Work offline in Google Drive on iPad Is there a way to work offline on a Google Drive document on an iPad?

I'm aware it's possible on a desktop or laptop when using Chrome, but I can't seem to see an option for such a functionality in the Google Drive app.

You can make a file available offline, but you can only view it if you do that.  I can't seem to be able to edit it though.

I was reading an article on the Google Docs blog, but it doesn't seem clear to me whether offline editing is one thing and the app is another, or if offline editing is a feature of the app.

There is a link in the article you mentioned where it says the following:

  "The Google Drive app for iPhone and iPad lets you view items you've stored in Google Drive with your device even when it isn't connected to the Internet or a mobile network. Offline editing isn’t currently supported."

Emphasis added

http://support.google.com/drive/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107975


iPhone 6 Plus battery reduced to a fourth of what it was recently I have an iPhone 6 Plus - Bought the Plus size because I could really do with a better battery.

The battery used to be excellent earlier - lasting upto 2 days on one full charge

The phone is barely 3 months old, but all of a sudden since last week, the battery drains real fast and the device is hot most of the time - I reset the device, turned of the Location service and the background apps and all such general things.

Here is a screenshot of a fully charged phone at 4 PM discharged to 50% at 8 PM with barely any use meanwhile.

I suspect this to be a hardware issue. Any way I can prove this? Unfortunately, here in India Apple care centres hardly help and just take away your phone for weeks, wipe it and return it as it is.

Can I request a hardware diagnostic to Apple Care on phone, that I can execute?

iOS 9 lets you see exactly what's using battery over the past day and the past week.

Go to Settings > Battery
Wait for the list to populate
Tap "Show detailed usage" to see a breakdown of foreground and background usage for each process
Switch between "Last 24 Hours" and "Last 7 Days" to see what might have changed for you 2 days ago.

For much more on this feature, including some advice on how to make sense of the data, see http://www.imore.com/how-see-whats-using-battery-life-your-iphone-or-ipad


Connect another mac as secondary display I have two macbooks:

MacBook Pro 2012
MacBook Pro 2017 with touchbar

Recently I've got an idea to use 2012 as a secondary display.
I don't completely understand whether it's possible or not, the only info I found on this is
https://www.macobserver.com/tips/how-to/imac-secondary-display/
It's said that this is possible if your second mac has thunderbolt or mini display ports. My 2012 does have it (mini display port).
So let's consider it's possible.
It's said I need mini display to usb-c adapter. It's ok but not quite cheap. So finally we reached my question.
I already have minidisplay to hdmi adapter. Now I'm wondering is it going to work if I purchase usb-c to hdmi adapter (since it's twice cheaper) and try to connect both adapters to each other?

No.
Unless explicitly mentioned in the official specifications for the machine, it can't.  For this machine it is https://support.apple.com/kb/sp649
You might find Synergy an interesting alternative as it allows you to use both machines at once.  https://symless.com/synergy


Will Apple offer a discounted replacement for a water damaged iPhone 4S outside of warranty? Will Apple offer a discounted replacement for a water damaged iPhone 4S outside of warranty? The water indicators on the outside of the phone have not gone off, but the one inside on the logic board may have.

They will.  I believe, but don't quote me, replacement cost will be $99.  Apple will only deny service if there is catastrophic damage (imagine a phone in 3 pieces), is a counterfeit device or if it is missing parts.  If it is only liquid damage then they will likely offer replacement at that discounted cost.


How can I know which GUID represents which app in my iTunes backup of my iPhone? I backed up my data from my iPhone to my PC. This backup is not encrypted. When I open up the backup folder, I see a bunch of files named with long GUIDs. Each app that saves data (e.g. to a SQLite table will have a file here.

How can I find out which GUID represents a specific app I am looking for?

I used to be able to use findstr "app name" *.mdinfo and then find the corresponding *.mddata file, but as of iTunes 10, there are no *.mdinfo files. This makes it so you can't find the app's name in the files in plain text. So when I try to use findstr "app name" *.*, it doesn't find it either. The files have no extension, and if they are SQLite files, they are in binary format and after examining them, they have no information related to the app's name in them.

This used to be possible with Erica Sadun's mdhelper program.  Unfortunately, it looks like something has changed in the way Apple stores backup files w/ iOS 4.2, and the program cannot achieve the same results (since it finds no mdbackup or mdinfo files).

On the bright side, a new tool named iPhone / iPod Touch Backup Extractor has emerged.  It correctly translates the GUIDs to names in my iOS 4.2 backups, and allows the files for each app to be extracted together.


Google has changed appearance using Safari 5.1.1 The way google is presenting as of today is totally different and I can no longer get the image pages so you can scroll the images before selecting one you want to see. Now there are individual boxes that click through. The entire appearance makes it no longer usuable.. Is there I can do to revert back to the way it was previously?  It shows perfectly on Firefox and nothing has changed there.

I suspect it's an example of a new policy from Google, where they're deliberately showing old versions of their search pages if you use an out of date browser. You can find information about this from, for example, this BBC news report.

It's probably a good idea to update Safari, for security reasons. This is what Google are trying to get you to do. But if you have a good reason to keep using 5.1.1, you can see an up-to-date Google homepage by changing the user agent string. There are instructions for doing this available online, e.g. here.


Mac OS X Lion Server and Macports - Can they work together? I've been using macports for my MAMP projects for quite some time, but I don't think that the command line server management for Apache and MySQL Server, both from macports, is the best way to do it. I'd like to be able to control those server from one GUI. So, I was wondering if it's possible to configure Lion Server to work with macports' apache version instead of it's native version. Is it possible? What about MySQL Server? Is there a way to control it using Lion server?

The short and easy answer is no - you can't just flip a switch to point all the Lion tools and scripts to the same (or similar) programs at a different path.

The longer answer, is yes - you can of course replace binary files, and test to make sure all the scripts work and patch any issues that arise either out of changed functionality or in the event that the Apple tools depend on a specific version of your web or database server.

Everyone I know that wants to install different software on top of Lion just turns off the Lion versions and controls the deployment with other tools like explicit paths, controlling the $PATH variable and alternate control and reporting structures.


Can I delete things safely from ~/Library? I am running out of storage space on my 2011 MacBook Air. I was thinking I should clean up before I contemplate adding more storage.

I notice though, that while I have ~30 GB in ~/Documents, ~2 in ~/Movies, ~10 ~/Pictures, I also have ~70 GB in the ~/Library folder.

What can I safely delete (if anything), and what is the best method to delete from this folder?

Here is the result of the cd ~/Library; du -sm * | sort -rn | head -16 script:

46559   Developer
26874   Application Support
23941   Mail
4822    Containers
2030    MobileDevice
1524    Logs
1430    Caches
1371    iTunes
1032    Mobile Documents
229     Safari
65      Dragon Profile.ddictateprofile
40      Keychains
35      Preferences
33      Internet Plug-Ins
29      Mail Downloads
26      Autosave Information

To see which folders inside ~/Library use most of the space, run something like

cd ~/Library; du -sm * | sort -rn | head -16

in Terminal which gives you the 16 folders using the most space.

Specific cleanup actions afterwards depend on the folders found.


What does the command `csrutil clear` do? When I read the arguments of csrutil it says csrutil clear will erase the existing configuration SIP:

csrutil
usage: csrutil <command>
Modify the System Integrity Protection configuration. All configuration changes apply to the entire machine.
Available commands:

    clear
        Clear the existing configuration.
    disable
        Disable the protection on the machine. Only available in Recovery OS.
    enable
        Enable the protection on the machine. Only available in Recovery OS.
    status
        Display the current configuration.

    netboot
        add <address>
            Insert a new IPv4 address in the list of allowed NetBoot sources.
        list
            Print the list of allowed NetBoot sources.
        remove <address>
            Remove an IPv4 address from the list of allowed NetBoot sources.

My question is does executing csrutil clear erase the configurations for SIP?

From System Integrity Protection – Adding another layer to Apple’s security model:

  When csrutil clear is run, SIP goes back to its factory-default settings. That means SIP is enabled if it was disabled previously and any custom configuration is cleared out.

The custom configuration consists of a list of IP addresses of allowed NetBoot sources.


How to Auto Restart a 2010 MacBook Pro/High Sierra after Power Failure I wonder how to make a 2010 Macbook Pro with High Sierra (10.13.6) restart when power adapter is plugged in.
"Energy Saver" panel shows no "Start up automatically after a power failure".
sudo pmset -a acwake 1 doesn’t work. I tried a NVRAM reset.
sudo nvram AutoBoot=%03 doesn’t work. pmset -g capshows that autorestartis not an option.
I use the MBP as a music streamer (iTunes, Bit Perfect, "Remote" App on the iPhone, optical output). Battery is disconnected. I want the MBP to turn on if power is switched on by the amp - without touching the MBP.
Anyone any Idea? -Martin

Try doing that in the boot sector.

Use Restore > Disk Utility > Terminal

pmset autorestart 1


Does Locktopus 1.1 work on iOS 4.3.1? I want to upgrade to 4.3.1 but wonder whether Locktopus 1.1 still works ... thx.

Oh, Yes it does work. I have personally tried it. So, go ahead.


How do I upgrade an iPhone 4 from iOS 7.1.2 to iOS 8 or 9 I have an iPhone 4 and I need to upgrade from 7.1.2 to iOS 8 or 9. I would like to ask how I can get iOS 8.

You can't upgrade an iPhone 4 to a newer version than 7.1.2. iOS 8 only supports iPhone 4S to iPhone 6 Plus. iOS 9 supports iPhone 4S to iPhone 6S Plus/iPhone SE.

An iOS support matrix is available here: iOS Support Matrix (additionally: pdf download)


AppleScript to read all notifications in the Notification Center OSX 10.10 Yosemite It seems like the following AppleScript is no longer working in the latest version of the OS X 10.10 (Yosemite):
on run
    tell application "System Events"
        tell process "Notification Center"
            set theseWindows to every window
            display notification (count of theseWindows)
        end tell
    end tell
end run

This were supposed to get all notifications listed in the Notification Center. However, the count attribute always returns 0.
Does anyone know how to retrieve all notifications in the Notification Center different than the script above?

I have not found a way for AppleScript to do this, but shell scripting has been effective for some people to get at the full database or log of past notifications.

Does the OS X log notifications from the Notification Center?

The format is an sqlite database, and it can be found inside this folder:
~/Library/Application Support/NotificationCenter

Assuming AppleScript is more important, you can call arbitrary shell scripts if needed from one, but other languages might be easier for database interactions / reporting.


How can I know that a user allowed from security & privacy 3rd party kernel extensions to load in High Sierra? I've created a kernel extension for macOS High Sierra.

When the kernel extension file  loads in High Sierra the user has to allow it in the Security & Privacy preferences.

How can I verify that the user allowed my kernel extension to load properly? Is there any file in which user allowed kernel extension details are stored?

I found a related post on StackOverflow proper that shows, the information about approvals is stored in sqlite3 database at /var/db/SystemPolicyConfiguration/KextPolicy

If you can find your kext in the kext_policy table, then it has been approved.  Here is an example:

sqlite3 /var/db/SystemPolicyConfiguration/KextPolicy
SQLite version 3.19.3 2017-06-27 16:48:08
Enter ".help" for usage hints.
sqlite> select * from kext_policy;
...
4C6364ACXT|com.parallels.kext.hypervisor|1|Parallels International GmbH|1
4C6364ACXT|com.parallels.kext.vnic|1|Parallels International GmbH|1
4C6364ACXT|com.parallels.kext.netbridge|1|Parallels International GmbH|1
4C6364ACXT|com.parallels.kext.usbconnect|1|Parallels International GmbH|1
...
sqlite>

I needed this information in order to know why Parallels is suddenly asking for my approval again today, when as you can see it has clearly been granted already, but for my benefit the System Preferences isn't presenting me with any "Allow" button to grant it again.  Perhaps Parallels is detecting that a new kext needs to be approved, but it seems Parallels hasn't actually tried to load it yet.

Unfortunately for me, since I was hoping I could remove the permission and get the "Allow" button back, the database is strictly read-only.  The procedure for removing approvals involves booting with a recovery partition and sounds onerous.  I guess I'll wait for Parallels support to answer via Twitter!

Credit for this answer goes to StackOverflow user @mikhail-iakhiaev https://stackoverflow.com/a/51684219/661659

(Edit: the issue was not with Parallels, my help desk admitted that our managed Mac workstations all got an update today that removed our ability to approve kexts as users.  They hope to have it fixed by tomorrow, but for the benefit of your question, that's another avenue where your users might have ended up being stopped from approving your kexts as any other user would.  Hope this helps!)


Disable "Optimize Storage" on Catalina I remember in older versions of MacOS there was a setting in:
System Preferences -> iCloud -> Options @ iCloud Drive -> Optimize Mac Storage

It's been known to cause all sorts of problems, so I want to make sure I disable it, but it is not there any more!
How can I make sure I disable this setting and NOT have Catalina manage free space on my drive for me?

Here is how you can ensure iCloud does not take an optimize pass after it downloads the full version of cloud synced app data and finished processing and uploading any selected folders or selected Application data that only exists on your local Mac.

https://support.apple.com/guide/system-information/optimize-storage-space-sysp4ee93ca4/mac

In system preferences, at the very top, select AppleID and in the main pane, you can choose to opt in or opt out of syncing specific buckets of files. The equivalent check box is located at the bottom of that list -  Optimize Mac Storage.


Preview in full screen mode has scrollbars I'm on MacOS 10.12.2. I want to use Preview to give a PDF presentation. But here's a screenshot:

It's hard to see, but there's a scrollbar on the right and the bottom has space for a scrollbar but none is there? How can I get rid of these scrollbars, seeing as the entire page fits fine.

The same thing seems to be happening when the PDF first opens, so maybe that's a clue:

In  > System Preferences > General, set "Show scroll bars" to "When scrolling" (or, if you're not using a mouse, "Automatically based on mouse or trackpad"). The scroll bars will be hidden unless you scroll the document.


Fresh install of OS X with AppStore version I want to make a fresh and clean installation of OS X Mountain Lion, all data should be erased.

I have already tried installing the OS in the "cmd+R" tool, but what it does is installing the OS X and keeping all data and programs.

How can I install and make a "factory reset" with mountain lion?

Burn Mountain Lion to a disk or USB.

Restart computer, hold down the option key when you hear the ring tone sound.

Select the disk/USB, after it loads open Applications->Disk Utilities from the top.

Select your HDD.

Go to partition and select 1 from the drop Volume Scheme, or however many you'd like.

Select Mac OS Extended (Journal).

Click Options and make sure it's selected for GUID.

When it finishes continue the Mountain Lion installer.

Since you already had OSX installed on your hard drive you may be able to just erase it and install as well. Either way the above method will definitely work.


Can't find ⌃ symbol in keyboard I'm working in xcode and under editor>estructure there is a "re-indent" feature with this shortcut: ⌃l

It sound really stupid, but I just moved from windows and for my life's sale I cannot figure out what key ⌃ is.

What key is the ⌃ key and where it's located on the keyboard?

This is a list of the keys and their symbols:

⎋ Escape
⇥   Tab forward
⇤   Tab back
⇪   Capslock
⇧   Shift
⌃ Control(this is the one you are looking for)
⌥   Option (Alt, Alternative)
⌘   Command
␣   Space
⏎   Return
↩   Return
⌫   Delete back
⌦   Delete forward
⇱   Home
↖   Home
↸   Home
⇲   End
↘   End
⇞   Pageup
⇟   Pagedown
↑   Up arrow
⇡   Up arrow
↓   Down arrow
⇣   Down arrow
←   Left arrow
⇠   Left arrow
→   Right arrow
⇢   Right arrow
⌧   Clear
⇭   Numberlock
⌤   Enter
⏏   Eject
⌽   Power


Apple Pencil app without any analytics or syncing or network use I am looking for an Apple Pencil app that does not go to the internet for any reason.

I want the convenience of the Apple Pencil.
I don’t want data syncing of any sort
Same with any analytics

The primary goal is no potential for my notes to be seen by a third party.

What apps allow note taking with these requirements?

Apple notes is the clear defacto standard for this use case.

Don’t turn on iCloud syncing for notes or don’t sign in to iCloud and you have pretty much all the items you mentioned.
If you have iCloud backups, by default that does save your content. However if you disable notes to backup, Apple documents that they delete your copies in the cloud when you elect to not back up that data so even if you mistakenly allow that, you should have reasonable control over your data retentionand know what to expect.


Match second monitor settings to first I'm new to using the Mac. I'm a photographer, use a MacBook and recently purchased a Mac monitor (discontinued, bought it second-hand) to connect to my MacBook as a second monitor for my photo editing, lightroom, photoshop etc.

On this site I learned how to adjust brightness on the second monitor (Control + F1, F2) but I need to know how to match all monitor settings in the two monitors, such as contrast, colour saturation and so on.

At the moment my photos look slightly different on each screen. With my MacBook setting being the the one I wish to duplicate on the second monitor.

Apple includes manual color calibration and correction:

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH19044

You may not be able to match the external to the internal if the quality of the LCD or age/manufacturing of the backlights vary. If you need the best displays for color look to Enzo or NEC. As they age, you may have to adjust things, so consider hardware to calibrate if you have to certify your images or there is $ on the line when your images aren't perfect. Most people get by with Apple's tools and a correction every six months or so.


Guest account on Lion vs Mountain Lion When you enabled Find My Mac on Lion or ML, it creates a guest account for you.
In Lion clicking on the guest account would restart the computer into a Safari only mode.
In Mountain Lion the guest account is traditional account except the user's data is deleted when they log out.

What was the point in the Lion guest account, I heard something to do with helping to locate the Mac if you lose it, but I don't understand how having a guest account enabled and not normally in use helps? If someone finds a Mac, and happens not to steal it, how would logging into the guest account help? It seems like this is a very small use case, and not really enough to warrant having the feature, so I'm sure I'm missing something?

Why is Mountain Lion's guest account enabled when you enable iCloud/Find My Mac? What is the connection between them?

I can't see any reason to keep the guest account enabled on Mountain Lion?

The Guest account is enabled in Lion and ML for the Find my Mac feature as it enables the location function for the Find My Mac feature to work. Without the guest account, the location feature will not turn on and therefore will not work.

Disabling the Guest account will effectively disable usage of the Find My Mac feature.


Macbook Pro 13" with Retina Display: Black Screen So this is not my computer, but my girlfriends. She was doing thesis work in the library when all of a sudden the screen to her Macbook began to malfunction. At the point it is at now, whenever it is booted up, it makes the normal booting sound yet the screen is completely black with gray bars in the center. The bars span the screen vertically, but are compacted into an almost solid gray bar horizontally.

The first repair shop nearby claimed that it was a broken screen that needed replacing, but I would like to see if anyone else has ideas before accepting that solution. Could it also possibly be issues with the integrated graphics card? Has anyone else had this issue?

And as a less technical issue, what would be required to use an external display with a Macbook Pro?

There is a small possibility that the video cable is mis-seated and simply unplugging it and re-plugging it in might help.  ifixit.com can help you with the take-apart.  It is not difficult, just make sure you ground yourself and disconnect the battery before touching anything.

Has the machine been dropped?
Has anything been spilled on it?
Is the LCD panel physically broken?

To connect a Macbook Pro to an external display you simply need the proper video adapter.  Either Mini-Misplayport to VGA or Mini-DisplayPort to DVI, depending on the monitor.  Most monitors have many options, including both VGA and DVI.

If the laptop and monitor are new enough you can use an HDMI cable.

To further diagnose your girlfriend's broken laptop connect it to an external monitor.  If the lines appear on the external monitor then the issue is the Logic Board.  If it works fine then you have a LVDS cable or LCD Panel issue and will need a new display clamshell.  iResQ.com does cheap display repairs.  No, I don't work for them. :)


reverting from Catalina to earlier OS I have a late 27" imac with a 3TB internal drive.
It currently is divided into three partitions.. one is running catalina, the second is a carbon copy of the first - the third is my music library.
I would like to revert back to the system before catalina - I just don't like it.
I understand that the partition holding the main startup system has been changed from HFS+ to something else , kinda dividing it into two.
I have plenty of external space, including the previous last-saved setup.
My questions are as follows...
Can I simply reformat the main partition into the previous setup and carbon copy my old saved setup.. and then use the Carbon Copy backup of the catalina system to boot from, ikn order to update prefs etc??
Do I need to reformat both partitions - or do I need to copy my music partition and just reformat the entire interior hard drive?
I AM franticly backing everything up as I go... but just need a little guidance on the "AFS to HFS+ thing...

Going backwards from one OS to a previous will break most databases like Music, Photos, Contacts, Mail since the documents are stored in a database and the structure of those databased are changed in a migration. That migration is one way and unless someone (Apple or otherwise) writes a reverse migration script and tests it and releases / sells it, you have to do all that engineering work for every single type of data you care about.
What's easy is the following:

Erase your Mac and restore a backup from a time when the backup was on the older OS.
Erase your Mac and migrate only the apps from the new backup to the old backup. Uninstall / clean any that don't work - then migrate by hand the documents you care about.
Erase intall your Mac and hand migrate back your data, then install the apps you care about - referring to your backups as a guide if you can't just wait till you need an app, and install it. (seriously - you don't really need things you don't use daily - so don't migrate back a raft of cruft - just start using the new old OS is my best advice - human to human)
Use iCloud or another service to sync the data - data sync generally works across versions (say you have one Mac on Mojave and another on Catalina - Apple will happily sync photos / music / mail / contacts / reminders across both). Here, instead of having two computers - you have one sync complete - leave the data in the cloud, erase and then sync down the content to the same computer, older OS.

I'm going to stop here since the specifics of what you choose isn't a one-size-fits-all case. If you don't care about anything except files - you could move back pretty easily. If you care about database backed apps - then the list of the apps you care about dictates which operation is best for you.
I would make a good backup you trust now on Catalina - you will need it to try these above steps - and they may fail - you need to at least be able to get back to now to be free to experiment.
I use Time Machine - but the people that wrote and support Carbon Copy Cloner and Super Duper are beyond great. Read their support forums, pay them a tip if you can, many people will have asked about going back and their main answer will likely mirror mine - they are not designed to reverse a one way upgrade, but let's have them answer for their product capabilities.


Will Mavericks Server cache Yosemite updates? Will Mavericks server cache Yosemite updates?

I can't tell—is it possible to actually see the saved cache?

Yes, the Caching service will cache updates for all possible versions of OS X on all possible Macs. You are unable to view the contents of the cache in a meaningful way though.


Run script for delete HD Is there a way to run a script on a Mac that literally will do
( sudo rm -rf / )?

I need to schedule a complete wipe of my hard drive on next Friday at 6PM.  I'm not very familiar with scripts so there's no clear answer for me.  Can I run a script that doesn't involve me to grant the sudo password?  I do have my root user password.

Just create a launch daemon with

sudo touch /Library/LaunchDaemons/user.local.rm.plist
sudo chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchDaemons/user.local.rm.plist
sudo chmod 644 /Library/LaunchDaemons/user.local.rm.plist

Open an editor:

sudo nano /Library/LaunchDaemons/user.local.rm.plist

and edit in the following content :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>user.local.rm</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/bin/rm</string>
        <string>-rf</string>
        <string>/</string>
    </array>
    <key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
    <dict>
        <key>Hour</key>
        <integer>18</integer>
        <key>Minute</key>
        <integer>00</integer>
        <key>Weekday</key>
        <integer>5</integer>
    </dict>
</dict>
</plist>

Load the launch daemon with:

sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/user.local.rm.plist

This will remove almost any file and folder of your internal disk next friday. My virtual machine stopped working with an empty root folder and (according to the status bar) ~6 GB of disk space occupied. Finally it may be less though and the "6 GB" was just the last reportable value.

This will not erase (=overwrite with random data) your files and folders completely: any decent data recovery tool will probably restore almost all previous content.

In El Capitan this only works if SIP is disabled!


Mac - switch all desktops at once I can use  Ctrl ⌃   and the left/right arrows to switch individual desktops on a multiscreen system but can you switch all of them at once?

Only by disabling "Displays have separate Spaces"

System Prefs > Mission Control


No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key um...i don't know what happened..

I just opened lid to wake up my mac then it freezed. I re-booted it and now i'm seeing "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key"

i'm using intel 320 ssd 120gb.

Should I re-install mac os again? How can I make sure that it won't happen again?

It's possible the drive is failing. Before doing anything else, backup your data. Holding the option key brings up the startup manager which shows any available volumes.

Do you have multiple drives connected to your computer? Maybe it is trying to boot using the wrong drive.


How to disable default Mission Control shortcuts in terminal? I never use the keyboard shortcuts for moving spaces in mission control, and they happen to conflict with some other settings I have. I have an automated script that sets up my Mac and I'd like to disable all the defaults keybindings for Mission Control programmatically.

I was able to figure this out. Here is what I did:

Step 1

Generate a file with your current default settings:

defaults read com.apple.symbolichotkeys.plist AppleSymbolicHotKeys > file_a

Step 2

Manually change the settings you want in System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts

Step 3

Generate a new comparison file from settings after making your change:

defaults read com.apple.symbolichotkeys.plist AppleSymbolicHotKeys > file_b

Step 4

Diff compare the two files:

diff file_a file_b

Step 5

Disable only the keys that appeared in the diff, example:

defaults write com.apple.symbolichotkeys.plist AppleSymbolicHotKeys -dict-add 82 "
  <dict>
    <key>enabled</key><false/>
    <key>value</key><dict>
      <key>type</key><string>standard</string>
      <key>parameters</key>
      <array>
        <integer>65535</integer>
        <integer>124</integer>
        <integer>8781824</integer>
      </array>
    </dict>
  </dict>
"


Why Are My Cache Files & Other "Hidden" Files/Folders Visible? & How Do I Get Rid Of Them? I hid mach_kernel and private, but the cache.db, cache.db-shm, cache.db-wal of both the system and user folder are, also, visible. Yesterday, I had to restore from a Time Machine backup because something had suddenly eaten all the space on my startup drive. However, these files were visible prior to the restore. So, why are they there and how do I safely dispose of them or hide them to prevent their return to visibility? Thanks.

try "defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles NO" in terminal.

or you could do a "chflags hidden /path/to/folder"

how did you hide private and mach_kernel


Logging Into A Mac using only an iOS Device? If a keyboard becomes non functional, and a replacement is not readily available, or you may wish to login remotely to your Mac from another location perhaps:

What options exist (if any) to login to one's Mac computer using only an iPhone or iPad ?

If you want to avoid the firewall exceptions, there are options such as LogMeIn, which has an iOS and a web client, and is free for the first ten devices you want to manage. The caveat is that you must install an app on the device which you want to access. The iOS app works smoothly over both WiFi and LTE, in my experience.


External Hard Drive size I'm using a 13-inch 2013 macbook air with 4gb memory, and after a near disaster with a spilt drink I've realised I need to start backing it up. I don't know what size external hard drive I need though, as I don't want to spend lots of money on something if it's not entirely necessary. Any suggestions?

Choose a reputable manufacturer: As data shows, HGST (formerly Hitachi, now owned by Western Digital) makes the most reliable hard-drives on the market today. Stay away from Seagate drives (see comments).
Choose the right size drive: Regardless of the method, it's highly recommended to purchase an external drive that is atleast twice the capacity of the internal drive it’s backing up.
Use Time Machine: There is no better local backup method for OS X. Alternatives exist in the form of archives (cloning your drive to another), but this is not a true, continuous backup.

Sidenote: Networked backups using Apple’s Time Capsule is a reliable, wireless, way that is equally viable and definitely more convenient. The obvious con of this solution is the price-tag.

Assuming your internal drive is no bigger than 500GB, here is the drive I would recommend: HGST Touro 1 TB 5400-RPM USB 3.0 External Hard Drive.

Updates:

I own four HGST Touro drives. All have operated extremely well with no mechanical issues or problems to date. This is only my personal experience - which is all the more reason why it’s important to note that the Touro is the top-rated external hard drive on Amazon according to average customer reviews.
@bmike brought up an important point. The Backblaze study on HDD failure rates used enterprise grade drives of 3.5’’ form factor. The consumer grade 2.5’’ external HDD’s, those relevant to the original question, were not the subject of these tests. See the comments below.


terminal search files by text that the file names contain Let's say there a file called "abc_deh.xyz", what command do i use to find the location of that file in mac terminal by using solely the search term "deh"?
So, basically, I am asking how to search for a file by text contained in its name. I need to find files that I forgot the whole name, that would be more helpful.

sudo find / -type f -name "*deh*"

if you want to search directories too then remove the -type f.  You can also try:
    sudo locate deh

Should your locate database not be created (or up to date), there is a chance you have that file on the filesystem, but it's not been stored yet. Rather than run a single find command above, building the locate.db database might be a better plan going forward.


Add a custom dictionary to manageable dictionaries? Is it possible to add a custom dictionary to use for the "Define" feature on iOS?

For example, I want to add a dictionary of unix/linux commands so that in situations like this a definition is provided:

I'll answer but with a question at the end.
First of all you need jail broken device or any other way to access system files.
On your browser press on some word and select 'define' then 'manage'
Install some other dictionary and then you need file system access to navigate to:
/var/mobile/Library/Assets/com_apple_MobileAsset_DictionaryServices_dictionary2

There you will see several folders, enter inside and then once again inside assetdata folder, there you will see name of the dictionary that you installed previously. Enter inside that folder and then inside 'contents'.
Basically this is the folder of the dictionary and all the data.

Now on your pc search on the net for OS X dictionary files (they will be in zip file) extract from that file only the files of 'contents' folder and replace the files on your mobile idevice.

I did it to add Hebrew language dictionary.


App for remembering different mouses' tracking speeds? I'm just wondering if there is an app/prefpane to remember different tracking speeds for different mouses when you have a Macbook and are switching between mouses constantly?

Thanks for any suggestions.

According to this article, Steermouse will allow you to save different profiles on the mouses (among other things).

Build Profiles
One of the best features of Steermouse is the ability
to have multiple profiles. This works well if you have multiple people
using a mouse that all prefer different settings, if you have more
than once mouse that you use on a regular basis, or if you would
prefer to use different mouse settings for different tasks, workflows,
games, etc.


Automatically reboot OS X 10.7 after kernel panic? Is there a way to set up Mac OS X (10.7) to automatically reboot after kernel panics?

Yes, it shouldn't kernel panic, I know.  But it does.  I've replaced all the RAM in the system, ran memtest and smart test but it still crashes about once a week.  No 3rd party kernel modules loaded.  It would be almost not annoying if it was automatically rebooting, hence the question.

Open the Energy Saver pane in System Preferences. There's an option to Restart automatically if the computer freezes, if you check that you should get the behaviour you desire.

Note that there are two tabs in Energy Saver—one for when you're on battery and one for when you're running from the power adapter; make sure you set it for each state you want.


How do I prevent duplicate doc icons when using a manually created .app file for a Unix executable on macOS? I installed Pidgin via Homebrew, and I created a .app file for it, so I could launch it like a standard application, rather than via pidgin from Terminal.

I put the code below into Script Editor and saved it as an Application, and that was about it.

to run
    do shell script "/usr/local/Cellar/pidgin/2.11.0/bin/pidgin"
end run

It works fine, although when I run it, there are two doc icons. There's the original one that normally shows when running it via Terminal, with the default "exec" icon, then there's the icon from the .app file I made, with the custom icon I added. Is there any way to make it so that there is only one dock icon?

It should also be noted that clicking the icon that comes from the custom .app I made does not direct focus to Pidgin's windows, but the original icon works fine, and I would like to retain that function.

No, the launched application will always have a separate Dock Tile. This is because the AppleScript app is just a launcher, not the launched application itself.


Is there a functional Jailbreak for iOS 4.1 on an iPhone 3GS? I have an iPhone 3GS running 4.0.1 that is currently Jailbroken (using the Jailbreakme.com vulnerability a while back). While I don't care about any ability to unlock my phone -  I'm quite happy with AT&T - I do have LockInfo and one or two other jailbreak apps installed that I quite like. I'd like to update to 4.1 for the new features like GameCenter etc., but as far as I know, I'll lose my jailbreak if I do this.

Is there a working easy jailbreak for 4.1 at this time? If not, is one expected soon?

My understanding is that there currently is not one, although rumours abound that one is coming up soon. The best place for "official" information is the iPhone Dev-Team. More direct/recent updates can be found by following various team members on Twitter. MuscleNerd is a good example. If other legitimate groups released anything solid, you will hear about it through them anyway (as is the case here: Chronic Dev Team seem reliable too). There are already fake sites springing up in anticipation of the next release; the important thing is not to use anything that hasn't been confirmed by them or that you have to pay for.

Additionally, if you have saved your SHSH blobs using Cydia on an already-jailbroken phone or The Firmware Umbrella, you can downgrade and jailbreak the old version. Normally this means you can upgrade using PwnageTool without losing your jailbreak, although I don't think the Dev-Team has released something compatible with 4.1 yet.

UPDATE

There is now a full jailbreak for 4.1 and later on 3GS. BigBoss maintains a jailbreak table which may be useful for updates at-a-glance. My understanding is that all current devices are now able to be jailbroken forever (greenpois0n/limera1n exploit), but  iPhone 4 and later model 3GS are sometimes tethered on iOS new releases (as of this edit: not tethered on 4.1, but currently - hopefully not for long - tethered on 4.2)


Finder - No Services Apply I have services set up, particularly the one for opening Terminal from a folder.  However, it doesn't appear in the context menu and in Finder > Services, there is nothing except "No services apply"

I'm using El Capitan 10.11.6

Anyone else have this problem?

You have to click on a file or folder to select it and then the Services menu will work. You can get to the Services from either the Finder menu bar or by Control-clicking (right-clicking) on an item.


How to back up my text messages from iPhone to computer I have my many precious messages on my iPhone. How can I back up to computer freely without using iTunes?

when connecting your iPhone to your computer, head over to iTunes and make a backup. Make sure you're backup on your computer not on iCloud. Please visit this Page where you find the necessary informations about viewing saved text-messages:

How to Backup iPhone SMS to Your Computer - Hongkicat

Hope this helps :)
Cheers

moesphemie


Forgotten recovery mode password I have forgotten the password of recovery mode when I holds command + R. I have no idea how to deal with it so if anyone knows the solution, then let me know.

Try the following steps:

Switch off your Mac (not just log out).
Boot into Recovery mode by pressing the power button while holding down the CommandR keys.
Select Disk Utility and press Continue.
Choose Utilities > Terminal.
Type resetpassword (all one word, lowercase letters) and press Return
Select the drive containing your user account (this is usually your main drive)
Choose the account to change with Select the User Account
Enter a new password and re-enter it into the password fields
Enter a new password hint related to the password
Click Save. (Note: you may get a warning that the password has changed, but not the Keychain Password. Click OK.)
Shut down your Mac (Apple > Shut Down)
Restart your Mac


Folder icons missing on Desktop all of the sudden my folder icons disappeared on OS X Yosemite.
It looks like this:

These are all folders, they are not missing their icon in finder tho, only in the primary  view.

First of all a quick reboot might fix your problems. If that does not work, you could try relaunching finder.  Apple icon → Force Quit → Finder → Relaunch. If that does not work you could try deleting the Icon Cache. Go to Terminal, which you can just search for, or go to Applications → Utilities → Terminal. Paste exactly these commands in one at a time.

sudo find /private/var/folders/ -name com.apple.dock.iconcache -exec rm {} \;

sudo find /private/var/folders/ -name com.apple.iconservices -exec rm -rf {} \;

sudo rm -rf /Library/Caches/com.apple.iconservices.store

Do note that when you put in a sudo command, you must put in your password once. The characters do not appear when typing them, so don't worry.

If this does not work, you should do a complete restore of the Mac. Look up tutorials online, but make sure to do a backup of your Mac with Time Machine or a cloud based service.

Good luck!


How to recover previously saved text file after an overwrite and a reboot? I was programming in python and I had two text editors open to the same file, and right before I shut down my computer I saved in the wrong one and overwrote the version I wanted to keep. How can I restore the old version? I'm using Mac OS X Snow Leopard

There is little hope unless one or both of the editors squirrel away copies of the file for you or embed the undo buffer in the document.

It really depends on the editors and the settings.

One last ditch effort is to use the mdfind command. If that file had a memorable string or misspelling you could see in an instant if any files on the disk contain that string. If you search for a common string, you'll have a lot of false positives, but it's worth a shot.

In this case, even software that recovers deleted files won't be of use when another editor truncates the file. It was shredded and not simply deleted

On a personal note, We all learn this lesson about data loss in a personal way, usually many times over.

It's not overkill to have both version control and an automated backup system.

Time Machine is marvelous in that it makes hourly snapshots so you lose at most an hours work. Files that have been around for [a day|a week] are saved for [a month|until the drive fills]. It really works well in practice, and if you have local backups, you might even have snapshots more often than one an hour to recover a file. Sorry to hear you lost work, it's never a good feeling.


How to get money back from cancelled apple store order (visa)? Apple has cancelled my order on the the 5th of March. Today is 12th of March and I still haven't got my money back. What should I do in this case?

I'm using visa card.

You will need to get in contact with the online store team of the country you purchased from. Here's the ways to contact Apple for order enquiries. If you can't call them, during 'normal business hours' you can chat with them.

Chat
Shopping online and have a quick question?

Our trained Chat specialists may be available to assist you during normal business hours.
Simply click the “Chat” button at the top right of the Apple Online Store page.

Phone
Have questions? Ask an Apple Store specialist:

1-800-MY-APPLE (1-800-692-7753)
Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week


Can I have a Slideshow thats NOT fullscreen on Mac? Is there something thats not key note or quicktime that will let me just select a bunch of pictures and play them in a window that choose the size of? I don't want to convert them to video files as the selection would change daily. Something like preview, but doesn't only play in full screen? Desktop user. Thanks :)

Yes, with the app Phiewer. It's free from the MacApp Store. When you start Phiewer it will ask you to locate the images. Then you can set the window size and then select slideshow. The window size stays the same and the images are displayed.


When will the Iphone 7 and Iphone 7 plus be released in Philippines? When will the Iphone 7 and Iphone 7 plus be released in Philippines?
Iphone 7 plus is sold out, will the Apple reproduce? I am hoping that it will be available in our Country as soon as possible and  Maybe this month.

Apple's Philippines website for the iPhone 7 only indicates "Coming Soon".  It appears they haven't announced the official rollout date yet.


Why am I receiving this error code, when trying to rename a flash drive? Broken image removed

I receive this error upon attempting to rename a flash drive. The renaming process works, but I would like to know what this error is, and why it's appearing.

Have you tried reformatting the unit to FAT using disk utility and then trying to rename? FAT is the default filesystem for most USB sticks. I had this problem, reformatted it with disk util and it started working.


BitTorrent Automatically Installed on MacOS High Sierra I have just updated my old computer to MacOS High Sierra, and when the installation was done, a client of BitTorrent was open, with a torrent for "Install MacOS High Sierra". I have never installed BitTorrent before, implying that BitTorrent was installed w/ High Sierra. Is this true?

Sorry to say this but the only way to get a bittorrent client installed with macOS is if you get it from anywhere but the Mac App store.

Note that macOS High Sierra is free from the Mac App Store. So there is no reason to get it any other way.

On the off chance that you did install from the Mac App Store it is likely that the bit torrent client was installed previously via some other means, possibly as a Trojan or virus of some other type.

If I were you, I would boot into recovery mode, reformat your hard drive and install everything from scratch. Hopefully you have a good uncontaminated backup.


Open an app in low resolution but not zoomed Can I open an application on a retina display tricking it that it's actually using a low resolution display, but not doubling the pixels? Yes, I want tiny text.

You can't open a single app in low resolution unscaled, but you can set the display to a non-HiDPI resolution such as 2880×1800 using an app such as RDM.


Cisco VPN timeout issues I'm trying to use the native Cisco VPN client installed with Lion and it's been a terrible experience. The VPN times out between 15 and 45 minutes and I can't seem to fix it. I've followed guides for fixing this problem and it's gotten me nowhere. I copied the .conf files for each VPN that I have and disabled dead peer detection, changed proposal check to claim, and increased the lifetime time to 5 hours. I also changed my racoon.conf file to look in the directory where my custom .conf files are. I could stay connected all day when I used Ubuntu and I'd really like to have that ability back.

Is there a 3rd party client that I could use other than the Cisco one? I don't want to boot into 32-bit mode. Is there another fix that I missed?

There is Cisco AnyConnect, which replaces the native VPN client. There is also a standalone Cisco VPN client for Mac.

Link


What memory to buy for macbook pro 17" early 2011? What brand/model of memory do I need to buy for a macbook pro 17" early 2011 model?  On Apple's memory page, they just say DDR3 1333mhz SODIMM.  So I went to purchase some from Newegg and happened to notice in the comments people complaining the mushkin RAM was not working on their macbook pro...

I just want to find the lowest priced working 8gbytes RAM.

Also, I assume Apple put 2x2gbytes in and I need to purchase 2x4gbytes to replace it.  Is it possible they put 1x4gbytes and so I only need to buy 1x4gbytes to add to it?

As long as the technical specifications (DDR speed, clock, physical size) line up to what Apple lists for your model MBP, you should be fine.

To answer your second question, that isn't possible. MBPs (along with every laptop I have ever opened up) contain only two RAM slots.


iPhone can send iMessages without a SIM card? I gave my old iPhone 3GS (iOS 5.0) to a friend, and after removing the SIM card, we noticed a peculiar behavior. My friend is able to send texts via iMessage from the old phone number. Likewise, I can receive texts from this number.

Has anyone else noticed this? I am assuming the iMessage servers register phone numbers for compatible devices. But what happens if someone else claims this number?

iMessage can also register email address (like your Apple ID), that's how it works on iPad and iPod Touch.

So it's completely normal to be able to send iMessages with an SIM-free iPhone.

As long as you are connected to a WiFi network.


How to restore EFI in MacBook Pro Retina 13"? I've stopped an update of OS X in the middle! Now all I have when I boot the system is the normal beep sound of POST for hardware check.

I've found a link that's been mentioned Apple has released a flash version of firmware update but for mid-2015 macbook 15 inches.

Now I'm stuck I don't have access to anything! I have access to an iMac in case needed.

Could someone lead me to a right direction? How should I restore the firmware?

Based on the chat we had, where I was able to get more details like:

You wiped out all partitions on the HDD
You were getting the -2002F error during Internet Recovery

(Both of these are key pieces of info to put into the original question, by the way. )

Your only option is to reinstall OS X from boot media.  You can either take it into an Apple Store and have them reinstall or have someone you know has a Mac download OS X and create a bootable USB for you.  See the answer here - different question, but the answer is still the same:  reinstall OS X from scratch via boot media.


Why my logitech blue-tooth keyboard and mouse don't work well with Mac I bought a Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse suite, but they do not work well with my Mac, the mouse usually gets stuck and the there is a large delay when typing with the blue-tooth keyboard. How can I get rid of that?

The Logitec site does not specifically indicate these devices are compatible
with Apple macOS.

These are the only compatible operating systems listed:

  Windows® 10 or later, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista®, Windows XP,
  Chrome OS™


How to move/hover mouse (not click) over a button on Safari by using Applescript Can anybody tell me how to write an Applescript that can move or hover mouse over a Button on Safari? I've successfully made an Applescript that can click to the button but I don't know how to make the mouse just move there, not clicking. Because I need to download some images from a website that only appear when you hover your mouse over that button (that button can't be clicked).

The website I want to get information (HTML Element) when execute the script:
https://shopee.vn/Bút-line-đi-nét-chuyên-nghiệp-SAKURA-PIGMA-MICRON-12-size-(0.03-Brush)-BÁN-LẺ-i.22061868.886461468

My sucessfull click-to-the-button Applescript (This click to the second image on the left):

tell application "Safari"
    do JavaScript "document.getElementsByClassName('_3ZDC1p')[2].click();" in document 1
end tell

or:

to clickClassName(theClassName, elementnum)
    tell application "Safari"
        do JavaScript "document.getElementsByClassName('" & theClassName & "')[" & elementnum & "].click();" in document 1
    end tell
end clickClassName
clickClassName("_3ZDC1p", 2)

So can you tell me how to hover mouse over the button (but not clicking) in a similar way of script like these above? Notice the Button "1.0 Graphic" in the website above is faded, that means it can't be clicked but once you hover your mouse to it, the image on the left appear, i want to get that image so bad. The url of that image only appear when I hover the mouse cursor over that button "1.0 Graphic". I already know how to make script downloading image from URL. I just need to have a script that can do hovering mouse to that button ("1.0 Graphic") so the image can be seen to grab the url. Thanks you!

I do not know of a way using basic vanilla AppleScript, by itself, to move the mouse cursor; however there are third-party utilities that can do it, one being cliclick; however, you also need to be able to tell it where to move it and that has its own issues.

On a different track, looking at the web page of the URL in your OP, I see that looking at the HTML to the target element, e.g. "document.getElementsByClassName('_3ZDC1p')[2].innerHTML;" there is a URL for the image.

Why not get the HTML, parse it to get the URL, and download it directly to your system?

The following example AppleScript code does just that:

--  # Get the HTML for the target element.

tell application "Safari" to ¬
    tell front document to ¬
        set innerHTML to do JavaScript ¬
            "document.getElementsByClassName('_3ZDC1p')[2].innerHTML;"

--  # Parse 'innerHTML' to get the URL.

set text item delimiters to {"(", ")"}
set theURL to second text item of innerHTML
set text item delimiters to {}

--  # Set the pathfilename for the saved image,
--  # e.g,: /Users/me/Pictures/1591893975.jpeg
--  # Name is based on seconds since Epoch.

set saveToFileName to POSIX path of ¬
    (path to pictures folder) & ¬
    (do shell script "date +%s")

--  # Define the commands necessary to accomplish
--  # the download base on the OP's URL example.

set shellCMD to "curl -ks " & theURL's quoted form & " -o " & saveToFileName's quoted form & ¬
    "; mv -n " & saveToFileName's quoted form & space & saveToFileName's quoted form & ¬
    ".$(file " & saveToFileName's quoted form & " | awk -F ': | ' '{print tolower($2)}')"

--  # Download the file.

do shell script shellCMD

Note: This example AppleScript code is based solely on the HTML of the target element and what's necessary to automate the process once the target web page is available and is the frontmost Safari window.

Note: The example AppleScript code is just that and does not contain any error handling as may be appropriate. The onus is upon the user to add any error handling as may be appropriate, needed or wanted. Have a look at the try statement and error statement in the AppleScript Language Guide. See also, Working with Errors. Additionally, the use of the delay command may be necessary between events where appropriate, e.g. delay 0.5, with the value of the delay set appropriately.


Updating firmware to get OWC Aura Pro X2 SSD to show via Macbook Air Basically I am trying to install a brand new Aura Pro X2 480gb SSD into a Macbook Air 2014, the original apple SSD has failed and is not seen by the Macbook Air. I know the Aura Pro X2 requires High Sierra as the previous system so the firmware updates via the Macbook Air.
But for some reason whenever I try to install High Sierra using a bootable installer via the Macbook Air, I get an error message stating that the computer is missing firmware partition on any device. I try to install High Sierra on to, been it a USB key or an external hard drive etc.
Is there anyway I can get High Sierra installed via a USB or external hard drive so the firmware partition updates, so I can then see the new Auro Pro X2 480gb SSD and install new system on to it?
I've tried formatting USB keys and hard drives in different ways but keep getting the missing firmware partition message on anything I do.
I have an old 2008 Mac Pro and also a 2011 Mac mini, if those can be useful in anyway to solving this issue I have.

The OWC installation video has the following caution message.

High Sierra has a firmware update. To install this update, there needs to be an working internal drive compatible with the existing firmware. The original apple SSD was compatible. The new Aura Pro X2 480gb SSD will be compatible once the firmware update is installed.
I assume you have not ever had High Sierra or a newer version of macOS installed on your Mac. I assume this true, because you state the Disk Utility on the High Sierra installer does not recognize the new Aura Pro X2 480gb SSD when installed in your Mac.
Trying to install High Sierra to an external drive does not solve your problem. The firmware that updates itself requires an internal drive.


How to vertically align a text block at the bottom of a page in Pages? Using Pages ’09, I would like to vertically align a block of text at the bottom of a page, in Text Edition mode.

The idea is to have a series of paragraphs that should behave as a block, and always be at the bottom of a page, and be pushed to the next page whenever the content above does not leave enough free room.

The behavior would be just like tab stops, but for vertical alignment; a “bottom align” tab stop, so to speak.

The only way I can think of is to use footnotes.

They do exhibit the asked for behavior, and you can delete the automatically-inserted number/sign in the footnote itself.

The limitations, though, are threefold:

You have to use end of page footnotes, and since this setting is document-wide, you can't use any other footnote style.
This fake footnote will increment the footnotes count.
Most annoying: the insertion point that is bound to the content can't be deleted. It is good that you can define at which exact point you want your bottom block to be pushed to the next page. However, you will have to make the insertion point invisible, and there is no pretty way of doing it. I guess the “least bad” way to do it is to make the text color 100% transparent, and put the insertion point at the end of a paragraph, so that its spacing does not impact the text around.


Change Connected Servers I have two Synology Diskstations in my list of Connected Servers. Disk station-5 and Diskstation-8 (see image). Now I want to change the user name for these connected servers and I want these connected servers to connect when I boot my laptop or desktop. I simply cannot get it done. Every time the servers are not connected and when I try to connect the old user name appears. Anyone ?

Make sure the password is cleared in your login Keychain. Open the Keychain Access utility (spotlight > Keychain Access). IN the left hand panes, select Keychains > login and Category > All items. Now search for diskstation in the top right to filter the results.

Delete the offending keychain entries.

Change the username and password for these entries so as not to disrupt anything else going on with those servers.


Do the wi-fi communications from Mac to Mac travel through the access point? Let’s put two Macs MAC1 and MAC2 on the same table. They are connected to the same AirPort (wi-fi) network. They are connected to the access point AP, which is far away, at 10 meters.

The Macs are not in an ad-hoc (computer-to-computer) network.

Now, let’s send a file from MAC1 to MAC2.

Will the communications go until the access point AP and back ? Or will the waves take the short way between MAC1 and MAC2 ?

They go through the AP.

It's not like the MACs "see" each other just like that in the same network, it's the AP that "tells" them who's in the network. All data recieved and transmitted on a Wi-Fi network must pass through the router. The network is not triangular, all devices in a network except for the AP of course have only 1 connection ( MAC1---AP---MAC2 ).


Configuring custom keys on bluetooth keyboard I have a Logitech Bluetooth Keyboard for Android similar to the one shown here at BestBuy. The one I have is older and isn't printed the same as either model shown on BestBuy's website, but it has the same number of keys in the same place.

Is there anyway I can manually map the bottom row of keys to match certain keys for Apple, such as Fn, Control, Alt/Option and Command? This would be really helpful and would let me share one bluetooth keyboard between my Android tablet and Macbook. I prefer this to a wireless keyboard is it already has a carrying case and is very light weight.

Any help is appreciated!

Mac OS X 10.9

EDIT
It appears, the closest to mine is now the Windows 8 RT / Android keyboard here, but it still doesn't have the same keyboard layout.

My keyboard has 4 buttons to the left of the space bar and 3 buttons between space and the arrows. So it has the same button positions, just different labels. Here is a pic of the one I'm using. The biggest thing is that mine doesn't have a "CMD" button, I really only need to fix the mapping so that the little search icon will act as the Apple Command button and then I would be good to go. Any ideas?

** EDIT TWO **
Using the recommendation found in the accepted answer below, I started playing with the PCKeyboardHack and KeyRemap4MacBook software. I want to add for anyone who comes here looking for an answer to a similar problem, the two pieces of software shown above are both very good and using the instructions in the shown answer, should allow you to map any extra keys found on most keyboards. The problem with the older Logitech Android keyboard is that his software and the Macbook are apparently not recognizing those keys at all.

I appreciate all the help!

Forum entry explained problem I experienced, by a user who tried to do this awhile back.

Download and install KeyRemap4MacBook.
Open EventViewer:

open /Applications/KeyRemap4MacBook.app/Contents/Applications/EventViewer.app

Press the key that you wish to customise and note the KeyCode:::

Create a private.xml like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <item>
    <name>Modifier Remapping</name>
    <identifier>modremap</identifier>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::CONTROL_L, KeyCode::COMMAND_L</autogen>
  </item>
</root>

Replace KeyCode::CONTROL_L with the key that you wish to change and  KeyCode::COMMAND_L with the key that you wish to replace it with.


TimeZone Issue during DayLight Saving I just been bugged by the Day light saving hours

I seem that 3rd November 2013 01:00:00 start EST time

Now ever Time I set my time to 3rd November 2013 00:58:xx(some seconds)

and run date

it give me valid Time zone i.e EDT

but

even after the time pass 01:00:00 and I still query the date library

I still see the Time zone as EDT and not EST

have a look at this screenshot

You can clearly see the Time zone saying as EDT even when it is EST

any one has a clue for this

Update

There is one other finding I found if I restart my machine I see this

More Update

Before Restart

After Restart

What was the current time and timezone when you set the clock ?

In any case, use date -u to figure out what exactly the system clock is set to.

EST time doesn't start at 01:00 but at 02:00 which turns to 01:00 EST.


What happens to my data if I cancel my iCloud Storage subscription? I have a plan of $0.99/month. Now I want to cancel my subscription.

I have 30GB of iCloud Data. I don't know what happen with all my data in iCloud. Will I still be able to get access, or it will be deleted once I cancel my subscription?

According to this Apple iCloud Support page:

If you downgrade your storage plan and your content exceeds the storage you have available, new photos and videos won't upload to iCloud Photo Library and your devices will stop backing up to iCloud.
iCloud Drive and iCloud-enabled apps won’t update across your devices, and you won't be able to send or receive messages with your iCloud email address.
To use iCloud after exceeding your available storage, remove backups, photos, documents, or email messages you don’t need. You can access photos, videos, and documents for 30 days after you delete or disable iCloud Photo Library and iCloud Drive.


Have Automator parse down folders and list all filenames without their extension Automator newbee question here. I've searched around and just can't find what I need (nor fully grasp how things work :-( ).

I would like to have Automator parse thru a given folder, which is subdivided in dozens of folders. Each of these sub-folders contain a varying number of files with their respective file extension (.mov, .mp4, .wmv and others). Ultimately, the automated process would output the list of all files, minus their file extension name into a text file. There should be anywhere between 50 to 200 names in total.

Sample Sources:
RootFolder > SubFolder1 > File1.mov, File2.mp4
RootFolder > Subfolder2 > File3.wmv, File4.mov, File5.mp4

Output text file content:
File1
File2
File3
(...)
This text file could be located at the RootFolder's level or on the Desktop.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

Alain

Automator and Scripting Approach

The Automator Actions you want are:

Ask for Finder Items, with Type set to Folders.
Run Shell Script, with Shell set to /usr/bin/perl.
New Text File

For the shell script, copy and paste in:

use strict;
use warnings;
use File::Basename;
use File::Find;

find(sub {
    return if (-d $File::Find::name);
    my($filename,undef,undef) = fileparse($_,qr/\.[^.]*/);
    print $filename."\n";
}, shift);

You can use the New TextEdit Document action if you want the resulting file list to appear in TextEdit but not saved to disk.

To learn more about using Automator, see Apple's Mac Basics: Automator.


How can I buy an unlocked iPhone 5s in the US? My parents are on holiday in the US now, and they were supposed to buy me an iPhone 5s to use in Norway. But they were told in the store that they couldn't buy an unlocked iPhone 5s.

Is this true or have they misunderstood? iPhone 5s is beeing sold unlocked in Norway, so I just couldn't understand why not in the US?

It is up to Apple to decide when and where unlocked iPhones are sold. Currently in the U.S., Apple does not explicitly state that it sells unlocked iPhone 5s - the Apple online store page for iPhone 5s does not mention unlocked phones, unlike the Apple online store in say, Canada.

However, buying directly from Apple and choosing T-Mobile as the carrier means paying the full price, and it may be unlocked (do not purchase from T-Mobile). See this thread titled  iPhone 5s purchased from Apple is not unlocked on the T-Mobile forums for more information. After buying the T-Mobile option from Apple, if it seems locked, activate it with T-Mobile and request T-Mobile for an unlock.

Also note that all unlocked iPhone 5s models sold on Amazon and elsewhere are probably from other countries since the pricing is a lot higher (which may be an indication that it's not easy to get unlocked iPhone 5s in the U.S.).


Why does iterating over a list in applescript with `repeat with … in` fail with error code `-1731` part way through the list? I have this script for ensuring that every track in a given smart playlist is both shufflable and bookmarkable.

The script is inteded to be launched via launchd.

All of this is set up fine except that the script exhibits strange behavior. When you run it, some of them succeed but the majority seem to fail due to error code -1731. Subsequent runs the same behavior happens until you have no more shufflable and bookmarkable tracks.

I would expect that if the code errors on the first run it would keep erroring but that's not what happens.

What's happening here?

Add an explicit get to resolve the reference to the tracks:

tell application "iTunes"
    repeat with t in (get tracks of playlist "Listen Smart" where shufflable is false)
        set shufflable of t to true
    end repeat
    repeat with t in (get tracks of playlist "Listen Smart" where bookmarkable is false)
        set bookmarkable of t to true
    end repeat
end tell

Try running a script like this:

tell application "iTunes"
    repeat with t in (tracks of playlist "Listen Smart" where shufflable is false)
        t
    end repeat
end tell

If the playlist has three tracks where shufflable is false, the result at the end will be something like item 3 of every track of playlist "Listen Smart" of application "iTunes" whose shufflable = false. If you set the shufflable of the first two tracks to true inside the repeat loop, there won't be an item 3 where shufflable is false.

If you replace repeat with t in (tracks with repeat with t in (get tracks, the result at the end will be something like item 3 of {file track id 54774 of user playlist id 54771 of source id 73 of application "iTunes", file track id 54775 of user playlist id 54771 of source id 73 of application "iTunes", file track id 54776 of user playlist id 54771 of source id 73 of application "iTunes"}.


How to move huge popup window in Yosemite? After upgrading to Yosemite / Chrome updating (one of these two), I have difficulties to submit files via Google Chrome because the popup window for submitting is huge and lower buttons cannot be seen at all. The only way to operate that - double click on the file (I found that after some days!).

Look at the screenshot - it is the lower visible part of the popup window, but it is not a lower border of this window.

Is there any way to resize/move this window?

This is a bug with Google Chrome:

Issue 150068: "Save as" modal sheet sometimes not sized correctly

https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=150068

As a workaround, you can go fullscreen then open the sheet—this forces it to fit on the screen.


Shared Calendars not available in Outlook 2011 Shared Calendars is not available in my Navigation Pane.

I am trying to add colleagues calendars. I understand they should show up in a Shared Calendars Section in the Navigation Pane. But I don't have that section at all. Have I hidden that somehow? Is there a way to add it back?

I use this process to add the shared calendar:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/912265

On the File menu, point to Open, and then click Other User's Folder.
Click Find User
Type the name of the person who granted you access,
click Find, click the person's name, and then click OK.
On the Type menu, click Calendar, and then click OK.
The shared calendar appears in the navigation pane under the Shared heading.

I know that the calendar is shared properly because other colleagues with same version of Mac & Outlook are able to view it.

Software:
 - Outlook 2011 version 14.5.1
 - OS-X 10.9.5 Mavericks

I have searched on the web for days on how to resolve this issue but no solution.

Here is how I solved mine;

Delete your Outlook profile as the calendar is corrupt on it

Link: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Manage-profiles-in-Outlook-2016-for-Mac-fed2a955-74df-4a24-bef6-78a426958c4c

Then, close and reopen outlook, you will be prompted to create a new profile.

Go back to your calendar on outlook. Add a calendar now and it should show up on the left view.

It worked for me and it should work for you.


How can I turn off responses to Calendar invites? When I accept or decline a meeting invite, Calendar automatically sends an email to the person that invited me to the meeting.

OS X 10.10.2 calendar app

How can I turn this off so that no response is sent?

This is not possible using Calendar.app, including both macOS (OS X) and iOS.

Your best bet is to submit feedback on Apple's website: https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos.html

If enough of us do it hopefully they'll add the functionality.


Why proxPN cannot connect on my MacBook? I am located in China and just installed proxPN on my MacBook. But it does not connect to the server in Dallas, it always hangs there.
What can I do?
Thanks!

Many people in China experience the open vpn protocol being blocked. The only way around this would be to use the PPTP protocol which is available with a premium account.


How to stop iPhone users from unintentionally sending texts to my email address I use an Android phone but many of my friends and family have iPhones.  Starting a few months ago I discovered that several people sent me text messages that didn't go through.  And after digging into the problem, I discovered that their messages appeared as blue on their phone, not green, indicating that iMessage didn't convert it to a standard text. Then I discovered that (at least for some of the people), their texts were being sent to my email, not my phone number.  The weird thing is that I don't even think some of these people had my email.

I do have an iCloud account because I own a Mac, and somebody has indicated that can lead messages to your email address.  But I'm not sure.  How can I, once and for all, deregister my email (not my phone number, that's already been asked) from receiving iMessages and have my friends' Messages apps only suggest my phone number as a destination to text me at?

tl;dr: My email is registered as an iMessage destination, but I need to deregister it so my iPhone-using friends only send SMSs to my phone number.

Just to be clear: This post is not a duplicate of asking how to deregister your phone number from iMessage.  I never had an iPhone when iMessage existed and when I try using the deregister iMessage page it just says my phone number is not registered with iMessage.

Open the messages app on your Mac.
Open preferences from the Messages menu at the top of the screen.
Select the Accounts tab of the preferences window.
Uncheck enable this account

In future iPhone users should not find that messaging you defaults to an iMessages and rather to a SMS message.

The following video demonstrates these steps:

https://youtu.be/C5ilqv8NruE

This is a particularly nasty ongoing bug which does not rely on ever having had a iPhone and is particularly difficult to detect because the sender thinks they have sent you a text message(s) and the (non-)receiver is none-the-wiser that they are missing any messages/ignoring someone.


Is it possible to use Safari on OSX with "panes" like vim splits I'd like to have two "tabs" open in one window, but with the content of the two displayed pages simultaneously visible like this:

==================
|  content of 1  |
|  content of 1  |
-------------------
|  content of 2  |
|  content of 2  |
===================

I don't want the toolbar and location bar atop each content area, but I could tolerate this.

The difference between this arrangement and just two Safari windows opened one atop the other is that if I resize the single containing window, the panes resize in lockstep with it.

By the way, it would be even better still if I could have these groups of panes within a tab, and tab between such groups (again, like vi(m) tabs/splits).

This doesn't seem remotely possible with basic Safari, but maybe a plugin enables it?

I am not aware of anything, Safari extension or otherwise that would allow you to split a tab in that way (one over the other, both visible, if I understand correctly). Though I am not the end-all oracle of Safari extensions. Searching Safari extensions repositories (apple or others) would be how I would approach this.

Perhaps there is such an extension for Firefox, Chrome or even Opera that I am not aware of?


How to screen capture high-quality for printing for 300 DPI? On the Mac I am aware of how to do a screen capture, but it creates a 72 DPI image. We need a much higher quality image because it's for printing on a color laser printer. We need to be able to print this out high-quality so it looks good on a 11 x 17 inch paper. Thanks!

Taken from here.

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type pdf
killall SystemUIServer

Several other choices besides pdf and default png, see link.


Get Color Sidebar Icons Back in Mac OS finder Window Suppose I want to come back to Color sidebar icon for Finder. For Lion I followed these instructions, but seems not working anymore (SIMBL is not working with Sierra):

http://osxdaily.com/2011/08/25/get-color-sidebar-icons-back-in-mac-os-x-10-7-lion-finder-windows/

So, do you know if there is a way to change from this fantastic soviet union gray sidebar to one with color?

thanks,
Andrea

Use mySIMBL* instead, SIMBL has been non-functional since apple implemented System Integrity Protection. Once you've set up mySIMBL install the package at:

Sources >>> Wolf's tweaks >>> colorfulSidebar9.

Then restart Finder and you should have colored sidebar icons again.

* I am the developer of mySIMBL and colorfulSidebar9


Is there a shortcut to add/remove spaces? With Snow Leopard one chose the number of Spaces before hand (in preferences); in Lion one must create spaces one by one. Are there shortcuts to create & remove Spaces/Desktops?

At the moment there is not shortcut to add/remove spaces in Lion


How to know if (and when) a shutdown occurred due to power outage I have a Mac in a remote location that operates as a server.

It's configured (from Energy Management) to automatically power up in case of blackout as the power comes back.

How can I tell if a power outage has happened (and the mac self-restarted later) and when ?

I guess I can inspect the console, but what should I search for?

If you can get to Terminal on your remote machine, just type uptime
This won't, of course, tell you why it was last restarted, but when.


Hard drive (HDD) access has become very slow at times I have a mid-2011 iMac with a 7200 rpm 2‒Terabyte HDD, from Hitachi.

The last year, I have increasingly been noticing a behaviour where access to the hard drive has become slow – especially since around the time El Capitan was released.

I notice this behaviour chiefly in two situations:

Application installs are slow, and/or sometimes seem to freeze – being stuck at "1 second left" for several minutes.
Finder is frequently slow to populate the contents of folders, like /Applications and a spinning wheel for 30 seconds. Other times, Finder is snappier and population times are adequate.

As such, the performance strikes me as inconsistent, making me suspicious of a burgeoning hardware failure. However, I do not hear any weird noises from the drive, and Disk Utility results seem OK.

The system has, of course, experienced increased demands since purchase. Besides running a more modern OS, I also make heavy use of Dropbox whose initial boot indexing process requires a lot of work for the drive; and I also have a Time Machine that is frequently backing up lots of media. Spotlight and Alfred also seem to weigh down a bit some time after system startup, as well as antivirus programs I have had installed (not at the same time) such as Avast and Sophos Antivirus.

On the other hand, I can't see that these applications are always active when I encounter drive performance issues.

Is this drive performance to be expected with a five-year old HDD drive given these demands – or do the performance inconsistencies signal hardware problems?

Before even looking at anything else...
Two antivirus apps on one machine is not good; they fight each other.
Avast is also known to be cripplingly slow, with Sophos not faring much better.

AV-TEST is the closest to an actual 'authority' on the subject. Have a look at their recommendations.

I would lose both those antivirus solutions, then test again temporarily without any AV.


Mac won't open the website 192.168.1.1 (MacOS Big Sur) I need to have access to the website 192.168.1.1 to connect to my wifi but I can't open this website on my MacBook only (I could access it on my iPad). I tried using google chrome, safari and Microsoft Edge but none of these browsers could open this website.
I tried checking my proxies but all proxies were already unchecked.

You’ve got quite a catch-22 if you want the network to work before you can connect to your network. Big Sur is well tested with private non-routable networks like 192.168.X.X and since they are non-routable, you really need to get into the specifics of the local network to solve these.

You’ll need access to the router to examine and configure or change or (or access to a person that can do that for you)
You’ll need to learn a bit about routers and netmasks if the DHCP setup doesn’t work or your local and non-reputable network isn’t flat with all the machines in the same small address pool.

What are your options to manage this network or get help? Since none of that detail is on your question, we’re not going to be of any use solving your network remotely. Especially if this network has a captive portal, you may be stuck if you don’t try to open this site in your browsers one by one.

http://captive.apple.com


G+ iOS app: mentioning doesn't work I'm using the G+ app on my iPad 2 (6.1). Whenever I try to mention people in comments and type "+", the name doesn't come up (as it does in the android app) so I can select it. Even when I type the full name and send the comment, it stays black like the rest of the text and doesn't convert to a link (blue).

Anybody else has this issue? Any solutions?

Well, it seems it was a bug that is solved in the new version.


Measure Mouse Polling Rate on Mac How can I measure the polling rate of my USB mouse on OS X (10.7.5)?

I am looking for something like this, but for OSX.

  "...a lightweight program that can tell you how often the position of your mouse is sent to the other applications. This parameter is quite important when you are using tools or games with high frame rates..."

Basically, windows has a WM_MOUSEMOVE event that signifies that the system has detected cursor movement and the program displays that to the end user. Would a similar program on Mac tell me similar data?

You can use Mouse Rate which is written in java and therefore runs on OS X, Windows and Linux .

The source is on github.


how can i get imessages that i missed when imessage was off? My imessage button was turned off for a week and I am concerned that I missed a lot of important messages. How can I get those messages to come through now?

They should automatically appear after you turn iMessage back on.


How to deal with non-working key on the keyboard? I've problem with my Macbook Pro (with El Captain installed on it) where one of the keys (such as r) doesn't work at all, so each time when I'm typing a word with "r", I've to keep pasting it from the system clipboard. It's very inconvenient.

I'm planning to see Genius Bar, but since then, I'd like to find a better way to deal with such problem.

I've also consider external keyboard, but it's another inconvenience, where you have to carry it physically with you.

Is there any way of rebinding a keyboard key into another one (like r into §)? Or do can you suggest something better?

As suggested in the comments and in this post, using Karabiner app should work with the following configuration of private.xml file (edit in Misc tab):

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <item>
    <name>Use § to type R</name>
    <identifier>private.replace_r_key</identifier>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::DANISH_DOLLAR, KeyCode::R</autogen>
  </item>
</root>

and enable newly created item after reloading the file in Change Key tab.

To find out the right key code, use EventViewer in Misc tab.


AppCake - How to reclaim temp folder space I have transferred the .ipa whatsapp installer to an app called Xdownloader on my iPhone 5s running iOS 8.1.2 (jailbroken).

The .ipa file is about 110 megabytes. My free space was 1.7 gigas. I then deleted and installed whatsapp several times where each time I would open Xdownloader, click on the .ipa file, and choose to open it using "AppCake" in which I would get the option to install popping up right away.

Then I noticed that the free space dropped to about 300 megabytes! I can only presume that AppCake unzips the .ipa file to some temp folder and installs from it but doesn't delete it after the installation process completes! I navigated (using iFile) to all folders I could think of but couldn't find a thing! I also tried to clean up using iCleaner Pro. still, didn't do it.

I tried to remove both Xdownloader & Appcake altogether and reinstall them but then again it woudn't solve the problem. Appreciate any help

Looks like you imported (copied) an ipa to AppCake several times and all the copies are still there in a folder AppCake uses for storing ipas. It is somewhere in mobile.


Screen sharing stops working after disconnecting for about five minutes I'm running macOS Mojave on a Mac Mini. Built-in VNC server works perfectly when you connect for the first time after reboot, however if you disconnect from it for more than five minutes you can't connect again - it displays the username that was used for the last session and a spinning wheel. Connecting via ssh and killing screensharingagentd doesn't help, only a reboot does. I've verified all the power saving settings are off. There are two virtual machines with macOS High Sierra and Sierra running on this same Mac Mini and I can connect to them without any issues.

My workaround for this problem is to login via ssh and kill loginwindow process:

sudo pkill loginwindow

This will allow to login via VNC then.


How to simulate multiple mouse clicks while holding the mouse button? I want my mouse to rapidly auto-click when I hold the left mouse button and to stop as soon as I release the left button. How can I do this?

I have searched for hours, I didn't find anything! Is there possibly a way to do it with AppleScript? Or if there's a free application that can do this, it's perfectly fine too.

I made a solution for you.  Its got a few pieces, it might have taken me forever to come up with, and could probably use some polishing but its pretty darn close to what you wanted.  The only thing I cannot see us being able to accomplish is holding the mouse down to do it.  I couldn't find anything that would allow us to use the mouseup to turn off our clicking loop, so I used a toggle: Click once to start our crazy clicks , and click again to stop it (I used the middle click button as my start and stop)

We are using applescript, a command line tool for OSX called MouseTools, and an application called MagicPref to assign the script to one of our mouse buttons.

once you download and extract MouseTools, it is just a batch script.  I put it and my applescripts inside the same folder (I named the folder superclicks).  Now we just need to create a loop that clicks at the current location of the mouse, and a way to break out of that loop.

Here are the two applescript apps we make:

launch.app

global thisFile
set thisFile to (path to me)

global thisFolder
tell application "Finder" to set thisFolder to container of thisFile as text

# Function to check current state / should we should stop clicking
on checkstate()
local clickState
tell application "Finder"
    if exists file (thisFolder & "STOP_CLICKING.txt") then
        set clickState to false
    else if exists file (thisFolder & "CLICKING.txt") then
        set clickState to true
    else
        set clickState to null
    end if
end tell
return clickState
end checkstate

#function to update state of clicking via text files
#im sure there is a better way, but this certainly works
on togglestate()
if checkstate() is null then
    tell application "Finder" to make new file at thisFolder with properties     {name:"CLICKING.txt"}
else if checkstate() is true then
    tell application "Finder" to make new file at thisFolder with properties {name:"STOP_CLICKING.txt"}
else if checkstate() is false then
    tell application "Finder"
        delete file (thisFolder & "CLICKING.txt")
        delete file (thisFolder & "STOP_CLICKING.txt")
    end tell
end if
end togglestate

togglestate()
#we dont really want 3 states so we'll toggle again after a reset
if checkstate() is null then togglestate()

if checkstate() is true then
tell application "Finder"
    open (thisFolder & "clicking_script")
end tell
end if

clicking_script.app

global thisFile
set thisFile to (path to me)

global thisFolder
tell application "Finder" to set thisFolder to container of thisFile as text

## Function to check current state / should we should stop clicking
on checkstate()
local clickState
tell application "Finder"
    if exists file (thisFolder & "STOP_CLICKING.txt") then
        set clickState to false
    else if exists file (thisFolder & "CLICKING.txt") then
        set clickState to true
    else
        set clickState to null
    end if
end tell
return clickState
end checkstate

# let the clicking begin
on crazyClick()
set x to 0
repeat until checkstate() = false or x = 1000
    do shell script ((POSIX path of thisFolder as text) & "mousetools -leftClick")
    do shell script ((POSIX path of thisFolder as text) & "mousetools -releaseMouse")
    set x to (x + 1)
    delay 0
end repeat
end crazyClick

crazyClick()

These two scripts need to be saved as applications. Once you have those three items in your folder all you have to do is assign launch.app as a custom application to be launched for a particular click using MagicPrefs.

When you activate the script it clicks like crazy until you activate it again, which breaks the loop by adding some empty text files to the folder. We used the text files as a simple way to have external variables.

I have zipped all the files for easy downloading.

It might not be perfect but its definitely a good start to seeing what creativeness can be accomplished with automation.


Copy & Paste doesn't work After updating latest patch on High Sierra 10.13 on a 2012 MacBook Air, I can no longer copy and paste text. I restarted computer, booted into safe mode, tried copy and pasting in various applications like Textedit. If I do 'cut', the text goes away but clipboard in Finder shows it's empty.

Activity Monitor shows pboard and pbs processes exist. I killed it and a new one appears with same problem. The problem happens using keyboard shortcuts as well as using menu. When I do Command-c, The Edit menu blinks blue while I do that. Drag and drop text works fine. Mouse keys are turned off. I don't have virtualbox. I don't have Copied or additional clipboard software installed.

How can I determine what the problem is? This was working fine yesterday.

Update: Copy and paste was fixed by restoring from Time Machine backup. Reapplying the same High Sierra patch worked fine after that.

From this Apple Support discussion:

  So, to fix a stuck clipboard (pasteboard) problem, you simply need to:

  Open your application folder
  Open the utilities subfolder
  Open the Activity Monitor app
  Type “pboard” into the search box at the top right
  In the search results below, there should only be one result — a row listing the “pboard” process. Highlight it by clicking on it.
  Click the “x” button at the top left of the window which represents ‘quit this process’

  Once you’ve done that, OS X will kill the faulty PBoard process and
  re-establish it with a fresh one automatically. Your clipboard should
  be back to normal.


Paste path into File Open/Save Dialog? How do I paste a file path into a standard file open/save dialog?

I have googled this and found articles that say that the normal ⌘ CMD-V will work, however it does not work for me.

I'm running Mac OS 10.10.2 with minimal system customizations.

In your open/save window, press Cmd-Shift-G to open a window where you can paste the path.

This also works in Finder.


Checkerboard pattern in iTunes videos While watching iTunes-purchased video content (TV/movies), I periodically see a quick flash of the gray/white DRM checkerboard that iTunes shows when you're trying to watch video while screen-sharing.

The gist:

Mac mini Mid-2012 (10.8.3) with locally-stored iTunes library
Screen sharing is enabled, but not active when this occurs
Sometimes it's a flicker about one frame in duration
Sometimes mid-video the checkerboard appears and stays.

When this occurs, scrubbing the video back some fixes it.

It never seems to happen in the same location in a video twice.

I would, of course, appreciate any advice or suggestions on how to keep this from happening. It's really quite jarring.

I have the same behavior. If you turn off the Screen Sharing service in System Preferences > Sharing, it will cure the issue. Turning it back on will again present the intermittent flashes of CPHD checkerboard during playback. Must be a bug - gonna call AppleCare and get them to file a bug report.


Are iPhone DCIM 1xxAPPLE folders chronological? For example, am I guaranteed once 100APPLE is full, it will never change?

I am manually backing up the folders and this would make my life easier. Also when moving to a new iPhone, it means I can continue to only back up the new folders.

No, I don’t think you can count on that being guaranteed.

Yes, chronological filling first is typical and unless someone messes with the storage or counters / settings you’re pretty save with that assumption/generalization.

For my sanity, I grab all the images and process later if I feel I can’t just store all the images from each device. So far, my main storage grows faster than the size and accumulated count of images since iPhone launch 10 years ago.


Disable "do you want to allow downloads from" prompt in Safari Since Catalina, Safari has been prompting me

  Do you want to allow downloads from example.com?

Every time I try to download something.

How do I completely disable this prompt?

I don't think it's new to Catalina, I think it's new to Safari 13.

Preferences > Websites > Downloads

From the "When visiting other websites" drop down in the bottom-right, select the "Allow" option.

Picture from Catalina:


Preventing a specific application from relaunching at startup? When I reboot my mac, I have the "Reopen windows when logging back in" option checked, and for most applications it works fine. However, there's a few applications I use that behave very badly at startup when this option is used. (They reopen on the wrong desktop, throw tons of windows in wrong places, display error messages, things like that.)

I'd like to stop those apps from relaunching at startup, but only those apps. I'd prefer to keep using the "Reopen windows when logging back in" option so that all my other applications reopen in their previous state. Is there any way I can do that?

edit: A few points of clarification:

None of these apps are specified as login items.
Quitting the apps before rebooting doesn't actually seem to work. It may be the case that apps have to be closed for a sufficient length of time (and I don't know what that duration is) before they will no longer be relaunched at next login. I believe it's the same issue as reported here: How can I prevent applications from re-launching at startup?

The best option would be to quit those specific applications before logging out.

Make sure you are quitting the program completely, and not just closing the windows.

Edit: As an alternative, you can disable Reopen Windows When Logging Back In and add the programs you would like to open to the Login Items.


iPad Camera Connection Kit - Photo resolution When I send photos from my PC to my iPad through iTunes, there is a pre-processing stage where iTunes reduces the photo size and resolution (I think).

Does this also happen when I use the Camera Connection Kit to add photos from an SD card? If so, does this mean that I will lose the originals if I delete them from the card?

The iPad Camera Connection Kit is simply a USB hardware interface. It performs no processing and can store raw as well as jpeg from a camera or SD cards.

The iOS photo app will show you the pictures it can, but of you have an exotic raw camera - it will simply hold the images unchanged to deliver to your computer rather than process or change any images.


How can I control font of the Finder's sidebar? In the finder, there is a sidebar that includes things like Favorites for easy access.  On my laptop running Catalina, the font size is much larger than I desire on my 4K screen for the sidebar.
Where can I control the font size used by the sidebar?

Sidebar text size cannot be adjusted independently. However, this setting:
  System Preferences > General > Sidebar Icon Size

changes the size of the Sidebar icons and text names.