Keep desktop icons as they are shortly after logging in The following image shows two screenshots of my Mac's desktop whilst starting up. The first is a few seconds after starting, whilst the other one is a few seconds to shutdown.

I prefer the icons on the left, from the first screenshot. I would like to keep them as default. How can I show the first set of icons as default?

This is because it loads the previews of the files, which replace the default file icons. To disable icon previews on the desktop, click on the desktop, press ⌘J and uncheck ‘Show icon previews’.


iTunes Smart Playlists: don't include songs that I recently skipped In the iTunes 12.7.2.60, I'm trying to create a Smart Playlist with the songs that I didn't listen to in a while. This playlist should not include songs that I skipped recently. My current rules look like the following (see the screenshot):

However, the iTunes still adds songs that I skipped. How can I make it to exclude songs that I skipped recently?

The rules look correct.  The problem may be in what YOU consider a skip versus what iTunes/iOS considers a skip.  There's varying reports that a skip in the first 3 seconds doesn't get counted, a skip in the last 10 seconds doesn't get counted, etc.

Maybe the best thing to do is this:

Create another smart playlist RecentlySkipped with one rule: Last Skipped IS IN THE LAST 1 days.

Then alter your existing playlist by replacing the "last skipped" rule with "Playlist IS NOT RecentlySkipped".

You can then play around with playing tracks and skipping them at various times - in the first 2 seconds, in the first 10 seconds, in the first 15 seconds, in the last 15 seconds, etc.  Then check the RecentlySkipped playlist to see which ones got added to it and which ones didn't.

Also, the play and skip count logic has been changed from release to release in the past.  So it's possible, for example, that what counted as a skip in iTunes 12.6 is not counted as a skip in iTunes 12.7 or vice versa.

Also, in older versions of iTunes you could reset play count independently of resetting skip count.  More recent versions reset both counts whether you want them both reset or not.


Customize external HDD spindown timeout? It's possible to enable spinning down of mechanical hard drives using the "Put hard disks to sleep when possible" option in Energy Saver, and it's possible to customize the timeout period with sudo pmset -a disksleep MIN.

However, if I understand the man pages correctly, this applies to all hard drives connected to the system. Is it possible to only target one HDD (ideally, by UUID)? I have no objection to installing a 3rd party app to accomplish this functionality.

The Terminal command diskutil eject <disk_identifier> is what you are looking for.
<disk_identifier> can take the UUID of the drive as an argument.
To get the disk identifier of all mounted disks, execute the mount command.
On my Mac, the mount command gives this:
/dev/disk3 on / (hfs, local, journaled)
/dev/disk4s2 on /Volumes/iTunes (hfs, local, nodev, nosuid, journaled, noowners)
/dev/disk5s2 on /Volumes/TM_Backup (hfs, local, nodev, nosuid, journaled)

To spin down /Volumes/iTunes, I'd execute either one of the commands
diskutil eject /dev/disk4
or
diskutil eject /Volumes/iTunes.
To spin up /Volumes/iTunes, I need to execute the command:
diskutil mountDisk /dev/disk4. mountDisk only works with /dev/disk* disk identifiers.
See man diskutil for more information.


Just announced MacOS Mojave: what level of support for Metal is required? The general consensus is that older Macs can run Mojave if they have a graphic card supporting Metal (c.f. appleinsider for example). But Metal-readiness comes in different degrees. Has Apple disclosed what is the lowest bar yet?

The article Apple Outlines Metal-Capable Cards goes into the detail needed.

From linked article --

  According to Apple, the following graphics cards are known to be
  Metal-capable and compatible with macOS Mojave on the mid-2010 and
  mid-2012 Mac Pro models:

  MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 128-bit 4GB GDDR5

  SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5
  SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition
  NVIDIA Quadro K5000 for Mac
  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition


Unable to completely uninstall Zoom meeting app I am unable to completely uninstall the Zoom meeting app from my Mac running macOS Mojave.

I once installed the Zoom meeting app. Then I deleted it from Applications directory. Now, every-time I open a zoom meeting in Google Chrome, the Zoom app gets reinstalled automatically! Terrible...

So I investigated from where and how it has permission to reinstall and I found out they created a hidden folder .zoomus containing ZoomOpener.app and there is a ZoomUsPlugIn.plugin in ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins directory.

Question: I have deleted the following 4 files:

zoom.us.app from /Applications directory.
zoomusInstaller.pkg from ~/Downloads directory
ZoomOpener.app from hidden .zoomus in home dir
ZoomUsPlugIn.plugin from ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins directory. directory

But it still gets reinstalled. How can I completely uninstall it?

EDIT 2

the support now gave me this script to run: I ran it but it still gets installed again after opening a meeting... this is the worst app i have ever used...

official zoom support drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MP0cNLyJjzPLNrvNDCZv9hRuif091f0c

currently i run this script to uninstall, to no success

#! /bin/bash
echo Cleaning Zoom...
echo Cleaning Application Cached Files...
sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/zoom.us
echo Cleaning Application..
{
  sudo rm -rf /Applications/zoom.us.app
  sudo rm -rf ~/Applications/zoom.us.app
  sudo kextunload -b zoom.us.ZoomAudioDevice
  sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions/ZoomAudioDevice.kext
} &> /dev/null

echo Removed Application...

{
    sudo rm -rf ~/Downloads/zoomusInstaller.pkg
    sudo rm -rf /Applications/zoom.us.app
    sudo rm -rf ~/Desktop/Zoom
    sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Application Support/zoom.us
    sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/us.zoom.xos
    sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ZoomUsPlugIn.plugin
    sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/ZoomUsPlugIn.plugin
    sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Logs/zoom.us
    sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Logs/zoominstall.log
    sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/ZoomChat.plist
    sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/us.zoom.xos.plist
    sudo rm -rf ~/Library/Saved Application State/us.zoom.xos.savedState
} &> /dev/null

echo Other stuff...

and i kill the process:

ps -eaf | grep -i [z]oom

EDIT 3

i ran all scripts and killed the process, now one day later, I open another meeting via chrome and... again the installer runs. I am furious

Apple will remove this for you if you have enabled keep system files updated.

https://eclecticlight.co/2019/07/10/apple-has-pushed-an-update-to-mrt-to-remove-zooms-hidden-web-server/

sudo softwareupdate --background-critical

https://tidbits.com/2016/03/30/make-sure-youre-getting-os-x-security-data/

To check your MRT Configuration Data updates, you can do that as well. Version 1.54 is the version that wrangles ~/.zoomus

system_profiler SPInstallHistoryDataType | grep -A 5 MRTConfigData

The remainder of this article applies to double check Apple and/or force removal and understand a bit more on what is running under the hood.

An installer that clears out this program that used to be installed is available - so you can clean manually as before below if you don't want to have zoom (or uninstalled it already).

If you want to use the software, just update or install the version from 9 July 2019 - https://zoom.us/download#client_4meeting

Before 9 July, the zoom installer was indistinguishable from malware in that it installs files and folders not part of a system manifest before the installer is approved to run. Then this “hidden” process opens a network port for a command and control server to receive requests and not ask the user before installing software or start up the camera and microphone. This listener can also re-install the main zoom program. I know the company says it's goal is to help users, but why not document this and get opt in from the computer admin account before taking these actions?

Until the vendor has a proper uninstaller, you should also delete and put a file in place to prevent the Zoom app from re-installing this persistent agent.

rm -r ~/.zoomus
touch ~/.zoomus

The first command recursively removes the process that listens on port 19421 and the second prevents the current installer from re-installing this "agent" if you choose to not uninstall the app. Once the above steps are done, you should restart your Mac if you're not comfortable finding and killing the web server that listens on the port 19421.

We have tested this fairly rigorously, and removing this process - killing it and blocking it has no effect on the desirable function of the app, so if you need zoom or want to use it - cleaning this up to prevent A privacy breach or unintended reinstall is encouraged.


Unusual icon on iPad screen How do I remove 3 arrows in a black rectangle on the top right of my iPad screen? This is not an app and does not move.

One thing to check is if you have enabled  Assistive Touch or Switch Control.

These are enabled and disabled in the Settings app:
 -> General -> Accessibility


sub Applescript with Global / property I'll like to run a second applescript with variable from the first Applescript.

If I do a first script to

property myName : "Kevin"

And a second script with :

set remoteScript to (load script "/Users/kevin/Documents/Script/script1.scpt")

set myName to myName of remoteScript

Then everything is fine, the issue is ! The issue is my variable are generated on the first script and so, I can't use property.

I tried to use Global instead but I always having an error

My variables on my main script are mostly set (but not only) from Javascript, I used to use plist to store them but I'm curious and I'd like to try with a another way (also I have probably thousand of variables)

A property is a bit different than a variable - it is more like a getter/setter declaration, where its usage performs the get/set handler of the specified script object and returns the result.

A global also has scope across script objects, but since it doesn’t have a value until one is assigned, you need to run the remote script to do that.  In addition, you should probably define the same variable(s) as global in your second script, for example:

First script:

property myName : "Kevin"
global test, one, more

doSomething() -- set globals

on doSomething()
  set test to "testing"
  set one to 1
  set more to {2, 3}
end doSomething

Second script:

global test, one, more

set remoteScript to (load script "/Users/you/path/to/First.scpt")
run remoteScript

log myName of remoteScript
log test
log one
log more


How can I install an SSD on my new Lion MBP w/out install disks? I just got a new MBP that came with Lion, and they didn't give me any install disks.  If I  swap in my new SSD, how can I install Lion on the new drive?

Update: There is the Mac OS X Utilities that I can get to by holding Command+R during a restart, which has options to install Lion and/or erase/fix a disk.  Additionally, the instruction manual I received gives instructions on how to replace the computer's hard drive, so it seems that Apple would account for setting up the new drive without a install-disk.  I missed the UPS delivery of my new SSD, so will have to wait until Monday, at which time I'll swap the drives, and see if this built-in utility works.  If not, I'll follow people's advice on mirroring the old disk over. Will reply back with result

Update 2: Installed SSD, and of course it doesn't let me get access to the OS X Utilities (i.e. via Command+R).  This must be another partition on the drive.  I'm going to try mirroring the two drives.  A curse upon all these screws I have re-remove

The recovery partition on your original disk was the only supported method until the Recovery Disk Assistant was made available.

The bulk of this answer was written before the official steps were published - so I would recommend the Recovery Disk Assistant even though HT4718 steps help understand what is happening under the hood.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

The easiest is to get a drive enclosure or adapter and re-run the Lion installer from the Recovery HD and install Lion onto the new SSD.

It likely won't matter if the drive with the recovery HD is on an external bus or an internal bus, but I would keep the original drive inside the mac until you have Lion installed on your SSD connected to an external port.

Boot off the SSD to test it and run migration from the internal drive to the SSD before doing swapping the drives inside your mac.

It still boggles my mind that any mac will ship without some sort of reinstall media. Look in the center of the box, under where the mac sat. Call apple if your media is missing so they can ship it to you or point out how they want you to reinstall the OS on a new drive. Your mac's hard drive is listed as a consumer replaceable part, so they have to provide you with the steps to do that.


What causes a Macbook Air (mid-2011) crazy CPU cooling since upgrading to Mountain Lion? Since I upgraded to Mountain Lion, my Macbook Air 13" (Intel Core i5) has become extremely noisy.

The CPU cooler starts going crazy after just 10-20 mins of internet surfing. Before I could only make it loud and crazy when I used Xcode or similar 'heavy' apps.

What I can see from the Activity Monitor, is that the securityd process is consuming 12-15% CPU at all times:

Does anyone have a workaround to solve this?

I had similar on my late 2008 MBP 15" after upgrading to Mountain Lion.

I found a post about resetting the SMC controller (system management controller) to solve this and it worked a treat for me. I have a removable battery on my MBP so the process was a little different to unibody mbp's where you can't easily get at the battery. It was basically:

remove power cable and battery,
hold the power button for 5 seconds.
Power up normally and see if it worked.

For portables without a user-serviceable battery (like your Macbook Air):

plug in the power cable to mac and a power source,
press the (left side) ⇧ ⌃ ⌥ keys and the power button at the same time,
release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
Power up normally.

Give it a try - there are plenty of posts on the web on how to reset it. Mine is quiet as a mouse now


iPod "Classic" 60 GB and Bose SoundDock I have an old "classic" 60GB iPod that I have been using with a Bose SoundDock for years. All of the sudden, one day, there is no sound coming from the dock speakers.  I can listen to the Ipod with headphones and when I place the Ipod on the dock it charges, but no sound.  I have tried replacing the board on the dock, but that didn't help.  Any ideas what might be wrong?

Unfortunately, without having access to another dock, or iPod, your options are somewhat limited, as there could be a number of things that failed. Because without another dock, or iPod, either the dock, or the iPod could be at fault. With that in mind, your best options are probably to take the iPod to an Apple store (schedule and appointment) and see if they can offer assistance in testing to see if your iPod had a hardware failure.

If the Apple store can't find anything wrong with it, then it may be time to send your Bose SoundDock into Bose to see about repair.


Icons disappearing from menu bar I have the problem that occasionally on startup, icons are missing from the menu bar. This includes e.g. Clock, User name, Wi-Fi, Menu Meters and Notification Center.
It does not apply to e.g. Little Snitch, lastfm, Spotlight and Watts.
So it is not an issue of OS X versus other apps.

It looks like this:

This phenomenon appeared with Yosemite.

Although I do not know the problem, there are several solutions.

Reboot or Log out.
Kill the SystemUIServer process, either via Activity Monitor or via killall SystemUIServer. The UI server will restart and the problem will be gone. I've seen it happen that I needed to kill it twice to fully take effect.


Installing specific iOS version on iPhone 4S I've been asked to purchase an iPhone 4S for a team of developers for testing purposes. Two requirements that have been asked of the iPhone are:

it should run iOS 7.0 instead of the most recent 7.1 (don't ask me why, I'm oblivious to the reasons).
jailbreaking is unacceptable

My concern is: if I get an iPhone 4S with an older version of iOS will I be able to upgrade to version 7.0 specifically or will Apple force me to install the most recent 7.1?

Yes, I've seen some similar questions here, on Ask Different, but they were concerned rather with downgrading to a lower version of iOS (e.g. from 7 to 6, etc.) and thus do not seem to apply in my case.

This answer can be pretty short and easy:

I don't see why it should be 7.0 but you can only upgrade to the newest version around (this is iOS 7.1.1 as we speak). This is because Apple blocks signing the devices with older firmware files.


Fan continuously running without any load On my MacBook Air (2017 model), fan is continuously running at > 6k RPM without any high load (< 20% CPU load). I have reseted SMC multiple times but to no avail. I am out of warranty period and I am afraid I will have to take it to Apple Service Centre.

Your problem is essentially a thermal monitoring failure and in all likelihood your CPU and GPU will be working within their thermal limits (in fact they will probably be running cooler than usual thanks to you fan running at 100% PWM). While this can be caused by a failed sensor or SMC it can also be caused by power issues close to the SMBus (which is responsible for simple communication between various hardware components). Take a look at this Louis Rossman video where a very similar issue is diagnosed (spoiler alert, surprisingly it turns out to be a faulty FaceTime camera causing the fan speed issue)...

2014 MacBook thermal monitoring failure with fans running at maximum speed

The precise nature of the fault is largely academic as Apple will simply replace the logic board rather than attempt a component-level repair. An independent such as Rossmann may well be able to diagnose the fault and repair it at a reasonable price, but the only free/DIY option is to install software to bring your fan speeds under control and live with it.

If you want to pay for a repair you will need to use a monitoring utility to give you an idea of whether it's a single or multiple sensor failure. I use HWSensors as it's free, works and gives comprehensive system information, but any of the other suggested utilities should give you the feedback you need. You'll definitely be wanting to check both CPU and GPU temperatures look to be within normal limits at idle, if either is obviously too high or low then the SMC will default to maximum fan speeds to ensure nothing cooks, regardless of whether it's actually cooking or not.

My choice of utility to bring fan speeds under control is Macs Fan Control, this allows you to define your reference sensor and is also well-suited for all iMac models with custom hard disk firmware which causes the system fans to run at full speed when a non-Apple drive is fitted. This is also arguably superior to the standard OS X thermal control in that it lets you set up a thermal plan to suit you rather than having to live with Apple's predefined thermal-acoustic balance.

If you want a simpler interface then SSD Fan Control may be more up your street.


Finder Window List Mode not displaying properly I'm having a problem with, as far as I can tell a single folder (~/Pictures) in the Finder's List View mode. When I navigate to other folders they display normally, it is only my Pictures folder that is wrong.

The issues are:

The header is not being displayed in the standard way
The folders do not have a disclosure triangle to see its contents.

I have tried deleting the folder's .DS_Store and .localized files and restarting the Finder, repairing Disk Permissions with Disk Utility, and finally cold booting the machine.

I'm at a loss as to what could be causing this.

My machine is a MacBookPro w/Retina running 10.8.4.

Notice that the column headers are being drawn differently and the disclosure triangle to the left of the folder names is missing.

You can show the disclosure triangles in list view by opening the View Options (⌘ cmd + J) and changing the Arrange By to None.

Setting this also allows you to click on a header to set the sort order like SL's headers. A 'sort triangle' will be shown.


Automatically Inserting Text Globally Let's say I want this action to happen on any program whenever I press F10 (or some other custom key combination):

Paste the text: "Hello World!"

There's a similar tool in Windows called AutoHotKey but apparently it doesn't have a Mac equivalent.

Any idea how to achieve this on Mac?

There is no option integrated into MacOS, but I think the software TextExpander is doing what you are asking for. You can specify shortcuts like "adr" to paste your whole address for example.


How do I deactivate my microphone and iSight for security reasons? In OS X 10.8 it is possible to log in via SSH and get access to hardware input devices like microphone and iSight camera. Thus it is possible to remotely record audio and video of other users sitting in front of the machine. I consider this a severe security issue!

How to exploit this issue

Luckily, I didn't have to face a microphone exploit yet, but this question on Stack Overflow shows a little python script which enables you to capture pictures using the iSight camera from the command line. I don't think it is much harder to capture video.

Question

One can disable the microphone using

sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext

…unfortunately this also disables all audio output.

The same applies for the iSight camera by unloading IOUSB.kext, which most certainly might break all devices connected via USB, if not even causes a kernel panic.

How can I disable the microphone and iSight camera in an iMac (late-2012) under OS X 10.8.5 without breaking other system services?

To disable iSight and other cameras, use:

sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/AppleCameraInterface.kext

(tested on 10.9)

I'm not aware of a way to disable audio input without affecting output. It's the same hardware so unloading/removing the kext probably won't work. One step you can take is to turn the input volume down to zero in your sound preferences, but of course anyone who's able to log in will be able to turn it back up.


AirDrop from iPhone to MacBook stopped working (other way OK) I have an iPhone 5s (iOS 7.1) and a MBP (Retina, late 2013) (Yosemite). I used to exchange files over Airdrop in both directions. Now sending files only works from the MBP to the iPhone.  Sending from the iPhone automatically says declined by the MBP. (I don't even get the download prompt.)

Also, not sure this is relevant, but before the devices used to be able to see each other with the "Contacts only" setting.  Now I have to set them both to "Everyone" for them to see each other.

What can be the problem? How can I debug this?
I've restarted both devices, stopped Little Snitch, nothing changes.

Update:

Found this message in the Console app:

AirDrop failed to validate Apple ID certificate of sender

So I signed out and back to Apple ID on the phone and reset the network settings, still doesn't work.

I have a similar problem.

How does Airdrop work under the hood

Got some helpful answers here, but did not fix my problem. Today I took my iPhone 5s (8.4, but I had the problem under iOS 7) to the Apple store and tested it on a brand new MBP. It worked fine both ways.

Other experiments I ran before:
MBP to iPad mini - worked fine both ways.
iPad mini to iPhone 5s - worked fine both ways.

So I do not have the full answer, but I now believe that the combination of hardware (both my MBP and iPhone 5s are old, Airdrop was introduced later) is the cause of the problem. I do not think it can be fixed.


How to set Outlook 2011 as the main contact manager? When I installed Microsoft Outlook 2011 Lion asked me if I wanted to use it as my main Mail client. How can I make Outlook be my main contact manager in OSX?

For example when I open FaceTime my contacts are empty, but I have all my contacts within Outlook through Exchange (Office 365).

Is it possible?

Applications like FaceTime access information stored by Address Book using Apple's Core Data framework. Microsoft has it's own way of storing contact information, and FaceTime won't read it. In order for FaceTime (and other apps) to access your contacts, you need to get the data into Apple's storage container.

Until Microsoft puts Outlook on speaking terms with iCloud, you may use SyncServices to Sync Outlook contacts with the Apple Address Book. From within Outlook:

  On the Tools tab, click Sync Services.

  In the left pane, select the check box for Contacts.

  Under Select the accounts to sync, choose the account or accounts that
  you want to sync for the selected item type.

  Note  The On My Computer account includes all Outlook items that are
  not synchronized with a Microsoft Exchange account.

  On the Outlook folder to add new items to pop-up menu, choose the
  location in Outlook where you want new items to be saved. "New" items
  are those that are added first in a different application or device,
  and then synced to Outlook.

  Close the Sync Services dialog box, and then on the confirmation
  message, click OK.

Be certain Outlook is fully up-to-date because there were reports of problems with syncing using earlier versions under OS 10.7 Lion.


To what degree should the oldness of my phone affect my tethering speed? I have an iPhone 4s on Verizon that I am using to tether with Bluetooth. TestMy.net indicated a throughput of about 200kbps, which it suggests is 2% of the typical throughput it sees from Verizon.

It occurs to me just now that it could be comparing this to FiOS speed instead of other tethered network clients, but my question is: would I expect to see radically different connection speeds if I was using an iPhone 5s instead of the 4s? Is Bluetooth less capable than wi-fi tethering?

Bluetooth is slower than WiFi but it conserves battery power.

BT are capable up to 2 Mbps, which equals 240 KB/s, sounds like you are right on the target.

Kilobytes per second (KBps) and Megabits per second (Mbps)

Source:

  Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, the flavor built into all iOS devices, has a raw
  rate of 3 Mbps and a net throughput that’s just a bit over 2 Mbps.
  That’s fine on Verizon’s 3G network, where average speeds never top 2
  Mbps.


How to make Automator service that enters highlighted text into Chrome address bar? I'm trying to make an Automator Quick Action that will show up in the right click menu under Services that will take the highlighted text and put it in a new tab in Chrome.
Looking at various other posts, I attempted this AppleScript, but it doesn't work:
on run {input, parameters}
tell application "Google Chrome"
    set myTab to make new tab at end of tabs of window 1
    tell application "System Events"
        tell application process "Google Chrome"
            set value to input
            keystroke return
        end tell
    end tell
end tell
end run

I can get it to work for a URL, but I want this to work for non-URLs too (and just perform the default Chrome behavior with that text).

Update:
On the day this answer was originally posted, this worked with the then current version of Google Chrome.
As is typical with software updates they break code that worked in previous versions.
As of the date of this update and testing with the latest release of Google Chrome Version 90.0.4430.93 (Official Build) (x86_64), you need to add a toolbar 1 of ¬ in between the two group 1 of ¬ to update the code to work with this latest release of Google Chrome.

Original Answer
Not sure why you need this when you can select text, then right-click and select Search Google for “$selected_text” which essentially does the same thing as you're trying to do with a Quick Action service.
The following example AppleScript code does what you're looking to do:
on run {input, parameters}
    tell application "Google Chrome"
        activate
        if (count window) is equal to 0 then make new window
        make new tab at end of tabs of window 1
    end tell
    delay 0.5
    tell application "System Events"
        set value of ¬
            text field 1 of ¬
            group 1 of ¬
            group 1 of ¬
            window 1 of ¬
            application process "Google Chrome" to ¬
            input as text
        key code 36
    end tell
end run

Note that in order for this Quick Action service to work, Google Chrome and any other application you trigger the service from needs to be added to: System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility
Additionally, Google Chrome needs to allow System Events under: System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Automation

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


More colors than ls -G in file extensions In the output of ls -G, I can see some extensions get colors like symbolic links or .sh files. What if I also want .jpg, .xml, .wav or .log to have different colors too?

Also, is there any way I can set the color extensions list and set separate colors for different extensions?

The colors used by ls -G are based on the file attributes (like directory, symbolic link, executable and so on). See man ls and go to the section on the LSCOLORS environment variable for the list of color values and the order of file attributes to define the colors for each file attribute.

You cannot change the colors by file extension by default. But one way to achieve this is by installing other software, like coreutils, from brew or MacPorts.

Also see this detailed answer on superuser - colouring output of ls according to file extension.


Why our game never appeared in the new section of the appstore? We released a game 4 days ago (Thursday), Junction Action Arcade, its categories are action and arcade,
and I've been looking in the appstore in the section "Games -> Action -> New", in tha USA store, and it never appeared there.

Doesn't every new release appear in that section sometime? Or how does that work?

You actually want to look in featured games->action->paid which allows you to sort everything by release date or name.

The "new" category is horribly broken or useless for some reason and only seems to contain what apple wants to be there. Also the "new" apps section contains a lot of items that aren't even new! Changes are in order with ios7.

Unfortunately this isn't going to be clear to your actual potential users.


Is /Users/Shared preserved after reinstalling the OS? Reinstalling* the OS preserves the contents of user homes in /Users but is /Users/Shared also preserved untouched?
Is my data stored in /Users/Shared safe? (I do have backups.)
* via Recovery or standalone installer on top of an existing installation without erasing the disk or partition. Does it make a difference whether it's via Recovery or standalone installer?

If you are updating the OS to a newer version, either a point upgrade or 'major version' (e.g. from Catalina to Big Sur), then yes, files in /Users/Shared are left untouched.
I have lots of files in /Users/Shared and have never had them wiped by an OS upgrade.
I haven't use Recovery on a working system, but suspect the results would be the same. An OS installer does not wipe the disk by itself.


iTerm2.app stopped working Since a couple of hours, when I try to run iTerm2.app, it opens a window, says

## exec failed ##
login No such file or directory

and closes rather fast. Running Terminal.app works and if I run /Applications/iTerm2.app/Contents/MacOS/iTerm from it it works just fine. Any ideas what's going on or how to fix it?

Sounds like your Default terminal has it's initial working directory set to some directory that no longer exists.

Try trashing your iTerm2 settings and starting from scratch. To delete your bookmarks and all other settings move the file ~/Library/Preferences/com.googlecode.iterm2.plist to the Trash.


Seeking ambient screen recorder I am a work-from-home developer that gets paid by the hour.

I am seeking an app that runs in the background and records my screen(s) and uploads it (every 20 seconds or so) through FTP to my webserver.

That way, I can set up a simple website for my clients, and they can "watch me work" and be assured that I am really working for them, and not just goofing around or playing games.

It will have to be a ambient app, meaning that it should be very discreete and not interfere in my work (xcode/unity stuff mainly)

Im willing to pay a fair shareware fee, but not anything subscription-based.

You could use Automator to build a workflow to do this.  Automator can take screenshots and you need to use a shell script to upload the screenshot unless you have an FTP client which is compatible with Automator.  Bear in mind that uploading a screenshot might take longer than 20 seconds depending on screen size and your internet connection speed.  A 5-minute interval might be more appropriate.

Here is an Automator workflow which I just tested successfully to take a screenshot and upload it to an ftp server.

NB: you need to set the shell script step to ignore input from the previous step or it will fail when trying to convert the image to text.

You can save this workflow as a .workflow file and then you need to schedule it to run on whatever interval you think is appropriate.  You could do this through iCal but I think iCal would only allow you to run it daily or less frequently.  So you need something else.  You could do it by writing a launchd script or you could use a utility like lingon to create the script for you.  This way you could set it to run on whatever interval you like.


Upon trying to login to an Active Directory, I am alerted with a window saying the account has expired. How can I enable it? Upon trying to login to an all domains in Directory Utility, I am alerted with a window saying the account has expired. How can I re-enable it or fix this problem another way? I am able to unlock it with my administrator password, but it will not work for all domains.

You would need to use an app that connects to AD (ldap app of some sort) or remote into your domain controller using screen sharing or PowerShell to unlock the account.

Even a tool  Apple Enterprise Connect or Nomad (https://nomad.menu) where the tool calls to the Active Directory only serves to change an existing account password and doesn’t have hooks to unlock a different account when you log in as a domain administrator account.


How is it possible for Maps in iOS 13 to have location permissions set to "Whilst Using" but provide navigation instructions in the background? Whilst taking a look at the apps that have permissions to view my location in iOS 13.2.3 from Settings/Privacy/Location Services, I've noticed that the stock Maps app is only listed as having access to my location "Whilst Using". Interestingly, however, whilst a navigation is in progress I can appear to be able to navigate away from the app to my Home Screen and still receive navigational instructions. Is this due to this app using a different location model to apps downloaded from the App Store? My assumption would be that as soon as I navigate away from Maps, location access should then be withdrawn.

Taken from this Apple Developer article:
"In general, iOS apps are considered in use when they're in the foreground or running in the background with the background location usage indicator enabled."

Since the navigation is still in progress, the App is running in the background and therefore considered as "in use".


"Could not sign in to iMessage" Could not sign in to iMessage

An error occurred during activation. Try again.

Also on the iPhone we get:

  iMessage Activation

  An error occurred during activation. Try again.

With also:

  Activation unsuccessful. Turn on iMessage to try again.

These show from Settings -> Messages -> Turn on iMessage

We have an iPhone in the office and we use it through the iMac by using FaceTime on the iMac and Messages.app on the iMac.

This worked well for a week. Then FaceTime stopped working. Now iMessage stopped working. Also, on the iPhone, messages stopped working, we see this on Settings -> Messages -> Enable. It produces the same error there when trying to enable.

We have tried these remedies:

Restart devices
Log out / log in Apple account, iCloud, Messages
Create new user account on iMac

None of these have resolved the issue. What should we try next?

I also suffered from the same and in the end contacted apple support who made me generate a support pin after logging into Apple ID and then did something on their end to resolve the issue. they said I sent messages to people not in my contacts.

but i still suggest checking if network provider blocks accessing iMessages.


Syncing music from a Mac to a Windows I recently changed from a Mac back to a PC.  I transferred all my music via bluetooth to my new computer.  The new machine will play all my music, but it will not sync with my iPhone.  Any advice?


Downloading issue with safari While downloading any file from safari on Macbook Air, If downloading is paused due to any reason like internet access lost..etc, I am imposed to restart the downloading process rather than resuming.
is there any solution?

It is sometimes possible to resume downloads in Safari. Click the download icon in the toolbar, and check the color of the "↻" icon. If the icon is gray, just click it to resume the download. However, if the icon is orange, do not click it, as Safari will delete the partially downloaded data and restart the download from scratch.

When Safari cannot resume a download, it is usually possible to resume it with curl instead. I do this so often, I actually made an Automator workflow to expedite the process.

https://github.com/Wowfunhappy/Automator-Quick-Actions/blob/master/Resume%20Download.workflow.zip?raw=true

Extract the zip file
Double click the .workflow and install it.

The next time a Safari download fails in the middle:

Go to the recent download list in Safari. If applicable, click the "x" to fully cancel the download, and then click the magnifying glass to reveal it in Finder. DO NOT click the orange retry ("↻") button; doing so will delete all partially downloaded data.
In Finder, right click on the partially downloaded file and select either Resume Download or Services → Resume Download.
Wait for the percentage in the terminal window to reach 100%. Note that this percentage does not include the part of the file that was downloaded previously, so it will always start at 0. If the download fails again, resume it again by focusing on the terminal window, hitting the up arrow key, and then the enter key.

Not all downloads can be resumed this way—some servers make it technically impossible—but in my experience it usually works.


Is it OK to put a sleeping MacBook pro (Mid 2015) in your backpack and carry around? Is it OK to put this MacBook Pro in my backpack to carry around?

Appreciate hardware analysis.

The mid-2015 model is only available with SSD. I.e. you do do not have a hard drive with moving parts to worry about.

It is therefore safe to carry the MacBook Pro in your backpack and carry it around.

Just be sensible: don't drop the backpack, don't sit on it, etc.


The "2Do" application shows a blue dot in app's titlebar on macOS - what is it for? What does the blue dot next to the other red/yellow/green dots do in the title bar of 2Do on macOS?

The button is specific to the app "2Do" which you're running. It is not a general macOS "thing".
You are not the first person to ask why the meaning of the dot is, or what it does (if anything) when pressed. For example there's a Reddit thread about it here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOS/comments/aw08z5/what_does_this_blue_button_next_to_the_traffic/
However even though the manual for 2Do shows a screenshots with this blue dot - it is not explained what the purpose of it is.
I would suggest contacting the support for 2Do to find out more!


Windows 10 desktop Trust This Computer? I need to connect to iTunes to backup iPhone contents and sync my iPhone XR with new purchases from the Store.

I get the message "Trust This Computer? Your settings and data will be accessible from this computer when connected wirelessly or using a cable."

My specifications are:

iTunes Version 12.10.7.3.
iPhone XR iOS version 13.3.1. Version 13.5 available.
Windows 10 Version 1903 for x64-based Systems (KB4497165).

I have tried previous suggestions:

Reset Location & Privacy.
Tried a different USB cable.
Turned off Wi-Fi.
No personal hotspots defined.
Found this article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202778.
Followed the suggested steps with no luck.
Found this article: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204095. Look at
step four. "If you see a Trust this Computer alert, unlock your
device and tap Trust:. How do I unlock the device? Which device -- PV
or iPhone?

Any suggestions?

When connected, the phone and computer need to trust each other for data to be exchanged. As a general rule of thumb the computer will trust most usb devices. However, because phones charge through the usb to lightning cable it may be unwise to trust every host device to which the phone is connected.

Because of this you need to unlock your phone (just get past the lock/pin/password/faceID screen) and give permission to "trust this computer", which will usually just pop up on the screen.

If this is still not working, restarting the phone and computer before trying again may be a good place to start.


How can I import ebooks using Configurator I have a small fleet of iPad Minis that I manage with Configurator.  When I purchase apps through the Volume Purchase Program and inmport a spreadsheet into Configurator to manage them.

Does the same feature set exist for ebooks?  I have purchased an ebook through VPP and wish to deploy them in a similar fashio to my iPads.

Users do not have Apple IDs, but do have Google Apps for Education accounts.

Due to DRM restrictions, Apple Configurator cannot send eBooks to any iOS device. The only way to do this is to either email the eBooks to the iPads and download them from there or to use iTunes (it won't require an Apple ID to do this).


Mid-2012 Macbook Pro, Dual Harddrives - Catalina Update Slowing Down, Always Beachballing I have a dual hard drive set up. The main one running the system is a 250 GB SSD. I am running a user (for Documents, Downloads, etc.) on a 1 TB HDD. I am also running 16 GB RAM. For some reason, the main SSD is saying 500 GB of files I have on the HDD are on the SSD (when I scroll over the green, I see the 500 GB), which I believe is slowing it down. Here is a screenshot of the About This Mac - Storage. I tried pasting the EtreCheck, but it wouldn't let me.

Here is a link to a post I did on Apple Forums, because it allowed me to include the EtreCheck - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251966125

You ran EntreCheck, but did you take any of the recommended actions based on what it found?
There's a lot to unpack here, but let's tackle it from a bird's eye perspective...
Beach balling
Beach-balling is the colloquial term to describe the spinning, multi-color icon when the system "hangs."  This due to the system having to wait to execute the next command meaning that there isn't enough resources available for what's required.  From EntreCheck
System Load: 2.77 (1 min ago) 2.19 (5 min ago) 1.66 (15 min ago)
Nominal I/O speed: 0.64 MB/s
File system: 36.33 seconds
Write speed: 500 MB/s
Read speed: 519 MB/s

This means that your CPU is oversubscribed and is  taking too long to get data when it's requested.  Your main bottleneck here is your file system and (IMHO) this is due to your hard drive setup (see below).  However, with respect to system load and beach balling, if the system cannot get data quickly, the CPU has to wait, the longer the CPU has to wait, then subsequent tasks have to wait as well.
Drives:
disk0 - TOSHIBA MQ01ABD100 1.00 TB (Mechanical - 5400 RPM)
Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA

disk1 - Samsung SSD 840 EVO 250GB 250.06 GB (Solid State - TRIM: No)
Internal SATA 6 Gigabit Serial ATA

You have your system on the faster SSD connected to the faster (SATA III) interface whereas your user data is on the slower HDD connected to the slower (SATA II) interface.  From this setup, you are literally making your CPU wait when user data must be accessed.
32 Bit Apps
Catalina doesn't support 32 bit apps so the fact that you're currently running 32 bit apps under Catalina says that you did an in-place upgrade of macOS.  In general, I'm not a fan of in place upgrades of any OS especially macOS.  Apple often makes (often radical) changes to things from one OS to another.  I have found that starting with a clean slate is usually the best course of action.  If you had issues prior to the upgrade, you will still have issues after the upgrade except they're possibly made worse by the differences in how things are done.
I suggest doing a clean install of Catalina or Mojave if you can't live without those 32 bit Apps.
Drive Layout
This is a confusing layout at best.  I think you wanted to segment your user data to the 1TB hard drive and leave the SSD for the system.  The problem with this is temporary files - that's usually stored on the system drive.  So, even in an ideal setup, you're still going to have that crossover where there seems to be duplicates on both drives.  The other issue, discussed earlier, is the disparity in transfer speeds; specifically the interfaces for each.  The primary is SATA III (6 Gbps) where as the secondary is SATA II (3Gpbs) - literally half the other.
Your best bet here is to avoid this complex setup and just go with a single drive setup.  A simple 1TB SSD can be had for less than $100 USD makes this a simple and easy fix.  Connecting it to the SATA III interface will ensure it gets the highest throughput.  Then use the slower drive on the slower interface as your "self contained" Time Machine backup drive.
The next option here would be to create a Fusion Drive out of the two installed drives.  While it's not as fast performance wise as a pure SSD, you will definitely see better performance because it will manage what data resides on the spinning hard drive and what resides on the SSD.  You will also have greater capacity - 1.25TB - with greater flexibility to make use of.
A third option is to get the 1TB SSD and use the existing 250GB SSD in a core storage volume and then use the 1TB HDD for backup.  You will just need an inexpensive USB to SATA adapter/enclosure.  This will give you a nice option for backups.
Time Machine
From EntreCheck:
Major Issues:
  Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.
  No Time Machine backup - Time Machine backup not found.

There's no point in running EntreCheck and not following it's recommendations.  You've got a well bodged setup and nary a lifeboat in sight!  From unsupported and unsigned apps (per EntreCheck) an overly convoluted drive setup I'm surprised that a backup isn't enabled on a nearly decade old machine!  Even if everything was perfect in it's setup, it could still fail due to old age!
My recommendation is to get a Time Machine backup going immediately!  There are so many issues that get asked about here on Ask Different that can easily be fixed with a restoration from a  Time Machine backup.
While this is last on my list, it's actually the most important action you can take at this time.  Before attempting any fixes, you should tackle this first.


ignore duplicates when browsing bash history Assum I have the following command history:

A
B
B

When pressing the up arrow on most linux terminals this would cycle like:

B
A

On osx terminal however it got me:

B
B
A

How can I regain the former behaviour?

Adding

export HISTCONTROL=ignoreboth:erasedups

to ~/.bash_profile worked for me.


Is using the rm -P command safe on Macs with an SSD I read that secure deleting a file on any kind of SSD was dangerous because it could hurt the reliability and longevity of the SSD. Therefore, if I removed files using the -P flag, would hurt my SSD because according to https://ss64.com/, the -P flag instructs the command to do the following:

-P  Overwrite regular files before deleting them.  Files are
overwritten three times, first with the byte pattern 0xff,
then 0x00, and then 0xff again, before they are deleted.

Therefore, is using this command safe on Macs with an SSD, or can this cause damage since it is technically overwriting data on the SSD which causes wear leveling?

...is using this command [rm -P] safe on Macs with an SSD, or can this cause damage since it is technically overwriting data on the SSD which causes wear leveling

It’s perfectly safe.  You couldn’t really write enough data for it to matter. It’s also completely unnecessary as whatever you’ve deleted is instantaneously “gone.”  The block isn’t really overwritten, it’s just that depending on the SSD, the drive will only return zeros or random garbage when a read command is made. It’s also marked as “unused” rather than “deleted” so it will likely be overwritten with legitimate data quickly.
Additional reading:

Limited Read and Writes on MacBook Air SSD
How to get the "securely erase" function of Disk Utility on El Capitan & Sierra
Can the data on an MacBook Pro SSD be recovered after formatting using Disk Utility


how to Quick Look text files with custom file extensions in Finder When I have .txt files or .py files, I can Quick Look those files in Finder. I have .jl files that are codes written in the Julia Language. Of course they are text files. They will open in a text editor like Sublime Text. How can I Quick Look these .jl files in Finder?

update

With the new macOS release in 2019, the macOS Catalina, this approach is banned.

Install QLStephen, a QuickLook plugin that enables viewing of text files with arbitrary filetypes.

To install, copy the *.qlgenerator file to ~/Library/QuickLook/.


How can I disable and/or uninstall "Messages" from OS X Yosemite? This "Messages" application on my Macbook Pro, OS X Yosemite 10.10.4

I would like to uninstall the "Messages" application entirely. How can I do this?

While Apple stock OS X apps cannot be deleted, you can remove the your Apple ID's association with the Messages app by opening Messages and clicking Messages > Preferences > Accounts.

From there you can remove your Apple ID (and therefore the phone numbers associated with it) and your problem should stop.


Automatically disable network activity for apps when on a Portable Hotspot Very often, on my Mac, I'm connected with to the 4g Portable hotspot created on my iPhone.

The mac recognises it as the portable hotspot, and can even turn it on (I understand this came with the latest software latest updates).

Now I wonder, since it can differentiate between regular Wi-Fi network and portable hotspot created on an iPhone, is it possible to automatically turn off syncing services/apps/ etc. whenever I'm connected to the 4g hotspot?

I'm running macOS Mojave 10.14.2.

Try TripMode. https://www.tripmode.ch

It is an app that blocks unwanted traffic. It remembers settings for different networks, e.g. you can disable it on your home WiFi and enable it on your iPhone Hotspot.

I've been using it for years, should be exactly what you want. A free trial is available.


How can I get files off of a Mac when the display is broken? I need to get files off of my mac, and SSH and RDP are both disabled. My screen is broken, and my SSD is encrypted by FileVault.

Now, I do have one advantage: An external monitor. However, it will not turn on until FileVault has decrypted the hard drive. I have a BIOS password on it as well.

If there is a way to automatically select a user at the FileVault screen by pressing Enter or so, then please tell me. What I think I need to do is boot into Single User Mode, but I need to know exactly what prompts I'll encounter until it will display on the external monitor.

The simplest thing to do is boot the Mac in target mode (hold the T key down) and connect it via Thunderbolt or Firewire to another Mac so you can have visibility without repairing your Mac's screen. Alternatively, you could just remove the drive from the Mac and use a cheap $5 USB to SATA connector to mount the volume on a Mac to enter the Filevault passphrase to decrypt the volume.

Presumably, your system isn't booting since even in the blind, you should remember if you have to type in a user name and then press tab or return and then type the password.

User selection works by arrow keys and the space bar will select the user (and if you only have one user enabled to unlock the FileVault drive, you boot to a password screen so you only need to enter the password and press enter).

You can type the first letter of the user account and then type the password to get logged in. This assumes your user doesn't share a first letter with another account that is sorted before yours. In this case type the letter and then arrow key over to the second, third account and then type the password.


What iOS VNC client has the least lag? I've downloaded VNC Viewer on my iPad. I have noticed that it takes about 10 seconds for the iPad screen to update, in order to reflect the current Macbook screen. This is on the lowest quality setting in VNC Viewer.

I understand that the update speed is a function of the speed of my internet connection. Both the Macbook and the iPad are connected to the internet via WiFi.

However, is there an iOS app that updates faster? In other words, is there an app that offers a lower picture quality? I am comfortable with losing picture quality in exchange for less lag.

I do not need the ability to control or manipulate the Mac. I just need the ability to view the Mac's screen. The picture quality does not have to be particularly clear.

OS X El Capitan, version 10.11.6.

iOS 10.3.2

Have a look at: NoMachine (Main Web Site link.)

You can download the macOS version from there.

For iOS 5.1.1 or later. Compatible with iPad: iTunes Preview of NoMachine

I haven't used it between my Mac and iDevice, but do use it between my Mac and Linux Media Server. It's free and it works great for my needs.


Boot camp assistant can only change disk1 I'm trying to setup and iso file on a flash drive from my macbook using the Boot camp assistant.  It recognizes the iso file, but I am only given one option of using it on disk1 of my own computer and cannot change this to my flash drive.  How can I give Boot camp assistant the ability to recognize the external drive?

I'm running High Sierra 10.13.2

For reference, the iso file is for the windows 10 os.

Bootcamp doesn't have the ability to install Windows on external storage. The Windows installer itself can't install Windows to external storage either, so this feature can't be inplemented to Bootcamp.


How can my apple watch receive notifications if bluetooth is disabled on my iphone? I have an iPhone SE and an Apple Watch series 2.  Just a minute ago my watch got a Skype notification, yet Bluetooth was disabled on my phone.

I thought that the watch had to be connected to the phone to be able to get notifications from apps on the phone.  How was my watch able to receive the notification?  Did it come over wifi?

Source.

Your Apple Watch can use both bluetooth and wifi to communicate with the paired iPhone.

  To enjoy every feature on your Apple Watch, you need to turn on Wi-Fi
  and Bluetooth on your paired iPhone. Swipe up on your iPhone to open
  Control Center. Then make sure Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are on.

  Your Apple Watch uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to communicate with your
  paired iPhone, switching between connections as needed:

  Your Apple Watch uses Bluetooth when your iPhone is near, which
  conserves power.
  If Bluetooth isn’t available, your Apple Watch will
  try to use Wi-Fi. For example, if compatible Wi-Fi is available and
  your iPhone isn't in Bluetooth range, your Apple Watch uses Wi-Fi.


Can i browse the files on an external mac as an external HD? Ive got data on an old iMac G4. My plan was to remove the HD, put the HD in an enclosure and transfer the data from the HD.

I looked up the iFixit guide for the process and it seems the HD isn't easily accessible.

Is there another way i could connect to the iMac G4 (not sure what OSX version) from my mid 2012 macbook pro running 10.11.6 and browse the iMac G4's drive, without having to boot the iMac G4 ?

There is no way to access the data on the iMac G4's internal drive without power. If you can boot the iMac into Target Disk mode (by holding down the T key at startup) then you can connect it to your MBP using the appropriate Firewire cable which will then let you access the drive as an external.


How can I toggle magic mouse one finger swipe pages gesture via terminal? How can I toggle magic mouse one finger swipe pages gesture via terminal?

The command defaults write -g AppleEnableSwipeNavigateWithScrolls -bool NO triggers checkbox in System Preferences, but doesn't affect swiping gesture.

Checkbox toggle in System Preferences turns off swipe gesture instantly without need to restart magic mouse. I want to get same functionality from terminal.

The one finger swipe gesture on the Magic Mouse is technically a scroll gesture and it can not be disabled, you can investigate the specifics further with my app NSMonitor.

To investigate the correspondence of ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.mouse.plist entries with user interface elements in System Preferences what i do is save a copy of that file as xml, edit something in system preferences, save it again and compare the two.


Why does the larger iPad pro support fewer LTE bands than the smaller one? Per the official site, the 9.7 inch iPad Pro supports 23 LTE bands for a max theoretical bandwidth of 300Mbps.

..While the 12.7 inch version supports only 20, with a theoretical max of 150Mbps.

Why is the larger unit restricted in this way?

The larger iPad Pro was released before the smaller one, and presumably before the availability of a newer version of the radio used in the smaller iPad. Only an Apple employee could tell you the details of why the choice was made but I'm guessing this is indicative of a wholesale shift by Apple to use the more advanced radios in future products.

So to answer your question: the larger model wasn't "restricted" - it was released the year before the smaller model and it's likely the part wasn't available when it was being conceptualized and produced.


Is there a decent way to display fotos from directories? I do not want to use the "Photos" app and the "Preview" app. The "Preview" app only displays one photo at a time (unless you select all of them with CMD-A). I am missing the Windows program where you simply doubleclick on the first pictures and navigate with arrow-right and arrow-left. Is there a program like this for Mac?

Two easy things come to mind:

QuickLook: Just press Space on the first photo and then use the cursor keys to navigate
CoverFlow: Press Cmd-4 to switch the Finder window into Coverflow mode and browse through your pictures. Setting the Finder window to fullscreen might help here


Changing the default folder for opening a new Finder tab or window in macOS High Sierra? When I press ⌘+T or ⌘+N in Finder to open a new tab or window, for some reason it always starts in this folder:

  /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/MyLibraries/myDocuments.cannedSearch

I know on other macOS systems it typically opens in the user's Home folder.

It makes no difference whether I already have other windows or tabs open, or if I close everything and then open a fresh new window, the above always happens.

Is there some way I can change this? Is there a configuration setting somewhere for a default folder for any new Finder window?

P.S. I'm using macOS High Sierra 10.13.6.

Finder menu > Preferences... or  Cmd ⌘   [comma] ,  > General

New Finder windows show:


Retina MacBook Pro - External display resolution issues I am not sure if this is a problem with my TV or my Retina MBP. I've had an early 2011 MBP before my rMBP and this was never an issue.

It seems that when I connect up my TV, it 'detects' the screen orientation as portrait. The resolutions shown are all portrait (eg. 1140 x 2560) - but this does get shown on my TV as a landscape resolution...

While the screen orientation being weird is one issue, the other issue is that I cannot find a resolution that is supported by my TV, for example 1080p or 720p isn't even listed.

Has anyone else run into this problem? Do I have an issue with my TV or rMBP?

I am connecting via HDMI and have also tried mini display port to HDMI. I am on Yosemite.

While this might not provide a direct answer to your question, I would be interested in the EDID (Extended display identification data) of that display.

Run ioreg -l | grep EDID on terminal to get all the EDIDs listed. Your output then includes one line for each display connected, such as "IODisplayEDID"  =<00ffffffffffff000...>. Take the part in between <and >, that is your edid.
Note that the short EDID/the first one is probably the one of your internal display, which has no resolution information on it.

Now you need something to read out the EDID, I used the http://www.edidreader.com website. Unfortunately they require the hex to be split and prefixed with 0x. Ruby to the rescue! ruby -e 'puts "0x" + ARGV[0].scan(/.{2}|.+/).join(" 0x")' 'YOUR EDID HERE'.

The EDID contains multiple blocks of possible resolutions, called timings. They can be found in

Timing Bitmap
Video Data Block
Detailed Timing Descriptor #

Does the display offer proper resolutions? Can you try with a different cable or a different machine?


Batch download URLs from a .txt file I have a .txt file with URL's on a separate line.

http://www.apple.com
http://www.google.com
http://www.reuters.com

I would like to download these webpages as a page source (a .html file) so  I can open them offline in my webbrowser.

I tried to do this with automator, but it doesn't seem to work properly.
My Automator workflow consists of 2 steps: "Extract data from text" and "Download URLs". I've looked on the web for already existing solutions, but I haven't found anything I understand.

Can someone create a program with Automator or Applescript (or something else) so I can download these webpages?

The program should work as follows:

The program reads a .txt file with URLs on a separate line. (The
filetype doesn't really matter, as long as it is simple for your
program: .csv, .pages, .doc, ...)
The program reads each URL in the file and downloads it as a .html file in order that the webpages are accessible without an internet connection.
All the .html files should be saved in a folder, preferably a folder on my desktop with the name "Downloaded html files"

Thanks in advance,
If there are any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I will respond asap.

To use the following method, you will need to install wget.

Make a file with the extension .sh in the same directory as your file containing the links and add this text to it:

mkdir ~/Desktop/download

while read line; do wget -E -H --directory-prefix=/Users/username/Desktop/download -k -p $line; done < file.txt

cd ~/Desktop/download

Make sure to edit the script and change username to your username

This reads file.txt for the URLs and runs the wget command multiple times with all the links one-by-one and saves them to a folder named download on your desktop.

Run it in terminal with ./script.sh or whatever you named it. If it shows Permission Denied, then run chmod a+x script.sh


iPhone 5c says its out of storage It won't let me update apps because it says I'm out of storage. But I did the math and I have only used 1.879 GB out of 5.000 GB! Please help. I have tried deleting apps and restarting my phone but that didn't work.

It sounds like you're looking at your available iCloud Storage rather than your device storage (which is different than 5 GB). You may have, for example, 15 GB out of 16 GB used on your phone (depending on total storage).

If you are trying to update many apps at once, or a very large app (there are some in the gigabytes), you need enough storage on your phone, and deleting a few small apps may not be enough. Try deleting apps that use more space and try updating just one or two individual apps that are small (in the Updates page of App Store it says the file size for the app updates) and see if you're still getting an error.


How can I distinguish a service form a process in Activity Monitor? Is there a way to determine if an entry listed in Activity Monitor is a service (daemon) or a process (application)?

Examples:

Firefox (application)
com.apple.audio.SandboxHelper (daemon?)

Is there a good definition of what these terms (that I'm using loosely) mean in OS X?

All Processes, Hierarchically

Activity Monitor can show the process hierarchy:

Activity Monitor.app > View (menu) > All Processes, Hierarchically

The grouping shows those processes launched by another process. Typically child-process will be services of the parent. On macOS many of these child processes will be XPC instances.

Services are Processes

On macOS, daemons are processes and services are processes. In your example, com.apple.audio.SandboxHelper, this is an XPC service.


Force iTunes update overnight using cron I was wondering if anyone knew a command line 'command' I could use in a cron to force the iTunes podcast updater to run overnight. I'm running 10.6

You can use the following AppleScript to ask iTunes to update all your podcast feeds:

tell application "iTunes"
    updateAllPodcasts
end tell

This AppleScript can be performed from the command line through osascript:

osascript -e 'tell application "iTunes" to updateAllPodcasts'

You can use a range of tools to schedule your AppleScript to run each night. One option is to run the AppleScript as part of an iCal event: How to Use iCal to Run an AppleScript

Alternatively, you can create a launchd job ticket and place it in your ~/Library/LaunchAgents folder.


60hz on LG Ultrafine 4K with Macbook Pro 2016 I'm struggling to get 4096 x 2304 at 60hz using the hardware mentioned.

It works intermittently. If I unplug and replug the monitor cable, it sometimes comes back in 60hz. But then it reverts to 30hz after waking from sleep.

I've installed SwitchResX and the 60hz resolutions are just missing sometimes - see https://www.evernote.com/l/AFUEaitsECJFb59g2P7zgyefBMlpgAOLw9U

I could be imagining it, but I think it was running at 60hz reliably before my recent High Sierra upgrade.

Apple say 60hz is supported on my hardware here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207447

I suspect my cable is bad. I'm using the one that came with the monitor. I've ordered another, so I'll see if that fixes it. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CEFESRO/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

I notice that the shorter cables have higher bandwidth ratings, so hopefully this 3 foot cable is better than the 8 foot cable that ships with the monitor.

Has anyone else experiences this problem? Any advice?

I'm switching between Gigabit Lan, superb usb mouse and 4k@30hz - and 4k@60hz in combination with only slow WLAN and terrible bluetooth mouse on my 2016 Macbook.

I experienced the same issues with a longer monitor cable in the 60hz Setup at a customer and his monitor. The problem was solved when I used my better and shorter cable. Display was a Samsung 4k display though.


Internet sharing without DHCP I'm trying to setup my iMac running 10.6 to be a wireless bridge. I have it working, but I need to disable DHCP and let my network's DHCP server provide an IP for the connected device(s). I can't seem to find a way to disable DHCP in Internet Connection Sharing. Does anyone know if this is possible? I'm guessing there's a key one could set in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.nat.plist, but I can't find it. I checked the man page for InternetSharing and it doesn't mention anything useful, except changing the subnet that the DHCP server uses.

From the bootpd man page:

  For each of the properties dhcp_enabled, bootp_enabled,
  old_netboot_enabled,
       netboot_enabled, and relay_enabled, the corresponding service can be enabled or
       disabled for all interfaces, or enabled for just a specific set of interfaces.
       To enable or disable globally, use a boolean value true or false respectively.
       To enable just for a specific set of interfaces, use either a string, for a
       single interface, or an array of strings, one element for each interface.

 For example, to enable DHCP on interfaces en0 and en1, disable BOOTP on all
 interfaces, enable NetBoot on en1, and enable relay agent on interface en1,
 /etc/bootpd.plist could contain:
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
 <plist version="1.0">
 <dict>
         <key>bootp_enabled</key>
         <false/>
         <key>dhcp_enabled</key>
         <array>
                 <string>en0</string>
                 <string>en1</string>
         </array>
         <key>netboot_enabled</key>
         <string>en1</string>
         <key>relay_enabled</key>
         <array>
                 <string>en1</string>
         </array>
 </dict>
 </plist>

To disable dhcp globally, use:

    <key>dhcp_enabled</key>
    <false/>

Don't forget to send a SIGHUP (kill -1) to bootpd after making changes to the configuration file.


Is there any way to set a MacBook Pro to not sleep when you close the lid? The most common use case I have for this is when I'm playing music over AirTunes, but don't want an open laptop laying around.   Or when I'm syncing or downloading something.

This isn't the same as this question, which related to sleep vs. hibernation; I'm looking for a way to make it stay active with the lid closed.

You can use InsomniaX. It sits in your menu bar, and upon activating it, your laptop won't sleep if you close it.


Can't erase disk, Error: -69760 I am trying to format a USB drive, however I am faced with the following error:

sh-3.2# diskutil unmountDisk force /dev/disk3
Forced unmount of all volumes on disk3 was successful
sh-3.2# diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ MacOS /dev/disk3
Started erase on disk3
Unmounting disk
Error: -69760: Unable to write to the last block of the device
sh-3.2# lsof | grep disk3
sh-3.2#

Could someone help me to figure out what to do to resolve this issue?

EDIT 2:

# fdisk -f boothfs /dev/disk3
Disk: /dev/disk3    geometry: 121601/255/63 [1953525168 sectors]
Signature: 0x0
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
 2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
 3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
 4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
sh-3.2# fdisk -i -a boothfs /dev/disk3
fdisk: could not open MBR file /usr/standalone/i386/boot0: No such file or directory

    -----------------------------------------------------
    ------ ATTENTION - UPDATING MASTER BOOT RECORD ------
    -----------------------------------------------------

Do you wish to write new MBR and partition table? [n] y

sh-3.2#
sh-3.2# diskutil list
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD            120.5 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (internal, virtual):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           +120.1 GB   disk1
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2
                                 7887C476-CBE0-4D10-B95A-5C79F83B20D7
                                 Unencrypted

/dev/disk3 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                                                   *1.0 TB     disk3

sh-3.2#

EDIT 3 (In CentOS 7)

# mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdc
mke2fs 1.42.9 (28-Dec-2013)
/dev/sdc is entire device, not just one partition!
Proceed anyway? (y,n) y
 Warning: could not erase sector 2: Attempt to write block to filesystem resulted in short write
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
Stride=0 blocks, Stripe width=0 blocks
61054976 inodes, 244190646 blocks
12209532 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=2392850432
7453 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
8192 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
        32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
        4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872, 71663616, 78675968,
        102400000, 214990848
Allocating group tables: done
Warning: could not read block 0: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read
Warning: could not erase sector 0: Attempt to write block to filesystem resulted in short write
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information:    0/7453
Warning, had trouble writing out superblocks.

I had the exact same problem trying various options on terminal didn't help, eventually just by  luck I went back to disk utility and chose format/MacOS extended journaled and scheme/Apple partition map. After that went for scheme/GUID   This was an absolute fluke after encountering various messages regarding being unable to format the drive. Might not work for everyone but I had exhausted all other avenues.


Connecting Scarlett 2i2 to mixer I want to set up my MacBook to do the following:

-Acquire input from a Scarlett 2i2 audio interface;

-Process the signal using Bias Amp or Amplitube (or some other softwares for Guitar);

-Send it to a mixer which is connected to power speakers;

I simply don't know which way I should connect the Scarlett 2i2 interface to send the processed signal to the mixer.

To connect the sound card with the amplifier you have to use two jack to jack cable with diameter 6.35 mm.

The type of the cables should be with three pole to carry balanced signals (but it works either with two pole cables).

The connection must be made from the lines output placed on the rear of the audio interface to the input of a power amplifier or a mixer.


Escape button for iPad Pro with Microsoft Universal Foldable keyboard? I need to use escape for VI on my iPad Pro.
I have the Microsoft Foldable keyboard,
I have already tried Ctrl + [ and it doesn’t work.

Is there a solution for this?

Try Command  .  seems like this command used to be a way for halting/canceling operations in both MacOS or Windows.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/9vsxmo/til_cmd_in_ios_invokes_the_esc_key/


No Scroll Lock on Apple Keyboard My StarTech sv215micusba KVM requires that I use Scroll Lock, Scroll Lock, Enter, but my Apple keyboard doesn't have a Scroll Lock key.  I found this reference:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1216

But it refers to key combinations used for Windows functionality (driver-dependent).  What combo would I need to press in order to send the correct sequence to my KVM switch?

Having had a look at the StarTech SV215MICUSBA manual (PDF), on page 7 it says:

  To initialize Mac keyboard mapping, please execute the following
  hotkey  sequence:

  [scroll],[scroll], [F2], [Enter]
  or
  [ctrl] [ctrl] [F2] [Enter]

  Once this has been done, the following keyboard mapping will apply:

Then in the table below, it indicates that the Scroll Lock Lock key on a PC keyboard is mapped to F14 on a Mac keyboard.

Assuming you have a full Apple keyboard, its probably worth trying this out.


Apple Mail 6.2 doesn't download messages from Gmail over POP3 I'm trying to set up my POP3 Gmail account on a Retina MBP running OS X 10.8.2. A few months ago, I managed to do the same thing, the first time around, on an iMac, working with the same Gmail account and under an earlier Mountain Lion release.

This time, Mail gives me no errors, and despite having followed Google's guidelines on how to set up POP3 email on Apple Mail, no messages will download on the MBP, even after checking for new mail, and right-clicking the account to force download. Has anyone encountered this issue, and found a fix?

Review your settings on the Gmail website; could you have perhaps overlooked the checkbox to Download all messages from today on (or whatever your preference is)?

By the way, I have my Mail.app accounts all set to POP3, and iDevices, of course, are on IMAP ... so that works; on the GMail page, you can leave them both on.

Check your Mail.app account preferences: in Advanced, the port needs to be set to 995. And have you run Mail's Connection Doctor, under the Window menu? When it can't connect, clicking on the error will take you right to the place in Mail preferences where the error is.


Foolishly left old beta on my iPhone that has now expired, is my only option to restore and lose everything? I installed an iOS 8 beta on a test iPhone I have back in the summer, and forgot to keep it updated with more recent betas, and now it's not allowing me to get into it due to the beta being expired.

Is my only option to be able to use it again to restore it from scratch and lose everything? Or is there some way to update it to the actual released version of iOS 8?

Simply download the IPSW of the final build of iOS 8.1 from developer.apple.com, connect your device to iTunes, alt-click the Update button and select your IPSW.

No data will be lost and your device will be updated.


Application to notify user of active VNC connection I want something more visual than Apple’s very subtle binoculars in the top right status menu when there is an active incoming VNC connection to the machine.

Preferably just a floating window notifying the user that there is an active VNC connection, and maybe the IP address. The best solution I have found is running the below command in the Terminal. But that doesn’t really solve my monitoring issue as I actively have to go and find the data.

netstat -a | grep vnc | grep ESTABLISHED

You always can make this script and run from a terminal

#!/bin/bash

alertme() {
    say "Big brother watching"
}

while :
do
  netstat -a | grep vnc | grep ESTABLISHED && alertme
  sleep 60 #wait 60 seconds
done

and you got a spoken warning. If you save the script with .command extension, you can start it from the finder by doubleclick.

You can install growl from the Extras directory the growlnotify package. You can change the say in the alertme to:

growlnotify --appIcon TextEdit "Big brother"  -m 'watching'

and got an notifying window.

Or, you can make Automator workflow with shell script & popup-window alert. :)

Or, you can use the next:

sudo fs_usage -f network AppleVNCServer | grep -E '(accept|close)'

instead of netstat | grep and will get exact connect and disconnect times, like next, but you need run it as admin... (sudo).

14:19:20  accept                                                                                0.000024   AppleVNCServ
14:19:33  close                                                                                0.000047   AppleVNCServ
14:27:01  accept                                                                                0.000024   AppleVNCServ
14:28:19  close                                                                                0.000055   AppleVNCServ
14:28:26  accept                                                                                0.000018   AppleVNCServ
14:28:34  close                                                                                0.000037   AppleVNCServ


How do I use llvm-profdata in Mac OS X Yosemite? I have a simple question: how do I use the llvm-profdata binary provided by XCode's Command Line Tools in the terminal?

I have installed the Command Line Tools and could see the binary in /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/, like this:

$ ls /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin/ | grep llvm
llvm-cov
llvm-profdata

I know I could make it work by adding the path to /etc/paths, but I'm not sure what other side effect will occur if I do that.

For reference, here's my current /etc/paths:

$ cat /etc/paths
/usr/local/bin
/usr/bin
/bin
/usr/sbin
/sbin

I also have homebrew installed, if that matters.

You need to use the xcrun tool which will be in your path.

$ xcrun llvm-profdata <args>

The xcrun tool will execute the tool from the currently selected developer tools installation.

If you have Xcode installed you can select which developer tools are used with xcode-select. For example, if you have a beta version installed you can use that version of the command line tools with:

$ sudo xcode-select -s "/Applications/Xcode-beta.app"

and switch back with

$ sudo xcode-select -s "/Applications/Xcode.app"


How to disable powerchime in macOS Catalina? I have found a lot of post through the internet using com.apple.PowerChime but I can't find this in Catalina.

Use this Github repo:

  curl -sL git.io/powerchime | sh

Run it to either turn it on or off


How does one add references to tables and diagrams included in a Pages document? I am using Pages 7.0.1. and trying to find out if it would be suitable for writing complex technical documents, full of tables, diagrams, footnotes, etc.

Inserting tables is easy. Each table can also have a name that could be used as a 'caption'. Is it possible, however, to add references to these tables in the text of a document (something like, "... as shown in Table 3 above ...", where "Table 3" is a reference to a table included in the document - with associated hyperlink, if possible).

Inserting such references is also needed for other elements of a Pages document, such as diagrams, footnotes (a single footnote may need to be referenced, or 'pointed to', from several places in the text), bibliography, etc.

Is there a way of achieving all of the above in Pages?

You can add a bookmark at the position of the cursor with Insert>Bookmark. Bookmarks can be managed and renamed in Document(top right corner)>Bookmarks. You can then highlight any word(s) and add a link to a bookmark with Insert>Link>Bookmark. This will add a hyperlink to the bookmark.

Unfortunately, in Pages you cannot bookmark a table or footnote. You can, however, add a bookmark to the cursor position left to a table, so it will practically link to the table.
This does not work for footnotes, though. But if you use the same source multiple times you should also reference it multiple times in its own footnote, instead of pointing to another footnote, anyway. Since you may reference the same source in multiple places in your document, outgoing links from the bibliography to the footnote don‘t make sense, because you only list each source once in the bibliography which makes it impossible to link to multiple footnotes.

EDIT: But you can add links in footnotes that point to a bookmark in the bibliography.


How to view an open file's location? I have a file open but don't know what folder it's in.

How can I determine it's location?

Right click on the file name in window bar.


macOS Mojave - locate not working I got a MacBook from my work and wanted to use the locate command, but I get the message:

WARNING: The locate database (/var/db/locate.database) does not exist.
To create the database, run the following command:

  sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.locate.plist

Please be aware that the database can take some time to generate; once
the database has been created, this message will no longer appear.

I ran sudo launchctl and waited some time... It's been two days and I still see that same message. If I ran sudo launchctl again I get:

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.locate.plist: service already loaded

Searched for the database and:

$ ls -l /var/db/locate.database
ls: /var/db/locate.database: No such file or directory

The com.apple.locate.plist file is set with the predefined schedule to update on every Saturday at 3:15

<key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
<dict>
    <key>Hour</key>
    <integer>3</integer>
    <key>Minute</key>
    <integer>15</integer>
    <key>Weekday</key>
    <integer>6</integer>
</dict>

So, it shall update once it was executed for the first time. I'm under Mojave (v10.14.2), new MacBook with SSD and Core i7. locate should take few minutes to work on new machines, but it's not the case here.

Any ideas on why it isn't working and/or how to make it work?

Amigo, I might start with launchctl:

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.locate.plist

Then check for any impediments to obtaining exclusive lock privilege on the nonexistent database:

sudo fuser -fu /private/var/db/locate.database
sudo lsof /private/var/db/locate.database

Then kill any process reported by either command.  Next, run the db generator by hand, preceded by an opensnoop for debugging if something goes wrong.  You will need to open a new terminal window ( command key - N shortcut, I believe ) and run opensnoop there, exiting it with a Control Key - c combo.

sudo opensnoop -cegx -f /private/var/db/locate.database

Then over to your original window type:

sudo /usr/libexec/locate.updatedb

Remember to quit opensnoop with a cntrl-c in its window.

F.


screen turns off and i get locked out when move my macbook air on the bedsheet I have an 11 inches Macbook air.

My macbook air turns the screen off and logs me out anytime i move it slightly across my bed. (it does not happen when i move it from bed and move it) even two inches moving turns the screen off and i am logged out as if i had closed the lid.

I have not been able to find any answer so far.

Any idea how to correct this?
thanks

shahram,

It sounds like you're encountering a little static electricity (or electrostatic discharge, if you want to be fancy about it).  The reason your getting "logged out" is probably that the ESD is causing a power surge that makes the laptop think the lid was closed (you're getting current from a sensor that isn't actually the source of the current).

It's best not to sit electronics on soft surfaces such as beds, carpets, etc as ESD can damage the hardware if a charge with too strong a current goes through it.  If you've ever gotten a good hard shock when you touch the door knob after walking across the carpet in socks, you know what I'm talking about.  :-)

Too more directly answer your question "How do I correct this?", the obvious answer is the best one: don't put your laptop on your bed.  Make sure you use a laptop desk (something like this: https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/781650/Lap-Desk-Originals-Student-Lap-Desk/ or even a simple board so the computer is sitting on a smooth hard surface where it won't be affected by static, and will much more easily cool itself.  (Sheets don't just hold static, they hold heat too.)


launchd won't run a loaded script on reboot so i'm having a few troubles with launchd

I made this plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs$
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>mosek.mountd</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/etc/mountd</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

My problem is this. When i load the script manually:

launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/script.plist

It works like a charm. It load perfectly, and runs the script as it should.
now when I reboot, it loads the script as it should, but now the script won't start.
Though when I start the script

launchctl start mosek.mountd

it works. So it must be ignoring the "RunAtLoad" key, when it loads the script on reboot. Why does it do that, and how do I fix it?

cheers in advance

edit:
    I forgot to mention that I also made root the owner of the file by running:
         chmod root /Library/LaunchDaemons/script.plist
    and it still wouldn't work

Check your permissions. The file script.plist should look like this

-rw-r--r--  1 wheel  410 16 ...

From man launchctl

  Note that per-user configuration files (LaunchAgents) must be owned by the user loading them. All system-wide daemons (LaunchDaemons) must be owned by root. Configuration files must not be group- or world-writable.


How do I share and play music in my office? I would like to use my old Macbook that is hooked up to stereo equipment, as a media server to allow everybody in my office to play or upload music, jukebox style.

The best case would be a web interface where I can change the music, an upload feature is not mandatory.

A solution using Ubuntu would be fine too. :)

Check out 'play' from one of the guys at GitHub. Ive had an interest in it, but never had a chance to use it yet.


(homebrew.mxcl.mysql[2274]): Service could not initialize: Unable to set current working directory. error = 2: No such file or directory If I run console on my mac and go to the system.log I see that system,log is getting flooded with this error

Oct 31 15:57:59 abhisheks-mbp com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (homebrew.mxcl.mysql[2185]): Service could not initialize: Unable to set current working directory. error = 2: No such file or directory, path = /usr/local/var/mysql: 17A405: xpcproxy + 11040 [1403][43FABD4F-8081-3087-91BC-95B588688D55]: 0x2
Oct 31 15:57:59 abhisheks-mbp com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (homebrew.mxcl.mysql): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.
Oct 31 15:58:03 abhisheks-mbp com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] (com.apple.preference.displays.MirrorDisplays): Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.

I had installed mysql using homebrew many months ago. but I had removed it I don't know why its still trying to run it.

I tried to remove mysql

~ > brew uninstall mysql
Error: No such keg: /usr/local/Cellar/mysql

But still i see messages pouring in.

You probably enabled the MySQL launch agent with brew services start mysql in the past and forgot to disable the brew service (before uninstalling mysql) which would remove the plist.

So unload and remove the agent from the launchd database manually with:

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist
launchctl remove ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist

Then remove the file:

rm ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist

If you did a custom install of the plist, the file homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist may reside in /Library/LaunchAgents. Use the same commands then but adjust the paths above and prepend sudo.


Mac OS X Server 10.6.7: Disable Apache? I'm doing some Rails dev, and I'm trying to get Pow running. After making the appropriate symlink, if I try to go to idealm_web.dev/ (idealm_web being the name of my Rails project), I get this:

I was told that this was Apache. How do I disable this? I checked under System Preferences > Sharing, and there was no way to disable it.

If this is OS X Server (i.e. the server product, not the regular desktop OS), turn off the web service in either Server Preferences or Server Admin.


Unable to open a terminal window from specified folder with shortcuts I am working on the latest MacOS.

By configuring System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Services,
I attempt to open a terminal window directly from folder with shortcut Ctrl+Alt+Cmd+T following the answer How can I open a Terminal window directly from my current Finder location? - Ask Different.

However, it failed to work.

What the problem might be?

You need to click on a folder first so it is highlighted, then use your keyboard shortcut for "New Terminal at Folder". It will open terminal at that folder's location.


Last Opened not clickable in Applications folder View Options I’m trying to sort my applications by Last Opened column, but the option is not clickable (is grayed out) in the view options (⌘+J) panel (see image below).

Why and how can I fix this?

(I’m on Snow Leopard 10.6.8)

Date last opened was only available in Spotlight windows in 10.6 and earlier. It became available in normal Finder windows in 10.7.

http://www.mac-help.com/t205135-does-snow-leopard-have-last-opened.html

    One thing that's always annoyed me about Leopard is that the search
    results window has a Last Opened column, but an ordinary Finder window
    doesn't have that option.

    Of course, it also annoys me that the search results window is not an
    ordinary Finder window like it used to be, with Size, Created and all
    the other column options.

    Has Snow Leopard fixed this inconsistency?

  In list view 'Last Opened' is one of the options in Show View Options,
  but it's rather annoyingly greyed out.

  So: Yes, but no.


Is it possible to automate changing some security settings in Catalina? I realize the user would have to enter their password, but beyond that step could the process of adding a program to Accessibility, Full Disk Access and Screen Recording be automated in some way? Programs like Teamviewer and Splashtop (to name two that I know of personally), require the user to make these changes before I can provide remote support. This is a bit much to ask of people for whom minimizing a window is a challenge.
BTW, the Macs in this situation are not part of an organization; they are individually owned Macs that could be anywhere in the USA.

Yes. Set up a MDM and you can easily make configuration profiles so your peers or people you support don’t have to manage their Macs as much.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mdm/welcome/web
https://www.apple.com/macos/server/
https://www.fleetsmith.com/ or https://www.jamf.com/products/jamf-now/


How could I replace Mathtype in a mathematic document with Catalina? I think I'm not the only one with this problem on Mac.

I have to buy a new MacBook with Catalina 10.15 (64 bits).

Being a math teacher, I need Mathtype to edit equations in my docs. I have a lot of old (and actual) docs made with Mathtype. The big advantage with Mathtype is that I can change my equation's font (arial, franklin, etc.). This is what I'm searching for.

But Mathtype (Wiris) doesn't plan a new version for Catalina (see https://lp.wiris.com/catalina/ or others forums). If I change my mac, I couldn't use Mathtype anymore.

I do not know what to do with this problem...

I can use Pages or Word for editing.

I could use Latex : not easy to use different font. Not easy to insert graph or other geogebra images, etc. I tried this solution last year, but I'm really too perfectionist to get what I need.

I could use Word 2016 equation editor : only 2 or 3 fonts availables on the web...

I could use Page 8.2.1 equation editor : the Blahtex fonts are limited. This is impossible to find a ttf who matches with possibles fonts.

I don't understand why I seem to be te only person with this problem on internet... It's impossible. Probably because others don't care about the font.

Could you help please? Some suggestions?

(Sorry for my bad english)

I had the same dilemma with Adobe CS5 and CS6. Ended up buying a refurbished 2018 Mac Mini directly from Apple. Came with Catalina preinstalled. Used the following steps to install Mojave.

Download Mojave from the link on the Apple website How to upgrade to macOS Mojave.
Use the Disk Utility application to create a new APFS volume in the existing APFS container.
Boot to macOS Recovery to allow booting from external media. You will only need to perform this step, if your Mac has the new T2 chip.
Used a flash drive to install Mojave to the new APFS volume. The instructions are given on the Apple website How to create a bootable installer for macOS.

You can now install your 32 bit applications. Basically, you will have a dual boot arrangement. When MathType 8 is released, you can install to the preinstalled Catalina. Mojave can be removed by using the Disk Utility to delete the APFS volume containing Mojave.

Before purchasing a refurbished Mac, you should confirm that the model was early enough to run Mojave. The website everyman.com is a good place to get this information. If for some reason the purchased model can not be downgraded to Mojave, Apple does have a 14 day return policy.

I should note that under Mojave I do get a error message when quitting an Adobe CS5 or CS6 application. Other than the message, the applications appear to function properly.


Safari 12 Mac: does IncludeInternalDebugMenu 1 still work? I am trying to enable the "Debug" menu in Safari 12.0.1 on Mojave 10.14.1, the command should be:

defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeInternalDebugMenu 1

However, nothing happens.

For reference a "Debug" menu should appear in Safari in the menu bar as described for example in this blog: https://www.igeeksblog.com/how-to-enable-debug-menu-in-safari-on-mac/

Does this command still work on Safari 12? Is there a new way to show the Debug menu?

Thank you

Applications (including Terminal) do not get "full disk access" (e.g. your user files) any more in Mojave.

Try to grant Terminal access in...
System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Full Disk Access

Unlock the system preference panel, by clicking the lock at the bottom left and filling in your password. Then either drag and drop Terminal.app onto the window, or navigate to it by clicking the plus sign (+).

Then launch Terminal and try your command again.