How to install VLC Player on the original iPad (iOS 5.1.1)? My friend has the original iPad that runs iOS 5.1.1 and can't be updated any further. Very few apps these days are compatible with that version of iOS. The new version of VLC in the App Store requires iOS 7.

What I thought I'd do is get an old version of the .ipa for VLC that's compatible with iOS 5.1.1. I have a computer with iTunes that I wonder if I can use to transfer it to the iPad.

Are some old versions of VLC compatible with iOS 5.1.1? If yes, what's the latest VLC version that's compatible?
Where can I get such .ipa files?
Do I have to jailbreak the iPad in order to install such downloaded files, or can I do it without jailbreaking?

version 2.2.x is what you need.

The latest with 5.1 support according to wiki:
https://wiki.videolan.org/Documentation:IOS/#Feature_Overview

Download away! Vlc keeps all the different versions!
http://downloads.videolan.org/videolan/vlc-iOS/

No Jailbreak required.


Macbook Pro doesn't recognize USB devices through hub I have a power delivery USB hub that I use to have a single cable I plug into my laptop to connect power, an HDMI monitor, and USB devices. It all works on other devices of mine, and mostly works for my Macbook Pro (i.e. PD and HDMI work), but the Macbook Pro doesn't recognize any devices beyond the USB hub, in particular mouse movements and keyboard strokes are not recognized by the laptop.

When I look at the System Report (Apple Logo -> About This Mac -> System Report...) in the USB section I can see what I believe to be the USB hub in question (when I unplug the cable and refresh it disappears), but nothing beyond the hub is listed. It lists the hub as a "USB3.1 Hub" when the Amazon listing for the device only claims 3.0. I do not know if this is related, but I currently don't know how I could take action based on that.

My laptop is up to date (macOS Catalina 10.15.3). I have tried plugging the USB devices "directly" into the mac (USB-A to USB-C converter) and they work fine. Plugging the hub into a different port on my Macbook does not fix the issue. As I mentioned, these peripherals work through the hub on every other device I've tried. I have tried restarting the Mac with the cable in and with the cable out. I have also tried unplugging the power delivery from the hub and plugging it back in just in case it's stateful. I also followed Apple's guide for when USB devices don't work, but this did not resolve the issue.

How can I get this to work? What else should I do to troubleshoot?

This was solved by not using the hub and cables with the Mac. See the comments on the question.
Helpful commenter AndyP says:

I've the same problem with my Early 2015 MBP. My life has been limited to two usb devices at a time for about a year. This is the most comprehensive resource on the issue I've found: https://wls.wwco.com/blog/2016/03/20/usb-3-0-hub-stops-working-on-el-capitan/


Can I use 2019 iMac as monitor for Wii/Wii U? Does anyone know of a setup to somehow plug my Wii into my 27' 2019 iMac? I'm fine with any strategies here, no matter how complex.

You could use a USB video capture device to capture the video output from your Wii or Wii U.
A device like this with support for macOS will show up in QuickTime, which you can switch into Full Screen, and could allow you to use your 27" iMac as a display.


Ethernet via Thunderbolt display with MacBook Pro 2017 (A1707)? I've connected my new MacBook Pro to my Apple Thunderbolt display using the Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter. The display and USB are working as expected but I'm not getting any ethernet. Ethernet is working fine with my old Thunderbolt 2 MacBook Pro. Has anyone been able to get this working?

It looks like this other post provided the hint that I needed to get this working! MacBook Sierra display ethernet needs constant re-starting

Unplugging the display and then plugging it back in fixed the problem! What a pain!


How to image and deploy a Bootcamp setup? We are rolling out iMac's and MacBook Pro's throughout the business and are setting them up with Boot Camp and an option to boot into Windows 7.  Essentially the partition is just split down the middle, one for OSX and the other for Windows.

Now I want to be able to deploy this setup easily throughout the business by creating a complete disk image and then transferring it to the other machines.  for example there is software on each partition that I want to install and config changes to make then I just want to image the whole lot and deploy it to all of the other Mac's.  We used to do something similar just with PC's and Windows using software like Ghost or Acronis True Image but I am just unsure of how we can do it with Mac?

Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated.

There is a paid software called Winclone. It's at version 3.7 now. Take a look at reviews to see if it will do what you want. There is another open source software but I can't recall the name now. You might run into that info while doing a search for Winclone.

http://twocanoes.com/winclone/


Are apps permitted to give monetary prizes? If an app has contests, is it a violation of policy to give payouts / money prices to winners of contests from the app?

Apple publishes general app review guidelines at https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/

Since payouts is money, then you have gambling issues to contend with and legal requirements to be sure each region is OK and you are licensed. Also, what sort of contest is being run. Poetry submissions or drawing - it really depends on what a payout and a contest is in practice. Then you are contracting and not just gambling.

Assuming contests are basically a lottery or game of chance, you would likely run afoul of a couple sections based on how you implemented the app:

1.3 Kids category, you cannot collect information from children, so no way to give "payouts" to them without violating the terms and/or COPPA / GDPR.
3.1.2(a) Permissible uses - You get what you pay for. Make sure your app is valuable to all /equitable to all whether they win or not. (this ties closely with 4.2)
4.2 Minimum Functionality

  Your app should include features, content, and UI that elevate it beyond a repackaged website.

This ties closely with 3.1.2(a)
5.3 Gaming, Gambling, and Lotteries

  Gambling, gaming, and lotteries can be tricky to manage and tend to be one of the most regulated offerings on the App Store.

You won't know until you submit the app for first review to test flight or app review unless you engage with developer support at a WWDC or support incident before you submit code. Also, consider those interactions will usually be - submit what you have and then we'll talk. Especially for section 5 Legal - you have to make sure you're OK before you hit up Apple for review.


Automator workflow to close programme when laptop is closed / goes to sleep I've got a programme that I use regularly that has a really bad memory leak problem. It seems to be triggered when closing my laptop / putting it to sleep and then waking the laptop up again.

I wondered if it's possible to create an Automator workflow to say "when laptop is closed / when laptop goes to sleep close programme"?

Yes, this is possible. There are restrictions to performing scripts before sleep but it is possible.

Run a script on sleep

See Possible to run scripts on sleep and wake? for various tools that can run a script before sleep. I wrote, and thus recommend, Power Manager.

For the script, consider using AppleScript instead of Automator. Running an AppleScript before sleep will be simpler. The script could read:

tell application "MemoryLeak.app" to quit


iOS development on windows without any apple device? I want to do some cross-platform mobile development (Android, iOS, Windows Phone) using Xamarin, the problem is that I only have an android device and a windows machine. But I still want to be able to test my apps for iOS and I can't really buy a mac (and/or an iphone) just for this. I'm thinking about testing my apps using Appetize.io, but to do that I would still need a MAC machine to be able to build the app and upload to appetize. Is there any workaround for that?

You need Xcode to build, sign and upload your app; it also is advisable to test it on real hardware (aka an iPhone) before releasing it. Xcode is only available for macOS though so you need at least a small Mac mini for this (which is more than enough for smaller apps)


How can I fix iTunes to sync apps and musics? I have used my own apple ID to sync music and apps for long times. About 5 months ago my friend installed a new app by his own apple ID on my phone and now unfortunately I can't sync any app or music.

iPhone 5s
iTunes version:   12.0.1.26
iOS version:     7.0.4

How can I fix this problem ?

As @patrix said, check the Apple ID under Settings > iTunes and App Store on your phone. Also, make sure you DELETED the app your friend bought with their Apple ID before you try syncing to your iTunes on your computer.

Goes without saying, make sure your same Apple ID is used on your iTunes on your computer.


Removing User from Single User Mode Fails - MacOS 10.14 So I’m trying to delete a specific user account while avoiding the traditional SysPrefs method. I do have FileVault enabled and am running 10.14.
This is what I’ve tried in Single User mode:

/sbin/fsck -fy
/sbin/mount -uw /
sudo dscl . delete /Users/username

This gives me the errors:

Could not read path = /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServicesLocal.plist, error = 2: No such file or directory
No task-access server configured! The system will not get very far.

When I try the dscl command in Recovery Mode I get the DS error -14009. Any clue as to why this is?

Solved! Since com.apple.DirectoryServicesLocal.plist was giving me issues I ran

launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.opendirectoryd.plist

Before executing the dscl delete command which was successful.


Can I sell Snow Leopard DVD? Does the license transfer? I am selling an old MacBook. The MacBook came with Leopard. I also bought Snow Leopard on DVD. I believe it would be legal for me to sell the MacBook with Snow Leopard installed, provided I included the install media. But now my question:

Can I sell the Snow Leopard DVD separately? Will the license transfer with the media?

I am considering selling the Snow Leopard DVD since (as Apple no longer sell this) I should get a good ebay price.

Does anyone know if this is legal? Are we even allowed to resell licenses / and or OS X Media.

I'd welcome informed opinion on this - preferably with a link to Apple's terms on conditions which make it clear.

From the License Agreement page 2

  Transfer. You may not rent, lease, lend, sell, redistribute or sublicense the Apple Software.  Subject to the restrictions set forth below, you may, however,
  make a one-time permanent transfer of all of your license rights to the Apple Software (in its original form as provided by Apple) to another party, provided that:
  (a) the transfer must include all of the Apple Software, including all its component parts (excluding Apple Boot ROM code and ﬁrmware), original media, printed
  materials and this License; (b) you do not retain any copies of the Apple Software, full or partial, including copies stored on a computer or other storage device;
  and (c) the party receiving the Apple Software reads and agrees to accept the terms and conditions of this License.

IANAL, but the terms of the licence clearly anticipated your wish to sell.


What Software was Bundled with My Old Mac? In the beginning of 1995, we bought a Macintosh Performa 5200. I remember that after registering the machine, we got a box with some bonus software on CDs. I certainly know that The Daedalus Encounter came with it. This happened in Germany, if that matters.

What else came with this?

Gosh, that's a blast from the past. I had to go digging (deep) in my office!

The Performa 5200 came with a software bundle that included:

The Daedalus Encounter
Grolier's Multimedia Encyclopedia
Myst
Mega Rock Rap 'n' Roll
Making Music

I'm not sure if there was a difference with models sold in Germany (in fact I didn't think this particular model was ever sold in Germany).

However, other models in the Performa range of that era also came with the Apple Magic Collection. This included:

A Lion King animated story book
The Aladin Activity Center
Toy Story demo CD


Dock folder shortcut: Is it possible to change the sort order of files in subfolders? I have a shortcut to a folder in the Dock.

Here is how this folder is configured:

This folder contains several subfolders. When I enter a subfolder by hovering the mouse cursor over a subfolder title, the files in the subfolder are, by default, listed in ascending order by Name.

Changing the "Sort by" value in the above context-menu only affects the order of the items in the folder itself, not those in its subfolders.

Is it possible to change the ordering method of the files in the subfolders (e.g., to descending order by Name or Date Modified)?

Note: This question is strictly concerned with the order of files in the Dock pop-up mini-window in List view, not a proper Finder.app window.

OS X El Capitan, version 10.11.6.

Yes it is. The subfolder will open in anew window or tab and just select how to list the new folder. You can select the column name and click on it and it will sort contents in a decreasing or increasing order. A column header is shown below.


Mitigating iPhone Headphones Design Flaw/Poor Usage I've got a first generation iPhone.  About once a year, like clockwork, the standard Apple iPhone headphones will start to crap-out on me.  Audio will flake out in a channel, the clicker will stop answering the phone, and ultimately they'll give up the ghost.  The flaking out is an audio-on/audio-off thing, eventually becoming a completely off thing.  This is not the schmutz in the iphone problem.

I think I've tracked down the physical defect (but am not a headphone/electrical engineer)

The image above shows two flakey headphone jacks with their protective covering pulled back.  It looks like, over time, the plastic covering wears away and exposes the bare wires which, I assume, interferes with the magic that makes the headphone work.

Is there a way to salvage these headphones? How can I keep this from happening to future headphones?  Will that happen to all microphone-clicker headphones, or are there's others that will be more resilient?  Are there low budget third-party headphones with comparable average audio-quality, a clicker, and will work with a first gen iPhone? I've been wary of trading up lest I'm buying for a new $100 pair of headphones every year (instead of a $30/pair).  Is it the design of the iPhone itself that causes this (i.e., something that won't happen with the newer models)

When I'm not using the headphones they get wrapped up in my pocket like this. Is this damaging them? You can also see how the base of the jack casing has split.  This is something else that happens to the headphone.

My goal here is to make my headphones last as long as they can.

My solution was to get a Shure mic/clicker (about $30-40) and combine it with a pair of sony headphones from amazon.  The shure is a really good mic has lasted and lasted and lasted, and the headphones while only $10 sound much better than the apple ones, and when they crap out (about 1.5-2 yrs) are a trivial expense.  It's a little more unwieldy than the all in one unit but it's much more durable and cheaper in the long run.  I originally did this to get around the nonstandard headphone jack on the 1st gen iphone, but now I stay with it because it's so reliable


Spotlight Re-Indexing at Startup I have a 15" Macbook Pro Early 2011 and OS X 10.9.2. Spotlight is starting to re-index process when I logged in. I want to know: is this a normal behaviour?

Yes, Mac OS X will often index the spotlight at startup. Depending on how many files are on your computer, this process will range from a few seconds to a few minutes (if your computer is terribly slow). I hope this helps!


External hard disk not showing up on finder and can't be verified in Disk Utility My Mac suddendly restarted and now the external hard disk I normally use for Time Machine backups is not working anymore. When I plug it in, it doesn't appear on finder and while it appears in the Disk Utility, I can't perform any action on it.

From the command line I tried with the command diskutil list, but I just see the default Mac hard disk.

What can I do?

If you can see your external drive in the disk utility app, there is no reason that it won't show up when you hit 'diskutil list'.

If you still can't see it after 'diskutil list', try unplugging it then 'ls /dev/disk*' then replug it and redo 'ls /dev/disk*' and see if another disk appeared. (It should be disk2s2 or disk2s1) then 'diskutil mount /dev/disk2s2'.

If this doesn't work, your drive is probably corrupted.


Car audio doesn't work in iOS 10 ("No song") Ever since I upgraded to iOS 10, my phone no longer works in my car (connected over Lightning to USB port). It isn't a connectivity issue (I've received "device unsupported" before with bad connections) because the dash shows "No song" rather than "No device", but Spotify and Siri no longer run through the audio and iOS 10's (revamped) audio controls do not function. Is this an iOS 10 bug?

After much troubleshooting, the issue was the Music app being "deleted" (hidden). Even if not running the Music app—and using Spotify, Maps, etc.—the car audio does not function properly without it. Restore the app via the App Store and the car audio comes back as it was before.


MacBook Pro Display Issue I own a 11 month old MacBook Pro 13" with Apple Care. From the last 2 months, I've noticed a bright line on my screen which is about 0.5 cm in size. Should I be worried? Will Apple be able to repair it?

I would say you should not be worried however since you do have Apple Care I'd backup your files using Time Machine and then make arrangements to have it looked at and repaired.  As to whether or not they can fix it or just replace the part(s) in question that will be decide by Apple however since it's under warranty the'll have to fix it or replace it.

From Contact Apple Support ...

  A Genius Bar reservation is an easy way to get hardware repairs, but
  we can solve many issues over the phone or by chat. Tell us a little
  about what’s going on and we’ll suggest the right support option.


Why does Messages on OSX always show unread messages? On my iMac running Mountain Lion, Messages is chronically showing that I have 2 unread messages in its Dock icon.  However there are no unread messages at all.  I've even gone through and clicked on every single conversation in my history, just to make sure there wasn't some long-forgotten message floating around that hadn't been read.

It's not causing any major problems, but it is annoying to constantly think I've got a new message when i don't.  Anyone know why this happens?

I have been getting this on OS X 10.10 (Yosemite). I found a solution in the Apple discussion forums.

User LHindiii there recommended quitting Messages.app then using Activity Monitor to quit the Dock (which will automatically relaunch) and this worked for me.


Has anyone seen this weird floating light in iTunes before? I connected my iPhone to my computer, and iTunes opened up as it always does. However, I got this weird video playing in the window. I have no videos on my phone or in my iTunes library. It wasn't interactive—clicking didn't do anything.

It's like I had a UFO on my computer :) Has anyone seen something like this? I can't recreate it for the life of me.

.

What you are seeing is the visualizer in iTunes.  Right now its just in idle mode.  It will dance if you play something.  Hold down Command and press T to turn it off.


Shutdown prompt keeps popping up I have a weird problem. Recently, I have noticed whenever I connect my MacBook Pro to my screen, the shutdown prompt (see picture) pops up and no matter how many times I click on "Cancel" it keeps popping up. It even steals the screen attention (that window gets highlighted) meaning that I'm not able to do anything at all.
Usually, it stops after a while (like 10 minutes or more), but it is nondeterministic.

I have a theory about what can be the cause. The screen I have is one of these old Apple Cinema displays (maybe ten years old), and it has a power button (touch-based) on it. I think it must be related to this. Somehow it feels as if the button is continuously getting pressed. In the Display preferences, there is an option related to the button. It's already set to "Does nothing" but the problem still occurs. I tried changing it to "Turns the display on and off", and the display started blinking, constantly turning on and off, which proves my hypothesis is correct. However, I have no idea what this is happening and how I can stop it.

Any ideas?

It might your keyboard issue which is just a random guess. However before going on hardware, why not you try to reset SMC.

The System Management Controller — or SMC — is responsible for various pieces of hardware inside your machines such as the battery, fans, logic board and more.

The SMC is even responsible for recognizing when certain buttons are
pressed.

You can take the guidance from https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

It doesn't hamper anything so I think it is worth to try.


Conversion of a 2011 vintage Unibody Macbook Pro to Linux I've got a Late 2011 17" MacBook Pro that got as far as High Sierra 10.13.6. My thought was to remove the SSD that's currently installed, replace it with another SSD, then install Linux Mint on this new SSD.

I'd like to be able to restore High Sierra if Linux Mint doesn't work out. Swapping SSDs is easy enough, but I want to avoid burning any bridges. Are there any NVRAM/firmware/other issues I should watch for... that is to say any changes that could render my machine un-bootable should I ever wish to return to High Sierra?

There's nothing in NVRAM or in the EFI firmware that make your 2011 MacBook Pro unbootable should you ever want to return to a previous macOS.

As I explained in another answer, NVRAM holds your preboot environment like boot volume.  The worst thing that will happen is it will look for a bootable file where one no longer exists resulting in the infamous flashing question mark or prohibitory sign.  Reinstallation of your OS will fix the problem.

As far as your EFI goes, it's equivalent to your BIOS, just much more advanced.  There's nothing an OS installation is going to do that irreparably harms your EFI firmware.

Doing installations on separate SSDs is actually a good idea.  I do that myself as SSD prices are now very low that it's more economical (in time) to just swap out a drive than it it is to format and install.  The Macs (of varying vintages and models) don't complain at all.  NVRAM is never reset or variables modified for any reason.

Now, for applicable models with the T2 Security Chip (the 2011 MBP is not), users have to be aware of Secure Boot.  Basically, it will prevent unsigned operating systems from being installed or booted.  However, that restriction can be turned off.  It's basically the same thing as UFEI Secure Boot found on PCs.


App Install Button 'Grayed Out' in iTunes 12 I'm trying to install new apps on iPhone 4S via iTunes 12. Music, info, photos are no problem, but iTunes will not allow me to install apps I have downloaded on my Mac via the App Store. All new apps have their respective "Install" button 'grayed out'. I have had no problems up to this point installing new apps. I have changed nothing on either the Mac or the device. All of the apps I want to install are free. Over 2 GB of free space in device.

Without knowing the actual apps you're trying to install and what version of iOS you're running on your iPhone 4S, any answer you get is likely to be at best an educated guess.

There are a number of possibilities for your situation, but my first thought is that although you say nothing has changed on your Mac or iPhone, that doesn't mean something else hasn't changed.

Specifically, what I'm thinking is that many software developers are busy updating apps at present due to a number of updates (e.g. iOS 10, Xcode 8.1, Swift 3, etc). In doing so, many apps may become incompatible with older hardware and/or operating systems.

In your case you've downloaded the apps on your Mac, so there's no built in check going on as to compatibility. What I mean by this is that browsing/downloading the apps via the App Store on your iPhone will only allow you to download versions of apps that will install on your device, but there's no way for this to happen via the Mac as you could be downloading them for any number of devices.

Another factor is that your model of iPhone cannot run a version of iOS later than 9.3.5, so any apps requiring a more recent version will not install (and that's assuming you're even running iOS 9 (many iPhone 4S owners aren't).

You'd be best to use your iPhone to download apps as many developers (me included) do allow older versions of their apps to remain on the App Store for superseded devices etc.

Hope this helps!


Dual 27" Thunderbolt How can I set up a dual Thunderbolt on a 2012 Mac mini server? I daisy chained them but the second stays black.

Do I need a Thunderbolt to HDMI adaptor, from which vendor, how can I not lose resolution?

Or does this setting work only with the non-server Mac mini with the AMD Radeon HD 6630M graphics card?

http://www.apple.com/macmini/features.html

You need the 2.5 Ghz Mac Mini, which indeed also comes with an AMD Radeon HD 6630M instead of the integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 on the 2.3Ghz model.

For a list of models that support up to two Thunderbolt displays connected, check this support article over on the Apple website:

Thunderbolt ports and displays: Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

14 - How many Apple Thunderbolt Displays can I use with my Mac in OS X?


How do I prevent applications from taking over my screen? How can I prevent applications from being able to go fullscreen?  Or, if this is not possible, how can I escape from fullscreen mode of a (possibly unresponsive) application, without quitting the application?

Here is the backstory for this question.  I recently purchased Cave Story + on the app store, only to discover that it crashes when opened in Mavericks.  Since the distributor doesn't appear interested in fixing the bug, I thought I might be able to fix it myself by tinkering with the executable.  However, when I start up the application with lldb, it goes fullscreen, hits a breakpoint that I have set, and becomes unresponsive, leaving me locked out of my own computer.

It depends on how the application goes to full screen. If it is "standard" full screen that was introduced with Mavericks, moving the mouse cursor to the top of the screen should reveal the menubar with an option to "restore" the Window size.

Even if it is via another mechanism (vis special code), standard app switcher options should work. your options include:

Cmd + Tab - swicthes between apps
F3 on a standard Apple keyboard opens Mission Controls*
You can set up hot corners (System Preferences -> Desktop and Screensaver -> Hot Corners) to go to desktop or all windows by moving your mouse cursor to a corner of the screen to go to desktop or another app
Connect an additional monitor (if on a laptop)

*This is not technically F3. It is the shortcut got by pressing F3. You may have to Try Fn + F3 depending on how your heyboard is setup.


Disable TimeMachine Drive in Finder When I open a Save as dialog, Finder starts to scan my external TimeMachine drive which needs to "boot up" some seconds. This makes the dialog very unresponsive, because it waits for the drive to be ready.

Is it possible to disable the TM drive for such things and just allow the TimeMachine feature for it?

The following MAY work.

Pre-requisites:

Root access, either by enabling the root user account or through a root shell.
If through shell, you need familiarity with a command line text editor.  Mac's ship with vim and nano that I know off.

Method:

Edit /etc/fstab.  The file doesn't exist by default.

Create an entry for the time machine disk.  See man fstab for full details.

The option you want to add to options is 'nobrowse'

This disables it from showing in the finder an may also help you with the save issue.

I have not tested this, and don't plan to, as I keep all of my disks spinning.  While disks are rated in terms of mean time before failure, they really should be rated in terms of spin-up/down cycles.  In my years as a sysadmin I insisted on leaving machines on, disks spinning.  I had FAR fewer disk replacements than departments where they spun them down at night.

Time machine is going to make a backup every hour, and so will spin up the disk, unless no file has changed in the last hour.


How do I configure Screen Recording permission on macOS Catalina? I'm using macOS Catalina and it's preventing me from sharing my screen in web browsers like Firefox and Chrome, and in other applications too. How do I properly set up permissions so that screen sharing works in all of my apps?

Starting with macOS Catalina, Apple has added a new Screen Recording permission to macOS that needs to be granted to every application that tries to record the screen, either for screen capture (saving a movie locally) or screen sharing (transmitting your screen to somewhere else).

Security & Privacy in System Preferences

You can manage permissions for Screen Recording in the System Preferences. However, it doesn't work quite how you would expect! By default the list is empty, as shown below. None of your installed applications are shown in the list, and there is no + button that you could use to add an app. You can't even drag an app into this list.

The Prompt

In order to get an app to show up in this list, you first need to launch the app and activate some functionality inside the app that depends on Screen Recording.

If you're using Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome, the fastest way to do this is by visiting screenapp.io (no affiliation, it just works well).
If you're using Safari, go to Google Hangouts, start a new Video Call, and click the three dots button ⋮ in the top right and then Share Screen.
If you are using the paid version of Slack:

Create a new private channel with only yourself as a member
Click the telephone icon
Press the "Share your screen" button in the call window

The first time you do this, you'll see a prompt to grant permissions like the one shown below. Make sure you choose "Open System Preferences" because you'll only be asked once.

If you accidentally click Deny, you'll have to reset your privacy settings for Screen Recording.

Grant the Permission

After clicking "Open System Preferences" you'll be taken right to the Screen Recording section of the Privacy settings. Just click the checkbox beside the app you're trying to use.

But you're not quite done yet! Once you grant the permission, you must quit the application before you can start screen recording. Even though it's quite annoying when you're trying to start a meeting, there's no way around this.

Do it for your other apps now

Because macOS Catalina forces you to quit every app you want to use before you can really use it, I suggest granting permission to as many apps as you can think of now before you really need them. This will save quite a headache when you're trying to share your screen for in a meeting. At a bare minimum, make sure to add Safari and your other browsers (eg. Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome).


Override iPhone's automatic brightness adjust? Apple seems to have completely removed the automatic brightness switch in recent iOS versions - the only 'automatic' settings now are for light/dark mode & Night Shift.

I don't mind Night Shift changing my screen's white point as night comes on, but in regular daylight I heartily object to it constantly deciding for me how bright the backlight should be.

I'm reading my book, it feels a bit dim for the ambient light I'm in, so I quickly dial the brightness up a bit…. then as I'm reading I can see the system just overruling me & turning it back down again.
So I turn it up… the system turns it down. Rinse & repeat ad nauseum.

I really do feel it's something I ought to be in charge of.

Does anyone know the magic dance necessary to stop it doing this?

Picture of settings just in case I missed something really really obvious.

Settings app will help you find this if you search for Auto-Brightness

The Auto-Brightness switch was moved in iOS 13.

the Source of the images below is this article:

Go to Settings -> Accessibility -> Display & Text Size.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will see the Auto-Brightness switch.

From here you can turn off this feature and, hopefully, this battle with iOS will be won!


How do I make a text border or also called "stroke" around text in documents that have text such as Pages, Markup, etc? How do I make a text border or also called "stroke" around text in documents that have text such as Pages, Markup, etc?

I want white text with a black border or "stroke", what program can I use in macOS to accomplish this?

And how would I do it?

It looks like this, for example:

Pages app is the easiest to get this effect, and it’s the same in Numbers / Keynote. To get the following effect:

Format the text to 64 pt
Format the text color to neutral gray
Enable Outline - keep the defaults, black line, 1 pt, solid stroke


Apple Music purchase fails I have 2 apple id’s with the same billing information. I try and purchase Apple Music in the new account. I get a message saying my request could not be processed. I tried changing the billing but it did not work. I added funds but it did not work. I even removed content restrictions but it failed. How do I fix this.

I would call or open a ticket with Apple Support so they can advise - they’ll be able to let you know how to differentiate the accounts if needed or just fix whatever issue in the back end has flagged your situation to be in error or fix an actual server side error if that’s what has happened.
They have the best insight as to which steps you can take to resolve this rapidly.


Sort Apple Mail by "replied to" I'd like to sort my email on whether I've replied to it or not. Apple Mail puts a little replied to icon to the left of whatever emails I've replied to so I know this filter exists.

Thoughts on whether this is possible?

Although Sorting by reply status is not possible, you can certainly Filter by reply status.

Using Smart Folders you can collect all replied to messages in one 'folder' and unreplied to in another.  These folders just gather the messages, they do not move them from their original folders unless you delete them.  But this can help you keep mail sorted.

Then you can sort by date or other desired criteria.


Is there a sexier alternative to the status bar in Safari? I hate the status bar. However, I love hovering over URLs to find out where they will take me. Is there an alternative to having the status bar on at all times, or constantly toggling on/off? An extension, or maybe a preference that I'm missing?

I like the free UltimateStatusBar extension.

Visible only when you're hovering over a link, it shows where things lead, but does other stuff too. Like shortener expansion and favicon previews.

It's got lots of built-in themes you can use to customize the appearance.


What part do I need for my broken iPhone 3G? One morning my iPhone 3G just showed up with a gray screen. Everywhere I looked said that I need to replace the screen.
I bought an "iPhone 3G Screen + Digitizer" off the internet but it turns out this is NOT the part I need.
I have the technical ability to replace the screen...but I have no idea what part it is that I'm looking for.  Can anyone help me figure this one out?

I'm not sure which part you need exactly, but one resource that has helped me repair my iPhone 3G is iFixit.com. Especially their iPhone 3G page which lists many of the iPhone's parts.

They even have a Q&A section specifically targeting iPhone 3G repair which you may find of use.


nsurlsessiond is using all my bandwidth I searched the web and apparently this process has something to do with the iCloud Drive! I don't have more than 10 MB for all the data and documents on iCloud Drive; but this process uses more than 300 MBs everytime it starts. It usually starts within a restart of the computer. I also checked the setting of iCloud drive on my iPhone and disabled all data backups and stuff for applications (even whatsapp and others which are not even on my mac). I have no idea what's causing this bandwidth hug. All photos cloud stuff has been turned off too. I don't use safari either; using chrome.

So what exactly is going on? Is the only way to fix this, turning off the whole iCloud Drive thing? Is this a bug? I'm using Yosemite 10.10

I like using iCloud drive to sync all Pages and Numbers documents between my iPhone and Mac (Which together are not more than 10 MBs).

The NSURLSession Daemon (nsurlsessiond) is used for uploading and downloading content. Apps can delegate transfers to the daemon which continues the transfer even after the delegating app quits.

So it could be any application. It's not restricted to Apple apps and services, all apps can use this daemon.


Safest way to copy files to AirPort Disk from the command-line? I have just started using an AirPort disk (a Drobo connected by USB to the AirPort Extreme). I am trying to decide what is the ‘safest’ way to copy files to the Drobo from my MacBook Pro, which connects to the AirPort’s Wi-Fi network (802.11n-only / 5GHz).

(By “safe” I mean “able to tell that something went wrong during the transfer and throw an error” especially considering that I’ll be transferring large quantities of data to a disk which might disappear over a Wi-Fi connection. Seems reasonable to take an extra precaution or two.)

It appears that rsync does a checksum to make sure that the transfer was successful, according to this section of man rsync:

  -c, --checksum

  …

  Note that rsync always verifies that each transferred file was correctly reconstructed on the receiving side by checking its whole-file checksum, but that automatic after-the-transfer verification has nothing to do with this option's before-the-transfer "Does this file need to be updated?" check.

Except that I am not sure (and cannot find out any official source to tell me) if that is true for copying files between different folders on the same computer, since (technically) there is no “receiving side” in the traditional sense of copying from one computer to another. It certainly does not seem like rsync is taking extra time to do a checksum after the transfer, but that’s mostly guesswork, and I’m not sure how to test it sufficiently to consider any decision I might make conclusive.

(In case anyone is tempted to suggest that I read the source code of rsync I’m not familiar enough with programming to do that. In fact, I’m not even sure where to find the actual rsync code that OS X uses. See also: links on this page.)

The relevant bit of scripting that I am intending to use is here:

for i in "$@"
do
    /usr/bin/rsync \
    --8-bit-output \
    --exclude='*/.DocumentRevisions-V100/*' \
    --exclude='*/.fseventsd/*' \
    --exclude='*/.Spotlight-V100/*' \
    --exclude='*/.TemporaryItems/*' \
    --exclude='*/.Trashes/*' \
    --extended-attributes \
    --human-readable \
    --inplace \
    --itemize-changes \
    --links \
    --partial \
    --progress \
    --recursive \
    --stats \
    --timeout=30 \
    --times \
    --verbose \
    -- "${i}" "${DEST}/"
done

(n.b. $DEST is previously defined as /Volumes/DroboUSB-Backups)

This will also skip over files which have previously been copied, but fill in any missing ones, much like the "merge" command we all wish the Finder had.

1)  Did I miss any options to rsync that I should use?

(Note that I have intentionally not included --compress as most of files I’ll be copying will already be compressed.)

2)  Are there any other programs that I ought to consider instead of rsync? (Alternatives have to be something I can script from the command line, so not Transmit or ChronoSync.)

Using rsync is likely your best option and the flags enumerated in your question are reasonable.

An alternative tool to use would be dd. This tool approaches the copying process at a lower level and is often promoted where exact copies of disks are required. The dd manual has all the options. I prefer rsync for its relative simplicity.

Post Copy Check

You may want to extend your script to perform a post-rsync check. Use another tool, such as diff to compare the source and destination folders are equivalent.

If diff does not provide the incremental control you seek, consider comparing the md5 hashes from the source and destination's contents. See How can I calculate an md5 checksum of a directory?


OS X Catalina seems to shut down during sleep I run an MBP 13-inch Mid-2012, with an SSD I installed and running OS X Catalina 10.15.4

I notice that sometimes when it goes to sleep it shuts down if it isn't plugged in (I have to hit the power up when I use it again) and today it was plugged in, but when I touched he keyboard instead of waking from sleep as usual it was at the login screen and was telling me the computer shut down because of a problem.

This was the report the computer generated:

Sleep Wake failure in EFI

Failure code:: 0xffffffff 0x0000001f

Please IGNORE the below stackshot

================================================================
Date/Time:        2020-05-13 02:45:21 -0400
OS Version:       ??? ??? (Build ???)
Architecture:     x86_64
Report Version:   29

Data Source:      Stackshots
Shared Cache:     0x2f3e000 F04A453C-3C9D-3D12-B86E-C514F0DE0B14

Event:            Sleep Wake Failure
Duration:         0.00s
Steps:            1

Time Awake Since Boot: 12s

Process:          swd [376]
Architecture:     x86_64
Footprint:        380 KB
Start time:       2020-05-13 02:45:21 -0400
End time:         2020-05-13 02:45:21 -0400
Num samples:      1 (1)

  Thread 0x84f    1 sample (1)    priority 4 (base 4)
  <thread QoS background (requested background), thread darwinbg, process darwinbg, IO tier 2>
  1  start + 1 (libdyld.dylib + 109769) [0x7fff6a16ecc9] 1
    1  ??? [0x10ccb6454] 1
      1  ??? [0x10ccb61dd] 1
        1  __stack_snapshot_with_config + 10 (libsystem_kernel.dylib + 135862) [0x7fff6a2d02b6] 1
         *1  ??? [0xffffff80002c8206] 1
           *1  ??? [0xffffff80009875f7] 1
             *1  ??? [0xffffff80008a0001] 1
               *1  ??? [0xffffff80002eb9e7] (running) 1

  Binary Images:
        0x7fff6a154000 -
0x7fff6a18afff  libdyld.dylib (750.5)
<D2A07EF5-A64B-3692-BE13-89DAA2EC5E80>  /usr/lib/system/libdyld.dylib
0x7fff6a2af000 -
0x7fff6a2dbfff  libsystem_kernel.dylib (6153.101.6) <E76440E1-D1E8-3D9A-8B47-D01F554FF1C4>  /usr/lib/system/libsystem_kernel.dylib

Model: MacBookPro9,2, BootROM 231.0.0.0.0, 2 processors, Dual-Core Intel Core i5, 2.5 GHz, 8 GB, SMC 2.2f44

Graphics: kHW_IntelHD4000Item, Intel HD Graphics 4000, spdisplays_builtin

Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 4 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x802C, 0x384B54463531323634485A2D314736453220

Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM0, 4 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x802C, 0x384B54463531323634485A2D314736453220

AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0xF5), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.21.190.33 AirPortDriverBrcm4360-1601.1)

Bluetooth: Version 7.0.4f6, 3 services, 18 devices, 1 incoming serial ports

Network Service: Wi-Fi, AirPort, en1

Serial ATA Device: WDC  WDS100T2B0A-00SM50, 1 TB

Serial ATA Device: HL-DT-ST DVDRW  GS41N

USB Device: USB 2.0 Bus

USB Device: Hub

USB Device: Hub

USB Device: Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

USB Device: IR Receiver

USB Device: BRCM20702 Hub

USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller

USB Device: USB 2.0 Bus

USB Device: Hub

USB Device: FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

USB Device: USB 3.0 Bus

Thunderbolt Bus: MacBook Pro, Apple Inc., 25.1

Any ideas as to what's going on? This seemed to only start happening recently. Should I reset the SMC? NVRAM?

I did as @Allan suggested in comments and got this:

Timestamp               Ty Process[PID:TID]
2020-05-14 04:45:06.022 Df kernel[0:a9] (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: -104

So does this mean reset SMC?

ETA II : Reset SMC, problem seems to be solved, though my FileVault was disabled.

This is usually a problem with the 'deep sleep' / hibernation mode macOS uses. Basically, when you close the lid your Mac goes in standby mode. After some time has passed, your Mac goes into hibernation mode to save more battery. As it seems, your Mac isn't properly able to either go into hibernation mode, or recover from hibernation mode, causing your OS to simply reboot.

Resetting SMC sometimes fixes the issue, but there's a lot unclear about these errors. Some users have stated that resetting SMC works, but only if FileVault is disabled.


A PDF file on my Desktop shows up with the name and properties of my root drive I am using a 2009 13" MacBook Pro running El Capitan 10.11. On my desktop, I strangely have a PDF with the name "Macintosh HD" and the properties of my main system drive.

Does anybody know why this is happening, or how I can resolve it?

In all likelihood this is a bug.

A "real" PDF, or a malicious file (which would probably better hidden or disguised), would not show for "Get Info" things like "Capacity" etc.

If under Finder > Preferences > General the checkbox is set to
"Show these items on the desktop:  harddisks" it just is displaying the correct name for the internal drive: "Macintosh HD" but mixes up somehow the filetype/association.

That means the suspected explanation in the question is exactly backwards:
Somehow the root drive/volume "Macintosh HD" is reported as kind "PDF".

To confirm this scenario, open a Terminal, type file (note the trailing space!) and drag the offending icon onto the Terminal window.

You should now see the following output or something similar:

$ file /
/: directory

If that is the case, the solution is quite simple:

Open again the Finder preferences in the general tab and uncheck the "show hard disks on desktop" option,

and restart the Finder with a method of your choice. That might include a logout, login cycle, or just type in Terminal:

$ killall Finder

Now, even if you you re-tick that checkbox, your hard disk should show up with the proper icon and filetype.

If these steps fail, deleting the Finder preferences, and then the caches might be the next steps.


Wallet and Pay and Reminders disappeared after re-pairing Apple Watch with watchOS 6.1 I have Apple Watch 2 Series and iPhone 6S. Recently I've got an update to IOS 13 on iPhone and watchOS 6.1 on Apple Watch. After upgrade Reminders stopped syncing. I tried to resolve the problem by unpairing the watch and pairing it again using backup to restore. Now strange thing has happened: Wallet & Pay option disappeared from Apps list in Watch application. So I cannot add any cards to my watch anymore. Reminders app also disappeared from the watch. I tried to uninstall the iPhone app Reminders and install it again, but it didn't have any effect on the watch. To resolve problem with the Wallet & Pay on Apple Watch I tried to change regions on both iPhone and Apple Watch - no luck. iPhone have Apple Pay app and is able to manage cards.

Any ideas what I can try else to recover function of Wallet & Pay app and Reminders?

This is different from similar question, where OP could solve his problem by setting correct region for his watch. I already have region set to the country, which participates in Apple Pay programm.

Update 1:

The Wallet & Pay menu has reappeared in Watch App after I unpaired and paired the watch as a new device (not using backup to restore). Reminders and a bunch of other very useful apps is still not available on the watch. The problem becomes more clear: iPhone cannot install any app on the watch. In the watch management app on the iPhone it is visible that iPhone tries to start the installation - rotating circle, but nothing happens for many hours.

Update 2:

Resetting network settings on iPhone and joining again to Wifi seems to restore synchronization between iPhone and the watch: apps now can be installed, calendar get updates. Reminder app is still not available on the watch. Tried re-installing app on the phone: no luck.

Accidentally, I found the solution, which I'd like to share here:

Reminder app has never appeared in the list of installed apps, neither in the Watch app on the iPhone, nor on the Apple Watch itself (in contrast to Calendar, and in contrast to the situation before the upgrade to watchOS 6).

BUT: while configuring the watch facet, I saw Reminder as a possible complication to choose. I tried it to select and it opened the new version of Reminders app. It was a bit laggy, but it worked: all reminders were synchronized with the iPhone.


How To Turn Off Mac’s Monitor screen How can I turn off tmy Mac's monitor. I know I can turn off the display by setting a hot cornet or by using ctrl + shift + Eject but I dont want this.
I want to leave my Mac on and connect to it via teamViewer from another place but when I do that the Mac's display turn's on. I do this with my PC in the office, I leave my PC on but I simple turn off the monitor by pushing the button on the bottom right corner :) this means my PC is still on but the monitor is off and it does not show anything on the screen. I do this sometime in case I have to connect to my PC from home, but without letting anyone know that my PC is on!

UPDATED:
Sorry for not being clear,
It is "iMac" OS X version 10.8.5

Can I do this ?
Thanks

You didn't describe what kind of Mac it is, but I'll assume an iMac or MacBook of some flavor. If you had a Mac Mini or a Pro with a third party monitor then you probably wouldn't be asking this question.

You can't do exactly what you want with an iMac, but if you use "Apple Remote Desktop" (App Store, $80) you can lock the screen so anybody sitting at your computer can't see what you are doing. This doesn't seem to be possible with the built in screen sharing.

The Apple Remote Desktop option is more secure, since you can't be sure that nobody turned your PC monitor on after you leave work.


Duplicate Volumes folders on each reboot Really frustrated trying to solve this, the only thing I played with was /etc/fstab when trying to mount & write to a NTFS external drive. Since then everytime I reboot my Volumes (besides the OSX volume) get duplicated as in this picture:

I can eject the Volumes and delete the leftover folders but once I reboot they just get added & duplicated again.

Please help! Thank you very much.

EDIT: I believe it's related to fuse for OS X, I removed it, and restarted and had no duplicate mounts. Reading this thread:https://github.com/osxfuse/osxfuse/issues/119 people suggested using a newer (beta) version which apparently resolves this issue, however it does not resolve it for me, not sure why, I've tried v 3.0.6 and 3.2.0

For some reason simply updating to 3.2.0 from stable didn't do it, neither did installing version 3.0.6 however when I updated from 3.0.6 to 3.2.0 that did it. Weird but it's solved now :)


Putting in RAM with a higher speed I wondering if I put my 1600Mhz 8Gig (4gigx2) modules in a Macbook Pro 17" 620m (2010 model) if the speeds would be automatically reduced to 1066Mhz? I'm just asking because I don't want to damage the computer. I've read that this will happen, but I just want to ask around before hand :).

The frequency rating on RAM is analogous to the top speed of a car, if it's max speed is (for example) 250 km/h, it can drive up to 250 km/h, but it won't break if u drive at 25 km/h.

Same for RAM. As long as it's the same DDR3 Standard, it will run, regardless of how high the max clock speed is.


Any way to know the cluster size for a hard drive formatted in exFAT? Any way to know the cluster size for a hard drive formatted in exFAT?.  I tried with DriveDX too, not said.
Any help much appreciated.

Unless you specified a cluster size when formatting the drive (which I assume you did not as you would then know it) the cluster size varies by the size of the drive being formatted. And since you didn't include the size of your drive in your question you will have to refer to the table here (scroll down a ways to exFAT) to figure that out.


Extract iCloud Password from iTunes backup How can I extract my forgotten iCloud Password from iTunes backup?
I've tried to use iTunes backup extractor and the I locate accounts.db file
Then I use sqlite browser to explore it,I found only the iCloud mail(which is I have already) and other mails..
is there any ideas please

Your iCloud password is not preserved within an iTunes backup, unless you stashed it somewhere intentionally.

If you've forgotten your iCloud password, your only real option is to go through the password recovery procedure on iforgot.apple.com


Sound produced by spacebar on MBP 15" (mid-2017) non-symmetrical When rapidly pressing the left area of the keyboard (directly under C,V,B,N keys) of the QWERTY keyboard on the mid-2017 MacBook Pro 15", the sound produced is different than pressing the right edge of the keyboard (under the M key). Simply put, the left side produces a louder sound which seems to occur higher up in the keyboard, where the right edge sounds like the normal alpha-numeric keys where the sound seems to originate further down. Is this an issue solely with my computer, or does it occur with every MBP?

The keyboard on the 2016 and 2017 mbp is prone to getting sticky, soft and even unresponsive keys. Usually caused by dust or dirt under the key caps.

Try cleaning the keyboard as mentioned in apple's support files: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205662


What parts can you scavenge from a nearly 3 year old MacBook Pro? I have an early 2008 model MacBook Pro (17") that went the way of all the earth a couple of days ago. I haven't diagnosed it fully yet, but it appears that it's the logic board that's gone, and if that truly is the case it's not worth it to spend the money to repair a nearly 3 year old machine (and no, I didn't have AppleCare because, apparently, I'm an idiot).

The question is this: besides the easily-removable RAM chips, what other parts could conceivably be scavenged from it and be realistically useful elsewhere? I haven't disassembled one of these before, I'm wondering how easily the hard drive could be removed and placed in an enclosure, for example (a zapped logic board should, theoretically, leave the HD data intact).

Any other bits you'd keep before sending it to the great recycling depot in the sky?

The memory and the hard drive are probably the easiest to remove and reuse. But there are plenty of parts that could be re-used including the keyboard, the display, optical drive and airport.

The site ifixit has a great guide to disassembling MacBook Pro machines.

If you do not have a need for the parts yourself, you may be able to sell them on eBay or elsewhere. I am not sure what the market is like for individual parts, but another option is to sell the machine as a whole on eBay stating that it is non-functioning and for parts. It would save you the trouble of disassembling it yourself.


Kindle on IPad Not Syncing Notes I've loaded the kindle app onto my IPad3.  I've made notes and highlights within that app, and I've given plenty opportunity for those to sync with Amazon...so that I can download those notes onto my kindle app on my PC.

But the only thing about this kindle-app-on-IPad that syncs successfully is the "furthest page read."  All my notes and highlights are not syncing.  How do I resolve this?

Now for a segue from my question...

I'm noticing a pattern here.  The IPad...

Can't sync OneNote correctly
Can't sync ITunes correctly
Can't sync its own Calendar correctly
and now it can't sync the Kindle correctly

In short, I don't think the IPad is a proper "connected" device.  I'm at a point where I would recommend a Galaxy or Windows tablet to others...

Update
I went to the Genius bar at the Apple store.  These various problems are mostly resoled.  See separate links above for the answers.

Deleting and re-loading a Kindle book from a device, such as a reader on my PC or the book from my Kindle, somehow causes the notes to finally come down to the desired device.  Evidently the IPad had sent the notes up to whisper net, but Amazon didn't push those notes to other devices.

In short, this is more an Amazon problem than an IPad issue.


Lower Geekbench scores for 15" MacBook Pro late-2016 versus the 15" MacBook Pro mid-2014 I've been asked to help troubleshoot why someone's MacBook Pro (late-2016 with Touch Bar) would be producing lower Geekbench results than their MacBook Pro (mid-2014) laptop.

Now I wish to add upfront that I'm not entirely convinced there is a problem here that needs solving, but this person is convinced there is either a problem or they've just been "ripped off for buying the latest and greatest Apple laptop that's not as fast as my two-and-a-half year old laptop".

Here are the specs and Geekbench v4 results...

MacBook Pro (15" Retina mid-2014)

macOS Sierra 10.12.1
MacBookPro11,3
Intel Core i7-4870HQ
2.5GHz
16GB RAM
256GB SSD
Single-Core Score: 4,236
Multi-Core Score: 13,971

MacBook Pro (15" Late 2016) with Touch Bar

macOS Sierra 10.12.1
MacBookPro13,3
Intel Core i7-6820HQ
2.9GHz
16GB RAM
512GB SSD
Single-Core Score: 4,526
Multi-Core Score: 13,792

As you can see, the Single-Core score is better for the current model, but the Multi-Core Score is worse. However, this person seems fixated on the fact the Multi-Core Score is lower for his new toy, and the fact that both scores are so close to one another (he feels the current model should be quite a bit higher on both scores).

I have confirmed he's running the same version of Geekbench on both machines, and that in both instances the tests were run from a fresh boot of the system.

In terms of the older MacBook Pro, this has a lot 3rd Party software installed (e.g. MS Office 2011, Adobe Creative Suite CS6, Parallels Desktop 12, various browsers, etc).

Since he's running the same OS on both machines, and because his new MacBook Pro still only has the default apps installed (i.e. Geekbench v4 is the only 3rd party software he's installed), I'm not really sure what to make of this. As I stated at the outset, I'm not convinced there is a problem here, but I have to admit I am a little sympathetic to his concerns.

I did suggest the real test would be to install Adobe Creative Suite on the new machine and perform an identical workflow using Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign on both machines and timing the results. But he is adamant on not installing anything else so Apple can't use it as an excuse for the lower scores.

So:

What troubleshooting steps would I do in the case of a brand new
computer running the latest OS with no 3rd party software installed
(except for Geekbench itself)?
If none, do I reassure him or does he try escalating it with Apple?
Are there useful resources I can refer him to that would explain this and
perhaps put his mind at ease?

The scores does not seem to indicate a problem with the specific MacBook Pro in question. Nor does it imply potential for a class action suit, as you indicate in the comments.

If you look at Apple's marketing for the MacBook Pro they stress that it has:

Up to 130% faster graphics
Up to 100% faster flash storage

None of these things are measured by Geekbench.

Note that Apple's marketing site does not say that CPU is a specific amount faster than previous MacBook Pro models. Therefore I do not see anything that should elicit a class action lawsuit.

Also the CPU choices are not exactly a secret. You can look up the CPU models and confirm third party benchmarks before making a purchasing decision on a MacBook Pro.

Now that has been said - please remember that Geekbench is just an artificial benchmark. The performance you experience in using the Mac is not always reflected in such an artificial benchmark.

When comparing the two setups remember that:

A) The 2014 MacBook Pro you mention is not the base model - it is a build-to-order model with a better than standard CPU. The 2016 MacBook Pro in your question is the base model.

B) The 6820HQ CPU has considerably larger memory bandwidth.

C) The 6820HQ CPU has 8 MB of cache compared to 6 MB on the 4870HQ. This doesn't really make a difference for artificial benchmarks testing integer or floating point performance - but it can make a huge difference in real life situations.

D) The 6820HQ CPU uses less power for the same workload as compared to the 4870HQ. Consuming less power allows for less battery weight (lighter laptop).

E) The integrated graphics on the 6820HQ CPU is considerably faster than the integrated graphics on the 4870HQ.


How can I run command line software with Rosetta 1? At the request of some PPC users, I'm trying to create a PPC-compatible installer package of some open source software. Naturally, this requires compiling a PPC binary. I have a Leopard Virtual Machine set up on my Intel Mac, but I don't have access to any actual PPC hardware.
MacPorts does not offer any C++11 compilers which can cross-compile PPC binaries on Intel, but I'd thought I'd be able to work around this by running the whole of MacPorts under Rosetta. With Rosetta 2, this would be easy—I'd just set the Terminal app to "Open using Rosetta", and everything the Terminal runs would also use Rosetta. This was a commonly recommended way to run Homebrew on M1 Macs, before Homebrew finally added native Apple Silicon support a few weeks ago.
Unfortunately, Rosetta 1 does not appear to be this intelligent. I can set the Terminal app to "Open using Rosetta," but this causes only the literal Terminal app to use Rosetta. Bash, MacPorts, etc are still running as Intel processes, according to Activity Monitor.
Is there an alternate way to run command line programs—and preferably all of MacPorts—under Rosetta?

Provided you're on a system where Rosetta v1 is available (up to and including Mac OS X 10.6), you can direct the system to execute the ppc segment of a universal binary using the arch command.
/usr/bin/arch -arch ppc /path/to/some/executable

I've found it useful to keep a virtual machine in Parallels Desktop running OS X Server 10.6 with Xcode and other developer tools installed for this scenario, of compiling older software for obsolete PowerPC Mac systems.


Can I use Open Office on my new MacBook Air? I just downloaded Open Office to my Mac Book Air and installed it. When I tried to open it a message came up saying it's developed by an unidentified source and my computer settings only allow installation of programs from Mac App Store or identified developers. I don't know anything about code. What can I do?

You have just seen GateKeeper in action.

If you are confident you downloaded a safe copy of the program, you can tell your Mac to "trust" that program and let it past the gate.

Right click on the icon
Select Open
Read the dialog and agree or disagree to let that program run

The linked article above goes into much detail on GateKeeper and I would scan it and review the steps above. If you find a lot of software you need triggers the warning, you could relax the settings, but I prefer to keep them at the defaults as I like to know when new code runs on my Mac.


Is there a drag-n-drop SVG to PDF converter? I use Inkscape quite a bit to produce presentations. Since Inkscape doesn't handle multiple pages, I end up with a lot of individual .svg files. I then have to open each one and 'save as' a PDF to then import them all into preview. Which is kind of a pain.

Ideally preview would support SVG, but until then, I was wondering if there was a native OSX app I could use to just drop SVG files onto and have it spit out PDF versions. Anyone know if it exists?

If you have inkscape installed you can use its command line interface to convert svg to pdf.

/Applications/Inkscape.app/Contents/Resources/bin/inkscape test.svg --export-pdf test.pdf

Using Automator you'll be able to make a simple app that accept drag'n'drop.

Look for run shell script.


How to debug my webcam problems? I'm quite a new OS X user and come from a linux background - usually to debug my problems I consult the logs as per /var/log/syslog however with Yosemite i'm not sure what i'm looking for.

Any way my problem is that I will load Skype and video call someone which works fine but the moment my mac is locked or goes into hibernation mode the next time I try video call the web cam is not detected - if i attempt to use Photo Booth this too doesn't detect a webcam.  Some google searches has revealed it's a conflict where the camera is "in use" when it isn't - and other articles seem to point towards AirParrot which i do not have installed.

How would I determine where the fault is?
How do I then resolve this fault?

Rebooting does seem to be a solution but IMO theres a bug that needs fixing because rebooting to get a cam to work is just simply absurd - even Windows can function more reliably.

As commented by @aglasser to fix the Cam not working simply:

Open Terminal.app; and
Run: sudo killall VDCAssistant

In order to resolve another similar issue with the built-in Microphone:

Open Terminal.app; and
Run: sudo killall coreaudio


Is the performance of Lion + SSD + Filevault2 good enough for a system primarily used for application developemnt? I'm looking to buy a MacBook Pro w/ SSD.

I was wondering if anyone out there has noticed any significant performance drop with FileVault2 enabled for the following tasks:

Small (under 2 GB) PostgreSQL and MySQL databases
Ruby development
Lots of grepping and text parsing

As you will buy one of the latest Macs, you should be fine.

The used Intel processors support Intel® Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) which is also used in Filevault 2.

Ars Technica, published an extended review on Filvault 2 in Lion. They say:

  Apple also leverages the special-purpose AES instructions and hardware on Intel's newest CPUs, further reducing the CPU overhead. The end result is that regular users will be hard-pressed to notice any reduction in performance with encryption enabled.

Edit:

These are real world numbers from my MBP with an Intel 2635QM processor which supports AES encryption. My hard drive is a Crucial M4 128GB.

Filevault 2 disabled: max. read 510MB/s, write: I forgot to write this down :(
Filevault 2 enabled: max. read 490MB/s, write: 190MB/s

I mention only the max. numbers as these figures depend on different factors for file operations. The difference for maximum read here is 20MB/s abosolutely which is 4% relatively.


Xerox 3117 driver for OS X Yosemite I am using Yosemite on MBP 15 mid2010

I already tried this tutorial
http://vadimk.com/2010/10/11/xerox-phaser-3117-mac/

Didn't work for me.

Also tried Splix:
http://www.guigo.us/mac/splix/

again, didn't work.

Any idea how to get the printer running?

Miroslav

This problem is probably due to kext signing introduced with OS X 10.10 Yosemite. With it you can't run any unsigned drivers and Splix is being a port of Samsung GDI open sourced driver is just a driver and last version being from 2008 it is definitely unsigned.

Basically you have no choice but disable kext signing if you want to use the printer. Make sure you absolutely have to do it and you don't have other options since this change is system wide and system is becoming less secure after that.

In Terminal:

sudo nvram boot-args="kext-dev-mode=1"

And reboot. Then try to go with Splix.


Regain space from failed attempt to install Windows Using Boot Camp I'm kind of stuck with a 30GB partition on the hard drive of my MBP that I cannot regain. This is what happened:

I used boot camp to try to install Win 10 on a partition
Once it rebooted into Win10 setup, it failed to install the system on the partition
I tried to use Boot Camp Assistant to remove the partition but I'm getting this message:

  The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single
  partition.

Then, I used disk utility to try to merge my main partition with the mentioned above but it won't let me remove it (I tried from recovery mode with the same results)

I'm using macOS Sierra 10.12.3 on my Late 2015 15" MBP.

If you're not afraid of the command line

First show your partitioning

sudo gpt show /dev/diskX

Remove the partition

sudo gpt remove -i 2 /dev/diskY

Replace X with your disk number, and the index "2" with the partition number of the windows partition.

Afterwards, use the gui to enlarge your partition.


Why are my applications crashing after the update to 10.10.5? I have a late 2012 Mac mini, 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5, running OS X Yosemite version 10.10.5 (14F27). Recently, just after the delta update to 10.10.5, two of my apps, uTorrent and All2MP3 have started crashing with the following error:

objc[5240]: Class  is implemented in both /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/AppKit and /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/AppKit. One of the two will be used. Which one is undefined.

How can I fix this?

Just guessing:

My standard install of OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 doesn't contain the file /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/AppKit..

Please check the following:

the currentness of your backup
The proper destination of the soft link "Current" in the folder /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/. It should be /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/.
Does the folder /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/ contain a second file named Appkit.?
If the folder /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/ contains a second file named Appkit., check the md5s (md5 /path/to/file) of the files Appkit and Appkit.. The md5 of the file Appkit in my system is 5404e155c41dedd1bea5e29bf02182d8 (size=39.450.864 bytes, mod date 2nd of June 2015). If you have 2 files Appkit and Appkit. with identical and correct md5s move Appkit. to a save place with:

sudo mv "/System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/Appkit." "/System/Library/Frameworks/Appkit."

If one has the correct md5 and the other a wrong md5, remove the file with wrong md5 and if necessary rename the correct one to "Appkit". If both md5s are wrong reinstall 10.10.5 with the 10.10.5 Combo Updater. Reboot your Mac and test the behavior of µTorrent. If the testing with µTorrent gave a positive result remove the file /System/Library/Frameworks/Appkit.
If the folder doesn't contain a file named "Appkit." at all boot to your Recovery HD and try repair your main volume.


Removing entries from the MobileMe synchronization list Some applications can synchronize data using MobileMe synchronization; the problem I have with those applications is that they are still listen in the MobileMe preference panel, under the "Synchronize" tab, even when they have been uninstalled. I use a tool to remove any files associated with an application, when I don't need it anymore.

Is there a way to refresh the list of settings to synchronize, and avoid that removed applications are visible in that list?

The program injected data into ~/Library/Application Support/SyncServices/Local/TFSM by calling code to add their sync schema to Mobile Me's local sync database. You want that program to call unregisterSchemaWithName before you delete it so that data is deleted out of MobileMe.

The Local SyncServices folder governs iOS device sync as well as MobileMe sync - so use care to keep those devices away from your mac if you with to proceed in a manual clean up.

It's a really bad idea to simply delete files out of that folder if you are not prepared to have sync break in very ugly ways (I have seen people end up with 10 copies of each contact, calendar item and bookmark by moving / disturbing things in SyncServices) If you have a great backup and don't mind erasing everything from MobileMe and re-syncing from a computer - have at hacking the folder. There's no better way to know how things work by breaking them. Apple has an eloquent warning that starts... "As if it were a swarm of bees, you should stay away from the SyncServices folder."

You can see what a sync schema looks like by reading the database of files on your mac in the terminal locate syncschema. These files and folders define how data gets injected into the sync database with the registerSchemaWithBundlePath call and may have clues on cleanup scripts or steps.

Your best bet is to contact the vendor and ask them what steps to take to undo their changes. Apple has been changing the internals of how mobile me works lately, so there are no for certain steps that work across all versions of 10.6.x and your specific data in MobileMe. Since MobileMe is a paid service, you might also get general guidance from Apple Support in cleaning up the preference pane even though it's a third party data addition. They did add hooks and intend to let other apps to the sync party so they might reasonably help you clean up after the fun is over.


How come compiling my .tex file with my alias is lagging? I have written an alias in ~/.bashrc to compile my tex files into pdfs. I am sure that ~/.bashrc is sourced.

alias p='rm -f *.pdf *.log *.aux;pdflatex *.tex;open *.pdf'

However, after I edit my .tex file in XCode, save, and run the command p in my terminal, the pdf that opens is a previous version, not the latest version. The pdf matching the latest version of my tex file surfaces after I run p several times.

What is causing the lag? My Mac Air runs Lion.

A few thoughts:

This question better asked at the TeX.SE site.
.tex files need to be compiled multiple times, not just once. Run pdflatex *.tex 3x and then open, and it should work
There are much much better LaTeX editors than XCode.
The latexmk script is, in my opinion, the best .tex compiler. It handles compiling the file as many times as necessary. rubber is another LaTeX compiler.


Making an app window smaller on a mac When I open some apps, the window for the app is huge.  I know I can resize the window by going to bottom right and corner and using mouse. I was just wondering is there some quicker way using keys etc?

Well, there are some tricks in OS X Lion and above.

Since OS X Lion you can use any window edge for resizing.

If you hold down the option key, you can also resize a window by expanding or decreasing opposite sides of a window at the same time.

If you hold down the shift key while you expand or contract a window, the window will maintain its original aspect ratio.

Also you can combine option and shift.

If you want keyboard shortcuts (not built-in there) you can use 3rd party software like http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/26411/mercurymover.


Why is opencv not using all cores after upgrading to Mavericks? I'm running a CPU intensive command on Mavericks (Opencv_traincasscade).  Under Mountain Lion the process used to use all 8 cores all the way though.  However after upgrading it drops to 1 core after a short time.

Could this be app nap? Is there anything I can do to fix this?

Being able to use multiple-cores or threads is dependent on the process. This is not AppNap or OS X causing the change.

Your process, opencv_traincascade, may be resource constrained after a few moments and thus reduced to queuing up tasks as it waits for disk access or another limited resource.

In this case you may need to switch to a different build of OpenCV:

  Note that opencv_traincascade application can use TBB for multi-threading. To use it in multicore mode OpenCV must be built with TBB.

Cascade Classifier Training
How do I build OpenCV with TBB?

Installing OpenCV with TBB via brew:

brew install opencv --with-tbb


Max RAM for Boot Camp? What is the max amount of RAM that Windows 7 64 bit Boot Camp partition in my late 2011 2.4 i5 MBP 8.1 with OS X Lion can utilize?

Boot Camp doesn't restrict the amount of RAM available, therefore the maximum is the maximum as delineated by Windows 7 64 bit, 192 GB.


External Monitor Screen too large I have a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. I plugged in my external 1080p display (HP 25bw) in clamshell mode and it almost works great - except the screen is too large for the monitor. My dock is too far down off the edge, and my menu is too far up.

For example, when I took the attached screenshot, the Chrome window fills the entire screen I can see:

I have checked and the display options are using native resolution of the monitor (1920x1080 @60hz).

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Thanks so much.

Note: For any with this same monitor model in the future, thanks to @bmike I found the steps for disabling overscan for this particular monitor model here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4994857?tstart=0

Typically this is an issue when you connect over HDMI and the display / TV / monitor settings can be adjusted to turn off or reduce the “overscan” which in effect is zooming in in the center of the signal.

Search here for overscan and you’ll see a lot of results:

How to solve Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Overscan problem? (Part of the screen is missing)
Display's native resolution not registering properly

Specific steps for HP 25bw monitors are as follows:

Press the Menu button to open the OSD settings.
Scroll to "Image Control..." and press OK.
Select "Custom Scaling" and press OK.
Select "Overscan" and press OK.
Select "Off" and press OK.
Select "Save and Return" until the OSD menu closes.

Same steps will work for MacBook Pro 2018 connecting to HP Pavilion 25xi.


Renamed an icloud drive folder with the .tmp extension and files have disappeared I read that I could rename a folder to have the..tmp extension to prevent it syncing over. I did this to a folder that had some confidential files, but I renamed the folder in my icloud drive and the files have all disappeared.
I found a copy of the folder on the desktop, but that was also empty. Any idea where I could locate these files or are they lost?

You try to restore previous files on iCloud.com:

First, in iCloud.com > iCloud Drive, check if the files are present in the iCloud.com web view. If they are present here, download a copy first and foremost - and then you can decide how to proceed once you've secured a copy.
If that doesn't work, then again in iCloud.com > iCloud Drive, click "recently deleted" in the bottom right hand corner.
If neither of these work, you can try reaching out to Apple - they may be able to restore an account-level backup if the files are especially important.


How do I boot from my Mac partition? I tried to install Windows 7 on my Mac via Boot Camp, but the disk of Windows 7 doesn't work. When I tried to install the Windows 7 it shows a black screen.

Now I want to boot back to OS X, but I don't know how.

Do I have to re-insert the Mac disk? If yes, how can I take out the disk from the Mac?

Hold the option key when you power on and you can choose the working mac partition or insert a bootable DVD to get back to disk utility or a working os. This is called the Startup Manager screen.

The eject key will work once the Startup Manager is running so you can eject the windows DVD.

As I didn't explain the option key - here is a great article explaining how Mac users refer to the keys on the keyboard as well as some handy shortcuts for later once things work again.


Forgotten Icloud urername and password. I changed my passcoad and I choosed off passcoad and then close my iph.

Go to iforgot.apple.com and follow the instructions.


Ruby 1.9.3's infamous OS X OpenSSL segfault in http.rb:799 [Post shortened and updated with an answer.]

Ruby 1.9.3 compiled on OS X 10.7.4 with MacPorts crashes in my Rails apps when using SSL in http.rb, e.g. when authenticating to Facebook:

(facebook) Callback phase initiated.
/opt/local/lib/ruby1.9/1.9.1/net/http.rb:799: [BUG] Segmentation fault
ruby 1.9.3p194 (2012-04-20 revision 35410) [x86_64-darwin11]

Note: This is a real solution to the segfault problem, not a try-my-favorite-alternative-ruby-installer-du-jour solution. I didn't want to modify half my system on half a dozen devel and production machines by installing RVM, rbenv, Homebrew or anything else. I also want to show how I found the problem since this can occur with any Ruby installer.

Some things I noted by trial and error:

Compiling OpenSSL and Ruby using --with-openssl-dir=/usr or ..=/opt/local did not help.
After recompiling Ruby 1.9 using /opt/local as openssl-dir, other than in numerous other posts on the web, I could run SSL based connects from the command line fine. However, SSL connects in my Rails projects were still crashing.
The crash backtrace which OS X saves in /Library/Logs/CrashReporter contained traces of libssl.1.0.0.dylib (MacPorts) and libssl.0.9.8.dylib (OS X). But all my MacPorts files were linked against OpenSSL 1.0.x. (find /opt/local -iname "*.dylib" | xargs otool -L is your friend!)
This occured only on my live apps. Not on virgin new apps.
This occured only when using the pg Postgres gem which contains native extensions.

Looking at the PG gem's bundle:

$ otool -L /opt/local/lib/ruby1.9/gems/1.9.1/gems/pg-0.14.1/lib/pg_ext.bundle
/opt/local/lib/ruby1.9/gems/1.9.1/gems/pg-0.14.1/lib/pg_ext.bundle:
/opt/local/lib/libruby.1.9.1.dylib (compatibility version 1.9.1, current version 1.9.1)
/usr/lib/libpq.5.dylib (compatibility version 5.0.0, current version 5.3.0)
/usr/lib/libSystem.B.dylib (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 159.1.0)
/usr/lib/libobjc.A.dylib (compatibility version 1.0.0, current version 228.0.0)

The PG gem does not link against MacPorts's libpq! And:

Jens ~/Sites/testapp$ otool -L /usr/lib/libpq.5.dylib
/usr/lib/libpq.5.dylib:
/usr/lib/libpq.5.dylib (compatibility version 5.0.0, current version 5.3.0)
/usr/lib/libssl.0.9.8.dylib (compatibility version 0.9.8, current version 44.0.0)
/usr/lib/libcrypto.0.9.8.dylib (compatibility version 0.9.8, current version 44.0.0)
    (...)

... OSX's libpq (of course!) links against OS X's libssl and libcrypto. Bingo!

Solution: RTFM! PG's README-OS_X says:

  If you need a custom installation of PostgreSQL, you should ensure that you either compile it against the same version of OpenSSL as the OpenSSL extension of the Ruby you'll be using, or compile it without SSL support. If you fail to do this, you will likely see segfaults ...

So:

sudo gem install pg -- --with-pg-config=/opt/local/lib/postgresql83/bin/pg_config

Bingo, problem solved.

$ bundle exec rails runner "require 'net/http'; require 'net/https'; h=Net::HTTP.new('gmail.com', 443); h.use_ssl=true; puts h.get('/');"
#<Net::HTTPMovedPermanently:0x007fe48d5590a0>

If your bundle does not reference the current latest pg gem version, then you'll need to specify the version when reinstalling, e.g.

gem install pg -v 0.13.2 -- --with-pg-config=/opt/local/lib/postgresql91/bin/pg_config

See above - the PG gem was the culprit. Apparently, it automatically compiles against the OS X built-in Postgres (9.0) libraries, which are of course compiled against OS X builtin OpenSSL.

Once I found this to be the reason, the fix was trivial. No need to install RVM, rbenv, Homebrew or anything else. Just recompile the PG gem ...


I can't boot Windows 7 USB from macOS Sierra using option key I want to install Windows 7 on my Mac, which is running macOS Sierra.

I can't do this with Boot Camp, since Boot Camp only supports Windows 8 and later.

I need to boot from the USB, which I created, but I can't do it using the usual method of holding down option key while booting the Mac.

I also tried holding down shift key, nothing works, it just starts as usual.

How can I actually boot from USB and are there different keys to press in order to boot from USB or boot in safe mode in macOS Sierra?

Mac computers using macOS Sierra 10.12 support new installations of
  Windows 10 only. macOS Sierra does not support new installations of
  earlier versions of Windows.

See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205016 for more information.


Can mac receive messages when iCloud keeps asking for password? One day my older Macbook Pro (which is now not in my hands) started asking for iCloud password with text "This Mac can't connect to iCloud because of a problem with mail@mail.com." but I kept postponing it. The device is running El Capitan.

The deal is I don't want the person who was the mac in their hands now (I'm not sure I had a log out after 5 minutes set to on) to read my messages and I was hoping that this would mean they simple would not receive them on the mac - because it kept asking for my iCloud password.

And a tiny subquestion #2 - can I check to see when was the device last logged in?

If there was a problem with your iCloud account, and it was requesting your password, no, they shouldn't be able to read your messages.

However, to be sure, I would check with the current owner.

Always follow this guide before giving away your Mac.


I cannot use 4k on my 4k Screen? I'm out of ideas on what I can try to fix my problem. My configuration is as follows:

MBP2016 13" with two USB-C ports
a HooToo USB-C Hub (supports 4K)
a (brand new) HDMI Cable (also 4K/UHD compatible)
a HP ENVY 27s monitor

I already know that 4K is only possible if my refresh rate will be 30Hz. I'm perfectly fine with that. But the option to change the refresh rate is 'grayed out' and I cannot find any options to change it in System Preferences > Displays.

(Text is in German - but I think you'll get the point)

Does anyone have ideas on what I could try?

NOTE: I've already tried the 'alt-click' trick on Scaled to see other resolutions.

Have you installed the HooToo shuttle firmware update for MacBooks? If not, you can download this directly from here.

I would download/install the firmware update first to see if that resolves your problem. This eliminates the possibility that it's a firmware issue with the HooToo hub (otherwise you could spend hours troubleshooting other causes for absolutely no benefit).

If you still have problems after installing the update, please comment below to let me know.


Looking to take a fixed screenshot at intervals while changing the page in safari for a book I am trying to screenshot all the pages of a textbook i have online. I am opening the book in safari, all i want is to automate in some way the ability to take a fixed location screenshot at intervals save it to downloads or desktop(wherever) and then have a my cursor click the next page button and retake a screenshot a multitude of times would this be possible in anyway?

You can do this with the new screenshot key command -  Cmd ⌘   Shift ⇧   5  set to 'Capture Selected Portion'.

Once set, it will capture nominally to Desktop, each titled ScreenShot date/time [eg ScreenShot 2021-03-15 at 4.42.15 pm, so they will file alphabetically. You can capture using Return/Enter or by clicking the Capture button. The selection area is remembered between snaps.
You could potentially automate this, but it's a swift process, so I doubt you'd really need to.
If you need to change the file save location, see How do I change the location of macOS screen captures?


How to use LaunchPad and Mission Control on Mountain Lion with an external keyboard I am using an external (generic) keyboard.

I just switched from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion.

On Snow Leopard, I could pull up Expose by pressing F2 on my external keyboard, but now I can't.

Is there a FN key (or a way to enable the right FN key) to show "Mission Control"?

Open System Preferences and click on "Mission Control". You'll see the keyboard shortcuts for expose and mission control at the bottom of this panel.

For other keyboard shortcuts you can open the keyboard panel and then click on "keyboard shortcuts"


What extra features does the iOS YouTube application have over the HTML one? I also asked the same question for Android but I found that Android Browser has a bug that crashes when uploading big files, so you need the native app: What extra features has the Android YouTube application over the HTML one?

It seems that iOS 5 still provides the native YouTube app, but it seems it is obsolete:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/200686/youtube_mobile_site_trumps_dedicated_app.html
http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/07/youtube-iphone-mobile-html5/

I use YouTube for the simplest case - watching movies that have been sent to me. I don't do much posting or browsing.

To my knowledge, the iOS YouTube app hasn't seen a lot of changes since the 1.0.

I think the biggest "feature" of the native app is the improved responsiveness. I've found the webapp to be slower doing things like full screen or changing screen orientation, and in the initial loading speed. However I wasn't aware of the decreased quality. I think it should however load the higher bitrate videos when you're on Wifi.

As for uploading, on iOS that's usually handled by the app that's recording/editing the video.


Catalina: How to add System Events to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Automation? The problem
In a script I'm using AppleScript to reload the browser when a change happens. I start this in the builtin terminal of my IDE, WebStorm.
Since MacOS Catalina this yields the following error:
English
execution error: System Events got an error: osascript is not allowed to send keystrokes. (1002)
German/Deutsch
execution error: „System Events“ hat einen Fehler erhalten: osascript ist nicht berechtigt, Tastatureingaben zu senden. (1002)
The solution
I added /usr/bin/osascript and WebStorm.app via 'Choose File' dialog to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility (German/Deutsch:   Systemeinstellungen > Sicherheit > Datenschtuz > Bedienungshilfen).
But since Catalina/Mojave it must also appear under the new section Automation. Only there is no 'Choose File' dialog and when running the script no confirmation dialog pops up so (un)checkable entry is created.
How can I allow System Events under System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Automation?

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events"' -e 'keystroke "echo hi"' -e end tell
will add an entry System Events under ther terminal emulator where you run it from in the automation section.

If you receive execution error 1002 again, uncheck and recheck System
Events under Automation again.
If you receive  execution error -1743: Remove the app from the Accessibility/Bedienungshilfen section and add it again

execution error: Not authorized to send Apple Events to System Events. (error -1743)
execution error: Keine Berechtigung zum Senden von Apple-Events an System Events. (-1743)

If you receive execution error -1719: Add /System/Library/CoreServices/System Events.app to Accessibility/Bedienungshilfen via 'Choose File' dialog

execution error: System Events got an error: osascript is not allowed assistive access. (-1719)

Possibly lock and unlock between rechecking/readding or run multiple times or prefixed by sleep 1 &&. These new security settings unfortunately still seem a bit messy (good links for further reading there!):

Hopefully this gets worked out before Mojave ships.

Nope :-(
By the way, osascript -e 'tell application "System Events"' -e "keystroke key code 53" -e end tell ran twice will add the entry for the program itself under the program.


How do I remove the Finder context option after removing an app? I got an app a long time ago (called SourceTree) that adds an option to Finder's context menu. The way I installed the app was by simply moving it to my Applications folder, and it didn't come with an uninstaller. I transferred all my stuff to my new computer via Time Machine, and the option in Finder is unfortunately still there. How can I get rid of it without re-installing the operating system?

See the last option in this context menu:

Check in ~/Library/Services/. It probably installed a service there that didn't get uninstalled. You can safely delete the file.

If you don't find anything there, look in System Preferences → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Services for an entry with the same name as the context menu item. Right-click that entry and it will offer you a Show in Finder option, from which you can delete the file.


com.apple.hiservices-xpcservice results in frequent hangs and freezes in my mac Update (2019): The issue still persits even in macOS Mojave, tried everything I could find, nothing seems to solve the issue as of yet!
Problem:
com.apple.hiservices-xpcservice hangs repeatedly ever since I upgraded to macOS Mojave 10.14.1. Now,everytime the process hangs it is indicated by red colored fonts in the Activity Monitor. Due to the frequent hangs my system slows down and it's barely usable due to extremely slow performance.
What I have done so far:
I have already Googled it (The Process) and also contacted Apple regarding the usage of this process and the reason behind it's frequent hick-ups. Alas! they couldn't help much.
So, I terminated the process.
Temporary Solution:
As soon as I terminated the process (com.apple.hiservices-xpcservice) my mac started running fast once again.
But, whenever I restart the system or leave the mac idle for a few minutes and then if I start using it once again! out of no where, the process (com.apple.hiservices-xpcservice), shows up once again in the activity monitor resulting in slow performance issues along with hangs and freezes across macOS.
System Info:
Model
iMac (27-inch, Mid 2014)
Processor
3.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz)
Configurable to 4.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 4.4GHz).
Memory
8GB (two 4GB) of 1600MHz DDR3 memory; four SO-DIMM slots, user accessible
Configurable to 16GB or 32GB.
Storage
1TB Fusion Drive
Screenshot Of The Process com.apple.hiservices-xpcservice

Had the problem too.

Tried to disable SIP, then remove execution rights on com.apple.hiservices-xpcservice, reboot after re-enabling SIP.

Result : Safari keeps crashing, each time it opens so it seems to be linked to apple apps.

Giving back execution rights on the service repaired Safari ..

Except killing it when it becomes unresponsive, I don't see any other solution


Sharing settings report (security audit) I am new to Mac administration and struggling somewhat on how to programatically report in the settings in the Sharing Preference panel (10.7 and 10.8). Basically - I want to report in which settings are on and off. I have imagined writing a script to be able to report this status back.

I can see that for some of the settings I can use 'systemsetup' (remote login, remote Apple Events) but for others I am at a loss to where to go check to see if the following options are enabled:

DVD and CD Sharing
Screen Sharing
File Sharing (both for AFP and SMB)
Printer Sharing
Scanner Sharing
Remote Management
Internet Sharing
Bluetooth Sharing

I am less concerned about if the service is active (i.e. currently in use by someone) but initially want to just report if the options are checked on.

While I applaud the effort to learn how to collect these scripts, I would say you might just buy a copy of Apple's Remote Desktop tool.

It has pre-built data collection tools that will collect thousands of data points about each system, periodically get updates and you can run reports against the local database of last known configurations or tick a checkbox to refresh all status and then run the report.

Here is how the interface for what you ask looks:

That tool leverages ssh log in, remote apple events and Apple's own remote management hooks to be extremely flexible and running arbitrary shell scripts, custom packages, remote Apple Scripts as well as performing more direct data collection that is embedded into the OS.

The reports and data collected are all easily printed, copied or exported in tab/comma separated files for ease of re-use.


Is there any more technical information about the iPad/iPhone charge management feature? According to Apple, a new "charge management" feature which reduces the maximum capacity of an iPhone or iPad device when it is plugged in for prolonged periods of time. This was quite interesting to me, but it did not include any detail at all. Is there any more technical information about this, such as how long it takes of being plugged in for this feature to be enabled, or the maximum charge capacity that it is limited to when this happens?

It’s explained right below the option in settings by Apple: “To reduce battery agin, iPhone learns from your daily charging routine so it can wait to finish charging past 80% until you need to use it.”

It works best when you have a set schedule for yourself, as when you are unpredictable, it tends to just charge at 100% all the time.

Charging to 80% prolongs the life of lithium-ion batteries by nearly double as charging to 80% uses 50% of a life-cycle and charging the remains 20% (the slowest part of charging) uses the remaining 50% of the life-cycle.

Apple goes more into depth in their “Batteries: Why Lithium Ion” page


iOS app to transfer images, photos to another phone via Bluetooth Is there an app that can help me get connected to bluetooth in mobile phones manufactured by companies like nokia, samsunng, etc

The iPhone 4 does not support the Bluetooth OPP profiles which you need for standard device to device transfers. All you have available are

HFP (handsfree)
PBAP (Phonebook access)
A2DP (advanced audio distribution)
AVRCP (av remote)
PAN (Personal Area Network)
HID (Human Interface)

Peer to peer comms are possible over BT but the app has to implement the protocol stack itself


Does anyone have experience with buying an officially unlocked iPhone 4 in the US? Does anyone has experience buying an iPhone 4 to be unlocked (oficially by Apple) in the US?

iPhones are unlocked by Apple, after you request the unlock to your carrier (once you have paid the subsidy). Since Apple Stores allow buying iPhones at full price now (for gifts, for example), can I buy an iPhone in an Apple Store and immediately after call AT&T to unlock it?

This should be both legal and possible. Heck, even Apple could offer it in their stores. Does anyone have experience with this? Any tips on how to ask for the unlock to AT&T?

No, this isn't possible to do through official channels. The officially unlocked phones are unlocked from the manufacturer; this isn't possible to do after the phone has been provisioned (otherwise the iPhone hacking community would be all over this avenue rather than going after security holes in the baseband to achieve the same effect). Because if their agreement with AT&T, Apple does not sell these units in the US, and every distributor outside of the US has to agree not to sell the units to US customers.