems this is just one of many of the trusted root authorities around the globe. While this is for iOS and not macOS, which you're asking about, I'd assume Apple would keep parity on these OS's.

If you were to untrust them I'd imagine some part of the internet (however small) may stop validating SSL certs on your machine.

Edit: Here's another list specific to macOS, straight from Apple.


remove all alarms of all overdue reminders with AppleScript on OS X I want to remove all alarms / notifications (there may be none, one or more than one) of all overdue reminders in the Reminders app of OS X.

I tried to use AppleScript for this, but having troubles understanding how to properly work with objects. I figured out how to get all those reminders, though:

tell application "Reminders"
    activate
    set myRemList to every reminder whose due date is less than (current date) as list
    repeat with myitem in myRemList
        log (get properties of myitem)
    end repeat
end tell

Is this code usable (any fatal mistakes I'm not aware of)? How can I remove the alarms?

[Edit]

Here's an example of what I want to achieve:

Consider this one which reminds me to call Jon Doe:

The item is due today and a reminder is set to notify me at 14.00 (2 pm). When my planning has changed there are few of those items, popping up their reminders ("call jon doe" in this example). I want that "remind me" property to be unticked for all overdue items.

There was no fatal mistake in the code shown in the OP, however the proper way to use current date, in this case, is by letting the current application do it, not Reminders, as it actually errors out but does recover, hence not fatal. Nonetheless one should write code that's not going to needlessly error out. So, before the tell application "Reminders" code block, set current date to a variable and use the variable within the Reminders code block, as shown in the code further below.

Note that I personally do not use the Reminders app, however going by what's exposed in Reminders's AppleScript Dictionary, the following properties, not marked asr/o, are what can be programmatically changed for the reminder class.

  name (text) : the name of the reminder
  id (text, r/o) : the unique identifier of the reminder
  body (text) : the notes attached to the reminder
  completed (boolean) : Is the reminder completed?
  completion date (date) : the completion date of the reminder
  container (list, r/o) : the container of the reminder
  creation date (date, r/o) : the creation date of the reminder
  due date (date) : the due date of the reminder
  modification date (date, r/o) : the modification date of the reminder
  remind me date (date) : the remind date of the reminder
  priority (integer) : the priority of the reminder

As a test, I created a reminder named "Test" and set the remind me [√] check box to yesterdays date, so as to conform with the search parameter in the code further below.

Then, in Script Editor, I used the following line of code to get its properties.

tell application "Reminders" to get properties of reminder named "Test"

It returned:

{due date:date "Saturday, September 10, 2016 2:00:00 PM", modification date:date "Sunday, September 11, 2016 1:49:35 PM", class:reminder, body:missing value, completed:false, completion date:missing value, id:"3F0EF538-5DF6-4F1C-8024-922B5D45EB9B", name:"Test", container:list id "9EB58C9B-EF63-4B72-88C3-A4FFA3C7272F" of application "Reminders", priority:0, creation date:date "Sunday, September 11, 2016 1:49:13 PM", remind me date:date "Saturday, September 10, 2016 2:00:00 PM"}

I then manually unchecked the remind me [] check box and ran the ... get properties ... code again.

It returned:

{due date:missing value, modification date:date "Sunday, September 11, 2016 1:49:35 PM", class:reminder, body:missing value, completed:false, completion date:missing value, id:"3F0EF538-5DF6-4F1C-8024-922B5D45EB9B", name:"Test", container:list id "9EB58C9B-EF63-4B72-88C3-A4FFA3C7272F" of application "Reminders", priority:0, creation date:date "Sunday, September 11, 2016 1:49:13 PM", remind me date:missing value}

The primary difference between the two was the first and last items in the list, i.e., the due date and the remind me date, went from due date:date "Saturday, September 10, 2016 2:00:00 PM" to due date:missing value with the same for remind me date, having remind me date:missing value too.

So I tested the code below using both preferences, due date and remind me date just to see if there was any difference and there wasn't, as removing one removed the other.

The following code will remove both the due date and remind me date from any Reminder that's older then current date and has not been marked completed, at the time the code is run, as this is what occurs, at least to the properties of a reminder, in one has manually unchecked the remind me [] check box.

set curDate to current date

tell application "Reminders"
    activate
    set myRemList to every reminder whose due date is less than curDate as list
    repeat with myitem in myRemList
        if completed of myitem is false then
            delete remind me date of myitem
        end if
    end repeat
end tell

The code above can also be written as shown below. This actually is a better way to write it, as it makes for a smaller list returned because it's then only creating a list of items (reminders) that have not yet been marked as  completed. As after all, ones already marked as completed are not going to trigger an "alarm".

set curDate to current date

tell application "Reminders"
    activate
    set myRemList to every reminder whose completed is false and due date is less than curDate as list
    repeat with myitem in myRemList
        delete remind me date of myitem
    end repeat
end tell

Based upon your edited OP, if this does not do what is needed, then I do not know what else I can offer, as I can only work within what properties are exposed and editable.

Note: I was not able to reproduce the reminder as shown in your edit, i.e. the line starting with "due" directly under the [] At a Location check box and above "repeat None". However, what is now offered as the answer to "remove all alarms of all overdue reminders with AppleScript on OS X" does mimic the manual action of unchecking the remind me [] check box, which is what you've now asked for through the edit made to the OP. I hope this resolves your issue.


How can I return the logged in user from inside a pkg which is running as root? I'm using the Packages app to create an installer which includes, among other things, a launchd job.
The postinstall Bash script needs to target the logged in user as follows:
launchctl bootstrap gui/$UID ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.mycompany.myproduct.plist

The problem is that $UID returns 0 when run from within the package.
The following tweak works as expected on my machine but the target deployment users don't use 501 but mobile accounts so the UID differs with each AD account
launchctl bootstrap gui/501 ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.mycompany.myproduct.plist

I've tried all sorts of things:
$SUDO_USER
$LOGNAME
$(who -m | awk '{print $1;})
$(logname 2>/dev/null || $SUDO_NAME)

All return the 0/root user.
This seems to work, on my machine, when run it Terminal after sudo su. But, as I don't understand the /dev/console bit (or the %Su parameter), is it 100% reliable?
id -P $(stat -f%Su /dev/console) | cut -d : -f 3

The stat command is run with the -f%Su parameter, where -f means that an output format follows, and %Su means that it should output (%) a string (S) which is the user ID (u) of the file's owner.
Your command then provides the username to the id command in order to get to the username - which seems to be a way roundabout way of getting that, as you could just have asked stat for it initially like this:
stat -f%Uu /dev/console

Doing it like this means you won't have to call id and cut.
The stat command is completely reliable in returning the user id/name of the owner of the /dev/console file (or actually character device). The question is just whether this user is the one, you're looking for. In general, it will work - but you might see a different behaviour than you're expecting when users are also logged in via Remote Desktop. In that case, the last login performed will be returned (i.e. when multiple user's are logged in at the same time).
There's also a different method of getting the currently logged in user by asking the System Configuration Daemon:
scutil <<< "show State:/Users/ConsoleUser" | awk '/Name :/ && ! /loginwindow/ { print $3 }'

The difference between the two is that looking at /dev/console cannot distinguish between root being logged in (i.e. root logins have been enabled by the user), or the computer being sat at the login window - both will return root as the owner of the file. Whether or not this is a problem for you depends on your specific use-case.


Terminal.app and tmux session, can't use "open" command (without tmux it works) I use Terminal.app and a tmux session.

> open -a VLC file.mp4
The window server could not be contacted.  open must be run with a user logged in at the console, either as that user or as root.

Without tmux this command works.

I googled that and found Unable to use 'open' command in OSX tmux from 10 July 2015.

brew update
brew install reattach-to-user-namespace
brew upgrade reattach-to-user-namespace
echo "set -g default-command \"reattach-to-user-namespace -l ${SHELL}\"" >> ~/.tmux.conf
cat .tmux.conf
set -g default-command "reattach-to-user-namespace -l /bin/bash"

I did that and have still the same error

The window server could not be contacted.  open must be run with a user logged in at the console, either as that user or as root.

what is reattach-to-user-namespace supposed to do?

The command is supposed to move the tmux process from a newly created bootstrap context under the root, to the user's login bootstrap context.

To explain that in slightly more common terms:

macOS (formerly OS X) is built with a Mach-kernel at the lowest layer. Programs executing at this layer are called tasks.

On top of the Mach-kernel is the BSD subsystem. Programs executing at this layer are called processes. The applications you run and know on OS X (such as for example tmux or Terminal.app) use the BSD subsystem, so when running they become processes.

When a running program (a process or task) needs to communicate with another process/task over a Mach port it will go through the so called bootstrap task. This very low-level task is responsible for looking up requests for Mach port, and essentially direct the information to the right place.

macOS / OS X is essentially a multi-user system. Multiple users can be logged in at the same time, and each can be running multiple processes. They are generally not allowed to interact with each other, except when explicitly allowed.

In addition to user processes, the system will at boot (and sometimes later) run background programs called daemons. They are not associated with a specific user login, and keep running when users log out.

The previously mentioned Mach bootstrap task groups all tasks into either the "startup context" for daemon programs, or the "user login context". There's one of the latter for each currently logged in user.

In essence when programs look up Mach ports to communicate over, they can only see ports in their current context. When you start a normal program, it is started in your user's login context - and thus you can communicate with other programs you have started.

The tmux process however uses the function call daemon() to "daemonize" - i.e. keep running in the background. This also has the effect of moving the tmux process from the user's login context to the startup context.

Now programs such as "open" will no longer work, because they function by looking up the WindowServer's Mach port for the currently logged in user, and sends it commands to do their job. The lookup will fail, as tmux is now in the wrong bootstrap context.

The reattach-to-user-namespace program fixes this problem by using an uofficial way of interacting with the launchd process (which is responsible for managing daemon processes) - to get launchd to tell it which context is the user's login context.

Then it uses the Mach system call task_set_bootstrap_port() so that further port looks from the tmux processes (and its child processes) will hit the user's login context bootstrap task.

As to why it is not working for you: Have you remembered to kill and restart your tmux server after installation? (do this by running "tmux kill-server)

Also you could try running the reattach-to-user-namespace command manually from Terminal.app to see if you really have got it installed and it runs properly.


Turn off auto-locking for specific applications I'm just wondering if it is possible to disable auto-locking on my iPhone for specific applications? For example, I didn't want to lock screen of iPhone if LUMOback application is running in foreground.

This can't be done at the moment. The Auto-Lock setting applies to every app. The only exception to this is if an app asks iOS to prevent sleep.

You can provide feedback to Apple regarding this at the following page:

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


What determines the "special" color of the status bar in SpringBoard? I've noticed that at various times, the status bar in SpringBoard will occasionally change colors. When using the Voice Memos app on iPhone, it will be red. While in a call, it's green. Using personal hotspot, I'm seeing a blue.

Is there any significance to the colors, or is this a totally arbitrary choice by Apple?

As far as I have seen, the color is supposed to tell you a little bit about what is going on, or what app is active.

Voice Memos is red, which is the color typically used for 'Recording'.
Calls are green, which is the color of the Phone app's icon and is used in several places in the app (e.g., the Accept button).
AirPlay is blue, which is the color that Apple typically associates with both wireless and music (AirPort and Bluetooth logos are blue, iTunes' icon is blue, the Remote app's icon is blue).
Personal hotspot is blue, which again is the color of 'wireless'.


Disable icloud permanently to prevent locked devices and lost data Is there a way to prevent employees from setting up icloud accounts?

The issue we have is employees set up an icloud account then leave the business and the phone become a costly paperweight because there is no way to reset the phone due to the icloud account.

If possible it would be nice to disable icloud all together to avoid lockouts and mixing of personal and work data.

This is really two questions, but let's get brief answers and then you can ask a follow on question if one topic needs more details.

MDM profile can only disable saving data from managed apps to iCloud. If your employee buys the app themselves and then adds company data to that app, you have no technological policy recourse and need to handle that with personnel policy, training and HR.
You can contact Apple and provide proof of purchase as the original purchaser to recover any locked device. Going forward, buy all devices from Apple directly as part of the DEP for Business or Education program. https://www.apple.com/business/dep/ That way you can unlock devices yourself and they automatically check in to your MDM. Again, write HR policy to let employees know they are responsible for the cost of the equipment they don't rerun and the cost of recovery efforts if they don't unlock the devices. Now IT has nothing to do other than fill out the paperwork and let HR and legal handle cases where theft and rage quit users don't follow the policies and procedures you educated them about while they were employees.

You can also disable iCloud altogether, but most deployments I've seen have decided to not do that except for pre-teen children and cart deployment use where each device is managed with Apple Configurator and wiped regularly.


Any way to override wifi requirement for downloading apps/app updates larger than 150MB? Right now (on iOS 12 beta version 1) if you try to download an app or app update larger than 150MB it requires a wifi connection. Problem is, I just moved into a new place with wifi not as speedy as my old place and my LTE provides much quicker downloads.

Any way to override this requirement?

The best wayto do that is to tether to another mobile device so that your iPhone on the beta sees a WiFi connection. I know this is a workaround and not a solution, but I’ve not heard of any way to trick / hack / override this.


Internet recovery mode cannot connect to wpa2 network As above

I've reached the internet recovery screen and entered the correct password for the wpa2 network but all I have is the network selection drop down and a spinning globe with no loading bar.

What can I do to troubleshoot this ?

Problem was troubleshooted and resolved as a DHCP error.

A static IP address had been assigned to the windows partition for my mac. This cloned mutltiple assigned addresses and shut out other devices.

Solution : removing the staticly assigned ip address resolved the issue.


MacBook Pro OS corrupted while upgrading to High Sierra 10.13 I was updating MacBook Pro to High Sierra and it restart few times and suddenly shows black screen with flashing question mark. I tried to restart it several time and same issue. Then I googled and found that, I need to re-select startup disk and I followed the instructions but no luck.

Unfortunately, I didn't backup machine because of space issues so no time machine option. :(

I have 2 partitions, one for OS and one for Data. The Data drive was encrypted and I never encrypted OS drive. First strange thing I notice in startup menu that OS drive is also encrypted. (BTW, it accepted my user account password when I try to mount drive in recovery mode) And Secondly it is currently showing APFS format type, which is I guess a new format (released in High Sierra) so it looks like the High Sierra was installed (maybe partially). Currently, the OS drive format type is APFS whereas the Data drive is Mac Journaled (encrypted)

When I boot while pressing option key, it doesn't show any drives; just Wifi option. :(

Questions:

Is there any possibility to fix this?
Is there any way to go back to 10.12.3 Sierra? (which I was running)
If I need to re-install OS, is there any way to access user folder and move data? (like in windows we can boot and access/move files using CMD)
Does this happen because of encryption?

Edit:

Model: MacBook Pro 2016 with TouchBar
I am a developer and I have more than 6 months of code in Mamp folder so you guys can understand; how important that would be

I had what I think was the same problem. In the end I was able to install High Sierra from the Recovery Disk (booting with command-R), without losing any data.


Fast forward / backward on iPod Touch Is there an easy way (that I didn't find yet) the move quickly from one place to another while listen to a podcast or a song (as it was possible on my provious iPod Nano whith the "wheel" button) ?

Tap the album artwork to bring up the seek slider. You can then drag the slider to move from one place to another in the track.


Why can't I message on my Ipad? When I try to text to someone using my Ipad, it won't go through. What is "iMessage" and is that the problem?

I don't believe any carrier offers straight SMS from an iPad so you will either need an app that contacts an SMS sending service from the App Store or to ensure that your recipient signs up for iMessage.

Apple provides iMessage for free and it replaces SMS as opposed to interfacing with the SMS.

So, you could only send iMessages to Computers that run iMessage and iOS devices that run iMessage - but not actually send a SMS to cell phones.

http://www.apple.com/ios/messages/
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2755

If iMessage seems to be something you want to try - sign up for free according to the instructions on the first link. The second link explains the difference between SMS, MMS and iMessage services and when they can commingle on iPhone. Again, iPads only support iMessage out of the box (i.e. without adding a third party app).


Will changing my harddrive to a SSD void my MBP 2011 warranty? I want to upgrade my harddrive to a SSD. Does apple offer this service? I was going to do it myself, since its easy. Does this void my warranty?

No, it will not void your warranty. If you refer to the top of these instructions, they clearly state only a deviation of the steps outlined may void your warranty:

  Follow the instructions in this document carefully. Failure to follow
  these instructions could damage your equipment and void its warranty.
  Online instructions are available at
  http://www.apple.com/support/diy/

Typically, anything that is printed in the owner's manual is covered under warranty. RAM and changing the hard drive are both topics that are carefully covered, so legally speaking, that means they are user serviceable. Anything user serviceable is covered under warranty (following the above proviso of course).

Unless it explicitly states in the manual that such modifications must be performed by a qualified technician, you will not be in breach of your warranty.


What does this command do: sudo dscl . passwd /Users/administrator thePassword I'm (attempting) to administer a group of Mac Minis used as servers. I recently needed to change all their passwords, so I SSHed in and ran this command, which was what I used when creating new user accounts on those machines:

sudo dscl . passwd /Users/administrator thePassword

Unfortunately, this didn't do what I thought when used on an existing user—the new password is not thePassword and so I've lost access to sudo. man dscl has this to say:

passwd

 Usage: passwd user_path [new_pasword | old_password new_pasword]

 Changes a password for a user. The user must be specified by full path,
 not just a username.  If you are authenticated to the node (either by
 specifying the -u and -P flags or by using the auth command when in
 interactive node) then you can simply specify a new password.  If you are
 not authenticated then the user's old password must be specified.  If
 passwords are not specified while in interactive mode, you will be
 prompted for them.  Passing these passwords on the command line is inher-
 ently insecure and can cause password exposure.  For better security do
 not provide the password as part of the command and you will be securely
 prompted.

So it looks like I should have provided the user's old password when running that previous command, but I didn't. I know what password I entered and I still have SSH access to the machines. If I can figure out what the command did, I'll be able to tell what password I set on the accounts.

Ah, it turns out that that is the correct way to change a user's password when using sudo. If you don't use sudo, only then do you need to provide the user's old password.

My problem was that there was a '$' character in the password, which I didn't escape. Consequently, the passwords were cut off to before the $ character.


No sound when making calls with iPhone 6 I'm using iPhone 6. Sometimes when I answer a phone call, there's no sound. Only when I answer again or call back can I hear the voice. Does anyone else have the same problem? Do you know the reason?

This is not so common but it has happened to all of us.  It's usually due to a glitch in the cellular communication which can happen at any signal strength. It's of course possible that the person on the other end of the phone hit their mute button too.  In any case if you are not able to reliably repeat the problem then it is due to some random occurrences in the cellular network and not anything within your control.


Search results in Notes on macOS always empty No matter the search term, the search results in the Notes app on macOS are always empty:

This has been going on for a while. On iOS, the same searches work fine.

I have tried turning off iCloud, restarting, and then turning it on again. Didn't help.

Any ideas how to debug and solve this?

I'm on El Capitan.

@MacManager pointed me in the right direction. The problem was that I had excluded ~/Library/Containers from Spotlight. This is where Notes' data is stored.

I did this years ago way before the "modern" Notes existed and had totally forgotten about it. I wanted to stop Alfred from giving me results from that folder.

Apparently, the Notes app uses the Spotlight index for searching inside the app.

Ouch.


Font on Unity Application doesn't smooth I'm using Mac book pro 13 inches with retina display. I see that on retina screen, font is smooth, and in almost applications, I see font is always smooth, too but not in Unity. I'm currently using Unity 4.6 free edition and Mac OS X Maverick version.

I have uploaded an image demo. As you see, font in taskbar, title bar is smooth, but font inside unity doesn't. I have watched some demos online using unity too and I see their font screen is smooth, not as I am.

Please explain for me why and how can I fix this.

Thanks :)

Retina must be supported by the app for it to be displayed in Retina. If the app does not support Retina then the app will not be displayed in Retina.

You may be able to force Retina for an app with Retinizer:

  Retinizer is a small app I wrote that allows apps that aren’t retina ready and are displayed pixelated at 1x to display their UI widgets at 2x. That way, only their custom images will look bad and not the whole app.

Related: Some applications open in low resolution


Defaulting my WiFi connection I am currently surrounded by a long list of WiFi connections and every time I boot up my MacBook Pro, it switches away from what should be the default for the public WiFi connection.

How can I force my Mac OSX to recognize the domestic connection it should be using?

Is there also any way to block the listing of other WiFi connections, especially because there are so many?

I have tried going through the Network listings to delete the surrounding superfluous signals and have not been able to.  Is there something I'm missing?  Do they specifically have to be connections I've joined?  Is it not possible to block out the other domestic signals around me?

Go to System Preferences -> Network.

On the left sidebar click Wi-Fi and then "Advanced" at the right bottom corner.

Now choose the tab Wi-Fi and you'll see a list of all the wireless network you joined. Drag networks in the order you prefer (e.g. the domestic network should be the first).

Update: on the same screen, if you want to remove some of the networks your computer has joined simply select the network name and then click on the - (minus) button to remove it (Note: your computer will not join automatically that network again). If you want to stop listing networks, on the same screen, uncheck the option "Remember networks this computer has joined"


Playing background sounds while talking in Skype I'm trying to let someone hear all sounds played on my Mac while talking in Skype. Simple test: call Skype test while playing Youtube music and talking, both talk and music should be recorded and played back.

For this I created two devices in Audio MIDI Setup app:

Aggregate device (Built-in Mic, Soundflower(64ch)) and
Multi-Output device (Built-in Output, Soundflower(64ch))

I selected them as default input and default output correspondingly.

Depending on ordering of Soundflower and Mic in Aggregate device either only talk or only music is recorded.

How to change Aggregate device to record (transfer in Skype) both background music and talk?

The easiest way to do this is to have your background sounds on your Skype audio is do do this via hardware; have the audio on a different set of speakers the microphone (or input device) can pickup.

It can be Bluetooth or USB (easier).  You can't use the headphone port because when you plug in the headphones, by design, the internal speakers of your Mac will disconnect.  For example, I use the Behringer UCA202 USB Audio Interface to connect my Mac to my audio system.  All music and audio from videos etc. are piped to this device.  System sounds are relegated to my internal speakers.

Skype audio (mic and headphone) are through the internal devices.  Additionally, I can mute my calls/music/whatever from this device without muting my system sounds; just by hitting mute on my audio device's remote.

However, when I play music or videos, I pipe the audio through the USB

So, if you need your Mac's background noises to be heard, you can pipe your System Sounds through the USB audio leaving Skype with the internal audio devices; or vice versa.  They will hear it.


How to show blinking browser window Guys, help, please. I don't know what to do.

I'm using a web application for my job. This is interactive web chat. It opens in new window and uses tab header blinking to notify when new messages are coming. Problem is that I can't see windows of one app in dock. For example, I'm Google Chrome user. Each window of this chat opens in new browser's window, and I can see one icon only in the dock. So I can't to watch the window where chat is, and if message will come - I can't to see the notification about this. This thing can be named as "Dock do grouping windows of one app and doesn't show them". In Windows wen can disable this feature and all windows are available at the panel without grouping.

What can I do? Maybe there are some programs as HyperDock, which expands dock's functionality?

As a workaround, Safari does what I need with some differences.


Zeitgeist for Mac OS X? Does anyone know a application or project for Mac OS X like Zeitgeist for Ubuntu?

  What is Zeitgeist?

  Zeitgeist is a service which logs the users’ activities and events,
  anywhere from files opened to websites visited and conversations had.

  It makes this information readily available for other applications to
  use. It is able to establish relationships between items based on
  similarity and usage patterns.

  The service consists:

  Engine
  Extensions
  API
  Dataproviders

(Quote from http://zeitgeist-project.com)

Timing for Mac provides at least part of the functionality you are looking for.

Timing is the best way to keep track of the time you spend with your Mac. Find out where your time goes - without ever having to start a timer again!
Timing automatically tracks which documents you are editing, which applications you use, and the domains of the websites you visit. Afterwards, just drag and drop activities into projects. There are some default categories, but you are free to customize them!


Euro sign with "US International - PC" keyboard layout on Mac OSX What it the shortcut to get an Euro sign with "US International - PC" keyboard layout?


Force Finder to use only a single window? I constantly find myself closing down Finder windows. It seems that every "reveal in finder" command pops open a new finder window. This creates unwanted window clutter since I almost never need more than one finder window open at the same time. Is there any way to force Finder to reuse the same window, or to open separate tabs instead of separate windows?

I figured it out. Oddly, the Finder setting "Open folders in tabs instead of new windows" seems to do nothing unless the following setting is also in effect: Settings > Dock > Prefer tabs when opening documents set to Always.

Now commands to open folders, whether from Spotlight or "Reveal in Finder" open in new tabs instead of windows.


Reverse scrolling direction every time i use a different app I'd like to reverse my scrolling direction every time i use a different app (i use a regular mouse). For example, when i use Chrome or the OS in general, i want my scroll direction to be set "natural".

But when i use Photoshop i want my scroll direction to be the other way. I've installed an app which sits in my menu bar and i can quite easily (without going into settings) change my scroll direction. But if i have to do this like 50 times a day it's quite annoying.

Is there a way that every time i'm using photoshop, my scroll direction changes automatically?

Thanks.

You could do this with Karabiner. Among other things, you can use it to reverse your scroll weel. It has some presets for this already, but if there isn't an exact match, you'll have to modify private.xml file to make custom settings.

There's samples.xml file, that contains pretty much an exact example of what you are after. It flips the scroll in Safari:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <item>
    <identifier>remap.samples_flipscrollwheel</identifier>
    <name>Flip Horizontal and Vertical ScrollWheel at Safari</name>
    <only>SAFARI</only>
    <autogen>
      __FlipScrollWheel__
      Option::FLIPSCROLLWHEEL_HORIZONTAL,
      Option::FLIPSCROLLWHEEL_VERTICAL,
    </autogen>
  </item>
</root>

You'll probably want to check out how to make custom settings.
The
scroll wheel flipping is not documented yet, so if you want to find more samples of that, you gotta search the samples.xml for __FlipScrollWheel__
Documentation on how to specify an application


What is the purpose or historical significance of /usr/64, if any, on OS X? I have an old build script that makes mention (perhaps erroneously) of /usr/64 for things like library search paths when building on OS X.

This directory doesn't seem to be populated, or even exist, on any modern OS X that I can find, and I'd like to remove these references if that they are truly stale.

Was /usr/64 a real thing on OS X at one point? If so, what was it used for, and with what release did it cease to be relevant?

/usr/64 never existed in OS X, go ahead and remove it.

There was, however, a directory called "lib64" (or /usr/local/lib64), which offset /usr/lib. This was found on some Linux operating systems back some years ago, when the transition from 32bit to 64bit was still in its infancy. It may still be used today as a remnant of that era. Microsoft Windows also had a similar structure, separating 32bit from 64bit.

OS X has never used such a separation of libraries or even executables.


AutoHotkey Equivalent for OS X? Is there an equivalent product/method for AutoHotkey. For those that don't know, its a product that allows you to program your mouse movements and keyboard. This allows me to "macro" certain functions on programs instead of having to do it manually. In the old days they used to call them keyboard stuffers. But that is only half of the solution as I need a "mouse movement" stuffer as well.

Is there such a beast?

Check out Hammerspoon. It seems to be very fully featured and — like AutoHotkey — offers a programmatic way to do all sorts of OSX automation, in addition to key binding/remapping.

(It takes a plugin based approach. Karabiner, mentioned in an answer above, can be used as a plugin too allowing its functionality to be enhanced in all sorts of ways.)

http://www.hammerspoon.org/


What is the name of the 'corner swipe' to change motion animations on the Apple Watch? I've got the jellyfish motion animation on the face of my Apple watch. This has multiple different jelly fish.

I've found I can jump to the next jelly fish by doing a 'corner swipe'. This is swiping along the top left hand corner of the watch.

I've never heard of a 'corner swipe' idiom. Does anybody have any information on it? I need to know the 'name' in order to find out more.

My question is: What is the name of the 'corner swipe' to change motion animations on the Apple Watch?

From what I can tell, what makes the watch face advance to the next jellyfish is a tap. Your "corner swipe" must be just along the sensor in a way that it looks to the device like a tap.


Does a bootable OS X drive need more free space than the installer? I made an 8GB partition on my HD to serve as a bootable OS X Yosemite drive, but it seems to still have 2.63GB free after the bootable drive-making procedure. Does the bootable drive need that space to be able to function properly, or can I bring it back into my startup disk partition?

I just made an installer image for OS X 10.10 to install in a virtual machine and it's only 5268873216 bytes or 4.90702 GB in Base2, in Base10 it's 5.27GB.  So you could have made it smaller.  Not sure if you can resize it, you can try and if not delete it and start with a smaller partition.  BTW There does need to a just a bit of free space as it's written to during the install.


MacOS : No Japanese input method I have added Japanese as a favourite languages in preferences :

However, in the Input Methods panel, the Japanese input method seems to be missing :

How can I fix that / add the Japanese IME ?

Note : I don't want to install Google's or Mr.third party's Japanese IME. I want to enable Apple's native Japanese IME.

It's a common problem.  Try a Safe Boot.  If that doesn't work, try the fixes in Apple's article on the topic.  See this page.


Dialing numbers from Contacts on iPhone when using a calling card or callback service I've got a long distance calling plan where I call a number and get a busy signal. The service then immediately calls me back, and when I answer, I'm presented with a dial-tone at which point I can call any number I want, with really cheap rates, while only getting dinged for local incoming minutes on my iPhone.

The problem with this is that I can't find a way to access and "dial" numbers from my Contacts when I'm presented with the dial-tone. I essentially have to have the number memorized or written down beforehand.

When given the dial tone, I can access all my contacts, but there doesn't seem to be a way to generate the keypress tones from them.

Is this possible on the iPhone? Maybe some other app that I can launch after answering the call which will access numbers in Contacts and generate keypress tones?

Could you try accepting the incoming call, then starting a conference call where you dial the 3rd party? The dialing might make noises that the calling card service can hear, then you disconnect from the 3rd party before it connects and bills you.


How can I modify vsftpd.conf in macOS? I've installed vsftpd via Homebrew, and I found that the vsftpd.conf file should be modified in order to set write_enable=yes and put file.

I googled and tried to find vsftpd.conf in my MacBook, but I couldn't find where it is.

Generally, in Unix and Linux, vsftpd.conf exists in /etc/vsftpd/ but I cannot locate that directory in my computer.

Could you tell me where vsftpd.conf is in macOS?

You should have gotten the following output while installing vsftpd:

To use chroot, vsftpd requires root privileges, so you will need to run
  sudo vsftpd.
You should be certain that you trust any software you grant root privileges.

The vsftpd.conf file must be owned by root or vsftpd will refuse to start:
  sudo chown root /usr/local/etc/vsftpd.conf

To have launchd start vsftpd now and restart at startup:
  sudo brew services start vsftpd
Or, if you don't want/need a background service you can just run:
  sudo vsftpd

So your vsftpd.conf file is in /usr/local/etc.


Mail filtering in macOS Sierra I have a MacBook pro running macOS Sierra.

All of a sudden the Apple Mail program started filtering messages.  I know that they are there in my inbox but I can't see them.  When new mail comes, it's there for a bit but then disappears from view.  I know it's there because I can search for it and find it.

How can I turn off this filtering???

I don't use gmail, just the Apple program with our local email provider.  I have restored macOS and rebuilt the inbox several times.  At one point I saw there were multiple copies of the same emails from the day this problem started.

Sounds like you may have accidentally turned on the Message Filter, which hides read messages by default? If so, you can turn it off again with View>Disable Message Filter, or hitting Cmd-L.

(I only found about this feature a couple of years ago when I accidentally turned it on in the default layout, then switched back to Classic layout. At that time, the filter setting carried over, but there was no indication that the filter was turned on. In High Sierra, it appears they've avoided this problem by disabling the filtering capability in Classic layout.)


Will there be consequences or issues if I install XQuartz? I need to install XQuartz to install Inkscape, a vector graphics application.

May I know if issues would come when I install XQuartz? I'm new to OS X and I find the need to install an application to install another application unusual.

It's absolutely fine, it's essentially a standalone application that you can uninstall again anytime. Except when you're running Inkscape, you'll never know it's there.

In fact, XQuartz used to come on the OS X install DVD (though it wasn't installed by default), but like Java and Flash, Apple just prefer not to package and ship those things with the OS any more, and require you to install it separately direct from the developer.

If you're still not sure, there is a native port of Inkscape in progress that doesn't require XQuartz, but it was a little buggy last time I tried.


Install Windows 10 on MacBook Pro 2017 (14,1) I had already figured out that I must use bootcamp assistant to install windows 10 on my MacBook Pro 2017 14,1 , otherwise if I just boot into a windows installation USB,it can't get my internal keyboard, touchpad and the PCIe SSD.
Does anyone know how to install it without using the assistant?

BootCamp assistant is just a utility to make it easier to install Windows on a Mac.

It packages the Windows installer onto a Thumbdrive and slipstreams the drivers to support Apple hardware into the installation so you don't have any non-working devices during boot. It also presents a nice simple GUI to re-partition your HD/SSD.

If you are comfortable installing the necessary drivers (at least keyboard and trackpad/mouse) into a bootable Windows 10 installer then I say, "Go for it."

But I do Windows support for a living and I don't bother with that and frankly don't know HOW to do that. Honestly you are better off just using BootCamp assistant, it is easy and practically foolproof.


Is it possible to have Apple update RAM in current Mac mini (Late 2014) Is it possible to send my Mac mini (current version) back to Apple and get them fit more RAM into it?

With the old models i could add RAM into them, but as I understand on the new current model Mac minis it's not user upgradeable.

Short answer:  No.

Apple is not going to retrofit memory into any Mac (Mac mini, MacBook, etc.) if you want to upgrade.  They don't even make simple repairs to their logic boards - they will just replace them.

If you require more memory, you will need to

replace the logic board
purchase an entirely new unit

While I typically would purchase a machine (Apple, Dell, Lenovo, etc.) with the highest CPU and lowest memory and drive specs, this has now become impossible since RAM is now commonly soldered on and in the case of Apple, their SSDs are proprietary.

Buy the machine with the specs you think you will need in the future, not for what you need now.


General purpose video editing software I am writing an assignment about basic video editing software, and I need to mention video editing software that is Mac OS X compatible.

As a Linux user, I personally don't have access to a computer running Mac OS X and have never used one. I would therefore like to know what software comes pre-installed on Mac OS X (I'm not sure if this may vary for each release, but say for the 3 latest releases (10.6 - 10.8)), as well as the most used paid / free software available.

I'm not interested in every available application, but only the most commonly used for basic purposes.

Like Ian C. mentioned, Quicktime is the only thing pre-installed. You can do the basics: rotate, scale, and merge clips.

iMovie is the consumer standard. It comes with the iLife suite. It has an easy to use interface and can create some pretty fancy and professional looking videos. The current version has a tool to make trailers for home movies, includes great control over the audio, has facial recognition, and supports the AVCHD format.

Final Cut Pro X is the prosumer application for video editing. It is the successor to Final Cut Express 4 and Final Cut Pro 7. It, like iMovie, is a paid application. It has a important feature which is not in iMovie: multicam editing. Final Cut Pro X allows you to overlay multiple video tracks, then edit them simultaneously. It also is a 64-bit application.


How do I start rows with 0 (not 1) or not count header rows in Numbers? I'm using the Numbers app to make a database or catalogue of stuff.  For example, a list of all wines I'll try this year.  And for each column, I'll have the name of the wine, a rating, the kind of wine, and a few other items.

If the first row of my spreadsheet is a header, and the first row is 1, then every item in the spreadsheet will be off by 1.  To me, this makes absolutely no sense.  Can I start the spreadsheet with the first row being 0 instead of 1?  Or, can I have Numbers not use a row number for the header row?

If I could name the columns, this wouldn't matter.  But since Numbers names the columns A, B, C, etc, I have to use a header row to name (or label) the columns, and this leads to the first actual item being in row 2 instead of row 1...  and this leads to every single sort being off by one, since the top item is a label in the header, which gets listed as being #1.

Using column A for an index won't work unless there's a way to lock the order of column A, because the index would get sorted each time any other column gets sorted.

So, this is easy to solve in Excel...  I don't have access to Numbers at the moment, but I'll give you the solution I'm aware of and you can confirm whether it works in Numbers like it does Excel.

You can create a column with the following formula:

=Row() - 1

This will always give you one less than the "default" row number, which is what you are looking for.   It also won't be affected by sorting.

A complete reference of functions that are available in Numbers can be found HERE, including the ROW function.


Ejecting SD card takes a long time and CPU usage goes up I'm on Mavericks and after I eject most SD cards, it takes a minute or two and process UASysAgent is taking 80% of the CPU... quite annoying, does anyone else experience this? Something that can be done about it?

You can also try disabling Spotlight indexing for the SD card. While the card is inserted go to System Preferences->Spotlight->Privacy->'+' and add the drive.


Is there a way to cancel or disable the slow dock transition easter eggs? If you shift-click the minimize button or hold shift while restoring a window, you get the slow-motion genie or scale effect.

Is there a way to resume full speed after an accidental shift-click?
Is there a way to disable the shift-click combination so that the transition always runs at full speed?

There is a way!

Open Terminal.app

Then, type this and type the following:

defaults write com.apple.finder FXEnableSlowAnimation -bool false

To make it go on again, just change the false to true.

Edit:

It seems that there is no way to disable the Slow Animation special effects on shift-click.